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Summary Box: MOG, Rdio enter mobile music field (AP)AP - JOIN THE CLUB: Music blog site MOG and startup Rdio are offering ways to stream millions of songs to mobile devices for about $10 a month.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 29 Jun 2010 | 4:15 am MOG, Rdio new entrants to $10-a-month mobile music (AP)AP - Two more companies are jumping into the mobile streaming music field with applications that work on iPhones, giving consumers new ways to listen to millions of tracks on the go for about $10 a month.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 29 Jun 2010 | 4:13 am Google changes China access after Beijing objects (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 29 Jun 2010 | 4:02 am Former Forbes.com Publisher Jim Spanfeller Has VC Money; New Sites On the Way [MediaMemo]
Spanfeller Media Group, which plans to launch a series of new sites, is close to finishing a funding round that I’m told will total around $2 million. Backers include RRE Ventures, Greenhill SAVP, Softbank and Lerer Media Ventures. Once the deal is done, sources say Spanfeller’s plan is to roll out a series of industry-specific “verticals”. First up: Food. Aren’t there plenty of food sites out there already? You’d think so, but Spanfeller and his backers figure there’s room for more. After that, they have a list of categories to tackle, with the exception of five they think are overpopulated: News; business/finance; entertainment; traditional sports; and technology. Spanfeller declined to comment. When Spanfeller left Forbes last summer after 8+ years at the site, his initial plan was to create a sort of repair shop for established publisher’s Web properties. That made sense, given that’s essentially what he did for the Forbes family when he took over their Web site in 2001. But the new plan is to create stuff from scratch. Within the Web publishing industry, Spanfeller gets lots of credit for moving Forbes.com from also-ran status into one of the biggest finance sites on the Web. And he gets a fair amount of derision as well, for a both a blustery style and a lusty embrace of pageviews. His most infamous gambit, used more than once: A slideshow detailing the world’s “Top Topless Beaches“. But the collapse of the last tech bubble, and the realization the Web publishing economics require lots and lots and lots of scale, have brought a lot of other Web publishers much closer to Spanfeller’s tactics than they’d like to admit. His new challenge: Seeing if he can recreate that scale with brand-new properties. Source: All Things Digital | 29 Jun 2010 | 4:00 am MOG Gets Green Light From Apple For Upcoming iPhone App, Lands Deal With Roku
Roku makes an inexpensive set-top box for streaming media to your TV; this marks the first hardware integration for MOG. The service is included as part of MOG’s existing premium plan, which runs $4.99 a month and lets you stream as much music as you’d like from the site (and now, your Roku box). MOG CEO David Hyman says that this is the first on-demand music service that’s on Roku, noting that Pandora’s Internet Radio is available as well (Pandora doesn’t let you choose what song you want to listen to). MOG’s iPhone app, which we got a preview of in March, lets you download an entire album to your phone in one tap (it looks quite nice). It also includes a radio feature that lets you stream songs that sound similar to a few seed artists or songs, as you would with Pandora. Apple’s approval of the application has to have the company and investors)breathing a sigh of relief — a big part of MOG’s premium strategy involves its mobile applications, and for a while it was looking like Apple might block it because it stands to compete with its own upcoming cloud-based music service. All-you-can-eat access to MOG’s mobile applications will cost $9.99, which includes access to the aforementioned web and Roku service. Hyman says that we can likely expect the iPhone application in July, and that it will launch alongside an Android app. Information provided by CrunchBase      
Source: TechCrunch | 29 Jun 2010 | 4:00 am Android 2.2 Officially Arrived for Nexus One - Techtree.com
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 29 Jun 2010 | 3:59 am Google switches tack in China before license expires (AFP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 29 Jun 2010 | 3:53 am Cloudera Launches Paid Version Of Enterprise Data Management Software Cloudera, which is backed by an impressive list of investors and advisors and run by a team of experienced technology veterans, commercially distributes and services Hadoop. The startup is announcing its first paid software today: Cloudera Enterprise. Cloudera Enterprise is next generation data management software to help companies leverage the Apache Hadoop platform.
Hadoop is a Java software framework born out of an open-source implementation of Google’s published computing infrastructure which is fostered within the Apache Software Foundation. Hadoop supports distributed applications running on large clusters of commodity computers processing enormous amounts of data. Cloudera helps distribute Hadoop, and provides services around the technology. 
Source: TechCrunch | 29 Jun 2010 | 3:50 am Free Kindle for Android App Arrives, Finally - Techtree.com
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 29 Jun 2010 | 3:36 am MapQuest beta version has a cleaner, simpler look (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 29 Jun 2010 | 3:36 am Google Chrome OS creator takes job at Facebook, announces switch on Twitter - BusinessWeek
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 29 Jun 2010 | 3:26 am Lawyers seek iPhone Death Grip victims - Fortune
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 29 Jun 2010 | 3:24 am Sony Begins Chasing PlayStation Subscription Revenue - PC World
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 29 Jun 2010 | 3:21 am Jeff Bezos On The iPad: “It’s Really A Different Product Category”
A day after Amazon made it abundantly clear it’s gunning for world domination in the e-reading space by lowering the price of the Kindle from $259 to $189 – following competitor Barnes & Noble’s decision to slash the price of its Nook e-reader down to $199 – chief executive Jeff Bezos sat down with Fortune’s JP Mangalindan for a fairly interesting interview. One of the things Bezos talked about was the iPad, Apple’s tablet computer that is selling like hotcakes and unequivocally poses a genuine threat to Amazon’s burgeoning ebooks and ereader business (and, as some claim, to reading in general). According to Apple, it’s already taken about 22% of the U.S. ebooks market, with iPad owners having downloaded some 5 million books in the first 65 days of the iBooks store alone. But Bezos does not seem terribly impressed. Here’s the key part of the interview (which you should read in its entirety):
His words ring true, because this strategy is visible in the field too. We now have a Kindle reader app for Android phones, a Kindle app that includes fresh support for video and audio for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch and versions for BlackBerry devices, PC and Mac computers via a desktop client and of course the company’s own Kindle, which Bezos says has been purchased by “millions”. Furthermore, Amazon boasts more than 620,000 ebooks in its catalog, significantly more than Apple, despite the latter’s agreements with 5 of the 6 top publishers in the United States. Finally, I think Bezos is right about the fact that there will be many tablet devices making their way to the market in the coming months and years (according to Forrester Research, there will be 59 million tablets in use by 2015) and that Amazon should be focusing on being able to shift ebooks on as many platforms as possible. But does all that mean Bezos should be dismissing the iPad for being a different product? Cross-platform ebook selling strategy aside, with the Kindle Amazon has stepped into the hardware arena, and the reality is price doesn’t always make the difference. The iPad can simply do a lot more than the most recent model of the Kindle can, and the next-gen iPad is undoubtedly already in the works. ZDnet’s Adrian Kingsley-Hughes put it best when he wrote:
Maybe Amazon’s problem is that the iPad really is a different product category? (Image via TechCN)      
Source: TechCrunch | 29 Jun 2010 | 3:20 am China Pressures Google to Remove Automatic Redirect to Hong KongThe ongoing game of cat and mouse between China and Google continued today as the Internet search behemoth announced it is making some changes in an attempt to please the Chinese government. The dust up...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 29 Jun 2010 | 3:12 am The Tuesday Birthday ProblemAn anonymous reader sends in a mathematical puzzle introduced at the recent Gathering 4 Gardner, a convention of mathematicians, magicians, and puzzle enthusiasts held biannually in Atlanta. The Tuesday Birthday Problem is simply stated, but tends to mislead both intuitive and mathematically informed guesses. "I have two children, one of whom is a boy born on a Tuesday. What's the probability that my other child is a boy?" The submitter adds, "Believe it or not, the Tuesday thing is relevant. Well, sort of. It's ambiguous."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 29 Jun 2010 | 3:09 am The Iphone 4 costs just $187.51 to make - Inquirer
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 29 Jun 2010 | 2:57 am Top 20 Trends of the Day (Jun 28) - From Blogs for Bad Tattoos to Furniture Accessory Holders (COUNTDOWN)(TrendHunter.com) For the day of June 28th, these are the Top 20 trends, which include Blogs for Bad Tattoos, Wedding Photobombs and Stick-Thin Photoshopping. The rankings are based on hundreds of thousands...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 29 Jun 2010 | 2:46 am China Swings, Google Flinches
Back in January, with big balls, Google wrote the following:
In March, Google backed that talk up by redirecting google.cn to google.com.hk, writing the following:
The Chinese government has finally responded (at least in a more formal way), and they’re clearly not happy — no surprise there. But what is kind of surprising is that Google is sort of backing down now. Well, maybe not so surprising. But a bit disappointing. Tonight, David Drummond, Google’s top legal executive, has written a post outlining Google’s “new approach” to China. Basically, they’re ending the redirect from google.cn to google.com.hk — and restarting the Chinese Google page. But instead of being the full (and fully censored) site that it once was, Google is making it into a completely degraded search engine (think: music and text translation), and instead providing a link to the Hong Kong Google site (which is not censored at all). Google’s position is clearly that’s they’re not ready to fully give up on China just yet. While they’re still refusing to censor (which Chinese law requires), they are willing to stop the redirect which China finds “unacceptable.” Why? Because if they don’t, China won’t renew the Internet Content Provider license — google.cn will cease to be. On one hand, I obviously understand why Google is making this pivot and slightly going back on their powerful action. On the other hand, as I noted above, Google clearly knew the risks it was taking with their actions — they did them anyway. That’s what made the move seem so ballsy and brilliant. But, of course, that was before the first real punch was thrown. Now that it has been, and they’re flinching — no matter how slightly — the actions seem less ballsy, less brilliant. Would it be wise for Google to simply let google.cn be shut down? Or for them to fully pull out of China? Of course not. But this wasn’t supposed to be about what’s “wise.” This was supposed to be about what’s “right.” Google’s take now is that this is “right” because the shut down of google.cn is a “prospect dreaded by many of our Chinese users.” Okay — but what are those users really getting with this new google.cn? A music search engine? A text translator? Are any of these things likely to be a big help to anyone over there? Why does Google even want to put its name on that neutered product? The power was all in the redirect. It was a big “fuck you” to China. They were saying: “You know everyone that goes to our Chinese site expecting censored results? Well, now we’re going to send them to an uncensored site. Do something about it.” Well, China did. And now Google’s reaction is to change that “fuck you” into a more docile “we don’t like you very much” with that link to google.com.hk from google.cn. The link is weak. It’s moving responsibility for uncensored searches away from Google and putting it into the laps of Chinese users. “No, I swear, they got to that site themselves.” What will be interesting to see next is if China demands Google remove that link. And if Google does… Again, this is all easy for me to say without having to worry about Google’s business prospects and their Chinese user base. But the power of Google’s initial message was anchored by the fact that they said they were ready to leave China and shut down google.cn if it came to that. Now that it has come to that, and it’s clear they’re not going to do that anytime soon, it’s just a little disappointing. Is giving Chinese users access to a neutered search engine and a link a more powerful message than having them go to google.cn and finding it not working thanks to their government? I don’t think so. Information provided by CrunchBase      
Source: TechCrunch | 29 Jun 2010 | 2:37 am Windows 8 details leaked on the internet - TG Daily
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 29 Jun 2010 | 2:27 am Some Males React To Competition Like Bonobos, Others Like ChimpanzeesThe average man experiences hormone changes similar to the passive bonobo prior to competition, but a "status-striving" man undergoes changes that mirror those found in a chimpanzee, say researchers from Duke and Harvard universities.A new study published Monday (today) in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reveals differing hormone levels in our two closest relatives, bonobos and chimpanzees, in anticipation of competition.Chimpanzees live in male-dominated societies where status is paramount and aggression can be severe. In bonobos, a female is always the most dominant and tolerance can allow for more flexible cooperation and food-sharing.Scientists have frequently questioned whether differences in competitive behavior could in part be explained by differing physiological responses to competition. In their new study, researchers from Harvard and Duke collected saliva from the apes using cotton wads dipped in Sweet Tarts candy, then measured hormone levels before and after pairs from each species were presented with a pile of food.They found that males of both species who were intolerant and could not share with their partners showed hormonal changes in anticipation of competing for the food, but bonobos and chimpanzees were completely different in which hormones increased.Male chimpanzees showed an increase in testosterone, which is thought to prepare animals for competition or aggressive interactions. By contrast, male bonobos showed an increase in cortisol, which is associated with stress and more passive social strategies in other animals."Chimpanzee males reacted to the competition as if it was a threat to their status, while bonobos reacted as if a potential competition is stressful by showing changes in their cortisol levels," said Victoria Wobber, a Harvard graduate student and first author of the study.Human males usually experience an increase in cortisol before many types of competition in a similar way as seen in the bonobos. However, if men have what is called a "high power motive," or a strong desire to achieve high status, they experience an increase in testosterone before a competition."These results suggest that the steroid hormone shifts that are correlated with the competitive drive of men are shared through descent with other apes," Wobber said.While some men may seem more bonobo-like before competition and others more chimpanzee-like, something unique about human males is that after competition they experience an increase in testosterone if they win or a decrease in testosterone if they lose -- which accounts for giddy or depressed sports fans following a win or loss. This variation in hormones post-competition was not observed in either chimpanzees or bonobos."It's exciting because we can see that in some ways we're similar to bonobos, in others we're similar to chimpanzees," said Duke anthropologist Brian Hare, co-author. "But then there's also a part of our biology that seems to be entirely unique."---On the Net:Duke UniversitySource: RedOrbit News - Science | 29 Jun 2010 | 2:22 am Emerging Questions About The Mechanisms That Control MuscleThere are major shifts underway in understanding the physiological mechanisms that control muscle contraction, a field that has been the focus of intense research for centuries. Last September, leading muscle researchers from around the world gathered to discuss new findings, insights, and current questions in the field as part of the 63rd Symposium of the Society of General Physiologists (SGP) on "Muscle in Health and Disease."Inspired by the SGP discussions, the latest Perspectives in General Physiology series presents key novel findings, unresolved questions, and clinical implications of essential muscle processes that are controlled by distinct and complex multiprotein macromolecular machines. The Perspectives appear in the July issue of the Journal of General Physiology (www.jgp.org).The Perspectives are introduced by Editor Edward Pugh (University of California, Davis) and Guest Editor Robert Dirksen (University of Rochester Medical Center), and include the following contributors: Kurt Beam and Roger Bannister (University of Colorado-Anschutz Medical Campus) discussing the DHPR–RYR1 macromolecular machine; John Solaro (University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine) and colleagues, and Richard Moss and Daniel Fitzsimons (University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health) presenting Perspectives on the control of actin–myosin interactions in striated muscle; and Jeffery Goldstein and Elizabeth McNally (The University of Chicago) providing a provocative look at the multifunctional role of the dystrophin–glycoprotein complex (DGC) in skeletal muscle and how DGC defects lead to muscular dystrophy.The purpose of the Perspectives in General Physiology series is to provide an ongoing forum where scientific questions or controversies can be discussed by experts in an open manner. ---On the Net:Rockefeller University PressSource: RedOrbit News - Science | 29 Jun 2010 | 2:20 am Academy Authority On Delta Bulrush Says 'His' Plant Could Help Ease Oil Spill CrisisA revered botanist at the Academy of Natural Sciences who first profiled and then named the delta bulrush says the plant has natural properties that could help reduce the impact of the Gulf oil spill on the Mississippi delta.Dr. Alfred Ernest Schuyler, the Academy's curator emeritus of botany and a prominent botanist in the international science community, is urging all sides involved in the crisis to give this slender sedge family member a hard look as they weigh their spill-fighting strategies.Schuyler described and named Scirpus deltarum, now known as Schoenoplectus deltarum the delta bulrush, in 1970 after doing field research in the Mississippi delta. Based on the detoxification properties of similar bulrush species, Schuyler thinks the delta bulrush could be instrumental in decomposing the oil and reducing its impact on other threatened marsh plants.He says a close relative of the delta bulrush, the common three-square (Schoenoplectus pungens), can transmit oxygen to underwater microorganisms capable of decomposing oil. "Presumably, the closely-related delta bulrush can do the same thing," Schuyler explains.Schuyler says the fascinating marsh plant he named more than three decades ago now urgently deserves further study of its potential to decompose oil.Abundant in the Mobile, Mississippi, and Atchafalaya deltas, plants such as the delta bulrush will be the first that the oil will encounter, and may act as a buffer for the rest of the wetlands, says Schuyler."Bulrushes are environmental workhorses, effectively used in sewage lagoons to purify water," Schuyler explains. "Air cavities in the stems transport oxygen to underwater portions of the plants, making the oxygen available to microbes capable of decomposing pollutants in the sewage." He theorizes that this same capacity to decompose pollutants in sewage most likely would come into play in decomposing some chemicals in the oil, thereby reducing the impact of the spill to the delta area."Bulrushes are also more tolerant of oil than many other marsh plants. This suggests that the delta bulrush will persist regardless of the oil and continue to stabilize the marshes in the delta," Schuyler says.Schuyler says it is too soon to estimate how much oil is too much for the delta bulrushes."I hope we don't get to find out, but based on my experience, I think these plants can tolerate a lot of oil," he says. If the oil were to cover the plants, Schuyler recommends harvesting them just below the oil line. "This will protect waterfowl from the oil and also will allow regrowth from their basal portions," adding that the bulrush seeds can be removed from the harvested plants and put back into the substrate.---On the Net:The Academy of Natural SciencesSource: RedOrbit News - Science | 29 Jun 2010 | 2:16 am Personal Relations Critical To Successful Business NegotiationsWhat role does cultural distance play in international business negotiations? And what factors are the most critical to successful business relations in a globalised world? Ellinor Torsein, researcher at the School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg, set out to find the answers to these questions in her recently presented doctoral thesis. Torsein interviewed Swedish business negotiators regarding their work with Norwegian and Spanish counterparts, and found that the differences between the two countries are smaller than expected.'A business negotiation refers to a long-lasting relation with a business contact; it is not a mere meeting where two parties sit down and negotiate a business deal. This implies that long term commitment and social competence are critical to success,' says Torsein.In order to explore how cultural distance affects business relations, Torsein interviewed international business negotiators at small and medium-sized Swedish companies. She paid special attention to whether, and if so how, they consciously adapt to the ways of their counterparts in an effort to reduce the cultural distance. To be able to explore cultural differences, Torsein chose to focus on Norway and Spain – one country considered to be culturally similar to Sweden and one that is generally seen as more different. Somewhat surprisingly, it turns out that the Norwegian and Spanish ways of doing business are not that different.'Contrary to the stereotype, the Spanish were for example seen as very punctual. According to the interviewees, the two cultures differ mostly in terms of communication. For example, the Norwegians were perceived as more quiet,' says Torsein.The two factors that seem to be the most critical to successful business relations – also found by many other researchers – are communication and personal relations. According to Torsein, a successful negotiation is generally a result of 'soft' values. It is not uncommon that business relations develop into true friendship.'One thing the interviewed individuals have in common is that to form successful relationships, they focus on similarities rather than on differences. They look at and treat their counterparts as individuals. Good negotiation skills don't come easy. Most individuals I met with have extensive experience with this type of work, and have usually learned their skills the hard way,' says Torsein. ---On the Net:University of GothenburgSource: RedOrbit News - Science | 29 Jun 2010 | 2:11 am Japanese Gourmet Mushroom Found In SwedenIn Japan, the hon-shimeji mushroom is a delicacy costing up to SEK 8,000 a kilo (800 Euro). Now a student at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, has discovered that this tasty fungus also grows wild in Sweden."There will undoubtedly be a lot of interest in Sweden, and definitely in Japan once these discoveries become known there," says Henrik Sundberg, who conducted the study.Lyophyllum is a family of many different species of fungi. One of them is Lyophyllum shimeji, previously believed to grow only in the Far East. In Japan, the hon-shimeji – or "true shimeji" – is a delicacy, and so rare that a kilo of Japanese mushrooms of perfect quality can fetch as much as SEK 8,000 (800 Euro). Then, two years ago, came indications that the species also grows in Sweden."We were visited by a Japanese mycologist who found a fungus on a pine heath outside Skellefteå which she thought was similar to hon-shimeji," says Henrik Sundberg, a student at the Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences at the University of Gothenburg. "Using molecular techniques, we've now been able to show that this northern Swedish fungus is identical to the Japanese one."Not the first fungal discoveryThis is not the first time that a Japanese gourmet mushroom has been found in northern Scandinavia. Just over a decade ago, researchers were able to show that the Swedish mushroom Tricholoma nauseosum was identical to the Japanese species Tricholoma matsutake. Interest in the Swedish matsutake has been huge, and Japanese mycologists and traders have made their way to the country's northern forests to study the fungus.Molecular examination gave the answerIt was also the Swedish matsutake that led Japanese mycologist Etsuko Harada to the forest outside Skellefteå where she found the Swedish hon-shimeji in August 2008."After getting a positive response from Japanese mycologists, we became more and more convinced that we were on the trail of a Japanese delicacy," says Sundberg. "When we found more the following year, we started up a project to examine the fungus using molecular techniques. We were soon able to show that the Swedish and Japanese fungi are, without a doubt, identical."Thrive on pine heathsSo far the Japanese fungus has been found on sparse pine heaths and flat-rock forests from Umeå to Gällivare in northern Sweden, as well as in Dalarna in the middle of the country. The reason why it did not previously attract attention is partly that it was lumped together with related species, and partly that nobody made the link with hon-shimeji. Finds in Norway and Finland suggest that the fungus is probably found throughout the taiga belt of boreal forest from Scandinavia to China and Japan, and maybe even in other areas with a temperate climate and pine forests, such as Scotland, Canada, the USA and Central Europe.Season in AugustThe Swedish hon-shimeji probably forms fruiting bodies from August through to the first frosts. It is similar in appearance to its closest relatives, Lyophyllum fumosum and Lyophyllum decastes, but does not grow in such big clusters and often has a thicker stem which swells towards the base and sparser gills.Its discovery in Sweden is reported in Sundberg's thesis on systematics and biodiversity at the Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences at the University of Gothenburg, and will be featured in a future issue of Swedish journal Svensk Mykologisk Tidskrift.ShimejiShimeji is an umbrella name for more than 20 different fungi and translates roughly as "mushrooms that grow in deep forest during the rainy season". These include species from several different genera, including Tricholoma, Lyophyllum, Hypsizygus and Clitocybe.Next to the matsutake, the hon-shimeji is the most sought-after and expensive culinary mushroom in the Japanese market. Both of these gourmet mushrooms have been in rapid decline since the mid-20th century, probably due to pests attacking host trees and changes in forestry. Its scarcity means that wild hon-shimeji is currently sold only by a few specialist dealers and served at exclusive restaurants.The Lyophyllum family has not been widely studied in northern Europe and is notorious for its lush flora of synonyms and poorly defined species. It is therefore unknown how many Lyophyllum species there are worldwide. The mushrooms examined in the study were collected by Henrik Sundberg and Niclas Bergius along with Swedish amateur mycologists, and have since been supplemented with herbarium material.---On the Net:University of GothenburgSource: RedOrbit News - Science | 29 Jun 2010 | 2:09 am Topical Paradise Photography - The 'Escape To Tahiti' Vogue Korea July 2010 Shoot (GALLERY)(TrendHunter.com) Summer is here and Vogue Korea July 2010 has it down right. The name of the shoot is 'Escape To Tahiti' and just by looking at it, you'll wish you were on some tropical island sipping...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 29 Jun 2010 | 2:06 am Holding Corporate Tweets to a Higher Standard [Voices]By Felix Salmon, Blogger, Reuters.com The Wall Street Journal’s Twitter feed has 326,000 followers: It’s an important news source for a very large number of highly influential people who want reliable news in fast, easily digestible form. Twitter is a fantastic way of forcing news organizations to get straight to the point, and it’s great that the WSJ has embraced it. But at the same time, and for exactly the same reason, it’s crucial that a flagship Twitter feed like @WSJ be accurate on matters of important breaking news. Read the rest of this post on the original site » Source: All Things Digital | 29 Jun 2010 | 2:03 am Memories Are Made Of ThisNew Wellcome Trust-funded study led by University of Leicester uncovers key to how we learn and rememberNew research led by the University of Leicester and published in a prestigious international scientific journal has revealed for the first time the mechanism by which memories are formed.The study in the Department of Cell Physiology and Pharmacology found one of the key proteins involved in the process of memory and learning. The breakthrough study has potential to impact drug design to treat Alzheimer's disease.The discovery was made in the University of Leicester laboratory of Professor Andrew Tobin, Professor of Cell Biology, who is a Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellow.The work was done in collaboration with other scientists and published online ahead of print in PNAS- the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The paper was authored by:Benoit Poulin, Adrian Butcher, Phillip McWilliams, Julie-Myrtille Bourgognon, Robert Pawlak, Kok Choi Kong, Andrew Bottrill, Sharad Mistry and Andrew B. Tobin at the University of Leicester; Jürgen Wess at the National Institutes of Health and Elizabeth M. Rosethorne, Steven J. Charlton at Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research.Professor Tobin said: "The work, which was done wholly at the University of Leicester, is focused on the mechanisms by which we form memories. We found one of the key proteins involved in the process of memory and learning."This protein is present in the part of the brain in which memories are stored. We have found that in order for any memory to be laid down this protein, called the M3-muscarinic receptor, has to be activated."We have also determined that this protein undergoes a very specific change during the formation of a memory - and that this change is an essential part of memory formation. In this regard our study reveals at least one of the molecular mechanisms that are operating in the brain when we form a memory and as such this represents a major break through in our understanding of how we lay down memories."This finding is not only interesting in its own right but has important clinical implications. One of the major symptoms of Alzheimer's disease is memory loss. Our study identifies one of the key processes involved in memory and learning and we state in the paper that drugs designed to target the protein identified in our study would be of benefit in treating Alzheimer's disease."Professor Tobin said there was tremendous excitement about the breakthrough the team has made and its potential application: "It has been fascinating to look at the molecular processes involved in memory formation. We were delighted not only with the scientific importance of our finding but also by the prospect that our work could have an impact on the design of drugs for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease."---On the Net:University of LeicesterSource: RedOrbit News - Science | 29 Jun 2010 | 2:02 am Google to end automatic rerouting from China siteBEIJING (Reuters) - Internet giant Google Inc said it plans to stop automatically redirecting users of its Google.cn site to its Hong Kong page, in a bid to secure renewal of the company's...Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 29 Jun 2010 | 1:49 am Social Housing In Northern Ireland Does Not Comply With Human Rights StandardsResearchers at Queen's University Belfast will publish their report, 'Budgeting for Social Housing: A Human Rights Analysis,' Monday, June 28Social housing provision in Northern Ireland is not adequately funded to comply with international human rights standards. That's according to researchers at Queen's University Belfast, who publish their report, Budgeting for Social Housing: A Human Rights Analysis, today (Monday 28th June).Human rights experts at Queen's School of Law have analysed the Northern Ireland government's spending on social housing, and have found that that it does not comply with international legal obligations to use the maximum available resources to ensure progressive realisation of the right to adequate housing.Since devolution, there has been a significant increase in the waiting list for social housing which currently stands at approximately 40,000 households. There has also been a rise in 'housing stress' and households 'presenting as homeless'. The report finds that in this context, insufficient funding for new social housing represents a violation of international human rights law.The report makes a number of recommendations to the Northern Ireland Executive and Assembly, including: * Funding for new social housing must increase if government is to comply with its obligations under international human rights laws. * The government must ensure that the price paid for land - a crucial resource for the right to adequate housing - does not unduly benefit advantaged groups such as landowners, at the expense of taxpayers and those in need of social housing. In particular, practices such as land banking (leaving land dormant in the expectation that it will be zoned for development, multiplying its market value) must be tackled. * While the proposals for increased protection for tenants in the private rented sector are very welcome, the private rented sector should not be seen as a long term solution to the housing crisis. In particular it is of concern that housing benefit payments are being diverted into the private sector through payments to private landlords. Dr Rory O'Connell, speaking on behalf of the Queen's Budget Analysis Project Team said:"Adequate housing is a basic human right, essential to human dignity, security and wellbeing. Under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Northern Ireland Executive and Assembly are legally bound to use their resources to maximum effect in ensuring the right to adequate housing."While a considerable amount of revenue was raised under the House Sales Scheme, the budget for new social housing has not been not adequately resourced to ensure sufficient levels of new build to address the increases in waiting lists and homelessness. With more homes being sold than built, the social housing stock has decreased from 176,000 homes in 1987 to around 116,000 today."The report highlights that, against the backdrop of insufficient funding, certain social housing responsibilities were shifted to housing associations in 1998 because of their ability to borrow additional private funding – a power which has been denied to the Northern Ireland Housing Executive under HM Treasury rules.Dr O'Connell continued: "While we welcome the additional funding accessed through housing association borrowing, their loans are repaid using money that is either provided or forgone by the State. Therefore the effect of this system of funding is to keep government debt 'off the books'. In addition, there are some negative consequences which cannot be ignored. Housing associations, as private organisations, may not be able to borrow money on as favourable terms as a public body such as the Housing Executive, if that body were empowered to borrow."Rent rates for housing association dwellings are generally higher than for those owned by the Housing Executive, making the housing less affordable. And there are potential gaps in the accountability and transparency of housing associations, making it difficult to ensure human rights obligations are being met."Due to the lack of social housing stock, the report claims an ever increasing number of those who receive housing benefits have been forced to seek accommodation in the private rented sector.Dr O'Connell said: "Approximately 57,000 tenants in the private rented sector are currently in receipt of housing benefits. This is not ideal. Rents paid into the social sector are reinvested in social housing while those paid into the private sector go to landlords. As many tenants in the private rented sector receive housing benefit, this means that tax payers' money is effectively subsidising the private rented sector. Also, the private rented sector does not protect tenants' rights to the same degree as the social sector does."While some may argue that social housing should not be a priority in the current economic context, if anything, human rights and the protection of the most vulnerable assume even greater importance at such a time. Those who missed out on the benefits of prosperity should not be further denied their rights in a difficult economic climate." ---On the Net:Queen's University BelfastSource: RedOrbit News - Science | 29 Jun 2010 | 1:49 am Vampiric Fresh Breath - Death Mints Come in a Coffin and Combat Halitosis(TrendHunter.com) No vampire or other respectable member of the undead should be without a handy coffin-shaped package of Death Mints. The cute little tin is painted a cheerful black with red scrolling...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 29 Jun 2010 | 1:46 am Why Mercury Is More Dangerous In OceansEven though freshwater concentrations of mercury are far greater than those found in seawater, it's the saltwater fish like tuna, mackerel and shark that end up posing a more serious health threat to humans who eat them.The answer, according to Duke University researchers, is in the seawater itself.The potentially harmful version of mercury – known as methylmercury -- latches onto dissolved organic matter in freshwater, while it tends to latch onto chloride -- the salt -- in seawater, according to new a study by Heileen Hsu-Kim, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at Duke's Pratt School of Engineering."The most common ways nature turns methylmercury into a less toxic form is through sunlight," Hsu-Kim said. "When it is attached to dissolved organic matter, like decayed plants or animal matter, sunlight more readily breaks down the methylmercury. However, in seawater, the methlymercury remains tightly bonded to the chloride, where sunlight does not degrade it as easily. In this form, methylmercury can then be ingested by marine animals."Methylmercury is a potent neurotoxin that can lead to kidney dysfunctions, neurological disorders and even death. In particular, fetuses exposed to methylmercury can suffer from these same disorders as well as impaired learning abilities. Because fish and shellfish have a natural tendency to store methylmercury in their organs, they are the leading source of mercury ingestion for humans."The exposure rate of mercury in the U.S. is quite high," Hsu-Kim said. "A recent epidemiological survey found that up 8 percent of women had mercury levels higher than national guidelines. Since humans are on the top of the food chain, any mercury in our food accumulates in our body."The results of Hsu-Kim's experiments, which have been published early online in the journal Nature Geoscience, suggest that scientists and policymakers should focus their efforts on the effects of mercury in the oceans, rather than freshwater.Her research is supported by the National Institute of Environmental Health Science.In the past, most of the scientific studies of effects of mercury in the environment have focused on freshwater, because the technology had not advanced to the point where scientists could accurately measure the smaller concentrations of mercury found in seawater. Though the concentrations may be smaller in seawater, mercury accumulates more readily in the tissues of organisms that consume it."Because sunlight does not break it down in seawater, the lifetime of methlymercury is much longer in the marine environment," Hsu-Kim said. "However, the Food and Drug Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency do not distinguish between freshwater and seawater."Mercury enters the environment through many routes, but the primary sources are coal combustion, the refinement of gold and other non-ferrous metals, and volcanic eruptions. The air-borne mercury from these sources eventually lands on lakes or oceans and can remain in the water or sediments.The key to the sun's ability to break down methylmercury is a class of chemicals known as reactive oxygen species. These forms of oxygen are the biochemical equivalent of the bull in the china shop because of the way they break chemical bonds. One way these reactive oxygens are formed is by sunlight acting on oxygen molecules in the water."These reactive forms of oxygen are much more efficient in breaking the bonds within the methylmercury molecule," Hsu-Kim said. "And if the methylmercury is bonded to organic matter instead of chloride, then the break down reaction is much faster."---On the Net:Duke UniversitySource: RedOrbit News - Science | 29 Jun 2010 | 1:42 am Carbon Sequestration: Boon Or BurdenThe idea to sequester carbon is gaining support as a way to avoid global warming. For example, the European Union plans to invest billions of Euros within the next ten years to develop carbon capture and storage whereby CO2 will be extracted at power plants and other combustion sites and stored underground. But how effective is this procedure and what are the long-term consequences of leakage for the oceans and climate? A Niels Bohr Institute researcher has now cast light upon these issues. This research has just been published in the scientific journal, Nature Geoscience.Large scale use of carbon sequestration could help to avoid extreme global warming that would otherwise occur in the near future unless fossil fuel emissions are reduced significantly. But it is not clear how effective different types of sequestration are in the long run, owing to leakage of stored CO2 back out to the atmosphere. Nor is it clear what would be the long-term consequences of such leakage for the Earth's environment.Gary Shaffer, professor at the Niels Bohr Institute, and leader of the Danish Center for Earth System Science, made long model projections for a number of sequestration/leakage scenarios. His results show that leakage of the stored CO2 may bring about large atmosphere warming, large sea level rise and oxygen depletion, acidification and elevated CO2 concentrations in the ocean.Storage of CO2 in the deep ocean is a poor choice since this creates grave problems for deep sea life and since CO2 stored this way returns to the atmosphere relatively quickly, bringing back the global warming.Geological storage may be more effective in delaying the return of the warming and associated consequences but only if a CO2 leakage of 1 % or less per thousand years can be obtained.A burden for future societyAlternatively, one could actively counter leakage from the ocean or geological reservoirs by re-sequestering CO2 to stabilize climate at some desired level. But it would be hard to gauge the global leakage rate to be matched by re-sequestration. Furthermore, re-sequestration would have to be carried out over many thousands of years, a burden for future society in line with that of long term management of nuclear waste."CO2 sequestration has many potential advantages over other forms of climate geoengineering. It makes good sense to modify the Earth's radiation balance by putting carbon back in where it came from. Atmospheric CO2 is long-lived and evenly-distributed globally making it possible to manage it in a long-term, controlled way with less chance for unpleasant climate surprises. However, one should not underestimate potential short and long-term problems with leakage from underground reservoirs. Carbon in light form will seek its way out of the ground or seabed. The present situation in the Gulf of Mexico is a poignant reminder of that", says Gary Shaffer.Professor Shaffer concludes that "the dangers of carbon sequestration are real and the development of this technique should not be used as an argument for continued high fossil fuel emissions. On the contrary, we should greatly limit CO2 emissions in our time to reduce the need for massive carbon sequestration and thus reduce unwanted consequences and burdens over many future generations from the leakage of sequestered CO2." ---On the Net:University of CopenhagenSource: RedOrbit News - Science | 29 Jun 2010 | 1:39 am Technique Enables Precise Control Of Protein Activity In Living CellsCancer occurs when human cells move and multiply inappropriately. Within cells, a process called phosphorylation serves as an on/off switch for a number of cellular processes that can be involved in cancer, including metabolism, transcription, configuration, movement, cell death and differentiation. This process is controlled by a group of enzymes called protein kinases that – working together and separately – modify the structure of proteins, changing them and allowing them to control cellular processes.One of the challenges to understanding the actions and interactions of kinases within cells has been that the mechanisms scientists used to control the enzymes were not specific, often affecting more than one pathway within the cell.In a paper published today in the journal Nature Biotechnology, Klaus Hahn, PhD, who is the Thurman Professor of Pharmacology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a member of UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, describes a new technique called engineered allosteric regulation, which provides a new tool for scientists who study the interactions of proteins within living cells."Engineered allosteric regulation is a new method that provides precise control of kinase activity in living cells," said Hahn."We can now take the kinase of choice and precisely control the 'on/off' switch, thereby seeing what they are doing and how they control cell function. The technology has exciting applications in basic research, since kinases are the central regulators of almost every cellular process. The ability to precisely control the state and timing of kinase action within cells opens the door to a broad range of new scientific insights," he added."This ingenious method offers a powerful new approach for dissecting the diverse functions of kinases in living cells," said James Deatherage, PhD, who oversees cell biology grants at the NIH's National Institute of General Medical Sciences. "The capacity to precisely control the activity of this important class of proteins in living cells is a transformational advance in our ability to understand their roles in normal processes like cell growth and development, as well as their part in triggering diseases like cancer."Hahn explains that the mechanism of engineered allosteric regulation can be compared to the wheels on a car. A small part of each kinase molecule is key to its action within the cell. Attaching a protein engineered by Andrei Karginov to this part of the kinase causes the molecule to vibrate, keeping it from working well enough to control the cell just as loose bolts on a car wheel will keep the vehicle from moving forward effectively.Scientists then use a drug to bind the engineered protein, tightening up the molecule and allowing the kinase to work normally – like tightening the bolts on a car wheel."It's very precise. Just as you can map which switch in the circuit box in your home controls specific lights and appliances, this mechanism controls specific kinases, allowing researchers to trace their action precisely within the cell," Hahn says.Hahn predicts that the new technique will enable faster, less expensive study of cell signaling pathways implicated in cancer as well as a large range of human diseases and disorders.Hahn points out that this was a highly collaborative effort, made possible only by combining the skills of UNC researchers from diverse disciplines. The research team from UNC includes molecular biologist Andrei V. Karginov, PhD, Research Assistant Professor of Pharmacology, and computational biologists Feng Ding, Research Assistant Professor of Pharmacology, Pradeep Kota, a graduate student in biochemistry and biophysics, and Nikolay V. Dokholyan, PhD, Associate Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics. ---On the Net:University of North Carolina School of MedicineSource: RedOrbit News - Science | 29 Jun 2010 | 1:37 am UPDATE 1-URS mulls raising offer for UK engineer Scott Wilson* Considering raising offer to 245p/shr or above * Scott Wilson schedules meeting to consider CH2M's stanceSource: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 29 Jun 2010 | 1:31 am Former Facebook CTO: ‘Google Me’ Is Real, And It’s Gunning For Facebook
D’Angelo shared his thoughts as an answer to one of the questions on Quora. Here’s his response:
You can read more responses to the question on the Quora thread here. This obviously has the potential to be huge, and Facebook needs a strong competitor. But even if Google has an amazing site in the pipeline, creating the next Facebook is going to be easier said than done — nearly 500 million people already have their content stored on Facebook, and despite what Facebook has claimed about being open, I doubt they’ll make it easy for anyone to jump into the arms of a competitor. Not to mention the fact that Google has had shortcomings with its social sites like Buzz, Wave, and Orkut. This could be a very interesting battle. We’ll keep our ear to the ground for more about Google Me.
     
Source: TechCrunch | 29 Jun 2010 | 1:28 am Clear Mini Androids - The Jointed Glass Robot will Make any House a Home (GALLERY)(TrendHunter.com) I have never been good at sculpting, let alone artistry in general, so I am fully amazed at this jointed glass robot -- mainly because it stands at only 3" tall and is completely handmade...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 29 Jun 2010 | 1:26 am Innovative Power Housing - 'Sage Green' Net-Zero Home Development First in the Nation(TrendHunter.com) Sage Green is a net-zero home development being built in Beaverton, Oregon. Ben Walsh, owner of Green One Construction is behind the innovative first-of-its-kind project in the United...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 29 Jun 2010 | 1:06 am Hollywood Confidential: Hush vs. Gush [Voices]By Marc Graser and Dave McNary, Writers, Variety Launching a marketing campaign for a movie now usually starts the first day cameras roll, and the best ones try not to give away all the goods while building buzz. But it’s getting harder than ever to keep a secret in Hollywood. The fast fingers of bloggers (professional and amateur), feverishly documenting every aspect of a film’s development and production on websites and Twitter feeds, have made it nearly impossible for studios to surprise moviegoers these days. So it’s increasingly impressive when a studio can control just what audiences learn about a film–particularly a movie that interests fanboys. Read the rest of this post on the original site » Source: All Things Digital | 29 Jun 2010 | 1:01 am China to Troops: No Blogging, "Longly Hearts" Ads [Voices]By Noah Shachtman, Editor, Danger Room, Wired.com After years of wrangling, the Pentagon finally decided in February that its troops were clear to use blogs and other social media. The Chinese military is going in the other direction. To put it mildly. Revised regulations from the People’s Liberation Army mean that “soldiers cannot open blogs on the internet no matter [whether] he or she does it in the capacity of a soldier or not,” says Wan Long, the political commissar of a regiment in the Guangzhou Military Area Command. “The internet is complicated and we should guard against online traps.”
Source: All Things Digital | 29 Jun 2010 | 1:00 am Daily Crunch: Defender Edition
Tetris creator has been working on true multiplayer Tetris for “more than 10 years”
Source: CrunchGear | 29 Jun 2010 | 1:00 am Touting Redesign, MSNBC Declares Pageviews "Dead" [Voices]By David Kaplan, Correspondent, paidContent The big idea behind just about every website redesign these days generally revolves around “less is more” minimalism. But it looks like MSNBC.com’s redo actually means it: The new site, which just went fully live, promises to do an end with clicking on stories and on ads. By introducing a single-page-only format, the company hopes to sell large, customizable ads to marketers as it tries to build a larger audience. Read the rest of this post on the original site » Source: All Things Digital | 29 Jun 2010 | 1:00 am Intern to Civilization Leader [Voices]By Dennis Nishi, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal Jon Shafer grew up loving the video game Civilization, which has been the best-selling game franchise for Sparks, Md.-based Firaxis Games since its release in 1991. Mr. Shafer started as a fan, hosting online discussions and writing strategy guides on how to play. In his third year of college, he landed an internship with Firaxis, which led to a full-time programming job when he graduated. At 25, he is now lead designer for Civilization V, the youngest lead designer at the company so far. Dennis Nishi spoke with Mr. Shafer at the recent E3 Electronic Entertainment Expo trade show in Los Angeles. Edited excerpts follow. Read the rest of this post on the original site Source: All Things Digital | 29 Jun 2010 | 1:00 am Playing Dodgeball With Gawker–And Other Cheap Thrills in the Big Blog Era [Voices]By Simon Dumenco, Media Columnist, Advertising Age Remember when all you had to worry about from blogs was excessive snark? If you overdosed on the acid commentary, you could always just pop a few Tums or spend 10 minutes with the fluffy kittens on Cute Overload. (There–all better.) Now you might want to bring a flak jacket. Consider what’s been happening at the Gawker Media network of blogs, for instance. In its recent past, while it certainly enjoyed poking at the Establishment (especially the Establishment media), flagship blog Gawker tended to reserve its most surgical, sustained attacks for the little people–self-promoting 20-something media types. But now? Gawker Media likes bigger targets–much, much bigger ones. Read the rest of this post on the original site » Source: All Things Digital | 29 Jun 2010 | 1:00 am Fine China Fashions - The Lacoste Pocelain Polo Shirt Takes from Familiar Patterns(TrendHunter.com) The Lacoste porcelain polo shirt -- designed by renowned Chinese artist Li Xiaofeng -- is a breath of fresh air for the usually pattern conservative fashion house. The Lacoste porcelain...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 29 Jun 2010 | 12:46 am Body Part Bottle Poppers - The Leg Opener is the Sexiest Bottle Opener on the Planet (GALLERY)(TrendHunter.com) According to its makers, "the 'Leg Opener' is the sexiest bottle opener on the planet." It's a stainless steel bottle opener in the shape of a female leg wearing a stiletto. This fun...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 29 Jun 2010 | 12:26 am It’s Quiet, Too QuietSource: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 29 Jun 2010 | 12:25 am Programmable Origamisciencehabit sends this snip from Science Magazine, with included video: "Researchers have created flat sheets of composite material that can fold themselves into toy boats, tents, and even paper airplanes. Based on the ancient art of origami, the sheets are edged by foil actuators — thin, solid-state motors — that contract or expand when they receive an electric current from flexible electronic circuits embedded in the sheets. After they achieve their preprogrammed shape, the sheets are held in place by tiny magnets on the edges of the fold joints. Researchers say the technology could be scaled up to create ultra-portable tripods or even cups that automatically adjust to the size of liquid being poured into them."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 29 Jun 2010 | 12:20 am 'Transformable Tomas' Isn't Taking Any More Crap From Sir Topham HattBy Andrew Liszewski From the department of unintentionally awesome knock-off toys comes this amazing mashup of Thomas the Tank Engine and Voltron. As a kid I loved both of those shows/toy lines, but when...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 29 Jun 2010 | 12:11 am Baidu to hire U.S. engineers to work in China (Reuters)Reuters - Baidu Inc, China's leading search engine, will start hiring software engineers directly from the United States early next month, as it seeks to expand its technological capabilities and raise its global profile.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 28 Jun 2010 | 11:56 pm An update on ChinaEver since we launched Google.cn, our search engine for mainland Chinese users, we have done our best to increase access to information while abiding by Chinese law. This has not always been an easy balance to strike, especially since our January announcement that we were no longer willing to censor results on Google.cn.We currently automatically redirect everyone using Google.cn to Google.com.hk, our Hong Kong search engine. This redirect, which offers unfiltered search in simplified Chinese, has been working well for our users and for Google. However, it’s clear from conversations we have had with Chinese government officials that they find the redirect unacceptable—and that if we continue redirecting users our Internet Content Provider license will not be renewed (it’s up for renewal on June 30). Without an ICP license, we can’t operate a commercial website like Google.cn—so Google would effectively go dark in China. That’s a prospect dreaded by many of our Chinese users, who have been vocal about their desire to keep Google.cn alive. We have therefore been looking at possible alternatives, and instead of automatically redirecting all our users, we have started taking a small percentage of them to a landing page on Google.cn that links to Google.com.hk—where users can conduct web search or continue to use Google.cn services like music and text translate, which we can provide locally without filtering. This approach ensures we stay true to our commitment not to censor our results on Google.cn and gives users access to all of our services from one page. Over the next few days we’ll end the redirect entirely, taking all our Chinese users to our new landing page—and today we re-submitted our ICP license renewal application based on this approach. As a company we aspire to make information available to users everywhere, including China. It’s why we have worked so hard to keep Google.cn alive, as well as to continue our research and development work in China. This new approach is consistent with our commitment not to self censor and, we believe, with local law. We are therefore hopeful that our license will be renewed on this basis so we can continue to offer our Chinese users services via Google.cn. Posted by David Drummond, SVP, Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer    
 Source: The Official Google Blog | 28 Jun 2010 | 11:45 pm New Playstation firmware update coming soon
So what’s coming up in that new firmware? Well, to start off, PlayStation Network users will be able to purchase membership to PlayStation Plus, which is a subscription based service to allow you to “expand and enhance your gaming experience”. The subscription service will give you access to exclusive features, content, and functionality. No word on how much it’ll cost per month, but I’m sure that Sony will let us know as we get closer to launch date. There’s also a new Photo Gallery feature, it’s a network based photo sharing feature. This new enhancement will allow you to upload, browse, and comment on pictures on Facebook and Picasa. It’s a shame that it doesn’t work with Flickr yet, but maybe the next version. Multimedia seems to be Sony’s target on this one, they also added a Video editor and uploader feature, which will allow you to edit, save, and upload video files stored on your PS3 to Facebook or Youtube. The PS3 has also gone green down, with a built in power save feature. The default setting is to turn the console off automatically after 2 hours, however this is customizable, and there are additional power save options to further improve the “green” features on the PS3. There are several more features coming in the new firmware, but we just wanted to touch on the main points. You can read the complete list at the Playstation Blog where they touch on some of the new features for the PSP as well.
Source: CrunchGear | 28 Jun 2010 | 11:38 pm Deals of the day -- mergers and acquisitionsJune 29 (Reuters) - The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals involving European, U.S. and Asian companies were reported by 0500 GMT on Tuesday.Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 28 Jun 2010 | 11:23 pm Android 2.2 Froyo Now Rolling Out To All Nexus Ones
From the Nexus One blog:
Some Nexus One users have been running the build that was sent out to a small batch of users in late May (even if you didn’t actually get the update over the air, it was possible to download it elsewhere). I’ve been running this build for the last month, and have found it to be a huge improvement over 2.1. Of course, most Android users will still have to wait a while (months, in many cases) until their devices will get 2.2. That’s because it’s still up to hardware manufacturers to port the OS over to their devices — a process that can be further complicated by ‘skins’ used by some companies, like HTC’s Sense.      
Source: TechCrunch | 28 Jun 2010 | 11:15 pm Intelenet Chooses Verizon Business to Host Projects in the CloudMUMBAI, India, June 29 /PRNewswire/ -- When Intelenet Global Services needed a secure, high-capacity computing environment for a high-priority project, the company chose a cloud-based solution from Verizon Business. The solution enabled Intelenet to cost-efficiently scale up its technology infrastructure in just hours and to make key applications available to the project team within just five days. By leveraging Verizon's fully managed Computing-as-a-Service (CaaS) solution, Intelenet was able to create a new computing environment without the need to invest in dedicated hardware and software. In addition, Verizon CaaS' pay-as-you-go model enabled Intelenet to align project expenditures with revenues while benefiting from daily billing, integrated security, automated provisioning and integrated storage and backup services to support business continuity. Application availability is backed by Verizon Business' stringent service-level agreements, and the solution is provisioned through a Web-based user interface. Intelenet provides contact-center, finance, accounting, transaction-processing and consulting services to Fortune 500 companies in the banking and financial services, health care, retail, insurance, telecom, manufacturing, travel and hospitality industries. The India-based company employs more than 32,000 employees at 35 locations globally. Intelenet was already a Verizon Business customer, using Verizon Private IP to provide a secure, scalable and flexible global communications network to connect its offices and customers around the world. Verizon also hosts and manages the company's secure portal for the exchange of information with clients, partners and vendors. Verizon's world-class data center facilities offer a stable, secure and reliable foundation for Intelenet's core application hosting requirements and its ad-hoc business needs. Rajendra Deshpande, chief technology officer, Intelenet Global Services, said: "For companies such as ours, the ability to deliver projects for our clients, quickly and cost-effectively, is a real business differentiator. By building our project infrastructure in the Verizon cloud, we estimate savings of about 35 percent versus building the infrastructure ourselves, and were able to commence activity within an incredibly short timeframe. "Of course, the Verizon solution also addresses all our concerns around issues such as security, scalability and flexibility. Alongside our existing IT infrastructure, Verizon CaaS is a real enabler of business agility." About Intelenet Global Services Intelenet Global Services is a leading global third-party BPO Company that delivers Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) services to Fortune 500 companies in the U.K., U.S.A., Australia and India. This specialized BPO expertise enables us to cost-effectively align practical solutions with specific outsourcing strategies and needs of our clients. The Intelenet growth story involves rapid growth from just 25 employees at a single site to over 32,000 employees across 35 locations in India and overseas in less than a decade, making it the second-largest employer in the Indian BPO space. Intelenet's growth in the BPO industry has been spurred by its dedicated effort in creating valuable relationships and its focus on quality and timely delivery. About Verizon Business Verizon Business, a unit of Verizon Communications (NYSE, Nasdaq: VZ), is a global leader in communications and IT solutions. We combine professional expertise with one of the world's most connected IP networks to deliver award-winning communications, IT, information security and network solutions. We securely connect today's extended enterprises of widespread and mobile customers, partners, suppliers and employees - enabling them to increase productivity and efficiency and help preserve the environment. Many of the world's largest businesses and governments - including 96 percent of the Fortune 1000 and thousands of government agencies and educational institutions - rely on our professional and managed services and network technologies to accelerate their business. Find out more at www.verizonbusiness.com. SOURCE Verizon BusinessSource: RedOrbit News - Technology | 28 Jun 2010 | 11:00 pm Intelenet Chooses Verizon Business to Host Projects in the CloudSource: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 28 Jun 2010 | 11:00 pm Abbott looks to sell its flu vaccine unit - WSJJune 29 (Reuters) - U.S. drugmaker Abbott Laboratories Inc is looking to sell its flu vaccine business in a deal that could fetch 500 million euros ($614 million), the Wall Street Journal said, citing...Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 28 Jun 2010 | 10:58 pm Appletell reviews the Skadoosh iPad standFROM APPLETELL - Jadu Industries certainly hopes you’ll find their Skadoosh iPad stand to be just what you’re looking for, but is it? Full Story » | Written by NEWS for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 28 Jun 2010 | 10:29 pm Baidu to hire U.S. engineers to work in ChinaSHANGHAI (Reuters) - Baidu Inc, China's leading search engine, will start hiring software engineers directly from the United States early next month, as it seeks to expand its technologicalSource: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 28 Jun 2010 | 10:25 pm Obama calls for international cooperation in space - Los Angeles Times
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 28 Jun 2010 | 10:15 pm Comrade Commodore Unicorn  Source: Boing Boing | 28 Jun 2010 | 10:10 pm Nokia N9 makes its film debut
The video shows us a large screen (or tiny hands), an 8mp camera with flash, a front-facing camera, a full-QWERTY slide-out keyboard (with an angled hinge similar to the N97), and what looks to be a mini HDMI port. Sadly, most of the 4-minute video is spent flitting about in Symbian OS, which, as we found out last week, won’t actually appear on the N9. So you might as well ignore those bits. The hardware does look impressive, however, and is worth a look. Anyway, here is the video I’m talking about. More details as they emerge. [via Boy Genius Report]
Nokia N9 from Negri Electronics on Vimeo.
Source: MobileCrunch | 28 Jun 2010 | 10:06 pm IPC Opens New Asia-Pacific Global Solutions Operations CenterJERSEY CITY, N.J., June 29 /PRNewswire/ -- IPC Systems, Inc., a leading provider of indispensable trading communications solutions to the world's top financial services firms and global enterprises, today announced the launch of a new Global Solutions Operation Center (GSOC) in Singapore. The IPC GSOC is a customer care and service center that supports IPC's integrated trading services and products around the clock and around the world. The new Singapore-based GSOC is centrally situated in Asia-Pacific, providing easy access for all IPC customers in the region to report faults and request support. Working in tandem with the GSOC centers in New York and London, as well as IPC's Network Operations Centers, the GSOC provides proactive monitoring, fault handling and escalation management providing immediate and consistent troubleshooting and fault resolution for IPC's suite of trading communication products. The new Singapore GSOC is staffed with multilingual service professionals and engineers to quickly help solve issues and efficiently communicate with local customers. "We are delighted to announce a new GSOC in Singapore to service the growth in voice and electronic trading in the region, said David Dodd, managing director, IPC Asia-Pacific. "Customer service is the foundation of IPC; therefore our service is designed to support evolving global financial markets. IPC is committed to providing hands-on local customer care to financial firms new to the region and existing customers expanding trading operations." The new Singapore-based GSOC is part of a multi-year strategic investment program in the Asia-Pacific region that includes network architecture, service enhancements, strategic partnerships and additional resources and skills to facilitate growth in the region. The Singapore GSOC will provide service to meet the high standards of local financial services firms and provide off-hours support to North America and EMEA as part of IPC's 24x7x365 service commitment. IPC's solutions are designed specifically for the trading environment to help traders manage communications, workflow and to organize and process information critical to decision-making. IPC's GSOC is an integral component of a global service organization that includes tiered field engineering and centralized technical support focused on reducing operational risk and enhancing the trading experience. About IPC IPC is a leading provider of indispensable financial trading communications solutions to the world's top financial services firms and global enterprises. With 35 years of expertise and innovation, IPC provides its customers with global systems and solutions, as well as a suite of products and enhanced services that includes advanced Voice-over-IP technology and integrated network and 24x7x365 management services in more than 60 countries. Based in Jersey City, N.J., IPC has approximately 900 employees throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia-Pacific regions. For more information, visit www.ipc.com. Media Contacts Cliff Fox Matt Pennacchio IPC Systems, Inc. Ruder Finn for IPC +1 201-253-2291 +1 212-715-1613 cliff.fox@ipc.com pennacchiom@ruderfinn.com SOURCE IPC SystemsSource: RedOrbit News - Technology | 28 Jun 2010 | 10:05 pm Ownership claim casts pall over Berau's Indonesia IPO* British Virgin Islands firm claims part ownership of BerauSource: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 28 Jun 2010 | 10:02 pm June 29, 1956: Ike Signs Interstate Highway ActThe stroke of a pen creates a new, integrated system of national highways. The United States is changing fast.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 28 Jun 2010 | 10:00 pm AT&T and T-Mobile Nexus Ones receiving another Froyo update
Now it seems that there is a newer build (FRF85B) rolling out over-the-air to T-Mobile and AT&T users running last week’s FRF83 release. There are also reports that some users running the (Android 2.1) build EPE54B are getting pushed the upgrade. So is this the final Android 2.1 build? It could very well be, as both AT&T and T-Mobile are pushing it out, but I guess we’ll wait and see. It isn’t clear what changes have occurred since FRF83, but there shouldn’t be anything major hiding in there: it’s probably just bug fixes. Looking for details on how to upgrade? Follow the source link for the skinny on how to do it. [via Android and Me]
Source: MobileCrunch | 28 Jun 2010 | 9:45 pm Saudi Telecom may buy stake in India tower biz-paperMUMBAI, June 29 (Reuters) - Saudi Telecom Company , the Arab world's largest telecom company by market value, may buy 10 percent to 15 percent stake in a newly created Indian telecoms tower unit, the Business...Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 28 Jun 2010 | 9:38 pm Tracking Down Wi-Fi Interference?Nicros writes "Almost every evening, between 8:30 and 10:00, my Wi-Fi just dies. This, in itself, could be explained by a crappy Wi-Fi source or some hardware failure, except that I know both of my neighbors are experiencing the same loss of signal at the same time. While the Wi-Fi is down, the LAN is OK, and anything plugged into Cat5 can access the Internet just fine. One possibility comes to mind — perhaps some other neighbor arrives home and turns on their router from 8:30 to 10:00? And something in their signal is hosing our Wi-Fi? I have tried looking around for software to help identify the source of interference, but either the programs are ridiculously expensive for a home user, or else my card (Intel Link 1000 BGN) isn't supported. (Netstumbler is an example of the latter.) Any suggestions on how I can track this down?"
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 28 Jun 2010 | 9:31 pm All 5 US variants of the Samsung Galaxy S compared We knew that Samsung had a winner on their hands with the Samsung Galaxy S, and we knew that a US version would probably be popular, but we didn't think we'd end up with 5 versions across 5 US carriers.
If you're stuck deciding on which variant would best suit you, we've compiled this handy list outlining the main differences, prices, and launch dates for the next Android super phone, as they compare to the original non-US model.
Source: CrunchGear | 28 Jun 2010 | 9:24 pm All 5 US variants of the Samsung Galaxy S compared
If you’re stuck deciding on which variant would best suit you, we’ve compiled this handy list outlining the main differences, prices, and launch dates for the next Android super phone, as they compare to the original non-US model.
So there you have it. 5 new versions for 5 different US markets. Samsung have said that this phone will launch in 110 countries, so you can soon expect to start seeing variants of this phone everywhere.
Source: MobileCrunch | 28 Jun 2010 | 9:18 pm Amazon Kindle for Android app turns the page in Android MarketSection: Communications, Cellphones, Smartphones, Gadgets / Other, ebooks
Non-US customers should be aware that not all books will be available to them because of licensing and distribution issues. However, those who already have a Kindle account and an Android 1.6 or higher device can log-in to read their treasured works. We got a quick preview of the Amazon app while at Google I/O and we were impressed (video demo is below). Kindle provides a phone-friendly format for reading ebooks, bookmarking the last read page through Amazon Whispersync, and allows users to adjust text size, color, and brightness. That will obviously be useful when reading your favorite books, newspapers, and magazines that offer content in Kindle for Android. Download from the Android Market or scan this QR code.
Read [Amazon] Full Story » | Written by Andrew Kameka for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 28 Jun 2010 | 9:16 pm Exclusive: Tyra Banks Picks Demand Media as America's Next Top Digital Business Model [BoomTown]
Well-known modeling icon Tyra Banks has struck a partnership with Demand Media to create a new digital brand focused on fashion and beauty. The deal between the Santa Monica, Calif.-based online content maker and Banks’ beauty and entertainment company, Bankable, will include the development of a Web site, online video offerings and mobile applications. “Their strategy, team and technology are outstanding, and the company has developed a unique method for quickly creating popular online platforms by providing visitors with exactly the kinds of content they’re looking for,” wrote Banks in an email to BoomTown tonight. “It became clear to us that Demand Media has developed something truly innovative and that they would be the perfect partner as we work to grow Bankable Digital into a significant part of our business.” The deal with Banks is a high-profile one for Demand, which is seeking to expand its content to more premium offerings. “This is where media is going,” said Demand CEO Richard Rosenblatt. “We’re going to link our huge amount of content and writers to her ethos around beauty inside and out.” As part of the deal–which is not unlike the Livestrong health and fitness site created between Demand and cyclist Lance Armstrong–Banks is receiving shares in Demand, which is widely expected to file for an initial public offering in the near future. “What Oprah did for television, we think Tyra can do for digital content in the fashion, health and beauty space,” said Joanne Bradford, who recently was hired by Demand from her job as the top advertising sales exec Yahoo (YHOO) to turbocharge its premium advertising efforts. This is exactly in that wheelhouse, mashing up a well-known celebrity with the vast stores of content that Demand produces from its army of search-fueled freelancers. Banks has certainly become an entertainment powerhouse since she retired from her supermodel days. But while she is developing books, too, Banks has been focused mostly on television, with her own talk show, which just wrapped up after five years, as well as the megahit “America’s Next Top Model.” The most recent show she is producing is called “True Beauty” on ABC, in which good-looking contestants think they are being judged on beauty on the outside, but are actually being scored based on their kindness and other inner attributes. Currently, Banks’s Web site is mostly promotional, although she also has a potentially large online fanbase, with 1.6 million Twitter followers and an inspirational, self-help image that is likely to translate well in a more interactive setting. Whether that will bring big bucks or not is uncertain, of course. So far, Bradford said, Demand has not signed up any advertisers, but she said this is just the kind of site they have been asking for and will welcome. “Advertisers are looking for new kinds of content online to be associated with,” she said. “We think Tyra has the kind of message that will attract a really engaged audience online.” In fact, Banks said she plans to be very engaged in the creation and operation of the online destination. “Anyone who knows me knows that, once I commit, I’m in 100 percent,” she said. “I plan to be very involved from the early design stage to the choice of videos, articles and special features, to the launch and marketing of the site.” Here’s the official press release, and below it the full video of Rosenblatt talking about Demand’s strategies around content, in an interview at the eighth D: All Things Digital conference earlier this month:
[ See post to watch video ] Source: All Things Digital | 28 Jun 2010 | 9:00 pm Tesla Prices IPO At $17 Per Share
The $17 pricing per share is well above the expected range of $14 to $16. With the pricing, the electric car maker will debut with a $1.5 billion market cap (based on 93.5 million total shares outstanding after the IPO and a concurrent $50 million private placement with Toyota). Of the shares in the offering, 11,880,600 shares are being offered by the company and 1,419,400 shares are being offered by selling stockholders. Tesla has already raised $783 million in venture capital and government loans. Tesla is expecting to raise about $210 million in the IPO, bringing the total raised to just over $1 billion. Tesla’s stock will start trading on the Nasdaq under the symbol TSLA tomorrow morning. Information provided by CrunchBase      
Source: TechCrunch | 28 Jun 2010 | 8:39 pm Opportunistic law firm to launch class action lawsuit against Apple concerning reception issues?
“KCR is currently investigating potential problems with the release of iPhone 4. If you recently purchased the new iPhone and have experienced poor reception quality, dropped calls and weak signals, we would like to hear from you.” Seems to me that this whole debacle falls under the “caveat emptor” exclusion from seller responsibility.
Source: CrunchGear | 28 Jun 2010 | 8:27 pm PRESS DIGEST - Financial Times - June 29Business Secretary Vince Cable has warned car manufacturers that they can no longer count on direct government support. In an indication of the tightening fiscal climate, Cable said the car industry was...Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 28 Jun 2010 | 8:26 pm Don't Be Subtle, Nuke That AsteroidGoing against the recommendations of not using nuclear explosions to destroy a doomsday asteroid, a physicist has turned the "softly, softly" approach on its head.Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 28 Jun 2010 | 8:26 pm TechCrunchTV: Keen On… The Brain
To discuss what the Internet is doing to our brains, Andrew Keen is joined – in the first episode of his new TechCrunch TV show, ‘Keen On…’ by both Nicholas Carr and BT’s open-source evangelist Kevin Marks, for what we hope is a deep debate about The Shallows. Watch the full show here.      
Source: TechCrunch | 28 Jun 2010 | 8:23 pm Opportunistic law firm to launch class action lawsuit against Apple concerning reception issues?
Seems to me that this whole debacle falls under the “caveat emptor” exclusion from seller responsibility. Every iPhone 4 buyer purchased the device sight unseen, effectively forgoing their chance to hear about any problems that might arise at launch — a reasonably common occurrence in consumer tech. This was less than a week ago, as well; Apple hasn’t been given adequate time to address the problem, though what it has done has admittedly been pretty goddamn stupid.
While I laugh at the issues which may or may not be fixed soon, I don’t think Apple is culpable (yet) for any kind of damages. These kind of launch hiccups are “a fact of life,” as Apple would put it, though they’re certainly a black eye for a company that prides itself on its supposedly excellent hardware and service. Of course we’ll keep you updated. In the meantime, if you’re having trouble with your iPhone 4 still, keep track of it yourself and make your complaints to the right people. [via Gawker]
Source: MobileCrunch | 28 Jun 2010 | 8:16 pm HP cuts contract manufacturer use for printing growthHONG KONG (Reuters) - The printing division of Hewlett-Packard, the world's largest PC firm, has been cutting down on the number of contract manufacturers it is using since the downturn hitSource: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 28 Jun 2010 | 8:12 pm Rumor: Motorola Droid 2 launching August 23, equipped with Android 2.2Section: Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers, Smartphones  Even though the Motorola announcement several days ago did not include any information on the Motorola Droid 2, the rumors for the Motorola smartphone are alive and vague once again. According to a “trustworthy source” of AndroidandMe, Motorola will launch the Droid 2 on August 23. The reason for the late release is supposedly because Motorola wants the phone to be the first to ship with Android 2.2. This seems like a valid reason as it would be a nice point to make when advertising the phone that it ships with Android 2.2. Current models of the Motorola Droid 2 floating around are running Android 2.1, so the main difference between the current prototypes and the actual phone will be the software. The Droid 2 and Droid X are very similar phones hardware-wise, but the Droid 2 will come with a physical QWERTY keyboard as its main, notable difference. Pricing hasn’t been announced, but I expect it to be the normal $199 after MIR on a 2 year contract. Via [AndroidandMe] Full Story » | Written by Natesh Sood for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 28 Jun 2010 | 8:01 pm 22 Million SSL Certificates In Use Are Invaliddarthcamaro writes "While SSL certs are widely used on the Internet today, a new study from Qualys, set to be officially released at Black Hat in July, is going to show some shocking statistics. Among the findings in the study is that only 3% of SSL certs in use were actually properly configured. Quoting: '"So we have about 22 million SSL servers with certificates that are completely invalid because they do not match the domain name on which they reside," Ivan Ristic, director of engineering at Qualys, said.'"
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 28 Jun 2010 | 7:43 pm Death By Arsenic: An Increasing Problem In BangladeshA new study reveals that 1 in 5 deaths in Bangladesh are attributed to arsenic poisoning. The World Health Organization called it "the largest mass poisoning in history."Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 28 Jun 2010 | 7:36 pm Instant Karma: Nokia pokes fun at iPhone 4 death grip, is quickly rebuffed
To be fair, the issue doesn’t seem to be nearly as pronounced in Nokia’s phones, since they don’t locate their antenna in a place covered by the palm during normal use.
Source: MobileCrunch | 28 Jun 2010 | 7:35 pm Video about hand carved cawl spoonsI like this video about hand carved cawl spoons. The gent in the video says he hates eating cawl with anything but a hand carved cawl spoon. If I were a cawl eater I would feel the same way. Cawl, the national stew of wales was traditionally eaten with wooden spoons in some areas of wales. The spoons that Mansel shows in this video were made by his wife's uncle who died about 15 years ago. His hobby was making spoons. I made my first spoon, a love spoon about 10 years ago. A couple of years ago I took Welsh Classes, and this caused me to think about 'Welsh identity' and became curious about the more domestic, everyday version of the handmade spoon, like the ones I saw in an antique market in Llandeilo. I then started experimenting with carving spoons. Source: Boing Boing | 28 Jun 2010 | 6:54 pm HTC EVO 4G receives a 21.43MB OTA updateSection: Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers, Smartphones
Just like the rumor indicated, Sprint HTC EVO 4G owners are finding an update available on their phones known as version 1.47.651.1. The file size is a mere 21.43MB, so it looks like it contains the fixes to the bug fixes outlined in the rumor. The bug fixes are minor but definitely helpful to the overall improvement of the Android smartphone. It supposedly enables the EVO 4G’s WiFi 802.11n support, improves upon ActiveSync, and prevents social networking updates from wasting the battery. We will have to wait a little bit longer to find out if the update indeed fixes the problems in the rumor. Via [Engadget] Full Story » | Written by Natesh Sood for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 28 Jun 2010 | 6:50 pm Kozo lamps in Makers Market / Boing Boing Bazaar
These nifty Kozo lamps are available in a variety of prices and models in the Makers Market / Boing Boing Bazaar. They are handmade and manufactured on demand (after you place an order). Please allow 2 weeks for manufacturing and handeling before the item is shiped. shipment may take 3 to 5 days to arrive (depending on the destination)Kozo lamps shop on Makers Market Source: Boing Boing | 28 Jun 2010 | 6:48 pm Students Tell the Story at ISTE 2010DENVER, June 28 /PRNewswire/ -- Educators make up the majority of the membership of the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE®), but students were a primary focus at the education technology conference and exposition ISTE 2010. The initiatives geared toward students included a program with The Denver Post in which a group of young journalists served as special correspondents for the newspaper and also contributed to The Daily Leader, ISTE's newspaper published throughout the conference, and the ISTE Connects blog. ISTE 2010 attracted other groups of students who attended and participated in an array of different hands-on activities, including a group of students involved in the robotic arena. "Robotics is a hands-on, tangible science that teaches students how to be part of a team and solve theoretical problems," said Vignesn Muralidharan, recent graduate of Fairview High School in Boulder, Colo. "In school, you work solo, but with robotics, you work as a team." Along with speakers, workshops and discussions, the conference pushed new boundaries in social media, virtual learning environments and other exciting new forums for K-12 classrooms. Student highlights included: Denver Post Kids: Ten student reporters involved in The Denver Post's Newspapers In Education program covered the conference's happenings for three publications: The Daily Leader, The Denver Post and NextGen, a Post-affiliated, student-produced website. Students wrote about new and exciting technology, interviewed people at the opening reception and attended student showcases to get the inside scoop. Robotics Arena: ISTE's Special Interest Group for Computing Teachers (SIGCT) hosted a Robotics Playground featuring Denver area K-12 students and their award-winning projects. The USFIRST and 4-H robotics programs featured such crowd pleasers as soccer-playing robots.Student Showcases: Dozens of students displayed and demonstrated how they use technology to enhance the learning experience through applications such as virtual yearbooks and multimedia board games. Students also presented classroom blogs and cell phones as innovative teaching tools.About ISTE The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) is the premier membership association for educators and education leaders engaged in improving teaching and learning by advancing the effective use of technology in PK-12 and teacher education. SOURCE International Society for Technology in EducationSource: RedOrbit News - Technology | 28 Jun 2010 | 6:48 pm Economist and Best-Selling Author Jean-Francois Rischard at ISTE 2010 Examines the Role Educators Can Play in Global Problem SolvingDENVER, June 28 /PRNewswire/ -- Paris-based economist, former Vice President of the World Bank and bestselling author Jean-Francois Rischard delivered the opening keynote address - the first of a three-keynote series on exploring excellence in education - at ISTE 2010. The four-day conference for educators is being held June 27 through 30 at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver. Rischard opened his provocative keynote with a look at "the world's uncertain future," focusing on "20 global problems and 20 years to solve them." He analyzed the escalating threats from worldwide climate change, economic instability, water shortages and lack of education. The exponential rate of change with regards to these problems over the past few decades has "overwhelmed human institutions such as the World Bank, IMF and UNESCO," he said. "Institutions tend to be much more change-resistant when they should be the opposite." Yet these problems are solvable, as long as we approach them globally, using new tools, skills, knowledge and especially a new mindset that puts global thinking first and local and national thinking second, Rischard said. "Education is the biggest lever for solving our problems," he added. He challenged educators at ISTE 2010 to include a multi-disciplinary, multi-cultural approach in their classrooms and invited them to join a Global Issues Network. Commenting on the opening keynote, ISTE CEO Don Knezek said, "This approach to global citizenship and authentic problem-based learning offers an excellent way forward and resonates with the work we've been doing with educators and governments all over the world around digital age learning, teaching and leadership. We know we must measure ourselves against global standards, not just local education benchmarks." About ISTE The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE®) is the premier membership association for educators and education leaders engaged in improving teaching and learning by advancing the effective use of technology in PK-12 and teacher education. www.iste.org SOURCE International Society for Technology in EducationSource: RedOrbit News - Technology | 28 Jun 2010 | 6:36 pm Pro tip: bring your own media to the store to check HDTV quality
Source: CrunchGear | 28 Jun 2010 | 6:30 pm Sprint kills the HTC EVO update in light of bricked handsets
Almost immediately after Sprint started rolling out this morning’s over-the-air update for the HTC EVO 4G, we started getting tips claiming that the patch had totally wrecked their handset. Some of the folks complaining had modified their handsets through unofficial means; others were running it just as it came from the factory. Whatever was triggering it, one thing was sure: these handsets were now straight up broken. Pulling the safety cord before too many handsets get bricked, Sprint and HTC have just terminated the distribution of the OTA update. Read Sprint’s comment after the jump.
Sprint’s comment:
We’ve got no idea how widescale this issue is, but it seems pretty severe; we counted a few dozen complaints when we searched for verification early this morning, and that wasn’t too long after the update first went out. Given that these bricked handsets seem to be mostly irreparable, we can only hope Sprint’s got an emergency stockpile of replacement EVOs (and bill credit) for those who got tagged.
Source: MobileCrunch | 28 Jun 2010 | 6:24 pm Top US carriers add Samsung Galaxy S phones - msnbc.com
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 28 Jun 2010 | 6:12 pm Foo Camp 2010: snapshots by Dean Putney
Our Dean Putney took some wonderful photos up at Foo Camp this weekend. I'm bummed I missed it! Top: Heather Knight with Nao the dancing robot, and Eric Wilhelm's baby. Bottom: Boing Boing's Mark and Pesco. Here's the link to the Flickr set. Choose the best camera for you with Snapsort
I like the Snapsort site because it has enough technical information to satisfy an enthusiast like me, but it also provides information in layman’s terms, and makes it easy to understand. You can look at pretty much all levels of camera, from low end point and shoots to high end DSLRs. The comparison is easy to read, easy to understand, and laid out very well. There’s even an area for comments, but they appear to be more about spam then intelligent discourse. Regardless of the comments, it’s definitely worth your while to check out Snapsort if you’re shopping for a new camera.
Source: CrunchGear | 28 Jun 2010 | 6:00 pm Neatorama's video competition: Great Talent, Fantastic Or Otherwise (GTFO)Our friends at Neatorama and reddit are looking for the most talented people on the Web. They're holding an online competition called GTFO and the grand prize winner gets an iPad. As Ana Lilia explains in the YouTube clip above, our Great Talent Fantastic or Otherwise search not your usual talent search: while we’re looking for Neatoramanauts and redditors with amazing talents, we also want to find those with the most unusual and odd talents that mainstream media don’t appreciate.The Neatest Videos on the Web Source: Boing Boing | 28 Jun 2010 | 6:00 pm 6 Super Close-Ups of Crazy Bug EyesBugs' eyes are among the most fascinating things to see under a microscope. Check out these six award-winning photomicrographs of tiny but amazing eyes.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 28 Jun 2010 | 6:00 pm Most Dangerous Object: Hitachi Spline-Shank Rotary HammerWith this device and its 5.9 foot-pounds of impact, you'll never have trouble putting a hole in the wall again.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 28 Jun 2010 | 6:00 pm Most Dangerous Object: Hitachi Spline-Shank Rotary HammerWith this device and its 5.9 foot-pounds of impact, you'll never have trouble putting a hole in the wall again.
Source: Wired: Gadgets | 28 Jun 2010 | 6:00 pm TRX Solutions Empower Government Agencies Seeking Improved Cost Management CapabilitiesATLANTA, June 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- TRX, Inc. (www.trx.com) (Other OTC: TRXI.PK), a world-leading provider of travel technology, process automation, consulting and data services, today announces technology solutions targeted at government agencies, educational institutions and NGOs in the areas of travel reporting, travel analytics, automated travel booking and expense management. TRAVELTRAX(TM), TRX's data intelligence solution, assists government agencies in consolidating and more effectively managing travel expense data. TRAVELTRAX provides users with the ability to action mandated government policies regarding first class and group travel as well as greenhouse gas emissions reporting. TRX's data intelligence offering is currently in use by the US General Services Administration (GSA) as its MIS solution to provide a government-wide, world-class travel management program. The GSA manages more than $14 billion in travel spend annually, all of which is consolidated and reported upon via the interactive dashboard capability offered as part of the data intelligence solution. TRX's online booking solution, RESX(TM), provides enhanced policy control capabilities enables government travel managers to institute and manage travel authorization policies by line of travel. Separate policies can be enforced within the same itinerary governing air, car, hotel and rail bookings directly supporting a common practice among many government agencies. In addition, travel authorization requirements are configurable according to each government entity and designated hierarchy including agency specific travel regulations, government fares, hotel rates and per diem information. Together these and other features make RESX a user-friendly environment that promotes rapid adoption and customer satisfaction for government users. TRX, in partnership with DATABASICS, launched an integrated travel and expense reporting solution that offers a seamless user experience from pre-trip authorization and travel booking to expense reporting, receipt management and analytics in a single, secure environment. The integrated travel and expense reporting solution is currently being deployed by the state of West Virginia and its more than 40,000 travelers. "We understand the unique requirements of the government sector and have taken direct steps to ensure that the world-class technologies we have developed and deployed for more than a decade meet the needs of local, state and federal agencies and drive savings in their travel processes," said Shane Hammond, President and CEO, TRX. About TRX TRX is a world-leading travel technology and data services provider, offering more than 20 software-as-a-service utilities for online booking, reservation processing, data intelligence, and process automation. We deliver our technology applications in an on-demand environment to travel agencies, corporations, travel suppliers, government agencies, credit card associations, credit card issuing banks, and third-party administrators. We provide patented savings maximization solutions via our travel analytics consulting practice, extending spend management services to travel buyers all over the world. We complement all of these offerings with a global workforce focused on travel process automation and reengineering. For more information about TRX or to contact a TRX sales office, phone 404.929.6100 or visit the company's Web site at www.trx.com SOURCE TRX, Inc.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 28 Jun 2010 | 6:00 pm How Translation Software Saves Mother TongueWeb-based translation apps aren't what they used to be, now allowing users all around the world to converse with one another in their native tongues.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 28 Jun 2010 | 6:00 pm Rumor: Leaked Slides Reveal Windows 8 Roadmap
A purportedly leaked slideshow reveals what may be Microsoft’s game plan for Windows 8. Giving a strong nod to Apple, highlight features teased in the presentation include a Windows app store and instant-on bootup. Italian Windows blog Windowsette posted the presentation watermarked “Microsoft Confidential.” One slide explicitly mentions Apple’s consumer strategy: a high-quality, easy-to-use user interface that feeds brand loyalty. “Apple brand is known for high quality, uncomplicated, ‘It just works,’” a slide reads (see above). “This is something people will pay for!” Microsoft declined to comment on the presentation’s authenticity. Though the unconfirmed slides explicitly mention Apple’s strategy, Microsoft is still far ahead of the Cupertino, California company in the desktop OS space. Research firms estimate that Windows dominates over 90 percent of the desktop OS market share. Additionally, Microsoft recently announced it sold 150 million licenses of Windows 7 in eight months. If real, the presentation would suggest that a key part of Microsoft’s strategy to secure its lead with Windows is to replicate Apple’s successful App Store model. One slide (below) reveals plans for Windows 8 to introduce “Windows Store,” an app store for purchasing and downloading Windows applications. The slides also allude to a one-second bootup reminiscent of the iPad’s instant-on capability. “Windows 8 PCs turn on fast, nearly instantly in some cases, and are ready to work without any long or unexpected delays,” one slide says. Windows enthusiast blog Microsoft Kitchen has collected all the slides and believes they are “the real deal.” For a blow-by-blow analysis, visit Stephen Chapman’s writeup.
See Also:
Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 28 Jun 2010 | 5:57 pm Video: An EVO 4G Salesman Confronts An iPhone 4 Shopper (NSFW)The iPhone 4 vs. the EVO 4G. It’s the battle of our time. Or, at least, it was until Verizon unveiled the Droid X, thus continuing the cycle of Android phones one-upping one another from week to week. But regardless, iPhone 4 vs. EVO 4G is an interesting battle — at least among fanboys of the iPhone and Android platforms. And now there’s a great video to personify it. The video below may look familiar to those who saw the awesome I Will Honor The Embargo video (created by TechCrunch Europe Without further ado, an iPhone shopper walks into a store… (Warning: the video has plenty of NSFW language — especially towards the end)
[thanks Aditya]      
Source: TechCrunch | 28 Jun 2010 | 5:54 pm Remainders: "What else?" edition (Macworld.com)Macworld.com - We interrupt your regularly scheduled Remainders by Dan Moren to bring you Remainders by David Chartier. Mr. Moren has the day off, so youâre stuck with me.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 28 Jun 2010 | 5:52 pm New Messenger Has Same Old, Gaping Privacy HolesAn anonymous reader writes "Microsoft released the beta of the new 'Wave 4' Windows Live Essentials last week. The new beta of Windows Live Messenger 2011, while plugging some privacy holes and shoring up the user interface, fails to tackle the one biggest privacy-buster of all. Say you use Messenger to IM your wife. You also use Messenger to IM your old girlfriend. The next time your wife logs on to her Hotmail account — not Messenger, Hotmail — she will see that you and your old girlfriend 'are now friends.' It all happens without your knowledge or permission, and it happens even if you tell Messenger you want your personal information to be 'Private.'"
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 28 Jun 2010 | 5:50 pm Look out Safari, Google Chrome just overtook youSection: Business News, Computers, Software / Applications, Web, Web Browsers, Google
Via [Businesswire]
Full Story » | Written by Natesh Sood for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 28 Jun 2010 | 5:46 pm Paintings of US war atrocities at a North Korean museum 
A gallery of images from the Sinchon-Ri Museum in North Korea, depicting scenes from the Korean war from a North Korean point of view. (thanks, Sean Bonner, via Eric Haller) Nature vs. Nurture: The neuroscientist with a murderer's brainNPR has a fascinating, ongoing series of stories about neuroscience, crime and the law—starting out with a piece about a scientist who discovered a dark secret in his own brain. James Fallon studies the biological basis of behavior, especially the differences between the minds of psychopaths and normal people. It's research that can produce an almost knee-jerk recoil, given that this kind of stuff was once used to justify forced sterilization and other eugenic practices. But Fallon's story actually ends up illustrating why you can't just write off people as "damaged goods", even if they do carry genes that might predispose them to violence. When Fallon's own family history turned out to be chock full of murderers (including Lizzie freaking Borden), he started studying himself, and found that his brain scans match those of people born with a lowered ability to control their id-like appetites—from rage to food to sex. He also carries a gene that prevents his brain from properly using the calming chemical Serotonin—a gene that's associated with increased levels of aggression. But Fallon isn't a killer. Or even particularly off-putting, according to the story. The point: What makes you you isn't shaped entirely by brain chemistry or genetics. We can say that there are inherited traits that seem to predispose someone to certain behaviors, but we can't say how that will play out in the real world. Biology is destiny. Except, you know, when it's not. NPR: A Neuroscientist Uncovers a Dark Secret Source: Boing Boing | 28 Jun 2010 | 5:34 pm Smart Walls Keep House ComfyPhase change material used to be so flammable that it didn't make sense to put the temperature-regulating stuff in buildings. Now a new delivery mechanism allows an advanced version to be incorporated directly into building materials.Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 28 Jun 2010 | 5:32 pm TechCrunch TV: Checking-In To Foursquare, A Look Inside The Startup [Video]On the 5th floor of 36 Cooper Square, the Foursquare team works alongside Curbed and Hard Candy Shell. There are no offices in the cramped room, just rows of thin desks, monitors, a couch, a couple of classroom chairs stacked in the corner and a small conference room off to the side. At the center of the room, Dennis Crowley presides, sitting a few feet away from his co-founder Naveen Selvadurai. Because the 5th floor doesn’t fit the entire 25-person staff, a handful have set up ad hoc work stations a few flights below. This is the guts of Foursquare, the widely acknowledged front runner in the red-hot location based service market. The young startup, launched in 2009, is on a tear, accumulating high profile partnerships with the likes of Bravo, Wall Street Journal, Zagat and quickly growing beyond its member base of 1.8 million users. As evidenced by an over-the-top UK Wired cover, which anointed Crowley the “New King Of Social Media, press has come easy. However, the team, which has grown from a party of 6 to 25 in the past year, is still adjusting to the pains of growing up. “Because we’re growing so quickly, it’s not just me and Naveen hammering out features day after day… now there’s a product team, now there’s an engineering team and so you know I think every organization goes through this but like we’re growing very quickly and this is getting all the pieces to play nice together,” Crowley says. “The thing we’re struggling with is where are people going to sit, Tristan is over there sitting on a bench, Harry moves to a different seat every day, we’re shuttling up and down three flights of stairs.” Many of those logistical issues should dissipate, as the team relocates to a far more expansive space on the 6th floor, but Crowley understands its a long slog ahead. With so much attention focused on the LBS market, the success of Foursquare is always discussed in the context of its closest competitors, like Loopt and Gowalla. Crowley acknowledges that they are indeed rivals, but he says his true competitors are “those above us,” specifically identifying Twitter and Facebook (a rumored suitor). More from Crowley and his co-founder Selvadurai in our video above. Our video feature on Foursquare is the first in our series of company profiles. Under the TechCrunch TV banner, I’ll be visiting the top startups to get you inside the office, the culture and up close with the founders and CEO. Comments, suggestions? E-mail me at onair@techcrunch.com. Information provided by CrunchBase      
Source: TechCrunch | 28 Jun 2010 | 5:31 pm Tetris creator has been working on true multiplayer Tetris for “more than 10 years”
This interview, conducted by Gamasutra at one of the many 25th anniversary Tetris events this year, reveals that Alexey Pajitnov has been wrestling with this concept for quite a while:
Personally, I found Tengen’s cooperative Tetris the most enjoyable variant so far. I played it a lot with friends — I admit, at various states of intoxication — and made an interesting discovery: people have, or don’t have, Tetris compatibility.
Playing with my friend Natalie, who is as good or better than I am (always level 9 with handicap on original NES Tetris), I found we were constantly in each other’s way. But playing with my friend Jeremy, who (sorry, Jeremy) was significantly less experienced than Natalie, our play styles just meshed. We racked up huge scores, completing each other’s actions, watching and preparing for the other guy’s piece, and son on. Really an amazing experience, actually. You can get something like it on Wii with Tetris Party. But Alexey says they have something coming. Something “really cool.” I trust the guy who came up with this thing to know what he’s about. Can’t wait to find out what it is!
Source: CrunchGear | 28 Jun 2010 | 5:30 pm Barnes & Noble financials: e-book store blowing up like what
Good for them… I think. I don’t think it’s really that surprising that an up-and-coming new industry (and one with so few players) like e-bookstores should exceed the performance of a visibly endangered one. But that said, B&N could easily have blown it rather than leveraged their properties correctly — resulting in a trouncing by Kindle, iBookstore, and what have you. They’ve successfully hitched their wagon to a shooting star, in other words, when they might have missed it entirely or messed up the job. They’re still losing money, if I’m reading this correctly, but who knows what that really means these days? It’s within their projections, they say, which is something of a consolation. They’re not going anywhere for a while, at any rate:
I hear that as: more Nooks (which have successfully driven sales), more e-books, and… probably layoffs and store closures.
Source: CrunchGear | 28 Jun 2010 | 5:30 pm L.A. folks: if your computers stuffs breaks, Computech is a great support shop Over the weekend, I did something really stupid during a data migration and believed I'd effectively lost/destroyed an important and irreplaceable chunk of my mail archives. I sweated, I cried, I rended garments, I banged my head against hard things, I couldn't eat or sleep, and I was kind of an asshole to people I love. Today, on the recommendation of my friend Christian Boyce, I stumbled in to the CompuTech Mac and PC support shop in Los Angeles. The short version of the rest of my tale: they resolved the issue fast, reunited me with my data, and were absolute gentlemen. The joint is run by Boing Boing readers, and they could not have been more knowledgeable, effective, and nice. They also advised me on a better backup routine (short version: don't trust the cloud alone—back up to multiple physical disks on and offsite *PLUS* the cloud, and use an app like Carbon Copy Cloner or Super Duper to create a bootable clone). I should note that these guys aren't a data recovery shop per se, they do a broad range of hardware and software/OS support stuff for PC and Mac (perhaps Linux too, though I did not ask). This blog post is not an ad, and this is not payback, this is me sharing gratitude for a great business in the town where I live, run by awesome people. As a Twitter follower just observed, "getting a new lease on data's life is like the ending to A Christmas Carol. 'I swear, from now on, I'll back up EVERY DAY!" FSM bless us, every one. The most wonderful feeling in the world: believing you've suffered a catastrophic data loss, then getting the data back. And that is my excuse for the photograph which accompanies this blog post. CompuTech (ask for Josh Yellin or Matthew LaForest, and send them my best). They're also on Twitter.
* A footnote: another pal recommended MailSteward as a good helper app, and I'll be trying that now. Analysts say Apple's iPhone 4 parts cost $187.51 (AP)AP - Apple Inc.'s new iPhone 4 costs almost $20 more to make than its predecessor, the iPhone 3GS, but the device will still help the company continue to rack up high profits, the research group iSuppli said Monday.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 28 Jun 2010 | 5:21 pm Verizon Wireless Supports Obama Spectrum EffortBASKING RIDGE, N.J., June 28 /PRNewswire/ -- In a memorandum signed today, President Obama proposed nearly doubling the airwaves available for new types of wireless services and increased Internet connectivity. The President called for making 500 MHz of spectrum available over the next 10 years. Verizon Wireless President and Chief Executive Officer Lowell McAdam made the following statement, commending the President's push for new airwaves to enable additional high-tech connectivity: "We applaud today's announcement. 500 MHz of additional spectrum will fuel broadband innovation, competition and job creation for decades to come. Policy makers should resist the temptation to add regulatory strings or obligations that would encumber this national resource from being put to its highest and best use. "President Obama's call to harness this spectrum for the good of the American people brings a critical opportunity to provide public safety organizations with the incremental spectrum and funding they desperately need. This small step will help ensure that police, fire, safety and emergency service professionals can communicate with each other and have access to the incredible new generation of wireless products, services and bandwidth that are transforming our nation. "We look forward to working with Chairman Genachowski, the FCC Commissioners and staff, and leaders on Capitol Hill to quickly bring this promise to reality." About Verizon Wireless Verizon Wireless operates the nation's most reliable and largest wireless voice and 3G data network, serving nearly 93 million customers. Headquartered in Basking Ridge, N.J., with 81,000 employees nationwide, Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications (NYSE, NASDAQ: VZ) and Vodafone (LSE, NASDAQ: VOD). For more information, visit www.verizonwireless.com. To preview and request broadcast-quality video footage and high-resolution stills of Verizon Wireless operations, log on to the Verizon Wireless Multimedia Library at www.verizonwireless.com/multimedia. SOURCE Verizon WirelessSource: RedOrbit News - Technology | 28 Jun 2010 | 5:18 pm Oil Clean Up Tech Needs More FundingLast week, Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.), introduced a bill that would "provide for the establishment of a program to support the development, demonstration, and commercialization of innovative technologies to prevent, stop, or capture large-scale accidental discharges of oil or other ...Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 28 Jun 2010 | 5:11 pm Science Historian Deciphers Plato's CodeReader eldavojohn tips the news of a researcher in the UK, Jay Kennedy, who has uncovered a hidden code in the writings of Plato. From the University of Manchester press release: "[Dr. Kennedy said] 'I have shown rigorously that the books do contain codes and symbols and that unraveling them reveals the hidden philosophy of Plato. This is a true discovery, not simply reinterpretation.' ... The hidden codes show that Plato anticipated the Scientific Revolution 2,000 years before Isaac Newton, discovering its most important idea — the book of nature is written in the language of mathematics. ... Plato did not design his secret patterns purely for pleasure — it was for his own safety. Plato's ideas were a dangerous threat to Greek religion. He said that mathematical laws and not the gods controlled the universe. Plato's own teacher [Socrates] had been executed for heresy. Secrecy was normal in ancient times, especially for esoteric and religious knowledge, but for Plato it was a matter of life and death." Here is the paper (PDF), which was published in the journal Apeiron: A Journal of Ancient Philosophy and Science.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 28 Jun 2010 | 5:10 pm Verizon Narrows Kin Target to Thrifty Young and Social Users [Digital Daily]
Those are the sorts of price cuts you see with older phones, not newly launched ones. That we’re seeing discounts for the Kin so soon after its debut suggests that it’s not selling nearly as well as Microsoft and Verizon had hoped. Of course, neither Microsoft (MSFT) nor Verizon (VZ) will admit that. But the anecdotal evidence is pretty damning. As Ina Fried notes over at News.com, “A worker at one big-city Verizon Wireless store said the Kin is being outsold there not only by Droid smartphones, but also by older Palm Pre devices.” Source: All Things Digital | 28 Jun 2010 | 5:01 pm The 3DS’ semi-secret weapon: 3Difying the back catalog
So: think about it. What’s the obvious move? New 3D technology… old titles. I guarantee we’re going to see a huge explosion of DSWare/downloadables in the form of back catalog games rendered in 3DS-compatible stereo 3D. That video was done in an emulator (Project 64, same as I used back in the day) with iZ3D drivers. If they can do it, Nintendo can. Enable your 3D viewing method of choice; “parallel” works best for me, not having any glasses. (Watch on YouTube for non-distorted version) So in all likelihood, you’ve got stuff like F-Zero X, Blast Corps, Body Harvest, Wave Race 64 (which would be awesome), probably even GameCube stuff like Wind Waker and Metroid Prime coming down the pipe. Might we even see depth-enhanced (“depth-enhanced,” I like that) sprite-based games? I wouldn’t put it past them. The background layers in SNES games are often already separated to provide parallax movement, though of course the 3D effect wouldn’t be as complete. Super FX and Mode 7 games would be interesting, though. As a bonus, if and when they decide to support 3D for the big screen (likely their next console will at least have the capability — the 3-Wii? Wii-D?), they’ll have a boatload of games ready for distribution. Seriously. There’s no way Nintendo isn’t going to leverage its huge back catalog — they know they can make the conversions, and they know people will buy them. They’ve obviously prioritized the big sellers for launch titles, but we’ll probably see announcements for more before the 3DS’ release date, which could be as early as Holiday 2010.
Source: CrunchGear | 28 Jun 2010 | 5:00 pm Verizon to launch some basic feature phones soonSection: Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers, Computers, Netbooks  Verizon, as of late, has focused on smartphones such as the Motorola Droid X, Samsung Fascinate, and the BlackBerry Bold 9650. For Verizon customers who simply want a phone that will get the basic job done, Verizon has been slow in producing those phones, but on their ‘coming soon’ list, several basic, feature phones are listed. The Pantech Jest and the Samsung Haven u320 are on the list as well as the netbook Samsung N150. The Pantech Jest sports a 2MP camera, QVGA display, slideout QWERTY keyboard, native VZ Navigator, and MicroSD memory expansion. No word on pricing at this time, but the phone is expected to launch sometime in July. The Samsung Haven u320 is the conventional flip phone, designed for easy communication, and has a few hot keys for voice command, voicemail, speakerphone. Again, no word on pricing the phone is supposed to launch in July as well. Lastly, we have the Samsung N150, the 10.1 inch netbook with 160GB hard drive, 1GB of RAM, and a 1.66GHz processor. We will have to wait until we get closer to the launch date to find out the pricing on these three Verizon devices. Via [unwiredview] Full Story » | Written by Natesh Sood for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 28 Jun 2010 | 4:39 pm QOTD [Digital Daily]
Source: All Things Digital | 28 Jun 2010 | 4:32 pm Target-tracking autonomous guard-bot-tank is the precursor to the Hunter-Killer
There is one hope:
Wait — nooo!
We’re doomed. [via Hack A Day]
Source: CrunchGear | 28 Jun 2010 | 4:30 pm ESA's GOCE Satellite Provides Gravity Map of Earthkaulike writes "The European Space Agency's GOCE satellite, launched in March 2009, has provided a spectacular, highly detailed map of our favorite gravity well. This map shows the normalized surface of the earth as defined by gravity, showing the relative altitude differences from the average for each surveyed point. The article provides the helpful metaphor that a ball resting on this surface would not roll anywhere, even though there would be visual slopes, as gravity is equalized across the globe. There is a fascinating deep area in the Indian ocean (-100M) and a high area near Iceland (+80M), proving conclusively that our world is not homogeneous in terms of density (or practically any other measure). Does anyone know whether these anomalies correspond to known geographic phenomena? Deposits of heavy metals perhaps, or hotspots where the mantle is thinner? I know little about geodetic stuff, but I'm curious about the reasons for wrinkles in the data set."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 28 Jun 2010 | 4:29 pm Indie Games Festival opens 2011 submissions, adds mobile games
Finally, I can show off what's been keeping me so preoccupied for the past week (and all morning as well!), as we announce the opening of the 2011 Independent Games Festival and explain all the changes we've prepared for its 13th year.
Chief amongst those is the addition of a new category for iPhone/iPad, DS, PSP and all other mobile devices (ie. Android), as well as allowing those mobile games to compete in all categories, as handheld games have matured to the point where they can compete with their PC/console counterparts. Previously, those games were confined to the IGF Mobile competition, which is now entirely folded into the main IGF.
But we've also expanded the focus on art/games, with more finalists in the Nuovo category -- a category specifically for more experimental games, like last year's Nuovo winner Tuning (above), from the aforementioned Cactus.
Over here I've discussed the full list of changes to this year's IGF (including some inside-baseball type changes to the judging system, of interest particularly to indie devs keen to enter). If you're spurred on to enter yourself, all the submission info you need is over here.
Looking forward to a wicked festival this year, and hope to see your game included!
2011 Independent Games Festival Opens Submissions, Adds Mobile Category, Expands Experimental Focus [IGF.com]
Source: Boing Boing | 28 Jun 2010 | 4:04 pm Repuglicans: 61 monster paintings by Pete Von Sholly
The folks caricaturized in Repuglicans don't deserve to be depicted as famished ghouls, white-eyed vampires, drooling werewolfs, and rotting zombies. What I mean is, they aren't worthy of the fantastic 1960s monster-trading-card treatment bestowed upon them by veteran storyboarder Pete Von Sholly. In the same way that Mad magazine only parodied good TV shows and movies, this kind of honor should be reserved for good people. In any case, it's still a treat to pore over the hilariously doctored images of Roger Ailes, Glenn Beck, Dick Cheney, Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, and 55 other power-hungry fear-mongers. As Steve Tatham (who wrote the commentary to the book) writes in his introduction: There are 55 million Republicans in the United States. Most of them are decent, honorable people. The Republican limited government, state's rights, traditional American values, pro-business political philosophy is a reasonable and worthwhile set of beliefs. Real Republicans and real Democrats share a common goal: they want the United States to be a better place for all its people. The Republican party has its fair share of towering intellects and inspiring heroes. None of them are described in the pages that follow. See sample images after the break. Source: Boing Boing | 28 Jun 2010 | 4:00 pm Apple boasts 1.7 million iPhone 4 sales (Reuters)
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 28 Jun 2010 | 3:53 pm Mozilla Updates Firefox To Appease FarmVille UsersCWmike writes "Just three days after adding plug-in crash protection to Firefox, Mozilla rushed out another release because people playing FarmVille on Facebook complained that their browser was shutting down the game. Although complaints about Firefox's quick killing of hung plug-ins were not limited to FarmVille, that game was the squeaky wheel that got the update grease. 'A lot of people play FarmVille. To ignore those people for any length of time could have a significant effect on Firefox's share of browser users,' said Firefox user Jeff Rivett on Bugzilla Sunday. 'The problem already existed, but the perceived impact suddenly changed, giving it a much higher priority.'"
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 28 Jun 2010 | 3:49 pm Obama Backs More Spectrum for WirelessPresident Obama puts his signature to use backing a proposal to shift a significant chunk of the nation's airwaves to mobile broadband. Still, fights loom on the horizon for the effort.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 28 Jun 2010 | 3:47 pm Martin Flyer Launches E-Commerce, E-Mobile and Other Digital Solutions to Drive Sales to Retail PartnersNEW YORK, June 28 /PRNewswire/ -- Martin Flyer, in collaboration with aGQa, Inc - Patented Jewelry Web Solutions, will introduce at Luxury and JCK technology, digital media marketing platforms to retailers as solutions to increase sales, streamline local purchases, maximize the power of virtual inventory, and provide a fast and easy maintenance free online solution for our retail partners. (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100628/NY27958 ) (Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20100628/NY27958 ) Facts and statistics show that currently jewelry E-giants continue to increase their business and profits online because consumers are comfortable buying on the internet. Eighty percent of first time brides shop the internet to see styles they like before walking into a jewelry store. With these facts and statistics in mind, Martin Flyer provides the following tools to reach the consumer directly and help the retailer maximize sales. The technology component is the introduction of ESDN - (E Sales Dealership Network) The Martin Flyer ESDN solution allows the retailer to have the entire FlyerFit® product showcased online at each participating retailer as an actual e-commerce website. ESDN protects all authorized FlyerFit® retailers by zip code giving them the profit of the sale and the control of MSRP's. The Martin Flyer E-mobile application provides just another shopping convenience. Any item can be readily emailed with product description, price and details right to the consumer or friend. This selling mobile application is compatible with iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Android, BlackBerry (RIM) and Palm. This innovation is a must have to compete in today's market place. "In the last three years we have focused our investments in building our FlyerFit® brand with the intention of driving the consumer into our retail partner stores," stated Joshua Kaufman, CEO Martin Flyer Limited. "Our goal is to facilitate profit for our retail partners who are invested in our brand, we have traditionally protected their area on the street and now we protect them on the web." About Martin Flyer Martin Flyer began in the Bowery district of New York City more than 65 years ago and has become one of the most recognizable names in the fine jewelry industry. A name synonymous with timeless, elegant designs, Martin Flyer continues to offer a broad range of bridal and fashion jewelry-- made predominantly in platinum -- with its Classic Martin Flyer and FlyerFit® collections. With a design and production facility located in the heart of Manhattan's diamond district, the company remains a sound institution in the jewelry industry, able to meet the growing needs of its customers from the design to the manufacturing stages. For more information, please visit www.MartinFlyer.com. For press inquiries, please contact: Ana Martins Public Relations Inc. 46 West 56th Street, New York, NY, 10019, Tel: 212.333.2085, Fax: 212.258.3455, Email: info@anamartinspr.com SOURCE Martin FlyerSource: RedOrbit News - Technology | 28 Jun 2010 | 3:34 pm mSpot streams music collections to Android smartphones (AFP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 28 Jun 2010 | 3:30 pm Increased Use of Technology by K-12 Teachers Has Positive Effects on Perceived Student Learning, Development of 21st Century SkillsDENVER, June 28 /PRNewswire/ -- An increased use of technology in the classroom by K-12 teachers yields a perceived positive impact on student learning, engagement and the development of 21st century skills, according to the study Educators, Technology and 21st Century Skills: Dispelling Five Myths. The report was released today by The Richard W. Riley College of Education and Leadership at Walden University during the International Society for Technology in Education annual conference and exposition (formerly known as NECC) in Denver. The Riley College of Education and Leadership commissioned the survey of more than 1,000 U.S. K-12 teachers and school administrators to determine whether classroom teachers and school administrators believe that using technology and fostering 21st century skills benefit their students. Core findings of Educators, Technology and 21st Century Skills: Dispelling Five Myths include: Teachers who use technology frequently report greater benefits to student learning, engagement and skills from technology than teachers who spend less time using technology to support learning.Teachers who completed their initial certification or licensure since 2000 do not believe their pre-service programs taught them how to teach 21st century skills or how to effectively incorporate technology into instruction.There is little association between a teacher's years of experience and the frequency of technology use in the classroom.The findings reveal perceived differences related to teachers' use of technology in the classroom and the impact of technology on perceived student learning. "This study underscores the growing importance of integrating technology instruction into our educational programs while at the same time ensuring that our future educators are prepared to teach 21st century skills to students nationwide," said Dr. Kate Steffens, dean of the Riley College of Education and Leadership. Classroom Instruction, Professional Development Implications "Using technology alone is not enough for students," said Cindy Johanson, executive director of The George Lucas Educational Foundation, publisher of Edutopia. "Training teachers to effectively integrate technology in the classroom will help engage students and create an interactive learning environment." Teachers believe advanced training and certification programs do a better job at preparing them to incorporate technology into their instruction than pre-certification or licensure training, the study found. "This study firmly shows that continued technological education throughout a teacher's career is vital to providing students with the skills they will need for future careers," said Anne Bryant, executive director of the National School Boards Association. "This survey shows that school boards need to be as intentional and purposeful as possible in supporting increased technology integration in schools." Technology engages many types of students regardless of learning style, language barriers and academic needs, teachers and administrators report. "This study is important, because it underscores the critical role individual teachers play in effective implementation of educational technology," said Douglas Levin, executive director, State Educational Technology Directors Association. "High-quality teacher preparation and professional development can make all the difference." While administrators reported seeing the benefits of technology use for students, teachers' perception of administrator support for classroom technology use varies. "Education and education technology leaders have a responsibility to provide a vision around powerful use of technology to transform learning, and they must model it with their actions," Keith Krueger, CEO of the Consortium for School Networking added. For a full copy of the report, visit www.WaldenU.edu/FiveMyths. About the Study The findings in this report are based on a survey of more than 1,000 U.S. educators, including 783 teachers and 274 principals or assistant principals. Respondents are closely representative of teacher and administrator populations by region, school level and years of experience. Educators, Technology and 21st Century Skills: Dispelling Five Myths was developed by Grunwald Associates LLC, a full-service research and consulting firm that provides guidance and generates insights on technology and media use by students, parents and educators. The report is based on research conducted by Eduventures, Inc., a leader in research and consulting for higher education institutions. About The Richard W. Riley College of Education and Leadership at Walden University Walden's Richard W. Riley College of Education and Leadership offers degree programs that support the needs of educators from preschool through higher education and at various stages of their profession, including new and veteran classroom teachers, experienced faculty members and administrators, and career-changers interested in teaching. Offerings include bachelor's, master's, post-master's and doctoral degree programs as well as individual graduate courses, special education endorsement programs and a teacher preparation program. About Walden University For 40 years, Walden University has supported working professionals in achieving their academic goals and making a greater impact in their professions and their communities. Today, more than 42,500 students from all 50 states and more than 100 countries are pursuing their bachelor's, master's or doctoral degrees at Walden. The university provides students with an engaging educational experience that connects them with expert faculty and peers around the world. For more information, visit www.WaldenU.edu. Walden University is accredited by The Higher Learning Commission and a member of the North Central Association, www.ncahlc.org. SOURCE Walden UniversitySource: RedOrbit News - Technology | 28 Jun 2010 | 3:30 pm ROHM Microstep Motor Drivers Deliver High Performance and ReliabilitySAN DIEGO, June 28 /PRNewswire/ -- The new high-performance, high-reliability stepper motor drivers from ROHM Semiconductor offer selectable excitation modes--full-step to sixteenth-step with 1.0A or 2.0A output current and full-step to eighth-step with 2.5A output current. These microstep drivers enable designers to optimize motor torque, noise and vibration for a wide range of applications. Selectable current decay pattern (FAST/SLOW/MIXED decay modes) further enhances motor performance. Circuit design is simplified through a combination of features including an internal voltage regulator, control input translator and DMOS output. The built-in regulator permits operation from a single 36V (max.) supply. Instead of parallel control lines, a single clock (CLK) input is converted by the device's internal translator into motor drive signals. Additionally, ROHM's advanced DMOS (Pch + Nch) output topology eliminates the need for external charge pump components. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20091208/LA22973LOGO) (Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20091208/LA22973LOGO) The ROHM microstep drivers are the latest addition to the ROHM Stepper Motor Driver Series, which incorporates undervoltage, overvoltage, overcurrent and thermal protection not typically included in motor driver ICs. This series also features ROHM's unique Ghost Supply Prevention (GSP) function that prevents aberrant operation in the off mode. Field Application Engineer for ROHM Semiconductor, Jeremy Bridges, said, "The combination of ROHM's advanced power semiconductor process technology and enhanced packaging has resulted in exceptional motor driver solutions. Packaging benefits include bottom-side heat sinking to simplify thermal design, adjacent-pin short protection on most models to reduce production and field failures, as well as pin-compatibility among parts with different current ratings." Pricing: US$3.00 (BD63843EFV - 1.0A) (small OEM qty.) US$3.00 (BD63847EFV - 2.0A) US$4.25 (BD63860EFV - 2.5A) Availability: Samples Now Delivery: 12 weeks ARO About ROHM Semiconductor: ROHM Semiconductor is an industry leader in system LSI, discrete components and module products, utilizing the latest in semiconductor technology. ROHM's proprietary production system, which includes some of the most advanced automation technology, is a major factor in keeping it at the forefront of the electronic component manufacturing industry. In addition to its development of electronic components, ROHM has also developed its own production system so that it can focus on specific aspects of customized product development. ROHM employs highly skilled engineers with expertise in all aspects of design, development and production. This allows ROHM the flexibility to take on a wide range of applications and projects and the capability to serve valuable clients in the automotive, telecommunication and computer sectors as well as consumer OEMs. For more information, editors should contact: --------------------------------------------- ROHM Semiconductor Jeremy Bridges, Field Application Engineer 10145 Pacific Heights Blvd. Suite 1000 San Diego, CA 92121 Phone: 770-754-5972 Email: jbridges@rohmsemiconductor.com Agency Contact WelComm, Inc. Greg Evans, P.E. San Diego, CA 92111 Phone: 858-279-2100 Email: greg@welcomm.com SOURCE ROHM SemiconductorSource: RedOrbit News - Technology | 28 Jun 2010 | 3:26 pm Supreme Court Issues Pro-Innovation Decision in Bilski CaseRuling Recognizes the Importance of Software Patents WASHINGTON, June 28 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Business Software Alliance (BSA) today welcomed the Supreme Court's decision in the closely watched Bilski v. Kappos case. The Supreme Court rejected a federal circuit court's opinion that the so-called "machine-or-transformation" test should be the only test of patentability and reaffirmed the need for patent laws that ensure technological progress in key areas such as software. The Court said that the machine-or-transformation test -- meaning that an invention must be linked to a tangible object -- is a useful guide, but should not be the exclusive test of patentability for process inventions. "We strongly applaud the Supreme Court's ruling in the Bilski case," said BSA President and CEO Robert Holleyman. "The court specifically recognized that applying the lower court's very narrow 'machine or transformation test' would chill innovation in critically important 21st century technologies such as computer software." "Software is a critical tool of production for businesses in every sector of the US and global economies," Holleyman said. "Our industry is built on innovation, and the patent law provides critically important incentives to innovators. Today's ruling will enable the software industry to continue to make important contributions to our economy and our common welfare." About BSA The Business Software Alliance (www.bsa.org) is the world's foremost advocate for the software industry, working in 80 countries to expand software markets and create conditions for innovation and growth. Governments and industry partners look to BSA for thoughtful approaches to key policy and legal issues, recognizing that software plays a critical role in driving economic and social progress in all nations. BSA's member companies invest billions of dollars a year in local economies, good jobs, and next-generation solutions that will help people around the world be more productive, connected, and secure. BSA members include Adobe, Altium, Apple, Autodesk, AVEVA, AVG, Bentley Systems, CA Technologies, Cadence, Cisco Systems, CNC/Mastercam, Corel, Dassault Systemes SolidWorks Corporation, Dell, HP, IBM, Intel, Intuit, Kaspersky Lab, McAfee, Microsoft, Minitab, PTC, Progress Software, Quark, Quest Software, Rosetta Stone, Siemens, Sybase, Symantec, Synopsys, and The MathWorks. SOURCE Business Software AllianceSource: RedOrbit News - Technology | 28 Jun 2010 | 3:21 pm iPhone launch sales reach a staggering 1.7 millionSection: Apple, Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers, Smartphones  The iPhone 4 officially launched on June 24 and by the end of the day on Saturday (June 26), 1.7 million iPhone 4s were already sold. In fact, Steve Jobs says they didn’t even have enough in stock to meet the high demand for the product. Since the iPhone 4 is available in AT&T, Apple, Best Buy, Radio Shack and Wal-Mart stores, customers have quite a few options on where to buy the iPhone 4. As of now, the iPhone 4 is available in the UK, France, Germany and Japan. However, Apple plans to expand to 18 more countries by the end of July including Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. If Apple can keep up the hype surrounding the iPhone 4 and keep enough of the device in stock, they should see a very successful debut month. Via [PR Newswire] Full Story » | Written by Natesh Sood for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 28 Jun 2010 | 3:20 pm Hands-on with the Samsung Galaxy S Captivate for AT&T
I can’t say much about the Galaxy S Captivate that hasn’t been said, other than to inform you that this ultra-slim Android phone is amazingly small, light, and very exciting. Styled like the EVO 4G but running on AT&T, the phone features 16GB internal storage and a 1GHz processor. The model I saw was production-ready and ran Android 2.2. The most important aspect is Samsung’s Social Hub, a MotoBLUR-esque solution for connecting social networks into your contacts page. There is no pricing or availability right now but trust me: this is a contender for the next big Android smartphone. Samsung is also probably the first manufacturer to get the same phone – albeit in different configurations – to four US carriers at once, no mean feat. Impressions from our cursory glance:
Source: MobileCrunch | 28 Jun 2010 | 3:20 pm In E-Mail, Steve Jobs Comments on iPhone 4 MineralsA Wired.com reader received an e-mail from Steve Jobs, in which the CEO said Apple is doing what it can to ensure the iPhone 4's minerals are "conflict-free."
Source: Wired: Gadgets | 28 Jun 2010 | 3:18 pm In E-Mail, Steve Jobs Comments on iPhone 4 MineralsA Wired.com reader received an e-mail from Steve Jobs, in which the CEO said Apple is doing what it can to ensure the iPhone 4's minerals are "conflict-free."
Source: Wired Top Stories | 28 Jun 2010 | 3:18 pm US Space Policy Update Urges International Cooperationeldavojohn writes "The recent shift in NASA's spaceflight goals has caused great stress in the space community and those related to efforts in space. A White House update to the policy is said to emphasize cooperation with the international community and looks to be a move away from individual nations competing in space. Instead, the document urges intense competition (PDF) in the commercial sector and reasons that 'The United States considers the sustainability, stability, and free access to, and use of, space vital to its national interests. It is the shared interest of all nations to act responsibly in ways that emphasize openness and transparency, and help prevent mishaps, misperceptions, and mistrust.' Space.com also notes that you can submit your comments and thoughts to the task force Obama appointed to determine new directions. No doubt this avoidance or departure from another Space Race will have a lot of people concerned that the US is out of the game."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 28 Jun 2010 | 3:08 pm King's Quest Fan Project The Silver Lining Is BackLoTonah writes "After eight years of development and a Cease & Desist from Vivendi, King's Quest fan project The Silver Lining is back in action. From the website: 'We are extremely happy to announce that our project, The Silver Lining, will definitely see the light of day! In a wonderful turn of events, Activision reached out to the Phoenix Online team a few months ago with a desire to revisit their decision regarding The Silver Lining. After negotiations, the C&D has been officially rescinded, and Phoenix Online has been granted a non-commercial license to release The Silver Lining! Our team is ecstatic about this, and as hard as we've worked for eight years, it's the tireless belief and support of you, our fans, that has made this possible.' The first episode of the project is due to be released on July 10."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 28 Jun 2010 | 2:50 pm Why Soccer is Rife with CheatingWhat is it about soccer that encourages cheating?Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 28 Jun 2010 | 2:48 pm Friday News Feedbag for June 25, 2010!If this is your first exposure to the Friday News Feedbag... we're glad to have you in the club. Welcome to Feedbag Nation, which stems from our weekly science news podcast that you can subscribe to here on iTunes and ...Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 28 Jun 2010 | 2:46 pm Storyboard Podcast: Sergey Brin's Search for Parkinson's CureThe billionaire Google exec wants to speed up scientific research into the neurodegenerative disease — for very personal reasons. Here's a behind-the-scenes look at "Sergey's Search," Wired's July cover story.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 28 Jun 2010 | 2:30 pm Review: Sci-Fi Satire Reigns in 'Go, Mutants!'In his latest novel, author Larry Doyle powers up a story filled with aliens, mutants and a Tesla-inspired energy grid. Wearing its '50s influences on its sleeve, Go, Mutants! is ready-made for a Hollywood treatment.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 28 Jun 2010 | 2:30 pm RIP Droid Incredible, April, 29th - June 28th?Section: Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers, Email / IM, Smartphones, Mobile
It seems far too soon. In fact, many still have the phone on order. According to the tipster, “...they are allowing customers who pre-orded it (droid Incredible) to cancel their order and get the Motorola Droid X instead.” Wow. A 2-month shelf life is unheard of for Android phones. The Eris had been available since last year, so it’s no real surprise that it’s reached the end, but the Incredible? It’s rather, well, incredible. The AMOLED screen is largely to blame, it seems. Gadgetell’s Hunter Clarke reported, “For weeks now Verizon has been suffering from a shortage of the devices and it is now confirmed that a screen shortage is the cause.” Read: [Android Guys] Full Story » | Written by JG Mason for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 28 Jun 2010 | 2:18 pm NASA Surveys Oil Spill with Earthquake AircraftEarthquake surveillance technology that takes images of cracks and destruction after a quake on land could be the next line of defense for oil spill clean-up efforts in the Gulf of Mexico.Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 28 Jun 2010 | 1:54 pm Porn's New Domain is Good News - PC Magazine
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 28 Jun 2010 | 1:41 pm FTC: Scammers Stole Millions Using Micro Charges to Credit CardsScammers stole nearly $10 million by making micro charges to more than a million credit and debit cards. Most consumers didn't notice the charges.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 28 Jun 2010 | 1:30 pm 74-MPG City Car Makes a Smart Look BigFamed Formula 1 and supercar designer Gordon Murray says his $9,000 city car could be here in two years.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 28 Jun 2010 | 1:16 pm Amazon favors iPad/iPhone- brings video and audio clips to Kindle app -Section: Audio, Portable Audio, Video, Content, Portable Video, Gadgets / Other, ebooks
Today, Amazon updated it’s Kindle app for iPhone and iPad devices bringing video and audio clips included with some books in Amazon’s store. There are currently a few books for sale on the market that include video and/or audio to expand the reading experience. The move is expected to create new opportunities for books to create new experiences through the combination of text, audio and video. Interesting, Amazon’s Kindle can’t perform video display. It can do audio, but Amazon decided to bring this feature to Apple’s iPad first. Maybe it’s a move to separate the purists from the technofiles, but I suspect the purists are still hooked on paper books. “Readers will already find some Kindle Editions with audio/video clips in the Kindle Store today—from Rose’s Heavenly Cakes with video tips on preparing the perfect cake to Bird Songs with audio clips that relate the songs and calls to the birds’ appearances. This is just the beginning—we look forward to seeing what authors and publishers create for Kindle customers using the new functionality of the Kindle apps,” said Dorothy Nicholls, director, Amazon Kindle. We can’t help but feel bad for the Kindle, watch the iPad gain this advance wistfully from the corner of the room. Read: [Amazon] Full Story » | Written by JG Mason for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 28 Jun 2010 | 1:09 pm Uh oh: That HTC EVO 4G update might be bricking phones
A quick word to the wise for those about to party with the just-released OTA update for the Sprint HTC Evo 4G: tread carefully. While I’m mostly hearing success stories, we’re also getting a fairly surprising number of tips in our inbox from folks saying that the OTA update just bricked (read: broke) their handset. While the vast majority of this group admits that their handsets were rooted (read: hacked for customization’s sake), some are alleging that their EVOs were daisy-fresh factory configured units.
Of those with supposedly standard units that are now broken, we’re told that the update appeared to come through a second time after updating. Thinking it was a two-part update or that they’d been chosen for some secret special upgrade, they tapped the update button again — and blammo, bricked phone. Unfortunately, a hard reset doesn’t seem to be fixing things for anyone we’re hearing from. We just put in a quick call to Sprint CS, and the agent we talked to confirmed that they’d been getting calls about this issue since the update rolled out. The only current recommendation they’ve got, it seems, is to pop into a Sprint store and hope they’ve got a unit available for exchange.
Source: MobileCrunch | 28 Jun 2010 | 12:49 pm HTC EVO 4G gets an OTA update: fixes touchscreen “grounding” issues, speeds up WiFi
Now, before you get too exited: No, it’s not Android 2.2 (Froyo.) It’s just a minor update — so minor, in fact, that Sprint barely seems to be acknowledging it. We’re hearing lots of reports of dramatically faster WiFi, which leads us to believe that the 802.11n chip inside the EVO has been enabled. Better yet, everyone we’re hearing from is saying that the “grounding” issue (wherein certain parts of the touchscreen wouldn’t work whenever the handset wasn’t being held, like when it’s laid on a table) is dead and gone. Spot anything else in the update? Let us know in the comments below.
Source: MobileCrunch | 28 Jun 2010 | 12:38 pm Appletell reviews the G Technology G-DRIVE mobileFROM APPLETELL - The G Technology G-DRIVE mobile is among the best looking and better performing mobile drives currently available. Full Story » | Written by NEWS for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 28 Jun 2010 | 12:31 pm In E-Mail, Steve Jobs Comments on iPhone 4 Minerals
Despite last week’s flurry of bad press surrounding the iPhone 4’s antenna, Steve Jobs is still in a chatty mood about his company’s newest handset. His latest personal e-mail to a customer relates to minerals used to create the iPhone 4 and other Apple products. In an e-mail to Jobs on Sunday evening, Wired.com reader Derick Rhodes inquired about whether Apple was using “conflict-free” materials to create the iPhone 4. Jobs shot back a reply an hour later stating that Apple was doing what it could.
Jobs’ reply:
Rhodes was inspired to write the e-mail after reading a recent New York Times piece detailing the horrific warfare in the Congo, which sells minerals to the suppliers who create components for cellphones, computers and gaming devices. Grass-roots campaigns have dubbed minerals from such origins as “conflict minerals.” Jobs has been known to occasionally respond to customers’ e-mails, though in recent months the CEO has sent at least one e-mail each week. Many of these e-mails make their way to blogs. Some social media experts told Wired.com that they believe Jobs’ casual replies have evolved into a PR strategy as a means for the CEO to communicate with the world. Jobs’ e-mail to Rhodes contains a typo — conflict “few” rather than conflict free — presumably because he typed it with his iPhone. Wired.com was able to verify the authenticity of the letter. Rhodes said he felt grateful about receiving an e-mail from the famous CEO. “I thought it was really cool,” he said. “His e-mails are really concise, so I really appreciate the thought he put into it.” See Also: Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com 
Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 28 Jun 2010 | 12:18 pm Sprint fires up 4G in St. Louis, Richmond, and Salt Lake City
If you’re carrying an EVO 4G and live in St. Louis, MO; Richmond, VA; or Salt Lake City, UT, it’s time to smile: that mandatory monthly $10 fee you pay for the 4G network just got a whole lot more worthwhile. That adds 3 more cities to the slowly growing list of WiMax-enabled cities — a list which, by the way, we’ve got right behind the jump. Georgia – Atlanta, Milledgeville
Source: MobileCrunch | 28 Jun 2010 | 12:04 pm Altitude Training May Be Bad For YouNew research says altitude training may hinder athletic progress more than it helps.Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 28 Jun 2010 | 12:00 pm Soccer Lags Behind Other Sports on TechCould instant replay be the cure for all the bad calls that have been plaguing this World Cup?Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 28 Jun 2010 | 10:55 am Are We Going Back to the Moon?Nearly 40 years have passed since our last journey to the moon and future plans for NASA don't seem to include jaunts to the Sea of Tranquility. So are we going back to the moon? You bet we are.Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 28 Jun 2010 | 10:05 am Electrical Bike Bell: What Will They Think of Next?
An astonishing new device is set to shake up the world of cycling, and to make the road a safer place. The bicycle accessory is called the “Electric Sound Bell” and comes from a forward-thinking company called QBell. It mounts on your handlebars and – at the push of a button – it will sing out a warning to pedestrians and other road users, enabling them to smilingly get out of your way as you slowly pedal through town. This miraculous invention requires just 2 AA batteries to do its work, and the four different “ringtones” can be trilled at any of three volume levels. We recommend starting low so as not to startle strolling citizens, as at full volume it is capable of a swoon-inducing 110 dB. It is even waterproof, to keep you safe in a passing shower. The price? Just $24. Who would have thought such a revolutionary product could be sold for so little? Electric Sound Bell [KJ Global via Oh Gizmo!] 
Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 28 Jun 2010 | 9:48 am Two more states open Google Apps for teachers and studentsWe recently announced that Oregon is the first state to begin offering Google Apps to public schools. Today, Colorado and Iowa are joining the movement. Google Apps for Education will now be available to more than 3,000 schools across the two states.These state-wide agreements enable schools and districts to benefit from centralized resources such as deployment support and training materials, paving the way for an easy transition to Google Apps—including Gmail, Docs, Sites, Calendar, Video, and Groups—in their classrooms, immediately. Colorado Governor Bill Ritter said it best, “I’m pleased to see the Statewide Internet Portal Authority (SIPA) continue its tradition of bringing innovative tools to members of the Colorado public. By leveraging the Internet, educators are able to bring new ways of learning to the classroom and connect with students in exciting and challenging ways.” And Brent Siegrist, Director of Iowa Area Education Agencies Services, reflects, “As a former teacher, I can see how these tools will engage students, make the classroom a more vibrant place and allow teachers to work together more collaboratively.” Saving money is just one reason schools are moving to Apps. Educators and students from JeffCo Public Schools, the largest school district in Colorado with more than 85,000 students, have been using Google Apps to help students collaborate and learn by working together. Teachers in Colorado and Iowa praise the “anytime, anywhere” availability of Google Apps. They’re using the unique online collaboration tools to teach feedback and revision strategies to students, and are even starting to go paperless on a number of assignments. This week we’re also introducing a set of training solutions for schools to start making the most of Google Apps. We’re also extending the promotion for Google Message Security to allow primary and secondary schools opt-in to the email filtering service free until the end of this year. If you’d like to learn more, come meet the Google Apps Education Team and some of the teachers using Google Apps in Colorado today, Monday June 28, through Wednesday at the annual ISTE conference. Stop by booth #2536 and take a seat in our teaching theater to learn more about what Google Apps can do for your school. Executive Directory of SIPA John Conley will join us at our Google Block Party after the conference today. We hope you’ll join us to learn more about Colorado’s decision to move to Google Apps. Posted by Jaime Casap, Google Apps Education Manager   
 Source: The Official Google Blog | 28 Jun 2010 | 9:32 am Apple Sells 1.7 Million iPhone 4 Handsets in Opening Weekend
Apple has sold an almost ridiculous 1.7 million iPhone 4 handsets in its opening weekend, running Thursday through Saturday. This breaks every prediction we saw last week, and almost triples the 600,000 pre-orders reported by Apple just a week before the new iPhone went on sale. “This is the most successful product launch in Apple’s history,” said Steve Jobs in an Apple press release. Even so, pre-ordering glitches and flat-out supply shortages kept Apple from selling even more. Jobs again: “Even so, we apologize to those customers who were turned away because we did not have enough supply.” The customer pays $200 (16 GB) or $300 (32 GB) for an iPhone 4, but Apple gets more than that from AT&T. To find out how much, let’s take the prices from the few countries where the handsets are sold unlocked — France, Canada and Britain. Converted into U.S. dollars, we get the following:
Taking into account that all Apple products get more expensive as they cross the Atlantic, we’ll be conservative and use the Canadian prices. Taking the mean of the two prices (and rounding them) we get $670 in U.S. dollars. Let’s multiply that by 1.7 million to get Apple’s total sales for the weekend (not counting the newly discounted iPhone 3G or the still-hot iPad). The number? $1,139,000,000, or well over a billion dollars. Not a bad start. Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com iPhone 4 Sales Top 1.7 Million [Apple] See Also:
Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 28 Jun 2010 | 9:07 am Apple Sells 1.7 Million iPhone 4s in Opening WeekendIn an apparent record, Apple says it has sold 1.7 million iPhone 4 handsets in the phone's first three days of sales.
Source: Wired: Gadgets | 28 Jun 2010 | 9:00 am Video: Day in the Life of a Pet AT-ATWhat does an AT-AT do when it’s not advancing over the icy wastes of Hoth or crushing trees and blasting stupid teddy-bears on the forest moon of Endor? Why, it chases dogs, sniffs fire-hydrants and drops dog-eggs on the sidewalk, just like any other four-legged pet, of course. This fantastic video by Patrick Boivin, entitled AT-AT Day Afternoon, shows a day in the life of a pet AT-AT. It’s a little too full of schoolboy humor, but the Jabba gag is priceless. Best of all, it’s only a minute long, so you have no excuse not to quickly brighten your day. I wish my brother’s toy AT-AT had been this much fun, instead of just collecting dust and filling up the toy-box. AT-AT Day Afternoon [YouTube via Geekologie] See Also: 
Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 28 Jun 2010 | 7:46 am Cheap Manual Lenses Ported to Samsung NX
The lens is the most important part of your camera. It controls everything about the light that hits the sensor short of the length of the shutter speed. It is much better to put a great lens on a cheap camera than the other way around, something which goes frustratingly unheeded: just check a few photo forums to see people sticking crappy kit lenses onto Nikon D700s and Canon 5D MkIIs. That’s not to say that Samyang’s range of lenses for Samsung’s mirrorless NX-series are bad. Without testing we won’t know for sure, but experience says that own-brand lenses are best, followed by those from top-tier third party makers like Sigma. Three lenses are being ported to the Samsung mount. An 8mm ƒ3.5, a 14mm ƒ2.8 and an 85mm ƒ1.4. Of these, the 8mm would seem to be the most interesting. It will come in at around 12mm (35mm equivalent) on the NX APS-C sensor, and usually the main point with a fisheye is impact rather than absolute quality. The price has not yet been announced but the lens can be had for as little as $350 in other mounts. The 85mm, on the other hand, is a flat-out portrait lens and goes for around $400. In this case, quality needs to be high. If Samyang manages this, then the ƒ1.4 lens will be an absolute bargain. Tempted? Think twice. There is one huge drawback when using the lenses on a modern camera: No autofocus. This will probably be fine for the fisheye, but try that with the insanely shallow depth-of-field that an 85mm ƒ1.4 will give you and you’ll learn a thing or two about manual focussing and just how wobbly your hands really are. Product page [Samyang via BJP] See Also:
Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 28 Jun 2010 | 6:46 am The Case: Another Beautiful Moleskine-Like iPad Case
Those waiting on the popular and good-looking Dodo iPad case, the high school cheerleader of tablet-carriers, might instead consider the equally pretty The Case from Pad & Quill. Similar to the Dodo case in design, it is clearly inspired by the Moleskine notebook, with its faux-leather cover. Then things start to get different. The Dodo has a bamboo frame inside the card cover, and The Case is fashioned from Baltic Birch, routed to within 1/20,000th inch of its life and then stuck with rubber bumpers to keep the iPad snug inside. It also has cutouts around the edge so you can reach the iPad’s buttons and holes. The Case also ditches the Moleskine elastic band in favor of a press-stud closing strap like that found on a Filofax, and adds an ingenious way to get the iPad back out. Instead of just holding the case upside-down and shaking, a red-ribbon book-marker lies underneath the iPad. Pulling on the exposed end lifts the tablet from its case. You can also buy a smaller version for your iPhone from the Milwaukee-based company. This will cost you $40, and the iPad version is $55, $5 more than the Dodo, and will rise to $65 sometime in the future. Because they are hand-made, these cases too have a waiting period, although it is just 2-3 weeks compared to the 4-6 weeks for the Dodo. That could all change now The Case has made its way into these pages. The Case [Pad & Quill. Thanks, Brian!] See Also:
Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 28 Jun 2010 | 5:46 am Amazon Adds Audio and Video to iOS Kindle Apps
The new multimedia books get their own section: Kindle Editions with Audio-Video, which is rather sparsely populated right now. The international store contains just seven books, most of which are Rick Steves’ travel guides (plus a cookbook and Knitting for Dummies), while Technologizer reports that the US store currently lists 13 titles. Presumably more are on the way. This marks a big leap over Apple’s own e-reader software, iBooks, which currently has just words and pictures. IBooks may have a nicer UI, but Kindle has the catalog, and often the lower prices: these new books come in at $13.79 in the international store, and at the regular $10 price-point in the US. Of course, these versions won’t work on the Kindle hardware: even if they did they’d max out the 2GB storage pretty fast. As it is, these big files are only downloadable over Wi-Fi on the iOS devices. Cookbooks, travel guides and how-to titles all clearly benefit from added video and audio. Let’s just hope that Amazon doesn’t decide to bulk up simple novels with these extra Megabytes, too, unless it is to add a fully synced audiobook version so you can switch back and forth between words and speech. That would be pretty sweet. Kindle Editions with Audio-Video [Amazon via Technologizer] Press release [Amazon] 
Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 28 Jun 2010 | 4:44 am
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Good news, 
Yesterday, Digg CEO Kevin Rose tweeted that he’d heard a “huge rumor” that Google was planning to launch a Facebook competitor called “Google Me”, sparking off a wave of speculative reports (Rose has since removed the tweet). Now 
In a recent updated to the Playstation blog, Sony released some news about the latest firmware update coming to the PS3 and PSP system. Luckily, Sony was kind enough to include some information about exactly what changes will be coming out in the next update.
Back in May, Google 
The Amazon for Kindle application is coming pre-loaded on the Samsung Galaxy S, but you can grab the application now on other Android devices. The Kindle for Android app is now in the Android Market, providing access to 620,000 e-books.
Electric car manufacturer Tesla is pricing its IPO at $17 per share, according to a 
Let’s file this one under “potentially frivolous.” Kershaw, Cutter, and Ratinoff are a legal outfit best known for filing against Zynga regarding 
So you’ve been shopping for a new camera, but you’re not sure what one you want. Sure, you’ve looked at megapixels, sensor size, and shutter speed until your eyes bleed. But don’t you wish there was an easy way to compare two cameras? Some easy way to look at the nuts and bolts of a couple of cameras to help you make your final decision? Enter Snapsort, a new website designed to allow you to not just compare technical features, but compare them in a way that makes sense to the normal person. 
For Google Chrome fans, the relatively new browser just claimed third place in the United States by overtaking Apple’s Safari browser in a weekly statistic count by StatCounter. From June 21 to June 27, StatCounter analyzed 874 million website views from the United States and checked to see which browser accessed the website. They determined Google Chrome was responsible for 8.97% of web views, while Apple’s Safari was responsible for 8.88%. Of course, it would be pretty difficult for either Chrome or Safari to catch the second place Firefox who claims a 28.5% share, while Internet Explorer claims a dominating 52%. In terms of global usage, Chrome holds a 9.4% market share, while Safari is at a dismal 4%, Firefox is at 31%, while Internet Explorer finishes first at 53%. 
Tetris is among the most widely-played games in history. So why is it that relatively few (in my experience) have every truly played it with another person? Probably because the multiplayer Tetris variants have been — well, more hacks than anything else. Sure, linked Gameboy Tetris was awesome, and there are established multiplayer Tetris communities, but as far as the creator of the game is concerned, we’re “not quite there yet.”
What does Generation Upload think of Kin, 
According to Android Guys, the rumor killing off of the Droid Incredible seems to be accurate. Last week, rumors of the Droid Eris and Incredible life-cycle completion circulated but most figured the Incredible still had some legs. According to a “Verizon guy” tipster, the Incredible is at the end of the road.
Amazon has added audio and video to its iPhone and iPad Kindle applications. Several titles are already in the store and give you popover additions to the words and pictures already in the e-books.