Always delighted to see savvy entrepreneurs and investors in Europe launch initiatives that can help young tech startups, wherever they’re located, go from idea to product without going bankrupt and disillusioned even before making it to the prototype phase.
Hence, I am completely in love with what XING founder Lars Hinrichs is doing with HackFwd, a new-style, product-oriented startup investment and advisory venture.
You can read all about the details of the project in Mike Butcher’s post on the introduction of HackFwd on TechCrunch Europe, but make sure you also watch the video at the end of the post, which does an amazing job at explaining what it’s all about in just 3 and a half minutes (with actor Stephen Fry doing the voice-over, no less).
And how about this awesome infographic I found on their website, the ‘HackFwd Blueprint’, which I just spent about half an hour dissecting. Click the full screen (or better yet, the download) button and see what startup life can be like, as neatly visualized by people with a sense of design … and humor.
(Tip: not sure where to start? Try “Is the universal answer 42 or 23?”)
AP - The European Union's highest court rejected a challenge Tuesday by four British cell phone companies to a Europe-wide price cap on fees for using a phone abroad. Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 8 Jun 2010 | 4:09 am
The first analysts’ notes on Apple’s new iPhone 4 have begun rolling in and they sound a common theme: While not the revelation it might have been (for obvious reasons), the device may well be, as Steve Jobs claimed Monday, “the biggest leap since the original iPhone.”
“While the announced features of the iPhone 4 were as expected, the reality is this phone is significantly more advanced than the next best alternative,” Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster wrote in a note to clients. “We see the iPhone 4 as the most meaningful revision since the iPhone 3G two years ago. As such, we believe more existing iPhone users will be inclined to upgrade to the iPhone 4 than we saw with the iPhone 3GS.”
Munster notes as well that gee-whiz features like iPhone 4’s FaceTime video calling app, its HD video camera and iMovie video editing software are together creating an integrated experience that typically requires multiple devices. “The bottom line is the iPhone is taking unit and dollar share from other device categories,” he writes.
Indeed, it was hard to watch Apple’s (AAPL) demo of the device’s HD video camera working in concert with iMovie Monday and not think that it’s going to eat the Flip Video camcorder and Kodak’s (EK) Zi8 alive as soon as it arrives at market. And things don’t look much better for Google’s (GOOG) Android “superphones,” though obviously, there’s a much bigger battle to be fought there. Certainly, the company and its hardware partners have some serious work to do in the months ahead.
AFP - Apple has unveiled a next-generation iPhone that features video chat, can shoot and edit high-definition quality video and has a crisper resolution screen.
Inspired Instruments, makers of a portable, real-string digital guitar dubbed the You Rock Guitar, has raised $1.25 million from a number of private investors in preparation for the launch of the You Rock Guitar platform and to move forward with a line of accessories and software solutions.
The company’s flagship product, the You Rock Guitar, is a mobile digital guitar and game controller that plays nice with the Wii, PlayStation 3, your computer, iPod / iPhone, iPad, your amplifier or stereo and with popular games like Guitar Hero and RockBand.
The round of funding, Inspired Instruments’ first, was led by co-founder and CEO Kevin Kent and Executive Vice President JR deSouza. Says co-founder and president Cliff Elion:
“We are ready to take Inspired Instruments to the next level by expanding the distribution, infrastructure and product development team. By securing capital for this venture, we are right on track to truly bridge the gap between playing games and playing real instruments. In fact, Kevin and I did our first MIDI guitar more than 25 years ago and sold that to Gibson – this guitar leaves that technology in the dust.”
You can’t buy one straight away, though – the company says they’re currently back-ordered. According to the website, the product will set you back $219.99 (list price).
It’s an interesting idea for sure – check out the video below for more.
We first wrote about Israeli startup eToro way back in 2007 when it launched. Since then investors have put more than $8 million into the company. Today they’ll announce that Social Leverage has led a third round, adding $2.4 million more.
What is eToro? It’s commodity, currency and index trading made fun and social. Yes, you read that correctly. eToro puts the sexy into silver trading. Users make trades via a ridiculously easy (maybe too easy) interface. Start off with fake money and see what you’re made of. Yesterday, for example, I quickly lost about 5% of my fake capital on foolhardy and highly leveraged oil and silver trades when I lost my nerve and bailed out a few minutes after jumping in. Maybe when I abandon my day job and start trading full time I’ll learn to do a little research first.
But I can’t deny that it’s a total blast to use eToro. The service makes buying and selling extremely easy to understand, and users seem to agree. CEO Jonathan Assia tells me that users have traded over $100 billion on eToro to date. The average transaction size, before leverage, is $50. Trades made on the site are public for others to view, and successful traders can get quite a following on the service.
If you forget for a minute that you’re using real money and actually buying and selling stuff you might think you’re in the middle of an online game. In fact, Howard Lindzon, the founder of new investor Social Leverage, calls eToro “Zynga for real men,” referring to the fact that there’s actual money being made and lost while you’re playing the “game.”
Lindzon’s interest is worth noting. The eToro model is much like Lindzon’s StockTwits, which shows stock buys and sells in a Twitter-like stream. Assia won’t comment on whether a partnership with StockTwits is coming, but it isn’t hard to bet that some sort of strategic relationship is coming.
The company, which has 1.5 million registered users, has 120 employees in Israel, New York, Australia and Cypress.
damnbunni writes "Dr. Demento has announced that his long-running comedy radio show will be ending (except weekly in and around Amarillo, TX). Modern 'format' radio has been less and less friendly to oddball and offbeat programming, and after years of declining station membership the Doctor announced on June 6 that his radio show will be no more. He will still stream weekly shows on Saturday from his website, drdemento.com. While I'm sad to see the show go, nearly 40 years is a good run."
OTTAWA, Ontario, June 8 /PRNewswire/ -- UBM TechInsights today announced an important discovery in the application processors of two popular consumer electronics devices. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 8 Jun 2010 | 3:19 am
TOKYO, June 8 /PRNewswire/ -- NTT Communications (NTT Com), Infinera Japan and Ixia Communications K.K. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 8 Jun 2010 | 3:10 am
(TrendHunter.com) We have now taken a step into the future with the iPhone 4G FaceTime Video Calling feature. The awesome phone has a brand new frontal camera, allowing your caller to see you while you... Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 8 Jun 2010 | 3:03 am
Whether you’ll be in South Africa in person this month, or simply cheering your team on from back home, our new tools for football fans can help you soak up the atmosphere and follow your team wherever you are in the world.
You can check out the brand new Street View imagery for South Africa which includes amazing pictures from seven of South Africa’s new football stadiums, including Soccer City in Johannesburg, Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane and Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban. Each one can be explored from pitch-level in 360 degrees, both inside and out—see a preview on the Lat Long blog. These detailed images were collected over the last few months, using the Street View Trike and some serious pedal power!
You can also zoom around the host cities and stadiums in 3D. Simply turn on the 3D buildings layer in Google Earth or switch to Earth View in Google Maps, and zoom in to the chosen destination. All 10 of the football stadiums have been modelled in amazing 3D detail, as well as the South African cities of Rustenburg, Nelspruit, Polokwane, Cape Town, Durban, Pretoria, Port Elizabeth, Bloemfontein and Johannesburg.
To make it easier for people to find all these great places, South African Tourism have provided information on the most important sights. Visit maps.google.com/exploresouthafrica to start virtually exploring South Africa.
If you’re staying back home but want to find a great place to watch the match with your friends, take a look on Google Maps and look for the special football icon—that tells you that the location is one of tens of thousands of businesses who have added themselves to Google Places as a football viewing location.
Our first global Doodle 4 Google competition is well underway, with tens of thousands of children in 17 countries around the world sending us their amazing designs for a doodle around the theme of “I Love Football.” The winning doodle will be displayed internationally on the Google homepage for a day on July 11, 2010.
To make it easy for you to customize your photos to show the world which team you’re cheering for, we’ve launched a set of football-themed photo effects in Picnik. With just a few clicks, you can add digital face paint, soccer-themed stickers and team flag overlays, customized for each of the 32 qualifying teams.
Finally, it’s not just the professional players who’ve been put through their paces ahead of kick-off. In the run-up to the games, fans from around the the world have joined the legendary Dutch midfielder Edgar Davids on his Street Soccer Tour for Charity from Amsterdam, London and Paris and to eight cities in Senegal, Ghana, Kenya and South Africa. Edgar and his team of Street Soccer Legends have been competing against local players as they make their journey to South Africa and you can watch them on YouTube.
May the best team win!
Posted by Yonca Brunini, Marketing Director, Southern and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa (SEEMEA)
Like a Klingon starship de-cloaking in the middle of Europe, Lars Hinrichs the founder of LinkedIn competitor XING who exited for $58 million last year is putting his efforts onto a new startup investment vehicle dubbed HackFwd. But although the web site for the new venture is packed with advisors and mentors, HackFwd will take 27% of a company it invests in - that's a sizeable chunk. In the US, Ycombinator takes around 6% but can do anywhere from 2%-10% while TechStars take around 6-10%, whereas the London-based Seedcamp takes 8-10%. However, those latter programmes only last months, while HackFwd's backing will be designed to last a year, a model that is probably going to suit Europe's slower-burn markets.
It was the best of interviews, it was the worst of interviews. It was something old, something new, something borrowed and something very blue. It was the 8th version of D:, the conference that brings together the top 1,000 people in media and technology, put together by The Wall Street Journal’s All Things D editors, Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg.
Facebook’s announcement of its “Like” button has been a gift – to scammers and malware authors who take advantage of its simple Javascript to write exploits.
Such “clickjacking” exploits first began appearing last week, though with no “payload” other than to spread pages virally throughout the site. However, anti-virus companies such as Sophos are warning that it could turn into a much more aggressive technique that will end up installing malware on peoples’ machines when they think that all they’re doing is going to hit a “Like” button on an innocent site.
A producer of ABC’s hit sitcom “Modern Family” said an episode that prominently featured Apple’s iPad went overboard in hyping the product.
“It may have gone a little too far in hindsight,” said Jeff Morton, a “Modern Family” producer who was speaking Saturday at the Producer Guild’s Produced By 2010 industry conference on the Fox lot.
In the episode in question, one of the characters is obsessed with getting an Apple iPad for his birthday.
Fed up with furloughs and down-sizing – or forced involuntarily out of their jobs – journalists across the land are taking matters into their own hands by starting their own news sites.
While I applaud these brave and commendable efforts, I fear a good many journalistic entrepreneurs are doomed to fail because they are not objectively confronting the steep odds they face – or putting nearly enough thought and effort into giving themselves a fighting chance to succeed.
After talking to one enterprising journalist after another, I have found almost uniformly that they are making the mistake that has proven to be the downfall of many an entrepreneur: Instead of trying to build a business, they are trying to give themselves the job they always wanted.
(TrendHunter.com) With 20 bathing suit styles set to debut, the Lorenzo Martone swimwwear collection will hit the fashion world November 2010. While Martone is the steady boyfriend of renowned fashion... Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 8 Jun 2010 | 2:08 am
LONDON, June 8 /PRNewswire/ -- GoldenSource Corporation, a leading provider of Enterprise Data Management (EDM) solutions, will participate in a panel discussion and exhibit at the Paris Financial Information Summit 2010 on the 10th June. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 8 Jun 2010 | 2:00 am
COO Robin Mersh unveils expanded testing and certification efforts, as well as highlights the new suite of work targeting end-to-end architecture evolution for powerful new multi-service converged Networks. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 8 Jun 2010 | 2:00 am
Yesterday morning, the pair of Stanford University graduate students who made the hot news-reading iPad app, Pulse News Reader, were ecstatic to be mentioned first–as one of the most promising developers for the new tablet device–in his keynote speech by Apple CEO Steve Jobs at the Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco.
But, by the afternoon, that flush of entrepreneurial success had turned sour, after Apple (AAPL) informed the two that Pulse was being pulled from the App Store, after it received a written notice from the New York Times Company (NYT) that “The New York Times Company believes your application named ‘Pulse News Reader’ infringes The New York Times Company’s rights.”
In an unusual coincidence, the Times’ Web site was on prominent display on a huge screen shot of the iPad during Jobs’ speech.
Ironically, the Times wrote a big wet kiss about Pulse last week in a blog post, titled “The iPad Pulse Reader Scales the Charts,” by tech writer Brad Stone.
“Pulse is a stylish and easy-to-use news aggregator,” wrote Stone. “News organizations still puzzling over their iPad strategies can perhaps derive some hope from Pulse’s success–or at least its price tag.”
No longer. Pulse was down completely by 6:30 pm PT last night.
Reads a notice on iTunes now: “Your request could not be completed. The item you’ve requested is not currently available in the U.S. store.”
“I don’t blame Apple, because they have to respond when contacted by lawyers from the Times,” said Akshay Kothari, a 23-year-old student of well-known Silicon Valley investor Michael Dearing’s Launch Pad class at Stanford, of the letter the media giant sent to Apple (which is below, along with the take-down notice).
“But it was definitely a roller coaster of a day.”
In fact, it’s been all up for the past four weeks, since Kothari and 22-year-old Ankit Gupta released the Pulse iPad app, creating it for the class, which requires students to develop and put out a product.
Both are at Stanford’s Institute of Design and created a company called Alphonso Labs.
The app was quickly approved after about four weeks of development. Since then, it has taken off strongly, downloaded 35,000 times at a $4 price tag, even getting to be the No. 1 of paid apps several times, as noted prominently in the lead of the Times story.
Kothari said that the pair plan to contact Apple in the morning and take step to remove Times material out of the feeds.
It is not immediately clear why they need to, since Pulse draws from publicly available Times RSS feeds as many other apps do and does no scraping.
In fact, Pulse is little more than a really well-designed RSS reader, which is what the Times said it was in its write-up. You add feeds to it and it visualizes them in a way that’s easy to get through.
The Times story did have one ominous-in-retrospect note about Pulse: “It also lets people easily share articles through Twitter and Facebook–bypassing the individual sharing tools presented by each news site.”
But Pulse is pretty basic and like many others readers.
In the Times’ case, as with others, one view is plain text, and only shows whatever the Times puts in its RSS feed, which isn’t much. And its Web view seems to be just an in-app browser that takes you straight to the page that is in the link with the RSS feed.
You can see both here below:
The Times’ lawyer, Richard Samson, sees it differently, apparently since it is a paid app rather than a free one, noting in its June 3 notice to Apple, which came two days after the Times’ article about Pulse:
“The Pulse News Reader app, makes commercial use of the NYTimes.com and Boston.com RSS feeds, in violation of their Terms of Use*. Thus, the use of our content is unlicensed. The app also frames the NYTimes.com and Boston.com websites in violation of their respective Terms of Use.”
He also complained about how the Pulse was marketed in the App Store, a screenshot you can see below:
BoomTown sent an email to the Samson, as well as to Apple, for comment.
Until I hear back, here are is the email from the App store to Pulse, including the letter from the Times’ lawyer–I removed personal email addresses and phone numbers, along with the number of the Pulse case Apple gave it–as well as lovely video of Pulse in action:
From: App Store Notices
Date: Mon, Jun 7, 2010 at 3:09 PM
Subject: Apple Inc. (our ref# APPXXXX)
To: Akshay Kothari
Dear Sir or Madam,
**Please include APPXXXX in the subject line of any future correspondence on this matter.**
We received a written notice from The New York Times Company that The New York Times Company believes your application named “Pulse News Reader” infringes The New York Times Company’s rights. A copy of the notice is attached.
Accordingly, we have pulled your application from the App Store. Please contact The New York Times Company directly regarding any questions or concerns you may have.
For any technical questions, please contact iTunes Connect: www.apple.com/itunes/go/itunesconnect/contactus.
Thank you for your immediate attention.
Sincerely,
iTunes Music Marketing & IP Legal | Apple | 1 Infinite Loop | Cupertino | CA | 95014 | AppStoreNotices@apple.com
Begin forwarded message:
From: “Samson, Richard S”
Date: June 3, 2010 10:51:23 AM PDT
To:”‘appstorenotices@apple.com’”
Cc: “Samuels, Robert”, “Manning, Michael”
Subject: infringing “Pulse News Reader” iPad app
Hello-
I am writing again, on behalf of The Boston Globe, Boston.com and The New York Times Company, about the infringing iPad app, “Pulse News Reader” produced by Alphonso Labs Inc. (please see pertinent details, link and screenshots below).
The infringing app is available on the iTunes store here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pulse-news-reader/id371088673?mt=8
The Pulse News Reader app, makes commercial use of the NYTimes.com and Boston.com RSS feeds, in violation of their Terms of Use*. Thus, the use of our content is unlicensed. The app also frames the NYTimes.com and Boston.com websites in violation of their respective Terms of Use.
I note that the app is delivered with the NYTimes.com RSS feed preloaded, which is prominently featured in the screen shots used to sell the app on iTunes.
I hereby declare, under penalty of perjury, that the information contained in this notification is accurate to the best of our knowledge and that I am authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the copyrights and trademarks of The Boston Globe, Boston.com and The New York Times Company. We hereby demand that you immediately and permanently remove this app from the iTunes site.
Please let me know if you need any further information or have any questions. I can be reached directly at this Email or at the phone number below.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Richard Samson
Richard Samson
Senior Counsel
The New York Times Company
620 Eighth Avenue
New York, New York 10018
* NYTimes.com Terms of Service, paragraph 2.2: “The Service and its Contents are protected by copyright pursuant to U.S. and international copyright laws. You may not modify, publish, transmit, participate in the transfer or sale of, reproduce (except as provided in Section 2.3 of these Terms of Service), create new works from, distribute, perform, display, or in any way exploit, any of the Content or the Service (including software) in whole or in part.”
* Boston.com Terms of Service, paragraph 2.2: “The Service and its Contents are protected by copyright pursuant to U.S.and international copyright laws. You may not modify, publish, transmit, participate in the transfer or sale of, reproduce (except as provided in Section 2.3 of this Agreement), create new works from, distribute, perform, display, or in any way exploit, any of the Content or the Service (including software) in whole or in part.”
[All Things Digital intern Drake Martinet contributed to this report.]
(TrendHunter.com) ACNE Paper Spring/Summer 2010 'It's My Party' shoot pictures Victorian-inspired models picking fights with one another. Shot by photographer Daniel Jackson, the models Rianne ten Haken,... Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 8 Jun 2010 | 1:53 am
Gamasutra reports that Japan's Computer Entertainment Suppliers Association conducted a study to estimate the total amount of money lost to piracy on portable game consoles. The figure they arrived at? $41.5 billion from 2004 to 2009. Quoting:
"... CESA checked the download counts for the top 20 Japanese games at what it considers the top 114 piracy sites, recording those figures from 2004 to 2009. After calculating the total for handheld piracy in Japan with that method, the groups multiplied that number by four to reach the worldwide amount, presuming that Japan makes up 25 percent of the world's software market. CESA and Baba Lab did not take into account other popular distribution methods for pirated games like peer-to-peer sharing, so the groups admit that the actual figures for DS and PSP software piracy could be much higher than the ¥3.816 trillion amount the study found."
Reuters - China's top Internet search company Baidu aims to raise its share of China's PC and mobile search market to 79 percent next year, a senior executive said on Tuesday, helped by a Google retreat. Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 8 Jun 2010 | 1:41 am
When Steve Jobs showcased the iPhone 4's front-facing camera yesterday, it wasn't a Skype video conferencing app that many expected, but Apple's own software, called FaceTime. How big a blow will FaceTime... Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 8 Jun 2010 | 1:37 am
Reuters - iPhone maker Foxconn International Holdings said it will seek higher prices from its clients to help offset wage hikes at a plant in southern China that has been hit by a series of suicides.
IBM is launching a token based service for its Rational software that could be the basis for a currency that is used to exchange credits for using cloud-based applications. The service is being tested... Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 8 Jun 2010 | 1:33 am
(TrendHunter.com) Australian artist Kendal Murray has the amazing ability to create miniature worlds and unite with fashion. Taking the essential accessories like the clutch and the compact mirror, Kendal... Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 8 Jun 2010 | 1:33 am
By Andrew Liszewski Got kids? Got kids who like playing with your iPhone or iPod Touch? Well check out this brilliant children’s book, or PhoneBook, created by Japan’s MOBILE ART LAB. It’s... Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 8 Jun 2010 | 1:17 am
When I was a history major at Haverford College, I spent countless hours with old documents at Magill Library. It was one of the best parts of the Haverford experience—studying and researching with a great collection of musty works. Little did I or any other student know at the time that as we worked, we sat a few feet away from an international mystery involving none other than René Descartes.
It reads like a historical thriller. In 1641 the French philosopher penned a letter about one of his forthcoming works, a correspondence that found a home in the collections of the Institut de France. Nearly two centuries later, the Italian mathematician Count Guglielmo Libri thieved thousands of letters and documents from the Institut before fleeing to England, where he sold his stolen goods to collectors and booksellers—at least one of which found its way into the hands of Charles Roberts, a document collector and Haverford alum (Class of 1864).
More than 100 years ago, Roberts’s widow bequeathed her late husband’s collection to his alma mater, and these works have been the basis for ongoing scholarship ever since. For years, few people knew of the existence—or origins—of the Descartes letter held in Haverford’s archives until a few months ago when a Google search led a Dutch scholar to uncover this missing treasure.
After Haverford’s president Steve Emerson learned of the “long-lost and extremely valuable” document’s discovery, he contacted his counterpart at the Institut de France, and today, after nearly 170 years, this mystery reaches its conclusion. Haverford has returned the missing letter to its original home, and a representative from Google France will be joining the formal repatriation ceremony at the Institut in Paris.
Excerpt of the letter written by Rene Descartes in 1641.
SOURCE: Haverford College
Search isn't a solved problem, but it certainly helps solve problems—whether you’re looking for something as simple as the library hours of a small liberal arts school outside Philadelphia or trying to uncover a long-lost letter in the archives. Makes me wonder what mystery might be uncovered next.
Posted by John Saroff, Strategic Partnership Development Manager, Google TV Ads
By Lorraine Luk, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal
The recent spate of suicides at a Shenzhen factory of Taiwanese electronics maker Hon Hai Precision Industry, which assembles Apple products, has spurred the company, its Hong Kong listed Foxconn International unit and even some of its rivals like TPV Technology to give salary increases for factory workers in China amid growing concerns about working conditions at their plants.
Such a move raises the prospect that rising inflation and production costs in Shenzhen, one of China’s main manufacturing hubs, could prompt global consumer electronics makers to look at other destinations such as Vietnam, India and Indonesia as well as poorer inland provinces in China itself, such as Hubei and Chongqing, and to choose to manufacture products there in the future.
Taiwan Electronic and Electrical Manufacturers’ Association Vice President Luo Huai Jia said Monday the organization, which represents the interests of electronic manufacturers on the island, is encouraging Taiwanese electronics makers to build new facilities in cheaper Asian countries such as Vietnam, India, Indonesia and Malaysia, because of rising wages in China.
After many years of promise, mobile payments are finally finding their stride -- but it's not just one stride. In writing about the space, I admit I've been confused many times by what people actually... Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 8 Jun 2010 | 1:00 am
STOCKHOLM, June 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Sandvik IT Services, the global IT supplier for the Sandvik Corporation, has chosen Verizon Business as the company's preferred global data communications provider. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 8 Jun 2010 | 1:00 am
SAN MATEO, Calif., June 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Greenplum Software, the world's leading data infrastructure company, today announced that it has named Elie Simon as Vice President and General Manager of EMEA. In this role, Mr. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 8 Jun 2010 | 1:00 am
Inspire 360 is a specialist provider of NLP training, bespoke business and executive leadership coaching, offering one day NLP seminars and NLP Practitioner training to Masters level. Call 0845 803 0360 for more information. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 8 Jun 2010 | 1:00 am
ASHEVILLE, N.C., June 8 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A team from Stanford University has won the 2010 Juicy Ideas Collegiate Competition, a national contest that challenged students to create a software application using publicly available data to benefit their community. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 8 Jun 2010 | 1:00 am
United States: In-house IT infrastructure is expected to drop from 82 percent today to 49 percent in 2020.United Kingdom: In-house IT infrastructure is predicted to drop from 90 percent today to just 23 percent in 2020.Singapore: Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 8 Jun 2010 | 1:00 am
(TrendHunter.com) The ThinkGeek temporary hand tattoos are absolutely incredible! These hand tattoos are the solution to all your sweaty hand puppeteering problems. These artsy creatures were created... Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 8 Jun 2010 | 12:58 am
LONDON, June 8 (Reuters) - Northern Petroleum said it expects its production rate to rise about 33 percent this year helped by the first output from a further two gas fields in the Netherlands. Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 8 Jun 2010 | 12:56 am
(For the curious, these are actually USB-powered speakers, but that information didn’t really fit in with my chosen narrative. And just so you know, the packages had no info on US release dates or carrier availability.)
ZURICH, June 8 (Reuters) - Roche said on Tuesday the European Commission had extended the label for its drug Roactemra to reduce the rate of progression of joint damage and improve physical function in... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 8 Jun 2010 | 12:50 am
(TrendHunter.com) The Thomas Heatherwick Spun Chair is quite the seating arrangement. Inspired by the classic kids spinning top toy, these seats actually spin like a top, making seating an interactive... Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 8 Jun 2010 | 12:38 am
Ars has a note about New Zealand's plans for nationwide broadband access, which will induce envy in many North American readers. "New Zealand has decided not to sit around while incumbent DSL operators milk the withered dugs of their cash cow until it keels over from old age. Instead, the Kiwis have established a government-owned corporation to invest NZ$1.5 billion for open-access fiber to the home. By 2020, 75 percent of residents should have, at a bare minimum, 100Mbps down/50 Mbps up with a choice of providers. Crown Fibre Holdings Limited is the company, and it's wholly owned by the government — for now — and the company's mission couldn't be any clearer. Two of its six guiding principles include 'focusing on building new infrastructure, and not unduly preserving the "legacy assets" of the past' and 'avoiding "lining the pockets" of existing broadband network providers.'"
Square Enix has announced that it will be publishing Dungeon Siege III, which is in development at Obsidian Entertainment, makers of Alpha Protocol, Neverwinter Nights 2, and the as yet unfinished Fallout: New Vegas. Obsidian will be receiving input from Gas Powered Games, the developer behind the first two installments in the Dungeon Siege series. No release date has been set, but the game is planned for the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360, and it will include a co-op mode.
At first glance, Trazzler— a travel site that focuses on unique, local destinations— doesn’t seem like an obvious bet. With a handful of employees sprinkled across Florida, California, and Spain, it’s a small startup that operates in a highly competitive market. Its CEO and co-founder, Adam Rugel is well aware that it will never be able to match the huge archives of Frommer’s or Lonely Planet and the company is not profitable.
But Trazzler has captured the attention of prominent investors, recently closing a $1.1 million seed round of funding. The round was led by Ron Conway’s SV Angel and included AOL Co-Founder Steve Case, Jack Dorsey, Dave Morin, Betaworks, Founder Collective and AOL Ventures. If success is measured by the company you keep, Trazzler is a company to watch. (See video above, shot on my flip cam)
To be fair, Trazzler has always had a unique advantage relative to other startups: it was born in the offices of Twitter. The co-founder of Twitter, Biz Stone is also a co-founder of Trazzler and Rugel is a former Odeo employee (the company founded by Ev Williams that would eventually give rise to Twitter). Biz Stone remains actively involved in the company as a board member. But beyond the masthead, you can see the fingerprints of Twitter on Trazzler. Like Twitter, users are encouraged to express their thoughts in a limited space: each “published” trip guide is between 60-100 words. People can submit entries that exceed 100 words “but they don’t really get into the Trazzler trip stream…The 140 character limit didn’t have the effect of limiting people’s creativity it made them be more creative within those limits and I think our limited word count…has inspired that same sort of creativity,” Rugel says.
Trazzler is trying to carve out a niche in the online travel guide industry. It’s not trying to be one of the giants, with reams of information on every destination, as Rugel says, “What we’re trying to do is totally different, our goal is not to be comprehensive, our goal is to be really selective with the content we’ve got on the site.” That content focuses on local destinations surrounding major U.S. metropolitan areas. Although you will find travel information on exotic locales like Bali (the site has guides for some 220 countries), Trazzler puts a spotlight on local travel, highlighting quick getaways that seem more off the beaten track.
That “think local” mentality is designed to encourage investment in local economies and more frequent travel, Rugel says. For example, when you type San Francisco, Trazzler recommends a sampling of Spectrum tea in San Francisco’s Chinatown, putting your ear to the Wave Organ, and Vietnamese garlic crab at PPQ. There are tens of thousands of guides on the site generated by a mix of user submissions and paid freelancers, according to Rugel, but the editors carefully look through all the entries to promote the best experiences.
“Every trip on our site is reviewed by an editor, and when that happens we decide if we want to make that trip a Trazzler trip. As part of that process, the editor looks at the copy, looks at the photograph, might make adjustments to that, at the same time we also tag the trip. So we have a strict ontology of tags that we apply to every trip on the site. It’s sort of like what the Pandora’s editors do when they label a song, it’s a very similar sort of method,” Rugel says.
By heavily curating and tagging each post, Trazzler is also able to offer a higher degree of personalization. Every time a user saves a trip and interacts with the site, the site is able to learn about a user’s preferences and that information is also used to help the larger community. For example, if someone likes spa trips in Orange County and nearby wine trips, that information can help Trazzler make smarter recommendations for a different user with similar interests (it’s a similar concept to Amazon’s “Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought”).
Now, will it work?
Personally, I like the concept, it appeals to the way I approach travel. I’ve spent hours online researching local day trips and trying to find uncommon destinations— there are definitely not enough sites that offer the off the beaten track perspective. Then again, I’m not sure how many people have the time or passion to find the uncommon gems in their neighborhood. However, so far, the company seems to be attracting a healthy group of users, Rugel says it reaches a few million users per month, through its website, email list and Twitter feed (Trazzler has 43 accounts, with one boasting more than 1 million followers). But beyond users,Trazzler will need to ramp up its advertising relationships. Currently, it only has one ad partner, Miraval, an Arizonia spa resort. That will need to multiply quickly, over the next few months, if Rugel hopes to reach his goal of profitability within the next 12 months.
San Franciso-based women-focused online media site Sugar Inc. made it first significant move into the local market, by announcing its purchase of FreshGuide.
The locally focused FreshGuide makes women-aimed city guides that show off daily offers in a wide rage of arenas, such as beauty, health and fitness. It also has another offering, BookFresh, which does online booking for spas and salons.
FreshGuide is in four markets now: San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Los Angeles and Seattle. It will continue to operate as separate brand from Sugar.
Terms of the deal were not released.
Sugar, which runs the flagship PopSugar.com site, is at an interesting juncture right now, in a space that is both competitive and also fast-growing.
According to sources, in search of a cogent women’s strategy, Yahoo (YHOO) has given the start-up the once over several times, including recently.
Sequoia has been an existing venture investor, having put $5 million into the start-up in late 2006.
NBC invested $10 million in 2007. The media giant had been selling online advertising for the site, an arrangement which had previously ended.
Here’s the official press release from Sugar on the purchase:
Sugar Inc. Enters Local Editorial and Advertising Market With Acquisition of FreshGuide
Sugar Inc. Will Rapidly Accelerate FreshGuide’s Growth and Expansion with Its Large Passionate Audience of Women
San Francisco, CA (June 8, 2010)–In its first foray into providing local editorial and advertising, Sugar Inc. (SugarInc.com) today announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire FreshGuide Inc., which operates FreshGuide.com and BookFresh (BookFresh.com). FreshGuide.com is an online women-focused city guide that provides access to exclusive daily offers from a well-edited selection of local businesses in beauty, health and fitness, dining, travel getaways and other relevant categories. BookFresh provides an online booking service for local businesses, such as spas and salons.
Sugar Inc. is a leading diversified women’s media company that includes PopSugar Network and PopSugar TV, producing original content and social community for women, and ShopStyle, a social shopping service that brings together the most fashionable stores and the best brands. Sugar has had rapid organic audience growth since inception four years ago and today reaches over 16M monthly unique visitors globally.
“We are constantly striving to add innovative offerings that entertain and delight our audience,” said Brian Sugar, founder and CEO of Sugar Inc. “We felt there were tremendous synergies between Sugar and FreshGuide that could be achieved by combining our large audience with their local service. We are very excited to be able to bring to our readers exclusive daily offers at the best places to eat, exercise, shop and
relax in their local areas.”
FreshGuide was founded in 2008 by Ryan Donahue, a veteran of Pay Pal, and launched its first service, BookFresh, later that year. In January 2010, the company launched Freshguide.com to provide local offers by city. Currently, FreshGuide operates in four markets: San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Los Angeles and Seattle. FreshGuide will continue to operate under Sugar Inc. as a separate brand.
“FreshGuide is focused on providing exclusive, local offers for women. By integrating our service with the PopSugar Network’s addictive editorial content, we are creating a city-based editorial and offers of unmatched quality in the market,” said Donahue. “This acquisition will also allow us to dramatically expand our reach and accelerate our growth. We plan to launch FreshGuide in 30 additional cities over the next 18 months in the U.S. and internationally in the UK, France, Germany and Australia where Sugar Inc. has operations.”
Online local advertising is forecast to grow at a 19 percent annual rate over the next four years and is expected to be a $19 billion market in 2010, according to BIA Kelsey Group. Most of that growth is coming from the decline of the $120 billion traditional local advertising market.
“We believe the winning business model for next generation media companies must include diverse revenue streams. This conviction led to our acquisition of ShopStyle in 2007, which provided Sugar with a new marketing channel for retailers and brands to acquire visitors that met their ROI goals. The acquisition of ShopFlick, now PopSugar Studios, in 2009, enabled Sugar to launch PopSugar TV and provide advertisers a compelling video environment for branded entertainment. Similarly, we believe that FreshGuide will provide local advertisers the ability to advertise to Sugar;s large audience in a high-quality and cost-effective manner.
The FreshGuide service will also provide Sugar’s national advertisers and retailers with a new way to extend their brands into local markets as we develop our local city guides,” added Sugar.
Macworld.com - Adobe has released Lightroom 3, the latest version of its popular photography workflow management and raw processing software. This new version is filled with a number of improvements and new tools, including support for DSLR video files, improved noise reduction and image sharpening features, and profile-based lens correctionâa feature that was rolled-out for Photoshop users in the recent Camera Raw 6.1 update. Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 7 Jun 2010 | 10:01 pm
The French philosopher, mathematician and physicist publishes the landmark scientific treatise that coins the famous phrase, "I think, therefore I am."
Adobe has released Photoshop Lightroom 3, the popular photo manipulating and management tool. It’s been in beta for a while, so none of the features will be particularly shocking, but the final version being made available today does have a few tricks up its sleeve. We’ll take a quick look tonight, but I have a copy on my hot little hard drive, and want to give it a good week or two of use before publishing a full review.
For those who aren’t familiar with Lightroom, it’s a tool under the Photoshop umbrella intended for photographers who want robust RAW image editing as well as a powerful organizational tool for keeping track of thousands of shots. If it sounds a bit like Aperture to you, it is — but both products are relatively new (compared with oldsters like Photoshop and Office), so it’d be just as fair to say that Aperture sounds a bit like Lightroom. I happen to use Aperture, but I found the latest update slightly disappointing, and may just switch to LR permanently.
But what about the update? Well, if you’re in the beta, you’re probably familiar with some of these features. But there’s new stuff for you guys, too. So let’s see here. Apologies if it seems like I’m reading off the press release, it’s hard to remember all this stuff from the demos.
Lens correction and profile gallery: This is handy. If you’re worried about distortion from the wide end of a lens or just want to reduce it a bit, Adobe provides a huge amount of lens profiles with which you can lower or exaggerate the distortion, chromatic aberration, and vignetting. They’re independently adjustable and different for every lens. LR is shipping with a bunch of the more popular Canon and Nikon lenses already profiled, but you can create your own by shooting a printout and letting it crunch the numbers.
Perspective correction: Here’s a tool most of us would just run into Photoshop to do, but which is handy to have at your fingertips. It’s basically just adjusting the angle you’re shooting from, within reason of course. Handy for situations where you really need something to be parallel with the edges of the photo, but you couldn’t get at the right angle when you were shooting.
Improved noise reduction and sharpening: If you’ve tweaked your photos at all, you’ve probably seen what can happen when sharpening gets out of hand. The new LR sharpening algorithms try to avoid that weird effect that happens when you push the sharpness too far. Noise reduction is more intelligent as well, and tries to avoid losing color and detail when reducing noise, which can be quite difficult when the details are the same size as the grain.
Streamlined importing: tagging, renaming, and organizing rolls is now apparently easier, and it certainly looked like it when they showed off creating an import preset.
Streamlined publishing: the Flickr integration they showed off was really quite impressive. You can manage all kinds of stuff, from ratings and comments to privacy settings, via the in-app plugin. There are other plugins as well, and their API is available for people who want to make new ones. Drag-and-drop publishing and easy sharing are something they are having to push real hard for, since Aperture 3 made sharing one of its top priorities.
Tethered capture: seemed to work fine in the demo. Definitely nice to have, and you can adjust settings on the fly to be applied to shots coming in.
Video support: still pretty rudimentary right now, but it’s good to at least be able to keep your videos in the same containers as your shots.
Easy slideshows: if you like making slideshows, it’s easier now. Sync the length to a piece of music, add intros and outros, export to video… what you’d expect. Aperture had the jump on them in this, I believe, but they’ve leveled the playing field again.
New adjustment preset system: If you create a “look,” or “development setting,” or whatever you want to call it, that you like, it’s super easy to drop it onto another photo or to apply it to multiple photos at once. Mass rotation is also handy if you choose not to include orientation data in the EXIF like me. Another thing they’ve gotten even with Aperture with — though from what I saw, I think I like LR’s style better. Their curves system was also way more convenient. The ability to grab any luminance level straight from the preview and just drag it up and down is nice.
That’s pretty much all she wrote. I’ll be using LR throughout E3 and hopefully I’ll have the full review afterwards. I know there are a lot of fanboys highly opinionated experts on both sides of this particular feud, so I have to step carefully.
Well it definitely took them long enough but Farmville is finally planned for release to an iPhone near you. Maybe they were just waiting for Jobs to give in and allow Flash on iDevices. But anyways, today at WWDC, Zynga took the stage to show the first public images of one of Facebook’s original addicting games, Farmville. It will be nearly identical to the flash-based version and you will be able to sync your farms with your Facebook account so you can never escape your guilty pleasure. One bonus of having an iPhone version is having a “Your crops are about to die! Stop what your doing and come harvest them” push notification. Ok, I doubt it will be just like that but you know, something similar. You will be able to also make in-app purchases at the Farmville marketplace in case you ever need some extra cash. As an added bonus, you get a free Snow-Leopard when you purchase Farmville for iPhone.
AFP - France officially opened up its online gaming market on Tuesday, granting 17 licences to 11 operators three days before the start of the soccer World Cup in South Africa.
Trailrunner7 sends in this excerpt from Threatpost: "As major botnet operators have moved from top-down C&C infrastructures, like those employed throughout the 1990s and most of the last decade, to more flexible peer-to-peer designs, they also have found it much easier to keep their networks up and running once they're discovered. When an attacker at just one, or at most two, C&C servers was doling out commands to compromised machines, evading detection and keeping the command server online were vitally important. But that's all changed now. With many botnet operators maintaining dozens or sometimes hundreds of C&C servers around the world at any one time, the effect of taking a handful of them offline is negligible, experts say, making takedown operations increasingly complicated and time-consuming. It's security through ubiquity. Security researchers say this change, which has been occurring gradually in the last couple of years, has made life much more difficult for them. ... Researchers in recent months have identified and cleaned hundreds of domains being used by the Gumblar botnet, but that's had little effect on the botnet's overall operation."
Sending your spit sample to a startup may not seem like such a good idea, after all. On Friday, 23andMe, the company that allows consumers to get portions of their genome tested for a relatively modest fee, announced that “a number of new 23andMe customer samples were incorrectly processed” by the lab 23andMe contracts” to carry out its tests. This resulted in “up to 96″ customers receiving DNA results that were not their own — a major mistake that led to some very confused customers, and will doubtless help bolster the push to increase regulation for direct-to-consumer genetic testing. 23andMe has notified all affected customers about the issue.
It’s hard to overstate how disturbing receiving the wrong DNA results can be. One customer, writing on 23andMe’s community forums after receiving the results, recounted her experience in a post titled “Results in, my son is not my son?“. Here’s an excerpt:
I checked my son’s and it stated that he was a carrier for hemochromatosis, I was upset. How could he be a carrier and we weren’t. Well my husband’s result’s weren’t in yet so I would wait and see. Still upset I checked family inheritance and noticed my daughter shared with me, and then I checked my son’s. He was not a match for any of us… A month before my son was born two local hospitals had baby switches. I panicked and I checked over and over… Later I found my son in my bed asleep and hugging my pillow. He did not go to school today, he said he was sick. I told him it’s a mistake.
According to the blog Genetic Future, the problem likely stemmed from a single mishandled 96-well tray of customer DNA samples. It’s worth pointing out that the error resulted from a mistake at the contracted lab (in other words, 23andMe didn’t run the DNA test itself). But 23andMe was still responsible for reporting that data to its customers, and in this case its safeguards clearly failed. 23andMe says it is taking measures to ensure this doesn’t happen again:
We are currently putting additional procedures in place that will add an extra layer of safeguards to help assure that similar incidents do not occur in the future. We are deliberating on a process that would include removing manual steps at the lab, completely automating the sample analyses, and implementing further checks of the data before it gets loaded into customer accounts.
Granted, botched lab results are hardly a new phenomenon. But knowing that such problems are surprisingly commonplace is hardly comforting. Your genetic profile is just about the most sensitive data anyone could have on you — it can, or eventually could, be used to analyze your family’s history, your predisposition to diseases, and even your child’s genetic risks.
That said, it could have been worse. The Great Beyond, a blog run by the renowned science journal Nature,consulted with Sharon Terry, CEO of the non-profit Genetic Alliance advocacy group. Terry said that the damage was “relatively minor and quickly rectified”, but went on to say that genetic testing likely needs “multiple levels of oversight and assurance”.
I’ve long had a love/hate relationship with 23andMe and companies like it. On the one hand I think it provides a glimpse into the extraordinary things we’ll be able to do in the future, once we have a firmer understanding of our genome (and how we can use that information to create better treatments). And in some cases the information 23andMe provides can be useful even today. But there’s also the fact that this is largely uncharted territory. These companies are establishing precedents, and we can’t afford to have genetic mixups like this one become a fact of life.
Nokia will begin selling their latest phone dedicated to social networking starting on June 18 in the online Nokia store and it will sell for 109 Euros (or $130). Available SIM free, the C3 is available in three different colors including hot pink, slate grey, and golden white. The phone boasts a full QWERTY keyboard and quick access to Facebook and Twitter. Basic functions such as posting, commenting, and updating your status will be available easily from the home screen. Using Nokia widgets, access to email, calendar, music, and chat only takes a few clicks. Unfortunately, the C3 only has a 2MP camera, but still allows for easy photo and video upload over WiFi or GPRS network connection to your favorite social networking websites. The phone will be available exclusively via Vodaphone on June 22 for only a month, and will begin selling with O2, The Carphone Warehouse and Phones4U by August.
By now, you’ve undoubtedly heard about all the big features of both iPhone 4 and iOS 4 (the artist formerly known as iPhone OS 4, which we heard about previously). But something that Apple didn’t address too much today was a feature I’m most looking forward to: background tasks. I was pretty sure that being able to run apps like Pandora in the background while I do other things on the iPhone was going to be awesome. And I confirmed that today.
During the hands-on time after the keynote today at WWDC, I got a chance to play around with a new version of Pandora — one that runs in the background with iOS 4. As you can see in the video below, the way Apple does this is both smart and seamless.
There are a new set of music controls at the bottom of the screen when you double-click the home button and swipe once to the left. Normally, these controls are for the iPod app on the iPhone, but when you start a song on Pandora and then leave, Pandora is able to take over these controls. This means that not only can you listen to Pandora music in the background, but you can control it without having to go back into the Pandora app itself.
Simply put: this is a killer feature and will make one of the most popular apps of all time on the iPhone (Pandora) even more popular. Those new investors must be happy.
oxide7 and a number of other readers sent word (from mostly non-authoritative sources as yet) that Turkey had imposed an indefinite ban on some Google properties. "Turkey's Telecommunications Presidency said it has banned access to many of Google IP addresses without assigning clear reasons. The statement did not confirm if the ban is temporary or permanent. Google's translation and document sharing sites have also been banned indefinitely along with YouTube and Facebook in the country. Other services such as AppEngine, FeedBurner, Analytics, etc., have also been reportedly banned." Some real-time commentary (much of it in Turkish) can be found at Twitter hashtag #TurkeyCensoringGoogle. We have noted in past years the censorious ways of Turkish courts.
For Android lovers, photography enthusiasts, and plain old smartphone junkies, Motorola recently announced its latest Android smartphone that is sure to please you no matter what kind of phone you crave. The Motorola MILESTONE XT720 features an 8MP camera complete with Xenon Flash as its headline feature.
The Motorola MILESTONE XT720 features 10x digital zoom, records video in 720p, and the Xenon Flash is designed to take pictures from a farther distance with a clearer resolution. It even comes with an HDMI cable in the box, allowing you to capture HD video and view it immediately on a nearby HDTV. It comes with 8GB of on board storage, but it is expanded to 32GB. Expansion will probably be necessary for those who will take advantage of its sweet camera and video capture. Other specs include a 3.7 inch touch screen, runs Android 2.1, has five customizable home screens, Motorola’s MOTONAV GPS software, and advanced mobile office support.
Like I said before, any Android lover will love the latest Motorola smartphone, any photography enthusiast will definitely find the camera awesome, and any smartphone junkie will surely appreciate the high-end specs of the Motorola MILESTONE XT720. No word on availability or pricing as of yet. Below is a television ad of the phone on YouTube.
Purdue University scientists have improved a strain of yeast that can produce more biofuel from cellulosic plant material by fermenting all five types of the plant's sugars.Nathan Mosier, an associate professor of agricultural and biological engineering; Miroslav Sedlak, a research assistant professor of agricultural and biological engineering; and Nancy Ho, a research professor of chemical engineering, used genes from a fungus to re-engineer a yeast strain Ho developed at Purdue. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 7 Jun 2010 | 7:26 pm
New research explores how one’s place in the social hierarchy alters physical representation of monetary objectsRetail therapy can soothe the defeat of losing a major client, the rejection of not getting a promotion or even the embarrassment a high-powered executive might feel after receiving a speeding ticket. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 7 Jun 2010 | 7:21 pm
Need a break from Apple news? You and me both, my friend. So please: revel in this low-tech “instant” print camera/darkroom. A piece of photo paper is exposed directly as a negative, and then developed right there in camera. This negative print is then photographed again, and the resulting print is a positive, ready to be sold to a thoroughly charmed tourist. More at Make.
Ahhh…. much better. I’m going to close my eyes and think of anything but iPhones.
Like birds and fish, we let others influence our choice of matesMany people like to think they have discriminating tastes when it comes to romantic interests. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 7 Jun 2010 | 7:14 pm
It shouldn’t be a huge surprise to anyone, but alongside the new iOS 4 (formerly iPhone OS 4) software launching on June 21, Apple will be releasing a new version of iTunes. I was told as much by an Apple employee during the hands-on time following the keynote at WWDC today when asking how certain new features would work.
Specifically, the employee told me that iTunes 9.2 would be unveiled in the coming weeks (and probably the same time as iOS 4) to allow for PDF syncing in the new iBooks for iPhone. The ability to read PDFs is the latest addition to the iBooks app, and isn’t currently available in the iPad version. According to the employee, people will be able to email PDFs to one another and open them in this reader — or they can simply sync them with their computer and this new iTunes 9.2.
You can bet the new version will have other features to help marry it with the new iOS, such as folder support, as well.
More proof of the impending launch of iTunes 9.2 came today as Apple has apparently released a beta version of the software for developers alongside the Gold Master version of iOS 4 (and the new version of Safari). This new beta build is apparently Mac-only for the time being.
One interesting thing to note is that while Apple has tidied up the new of iPhone OS by dropping the “phone” part, they have yet to do that with iTunes. Apple undoubtedly did this with the iPhone OS because it’s expanding beyond the iPhone itself — but iTunes has long been about much more than “tunes.” Still, that’s a brand that would be hard for Apple to kill as it’s well known in the mainstream. iPhone OS (the name), on the other hand, is mostly unknown to users.
Maybe Apple will take the opportunity to rebrand iTunes when it launches the cloud-based version. That was rumored to be happening at WWDC as well, but that seems very unlikely now as it would certainly be worthy of a mention at the keynote.
Bad effects depend on certain personality traits; games can offer learning opportunities for othersPlaying violent video games can make some adolescents more hostile, particularly those who are less agreeable, less conscientious and easily angered. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 7 Jun 2010 | 7:07 pm
Research published in the journal Genetics suggests that mutant maize have multiple independent pathways used to regulate and export sugars throughout its various organs Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 7 Jun 2010 | 7:03 pm
Estuarine crocodiles surf ocean and river currents to travel long distances. The discovery comes after years of anecdotal accounts of seeing crocodiles far from shore. Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 7 Jun 2010 | 6:50 pm
The rumors were true. Apple announced the update to Safari 5 and Apple is ambitious about trumping Chrome and Firefox in the browser wars. Just as reported over the weekend, Safari will gain some major backend updates to add speed and functionality to Apple’s browser juice.
Here’s what’s new:
Safari Reader
Safari Reader removes annoying ads and other visual distractions from online articles. So you get the whole story and nothing but the story. It works like this: As you browse the web, Safari detects if you’re on a web page with an article. Click the Reader icon in the Smart Address Field, and the article appears instantly in one continuous, clutter-free view. You see every page of the article — whether two or twenty. Onscreen controls let you email, print, and zoom. Change the size of the text, and Safari remembers it the next time you view an article in Safari Reader.
HMTL5 Support – Speedier HTML 5 support
Bing support – Apple loves Bing!
Improved Web Inspector
The new Timeline pane in the Web Inspector lets you view how Safari interacts with your website. Loading, scripting, and rendering timelines show you how and when Safari parses HTML, executes JavaScript, and performs other operations with your web application. Additional improvements to the Web Inspector make it easy for you to pinpoint areas for optimization.
FROM APPLETELL - Couldn’t make it to the WWDC keynote to see all the iPhone 4 goodness? No worries, Apple has already released their marketing video detailing some of the new aspects of the iPhone 4. MORE »
Apple filed a patent showing solar cells incorporated into its iPhone. Solar-powered devices are about to go big time. Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 7 Jun 2010 | 6:42 pm
It’s interesting that this WWDC keynote was all about mobile. Obviously he had a big reveal this year – last year was all about the 3GS and Snow Leopard – but there was a decided lack of desktop talk this year.
iOS looks like the horse Apple is betting on, at least this year. The uptake in terms of programming for the iPhone far surpasses that of OS X. After all, you’re not going to make a mint writing for Mac desktops and laptops. With 10 million phones and iPads in the pipeline and $1 billion in app sales, the economics of iOS are staggering.
My hope is this: that OS X moves in the direction of the iPad with clever integration of touch on laptops and iMacs. Now I’ve been against touchscreen PCs for years now and I doubt things can get much better on that front but that’s what I used to say about tablets. Apple can redefine a few things, tweak some more, use the Darwin core, and please everybody all of the time.
Apple will never sell as many laptops and desktops as it does iPhones. Ever. The market share it enjoys in phones is not transferrable and it’s clear Apple knows where it should point its engineers and designers. My worry is that OS X will lie fallow while iOS takes off. It’s not a fear, however, as much as a knee-jerk concern.
A wayward Pacific gray whale that was recently seen off Israel has now been spotted off Spain. Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 7 Jun 2010 | 6:19 pm
If you’re idling here wondering where all the iPhone 4 goodies are, they’re over at MobileCrunch. Greg got a hands on including some amazing views of the HD screen.
Yahoo has laid off part of its search team as part of a new restructuring move, we’ve learned. Yahoo declined to comment on the number of people who were affected, but did confirm that there were layoffs in its Search group and gave us the following statement:
“Yahoo! remains focused on innovating the overall Search experience over the long-term, and the Yahoo! Search group is hard at work on some new experiences that we believe will convert Yahoo! users to Yahoo! searchers. To accomplish our new product objectives, we have decided that we need a different combination of talent and are making changes within the search group in order to more deeply invest in other areas of the group. “
Yahoo is, of course, outsourcing its search engine to Bing as part of a deal that was forged between Yahoo and Microsoft last year. It’s unclear if the layoffs are directly related to the deal, but it seems likely. Soon after the search deal was announced, Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz alluded to future layoffs as a result of the integration.
Yahoo previously held a major round of layoffs last spring, when it cut 5% of its staff, or around 700 people.
One of Verizon’s popular services is V Cast Video. Unfortunately, up until now, it has never been available on an Android smartphone but has always been an option for other Verizon users. Today, Verizon rolled out its native video service to the Android Market for Android smartphone users to download and enjoy. Verizon customers who own the Motorola Droid, the HTC Droid Eris, the Motorola Devour, the HTC Droid Incredible, and the LG Ally can finally use the V Cast Mobile Video app.
The Video app contains videos of “top rated entertainment, news and sports programs on demand” which includes the 2010 FIFA world cup. It was great timing to release this app to Android owners as the World Cup is set to start later this week. In fact, Univision Interactive Media will even offer live streams of the 64 soccer matches that will take place during this year’s World Cup. Overall, it contains nearly 230 full length programs in its database.
Simply navigate to the dedicated Verizon section of the Android Market and search for the Verizon V Cast Video app. However, keep it mind it requires a $10 monthly subscription fee and could charge even more depending on your data plan.
Full press release is below:
DROID DOES VIDEO: V CAST VIDEO ADDED TO ANDROID SMARTPHONES FROM VERIZON WIRELESS
Live Sports Events, Including FIFA World Cup, and Hundreds of Popular Entertainment, News and Kids Programs Now Available
BASKING RIDGE, N.J. – DROID doesn’t compromise on entertainment, and watching popular television shows and sporting events just got easier for Verizon Wireless smartphone customers. Verizon Wireless said today that V CAST Video is now available on the company’s impressive family of Android smartphones.
Univision Interactive Media will provide live streams of all 64 of its Spanish-language broadcasts of the 2010 FIFA World Cup soccer matches from South Africa exclusively to V CAST Video customers’ mobile devices. The soccer tournament is just one of hundreds of live sporting events – including college football, college basketball and NHL Hockey – available on V CAST Video throughout the year.
With V CAST Video, Android customers can now enjoy a wide variety of top-rated entertainment, news and sports programs on demand, whenever they want on the large screens on their smartphones. V CAST Video recently added programming from AETN, including A&E, Lifetime and the History Channel, and Spanish-language content from V-me. V CAST Video currently features more than 230 full-length programs from more than 40 leading providers.
Beginning today, V CAST Video can be found in the Verizon Channel in Android Market™ on all Android smartphones from Verizon Wireless: DROID by Motorola, DROID ERIS™ by HTC, Motorola DEVOUR™, DROID Incredible by HTC and LG Ally™. V CAST Video on Android devices is available for a $10 monthly subscription in addition to a smartphone data plan.
For more information about V CAST Video, including how to subscribe, visit www.verizonwireless.com/vcast.
For more information about Verizon Wireless products and services, visit a Verizon Wireless Communications Store, call 1-800-2 JOIN IN or go to www.verizonwireless.com.
Dan Zieja's lunch boxes collection is big enough that you could use one box per day from kindergarten through 12th grade, and still have 500 left over.
Emma Sanders enlists the help of pop-up book genius Anton Radevsky and 40 physicists to re-create a folded-paper Large Hadron Collidor for Voyage to the Heart of Matter.
FleaPlus writes "Recently Masten Aerospace, winner of NASA's 2009 Lunar Lander Challenge, demonstrated using its Xombie vehicle the first-ever mid-flight restart of a VTVL (vertical-takeoff vertical-landing) rocket, a critical capability for the emerging suborbital/microgravity science and passenger markets (video from ground). Not to be outdone, John Carmack's Armadillo Aerospace (winner of the 2008 Lunar Lander Challenge) flew its Mod rocket to 2,000 feet (610m), deployed a drogue parachute, and then restarted the engine to land (multi-view video showing John Carmack at the controls)."
AP - "The Facebook Effect: The Inside Story of the Company That Is Connecting the World" (Simon & Schuster, 372 pages, $26), by David Kirkpatrick: Many of us use Facebook nearly every day — some of us multiple times a day — without giving much thought to how the world's most popular social network came to be.
Your wish is granted, children. GoldenEye is getting a remake for the Wii and DS. It should be announced at E3 and released sometime in November. It’s actually unclear just how much of a remake we’re looking at; straight port? Graphics boost? A “reimagining” even? No one can say for sure, but whatever it is, it’s on its way.
FROM APPLETELL - It’s here, it’s happened. The rumors proved correct, but according to Jobs, the device has over 100 new features including, of course, an all-new design. MORE »
It’s hard to state just how glorious the iPhone 4’s new display is. I’ll make a valiant attempt at it in my first impressions post later — but in the mean time, take a gander at these screenshots.
Pulled straight off of an iPhone 4 and kept at their native resolution, these properly portray just how many pixels Apple has managed to pack into the iPhone 4’s “Retina” display. Go ahead, open one up at full size.
On my laptop, they take up the majority of the screen, height-wise. Now imagine all of that squeezed into a 3.5″ screen, without a single detail lost in translation.
Damnit, a sad day at TechCrunch – we’ve lost one of our own, drawn by the allure of a startup to call his own. TechCrunch research analyst Dan Levine will be leaving us to start his own company as part of the next batch of Y Combinator startups. You’ll hear more about the company, which he is founding with David Fowler, in the coming months.
I’m horribly disappointed in Dan, and I feel betrayed that he’d leave TechCrunch. Our standard policies when someone resigns apply, of course, So I sent Levine an email telling him to not to come back to the office and not to email the team. We’ll have his stuff sent to him. He’s dead to me.
Oh wait, that’s not our policy, it’s that other guy’s. No, we’re sad that Dan is leaving TechCrunch, but we’re also excited about this next step in his life. And we know that many of the exceptional people that make TechCrunch so special will eventually move on to other things.
A few former TechCrunchers who’ve gone on to great things: Natali Del Conte is a senior editor at CNET and co-hosts the technology news podcast Buzz Out Loud. Marshall Kirkpatrick is the lead writer at ReadWriteWeb. Ben Meyer is a presumably happy and soon to be wealthy Facebook employee, and my only disappointment is that he won’t send me confidential information about the company. Ouriel Ohayon, who launched TechCrunch France and grew it to the largest blog in that country, is now a founder of AppsFire. Mark Hendrickson is busy growing Plancast. I still can’t figure out what Henry Work, who ran our tech group, is doing. I think he works at Disneyland.
And that’s not counting the many TechCrunch interns who have gone on to do great things as well.
We’ll miss Dan, who’s brilliant, passionate and one of the hardest working people I’ve ever met. But I can’t wait to watch his career as it careens through cycles of success, failure, and more success. Just remember to drop by the office every once in a while and say hi.
Apologies to Jason Calacanis about the somewhat unfair jab in the early paragraphs above. We have different styles, but to each his own. I’ll always love you, Serpico, for making the world a more colorful place.
You can keep up to date with Dan on Twitter at @daniel_levine.
Investor's Business Daily - In what Apple (NMS:AAPL) CEO Steve Jobs described as a Jetsons-inspired dream, the company aims to make mobile video calling the next killer app for its iPhone smart phones. Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 7 Jun 2010 | 5:13 pm
Foxconn workers in China will be receiving another pay raise in the coming months in response to recent suicides. Workers in the plant located in southern Chinese city of Shenzhen will be seeing a 2,000 yuan (roughly $291) raise this October. All other workers in China will get their raises in July.
This is exactly the type of money I’d want to see if my working environment lead ten of my co-workers to commit suicide. “This wage increase has been instituted to safeguard the dignity of workers,” said Foxconn chairman, Terry Gou. I don’t quite understand how you can buy one’s dignity, but I hope you’re on to something Mr. Gou.
Foxconn, which employs 300,000 in Shenzhen is the world’s largest contract maker of electronics including: Apple, Sony, Dell, Nokia and Hewlett-Packard. Considering the big name companies Foxconn manufacturers products for, you would think that someone would be a tad bit more proactive in keeping the plant workers happy after the first six or seven suicides. Labor activists have stated that the working conditions are non-flexible and the employees are forced to work extremely long shifts.
Foxconn has recently installed safety nets on buildings in addition to hiring more counsellors. Honestly, if you hate your job so much that you’re willing to kill yourself over it, I don’t think a safety net will stop someone from a different approach to suicide. Here’s a crazy thought: how about fixing the work environment?
After his Green Lantern movie mashup catches Hollywood's
attention, Jaron Pitts reinvisions a Serbian animated film with Milla
Jovavich as lead ass-kicker. Now, that speculative trailer gets some major backing.
MojoKid writes "At Computex 2010, devices like the Eee Pad and Eee Tablet were all the rage. Of course the bulk of these were Intel Atom-based systems, but there were a number of NVIDIA Tegra 2-based models in the mix as well. What is glaringly apparent on all of these tablets — and absent on the iPad — are the multitude of connectivity options built into them, like USB ports, flash card readers, and video output ports. Obviously, from a hardware perspective, the iPad is a sexy device; but Apple's true mastery is that of the user interface. The first big player that steps up with something competitive to Apple in that regard will have the pole position in 2010's race for the hot re-emergent tablet market." Reader Raikus adds an opinionated
summary of winners and losers at "Tabletpalooza," i.e. Computex 2010.
Investor's Business Daily - Enterprise Products Partners , an energy services company, said a natural gas pipeline in Johnson County, Texas, was hit by heavy equipment — causing an explosion that local reports said killed at least 3 people with 10 missing. It fell. Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 7 Jun 2010 | 4:52 pm
Apple’s new iPhone 4 is the company’s biggest update yet for the handset and it will have you drooling.
The phone is a snazzily slim, glass-backed slab that boasts some impressive specs: dual cameras, a big operating system update and video chat, among other things.
Apple introduced the phone at its developer conference Monday and said it will be available on AT&T’s network starting June 24.
But when the iPhone 4 hits retail shelves it will have to battle a gaggle of Android devices for consumer attention — the most significant of which is the HTC Evo. The Evo has one big advantage that Apple can’t beat. It runs on Sprint’s 4G network, while the iPhone is stuck on AT&T’s 3G service. Sprint 4G, though, is not available in most major cities, including San Francisco and New York.
If you are considering upgrading to the latest version of the iPhone or getting an Android device, take a look at how the iPhone 4 and HTC Evo 4G compare:
iPhone 4
HTC Evo 4G
Display
3.5 inch display with 960 x 640 pixel resolution
4.3 inch screen with 800 x 480 pixel resolution
Processor
Apple A4 chip, speed unknown
1 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon
Size
4.5 inches in height, 2.3 inches wide, 0.37 inches thick.
4.8 inches in height, 2.6 inches wide, 0.5 inches thick.
Weight
4.8 ounces
6 ounces
Operating system
iOS 4
Android 2.1
Cellular access
3G
4G
Storage capacity
16 or 32 GB flash drive
8 GB microSD card included, supports up to 32 GB.
Camera
Dual cameras. 5-megapixel primary camera. Front-facing secondary camera (resolution unknown).
Dual camera with 8-megapixel primary camera, 1.3 megapixel front-facing secondary camera.
Video Recording
720p, up to 30 frames per second. Built-in video editing.
720p at 25 frames per second.
Video Conferencing
Yes. Native support through FaceTime application, via Wi-Fi only.
Available through Qik app that costs $5 a month for premium features and higher-than-VGA quality. Basic app is free. Can be used over 3G or 4G wireless.
InfoWorld - Developers in the Eclipse open source community are becoming more inclined to use Linux as their primary desktop operating system, according to a report released Monday by the Eclipse Foundation that gauges sentiments on software development issues. Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 7 Jun 2010 | 4:31 pm
kkleiner writes "A German-led team of researchers has developed a new version of an ophthalmological polymer to which the eye will bond and still function normally. 'The new polymer could help restore sight to thousands waiting for corneal transplants around the world. The artificial cornea has passed clinical trials and is ready to see expanded use in patients this year. ... In order to work in the human body, an artificial cornea has to meet some stringent requirements. First, it has to bond to the human eye around its edge. ... The center of the artificial cornea, however, does not promote cell growth and remains clear so that it can be seen through. The artificial cornea also has to move freely with the eyelid and balance moisture on its faces.'"
We, and by “we” I mean all life on Planet Earth, owe our very existence to the Sun. It’s nothing more than a typical star, really, but without it, this planet would be as barren as the day is long. (CG: Your home for old-timey phrases.) With that in mind, here’s what could become a pretty important story as we move forward. NASA now believes that, for much of the modern era, the Sun has been, for lack of a better term, “asleep.” What happens, then, to our electricity-based infrastructure when the Sun “wakes up”? The Solar Wind has already blown away the atmospheres of planets lacking a magnetosphere, so what else does the Sun have up its sleeve?
The Doomsday Scenario is as follows:
The Sun wakes up—think increased solar flares, sun spots, you name it. All these things can have a direct impact on the electrical systems here on Earth. Anything that uses electricity, then, could be at risk. Your iPhone. Your Nintendo DS. Your bank’s computer servers, GPS. Air travel. Traffic lights. All of these things could be completely knocked offline. We don’t really know how large, or how small, the impact of a proper solar storm because we haven’t seen one in the modern era.
We could potentially be looking at a scenario where our already teetering economic system could be subjected to a jolt that twenty times worse than Hurricane Katrina.
Like a promiscuous cologne commercial, iPhone 4 pops onto the screen showcasing its brand-new design that we’ve all already seen. Sleek, elegant, and beautiful, iPhone 4 has glass on both the front and back with chrome around the side. It comes with two camera, one front facing, and the back camera which now has an LED flash. But Apple did something unusual for their products, lines along the sides and top would usually distract from the beauty of the product but Apple claims they are for functionality. Mr. Jobs says that they are all part of the antenna so hopefully better… reception? Also, the device will be available in both black and white like previous models, but the white will transition to the front of the device as well, an interesting feature.
Let’s talk about the screen. Steve calls the new display “Retina Display” and it has 4 times the pixel density when compared to other iPhones. For a comparison, check out the two ‘a’s in the picture above. Bigger pixel density means more pixels-per-inch which in turn means higher quality images. 326 pixels-per-inch to be exact and according to Steve, the max our retina can even see is 300. This means that images will actually look like flowing print, curves will look genuine and not pixelated, pictures will have much higher detail, text blocks will be much more readable. The official numbers are a 960x640 display. Also, instead of an OLED display, the new iPhone uses IPS technology. For a comparison, this new display has only 22% less pixels than the iPad.
The new iPhone will also be sporting the Apple custom-made A4 chip we’ve seen in the iPad. And when combined with the new, larger battery, the iPhone’s battery life has increased a fair amount. Some bigger news is the addition of a three-axis gyroscope. When tied together with the accelerometer, compass, this creates a six-axis device which Jobs claims is perfect for gaming. The gyro adds angular velocity to the team of sensors on the device.
On to a little more about the cameras. iPhone 4 has upgraded its cameras from 3-megapixels to 5-megapixels without decreasing the pixel size so you are getting real high-quality pictures. Also, these cameras can now take HD video, 720p and 30 frames-per-second. Because of this ability to take HD video, Apple has introduced iMovie for iPhone. It acts just like iMovie for your Mac, you have your timeline at the bottom where you can add or remove both photos and movie clips. Also, geolocation technology has been added to it too. You aren’t restricted to exporting just 720p video as well, if you feel that 720p is just too high of quality for your movie, or more practically, it’s just too big of a file, you can output it in 540p and 360p. iMovie will be available in the app store for just $4.99. And as a conclusion for the iPhone 4 cameras, the devices also have the ability to make video phone calls.
That pretty much sums it up on any potentially new features about iPhone 4. I’m sure you want to know the release date though don’t you. iPhone 4 will be available on June 24th for $199 for the 16GB version and $299 for the 32GB version. 3GS is now available for $99 as well. Pre-orders for your iPhone 4 start on the 15th so get your checkbooks ready.
miller60 writes "IT systems in Dallas County were offline for three days last week after a water main break flooded the basement of the Dallas County Records Building, which houses the UPS systems and other electrical equipment supporting a data center in the building. The county does not have a backup data center, despite warnings that it faced the risk of service disruption without one."
Word on the street (read: Bleeding Cool) is that Jamie Bell, the actor who played Billie Elliot back in the day, has been selected by Sony to be Peter Parker in the new Spider-Man movie. Because that’s what you want: the movie studio selecting the star of a film, not like the director or anything. It’s not official so don’t freak out yet, but this is still a fine place to channel your nerd-outrage.
You already know that the movie, presumably entitled Spider-Man 4, has been in development hell for quite some time. The director of the previous films, Sam Raimi, left/was forced out, and Toby McGuire was given the boot because Sony wants to “freshen up” the franchise. The idea, at least as of a few months ago, was to bring the series back in time a bit, to when Peter Parker was nothing but a high school student. We can assume it will be in 3D.
The movie will be directed by Marc Webb, the director of 500 Days of Summer, which wasn’t a bad little film. It’s a totally different type of movie from a summer popcorn blockbuster, however.
And here’s something I’ve noticed: if this Jamie Bell story is true, that makes the second American superhero to be played by an British gentleman. Batman is played by Christian Bale, who was born in Wales (but of English parentage), and now we’ve got Jamie Bell, born in the North-East of England. American actors for American superheroes!
The competition between Apple and Google is getting intense as the two companies battle for supremacy in the smartphone business.
Last month, Google updated its Android operating system, introducing Android 2.2, aka FroYo. On Monday, Apple shot back by making its latest mobile operating system, iOS 4 — formerly called iPhone OS 4.0 — official.
Apple’s iOS 4, which will be available to customers starting June 21, includes some much-awaited new features such as multitasking that will allow users to listen to music, check e-mail and answer a call at the same time. Other additions are a unified e-mail inbox, folders that can help organize your apps and access to Apple’s digital bookstore.
But all this doesn’t mean iOS 4 is ahead of Android.
Read on to see how the latest versions of the two operating systems stack up.
iOS 4
Android 2.2 aka FroYo
Devices
iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS. Available for iPhone 3G and iPod Touch but some features not supported. iPad (coming Fall 2010).
None right now but HTC Nexus One, Motorola Droid likely to move to Android 2.2.
Availability
Available to developers now. iPhone 3G S, iPhone 3G and iPod Touch consumers get a free upgrade on June 21. iPhone 4 available on June 24.
Available to developers now. Available to some Nexus One users now. Updates to other devices “coming soon.”
Tethering
Yes
Yes
Flash Support
No. Apple says it supports only two platforms: HTML 5 and its app store.
Yes. Beta version of Flash Player 10.1 available on Android 2.2.
Multitasking
Yes
Yes
Hot-Spot Capability
No
Yes. Wi-Fi can be shared with up to 8 devices.
Folders
Yes
Yes
Copy and Paste
Yes
Yes
Video Chat
Native support (only on iPhone 4 hardware)
Available only through add-on apps.
Books
Support for iBooks to download and read digital books.
Available only through add-on apps.
Music
Available through iTunes; automatic syncing with desktop iTunes. Streaming music only supported through apps.
Built-in ability to play MP3 files, but no syncing with your desktop music. Streaming music available via add-on apps.
Apps
200,000 iPhone apps
50,000 Android apps
Ads
In-app ads through iAds. Apple sells and hosts the ads and shares revenue with developers. Payment through iTunes.
In-app ads available through Google Mobile ads. Adsense for mobile ads is in beta mode for developers.
E-Mail
Unified inbox combines multiple e-mail accounts. Threading of conversations.
I think HP might have finally given you a reason to purchase ink instead of a new printer each time. New HP printers are going to be optimized for the internet. No matter where you are, if you have an internet connection, you will be able to print from your printer. It does this through a new innovation with outdated technology. E-mail, the interface we’ve had for so long, that arguably has become the most outdated piece of technology involved in the internet, will be the main connection between your files and your printer. Yes, your printer will have its own email address. So that means any device of yours that has email access, which is pretty much everything by the way, can print off of these printers. Basically, you just email your pictures to your printer and they’ll be waiting for you when you get home. This means easy, working iPad printing guys and gals.
The Senate Armed Services Committee has recommended taking $143.4 million out of Darpa's proposed budget for 2011, as the legislators question just how mad the Defense Department's mad-science agency ought to be during wartime.
SAN FRANCISCO — Thanks to photos and videos leaked by Gizmodo, we all became familiar with Apple’s next-generation iPhone several weeks ago. But holding one in your hands tells a brand new story.
Apple’s iPhone 4 is the biggest upgrade yet for the handset. Highlight features include a front-facing camera, a 960-by-640 “retina display” that shows image and text more crisply, the same A4 processor that powers the iPad, and a 5-megapixel still camera that also shoots high-definition video.
The overall look and feel has changed as well: Both the front and back of the iPhone are composed of a sturdy glass that Apple claims is 13 times harder than plastic. Overall, the case is 24 percent thinner than the current iPhone 3GS.
Wired.com had some hands-on time with the iPhone 4 after Apple’s press event Monday. Continue reading for a closer look at the new features, with photography by Jon Snyder.
Near the headphone jack is a second microphone for noise cancellation. Pretty snazzy.
Apple’s latest iPhone is the biggest upgrade yet for the legendary handset. If you’re in the market to get one, there’s an easy way to sell your current iPhone using your iPhone.
E-trader Gazelle on Monday launched its mobile website, where you can choose your model iPhone and get a quote. With a few taps, you can arrange for Gazelle to send you a free postage-paid box for your iPhone. Then pack it up and drop off the box at a mailing center, and you’ll get a check after a couple of days.
I entered my current iPhone 3GS, which is in perfect condition, and Gazelle quoted me at $302. Not bad. You’d probably make more money selling your iPhone on Craigslist, but in the past when I’ve tried Gazelle, it was because I opted against dealing with the myriad of flaky Craigslist weirdos, as I’m sure many of you would.
The steps to sell your iPhone on Gazelle are as follows:
1. From the homepage, click Get Started.
2. Select your iPhone model.
3. Answer four quick questions:
- Does it make calls successfully?
- Is it free of water damage?
- What is the overall condition?
- What accessories do you have?
4. Gazelle gives an offer value.
5. Enter your e-mail address and agree to the terms of service,
6. Tell Gazelle where to send the free postage-paid box and where to send your check (as of now, check is the only method of payment)
I’ve personally used Gazelle in the past to sell my old MacBook Pro and a digital camera, and I enjoyed the experience a lot. The process was painless, and I got payment after about a week — the same amount as provided in the quote. Check it out if you’re looking for a quick way to subsidize your next iPhone purchase.
A new study finds that veterans' serious mental health problems get worse instead of better a year after they leave battle. Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 7 Jun 2010 | 2:00 pm
Today kicks of the first day of Worldwide Developer Conference and you know what that means, big announcements from Apple.
First and foremost, Apple announced the latest figures from their mobile creation, the iPad. Despite criticism and confusion of where the product fits it, you cannot avoid the numbers like these. Since pre-orders began in March of this year sales have eclipsed 2 million and covering 10 countries and on top of that has sold over 5 million books.
For those of you with an iPad, clearly Apple is listening and apparently learning along with you. This is a satisfying change.
A lesson from flashy Central American warblersModern evolutionary systematists often use molecular methods, such like mitochondrial DNA analysis, to differentiate between species and subspecies. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 7 Jun 2010 | 1:07 pm
As expected, the iPhone 4 was announced today during Steve Jobs’ keynote at WWDC. Its flagship features are, of course, the extremely high resolution screen, video chat capability with FaceTime, and the sexy new form factor. But there’s more to the 4 than that, and even those seemingly self-explanatory new features deserve a closer look. Let’s see just what Apple’s done here with its biggest update to the iPhone since the original.
The Body
We’re all pretty familiar with the new body, since it was really the focus of Gizmodo’s exposé. In fact, that was pretty much the limit, since they couldn’t do much else with a dead, locked phone. But they examined it very closely and found it to be beautiful and metallic. Its new squared-off look is a signal from Apple that this is an entirely new phone, not just an iteration of the original. You might say this is the true sequel to the iPhone, the 3G and 3GS being merely refinements of the original design. Three years is a long time to stick with what was essentially the same design, especially for a company as chameleonic as Apple. A change was due, and the change is welcome.
The new design is more squared off, with a flatter back, creating a stronger shape in both your hand and eye. It’s not trying to hide the buttons, but rather showing off their careful placement and clean lines. I think the overarching themes here are power and superiority, rather than slickness. The glass on both sides, we found out in the closing video, is “almost as strong as sapphire crystal” and can deform pretty seriously without breaking. Good news to those of us afraid of exploding iPhones.
The previously reported dimensions are accurate: 4.5×2.31×0.37 inches. It weighs 137 grams, more than expected and slightly heavier than the 3GS. It’s similar enough in size and weight to the old one that you probably won’t notice the difference, but the new flat back and squared-off edges will either delight or bother you. I’m guessing delight.
The announcement that the steel rim of the phone is in fact the phone’s antenna nullifies concerns people had about potential signal blocking, like we have seen in several other Apple products.
My question is this: with all the miniaturization that’s gone on here, plus the improved screen, are we looking at a potential heat disaster? This is a serious consideration. Thinner, faster, and hotter generally go together when it comes to mobile phones.
The Display
The new 3.5-inch “Retina” IPS LCD display sports 326 pixels per inch, and is 960 by 640 pixels. They’re calling it “resolutionary.” Hmm — Apple puns. 960×640 will be a meaningless number to most people, but the resolution nerds among us will recognize three things about it right off the bat.
It’s a higher pixel count than any other phone out there. Even the mighty EVO 4G is only 800×480, and at a larger screen size to boot. This means the iPhone screen is among the sharpest, if not the sharpest, in existence (and suggests a similar upgrade for the iPad once the LCD tech is scalable).
It’s twice the original resolution. All the old iPhones were 480×320. By multiplying both of those numbers by two for the new resolution, Apple has ensured that all the old apps can run on the iPhone 4 with a simple 2x stretch filter. Very important for back-compatibility and taking advantage of the enormous number of apps in the store. Expect “HD” upgrades for your favorite apps, though, and expect to pay. Update: We got some full-size screenshots here.
It’s very nearly iFrame. Surprisingly, though, the iPhone 4 records in 720p. Whither iFrame? Is Apple giving it up? I sure hope so. (update: nope, it’s there in iMovie instead of 480p)
The PPI is higher than any display out there that I know of, and Steve says it even passes a threshold after which the eye cannot perceive a higher resolution. I’m inclined to believe him, as some who have seen it said they could barely even make out individual pixels. The contrast ratio is higher, too, at 800:1.
The screen is going to be a major selling point, and rightly so. Photos and videos will look gorgeous, and games will benefit as well, not to mention Netflix (!). Although now the developers’ job has become significantly more difficult, as they must keep three resolutions in mind if they want their app to be available on the new iPhone, the old iPhone, and the iPad.
The Cameras
The new 5-megapixel rear camera is a decent improvement. I complained recently about cameras trying to resolve too much detail on a tiny sensor, and the iPhone camera will continue to to that, I’m sure, but the larger lens can only make things better. The backside illumination, too, should really improve low light performance, as well as the LED flash.
iMovie: We’ve written it up in a little more detail here, but essentially you’ve got a powerful mobile timeline-based movie editor. That’s pretty insane. The interface looks pretty simple; you won’t be cutting together feature films with this thing, but you could certainly edit a home movie, and of course it’s perfect for sticking together multiple shots from your iPhone. It’ll cost $5 in the App Store — which seems kind of weird until you realize that it’s really sort of a premium add-on, and its themes and assets are things some users would rather just not have clogging up their phone.
We were all hoping for video chat with the 3GS and we didn’t get it — likely because Apple didn’t think it was ready. Even if it had, AT&T would probably have buckled. But now video chat is launching in earnest, and it’s called Face Time. It supports both the front and rear cameras, portrait or landscape, and works “anywhere there is WiFi.” No 3G video calling in 2010. It’s also iPhone 4 to iPhone 4 only right now. I guarantee there will be partnerships with VoIP providers, though. Apple has described it as “open,” though it’s never really clear what they mean by that.
Jobs demonstrated it by calling Jony Ive, and it appeared to work well, except the massive interference from hundreds of WiFi devices in the room caused some lag. Here’s hoping you don’t have 570 MiFis, EVOs, and tethered iPhones in your own home.
The front camera itself promises VGA, so it’s 640×480. That’s fine — I wouldn’t want any more on a camera dedicated to streaming video.
iPhone OS 4 iOS 4
My previous post on iPhone OS 4 suggested that it contained everything you needed to know about iPhone OS 4. I stand by that statement, since any new features will not be for iPhone OS 4, but for the freshly-dubbed iOS 4, clearly a different beast. I mean, for one thing, you can now Bing stuff.
There’s also iBooks for the iPhone now. Not bad: the increased resolution puts the iPhone 4 almost in e-ink territory when it comes to sharpness of text, so this could be real nice. Native support for PDFs will be handy as well. Good news: all your iPad books will work on the iPhone 4 as well. No separate download or separate book.
It’s worth mentioning that IOS is already an OS, and one by Cisco to boot. It’s deja vu all over again!
iAd got another plug, and will be going live July 1st. Joy!
The Guts
The iPhone 4 runs on the A4 processor, the same one that’s found in the iPad (or near enough). Jobs claims a 40% improvement in battery life due to the efficiency of the A4 (plus the 16% larger battery): 7h 3G talk, 6h 3G browsing, 10h Wi-Fi, 10h video, 300h standby. Nice. This will certainly be used for making better and faster apps, and you’ll be seeing a lot of that in new games. Speaking of which:
The iPhone already had an accelerometer setup that allowed for limited motion controls, but the new 3-axis gyroscope is “perfect for gaming” according to Steve. Take that, Nintendo! With the new screen and this improved controller, the iPhone may now actually be a credible threatto the big N.
Its output options are unfortunately limited compared with other devices: the dock connector will allow for a 1024×768 signal, which was nice in 2007. The iPhone 4 can play 720p files up to 30FPS, but HD output would have been nice as well.
Netflix
It’s not exactly a marquee feature, but it’s worth noting that the Netflix app behaves much like the iPad one. Although I personally don’t relish the idea of watching an entire movie on my phone, but managing a queue and browsing movies will be a joy. Having an official Netflix environment from your phone to your tablet to your desktop gives the ubiquitous movie service a sort of special authority.
Pricing and Availability
The new iPhone will be available on June 24th. It comes in black or white, and with a new contract, costs $199 for a 16GB version and $299 for 32GB. If your upgrade date is in 2011 (i.e. 1/1/11 or later) you can get the early update price, which is $399/$499. And of course you can always pay full price: $599/$699 with no contract at all. The 3G is being retired, and the 3GS will now be $99. The June 24th date is for the US, France, Germany, Japan, and the UK. The rest of the world will get it in July.
The entire iPhone 4 announcement can be viewed here, and here’s the design video, if you like that sort of thing:
Further developments can, of course, be found at the iPhone 4 tag, though I’ll keep this page up to date.
Study argues for greater monitoring and management of pathogens that threaten crops in Sub-Saharan AfricaThe devastating consequences of emerging infectious diseases on crops in developing countries and their economic and social impacts are often underestimated, according to a new study by Maurizio Vurro and his colleagues from the Institute of the Science of Food Production in Italy. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 7 Jun 2010 | 12:59 pm
Like a long spaceflightConcordia is impossible to reach or leave during the winter months and any problems have to be solved by the crew on their own. The difficulties of overwintering are still worth the effort, though, because the season offers many possibilities for unique research.Concordia is in many ways like a space station, so ESA began cooperating in 2002 with the station’s builders and operators: the French Polar Institute (Institute Paul Emile Victor, IPEV) and the Italian Antarctic Program (Consorzio per l’Attuazione del Programma Nazionale di Ricerche in Antartide, PNRA).ESA’s main interest is in understanding how our bodies and minds adapt to extreme environments – knowledge that helps us to cope with the challenges of long flights aboard the International Space Station and future missions to Mars. Physiological and psychological information is collected from all Concordia crewmembers during their stays.To help collect physiological data, ESA has developed an easy-to-use, minimally intrusive, integrated monitoring device, to be used routinely for the first time in the coming season. Paging a crewmemberAs in previous years, ESA is sponsoring one crewmember with a medical background to spend the 2011 winter at Concordia.If you are interested in this almost-out-of-this-world experience and in facing the harsh Antarctic winter, click here: 'Call for candidates'. The deadline for applications is July 7.---Image 1: A stunning view from the Concordia research station. Credits: A.P.SalamImage 2: Concordia research station in dusk. Credits: ESA Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 7 Jun 2010 | 12:53 pm
Researchers from Helmholtz-Centre in Braunschweig, Germany, decipher how mast cells set immune defense on the right trackIn the event of an infection, the immune system releases messenger substances. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 7 Jun 2010 | 12:52 pm
The future has officially arrived, ladies and gentlemen: El Steve just made a video call to Jony Ive as part of his famous "One more thing" sequence of the Apple WWDC.
Scientists at the Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS), a biomedical research institute of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), and their colleagues from the National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University, Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School and Princeton University have recently discovered that viruses that ‘invaded’ the human genome millions of years ago have changed the way genes get turned on and off in human embryonic stem (ES) cells.The study provides definitive proof of a theory that was first proposed in the 1950s by Nobel Laureate in physiology and medicine, Barbara McClintock, who hypothesized that transposable elements, mobile pieces of the genetic material (DNA), such as viral sequences, could be “control elements” that affect gene regulation once inserted in the genome.This finding is an important contribution to the advancement of stem cell research and to its potential for regenerative medicine. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 7 Jun 2010 | 12:39 pm
Another study highlights the heart-healthy benefits of chocolate-- but there are important caveats. Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 7 Jun 2010 | 12:39 pm
The Mars Tumbleweed Rover could be a paradigm shift in planetary exploration thinking, but is it realistic? A group of university scientists think so, and they have developed a computer simulation to help out. Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 7 Jun 2010 | 12:16 pm
The second biggest news out of San Fran today? The announcement of iPhone OS 4.0, Apple’s biggest improvement to the iPhone OS since, well, 3.0. This new version includes multi-tasking (although backgrounding would be the proper term), app folders, a new version of Mail, and a carrier unlock (Not officially sanctioned by Apple, but available nonetheless).
The weirdest thing? It’s now called iOS. And iOS is a name owned by Cisco.
All of the standard stuff is there – just as we expected – with the addition of the iBook store. Click through for more info.
There have been 50 million iPhones sold so far (along with 450,000 iPads)
OS 4.0 will be going out to phones this summer, but a developer preview is currently available. The iPad will get it in the fall. iPhone and iPod touch 1Gs are out of luck, I’m afraid.
Thousands of new APIs, including many “accelerate” APIs which allow developers to add hardware acceleration
Multi-tasking is coming. They admit they are a bit late to the party. Video here, details below.
-double tap of home button shows running applications. Invoke at any time, it’ll pause games and so on.
-the app-switching tray pushes up the other home icons and has a sort of metallic background.
-it’s a bit disappointing, actually: it’s more the ability to switch quickly between “active” apps. Nice, though.
-it’s not a task manager. You can’t close or modify apps, and Jobs says you don’t need to. Furthermore he says that if the user needs a task manager, the UX team is blowing it.
-iPhone 3G and iPod touch 2nd gen will not get multitasking.
There are seven background services that will be allowed, and which shouldn’t significantly affect the performance of other apps:
-Background audio: i.e. Pandora can play in the background and popup controls can control it.
-Background VoIP: Skype calls will continue if you need to switch apps; a “return to call” button will show, and you can also receive Skype calls on a locked phone.
-Background location: turn-by-turn directions can continue when you leave the app. Music can run at the same time and will quiet down when directions need to be said. Very slick. Uses cell-tower-enhanced AGPS. A notification will show in the status bar if an app is transmitting your location. You can also turn off location app-by-app.
-Push notifications: the same push notifications you know and love.
-Local notifications: in-phone notifications for, say, pop-up alarms and such. Local app stuff.
-Fast app switching: this is the service by which apps can store their state when you switch to and from them.
-Task completion: allows, say, a Flickr upload to continue if you close the app.
Folders. These are basically stacks of apps. Drag one app onto another to create a folder. This will really help un-clutter some iPhone screens (makes room for people to buy more apps). Makes for a maximum of 2160 apps. Is there an app for taking it easy on app downloading?
Homescreen wallpapers. Yes, very nice.
Enhanced mail. Several changes here:
-Unified inbox. Web mail, MobileMe, multiple exchange accounts – thank god. This is nice.
-Thread organization. Handy for such a powerful inbox.
-Attachments for third-party email. Get your Gmail attachments right in Mail now.
iBooks: I think we all expected this. It looks just like the iPad version, though somewhat smaller, obviously. Sync bookmarks and such between devices. Comes with Winnie the Pooh!
Better email encryption, and some sort of in-app encryption is in the works.
SSL VPN support. Non-bold flavor text.
Social gaming features: challenge friends to games, compare high scores on leaderboards and so on. Matchmaking and achievements. Nice, looking forward to this on the iPad. Hot seat Civ 4 with someone I’ve never met? Why not?
iAd: In Steve’s words, somewhat paraphrased: “Developers [of free apps] need to find a way to start making their money. A lot of developers turn to advertising – and we think these current advertisements really suck. If you look at advertisements on a phone, it’s not like on a desktop. On a desktop, its about search. On mobile, search hasnt happened. People aren’t searching on their phones. People are spending their time in apps. The average user spends over 30 minutes using apps on their phone. If we said we wanted to put an ad up every 3 minutes, that’d be 10 ads per device per day — about the same as a TV show. We’re going to soon have 100m devices. That’s a billion ad opportunities per day! “This is a pretty serious opportunity, and it’s an incredible demographic. But we want to do more than that. We want to change the quality of the advertising. We’re all familiar with interactive ads on the web. They’re interactive, but they’re not capable of delivering emotion. We have figured out how to do interactive and video content without ever taking you out of the app.”
-Apple will sell and host the ads; the revenue will be split 60/40, with devs getting the 60. Anybody can make them, just like apps.
-Ads are done in HTML5 (a little dig in there for Adobe)
-Fully interactive; the Toy Story ad he showed looks like a native app, includes a game, graphical interface and everything. They can call out for showing times, current prices, and so on. It’s essentially a commercial break app.
-Access to APIs: somewhat scarily, ads will have access to location, accelerometer, and a lot of other stuff.
Steve Jobs finally made the iPhone 4 official. He’s probably more glad to see this happen than us with more than a couple iPhone 4s prematurely making their way into journalist’s hands over the last few weeks. But none of that really matters anymore. The iPhone 4 is here.
Zynga's hit game Farmville is coming to the iPhone, says the gaming giant's CEO Mark Pincus at this morning's WWDC keynote. This should make the 35 million daily players of Farmville players overjoyed, as now they can create their virtual farms on the go. Oddly, Steve Jobs pronounced Zynga, "Zenya" in the keynote. Twice.
The app looks like Farmville on Facebook, but on the iPhone. The app will feature in app purchase support, along with push notifications for harvesting and the like. You'll have access to your same farm, and your same friends as on Facebook as well. The app will launch at the end of June.
Netflix CEO Reed Hastings got up on stage right after Apple CEO Steve Jobs at the WWDC 2010 conference, which we're liveblogging here. Guess why he was there: there's a Netflix app for iPhone on the way, and it's coming this Summer.
It isn't much of a surprise. I mean, Netflix already has an (amazing) iPad app, and it started surveying interest for an iPhone app early March 2010, while rumors of its impending launch have been swirling for much longer.
Less diversity could add greater urgency to the extinction crisis facing 100 species per million. Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 7 Jun 2010 | 11:25 am
A grinning Apple CEO Steve Jobs holds the iPhone 4, at WWDC 2010.
UPDATED
SAN FRANCISCO — As expected, Apple unveiled details of its next-generation iPhone at a conference Monday morning.
Speaking to the company’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple CEO Steve Jobs demonstrated the iPhone 4, a slim smartphone with videoconferencing, an extremely high-resolution screen, a 5-megapixel camera, and a new, faster processor. He also showed off details of the company’s newest mobile operating system, now dubbed iOS 4, which will run on the iPhone 4 as well as (in the future) the iPad.
“Tell me if you’ve already seen this,” Jobs deadpanned at the start of his demo, provoking audience laughter and applause. One of several jokes Jobs made during his keynote, his crack was a reference to the early appearance of prototype iPhones on various blogs.
Leaked all over the web, the next iPhone generated more buzz than normally-secretive Apple could have wished for. Gizmodo in April published a bombshell story revealing an iPhone prototype that an Apple engineer lost at a bar. The scoop turned into one of the most sensational gadget news stories of the past decade, and was confirmed later by a Vietnamese blog that found a separate prototype.
The phone that Jobs showed today confirmed the physical details of the Gizmodo phone.
Nonetheless, there were substantial new details:
iPhone 4 includes a front-facing camera and support for videoconferencing with other iPhone 4 users, via a feature called FaceTime.
The iPhone 4 screen includes a high-resolution technology that Apple is calling “retina display,” with 328 pixels per inch. Overall, the 3.5-inch display has 960 x 640 pixels, more than the Motorola Droid (854 x 480) and HTC Incredible (800 x 480), close competitors that run Google’s Android OS. “The display is your window into the internet, your apps, your media, your software,” said Jobs.
The iPhone 4 now uses the A4 processor, Apple’s custom-designed CPU that powers the iPad.
Quad-band HSDPA/HSUPA wireless data support that will give the phone 7.2 Mbps download speeds and 5.8 Mbps upload. “That’s theoretical because carriers don’t support that yet,” said Jobs — one of several jabs aimed at carriers during the keynote, which suffered from a wireless outage at one point.
A 5-megapixel camera with 5x digital zoom and the ability to record HD video at 720p and 30 frames per second. The camera also includes an LED flash, a common feature in other phones that was missing from previous versions of the iPhone. The iPhone 4 also includes a version of iMovie, Apple’s video-editing software, to let people edit and post video clips.
Support for iBooks, the e-book reader on the iPad. The new iBooks also supports viewing and annotating PDF documents.
New iOS 4 features include support for multitasking, a unified e-mail inbox, and the ability to put apps from the home screen into folders. All of these features had been previously demonstrated at an iPhone OS event in March.
How did the news match up against our WWDC predictions? We made a few guesses last week, and on the basics — the hardware, the front-facing video camera, support for videoconferencing, and the absence of Steve Ballmer and Verizon — we did pretty well.
Wired live-blogged the keynote, with updates from yours truly and photography by Jon Snyder. To see the blow-by-blow (in reverse chronological order, with the newest updates at the top), scroll down. Or click here to jump to the liveblog.
If you prefer to ingest news in 140 characters or less, Wired’s Mark McClusky (@markmcc) also live-tweeted the event.
Other liveblogs that covered WWDC 2010:
Gizmodo (which is “meta-blogging” other liveblogs, including ours, because its writers were denied entry to the keynote)
iPhone 4 will come in two colors, black and white, and will go on sale June 24 in the U.S.
11:55
That’s a wrap. Thanks for joining us!
11:54
Steve’s thanking a couple of executives. Scott Forstall, Tim Cook. And all the rest of the Apple family. “I’m really proud of all you guys. Awesome job.” “This is our new baby, I hope you love it as much as we do.”
11:53
Steve says thanks to the team that’s “worked their tails off” for iPhone 4. Group of about six people are standing up in front.
11:51
Steve shows a slide showing Technology and Liberal Arts street signs intersecting.
He says the Apple is the marriage of technology and liberal arts. He says it’s not just the video camera, but the video editing and all the software that makes it a complete solution. It’s not just a front-facing camera and 18 months worth of work on software.
11:45
Showing a video summarizing all the features of the iPhone 4.
Jony Ive is talking in it: saying it’s so much more than a new product. Highlighting the retina display and video calling — FaceTime. “It’s going to change the way we communicate forever.”
Scott Forstall: “The very first time I had a FaceTime call, I was blown away…. I think of my children in 7 or 8 years off in college, being able to call them and look into their eyes to see how they’re really doing.”
Switching to back camera, you can show people what you’re seeing.
Bob Mansfield of Apple talks about retina display — four times the pixels as before, smooth continuous shapes and tone.
Optical lamination helps with visual clarity
They’re also summarizing iOS 4: multitasking, folders, unified Mail inbox
Photos taken with 5-megapixel camera
Camera captures full 720p hi-def video up up to 30 fps
And you can edit using iMovie
A4 chip: custom-designed silicon. Remarkable speed and efficiency in a really small chip. Better battery life
Jony Ive talks about a new stainless steel they’re using that’s incredibly strong
Custom glass that’s comparable in strength to sapphire crystal but 13 times harder than plastic
Same glass is used on the front and back
“This is going to change everything all over again.” Video ends.
11:44
iOS 4 upgrades for iPhone 3GS, the iPhone 3G, but not all the feautres are supported for 3G. No multitasking for 3G.
iPod touch: not all features will be supported on every model and excludes first-generation. Upgrades for all these products will be free on June 21.
11:43
New accessories: A dock for the iPhone 4 is $30. A case for the iPhone 4 called a bumper. The back is open. The “bumper” comes in four different colors, $30 as well.
11:42
Shipping in five countries: U.S., France, Germany, United Kingdom and Japan on June 24.
July they’re shipping to a bunch of other countries. August and September — 65 more countries.
11:41
The lineup of iPhones:
iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4. The 3G is discontinued.
3GS is $100
iPhone 4 goes on sale June 24.
11:40
“Thats the biggest leap we’ve taken since the original iPhone, and we’re really proud of it.”
Price and availability:
First, it comes in two colors — black or white.
Price: $200 for 16GB; $300 for 32GB
“I’m thrilled to also announce that AT&T is going to make an incredibly generous upgrade offer. If your contract expires anytime during 2010, you are immediately eligible for a new iPhone 4 at the same $200, $300 prices.” You can get up to six months early eligibility for an iPhone 4.
Apple's CEO Steve Jobs videoconferences with senior designer Jonathan Ive, in a demonstration at WWDC 2010.
11:38
iPhone 4 to iPhone 4 — anywhere there’s Wi-Fi. FaceTime is based on a lot of open standards: H264, AAC, a bunch of “alphabet soup acronyms.”
FaceTime is an “open industry standard,” Steve says. That’s feature number 9 of iPhone 4. “So that is the iPhone 4.”
11:37
Showing a demo video of FaceTime. Parents are video chatting with graduating kids. A bunch of family conversations. Also a girl in a hospital video chatting, showing the baby in her sonogram.
11:36
It’s called Face Time, WiFi only in 2010. “We need to work a little more with the cellular providers.” (Audience laughs)
Apple will ship 10s of millions of FaceTime devices in 2010, says Steve. “FaceTime video talk, we’re really happy with this.”
11:34
Videoconferencing feature summary:
iPhone 4 to iPhone 4
Anywhere there is Wi-Fi
Front or the rear camera — you can switch to the rear camera so the person on the other end can see what they’re seeing
Portrait and landscape – you can video chat in a wider aspect ratio
And the video and the audio quality looks great, says Steve.
Digeratii BREAKING: APPLE REINVENTS THE SEX PHONE LINE #wwdc (via @Fromedome)
11:32
Jony says hi, Steve’s mug is in the bottom-left corner of the phone creen. “Hey Jony how ya doin?” Jony says “I’m good, I’m good, how are you?”
Steve: “This is amazing, I grew up here in America with Jetsons, Star Trek and communicators — just dreaming about video calling. And it’s real now.”
Jony: “I grew up watching the exact same TV shows. I used to love the wonderful optimistic view of the future. And it’s real now isn’t it?”
Steve: “It’s real. Especially when people turn their Wi-Fi off.”
Jony: “The idea of communicating this way — it’s an old idea, we just had to wait an awfully long time for it to become real, haven’t we?”
Steve: “Let’s have lunch later on.”
Jony: “I’ll see you soon.”
11:31
Those are the 8 things Steve is sharing on iPhone 4. “But there is one more thing…” Steve’s famous line. Steve says he really wants our Wi-Fi devices off.
“In 2007 when we launched the iPhone it was my privilege to make one of the first calls in the world, to make a call with [Apple designer] Jony Ive. I’d like to do the same on this occasion. I’m going to go ahead and call Jony.” Ive shows up on screen — it’s video conferencing.
11:29
“I think a lot of people are going to try to win the car. It’s a great idea,” says Steve. July 1 is when iAds starts up.
Brands have committed $60 million for ads. JP Morgan thinks the mobile ad market is worth $250M. We’re only halfway into the year — Apple has only been at this for 8 weeks.
11:27
(Yawwwwn ads are boring.) The Nissan LEAF ad also has a prize giveaway for people to enter to win a free LEAF by submitting contact information.
11:26
The Nissan ad also has a navigator showing an interactive car. He reserves a Nissan LEAF electric car inside the ad (using his e-mail address.) The LEAF ad also shows a chart of the mileage: 38 miles on $1.
11:24
Steve is showing a demo of a news reader app with a Nissan ad. Tap on the Nissan ad; you can close the ad by tapping a button and go back into the app instantly. The Nissan ad is loading up a video commercial.
11:23
Apple started selling iAds about 8 weeks ago. Brands using it: Nissan, Unilever, AT&T, Chanel, GE, Liberty Mutual, State Farm Insurance, Geico, Campbell’s soup, Sears, JC Penney, Target, Best Buy, Direct TV, TBS network and Disney.
11:21
iAds is feature number 8. Steve says it’s to help developers earn money. He shows the Wall Street Journal app and banners popping up (Toy Story 3, of course.)
iAds offers emotion and interactivity, says Steve. Keeps you inside your app to show the ad rather than directing you to a website.
iAds is built right into iOS4. You can add them in one afternoon — just tell Apple where to place them because it’s built right into the operating system. You don’t have to build an ad.
Apple sells and hosts the ads so all you have to do is tell us where to put them and make money. Developers get 60 percent of the revenues, paid through iTunes Connect.
11:20
iBooks store joins iTunes and the App Store as the third store on the iPhone. 150 million accounts are ready to buy your apps, Steve says to developers.
11:19
Showing PDF reader. Swipes around, zooms in with pinch-to-zoom.
Closeup of Apple's iPhone 4, in the hands of CEO Steve Jobs, at Apple's WWDC 2010.
11:18
Giving a demo of iBooks. “Partly because I want you to see how beautiful it looks on this amazing retina display.” Steve is showing Winnie the Pooh. He highlights a block of text, changes the color of the highlight. Jobs makes a note on it: “I love Winnie the Pooh.”
11:16
iBooks: works wirelessly across iPhone, iPad and iPod.
You can purchase and download a book wirelessly to the device. You can download the same book to all your devices at no extra charge. Buy a book on your iPad, download it to your iPhone. Etc.
iBooks will automatically and wirelessly and for no charge sync your current place, all your current bookmarks and all your notes across all your devices.
11:15
Feature number 7: iBooks. It’s coming to the iPhone with iPhone 4. Same controls, same highlighting, same bookmarking, notes as on the iPad. Same book shelf to keep your books, same PDF reading.
11:14
iOS4 will be “out soon.” Steve says there’s another major milestone: selling 100 millionth iOS device this month. iPhones, iPod Touches and iPads. “There is definitely a market for your applications.” 100 million — “no one even comes close to this.”
11:13
On the consumer side they’re adding Google search and Yahoo as an option to select. Third option: Bing. (No, Ballmer is not here.) So now you have three choices for your default search tool in the browser. “Microsoft’s done a really nice job on this.” iOS4 – golden master candidate in developers’ hands today. That must mean it’s not coming out for consumers today.
Gizmodo Awwwww! Jobs complimented Microsoft on its HTML5 presentation.
Gartenberg Bing is now a search option. This is huge. Seriously huge. It’s not the default but there’s a battle between shaping up. #wwdc
11:12
Quick summary of enterprise support: better data protection, mobile device management, wireless app distribution, multiple Exchange support, deeper VPN support.
11:11
Seems he’s done demoing iOS 4 — since he already showed us those features in March… Multitasking, folders, new Mail, enhanced camera system, deeper enterprise support and “tons of new features.”
11:10
Steve is creating a folder. You hold your finger on an iPhone till it starts to jiggle and drag it on top of another icon. Drags a sports app on top of another sports app; it creates a new folder and names it based on the category of apps. You can go back and drag other apps in as well.
11:09
Like we saw in the beta, the apps show up in a bottom bar like a tray. You can use a widget inside the tray to pause Pandora while checking your mail.
Speaking of mail, Steve shows the universal inbox: checking multiple inboxes in a single inbox.
markmcc I will say, I’m excited about unified inboxes and threaded messages in mall for iPhone.
11:08
Showing a demo of iOS4. He’s launching Pandora and checking websites and e-mails, switching back and forth. (Gasp, the Wi-Fi works now.)
11:07
“iOS4 is our most ambitious release to date.” It has 1,500 APIs. There’s over 100 new user features as well, the biggest being multitasking. He says Apple has figured out multitasking just right. He quotes Larry Page: “Software running in the background, that just sort of exhausts the battery quickly.”
11:06
Feature number 6: iPhone OS 4, the most advanced mobile operating system in the world. They’re renaming it: it’s called iOS4 (because it’s on iPods and iPads). And adding a metallic look to the font.
11:04
Feature number 6: “We figured out why my demo crashed. There are 570 Wi-Fi base stations operating in this room. We can’t deal with that.” He’s asking us to turn off all the base stations. “Would you like to see the demo? (Mark McClusky is not turning his MiFi off.)
He’s telling us to shut off our laptops and base stations. He’s waiting for us to shut off our devices.
11:03
Steve is back on stage. You’ll be able to buy iMovie for $5 — “If we approve it,” Steve jokes. (Wow, Steve has a sense of humor! This is his second or third joke of the day.) “We’re really proud of it and we think you’re going to like it a lot.”
11:02
He’s showing the HD video shot and edited in iMovie. It looks really impressive and detailed.
11:01
He adds a music track and hits playback. It’s a combination of still images and videos. You can choose from 5 different themes, such as Travel.
Then you can export all the way up to 720p HD. Recorded, edited and rendered all completely on the phone.
10:59
iMovie for iPhone: You can choose from existing clips and photos on the device. He picks a clip, adds a photo. The media is shown in a timeline at bottom. You can tap to add a transition between media files.
He adds a title: “Our California Vacation”. The clip puts San Francisco in there, because geolocation has sensed that automatically.
10:57
iMovie for iPhone — Apple has written an iPhone app for movie editing. Randy Ubillos, chief architect of video apps, is on stage.
“I’ve been working on video editing software for a long time…” Final Cut, new iMovie and now iMovie for iPhone. He’s showing us a demo.
10:56
But that’s not all: it records HD video, says Steve. 720 p at 30 frames per second. “It’s real HD video.”
Tap to focus video
Built-in video editing
One-click sharing
LED Flash will stay on to illuminate scenes for video recording.
With a few taps you can e-mail, MMS, send to MobileMe or YouTube.
10:55
He’s showing a photo taken with the iPhone 4. They look really nice. He claims they’re unedited. Photos taken by employees.
10:53
Feature number 5: the new camera. It’s a 5-megapixel sensor. Backside illuminated sensor: get a lot more photons through the sensor by getting some of the wiring stuff out of the way. We’ve kept the pixels the same size going from 3 to 5 megapixels.
5x digital zoom built into the camera app. Tap to focus and LED Flash.
10:52
The gyro joins 4 other sensors in every phone: the accelerometer, the compass, the proximity sensor and the ambient light sensor.
“These phones are getting more and more intelligent about the world around us.”
10:51
The demo of the gyroscope: he’s showing a 3-dimensional pile of planks and rotating it in several directions really smoothly. It’s Jenga, actually. The tower falls over eventually.
10:50
Feature #4: We’re adding a gyroscope. A 3-axis gyro. Pitch, roll and yaw. Rotation about gravity. Gyro, accelerometer + compass = 6-axis motion sensing.
We’ve got new Core Motion APIs for precision. Steve says this is perfect for gaming. He’s giving us a demo. “Since this demo does not require the network, I should be OK.”
Steve Jobs shows a slide explaining the new gyroscope sensor in iPhone 4, at WWDC 2010.
10:49
Our environmental report card is strong. Arsenic free. Mercury, BFR and PVC free. It’s highly recyclable.
Up to 32GB of storage. Quad-band HSDPA/HSUPA for 7.2 mbps down, 5.8 mbps up. “That’s theoretical because carriers don’t support that yet.”
802.11N (Wi-Fi).
10:47
Third: the iPhone 4 is powered by the A4 chip. This is the chip designed by “our own team.”
Scobleizer I love how geeks cheer when Apple announces an A4 chip.
The iPhone 4 is “packed to the gills.” He’s showing the internals of the iPhone 4, very tightly packed. The biggest component is the battery.
We’ve improved the battery as well: 7 hours of 3G talk, 6 hours of 3G browsing, 10 hours of Wi-Fi browsing, 10 hours of video, 40 hours of music and 300 hours of standby.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs holds the new iPhone 4, at WWDC 2010.
10:45
Existing apps look even better. The iPhone OS automatically renders text. If devs put in higher-resolution artwork, the apps will really look stunning, says Steve. “We suggest that you do that.”
“Awesome text, awesome images and awesome video.”
“The display is your window into the internet, your apps, your media, your software.”
Steve Jobs at WWDC 2010, in front of a display showing the difference in resolution between the old and new iPhone screens.
10:44
Some specs:
3.5-inch display
960 x 640 pixels
326 pixels per inch
80:1 contrast ratio
IPS technology for superb color and wide viewing angle
“It results in incredibly sharp text and video.” 78% of the pixels of the iPad right in the palm of your hand.
10:43
“Well I’m sorry guys, I don’t know what’s going on.” Wi-Fi network is still hanging. “Scott, you got any suggestions?” Someone yelled “Get Verizon!”
10:41
The network is down and Steve can’t load the NY Times website on the iPhone 4. Audience is laughing. “I don’t know what’s wrong with our networks.” They’re switching to a backup network. “Could not activate cellular data.” Way to go, AT&T. Audience laughs.
“Well, geez, I don’t like this,” says Steve. “I have a problem and I’m not going to be able to show you much here today. I can show you pictures and a camera roll.” He’s showing photos: again, much clearer photo on the iPhone 4, better shadow detail.
10:39
He’s showing a demonstration of the iPhone 4. He shows a slide comparing 3GS to the iPhone 4. The iPhone 4’s home screen is on the right and is much crisper and more detailed.
10:36
“Retina display” is the second big feature. Steve explains retina display increases the pixel density: four times as many pixels in the same amount of space. We get really, really sharp text compared to what we normally get on displays with lesser resolution.
It has 326 pixels per inch. There’s never been a display like this on a phone. 300 is the limit of the human retina (when the screen is 10-12 inches away). It’s also the resolution at which magazines like Wired are printed. “We are comfortably over that limit and it’s extraordinary.” He shows a difference between the two using the New York Times website: the right image is obviously clearer.
10:35
All new design. Thinnest smartphone ever. It uses stainless steel for strength. It uses glass on the front and the back for optical quality and scratch resistance. It’s got integrated antennas and extraordinary build quality. “I don’t think there’s another consumer product like this.”
Steve Jobs stands in front of an image of the iPhone 4.
10:31
“iPhone 4: This is really hot. There are 100 new features and I’m going to cover 8 with you.”
All new design: “Tell me if you’ve already seen this.” (Audience laughs and claps.) “You’ve gotta see this thing in person, it’s one of the most beautiful designs you’ve ever seen. This is beyond a doubt the most beautiful things we’ve ever made. Glass on the front and the rear, stainless steel running around, and the precision of which this is made is beyond any consumer product we’ve ever seen.”
“It is just 9.33 mm thick — 24% thinner than the iPhone 3GS…. As a matter of fact, it is the thinnest smartphone on the planet.”
On the front we have a front-facing camera.
Micro SIM tray.
Camera and LED flash on the back.
Microphone, 30 pin connector and a speaker. Second mic for noise cancellation and a sleep/wake button
“Because there have been a few photos of this around people have asked what’s this?” Referring to lines, a stainless steel band. There’s actually three of them. They are part of the entire structure of the phone — the stainless steel band that runs around is the structure of the phone. Uses the stainless steel band as part of the antenna system.
10:30
“In 2007 the iPhone reinvented what we thought of as the phone.”
“There was no free market for apps. There was no app store. It was really different before the iPhone… the iPhone started to change all of that in 2007; it was a revolution.”
He breaks down the three iPhones. Now the 2010 is going to be the “biggest leap since the original iPhone.”
It’s called iPhone 4.
10:29
“Now I’d like to talk about the iPhone,” says Steve. RIM: 35%, iPhone: 28%, Windows: 19%, Android: 9%, Other: 9%, according to Nielsen’s estimations of Market Share.
“The iPhone’s market share is over 3 times that of Android,” Steve says, citing Nielsen.
Now Mobile browser usage: iPhone has 58.2 percent of entire mobile browser usage. 2 1/2 times as much which is Android at 22.7%. “Very recent data, this may help you put things in perspective.” (Audience laughs.)
10:27
Steve is back on stage and says he’s got a few great pieces of information: crossed 5 billion downloads just last week. “This next thing is my favorite”: 70 percent of revenue goes to developer.
“How much have we paid you to date? Just a few days ago we crossed $1 billion.” He shows a photo of a check with $1 billion on it.
“That’s what makes the App Store the most vibrant app community on the planet. Over 5 billion downloads and a really healthy ecosystem not only for users but for developers as well, and we’re thrilled with it.”
10:24
ActiVision CEO Karthik Bala is coming up to talk about Guitar Hero.
They’ve developed a new Guitar Hero experience for iPhone and iPod Touch. You can customize the look of your rock star any way you want. Same tapping mechanic (similar to Tap Tap Revenge.) You can activate star power to get double points.
10:20
Zynga CEO Mark Pincus is coming on stage to talk about Zynga.
“Today we’ll be introducing farming for the iPhone. Farmville is our most popular game and we’re excited to bring it to the most popular mobile gaming platform in the world.”
Showing an example of a farm — looks kind of like Sim City for farming. You can even put a snow leopard in the farm (har har). You can plant and harvest crops. Push notifications warn you when crops are withering. “With Farmville on the iPhone people can farm anytime, anywhere.”
You can visit friends’ farms on Facebook, fertilize their farms and send them gifts. Players send each other 200 million gifts every day.
10:16
Netflix CEO Reed Hastings is coming on stage to talk about Netflix for the iPhone. The Netflix application for the iPhone is coming this summer for free, he says.
You can access all of Netflix’s television and movie genres. Showing off the Search tool: searched for the movie Art & Copy. Add it to the queue and you can start watching it.
10:12
“I’d like to talk about the App Store.” Steve makes it clear they support two platforms: HTML5, a “fully open, uncontrolled platform forged by widely respected standards bodies.”
“We are behind this 100% and it’s fully open,” says Steve.
The second platform is the App Store — a curated platform, with over 225,000 apps — and it is the “most vibrant app community on the planet.”
The App Store: our process of approving apps. Some facts: “We get about 15,000 apps submitted every week…. And they come in in up to 30 different languages that we support. 95% of all the apps we get submitted are approved within seven days.” The number one reason things get rejected: the app doesn’t function as advertised by developer. Use of private APIs is another reason — causes apps to break. The third reason we reject apps: they crash.
“Sometimes when you read all these articles you think something different is going on, but 95% of these get approved within 7 days.”
10:10
Users have downloaded 5 million books. That’s about 2 1/2 books per iPad. Five of the six biggest publishers in the U.S. tell Apple that the share of e-books is 22%. iBooks market share is 22% of total eBook sales — in just about 8 weeks, says Steve.
Some enhancements to iBooks: You can make notes to books. In addition you can add a control in the upper right hand corner to bookmark a page (looks like a red ribbon.)
We’ve added another big enhancement, too: The ability to view and read PDFs. You get a whole new book shelf just for PDFs. That enhancement will be out just a little later this month.
10:07
8,500 apps in the App Store for iPad. 17 apps per iPad that have already been downloaded. He’s showing off some apps: Pulse, WebMD, eBay, Iron Man game, Fieldrunners, Avatar, Flight Tracker, a lot of newspaper and magazines. Financial Times. Wired. Elements, a periodic table app. “I earned more on sales of the elements for iPad in the first day than from the past 5 yearsrs of Google ads on periodic table,” says maker of Elements (in a slide.)
LanceUlanoff Steve Jobs still thinks the Apple iPad is “magical”. Any guesses on what else he thinks is “magical”? #wwdc2010
10:05
iPad is now in 10 countries.
Steve shows an e-mail he got: “I was sitting in a cafe with my iPad and it got a girl interested in me. Now that’s what I call a magical device!”
10:04
A few updates to start with, says Steve: The iPad — “it is really changing the way we’re experiencing the web. Things like e-mail. Photos. Maps. Video. You name it. It is a whole new way to interact with the internet, with apps, with content media.”
Over 5,200 attendees at WWDC. People from 57 countries. Sold out in just 8 days. Over 120 sessions and 120 hands-on labs. There are over 1,000 Apple engineers that will be here this week.
10:03
“It’s great to be here. Thank you very much for the welcome.” Some guy in the crowd yells “Love you, Steve!”
10:02
People are standing and applauding. Steve’s waiting for everyone to calm down.
10:00
Lights are dimming. We’re getting started! Steve Jobs is on stage.
9:57
Apple is welcoming everyone to the conference. Asking us to turn off phones and PDAs. Presentation will begin shortly.
9:56
Crowd is cheering for someone in the audience — can’t see who. Maybe Woz?
Despite some initial glitches, HTC’s Evo phone has turned into a best-seller for Sprint. The first 4G smartphone ever, which is running Google’s Android operating system, sold three times more on the day of its launch than Sprint’s earlier hits, the Samsung Instinct and Palm Pre did over their first three days combined.
The HTC Evo is so hot that it has led to “temporary shortages” at some of Sprint’s stores across the U.S., says the wireless carrier.
“HTC EVO 4G has more than lived up to our expectations that it would be one of the most anticipated technology products of the year,” Kevin Packingham, senior vice president of product development for Sprint said in a statement. “We are working closely with our partners at HTC to increase the supply and get EVO 4G into the hands of everyone who wants one as quickly as possible.”
However, Sprint hasn’t given out details on the number of Evos sold.
Sprint’s HTC Evo sales announcement mirrors what the carrier said about the Palm Pre almost to the date a year ago.
The Pre was then a hugely anticipated phone on Sprint’s network. And as thisnews story we dug up shows, Sprint parroted the same information about the Pre at launch — right down to the shortages and the talk about replenishing inventory quickly.
HTC and Sprint unveiled the Evo in May. The feature-packed gadget has a huge 4.3-inch touchscreen, 1-GHz Snapdragon processor, a front-facing 1.3-megapixel camera for video conferencing and a 8-megapixel camera for shooting photos and videos. It costs $200 with a two-year contract.
But last week, before the device’s public debut, some early Evo users complained of a bug in the device. A problem with the device’s 8-GB MicroSD card didn’t allow them to save files or photos. HTC fixed the issue on Friday morning through an over-the-air firmware patch. The patch also took care of a security-related glitch in the phone.
Now the question is: Can the Evo sustain momentum, especially with the introduction of Apple’s new iPhone today, or will sales of the phone mirror the Palm Pre’s and quickly fizzle out?
Nike’s Nike+ heart-rate monitor may or may not have been planned for release on June 1st as rumored, but it has finally (almost) arrived. The manly strap-on is made in collaboration with Polar and will beam its findings direct to anything compatible with the Nike+ 5GHz wireless system: your iPhone or iPod Nano, for example. The Polar WearLink will also talk to wrist-mounted Nike+ Sportband or a subset of Polar training computers.
Probably the main strength of the Nike+ system is the great-looking web-based tracking that it does, adding in your workout info to help you keep to goals or to flat-out compete with friends. Adding the heart-monitor to the mix is a logical next step, and you can join those glistening, sweat-polished hunks I see running along the boardwalk every day, covered in all kinds of straps and gadgets, as I walk to the bar for a post-blogging beer or two every evening
The Polar WearLink will be on sale later this month for $70.
There are plenty of wireless spy-cams around, but this one gets a special mention because it is so cute, and at the same time so very sinister.
The BL-C230A from Panasonic will sit and wait, staring unblinkingly at its assigned slice of the world, watching patiently for some action. Should it hear a sound, see movement or detect body-heat – Predator-style – it will go into action and start filming the unfolding shenanigans, day or night.
The footage can then be emailed to you, or send directly to a VIERA link-compatible TV. If you prefer, you can just dial-in and watch the 30fps, H.264 stream over the 802.11b/g network. You can also pan and zoom remotely and connect up to 16 of these critters together to make a truly UK-style surveillance network.
It’s not cheap, though. Despite looking like a baby-monitor, one camera will cost you $300. Worth it, we guess, if you are truly paranoid.
The iPad makes a great comic-book reader. The 9.7-inch screen may not be quite as big a a standard paper page (around 12.2-inches), but the easy zooming actually makes the story easier to read.
Comics and Marvel, the two apps that got such great coverage when the iPad launched, are both gorgeous, but they only let you read comics that are downloaded from within (which also suffer from DRM). What about reading your own scans? Over the last few weeks, I have been trying out several apps which will variously read CBR, CBZ, PDF and other standard comic-book scan formats (most are essentially compressed folders of images). None of them is yet the real killer app, but one comes close, and the others are catching up fast.
ComicZeal4
This is the gold standard so far, in that it is the most feature packed and really gets out of your way when reading, although there are still quite a few problems. ComicZeal (pictured above) has existed for the iPhone for some time, and required a companion app to beam comics across. Now, with iTunes file-transfers for the iPad, getting your collection into ComicZeal4 is easy.
First, the gripes: The page turning animation is horrible. You need to drag the page a long way to the left (or right) before the animation kicks in, and then it whips across. It has improved in recent updates but still jars when you’re used to the standard Apple implementation.
The second big problem is the lack of a library. You pick your books from a popover, but there is no neat shelf like that found in iBooks, or in Comic Viewer (below). With large collections you’ll be doing lots of scrolling in an iPhone-sized panel.
On the plus side, ComicZeal4 is the only app tested that handles zooming and page turning properly. If you are zoomed in on a panel or are reading in landscape mode and then turn to the next page, the zoom level is respected, but you are popped to the top of the new page. Other apps either return you to full screen or force you to zoom out before turning pages, or dump you at the bottom of the new page, not the top.
There are some other neat touches. If your comics’ metadata is set properly, then the popover panel will show your collection organized in neat boxes. You can also lock a zoom level to remove white borders (zoom in with two fingers and hold for a second to lock) and when you finish a comic, your list will pop up to choose another.
ComicZeal4 has a few weird UI decisions, but overall is the best-featured reader for the iPad.
As I mentioned last Friday (and as our esteemed intern Miran Pavic also wrote), when the venerable iPhone e-book reader Stanza was updated to work on the iPad it also gained comic-book support.
The comics are stacked beside books in your library (although you can create a category for them) and you read them in the exact same interface as books (although obviously you can’t change fonts or tweak the viewing themes).
As Miran noted, Stanza is snappy. Page turn detection is good, and you can choose between a fancy page-turn animation or a straight slide between pages. One fantastic Stanza feature makes it in, too: swipe a finger down the page and the display dims. This should be in all readers, comic book or otherwise.
Stanza is basic, but if you only want to read a few titles it does the job well. It’s also free, so what’s not to like?
New on the scene, Comic Viewer has one obvious advantage over ComicZeal4: a shelf. Like Apple’s iBooks, Comic Viewer presents your collection on a virtual bookshelf. Also like Apple’s iBooks, you can’t do much with them when they are there: no collections, no virtual longboxes for different storylines.
When reading, Comic Viewer is even more basic than Stanza. Page turn animations are short to the point of confusing (did it change? back or forward?) and all to often you double tap to zoom only to bring up the settings (single tap).
This wouldn’t be so bad, but the settings are accessed from here via two comic-typeface boxes which you might not notice. As all other interaction is switched off while these boxes hide on screen, you can be tapping at an unresponsive screen for a while before you realize what is going on.
The maximum zoom level is also rather low. This is good for keeping the pictures from breaking up, but bad if you have some great scans and really want to get close.
There is one standout feature, though: In landscape mode, you can view two pages at once, just like a real comic. CloudReaders does this too, but Comic Viewer shows the spreads as they were made (CloudReaders will let you view any consecutive pages together, not just spreads).
V1.1 has already been submitted to the store and the developer, DenVog, tells me that there are several improvements:
Swipe to turn pages
Single-finger image panning after pinch-zoom
Landscape zoom support (double-tap and pinch)
Landscape slider for jumping to a page
Larger touch area on sides of screen for page turn
CloudReaders is an odd application. It is actually meant for reading PDFs, but also takes care of comic-book archive files just fine. Upon opening the app you get a very sparse list of your files with a line beneath each indicating the progress you have made through it. It looks horrible, as if it has simply been blown-up from the iPhone.
Once you get reading, the experience is better. Page-turns are snappy and the tap detection areas at each side are nice and big. Pinch-to-zoom and tap-to-zoom both work great, and there is a popover slider to adjust brightness. As I mentioned above, the dual-page landscape display is usable, but treats the pages as if they were laid out next to each other in one long row.
CloudReaders also lets you hook up the iPad to an external monitor for presentations. That’s more useful for PDFs, though, and as there are better PDF readers out there (Goodreader, for example), this may not be so useful to you.
ARCreader is another bare-bones reader. It has no double-tap-to zoom or even swipe-to-turn pages. You need to tap on the screen edges or pinch, respectively. What it does have, though, is a neat thumbnail view of the pages in the current comic. Tap once to bring up this row at the bottom of the screen. You can then scroll these images by swiping and tap one to move to that page. This is great for finding a page in a book you know already, less useful for reading the first time around. ARCreader is also free, so its worth taking for a test drive, but hardcore comics collectors may find it less than capable.
The winner is clearly ComicZeal4, despite its annoyances. It was one of the first readers for the iPhone, and has steadily improved since then into a mature and easy-to-use app. Tweak the pages flips and add a proper library to take advantage of the big iPad screen and it would be almost perfect.
Now all we need is somewhere to buy legal, DRM-free comic book back-catalogs. And if you’re asking, no, I didn’t scan these copies of Marshal Law myself. I do own the originals, though.
The Webcam for iPad from PhotoFast will add a 2-Megapixel stills camera and a 640 x 480 video camera to the iPad “later this year.” The camera will hook into the dock-port of the iPad and let users snap pictures using a companion app, and the product description says it will also work with IM applications.
There seems to be no reason at all why a camera couldn’t be hooked up to the iPad’s custom USB port when it has its own app for communication – after all, the dock-port can already slurp in photos and videos through Apple’s Camera Connection Kit. For it to be truly useful though, it needs to work with any app that wants to use it.
That’s why the promise of “IM app” compatibility has us interested. Clipping a camera to the iPad to make a quick Skype call may not beat using a built-in camera, but it sure is better than lugging an entire laptop with you just to call mom. In fact, if it can tilt, too, then you could avoid the troublesome up-nose shots that a bezel-bound camera would surely face.
The camera in the picture, snapped by UK tech-blog Pocket Lint, is a prototype using a Microsoft webcam. The real thing should be smaller. Pocket Lint also got the scoop on a TV tuner planned by PhotoFast, also hooking into the iPad’s dock port. All those complaints about the iPad lacking USB ports? Forget them. There will be peripherals aplenty for the iPad. You might not be able to use them with other computers, but neither will you ever have to install a device driver.
Always delighted to see savvy entrepreneurs and investors in Europe launch initiatives that can help young tech startups, wherever they’re located, go from idea to product without going bankrupt and disillusioned even before making it to the prototype phase. 
The first analysts’ notes on Apple’s new iPhone 4 have begun rolling in and they sound a common theme: While not the revelation it might have been (for 
We first wrote about Israeli startup 
Reports of UFO sightings in offices across the US have sprung up today.
By now, you’ve undoubtedly heard about all the big features of both 
Yahoo has laid off part of its search team as part of a new restructuring move, we’ve learned. Yahoo declined to comment on the number of people who were affected, but did confirm that there were layoffs in its Search group and gave us the following statement:
One of Verizon’s popular services is V Cast Video. Unfortunately, up until now, it has never been available on an Android smartphone but has always been an option for other Verizon users. Today, Verizon rolled out its native video service to the Android Market for Android smartphone users to download and enjoy. Verizon customers who own the Motorola Droid, the HTC Droid Eris, the Motorola Devour, the HTC Droid Incredible, and the LG Ally can finally use the V Cast Mobile Video app. 
Damnit, a sad day at TechCrunch – we’ve lost one of our own, drawn by the allure of a startup to call his own. TechCrunch research analyst 
Foxconn workers in China will be receiving another pay raise in the coming months in response to recent suicides. Workers in the plant located in southern Chinese city of Shenzhen will be seeing a 2,000 yuan (roughly $291) raise this October. All other workers in China will get their raises in July. 
I think HP might have finally given you a reason to purchase ink instead of a new printer each time. New HP printers are going to be optimized for the internet. No matter where you are, if you have an internet connection, you will be able to print from your printer. It does this through a new innovation with outdated technology. E-mail, the interface we’ve had for so long, that arguably has become the most outdated piece of technology involved in the internet, will be the main connection between your files and your printer. Yes, your printer will have its own email address. So that means any device of yours that has email access, which is pretty much everything by the way, can print off of these printers. Basically, you just email your pictures to your printer and they’ll be waiting for you when you get home. This means easy, working iPad printing guys and gals.
Apple’s latest iPhone is the biggest upgrade yet for the legendary handset. If you’re in the market to get one, there’s an easy way to sell your current iPhone using your iPhone.
We were all hoping for video chat with the 3GS and we didn’t get it — likely because Apple didn’t think it was ready. Even if it had, AT&T would probably have buckled. But now video chat is launching in earnest, and it’s called 
Further developments can, of course, be found at the 
The future has officially arrived, ladies and gentlemen: El Steve just made a video call to Jony Ive as part of his famous "One more thing" sequence of the Apple WWDC.
Multi-tasking is coming. They admit they are a bit late to the party. 
Local notifications: in-phone notifications for, say, pop-up alarms and such. Local app stuff.
Zynga's hit game
As I mentioned last Friday (and as our esteemed intern Miran Pavic also 
