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NJ Principal Asks Parents To Ban Social Networking [Voices]By Lou Young, Reporter, WCBS New Jersey A controversial proposal has students horrified at a Bergen County middle school on Wednesday. The principal is asking parents to join a voluntary ban on social networking. Eighth grader Ali Feinberg told CBS 2 she uses her iPhone to check her Facebook account “a lot” and some of her friends said the same. Read the rest of this post on the original site Source: All Things Digital | 30 Apr 2010 | 4:17 am The Legal Case for Robot War Gets Complicated [Voices]By Nathan Hodge, Contributor, Danger Room, Wired.com The legal debate over America’s undeclared drone war in Pakistan is getting sharper: In a congressional hearing yesterday, a prominent law professor suggested that drone operators could, in, theory, be liable to criminal prosecution for “war crimes.” It’s just one of the many sticky legal issues raised by observers of the CIA’s (and the military’s) lethal drone operations. “This is not an academic debate,” Shane Harris of National Journal noted earlier this year. Read the rest of this post on the original site Source: All Things Digital | 30 Apr 2010 | 4:11 am 1939 World's Fair: the future's cradle, in pictures Wired has a dandy appreciation of the "World of Tomorrow" exhibit at the 1939 World's Fair, the birthplace of the dark ride (the "Futurama," which motored you past enormous dioramae depicting the domed-city tomorrow). It was a futuristic city inspired by the pages -- and covers -- of pulp science fiction: huge geometric shapes, sweeping curves, plenty of glass and chromium, and gleaming white walls. The fair was the last great blossoming of the Streamlined Moderne style of Art Deco. It was also heavily influenced by the still-rising International Style of such architects as Le Corbusier and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Read More http://www.wired.com/thisdayintech/2010/04/gallery-1939-worlds-fair#ixzz0mZnuEfVj1939's 'World of Tomorrow' Shaped Our Today
Previously:
Source: Boing Boing | 30 Apr 2010 | 4:06 am You don't know tech: The InfoWorld news quiz (InfoWorld)InfoWorld - It was a weird week, to be sure. Gadget blog Gizmodo discovered what happens when you fight the law in pursuit of a story (the law usually wins). Apple's Steve Jobs broke out of his usual terse mode with a long blog post detailing exactly why he thinks Flash sucks.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 30 Apr 2010 | 4:00 am Samsung NX10 Limited Edition in Black and White
Samsung is set to launch a black and white version of its mirrorless APS camera, the NX10, on May 7th, according to the Samsung Imaging blog. I have one question: Who buys these fancy-colored cameras? Pentax loves to put out multi-hued versions of its SLRs, and Panasonic’s G and GF-series cameras can be had in all manner of nasty shades, but who buys them? In a world where people were prepared to pay a $100 premium for a black MacBook just a few years back, it would seem that we are pretty conservative in our color choices for big-ticket gadgets. In fact, even seeing the odd silver Canon Rebel in the wild makes me softly gag. The NX10 is, by most reports, a fine camera, with its SLR-sized sensor in a slim, mirrorless body and three-inch AMOLED display, but one thing it is not is handsome. Even in its black incarnation, the body is little more than curvy-utilitarian in design. Giving it a lick of paint doesn’t help, and the extra attention this will attract reminds me of that lottery-winners’ favorite, the bright-yellow Lamborghini. Actually, the Samsung Imaging post gives us a clue as to who is snapping these things up. The Hoth-ready body, with 30mm pancake lens, will ship to Korea, the Netherlands, China, the US and Taiwan. Yes folks, the US is on that list. It’s time to come forward and admit it. Stand up and be counted in the comments, color-freaks. Why do you do it? NX10 comes in Limited Edition with a white body [Samsung Imaging via Photography Bay] 
Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 30 Apr 2010 | 3:52 am Bungie 'good fit' to replace Infinity Ward - Computerandvideogames.com
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 30 Apr 2010 | 3:39 am Opera Software Acquires Email Service Provider FastMail.FM
The terms of the agreements are not disclosed, but the Australia-based company in a notice said it will continue to run its email service, which has been in operation for over 10 years. Here’s the announcement:
FastMail has included a FAQ, in which it says that users who wish to NOT transfer their accounts over to Opera have to go into settings and indicate just that. Not acting upon the email the company sent out to its users or actively accepting the transfer will result in Opera assuming control over the mailbox and the account registration details. As to the reason for selling, FastMail says the market was getting increasingly competitive and that Opera’s expertise in web browsers and especially the mobile market would help the company grow and take on the next big challenges in running and building an email service. Some FastMail.FM staff will be making the move to Norway, and the company says it has already been working with Opera’s technical teams to exchange expertise, and to develop new products. It will be interesting to see what eventually comes out of this deal. This is Opera’s second acquisition this year – it had earlier spent $8 million in cash to buy mobile advertising startup AdMarvel. Information provided by CrunchBase      
Source: TechCrunch | 30 Apr 2010 | 3:15 am ARM-Based Servers Coming In 2011markass530 writes with this from the EE Times: "Arm Holdings chief executive officer Warren East told EE Times Wednesday that servers based on ARM multicore processors should arrive within the next twelve months. The news confirms previous speculation stemming from Google's acquisition of Agnilux and a recent job advertisement posted by Microsoft. East said that the current architecture, designed for client-side computing, can also be used in server applications."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 30 Apr 2010 | 3:03 am Microsoft kills its Courier folding tablet - Inquirer
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 30 Apr 2010 | 2:51 am Phoenix Power Outage Knocks Second Life Offline 7 HoursDue to a power outage that hit a datacenter based in Phoenix, according to FJ Linden, all of Second Life went offline from 9pm to 4am yesterday. (What's the deal with Arizona lately?) As is often the case,...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 30 Apr 2010 | 2:31 am UPDATE 2-Fujitsu sees profit jump, ex-chief ouster may hurt* Sees 2010/11 op profit at Y185 bln vs consensus Y177 blnSource: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 30 Apr 2010 | 2:14 am UPDATE 1-Exxon starts 6-wk shutdown at Singapore refinery(For refinery outages in the new Reuters Oil Fundamentals Database see http://bond.views.session.rservices.com/CE/ or go to <OFD/INFO>) (Adds background on Asia spring maintenance, Exxon's...Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 30 Apr 2010 | 2:10 am UPDATE 1-Gulfsands rejects further proposal at same level* Receives reiteration of original bid from Indian suitorsSource: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 30 Apr 2010 | 2:08 am Samsung Q1 net profit surges to record high (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 30 Apr 2010 | 2:08 am UPDATE 2-WPP raises forecasts after U.S. turnaround* Seen biggest turnaround in U.S. (Adds reaction, further details)Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 30 Apr 2010 | 2:03 am Wind-Powered Knitting - The Wind Knitting Factory by Merel Karhof(TrendHunter.com) With the Wind Knitting Factory, creator Merel Karhof lets nature do the work for him. Allowing wind to power an impressive knitting machine, it will forever change my perception of...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 30 Apr 2010 | 2:00 am Please Pass The Bong, Carol
Along with lots of swearing, that’s been her key message since day one. Her first day on the job, in January 2009, she said “It’s been too crazy. People outside Yahoo deciding what Yahoo should do, shouldn’t do. That’s got to stop.” But that didn’t stop her from giving out a little advice of her own yesterday. Her target? That one-trick pony Google. Says Bartz to the BBC:
An interesting argument. But even if all of Google’s non search endeavors are ignored, like Apps, Android, Chrome, YouTube, etc., they still beat her test. In the last year, Google’s share price has gone from about $393/share to $532/share. That’s about $44 billion in market cap gain. Yahoo’s market cap, including those fat Asian assets, stands at a little under $24 billion today. By my math, Google grew by almost two Yahoo’s in the last twelve months. And my guess is they aren’t sweating growing one or two more Yahoo’s in the next twelve months, either. Bartz also isn’t afraid of Facebook dominating all that social stuff:
I actually wonder if Bartz has ever visited Facebook. She certainly doesn’t understand what the core of Facebook is all about. And I don’t see a whole lot of social going on at Yahoo, and the stuff I do see is being brought in from as Bartz says, Facebook and Twitter. The yelling and the rhetoric are entertaining, certainly. And trashing competitors that are crushing you is probably cathartic. But Rome is burning, and words won’t put out that fire. So pass the bong, Carol, because I want some of whatever it is that you’re smoking. We can watch Rome burn together and laugh and laugh about how uninteresting Google and Facebook are.      
Source: TechCrunch | 30 Apr 2010 | 1:59 am UPDATE 1-AIG Taiwan deal could face further delay-regulator* Main buyer China Strategic yet to give requested paperworkSource: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 30 Apr 2010 | 1:55 am UPDATE 2-Pearson confident for year after strong Q1* Q1 constant-currency growth of 12 pct to 1.08 bln poundsSource: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 30 Apr 2010 | 1:46 am UPDATE 2-Pearson confident for year after strong Q1* Q1 constant-currency growth of 12 pct to 1.08 bln poundsSource: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 30 Apr 2010 | 1:46 am Customizable Pocket Knives - The Switch Modular Pocket Knife is Perfect for Playing MacGyver (GALLERY)(TrendHunter.com) I might as well throw away every tool in the house and just by a Switch Modular Pocket Knife. This Super Swiss Army Knife can be outfitted with up to 13 attachments that you choose...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 30 Apr 2010 | 1:40 am Man Who Found Next-Generation iPhone Revealed - FOXNews
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 30 Apr 2010 | 1:33 am GE, AMEC eye stake in S.Korea KEPCO unit -reportSEOUL, April 30 (Reuters) - U.S. industrial group General Electric Co and British engineering group AMEC are interested in buying an about $230 million stake in a South Korea utility services firm, South...Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 30 Apr 2010 | 1:29 am Apples Chief Makes Case Against FlashSteven P. Jobs, Apples chief executive, posted a 1,700-word letter on Apples Web site on Thursday, explaining the companys decision not to allow the multimedia software Adobe Flash on Apples mobile devices,...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 30 Apr 2010 | 1:29 am Daily Crunch: Terrestrial Duel Edition
World’s largest telescope to open in Chile
Source: CrunchGear | 30 Apr 2010 | 1:28 am Bungie Signs 10-Year Deal With ActivisionAn anonymous reader writes "Infinity Ward may be suing Activision under allegations of low payment and no royalties, but it seems some developers are still happy to work with the publisher — it has just signed a 10-year deal with Bungie, the studio behind the popular Halo series of FPS games. Activision will publish all of Bungie's games in the next decade — although Bungie will own the IP. The terms of the deal are similar to those brokered by former Infinity Ward chiefs Jason West and Vince Zampella when they signed with EA after being fired in March."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 30 Apr 2010 | 1:28 am UPDATE 1-Essar Energy cuts London IPO price to 420p -sources* Likely to have mkt value of about $8.5 bln on listing (Adds details, background)Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 30 Apr 2010 | 1:21 am The State Of Web Development Ripped Apart In 25 Tweets By One Man
Following Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ post about Flash this morning, Hewitt went on Twitter and started going off with some of this thoughts. I asked Hewitt if I could recap them; his response, “sure, why not.” Hewitt, some may recall, quit iPhone development over his distaste for some App Store policies. Today, seeing a wave of anti-Flash talk on Twitter spurred by Jobs’ post, Hewitt started out:
So basically, Hewitt’s take is that Flash (and all plug-ins) only exists because the W3C (the governing body for web standards) is too slow to formalize and approve innovative new technologies. He urges browser-makers to break away from the W3C constraints and start going crazy with new APIs. He then comes in defense of Microsoft, the company that once all-but destroyed (through what just about everyone including the U.S. government thinks were unsavory means) the company Hewitt started his career at (Netscape).
Hewitt’s take here is that the antitrust action against Microsoft halted innovation in Internet Explorer. In 1996, when Hewitt says IE innovation really started, that browser didn’t even have 10% share of the market, while Netscape had nearly 90%. As an underdog, IE had to innovate. Until, of course, they took over the web, and then Microsoft inexplicably all-but abandoned the product. Hewitt then turns to the rise of the app stores (including, yes, the App Store).
The “‘Evil’ proprietary tech is blowing the web away” quote is pretty compelling (I’m still kicking myself for not using it in the headline). Again, Hewitt’s point here is that the web is nowhere near where non-web technologies like Cocoa are — and won’t be for a decade.
He wonders here why some of Microsoft’s standards weren’t adopted by the W3C? Then blames the web developers for shaming other developers who use tech not sanctioned by the governing body.
The core of Hewitt’s argument. Web technologies aren’t moving fast enough, and why should he have to use a less powerful language to conform to web standards? Again, he hopes that browsers will start to innovate and force the W3C to conform to them.
The reason why Hewitt doesn’t just stick with Cocoa if he finds it superior to web-based languages.
An urging for developers to take action to reverse the trend.
A word of caution for those who bash IE6 — remember what it was like when it came out.
Cocoa, while not perfect, is better than web languages.
An interesting point. Hewitt is saying that while it may seem like a hassle to have the web coded for different browsers, it’s much more of a hassle to have apps coded for different phones.
Again, more defense of IE back in the day. From here, Hewitt goes into a series of thoughts on web vs. native apps.
App stores replace the web, simply because their languages are better, in Hewitt’s mind. And it’s our own fault for letting the web go to shit, and letting this happen. His last tweet is particularly powerful: Hewitt does have a lot of experience on both sides, and considers iPhone Safari to be a “joke” compared to what you can do natively. This is a sentiment a lot of developers whisper about, but seldom say publicly. Finally, Hewitt qualifies some of his statements a bit.
Fair enough, plenty of juicy post-worthy comments for one day.      
Source: TechCrunch | 30 Apr 2010 | 1:19 am Person Who Sold the iPhone Prototype RevealedAccording to an investigation by Wired, the person who sold Gizmodo the iPhone prototype is 21-year-old Brian Hogan of Redwood City, California. [via Mashable] Wired uncovered his identity after following...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 30 Apr 2010 | 1:17 am Top 100 Trends in April 2010 - From Toddler Tattoo Artists to Harajuku Heroines (COUNTDOWN)(TrendHunter.com) For the month of April 2010, these are the Top 100 trends, which include Toddler Tattoo Artists, Sci-Fi Platform Shoes and Fairytale Heroine Pin-Ups. The rankings are based on millions...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 30 Apr 2010 | 1:10 am Cell Phone Networks boost coverage for Obama's commencement address on SaturdayAn insightful piece from Ann Arbor, on how all the networks are gearing up to boost their cellular coverage on Saturday, as President Barack Obama will be giving the commencement address at Michigan University...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 30 Apr 2010 | 1:05 am Exxon starts 6-wk maintenance at Singapore refinery(For refinery outages in the new Reuters Oil Fundamentals Database see http://bond.views.session.rservices.com/CE/ or go to <OFD/INFO>)Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 30 Apr 2010 | 1:02 am Flat-Screen TV Prices Rising; When's the Right Time to Buy? [Voices]By Yun-Hee Kim, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal Flat-screen TV prices have been rising since February, but now some analysts say prices could fall in the coming months. Analysts base their predictions on the prices of liquid crystal displays — which are the most expensive component of a flat screen TV. Prices of LCDs, used in everything from cellphones to flat-screen TVs, have started to fall after months of stable or rising prices. That’s because with the market in an upswing thanks to a recovery in the global economy, LCD makers, especially those in Taiwan, have started to ramp up capacity, running their factories at full utilization. With additional capacity coming on line from new production lines at Sharp, Samsung Electronics and LG Display, supply growth for LCDs is now outstripping demand. Read the rest of this post on the original site Source: All Things Digital | 30 Apr 2010 | 1:00 am Apple To Shut Down Lala On May 31, iTunes.com Launch Impending?
Lala – where music will stop playing … In a brief message that was just posted on the Lala.com website, Apple has announced that the service will be shut down on May 31st, 2010. Apple will not be accepting new users, and existing users will be able to log in only until the end of next month. Does this mean we can start raising our hopes for iTunes in the cloud? At the bottom of a Wall Street Journal piece published back in January 2010, the paper suggested that Apple was gearing up to launch iTunes.com as soon as this June, citing sources familiar with the matter. For an extensive view on how far-reaching that could prove to be, check out this guest post by Michael Robertson, the former CEO of MP3.com, who laid out Apple’s cloud-based media strategy going forward. An iTunes-in-the-cloud offering – which is basically what Lala’s value proposition boils down to – is the central part of such an endeavor. Late last year, we wrote about how a move to the cloud was inevitable for iTunes. With the imminent shutdown of Lala, it’s safe to assume something is brewing at Cupertino. Will Apple be the first company to turn online music subscription services into a sizable business? Perhaps Apple, which acquired Lala late last year, will be making an announcement at its Worldwide Developers Conference, which will be held June 7 in San Francisco. Update: here’s what it says when you’re logged in (click for larger image)
Update 2: and this is the email that was sent out to users:
(Thanks for the tip, Josh) Information provided by CrunchBase      
Source: TechCrunch | 30 Apr 2010 | 12:44 am Extreme Dune Buggies - The Neilpryde Off-Road Vehicle is a Roller Coaster Ride of Adrenaline (GALLERY)(TrendHunter.com) There are a few extreme activities I still have left to do on my list, and one of them is driving a dune buggy. I'm hoping that by the time I do, the Neilpryde off-road vehicle has...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 30 Apr 2010 | 12:40 am Cell Phone Uses Gesture ControlThe next generation of cell phone interfaces is currently under development at Ishikawa Komuro Laboratory at the University of Tokyo but instead of using a touchscreen the new interface is touchless...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 30 Apr 2010 | 12:29 am Naval Cryptologist with Top Secret Clearance Shopped Around Secret iPhone (PC World)PC World - The iPhone-Gate saga just gets more intriguing: According to reports from Wired and CNet, two of the major players involved in the sale of the iPhone prototype to tech blog Gizmodo have now been identified.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 30 Apr 2010 | 12:15 am Top 50 Pop Culture Trends in April 2010 - From Fairytale Heroine Pin-Ups to Candy-Colored Summer Fas (COUNTDOWN)(TrendHunter.com) For the month of April 2010, these are the Top 50 pop culture trends, which include Fairytale Heroine Pin-Ups, Plumber's Crack Covers and Gym Rope Swimsuits. The rankings are based...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 30 Apr 2010 | 12:10 am UK Docs Perform First Remote-Control Heart SurgeryByronScott writes "Doctors at a British hospital have just carried out the world's first surgery using a remote-controlled robot. The procedure fixed a patient's irregular heart rhythm, and although the doctor was in the same hospital as the patient — just through the wall in another room — developers of the RC surgery technology believe this is the first step toward long-distance operations. Imagine a doctor in London performing surgery on your heart in New York!"
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 30 Apr 2010 | 12:01 am StarCraft II Mac Client Beta AvailableAn anonymous reader writes "Blizzard has released the Mac client of the StarCraft II multiplayer beta. If you already have an invite for the PC beta, the Mac client is available under your Battle.net account." A recent patch also added a map editor to the StarCraft II beta, which has already led to some interesting projects.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 29 Apr 2010 | 11:18 pm Hitler finds out how to challenge a wrongful YouTube DMCA takedown with Fair Use
The folks at Rocketboom and Know Your Meme have put together a handy PSA video to teach YouTube the basics of challenging a wrongful DMCA takedown claim with a "fair use" defense. The subject gained much interest recently after the film company behind the movie Downfall / Der Untergang DMCA'd a bunch of those "Hitler Finds Out..." funnyvideos. Links: YouTube PSA, Rocketboom "Know Your Meme" blog post with details (with links to EFF, CfSM, FUP). Related: Mark Dery, a recurring guest contributor to Boing Boing, has a recent essay over at True/Slant on the ünterganging of Üntergang vids: Endtime for Hitler: On the Downfall of the Downfall Parodies
Previously:
Source: Boing Boing | 29 Apr 2010 | 11:15 pm Pet Pampering Goes Online with America's Most Interactive and Feature Rich WebsiteVIENNA, April 30 /PRNewswire/ -- The pet industry is buzzing with new services that have emerged to offer another level of pet pampering such as pet day care, home holiday care, dog walking and pet cremations and cemeteries.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 29 Apr 2010 | 10:36 pm Symantec buying PGP Corp., GuardianEdge for $370 million - BusinessWeek
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 29 Apr 2010 | 10:21 pm Apple v. Adobe: Something Just Doesn't Add Up - PC World
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 29 Apr 2010 | 10:16 pm Another One Bites The Dust? HP Reportedly Kills Windows 7 Slate Project - PC World
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 29 Apr 2010 | 10:08 pm Adobe Creative Suite 5 starts shipping (Macworld.com)Macworld.com - Adobe Creative Suite 5, the massive overhaul to the software makerâs collection of print, Web, and video applications announced earlier this month, has begun shipping. Adobe says its CS5 products will be available starting Friday.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 29 Apr 2010 | 10:01 pm April 30, 1939: The Future Arrives at New York World's FairThe fair featured the original Futurama, GM's gleaming glimpse of a freeway-studded tomorrow. Watch the videos.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 29 Apr 2010 | 10:00 pm Plastic Made From Algae Is Crazy GreenJust imagine if all the plastic around us was made from algae. We'd have thoroughly green car parts, bottles, containers, keyboards. In several years, this could be real. A California-based company is currently putting their algae plastic prototype to the ...Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 29 Apr 2010 | 9:59 pm Five apps to download immediately for your new 3G-enabled iPad (Appolicious)Appolicious - So, you just picked up your new 3G-enabled iPad from the Apple Store and are trying to figure out which apps can best take advantage of that device's expanded connectivity. Wherever you go, these five iPad apps will shine on your 9.7-inch tablet computer.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 29 Apr 2010 | 9:32 pm James Cameron helping design 3D camera for new Mars rover
The question is whether they can sell it to audiences without [via CNET]
Source: CrunchGear | 29 Apr 2010 | 9:18 pm Steve Jobs offers “Thoughts on Flash,” gives Adobe the smackdownFROM APPLETELL - In a sort of essay on Apple’s site itself, Steve Jobs outlines six reasons why Flash hasn’t been included on either the iPad or the iPhone. Full Story » | Written by NEWS for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 29 Apr 2010 | 8:58 pm Australian Government Delays Internet Filter LegislationAn anonymous reader writes "It seems the Australian federal government is being forced to delay the introduction of its proposed and much-hated, much-maligned Internet filter. It will not be introduced in the next two sittings of parliament, which realistically delays it until after the next election. News on withdrawing the filter, which was a promise from the previous election, has disappointed lobbying groups such as the Australian Christian Lobby."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 29 Apr 2010 | 8:50 pm Hewlett-Packard To Kill Windows 7 Tablet Project
The device was first unveiled by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer at CES 2010 in January and was supposed to hit the market in mid 2010. But our source tells us that HP is not satisfied with Windows 7 as a tablet operating system and has terminated the project (something CrunchGear mentioned months ago). HP may also be abandoning Intel-based hardware for its slate lineup simply because it’s too power hungry. That would also rule out Windows 7 as an operating system. So what will HP use as an operating system? Look for Google-powered devices, which have already been announced. And HP really does seem determined to make a go of the Palm WebOS. They said how important it was to them yesterday, and they will likely experiment with porting it to a slate-type device. Will WebOS emerge as a successful operating system for tablet devices? That seems very unlikely given the dominance of the closed Apple OS and the likely success of the open Android and Chrome operating systems from Google. To get traction from third party developers with WebOS HP will need to sell a lot of units. And it’s not clear what they’d gain from all that effort, anyway. HP knows how to build and sell hardware, not operating systems. We’ve reached out to HP for comment. Here’s the video promoting the HP Windows tablet from January:
     
Source: TechCrunch | 29 Apr 2010 | 8:28 pm Odd YouTube Banners Mislead In The Facebook/Google Identity War
That sounds a whole lot like YouTube is allowing users to skip having to create a Google account by letting them simply log in with their Facebook accounts, which would be a strange move strategy-wise. As it turns out, it’s simply a case of some questionable wording. I’m not seeing the banner myself, but a YouTube spokesman says that clicking it will take you to the standard YouTube registration screen, where you fill out your information as usual. Once you’ve done that, your newly created YouTube/Google account will automatically be connected to Facebook via Facebook Connect, so that it pulls in your friends’ shared items. But you aren’t actually logging in using Facebook’s Single Sign-on feature, which is an important distinction. And YouTube probably won’t be doing that any time soon — Facebook and Google are increasingly fighting over the future of identity on the web; accepting Facebook logins on YouTube would hurt Google’s cause and bring Facebook one step closer to becoming the web’s ubiquitous login standard. That said, YouTube has been gradually integrating some Facebook Connect features since last summer, beginning with an autoshare feature in June 2009 and more recently allowing users to see what their friends have shared from YouTube to Facebook. In other words, YouTube is embracing Facebook’s sharing functionality, but it isn’t going all the way. Thanks to Cole Turner for the tip Bottom image via DidIKnow      
Source: TechCrunch | 29 Apr 2010 | 8:00 pm Gowalla Checks-In To The iPad Before Foursquare
For the past few weeks I’ve been struggling. I’m addicted to all these location-based iPhone apps, but of the big ones, really only Loopt has had a native iPad app ready to go from the beginning. Today that changes with the launch of Gowalla’s iPad app. As we first previewed a month ago, the app looks amazing. The main page is a giant Google Map, and on it you can see where your friends are nearby. Clicking on their faces reveals where they are — or where they were when they last checked in. And how long ago they checked-in at that location. There’s also a side menu (in landscape mode — or a pop-over menu in vertical) that shows the stream of all your friends’ check-ins. From here you can do some of the newer Gowalla functions such as comment on check-ins. And yes, of course, you can check-in yourself. And, of course, you can do all of your other Gowalla stuff, such as check your Passport (your profile) to see you Stamps, Pins, and Items. Naturally, on the iPad’s big screen, they look even better. And that may be one big selling point of the app on the iPad over rival Foursquare, which isn’t quite as pretty. Speaking of Foursquare, while they may be in the midst of making a difficult decision (whether to sell or take more funding), Gowalla beat them to the iPad. Just how much anyone is going to use the iPad as a location-based device remains to be seen. Obviously, it’s much larger than the iPhone and as such, much less portable. But the 3G version should be in people’s hands tomorrow for the first time which will make taking it outside much more enticing. Find the new Gowalla app in the App Store here. It’s a free download.
     
Source: TechCrunch | 29 Apr 2010 | 7:46 pm The PayPal Mafia Convenes At Startup2Startup To Talk About Past Blunders & Current Ventures
The PayPal alums talked at length about the company’s history, including some of the horror stories they took part in (Levchin recounted one incident where he accidentally wiped out the only copy of PayPal’s master secret key used to decrypt every credit card on file at PayPal). The conversation then turned toward company culture, and which hot companies in Silicon Valley seemed poised to breed the most entrepreneurs. We’ve embedded videos of the full discussion below. Part 1      
Source: TechCrunch | 29 Apr 2010 | 7:45 pm MicroStrategy Announces First Quarter 2010 Financial ResultsMCLEAN, Va., April 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- MicroStrategy® Incorporated (Nasdaq: MSTR), a leading worldwide provider of business intelligence software, today announced financial results for the three-month period ended March 31, 2010 (the first quarter of its 2010 fiscal year). First quarter 2010 revenues were $93.4 million versus $80.2 million for the first quarter of 2009, a 16% increase.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 29 Apr 2010 | 7:44 pm Appletell reviews the Booq Taipan Shadow XSFROM APPLETELL - Although not designed specifically for the iPad, the Taipan Shadow XS messenger bag is just about perfect for Apple’s tablet device and the necessary accessories. Full Story » | Written by NEWS for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 29 Apr 2010 | 7:42 pm Verbarius: a FuzzyClock for your bedroom
The Verbarius is… how do you say, kind of a rip-off. But cool nonetheless. In fact, cool is what you’re buying when you get something by Art Lebedev. Wait a second. Why don’t we have any E-ink clocks? If they only change every minute, and even then only a little part of the screen, they could last for a year on one battery charge. Someone make this happen. Back to the clock. It spells out time in a way not unlike FuzzyClock, which I don’t find useful, though I do understand the attraction. You can load up the Verbarius with any language and it’ll happily spell it out. I’d go with piglatin, and then insist that it’s French and I should know because I speak fluent French, have been for years, etc etc. Oh, gadget jokes. Not the funniest. And yes, that little image editing up there is pretty bad, but let’s put the blame square where it belongs: on Pixelmator, because this program is really quite useless. Oh for Paint.net on a Mac. [via The Awesomer]
Source: CrunchGear | 29 Apr 2010 | 7:30 pm Rosetta Stone loses court case against Google (AP)AP - Foreign language education company Rosetta Stone Inc. said Thursday it lost a court case in which it sued Google Inc. for allowing rivals to advertise copycat software when Rosetta trademarks are used in search terms.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 29 Apr 2010 | 7:16 pm VW rolls out folding electric bicycleVolkswagen just announced their latest gadget, the Bik.e – a folding electric bicycle designed to fit in the trunk of your car, in the space currently taken up by your spare tire. With a maximum range of 12.5 miles, I question whether it would be a good spare tire replacement, but I still like it. It is interesting to see a company like Volkswagen get into the electric bicycle concept though. Of course, it’s not available yet, no one knows when it will be, or how much it will cost. We do know that the Bik.e will charge itself up from your car so you won’t have to worry about keeping it powered up. Regardless of how much it costs, it definitely looks cool. I’m not 100% behind the fact that you can’t pedal it though, that kind of limits the functionality. [via Gizmodo]
Source: CrunchGear | 29 Apr 2010 | 7:00 pm Before The FTC Blocks The Google-AdMob Deal, Maybe It Should Read Apple’s iPhone Licensing Agreement
The Federal Trade Commission is seriously thinking about blocking Google’s proposed $750 million acquisition of AdMob on antitrust grounds. A decision on whether this is where the government will make its antitrust stand against Google is expected in the next few weeks. But before the FTC makes that decision, it might want to take a look at Apple’s new licensing terms for iPhone developers. If I were Google’s lawyers, that would be Exhibit A to show how little market power AdMob and Google really have when it comes to mobile advertising. In order to show that an AdMob-Google combination raises antitrust issues, the FTC would need to show how it would impede competition. Last year, the mobile ad market share of Google and AdMob combined was an estimated 21 percent. Google’s portion is mostly in mobile search, whereas AdMob’s is mostly in mobile apps, specifically iPhone apps. But that was before Apple (which tried to buy AdMob) bought another mobile ad network, Quattro Wireless, and announced the impending launch of official Apple iAds for the upcoming iPhone OS 4.0. While other ad networks are not barred specifically from the iPhone and iPad, language in the terms of service (TOS) could effectively neuter them. Section 3.3.9 of the iPhone Developer Program License Agreement prohibits apps from containing third-party software that collect and send data to other companies and services “for processing or analysis.” (The agreement also block other third-party analytics and development tools like those used to make Flash apps). If ad networks like AdMob cannot collect data from the apps which use them, it makes it very difficult to serve and target ads. Any analysis of the mobile advertising market must take into account not only ads on the mobile Web, but also ads inside apps. And when it comes to ads in mobile apps, the iPhone is really the only game in town in terms of real revenue. So if the FTC is going to argue that the AdMob acquisition concentrates power in the iPhone ad market by only giving app developers two real choices (AdMob-Google and Apple), it might have to think again. And if two dominant advertising networks is too few, then having only one would be even worse. So maybe the FTC should be looking at Apple instead of Google if it is worried about mobile ad network monopolies. But that would be absurd. The mobile advertising market is not limited to one device or one OS. The FTC needs to show the potential for Google’s unfair domination of all mobile advertising, which includes the mobile Web, mobile search, and mobile apps. And new forms of mobile search are emerging, as Apple’s recent acquisition of Siri suggests. The broader the FTC defines the market for mobile advertising, the less concentration it will find. If anything, the quickly shifting landscape in the iPhone portion of the market shows that an early leader one day (AdMob) can be displaced by the whim of an even more dominant rival (Apple) the next.      
Source: TechCrunch | 29 Apr 2010 | 7:00 pm Verizon Wireless Droid Incredible sells outSection: Communications, Cellphones  Today was the much anticipated release of the HTC Droid Incredible. The Nexus One replacement for Verizon Wireless customers was expecting early success, but no one expected it this early. In fact just in the couple of hours that it was available online for purchase, it sold out. But do not fret. The next shipment of the Incredible is not that far off and should be availble by the 4th of May. The HTC Droid Incredible is Verizon’s new baby. With a snapdragon processor, it leaves the Droid in the dust. But the real bonus to this buy is HTC Sense, the custom UI that HTC has developed on top of Android and Windows Mobile. Without a doubt this is one of the best smartphone solutions on the entire market and a must have for the Verizon Wireless customers. Read [Boy Genius Report Full Story » | Written by Hunter Clarke for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 29 Apr 2010 | 6:37 pm Darth Coffee Cup, everyone
These design competitions are fun brainstorms, but because the ideas are essentially finalized and then face professional scrutiny, a lot of them don’t make it past the first cut. Making a cup out of coffee grounds? Same problems as paper cups. Make the Darth cup above? Great, more plastic consumption. The most practical submission I see is this one, with built-in fins to help radiate heat.
Stackable, familiar form and color, same materials — which is more than I could say for the (admittedly cool) heatswell cup. It’s interesting what people come up with, though: check out the rest of the submissions here.
Source: CrunchGear | 29 Apr 2010 | 6:30 pm Hugo Chavez Joins Twitter As “The Devil”; Immediately Follows Castro
Chavez’s account (freshly verified) is here. As you can see he already has over 100,000 followers after just two days of tweets — and just two (rather mundane) tweets. That’s pretty solid considering that it took famous Americans Conan O’Brien and Bill Gates months to reach just 800,000 followers. Still, Chavez has a ways to go before he gets anywhere near the top of the Twitter mountain. Ashton Kutcher and Britney Spears are currently racing to be the first users to 5 million followers. Meanwhile, Chavez is following just 5 people. One, unsurprisingly is the one tied to Cuban leader Fidel Castro (though someone else tweets for him) Chavez’s mentor. The others Chavez follows appear to be fellow Venezuelan political leaders. As his background he appears to have chosen the same red found on the Venezuelan flag. His bio reads, “President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. Bolivarian Soldier, Socialist and Anti-Imperialist.” And he’s tweeting using UberTwitter which means Chavez (or whomever is handling his account) may well be a BlackBerry user. The best part though is his Twitter username: chavezcandanga. “Candanga” apparently literally translates into “the devil” — though, I’m told, people also use it to describe someone who is strong-willed, or fearless. Information provided by CrunchBase      
Source: TechCrunch | 29 Apr 2010 | 6:28 pm New book about Funnyman, a Jewish superhero from the Golden Age of Comic Books
Feral House has a great new book coming out about Funnyman, an unusual and short-lived comic book series created by Superman's Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. Funnyman was a clown-like superhero who used gags, pranks and Yiddishisms to defeat his humor-deficient enemies. He was a dead ringer for Danny Kaye, one of my favorite comedians. The comic book was a total flop. It ran for six issues and went out of business. Siegel and Shuster tried to keep it going as a newspaper strip, but gave up after a year. The team never worked together again. (Joe Shuster went on to illustrate seedy little bondage booklets, barely scratching out a living. You can read all about it in Craig Yoe's book, Secret Identity: The Fetish Art of Superman's Co-creator Joe Shuster.) The video above consists of interviews with Mel Gordon and Thomas Andrae, the co-authors of Siegel and Shuster's Funnyman: The First Jewish Superhero from the Creators of Superman. It also describes how the invention of Superman might have been inspired by a Jewish vaudeville strongman from the 1920s named Siegmund Breitbart, who was billed as a "Superman of Strength." Pre-order Siegel and Shuster's Funnyman: The First Jewish Superhero, from the Creators of Superman
World’s largest telescope to open in Chile
The European Southern Observatory will construct the world’s largest telescope in Chile. They’re calling it the European Extremely Large Telescope, and it’s being constructed in Chile because the night sky there is totally clear some 320 days per year. The name isn’t just some gimmick. The telescope’s primary mirror will be 138 feet wide, dwarfing other, similarly large telescopes. (One such telescope in Hawaii has a 33-feet wide mirror.) Any guesses as to how much it costs? I mean, how much is a enthusiast telescope these days? A fancy one will run you maybe in the $100 range (give or take). Try one billion euros ($1.3 billion). Chump change! If all goes well, the telescope could be up and running by 2018.
Source: CrunchGear | 29 Apr 2010 | 6:00 pm Tool: Electric Lock Pick Is an All-Access PassPlace the SouthOrd's picking needle and tension tool inside the keyway of a locked door and the 8,000-rpm motor will knock the pins clear. Twenty seconds later you're in.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 29 Apr 2010 | 6:00 pm Heated Wetsuit Stokes Your Fanny When Hanging 10When a regular wetsuit won't do, try one with integrated heating coils.
Source: Wired: Gadgets | 29 Apr 2010 | 6:00 pm Alt Text: Chimps Mourn Like Humans, Maybe a Bit Too MuchA first-primate look at the chimpanzee grieving process.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 29 Apr 2010 | 6:00 pm 1939's 'World of Tomorrow' Shaped Our TodayThe New York World's Fair influenced the tomorrow we have and even the tomorrow we still dream of.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 29 Apr 2010 | 6:00 pm Heated Wetsuit Stokes Your Fanny When Hanging 10When a regular wetsuit won't do, try one with integrated heating coils.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 29 Apr 2010 | 6:00 pm Tool: Electric Lock Pick Is an All-Access PassPlace the SouthOrd's picking needle and tension tool inside the keyway of a locked door and the 8,000-rpm motor will knock the pins clear. Twenty seconds later you're in.
Source: Wired: Gadgets | 29 Apr 2010 | 6:00 pm US Boy Scouts issues awards for videogame mastery (AFP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 29 Apr 2010 | 5:50 pm Man who found — and sold — the missing iPhone unmasked (Ben Patterson)
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 29 Apr 2010 | 5:50 pm Microsoft's Touted iPad Rival Courier Becomes Less Than VaporKostya writes "The much discussed Courier two-panel tablet device from Microsoft is now even less than vaporware — now it's just plain dead. 'Microsoft execs informed the internal team that had been working on the tablet device that the project would no longer be supported.' While the Courier had never been officially announced as a supported product by Microsoft, it had generated a lot of discussion as what the iPad should have been."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 29 Apr 2010 | 5:47 pm Tokyo fishermen update seafood e-commerce site from their boats
Fisherman in Tokyo are taking photos of the fish they catch and posting them to a retail website before they even return to port. Fishermen’s benefit: no fish broker nor auction market process is required. Buyers’ benefit: fish and seafood you’ve ordered on the website before 9am will be delivered to your home within the same day. (It is expected to be delivered within 12 hours from being caught by fishermen to a consumer’s kitchen.) C.O.D. available.Tokyo fishermen update seafood e-commerce site from their boats (Thanks, Francesco!) Source: Boing Boing | 29 Apr 2010 | 5:30 pm CrunchDeals: Zx1 weather-proof Pocket Video Camera for $54
Source: CrunchGear | 29 Apr 2010 | 5:30 pm Chinese video of bleeped South Park episode #201 provides clues on Cartman's final speechBoy, censorship issues sure get confusing when American fans of the English-language version of South Park have to look to a Chinese broadcast of the episode to figure out what Cartman was saying in the closing speech of episode 201. That's the controversial "Mohammed" episode Comedy Central/Viacom bleeped out, against Matt and Trey's wishes, over threats from a small wacko wingnut group identified as "Muslim extremists" (but founded by a Jewish dude). Complicated!(andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com, thanks, Richard Adler) CyberWalk: a giant omni-directional walking platform for virtual realityErico says: "Put on your VR goggles and walk on this thing without fear of hitting a wall. Built by Italian and German researchers, it's the largest VR platform in the world." CyberWalker: A Giant Omni-Directional Treadmill for Virtual Reality
FDA Approves Vaccine For Prostate Cancerreverseengineer writes "The US Food and Drug Administration has given its first first approval for a therapeutic cancer vaccine. In a clinical trial 'involving 512 men, those who got Provenge (sipuleucel-T) had a median survival of 25.8 months after treatment, while those who got a placebo lived a median of 21.7 months. After three years, 32 percent of those who got Provenge were alive, compared with 23 percent of those who got the placebo. ... "The big story here is that this is the first proof of principle and proof that immunotherapy works in general in cancer, which I think is a huge observation," said Dr. Philip Kantoff, chief of solid tumor oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston and the lead investigator in Dendreon's largest clinical trial for the drug. "I think this is a very big thing and will lead to a lot more enthusiasm for the approach."'"
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 29 Apr 2010 | 5:23 pm Steam for Mac made official for May 12
Whoa whoa whoa. Valve has officially announced Steam for Mac’s release date: May 12. So says an e-mail straight from Valve HQ. Feel free to freak out.
Source: CrunchGear | 29 Apr 2010 | 5:22 pm Open source handheld Pandora’s maker explains delays
The full story can be found in this interview over at MaxConsole, but the gist is that they underestimated the amount of time it takes to go from prototype to production. They had the final spec ages ago but with several thousand orders the only way they could do it was via Chinese factories, which are apparently taking forever. Like they put in the order in October forever. Still, the project is very much alive and if you haven’t looked into it yet, now’s your chance. This thing looks like pretty much the ultimate retro gaming handheld, and it’s got a full Linux-based OS as well, so you’ll have a whole bunch of apps and games to choose from aside from emulated ones. We hope to hear from these fellows as soon as they start shipping. You can pre-order ‘em here.
Source: CrunchGear | 29 Apr 2010 | 5:00 pm Skyfire For Android Enables (Some) Flash Videoharrymcc writes "Skyfire, a browser formerly available only for Windows Mobile and Symbian, is releasing a beta for Android. The most notable feature: It can identify Flash video on Web pages and convert it to HTML5 and H.264 on the fly, so it'll play on Android phones. It doesn't support all video, and may be rendered somewhat superfluous when Adobe ships Flash Player 10.1 for Android — but it's an impressive trick."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 29 Apr 2010 | 5:00 pm Microsoft Says 'Courier' Tablet Project Shelved for Now [Voices]By Nick Wingfield, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal Microsoft (MSFT) has shelved a development project working on plans for a two-screen, touch-sensing device that could be used to read electronic books and take notes. The project, code-named Courier, had captivated some technology enthusiasts because of its radical design, images of which leaked onto the Internet last year. People familiar with the matter said the Redmond, Wash., company had never decided to turn the project into a commercial product, which outsiders speculated could be a rival to Apple Inc.’s (AAPL) iPad and Amazon.com Inc.’s (AMZN) Kindle. Read the rest of this post on the original site Source: All Things Digital | 29 Apr 2010 | 4:57 pm Dead man propped on his beloved motorcycle for funeralThis fellow was shot to death in Puerto Rico, but his loved ones gave him one last ride by propping his body onto his motorcycle for the wake. Dead dude rides again The telephone was an aberration in human developmentRick Webb: "The telephone was an aberration in human development. It was a 70 year or so period where for some reason humans decided it was socially acceptable to ring a loud bell in someone else's life and they were expected to come running, like dogs. This was the equivalent of thinking it was okay to walk into someone's living room and start shouting."Source: Boing Boing | 29 Apr 2010 | 4:50 pm McAfee rev rises, but net falls on charges (AP)AP - McAfee Inc.'s revenue in the first quarter jumped but net income fell 30 percent from last year as the company absorbed bigger charges for restructuring and accounting for employee stock compensation and income taxes.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 29 Apr 2010 | 4:48 pm Cabbies overcharging passengers millions of dollars (Christopher Null)Christopher Null - Every taxi passenger wonders from time to time if the driver is taking a certain route so he can pad the fare. Turns out he probably is — and even if he’s not, he’s got plenty of other tricks he can use to charge you extra.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 29 Apr 2010 | 4:34 pm Apple news of the weird: iPad causes MacBook Pro to freak out, turn off?This is an interesting little video. This fellow put his iPad down on his MacBook Pro to answer a phone call (hmm) and observed the bizarre behavior shown above. Seems inexplicable, but the only explanation is that the MacBook thinks its lid is being closed. There must be some element of the iPad that reacts with the magnet or sensor that detects the MBP’s lid is shut. Probably something to be aware of if you’re a big Apple fanboy and often stack one Apple product on another.
Source: CrunchGear | 29 Apr 2010 | 4:20 pm All of Gopherspace Available For DownloadAn anonymous reader writes "Cory Doctorow tells us that '[i]n 2007, John Goerzen scraped every gopher site he could find (gopher was a menu-driven text-only precursor to the Web; I got my first online gig programming gopher sites). He saved 780,000 documents, totalling 40GB. Today, most of this is offline, so he's making the entire archive available as a .torrent file; the compressed data is only 15GB. Wanna host the entire history of a medium? Here's your chance!' Get yourself a piece of pre-Internet history (torrent)." Update: 04/30 00:16 GMT by T: As several readers have pointed out below, our anonymous friend probably meant to say "pre-Web," rather than "pre-Internet."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 29 Apr 2010 | 4:16 pm Review: 'Timer' Ticks Down Love in the Time of TMIWhen the sci-fi romantic comedy sticks to the funny bits, everything's cool. But when it strays into melodrama, things get annoying.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 29 Apr 2010 | 4:09 pm Rudy Coby at the Magic Castle in LA - an amazing show!
Last night I went to the famous Magic Castle in Hollywood, California to see Rudy Coby's Magic vs. Science performance (I wrote about the show's opening here). Donning his trademark white lab jacket and sporting his flamboyant pompadour for the first time in 15 years, Rudy had me and the rest of the audience in stitches with his hilarious routines that combine slapstick theatrics with smoothly executed magic tricks. It reminded me a little of Blue Man Group, because the show is an absurd delight.
I'm planning to visit Rudy's workshop soon, where he designs and makes his unique props. If you live in the LA area, I recommend you get over to the Magic Castle to see him. He'll be performing every night through May 2. I made a copy of the brochure about the show, which lists performance times along with the names of the other magicians (all selected by Rudy) who are performing in the other rooms in the Magic Castle during the Magic vs Science week. UPDATE: The Magic Castle is a members' only club, but there are ways for non-members to attend. For information call:
Rudy Copy at the Magic Castle in LA - an amazing show!
QOTD: iPhone Finder Found [Digital Daily]QOTD: iPhone Finder Found [Digital Daily]
Source: All Things Digital | 29 Apr 2010 | 3:48 pm HotelChatter's Annual Hotel Wi-Fi Report 2010Ant writes with this excerpt from an annual review of wireless access for hotel guests: "This year marks HotelChatter's sixth annual hotel Wi-Fi report. Over the years we've documented the progression of hotel Wi-Fi, from blatant disregard, to price-gouging for Wi-Fi access, and reliable Wi-Fi for loyalty program members, through guests taking matters into their own hands with wireless laptop/notebook cards and 3G access. A year ago, we thought guest demand for free, reliable, hotel Wi-Fi might just go away, thanks to 3G, but today, a growing number of hotel guests not only demand the hotel they book have proper wireless access, but most will consider not staying at a hotel that can't meet their basic access needs. That's right, Wi-Fi is a make or break amenity for many hotel guests that can sway booking decisions — and that isn't going away."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 29 Apr 2010 | 3:32 pm iPhone Finder Regrets His 'Mistake'Wired identifies the 21-year-old man who discovered a next-generation iPhone in a Silicon Valley bar. He's sorry he didn't do more to return the device to its owner before providing it to a tech site for money, according to a statement from his attorney.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 29 Apr 2010 | 3:30 pm Good Show Sir: "only the worst Sci-Fi/Fantasy book covers" What is it about the Sci-fi/Fantasy genre that seems to make perfectly sensible publishers lose their minds and stamp "APPROVED" on cover proofs that would give a sane person nightmares? I'm not talking about every cover in the genre, of course. You know the ones I mean. The ones that look like something you might see in a long night of fever dreams after a Tuborg bender. The ones that look like this one on the right. Gosh, but there's a lot going on in it, isn't there? It isn't just that it violates any precept of sensible design; it's also that it obliterates any rational notion of narrative discipline. What I'm saying is, sure you could infer a story from the cover, and that story might even be Art, but that Art would be, in Shelby Lynne's words, the killin' kind. What you want to do with art like this is gather it up and wall it off where it can't hurt anybody. Which is, in a way, what a British site called Good Show Sir has done. Its motto is brisk and direct -- Only the worst Sci-Fi/Fantasy book covers -- and the criteria for inclusion are blessedly clear:
Some of the things to look for in a cover:This is a valuable public service. Visit the site if you dare. Just don't blame me if you end up sobbing in a corner. Source: Boing Boing | 29 Apr 2010 | 3:28 pm Yahoo Loses Another Exec [Digital Daily]
“Bryan Lamkin, SVP, Consumer Products Group, has decided to leave Yahoo! to pursue a new entrepreneurial venture,” Yahoo said in a statement. “His last day will be May 28, and he’ll spend the next several weeks focused on ensuring a smooth transition. We wish him all the best in his new endeavors.” Why is Lamkin bowing out? Sources say he didn’t get along too well with CEO Carol Bartz. Lamkin, for his part, says it’s simply time to move on. “My time at Yahoo! has been extremely valuable and I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished since I started. While on a personal level, the time is now right for me to transition to a new, entrepreneurial-focused venture, I firmly believe that Yahoo! is in a unique position and has the right strategy in place to create an exciting new wave of consumer experiences.” Lamkin’s departure is the latest in what’s fast becoming an executive exodus at Yahoo. In March Joanne Bradford, the company’s SVP of U.S. Revenue and Market Development, left for a new gig at Demand Media. A month later CTO and chief product officer Ari Balogh said he was leaving as well. Source: All Things Digital | 29 Apr 2010 | 3:11 pm cellcontrol Supports Oprah's No Phone Zone Campaign and National Distracted Driving Awareness Month, Offers Product DiscountLeading provider of DWD solution announces special offer for families BATON ROUGE, La., April 29 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Representatives from cellcontrol announced today that they will offer a special promotional price for their driving while distracted (DWD) solution in an effort to support Oprah's No Phone Zone Campaign and National Distracted Driving Awareness Month.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 29 Apr 2010 | 3:11 pm Solarsoft Acquires Informance InternationalTORONTO, April 29, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- - Acquisition Strengthens ERP Vendor's Position in Manufacturing Systems for Food and Beverage, Healthcare and Pharmaceutical Sectors Solarsoft Business Systems, an investment of Marlin Equity Partners, announced today that it has acquired Informance International Inc., the Northbrook, Illinois based specialist in Enterprise Manufacturing Intelligence (EMI) systems. Informance's software solutions give managers a clear view of performance across their manufacturing operations.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 29 Apr 2010 | 3:05 pm New Verizon Commercial: Droid? Pft. It’s all about the Droid Incredible now“Forget what you thought you knew, because you’ve never seen a Droid like this.” is really just a nice way of saying “Oh, that Droid we spent millions advertising like 5 months ago? Old news. This one is the best one. Seriously. At least, for the next 5 months, unless it isn’t.”
Source: MobileCrunch | 29 Apr 2010 | 3:04 pm Tellabs' Stockholders Elect Four DirectorsNAPERVILLE, Ill., April 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- At Tellabs' annual stockholders meeting today, stockholders re-elected current directors Michael J. Birck, Linda Wells Kahangi and Robert W. Pullen.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 29 Apr 2010 | 3:00 pm HP reassembles Palm Pilot company circa 1999 - owns 3Com tooSection: Business News, Communications, Computers, Gadgets / Other
Wha? Sure, you know that HP agreed to acquire Palm yesterday but did you know that they also purchased 3Com last November? Palm was spun out of 3Com back 10 years ago in 2000. Is HP making a new run at PDAs? In fact, HP made 116 acquisitions from 1986 to 2008, that’s one busy M&A department. Prices paid for acquisitions maxed out with the Compaq acquisition for $25 billion. In truth, 3Com’s business that has sustained it since spinning off Palm has been network switching, routing and security solutions. This purchase was absorbed into HP’s ProCurve solutions division. Certainly that has little to do with PDAs or mobile OS. The move expanded HP’s Ethernet switching capabilities and made in-roads in China’s market. At one point, 3Com had the Palm Pilot under its belt as well as the kitchen computer, Audrey. Audrey was capable of syncing each family members Palm Pilot to keep everyone on the same schedule. It was designed to be a Mom’s best friend though the product failed to strike a chord with consumers and was abruptly ended. HP spent more than double ($2.7 billion) to acquire 3Com than Palm. Read: [HP] Full Story » | Written by JG Mason for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 29 Apr 2010 | 2:54 pm Zenith Infotech Helps IT Solution Providers Better Compete Against 'Direct' Cloud Vendors in St. Louis, MissouriST. LOUIS, April 29 /PRNewswire/ -- As virtualization and cloud technologies grow in popularity with CIOs, Zenith Infotech is developing an arsenal of related tools, resources and support services that enable its partners to more effectively compete against direct-to-market vendors.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 29 Apr 2010 | 2:51 pm Zenith Infotech Helps IT Solution Providers Better Compete Against 'Direct' Cloud Vendors in Miami, FloridaMIAMI, April 29 /PRNewswire/ -- As virtualization and cloud technologies grow in popularity with CIOs, Zenith Infotech is developing an arsenal of related tools, resources and support services that enable its partners to more effectively compete against direct-to-market vendors.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 29 Apr 2010 | 2:48 pm Zenith Infotech Helps IT Solution Providers Better Compete Against 'Direct' Cloud Vendors in Kansas City, KansasKANSAS CITY, Kan., April 29 /PRNewswire/ -- As virtualization and cloud technologies grow in popularity with CIOs, Zenith Infotech is developing an arsenal of related tools, resources and support services that enable its partners to more effectively compete against direct-to-market vendors.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 29 Apr 2010 | 2:45 pm Apollo College and Western Career College Invite Students to Vote for New Scrub ColorsMISSION VIEJO, Calif., April 29 /PRNewswire/ -- Apollo College and Western Career College announced a social media promotion encouraging students to vote for the color of new scrubs, which will be introduced when the Colleges are renamed Carrington College(TM) and Carrington College(TM) California in June.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 29 Apr 2010 | 2:42 pm Sierra Wireless Reports First Quarter 2010 ResultsTSX: SW NASDAQ: SWIR - Exceeded revenue and profitability guidance for the quarter on higher than expected M2M revenue and lower Non-GAAP operating expenses - Revenue of $151.3 million, an increase of 36% compared to the first quarter of 2009 and better than guidance of $150.0 million - GAAP loss from operations of $4.5 million and loss per share of $0.24 - Non-GAAP earnings from operations of $4.1 million and non-GAAP diluted earnings per share of $0.13, compared to guidance of $3.3 million and $0.11 per share respectively VANCOUVER, April 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - Sierra Wireless, Inc.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 29 Apr 2010 | 2:39 pm Microsoft Cancels Courier Tablet
Microsoft’s dual screen prototype Courier tablet project is dead, even before it could make it out of the company’s research labs. Microsoft has reportedly canceled internal work on the tablet, says Gizmodo. Gizmodo had initially revealed the Courier as a project that Microsoft has been working on. The tablet was said to have two screen, fold like a book and include a touchscreen display and a stylus. But the Courier never made it outside the pages of the blog. Microsoft did not ever publicly announce the device or show it at conferences. PC makers have offered slates and convertible notebooks for nearly a decade, and they’ve never caught on. But now, a new generation of attractively designed and low-priced screens are looking to lure in consumers. Apple’s iPad is leading this category and Apple has sold more than 500,000 iPads. Meanwhile, other companies such as Dell and HP are working on introducing tablets. Microsoft’s Courier was never seen as a viable competitor largely because the device never truly went beyond the vaporware stage. Microsoft did not specifically comment about Courier’s future but Frank Shaw, corporate vice president of communications at Microsoft says Courier will have a legacy. “It’s in Microsoft’s DNA to continually develop and incubate new technologies to foster productivity and creativity,” he said in an e-mailed statement. “The Courier project is an example of this type of effort and its technologies will be evaluated for use in future Microsoft offerings.” See Also:
Photo: Courier (nDevilTV/Flickr) 
Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 29 Apr 2010 | 2:36 pm Samsung: “Like our new phone? Play some dodgeball!”
Let’s try a little thought experiment here. Think about a new cell phone: it’s shiny, has a touch screen, and even a QWERTY keyboard. What else comes to mind when you think about that phone? What do you feel like doing? If your answer to that last question was “play dodgeball”, then congratulations! You’re To commemorate the launch of their Reality handset on Verizon, Samsung is attempting to set the Guinness record for the world’s largest game of dodgeball at the 69th Regiment Armory in New York. Over 1,500 potential dodgeball champions will square off, all for the glory of receiving a new phone (oh, and some gift cards). Having played with the feature phone already, it seems like this whole event is poised to be much cooler than the device it was meant to hype, but I’m sure that was the point. If you want in on the ball-slinging fun (unlike me, who was that one kid in gym class who pretended to sprain his ankle to avoid doing things), make haste to their Facebook page and sign up. Ah, who am I kidding? I secretly hope a bunch of tech bloggers sign up, just to settle the score once and for all.
Source: MobileCrunch | 29 Apr 2010 | 2:29 pm Love Google TV, But the AdWords Channel is a Real Bore … [Digital Daily]
Source: All Things Digital | 29 Apr 2010 | 2:25 pm Aircraft Lands on Side of Wall, VerticallyIf the walls could talk, they'd say, "I think an airplane just landed on me." This unmanned vehicle from a research team at the University flies straight toward a wall and then at the last second raises its nose up ...Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 29 Apr 2010 | 2:24 pm First Amphibian Genome SequencedImage 1: The smaller eggs of Xenopus tropicalis next to the larger eggs of Xenopus laevis. The eggs of both these species of African clawed frog have long been used as experimental systems in which to study vertebrate cell and developmental biology. (Richard Harland/UC Berkeley)Image 2: A late-stage Xenopus tropicalis tadpole, with emerging hindlimbs. Through the skin of the head, the optic, trigeminal and olfactory nerves, the paired thymus and large blood vessels are visible. (Siwei Zhang, Jingjing Li, Enrique Amaya/Univ. of Manchester (UK), Courtesy of Science)Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 29 Apr 2010 | 2:05 pm Plan B: California Braces for Climate ChangeCalifornia leads its fellow states in mitigating climate change, in part because it has so much to lose -- agriculture, tourism and coastline. Now the state issues a far-ranging report focused solely on adaptation, but it is heavy on strategy and short on tactics.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 29 Apr 2010 | 2:00 pm Could a webOS Slate compete with iPad?Section: Communications, Accessories, Cellphones, Email / IM, Smartphones, Mobile, Computers, Mobile Computers, Netbooks, Wireless
A new day for Palm is dawning and it’s trusty webOS. The target of a HP acquisition, we’ll hopefully quickly get to see what HP values in the buy. Is it a good start into the mobile phone category or is a proprietary OS for it’s Slate computers allowing HP to be more like Apple? Competition in either the mobile smartphone market or the burgeoning tablet market is sure to be tough. On the phone side, Palm had a strong device that is wilting a bit while the Pixi showed many users want a bigger screen on their smartphone. On the tablet side, wouldn’t Android have been enough of a differentiator without dropping $1.2 billion on Palm? Back at CES, Microsoft waved around the HP Slate on stage, as early incarnations feature the Windows operating system. For the casual user, Apple is showing users don’t need a bloated OS, they need a simple one that is fast and breezy. What can webOS bring to that party? For starters, webOS can bring elegant multitasking. So far, I am not impressed with Apples take on shoehorning multitasking into their iPhone OS. webOS accomplishes this simply by swiping apps like cards - it’s intuitive and fun. To get Android to feel this interactive, it takes some big time skinning, which brings along its own issues, just ask HTC. Another perk of webOS is an App catalog. While not the bottomless pit like Apple’s store, Palm has gone out of its way to make sure developing for webOS could be done by almost anyone that wishes to. This could be an asset as HP looks into leveraging it’s corporate focus. Tweaked for presentations, easy assimilation with business documents, HP could have a business success in a webOS Slate line. Will consumers follow? Read: [Gadgetell] Full Story » | Written by JG Mason for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 29 Apr 2010 | 1:44 pm Porn Stars Decry Piracy in New Video (SFW)Porn stars produce an anti-piracy video, saying DVD counterfeiting and "tube" internet sites are hurting their bottom line. And in case you're wondering, the actors are clothed.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 29 Apr 2010 | 1:23 pm Gulf Oil Spill of 'National Significance': White HouseGovernment officials are racing to the scene, but time may be running out.Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 29 Apr 2010 | 1:10 pm Adobe CEO on Steve Jobs' "Thought on Flash" [Voices]By Jennifer Valentino-DeVries, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal Earlier on Thursday, Apple CEO Steve Jobs published an essay in which he took Adobe to task over its Flash software, which Apple does not support on its mobile products, such as the iPhone and iPad. Below, Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen discusses the essay in an interview with The Wall Street Journal’s Allan Murray
Read the rest of this post on the original site Source: All Things Digital | 29 Apr 2010 | 12:59 pm Hulu Muddles Through Without Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert [MediaMemo]What happened to Hulu after it said goodbye to Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, two of the video sites’ biggest stars, in March? Not much. At least not in the first few weeks of their absence, according to Comscore (SCOR). Check out Comscore’s tally of the top video sites in the U.S. for February: And now for March: Stewart and Colbert left Hulu, the joint venture site owned by GE’s NBC (GE), Disney’s ABC (DIS) and News Corp.’s Fox (NWS), on March 10. But note that Hulu actually streamed about 10 percent more videos that month than it did in February. Meanwhile streams at Viacom (VIA) sites, now the only places that can host clips like Stewart’s Apple (AAPL) smackdown, increased as well. Perhaps some of that is because Hulu has been good about the breakup, and is directing Daily Show and Colbert Report seekers directly to Viacom’s sites. Which they’re not required to do. But for whatever reason, it looks like Viacom’s decision to yank the clips — or Hulu’s decision not pay more for them, depending on your interpretation — made sense for both sides. Some of the requisite caveats: This is just the first sample, and it’s not apples to apples, because February is the shortest month, etc. And overall video traffic appears to have increased around the Web month-to-month. Also, Hulu has been hovering around the billion video per month mark for some time now, so perhaps this its natural level. (A Hulu aside — how are they possibly getting the $200 million-plus run rate they boasted about earlier this year? Last week I sat down and watched an entire episode of “Lost”, which should be their most premium inventory. The show started off promisingly, with a Verizon sponsorship, but by the end of it I was watching ads for 5-Hour Energy and then what appeared to be some non-profit giveaways. That can’t possibly be right, can it?) And while we’re looking at the numbers: Note that Vevo, the “Hulu for music videos”, is back in the top 10. And, as always, that Google’s YouTube (GOOG) towers above every other site, by a huge margin.
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 CBC.ca | Apple's Reputation Bruised After Gizmodo Phone Flap ChannelWeb After Apple's next-gen prototype iPhone was lost, purchased and dissected online, it appears the company that ought to be considered the victim is looking increasingly boorish. The company's carefully polished ... Apple Pushed For Police Probe In iPhone 4G 'Daily Show' pokes fun at the lost iPhone saga The Daily Show's Jon Stewart Bags on Apple Over Gizmodo Warrant |
In a quest to get the perfect shot, Eric Austin, a Texas-based videographer, found a neat way to fuse a remote controlled helicopter and a Canon DSLR camera so he could shoot aerial videos easily and get the kind of footage that would otherwise be difficult to pull off.
“I took a hobbyshop helicopter and modified it to hold a camera, so I can get low altitude, close and tight aerial shots,” Austin told Wired.com.
An amateur videographer turned pro, Austin got interested in remote-controlled photography just four months ago.
“As I did more photos and videos, I realized I could develop a niche where I could use the advancements in technology to provide the kind of photos most people can’t get easily,” he says.
Austin is one of the many hobbyist photographers who are finding ways to use drones and remote-controlled helicopter toys to get a more attractive camera angle. Wired magazine editor-in-chief Chris Anderson helms a site called DIY Drones where users have found a way to use unmanned aerial vehicles to do aerial photography. Last year, New York City photographer Anthony Jacobs showed a helicam built using a German helicopter rig called MikroKopter. Jacobs used his helicam rig to shoot videos of neighborhooods in the city.
Austin, who has a website devoted to his RC helicopter videography, says he wanted to do something similar and offer HD-quality video and photos.
That’s why, he says, he decided to create a rig that would be reliable and produce the kind of footage that could be used by professionals. And as this clip shows, the video can be interesting.
Aerial video with a Canon 5D , 7D helivideo.com from Eric AUSTIN on Vimeo.
So far, Austin has helped shoot footage for TV shows including History Channel’s Sliced series.
Austin started with a remote-controlled helicopter called Align T-REX 700 and modified it to carry a special frame and camera mount. He tweaked the landing gear for the helicopter, covering it with a bright pink foam from the “noodles” used in swimming pools.
“The color stands out when I am flying the helicopter outdoors,” says Austin. “And if I crash into the water, my whole equipment won’t go to the bottom. It will be ruined, but at least I will get my gear back.” Austin says he hasn’t crashed his helicopter yet, but the foam ensures that in case of a hard landing, the equipment is less likely to completely fall apart.
He adjusts the camera’s settings when it’s on the ground and presses the Record button right before takeoff. For still images, Austin says he uses an external timer that activates the shutter every few seconds.
To create his flying video rig, Austin says he spent hours on the online discussion forums at the Helifreak.com website.
“I didn’t know anyone to talk to,” he says. “And then realized the only place to go was online where people were discussing this.”
One of the more challenging shoots that Austin has done with his helicam was flying over a cliff that was about 25 feet high with a river below. And he didn’t crash the copter.
“The probability that a crash will happen is there, but so far, I have been careful,” he says.
To download video, Austin has set up a 5.8-GHz video downlink feed using an on-board wireless transmitter.
All of this didn’t come cheap. Austin estimates the entire rig cost him about $15,000. But for those at home, who want to do something similar, he says there are cheaper alternatives.
“I went for the best and most expensive components because I didn’t want to risk it failing mid-air,” he says. “But you can get an RC helicopter for about $400 and put a point-and-shoot camera on it.”
See Also:
Photo/video: Eric Austin
[via DIY Photography]
By Nitrozac and Snaggy
The Steve Jobs email reply generator is actually interactive on the Geek Culture Web site–check it out.
show up next to the search field, on both the Google homepage and search results page. Clicking on that keyboard icon brings up a virtual keyboard in your language. You can input text by either clicking on the on-screen keyboard or pressing the corresponding key.
In remembrance of Geocities, we take a look at Geocities-izer, which promise to “make any webpage look like it was made by a 13 year-old in 1996.” Thankfully, or maybe not so thankfully it does just what it promises. Man, I am so glad we moved past that time or I am thinking I would have to find another career path because I am not sure I could sit online for 10-12 hours a day looking at pages like that. Of course, maybe that is one way we could put an end to Internet addiction—make the web ugly again and chase people away. With that I leave you the link for Geocities-izer…
Read [Geocities-izer] Via [Boing-Boing]
Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
Get excited, Verizon Pixi Plus or Pre Plus owners! But not too excited. Just a little bit excited. Less “Holy crap, I’m getting a petting zoo for my birthday!” excited, more “Neat, it’s probably not going to rain on my birthday!” excited.
Verizon just pushed out a minor update for webOS, bumping things up to version 1.4.1.1. While there’s nothing in terms of new features, it’s jam-packed full of bug fixes. Check out the full list after the jump.
The full list:
Improvements:
Ready for the new tweaks? Go pound the update button a few times — failing that, look for it to be automagically rolled to your kit within the next 48 hours.
Section: Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers, Smartphones, Mobile
Verizon has begun rolling out the latest update for webOS devices, the update is version 1.4.1.1 and an be downloaded by heading to the Launcher and then Updates app on your webOS enabled smartphone. According to the official word;
“This update contains a variety of minor software improvements.”
Though unofficially, this update should correct the double press issues that many have been complaining about.
Of course, if you do not feel like being bothered by doing the update manually, you will also be prompted, but going that route may mean waiting a day or three. That said, if you are not having any trouble, then it could not really hurt to wait. Either way, webOS 1.4.1.1 is available for Verizon Wireless subscribers. Otherwise, keep reading to check out the full change log for the webOS 1.4.1.1 update…
Version information
Version: webOS 1.4.1.1
Release date: 31 March 2010New applications
NONE
Feature changes to existing applications
Bluetooth
This release fixes an issue so that the phone now correctly connects with supported BMW car kits.Camera
This release corrects a lag in the shutter sound when you take a picture.
This release fixes an issue so that newly taken photos and videos do not overwrite existing ones.Contacts
If you crop a picture before adding it to a contact, the picture appears cropped correctly in the contact entry.
If you previously assigned either the Z or the B key as a speed dial, you can now continue to create speed dials.Doc View
If you open a file and perform the back gesture, the app now returns to the file list screen.
Pinching in/out to zoom out/in now works correctly.Messaging
If you try to attach a video to an outgoing multimedia message, the list of available videos now displays only videos you recorded.PDF View
If you open a file and perform the back gesture, the app now returns to the file list screen.
Pinching in/out to zoom out/in now works correctly.Sprint Football Live
The app previously named NFL is now named Sprint Football Live.System
This release fixes an intermittent issue so that the volume slider no longer appears onscreen incorrectly.Touchstone charging dock
When the phone is on a Touchstone charging dock, the screen now consistently turns off correctly (displaying the lock icon and the time) after the shut-off interval.Videos
If you record a video, upload the video to YouTube, and send a link to the video via email, the email recipient can click the link and view the video. Previously, clicking the link displayed an error message.
This release fixes an issue so that when you upload a video to YouTube, the file always includes both video and audio.Web
The forward gesture now works correctly in the browser.
Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
Section: Communications, Cellular Providers, Mobile, Computers, Mobile Computers, Netbooks, Wireless
Though still not officially announced or listed on the Verizon Wireless website, it looks like customers will soon be able to pick up an 3G connected Samsung N150 netbook from Verizon. The netbook has recently been spotted on the official Samsung website and pretty clearly states that;
“The Samsung N150 netbook with Verizon 3G embedded wireless technologies gives you value without compromise.”
Still, no word on when it will be available, nor how much you will have to shell out to make the purchase.
Otherwise, the specs are what we would expect in a netbook and include a 1.6GHz Intel Atom N450 processor, Intel GMA3150 graphics, 1GB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, VGA out, three USB ports, Ethernet port and 6-cell battery. Additionally, the display will be 10.1 inches with a 1024 x 600 resolution and the netbook will come running Windows 7 Starter with a “rich, glossy black” exterior.
Read [Verizon Wireless] and [Samsung ]Via [Netbooked]
Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 Telegraph.co.uk | Narrow Escape for Onlookers as NASA Balloon FOXNews A huge NASA balloon loaded with a telescope painstakingly built to scan the sky at wavelengths invisible to the human eye crashed in the Australian outback Thursday, destroying the astronomy experiment and just missing nearby onlookers. ... Terror in the Outback: Attack of the Giant Space Balloon Giant space balloon crashes on launch Nasa balloon crash in Australia destroys car |
Back in February, Skyfire (makers of the popular, Flash-enabled smartphone browser of the same name) announced that they’d snatched up Kolbysoft, the company behind the well-established Steel browser for Android. Today, we’re seeing the first fruits of that purchase coming to the market: Skyfire for Android is here.
Skyfire’s flagship feature is that it supports Flash video playback, so you’d expect their Android port to do the same, right? And it does! It just does it… a bit differently.
In past versions of Skyfire, Flash videos were embedded and played back directly within the page, just like you might expect from a PC version of the page. With Skyfire 2.0, one more step is thrown into the mix: the “Skybar”. When they’re ready to play back a Flash video, users tap the menu key to bring up the Skybar, click the “Video” label, and then choose which Flash video they want to view. Skyfire converts the video from Flash to H.264 in the cloud on-the-fly, and the video plays back (in full screen) on the device.
Why the change? A rep for Skyfire shared a few reasons with us:
Besides being the window to video, the Skybar also packs a few other tricks. An “Explore” option digs through Youtube, Twitter, Digg, and other sites for relevant video/imagery on the same subject as the content you’re currently looking at. For example: Believe it or not, they have videos of cats doing hilarious things on the Internet now; if you’re watching one of these and tap Explore, it’ll dig through the aforementioned feeds for other, equally hilarious cat videos. The “Share” button will let you sling the page out to Twitter, Facebook, Gmail, SMS, or save it for offline viewing.
Beyond the Skybar, Skyfire’s got a few other features that make it worth checking out: Pinch-to-zoom, tabbed browsing, on-the-fly user agent switching, and optional automatic history dumping (Porn mode!), to name a few.
Check out the video demonstration below, and look for the download to go live here and on the Android Market at right around 9 a.m. PST.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c |
| Appholes | |
| www.thedailyshow.com | |
Stewart isn’t pleased with the aggressive behavior of the police force investigating a lost iPhone prototype, which was purchased and published by tech blog Gizmodo. Last week, San Mateo police reportedly bashed in Gizmodo editor Jason Chen’s door to enter his home and confiscate his computers and other electronic gear.
“The cops had to bash into the guy’s door?” he said while a screen reading “Appholes” appeared in the background. “Don’t they know there’s an app for that?”
Stewart proceeds to mourn over the Apple of old times, when the company depicted itself as a rebel. Now Apple is acting more like “The Man,” he suggests.
Say what you will about police actions, but without apparent modesty, my favorite part of the clip is around the 4:45 mark — where Wired.com gets a mention for our scoop about a tipster claiming that Apple last week traced its missing iPhone and showed up at the finder’s front door.
Check out the Daily Show segment in the video above.
Via TechCrunch
See Also:
I first began riding horses at age six. Ever since then I knew that I wanted to spend my life working with horses and sharing my passion with others. I had jobs working for several barns and riding programs around Arizona, but always dreamed of having a school of my own.
Two years ago, I finally realized my dream and opened Specialized Training and Riding School — S.T.A.R.S. of Horsemanship. At S.T.A.R.S., we offer lessons to riders of all ages and skill levels, provide therapeutic horse training services for those with disabilities, and train Special Olympics riders. Our property is a 10-acre scenic environment for our students and horses. But because we’re located in a rural area of Gilbert, AZ, this also presents a big challenge: I don’t have the advantage of “window shoppers” or drive-by traffic. Without a storefront, those who do pass by may not realize that my stable is open to customers. Whenever I want to find a local business, Google Maps is my resource, so I wanted to make sure my business appears there too.
I did a little research and quickly found Google Places (which was known as Local Business Center when I first signed up). Within a few minutes, I was able to update the S.T.A.R.S. Place Page to add key details about my business, like exact location and contact information. And I could mention the special services we offer like group classes, private lessons, birthday parties, Scouting events, parent-child sessions and so on. Now when a company’s looking specifically for a team-building venue, they can find my business easily.
Since avid equestrians can be quite particular about facility details, I wanted to make sure that my Place Page included all of the specialized information that’s relevant to my target clients. Now when you search on Google, you can be taken to our Place Page to see photos that offer preview of our stables and even meet Salty, one of the horses. You can also find a coupon to help provide a little extra incentive to come try out our lessons if you’re new to horseback riding.
Since I started using Google Places six months ago, my business has grown tenfold from what it was before — I’ve gone from averaging around 10 to 15 students to now serving more than 100. To be honest, I had just figured that new customers would trickle in over time, but it’s boomed far beyond my expectations. And now I can spend more time with horses and riders, and less at the computer!
PadRacer is like Scalextric for the iPad, a top-down car-racing game for up to four players. The awesome twist is that those players use their iPhones to control the tiny on-screen cars.
The first game we know of to use this multimachine approach for the iPad is Scrabble, which lets players keep their tile-rack secreted on their iPhone screen and then flick the tiles onto the main board, over on the iPad, when it’s time to play.
PadRacer instead turns the iPhone (or iPod Touch) into a wireless controller, connected via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. You steer the cars by tilting the iPhone left or right.
The only caveat is that you can’t play the game without an iPhone or iPod, so the audience is slightly self-limiting (and we wonder how many complaints there will be from people who don’t read the warning first and buy the game without the right gear).
And we already know what you’re thinking: The minimum price for the hardware to play a two-player game is $900 — one $500 iPad and two $200 iPod Touches. On the other hand, the game is just $5, and if you already have the hardware, then this could be a lot of fun.
Who knows where this stuff will lead? A first-person shooter with a sniper-rifle view on the iPhone screen? IPad Poker, with your cards hidden in the palm of your hand? Or even a Keynote remote on the iPhone, complete with preview of the next slide? One thing’s for sure: The iPad is looking like a kick-ass gaming machine.
PadRacer [iTunes via Pocket Lint]
Section: Communications, Smartphones, Mobile
Palm has recently released their latest commercial. This one is called “Movies” and it follows in line with the previous one in that it also does not suck. In fact it seems as if Palm is on a roll with these commercials lately. The commercial comes in at 32 seconds and does a pretty good job at highlighting just what makes webOS shine. Now lets just hope they can make things truly shine considering the recent purchase by HP.
Watch [YouTube]
Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 The Guardian | Asteroids: A frosty finding Nature.com The asteroid belt is classically considered the domain of rocky bodies, being too close to the Sun for ice to survive. Or so we thought — not only is ice present, but at least one asteroid is covered in it. From high atop the summit of Mauna Kea, ... Building blocks of life are found on asteroid NASA: Asteroids might have brought water to Earth Frost Found On Asteroid |
Section: Web, Web Browsers
Mozilla’s mobile version of Firefox, named Fennec, has been trying to make its way to Android for some time now. Finally, it has reached pre-alpha version and can even be downloaded on to your Nexus One or Droid.
Considering this is a pre-alpha model of the browser, I’m going to try and stay away from the negatives of the new software and focus on what I’m looking forward to in the final release.
The Fennec browser has a different feel than most browsers, and apps for that matter, on the Android platform. Navigation around the application is handled differently than most applications because all options and pages are available without the use of the menu button at the bottom of the phone. A simple swipe to the left will reveal the bookmark option as well as the settings button. Similarly, a swipe to the right will reveal all of your open pages. When you first start playing with Fennec it is a bit awkward, but after a while you start to realize just how ridiculous and annoying pressing the menu button is in any application.
This browser is not built for speed. It is full of features and separate options that allow the user to completely personalize the browser to their liking. Yet, I found that, when the app was working, it could hold its own in a speed test against the Dolphin Browser and the Android Default browser. This finding really excited me because it showed that you can have features without compromising speed of the application.
Since the version of this browser is very very young, there are not many add-ons to install on top of the browser yet. But the fact that the add-ons act just as the ones on the desktop amazed me. In fact the process is exactly the same. You go to the add-on page on Mozilla, find an add-on, and click the (+) button next to it. Then it installs seamlessly on top of the browser. To start you out, Mozilla has not left you empty-handed, and have chosen a Twitter, Youtube flash player (interesting right?), and several other add-ons for early adopters to play with.
Weave is an add-on, I know. But I felt the need to place it in a separate category just because it is so cool. Weave essentially syncs your Firefox data on your desktop (bookmarks, history, and even open tabs) and distributes it to any other Firefox browser connected to that Weave account. Mozilla has managed to work this cool technology into its mobile application allowing you to integrate everything you have saved on your desktop with the mobile device. By far the coolest feature, in my opinion, is the ability to pull tabs that are open on your desktop onto the mobile browser. This way, if you happen to be on the run and need to get that link that was on your computer, you can just pull it up on your Android device.
For the download file and install instructions go here.
Read [ReadWriteWeb]
Full Story » | Written by Hunter Clarke for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
Now here’s a turnaround I never expected. According to a recent results filing, Motorola is working its way back into solvency and is turning a profit and shipping devices like crazy. The company took a slight loss in mobile sales – about $192 million – but that’s far lower than $550 million last year.
In truth, the company has only three phones on the market – the Cliq, the Droid, and the Devour. However, it’s abundantly clear that their decision to go all Android all the time was a great one and that the marketing Verizon has pushed behind the Droid has really brought the company back to life. I, for one, am glad. Motorola hitched their wagon to the RAZR for far too long and almost lost their shirt in the process. The fact that they’re able to push out a monster release and are currently popular is an amazing feat.
The two-part, leather (or leatherette) “ever-ready” camera case used to be pretty much your only choice back in the days of the all-manual film SLR. They were expensive, made-to-measure for your specific camera model and they would last pretty much forever. The one thing they weren’t was convenient. Their slow-to-open design earned them the nickname “never-ready”. I just bought one for my Panasonic GF-1.
The case is a custom-designed model made in Hong Kong and bought new on Ebay (from seller Kanye Wayne) for a probably ridiculous $120 (plus $10 shipping). It costs more than the official Panasonic version, but both looks better and hugs the camera closer, keeping things compact. So why the hell did I buy it?
Two reasons. The retro-design means I can carry it around and most people will think I have an old film-camera slung over my shoulder. Even if it were slow to get to the camera and take a shot, it would still be quicker than digging in a bigger bag.
Second, it is actually pretty fast to get in.
The case is hand-stitched and made to snugly fit the GF-1 and the 20mm pancake lens. Any other lens won’t fit, although you can just use the bottom half-case. This part joins to the camera by screwing into the tripod socket. You do have to remove it every time you change the SD card, but this is better than the olden days, where you had to swap films every 36 exposures. Some other designs also hook over the strap-joints, but that just adds more things to undo.
The top section is joined by two press-studs at the sides, and a magnetic clasp joined underneath. The case pivots on the studs and swings back, over and down underneath the camera when shooting.
How does it perform? Pretty well. The lower case is snug, and the soft, plush lining cossets the body. The extra thickness and the small finger-grip on the front make it a lot more comfortable in my big hands.
The top case needs to age a little, though. Right now, the new leather is rather springy. While the magnet clasp makes opening and closing quick and easy, the stiffness makes the case stand out straight towards you when open. This is less of a problem when using the LCD screen to compose than it would be with the viewfinder. A few months of use should make things a little more floppy, though, and you can always just pop the whole top section off for longer shoots.
The other glitch is that, when you open and close the case, it rubs against the bottom edge of the lens-barrel and sometimes knocks off the lens-cap. Again, this should ease up as the leather softens.
Should you buy it? That depends. The price is high, but you get what you pay for. The stitching and leather are top-notch, and the details are well thought through (the tripod screw has another female thread in the base so you can still mount it while in the case). It is also perfect for carrying the camera everywhere, and if you care about looks, you’ll love it (you can also choose white, black and dark brown versions).
But it does only work with one lens, the 20mm, and there is no space for storing extra SD cards or batteries. In the end, you’ll have to decide: it’s a specialty item with a price to match. The good news is that, if you need such a thing, then you certainly won’t be disappointed. The worst part? Now I need to find a matching leather strap.
Panasonic GF1 GF-1 Genuine Leather 20mm Case [Ebay/Kanye Wayne]
See Also:
A reader, Derek, writes:
Not with a bang, but a whimper? I’m @ the VZN store with the earliest
opening time in a major metro region, and I am the line. I feel a bit
silly.
Did you wait in line? Do you want us to get you coffee?
Dr. Carl Koch was sick of fiddling with his tripod to get his camera level, so he spent the next four years inventing and designing the Acadalus, a self-leveling tripod head. Instead of adjusting knobs and levers until the little spirit-level bubble sits obediently between its lines, you just pop the camera onto the Acadalus and wait a couple seconds.
Modeled on an airplane flight-simulator, an inclinometer measures just where the head is and then uses stepper-motors to acquire a level-plane. Further adjustment can be made manually by using the D-pad like buttons on the side.
The Acadalus can be used in the studio, plugged into the mains, or you can hook up the 2800 mAH 18.5 V lithium ion battery which should last you for a day of shooting (or two hours of continual use if you are, we suppose, on a ship yawing and rolling in a stormy sea).
So how much is this five-pound, Swiss-made behemoth? A whopping $5,000 for the studio kit, plus another $500 if you want the battery and charger. If you need both the power cable and the battery option, you’re looking at yet another $100, nickel-and-diming you up to $5,600. No wonder the PDN article which led us to the Acadalus shows it supporting the Leica S2, a camera that costs $26,000 body-only.
I don’t know about you, but I’d be willing to spend a lot of hours in Lightroom using the crop tool to level my drunken, off-kilter snaps before I’d drop this cash, but I imagine that there may be somebody out there who really, really needs a level camera. Good luck if your subject is wonky, though.
This is the Zaftig, a replacement fork/rack combo for any bike which, if paired with a strong front wheel should enable you to move the entire contents of your home in one go.
The stock $200 Zaftig can be had for threaded or threadless headsets, and is designed for a 20-inch (BMX) wheel. Should you choose not to carry heavy boxes with you onto the half-pipe, the fork is adjustable with a 5mm Allen wrench to fit most any wheel. The steel rack is integrated with the fork to minimize flex and increase strength, and you can opt for a disk-brake tab or a pair of cantilever posts (both a $25 option).
Why we like it: While not cheap, this is still an inexpensive way to get yourself a strong cargo bike. It is also a great way to switch out the front wheel for a smaller one and lower the load into a much more stable position. If you haul a lot of gear, this might be just what you’re looking for. Available now.
The Zaftig [Jacobs Green via Urban Velo]
Augmented reality is being touted as the new hotness. I’m sure most of you have heard of the augmented reality browser, Layar. Basically, Layar offers a window through which to view the world, where handy hints and information are displayed over the top in real-time.
The Amsterdam-based company released Layar last year for both Android and iPhone, and a number of interesting “layers” have already made their way into the application. The layers mentioned in that post were created by interested developers, but today, Layar opened up a store for selling layers.
Layers in the store so far include a layer by travel-guide publisher Berlitz that points out hotels and places to shop, and EyeTour are offering a layer for tourists in Puerto Rico. There is also a layer for Disneyland and Disney World.
I guess the most obvious use for augmented reality is to make sense of an unfamiliar city, so it makes sense that the first layers are targeted at tourists.
However, commercialising layers like this will hopefully mean some really useful and innovative layers will appear in the browser in the future — especially when there are already 1.6 million copies of the reality browser floating around.
Currently, the store accepts PayPal in the U.S., U.K., Canada and Australia, and offers a 60/40 split between developers and themselves, respectively.
Can you think of any layers you’d like to see (or would purchase) in the future?
For more info on (and screenshots of) the new paid layers, you can check out Layar’s site, here.
[via Mobile Beat]
Amazon has updated the Kindle’s software to v2.5 and added both useful and questionable new features to its second-generation e-book reader.
The new features fall into two categories: social, and not-stupid. The social features will let you share a passage via either Facebook or Twitter, and adds a new function called Popular Highlights, which lets you “See what the Kindle community thinks are the most interesting passages in the books you’re reading.” These seem to spoil the very reason I use the Kindle to read: lack of distraction. When I read on my iPod I’m all, like, ADD? The Kindle has until now been much more isolated and book-like.
The 2.5 update also adds password protection to lock the device, pan and zoom for PDFs (at last) and “Collections” which let you beat the sprawling mess of your Kindle library into organized submission. You’ll also get two new larger font sizes for old and tired eyes, and the existing fonts have been sharpened up.
The update will come over the air automatically for everyone in late May, although a few select folks are receiving it early, presumably as a beta test. I can’t test anything yet, as the Lady has made off with my Kindle today having become a recent convert to the wonderful works of Kurt Vonnegut (I don’t buy Vonnegut on paper anymore as I just keep giving them away). I’ll bring you a full report as soon as I have the update in my hands.
Kindle Software Update Version 2.5 [Amazon]
See Also:
Photo: Charlie Sorrel
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Despite the recent revelation and tear-down of the next-gen iPhone, there are still many questions surrounding the device (just less than there were before…).
One of those questions concerns the camera in the upcoming device. We know that there is a flash on it, but what of the resolution?
Well, according to The Chosun, LG Innotek have ramped up production of a high-quality 5MP sensor for the next iPhone.
This comes as a contradiction to reports last December that OmniVision — current suppliers of iPhone CMOS sensors — would supply a 5MP variant for the next iPhone, but, so what? Either way, it looks like the next iPhone will have a 5MP camera.
And damn well it should, too. This is the first year that the iPhone is faced with serious competition, so I wouldn’t doubt that Apple will finally bump the camera specs to match other phone manufacturers. And I don’t doubt they will.
[via Apple Insider]
Like a phoenix rising from the flames and gently fading back into view as you pointlessly flap it in the air, Polaroid has returned. And this time, with real instant film, not that awful camera/printer — the Pogo — we saw last year.
The PIC-300 has the familiar snap-and-wait action, spitting a photo from a slot in its top whereupon the internal chemical pack goes to work to develop the image. The camera itself has four exposure settings and an automatic flash built into its ugly, bulbous and toylike exterior, and runs on four AA batteries or a rechargeable li-ion (all included).
The crying shame is that the photos are smaller than the originals, although they do have that classic shape with the fat (chemical-containing) bottom-border. Similar in size to a business card, the print is 2.1 x 3.4 inches (with a 1.8 x 2.4-inch image) versus the old 3.5 x 4.25 (3 x 3.1 image size).
That isn’t a big problem if the colors and feel of the photos is right: The Polaroid print is more of an object in itself than any other kind of photo. The trouble might be the price. The camera is just $90, but the film costs $10 for a 10-exposure pack (ISO 800). A dollar a print was standard for old Polaroids, but this “fun” design camera is clearly aimed at cellphone-toting kids, who get their pictures free. Still, I’m in. I love Polaroid, and I’m sure that the cost-per-print will keep me from wasting too many frames like I do with digital.
Welcome back, Polaroid! Good to see you again, old friend.
Polaroid 300 [Polaroid via Photography Bay]
Google today announced on its blog that they have upgraded the mobile Image Search on Android 2.1 and iPhone OS 3.0+ devices.
It’s a typically Google update, in that the revamp will provide more speed and less clutter — two things that are always welcome.
There will now be more thumbnails per screen, and a quick swipe to the left or right will have you move between pages of results.
After clicking on a thumbnail, the images will be presented fullscreen on a plain black background (try saying that 6 times quickly), with the text disappearing after a few moments.
All in all, it’s a nice, clean, fast upgrade: a win in my books.
To access it, simply go to www.google.com on your Android 2.1 or iPhone 3.0+ handset, and click on images.
Neither of those handsets in reach right now? No worries: check out the video demo, below.
[via Mashable]
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