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China Mobile says 2009 profit up 2.3 percent (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 18 Mar 2010 | 4:07 am PayPal to tie up with Chinese partner (AFP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 18 Mar 2010 | 4:06 am Foursquare's Next Move: A Big Funding Round [MediaMemo]
Sources tell me that the mobile social network, which lets you tell your friends where you are, is lining up a new round of financing to bolster the $1.35 million it raised last August. CEO Dennis Crowley declined to comment. I don’t know how much the year-old company intends to raise, or the valuation it’s looking for. But speculating about both is a fun pastime for venture capitalists, who agree on one thing: The company won’t have any problem attracting suitors. “Everybody and their mother is humping their leg,” says a VC who readily admits to Foursquare infatuation. So many investors are besotted that the chatter can get feverish. Another VC passes along a rumor that an investor had offered to buy into the company at a $100 million valuation. A more reasonable guess: The New York-based company will wind up bringing in a West Coast-based VC, who will lead a round in the $10 million range that will value the company at something like $40 million. Foursquare’s first round valued the company at more than $6 million. So what’s the appeal? Like plenty of other social media startups, Foursquare has minimal revenues. But it has a great story, which contains plenty of allusions to Twitter. Like Twitter, Foursquare is founded by an entrepreneur who has already built a startup and sold it to Google (GOOG). And like Twitter, Foursquare launched at South by Southwest to some fanfare, and has seen its user base increase at breath-taking velocity. When Crowley raised his first round of financing from O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures and Union Square Ventures in August, Foursquare had some 50,000 users. That total is now approaching 600,000, boosted by a burst of 100,000 sign-ups over the last 10 days. And like Twitter, Foursquare doesn’t have real revenues to speak of. But it does have a notion of how it might get some. It is working on tie-ups with local merchants, who can reward users who “check in” at restaurants, bars, etc. — and by doing so, provide free advertising for those establishments. Foursquare still doesn’t do anything for me, but the service is doing just fine without buy-in from a middle-aged dude who doesn’t go out at night. And because Foursquare is a fun, buzzy story to write about, it gets written about a lot. The real question for Foursquare: How will they keep Twitter and Facebook from rolling over them? Twitter added its location feature this month, and Facebook is reportedly adding its own in April. 
Source: Gizmodo | 18 Mar 2010 | 3:58 am Facebook hits overtakes Google in US - Toronto Star
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 18 Mar 2010 | 3:54 am Chaos Rings: Square Enix releases fantastic trailer for iPhone-exclusive RPG
Japanese video gaming powerhouse Square Enix has released a handful of hit titles for the iPhone already (including Final Fantasy I and II), but the next one, an RPG named Chaos Rings, is poised to blow them all out of the water. Officially announced [JP] today, the game’s trailer shows absolutely amazing graphics. There will be five scenarios in the game, a turn-based battle system, boss fights, and “five 2-person teams that enter into a battle tournament to the death” (the game’s main storyline revolves around said tournament). Square Enix says Chaos Rings will be an original iPhone title with optimized touch controls. And it seems to have the best graphics seen on the iPhone so far.
The company released the trailer for Chaos Rings just a few hours ago. It’s in Japanese, but that doesn’t matter too much in this case. Expect the title to hit the App Store “soon”, at the very least within this year (judging from the trailer, the game could be pretty much finished). Here it is: Via andriasang
Source: CrunchGear | 18 Mar 2010 | 3:40 am Can You Fight DRM With Patience?As modern DRM schemes get more annoying and invasive, the common wisdom is to vote with your wallet and avoid supporting developers and publishers who include such schemes with their games. Or, if you simply must play it, wait a while until outcry and complaints have caused the DRM restrictions to be loosened. But will any of that make game creators rethink their stance? An article at CNet argues that gamers are, in general, an impatient bunch, and that trait combined with the nature of the games industry means that progress fighting DRM will be slow or nonexistent. Quoting: "Increasingly so, the joke seems to be on the customers who end up buying this software when it first comes out. A simple look back at some controversial titles has shown us that after the initial sales come, the publisher later removes the vast majority of the DRM, leaving gamers to enjoy the software with fewer restrictions. ... Still, [waiting until later to purchase the game] isn't a good long-term solution. Early sales are often one of the big quantifiers in whether a studio will start working on a sequel, and if everyone were to wait to buy games once they hit the bargain price, publishers would simply stop making PC versions. There's also no promise that the really heavy bits of DRM will be stripped out at a later date, except for the fact that most publishers are unlikely to want to maintain the cost of running the activation, and/or online verification servers for older software."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Gizmodo | 18 Mar 2010 | 3:36 am Google TV Should Finally Push Apple TV Beyond A “Hobby”
But there’s actually nothing to be ashamed of. The Apple TV is a good product. Apple just needs to put some proper time and energy into it, to expand it to its full potential. And news today about the so-called “Google TV” should do just the trick. Apple and Google are on the verge of war. The formerly close allies are increasingly competing in key spaces for both, and the living room is likely to be a new battleground because it’s still very much up in air. As the New York Times reported yesterday, Google is working with partners including Intel, Sony, and Logitech to bring a Google TV experience into the living room. This is, of course, where the Apple TV resides. And Apple would be foolish to simply cede any ground it does have to its new favorite rival just because it’s focused on other things (*cough* iPad *cough*). That’s a Microsoft move. As Nick Bilton points out, this Google TV would be based around the Android platform. This means that the key idea is likely to have third-party developers work on it to make applications built for a television set. That’s easier said than done, but Android’s open nature should yield some interesting results rather quickly. Apple, meanwhile, is of course anything but open with regard to their devices. In fact, the Apple TV is entirely closed right now, as only Apple is able to modify its software (without hacking it, of course). I suspect that will change, following this revelation. The idea of running iPhone-style applications on the Apple TV has long been a sexy one. Hell, people have even ported apps over to a TV screen to show how well it could work. The main problem with developing iPhone apps for the Apple TV seems to be resolution. With the iPhone (and iPod touch), Apple offers only one screen size/resolution, ensuring developers have an easy time making great-looking apps — while at the same time, making sure end users have a great experience. But the iPad has already changed everything. With their new device, Apple has kept things as simple as possible by making iPhone apps scale up two times to work on the bigger display, but it’s still shows a willingness to move beyond the one screen size. Unfortunately, with the Apple TV, it can be attached to a screen that could be a huge variety of sizes, so it would be hard to control that. Google doesn’t care about that because Android already runs on dozens of phones with different screen sizes. But Apple clearly cares about how apps look on its devices (so much so that the iPad itself was likely designed at a strange ratio simply to make scaling apps look as good as possible). So does that mean they start offering an actual Apple TV (as in a screen)? Rumors of that have been around for a long time. Or maybe they black-box apps to a certain resolution — similar to what they’re doing on the iPad when an app isn’t scaled up? Who knows. But what I do know is that upon hearing this Google TV news, the Apple TV became a little less of a “hobby” yesterday. Aside from calling it a hobby, Steve Jobs has referred to the Apple TV as being a potential “fourth leg” of a chair Apple is building. Leg one is the Mac, leg two is the iPod, leg three is the iPhone, and Jobs had hoped the Apple TV would complete the chair one day. But it seems clear now that he thinks the iPad could be the fourth leg instead. Screw that. I think it’s time for Apple to build a whole dining room set of furniture. We, as consumers, need a living room arms race between Apple and Google (and Microsoft, TiVo, Roku, Boxee, and the rest) to kick the cable companies’ shitty television user experience to the curb.      
Source: TechCrunch | 18 Mar 2010 | 3:17 am Readings: China, Ireland, Water, Traffic, CDOs, etc.China and Germany unite to impose global deflation (Source) Water - The right price can encourage efficiency and investment (Source) Ireland's Epic Boom and Bust (Source) Postcard...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 18 Mar 2010 | 3:12 am Court Says Parents Can Block Sexting CasesThis is big news. From The New York Times: In the first federal appeals court opinion dealing with sexting the transmission of sexually explicit photographs by cellphone a three-judge panel of the United...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 18 Mar 2010 | 3:10 am AT&T Announces Eco-Friendly Zero ChargerBy Chris Scott Barr It looks like AT&T has hopped on the eco-friendly bandwagon. They have announced a new mobile phone charger dubbed the Zero Charger, which is supposed to be the greenest of its...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 18 Mar 2010 | 3:06 am MobileIron Opens European HeadquartersSource: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 18 Mar 2010 | 3:00 am London Prepares to Host Europe's Largest Gathering of CE & IT Manufacturers & BuyersSource: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 18 Mar 2010 | 3:00 am Primordial 'Dust Free' Monsters Lurk at the Edge of the UniverseOn the very edge of our observable universe live two quasars. Both contain active and growing primordial black holes, but where's all the dust?Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 18 Mar 2010 | 2:57 am Thursday Machinima: Geisha Dolls in Dynamic ShadowHere's a lovely look at a recent festival in the Hosoi Ichiba sim [SLURL], sumptuously photographed with dynamic lighting by Dirk Schooner:Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 18 Mar 2010 | 2:32 am Things I Want to Write....Two Apple and one Microsoft posts are begging me to be Thought Out Loud, and yet I am so damn busy I can't write. yet. So here they are in shorthand form. ....Apple is creating a closed advertising and...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 18 Mar 2010 | 2:31 am Dubai sentences Indian couple to 3 months in jail for SextingSteamy text messages have resulted in a three-month jail sentence for a Indian man and an Indian woman in Dubai. The BBC reports. Judges ruled that they had planned to "commit sin", a reference to an...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 18 Mar 2010 | 2:28 am Polar bear ban defeated at UN conservation meetingA U.S.-backed proposal to ban the trade of polar bear skins and parts has been voted down at a U.N. wildlife trade meeting. The Americans argued at the 175-nation Convention on...Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 18 Mar 2010 | 2:12 am India's Sun Pharma gets US nod for Prometh genericMUMBAI, March 18 (Reuters) - India's Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd said on Thursday the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved its generic version of Actavis Mid Atlantic's Prometh syrup, used...Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 18 Mar 2010 | 1:58 am UPDATE 1-Salamander to expand in Asia as production rises* Buys 50 pct stake in block in offshore Northern VietnamSource: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 18 Mar 2010 | 1:58 am UPDATE 1-GW says UK, Spain close to approving cannabis drug* UK, Spanish regulators expected to approve Sativex in Q2Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 18 Mar 2010 | 1:50 am Traducción Necesita? Smartling Raises $4 Million To Do It For You.
The realtime website translation tool has raised the Series A round led by Venrock. Also participating are U.S. Venture Partners, First Round Capital, and several angels, we’re told. There are professional translators out there that will convert your site into a different language, but they’re usually expensive, and it can take a while. Meanwhile, services like Google Translate are pretty much instantaneous and free, but accuracy is an issue. Smartling attempts to find the middle ground. They offer fast, accurate translations at a low cost. How? They use a hybrid model which essentially allows you to pick between professional translators, machine translations, and crowdsourced translations. The key is managing it all, which can be done with Smartling’s software. With it, you can pick and choose which part of your site to translate which way. As the web continues to grow quickly in places such as China, translation is going to be a very important aspect of an increasing number of sites and services. Smartling, which only started itself last year, seems to be in a good position to expand its operations now with the new money.
Information provided by CrunchBase      
Source: TechCrunch | 18 Mar 2010 | 1:48 am President Clinton Talks About His Internet Legacy (BTW, He's an iPhone Dude, While the GOP's #41 Is a BlackBerry Teen) [BoomTown]
Here is a video I did of former President Bill Clinton talking at an event related to the 25th anniversary of the first .com domain registration. Clinton gave a keynote speech first–which was inexplicably about healthcare legislation and then global warming. But, after it was done, he sat down with VeriSign (VRSN) CEO Mark McLaughlin to talk about a range of Web-related topics, in a very amusing interview exchange. They included what devices he uses, broadband access, as well as the dire trouble traditional media is in. Clinton talked about what sites–largely political–he likes. He mentioned Politico, Daily Beast and the Huffington Post for their analysis and outlook, as well as far-right ones to keep track of his opposition. Interestingly, he did not mention not the Washington Post (WPO) or the New York Times (NYT) online, although he said their deep reporting was valuable. Still, Clinton noted, “It’s almost impossible given the economics of the modern world for newspapers to continue.” And, the 42nd President of the United States is an Apple (AAPL) fanboy, naming his iPhone as his fave gadget (although he did say he had a BlackBerry). He did joke that his predecessor, No. 41, former President George H.W. Bush, is a maniac user of the Research in Motion (RIMM) BlackBerry, likening him to a teenager. Also, no Kindle from Amazon (AMZN), since Clinton said he still likes books. Here’s the video (sorry about his shiny watch, but you can hear him!): [ See post to watch video ] Source: All Things Digital | 18 Mar 2010 | 1:38 am UPDATE 1-Aspen sells 50 pct in oncology JVS for $117 mln*Strides to licence existing, future oncology drugs to AspenSource: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 18 Mar 2010 | 1:37 am PRESS DIGEST - Russia - March 18MOSCOW, March 18 (Reuters) - The following are some of the leading stories in Russia's newspapers on Thursday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 18 Mar 2010 | 1:33 am UPDATE 1-Aegis appoints CEO and issues new bond* Full-year organic revenue decline within forecast rangeSource: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 18 Mar 2010 | 1:28 am Microsoft MSN China top exec to leave (Reuters)Reuters - A top executive for Microsoft Corp's MSN China will leave the joint venture, Microsoft said on Thursday, in a setback as the firm struggles to compete in China's hotly contested social networking space.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 18 Mar 2010 | 1:21 am UPDATE 1-Microsoft MSN China top exec to leave* Microsoft to push search engine Bing (Adds details and background)Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 18 Mar 2010 | 1:20 am Los Angeles Mentorship Program Launchpad LA Opens Applications For Its Second Session
The program was created by Mark Suster of GRP Partners, who previously founded BuildOnline (acquired by SWORD Group) and later Koral (acquired by Salesforce, where he became VP Product Management). The criteria for interested companies: startups can’t have raised more than $1 million (or institutional venture capital), and are based in (or willing to move to) Los Angeles, where the program is based. As with incubator programs like Y Combinator and Techstars, Launchpad LA invites VCs and other mentors from the area to help mentor participating companies. But unlike those programs, it doesn’t directly invest in the companies — it’s purely for mentorship. That said, many VCs and angel investors in the Los Angeles area have some involvement, so it has played a role in those companies getting funding down the road. Mentors for the last program included Mike Jones, who is now co-President of MySpace, DocStoc’s Jason Nazar, and Adam Bain of Fox Media Interactive. The last program included 13 companies, including Mobile Roadie, Movoxx , and GumGum.      
Source: TechCrunch | 18 Mar 2010 | 1:17 am P2P and P2P Links Ruled Legal In SpainNieriko writes After three years of arduous litigation, Jesus Guerra Calderon, owner of both a small bar and the P2P link webpage 'elrincondejesus.com' has beaten the SGAE (something like the Spanish version of the RIAA). The historic ruling states not only the legality of link webpages, but also the legality of P2P file-sharing networks. Quoting the judge: 'P2P Networks as mere data transmision networks between individual internet users, do not breach any rights protected by the Intellectual Property Law.' Downloading a file (from a P2P network) for private use is perfectly legal as long as there is no lucrative or collective use of the downloaded copy."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Gizmodo | 18 Mar 2010 | 1:07 am Cisco's New Router: Trouble for Hollywood [Voices]By Erik Heinrich, Writer, Time.com Cisco’s (CSCO) CRS-3 router made a bit of a splash when it was announced on March 9, but the power of this new device hasn’t yet sunk in. Consider: The CRS-3, a network routing system, is able to stream every film ever made, from Hollywood to Bombay, in under four minutes. That’s right — the whole universe of films digested in less time than it takes to boil an egg. Read the rest of this post on the original site Source: All Things Digital | 18 Mar 2010 | 1:04 am "Dotcom" Turns 25: My Predictions for What Comes Next [Voices]By Arianna Huffington, Founder, Huffington Post Yesterday marked the 25th anniversary of the Internet designation “.com.” To commemorate the occasion, VeriSign is hosting a conference today in Washington. I’m taking part, along with Bill Clinton, Fareed Zakaria, Aneesh Chopra, Mo Rocca, Fred Wilson, Kara Swisher and many others. Read the rest of this post on the original site Arianna Huffington runs the Huffington Post. Source: All Things Digital | 18 Mar 2010 | 1:03 am The Movie Studios' Big 3D Scam [Voices]By Alexander Murphy, Contributor, Gizmodo Are we ready for 3D? As CG supervisor and avid moviegoer, I’m sad to say that I’m not convinced we are. Yet. And the worse is yet to come, as studios try to milk us all for these half-baked goods. Read the rest of this post on the original site Source: All Things Digital | 18 Mar 2010 | 1:02 am Google and Partners Seek a Television Foothold [Voices]By Nick Bilton, Blogger, Bits, New York Times Google (GOOG) and Intel (INTC) have teamed with Sony (SNE) to develop a platform called Google TV to bring the Web into the living room through a new generation of televisions and set-top boxes. The move is an effort by Google and Intel to extend their dominance of computing to television, an arena where they have little sway. For Sony, which has struggled to retain a pricing and technological advantage in the competitive TV hardware market, the partnership is an effort to get a leg up on competitors. Read the rest of this post on the original site Source: All Things Digital | 18 Mar 2010 | 1:01 am IE9: Microsoft's New Browser Gets No Respect at All [Voices]By Ed Bott, Technology Writer, ZDNet Yesterday, influential web designer Jeffrey Zeldman admitted “there is no such thing as a calm discussion of improvements to a Microsoft (MSFT) browser,” and then proceeded to accidentally prove his own case. Someone pointed out Zeldman’s post to me yesterday, during a brief lull in the proceedings at MIX10, and I scanned it quickly. Although it carried the bland title IE9 Preview, the post itself was dripping with sarcasm, laced with backhanded compliments, and supplemented with several extra-large servings of contempt for everything Microsoft is doing with Internet Explorer. Read the rest of this post on the original site Source: All Things Digital | 18 Mar 2010 | 1:01 am Google Buzz Exemplifies Privacy Problems, FTC Commissioner Says [Voices]By Emily Steel, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal Citing the recent launch of Google’s (GOOG) social-networking service, Google Buzz, outgoing Federal Trade Commissioner Pamela Jones Harbour said technology companies are setting a dangerous precedent of publicly exposing consumer data, particularly during the rollout of new products. “Protecting consumer privacy is of utmost importance,” Ms. Harbour said during a Federal Trade Commission roundtable discussion about privacy Wednesday, speaking via videoconference from Barcelona, Spain. “Unfortunately, many of the companies that consumers look to as leaders — and that we expect to be leaders — still have not taken this message entirely to heart.” Read the rest of this post on the original site Source: All Things Digital | 18 Mar 2010 | 1:00 am The Mobile OS MarketRelated GigaOM Pro Research Report (sub req’d): The App Developer's Guide to Choosing a Mobile Platform Infographic by Column Five MediaSource: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 18 Mar 2010 | 1:00 am The first perpetual mechanical timepiece: Cabestan Sol Invictus Even discounting the fact that this is a watch, this is just an amazing little piece of machinery. The Sol Invictus puts a modern spin on the perpetual motion machine, using micro-motors, solar cells, and a chain system to create an incredibly complicated (and incredibly cool looking) timepiece. The is the first watch to combine a chain & fusée with drums and vertical tourbillon in a watch, and the result is stunning.
Source: CrunchGear | 18 Mar 2010 | 1:00 am Devs Finally Finding Success With Xbox Indie GamesMcBacon writes with this excerpt from Wired.co.uk: "Often dismissed as a failed venture, the Xbox Indie Games programme has earned successful man-and-his-dog developers tens of thousands of pounds from sales of their homebrew games. Wired explores the success stories of this hidden marketplace. ... now, more than a year since its launch, the Xbox Indie Games are seeing something of a revival. Microsoft has made huge strides to improve the service, games are beginning to be taken more seriously and success stories are becoming more and more common. Especially for [James] Silva, a New York-based developer, who became an impromptu Indie celebrity after his game The Dishwasher won Microsoft's Dream-Build-Play competition. He says he's 'absolutely thrilled' to have seen I Maed a Gam3 w1th Zomb1es!!!1 — his latest game — become a cult hit, for gamers to flock to it in record numbers and to have sold over 200,000 copies."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 18 Mar 2010 | 12:36 am Sprint HTC Touch Pro2 definitely getting Windows Mobile 6.5 on Friday
Still having a hard time believing that the Sprint Touch Pro2 will finally be getting the Windows Mobile 6.5 update treatment Friday, March 19th? Believe it, dear reader. Our boy 99accordv6 just sent over a stack of documents all positively pinning the update on 3/19/10, the most clear of which is pictured up above. While the details are mostly the same as the ones we saw in the last leak, the two download links down at the bottom do positively confirm that the update won’t require a trip to the Sprint store. It won’t be too much longer now, Touch Pro2 owners! Thanks, 99accordv6!
Source: MobileCrunch | 18 Mar 2010 | 12:22 am New evolution exhibit at Natural History museum; dog rescued from ice twice - Washington Post
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 18 Mar 2010 | 12:21 am Metaverse Viewer Feature Comparison ChartThis is an enormously useful and detailed Google spreadsheet detailing the features of over 30 viewers used to access Second Life and OpenSim-based metaverses. Created by Jenn Forager, it also comes with...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 18 Mar 2010 | 12:07 am Catching Up: 3 Interviews from a Cooling CrucibleAfter almost a year of hand-wringing, fretting, and occasionally even writing the odd string of English words, I’ve finally started turning into the home stretch with the first draft...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 18 Mar 2010 | 12:05 am Apple Gets Location Fever Too In The App Store
As you can see in the images in this post, Apple is highlighting five of the key location players both in the App Store on iTunes, as well as on the App Store on the iPhone itself. On the iTunes version, the apps have their own area right below the “New & Noteworthy” area. On the iPhone, the five apps takes up the top five slots of the “What’s Hot” area. Simply put: This promotion is huge. So what are the five apps? The names should be familiar to you because we’ve covered each very recently. Foursquare (our coverage), Gowalla (our coverage), Loopt (our coverage), Whrrl 3 (our coverage), and MyTown (our coverage). I’d like to think Apple picked these guys to feature after reading TechCrunch, but who knows what goes on behind the doors of the secretive company. As any app developer will tell you, having your app featured can make or break it. Even the two most-hyped players, Foursquare and Gowalla (the two key players in the most recent Location War), stand to benefit from Apple’s ability to reach all kinds of different audiences with the App Store. Foursquare announced earlier that it had gained 100,000 new users in just the past 10 days — that type of growth may actually continue as long as Apple keeps featuring the app. The other three, have all benefited in the past from previous Apple promotions. Notably, this helped MyTown surpass both Foursquare and Gowalla in size in under a month after its launch. Game on, says Apple.
     
Source: TechCrunch | 18 Mar 2010 | 12:02 am HTC Says Will Fight Apple Lawsuit, Stresses Innovations - PC World
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 18 Mar 2010 | 12:00 am HTC Says Will Fight Apple Lawsuit, Stresses Innovations (PC World)PC World - High Tech Computer (HTC) on Thursday said it plans to "fully defend itself" against the patent infringement lawsuit filed by Apple early this month, adding it has always respected the intellectual property of others and will continue to do so.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 18 Mar 2010 | 12:00 am Savanna Snow and Michael Eli: A Golden Dawn art showNorthern California artists Savanna Snow, who I've previously featured on BB, and Michael Eli have a magickal show opening Friday evening at Oakland's Art At The Oakbrook gallery. Titled "A Golden Dawn,"...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 17 Mar 2010 | 11:46 pm Savanna Snow and Michael Eli: A Golden Dawn art show
Northern California artists Savanna Snow, who I've previously featured on BB, and Michael Eli have a magickal show opening Friday evening at Oakland's Art At The Oakbrook gallery. Titled "A Golden Dawn," the show runs until April 19, with an artists' discussion on April 10. (Click the lovely invite below to see it larger.) A preview of the show is also viewable on Flickr. Savanna writes: "A Golden Dawn" preview (Flickr, thanks Korin Faught!) Savanna Snow (artist site)
Previously:
Source: Boing Boing | 17 Mar 2010 | 11:46 pm Happy Meal is ageless: no decay in a year on a shelfJoann Bruso, author of Baby Bites - Transforming A Picky Eater Into A Healthy Eater Book, a book on getting kids to overcome picky eating habits, has been blogging the half-life of a McDonald's Happy Meal that she bought a year ago. In the intervening year, the box of delight, plastic toys and food-like substances has experienced virtually no decay.Happy Birthday to My Happy Meal (via Consumerist)
Previously:
Source: Boing Boing | 17 Mar 2010 | 11:39 pm Amazon brings Kindle app to the Mac
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 Siliconrepublic.com | Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 Series Lacks Cut, Copy, Paste Function eWeek Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 Series will lack the ability to cut, copy and paste text, similar to Apple's iPhone upon that device's release. In its place, users will be able to perform a single-tap action. The Windows Phone 7 Series will also lack other ... Windows Phone stars at Mix How Will Apple Respond To Windows Phone 7? Hands On: the T-Mobile HTC HD2 |
The latest entry in the games-as-art argument, Heavy Rain is the spiritual secret to the controversial Indigo Prophecy, one of the rare “interactive storytelling” type games that has made a dent on the market since Phantasmagoria. Personally, I think I would enjoy the game, but since I don’t have a PS3, that’s not going to happen any time soon. Yahtzee is of two minds about it, understandably, calling it various names but admitting it gets much better later. Anyone check it out yet?
We’re happy to announce the rollout of a mobile version of TechCrunch. We know how spotty wireless coverage can be, and how frustrating it can get to wait for a ton of extras to load while you’re staring at 2.5″ screen and can’t see them anyway. To that end, this version is stripped down to the bare essentials to ensure quick load times and ease of use. It’s based on the WPTouch theme by BraveNewCode.
It’s not an app – it works with any touch-enabled browser. You can, of course, add it to your home screen for easy access to the latest in technology news. Thank you to Bing, our launch partner for the mobile version.
To see the new mobile version, just go to techcrunch.com on any touch-screen mobile device. We’ll be adding full support for non-touchscreen models soon.
We’ll be improving on the design in the coming weeks, so tell us your thoughts in the comments.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Fwix, a startup that offers a stream of local news that’s updated in real-time, has landed a deal with The New York Times Company to use Fwix’s hyper-local news wire across The New York Times Company’s Regional Media Group’s 15 newspapers, as well as other business units such as Boston.com and NYTimes.com.
Fwix, which launched its realtime API a few weeks ago, aggregates news articles and blog posts that are relevant to a certain region (the site now features support for over 80 cities in the United States and Canada). To do this, the Fwix team selects news sources and blogs that it thinks are related to each city, and also uses automated algorithms to determine when other content might also be relevant. Fwix has also recently tweaked its algorithm and offerings to include “nearby” local content features. So content on Fwix displays relationships between both topics and nearby location. For example, after reading a story about a robbery that took place in the Mission district of San Francisco, you’ll be able to find any other crime and or stories about the Mission neighborhood.
While its still unknown how Fwix will be implemented across all of the New York Times’ properties, the startup’s local news content is already being used in the publishing company’s Northern California newspaper, the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat. In the “YourTown” section, the Fwix feed is set to a current location and feeds realtime news about the San Francisco Bay area. However in some instances, the Fwix news feed might show the reader his or her own local news by autodetect location via an IP address (say, at a global-reaching site like www.nytimes.com).
There is a revenue agreement with The New York Times Company, says Fwix founder and CEO Darian Shirazi, but he declined to reveal the exact amount involved in the deal. And the deal is not exclusive, so Fwix can be incorporated on other news sites as well. Fwix’s local news stream has also been integrated on integrated on WeatherUnderground.com and UPI.com. And the startup also launched the Fwix News Publisher app on Facebook, which lets any Facebook Page add local news of any variety of subjects (business, sports, politics, living, entertainment, etc.) to their page’s feed. The deal with the New York Times is a huge coup for a startup that launched less than two years ago.
Section: Web, Web 2.0 / Social Networking
A new rogue app is making the rounds on Facebook and has at least 25 different variations. The app, with names like peeppeep-pro, profile-check-online and stalk-my-profile, claims to allow users to see who has been viewing their profiles. Instead, it leads the user through a set of “configuration” screens that claim to be setting up the app to monitor your profile. Instead, it just sends the user through other apps, which pays off for the scammer in ad revenue. The app also spams the user’s friends list with invites to try the app themselves. One variation of the app creates a photo montage of the user’s friends, tags them all, and posts it in a sly attempt to get even more users to install the app.
These “who’s checking your profile apps” don’t damage your computer or steal personal info-they simply trick users into generating ad revenue for the scammers. Want to protect yourself? It’s simple. There is absolutely NO app that is able to track who visits your profile. Facebook simply doesn’t allow it. So ignore any that come your way and tell your friends to as well!
Read [Countermeasures]
Full Story » | Written by Sue Walsh for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
So in 2008, a company called Integra Communications filed for a “Nexus” trademark having something to do with voice and data telecommunications. Along comes Google a year later and files for “Nexus One.” Trademark office says no go. I’m not really surprised at this; it’s not really their job to determine which is the better or more popular product, but rather whether it is possible for the two trademarks to be mistaken for one another. Oh god! Will you have to scribble out the name of your phone now and write something else?
Nah. I mean, Cisco had a legitimate product out there called the iPhone for years, which was actually in use and still being sold when Apple dropped the iBombshell. They buried the hatchet, probably for an undisclosed sum, but nominally so they could “explore interoperability.” Whatever that means. So I think it likely that Google will call up Integra, say “name the next one something else and there’s a hundred thou in it for you” and in the meantime they’ll just leave the ™ off the Nexus One name.
Bet you weren’t expecting that headline tonight, were you? Well, it’s about as literal as I could get. Some enterprising boffins at the University of Rochester used a high-powered laser to etch microscopic patterns in silicon such that water overcomes its own hydrophilia and goes in whatever direction they please. This is very much still a laboratory discovery, but a few years down the road, you might see this kind of thing built into chips as a sort of hybrid active-passive cooling solution.
The issue I see with it is this, though: the water is drawn to the pattern on the silicon, right? More so than to itself. So once it reaches the silicon, what will pull it away? It seems like water would simply coat the silicon in a single-molecule layer, and then the rest of the water would roll downhill as normal. But hey, who the hell am I?
Some rumors are swirling regarding a possible “slim” version of the Xbox 360. And why not? The console being sold is largely the same as one they were selling… wow, is it more than four years ago now? Of course, the ones they sell now run a little cooler, and don’t have an enormous failure rate, so there’s that. And with the pressure on from the PS3 Slim and… well, a black version of the Wii, Microsoft probably wants to be one of the cool kids with the console revisions.
The pictures are purportedly of the new motherboard, and show a combined processor and graphics unit, a generally smaller size, and a SATA connector instead of a proprietary one, suggesting the new hard drive will be internal.
[via Kotaku]
When Nintendo first unveiled Metroid Prime, fans were skeptical (if not downright apeshit). For a 2D adventure game based on exploration, how could it possibly work in first person? Long story short, Metroid Prime was pretty much universally loved upon release, and now that the Metroid Prime trilogy has gone on to become something of a classic series, all is forgiven. And when Nintendo announced that it had handed off development of the latest Metroid game, Metroid: Other M to Team Ninja, many fans were, once again, walking around with clenched fists. But it was working so well in first person! And early videos showed the game looking much more action oriented. And Samus actually talks in the game. Why would Nintendo let this happen! Thankfully, things have calmed down since Nintendo has shown off more of the game, and the Other M’s 2D to 3D gameplay, along with a weird-yet-interesting NES/pointer control scheme — sans Nunchuk — seems to be whetting appetites something fierce. (Mine, anyway.)
In a talk with IGN, Metroid producer Yoshio Sakamoto talked more about the NES style control and lack of Nunchuk integration, saying that “…with the team I’ve been working with, we’ve been making the Metroid series in 2D up to this point. Even though we’ve been looking for a way to control Samus in 3D, we wanted to achieve the feeling that you had when Samus was in 2D. We decided that the traditional D-pad for movement plus jumping and shooting on buttons was the most appropriate control scheme for this direction. The second reason, and let me preface this by saying I don’t think bad games use the nunchuk because there are a lot of great games that do, there’s a certain image created with the nunchuk, it’s a bit of a barrier in accessibility because it’s a “different” control. The nunchuk I think is more appropriate for core audiences. At the same time, I feel that showing people a 3D game where you can control it using the remote really does stir the imagination, they’ll think “How’s it possible to control the character using the sideways remote in 3D?” I also think it’s attractive to those who grew up playing games using this kind of control.”
In some ways, this does seem like the logical evolution of the series: blending its 2D roots with some of the innovations of the Prime saga. Hopefully, they can pull it off. But I have one request: Please, Metroid Other M, tell me mid-game if I haven’t done or explored enough to get a good ending. I can’t invest another 20 hours in a Metroid game just to see the back of Samus for 0.37 seconds and then watch the credits roll.
Lenovo is rethinking the ThinkPad.
For years, the iconic laptop brand, originally created by IBM, has been known for solid construction and great keyboards, but with a boxy black design and relatively high prices. It has a business orientation, though it also has been the choice of some tech-savvy consumers willing to pay a little more and forego flashy style touches.
IBM (IBM) and Lenovo, a Chinese-owned company that bought the brand in 2005, have at times been bold with the ThinkPad’s engineering. For instance, in 2008, Lenovo launched a very thin but full-width line, the X300 series, which uses cutting-edge materials and goes to head-to-head with Apple’s (AAPL) ultrathin MacBook Air.
But Lenovo has been reluctant to tinker much with the ThinkPad’s design. It has retained the classic but boring black-box look and preserved the solid, comfortable keyboard.
Now, to broaden the brand’s appeal, the company has decided to depart from that template. It has just launched two new ThinkPads at uncharacteristically low prices, with new designs, sizes and colors, and—shudder—a revamped keyboard.
I’ve been testing the two new models, and, in general, I like them. They are the least expensive ThinkPads ever offered, and the first available in a color choice other than black. Each can be ordered in red as well. Also, one is the first ThinkPad in years that is a mini-notebook, rather than a full-size laptop.
One of these two new models, the X100e, is a small, netbook-like machine with an 11.6-inch screen—starting at $449, though the upgraded configuration I reviewed costs $599. The company refuses to call the X100e a netbook. Its keyboard, screen and resolution are better than what many netbooks offer, but it’s also heavier.
The other new line is called the ThinkPad Edge. It’s a full-size machine, with a 13.3-inch screen, that is more rounded than traditional ThinkPads, and has a silvery band around its edges. It starts at $579, though the step-up configuration I reviewed costs $799.
Both machines retain the solid feel of a ThinkPad. Neither is the lightest computer in its size class, though they’re not overly heavy. The little X100e weighs 3.3 pounds and the Edge weighs 3.6 pounds with its base battery, and 3.9 pounds with a larger battery.
And both retain a classic ThinkPad feature—the TrackPoint, a small red nub in the middle of the keyboard that can be used to move the cursor. It is an alternative to the touchpad that each machine also includes.
In my tests, both new ThinkPads proved snappy, though neither has the latest or most potent processors. Both ran Windows 7 fine, and handled well a variety of popular software—Microsoft Office, Firefox, iTunes and Adobe Reader. One caveat: The test units Lenovo sent me had twice the standard memory of base models. And my test Edge had a more powerful processor.
Under my tough battery test, where I turn off power-saving software, keep Wi-Fi on, set the screen at maximum brightness, and play a continuous loop of music, the X100e’s battery lasted 3 hours and 44 minutes. In normal use, you could likely get 4½ hours or more.
The Edge had a battery time of 4 hours and 16 minutes, so you could likely get over 5 hours in normal use. But the costlier Edge configuration I tested had a larger battery than the base unit, so would likely last only two-thirds as long.
Start-up times on the two were respectable for a Windows PC: ready to go from cold start in just over a minute. The touchpads on both also feature multitouch gestures, like the ability to use your fingers to resize or rotate photos.
What about the new keyboards? Instead of the closely packed, large, scooped keys that ThinkPad loyalists love, the X100e and Edge have “island-style” keyboards, with distinctly separated, flatter-looking letter and number keys. The Backspace, Shift, Enter and Tab keys are large and prominent. Lenovo eliminated the little-used SysReq, Scroll Lock and Pause keys.
I found the letter and number keys to be comfortable, accurate and fast, with a solid, reliable feel—even on the smaller X100e. Lenovo explains this is because the letter and number key tops aren’t really flat, but have the same curve as the tops of classic ThinkPad keys.
But the new keyboard has compromises. On the Edge, the Delete key was too small and insufficiently prominent. On both devices, the Home, End, Page Up and Page Down keys are far apart, and the latter two are tiny and hard to press, especially on the Edge. The Num Lock key and virtual numeric keyboard are gone.
All in all, ThinkPad lovers looking to save money, and other PC users considering a ThinkPad, might find these new models worth a try.
Find all of Walt Mossberg’s columns and videos online, free of charge, at the All Things Digital Web site, walt.allthingsd.com. Email him at mossberg@wsj.com.
Section: Web, Web Browsers
Microsoft has recently made the developer preview of the all-new Internet Explorer 9 available at http://www.ietestdrive.com/. Internet Explorer 9 will be supporting HTML5 video, and it sports a multi-core capable JavaScript engine codenamed “Chakra” (hear that engine roar!), and supporting new web technologies that gives it the edge like CSS3 and SVG2. The Chakra JavaScript engine utilizes up to two cores, with the second core compiling JavaScript down to native machine code, which significantly speeds up the browser.
As we look back on its Acid3 test track record, its predecessor IE8 scored a dismal 20/100. However, IE9 gave a satisfying 55/100 during its preview. That’s one major improvement for itself, but it still pales in comparison to Chrome, Opera, and Safari, which scored 100/100 on the Acid3 test. Another JavaScript Benchmark test conducted by PCMag’s and ZDNet’s SunSpider, indicated a very competitive performance.
According to Microsoft, IE9 will not support Windows XP. For those of you who are still hanging on to Windows XP, this may be another reason for you to upgrade.
Full Story » | Written by Cheng Hung for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
 Washington Post | FCC Broadband Plan Calls For Enhanced Cyber Defenses ChannelWeb The National Broadband Plan, presented to Congress by the Federal Communications Commission this week, contains stipulations that could equip US communications networks with stronger defenses against cyber threats and ... Do You Want to Pay a 'National Broadband Fee'? FCC Should Expect Broadband Plan Opposition, Official Says FCC plans to announce broadband agenda |
Doesn’t this look like something you’d see in an alien’s house? It is in fact real, and is a lamp design by Patrick Jouin for MGX, a group that does lighting via 3D printing techniques. We’ve posted a few times about Shapeways, which does fabrication of submitted 3D models, but these are designer.
I think it really does open up like that, but I can’t imagine the tiny mechanisms involved. I’d love to have one of these as a variable light source in my living room.
[via Mocoloco]
Someone passed this post along to us, and since our Chinese is limited here in CrunchGear-land, I’m afraid we can’t vouch for it. The video contained may, in truth, provide the recipe for a lovely London broil for all we know, so take it with several healthy grains of salt. But at least the basic premise is amusing.
It seems that HP in China received a number of complaints about their wares. And, in an effort to spread out the responsibility, someone decided to point out that a computer user’s environment can impact the performance of the machine. Since the local authorities had to come in and remove the 49 cats from our 350-foot studio apartment, the fan on our computer have been running much more effectively. So there is undoubtedly some truth to the environmental factors argument.
But we never thought they’d blame cockroaches.
Somewhere, a lazy comedian just made a joke about software bugs.
AP - A legal tussle pitting media conglomerate Viacom Inc. against online video leader YouTube is about to get dirtier as a federal judge prepares to release documents that will expose their secrets and other confidential information.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Brands are increasingly prominent on the App Store and Apple tends to love featuring folks like Britney Spears and Coca-Cola on the App Store’s front page. But who’s actually succeeding and which brands have managed to maintain high download numbers?
PositionApp, the app that lets you track how iPhone apps are doing on the App Store rankings, might have the answer. They track and record the top 300 apps across all demographics and have provided us with details on the top 15 apps in the US App Store. Hit the jump for the list.
The first two apps, Facebook and Pandora, are clear favorites and there’s no real surprise there. But then it gets a bit tricky. Somehow, Driver’s Ed.com and Gibson Learn and Master Guitar are the next two. Though valuable applications (or so it seems), it’s intriguing that folks like Disney and Comcast are managing to take a back seat to lesser known brands.
Of course, there are plenty of high-quality brands on here. Companies like eBay, MySpace, Bank of America and PayPal are all doing quite well, and have managed to sustain their high position for at least 4 weeks.
Ultimately, it’s hard to figure out from this list what exactly makes a branded app successful, though one thing’s for sure: brands have started to consume the iPhone and pretty much everyone has to have an “iPhone” strategy. Success definitely seems indirectly related to providing value, as applications like Facebook / The Weather Channel and Paypal show.
So what do you think? How did these apps become successful as compared to the hundreds of other equally popular brands who created apps that flopped?
From the title of this Victorian science book it's not out of line to assume that there might be at least a few diy methods for accidentally electrocuting yourself, but that's just the beginning.
The tome in its entirety is supposed to be available for free as a hi-res e-book sometime this month, but for now you can see a full list of some actually really beautiful sounding demonstrations, (like how to make phosphorescent displays using oyster shells), and some other cool heirloom science excerpts at Lateral Science.
Thanks to Tim O'Reilly for the link.
Source: Boing Boing | 17 Mar 2010 | 5:06 pm
By Eric Savitz, Blogger and Columnist, Barron’s
At Motorola (MOT), sales of the company’s Android phones seem to be doing just fine. As for their legacy phones…less fine. BroadpointAmTech analyst Mark McKechnie this morning bumped up his March forecast for Motorola Android phone sales to 1.9 million units from 1.7 million; he also lifted his 2010 forecast to 13 million units, from 12 million.
Read the rest of this post on the original site
 The Guardian (blog) | Preliminary results: IE9 tech preview performs 7.8 times better than IE8 BetaNews In the first series of comprehensive performance tests comparing Microsoft's Internet Explorer 9 technical preview, released yesterday, to stable Web browsers in current use today, ... Microsoft: IE9 Won't Support Windows XP, Period Can Internet Explorer 9 Get Microsoft's Mojo Back? Internet Explorer 9 Aces Preliminary Test |
A sane, hype-free guide to natural food certifications. Which labels can you trust? Which are marketing hooey? And how much do we really know about "Certified Organic"?
Downhill skiing is a team sport in the Paralympics. Visually impaired skiers hurtle down the mountain at highway speeds, guided by another skier, who goes a few seconds ahead and calls back changes in direction and terrain via radio headset.
Visually impaired ski racer Danelle D'Aquanni Umstead says:
It is a "visually impaired team," not an athlete and their guide. Guiding is not something just anyone can do. As a guide you have to be just as committed, ski faster and also be able to turn around at any given moment to look behind you at the other athlete when at high speeds. This is not an easy task, and takes a lot of training as a team. Finding the right guide is definitely the hardest part for a visually impaired skier. To be able to trust in that person one hundred percent, and find a guide who has the same goals as you.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Andrea says participants travel everywhere with an entourage of harpists and violinists, doing intricate, rhythmic, often acrobatic dances using pieces of metal shaped like broken scissor halves as percussion, "eventually degenerating into stunts like dancing with cactus stuck all over the dancer's body, breathing fire, throwing firecrackers, etc...They make their own costumes and they have fierce names like Terror of Puquio, and The Lion." And you thought you were rebel for running with scissors!
Andrea has some scissor dance footage of her own and more photos from her time in Peru on her site. In addition to her focus on the food movement in California, she's currently working on a documentary about the incredible Cusichaca Trust, a group of archaeologists who are studying ancient Incan agricultural techniques and trying to revive them for modern farmers.
Source: Boing Boing | 17 Mar 2010 | 3:59 pm
 Globe and Mail | Google Nexus One Coming To Sprint InformationWeek Sprint on Wednesday said that Google's Nexus One mobile phone will soon be available on its network and promised to announce a date of availability soon. "Nexus One is a powerful device that belongs on a powerful network," said Sprint ... Sprint to Offer Google Nexus One Soon, Cost Unknown Google Nexus One Coming to Sprint Report: Nexus One Launch Dismal, Though Droid's Bests iPhone's |
A few days ago we wrote about Mel Sampat, a member of the Windows Phone 7 development team who had chosen to leave the team to pursue his own endeavors, part of which included making third-party apps for the very platform he helped make. You might assume that his history with the platform would make developing things for it a bit easier — and, well, you’d probably be right.
Just two days after the general availability of the Windows Phone 7 development tools, Sampat’s company Mist Labs has just announced their first Windows Phone 7 application: Twikini. Besides being the company’s first app, it also gets to claim to be the first Update: second (see below) Twitter client announced for the platform.
Mist Labs had said from the beginning that one of their goals was to help already established applications/brands bring their wares to WP7, and that’s exactly the case here. Mist Labs worked in collaboration with Trinket Software, who originally made Trikini for WP7’s aging sibling, Windows Mobile 6.5.
There’s no word yet on pricing — but given that there’s no sign of advertising in the screenshots they’ve shown so far, I wouldn’t expect it to be free. The price of the original Twikini was $4.95; combine that with the fact that there will inevitably be dozens upon dozens of Twitter apps by the time WP7 launches in 7-8 months, and Twikini probably won’t set you back more than a buck or two.
Update: False alarm on the “first” part – Seesmic was one of Microsoft’s software partners announced at MIX earlier this week, making it the first on the platform.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Section: Communications, Smartphones, Mobile
Microsoft has decided to drop copy-and-paste support from Windows Phone 7 series. This might be all too familiar to some, as this has happened to the iPhone before, where Apple eventually had to bring back the feature.
You’re probably thinking that Microsoft has somehow forgot to add this essential feature to the OS, but the guys over at Microsoft claim that it’s an intentional design decision. They claim that with the new “smart linking” feature, where you can easily dial a number or view the map of an address without having to copy over these text, it will replace the need for copy-and-paste. What about Office applications users, you ask? Well, Microsoft couldn’t care less about them. Microsoft said that they “wanted to really do well the tasks that 80 percent of users wanted. “, but at the same time blatantly ignoring the needs of the other 20%? They could have included both the copy-and-paste as well as the smart linking feature, but it’s unclear at the moment why they did not choose to do so. Take for example, a BlackBerry. If a BlackBerry can have both copy-and-paste and smart linking features, why can’t Microsoft do the same on its Windows Phone 7 series?
Via [Engadget] and [CNET News]
Full Story » | Written by Cheng Hung for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 Erictric | AT&T to sell eco-friendly phone charger CNET Are you thinking of new ways to go green this spring? Try getting a new AT&T Zero Charger for your cell phone, which will stop drawing an electrical charge if your charger is plugged into the wall, but the phone isn't attached. ... AT&T Zero Phone Charger Won't Draw Power by Itself AT&T to sell energy-efficient wireless charger New ATandT Zero Charger Is Smart, Efficient and Money Saving |
Watch above in delight as a Wilford Brimleyesque feline named Cooper demonstrates the fine art of BANG DEAD. It's the fisheye lens what makes it magic. MOAR at sweetfurr.blogspot.com. (thanks, Susannah!)
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
 BBC News | Study's Forecast of 'Mobile App Explosion' Is Overblown PC World As mobile apps become more popular, it's tempting to throw up lofty predictions with big billion-dollar figures attached, as Chetan Sharma Consulting does in a new study. But the study's projection of $17.5 billion in mobile app sales in 2012 seems too ... Mobile application sales to reach '$17.5bn by 2012' The Top 15 Brands on the App Store Might Surprise You Top Brands on the App Store Traceable by Position App |
Section: Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers, Smartphones, Mobile
The Nexus One was just announced for AT&T and Rogers yesterday, and today we have a little bit more in terms of upcoming availability. This time the announcement is coming from Sprint. The bad news is that as of now they have yet to announce a specific release date or pricing. Instead it was left as just that a date and price would be “announced soon.” The good news here is that the Nexus One will now be available on all four major US carriers. Additionally and similar to other carriers, it looks like the Sprint capable Nexus One will also be available only by way of the Google Store.
Read [Sprint]
Keep reading to check out the full press release…
Nexus One from Google Coming to Sprint; Availability Date Announced Soon
Nexus One(TM) is planned for the Sprint Mobile Broadband Network with twice the network coverage of AT&T and ten times the network coverage of T-Mobile, both by square miles; Expands Sprint’s Android(TM) portfolio
OVERLAND PARK, Kan., Mar 17, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE)—Nexus One, the first wireless phone sold through Google(TM)‘s web store, is planned for Sprint’s 3G Mobile Broadband Network. Sprint (NYSE:S) will announce pricing and an exact availability date soon. Nexus One will benefit from Sprint’s 3G network with twice the coverage of AT&T and 10 times the coverage of T-Mobile, both based on square miles.1
Sprint currently has America’s largest voice calling area of any carrier reaching more than 307 million people in the U.S., Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands with a Sprint phone and plan that includes roaming. PC World recently said no one has a more reliable network than Sprint in a 13 city 3G performance test.2 Customers can check the quality of network coverage with street level mapping at sprint.com/coverage.“Nexus One is a powerful device that belongs on a powerful network. This is another step in our continued partnership of innovation with Google,” said Fared Adib, Sprint vice president of product development. “Sprint customers already have the option of two amazing Android devices with Samsung Moment(TM) and HTC Hero(TM). It is a natural fit for us to add Nexus One to the list of choices available for Sprint customers who want the best value in wireless with the best in Android.”
Google’s online consumer channel was created to provide an efficient way to connect online users with selected Android phones. Nexus One will not be available in any Sprint retail channels. It will be available directly from Google at google.com/phone. The online experience of Google’s web store is designed with a focus on simplicity allowing consumers to match a phone with the service plan that best meets their needs.
“While a pricing plan has not yet been determined for Nexus One, we are confident that it will be consistent with Sprint’s commitment to deliver more value than our competitors and keep pricing simple,” Adib said. “Right now, our Sprint Everything Data 450 plan with Any Mobile, Anytime(SM) gives customers unlimited calling with any mobile phone in America, unlimited text and unlimited Web for just $69.99 per month - the same price AT&T and Verizon charge for just unlimited talk. Our Everything Data plans include unlimited GPS Navigation at no extra charge and annual phone upgrades with Sprint Premier.”
Nexus One runs on Android 2.1, a version of the platform’s Eclair software, which offers advanced applications and features including:
Google Maps(TM) Navigation: offering turn-by-turn driving directions with voice output.
Email: multiple Gmail(TM) accounts; universal inbox and Exchange support.
Phone book: aggregate contacts from multiple sources, including Facebook(R).
Quick Contacts: easily switch between communication and social applications.
Android Market(TM): access to more than 30,000 applications.
Hardware features of Nexus One include:Display: 3.7” AMOLED 480x800 WVGA display
Thinness: 11.5mm; Weight: 130g
Processor/Speed: Qualcomm Snapdragon(TM) 3G QSD8250 chipset, delivering speeds up to 1GHz
Camera: 5 megapixel auto focus with flash and geo tagging
Onboard memory: 512MB Flash, 512MB RAM
Expandable memory: 4GB removable SD Card (expandable to 32GB)
Noise Suppression: Dynamic noise suppression from Audience, Inc.
Ports: 3.5mm stereo headphone jack with four contacts for inline voice and remote control
Battery: Removable 1400 mAh
Personalized laser engraving: Up to 50 characters on the back of the phone
Trackball: Tri-color notification LED, alerts when new emails, chats, text messages arrive
In addition, Nexus One offers new functionality and software enhancements including:Enter text without typing.
Use a voice-enabled keyboard for all text fields: speak a text message, instant message, tweet, Facebook update, or complete an email.
Tell your phone what you want it to do.
Search Google, call contacts, or get driving directions by just speaking into your phone.
Take personalization to the next level.
Dynamic, interactive, live wallpapers react to the touch of a finger.
More widgets and five home screen panels allow for further device customization.
Capture camera-quality pictures and video with your device.
5 megapixel camera includes LED flash, auto focus, zoom, white balance and color effects.
View pictures and Picasa Web Albums(TM) in the new 3D Gallery.
Record Hi-Res MPEG4 video, and then upload to YouTube(TM) with one click.
Read your voicemail messages.
Get transcribed voicemail with Google Voice(TM) integration, without changing your number.
For more information on Nexus One, please visit www.Google.com/phone. Follow Sprint on Twitter @sprint to keep up with news on Nexus One for Sprint’s 3G Mobile Broadband Network.
Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
If you’re anything like me, you consistently forget where and when you parked your car. I’ve called tow companies more than once to see if they took my car, when in fact I was simply one street off in my memory. I could probably use this little app we just got in our tip box, called 3DCoche or Car Finder AR, depending on whether you speak Spanish or not. It’s simple enough: you save your car’s position when you park, and it also notes the time — then you can pull up the camera view and see your car’s location superimposed on the image. I’m not sure how it handles elevation, and of course it won’t work in underground car parks, but if like me you’ve gotten tickets from having no presence of mind, it might be a good investment.
The free version is fully featured except that it won’t work more than 200 meters from your car. I like that – it’s a cool boot to put on your location-based app, a distance limitation. Full version costs €1.69, or about $2.30.
We just got the good word from the folks at Sprint themselves: the Google Nexus One will be landing on Sprint. And with that, the Nexus One will be available for all four major US carriers (AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, and T-Mobile).
Sprint’s being sort of tight-lipped here; they apparently haven’t quite figured out how to price it yet, so pricing details and availability haven’t been disclosed. While we might hear more solid details about this at CTIA next week, don’t expect it to be Sprint’s main focus; chances are, a different Android-powered handset already holds that spot.
Section: Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers, Email / IM, Smartphones, Mobile
Beginning Thursday at noon, batches of 250,000 Droid customers will begin to see Android 2.1 rolled out them via an over-the-air (OTA) update. Based on Verizon’s website, the update is finally official and it seems Droid users are besides themselves happy. Will it be worth waiting for?
Big ones:
Smaller fixes:
In all, it looks to be a decent upgrade. Droid users rejoice!
Update info page (.pdf): [Verizon]
Full Story » | Written by JG Mason for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
There isn’t much to say about the HTC Supersonic that hasn’t been said already. It’s big (in a 4.3-inch-display sort of way). It’s beautiful. It’s Android-powered, and runs on Sprint’s 4G WiMax network. It’s just not.. you know, official in any way.
According to the Wall Street Journal, that’s about to change. Though they aren’t naming their sources, they say that Dan Hesse himself will be dropping the good word about the Supersonic in the middle of his CTIA keynote on Wednesday, March 24th.
Next week can’t come soon enough – we really can’t wait to play with this thing. If even half of the rumors end up being accurate (and we get the feeling everything we’ve rounded up so far is pretty spot on), this thing is going to be one hell of a phone.
 Daily Mail | New exoplanet like 'one of ours' BBC News It is 1500 light-years from Earth but CoRoT-9b is the first temperate planet found known to be similar to those within our own Solar System. The presence of CoRoT-9b was detected by a space mission designed to find planets we cannot ... Cool: New Exoplanet Is Near Habitable Zone Exo-planet found in balmy orbit - is it Avatar's Pandora? New Planet Found; May Be Cosmic Rosetta Stone |
A wonderful iPhone app for beginning piano players just landed in the App Store.
Called Etude, the app displays digitized sheet music and teaches you to play piano songs with an on-screen keyboard.
On its main screen, Etude, developed by independent iPhone programmer Dan Grover, uses the familiar Delicious Library metaphor of a book shelf from which you choose your score. Tap a title and the app launches the sheet music. Hit the play button and the app plays back the music while scrolling to the right to display the score as the song progresses.
The neatest part to me is an animated keyboard at bottom, which lights up the position of the keys for each note of the song. That should really come in handy for beginners still learning to read sheet music.
The app includes some classics such as Green Sleeves and Moonlight Sonata, but you can also download additional titles through an in-app store. Currently most of the songs available are public domain, but Grover and his partners hope to finish negotiations with sheet-music publishers to offer more contemporary music such as pop songs and film soundtracks.
Personally I’m even more excited about the upcoming iPad version. Just imagine your iPad potentially replacing big stacks of sheet music cluttering up your piano area. Grover told me that an Etude iPad app is in the works and will be ready soon after the iPad launches in April.
Etude is available for an introductory price of $3 in the App Store. Later, it will cost $8.
Download Link [iTunes]
See Also:
Section: Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers, Smartphones, Mobile
Android continues to add apps at a high rate, yesterday Google officially confirmed 30,000 apps in it’s App Market for the Android operating system. The number is a great deal higher than 10,000 confirmed back in September 2009, at the dawn of the Verizon Droid launch. Clearly, having a phone on the nations biggest networks combined with a healthy does of advertising makes a difference.
Last month, Google CEO Eric Schmidt mentioned Android phones are now selling at a 60,000 units a day clip. Credit lots of models, on multiple networks and a free operating system that attracts users. Just yesterday I received a mailing from AT&T showing off the Backflip and it mentioned Android twice. Do consumers care about the OS? It seems the OS and it’s apps are a selling point for carriers.
According to 148apps, the iPhone OS now features 159,611 apps that are currently available. That’s a good deal above Android’s 30,000. However, with the speedy Android adoption, despite slow Nexus One sales, we expect Android apps to gain ground quickly.
Read: [MobileCrunch]
Image credit: http://stickandroid.com/
Full Story » | Written by JG Mason for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
If I had to pin a color on the HTC Desire we saw back at MWC, I’d have called it silver. Dark, sort-of-brownish silver, but silver none the less.
But then this comes out, and shows us what a HTC Desire looks like when it’s really, really Silver.
Pulled from the depths of xda-developers (as posted by forumgoer irkan), it’s not 100% confirmed that these color scheme will ever reach the shelves – but given how damn good it looks, we’d say it probably will. As BGR points out, this hue edition could be a perfect match for the rumored AT&T released, given AT&T’s affinity for all things silver.
It’s been a crazy ride on the rumor rollercoaster for the Android-powered Motorola Cliq XT. What started out as a mysterious spotting finally became official at Mobile World Congress in February. Then came a series of leaks, each half right: one got the date right, while the other nailed the price.
Well, the ride is over. The Cliq XT is now available in T-Mobile retail spots for a 2-year contract price of $129.99. It’s got a nice little 5 megapixel camera tucked on the back there, but here’s the bad news: it’s still running Android 1.5. It’s sure to get a bumpgrade to a more recent build of Android before too long, but don’t expect to be riding the cutting edge here.
Picking up a new Cliq XT? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
They’re in our homes, and they’re in our schools. There they sit, silently, eating our power. Even if you unplug your phone, they keep devouring power. What’s next!? Will cell phone chargers some day EAT YOUR CHILDREN? More at 11.
In a move to save you some gadget juice and boost their “green”-factor, AT&T has just announced what they call the first “automatic zero draw charger”, the ZERO.
In a nutshell, the thing simply stops drawing power when no phones are connected for charging. Like many chargers as of late (Apple’s, Palm’s, HTC’s, etc), it’s USB based, allowing you to use this brick with just about any phone you’ve got. It also will not eat your children.
Look for the ZERO charger to hit the shelves at AT&T stores come May. They’re not saying how much it’ll cost beyond “the same as existing replacement chargers” which, according to AT&Ts own site, is right around $30 on average.
ViewSonic has recently added a few new items to their current lineup of available products. The latest include the VNB132 and VNB141 ViewBooks as well as the VPC190 all-in-one desktop computer.
In terms of features;
ViewBook VNB132
ViewBook VNB141
VPC190 All-in-One Desktop PC
Price wise, you can expect to pay $649, $829 and $629 for the VNB132, VNB141 and VPS190 respectively. All three models are currently available.
Products [VNB132] and [VNB141] [VPS190]
Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
Section: Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers, Smartphones, Mobile
Yesterday we learned that the HTC HD2 will not be seeing the upgrade to Windows Phone 7 when that comes available later in the year, and today T-Mobile has announced the handsets availability. As of now the HTC HD2 will be available with T-Mobile as of March 24. Price wise, expect to pay $199.99 on a two year agreement. In the meantime, T-Mobile has added the obligatory “notify me” style webpage which may give a little more information. According to that page, users will be able to “download and watch the latest movies” from Blockbuster, view MobiTV and check out Transformers and Transformers 2, both of which will be preloaded on the HD2. Other features of the handset include a 4.3-inch display and 1GHz processor. All things considered, and despite not being in the plans for Windows Phone 7, the HD2 seems to be a nice alternative to the other available smartphones.
Read [T-Mobile] Via [Twitter @TMobile_USA]
Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
IFrogz sent through yet another pair of headphones to test and this time, finally, they’re good enough to buy. The Comfort Series CS40 cans are an over-the-head, over-the-ear design and, while they don’t offer the big, detailed sound of even slightly more expensive headphones, they’re competent, tough and, yes, comfortable.
The design is simple and good looking (with one horrible blemish). The ‘phones have a steel band covered with a hard rubber strip up top and two tough plastic sliding sections from which the cups hang. The cups can gimbal inside their rings, which themselves fold up and inside the band. This means that the full-sized headphones fold small for throwing in a bag.
The “comfort” part comes from the deep and very soft cushions which also appear to be sealed pretty well against at least a light shower. These cushions are almost erotic to the touch, and combined with the gentle spring of the steel band and the non-slip rubber grip, the headphones sit very firmly but softly on your melon.
But what about the sound? Not bad. I tested them against a pair of Panasonic RP-HTX7s, the shell-eared, candy-colored retro-cans you see everywhere (and which I bought myself), and also against Apple’s stock earbuds. The iFrogz beat the Apple ‘buds immediately. They have a good bass, very deep and resonant but still well controlled. With lossless-encoded chip-tunes (A Kind of Bloop, if you must know), they came close to the depth of the Panasonics.
But the balance of the music is somehow off. Where the Panasonics give a sense of the music existing around you (the “stereo image”) and the bass, higher tones and voices are both balanced and separated, the iFrogz kind of crams things together. Jack White’s voice on Catch Hell Blues, for example, doesn’t actually sound tinny, but you think it does.
If you just put them on and listen without comparison, though, the iFrogz do a good job, and the build-quality is more than up to the $40 price tag (the Panasonics are $60). They really feel solid, but still lightweight, and the foldability makes them doubly attractive: I have always chosen the earbuds over the Panasonics when traveling because they are so bulky.
And the horrible blemish? The stupid radiation logo on the side. These might be in the “Ear-Pollution” range, but that symbol over your ears mars an otherwise clean and almost classic design.
iFrogz Comfort Series [iFrogz. Thanks, Ashley!]
Photos: Charlie Sorrel
Section: Communications, Mobile, Web, Websites
Fandango was one of the first companies to take movie ticket purchasing online. But now that the rest of the world has caught up with them, Fandango needed to take another step to get ahead of the game. So they came out with mobile tickets.
Mobile phones have now become computers in their own right. In fact, if you want to find out what movies are playing in near-by there are more than a dozen applications in Apple’s app store, Android, and Palm that will do the trick. Some might even let you purchase tickets on the fly. But that still required you to wait in line with all of the other people to get your ticket. Fandango’s new mobile ticket program wants to solve that.
The new program will allow Fandango users to not only use Fandango like it was intended to be used (finding movies and times in the area), but also to quickly book your tickets, and then flash a barcode when you want to enter your theater, eliminating wait time. This app will not allow you to skip the snack line but it would be a nice thing to suggest to Fandango.
Of course this will be released slowly throughout theaters as it gains traction. Here are some of the theaters that will support the technology at the launch date:
Read [TechCrunch]
Full Story » | Written by Hunter Clarke for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
It’s a concept design, but as most of Tokyo Flash’s production watches are even wilder, this e-ink timepiece will probably make it almost intact into stores and onto wrists. The stainless steel bracelet covers a panel of the same e-ink “paper” found in the Kindle and other e-readers, with cut-outs to reveal several odd-shaped sections. The paper of course offers the same low-power consumption and high-readability of any e-ink display.
The watch will have a Bluetooth radio to communicate with your cellphone. It will vibrate to give “message, mail and call notifications” and these notifications will also be cryptically encoded into unreadable runes at the top of the display.
There’s no price, no launch date, and not even a picture of a prototype outside of these CAD mockups. We have a feeling that an e-ink watch would look awesome, though, and it looks like Tokyo Flash is breaking with long tradition and actually showing the time in normal numbers. Unbelievable.
E-Clock [Tokyo Flash blog via the Giz]
Like the jittery, nerve-jangling stimulation of caffeine but don’t like the bittersmooth hit of a well-made espresso? Then get out of here, and never speak to me again. Oh, and this might interest you Mountain Dew types: Le Whif’s coffee inhaler is a way to huff your alkaloids without the deliciousness of letting a thick, rich liquid drip down your throat.
A lipstick-sized inhaler contains coffee (or chocolate, in the original version) and as you pull on the tube the powder is drawn through tiny holes in the mouthpiece, sending the coffee and air mix into your mouth. Each tube costs $3 and is good for up to nine hits totaling 100 milligrams of caffeine, the same as you get from a cup of espresso (incidentally, if you really want some stimulation, go for drip or French press: both have more caffeine than espresso).
It seems like a gimmick, and this impression is only strengthened by the photos of spoiled rich kids on the Le Whif site. We have no idea why you’d choose this over a regular coffee, especially as you can’t dip your brownie or ensaïmada into it. Worse, anyone sucking on one of these sticks will come over like Belladonna crossed with a glue-sniffer: not a good look.
The concoction is available (when in stock) from Dylan’s Candy Bar on the Upper East Side of New York, at Cardullo’s in Harvard Square, Cambridge, Massachussets, or online, with more to come. Maybe you should just stick to good, old fashioned Mountain Dew.
Le Whif Store [Le Whif via New York Post]
A billfold can clearly be a gadget. We’ve covered many here on Gadget Lab, from a recycled bicycle inner-tube to the ridiculous carbon-fiber pocket-safe. But for plain good looks and an almost ridiculous commitment to simple design, the *Woolrich John Rich & Bros Wallet* wins.
The wallet, hand-made in Italy, has a couple card-compartments, a section for bills, and that’s it. No see-through ID-holder, no biometric fingerprint-reading lock, not even any stitching. The $125 wallet is just folded into shape from a single piece of cowhide and secured with a couple of tongue-and-slot connections.
Above all, though, it is beautiful, with the simple utility of a yellow packing envelope, a brown paper bag or a cardboard box. And the simplicity, along with the leather, should mean this lasts forever, or at least until some light-fingered purse-snatcher dips into your pocket.
I’d buy one in an instant, if it weren’t for one thing: That stupid logo. Sure, Woolrich is a clothing company with a 180-year history, but why blight such a beautiful design with logos? It makes it look like a Mac covered in Intel stickers, or a cheap dime-store t-shirt with an Engrish slogan on the front. What’s the opposite of “lipstick on a pig”, because this is it?
Woolrich John Rich & Bros Wallet [Blackbird Ballad via Uncrate]
See Also:
According to Wolfram Alpha, the “proportion of the population that is left-handed” is just “0.07 to 0.1″. That’s seven to 10 percent, which is hardly a big market. Congratulations, then, to Razer for the DeathAdder gaming mouse, a 3,500dpi twitcher for lefties which has the exact same specs and price as its less sinister brother. It is the “world’s first gaming grade mouse for left-handers.”
The mirror-image mouse has a seven-foot cable, Teflon feet, five big, non-slip programmable buttons and a fancy gold-plated USB connector, and costs $60. It also has a lame blue glowing snake on the back, presumably the “death adder” in the name, but you will at least cover this up with your (south) paw in use.
Actually, we’re kind of digging on that name (although “Left for Dead” would be even better in this case). It’s just a shame it had to be used on a gaming mouse. Surely “Death Adder” would be an awesome name for a mouse designed for accountants?
Death Adder [Razer. Thanks, Debby!]
See Also:
A new iPhone dock and speaker from iLuv offers an unusual twist. A literal twist, even. It turns the iPhone 90-degrees and holds it, charging, in landscape orientation. By day, this isn’t so useful, but by night, it means that the screen can display a big clock so you can know the exact times you wake up cold and sweating from your many fevered nightmares.
The hardware is called the iMM190 App Station and it pairs with a free iPhone application called iLuv App Clock. They collaborate to lull you to sleep at night with your own music library, wake you in the morning with your choice of sounds and all the while tell you the time and weather (so you can decide whether it is worth getting out of bed). The iMM190 can be used upright or horizontally and powered from either the mains or from six AA batteries.
Unless you are the couple in the picture above, who sleep with the lights on, then you may not use the actual clock at night. I have tried a bunch of alarm apps and, while they work to wake me with mellow music, the glow of the screen is too bright. Even with a blank black screen image and the backlight turned all the way down, enough photons escape the screen to illuminate the room slightly. This isn’t a criticism of the iLuv app, just a note on iPhones in general (and on my hypersensitivity to the light creeping into my hermetically sealed bedroom).
We do like this trend of marrying hardware and software, though, especially as the apps (including this one) often come free, a kind of software promo. The speaker will cost you actual dollars, though: Ninety of them.
iMM190 [iLuv. Thanks, Jennifer!]
iLuv App Clock [iTunes]
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For the past couple of years now, when talking about the Apple TV product, Apple likes to throw out the word “hobby.” It’s as if they’re ashamed of the device. And considering sales are anemic next to Macs, iPods, and iPhones, it’s no big surprise that they talk this way.
70% of users on the web do not speak English. Considering how many web sites and services are done entirely in English, obviously, this is a problem. 
SXSW Interactive is now over. While a clear winner in the “Location War” has 
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