Measuring just 44m sq., this Tokyo house offers slightly more space than the typical capsule living space, but as you can see from the numerous photos inside (at the bottom of this post), it's still best-suited for diminutive human beings. More »
InfoWorld - Nearly three years after its introduction, the JavaFX multimedia application development platform that Oracle inherited from Sun Microsystems remains just another entrant in a crowded field, with questions looming about how much momentum the platform can gather. Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 23 Mar 2010 | 4:00 am
InfoWorld - Apple's stubborn refusal to open the iPhone/iPad platform is catching up with it. Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 23 Mar 2010 | 4:00 am
Google aims to provide as much information as possible to users so that they can make informed decisions. For this reason, we have been awaiting a series of decisions by the European Court of Justice that explore the extent to which trade mark rights can be used to restrict information available to users. The first of those decisions was delivered today.
The question before the court was whether advertisers should be allowed to choose keywords freely when reaching out to users on the Internet. In other words, if advertisers are allowed to show advertisements when another company's brand name is entered as a search query.
Trade marks are part of our daily life and culture, helping us to identify the products and services that we may be looking for. They are key for companies to market and advertise their products and services. But trade mark rights are not absolute.
We believe that user interest is best served by maximizing the choice of keywords, ensuring relevant and informative advertising for a wide variety of different contexts. For instance, if a user is searching for information about a particular car, he or she will want more than just that car’s website. They might be looking for different dealers that sell that car, second hand cars, reviews about the car or looking for information about other cars in the same category.
And, contrary to what some are intimating, this case is not about us arguing for a right to advertise counterfeit goods. We have strict policies that forbid the advertising of counterfeit goods; it's a bad user experience. We work collaboratively with brand owners to better identify and deal with counterfeiters.
Some companies want to limit choice for users by extending trade mark law to encompass the use of keywords in online advertising. Ultimately they want to be able to exercise greater control over the infomation available to users by preventing other companies from advertising when a user enters their trade mark as a search query. In other words, controlling and restricting the amount of information that users may see in response to their searches.
Today, the Court confirmed that Google has not infringed trade mark law by allowing advertisers to bid for keywords corresponding to their competitors’ trade marks. It also confirmed that European law that protects internet hosting services applies to Google’s AdWords advertising system. This is important because it is a fundamental principle behind the free flow of information over the internet.
Our guiding principle has always been that advertising should benefit users, and our aim is to ensure that ads are relevant and useful. We will study the decision as we move forward in order to make sure that we continue to deliver advertising that is perceived as both valuable and relevant by our users.
Posted by Dr. Harjinder S. Obhi, Senior Litigation Counsel, EMEA
Reuters - Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are out, but in China's vast and bewildering online universe you can freely read the New York Times or visit a favorite porn site. Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 23 Mar 2010 | 3:40 am
Big news from the Japanese video game world today: Nintendo announced [JP, PDF] they will launch a successor to the DS/DSi for the next fiscal year (which begins next month in Japan and ends in March 2011). And what sounds particularly cool so far about the Nintendo 3DS is that the new portable device won’t require any special glasses for users to see the 3D images, according to Nintendo.
Details are scarce at the moment (no price, no specs, no pics), but what’s confirmed so far is that “3DS” is just the tentative name of the device. It will be backwards compatible to conventional DS/DSi games (meaning it will have 2 cameras again) and is sure to hit Japanese stores first.
Just as a reminder, Nintendo will release their new handheld, the DSi XL, on March 28 in the US.
Nintendo also said they will give us more details about the DS sucessor at the E3 gaming conference in Los Angeles in June. Now let’s just hope the 3DS won’t be another Virtual Boy…
Million dollar question: will Apple allow it in, or leave the Norwegian software company hanging?
The company says Opera Mini for iPhone is up to 6 times faster than the native browser thanks to its compression and server-side rendering technology, based on internal tests, and after having tried it at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona earlier this year I have to say it’s definitely zooming.
Opera at the time told me that they’d analyzed the App Store policies in great detail, and that they’re completely certain of being 100% compliant – which sort of puts the ball in Apple’s camp.
Last week we said the HTC Supersonic would be announced next week, and as it's now "next week," it figures that select Sprint Premier customers are being told about a "groundbreaking new device" due to be announced today. More »
krou writes "Monkseaton High School in North Tyneside, UK, began an experiment in October that saw its 800 pupils ranging in age from 13-19 attend school an hour later than normal, at 10am. Early results indicate that 'general absence has dropped by 8% and persistent absenteeism by 27%.' Head teacher Paul Kelley supported the idea because he believed that 'it was now medically established that it was better for teenagers to start their school day later in terms of their mental and physical health and how they learn better in the afternoon', and he now claims that the children are becoming 'happier better educated teenagers' as a result of the experiment. The experiment is being overseen by Oxford neuroscience professor Russell Foster. 'He performed memory tests on pupils at the school which suggested the more difficult lessons should take place in the afternoon. He said young people's body clocks may shift as they reach their teenage years — meaning they want to get up later not because they are lazy but because they are biologically programmed to do.'"
When you think of one percent of something, it’s usually not a very big number. But in some cases it is. Like when you’re talking about all of the users of the Internet in the world.
Today, OpenDNS is announcing that over one percent of the world’s Internet users are using its services. It’s the first DNS provider to hit such a milestone, and it means that over 18 million people are using the service to access the web in a way that founder and CEO David Ulevitch calls “safer, faster, smarter and more reliable.“
And that usage number has doubled in just the last 12 months, according to Ulevitch.
That type of growth is important because a new, big time player just entered the ring: Google. But despite the big name, and the right price (free), the results for Google’s DNS offering have varied. And in a test we ran with Google’s own Namebench product, OpenDNS easily beat Google in DNS speed.
The truth is that most users have no idea what any of these DNS services do, or how to go about changing them. So companies like OpenDNS have to rely on partnerships with schools (they have over 25,000), partnerships with large corporations (they have them with many Fortune 500 companies), or parents really worried about what their children are surfing for on the web. But again, the growth is clearly happening, and actually picking up speed, according to Ulevitch, so that’s a very good sign.
An even better sign: OpenDNS has been profitable since 2007.
The BBC Wildlife magazine archives have been uploaded to the internet library, so if you've been wanting to nail your macro, landscape, and of course animal photography, definitely take a peek. [BBC Wildlife via Lifehacker] More »
Dubbed the iPad Advertising Platform, the companies aim to combine PointRoll’s rich media technology with AdMarvel’s mobile advertising capabilities.
The launch of the platform is part of a broader partnership between both companies, who will develop cross-platform solutions for ad mediation, campaign management, ad serving and analytics tailored to the latest mobile devices and operating systems.
AdMarvel boasts about its cross-browser, cross-application SDK for developers to build services that include rich media advertising options for iPad, iPhone, iPod touch and other mobile applications including Android and Blackberry. Developers can source from some 60 ad networks from around the globe to deliver geo-targeted ads.
In turn, marketers and ad networks can tap into the platform to manage campaigns, targeting and frequency control and get clear performance metrics.
The iPad Advertising Platform is said to support JavaScript, expandable ad units, animation, interstitials, transparent overlays of content and interaction. The platform also supports in-app advertising units for the promotion of new features or content channels. Finally, the iPad Advertising Platform features click-to-contact, click-to-maps, click-to-app and click-to-video actions.
AdMarvel / PointRoll is far from the only one coming up with solutions for Apple’s iPad – rival Mobclixreleased its iPad SDK just last week.
And to think Apple has yet to commence shipping the first iPad units to early adopters.
TOKYO (Reuters) - Toshiba Corp is in talks with a company backed by Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates to jointly develop advanced nuclear reactors, the Japanese electronics maker said, helping... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 23 Mar 2010 | 2:48 am
This morning, the Internet was abuzz with the news that Apple would begin selling unlocked iPhones. The only problem? It’s not true. In fact, it’s no different from what Apple did last year at this time: sell contract-free iPhones at unsubsidized prices.
But that doesn’t mean this move is entirely uninteresting. You may be wondering why Apple is doing this? And why now? Well, it seems fairly obvious that’s it’s an attempt to move inventory before a new piece of iPhone hardware launches in the June or July timeframe. Remember, that’s just a few short months away already.
When Apple first ships its iPhone hardware, it requires that you also purchase an AT&T contract with the device. This is both practical (supplies are tighter), but also because AT&T pays Apple a ton of money for each subsidized iPhone sold. But as time goes on and new hardware nears, Apple is more concerned with moving existing inventory to make way for the new device.
A $500, $600, or $700 (depending on the model and size) phone isn’t going to sell a ton of units — especially since it’s not unlocked — but there will be those who pay the premium to ship it overseas or are comfortable doing the relatively painless process of unlocking the phone themselves (which voids the warranty). Unfortunately, in the U.S., even if it is unlocked, the phone will only be able to work on T-Mobile as well as AT&T, since those are the two (major) GSM carriers. A different chip (CDMA) would have to be in the iPhone for it to work on the nation’s biggest network, Verizon (or Sprint, for that matter).
Because of the price and restrictions, this move will probably have minimal impact on actual sales. So don’t be surprised if when the fourth generation iPhone is announced, if we also hear about a price cut for the current iPhone 3GS down to $99 (just as Apple did last year with the iPhone 3G).
So, it was a nice pipe-dream for a few hours this morning that Apple was going to be changing its policy and selling the iPhone unlocked (as Google offers as an option for its Nexus One). After all, many would take it as a sign that they’ve grown weary of AT&T and could soon partner with another carrier in the U.S. But really, this is just the first of undoubtedly many signs that a new iPhone is coming.
Samsung's Omnia II handset was the first phone to feature Swype, the super-fast input method for texting. It's now officially the world's fastest way to text, breaking the Guinness World Record with five seconds to spare. More »
Rumblings of a next-gen handheld started soon after Nintendo shrunk the DS and whacked a "Lite" behind it, but two portables later (the DSi and DSi XL) and Nintendo Japan is foretelling a June announcement for the 3DS. More »
Carl is stationed in Kyrgyzstan with the Peace Corps, and has photographed a computer-literacy classroom with beautiful hand-painted technical instructional signs, including this lovely BASIC tutorial,... Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 23 Mar 2010 | 2:21 am
Carl is stationed in Kyrgyzstan with the Peace Corps, and has photographed a computer-literacy classroom with beautiful hand-painted technical instructional signs, including this lovely BASIC tutorial, written in Kyrgyz (spoken by 5,000,000 people), using Cyrillics.
Not a good idea to use your cell phone while driving a bus in China either. [via Ananova] Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 23 Mar 2010 | 2:07 am
Reuters - Nintendo Co Ltd plans to launch a new model of its DS handheld game gear that allows users to play three-dimensional (3D) games without using special glasses.
According to a new report released by Flurry Analytics, Apple is taking share from Sony's PlayStation Portable, and to a smaller level, the Nintendo DS. According to Flurry's report, Sony fell from... Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 23 Mar 2010 | 1:56 am
Americans increased their overall media usage and media multitasking according to The Nielsen Companys latest Three Screen Report, which tracks consumption across TV, Internet and mobile phones. In... Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 23 Mar 2010 | 1:46 am
TOKYO (Reuters) - Nintendo Co Ltd plans to launch a new model of its DS handheld game gear that allows users to play three-dimensional (3D) games without requiring the use of special... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 23 Mar 2010 | 1:46 am
By Chris Scott Barr When a person starts to run low on USB ports, usually the first thing they get is a hub of some sort. However, instead of adding three extra ports, why not just have one of your cables... Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 23 Mar 2010 | 1:33 am
Whether at the movies or the doctors office, cellphone users are often admonished to turn the devices off. But during visits with a therapist, a brief cellphone conversation may offer a useful glimpse... Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 23 Mar 2010 | 1:29 am
Earlier this year, Spider Robinson ran a recording of science fiction great Theodore Sturgeon reading his story Pruzy's Pot, originally published in National Lampoon in 1972 -- this is one of the grossest,... Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 23 Mar 2010 | 1:26 am
Earlier this year, Spider Robinson ran a recording of science fiction great Theodore Sturgeon reading his story Pruzy's Pot, originally published in National Lampoon in 1972 -- this is one of the grossest, funniest science fiction stories you've ever heard, and Sturgeon reads it live before an audience who are audibly convulsed with mirth and disgust.
Without too much spoilering, Pruzy is a story of great scatological mirth, involving an extremely mysterious toilet, a strait-laced and prim school-chum, and some back-to-the-landers. I listened to it while making breakfast for the family and almost couldn't eat it afterwards, so taken was I with both ick and ha.
Eucalyptus a software layer that forms private clouds patterns in the enterprise. Private clouds are bringing together the best of Linux, Amazon, and VMware in a practical way. It could be argued that... Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 23 Mar 2010 | 1:22 am
By C.W. Anderson, Assistant Professor of Media Culture, CUNY
Remember all the way back to March 2009? Somali pirates roamed the ocean. The just-inaugurated President Barack Obama nominated Kathleen Sebelius as Secretary of Health and Human Services.
By Alice Rawsthorn, Design Critic, International Herald Tribune
The French and Italians have nicknamed it the “snail.” The Norwegians have plumped for “pig’s tail,” the Germans “monkey’s tail,” and the Chinese “little mouse.” The Russians think of it as a dog, and the Finns as a slumbering cat.
By Alex Wilhelm, Technology Blogger and Entrepreneur
Have you heard of the startup Gravity? It’s in the same space as Zaang, a company that we have covered before.
I was researching the application to get some background on it, perhaps to do a comparison piece, give away some invites, or give it some straight up coverage.
In the past month or so, since Apple’s (AAPL) iPad was announced, there’s been an increasing pushback against the idea that the tablet will be a meaningful stand-in for a dedicated e-reader. In particular, it seems to have really disappointed folks in the e-reading/publishing/new media community, many of whom expected a lot from the Jesus tablet — in some cases expected diametrically opposed things.
Consumers who want to get a new Nexus One or a HTC Hero don’t have to throw away their existing phones. Instead they can trade their current devices for cash at the nearest Sprint store or just have the phone recycled in environmentally friendly way.
Former executives from RadioShack and Sprint have combined to create a new electronic waste recycling company called eRecyclingCorps that will work with wireless service providers to recycle used handsets. The move could help more consumers upgrade their phones in guilt-free way, they say.
“If there’s some value to the phone you can get some dollars that can go towards buying your new phone or accessorizing it,” says David Edmondson, CEO and founder of eRecyclingCorps and former CEO of RadioShack. “If not, we promise it will be disposed off in a way there’s zero electronic waste.”
All 2500 Sprint stores in the country and the company’s website will be the first to kick this off. Sprint has said it wants to achieve a wireless reuse and recycling rate of 90 percent as compared to device sales by 2017.
The recycling program will cover all cellphones sold in the U.S. since 2005 and customers can trade in phones from any service provider at the Sprint store.
In the U.S., about 130 million phones are retired each year, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.Just about 1 percent of the 4 billion wireless subscribers in the world recycle their handsets. With new models launched every month, the growing cellphone market has also resulted in a huge amopunt of electronic waste that is harmful to the environment.
Meanwhile, sensing an opportunity for used gadgets, over the last three years, sites such as Gazelle and TechForward have offered trade-in or recycling programs for devices. On their websites, consumers can enter the make and condition of the gadget and instantly find out if they can get some cash for it.
eRecyclingCorps will be different because it just focuses on cellphones and it will work with wireless carriers to make the process easier for consumers, says Edmondson.Just about 10 percent of cellphones in the U.S. are currently recycled.
“There is a lack of convenience in the process right now,” he says.”and there’s a lack of scale.”
About 60 percent of cellphones sold today are purchased from stores of wireless carriers. To make the trade-in process more efficient, eRecyclingCorps will offer a web-based software for the service providers that will offer a pricing engine, inventory control, analytics and device re-distribution.
Once the old phones are gathered, they are divided into three categories, says eRecyclingCorps. Phones that can be re-used right away, phones that can be refurbished and phones that are beyond their their functional life. The last category is passed on to a recycling firm and the company promises it will be an environmentally friendly process with nothing going into a landfill.
Though Sprint is the first to partner with eRecyclingCorps, Edmondson says his company is trying to work with other carriers such as AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile to make this a part of their stores.
By Ernesto, Founder and Editor-in-Chief, TorrentFreak
BitTorrent has emerged as the dominant filesharing protocol in recent years. Hundreds of millions of computers have a BitTorrent client installed and torrent sites are among the most frequently visited websites on the Internet.
By Robert A. Guth and Daisuke Wakabayashi, Reporters, The Wall Street Journal
An energy start-up backed by Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) co-founder Bill Gates is in discussions with Toshiba Corp. on developing a small-scale nuclear reactor that would represent a long-term bet to make nuclear power safer and cheaper.
Toshiba said it is in preliminary discussions with TerraPower, a unit of Intellectual Ventures, a patent-holding concern partially funded by Mr. Gates. Intellectual Ventures, based in Bellevue, Wash., is run by a former Microsoft Corp. executive, Nathan Myhrvold.
Toshiba spokesman Keisuke Ohmori said the two sides were talking about how they could collaborate on nuclear technology. He said the discussions were still in early stages and that nothing has been decided on investment or development.
PC World - Just days before the start of a hacking contest set to target Web browser vulnerabilities, Mozilla has patched its flagship Firefox browser. Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 23 Mar 2010 | 1:00 am
Tomorrow, Offerpal Media, one of the giants in social gaming monetization, will announce the acquisition of Tapjoy. That gives Offerpal a beachhead into the mobile space, an area they have only dipped their toes into to date.
The company helps applications like Tap Tap Revenge monetize users. The vast majority of revenue comes via pay-for-installs on other mobile apps, meaning users are paid virtual currency to download other mobile applications (on Tap Tap Revenge 3, it takes about 3 installs of free apps to get enough credits for a free song download). Developers have access to turnkey software to easily add monetization and analytics tools to their iPhone, Android and other mobile apps. Tapjoy keeps between 1/3 and 1/2 of the revenue, passing the rest on to publishers.
They are “very profitable,” say the founders.
Tapjoy “dovetails nicely” with Offerpal’s existing offers and monetization platform, says Offerpal CEO George Garrick. Tapjoy, founded Lee Linden and Ben Lewis, has been integrated into apps by “more than 1,000″ developers and reaches 25 million mobile consumers.
Offerpal isn’t saying what the size of the transaction is, or how much revenue Tapjoy is generating to date. It’s growing fast from a small base, though. Tapjoy says “annual installs, user base and revenue is expected to quadruple this year.” Our guess after asking a few of their customers is that revenue is in the hundreds of thousands of dollars per month.
jayme0227 writes "Due to the recent exploit in Firefox, Germany has warned against its use. This comes a couple months after Germany advised against using IE. Perhaps we should start taking odds as to which browser will be next." Note: the warning (from the Federal Office for Information Security) is provisional, and should be rendered moot by the release later this month of 3.6.2.
The India-Pakistan border-crossing ceremony is "more like a cricket match than a ceremony" -- a kind of elaborate transborder military display complete with impressive hats and other regalia. Igpajo sez, "This ceremony looks like the bastard love child of a certain Monty Python skit and a Maori War Dance! Gotta love the little handshake at the end after all the posturing and stomping."
The India-Pakistan border-crossing ceremony is "more like a cricket match than a ceremony" -- a kind of elaborate transborder military display complete with impressive hats and other regalia. Igpajo sez,... Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 23 Mar 2010 | 12:41 am
The India-Pakistan border-crossing ceremony is "more like a cricket match than a ceremony" -- a kind of elaborate transborder military display complete with impressive hats and other regalia. Igpajo sez,... Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 23 Mar 2010 | 12:41 am
Addicted to sci-tech news? Feed that addiction by signing up for our free daily newsletter! You'll love it. Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 23 Mar 2010 | 12:39 am
Over on Play This Thing! Greg Costikyan reviews YouDunnit, a difficult-to-play but incredibly clever game based on levels that go back in time and challenge you not to violate causality:
The basic setup is this: You murdered someone, in locked-room detective story-like fashion, and the detective has shown up to investigate. He's asking everyone their stories. If you catches you out in an inconsistency -- or if you somehow permit everyone else to establish a clear alibi -- you're screwed.
The actual gameplay involves a series of "levels" that are a hour in the past, two hours in the past, three hours in the past, and so on. If you do anything in a level that "violates causality," you are "caught in a lie." Thus, for example, if you give someone a cat in hour -1, and fail to pick up the cat in a previous hour, you lose. You have to keep track of the events that occur, and make sure things remain consistent.
Kids in a remote village in Colombia travel to school via a precarious, high-altitude zipline, carrying their younger sibs in hemp sacks and slowing their descent with a wooden fork:
Despite her youth, Daisy is expected to travel down the flying fox at speeds of up to 62km/h with her younger brother attached beside her in a sack.
It's a high pressure journey, with a 400m drop into the Rio Negro river facing her if the pulley system gives way.
Sony announced a new clock radio today, the enticing named ICF-C717PJ, the latest in a long line of consumer electronics. The ICF-C717PJ has a few tricks up it’s proverbial sleeve however, including a thermometer and the ability to project the time on the wall or ceiling.
The ICF-C717PJ can also show you the room temperature, and has five pre-programmed nature sounds to help you fall asleep faster. As far as waking up, the ICF-C717PJ gives you the choice of AM/FM, a buzzer, or music from your MP3 player. You can also chose to listen to nature sounds and wake to either the undersea world, waves, a mountain brook, or birdsong.
If you’re looking for the ICF-C717PJ in the US, you’re going to be disappointed right now; it’s initially planned to only be available in Europe. Sony also has yet to name a price at this time.
AP - China's government reacted testily Tuesday to Google Inc.'s decision to stop censoring its China-based search engine, calling the move "totally wrong" and accusing the company of violating promises.
The European Commission hosted a fascinating consultation on ACTA [ed: the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, a secret, far-reaching copyright treaty] today. Luc Devigne, the lead European negotiator, opened with a brief presentation and proceeded to field questions for over an hour.
One of the big issues of the day was three strikes [ed: The idea that your whole family would have its internet connection severed if one person in your household was accused of copyright infringement] with Devigne repeatedly stating that the EU was bound by EU law and that it was not supporting any inclusion of three strikes in ACTA. In fact, Devigne went further in claiming that no one had even proposed the possibility of three strikes. This despite the fact that a memo produced by his own department stated: "EU understands that footnote 6 provides for an example of a reasonable policy to address the unauthorized storage or transmission of protected materials. However, the issue of termination of subscriptions and accounts has been subject to much debate in several Member States. Furthermore, the issue of whether a subscription or an account may be terminated without prior court decision is still subject to negotiations between the European Parliament and the Council of Telecoms Ministers regarding the Telecoms Package."
This refers to the footnote in the ACTA text proposed by the U.S. which states "an example of such a policy [ISP policy] is providing for the termination in appropriate circumstances of subscriptions and/or accounts on the service provider's system or network of repeat infringers."
In "Nature by Numbers," filmmaker Cristobal Vila presents a series of animations illustrating various mathematic principles, beginning with a breathtaking animation of the Fibonacci sequence. Then it moves on to the Golden and Angle Ratios, the Delaunay Triangulation and Voronoi Tessellations. This would be math-class gold, and it's awfully sweet even if math class is years behind you.
It’s hard to feel sorry for a wildly successful author, but in the case of Michael Lewis I’ll make an exception. Just this once.
Lewis’ latest book – The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine – was published less than a week ago and has already reached the number one sales rank spot on Amazon. It’s an impressive feat, especially for a serious piece of non-fiction writing with nary a wizard, a vampire or an ancient code that’s – holy shit! – hidden in plain sight to boost its sales. But the feat is made all the more impressive by the fact that many of the book’s reviews are, without a word of exaggeration, so negative that they’d made a Nuremberg verdict look upbeat and generous.
At the time of writing there are 64 one star reviews – more than the total number of 2-5 star review combined – sending a clear message to potential purchasers: this book might be popular but it’s also a total sack of crap. Don’t waste your money.
There’s just one problem with that message: less than half of those one star reviews are actually reviewing the book.
Instead, most of the reviewers’ ire relates to the fact that publishers WW Norton have decided not to release a Kindle version of the book at the same time as its hardback release. Writes one (pretty representative) reviewer by the name of Ben Kaplan:
“I’d like to add my name to the list of people who are very disappointed that this book does not have a Kindle edition. No, I haven’t read the book, but I want to — on my Kindle! If all these one star reviews lead to fewer sales, I think that would be a great result and an excellent lesson for the author/publisher.”
Go, Ben!
No, seriously, go.
I’ve written before about the flawed thinking of publishers who delay Kindle releases to protect hardback sales. It’s an idiotic move but it’s one that many publishers feel forced into due to Amazon’s policy of charging $9.99 for most popular Kindle titles. It’s loss-leader pricing for Amazon and publishers still get their full due, but the low digital price point discourages hardback sales which results – in the short term at least – in a drop in overall revenues.
As someone who has spent hundreds of dollars on a Kindle, I completely understand the frustration of those who are irritated at having to wait until the paperback release of a book before they can get hold of digital copy. But the idea that one star reviews will provide “an excellent lesson for the author” to release their ebooks earlier is bullshit of the lowest order.
I speak from pained experience as an author when I say that we have absolutely no say on when our books are released, in what format and at what price. And yet we’re the ones who have the most to lose from negative Amazon reviews. A book’s overall star rating is one of the most prominent pieces of information on an Amazon page and many readers – quite reasonably – equate a low average rating with a poorly written book. This damages sales of the book and also damages our reputations as writers. Almost nobody – unless they click through and read the full text of the negative reviews – sees a one star rating and assumes its a comment on the decision by the publisher to withhold an electronic edition.
Barry Ritholtz, economics commentator and author of Bailout Nation, has written an excellent blog post on the subject, describing the one-star reviews as “nothing more than collective bullying. ‘Give me your lunch money (kindle version), or I will beat you up during recess (give you one star reviews)” and calling for Amazon to change their review policy.
Ritholz is right – but this it’s a problem that goes far beyond this current Kindle spat. Amazon’s book review policy has long been a bugbear of mine, and most other authors’. Too often, especially with controversial authors, the most negative reviews come from people who haven’t even read the book in question. Their anger, and the resulting one-star review, is simply a statement of general antipathy towards the author and everything they do.
I know of several authors who have had to ask Amazon to take down libelous one-star reviews that focus on their gender, their race, their political views and almost any other aspect of their character. While these might – might – be relevant factors in a general discussion about the author, they certainly have no place in a review of their work. And they certainly shouldn’t contribute to a headline star rating that helps readers decide whether a book is worth their money.
The most frustrating thing is how easy this problem is to fix. Amazon needs to – immediately – change its review policy so that only people who have actually bought a book are allowed to review it. At a stroke, this would get rid of the complaints from people unable to buy a particular title on the Kindle, or unwilling to buy it in hardback – and it would also banish all of the general haters (who would never spend money on a book by the object of their hatred) as well as the kids and trolls who have never bought a book in their life.
It’s hard, in fact, to think of a downside to restricting reviews to actual purchasers of a particular title. Sure it’s a restriction on the right of reviewers to express their opinion on a book or an author without first paying money, but so it should be. Amazon isn’t a general book review site, it’s a store – and as such its reader reviews exist to answer one question alone: is this book – in whatever format it happens to be published – worth my money?
And that’s a question that should only be answered by real shoppers, not crazed Kindle fanboys or assorted haters with an axe to grind.
Saying hello to Spring is always bittersweet for me. More »
Technology can be difficult to use, particularly things like home servers. Dane-Elec plans to make setting up your own home NAS easy, using their myDitto home network server. Installation is intended to be quick and painless, utilizing USB keys to set up the drive rather then the standard CD.
Honestly, I don’t see NAS devices as being that difficult to set up, but my experiences may be different from most users. The myDitto is a pretty standard NAS, with two drive bays, one of which is populated with a 1TB drive when the unit is purchased. The intention behind the myDitto is that you don’t have to install software to use it, just plug in one of the two included USB keys, and the software will start up and allow you to back up and restore files as needed. Admittedly, that could be considered easier then setting up a backup process on your home computer, but most the time you can just install the software, set up the schedule, and then forget about it. Full featured devices like the IoMega ix4-200d are just as easy to set up, it’s just a matter of perception.
Dane-Elec’s myDitto isn’t available yet, but it’s expected to retail for $279 in a 1TB configuration.
Living in Nevada, I get to see all kinds of art projects on the road as Burning Man approaches. I will admit however, that none of them look quite as cool as these, a combination of the “rat-rod” and an art bicycle.
Gaskill’s Hop shop isn’t actually a bicycle shop, but rather a exhibition for the art bike projects of one “Gaskill”. Inspired by the vintage rat-rods of the 50’s, Gaskill’s projects are DIY, but definitely the work of an artist and not someone who just dabbles. The site is definitely worth a look, just for the cool speed trial style bikes he’s built.
Reuters - Former heads of Sprint Nextel Corp and RadioShack Corp have launched a company aimed at refurbishing or recycling the estimated 65,000 metric tons of old cellphones U.S. consumers ditch every year and named Sprint as its first customer. Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 22 Mar 2010 | 10:22 pm
LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - Former heads of Sprint Nextel Corp and RadioShack Corp have launched a company aimed at refurbishing or recycling the estimated 65,000 metric tons of old cellphones... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 22 Mar 2010 | 10:22 pm
Here’s a candidate for the Canadian parent of the year award. Police in Richmond B.C. are looking for a couple that used their kids to load up on over $3000 worth of Blu-ray and DVD discs from Future Shop. The estimate is that the couple took between 80 to 100 movies.
The parents took the children into the store, and then allowed them to walk around picking the movies that the wanted to watch, and then loaded them into the stroller. The couple then left the store without paying for the merchandise. Of course in the US, they would have been harassed and then let go, only to find that all the cases were filled with rocks. Police are currently looking for help in identifying the couple and the children.
SINGAPORE, March 23 /PRNewswire/ -- The Southeast Asian and Australasian power distribution unit (PDU) market displayed resistance toward the economic turmoil in 2009. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 22 Mar 2010 | 10:02 pm
NEWTON, Mass., SAO PAULO, and LAS VEGAS, March 23 /PRNewswire/ -- International CTIA Wireless -- MoreMagic Solutions, a leading mobile financial solutions provider, is offering Brazilian immigrants in the United States, Canada, and worldwide an easy and affordable way to send minutes home to relatives and friends in Brazil, with connectivity to all major mobile operator networks, including Vivo, Claro, TIM, and Oi. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 22 Mar 2010 | 10:01 pm
CONCORD, Mass., March 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Consumer electronics company Isabella Products announced the availability of Vizit(TM), the first two-way, fully interactive digital photo frame powered by the AT&T* wireless network. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 22 Mar 2010 | 10:01 pm
As Steve Jobs pointed out, almost everything about today's computers is outmoded. Here's what the iPad and the new generation of tablets mean for the future of computing.
Is the rise of the tablet the death of the laptop? The final stage of an extraordinary era of textual innovation? Neil Young, Kevin Kelly and Martha Stewart are among those who weigh in.
65,000 tons of mobile phone e-waste are generated every year. The bad news is, only 1% of consumers choose to recycle their headsets when they upgrade. eRecyclingCorps is working with carriers to integrate the recycling process into the POS sale system at the retail store.
eRecyclingCorps plans on working with the carriers to offer customer trade-in incentives, and Sprint is the first carrier to offer this program. The POS integration will allow Sprint to instantly give the customer credit at the time of purchase. Sprint’s goal is to reach a 90% recycling rate by 2017. An enviable goal, particularly given the amount of waste that the company stands to stop from going into the environment.
mknewman writes "Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo rocket plane took to the air for the first time this [Monday] morning from California's Mojave Air and Space Port. The craft, which has been christened the VSS Enterprise, remained firmly attached to its WhiteKnightTwo carrier airplane throughout the nearly three-hour test flight. It will take many months of further tests before SpaceShipTwo actually goes into outer space. Nevertheless, today's outing marks an important milestone along a path that could take paying passengers to the final frontier as early as 2011 or 2012."
Just in time for the passing of the U.S. government’s massive health care legislation, NBC is launching a branded iPhone app for one of its key political news shows. NBC’s popular political and public affairs show “Meet the Press with David Gregory” is getting a free iPhone app today, which was created by branded content app developer Zumobi. You can download the app here.
The app features interviews with journalists, political experts and politicians from the show’s weekly roundtable. Consumers can easily share clips via Twitter, access podcasts and send host David Gregory questions directly from the app. The app also features the show’s extra web interviews which are expanded roundtables on the top news of the day.
Boeing as the exclusive sponsor and advertiser of the app. A similar app will be launched for BlackBerry phones in April. Zumobi is actually not paid to develop apps, but actually takes a revenue share of branded content from advertising. Zumobi has also created iPhone apps for other NBC properties, including MSNBC,The Rachel Maddow Show, and The Today Show.
While I’m sure 9 out of 10 rioters prefer being shot with a rubber bullet over a regular one, there’s nothing pleasant about being hit by a small object going a couple hundred miles per hour. And at close range, “non-lethal” ammo can easily be just as lethal as something made to kill. Lund Technologies, in a Defense-funded project, has proposed a new weapon system that uses hydrogen gas to propel its projectiles (that’s a lot of “pro”s), and implements a rangefinder to determine the distance to the target, and adjusts the thrust accordingly.
The idea, I suppose, would be to incapacitate the target but not permanently. Because wars are more frequently being fought by small forces inside cities (as opposed to thousands and thousands in large battlefields), civilians are in constant danger from stray bullets. Of course, no one wants to catch stray fire of any kind, but if I had to take a shot to the leg, I’d rather it was a rubber round going just fast enough to hurt like hell, and not a 7.62mm meant to go straight through me.
It’s still in the early stages right now, but with any luck they’ll be deployed before the next time I take it to the streets.
Home audio company Definitive Technology thought that it's a crime to put huge, thick, ugly speakers next to a slim wall-mounted TV. So they made the ultra-thin 1.5-inch Mythos XTR-50 home theater speakers to prevent decorating disasters. More »
Watching live video on your iPhone is nothing new, but it is becoming increasingly easier to do. More than a year after Ustream launched its live video viewing iPhone app, and followed up with a video publishing app, along with Qik and Kyte, Justin.tv is entering the mobile game with its first iPhone app (which should be available shortly in the iTunes store).
Justin.tv CEO Michael Seibel says they took their time with the app because they wanted to get it right. “We tried not to cut corners,” he says. All the live videos and channels available on the Website can be watched in the iPhone app. You can find videos by looking at the featured channels or by searching. Videos play horizontally in landscape mode, and text chat is built into the app. The chat text is laid across the bottom of the video and can be tapped on to make it disappear. And the audio works both with or without headphones, which apparently isn’t the case with all other iPhone video apps.
Video channels can be saved as favorites, and an upcoming update to the app will add push notifications to tell you whenever one of your favorite channels is on live. Videos can be shared via email.
Where the app falls short is that it is only for watching live videos, not streaming them from your iPhone’s video camera. The issue is that the iPhone API still doesn’t allow apps to access the camera directly. Instead, other “live streaming” video apps have to come up with workarounds, which often involve sending out a succession of camera screen captures at one to two frames per second. Seibel hopes the next iPhone OS 4.0 will allow for direct camera access which would make video uploads from the iPhone much more efficient.
If the iPhone OS 4.0 API makes live video streaming more practical, Justin.tv will include it as a feature in its app, along with the regular Twitter and Facebook broadcasting options. Check out the app and tell us in comments how it compares the other video livestreaming iPhone apps. Was it worth the wait, or is Justin.tv late to the game?
Like many FPS gamers of a certain age, I started with the WASD keyboard/mouse control system. As such, I have issues with using a controller to play games on a console, and really wish that someone would come out with a keyboard and mouse control system. There’s been a few that come close, and the XScorch 360 looks like another also-ran.
Bannco, the company that makes the XScorch 360 also makes a similar controller for the PS3, so this isn’t their first time trying to make this kind of product. My concern lies in the video, and is twofold. First, the video says Halo Reach. Anyone who follows the Halo universe will recognize that the demo is running through on Halo 3. Halo Reach isn’t even available as a playable demo yet. Second, the video shows some serious lag between the mouse movements and the on screen action. If this is the case, then it’s pretty much unplayable. It’s also possible that this demo is from the future, which is why it’s showing Halo Reach, and the lag is from the time-shift dilation effect.
Suggested retail is $79.99, and is currently available from Bannco’s website, or at selected retailers.
Look, I know Farmville is popular. Okay, really popular. Okay, insanely popular. And while it does have plenty of mainstream appeal, I still find it hard to believe that it has controlled two of the top “Hot Searches” items (for the U.S.) all day long on Google. And yet, according to Google Trends, both “farmville.com the game,” and “www.farmville.com the game” are the number two and three hottest search items today, respectively. So what’s going on?
Well, if you click through to the detail page for either of the two queries, the answer appears to reside there. First of all, there are a bunch of borderline spam sites suggesting the game launched today on the website Farmville.com. That’s not true, it has actually been there for several months, using Facebook Connect. But still, that doesn’t appear to be what’s causing the “On Fire” surge. That may be something much more interesting.
It looks like queries are on fire because Google is tying in searches for “republicans” and “what is in the health care bill” to these Farmville searches, for some unknown reason. Both of those queries appear in the “Related searches” area for both of those Farmville queries. Seeing as just about all anyone in the United States is talking about is the House’s passing of the new health care bill, and the strong Republican opposition to it, it’s no wonder these queries are exploding.
Meanwhile, according to Google Trends, “health reform bill summary” is only the 14th most popular search, just behind “chris johnson s car.“
At this point, we’re going to assume this is simply a Google mix-up and not some type of 4chan-style gaming of Google. But if anyone has more info, feel free to leave it in the comments or send it in: tips [at] techcrunch.com.
With more and more Android phones coming, making each different seems to be the main issue facing manufacturers now. Custom skins, physical keyboards and interesting body designs have all been tried so far. Now Motorola is trying another added feature, a useful if not annoying to others one at that.
At CTIA in Las Vegas today, Motorola announced the Motorola i1, the first ever Android smartphone with Push-To-Talk. In addition to PTT, the i1 has a military-grade body design, made to withstand dust, shock, blowing rain and vibration. In terms of software, the i1 runs on Android 1.5, which is quite depressing. The default browser has been swapped out for Opera 5 with Flash Lite support, which can support sites that are Flash 8 compliant. The default keyboard has also been swapped out for Swype, which might make typing on the HVGA screen a bit easier.
The i1 isn’t exactly the most impressive new Android phone, and with the specs it obviously doesn’t want to be. The i1 looks to be a smartphone for those who still use Push-To-Talk, or for the clumsy. The outdated Android version might cause some problems, if only because it only adds to the fragmentation in the platform already. The phone will go on sale this summer, presumably (hopefully) at a relatively low cost. The last thing anyone needs is another under-powered, over-priced Android smartphone.
Newly upgraded robot journalist, improvement from previous versions, including ambient anomaly detection ability for seeking of stories. Upgrade robot abilities including subject photographing and subject interviewing automatically. Further including abilities to publish stories to internet instantly. More »
Russia might be getting back into the space tourism business in a big way. There’s a chance that construction will begin on a new Soyuz spaceship this year to carry just tourists up into the wide vasts of space and then to the stinky confines of the ISS. I’m jealous.
Space tourism took a back seat to ISS missions earlier this year as the US slowed its Space Shuttle program and Russia had to increase its capacity. But the head of Russia’s Energia space corporation recently stated that the construction could begin as soon as the middle of this year. You know what this means, right? Lance Bass might still be able to fulfill his dream.
Gigabyte’s USB 3.0-capable motherboards have gone platinum, as they say in the record biz. Gigabyte announced that it has shipped 1 million USB 3.0 motherboards, giving them 1/3 of the overall USB 3.0 market share worldwide.
Henry Kao, Senior Vice President, Motherboard Business Unit, Gigabyte, told MaximumPC, “Reaching the 1 million USB 3.0 products mark is a testament to Gigabyte’s strategy of innovating for the high-end product category, and then driving those innovations down through our product line quicker than our competitors in order to boost sales volumes.”
This is a landmark number to be reached, and a signifier of Gigabyte’s rising stock with aficionados. Besides, who would be caught dead using USB 2.0?
HONG KONG, March 23 (Reuters) - Chinese automaker Zhejiang Geely Holding Group said on Tuesday its talks to buy Ford Motor's Volvo car unit were on track and it expected to sign an agreement in about... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 22 Mar 2010 | 8:06 pm
A massive dust storm has pushed through China and is ruining Korea's day. The storm has its roots in a mixture of natural and man-made causes, and could be stopped if China adopts better land use practices. Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 22 Mar 2010 | 7:58 pm
"It may have been good for some of my farmers in Arkansas, but it has not
worked. It was a mistake. I had to live everyday with the consequences of the
loss of capacity to produce a rice crop in Haiti to feed those people
because of what I did; nobody else."—Bill Clinton, apologizing for pushing policies that destroyed the native production of rice in Haiti. (HuffPo via Ned Sublette)
Now that SXSW is fully over, it’s time to start going over some of the data from the so-called Location War between Foursquare and Gowalla. The truth is that both saw an amazing surge in usage, and at least according to data I saw from one source, the two were neck and neck midway through the event (in terms of usage). Today, I asked them both to share some of their own internal recent data, seeing as both SXSW happened — and then both were featured in Apple’s App Store last week.
GigaOm posted some numbers earlier today, including that during the five days of SXSW (Interactive), Foursquare signed up 75,000 new users, to push them over 600,000 total. We got some other numbers from both Foursquare and Gowalla, as well.
Foursquare is closing in on 400,000 check-ins a day during peak times. Last weekend, they hit an all-time high of 382,000 check-ins in one day (network-wide). Compare this to last month when they saw a then-record 1 million check-ins a week.
Gowalla saw 135,000 check-ins during SXSW — just in and around downtown Austin, TX (where SXSW is held).
Some 5,800 people checked-in with Gowalla during the conference, which is a strong percentage of the total estimated attendance of somewhere between 12,000 and 15,000.
The Austin Convention Center, The Hilton, Stubb’s BBQ, and The Driskill (hotel), all saw over 1,000 check-ins on Gowalla during SXSW. 600 people checked-in at the controversial Ev Williams keynote.
Foursquare has now signed up almost 120,000 in the past 10 days (this is up from their stated 100,000 in 10 days right before SXSW).
The iPhone is still dominating total Foursquare check-ins with 66% network-wide. The App Store feature undoubtedly helped keep that number so high despite it being on all of the major mobile platforms now.
BlackBerry Foursquare usage is surging following the launch of that app. Last month, right after it launched, BlackBerry contributed 11% of total Foursquare check-ins — now that number is at 16%.
Android Foursquare check-in numbers are slightly falling. Since the iPhone didn’t lose any check-in share, obviously someone had to, and that was Android. It went from 13% share last month, to 10% in the past 10 days.
The mobile web is also taking a big hit with regard to Foursquare check-ins. It was at 7% a month ago, now it’s at 3% as people get used to the new mobile apps, undoubtedly.
Since the launch of version 2.0 of its app with comments and pictures, Gowalla has seen some 40,000 photos uploaded. The photo feature should be added to the webOS and Android clients in a week or so.
Neither company had any specific data as to whether they’re seeing a surge after Apple featured their apps in the App Store because it’s too hard to tell seeing as there was already a surge post-SXSW, I’m told. The App Store placement, assuming Apple keeps it up for a while, should help both maintain the momentum they have after the event.
FROM APPLETELL - If this rather stunning “motion magazine cover” demo is any indication, it seems we’re in for quite the visual treat when it comes to digital magazine distribution on the iPad. MORE »
PC World - Symantec has released a report detailing the 50 riskiest cities in America--at least when it comes to cybercrime. Businesses already located in these cities, or planning to set up shop in one of the 50 riskiest cities, don't need to pack up and leave town, but the report raises awareness and alerts IT administrators to be extra vigilant. Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 22 Mar 2010 | 7:16 pm
Lauren Weinstein writes "I've just deployed the first ever Broadband Survey under the auspices of GCTIP, which asks questions that the FCC neglected to ask about service types, promised vs. actual broadband speeds, user satisfaction (or lack thereof) with their ISPs and local ISP competition, etc. I'm already finding the detailed comments many persons are leaving on the survey form to be extremely illuminating and with sufficient participation I'm hoping my reports from this data will be useful to the Internet community broadly."
PALM DESERT, Calif., March 22 /PRNewswire/ -- The technology industry's elite DEMO Spring 2010 conference kicked off this morning with a state-of-the-industry address given by Matt Marshall, DEMO's executive producer. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 22 Mar 2010 | 6:30 pm
For the past two months, Google has threatened to stop censoring search results in China in response to a series of attacks that it believes were influenced by or connected to the Chinese government. Google has made good on that threat and announced on its blog that it has officially stopped censoring those results. Chinese users who visit Google.cn are now redirected to a Hong Kong-based Google.com.hk. There, users will be able to access Google Search, Google News, and Google Images without the self-censored filter previously used to block content that might enflame the state government. This has led to a massive increase of load on Google’s Hong Kong servers, which will lead to slowdowns.
There were previous suggestions that Google would stop censoring and perhaps even move out of China if problems persisted. For now, Google has affirmed its plans to continue operations in mainland China. How long that will last is uncertain as the Chinese government has said that self-censorship is a “non-negotiable legal requirement” to operate in China.
Google claims that forwarding customers to Hong Kong, a special administrative region attached to China, is a “completely legal” maneuver, but it’s unlikely to please the Chinese government. In anticipation of possible access issues that this new situation may create, Google has created a new webpage to monitor problems discovered by Chinese users.
I use DropBox all the time. If you don’t, you should; it really is fantastic and simple. And soon it’ll have an Android app! So load up your DropBox with music, files, and movies; you’ll be able to access ‘em on the go the way those fancy-pants iPhone users do.
The team says they’ll have it “for all flavors of Android within the next couple of months.” Nice.
SlashD0tter writes "Many older sound cards were shipped with line-out, microphone-in, and a line-in jacks. For years I've used such a line-in jack on an old Windows 2000 dinosaur desktop that I bought in 2000 (600 Mhz PIII) to capture the stereo audio signal from an old Technics receiver. I've used this arrangement to recover the audio from a slew of old vinyl LPs and even a few cassettes using some simple audio manipulating software from a small shop in Australia. I've noticed only recently, unfortunately, that all of the four laptops I've bought since then have omitted a line-in jack, forcing me to continue keeping this old desktop on life support. I've looked around for USB sound cards that include a line-in jack, but I haven't been too impressed by the selection. Is the line-in jack doomed to extinction, possibly due to lobbying from vested interests, or are there better thinking-outside-the-box alternatives available?"
In a word, yes. Wipe the sneer off and read with a straight face. It's fascinating. They namedrop Gaga and The Colonel, and describe the standoff between the search giant and "the world's biggest internet market" as "a shocking cultural clash between the West and the East." Snip:
The Reform and Opening-up policy in China has been carried out for 30 years since 1979, with earlier icons like Coca-Cola, and later McDonald's, KFC and Starbucks Coffee. The incoming Western goods also brought Western cultures and lifestyles. For instance, the biggest Internet retailer Amazon named its service in China Zhuoyue (excellence).
The albums of the U.S. pop star Lady Gaga and Britain's talent Susan Boyle fly off the CD shelves in China.
All commodities come with some cultures and ideologies. China definitely is influenced by the West, but the influence is mutual. People of a certain culture learn to know a different new thing, but the new thing also has to learn to suit its new customers. That's why KFC serves Chinese porridge and McDonald's provides Chinese food menus here.
It all shows that China never rejects Western culture, but not all Hollywood movies will be a hit in China like "Avatar".
Touchscreens on smartphones are great for surfing the internet or browsing photos but they can be frustrating if you want to type more than a few words.
A new app called ThickButtons for Android phones hopes to fix that by claiming to improve the accuracy of onscreen keyboards. The app says it will make it easier to type on touchscreens by dynamically shrinking the letters that are not likely to be used and enlarging the buttons that are.
For instance, as you try to type the word ”Wired,” the software attempts to guess the word and the letters in it appear enlarged, while the surrounding keys shrink.
It’s an interesting spin on the predictive text input technology. Instead of trying to predict the full word during the typing process–as most predictive text systems do–ThickButtons highlights the next few letters that you are likely to use to create the word.
The advantage with ThickButtons, says the company, is that users don’t have to learn a new way to type and they can reduce the number of errors they make.
ThickButtons is easy enough to install, but you will have to choose it as your input method by making a change to the language and keyboard settings in your phone.
And promising as it sounds, ThickButtons can confuse some users as the letters on the keyboard change in size rapidly. When I used it, it didn’t seem to make a visible difference in the number of errors I made as I tried to type fast.
Since the app is free, if you have an Android phone give it a try but be warned: it’s not going to give you a significant edge in your texting skills.
Check out the demo video to see how ThickButtons works:
Communities Able to Track Percentage of Households Mailing Back Forms
WASHINGTON, March 22 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following was released today by the U.S. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 22 Mar 2010 | 5:34 pm
An anonymous reader writes "Quantum film could replace conventional CMOS image sensors in digital cameras and are four times more sensitive than photographic film. The film, which uses embedded quantum dots instead of silver grains like photographic film, can image scenes at higher pixel resolutions. While the technology has potential for use in mobile phones, conventional digital cameras would also gain much higher resolution sensors by using quantum film material." The original (note: obnoxious interstitial ad) article at EE Times adds slightly more detail.
PHILADELPHIA – Psychologists led by the University of Pennsylvania have used implantable electrodes and a first-person driving game to identify the cells of the brain that indicate travel in a clockwise or counterclockwise motion, called "path cells." The study will be published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.The study demonstrated that during navigation, these path cell neurons encode the direction in which a person is traveling. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 22 Mar 2010 | 5:05 pm
If we don't have a choice in the matter, eating something that's considered healthy might simply lead us to feel hungry and eat something else, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research.Authors Stacey Finkelstein and Ayelet Fishbach (both University of Chicago) examined external controls in the domain of healthy eating—such as marketers who only offer shoppers healthy food samples or consumers who eat healthy meals in a cafeteria that only offers healthy alternatives."In the presence of external controls, people who eat healthily feel that they have made sufficient progress on their health goals," the authors write. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 22 Mar 2010 | 5:03 pm
PITTSBURGH -- Significant numbers of today's women and underrepresented minority chemists and chemical engineers (40 percent) say they were discouraged from pursuing a STEM career (science, technology, engineering or mathematics) at some point in their lives, according to a new Bayer Corporation survey. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 22 Mar 2010 | 4:50 pm
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., March 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Cybercrime, a threat that affects one in five online shoppers(1) and cost Americans $560 million in 2009 due to online fraud(2), may hit closer to home than many realize. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 22 Mar 2010 | 4:50 pm
I’m surprised this didn’t happen earlier. You can now go into an Apple store, fork over a few Benjamins, and walk out with an iPhone, contract-free, although the device is still locked into AT&T’s network. You can only buy one a day, though, I suppose to prevent people from buying a few hundred and building a fort of out of them.
Good news for some, non-news for others. And just as a reminder: 3G 8GB, $499; 3GS 16GB, $599; 3GS 32GB, $699.
CWmike writes "Verizon Wireless announced on Monday that customers will soon be able to charge up to $25 a month in online purchases to their accounts. The service, based on technology created by Danal, will require text messaging-enabled phones, and that purchases be made from Verizon-approved online stores, which include game sites and social networks. It will require that customers click a BilltoMobile button during checkout from a participating online Web site. Users will be asked to input their mobile numbers and mobile billing zip codes for authentication. Once the user is authenticated, a one-time passcode will sent to his or her phone. The number is then input into the online checkout window. At that point, the transaction is complete and the charge will appear on the customer's monthly phone bill. GigaOm writes, 'If Verizon can get people accustomed to putting in their phone numbers instead of credit cards while shopping online, then it could own a critical element in building an application and services platform that spans the wired and wireless world ... Much like Apple has such a large stake in the mobile application and commerce space today because it has millions of credit cards in iTunes, Verizon could be expanding its own payments information for a similar goal.'"
separsons writes "A group of French scientists are developing a nuclear reactor that burns up actinides — highly radioactive uranium isotopes. They estimate that 'the volume of high-level nuclear waste produced by all of France’s 58 reactors over the past 40 years could fit in one Olympic-size swimming pool.' And they're not the only ones trying to eliminate atomic waste: Researchers at the University of Texas in Austin are working on a fusion-fission reactor. The reactor destroys waste by firing streams of neutrons at it, reducing atomic waste by up to 99 percent!"
Google has begun to offer uncensored, unfiltered content to users in China, the company's Senior Vice President of Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer David Drummond announced on the company's official blog today.The move comes in response to a January 12 cyber attack which targeted Google properties, including the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists."These attacks and the surveillance they uncovered--combined with attempts over the last year to further limit free speech on the web in China including the persistent blocking of websites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google Docs and Blogger--had led us to conclude that we could no longer continue censoring our results on Google.cn," Drummond wrote in the announcement."So earlier today we stopped censoring our search services," including Google News and Google Images, he continued. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 22 Mar 2010 | 4:00 pm
A small spaceship carrying the hopes of generation weaned on Star Trek took to the skies on
Monday for the first time in a test flight over California's Mojave Desert. Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 22 Mar 2010 | 3:55 pm
Kohato brings word of a new Electronic Arts marketing strategy that aims to start monetizing game demos. According to industry analyst Michael Patcher after an EA investor visit, the publisher will start selling "premium downloadable content" prior to a game's release for $10-$15 that is essentially a longer-than-usual demo. Patcher said, "I think that the plan is to release PDLC at $15 that has 3-4 hours of gameplay, so [it has] a very high perceived value, then [EA will] take the feedback from the community (press and players) to tweak the follow-on full game that will be released at a normal packaged price point." He also made reference to a comment from EA's CEO John Riccitiello that "the line between packaged product sales and digital revenues would soon begin to blur."
By Yukari Iwatani Kane, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal
Apple’s (AAPL) iPad multimedia tablet device might not ship until April 3, but a significant number of consumers are already thinking about buying it, according to the results of a survey to be released late Monday.
Market research firm comScore (SCOR) said Internet users it surveyed were as aware of the upcoming iPad as they are of Amazon’s (AMZN) Kindle, the dominant e-book reader today. Fifteen percent of the survey respondents said they were “seriously considering” buying the iPad in the next three months, which was slightly higher than the 14 percent of respondents who are considering buying the Kindle in the same period.
SAN MATEO, Calif., March 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Data is growing exponentially everywhere - in business, web, finance, government, science, and in the world of sensors and smart grids. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 22 Mar 2010 | 3:49 pm
The Early Aptian (120 million years ago) was an age of intense volcanic activity on Earth, eruptions that emitted large amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere, thus causing a revolution in the carbon cycle. As a consequence, great changes happened in the whole of the terrestrial system. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 22 Mar 2010 | 3:45 pm
Reducing the cost of keeping broiler chickens warm could result from research by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists and university cooperators.Insulating, ventilating and heating broiler chicken houses can be expensive, especially when fuel prices are high, according to study leader Joseph Purswell, an agricultural engineer at the ARS Poultry Research Unit in Mississippi State, Miss. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 22 Mar 2010 | 3:36 pm
Google has shut down Google.cn, the culmination of a two-month battle between the Internet search giant and the People's Republic. Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 22 Mar 2010 | 3:25 pm
Looks like the Chinese government has settled on a theme for its response to Google’s decision to stop censoring search results in China: Red-in-the-face indignation. In a bulletin issued by state-run news agency Xinhua entitled “China says Google breaks promise, totally wrong to stop censoring,” Beijing slagged the company for betraying its trust.
“Google has violated its written promise it made when entering the Chinese market by stopping filtering its searching service and blaming China in insinuation for alleged hacker attacks,” a government official told the news agency. “This is totally wrong. We’re uncompromisingly opposed to the politicization of commercial issues, and express our discontent and indignation to Google for its unreasonable accusations and conduct….”
According to the official, “We made patient and meticulous explanations on the questions Google raised (in the talks)…telling it we would still welcome its operation and development in China if it was willing to abide by Chinese laws, while it would be its own affair if it was determined to withdraw its service. Foreign companies must abide by Chinese laws and regulations when they operate in China.”
No details yet on what the next phase of the Chinese government’s response to Google’s (GOOG) move will be. My guess is we’ll see the search behemoth’s China Service Availability page light up with red X marks momentarily.
oDDmON oUT writes "MSNBC is reporting that a Columbia Business School study shows those who hold power over others make better liars. According to one of the study's coauthors, 'It just doesn't hurt them as much to do it.' For the average liar, she said, the act of lying elicits negative emotions, physiological stress and the fear of getting caught in a lie. As a result, she added, liars will often send out cues that they are lying by doing things like fidgeting in a chair or changing the rate of their speech. But for the powerful, the impact is very different: 'Power, it seems, enhances the same emotional, cognitive, and physiological systems that lie-telling depletes. People with power enjoy positive emotions, increases in cognitive function, and physiological resilience such as lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol. Thus, holding power over others might make it easier for people to tell lies.'"
Evidence provides strong support for the hypothesis that widespread volcanic eruptions caused planetary extinctions at the end of the Triassic, paving the way for dinosaurs to rule the world (until they were wiped out by an asteroid).
The Palm Pre Plus and Palm Pixi Plus will be heading to AT&T this year. Confirming what many analysts expected to happen after Palm’s disappointing earnings report, AT&T have announced via Facebook that they will soon offer both of Palm’s flagship webOS devices. This is great news for Palm, which has struggled to increase market share in the smartphone race after launching last year on Sprint and recently on Verizon. AT&T has the largest subscriber base, which gives Palm a chance to entice more potential customers who don’t want to leave the network.
AT&T also took a page from its television advertisements and slipped a few digs at Verizon into the announcement. The company’s Facebook page made sure to mention that these would be “The only Palm webOS devices in the U.S. to support simultaneous voice and data.” (Sprint and Verizon use CDMA networks which are unable to hold data and phone connections at the same time; AT&T uses GSM, which supports that feature.)
AT&T also took the time to announce its next Android phone, the Dell Aero. The Aero features a custom Android UI developed by Dell and AT&T and resembles a Dell Mini 3 based on the rendered photo placed on the company’s website.
No details about price or availability have been announced yet, but more information is likely on the way during this week’s CTIA.
In case you haven't heard already, Discovery News now has a daily newsletter, called Discovery News Daily. What this means is you can get Discovery News delivered right to your inbox. So now, you can check out Discovery News content ... Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 22 Mar 2010 | 2:15 pm
Epic battles for survival between animals of Earth's ancient past are strikingly similar to what humans today call "entertainment." Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 22 Mar 2010 | 2:10 pm
Whuhp! Looks like that i1 banner didn’t go up all that early after all. A day before CTIA 2010 even begins, Motorola has just come along and made the Android-powered i1 and its push-to-talk features official.
The Android-powered and push-to-talk points were already confirmed, but Motorola’s release throws in a few new fun facts: it’s rugged up to Military 810F standards (dust, shock, and rain), has a 3.1″ “tough” touchscreen, WiFi, 5 megapixel camera, and comes preloaded with Opera Mini 5. No pricing or specific availability announced just yet, but expect it to hit the shelves sometime this Summer.
The next sustainability revolution is clear--safe drinking water with the help of sustainable, affordable technology. But we've got some work to do. Today is World Water Day, a UN initiative that reminds me of International Women's Day in the sense ... Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 22 Mar 2010 | 1:53 pm
Oh, Samsung. For as long as I can remember, your banners have flown on the outer walls of the Las Vegas Convention Center during CTIA. And for as long as I can remember, your banners have given away mammoth chunks of what you were announcing at the show, days before said announcement actually happened.
Not this year.
Though there’s still a day left before the lights go on at CTIA, the banners have just begun to go up all around. We’ve spotted three Samsung banners so far, all of which say the same thing: What’s S Life?.
We’re wondering the same thing, to be honest. We got an invite to Samsung’s S Life press conference, but all it has to say is a bunch of gibberish: “Enrichment through technology, simplicity through innovation, ‘S Life’ is as much a feeling as it is an incredible achievement”. We’ll know more by tomorrow at 11:30 AM, when Samsung’s S Life press conference goes down.
So, it looks like Samsung has managed to keep their secrets secret. You know who didn’t do quite as well? Motorola.
Right across the street from the Convention Hall was this gem, confirming that Motorola will be using CTIA to launch their first Push-to-talk smartphone, the Android-powered i1. Oh well; at least the poster’s got a good tagline!
Google makes good on its promise to stop filtering search results in China, and redirects all visitors to Google.cn to its unfiltered Chinese search engine in Hong Kong. But China is certain to get the last word by taking back control of the internet address Google has used there for four years.
Using repeat photography to enhance understanding of riparian areasRiparian areas, ecosystems caught between the land and the stream, are subject to spatial and temporal variability. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 22 Mar 2010 | 1:33 pm
A massive volcanic eruption tipped the scales in the battle between dinosaurs and crocodiles for global dominance. Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 22 Mar 2010 | 1:25 pm
Image 1: Brown University paleobiologist Jessica Whiteside led a scientific team that has explained what led to the dinosaurs’ rise as the Triassic Period ended. Fossil and carbon evidence show that volcanic eruptions and a spike in atmospheric carbon dioxide wiped out half of plant species and early dinosaurs’ primary competitors. Credit: Paul Olsen/Columbia UniversityImage 2: Massive lava flow (top brown layer) sits atop end-Triassic (white) and Triassic (red) layers at a site in Five Islands Provincial Park, Nova Scotia. Image: Jessica. H. Whiteside/Brown University Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 22 Mar 2010 | 1:21 pm
New interagency program to generate high-resolution tools for addressing climate changeOn March 22 at 11 a.m., EDT, the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the U.S. Departments of Energy and Agriculture will a webcast announcing the launch of a joint research program to produce high-resolution models for predicting climate change and its resulting impacts.Called Decadal and Regional Climate Prediction Using Earth System Models (EaSM), the program is designed to generate models that--significantly more powerful than existing models--can help decision-makers develop adaptation strategies addressing climate change. These models will be developed through a joint, interagency solicitation for proposals.The promise of an historic programEaSM is distinguished by its promise for generating: 1) predictions of climate change and associated impacts at more localized scales and over shorter time periods than previously possible; and 2) innovative interdisciplinary approaches to address the sources and impacts of climate change. These interdisciplinary approaches will draw on biologists, chemists, computer scientists, geoscientists, materials scientists, mathematicians, physicists, computer specialists and social scientists."This extraordinary and exciting multi-agency research program will enable a major step forward in our ability to understand and predict both climate change and its impacts on people--at the spatial and temporal scales relevant to human life and societal decision making," says Timothy Killeen, NSF's assistant director for the Geosciences Directorate.By producing reliable, accurate information about climate change and resulting impacts at improved geographic and temporal resolutions, models developed under the EaSM solicitation will provide decision-makers with sound scientific bases for developing adaptation and management responses to climate change at regional levels."This project integrates expertise from multiple communities--including the fundamental sciences--which is needed to understand climate change processes, and advanced modeling, which is needed to quantitatively assess climate change impacts," says Edward Seidel, NSF's acting assistant director for the Mathematical and Physical Sciences Directorate.The need for improved climate change modelsThe development of high-resolution, interdisciplinary predictive models through EaSM is important because the consequences of climate change are becoming more immediate and profound than anticipated. These consequences include prolonged droughts, increased ecosystem stress, reduced agriculture and forest productivity, altered biological feedbacks, degraded ocean and permafrost habitats and the rapid retreat of glaciers and sea ice--all of which are expected to have major impacts on ecological, economic and social systems as well as on human health.To mitigate these consequences, EaSM models will be designed to support planning for the management of food and water supplies, infrastructure construction, ecosystem maintenance, and other pressing societal issues at more localized levels and more immediate time periods than can existing models.Program fundingThe joint solicitation for EaSM proposals enables the three partner agencies to combine resources and fund the highest-impact projects without duplicating efforts. The FY 2010 EaSM solicitation will be supported by the following funding levels: 1) about $30 million from NSF; 2) about $10 million from DOE; and 3) about $9 million from USDA. This project represents an historic augmentation of support for interdisciplinary climate change research by NSF and its partner agencies.This solicitation is the first solicitation for the five-year EaSM program, which will run from FY 2010 to FY 2014. Submitted proposals will be reviewed through NSF's peer review process, and awards will be funded by all three partner agencies. About 20 NSF grants under EaSM are expected to be awarded.Research goals for EaSM* NSF is particularly interested in developing models that will produce reliable predictions of 1) climate change at regional and decadal scales; 2) resulting impacts; and 3) potential adaptations of living systems to these impacts. Related research may, for example, include studies of natural decadal climate change, regional aspects of water and nutrient cycling, and methods to test predictions of climate change.* The USDA is particularly interested in developing climate models that can be linked to crop, forestry and livestock models. Such models will be used to help assess possible risk management strategies and projections of yields at various spatial and temporal scales.* DOE is particularly interested in developing models that better define interactions between climate change and decadal modes of natural climate variability, simulate climate extremes under a changing climate, and help resolve the uncertainties of the indirect effects of aerosols on climate.Types of proposalsTwo types of interdisciplinary proposals will be considered for EaSM funding: Type 1 proposals should be capacity/community building activities, address one or more goals, and last up to three years; these proposals may receive up to $300,000 in annual funding. Type 2 proposals should describe large, ambitious, collaborative, interdisciplinary efforts that advance Earth system modeling on regional and decadal scales, and last three to five years; these proposals may receive from $300,000 to $1 million in annual funding.---Image Caption: Axel Hieberg Island in Canada's Arctic, is shown in an April 8, 2008 image. Note the blocks of ice that have calved off the foot of the glacier (middle-bottom), as well as the melt feature and stream (bottom-right). This photograph was obtained from on board the NASA P-3B aircraft during ARCTAS, a NASA-funded contribution to POLARCAT, a core activity of the 2007/2008 International Polar Year. Credit: Cam McNaughton, University of Hawaii Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 22 Mar 2010 | 1:16 pm
Google has finally adopted the “New Approach to China” that it announced in January, making good on its threat to end censorship of its services in the country. Earlier today, the company begun redirecting Internet traffic away from its Chinese-language site at google.cn to google.com.hk in Hong Kong, beyond the so-called Great Firewall of China.
Searches that once would have been censored now return results, and the legend that once appeared at the bottom of the page–“According to local laws, regulations and policies, some search results are not shown.”–is no more.
Earlier today we stopped censoring our search services–Google Search, Google News, and Google Images–on Google.cn. Users visiting Google.cn are now being redirected to Google.com.hk, where we are offering uncensored search in simplified Chinese, specifically designed for users in mainland China and delivered via our servers in Hong Kong. Users in Hong Kong will continue to receive their existing uncensored, traditional Chinese service, also from Google.com.hk. Due to the increased load on our Hong Kong servers and the complicated nature of these changes, users may see some slowdown in service or find some products temporarily inaccessible as we switch everything over….We believe this new approach of providing uncensored search in simplified Chinese from google.com.hk is a sensible solution to the challenges we’ve faced. We very much hope that the Chinese government respects our decision, though we are well aware that it could at any time block access to our services.
Google stopped short of full withdrawal from the country. According to Drummond, the company will keep its operations in China, as long as it can anyway. Said Drummond: “We intend to continue R&D work in China and also to maintain a sales presence there, though the size of the sales team will obviously be partially dependent on the ability of mainland Chinese users to access Google.com.hk.
iTunes gifting has always been a nice, lazy way to wish a friend a happy birthday or holiday, but until now that feature has been exclusive to iTunes audio and video media. Now, Apple has added the ability to send iPhone apps as gifts.
After agreeing to the new iTunes Store terms and conditions, you’ll be able to select a “Gift This App” option from the pull-down menu next to an app’s price. From thereon, you can punch in the name and e-mail address of your desired recipient, along with a personal message, and iTunes will send him or her a redemption code to download the app.
It works the same way as gifting music or movies, which has been a popular feature in the iTunes Store. This is especially good news for iPhone developers, as the gifting feature can induce brand new iPhone owners to download their first paid app ever. Gifting might just work as a gateway drug that gets iPhone owners hooked on the addictive experience of paying for new apps and digital media in general, which would further stimulate the app economy.
On January 12, we announced on this blog that Google and more than twenty other U.S. companies had been the victims of a sophisticated cyber attack originating from China, and that during our investigation into these attacks we had uncovered evidence to suggest that the Gmail accounts of dozens of human rights activists connected with China were being routinely accessed by third parties, most likely via phishing scams or malware placed on their computers. We also made clear that these attacks and the surveillance they uncovered—combined with attempts over the last year to further limit free speech on the web in China including the persistent blocking of websites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google Docs and Blogger—had led us to conclude that we could no longer continue censoring our results on Google.cn.
So earlier today we stopped censoring our search services—Google Search, Google News, and Google Images—on Google.cn. Users visiting Google.cn are now being redirected to Google.com.hk, where we are offering uncensored search in simplified Chinese, specifically designed for users in mainland China and delivered via our servers in Hong Kong. Users in Hong Kong will continue to receive their existing uncensored, traditional Chinese service, also from Google.com.hk. Due to the increased load on our Hong Kong servers and the complicated nature of these changes, users may see some slowdown in service or find some products temporarily inaccessible as we switch everything over.
Figuring out how to make good on our promise to stop censoring search on Google.cn has been hard. We want as many people in the world as possible to have access to our services, including users in mainland China, yet the Chinese government has been crystal clear throughout our discussions that self-censorship is a non-negotiable legal requirement. We believe this new approach of providing uncensored search in simplified Chinese from Google.com.hk is a sensible solution to the challenges we've faced—it's entirely legal and will meaningfully increase access to information for people in China. We very much hope that the Chinese government respects our decision, though we are well aware that it could at any time block access to our services. We will therefore be carefully monitoring access issues, and have created this new web page, which we will update regularly each day, so that everyone can see which Google services are available in China.
In terms of Google's wider business operations, we intend to continue R&D work in China and also to maintain a sales presence there, though the size of the sales team will obviously be partially dependent on the ability of mainland Chinese users to access Google.com.hk. Finally, we would like to make clear that all these decisions have been driven and implemented by our executives in the United States, and that none of our employees in China can, or should, be held responsible for them. Despite all the uncertainty and difficulties they have faced since we made our announcement in January, they have continued to focus on serving our Chinese users and customers. We are immensely proud of them.
Posted by David Drummond, SVP, Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer
Image Caption: Reducing consumption of meat and dairy products might not have a major impact in combating global warming despite claims that link diets rich in animal products to production of greenhouse gases. Credit: Wikimedia Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 22 Mar 2010 | 12:35 pm
We know -- there's a lot of news out there and lots of content competing for your attention daily. Still, there is some news you won't want to miss. Here at Discovery News, we're selecting the most interesting, compelling, slap-your-palm-on-your-forehead ... Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 22 Mar 2010 | 12:32 pm
The 3-D space opera from the '80s still delivers an entertaining jolt of Disneyland fun. But some aspects of the 17-minute short film are decidedly non-epic.
Authorities think they may have nabbed the mastermind behind hack of RBS WorldPay, which netted a cool $9.5 million in a global heist. The arrest takes place in Russia.
Two — no, three — things in life are sure: Death, taxes, and the fact that storage manufacturers will continue to cram ever-more ridiculous quantities of memory into tinier packages.
SanDisk announced a new 32-GB microSDHC card on Monday, effectively doubling the maximum storage capacity of the tiny, less-than-dime-sized memory chips found in many modern smartphones. This is the maximum capacity that the HC-format microSD cards can hold, so any further advances will have to wait until manufacturers start installing microSD-XC slots in their phones.
The advance means it is now possible to swallow an entire 7,000-song iTunes library, or 10 hours of uncompressed HD video, without gagging.
SanDisk says its new card will be available for purchase on its website starting Tuesday, and through retail channels shortly thereafter.
With a retail price of $200 and a weight of just 0.5 grams, you’ll want to be extra-careful with this minuscule memory chip, as it’s worth about 11 times its weight in gold.
To achieve the increased capacity, SanDisk did two things: Switch to a 32-nanometer production process, and stack eight memory chips vertically inside the microSD card.
The first change refers to the size of a typical memory component, which is now around 32nm, or about the same size as the circuits used in Intel’s latest Core i3 and Core i5 chips. Using smaller circuitry enables the company to cram more bits onto a wafer of silicon.
32nm X3 chip under an electron microscope that shows eight-die stack. This is an actual photo of a 32nm X3 card that was torn apart to show the layers of memory chips inside.
The second change is pure micromechanical engineering. Although a microSD card is only 1mm thick, including the plastic housing, SanDisk’s engineers have managed to squeeze a vertical stack of eight memory chips inside it. Each chip holds 4 GB of data, so altogether the stack holds 32 GB.
“You’re basically talking about an entire jukebox on a flash memory chip the size of your pinkie fingernail,” said SanDisk vice president Eric Bone.
SugarSync, a file syncing product that we may have all forgotten in our rush to glorify Dropbox has been rolling out a steady stream of improvements and, as of 11am today, it will offer an API so mobile applications can use SugarSync shared storage. The API information will live at SugarSync.com/Developers when it goes up today.
The API essentially creates a “bridge between local devices and the cloud.” In plain English, this would allow a developer to offload storage to a SugarSync server – think a photo application that can upload and display public links immediately or, barring that, a sort of shared workspace that would allow disparate programs to work on the same files in locked down OSes like iPhone OS and Windows Phone 7. The apps don’t have to be mobile – it works in web and desktop contexts as well – and access to the API is free.
Developers can also make money by getting a cut of new subscribers who sign up for the service. SugarSync is also running a contest for new apps. You can check it out at the dev website. There are also a few caveats:
Can we leverage free SugarSync accounts?
Yes! While our free accounts don’t have all of the functionality of our premium version, there are still many things you can do with your app and a free SugarSync account.
Your app may create maximum of one free account per user, and it cannot bridge or connect two separate accounts. Initially, you will have access to 5000 free accounts. If you run out or believe your audience will tap those out quickly, please contact us and we’re happy to work with you.
Man, if you can sell 5000 apps and convince people to use them properly, I’m happy to work with you.
Unlike many services that “get an API,” SugarSync seems to know what they’re doing. There is a need for open, potentially free space in the cloud and because they offer a concrete “service” instead of a nebulous spurt of API hand-waving, I say good on them.
Ever since Swype (an alternative keyboard for touchscreens which has users drag paths through the letters of a word rather than tap them out individually) debuted at TechCrunch 50, I’ve been asked the same question a near-regular basis: is it really any faster than just typing words the old fashion way?
Well, it’s apparently fast enough for a Guinness World Record.
Looking to play up the fact that the Omnia II comes with Swype installed out of the box, Samsung set out to find the fastest Swyper on the block. They didn’t have to look far. As luck (and logic) may have it, Swype just happened to know one of the fastest Swypers off-hand: one of their employees, Franklin Page.
Guinness gave Page the official challenge phrase:
“The razor-toothed piranhas of the genera Serrasalmus and Pygocentrus are the most ferocious freshwater fish in the world. In reality they seldom attack a human,”
35.54 seconds later, Page had blasted out the thumb-twisted text, securing himself the record for Fastest Text Message on a Touchscreen Mobile Phone.
Alas, there’s a bit of a catch: this is a brand new record category. Texting speed records were previously all encompassing; be it T9, physical QWERTY, or touchscreen, they used to just lump it all together. That wasn’t exactly fair, so Guinness has begun to separate things out into proper categories. Page’s was the first record attempt for this category; in theory, he could have taken 20 minutes to type the message and still claimed the record.
How long do you think this record will last? Given the number of text-obsessed teens out there unknowingly training to beat this record all day, every day, it probably won’t be too long.
If you’re a tech geek who longs for the past, the iMac steampunk mod above should cater to your fashionable hypocrisy. Hand crafted with oak and brass, the base cover sports a marble finish and will take you just “seconds” to install on your iMac, according to its maker Old Time Computer.
Covers are available for the 24-inch and 20-inch Core 2 Duo iMacs, starting at $265. (The antique keyboard ships separately for $345.)
Frankly we can’t imagine any of you will buy one of these, unless you live in the house pictured below.
Remember last week, when we mentioned that Bluetooth headset manufacturer BlueAnt would be launching their first Android app at CTIA? The one that would read your incoming text messages aloud over your Bluetooth headset?
Well, we just touched down in Vegas for CTIA 2010, and sure enough: they’ve just launched the application.
We didn’t know what the application’s name would be last time we wrote about it. According to BlueAnt, it’s called “The BlueAnt Q1 Android application”. Original? Not exactly — but given that it’s an Android application that seems to only work with BlueAnt’s Q1 headset, I’d say it’s fitting.
We forgot to pack our Q1 amongst the plethora of gadgets we bring to trade shows; if you just so happen to have one (and an Android phone), give it a run and let us know how it is. Keep an eye out for lots more CTIA 2010 coverage right here.
Amazon has recently begun pimping the HD and HD-XR versions of the Roku set top box. This latest offer will give a $20 credit that can be used towards Amazon Video On Demand purchases if you buy a Roku HD or Roku HD-XR.
Price wise, the Roku HD is selling for $99.99 and the HD-XR is $129.99.
Additionally, once you purchase the Roku you will also be able to browse and watch other content such as Netflix as well as the available channels in the Roku Channel Store which includes goodies such as Pandora, Revision3, TWiT and more.
In terms of this deal, it is available for a limited time—it expires at the end of the month, on March 31.
Three new phones–Palm’s Pre Plus, Pixi Plus and the Dell Aero smartphone–are set to debut on AT&T’s network.
The Palm phones are already available on Sprint and Verizon Wireless but AT&T will be the first to offer a Dell phone in the U.S.
The move is unlikely to turn struggling cellphone maker Palm’s fortunes but it could offer a boost to Dell’s entry into the smartphone business.
In January, AT&T said it will have five Android-based smartphones in its portfolio this year, and two devices running Palm’s webOS operating system. Though the Pre and Pixi were launched exclusive to Sprint in 2009, Palm released a new version of the devices called the Pre Plus and Pixi Plus earlier this year.
Palm crammed Wi-Fi support into the Pixi Plus and bumped up the memory and storage capacity for the Pre.
Meanwhile, Dell made its foray into the smartphone business last year with the Mini 3. The phone which runs Android operating system was available only in China and Brazil.
Dell’s Mini 3 phone now has been renamed the Aero. And as seen on other Android phones, the device will feature a custom user interface, in this case developed by Dell.
AT&T hasn’t revealed pricing and exact availability for the Aero. The Palm Pre Plus will cost $150 and the Palm Pixi Plus will retail for $50 after a two-year contract and a mail-in rebate.
On AT&T though, the Pre Plus and Pixi Plus will be missing a key feature. The two phones won’t have the Mobile Hotspot app, available on Verizon’s versions, that allows the devices to become Wi-Fi hotspots themselves.
Active Media Products announced two new Flash drive, 16GB and 32GB that are eSATA capable for transferring data at 3x USB 2.0 speeds. The Flash drives are small and trusty with no moving parts. The drives sell for $69.95 and $109.95 for the 16GB and 32GB respectively.
“eSATA flash drives are a great storage solution for people who need faster transfer speeds than USB 2.0 can offer, yet still need the portability of a USB flash drive,” says Mr. Jerry Thomson, VP of Sales for Active Media Products.
Many of today’s laptops and desktops come with an eSATA port. Users that don’t have an eSATA port can still use the drives via the mini USB 2.0 port. The drives can be find online at Amazon.
Haitian Kreyòl is spoken by more than 10 million people in Haiti and in the Haitian diaspora in the Bahamas, Canada, Cayman Islands, Dominican Republic, France, French Guiana, Puerto Rico and the United States.
The massive earthquake that recently stuck Haiti took a heavy toll on communication infrastructure (including TV, radio and newspapers). In the weeks following the earthquake, the Internet has become an important tool for Haitians to search for news and information. We previously added support for Haitian Kreyòl to Google Translate and we are happy that Google search can now be used the Haitian people in their native language.
We would like to thank the Haitian volunteers who heard our call for volunteer translators and generously shared their time and knowledge to improve the search experience for all Haitians.
Posted by Christine Multidor, Engineering Recruiting Coordinator, on behalf of the Internationalization Team
As one would expect after the news and continued hype around the Apple iPad—other companies are going to be announcing and releasing tablets. And the latest, which is coming from a German company called Neofonie seems to be playing the Apple card. The tablet is called the WePad, I guess they removed the I and added a We. Maybe We is better than I, which implies just one.
Feature wise the WePad does seems interesting though. To begin with it will be running Android. Of course we have seen Android tablets come, and also have seen Android tablets fail. That means that just having Android alone is not going to make the WePad successful.
Moving on though, the WePad will also come sporting an 11.6-inch (1366 x 768) touchscreen display and a 1.66GHz Intel Atom N450 processor. Other features include GMA 3150 graphics, two USB ports and a UMTS modem as well as two items that are left off the iPad—a webcam and built-in card reader. Additionally, the WePad is noted as being able to offer up to six hours of battery life.
But in the end I should point out that the WePad is still just an idea and not yet a real device. That said, you can head on over to wepad.mobi and give up your email address so you can be notified when you are able to pre-order. Personally, I think I would hold off on a purchase here until (at least) you can actually order. You know, just to make sure this ends up being more than vaporware.
Well, that was unexpected. Tacked on to the news of the Palm Pixi Plus and Pre Plus finding their way to AT&T was a passing mention that AT&T would soon be pulling back the curtains on their second Android-powered phone, the Dell Aero.
Here’s all they’ve said so far:
AT&T also will soon unveil an Android-based smartphone the Dell Aero. This will be Dell’s first smartphone available in the U.S., and will feature a new, beautiful custom user interface developed by Dell and AT&T. To learn more about the Dell Aero, visit www.att.com/aero.
At the time this post was published, that “learn more” link was not live. I’d expect it to go live in the next few hours, with more details trickling in during CTIA (which, by the way, begins tomorrow.) Until more details find their way out, we can only assume that the Aero is AT&T’s version of the Dell Mini 3i which launched in China last year.
Update: AT&T just sent over this picture of the Aero confirming our suspicions: it’s the Mini 3i hardware, complete with its intense overhaul of the Android UI. They also confirmed that the page linked above should be live soon.
Amazon announces Kindle Apps for Tablet Computers (including Kindle for iPad), a rather polished e-reader application that both makes the Kindle itself look rather old-fashioned and explains why last week’s Mac version was so unfinished: The Amazon developers have clearly been spending all their time on this instead.
We’re all familiar with the stereotyped image of the old-school movie director. Clad in jodhpurs, a monocle and a French beret, he would spot a possible scene and frame it in his fingers, or lift a fancy viewfinder to his face. Well guess what? Now there’s an app for that.
Viewfinder (and the more expensive Viewfinder Pro) both do the same thing (Pro adds larger formats to the mix). They turn you iPhone into a camera viewfinder. The picture comes from the iPhone’s own camera and is displayed on screen with a number of outlines. These squares and rectangles correspond to the area that would be snapped by a particular camera and lens combo.
You set up a range of on-screen shortcut buttons for your various cameras using the menus (almost every camera is in there, and you can specify the specs manually if it isn’t). From there, you pick a range of focal lengths (And aspect ratios for cameras which support several) and the appropriate bright-lines will be overlaid on the picture, allowing you to see, all together, the various shots you would get with different lenses. Anyone who has used a Leica rangefinder camera will be instantly familiar with the multi-box approach.
It’s not just lines on a screen, either. You can choose to darken the areas outside of a chosen frame to remove distraction, much like the Photoshop crop-tool. You can even use a digital zoom to fill the screen with this view, although it gets a little fuzzy. If you want to go wider than the iPhone’s roughly 35mm field of view, you can use an optical wide-angle adapter of your choice and then dial in the focal-length multiplier. Viewfinder will then change its views for you.
Why bother, when you could just hold your camera up to your eye? First, you can see what another lens could do without actually changing it. Second, this seems to me like a great way to train yourself to see. With some practice using this app, you’ll soon have an eye for which lens will give you the picture you want. You can even grab a shot which includes the lines for later use.
Viewfinder costs $8, way less than any hardware solution, and also more likely to be in your pocket when you need it. The Pro version, which as we said just adds larger format cameras, costs a money-grabbing $15. Both available now.
Palm may be down, but they’re not out just yet. Following the launch of the Pre and Pixi on Sprint last year and their respective Plus editions on Verizon back in January, Palm has just announced that they’ll soon be launching the Pre Plus and Pixi Plus on AT&T.
While its never bad news to get your handsets onto a new carrier, just how good this news is for Palm depends almost entirely on how AT&T handles it.
Palm’s exclusive launch with Sprint came as the carrier was smack-dab in the middle of their never-ending customer bleed, and their debut on Verizon had the unfortunate timing of coming right after VZW had just dumped a monstrous marketing budget into the Motorola Droid. With AT&T expected to only have an exclusive lock on the contract-magnet wunderkind that is the iPhone for another year (and a half, at most), how much time will they put behind properly marketing Palm’s goods?
From a hardware standpoint, the handsets being offered up for AT&T are virtually identical to that which we saw hit Verizon, save the fact that these latest ones are GSM. The Pre Plus has a 3.1″ screen, while the Pixi Plus’ comes in at 2.63″. Both handsets have 802.11b/g WiFi, integrated GPS, and Bluetooth 2.1+.
The software has seen some minor changes. The on-the-fly WiFi router Mobile Hotspot software that debuted on the VZW handsets didn’t make it over. On the upside, Palm threw in a new feature they’re calling “Whisper”, which automatically connects AT&T Hotspot customers to any AT&T WiFi point without requiring them to retype their credentials.
Neither company is saying exactly when to expect the handsets to hit the shelves, outside of “in the coming months.” When they do, the price tag will be set at $149.99 for the Pre Plus and $49.99 for the Pixi Plus, both after an always-annoying $100 mail-in rebate.
To the amusement of my fellow Gadgetell bloggers, I have made no effort to hide my love for the Zune. And what better way to pass on some Zune HD love than to share a deal, a $45 deal to be specific. That means you can purchase the 32GB Platinum Zune HD for only $245. Of course, the obvious applies and you will be ditching iTunes for the pleasure of the Zune. But hey, the Zune HD is small and light and has a wonderful display. Plus you can finally find out just how nice a subscription based music service can really be.
Buying USB cables is like buying plastic shopping bags: both normally come free with a purchase (and both end up stuffed into the back of a cupboard or drawer). But Gonglue Jiang’s USB cable concept design would actually get me to part with some cash.
The cables solve the problem of overloaded USB ports without resorting to a messy hub. Each plug is both male and female, letting it both give and receive USB data and power. The hermaphroditic cords can be daisy-chained, letting you stack several plugs together for some hot multiple gadget-on-port action.
The only limit we see is that of power, just the same as when you use a non-powered hub to hook up too many devices to one port. Other than that, this design is so good we’d like to see it incorporated into every USB cable out there. That way we could go back to not paying for them.
Amazon has announced Kindle Apps for Tablet Computers (including Kindle for iPad), a rather polished e-reader application that both makes the Kindle itself look rather old-fashioned and explains why last week’s Mac version was so unfinished: The Amazon developers have clearly been spending all their time on this instead.
The app offers all the usual Kindle features: Whispersync to keep your bookmarks and notes in sync between devices and the ability to load up any books you have previously bought. It also adds a lot of visual polish, from the obligatory page-turn animation (you can switch it off) to a fetching, full-color grid view of your library. You can adjust “paper” color, and change screen brightness from within the app.
Most interesting, though, is the way you buy books, which circumvents Apple’s 30 percent cut of in-app purchases. When you buy books, you are sent to the Kindle store in a web browser to make your purchase (Amazon doesn’t say whether the screenshot comes from an in-app browser page, or Mobile Safari itself, but it makes no difference).
We also see a page on display which has a full-color photo. This will be ideal for cookbooks bought from Amazon, but it also sends Amazon’s own grayscale-only hardware to the back of the line. Still, the effort Amazon seems to have put in show that it is clearly focused on selling books, not the hardware the books are read on. That the app is almost certain to make it into the App store shows that the reverse is true with Apple: It wants the iPad to be the go-to media device, whatever that media may be.
BMW’s M-Series branding is rapidly turning from a guarantee of extra engineering (and speed) into a badge which can be applied to anything in order to get fools to pay top-dollar for otherwise everyday gear. Exhibit A: The BMW M Bike.
The M Bike is a slightly upgraded variant of BMW’s mountain and cruiser bike range, all of which come in this odd, sculpted shape. These bikes begin at around $1,100 for adult sizes. What makes the M different, apart from the familiar M badge beloved of drug-dealers the world over? Actually not much: The press release proudly lists a “shiny red seat inlay” in the first paragraph. Clearly we are dealing with serious dedication to high-end vehicle design.
You also get “built-in” gears (Shimano SLX), and anthracite frame (further reading reveals that it is just anthracite-colored. The frame is actually aluminum), a Manitou Match suspension fork and disk-brakes. The weight is a surprisingly hefty 12.9 kg (28.5-pounds): certainly not worthy of the high-performance M-tag.
The bike will go on sale at BWW’s online store and at “select” BMW dealers (presumably to be bought by Beamer drivers to be displayed on roof-racks) in June for an as-yet unannounced price, which you can bet will bear no relation to the actual components of the bike itself.
For the past two months, Google has threatened to stop censoring search results in China in response to a series of attacks that it believes were influenced by or connected to the Chinese government. Google has made good on that threat and announced on its blog that it has officially stopped censoring those results. Chinese users who visit Google.cn are now redirected to a Hong Kong-based Google.com.hk. There, users will be able to access Google Search, Google News, and Google Images without the self-censored filter previously used to block content that might enflame the state government. This has led to a massive increase of load on Google’s Hong Kong servers, which will lead to slowdowns.
Touchscreens on smartphones are great for surfing the internet or browsing photos but they can be frustrating if you want to type more than a few words.
Looks like the Chinese government has settled on a theme for its response to Google’s decision to stop censoring search results in China: Red-in-the-face indignation. In a bulletin issued by state-run news agency Xinhua entitled “China says Google breaks promise, totally wrong to stop censoring,” Beijing slagged the company for betraying its trust.
iTunes gifting has always been a nice, lazy way to wish a friend a happy birthday or holiday, but until now that feature has been exclusive to iTunes audio and video media. Now, Apple has added the ability to send iPhone apps as gifts.
Amazon has recently begun pimping the HD and HD-XR versions of the Roku set top box. This latest offer will give a $20 credit that can be used towards Amazon Video On Demand purchases if you buy a Roku HD or Roku HD-XR.
After hyping the fact that they were building a free 
When you think of one percent of something, it’s usually not a very big number. But in some cases it is. Like when you’re talking about all of the users of the Internet in the world.
Mobile advertising company 
This morning, the Internet was 
In late 2009 we wrote about 
The basic setup is this: You murdered someone, in locked-room detective story-like fashion, and the detective has shown up to investigate. He's asking everyone their stories. If you catches you out in an inconsistency -- or if you somehow permit everyone else to establish a clear alibi -- you're screwed.
Despite her youth, Daisy is expected to travel down the flying fox at speeds of up to 62km/h with her younger brother attached beside her in a sack.
Sony announced a new clock radio today, the enticing named ICF-C717PJ, the latest in a long line of consumer electronics. The ICF-C717PJ has a few tricks up it’s proverbial sleeve however, including a thermometer and the ability to project the time on the wall or ceiling.
Technology can be difficult to use, particularly things like home servers. Dane-Elec plans to make setting up your own home NAS easy, using their myDitto home network server. Installation is intended to be quick and painless, utilizing USB keys to set up the drive rather then the standard CD. 
Living in Nevada, I get to see all kinds of art projects on the road as Burning Man approaches. I will admit however, that none of them look quite as cool as these, a combination of the “rat-rod” and an art bicycle.
Here’s a candidate for the Canadian parent of the year award. Police in Richmond B.C. are looking for a couple that used their kids to load up on over $3000 worth of Blu-ray and DVD discs from Future Shop. The estimate is that the couple took between 80 to 100 movies.
Just in time for the passing of the U.S. government’s massive health care legislation, NBC is launching a branded iPhone app for one of its key political news shows. NBC’s popular political and public affairs show 
Look, I know 
Now that SXSW is fully over, it’s time to start going over some of the data from the so-called 
