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Jim Carrey, Jenny McCarthy split -- via Twitter (AFP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 7 Apr 2010 | 4:09 am HP Slate Details Leaked: $550 Keyboard-less Netbook
An internal HP memo which compares the upcoming Slate to Apple’s iPad has been leaked, and it shows not just the specifications of the Hewlett Packard tablet, but also the price. The comparison table even highlights “advantages” and “threats” in green and red. The Slate will come in two sizes: a 32GB model for $550 and a $600, 64GB version. This compares favorably to the iPad, which costs $600 for 32GB. On the “advantages” side, the HP lists an SD card reader, a USB port, HDMI-out, a VGA webcam, a 3MP camera, and a “conventional” SIM-card tray (the iPad uses the new micro-SIM). Inexplicably, the 1.6GHz Atom Z530 is also counted as an “advantage”, presumably due to the familiarity of the name rather than its actual performance. The Slate will also contain 1GB RAM, weight the same 1.5-pounds as the iPad and sport a widescreen 1024 x 600 display. This is, despite the name and capacitive touch-screen, a netbook with the keyboard removed. So, what are the “threats” listed by HP? The iPad’s 10-hour battery life (the Slate claims just five, and will surely be shorter), 802.11n Wi-Fi (the Slate has just g), the bigger screen and the entry-level price of just $500. And that’s it. If there is any proof that HP doesn’t get the whole tablet PC schtick, it is this focus on hardware. The whole point of the iPad is its software, the fact that it is conceived to work as a touch device. HP’s Slate may well be a nice piece of hardware, and it certainly has all the marketing check-boxes filled, but it runs Windows 7. And last time we looked, even a skinned version of Win7 is not designed for touch. Nice try, though, HP. Better luck next time. HP Slate to cost $549, have 1.6GHz Atom Z530, 5 hour battery? [Engadget] 
Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 7 Apr 2010 | 4:01 am Don't be fooled: Windows Phone 7, Silverlight are business-ready (InfoWorld)InfoWorld - Windows Phone 7, which is Microsoft's revamped smartphone operating system, and Silverlight, the company's rich Internet application platform, might seem geared primarily to glitzy, for-fun applications. But Microsoft observers see an enterprise business application case for these two budding technologies. (Silverlight is being paired with the XNA gaming app dev platform to serve as the application development platform for Windows Phone 7.)Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 7 Apr 2010 | 4:00 am The future of MySQL in a post-Sun world (InfoWorld)InfoWorld - Oracle's absorption of Sun is complete. Now that the European Commission has blessed the merger, the Oracle logo is proudly displayed to anyone who types "sun.com" into a browser. Yet if you visit mysql.com, you'll see hardly any mention of Sun, the company that purchased MySQL for $1 billion in 2008, and Oracle's logo is buried deep at the bottom of the pages.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 7 Apr 2010 | 4:00 am Apple admits its Ipad can't do wireless very well - Inquirer
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 7 Apr 2010 | 3:54 am Swiss make 1st test of round-the-world solar planeSwiss adventurer Bertrand Piccard's team took its round-the-world solar plane prototype into the skies for the first time Wednesday, with four propellers lifting the massive craft off the...Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 7 Apr 2010 | 3:33 am Shuttle Discovery arrives at space station - The Associated Press
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 7 Apr 2010 | 3:30 am Viral Video: "Shrek Forever After" in 3D (and Dreamworks' Katzenberg at D8!) [BoomTown]
Along with big-time Hollywood director James Cameron–have you heard of “Avatar” perhaps?–onstage at the the eighth D: All Things Digital conference in June, we also have been lucky to nab Dreamworks Animation SKG CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg. We’ve long wanted to interview the innovative entertainment exec on the D stage, and this seems like perfect year for him to talk about a range of topics. Including the hot technology of the moment in the movie industry: 3D. Dreamworks’ latest, “Shrek Forever After,” being released May 21, is coming out in 3D, of course, so there will be lots to talk about. Here’s the latest video trailer for the new film, the third and final in the “Shrek” series: Source: All Things Digital | 7 Apr 2010 | 3:26 am Mixed Reality Project Uses RFID To Connect Interaction of Real Objects to Virtual Ones in Second LifeMixed reality design project (2/3) Uploaded by huggy What you're looking at above is a mixed reality project by French developer Hugobiwan Zolnir, which uses RFID chips to connect the interaction of real...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 7 Apr 2010 | 3:24 am UnitedParents To Provide Early Warning Against Online Predators, Cyberbullies
UnitedParents’ consumer product is a downloadable piece of software (Windows only for now) that monitors children’s online activity. The product will initially latch onto the more popular Instant Messaging apps such as those by ICQ, AIM, MSN, and Yahoo, but will expand to include online chat modules such as that of Facebook’s. Further down the road, the product will also monitor email and public chat rooms. UnitedParents’ software keeps track of the child’s online activity, monitoring over thirty parameters along his or her path. Using analysis, the technology is able to create profiles of the persons the child has engaged with and of the relationships themselves. Once a predator or bully is identified, UnitedParents creates a sort of fingerprint that it propagates across its network. Doing so allows it to track this person and alert potential next cases very early on, theoretically before any harm is done to the next child in line. Parents will be alerted by way of email and in more urgent cases, via SMS. The alerts will provide parents with information on why the alert was sent (e.g. when their 14-year old daughter has been chatting with someone UnitedParents has assessed to be in his 30’s and that is attempting to have her send him photos although she does not really want to). The company also intends to offer their solution to social networks and online communities that operate chat environments for children. The consumer product which will be marketed to parents of children ages 9 to 17 will be priced at under $100 when it officially ships in a few months. In the meantime you can sign-up for the beta by emailing beta@unitedparents.com Information provided by CrunchBase      
Source: TechCrunch | 7 Apr 2010 | 3:23 am Vodafone to offer Web via Opera in emerging markets (Reuters)Reuters - Vodafone, the world's largest mobile operator by revenue, is to launch the Opera Mini browser on low-cost handsets so its millions of users in emerging markets can easily access the Internet.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 7 Apr 2010 | 3:20 am Los Cabos Invites Travelers to take a 'Two-Minute Vacation' with the Chance to Win BigLOS CABOS, Mexico, April 7 /PRNewswire/ -- The Los Cabos Convention and Visitors Bureau today announced the launch of a new social media campaign, the "Two-Minute Vacation," which aims to virtually transport travelers to the southernmost tip of the Baja peninsula.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 7 Apr 2010 | 3:20 am After 27 Years, a New High Score For Asteroidsblair1q writes "In a marathon 3-1/2 day session, John McAllister, of Portland, Oregon, has broken the 27-year-old high score for Asteroids, set in 1982 by Scott Safran. The attempt was broadcast via webcam."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 7 Apr 2010 | 3:19 am Video: Super Mario Kart on Non-Jailbroken iPadSweet, sweet Lord. *Super Mario Kart* on the iPad could mean that I never, ever leave the house again. What you see here is the best racing game ever made, running on a stock, non-jailbroken iPad. It is not a copy of the Super Nintendo classic: SMK is running in SNES emulator. You won’t see the SNES emulator in the App Store anytime soon: not only does it break Apple’s rules on running interpreted code, but we’re sure that Nintendo wouldn’t be too happy, either. The app is from ZodTTD, the developer who brought us the VLC video application for the (jailbroken) iPhone, along with iPhone SNES and N64 emulators. ZodTTD ported his existing SNES emulator to the new hardware. While he does have access to the iPhone Dev Team’s iPad jailbreak, he also has the iPhone and iPad developer tools. Using these, he compiled the app and signed it, and has it up and running on a stock iPad. If you have ever participated in a beta testing for an iPhone app and had the developer send you both the app and a provisioning file, you will be familiar with the process. So how do you get your hands on this? You’ll have to wait for the iPad jailbreak, and then you’ll need to buy the app from ZodTTD, just like you can now for the iPhone. It’s certainly not as convenient as buying from the App Store, but then, it is Mario Kart. Apple iPad running SNES (snes4iphone) [YouTube] See Also:
Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 7 Apr 2010 | 3:16 am From “The It’s Different This Time” Desk: Avg Vancouver Home Price Hits $1mThe average price of a Vancouver BC home always an expensive place has now hit $1-million. One million dollars. Average. People are in full panic, right? Talk of an imminent meltdown? Street corner...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 7 Apr 2010 | 3:04 am eFileCabinet Electronic Document Management System Now Available in SpanishPROVO, Utah, April 7 /PRNewswire/ -- eFileCabinet, Inc., a global provider of enterprise content management (ECM) solutions, today announced the availability of the company's flagship product for Spanish speaking users.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 7 Apr 2010 | 3:00 am AOL to Bail Out of Bebo Social Site - Wall Street Journal
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 7 Apr 2010 | 2:37 am Readings: Big Machines, Harvard, Births, China, Facebook, Baserunners, etc.Equipment movers in demand as factories shut (Source) Economists need their own uncertainty principle (Source) The placebo effect is getting stronger over time (Source) Home Depot adds jobs...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 7 Apr 2010 | 2:35 am U.S. Signs New Deal for Soyuz FlightsRussia is charging the United States $55.8 million a seat for six round-trip rides aboard its Soyuz capsules, currently the sole means for getting astronauts to and from the International Space Station. Under a new contract announced yesterday, NASA will ...Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 7 Apr 2010 | 2:23 am Shunde Rural Commercial Bank Signs up Misys to Manage Treasury BusinessLONDON, April 7, 2010 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- - Misys Opics Solution Implemented to Expand Treasury Business Misys plc (FTSE: MSY:L), the global application software and services company, today announced that Shunde Rural Commercial Bank (Shunde RCB) has gone live with Misys Opics Plus and Misys Opics Risk Plus.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 7 Apr 2010 | 2:22 am Math Is More Fun When You Can Hit People With ItBy Evan Ackerman Everything, everything is better if, in addition to whatever its primary purpose is, it can also be used to a.) hit people and b.) take naps. This calculator may do fancy stuff with numbers...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 7 Apr 2010 | 2:21 am Court: FCC Had No Authority to Stop Comcast's BitTorrent Restrictions - PC World
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 7 Apr 2010 | 2:01 am ThruPoint Acquires Assets of UbiquityNEW YORK and CARDIFF, Wales, April 7 /PRNewswire/ -- ThruPoint, a leading New York-based technology consulting firm, today announced the closing of its acquisition of certain assets of Ubiquity Software Corporation, a Cardiff, Wales-based Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) application server platform development company owned by Avaya.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 7 Apr 2010 | 2:00 am Advanced Semiconductor Engineering, Inc. Announces Monthly Net RevenuesTAIPEI, April 7 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- Advanced Semiconductor Engineering, Inc.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 7 Apr 2010 | 2:00 am MindArk's Virtual World Platform Sees First Independent Partner LaunchGOTEBORG, Sweden, April 7 /PRNewswire/ -- MindArk PE AB, developer of the Entropia Platform and publisher of Entropia Universe, announced today the launch of the first independently developed virtual planet in Entropia Universe.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 7 Apr 2010 | 2:00 am Santelli: $150 Oil by SummerSource: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 7 Apr 2010 | 1:26 am Cell phone radiation? There's no easy answerA thoughtful piece from Cnet on the unanswered question of cell phone radiation linked to cancer. The bottom line? While some experimental data have suggested a possible link between exposure and tumor...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 7 Apr 2010 | 1:18 am Zynga Brings Social Gaming To The PhoneUsing SMSSocial gaming tycoon Zynga is testing out a way to bring its games to the mobile phone, but despite what you might think, its not by building a bunch of fancy smartphone applications. It's approaching...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 7 Apr 2010 | 1:10 am Verizon, AT&T & Cisco Talk Up Internet of ThingsYou know that a trend is ramping up when big companies begin to namecheck it. It's happening now with the Internet of Things, a term for when real-world objects connect to the Internet. Senior executives...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 7 Apr 2010 | 1:05 am Net Neutrality Has Always Been Up to Lawmakers: Will They Pay Attention Now? [Voices]By Dan Gillmor, Director, Knight Center, Arizona State University We’re in scary territory, but it’s not a big surprise that we are. Comcast and the other carriers will be emboldened to continue what they’ve started: the subjugation of America’s broadband future to their interests and those of their entertainment industry partners and subsidiaries. Our second-class status in broadband will soon be even worse if they get what they want: turning the Internet to a television-on-steroids system where control is in the middle, where the edges of the networks — that is you and me — do what the center tells us we may do. Read the rest of this post on the original site Source: All Things Digital | 7 Apr 2010 | 1:05 am Why You Should NEVER Listen to Your Customers [Voices]By Mark Cuban, Blogger, Blog Maverick An article by John Doerr had a great quote from technology luminary Alan Kay that every entrepreneur needs to remember “The best way to predict the future is to invent it.” I’m working with a company that at one point had a product that was not only best in class, but also technically far ahead of its competition. It created a better way of offering its service and customers loved it and paid for it. Read the rest of this post on the original site Source: All Things Digital | 7 Apr 2010 | 1:04 am Trust and Reputation Systems: Redistributing Power and Influence [Voices]By Craig Newmark, Founder, Craigslist.org People use social networking tools to figure out who they can trust and rely on for decision making. By the end of this decade, power and influence will shift largely to those people with the best reputations and trust networks, from people with money and nominal power. That is, peer networks will confer legitimacy on people emerging from the grassroots. Read the rest of this post on the original site Source: All Things Digital | 7 Apr 2010 | 1:03 am Spies caught plundering secret Indian docs - Register
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 7 Apr 2010 | 1:03 am Is iPad a Game-Changer? [Voices]By Dave Winer, Blogger, scripting.com If you’re old enough to remember the vice-presidential debate between Lloyd Bentsen and Dan Quayle, you’re also old enough to remember the PC jr. Quayle, a fit young man, probably chosen as a running mate because of his fitness, was likely told by his handlers to compare himself to the fit young John F. Kennedy. When he did, Bentsen, who was many years his senior, and was probably briefed to expect this, said: “Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Read the rest of this post on the original site Source: All Things Digital | 7 Apr 2010 | 1:02 am Programming Note [Digital Daily]Programming Note [Digital Daily] I’m taking some time off. Stay well and see you again on Monday April 19th. Source: All Things Digital | 7 Apr 2010 | 1:01 am Civolution and Gracenote Expand Relationship to Launch Next Generation Content Identification and Monetization PlatformSource: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 7 Apr 2010 | 1:01 am Is Permission Needed to Retweet Hot News? [Voices]By Nate Anderson, Senior Editor, Ars Technica When an aggregator like Google (GOOG) News publishes newspaper headlines, is the company treading on thin ice? What about aggregators that publish headlines and a one-line excerpt? What about those that simply rewrite the facts contained in the story and publish a new account in their own words? Read the rest of this post on the original site Source: All Things Digital | 7 Apr 2010 | 1:01 am After Breaking Up With Google, Apple May Turn to Facebook As Its New BFFThe Apple-Google breakup poses a promising opportunity for other existing and emerging technology powerhouses. But which one of them will be Apple's new most-favored nation? Signs and logic point to Facebook...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 7 Apr 2010 | 1:00 am Can Apple Maintain Status as Religion of the 'Creative Class'? [Voices]By Andy Jordan, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal Apple’s core following has traditionally been the creative class. They are graphic designers and artists, and they constitute a “church” of sorts. “When you find other Mac users, they’re so happy to find other people, it’s like the underdog,” says Peter Isgrigg, Product Manager at Apple specialist Tekserve in Manhattan, and self-proclaimed Mac fanatic, and subject of my new video on Apple’s cult-like status. “When you’re in a minority and you find other people in that minority group, you tend to latch on to them and you tend to find a source of pride, or positivity in that uniqueness, and I think that’s where a lot of Mac users get that fanaticism,” Mr. Isgrigg says. Read the rest of this post on the original site Source: All Things Digital | 7 Apr 2010 | 1:00 am Have you ever bought a gadget that your dog actually needed?
Vet visits aside, dogs require no gadgets. Yet the supply of 'canine' techno-doodads only grows, as evidenced by the pitches that accumulate in the delete box, requesting that this or that new animal-machine be 'reviewed.'
PetCell is a similar offering, but allows you to actually call your pet and speak to it, too. Sit! I can see that working, but only if the animal were trained appropriately -- would many of us do so? But there's the rub: you're buying yourself an idea whose successful execution depends on many other things. And so it is with pet tech, where we disengage ourselves in increments from our furry friend's real needs and enter the world of our own whims.
 Take, for example, the $3,000 canine treadmill, especially designed for people who spend lots of money on their pets. Or a $5,000 therapeutic whirlpool dog bathtub, complete with VetSling. You might also consider outsourcing the love to Wag, a pet hotel Lisa Katayama says "promises the ultimate in canine luxury." Among the technological delights: flatscreen television, a networked camera for remote pet-welfare inspection, and an atmospheric filtration system. Arugula for rabbits!
Is this Pet Doorbell Behold the machine that makes ice cakes for dogs, or the $250 speaker system that is also compatible with horses. And did you know there was postmodern furniture for pets? Not a gadget, I know. But it's still the same basic idea: pay lots of money to validate one's personal bond to an inscrutable beast, which in this case would prefer to recline on an Ettore Sottsass shelf. You know how Tamagotchi and Nintendogs are like pale, sad shadows of the real thing? TheSnif Tag goes one better, turning the chop-licking joy of a real animal companion into a series of neat statistical charts for you to examine while it begs for your attention. It's an accellerometer and RFID collar-tag that transmits 'motion data' to a base station; so armed, you can quantify your dog's daily routines.
More fun is the Pets Eye View Camera, a tiny dangly box which hangs from Rover's collar and snaps ground-level pictures at 1, 5 or 15 minute intervals. Caveats: the pictures are 0.3 megapixels and poor quality, and there's only enough space for 40 of them. A skilled maker could easily make something better.
Pictured above is a $555 dog-powered scooter, trike and skateboard system, presented here without comment.
There is, however, a final item whose utility is clear: Bissell's Spotbot Pet edition, a mini spot cleaner that sqirts stains, brushes them clean and slurps the mess into an easily-cleanable tank. It works great on "puke, pee, or butt juice," and is $130 at Amazon.
Source: Boing Boing | 7 Apr 2010 | 12:34 am Have you ever bought a gadget that your dog actually needed?Vet visits aside, dogs require no gadgets. Yet the supply of 'canine' techno-doodads only grows, as evidenced by the pitches that accumulate in the delete box, requesting that this or that new animal-machine...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 7 Apr 2010 | 12:34 am Plaxo Doubles Address Book Traffic, Raises Ambitions
As we become tethered to a growing number of social media sites, the contact information of our social network inevitably becomes more fragmented. Digital address books and tools like Gist, Xobni and Plaxo are trying to organize the white noise but no one has created the definitive hub. Plaxo wants to be the Google of digital address books but the newly minted CEO, Justin Miller, knows it will be a difficult and long slog. Calling itself “Your Address Book For Life,” Plaxo synchs your address books and pulls in social data from more than 30 sites (like Twitter, Yelp, Flickr) through its Pulse service. The company is trying to design new products to enhance the service including a “smart search” tool that will essentially act like an executive assistant using special algorithms to comb the web and the Plaxo database around the clock to keep your directory up to date, according to Miller. That feature should be released later this year. The site currently has 20 million members in the Plaxo network and hosts roughly 50 million address books— online address book page views are up 100% year over year according to VP of Marketing, John McCrea. Looking across the horizon, Plaxo has grander ambitions. Ultimately, the goal is to help users access their address book across a multitude of electronic platforms— not just your phone and laptop. McCrea envisions a time when you will be able to hop into your car, turn on your navigation device, say a friend’s name, prompting the device to pull up data from your cloud address book and guide you to their location. That’s of course not in the immediate future. For now, the company is still working on an app for the iPad. Meanwhile, Plaxo (which was purchased by Comcast in 2008 for roughly $150 to $170 million) is still trying to distance itself from a somewhat controversial past. In 2006 it wrestled with spam allegations and in early 2008 Plaxo came under fire for its data scraping techniques. All of that has been put to rest since the acquisition but the company acknowledges that there’s still a lot of work left on the PR front. Miller and the VP of Marketing, John McCrea, dropped by our office to chat about their long term strategy, cleaning up their image and working with Facebook: Here are a few excerpts from the transcript: On the challenge of creating the definitive smart address book: Miller: I think when you look back over the history of Plaxo starting in 2002, there was a great idea. Which is if everyone would put their information, their contact information, on Plaxo and they got their friends to do it when anyone updated their information all of our information would be updated and that’s great. The problem is not everyone joined Plaxo and not everyone keeps their information up to date. And so what we’re able to do, what we’re working on doing now is looking at how we can pull information from everywhere, around the web pull that together for you. But what’s taken so long, over that time, we’ve started looking at different opportunities. So a couple of years ago Plaxo started getting more and more into social networking it was this great space. And then more recently we started looking at business networking another great space but Facebook and LinkedIn are doing pretty well there right now. And recently we said you know what, there’s this need, this unsolved, unsatisfied need to create one place where people can come get all their addresses, and address book, contact information…together. On Facebook: McCrea: Scoblegate happened at a point and time where we weren’t collectively ready to understand the implications of users owning their data, having access to that data through open APIs, but now there’s clearly a march away from the walled gardens toward openness and operability…In a lot of ways this is a technical problem as it is any other. On Spam: Miller: “The perception of spam still exists in some people’s mind. It’s something that I’m really focused on when we think what the brand is. There’s a couple things we’ve gone through in terms of the history, one is spam, the perception of spam. And as John said everyone is doing it and it’s not really spam but you have that perception in people’s mind. Number two is: “Oh Plaxo is social network isn’t it?” or “Oh, Plaxo is a business network isn’t it?” No. We’re not spam, we’re not a social network, we’re not a business network, we are really focused on creating the best, smart, socially aware and pervasive address book.” Information provided by CrunchBase Information provided by CrunchBase      
Source: TechCrunch | 7 Apr 2010 | 12:29 am Largest Sodium Sulfur Battery Powers a Texas Townseparsons writes "The largest sodium sulfur battery in America, nicknamed 'BOB,' can provide enough electricity to power all of Presidio, Texas. Until now, the small town relied on a single, 60-year-old transmission line to connect it to the grid, so the community frequently experienced power outages. BOB, which stands for 'Big-Old Battery,' began charging earlier this week. The house-sized battery can hold four megawatts of power for up to eight hours. Utilities are looking into similar batteries to store power from solar and wind so that renewables can come online before the country implements a smart grid system."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 7 Apr 2010 | 12:15 am Foursquare: the Craze Taking Over the World Goes to the North Pole!Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 7 Apr 2010 | 12:00 am Securian Retirement Site Gives Advisors Faster Access to Critical InformationST.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 7 Apr 2010 | 12:00 am A Conversation with Greylock’s Reid Hoffman and David Sze [Full Video]
Following the two teasers from earlier, here’s the full video from when Reid Hoffman and David Sze of Greylock stopped by the TechCrunch offices last week to answer Mike Arrington’s questions about valuations, the state of venture capital, and their portfolio companies. They wriggled out of many of the detail-oriented questions like when companies like Zynga, Facebook and LinkedIn would go public and how much revenue they’re each bringing in. But we still got some great gems from two of the best investors in the consumer Internet. It’s required watching if you plan on pitching Greylock or any top investor anytime soon. Information provided by CrunchBase Information provided by CrunchBase Information provided by CrunchBase      
Source: TechCrunch | 6 Apr 2010 | 11:35 pm Screw You, Benioff
“I’ve got some news and I had to talk to you in person about it.” Damnit. I knew right then I wouldn’t like the “news.” And sure enough, he’s taken another job. Starting monday he’ll be on the senior team (senior as in high level, not as in old) at Salesforce. Founder Marc Benioff recruited him directly. “You bastard.” (I tend to take these things personally) Now I know why Benioff has been writing regular guest posts for us. It’s because he’s feeling guilty over stealing Steve from us, obviously. Of course I’m also happy for Steve, and the new job is a terrific opportunity. And graciously Steve has agreed to continue writing every week or so for us, and of course you can follow him on Twitter at @stevegillmor. In some ways things will remain the same with us and Steve. But it’s still a sad day at TechCrunch. I was listening to Steve on the Gillmor Gang long before I ever started TechCrunch. And I miss the old days when Steve, Dave Winer and I used to meet for breakfast in Burlingame most weekends. You can read all of Steve’s posts on TechCrunchIT over the years here. He’s been a technology journalist for something like 30 years, back almost to the beginning of, well, tech reporting. And I’m not exaggerating when I say that Steve has forgotten more things than I’ll ever learn. Steve doesn’t bother much with details, he goes right at the big trends. And he’s usually right. Way before most other people are. Controversial? Yes. Long winded? Yep. Occasionally non linear in his thinking? Understatement. But he’s also brilliant, and he’s always guided me towards rightness. We recorded a short exit interview video for posterity. Good luck, Steve. I hope to see you around the office regularly.      
Source: TechCrunch | 6 Apr 2010 | 11:29 pm FTC rallies lawyers over Google mobile ad pact - Register
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 6 Apr 2010 | 11:16 pm Motorola Announces First iSIM Customer in EMEA; Bipper to Offer Mobile Child Safety ServiceBASINGSTOKE, England, April 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The Networks business of Motorola, Inc.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 6 Apr 2010 | 11:00 pm Motorola Announces First iSIM Customer in EMEA; Bipper to Offer Mobile Child Safety ServiceSource: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 6 Apr 2010 | 11:00 pm Buzz Aldrin voted off "Dancing With the Stars"LOS ANGELES, April 6 (Reuters) - He could walk on the moon, but aged 80, Buzz Aldrin had a more difficult time gliding across the ballroom floor on "Dancing With the Stars," as the astronaut was voted...Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 6 Apr 2010 | 10:39 pm REFILE-Peru tribes file IFC complaint over Maple pollutionLIMA, April 6 (Reuters) - A Peruvian tribe filed a complaint on Tuesday with the ombudsman of the World Bank's International Finance Corp (IFC) against Maple Energy Plc , accusing the oil company of polluting...Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 6 Apr 2010 | 10:37 pm Ars Technica reviews the iPad - Ars Technica
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 6 Apr 2010 | 10:36 pm Thai Hot Stocks-Index hits 22-mth high; energy shares leadBANGKOK, April 7 (Reuters) - Thailand's benchmark stock index was up 0.76 percent at 814.28, the highest since June 6, 2008, at 0353 GMT on Wednesday.Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 6 Apr 2010 | 10:19 pm Yanko’s camera concept protects the delicate bits
The Yanko Zero camera looks like what happens when a Motorola Razr mates with a camera. Essentially the idea is that the LCD screen is hinged to fold over the lens, protecting both the camera lens and the LCD screen when the camera is put away. Interesting idea. It’ll be even more interesting if someone decides to actually build one, and put it into production. Until that day, check out Yanko’s site for even more wild ideas.
Source: CrunchGear | 6 Apr 2010 | 10:14 pm Pew Pew $6 raygun tee Em sez, "Really cool t-shirt up on 6 Dollars - a ray gun (filled with space imagery) shooting 'pew pew pew'."
Space Hero (pew pew pew) by soundsalker
(Thanks, Em!)
Patrick Farley vows to return to webcomicsHurrah! Patrick Farley, creator of the genius abandonware webcomic Electric Sheep, is back on the job and promising to continue the series. But first he needs to raise $6,000 on Kickstarter to take the time off to work on it. Electric_Sheep Reloaded (Thanks, Dawn!)
Previously:
Source: Boing Boing | 6 Apr 2010 | 10:07 pm So High Valuations Are Back. But Does that Mean You Want One? [Video]
If a valuation is bid up too high, future rounds are a challenge and a company can be opened up to downrounds that squeeze out common stock—typically the shares held by the people actually building the company. Angel investors can also get squeezed out in downrounds, since many of them don’t invest along a company’s entire life-cycle and that could be bad for future relationships. There are other subtle ways a nose-bleed valuation can change a startup’s culture. It was, after all, at the time of Facebook’s $15 billion Microsoft valuation that the company suddenly went from David to Goliath, opening itself up to that Harvard lawsuit and the attentions of mercenary employees and other types of gold-diggers. The natural caveat here is that VCs have a vested interest in telling you to keep your valuations low—they get a slice of your company for cheap. But a good many entrepreneurs swear by this rule too. As Hoffman says below, “You want to plan for the entire length and history of the company.” We end this clip with some more tough love advice for those pitching Greylock: If you’re comparing yourself to existing hot companies, you probably don’t have a new enough idea. Update: full interview here. Information provided by CrunchBase Information provided by CrunchBase Information provided by CrunchBase      
Source: TechCrunch | 6 Apr 2010 | 10:04 pm West Virginia hoping for a miracle in mine disaster* Drills due to break through into mine later on WednesdaySource: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 6 Apr 2010 | 10:04 pm Late Age of Print collaborative audiobook projectKewbrew sez, "Ted Striphas, who Creative Commons-licensed his excellent The Late Age of Print, is now doing an open source audiobook project for his book. It's a great, smart read, and you can also check out the book free online as well."Source: Boing Boing | 6 Apr 2010 | 10:02 pm Registration Opens for Tableau Software's 3rd Annual Customer ConferenceSEATTLE, April 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Tableau Software, the global leader in fast analytics and data visualization software, opened public registration for its third annual Tableau Customer Conference. The event will take place August 30 to September 2 at the Sheraton Seattle.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 6 Apr 2010 | 10:01 pm Registration Opens for Tableau Software's 3rd Annual Customer ConferenceSource: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 6 Apr 2010 | 10:01 pm Jeppesen Unveils 'FliteDeck Pro' - The Next Evolution of Electronic Flight Bag TechnologySource: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 6 Apr 2010 | 10:01 pm April 7, 1933: King Kong Opens WideThe mother of all oversized-animal films endures. It was great on opening day, and it's great today.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 6 Apr 2010 | 10:00 pm How Car Companies Hide Prototypes From Spying EyesAutomotive design is war, and makers use everything from putty to bubble wrap to disguise their killer concepts.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 6 Apr 2010 | 10:00 pm Launch: OpenSky Wants To Turn Bloggers Into Sellers Without Sacrificing Their Souls
Any good blogger or “influencer” is a natural salesman, but what he or she sells (typically) are ideas or a lifestyle, not actual goods. John Caplan, the CEO of OpenSky, thinks he can turn influencers with a loyal audience into sellers without necessarily selling out. “Why aren’t we buying goods from the people we like and respect?” he asks, bemoaning the impersonal and distant relationships we have with online merchants. But there are plenty of bloggers and writers who pretty much all they do is recommend products and services. Food bloggers, beauty bloggers, fashion bloggers, design bloggers, health bloggers, sports bloggers, you name it. Pretty much any kind of advice that could once be found in a women’s or men’s magazine can now be found online, and many of them have small but loyal audiences. The only way they can make money from their influence is through ads or affiliate networks or underhanded pay-per-posts. Caplan, who previously was the president of About.com and then CEO of Ford Models, thinks he’s found a better way. He raised a $5 million Series A in May 2009 from Highland Capital, Canaan Partners and Ron Conway. OpenSky helps bloggers like Kath Younger of KathEats, chef Michael Ruhlman, and Marta Wohrle of Truth In Aging set up stores with products that they recommend and get a cut of each sale. “Ecommerce revenue is catching up with ad revenue and is on track to exceed it this year,” reports Wohrle, who reviews cosmetics and “anti-aging” products. While OpenSky sounds at first like an affiliate network, it isn’t. Instead of sending customers off to other online stores, they send them to their own stores where they can track sales and follow up with personalized messages. OpenSky hand picks the publishers who are allowed to set up shops and sell in its network. It then strikes deals directly with manufacturers and distributors who agree to drop-ship any sold items to readers who click to buy through an OpenSky shop. Instead of the blogger getting a 3 to 10 percent affiliate fee, they split the net profits 50/50 with OpenSky. The economics work best obviously with high-margin products. There are 250 publishers currently in OpenSky’s private beta and 500 manufacturers. Publishers only get paid when somebody actually buys a product, and if it is returned within a year they get a debit on their account. The system is set up to reward selling stuff you really care and know about. “We sell things that I love and are often hard to get hold of,” says Wohrle. “My newsletter subscribers get a discount and we work really hard with the manufacturers to get good deals exclusively for us.” (You can check out her store here). But isn’t this just hucksterism by another name? Inevitably there will be a lot of that as OpenSky itself opens up to more and more seller-bloggers. OpenSky works with Twitter and Facebook too, where it becomes more of a hard sell. But what OpenSky has going for it is that everything is, well, out in the open. There is no question of whether a brand or manufacturer paid for a post or gave influential bloggers free products. The bloggers are selling the products themselves and readers can make their own judgements about whether or not they are hucksters or genuine. The hucksters will lose their audience (and their souls). The authentic ones will grow their audience and get rich telling them what to buy. Or at least that’s the story John Caplan is selling.
Information provided by CrunchBase      
Source: TechCrunch | 6 Apr 2010 | 9:57 pm Trulia Enters The Real Estate Rental Market And Starts Collecting Location Ratings
Real estate search engine Trulia is launching rental listings for the first time in an attempt to broaden its offerings from home sales listings. Competitors such as Zillow and Realtor.com already offer home and apartment rental listings, but at a time when up to a third of people looking for a new place to live in the U.S. are still on the fence about buying, going after renters is an obvious strategy. Trulia is leveraging its existing relationships with real estate brokers and other sources of real estate listings to jumpstart its rentals offering. CEO Pete Flint says that Trulia’s rental listings are more comprehensive at launch than his competitors, with millions of units nationwide. In New York City alone, Trulia lists 25,000 apartments for rent, compared to 65,000 nationwide (and 3,600 in NYC) for Zillow, according to Flint. Home ownership levels are down across the country. Going after renters makes sense. I caught up with Flint on Monday in New York City. He explains the new rental and location rating products in the video above: Along with the launch of rental listings, Trulia is also introducing location ratings. These will be geo-coded and tied to a neighborhood or similar area. Visitors to Trulia’s site can rate any location based on schools, traffic, safety, parking, cleanliness, and other attributes. These will be bundled up into an overall rating. Once Trulia collects enough ratings, it will begin showing them on color-coded maps along with reviews of the location itself. The screenshot below is a mockup of how this might look on Trulia’s site when it launches in a couple weeks (the final design will very likely change, but this gives you a good idea). Also this location rating and review data could become very valuable for other sites and mobile apps which might want to integrate it into their own services. Flint hopes to be able to open up the data via APIs eventually.
     
Source: TechCrunch | 6 Apr 2010 | 9:55 pm ScienceLogic Raises $15 Million For Cloud And Data Center Monitoring Services
ScienceLogic’s EM7 IT Management System is designed to monitor datacenter resources, mobile and remote assets and public and hybrid cloud resources all from a single console. The bootstrapped company seems to be growing fast, according to these numbers from Inc Magazine. The company grew its revenue over 500 percent from 2005 to 2008, with 2008’s sales coming in at $5.9 million. While data center management is a needed application for IT departments, cloud management is hot right now and enterprise companies are waking up to this. For example, CA just acquired cloud monitoring startup Nimsoft Nimsoft for $350 million, along with a number of other purchases of cloud-related monitoring companies. With its cash flow profitability and valuable technology, ScienceLogic could become an acquisition target in no time. Information provided by CrunchBase      
Source: TechCrunch | 6 Apr 2010 | 9:50 pm Greylock Bats off Market Concerns, Calls Pandora an IPO Candidate [Video]
We’ll be posting the full interview soon, but first here’s a sneak peak, including this bold statement from Sze about the funds the firm has been investing over the last five-to-seven years: “We think those will be our best funds ever.” Ever? That’s a claim I can’t imagine many Silicon Valley firms making—especially those that were in business during the late 1990s when nearly anything could go public. Later in the video below, Sze noted that Greylock had three of the five potential blockbuster Web IPO candidates on most bankers’ and analysts’ short list: Facebook, LinkedIn and Pandora. As you can see in the video that last one caught Arrington by surprise and with good reason: A little more than a year ago Pandora was still on deathwatch. We knew it was profitable but, if it’s being bandied about as an IPO-hopeful, things may be even better than people realize. The good thing about being the only online music company to live long enough to go public is you don’t have a ton of competition. And, of course, if you count Reid Hoffman’s personal investment and seat on Zynga’s board, Greylock has tentacles in four of the top five Web IPO candidates, Twitter being the one missing. Note: We’re talking about potential billion-dollar-market-cap-and-up-style IPOs that tend to make or break a firm’s returns, not the smaller-sized issues in registration now. Is there another firm that can boast the same hat trick? Sequoia Capital—usually the firm that owns every big Web hit—has LinkedIn and had YouTube, but missed Facebook, Zynga and Twitter. Kleiner Perkins has just Zynga. Founders Fund was the firs institutional investor in Facebook, and Peter Thiel personally is an investor in LinkedIn. Fred Wilson’s Union Square Ventures comes close with early investments in Twitter and Zynga. Of course we’re just speculating until those IPOs actually price, but if things go according to plan Greylock could be the new top dog in the consumer Web game. One final note: We asked Hoffman which of the three companies he’s involved in, Zynga, Facebook and LinkedIn, would likely go public first. It the past, he’s speculated away when I asked that. This time Mike got a terse, “Unfortunately, being on the LinkedIn board and the Zynga board, it’s something I have knowledge about, so, I cannot comment on.” Do I smell a LinkedIn S-1? Update: full interview here. Information provided by CrunchBase Information provided by CrunchBase Information provided by CrunchBase      
Source: TechCrunch | 6 Apr 2010 | 9:40 pm Muvi Atom is world’s tiniest camcorder
Ok, maybe you can convince me that there’s a legitimate use for this, but I’m having trouble figuring out what that would be. The Atom records to a microSD card, supports up to 8GB, and it’s voice activated. Again, try and tell you’re buying this thing to record family home movies to and not hiding it in the dressing room at the lingerie store. The Atom’s internal battery will give you about an hour of video at 640×480 at 30fps. It comes with a 2GB microSD card, but you can upgrade to an 8GB if you are so inclined. MSRP on this perverts delight is $99, which seems a little dear to me. [via GeekAlerts]
Source: CrunchGear | 6 Apr 2010 | 9:30 pm C Programming Language Back At Number 1derrida writes "After more than 4 years C is back at position number 1 in the TIOBE index. The scores for C have been pretty constant through the years, varying between the 15% and 20% market share for almost 10 years. So the main reason for C's number 1 position is not C's uprise, but the decline of its competitor Java. Java has a long-term downward trend. It is losing ground to other languages running on the JVM. An example of such a language is JavaFX script that is now approaching the top 20."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 6 Apr 2010 | 9:13 pm Positronic man and galactic trickster examine primitive tricorder
Source: CrunchGear | 6 Apr 2010 | 8:59 pm The kingdom where women ruleWomen are barred from being rulers in most of northern Nigeria. Except in the kingdom of Kumbwada, which has had a queen for generations. Why the exception? Tradition says that any man who tries to take the throne will die. Today, Queen Hajiya Haidzatu Ahmed doles out justice for abused wives, tries to prevent divorce and weathers the rumblings from nearby imams that her kingdom's custom amounts to witchcraft. Source: Boing Boing | 6 Apr 2010 | 8:47 pm iPhone Ranked Best Smartphone by Consumers (LiveScience.com)LiveScience.com - A recent report shows that two things in the cell phone world make consumers the happiest: touchscreens and the Apple iPhone.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 6 Apr 2010 | 8:40 pm Massive Quake Shakes SumatraThe initial shock and a brief tsunami warning sent residents fleeing from their homes.Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 6 Apr 2010 | 8:30 pm Multimodal, Multitouch Gaming Gaining Tractionandylim writes "Several universities and commercial entities are developing multimodal, multitouch games, such as a card game with iPhones for individual hands and an iPad for public information and an iPad Scrabble game that lets you use your iPhone to see your letter tiles. Of course, it's an extremely expensive setup right now, but over time it will become cheaper. It's also pretty cool, so why wouldn't you want to play board/card/strategy games like this?"
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 6 Apr 2010 | 8:25 pm How “Dirty” MP3 Files Are A Back Door Into Cloud DRM
All the big music sellers may have moved to non-DRM MP3 files long ago, but the watermarking of files with your personal information continues. Most users who buy music don’t know about the marking of files, or don’t care. Unless those files are uploaded to BitTorrent or other P2P networks, there isn’t much to worry about. A list of which music services are selling clean MP3 files without embedded personal information, and which aren’t, is here. Apple, LaLa (owned by Apple) and Walmart embed personal information. Amazon, Napster and the rest have resisted label pressure to do so. A music industry insider who’s asked to remain anonymous writes to us:
Cloud Music And The New DRMApple, Google and Amazon are all reportedly in discussions with big labels to provide a cloud music service. These services will allow users to purchase rights to stream music, and they will also allow syncing of songs on your hard drive already so you can play those without repurchasing them (this was the original LaLa model). The labels, say our source, are demanding that a user can only stream music that is watermarked to their username. Change the username, or try to stream music that you’ve ripped from a CD, and those songs won’t play. In other words, it’s DRM déjà vu all over again.      
Source: TechCrunch | 6 Apr 2010 | 8:16 pm Japan Import: Hori makes the PS3 portable with the HP3-87 LCD screenFROM GAMERTELL - Hori is releasing an 11.6 inch screen, HD LCD monitor for the PS3 in Japan. The HP3-87 will cost ¥26,040 (~$277) and will support 480i and 720p. Full Story » | Written by NEWS for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 6 Apr 2010 | 8:05 pm Review: Alienware M11x
Pros:
Cons:
Full review:
One of the things you generally feel you’re giving up when buying into a sub-$1000 notebook (to say nothing of such a small one) is gaming. Let’s be honest: it’s not practical. The components necessary to play modern games suck power and are physically quite large, right? To some extent, yes, but mobile GPUs and low-voltage CPUs have gotten to the point where they’re able to push a fair amount of polygons, and the M11x represents a sort of tipping point. While you won’t be blown away by the performance if you’re a PC gamer, you will be pleasantly surprised. Before further talk, let’s just get the specs for our review unit out there:
That’s for $1099, by the way. the $799 version has a normally clocked processor, 2GB of RAM, and a smaller hard drive. I feel that the processor is the main thing you’d want to upgrade, or you’ll see a definite performance hit. As you may have noticed when I posted a gallery of glamor shots, the M11x is a very nice-looking machine. It feels very solid when you’re carrying it around, and I didn’t notice any disturbing bending or creaking when I picked it up from one corner. It’s extensively lit up, and you can choose pretty much any color for the keyboard, alien head, rear logo, and “vents” independently. Because you can’t vary the brightness, however, many of the colors seem over-the-top. A dimmer would have been very welcome.
The keyboard is attractive and the backlighting helpful (when it’s not blasting your eyes late at night), and I found it comfortable to type on, though a little soft. The trackpad is decent, though the buttons are really bad. They seem undersized and squishy, and I always felt I was being prevented from pushing them by the portion of the case surrounding them. Fortunately, as a gaming machine, it’s likely to have a mouse nearby, obviating this issue for the most part. The webcam is functional and performs the face-recognition security that Alienware is so fond of, and which of course can be fooled with a photograph. Don’t hide your secret of secrets on this thing. There are plenty of ports for you to use, and they’re generously spaced, unlike my Mac’s. Having USB slots on both sides is welcome, and the two headphone jacks are a nice touch as well for multiplayer gaming. The bottom of the laptop has a little battery charge indicator, which is handy when you’re just grabbing the laptop to go and want to know whether you’ll have to find an outlet wherever you’re headed — or for seeing whether it’s fully charged yet.
The M11x does not have an optical drive. Sure, that’s a trend recently, and it’s justified in computers where the main selling point doesn’t come on DVDs. I mean, of course you have Steam and Direct2Drive and all that, but if you own a physical copy of Crysis like I do, you’re out of luck. It’s a limitation that isn’t necessarily a deal-breaker, but for many, an optical drive is still essential. Puzzlingly, the M11x comes with a Windows 7 restore disc. Okay…? If you’ve read CrunchGear’s laptop reviews before, you’ll know we’re not really big on benchmarking. After all, unless you’re willing to go all out and do every serious synthetic benchmark, it’s kind of useless. Those particular nuts and bolts are handled better by those who write hardware reviews exclusively, and you’re probably going to check out some of those reviews too. You’re here for the broader questions regarding this thing: does it play the games you want it to play, does it die super fast, and is it worth the money? Yes it does. As long as you adjust your expectations, you’ll be happy with the results in many of the newest games. You need to keep in mind that some effects are CPU-intensive, though (some lighting and shadow effects which use ray-tracing, particle effects and physics) so it’s a good idea to turn those down first if you’re getting low framerates. But the limited resolution means that there won’t be that much horsepower required, so you can usually set visual settings pretty high — anyway, at that rez you won’t be able to notice the difference between “high” and “ultra” settings in a lot of cases. You will want anti-aliasing, though; 768 vertical pixels means you’ll see jaggies for sure. Portal, TF2, and Half-Life 2 ran well; with detail maxed out and medium AA and AF settings, they both ran at an average of 80-100FPS. In tamer situations it approached 150-160FPS, and I only saw it dip below 30 or 40 once or twice for a few frames. Wolfenstein ran well, around 40-50FPS for the most part; unfortunately on the small screen a lot of texture detail is lost. Similar results could be found in MW2, Mass Effect 2, and Borderlands. Generally you’d peak around 55-70 FPS with CPU-hogging features reduced, with an average around 40 and the occasional dip into the 20s. There were a few choppy moments to be sure during big firefights, but they were outweighed by the fact that it was usually smooth and also that it looks good. Remember, we’ve got settings on high here. You’re not compromising your gaming experience much at all. I also had some issues with the screen, and I’m not the only one. Although it says it’s LED-backlit, I didn’t find it particularly bright, and the vertical viewing angle was extremely narrow. It’s a good time to note that putting things on an external monitor or projector is a fantastic idea with this thing. Bring an HDMI cable with you and you’re looking at a solid HTPC as well as a games machine. I plugged mine into an HD projector from Acer and it worked great; there’s even a dedicated button for switching between external monitor modes. Another thing to note is that the switch between discrete and integrated graphics, while straightforward, is not seamless. It blacks the screen out and asks you to quit some applications when you do it. Not wildly inconvenient, I admit, but why is it that way when NVIDIA has already released an improved version of the discrete/integrated switch that is far more seamless? Does it die? Yes it does. If you were to start up a modern game like Mass Effect 2 and unplug the M11x at the same time, you’d maybe get about two and a half hours of play time. It depends on how hard the game is working your hardware, of course, and you can increase battery life by using headphones and dimming the screen, but you don’t get too much more out of it. 2 1/2 hours is about the max — for performance mode. For the battery-conserving, power-sipping integrated graphics mode, you can expect between six and eight hours — casual use like writing and reading will put you at the eight hour end, while video-watching and high-speed web stuff will obviously suck it dry a little faster. It’s perfectly reasonable life for a computer this size. So you won’t be doing any marathon sessions while in a plane. I mean, not that we expected it; Alienware can’t break the laws of physics. But it’s more than enough time for a few levels of a shooter, or to watch an entire HD movie. Is it worth the money?
I think it’s a pretty good deal — if you know what you’re getting into. This isn’t a miracle machine, it’s a competent performer with an unexpected price and form factor. Chances are it’s going to be revised relatively soon with improved hardware, some tweaks to the design, and maybe an external Blu-ray drive as an option. I realize that “it’ll be better later” is a pretty weak reason not to recommend something, but I have to resort to it now. The “compact gaming laptop” is a new thing, as evidenced by everyone’s surprise at the competency of the M11x. Since it’s new, it’ll be improved significantly soon, unlike many other laptop price points and form factors, where the differences between models are few and far between. If you must buy, I would say upgrade the CPU but don’t bother with the RAM; 2GB should be enough for most games at the settings you’ll be at. Similarly, don’t worry about a hard drive upgrade. Take the hundred bucks you would have spent and get yourself a nice external you can keep your HD content and miscellany on. You can always add RAM later. The M11x isn’t a heavy hitter, but it’s a great little machine and if you’re a gamer, I can think of worse ways for you to spend a thousand dollars. Just read the reviews and be sure to consider whether you can live with the compromises necessary to get modern gaming into this sexy little shell.
Source: CrunchGear | 6 Apr 2010 | 7:45 pm Home made lapsteel guitarThis guy's home made lapsteel guitar sounds really sweet. (Thanks, Steve!) Media mogul Malone slashes voting slice of DirecTV (Reuters)Reuters - Media mogul John Malone will slash most of his voting stake in DirecTV and resign from the board of the satellite provider, leaving the company without a major controlling shareholder for the first time since its founding in 1990.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 6 Apr 2010 | 7:16 pm Yelp To "Clarify" How Advertising Affects ListingWrongSizeGlass writes "Ars Technica is reporting that Yelp is going to change some features in the wake of the class-action suit brought against it. Yelp has been accused of extortion; the Yelp co-founder denies all. The NY Times Bits blog has more details about the changes Yelp intends to make. According to Ars, the business that filed the lawsuit say that the newly announced changes do not address their original complaints at all."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 6 Apr 2010 | 7:16 pm Subways to, or at least near, the seas If you're ever suspected that there must be a theoretical sweet spot where the fantasies of design nerds and transit nerds converge, this is it: Transit Authority Figures, a side project of the Massachusetts design firm Rob & Damia. TAF specializes in beautiful maps for fictional subways in places where the construction of actual subways would likely doom everyone involved -- watery spots like Rehoboth/Ocean City or Cape Cod & The Islands, seen here. The maps are inspired by the iconic London Tube diagram designed by Harry Beck in 1931 and updated over the years. Originally designed as client gifts, they're now available online. (Via Coudal Partners.) Source: Boing Boing | 6 Apr 2010 | 7:15 pm Yet another video of the supposed iPhone 4G/HD screen surfaces
What happens when you take what seems to be the same supposed iPhone 4G LCD/bezel we saw a few weeks ago, add a pinch of Coldplay, and toss in a camera that just can’t seem to focus? This video. Read the rest at MobileCrunch >>
Source: CrunchGear | 6 Apr 2010 | 7:11 pm Yet another video of the supposed iPhone 4G/HD screen surfacesWhat happens when you take what seems to be the same supposed iPhone 4G LCD/bezel we saw a few weeks ago, add a pinch of Coldplay, and toss in a camera that just can’t seem to focus? This video. We’re going to continue taking these videos with the grainiest grain of salt in all of Grainsville until someone can come up with a reasonable explanation as to why a bunch of random iPhone repair shops are getting pre-release parts. In the mean time, feel free to get all antsy in the pantsies about what certainly seems to be a hole for a camera (as opposed to a tinted window for a proximity sensor) right there on the bezel. [Via NoWhereElse.Fr]
Source: MobileCrunch | 6 Apr 2010 | 7:07 pm NetStreams Welcomes Audtek Sales and Marketing Associates, LLC as New Manufacturer's RepresentativeSALT LAKE CITY, April 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- NetStreams, the pioneer in digital media networks based on Internet Protocol (IP) technology, recently acquired by ClearOne (Nasdaq: CLRO), the leading global provider of audio conferencing solutions, today announced their new manufacturing representative partnership with Audtek Sales and Marketing Associates, LLC.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 6 Apr 2010 | 6:30 pm Android steals from Palm and Windows Mobile says comScoreSection: Communications, Cellphones, Email / IM, Smartphones, Mobile
Is it any wonder that Android will continue to gain market share as they launch phones featuring the OS on more carriers? It shouldn’t be. Windows Mobile has seen it’s replacement announced last month at MWC in Barcelona so consumers are going to shy away from getting the outdated OS. This news has to be the hardest to swallow for Palm. They’ve launched on Verizon and surely were hoping for better news. As the OS, which we all think is the bomb, lands on more carriers, hopefully they can regain some ground or get gobbled up by someone who could use a kick in the “wow” department. RIMs gains are impressive. Despite a strong browser and a lack of significant advertising supporting their apps store, the maker continues to find opportunities and seize them. Can they continue to play the low price game and keep gaining? Time will tell. Read: [comScore] via [TechCrunch] Full Story » | Written by JG Mason for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 6 Apr 2010 | 6:29 pm Toshiba’s Camileo camcorders coming to the US
The Camileo comes in three different versions, the basic S20, and the touchscreen enabled H30 and X100. All three record in 1080p, use SDHC memory cards for storage, and feature HDMI connections for plugging into your home television. All three models are due in the US on the 19th of this month, with the S20 prices at $180, the H30 at $250, and the X100 at $400. Expect to see them at your favorite retailer.
Source: CrunchGear | 6 Apr 2010 | 6:00 pm Mega-Monsters Make Magnificent MoviesWhether spawned by an atomic blast, discovered on a long-lost island or ripped from the pages of mythology, these oversize beasts trample the scenery in our favorite creature features.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 6 Apr 2010 | 6:00 pm Yelp makes two major changes in the way reviews are posted - Los Angeles Times
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 6 Apr 2010 | 5:58 pm Easy Piano trumps fake music games with mini piano accessoryFROM GAMERTELL - Yeah, that’s right. Forget you silly touch-the-screen-to-play-me piano keyboards. Take a hike faux guitarists. Play a real music game. A game where you actually learn to play real music. Yeah, take that. Full Story » | Written by NEWS for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 6 Apr 2010 | 5:48 pm Six Atoms of Element 117 Producedmr crypto writes "A team of Russian and American scientists has produced six atoms of a new element, number 117, that has long stood as a missing link among the heaviest bits of atomic matter ever produced. The element, still nameless, appears to point the way toward a brew of still more massive elements with chemical properties no one can predict. The researchers say that the discovery bolsters the idea of an 'island of stability' among still heavier elements."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 6 Apr 2010 | 5:11 pm Apple Acknowledges iPad Wi-Fi Issues
Apple’s support forum contains several reports from users complaining about their iPad’s behavior with Wi-Fi networks, Macworld first noted. Some complain their iPad’s Wi-Fi signal is very weak, while others say they’re unable to join their network after waking iPads up from standby. In a support bulletin, Apple on Monday acknowledged an issue specific to dual-band Wi-Fi routers — those that are compatible with both 2.4-GHz and 5-GHz spectrum bands. “Under certain conditions, iPad may not automatically rejoin a known Wi-Fi network after restart or waking from sleep. This can occur with some third-party Wi-Fi routers that are dual-band capable when: Using the same network name for each network, [or] Using different security settings for each network,” Apple wrote. Typically, dual-band routers transmit both the 2.4-GHz and 5-GHz bands as one network with the same name and password. Apple recommends splitting the bands into two separate networks, naming them differently and making sure that both networks use the same type of security (WEP, WPA, WPA2, etc). If all else fails, Apple recommends resetting network settings in the iPad’s Settings app (Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings). In the past, some Apple customers have complained about slow, unreliable Wi-Fi performance with Apple’s iPhone 3GS as well. Traditionally, Wi-Fi problems have been difficult to diagnose, as performance varies among different types of routers, and signal interference can be caused by a number of factors (such as a large number of Wi-Fi units in the area using the same channel, or turning on a microwave, among other causes). For a deep dive on the different types of Wi-Fi bands, see Glenn Fleishman’s article “Understanding Wi-Fi’s two spectrum bands.” See Also:
Photo: Bryan Derballa/Wired.com 
Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 6 Apr 2010 | 5:02 pm For the iPad, Apps With Their Own Wow Factor [The Mossberg Solution]In the days since the launch of Apple’s iPad Saturday, there has been an explosion of apps to run on it—3,000 and counting. They are mostly free and incorporate new ways of navigating one of the largest screens on a mobile device that relies solely on touch technology. On this large canvas, people work differently and apps can behave differently depending on which way the device is turned. Apps can (and must) incorporate creative ways of navigating—in addition to the usual multi-touch gestures like flicking, two-finger swiping and pinching. Thus, although it runs most of the 150,000 apps already available for the much smaller iPhone and iPod touch, the iPad is spawning a new type of tablet-specific app. [ See post to watch video ] This week, I’ve been testing some of these iPad apps that give users novel ways to interact with the device. These are designed to take advantage of a larger touch screen by using things like fly-out menus, multi-panel layouts, 3-D images intermixed with text and newspapers that can be read almost as easily as their paper counterparts. Since most of us haven’t used apps like these or a device like this before, many apps install with brief tutorials on how to navigate them. It’s obvious that the makers of these iPad apps are still tinkering with what works best for a large touch surface. And ads appear in several digital newspaper and magazine apps. Unless otherwise noted, the apps listed below are free. NewsMulti-tasking isn’t yet possible on the iPad, but the NPR app allows people to do certain things simultaneously. While browsing news stories, a player in the bottom portion of the screen lets you listen to programs, interviews or songs. I played Jakob Dylan’s “Women and Country” song while reading an article about NCAA basketball. Content can be saved to a playlist for future listening.  The Marvel Comics app The Wall Street Journal app’s home page displays a horizontal row of newspapers representing the past seven days’ editions and a “Now” edition, with late-breaking news, all of which can be read when the iPad isn’t online. These editions are designed to use the full screen to display easy-to-read newspaper layouts and videos that play right within the articles. A finger swiped from the top down skips to a different section of the paper, while pinching any screen with two fingers returns to the home page. And you can save articles and sections. The WSJ iPad app also can access saved data from a WSJ.com account. The app is free to download but requires a subscription for full access, which costs $4 a week or is free for a limited time to existing online or print subscribers. The New York Times (NYT) app is called Editors’ Choice and looks like a roomier version of the newspaper’s iPhone app. Five icons at the bottom of the screen instantly jump to different sections of the paper, or you can flick a finger across these screens to page to more articles. It doesn’t require a subscription. The USA Today app brings the Gannett Co. (GCI) paper’s color-coded blue, green, red and purple sections to the iPad. Its popular charts of information (called “Snapshots”) pop out from the bottom left of the screen and include polls that can be voted on using the device. The USA Today app looks less like the print edition of the paper and more like a list of news points with color photos beside each. This list can be scrolled with a simple finger flick up or down. MagazinesDigital magazines on the iPad seem to be experimenting with different payment methods. Rodale Inc.’s Men’s Health, for example, is a free app and includes previews of magazine issues, but then it charges $5 to download the actual issue. Bonnier Corp.’s Popular Science app costs $5 up-front and includes an issue that must be downloaded within the app. Popular Science really uses the iPad’s larger surface in creative ways. Instead of just letting you page ahead with each finger flick as if reading a regular magazine, you can read articles by flicking a finger down or across a screen. In some articles I read, images appeared to be floating in the background behind text. Two fingers flicking up from the bottom of the screen show shortcuts for a table of contents and previous magazine issues. MusicPandora’s iPad app makes good use of the device’s screen real estate by showing artist information, now-playing details, album art and a list of personalized radio stations all on the same screen. I found myself more likely to read about artists on the iPad than on my smaller iPod touch. But like many Pandora users, I like playing music in the background as I work on other tasks, and this isn’t possible on the iPad because it doesn’t allow third-party apps like Pandora to multi-task. Entertainment Scrabble app The Marvel Comics app displays stunning, large illustrations and moves you across the screen to see them as if the comic is one continuous strip and there’s no division between one screen and the next. A finger swipe moves you ahead in a guided view that jumps you from one character’s dialog cloud to the next in the correct order. This app is a free download and a handful of free comic books come with it, but each additional book costs around $2. Scrabble for iPad costs $10 and includes options for playing with friends by passing the iPad back and forth, and an additional free app enables connecting an iPhone or iPod touch to the iPad to use these smaller screens as tile racks. You can play against your Facebook friends or the computer, and things like “Best Word” and an option to shuffle tiles make the game a little easier to play for some. Scrabble will even play your iTunes music in the background while you’re dragging tiles onto the board using your finger. With Real Racing HD, you see a 3-D view of racetracks and steer a car by leaning the iPad in the direction you need to turn (a built-in accelerometer senses where you’re moving the iPad). I played this $10 game while sitting in the back seat of a moving car and got a bit dizzy since the race is so realistic. EducationA great example of how the iPad can be used for education can be seen in an app titled “The Elements: A Visual Exploration,” developed by Touch Press. This costs $14 and displays the periodic table of elements stretched across the screen. Selecting one element brings it forward and spins a dazzling image of it so you can see all sides of it. A link to the Web pulls in real-time information about that element.  iPad apps like The Elements: A Visual Exploration, above, make good use of the larger touch screen. OthersApple’s (AAPL) iBooks and Amazon.com’s (AMZN) Kindle are two terrific e-reader apps that bring digital books to the iPad. There’s a strong argument for using the Kindle app, since books bought through it can be accessed on a variety of platforms in addition to the iPad, all in sync right where you left off reading, while iBooks are currently limited to the iPad. But the books in iBooks are displayed in an arresting way, with animation that resembles real pages turning. Pages, Keynote and Numbers are Apple’s versions of Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and Excel and they cost $10 each. When installed, these programs can convert documents from Microsoft’s (MSFT) formats and let you work on them. They present rich, PC-like features controlled by touch. Pages, also lets you convert the documents back to the original Microsoft format. TruPhone and Skype will make calls over the Internet using the iPad when you’re online, and in one test, this worked relatively well. The Houzz Inc. app is a digital look book for interior-decorating ideas that’s updated with current images of decorated houses. It displays large images of decorated rooms across the iPad’s screen, allowing you to search and save certain looks for offline access or sharing with others. Edited by Walter S. Mossberg. Write to Katherine Boehret at mossbergsolution@wsj.com Source: All Things Digital | 6 Apr 2010 | 5:01 pm Hands-on with Honda’s U3-X, the amazing people mover
Jimin and I tried the U3-X in a ballroom in Times Square and both of us came away impressed. It is completely self righting and to ride it you just move your body in the direction you want to go. The wheels-within-wheels system allows for 360-degree motion. This is the first mini people mover I’ve actually been excited about. It’s so small that you can actually use it in mixed company and as long as the battery lasts you can ride it in absolute comfort on most smooth surfaces. No specific release date for this thing and it’s apparently quite expensive right now, but I would totally buy one.
Source: CrunchGear | 6 Apr 2010 | 4:55 pm Arctic Winter 2010: More Thin IceArctic sea ice extent is at its largest extent since 1979 entering this year's melt season. Scientists will have to wait out the summer to to see how much of the thin, newly-formed ice survives.Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 6 Apr 2010 | 4:54 pm What Caused the Deadly Coal Mine Explosion in West Virginia?It will be some time before we know for sure how the tragic explosion happened, but the findings could affect safety laws for mines across the country.Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 6 Apr 2010 | 4:41 pm Odd search queriesThere is at least one blog comprising solely of the search queries used to findThat last one should be a Gary Numan song! Also, can you guess what rank is occupied by people who typed the actual domain name into Google? We have had hundreds of thousands of those. Source: Boing Boing | 6 Apr 2010 | 4:39 pm Allegro Portable Wireless Radio & Streamer lets you take internet radio away from the computer
The Allegro supports Pandora, SIRIUS internet radio, Live 365, iheart radio, NPR, BBC, FOX, CNN, CNBC, and NOAA alerts. It can also serve as a portable alarm clock, and is portable using AA batteries. It’s also possible to stream audio from your PC over your wifi network. You can pick one up from the Grace Digital Audio website for $169. From the press release:
Source: CrunchGear | 6 Apr 2010 | 4:30 pm Mass. Gambling Bill Would Criminalize Online Pokertimothy writes "Awesome: 'A gambling bill introduced by Massachusetts House Speaker Robert DeLeo criminalizes internet gambling and online poker. The bill calls for two casinos.' Not that they're against gambling, you see... just against being deprived of a monopoly in such a perfect fleecing opportunity."
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Source: Slashdot | 6 Apr 2010 | 4:27 pm Photographer who shot default iPad wallpaper tells his taleRichard Misrach, the photographer who shot the image Apple decided to use for default iPad wallpaper—an idyllic desert lake, in Nevada—tells the funny story of how that deal came to be. "I was in bed watching Inglorious Basterds when I got a call from (...) my dealer in San Francisco, and he said, 'Do you know what's going on live here?' I was totally shocked. Naturally my other galleries started calling and my family was all atwitter, because it's a whole different world."Source: Boing Boing | 6 Apr 2010 | 4:21 pm Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 rides onto iPhone (Macworld.com)Macworld.com - Though lost among the weekend iPad shuffle, game publisher Activision announced on Thursday Tony HawkâÂÂs Pro Skater 2 for iPhone and iPod touch.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 6 Apr 2010 | 4:16 pm Chiptune Album Sheds New Light on 'Dark Side of the Moon'Brad Smith's MOON8 channels the Pink Floyd album through Nintendo Entertainment System hardware. The result is a bleeping, blooping yet incredibly faithful reinterpretation of the timeless rock recording.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 6 Apr 2010 | 4:12 pm Craigslists of greatness: ISO L/T BROMANCEA Craigstlist ad of greatness: "looking for a long-term bromance / friend without benefits after having given up on girls." (thanks, Bobby Ciraldi)Source: Boing Boing | 6 Apr 2010 | 4:07 pm HTC's Gorgeous HD2 Stumbles With Windows Mobile OSBeautiful hardware mates with an atrocious OS. Meet the HD2
Source: Wired Top Stories | 6 Apr 2010 | 4:00 pm HTC's Gorgeous HD2 Stumbles With Windows Mobile OSBeautiful hardware mates with an atrocious OS. Meet the HD2
Source: Wired: Gadgets | 6 Apr 2010 | 4:00 pm Apple Announces Mobile Ad Plans Thursday, and Google Can't Wait to Tell the FTC [MediaMemo]
Why would Google applaud the entrance of a new advertising rival? Because Google is trying to convince federal regulators that it has advertising rivals so that it can proceed with its $750 million purchase of AdMob. That deal is being held up for review by the Federal Trade Commission, and there have been consistent murmurs from Washington that the purchase could be in jeopardy. Apple’s plan to get into mobile advertising has been apparent since early January when the company purchased Quattro Wireless for $275 million. Like AdMob, Quattro specializes in ads that run within apps. That’s a tiny market now, but it’s expected to grow along with the booming app economy, pushed by the mobile platforms Apple (AAPL) and Google (GOOG) are promoting. Sources say Apple will discuss its plans to create an ad network for its developers at its Thursday event. I assume, but don’t know, that the company also plans to make its network available to developers on rival platforms, like Google’s Android. I also assume that if Google gets its AdMob deal approved, it will open that network to Apple’s developers–even if either side wanted to make its ad play an exclusive one, shutting out rivals would be a red flag for regulators. In the meantime, Google has been going out of its way to highlight Apple’s mobile ad moves. Two days after the Quattro news broke, Google wrote a blog post applauding the move. Last month, when MediaPost wrote a story speculating about Apple’s mobile ad plans–the publication dubbed the platform “iAd,” but I’m not sure that Apple intends to go with that name–Google sent reporters an email link to the story. “If true, it would be more evidence of how competitive and quickly-evolving the mobile ad space is,” wrote Adam Kovacevich, a manager at the company’s public affairs group. One problem for Google is that you can argue that the company already has a dominant position in the existing mobile ads business–the one that isn’t dependent on smartphone apps. That’s largely because mobile is now a default option when advertisers buy keywords on the search giant’s AdWords system. One industry observer I talked to guesstimates that those ads alone will generate $300 million for Google this year. I followed up with Kovacevich today and asked him how Apple’s move would affect the chances of the AdMob deal. Give him credit for consistency–here’s his response: “While we’re continuing to work with the FTC, there is overwhelming evidence that mobile advertising will remain competitive after this deal closes. Mobile app advertising is less than two years old, there are more than a dozen mobile ad networks, app developers and advertisers routinely use multiple networks, and the leading mobile app platform, Apple, is now entering the mobile ad space as well.” Source: All Things Digital | 6 Apr 2010 | 3:53 pm Groklaw Will Be Archived At Library of Congressinode_buddha writes "Groklaw has just received an invitation to be archived in the Library of Congress. In true FOSS style, PJ has decided to ask all the contributors and commenters if they wish to be included, since commenters own the copyrights on their comments. So far, the answer seems to be 'yes,' even for Anonymous Cowards. It's a great honor for Groklaw, but one wonders how many AC's there are, and whether Congress or future researchers would think that they are all one person."
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Source: Slashdot | 6 Apr 2010 | 3:46 pm Migratory Birds' New Climate Change Strategy: Stay HomeClimate change is throwing migratory birds into disarray. Some birds might just stay closer to home, perhaps even stop migrating altogether.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 6 Apr 2010 | 3:45 pm Apple's iPad easier on airport screener's eyes (AP)AP - Apple's iPad tablet is friendlier than a traditional laptop when it comes to airport security.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 6 Apr 2010 | 3:44 pm FCC loses key ruling on Internet `neutrality' (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 6 Apr 2010 | 3:39 pm AOL Plans to Sell or Shutter $850 Million Bebo AcquisitionNearly 13 million Bebo users, mostly located in the United States and Britain, will be dismayed to hear that AOL plans to close or sell the site later this year, as the company disclosed in an internal memo on Tuesday. Users stand to lose personal data, in yet another argument for universal data portability between services.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 6 Apr 2010 | 3:30 pm SNES games on the iPad look great, if you don’t mind weird touch controls
Source: CrunchGear | 6 Apr 2010 | 3:30 pm Fossil Turtle Had Extra-Thick Shell to Fend Off World's Largest SnakeA new 60-million-year-old fossil turtle species discovered in Colombia had a very thick shell, possibly as protection from the world's largest snake, Titanoboa, which lived in the area at that time.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 6 Apr 2010 | 3:30 pm What could the iPhone OS 4.0 event bring?FROM APPLETELL - iPhone OS 4.0 is the next big jump for the iPhone platform, servicing the iPhone, iPod touch, and now the iPad. So what could we be laying our eyes on this Thursday? Full Story » | Written by NEWS for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 6 Apr 2010 | 3:25 pm Apple’s iPad Power Needs Cause Confusion
Judging from recurring complaints over the weekend, perhaps the least intuitive part of the iPad is the way it recharges its battery. The iPad charges just fine with its included 10 watt power outlet and cable. But numerous iPad customers have complained that their computer’s USB port was failing to charge the iPad, as the battery status read “Not charging.” Apple’s support site states that only “high-power USB 2.0 ports,” such as those included with recent Macs, can charge the iPad. It turns out that’s not completely true. Apple’s support site creates a bit of confusion. It reads, “Some USB 2.0 ports and accessories do not provide enough power to charge iPad. When this occurs the message ‘Not Charging’ appears in the status bar next to the battery icon.” That leads you to believe older USB ports can’t charge the iPad at all. However, farther down the support document, Apple says that lower-power USB ports can charge the iPad — but only when the device is asleep. “When attached to a computer via a standard USB port (most PCs or older Mac computers) iPad will charge, but only when it’s in sleep mode,” Apple says in the iPad support document. In other words, some USB ports on older machines can charge your iPad while it’s asleep, but the issue is your iPad can’t tell you, because it can’t charge when the screen is on. Apple’s support bulletin also clarifies a few tidbits about charging behavior. If you use your iPhone adapter to charge the iPad, it will charge, but more slowly than it would with the iPad’s charger, a fact confirmed by Gadget Lab tests. And of course, charging with any computer’s USB port (whether it’s high-power or low-power) will be slower than charging with the iPad’s own charger, according to Apple. Also, when charging through a computer USB port, the computer must be powered on — not asleep or shut down. The USB Implementers Forum ran a full array of tests on the iPad to confirm the tablet’s USB-charging behavior. The organization said that despite some consumer confusion, the iPad behaves very well. The iPad conforms to newer USB charging specifications (Battery Charging v1.1) to ensure that it draws power intelligently based on the amount of power available from any source, the organization explained. Older, USB 2.0 ports deliver 0.5 amp, which is only enough to charge the iPad when it’s off. Newer machines that feature USB ports conforming to Battery Charging v1.1 standards, and the iPad’s own power outlet, have enough power that the iPad can draw the full 1.5 amps it needs to recharge the battery while it’s running, according to the USB Implementers Forum. “The good news for consumers is that because it’s conforming to these specifications you’re not going to be at Starbucks and have it suddenly draw a ton of power,” a USB Implementers Forum spokesman said. “It knows how much power is available to it, and based on the power that’s available to it it chooses to behave in a couple of different ways.” See Also:
Photo: Bryan Derballa/Wired.com 
Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 6 Apr 2010 | 3:19 pm Canonical's desktop Linux OS fitted with new look and feel (InfoWorld)InfoWorld - Providing an alternative to the Microsoft-dominated desktop, Canonical later this month will offer a version of its desktop Linux OS featuring a new look and feel, faster boot speed and accommodations for social networks.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 6 Apr 2010 | 3:02 pm Obama Unveils New Nuclear DoctrineHugh Pickens writes "The Washington Post reports that under Obama's new 'Nuclear Posture Review,' released today, the US will foreswear the use of the nuclear weapons against nonnuclear countries, in contrast to previous administrations, which indicated they might use nuclear arms against nonnuclear states in retaliation for a biological or chemical attack. But the new policy included a major caveat: The countries must be in compliance with their nonproliferation obligations under international treaties. The problem for Iran and North Korea is that the pledge does not cover them because the US regards them as in non-compliance with the Non-Proliferation Treaty. The new policy will also describe the purpose of US weapons as being fundamentally for deterrence. Some Democratic legislators had urged Obama to go further and declare that the United States would not use nuclear weapons first in a conflict, but officials worried that such a change could unnerve allies protected by the US nuclear 'umbrella.' The president of the Ploughshares Fund said of the new stance, 'It orients US policy towards dramatically fewer weapons and greatly reduced roles.'"
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Source: Slashdot | 6 Apr 2010 | 3:01 pm More details about the ExoPC slate surface
Up front the 11.6-inch capacitive outputs at 1366 x 768 and is powered by a GPU that has enough juice to pump video in full screen mode. An Atom CPU reportable handles multitasking just fine and that’s perfect seeing how there will be an app store at launch. We hear the SDK even supports everything from JavaScript to HTML to Flash programing. Of course none of this is official, but tablets that that don’t rhyme with iSad will hopefully offer a similiar feature set. Well, they better if they’re to have any chance of breaking into the market. [via Blogue de Geek]
Source: CrunchGear | 6 Apr 2010 | 3:00 pm Pack a Backpack Properly for Your Next Camping TripNext time you head off into the woods, protect your back by learning how to pack that sack.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 6 Apr 2010 | 3:00 pm NASA and Boeing Test Airliner of the FutureNASA and Boeing finish the first phase of flight testing the X-48B, an experimental plane that could show us what airliners will look like.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 6 Apr 2010 | 2:43 pm The Nexus One car dock is finally pictured [Update: And on sale!]
Just like other car docks, this one can mount to either the windshield or a plastic disc that can be attached to the car’s dash. Put away your credit card though, you can’t order one yet. Even if you could, some might pause at the dock’s $55 price tag. That’s a bit steep even if it is the best looking and most feature-filled dock on the market. Update: It just hit the virtual shelves of Google’s web store. Go go gadget credit card! [Nexus One Help via Android and Me]
Source: MobileCrunch | 6 Apr 2010 | 2:35 pm Ham Radio Still Growing In the iStuff Agevhfer writes "From NPR comes this story about old-school communications in the age of Twitter: 'Only a few years ago, blogs listed ham radio alongside 35 mm film and VHS tape as technologies slated to disappear. They were wrong. Nearly 700,000 Americans have ham radio licenses — up 60 percent from 1981, a generation ago. And the number is growing.' The article goes on to say that while there's plenty of 60-plus year old hams, there's also a growing contingent of teens. I just met a 14-year-old, licensed in 2009. Getting rid of the Morse Code requirement sure helped in that regard. So does the fact that the test questions (and the answers) are freely available, legally, on the Internet. Study, take the test, hang the license certificate on the wall. Your geek cred gets an immediate boost. And who knows? Maybe the next time there's a Haiti-earthquake-sized disaster, you'll be one of the thousands of ham volunteers who provided the only communications in/out of Haiti for weeks following the quake, not to mention all of the tactical comms the country had for nearly a month."
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Source: Slashdot | 6 Apr 2010 | 2:19 pm Scientists Use Barcoding To Track Sand Flies Carrying Leishmania StrainImage Caption: Traditionally, entomologists depended on characters like this male terminal segment to distinguish sand fly species. Because females (the vectoring sex) have less distinguishing morphological characters, this survey used the COI barcoding gene to confirm species identities. Credit: Don WindsorSource: RedOrbit News - Science | 6 Apr 2010 | 1:40 pm Earth Gets Geomagnetic WallopA blast of solar wind is currently pummeling Earth's magnetosphere, sparking the strongest geomagnetic storm so far this year, producing some stunning aurorae.Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 6 Apr 2010 | 1:20 pm Early Earth Absorbed More SunlightNo extreme greenhouse needed to keep water wetFour billion years ago, our then stripling sun radiated only 70 to 75 percent as much energy as it does today.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 6 Apr 2010 | 1:15 pm Alternate Disc-Tractions: The Lord of the Rings motion picture trilogy Blu-ray reviewFROM GAMERTELL - This may be one of the few sets that you pretty much need to own on Blu-ray although it is only the Theatrical release. Check out Gamertell’s review to see whether or not you shoud buy now or wait… Full Story » | Written by NEWS for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 6 Apr 2010 | 1:07 pm Ancient Thick-shelled Turtle Species DiscoveredImage 1: The fossilized shell of Cerrejonemys wayuunaiki measured about 1 meter across and was about 35mm thick. Credit: Edwin CadenaImage 2: Deep in Colombia's Cerrejon coal mine, among house-sized trucks, Edwin Cadena discovered Cerrejonemys wayuunaiki, a new species of fossil turtle, which sheds light on the evolution of turtles in the Americas and beyond. Credit: Edwin CadenaSource: RedOrbit News - Science | 6 Apr 2010 | 1:02 pm Geologist Discovers Pattern In Earth's Long-term Climate RecordIn an analysis of the past 1.2 million years, UC Santa Barbara geologist Lorraine Lisiecki discovered a pattern that connects the regular changes of the Earth's orbital cycle to changes in the Earth's climate.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 6 Apr 2010 | 12:57 pm Northeast Rainfall Has Increased Over 60 YearsA new study has found that the Northeast is seeing more frequent "extreme precipitation events" in line with global warming predictions, including storms like the recent ones that have brought floodwaters to neighborhoods and businesses across New England.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 6 Apr 2010 | 12:30 pm Looking at Sick People Can Keep You HealthySome folks wash their hands or take Vitamin C, zinc or echinacea to keep colds and flus at bay. But a new study shows that looking at sick people could do it. Mark Schaller, a psychologist at the University of ...Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 6 Apr 2010 | 12:27 pm Study Supports Use Of Prescribed Burns In Southern AppalachiansA new study reconstructing thousands of years of fire history in the southern Appalachians supports the use of prescribed fire, or controlled burns, as a tool to reduce the risk of wildfires, restore and maintain forest health and protect rare ecological communities in the region's forests.Duke University researchers used radiocarbon analysis of 82 soil charcoal samples dating from 1977 to more than 4,000 years ago to reconstruct the fire history of a 25-acre site in the Nantahala National Forest in western North Carolina.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 6 Apr 2010 | 12:25 pm Commercial Fishing Kills Millions Of Sea TurtlesThe number of sea turtles inadvertently snared by commercial fishing gear over the past 20 years may reach into the millions, according to the first peer-reviewed study to compile sea turtle bycatch data from gillnet, trawl and longline fisheries worldwide.The study, which was published online April 6 in the journal Conservation Letters, analyzed data compiled from peer-reviewed papers, government reports, technical reports, and symposia proceedings published between 1990 and 2008.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 6 Apr 2010 | 12:19 pm Google to pull all games from the Android Market in South Korea
Are you from South Korea? Are you carrying an Android phone? Love gaming? Stop reading this. Go download every game you can from the Android market, and then come back. Don’t worry! We’ll wait! Now that you’re back, here’s why we had you do that: Google’s about to pull all games from the Android Market in South Korea.
Now, now – don’t get too upset at Google. They’ve got nothing against South Koreans. Alas, South Korean local law prohibits games from being sold without first being run through the paces by a regulatory board — something which, due to the open and constantly updated nature of the Market, simply isn’t possible with Android. Apple had to do the same thing a few months back. Local authorities started coming down on them, and Apple eventually just killed off the games category in the region altogether. 15 seconds later 90% of South Koreans realized they could just set up a US iTunes account and get all the games they wanted that way, and these crazy regulations were circumvented. Google says the games should be pulled within the month. [TelecomsKorea via UnwiredView via Phandroid]
Source: MobileCrunch | 6 Apr 2010 | 12:18 pm The Essential Mix: 'Life on the Moon'It's time for a musical interlude as BBC Radio 1 plays host to DJ James Zabiela who mixes an inspiring selection of tunes with a decidedly spacey theme.Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 6 Apr 2010 | 12:09 pm Palm and ad agency Modernista part ways, new partner and hopefully better commercials comingSection: Communications, Cellphones, Smartphones, Mobile
Read [Advertising Age] Via [PreCentral]
Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 6 Apr 2010 | 11:58 am DIYers Hack Windows Mobile Phones to Run Android
Windows Mobile may lack the elegance of more modern operating systems, but some phones based on Microsoft’s mobile OS are finding new life as Android handsets. A few intrepid smartphone users have hacked their Windows Mobile phones to run the Android operating system, creating Frankenstein-ish monsters with the body of one phone and the transplanted brain of another. “The biggest reason I switched was because Windows Mobile was so sluggish — it would hang and take forever when you dialed a number,” says Connor Roberts, a a software engineer who, two months ago, posted a step-by-step tutorial to running Android OS on the HTC Touch. “Android is a lot faster and I get GPS navigation on my phone now for free.” The Touch, introduced in June 2007, is a pixie-sized phone with a 2.8-inch touchscreen and a 2-megapixel camera that comes with Windows Mobile 6 OS. Microsoft’s Windows Mobile held a strong share of the smartphone market for years, particularly among business users who valued its connections with such corporate services as Microsoft Exchange. But the OS hasn’t kept up with the advances found in Android and the iPhone OS, and sales of Windows Mobile phones have been sagging. Microsoft’s next-generation phone software, Windows Phone 7, isn’t yet available. For many users, Android on an original Windows phone opens up the ability to switch to a new OS without spending the money to buy a new device. It also offers access to new features — and to applications in the Android Market. Sounds crazy? Not really, says Thomas Hewton-Waters, an engineering student at the University of Calgary who tried it out. “It’s ridiculously easy to get Android running on the Touch,” he says. “You simply unlock your phone and flash the Android OS to it. If you have a good guide to go off of, you could have Android up and running in probably half an hour.” In just under two months, Roberts’ tutorial on the message board has garnered more than 17,900 views and 213 replies. And there are now hacks available to transform most Windows Mobile smartphones into Android clones. Handset makers and wireless carriers decide which operating system can run on a phone and customers usually have no choice in the matter. But smartphone owners who willing to get their hands dirty can play with the read-only memory, or ROM, on their cellphones, which holds the firmware. Software hackers have created custom ROMs that can be loaded on a phone to unlock certain features in a process known as “flashing.” That means phones that are not the latest in terms of hardware specs can still offer software features that would make a Nexus One or a Droid blush. For the last few years, Roberts says he has been tinkering with the ROM on his phone to see how he can extend the functionality of the device. For instance, by changing the ROM he can increase the amount of memory available or add maps from service providers such as TomTom and Garmin on the phone. “Custom ROMs can allow you to do anything you want with your phone,” he says. “Otherwise, the carriers try to restrict you to just talking and texting on the phone.” Switching the operating system on a phone may not take much time, but it’s a tricky procedure that could leave your phone a nonfunctioning brick. You must make careful backups and download an avalanche of files. While there are online forums and guides to help users through the process, it can be a lot of work, says Roberts. That’s why he decided to collect all the information in a single message and post it on the XDA Developers forum, he says. Roberts’ tutorial will work with most HTC Windows Mobile phones on almost all carriers. The only requirement is that the phone has a display with a minimum resolution of 320 x 240 pixels. Saving money has been the biggest reason to hack his phone, says Roberts. Buying a new Android phone can cost up to $200 and carriers force customers to buy a data plan with their smartphone. “The phone I had (the HTC Touch) didn’t require a data plan,” he says. “And I didn’t want to add a $30-a-month data package to my bill when I can get everything I need through Wi-Fi.” Hewton-Waters agrees cost is a motivating factor, but says it’s not the only one. There’s also an element of DIY thrill to it, he says. “I just really enjoy technology and love figuring things out for myself,” says Hewton-Waters. “Sure, it’d be easier to go buy one that’s already set up and working, but it wouldn’t be as fun. Plus, it makes my friends jealous.” So far, Hewton-Waters says he’s delighted with how his phone works. “It runs faster, has better battery life, is more intuitive and everything is integrated with Google,” he says. Wireless carriers such as Verizon are less thrilled. “Modifying a device is in violation of our customer agreement,” says Brenda Raney, spokeswoman for Verizon Wireless. That means Verizon can suspend or even end service to modified phones. Roberts says phone users who have tinkered with their devices can fly under the radar if they don’t call Verizon for tech support. “It voids your support warranty so you can’t call Verizon and ask them to fix your hacked Android phone,” he says, “but it’s not illegal.” A Windows Mobile phone transformed into an Android device isn’t always perfect. Roberts says he can’t get the video capability working on his hacked HTC Touch. And moving contacts over to the “new” phone can be difficult. Other users have complained that Bluetooth has been disabled on their phones as a result of the hack or occasionally the screen will show some weird lines of code. “For me, it’s been worth the glitches,” says Roberts. “And it’s so easy to do, almost brain-dead. Why would anyone not want to try it?” See Also:
Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com 
Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 6 Apr 2010 | 11:25 am DIYers Hack Windows Mobile Phones to Run AndroidA few intrepid smartphone users have hacked their Windows Mobile phones to run the Android operating system, creating Frankenstein-ish monsters with the body of one phone and the transplanted brain of another.
Source: Wired: Gadgets | 6 Apr 2010 | 11:25 am The Dawn Of Urban Civilization In The Middle EastImage 1: The Tell Zeidan site is about 48 feet high at its tallest point and covers about 30 acres. It sits in an area of irrigated fields at the junction of the Euphrates and Balikh rivers in what is now northern Syria. (Gil Stein, Director of Oriental Institute)Image 2: This 3-inch-wide carved stone stamp seal would have been impressed on lumps of wet clay used to seal jars or baskets. The intricate geometric shapes are a Halaf style and date from about 5400 B.C. (Gil Stein, Director of Oriental Institute)Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 6 Apr 2010 | 11:15 am New Giant Monitor Lizard DiscoveredHow could a colorful, 6-foot-long lizard go undocumented for so long?Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 6 Apr 2010 | 11:10 am Xbox 360 System Update Adds USB Storage, Gotchas - PC World
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 6 Apr 2010 | 11:06 am Water Temperatures Rising In US Streams And RiversImage Caption: Great Falls of the Potomac River, Maryland in winter. Credit: Henry Hartley - WikipediaSource: RedOrbit News - Science | 6 Apr 2010 | 10:58 am Toxoplasma Gondii Spreading Throughout Iberian Lynx HabitatRecord Number of Felids AnalyzedThis is not the first study to analyze the seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii in the Iberian Lynx, but it is the most complete. The researchers analyzed 129 samples of Iberian Lynx using the modified agglutination test (detection of antibodies to T. gondii in serum samples) and found antibodies in 62.8%, that is, in 81 of the 129 felids analyzed.Apart from ascertaining that the seroprevalence of T. gondii increases as animals age, results also reveal similar levels of seroprevalence among both free-ranging (66.7% of 93) and wild-caught captive Lynx (69% of 84). However, seroprevalence "was lower in captive-born Lynx (22.5% of 40)", the researcher underlined.The study also reported a relationship between Cytauxzoon felis infection and seroprevalence of T. gondii, but "Feline Leukemia Virus (FeLV) infection was not seen to influence T. gondii seroprevalence (53.8% of 13)", the researcher states.The team found no significant differences in seroprevalence between sexes, geographic region or the year of sample collection.A Disease that Affects Warm-blooded SpeciesToxoplasmosis is a zoonotic disease that above all affects warm-blooded species, including humans. The final hosts of this parasite are cats, the only animals capable of fecally excreting the parasites.However, researchers did not find these parasites in the feces of "any of the 58 Lynx analyzed", García Bocanegra stated.References: García-Bocanegra, I; Dubey, J.P.; Martínez, F.; Vargas, A.; Cabezón, O.; Zorrilla, I.; Arenas, A.; Almería, S. "Factors affecting seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii in the endangered Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus)" Veterinary Parasitology 167(1): 36-42, 20 de enero de 2010. ---Image Caption: This is the Iberian Lynx (Lynx pardinus). Credit: Program Ex-situ Conservation of the Iberian lynxSource: RedOrbit News - Science | 6 Apr 2010 | 10:54 am Enhanced Vision Creates 'Sixth Sense'The Internet, GPS and state-of-the-art eye tracking technology could be combined to enhance everyday experiences.Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 6 Apr 2010 | 10:45 am Deal of the Day: Buy Mass Effect 2, get Mass Effect free at AmazonFROM GAMERTELL - Amazon is offering a big deal on two of the best role-playing game available, Bioware’s Mass Effect and its sequel. Full Story » | Written by NEWS for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 6 Apr 2010 | 10:42 am Is the Nexus One’s display inferior to the Droid’s?
Science! Big words! These are two things we like around these parts, even if we don’t really understand them. When I look at the Nexus One’s display, I can’t help but slap my knee and let out some sort of proclamation of joy, like “Gee Wiz!”, or “Well, I’ll be!”, or “Fwaaaaarg.” Some people, however, aren’t quite as impressed.
DisplayMate, the same guys who put together a big piece showing why the Nexus One’s display was inferior to that of the iPhone, have just put together a monster of a post on the Nexus One’s display vs the Droid’s. The clear cut winner? The Droid. While the Nexus bests the Droid on some fronts, like black level brightness and low light contrast ratio, the Droid comes out on top in just about everything else. Gamma? Check. Color temperature? Check! Color gamut, saturation, intensity, and viewing angle? Checkles McCheckenstein. DisplayMate goes as far as saying that the Nexus One’s display seems like “an unfinished prototype” under the microscope. Of course, “under the microscope” is really the key here. The Droid may best the Nexus One on all sorts of crazy technical levels, but I bet if you hand both of them to any random person on the street, they wouldn’t have a single complaint about either. (Though we’d love to hear someone say, “You know, the screen on this Nexus One sure seems about 2000 degrees Kelvin too blue.”) Ready for the aforementioned science and big words? Check out the full report here.
Source: MobileCrunch | 6 Apr 2010 | 10:38 am TSA vs the iPad; do you or don’t you?Section: Computers, Mobile Computers, Hardware, Laptops, Netbooks, Security, Gadgets / Other, Transportation
Apple has described the iPad as between a smartphone and a laptop. Fair enough, but what does that mean for the TS? Smartphones are not checked separately, but laptops (and even netbooks) are. According to Andy Greenberg, the iPad is good to go - no need to remove from your bag (assuming you can put it down long enough to get through the metal detector. The info Greenberg presents is based on users experiences. When airport TSA was questioned, they were not sure what to do with it (like many of the device’s detractors), ran it through the x-ray machine and determined it doesn’t have to be removed separately. Inquiries to the TSA main office have yet to be returned. Hopefully the answer is not keeping throngs from making their purchase, though one shouldn’t underestimate the hassle of removing a laptop for security. Read: [Forbes] Full Story » | Written by JG Mason for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 6 Apr 2010 | 10:35 am 'Oriental Yeti' May Be a Sick Common MammalA hairless, long-tailed animal touted as being an "Oriental yeti" may actually be a sick, common mammal.Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 6 Apr 2010 | 10:02 am HP Slate spends some time on video, shares specsSection: Computers, Mobile Computers  Yesterday seems to have been a good day for the upcoming HP tablet style PC, after all we saw a decent, albeit short video as well as a set of leaked specs. In short, the HP Slate seems like it will be a device worth looking forward to seeing. Of course, this information coming to light now seems to be perfect timing considering that other device we saw come from Apple this past weekend, You know, the iPad. Anyway, in terms of the HP Slate, it looks like it will be sporting a decent user interface, but you can judge that for yourself in the video below. It was also interesting to see the appearance of the USB cable, which by itself is not a big deal. Hey lots of devices have USB ports, but most do not show them off on video with a cable that looked suspiciously like one of their competitors. But moving on, lets talk specs. These details are coming courtesy of a leaked internal slide presentation, and that means while these may be the real deal they have not yet been officially announced. That means they could still change. That said, it looks like the HP Slate will be featuring a 1.6GHz Intel Atom Menlow Z530 processor, 1GB of RAM, a 32 or 64GB flash drive, SD card reader and an 8.9-inch WSVGA 1024 x 600 capacitive multitouch display. Other features include Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, GPS, Bluetooth, Windows 7 Home Premium with an HP touch optimized interface and an option to add built in 3G. In terms of price, it looks like it will be starting at $549. Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 6 Apr 2010 | 9:38 am BreezyPrint brings printing to BlackBerry, iPhone and Android versions coming soon
Are you tired of not being able to print pictures of cats from your BlackBerry? Boy oh boy — do I feel your pain. Enter BreezyPrint. BreezyPrint is a new bit of software which allows you to print from your BlackBerry by way of what I can only assume is some sort of voodoo.
It won’t allow to you to print to any nearby printer, of course; that would require all sorts of printer drivers, and those things barely work on your PC, much less your BlackBerry. Instead, BreezyPrint comes with a companion app (currently Windows only) that you install on any computer with access to the printer in question. BreezyPrint tells the companion app what to print, and the companion apps passes word onto the printer. Alas, the service doesn’t come cheap. You’re relying on their servers to do some of that aforementioned voodoo to ensure that things like corporate firewalls don’t get in the way, so they’re charging a yearly fee. After a 30-day trial, BreezyPrint will set you back $25 a year. Oh, and for people lookin’ to print on other platforms: the company isn’t fessing up dates, but iPhone and Android ports are said to be on the way. What do you think? Useful? Too expensive? I’m the cheap type; if I need a computer to act as the middle man, I’d probably just hop on the computer itself to print and spend that $25 a year on my bad habits.
Source: MobileCrunch | 6 Apr 2010 | 9:20 am Six Flags Launches an iPhone App to Save You From the Horrors of Loneliness
The free app, available now, offers 4 main features:
Horror themes aside, I think the interactive map/friend finder would actually be a pretty useful tool for those inevitable situations where you do end up getting separated from your pals, and could turn a bad situation into the great day it was supposed to be. Oh, and yes: The Six Flags song is now stuck in your head. Snap.
Source: MobileCrunch | 6 Apr 2010 | 8:35 am Apple sends invites for iPhone OS 4.0 event on April 8thFROM APPLETELL - Your eyes aren’t playing tricks on you. Apple is not letting the launch of the iPad keep them from doing whatever they want, which includes giving a preview of iPhone OS 4.0 at 10 AM on April 8th, 2010. Full Story » | Written by NEWS for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 6 Apr 2010 | 8:29 am Nokia brings free turn-by-turn Ovi Maps navigation to the E71 and E66
Nokia just about turned the navigation world on its dome back in January when they announced that they were making their turn-by-turn Ovi Maps navigation service completely free for anyone with a compatible handset. Today, two new handsets join the compatible handset roster: the Nokia E71 and E66.
If you’re toting an E71 (bad news: not the AT&T E71x) or E66, download the latest Ovi Maps by going to http://nokia.com/maps on your PC, then use Ovi Suite to sideload it to your device. Make sure you do this before you activate the navigation, otherwise they’ll start asking you to cough up the $13 bucks a year or so the service used to cost. All in all, the compatibility list now reads: Nokia N97, Nokia N97 mini, Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, Nokia 5800 Navigation Edition, Nokia E52, Nokia E55, Nokia E72, Nokia 5230, Nokia 6710 Navigator, Nokia 6730 classic, Nokia X6, Nokia N86 8MP and with different functionality the Nokia E71, and Nokia E66. Still no word on when the Nokia N900 might get it.
Source: MobileCrunch | 6 Apr 2010 | 8:00 am MetroPCS Launches Voice Mail-to-Text Service
The service, powered by Yap, also includes the original message along with the email, presumably so any misinterpreted words can be cleared up before you do anything rash.
Source: MobileCrunch | 6 Apr 2010 | 7:34 am Finally: Drobo FS for Networked Storage
At long last, Data Robotics has made a networked version of its very popular redundant storage hard drive bay. The Drobo FS is essentially an empty box you plug into your router and fill with hard drives. It is then accessible to any other computer on the network. Drobo is a RAID-alike storage device for non-nerds. Like RAID, you fill it with hard drives and your data is stored across them in such a way that if any one drive dies, you still have all your data. Unlike RAID, which is as fussy and skittish as a racehorse, you can throw a mixture of drives into a Drobo, combining different sizes and brands (RAID limits each drive to the size of the smallest one). Up until now you have had to connect a Drobo direct to your computer via USB, FireWire or iSCSI (a fast virtual port which uses the ethernet jack). With this new networked model, you can set and forget, using the Drobo from any computer for either safe storage (its a great place to keep a photo library, for instance) or as backup. If it is hooked up to a wireless router, you can even access it (more slowly) over the air. We also like Drobo Apps, which work on any of the Drobo range. The applications can be installed to add functionality to the Drobo: a BitTorrent client, for instance, which runs without a computer, or a music server that serves up content to iTunes. The Drobo FS starts at $700, rising to $1,500 if you fill the five bays with 2TB drives. Drobo FS [Data Robotics] See Also:
Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 6 Apr 2010 | 7:26 am Leaked: Is this the Samsung Moment2 for Sprint?
Oh, Sprint Moment; we hardly knew ye. You were just announced in October of last year, right as Android 2.0 made its grand debut. And yet, there you sit, still holding on to Android 1.5. Before you’ve even had the opportunity to dance in the up-to-date spotlight, it looks like Samsung is already working on your replacement. The guys over at WeRandroid managed to dig up the little diddie you see up top, which, according to them, is none other than the Sprint Moment2. Given the striking similarities with the original Moment, I’d say that sounds about right. Rumor has it that this thing will come pre-loaded with Android 2.1, with Samsung’s TouchWiz 3.0 customization layer running on top, just like the Samsung Galaxy S. Unlike the Galaxy S, however, this thing purportedly won’t be rockin’ the Super AMOLED screen. That’s too bad, really. Super AMOLED or not, I’m looking forward to checking this one out. Lets just hope Samsung and Sprint don’t leave the original Moment hanging with 1.5 much longer. [Thanks for the heads up, Ben]
Source: MobileCrunch | 6 Apr 2010 | 7:21 am The $7,000 Vertu Constellation Ayxta unboxed at long last
Have you been eagerly saving your pennies for a Vertu Constellation Ayxta, but haven’t been sure of the $7,000 commitment? Do you want a little assurance that the feature phone of your dreams really is the luxury item that the price demands? What’s that? No? Me neither. But for those that live such a life (or those that are merely curious) the Vertu Constellation Ayxta has finally had its first unboxing. What a precious moment. Gear Diary have the low-down on what to expect in the box. Spoiler: it comes with two leatherette boxes to hold both the phone and the cables separately. Now don’t say that Vertu aren’t looking out for you…
Source: MobileCrunch | 6 Apr 2010 | 7:10 am Fast Work: In-Car, Dash-Mounted iPad
In a small car-audio shop down in Santa Clarita, California this week, something happened that has never happened before. Doug Bernards, son of “The SoundMan” Bruce Bernards, took his Dremel to the dash of a Toyota Tacoma pickup and began to cut. The project: The World’s first in-car iPad. The picture shows the result of placing the iPad at the heart of the car’s entertainment system. Doug, of SoundMan Car Audio, has already cut an iPad-shaped hole, but is waiting on the Apple dock in order to hook it up to the rest of the system. And what a system. The dock connector will run direct to an Onkyo ND-S1 digital media transport, designed to get sound out of an iPod or iPhone with better quality than you get from the jack. This runs to an Audison Bit One processor which turns the digital signal into an analog signal and pipes it into a six-channel McIntosh amp. What does all that mean? A kick-ass sound system is what it means, but we’re more interested in the possibilities of a dash-mounted iPad. Clearly it will make an amazing GPS, and a dangerously distracting movie display, but there’s something we’re missing here. A big screen mounted up front in a car: Any ideas? First iPad in a Car [SoundMan Car Audio via Autoblog] 
Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 6 Apr 2010 | 6:52 am New Hitachi Batteries Promise Ten-Year Life
Hitachi’s trick is to use a specially developed new cathode material. It contains manganese, like existing batteries, but it is locked up with other substances to make a more stable crystalline material. This, says Hitachi, slows down the bleeding of cathode into the battery’s electrolyte material. The electrolyte is the material (in this case, lithium salts in a solvent) which stores the chemical energy that will be turned back into electrical energy. The leakage of the cathode into the electrolyte is what eventually stops the battery holding a charge, so less leakage means longer life. The new tech is bound for use in places like wind-farms, where long battery life is important. It is also cheaper than current methods, so we may well see it in our future iPads. The existing five years of life might already be a long time, but as your trips away from a power-socket get shorter and shorter, it certainly doesn’t seem that way. The lithium-ion battery cathode materials… [Hitachi via Akihabara News] See Also: 
Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 6 Apr 2010 | 5:23 am Blu-ray Super-Sized to 128GB, Requires New Player
There are two new specifications, both with jaw-crunching names: BDXL (High Capacity Recordable and Rewritable disks) and IH-BD (Intra-Hybrid disks). The first is designed for high capacity, and fuses up to four layers to make an archiving format for people with a lot of data (”broadcasting, medical and document imaging enterprises” are the suggested markets). The second new format, IH-BD, is a melding of a read-only layer and a re-writeable layer, able to contain 25GB each. The explanation is that a producer could ship a disk containing both non-erasable, “critical” data and “related user data”. We can’t think of any good reason for that right now, but we’re certain it’ll be handy for someone. Neither of these new formats will work in your current Blu-ray player, nor should they. It’s pretty clear these generously-sized disks are for storage rather than publishing, although the new machines required to use them will be backward-compatible with existing disks. Still, imagine the movie-extras you could fit on this thing. Blu-ray Disc Association Announces Additional Format Enhancements [Business Wire] 
Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 6 Apr 2010 | 4:45 am Monowalker: Convertible Hand and Bike Trailer
The Monowalker is a rather nifty idea, and certainly looks to be very well built, but it also seems to be a solution to a problem that might not exist. It is a three-way luggage lugger which converts between one-wheeled hand-trailer, two-wheeled bike trailer and a no-wheeled backpack. The bit I don’t get is the hand-trailer, which is kind of like a big, reverse wheelbarrow that you pull along behind you. Designed for hikers, the wooden-framed trolley has a fat, inflatable tire, a disk brake and a measure of suspension. The thing is, we thought hiking was all about traveling light, not hauling a load along behind you. If you think about this as a bike trailer which can be detached for short-hauls than it makes a lot more sense: dragging the load to a camping ground with difficult access, for example. Switching between setups takes about five minutes after practice, and the steam-bent ash and aluminum construction keeps things very light: the 6kg (13.2-pound) trailer (including both wheels) will carry 45 kg or 100-pounds of gear. The design is live on the product site, and there is plenty of video of the Monowalker in action, but there is no price as yet. If you’re in the market for a bike trailer, this could be worth a look. If you’re thinking it might make a good hiking accessory, you should think about packing a little lighter. Monowalker [Monowalker via Bicycle Design] See Also:
Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 6 Apr 2010 | 4:08 am
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Stealth Israeli startup 
necessary? I ask because my dogs sit by closed doors and bark; less enchanting, but just as easily understood. And not $30.
It’s late Tuesday evening and the TechCrunch office is mostly deserted. I was finishing off a few things and preparing for tomorrow when 
Yanko is known for their 
When Reid Hoffman and David Sze of Greylock stopped in the office last week, they offered some advice for any entrepreneurs feeling emboldened by the 
Last week we invited Greylock’s David Sze and Reid Hoffman into the studio for a chat about the state of the venture market, with its odd mix of 
Muvi makes small, clever, little camcorders. Their previous model, the Micro DV, was considered to be the smallest 
comScore released their report of mobile phone operating system shares for February of 2010. The winners (over November of 2009) are Android and RIM. Palm and Microsoft Windows continue to bleed users while the iPhone OS held almost steady.
Toshiba announced today that they would be bringing their popular “Camileo” camcorder line to the US. Previously only available in Europe, the Camileo is a pocket sized camcorder with built in YouTube support and a 3-inch LCD viewscreen. 
Grace Digital Audio announced their latest creation today, the Allegro Portable Wireless Radio & Streamer. The Allegro is portable unit, designed to allow you to take your internet radio choice with you when you step away from the computer. 
Just a few short weeks back, we saw Palm release an ad that, well, at the time was 
Do you or don’t you have to take the iPad out for screeners at the airport security checkpoint? Can you add the iPad to the list of things you need to pull out separately while you are removing shoes and lifting your carry-on onto the conveyor? Is the iPad a threat?
