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Report: Verizon May Follow AT&T Data Cap Lead - ChannelWeb
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 19 Jun 2010 | 2:06 am IT Crowd season premiere sneak peak
Channel 4 is previewing the first episode of the next season of the awesomely funny nerd sitcom The IT Crowd. I just watched it and howled with laughter -- it's got D&D, comeuppance for sexist pigs, and failed nerd romance. What more could you ask for?
Caveat: Channel 4 has got a ton of BS you have to jump through to watch this. Foreigners will have to find a UK proxy to watch through, and you'll have to register an account (I just used a Disposeamail email). Series 4 | The IT Crowd | Jen the Fredo
 Source: Boing Boing | 19 Jun 2010 | 2:00 am IT Crowd season premiere sneak peakChannel 4 is previewing the first episode of the next season of the awesomely funny nerd sitcom The IT Crowd. I just watched it and howled with laughter -- it's got D&D;, comeuppance for sexist pigs,...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 19 Jun 2010 | 2:00 am Backcountry Editorials - The Cory Bond Varon Magazine Feature Shot by Randall Bachner (GALLERY)(TrendHunter.com) The Cory Bond Varon Magazine editorial is set deep in the woods. The wild outdoors combined with Bond's rock-hard body creates an editorial that is all about unrestrained masculinity...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 19 Jun 2010 | 1:21 am Sale time: Palm slashes all apps by 50%
It’s also a pretty sweet deal for devs: Palm will subsidise the sale so that developers will be paid the same amount as usual. The sale is currently rumoured to run from June 21st to July 9th, with some more firm dates being announced soon. So, keep your eye on the Web Catalog for the price cuts, and get that credit card ready! [via Pre Central]
Source: MobileCrunch | 19 Jun 2010 | 12:49 am Technicolor Royalty Art - Manoj Jadhav's Indian Princess Pictures are Royally Chromatic (GALLERY)(TrendHunter.com) Manoj Jadhav's Indian Princess pictures are vibrantly amazing. The colors used in the fashions pop against the shoot's black background. I really enjoy flipping through these beautiful...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 19 Jun 2010 | 12:46 am Pee Dance Photoblogs - 'Hipsters Have to Pee' Celebrates Hot Hipsters Who Have to Go (GALLERY)(TrendHunter.com) Hipsters Have to Pee is a photoblog that showcases beautiful hipster girls that have to go to the bathroom. Even the ironic among us have to use the bathroom. Hipsters Have to Pee...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 19 Jun 2010 | 12:25 am Snow-Free Ski Advertorials - The Rivera Club Autumn/Winter 2010 Lookbook (GALLERY)(TrendHunter.com) The Rivera Club Autumn/Winter 2010 advertorial showcases a plethora of workwear and sport-inspired grunge looks. The photographs show a bunch of boys going for a ski trip, but what...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 19 Jun 2010 | 12:05 am Pin Prick Lighting - William Richard Green's AW 10 Fashion Film is Amazing (VIDEO)(TrendHunter.com) Menswear designer William Richard Green won the Vogue Italia & ASVOFF "LIGHT" series competition with his Autumn/Winter fashion film. The filmmaker who collaborated with Green for...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 18 Jun 2010 | 11:45 pm Italian MEP Wants To Eliminate Anonymity On the Internetm94mni writes "The European Parliament wants to monitor your Internet searches for child porn offenders, as previously reported. The declaration was adopted yesterday, and in an interview with the Swedish news outlet Europaportalen.se, the Italian MEP behind the declaration, Tiziano Motti, shares his views on the Internet and anonymity. In essence, Motti wants to completely eliminate anonymity on the Internet. 'Each upload of text, images, or video clips must be traceable by the authorities', says Motti. This is in line with the secretive UN initiative Q6/17, revealed two years ago." The doublespeak here seems to go beyond the imprecision of automated translation.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 18 Jun 2010 | 11:36 pm Flirty Princess Frocks - Collette Dinnigan Resort 2011 Collection Ups the Color in Your Wardrobe (GALLERY)(TrendHunter.com) Get some ideas for your wardrobe from the Collette Dinnigan Resort 2011 collection this season and prepare to dazzle in the spotlight. Featuring gorgeous, girly dresses in cute and...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 18 Jun 2010 | 11:25 pm Undulating Seachitecture - The Skywave House in Venice Beach By Coscia Day (GALLERY)(TrendHunter.com) Who says that modern design has to be limited to minimalistic, straight lines? The Skywave House by Coscia Day Architecture and Design is a suburban setup to the sea. Located in Venice...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 18 Jun 2010 | 10:45 pm Redefined Patriotic Faces - The Studio 360 Redesign Uncle Sam Contest Presents Creativity (GALLERY)(TrendHunter.com) The Studio 360 Redesign Uncle Sam contest is taking a look at the past and the present and redefining the famously patriotic face. To enter all you have to do is draw your idea and...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 18 Jun 2010 | 10:25 pm First Photos From the European Solar DecathlonAn anonymous reader writes "The 2010 Solar Decathlon Europe kicked off today in Madrid, Spain, with a stunning array of solar-powered prefab homes. Seventeen teams from around the globe are battling it out in the center of the city to see who has the most efficient solar-powered and eco-friendly house. Just as in the competition in Washington DC, the teams will be graded on minimal energy use, innovative architecture and engineering, sustainability, and more. Check out these exclusive photos from the event for a first look at the most exciting houses in this year's competition."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 18 Jun 2010 | 10:06 pm Red Rose Gowns - The Monique Lhuillier Resort 2011 Collection is Glamorous (GALLERY)(TrendHunter.com) This Monique Lhuillier Resort 2011 collection features some interesting gowns and cocktail dresses. The variety in lengths and styles in these summer frocks provides some interesting...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 18 Jun 2010 | 10:05 pm Costner's 'dream' machines debut - msnbc.com
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 18 Jun 2010 | 9:25 pm Stem Cell Tourist Dies From Treatment In ThailandAn anonymous reader writes "Last week, news that Costa Rica was shutting down a large stem cell clinic sparked a debate here on Slashdot about whether patients should be allowed to take the risks that come with untested treatments. Now comes news of what can happen when patients go looking for a shortcut. A patient suffering from an autoimmune disease that was destroying her kidneys went to a Bangkok clinic, where doctors injected her own adult stem cells into her kidneys. Now she's dead, and a postmortem revealed that the sites of injection had weird growths — 'tangled mixtures of blood vessels and bone marrow cells.' Researchers say the treatment almost certainly killed her."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 18 Jun 2010 | 8:30 pm UPDATE 4-BP actions before blowout were "reckless"-Anadarko* Anadarko shares give some gains after Moody's downgradeSource: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 18 Jun 2010 | 7:58 pm ESA announces dates for E3 2011FROM GAMERTELL - We’re still aching from our trek to E3 2010 and the ESA (Entertainment Software Association) has just announced the dates for E3 2011… Full Story » | Written by NEWS for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 18 Jun 2010 | 7:42 pm Might Threaded Conversations Be Coming To Twitter?
Twitoaster is the work of French developer Arnaud Meunier. As he tweeted and blogged today, he’s going to work for Twitter after getting to know some of the team following the Chirp conference in April. Of note, Twitoaster’s speciality was the threaded conversation view it gave to tweets. So does that mean this is coming to Twitter? Not necessarily — Twitoaster eventually added a number of other features — such as analytics — that could point to how Twitter could use Meunier’s skills as well. But given the direction Twitter has been going with its web product, I would be surprised if some sort of better conversation view wasn’t added to the site relatively soon. Another key focus of Twitoaster is tweet archiving. That’s another feature Twitter could definitely improve upon. Currently, thanks to Twitter’s search limitations, once a tweet is a couple of months old, it’s basically lost in the Twitter.com ether. If Twitter had a better archiving mechanism for old tweets, it could extend the life of them, and make them much more useful. All of this, of course, is some fun late Friday afternoon speculation. But Twitter was clearly impressed with what Meunier built, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they use his skills in a similar fashion on their core product. Meanwhile, Twitoaster will live on, but Meunier says not to expect any new features as he’ll be focused on his new job. [thanks Richard] Information provided by CrunchBase      
Source: TechCrunch | 18 Jun 2010 | 7:24 pm New Research Shows Integration of EOBR Software and Other Asset Management Systems Crucial to Maximizing IT InfrastructureSource: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 18 Jun 2010 | 7:11 pm Kobo reader now available for AndroidSection: Communications, Smartphones  Those with Android devices haven’t exactly had a ton of apps for reading ebooks aside from Aldiko. Amazon has promised an app soon, though hasn’t delivered it yet, and there’s no mention of anything from Barnes & Noble beyond “coming soon.” So it looks like we may have the first multiplatform ebook reader software coming to Android with Kobo. Kobo recently gained attention as providing the premium ebook reader for Borders, though it also has apps now across major major smartphones. Today marks the release of it’s newest smartphone app for Android. The app works just the same as we’d expect for any ebook service. it connects to your Kobo account to sync all your ebooks to your device and all other devices. Kobo will also bookmark your place int eh Android app, or on any other device, so you can easily pick up wherever you left off reading. Unlike some other smartphone ebook readers, Kobo for Android actually has a built-in ebook store so you don’t have to open your browser just to buy another book. While not gaining in mindshare, really, Kobo seems to be pushing really hard to be available in as many places as possible, and doing so faster than Amazon or Barnes & Noble. Launching what looks like a good Android app before Amazon even releases one is definitely a good step. Kobo even has an app for Palm’s WebOS, which neither of the other two seem to have even plans of doing. The ebook prices look to be about the same for Kobo and the other two, which certainly helps. Maybe Kobo can use this app as a way to offer yet another alternative to Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and even Apple’s iBookstore. Read [Kobo] Full Story » | Written by Shawn Ingram for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 18 Jun 2010 | 7:10 pm UPDATE 3-BP eyes billions of dollars in bank loans and bonds* Seven banks providing $1 billion each; no U.S. banks yetSource: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 18 Jun 2010 | 7:06 pm Cyrus steps out of tween idolhood toward "Liberty" (Reuters)
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 18 Jun 2010 | 6:57 pm Pew: Adults More Likely to Text and Drive Than Teens - PC Magazine
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 18 Jun 2010 | 6:40 pm The Case for Flash on the iPad, part 1FROM APPLETELL - With a full mobile version of Flash coming, can Jobs’ argument against it sway big media companies (or, more importantly, will consumers voting with their wallets sway them)? Full Story » | Written by NEWS for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 18 Jun 2010 | 6:30 pm Best Browser For Using Complex Web Applications?yanyan writes "I'm fairly new to the field of web application development. Currently i'm working on a big online ticketing system for passage and freight for a local shipping company. It's a one-man show and the system is written in Ruby and uses Rails. Aside from the requisite functionality of creating bookings the system must also print reports and tickets, and this is where i've discovered (the hard way) that most, if not all, browsers fall short. I've had to switch from Firefox 3.6.3 to Opera 10.53 because of a major printing bug in Firefox, but the latest stable Opera is also giving me its own share of problems. To complicate things, an earlier version of Opera (10.10) doesn't appear to have 10.53's printing problems, but i'm wary. What browsers and specific versions do you end up deploying for use with big, complex web apps that include printing? Also consider CSS accuracy and consistency."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 18 Jun 2010 | 5:43 pm Infamous 'Red Ring of Death' replaced with 'Red Dot of Death' on new Xbox (Ben Patterson)Ben Patterson - You'll never see the dreaded "Red Ring of Death" — the flashing red rings that denote a system failure — again if you buy the new, slimmed-down version of the Xbox 360. That said, there's always a chance you'll see a telltale "Red Dot of Death" instead.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 18 Jun 2010 | 5:29 pm UPDATE 2-BP actions before blowout were "reckless"-Anadarko* Anadarko shares rise 2 pct, give up gains on Moody's cutSource: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 18 Jun 2010 | 5:27 pm Microsoft to Boost Bing's Music, TV, Movies, Game Search (PC World)PC World - Microsoft will unveil new features next week to enhance the Bing search engine's capabilities to search for entertainment-related content, specifically in areas such as music, television, movies and online games.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 18 Jun 2010 | 5:20 pm Lijit Proves Search Company Really Means Ad Company – Takes $6 Million Series D
But Lijit is really an advertising network. Publishers that use Lijit also get access to lots of stats about what’s going on with site searches. And they have an option to join the Lijit ad network to put display ads up on their sites – not just on search results – targeted via that data. So far, so good. Lijit doesn’t take inventory unless they can get the publisher a minimum $1 CPM, and 30% of their 700 million page views on publisher sites serve Lijit ads. They say that will grow to 1 billion page views by end of September this year. Gross revenue, mostly from those display ads, is on target to hit $4 million – $5 million this year, CEO Todd Vernon told me earlier today. And most of their display ad publishers have joined Lijit in the last 90 days. Last year, revenue was near $0. Vernon says that the company is able to get premium advertising rates for publishers by combining that search intent data with demographic and content targeting, and that they work very well with mid and long tail publishers who aren’t yet big enough to hire their own sales force. All that growth and potential means Ligit gets a new round of funding. Existing investors Foundry Group, Boulder Ventures and High Country Venture have put another $6 million into the company, bringing the total to $18.3 million to date. If revenue trajectories continue the company will get to profitability by the time they’ve spent this round, says Vernon. Information provided by CrunchBase      
Source: TechCrunch | 18 Jun 2010 | 5:19 pm Social Media Monitoring Leader Attentio Names Vincent De Gennaro as VP Sales & MarketingSource: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 18 Jun 2010 | 5:05 pm Social Media Monitoring Leader Attentio Names Vincent De Gennaro as VP Sales & MarketingBRUSSELS and SINGAPORE, June 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Attentio SA, the world leader in SaaS social media insights, today announced that it has named Vincent De Gennaro as Vice President of Sales and Marketing.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 18 Jun 2010 | 5:05 pm /K I L L K I L L K I L L - Shot Spirits Corporation/We are advised by Shot Spirits Corporation that journalists and other readers should disregard the news release, GuestMetrics(TM) Partners With Major Credit Card Provider to Expand Data Application, issued 17-Jun-2010 over PR Newswire due to the client's request.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 18 Jun 2010 | 5:03 pm /K I L L K I L L K I L L - Shot Spirits Corporation/Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 18 Jun 2010 | 5:03 pm Digital Storm announces Special|Ops gaming computers
The Special|Ops is an overclocked Core i7, Core i5, or AMD Phenom II powered machine, featuring Digital Storm’s latest “TwisterBoost” overclocking technology and testing. Pricing starts at $987, and with add on’s can run you up to $2,429. From the press release:
Source: CrunchGear | 18 Jun 2010 | 5:00 pm Google Introduces Command-Line Tool For LinuxLomegor writes "'Ever wanted to upload a folder full of photos to Picasa from a command prompt?' Google introduced today a new project, Google CL, that lets you do that and much more. It's a new command line tool for Linux that acts as an interface with Google services; you can upload videos to YouTube or maybe post a new blog post in Blogger in just one line."
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Source: Slashdot | 18 Jun 2010 | 5:00 pm Use The iPhone 4′s Gyroscope Right Now — Without The iPhone 4 Or The Gyroscope
Developer Vishal Srivastava (who recently left a job at Microsoft after 5 years there) has built what he calls the “Perspectiverse Engine.” With it, you can use the iPhone 3GS or iPad in the same way the iPhone 4 with the gyroscope works. That is, you load up an app and move your body around to manipulate the action happening on the screen. You can see it in action right now in the app Magic 3G Easter Egg Painter, which is currently live in the App Store. Even cooler is a game Srivastava is working on called Gyromaniac (formerly called “Colonoscapade”). In it, you move your body around to make your way through a colon and other interesting interiors. It’s both disgusting and awesome. Srivastava actually showed me a demo of the game well before the iPhone 4 was announced (and obviously before anyone knew about the gyroscope feature). It’s very impressive how well it works considering there is no gyroscope in this older hardware. Check out the videos below. So how does it work? The engine “uses a combination of device sensors to constantly align the game world with the real world. No matter how you orient your phone, north in the game universe is the same as north in the real world, south is south, up is up, down is down, and so forth. This allows you to interact with that game universe as if you were in it,” Srivastava tells us. The engine works in older devices too but it reverts to tilt-only controls, Srivastava says. So now that the gyroscope is coming in iPhone 4, is Srivastava worried the engine he built engine will be obsolete? No — if anything he’s excited that it can make his games more accurate. He’s calling his company Subversus Interactive. Gyromaniac will be coming out shortly, but you can find Magic 3D Easter Egg Painter live now in the App Store — for a limited time it’s only $0.99.
Information provided by CrunchBase      
Source: TechCrunch | 18 Jun 2010 | 4:59 pm BP touts relief well progressBP reported progress Friday on drilling the first of two relief wells to permanently plug the massive leak spewing tens of thousands of barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. Kent...Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 18 Jun 2010 | 4:56 pm Best Buy to sell the white HTC EVO 4G starting July 11Section: Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers, Smartphones  According to Engadget, Best Buy will be carrying the latest Sprint smartphone, the HTC EVO 4G in white. Previously, the only color it was offered in was black, as most Android smartphones the conventional color of Android smartphones. However, not everyone likes the sleek black casing as evidenced by the popularity of the white iPhone models. Best Buy, reportedly, will be the exclusive carrier of the white model, which will be sold on July 11. Sprint will only begin selling the white HTC EVO 4G starting on August 8, while other retailers will sell the white model in September. Best Buy will begin taking pre-orders for the white HTC EVO 4G today (June 18) and I am assuming the price remains $199 on a new two year contract. Via [Engadget] Full Story » | Written by Natesh Sood for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 18 Jun 2010 | 4:56 pm Swype for Android and other top apps the week (Appolicious)Appolicious - With the World Cup in full swing and the world waiting anxiously for the new iPhone 4, many of the popular Android apps this week are centered around entertainment. Nothing wrong with that; it’s the middle of the summer and it’s time to kick back.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 18 Jun 2010 | 4:53 pm iPad coming to church altars with daily missal app (AP)AP - An Italian priest has developed an application that will let priests celebrate Mass with an iPad on the altar instead of the regular Roman missal.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 18 Jun 2010 | 4:30 pm Apple Updates MobileMe - InformationWeek
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 18 Jun 2010 | 4:30 pm Palm exec promises 'future devices,' 'new version' of WebOS (Ben Patterson)Ben Patterson - Will the wireless world ever see a Palm Pre 2, or a revamped version of Palm's touchscreen WebOS? The outlook seemed a bit cloudy in light of Hewlett-Packard's recent (and ongoing) acquisition of Palm — and particularly after some dismissive remarks by HP's chief executive. But according to one Palm exec, at least, the company is still hard at work on new WebOS-based handsets.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 18 Jun 2010 | 4:29 pm iPhone 4, a Tragedy in Three Acts [Voices]By Nitrozac and Snaggy
Source: All Things Digital | 18 Jun 2010 | 4:23 pm Wikileaks Source Outed To Stroke Hacker's Own EgoBinary Boy writes "Bradley Manning, the US Army private arrested recently by the Pentagon for providing classified documents — including the widely seen Apache helicopter video — may have been duped by wannabe hacker Adrian Lamo, according to Glenn Greenwald at Salon.com. Lamo told Manning he could provide protection under both journalist shield laws, and the clergy-lay confidentiality tradition, and instead immediately turned him in to authorities in an act of apparent shameless self-promotion." The article also goes into Wired's role in the whole situation, the strange, sometimes sensationalist media coverage, and the odd similarity between this case and proposed scenarios in a US Intelligence report from earlier this year aimed at undermining Wikileaks.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 18 Jun 2010 | 4:17 pm Did Apple Update Mac's Malware Protection--But Not Tell Anyone? - PC World
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 18 Jun 2010 | 4:13 pm Did Apple Update Mac's Malware Protection--But Not Tell Anyone? (PC World)PC World - Perhaps Microsoft isn't alone in issuing some security patches on the down-low. A new report from security software maker Sophos claims that Apple this week silently updated anti-malware protection in its Mac OS X operating system. In fact, the patch was so hush-hush that Apple failed to mention it in either the release notes or security bulletin that came with its Mac OS X 10.6.4 upgrade, which included the mysterious security fix.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 18 Jun 2010 | 4:08 pm Pogoplug Updates Android App: Control Your Drives From Your EVO 4G
It is available in the app store now. As you recall, the Pogoplug is essentially a NAS adapter that plugs right into the wall and then pop in the Ethernet cable. Any USB drives connected to it are automatically shared on the Internet (password-protected, of course) and you can manage the entire drive from anywhere in the world. The device itself is available for $129. Click through for full details.      
Source: TechCrunch | 18 Jun 2010 | 4:05 pm Moody's cuts Anadarko Petroleum rating to junkNEW YORK, June 18 (Reuters) - Moody's on Friday cut its ratings on Anadarko Petroleum Corp to junk status and said it may cut them further due to uncertainty about costs the firm will pay to cover liabilities...Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 18 Jun 2010 | 4:04 pm Pogoplug updates Android app: Control your drives from your EVO 4G
It is available in the app store now. As you recall, the Pogoplug is essentially a NAS adapter that plugs right into the wall and then pop in the Ethernet cable. Any USB drives connected to it are automatically shared on the Internet (password-protected, of course) and you can manage the entire drive from anywhere in the world. The device itself is available for $129. Click through for full details.
Source: CrunchGear | 18 Jun 2010 | 4:04 pm Growing Crops Without Sun or SoilShipping containers have been redesigned to become housing, offices, and even health clinics, but now a startup in Tucson is transforming them into sun-free, soil-free greenhouses.Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 18 Jun 2010 | 4:04 pm So Hot Right Now: Top 10 Gadgetell posts for the week of June 13, 2010Section: Haven’t caught all of the Gadgetell news this week? Here’s your chance to catch up on this week’s top 10 articles!
Full Story » | Written by NEWS for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 18 Jun 2010 | 4:00 pm FCC Broadband Plan Prompts GOP, Industry Backlash - PC Magazine
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 18 Jun 2010 | 4:00 pm SGN’s 3D Shooter EXO-Planet Elite Comes To The iPhone
Earlier today we learned that SGN, a mobile gaming company that focuses on the iPhone/iPad and will soon be expanding to Android, had raised $2 million from Google CEO Eric Schmidt’s Tomorrow Ventures and Xing founder Lars Hinrichs. Today SGN is also making its 3D shooter EXO-Planet Elite available for the iPhone and iPod Touch in the hopes of recreating the success of its hit Skies of Glory. The game runs $4.99, and you can buy it on the App Store here. EXO-Planet, which was an iPad launch title but wasn’t available on the iPhone or iPod Touch until now, is a third-person shooter set in space, with a nifty grappling hook mechanic that lets players fling themselves to the other side of a room with one tap. Gameplay is primarily multiplayer — hit Deathmatch or Capture the Flag, and the game’s matchmaking system will usually have you playing a game in a few seconds. This update also introduces a single player time trial mode. We first profiled the game in early April, and it was one of the first games I tried when I got my hands on an iPad. At the time, I wasn’t too impressed — the game looked compelling, but the controls were really difficult. Despite a lifetime of gaming experience, I couldn’t figure out how to get my character unstuck from the magnetic ceiling, and then I somehow flung myself into an endless abyss. Fortunately, it looks like those problems have been fixed, and the game is starting to live up to its potential. I fired up the iPad version for the first time in months and quickly jumped into an online multiplayer Deathmatch. The game was still a little disorienting for a few minutes, but I quickly got the hang of it and managed to rack up three kills in my first game (I may have died ten times, but that was a lot better than I did the first time I tried to play). And it looks like the iPhone version is actually better than the iPad version — the smaller form factor makes it a bit easier to control. And the iPhone obviously has a much larger userbase than the iPad, so despite the game’s slow start a few months ago, SGN may be able to turn EXO-Planet into another hit. Here’s a video review done by the folks over at AppSpy that gives you an idea of how the gameplay works.
Information provided by CrunchBase      
Source: TechCrunch | 18 Jun 2010 | 3:59 pm Foursquare Check-In Stickers Coming To A Store Window Near You (Video)How can Foursquare get more people to check into places as they go about town? One way is stickers. Next month you will start to see stickers in storefront windows reminding Foursquare users to check in and unlock specials. Foursquare’s director of business development Tristan Walker flashed one of the stickers in front of my camera when I was visiting the New York offices earlier today. In the video above (forgive the iPhone audio) he confirms the company will start to ship the stickers soon to popular Foursquare venues. The stickers are part of Foursqare’s new business-friendly focus. They are just regular stickers that say, “Check-in Here on Foursquare” and “Foursquare Special Here.” I asked Walker what he thinks about QR codes, those 2d barcodes people can scan with their cameras which are on the stickers Google sent out to local merchants a while back. He is not “particularly bullish” that they will catch on anytime soon. (I’ve argued in the past they could become a backdoor check-in for Google, but I tend to agree that cell-phone barcode scanning is still an unnatural act for most people) And since he’s been Tweeting all day how much he thinks Twitter’s Promoted Trends is a goldmine business model, I asked him about that also. On camera, Walker was a little shy, but he points out that it is a fascinating way for advertisers to get in front of a large portion of Twitter users. Of course, there are also ways to geo-target the promoted trends by city or even neighborhood. Maybe there is a Foursquare tie-in there, Promoted Specials! Nah.      
Source: TechCrunch | 18 Jun 2010 | 3:56 pm Utah AG defends Twitter use after execution order (AP)AP - Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff is defending his use of Twitter to tell the world that he had given the Department of Corrections the OK to execute a condemned man by firing squad.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 18 Jun 2010 | 3:54 pm AstraZeneca settles U.S. pricing lawsuit for $103 mlnNEW YORK, June 18 (Reuters) - AstraZeneca PLC has agreed to pay $103 million to settle U.S. litigation involving claims the drugmaker inflated prices for its Zoladex cancer drug and Pulmicort Respules...Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 18 Jun 2010 | 3:46 pm UPDATE 2-Shell said to be in talks on Montreal refineryCALGARY, Alberta, June 18 (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell Plc is still talking to a potential buyer for its Montreal East oil refinery, the head of the special committee formed to sell the facility said...Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 18 Jun 2010 | 3:40 pm "We Have Big Expectations for Tablets, Just Not RIM's" [Digital Daily]
Caris and Co. analyst Robert Cihra says it should not. While RIM’s strong reputation in security and remote management might give it a leg up in the enterprise space, he says, its comparatively small mobile application ecosystem might be a disadvantage. “We have big expectations for tablets, just not RIM’s,” Cihra said in a research note today. “We’re intrigued by building press speculation of a future BlackBerry tablet, as we have big expectations for the nascent thin-client tablet category, headlined by Apple’s iPad.” Detailing his skepticism, Cihra writes, “However, we start pretty skeptical of RIM’s potential in tablets, primarily because beyond media/Web access we think the iPad is really about ‘apps’ and don’t think RIM’s quality-over-quantity ’super apps’ approach will cut it in tablets. Moreover, we don’t see tablets as a platform where RIM’s core messaging strengths and carrier-focused model necessarily translate as well.” Add to that RIM’s core industrial-design weaknesses and its poor touchscreen efforts to date and the case against a BlackBerry tablet becomes even more compelling. With the iPad, Apple (AAPL) has shown us that success in the burgeoning tablet market requires good design, a robust OS and a vibrant app platform. And at this point, RIM (RIMM) doesn’t really have these things. The BlackBerry OS might be great for email-focused handsets, but will it translate well to a larger slate form factor? That doesn’t seem likely, though one never knows. Ultimately, wouldn’t it be wiser for RIM to take whatever resources it is devoting to tablet development and use them to build a truly killer new BlackBerry, one that really rivals the iPhone and Android devices against which it is increasingly competing? Source: All Things Digital | 18 Jun 2010 | 3:31 pm TACO Extension for Firefox Forked After Proprietary Updatertfa-troll writes "Beef Taco is a Firefox extension that allows a mass opt-out from tracking and targeted advertising by many ad networks. The Register reports that the original system, TACO, has become proprietary, and has added new 'features' best described as bloatware. I guess this should serve as a warning for users to always prefer software under a copyleft license where possible. If Google had chosen a license with better protection, such as the GPL, when it released its own opt-out tool, this problem would have been much less likely. This also shows why forks are so important when software development begins to get messy."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 18 Jun 2010 | 3:31 pm Fiber Networks Go on the Block [Voices]By Anupreeta Das, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal A decade ago, dozens of companies rushed to build fiber-optic networks, envisioning a new era of high-speed telecommunications. They overbuilt, triggering a string of bankruptcies and wasting billions. Now, amid a surge in broadband Internet use, demand is finally catching up with supply. At least three privately owned operators of fiber-optic networks have put themselves on the block in recent weeks, hoping to fetch hefty prices. Those companies, according to people familiar with the matter, are KDL Inc., of Evansville, Ind., a provider of fiber networks in 26 states; Houston-based Alpheus Communications, which builds and manages the fiber backbone that links major cities in Texas; and Fibertech Networks LLC, which leases fiber networks to banks, colleges and hospitals in the eastern U.S. All three have hired investment bankers, and are hoping to attract bids that value them at around 10 times earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, people familiar with the matter said. Read the rest of this post on the original site Source: All Things Digital | 18 Jun 2010 | 3:30 pm AdMob Deal Breakdown: $530 Million In Stock, $220 Million In Cash
Thanks to an SEC filing, another detail emerged today about Google’s acquisition of mobile ad network AdMob. We already knew the $750 million Google-AdMob acquisition was a cash and stock deal but we didn’t know the breakdown between the two. According to an SEC filing submitted by Google today, the search giant sold $530 million worth of stock as part of the deal, indicating that AdMob (and its investors) may have taken home the remainder, $220 million, in cash (because of some accounting issues, this number may not be exact). So was AdMob happy with the split between cash and stock? I guess that depends on whether they think Google’s stock will keep going up. Google paid for the bulk of the deal with stock, and the deal will hardly make a dent in its huge cash reserves (the company has $26.5 billion in the bank). The deal itself was drawn out due to concerns from the FTC over anti-trust issues. Over six months after announcing its plans to acquire AdMob, Google finally closed the deal at the end of May, a week after the FTC unanimously approved the deal.      
Source: TechCrunch | 18 Jun 2010 | 3:26 pm Alliance for Digital Equality Makes Computer Donation to Challengers Boys & Girls Club, Unveils Roadmap to Secure Affordable High Speed Internet in Every Los Angeles HomeADE releases Los Angeles Digital Empowerment Council's findings on the impact of affordable broadband deployment in underserved communities LOS ANGELES, June 18 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Alliance for Digital Equality (ADE), the leading voice for affordable broadband deployment in underserved communities, gathered in Los Angeles today to donate 25 computers to the Challenger Boy & Girls Club, and present key findings by their Los Angeles Digital Empowerment Council about the state of affordable broadband deployment in America.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 18 Jun 2010 | 3:24 pm Square Delays Mass Roll-Out, Admits They Began Before Things Were “Fully Baked”
When Jack Dorsey’s new startup, Square, was first unveiled in December, there was a lot of excitement about it. And rightly so. It looked like it could revolutionize the way individuals accept payments for their work using their smartphones. But the road to the revolution has been a bit rocky. Today, Dorsey sent an email to the early adopters of Square explaining some of the reasons for delays in getting the product up to speed — and announcing a new indefinite delay. Of note, he admits that, “we’ve let our excitement get the best of us and have released parts of Square before they were fully baked.” Square had hoped to have the service ready to roll in “early 2010,” but it’s already the middle of the year now and many users are still without units. Dorsey says that while initial hardware shortage issues have been resolved (by sending co-founder Jim McKelvey to China where the devices are made), now a credit processing issue is hampering the service. As such, Square has decided to halt the mass shipment of Square readers (the little hardware dongle required to read credit cards). They are now “rethinking and expanding our underwriting infrastructure,” Dorsey notes. The main problem now is that to ensure credit fraud doesn’t run wild on Square, they limit transactions numbers — but customers are complaining those limits are too low. Square agrees, so they’re trying to figure out a new way to handle things. So when might this problem be resolved? “We’re working on the ETA for mass shipments,” Dorsey tells us via email. “We want to make sure the underwriting is solid to manage the fraud and risk,” he continues. Below, find the full email Dorsey sent to Square users:
Information provided by CrunchBase      
Source: TechCrunch | 18 Jun 2010 | 3:19 pm Chris Arkenberg: Thanks and sayonara!
I've had a great week here at Boing Boing! It's been fun, educational, and a little bit nerve-wracking. And it's been a great opportunity to promote some of the minds & ideas that are inspiring me. Thanks to the staff for supporting me as a guest blogger, and special thanks to David Pescovitz who is just about as nice a guy as you could imagine.
Here's my own self promotion before I depart: I post all original content semi-regularly on my blog URBEINGRECORDED. I'm very active and trading a lot of sweat equity but I'm technically unemployed. Here's my LinkedIn. I make music - mostly electronic but across diverse genres. My currently-posted works are at N8UR, including originals and a bunch of remixes. I'm very proud of my Radiohead remix so if Thom or Johnny are reading this (or anyone who knows them), please give it a listen. My most recent published work is an E.P. called Western Rains, embedded below.
Thanks so much! I'll leave you all with this clip from The Boosh:
Source: Boing Boing | 18 Jun 2010 | 3:12 pm Alberta Scientists Discover Largest-Ever Cache of Dinosaur BonesCryolithic writes "The largest cache of dinosaur bones ever found has been unearthed in Alberta. From the article: '... officials at the Royal Tyrrell Museum say the Hilda site provides the first solid evidence that some horned dinosaur herds were much larger than previously thought, with numbers comfortably in the high hundreds to low thousands. ... Rather than picturing the animals as drowning while crossing a river, a classic scenario that has been used to explain bonebed occurrences at many sites in Alberta, the research team interpreted the vast coastal landscape as being submerged during tropical storms or hurricanes. With no high ground to escape to, most of the members of the herd drowned in the rising coastal waters. Carcasses were deposited in clumps across kilometers of ancient landscape as floodwaters receded.'"
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 18 Jun 2010 | 3:05 pm E3 2010: Gaems Makes the Xbox 360 Slightly More Portable - PC Magazine
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 18 Jun 2010 | 3:01 pm TRACE3 CEO Hayes Drumwright Named Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year(R) 2010 Award Recipient in Orange County/Desert CitiesIRVINE, Calif., June 18 /PRNewswire/ -- TRACE3, a leading IT Systems Integration firm that provides solutions for reducing IT infrastructure complexity, announced that last night during the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Awards Ceremony at the Irvine Hyatt, Hayes Drumwright, the company's founder and CEO, was announced the winner of the 2010 Ernst & Young Orange County/Desert Cities Entrepreneur of the Year Award for entrepreneurial excellence in the Technology category. (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100618/LA23542) (Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20100618/LA23542) "I am very proud of what we have created at TRACE3.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 18 Jun 2010 | 2:53 pm iPhone 4: Get in line now, we’ve got campers already [Updated w/vid]
Waiting a week in line for the iPhone means one of two things. Either you messed up and didn’t get a pre-order or you’re as insane as me (I stood in line so long for Lady Gaga tickets I actually started to grow another..nevermind). There is this Apple fan by the name of Justin, and right now he is waiting in the hot Texas sun (right now it is morning and the temp is already 86 IT IS 100). It’s okay though, he said he hasn’t had a vacation in over ten years. What better time then now? He wrote on the Macrumors forum:
I am being slightly hypocritical because, yes, I, in fact, missed the pre-order and plan on arriving early to wait in line (I’ll even provide coverage to those who are lucky enough to stay home). But, how early do I need to get in line? I’m going to make some calls and get back to you on that. How many of you are planning on waiting in line, and if so, can you share your secret place to wait?
Source: CrunchGear | 18 Jun 2010 | 2:48 pm HTC Android Smartphone Stores Browsing ScreenshotsMad Hamster writes "Boy Genius Report points out that the HTC Droid Incredible, using the Sense UI, 'will periodically store screenshots of the contents of your web browser.' These shots are stored in such a way that they are not easily deleted. 'They remain when the current browser session is closed, they remain after you clear the browser history, and they remain after a full factory reset,' though there is a way to delete them manually."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 18 Jun 2010 | 2:47 pm Motorola shows Android update schedule for Droid, CLIQ and BackflipSection: Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers, Smartphones, Mobile
Over in the Motorola support forums, an update schedule for Motorola phones like the Droid, CLIQ and Backflip appeared with date ranges on when the update will be completed. The chart lists upgrades to Android 2.1 and shows a lot of “under evaluation” for many of the phones in overseas markets. For the US, the news is rather good. The CLIQ (US) and CLIQ XT (US) are shown to get the upgrade to Android 2.1 in Q2 of this year, which is any time now. The Backflip (US) is pegged to get the upgrade in Q3. The Milestone (aka Droid in US) is rolling out in stages for Europe, Asia, Canada, and Latin America. What’s interesting is the upgrades max out at Android 2.1. We expect to start seeing 2.2 devices roll out in the coming weeks which has to be frustrating to the developers working hard to get 2.1 on all these devices. According to Google, half of all Google Android phones are now running 2.1. That’s an impressive feat. Read [Gizmodo] via [Mobile Crunch] Full Story » | Written by JG Mason for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 18 Jun 2010 | 2:38 pm Find out what evil lurks inside the Xbox 360 Slim
AnandTech took theirs apart (you didn’t think I was going to crack mine open did you?) and found out that Microsoft hasn’t just improved the appearance, they’ve updated the CGPU (to a 45nm), changed the cooling so it won’t sound like a jet airplane taking off, and even reduced the power consumption by 50%. Sounds like a much better console to me. Even the connectivity in the back has been improved. Microsoft hooked the slim up with optical audio out, HDMI output, three USB ports, an ethernet port, the obligatory Microsoft AV connection, and the input port for the Kinect due this coming November. AnandTech spent quite a bit of time taking apart and carefully examining the slim, and do recommend that you give their full article a read. It’s quite impressive exactly how much Microsoft has put in to making the Slim a better machine then the original Xbox 360. Oh, and one other thing. If your Xbox 360 Slim dies, don’t expect the ring to flash red any more. Marketing had that little “feature” removed.
Source: CrunchGear | 18 Jun 2010 | 2:30 pm CCH KnowledgeConnect, ProSystem fx Knowledge Coach, Named as Top New Products in 2010 by Accounting TodayRIVERWOODS, Ill., June 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Several innovative new CCH solutions have been honored by Accounting Today as part of its "Top 2010 New Products." CCH® KnowledgeConnect won the award in the Practice Management category, while ProSystem® fx Knowledge Coach won in the Audit Software category.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 18 Jun 2010 | 2:18 pm AIVtech Announces New Independent DirectorsSHENZHEN, China, June 18 /PRNewswire-Asia-FirstCall/ -- AIVtech International Group Co.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 18 Jun 2010 | 2:17 pm Jim Graham - Racing, tele-working, & battling multinationals
Jim Graham, AKA Ronjon, is Director of Marketing at The Satellite Telework Centers in Santa Cruz County, an avid Burning Man attendee who ran Media Mecca for several years, and Stock Bug class rally racer. He was one of the founders of the Felton Friends of Locally Owned Water (FLOW) movement that successfully re-claimed Felton water rights from the German multinational, RWE.
You were instrumental in your town's successful fight to recover its water rights from a major multinational. What happened with Felton and FLOW? Our town water system had been privately owned since the late 1800s, but in 2001-2002 it was acquired by American Water, which was then acquired by the German multinational RWE. American Water immediately applied for a 78% rate hike with almost zero public notice. The town banded together to fight back and formed Felton Friends of Locally Owned Water (FLOW). We initially planned to fight the rate hike at the Public Utilities Commission, but quickly realized that it was so weighted in favor of big business that our only option was to take the water system back via eminent domain. We got a measure on the ballot to raise $11 million to buy the system. American Water fought dirty, as it has in other communities around the U.S. We were leaked a copy of their campaign strategy, which included using an ad agency to provide flyers that would go out under a co-opted community group and push polling to intimidate our local county Supervisor. We even had an astroturf group surface one month before the election that basically disappeared the day residents voted by 74.8% to raise the money. We eventually acquired the water system and now FLOW members consult with other community groups around the U.S. who are looking at acquiring their water systems from private utilities. How long have you lived in Felton? What brought you there? I've been in Felton since '91. I was born and raised in a small agricultural town, Hollister. After a stint as a reporter in Washington, D.C., I got tired of the snow and humidity and came back. Hollister had grown to something like 30,000 people. Too big! I eventually found a place in Felton and haven't looked back. It always fascinates me how much energy is spent on online communities. Community to me is talking to someone at the grocery store, sitting in a meeting at the town hall or being involved in a community project. Maybe because I'm older, but the IRL stuff is a lot more interesting. That being said, I'm also mayor of pretty much every business in Felton. As a co-working entrepreneur, how has the landscape of work changed with respect to location? Tell me a bit about co-working and The Satellite. Some people are saying we'll all be freelancers within a decade. I don't buy that, but I am seeing a lot of people wanting more flexibility in where and when they work. Co-working facilities are opening everywhere and I think that's great, particularly for independent contractors and some start-ups. Where we're different is that we're going into small towns that surround large metropolitan areas, building professional office space in established commercial districts and renting it to telecommuters, home-based business owners and consultants. Where co-working spaces emphasize collaboration, we find our members do their collaboration with coworkers and clients somewhere else and come to us for the quiet, uninterrupted time they need to get their work done.
How did you end up involved in off-road racing? Would you talk a bit about Desert Dingo and your efforts in the Baja 1000?
Source: Boing Boing | 18 Jun 2010 | 2:15 pm Global Online Travel Leader Expedia Adding 130 Jobs to Las Vegas OfficeLAS VEGAS, June 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Expedia, Inc., the world's largest online travel company, today announced they will add 130 new jobs to the online travel company's Las Vegas operations by month's end, bringing the local office total to 500 employees.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 18 Jun 2010 | 2:13 pm First self-replicating mathematical creatureThe Game of Life is a cellular automation first devised in 1970 by mathematician John Conway. It's played by setting simple rules and then watching how the cells live, die, interact, and form complex patterns that evolve over time. Last month, Canadian computer programmer Andrew Wade managed to spur the emergence of the game's very first self-replicating mathematical creature. It's named Gemini. From New Scientist: Gemini's implications extend to the real world. "There's a fascination with the complexity that is coming out of these incredibly simple rules," says Susan Stepney, a computer scientist at the University of York, UK, who ran Gemini inside Life, at New Scientist's behest. "Eventually that leads on to biology, putting simple atoms together to make complex life.""First replicating creature spawned in life simulator" UPDATE: Lots of debate in the comments here, and also at New Scientist, about whether this is really as much of a novelty in the Game of Life as the article suggests. It'll be interesting to see how the discussion evolves. Get it? EVOLVES!!! Hahahahah.... Source: Boing Boing | 18 Jun 2010 | 2:11 pm Dogs Sniff Out Poop of Endangered SpeciesWhat do the Eastern spotted skunk, the striped skunk, black bear and long-tailed weasel have in common? They are just four of 117 endangered species in the state of Alabama -- which ranks 3rd in the country behind Hawaii and ...Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 18 Jun 2010 | 2:10 pm Movie Studio Finally Sees the Light On RentalsGriller_GT writes "After months of conducting studies about the effects of delays on sales of DVDs, 'Paramount Pictures has agreed to provide its movies to Redbox on the same day they go on sale.' A Paramount exec said, 'Those people who want to rent are going to figure out ways to rent, and us restricting them from renting isn't going to turn it into a purchase.' Gee, who would have thought of that?" Reader DisKurzion sends in news of another movie business experiment underway by an Australian company called Distracted Media. They are raising funds for a movie called The Tunnel by letting people invest in individual frames for $1 apiece. When the movie is complete, it will be released for free on torrent sites.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 18 Jun 2010 | 2:04 pm Country Economy Is A Stronger Predictor Of Therapy InitiationRA patients in rich countries are three times more likely to receive biologic treatment than those in poor countriesThere is significant disparity between 'richer' and 'poorer' countries in terms of access to biological treatments for rheumatoid arthritis (RA), according to results from a multinational study across four continents presented today at EULAR 2010, the Annual Congress of the European League Against Rheumatism in Rome, Italy. Furthermore, findings from a separate study show that RA patients report the severity of their disease in the same way, irrespective of the country where they live.Results of a multinational study assessing whether macro-economic differences predict likelihood of treatment with a biologic showed that at the start of the study, RA patients in rich countries were three times more likely to have already received a biologic than those in poor countries (33% vs. 11.6%). Assessing the number of patients who had not received a biologic before the start of the study showed that the disparity between patients in rich and poor countries (20% vs. 14%) continued in the following four to five years.Results of a second study showed that macro-economic status did not have an impact on RA patients' perceptions of their disease severity, as measured by several clinical measures collated within the Patient Reported Outcomes (PROs) index. PROs were compared to the DAS measure of disease activity (DAS28) and a significant association for both rich and poor countries was (beta coefficient 0.73 (0.70-0.77) vs. 0.78 (0.73-0.82) respectively) detected. This indicates that, regardless of macro-economic status of the country, patients in the study report disease severity in a consistent way."The QUEST-RA study involves researchers and patients from 32 countries worldwide, and is the first of this scale to reveal some interesting findings related to the impact of countries' macro-economic status on patients' perceptions of disease, as well as the healthcare options available to them," said Dr. Tuulikki Sokka, Jyväskylä Central Hospital, Jyväskylä, Finland and lead author of both analyses. "Our study group, QUEST-RA, was put together as a collaborative international study of RA and consequently, it sheds light on the true international variations and related economic factors that affect the treatment of RA across the world."Professor Paul Emery, President of EULAR and arc Professor of Rheumatology, Leeds Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Leeds, UK said "The results of these studies have painted a clear picture of the impact that macro-economy of the country has on the treatments available for patients. EULAR is a partnership organisation of people with arthritis and rheumatism in Europe and clinicians, researchers, health professionals and will continue to work for equal access to effective treatments across Europe."Study designSource: RedOrbit News - Science | 18 Jun 2010 | 2:03 pm 'Miracle' Whale Survives OrdealDoom-sayers had long predicted that the lost, possibly ill whale would not live much longer.Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 18 Jun 2010 | 2:01 pm Verizon Considering Tiered Pricing for LTE 4G Users (NewsFactor)NewsFactor - As it gears up for its next-generation network, the nation's top carrier, Verizon Wireless, is mulling a tiered pricing plan based on data usage, a top executive said in a published interview. The company's chief financial officer, John Killian, told Business Week that as more smartphones access the Internet via Verizon's network, "We will probably need to change the design of our pricing where it will not be totally unlimited, flat rate."Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 18 Jun 2010 | 1:55 pm Gauging Safety In The Electronic AgeThe growing abundance of electrical devices around the home and work increases need for safe systemsEngineers at the University of Leicester are taking the unusual step of learning from architecture in order to design safer electrical systems.A doctoral project by Pakistani student Farah Lakhani is examining the development of software for embedded processors ("silicon chips") that are integral to products ranging from computer consoles to dishwashers and cars.Her project focuses on the fact that the huge growth in demand for embedded systems, and the great increases in their complexity, means that engineers need new ways to create such systems.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 18 Jun 2010 | 1:52 pm Are School Wellness Policies Stuck In The Ice Age?Researchers recommend involving teachers in nutrition education policy makingThe Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act, 2004, requires that all school districts have a Wellness Policy if they participate in federal school meal programs.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 18 Jun 2010 | 1:49 pm Are School Wellness Policies Stuck In The Ice Age?Researchers recommend involving teachers in nutrition education policy makingThe Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act, 2004, requires that all school districts have a Wellness Policy if they participate in federal school meal programs.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 18 Jun 2010 | 1:49 pm Fringe Dwellers 'Hold Secrets Of Survival'Corals right out on the exposed edges of the world’s great coral reef zones may hold an important clue to the survival of coral ecosystems facing intensifying pressure from human activities and climate change.In a paper in the international journal Science, researchers Professor John Pandolfi of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and University of Queensland and Professor Ann Budd of the University of Iowa have released new evidence showing that the evolutionary action on coral reefs is not in their ‘hot spots’ – but out on the fringes, where corals struggle to survive.Their trailblazing research is calling for a re-think about how to protect corals and other at-risk species under climate change.“We think we may have to pay just as much attention to protecting the edges of the ranges of coral species, where corals are fewer and less diverse, as we are currently paying to the places of rich coral biodiversity,” Prof Pandolfi says.“There are two main reasons.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 18 Jun 2010 | 1:45 pm Ocean Changes May Have Dire Impact On PeopleThe first comprehensive synthesis on the effects of climate change on the world's oceans has found they are now changing at a rate not seen for several million years.In an article published today in Science magazine, scientists reveal the growing atmospheric concentrations of man-made greenhouse gases are driving irreversible and dramatic changes to the way the ocean functions, with potentially dire impacts for hundreds of millions of people across the planet.The findings of the report, "The impact of climate change on the world's marine ecosystems" emerged from a synthesis of recent research on the world's oceans, carried out by two of the world's leading marine scientists, one from The University of Queensland in Australia, and one from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, in the USA.Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, lead author of the report and Director of The University of Queensland's Global Change Institute, says the findings have enormous implications for mankind, particularly if the trend continues.He said that the Earth's ocean, which produces half of the oxygen we breathe and absorbs 30% of human-generated CO2, is equivalent to its heart and lungs.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 18 Jun 2010 | 1:38 pm Archaeologists Hot on Trail of Aztec RoyaltyArchaeologists are finding elaborate offerings at a dig site they believe will ultimately yield an elusive prize: the tomb of an Aztec emperor, the first of its kind.Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 18 Jun 2010 | 1:35 pm ShirtsMyWay: design your own dress shirt
The site itself is extremely easy to use. You pick the color and fabric of your shirt, and optionally customize everything: short or long sleeves, inner and outer collar, yoke, placket, each cuff both inside and out, and pocket. You can add an optional monogram. You choose the cuff type (one button, two button, cocktail, etc), buttons, botton holes, and optional epaulets. And finally you select your sizing options: you can use your body measurements, you can measure an existing fitted shirt (detailed instructions are provided for how to do this properly), or you can select a standard size (XS, S, M, L, XL, XXL). Standard shipping is free worldwide (mostly: see details), which means you can expect your shirt in about 15 days. Expedited shipping is available for a small fee if you need your shirt in nine days. ShirtsMyWay also has a blog to help you improve your fashion sense. Combine ShirtsMyWay with your Blacksocks.com “sockscription” to ensure your wardrobe is a success.
Source: CrunchGear | 18 Jun 2010 | 1:30 pm Utah Execution Announced on TwitterTwitter is growing up. It's no longer just about self-promotion or announcing you're eating a ham sandwich. Utah's attorney general tweeted the firing-squad execution of condemned inmate Ronnie Gardner.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 18 Jun 2010 | 1:30 pm Who’s on Crack in tech: 6.18.10Section: Audio, Video, Communications, Features, Originals, Columns, Who's On Crack
Welcome to another week of moves in the tech world that seem obviously, to us anyway, fueled by drugs. This week saw the great iPhone 4 meltdown and a whole lot more. Here are this week nominees to be headed to rehab real soon:
Get your own 3D camera from Hammacher SchlemmerReady to be a 3D filmmaker? Our Shawn Ingram found this gem: “the camcorder is capable of shooting both 3D movies and images, though with dual 3MP cameras, the video is only going to 640 x 480. With a 4 GB SD card, which isn’t included in the price, you can shoot 4 hours of 3D videos. However, you can really only shoot two hours at a time as the camcorder (which seems to lack a name) can only last for two hours on a single charge which takes six hours.” 3D is coming in a big way, if you believe HDTV makers who are in need of pushing TV prices back up north of $2,000. Accessories like these help justify the TV purchase and would make your safari videos so much more interesting. Right? No. The only thing worse than being forced to watch someone’s home movies are being forced to watch them will a silly pair of 3D glasses on. Seriously, I am out the door when I get handed a pair of 3D glasses, because only 1.2% of users of the 3D camera are going to use it on safari. The rest are taping Timmy’s 2nd birthday party (ooh, look at him ignore the presents!) who’s parents insist the movie is way better in 3D. Run. For. The. Door.
Rent this movie 28 days later from X or now from YCan’t we get a quorum? Paramount has penned a deal with Redbox, the ubiquitous unattended movie rental kiosk company, to allow rentals to be available from the date of the movies release on DVD. It’s a rare move in movie land, one that actually makes some sense. Just recently, Warner Brothers decided Netflix would wait 28 days from the release of the DVD, much to users disappointment. Our Hunter Clarke found this quote from Dennis Maguire, Paramount’s Home Entertainment’s worldwide president, “By granting Redbox day-and-date availability we are allowing the consumer a choice of how to consume our movies while maximizing the profitability of our releases in the home entertainment window.” I’ve never understood the desire to buy DVDs. Music, I get that; it’s easy to me to commit to a 3 minute replay vs a 2-hour one. So it’s you crazy folks buying movies that are messing it up for the rest of us. If you would just buy it all on day 1, stingy folks, like me, would get them sooner. Unless it’s a Paramount pic and I happen to be near a Redbox. It just goes to show, you can never tell what is going to come out of Hollywood. Maybe the next Indiana Jones movie will actually be good?
IPhone 4 pre-sale meltdownAs the guy who started trying to get the iPhone 4 before 7am EST, I can tell you the day was bad. My day wasn’t as bad as say Appletell’s Kirk Hiner, ” 14 hours after my first attempt, and I was finally able to place my order online. Note…once you get past the AT&T checks and the iPhone is in your cart, it’ll stay there. I had another half hour of trouble completing the credit card process, but I didn’t have to go through the hassle of having Apple connect to AT&T to approve the purchase and get my rate.” Ouch. Is there any other product you would try to buy for 14 hours? Here is my list of things I’d wait that long to buy:
And that’s about it. Now, I am sure Kirk is under some kind of contract with Appletell to own the latest iPhone, so he probably had no choice. Still, I applaud his tenacity. And I am embarrassed to note that I’ve probably spent that amount of time baby sitting my order for the new iPhone, just to make sure it doesn’t disappear. Think you are lucky to be part of the 600,000 pre-order army?Uh-Oh. The real race becomes the activation when these uber-phones are delivered. AT&T’s database will seem like the pyramids (built to stand the test of time) compared to Apple’s activation servers. Who knows how many days it will be before we’re able to download the latest version of the software, install, and activate the phone for use (and since it is an iPhone by use I mean text and internet - not voice). I am plagued by one reoccurring thought: how many of the 600,000 will get through the activation process before the system goes down? 100,000? 10,000? 7? So, you’ve got to be ready. Download the latest version of iTunes. Have the sync cable ready to go as soon as UPS rolls up. Sprint, don’t walk to the door. Hit “sync” “go” or whatever button appears as fast as you can. Say “I accept” to any legal doc Apple throws your way (surrendering first born children on demand is something you can figure out later). See if you can beat me. I am doing dry runs now. Counting the steps from the door to the computer. I’ve slipped the UPS man a fiver in hopes he heads to my office first. I even told him I’d meet him somewhere but that conversation got awkward as I don’t think I explained myself enough. Why has Apple turned this into an episode of The Amazing Race? I see you all as competitors now and I’ll do everything I can to win. I am eating nothing but Powerbars and Redbull for the next week. Of course, with that diet and the stress over my order getting lost, I’ll probably be passed out with a package sitting on my doorstep. Or maybe, that’s just what I want you to think.
Full Story » | Written by JG Mason for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 18 Jun 2010 | 1:26 pm Latin America Net Arena Offers VC Opportunities (PC World)PC World - Venture capitalists focused on Latin America's technology market say the region offers a much better investment climate than in years past in the Internet market, with opportunities both in consumer and enterprise segments.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 18 Jun 2010 | 1:20 pm Genealogy May Affect Clinical Differences In Systemic Lupus Erythmatosus PatientsThe effects of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) may differ based on the individual patient's genealogical heritage, according to results of a new study presented today at EULAR 2010, the Annual Congress of the European League Against Rheumatism in Rome, Italy.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 18 Jun 2010 | 1:16 pm SMTC President and Chief Executive Officer Adopts Rule 10b5-1 Trading PlanTORONTO, June 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - SMTC Corporation (Nasdaq: SMTX, TSE: SMX), a global electronics manufacturing services provider, today announces that its President and Chief Executive Officer, John Caldwell, has adopted a pre-arranged stock trading plan to exercise and sell a portion of his stock options over time.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 18 Jun 2010 | 1:16 pm Twitter A Big Hit In JapanMicroblogging service Twitter has become a successful hit in Japan.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 18 Jun 2010 | 1:15 pm SGN Takes Investment From Eric Schmidt’s Tomorrow Ventures
The company previously raised $15 million. Founder Shervin Pishevar says this new round is the first tranche in a much larger Series B funding. Unlike most social gaming companies today, SGN has focused on very high quality games that allow multi-player gaming from different devices. Skies Of Glory is the office favorite. The company will soon be releasing titles for Android devices, says Pishevar.      
Source: TechCrunch | 18 Jun 2010 | 1:10 pm New Frameworks Give Mobile-Web Apps a BoostThe App Store and the Android marketplace are attractive lures for developers, but apps built to run on the mobile web can still impress. We take a look at the best frameworks available for mobile-web developers.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 18 Jun 2010 | 1:06 pm Cleaning Cards with Waffletechnology® Granted a US PatentAUBURN, Maine, June 18 /PRNewswire/ -- A US patent has been issued for the Waffletechnology® cleaning card.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 18 Jun 2010 | 1:05 pm Chinese Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Data Reveal Differences In Epidemiology Across ContinentsThe Chinese Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) Treatment and Research Group (CSTAR) announced interim epidemiological information on SLE patients in China today at EULAR 2010, the Annual Congress of the European League Against Rheumatism in Rome, Italy.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 18 Jun 2010 | 1:03 pm Nintendo offers (standard) warning regarding children playing games in 3D
3D in general has the potential to mess up your vision (studies are being conducted), simply because it tricks your brain into seeing depth where there isn’t. Eye fatigue can result from trying to focus on the “distant” objects, but being unable to, since obviously they are on the same plane as the “near” objects. Rest assured, it’s not going to make your toddler cross-eyed just to encounter a 3DS, it’s just a safety warning that you should probably heed as well. Hmm. I need to write a bigger post about this. Look for it this weekend.
Source: CrunchGear | 18 Jun 2010 | 1:00 pm QOTD [Digital Daily]
Source: All Things Digital | 18 Jun 2010 | 1:00 pm Windows Phone 7’s bus tracker app looks incredibly useful
I mean, look at it! The question (to be investigated further) is this: will the curated, Zune HD-inspired apps be the glory and limit of WP7? That is to say, will they be the only reason to buy one of these phones? I hope not, but I can think of worse things that could happen to a phone. [via WMPowerUser]
Source: MobileCrunch | 18 Jun 2010 | 1:00 pm Google Apps highlights – 6/18/2010This is part of a regular series of Google Apps updates that we post every couple of weeks. Look for the label “Google Apps highlights" and subscribe to the series. - Ed.Over the last couple of weeks we introduced several new features to Google Docs, and made updates to Gmail, Buzz and Blogger. The Google Apps Marketplace expanded, and we brought many new businesses and schools onboard. Here’s the scoop: New Google Docs editors rolling out to everyone Just a couple months ago we started previewing Google Docs’ new editors for documents and spreadsheets, and on Monday we began turning on these faster, more feature-rich editors for everyone. In new documents, you’ll see character-by-character real-time collaboration, a ruler for custom margins and tab stops, and the files you import from your computer will be much higher quality. The new version of spreadsheets is faster, and includes a formula editing bar, cell auto-complete and much more. If your university, employer or organization provides you with a Google Docs account, you’ll start seeing the new editors by default in the coming weeks, too. New sharing settings in Google Docs Just yesterday we launched a streamlined way to share your files more easily in Google Docs. You can set a document, spreadsheet, presentation or drawing to be “Private,” available to “Anyone with the link,” or “Public on the web,” and then customize who has access by inviting specific collaborators. If you’re using Google Docs at work or at school, you’ll also see options that make it easy to share your files just with other people within your organization. Learn more about the new sharing options on the Google Docs blog. New features for drawings in Google Docs We introduced several new features for the drawings editor in Google Docs, too. Now you can center objects on the page, resize your entire canvas, view thumbnails of your drawings in your doc list, search across your drawings by text contained within and quickly view a list of handy editing keyboard shortcuts. We also added the ability for you to share drawings in the Google Docs template gallery, so other people around the world can use your creations.  Blogger Template Designer available to all Back in March we introduced Blogger Template Designer in Blogger in Draft, and last week we made it available to everyone. You can choose from more than 19 stock templates and further customize your design with hundreds of free, professional background images, custom color schemes and pixel-perfect layout manipulation. Customizing your blog and making it “your own” is now much easier. Google Maps previews in Gmail and Buzz Last week, we added a new Labs feature in Gmail that automatically displays a Google Map below messages that contain street addresses—saving you the trouble of copying and pasting of addresses from Gmail to Google Maps. You can enable this feature and many others from the Labs tab under Gmail Settings. Google Buzz also integrates Google Maps now too; when your buzz includes a Google Maps link, you’ll automatically see an image of the map that you can choose to include in your post.  Apps Marketplace For the businesses, schools and organizations using Google Apps, cloud-based functionality continues to expand through the Google Apps Marketplace. There, developers around the world can offer business- and process-enhancing apps that seamlessly integrate with Google Apps. The Marketplace has everything from accounting applications and CRM solutions to marketing automation and project workflow tools. Last week we added five new applications, and this Tuesday we tacked on over a dozen more. Who’s gone Google? We’re thrilled to welcome Brady Corporation, a globally distributed safety and security products company with more than 7,000 employees and 90 globally distributed business locations, to Google Apps. Cost savings were a factor in the decision, but Brady’s IT team chose Google Apps to simplify their worldwide IT operations, to streamline the integration of future acquisitions and to offer employees advanced sharing features like real-time collaboration. In addition to the big guys, tens of thousands more small and medium size businesses have also gone Google since our last update, including Hiatus Spa + Retreat, Goble & Associates and Método DeRose Matosinhos. Welcome! And school’s out for summer, but many colleges and universities are using the quiet months to reinvigorate their student technology. Sonoma State University, Meharry Medical College, Tokyo Keizai University (translated), Santa Fe Community College, Great Basin College and Colby College are all going Google. Whether your company or school has already gone Google or if you’re just starting to contemplate the move, tune into our live webcast next Tuesday, June 22 at 9:00 am PDT to hear more about the improvements and new features we’ve added to Google Apps during the first half of 2010. For more details and updates from the Apps team, head on over to the Google Apps Blog. Posted by Jeremy Milo, Google Apps Marketing Manager    
 Source: The Official Google Blog | 18 Jun 2010 | 1:00 pm Should World Cup Broadcasters Mute Vuvuzela Horns?One TV broadcaster is using advanced audio technology to excise the sound of zuvuzela horns from World Cup matches, and others are considering doing the same. Should they? Vote in our poll.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 18 Jun 2010 | 1:00 pm Fuzzy Logic Predicts Cell AgingThe process of aging disturbs a broad range of cellular mechanisms in a complex fashion and is not well understood.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 18 Jun 2010 | 12:58 pm Gallery: Most Magical Things to Buy in Hogsmeade (and Some to Avoid)The new Harry Potter theme park brims with colorful stuff to tempt your credit card to swipe. Here's a rundown on what we find cool, silly and downright weird.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 18 Jun 2010 | 12:50 pm Gadget Lab Podcast Returns: E3 Gadgets, Dolby 7.1 and MoreThe Gadget Lab podcast is back! In this episode, Dylan F. Tweney and Brian X. Chen discuss the top news from E3, including Microsoft’s motion-sensing Kinect interface, the new slimmed-down XBox 360 and the upcoming, stunning-looking Nintendo 3DS. We take a look at Dolby’s new 7.1 surround sound system, which is debuting in a few select theaters this week, just in time for the release of Toy Story 3. And we discuss Apple’s Mac Mini, which came out this week. Oh yes: And vuvuzelas. If you want to know how to mitigate that annoying noise for the first 10 seconds of the podcast, click on over to Charlie’s guide on how to get rid of vuvuzela noise.
It’s been awhile since we’ve regularly published a gadget news podcast, though we have been keeping the Gadget Lab Podcast category here stuffed full of interesting videos. But many of you have complained about the disappearance of our old audio podcast. So we’re bringing it back, and with luck we’ll have a new episode for you right here every week. Since this is 2010, not 2007, we’ve decided to do it as audio and video. If you want the video version, subscribe to the Gadget Lab Video Podcast on iTunes, or follow the podcast right here on Gadget Lab (we even have an RSS feed for the podcast posts). If you want the audio version, subscribe to the Gadget Lab Audio Podcast on iTunes. Unfortunately we’re having some technical issues, so the iTunes podcasts may not be updated until Monday. We’ll also post a direct link to the RSS feed for the audio just as soon as we work out a few technical kinks. 
Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 18 Jun 2010 | 12:49 pm Gadget Lab Podcast: E3 Gadgets, Dolby 7.1 Rock the Week in GadgetsThe Gadget Lab podcast returns, with a quick video rundown of the week's top gadget stories, from E3, Apple, Dolby and elsewhere in the world of gear.
Source: Wired: Gadgets | 18 Jun 2010 | 12:49 pm Gadget Lab Podcast: E3 Gadgets, Dolby 7.1 Rock the Week in GadgetsThe Gadget Lab podcast returns, with a quick video rundown of the week's top gadget stories, from E3, Apple, Dolby and elsewhere in the world of gear.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 18 Jun 2010 | 12:49 pm U.S. Testing Pain Ray in AfghanistanA controversial microwave weapon, long kept from the battlefield, is getting its first war-zone test. But will invisible pain beams really help turn local Afghans against the Taliban?
Source: Wired Top Stories | 18 Jun 2010 | 12:43 pm WHOI Scientist Takes Comprehensive Look At Human Impacts On Ocean ChemistryNumerous studies are documenting the growing effects of climate change, carbon dioxide, pollution and other human-related phenomena on the world's oceans.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 18 Jun 2010 | 12:34 pm Editor's Picks: Dark Lasers, Solar Flares and MoreAbove, you'll see some of the top images of the week. Click on each one to explore the story behind it. In case you couldn't get away from the beach this past week, here are five can't-miss Discovery News stories: ...Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 18 Jun 2010 | 12:20 pm AT&T begins rolling out coverage improvement to the areas you people reported
Apparently they’ve crunched their six months’ worth of data and determined a few areas that could use a little boost. Thanks, AT&T. Now if it’s not too much to ask, could you go back in time and do this in 2008? Just kidding, AT&T. Or am I? Also, that is a long text message. Anyone feel like counting the characters? I think AT&T is cheating. [via Gizmodo]
Source: MobileCrunch | 18 Jun 2010 | 12:18 pm Rosebud, the magazine of the "hydroponics lifestyle"
Adithya Sambamurthy photo Over at the Bay Citizen, a fantastic new nonprofit news organization in the San Francisco Bay Area, writer Chris Colin tells the story of Rosebud, the "hydroponics lifestyle" magazine that's all about pot culture, sans pot. My old Wired and Business 2.0 colleague James Daly is editor of the print pub, backed by Advanced Nutrients, a big Canadian seller of hydroponics gear. I haven't read it, but if I must judge a book by its cover it looks like Cigar Aficionado for dope dealers. From the Bay Citizen: Rather than fat bud close-ups, the Bay Area-based magazine (now in its seventh issue) offers travel features, extreme sports, actor profiles, buxom ladies and other airport newsstand staples, as well as a few technical articles on seed selection and better yields..."Rosebud Turns Over a New Leaf" Source: Boing Boing | 18 Jun 2010 | 12:16 pm Palm comment on the future; new devices, new version of webOS & its “very exciting”Section: Communications, Smartphones, Mobile, Computers, Mobile Computers
That said, one of the webinar attendees asked a Palm rep if they planned to release any new devices this year (2010) and they replied with;
Then again, this just leads to more questions such as what those devices are. Will they be smartphones along the lines of a Pre and Pixi or are we now talking tablets or something else. Either way as a long time Palm fan I am still (despite feeling like I should know better) hoping for something exciting. Read [PreCentral]
Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 18 Jun 2010 | 12:14 pm Twitter Tweaks The Fail Whale Based On TechCrunch Commenter Feedback
Sometimes our commenters are a little insane — but we love them anyway. And other companies do too. And here’s proof. Twitter has tweaked the Fail Whale page (you know, the page you see all the time when Twitter is down) based on a comment one TechCrunch reader left on a post about Twitter’s downtime earlier this week. Okay, it’s not a huge change, but it’s a very useful one. On the Twitter Fail Whale page from now on, you’ll see a link to the Twitter Status blog below the headline: “Twitter is over capacity.” Twitter wrote to us to let us know about the change and that it was based on the comment from one TechCrunch reader, Stepshep (Stephen Shepherd). That person left a comment saying:
“It was a good question and a great suggestion, and our team made the change this week,” a Twitter representative wrote to us. “We’re listening,” they continued. This is a good idea, because previously when Twitter would go down, people would often come to sites like TechCrunch to find out why. To be clear, we hope you still do that. But it’s good for those who don’t, to have a link to the Status Blog (which resides on a different server from Twitter itself, so it stays up during downtime) for updates from Twitter on the situation. So there you go TechCrunch readers, leave a useful comment, and it just may make a difference. Information provided by CrunchBase      
Source: TechCrunch | 18 Jun 2010 | 12:09 pm 6 Genre-Tripping Gunfighters Jonah Hex Must Duel FTW!With the Jonah Hex movie strafing theaters this weekend, Wired.com ponders the question: How would the grievously scarred comic book character fare in a shootout with other cinematic gunslingers? Let the hot lead (and the lasers) fly.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 18 Jun 2010 | 12:00 pm Samsung sends out invite for June 29th Galaxy S eventSection: Business News, Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers, Smartphones
One of the newest and exciting smartphones rumored to launch on the T-Mobile network is the Samsung Galaxy S phone, which runs Android 2.1. Pricing and exact availability have not yet been released, but we should learn more about the high-end Samsung smartphone on June 29, which marks the date of the Samsung launch event. On June 29, J.K. Shin, President of Mobile Communications Business for Samsung, will be the main speaker alongside Omar Khan, the Chief Strategy Officer of Samsung America. It will be interesting to see the specs of the Android smartphone and how it compares with the latest Android smartphones we have seen as of late.
Full Story » | Written by Natesh Sood for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 18 Jun 2010 | 11:56 am Motorola's Uneven Split [Voices]By Sara Silver and Anupreeta Das, Reporters, The Wall Street Journal Motorola Inc. (MOT) is planning to funnel billions of dollars to its money-losing cellphone business when it splits off into a separate company next year. Under a structure now taking shape, Motorola is planning to buy back most of its debt and give the bulk of its remaining cash–roughly $3 billion to $4 billion–to a new company centered on the cellphone unit, according to people familiar with the matter. The Schaumburg, Ill., company would also free the cellphone company of pension liabilities and most other obligations, highlighting how hard the Motorola board is pushing to ensure the viability of the business. A Motorola spokeswoman declined to comment on the company’s specific plans. “The co-CEOs have a common vision and continue to work together and with respective teams to position each business to stand alone and succeed,” she said. Read the rest of this post on the original site Source: All Things Digital | 18 Jun 2010 | 11:55 am The TARDIS is up for auction
This is the hero prop used during the 2005, and is constructed of painted wood, and glass, with hinged doors and a signage on the front. This is the real deal folks, right down to the interior lighting and the roof with the lamp. Current estimates suggest that it’ll sell for between $12,000 to $18,000. Seems like a small price to pay for your own spaceship and time machine, plus you could just park it somewhere and live inside. Apparently it even has a pool. For more information on the auction, and details about the condition, you can check out the auction here.
Source: CrunchGear | 18 Jun 2010 | 11:45 am Bruce Damer - Burning Man, NASA, & artificial life
Bruce Damer is a technologist,
virtual world pioneer, and computer historian. He is the CEO and
founder of The Digital Space
Commons, director of the Contact
Consortium, and author of the book "Avatars".
I talked with him about Burning Man & Katrina, NASA & near-earth-objects, artificial life & his EvoGrid project, and the legacy of psychedelic visionaries... At the end of August, 2005, you were at Burning Man in a heavily-outfitted RV. News quickly spread of the Katrina disaster. How did you respond from the middle of the Nevada desert? At Burning Man in 2005 our camp was among other things, running the webcast and helping maintain the playa wifi network, so we knew about Katrina while other burners were in their glorious offline world. One of our camp-mates, who worked for the Pentagon devising "extreme communications" disaster relief hardware and deploying it in places such as for the Asian Tsunami that year, pointed our dishes skyward and tracked the incoming hurricane via some super high-res satellite. He phoned the Pentagon to order up some blackhawk helicopters to take his crew down to New Orleans to help the citizenry but due to government red tape that order was denied. I said at the time "whew, those scary loud black things buzzing the playa would have caused some serious kind of mass panic about a bust by the Bushies or a belief amongst burners that the UFO invasion had chosen Black Rock as its landing pad". Instead, our camp took quick action by setting up a Katrina
Reverend Billy leading thousands in prayer for New Orleans, at the
Terence McKenna inside a virtual world, 1999.
Source: Boing Boing | 18 Jun 2010 | 11:38 am Video Gallery: Musical Mad Scientist Concocts Bizarre Instruments, Strange SoundsDiego Stocco makes music for big-budget films with sand, bonsai and burning pianos. Watch and listen to six examples.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 18 Jun 2010 | 11:30 am A Father’s Day dedicationThis is part of our summer series of new Search Stories. Look for the label Search Stories and subscribe to the series. -Ed.Our latest Search Story, Father and Daughter, is a tribute to all the wonderful relationships dads have with their daughters. While working on the story we came across a comment posted to Paul Simon’s Father and Daughter video on YouTube. Maybe it’s because I’m a father of two little girls, but this almost made me cry. One day, I hope that my daughters will feel compelled to write something like this.  To Cullenlvr961: we don’t know if you’ll read this or see the video, but we just wanted to put it out there and let you know you really touched us and we’re dedicating this Search Story to you and your dad. We’ll be proud if our video evokes even a small piece of the emotion your note did.Posted by Robert Wong, Google Creative Lab   
 Source: The Official Google Blog | 18 Jun 2010 | 11:27 am Ford, Edison and the Cheap EV That Almost WasHenry Ford and Thomas Edison both believed electricity was the future. Here's the story of the car they almost built.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 18 Jun 2010 | 11:00 am Disney, Pixar, and BP present "Finding Nemo 2: Escape from Oilglobs" There's a whole series of 'em at EL BLOG DE CHIBIBOTO. I'll (crudely) translate the first paragraph of the accompanying blog post, which is in Spanish: As we watch the World Cup, our planet continues dying thanks to one of the largest ecological catastrophes in the world, because a terrible oil spill occurred in the Gulf of Mexico. And now that the new movie Toy Story 3 is coming, it occurred to me to put forth some ideas for a sequel to Finding Nemo. I hope that these ideas inspire the writers at Pixar.(This is a parody, this is not real / via Sean Meredith) Source: Boing Boing | 18 Jun 2010 | 10:59 am Seventh Graders Discover Martian CaveCommanding NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter, a group of elementary school students have made an exciting discovery: a lava tube skylight punched though the Martian surface.Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 18 Jun 2010 | 10:45 am Analyst: iPhone Sales to Surpass 100 Million by 2011
Apple said during its iPhone 4 keynote last week that 100 million iOS devices have already been sold, and that includes the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. As if that’s not enough, the iPhone itself is expected to hit nine digits by the end of 2011, a Wall Street analyst estimates. “We see the iPhone installed base rising from approximately 30 million subscribers at the end of 2009 to over 100 million by the end of 2011,” said Katy Huberty, a Morgan Stanley analyst. Why the spike in sales? Upgrades, says Huberty. That’s plausible analysis, because Apple’s upcoming iOS 4 will only fully support Apple’s newer iOS devices. The original iPhone can’t run the OS at all, and the iPhone 3G won’t be able to use iOS 4’s highlight feature, multitasking. If you own the first iPhone, the major minus is not being able to use new apps made for iOS 4, so an upgrade almost seems necessary. Plus, Apple’s iPhone 4 is the most compelling upgrade for the handset yet. With double the memory capacity of older iOS devices, a faster processor, a higher-resolution screen and a front-facing camera and a brandnew glass body, the iPhone 4 already makes last year’s iPhone 3GS look like an iThing of the past. Via InformationWeek See Also:
Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 18 Jun 2010 | 10:38 am Violinist plays Mario soundtrack in real timeIn this video, violinist Teppei Okada plays the soundtrack to a real time Mario game live on his instrument. This — as do most creative geeky Japanese videos — was first made popular on Nico Nico Douga. I wonder if he coordinated the moves with the person who's playing the game. Either way, it's pretty impressive. [via Laughing Squid] Source: Boing Boing | 18 Jun 2010 | 10:32 am Tiny art museum on the moon?
A mysterious Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation engineer known only as John F. allegedly snuck a tiny art collection aboard the Apollo 12 lunar module, delivering the first art museum to the moon. According to this episode of PBS's History Detectives, New York artist Forrest "Frosty" Myers worked with Bell Labs scientist Fred Waldhauer to imprint images of art by Andy Warhol, Claes Oldenburg, David Nobros, Robert Chamberlain, Robert Rauschenberg, and Myers himself onto tiny ceramic wafers. Myers claims that one of the art wafers was secretly attached to a leg of the lunar lander, and others were created as souvenirs. To put it in context, this was during the period when the group Experiments in Art and Technology (EAT) was pioneering tech-art through collaborations between avant-garde artists like Rauschenberg and John Cage, and creative Bell Labs engineers orchestrated by Billy Kluver. Forty years later, John F.'s identity remains unknown as does the truth about whether one of those wafers ever made it to the lunar surface. Moon Museum (via AOL News)Source: Boing Boing | 18 Jun 2010 | 10:20 am Twitter No Longer Bothering to Tell You That It's Down [MediaMemo]
Which is good, because according to Twitter’s status page, there hasn’t been any problem. Got it? Alas, there’s no mystery about why Twitter struggled this morning: Everyone* was using it to squeal with dejection, delight, then outrage about the U.S.-Slovenia World Cup game. And Twitter did indeed warn us that it could struggle during big World Cup games this month. So if you’re planning ahead: The next U.S. game, against Algeria, starts at 10 am Eastern next Wednesday, June 23. Probably best to find another service to use that morning. *Technical note: Not everyone. Source: All Things Digital | 18 Jun 2010 | 10:10 am Utah Firing Squad Execution Likely Last of its KindFive sharpshooters fired bullets through the heart of a double murderer in Utah in what was was billed as a bloody throwback to Old West-style justice.Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 18 Jun 2010 | 10:09 am Week in review: iPhone preorder overload - CNET
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 18 Jun 2010 | 10:02 am App Turns iPhone 4 into Ad-Serving Mirror
A new app will turn your iPhone 4 into a mirror, ready to help you apply lipstick or get your hair just right (I’m looking at you, Gadget Lab review supremo Danny Dumas). The combination of a front-facing camera and the hi-res “retina” display turns out to be perfectly for a spot of mobile vanity. The Lady often borrows my iPod Touch to use the scuffed but still reflective back plate as a mirror. I’m not sure if it’s to touch up her makeup or to just check herself out, but it works. Until now, iPhone owners had to buy apps which promise to turn the handset into a mirror, but do no more than switch off the display, letting you stare at yourself through a screen, darkly. DLP Mobile’s version, though, is the real thing, piping the video feed live from camera to screen, and even offering color-corrections for ambient light. The app, called Mirror App, will be in the App Store on iPhone 4 launch day, June 24th, with one extra, probably unwelcome feature that your real mirror will never suffer from: it will be serving up iAds. Who Needs a Mirror When You Have a Cellphone? [NYT] Photo: DLP Mobile 
Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 18 Jun 2010 | 9:59 am Analyst: iPhone 4 Launch a "2 Million-3 Million iPhone Event" [Digital Daily]
“Given the size of the iPhone 4 pre-order and our analysis of the expected upgrade cycle, particularly the remaining 3G users, we believe the full launch weekend of June 24-27 is shaping up to potentially be a 2 million-3 million iPhone event,” Fidacaro said in a research note today. “[That’s] about 2-3x higher than the one million units sold over the first three days for both the 3GS and 3G launches,” the analyst added. “The strong initial demand seen during the pre-order is a positive for the June quarter and has apparently been limited by supply with new orders now indicating a July 14 delivery date.” With 600,000 pre-orders racked up as of Wednesday and a few days yet to take more, a two-million unit launch weekend for Apple (AAPL) doesn’t seem much of a stretch. Frankly, neither does three million, given the iPhone 4’s feature set and price, as well as the fact that this year’s launch weekend begins on a Thursday rather than a Friday.
Source: All Things Digital | 18 Jun 2010 | 9:52 am Moleskine case for Amazon Kindle makes me wish I had a KindleSection: Gadgets / Other, ebooks  I am a sucker for a good case, and a Moleskine notebook. Given that I was excited to see this recently released Moleskine case for the Amazon Kindle. It combines the things that are great about a Moleskine (nice black cover, suede interior lining and black strap) and puts it in the form of a Kindle cover. Plus the cover also has a spot on the left hand side for a notebook, which can be refilled when needed. Bottom line, it almost makes me wish I had a Kindle, but maybe we can get something similar for the iPad. Bottom line, the case is $40, which seems pretty fair to me. Product [Moleskin] Via [Wired Gadget Lab]
Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 18 Jun 2010 | 9:51 am For Sight-Reading Music, Practice Doesn't Make PerfectA memory skill that pianists have little control over may orchestrate their performance.Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 18 Jun 2010 | 9:50 am Holy Bat-Freebies! Win The Dark Knight PrizesWith Christopher Nolan's epic Batman movie hitting iTunes this week packing 31 hours of bonus content, it's time to remember the past and look forward to the Bat-future. Lay out your dream scenario for the next Caped Crusader movie and you could win a Dark Knight download, a Bat-logo T-shirt or a Batman bobblehead.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 18 Jun 2010 | 9:41 am Freaking Hello Kitty 5W-30 oil
Freaking Hello Kitty motor oil. What crazy marketing team came up with that idea? Maybe BP can release a Finding Nemo version?
Source: CrunchGear | 18 Jun 2010 | 9:30 am Searching for football connectionsIn a previous post, we talked about popular World Cup search queries. It turns out that people who search for one player frequently follow that immediately with a query for another player. In this post, we explore these timely connections between queries. Below, a thick line connects Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi because a lot of people followed a search for one of them with a search for the other. A thin line connects Lionel Messi and Diego Maradona because fewer people searched for them together. (Image by Amit Patel) Why are some players connected while others aren’t? Here are some of our discoveries: The world’s most popular players are well-connected. The highest paid footballer Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal) is tightly connected to other popular players including Lionel Messi (Argentina), Fernando Torres (Spain), Wayne Rooney (England) and Didier Drogba (Côte d'Ivoire). These players form a nucleus connecting all the other players. A country’s players are usually connected—but not always. For example, Arjen Robben connects all the Netherlands players. In contrast, Ronaldo connects Brazilian player Kaká to his teammates Robinho, Nilmar and Grafite. France’s players Thierry Henry and Yoann Gourcuff are likewise connected through Ronaldo. Players in the same football club are connected. Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard play together on Chelsea but represent Côte d'Ivoire and England in the World Cup. Similarly, Steven Gerrard (England) and Fernando Torres (Spain) both play for Liverpool. If you’re interested in exploring how players connect to each other, try searching for a player’s name using Google Insights for Search and look at the “Top searches” in the bottom left to see if other footballers are listed. For example, Clint Dempsey, the U.S. player who made the match-tying goal against England last Saturday, is connected to Landon Donovan. Posted by Jeffrey D. Oldham, software engineer   
 Source: The Official Google Blog | 18 Jun 2010 | 9:30 am TOPIO Dio: Meet Vietnam’s first service robot
Tosy (warning: the site takes a long time to load), Vietnam’s first – and only – robot venture, has been flying under the radar since the debut of TOPIO, their table tennis-playing humanoid, in 2007. The company was established as early as 2002 and has been mainly manufacturing toy robots since. But it seems as if their first “life-sized” service robot, dubbed TOPIO Dio, is a pretty cool humanoid. Vietnam’s flagship robot stands 125cm tall, weighs 45kg, and moves on three wheels. TOPIO Dio is equipped with a total of 28 joints, a built-in camera, a sensor that helps him avoid obstacles, and Wi-Fi for remote control over the web.
Tosy says the humanoid is mainly aimed at the “hospitality and restaurant” industries. Apparently, TOPIO Dio is 75% cheaper than similar robots that have been developed so far (the picture you see below shows him at an exhibition held in Munich last week).
I searched around for a video, but it seems there is not even one clip showing TOPIO Dio in action at this point. Via Plastic Pals
Source: CrunchGear | 18 Jun 2010 | 9:21 am Stray iPhone 4 Found in Czech Republic, Owner Posts Sample Video
With less than a week to go until the iPhone 4 gets into our hands (or at least, the hands of the lucky 600,000 who managed to order one) is there anything we don’t already know? After all, between Gizmodogate, Steve Jobs’ keynote presentation and Apple’s own website, the new features are all covered. Or are they? “Happy Swenak”, reader of Czech blog Jablíčkář.cz has gotten his hands on yet another stray iPhone 4 and has put the camera through its paces. Apple’s sample photos might be un-retouched, but they are also taken in almost perfect lighting conditions. Swenak took some more regular snaps, along with unedited video, and despite a little over-exposure, the results look fine. The site is taking a hit right now so the video footage is almost impossible to stream, but I managed to download the 13.2 MB file to view offline. The quality is surprisingly good. Viewed full-screen on my 20-inch monitor, the picture is sharp and (when paused) detailed. The lowdown: H.264, 1280 x 720, at 29.97 fps, AAC audio, 10.87 Mbit/s data rate. Despite the rather large depth-of-field, which is caused by the small sensor, this could easily be taken for footage from a larger digicam. Finally, Jablíčkář.cz also shared some info on battery life. After an hour of pretty intense use, including gaming and video, the battery had dropped by just 10%. It seems like Apple’s claims for battery life are getting more and more accurate. Czech user testing iPhone 4 [Jablíčkář] Photo: Happy Swenak See Also:
Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 18 Jun 2010 | 9:14 am Nokia's N8 a Match for iPhone? [Voices]By Lam Thuy Vo, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal What will help Nokia (NOK) retain its dominant position in an increasingly competitive smartphone market? A metallic phone with a TV seems to be its answer. In Singapore this week at a press event, Nokia showcased the touch-screen device, the N8, for the first time in the region. The N8 was first announced on April 27 and will hit store shelves in the third quarter, according to the Finnish handset maker, the world’s biggest producer by shipments. It can use a pick-me-up: Earlier this week it warned that this quarter’s earnings will be lower than expected, blaming stiffer competition with cellphone rivals. There’s been a rush of new device announcements in recent weeks. Nokia’s follows Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone 4, Samsung’s Galaxy S and Sony Ericsson’s Xperia X10. Read the rest of this post on the original site Source: All Things Digital | 18 Jun 2010 | 9:00 am X-rays of toys Stuart sez, "This Flickr gallery shows highlights from Scan Toys, an exhibit currently at Buenos Aires Centro Cultural Recoleta. The artists used X-rays to produce these and the resulting images are beautiful, with a hint of social commentary." Scan Toys 1ºEdición (Thanks, Stuart!) Source: Boing Boing | 18 Jun 2010 | 8:46 am New Yeasts Could Yield Tastier Light BeersSo far, about 1,000 species of yeasts have been identified in food labs, but at least 10,000 new species are expected to be found in the near future. Cheers!Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 18 Jun 2010 | 8:37 am New Mirror app coming to an iPhone 4 near you.
DLP Mobile, is preparing to release an app for iPhone 4 that capitalizes on the new device’s front facing camera, adding mirror functionality. [ via NY Times ]
Source: CrunchGear | 18 Jun 2010 | 8:29 am Fate of Gulf's Deep-Water Corals UnknownNo one knows just how the Gulf's corals are being affected by the spill, but scientists are worried since the organisms support an array of life.Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 18 Jun 2010 | 8:29 am Reminder! Facebook Is Really, Really Big. [MediaMemo]
Guesstimating the total size of that business makes for good Web sport, and Reuters makes a run at it today: The news service pegs Facebook’s 2009 revenue at “$700 million to $800 million” and reports a “solid net profit, in the tens of millions of dollars,” citing two anonymous sources. Those numbers are higher than other ones we’ve seen, but they don’t sound unbelievable. Facebook now boasts enormous size–half a billion users!–and at least three different revenue streams: Traditional display ads sold by a top-flight sales team, self-serve ads (check out this do-it-yourself tweak) and virtual goods (read: Zynga). What Facebook doesn’t have, as best as I can tell: A magic moneymaking bullet a la Google’s (GOOG) AdWords. That may prevent the company from getting a Google-like market cap when and if it goes public. But I don’t think Mark Zuckerberg and company are complaining. Source: All Things Digital | 18 Jun 2010 | 8:26 am IPhone 4: Thanks for the Memory [Digital Daily]
That’s twice the RAM of the iPad, which, like the new phone, sports a 1GHz Apple A4 processor. This means iPhone 4 buyers can expect some impressive performance gains over the 3G and 3GS. “This is really about allowing [iOS 4's] limited multitasking to actually have a robust performance,” Rapid Repair CEO Aaron Vronko told Computerworld. “With only 256MB, the iPhone would waste a lot of time and battery power managing memory [during multitasking]. This definitely helps, and will let you keep more apps in the background without affecting battery life.” [Image Credit: AppleInsider] Source: All Things Digital | 18 Jun 2010 | 8:25 am Pop-Sci Gallery of 10 Amazing Bike Redesigns
Few designs are as close to perfect – or as well-tested – as the modern double-triangle bike. It is comfortable, strong, amazingly efficient and compact enough to carry, but that hasn’t stopped designers trying to find a better way, year after year. Not since the chair has an object inspired so many crazy interpretations. Popular Science showcases some of the weirdest (and coolest) takes on the bike in a gallery of redesigns. The list of designers runs from backyard makers (Georgi Georgiev’s amazing 83 mph Varna Tempest) to car companies (Lexus’ odd hybrid with the frame of a racing bike and the wheels of a granny’s shopper). You’ll also find a modern take on the penny farthing, or p-far, in the form of the Mini-Penny (below) which comes on like a cross between a chopper and a shopping cart.
They’re not all oddballs, though. In the gallery you’ll see the Strida, that folding triangular bike with tiny wheels that was born back in 1987 and despite looking almost impossible to ride is seen zipping around cities the world over. But the most fantastic of all is Blair Hasty’s machine (top), a machine of which the designer seems to have missed the point entirely. From the name (“Collapsible Bike”) to its purpose (relief of rider back-pain) it is humdrum through an through. But look at it. It’s a human-powered Tron Light-cycle! 10 Brilliant Redesigns for the Bicycle [Popular Science. Thanks, Rob!] See Also:
Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 18 Jun 2010 | 7:57 am Particle Case Turns iPad into Clipboard and Pen
Right up until the iPad became real, one of our favorite pastimes was to chuckle at the Pogo Stylus, a pen designed for capacitive touch-screens. After all, who needs a pen for the iPhone when it is designed to work great with a finger? But the iPad is also a rather nice electronic canvas. Drawing and painting with your finger will give you a picture even your mom wouldn’t hang on the refrigerator, so the little foam-tipped Pogo has finally become quite a valuable tool. In fact, it has now gotten its own accessory: the Particle Case, also from Ten One design. The case is really little more than an extended clip for the Pogo. A rubberized strip runs around the edge of the iPad, similar to the new iPhone Bumpers only they wrap around a little more . There are cut-outs for the ports and buttons, and a little clip in which to hold your Pogo stylus. And that’s it. You do at least get a Pogo thrown in, and the little rubber feet on the back stop the iPad from wobbling when placed flat on a table, but its hard to see the market for this. After all, it offers almost no protection (the back is open, for example) but will stop the iPad from sliding into a more substantial case. The Particle Case will cost you $35. Particle Case [Ten One. Thanks, Jenny!] See Also:
Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 18 Jun 2010 | 6:58 am Music Released on Double-Sided CD/Vinyl Hybrid
Still caught up in the vinyl vs. CD war? No, me either. I own precisely zero plastic disks. But say you were wondering which version of techno and electronic musician Jeff Mills’ latest pressing to buy. Would you go for old-school grooves or up-to-date digital pits? The good news is that you don’t have to decide. “The Occurrence” is a double-sided 5-inch disk with a CD on one side and a record on the other. Slide it into a CD-player on onto a turntable (if you can actually find one), and it will play. Mills has a history of experimental presentation, and this disk is the latest in his Sleeper Wakes series which, according the his label’s site, is about a spacewalk in the middle of a radiation storm. Sci-Fi plots aside, this release is obviously more conceptual than useful, but it does at least make some sense: Mills is both musician and DJ. Bonus fun fact: Jeff Mills is, in some clubbing circles, a slang term for “pills”. The Vinyl And CD Release On One Disc From Jeff Mills [PSFK via Geekologie] 
Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 18 Jun 2010 | 6:05 am Apple’s ‘Find my iPhone’ App Almost Impossible to Use
Lately Apple is trying to throw itself down a recursive rabbit-hole. First there was Apple Store, the iPhone app to buy an iPhone. Now we get Find my iPhone, an iPhone app to let you find your lost iPhone. The free download from the App store works on any iDevice and requires a MobileMe account. Essentially, it is the same service that you would use if you signed in to MobileMe on your desktop browser, allowing you to see the lost iPhone’s position on a map, send a message and alarm sound to the device, lock it, or remotely wipe all data if it is truly lost. You’ll the Find my iPhone setting on any iPhone already, as well as having it connected to your MobileMe account, and you’ll also need to have the battery-sucking “push” setting switched on for the account. Push keeps a connection open with compatible accounts so things like email can be pushed to the iPhone as they arrive. Does it work? Sure. And on the iPad it is especially nice-looking, with a big map to show you just where your lost phone is. But there is one huge problem. You have to enter your MobileMe password every single time you launch the app. If you have a proper, secure password that includes symbols and numbers, you’re going to have a fun time doing that on the iPhone’s keyboard. Apple suggests that “if you lose your iPhone or iPad while on the go, simply install this free app on any other iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to find it.” Sure, Apple. My MobileMe password is a huge, randomly generated chain of nonsense made for me by 1Password. Maybe I should change it to something easier to remember, like 1234? As it stands, the idea is great, but the implementation is kind of hopeless. Avoid. Find My iPhone [iTunes] See Also: 
Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 18 Jun 2010 | 5:30 am
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Palm and AT&T held a 
There’s no question that Twitter’s web experience has been improving pretty rapidly over the past several months. However, one area that’s still lacking is a good way to view conversations. Clicking on the “in reply to” links is tedious for long conversations. Several third-party apps (including Twitter’s own native iPhone app — which they bought) are much better at doing this. One of those is an app called 
Colorado startup 
Digital Storm just announced their latest PC, the Special|Ops. Intended mainly for the gaming fanatic, the Special|Ops runs the latest is CPU/GPU technology, and comes boxed in a quite attractive and well ventilated case. Of course they’ve already brought us the 
One of the highlighted new features of the upcoming 
Research In Motion is said to be 
Wondering what’s in the new Xbox Slim? No? Well tough, it’s a slow news day, and I’m writing about it, so you’re just going to have to read it. Microsoft has been hard at work on the the 360 Slim for a while and it’s only fair that you pay attention and see what’s they’ve done to improve the original hardware and make the new system run cooler, quieter, and more efficiently. 
Palo Alto based Social Gaming Network, which focuses on multiplayer iPhone/iPod/iPad games, has raised a first tranche in a second round of financing – 
If you were so obliging as to use the “Mark the Spot” app on your iPhone to tell AT&T where coverage was poor, you may find things improving in the spots you marked. In 60-90 days, anyway.
Yesterday afternoon there was a webinar for developers that was hosted by Palm and AT&T and as an outcome we have word of new devices and a new version of webOS. Granted, it seems like we could have already expected that, however given the recent HP/Palm deal its kind of nice to get some further confirmation.
Apparently the Doctor has fallen on hard times, because Bonhams (who else would he trust) is auctioning off the TARDIS used by the 9th Doctor, Christopher Eccleston. Unfortunately, the chameleon circuit on this TARDIS is stuck so it still looks like a police box, but it is larger on the inside, of course. 
The announcement from Apple that it 
Now it will be easier than ever to keep a kempt appearance while on the go. Ladies, leave that compact at home and guys, stop sqinting at your sleeping iPhone screen as you peer for post-lunch crumbs in your beard.
