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Libretto W100: Toshiba shows double touchscreen tablet (video)
Pitched as the “world’s first dual touch-screen Windows mini-notebook PC”, the device is sized at just 202×123×25.4mm and weighs 699g (battery included). It can be used both horizontally and vertically (thanks to the built-in accelerometer, it can be turned into an e-reader – as shown above). The battery life is pretty disappointing though (2 hours with standard battery, 4 hours with high-capacity battery).
Here are the main specs:
Robert Scoble has made a video of the device (embedded below): In the American press release (copied and pasted below), Toshiba speaks of a “limited run of the libretto W100″ that will be made available later this summer. In Japan, the device will go on sale at the end of August with a price tag of $1,320.
Source: CrunchGear | 21 Jun 2010 | 4:20 am Toshiba Unveils New Protege, Libretto Laptops - Techtree.com
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 21 Jun 2010 | 4:12 am Fiat Battles 'Jeep Jinx' With New Grand Cherokee - BusinessWeek
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 21 Jun 2010 | 4:07 am 5 ways Apple's iOS 4 'breathes new life' into iPhone - Computerworld
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 21 Jun 2010 | 4:01 am Toshiba takes on Amazon and Apple with dual-screen PCTOKYO (Reuters) - Toshiba on Monday launched a dual-screened mini notebook PC that can be used as an e-book reader, adding to competition for the likes of Apple Corp's iPad and Amazon.com'sSource: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 21 Jun 2010 | 3:59 am Toshiba takes on Amazon and Apple with dual-screen PC (Reuters)Reuters - Toshiba on Monday launched a dual-screened mini notebook PC that can be used as an e-book reader, adding to competition for the likes of Apple Corp's iPad and Amazon.com's Kindle.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 21 Jun 2010 | 3:59 am New York Times Designer Argues for Launching iPad App with Limited Features - Poynter.org
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 21 Jun 2010 | 3:56 am Windows Live Messenger For iPhone Available Now … But Not Everywhere
Noticed first by The Next Web and Redmond Pie, looks like the Windows Live Messenger app for iPhone has just hit the App Store – but it only landed in certain regions (iTunes link), just like Microsoft’s Bing for iPhone app. Update: commenters say it’s also live in the UK, Canada and France stores. People in Belgium (myself) and other regions are currently only able to download Microsoft’s two other applications, Seadragon and Tag Reader. Considering both Windows Live Messenger and Bing are in essence targeting users all across the globe, it’s a little peculiar to find so many of them will find themselves unable to locate and download the app from the App Store at this point. Evidently, there are lots of other apps for iPhone and iPod touch people can use to connect with their Live Messenger friends on the go, but still. Anywhere, here’s how the app is described:
The app lets users chat their Windows Live Messenger and Y! Messenger and receive IM notifications even when closed. Cross-social network sharing is baked in, and you can upload photos, create albums, add captions, etc. from your device. The app also comes with integration of Hotmail, which means users can read, reply to and compose new e-mails straight from the application. And yes, the app is fully compatible with iOS 4.
     
Source: TechCrunch | 21 Jun 2010 | 3:55 am New Nikon Digicam Will Act as Standalone Video Projector
According to Nikon Rumors, which dug up the info in the French magazine Chasseur d’Images, a new Nikon compact will have a projector combined with a video input. This would essentially mean that you are buying a video projector that has a camera built in. This small tweak would take Nikon’s point-and-shoot from a novelty to a seriously useful accessory. You could hook it up to your laptop (or maybe even your iPad, if it has a VGA input) and enjoy an impromptu big-screen movie-show wherever you are. Chasseur d’Images, in its print form at least, has broken several stories that escaped internet writers thanks to the long lead times of print publications. In fact, the magazine was first to leak the original Nikon projector-cam in August 2009, so the track record is good. Not having access to the actual paper magazine, though, we can’t provide a link. Nikon Coolpix S1000pj replacement will serve as a conventional projector [Nikon Rumors] Projector photo: pedrosimoes7/Flickr See Also:
Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 21 Jun 2010 | 3:50 am Apple iPhone 4: excited customers report phones are on their way - Telegraph.co.uk
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 21 Jun 2010 | 3:09 am Airbnb Founder Eats His Own Dogfood, Goes ‘Homeless’ For Months
Gotta respect startup founders who know how to really eat their own dogfood: Airbnb co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky last week moved out of the 3 bedroom apartment that was the driving force behind the establishment of the company back in 2007 (and still serves as its main office), and will be ‘living on Airbnb’ until at least the end of the year.
Or as he puts it:
It’s a brilliant idea, too: not only will Chesky get to experience the Airbnb product and added value first-hand, he’ll also get to personally know a bunch of people that make up the community driving the company forward. And the way he’s handling it, he stands to get a lot of publicity for the venture he co-founded as well: Chesky will be chronicling the whole thing on the Airbnb blog and his Twitter account. Smart.      
Source: TechCrunch | 21 Jun 2010 | 3:01 am Toshiba Parties with Android 'Smartbook', Dual Screen Netbook - PC World
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 21 Jun 2010 | 2:51 am New Air Conditioner Process Cuts Energy Use 50-90%necro81 writes "The US National Renewable Energy Laboratory has announced that it has developed a new method for air conditioning that reduces energy use by 50-90%. The DEVap system (Desiccant-Enhanced eVaporative air conditioner) cools air using evaporative cooling, which is not new, but combines the process with a liquid dessicant for pulling the water vapor out of the cooled air stream. The liquid dessicant, a very strong aqueous solution of lithium chloride or sodium chloride, is separated from the air stream by a permeable hydrophobic membrane. Heat is later used to evaporate water vapor back out — heat that can come from a variety of sources such as solar or natural gas. The dessicants are, compared to typical refrigerants like HCFCs, relatively benign on the environment."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 21 Jun 2010 | 2:27 am Viral Video: The Voyage of the CGI [BoomTown]
Is there any Hollywood movie coming out anymore that is not chock full of computer-generated imagery? Apparently not, from the look of this new trailer for the latest in the series of classic books by C.S. Lewis, “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.” It’s due at Christmas and seems packed full–even in this short clip–with more techie eye-candy than usual, including a painting of the sea on the wall that floods a room. Check it out: Source: All Things Digital | 21 Jun 2010 | 2:03 am EPoS.co.uk Connecting EPoS Buyers and Sellers as Automated Technology Boom ContinuesMANCHESTER, England, June 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Automated technology has never had it so good and you could say the same for businesses all over the world who are making dramatic savings and improving customer relationships by rolling out the latest EPoS systems across numerous different industries. Found in almost all major retail stores, restaurants and other businesses in the 21st century, Electronic Point of Sale (EPoS) systems provide companies with a fast and convenient way of transacting sales, while at the same time recording vital business information and consumer trends - and that's a key reason why EPoS.co.uk has experienced such huge demand since launching earlier this year. After the initial beta phase, the website is now fully operational with an easy-to-use platform that puts buyers and sellers in touch.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 21 Jun 2010 | 2:00 am Frost & Sullivan: Demand for CCTV Systems Rises in Response to Crime Rates in South AfricaSource: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 21 Jun 2010 | 2:00 am Elpida, PTI, and UMC Partner on 3D IC Integration Development for Advanced Technologies Including 28nmSource: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 21 Jun 2010 | 2:00 am Frost & Sullivan: Increasing Competition Boosts the West African Mobile Communications MarketCAPE TOWN, South Africa, June 21 /PRNewswire/ -- West Africa is one of the most dynamic regions in sub-Saharan Africa.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 21 Jun 2010 | 2:00 am Frost & Sullivan: Demand for CCTV Systems Rises in Response to Crime Rates in South AfricaCAPE TOWN, South Africa, June 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Security has become an essential aspect of any building architecture.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 21 Jun 2010 | 2:00 am Elpida, PTI, and UMC Partner on 3D IC Integration Development for Advanced Technologies Including 28nmHSINCHU, Taiwan, June 21 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- Elpida Memory Inc., Powertech Technology Inc.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 21 Jun 2010 | 2:00 am EPoS.co.uk Connecting EPoS Buyers and Sellers as Automated Technology Boom ContinuesSource: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 21 Jun 2010 | 2:00 am Verizon EVP and CTO Dick Lynch Appointed to GSMA BoardSource: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 21 Jun 2010 | 1:58 am Verizon EVP and CTO Dick Lynch Appointed to GSMA BoardLONDON, June 21, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- The GSMA today announced that Dick Lynch, EVP and CTO of Verizon, a leading telecommunications operator in the U.S., has been appointed to the GSMA's Board.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 21 Jun 2010 | 1:58 am The Cat, the Mistress and the JackpotGIBRALTAR, June 21, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Talk about true love.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 21 Jun 2010 | 1:58 am Ness Technologies Wins $4 Million Outsourcing Contract with Israel's Clalit Health ServicesTEL AVIV, Israel, June 21, 2010 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Ness Technologies, Inc.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 21 Jun 2010 | 1:58 am Video: Hands-on with the Motorola Droid 2
Yes, the Droid 2, not X. I know it’s getting a litle confusing remembering which Droid is which, but let me remind you: the Droid 2 has a physical QWERTY, the X doesn’t. But anyway, Android and Me have posted the world’s first* hands-on video with the device, as well as run the device through a few benchmarks. And what did they find? Physically, it’s pretty similar to the previous Droid (which, given Motorola’s endless iterations of the RAZR line, isn’t really surprising): they’ve switched out the gold directional pad in favour of arrow keys (awarding them a star for aesthetics), made the black body more of a dark blue, and have coloured the front bezel silver, but not much beyond that. On the inside, though, is where they’ve made the important changes: the Droid 2 is now packin’ the gigahertzes (a 1GHz TI OMAP3630, to be precise), and — this may come as a surprise — benchmarks show a marked performance improvement over the original 550 MHz TI OMAP3430. The Droid 2 also packs 512MB RAM (that’s double the original’s), and the same PowerVR SGX530 GPU. But yes, enough of me. If you’re the graph-lovin’ type, check out Android and Me to get the full skinny on the benchmarks, otherwise, peep the video I’ve embedded for you, below. *May not actually be the world’s first.
Source: MobileCrunch | 21 Jun 2010 | 1:30 am High-Flying Editorials - 'Body Talk' in Vogue Korea July 2010 Includes Gymnastics & Acrobatics (GALLERY)(TrendHunter.com) The 'Body Talk' in Vogue Korea July 2010 editorial makes me want to go back to my gymnastics classes. Taking the theme of superheroes and mixing it up with crazy neon pieces, this shoot...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 21 Jun 2010 | 1:30 am Google Wi-Fi Data Grab Snared Passwords, E-mail (PC World)PC World - Wi-Fi traffic intercepted by Google's Street View cars included passwords and e-mail, according to the French National Commission on Computing and Liberty (CNIL).Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 21 Jun 2010 | 1:30 am Updated Rdio iPhone App Makes Its Way To The App Store
It took Apple’s review team close to a month, but the update to the Rdio iPhone application is now finally available from the App Store (iTunes link). It’s unclear why it took Apple this long, considering the update merely fixes some software bugs and adds one minor feature (remembering which song you were playing when you last closed the app). Either way, the updated app (version 0.5) is available for download right now, so speculation of blockage by Apple in light of its impending iTunes-in-the-cloud product launch can now be safely shelved. For a full review of Rdio, read Erick Schonfeld’s detailed take on the service.      
Source: TechCrunch | 21 Jun 2010 | 1:25 am Phone Software Takes the Taps Out of TypingNew technology called Swype allows users to glide a finger across the virtual keyboard to spell words, rather than tapping out each letter. The New York Times reports. Swypes software detects where...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 21 Jun 2010 | 1:23 am AT&T Responds To Reports Of Poor Network CoverageBy Chris Scott Barr Remember late last year when we told you about AT&T’s iPhone app that let you report poor network coverage? It seemed like a great idea, if the company actually put the information...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 21 Jun 2010 | 1:16 am DQE Smitten by Neo Network ("Neo Network") to Co-Produce "The Qpiz"Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 21 Jun 2010 | 1:11 am Magal Announces that the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders shall Take Place on June 23, 2010Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 21 Jun 2010 | 1:09 am The Internet: Everything You Ever Need To Know [Voices]By John Naughton, Columnist, Guardian A funny thing happened to us on the way to the future. The internet went from being something exotic to being boring utility, like mains electricity or running water – and we never really noticed. So we wound up being totally dependent on a system about which we are terminally incurious. Read the rest of this post on the original site Source: All Things Digital | 21 Jun 2010 | 1:05 am Inside The Mind Of The Anonymous Online Poster [Voices]By Neil Swidey, Staff Writer, Boston Globe Magazine On Monday, May 17, at 2 p.m., a breaking news article headlined “Obama’s aunt given OK to stay in United States” hits the home page of Boston.com. In a matter of seconds, the first anonymous online comment appears. Read the rest of this post on the original site Source: All Things Digital | 21 Jun 2010 | 1:04 am Flight Of The Desktops [Voices]By Farhad Manjoo, Technology Columnist, Slate Consider the desktop. For decades, it was the king of computers. If you wanted a PC, you bought a big, boxy machine that sat on or under your desk. Read the rest of this post on the original site Source: All Things Digital | 21 Jun 2010 | 1:03 am Microsoft's Xbox Live Is Making Boatloads Of Money On Virtual Goods [Voices]By Oliver Chiang, Contributor, Forbes Zynga has made a splash with hit Facebook games like “FarmVille” making boatloads of money primarily through sales of virtual goods. But in this new virtual gold rush, a more traditional competitor has been overlooked by many: the videogame console. Read the rest of this post on the original site Source: All Things Digital | 21 Jun 2010 | 1:02 am Utah Attorney General Announces Execution On Twitter [Voices]By David Kravetz, Contributor, Threat Level, Wired Today marked an evolution of sorts for Twitter. It’s no longer just for following your favorite celebrity rants or for informing your followers you’re having a ham sandwich or just took a shower. Read the rest of this post on the original site Source: All Things Digital | 21 Jun 2010 | 1:01 am Epson and Discovery Education Partner to Transform Teaching and LearningSource: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 21 Jun 2010 | 1:01 am CrunchGear Week in Review: Face Off Edition
Here are some stories from the past week on CrunchGear: ShirtsMyWay: design your own dress shirt
Source: CrunchGear | 21 Jun 2010 | 1:00 am Funds Invest In Privacy Start-Ups [Voices]By Pui-Wing Tam and Ben Worthen, Reporters, The Wall Street Journal As privacy snafus mount across companies such as Facebook Inc. and AT&T Inc. (T), venture capitalists have spotted a new market opening and are pumping millions of dollars into privacy-related start-ups. This month, online privacy start-up ReputationDefender Inc. plans to disclose that it has raised $15 million in new venture funding—even though the company wasn’t actively looking for new cash. SafetyWeb Inc., which helps parents monitor their kids’ online activities, said Thursday it closed $8 million in funding. And Truste, which offers seals of approval to websites that meet certain privacy standards, raised $12 million earlier this month. Many of the investors include top-tier venture-capital firms such as Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Accel Partners. Venture firms such as Jafco Ventures, Atlas Venture and Battery Ventures also have invested in online-privacy start-ups in the past few months. Read the rest of this post on the original site Source: All Things Digital | 21 Jun 2010 | 1:00 am Sky Blue Blazers - Calvin Klein Spring/Summer 2011 Collection Favors Robin's Egg Blue (GALLERY)(TrendHunter.com) At Milan Fashion Week, robin's egg blue was woven throughout the Calvin Klein Spring/Summer 2011 collection. Whether it appeared in t-shirts, blazers or trousers, bright sky blue added...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 21 Jun 2010 | 1:00 am Leo Burnett Social Media Adventure - David on Demand - Takes Living Vicariously to CannesSource: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 21 Jun 2010 | 1:00 am Toshiba Parties with Android 'Smartbook', Dual Screen Netbook (PC World)PC World - Toshiba has spent the last 25 years refining the basic laptop design of flat screen, x86 processor, full-size keyboard and removable storage. Its Portégé R700 will continue that tradition when it goes on sale next quarter, but two other new portable computers Toshiba will release around the same time take the company in new directions.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 21 Jun 2010 | 1:00 am Sierra Wireless leads global market in Cellular M2M CommunicationsStrong revenue growth in M2M products to $221 million in 2009 and $88.7 million in Q1 2010, takes Sierra Wireless to top position globally VANCOUVER, June 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - Sierra Wireless, Inc.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 21 Jun 2010 | 1:00 am What US Health Care NeedsMedical doctor and writer Atul Gawande gave the commencement address recently at Stanford's School of Medicine. In it he lays out very precisely and in a nonpartisan way what is wrong with the institution of medical care in the US — why it is both so expensive and so ineffective at delivering quality care uniformly across the board. "Half a century ago, medicine was neither costly nor effective. Since then, however, science has... enumerated and identified... more than 13,600 diagnoses — 13,600 different ways our bodies can fail. And for each one we've discovered beneficial remedies... But those remedies now include more than six thousand drugs and four thousand medical and surgical procedures. Our job in medicine is to make sure that all of this capability is deployed, town by town, in the right way at the right time, without harm or waste of resources, for every person alive. And we're struggling. There is no industry in the world with 13,600 different service lines to deliver. ... And then there is the frightening federal debt we will face. By 2025, we will owe more money than our economy produces. One side says war spending is the problem, the other says it's the economic bailout plan. But take both away and you've made almost no difference. Our deficit problem — far and away — is the soaring and seemingly unstoppable cost of health care. ... Like politics, all medicine is local. Medicine requires the successful function of systems — of people and of technologies. Among our most profound difficulties is making them work together. If I want to give my patients the best care possible, not only must I do a good job, but a whole collection of diverse components must somehow mesh effectively. ... This will take science. It will take art. It will take innovation. It will take ambition. And it will take humility. But the fantastic thing is: This is what you get to do."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 21 Jun 2010 | 12:15 am Violight Launching A UV Sanitizer For Cellphones And Small ElectronicsBy Andrew Liszewski Violight, the company best known for their bacteria and germ killing UV toothbrush sanitizers, have decided that people should be just as worried, if not moreso, about the microscopic...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 21 Jun 2010 | 12:10 am Landry's CEO gets key shareholder vote for buyout-WSJJune 21 (Reuters) - Landry's Restaurants Inc Chief Executive Tilman Fertitta's $1.4 billion bid for the seafood restaurant operator received the support of a crucial shareholder on Sunday, the Wall Street...Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 21 Jun 2010 | 12:02 am Debonair Fall Fashion - Steven Meisel Shoots Well-Dressed Drama for the Prada Fall 2010 Campaign (GALLERY)(TrendHunter.com) Photographer Steven Meisel brings the heat for the Prada Fall 2010 campaign. Models Mark Cox, Kim Dall'armi, Mathias Bergh and Clment Chabernaud vamp in this set of retro-styled ads,...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 21 Jun 2010 | 12:00 am Texas Instruments, Azcom Technology and Nash Technologies present the industry's first live 32-user femtocell demonstration at Femtocells World SummitLONDON, June 21 /PRNewswire/ -- FEMTOCELLS WORLD SUMMIT -Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) (NYSE: TXN) in collaboration with Azcom Technology, a leader in providing cellular communications software solutions, and Nash Technologies, a wireless communication system development and support company, is announcing the industry's first live demonstration of a 32-user femtocell solution at the Femtocells World Summit this week.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 21 Jun 2010 | 12:00 am Example needed: Getting enchanted by an employeeLooking for a story of being enchanted by an employee. I need an example of a boss (you) getting enchanted by an employee. What did he or she do to enchant you? What was the feeling like? Please send to...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 20 Jun 2010 | 11:56 pm GAEMS Suitcase Makes Your Xbox 360 Portable Without All That ModdingBy Andrew Liszewski We’ve all stared in awe at Ben Heck’s stunning portable console mods, and then looked longingly at our own systems, wishing we even knew where to begin making our own. But...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 20 Jun 2010 | 11:43 pm Japan Space Program Shines with Hayabusa, IKAROS Success - TIME
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 20 Jun 2010 | 11:40 pm UBM TechInsights Hosts IPBC Panel on Non-Practicing EntitiesOTTAWA, Ontario, June 21 /PRNewswire/ -- UBM TechInsights will host a panel at the IP Business Congress (IPBC) tackling the issue of "Getting to Grips with Non-Practicing Entities (NPEs)." IPBC 2010 runs from June 20 to 22 in Munich, Germany.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 20 Jun 2010 | 11:11 pm iBallz Shock Absorbing HarnessBy Andrew Liszewski Your immediate reaction to the iBallz might be to just shake your head like I did, but after giving them the benefit of the doubt and checking out their site (which includes an amazing...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 20 Jun 2010 | 11:02 pm 50 Urban Exploration Photo Sets - From Abandoned Building Photography to Feral Homes (CLUSTER)(TrendHunter.com) Urban exploration is the practice of seeking out (and often documenting) abandoned buildings, feral homes and other run-down, cast-off spaces. We've featured dozens of photo shoots...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 20 Jun 2010 | 11:00 pm Economic reality versus ideology: spending cuts and recoveryIn this week's New York Times column, Nobel-winning economist Paul Krugman debunks the idea of heavy government cuts as a way to economic recovery:That '30s Feeling (via Making Light) (Image: Library of Congress)  Source: Boing Boing | 20 Jun 2010 | 10:59 pm California Wants To Put E-Ads On License Platestechmuse writes "The San Jose Mercury News reports that the California state legislature wants to put electronic advertising on license plates. The plate would display standard plate information when the car is moving, but would also display ads when the car is stopped for more than 4 seconds (say, at a red light). Not distracting or annoying at all! 'The bill has received no formal opposition. It passed unanimously through the Senate last month and is scheduled to be heard Monday by the Assembly Transportation Committee.'"
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 20 Jun 2010 | 10:39 pm Hello Kitty motor oil I have it on the best of authority (well, not really -- just a post on a random blog) that this Hello Kitty 30-weight motor oil is a real product. Vroom, vroom. Meow. Hello Kitty Engine oil - Yes its for real Source: Boing Boing | 20 Jun 2010 | 10:38 pm Verizon offers FiOS try-out - Reuters
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 20 Jun 2010 | 10:28 pm Verizon offers FiOS try-out (Reuters)Reuters - Verizon Communications will let customers try its FiOS Internet and television service for a month without charging them fees for early contract termination if they switch off the service after that.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 20 Jun 2010 | 10:24 pm Nintendo's 3DS Opens All Eyes At E3 - BusinessWeek
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 20 Jun 2010 | 10:02 pm Photo Gallery: Best Album Art of All TimeVinyl LPs aren't just about the music. Feast your eyes on more than 20 examples of the best album-cover art ever.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 20 Jun 2010 | 10:00 pm Steven Levy: Tablet PCs Must Get Cheaper, Lighter, More ConnectedScience-fiction novelists envisioned the tablet PC years ago. But doubters see only hype and no practical value in it. Here's what needs to happen for the revolution to succeed.
Source: Wired: Gadgets | 20 Jun 2010 | 10:00 pm Steven Levy: Tablet PCs Must Get Cheaper, Lighter, More ConnectedScience-fiction novelists envisioned the tablet PC years ago. But doubters see only hype and no practical value in it. Here's what needs to happen for the revolution to succeed.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 20 Jun 2010 | 10:00 pm The Man Who Could Unsnarl Manhattan TrafficCharles Komanoff builds an enormous spreadsheet to track all the time and money lost in traffic every year -- even how long it takes to dig for bus fare -- in hopes of solving one of today's nastiest problems. Check it out online.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 20 Jun 2010 | 10:00 pm June 21, 1948: Columbia's Microgroove LP Makes Albums Sound GoodUntil Columbia ironed out the kinks, LP records sounded terrible and wore out quickly.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 20 Jun 2010 | 10:00 pm Was alleged Wikileaks leaker Bradley Manning's crisis also one of personal identity? Yesterday, I published a what purported to be more detailed versions of IM logs between alleged whistleblower US Army PFC Bradley Manning and hacker Adrian Lamo, revealing specific countries and issues implicated in military documents Manning is alleged to have leaked to Wikileaks.
Journalists such as Washingtonian's Shane Harris have speculated that the "adjustment disorder" for which Manning was reportedly about to be discharged might indicate a "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" issue within the military. But these logs may also suggest that Manning's state of crisis involved a different gender identity issue. Shortly after I published the logs, a comment appeared on my post:
"I had no idea Bradley Manning was a transsexual until I read this. That's got to put a fellow into a strange headspace in the first place."I asked our moderators to not publish the comment, in keeping with our moderation guidelines. It appeared to be off-topic, and an attempt at a personal attack. But shortly after that comment appeared, someone I do not know who identified themselves as a transgender person tweeted at me:
Congratulations. You just outed Manning.As transgender? Two pings one after another, from apparently different readers? What was going on, and what could I have failed to see? What could I have missed in the chat logs? I went back to the logs, to try and make sense...
(1:11:54 PM) bradass87: and... its important that it gets out... i feel, for some bizarre reason
The phrase around "as a boy" and the use of the verb "transition," jumped out, and reading through again, dots seemed to connect: is Manning struggling with gender identity? If these chat logs really are authentic, and if Manning wasn't punking Adrian Lamo, could Manning ("bradass87") have meant,
News reports have typically describe the logs as 'boasting,' but that seems far from a complete picture of Manning's tone in these exchanges.
But if the personal crisis suggested here were true, it would certainly broaden the scope of Manning's motives and state of mind, and reveal a wealth of internally conflicted human drives that recontextualize the story.
Was Bradley Manning a transgender person unable to transition because he was active duty military? Did Manning, in isolation and distress while stationed in Iraq, reach out to Adrian Lamo in part because Manning believed Lamo —whom the internet-searchable public record shows We can't very well ask Manning, who is now reported to be in military detention in Kuwait. (Rob Beschizza contributed to this report) Source: Boing Boing | 20 Jun 2010 | 9:58 pm Mailboxes, Find My iPhone and other great iPad apps (Appolicious)Appolicious - You don’t realize how much garbage is being sold in the iTunes App Store until you peruse apps by their release date, but it’s also the very best way to ensure that you don’t miss anything good. These are among the very best iPad apps released this past week:Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 20 Jun 2010 | 9:29 pm $199 slim Xbox 360 confirmed for 'fall' - Afterdawn.com
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 20 Jun 2010 | 9:02 pm Michael Jackson a billion-dollar man (Reuters)
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 20 Jun 2010 | 8:44 pm Droid X appears on Motorola’s website; Amazon starts selling Droid X accessoriesSection: Communications, Accessories, Cellphones, Cellular Providers, Smartphones, Web, Websites  A little less than a week ago, the Motorola Droid X officially appeared on the Verizon website pictured alongside the Motorola Droid and the HTC Droid Incredible. Only a little while ago, the Motorola Droid X finally appeared on the Motorola website. On the splash page for the Droid X, you can opt to sign up for information regarding the latest Motorola smartphone. I would assume they will be passing along availability information and pricing as soon as it becomes available. Currently, the hottest rumor is for a July 19 release for the Droid X, however, I am sure we will be learning more information on June 23, the Verizon press event date. In a bit of related news, Amazon is already selling an accessory for the Droid X in the form of a screen protector. By performing a simple search of Motorola Droid X, the Skinomi TechSkin screen protector shows up on pre-order for $9.95. For some reason, the screen protector is set to ship by June 22, which is even before the announcement. Verizon has certainly done a good job of building up hype for the Motorola Droid X, whether it was intentional or unintentional. Hopefully they don’t go through shortages because we have experienced way too much of that between the Droid Incredible, the HTC EVO 4G, and even the iPhone 4. Check it out [Motorola] Product [Amazon] Full Story » | Written by Natesh Sood for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 20 Jun 2010 | 8:22 pm NNSFW: A Column Written In Five Minutes About Stuff That Mattered Years Ago
In Kurt Vonnegut Jr’s most famous book, Billy Pilgrim is a former soldier who finds himself lost in time: forced to live and relive the periods of his life in random order. Today I know how Billy Pilgrim feels. Sure, for Pilgrim the trigger was the trauma of war, while for me it’s the lunacy of getting ready to launch TechCrunch TV in a few days (more on that soon), but apart from that we’re basically the same. Except that I’m not American. Or a fictional character. What I am though, is confused. I’m sitting here in the TechCrunch office, on a Sunday evening, trying to placate my editorial paymasters by bashing out something resembling a column in the five minutes I have between conference calls with TCTV contributors. To expedite the process I’m trawling the web; pinging the major technology news sites to find out what big stories I’ve missed this week. The only problem is, every time I click on a story, I discover that I’ve been transported back in time. Click. Here’s a story on Ars Technica about Microsoft suing a spammer who tried to abuse Hotmail’s anti-spam filters. Hotmail! The defendant in the case is Boris Mizhen and, unless I’m very much mistaken (I’m not), this story is one big déjà vu. Mizhen is the same guy who Microsoft sued for spamming Hotmail back in 2003. And now they’re doing it again. I mean seriously – if you’re still using Hotmail today, you really deserve everything you get. But the deja vu doesn’t stop there. With every click, the news timewarp gets wider. Click… Bebo has just been sold. For a ridiculous price. Is this 2008? Click… A new paywall technology is about to launch that might save the newspaper industry. Paywalls! Seriously. Is this 2005? Click… The New York Times is threatening to sue Neighborhoodies for producing a tshirt showing the logo of The New York Herald Tribune. The NY Herald Tribune died in 1966. So it goes. Hell, even the Guardian has got in on the act; publishing – today, in 2010 – a guide to understanding the Internet (“everything you need to know”!), like it’s some totally new thing. I can only assume that the stress of launch has got to me and I’ve lost my grip on temporal reality. Either that or the whole Internet is messing with me, ensuring that all of the big news this week is about companies or concepts that ceased to be relevant years, or even decades ago. The result: everything I might possibly write will be dated before the words even leave my fingers. Well have it your way, temporal confusion: ironically enough, I don’t have the time to fight with you. Instead, in place of this week’s column, here’s a list of five more headlines that I fully expect to read in the coming week… “AOL sign-up disks: can they give you cancer?” “Is your child at risk from Friendster paedophiles?” “DARPANET: the enemy within” “Jennifer Ringley: the new face of Altavista” “Laptops! Kiss your desktop goodbye – there’s a new kid in town!” Actually, wait, while I was writing this: Slate just published that last story; a ground-breaking report – published today, in 2010 – on how laptop computers are leading to the death of the desktop. Seriously? Desktops are dead? So it goes. Now, if you’ll excuse me, my five minutes is up, my Nokia 8210 is ringing and I have to take this call. Normal service resumes last week.      
Source: TechCrunch | 20 Jun 2010 | 7:54 pm Former Soviet Republic of Georgia To Become IT Tax HavenA few days ago we noted how Ukraine is driving out its software freelancers with the threat of onerous taxation. Now comes news that another former Soviet republic, Georgia, will become a tax-free zone for IT companies. It might be the Google translation, but it seems that officials there are somewhat worried about how to categorize the IT segment: "[T]he main difficulty... is to determine which organization is the IT company, and what is not: 'While from a formal point of view it is impossible to distinguish between software developers from the oil.'"
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 20 Jun 2010 | 7:45 pm What Is Your Facebook Data Worth? (PC World)PC World - The gargantuan amount of high-quality user data on Facebook is causing everyone--from marketers to hackers--to salivate like dogs gazing at a steak. They all want a piece of you.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 20 Jun 2010 | 7:30 pm Andreessen Horowitz Celebrates First Year With New General Partner John O’Farrell
We covered the launch of Andreessen Horowitz a year ago here. The company has also recently hired two partners – Margit Wennmachers to run marketing and Jeff Stump to help portfolio companies recruit executive talent. The firm now has 24 investments, says Andreessen. In its first year they received 1,048 qualified deal referrals from 324 individuals. $150 million of the $300 million fund has been invested, and other $60 million has been earmarked for follow on investments. That means they are nearly out of cash, and Andreessen says they will likely raise their second fund later this year. He wouldn’t comment on the potential size of that second fund, saying the decision hasn’t been made yet. Andreessen Horowitz has certainly made a splash in its first year. They focus on what they call “computer science” – which includes both consumer tech and IT startups – but shy away from clean tech, bio tech and other types of deals. They make investments ranging from very early angel rounds, $50,000 or so, on up to $50 million in later stage deals. And Andreessen says they will likely make even larger investments in the future. We’re tracking most of their investments on Crunchbase. Some, says Andreessen, are still confidential and haven’t been announced yet. Information provided by CrunchBase      
Source: TechCrunch | 20 Jun 2010 | 7:21 pm Sprint’s latest ad campaign attacks Verizon & AT&TSection: Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers  For new AT&T customers, you will have to choose a different data plan as AT&T no longer offers an unlimited plan. Verizon customers may face the same fate as new AT&T customers because they are also considering tiered data plans. Nothing has been set in stone for Verizon, but it seems they are heading in that direction. What does that mean for the average cell phone data power user? The only other carrier to offer unlimited data is Sprint and CEO Dan Hesse has not wasted a minute to capitalize on the latest changes by his rivals. In a new ad, Dan Hesse promotes the Everything Data plan which includes unlimited calling, unlimited text, and unlimited web for $69.99. He makes it a point to say that Verizon and AT&T only offer unlimited calling for $69.99. Hesse goes on to say that people do not use their phones for just calling, and they want many other features in their plans instead of just calling. If I were Sprint, I too, would try to promote my Everything Data plan because it is actually a lot better than what Verizon and AT&T are offering. The ad on YouTube can be viewed below. Full Story » | Written by Natesh Sood for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 20 Jun 2010 | 7:14 pm Is Not Predicting an Earthquake a Crime?Italian scientists and officials are being investigated for manslaughter charges because they didn't predict a quake that destroyed much of L'Aquila, Italy in 2009.Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 20 Jun 2010 | 7:08 pm Intel's Westmere-EX to Include More Cores (PC World)PC World - Intel's next-generation processor code-named Westmere-EX may include more cores than the company's current server chips, according to the title of a paper about the chip announced on Sunday.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 20 Jun 2010 | 7:00 pm Some iPhone orders are cancelling, some start shippingSection: Apple, Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers, Smartphones  Apple and AT&T have had their share of troubles throughout the whole pre-order process. As of yesterday, there were many people claiming their iPhone order had been cancelled, either on AT&T’s end or on Apple’s end. As you can imagine, these customers were very frustrated, and who wouldn’t when greeted with an email such as the image above. Or if you ordered your iPhone 4 from Apple, your email text read
According to a AT&T representative who commented on Gizmodo’s article, the reason behind AT&T terminating iPhone orders was because the customer hit the submit button too many times and AT&T was simply cancelling the erroneous orders. That kind of makes sense, assuming the guy is actually who he claims to be, but some people who only hit submit once are still faced with a cancelled order. In a related story, some iPhone 4 pre-orders have begun shipping today. However, in light of all the recent news stories regarding the iPhone 4 debacle, I am sure most customers are skeptical their iPhone will actually arrive on time until the doorbell rings and they are holding the iPhone 4 in their hands. The image at the end of the post represents an email from Apple saying the customers’ iPhone has shipped. Read [Gizmodo]
Full Story » | Written by Natesh Sood for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 20 Jun 2010 | 6:01 pm Testing Reveals Security Software Often Misses New Malware (PC World)PC World - New research has further confirmed the difficulties security software companies are having keeping up with an explosion in malicious software programs on the Internet.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 20 Jun 2010 | 5:20 pm Egypt Oil Spill threatens Red Sea Marine LifeAn oil spill off the Egyptian Red Sea coast is threatening to damage marine life in the area.Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 20 Jun 2010 | 5:16 pm iPhone 4 display screen facing production issuesSection: Apple, Communications, Smartphones
“Low yields on the IPS LCD panel from LG Display have dramatically impacted the production volumes for iPhone 4. Our supply chain checks indicate that our earlier monthly shipment estimate of 4 million units have been reset by about half.” Ashok Kumar, managing director and senior technology analyst at Rodman & Renshaw, wrote in a research note. If Kumar is correct it couldn’t happen at a worse time for Apple. Over half a million people have placed pre-orders for the new phone, forcing them, Best Buy and AT&T to stop accepting anymore and forcing Apple to move it’s promised delivery dates back to July. Have you pre-ordered the new iPhone? If so how do you feel about a possible supply shortage? Read [CNet] Full Story » | Written by Sue Walsh for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 20 Jun 2010 | 4:59 pm In NJ, Higher Tech Lowers Crimecrimeandpunishment sends along this snip from an AP story carried on Skunkpost.com: "High tech means low crime in a New Jersey city that has used an arsenal of advanced technology to sharply lower one of the highest crime rates in the nation. And now East Orange is poised to become the first city in the country to take high tech crime fighting to a whole new level... surveillance cameras with sensors that can be programmed to identify crimes as they unfold."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 20 Jun 2010 | 4:50 pm Top 10 Gamertell posts for the week of June 13, 2010FROM GAMERTELL - Haven’t caught all of the Gamertell news this week? Here’s your chance to catch up on this week’s top 10 articles! Live Blog: Sony’s E3 2010 press conference” It’s time to save the date again. Sony’s going to holding an E3 media presentation at 12 p.m. PST (2 p.m. CST,… MORE » Full Story » | Written by NEWS for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 20 Jun 2010 | 3:48 pm What Valley Companies Should Know about Tencent
If you guessed Google and Amazon you got two right, but I’m betting few of our American readers guessed the third. I certainly wouldn’t have a year ago. It’s not eBay or Yahoo; it’s Tencent. If you are in the Web space and haven’t heard of them, read this post, because Tencent’s cutesy penguin mascot is only going to cast a larger shadow in the global Web world in coming years. Low-key Tencent is the largest, most profitable Internet company in China and it has just under 400 million active users–comfortably bigger than the population of the United States. Tencent recently bought 10% of Digital Sky Technology, which in turn owns huge chunks of Zynga and Facebook. In the past, Tencent has held joint venture talks with Google and Facebook and made acquisition offers to a few smaller Valley companies that haven’t resulted in deals. But if investor pressure on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange is anything like investor pressure on Wall Street, some deal will happen soon. Tencent’s stock has more than doubled in the last year, and it has a P/E ratio more than six times Google’s, according to Yahoo Finance. You think Apple’s stock has appreciated in recent years? Check this out. Tencent has had more than double the stock appreciation of Apple over the last five years, according to Yahoo Finance. Investors itch for a company like that to go do something with that rich of a stock currency. Even if you don’t know the name Tencent, you’ve probably heard of its core IM product QQ. Tencent started in instant messaging in 1999 and unlike nearly everyone else, figured out a way to make money from it by selling virtual goods and services to enhance Tencent has also made forays in online payments and ecommerce, but it has had the least success in that category. The company isn’t giving up. I met with Tencent’s CTO Jeff Xiong in Hong Kong last week and when I asked him what the company’s core strength was, he answered “patience.” Tencent has benefited from some luck and market timing, like most Web giants. In 2005, there was a big debate within the company over whether they should develop its own search technology or partner with someone. It did both—partnering with Google but developing its own at the same time. Last September the company replaced Google’s search with its own product, in November it replaced Google’s search ad platform with its own and in February it replaced its mobile search with its own. Google started its feud with the Chinese government in March. “We were lucky,” Xiong says. “If three years ago we hadn’t made that decision, we would have been trapped.” Tencent is a small player in search now, but in a market feeling the pain of that Baidu monopoly, many people welcome Tencent getting stronger. Then again, many others don’t want the company getting any stronger in anything. Tencent uses its near-ubiquitous QQ messaging platform to push users to its other properties, skirting the existing problem in China of sky high prices for keywords and directory listings. Having almost zero user acquisition cost is a formidable advantage. (When it’s used wisely that is. Tencent pushed users to its ecommerce marketplace prematurely, and it just convinced a lot of users to stick with Alibaba’s Taobao.)
“We’re not doing everything,” protests Xiong, a former Microsoft employee during the anti-trust trial years, who is visibly uncomfortable with the Microsoft analogy. For instance, after big in-house debates Tencent has decided to stay away from business software or a Chinese equivalent of Google Docs, he says. It is making small or no bets on categories like online video, a traditional ecommerce store like Amazon, a reservation engine like OpenTable or Digg-style news aggregation. (Despite Xiong’s protestations, that’s a pretty small slice of the consumer Web the company is not going after.) I asked Xiong where he expected Tencent to be in ten years. He responded first by saying China only has about 20% Internet penetration. Just growing in China in one of the company’s verticals would grow Tencent dramatically– that’s no doubt driving the stock up. I asked him if he thought Tencent would buy a big Silicon Valley company in the future. He said yes, without blinking. (The company has an office on University Avenue, and Xiong travels here several times a year.) Tencent is an impressive company, but it’s fair to say the stock is over-heated. It should do something with that currency while it can, the way Google used its enviable stock currency to outbid rivals for acquisitions like YouTube back in 2006. Every Internet company can tell you, that advantage doesn’t last forever. Indeed, it’s hard to think of an Internet company Tencent’s size that hasn’t done a big, even company changing deal. EBay changed its fortunes with PayPal (and several bad acquisitions unfortunately), Yahoo got into search with Overture, and Google expanded its business with YouTube and DoubleClick. Even Amazon added to its ecommerce arsenal with its recent acquisition of Zappos. Still, odds are any near-term deals will be modest ones. Pony Ma, Tencent’s founder and CEO, has walked away from large acquisitions in the past because of concerns that the culture’s wouldn’t mix, Xiong says. Indeed, Tencent’s staff has an average age of 26 and has that somewhat cocky but fun feel of working for the coolest company on the planet at just the right time. (I snapped the pictures in this post during a visit to the company’s Shenzhen headquarters.) Patience is one thing, but Tencent has been cautious long enough– pretty soon it’ll need to start acting like the global Internet company it is becoming. Information provided by CrunchBase      
Source: TechCrunch | 20 Jun 2010 | 3:39 pm Swype Beta For Android Is Open, TemporarilyFyreWyr writes "In 2008 we discussed Swype, which allows a mobile (phone, e.g.) user to draw a path over a virtual keyboard to enter words, rather than requiring precise tapping to accomplish the input. Using this software, a Swype intern (Franklin Page) beat the Guinness record by about 6 WPM for the Guinness-standard phrase: The razor-toothed piranhas of the genera Serrasalmus and Pygocentrus are the most ferocious freshwater fish in the world. In reality they seldom attack a human. (Unfortunately the video at that link is marked private.) TechCrunch reports that Swype is presently in open beta, and will be available for 'a couple of days,' supporting English, Spanish, and Italian entry. Finally, while the deadline has apparently passed, I was able to retrieve the Android beta for testing a few minutes ago. I'm posting it here for the benefit of Android-enabled Slashdot readers."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 20 Jun 2010 | 3:31 pm LinkedIn Tops 70 Million Users; Includes Over One Million Company Profiles
Weiner tells us that the fastest growth LinkedIn is seeing is in international markets. The network has also been adding features continuously over the past six months to broaden LinkedIn’s reach across the web, adding a deeper Twitter integration, opening up an API, providing a plugin with Microsoft Outlook and enhancing sharing options. But while LinkedIn is looking to bring its platform to the greater web, there’s a tremendous amount of potential to use the data the network has on its side to add additional functionality to both users and companies. Weiner recently told us that data is incredibly important part of LinkedIn’s future as a network. And while we can’t reveal what those data features are at the moment, it’s safe to say that we will be seeing a number of new initiatives coming from LinkedIn leveraging the wealth of professional content on the network. Weiner won’t comment on any plans for LinkedIn to IPO in the near future, but the company is clearly seeing growth, is profitable and working diligently to build features into the platform. It should be interesting to see what the second half of 2010 brings the professional social network. Information provided by CrunchBase      
Source: TechCrunch | 20 Jun 2010 | 3:23 pm Why Mobile Innovation Is Blowing Away PCs
Editor's note: Guest author Steve Cheney is an entrepreneur and formerly an engineer & programmer specializing in web and mobile technologies.
On the heels of the latest Android phone, the Sprint HTC EVO, and as we approach iPhone 4, it seems like mobile devices and platforms are innovating at about five times the pace of personal computers.
Rapid advancement in mobile is often attributed to the natural disruption by which emerging industries innovate quickly, while established markets like PCs follow a slower, more sustained trajectory. But there are deeper fundamentals driving the breathtaking pace of smartphone advancement.
Source: MobileCrunch | 20 Jun 2010 | 3:19 pm Why Mobile Innovation Is Blowing Away PCs
Editor’s note: Guest author Steve Cheney is an entrepreneur and formerly an engineer & programmer specializing in web and mobile technologies. On the heels of the latest Android phone, the Sprint HTC EVO, and as we approach iPhone 4, it seems like mobile devices and platforms are innovating at about five times the pace of personal computers. Rapid advancement in mobile is often attributed to the natural disruption by which emerging industries innovate quickly, while established markets like PCs follow a slower, more sustained trajectory. But there are deeper fundamentals driving the breathtaking pace of smartphone advancement. Component vendors supplying to smartphone OEMs have evolved a much different DNA than those supplying to PC makers. Smartphones are an evolution of embedded systems, not PCs, and embedded markets have long favored vendors who don’t simply provide the most highly integrated chipsets, but who can also partner with OEMs to drive system-level integration and software at a rapid pace. Hardware / Chipset Integration Differences in Smartphones vs PCs: Intel’s monopoly in PC processors and peripheral chipsets has caused PC innovation to stagnate. “Chipsets” sit alongside a CPU and integrate auxiliary functions such as wireless and peripherals. By “bundling” chipsets with processors, Intel neutralizes competition on PC motherboards. Exceptions such as graphic chips exist, but Intel essentially “decides” 90% of what will (and won’t) be included on next generation PCs. A great example of this is the notable lack of GPS chips in laptops. The fact that I have to type in my starting address on Google Maps on my $1,500 MacBook Air serves as a constant reminder that PC innovation has plateaued (even Mac hardware is controlled by Intel). It’s no surprise people reach for their iPhone when in front of a computer—the mobile experience is often better. GPS is just one example of the ever-widening gap between PCs and smartphones. Sure, PC makers could add a separate GPS chip to the motherboard, but why hasn’t Intel pursued location as a core piece of IP in its chipsets to drive a better mobile experience for laptops? It’s simple – they don’t need to. Intel loves high margins, and their market monopoly allows them to pursue margin at the expense of innovation. In contrast, smartphone vendors have traditionally competed in a much more fragmented supply chain, integrating at a breakneck pace just to survive. Today’s 3G wireless chipsets integrate GPS, Bluetooth, and 802.11n on a single chip. And the competition between great companies like Qualcomm and Marvell not only spurs further innovation, but also drives vendors to differentiate in system integration and software. System Level Integration and Support Differences in Smartphones vs PCs: System integration is the term for how hardware and software combine to create a finished platform. In PCs, Intel dictates the pace of hardware releases– OEMs essentially wait for CPU updates, then differentiate through inventory control, channel / distribution and branding. Intel and Microsoft win no matter which PC makers excel – they literally don’t care if it’s Asus, Dell or HP. In the smartphone world, it’s the opposite. Dozens of component vendors fight each other to the death to win designs at smartphone OEMs. This competitive dynamic forms an entirely different basis for how component vendors approach system integration and support. Consider Infineon, which supplies the 3G wireless chipset in the iPhone. In order to stay in Apple’s graces, Infineon must do everything necessary to help the hardware and software play well together, including staffing permanent engineers in Cupertino or sending a team overnight from Germany. Do you think Intel does this for Dell? This level of commitment helps smartphone OEMs to iterate platforms much more quickly than they could do so alone. If Infineon slacks off at Apple, other vendors are pushing to get inside the next iPhone. This competitive dynamic simply doesn’t exist in PCs, which is actually a fascinating side-story to why Intel and Microsoft have traditionally failed in most embedded (non-PC) markets. Software Platform Differences in Smartphones vs PCs: We all know Apple deserves credit for starting the first wave in smartphone OS innovation and for restructuring the wireless industry. And though we harp on Android for fragmentation issues, Google’s commitment to moving the OS forward is noble considering Microsoft has only released 3 Windows refreshes in the past 10 years, and is yet to release a smartphone OS, 30 months after buying Danger. The competitive interplay between Apple and Google will continue to help smartphone software outpace PCs. But iOS and Android also benefit wildly from the structure of the smartphone industry. Apple and Google are pushed not just by each other, but by the symbiotic advancement in chipsets and the system integration work of component vendors that I detailed above. The entire smartphone innovation value-chain just works. It’s this overall combination of component advancement, system integration, and software which will continue to drive unprecedented innovation in mobile. Meanwhile, the WinTel monopoly is taking PCs along a slow linear path, where features and user experience drag way behind available technology. As we approach the next evolution in computing as ushered in by the iPad, Microsoft and Intel are under extraordinary pressure to recover in mobile. But not only do they lack the technology to succeed, they will also fall victim to the inbred structure they’ve created in the PC industry. It’s very likely that within five years, tablets, smartphones, and other “mobile devices” will have permanently left PC innovation behind. And I’d argue this is a good thing for both the progression of exciting new technologies, and for consumers.      
Source: TechCrunch | 20 Jun 2010 | 3:07 pm Adults more likely to text while driving than teensSection:
Other studies have shown that drivers who text while driving are 23 times more likely to crash. So far only 28 states have passed laws against texting while driving but it’s a sure bet more will follow. Federal employees are also banned from texting while driving. No matter how convinced you are that you can text while driving, you can’t. No one can. When you are behind the wheel the only thing you should be doing is driving. Period. No text, email or phone call is worth risking your life or someone else’s for. Read [PCWorld] Full Story » | Written by Sue Walsh for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 20 Jun 2010 | 2:33 pm Windows Phone 7 Lacks Copy-and-Pastetheodp writes "In a behind-the-scenes look at Windows Phone 7 (photos), CNET's Ina Fried notes that Microsoft's new software has won early praise for breaking ground in some areas, but takes a step backward in others. In particular, it doesn't support features like copy and paste and multitasking that were already part of the old Windows Mobile. 'I think users use cut-copy-paste periodically,' said Microsoft exec Terry Myerson, '(but) there's other things they use more frequently.' Hey, tradeoffs had to be made — it was either copy-and-paste or Goo Splat."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 20 Jun 2010 | 2:26 pm Deal: Amazon offering all T-Mobile phones for a pennySection: Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers, Web, Websites
In case you missed out on T-Mobile’s big offer yesterday - free phones with a new two year activation, you might want to check out the latest deal by Amazon. From now until tomorrow (June 21) Amazon will be offering all T-Mobile phones for a penny with a new two year contract. Phones such as the HTC HD2, BlackBerry Bold 9700, Nokia Nuron 5230, Samsung Gravity 2 T469, Motorola Cliq, HTC myTouch Slide 3G, the Garminfone, and many others are all available for just a penny. Be sure to act quick, because the deal will be over by tomorrow! Check it out [Amazon] Full Story » | Written by Natesh Sood for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 20 Jun 2010 | 2:22 pm Appletell reviews the TwelveSouth BookBook MacBook Pro caseFROM APPLETELL - The BookBook case is what happens when you hide the new in the old. It’s a case designed to look exactly like the worlds biggest format leather bound book. Full Story » | Written by NEWS for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 20 Jun 2010 | 1:24 pm German Radar Satellite Lifts Off Tonight2Y9D57 writes "Germany's new TanDEM-X radar satellite is scheduled to lift off from Baikonur Cosmodrome at 04:15 Berlin time on 21 June — that's 10:14 pm Eastern today (20 June). Flying in close formation with its twin satellite, TerraSAR-X, TanDEM-X will generate the most consistent and highest-resolution digital elevation map ever of the Earth — 12m = 40ft. pixel pitch. It will take three years to image all 150 million square kilometers (58 million square miles), in the process generating more than 350 TB of raw data. Here's where to go as the time approaches for live streaming."
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Source: Slashdot | 20 Jun 2010 | 1:12 pm FCC asks: Do media ownership limits make sense? (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 20 Jun 2010 | 12:28 pm Latest Froyo 2.2. update gets leaked, includes bug fixesSection: Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers, Smartphones, Web, Google
For those who chose to update their Nexus One to Android 2.2 are probably running Build FRF50, but today, the latest 2.2 update (Build FRF72) has been located on Google servers and has been leaked to the public. Simply download the .zip file, place it on the SD card, and boot the phone from recovery mode and you can be running the latest build of Android 2.2 as well. Keep in mind that you need to have FRF50 already on your device for Build FRF72 to work. Not sure what exactly the update does, but early reports indicate that it fixes bugs in the previous Build version. Here is the link for .zip file located on Google servers. In all likelihood, Google will pull the update shortly, so mirrors have already been set up that contain the .zip file here. Remember to proceed with caution when installing the latest version of Froyo. Via [Android Central] Read [XDA-Developers] Image Via [Engadget] Full Story » | Written by Natesh Sood for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 20 Jun 2010 | 12:12 pm Utah Attorney General Tweets Execution OrderKilrah_il writes "In an all-time low for Internet use, Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff used Twitter to announce to the public his approval of the execution of convicted murderer Ronnie Lee Gardner. 'I just gave the go ahead to Corrections Director to proceed with Gardner's execution. May God grant him the mercy he denied his victims,' the attorney general wrote. The AG's 7,000 followers retweeted the message further on and soon many replied concerning the awfulness of tweeting the execution of a human being. 'Mr. Shurtleff was doing nothing unusual; politicians and news organizations now routinely send out tweets to alert people to the latest developments. But as Twitter users digested endless breaking news flashes alerting them to the death of a man by firing squad in the United States, for some Mr. Shurtleff's remarks stood out from the rest.'"
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 20 Jun 2010 | 11:58 am BOOM! Top Apple news for the week of 6-13-2010Section:  We may not cover Apple 24x7… but we know someone who does! Here’s a few of this week’s hottest from Appletell to get you started…
Full Story » | Written by NEWS for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 20 Jun 2010 | 11:02 am Shedding Light on a Fast-Melting GlacierA current of warm water is eating away at the base of Antarctica's Pine Island Glacier, hastening its retreat, and raising the possibility of future collapse.Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 20 Jun 2010 | 11:00 am AU National Broadband Network Signs $11 Billion Deal With TelstraAn anonymous reader writes "The Australian government has signed an $11 billion deal with the country's largest telco, Telstra, to acquire the telco's physical infrastructure and migrate customers to the National Broadband Network. The NBN is a 100Mbps open access fiber network that will be rolled out to 94% of the Australian population, with wireless and satellite to cover the remainder. The deal marks a large step forward for the new network, as without a deal to bring Telstra's customers onboard, the NBN's viability was in question."
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Source: Slashdot | 20 Jun 2010 | 10:45 am Mickey Mouse, amphetamine shill   
In the 1950s, speed was legally sold as "pep pills" to help improve your mood and vigor, and Mickey Mouse got in the act with a series of strips in which Mickey pimped amphetamine to kids and grownups who needed a little pick-me-up. Mickey Mouse on Speed (via IO9)
Source: Boing Boing | 20 Jun 2010 | 10:23 am Why Estonia Is the Poster Child for Cyber-SecurityEstonia may be "a small, unassuming European country," but it's quickly becoming a hot-spot for new strategies in protecting our nations, and ourselves, online.Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 20 Jun 2010 | 9:57 am DNA Test Could Explain Why Ozzy Osbourne is Still AliveDespite decades of drug and alcohol abuse, Ozzy Osbourne is alive and well. Does the secret of his longevity lie in his DNA?Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 20 Jun 2010 | 9:52 am Dell releases Inspiron R series
Peacock blue! Anyway, fun laptops, yay team.
Source: CrunchGear | 20 Jun 2010 | 8:24 am Carrot rainbow As PNH reminds us, "The reason modern Western carrots are orange is because they were bred that way, in the 16th and 17th centuries, in tribute to the Dutch royal House of Orange." Carrots of Many Colors (Thanks, @bopuc)
Source: Boing Boing | 20 Jun 2010 | 7:50 am Nine things you need to know about the netJohn Naughton's feature in today's Observer, "The internet: Everything you ever need to know," is a fantastic read and a marvel of economy, managing to pack nine very big ideas into 15 minutes' reading. This is the kind of primer you want to slide under your boss's door.4 THINK ECOLOGY, NOT ECONOMICSThe internet: Everything you ever need to know Source: Boing Boing | 20 Jun 2010 | 7:47 am Happy Father's Day! As Groucho Marx once sang, "Today, father, is Father's Day, and we're giving you a tie." In that spirit, I'd like to wish the very happiest of Father's Days to all the dads out there, especially my wonderful dad, Gord Doctorow (shown here in Algonquin Park with me, aged 6 weeks), and my brother Neil, my brother-in-law Robbie, Rusty, my uncles, David and Mark, and all the other pops in the world. I'm having a great day! It started with breakfast in bed, a new watch and three cards, and now we're off for brunch, a swim, and massages!
Groucho Marx sings "Father's Day", from An Evening With Groucho Botanical Garden Braces For Blooming Corpse PlantThe University of California Botanical Garden at Berkeley, nestled in Strawberry Canyon just above the central campus, features a mind-boggling 12,000 kinds of plants and breathtaking views of the Bay Area.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 20 Jun 2010 | 7:39 am Earthquakes May Fire In Synchrony, Just Like FirefliesSmall stresses might bring big results, says studyIn nature, random signals often fall mysteriously in step. Fireflies flashing sporadically in early evening soon flash together, and the same harmonic behavior can be seen in chirping crickets, firing neurons, swinging clock pendulums and now, it turns out, rupturing earthquake faults.Scientists have well established that big earthquakes can trigger other big quakes by transferring stress along a single fault, as successive earthquakes in Turkey and Indonesia have shown. But some powerful quakes can set off other big quakes on faults tens of kilometers away, with just a tiny nudge, says a new paper. Christopher Scholz, a seismologist at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, explains how: the faults are already synchronized, he says.Scholz argues in the most recent issue of the Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America that when a fault breaks, it may sometimes gently prod a neighboring fault also on the verge of fracturing. The paper finds evidence for synchronized, or "phase locked," faults in southern California's Mojave Desert, the mountains of central Nevada, and the south of Iceland. Drawing on earthquake patterns as far back as 15,000 years, the paper identifies strings of related earthquakes, and explains the physics of how faults separated by up to 50 kilometers, and rupturing every few thousand years, might align themselves to rupture almost simultaneously."All of a sudden bang, bang, bang, a whole bunch of faults break at the same time," says Scholz. "Now that we know that some faults may act in consort, our basic concept of seismic hazard changes. When a large earthquake happens, it may no longer mean that the immediate future risk is lower, but higher."The idea of independent events synchronizing themselves goes back to the Age of Discovery and the pendulum clock, invented as scientists and navigators were searching for a device to measure longitude at sea. In 1665, Christiaan Huygens, the Dutch mathematician who invented the pendulum clock (a dead end, it turned out, in solving the longitude problem) first described how the pendulums of two clocks hanging from the same wall became synchronized. Known as entrainment, or coupled oscillation, this phenomenon is caused by the motion of the two pendulums communicating through the beam supporting the clocks.Entrainment can also happen when faults lie relatively close, between 10 and 50 kilometers apart, and are moving at comparable speeds, Scholz says. As faults break successively over time, their cycles may eventually fall in sync, a process described in the paper by the mathematical "Kuramoto Model."The paper provides real-world examples from places where geologists and seismologists have compiled a long record of past quakes. In the Mojave Desert, the Camp Rock fault, a secondary fault off the San Andreas, ruptured in 1992, causing a magnitude 7.3 quake in the town of Landers, killing one child. Seven years later, the Pisgah fault, 24 kilometers away, broke, causing a magnitude 7.1 quake at Hector Mine, inside the Twentynine Palms Marine Corps Base.When a fault ruptures in a large earthquake, the movement releases stresses that may have built up over millennia. But the movement also transfers a small amount of that stress, usually a fraction of a percent, to nearby faults. In order for that tiny added stress to trigger a large earthquake on a nearby fault, that fault had to already be very near its breaking point, says Scholz. For the two faults to have been simultaneously near their breaking points requires them to be synchronized in their seismic cycles.Paleoseismology—that is, studies of the physical signs left by past earthquakes-- show that the Mojave faults rupture every 5,000 years or so, so the relatively short seven-year lag between the Landers and Hector Mine quakes suggested to Scholz the timing could not be random. When he looked at the paleoseismological record, he saw that both faults had ruptured together before, at about 5,500 years ago and 10,000 years ago. He noticed a similar trend with the nearby Lenwood and Helendale faults, which had ruptured together 1,000 years ago and 9,000 years ago. And, the two fault pairs happened to be moving at virtually the same pace, 1 millimeter and .8 millimeter, respectively.He noticed a similar trend in Nevada. In the summer of 1954, the Rainbow Mountain fault system was hit by five earthquakes ranging in magnitude from 5.5 to 6.8. The action culminated on Dec. 16 with a 7.1 quake on Fairview Peak and a 6.8 quake four minutes later on the Dixie Valley fault, 40 kilometers away. Again, the triggering stress was a small fraction of a percent. Paleoseismic evidence showed that similar groups of faults nearby had produced clusters of earthquakes every 3,000 years or so over the last 12,000 years.The same pattern emerged in Iceland. In June 2000, two quakes--magnitudes 6.5 and 6.4-- struck within four days of each other on parallel faults 14 kilometers apart. In 1896, five large quakes struck on different neighboring faults within 11 days of each other, with similar clusters occurring in 1784, and from 1732 to 1734.Scholz says his hypothesis of synchronized faults could make it easier to assess some earthquake hazards by showing that faults moving at similar speeds, and within roughly 50 kilometers of each other, may break at similar times, while faults moving at greatly different speeds, and located relatively far apart, will not.However, seismologists have yet to come up with a reliable method for predicting imminent earthquakes; the best they can do so far is to identify dangerous areas, and roughly estimate how often quakes of certain sizes may strike.Ross Stein, a geophysicist at the U.S. Geological Survey, who was not involved in the study, questioned the paper's wider significance. There is "good" evidence for historic earthquake sequences, and "possible" evidence for prehistoric sequences, he said, but those quakes make up a minority of earthquake events.---Image 1: A magnitude 7.3 quake in Landers, Calif., in 1992 killed one person. Credit: Southern California Earthquake Data Center.Image 2: The Landers quake may have triggered another big quake, seven years later, at Hector Mine near Joshua Tree National Park. Credit: University of California, San Diego.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 20 Jun 2010 | 7:05 am Oceanographers Call For More Antarctica Ocean-ObservingImage Caption: Scientists deployed from a research vessel get close to the ice in Antarctica. This kind of observing, Rutgers' Oscar Schofield writes, is not enough to keep up with the pace of climate change in Antarctica. Credit: Rutgers UniversitySource: RedOrbit News - Science | 20 Jun 2010 | 6:36 am Muziic Has Streamed 250 Million Music Videos To Date, But Will It Last?
We haven’t posted anything about online music and video streaming service Muziic so far, although I’ve been aware of its existence for a while (it has bagged a lot of media coverage since its debut in March 2009 and with the release of the fun Muziic DJ tool). The small, self-funded, father-son start up based in a small Iowa town offers its streaming service on a wide variety of platforms, including a Web player, desktop software client, Facebook, iPhone and iPad apps and more. Questions about its legality abound, but it sure has been successful in finding an audience: the company recently added a counter to its main website showing the number of streams to date. Today, the total number of streams has surpassed a grand total of 250 million plays. Muziic was originally launched only as a Windows application, which has now been downloaded in excess of 3 million times, according to teenage founder David Nelson. In December 2009, Muziic was released as a web-based and Facebook app. In March, Muziic landed for the iPhone, followed by the release of an iPad app. In the works: a Mac and Android app. Muziic basically allows you to stream virtually any song or music video on-demand, tune in to hundreds of Internet radio stations, and play music and video files from your computer. You can also build playlists combining YouTube videos (with thanks to the YouTube API), local media files and content from other cloud-based services. According to the Muziic website, it’s all ’100% free and legal’. But is it? Considering the fact that Muziic has no deals in place with any of the labels owning the rights to the songs and albums one can stream in full using its service, I doubt big music is happy it exists in the first place (they’ve had a minor quarrel with Vevo in the past). Many a startup has tried to do this one way or another in the past, most of which have faded, sued into oblivion or sucked dry by the major record labels. If Muziic is legal and has found a loophole somewhere, be sure it’ll be closed at some point. And if it isn’t, expect them get served a lawsuit or two, unless they’re prepared to hand off a big chunk of current and future revenues to the labels. Nelson confirms that there are no agreements with the labels in place today, but says he and his father are currently “engaged in discussions with many groups”. Either way, its future doesn’t look super bright, 250 million streams served or not. Information provided by CrunchBase      
Source: TechCrunch | 20 Jun 2010 | 6:23 am Hayward Takes Vacation As Vessel Shuts DownImage Caption: A large oil slick floats atop the surface of the turquoise waters of the Gulf of Mexico about one mile south of Perdido Key, Saturday, June 12, 2010. Photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Tasha Tully.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 20 Jun 2010 | 6:05 am Guest Post: It’s Game On For Location Based Services This ia a guest post by Justin Davies, founder of NinetyTen, a UK-based consultancy providing mobile community and location aware solutions to companies. Davies also founded the now defunct BuddyPing, an early mobile social networking community based on the realtime location of users, and thus has few opinions about the rise of Foursquare and others...
Not to sound too much like my grandad talking about the War, but when I was doing this, it was all about sending a text message to a person walking past Starbucks with a half price voucher.
Back in my day, we had to pay for location information, none of this “SimpleGeo” or “Google Latitude” malarkey you youngsters have these days.
The only phones that had a GPS chip was a prototype N95 I had to beg Nokia for, and some Blackberry phones.
Yes dear Location Based enthusiast, these are bright times, and this does finally seem to be the year of location (though, admittedly, this has been the case for the past 3 years).
Source: TechCrunch | 20 Jun 2010 | 3:03 am
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Remember Nikon’s neat little S1000pj, the compact camera with the built in projector that we got all excited about but the buying public ignored in droves? Well, it may be about to get updated to something a whole lot more useful.
Chesky will be using Airbnb, which is a 
The iPhone’s new Retina display is experiencing production issues, leading to concerns that supply shortages could be looming. The display is touted as the best high resolution screen available today. 
Professional social network 
A surprising new study by the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project has found that adults are more likely to text while driving than teens. The study found that 34% of teens have texted while driving compared to 47% of adults. It also found that 74% of adults admitted to talking on their phone while driving compared to 52% of teens.
