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Tech firms aim to keep wayward walkers on path (AP)AP - Todd Atwood says he doesn't worry too much about accidents when walking down the street using his iPhone to make calls, send text messages or check his e-mail.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 5 Jul 2010 | 4:06 am Four Lions: This is Spinal Tap for suicide bombersParenthood has seriously put a crimp in our moviegoing activities, but every now and again Alice and I get to go see something, and we always try to pick a good one. We scored big on Saturday night, with Chris Morris's Four Lions, a farce about British "homegrown terrorists" that had us squirming and laughing in equal measure. Morris is legendary in the UK for his fearless send-ups of media scare-stories. Programs like Brass Eye (a TV series that hoaxed politicians and pop stars into condemning imaginary drugs, skewered pedophilia panic, and so forth) made his reputation as a prankster and searing critic of idiotic, media-fuelled popular delusions. Homegrown terrorism is a perfect subject for Morris's scalpel and sledgehammer: here in the UK, "homegrown terrorism" has been the basis for laws prohibiting looking at certain website, laws allowing for secret spying, laws allowing for groundless stop-and-searches, laws suspending habeas corpus, and advertising campaigns encouraging Britons to go through each others' rubbish bins looking for evidence of bomb-making equipment. But in Morris's Four Lions (as in real life), homegrown jihadism is real and alive -- and hopeless (also largely true to real life, where most of these nefarious supercriminals succeed primarily in killing themselves). Five suicide bombers conspire to blow themselves up to strike a blow for radical Islam against corrupt British society. Two travel to Pakistan for terrorist training (they don't fare very well -- unsurprising given that one of them is convinced that heaven is like the Rubber Dingy Rapids ride at the Alton Towers coaster park); in their absence, Barry, the white convert and super-radical, makes an even bigger hash of their domestic operation. A recurring theme is the jihadis' attempt to make their martyrdom videos, presented as a series of bloopers as they repeatedly attempt to articulate their mission and its justification (one of the terrorists, Faisal, appears with a cardboard box over his head because his confused father has told him that having an image made of his is haram). On the other side of the war on terror, the bulbs are no brighter. The crack anti-terrorism squads and stern government ministers match the jihadis for idiocy, incompetence, and incoherent ideology. But it's not all broad caricature; by showing us the story from the bombers' perspective, Morris gets well into our discomfort zone (especially with the tender family scenes with Omar, the protagonist, whose loving wife and son are entirely supportive of his plan to kill himself). Picture Spinal Tap for suicide bombers and you'll get the picture. Four Lions was the sort of movie that had us alternately laughing and covering our eyes, and we spent the whole weekend talking about it.
Four Lions New QWERTY Keypad Laden HTC Vision Leaked - Techtree.com
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 5 Jul 2010 | 3:36 am Prizewinning pirate shed Uncle Wilco from Reader Shed sez, "A sheddie from Southend-on-Sea, Essex, has won Shed of the Year 2010. Reg Miller's pirate-themed shed, 'The Lady Sarah out of Worthing' named after his partner, and comes complete with a Koi Carp pond and even a parrot! Reg said 'I've spent years working on my shed and to win Shed of the Year 2010 is a real thrill -- it's the ultimate accolade for shed owners! It's still a work in progress, as I'm constantly adding to my collection of pirate memorabilia and props and the shed is slowly but surely taking over the whole garden." And the winner of Shed of the Year 2010 sponsored by Cuprinol Sprayable is... (Thanks, Uncle Wilco!)  Source: Boing Boing | 5 Jul 2010 | 3:20 am Prizewinning pirate shedUncle Wilco from Reader Shed sez, "A sheddie from Southend-on-Sea, Essex, has won Shed of the Year 2010. Reg Miller's pirate-themed shed, 'The Lady Sarah out of Worthing' named after his partner, and...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 5 Jul 2010 | 3:20 am Widgey Q Butterfluff: gross-out lampoon of saccharine 1980s Saturday morning cartoonsStef Cherrywell's Widgey Q. Butterfluff is a fun, slightly raunchy gross-out comic lampooning 1980s-era cutesy Saturday morning cartoons/toy adverts like Strawberry Shortcake, Teddy Ruxpin, The Smurfs...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 5 Jul 2010 | 3:16 am Widgey Q Butterfluff: gross-out lampoon of saccharine 1980s Saturday morning cartoons
Stef Cherrywell's Widgey Q. Butterfluff is a fun, slightly raunchy gross-out comic lampooning 1980s-era cutesy Saturday morning cartoons/toy adverts like Strawberry Shortcake, Teddy Ruxpin, The Smurfs and Care Bears. Widgey Q Butterfluff, the series' heroine, is a fat, sweet pixie so filled with syrupy good wishes and treacly sentiment that she is practically a walking advertisement for insulin. She lives in idyllic Snugglepump valley, where she and her cutesy friends have adventures that are, on the one hand, pitch-perfect sendups of the 80s cartoon genre, and, on the other hand, Mad-Magazine-grade gross-outs, filled with drug and sex references and highly entertaining self-reflexive humor.
The black-and-white Slave Labor Graphics collection is great, lightweight entertainment -- check out this excerpt for yourself.
Source: Boing Boing | 5 Jul 2010 | 3:16 am Brain patterns may be signs of mental illness risk* Subtle brain differences seen in schizophrenics' siblingsSource: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 5 Jul 2010 | 3:15 am Makeshift Habitats - Flooding Gulf Area Fields to Provide Relief from Oil-Fouled Habitats(TrendHunter.com) The Migratory Bird Habitat Initiative will pay some farmers and ranchers to flood Gulf area fields. This monetary incentive for flooding fields has been created in order to provide...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 5 Jul 2010 | 3:10 am New Material Can Store Vast Amounts of EnergyElectricSteve writes "Using super-high pressures similar to those found deep in the Earth or on a giant planet, researchers from Washington State University (WSU) have created a compact, never-before-seen material capable of storing vast amounts of energy. Described by one of the researchers as 'the most condensed form of energy storage outside of nuclear energy,' the material holds potential for creating a new class of energetic materials or fuels, an energy storage device, super-oxidizing materials for destroying chemical and biological agents, and high temperature superconductors."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 5 Jul 2010 | 3:10 am Get Your Virtual Pen Out And Sign The Google Voice Desktop Petition
The only problem is this isn’t just about waiting until Google finishes it off and ships it. There’s a real possibility that Google will never release a Skype-like soft phone for the desktop – they clearly want to build these types of applications in the browser. But the experts we’ve spoken with, including Skype execs, say browser technology just isn’t ready to run high quality VoIP calls at scale. Even with advancements in HTML5, it’s still at least a year away, say people who know:
So when we see Google Voice exec Vincent Paquet say that their product effort is focused on a browser version feels like decisions are being made based more on internal Google politics than reality:
Google could of course just build Google Voice directly into Chrome. In January we wrote about a Google Voice Chrome extension that lets users do just about everything except make or receive a call through their computer. It wouldn’t be hard for them to add in the soft phone code as well, particularly since we’ve seen it demo’d so well already. In the meantime, though, and for everyone that may not want to switch to Chrome, we think a Google Voice Desktop application makes a lot of sense. For Google. And for Google’s users. So we wholeheartedly endorse this petition which popped up two days ago to show support for a Google Voice Desktop application. I’ve signed it, and I command you to sign it too. Right now. And then get all your friends to sign it. Because as much fun as it is for me to have an illicit copy running happily on my computer, I want to share the love. And sadly my lawyers seem quite insistent that I don’t distribute it broadly on the Internet. Sign here: GiveUsGVDesktop.com Information provided by CrunchBase      
Source: TechCrunch | 5 Jul 2010 | 3:09 am India's Fortis revokes 39 mln pledged sharesMUMBAI, July 5 (Reuters) - Fortis Healthcare , locked in a battle to take control of Singapore's Parkway Holdings , said on Monday the owners of the Indian hospital chain had revoked about 39 million pledged...Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 5 Jul 2010 | 3:05 am Fireworks follow sun-scorched July 4 festivals (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 5 Jul 2010 | 2:58 am High Class Motorboats - S&T's Dinghy Yachts are Small and Luxurious(TrendHunter.com) If you're looking to enter the yachting world, but don't want to dive into the deep end and spend millions of dollars, then the dinghy yachts from S&T; may be right for you. Think...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 5 Jul 2010 | 2:55 am YouTube hackers direct Bieber fans to porn - TG Daily
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 5 Jul 2010 | 2:44 am Offbeat Garden Fashion - Chanel Iman Channels Garden Glam for The Block's Summer 2010 Issue (GALLERY)(TrendHunter.com) Lounging around in a garden doesn't always require delicate, feminine clothing, and no one proves this statement better than Chanel Iman and her appearance in The Block's Summer 2010...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 5 Jul 2010 | 2:35 am ISS crew capture robotic spacecraft - Register
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 5 Jul 2010 | 2:19 am Terrafugia Transition is world's first flying car - White Hat News
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 5 Jul 2010 | 2:16 am REFILE-UPDATE 1-China Merchants Group acquires Australia's Losca(Refiles to fix Reuters Instrument code in first paragraph)Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 5 Jul 2010 | 2:16 am Bondage Benches - Tensile Furniture from Yoac Roches is Bound Together by Rope (GALLERY)(TrendHunter.com) Tie up your seating with Tensile Furniture from Yoav Reches. If you are looking for a piece of furniture that is easy to assemble and sure to start a conversation, look no further...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 5 Jul 2010 | 2:15 am The Facebook Faces of Facebook's Fans of New World NotesNew World Notes on Facebook So many interesting heads worth clicking! If you're not among them already, go here to become a member, and Facebook friend me while you're there. I'm also on Twitter as "SLHamlet"...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 5 Jul 2010 | 2:14 am My-Wardrobe Secures $9 million Series A Lead By Balderton Capital E-commerce continues to provide a rich seam of businesses for European tech investors and this is represented today by a series A funding in an online retailer of 'affordable' designer fashion. My-wardrobe.com today announces a $9 million Series A investment round led by Balderton Capital, the first institutional investor in the company, supported by existing angel investors.
Dharmash Mistry, partner at Balderton Capital, will join the board joining existing members: Nick Wheeler, CEO of Charles Tyrwhitt; Carol Duncumb, former Intimas CEO; Jean-Marc Bouhelier, executive chairman of my-wardrobe.com; and founder and CEO Sarah Curran (pictured).
Source: TechCrunch | 5 Jul 2010 | 2:12 am Personal Piggy Banks - Shapeways' Money Pig Can be Customized with Your Images (GALLERY)(TrendHunter.com) The Shapeways Money Pig piggy bank is a collaborative effort between designer Maartje (Shapeways' Customer Service Maartje), Vijay Paul of Dot San, who developed the prototype, and...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 5 Jul 2010 | 1:55 am Indian ISP Offering Cloud Computing to Masses (PC World)PC World - Sify Technologies, a large Indian Internet service provider, has launched a suite of cloud-based applications targeting the large number of people in India who do not own computers or have access to the Internet.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 5 Jul 2010 | 1:50 am UPDATE 2-Premier ups Catcher/Catcher East reserves estimate* Ups reserves estimate to 60-100 mln barrels vs 50-80 mlnSource: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 5 Jul 2010 | 1:49 am Ebooks are slower to read than paper, survey shows - TG Daily
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 5 Jul 2010 | 1:46 am Snack Marketing Pranks - Wheat Thins Uses Twitter and Youtube to Prank Unsuspecting Fans (VIDEO)(TrendHunter.com) Wheat Thins is getting in on the fun of viral marketing with hilarious videos of pranks on unsuspecting Wheat Thins fans. The video here showcases just how much social media savvy...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 5 Jul 2010 | 1:35 am UPDATE 1-Serco secures 415 mln stg London prison contract* Expects contract for Liverpool prison later this yearSource: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 5 Jul 2010 | 1:25 am UPDATE 1-Kuwait eyes BP Mideast, Asia assets-paperKUWAIT, July 5 (Reuters) - OPEC member Kuwait may buy some of BP's Middle East and Asian assets, a Kuwait newspaper said on Monday, as part of the British oil company's attempt to raise funds and fend...Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 5 Jul 2010 | 1:23 am Taiwanese Companies Join on Cloud Computing for Asia (PC World)PC World - Taiwan's biggest telecommunications company, Chunghwa Telecom, signed an agreement Monday with the world's largest contract laptop maker to jointly develop cloud computing software, services and hardware products aimed at markets in Asia.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 5 Jul 2010 | 1:20 am Kiddie Finance Tools - Money Savvy Pig Has Four Tummies to Teach Money Management (VIDEO)(TrendHunter.com) Chicago Public Schools will be teaching 'Money Savvy' in the 2011 school year as part of an eight-week course on financial literacy. Teacher librarians will use the 'Money Savvy Pig'...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 5 Jul 2010 | 1:15 am UPDATE 1-Falkland Oil and Gas says drill results delayedLONDON, JULY 5 (Reuters) - British oil and gas explorer Falkland Oil and Gas (FOGL) said preliminary results for its Toroa well will be delayed by one week because of operational and weather problems...Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 5 Jul 2010 | 12:58 am UPDATE 1-BP says cost of oil spill hits $3.12 billionLONDON, July 5 (Reuters) - Oil company BP said it had so far spent $3.12 billion on the response effort to its Gulf of Mexico oil spill.Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 5 Jul 2010 | 12:33 am UPDATE 3-Thai Banpu bids $2 bln for Australia's Centennial Coal* Banpu offers A$6.20/share; 40 percent premium to last closeSource: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 5 Jul 2010 | 12:31 am Mediscience Planning -2009/10 groupCONSOLIDATED EARNINGS ESTIMATES (in billions of yen unless specified)Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 5 Jul 2010 | 12:30 am Ceramic replicas of Disneyland's iconic popcorn box and paper cup  Designers Kevin Kidney and Jody Daily have been commissioned to produce these ceramic replicas of Disneyland's classic, iconic paper cup and popcorn box for the 55th anniversary of Disneyland's opening, coming up this July 17 (which is also my birthday!). The edition is limited to 1955. There's no chance I'll be able to get to LA for this, so I guess I'm buying mine on eBay. Ceramic Disneyland Classic "Paper Cup" Ceramic Disneyland Classic Popcorn Box (Thanks, Mr Jalopy!)
Source: Boing Boing | 5 Jul 2010 | 12:19 am BBC Web Slip-Up Insults Facebook FansAn anonymous reader writes "The BBC has accidentally insulted its Facebook followers by revealing a version of a new website which wasn't yet ready for public consumption and in which it referred to its social media followers as 'saddos.' The same website also features a picture of the Queen, described as the Pakistan hockey team. File this one under 'a really bad day at the office' for one web developer."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 4 Jul 2010 | 11:50 pm Extension cord lamp kit Here's Craighton Berman's DIY Extension Cord Lamp Kit from the Makers Market: coil an extension cord around the laser-cut acrylic frame and presto, instant lamp! Coiled extension cord lamp kit
Source: Boing Boing | 4 Jul 2010 | 11:40 pm How To Unlock Iphone 3G/3Gs 4.0/3.1.3 Guide - GoldRa1n iOS4 Jailbreak ! - Breaking Updates
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 4 Jul 2010 | 11:30 pm Copyright scholars talk Copyright TerminationDwiff sez, "Three copyright scholars - including David Nimmer [ed: legendary copyright expert] - discuss copyright termination and the pivotal role played in case law by Superman, Captain America, Fantastic Four, Lassie and Winnie-the-Pooh. Starts slow, but well worth the listen."Intellectual Property Colloquium - Copyright Termination (Thanks, Dwiff!) Source: Boing Boing | 4 Jul 2010 | 11:04 pm Space-saving murphy furniture designed by a mechanical engineerHaving lived my whole adult life in small, crowded spaces, I'm extremely excited to see these exceedingly well-designed space-saving tables, desks, shelves and beds, which, for a change, don't require you to move everything out of the way before using them, or require a heroic act of Greco-Roman wrestling to make them work. Amazing Italian Designed Space Saving Furniture (via Making Light)
Source: Boing Boing | 4 Jul 2010 | 10:58 pm Rapid Transit: Putting River Shoes Through the PacesWhen you need to cross land and sea, strap on a pair of river shoes to keep your tootsies safe and your steps sure.
Source: Wired: Gadgets | 4 Jul 2010 | 10:00 pm Wired Makeovers: Upgrade Your WorkspacesHome is where the heart is. And so are the rooms in your home. Learn from our experts how best to spruce up whatever space means the most to you.
Source: Wired: Gadgets | 4 Jul 2010 | 10:00 pm Monitor Your Inner Health, From Naptime Brain Waves to Metabolic AgeSmall, affordable and insanely accurate gadgets put online training coaches, and the ability to track workouts, zzz's, hydration level, calories burned and even skin conductivity at your fingertips.
Source: Wired: Gadgets | 4 Jul 2010 | 10:00 pm Wired Makeovers: Upgrade Your WorkspacesHome is where the heart is. And so are the rooms in your home. Learn from our experts how best to spruce up whatever space means the most to you.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 4 Jul 2010 | 10:00 pm Monitor Your Inner Health, From Naptime Brain Waves to Metabolic AgeSmall, affordable and insanely accurate gadgets put online training coaches, and the ability to track workouts, zzz's, hydration level, calories burned and even skin conductivity at your fingertips.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 4 Jul 2010 | 10:00 pm Rapid Transit: Putting River Shoes Through the PacesWhen you need to cross land and sea, strap on a pair of river shoes to keep your tootsies safe and your steps sure.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 4 Jul 2010 | 10:00 pm Microsoft Calling. Anyone There? - New York Times
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 4 Jul 2010 | 9:04 pm A Composer's-Eye View of the Copyright Warsbonch writes "As an experiment, composer Jason Robert Brown logged onto a site illegally offering his sheet music for download and contacted hundreds of users politely asking them to stop listing the material. Most complied, some were confused, and a few fought back. Brown chronicles a lengthy exchange he had with a teenage girl named Brenna which provides an interesting insight into the artists' perspective of the copyright debate. He also responds to several points raised in comments to the article and says, 'I don't wish to be the enemy; I'm just a guy trying to make a living.'"
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 4 Jul 2010 | 8:41 pm Who Really Runs Facebook? (PC World)PC World - Quick: Who's the CEO of Facebook?Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 4 Jul 2010 | 7:00 pm iPhone reception problem may be solved by software update
Turns out, it may be as easy to fix as a software patch. The solution looks to be as simple as an error in the way the phone’s operating system is calculating the phone’s signal strength. The error is so large, Apple has stated that the iPhone could be displaying 4 bars, when it should only be displaying two. This means that as you use your phone, it displays the proper signal strength, and has caused the confusion. Makes sense, and you have to give points to Apple for admitting that they have such a large software problem. [via SlashGear]
Source: MobileCrunch | 4 Jul 2010 | 6:21 pm The Curious Case of SSD Performance In OS Xmr_sifter writes "As we've seen from previous coverage, TRIM support is vital to help SSDs maintain performance over extended periods of time — while Microsoft and the SSD manufacturers have publicized its inclusion in Windows 7, Apple has been silent on whether OS X will support it. bit-tech decided to see how SSD performance in OS X is affected by extended use — and the results, at least with the Macbook Air, are startling. The drive doesn't seem to suffer very much at all, even after huge amounts of data have been written to it."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 4 Jul 2010 | 5:30 pm Reports: iTunes accounts, App Store hacked - CNET
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 4 Jul 2010 | 4:25 pm Users Report Foul Play In App Store Rankings, PurchasesAn anonymous reader writes "Two iPhone App developers have spotted what appears to be a hacking of the App store rankings by a rogue developer. The rankings in the books category of the US iTunes store features 40 out of 50 apps by the same app developer, Thuat Nguyen. What's more concerning is that it seems individuals' iTunes accounts have been hacked to make mass purchases of that one developer's apps." Among the comments attached to the linked story is one which suggests the security problem may lie elsewhere.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 4 Jul 2010 | 4:09 pm Get A White iPhone 4 Right Now — If You Have Money, Steady Hands, And No Fear
The site WhiteiPhone4Now.com is promising to make you “one of the first in the world to own the white iPhone 4.” How? They have a DIY kit they’re selling to convert your black iPhone 4 into a white one. The $229 kit includes the following:
Now, I have no clue if this is simply a bunch of parts from the black iPhone painted white, or if this site has made their own new parts to house your iPhone in a white case. (I assume the former if they’re including a Retina display — or at least, I hope that’s the case.) Hell, I don’t know basically anything about this site. But if you’re really, really desperate to get that white iPhone first, this may be your best bet. The site includes a link to an iFixit guide for disassembling your iPhone 4 — this is how you’re going to have to build the phone around these new parts yourself. While the site promises that these are “easy to follow instructions,” the whole process involves some 30-plus steps including unscrewing a bunch of things, and using special tools for others. And that doesn’t include putting it back together. Yeah, it basically sounds like a big pain in the ass. But for an extra $54 + shipping, WhiteiPhone4Now.com claims that another site, BrokeMyiPhone.com, will do the entire process for you (you include the iPhone 4 and these white parts). The “Terms of Conditions” page on the WhiteiPhone4Now.com also notes at least one big caveat:
So obviously, this is very much try-at-your-own-risk. But if you’re desperate, this may be a way to go. Or you can just wait a few weeks and save yourself $229 and potentially one giant headache. WhiteiPhone4Now.com promises to ship the first unit July 8. They’ll be doing so on a first-come-first-serve basis. After WWDC this year, I got a chance to play with the elusive other color. It’s just like the black iPhone 4, but white!
Information provided by CrunchBase      
Source: TechCrunch | 4 Jul 2010 | 4:02 pm Happy 4th of July. Here’s how Alton Brown grills his porterhouse steaks.
Update: The steaks turned out great like always.
Source: CrunchGear | 4 Jul 2010 | 2:58 pm Opera 10.60 Released, With Faster JS, WebM Video Supportteh31337one writes "Four short months after Opera 10.50, the latest version of Opera's lightweight web browser has been released. It not only claims to be the fastest browser, but also the first final browser with WebM video support. It's available for Windows, Mac and Linux." Update: 07/04 21:53 GMT by T : Headline updated to reflect that this is Opera 10.60, rather than 10.6. Thanks to the readers who spotted this goof.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 4 Jul 2010 | 2:46 pm Google Acknowledges YouTube Hack (PC World)PC World - Malicious hackers attacked Google's YouTube on Sunday, exploiting a cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability on the ultra-popular video sharing site, hitting primarily sections where users post comments.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 4 Jul 2010 | 2:20 pm Top 10 Gamertell posts for the week of June 27, 2010FROM GAMERTELL - In case you missed some of the news on Gamertell this week, catch up with this week’s top 10 articles. Full Story » | Written by NEWS for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 4 Jul 2010 | 2:00 pm Econopocalypse: the Marxist animated whiteboard explanationMarxist sociologist David Harvey gave a great presentation analyzing the econopocalypse in Marxist terms at London's Royal Society for the Arts. The talk is animated with high-speed whiteboard doodles from Cognitive Media, a treatment that is really a top notch of augmenting complex lectures (I was so impressed with it, in fact, that I just stumped up for another year's membership at the RSA). Communism and the financial crisis, cartoon edition (via Making Light)
Source: Boing Boing | 4 Jul 2010 | 1:44 pm The $700 Million Travel Search Deal And Google’s Shift In Strategy
Last Thursday, Google placed a major $700 million bet on a new strategy. It announced an agreement to purchase ITA Software, a leading provider of flight information (fares, schedules, availability) to most of the key online travel sites, travel search engines, and airlines. ITA’s existing customers include Bing, Orbitz, Kayak, Expedia’s Hotwire, Continental, US Airways, American Airlines, and Southwest. Google was careful to note that it would “honor all existing agreements.” Indeed, if Google wants the deal to pass regulatory antitrust scrutiny, one requirement will very likely be a prohibition, or at least a promise on Google’s part, not to cut off ITA’s flight data to the competition. This deal is not primarily about denying other travel search sites access to this data. Rather, it signals a much more subtle and profound strategy shift for Google—towards more customized search experiences in different categories, starting with travel. In other words, it is moving in the same direction as Bing, which has built out vertical search across not only travel, but also health, shopping, local, and, most recently, entertainment. To put this deal in perspective, it is roughly the same size as the $750 million AdMob deal, which represents Google’s entry into mobile search. Drilling down into different categories of search could be just as important to Google as mobile search. For the most part, up until now Google search philosophy has been to show the best results from the Web and get people off of Google as fast as possible to other Websites. But for certain types of searches, Google could do a lot more to filter and organize results. Travel is one obvious area where Google could do more to show available flights and prices. Google wants to create a deeper vertical search experience around travel so that people can find what they are looking for more quickly. Does this mean that Google is becoming more of a destination portal? Not exactly. For a hint at what Google Travel might look like, take a peak at Bing Travel. Bing licenses ITA’s data, making it easy to search for flights by entering the cities you want to fly between. It gives you most of the data you need to make a decision (price, airline, departure and arrival times, number of stops), but then sends you to Orbitz or directly to an airline Website to make the purchase. (See screenshot below). This kind of purchase-oriented, data-driven search opens up new ways to make money for Google. In addition to running cost-per-click (CPC) search ads in the margins, it could also possibly start charging airlines or travel sites on a cost-per-action basis, where it gets a higher fee for every reservation made. Barclays Capital analyst Douglas Anmuth thinks this is exactly what will happen. In a research note on Friday, he wrote:
Such CPA ads are generally higher margin than classic CPC ads. But Anmuth notes that Google has so far stayed away from vertical search because it didn’t want to alienate certain advertisers who use Google to drive traffic to their sites. But Google is feeling pressure as “core search growth slows” and may now be more open to picking off specific vertical search categories such as mortgages, credit cards, insurance, and healthcare. If Google does start to go after vertical search in the same way that Bing does already, search results will look a lot less uniform than they do today. Those much-maligned “ten blue links” just don’t cut it anymore. Photo credit: Flickr/Luis Argerich
     
Source: TechCrunch | 4 Jul 2010 | 1:38 pm Tasting Table Is The Daily Candy For Foodies
Launched in October 2008, Tasting Table provides free daily emails with local recommendations of dining, wine, cocktails, cooking or food travel. Currently, Tasting Table has editions for New York, LA, San Francisco, Washington DC and Chicago. Emails are sent out right before lunch in each city, says CEO Geoff Bartakovics, as to appeal to users when they are hungry and thinking about food options. In 20 months of operation, the site has 300,000 subscribers and according to Pittman, is the fastest growing email publication he has backed given Tasting Table’s age. And Tasting Table has other verticals besides local editions. Bartakovics says the National Edition (food and and drink recommendations you can enjoy anywhere in the country) and a Chefs’ Recipes editions (unpublished recipes from top chefs, which Tasting Table staff modifies for the home cook) are growing fast. In terms of the business model, Tasting Table’s revenue is mainly based around advertisers who buy ad space around its editorial content. Advertisers include, LVMH, American Express, Le Creuset and Heineken. In year one, Tasting Table’s revenue was just under $1 million and the startup was profitable. This year Bartakovics says Tasting Table is on track to earn $3 to $4 million in revenue. Of course, for any food oriented review site, a knowledgeable staff is crucial to establish credibility. Of the 17 time full time employees, six of the staff have degrees from the French Culinary Institute in Manhattan and many hail from mainstream foodie media publications such as Food and Wine. Bartakovics says that what separates Tasting Table from its competitors, like Urban Daddy and local food blogs, is that its writers try the establishment, whether it be a bar or a restaurant, several times, and then sends along recommendations based on their experiences. Every recommendation on the newsletter, says Bartakovics has been tested by a staff writer. While consider myself a fledgling foodie and am already a fan of Tasting Table after only receiving the emails for a few days, I reached out to the most serious foodies I know, the folks over at WinedAndDined, a rapidly growing local New York food blog started by two lawyers, Jill and Andy Freedman. Wined and Dined concurs that the newsletter’s restaurant and bar offers and content makes it a must-read for any epicurian. For example, Tasting Table recently partnered with Wines of Rioja to promote the Wines of Rioja Restaurant Week featuring special menus and deals at restaurants in New York City. And Tasting Table’s content has even caught the attention of startups for partnerships. For example, popular location-based mobile social network Loopt integrates Tasting Table-approved restaurants and bars and reviews within Loopt Pulse on Loopt’s mobile app, joining content from Zagat and Citysearch. As traditional food publications like Gourmet Magazine shutter, there is an opportunity for startups to provide quality food content with the feel of immensely popular review sites like Yelp and Citysearch. Of course, the challenge is in scaling this to cities across the country and even outside of the U.S. But it seems that Tasting Table is on track to perhaps turning into a Yelp for foodies.
Information provided by CrunchBase      
Source: TechCrunch | 4 Jul 2010 | 1:33 pm Finding Open Source Projects Looking For Help?aus writes "I've been doing web development for about 10 years now. It's been very good to me, but I want to do more that write HTML, PHP, Javascript and CSS. Since the job market isn't all that great right now in the US, it would seem that volunteering some time on an open source project would give me the satisfaction I'm looking for. The problem is finding a project that wants/needs help that I would also be interested in. I've tried browsing around on Sourceforge and Freshmeat ... is there a site somewhere that I'm not aware of that has classifieds where open source project maintainers post 'job' listings?"
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 4 Jul 2010 | 1:22 pm So how do Steve Jobs' emails really get written? - CNET
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 4 Jul 2010 | 1:17 pm US to take more control of spill response website (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 4 Jul 2010 | 1:03 pm Obama plans to expand broadband internet across U.S.Section: Communications  President Barack Obama has announced a plan will provide over $1 billion in an effort towards installing broadband Internet across the United States. Approximately $800 million of that will be from tax-payer stimulus package money. This money comes from the total $7.2 billion that came from the stimulus package (money well spent). Is it just me, or does anyone else think wireless internet access should be available everywhere in the country by now?
This plan will create some 5,000 temporary jobs for U.S. citizens Obama went on to say that this project will also benefit more than 685,000 businesses, 900 health care facilities and 2,400 schools.
With the advent of the printing press, global levels of literacy plummeted. Hopefully this new initiative will in a sense provide the same benefits to broadband-less areas across the country. Via [McClatchydc] Full Story » | Written by Tarun Kunwar for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 4 Jul 2010 | 12:00 pm Whatever it costs, it's worth it! Independence Day poster, 1942
From the The U.S. National Archives' photostream: Independence Day July 4th "Victory." Created by the US Office for Emergency Management, for the War Production Board. Local Newspapers Use F/OSS For a DayAn anonymous reader writes "The Journal Register Company owns 18 small newspapers, and in honor of the July 4th holiday and Ben Franklin, the company's newsrooms produced their daily papers using only free software. The reporters were quick to note that 'the proprietary software is designed to be efficient, reliable and relatively fast for the task of producing a daily newspaper. The free substitutes, not so much.' I applaud the company for undertaking such a feat, but I hope their readership's impression of free software won't be negatively affected by the newspaper's one-day foray into F/OSS."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 4 Jul 2010 | 11:59 am Station Cargo Ship Docks On 2nd TryA robotic Russsian cargo ship arrived at the International Space Station on Sunday after a communications glitch caused the freighter to abort its first rendezvous and docking on Friday. Flying on autopilot, the Progress spacecraft eased into a parking slip ...Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 4 Jul 2010 | 11:28 am Fireworks animation by Pes
Happy Independence Day! YouTube Hit By HTML Injection VulnerabilityVirak writes "Several hours ago, someone found an HTML injection vulnerability in YouTube's comment system, and since then sites such as 4chan have had a field day with popular videos. The bug is triggered by placing a <script> tag at the beginning of a post. The tag itself is escaped, but everything following it is cheerfully placed in the page as is. Blacked out pages with giant red text scrolling across them, shock site redirects, and all sorts of other fun things have been spotted. YouTube has currently blocked such comments from being posted and set the comments section to be hidden by default, and appears to be in the process of removing some of these comments, but the underlying bug does not seem to have been fixed yet."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 4 Jul 2010 | 10:35 am Hot gaming news for the week of 6-27-2010Section:  No need to scour the interwebs for hot gaming news, Gamertell‘s already done that for you! Here’s a look at this week’s top stories…
Full Story » | Written by NEWS for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 4 Jul 2010 | 10:00 am No antenna issues with rumored reboot of Apple TV (Appolicious)Appolicious - While Apple is acknowledging the bar games it likes to play when displaying signal strength on the iPhone 4, the company’s reported efforts to reboot Apple TV will have longer-term consequences to consumers.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 4 Jul 2010 | 9:27 am Wireless Presenters Attacked Using an ArduinoAn anonymous reader writes "This week Dutch security researcher Niels Teusink described a method of attacking wireless presenter devices at an Amsterdam security conference. He had a demo showing how it is possible to use an Arduino and Metasploit to get remote code execution by sending arbitrary keystrokes to the presenter dongle. He has now released the code and made a blog post explaining how it all works. Better watch out the next time you're giving a presentation using one of these devices!"
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 4 Jul 2010 | 9:14 am At Sun Valley Media Confab, Bright Moods May Not Mean Big DealsAs Rupert Murdoch, Bob Iger and other media honchos assemble in Sun Valley this week for some fly-fishing or white water rafting, spirits should be brighter than a year ago: stock prices are up by about a third, after all. Still, once they step off their private jets and settle in fireside, media chiefs may not be much in the mood for dealmaking, given jittery financial markets and fears the U.S. is heading into a double-dip recession.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 4 Jul 2010 | 8:35 am BOOM! Top Apple news for the week of 6-27-2010Section:  We may not cover Apple 24x7… but we know someone who does! Here’s a few of this week’s hottest from Appletell to get you started…
Full Story » | Written by NEWS for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 4 Jul 2010 | 8:00 am Mexican Cuisine HD cooks, Obama's app and other iPad Apps of the Week (Appolicious)Appolicious - This week has brought a slew of really great new iPad apps. Picking just five that I like the best was difficult. There were a couple, such as The Colbert Report’s The Word for iPad ($2.99) which I would have loved to include but were simply unstable, crashing too much for me to evaluate properly (but you can bet I’ll be checking back to see if they’ve been fixed).Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 4 Jul 2010 | 7:00 am Red Dwarfs May Be Safe Havens For LifeWe have a glimmer of hope that habitable planets may survive around a red dwarf star without their atmospheres being fried by blistering ultraviolet radiation.Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 4 Jul 2010 | 5:16 am Oh, So That’s What Blippy Does (Video)
We’ve ranted before about the power of a good demo video to tell a story. Cash strapped startups can simply do one themselves with screen capture software and iMovie, or whatever. Or you can spend a few thousand dollars and get something professionally done. Either way it’s just a good way to communicate what your startup does. Here’s the final Blippy video, which makes the controversial service look quite cute and cuddly (see the Transvideo blog for more details):
Information provided by CrunchBase      
Source: TechCrunch | 4 Jul 2010 | 4:23 am Apple admits iPhones' signal bars give incorrect readings - Los Angeles Times
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 4 Jul 2010 | 4:20 am SafetyWeb Acquires Odojo In Battle To Monitor The Youngsters
In June SafetyWeb announced a $8 million funding round from Battery Ventures with First Round Capital, and the company has raised a total of $8.75 million. This appears to be a technology acquisition, and only one Odojo employee, an engineer, will be joining SafetyWeb. Founder Mike Stemple will join SafetyWeb as an advisor. Odojo’s technology will help SafetyWeb identify specific dangers by category, such as “drugs,” “sex,” “suicide,” “anorexia,” “hate,” etc. This is a space we’ve begun to cover more deeply. Parent anxiety over exactly what their kids are up to online means there’s lot of potential cash for anyone that gives them at least a basic level of monitoring. Last week we covered SocialShield, a less well funded competitor. And the New York TImes also took a look at the space yesterday. Expect intense competition over parents willing to pay a few dollars a month for some peace of mind.      
Source: TechCrunch | 4 Jul 2010 | 4:00 am Pulsars: The Cosmic Timekeepers That Need TweakingThe universe has its own cosmic clocks: the spinning collapsed stars known as pulsars. But why are they ticking slightly out of step?Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 4 Jul 2010 | 3:58 am Finally, A Decent Facebook Welcome Tab Creator For All
It took only two days since my last post for word to reach me that someone is about to release a new product (the same product that I was hoping someone would create), which will make individuals and/or brands lives a lot easier under Facebook‘s roof. I can already hear you thinking, man, Facebook Pages again? Yes. Again. But there is a reason why we’re talking about them constantly. Beside the obvious point that these tools can actually help you create a Page with no hassle and easily market yourself on the platform, there are signs of a new trend that we need to pay attention to. Today, Facebook Pages look alike for the most part. That might be because people don’t have time to invest in them, nor have the qualifications to create an immersed page, or maybe they simply don’t care. But if you own a brand, you should care. Making a page by yourself is not that hard, but it involves some basic HTML familiarity, and many people don’t want to be hassled with any of that. While Facebook only seems to care about what is beneficial for them, they aren’t really concerned about ease of use for their members. Yet the usage of this service is growing day after day, and still their feature list stays pretty much the same. Here and there, you can see some fine-tuning design-wise, and little things are added, but overall, you can’t do much when it comes to marketing your brands inside Facebook. Not if you’re a small business anyway. I believe Facebook creates such boundaries whenever they feel at risk of turning into the next MySpace, but there is still a long way before it comes to that (if ever) and to be honest, MySpace wasn’t bad at all (back in the day). Only now, in hindsight, do we realize that we have something that looks much better and fits this era with Facebook. However, it is limited by “tabs.” I don’t understand why Facebook won’t allow us to customize at least one tab as we wish? Meanwhile, should we be surprised that more and more services are trying to give us that ability to customize a Facebook page? These services are born out of a need. It started with Tabs applications such as: Twittertab, Flickrtab, YouTubetab, Picasatab, and many more. But you can’t as easily find a service that allows you to create a ‘Welcome tab’ with such freedom. But don’t worry, I believe we are about to enter a new Facebook page creators trend, and it is only a matter of time before we see more services like RootMusic around soon. But first let me introduce you to a new service that simply allows you to create a ‘Welcome’ or ‘About’ tab without any Static FBML knowledge, or too much work. Enter Thailand-based Pagemodo, which allows anyone to create a Welcome page through a nicely done generator that is very simple to use.
This time I don’t really need to explain how to create the page because it is really fairly easy. Once you log in with your Facebook account, you’ll be able to create a new page where you’ll be taken to a self-explanatory editor to help you achieve your page tab. You can choose between two layouts, and start your page (or tab if you wish) creation. Just enter all the information needed. You can add pictures, change the colors & font, and more. Finally, you’ll be asked to choose a Tab – ‘Welcome’ or ‘About us’ (more tab names are coming) And install it on your Facebook page. If you have more than one page, you can create a tab for each, and come back to edit them whenever you want through your account at Pagemodo. According to Pagemodo, they will always offer a free version so that everyone, even very small organizations, can create custom pages, but these free ones will of course include their footer and might limit some advanced features that only the paying users will get, such as Add Google Analytics, custom tab-names, limited edition layouts (so they can get a unique layout), etc. Currently, Pagemodo is working on a simple payment solution, so people can at least start removing the footer and get an “early bird” discount. I already explained the value of such pages in my earlier posts, but I’ll quickly explain again: When you set a ‘Welcome’ tab to be the first thing that new visitors land on, you have the ability to place whatever you want under this tab and explain your brand better. The main thing about all these pages is that the companies can customize these pages, so they match company colors, display the company logo, etc. With services such as the one offered by Pagemodo, they can. This is your opportunity to attract new visitors – simple as that. You can choose to leave it the old and boring way, or take a few minutes to create a new page for your company. The rest is up to you. Moreover, the service is free so I don’t really see any reason to not test/use it. All things considered, I believe it’s a win-win proposition. Like I’ve said previously, I believe this is just the beginning for these kind of platforms and as long as Facebook doesn’t offer users the tools to customize their own pages, we are going to see more of these tools popping up like mushrooms. If you already have some design & code skills, my first guide might make more sense to you. But if you don’t, I encourage you to try this service, share your insights and feedback, and help them build a better platform. Or you can give others like Likeable, Involver, or Vitrue a try. Just know that they are nothing like Pagemodo (see example). In most cases, you need to send them graphics and then they will set one of their own designers to create a page. And of course, you’ll need to pay. Make no mistake, I’m in favor of paying for good products, but I prefer to take full control of the product I’m using. And so should you.
     
Source: TechCrunch | 4 Jul 2010 | 2:53 am
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As soon as everyone got to actually see the 
Copyright law has long recognized in authors an unwaivable right to terminate certain contracts and licensing agreements. A handful of high-profile cases have already called substantial attention to this termination provision, with disputes touching such iconic characters as Superman, Captain America, the Fantastic Four, Lassie, and Winnie the Pooh. In this edition of the IP Colloquium, copyright guru David Nimmer joins UC Berkeley Professor Peter Menell and UCLA Professor Doug Lichtman in an informal conversation about the termination right, its controversies, and the implications for modern copyright practice.
Since the iPhone 4 has come out, there’s been reception problems. People have blamed everything from sweaty palms, to carrier problems, to antenna placement. Apple has been fairly quiet about what the root cause is, but now it looks like they might have a simple solution to the problem.
In the past week or so that 
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