How to Hoodwink Twitter (Hint: It's Easy) [MediaMemo]

How can you use Twitter to spread falsehoods? So easy! So many options! Here are three:

• Make up a story about a celebrity who has died. Any celebrity.
• Make up a story about Apple. Any story.
• Make up a story about Conan O’Brien, and get the crowd at a Digg event to pass it along for you.

We saw the last one in action Saturday night at a South by Southwest event, when pranksters cooked up a stupid story about the unemployed talk show host, designed in part to promote a Web video studio.

This one didn’t get picked up by the mainstream press, but it did find plenty of takers, for a while, on Twitter.

CNET’s Daniel Terdiman, who happily participated in the hoax, describes it in great detail here. If you want the short version, here’s video of the event’s genesis, provided by David Spark. Pretty simple stuff: Anyone can do it.

[Image credit: LiveFromAmsterdam]

Source: All Things Digital | 15 Mar 2010 | 4:00 am

Citi names Keshav Sanghi India equities head

MUMBAI, March 15 (Reuters) - Citigroup said on Monday it named Keshav Sanghi as head of India equities, just two months after he joined the firm as head of sales and deputy head of equities for its Indian...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 15 Mar 2010 | 3:57 am

Video: Meet scary baby robot Yotaro

Just two weeks ago, we gave you m-synchy and m-neony, two super-advanced baby humanoids developed by a Japanese research institution. While those two robots were weird but looked rather harmless, baby robot Yotaro [JP], made by the University of Tsukuba in Japan, is really looking scary – just look at those pictures.

Yotaro has been around for some time now, but the University apparently showed the latest version to the international press recently. The purpose of the robot is to simulate the behavior of a real human child, and it has an arsenal of gimmicks to make it happen: a touch-sensitive face, artificial tear ducts (when Yotaro is “weeping”, warm water flows down his oversized cheeks), speakers (he can cry and giggle), motors for his feet and hands (so he can move realistically) etc.

Yotaro is able to change his facial expressions, “sleep”, run a fever and fall into good or bad mood, depending on how often you touch his face. But he’s not designed to be cute, which is a mystery as Japan normally loves to make literally everything as cute as possible – so why not babies?

Here’s a video made by the University of Tsukuba (in English):

Via The Straits Times

On this day, back in 1985, the first ever dotcom URL was created, Symbolics.com. There were just six dotcoms registered that year, compared to the 100,000 that are created every day now. More »

Source: Gizmodo | 15 Mar 2010 | 3:41 am

UPDATE 1-Deals of the day -- mergers and acquisitions

March 15 (Reuters) - The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals involving European, U.S. and Asian companies were reported by 0930 GMT on Monday.
Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 15 Mar 2010 | 3:32 am

UPDATE 1-CNOOC gets LatAm foothold with $3.1 bln Argentina deal

* CNOOC shares hit 2-mth high (Adds Bridas background from paragraph 21)
Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 15 Mar 2010 | 3:23 am

UPDATE 1-Liberty in sale-leaseback of flasghip London store

LONDON, March 15 (Reuters) - Upmarket British retailer Liberty is selling its distinctive mock Tudor department store building in London's West End for 41.5 million pounds ($62.9 million) to pay off debt,...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 15 Mar 2010 | 3:15 am

How to get 50,000 First Time Internet Users Online in One Day

BRUSSELS, March 15, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Telecentre-Europe organized Get Online Day in 4 March 2010, a pan-European event that was part of the eSkills Week 2010, ( http://eskills-week.ec.europa.eu/web/guest;jsessionid=FDB46E1DD6A82AAA87CF5FF ABCFAE7C2) coordinated by Digital Europe (http://www.digitaleurope.org/) and European SchoolNet, ( http://www.eun.org/web/guest;jsessionid=DE0C2AA9D4BC14F8C5CD570644DFE4AA) and funded by the European Commission's DG Enterprise and Industry. (http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/index_en.htm) Get Online Day was supported by national partners, (http://www.ebaltics.com/onlineday2010/) NGOs, telecentres, libraries, schools, information access points and aimed to bring people online, targeting mainly the offline Europeans, people that have never used the internet and were consequently not aware of its benefits. (Due to the length of this URL, it may be necessary to copy and paste this hyperlink into your Internet browser's URL address field.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 15 Mar 2010 | 3:15 am

Control Notifications, Activities on Google Buzz - Techtree.com

Techtree.com

Control Notifications, Activities on Google Buzz Techtree.com The Google team has been adding new features to its Buzz service since it was launched recently. However, if too many Buzz conversation notifications create a 'noise' and clutter in your Inbox, here's a chance to take control of it. ... Privacy is Not Dead, Just EvolvingPC World Google admits Buzz mistakes, tries again at SXSWVentureBeat Privacy is not dead, says SXSWi keynoter BoydCNET CNNMoney.com -BetaNews -RCR Wireless all 58 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 15 Mar 2010 | 3:13 am

Gran Turismo 5 may work with PS3 Move - Destructoid

Digital Spy

Gran Turismo 5 may work with PS3 Move Destructoid Motion controls are coming and there is nothing you can do about it. They're coming to your favorite games too, not just new ones. With the new PlayStation Move site up and running we can check out which games will feature Move controls. ... Some Upcoming Games with Playstation Move Motion ControlGamersDailyNews Scenes from GDC 2010CNET Playstation Move "A Wii Killer"?WLTX.com GamePro.com -New Brunswick Business Journal -Play.tm all 44 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 15 Mar 2010 | 3:13 am

Investors seek signs of China Mobile 3G commitment (Reuters)

Reuters - China Mobile's 3G outlook will take center stage this week as China's three telecoms carriers begin to kick off quarterly results, with market focus on whether the nation's dominant player will turn up the volume in its low-key 3G roll-out.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 15 Mar 2010 | 3:07 am

NASA plan agitates Florida - Tampabay.com

Central Florida News 13

NASA plan agitates Florida Tampabay.com WASHINGTON — When President Barack Obama revealed his plan for the nation's space program, he turned to Buzz Aldrin to explain the new direction, one imagined as more innovative and ambitious. "As an Apollo astronaut, ... Valve leak could delay space shuttle launchmsnbc.com Bad valve may delay flightThe Huntsville Times - al.com US is counting on a commercial space raceFlorida Today American Medical News -WAAY -Central Florida News 13 all 16 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 15 Mar 2010 | 3:03 am

Micrel Names Colin Sturt General Counsel And Corporate Secretary

SAN JOSE, Calif., March 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Micrel Inc., (Nasdaq: MCRL), an industry leader in analog, high bandwidth communications and Ethernet IC solutions, today announced that Colin Sturt has been hired as the Company's General Counsel and Corporate Secretary.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 15 Mar 2010 | 3:00 am

Scientology Tries To Block German Documentary

eldavojohn writes "The Guardian is reporting on the strained relationship that Scientology is having with the German government and the airing of a pesky documentary on Southwest Broadcasting. Until Nothing Remains, a $2.3 million documentary, is slotted to air on German television at the end of this month. It recounts the true story of Heiner von Rönn and his family's suffering when he tried to leave the Church of Scientology. A Scientology spokesperson called the film false and intolerant and also said they are investigating legal means to stop the film from being aired. More details on the film can be gleaned here."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 15 Mar 2010 | 2:59 am

Forbidden Fruit: Microsoft Workers Hide Their iPhones

Microsoft Corp. employees are passionate users of the latest tech toys. But there is one gadget love that many at the company dare not name: the iPhone. The WSJ reports. The perils of being an iPhone...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 15 Mar 2010 | 2:55 am

Magic Software Signs Two New German iBOLT Partners

Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 15 Mar 2010 | 2:55 am

Magic Software Signs Two New German iBOLT Partners

OR-YEHUDA, Israel, March 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Magic Software Enterprises Ltd. (Nasdaq: MGIC), a global provider of application platforms and business and process integration solutions, today announced new partnerships agreements with IT software solution providers Accantum GmbH and AZTEKA Consulting GmbH.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 15 Mar 2010 | 2:55 am

BulkSMS.com recognised by Vodacom as a top achiever

BulkSMS.com has been named by Vodacom as a top achieving aggregator in the mobile messaging industry for 2009. BulkSMS.com, a division of Celerity Systems, has been in operation since 2000 and is headquartered...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 15 Mar 2010 | 2:49 am

Any Questions? Raise Your eHand

Forget the fear of raising your hand to ask a question in public, Christchurch company Texsys have released eHand, an audience response system which allows people to submit their question during a speech,...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 15 Mar 2010 | 2:45 am

Use Foursquare Service to Reveal Where You Are or Not - TopNews United States

SAMAA TV

Use Foursquare Service to Reveal Where You Are or Not TopNews United States Ms. Jordan Viator, 26, Communications Manager at a Non-profit company, said, “I only share my location with people I am comfortable meeting up with, and when I want to be found”. However, the service might not sound too good to the privacy-minded ... Telling Friends Where You Are (or Not)New York Times (blog) SXSW has become launching pad for tech debutsAustin American-Statesman Rivals Foursquare and Gowalla entice customers with location-based mobile appsTopNews New Zealand ZDNet (blog) -TechCrunch (blog) -Austinist all 46 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 15 Mar 2010 | 2:32 am

CNOOC gets LatAm foothold with $3.1 bln Argentina deal

HONG KONG, March 15 (Reuters) - Chinese oil firm CNOOC's purchase of a stake in Argentina's Bridas Holdings gives it a foothold in reserve-rich Latin America and should ease investor worries about its...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 15 Mar 2010 | 2:26 am

CrunchGear Week in Review: Dotland Edition

Here are some stories featured on CrunchGear last week:

Disney turns its Monorail into huge Tron light cycles
Even as tiny blocks, you’ll recognize Super Mario Bros. in this Arduino project
Inverted, ocean-bound “seascrapers”: aqua-communes for the future?
Magnetic quantum dots
Fantasy gadgets: in-line A/V switch

Source: CrunchGear | 15 Mar 2010 | 2:18 am

Facebook to open office in southern India (Reuters)

Reuters - Popular social-networking site Facebook will open an office in India, joining a long list of international firms that have looked to tap a skilled workforce that provides support services at relatively cheap wages.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 15 Mar 2010 | 2:06 am

China warns Google partners: Look for backup - CNET

Reuters

China warns Google partners: Look for backup CNET The Chinese government has warned Google business partners to prepare for a day when they can't use Google services such as a search bar on their Web sites, according to a In a New York Times report Sunday. ... Google says China talks continue, but pullout signs growReuters Google Is Poised to Close China SiteWall Street Journal China Issues Warning to Major Partners of GoogleNew York Times Computerworld (blog) -The Tech Herald -BusinessWeek all 121 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 15 Mar 2010 | 2:01 am

Autonomy iManage Accelerates Momentum With Largest Dutch Law Firms

CAMBRIDGE, England and SAN FRANCISCO, March 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Autonomy Corporation plc (LSE: AU.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 15 Mar 2010 | 2:00 am

O3b Signs Agreement with ViaSat

Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 15 Mar 2010 | 2:00 am

Mobile 'Roaming in a Box' Sees Commercial Deployment Times Reduced By 50%

Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 15 Mar 2010 | 2:00 am

O3b Signs Agreement with ViaSat

ST. JOHN, Jersey, Channel Islands, March 15 /PRNewswire/ -- O3b Networks Limited, the developer of a new global, high-speed, low latency, fiber-like satellite-based Internet service for telecommunications operators and ISPs in emerging markets, has signed a contract with ViaSat Inc.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 15 Mar 2010 | 2:00 am

Bridgewater Showcases Industry Leading LTE Control Plane Interoperability at Global MultiService Forum Event

Interoperability testing of Bridgewater Home Subscriber Server and Policy Controller underway with LTE ecosystem partners OTTAWA, March 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - Bridgewater Systems (TSX: BWC), the mobile personalization company, today announced its participation in the Global MultiService Forum (MSF) interoperability testing event over the next two weeks at Vodafone's Centre for Test and Innovation in Dusseldorf and the China Mobile Research Institute Lab in Beijing.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 15 Mar 2010 | 2:00 am

Autonomy iManage Accelerates Momentum With Largest Dutch Law Firms

Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 15 Mar 2010 | 2:00 am

Mobile 'Roaming in a Box' Sees Commercial Deployment Times Reduced By 50%

SAN JOSE, Calif., March 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Roamware, a leading provider of mobile roaming and financial services solutions, has announced the latest version of its Service Delivery System platform, SDS 7, which enables Roamware to rapidly develop and deploy mobile operator services with reduced roll-out costs and greater speed to market.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 15 Mar 2010 | 2:00 am

Bridgewater Showcases Industry Leading LTE Control Plane Interoperability at Global MultiService Forum Event

Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 15 Mar 2010 | 2:00 am

FM Signal: Wired's "iPad Demo"

I've posted Monday's Signal over at the FM blog. From it: What I find interesting is the media's response to the iPad (and I include tech blogs in the category of "media"). Overwhelmingly, the media wanted...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 15 Mar 2010 | 1:57 am

Real Time Search

See what people are saying about "second life" right now on Collecta.
Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 15 Mar 2010 | 1:49 am

Apple's Spat With Google Is Getting Personal [Voices]

By Brad Stone and Miguel Helft, Reporters, New York Times

IT looked like the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Three years ago, Eric E. Schmidt, the chief executive of Google (GOOG), jogged onto a San Francisco stage to shake hands with Steven P. Jobs, Apple’s (AAPL) co-founder, to help him unveil a transformational wonder gadget — the iPhone — before throngs of journalists and adoring fans at the annual MacWorld Expo.

Google and Apple had worked together to bring Google’s search and mapping services to the iPhone, the executives told the audience, and Mr. Schmidt joked that the collaboration was so close that the two men should simply merge their companies and call them “AppleGoo.”

Read the rest of this post on the original site

Source: All Things Digital | 15 Mar 2010 | 1:41 am

Last Week's New World Notes Top Five: Sexy Male Avatar, Revolutionizing Work, Wondering About SL 2.0, and More...

Who's Second Life sexiest male avatar of 2009? By overwhelming majority vote, readers choose a dude... with clown make-up, bunny ears, and tentacles for hands. Now that Second Life's intuitive 2.0 viewer...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 15 Mar 2010 | 1:37 am

'LOL Is This You?' Twitter Getting Serious About Spam Issue [Voices]

By Michael Learmonth, Senior Editor, Advertising Age

In the past year, Twitter grew up, became mainstream and finally admitted it had a problem: a spam problem.

Some of the same characteristics that helped Twitter grow like a weed have also made it vulnerable, not just to spammers but unscrupulous or just misguided marketers trying to use the service. And the faster Twitter grows — as many as 50 million tweets a day (600 a second) from 2.5 million over the past year — the more appealing it becomes to both.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

Source: All Things Digital | 15 Mar 2010 | 1:36 am

AUO Submitted Application to Establish Subsidiary in Kunshan, Jiangsu

HSINCHU, Taiwan, March 15 /PRNewswire-Asia-FirstCall/ -- To provide closer services to branded customers in China, AU Optronics Corp.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 15 Mar 2010 | 1:36 am

AU Optronics to Exhibit Innovative Display Applications and Power-Saving Green Technologies at FPD China 2010

HSINCHU, Taiwan, March 15 /PRNewswire-Asia-FirstCall/ -- AU Optronics Corp. ("AUO" or the "Company") (TAIEX: 2409; NYSE: AUO) will exhibit at FPD China 2010 at the Shanghai New International Expo Center (SNIEC) from March 16-18 to demonstrate a full range of innovative display applications and power-saving green technologies.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 15 Mar 2010 | 1:36 am

Sweaty iPod User Sues Apple [Voices]

By Josh Dickey, Contributor, Wrap

Here’s an attack on Apple (AAPL) not likely to have Steve Jobs in a flop sweat: In a class-action lawsuit filed Thursday, a Manhattan Beach, Calif., man claims that his iPod shuffle is defective because while working out, his perspiration traveled down the earphone cord, shutting it down.

This injustice was addressed by Stephen Vale, whose filings call Apple out for advertising wild claims about the clip-on MP3 player’s uses. These include — but are not limited to — its ability to function while “Working out,” “Running,” “On the Road” (with a picture of a woman on a bicycle) and “On the Go” (with a picture of a woman pushing a shopping cart).

Read the rest of this post on the original site

Source: All Things Digital | 15 Mar 2010 | 1:33 am

NYT's David Carr Tells SXSW Panel He Gets Scooped by Gawker 'All the Time' [Voices]

By Ravi Somaiya, Blogger, Gawker

We’re going to get big heads. First Rush Limbaugh unexpectedly says he loves us, now the New York Times’ (NYT) (excellent, not Rush Limbaugh-like at all) media columnist David Carr says we scoop him all the time. We’ll take it, whether it’s true or not.

Source: All Things Digital | 15 Mar 2010 | 1:27 am

Time for Google's Eric Schmidt to Go? [Voices]

By David Needle, Contributor, Internetnews.com

Like any good pundit, Rob Enderle knows how to stir things up. You may have read some of Rob’s commentary at our sister site, Datamation.

For example, he’s regularly bombarded with hate mail by iPhone fans for criticizing Apple’s (AAPL) strategy or predicting the company faces stiff competition.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

Source: All Things Digital | 15 Mar 2010 | 1:21 am

Google says China talks continue, but pullout signs grow (Reuters)

Reuters - Google said on Monday it remained in talks with the Chinese government about censorship of its Chinese-language search portal, despite mounting signs the company could soon shut the site.

Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 15 Mar 2010 | 1:09 am

High-Speed Epson WorkForce 610 All-in-One Keeps Orange County Realtor Productive in a Dynamic Market

LONG BEACH, Calif., March 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Facing an unpredictable residential market, Orange County realtor Wendy Hooper needs the right tools to maintain the fast pace of her business.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 15 Mar 2010 | 1:01 am

FTC’s Privacy Worries Prompt Netflix to Cancel Contest [Voices]

By Jennifer Valentino-DeVries, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal

Privacy concerns voiced by the Federal Trade Commission and a lawsuit from a closeted lesbian have prompted Netflix (NFLX) to cancel a contest to improve its movie recommendations.

On the official Netflix blog, Chief Product Officer Neil Hunt wrote that the company has “decided to not pursue the Netflix Prize sequel” that was announced in August. The original Netflix Prize awarded $1 million to a team of outside researchers that improved Netflix’s recommendations system by 10 percent.

The firm KamberLaw LLC filed a lawsuit in December on behalf of a woman alleging that the Netflix contest had violated California laws and the federal Video Protection Privacy Act. In its December story on the suit, Wired explained the problem with the contests: The data given to participants in the first contest included movie ratings, dates and unique subscriber numbers.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

Source: All Things Digital | 15 Mar 2010 | 1:00 am

iPhones -- They Only Come Out At Night

iPhone users tend to use their devices in the evening and on the weekends, reports Localytics, a Cambridge, MA-based start-up offering mobile analytics services. According to as study conducted by the...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 15 Mar 2010 | 12:59 am

Boost Mobile Launches Sanyo Incognito SCP6760, Offers No-Contract $50 Unlimited Plan

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Boost Mobile. All opinions are 100% mine. By David Ponce Boost Mobile is launching the SANYO Incognito SCP6760, a QWERTY handset with the following...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 15 Mar 2010 | 12:56 am

Apple, Wal-mart, and the “Market Capitalization Bigger Than” Thing

I always snicker when I start hearing stories about some company or sector's market capitalization being bigger than some other better known thing. It usually means that something's value has grown to...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 15 Mar 2010 | 12:54 am

High-tech event crowd urged to save the planet (AFP)

AFP - Techno-hip trend-setters that design online services, software, buildings and other components of modern life have been told to "get off the sidelines" and start saving the planet at a key high-tech event.

Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 15 Mar 2010 | 12:18 am

Add your name to "Save the Net" FB page, help the LibDems do the right thing!

Update VICTORY! Motion passed with near unanimity!

I'm delighted to report that the UK Liberal Democrats' Spring Convention have accepted the emergency motion on internet freedom, and will be debating it tomorrow morning.

The LibDems were plunged into controversy last week when two of the LibDem Lords introduced a pro-web-censorship amendment to the Digital Economy Bill (this amendment was later shown to have been written by record industry lobby group BPI). Outraged party members (including dozens of prospective parliamentary candidates) rallied to fight this shift in party direction toward curtailment of freedom on behalf of corporate lobbyists.

The outcome of that outrage is the emergency motion on internet freedom, called the "Save the Net" memo. It calls for net neutrality, proportionality and due process in copyright enforcement, an absolute rejection of web-blocking and disconnection to solve copyright problems, and other good, principled stands that I'm proud to see my party get behind.

Organisers worked around the clock all week to get the emergency motion accepted for debate. Tomorrow morning, party delegates at the Spring Convention will debate the Save the Net motion from 0915 to 0945. If you are attending the Birmingham convention (or know someone who is!), please help support this motion and get it passed -- let's send a signal to corporate schemers that British law isn't for sale.

If you're not attending the convention, you can still help by joining the Facebook fan page for the motion. If thousands -- tens of thousands! -- of people from around the country and the world show their support for this motion, it will help conference delegates understand how important and far-reaching Internet freedom is.

Laws about copyright and the Internet don't just affect how we get and use cultural works: they affect everything we do with the Internet, whether it's earning a living or staying in touch with family or reporting the news or organising your neighbours around important political issues.

UK Lib Dems: Save the Net!

Previously:

• LibDem rank-and-file make emergency motion for net freedom - Boing ...
• Brits: tell the LibDem Peers not to bring web-censorship to ...
• Guardian column on LibDem proposal to block web-lockers
• Brits: tell the LibDem Peers not to bring web-censorship to ...
• Speaking on privacy at Hackney LibDems event, London, Oct 19 ...
• LibDem Lords seek to ban web-lockers (YouSendIt, etc) in the UK ...

Source: Boing Boing | 15 Mar 2010 | 12:08 am

In Israel, Potential Organ Donors Could Jump the Queue

laron writes "In Israel, a new law is in the making: Holders of donor cards and their families would get preference if they should need an organ for themselves. Apparently this initiative faces resistance from Orthodox rabbis, who hold that organ donation is against religious law. Jacob Lavee, director of the heart transplant unit at Israel's Sheba Medical Center, and one of the draftees of this new law, hopes that a broader pool of organs will ultimately benefit everyone, but acknowledges that one of his primary motivations is 'to prevent free riders.' (Apparently receiving an organ is OK under religious law.)"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 15 Mar 2010 | 12:08 am

Speed-assembling servers

At SXSW (where my two of the games my wife commissioned just won Best Game and Best Edugame!), the trade-floor booth for hosting company The Planet is holding competitions to speed-assemble rack-mounted servers. It's like watching latter-day Marines field-strip and assemble their weapons.

How Fast Can You Build A Server? (via Hack the Planet)

Previously:

• Google's new data-center cools with weather prediction, not ...
• InfoBunker: nuclear hardened data center
• Data-center built into a shipping container
• Petascale data-centers in Nature
• Photos from a Bell Labs' data center from the '60s ...
• Data-centers built out of sealed shipping containers filled with ...
• Jennfomation Data Center
• Art of data-center cabling

Source: Boing Boing | 15 Mar 2010 | 12:06 am

Speed-assembling servers

At SXSW (where my two of the games my wife commissioned just won Best Game and Best Edugame!), the trade-floor booth for hosting company The Planet is holding competitions to speed-assemble rack-mounted...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 15 Mar 2010 | 12:06 am

Super Mario on a Arduino-controlled 8x8 pixelboard

CMU's Chloe Fan hacked an Arduino controlled 8x8 pixelboard to play a wicked side-scrolling game of Super Mario. What a fun and creative use of the board! Someone needs to start an Arduino summer-camp; I went to Logo camp when I was 11 or 12 and it was life-changing. I expect there's a kid or two out there waiting to have their minds blown with Arduino. (If you know of such a summer camp, post to the comments; if you're looking for such a summer camp, check the comments!).

Mario Goes Open-Source with Arduino (via /.)

Previously:

• Mario and Luigi: warrior plumbers tee
• Mario takes the Metropolis
• Custom Mario levels used as rhythm section for anime theme medley ...
• Super Mario vs NYC -- street art
• Super Mario Bros theme performed by an RC car on a row of liquid ...
• Hand-painted Mario shoes
• Mario recreation on India's Got Talent
• Make's gift guide to Arduino
• Learn how to use the Arduino microcontroller with Make's tutorial ...
• Massive Arduino-and-solenoid percussion array controlled by a ...
• Arduino starter project video
• Text on an Arduino-based Monome clone Gadgets

Source: Boing Boing | 15 Mar 2010 | 12:03 am

Ironic broken-English press-release for English editing services

Impress your target audience with quality English language: A press-release for a company that will help you improve your English communications, written in fractured machine-translation-esque English. "In order to expand your panorama and reach to a wider audience, you can integrate the editing services to fulfill your requirements. You can take help of the online editing services to get your documents corrected in a systematic manner. Online English will help you to create the perfect format of data along with appropriate editing services that will suit to your needs as well as create a positive impact on the target market." (Thanks, Steve!)


Source: Boing Boing | 14 Mar 2010 | 11:55 pm

Hunch Takes $12 Million From Khosla Ventures, Adds Former Facebook CFO To Board Of Directors

Recommendation engine Hunch confirms that they’ve raised a new round of financing – $12 million – led by Khosla Ventures. Partner Gideon Yu, who joined Khosla Ventures last year, was previously the CFO of Facebook. He is now joining Hunch’s board of directors as part of the deal. Hunch was valued at $52 million in the round.

I spoke to cofounder Caterina Fake this evening about the round. Fake says that Hunch, which is less than a year old, now has lots of data to work with in making recommendations. In fact, she says, users have answered nearly 50 million questions on Hunch since launch, and the company can use that data to make better and better recommendations.

Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales joined the company’s board of directors in late 2009.

CrunchBase Information

Hunch

Khosla Ventures

Gideon Yu

Information provided by CrunchBase

Source: TechCrunch | 14 Mar 2010 | 11:23 pm

New Phones Still Sold With Old Versions of Android - Wired News

Wired News

New Phones Still Sold With Old Versions of Android Wired News Two weeks ago when Buddy Roark bought a brand-new HTC Eris smartphone from Verizon, his first Android device, it was a big step up from his feature phone. But it wasn't until a few days later that he realized part of his new phone ... Web guru Tim Bray takes Google Android jobCNET Apple's HTC patent lawsuit is a bluffBetaNews Apple's Spat With Google Is Getting PersonalNew York Times Afterdawn.com -MediaPost Publications -Apple Insider all 57 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 14 Mar 2010 | 11:12 pm

New Phones Still Sold With Old Versions of Android

Two weeks ago when Buddy Roark bought a brand-new HTC Eris smartphone from Verizon, his first Android device, it was a big step up from his feature phone. But it wasn’t until a few days later that he realized part of his new phone wasn’t so new after all. The Eris was running a version of Android that came out almost a year ago, which means many of the newer apps available in the Android Market won’t work on Roark’s phone.

“I didn’t know that I had an older operating system until I compared it with my friends,” Roark says. “They said my Android Market looks very different from theirs.”

At the store, Roark had never been told that his HTC Eris has Android 1.5, nicknamed “Cupcake.” Until told by a reporter, he had no idea what features he’s missing as a result. For instance, free turn-by-turn navigation is available in the latest version, Android 2.1 (”Eclair”), but is only available to Cupcake users for $10 a month from Verizon.

“I didn’t know that,” he says. “I think I will be pretty disappointed if I can’t upgrade to a higher version.”

Like Roark, many Android customers are discovering that their new smartphones do not have the latest version of Google’s mobile operating system. Despite state-of-the art hardware and design, many new Android phones are shipped with older versions of the firmware, cutting off consumers’ access to newer features and apps that require the most recent versions.

For instance, Motorola’s Backflip, released last week on AT&T, runs Android 1.5, while the just-launched Devour on Verizon runs Android 1.6, aka “Donut.” A slew of new Sony Ericsson phones, set to hit the market in the next few months, will ship with Android 1.6. Of the phones that are available today, only Google’s Nexus One has the very latest version, Android 2.1. Motorola’s own Droid phone, launched in October, has Android 2.0.

The profusion of versions is bad enough. But adding to the confusion is the fact that carriers and handset manufacturers rarely explain which version of the OS their phones have, or what that means.

“I can’t figure out why the handset makers are doing this,” says Chris Fagan, an Android developer who owns an app development company called Froogloid. “I find it very peculiar that they release new phones on older firmware.”

Motorola declined to comment.

Syncing With Google

• Version
• Release Date
• Notable Features
• Phones Still Using It

• Android 1.0
• November 5, 2007
• Original version
• HTC G1 (upgradeable to version 1.6)

• Android 1.5 "Cupcake"
• April 30, 2009
• Video recording and playback, new keyboard with autocomplete, Bluetooth A2DP support, enhanced copy and paste
• Motorola Backflip, Motorola Cliq, Samsung Moment, HTC Hero (upgradeable to 2.1)

• Android 1.6 "Donut"
• September 15, 2009
• Improved Android Market, updated Voice Search, enhanced search, speed improvements
• Motorola Devour, HTC Tattoo, Sony Xperia X10 (to be launched in Q2), Sony Ericsson Mini, Sony Ericsson Mini Pro, MyTouch 3G (limited edition only upgradeable to 2.1)

• Android 2.0 "Eclair"
• October 26, 2009
• Revamped user interface, turn-by-turn driving directions, HTML5 support, Microsoft Exchange support, Bluetooth 2.1, Live Wallpapers, speed improvements
• Motorola Droid

• Android 2.1 "Eclair"
• January 12, 2010
• Minor update with no significant new end-user features
• HTC Nexus One

Source: Wikipedia

Smartphone manufacturers have simply not been not able to keep up with Google’s pace. In the 16 months since the first Android phone hit the market, Google has upgraded the operating system four times. Meanwhile, it can take more than a year to develop a new smartphone.

Although the core Android operating system itself is free, handset makers need to create the middleware that interfaces between the hardware and the OS.

This middleware layer, called the Board Support Package, or BSP, can take three to five months to create. The BSP is a set of drivers that initialize processes and bind the OS to the chips.

Handset makers can write the code themselves or outsource it, but development time remains about the same. Add additional months for integration and testing, and handset makers are inevitably far behind Google’s Android release schedule, says Al Sutton, who runs a company called FunkyAndroid that offers app stores for Android devices.

The exception is when Google handpicks a company to work with it closely on a device — as in the case of the Motorola Droid or HTC Nexus One — in which case, the chosen handset maker gets an early heads-up about the next upcoming version of Android.

For consumers who unwittingly buy new phones with older versions of the operating system, these out-of-sync development schedules can translate into real differences in the user interface.

“When the firmware went from 1.5 to 1.6, it changed the way the Android Market looks and works,” says Fagan. For instance, users of Android phones that run versions 1.5 or earlier, such as the HTC Eris, can’t see screenshots of apps in the Android Market.

They also don’t have access to some apps that only support the latest version of the operating system. Take Google’s own app called Gesture Search that was released last week. Gesture Search, available only on the Android Market, lets users search their phones by just drawing letters on their touch screens. Gesture Search, though, is only available on Android phones that run OS version 2.0 or 2.1.

So what happens if you search for the Gesture Search app on the Motorola Backflip, a phone that’s barely a week old but runs Android 1.5? Instead of a notification that the app is not compatible with the OS, the app simply doesn’t appear in the search results.

Customer Confusion

A Google spokesperson told Wired.com that the idea is make sure only apps compatible with the OS are shown to the user.

But that also makes it difficult for apps to truly go viral. If you hear your friends talking about Gesture Search, your next step is probably going to be searching for it in the Android Market on your phone. Unless you know what version of Android you’re running, you’ll have no idea why the app you want doesn’t show up.

“From the customer-support perspective, this happens almost every single day,” says Froogloid’s Fagan. “I receive an email from an older Android OS user saying, ‘I am having trouble downloading your app and I don’t see it anywhere in the marketplace.’”

Froogloid’s popular Key Ring app only supports Android versions 1.5 and higher.

Sometimes, putting an older version of the Android OS on the phone is a shrewd marketing decision, says Sutton. Older versions of the Android operating system allow telecom carriers to charge for features that would be otherwise available for free, like navigation.

Though Motorola and HTC say they will upgrade some of the phones to the latest version of Android, Sutton says consumers shouldn’t assume it will be the case with every phone.

Upgrading the OS consumes resources and many companies don’t want to take that on, he says.

“The larger the company is and larger the installed base of phones, the more time it takes to get out those updates,” says Sutton. “And nine of out 10 times, when the company has to make a decision on whether they are going to update the firmware or not, they will say they won’t do it because people already have their product.”

See Also:

• Android’s Rapid Growth Has Some Developers Worried
• AT&T Plans 5 Android Smartphones in 2010
• Strapped to Android, HTC Takes a Dizzying Ride to the Top
• Google Debuts Android-Powered Nexus One ‘Superphone’
• MWC 2010: The Year of the Android

Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

At Google's panel today at SXSW in Austin, a Gmail team member named Jonathan Perlow asked the crowd to raise their hands if they think Gmail is too slow. We love Gmail, but certainly we can sympathize with the fair percentage of those audience members who raised their hands—the problem is pretty much limited to those, like us, who are power users with hundreds of thousands of messages (most of which are junk, we're not bragging, but still). Perlow had a response, confidently saying "We are fixing it." He didn't elaborate, but Google's always improving Gmail—hopefully this means we'll be seeing some improvements for power users soon. [TechCrunch] More »

This picture shows entrants in this year's FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Breakaway match. Teams of ambitious high school kids build robots to compete in what's basically the American Gladiator version of soccer. It's pretty amazing. More »

Source: Gizmodo | 14 Mar 2010 | 10:20 pm

Cash for Geeks: Kickstarter Connects Projects With Patrons

If dipping into your life savings to develop that great idea or project isn't an option (as in, you don't have savings), the crowdsourced fundraising service called Kickstarter just might be your only financial hope.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 14 Mar 2010 | 10:00 pm

New Phones Still Sold With Old Versions of Android

Google has been cranking out new versions of Android operating system faster than handset makers can keep up with. As a result, the latest Android phones to hit the stores carry an older version of the OS, which means consumers often have no access to new apps or features.

Source: Wired: Gadgets | 14 Mar 2010 | 10:00 pm

March 15, 1985: Dot-Com Revolution Starts With a Whimper

A Massachusetts computer company buys the first domain name, and gets the .com ball rolling.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 14 Mar 2010 | 10:00 pm

New Phones Still Sold With Old Versions of Android

Google has been cranking out new versions of Android operating system faster than handset makers can keep up with. As a result, the latest Android phones to hit the stores carry an older version of the OS, which means consumers often have no access to new apps or features.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 14 Mar 2010 | 10:00 pm

Gallery: 10 Damn-Near Perfect Cars

Autopia selects 10 car designs that have stood the test of time.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 14 Mar 2010 | 10:00 pm

IPad, SchmiPad: 10 E-Readers and Tablets You Can Get Right Now

The iPad may not be out for several weeks, but there are still some excellent choices if you're looking for a tablet-like device for reading e-books. We compare 10 recent e-readers and tablets.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 14 Mar 2010 | 10:00 pm

Red Menace: Stop the Ug99 Fungus Before Its Spores Bring Starvation

Its spores ride the wind, wiping out wheat crops and breaching science's best defenses. Inside the race to stop the Ug99 fungus.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 14 Mar 2010 | 10:00 pm

IPad, SchmiPad: 10 E-Readers and Tablets You Can Get Right Now

The iPad may not be out for several weeks, but there are still some excellent choices if you're looking for a tablet-like device for reading e-books. We compare 10 recent e-readers and tablets.

Our game-loving sister site Kotaku reviewed the newest of that king of all RPG series, Final Fantasy, and found it, if not a blockbuster, worthwhile, and "a step in the right direction." Read the whole review here. [Kotaku] More »

Source: Gizmodo | 14 Mar 2010 | 9:50 pm

Apple to replace iPad batteries with a new iPad - Macworld

New York Times (blog)

Apple to replace iPad batteries with a new iPad Macworld After facing criticism—and lawsuits—in the past over the irreplaceable batteries in its products, Apple appears determined to get in front of the issue with the iPad. Three weeks before shipping its new tablet, the company announced an iPad battery ... First day of iPad orders tops 120000Bizjournals.com Apple Details iPad's Battery Replacement PlanPC Magazine Apple iPad Preorder Available Before April 3 and Sales EstimatesCNM News Network The Tech Herald -Seven Sided Cube -Apple Insider all 969 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 14 Mar 2010 | 9:36 pm

Apple to replace iPad batteries with a new iPad (Macworld.com)

Macworld.com - After facing criticism—and lawsuits—in the past over the irreplaceable batteries in its products, Apple appears determined to get in front of the issue with the iPad. Three weeks before shipping its new tablet, the company announced an iPad battery replacement program.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 14 Mar 2010 | 9:36 pm

Who Hates the National Broadband Plan? - PC Magazine

TFTS (blog)

Who Hates the National Broadband Plan? PC Magazine Are you ready for more Internet? That's the question that US regulators will soon be asking, as Reuters is reporting that the Federal Communications Commission is set to reveal the National Broadband Plan on March 16. ... US officials to unveil sweeping proposal for broadbandSan Jose Mercury News US to roll out major broadband policyReuters AT&T, Verizon, Google May Be Winners in US Broadband PlanBusinessWeek PC World -TopNews United States -New York Times all 215 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 14 Mar 2010 | 9:22 pm

Ford's ubiquitous police car is getting pulled over - Los Angeles Times

AutoWeek

Ford's ubiquitous police car is getting pulled over Los Angeles Times The Crown Victoria, which dominates the patrol car market, will be replaced by Ford's Police Interceptor next year. The Ford Police Interceptor Concept car is shown in an image provided by the company. It will be built on the 2010 Taurus platform. ... Ford Unveils New Patrol CarTopNews United States Ford introduces patrol car to replace Crown VictoriaDetroit Free Press Hot pursuit: Competition heats up for police carsThe Associated Press SPEEDtv.com -Cheaper Car Insurance -Tainted Green all 190 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 14 Mar 2010 | 9:20 pm

Google Product Manager RJ Pittman Defects To Apple

The battle between Google and Apple continues. RJ Pittman, a prominent product manager at Google, has left the company to join Apple. We’ve been tipped off to a tweet he sent out two days ago that said “My last day at Google. Incredible experience. Amazing people. Moved mountains. Next chapter. Hello Apple.” Pittman has since removed the tweet from his Twitter feed, but judging by the tweets still visible in Twitter search, it’s true.

We’ve also received an email that Pittman  sent to his coworkers and friends about the move (we’ve redacted a paragraph about hanging out with his family during his time off):

Yesterday was my last day directing traffic at Google. It has been an incredible ride, and an amazing experience. Google is one of the most fascinating companies to work for. Working at Google scale is pretty incredible and the people are one of a kind, to say the least. It’s been an amazing 3 years of my career. It was very hard to say goodbye to all the people I call family at the Googleplex around the world. The company afforded me the opportunity to be ‘me’ inside the walls of a 20,000 person company that generates $20B in revenue. For that, I will always be grateful. I learned so much about the world, our users, and most of all…me. I left with a very heavy heart yesterday. Leaving was much harder that I expected. Admittedly, I’m feeling a bit useless today, my first day as a Xoogler. But I’m hoping this feeling will wear off soon. (Noogler is our term for a newly hired Googler, and Xooglers are the band of ex-Google alumni)

I was sprung from Google by a little company down the road that you might have heard of called Apple. Some might say I owe most of my career in technology to a little start up company that created the computer that I first learned to program, the Apple II, in 1980. By 1984, my life would be changed forever with the introduction of the most revolutionary creation of the decade, the Macintosh. A year later I would find myself spending more time with my first Mac than any other living being for my foreseeable teenage future. I’ve owned almost one of every Apple product released since then, and still own my first Mac that started it all some 25 years ago. In a strange but not so strange way, this is a sort of homecoming for me, despite never having worked for Apple. Life works in curious ways, and I love it when every so often it comes full circle. I couldn’t be more excited for what lies ahead. They’ve created a pretty neat role for me, which I will be able to talk about soon after I’ve started working there.
…

It’s unclear exactly what project Pittman is working on (his email only says that it’s a “pretty neat role for me”) and there’s little chance Apple’s PR team is going to give us any guidance. That said, my hunch is that he was recruited at the behest of the Lala team.

Apple acquired the streaming music service in December, less than two months after Google and Lala worked in tandem to launch Google OneBox Music Search. Pittman was one of the key players on that project, and worked closely with Lala to get it off the ground.

That said, Apple could be after his other talents — Pittman had previously presented at the launches of other search-related products, including a Google Labs event. And before that, he founded Groxis.

We’d previously heard that Google and Apple had a gentlemen’s agreement not to poach each other’s employees. Obviously, that’s no longer the case.

CrunchBase Information

R.J. Pittman

Apple

Google

Information provided by CrunchBase

Source: TechCrunch | 14 Mar 2010 | 9:20 pm

Web Publishing Startup DocStoc Now Offers Branded Viewers To Users

Web publishing startup DocStoc is launching a customized document viewer today, allowing anyone to create easily embeddable, branded document viewers. The new feature is open to all DocStoc users and offers the ability to customize the logo, buttons, links, and color of the viewer.

The viewer itself is fairly sleek and resembles DocStoc’s normal document viewers. Users can directly download documents from the viewer and DocStoc will automatically convert any convert historical embeds with Docstoc. For example, all of the documents we’ve embedded with our TechCrunch DocStoc account will now include our branded viewer.

Also included in the viewer is the ability to monetize on the publisher side. So publishers can choose to put streams of ads in the viewers, which is operated by DocStoc. DocStoc and the publisher will then share in any advertising revenue.

Competitor Scribd launched branded viewers in October, but the feature appears to be only available to select publishers. The startup just launched a new marketplace for professional documents and with 3 million registered users, DocStoc is now profitable. Nazar says that the company is seeing 20 million uniques per month and is growing rapidly as a business focused site. Branded and customizable viewers works into this vision nicely.

Here’s an example of the TechCrunch branded viewer:

Apple vs HTC

Source: TechCrunch | 14 Mar 2010 | 9:00 pm

Mario Reduced To 8x8 With Open Source and Arduino

adeelarshad82 writes "The open-source Arduino electronics platform has received a ton of attention from the hardware enthusiast community. And one more follower is joining the fray--Mario himself. The mustachioed plumber of console video game fame has been converted into an eight-by-eight LED matrix by Carnegie Mellon University student Chloe Fan. However, the game isn't quite the Mario you know from your legacy Nintendo Entertainment System. For starters, it's just lights. While one often sees the game's LED-backed grid used in devices like the open-source Monome, where it can function as a push-button toggle for music beats and effects, Fan's version of Mario uses the grid as a display only. Mario--or rather, a one-light representation of the game's hero--is controlled NES-style through the use of two buttons. One button makes Mario move forward; the other makes him leap into the air."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Gowalla Tops Foursquare at SXSW Web Awards (But Benson Smokes 'em All)

SpotRank Is Skyhook’s Intelligent Location Firehose. SimpleGeo Is The First To Wield.

In terms of location data, few get more than Skyhook Wireless. The positioning technology is in use in tens of millions of devices around the globe, including, notably, on every iPhone. And now the company has a simple way for third-parties to tap into that data in a useful way.

SpotRank gives developers access to hundreds of million of anonymous location entry points put into the Skyhook system. In fact, there are some 500 million points (100 meter “spots”) at the service’s launch. With this massive amount of data, developers can do things such as predict what locations will be hot on which nights, or predict traffic patterns. They have so much data because it’s not based around things like check-ins, which are hot right now on the consumer side of location, but rather everytime a device needs location for anything.

The first partner signing up to use SpotRank is SimpleGeo. It seems like a perfect partnership. SimpleGeo provides back-end location services for many startups, so the more data, the better. And Skyhook’s data goes back several years, a nice addition for the young SimpleGeo.

One thing SimpleGeo co-founder Matt Galligan is particularly excited about is that the SpotRank data is all time-coded. This will allow users of its service to do trending data. And SimpleGeo is working on making the data realtime.

Other partners interested in signing up for SpotRank include the hot location startup Gowalla, and ShopKick, the soon-to-launch retail location check-in service (makers of the CauseWorld app that we’ve covered a few times).

At some point tomorrow, the SpotRank data should be live on Skyhook’s site showing some SXSW data — which will no doubt be huge with the Location War going on.

[photo: flickr/flattop341]

16-port USB hub is a little more tasteful than those other ones

When 10 hubs is just too few, and 24 is a few too many, and 80 is way too many… have I got the USB hub for you! They just added these things to stock at ThinkGeek, and unlike the other hubs we’ve seen recently, this one actually looks pretty nice. It’s got kind of an Apple vibe, but obviously still ran run with the PC big boys on sheer geekiness.

Thing is, it costs $160. Personally… I’d rather buy myself a nice steak every night for a week. Or teriyaki every day for a month. Yeah, I’m going with that one. But if you can’t control your buying finger, go ahead and pick one up.

[via The Awesomer]

Scamville Marches Onto The iPhone, Sneaks Back Into Facebook

In our Scamville series of posts last October we exposed the massive user fraud occurring Facebook and MySpace social games. Fake quizzes tied to long term mobile subscriptions, malware-laden toolbar downloads and other scams were the center of the controversy. The industry did a lot of talking in the wake of those posts and some long term changes have been made. For the most part, for example, Fake quizzes and the Video Professor scam are off Facebook (but see below on what’s still there).

But now we’re seeing the same old scams hit the iPhone. And the same players, particularly OfferPal Media and SuperRewards and now Google, are powering those scams. Specifically we’re seeing SMS-subscription offers, which trick users into putting long term subscriptions on their mobile phones (or their parent’s mobile phones).

New Offerpal CEO George Garrick promised to take a leadership position in cleaning up scammy ads. He said “It will be a fundamental part of the Offerpal culture that any offers we distribute meet stringent standards of integrity and quality, as specified by our partners, credible industry experts, and good old common sense.”

We’ve seen very misleading SMS subscription ads on a variety of applications with Admob ads. We’ve reached out to Google for their comment.

Tap Defense, an iphone game created by TapJoy, contained multiple version of the SMS subscription scam until today. The offers were being run by Offerpal. After we contacted Offerpal about this story the offers were removed and they gave us the following statement:

Offerpal and I have done everything we said we would do following the initial social-game offer controversy back in November. We quickly adopted strict compliance rules modeled on Facebook’s requirements, and we have been working closely with the major social platforms and game developers to ensure that only the highest quality offers have been run and we have succeeded. Our offers and other “alt pay” options have been running continuously and there have been no compliance issues since, and these “alt-pay” offers are many times more popular than cash purchases with social game users. Consumers love them and they provide additional monetization for developers

We also led the formation of an IAB standards board to set industry guidelines for lead-gen offers on social networks, and Offerpal is the ONLY offer-network who is participating in this effort. So the issue of offer quality on social networks has been properly addressed and is considered by the industry to be an issue of the past.

Recently, we have begun to test offers in a few mobile games and apps, in particular on the iPhone. Offerpal has been participating in this effort at the request of a couple of iPhone developers and we have also just opened a direct dialogue with Apple to jointly establish standards and guidelines for offers in iPhone apps before any general rollout. In the meantime, we have been applying the same quidelines that we have been successfully using in Social Games to the few mobile apps that are carrying offers. However the vast majority of the “offers” that are running in iPhone apps are simply installs of other iPhone apps, as can be seen for example in “Tap Tap Revenge 3”.

However, Mike has raised the question of whether mobile quizzes and other apps resulting in PSMS subscriptions may still not be clear enough in citing their terms since users may not realize they are opting in for an ongoing PSMS subscription. Although such quizzes and PSMS offers are currently in wide distribution by most of the major mobile ad networks, Mike raises a valid question. So in the interest of being conservative and wanting to operate in the best interests of the collective mobile user experience, we have immediately removed the quizzes in question and any offers resulting in PSMS subscriptions from distribution pending a further review of the concerns Mike has raised.

Over the next week or so we will accumulate as much feedback as we can from developers, publishers, mobile platforms, and others in the industry, and on Monday March 22 we will publish on our website and via a press release a written statement of our guidelines and policies regarding alt-pay offers in mobile apps.

George Garrick

Chairman and CEO, Offerpal.

These types of offers are particularly insidious. Users are offered virtual currency in exchange for answering a quiz or some other seemingly harmless offer. But once they click through and awswer the quiz questions they’re told they need to enter their mobile phone number to get quiz results. Often there is fine print outlining the charges. But the already tiny print is completely unreadable on a mobile screen, making that disclosure meaningless even when it appears.

SMS subscription scams are among the most lucrative offers to game publishers because users get a recurring fee of $10 – $25 per month until they are able to terminate the subscription. Many users never notice them, and those that do usually have a lot of trouble getting them shut off.

Zwinky Back On Facebook:

We’ve also seen offers for the Zwinky toolbar back on Facebook games. When Zynga CEO Mark Pincus said “I did every horrible thing in the book to, just to get revenues right away” he was talking about Zwinky, one of the most hated malware wrappers on the Internet. Too see it back on Facebook offers, through both Offerpal and SuperRewards (we saw offers from both companies on Fishworld by TallTreeGames) is disconcerting.

More screenshots

Good Language Choice For School Programming Test?

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Foursquare And Gowalla In A Dead Heat In The Location War

The SXSW festival in Austin, Texas is currently ground zero for a war, the location war. While over a dozen services have launched new products or features around location, two still seem to stand above all others in terms of use here: Foursquare and Gowalla. Earlier today, Business Insider ran a report suggesting that Foursquare was dominating the battle — unfortunately, that’s simply not true.

In fact, Foursquare and Gowalla are basically in a statistical dead heat, at least in Austin. Multiple sources confirmed this information, and one actually showed me proof (which I was asked not to share). In other words, the war is still raging.

So why did Business Insider draw the conclusion that Foursquare was “mopping the floor” with Gowalla? Because they looked at their “The Hive” feature which scans Twitter for links being shared by influencers, and noticed that many more are sharing Foursquare links. Of course, the main problem with this information is that it uses a small sample set of data. The other problem, as Business Insider notes in an update, is that Foursquare tends to have more “spam check-ins” — that is, fake check-ins.

It’s important to remember that while Gowalla uses GPS data to verify a person is actually at the venue they say they are, Foursquare does not. That’s how this guy can check-in all over the world and steal mayorships for places he’s never been. The downside to Gowalla’s system is that sometimes it prevents you from being able to check-in at all, if they can’t verify you’re at a place. Or sometimes places are created in the wrong spot, so you can’t check-in some places even if you’re really there.

To use my own small sample set of data, it seems that the people on my social graph is Austin are in fact using both Foursquare and Gowalla to check-in everywhere they go. I’ve also noticed that more seem to be sending check-in data to Twitter from Foursquare. But again, that doesn’t mean they’re not using both, just that they’ve decided to use only one to send out data to Twitter (which makes sense), and for whatever reason, most are choosing Foursquare for that.

[image: DreamWorks Pictures]

SETI Is 50 Years Old; No Sign of ET

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Google Is Working On Letting Users Link Their Gmail And Google Apps Accounts

Many people (including myself) have come to the conclusion that Gmail, with its threaded messages, spam filtering, and vast storage space, is one of the web’s best webmail providers. In fact, we like it so much that we use it for both our personal accounts and work accounts using Google Apps. But that also poses a problem: many of us wind up having to maintain two separate Google accounts, which means we have to swap logins whenever our Gmail, Reader, or other data is stored under the other account. Fortunately, there may be an end in sight for this juggling act.

As today’s SXSW panel on Gmail came to a close, the panelists revealed one last juicy tidbit: they’re working to resolve the problems with multiple namespaces that users have to deal with. The team didn’t get specific — they simply repeated that they have to deal with the same problems, as they have “@google.com” accounts for work and standard Gmail accounts for personal use. And they know it’s a pain.

There’s no time frame, and we have no idea what form the feature will take. But at least we know Google is working on it.

Image by Helico

Amazon reacts to new Colo tax, costing affiliates

Way to go, AT&T! It was nerve-wracking after last year's troubles, but reports are coming in that the oft-maligned network is holding up to the stress of SXSW better than expected. More »

Source: Gizmodo | 14 Mar 2010 | 6:00 pm

Google Is Near Closing Its China Site [Voices]

By Loretta Chao and Ben Worthen, Reporters, The Wall Street Journal

Google appears increasingly likely to shutter its Chinese-language search engine, a step that would remove one of the last major foreign players from the world’s most populous and fastest-growing Internet market.

A person familiar with situation said on Saturday that Google is likely to take action within weeks. Separately, Chinese authorities on Friday told local news Web sites that Google’s Chinese site is likely to close and that, if it does, the news sites will be required to use only official accounts of the situation, rather than publish their own stories, according to a person familiar with the order.

Read the rest of this story on the original site

For Power Users, Gmail Set To Get Up To Speed

During the Behind the Scenes of Gmail panel today at the SXSW festival in Austin, Texas, team member Jonathan Perlow made a revelation that will be a huge relief to power Gmail users: things will soon get a lot faster.

When addressing the question, “why is Gmail slow?,” Perlow asked the audience to raise their hands if they thought Gmail was too slow. A solid number of people raised their hands. Perlow said that the reason everyone didn’t is because slowness is really only an issue for power users of the service — those with hundreds of thousands or even millions of messages. As someone approaching 100% usage of my Gmail inbox, I know this problem well.

The good news is that not only is Google well aware of the problem, they are have a solution. While he didn’t elaborate on the backend changes that will be the solution, Perlow was confident enough to say, “we are fixing it.”

Gmail currently has hundreds of millions of users (Google wouldn’t give the exact number), and it ranks as the number three email service in the world (behind Yahoo Mail and Microsoft’s Hotmail, both of which have been around longer than Gmail).

Google May Start Pre-Testing New Buzz Features With Users

This afternoon at SXSW, a panel of Gmail and Google Buzz team members took part in a panel where they discussed what goes on behind the scenes at Gmail. The panel covered a smattering of topics, covering everything from Gmail stickers to site speed, but eventually the discussion turned to the elephant in the room: Google Buzz’s privacy shortcomings when it launched last month.

Google Product Manager Todd Jackson said that Google had learned a lot from the incident, acknowledging that Google was in error when it made the assumption that users wanted to move their email and chat contacts over to their Buzz social graph, and auto-followed them.  To make sure that kind of blunder doesn’t happen again, he revealed that Google may start pre-releasing new Buzz features to small subsets of users.

So why exactly did Google Buzz launch with some key social features missing? Jackson said that while Google employees were testing out the product internally, they never had much desire to mute any of their coworkers, and that their email contact list closely matched the people they wanted to follow on Buzz. Obviously, that wasn’t true for most people once the product was released outside of the Googleplex. Which is why Google is considering pre-releasing new Buzz features to a few thousand opt-in users long before they’re rolled out to the public.

That would stand in contrast to what Google does for many of its major product launches, as Jackson says that the company doesn’t like to preannounce things (it frustrates users when they can’t try the new release out for themselves). But in the case of Buzz, where changes can have a major impact with respect to user privacy, it sounds like Google may be making an exception. Jackson also noted that he had actually asked SXSW speaker danah boyd to give her keynote talk on privacy and publicity at Google headquarters.

The Key To Gmail: Sh*t Umbrellas

Today at the Gmail Behind The Scenes panel at the SXSW festival in Austin, Texas, key team members of the Gmail team revealed the true secret of the service: Shit umbrellas.

Product manager Todd Jackson made the humorous revelation when explaining how the Gmail team works as a group of about 100 people, the vast majority of which are engineers. “You can either be a shit funnel or a shit umbrella,” Jackson says.

What he means by that is that as a product with hundreds of millions of users (and a company with thousands of employees) there’s a lot of stuff constantly being hurled at the team — as a shit umbrella, the product managers protect the engineers from getting distracted. It’s not enough to be a “shit funnel” where they would pass some of the junk down to engineers, they need to fully protect the engineers.

This sentiment was echoed by Edward Ho, who is known as “Mr. Buzz,” as he’s the one who built up the Google Buzz team (a sub-unit of the Gmail team). Ho noted his hatred for unnecessary meetings, and has made sure that when the Buzz team needs to have them, they are based around demos, not talking about things. “It’s all about what you’ve done,” Ho says.

Some other interesting notes about Gmail:

• The original invites system wasn’t a marketing ploy, it was simply an engineering decision to make sure they could scale
• There’s a 30-1 engineers to products managers ratio in the Gmail team — it’s certainly one of the biggest ratios at Google
• The Gmail team is spread over a few offices around the world (including Zurich), it used to be more, but they consolidated to help the product.
• There are “hundreds of million of users” — the third-largest email provider
• In India, Gmail is the number one email provider
• Gmail is growing fasters internationally than in the U.S.
• Gmail is available in 53 languages
• Internally, the Google Buzz team was known as “Team Taco Town” after an SNL skit
• Google uses Gmail internally (obviously), switched over from Microsoft Outlook at launch (about 6 years ago)
• Gmail is slow for some users mainly because they have a ton of emails saved. A fix for that is coming soon
• Most of gmail is written in Java, JavaScript, C++
• There are several hundred thousands lines of javascript in Gmail – one of the biggest in the world
• No new feature can launch for Gmail that adds latency to the product

[photo: flickr/atomicjeep]

Control your Canon DSLR with a Nintendo DS

After trying to find a way to remotely control their DSLRs, the clever hackers at HDRLabs couldn’t really find anything that would do what they wanted. So what did they do? Built a control of their own, using a Nintendo DS. HDRLabs went on to make the device available, for free. All you have to do is build one yourself.

So this is kind of a DIY project, if for no other reason then you can’t buy this, but you can buy all the parts (and download the instructions) on how to build it. I’m not going to lie to you and tell you that it’s easy, but the end result is incredibly cool. You’re going to need to take apart a camera release, a WarioWare: Twisted cartridge, and don’t even think about using this on a DSi. What’s the gain? Well, there’s a fairly large homebrew community sprouting up, but the basic set up gives you a sound activate trigger, motion sensor, time-lapse, and sun and moon rise awareness. Considering that this is a just a bunch of hackers building something that they couldn’t buy color me impressed. My only question is when can I get one for my Nikon?

[via Electronista]

Filter Vendor Agrees Aussie Censorship Can't Work As Promised

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Happy Pi Day!

A lovely pie for Pi Day (3/14), by Boing Boing reader Genise Schnitman. I wish I could taste a bite.


Source: Boing Boing | 14 Mar 2010 | 4:33 pm

This week in search 3/15/10

• Rich snippets documentation
• Overview of microdata
• Official microdata specification
• Rich snippets testing tool

Microsoft Employees Love Their iPhones

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Celsius Tourbillon mobile phone combines mechanical with electronic

Internet 'In Running' for Nobel Peace Prize: BBC

iPad sales estimated to top 120,000 on first day

Whether the bloggers like it or not, it’s looking like the iPad is a hit. Initial estimates show that over 120,000 iPads were pre-ordered on friday, according to Investor Village. Some estimates showed roughly 50,000 devices ordered in the first two hours.

The numbers say some very interesting things about exactly which iPads were purchased as well. Approximately 69% of the pre-orders were for the Wifi version, with the remainder being for the 3G version of course. As far as what size iPads, the split was pretty even between the 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB versions. The real question is, will Apple be able to meet all the demand for the new device, or will there be some disappointed customers come April. Given these numbers and the estimates of how much money Apple is making per device, Steve is laughing all the way to the bank this weekend.

One item worth noting, this data is based off a sampling of 99 orders over 19.5 hours, so there is of course a margin for error. The data was compiled by Investor Village’s AAPL Sanity board which as of this time, is down.

[via Brainstorm Tech]

Obama Backs MPAA, RIAA, and ACTA

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Demotix Hooks DIY Journos Into Mainstream

Appletell reviews the Gorillamobile for iPhone 3G and 3GS

FROM APPLETELL - Whether you need the Gorillamobile for iPhone 3G and 3GS comes down to how often you need to mount your iPhone, be it for photography, watching movies, etc.
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Venezuelan Web site rejects Chavez's allegations (AP)

SpaceX Fires Up

What Aspects of Open Source Projects Do You Avoid?

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

PC World calls iPad buyers “Idiots”

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

PC World writer, Galen Gruman, called out iPad pre-order buyers on Saturday, calling them names in his post, “iPad Pre-Orders: For Idiots Only.”  Apple’s iPad went on pre-order Friday and is rumored to have 120,000 devices sold as a result.  Even at the cheapest model, that’s $60 million, not a bad day in my book.

Gruman puts forth a logical argument,

“... we’ve all seen promising product demonstrations that resulted in major letdown when we finally got a hold of the real thing. Why take that chance? After all, the first-generation iPad is particularly likely to have disappointments, as it’s the version that will tell us what, after the hoopla dies down, Apple should have done.”

We all know that first generation anything, typically has some bugs to work out: cars, appliances, and especially gadgets.  Gruman seems content to call the cult-like followers of the golden fruit names while forgetting (or perhaps counting on for page hits) other motivations for buying.  Fear not, the “idiots” responded to the post:

“And if I call someone an idiot, my post gets flagged for personal attacks . . . but this guy can call a whole slew of people idiots, IN THE TOPIC EVEN!!!”
“aren’t you the same guy who was raving about the iPad just last month?”
“PC World used to have much better tech journalism than this. Are they hiring high school kids to write their op-eds during the recession now?”
“According to the logic of this article, I should cancel my subscription to PC World on the grounds that I would be an “idiot” to order an issue of a magazine before I’d actually had the opportunity to review it.”
“Galen, please stop writing. Your boorish, self pleasuring drivel has tainted a rather noble profession.”
“Galen Gruman is a prick.”
“I won’t defend my decision to purchase the iPad because your clearly not capable of understanding. Go FYS “

As of this writing, there were 139 comments, mostly voiced by folks that sounded as if either they pre-ordered the iPad or can find logic in doing so.  There were a few, “take that Apple fanboys” but most were put off by Gruman’s name calling.  The tone was angry, disappointed in PC World, and often insulted.

I wonder how the post would have compared if the author had titled it, “iPad Pre-Orders, Your’re an idiot if you didn’t get one”.  Would the Microsoft legion have come out against the fanboy?  How many times would the word “fanboy” or “fanboi” have been in the comments?  Or “Kool Aid”?  Let us know in the comments.

Read: [PC World]

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

How To Make Your Own iPhone RFID Reader

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

New version of Digg is “five years in the making”

Section: Web, Websites

With the majority of the technology community in Austin this week for SXSW, Digg felt it was a good time to release a new version of their social bookmarking site.

In, fact they decided to release the alpha version of the new site so you can get a sneak peak at it. If you go to new.digg.com, you can fill in your e-mail address for access to the alpha release. This new release, Jay Adelson (Digg CEO) claims, is, “five years in the making.” Now based on my interpretation of that statement, I’m looking for a complete revamp of the design and interaction with the sight.

While geeks are frantically checking their e-mails for the alpha release, some websites, such as Mashable, are already implementing some new features of the redesign. With the new design, Digg felt that it was about time to change up the digg buttons as well. I guess that is going to be a good thing since I was getting kind of sick of the old ones anyways.

Read [Mashable]

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

Why are people against the FCC’s National Broadband Plan?

Up until a moment ago, this was going to be a standard “newsy” post: the FCC will announce its National Broadband Plan on Tuesday, here’s what it’s all about. Then I read the comments of a PC World article discussing that very same plan—many people are outraged that the government would muscle its way into the free market! If Americans wanted fast broadband then the market would provide it on its own terms. That, of course, is complete nonsense: plenty of Americans live in one-ISP towns, and if said ISP provides terrible service, well, though cookies, chico. This is America! Love it or leave it~!

And really, the FCC isn’t doing anything particularly controversial, at least I don’t think it’s controversial. All it’s doing is saying, by 2020, we’d like to see 100 million homes (out of an estimated 130 million homes come 2020) have access to broadband with speeds of up to 100 mbps. Some people already have access to that type of Internet connection, myself included. Other ISPs, including universally loathed Comcast, plans to roll out 100 mbps service in the coming months. So it’s not like the FCC is making some sort of unreasonable demand: the market has already decided that it’s worth its while to deploy 100 mbps service all over the country. A cynic might say that the FCC knows this, that 100 mbps service is closer than you might otherwise think, and is merely latching itself onto the ISPs so that it can be all, “See, FCC = leadership.” But don’t be cynical, don’t hold grudges: while you’re holding a grudge, the other guy is dancing.

I don’t know, I suppose it makes sense to get into this a bit more when the FCC actually makes the Plan public on Tuesday. But for now, all I have to say is: chill out. Not everything the government announces is tantamount to quartering British soldiers in your house without permission. I suppose I’m talking to people right now who actually believe, and understand, that a wired country is truly in the best interests of everyone.

Hello, I must be going

Gamertell Review: Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver with Pokewalker for DS

FROM GAMERTELL - Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver are the best Pokemon games currently available, and the highlight of the series. These adaptations of Pokemon Gold and Silver excel in all areas and will keep you busy for months to come.
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Chuck Berry, "Tulane" (Greatest Song of All Time of the Day)

Look at Mie!

Review: Creative World of Warcraft headset

Short Version: Fresh from the box, Creative’s World of Warcraft, is here! They were designed for WoW players and their performance definitely reflects that. While a tad bulky, they don’t feel heavy.
Pros
• Very Comfortable
• Hard to hear outside the headphones
• Wireless Mic works well. Does not get in the way.
• Driver allows deep customization of audio to serve your needs.

Cons
• No way to determine battery power.
• Volume buttons feel a little flimsy.
• Microphone can adjust but not very well.
• In order to download drivers, you must register the product.
• Reasonable but not impressive range.
• Not compatible with consoles (at least the PS3)

The headset packs a serious punch. Immediately, when you first put them on you’ll notice they muffle out sound very well. Despite the size they feel comfortable and even after prolonged periods of play your ears won’t ache. Windows has no trouble finding the skeleton drivers once I plugged in the USB device.

I sought out to download the drivers and was surprised that they required me to register the product in order to install the drivers. Once that way squared away, I played around with the Audio Control Panel. They allow you to customize the Glyph illumination (change color, pulsation, etc). There’s a panel that allows you to customize 5 audio options that massively enhance the audio quality. There are also voice filters that allow you to mask your voice into various characters from WoW including XT-002 Deconstructor. Finally, you can bind your keys to various actions like mute to your keyboard.

There’s no way to tell how much battery life you have on the wireless headset. Eventually they will simply go off. They can be charged by a simple mini-usb cable. They also work while plugged in so you can play while charging – granted – this technically defeats the purpose of a wireless headset.

All the audio options make a huge improvement to the game. The surround sound works surprisingly well. Better than previous simulated surround sound devices I’ve ever used. Quick note: all sounds are based on the character’s perspective (not camera) so be wary if you’re in a PVP zone and you hear fire off in the distance.
I only have 3 significant complaints. They probably placed the microphone far from the mouth to prevent pop but you can only bend it so far. This can also be troublesome if you raid late at night and loved ones are in the room: you can’t mumble effectively. Other than that, the microphone works very well. The volume buttons are flimsy and often don’t feel like they work. They are sensitive but don’t increase the volume more than 2 percent making it quicker to adjust volume via the slider. You may also hit the volume (or even microphone mute) buttons while taking off/putting on the headphones. My last major gripe is the lack of compatibility of with the consoles. The PS3 can recognize some USB headsets and the WoW headphones would have made an excellent headset but alas; the PS3 could not detect the wireless USB key. I haven’t checked for the 360 yet.

You can walk around your room with the headphones on, but they won’t last a bathroom trip. This is mildly disappointing but considering you’re not meant to be roaming your household with them on, it can be forgiven. On that note, I discourage roaming around with the glyphs pulsating. Sure they may look cool to you, but to anyone else, you will be confused with a tool.

Creative’s World of Warcraft wireless headset sells at $159.99. While not completely necessary, the audio improvements they make are incredible and the headset does serve as a status symbol. There’s nothing quite like going to the kitchen with your headset on listening to music of Dalaran.

Gabriel Deleon, Nicholas’ younger brother who has like 10 level 80s, wrote these fine words.

Verizon’s Nexus One to be sold only at online store

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

Smartphone users on Verizon’s network have been patiently awaiting the release of the Nexus One for several months now. Well apparently the release date is coming up fast according to the leaked pictures floating around the web.

According to the picture above, Google has decided to stay stubborn about retail stores and stick with the online store as the only provider for the “superphone.” If Google wants to turn around the poor sales that the Nexus One has been turning, they will need an enormous marketing push to get people to visit the site. I would not be surprised to see an ad campaign similar to the size of the Droid’s. That is, if they go the advertising route.

Read [Android Central]

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

Appletell reviews the Just Mobile Gum Plus Power Pack

FROM APPLETELL - As your iDevice ages, you may find yourself needing a little extra battery life. Designed to fit right in with your MacBook Pro, the Gum Plus Power Pack will keep you topped off for days in style.
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Officials Meet To Discuss Tuna, Other Animals

Netflix pulls plug on contest

Section: Video, Video Providers

Many a geek have participated in Netflix’s competition to improve their recommendation algorithm. The prize? $1 million.

However, Netflix has now officially cut the second iteration of this competition short due to privacy concerns. Apparently, a woman filed a lawsuit against Netflix claiming that her private life could be violated by the huge database of customer information provided by Netflix to the participants in the contest.

This is actually saddens me. I thought that the Netflix Recommendation Competition was a really cool way to not only improve an amazing service, but also fund a group on geniuses for their own discoveries. But unfortunately, all of our privacy is now compromised because of it (sarcasm).

Read [The New York Times] Via [Gizmodo]

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

Top 10 Gamertell posts for the week of March 07, 2010

FROM GAMERTELL - Haven’t caught all of the Gamertell news this week?  Here’s your chance to catch up on this week’s top 10 articles…
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Lunar Mirror Mystery Solved

Government rebuked over global warming nursery rhyme adverts - Telegraph.co.uk

Times Online

Government rebuked over global warming nursery rhyme adverts Telegraph.co.uk Two nursery rhyme adverts commissioned by the Government to raise awareness of climate change have been banned for overstating the risks. By Matthew Moore The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruled that the adverts – which were based on the ... Kumi Naidoo on climate change denial 'deja vu'BBC News Ed Miliband's adverts banned for overstating climate changeTimes Online Questions about research slow climate change effortsUSA Today Bloomington Pantagraph -Washington Post -Packet Online all 49 news articles »