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False Start For Cyber Security Challenge UKAn anonymous reader writes "Netcraft writes about an ironic 'false start' for the Cyber Security Challenge UK website. The new venture touts itself as 'a programme of national challenges, designed by experts, to identify and nurture the UK's future cyber security workforce.' Unfortunately, the website appears to be vulnerable to a basic cross-site scripting vulnerability which was easily found by some Twitter users."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 1 May 2010 | 4:11 am Will Apple's iPad Wi-Fi + 3G crash AT&T? - Computerworld
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 1 May 2010 | 4:02 am 3D printing with ice 3D printer-hackers at McGill University in Montreal have modded their 3D rig to print solids made from ice. Scaled up, they believe they'll be able to create large-scale ice buildings, but for now, they're using it for very temporary, very cold, very intricate rapid prototyping: Currently, the practical applications of this project include commercial and industrial part modeling, and construction for the ice-tourism industry. For instance, small-scale ice models represent economical alternatives to intricate 3D models of architectural objects, be they scale models of buildings, site models, or building details. Presently, casting techniques are being investigated in order to produce high-quality metal copies from ice originals. In the long term, inhabitable, environmentally-friendly structures will be built at the architectural scale using computer-assisted techniques, thus increasing the level of automation in an industry that is currently very labour intensive.Computer-Assisted Ice Construction (via Beyond the Beyond)
Previously:
Source: Boing Boing | 1 May 2010 | 4:01 am Vintage PCs on the set of The IT Crowd, season 4The curators of England's Centre for Computing History have been asked to supply a glorious array of vintage warhorses for the set of season four of The IT Crowd, Graham Linehan's kick-ass nerd sitcom for Channel 4. They've enumerate the lovingly selected items we can look forward to seeing this season (I can't wait!).Vintage Computing Items for the IT Crowd (via /.)
Previously:
Source: Boing Boing | 1 May 2010 | 3:57 am China's online population passes 400 million: state media (AFP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 1 May 2010 | 3:29 am IT Crowd (UK) Coming Back For Season 4sammyF70 writes "Every geek's favourite non-sci-fi show (the original UK one, not the abysmally bad German and US remakes) is coming back for a fourth season! According to the IMDB's message board, it should be on the air 'Juneish.' While you wait, you can check out what kind of vintage hardware will be on the show this time, and remember: if you illegally download movies, you will face the consequences!"
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 1 May 2010 | 3:07 am From Space Down to Earth: How Geocaching Has Become One of the World's Favorite HobbiesSource: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 1 May 2010 | 3:00 am The Rise of Negative Electricity SupplyIn the midst of a few weeks of terrible energy news on the oil and coal fronts, there is this sort of wind news: "Negative electricity prices happen when supply outstrips demand and we literally don't...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 1 May 2010 | 2:47 am Readings: Deepwater Worsens, Windmill Boom, Japanese VC, etc.Leaked report: Government fears Deepwater Horizon well could become unchecked gusher (Source) Oil May Be Leaking at Rate of 25,000 Barrels a Day in Gulf (Source) Windmill Boom Curbs Electric...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 1 May 2010 | 2:41 am Ball-Fetching Robots - The RoboCup and Caddy Cord Set is Used by Golf Pros (GALLERY)(TrendHunter.com) Considering that golf (for me) is one of the slowest sports out there, anything that would speed up the process is a godsend--enter the RoboCup and Caddy Cord set. Of course, this is...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 1 May 2010 | 2:30 am Collapsible Croc Shoes - The Carin Wester AW10 Wedge is Perfect for Traveling(TrendHunter.com) The Carin Wester AW10 wedge finally offers the sweet opportunity to have easily-packed, fashionable shoes. This croc-patterned beauty is collapsible, as the image above attests to,...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 1 May 2010 | 2:00 am Can Oprah Winfrey Stop Cell Phone-Using Drivers? - ChannelWeb
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 1 May 2010 | 1:15 am Patriotic Sports Fan Kits - Show Your Football Fanaticism with the Nike US 2010 Home Kit (GALLERY)(TrendHunter.com) Even if you're not making your way to South Africa for the World Cup this summer, you can still show your support back home by picking up a jersey from the Nike US 2010 Home Kit. Included...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 1 May 2010 | 1:00 am Exotically Intricate Carpets - New Moon Rugs by John Kurtz Are Culturally Beautiful (GALLERY)(TrendHunter.com) It's amazing how a simple addition like one of these New Moon rugs can change your living space entirely. You may not necessarily believe me right away, but if you take a moment to...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 1 May 2010 | 12:30 am Australian Gov't Claims Internet Filter Legislation Still In PlayDracophile writes "Contrary to yesterday's article about The Australian's report that the Australian government had put on the back burner plans to introduce Internet filter legislation before the next election, The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the government rejected claims that it had abandoned such plans, and that 'a spokeswoman for Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said the government remained committed to the policy.' Unless the Australian Labor Party abandons the plan altogether, will the timing make any difference to voters?"
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 1 May 2010 | 12:02 am Stunt Car Photography - The John Piccin Photo Collection Shows Hollywood Chases Gone Wrong (GALLERY)(TrendHunter.com) The John Piccin photo collection lets us see what it would look like if those famous chases from our favorite movies didn't have a happy ending. What if Marty McFly got the coordinates...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 1 May 2010 | 12:00 am Origami Handbags - Sylka by Karie Sylvester Takes a Papercraft Approach to Purses (GALLERY)(TrendHunter.com) The art of Japanese origami has made an intriguing crossover to the world of handbags with Sylka by Karie Sylvester. This range of handbags and accessories was inspired by origami and...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 30 Apr 2010 | 11:20 pm LG Ally Shown in Iron Man 2 Themed Commercial
There’s explosions. Boom! There’s weapons! Bam! There’s some hot Iron Man action! (that came out wrong…) Check it out, after the break. You’ll love it. [via Android Central]
Source: MobileCrunch | 30 Apr 2010 | 11:12 pm EEE PC 1218 leaks, and wins awards
Here’s what we do know, the body is made aluminum, and it’s finished in either silver of black. It appears that Asus was going for an ultra-thin form factor, so they’ve moved all the ports to the back of the case. This means that we can’t clearly see what ports are there, since the only thing we have are a few crappy pictures from the Asus “We’re so great!” award page. What we can see (barely) is 3 USB ports, an ethernet, headphone and microphone jacks, and and HDMI video output. Of course, no idea on how much the system costs or when we should expect to see them on the market. I want one. [via Cnet UK]
Source: CrunchGear | 30 Apr 2010 | 11:00 pm Official Twitter App Launched For Android 2.1
Sadly, it is only compatible with Android 2.1 devices — the unfortunate side-effect of Android’s break-neck pace of development. The app actually looks really good, both visually and feature-wise. I currently use Twidroid Pro, and have dabbled with Seesmic (I’m loose like that), but this app seems like it could replace them both (just as soon as HTC pump out that European Hero 2.1 update… *shakes fist*). It has some interesting features, such as the ability to sync tweets with your phonebook contacts so you can view your pal’s latest tweets straight from your phonebook, or anywhere that uses Android’s QuickContact bar. The standard features, such as search, lists, geolocation, and profiles are all there, but with some nice additions, such as in-line previews of images in your stream (a feature I’ve longed for since I left Jaiku for Twitter), and a home-screen widget that you can both view and post from. Finally, upon opening the app, you are greeted by the Twitter bird serenely floating through animated clouds. Trending topics then bubble up on screen, and clicking them will initiate a search. A really nice way to implement a handy feature. To see what I mean, take a peek at Mobile Burn’s hands-on video, which I’ve embedded below. Interestingly, Ev Williams mentioned in the official blog post that the Android team will soon be open-sourcing the project, so expect some of these neat-o features to appear in other apps soon. Like what you see? You can download the app now from the Android Market (remember, 2.1 devices only), or simply scan the QR code, below.
Source: MobileCrunch | 30 Apr 2010 | 10:51 pm Paranormal Plane Paintings - Alex Andreyev Envisions Nightmarish Scenarios (GALLERY)(TrendHunter.com) Last year, Trend Hunter Brian Randles brought your attention to some relatively disturbing artwork by Alex Andreyev. Since then, the talented artist has been hard at work, producing...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 30 Apr 2010 | 10:20 pm Universal Protection Service Acquires ProGuard Security Services, Inc.SANTA ANA, Calif., May 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Universal Protection Service, a division of Universal Services of America and one of the largest providers of security services in the U.S., is excited to announce that they have acquired ProGuard Security Services, Inc.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 30 Apr 2010 | 10:00 pm $18,000 Verizon bill? Oops!
Turns out the the this particular Verizon customer missed exactly when that 2 free years of data expired. After the end of that special offer, Verizon started billing per kb, as data plans do. Unfortunately, the customer didn’t know that the plan expired until he got the bill. For a rather shocking $12,000. It was even more shocking when the customer called Verizon to complain, and told there was nothing that Verizon could do. Oh, and there was another bill on the way, this one for $6000. The customer is now suing Verizon, saying that they should have notified him when his bill was climbing so high. Verizon says too bad, and promptly sent the bill to the most understanding of people, a collections agency. [via Technically Correct]
Source: CrunchGear | 30 Apr 2010 | 9:40 pm Bottle opener wears like a ring, punches like brass knuckles
The bartender ring is made from stainless steel, and is worn like a, well, a ring. It’s handcrafted and sold by Dustin Wallace, and each one is made to order apparently. We don’t know how much they cost, but you can order one from the Maker’s Market. Perhaps you might be better with the Ring Thing, which will set you back $7.99 and isn’t considered to be a deadly weapon in California and New Jersey.
Source: CrunchGear | 30 Apr 2010 | 9:20 pm 36 Emergency Essentials - From Life-Saving Skirts to Emergency Couture for Dogs (CLUSTER)(TrendHunter.com) Mother nature hates humanity, which is why I am preparing myself for the next epic natural disaster by checking out these emergency essentials. In an emergency the first and only thing...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 30 Apr 2010 | 9:20 pm James Cameron To Develop 3-D Camera For Mars RoverHugh Pickens writes "Computerworld reports that movie director James Cameron, of Avatar and Titanic fame, is working with Malin Space Science Systems Inc. to build an updated 3-D camera that will be installed on the Mars Science Laboratory rover Curiosity if completed in time, to be the machine's 'science-imaging workhorse,' says Michael Malin, who is working on the camera team. Malin delivered two cameras to be installed on the rover's main mast; however NASA has provided Malin with funding to work with Cameron to build alternatives to these two cameras. 'The fixed focal length [cameras] we just delivered will do almost all of the science we originally proposed. But they cannot provide a wide field of view with comparable eye stereo,' he says. 'With the zoom [cameras], we'll be able to take cinematic video sequences in 3-D on the surface of Mars.'"
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 30 Apr 2010 | 9:11 pm Zune HD battery life personal testimonial
Source: CrunchGear | 30 Apr 2010 | 8:51 pm Facade printer creates wall-size illustrations with paintballs
I wonder if they put their “paintings” together in a pixel editor, or just something like Paint. The resolution looks… well, not high. But the dripping effect ends up giving it a unique look for sure. Not that I support graffiti (or can even tell what’s being painted in half the videos). Cool though.
Source: CrunchGear | 30 Apr 2010 | 8:30 pm Writer Peter Watts Sentenced; No Jail Timeshadowbearer writes "SF writer Peter Watts, a Canadian citizen, whose story we have read about before in these pages, was sentenced three days ago in a Port Huron, MI, court. There's not a lot of detail in the story, and although he is still being treated like a terrorist (cannot enter or pass through the US, DNA samples) he was not ordered to do any time in jail, was freed, and has returned home to his family. The judge in the case was, I believe, as sympathetic as the legal system would allow him to be."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 30 Apr 2010 | 8:30 pm Designer of NYC "Greek coffee cup" has died
The man who designed the Anthora "WE ARE HAPPY / TO SERVE YOU" blue and white paper coffee cup, an iconic element of everyday NYC life, has died. His name was Leslie Buck, and he was a WWII refugee from Eastern Europe. NYT obit here. (image: Dan Bluestein / Wikimedia - via Instapundit) Bieb Flag: t-shirt
"Home screened Justin Bieber / Black Flag logo. Available on small, medium or large Hanes t-shirts. Both groups have caused riots, both embrace DIY." By Josiah Hughes, offered on Etsy. (found as Eric Steuer's new Twitter icon) Locus Magazine editors serialize forthcoming novels onlineLocus Magazine's Amelia Beamer sez,Loving Dead serial (Thanks, Amelia!)
Previously:
Source: Boing Boing | 30 Apr 2010 | 7:53 pm Apple kills Lala music service - Los Angeles Times
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 30 Apr 2010 | 7:43 pm Bungie Has 10-Year Plan for Secret New Game Series - Wired News
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 30 Apr 2010 | 7:01 pm Motorola Announces Successful Completion of Phase I TD-LTE Field Trials With China's MIITSource: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 30 Apr 2010 | 7:00 pm Motorola Announces Successful Completion of Phase I TD-LTE Field Trials With China's MIITSHANGHAI, April 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Shanghai Expo -- The Networks business of Motorola, Inc.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 30 Apr 2010 | 7:00 pm Motorola Joins Forces With China Mobile to Showcase Exciting TD-LTE Experience at Shanghai ExpoSimultaneous video streams: A single TD-LTE USB dongle can stream 24 simultaneous video streams while supporting very high-speed Internet browsing applications, at a total data rate of 20Mbps, demonstrating the true broadband performance of TD-LTE. A TD-LTE carrier in 20MHz can support transmission of a few hundred video streams simultaneously. In the near future, TD-LTE subscribers will then be able to access a collection of high-bandwidth and low-latency Internet applications including mobile TV, on-demand videos and video blogging anywhere.TD-LTE demonstration vehicle:Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 30 Apr 2010 | 7:00 pm Motorola Joins Forces With China Mobile to Showcase Exciting TD-LTE Experience at Shanghai ExpoSource: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 30 Apr 2010 | 7:00 pm The Mystery 'Middle Child' of the Black Hole FamilyIn a galaxy, not so far away, two elusive intermediate black holes may have been spotted by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory.Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 30 Apr 2010 | 6:59 pm UPDATE 3-Petrobras takes $920 mln stake in ethanol group* Minority stake fits in with Petrobras biofuel strategySource: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 30 Apr 2010 | 6:55 pm Apple launches 3G iPad, looks to maintain momentum (Reuters)
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 30 Apr 2010 | 6:53 pm Apple launches 3G iPad, looks to maintain momentumSAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - In the second stage of a two-part rollout, Apple Inc on Friday began selling the pricier, high-speed wireless version of the iPad in the United States, following...Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 30 Apr 2010 | 6:53 pm New webcam improves eye to eye contact, costs too much
[via Dvice, Red Ferret]
Source: CrunchGear | 30 Apr 2010 | 6:45 pm James Cameron Building 3-D Camera for Mars RoverOscar-winning director James Cameron has come up with some out-of-this-world ideas for his movies, and now his ideas are truly going out of this world.Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 30 Apr 2010 | 6:40 pm Why Tor Users Should Be Cautious About P2P PrivacyAn anonymous reader writes "I went across your post a few days ago saying that a machine connected to the Internet was all one needed to spy on most BitTorrent users of the Internet. I followed the link to find out that those researchers from INRIA claimed their attacks also worked for BitTorrent users on Tor. I didn't believe it at first, but then today I found this link on the Tor Project. It seems their attacks don't only link your real IP to your BitTorrent files on Tor but also to the web pages that you're browsing! Tell me it's a joke." No joke, but according to Jacob Appelbaum (a Tor developer), the security flaw is more nuanced — and the fault of software outside of Tor. Read on for his explanation of how the privacy benefits of Tor can be easily lost.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 30 Apr 2010 | 6:30 pm Brazil Petrobras to seek hydrocarbons in PortugalSAO PAULO, April 30 (Reuters) - A wholly-owned Petrobras subsidiary signed an agreement with the government of Portugal for hydrocarbon exploration in the Alentejo basin, the Brazilian state-controlled...Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 30 Apr 2010 | 6:19 pm DEALTALK-Mega-buyouts could return soonNEW YORK/PHILADELPHIA, April 30 (Reuters) - The mega-leveraged buyout may be on the way back.Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 30 Apr 2010 | 6:10 pm DEALTALK-Mega-buyouts could return soonNEW YORK/PHILADELPHIA, April 30 (Reuters) - The mega-leveraged buyout may be on the way back.Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 30 Apr 2010 | 6:10 pm CSNSchool.com Streamlines School Supply ProcurementBOSTON, April 30 /PRNewswire/ -- More than 125,000 schools exist in the U.S., and every year, school procurement administrators need to replenish furniture and supplies from May to August for the upcoming academic calendar.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 30 Apr 2010 | 6:00 pm A-Check America Releases RAPID I-9, Streamlining Electronic Form I-9 and E-VerifySource: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 30 Apr 2010 | 6:00 pm A-Check America Releases RAPID I-9, Streamlining Electronic Form I-9 and E-VerifyRIVERSIDE, Calif., April 30 /PRNewswire/ -- Global employment screening company A-Check America today announced the release of RAPID I-9, a web-based Electronic Form I-9 and E-Verify module built into the company's award-winning employment screening application, A-Check Direct(TM).Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 30 Apr 2010 | 6:00 pm CSNSchool.com Streamlines School Supply ProcurementSource: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 30 Apr 2010 | 6:00 pm Yes indeed, the iPad 3G is already jailbroken
Source: CrunchGear | 30 Apr 2010 | 5:50 pm Yes indeed, the iPad 3G is already jailbroken
[via Gizmodo]
Source: MobileCrunch | 30 Apr 2010 | 5:47 pm Steve Jobs Hints At Theora Lawsuitnetcrawler writes "Steve Jobs' open letter on Flash has prompted someone at the Free Software Foundation Europe to ask him about his support of proprietary format H.264 over Theora. Jobs' pithy answer (email with headers) suggests Theora might infringe on existing patents and that 'a patent pool is being assembled to go after Theora and other "open source" codecs now.' Does he know something we don't?" Update: 05/01 00:38 GMT by T : Monty Montgomery of Xiph (the group behind Theora, as well as Ogg Vorbis, and more) provides a pointed, skeptical response to the implicit legal threat, below.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 30 Apr 2010 | 5:44 pm Japanese Researchers Make Plastic Out of Watergreenrainbow writes with this excerpt from Inhabit: "The material shown in the picture above is just ice, right? Look again. Elastic water, a new substance invented by researchers at Tokyo University, is a jelly-like substance made up of 95% water along with two grams of clay and a small amount of organic materials. As is, the all-natural substance is perfect for medical procedures, because it's made of water, poses no harm to people, and is perfect for mending tissue. And, if the research team can increase the density of this exciting new substance, it could be used in place of our current oil-based plastics for a host of other things."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 30 Apr 2010 | 5:22 pm Another Tablet Falls: HP Slate Canceled (LiveScience.com)LiveScience.com - The Apple iPad has had very little competition in the tablet computer market so far, and it may stay that way for quite some time if rival tablet makers can't bring a device to market. The latest tablet candidate to fall was one of the most promising: The HP Slate.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 30 Apr 2010 | 5:20 pm Hard Labor: Adobe Rebuilds Its Wired Magazine App to Fit Apple's Flash-Free Agenda [MediaMemo]
So back to the drawing board: Adobe (ADBE) is laboriously rewriting the Wired app in Apple-approved code, sources tell me. Specifically, Adobe is using Objective C for the new version of app, which originally was built using the Flash standard which Apple (AAPL) detests. That should presumably pass muster with Apple’s developer agreement, which specifically lists Objective C as an acceptable programming language for the iPhone and iPad. Both Condé Nast and Adobe declined to comment. Condé previously offered an oblique statement earlier this month about its intentions to produce an Apple-approved Wired app with Adobe’s help. The good news for Adobe is that it doesn’t have to write off all the time and effort it invested in the Condé Nast project. So if Apple approves the Wired app, it will have a solution that works for other clients that want to get their stuff onto the iPhone and iPad. The bad news is that the whole point of the Condé Nast project was to create a platform that publishers could use once to produce digital publications that would work on a range of platforms. Now those hopes have been dashed. Source: All Things Digital | 30 Apr 2010 | 5:04 pm Apple Partners Ponder Possibilities For WWDC - ChannelWeb
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 30 Apr 2010 | 5:03 pm QOTD: Gee, What a Surprise … [Digital Daily]QOTD: Gee, What a Surprise … [Digital Daily]
Source: All Things Digital | 30 Apr 2010 | 5:00 pm Reverse-Engineering a Quantum CompassNew research suggests a way to to find out how birds use quantum mechanics to navigate.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 30 Apr 2010 | 5:00 pm Audio Recorder Flexes Dual Mics for Strong FidelityPivoting microphones pick up the slightest peep or the loudest rock concert. It's the Tascam DR-08 Recorder.
Source: Wired: Gadgets | 30 Apr 2010 | 5:00 pm Audio Recorder Flexes Dual Mics for Strong FidelityPivoting microphones pick up the slightest peep or the loudest rock concert. It's the Tascam DR-08 Recorder.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 30 Apr 2010 | 5:00 pm Jon Favreau's 'Iron Man 2' Mission: Feed the FansThe first time around, the director scored a grand slam with a frothy-fun mix of action and wit that kicked off 2008's summer of the superhero movies. With his highly anticipated Shell-Head sequel, he's looking to fulfill the first film's promise.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 30 Apr 2010 | 5:00 pm Apple Raises E-book Prices For EveryoneNom du Keyboard writes "I was informed by my publisher this week that they would have to raise my e-book prices because they planned to sell them through the Apple iBooks store. How could this happen? A lot of my individual stories sell in the $1 to $3 range, which is well within the impulse purchase amount for many people. In this price range a 50-cent price difference may well be the difference between a purchase and a pass. Meanwhile, Apple is touting its new 'agency model,' whereby the publishers set the prices. However, it seems that Apple requires books sold in its iBook store have prices ending in .99 — nothing else." (More below.)
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 30 Apr 2010 | 5:00 pm Questionable keyboard hack: glow-in-the-dark key toppers
I know, I know. Pretty weak… but they’re no worse than the keys you already have, and under the right circumstances they might be a little better. I do have to say, though, if you have light around to “charge” the keys, why are you typing in the dark? Not quite as nonsensical as the submarine screen door and other inventions, but all things considered, actual backlighting is probably the superior option. [via Gadgetmix and Lilliputing]
Source: CrunchGear | 30 Apr 2010 | 4:53 pm It's Exhausting Being a Benevolent Dictator. [Voices]By Nitrozac and Snaggy
Source: All Things Digital | 30 Apr 2010 | 4:52 pm Bungie Has 10-Year Plan for Secret New Game SeriesThe creator of Halo is working on something it calls far more ambitious than its incredibly popular sci-fi videogame. Could we see Bungie-produced novels, comic books and movies based on the still-secret franchise?
Source: Wired Top Stories | 30 Apr 2010 | 4:50 pm Free Android phones coming to Adobe employees - CNET
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 30 Apr 2010 | 4:46 pm G1 + Atari gamepad = gaming blissThere isn’t any info on how this was pulled off, but this looks like a great way to play a few old-school games on my G1. Presumably it’s a straightforward mechanical hack: the buttons just press down on keys he’s designated in the emulator to do this or that. Not the best option for texting, but for Mario, it can’t be beat. Hard keyboard forever!
Source: MobileCrunch | 30 Apr 2010 | 4:44 pm Apple shutting Lala; `Cloud' music on horizon? (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 30 Apr 2010 | 4:35 pm Activist groups launch new Facebook privacy offensive - CNET
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 30 Apr 2010 | 4:30 pm Unfavorable Weather Worsens the Gulf Oil SpillA storm system moving through the area is expected to force rescue boats into port, exacerbating the disaster/Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 30 Apr 2010 | 4:29 pm Tennessee Man Convicted of Illegally Accessing Sarah Palin's E-Mail Account and Obstruction of JusticeWASHINGTON, April 30 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- David C.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 30 Apr 2010 | 4:23 pm Kid Health Experts Attack Video Game Summer CampJack Action writes "The University of British Columbia runs a summer camp where kids get to play computer games for three hours a day. The camp organizers say it is 'a good social opportunity for some kids who didn't fit into other programs.' However, health professionals declare they are 'troubled' by the camp. A professor in UBC's department of medicine says kids should be outside and engaged in 'unstructured play,' while the CEO of an NGO that monitors kids' health chimes in that they already spend too much time in front of screens and not exercising. Do the health experts have a point, or are they just criticizing something they don't understand, or perhaps is not to their taste?"
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 30 Apr 2010 | 4:16 pm Second Oil Rig Overturns Off Louisiana CoastNo fuel leaks have yet been reported, but the Coast Guard is monitoring the situation.Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 30 Apr 2010 | 4:10 pm Police Wiretapping Jumps 26 PercentPolice wiretaps went up 26 percent in 2009, with nearly all of them focused on mobile phones. The taps captured more than 200,000 people's communications.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 30 Apr 2010 | 4:00 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 | 30 Apr 2010 | 4:00 pm Want Google TV? Your Wait May Soon Be Over (PC World)PC World - We've been hearing about the rumored Google TV for more than two months now, and it appears that May could bring an official unveiling of sorts. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Google plans to debut its Web-meets-television software to some 3,000 developers at the Google I/O conference, which runs May 19-20 in San Francisco.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 30 Apr 2010 | 3:59 pm Cox Business Launches Free Cox WiFi Hotspots in Rhode IslandWEST WARWICK, R.I., April 30 /PRNewswire/ -- Cox Business announced today the launch of free Cox WiFi hotspots across Rhode Island.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 30 Apr 2010 | 3:58 pm HOWTO make Spam Musubi My friend Jonathan Koshi, who is Hawaiian, posted his recipe for Spam Musubi. Koshi says, "Over the last 30 years the Spam Musubi has indelibly stamped itself on the local Hawaii menu. They are great snacks, highly mobile, and filling." Here are the ingredients and equipment list, from Notes From The Zeitgeist: Spam Musubi Fo' RealRecipe Time! Spam Musubi Source: Boing Boing | 30 Apr 2010 | 3:53 pm Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry book on sale today! The e-book version of O'Reilly/MAKE's excellent "The Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry: All Lab, No Lecture," which Mark posted about back in 2008, is on special today for just $10. Use the coupon code DDGHM. Just don't blow up your kitchen. Or at least make sure you're not inside if you do. "Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry Experiments"
Source: Boing Boing | 30 Apr 2010 | 3:51 pm Online Advertising Revenues Jump Almost 15 Percent In First Quarter
The online advertising industry saw growth accelerate in the first quarter, with the combined advertising revenues of the four largest players (Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, and AOL) jumping almost 15 percent to $8.8 billion. This compares to 10 percent annual growth in the fourth quarter, and negative growth the first two quarters of last year (aka, the Great Advertising Recession of 2009). Overall growth would have been even stronger if AOL didn’t have such a rough quarter. It was the only one of the four companies to show a decline in advertising revenues, down 19 percent. Google’s ad revenue was up 21.5 percent, Microsoft’s was up 8.8 percent, and Yahoo’s was up 3 percent (although the display portion was up 20 percent). As a result of AOL’s poor showing, the combined $8.8 billion total was down 2.6 percent from the fourth quarter’s $9 billion
I keep track of these numbers every quarter for these four companies, which turns out to be a good proxy for overall online advertising revenues since they represent a majority of the industry’s revenues. The numbers represent global advertising revenues, and include network revenues paid to affiliates through AdSense and Yahoo’s ad network. Google’s licensing revenues for Google Enterprise Apps have been stripped out. For Microsoft and AOL, I include only the advertising portions of their online revenues as reported in their quarterly earnings statements. Below is a table with all the numbers: Online Advertising Revenues (in millions)
     
Source: TechCrunch | 30 Apr 2010 | 3:50 pm Tech Irony: Yahoo CEO Says Google Needs Help - PC World
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 30 Apr 2010 | 3:48 pm Michigan Virtual Charter Academy Approved by Grand Valley State University to Serve Students in Grades K-12 StatewideInnovative new school would be Michigan's first public virtual charter school GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., April 30 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Michigan Virtual Charter Academy (MVCA) announced today that it received unanimous approval from Grand Valley State University's Board of Trustees to serve students across the state beginning next school year. MVCA would be Michigan's first public virtual charter school.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 30 Apr 2010 | 3:32 pm Looking For The Best Android Twitter Client? You May Want To Try Twitter’s (Yes, It’s Here)
The service has just launched it’s own Android client. We noted they were working on it just a few weeks ago when CEO Evan Williams made the announcement at the company’s Chirp conference. Now, just over two weeks later, it’s here. Twitter has just announced the client on its blog. When we first wrote about it, it wasn’t exactly clear how they would make it (all internally, or a partnership), now it appears that just as with the BlackBerry one, Twitter’s team of developers and designers worked closely with the Android team over at Google to get the client out there. But they also note that they’re hiring an Android engineer, so you can expect that person to be in charge of future versions. Some cool-sounding features:
It clearly looks as if thanks to Android’s more open nature, the Twitter client can be deeply integrated into your phone. For example, there’s a seamless way to sync with the contacts on your Android phone. For Twitter addicts, this level of integration is very nice. “This is just the beginning,” Twitter notes. A word of warning, this client is apparently only for Android phones running version 2.1 and above of the software. For older Android phones, Twitter suggests using the standard mobile site.
     
Source: TechCrunch | 30 Apr 2010 | 3:30 pm MechWarrior 4 available for free right now
All the info, along with the 1.7GB download, can be found here.
Source: CrunchGear | 30 Apr 2010 | 3:30 pm Adult Death Rates Lowest in Iceland, CyprusIf you're a man in Iceland or a woman in Cyprus, you have a lot less to worry about than the rest of us.Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 30 Apr 2010 | 3:30 pm Contesting Childhood: On child art competitions
You might expect this drawing to win a children's art contest. It's lovely, technically sophisticated, and positive. So it's no surprise Mirna's picture won first place, elementary school category, in a contest sponsored by a state museum in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, not long after the country's authoritarian regime was overthrown by a student-led movement.
But what about this drawing?
Source: Boing Boing | 30 Apr 2010 | 3:25 pm Actually, There Are Already Well Over 5,000 iPad Apps. The iPad Told Me.
Earlier today, a number of publications (including us) ran with the story that the App Store was closing in on 5,000 apps, with 4,870. These numbers came from analytics startup Distimo, which generally has good data and insight into the various app stores. But, naturally, it’s always better to get your data from the source. And while Apple, unsurprisingly, isn’t talking, they don’t have to. Because the iPad is. The number of iPad apps in the App Store is actually already well past 5,000. How do I know? Sometime in the past couple of days, Apple added a new “Release Date” area to the iPad version of the App Store. This resides next to the standard “New” and “What’s Hot” areas along the top of the store. It’s simply a new way to sort through the apps. But this area has another nifty feature: it tells you how many apps there are in total so you know where you are in the navigation. According to this number, there are 5,351 iPad apps in the App Store.
This new Release Date area of the iPad App Store is actually very useful. Since the iPad is new, there are obviously far fewer apps built specifically for it than the iPhone/iPod touch. And while Apple’s New and What’s Hot area are pretty good at surfacing good apps (as is the “Top Charts” area), if you want the latest and greatest iPad apps to test out before any of your friends have them, this Release Date area is the place to be. Update: Distimo has let me know in the comment that their data is only through April 26, hence the discrepancy. Information provided by CrunchBase      
Source: TechCrunch | 30 Apr 2010 | 3:23 pm Amazon adding Twitter, Facebook to Kindle e-reader (AP)AP - Amazon.com Inc.'s Kindle e-reader is getting access to Facebook and Twitter, along with several other enhancements, as part of a software update being sent wirelessly to the devices.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 30 Apr 2010 | 3:19 pm Ronald Reagan's occult interests
We all know that Ronald and Nancy Reagan consulted astrologers, but apparently the 40th president was also well-versed in the writings of occult scholar Manly P. Hall, most famous for his 1928 tome The Secret Teachings of All Ages. Over at the Washington Post, former BB guestblogger Mitch Horowitz, author of the excellent "Occult America: The Secret History of How Mysticism Shaped Our Nation," explores the Reagan-Hall connection. From the Washington Post: Hall's concise volume ("The Secret Destiny of America") described how America was the product of a "Great Plan" for religious liberty and self-governance, launched by a hidden order of ancient philosophers and secret societies. In one chapter, Hall described a rousing speech delivered by a mysterious "unknown speaker" before the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The "strange man," wrote Hall, invisibly entered and exited the locked doors of the Philadelphia statehouse on July 4th, 1776, delivering an oration that bolstered the wavering spirits of the delegates. "God has given America to be free!" commanded the mysterious speaker, urging the men to overcome their fears of the noose, axe, or gibbet, and to seal destiny by signing the great document. Newly emboldened, the delegates rushed forward to add their names. They looked to thank the stranger only to discover that he had vanished from the locked room. Was this, Hall wondered, "one of the agents of the secret Order, guarding and directing the destiny of America?""Reagan and the occult" (Washington Post) Occult America: The Secret History of How Mysticism Shaped Our Nation (Amazon) The Secret Destiny of America (Amazon) Source: Boing Boing | 30 Apr 2010 | 3:15 pm Man snacks on light bulbsWang Xianjun of theLinshui County, Sichuan province, China, allegedly snacks on light bulbs. According to the People Daily, the 54-year-old has eaten approximately 1,500 bulbs since he had his first taste at age 12. This reminds me of an old Guinness Book of World Records I had as a kid that listed a man who ate an entire bicycle. And, of course, Pica syndrome sufferers who eat non-foods. Of course, that's a very real psychological disorder and Wang Xianjun's story may be, er, a slight exaggeration. From the People Daily:When he was 12 years old, he accidentally swallowed a fish bone, and his parents became very worried. To their surprise, Wang did not feel uncomfortable at all. Then out of curiosity, he boldly picked up a piece of broken glass, and felt no adverse effects after eating it..."Chinese man eats 1,500 light bulbs over 42 years" Source: Boing Boing | 30 Apr 2010 | 3:11 pm Stargate Universe episode 115 Lost trailerSeason one of Stargate Universe is wrapping up in the next few episodes. We’ve seen aliens, space battles, and more recently, huge eff’n spiders. Last week’s episode wasn’t too bad and tonight we’ll see if Eli, Matt, Chloe and Greer make it back to the ship. Up top is the trailer to get you pumped and below is a teaser trailer that shows a couple of plot twists if you’re into spoilers.
Source: CrunchGear | 30 Apr 2010 | 3:10 pm Adobe Strikes Back at Steve Jobs' Flash Attack (NewsFactor)NewsFactor - Adobe Systems is not taking lightly attacks on its technology by Apple CEO Steve Jobs. On Friday, Adobe responded to accusations by Jobs that Flash is behind Mac crashes and battery draining.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 30 Apr 2010 | 3:07 pm Apple stops Lala's music, Web-based iTunes expected (Reuters)Reuters - Lala, the online music service, will be shut down on May 31, just five months after Apple Inc bought the start-up fueling speculation the iPod maker plans to launch a new Web-based version of iTunes.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 30 Apr 2010 | 3:07 pm OMG + HP + SATC = Yahoo's Big New Ad [MediaMemo]How does dowdy Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) attract the short-attention-span gossip-seekers who visit Yahoo’s OMG site? With a giant ad that links Sex and the City and some shiny laptops, of course. HP has taken over the gossip site’s home page for the day with an ad that manages to mash up the upcoming SATC film with some sort-of blingy laptops. Home page takeovers are standard practice for the Web, but Yahoo is particularly proud of this one, because it’s the first time it’s rolled out this particular ad unit, which it built in-house. Visitors to the site will notice some messaging for HP and SATC (oh – and Windows 7, too) at the top of the screen and in one of the 15 headline boxes that dominate the page, but they won’t see the full-page ad unless they click through. Yahoo (YHOO) won’t say what it’s charging for its prime real estate, which attracts around 20 million uniques a month. But a good bet would be something in the $80,000 range for the day. Here’s what OMG visitors will see when the page loads the first time:
And what they’ll see with the ad turned on:
The execution is a little confusing: If you click on most parts of the square, the ad will open up a new window in your browser that takes you to this HP-hosted page. If you want to stay on OMG and see the ad, you’d have to make sure you clicked on the “engage” button. I’m also not sure how many OMG readers will be enticed to click on any part of the square, period. But Yahoo says that future iterations of the unit will offer advertisers the option to take over the screen for a few seconds without any prompting from users, like some other ads already do. And repetition is the real point of this exercise: Yahoo is trying to create ad units that seem novel and fresh for visitors (and ad buyers), but are designed to be stamped out over and over again. Interesting to see if this one works. Source: All Things Digital | 30 Apr 2010 | 3:04 pm Sarah Palin E-Mail Hacker Found Guilty of CoverupA Tennessee jury convicts 22-year-old David Kernell on obstruction of justice and misdemeanor computer intrusion in connection with his penetration of Sarah Palin's e-mail account in 2008.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 30 Apr 2010 | 2:46 pm Nokia wants you to make an Ovi app out of your Twitter feed, launches Ovi App Wizard
To anyone who’s ever written a line of code, pre-canned/auto-generated apps are the scourge of the App Store world. For anyone who just wants to be able to say “Me? There’s an app for that! LOL!” without having to dedicate their lives to waging war against semi-colons and pouring through documentation, however, they’re a god send. Love’em or hate’em, Nokia has just embraced’em. They’ve just launched a new tool, Ovi App Wizard, purposed with turning any feed (be it RSS, Twitter, Facebook, or what have you) into an Ovi Store App in around 10 minutes.
The process seems pretty simple: Name it, pick a few RSS feeds, choose the colors, and then set up the distribution options. If you’re looking to cash in, you’ve got two choices: toss in a pre-fabbed ad system and take a cut of the revenue, or — if you’re feeling ambitious about your work — you can pick a price. Hit the publish button, and about 24 hours later, blammo – you’re famous. Well, not famous. But you have an Ovi Store App. That’s almost the same thing, right? It’s always a good thing when an App Store operator makes their outlet more accessible — but this really just seems like a ploy to boost their number of apps through quantity-over-quality. If 10,000 people make an application out of their Twitter feed, that’s 10,000 new apps Nokia can boast about – but how many of those will actually see more than a handful of downloads? Is an app really an app if the only person who downloads it is your Mom? There’s a reason Apple is banning these sorts of apps. Check out Ovi App Wizard here.
Source: MobileCrunch | 30 Apr 2010 | 2:40 pm Microsoft on Flash: What Steve Said [Digital Daily]
“The future of the web is HTML5,” Hachamovitch says. “Microsoft is deeply engaged in the HTML5 process with the W3C. HTML5 will be very important in advancing rich, interactive Web applications and site design. The HTML5 specification describes video support without specifying a particular video format. We think H.264 is an excellent format. In its HTML5 support, IE9 will support playback of H.264 video only.” So Microsoft, like Apple, is casting its lot with HTML5, and largely for the same reasons. That said, it’s not abandoning Flash entirely. Not yet, anyway. “Today, video on the Web is predominantly Flash-based,” Hachamovitch writes. “While video may be available in other formats, the ease of accessing video using just a browser on a particular Web site without using Flash is a challenge for typical consumers. Flash does have some issues, particularly around reliability, security, and performance. … Despite these issues, Flash remains an important part of delivering a good consumer experience on today’s Web.” In other words, Flash is important today, not because of its strength as a platform or its “ reliability, security, and performance,” but because the average Web user is accustomed to it. Which is a more diplomatic way of saying exactly what Jobs said yesterday:
Source: All Things Digital | 30 Apr 2010 | 2:39 pm Litex Extends All Cash Tender Offer for Craftmade InternationalGRAND PRAIRIE, Texas, April 30 /PRNewswire/ -- Litex Industries, Limited today announced that it is extending its previously announced cash tender offer, through its subsidiary Litex Acquisition #1, LLC ("Litex"), for all of the outstanding shares of Craftmade International, Inc.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 30 Apr 2010 | 2:30 pm US Dataworks, Inc. Announces Delisting of Its Common Stock From the NYSE AmexHOUSTON, April 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- US Dataworks, Inc.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 30 Apr 2010 | 2:30 pm Friday Giveaway: Five Tickets To TechCrunch Disrupt In NY May 24-26 #CRUNCH
The event is all about innovation and disruption – lots of new companies will launch and battle it out to a top cash prize of $50,000 and a shower of press attention, and we’ve lined up some of the most interesting and powerful people in the media and Internet worlds to give deep insights into the creative destruction happening right now. Also, we’re putting you, the audience, on stage in most of the panels. The event will sell out, but we understand that some people just can’t afford the ticket price, plus travel if you don’t live in or near New York City. So today we’re giving out five free tickets to the event. That’s $15,000 worth of tickets that we can give away thanks to sponsors like Yahoo, Second Market, Zoosk, Intuit, Bing, The Ladders and scvngr. Here’s how to get a ticket: Just fan the TechCrunch Facebook page and then do one of two things: either retweet this post, and make sure to include the #CRUNCH hashtag, or leave a comment below telling us why you must attend this event. The contest ends at noon California time tomorrow, Saturday and the winners will be selected at random at that time. Please only tweet the message once, anyone tweeting repeatedly will be disqualified. We’ll pick the winners tomorrow afternoon and contact you for more details. Anyone in the world is eligible, as long as you can make your way to New York for the event (you can find cheap accommodations at The Standard hotel or via AirBnB). And we’ll throw in a TechCrunch tshirt to each winner.      
Source: TechCrunch | 30 Apr 2010 | 2:29 pm Alt Med Supplement Guru Nearly Killed By Own ProductAlternative medicine guru Gary Null is nearly killed by his own supplements.Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 30 Apr 2010 | 2:15 pm A Rebuttal Of Roger Ebert’s Diatribe Against 3D Cinema
It pains me to differ with someone so distinguished, but I feel that I have an obligation to as someone with a megaphone and the ability to craft what I hope is a cogent rebuttal. His complaints are variously earnest, short-sighted, and inexplicable, but because he is a serious voice in cinema, they deserve a full response.      
Source: TechCrunch | 30 Apr 2010 | 2:01 pm Exclusive: Justin.TV’s New Android App, iPhone App Hits 1.5M Downloads (Video)
Justin.tv is finally kicking its mobile plans into high gear. Next week, the lifecasting company will release its Android app to beta users. Unlike its iPhone app (released last month), the Android offering will finally let users stream live video with a simple click and simultaneously chat as they shoot. It’s a simple interface, an image of your shot, a chat bar below and three buttons on the right hand side: chat, record and share (see video above). The official version for public consumption is slated for May.
Justin.tv is relatively late to the mobile game— rival Android and iPhone products from Ustream and Qik have been out for months— but the team argues that taking time to refine the products will help them grab more market share later this year. That approach may seem strange given the company’s pioneer status in the market (founder Justin Kan kicked off the lifecasting trend with his personal channel back in 2007), but VP of marketing Evan Soloman says Justin.tv doesn’t put a high premium on being the first to adopt a new technology or platform, which is why it didn’t rush into creating apps for the Android or the iPad. The delays could give their competitors an early strategic advantage, but so far their game plan seems to be working OK— their one-month old iPhone app has enjoyed 1.5 million downloads to date. That figure alone was a pleasant surprise, says Soloman, who was expecting a number closer to a quarter million. Here are some other key numbers, according to Justin.tv:
The company is finally picking up the pace on its mobile initiatives, but it’s unfortunate that the apps only offer a portion of Justin.tv’s features. As described, the iPhone app lets you view and search live channels but not broadcast (founder Justin Kan cites limitations on the API and poor workarounds), the Android app lets you broadcast but not view live channels. However, some of these holes should be filled later this year, when it releases a new iPhone app in June based on the new SDK with broadcast and playback capabilities along with new plug-ins for social media sites like Facebook. If Justin.tv can get all the pieces in place (and soon), mobile will quickly and dramatically shape usage patterns and become a significant traffic driver. Kan, who believes that the mobile platform could dominate 30 to 40% of the business next year, says ongoing improvements in wireless connectivity should also support the expected surge in mobile broadcasting. Information provided by CrunchBase      
Source: TechCrunch | 30 Apr 2010 | 1:58 pm Japanese Gaming Company DeNA Sees 136 Percent Jump In Profit And Record Revenue
DeNA launched in 1999 as an e-commerce company, and more recently moved towards the social gaming space, now developing in-house social games. The company has launched social game titles like Pirate Treasure, Hoshi-tsuku and Kaito Royale. DeNA has also licensed its games to mobile social networks, which Contributed to the revenue increase. And DeNA’s mobile gaming platform Moba-ge-tow has over 18 million registered members. This week, DeNA also announced a strategic partnership with Yahoo Japan with plans to launch a PC-based social gaming platform, called Yahoo Mobage, later this year. And the company, which already owns an equity stake in gaming company Aurora Feint and is getting serious about expanding into the U.S. DeNA plans to launch a social gaming platform in a number of English-speaking countries, and develop games for Facebook and other social networks. These strong revenue and top line numbers from DeNA seems to reinforce the strength of the Japanese gaming market. Earlier this week, VentureBeat reported that social gaming giant Zynga was going to break into the Japanese market with an alliance with Japan’s Softbank investment firm. Information provided by CrunchBase      
Source: TechCrunch | 30 Apr 2010 | 1:57 pm Next webOS update pinned down for late May or early June
If you’re already up and running on webOS 1.4.1.1, it’s time to lay off of the Update button for a while. Palm just sent out an alert to developers detailing their plans for the next minor update — and as long as our math isn’t failing us, the dates work out to somewhere at the end of May or the beginning of June. Don’t expect a mountain of new goodies from this update — at least, not directly. Palm says that “the scope of changes in this update” will be limited, but goes on to stress that developers building stuff with Palm’s PDK (which allows for native C/C++ development beyond the standard HTML/CSS/Javascript tools, with the primary target there being game development) should be especially careful in testing their wares against this build. Palm has only let a few PDK-built apps onto their store so far, all of which have been built in collaboration with third-party partners. Put two-and-two together, and it seems like Palm might be opening the doors up to more PDK developers — and more importantly, their games — shortly after this release.
Source: MobileCrunch | 30 Apr 2010 | 1:55 pm Adobe and Apple CEOs Square Off [Voices]By Alan Murray, Deputy Managing Editor, The Wall Street Journal Yesterday, Adobe (ADBE) CEO Shantanu Narayen sat down with Alan Murray of The Wall Street Journal and fired back at Apple’s (AAPL) Steve Jobs in the latest round of the increasingly vocal Flash fight between the two companies. The video’s embedded below. [ See post to watch video ] Source: All Things Digital | 30 Apr 2010 | 1:50 pm Court OKs Unmasking Identities of Copyright ScofflawsA federal appeals court sanctions the legal process copyright holders may use to unmask the identities of copyright scofflaws using peer-to-peer file sharing networks.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 30 Apr 2010 | 1:50 pm Tracked From Space: Gulf Oil Slick Approaches LandThe Gulf of Mexico oil spill has grown large enough to be easily seen from space by satellites. This gallery tracks the oil with satellite images as it approaches the coastline.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 30 Apr 2010 | 1:45 pm Want That Abandoned Twitter Handle? Get in LineCool Twitter names are hard to come by, but now there's a service to help you get a hold of cool names that users have abandoned.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 30 Apr 2010 | 1:45 pm Making Oil in Minutes, Not MillenniaUsing what amounts to a pressure cooker, researchers at the University of Michigan say they can make algal oil in as little as 30 minutes.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 30 Apr 2010 | 1:40 pm Los Angeles Bureaucrats Question The Transition To Google Apps In December, Google touted a big win for Google’s cloud-based communication and collaboration suite, Google Apps: the City of Los Angeles planned to equip its 34,000 employees with Google Apps. This would replace Novell's GroupWise system, the e-mail technology provider that LA had previously been using. LA had evaluated 14 e-mail technology providers for a revamp of the city government’s communication and collaboration platform, and ended up picking Google Apps. The deal was reported to be worth $7.2 million. But it hasn't been a smooth transition for LA to move over from GroupWise to Google Apps; and it appears that the City administrators are questioning the move thanks to productivity, security and slowness issues with Google Apps.
In an inter-departmental correspondence sent from LA City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana to the Chair of the Information Technology and Government Affairs Committee in mid-April, Santana wrote that current pilot users of Google Apps were experiencing "issues and problems that have negatively affected their productivity and department operations," which could cause the delay of the Citywide implementation of the "Google system."
Source: TechCrunch | 30 Apr 2010 | 1:36 pm LaCie Sound2 Speakers Get the Job DoneThe affordable LaCie Sound2s will look so good straddling your iMac, but the sound quality is just so-so.
Source: Wired: Gadgets | 30 Apr 2010 | 1:30 pm Are you ready for a GPS app store? (Christopher Null)Christopher Null - It’s the hottest thing to come along in the tech world since blogging: The app store. And soon you might just have an app store for every gadget in your arsenal.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 30 Apr 2010 | 1:28 pm Iron Man 2 Is Allegorical To Gates Vs. Jobs, Says Reader
The movie Pirates of Silicon Valley (based on the book Fire In The Valley) came out in 1999. The final scene takes place in 1997 when recently-reinstated (interim) CEO Steve Jobs takes the stage at Macworld to announce an alliance with Microsoft to ensure Apple’s future — with Bill Gates’ head on a giant screen behind him. Times have changed. Jobs has now been the official CEO for the past 10 years. Apple no longer goes to Macworld. The world now has the iPod, the iPhone, and the iPad. Apple has over $40 billion in cash in the bank, and is rapidly approaching Microsoft in market cap. It’s probably time for a sequel. That sequel, according to one TechCrunch reader, is Iron Man 2. Laureana Varisco Bonaparte sums up the movie as follows:
For those unaware, Tony Stark is the character played by Robert Downey Jr. He is Iron Man. Justin Hammer is the character played by Sam Rockwell. He is Stark’s true nemesis in the film. We haven’t seen the movie yet (it opens in the U.S. on May 7), so it’s hard to say how accurate this review is. Still, wishful thinking or not, it makes me want to see it even more. Has anyone else who has seen it thought the same thing? Could screenwriter Justin Theroux have based some characteristics off of the two tech icons? Of course, if Steve Jobs were Iron Man, I’m not sure the law enforcement would need to be involved in that iPhone leak right now. Update: Laurena left us a nice little update in the comments: From a July 2009 post on Newsarama:
Emphasis mine – but that’s right from the lips of actor portraying the Gates role himself. So no, it’s not coincidental that some are coming away from the movie with that feeling.      
Source: TechCrunch | 30 Apr 2010 | 1:28 pm Here Comes the Zettabyte Age
How much information is out there? For most of us, “a crapload” is a sufficiently accurate answer. But for a few obsessive data analysts, more precision is necessary. According to a recent study by market-research company IDC, and sponsored by storage company EMC, the size of the information universe is currently 800,000 petabytes. Each petabyte is a million gigabytes, or the equivalent of 1,000 one-terabyte hard drives. If you stored all of this data on DVDs, the study’s authors say, the stack would reach from the Earth to the moon and back. That’s a 62% increase over the amount of digital information floating around the year before — but it’s just a down payment on next year’s total, which will reach 1.2 million petabytes, or 1.2 zettabytes. If these growth rates continue, by 2020 the digital universe will total 35 zettabytes, or 44 times more than in 2009. It’s interesting to compare IDC’s study with a recent UC San Diego report on how much information Americans consume per year. According to that study, media consumption in 2008 added up to 3.6 zettabytes and 10,845 trillion words, or about 34 gigabytes per person per day. Much of the media we view (TV shows, streaming video from YouTube) is centrally stored, on internet-connected servers, so the totals for consumption are naturally higher than the storage requirements. IDC notes that while data storage will increase 44-fold by 2020, the number of IT professionals worldwide will only grow by 40%, which means each IT guy is going to have a lot more data to oversee. Good luck with that, guys!
See Also:
Gadgets on the Go: Follow Dylan Tweney and Gadget Lab on Twitter for real-time tech updates. EMC-IDC Digital Universe Study 
Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 30 Apr 2010 | 1:07 pm Asus Eee PC 1005PR now available & shipping with Newegg, priced at $399.99
Earlier in the month we saw the Asus Eee PC 1005PR netbook come available as a pre-order item at several online retailers including Amazon and Newegg and now in a little bit of good news for those that felt as if they could not wait any longer—that model is now shipping. Well, truth be told it is still listed as a pre-order item with Amazon, however Newegg is currently shipping it. The Eee PC 1005PR is priced at $399.99 which comes along with free shipping. As for what you will get in return for your 400 bucks, well, you will get a netbook that is packing a 10.1 inch display with a 1366 x 768 resolution, GMA 3150 graphics, Broadcom HD Accelerator, 1.66GHz Intel Atom N450 processor, 1GB of RAM, a 250GB hard drive, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth, 6-cell battery and Windows 7 Starter. Product [Asus Eee PC 1005PR at Newegg]
Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 30 Apr 2010 | 1:04 pm The iPad 3G Has Arrived My friendly neighborhood iPad 3G man just dropped off my 32GB model fresh from the factory. It still has that new Apple smell. Initial assessments finds that the iPad 3G is just like the iPad with a plastic top for improved wireless connectivity.
I'll fire the old girl up and put her through her paces. Expect a full report shortly but until then click through for the growing gallery.
Source: TechCrunch | 30 Apr 2010 | 12:49 pm Waiting for iTunes.com? Don't Hold Your Breath [MediaMemo]
No time soon, from what I can tell. I’ve been on the phone all day with music industry sources. None of them know of any specific plans Apple has to replace Lala at the end of May, when it will shutter the streaming music company it bought last December. Sources tell me that in the past few weeks, Apple has started signaling to the labels that it’s interested in a Web-based version of iTunes, its dominant music retail platform. But those conversations are preliminary at best. So if you’re expecting to hear about an “iTunes.com” offering in the near future — like during Apple’s June 7 developer conference — you’re likely to be disappointed. That said, moving music to the Web does seem to be on Apple’s agenda. Sources say the company approached the labels earlier this year about a cloud-based “locker” service, where users could streams songs they owned to multiple devices. But that went nowhere quickly — “a swing and a miss”, in the words of an industry insider — because the labels argued that streaming a single purchase to multiple devices constituted multiple uses, which meant they should receive more for the songs they sell through iTunes. It’s possible that Apple (AAPL) could argue that it doesn’t need the labels’ permission to launch a locker service, and that users have the right to do whatever they want with their content. But even if that argument held up legally, it would enrage the labels, who already feel that Steve Jobs hoodwinked them when he set up the iTunes model in 2003. And even if Jobs didn’t mind antagonizing the labels, it would make his current efforts to romance other content providers, like TV networks, even more difficult. Apple could also try a subscription/rental model for iTunes, like the one currently offered by the likes of Rhapsody, MOG and Spotify (at least in Europe). But no one has figured out how to rent music at a price that satisfies consumers, the labels and the music services. At least not on a large scale. So no matter what strategy Apple pursues, it’s going to require a new set of negotiations with the labels, who might be prickly partners this time around. Hard to see this one getting off the ground and into the cloud in a hurry. Source: All Things Digital | 30 Apr 2010 | 12:37 pm BlackBerry Breaks Into Worldwide Phone Bestseller List
BlackBerry fans can break out the bubbly. Growing demand for its phones has helped Research In Motion move into the top five mobile phone companies worldwide in sales during the first quarter, says research firm IDC. RIM replaced Motorola in the Top 5 chart and tied with Sony Ericsson for the No. 4 position. RIM shipped 10.6 million phones in the first quarter, while Motorola, which had been a fixture in the top-five ranking since 2004, shipped 8.5 million phones. “This is also the first time a vendor has dropped out of the top five since the second quarter of 2005, when Sony Ericsson grabbed the number five spot from BenQ Siemens,” says Kevin Restivo, senior research analyst with IDC’s Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker. Apple doesn’t feature in the Top 5 chart because the company shipped 8.75 million phones worldwide in the first quarter, says IDC. Next week, IDC will release data on the top five mobile phone makers in the United States. However, Apple has taken the top spot among U.S. phone makers, a rather small group that includes Motorola, Apple, Palm and a handful of minor players. The worldwide rankings take into account both smartphones and feature phones. Though feature phones (cheaper, simpler devices) are still a big percentage of phones sold worldwide, low-cost smartphones are picking up in sales, says IDC. Nokia, whose devices don’t get much love in the United States, held on to its No. 1 position worldwide, shipping 107.8 million phones in the first quarter of the year. That’s up 16 percent from the same quarter year before. Samsung ranked second with 64.3 million phones sold, and LG shipped 27.1 million phones to bag the third place. RIM, which ranks fourth, sold nearly 2 million more phones than Motorola, says IDC. “Key to its success in the first quarter was the popularity of its BlackBerry Curve 8520 and BlackBerry Bold 9700 across multiple markets, as well as its global prepaid offerings,” says IDC. “Strong consumer adoption, particularly among text-crazy teens, has also fueled demand for BlackBerry devices.” Here’s a look at the top five companies worldwide by their market share:
See Also:
Charts data supplied by IDC 
Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 30 Apr 2010 | 12:36 pm BlackBerry Breaks Into Worldwide Phone Bestseller ListGrowing demand for BlackBerry phones worldwide has propelled Research In Motion into a spot among the top five mobile-handset makers, according to data from research firm IDC.
Source: Wired: Gadgets | 30 Apr 2010 | 12:36 pm The Motorola Shadow is still alive, gets its WiFi certification
Surpriiiise! After three months of radio silence, the Motorola Shadow — a phone that, according to the shakiest rumors in all of Rumorville, might be the Google Nexus Two — is still alive. On the upside, it proves that the Motorola Shadow (probably) isn’t dead. On the downside, it.. doesn’t really tell us anything new. Rumored specs for the shadow are all over the place, but the most concrete stuff we’ve heard so far:
The operating system is still up in the air, given that we don’t know when/how this thing is landing. If it is set to be the Nexus Two, expect it to run 2.2 — and don’t be surprised if it’s announced at Google’s I/O conference on May 19th. [Via Phonedog]
Source: MobileCrunch | 30 Apr 2010 | 12:05 pm Maintaining Cooperation In Human SocietiesImage 1: Image shows a Maasai tribe at dawn in Kenya. This image is an example of a human society with maintained cooperation. How this cooperation originates and is maintained is the topic of this paper by Boyd and colleagues. Credit: © 2010 JupiterImages CorporationImage 2: Image shows Maasai morans tribesman in Kenya. This image is an example of a human society with maintained cooperation. How this cooperation originates and is maintained is the topic of this paper by Boyd and colleagues. Credit: © 2010 JupiterImages CorporationSource: RedOrbit News - Science | 30 Apr 2010 | 12:05 pm RIM: Goodbye MOTO [Digital Daily]
Nasty as the blow was for Moto, It was quite an impressive feat for RIM. IDC’s ranking, after all, includes feature phones and smartphones both, and RIM manufactures only the latter. That it was able to oust Motorola, a former industry juggernaut that has held a place on IDC’s top-five list since it was first created in 2004, is a noteworthy achievement indeed. Today, it claims a 3.6 percent market share, tying with Sony Ericsson for fourth place on IDC’s list. Ranking above it are LG Electronics with a 9.2 percent share, Samsung with a 21.8 percent share and market leader Nokia (NOK) with a 36.6 percent share. “The entrance of RIM into the top 5 underscores the sustained smartphone growth trend that is driving the global mobile phone market recovery,” IDC analyst Kevin Restivo said in a statement. “This is also the first time a vendor has dropped out of the top 5 since the second quarter of 2005, when Sony Ericsson grabbed the number 5 spot from BenQ Siemens.” Source: All Things Digital | 30 Apr 2010 | 11:58 am Study: The Effects Of Grazing On Grouse HabitatAgricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists at the Eastern Oregon Agricultural Research Center in Burns, Ore., are taking a careful look at how grazing cattle affect sage-grouse habitat on high desert rangelands.Cattle share this habitat with sage-grouse, which are chicken-sized birds that are notorious for the showy commotion they create during mating season.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 30 Apr 2010 | 11:52 am Oil Spill Progress Tracked by SatellitesWhile ground crews work to contain the spill on the ground, satellites are monitoring the oil slick from the skies.Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 30 Apr 2010 | 11:35 am Verizon makes BlackBerry Tour Push-to-talk “free for life” for anyone who acts quick
Almost exactly one month ago, Verizon added Push-to-talk support to the BlackBerry Tour! Hurray! Unfortunately, it cost $5 extra a month. Un-hurray. It looks like Verizon might be having a bit of trouble getting people to sign up — or, at least, they want to kickstart the number of people using it. They just dropped the price down to an always-welcome amount: free. But you’ve gotta act (somewhat) fast.
Source: MobileCrunch | 30 Apr 2010 | 11:22 am Seamounts Identified As Significant, Unexplored TerritoryScientists from NOAA and Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi were astounded to find that seamounts, mountains that rise from the seafloor, rank as some of the most common ocean habitats in the world.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 30 Apr 2010 | 11:10 am QOTD [Digital Daily]
Source: All Things Digital | 30 Apr 2010 | 10:52 am Microsoft has killed the dual-screened Courier tablet [Microsoft Courier is dead]Section: Computers, Mobile Computers  According to some recent reports, it looks like Microsoft has killed the Courier, and killed in before it was even officially announced. Seems funny that this would be cancelled, after all, this was one Microsoft product that people were really buzzing about. But alas, it will not be coming to market and here is the official statement, which comes courtesy of Frank Shaw, Microsoft’s VP of corporate communications;
Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 30 Apr 2010 | 10:47 am Vietnam Celebrates Anniversary of War's EndThirty-five years ago, the city formerly known as Saigon fell, marking the end of the Vietnam War.Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 30 Apr 2010 | 10:45 am Oil Spill: Bracing for Impact: Special ReportPreparations are underway at the shore and on water to try and minimize damage from the Gulf oil spill.Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 30 Apr 2010 | 10:16 am Water-related Conflicts Set To EscalatePopulation growth, urbanization, increasing pollution, soil erosion and climate variations are all reflected in the management and adequacy of the world's waters.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 30 Apr 2010 | 10:09 am Endangered Turtle Death Rates Rising In TexasAn unusually high number of endangered sea turtles have died along the Gulf Coast of Texas this month, and researchers are struggling to try and find out why, according to a Friday article by Associated Press (AP) Writer Ramit Plushnick-masti.According to Plushnick-masti's report, researchers have found 32 dead turtles and three live ones stranded near Galveston and Houston, including 33 endangered Kemp's ridleys.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 30 Apr 2010 | 10:00 am Why Should YOU Care About the Sun?Because the sun is awesome! Actually, it's more than that. Living with a star impacts our daily lives and the new Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) will help us predict its next temper tantrum.Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 30 Apr 2010 | 9:49 am Adobe CEO, Ex-Adobe Engineers Weigh In on Jobs’ Flash Attack
In an open letter published Thursday, Steve Jobs outlined a half dozen reasons why Apple is not supporting Flash on its mobile platform. Adobe’s CEO has defended Flash in response to Jobs, but some ex-Adobe employees interviewed by Wired.com shared many of the Apple CEO’s thoughts. In his letter, Jobs highlighted the major reasons Apple is leaving Flash behind. Most relevant to users, Flash is the top cause of application crashes on the Mac, Jobs said, and Flash’s video-decoding method is a major battery drainer. If Adobe crashes on Macs, that actually has something “to do with the Apple operating system,” Adobe’s CEO Shantanu Narayen told The Wall Street Journal. He added that claims about Flash draining battery life were “patently false,” but he didn’t appear to elaborate. Carlos Icaza and Walter Luh, former Adobe mobile engineers, said they were raising flags at Adobe in 2007 about the same complaints that Jobs detailed Thursday. “Walter and I, being the lead architects for Flash Lite, we were seeing the iPhone touch devices coming out, and we kept saying ‘Hey, this is coming along,’” Icaza said in a phone interview. “You have this white elephant that everybody ignored. Half the [Adobe] mobile business unit was carrying iPhones, and yet the management team wasn’t doing anything about it.” Icaza and Luh have a vested interest in this dispute: After leaving Adobe, they launched a startup, Ansca Mobile, which produces a cross-platform solution called Corona that competes with Flash. They said they left Adobe because executives did not take the iPhone seriously when Apple announced the touchscreen device in 2007. Instead, Adobe focused on feature phones (cellphones with lightweight web features, not smartphones) and invested in development of Flash Lite to play Flash videos on such devices. Subsequently, Adobe shut down the mobile business unit in 2007, and has suffered from a brain drain in the mobility space ever since, Icaza and Luh said. The relationship between Apple and Adobe dates back years, as Jobs acknowledged in his blog post. Apple in the past has relied heavily on Adobe’s Creative Suite to market the Mac as a platform for creative types. But the relationship has been eroding ever since Apple introduced the iPhone and opted against supporting Adobe’s Flash platform on the mobile device. Tensions increased when Apple released the iPad, which continues Apple’s steadfast lack of Flash support. Adobe last year announced it was developing a work-around for Flash developers to easily port their programs into iPhone apps. But this month, just a week before Adobe was scheduled to release the feature, Apple issued a new clause in its developer policy, which stipulated that iPhone apps must be coded with Apple-approved programming languages (not Flash). Adobe’s 2007 decision to focus on Flash Lite and feature phones instead of iPhone compatibility is the reason Adobe is behind and still has not offered a fine-tuned version of Flash for any smartphone, including the iPhone or any Android device, Icaza and Luh said. The pair echoed many of the same concerns expressed by the Apple CEO. “Flash was designed for the desktop world, for web and large screens, not the user experiences you want to create in these new devices with touch, accelerometers and GPS,” Luh said. “It wasn’t designed with that in mind at all.” Luh was also formerly employed by Apple on the Final Cut Pro team. He said that because Adobe’s iPhone Packager didn’t use Apple’s toolchain to create apps, the resulting code would not work well on an iPhone or iPad. For instance, apps made with Packager are much larger than they would be if they were made with Xcode. A simple “Hello World” app created in Flash and compiled to work on the iPhone is substantially larger in file size, and it would take up 3.6 MB when it should be no larger than 400K when made with Xcode, according to James Eberhardt, a mobile developer who has tested iPhone Packager. Macromedia, the original maker of Flash, was acquired by Adobe in 2005. Luh said it was disappointing that Adobe failed to translate Macromedia’s success into a compelling mobile platform. “The biggest irony of all is that Adobe Macromedia was so far ahead of the game, it was unbelievable; it was a billion-dollar industry,” Luh said. “Macromedia was essential to that entire ecosystem…. The fact that through Adobe, they couldn’t find a way to convert that to the rest of the world through smartphones, they really kind of just lost sight of what was really important.” Adobe declined to speak on the phone with Wired.com in response to Jobs’ and the ex-Adobe employees’ statements. However, a representative provided a written statement:
See Also:
Photo: Brian Derballa/Wired.com 
Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 30 Apr 2010 | 9:48 am Who’s on Crack in tech: 4.30.10Section: Communications, Computers, Gadgets / Other, Features, Originals, Columns, Who's On Crack
Heck yeah, it’s time for another go round of the moves in the tech world that seem so outlandish, only illegal narcotics could fuel their insanity. This weeks nominees for rehab include:
Adobe and Apple, really over this time?“Adobe has changed their status to *available*. No longer in a committed relationship with Apple, Adobe finds itself on the outside of the iParty looking in. The two companies have spat more like spurned lovers than companies that sometimes work together. Take a look at the new personal ad Adobe posted on singles.com: Me: flashy, wild, adventurous. Needs a patient lover. Some say unstable but I say I’ve got an unpredictability that developers just can resist. I make everything hot, especially gadgets. It looks pretty serious. Serious enough for Senor Jobs to take pen in hand and post a letter on apple.com explaining: “perhaps Adobe should focus more on creating great HTML5 tools for the future, and less on criticizing Apple for leaving the past behind.” Facebook translation: “maybe you should stop call me names, Adobe. I don’t answer your calls for a reason. Get a frickin clue.” Will the note on Apple finally give Adobe the idea it’s time to find another obsession? I don’t know, like Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, Apple and Adobe spats have come to bore me. Work, don’t work, I don’t care. I’ve come to like the black boxes/missing elements on my iPhone and would miss them if they were gone.
Android’s hot FlashContinuing the story like a supermarket tabloid that I one day hope to write for, we’ll move on to who has been seen doing the walk-of-shame from Adobe’s house in the morning: Android. The cute little robot was seen leaving Adobe’s after a raging night at some robots-gone-wild filming party, clothes looking all rumpled and a look of sheer exhaustion on its face. Yes, it seems Android loves Adobe. Or at least wants to. Our Natesh Sood explains, “with Flash, many more videos and websites will be accessible on Android smartphones, making the overall web experience that much better.” Word is Flash is in Android 2.2. So in this season’s big cliff hanger, in true will-they-or-won’t-they fashion, the timing is anyone’s guess. Like Sam and Diane from Cheers; Rachel and Ross from Friends or Will Shuester and Sue Silvester on Glee; these lovers have to find a way into each others, er, arms? They just have to. When is still anyone’s guess.
Your iPaq is in my webOSThe big, big news this week involves $1.2 billion dollars and a whole lot of love for webOS. As a group, we bloggers seem mixed, torn into equal parts rooting for webOS and the remnants of Palm and saddened on what a bland, corporate beast HP might do to our beloved underdog. Our Natesh Sood, again with the hot pen, quotes HP as, “Palm’s innovative operating system provides an ideal platform to expand HP’s mobility strategy and create a unique HP experience spanning multiple mobile connected devices.” Frankly, I am torn too. Scared that HP’s sheer size will lose sight of what makes webOS so darn cool. Scared that consumers will be overridden by corporate users as the target market (scares me because I think webOS is so compelling). But yet, I am hopeful HP’s bankroll will find suitable hardware for the worthy OS. Hopeful that one day, my son will ask, “hey what ever happened to that iPhone you used to have” which he’ll text me from his webOS 23.8 based smartphone chip in his head. Will HP be the savior or just one of tech’s many that squandered something really great? Magic 8-balls says, “answer cloudy, cracker”
Sony drops a new floppyNo kids, Sony is not a rapper and floppy is not a moniker for a new album or hit single. Instead, Sony is ending floppy production. Once “awe inspiring” (I am quoting me from 1992) and “wow, I’ll never bend another 8” floppy again! Huzzah!”, Sony has seen demand drop from 47 million in 2002 fall to just 12 million last year. Sony will end production in 2011. I fondly recall loading Windows onto machines in a basement at a computer store I worked at back in the 90s. Disc after painfully slow disc. The “errr err” sounds the drives would make. But wait, there is hope from Natesh: “you may want to hold onto your old floppy discs - who knows - maybe one day it will become a collector’s item.” Yes, because the only thing more geeky than collecting stamps, is collecting floppies. Natesh, keep your eyes open for DEA tailing you from school.
Full Story » | Written by JG Mason for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 30 Apr 2010 | 9:35 am World Leaders Failing To Protect BiodiversityDespite a 2002 pledge by world leaders to help curb the global rate of biodiversity loss within an eight year period, declines in biodiversity have grown at an "alarming" rate, according to a new study published online in the journal Science on Friday."In 2002, world leaders committed through the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) to achieve a significant reduction in the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010," the researcher write in their report.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 30 Apr 2010 | 9:30 am IPhone Finder's Attorney Speaks [Voices]By Yukari Iwatani Kane, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal The attorney representing the man who found the iPhone prototype that tech blog Gizmodo posted stories and photos about disclosed his identity as Brian Hogan, a 21-year-old Redwood City, Calif., college student. The following is the statement in full by Mr. Hogan’s attorney, Jeffrey Bornstein of K&L Gates LLP in San Francisco. Mr. Hogan’s identity was earlier reported by Wired.com.
Read the rest of this post on the original site Source: All Things Digital | 30 Apr 2010 | 9:00 am Call of Duty 7 Unveiled As 'Black Ops' - PC World
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 30 Apr 2010 | 8:57 am Asus unveils the Eee PC 900AX, seemingly bringing back the 9-inch netbook Its been a while since we last seen a 9 inch netbook coming from Asus, but that does not seem to have stopped them from rolling out the 8.9 inch Eee PC 900AX. The netbook has recently made an appearance on the official Asus website showing itself off in a bunch of images with full specs and details included. As for the netbook specs, the Eee PC 900AX will come sporting an 8.9 inch LED backlit WXGA display with a 1024 x 600 resolution, Intel Atom N270 processor, 1GB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive, 4-cell battery and Windows XP Home. Other features include a weight of 2.48 pounds, VGA out, two USB 2.0 ports, Ethernet, audio jack, built-in microphone, built-in card reader and an optional 0.3 megapixel webcam. Of course, in true Asus fashion—the pricing and release date have been left off. Read [Asus] Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 30 Apr 2010 | 8:21 am A Roadmap For The Only Practical Way To Preserve The PlanetImage Caption: Carbon dioxide emitted from the nation’s coal-fired power plants could be phased out in 20 years using existing or rapidly emerging technology. Credit: iStockSource: RedOrbit News - Science | 30 Apr 2010 | 8:13 am Apple beats Moto
Motorola is still doing OK for themselves, which is nice to know, but clearly Apple is doing something right. Like sending private detectives to the homes of 21-year-olds.
Source: MobileCrunch | 30 Apr 2010 | 7:58 am How Important Is Geographical Isolation In Speciation?A genetic study of island lizards shows that even those that have been geographically isolated for many millions of years have not evolved into separate species as predicted by conventional evolutionary theory.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 30 Apr 2010 | 7:56 am Apple Stores Close to Prepare for 3G iPad Launch
Apple is closing its retail stores for an hour today to prepare for the launch of the 3G iPad. Customers who pre-ordered the cellular iPad for in-store pick-up already knew that sales were set to begin at 5PM, but now the Apple retail information pages show that stores will be closed from 4-5PM this afternoon. While clearing the store to better organize the queues makes sense, it also hints that Apple believes there will be as much demand for this second iPad launch as there was for the first. This seems likely: When Apple pushed the delivery date for new iPad 3G orders back to May 7th, it seemed that the first production run had already sold out. On the other hand, the 5PM launch seems designed to dampen expectations of lines forming outside stores. Either way, we know there will be a lot of happy new iPad owners today. We’re also guessing that poor old AT&T will get slammed, just like it did way back when the first iPhone launched. What about you, Gadget Lab readers? Are you planning on buying a 3G iPad today? Did you already buy a Wi-Fi model because you just couldn’t wait the extra month? And if so, what size are you buying? Tell us about it in the comments. Apple Store Retail [Apple via TUAW] See Also:
Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 30 Apr 2010 | 7:05 am Google sued over keywords advertising by Rosetta Stone, court throws outSection: Computers, Software / Applications, Web, Google
“We are deeply disappointed that Rosetta Stone was not given an opportunity to present at a public trial the facts underlying Google’s practices and the motivation that led Google to adopt its current trademark policies,” stated Tom Adams, President and CEO of Rosetta Stone Inc. “Google has a corporate responsibility to protect consumers and promote trust in its search results. Without question, Google knows that counterfeit software is being advertised in its Adwords program and takes no effective steps to stop this illicit activity.” In essence, Rosetta Stone believes that Google shouldn’t be selling trademarked terms as nefarious companies could use these terms to sell counterfeit products. The company goes further to insist that Google should have a role in protecting consumers from their search results. The courts disagreed. Rosetta Stone is considering an appeal. Read: [Rosetta Stone] Full Story » | Written by JG Mason for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 30 Apr 2010 | 7:01 am Central New York's Three Rivers System Experiencing Low Oxygen ResourcesA unique three-year longitudinal and vertical study of Central New York's Three Rivers system—involving the Oswego, Oneida and Seneca rivers—has revealed that oxygen resources have become degraded by several stressors, including the impact of wastewater treatment plants, nonpoint runoff, an increase in invasive zebra mussels and channelization of the flow.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 30 Apr 2010 | 6:58 am Oil Slick Reaches Louisiana CoastlineImage Caption: On April 29, the MODIS image on the Terra satellite captured a wide-view natural-color image of the oil slick (outlined in white) just off the Louisiana coast. The oil slick appears as dull gray interlocking comma shapes, one opaque and the other nearly transparent. Sunglint -- the mirror-like reflection of the sun off the water -- enhances the oil slick’s visibility. The northwestern tip of the oil slick almost touches the Mississippi Delta. Credit: NASA/Earth Observatory/Jesse Allen, using data provided courtesy of the University of Wisconsin’s Space Science and Engineering Center MODIS Direct Broadcast system.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 30 Apr 2010 | 6:50 am Video: Discarded Motorola RAZR3 Prototype Gives a Glimpse Into The Moto That Could Have Been
But today over on Slash Gear, a prototype RAZR3 has risen from the grave to show us a twisted world where Motorola feature phones were the hotness, and smart phones were only for the geeks and their pocket protectors (like me…). It’s quite chilling. The specs are actually quite good, especially considering it was meant to be released back in those hazy days of 2009. A 5MP camera with LED flash, GPS, Voice Control, FM radio, chrome exterior, you know the drill. But no apps. Eck. I shiver to think of phones without app stores. *shiver* But, for those with a taste for nostalgia, or a perverse liking for glimpses into alternate realities, you should take a look at the video, below.
Source: MobileCrunch | 30 Apr 2010 | 6:47 am HP killing the HP Slate?Section: Computers, Mobile Computers  As you may recall, the most interesting, possibly the only interesting thing Microsoft showed off on stage at the CES 2010 keynote was the HP Slate prototype. The HP Slate was said to be released by mid 2010, and would use the full WIndows 7 to combat what was then the theoretical iPad. Now, just a few days after HP buys up Palm, it looks like the Slate may be dead. According to TechCrunch, HP is killing the Slate because it is unhappy with the performance of the device. More specifically, HP is not satisfied with Windows 7 as a tablet OS despite, or perhaps because of the full features it supports. Along with the OS, HP could be leaving behind the netbook-esque specs including the Intel Atom as it is simply too power hungry for a long lasting tablet device. In a way this announcement makes sense. Having a desktop OS on a tablet only seems to work when the tablet is a convertible laptop, and then it is still only few select customers. This makes HP’s acquisition of Palm all the more interesting. HP does seem quite interested in WebOS as a platform, and who’s to say it wouldn’t work well on a tablet of some sort. The iPad has proven that scaled-up mobile OSes work well on tablets, and we’re seeing a ton of Android based tablets coming our way soon. If HP could possibly bring WebOS to a tablet and get some more apps, it may well prove to be a worthwhile device. Read [TechCrunch] Full Story » | Written by Shawn Ingram for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 30 Apr 2010 | 6:02 am Desktop Microwave Minimizes Calorie Loss
Finally, a way to (almost) never leave your desk again. Combine this desktop microwave oven with supermarket delivery and a bucket under your chair and you can remain immobile. Forever. The 2008 BrainWave is a concept design, and as such is riddled with impracticalities. For instance, it requires your microwave-meal to come with its own fork, and that fork has to have an RFID-chip to give cooking instructions to the BrainWave. A simple timer dial and start button would be better, especially as the RFID scanner is a bulky box on the side. Also odd is the dry-erase board on the bottom, to be sketched upon when the oven is flipped into an upright storage position. Perhaps you could doodle ideas for your next meal, perhaps a tasty plastic tray of industrial mac’n'cheese? The idea of a tiny microwave, though, is great, and I have wanted one ever since I saw 30 Rock’s Funcooker. After all, having a giant box taking up counter space just to reheat a cup of coffee seems wasteful. The BrainWave also wins for its USB hookup, which lets companion software on your PC control the microwave and display the status readout. One note to the designer, Stephen Richard Gates: Make the BrainWave look less like a printer or fax machine. I’m pretty sure that microwaving a ream of paper is kinda dangerous. Desktop Microwave Oven Concept [Steve Gates via Yanko] 
Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 30 Apr 2010 | 6:02 am Volkswagen Electric Scooter Charges in Your Trunk
German car-maker Volkswagen has designed a bike. Weird, right? Actually, no. The Bik.e is actually a sidekick for your car, something you are supposed to remove from the trunk when you have parked up and can go no further on four wheels. The Bik.e is electric, and folds up to fit in the spare-wheel well in the back of your car. While sitting in the dark like a kidnap victim, the Bik.e recharges from the car’s electrical system as you drive, meaning it is always ready to go. And that’s just as well, as the Bik.e has no pedals. If you run out of juice when away from the mother-ship then you’ll be scooting back Fred Flintstone-style, or just pushing. With a 12.5 mile range and a 12.5 mph top speed, it’ll be fine to take you from your Walmart parking space right up to the front door, while the disk-brakes and LED lights will keep you safe. VW doesn’t seem to be planning to supply the Bik.e with its own cars yet, but Dr. Ulrich Hackenberg, the R&D boss at VW, told an audience at Auto China 2010 that it is committed to actually bringing it to market. I’m all for getting people out of their cars and on to two wheels – after all, one less car on the road means one less two-ton hunk of death piloted by a cellphone-dialing driver directly at vulnerable cyclists. But I can’t imagine that this electric scooter is going to be cheap, so why not just throw a Brompton folding bike in the trunk? You might even get fit as you ride it. Volkswagen bik.e replaces spare tire with electric mobility device [Green Autoblog via the Giz and Fast Company] See Also:
Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 30 Apr 2010 | 5:08 am Conductive Finger-Buttons Allow Gloved Gadget Control
While shrink-wrapped pork-meat products might make great faux-fingers for chilly Koreans to operate their iPhones with gloves on, a new product from Quirky is higher-tech and much less gross. The Digit is a button, designed by Brian Shy, which pins onto the finger of your glove. The safety-pin fastening pokes through top the inside whereupon it conducts the electricity from your finger and transfers it to the conductive fabric on the button itself. The Digit comes in packs of four. Put one on each thumb, and one on the index and middle-fingers of your preferred hand and you’ll have toasty fingers and full control of your iDevice, be it the Nexus One, the iPad or any other gadget with a capacitive touch-screen. Ingenious, and just $14. Sure, you could buy 14 Korean wieners instead, but this solution is just so much less icky. Digits [Quirky. Thanks, Brian!] See Also: 
Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 30 Apr 2010 | 4:40 am Report: HP Kills Slate
When HP’s Todd Bradley was asked by analysts how his company’s $1.2 billion purchase of Palm would affect its Windows 7 Slate, he replied “We haven’t made roadmap announcements.” In corporate speak, that means “We have killed it.” Silicon Alley Insider speculates that the HP Slate may be reborn as a WebOS tablet, although Michael Arrington of TechCrunch thinks it “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.” I’d disagree with Arrington. If anyone has the know-how to pull off an iPad-style hardware/software marriage it is the Palm team. The WebOS failed in the market, but it was quite an excellent product, managing to wow even the jaded tech journalists at CES 2009 (us included). Scaling up this friendly, touch-based OS for a larger screen seems like an obvious move. By contrast, the Win7 Slate would suffer the same problems as all other tablets up until the iPad: despite skins and overlaid UIs, Windows is a desktop OS. Even Windows Mobile has always been a poorly re-scaled Desktop OS. They’re designed for mice and keyboards, not fingers. If HP really does “double-down” on the WebOS as it has promised, and designs machines around it, then we’re very excited to see the results. Say what you like about the iPad, it has exposed a new way of interacting with information, and it looks like the HP/Palm team may be the first other company to actually realize that. John Gruber puts it best: “HP is not going to make the same mistake in the mobile market that they made in the PC market, by not owning and controlling their own OS.” Apple Doesn’t Have To Worry About The HP Slate Anymore [Silicon Alley Insider] Hewlett-Packard To Kill Windows 7 Tablet Project [TechCrunch] See Also:
Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 30 Apr 2010 | 4:18 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
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Look out for 'webby' our little black and white beanie mascot that was behind Moss in the third series. He's there again in the next series!
4 years ago, a Verizon customer signed up for a plan. Said plan included 2 years of free data usage, which the customer did take advantage of, and use to tether his laptop. Then one day, disaster!
While cool, I dunno that I’d recommend wearing this very often. Particularly around law enforcement, since the bottle opener ring could definitely be mistaken for brass knuckles. 
So this evening I’m going to take a shower and I grab my 
I'm serializing my first novel, 
This is definitely not a device intended for the home market. I’m not even sure it’s something that a business would need, but perhaps I’m wrong. Regardless of my opinion, the 
Looks like the 
One of my major gripes with the Android platform is a lack of apps that are on-par with the iPhone. Sure, the total number of apps is getting up there, but for the most part, in my opinion, they’re nowhere near as good. One area where this was evident was with Twitter clients. While the iPhone has a number of great ones (led by Tweetie, which 
Oh dear, there goes the weekend. I’m already splitting my time between catching up on Lost, reading David Copperfield, and playing Harvest Moon, but now MechWarrior 4 has been re-released, complete and free, along with MekPak 3.1, which adds a number of chassis and weapons to the mix. Are you kidding me?
Evidently, Apple (AAPL) CEO Steve Jobs isn’t alone in his low opinion of Flash. Looks like Microsoft’s (MSFT) not a particularly big fan of the Adobe (ADBE) technology, either. Writing in the company’s IEBlog, Dean Hachamovitch, general manager of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer arm, weighs in on the Flash debate echoing some of the arguments put forth by Jobs in his 
You may have noticed that we’re putting on a new event – 
Japanese gaming company 
Motorola’s (MOT) woes are Reasearch in Motion’s (RIMM) good fortune. The company’s struggle to reinvigorate its post-Razr phone business has cost it its spot on IDC’s top-five mobile phone maker rankings. 
From Rosetta Stones point of view, Google is profiting from their trademarks. By selling keywords based on Rosetta Stone trademarks, Google is offering others the chance to sell their solution and as Rosetta Stone believes, it’s illegal. A US District court has dismissed Rosetta Stone’s trademark infringement lawsuit.
Back in 2008, after milking the poor cash cow to death, Motorola decided to can their once crazy-popular 
