Viral Video: "Twilight" Is Back Again (This Vampire Just Won't Die, Will It?) [BoomTown]

The “Twilight” saga, which seems to have just ended with its release of the second film in the series, “New Moon,” in November, is baaaaack.

And, of course, the Internet is huffing and puffing over this one, “Eclipse,” set for June, since its trailer just came out.

In it, it looks like Bella and Edward still are not together. Good Lord, wasn’t that the plot of the last movie and the one before that? Plus, the Wolfman Kid is also back, as part of the freaky love triangle.

Then again, to be fair, Harry Potter is still battling Voldemort. The next movie in that series, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” the first of a two-parter, comes out in mid-November.

Here’s the new “Twilight: Eclipse” trailer, as well as a teaser trailer the next “Harry Potter” film:

Source: All Things Digital | 12 Mar 2010 | 3:21 am

Wheelie: Toshiba’s new robot is cute, autonomous and maybe even useful (video)

Toshiba is a huge company, but it’s not necessarily known as a maker of robots. Their new (yet to be named) robot for indoor use is an autonomous, 2-wheeled robot, which is still in prototype stage and somehow reminiscent of a Segway in its basic design.

Technical details are scare right now, but the main purpose of the robot is to one day help families out with daily chores, for example by serving food. For that you need to place plates and glasses on top of the little guy’s head and he will do the rest by himself. And the way he can balance out differences in height is pretty impressive (skip to 1.50 in the video below).

Here’s a demo clip:

Via Plastic Pals

Source: CrunchGear | 12 Mar 2010 | 3:20 am

As Twitter Improves Web Site, App Makers Push Tweets in Other Directions [Voices]

By Mark Milian, Staff Writer, Los Angeles Times

Twitter engineer Alex Payne upset a flock of third-party developers recently when he boasted about new features the company plans to roll out to its website. “If you had some of the nifty site features that we Twitter employees have, you might not want to use a desktop client,” he wrote on his Twitter page.

Software makers feared that Twitter was trying to squeeze them out.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

Source: All Things Digital | 12 Mar 2010 | 3:16 am

Changing Channels, From Cable to the Web [Voices]

By Douglas Quenqua, Reporter, New York Times

There are certain timeless truths about people who don’t own a television, chief among them that they love to tell you they don’t own a television. These days, they are still out there, but they have rivals in the realm of zealotry: people who do watch television — sometimes plenty of it — but don’t own a cable box.

Those who belong to this crowd are only too happy to remind you that they can watch most of what you watch, but don’t pay $60 a month or more for the privilege.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

Source: All Things Digital | 12 Mar 2010 | 3:11 am

More Bloggers Suing For Gov't Press Passes [Voices]

By Mike Masnick, Editor, Techdirt

We recently wrote about how a lawsuit filed by three alternative publication reporters against NYC for denying them press passes to NY Police press conferences ended in a settlement with NY setting up new rules for getting press credentials. There was a fair amount of back and forth in the comments, with some still believing the lawsuit was sound, even though we had trouble with the idea that the lawsuit had any merit at all. However, it looks like that result may have inspired others as well.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

Source: All Things Digital | 12 Mar 2010 | 3:07 am

With More Than Enough Apps, Apple Pushes for Quality

Apple’s recent purge of sex-tinged iPhone apps, combined with its lesser-known ban of “cookie-cutter” apps, signifies the company’s new focus on quality, rather than quantity, in its App Store.

Last month, Apple removed about 5,000 apps with “overtly sexual content” from its App Store. And this week Apple told Mobile Roadie, a company that provides templates for clients to build iPhone apps, that the App Store would no longer accept “cookie-cutter” apps — apps made with app-generating services that do little more than reproduce websites or pull RSS feeds from the internet.

“This is a hot issue as more focus is being placed on app platforms to ensure they’re providing a quality user experience and content,” said Michael Schneider, CEO of Mobile Roadie. He stressed that his company was not a maker of “cookie-cutter” apps because its templates were highly customizable.

“I’m not going to comment on specific competitors, but I believe as a result of the recent changes at Apple many of them will be out of business,” Schneider later wrote in a blog post. “The ones that are left are going to have to step it up, which is a good thing for the App Store, for our business, and for consumers.”

Since the App Store’s early days, Apple has boasted about the number of apps served through the store and highlighted its rapid growth. The App Store launched with 800 third-party apps in July 2008, and by November 2009 it surpassed 100,000 apps. As of February, Apple’s App Store had accumulated about 150,000 apps.

That number has translated into a huge competitive advantage. In terms of quantity, the App Store has a commanding lead in the mobile space. Android is in a distant second with 19,300 apps. Windows Mobile’s store has 690 apps, Palm has 1,450, Nokia carries 6,120 and BlackBerry serves 4,760. Sure, you may not want to use the majority of the Apple store’s 150,000 apps, but the fact that customers have nearly eight times more selection than they do with Android phones and nearly 200 times more than with the Windows Marketplace is a convincing sales advantage for many.

In recent months, Apple has expedited its App Store approval policy to be much faster than it used to be. Several iPhone developers told Wired.com that the App Store has recently been approving their apps in as little as two days. Last year, an app approval could take between two weeks and two months.

Apple did not respond to Wired.com’s request for comment regarding major changes in the App Store. But Scott Schwarzhoff, vice president of marketing at Appcelerator, an app-building service, said it was likely that a larger staff as well as new automated tools are helping to speed up Apple’s approval process. As a result, that frees up bandwidth for Apple to institute bigger-picture changes to improve the quality of the App Store, he said.

“Now it’s a quality versus quantity issue,” Schwarzhoff said. “When they first started they wanted tons of apps, but now with 150,000 apps out there, there’s no need for Apple to have bigger numbers on its side as compared to quality applications.”

Without a doubt, those put out of business are chagrined by Apple’s capriciously changing App Store policy. For example, Fred Clarke, co-president of a small software company called On the Go Girls was making thousands of dollars each month earlier. Now, with 50 of his company’s sexy apps banned from the store, his salad days are over.

“It’s very hard to go from making a good living to zero,” he said in an interview with The New York Times. “This goes farther than sexy content. For developers, how do you know you aren’t going to invest thousands into a business only to find out one day you’ve been cut off?”

However, all of the developers contacted by Wired.com said they were happy with the change. They said that thanks to Apple’s new (albeit unclear) quality standard, the App Store will be less cluttered with trashy apps, which benefits both developers and consumers.

Eric Kerr, co-founder of AppLoop, shut down his company 10 months ago because of financial and personal reasons. AppLoop’s service, called App Generator, turned any online publication with an RSS feed into an app — something that might have fallen under Apple’s new ban of cookie-cutter apps. But Kerr sided with Apple on its decision to prohibit apps with extremely limited utility made with app generators.

“Apple doing this is really only accelerating the inevitable,” Kerr told Wired.com. “You have all these applications that don’t provide any additional value to users, and in the long run the market will determine they’re useless and people will not download them. Because of the application discovery problem, that might take a while for that to actually happen, and during that time period you have a bunch of low-quality apps clogging the system.”

Obscure Rules

Still, Apple has come under fire because of the lack of clarity regarding policy changes in the App Store. During Apple’s removal of apps containing overtly sexual content, many criticized the company for allowing sex-tinged apps from big companies such as Playboy and Sports Illustrated to remain in the store.

Apple’s vice president of marketing Phil Schiller said Apple had removed the sex-tinged iPhone apps in response to complaints from parents and women. However, he said the apps from Playboy and Sports Illustrated would remain because they came from reputable companies.

“The difference is this is a well-known company with previously published material available broadly in a well-accepted format,” Schiller told NY Times.

But as Apple continues to push its new quality regime, a question arises: Where do you draw the line between raising quality standards and censorship? That’s already stirring some debate. Apple crossed the line with German tabloid Bild, whose iPhone app was pulled because of a feature containing sexual content, an act that the publication has called “a curtailing of press freedoms.”

“Today it is naked breasts, tomorrow it could be editorial content,” said Donata Hopfen, head of Bild’s digital media department, in an interview with German magazine Der Spiegel. She said Bild was urging the Federation of German Newspaper Publishers to take action “in the interest of freedom of the press.”

That battle, however, will be a tough one for Bild. Apple is not a government, and thus it is not governed by the First Amendment, said Peter Scheer, executive director of the First Amendment Coalition.

In other words, the company’s rules may be arbitrary and unfair, but Apple has the right to make decisions about what it carries in its App Store.

The fact that it lacks significant competition may be making Apple act more high-handed than it would otherwise, Scheer noted.

“They’re trying to create this aura of respectability and selectivity,” Scheer said. “Apple’s trying to create this censored environment. It’s a little like China. What China does to the whole internet with pornographic content is what Steve Jobs is trying to do in his neighborhood for the iPhone.”

With a big lead in the numbers game Apple’s move toward emphasizing quality might just help it retain its dominance in the mobile market. However, Scheer said if Apple’s moves continue to be construed as acts of censorship, it could drive customers to more open alternatives such as Google’s Android platform.

“Eventually you embitter a lot of people who don’t understand why they’re being denied access to something they’d like to have on a device they have and they own,” he said.

See Also:

• Apple Removes Porn Apps From App Store
• Apple Explains Semi-Ban of Sex Apps
• IPad Apps Could Put Apple in Charge of the News
• Rumor: Some iPhone Apps Scrapped From iPad by Steve Jobs
• For the iPhone’s App Store, Quantity Really Does Matter

Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 12 Mar 2010 | 3:00 am

China To Tap Combustible Ice As New Energy Source

lilbridge writes "Huge reserves of "combustible ice" — frozen methane and water, have been discovered in the tundra of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in China. Estimates show that there is enough combustible ice to provide 90 years worth of energy for China. Burning the combustible ice may be a far better alternative than letting it just melt, releasing tons of methane into the air."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 12 Mar 2010 | 3:00 am

Chinese minister insists Google obey the law (AP)

AP - China's top Internet regulator insisted Friday that Google must obey its laws or "pay the consequences," giving no sign of a possible compromise in their dispute over censorship and hacking.

Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 12 Mar 2010 | 2:59 am

China warns Google as Internet row deal seen soon

GDC 2010: Intel's Core i7-980X Gulftown Chip - Techtree.com

Geeky gadgets

GDC 2010: Intel's Core i7-980X Gulftown Chip Techtree.com Intel has announced its first six-core microprocessor - Intel Core i7-980X, aiming top level performance for the consumers. Targeted at power users and high performance computing seekers, the hexa-core processor (codenamed Gulftown) is based on the ... Intel Core i7 980x Brings Six-Core Power to DesktopsPC World Intel's 'Gulftown' Tops Desktop PC ProcessorsPC Magazine Intel Previews New 'Gulftown' Six-Core ProcessorWired News eWeek -Tom's Hardware Guide -X-bit Labs all 163 news articles »

Almost Famous: Lance Podell of Next New Networks [Voices]

By Drake Martinet, Intern, All Things Digital

A feature wherein All Things Digital looks at up-and-coming and innovative start-ups you should know about.

This week: We grabbed a Caltrain up to San Francisco to meet with Lance Podell, CEO of Next New Networks, the Web video network whose shows usually mix hi-fi production and lo-fi hosts for that ultra-Webby feel that the kids are raving about.

Or so Podell hopes.

Who: Lance Podell

What: Chief Executive Officer

Why: According to Lance, Next New Networks is aiming to transform its existing lineup of 12 Web TV “networks” into a content behemoth that competes with the big cable guys. Oh yeah, and they plan to monetize it too. Eye rolling aside, at the end of 2009, they were nearly profitable.

Where: nextnewnetworks.com (Web site); @NextNewNetworks (Twitter); New York, NY (analog place)

Who else: You name it. They compete for face time with an armada of YouTube stars (although they try to recruit some of them too). How do they stack up? Well, the camera work in the latest webisode from YouTube star Fred isn’t anything to write home about, but you don’t have to sit through video advertising either.

Five Stats You Won’t Find in His Facebook Profile

Worst Job Ever: I had a job for a very brief time at a start up called Savatar, it’s hard to even think about it. [Ad giant] WPP (WPPGY) had invested in this company that was supposed to build Web sites for all the WPP companies. This is like back in 1994. Not only did it crash and burn, but they made me go into I don’t know how many meetings and promise things I just knew we could never deliver.

When He’s Not Busy CEOing: I’m a dad a lot. My son plays just about every sport, so I’m at a lot of games. I also enjoy chasing my little girls around the house.

Gadget of the Moment: I’d love to buy an Internet-enabled TV. I was in the early days of interactive television trials and I really want to see that come to fruition.

Wishes There Was an App For: I really want to be able to use my BlackBerry with my Mac.

Fails At: Ugh, it’s a long list. My son would say understanding that he’s always right.

Bio in 140 Characters

Lance went from Lafayette College to the HBS, and then into the ad game. Next New Networks brought him in to be the ad money rainmaker.

The Five Questions

You guys have been around for a while now. I don’t know if I’d call you “New,” but what’s “Next” for you ?

We don’t just believe in just creating shows and niche content. We believe that the hosts of our shows have to also be a member of the community the show is aimed at. On our indy mogul network for example, Eric Beck literally runs one of the shows, Backyard FX [Think McG meets MythBusters]. He creates Hollywood-style special effects in your backyard for under $100. He’s really doing it. That’s step one.

Step two is we are asking you to contribute. It’s very Web-like, in a very Web way, right? Not like TV. We want you to contribute your thoughts, videos, comments and posts, following the video. Again, not like TV. We don’t have six-month development cycles. Every week that host is coming up with the next episode and we are relating it back to the community and their experience in the prior week.

So, the model is: No more broadcast, just piece together enough niche content, plus some revenue model, to equal profitability?

That’s true, what you said is entirely true. But I don’t want to get too bogged down in that. And the end of the day though, we are an entertainment company, so niches can mean a variety of things. Early on the company’s goal was to have 100 “networks.” I think that was just an audacious goal to set for the sake of goal-setting. What we’ve done over time is try lots of things, see what works and what doesn’t, see where the passion within our company is, and build on that. And, as the YouTube audience has grown and matured, we can start to look there for shows that are popular and communities of interest.

Also, advertisers are asking for a lot. They want to reach moms, for example. So we are looking for gaps in the Internet that are also things moms want to watch. We don’t create programming specifically to satisfy the advertisers.

A good example of how the relationship works is that Caress had hired Carson Kressley [the "Queer Eye" guy] as a spokesperson, and as part of the ad agreement, we had him on our women’s talk show. Now, Carson wasn’t scripted by Caress, he just came on the show. It was a women’s talk show and he acted as though he were on the “Ellen” show, for instance.

You guys put your content everywhere: YouTube, Hulu, Vimeo–all of them. Are you concerned about a platform like Hulu setting up a pay wall and potentially adding a level of complication to your viewers’ experience?

We’re not concerned yet. If Hulu were to change to paid content, I don’t know that it would start with the Web originals. Do I imagine that three years from now that Web original programming will have the same kind of brand impact as something that comes out of NBC? Yes. Because Internet TV is changing everything. Our programs can be viewed on TiVo. They can be viewed on FiOS. Once, we had the kind of loyalty that might warrant it, would I be interested in selling some content behind a wall? Yeah, I’d look at it.

So you are confident that you can turn a profit without making people pay?

You know, you are talking to an old ad guy here. We have always said we’d never be able to pay for the next thing with just advertising and yet we always have. I believe we will pay, not for everything. For some things.

So if advertising is whats “next,” then what will those “new” ads have to do differently?

The advertisers that do really well with us, the ones who really get it, are the ones who come to me and say that they want to hear their products advertised in the voice of the show host. They want the ad to sound like the voice of that community. They don’t want me to use their eight words that are in every print ad. They don’t want me to say that they are 100 percent reliable, safe and color-fast. They want me to talk about their brand in the way that the community will connect with it.

Another area that I think is hugely compelling is in the area of interactivity. And I think fashion is just the first place it should go. The idea of watching something on TV and then being able to immediately buy what the actor is wearing is just incredible to me.

The In Living Color Interview

Appeal filed in Phil Spector case (AP)

Amidst Controversy Storm, Kwedit Reveals Repayment Rate Already At 26%

Kwedit, the innovative and suddenly controversial payments platform for virtual goods, is releasing some early data.

The service lets users promise to pay later in lieu of a direct credit card payment when they want virtual currency for social games like Farmville. It’s not a legally binding promise, but users have an incentive to pay amounts owed because that allows them to get more virtual currency through the service. Users can pay by, among other methods, mailing in cash or paying at a 7-11.

When the product first launched they had no idea what percentage of promises would be repaid. Anything at all is incremental revenue to game publishers, and since the stuff they’re selling has no marginal cost (virtual currency), it’s all upside. But after nearly two months of being live, they say the repayment rate is 25.9% If you’re a credit company that would put you out of business.

But for game publishers, that’s a staggeringly attractive monetization option. Hopefully the company (or its partners) will also disclose the monetization rate as well down the road. Because right now game publishers are only able to get cash out of 1-3% of users. If they can get another few percent to pay via Kwedit, and 25% of that money is actually paid, revenue from games can double or more.

It’s controversial because Colbert made fun of it, and then the Huffington Post and CBS jumped on the bandwagon. CBS actually called it “toxic.”

Founder Danny Shader posted a long response here. But the short version is this – the criticism is ridiculous. It’s coming in one case from a competitor (the Huffington Post article was written by the CEO of a company that promotes Visa cards to teens and adults, without any sort of disclosure on the conflict). And the author of the CBS article doesn’t appear to actually understand the product and seems more concerned with getting parents all worked up.

The really scary stuff in social games was the Scamville nonsense where teens and pre-teens where being tricked into putting long term subscription charges on their parent’s cell phone and credit card bills. Kwedit isn’t even close to that kind of evil. It’s simply a very clever way of monetizing social games, and the most innovative new payments product I’ve seen in a very long while.

GDC: VirtuSphere Hamsterball VR Gaming

China warns Google not to stop filtering web searches (AFP)

AFP - China on Friday warned Google it would face "consequences" if it stopped filtering its search results, after the firm threatened to leave the country over cyberattacks and web censorship.

PlayStation Move: Everything we know - GamePro.com

Telegraph.co.uk

PlayStation Move: Everything we know GamePro.com by GamePro Staff Sony's revealed a slew of information recently regarding its upcoming motion controller, the PlayStation Move. Here's everything we know about the product, the bundles, and the games. The PlayStation Move was revealed yesterday at the ... PS3 EyePet to have Playstation Move supportTG Daily GDC: Sony Unveils PS3 Motion ControllerInformationWeek Sony Announces Playstation "Move" Motion ControllerITProPortal PC World -USA Today -TechNewsWorld all 815 news articles »

BRIEF-Statoil ups oil production from Oseberg field

Lenovo says business will focus on mobile Internet (AP)

AP - Lenovo Group expects wireless Internet products to account for up to 80 percent of its sales within five years as it pursues expansion in faster-growing emerging markets, CEO Yang Yuanqing said Friday.

A Sad Day For the New Zealand Internet

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

'Uncharted 2' nabs 5 trophies at video game awards (AP)

AP - "Uncharted 2: Among Thieves" stole the show at the Game Developers Choice Awards.

Can Second Life Help Save a Legendary Surfing Spot?

UPDATE 2-LG Display to spend $1.3bln to up output, H2 positive

Daiichi Sankyo sees US lifting Ranbaxy bans by 2012

Video game sales fall 15% in February - Los Angeles Times

KOMO News

Video game sales fall 15% in February Los Angeles Times The drop occurred despite the release of three major titles last month. Demand for consoles tumbles 20%, according to an NPD Group report. By Alex Pham Video game sales in the US plunged 15% in February as skittish consumers continued to ratchet back ... Microsoft's Xbox Sales Beat Wii, PS3 in February on 'BioShock'BusinessWeek February video game sales drop 15 percentThe Associated Press February NPDs are inNetworkWorld.com Wall Street Journal -PSX Extreme -Financial Times all 291 news articles »

UPDATE 1-Ipsen grants Rhythm obesity treatment licence

Daily Crunch: Light Capture Edition

Disney turns its Monorail into huge Tron light cycles
Instant film isn’t dead – it’s just weird and expensive
EA drops fat cash on The Old Republic
http://www.crunchgear.com/2010/03/11/the-playstation-move-everything-old-is-new-again-if-you-ask-sony/
Sic semper tyrannis: motion control in video games

YouTube’s Modest Proposal: Sports Online (Almost) Instantly [Voices]

By Matthew Futterman, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal

Friday brings the opening of cricket’s wildly popular Indian Premier League and with it, hopefully for sports fans, a window into the future of international sports broadcasting. (NBC Sports executives, please keep reading).

IPL, which has quickly become one of the most popular forms of one of the world’s most popular sports, has new wrinkle this year. Google’s (GOOG) YouTube unit has purchased the world wide Internet rights to the event and plans to use them in a way that many sports fans wish NBC uses its rights to the Olympics. NBC ultimately put footage of all Olympic events on its Web site, but in many prominent cases it did not carry live footage online in an attempt to maximize its audience for prime time television.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

SXSW 2010 for Cloud Lovers

UPDATE 1-Japan's Willcom gets backing of state fund

Apple says iPad pre-orders start at 5:30 am Friday - CNET

Geeky gadgets

Apple says iPad pre-orders start at 5:30 am Friday CNET Apple normally offers a very simple message about its products. Often, there's not even a tagline. So it's curious that at Apple.com, the company emits these words: "A magical and revolutionary product at an unbelievable price. ... IPad Available for Pre-order at 5:30 Pacific, 8:30 EasternPC World Apple to Start Taking IPad Orders at 5:30 am California TimeBusinessWeek Apple iPad pre-orders start today at 8:30AM ETZDNet (blog) Seven Sided Cube -The Tech Herald -I4U all 101 news articles »

Iron Man FX Arc Reactor The Perfect Paperweight For The Multi-Billionaire In Your Life

Google welcome to expand its China market share -Minister

The Real War At SXSW: AT&T Versus 15,000 Data-Crazed Velociraptors

We’ve talked a lot this week about the so-called “Location War” brewing at the SXSW festival in Austin, Texas starting tomorrow. That war will happen, but actually, there are likely to be a lot of winners because a few of the location-based services should be able to leverage the exposure to gain usage after the conference. Those with real bloodlust should probably be watching another war: AT&T versus everyone in Austin on their network.

AT&T’s struggles to stay up last year are well-documented. CNN recently ran a piece about how AT&T hopes to avoid a similar fate this year. But actually, “struggles” is way too kind of a word. If you were at SXSW last year and happened to be on AT&T’s network — like, say, if you had an iPhone, like many festival-goers did — it was an absolute nightmare. You couldn’t make a call. You couldn’t send a text. Data? Ha. At a few points early on I seriously wondered if I had forgotten to pay my bill and AT&T had simply shut my phone off — except that it was happening to everyone.

AT&T has a funny word for the failure, they like to say “unprecedented.” As in, the usage of its network was at level previously unseen as a strong percentage of the over 10,000 festival goers (just the interactive part) were using iPhones. Well guess what? Word is that is year, there will be some 15,000 people there for the interactive part. As Samual L. Jackson’s character, Mr. Arnold, says in Jurassic Park, “Hold on to your butts.”

I’m leaving for Austin tomorrow and I’m terrified of what the AT&T situation will be when I get there. So much so, that I have a back-up plan (which Sprint sent me just in time to test out during SXSW after reading some of my rants against AT&T). With attendance up as much as 50% from the previous year, the number of iPhones in use is sure to be through the roof as well. Did I mention that just about every location-based service known to man is launching an app at the event and hoping every single one of those 15,000 people use it all the time? And based on the early signs, they intend to.

You’ll remember that after Mr. Arnold says the above line in the movie, he’s savagely ripped limb from limb by a velociraptor.

But there may be hope for AT&T. They’re clearly well aware of the failure last year, and did try to solve the issue to minimal effect towards the end of the conference. I asked a company representative what they’re planning to do this year, and they have a plan of attack.

Much of what they sent me is fairly technical, but basically, they now have a system around the Austin Convention Center (where SXSW takes place) that’s the equivalent of 8 cell sites, with 50 antenna nodes to cover the whole venue. Also, they’ve greatly expanded network capacity, moving from one radio network carrier to three, boosting the spectrum available for phones to use. They also say they’ve expanded the capacity of the so-called “high quality” 850 MHz spectrum, which works better indoors because those signals can go through walls more easily. They also have the new HSPA 7.2 software installed at all of the 3G cell towers now. But don’t be confused: that doesn’t mean their network has been upgraded to 7.2 Mbit/s speeds (sadly, at the peak, it’s still half that in almost all of the country), it just means that the upgraded software is in place and should be more reliable and efficient.

But there’s more. AT&T has brought in two Cells on Wheels (the so-called COWS that they brought in to help last year), and also a third rooftop temporary cell site. Each of these are equipped with both 3G and WiFi networks to help alleviate overall network strain. AT&T says these three cells are placed in optimal positions around the city of Austin where they expect the most strain.

All of that sounds great, but I’m still terrified. Why? Because I live in San Francisco. AT&T has known for months that the network is awful here, and while there have been baby steps taken to improve it in some areas, more often than not, it’s still awful. Take tonight, for example. So if AT&T knows it’s bad here, but still can’t seem to fix it, why should I believe Austin will be any different? I don’t. I’ll just have to hope I’m wrong.

Or I’ll have to kick back, relax, and take joy in the bloodbath as iPhones are magically turned into glistening bricks being hurled in anger left and right. As I boot up the Sprint Hotspot, of course.

[photo: universal pictures]

Music Distribution Service Zimbalam Opens

Zimbalam, the digital music distributor from Believe Digital, launches in the US today.

The service lets artists submit and distribute their music through 25 of the most popular music platforms, including Apple’s iTunes and Spotify, in addition to “several hundred additional stores worldwide”. This makes Zimbalam the largest music distribution network as measured by number of stores and geographic reach, says the Paris-based company.

To distribute their music via Zimbalam’s network, artists are charged a simple annual fee ($29.99 in year one then $19.98 per year after for an EP or album) and then once the fee is recouped, get to keep 100% of royalties – after, of course, whatever commission is taken by each store. Additionally, following year one, artists won’t be charged by Zimbalam if they don’t make enough sales to cover the annual fee.

MySpace Musical Chairs: Will the Partovis Stay or Will They Go Now? [BoomTown]

While there have surely been a lot of departures of talent at MySpace over the last year–including two major shifts in top management–one of the more interesting guessing games of late concerning the social networking company has been over the fate of the well-known tech wunderkinds, Hadi and Ali Partovi.

And, according to many sources inside and outside the company, that’s just the discussion the pair of serial entrepreneurs have been having with its newest leaders, as well as News Corp. (NWS) digital head Jon Miller.

(News Corp. owns MySpace, as well as Dow Jones, which owns this site.)

In all likelihood, said sources, the Partovis will remain at MySpace for the next several months, although are more likely to eventually move to more senior advisory or special project roles there, in order to also pursue their longtime outside investing and entrepreneurial interests.

“They’re definitely staying for now,” said one source. “But it’s the ‘how’ is what’s being worked out.”

There are many shifting scenarios as the sides hash it out, said sources, but MySpace execs are keenly interested in not having the company appear to be in the grip of a talent drain, especially of such high-profile innovators.

Still, in an interview with BoomTown at MySpace’s Beverly Hills, Calif. HQ earlier this week (you can see part of that chat in the video below), Co-President Jason Hirschhorn said that there are likely to be a lot more departures at the company, as well as arrivals.

“It’s normal in a situation like this,” said Hirschhorn, quite correctly, given the wringer MySpace has undergone over the last year.

The Partovis arrived in the midst of turbulent change at MySpace, after its original CEO and Co-founder Chris DeWolfe was suddenly tossed out and replaced by CEO Owen Van Natta, as well as COO Michael Jones and Chief Product Officer Hirschhorn.

As part of its new strategy to become an entertainment hub, MySpace bought the Partovis’ struggling social music start-up, iLike, in the summer in a deal engineered by Van Natta.

After it closed, Hadi (pictured left) became an SVP of Technology, mostly working in MySpace’s Seattle office; and Ali (pictured right) became its SVP of Business Development, mostly based in San Francisco.

But Van Natta suddenly got the boot in January, after clashing with Miller, as well as Hirschhorn and Jones, sending MySpace into yet another storm.

Hirschhorn and Jones were named co-presidents.

While several sources said the Partovis are not unhappy with the pair or the new MySpace media-centric strategy, they sold the company with the idea of working with Van Natta.

“That firing reset things,” said one source close to the situation.

In addition, the pair have wide-ranging interests outside the company, including an active investment portfolio in start-ups such as Facebook, Dropbox, OPOWER, BlueKai and Flixster.

They have also already scored big with investments in Tellme, which was sold to Microsoft (MSFT); Zappos, which was acquired by Amazon (AMZN); and IronPort, now owned by Cisco (CSCO).

And though iLike was not the success they had hoped for, their entrepreneurial record has been strong. Ali Partovi sold LinkExchange to Microsoft and Hadi Partovi, who also worked at Microsoft, co-founded Tellme.

That said, with both talent retention packages in place for both Partovis, and also good will between them and the new leaders, the sides are trying to come up with a workable arrangement.

MySpace declined to comment, but The Clash sure will (as well as Jones and Hirschhorn below):

[T-shirt photo courtesy of Zazzle.com]

Indian Premier League bowls wicked googly* to the world on YouTube

• Today’s Matches: This is where you can watch streamed matches as they happen. (Note that the stream will be delayed by a few minutes.) Click through at any time to see the match scorecard.
• Recent Matches: Catch up any time on the full action of matches that have already happened. Watch Sachin cream the ball through the covers, Warney taking his latest wicket and more.
• Highlights: If you’re short on time, check in here for short videos of player interviews, match highlights, greatest plays and more.

TABLE-Toell Co -9-mth group results

Best Pre-Paid Data Plan For a Visit To Germany?

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

TABLE-Toell Co -2009/10 group forecast

TABLE-Toell Co -2009/10 parent forecast

UPDATE 1-Roche's Avastin prostate cancer study misses goal

Look-at-my-scrotum lawsuit dismissed

I can understand a flight attendant's reluctance to help a stranger examine his scrotum, but didn't anyone have, you know, a hand mirror? If I started mysteriously bleeding from my scrotum, I'd be pretty distressed, too.

Cote sued Air Transat and the employees on the flight that day, accusing them of failing to provide appropriate medical assistance, seeking damages of $8,000 for the anguish he suffered as a result of their neglect.

But judge Michele Pauze rejected Cote's case.

In her decision, she said she agreed with arguments offered by Air Transat representative Chantal Chlala, who explained to the court that flight attendants do not have the right to examine passengers, and even less to make a diagnosis.

"It was not incumbent upon a flight attendant to conduct the medical examination of a passenger, a measure reserved for the medical profession," wrote judge Pauzé.

Look-at-my-scrotum lawsuit dismissed

Mechanical cardboard junk-horse walks the streets of Bulgaria

"Pony Express," a Bulgarian mechanical horse (created by T.J. Tangpuz) is made out of discarded packaging, plastic ties, and other detritus, and it delighted the people of Oryahovo, Bulgaria with its regular perambulations, before it was moved to a gallery.

Mechanical cardboard horse

Mechanical cardboard junk-horse walks the streets of Bulgaria

Miniature cities on household objects

Student Work | Kyoto University of Art and Design (via Cribcandy)

Miniature cities on household objects

Health Clouds Forming: California's Health Internet Exchange

India May Delay Mobile Number Portability Again (PC World)

French village went insane after CIA spiked its bread with LSD

French village went insane after CIA spiked its bread with LSD

One man tried to drown himself, screaming that his belly was being eaten by snakes. An 11-year-old tried to strangle his grandmother. Another man shouted: "I am a plane", before jumping out of a second-floor window, breaking his legs. He then got up and carried on for 50 yards. Another saw his heart escaping through his feet and begged a doctor to put it back. Many were taken to the local asylum in strait jackets...

Scientists at Fort Detrick told him that agents had sprayed LSD into the air and also contaminated "local foot products".

Mr Albarelli said the real "smoking gun" was a White House document sent to members of the Rockefeller Commission formed in 1975 to investigate CIA abuses. It contained the names of a number of French nationals who had been secretly employed by the CIA and made direct reference to the "Pont St. Esprit incident." In its quest to research LSD as an offensive weapon, Mr Albarelli claims, the US army also drugged over 5,700 unwitting American servicemen between 1953 and 1965.

(Image: Shaw's French Bread, a Creative Commons Attribution photo from Adam Pieniazek's photostream)

London Olympics: police powers to force spectators to remove non-sponsor items, enter houses, take posters

Police will have powers to enter private homes and seize posters, and will be able to stop people carrying non-sponsor items to sporting events.

"I think there will be lots of people doing things completely innocently who are going to be caught by this, and some people will be prosecuted, while others will be so angry about it that they will start complaining about civil liberties issues," Chadwick said.

"I think what it will potentially do is to prompt a debate about the commercial nature of the Games. Do big sponsors have too much influence over the Games?"

(Image: More Riot Police a Creative Commons Attribution photo from Kashklick's photostream)

Sony, Panasonic Cameras Combine Small Size With SLR Features

Dubbed a "nested skyscraper," this building is a concept design which is intended to be particularly good at resisting the effects of earthquakes and other natural disasters. What really gets my attention though is that robots are required for construction. More »

Source: Gizmodo | 11 Mar 2010 | 10:20 pm

Zeus Botnet Down But Not Out

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

And It Begins: Foursquare Shatters Its Check-In Record The Day Before SXSW

The official Foursquare account just sent out a tweet letting everyone know that today is already the service’s biggest day ever. This is interesting since it’s actually the day before the SXSW conference kicks off in Austin, Texas.

According to the tweet, Foursquare broke 275,000 check-ins (the previous record, set last Friday) for the day “hours ago.” This means they’re very likely well past 300,000 now and perhaps even higher. To put that in some perspective, just a month ago, Foursquare set a record with 1.2 million check-ins for the entire week. And that was double was it was the month prior. At today’s rate, Foursquare would be doing well over 2 million check-ins a week.

Today happens to be the first birthday of Foursquare, so they shared some numbers earlier. The service now has over 500,000 users, they’ve given out over 1 million badges, there are over 1.4 million venues in the system, with over 1,200 specials available. And in total, there have been some 15.5 million check-ins. But that was before today’s record numbers.

While there are well over a dozen location-based services launching something at SXSW, the main two competitors vying for users’ time are expected to be Foursquare and Austin-native Gowalla. For its part, Gowalla noted that it was “Amazing to watch the Gowalla action on the eve of SXSW. AMAAAAAAZING!,” earlier today. Both recently revamped their websites, and both yesterday launched their new iPhone apps. And judging from the Vicarious.ly data provided by SimpleGeo, both are absolutely on fire right now and could go nuclear this weekend.

Update: Gowalla has a range of just about every possible venue you can imagine for SXSW and so far (again, the day before the conference), they’ve seen 352 check-ins at the SXSW Badge Pick-Up alone.

Check-In For Charity During SXSW With CauseWorld And TechCrunch

There are no shortage of location-based services launching this week at SXSW in Austin, Texas. Many of them allow you to “check-in” places to let others know you are there. So how do you differentiate between then and decide which to use? Well, here’s one good way.

CauseWorld, is a free iPhone and Android app that lets you check-in places, but it has an added real-world bonus: big brands give money to charity when you do so. And this week at SXSW, CauseWorld is teaming up with TechCrunch to offer double point (which they aptly call “karma”) when you check in to one of over 50 venues around Austin (I’ll paste the full list at the bottom of the post), including the Austin Convention Center (where SXSW is held).

We’ve covered CauseWorld, which is the first offering from the soon-to-launch ShopKick, a few times now. It’s a great product because it takes an area that is red hot right now, location-based check-ins, and converts it into good deeds in the real world. For example, if you check-in at a store, you may earn 20 karma points. As you continue to accumulate these, you can turn them into real dollar donations for causes such as water in Sudan or trees in the Amazon. Brands such as Kraft Foods and Citi are currently giving the donations based on what users choose to trade their karma points for. The best part is, you don’t even have to buy anything — you simply check-in at various venues and earn the points. And again, this week at SXSW, checking-in with the app at a bunch of venues will earn you double karma points.

And like any good service with a gaming element, there’s a leaderboard to show who has donated the most karma points. And yes, checking-in can earn you badges, such as the TechCrunch one show in this post.

So if you’re going to be in Austin for SXSW this week. Or really, if you just want to do some good with your mobile device, check out CauseWorld. Find it in the App Store here, or in the Android Market (on your Android device).

Below find the 54 participating double karma Austin check-in spots:

1. Aces Lounge
2. Alamo Drafthouse
3. Amsterdam Café
4. Austin Convention Center
5. Austin Music Hall
6. B D Riley’s Irish Pub
7. Barbarella
8. Beso Cantina
9. Bob Bullock Theater
10. Buffalo Billiard
11. Café Mozart
12. Carver Museum and Cultural Center
13. Cedar Door
14. Chupacabra Cantina
15. Chuy’s
16. Clay Pit
17. Club Deville
18. Cuba Libre
19. Dirty Dog Bar
20. Elysium
21. Emo’s
22. Emo’s Annex
23. Flamingo Cantina
24. Hyde Park Bar & Grill
25. Iron Cactus
26. Karma Lounge
27. Kenichi
28. Kerbey Lane
29. La Zona Rosa
30. Lambert’s Downtown
31. Lustre Pearl, Lustre Pearl Bar
32. Malaga, Malaga Tapas & Bar
33. Malverde
34. Mellow Johnny’s
35. Molotov Lounge
36. Moonshine Bar and Grill
37. Opal Divines
38. Palm Door
39. Red 7
40. Red Eye Fly
41. Rudy’s Country Store and BBQ
42. Rusty Spurs
43. Salt Lick BBQ
44. Spider House Café
45. Stubb’s BBQ
46. Stubbs
47. The Belmont
48. The Best Wurst I
49. The Highball
50. The Scoot Inn
51. Uncorked Tasting Room
52. Velveeta Room
53. Victory Grill
54. Vortex Repertory

March 12, 1790: Batteries Now Included

BancTec Partners With Birikim Automation Systems to Deliver Document Solutions in Turkey

iPad available for pre-order at 5:30 Pacific, 8:30 Eastern (Macworld.com)

iPad available for pre-order at 5:30 Pacific

The Hifiman HM-801 looks like an old portable cassette player, but apparently it might just beat out most music players in sound quality. At least that's what CNET though when they had a listen. They even found it worth $790. More »

Source: Gizmodo | 11 Mar 2010 | 9:40 pm

Kindle app for Android on the way?

Section: Communications, Mobile, Computers, Mobile Computers, Gadgets / Other, ebooks

For awhile now Android fans have been wondering if the popular Kindle app would ever be made available to them. So far there an iPhone/iPod Touch version, a PC version, and a BlackBerry version, and it looks like at long last an Android version will join them. The Dell Mini 5 handheld, a sleek mini-tablet device running Android, will come with a Kindle app according to leaked promotional documents. The Mini 5, which sports a 5’ 800x480 screen and 3G capability is said to be headed to AT&T. Whether that’s good news remains to be seen. Given the network issues the data hungry iPhone has caused, another data hungry device may be the last thing AT&T needs. There’s no release date or pricing info available yet, but stay tuned to Gadgetell for the latest!

Read [JKOntheRun]

Apple: iPhone OS 4.0 Reportedly To Include Multitasking [Voices]

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

Apple (AAPL) plans to offer a “full-on solution” for multitasking in version 4.0 of the iPhone OS, according to AppleInsider. An inability to run more than one application at a time is one of the most frequent criticisms of the iPhone OS – and the ability to multitask is often touted as a point of differentiation by rival handset makers. The new version of the iPhone OS is expected to launch this summer.

The story is attributed to “people with a proven track record in predicting Apple’s technological advances.”

Read the rest of this post on the original site

Google makes its RSS reader more fun to use

Section: Web, Web 2.0 / Social Networking, Web Apps, Websites, Google

We study hard, work hard, play hard, eat hard, and the list of hard goes on and on.  With all the other hard in the list, do we still have the time to do other things we love and like?  Do we need to surf hard too?  It’s a torture!

Coming back from a long day and we hope to sit down in front of the computer and have a quality surfing.  Sadly, the Internet is big ocean and finding quality information is like finding a needle in a haystack.

With all the bliss of surfing, we would be yelling out – “Thank Google!”  Why thank them you would wonder?  Let me tell you why – Google Reader Play!

What is Google Reader Play?  It is a highly intuitive and friendly RSS reader conceived by Google Labs.  It immerses the reader with a full screen filmstrip style of thumbnail surfing.  It’s like viewing a photo album on your computer – pointing and clicking. As you browse, you even have the option to Star things you want to read later, Like things you like the world to enjoy, and Share things with your friends and contacts! The filmstrip also enlarges and displays video embeds like YouTube.

For existing users of Google Reader, you guys would have to kiss goodbye to your existing feeds.  Put your dismay aside, and say hello to the content recommended by Google Reader users worldwide.  It’s not so bad actually, information by popular demand.

Did I say intuitive earlier?  Because it will not require you to perform a login (Phew! less one password to remember!), and if you use your Google account, it would point you towards information you are interested in.  Just sign in and browse away.

With everything seems nice, nothing is perfect.  There might be an instance that you would like to view the original post, but when you revert back to the feeds, you will have to go back through the items viewed before.

Needless to say, it’s a service to enjoy.

Read [Official Google Reader Blog]

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

Instant film isn’t dead – it’s just weird and expensive

The Polaroid saga is a long and strange one. And the last couple years have been especially strange. Bankrupt, reanimated, relaunched, sold out, bought up… I wouldn’t be surprised if Polaroid showed up on Dancing With The Stars.

They keep saying they’re coming back, but I’ll believe it when I see it. In the mean time, your options for instant film are depressingly limited, and it’ll cost you a bundle — but it’s not like it disappeared completely. The main rival for Polaroid was Fujifilm, which also makes digital cameras and lots of other films and media. Among their many products is Instax film, which is still manufactured and comes in cartridges of 10 exposures. It ends up costing ~75¢ per shot, which is technically infinity percent more than a digital, so understandably not too many people go for it.

Add in the fact that the Instax 200 camera is the size of a bear, and you could forgive the general public for thinking instant film is more or less dead. What reminded me of all this was, first, this hands-on with a new, smaller (weirder) Instax format camera, and also the relatively recent marriage of Lomo cameras with the reduced-size Instax Mini film.

The LC-A+ I wrote up is a bit expensive, however, at around $300 for the camera and Instax back. I’ll have a review soon of the Diana+ and its instant back, which is much more affordable, but still very cool. Depending on how that goes, I’ll be able to tell you with a little more conviction, but it seems to me that if instant is really what you want, you’ve got a couple ways of going about it. Just don’t count on Polaroid just yet.

Kathryn Bigelow was a punk rocker

Story of Bottled Water (from "Story of Stuff" folks)

Embedded here, a little teaser video for The Story of Bottled Water, created by the same people behind "The Story of Stuff" (Wikipedia). Looks neat. I'm a big fan of tap water. I spend a fair amount of time in very poor communities in poor countries, with people who don't have access to safe drinking water. For them, like us, water is life—but it's also scarce or intermittent, contanimated, and a source of disease and death. I always come home feeling totally WTF'd at our obsession with bottled water, when our tap water is so accessible and among the world's purest.

(via Glen E. Friedman)


Source: Boing Boing | 11 Mar 2010 | 7:51 pm

Hugh Hefner, teenage cartoonist, 1943

Note the conspicuous lack of smut! Frame from a Seattle Post-Intelligencer gallery of Playboy founder hugh Hefner's teenage doodles, sent to his high school sweetheart friend Jane Sellers in the early 1940s. The full collection is for sale at $250,000, from rare book dealer Lux Mentis (who will send you a PDF listing collection contents upon request). Update: Ian J. Kahn of Lux Mentis Booksellers tells Boing Boing,

I should point out that Hugh and Jane did not date. He dated her best friend and she his...the four were the core of what they called "The Gang". The really interesting element is that as he evolved into "HH", this group of high school friends served as a touchstone...they were the ones who loved him *before*...and he turned them off and on for many, many years. My favorite story out of this is that Jane and the other girls would go over to Hugh's to read "School Daze" to see which of their boyfriends were "stepping out"...Hugh did not edit *anything*. He took notes during the day as to what people were wearing so he could sketch them accurately that evening. It is a remarkable visual diary.

Google's bike maps "filled with potentially fatal flaws"

Fastest (and Most Compact) Stellar Spinner Confirmed

The Playstation Move: Everything old is new again, if you ask Sony

So, this Move. I’m pretty sure it brings nothing new to the party. That’s too bad, because the PS3 is starting to take off (after three lackluster years) and it would have helped push units if they had an innovative motion control system. I mean, not everyone is into the motion controllers, but… seriously, Sony. It’s a Wiimote. Don’t even try to tell me it’s different. The only real difference I can see is that the camera is on the TV rather than in the remote. But that’s not really important. What’s important is that this controller does absolutely nothing new.

I mean, it’s used in the exact same way as a Wiimote. It lends itself to the same control schemes as the Wiimote. It’s the same size and shape as the Wiimote. Its method of determining motion and position is similar to the Wiimote’s. Tell me what is possible with the Move that is not possible with the Wiimote?

There are two points I’ll gladly yield. The motion sensors in the Move are almost certainly a bit better than Nintendo’s (though the MotionPlus negates some of those gains). And the PS3 is of course far superior in graphics and we might, for example, get an adult-themed sword-based game where enemies don’t shoot sparks and disappear when you cut them. I don’t want to sound ghoulish, but come on. It’s a sword.

Gizmodo notes that multiplayer is a little gimped. Yeah, a bit, but no more than the Wii, I think. I’d say that the “sweet spot” that exists for the Move is more limiting to multiplayer than anything else. I’m not sure of the Eye’s field of view, but can four people really fit in it comfortably while flailing around? The benefit of the Wii method is that the “eye” is in the controller, meaning as long as you’re pointing at the TV, you’re good.

I was pumped for the Move until I figured out (a couple months ago) that it wasn’t going to actually offer anything new to developers. Maybe there will be a few cool hardcore games that wouldn’t fit graphically or tonewise on the Wii, but they’re not opening up any new horizons. Let’s hope Natal doesn’t disappoint. I understand Microsoft is going to be leaning on it as a whole new control method for its whole lineup, so we can probably expect some pretty good stuff. And of course there’s Razer and Sixense’s sweet-looking magnet thing. Until then I’ll be sticking with my SNES.

MetaLab Accuses Mozilla of Ripping Off UI Elements In Mockups

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Opera Mini 5 beta now works on Android too

Section: Communications, Cellphones, Smartphones, Mobile, Web, Web Browsers

Recently, Opera announced the release of Opera Mini 5 beta for Google Android. Based on Statcounter – a web statistics firm, Opera Mini is the most popular web browser used on cell phones, as it is compatible on all key platforms. Since Opera Mini is working on a lot of cell phones, it’s time for Android to get a taste of Opera Mini.

Opera Mini 5 Beta for Android looks and feels pretty similar to Opera Mini 5 Beta on other platforms.  It offers a few standard web browsing functions – speed dial, tabbed browsing, password management, and better optimization for the touch screen phones.  Opera’s compression technology also helps you to save on your data charges (if you don’t subscribe to an unlimited package) by reducing data transferred by up to 90%.  Ain’t that a good deal of functions to have on your phone?

Read [Opera Mini] Via [Mashable]

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

Sony shows off the Alpha concept camera menus and screenshots

We told you about Sony’s new concept cameras that were announced during PMA, and now that things have calmed down a bit, we’re starting to see some details. Specifically, what’s going on with the menu system, and what exactly is going to make these cameras so interesting.

It appears that Sony is taking menuing way beyond the basic face detection and background templates. Instead, how about being able to adjust the depth of field from the LCD? How about using a touch screen to adjust all this stuff, and using it to be able to make adjustments to the white balance, or color hues? Sound interesting? Of course, you’ll have the typical picture modes and such, but it’s looking like the menuing system will definitely be where it’s at. And keep in mind, this an EVIL class camera, so you can expect quite a bit more of it then you would from your basic point and shoot.

[via Geeky Gadgets]

Intel’s new Gulftown i7-980X CPU reviews well

Intel cut loose some benchmarking samples of their new, top of the line CPU, the i7-980X Extreme Edition. This is not a CPU intended for the causal use, but rather aim directly at the gaming market. MSRP for the CPU all by itself is a jaw-dropping $999, and rumors are already circulating that the OEMs are already looking at coming out with systems that utilize the new processors.

The reviews are looking good too. There’s just one little problem. There’s no software out there that can really take advantage of the new processor threading yet. See, the i7-980X supports up to 6 cores, which means it’s a multi-threading monster, but if the software doesn’t support it, you end up spending a grand on future proofing. Not a terrible idea, I mean it’s not like it’s worthless, but don’t expect the your brand new smoking CPU to be all it can be until the software can take advantage of it.

Don’t take my word for it, I haven’t actually seen one of these bad boys yet, but all the reviews out there are pretty much saying the same thing.

Hot Potato Tosses A New Site, API, And iPhone App With Foursquare Integration At You

Back in November of last year, the location-based social event service Hot Potato launched at our Realtime CrunchUp. Today, they’ve taken what was a solid service, and made it a lot better with a number of upgrades.

First and foremost, there is a new iPhone application that just went live in the App Store. With a completely revamped user interface, the app makes it easier than ever to find and participate in events. Perhaps more importantly, it makes it really easy to create new events — and notably, the service has the nicest third-party Foursquare integration I’ve ever seen. When you click on the button to create an event, you can still manually enter a location, but if you happen to be around the venue, you can simply pick it from Foursquare’s list of venues with the click of a button. This drastically simplifies the event creation process since the venue metadata is already there.

This new app will be crucial for the SXSW festival in Austin, Texas, which starts tomorrow. If you’ve been reading TechCrunch over the past week, you’ve undoubtedly seen that just about every location-based service has an app they’re unveiling. And another service based around planning events, Plancast, just launched their app this evening. But Hot Potato offers the best of both worlds as it allows you to both plan future events, and interact with ones currently taking place. The new app makes it very easy to chat about the event, and upload photos and videos.

And they’ve cleaned up the stream of information around these events. There is now a filter to show everyone commenting, or just your friends. There are also now number indicators to show unread items. And the check-in process has been simplified thanks to big green buttons that make it obvious.

Also new for SXSW is Twitter integration. On a case-by-case basis, Hot Potato will be pulling in tweets about certain events at SXSW, using a filter to make sure only relevant ones show up. You’ll be able to do things such as filter those tweets to show only those by people you actually follow, which will make them potentially much more meaningful to you. You can also reply to tweets thanks to integration of Twitter’s API. And you can share tweets from within the app that will show up as retweets on Twitter.

Another new features is Calendars — something which each Hot Potato user now has. Obviously, you can add the events you wish to be a part of to your calendar, but people you are friends with on the service can also add you to other events as well. The app also now features Push Notifications now (on top of revamped email notifications).

On top of the new app, Hot Potato has rolled out a completely revamped website with just about all of the same functionality of the new app (as well as the new look and feel). And at the highest level, Hot Potato finally has its own social graph, which can pull in friends from the usual suspects: Facebook, Twitter, your address book, etc.

And here’s something that should really help Hot Potato this week: each time someone checks-in to a SXSW event with Foursquare, that service will recommend they also join the event on Hot Potato. Clicking on the accompanying link provided in the Foursquare app with open the Hot Potato app and let them join the event with a click (if they have an account). As you might expect, you can also check-in to a venue on Foursquare within Hot Potato. With Foursquare likely to be one of the key apps used by conference goers, this cross promotion is simply huge.

On top of all of this, the service now has its own full API, so others can use and interact with their data.

Simply put, all these updates are full of win, and make a good app even better. And remarkably, they’ve managed to cram in all these new features while at the same time simplifying the overall experience.

Fine the new iPhone app here in the App Store. It’s a free download.

Study: R-rated Movies Linked to Kids' Alcohol Experimentation

Plants Help Clean Contamination in Mining Areas

Guitar/headphone interface for iPhone

The slew of music recording / creation apps for the iPhone all share the same weakness. They rely on the internal microphone, and a recording quality microphone it is not. The Guitarbud from PRS Guitars gives you a direct input into your iDevice without taking away headphone capability.

It’s a simple, yet effective little cord. All that happens is the signal from your guitar (or bass, if you’re into that sort of thing) replaces the microphone input. Since it’s all analog, the Guitarbud works with pretty much any guitar-related app available.

$30 will get you 6 feet of cable that if you have any soldering know-how, could jury-rig up yourself. You’ll need either an iPhone with OS 3.0 or later, or a 2nd-gen iPod Touch running OS 3.0.

[Musicians Friend]

The '70s Photos That Made Us Want to Save Earth

Plug and Play: USB Albums We'd Like to See

NASA's New Jumbo Jet Keeps Giant Eye on Heavens

Alt Text: Resurrected Movie Gimmicks of the Future

Plug and Play: USB Albums We'd Like to See

Quantum Dots Spotlight DNA-repair Proteins in Motion

T-Mobile webConnect Rocket USB stick to be available March 14

Section: Communications, Cellular Providers, Broadband Cards, Mobile

T-Mobile has announced that the webConnect Rocket USB stick will be available beginning this Saturday March 14, 2010. In particular those located in the Philadelphia area may want to listen up because this modem will allow you to connect to the new and fast HSPA+ network.

The webConnect Rocket will be priced at $99.99 on a 2-year contract. As for the required webConnect plan, you can opt for either the 5GB option for $60 a month or the 200MB option for $30 a month.

Sadly though as of now the HSPA+ network is limited to Philadelphia, however according to T-Mobile they have plans for “broad national deployment” before “the end of 2010.” In other words it looks like we can expect major cities around the US to get the HSPA+ green light before the end of the year.

Via [Engadget]

T-Mobile webConnect Rocket USB Laptop Stick

When surfing the Web, downloading large files or watching video from a laptop on the go, customers in HSPA+ coverage areas will benefit from lightning-fast mobile broadband with a home broadband-like experience. Compatible with PC and Mac, customers simply plug the webConnect Rocket into their laptop and the built-in T-Mobile webConnect Manager software installs and automatically finds the best available Internet connection. Additionally, T-Mobile webConnect Manager enables customers to monitor how much data is being used and avoid overages.

Starting March 14, customers can purchase the T-Mobile webConnect Rocket USB Laptop Stick for $99.99 (plus taxes and fees), with a 2-year contract and Even More webConnect data plan at select T-Mobile retail stores in Philadelphia, online at http://www.T-Mobile.com or by calling 1-800-T-Mobile.

T-Mobile webConnect Service Plans

T-Mobile is bringing its suite of Even More and Even More Plus plans offering both annual contract and no annual contract options to our family of webConnect products. The new pricing plans include:
· Even More webConnect data plan (two year contract):
· $59.99/mo. for 5GB per month ($0.20/MB overage)
· $29.99/mo. for 200MB per month ($0.20/MB overage)
· Even More Plus webConnect data plan (no annual contract):
· $49.99/mo. for 5GB per month ($0.20/MB overage)
· $19.99/mo. for 200MB per month ($0.20/MB overage)

Unlimited nationwide T-Mobile HotSpot access is included in both plans and doesn’t count toward monthly data usage.

T-Mobile 3G Network

Today T-Mobile’s 3G high-speed data network is available in more than 273 U.S. cities covering more than 206 million people. HSPA 7.2 is now enabled across our entire 3G nationwide network and we’re working to put the necessary backhaul in place to support these faster speeds.

While other carriers are waiting to deploy LTE, T-Mobile is the only national U.S. carrier upgrading its existing 3G network to support HSPA+, which is capable of delivering download/upload speeds that are significantly faster than T-Mobile’s standard 3G network. With three times the speed capabilities of HSPA 7.2, HSPA+ offers theoretical peak throughput speeds of 21Mbps.

* T-Mobile recently became the first U.S. carrier to launch HSPA+ with a deployment in Philadelphia and is integrating HSPA+ into its 3G network now with broad national deployment planned for the end of 2010. In the coming months, we’ll be lighting up HSPA+ in major cities on both coasts. Our network upgrade efforts are well underway and we’ll share more details as the service becomes available to more customers.

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

E-Readers: Walt Tells You How To Choose [Mossblog]

Interviewed on Digits today, Walt notes three key features to consider when purchasing an e-reader: Readability, battery life and the ease of purchasing books. He also looks ahead to the next wave of tablet computers that will offer e-reading functionality such as the Apple (AAPL) iPad.

On The Eve Of SXSW’s Location War, Plancast Gets An iPhone App

It’s getting tough to keep up with all of the location-related developments leading up to this year’s SXSW, and they just keep coming. Tonight, on the eve of the event, Plancast has just had its iPhone application approved. The service, which we’ve previously described as a ‘Foursquare for the future’, allows you to tell your friends where you’re planning to be as opposed to where you currently are (in other words, it lets you and your friends plan ahead). You can grab the new iPhone app here.

The application itself looks solid, and includes the core functionality you’ll find on the Plancast website. The main view allows you to scroll through a list of your friends’ upcoming events, and tapping on an event will show you where it is on a map and who else is going. At SXSW, where there are always many panels and parties going on, this can come in handy — sometimes it’s more practical to plan ahead than it is to walk across town when you notice a few of your friends are checking in somewhere.  One feature I’d like to see is a way to get push notifications when a bunch of friends are planning to attend the same event (e.g. “Hey, your friends are all going to Salt Lick in a few hours!”); hopefully we’ll get something like that in the next release. There’s also a mobile version of the site available for users on other mobile platforms.

Plancast was founded by TC alum Mark Hendrickson, and recently closed an $800,000 seed funding round that included a bevy of well known angels like SoftTech VC, Dave McClure, and Joshua Schachter.

For other SXSW-related location news, see Loopt’s new iPhone app, Gowalla’s new app, and Vicarious.ly, a new app from SimpleGeo that brings all of this location data together.

New addition to Creative Lab’s Aurvana series

I don’t completely understand this fascination with in-ear headphones. Are regular headphones just so bulky and inconvenient that its worth the hassle and lower audio quality? Especially considering that in order to start getting decent sound, you need to drop at least $100. However, for those of who enjoy these marvels of miniaturization, Creative Labs has a new addition to their Aurvana line on the way. The very aptly named In-Ear2.

There’s not a whole lot to suggest how these are different from their predecessors. One of the biggest draws are the hypoallergenic eartips. They utilize super-fancy AuraSeal™ noise-isolation technology to eliminate 95% of background noise. Probably the most important factor of in-ears, as in plays into both getting decent bass response and keeping your volume at safe listening levels. The rest of the tech specs are below. These things are currently available at $149 a pop.

• Drivers: Balanced Armature
• Frequency Response: 15Hz ~ 16kHz
• Impedance: 42 ohms
• Sensitivity (1kHz): 110dB/mW
• Connectivity: 3.5mm gold-plated plug
• Cable length: 1.2m Oxygen-Free Copper
• Product weight: 11g
• In-Box Accessories: 2 sets of S, M, L size eartips, airplane adapter, travel case with cable management, cleaning tool

[eCoustics]

Jelly Belly Invites Fans to Create Virtual Bean Art for Springtime Fun

Pioneer DJM-2000. Turntables are out, touchscreen is in

DJ gear is unique in audio in that more than any other equipment, it has to be flashy and able to take a pounding. Usually in the form of spilt beer. My main concern with Pioneer’s new DJM-2000 is how the touchscreen will react to the rough-and-tumble world of house music and ecstasy. But it still looks gorgeous. And you can hook in up to 4 CDJ turntables. 4! Unless you spontaneously grew extra limbs, I’m not sure why you would need that kind of power.

Specifications after the jump.

• Number of Channels: Audio x4, Mic x1
• Power requirements: AC 120V, 60Hz
• Power consumption: 42 W
• Weight: 18.7lbs
• Dimensions: 16.9in(W) x 16.1in(D) x 4.3in(H)
• Headroom: 19dB
• Sampling Rate: 96kHz
• A/D, D/A Converter: 24bit, 32bit
• Frequency Response: 20Hz to 20kHz
• Total Harmonic Distortion: 0.004% or less
• Signal-to-Noise Ratio: 107 dB (LINE)

[via Gizmodo]

Disney World is covering the monorails with Tron light cycle graphics

Section: Gadgets / Other

Riding on a Tron light cycle may not be possible, but riding in a monorail plastered with light cycle graphics will be. Of course in this case I am imagining it being more interesting to see from a distance as opposed to riding in. Anyway, according to the Disney Parks Blog the light cycle covered monorails will begin making an appearance this month. And just in case you missed it yesterday, the Tron Legacy trailer in HD was released.

Read [Disney Parks Blog] Via [Sci Fi Wire] and [CrunchGear]

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

Ultra detailed photo of barnacle

This barnacle Nano Gigapan is really cool. Take your time, really zoom in and explore this one. The barnacle was found washed up on the back of a crab shell at Mendocino's big river beach. In this Nano Gigapan you can see the crab shell around the base of the barnacle.

This image is composed of 384 pictures taken with a scanning electron microscope, which took me around 5-6 hours to capture. The barnacle is magnified 800x.

Nano Gigapan Blog


Source: Boing Boing | 11 Mar 2010 | 4:33 pm

Review: AVerMedia AVerTV HD DVR video capture card

Short Version: The AVerMedia MTVHDDVRR is a PCI Express video capture card with HDMI, component, S-Video, and composite inputs. The card retails for around $100 (you can find it for close to $90 online) and is capable of capturing up to 1080i video.

Features:

• PCI Express video capture card
• HDMI, Component, S-Video, Composite inputs
• Records up to 1080i resolution in MPEG-2 format, also records H.264 and iPod formats
• Includes low profile bracket and 10-in-1 input cable, plus on-card HDMI input

Pros:

• Easy installation
• Good recording quality
• Relatively inexpensive

Cons:

• Included media center software looks like it’s from 1999
• No 1080p recording
• HDMI connection is wildly unpredictable

Review:

The AVerMedia AVerTV HD DVR video capture card (model number MTVHDDVRR) is for people who want to digitize footage of some type. Be it old VHS movies or camcorder tapes, video game console gameplay, or grabbing shows off of a DVR, the card handles most recording tasks pretty well.

Setup is easy, provided you’ve cracked open a desktop and installed something before. The card face has two slots; one’s an HDMI port and the other is used for the included 10-in-1 AV cable that’s got component, S-video, and composite connectors. You can plug a bunch of different sources in at the same time and then switch between them using AVer MediaCenter.

The included AVer MediaCenter looks and feels like very early DVR software. It’s got TV, Video, Audio, and Photo functions but you’ll just use the TV function to record stuff. The video player, audio player, and photo viewer are just fluff.

Recording works well over anything but HDMI, which was a total crapshoot depending upon which device was hooked up. My Comcast DVR box caused the software to crash every time without fail (see photo below), my Xbox 360 would sometimes only record the sound but no picture, and a Gateway notebook with HDMI output worked fine every time. For reference, I’m running Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit, the latest 64-bit Beta drivers for the card, and latest AVer Media Center software. I used the latest stable, non-Beta version of the card’s drivers for a while, too, and experienced similar results.

Anything hooked up via component, composite, or S-video recorded just fine without any problems. So it’s likely an issue with HDMI’s digital handshake and could also have something to do with the whole copy protection thing (HDCP). After a while, I just stopped trying to hook things up via HDMI. Here’s a video of HDMI video capture that actually worked—a Gateway notebook playing a 720p video recorded at 720p by the card.

Download the full-size original MPEG-2 file…

Your format options for capturing HD video are MPEG-2 and… well, that’s it. You’ve also got H.264 and “iPod” settings but they max out at 720×480. The maximum HD resolution is 1080i, so plan accordingly.

Conclusion:

I can’t broadly recommend this product due to how poorly the included software handles HDMI connections, but if you’re patient enough to wait for AVerMedia to get all the kinks worked out and you’re content to only use the component, composite, and S-video connections, then you’ll find everything to work relatively well aside from the HDMI input. On the whole, though, there are more stable options out there right now.

AVerTV HD DVR [AVerMedia-USA.com]

William Shatner Takes On Social Networking

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Jury Verdict Favors LG Electronics in Whirlpool Refrigerator Patent Case

Milo’s Response To Google’s Blue Dot Specials: A Picture

This morning Google announced a new Blue Dot feature on the mobile version of Google Product Search that shows whether a product is in-stock at nearby stores. This seems to pose a threat to startup Milo, which highlights local inventory in product search results both on the web and mobile devices. Milo’s co-founder Ted Dziuba subsequently responded to our post with a Tweet that read “Google Product Search has availability for 5 retailers vs. Milo’s 49. Super cool web service, bro.” At launch Google only has partnerships with Best Buy, Sears, Williams-Sonoma, Pottery Barn, and West Elm. Milo’s list of merchants includes a range of retailers, from BestBuy and Nordstrom to Midwestern regional department store Blain’s Farm and Fleet.

When we asked for an additional response, Milo sent us this amazing set of pictures below. Milo’s Palo Alto office’s are located at 165 University Avenue, in the same space as Google’s first office back in 1999. Look closely at the picture and you may even see a few of the famous faces from Google’s original team. The building itself is legendary in Silicon Valley and has also housed PayPal. Here’s a 2007 New York Times article detailing the building’s history and apparent lucky karma. The picture of the Google employees was given to Milo by one of its investors.

Milo CEO and co-founder Jack Abraham was quick to respond that they are not implying that Milo is the next Google, but just meant to inject some light-hearted humor into the situation. In all seriousness, Abraham said that Milo has a tremendous amount of respect for Google and its Product Search but aren’t scared of the search giant entering the market and actually welcomes the competition. Abraham and his team have been working for the past two years to scale their product and feel that their offering is more comprehensive than Google’s Blue Dot specials. While Milo is steadily expanding its merchants both regionally and nationally, the startup is also looking to partner with mom and pop shops in cities. Currently, Milo indexes 2 million products.

And Forrester reports that the “online research, offline buying” consumer market represents $917 billion in consumer spending, which is 30 percent of all U.S. retail sales. Online, e-commerce spending accounts for less than 5 percent of U.S. sales. With those numbers, it comes of no surprise that Google wants a piece of the pie. But perhaps there’s enough room for a number of players to monetize from this space.

Al Franken Jokes, But Google Fiber Is No Laughing Matter

Report: Verizon 4G handsets out by mid-2011 - CNET

Only Kent (blog)

Report: Verizon 4G handsets out by mid-2011 CNET A Verizon Wireless executive said its first 4G wireless handset could be available by mid-2011, according to an article in Thursday's Wall Street Journal. Anthony Melone, chief technology officer at Verizon Wireless, ... Report: Verizon To Roll Out 4G Devices In Mid-2011ChannelWeb Will Verizon 4G Mean the End of "All You Can Eat" Data?PC World Verizon to Have 4G Handset in Mid-2011Wall Street Journal PC Magazine -TechNewsWorld -Computerworld all 237 news articles »

Researchers Beam 230Mb/sec Wireless Internet WIth LEDs

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Verizon bringing 4G in 2011 at a cost

Section: Communications, Cellular Providers, Mobile

4G and LTE technologies are just around the corner. In mid-2011 (about six months earlier than the previous announcement), Verizon claims its LTE network will be ready and phones will start releasing with LTE technology built-in. This new, faster network will allow for faster download speeds and better reception around the country.

However this all comes with a price as Verizon hinting very strongly at eliminating all unlimited data plans and using a tiered system for this new techology. Carriers like Verizon will be looking to gain back all of the money that is currently funding the network and research overhaul. And it is going to show on our wireless bills.

Although this technology might be a great need for mobile networks, it will definitely come at cost out of the consumers pocket.

Read [Wall Street Journal ] Via [Engadget]

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

TJX Hacking Conspirator Gets 4 Years

You Are a Tamagotchi: Turning Your Health Into a Game

SolarPHP 1.0 Released

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

57% of workers use their smartphones in the bathroom. Also, 57% of workers are nasty.

Are you mysophobic? Oh, you don’t know what “mysophobic” is? It’s a fancy way of saying “germaphobe”, which, according to scientists or linguists or some other group of academics, isn’t actually a word. Go figure.

Now, I ask again: Are you mysophobic? No? Well, you might be after reading this. Because it’s naaasty.

CareerBuilders did a survey of 5,200 mobile workers (that is, people who primarily work on the road), and found that their cell phone habits are generally dangerous, a bit rude, and pretty friggin’ gross.

Some of the more notable stats revealed:

• 62% check their phones while eating – Eh, whatever. I get bored while I’m eating, too.
• 60% check while on vacation – Again, whatever. I love sand and sun as much as the next guy, but I need my daily dose of Vitamin SocialNetworking.
• 50% check in bed – Headaches happen.
• 57% check in the bathroom – You see, this is just friggin’ gross. Do I do it? Sure! But I don’t like to think that other people do.
• 50% check while driving – Inexcusable. To those of you thinking you have a special technique that lets you text while driving or that you’re a good enough driver to do this, you’re not. Everyone else thinks they’re wonderful drivers too, until they smash into a pole because they just HAD to forward that MMS of the baby chick riding the cat.

You can check out a few more stats over at InformationWeek. In the mean time: What’s the weirdest, nastiest, or most ridiculous place you’ve ever messed with your phone? Let us know in the comments below. We won’t tell anyone.

JooJoo Tablet Gets a Makeover Before Launch

JooJoo, the tablet formerly known as CrunchPad, is set to land at the end of this month with several new features that weren’t seen in the early prototype.

Most noticeably, the drab, solid-colored home screen seen in the JooJoo prototype (below) has been replaced with an elegantly polished icon grid laid on top of a customizable wallpaper (above). Engadget, who first reported the story, has some exclusive screenshots posted, in addition to the one above.

Also interesting is the addition of a new text-entry option allowing you to display a smaller keyboard designed for one-handed operation, which can be dragged around to avoid interfering with content. There’s an option for a larger virtual keyboard for two-hand typing as well. The one-handed typing solution is intriguing to me, and it makes me wonder whether Apple will do something similar with its iPad. From my hands-on time with the iPad, I found the larger virtual keyboard to be unpleasant to type with compared to entering text on the iPhone.

Some more factors competing with the iPad: Flash is now fully working on the JooJoo. Videos can also be played from a thumb drive plugged into the JooJoo’s USB port.

Oddly, the hardware has changed color as well. Rather than black, it sports a champagne exterior, JooJoo maker Fusion Garage told Engadget.

The JooJoo looks sweet, and that home screen is quite attractive. But as I’ve said before, I have doubts that a vertically integrated product from this small company will succeed. The JooJoo runs its own custom operating system, and it’ll be difficult for Fusion Garage to persuade developers to code apps for a device with a relatively small user base. We’ll just have to see what happens when the JooJoo goes on sale March 25.

See Also:

• Hands On With the JooJoo, Formerly Known as CrunchPad
• JooJoo Tablet Faces Uphill Battle Against iPad
• JooJoo Tablet Set to Ship Around Same Time as iPad
• Startup Disses Arrington, Relaunches CrunchPad Tablet as JooJoo …

Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com

Poll Results of Finance Students at University of Dayton's Rise Investment Forum to Be Available Through Twitter, Facebook

The Internet: A Candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize [Voices]

By Sarmad Ali, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal

The Internet has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for 2010–but should it be?

The nomination was proposed by the Italian version of technology magazine Wired and has so far been endorsed by 11 people including 2003 Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi and Nicholas Negroponte, founder of One Laptop Per Child.

Backers of the Internet’s candidacy for the prize cite its achievements in bridging differences and promoting dialogue among different nations. On the promotional site for the Internet’s campaign, called Internet for Peace, supporters contend that the Internet “is much more than a network of computers; it is an endless Web of people.”

Read the rest of this post on the original site

Best Smartphone Plan Covering US and Canada?

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Securus Technologies, Inc. Announces Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2009 Operating Results

ChinaEdu Reports Fourth Quarter 2009 Results

iPhone OS 4.0 Looms, But When Will We See It?

Apple has set the standard that once every year they will release a new version of the iPhone. It stands to reason that this year will be no different, with a new model likely coming sometime this summer. But arguably just as important as Apple’s hardware refresh is the accompanying software refresh that comes with it as well. And that’s why it shouldn’t be surprising at all that whispers of iPhone OS 4.0 are starting to grow. But this year, the timeline appears a bit off.

As AppleInsider reported today, iPhone OS 4.0 is likely to deliver multitasking support. If true, that will make it perhaps the most important OS upgrade for the platform yet. However, in reporting the news, AppleInsider also notes that the software, “remains under development and reportedly has a quite ‘way to go’ before it’s ready for prime time.” Looking back at the iPhone OS SDK history you’ll notice a constant: Apple has released the beta builds in March the past two years. We’re already well into March this year, and so far, no word about Apple being close to doing the same.

Read the rest at TechCrunch >>

Bing for Motorola's Android Phones Is a Bad Idea - PC World

Unwired View

Bing for Motorola's Android Phones Is a Bad Idea PC World If you like bloatware, you'll love the idea of Motorola pre-loading Bing services onto its Android phones in China. Otherwise, pray that the partnership between Motorola and Microsoft never comes stateside. Motorola announced that the partnership will ... Microsoft plants Bing on Google-free Chinese AndroidsRegister Bing use inches up in FebruaryCNET Readers Ask: What's Next for Microsoft's Bing?PC Magazine DailyTech -The Associated Press -Reuters all 504 news articles »

Mars Area HS Student Wins Visions and Voices Best of Show, Eleven Students Receive Best of Category Honors at PTI

Alternate Disc-Tractions: 2012 Blu-ray review

FROM GAMERTELL - Explosions, volcanoes, fireballs hurling from the sky, massive earthquakes, outrunning explosions, ginormous tidal waves, mass hysteria, dogs and cats living together, it’s all in here. But is it worth a purchase?
MORE »

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

iPhone OS 4.0 Looms, But When Will We See It?

Apple has set the standard that once every year they will release a new version of the iPhone. It stands to reason that this year will be no different, with a new model likely coming sometime this summer. But arguably just as important as Apple’s hardware refresh is the accompanying software refresh that comes with it as well. And that’s why it shouldn’t be surprising at all that whispers of iPhone OS 4.0 are starting to grow. But this year, the timeline appears a bit off.

As AppleInsider reported today, iPhone OS 4.0 is likely to deliver multitasking support. If true, that will make it perhaps the most important OS upgrade for the platform yet. However, in reporting the news, AppleInsider also notes that the software, “remains under development and reportedly has a quite ‘way to go’ before it’s ready for prime time.” Looking back at the iPhone OS SDK history you’ll notice a constant: Apple has released the beta builds in March the past two years. We’re already well into March this year, and so far, no word about Apple being close to doing the same.

In fact, last year, Apple held its iPhone OS 3.0 preview event (where it first made a beta available) on March 17. I remember this well because I was unable to attend as I was at the SXSW festival in Austin, Texas. I also remember when Apple sent out the invites to that event, March 12, because I wrote up the report about it on my way to the airport to leave for Austin. But the difference last year is that there were whispers leading up to that announcement that there would be some kind of event in March for the iPhone OS. This year, so far, nothing.

Now, it’s possible that some of the speculation about the new iPhone OS release has been muted because of the recent iPad unveiling, and it’s upcoming launch on April 3. But that very launch also adds fuel to the fire that we won’t be seeing an iPhone 4.0 OS anytime soon. After all, Apple is currently in the process of rolling out the beta builds of iPhone OS 3.2 (currently on beta 4), which is the OS the iPad will apparently ship with.

The launch of the SDK is important because it gives developers time to get their apps ready for any big changes coming. And multitasking seems like it would be a pretty huge change, though it’s not entirely clear if most of the work would be done through the OS itself to optimize how app resources are managed, rather than apps having to do that themselves to be deemed “multitasking ready.” Hell, it’s not even clear if any iPhone beyond the inevitable new one will be allowed to let third-party apps run at the same time as the new hardware will undoubtedly have a faster processor (possibly the A4 found in the iPad), more RAM, and maybe even a better battery — all of which will be crucial to multitasking.

I’ve spoken with a few developers and none have yet seen any part of the iPhone 4.0 OS. A few have gotten word from the company that it is indeed coming, and that big changes are in store (which had led me to speculate about background running in the past) but have no idea when that will be. Apple, meanwhile, has been thinking about how best to let third-party applications run in the background on the iPhone for about a year now.

It seems unlikely that Apple would launch a new iPhone OS without giving developers plenty of time to play around with it. And since there is no word about the 4.0 SDK coming anytime soon, that could well mean a push from the usual June/July timeframe for a new (final build) iPhone OS launch. Might we see new iPhone hardware that launches with OS 3.2? And then iPhone OS 4.0 would be released as a free upgrade closer to the Fall timeframe? It certainly seems possible.

Pennsylvania CISO Fired Over Talk At RSA Conference

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Hate Blogger Wins Second Mistrial

Vicarious.ly: SimpleGeo’s One Location-Based Stream To Visualize Them All

As I’ve made abundantly clear over the past several days, just about every service that has anything to do with location is launching something at the SXSW festival which starts tomorrow in Austin, Texas. Don’t believe me, here’s a small sampling (Foursquare, Gowalla, Loopt, Whrrl, Plancast, Brizzly, Twitter). So, how are you going to wrap your head around all this location data? SimpleGeo has an awesome way.

Vicarious.ly is a real-time location-based stream of information presented in a nice visual way. While the plan is to eventually launch one for many different cities around the U.S. and eventually the world, the first one is based around Austin, for SXSW. To make it, SimpleGeo partnered with BlockChalk, Brightkite, Bump Technologies, Flickr, Fwix, Foursquare, Gowalla, and Twitter to pull all of their location data and place it both in a constantly-updating stream, and put data points on a Google Map at the top of the page. These data points are represented by the logos of the various companies, so it’s easy to follow visually.

Those concerned about the privacy implications of this need not worry, Vicarious.ly doesn’t pull actual user names from the companies mentioned above. Instead, they simply note that “someone” checked-in at a venue. They do, however, give the venue name, which is a hyperlink. So if someone just checked into Stubb’s Bar-B-Q in Austin on Gowalla, you’ll see a link back to the Gowalla page for that venue. Likewise, if someone uploads a geotagged picture to Flickr, you’ll see a thumbnail of the picture in Vicarious.ly’s stream, and clicking on it will take you to that picture’s Flickr page.

It’s fairly amazing to see just how much activity there is even today, the day before the conference starts. Tomorrow and the weekend should be insane. “The amount of real-time, location-based information we’re indexing is staggering.  We wanted a powerful way to showcase that, so we built Vicarious.ly and targeted the launch to coincide with a massive gathering of geeks,” co-founder Matt Galligan says about the project.

You’ll note just how much of the activity are check-ins from either Foursquare or Gowalla. Those two are likely to be the two main competitors in the location war that will take place this weekend. (If you’re surprised not to see tweets in the stream, it’s a bug that SimpleGeo hopes to squash tonight).

For more on SimpleGeo, which has a powerful set of tools to easily provide geolocation infrastructure for other companies (such as the new hot startup, StickyBits), check out this and this.

Climate Denialism

Google Adds Bike Trails to Map Feature

Hubert's Remnants Still Raining On Southern Madagascar

Quantum Computing Thrives on Chaos

doubleTwist for Windows, now with podcast support

Section:

doubleTwist is further growing up, and also adding some additional competition for iTunes. In the past six months alone we have seen doubleTwist add support for the Amazon MP3 store and also become the official sync app for T-Mobile’s Android handsets.

And now the Windows version of doubleTwist has been updated yet again, which brings the version up to 2.7.0.3282. In terms of new features or additions, this latest is now offering support for podcasts. Users will be able to search, subscribe or play podcasts as well as sync them to a phone or other portable media device. In other words, doubleTwist is now a full featured podcast app in addition to being a music app.

Additionally, this latest update brings some other fixes and features which includes library sorting issues, id3 tag discovery, support for networked drives, status and progress or application loading, ability to reload iTunes playlists at launch, ability to not scan iTunes for changes as well as some bug fixes.

If you are a doubleTwist user on Windows go ahead with the update, and for those that have net yet checked this out—its worth a download and is currently also available for Mac. Although as of this posting the Mac version has not yet received the podcast support.

Read [doubleTwist] Via [doubleTwist Community Forums]

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

Leaked: HTC Incredible caught in its Verizon colors, specs confirmed

HTC Incredible shown above with battery cover removed.

Verizon’s not going to be too happy about this one. From everyone we’ve spoken to, they really wanted to keep details surrounding the Android-powered HTC Incredible underwraps for a while longer. That’s understandable, given that the Incredible blows their current flagship Android device, the Motorola Droid, to smithereens on just about every count.

Alas, all it takes is one device to slip into the wrong hands — and fortunately for us, it has! A bunch of new shots of the HTC Incredible (with brand new, Verizon-brand-friendly colors) have just leaked out, and a gaggle of spec details came with it.

All of these shots and details come by way of Androidforum user/super spy NKT.

The specs confirmed so far:

• 8 megapixel camera with autofocus
• Memory: 512 MB ROM, 512 MB RAM (320 free to the user)
• Android 2.1 with HTC’s Sense UI
• Optical Trackpad
• 3.7″ WVGA (800×480) AMOLED Screen
• 1300mAH battery
• FM Tuner
• 802.11b/g WiFi
• 117.5 mm (L) x 58.5 mm (w) x 11.9 mm (T)
• 1Ghz Snapdragon processor, underclocked to 768Mhz.

Go ahead – camp out on the edge of your seat for this one. It’s easily one of the most powerful Android handsets coming to the market; it’s a wee bit less powerful than the Nexus One, but packs a beefier camera as a trade off.

What do you think? Is this the Android handset that will rule 2010?

[Via EngadgetMobile]

Recognizing courage, securing online freedom

Rumor: Multitasking coming to iPhone OS 4.0 - CNET

Gadget Venue (blog)

Rumor: Multitasking coming to iPhone OS 4.0 CNET The Palm Pre does a nice job with multitasking, and a lot of people want the same for the iPhone. Sorry, that was just my excited utterance upon reading Thursday morning's AppleInsider story about iPhone OS 4.0. ... No Camera on Apple's iPad, After All?PC World Report: Apple to support iPhone multitaskingTG Daily Behind The Scenes Of Apple's iPad LaunchForbes San Francisco Chronicle -ZDNet (blog) -PC Magazine all 284 news articles »

Why Female Moths Are Big And Beautiful

Brain Scan Can Read Your Thoughts

Scavenging Energy Waste To Turn Water Into Hydrogen Fuel

Survey: Lack Of Confidence In National Hurricane Response Planning

drPodder podcast app for webOS moves from homebrew to official App Catalog

Section: Communications, Smartphones, Mobile

webOS users that are looking for a podcast app may want to check out the recently graduated drPodder. The app comes as recently graduated because while it has been around for a little while, up until now it was limited to the homebrew community. As far as what the app will do, like most capable podcast apps today, it will allow you to download and listen or stream both audio and video podcasts. You can also choose to have your subscription list update manually or on schedule. Anyway, the App Catalog version is currently available and selling for $0.99.

Read [drPodder] Via [PreCentral]

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

Google’s coming to Austin for SXSW

• Representatives from Google and YouTube will be speaking on more than 20 panels on a variety of subjects, including open source, mobile, real-time communication and user experience design.
• At the Google booth, we’ll be doing demos on a wide range of products, including Google Maps, Blogger, Wave, Reader and YouTube, and sessions on building apps for App Engine, extensions on Chrome and accessibility APIs and hacks for Android.
• On Sunday, our all-day Hackathon will give you the chance to get your hands dirty and build applications using a variety of Google technologies. At the end of the day, we’ll award prizes, including Android phones, for the best apps.
• We’re sponsoring the festival’s first Mothers’ Room, where nursing moms can go for comfort and privacy.

Intel Previews New ‘Gulftown’ Six-Core Processor

Intel’s first 32-nanometer, six-core processor is ready for prime time. It’s clunky moniker aside, the chip called the Core i7-980X Extreme edition will offer some serious artillery for gamers and heavy multimedia users looking for a faster processor.

The chip is based on Intel’s platform codenamed “Gulftown” and will include features that improve on computing speed and power efficiency.

Intel launched the first of the Core i7 chips in November 2008. The family of Core i7 chips will be almost four to six times faster than the earlier platform, says Intel.

The first of the Core i7 chips were based on the 45-nm circuitry, a step ahead from the previous 65-nm generation. The latest chip takes it to the next level with a 32-nm process so Intel can pack in more computing power and manufacture the CPUs more cheaply.

The new Core i7 chips are based on a newly designed Intel microarchitecture called Nehalem, which includes major design changes in areas such as power management and integrated memory control.

The chips use “hyperthreading” technology, which gives the chips the ability to execute 12 threads simultaneously on six processing cores, greatly increasing their speed.

The Core i7-980X chip has 1.17 billion transistors with 12 megabytes of Level 3 cache. The processor uses the Intel X58 Express chipset and has a clock speed of 3.33 GHz, reports Extreme Tech, which offers some benchmarks. Intel is yet to announce the entire technical specifications of the chip.

The Core i7-980X chip will be available at the same price as the i7-975 chip released last year. The i7-975 chip can simultaneously process eight threads on four cores.Intel hasn’t said exactly when we will see the latest chips in high-end gaming desktops though it is expected to be in the next few weeks.

See Also:

• Intel Shows 48-Core Processor for Research
• Intel Launches New Desktop Processor
• A Quick Guide to Intel’s Chips, From Arrandale to Yorkfield
• Intel’s New Convertible Classmate PC Doubles as E-Reader

Photo: Core i7 chip/Intel

Video: Android hacked in place of Windows Mobile on a Touch Pro2

While a lot of people are pretty pumped about Windows Phone 7, there are some people who definitely are not: everyone stuck on a now antiquated Windows Mobile 6.5 handset. Microsoft has already confirmed that if your phones running 6.5, it’s not going to be running 7 any time soon.

If you can’t join’em, beat’em, right? There’s a new project in the works which aims to breath new life into old Windows Mobile 6.5 phones.. by replacing the whole OS with Android.

As you can see in the video above, they’ve already managed to jam the OS onto an HTC TouchPro2. (Fun Fact: I’ve wanted an HTC TouchPro 2 running Android since before the TouchPro 2 officially existed. I’ll be buying one purely for hacking this onto it.) It’s not perfect just yet, but it’s damn near it; data works, SMS works, calling works, and that glorious, glorious hardware keyboard works.

They’ve also got it up and running in various forms of functionality on the HTC Diamond2 (AT&T Pure), HD, Diamond, and the original Touch Pro. Ready to get your hack on? Pocketnow has all the download links you need to get started.

Comcast Defends NBC Deal - PC Magazine

Boston Globe

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Scientists take another run at climate change - USA Today

The Hindu

Scientists take another run at climate change USA Today Eight Nobel-prize winning economists and scientists have joined more than 2000 others in signing a letter today that urges the Senate to take swift action on climate change. "The longer we wait, the harder and more costly it will be to limit climate ... Global warming study gets external, independent reviewTG Daily Panel Will Review UN Climate WorkNew York Times Review of UN panel's report on climate change won't reexamine errorsWashington Post BusinessWeek -Christian Science Monitor -The Associated Press all 662 news articles »

Totally Unreal: Palm and Epic Games bring Unreal Engine 3 to webOS

Only yesterday we were drooling over the idea that Epic Games had managed to port their draw-droppingly beautiful game engine, Unreal Engine 3, to the iPhone. As it turns out, the iPhone isn’t alone – it’s heading to webOS, too!

Details are still a bit slim at the moment, but Palm just announced the deal with Epic Games at the Games Developer Conference in San Francisco. Anyone with access to Palm’s new PDK and Epic’s Unreal Engine 3 (read: everyone – both are free, though Unreal Engine requires licensing for commercial use) should be able to make use of the new friendship. At the very least, we ought to see some killer looking games from the major houses before too long.

App Store who? Android Market what? Qualcomm’s BREW Platform has Transacted over $3 Billion in App Sales

It’s been around for 9 years, is on over 1,200 handset models, used by over 65 OEM’s, available in 25 countries, and has over 250M potential users. Yet you may never have heard of it. It is BREW, a mobile operating system developed by Qualcomm that powers anything from feature phones to low-cost smartphones. For feature phones, BREW is the OS of choice for AT&T and Verizon, the two biggest carriers in the US.

Recently, Qualcomm announced that over $3 Billion worth of transactions have occurred on its platform through app purchases on the millions of phones with BREW. Though that’s over the course of 9 years, it’s important to realize that there are only 18,000 applications on BREW across even fewer developers, according to Qualcomm. So the developers responsible for those applications have made a killing.

I met with Qualcomm at GDC and they’re quite proud of their success, citing a recent report from AT&T in which they committed to using BREW as the primary OS for all “non-Smartphones” (Android, iPhone, Symbian, WinMo). AT&T added that only 30% of its customers are buying Smartphones, and the “second tier” of customers will use BREW. To top it off, AT&T said that second tier of phones is growing faster than the Smartphone market.

The flip side, of course, is that BREW just doesn’t have the distribution platform of an Apple or Google, and clearly lacks the sex appeal. The browser still looks like it’s from the 1990’s and they hardly have more capabilities than a J2ME phone. Furthermore, the platform is light-years away from having the openness of Google or even Apple. It is extremely expensive to crack the distribution channels on BREW, which are dominated by the bureaucratic and largely inept mobile operators.

Qualcomm, however, doesn’t care – because it benefits regardless of whether you buy a smartphone or a BREW-based device. They are a chipset manufacturer and used in many of the smartphones on the market. Increasingly, mobile OS companies are putting their faith in Qualcomm’s new SnapDragon processor. It will be the processor of record for Windows Phone, most Android phones (including the Nexus One), Palm, and Symbian.

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Gadgetell Review: DAS Keyboard Professional

Section: Peripherals, Mice / Keyboards, Reviews, Features

The DAS Keyboard was graciously sent to me to review over the past several weeks and I must say, it is a flashback to the old keyboards we all once used. DAS Keyboard sells 3 models of their signature super-clicky keyboards: Original Professional, Model S Professional, and Model S Ultimate. However they also sell a much quieter version as well named the Model S Professional Silent edition. The unit I requested was the Model S Professional considering I was not hardcore enough to go with the blank, ultimate edition.

By first impressions, the Das keyboard is very stylish, with a piano black bezel, blue media keys, and it’s thick. Very thick. The keyboard itself weighs 2.6 lbs, and is nearly an inch thick (24mm), which caught me by surprise having spent the past several months with a very thin and light keyboard. However, the dimensions were not necessarily a bad thing considering this is a desktop keyboard and will not be leaving a desk.

Besides the very solid dimensions and weight, the keyboard sports very attractive caps, num, and scroll lock LEDs that are very well hidden when turned off. It has German made key switches that provide the very tactile feedback the DAS keyboard is known for, as well as two USB 2.0 ports on the side. To use the keyboard, it requires either a USB port or a PS/2 port. The PS/2 is actually more attractive in this situation because it saves you a USB port and it allows for full n-key rollover which is perfect for fast typers and gamers.

Just out of curiosity I took a typing test using both the DAS keyboard and a Macbook keyboard. What I discovered was that the typing speed between the two different keyboards did not change. However I found that the DAS keyboard was 10% more accurate than the Macbook keyboard on identical tests. This accuracy could save a lot of editing time on documents depending on the number of words.

During the time with the DAS Keyboard I made several observations about it. First off the keyboard is way to loud to be in a room such as a bedroom, where working late might disturb a spouse or anyone else trying to sleep.

I have also concluded that the keyboard is definitely not for everyone. The tactile feedback for some is great, but others prefer quiet laptop style keys.  Also, the keys on this keyboard are not nearly easy to press as say laptop keys. Therefore unless you plan on taking breaks for your hands several times, this keyboard can cause fatigue in the wrists and hands if typed on for extended periods of time.

If you are a person who enjoys very strong tactile feedback this keyboard is definitely for you. However, I would recommend doing a bit of recon work before spending the money on this keyboard just to make sure it is right for you.

You can purchase the DAS Keyboard Model S Professional from http://daskeyboard.com.

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

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It’s Not Easy to Make a Tablet, Stantum Slate PC Proves

The Slate PC, from French multitouch company Stantum, is essentially a Dell Inspiron Mini 10 netbook with the keyboard chopped off and a multitouch screen grafted on. It runs Windows 7. It is also proof that a desktop OS should never be forced onto a tablet computer.

I tested an early, proof-of-concept model. But even in this early version, you can tell that Stantum is headed down the wrong path.

The first thing you notice is the odd section missing from the long edge, just where the hinge would be on a normal netbook. This is the top edge of the battery, and the gap is indeed the gap left by the old flip-open screen. In fact, the computer is the base of the donor Dell with the touchscreen put where the keyboard would be. Cheap, but inelegant.

Then you fire it up. I handed it off to the Lady, as we were eating breakfast in bed (she has to deal with gadgets before morning coffee. It’s a part of the glamorous gadget lifestyle). First she was flipping it around and around: On boot, if you hold the machine label-up, the boot screen is upside down. Of course, you turn it, but then the display flips again.

Once it was actually on, she asked me, “Are you supposed to hold it like this?” while holding like it a book. “It’s too heavy. Here, take it back.”

And it is heavy, at a touch over 1 kg, or 2.2 pounds. By comparison, the heaviest iPad will be 0.73 kg, or 1.6 pounds. It is over an inch thick, too, or double the depth of the iPad.

But the real problem comes with use. Windows 7 is a desktop OS, built with small buttons and scroll bars that are designed for the pixel-accurate tip of a mouse pointer, not a fat finger. It is so frustrating to control that I started using the pen of my Wacom tablet instead. I then gave up on that and plugged in a mouse and keyboard, at least for the initial setup of Wi-Fi passwords and the like.

To be fair, this is a proof-of-concept, so some of the design oddities may be smoothed over in the future. And the included test applications — which are actually designed for multitouch use — work fine. They’re simple games and drawing programs, but they show that the resistive touchscreen actually works and is responsive.

The real problem here is Windows 7. And lest you think that I’m singling out Microsoft, it would be equally bad with OS X. These operating systems just aren’t made for tablets.

How bad is it? The onscreen keyboard, for one, needs to be popped up manually when you need it (usually –- sometimes it is automatic). Once it appears, the keyboard is almost impossible to type on. It’s actually a lot harder to use than the iPhone’s tiny QWERTY. And what if you want to use the browser in full-screen mode, say to use the new Google Reader Play news reader? Good luck with that. You can enter full-screen mode just fine, with the instruction to hit F11 to get back to the normal view. The problem? Once you’re in full-screen mode, there is no F11, and there’s no other way back. You have to either plug in a keyboard or yank the battery to restart.

This might explain why Bill Gates said that the iPad could do with “voice, the pen and a real keyboard.”

The hardware is also rather poor. I’m not sure why, but it runs a lot slower than my hackintoshed MSI Wind, a machine over a year old. The Dell has trouble with video (stuttery in YouTube and crash-prone in the media player) and even flipping between the one or two open applications is slow. Again, this isn’t the fault of the Stantum mod, but if you’re going to send out a test machine, better to send one that works.

These aren’t yet for sale, although hand-made prototypes can be ordered for around $1,000. As the Dell it is based on costs $300, that seems like a steep markup for the mere addition of a touchscreen and a few simple apps.

The slate market isn’t going to move anywhere without custom-designed software. Until we get proper Chrome OS netbooks or Android-based tablets, Apple is about the only company doing custom tablet software right now.

To finish, I’ll leave you with a word from the Lady. I told her I was writing this review today. She said “Good. The sooner you review it, the sooner you can send it back.”

Slate PC [Stantum]

Photo: Charlie Sorrel

It's Not Easy to Make a Tablet, Stantum Slate PC Proves

Friday News Feedbag for March 5, 2010!

Motorola Puts Bing on Android Phones

Motorola will be loading Microsoft’s Bing search onto its Android cellphones in China this month, ousting Google on its own smartphone platform. Motorola Android models will get the new feature when they are launched in this quarter.

Google isn’t being completely ejected from its own party: Bing, along with an alternative to Google maps, will be offered as a choice to customers when they first fire up the phone. We imagine that, as Google is the second most popular search engine after Baidu, that most people will still opt for it over Bing.

Why would Motorola do this? Speculation from the Wall Street Journal says that Motorola is planning for a future when Google may pull out of China. Reuters says that “Having search alternatives on the Android phones should lessen Motorola’s dependence on Google.” We have a much less conspiratorial explanation: Money. Search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo pay company’s to make their search the default. The Mozilla Foundation, for example, received $66 million from Google in 2007 for search royalties.

Could it be that, in an effort to increase its market share, Bing is offering more money than Google? Perhaps Motorola is just playing it smart, adding the new, money-spinning Bing while keeping Google and its own customers happy by keeping the old options around?

It’s a moot point anyway, we guess. Pretty much anyone knows how to type google.com into the URL-bar.

Motorola: Microsoft To Provide Search Functions On Its New Phones [WSJ]

Motorola, Microsoft in deal to put Bing on phones [Reuters]

Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Motorola to replace Google with Bing on Chinese Android phones

Imagine this with Bing inside. It’s easy if you try.

If I were a spit takin’ man, I’d do a spit take right now. Motorola, stalwart of freedom, will work with Chinese carriers to add Bing to Chinese Android-based phones, ousting Google Search and Maps from the scene. Now this isn’t meanness on Motorola’s part although Reuters notes that this move could have something to do with that whole Great Chinese Google Hacking Incident a few weeks ago.

Considering most Google interaction in Android comes in the form of widgets – Motorola has their own syncing system and UI, for example, called MotoBLUR which stores your information in the could for easy uploading to any MotoBLUR phone (think of the way the Sidekick used to do it and how great that went for them) – and apps. Because Android is ostensibly open, you can take the source and put whatever you want on it. To wit: AT&T stuck Yahoo onto the new Backflip.

So while this all may seem fairly political, it probably isn’t. Search is search and Android is Android, in the end, and when and if Google decides to get vindictive with Android adopters – cutting out major functionality if you fail to use Google apps, for example, then things will really get hairy.

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Elgato EyeTV Hybrid: Smaller, Works With Windows 7

Analog TV was shut off in Barcelona [UPDATE: the analog TV is inexplicably still on] yesterday, so today seems a perfect time to mention the new miniature Elgato’s EyeTV Hybrid. The USB-stick is essentially a shrunken-down version of the old Hybrid, and will let you tune into both analog and digital TV channels.

We reviewed the original Hybrid almost exactly a year ago. It plugs into your computer and pairs with the EyeTV 3 software for tuning in, watching and recording TV broadcasts. With the included one year subscription, you get listings for local and national programming, and offers intelligent DVR functions, like automatically recording all episodes of your favorites show. You can also hook up a cable box through an adapter and view it from within the software.

So what’s new, apart from being smaller? The new Hybrid also works with Windows 7. You don’t get the EyeTV software, but you can use it with the already great Windows Media Center. And if you do have a Mac, you can send live TV streams or recorded shows direct to you iPhone or iPod Touch (this also works with the older, bigger dongle, but is a new features since out review).

Elgato thankfully hasn’t messed with a winning product. The Lady stole my EyeTV soon after I bought it and uses it often. If your analog signal is off and you watch most of your TV and movies on a computer anyway, I’d recommend picking one up. $150

EyeTV Hybrid [Elgato via TUAW]

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Google Reader Play: iPad-Friendly News Reader

Google has added an iPad-friendly version of its RSS aggregator, called Google Reader Play. According to the official Google Reader blog, the new full-screen slideshow is for people who “aren’t interested in taking the time to get Reader set up.” It is also perfect for viewing on tablet PCs, including the upcoming iPad.

Navigate to the new page (part of Google Labs, but open to everyone) and you’ll see a black screen with a row of thumbnails along the bottom and the content of the news item up top. If you have ever used a Flickr slideshow, you’ll be instantly at home. One news item is shown at a time. You can navigate with the arrow keys, or by clicking or touching the arrows and thumbnails onscreen. It works on the iPhone, but you can’t yet swipe to flip to the next item, and the view is way too small.

Google Reader Play recommends items to you based on what you mark as a liked or disliked. If you are logged into your Google account, it will pull from your own recommended items and also articles shared by contacts. And if you already use Google Reader, there is a new option when you click the arrow on one of your feed-folders to “View in Reader Play.”

It’s a great way to quickly flip through the news, and you don’t need to have ever touched an RSS subscription to do it. If you also consider that pretty much every Gmail user now has contacts due to Google Buzz, then Play should get pretty accurate, pretty soon. And of course, while it’s neato on the desktop, it’s tailor-made for tablets, especially as it doesn’t use Flash which can easily slow down these often underpowered machines. We fully expect to see an iPad-optimized version very soon.

And Now for Something Completely Different [Google Reader Blog]

Google Reader Play [Google]

New technology heats up cell phones when callers get agitated

Inflatable Bike-Bag for Air-Filled Air-Travel

There are a few ways to travel long-distance by bike, and none of them is cheap (unless you actually ride the bike). To take your ride on a plane you either need to pay expensive extra fees for bike carriage, buy a folding bicycle, opt for the excellent but pricy S&S system (essentially a frame that breaks apart for easy packing) or now, buy the $600 Helium case from Biknd.

The Helium is designed to protect your bike and pack it up as small as possible. You’ll need to strip the bicycle down pretty radically to make it fit, removing not only the wheels but the seat, pedals and handlebar. Once done, it all fits snugly into the tough, flexible nylon and polyester case, cosseted by plastic hub covers, a Cordura nylon crank and chain-stay cover and fork protectors. As this will add 9.5 Kg (21-pounds) to the weight of your bike, you may be wondering why it is called the Helium.

There is some gas involved: air. Once packed, you hook the foot-pump up to the case and inflate it. This provides extra protection whilst adding negligible weight. There’s enough room inside for a 64cm road frame (that’s pretty big) or a full-suspension road bike. There’s even a a pair of wheels for rolling this up to check-in. Just remember to pack a tool kit so you can put it back together.

I’m planning on moving to Berlin for a couple months this summer, and I’ll be taking a bike with me. I’m not dropping $600 on a case, so I’d like some suggestions for flying. The bike is a beater, a track-framed fixed-gear, so stripping it and re-building is easy. Answers in the comments, please.

Helium Bike Case [Biknd via Oh Gizmo!]

PocketWizard Tests Prototype Nikon Triggers

PocketWizard, the off-camera flash-triggering company, has finally begun testing prototypes of its Nikon FlexTT5 units.

Normally, Nikon cameras communicate with the strobes via bursts of light, coded flashes which chatter back and forth in the moments before the photo is taken. The problem is that the range is limited, and you need line of site. That’s where PocketWizard comes in. The FlexTT5 sends these signals via long-range, corner-proof radio waves. Previously, these were manual only, and after some teething problems, PocketWizard successfully added an auto mode to it’s radio-powered flash Canon triggers.

The new prototypes, seen in the video above, are still far from production, but Nikon-shooting flash-freaks should be getting excited already. The Nikon CLS system is pretty close to magic already, letting you get great flash-shots with little effort. These new PocketWizards should make the experience even better.

If you just can’t wait, try to track down some RadioPoppers, a rival product which already works with Canon and Nikon and is cheaper: The PocketWizards are around $220 each, and you’ll need two. The RadioPoppers are $180 each for the TTL versions. The problem is that the RadioPoppers are selling so well it’s hard to get ahold of one.

Video: PocketWizard + Nikon – first look [Snap Factory]

First FlexTT5 Nikon Prototype Test [PocketWizard via Photography Bay]

RadioPopper page [RadioPopper]

See Also:

• Radipopper: Smart, Remote Control Flash Photography
• Pocket Wizard Fixes Reliability Issues With Tin-Foil Hats
• TTL 'Poverty Wizard' Flash Triggers