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Adobe abandons iPhone code tools - BBC News
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 23 Apr 2010 | 3:52 am Indonesia's Bayan Resources gets $300 mln loanJAKARTA, April 23 (Reuters) - Indonesian coal miner PT Bayan Resources said on Friday it has agreed to borrow $300 million from a group of foreign banks in a club deal to refinance existing loans and...Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 23 Apr 2010 | 3:51 am "Avatar" sets first-day Blu-ray sales record (Reuters)Reuters - DVDs and Blu-ray Discs of James Cameron's "Avatar" flew off store shelves Thursday, the movie's first day in stores, despite being available in just the 2D format.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 23 Apr 2010 | 3:38 am Lagardere writes to watchdog over Wyser-PrattePARIS, April 23 (Reuters) - Lagardere has asked France's AMF stock market watchdog to examine whether activist shareholder Guy Wyser-Pratte was misleading investors in his campaign to change the group's...Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 23 Apr 2010 | 3:34 am Indonesia's Rajawali buys 80 pct stake in $1.3bn rail projectJAKARTA, April 23 (Reuters) - Indonesia's Rajawali group has signed a deal to buy an 80 percent stake in a $1.3 billion Sumatra railway project from Transpacific Group, Rajawali's managing director, Darjoto...Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 23 Apr 2010 | 3:30 am UPDATE 2-Lenovo emerges as leading candidate for Palm -sources* HTC not bidding for Palm after reviewing its numbers-sourceSource: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 23 Apr 2010 | 3:29 am Ericsson Q1 margin helps shares despite sales slide (Reuters)Reuters - Shares in mobile telecom gear maker Ericsson (ERICb.ST) rose sharply on Friday, defying weak first-quarter results, as investors took heart from falling costs and prospects for a recovery.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 23 Apr 2010 | 3:21 am Biggest Study On Cellphone Health Effects Launched in EuropeAn anonymous reader writes "The biggest study to date into the effects of cellphone usage on long-term health was launched today, aiming to track at least a quarter of a million of people in five European countries for up to 30 years. The Cohort Study on Mobile Communications (COSMOS) differs from previous attempts to examine links between mobile phone use and diseases such as cancer and neurological disorders in that it will follow users' behaviour in real time. Most other large-scale studies have centred around asking people already suffering from cancer or other diseases about their previous cellphone use. Researchers said long-term monitoring will provide more time for diseases to develop, since many cancers take 10 or 15 years for symptoms to appear."
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Source: Slashdot | 23 Apr 2010 | 3:20 am Palm Runs Out Of Options As HTC Reviews, Declines To Buy The Company
That leaves Palm, which has been struggling to boost sales of its new range of smartphones, running out of options fast. Bloomberg on April 12 reported that the Pre and Pixi maker had tapped Goldman Sachs and Frank Quattrone’s Qatalyst Partners to find a buyer. HTC was cited by a host of industry pundits as the best fit. If the Reuters report checks out, this means bad news for Palm, even if CEO and former Apple exec Jon Rubinstein has been telling press that the company could survive as an independent company in spite of disappointing sales of its flagship handsets. Rubinstein has also expressed interest in an alternative route to an outright acquisition, namely to start licencing other smartphone makers use of its webOS operating system in their devices. We should note that Palm’s head of software and services has just quit the company to pursue a career at Twitter. More and more, Palm looks to be a sinking ship. It makes the company’s new slogan for webOS all the more ironic: “Life moves fast. Don’t miss a thing.” According to this morning’s Reuters report, the only major Asian bidder now left in the field expected to show an interest in the plagued smartphone and software maker is Lenovo, after HTC apparently declining to bid and Huawei dropping out of the bidding race earlier. Lenovo, the world’s number 4 PC brand, had more than $2.4 billion in net cash reserves at the end of 2009, according to its website. Other potential buyers that have been cited by industry analysts in the past include Dell, ZTE, HP, Acer and Nokia. Question is: if even the most likely buyer is not pleased with the numbers, who would be? (Thanks, NeverKnowTech)      
Source: TechCrunch | 23 Apr 2010 | 3:13 am Psyko Audio 5.1 PC Gaming Headset Now AvailableBy Chris Scott Barr If you’ll recall our trip to CES back in January, you may also remember me mentioning a pair of headphones from Psyko. These somewhat strange-looking headphones go above and beyond...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 23 Apr 2010 | 3:13 am Lufthansa offers iPhone 4G loser free beer - Register
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 23 Apr 2010 | 3:06 am UPDATE 2-Fornix close to allergy unit sale, super dividend* Lost court appeal over rejected registration of productSource: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 23 Apr 2010 | 3:05 am AVT, Inc. Upgraded to OTCQB By OTC MarketsCORONA, Calif., April 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- AVT, Inc. (formerly Automated Vending Technologies), (Pink Sheets: AVTC) is pleased to announce that its stock has been upgraded by the OTC Market to OTCQB(TM) U.S. Registered.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 23 Apr 2010 | 3:05 am Landing page for blocked sites in the UAEThis is the page you land on when you try to access Flickr, porn, or any other web sites that are banned in the UAE.Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 23 Apr 2010 | 3:02 am Landing page for blocked sites in the UAE
This is the page you land on when you try to access Flickr, porn, or any other web sites that are banned in the UAE. Source: Boing Boing | 23 Apr 2010 | 3:02 am Lotus Notes Adds Tungle, Tripit and GistThe cloud fundamentally changes the way enterprise applications function. Increasingly we are seeing traditional enterprise applications emerge in the cloud and partner with other Web-based services that...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 23 Apr 2010 | 3:00 am UPDATE 3-India's Wipro results lag rivals; tech demand improves* Sees Q1 IT services revenue up as much as 4 pct from Q4Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 23 Apr 2010 | 2:59 am Is Facebook the New Internet and How Soon Before Microsoft Tries to Buy It ? [Voices]By Mark Cuban, Blogger, Blog Maverick A question for you. When was the last time you surfed the net ? Can you remember when you just clicked around looking to discover new sites or a site to occupy your time ? Read the rest of this post on the original site Source: All Things Digital | 23 Apr 2010 | 2:52 am UPDATE 2-S.Africa's MTN says in talks on potential deal* Says talks may not lead to a transaction, gives no detailsSource: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 23 Apr 2010 | 2:51 am E-Playgrounds Can Get Vicious [Voices]By Taffy Brodesser-Akner, Columnist, New York Times LAST February, I wrote a piece for Salon about the Postpartum Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder I experienced after the traumatic delivery of my son. I was able to, unfortunately, write it from the first person: In the article, I discussed statistics, research and my initial ambivalence over a diagnosis that seemed reserved for war veterans and rape victims. My piece was not meant to evoke sympathy; it was meant to be informative. Read the rest of this post on the original site Source: All Things Digital | 23 Apr 2010 | 2:48 am Motivated Multitasking: How the Brain Keeps Tabs on Two Tasks at Once [Voices]By Katherine Harmon, Contributor, Scientific American The human brain is considered to be pretty quick, but it lacks many of qualities of a super-efficient computer. For instance, we have trouble switching between tasks and cannot seem to actually do more than one thing at a time. So despite the increasing options—and demands—to multitask, our brains seem to have trouble keeping tabs on many activities at once. Read the rest of this post on the original site Source: All Things Digital | 23 Apr 2010 | 2:43 am Apple IPhone Captures 72% of Japan Smartphone MarketApple's iPhone shipments to Japan more than doubled in the past year, capturing 72 percent of the countrys smartphone market, a research firm said, reports Business Week. Shipments of the iPhone, which...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 23 Apr 2010 | 2:41 am Examples NeededI'm writing my next book, The Art of Enchantment. I could use some help with finding real-world examples of the principles of enchantment, so I'm going to use this space to make requests. The first example...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 23 Apr 2010 | 2:40 am Italy approves decree setting wholesale gas capsROME, April 23 (Reuters) - The Italian government on Friday approved a decree setting an antitrust cap that prevents any single operator from having over 40 percent of the Italian wholesale gas market,...Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 23 Apr 2010 | 2:39 am Credit cards losing ground to mobile technology and the InternetMobile phones as payment devices and virtual online currency are among the changes Canadians will see as the credit card industry transforms after increased losses and stepped-up government regulation,...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 23 Apr 2010 | 2:38 am Welcome to the Hotel California: Here's What's Really Happening in the Foursquare Pig Pile [BoomTown]
No, Facebook is not in serious talks to buy Foursquare. No, Microsoft is not poised to snap up the social location start-up, beyond a cursory should-we-look query to itself. No, there is no longer a crazy bidding war going on among major venture players in Silicon Valley, all waiting with bated breath for Foursquare Founder and CEO Dennis Crowley to make his decision of which of them he will deign to take a big pile of money from. In fact, Andreessen Horowitz partner Ben Horowitz was entirely correct when he told BoomTown in an interview, when announcing it was dropping out of the race to fund the company earlier this week: “This is playing out too much in public and clearly someone has an interesting agenda here, so this is not something we want to participate in.” Interesting indeed, although cloddish is probably a better word for what the simple process of deciding on funding versus selling for Foursquare has turned into. The New York-based Foursquare, which hit one million users yesterday and is unprofitable, lets its users “check in” from a variety of locations. It’s an innovative and entertaining concept and a lot of fun, unless you are trying to do a deal with Foursquare. From VCs to Facebook to Yahoo (YHOO)–the only serious bidder to acquire Foursquare so far–sources close to every single player mentioned in the hubbub around the start-up expressed stupefaction about the confusion Crowley’s endless Hamlet act has resulted in. And, in no small measure, annoyance too.
“It’s hard to make rivals all agree on one thing,” said one person close to the situation. “But this just became a pig pile.” Indeed, that was the impetus for Horowitz speaking on the record about the experience of dealing with Foursquare, a move that was unprecedented and unusual. “If the process was changed, we still like the company,” said Horowitz. “But since it has been long and undefined, it is prone to manipulation.” While some suggested that this was just sour grapes on the part of Andreessen Horowitz, because Foursquare had decided to pass on a lower funding offer it made, others involved–including rival VCs–applauded the move. “Foursquare is being just as vague and unclear to us, which I think means they don’t know what they want,” said one VC, who has been considering funding it. “No one minds losing out to someone else, as much as feeling like you’re being played.” That game got another boost today by rumors that Facebook was intently interested in buying Foursquare and delayed its announcement of location features at its f8 conference Wednesday because the social networking site did not want to scotch the impending deal. Actually, no. What is true is that Crowley has been to visit Facebook execs, including CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and there were only cursory discussions about a range of possible ways to work together, including a plan to federate third-party location services at the social networking giant. Also, why not meet? “It’s was a free look,” said one person with knowledge of the chit-chat, the kind which happen all the time between Facebook and companies. “You always say yes when people want to talk, because you can learn a lot.”
As to a purchase: Unlikely at the price of $100 million-plus that Yahoo offered, if ever. “Yahoo needs a solution in the mobile location and local space, because they have nothing,” said another source of the build-or-buy decision. “Facebook has all the tools it needs, as well as 500 million users used to updating their statuses, so what Foursquare is doing is not hard to replicate.” As to Microsoft (MSFT), sources said it, as well as companies like Nokia (NOK), simply have had their interest peaked by all the noise surrounding Foursquare. That is also typical around hot start-ups, and perhaps more so with Microsoft, since it recently signed a deal with Foursquare to integrate its customer data into the Bing search service’s map apps. So what’s left? Well, Silicon Valley VCs, of course, who are always interested in a deal. Despite negligible revenue, Foursquare raised $1.35 million last August, valuing it at $6 million. Foursquare’s current VCs include O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures and Union Square Ventures, as well as a spate of well-known angel investors. New VC valuations have hovered from $50 million to $80 million. But both Accel Partners and Redpoint Ventures, sources said, do not have to active talks going on with Foursquare. One wild card: Free-spending Russian moneybags, Digital Sky Technologies, which has already sunk copious funds into Facebook and games powerhouse Zynga. For certain, after Andreessen Horowitz pulled out, the last one standing seems to be Gideon Yu of Khosla Ventures. And while the eager firm has made an offer, sources said, it has yet to hear back from Foursquare, which is taking its sweet time mulling things over, which can’t make Yu happy either. In other words, mangling the old Eagles song, “Hotel California,”: You can check in any time you like, but you can never leave. So while Crowley searches for the most lucrative exit, let’s enjoy the Eagles’ classic in this video:
Source: All Things Digital | 23 Apr 2010 | 2:37 am #Posterity [Voices]By Christopher Beam, Contributor, Slate.com Among the many criticisms of Twitter, the most common by far is that no one cares what you ate for breakfast. In fact, quite a few people care. “I actually think it’s very useful,” says Paul Freedman, a professor at Yale University who studies the history of food. For him, a 140-character ode to your KFC Double Down—along with the worshipful photo you took before devouring it—could be a priceless historical document. Read the rest of this post on the original site Source: All Things Digital | 23 Apr 2010 | 2:36 am Everything You Wanted To Know About Second Life in the Cloud (But Were Too Afraid to Ask)There's been a lot of news and discussion about running virtual worlds like Second Life or Blue Mars "in the cloud" lately, but what's that actually mean? On their blog, metaverse developers Gianna Borgnine...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 23 Apr 2010 | 2:35 am Behind the Scenes of Washington Post’s "On the trail of a serial rapist" [Voices]By Tracy Boyer, Contributor, Innovative Interactivity Today Kat Downs, Information Designer at The Washington Post (WPO), details her experience designing and building the impressive interface for the series “On the trail of a serial rapist.” I asked her to describe her experience organizing this data-rich story into a clean and compelling interface because I think that many of you will be faced with a similar situation (if you haven’t been already). I know I was overwhelmed when I produced “Above the Law?” for The Roanoke Times! Read the rest of this post on the original site Source: All Things Digital | 23 Apr 2010 | 2:28 am Slam Dunk Formal Wear - 'Who's Got the Power' in Vogue Korea May 2010 Goes Sporty (GALLERY)(TrendHunter.com) Red-haired beauty Lee Hyo-ri is taking on a new sport in her latest work for Vogue Korea May 2010. The shoot 'Who's Got the Power' was shot by photographer Hong Jang Hyun, and brings...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 23 Apr 2010 | 2:27 am India now sees $11 bln rev from spectrum auctions-minNEW DELHI, April 23 (Reuters) - India now expects its third-generation (3G) and broadband spectrum auctions to raise 500 billion rupees ($11.2 billion), much higher than the government's budget estimates...Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 23 Apr 2010 | 2:27 am Here Come the Planet Hunters!At a very special event in Pasadena, Calif., a panel of top scientists discussed exoplanets and alien life. Fortunately, Jennifer Ouellette was in attendance to keep an eye on the proceeds.Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 23 Apr 2010 | 2:23 am UPDATE 1-EU approves Novartis' Diovan for paediatric use* Novartis hypertension drug approved for use in EU childrenSource: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 23 Apr 2010 | 2:15 am One Step Closer to Understanding Dark EnergyMeasuring the influence of dark energy on the universe is a tricky business, but refining our understanding of Type Ia supernovae may uncover the true nature of this mysterious force.Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 23 Apr 2010 | 2:07 am McAfee: rogue anti-virus slipped quality controls (AFP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 23 Apr 2010 | 1:49 am Google's Eric Schmidt Gushes About HTML 5Forrester Research is recommending developers continue developing rich Internet applications and take long pause before embracing HTML 5. For Forrester, HTML 5 is still many years away from becoming a...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 23 Apr 2010 | 1:43 am Pneumatic Belt Fed Nerf Grenade LauncherBy Evan Ackerman Sometimes, 500 Nerf darts per minute is just not enough. Sometimes, you just need heavier artillery. Enter the Mk 19 Nerf grenade launcher, a faithful reproduction of the Mk 19 grenade...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 23 Apr 2010 | 1:39 am Final Fight Brings Restrictive DRM To the PS3Channard writes "As reported by Joystiq, the PS3/PlayStation Network version of Final Fight Double Impact features a rather restrictive piece of digital rights management. In order to launch the game, you have to be logged into the PlayStation Network and if you're not, the game refuses to launch. This could be written off as a bug of some kind except for the fact that the error message that crops up tells you to sign in, suggesting Sony/Capcom intentionally included this 'feature.' Granted, you do have to log into the PlayStation Network to buy the title but as one commentator pointed out, logging in once does not mean you'll be logged in all the time. Curiously, the 360 version has no such restrictions, so you can play the game whether you're online or offline. But annoying as this feature may be, there may be method in Sony's madness. "
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 23 Apr 2010 | 1:38 am US Military Tests X-37B Reusable Spaceship - ABC News
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 23 Apr 2010 | 1:30 am Nokia Reportedly Cuts Phone Prices; Symbian Upgrade Delayed [Voices]By Eric Savitz, Blogger and Columnist, Barron’s, Tech Trader Daily Nokia (NOK) has cut prices for mobile phones across its product portfolio by up to 10 percent, according to Reuters. The wire service notes that the company has also delayed the launch of a revamped version of its Symbian operating system software to the second half of the year from the second quarter, citing “two sources with direct knowledge of the delay. Read the rest of this post on the original site Source: All Things Digital | 23 Apr 2010 | 1:15 am Viral Video: The Google Goats Make It Onto NBC Nightly News–What Will Facebook Do to Counter? [BoomTown]
Not content to lord their environmental superiority over all of Silicon Valley, the Google Goats went national last night on the NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams. Here’s the video from the television news show of them chomping away on the grass at a field on the search giant’s campus in Mountain View, Calif., oblivious to the two-legged nerds all around them. It’s their second year at Google and they’ll be gone soon. What’s most clear is that Facebook is now going to have to one-up them with their own energy-saving lawn initiative, such as a swarm of locusts. Which, if you really think about it, is a pretty good metaphor for the new “Like” button. Here’s the NBC video:
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy Source: All Things Digital | 23 Apr 2010 | 1:11 am VASCO to Release Q1 2010 Results on April 27 - Dial-in InformationOAKBROOK TERRACE, Ill. and ZURICH, April 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --VASCO Data Security International Inc.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 23 Apr 2010 | 1:00 am US, China to resume human rights dialogue (AFP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 23 Apr 2010 | 12:29 am USAF's Robotic X-37B Orbiter Launched For Test FlightAn anonymous reader writes with this excerpt: "The United States Air Force's novel robotic X-37B space plane is tucked inside the bulbous nose cone of an unmanned rocket that blasted off Thursday from Florida on a mission shrouded in secrecy. ... The unmanned military Orbital Test Vehicle 1 (OTV-1) — also known as the X-37B — lifted off at 7:52 p.m. EDT atop an Atlas 5 rocket on a mission that is expected to take months testing new spacecraft technologies. ... Key objectives of the space plane's first flight include demonstration and validation of guidance, navigation and control systems – including a 'do-it-itself' autonomous re-entry and landing at California's Vandenberg Air Force Base with neighboring Edwards Air Force Base as a backup."
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Source: Slashdot | 23 Apr 2010 | 12:18 am New cell phone study to follow 250,000 users for 30 years
The new study is part of the Mobile Telecommunications and Health Research Program, and will follow a group of 250,00 people of all ages for 20 to 30 years. This is the largest study to date, however it is worth nothing that it will not include children. This is particularly odd considering a some studies show children as being particularly susceptible to certain types of radiation.
Source: MobileCrunch | 23 Apr 2010 | 12:07 am BGAN from Stratos Provides Desert Connectivity for Second Stage of Ray Zahab's World Expedition Series--Adventurers and Youth Ambassadors are running the northern Sahara to promote water conservation-- BETHESDA, MD, April 23 /PRNewswire/ - Stratos Global Corporation, the leading global provider of advanced mobile and fixed-site remote communications solutions, today announced it is providing world-renowned adventurer Ray Zahab's "Running Tunisia" expedition with Inmarsat BGAN mobile broadband satellite service. Running Tunisia is the second stage of Zahab's World Expedition Series to raise awareness of the global scarcity of clean water.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 23 Apr 2010 | 12:00 am Bring back blimps!The New York Times asked me and three other people the following question: "The Icelandic volcano that disrupted global air travel last week raised a concern: should we be thinking of alternative ways to move masses of people and goods?" My answer: bring back blimps (and dirigibles).
They even ran a photo of me piloting the Fujifilm blimp back in ought-four.
The New Age of Travel: Blimps and Beyond Ron Conway’s SVAngel Closes $20 Million Venture Fund. He Tells Us How He’ll Invest It [Video]
In February we reported that legendary angel investor Ron Conway was raising a small seed fund for SV Angel from outside investors – which is notable because for the last decade or so he has only invested his own money in startups. Today Conway came by our studio for an unscheduled talk and right off the bat announced that the new fund is now closed, and that over demand led the SV Angel team to double the size of the fund to $20 million. Around fifteen investments have now been closed in the new fund. Conway also spoke about the big trends in tech right now. There are three “megatrends” as he puts it – real time data, the social web and flash marketing. These are all “billion dollar industries” he says.
The explosive growth of Facebook and Twitter illustrates that social media is here to stay, he says. And he thinks a lot of new startups will grow and be successful within this ecosystem. Flash marketing, or social commerce, startups like Gilt Groupe and Groupon have “come out of nowhere” and are revolutionizing ecommerce. In three years, he says, you won’t think about Walmart, Target and Amazon when you think about ecommerce. You’ll think about this whole new wave of companies doing flash marketing. Conway says SV Angel invests in 2-3 startups per month, but 5 qualified deals a day are referred to them through their network. And Conway’s old fashioned human network seems to do just fine in a Facebook world – he says he knows 5,000 or so people who refer deals to him, and that’s pretty much the only way to get to him and his team. SV Angel doesn’t have a website, and if you want to get in front of them you need to be referred by someone they already have a relationship with. Sounds hard? It is. But his track record speaks for itself. Proper due diligence is the only way to invest successfully, Conway has told us before. Using a trusted friend network to pre-screen deals allows them to spend their time on companies they are likely to want to invest in. And even then, only 1 in 30 make the cut. Every deal he’s done in the last year at least, he says, was referred in. Still, if you really want to contact him, Ron gives his email address at the end of the video. I apologize to you for dubbing that out at his request.      
Source: TechCrunch | 22 Apr 2010 | 10:43 pm Aw, shucks… TechCrunch Europe Shortlisted In Media Awards TechCrunch Europe has been shortlisted in the Specialist Digital Publisher category of the prestigious (well OK, we would say that, but it kinda is) UK-based Association of Online Publishers’ Digital Publishing Awards.
Now in its ninth year, the awards were previously dominated by traditional media companies moving online.
But in recent years it's wisely opened up to the new wave of online publishers.
We'll, we're happy with that.
Source: TechCrunch | 22 Apr 2010 | 10:41 pm Fixing Silicon Valley’s Gender Gap One Pitch At A Time
Crystal Yan, a senior at Monta Vista High School in Cupertino, was actively involved in student business organizations and case study competitions, but she never considered a computer science course, much less a career in programming– until she enrolled in the Technovation Challenge— a program that introduces girls to tech entrepreneurship. “I saw this as an intersection of a world that I knew [business] and technology, it was a chance to learn about the other side.” The Technovation Challenge is the Bay area chapter of Iridescent (a non-profit education group that links mentors to students) in partnership with Girls in Tech. Over the course of an eight week program, 45 high school girls and 25 mentors worked in teams to create an Android app from scratch and build out a marketing plan. The program culiminates in “Pitch Night,” an event held this evening at the Microsoft campus in Mountain View. The teams presented their apps and business plans to a panel of business leaders, consisting of Katherine Barr of Mohr Davidow Ventures, Mendel Rosenblum co-founder of VMWare and Adeo Ressi of The Funded. It’s a small program with grand ambitions: to close the huge divide between women and men in Silicon Valley. “We wanted to expose them to high tech, connect them to mentors, and help them understand what opportunities are out there,” says Technovation Challenge’s founder, Anuranjita Tewary. “It’s about confidence.” For all the progress in Silicon Valley, the proportion of male to female founders remains grossly skewed. According to Dunn and Bradstreet data, of the tech firms founded in 2004 only 3% were founded by women. Unfortunately, not much has changed in the last six years. When you think of the top tech leaders, you think of Steve (Jobs, Ballmer), Eric, Ev— the Carol Bartzs, Diane Greenes are the obvious exception, no where near the rule. Talking to students, like Yan, it was interesting to hear how some of the students considered themselves experienced in one field, either technology or business, but were eager to learn about the other side of the equation. Devi Kovi, a sophomore from Monta Vista H.S. who helped create a flash card app called Dotopia, says she has been programming since 7th grade but never fully considered how to leverage those skills into a more entrepreneurial career. “I only had the computer science aspect of it,” she says. “This will help me ultimately start a new company.” The pitches overall were far from perfect, some groups had half-baked business models, while others had a hard time defining their target market and competitors. But the sum of their accomplishments was very impressive. As Barr of MDV says, “It was incredible to see them pull all of this together and pull together a business plan in just a short time….It was unbelievably inspiring.”
The winner of the competition was team Zeal, with an app called Mash, inspired by the classic childhood fortune-telling game, you input potential outcomes and the results can be posted on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. The team won $1,000 per student in college savings bonds, $25,000 to develop the app from MobMark and $5,000 in advertising from AdMob. The second-place winner, which I thought was very promising and well articulated, was team Creanova with Piano Mania. The simple $0.99 application merges education and entertainment by helping users learn how to play the piano through games. The team clearly outlined the competitors, product differentiation and showed the different layers of the app (the first level show the letters of each key, prompting the user to tap those keys, letters disappear as you graduate to the next level) and possible add-ons (two-player games, additional songs). All in all, it was one night, a handful of pitches, for many apps that will never reach the market, but its certainly a step in the right direction.      
Source: TechCrunch | 22 Apr 2010 | 10:24 pm McAfee apologizes for PC anti-virus snafu - BusinessWeek
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 22 Apr 2010 | 10:23 pm Wipro Records 21% YoY Growth in Profit After Tax in Q4 FY10BANGALORE, India and EAST BRUNSWICK, N.J., April 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Wipro Limited (NYSE: WIT) today announced financial results under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) for its fourth fiscal quarter and year ended March 31, 2010. Highlights of the Results: Results for the Quarter ended March 31, 2010 IT Services Revenue in constant currency was $1,180 million, with a sequential increase of 4.7%.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 22 Apr 2010 | 10:08 pm Microsoft profit jumps 35 pct but investors shrug (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 22 Apr 2010 | 10:05 pm Transparent Nissan 370Z is the star in this sweet engine oil adYeah… I was going to post this a bit earlier but I had an attack of conscience, seeing as how it’s Earth Day and I’m essentially posting an advertisement for Shell Corporation. But the clear Z was too cool to skip altogether. Out of respect for the planet, I’ve scheduled this post ahead for 12:01. Click the video for some hot perspex-on-perspex action. [via Doobybrain]
Source: CrunchGear | 22 Apr 2010 | 10:01 pm April 23, 1516: Bavaria Cracks Down on Beer BrewersIt came to be known as the German Beer Purity Ordinance, but that's not how it started.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 22 Apr 2010 | 10:00 pm Obama's NASA Blueprint Is Challenged in Congress - New York Times
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 22 Apr 2010 | 9:35 pm Facebook And Microsoft Check-In With Foursquare. Will Crowley Sell?
It’s already been widely reported that Yahoo is seriously pursuing a Foursquare acquisition, but now we’re hearing that at least two other companies are in talks or have been in talks recently with the location-based startup as well. And they’re big ones: Facebook and Microsoft. Facebook, from what we’re hearing, has been talking to Foursquare about a range of possibilities in recent weeks, but seems to have cooled on the idea of an outright acquisition. Microsoft, meanwhile, is likely still thinking about buying the company, according to sources. While we’ve already made the case for why Foursquare shouldn’t shouldn’t sell to Yahoo, these other two players offer other interesting options. And, with multiple bidders, the price is undoubtedly going up, probably north of $100 million. One may make an offer that Crowley can’t refuse. “Dennis is seriously considering his options,” says one source about these new bidders. That would seem obvious, but remember that Crowley has already sold one startup (Dodgeball) to a big player (Google) and it left a bad aftertaste in his mouth. Following that acquisition, he (and co-founder Alex Rainert, who just joined Foursquare) left Google in somewhat of a huff. And that’s probably the only reason that Google isn’t also in the running for the hot startup as well right now. And Crowley does have options. There are also no shortage of people just waiting to put money into Foursquare. Last month, we heard that four VC firms, Accel Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, Khosla Ventures and Redpoint Ventures were all in the running to be the lead investor in a new round of funding for Foursquare. A few days ago, BoomTown reported that Andreessen Horowitz backed out. We’re now hearing that Redpoint may be out as well. But BoomTown also noted recently that Russian firm Digital Sky Technologies (which has pumped a ton of money into Facebook and Zynga) is trying to invest as well. We’ve heard the same thing. The round, if taken, would probably total $10 million and could value the company around $60 or $70 million. Previously, Foursquare raised a $1.35 million round. So why not sell? Well, aside from the bad experience Crowley had selling to a big company, Foursquare has been seeing quite a bit of success recently. While the company isn’t yet profitable, it is already making revenue off of some of its partnership deals. And new deals are seemingly being signed on a daily basis. Also, a strong surge of new users post-SXSW helped the service hit 1 million users today. And businesses are signing up quickly using its newly released tools. Foursquare certainly could also opt to take some money off the table in a new round of funding, that would allow its employees to make some money without selling the company. So why sell? Well, there’s no shortage of thought that Foursquare’s success may be fleeting. Many think that when Facebook does inevitably enter the location space, it will be game-over for many of these services specializing in check-ins. But based on what we’re hearing, that may not be true. Many people wondered why Facebook didn’t announce any location features yesterday at f8, but as we noted the night before the event, their location plans likely aren’t finalized yet, and they’ve been experimenting with a lot of different things. That includes federating check-ins from services such as Foursquare and Gowalla. As Inside Facebook dug up yesterday in Facebook’s new protocols documentation, its looks like Facebook will be open to accepting location data from other sources. So while they’ve talked to companies like Loopt and Foursquare about possible acquisitions, it would seem that this federation model is what they’re going to stick with for now. Foursquare and Facebook have also been talking about other types of arrangements, perhaps broader partnerships, according to people familiar with such talks. If that’s the case, maybe Crowley would be crazy to sell to the likes of Yahoo or Microsoft now. If he could leverage the nearly 500 million Facebook users rather than be stomped by them, his service can probably grow even faster. But, another source believes that Crowley is leaning towards selling. “Who wouldn’t be? 12 months = $100 million. Assume he had 50% when they started and you’re probably talking $20 million plus for him personally. Not a bad yearly bonus.” Indeed. Neither Foursquare nor Microsoft have returned requests for a comment. Facebook will only say “we don’t typically comment on rumor or speculation.”      
Source: TechCrunch | 22 Apr 2010 | 9:31 pm Lawmakers Want a Space Shuttle In New York CityHugh Pickens writes "Bloomberg reports that New York Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand and a bipartisan delegation of 17 US representatives from New York and New Jersey have sent a letter to NASA Administrator Charles Bolden calling for the agency to place a shuttle aboard the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in New York City. A former aircraft carrier, Intrepid served as one of NASA's recovery vehicles for early space flights. Intrepid officials have gathered almost 57,000 signatures on a petition to bring an orbiter to New York, and NASA is weighing 21 bids from visitors' centers, science museums and educational institutions eager to host one of the three aging space shuttles that will be retired this year. 'These are going to be like the Mona Lisa,' says space historian John Logsdon, referring to Leonardo da Vinci's iconic 1506 portrait of a woman in Florence that remains on display at the Louvre Museum in Paris. 'The primary criteria for the shuttles' location will be the stability of the site and whether the chosen institutions can exhibit them for the next 500 years.'"
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 22 Apr 2010 | 9:27 pm Mobile TV: Better Options Coming Soon (PC World)PC World - The iPhone got people thinking that watching TV on a phone could be more (and better) than a mere novelty.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 22 Apr 2010 | 9:10 pm Some gadget reviews for you: Intuos 4 Wireless, Envy 13, MusicSkins
Intuos 4 Wireless graphics tablet
There are two notable improvements here to Wacom's pro-grade graphics tablet. First, it's wireless, hooking up to computers via BlueTooth and recharging via USB. Secondly, the on-tablet buttons and controls are vastly improved on the third-gen models: there's a configurable iPod-like scrollwheel (draw circles to change brush size, zoom, rotation, or working layer) and eight buttons assignable to special commands. Tiny LCD displays indicate what each is set to do.
The "Precision Mode" button, for example, slows tracking speed down while depressed--great for fine detail work in shoop. Also super is the menu system: hit an appropriately configured button, and a radial set of options appears around your pointer, offering common keyboard shortcuts, app switching and all that jazz. It (and its wired-only brethren) also looks much nice than earlier models. Black and clean-lined, it makes the utilitarian and space-filling nature of the device more tolerable to those who like minimal clutter on their deskspace. The pen holder comes with a bunch of differently-textured nibs, too, which is great. The benefit of the 16:9 surface ratio I felt, but the 2048 levels of sensitivity (double the Intuos 3's) I did not. Working wirelessly, its not as smooth or precise as when hooked up by USB. If you don't notice the difference between Bluetooth and wired mice, you won't notice this, either. But myself, I think I'd have been happier with a custom RF dongle, like Logitech and Microsoft use with decent wireless mice. The wired connection, however, is of course perfect. It never presented any technical woes, tested with a current-gen iMac, except when running out on battery power after a few hours' untethered use. One nit: with the default nib, the click occasionally stayed "down" even (like having a sticky left mouse button) after lifting the pen tip off the tablet. Changing sensitivity settings didn't seem to fix this, but switching to a different nib did. Product Page [Intuos] - Amazon 
Music Skin Product Page [Music Skins]
HP Envy 13 Unless you really want that high-def display, I can't recommend it over a 13" MBP (itself freshly upgraded and still cheaper, even when you add in a copy of Windows 7). But it's a close-run thing! Product Page [HP] Source: Boing Boing | 22 Apr 2010 | 8:37 pm Malaria-carrying mosquitoes = Nature's frat boys?It's hard to follow the bisexual killer fungus, but how about this: A new study suggests that Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes (the main carriers of malaria in Africa) are attracted to the smell of beer and prefer victims who've been drinking. Quote the Conclusions: "These results suggest that beer consumption is a risk factor for malaria." Source: Boing Boing | 22 Apr 2010 | 8:08 pm So about that deadly fungus...Look, I don't mean to freak y'all out. But we may have a little issue with some killer tropical fungus adapting to North American climates. Oh, and it might also be getting more virulent, apparently thanks to bisexual fungus hedonism. Source: Boing Boing | 22 Apr 2010 | 7:55 pm Online video site Hulu to test pay subscriptions - Los Angeles Times
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 22 Apr 2010 | 7:49 pm August Capital And CRV Spend $11.2 Million At Blippy. Valuation Now $46.2 Million.
As we first reported last month, Blippy has raised another round of funding. Following the initial $1.6 million angel round in January, the controversial service has just raised another $11.2 million. As we expected, the latest round was led by August Capital and partner David Hornik will join Blippy’s board. Humorously, Hornik shared his investment on Blippy itself, so we know he put in about $8 million 8 days ago (it was hidden until just now). “I think this is my biggest purchase on Blippy,” Hornik quipped. The rest of the money is from Charles River Ventures, which had led the angel round. Blippy’s valuation is now $46.2 million post-money, we’re told. So what’s the plan for the new money? “Expanding our services, doing marketing, and closing some large business development deals,” co-founder Philip Kaplan tells us. Currently, Blippy has 10 employees. Since the service launched in December, it has been a lightning rod for controversy. In a world where some people are hesitant to check-in at places using location services, the idea of posting credit card transactions truly terrifies some. But others seem to love the service, including some retailers. And clearly, investors love it too. Information provided by CrunchBase      
Source: TechCrunch | 22 Apr 2010 | 7:46 pm Does Earth Day matter?
Treehugger interviewed 22 eco-centric bloggers and activists for a "True Meaning of Christmas"-style round up, asking, "With all the commercialization and greenwashing, is Earth Day still important to people who actually care about the Earth?" The answers cover a nice range of opinion. I rather like journalist Alissa Walker's take:
OK, so that's a rather Utopian image. I certainly don't see all of America suddenly getting the day off for Earth Day any time soon. But the idea of returning to the holiday's very Maker-y, self-education beginnings is do-able, fun and actually productive. Gives me ideas for next year. Also, my 2 cents: Has Earth Day become a watered-down consumerbration for the non-activist masses? Yup. Is that necessarily a totally bad thing? I think not. Look, you can't do anything to change the way we treat this planet—and each other—on one day a year. But neither can you achieve that goal by keeping environmentalism cloistered away as something only for the truly dedicated who "do it right". Earth Day attracts corporate greenwashing and wasteful silliness, but it also attracts crowds. And some of them stick around for the other 364 days. Earth Day is partly responsible for the mainstreaming of environmentalism (which is good) and it continues to be partly responsible for further mainstreaming. This year, my mother—a nice, Conservative lady who lives in the Ozarks and thinks Glenn Beck is a hoot—is in the process of getting wind power installed on her land. She's using CFLs. She's got a rain barrel and she's concerned about energy efficiency. We can't make a difference without people like my mom on board. Earth Day plays a role in that. Source: Boing Boing | 22 Apr 2010 | 7:43 pm Google gives up investigation on Nexus One 3GSection: Communications, Cellphones, Smartphones, Mobile  When Google launched the Nexus One several months ago, the giant search company received many complaints about 3G coverage for their device. While Google blamed it on location and the network, T-Mobile said, “Not so fast,” and said that the phone itself was causing the issue. Now that some time has passed and the complaints have died down a bit, Google has decided to just give up on investigating the source of the shotty 3G coverage. What makes me a bit more frustrated then the fact that they are giving up on improving their product, is the fact that they then recommend that you, “change locations.” What? So if I want to use your “superphone” I need to move to another location just so I can use the phone’s built-in functionality? I guess since it is Google that is recommending this, we should all obey. Read [Engadget] Full Story » | Written by Hunter Clarke for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 22 Apr 2010 | 7:39 pm Lever-activated faucet: get one
I try to minimize my own water usage, but sometimes there’s just no way to turn the tap on and off in a timely fashion — or is there? Yes, there is, and it’s existed for decades, you just don’t have one in your home yet. Time to get one. It’s a lever-activated faucet, silly, you knew that because you read the headline. For $40 you’ll have a nice chrome faucet that will take away that gnawing feeling inside of having wasted too much water while shaving or brushing your teeth. It won’t take away the gnawing feeling on your ankle from the coyote that’s taken over the den, though. Just don’t go in there! It’s obviously not friendly, look at its eyes! Anyway, I might just pick one of these up in honor of Earth Day, but you definitely should, because you earn more than me. Yes, I’m sure. Ask the coyote. Don’t ask the coyote! [via Lifehacker]
Source: CrunchGear | 22 Apr 2010 | 7:36 pm One Millionsquare: Foursquare Hits The Big Number
Yesterday, Foursquare hinted the milestone was coming soon with a tweet saying, “We’re closing in on 1 million users! Current count is 969,775. Looks like that’s we may have something to toast during Friday Happy Hour :).” It looks like the million threshold was crossed sometime in the past few hours, though the company has yet to officially acknowledge it. Foursquare has been gaining users at a rapid clip since the so-called Location War at SXSW in March. During the course of the conference, Foursquare signed up some 120,000 new users in just 10 days. Clearly, they’ve been able to keep up those great sign-up rates, and likely even expand upon them. And during peak times they were approaching 400,000 check-ins a day (which also obviously means that not all users are using it on a daily basis). It took Foursquare just over a year to get to a million users. By comparison, it took Twitter about 2 years to get one million users. Of course now, two years after that, Twitter has over 100 million users. Foursquare, undoubtedly, would love to see that type of growth — assuming they don’t sell first.
Information provided by CrunchBase      
Source: TechCrunch | 22 Apr 2010 | 7:12 pm EdgeRank: The Secret Sauce That Makes Facebook’s News Feed Tick
You may not realize it, but News Feed only displays a subset of the stories generated by your friends — if it displayed everything, there’s a good chance you’d be overwhelmed. Developers are always trying to make sure their sites and apps are publishing stories that make the cut, which has led to the concept of “News Feed Optimization”, and their success is dictated by EdgeRank. At a high level, the EdgeRank formula is fairly straightforward. But first, some definitions: every item that shows up in your News Feed is considered an Object. If you have an Object in the News Feed (say, a status update), whenever another user interacts with that Object they’re creating what Facebook calls an Edge, which includes actions like tags and comments.
Each Edge has three components important to Facebook’s algorithm:
Multiply these factors for each Edge then add the Edge scores up and you have an Object’s EdgeRank. And the higher that is, the more likely your Object is to appear in the user’s feed. It’s worth pointing out that the act of creating an Object is also considered an Edge, which is what allows Objects to show up in your friends’ feeds before anyone has interacted with them. In other, hopefully less confusing words, an Object is more likely to show up in your News Feed if people you know have been interacting with it recently. That really isn’t particularly surprising. Neither is the resulting message to developers: if you want your posts to show up in News Feed, make sure people will actually want to interact with them. Some other interesting points: Steinberg hinted that a simpler version of News Feed may be on the way, as the current two-tabbed system is a bit complicated. That said, many people still use both tabs, with over 50% of users clicking over to the ‘most recent’ tab on a regular basis. There were some things that the Facebook engineers wouldn’t talk about — the group sort of punted on a question regarding how stories initially get seeded, explaining that they weren’t going to unveil all of EdgeRank’s secrets. But they did say that there are some signals involved that weren’t detailed during the talk, and that they’re experimenting with more, like analyzing the outbound links users click on. If you want to watch the video for yourself, click here, navigate to the Techniques sessions, and click on ‘Focus on Feed’. The talk about Facebook’s algorithms begins around 22 minutes in. Information provided by CrunchBase      
Source: TechCrunch | 22 Apr 2010 | 7:00 pm Freezing the Boeing 787 using weather control technologySo where exactly are you supposed to go if you need to freeze one of largest passenger jet planes ever made? Well if you’re Boeing, you go to the McKinley Climatic Chamber at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. This facility is designed to simulate anything from the most extreme freeze, to the hottest desert. You have to wonder though, what is the military doing with this technology? Is this part of Bill Gates’ agenda to control the weather? Ordinarily, the jet would have just been flown up into the arctic and test there, but due to delays Boeing missed the timing on winter. After they realized that it wouldn’t time out properly, Boeing announced that they would be flying the jet to Florida to be tested. The advantage of the McKinley Climatic Chamber is that not only will Boeing be able to test the cold, but they also plan on testing the jet in high desert temperatures. [via Autopia]
Source: CrunchGear | 22 Apr 2010 | 7:00 pm HDTV Has Ruined the LCD Display Marketalvin67 writes "Microsoft Evangelist, Pete Brown rants about the lack of pixels available in today's LCD screens: 'Ok, that's it. I've had it. I want my pixels, damn-it! For a while, screen resolution has been going up on our desktop displays. The trend was good, as I've always wanted the largest monitor with the highest DPI that I could afford. I mean, I used to have one of the first hulking 17" CRTs on my desk. I later upgraded to a 21-inch job that was so huge, that if you didn't stick it in a corner, it took up the whole desk. It was flat-panel, though and full of pixels. It cost me around $1100 at the time." After some years of improvements, we've regressed, in Brown's opinion: "At the rate we were going for a while, we should have had twice or three times the DPI on a 24 or 23 inch screen. But nooo."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 22 Apr 2010 | 6:34 pm Did you know? Sony can pull a Reverse Amazon and push updates to your PS3
While I might have at first considered it boilerplate to say that they may provide matchmaking services and trophy tracking without your express consent every time, that second bit does go out of its way to say “no, this is about us keeping the PS3 in Sony-approved condition.” I actually glanced over this EULA when I was researching that User’s Manifesto post. I ended up using Apple’s EULA as a sample, but as it turns out, the Sony one might have been even better. The language says, without exaggeration, that they may change settings and shut off access to your own software and hardware, without asking and without notification. Do you like the sound of that? I doubt it. But you did agree to those terms. Luckily, it seems Sony hasn’t felt the need to exert this power yet, seeing as the clause above has been in the PS3 EULA since launch and we haven’t heard of anything as nauseating as the Amazon thing. Cold comfort that. It really just amounts to something a PS3 hacker needs to account for (find the method by which automatic updates occur; block it), but it sends a chill up your spine, doesn’t it — what’s next, remote access of the Eye to check if you’re not having enough fun? Quick! Check the EULA! [via HardOCP; image: Penny Arcade]
Source: CrunchGear | 22 Apr 2010 | 6:30 pm Appletell reviews iDisplay for iPhone and iPadFROM APPLETELL - iDisplay turns your iDevice into a mini monitor suitable for small apps like Twitter, buddy lists or tool palettes. It’s a perfect idea, but less than desirable in terms of performance. Full Story » | Written by NEWS for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 22 Apr 2010 | 6:22 pm Automatic app updates coming to Android 2.2?
How many of you guys have been suckered into updating an app, only to find that the only new feature is ads, or a timer? I’m currently using an old version of Klaxon because the new free version only allows for alarms on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. I mean, it’s basically a demo, but if my app had been conveniently updated to that version, I would have been pissed. On the other hand, OTA updates would be wonderful for security problems or minor bugfixes. Interestingly, as a commenter points out, the 2.2 update is running on a MyTouch, which hasn’t even gotten 2.1 yet. Could 2.2 be a big “sync” update that brings some of the older phones into the fold? I’m not holding out much hope for my G1, but it would be nice.
Source: MobileCrunch | 22 Apr 2010 | 6:12 pm Review: Zoe Saldana Nearly Redeems 'The Losers'Even an ass-kicking Star Trek babe with two guns a-blazin' can't salvage this predictable action flick.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 22 Apr 2010 | 6:00 pm Found: The Future of Children's Books"Yes, I am your parent, just me all alone," writes the author in My Clone, My Own, a children's book from the year 2024.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 22 Apr 2010 | 6:00 pm Growing Solar Panels Is Cheap, Efficient and (Relatively) EasyPASADENA, California -- There are many political and economic barriers to widely adopting solar panels, but part of the problem is also technological. Now, researchers at Caltech have created a new solar-panel material that could replace solar cells as we know them.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 22 Apr 2010 | 6:00 pm Nerdy Number Cruncher Makes Biking a BlastCatEye's new bike computer answers every bike commuter's call.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 22 Apr 2010 | 6:00 pm Found Photoshop Contest: The Future of In-Flight EntertainmentWired needs YOU. Tell us what you think in-flight entertainment will look like 10, 20, or even 100 years from now: What will be in the SkyMall magazine? What will you see out your window? What's on the menu?
Source: Wired Top Stories | 22 Apr 2010 | 6:00 pm Nerdy Number Cruncher Makes Biking a BlastCatEye's new bike computer answers every bike commuter's call.
Source: Wired: Gadgets | 22 Apr 2010 | 6:00 pm Recycle Your Old Gadgets on Wired.com With YouRenew
Lots of companies these days provide take-back programs that let consumers get rid of old gear responsibly. We’ve got nothing against that, and more companies ought to be doing it. And there’s always EBay. Still, navigating all of the various recycling policies can be a problem. Even if we all know recycling is the right thing to do, it can be a hassle. I don’t know about you, but I’ve got at least four cell phones in my drawer I no longer use, not to mention old junk at home. (Tivo Series One, anyone?) YouRenew is one of a number of start-ups looking to turn that old junk into cash, while also diverting harmful discards from the landfill. (Disclosure: Wired gets a percentage of each sale.) Coinciding with the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, we’re kicking off a challenge aimed at recycling 40,000 consumer electronics devices between April 22 and May 21. Participating is easy. Look for the Wired YouRenew widget (displayed above) on Wired.com. Find some old gear you no longer want, and enter the device into the widget. Answer some questions about the condition of your gear, and you’ll get an offer. 
Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 22 Apr 2010 | 5:54 pm Kissing The Mark Pincus Zynga Ring
CEO Mark Pincus remains the center of attention, though, and he certainly doesn’t mind speaking his mind. In a Details Magazine article with an apparently alcohol-fueled interview, Pincus manages to slight Twitter – “They think it’s cool that the State Department asked them to keep the servers running during the Iranian protests” and then showed anger over the media’s coverage of him and Zynga over donations to Haiti: “It’s really reprehensible. I feel morally offended that we get attacked by the media for doing something good and no one else is outraged when these people are wrong,” There’s also a hint of insecurity and a cry for attention – “A little gratitude might be nice, he adds. “We invented social gaming. We were the first ones to figure out virtual goods and social pay, and we’ve helped the whole industry. They haven’t thanked us for it.”" Pincus also gloats over his Crunchie award as CEO of the year, suggesting that people who criticized him over Scamville, and in particular the “horrible things” video, wanted to “kiss the ring” now that he’s on top:
Pincus seems to be a man who manages to take both criticism and praise poorly. But there’s no denying that these annoyingly addictive games are making money hand over fist. Silicon Valley has a history of brash and sometimes flawed entrepreneurs doing great things. Sometimes it’s those flaws that drive them to success. So I’ll continue to kiss the Mark Pincus ring, even though he seems to piss everyone off around him every time he opens his mouth.      
Source: TechCrunch | 22 Apr 2010 | 5:53 pm Did Someone Finally Pull The Plug On Bloglines Or Is It Just Having A Bad Day?
Bought by IAC in February 2005 for around $10 million, the site has been in jeopardy ever since the launch of Google Reader long ago, compounded by the shift from RSS to realtime news streams. Over the past few years, the site hasn’t launched any new or innovative features to boost usage. And we recently heard that IAC was strongly considering shutting it down. At that point, IAC decided not to shutter the service but was looking for ways to refurbish Bloglines. While the site could be on its way to the deadpool, the cause for the outage could also be a product update. While we’re hoping it’s the latter, it’s going to take more than a feature update to revive the dying RSS service. We’ve contacted IAC for comment and will update with a response. UPDATE: IAC’s PR rep emailed us this response: “Bloglines is down for scheduled maintenance. We regret any inconvenience to our users and it should be back up soon.” However, despite it’s being a “scheduled maintenance,” the rep could not provide the time when it is scheduled to be back up again. Information provided by CrunchBase      
Source: TechCrunch | 22 Apr 2010 | 5:40 pm Pinball HD released for iPad (Macworld.com)Macworld.com - iPad-owning pinball wizards rejoice! OOO Gamepromâs The Pinball HD has made its way to Appleâs tablet.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 22 Apr 2010 | 5:32 pm Left 4 Dead 2 DLC now available. Too bad Xbox 360 players have to pay for it.
There’s pretty much no need to write this next story, especially if you’re a fan, but… Valve, darling developers that they are, have released the very first DLC for Left 4 Dead 2, The Passing. I was supposed to mention this fact this morning, forgot about it, then logged into Steam to see something downloading. “What the heck is downloading? I don’t remember authorizing this? Oh, it’s the L4D2 DLC. Wasn’t I supposed to write about that?” As you can see, I live a very exciting life. The DLC, which is free for PC users—Xbox 360 users have to pay 560 Microsoft Points (around $7.00)—adds the original Left 4 Dead cast to the game, along with three new maps, a couple new weapons, a new zombie type, and Achievement Points. Additionally, Valve employees will be playing the game 7pm-11pm PDT (10pm-1am EDT) on the Xbox 360 version under the following GamerTags: L4D2 DEV 1, L4D2 DEV 2, L4D2 DEV 3, L4D2 DEV 4, L4D2 DEV 5, L4D2 DEV 6, L4D2 DEV 7, L4D2 DEV 8, L4D2 DEV 9, L4D2 DEV 10. The PC version play-along is wrapping up as I type this, so yeah, oops. But man, what’s the deal with Xbox 360 owners having to pay for the DLC while PC gamers don’t have to? Presumably it’s some sort of 360 licensing thing. Still, lame.
Source: CrunchGear | 22 Apr 2010 | 5:30 pm E. Rex Is a 3-Wheeled Electric HooliganOptaMotive's Automotive X Prize entry is as quick as it is quirky.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 22 Apr 2010 | 5:20 pm 2010 NFL Draft apps for iPhoneFROM APPLETELL - Are you ready for the 2010 NFL Draft? It starts tonight, you know. Here’s a quick rundown of some of the better draft and draft related iPhone apps I’ve found. Full Story » | Written by NEWS for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 22 Apr 2010 | 5:18 pm Twitter is the history of the everypersonTwitter archives at the Library of Congress—along with the Internet, in general—will offer future historians a new way to write about the past, argues Slate's Christopher Beam. For the first time, we'll have the story of average people—rather than just the "Great Men" or the upper classes—recorded as it happens, by the people it happened to. Imagine how a perspective like that would change our understanding of Ancient Rome, or even early-20th century cooking. Source: Boing Boing | 22 Apr 2010 | 5:16 pm At Issue In a Massachusetts Town, the Value of Two-ThirdsAn anonymous reader writes "In Truro, Massachusetts (a town on Cape Cod), a zoning decision came up for vote, where the results were 136 for, 70 against. The vote required 2/3 approval to pass. The Town Clerk and Town Accountant believe that since .66 * 206 is less than 136, the vote passes. However, an 'anonymous caller' noted that a more accurate value of 2/3 would require 137 (or perhaps even 138 votes) for the measure to be considered passed. The MA Secretary of State and State Attorney General are hard at work to resolve this issue." Updated 20100422 23:55 by timothy: Oops! This story is a year old (rounding up), which I didn't spot quickly enough. Hope they've got it all worked out in the meantime.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 22 Apr 2010 | 5:09 pm From rebellious roots, Earth Day now mainstream - The Associated Press
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 22 Apr 2010 | 5:08 pm Dolby Labs: Laptops should have surround sound too!
Dolby is working with various OEMs to include a number of new audio driver technologies. Dolby Home Theater v3, Dolby Advanced Audio, and Dolby Headphone. All three are post-processing that optimize your sound for the specific laptop you’re working on, bass and high frequency boost, and do a bit of compression repair. Unlike most “enhancers”, the Dolby algorithms don’t sound like a graphic EQ just haphazardly slapped on the signal. And they’re smart enough to not mess with your uncompressed material. Now for all the surround sound stuff. First, you can get simulated surround sound on any pair of headphones. It may not sound as distinct as actual 5.1 or 7.1 headphones, but the Dolby software will recreate the full sound field with any stereo headphones. Not the best solution, but for the price and portability, you can’t beat it. Also, instead of requiring separate sound cards with multiple ports, these drivers will sum the multiple channels of a surround signal to one. End result, you can run a single cable from your PC’s audio out to any surround sound receiver. Now you can hear all that pirated material the way it was supposed to. Look for the “Approved by Dolby” sticker on various Sony, Lenovo, Toshiba, Acer, and Medion models in the coming year.
Source: CrunchGear | 22 Apr 2010 | 5:00 pm Wicked headphones – you know, for the Hot Topic kids
The company that makes these already has its stuff in a lot of stores, and I have no doubt that these headphones are already available with different color schemes and trim. Ah well. Some kid buying $30 in-ears is doing himself a favor — that’s how I started caring about how my music really sounded, instead of just blasting it really loud through a pair of $9 buds.
Source: CrunchGear | 22 Apr 2010 | 4:40 pm Why Your NFL Team's Draft Strategy SucksMost NFL teams have a sucky strategy at selecting their draft picks. Why? They're not looking at the numbers and crunching the data. Here's the geeking-out they should be doing.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 22 Apr 2010 | 4:29 pm Have photo fun the corrosive chemical way! I've been doing a daily photoblog project and have become a fan of Photojojo, a site with an infectiously enthusiastic attitude toward the act of shooting. Like Salt & Fat, the cooking blog I wrote about here a couple of days ago, Photojojo seeks to strip the mystery away from its subject, and to knock down the idea that its practitioners are a kind of priesthood average people can never hope to join. It accomplishes this partly through its newsletter and partly via its store, which sells a wide array of cool and useful tools. Case in point: Smoke drops. A touch of smoke can add mystery to an image, can add visual variety, can even help in constructing a narrative. But where does the average amateur go to get smoke that's dense and long-lasting enough to shoot? Italy, as it turns out. That's where Photojojo sources this useful set of chemical drops. Combine a squirt from Bottle A and a dash from Bottle B, and voila -- Smokiness. The site is also thoughtful enough to provide a FAQ, which includes the helpful advice that "The drops are quite corrosive," so as a general rule you don't want to get them mixed up with your contact lens solution. That caution aside, the drops provide a quick and easy way for any home shooter to add a touch of noir without burning his house down. Source: Boing Boing | 22 Apr 2010 | 4:28 pm South Park's Episode 201 — the Expurgated VersionYesterday we mentioned the controversy facing Matt Stone and Trey Parker after last week's South Park (episode 200) depicted Muhammad, founder of Islam, concealed in a bear suit. Today, penguinman1337 writes "Apparently, all is not well over at Comedy Central. The heavily censored version of episode 201 that aired last night has a lot of people angry, including the show's creators." From their note: "In the 14 years we've been doing South Park we have never done a show that we couldn't stand behind. We delivered our version of the show to Comedy Central and they made a determination to alter the episode. It wasn't some meta-joke on our part. Comedy Central added the bleeps."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 22 Apr 2010 | 4:24 pm Associated Cities(R) Announces Domain Name Auction to Feature Geo, Travel and Local Search Internet Real EstateST. LOUIS, April 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Associated Cities, Inc.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 22 Apr 2010 | 4:23 pm 26 Percent of Wired's Mobile Traffic Comes From iPadJust three weeks after its launch, the iPad already accounts for almost 1 percent of Wired.com's overall traffic -- and more than a quarter of our mobile traffic.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 22 Apr 2010 | 4:18 pm RFS Unveils HYBRIFLEX, the World's First Lightweight Aluminum Hybrid Feeder Cabling Solution for Remote Radio HeadsCOLOMBES, France, April 22, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- With HYBRIFLEX, its revolutionary new RRH hybrid feeder cabling solution, Radio Frequency Systems (RFS), the global wireless and broadcast infrastructure specialist, becomes the first company to combine optical fiber and DC power for Remote Radio Heads (RRHs) in a single lightweight aluminum corrugated cable.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 22 Apr 2010 | 4:16 pm Is Time Travel Possible?Modern culture is inundated with tales of time travel. But is it really possible to travel through time? I talk with theoretical physicist and cosmologist Paul Davies, author of "How to Build a Time Machine," to find out.Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 22 Apr 2010 | 4:14 pm Liveblogging Microsoft’s Earnings Call [Voices]By John Kell, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal Driven by strong sales of its flagship Windows operating system, Microsoft’s profit rose 35 percent in the fiscal third quarter, surpassing analyst estimates. Clearly, the company is seeing a nice bit of uplift from a recovering PC market. Below, excerpts of The Wall Street Journal Digits liveblog of Microsoft’s earnings call, led by CFO Peter Klein and Chief Accounting Officer Frank Brod.
Read the rest of this post on the original site Source: All Things Digital | 22 Apr 2010 | 4:12 pm White robber wore lifelike black mask
Alleged bank robber Conrad Zdzierak is said to have used a $650 mask called “The Player” to fool security cameras. Check out a video of the mask here. Investigators believe Zdzierak likely removed the mask between the robberies in order to confuse the cops who believed they were looking a black man. White robber nabbed wearing African-American 'Hollywood' mask (Via Steve Silberman)
Amazon profit up 68 pct; outlook scares investors (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 22 Apr 2010 | 4:11 pm PS3 firmware 3.30 makes the console 3DFROM GAMERTELL - Sony has released firmware 3.30 for the PS3. It makes the Trophy System easier to organize and makes the system compatible with 3D TVs. The Japanese PS3 firmware page also mentions future VAIO Remote Play compatibility. Full Story » | Written by NEWS for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 22 Apr 2010 | 4:03 pm Win a 3D printer from Make and MakerbotBecky says: To celebrate (one last time) the success of our Desktop Manufacturing issue of MAKE, we've teamed up with the folks at MakerBot Industries. We're going to be giving away a CupCake CNC, in the first ever official MakerBot CupCake CNC giveaway and Thingiverse design challenge! One lucky 3D designer will win a Deluxe CupCake CNC kit for his/her contribution to Thingiverse, and five runners up will receive something special too! 
Contest details here. I hate computers: confessions of a sysadmin
I hate computers. No, really, I hate them. I love the communications they facilitate, I love the conveniences they provide to my life, and I love the escapism they sometimes afford; but I actually hate the computers themselves. Computers are fragile, unintuitive things — a hodge-podge of brittle, hardware and opaque, restrictive software. Why? But the damned computers get in the way of all the things the computers help us do. There’s this whole artificial paradigm about administrator accounts, and security, and permissions, and all other manner of things that people don’t care about. A host of ancillary software is required just to keep your computer running, but that software introduces more complexity and more points of failure, and ends up causing as much grief as it’s intended to resolve. Computer error messages are worthless. Another user I support has had nothing but trouble with Adobe Acrobat. Trying to open PDFs from within his browser fails spectacularly. Either the links simply never open, or they open a completely blank page, or Internet Explorer renders an error page suggesting that there’s a network problem! The user can right-click and “Save As” the links to get the PDFs, and I’m thankful that this user understand how to right-click at all, such that he has a viable workaround to the problem until I can find the root cause. But many, many users do not know what the right mouse button is for.
Even when things go right, users are left to feel powerless and stupid. Installing almost any program on a Windows based system involves an inordinate number of clicks, all of them just saying “Okay” “Okay” “Okay”. No one reads the click-through EULAs, no one changes the default installation location, and no one selects specific installation options. They just keep clicking “Okay” because that’s what they’ve been trained to do. And then they end up with four extra toolbars in their browser and a bunch of “helper” programs that don’t actually help the user in any way and which they user doesn’t actually want. And they don’t know how to get rid of them. Computers don’t make sense. Removing software is another cause of much consternation for users. Again, Mac and Linux make it pretty easy most of the time. Heck, on any Linux system I can enumerate all of the packages installed in seconds with a single command from the package manager (or click of the appropriate button using a GUI for the package manager). But in any Windows machine — even a brand new one with top-of-the-line hardware — it requires long minutes to enumerate and display the installed software; and to make things worse the “Add and Remove Software” control panel item doesn’t actually show you all the installed applications. And removing any particular piece of software is not always a clean operation: cruft is left behind in the filesystem and the registry (don’t even get me started on my loathing of the Windows registry!). Speaking of filesystems, why is it that a SQL database can find a specific record in a database of millions of records in a fraction of a second, but finding a specific file on your hard drive takes minutes? I’m sure there’s some very real reason why filesystems are so unfriendly to users, but I’ll be darned if I can explain it to any of my users. Computers are too complex to use. The pace of change in the computer industry works against users. The whole color-coded ports initiative was a great step toward end user convenience, but that’s not enough when users now need to know the difference between VGA, DVI, and DisplayPort. A lot of the computers that are coming into my office have all three video ports, and the monitors support multiple inputs, leaving users to wonder which one(s) they should use when setting up their PC. I’ve had multiple calls from really smart graduate students who couldn’t figure out how to connect the computer to the monitor. Sure, it’s an easy joke to make fun of these situations, but it’s a damning indictment of the computer industry as a whole, if you ask me. Like Nicholas, I’ve never had a malware infection on any computer I own; but I’ve helped lots of people — users I support professionally, and family and friends — recover from malware infections. Can you imagine your mother-in-law being able to find and follow these instructions for removing malware? Or worse, knowing about and responding to a botched antivirus update from your AV software? Computers fail spectacularly, taking all our data with them. It’s so easy to amass a huge amount of data today — digital photo archives, MP3 collections, and video — that it’s a real pain to reliably back up. Not only is it a pain, it’s expensive. You shell out a couple hundred bucks for a fancy new camera, and you’ll need to shell out a couple hundred more bucks to get an external hard drive onto which you can duplicate all your photos for safekeeping. And then, of course, it takes a long time to actually copy your data from your computer to your external hard drive, and you just don’t have the time or patience to commit to that regularly, so you start to neglect it and them *bam* your computer blows up — hard drive failure, malware infection, whatever — and you lose weeks and months worth of irreplaceable data. Sure, some computers come with redundant disks, but most consumer-level RAID is a fragile mix of hardware and software, further complicating the setup. Why haven’t reliable, low-cost RAID solutions reached the mainstream yet? Why don’t end users have better access to useful things like snapshots, or ZFS yet? And what about all the little failures that end users can’t possibly begin to detect or diagnose, like bulged capacitors on their mainboard, or a faulty video card, or wonky RAM? Computers are overwhelming. The Laptop Hunters tried to help people find the right laptop, but Sheila’s $2,000 HP isn’t necessarily the best pick of the available options, is it? Sure, AMD is simplifying its brand. But is that enough to really help people find the best product for their need? Will their branding refresh make any difference at all when there’s still five or ten seemingly identical systems on the shelf at the big box retail computer store? I hate computers. I know my little rant here is like shouting at the storm: there’s a huge, lethargic industry making gobs of cash on the complexity of the computer era, and there’s little capitalistic incentive to change the status quo. These complaints aren’t new. Many of them have been made for the past quarter century. We try, in our little way, to highlight some of the deficiencies we perceive in the industry as a whole, but that’s about all we can do from here. What are you doing about these problems? Maybe I’ll become a plumber…
Source: CrunchGear | 22 Apr 2010 | 4:00 pm HTC Incredible Is a Tiny, Yet Mighty SmartphoneAre you looking to jump the good ship AT&T for the greener pastures of Verizon? Let the HTC Incredible be your vessel of choice.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 22 Apr 2010 | 4:00 pm HTC Incredible Is a Tiny, Yet Mighty SmartphoneAre you looking to jump the good ship AT&T for the greener pastures of Verizon? Let the HTC Incredible be your vessel of choice.
Source: Wired: Gadgets | 22 Apr 2010 | 4:00 pm Key Step Discovered for Regulating Embryonic DevelopmentNew on-off switches: SUMO protein silences developmental genes, SNP2 snips SUMO to allow gene expressionHOUSTON – Deleting a gene in mouse embryos caused cardiac defects and early death, leading researchers to identify a mechanism that turns developmental genes off and on as an embryo matures, a team led by a scientist at The University of Texas M.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 22 Apr 2010 | 3:57 pm Pressure-Cooking Algae Fast-Forwards Biofuel ProcessANN ARBOR, Mich.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 22 Apr 2010 | 3:53 pm CenturyTel, seeking scale, to buy Qwest for $10B+ (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 22 Apr 2010 | 3:46 pm US Department of Labor agency heads to host live Web chats on regulatory agendas on April 26, 27 and 28WASHINGTON, April 22 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The heads of five agencies of the U.S. Department of Labor will host live Web chats --open to the public and members of the press -- to discuss their respective regulatory agendas.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 22 Apr 2010 | 3:43 pm World's Smallest, Lightest Telemedicine MicroscopePortable, lensless device can deliver health care in resource-limited settingsAydogan Ozcan, whose invention of a novel lensless imaging technology for use in telemedicine could radically transform global health care, has now taken his work a step further ― or tinier: The UCLA engineer has created a miniature microscope, the world's smallest and lightest for telemedicine applications. The microscope, unveiled in a paper published online in the journal Lab on a Chip, builds on imaging technology known as LUCAS (Lensless Ultra-wide-field Cell Monitoring Array platform based on Shadow imaging), which was developed by Ozcan, an assistant professor of electrical engineering at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science and a researcher at UCLA's California NanoSystems Institute. Instead of using a lens to magnify objects, LUCAS generates holographic images of microparticles or cells by employing a light-emitting diode to illuminate the objects and a digital sensor array to capture their images.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 22 Apr 2010 | 3:40 pm Software SSD Cache Implementation For Linux?Annirak writes "With the bottom dropping out of the magnetic disk market and SSD prices still over $3/GB, I want to know if there is a way to to get the best of both worlds. Ideally, a caching algorithm would store frequently used sectors, or sectors used during boot or application launches (hot sectors), to the SSD. Adaptec has a firmware implementation of this concept, called MaxIQ, but this is only for use on their RAID controllers and only works with their special, even more expensive, SSD. Silverstone recently released a device which does this for a single disk, but it is limited: it caches the first part of the magnetic disk, up to the size of the SSD, rather than caching frequently used sectors. The FS-Cache implementation in recent Linux kernels seems to be primarily intended for use in NFS and AFS, without much provision for speeding up local filesystems. Is there a way to use an SSD to act as a hot sector cache for a magnetic disk under Linux?"
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 22 Apr 2010 | 3:37 pm Scan-Optics Chooses Brainware to Help Process Thirty-Three Million Pages per MonthASHBURN, Va., April 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Brainware, Inc., the leading provider of intelligent data capture and enterprise search solutions, announced that it has entered into a multi-year agreement with Scan-Optics Limited, a global manufacturer of high-speed, high-volume document management and scanning solutions.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 22 Apr 2010 | 3:36 pm Gene Found that Plays Role in IntelligenceUniversity of Utah Brain Institute researcher leads multi-institution team in groundbreaking studySALT LAKE CITY, UT -- Although genetics is the most significant known determinant of human intelligence, how specific genes affect intelligence remains largely unknown.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 22 Apr 2010 | 3:32 pm Don’t forget to enter the Lomo Diana F+ giveaway
Source: CrunchGear | 22 Apr 2010 | 3:30 pm Biocontrol on the Cottony Cushion Scale SuccessfulRIVERSIDE, Calif. – The Galapagos Islands, made famous by Charles Darwin, have a unique biota now highly threatened by invasive species because of increased tourism and population growth. Indeed, alien or exotic insects today constitute 23 percent of the Galapagos insect fauna.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 22 Apr 2010 | 3:30 pm STMicroelectronics Reports 2010 First Quarter Financial Resultscommented, "Our first quarter revenues, well in-line with our expectations, reflected the significant rebound from the economic crisis and solid demand for our products. Although supply chain constraints somewhat limited our revenues opportunities, we fully participated in the market recovery with our new and innovative products.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 22 Apr 2010 | 3:23 pm Dueling Market Caps: Apple and Microsoft [Digital Daily][Note: This post has been rewritten to clarify the difference between float-adjusted market cap and full-value basis market cap.]
Apple is slowly but surely closing in on Microsoft in market cap. According to Standard & Poor’s analyst Howard Silverblatt, Apple’s float-adjusted market capitalization reached $241.5 billion Thursday, edging past Microsoft’s $239.5 billion. Said Silverblatt: “It came right down to the trade, but AAPL has an index market value of $241,534 million and MSFT has a market value of $239,515 million–AAPL is #2.” Which means Apple (AAPL) is now second only to oil giant Exxon Mobil (XOM) on the S&P–on the index’s float-adjusted basis. But on a full-market value basis–which, as Dan Frommer explains over at Business Insider, includes “shares that are closely held by control groups, other publicly traded companies or government agencies”–Microsoft (MSFT) remains firmly in second place, with a market cap of $275 billion–significantly larger than Apple’s. So this float-adjusted achievement of Apple’s is really more of a psychological milestone than anything, one made possible only because S&P is counting just the 87 percent of Microsoft’s shares that are available for public trading. Below, a chart from Silicon Alley Insider that shows more clearly what’s happening.
[Chart credit: Business Insider] Source: All Things Digital | 22 Apr 2010 | 3:18 pm Qwest: A scrappy little company with big ambitions (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 22 Apr 2010 | 3:10 pm Absolutely bananas Asus Rampage III Extreme motherboard first offered by Origin
This is the greatest motherboard that has ever lived. It’s the Asus Rampage III Extreme, and it’s designed for people who do insane things like run three video cards simultaneously alongside an Intel Extreme Edition processor. People need to run Metro 2033 (and, soon, Crysis 2) at 200 frames per second. Origin is the first enthusiast builder to offer the motherboard. My guess is that someone who’d buy an Asus Rampage III Extreme (which retails for $379.99 on NewEgg) would be comfortable with building a PC from scratch, but not everyone has all day to research memory timings and the like—maybe you have a nice bonus coming your way from work and simply want a new PC without having to know a damn thing about it? “I want the fastest computer money can buy, do whatever you have to do to get me there.” That’s what I’d do if I were an investment banker or highly paid athlete. I am, in fact, neither. Back to the motherboard—it has everything. Try USB 3.0, SATA III, 3-Way SLI or CrossFire (for Nvidia and ATI GPUs, respectively), and plenty of overclocking options. I do believe it is the absolute top-of-the-line motherboard available. The 3-Way SLI or CrossFire is most intriguing to me. My current motherboard, some mid-end Asus, technically supports CrossFire, but only at 1/4 of the maximum memory bandwidth. Why bother? Plus, it’s be an awfully tight fit trying to get two beefy video cards in there. No room for fans, wires would be pressed up against the case, etc. Pure and utter chaos. Now, I have no idea who these Origin people are, but I’ve dealt with, similar companies. But if they’re offering the Asus Rampage III Extreme, you know they’re right-thinking.
Source: CrunchGear | 22 Apr 2010 | 3:00 pm Oregon Fungus Spreading SouthA virulent, airborne fungus that infects both humans and animals is spreading towards California.Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 22 Apr 2010 | 3:00 pm Seattle Hacker Catches Cops Who Hid Arrest TapesAn anonymous reader writes "In 2008, the Seattle Police illegally arrested security consultant Eric Rachner for refusing to show ID. After Rachner filed a formal complaint, he was prosecuted for obstructing, and the police claimed that videos of the arrest were unavailable — until Rachner's research uncovered proof that the police had the videos all along." It's an interesting story of how he figured out how the system in use by Seattle police automatically tracks deletion, copying, or other uses of the recorded stream.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 22 Apr 2010 | 2:51 pm Facebook: Privacy Enemy Number One? - PC Magazine
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 22 Apr 2010 | 2:47 pm Tech site: Dell to produce slick Windows and Android smartphone - USA Today
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 22 Apr 2010 | 2:37 pm GUI-Based Asset-Tracking Tools For a Datacenter?toruonu writes "How do you keep track of what's in your datacenter, where it is, what it's connected to and what is it doing right now? I mean I have built a datacenter from scratch over the years and I have machines from Sun, IBM, HP, Supermicro. I have machines that are simple workernodes and machines that are heavy grade storage consolidation machines. Then there are tens of switches, some for interconnect, some for management and don't get me started on the UPSs etc. So how does one keep any kind of decent track of such a system as the current form of twiki pages with various tables just doesn't cut it anymore and I'm looking for a freeware solution that could actually show me a visual representation of the various nodes in the racks, their connections and dependencies. Just to give a simple example, if I'm going to disconnect UPS #3 right now and swap switch #5, which machines should I even consider taking offline?" (The best-looking such system I've seen was being used at OSCON at a display booth for the Open Source Lab, and I think it was home-grown. Anyone who can shed light on that system?)
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 22 Apr 2010 | 2:26 pm Top 5 Animals that RecycleDuring this Earth Day week, we've been introducing you to visionaries whose work has contributed to the green movement. Today, however, I'd like to celebrate non-human organisms that help to keep our planet environmentally sound. All species play important roles ...Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 22 Apr 2010 | 2:05 pm Rumor: Hulu to begin subscription streaming service on May 24thSection: Video, Content, Web, Online Music/Video
This latest bit has not been officially confirmed, instead it is being reported by way of the Los Angeles Times who are citing “people with knowledge of the plans.” Of course, all hope for free content on Hulu is not going to be lost. According to the details that were posted, it looks like the five most recent episodes of any given show will be available for free. And then you will need to subscribe if you are still looking for more. The service is said to be coming in at $9.95 a month and will offer ” access a more comprehensive selection, called Hulu Plus.” Read [Los Angeles Times]
Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 22 Apr 2010 | 1:21 pm Success in Earth's ShadowOn this Earth Day in the year 2310 we honor our former planet, that Great Brownish-Gray Marble, by looking further out into space where resources are bountiful and plenty. The universe is full of opportunities to ensure humanity's survival. Here ...Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 22 Apr 2010 | 1:12 pm Rumor: Apple to Consider Acquisition of ARM
ARM’s share prices soared to an eight-year high on Wednesday as a result of the rumor, but ARM chief executive Warren East today told The Guardian that there was no necessity for the company, whose market capitalization stands at $4.6 billion, to be acquired. “Exciting though it is to have the share price pushed up by these rumors, common sense tells us that our standard business model is an excellent way for technology companies to gain access to our technology,” East told the Guardian. “Nobody has to buy the company.” However, that statement does not deny the rumor, as some publications have suggested. Companies sometimes use statements provided to the press to talk tough and indirectly negotiate with potential buyers, using ambiguous statements such as East’s. The takeover offer is rumored to be in the $8 billion range, which would be 20 percent of Apple’s $41.7 billion cash reserves, as MacRumors’ Arnold Kim points out. The benefits of such a buyout are, however, questionable. Some suggest Apple could acquire ARM to shut out competitors wishing to use the processor, but that wouldn’t prevent them from using mobile processors from other companies. Also, Apple purchased chipmaker PA Semi in April 2008, and Steve Jobs has said the purpose of that buyout was to make system-on chips for mobile devices. “PA Semi is going to do system-on-chips for iPhones and iPods,” Jobs told NY Times in June 2008. (A teardown of the iPad, however, reveals Apple is still using an ARM-designed processor.) Also, Apple is ARM’s biggest customer, and ARM pockets royalties for every iPhone and iPad sold, as well as other mobile devices using ARM chips. Given those facts, an ARM acquistion does seem unnecessary indeed. City aflame with takeover talk of ARM and Xtrata [London Evening Standard] See Also:
Photo of a DIY digital clock equipped with an ARM processor: htomari/Flickr 
Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 22 Apr 2010 | 1:12 pm Volcano Shockwaves Shred Atmosphere: VideoAs the ash cloud dissipates, the threat to air travel is waning. But eruption of Eyjafjallajokull has entered a new phase of jaw-dropping pyrotechnics.Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 22 Apr 2010 | 12:51 pm Mr. Fixit Goes Open Source With DIY Repair Site
Manufacturers want you to recycle old gear when you upgrade, but Kyle Wiens would prefer that you keep your old gadgets and fix them yourself. Wiens, CEO of repair company iFixit, has remade his gadget-repair website into a collaborative wiki with the goal of crowdsourcing repair manuals for every type of device imaginable. He calls the movement “Repair 2.0.” “I don’t think we can continue manufacturing new things, consuming them and throwing them away at the rate that we do,” Wiens told Wired.com. “What we’re doing is we’re allowing people to join together and help each other save money, help the environment and care for those things.” Previously, iFixit was a repair site that posted step-by-step disassembly instructions for gadgets posted by iFixit staff. The company makes money by selling parts (like replacement iPhone screens) that intrepid fixers can use in their repair projects. Later, iFixit implemented a gallery tool for anybody to post an illustrative teardown manual for their gadgets (which Gadget Lab helped introduce with a Sony teardown contest). Now, the site has repurposed itself into a full-blown wiki for repair manuals, where contributors can collaborate on repair instructions in real time. For each product, iFixit contributors can create individual manuals with instructions for specific repairs (e.g., a manual for fixing the Wi-Fi module in a MacBook, or a manual for replacing a battery in a Samsung cellphone). All the manuals on iFixit will be free and noncopyrighted.
The DIY-repair concept is derived from a longstanding culture of gadget teardowns. Typically, when manufacturers ship products, they don’t publicly disclose full details about their internal parts. Some hardware geeks disassemble electronics to learn more about their components and the evolution of industrial design. IFixit has been an extremely popular site hosting teardowns immediately after a major gadget is released. Wiens said the next step was to make teardowns beneficial for the environment and consumer culture by repurposing them into easily digestible repair guides. He added that fixing gadgets only increases their value. “To some extent things have lost their soul, and I think repairing things yourself re-injects some soul and connects you to the stuff that you own,” Wiens said. See a video of Wiens’ introduction of iFixit 2.0 below. See Also:
Photo courtesy iFixit 
Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 22 Apr 2010 | 12:32 pm Mr. Fixit Goes Open Source With DIY Repair SiteGadget overhaul site iFixit launches Repair 2.0, an open source wiki for user-created repair manuals.
Source: Wired: Gadgets | 22 Apr 2010 | 12:32 pm Archos 7 Home Tablet hits Amazon at $199, still only in pre-order statusSection: Computers, Mobile Computers  Though it is still not showing as ready for purchase on the official Archos site, the Archos 7 Home Tablet has recently popped up on Amazon. Of course, at this time it is still just labeled as a pre-order. But hey, its available for purchase as long as you don’t mind waiting a little bit before it actually ships. The Archos 7 Home Tablet will set you back $199.99 and as of now does not have any information listed as to when it will begin shipping. That said, it has been noted in the past as being sometime in the end of April, and hey, the end of April is quickly approaching. Product [Amazon] Via [Engadget]
Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 22 Apr 2010 | 12:13 pm Google no longer investigating shoddy 3G on the Nexus One
What’s that you say? Your Nexus One can’t hold a 3G signal worth a damn? Bummer, dude! In a response to the angry masses demanding a OTA fix to rid them of their woes, Google employee Ry Guy has disclosed that they’re no longer “investigating further engineering improvements”. The full text of the post:
Can’t get 3G where you’re standing? Well, then “[change] your location.” Duh. It’s entirely possible — likely, even — that there’s simply no way to improve reception via a software update. They can only improve basebands and radio firmware so much; at a certain point, it’s like trying to improve your car’s mileage by changing the shape of the gas pedal.
Source: MobileCrunch | 22 Apr 2010 | 12:03 pm 26 Percent of Wired’s Mobile Traffic Comes From the iPad
Overall, mobile devices account for between 2.3 percent and 3.5 percent of our traffic. For April 3 to 19, iPad users represented 0.91 percent of total site traffic. For the past year, the vast majority of mobile visitors to Wired have been using the iPhone. Before April, about 10 percent were using the iPod Touch, and 15 percent to 18 percent other devices, led by the Motorola Droid (with 5 percent to 7 percent of mobile traffic). But with the launch of the iPad on April 3, it seems that many iPhone users have picked up iPads — and are finding them a good way to browse this site. The sudden jump in iPad users is matched by a declining share of iPhone and iPod Touch users, which suggests that most iPad customers are people who were already accustomed to mobile browsing with an Apple handheld, and are trading up to a bigger screen — rather than coming from another platform. It’s too early to say whether the iPad is bringing new mobile users to Wired.com. The overall proportion of mobile users has remained more or less level this month, and because the mobile total varies from month to month, we need more data before we can draw conclusions about the number of new mobile users. One conclusion we can draw: iPad users are using it to browse the web, and they’re doing it a lot. And yes, we are aware of the irony that the majority of Wired.com’s videos, which use an Adobe Flash-based player, don’t play on the iPad. We’re working on that, starting with our homepage, which became iPad-compatible starting Wednesday evening, thanks to Wired.com managing editor Pam Statz. Chart: Percentage of mobile users visiting Wired.com using iPhone or iPod Touch, iPad, and other devices. This month’s data is partial, covering April 3 to 19. See Also:
Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 22 Apr 2010 | 11:56 am Asus Eee Keyboard gets unboxedSection: Peripherals, Mice / Keyboards  Just like that, yesterday we told you how the Eee Keyboard was available on Amazon and now its getting unboxed. Of course, the Amazon listing is still showing as a pre-order item, but hey someone has one and its real. And coming from all of the announcements and delays that we have seen in the years since the Eee Keyboard was first introduced an unboxing something to not be taken lightly. Anyway, enjoy the unboxing and maybe use that to help make a purchase decision of your own. Otherwise, it is worth noting that the video mentions a 16GB version for $549 and 32GB version for $599. Still, at least as of now Amazon only has one model listed which is 16GB for $599. Product [Amazon] Via [Netbooked] Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 22 Apr 2010 | 11:01 am Hoard of 2,000-Year-Old Coins Found in EgyptEach coin features the Greek-Egyptian god Amun-Zeus, an eagle and the words Ptolemy and king.Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 22 Apr 2010 | 11:00 am CO2 Emissions Causing Rapid Ocean AcidificationWASHINGTON -- The changing chemistry of the world's oceans is a growing global problem, says the summary of a congressionally requested study by the National Research Council, which adds that unless man-made carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are substantially curbed, or atmospheric CO2 is controlled by some other means, the ocean will continue to become more acidic.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 22 Apr 2010 | 10:40 am Lightning Shows How Pollution Alters Thunderstorm IntensityLightning strikes to the center of the issueScientists have known for some time that man-made aerosols affect cloud formation, but specific scientific findings have been inconclusive. How clouds and storms change in response to air pollution is central to the debate about climate change and global warming, since clouds have a general cooling effect on the Earth's climate.But how man-made pollution impacts clouds, rainfall and weather patterns remains poorly understood, and natural particulates, such as those generated by Iceland's recent volcano eruptions may add to this effect. The thick volcanic ash cloud absorbs solar radiation, heating the upper atmosphere, similar to the forest fire smoke, and can hence also impact the development of clouds and rainfall, Price said.While studying the climatology of the Amazon forest during its annual dry season, the researchers noticed how thousands of man-made forest fires injected smoke into the atmosphere. Since thunderstorms still occur during the dry season, it was the perfect opportunity for studying the effects of these particulates on thundercloud development.Cloud droplets form on small particles called "cloud condensation nuclei" (CCN). As the number of CCN increase due to the fire activity, the lightning activity increased in the storms ingesting the smoke. More CCN implies more small droplets that can be carried aloft into the upper parts of the cloud where lightning is generated. Increased lightning activity generally also implies increasing rainfall over the Amazon. But when particulate matter became too dense, they observed, clouds didn't form, and the lightning activity in thunderstorms diminished dramatically.Seeking answers to vital questionsSource: RedOrbit News - Science | 22 Apr 2010 | 10:39 am Scientists: Many Species of Killer Whales SuspectedNew technology in gene sequencing supports empirical evidence of multiple speciesIn a report published today in the journal Genome Research, scientists report finding strong genetic evidence supporting the theory there are several species of killer whales (Orcinus orca, also known as orcas) throughout the world's oceans.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 22 Apr 2010 | 10:37 am Scientists Launch Primate Life History DatabaseDURHAM, N.C.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 22 Apr 2010 | 10:35 am Japan’s DoCoMo announces new mobile projector for cell phones
It's not that there's a shortage of mobile projectors, but when DoCoMo (Japan's biggest cell phone carrier) announces [JP] a model for its 55 million customers, it deserves a mention. DoCoMo specifically suggests using the F01 with Fujitsu's uber-cool "Separate Keitai", a cell phone that breaks into two parts (and that's currently available on the Japanese market only).
Source: MobileCrunch | 22 Apr 2010 | 10:27 am 'Love Dart Snail' Among New Species Discovered in BorneoMore than 120 new animal species, including a flying frog and a slug that can shoot, have been found in Borneo since 2007, according to a report by the conservation group WWF.The report, which comes as part of the organization's Heart of Borneo project that launched in February 2007, also detailed the discovery of the world's longest indentified stick insect, a bright orange snake described as looking "flame-like" by Associated Press (AP) reporters, a lung-less frog that breathes through its skin, and a slug that can fire calcium carbonate darts to inject hormone into a mate.In all, WWF officials report that they discovered 67 new plant species, 29 new types of invertebrates, 17 fish, five frogs, three snakes, a pair of new lizards and a newly discovered type of bird."We have been finding on average three new species a month and about 123 over the last three years, with at least 600 new species found in the last 15 years," Adam Tomasek, the head of the Heart of Borneo initiative told, told AFP reporters on Thursday."The new discoveries just show the wealth of biodiversity on Borneo island and the promise of many more future discoveries that could eventually help cure illnesses like cancer and AIDS and contribute to our daily lives," he added.The WWF report was made public just one day following reports that one of the organization's camera traps had captured a rare, pregnant female Bornea rhino.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 22 Apr 2010 | 10:20 am Volcano Ash Diminishing But Tremors Growing StrongerDespite strong tremors in the area, much less ash and smoke were rising from the Iceland volcano that crippled European air travel for much of the past week.Meanwhile, skies started to clear in Europe, which led to a rare sighting of blue skies in countries where such sights are usually obstructed by airplane exhaust fumes, according to Associated Press (AP) writers Joji Sakurai and Karl Ritter."Just as city lights make it necessary for us to go to the desert to appreciate the true glitter of stars, so has modern aviation dulled us to what the noontime sky can really look like-- until the erupting volcano in Iceland offered a reminder," Sakurai and Ritter noted in an April 21 article."It's as if somebody suddenly ripped a veil away, exposing the true colors of the heavens," they added.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 22 Apr 2010 | 10:15 am Facebook says sayonara to Lite and ConnectSection: Web, Web 2.0 / Social Networking
The site also said it is getting rid of it’s Facebook Lite service, which was a stripped down version of the site for users in other countries that may not have the benefit of high speed internet and for new users wanted a simpler social networking experience. Among the new features announced was Community Pages, which will function much like Wikipedia. They’ll be user edited and controlled. Whether Facebook’s users will embrace all the changes remains to be seen but one thing is for certain-if they don’t like them they’ll make sure Zuckerberg knows it! Read [CNet] Full Story » | Written by Sue Walsh for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 22 Apr 2010 | 9:59 am It Only Looks like El NinoGlobal warming may look like El Nino, but the way it affects precipitation is very different. Regions used to arid conditions during El Nino may find themselves sopping wet.Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 22 Apr 2010 | 9:57 am Eating our way through Earth DayToday, Earth Day turns 40 and is now celebrated in more than 198 countries. Here at Google, we’ll be focusing on one of the planet’s more enjoyable aspects: its food. (Though, to be fair, we’re always focused on food around here). Our offices are hosting farmers markets, planting herb gardens, hosting talks on sustainable cooking and much more.At our Mountain View headquarters, we’re enjoying solar cooking demonstrations, classes on composting and local food sourcing, distribution of reusable shopping bags and discussions on healthy cooking and eating. We’re also hosting a speaker from The Nature Conservancy and giving tours of our on-site 1.6MW solar panel installation and the 400kW Bloom Energy fuel cells. Today is also Take Your Child to Work Day, so we have plenty of kid-friendly activities centered around healthy, sustainable habits to complement the bounce house, movies and games. The focus on food is not limited to Mountain View. Our Dublin office is removing all disposable cups, Stockholm is running a special Earth Day food menu in their cafe, Wroclaw employees are planting seeds and Amsterdam is overhauling its salad bar with organic offerings. And the cafe in our London office is sourcing all of its food from within 50 miles of the office, as well as organizing a bike-to-work effort coordinated with Google Maps. Beyond food, we’ve been busy with a number of other Earth-related initiatives. Last month, Google Maps biking directions launched in the U.S. and we hope that having these directions on hand will help you find less carbon-intensive ways to commute to work or meet friends. Just the other week we added a new feature in Google Finance that reports companies’ carbon disclosure rating from the Carbon Disclosure Project. Oh, and don’t forget about the new kids on the block. If you’re looking to make a difference, check for local efforts or make a pledge to have an impact. We’re working to minimize our own carbon footprint, and hope that you’ll take a moment today to consider how you can make a positive impact on our planet. Posted by Austin Rachlin, Green Business Operations    
 Source: The Official Google Blog | 22 Apr 2010 | 9:35 am Legal Exploit Enables Tracking and Spying via Cellular Networks
Now that you’ve taken the necessary precautions, I have to tell you some bad news: two researchers have found a way to exploit the mobile phone system in order to locate pretty much anyone they want. That means you, Carmen. All those years of hiding have been for naught. They’ll be here any moment now. This is the end: they’ve found you. The exploit enables anybody with the right equipment and know-how to find out a person’s private mobile phone number, and track their location (via celltowers, not GPS). Using another exploit, it is possible to listen to their voicemail messages. Interestingly, these exploits are within the bounds of the law. Thankfully (I suppose), they can’t monitor phone calls or read text messages, but this is clearly still a cause for concern. The hacks are done through exploiting a series of weak-points across various telephony systems in the world. The details of the techniques are outlined over at CNET, and are worth a read. A talk on the exploit (entitled “We Found Carmen San Diego”) was given at the Source Boston security conference on Wednesday. The worst part of all this is that it seems that nothing is being done to fix it, and, in fact, it may not even be universally fixable. I think now is the time time to pull those bedsheets up a little higher.
Source: MobileCrunch | 22 Apr 2010 | 9:34 am Stealth Laptop Sleeve is Curiously Familiar
At last, somebody has made available the best notebook sleeve in existence. It is a stealth design, made to look just like a creased old manilla envelope, and it is both luxuriously padded on the inside and resistant to spills on the outside. It’s gorgeous and, if you were to leave your computer in a bar, inconspicuous enough for people to just ignore it. The trouble is, I already have one, and it was free. In fact, generous hardware vendors often include them every time they Fedex a gadget out for review. It is, of course, the padded Tyvek shipping bag used the world over. But I’m being too harsh. The Undercover Stealth Laptop Case might be made from a “hi-tech material which is waterproof and tear-proof and can be written on” (Tyvek, or similar) but it is also a proper sleeve, with a plush, adjustable lining which will last long after the last of the bubbles has popped in my free version, and it will also seal shut with a Velcro strip. Even the price is a not-too-bad $25, similar to a decent neoprene sleeve. Available now. Undercover Stealth Laptop Case [Perpetual Kid] 
Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 22 Apr 2010 | 9:20 am Brightkite Group Text on a roll in the United States, now available in Canada A mere month and a half after launching, Brightkite says its new Group Text feature is a big hit with users in the United States.
According to the startup, which boasts more than 2 million registered users, the average Group Text user sends a whopping 17 messages per day. Already, its total usage is growing 19 percent on average per day.
Brightkite is now sending more than 20 million messages a month, nearly half of which are regular SMS messages.
Source: MobileCrunch | 22 Apr 2010 | 9:05 am Power-Strip Extender Means You’ll Always Make Friends
I’m somehow drawn to power-plug solutions the way electricity is drawn the the very earth beneath us. I can no more pass up the chance to bring you the latest way to simplify the powering of gadgets than my own mother could pass up the chance for one more chipped teacup full of gin. So it makes me happy to show of this ultra-simple, one-trick power-strip from Elecom. The “T-ACTAP Series” (what?) is a range of sockets which slide betwixt a standard AC power-cord and the computer power-brick into which it normally plugs. You can choose a two-prong or a three-prong, depending on the cables you have, and the little block adds either one or two extra outlets to the setup. Why? For sharing. With this tiny widget in your bag, you no longer need fear the sight of full power outlets at the coffee shop as your laptop battery coughs up its last few milliamps. Instead, you can approach the most attractive computer user in the place and offer them a two-way. Ingenious. The smallest unit costs ¥1,400 ($15), rising to ¥1,900 ($20) for the biggest. Available now, in Japan. Be able to overcome the shortage outlet! [Elecom via Oh Gizmo!] 
Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 22 Apr 2010 | 9:03 am Earth Day: Pollution Not as Visible, But Threat RemainsAlthough there are no more polluted rivers catching fire, that doesn't mean the environment is entirely out of the woods yet.Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 22 Apr 2010 | 9:00 am webOS security flaws foundSection: Communications, Smartphones, Mobile
Palm claims the flaws were fixed with the release of WebOS 1.4 but not all carriers are offering it yet and it’s quite likely there are plenty of Pre owners who haven’t updated yet. The researchers haven’t yet tested the latest version. Full Story » | Written by Sue Walsh for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 22 Apr 2010 | 8:49 am Super PreKernel Wants to Make Your Palm Faster Than A Speeding Bullet
Some of Pre Central’s finest have created what they call the Super PreKernel App, which is a dead-simple way to bump the speed of your Pre or Pre Plus up to Superman speeds, or down to snail’s pace, as you see fit. They’ve even gone and created a video detailing the whole process, illustrated with the very metaphors you just read, and complemented by a classic soundtrack to boot. I’ve embedded it below for your enjoyment. The overclocking process is now dead-simple, so you might as well read the disclaimer and get going. Details and instructions are available here. [via Engadget] Image adapted from:
Source: MobileCrunch | 22 Apr 2010 | 8:34 am Skype Offers Free WiFi to Ease the Airport Pain
However, I realise that these feelings aren’t universal; there are some people out there who don’t enjoy airports. While I would be happy to relish in the extra few days of airport merriment that the recent flight cancellations have caused, Skype seem to think I’m in the minority, and have taken it upon themselves to give free internet access at more than 100,000 WiFi hotspots worldwide. Skype Access, the service that lets you pay for WiFi access using Skype credit, will be free until 23:59GMT on Friday 23rd April 2010. This means you can check your email, surf the web, and — most importantly — call your parents, for free. While I view paying $20 an hour for an internet connection whilst sipping $5 worth of aged, extra-bitter coffee, as “all part of the experience” some people may not enjoy it. If you are one of those people, and want to take advantage of the free WiFi on offer, all you need is a nearby compatible WiFi access point, and the latest version of Skype. [via Pocket Lint]
Source: MobileCrunch | 22 Apr 2010 | 7:41 am Kindle officially coming to Target on April 25thSection: Gadgets / Other, ebooks
The initial release will be limited probably to act as a test run. Kindles will primarily only be available in south Florida through 102 stores and its flagship store in downtown Minneapolis. So for people like me that happen to live somewhere other than Florida, we’re out of luck for an undisclosed amount of time. But oh well, we’ve got iPads and hopefully Nooks soon. (I don’t know about you but April 18th has come and gone and I still can’t find any Nooks in my BestBuy.) Though I don’t think this move will do much in terms of pushing away the iPad. I think it is already too late for this edition of the Kindle, black and white with slow refresh rates can’t compete with a full color, beautifully animated device that can do more than just read books. What do you think? Read [Amazon] Full Story » | Written by Greg Billetdeaux for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 22 Apr 2010 | 7:31 am Video: Android Running on iPhoneHacker Planetbeing has managed to modify the first generation iPhone to boot Google’s Android OS. Not only that, it is a dual-boot solution, so you can simply restart the iPhone and pick which OS you’d like to use. As Planetbeing notes in the video, it’s not really production quality, more alpha quality, but “everything works.” Well, everything almost works. The extremely long boot time is due to the OS loading all the drivers it needs to work with the iPhone hardware, but it is still a little wonky (connecting to Wi-Fi is something of a lottery, it appears). That said, getting Android up and running on Apple’s hardware is a pretty impressive feat, and that it works as well as it does is a pleasant surprise. The hack also shows up Android’s reliance on buttons, of which there is a distinct lack on the iPhone. To work around this, Planetbeing repurposed the volume rocker for navigation purposes. The Android iPhone makes calls, receives SMS messages, plays music and browses the web. The demo video takes a while, but it shows you most of what you need to know. Best of all, this isn’t some proof-of-concept demo. You can download pre-built images and install them, along with the source code. Android running on iPhone [Linux on iPhone via Mac OSx86] 
Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 22 Apr 2010 | 6:40 am First HD Images Of The Sun Captured - InformationWeek
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 22 Apr 2010 | 6:30 am New Graphics Tech Promises Speed, Hyperrealism
Chipmakers have spent billions of dollars over the decades to create specialized processors that can help make computer graphics ever more realistic and detailed. Now an Australian hobbyist says he has created a technology that can churn out high-quality, computer-generated graphics for video games and other applications without the need for graphics chips or processor-hungry machines. “Major companies have got to a point where they improve the polygon-count in graphics-rendering by 22 percent a year,” says Bruce Dell, 32, the creator of the new technology, which he calls Unlimited Detail. “We have made it unlimited. It’s all software that requires no special hardware, so you get truly unlimited detail in your scenes.” Dell is an unusual candidate for a computer-graphics revolutionary. He’s an autodidact who’s never been to a university and who ran a supermarket chain for about eight years. But he claims to have found a way to search through trillions of voxels, the 3-D counterparts to pixels, to render a scene quickly. Voxels have so far been used largely in medical- and mining-graphics applications, not video games. Bringing voxel-based rendering to the world of video games is an interesting idea, says Jon Peddie, founder of Jon Peddie Research. That’s because voxels could take a middle ground between two current rendering techniques: the fast but not graphically realistic world of polygon rendering (used by most video games today) and computationally resource-hungry and comparatively slow ray-tracing technology. “With voxels, you create a volume of points and look at those points to see what the picture is all about,” says Peddie. “That gives a very accurate representations of the world you are trying to render, without taking up too much computational resources.”
Creating lifelike images through graphics-rendering usually requires major computing power. To recreate three-dimensional objects on a computer screen, programmers define a structure in terms of its geometry, texture, lighting and shading. The resultant digital image is an approximation of a real-life object, but has a computer-generated–graphics feel to it. It also requires intensive computing power, which means graphics programmers must have state-of-the art machines with special chips from companies such as Nvidia and AMD. In most 3-D graphics-modeling programs, the virtual depiction of almost every real-life object, such as a trees or a stone, starts as a little flat polygon. More-powerful processors can help the software have more of these polygons, which means increased roundness to the objects on screen. With enough computing power, billions of little polygons can be generated, and each made so small that it’s almost a dot. Another alternative is to use ray tracing, a method in which the computer traces the path of light through space, simulating the effect on the light as it encounters different objects. That approach creates much more visually attractive scenes, but it is extremely intensive in its need for computational resources. Dell says Unlimited Detail has an alternative to these systems. It uses billions of “point cloud” dots, or voxels, to accurately represent a world. To render an image, Unlimited Detail then acts as a search engine. Dell says his algorithm can quickly figure out the dots needed to render a scene, search the data to find only those points, and pull them up quickly enough for smooth animation. He calls it “mass connected processing.” “Instead of putting a trillion dots on screen and covering the ones you don’t use, we show only what needs to be done and how you can manipulate those dots,” says Dell. It’s all so new that Dell, who claims to have single-handedly written the software, is still in the process of forming a company. So how legitimate are his claims? It’s hard to evaluate. Few graphics programmers or industry analysts have actually seen his software at work. Dell says those who have are bound by tight nondisclosure agreements limiting their ability to talk about it. And graphics chip makers such as Nvidia are not impressed. “Voxel graphics have been around for quite some time, but they are not considered to be as precise as polygon-based graphics,” says Ken Brown, a spokesperson for Nvidia. Graphics rendered using voxels can run on less-resource-hungry machines, but they can’t offer the same level of quality as ray tracing or rasterization, he says. “With voxels, there are issues that come up with shading and coloring the images properly,” says Brown. “If you look at the screenshots that Unlimited Detail has posted, the images don’t look all that realistic.” Some of those problems can be ameliorated by using better tools, but it can’t be done by a one-man band, say Brown and Peddie. “There needs to be an infrastructure around every new rendering technique,” says Brown. “There have to be SDKs, tools and drivers, and these are things that teams of people from many different companies come together to create.” As for claims that Unlimited Detail can do real-time graphics rendering on a machine with a single-core processor and no graphics card, Nvidia people say they’re skeptical. Searching through trillions of points of data would require large amounts of RAM (random access memory), and Dell isn’t sharing any details on how his algorithm deals with that problem. Even if Dell can validate his claims, it could be years before graphics programmers start using the voxel-based technique that Dell is advocating, says Peddie. “It will be evolutionary, rather than revolutionary, because there are too many entrenched systems and legacy files to be managed,” he says. “Anybody who is making graphics-creation software like Adobe, Autodesk and Maya will have to change their way of doing things. That’s a pretty big thing to change.” Major companies such as Microsoft and HP also have patents around voxels, and if Dell wants to go professional, he’ll have to make sure he’s not infringing on the work of other researchers. “The jury is still out on this idea,” says Peddie. “But Bruce Dell seems real, very sincere, and the idea looks solid.” To preview Dell’s technology check out his own video: See Also:
Photo: Unlimited Detail Rendered Artwork 
Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 22 Apr 2010 | 6:00 am New Graphics Tech Promises Speed, HyperrealismA new graphics-rendering technology called Unlimited Detail from an Australian hobbyist programmer could change gaming and other businesses, because it uses software to create life-like experiences, instead of heavy-duty graphics cards from companies such as Nvidia and ATI.
Source: Wired: Gadgets | 22 Apr 2010 | 6:00 am Mint, A Robot Mop for Civilized Homes
This is the Mint, a robotic mop for your floors. It’s like a Roomba, only it is designed not for filthy, dust and dirt-hungry carpets but for the hard wood and tiled floors found in cleaner, more civilized abodes. The Mint opts for a cloth system, picking up dust with a dry rag and then using a wet cloth to polish things to a clean sheen. It lacks the vacuum cleaner found in the Roomba, and the spinning brushes of Roomba’s little brother, the Scooba, but this lack of moving internal keeps it quiet. The $250 robot is little more than an automatic mop: Although it uses NorthStar navigation, a kind of indoor-GPS, to make sure it doesn’t clean the same spot twice, it needs to be moved from room to room, and you’ll have to take care of charging it yourself (it doesn’t go back to base to recharge itself when almost empty). Still, it’s cheap, and my apartment is small enough that it could be cleaned on a single three-hour charge. Even the Lady seems amenable to the little robot, although that might be its sleek looks as much as anything. Just stay away from the space below my bed, Mint. Nobody, and I mean nobody, wants to see what I keep under there. Available for pre-order for Summer launch. Mint [Mint Cleaner] See Also:
Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 22 Apr 2010 | 5:43 am $10-per-Month Hulu Plus in May, iPad App to Follow?
The rumors have been flying about a Hulu app on the iPad. Hulu is the number one reason that geeks complain about the lack of Flash support on Apple’s mobile devices, so if Hulu were to bring a native application to the TV-friendly iPad, it would be huge. And it might be happening soon. The TV-streaming site, which serves on-demand content from Fox, ABC and NBC, will begin testing Hulu Plus on May 24th, according to the LA Times. The $10-per-month plan will give access to back-catalog shows as well as the current range of constantly disappearing and re-appearing new shows. The free model will remain unchanged. In itself, this isn’t gadget news, but a for-pay Hulu clearly paves the way for iPad Hulu. Who wouldn’t pay $10 to toss out their cable-subscription and be able to watch any show whenever and wherever they like? It would certainly cut down on BitTorrent use. In fact, a subscription model for the iPad could be the thing that stops TV going the way of the music and movie industries. Just one thing, Hulu: when you release your iPad app, make sure that you enable the VGA-out option so we can hook up to the big screen. Oh, and hurry it up, y’hear? Hulu pushes forward with $9.95 subscription service [LA Times] 
Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 22 Apr 2010 | 5:13 am
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According to a 
And here we go again. Every few months (it seems) there’s another study telling us that either cell phones are safe, or they are evil. It just goes to show, there’s a study to prove anything. This particular study however is going to take a bit more time then 
Real time data startups “employ crowd sourcing or collective wisdom to create highly relevant and current data.” Twitter, Foursquare, Quora and Hunch are all examples of real time data startups, he says.
There is a lot of action surrounding Foursquare right now. And CEO and co-founder Dennis Crowley has a tough decision to make.
Congratulations 
Yesterday at its 
Two big stories popped about 
Dolby Laboratories
The rumors that Hulu was going to begin charging have been circulating for quite a while now, well, it looks like those rumors may soon be coming true. The latest in the ‘Hulu to charge’ story has a subscription service beginning as of May 24, 2010—just about a month away from now.
Apple is rumored to be considering a bid for ARM, the British company that designs the processors found in some smartphones including the iPhone, according to The London Evening Standard.
Fresh on the heels of it’s announcement of a new like button for Fan Pages and Open Graph platform, Facebook has announced at its F8 developer conference that it is shutting down the popular Facebook Connect service. Over 80,000 partners used the service to allow Facebook users to register with their accounts.
Activate the cone of silence.
Security researchers say they’ve found many dangerous security flaws in Palm’s webOS, the operating system that powers the company’s popular Palm Pre smartphone. The issues included an HTML injection bug and the discovery that the OS can be compromised simply by sending a text message. The researchers were able to open the browser, turn the radio off, and even erase all data on the handset.
Hey kids! Do you have a Palm Pre or Pre Plus? Do you long for a little extra oomph? Some extra glide in it stride, spring in its step, and dip in its hip? Are you aware that overclocking hacks exist, but are fearful of how difficult they are to implement? Are you still listening? Good, because I have some fantastic news!
Airports are wonderful places, aren’t they? Everyone is friendly, the seats are comfortable, the prices reasonable, and the food delicious. I love hanging around airports. I relish the time between connecting flights, and I have been known to pack my bags and drive to the nearest international airport just to hang out and pretend I’m waiting for a flight.
We’d heard 
