PlacePop Looks To Give Any Business Its Own Rewards Program, Raises $1.4M

It’s no secret that loyalty programs — like those hole-punch cards that give you a free Slurpee every ten visits — are a great, cheap way to keep customers coming back to your business. Thing is, running these programs isn’t always as easy as it seems, especially if a business wants to do something more complex than the basic “buy ten get one free”. PlacePop is a new startup looking to make these loyalty programs accessible to any business: the startup has built a self-serve platform based around its new iPhone application which companies can use to distribute virtual, custom-branded loyalty cards.

Today, the company is launching at our Social Currency CrunchUp, and it’s also announcing that it has closed a $1.4 million round of funding.  Participants in the round include Affinity Labs Founder Chris Michel, Bebo Founder Michael Birch, and James Currier and Stan Chudnovsky, both of whom cofounded Ooga Labs.

At a high level, PlacePop is pretty simple for the end-user: you fire up the iPhone app, swipe until you find the appropriate virtual rewards card, and “check-in” at the venue you’re visiting. And the startup says that a business can get its loyalty program up and running in five minutes.

PlacePop isn’t the first startup to try to tackle rewards, and it faces the same chicken-and-egg issue that its competitors have: you need businesses to actually offer rewards to get users hooked, and businesses aren’t going to bother if the service doesn’t have any users to begin with. PlacePop is taking a few steps to deal with this (and help differentiate the startup): first, it offers a number of other social features, like sharing photos of the places you’re checking into so the app has some utility regardless of if a business is offering a deal or reward. And second, it’s letting you earning rewards points toward venue on Earth, even before a business joins PlacePop.

That may sound a little counter-intuitive, but PlacePop is hoping that it will lead to a sort of community-led guerrilla campaign where users urge their favorite businesses to join PlacePop. CEO Kent Lindstrom explains that users can start checking-in at their favorite restaurants and other venues, and when venue owners visit PlacePop and see that they already have traction on the service, they can “claim” their profile.  I’m not entirely convinced this will work (it’s going to get tough to convince users to check in based on the possibility that a venue may one day start offering rewards), but it’s an interesting tactic.

So why would a restaurant want to use PlacePop instead of a service that is already starting to get traction, like Foursquare? Linstrom gave a few reasons: first, PlacePop allows venues to customize and create their own branding for their virtual card. Second, the platform will allow venues to custom tailor how they want to reward program to work — for example, a business could opt to build their own Groupon-style program, where a special deal was activated if 50 people redeemed a coupon.

PlacePop obviously has its work cut out for it. Foursquare and other location-based services are looking to add deals and rewards as a layer on top of their applications, allowing for a more passive approach to earning rewards. Other startups in this space include We Reward, which lets you earn cash for your checkins.

Sprint prepping 'Peel' mobile Wi-Fi case for iPod Touch? (Ben Patterson)

Solyndra Selected By Southern California Edison For Solar Contract

Big Interview: The philosophy behind Best Buy and Future’s @Gamer magazine

Conventional wisdom says that it’d be a better idea to build a ladder to the moon than it would be to start a magazine in 2010. Apparently Best Buy disagrees. The retailer announced, some months back, that it would be starting a new video game magazine called @Gamer. (Pronounced “gamer”—ignore the @.) It hooked up with the good folks at Future, the same people who publish the World of Warcraft magazine, as well as Edge, PC Gamer, and Nintendo Power, to produce it.

I had the good fortune to talk to the magazine’s Editor-in-Chief, William O’Neal, and its Editorial Director, Julian Rignall, over the past few days to help get a better understanding of the magazine’s raison d’être. Hooray for random French phrases.

@Gamer is a monthly magazine that you’ll be able to find at your local Best Buy. The first issue, with a cover story on EA’s upcoming Medal of Honor reboot, is available now. Each issue features a number of coupons that can be used at Best Buy. $20 off this game, $10 off that one, etc.

It was put together in only around 40 days. I’m not sure how many of you are familiar with magazine production, but 40 days is really quite swift.

The first question you ask is, simply, “Why?” It’s not like there’s a dearth of video game information online, right?

“The goal of the magazine is to offer gamers an easy, digestible way to make purchasing decisions for games and accessories and things like that,” says William O’Neal, the magazine’s Editor-in-Chief. “A lot of what’s out there [magazines, blogs, etc.] caters to the same type of people, geared toward fairly hardcore people who are obsessed with minutiae to a certain degree.”

I realize that many of you are by definition “hardcore.” Lord knows if you spend even two minutes on this site that you’ve clearly demonstrated an interest in technology and gaming and whatnot far above and beyond that of the average man on the street. But that’s the very problem: there’s so much out there for us, the hardcore, that the guy who goes to the mall once or twice a month and looks around the new release aisle in Best Buy doesn’t really have anyone to turn to.

“Not everybody wants to read a 3,000-word exposé on Cliff Blezinski,” says O’Neal. “Some people just want to know whether or not the next Gears of War will be awesome or not.”

Julian Rignall, the Editorial Director, calls the magazine “boiled down.”

Hardcores may read it just because they read everything all the time, but casuals may see the magazine on the rack at the store and say, “A new Medal of Honor? I didn’t know that.”

For the record, I like to read 3,000-word exposés on this or that. That’s why I subscribe to Edge magazine, which is primarily known for its fanciness. And I am nothing if not a fancy man.

Best Buy, you say? We all know my storied history with the company, but how do the suits there affect the content of the magazine? Do they sit in smoke-filled rooms and demand that Game X be on the cover even though the magazine’s editors want Game B?

No.

“We dictate what we want to do, and that’s that,” he says. “The people at Best Buy who we actually deal with—and we on the editorial side of things don’t really deal with Best Buy too, too much—are pretty hardcore gamers, it turns out. They realize that the magazine will only be beneficial to Best Buy if it’s seen as a legitimate gaming outlet. Gamers can figure that out a mile away.”

Rignall agrees.

“They all have a gaming background, all understand gaming, all understand magazines,” he says. “They really ‘get’ the fact that if we’re just a shill magazine, saying that every game is great, then nobody will buy the magazine. They understand that the editorial side of the magazine is over here, and that the little Best Buy bits [the coupons and whatnot] are on that side over there. There’s a clear division.”

As you might expect, the magazine doesn’t focus too much on everyday news. You won’t see articles about how Tetsuya Nomura bought a new pair of pants, or that a GameStop in Peoria broke the street date of a game by 17 minutes. You will see big news, if only because there’s the expectation that the people reading @Gamer, again, aren’t spending every waking hour reading game news online. “Oh, they’re making a 3D Nintendo DS? Cool!”

Based on the first issue, there’s a healthy mix of previews and reviews, both of which are kept fairly brief. Again, no 3,000-word articles on the new Sims 3 expansion. @Gamer doesn’t get down like that, to use vernacular from 1989.

The Internet! I asked the guys how they planned to use the Internet, if at all. (You’ll note that @Gamer is already taken on Twitter. Mm.)

O’Neal says that the primary focus of the magazine will be on just that: the print magazine. There may be online content, but it’s a magazine above and beyond everything else.

Rignall described it a little further.

“There may be an online component in the future but it doesn’t need to be huge,” he says. “We [Future] already have one in Games Radar. The Web site will probably be a little more bloggy, a little more conversational. A sort of ‘Here’s what we’re playing this week,’ that kind of thing. But it won’t be a news source or review source.”

No, that’s what the magazine is for.

Luxurite Introduces 82-Inch Glass TV

Want a big TV? How about a ridiculously big TV? At 82-inches, the size of this TV is probably too big, but then again — if size matters, it probably matters most when it comes to the TV in your living room. Or, you know, your backyard. Did we mention that this TV is meant for the outdoors? Because we should. That’s where Luxurite wants you to put your brand new 82-inch TV.

Before we move forward, we should mention that the screen is a weather-proof LCD. So, that’s good. Not that that will stop a strong wind from blowing something into your (obviously) expensive HDTV, but still. It’s good for those rainy days. In any event, this new member of the “Giant” line-up of Luxurite HDTVs features a contrast ratio of 120,000:1, supports full 1080p HD resolution, and it has three HDMI ports, just for good measure.

Unfortunately, the 82-inch Glass TV isn’t available on the market quite yet, so Luxurite doesn’t have a tag on the price. But, we’re pretty sure that everyone can assume, safely, that this will be expensive. Really, really expensive. Or you could go for the smaller versions, at 15-, 17-, 19-, 22-, or 45-inches, they may be the better bet. But, like we said — size matters, right?

[via BornRich]

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Mars Rover Spirit May Never Wake from Deep Sleep

The Big Money Isn't Enough. Slate Shuts Down Business Site After Two Years [MediaMemo]

Fortune magazine launched during the Great Depression, and it’s still with us today*. But The Big Money, a business site launched by Slate during the dark days of September 2008, is going away.

The Slate Group, the Washington Post Co.’s (WPO) online unit, is shutting down the site, the company announced today. The Big Money was a smart but modest site with a smart but modest staff of five people, so this isn’t earth-shaking news.

And two of the site’s employees — publisher Brendan Monaghan and editor Jim Ledbetter — will stay with Slate in new roles. So it’s hard to argue that this is reflective of larger issues at Slate or its parent company.

The memo announcing the move, signed by Slate Group’s chairman Jacob Weisberg and general manager John Alderman, is straightforward: The Big Money is getting shuttered because it didn’t make enough money:

The problem, in a nutshell, is that the site is not pointed toward profitability on a fast enough timetable…Part of being a quasi start-up means being unsentimental about sites we like that aren’t working as businesses and quickly evolving our model in response to a fast-moving marketplace. We are experimenters. This was a great experiment, but not every experiment results in a breakthrough.

Fair enough. The Big Money did some good work, and it did have an audience — Comscore (SCOR) says it was getting between 300,000 and 400,000 unique visitors a month, which isn’t terrible. But it’s hard to sell advertisers on any individual site with less than a million uniques these days, so you can see why Slate would pull the plug after less than two years.

I do have one question, though. See the chart above, and you’ll note that Slate’s main site is humming along quite well, with a mix of New Republic-style highbrow commentary and some clicky-clicky click here! now! slideshows. Why didn’t that success boost The Big Money?

My outsider’s perception is that the main site gave its business spin off very little editorial real estate. And that it seldom pointed a traffic firehose toward its little brother. And folks who know about this stuff tell me that people inside the company had the same perception.

I wouldn’t expect Slate to prop up The Big Money with money and links indefinitely. Ultimately, if the thing didn’t work on its own, it didn’t work on its own. But I’m a pretty regular Slate reader, and I frequently found that I learned about something The Big Money was running from someplace other than Slate.

I ran that theory by Weisberg, who says I’m wrong. TBM got as much promotion and help from Slate as its other sub-brands — Foreign Policy and The Root — have received, he says. And he’s says he’s surprised to hear that anyone feels otherwise: “All of the small sites always want all the placement they can get on Slate, and there’s always competition for the finite resource of home page promotion. But I think that in general people think it’s been fair.”

And Weisberg spends a lot more time looking at this sites than I do, so I’ll defer to him here. One other quick question — since Fortune famously thrived after starting in a miserable economy, why couldn’t TBM do the same?

Because we’re not living in 1933, Weisberg says. “Our model is that you can enter into these things more easily. It’s not as big an upfront investment. But it also means you don’t have as long a time frame to prove these things out,” he says. Ultimately, TBM’s business wasn’t growing fast enough because it’s traffic wasn’t growing fast enough. Time to try something else.

*Hey! Another new iPad app from Time Warner’s Time Inc. (TWX). No subscriptions, via Apple’s iTunes (AAPL), though.

AT&T spent $3.09M on lobbying in 2nd quarter (AP)

Wonder If RIM's Blackpad Will Have a Roller Ball App [Digital Daily]

Does RIM really have a tablet in the works? “Two people familiar with the company’s plans” tell Bloomberg that it does and plans to launch it in November just in time for the annual holiday spending binge. The device will likely be called “Blackpad”, which is better than Flatberry, I suppose–but not much. And it will be about the same size as Apple’s iPad. It will support Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, but not 3G, and is rumored to be outfitted with cameras for videoconferencing. Pricing will be competitive with that of the iPad. Which is wise, if the same thing can be said of the device itself.

And that’s a big if, as I’ve noted here before: “With the iPad, Apple (AAPL) has shown us that success in the burgeoning tablet market requires good design, a robust OS and a vibrant app platform. And at this point, RIM (RIMM) doesn’t really have these things. The BlackBerry OS might be great for email-focused handsets, but will it translate well to a larger slate form factor? That doesn’t seem likely, though one never knows.”

Redbox begins nationwide rollout of $1.50/night Blu-ray rentals (Ben Patterson)

In Silicon Valley, Forget Your Wallet–But Not Your Phone [Voices]

By Geoffrey A. Fowler, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal

Two pilot programs by start-ups in Silicon Valley are testing ways to bring to market a long-promised innovation of the Internet era: the digital wallet.

In one, eBay’s (EBAY) PayPal online payments business is equipping some 2,000 of its own employees in San Jose with stickers from a company called Bling Nation that turn any phone into an instant payment device just by tapping it on a sensor. (The sticker tags have small chips in them that can be read by a machine that looks like a normal credit-card swiper.)

Bling Nation is outfitting all of the cafeterias on PayPal’s campus, as well as about 35 other merchants in the area, with readers for its system. PayPal doesn’t have a financial interest in Bling Nation, but the company is using PayPal accounts and technology to fund purchases made through its system.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

Amazon Updates Kindle App With Inline Dictionary, More - PC World

New York Times

Amazon Updates Kindle App With Inline Dictionary, More PC World Amazon on Thursday released significant upgrades to its Kindle app for iPhone and iPad. Just days after the company announced the new Kindle 3, Amazon's made the iOS version of its e-reader even more competitive with its ... Fortune lands on the iPadFortune ZMGD.PK, PWER, CRWEWallstreet.com Stock Report on Friday!TMC Net Kindle for iOS Brings iPad Search, Dictionary, Fast-SwitchingWired News Xconomy -eWeek -MEDIAWEEK all 204 news articles »

Layoffs, Reshuffle at OneRiot

Social search site OneRiot just announced layoffs and staff restructuring on its company blog, in a post entitled “Welcome to the future, it’s coming fast.”

Now, being agile also necessitates making some tough decisions too, if they are the right thing for the company right now. Unfortunately, today, we have had to let a handful of well respected colleagues go. This is a pragmatic decision based on a strategically focused go-forward plan for the company. It’s in no way a reflection of the talent of the people concerned.

While OneRiot’s post does not reveal how many employees or what percentage of staff was cut, it does announce the following executive changes: Kimbal Musk, formerly CEO, now takes on the role of Chairman of the company and Tobias Peggs, formerly President in charge of Strategy, Sales, Distribution and Marketing, is now CEO. Co-founder Robert Reich will be leaving the company.

OneRiot’s search results are ranked to reflect the realtime social conversations around any piece of content. It recently tapped both in to the Google Buzz firehose and Facebook’s Open Graph API.

Did we pronounce privacy dead this week? - CNET

Telegraph.co.uk

Did we pronounce privacy dead this week? CNET PHILADELPHIA--Does privacy exist anymore? Do we even know what it is? A conversation between digital academics Jeff Jarvis and Danah Boyd on Friday morning at the Supernova conference capped off a week in which many peoples' ... First Wikileaks, now Facebook. Is this the death of privacy?Telegraph.co.uk Facebook data hoarder speaks outBBC News Another ugly reminder to check your Facebook settings — NOW!msnbc.com DailyFinance -WTN News -ChannelWeb all 369 news articles »

Samsung Cetus To Bring Video Calling To Windows Phone 7, headed for AT&T?

In greek mythology, Cetus was a term for massive, serpentine sea monsters. In Samsung rumor-ology, Cetus is a term for an unannounced Windows Phone 7 handset.

Thanks to the good ol’ Bluetooth SIG, we’ve got a few details on what exactly will make up the Samsung Cetus’ not-so-mythical innards (including a bit of a surprise. A front-facing surprise.)

What we can glean from the SIG posting:

• Windows Phone 7-based
• 800×480 4.0″ AMOLED full touchscreen display (presumably Samsung’s Super AMOLED)
• 5 megapixel camera
• 802.11b/g/n
• Bluetooth
• FM Radio

aaaaand.. *drum roll*

• Front-facing “video call” VGA Camera

While front-facing cameras aren’t exactly groundbreaking tech in the world of mobile phones, this is the first Windows Phone 7 handset to be confirmed as having one. More interestingly is that it’s specifically listed as a “video call” camera (as opposed to just a self-portrait camera). Microsoft has never confirmed official Video Calling support for WP7 — they’ve either got a trick up their sleeve, or Samsung built up some video-calling tech of their own for the handset. Or everyone’s hoping Skype will reverse their anti-Windows Phone 7 stance.

Also worth noting is the handset’s model number: SGH-i917. As long as Samsung is keeping with their traditional model numbering, anything that starts with SGH and ends with 7 is AT&T-bound.

Quest Software shares jump after solid 2Q results (AP)

Innovative New Search Engine Blekko Has 500 Invites For TechCrunch Readers

Today at our Social Currency CrunchUp (which is currently being livestreamed here), Blekko founder and CEO Rich Skrenta gave the first live demo of the startup’s innovative search engine (be sure to check out our initial review). To mark the occasion, Blekko is giving out an invite to 500 lucky TechCrunch readers — just be one of the first people to email a message requesting an invite to techcrunch@blekko.com.

Senate ponders online privacy issues, but doesn’t agree on anything

Section: Computers, Security, Web

A senate committee hearing was held on Tuesday and they couldn’t agree on anything. Not exactly news is it? The Senate Commerce committee held the hearing over concerns about online privacy. Everything from Google’s accidental interception of some WiFi traffic during a Google Streetview run to Facebook’s privacy issues and AT&T’s recent iPad related security breach. Representatives from Google and Facebook testified. Despite the lengthy hearing, the committee couldn’t agree on what to do about them, and in fact some of the senators seemed downright clueless about the internet. Take Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D. W.Va) who referred to Amazon as a “machine”, and Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) who asked the Google rep if there was privacy information contained in printed out grocery store coupons (the representative politely told her Google doesn’t offer grocery coupons).

What I think everyone can agree on is that if there is anything to be done about issues like online privacy, net neutrality, and cybersecurity, we are going to need to elect some tech-savvy senators and congresspeople!

Read [CNet]

Full Story » | Written by Sue Walsh for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

Markets of Britain, a short film by Lee Titt (via Serafinowicz and Popper)

[ Watch video: view at YouTube or Download MP4. ]

Boing Boing Video proudly presents Markets of Britain, discovered by Robert Popper and Peter Serafinowicz from the archives of a great and underappreciated documentary filmmaker named Lee Titt, who also never existed.

Earlier this week, we presented this Boing Boing Video interview with Popper and Serafinowicz about their "Look Around You" DVD, just been released in the USA. This film was presented at a recent launch event in Los Angeles, blogged previously on Boing Boing.

Mini emus!

Buy the DVD. Below, a trailer for the DVD produced by BBC America. The actual show is a lot weirder.

Via Peter Serafinowicz.

Source: Boing Boing | 30 Jul 2010 | 11:53 am

Chevy Volt’s 2012 Production Capacity Bumped From 30,000 to 45,000

GM is banking large on the Chevy Volt and apparently feels confident about its success. The auto maker just issued a statement, which conveniently coincides while President Obama is touring the assembly plant, detailing the increased production estimate for 2012. The Detroit-Hamtramck facility will now pump out 50% more than previously detailed, an increase to 45,000 from 30,000.
Chances are this production bump is dependent on a successful roll-out of the first 10,000 vehicles slated to hit dealers later this year. If the $41,000 Volt quickly flops, then GM will probably scale the production numbers back to the initial estimate or less.

Chevy Volt’s 2012 Production Capacity Bumped From 30,000 to 45,000

GM is banking large on the Chevy Volt and apparently feels confident about its success. The auto maker just issued a statement, which conveniently coincides while President Obama is touring the assembly plant, detailing the increased production estimate for 2012. The Detroit-Hamtramck facility will now pump out 50% more than previously detailed, an increase to 45,000 from 30,000.

Chances are this production bump is dependent on a successful roll-out of the first 10,000 vehicles slated to hit dealers later this year. If the $41,000 Volt quickly flops, then GM will probably scale the production numbers back to the initial estimate or less.

GM has a lot riding on, not only the Volt, but also the Voltec platform. As I detailed yesterday, GM’s future doesn’t ride solely on the Volt, but rather the future vehicles that will employ the same electric/gas parallel hybrid powertrain. But the Volt still needs to be successful. If the Prius — and it’s nearly identical but more expensive Lexus cousin — has taught us anything is that some consumers couldn’t care less about actual gas savings. They’re after the perception that they do.

Sharp Shooting Sony Cam Guides You, Even When Lost

Sharp Shooting Sony Cam Guides You, Even When Lost

What is Microsoft's strategy for slates and tablets, exactly?

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

Thursday, at the annual Microsoft Financial Analyst meeting, CEO Steve Ballmer gave a somewhat baffling explanation about Microsoft's position on tablet/slate computing that seems to run contradictory to the strategy of one of the company's biggest manufacturing partners.

Though Microsoft is focusing this year on Kinect, Bing, and Office as areas of consumer growth, the biggest consumer product for Microsoft, beyond all others combined, is Windows.

"Windows and Windows' success is a tide that floats all boats, so to speak," Ballmer said in the meeting Thursday. "Of those 400-odd million PCs that'll get sold in the next year, over two-thirds of them will get sold to the consumer. So, our biggest consumer product, no question, actually is the consumer Windows PC."

Ballmer said Windows has close to a 93% market share for all laptop computers, and the share is still growing. But there is competition coming in the form of the tablet computer running a non-Windows operating system.

"We've had Windows 7 on tablets and slate machines now for a number of years, and Apple has done an interesting job of putting together a synthesis and putting a product out, and in which they've -- they sold certainly more than I'd like them to sell, let me just be clear about that," Ballmer said. "We think about that. We think about that in competitive sense. And for us, then, the job is to say, 'Okay, we have a lot of IP, we have a lot of good software in this area, we've done a lot of work on ink and touch and everything else -- we have got to make things happen.' Just like we had to make things happen on netbooks, we've got to make things happen with Windows 7 on slates."

"We're working with our hardware partners, we're tuning Windows 7 to new slate hardware designs that they're bringing them to market," Ballmer said, emphasizing the impact Intel's Oak Trail processor will have on slate development when it arrives next year.

So non-Windows tablets are threatening to make a dent in Microsoft's consumer dominance, and to cover that portion of the market, it is working on consumer Windows Slate products.

Compare this to a statement from Todd Bradley of HP's Personal systems group at the Fortune Brainstorm Tech conference:

"I think you'll see us with a family of Slate products, clearly a Microsoft product in the enterprise, and a WebOS product broadly deployed," Bradley said.

HP was the biggest Slate partner Ballmer mentioned in his CES 2010 keynote last January (the other two were Pegatron and Archos,) but the company's support for Windows Slate has come into question since it moved to acquire Palm and its mobile device business in April 2010. If the company is creating Windows 7 slates for the enterprise sector and WebOS for consumers, it is actually going completely against what Microsoft says it needs.

Toshiba's compelling dual-screen "Libretto" tablet is expected to be available in August, and it runs Windows 7 Home Premium, but Toshiba has said it will only be available in limited supply and it is more a concept device than mass market tablet competitor.

So there are Windows 7 slates on the way very soon...but they're not meant to cover the market populated by the iPad or rumored-to-be-pending Android-based devices from Asus, Samsung, Lenovo, and Acer.

At the end of his discussion Thursday, Goldman Sachs analyst Sarah Friar asked Ballmer to be absolutely clear about what version of Windows the Slates will get.

Here is Ballmer's response in full:

"We're coming full guns.  The operating system is called Windows.  No...there's... let me be unambiguous.  A new Windows Phone for screen sizes that, let me just say, are, you know, sort of bigger than three or four inches ...the answer is Windows Phone.  We are in the game.  We're all in the game today with Intel architecture machines.  We've got improvements coming from Intel.  We're driving forward.  We're unambiguous about that.  Now, where we'll go and what's going to matter --I said also in my remarks that in no way will we allow hardware to be the impediment.  We will embrace what we need to embrace over time in terms of hardware evolution."

"But you say to me, 'Are we going to see slate?'  Yes. What processor are they going to have?  They are going to have an Intel architecture processor at least in any foreseeable future.  Are they going to run Windows?  Yeah.  Will it be tuned?  Yes!  And we are going to sell like crazy.  We are going to market like crazy.  We have devices that will run more applications, that have as much content, that have anything you want on the planet.  And we have an ecosystem of developers that know how to write applications for that thing.  Believe me, as I think everybody knows, you can buy two PCs for the price of one iPad -- two netbooks today for the price of one iPad.  So, people are sitting there over-celebrating bomb costs and blah, blah, blah.  We and Intel can get our job done, and know how to make money."

For an "unambiguous" statement, this still requires a bit of parsing:

1.) Slates are built on Intel's chips and will run some version of "Windows."

2.) There is also a version of Windows Phone for devices bigger than 4" on the way, but the devices that will utilize it are still unknown, and indeed Microsoft is not limiting itself to a processor type or instruction set with that OS. These do not appear to fall under the description of "Slate."

Ballmer then went on to say, "Let's not speculate, let's merely say when you get your Windows 7 machine, it will print.  Let's just start with that.  I mean some people actually like to print every now and then.  Ours will print."

That part, at least, sounds like a strategy anybody can grasp.

Facebook may postpone IPO to 2012: report (Reuters)

Ancient Reptiles 'Make Tracks'

Microsoft, Get Back to Work! - PC World

New York Daily News

Microsoft, Get Back to Work! PC World Steve Ballmer assured analysts and the world that Microsoft is hard at work developing a Windows 7-based tablet to compete with devices like the Apple iPad. It is also putting the finishing touches on Windows Phone 7, ... Microsoft's tablet future has 'job-one urgency'Afterdawn.com Microsoft should starve on radical penguin dietRegister Ballmer: The Windows 7 Tablet Will Have Its DayE-Commerce Times Fortune -Telegraph.co.uk -DailyTech all 569 news articles »

San Francisco: Diana Gameros at this weekend's Bicycle Music Festival

This Saturday in San Francisco, the largest bicycle-powered music festival in the world takes place in Golden Gate Park's Speedway Meadow and throughout the city. Bike powered? Think Gilligan's Island. In Golden Gate Park, more than a dozen bands will play through a 2000 watt pedal-powered audio system and a variety of crazy party caravans will travel through the streets during the day and night. All of the infrastructure for the event is haulable via bicycle and no cars or trucks will be involved in staging the festival. My family will be attending, and we're especially excited to see our favorite San Francisco singer/songwriter Diana Gameros. We first heard Diana perform solo at Roosevelt Tamale Parlor, a very old and excellent tiny restaurant in San Francisco's Mission District. At Roosevelt's, Diana mostly performs traditional Latin music but in her own modern, soulful, and passionate style. Diana's original music is enchanting indie pop infused with her strong Latin heritage. Check out Diana and her band at noon on Saturday or on her MySpace page. Diana's tune "Para Papa," listenable in her MySpace player, is one of my favorites.

Diana Gameros (MySpace)

Bicycle Music Festival

Source: Boing Boing | 30 Jul 2010 | 11:42 am

Froyo coming to Evo 4G on Tuesday, Sprint confirms - Computerworld

DailyTech

Froyo coming to Evo 4G on Tuesday, Sprint confirms Computerworld CareerJournal - Froyo, the Android 2.2 update, will come to the HTC Evo 4G smartphone starting Tuesday, Sprint confirmed, bringing support for Flash video and external storage of applications, among other features. ... How Froyo Will Boost BusinessPC World Sprint To Roll Out Android 2.2 to HTC EVO Starting Aug. 3PC Magazine The First Awesome Thing I Noticed About My New AndroidSan Francisco Chronicle TG Daily -Inquirer -DailyTech all 391 news articles »

Google misses costly deadline thanks to the LAPD

Section: Web, Web Apps, Google

Google’s promised to get all of Los Angeles’ city employees switched over to Google Docs by June 30th, then promptly broke that promise. They say now it will take at least until mid August, and are blaming the LAPD. They insist that their data not be mixed in with any other data Google maintains, and they want background checks done on anyone who accesses it. Fulfilling the requests has been time consuming because Google, like most services, stores user data together on many different servers. The delay caused by the LAPD’s demands, however reasonable they may be, will cost Google $135,000, the amount it takes to run the city’s current Novell setup. It will be interesting to see if they make their new deadline!

Read [PCWorld]

Full Story » | Written by Sue Walsh for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

Philip Rosedale Addresses Second Life

Barnes & Noble's Nook gets its own boutique - msnbc.com

msnbc.com

Barnes & Noble's Nook gets its own boutique msnbc.com Barnes & Noble said Friday it's creating boutiques within its stores for its Nook e-reader to "showcase" the digital device, software and accessories. The 1000-square-foot Nook Boutiques will start appearing in some stores this summer ... Could Kindle EBook Gifting Become a Reality This Year?PC Magazine Amazon's New Kindle Spells Doom for Other E-ReadersPC World Barnes & Noble Planning Big Push to Increase Nook SalesNew York Times TG Daily -TheStreet.com -UPI.com all 65 news articles »

Find nearby activities with A Day’s Outing

Remember the CrunchGear Geek Weekend series, where we attempted to show some fun stuff to do in various cities across the U.S.? Yeah, we kind of let that peter out, didn’t we? Also, there are lots of great non-geek things to do in and around cities. This is especially important for families: the kids might be more interested in Tecumseh! than the early television museum. With the A Day’s Outing website, and now its new iPhone app, you can quickly find all sorts of interesting things to do.

This is a super simple app, and provides a nice front end to the website. You plug in what kind of activities you want to see, a date range (today, this weekend, next 7 days), and define a range (5 miles, 30 miles, 60 miles, etc). The app will query the A Day’s Outing site and return a list of things going on. You can toggle between list view and map view, and you can get driving directions to any destination you select.

If you don’t have an iPhone, you can simply use your smartphone’s browser to access the website to get the same functionality: it’ll just involve a bit more scrolling around on the page.

I like the presentation of this app. I find it calming. It’s simple and uncluttered. My only gripe is that the back button is a little too small for my meaty fingers.

If you’re making a cross-country road trip with your family, or just visiting in-laws for the weekend, A Day’s Outing ought to let you find something interesting to do. It’s only $3.

Amazon updates Kindle app with inline dictionary, more (Macworld.com)

FBI access to e-mail, Web data raises privacy fear (AP)

AP - Invasion of privacy in the Internet age. Expanding the reach of law enforcement to snoop on e-mail traffic or on Web surfing. Those are among the criticisms being aimed at the FBI as it tries to update a key surveillance law.

Companion 8 in. Wire Cutters

RIM BlackPad Announced in November, Still Called BlackPad

Well, there you have it. Just a couple of days ago RIM was outed for landing the BlackPad domain name. And while we were secretly hoping that they were just securing a name for name’s sake, if these new rumors from unnamed sources are to be believed, then it looks like the folks up there in Waterloo have chosen their company’s first tablet’s name. And yes, it’s the BlackPad.

Speaking to Bloomberg, these unnamed sources also revealed that the 9.7-inch tablet won’t be revealed come this August 3rd, but will actually be unveiled and announced this November. However, the due date for retail availability is still up in the air, and the sources couldn’t divulge any details in that regard. And, just as we’ve heard in the past, the tablet will indeed feature built-in WiFi and Bluetooth. Still, the name means a lot — is BlackPad where RIM should take their first tablet?

[via Bloomberg]

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Sea No Evil: Sea Shepherd benefit art show in CA

Opening Saturday July 31 (tomorrow night): The Sea No Evil art show benefitting the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. Above, a piece by Gary Baseman from the show. The donating artist list is pretty incredible.

The opening night event features Captain Paul Watson, founder of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and focus of Animal Planet TV series "Whale Wars," who will give an update on the state of affairs in the world's oceans.

The Crystal Method and artist-DJ Shepard Fairey will both perform sets.

(thanks, Gary Baseman)

Source: Boing Boing | 30 Jul 2010 | 11:15 am

Sea No Evil: Sea Shepherd benefit art show in CA

Groupon Was Almost A Slippers With Flashlights Company

According to GroupOn CEO Andrew Mason who is on stage right now at Social Currency CrunchUp, the breakout deals site GroupOn was originally a side project Mason started in order to make money, “We tried a zillion things” Mason said.

Including a cheesy-sounding slippers with flashlights deal, which Mason describes as “act of desperation, pretty impressive considering that the company is currently making $365 million in revenues, a million a day according to our sources. Mason gave no thought whatsoever as to whether or not it would work.

With GroupOn now in over 170 cities in over 22 countries, its come a long way from flashlight slippers, and Mason aspires to one day be a replacement for the classic city guide, “We’re focused on creating a market as efficient as possible with regards to getting as much exposure to local business as possible.”

From the humble slipper beginnings, to currently selling deals on laser eye surgery, Mason has not just created a business, he’s created an entirely new business model, now with over 500 clones.  Couponing is currently the hottest thing on the internet; Asking the CrunchUp audience whether or not they had bought a GroupOn deal Mason joked, “Raise your hand if you’ve only bought a GroupOn so you could figure out how to clone us?”

Photo: Uneasysilence

FCC gives thumbs-up to first LTE phone, more in offing - Ars Technica

TG Daily

FCC gives thumbs-up to first LTE phone, more in offing Ars Technica The Federal Communications Commission has finally approved the first 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) phone for sale in the US. Though the first LTE handset will be available through MetroPCS, ... FCC approves Samsung SCH-R900, the first U.S. 4G LTE phoneMobile Burn FCC approves Samsung LTE phone, likely for MetroPCSFierceWireless FCC approves Samsung R900 as first LTE phoneElectronista (blog) TG Daily -PhoneNews.com -Gizmodo.com (blog) all 19 news articles »

The Wunderkammer that is Webb Gallery

Source: Boing Boing | 30 Jul 2010 | 11:11 am

The Wunderkammer that is Webb Gallery

YouTube Videos Now Give Users 15 Minutes of Fame (NewsFactor)

HTC Evo to Get Android 2.2 Upgrade Next Week

HTC’s Evo 4G phone will become the first device (after Google’s Nexus One) to get an upgrade to Android 2.2 Froyo, the latest version of the Android operating system.

Sprint will begin pushing out the upgrade to Evo users starting Tuesday, August 3. All Evo users will have Android 2.2 by the middle of the month, says the wireless carrier.

The upgrade will offer features such as voice dialing over Bluetooth, the ability to store apps on the external memory card and browser improvements including a faster JavaScript engine and Flash support.

Sprint launched the Evo in June with version 2.1 of the Android OS. The phone has become a best seller for Sprint and HTC.

Sprint’s move is also likely to put pressure on Motorola and Verizon to get the Droid upgraded to Android 2.2 as soon as possible. Earlier reports have suggested that the Droid’s 2.2 upgrade is expected in “late summer.”

For Evo users, the upgrade will be pushed over-the-air to the device and automatically installed. Those who can’t wait will have the option to manually download it. Customers can access the update through their phone under the Settings Menu > System Updates > HTC Software Update.

Sprint says the change to the firmware will not wipe personal data such as contacts, apps, settings and photos — but it’s always a good idea to back up your device before performing a firmware upgrade, just in case.

See Also:

• Storage Bug Hits HTC Evo 4G Phone Just Before Launch
• Wired Video: HTC Evo 4G Dissected
• Oops! Sprint Says it Overstated HTC Evo Phone Sales
• Sprint, HTC Unveil First 4G Android Phone

Photo: (Mike Saechang/Flickr)

Sony not planning to join e-reader price wars

Section: Gadgets / Other, ebooks

While Amazon and Barnes and Noble and their dueling e-readers fight it out in price wars, Sony announced that they really aren’t interested in joining in and appears to have no plans to change their pricing:

“Pricing is one consideration in the dedicated reading device marketplace, but Sony won’t sacrifice the quality and design we’re bringing book lovers to lay claim to the cheapest eReader,” said Phil Lubell, VP of digital reading at Sony Electronics. “Our global customers expect to get the best digital book reading experience and we’re concentrated on delivering that by investing in Sony’s award-winning design and original digital reading enhancements, such as eBook library borrowing and the only full touch screen on the market.”

Whether the company plans to release any new versions of its two readers remains to be seen as well. Frankly I don’t think the Kindle or Nook have anything to worry about. The rumored $99 e-reader coming out this fall might be cause for concern however. In this economy customers will be looking for real bargains this holiday season. It’ll be interesting to see how things shape up once it hits the market.

Read [New York Times]

Full Story » | Written by Sue Walsh for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

Bling Nation Launches Introductory PayPal Program in Palo Alto to Tap-and-Pay for Local Purchases With Mobile Phone

Steve Ballmer: iPad Competition is Coming

The tech industry isn’t just about one product. It’s about that product, and the products that emerge to compete. We see it every day, but sometimes something gets released that, at least right off the bat, doesn’t see any real competition. This year, that product is Apple’s iPad. And while many people are looking in just about any direction they can to find something that can dethrone Apple’s tablet device, Microsoft still looms in the background. Are they the company to make it happen? Steve Ballmer seems to think so.

He will admit though, that the iPad has sold a lot of devices. “They’ve sold certainly more than I’d like them to sell, let me just be clear about that.” That was a choice comment from Ballmer, Microsoft’s CEO, as he was speaking at Microsoft’s Financial Analyst Meeting. He goes on to outline that Microsoft has to make something happen, that it’s up to them to create something worthy enough to draw attention away from the iPad, and to whatever slate-like device they release.

What’s probably most noteworthy, though, is his relation to the tablet market and the netbook market of yesteryear. He pointed out that Microsoft didn’t lead that movement, but now they are certainly the most dominant proponent of it. He is apparently suggesting that, just like how Linux was in the lead for netbooks, that Apple’s iOS will be in the lead for tablets for a little while, but that Microsoft will soon take it over. We’ll have to wait and see, and hope that the versatility of Windows 7 (or something) and those manufacturing partners mean that something worthwhile gets released sooner than later.

[via TechFlash]

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Conway: During The Bubble, 77% Entrepreneurs Failed. Now, It’s Around 40%

Today, during our Social Currency CrunchUp, angel investor Ron Conway had some interesting data to share for the first time. Conway says that his company, SV Angel, has recently done an audit on the over 500 companies they’ve invested in over the past 12 years. And he was surprised with the results.

Conway expected it would show that about one-third of companies fail, one-third get investors their money back, and one-third bring a 2x to Google-x return (Conway invested in Google early on). But that’s not the case. Conway noticed that during the Internet Bubble in 1997 to 2001 — the failure rate (startups that go out of business and the investors get nothing) was a staggering 77 percent. “It was catastrophic,” he said.

But things improved. The failure rate in recent years — since 2002 — has dropped to about 40 percent, Conway says. He makes sure to note that that’s just his portfolio — which they’re picky about. They only invest in about one of every 40 companies they see.

Conway notes that he was able to make it through the Bubble years because of a very few smart investments in Google, PayPal, and others that also took place at that time. “We were lucky, others weren’t,” he notes.

He also notes that entrepreneurs have a 66 percent chance of being successful on a startup if it’s their second one. But that’s also partially because they’re often doing a second startup if they were successful the first time around.

All that said, Conway notes that his data shows that regardless of the time period — Bubble or Boom — the rate of very successful outcomes has stayed roughly the same. With that in mind, “anytime is a good time to start a company,” he concludes.

Conway says there is a misconception that “every 10 years we get a Google.” “That’s not true,” Conway says. He notes that AskJeeves came, then six years later, Google came. But then six years after that was Facebook. And now the big companies are coming faster. After Facebook, it was only four years until Twitter came around. Then it was two years later that Foursquare, Zynga, and others have come along. “Great companies are being created at a much greater rate,” Conway says.

You can watch the rest of the Social Currency CrunchUp live here.

You Think You’re High Tech? Why Don’t You Carry Around A Zune Lined With Thermite

Back in the old days, when hackers were men, Blue Boxing was all the rage. If you’re not in the know, Blue Boxing is basically a process of sending tones down old telephone lines to enable free calls around the world. The boxes were the skeleton keys of their day and made a lot of people a lot of money.

This article from Esquire in 1971 described a world of phone phreaks, hackers, and two boys named Jobs and Wozniak who basically paved the way for hackers woldwide. Here’s one of the best quotes in any computer story anywhere, and it was uttered four years before the first personal computer hit the streets.

He sighs. “We had this order for a thousand beeper boxes from a syndicate front man in Las Vegas. They use them to place bets coast to coast, keep lines open for hours, all of which can get expensive if you have to pay. The deal was a thousand blue boxes for $300 apiece. Before then we retailed them for $1,500 apiece, but $300,000 in one lump was hard to turn down. We had a manufacturing deal worked out in the Philippines. Everything ready to go. Anyway, the model I had ready for limited mass production was small enough to fit inside a flip-top Marlboro box. It had flush touch panels for a keyboard, rather than these unsightly buttons sticking out. Looked just like a tiny portable radio. In fact, I had designed it with a tiny transistor receiver to get one AM channel, so in case the law became suspicious the owner could switch on the radio part, start snapping his fingers, and no one could tell anything illegal was going on. I thought of everything for this model — I had it lined with a band of thermite which could be ignited by radio signal from a tiny button transmitter on your belt, so it could be burned to ashes instantly in case of a bust. It was beautiful. A beautiful little machine. You should have seen the faces on these syndicate guys when they came back after trying it out. They’d hold it in their palm like they never wanted to let it go, and they’d say, ‘I can’t believe it. I can’t believe it.’ You probably won’t believe it until you try it.”

Thermite? Fake radios? Syndicates? Damn. What did I ever do? Maybe act as a broker to buy a hard drive full of pirated car repair manuals.

T-Mobile continues to lower Garminfone pricing, now down to $99.99 on-contract

Section: Communications, Cellular Providers, Smartphones, Mobile

It looks like existing T-Mobile customers can get a deal on the navigation minded Garminfone. The handset had recently been dropped to $129.99 for everyone, and now current customers can get the phone with an additional $30 savings—$99.99. That said, same rules apply in order to get the price. Aside from being a current T-Mobile customer you will also need to sign a new two-year agreement on a qualifying monthly voice and data plan. All things considered, this is a shame, the Garminfone could have been a nice offering. But the way things are going, it seems like it will get less and less expensive and then disappear. Of course, given the current crop of Android phones and the fact that most of them come with free turn-by-turn navigation from Google—I cannot imagine that a GPS dedicated phone is a must have for all that many.

Read [T-Mobile Scoop] Via [DroidDog]

Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

Elephants in Scotland and other odd animal translocations

Logan, a gold medal winner at the Association of Photographers Awards, traveled to such locations as South Africa, Namibia, Kenya, and Botswana to photograph his subjects in their natural habitats before combining them with shots of his native Scotland, including the Isle of Skye. The idea for the book was inspired by Logan's own childhood fantasies of exotic animals being part of his familiar surroundings.

Source: Boing Boing | 30 Jul 2010 | 10:44 am

Elephants in Scotland and other odd animal translocations

Experiencing the re-invention of flight in St. Paul

Experiencing the re-invention of flight in St. Paul

Last weekend*, I joined around 90,000 of my closest friends at the Twin Cities Flugtag in St. Paul. If you aren't familiar, Flugtag is an event that tests out the skyworthiness of home-built flying contraptions. For the most part, there's more of an emphasis on art and comedy than on effective engineering. Teams design their flying machines (and costumed skits) around a theme, they perform for the audience, and then push their craft off an elevated runway and (usually) directly into a major body of water below.

It's entertaining. I had a good time watching giant purple narwhals (narwhals!) and open caskets piloted by zombies crash into the Mississippi River. But what really made Flugtag post-worthy is the moment captured in the video above.

My husband called this before the flying even started. Walking around the "hangar" area, looking at the crafts before the show, he spotted what looked like an anorexic WW2 bomber on stilts. It wasn't the most elaborate craft. Or the most hilarious. But it was going to fly further than anything else, Baker predicted. Unlike some home-built aircraft, this thing actually had an airfoil.

Later, we found out that it also had controllable flaps. And a for-real-real pilot&mdashMajor Trouble, her band of Dirty Dixie drag queens took care of the entertainment portion—at the controls.

We'd already watched six or seven contraptions utterly fail to fly. We'd gotten used to a routine. The team pushes off. The team goes straight down. It is hard to describe the utter elation that swept the crowd when Major Trouble's plane came back up**. And flew. Really, truly flew. For a second, we all forgot that jet planes existed. For a second, we were all back at Kitty Hawk, in 1903, witnessing a previously unimagined miracle.

Major Trouble and the Dirty Dixies flew 207 feet before ditching in the Mississippi. They broke—by 12 feet—a Flugtag flying record that had stood for 10 years. Everything happens in the Midwest. You are missing out.

**Another thing it is hard to describe: The frustration that rippled through the crowd every time the RedBull announcers referred to the Mississippi River as "the ocean". This happened repeatedly. Guys, we get it, you're used to staging these things on the coast. But there's a freaking opposite bank, right over there. And the people on that side are rolling their eyes at you, too.

Source: Boing Boing | 30 Jul 2010 | 10:43 am

RIM Said to Plan Tablet for November to Take on Apple's IPad - Bloomberg

Globe and Mail

RIM Said to Plan Tablet for November to Take on Apple's IPad Bloomberg A Research in Motion Ltd. (RIM) Blackberry smartphone is photographed in London. Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg Research In Motion Ltd., maker of the BlackBerry smartphone, plans to introduce a ... RIM preps BlackPad for November launchTG Daily RIM BlackPad Tablet Launching In NovemberInformationWeek RIM BlackPad All But ConfirmedI4U SlashGear (blog) -Montreal Gazette -Toronto Star all 93 news articles »

Where To? updated for iOS 4 (Macworld.com)

Singapore’s 'Over-the-Top' iPhone 4 Launch [Voices]

By Wayne Ma, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal

Apple’s (AAPL) new iPhone 4 went on sale in Singapore Friday, and its debut in this city state may have been more over-the-top than its U.S. debut last month.

Singapore Telecommunications, known as SingTel, Southeast Asia’s biggest phone company by revenue, held its midnight launch party at the Marina Bay Sands Expo & Convention Center. The venue, with its almost concert-like atmosphere, was blasting with loud music, colored lights, fog and even a VIP lounge, where waitresses served hors d’oeuvres such as sea scallops with green olive tapenade.

At the stroke of midnight, SingTel revealed a giant rotating model of the iPhone on stage, along with a flashy pyrotechnics display.

Jacky Heng, 18 years old, was one of the first customers to collect his phone on stage. Heng had been waiting in line since 4:30 p.m. Thursday.

“I already sold off my Nexus One, which had reception problems,” he said. “I’m very determined to get this phone.”

Read the rest of this post on the original site

Lord British, of Ultima fame, goes into space on the back of $27 million lawsuit settlement

Lord British, now in space. The Ultima creator has spent $30 million hitching a ride aboard the commercial spacecraft Space Adventures. Bonus: he just won a $28 million settlement. Must be nice.

Lord British, whose real name—yes, we’re breaking kayfabe—is Richard Garriott, was fired from NCSoft after the game Tabula Rasa bombed. He spent some six years developing it. So, fired.

But then NCSoft did something rather silly: it demanded he sell all of his stock within 90 days of being fired. This, despite the fact that his contract said he’s have some 10 years to sell the stock.

He sued for $47 million. He got $28 million.

What’s he doing now? Fiddling around with Facebook games.

The moral of the story is that being rich will get you a trip to space. That, or build a time machine to when Nasa actually had money.

How to add custom wallpaper to your iPhone 3G with iOS 4

FROM APPLETELL - Adding custom wallpaper to your iPhone 3G can be done with iOS 4, a little bit of time, the right set of instructions, and…a jailbroken iPhone.
MORE »

Full Story » | Written by NEWS for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

Are Amazon's New Kindles Tablets-in-Training? - TechNewsWorld

Globe and Mail

Are Amazon's New Kindles Tablets-in-Training? TechNewsWorld Will the Kindle grow up to be a real tablet computer someday? Amazon's inclusion of new capabilities in its unassuming WebKit browser suggests that the possibility might not be too far-fetched. Ultimately, Apple and Amazon will both ... Amazon Introduces New Kindle, WiFi OptioneWeek New Amazon Kindle 3 stands out against its earlier siblingsInternational Business Times Heard on the Street: The High Cost of Amazon's Cheap KindleWall Street Journal PC Magazine -PC World -The Mac Observer all 1,535 news articles »

Sony PS3 Firmware v3.41 Restricting New Hard Drive Installation

When the PlayStation 3 gets updated, and something not-so-nice happens, it’s usually something that many would consider big enough to scratch their head in confusion. This time around, with the latest release of version 3.41, which was supposed to be a minor update, it looks like folks are being told that installing a new hard drive is a no-go.

Version 3.41 was supposed to include some minor changes to the system, as well as include a “You May Like” new interface, where you would get some suggestions about other titles you may like, versus ones you have played or watched. But there’s something else included in the roll-out, too. Reports are coming in that after updating their system, some users are unable to install a new hard drive. A pop-up that states, “no applicable data” will show up, and that’s it. No new hard drive can be installed.

Interestingly enough, it’s unclear why this would happen at all. Considering the nature of the update, we’re not sure why there would be any connection between store recommendations, and the hard drive. But, it wouldn’t be like Sony to lock down the hard drive installation process, especially considering it’s one of the more defining features of the PS3. We’ll have to wait and see if a new software update gets released to fix the situation, or if Sony comes forward to discuss the issue.

[via CVG]

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'Blood Cell Phones' Fuel War, Crime and Human Rights Abuses

Ron Conway And Paul Graham Talk About Investing

Today at our Social Currency CrunchUp in Palo Alto, CA, Michael Arrington sat down with investors Ron Conway and Paul Graham. Obviously, these are two of the biggest names in early-stage investing (with SV Angel and Y Combinator, respectively).

Both Conway and Graham had some interesting data to share. Conway, in particular, was able to give some great numbers because he’s recently done an audit on the over 500 companies he’s invested in over the past 12 years.

You can also follow the full Social Currency CrunchUp live here.

Below find my live note (paraphrased):

MA: Ron Conway is the founder of SV Angel which is a $10 million angel fund.

RC: Over 500 companies I’ve invested in.

MA: Ron has some new data to share today that he hasn’t shared before. It will be great to hear that data. Paul Graham is the co-founder of Y Combinator. You guys have funded 212 companies?

PG: 208 companies. 72 companies a year now. First investment was in 2005.

MA: Yesterday was the Angel Conference. 8-10 super angels were speaking, then me. I presented an argument that perhaps Y Combinator and angel investors were destroying Silicon Valley. Ron wants to rebutt that argument. The “Dipshit” argument.

RC: Well referring to these entrepreneurs as dipshits is bullshit. It’s bullshit in my opinion. It takes a lot of guts and passion to start a company. There’s too many M&A in the $25 to $50 million dollar range. Some of them could have been building the next huge company — but they sell too soon. But that’s the entreprenuers decision to make. But the real fallacy is that it’s hurting Silicon Valley. Because the exits are going up it’s helping.

PG: Around 10% or a little more get series A round from VC funds. Anyone who gets that knows they can’t sell for $25 million.

MA: What about the other 90%?

PG: Well most go to angels, the 10% is just from actual VCs. So everything you said if false.

MA: Let’s talk about Mint. Ron you had a stake. Sold for $175 million to Intuit. There’s an argument they could have not sold and become the next Intuit. Some VCs wanted them to take money off the table instead. Same with Aarvark. Investors were begging them to keep going. Isn’t that a bad thing?

RC: Well they’re good examples, but they didn’t stop hiring after being bought. Their parent companies now have a lot more money. And it’s about scaling the idea — much easier now.

MA: There’s been a trend in deals. Facebook has 5 or 10 in the pipeline right now. A small amount of cash, and no stock — but the employees get stock. Some investors complain this is ridiculous — to fund a hiring process for Facebook.

PG: The way to make money isn’t on these small deals anyway.

MA: But if they get a tenth of percent in options — that’s a big deal.

PG: That sounds wrong.

MA: I”m never wrong.

RC: I have another ulterior motive. Founders of Hot Potato, FriendFeed, and Parakey won’t be at Facebook their whole lives. An entrepreneur is an entrepreneur.

MA: Let’s talk data. Paul you have enough companies now to predict if a startup will be successful. Ron, we talked about your recent audit with investments over 12 years. And you were suprrised. You thought it would be different.

RC: I’ve invested in 500 companies over 12 years — there’s a ton of data. People ask all the time what’s the success rate. 1/3 fail, 1/3 you get money back, 1/3 you get 2x to Googlex — I THOUGHT. That’s not accurate. If you go back to the bubble: 1997-2001 — the failure rate (out of business investors get nothing) was 77%. It was catastrophic. But we got Google, PayPal, etc. We were lucky. Others weren’t. That failure rate has plummeted to closer to 40% now. That’s post-Bubble from 2002 to today.

PG: But the failure rate is going to be much higher overall. This is just your portfolio.

RC: That’s right. Just our portfolio that we picked closely from. Repeat entrepreneurs have a 66% of being successful on startup #2.

MA: Does it matter if they were successful the first time?

RC: Well 70% of those companies had a successful first exit. Funny how that works.

RC: A high percentage had huge flame outs too. A third.

MA: What’s the average age of investment?

RC: I don’t know. It’s 25 and under.

PG: Ours is 26 — yours have to be older.

MA: What’s the ROI been?

RC: I haven’t shared that — probably never will. There’s more money coming in. Two more data points: entrepreneurs who start a company, regardless of the climate — since 2002 to today — we’ve had ups and down. Entrepreneurs have the same chance of success — Anytime is a good time to start a company.

MA: Who is the coolest entrepreneur you’ve ever met?

RC: I’m gonna dodge that bullet and say Shawn Fanning. He’s started 3 companies.

MA: Zuckerberg vs. Fanning in the startup pit. He takes him out at the knees right?

RC: Zuck has grown in maturity at an algorithmic scale. He’s a leader. You are a different person than you were 6 months ago. One other point that I think is interesting. People are saying ‘every 10 years we get a Google.” That’s not true. I invested in AskJeeves, then came Google. 4 years later was Facebook. 2 years later was Twitter. 2 years later was Foursquare, Zynga, etc. Great companies are being created at a much greater rate. Awesome news for entrepreneurs. Giant companies every 2 years.

MA: Paul your data has helped you pick entrepreneurs.

PG: We haven’t had enough exits. We noticed that 4 person teams have done badly. We’re not for sure why, but I have a theory. 2 and 3 is good but 1 isn’t great. We’ll fund them, but 2 and 3 is optimal

MA: What about 2 if they’re dating.

PG: It depends. If they stay together. Or if they’re married.

MA: What if you’re gay?

PG: So far it’s all good.

MA: Women?

PG: Only 14 women out of 450 so far. But that’s just because of the applicant pool.

Calvert Partners Introduces Duval Virtual Instruction Academy in Florida

Social Currency CrunchUp Live

Good morning from the TechCrunch Social Currency CrunchUp at the Stanford Campus, where many of Silicon Valley’s most seasoned entrepreneurs and investors are joining us to discuss the future of coupons, social commerce, virtual goods, gaming mechanics, and a range of other timely topics. We’re streaming the event in its entirety live on Ustream.

Ready Wireless, LLC Announces Ready Broadband Product Launch in Over 400 Fred's Hometown Discount Stores

Is It Real, Or Is It A Bootleg Sony Vaio?

It’s all pretty formulaic. “Company in China releases [knockoff product] that looks so much like the real thing.” See: iPed. Now: some Sony Vaio.

$240 gets you a 1.6GHz Intel Atom, 1GB of memory, and a 160GB hard drive.

Fine craftsmanship, here.

Shenandoah Telecommunications Company Completes Purchase of JetBroadband Holdings, LLC

Slip 'N Slide Time: All the Presentations From Microsoft's Financial Analyst Meeting [BoomTown]

Microsoft had its annual Financial Analyst Meeting at its Redmond, Wash., campus yesterday, where BoomTown liveblogged the morning and afternoon sessions with the software giant’s top execs.

That included CEO Steve Ballmer, who talked about how a tablet device to compete with the Apple (AAPL) iPad was coming from Microsoft “soon” and also the company’s efforts in its eight “core” businesses.

And, because it is Microsoft (MSFT), there were lots and lots of slides to look at, which are all below from its panoply of execs.

Here they all are for your data-crunching pleasure (and you can also read transcripts of the day’s events on Microsoft’s newly refreshed investor site.

CEO Steve Ballmer:

Ballmer_FAM_2010_Part1

COO Kevin Turner:

Turner_FAM_2010

CFO Peter Klein:

Klein_FAM_2010

Bill Koefoed, General Manager, Investor Relations:

Koefoed_FAM_2010

Craig Mundie, Chief Research and Strategy Officer:

Mundie_FAM_2010

UK Body Clears Google Of Wi-Fi Wrongdoing

Google has been cleared of any wrongdoing relating to Wi-Fi snooping in the UK. Well, partially cleared. The country’s Information Commissioner’s Office, whose job is to “uphold information rights in the public interest, promoting openness by public bodies and data privacy for individuals,” has said that “it is unlikely that Google will have captured significant amounts of personal data” during its Street View mappings.

Tron Legacy score contributions by Daft Punk leaked?

Tron Legacy score contributions by Daft Punk leaked?

Fishing Industry Fears Oil's Lingering Effects

Mutilated Afghan woman on cover of Time: Afghansploitation?

Mutilated Afghan woman on cover of Time: Afghansploitation?

On the cover of the current issue of TIME: Aisha, an 18 year-old Afghan girl whose nose was cut off for "shaming" her in-laws. Her story blogged previously on Boing Boing here. The cover is sure to shock, and some criticize it as "Afghansploitation": an image used at a sensitive moment, to inspire support for endless war. (Thanks, Kristie LuStout)

Source: Boing Boing | 30 Jul 2010 | 9:43 am

Intel Wins Key Antitrust Ruling [Digital Daily]

Intel has won a crucial victory in a lawsuit claiming that consumers were harmed by the improper discounts it allegedly used to discourage PC makers from buying chips from its rivals. Late Thursday, a court-appointed “special master” recommended that the judge presiding over the case deny it class-action status, saying essentially that if consumers were overcharged as a result of Intel’s alleged tactics, it wasn’t Intel’s fault. PC makers could have passed on the cost savings of Intel’s discounted prices if they’d chosen to.

Welcome news for Intel (INTC), which has long insisted there is nothing wrong with its business practices. “Consumers, as well as computer manufacturers, have benefited from Intel’s price discounts,” said spokesman Chuck Mulloy. “When Intel’s competitors offer lower prices, Intel responds with its own discounts that lower Intel’s prices, just as any competitive company would.”

For their part, the plaintiffs in the case plan to press on. “We strongly disagree with the recommendations made in the report as it ignores charges made by several regulatory bodies,” said attorney Steve Berman. “We plan to continue to prove our case to the court.”

Wii, wii, wii—all the way back to the gym

Wii, wii, wii—all the way back to the gym

Harris Corporation Completes Acquisition of CapRock Communications

Equatorial Guinea Connects to the Future With New Telecommunications Projects

Samsung Cetus Outed by Bluetooth SIG, 4-Inch Windows Phone 7 Handset

Samsung’s first Windows Phone 7 device just broke cover, thanks to the Bluetooth SIG. And, just as we had imagined it would be, it’s a device that can definitely work well to steal some of our attention, even for just a bit. Also not surprising, is the fact that it’s going to be on par with their already released, well-received Galaxy S devices. So if you would, please welcome the Samsung Cetus into existence.

We’ve actually heard of the Cetus before, but back then it had a different model number than this time around. It was leaked in a UK cellphone roadmap, and sure enough the device is certainly real. Features wise, if you’re looking to buy a Windows Phone 7 device, this may be the one to start leaning towards. It will feature a 4-inch WVGA AMOLED display (which Samsung Hub believes it will be Super AMOLED, and we have no reason to disagree with that belief), WiFi, GPS, and an integrated FM radio.

Oh, and there’s a front-facing VGA camera, too. On the back, a 5MP version. It has a microUSB port, and it will rock Bluetooth version 2.1. Unfortunately there’s nothing on the internals at this point, but that should start trickling out soon enough. Now we just need a release date.

[via Samsung Hub]

Relevant Entries on SlashGear

• Nokia E7, Samsung i8700 Cetus, HTC Gold and Ace all dated in UK cellphone roadmap leak
• SlashGear Exclusive: Video Hands-on with Samsung’s Giorgio Armani phone
• Samsung Omnia II hits Verizon on December 2
• Samsung SGH-i718: Chinese Smartphone
• LG Windows Phone 7 handset caught in wild?

Law enforcement agencies to test new type of non-lethal weapon

Section: Gadgets / Other, Miscellaneous

Law enforcement agencies in the Northwest are preparing to test a new kind of non-lethal weapon. The Dazer Laser, made by North Carolina based company Laser Energetics, emits a ray of bright green light that it says temporarily blinds and disorients. It has less side affects than the popular taser and can be used at distances up to a mile and a half, far longer than pepper spray. It also requires much less training, which can save police departments money, The company says the blindness and disorientation can last up to a few hours depending on the person its used on. For safety’s sake, it’s activated only by a security code and can be set to deactivate if it falls into the wrong hands. It is not available to the general public.

Read [CNet]

Full Story » | Written by Sue Walsh for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

Fish & Richardson Announces $28 Million Verdict for Video Game Legend Richard Garriott

Fish & Richardson Announces $28 Million Verdict for Video Game Legend Richard Garriott

FBI pokes around Defcon social engineering contest that tries to obtain corporate information

The world-famous Defcon hacker conference is currently ongoing in Las Vegas, and we already have our first bit of controversy. (I fully expect plenty of “evil hackers do bad things” stories to pop up in the coming hours.) A social engineering contest that encouraged participants to try to social engineer their way into major corporations has drawn the ire of THE MAN, specifically the FBI. Always trying to ruin the fun, those guys.

The contest wasn’t all that complicated: contestants were put in soundproof booths (but with a microphone so that audience members could hear what was going on) and they were to try to social engineer their way up the food chain at various corporations. The point was to see who was able to social engineer their way to the “best” piece of information.

Social engineering, of course, is the art of persuading people to tell you something, or give you information, that they’re otherwise disinclined to tell or give.

Because of the nature of the contest, and after consulting with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, contestants were bound to certain rules: no asking for sensitive information such as passwords. Says the rules, “If something seems unethical—don’t do it. If you have questions, ask a judge.”

So what type of information were the contestants looking for? Mostly harmless nonsense, nearest I can tell. Listed examples include asking who handles your paper shredding or who takes out your trash.

Again, harmless nonsense.

But no!

The banking industry was particularly concerned about the contest, going so far as to warn their employees, including legal departments, about it. I guess they didn’t feel comfortable with someone asking questions about their practices. Real fine society we have here. The FBI was called in, and grilled contest organizers about the nature of the contest.

Thankfully, after checking in, the FBI was satisfied, finally realizing that there was absolutely no cause for concern.

Contest on!

Charterhouse Group to Sell NewPath Networks to Crown Castle in a $115 Million Transaction

Findmypast.co.uk Makes Birth Records Even Easier to Search

Vatican website hit by Google bomb

Section: Web, Websites, Google

Hackers Google-bombed the Vatican’s website over the weekend, redirecting people searching for it to a site called pedofilo.com. Pedofilo is italian for pedophile. Some reports said it was a Mexican religious site, but it has since been taken offline. Obviously it was someone trying to make a statement regarding the messy scandal. the church has found itself i It was Vatican officials themselves that spotted the issue and they immediately contacted Google. A spokesperson for Google refused to confirm or deny there was an attack.

Read[The Register]

Full Story » | Written by Sue Walsh for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

Environmental Tectonics Corporation Announces the Expansion of its Board of Directors

Video Game That Teaches Microbiology Wows Hardcore Gamers, Earns Top Reviews

ASI Awarded FAA SE2020 Systems Engineering Contract to Support NextGen Modernization as a Partner With General Dynamics Information Technology

Cybercriminals Put a New Spin on Old Threats

Cybercriminals Put a New Spin on Old Threats

Dell reaches $100 million settlement with SEC

Section: Computers, Desktops, Hardware, Laptops

Dell has reached a settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over an investigation into the company’s accounting and financial reporting practices. They were accused of being deceptive about their commercial relationship with Intel. CEO Michael Dell will also pay a $4 million personal penalty for his role.

This has not been a good month for Dell. In addition to the settlement, they were forced to admit some of their servers shipped with malware riddled firmware, then they announced they were accepting pre-orders for Dell Streak phone, only to yank the announcement 24 hours later saying it was a mistake.

Read [PCWorld]

Full Story » | Written by Sue Walsh for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

UK body clears Google of Wi-Fi wrongdoing

Flickr’d

Google has been cleared of any wrongdoing relating to Wi-Fi snooping in the UK. Well, partially cleared. The country’s Information Commissioner’s Office, whose job is to “uphold information rights in the public interest, promoting openness by public bodies and data privacy for individuals,” has said that “it is unlikely that Google will have captured significant amounts of personal data” during its Street View mappings.

The report added that there’s also no evidence—yet—that any of the data Google collected “has caused or could cause any individual detriment.”

In essence, all the hubbub that was stirred up by various privacy groups and concerned individuals seems to have been overstated.

Well, according to this one UK office.

Google isn’t free and clear quite yet. It’s still under investigation in various European countries, including France and Germany, and there’s still a class-action lawsuit pending against it here in the U.S.

But if one prominent office says that it found no wrongdoing, what are the odds that another office will throw the book at Mountain View?

This, of course, doesn’t mean you should still feel comfortable with Google cars driving about your neighborhood, perhaps obtaining the name of your Wi-Fi access point, but there doesn’t appear to be any “real” reason to be too upset.

Strategic Products and Services and Consultedge Announce Intent to Merge

Publishers, Apple battle over iPad subscriptions (Appolicious)

TeamSystem auction to end "within weeks"-sources

IEEE Launches New Features for IEEE Xplore Digital Library

North Korean soccer team fails at "ideological struggle"

Is This Nondescript Black Slate Samsung’s iPad Fighter?

Talk about your classic Internet rumor. This pic is currently working its way around gadget and Android blogs as some think it’s Samsung’s upcoming Android tablet, which will possibly be called the Galaxy Tab. That’s really all anyone has. It’s just some dude holding what looks like a tablet. Amazing. Click through for a closer look.

"The Honeymoon Period for Apple in the Mobile World Is Clearly Coming to an End" [Digital Daily]

With global shipments that rose 43 percent to 60 million units in the second quarter, the cellphone industry has been on a real tear lately. And while it’s not yet a top-five player there, Apple has been reaping the benefits of fast developing interest in high-end 3G touchscreen phones. In the second quarter, the company’s iPhone shipments rose 61 percent, according to research outfit Strategy Analytics.

Apple (AAPL) now has an almost 14 percent share of the smartphone market and an almost three percent share of the overall handset market. The company shipped 8.4 million iPhones during the quarter–a nice increase from the 5.2 million it shipped a year earlier, but down from the 8.8 million of the prior quarter. And to Strategy Analytics, that suggests the iPhone juggernaut may be slowing, if only a bit. “The honeymoon period for Apple in the mobile world is clearly coming to an end,” Strategy Analytics analyst Neil Mawston wrote. “Apple was criticized for its intensive production methods in China, while the iPhone has been heavily criticized for its poorly designed touchable antenna, and may have lost some heartshare in recent weeks because of its perceived mishandling of the antenna problem.”

Because of that, said Mawston, the iPhone is now “more vulnerable to competitive attacks from rivals like Nokia, Android, BlackBerry and Motorola.” More vulnerable, sure. But only to the well-armed attacker, and I’m not sure you could say that about everyone on Mawston’s list. Not yet, anyway.

And seriously, Nokia?

Reveille Software Announces New Customers for its Management Console for EMC Captiva InputAccel

Enlightened Protege Awarded Ginnie Mae Contract

Droid 2 cases arrive at Best Buy, actual Droid 2 nowhere to be found

Section: Communications, Accessories, Smartphones, Mobile

Nothing like being able to walk in and purchase a case when the phone that is supposed to go in the case is nowhere to be found. Heck, at this point neither Verizon or Motorola have even made an official announcement. Of course, this is the Droid 2 that I am speaking about. But honestly, with all of the leaked information we have seen up till this point, this comes with little surprise. That said, if you are planning to pick up a Droid 2 when it comes available, rest assured in knowing that you can get your case and have it ready beforehand.

Via [Engadget]

Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

YouTube Now Supports 15 Minutes of Fame - PC World

KOMO News

YouTube Now Supports 15 Minutes of Fame PC World Artwork: Chip TaylorYouTube says its Content ID system makes the extra five minutes possible. With all major movie studios and music labels using Content ID to sniff out copyrighted material, and the technology improved enough, YouTube can afford to ... YouTube wants your 15 minutes of fameCNN YouTube ups video time limitRegister YouTube Gives Users 15 Minutes of Video TimeeWeek E-Commerce Times -CIO Today -News Provider all 334 news articles »

Emulate the HP 12c On Your Palm Pre

If you’ve never taken an accounting class, you won’t understand why the HP 12c is so important. It’s basically the go to financial calculator for everyone who has ever touched a 1099.

This is a Javascript emulation of the calculator and not a full app but don’t worry – you’ll be able to calculate the TCO of the dying Palm brand as HP subsumes and destroys the company inside its gaping, Sarlacc-like maw.

via PreCentral

Stand Back There’s A Hurricane Coming Through: Google Adds Weather Data To Google Earth

Google has added weather data to its Google Earth application. As of now, the new feature only supports locations in North America and parts of Europe.

Stand Back There’s A Hurricane Coming Through: Google Adds Weather Data To Google Earth

Google has added weather data to its Google Earth application. As of now, the new feature only supports locations in North America and parts of Europe.

In its blog, Google explains the feature not so much as being a substitute for watching The Weather Channel or visiting a weather Web site so much as it is an extension of the Google Earth experience. You fly about, check out this or that landform, but now you’re able to see if there’s a hurricane in the area, or if maybe there’s a thunderstorm en route.

No, not exactly the most exciting story you’ll see all day, but should be worth checking out when you have a spare moment or two.

Gamertell Review: DDRGame Tough Non-stick Dance Platform

FROM GAMERTELL - Dance in more comfort and stype with DDRGames’ newest dance pad that stays flat and is quite comfy on your feet…
MORE »

Full Story » | Written by NEWS for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

Confirmed: Sprint EVO 4G Is First to Froyo

Sprint is releasing Android 2.2 on the EVO 4G on August 3. Mark you calendars because if you have an EVO 4G, you’re on a ride to Froyo-town.

Sprint will be the first wireless carrier to bring the latest version of Android to its customers. The Android 2.2 software release provides a significant number of feature enhancements, including:

Voice Dialing Over Bluetooth.
Application Storage on External Memory, giving users more storage room for all their apps.
Camera 4-way rotation allows the camera icons to rotate with the camera.
Improved Browser Performance including a faster JavaScript engine and Flash 10x Support improving the user’s ability to view videos and available content associated with web pages.

The Polyvore Team Talks About User-Generated Fashion Stylists and More! [BoomTown]

Earlier this week, I headed down to Mountain View, Calif., to the downtown HQ of Polyvore–the unusually named start-up aimed at the inner stylist in everyone–to talk about the economics of fashion online.

The odd name is a combination that roughly means the devouring of many or much–which at Polyvore translates into leopard prints, kitten heels or the rubber clothes of Lady Gaga.

The registered site, with six million unique monthly visitors, allows users to “mix & match products from your favorite stores” into fashion “sets” on any topic, concept or–in BoomTown’s taste-challenged case–fleece and Pumas.

You can use any soft-goods image from any Web site to do this, also adding music or other visual elements. Polyvore has already branched out into interior design and other arenas.

In February, to up the ante, the innovative fashion and shopping social network hired Sukhinder Singh Cassidy, former president of Asia-Pacific and Latin American operations for Google (GOOG).

At the time, Singh Cassidy said she was attracted to the viral, technological and global nature of the site, which was co-founded in 2007 by Pasha Sadri, the creator of Yahoo (YHOO) Pipes.

Polyvore has garnered $8.1 million in funding from Benchmark Capital, Harrison Metal and Matrix Partners.

Whether it can turn into a big money-making business–it currently has a mixed revenue plan of advertising and sponsorship and also sales lead generation–will be interesting to see.

But it is clear from the 20 million sets created so far, there is a passion to fashion that is easily tapped online.

Here’s the video of an interview I had with Singh Cassidy, Sadri and product head Jess Lee, another former Googler, along with a short tour of Polyvore’s HQ:

QOTD [Digital Daily]

QOTD [Digital Daily]

“The first time someone created a camera, there was someone who said, ‘Wouldn’t it be good for someone to take off their clothes in front of this camera?’”

– Interpret LLC’s Michael Gartenberg on the porn industry’s plans for the iPhone 4’s FaceTime video chat feature

Long-Term Plans New Focus Of Gulf Spill Cleanup

Daydreams of Foreign Travel Prove Most Transporting

Genius: FridgePad Turns iPad into Giant Fridge-Magnet

The FridgePad is billed as the “ultimate fridge magnet”. I’d say it’s probably the ultimate anything. Think about it. Even with my obviously awesome “Waterproof, Kitchen-Proof iPad Case” (a ziploc bag), your iPad still gets in harms way in the kitchen. The FridgePad fixes this by mounting the iPad up where nature intended: on the front of the refrigerator.

Made of aluminum with a big old magnet on the back to keep it firmly stuck to the fridge, the FridgePad holds the iPad with four plastic corner clips. Once secured to the door of the smallest and coldest room in the house, you can use the iPad to play music, podcasts or audiobooks, show you recipes or, well, anything the iPad can do. The more I think about it, the more it is clear how perfect the iPad is as a kitchen computer. And if you’re really messy when you cook, you could even slip the whole rig, magnet and all, into the ziploc bag and just slap that onto the refrigerator.

The stand will cost £50 ($78) when it ships, and will be available through Amazon. There’s no word yet on a launch date, but you can sign up for email alerts on the product site. In the meantime, I have a feeling that a trip to the hardware store is in order.

FridgePad [Woodford Design via CrunchGear]

See Also:

• Endo: Finally, A Useful Fridge Magnet
• Vista Fridge Magnet Completely Misses the Point
• How-To: Gorillapod Doubles as Awesome iPad Stand
• How-To Make a Waterproof, Kitchen-Proof iPad Case and Stand …

Follow us for real-time tech news: Charlie Sorrel and Gadget Lab on Twitter..

Facebook's IPO Waiting Game Gets a Little Longer–"Probably" Not Going Public in 2011 [MediaMemo]

Perennial question for Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg: When are you going public? Perennial answer: Someday, probably. But I’m not in a rush.

Now a new report from Bloomberg puts a finer point on it. Citing three anonymous sources, it says the social network will “probably” push off an IPO until 2012.

That certainly sounds plausible. It’s not clear that Facebook needs to raise any cash for operations, given the booming ad business it has finally gotten off the ground. And more money will be coming in the door this year when the company launches its own payment/credits system for virtual goods.

Zuckerberg has structured his board, and ownership structure, so he retains control of the company, so investors who would agitate for an IPO don’t have much leverage. And if the company does want to sell shares, it has plenty of options in the private market.

Assuming Bloomberg’s story is correct, there is at least one significant ripple effect here. If Facebook doesn’t IPO for another 12 months or more, that reduces the pressure on social games giant Zynga to go public too.

The two company’s finances are tightly intertwined–for now, Facebook represents most of Zynga’s revenue, and Zynga is a big chunk of Facebook’s business. Which means that whoever goes public and opens their books first is also opening the other company’s books to some degree. There’s an interesting game of chicken going on there, and it’s worth keeping an eye on.

Meanwhile, if you’re dying to buy Facebook on the open market, you may be able to do it in a roundabout way next year anyway. Russian investor Digital Sky Technologies, which bought a chunk of Facebook last year, is reportedly planning on a 2011 IPO.

Sweden, Land of Fjords and Long iPhone Lines

Our buddy Wille in Sweden sent us some thrilling video of the International Dia Del iPhone in Sweden where Swede, blonde, ruddy, and beautiful to a one, lined up to get them some Facetime-capable phones.
UPDATE – Hold the phone: China gave out McDonald’s!

According to these photos China totally knows how to party down with Mickey Ds and mineral water. Send us your international iPhone launch photos if you’ve got them.

Former NSA Director: Hold Nations Responsible for Cyberattacks, Period

Returning Cheetahs to India

Porn Industry Aroused by iPhone FaceTime

You will not be surprised that the porn industry is all over the iPhone 4 like a bad case of the clap. The latest business opportunity is, almost inevitably, FaceTime, although it probably won’t actually be called Face Time.

In the U.K., the ever-accurate Daily Mail reports that “video-sex chat services [...] are hiring workers through internet adverts.” These services would connect you one-on-one with the sex worker of your choice.

It’s a great idea. Because FaceTime is Wi-Fi only, you won’t be surprised at the end of the month by huge and scary charges on your phone-bill. Another advantage is that, because it won’t work over 3G, it’s unlikely that the person on the plane next to you will be indulging. A phone would also seem to be the perfect place for this most personal kind of entertainment. As Quentin Boyer of adult production company Pink Visual told the Mail: “A phone is such an intimate thing, you usually don’t lend it out or have someone else use it.” At least not without cleaning it first, we hope.

It’s often said that the porn industry drives technical innovation, but it might be more accurate to say that it is the ultimate early adopter. People scoffed at the idea of smut on cellphones until the iPhone made it easy to browse the web and the number of mobile porn sites took off. And the iPad, a device ridiculed for its lack of Adobe’s Flash plug-in, has seen adult video sites rushing to re-encode their catalogs in the iPad-friendly Quicktime format. Pushing sex over video chat has been pointless until now but, as the number of customers with easy video-calling explodes, so will the business opportunities.

Being the sensationalist rag that it is, the Mail veers off into talk of the dangers to kids (“children and sexual predators are often ahead of parents when comes to technology”) and tries to make a case that Apple somehow doesn’t like adult material on its devices (ridiculous, as Safari on the iPad is probably the best porn browser on the planet). But the best point in the article is made by adult actress Teagan Presley, who highlights a technical shortcoming of the face-to-face nature of video calls.

“You can have the phone on your face, or other body parts,” says Presley, “but not both at the same time.”

Now Apple iPhone 4 users can make video calls to X-rated stars with Face Time [Daily Mail]

Photo: Joe Loong/Flickr

See Also:

• Want Porn? Buy an Android Phone, Steve Jobs Says
• Adobe Plays the Porn Card in Flash Campaign Against iPad
• Apple Removes Porn Apps From App Store
• Porn Comes to the iTunes App Store
• Child Porn Is Apple's Latest iPhone Headache (Updated)

Follow us for real-time tech news: Charlie Sorrel and Gadget Lab on Twitter.

Porn Industry Aroused by FaceTime Possibilities

Porn Industry Aroused by FaceTime Possibilities

Audubon's First Bird Engraving Discovered

iPad Popular With Aviation Crowd

Gender-bending Fish On The Rise In Southern Alberta

Are Electric Cars Better for the Environment?

More Heat Waves In Store For New York?

GPad: Another iPhone Gamepad Case

Somebody needs to make an iPhone game-pad already. The iPhone is great for games and all, but for old-school platformers and beat-’em-ups like Streetfighter IV, nothing beats having some real buttons to mash. Enter the gPod, a be-buttoned case into which you slide the iPhone. It has a d-pad, four control buttons along with select, start and a pair of shoulder-buttons. It is the perfect thing for playing old Super Nintendo games.

But we doubt you’ll ever be able to buy one. It could be easily made, we’re sure, even though the current prototype is compatible with the first-gen iPhone only, but games would have to be written to use buttons. As only a small percentage of iPhone and iPod Touch owners would have this add-on, that would be a tiny market.

I’d buy one, though, even if it only worked with jailbroken iPhones: what would be better than spending an afternoon with this and a SNES emulator full of old game ROMs? Nothing, I tell you. Nothing at all. It even makes a pretty cool-looking case.

iPhone Game Pad [CP Design via Dr. Crypt]

See Also:

• Joypad Turns iPhone into Game Controller
• Racing Game for iPad Uses iPhones as Controllers
• iPhone 3.0 Wish List: Accessory-Powered Apps We Want
• 'iFun' Turns iPhone Into Wii-Like Controller
• Wiimote-Controlled SNES Emulator on iPad
• Video: SNES for iPad, Controlled by iPhone

Follow us for real-time tech news: Charlie Sorrel and Gadget Lab on Twitter.

100,000 Android applications submitted to date, AndroLib claims

Revenge of the TV Monitor Zombies

Bottle Cap Punch Makes You Look Pretty Tough

The BottleBob Bottle Cap Punch is a gimmick, a gee-gaw, a single-purpose uni-tasking tchotchke. But despite this, what it does is pretty awesome. It cuts holes in the metal caps of soda-bottles so, when you insert a regular plastic straw, it looks like you somehow punched that thing right through it, you old tough-guy you.

The plastic and metal punch also falls firmly into the category of “tat”. For those unfamiliar with this word, it comes from British English (aka “quaint” English) and has the following meaning in the New Oxford American Dictionary: “tasteless or shoddy clothes, jewelry, or ornaments”.

Still, imagine what this little widget could do for your reputation. If you can pierce a metal cap with a flimsy plastic tube, you could probably also… Well, I’ll leave that up to your imagination. $27, available now.

BottleBob Bottle Cap Punch [Epaulet Shop]

Follow us for real-time tech news: Charlie Sorrel and Gadget Lab on Twitter..

Panasonic updates Toughbook permanent display removable computer

You might be wondering exactly what a permanent display removable Toughbook is. Next time you see a police car look for its computer, this is the sort of computer public safety vehicles use. The hardware is inside the screen of the PC and the keyboard is permanently unattached to the thing.

Panasonic has upgraded the computer and it now offers a 12.1-inch sunlight-viewable screen with 2 to 1600nit LED backlighting. The machine also has dual integrated speakers, touchscreen capability, and five programmable function keys.

The new LCD is 40% brighter than previous versions making it easier to read in direct sunlight. The keyboard is now backlit as well making typing at night easier. The newly updated machine sells at a starting price of $2,279.

Relevant Entries on SlashGear

• Panasonic updates Toughbook line
• Panasonic updates Toughbook CF-52 and Toughbook CF-T8
• Panasonic debuts CF-31 rugged notebook computer
• New Toughbook tablet from Panasonic
• Panasonic teams up with Verizon Wireless for Embedded EV-DO in Toughbook line

Redbox now renting Blu-ray in many areas

Years ago, there were movie rental places all over my town. Then Blockbuster came in and put everyone out of business but one store. Over the last year, every one of the Blockbuster locations in my town has gone out of business leaving one rental store for a town of around 100,000 people.

This is the reason why there are Redbox kiosks popping up all over the place. The last time I was checking a Redbox kiosk I noticed one single Blu-ray film in the library. Redbox has now announced that it is renting Blu-ray films with the price reportedly at $1.50 per night.

You can hop over to the Redbox Blu-ray page and put in your zip code to find kiosks in your area packed with Blu-ray titles. Too bad this will do nothing to get the flicks into the Redbox catalog faster.

Relevant Entries on SlashGear

• Redbox and Paramount announce multi-year deal for release day DVD rentals
• Redbox Thinks They’re Ready for Video Games
• Blu-Ray Destined to Decline?
• Can you spot the rip-off?
• NEC SX-9 supercomputer reached fastest standing in HPC benchmark challenge

Dance of the Planets Gets Intimate

Xtraordinary Adventures taking reservations for LYNX suborbital space ride

I am betting that a common geek theme among many of us out there is that we wanted to be astronauts when we were little. We may be too old for the space program now, but thanks to companies like Xtraordinary Adventures, you can still take that suborbital space flight, assuming you are loaded.

The company will take you on a suborbital flight in their awkward looking LYNX reusable space ship. Each ride will cost you $95,000, which is a bargain compared to the other space flight companies out there. Virgin Galactic will charge $200,000 and Space Adventures wants $102,000 for its flight.

The LYNX is piloted by Col. Rick Searfoss and will reach speeds of Mach 3.5+. If you want to book your flight, set to start in 2012, you need to cough up a $20,000 deposit. Your $95,000 fee includes a four-day training session and a two-day brief before the flight.

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Space Invader couch is perfect for your retro game room

Back in the day, I had a few favorite video games that I played on my Atari. I would often move from Pac Man to Asteroids and then to Space Invaders and back again. If you have a love for retro gaming this sweet Space Invader Couch will bring back memories.

If I had a retro gaming room, this would totally be the couch I would play games on. We don’t have many details on the thing. It looks like it is made from cubes to keep the pixel art theme going.

I can’t tell if the sitting surface is hard plastic or cushioned. All we really need to know is that the couch is cool as hell and how often can you say that about a couch?

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Gallery of Rephotography Shows WWII in Today’s Cities

On Monday we took a look at computational rephotography, a technique for making a new photo exactly match the point-of-view of an old photo. Today we take a look at a gallery of photos showing rephotography in action.

The pictures have been put together by Russian whizz Sergey Larenkov and posted on his Livejournal (yes, Livejournal is still around). Larenkov’s trick is to place old wartime pictures into modern settings, feathering the images to make them sit in the middle of modern life. Thus we see troops moving through a modern Vienna street, past stores and cars an tanks on the streets of Prague.

Some of Larenkov’s works are fascinating. The picture above shows Russian Red Army Marshall Georgy Zhukov on the steps of the Reichstag in Berlin. Zhukov conquered the city in the second World War, and now he stands amongst tourists. It’s pretty spooky.

Go grab a coffee and click the link. Not all of the pictures are as well executed as this one, but they are all interesting, and show that war is something that happens on our own streets, and not just in far-away places.

Sergey Larenkov’s rephotography [Livejournal via the Giz]

See Also:

• Camera Software Lets You See Into the Past

Follow us for real-time tech news: Charlie Sorrel and Gadget Lab on Twitter.

X Prize Foundation Announces Oil Cleanup Challenge

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Green umbrella drying concept waters plants

It does not rain that much in the drought prone part of Texas where I live. When it does, it rains a lot in a short period typically. For a few days we will live under an umbrella and all that water from the wet surface of said umbrella tends to make a mess.

If you live in an area with lots of rain and have to keep an umbrella handy this cool concept umbrella dryer will be right up your alley. The thing has tall green sponge fingers that you cram the umbrella between. The water is soaked up by the sponges.

That water then filters down to the bottom of the trough where some green plants use the water to live. Another concept by the same designer looks like a pencil and has some sponge cloth inside to dry the umbrella.

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Kindle for iOS Brings iPad Search, Dictionary, Fast-Switching

Just days after updating the hardware Kindle with a smaller, cheaper model, Amazon has updated the Kindle app for iOS devices and it remains the same size and the same price (free). This release brings something for everyone in the form of iOS4 compatibility and general improvements.

There are a few dull but worthy additions: fast app-switching on the iPhone 4, improved search on the iPhone and iPod Touch and something has been done to the line-spacing on the iPad to “improve” it. But that’s boring. Much meatier are Google and Wikipedia lookup for words, along with a 250,000-word dictionary. Interestingly, this dictionary isn’t included in the download itself, but is pulled down the first time you highlight a word. Google and Wikipedia lookups whisk you off to Safari. An in-app browser would be nice, but I guess with the fast app-switching, it wouldn’t save much time.

The best news for iPad users is that there is now searching inside books, so buying cook-books from the Kindle store now makes sense. And that’s it. Like the new Kindle, none of the new features is huge in itself, but together they make an already good product better.

Kindle for iPhone and iPad [iTunes]

See Also:

• Amazon Shows Off Kindle for iPad
• Could a $50 'Paperback' Kindle Beat the iPad?
• Amazon Strikes Back at the iPad With New, $140 Kindle

Follow us for real-time tech news: Charlie Sorrel and Gadget Lab on Twitter.

Google says it may have overestimated blockage of services in China - San Jose Mercury News

CBC.ca

Google says it may have overestimated blockage of services in China San Jose Mercury News Following a report by Google that its search and other services were "fully blocked" in China — triggering an international flurry of news stories — Google said late Thursday that its automated systems might have exaggerated the size of ... Google overestimated China blockageTelegraph.co.uk Google blocked overnight in ChinaComputerworld (blog) Google Says Its Web Search Service In China Operating NormallyWall Street Journal CNET -The Associated Press -Register all 657 news articles »

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Rumor: Sprint Peel Being Developed To Work With iPod Touch

This is kind of a strange rumor, and if it ends up being true, the Peel will be a strange device. Essentially, Sprint is developing another variation on the wifi hotspot – which is good – but this particular product works directly with the iPod Touch.

Now assuming you can control the wifi hotspot with the iPod, and that it provides a data connection for said iPod, I like it. The interface (assuming Apple approves it – ha ha) would certainly be more convenient than the USB port controlled version we used last CES. I’d consider this rumor to be a strong possibility, since it’s based of an FCC filing, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it’ll ever make it to market. I hope it does – I’ve found myself in quite a few situations where it would have been nice to have this type of technology attached to my iPod Touch.

[via TUAW]

Sprint EVO 4G To Get 2.2 Update On August 3rd

Delicious Froyo will be hitting the huge and controversial EVO 4G starting in early August, according to Sprint. The update will begin its OTA rollout on August 3rd and they expet it to be done by “mid-August.” Once it goes public, I’m sure there will be a way to force it onto your handset if you don’t feel like waiting. We’ll detail that once it happens.

The improvements we’ve been talking about for weeks and weeks are forthcoming! But will it make the EVO last a full day on one charge? Only time will tell.

Meanwhile, here’s the full press release, minus a bunch of EVO review excerpts they included.

Wendy Schmidt, wife of Google CEO, funds $1.4M X PRIZE Challenge for oil spill cleanup

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

At the National Press Club in Washington, DC Thursday, the X PRIZE Foundation launched its $1.4 million oil spill clean-up competition called the Wendy Schmidt Oil Cleanup X Challenge. The Foundation, which currently also has a $10 million challenge to develop a 100 mile per gallon car, first announced this competition at an independently organized TED event in June dedicated to the Deepwater Horizon oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico.

But it was not announced at that time who the benefactor of the prize would be. Today, it was announced that the funds for the challenge have been put up by none other than Wendy Schmidt, wife of Google CEO Eric Schmidt, and president of the Schmidt Family Foundation.

The challenge will reward three grants totaling $1.4 million to entrepreneurs, engineers, or scientists who can develop and deploy an efficient way to capture crude oil from the surface of the ocean.

Schmidt describes the reason for the contribution in very familiar terms, "When I think about it, I realize we are looking at an old operating system: last century's energy infrastructure coupled with an inadequate and out-of-date understanding of the human relationship with natural resources. We need Version 2.0. The sooner the better."

The first phase of the challenge will take place between August 2010 and April 2011, where teams from around the world can submit their proposals to a panel of judges who will determine each submission's technical and commercial viability, its impact on the environment, its scalability and cost, and the degree to which it improves current technologies.

The judges will choose 10 submissions, and the teams who developed them will have to demonstrate their proofs of concept in a head to head competition at the National Oil Spill Response Research and Renewable Energy Test Facility (OHSMETT) in New Jersey.

Currently, there are three prizes. A $1 million Grand Purse, $300,000 second place, and $100,000 third place. The X PRIZE Foundation is hoping to attract more philanthropists and venture capitalists to contribute and improve the prize. On the group's Oil Cleanup Challenge site it is also accepting donations from anyone with an interest in advancing the cleanup innovation.

"This taps into the grassroots, entrepreneurial spirit that made this country so great," said Philippe Cousteau, CEO of EarthEcho International and grandson of legendary oceanographer Jacques-Yves Cousteau. "I think we owe a healthy, robust environment not only to ourselves, but especially to future generations."

Gallery: How to Build an Earthquake-Resistant Bridge

Few engineering projects have the scope, costs or risks involved in building a new bridge.

San Francisco Bay Area residents got a peek at what’s involved Wednesday, when builders set in place the first segment of a tower that will soon hold up a brand-new span of the San Francisco Bay Bridge.

Wired captured photos of the event, as well as many inside photos of the new bridge that we shot on a recent tour of the massive construction project.

More than 250,000 vehicles pass over this bridge every day, carrying people and freight between San Francisco and the east side of the bay. You can’t exactly ask that much traffic to wait patiently while you tear down the existing bridge and replace it with a new one.

Complicating matters is the fact that the San Francisco Bay Area is one of the most seismically active regions of the United States. Any bridge built here has to be able to withstand a massive quake — since some big shaker is almost certain to hit sometime during the bridge’s expected 150-year lifespan.

In fact, engineers are designing the new Bay Bridge segments to withstand the largest earth movements predicted for the next 1,500 years. The specifications call for the bridge to be open to traffic within hours after such a massive quake, with minimal repairs required.

No wonder it has taken two decades to come up with a replacement for the Bay Bridge’s damaged eastern span.

This page: What locals call the Bay Bridge is actually three bridges: a pair of suspension bridges leading from San Francisco in the west to Yerba Buena island in the middle of San Francisco Bay; and an eastern section made out of steel girders, leading from the island to Oakland, on the east side of the bay. Connecting the two is a 76-foot wide, 58-foot high tunnel — the largest bore tunnel in the world — going through the heart of the island.

It’s the eastern span, shown here, that took a hit during the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. A section of the upper roadway collapsed in that quake.

Photo: Stefan Armijo/Wired.com

Gallery: How to Build an Earthquake-Resistant Bridge

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'White Graphene' To The Rescue

Personal data of 170 million Facebook users exposed, collected, and shared without any hacking

By Ed Oswald, Betanews

Using publicly available information on Facebook, a researcher has been able to gather personal details of nearly 170 million users of the service, or about a third of all users. The data includes names, addresses, e-mails, phone numbers, and birthdays: essentially anything that was not marked as private is now part of this file.

The file has now ended up on The Pirate Bay, and so far has seen over 10,000 downloads. This could mean hackers would have an easy way to obtain personal information necessary for identity theft and other malicious uses.

Skull Security researcher Ron Bowes was the man behind the work. He did not hack into the service at all but rather scraped the data from Facebook's open directory. While it's a violation of the social networking site's terms of service, nothing is stopping anyone from doing it.

Bowes has decided to make the file a torrent, even though he acknowledged that the more info an attacker had on a person, the higher likelihood of a security breach. His move is somewhat curious considering he arguably could be held liable for attacks as a result of his actions.

Even so, the incident could prove to be a wake up call for those sharing data on Facebook. "I am of the belief that, if I can do something then there are about 1,000 bad guys that can do it too," he told the BBC News Thursday.

"For that reason, I believe in open disclosure of issues like this, especially when there's minimal potential for anybody to get hurt. Since this is already public information, I see very little harm in disclosing it," he argued.

Facebook Spokesperson Andrew Noyes told several media outlets that this was public information and no private information had been disclosed as a result of Bowes' work. The quick downplay of the data leak is probably due to the drubbing the social networking site has taken when it comes to privacy as of late.

To ensure that your own data is not at risk, users of Facebook should take the following steps. Click on "Privacy Settings" under the Account menu option. Ensure that information is not set for "Everyone" to view. Alternatively, the user can also uncheck "Enable Public Search" which would take the account out of the directory Bowes used to do the data mining.

The Skull Security website was inaccessible as of Thursday afternoon.

Researchers find 80 different Android wallpaper apps skimming sensitive data

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

While the superstar of the Black Hat USA 2010 security conference in Las Vegas this week was Barnaby Jack from IOActive showing off techniques for "Jackpotting" Windows CE-based ATMs, research from security company Lookout has had a much broader impact on consumers, especially those using Android smartphones.

Lookout's "App Genome Project" is an ongoing study of the millions of mobile applications available, the user data that they collect, and threats they present. During their research for the project, the team found a series of simple Wallpaper apps in the Android Market which were suspiciously collecting more data than they needed to.

"The wallpaper applications that we analyzed transmitted several pieces of sensitive data to a server over an unencrypted network connection. The data included the device's phone number, subscriber identifier (e.g. IMSI), and the currently entered voicemail number on the phone," Lookout CTO Kevin Mahaffey said today. "While this sort of data collection from a wallpaper application is certainly suspicious, there's no evidence of malicious behavior. There have been cases in the past on other mobile platforms where well-intentioned developers are simply over-zealous in their data gathering, without having malicious intent."

The group found more than 80 wallpaper apps that did this, and they all traced back to two developers "Jackeey" and "wallpaper," both of whom have since changed their names. The various apps are estimated to have been downloaded between one and four million times.

There's a good chance you have downloaded one if you're an Android user.

"While the data this app is accessing is certainly suspicious coming from a wallpaper app, we want to be clear that there is no evidence of malicious behavior," Mahaffey said today. He also said that Google is aware of the situation and is currently investigating the suspicious apps.

Motorola Droid 2 user manual spills out for your pre-release perusal

You know how we’ll know when we’re living in the future? When user manuals for gadgets start leaking out before that gadget even officially exists. Oh, that’s now. Welcome to the future!

If you’re just itchin’ to know all the right places to touch the Droid 2, you’re in luck: the user manual has just leaked out.

Unearthed by DroidLife, the guide confirms some interesting tidbits:

• If you were hopin’ for vanilla, untouched Android.. sorry! From the screenshots, it looks like it’s running the same build of Motorola’s MOTO BLUR interface as the Droid X.
• The screenshots look oh-so-Android-2.2ish, with a handful of hints indicating that this thing will ship with Froyo out-of-the-box.
• Like the Droid X before it, it looks like the Droid 2′s on-screen keyboard will be multitouch. It’ll also come pre-loaded with Swype.

You can find the link to the full user manual here. Find any other gems lurking within its pages? Let us know in the comments below.

Android App’s Data Collection Raises Mobile-Security Questions

An Android app that offers free wallpapers is allegedly gathering data about its users, including their phone numbers, carrier subscriber identifiers and phone number of their voicemail accounts. The app then sends this data to a website based in China, says mobile security firm Lookout.

The Android app, called Jackeey, is estimated to have anywhere from 1 to 4 million downloads.

“While the data accessed are certainly suspicious coming from wallpaper apps, we’re not saying that these applications are malicious,” Kevin Mahaffey, founder and CTO of Lookout wrote in an e-mail to Android Central. “There have been cases in the past where the applications are simply a little overzealous in their data-gathering practices, but not because of any ill intent.”

The Jackeey app does not touch the SMS and browsing capabilities of the phone. Lookout made the disclosure at the ongoing Black Hat conference in Las Vegas. (See Wired.com’s Threat Level blog for more coverage of Black Hat.)

Wired.com was not able to contact the developers of the Jackeey wallpapers.

While one Android app has been singled out, many iPhone apps also intrude into the users’ privacy, says Lookout. A survey of 300,000 applications for both the iPhone and Android OS found twice as many free applications on the iPhone have the capability to access the user’s contact data (14 percent) as compared to Android (8 percent).

“Ultimately, the device OS makers should focus on better security,” says Dimitri Volkmann, a vice-president at Good Technology, which provides mobile security and device management for businesses. “It’s more about the maturity of the vendors rather than control vs. open source.”

How the data gathered from users is handled has been a minefield for phone makers. In 2009, a developer found the Palm Pre’s operating-system webOS sent his GPS location back to the company every day. Palm was also monitoring the webOS apps he used each day, and for how long he used each one. The outcry forced Palm to change how it handles data gathered by the OS.

Android app Jackeey’s missteps in handling user data has hurt and embarrassed them. But with thousands of apps in the Android app store and little supervision, it’s just a matter of time before a bigger mobile-security risk has major consequences for consumers.

See Also:

• Apple’s iPhone Security Gets Better, But Still Not BlackBerry
• Google Flips Remote Kill-Switch on Android Apps
• Hacker Says iPhone 3GS Encryption Is ‘Useless’ for Businesses
• Want to Fool Apple’s App Store? Plant an Easter Egg

Photo: (marketingfacts/Flickr)

Android App's Data Collection Raises Mobile-Security Questions

Verizon LTE USB Modem Pictures Leak

BGR just managed to get some pictures of Verizon’s LTE USB modem, which is apparently currently under testing. The modem is made by LG, and uses the next gen LTE SIM card.

Because this is a prototype and still in testing, there’s not really any other information available at this time, but the hardware sure looks good.

Microsoft wants to park a cloud container in your driveway

By Joe Wilcox, Betanews

Cloud computing dominated the morning's Microsoft Financial Analyst Meeting 2010 presentations. COO Kevin Turner and Chief Research Strategy Officer Craig Mundie spent more time talking cloud computing than any other topic. For Mundie, it was a bold departure from previous years, where he spoke broadly and almost exclusively about forthcoming technologies -- typically years from release, if ever. Last year, he asserted that the successor to the PC would be "a room."

Some reasons for Microsoft's cloud focus should be obvious:

1. Azure is available, as of six months ago.

2. Cloud computing is all the rage right now.

3. Microsoft recently released new hosted applications.

4. Competitors are rallying behind the cloud to runaround the Office-Windows-Windows Server applications stack.

5. Hosted apps let businesses offer employees anytime, anywhere, on-anything data access, while better protecting corporate information.

But there is another reason that might be less obvious: New sales. For core products Office and Windows, and increasingly SharePoint and Windows Server, Microsoft is reselling to the same customers. With these established products, the company doesn't have anything really new to offer. C`mon what's all that different between Office 2007 and 2010? Windows 7 is an easier upgrade because most businesses run 9-year-old Windows XP. But Microsoft is still selling to the same customers.

Azure and hosted Microsoft applications are new, fresh products with that familiar look and feel of the old stuff. Microsoft also can solve real-world problems: Helping businesses to meet mobile demands with lower privacy and security risks. It only takes one stolen or lost laptop containing millions of customer records to spoil a corporation's year. Cloud computing provides a means of giving employees greater mobility while holding data behind the firewall.

Mundie used "data authority" to describe Microsoft's approach. "The other thing that we look to the cloud for increasingly is to be the data authority," he told financial analysts. "And I think that will be true whether as a person or an institution you want to have one place where you believe you can put an authoritative copy of information or have it propagate around to all the appropriate applications or devices in your life or work environment."

From the "something new to sell" perspective, Mundie and Turner did more than tell financial analysts about emerging opportunities around the cloud. The executives made sales pitches to potential customers. After all, many of the financial companies represented in the FAM audience should be looking at adopting the kind of cloud services Microsoft offers -- sooner, rather than later. Surely Microsoft would also benefit from financial analysts satisfied with its cloud services. Wall Street's elite make more than recommendations about stock investments. They are IT influencers, even subtly. Satisfied customers are good evangelists.

Successful marketing is also about controlling the vernacular, something Microsoft attempted to do with "software plus services." Today Mundie put firmer spin on "client plus cloud as a computing platform"; the term "client plus cloud" isn't new for Microsoft, but both executives gave it a firm kick. Mundie explained:

Let me talk about role we think the cloud plays. Many people talked about it runs your applications or it's a piece of your infrastructure. But we think of it more broadly...The cloud is a place where we get to do the orchestration across all these myriad devices in your life, across a whole array of applications. The world that many of us have grown...as the mobile environment or personal computing or laptop computing environment were emerging were that each of them was a bit too much of an island. It was a very manual process to maintain the relationship and data and communication that you would ideally want among these devices. And as the number and type of devices grows essentially without bound, it would be a nightmare if this was left as an exercise to the user. So the cloud becomes a place where we can orchestrate the operation of these collection of devices and that will be a very, very important part of what makes this useful and interesting.

But "client plus cloud" isn't descriptive enough. Unless I misunderstood the executives, Microsoft is going into the big-iron hardware business. So "client plus cloud" has broader meaning. Mundie told FAM attendees they can explore a "prototype of a container" with 600 servers "sitting in the parking lot right outside." He explained what such a porta-server farm could do for them: "It's completely self-contained. You don't need chilled water. In fact, you just hook it up to your garden hose. You put in electricity and your fiber optic connection and you can be online...You'll be able to buy these things and just have them delivered in your parking lot and put it anywhere you want. This is the ability to combine the super scale capabilities that [Turner] alluded to and the knowledge and understanding that comes from that with the ability to do creative engineering."

Now that's a sales pitch.

Motorola beats the street, but smartphone sales haven't rebounded yet

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

Shaumberg, Illinois electronics company Motorola Inc. on Thursday posted its earnings for the second quarter of 2010. The company's total revenue was $5.41 billion, which beat Wall Street's estimates of $5.19 billion, but was still down against last year's $5.49 billion. The company reported a strong flow of cash for the quarter, with overall earnings of $162 million, up sharply from last year's $26 million. Total sales, however, were down some $83 million against the same quarter last year.

Of Motorola's four divisions: Mobile Devices, Home, Enterprise Mobility Solutions, and Networks, the latter two divisions were the main drivers of profit for the company.

During the quarter, Motorola's Enterprise Mobility solutions scored several noteworthy government contracts, including one to build the first 700MHz LTE public safety network for the San Francisco Bay area, and several Project 25 contracts (interoperable digital two-way radio for first responders) in Georgia, Maryland, New York and Washington. The group also announced the ES400, a dual-mode GSM/CDMA Enterprise Digital Assistant touted as the smallest in its class.

Sales for the quarter amounted to $1.8 billion, a $165 million increase over the same quarter last year.

Though sales were down in the Networks division, the group was sold earlier in July to Nokia Siemens for $1.2 billion. Motorola will retain rights to its iDEN business as well as the majority of its network-related intellectual property. This is viewed as an overall win for the company.

By the first quarter of 2011, Motorola is expected to split into just two divisions, which will amount to a consumer-facing side (made up of the current Home and Mobility groups) led by Co-CEO Sanjay Jha, and an enterprise side (Enterprise mobility solutions) led by Co-CEO Greg Brown.

The mobile device group is still facing declining numbers. Last year, the group shipped 14.8 million units during the second quarter, and this year it shipped 8.3 million, 2.7 million of which were smartphones. Total mobile sales were also down against last year, going from $1.82 billion to $1.72 billion.

The company, however, continues to release compelling smartphones powered by Google Android, and Jha says he expects the group to post its first uptick in sales since 2006 in the third quarter, and a return to profitability in the fourth. This will be due, in part, to the top-of-the-line Droid X on Verizon Wireless which has been in short supply since launching on July 15.

Disclosure: Tim Conneally is a Motorola shareholder.

Nexus One Phone Rides a Rocket Up 28,000 Feet

Google’s Nexus One phone is going where few smartphones have gone before. A group strapped the Nexus One to the back of a rocket and launched it from the Nevada desert into the atmosphere to test the device’s performance up in the air.

The Mavericks Civilian Space Foundation, a group of rocket enthusiasts, used an Intimidator-5 rocket to send the device 28,000 feet into the atmosphere.

“The purpose of flying the Nexus One is to find a low-cost satellite solution,” says Thomas Atchison, chairman of the Mavericks Foundation. “The radio, processing power, sensors and cameras in smartphones potentially have the same capability as those in satellites.”

The idea is to drive down satellite cost by using off-the-shelf products and components, says Atchison.

“Today’s satellites are the size of Greyhound buses,” he says. “But I believe they are going to get smaller and more frequently deployed. This is a first-step effort.”

The Nexus One piggybacked on a rocket that was being launched alongside another one for a project called Clotho that’s trying to find out how far off the earth’s surface life exists.

The test flight with the Nexus One was to see how the device behaves under a high-G environment, says Atchison.

“If you put a Nexus One in orbit, how will it perform?” he says. “How does the device handle the thermal temperature and vibrations. We wanted to see the results.”

The resulting video from the Nexus One is below. As expected, the video is a lot of shaking, blue sky and blobs of light, but it is still fun to watch. An earlier test brought Nexus One back with a shattered screen but the device did well on its second flight.

Mavericks researchers James Dougherty and Robert Briody show the payload with a biosampling module and the Google phone.

See Also:

• Extreme Hobbyists Put Satellites Into Orbit With $8000 Kits …
• The $150 Edge-of-Space Camera: MIT Students Beat NASA On Beer
• DIY Freaks Flock to ‘Hacker Spaces’ Worldwide
• Water-Cooled Supercomputer Doubles as Dorm Space Heater

Photo: The shattered Nexus One post launch (jurvetson/Flickr)

[via Make and Droid Ninja]

Nexus One Phone Rides a Rocket Up 28,000 Feet