Tech

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  building43» building43

• Make Your Hard Work Pay Off by Submitting for the SxSW Accelerator Showcase

  mgreer

  6 Nov 2009 | 11:54 am

  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen some really amazing startups that were built out of someone’s house.  Two or three guys get a vision for something no one else has built before and stake their livelihoods on people appreciating that idea. Chris at South by Southwest clued me in on a good opportunity for impressive startups to get the geek cred and nurturing they deserve.  The SxSW Accelerator Event is an opportunity for companies to showcase their emerging technology product and/or service in front of industry leaders while participating in the 2010 Microsoft…

• The Gillmor Gang Archive – 05NOV09

  Rob La Gesse

  5 Nov 2009 | 12:00 pm

  The Gillmor Gang — Robert Scoble, Kevin Marks, Phil Windley, Chris Messina, and Craig Burton — convene Identity Gang ‘09. Recorded live Thursday, November 5, 2009.

• The Gillmor Gang

  Rob La Gesse

  5 Nov 2009 | 10:00 am

  Welcome to The Gillmor Gang – now with video!  Join the Real Time conversation on FriendFeed in the sidebar to the right.  This will allow your comments to show in the sidebar here.  Use the hashtag #gillmorgang and we’ll aggregate that content here, over time.

• Google HTML5 canvas element in action

  Robert Scoble

  5 Nov 2009 | 6:37 am

  Patrick Chanezon, developer advocate at Google in Mountain View, Calif., gives us a tour of some of the coolest examples of HTML5 now being developed — including a feature called canvas. He also explains the code behind what you’re seeing. HTML5 is the next major revision for hypertext markup language. Although development completion is years away, elements of HTML5 — including canvas — already are being woven into Web browsers. Here are links to the demos in the video and more about HTML5 canvas: Seesmic Web — http://seesmic.com/app/ 9elements —…

• Web developers can’t sell

  Michelle Greer

  4 Nov 2009 | 7:36 am

  I used to work at Dell selling computers to the consumer market. This is the trenches of selling. I could tell you about how your flat panel monitor would reduce eyestrain and cut down power usage and why a Centrino processor would make your computer run cooler and, therefore, extend the battery life. I dealt with hardcore geeks and some of the least technically savvy people on earth. Needless to say, it was a learning experience. I’ve also sold ecommerce software to mom-and-pops and to the likes of the Barack Obama campaign and Crutchfield. That means I’ve had to explain what CSS is to a…

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  ReadWriteWeb

• Straw Man Argument About Enterprise 2.0 Doesn't Fly

  6 Nov 2009 | 2:05 pm

  Dennis Howlett got the attention of the Enterprise 2.0 community today, with his continued skepticism about "social" technologies and their place in the business world. Here's a quote from his post entitled Enterprise 2.0 - the non-debate: "Why am I not surprised? I've argued for years that the notion of anything that has 'social' attached to its moniker is about as welcome as breaking wind in a spacesuit." Sponsor While Howlett makes a few good points in his post, we think that he's making a straw man argument - that the Enterprise 2.0 community is somehow involved in a big lie. The reality…

• Clicker: A One-Stop Shop For Online Video (1000 Invites)

  6 Nov 2009 | 1:00 pm

  Finding specific online videos from TV networks and independent producers can often be a daunting challenge. Some TV shows are on Hulu, some can only be found as paid downloads on iTunes or Amazon and some are only available for streaming on the network's and producer's own sites. Clicker wants to change this by making it easier to find shows from TV networks, music videos, and web videos from across the Internet. Clicker is currently in private beta and only available in the US. The company gave us 1000 invites for our readers. Read on to find out how you can get yours. Sponsor Clicker…

• Layar Tells CNN: Augmented Reality Will Be Second Only to Voice On Phones

  6 Nov 2009 | 12:17 pm

  When you've got a global audience, maybe it's good to make sweeping, ambitious statements. Maarten Lens-Fitzgerald, co-founder of Augmented Reality browser company Layar, was interviewed by CNN today and took the opportunity to claim that AR on phones is going to be so big in the future that only voice will be more popular. Maybe. Many people in the Augmented Reality world are rolling their eyes at Layar's incredible media exposure. They worry that relatively simple implementations of this technology paradigm will create such a bubble of hype that software developed over decades will suffer…

• Remixing Via iPhone: 5 Tools for the Pocket DJ

  6 Nov 2009 | 11:00 am

  In 1906 John Philip Sousa criticized the gramophone saying, "These talking machines will ruin the artistic development of music in this country." Nevertheless, because Sousa did not forsee user-generated culture proliferating alongside "mechanical music" he could not have been further from the truth. Not only have machine technologies aided in musical development, but there are a variety of mediums to choose from. While audio engineers may scoff at the idea of making music on the iPhone, there's no denying that a number of options exist for the pocket DJ. Below are a few tools to get you…

• Seesmic Web Gets Lists and Geolocation

  6 Nov 2009 | 8:49 am

  Seesmic just announced the launch of Twitter lists in its browser-based Seesmic Web Twitter client. Earlier this week, Seesmic released the first desktop Twitter client with support for lists. Despite Seesmic's best efforts, Brizzly managed to become the first company to release a web client with support for lists earlier today. Seesmic Web offers another first for web-based Twitter clients, however: support for Twitter's geolocation API. Sponsor Lists With Auto-Updates In Seesmic's web interface, users can now simply hover their cursor over profile pictures and a menu will appear. This menu,…

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  RoughlyDrafted Magazine

• Report: Apple to launch Verizon iPhone in Q3 2010

  danieleran

  6 Nov 2009 | 11:43 am

  Prince McLean, AppleInsider A new report citing sources in the Taiwan handset supply chain says Apple has contracted to produce a UMTS/CDMA hybrid iPhone due in the third quarter of next year that will enable the company to sell a single global handset to all carriers, and specifically to Verizon Wireless in the US. Report: Apple to [...]

• Inside Google’s Android and Apple’s iPhone OS as core platforms

  danieleran

  6 Nov 2009 | 5:47 am

  Prince McLean, AppleInsider A new batch of smartphones based upon Google’s Android platform have started to arrive, finally fleshing out what users can really expect of the platform. This article is the first in a series examining how Android stacks up in comparison to the iPhone as a smartphone software platform. Inside Google’s Android and Apple’s iPhone [...]

• Report: Apple testing RFID swipe support in iPhone prototypes

  danieleran

  5 Nov 2009 | 5:45 am

  Prince McLean, AppleInsider A site focused on Near Field Communications has reported that Apple has built new iPhone prototypes with hardware support for sensing RFID chips. Report: Apple testing RFID swipe support in iPhone prototypes RFID (Radio-Frequency IDentification) is a technology that allows a device to sense embedded chips in nearby objects without making direct contact or without [...]

• Bell, Telus provide new iPhone competition in Canada

  danieleran

  4 Nov 2009 | 2:47 pm

  Prince McLean, AppleInsider Rogers Wireless, Apple’s exclusive iPhone partner in Canada, is gaining new competition from its formerly CDMA-only rivals in a move that could foreshadow changes in the US market affecting AT&T and Verizon. Bell, Telus provide new iPhone competition in Canada . Apple originally launched the iPhone 3G in Canada exclusive to Rogers and its Fido subsidiary [...]

• Canalys Q3 2009: iPhone, RIM taking over smartphone market

  danieleran

  3 Nov 2009 | 11:09 am

  Prince McLean, AppleInsider The latest Q3 2009 smartphone market figures from Canalys show RIM and Apple gobbling up the smartphone market as overall growth in the segment begins to slow. Canalys Q3 2009: iPhone, RIM taking over smartphone market . The global smartphone market grew just 4% over the previous year ago quarter, a major slowdown from last year’s [...]

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  Wired Top Stories

• The Answer Factory: Demand Media and the Fast, Disposable, and Profitable as Hell Media Model

  Daniel Roth

  6 Nov 2009 | 5:00 pm

  A fiendishly clever startup knows what we are Googling &mdash! then churns out thousands of cheap videos and articles to meet our every whim and wish.

• 2010 Superfly Will Make You Say 'My Oh My'

  Mark McClusky

  6 Nov 2009 | 4:00 pm

  Conventional wisdom says a mountain bike with 29-inch tires is an ungainly ride. Conventional wisdom can suck it. Meet the 2010 Superfly.

• After 5 Years on Web, Firefox Preps for Next Round

  Michael Calore

  6 Nov 2009 | 3:30 pm

  The Firefox web browser celebrates the fifth anniversary of its debut Monday. With IE humbled and Chrome on the rise, the next five years are going to look totally different than the first five.

• Replace Your MacBook's Hard Drive Yourself

  How-To Wiki

  6 Nov 2009 | 2:30 pm

  It may not seem like it, but your MacBook hard drive is no different than that of any other laptop. Replacing it without Apple's help might void your warranty, but it sure is a lot cheaper if you do it yourself.

• National Data Breach Laws Move Through Senate

  Kim Zetter

  6 Nov 2009 | 2:30 pm

  The nation is closer to a national data-breach notification law and setting security standards for handling sensitive data. After legislation aimed at the problem languishes on Capitol Hill for four years, two bills make it out of Senate committee.

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  Pogue's Posts

• Cleaning Up the Clutter Online

  By David Pogue

  6 Nov 2009 | 11:42 am

  A new Web tool strips away all the flashing and the blinking and leaves you with clean, readable prose.

• Medical Apps for the iPhone

  By David Pogue

  5 Nov 2009 | 10:39 am

  Last week, I spoke at the TED MED conference. My assignment was to speak for 18 minutes about medical apps for the iPhone. Sounds easy, right? Only one problem: there are about 7,000 medical apps.

• Return to Sender

  By David Pogue

  30 Oct 2009 | 3:59 pm

  Have an amazing idea? Here's why Steve Jobs, Steve Ballmer and Sergey Brin don't want to hear about it.

• Are You Nice or Am I Famous?

  By David Pogue

  27 Oct 2009 | 4:28 pm

  Do columnists or other prominent people get special white-glove treatment from customer-service reps? Hard to say, but anecdotally, the evidence is thin.

• Pogue Answers Reader Questions on Windows 7

  By David Pogue

  22 Oct 2009 | 10:36 am

  Whenever I review something that affects so many people, I can count on getting a lot of feedback - and I did, even though the review appeared only last night. Here's a sampling, with my responses.

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  Technologizer

• iPhone Tethering on AT&T: One Year and Counting

  Harry McCracken

  6 Nov 2009 | 6:24 pm

  Exactly one year ago, on November 6th, 2008, I was siting in the audience at the Web 2.0 Summit when AT&T Mobility President Ralph De La Vega shared good news from the stage: The company would “soon” be permitting iPhone users to tether their phones for use. I assumed he was a reliable source and blogged the glad tidings. I also assumed that “soon” meant a matter of weeks or a month or two, so it was startling when Apple announced that iPhone OS 3.0 would support tethering seven months later and named 22 carriers who would be ready on day of launch–and…

• Steam Snag: Digital Retailers Boycott Modern Warfare 2

  Jared Newman

  6 Nov 2009 | 4:59 pm

  Just days before Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is released, several digital retailers have decided not to sell the game. Is it because of that controversial scene where the player acts out a terrorist attack? Nope. It’s because the game’s PC version uses Steamworks, a software platform for multiplayer match creation, downloadable content and anti-piracy measures. Direct2Drive, Impulse and GamersGate say they oppose the forced installation of third-party software on players’ computers (Direct2Drive calls Steamworks “a Trojan Horse”), and so they are sitting out…

• Dell’s Adamo XPS: Incredibly Thin! Unexpectedly Odd!

  Harry McCracken

  6 Nov 2009 | 11:56 am

  Okay, now we know why Dell was being so secretive about its new Adamo XPS laptop: It’s not only remarkably thin (9.99mm) but also uses a design which is unique, as far as I know. The keyboard hinges to the display not at its edge but part way up,so the keyboard is angled upwards. As seen in the photo above, the ports are on the display half of the system rather than the keyboard part. And you swipe your finger across some sort of band to open the case. Very, very unusual. Most attempts to “improve” laptop design have flopped, but the Adamo is intriguing, at least. It’s…

• 5Words: Cheapie iPhone 3GS Coming Shortly?

  Harry McCracken

  6 Nov 2009 | 7:11 am

  $99 iPhone 3GS for Xmas? Droid: What you should know. Skype legal hassles over! Please? Twitter starts to test retweeting. Windows 7 outselling Vista handily. Band Hero sued? No doubt! Slacker radio hits Android phones. Orb media streaming for Macs. It’s Wikipedia in handheld form. Technology isn’t making us hermits. ________________________ Like 5Words? Subscribe via RSS.     Share/E-Mail

• Google Magazines: Now Actually Findable!

  Harry McCracken

  6 Nov 2009 | 2:30 am

  I keep writing about the wonders of Google Books’ archive of scanned magazines–most notably, the utter delight that is the complete LIFE. Every time I do, I pause to wonder why it’s practically impossible to find a magazine unless you know it’s there. Problem solved, mostly: Google Books now has a page with thumbnail images of all the magazines to be found there. It’s not perfect–it’s an alphabetical listing, so you need to slog through three pages to see everything, and it won’t work once Google gets hundreds or thousands of titles…

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  digg.com: Stories / Popular

• Video Games That Time Forgot: Jet Li: Rise to Honor 2004

  7 Nov 2009 | 12:10 am

  You wouldn't know it from the "Expendables" trailer and the extremely low profile he's keeping now, but five years ago Jet Li was put forth as the Next Big Kung-Fu Crossover Star.

• Dow Chemical finally agrees to clean up dioxin pollution

  7 Nov 2009 | 12:10 am

  U.S. EPA and Dow announced a deal they contend will finally address dioxin contamination from the company's chemical complex in Midland, about 200 miles from Chicago. Records show Dow has known since at least the mid-1960s that dioxins could sicken or even kill people, but the company insists the contamination does not pose health risks.

• Chilling Letter From a Witness at the Fort Hood Massacres

  7 Nov 2009 | 12:10 am

  "We signed up to be shot at but not at home. Not unarmed." Firsthand account of yesterday's tragedy at Fort Hood, from a reader who witnessed it happen.

• Large Hadron Collider stalled again... thanks to a baguette

  6 Nov 2009 | 11:50 pm

  The rehabilitation of the beleaguered Large Hadron Collider was on hold tonight after the failure of one of its powerful cooling units caused by an errant chunk of baguette.

• Everything You Need to Know About Android 2.0

  6 Nov 2009 | 11:50 pm

  Android 2.0 (formerly codenamed Eclair) is the latest evolution of the mobile OS developed by Google and the Open Handset Alliance. This version is a chunky upgrade, superseding the current Android 1.6 software (dubbed Donut), which was actually considered "a minor platform release."

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  Techmeme

• Microsoft tops Google, Yahoo, Facebook in worldwide Web use (Nick Eaton/The Microsoft Blog)

  6 Nov 2009 | 9:10 pm

  Nick Eaton / The Microsoft Blog: Microsoft tops Google, Yahoo, Facebook in worldwide Web use  —  Windows Live Messenger led Microsoft's Web properties in capturing 14.5 percent of total time spent online in September worldwide, handily beating Google, Yahoo, Facebook and other sites, according to analysis firm comScore.

• Apple Retail Stores Roll Out 'Reserve and Pick Up' Purchasing for Holiday Season (Eric Slivka/MacRumors)

  6 Nov 2009 | 6:00 pm

  Eric Slivka / MacRumors: Apple Retail Stores Roll Out ‘Reserve and Pick Up’ Purchasing for Holiday Season  —  Apple has rolled out a new Reserve and Pick Up purchasing program for its retail stores, allowing customers to select and reserve products for later in-store purchase and pick up ahead of the holidays.

• October 2009 OS stats: Windows 7 passes Snow Leopard, Linux (Emil Protalinski/Ars Technica)

  6 Nov 2009 | 4:40 pm

  Emil Protalinski / Ars Technica: October 2009 OS stats: Windows 7 passes Snow Leopard, Linux  —  In less than two weeks of general availability, Windows 7 has already captured a market share that is greater than Snow Leopard and Linux.  Details inside.  —  Windows 7 arrived two weeks ago and so far it's selling quite well.

• Report: Apple to launch Verizon iPhone in Q3 2010 (Prince McLean/AppleInsider)

  6 Nov 2009 | 3:20 pm

  Prince McLean / AppleInsider: Report: Apple to launch Verizon iPhone in Q3 2010  —  A new report citing sources in the Taiwan handset supply chain says Apple has contracted to produce a UMTS/CDMA hybrid iPhone due in the third quarter of next year that will enable the company to sell a single global handset to all carriers …

• Lessons From the War Over Skype (Brad Stone/Bits)

  6 Nov 2009 | 3:05 pm

  Brad Stone / Bits: Lessons From the War Over Skype  —  The dust has settled, the ink on the deal has dried, and one of the biggest sideshows in Silicon Valley this year appears to be over.  The litigation between eBay, the buyers of Skype and its original founders has been dropped, and the deal …

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  Slashdot

• Skype's Legal Situation Clears

  Soulskill

  6 Nov 2009 | 11:13 pm

  chill writes "Skype's co-founders, Janus Friis and Niklas Zennstrom, have agreed to transfer ownership of the remaining Skype technology that eBay didn't own, paving the way for eBay to complete its sale of a majority stake in Skype to an investor consortium. In exchange, Friis and Zennstrom will join the investor consortium and obtain a 14 percent stake in Skype. The other consortium partners, led by Silver Lake, will own a 56 percent stake in Skype, and eBay will hold on to 30 percent, eBay said Friday."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

• Norwegian Court Rules ISP Doesn't Have To Block The Pirate Bay

  Soulskill

  6 Nov 2009 | 9:09 pm

  C4st13v4n14 writes "In a sudden outbreak of uncommon sense yesterday, a Norwegian District Court handed down the decision that Telenor, Norway's largest ISP, will not have to block access to The Pirate Bay. Telenor was sued earlier this year by the IFPI after being threatened and not backing down. 'The court ruled that Telenor is not contributing to any infringements of copyright law when its subscribers use The Pirate Bay, and therefore there is no legal basis for forcing the ISP to block access to the site. ... In making its decision, the court also had to examine the repercussions if it…

• KDE Founder Receives Highest German Honor

  Soulskill

  6 Nov 2009 | 7:07 pm

  Jiilik Oiolosse writes "KDE founder Matthias Ettrich was decorated today with the German Federal Cross of Merit for his contributions to Free Software. The Federal Cross of Merit is both the most prestigious as well as the only general decoration awarded by the Federal Republic of Germany. It is awarded by the Federal President for outstanding achievements in the political, economic, cultural, and other fields. Matthias was awarded the medal in recognition of his work spurring innovation and spreading knowledge for the common good."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

• Sony Demos Natal-Like Control System

  Soulskill

  6 Nov 2009 | 5:03 pm

  An anonymous reader writes "It's not just Microsoft investigating full body, markerless motion capture. Sony has enlisted the help of Swiss firm Atracsys to develop similar technology. Sony has openly discussed the technology with New Scientist, and has realistic expectations for the new system — it can capture broad body gestures but not individual fingers. That's just one trade-off needed in order to develop a real-time system that anyone can use, according to a markerless motion-capture expert." It's still in the early stages of development, but the accompanying video shows the use…

• AMD Graphics Chip Shortage Hits PC Vendors

  Soulskill

  6 Nov 2009 | 4:10 pm

  CWmike writes "An offshore AMD foundry is having trouble ramping up production of a new 40-nanometer GPU, forcing PC makers to delay shipments of desktop and laptop computers, AMD confirmed today. TSMC is struggling to get up to speed manufacturing AMD's 5800 series, 40-nm GPUs, according to Jim McGregor, an analyst at In-Stat. He added that the foundry is in full production, but so far yields are below expectation. Matt Davis, a spokesman for AMD, confirmed that TSMC is having issues with production of the chips. He added that it's not clear how far behind the foundry is on production…

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  Truemors

• Facebook is Getting Old, Says Pew Internet

  Truemorist

  6 Nov 2009 | 11:12 am

  Facebook is getting old! The median age for Facebook users is 33. While so many high school and college students are poking each other, their parents are getting in on the act. That's not as creepy as it sounds....read more

• CNNChallenge: How Much Don't You Know About the News?

  Truemorist

  5 Nov 2009 | 3:04 pm

  CNN just launched CNNChallenge, which is a too-Flashy quiz site. I'd love CNNChallenge if it actually worked. But it doesn't, so I don't. I had enough trouble answering questions about real news as it was...read more

• Open a Bottle of Wine With Your Shoe (Video)

  Truemorist

  4 Nov 2009 | 10:13 am

  Leave it to boingboing to find the good stuff. In this case, a viral video of a French guy opening a bottle of wine with his shoe. I may try this at lunchtime. Mind you, it looks like the guy in the wine-shoe...read more

• Halloween Missed Connections: Broken Hearts & Walks of Shame

  Truemorist

  4 Nov 2009 | 8:52 am

  Oh, I love it. Halloween is just the gift that keeps on giving. Once the sun comes up and the tape holding your costume together starts to unstick, everyone takes stock of the night before (and the morning after)....read more

• TwitterPeek: A Pointless Twitter-Only Handheld

  Truemorist

  3 Nov 2009 | 10:52 am

  Peek has introduced TwitterPeek, a handheld internet device that only does Twitter. That's right, Twitter and nothing else. No email, no phone, no SMS, no MMS, nothing but Twitter. So what happens if one of the...read more

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  InformationWeek Hardware News

• HP Offers Data Center Scalability

  6 Nov 2009 | 5:40 am

  An elastic data center, based on virtualized resource pools, can scale in response to unpredictable business conditions, HP says.

• Global CIO: Oracle Trapped By EU Politics, Says New York Times

  6 Nov 2009 | 5:00 am

  Column about the European Union continuing to abuse Oracle Corp. by refusing to allow it to complete its acquisition of Sun as the EU tries to make itself look important and capable.

• Dell Launches Thinner, Lighter Adamo Laptop

  6 Nov 2009 | 4:00 am

  The half-inch laptop steps up the competition with Apple's MacBook Air and other thin-and-light notebooks.

• Toshiba Expands Mobile HDD Line

  5 Nov 2009 | 10:59 am

  Its 1.8-inch hard disk drives for laptops and netbooks uses 42% less power than 2.5-inch drives operating at a comparable rate, company says.

• Qualcomm Reports 4Q Loss

  5 Nov 2009 | 10:43 am

  The chipmaker was upbeat, however, on news of its $1.3 billion patent deal with Samsung.

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  Crenk

• Google Open Sources Its Own Development Programs

  Dean Sherwin

  6 Nov 2009 | 9:29 am

  It’s a great day when Internet giant Google open sources the programs it uses to build well-known favourites such as GMail, Docs and Google Maps. It announced on its blog that it will be making a lot of it’s own development software available to developers all over the world. This release comes as Google are undoubtedly upgrading their own tools especially with the upcoming launch of Google Wave. The first of the three tools they released is called Closure Compiler which helps developers trim down code and optimize it for better performance. There is also a plug-in for Firefox released…

• Dual Monitors: Why You Should Set Them Up

  Dean Sherwin

  6 Nov 2009 | 8:10 am

  The vast majority of people have a single monitor. Even suggesting adding a second would baffle them. ‘Eh, why?’ they might ask while staring at you as though you just landed in a spinning saucer. Here’s my answer. ‘Because productivity is increased, desktop size doubled and it looks AWSOME’. For those of you who follow me on Twitter you’ll have noticed that I spent an hour last night hooking up a second 19” monitor in my office. As I write this post I currently have Microsoft Outlook and Trillian Astra running on the spare screen with my whole laptop screen available for work.

• Facebook and Twitter to Fight SPAM… again

  Dean Sherwin

  6 Nov 2009 | 2:51 am

  SPAM is one of my pet hates. In fact I think that everyone reading this hates those annoying e-mails, comments left on our pages, tweets and clearly misleading advertisements that promise you a months salary in a few hours. I really, really hate SPAM. It’s useless and in this day and age it achieves nothing with its instantly recognisable language format, strange links and oh yeah, the promise of a few million bucks for transferring money. Twitter and Facebook hate SPAM too. At the same time, both of them published posts to their blog that clearly announce plans to go  on the offensive…

• Twitter Peek Offers Lackluster Appeal

  Luis Sandoval

  5 Nov 2009 | 10:43 pm

  Back in the early 90’s there was this song, “Things That Make You Go Hmmm…”. It’s this song that I sadly have to reference when mentioning the Twitter Peek. Unlike the song that had some redeeming qualities this doorstopper is the clunkiest piece of technology I’ve seen yet (a disclaimer, I do not own one). This product is made by Peek. The same company brought you the horrors that were the Pronto Peek and the Meet Peek. I’m not sure why I would want any of these devices since my smartphone does it all, and when I’m not at my mobile, I’m…

• Web App Buffers Timely Online Communication

  Luis Sandoval

  5 Nov 2009 | 7:53 pm

  Heard of Twitter? Sure the whole world has by now. Lone tribes on far islands have heard about Twitter. This massively immersive and widely used micro-blogging network has become a staple for both our personal and professional lives. The world seems to still be feeling the “Twitter effect” as industries adapt their existing messages to fit the fast paced world of this social network. But do you ever feel like you’re being left behind? Perhaps not enough time to get the right message in a timely fashion? Now there’s a solution to that. Twuffer presents itself as the…

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  Ars Technica

• Aftershocks from slow faults may arrive centuries later

  6 Nov 2009 | 1:01 pm

  I have a deep and rather personal interest in earthquake and volcano prediction. This comes from spending most of my youth within a few kilometers of an active fault line and less than 100km from a volcano that has, in the past, left a layer of ash over most of the surface of the Earth. In fact, events in just the last year (nevermind the last decade) have convinced me that accurate earthquake and volcano prediction would probably be a bigger lifesaver than any other single scientific development. So it was with interest that I read a recent Nature paper reporting that scientists might have…

• HTTPS, SSL attack vector discovered; fix is on the way

  6 Nov 2009 | 11:33 am

  A security flaw that has been identified in the Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol could open the door for man-in-the-middle (MITM) attacks against HTTPS communication. All implementations are said to be vulnerable because the flaw is in the protocol itself. Security researchers are taking steps to resolve the problem. The flaw was originally found in August by researchers Marsh Ray and Steve Dispensa from security company PhoneFactor. They chose not to widely publicize the issue and began working in secret with other security experts and industry leaders to develop solutions. The flaw…

• More successor than sequel: hands on with Assassin's Creed 2

  6 Nov 2009 | 10:04 am

  "It doesn't really feel like a sequel," Ubisoft's Charles Randall told me as I sat down to play Assassin's Creed 2 for the first time at a recent press event in Toronto. "It feels like a whole new game." And that should be welcome news. Because while it wasn't a terrible game by any stretch of the imagination, the first Assassin's Creed certainly had its problems. At times it felt like the game's ambitions were far greater than what the developers were actually able to create, leaving gamers with an ambitious but somewhat disappointing experience. And that's something Ubisoft has worked very…

• Big cable: move millions from phone subsidies to broadband

  6 Nov 2009 | 8:24 am

  The cable industry is proposing a sweeping measure to simplify the nation's subsidy system for rural phone service providers. Make it tougher for providers to get Universal Service Fund High Cost program subsidy money, the National Cable and Telecommunications Association recommends, in areas where an unsubsidized wireline service is available via a cable company or similar provider. Paying USF support to carriers who compete with unsubsidized wireline competitors "is both inequitable and inefficient, and can easily be addressed in a targeted fashion," the NCTA wrote to the Federal…

• Google opens up its JavaScript development toolbox to all

  6 Nov 2009 | 5:55 am

  Google is providing the web development community with an intriguing glimpse under the hood at some of the fundamental building blocks of the company's most popular web applications. The search giant has opened the source code of its comprehensive JavaScript library collection and is making it available to third-party developers for widespread adoption. Google also opened the source code of its own JavaScript compression tools. The library, called Closure, includes an extraordinarily diverse assortment of capabilities with functionality ranging from JSON serialization to standard user…

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  TechCrunch

• YouTube Is Falling Apart Again

  Erick Schonfeld

  6 Nov 2009 | 9:37 pm

  The ads are destroying YouTube. At least this one is. It is a video ad for sustainable energy company from Spain called Acciona. Yeah, I had never heard of them either. The video starts with this Euro-dude in a suit starting to blow up and crack apart like he’s made from plaster. Halfway through, the actual video player crack in half, and all of the surrounding parts of the site shake and fall away, while an annoying voiceover is saying something about rebirth. I don’t know, maybe it makes more sense in Spanish. The visual effect is interesting, but feels like a gimmick since…

• Marissa Mayer Chosen As A Glamour Magazine Woman Of The Year

  Leena Rao

  6 Nov 2009 | 8:30 pm

  Google’s Vice President of Search Product and User Experience Marissa Mayer was recently profiled in a Vogue Magazine article that offered a in-depth glimpse into the exec’s lifestyle, loves, career and fashion preferences. Now, Mayer has been named as one of Glamour Magazine’s 2009 Women of the Year. Joining Mayer on the list are a variety of female powerhouses and icons including Maya Angelou, First Lady Michelle Obama, Susan Rice, Euna Lee and Laura Ling. Mayer has been frequently profiled in business and technology publications over the years, but it’s also nice to…

• The Just Because We Love You TwitterPeek Giveaway #Crunch

  Michael Arrington

  6 Nov 2009 | 6:53 pm

  If you’re a Twitter freak and think that a dedicated Twitter device is just the thing for you, read on. This week we saw the launch of the TwitterPeek, a cute little device built by Peek that will do just about anything you want it to do, as long as all you want it to do is access Twitter. It won’t surf the web. It won’t make phone calls. It won’t support third party apps. But it most certainly does run Twitter. You can get it in black. Or, if you want to show a little flair, you can get in in cyan. For some crazy reason I wanted one. A friend bought me one that I will…

• Gowalla Hops Onto Android Via The Mobile Web

  MG Siegler

  6 Nov 2009 | 6:09 pm

  Up until now, if you wanted to use the location-based service Gowalla on the go, you had to have an iPhone. Today, that expands to Android. But rather than building an app, Gowalla has extended support to Android using the mobile web. This works because Android’s browser is closely tied to the device and is able to access location information, which is vital for Gowalla. The goal is to extend this mobile web support to BlackBerry and a few other location-aware devices in the next week or so, co-founder Josh Williams tells us. As a small team, Gowalla, like its rival Foursquare,…

• textPlus 2.0 Hits The App Store For Free Texting

  Daniel Brusilovsky

  6 Nov 2009 | 5:26 pm

  textPlus, a text messaging app that’s powered by GOGII, has just hit the App Store. textPlus lets any iPhone or iPod Touch send free text messages to any cell number by using in-app advertising to cover its costs. There is no limit on how many text messages you can send per month, it’s just a matter of getting WiFi, 3G or an Edge connection. GOGII was one of the first companies that was funded by iFund, the partnership between venture capital firm KPCB and Apple, which was announced at the Apple SDK roadmap event. With version 2.0 of textPlus, GOGII is announcing the availability…

• 
  MSN Shopping: Results for Computers & Software

• Age of Empires III - from $27.95

  6 Nov 2009 | 4:00 pm

• Microsoft Flight Simulator X: Deluxe Edition - from $30.51

  6 Nov 2009 | 4:00 pm

  Take to the skies with one of the longest running flight franchises in Microsoft Flight Simulator X. Featuring 55 missions that range from 15 minutes to over an hour, you can wrap your hands around the controls of 20 aircraft including the...

• Logitech LX7 Cordless Optical Mouse - mouse - from $11.99

  6 Nov 2009 | 4:00 pm

  Upgrade your experience with the Logitech LX7 Cordless Optical Mouse. The soft-touch rubber grip provides natural comfort, and the wireless mini-receiver receiver installs effortlessly and eliminates clutter. Smart power management extends...

• Age of Empires III: The WarChiefs - from $19.99

  6 Nov 2009 | 4:00 pm

  Computer strategy enthusiasts can continue their conquest of the Americas as one of three Native American civilizations in this add-on disc for the best-selling Age of Empires III. Civilizations such as the Iroquois Confederacy or the...

• Earth 2160 - from $45.75

  6 Nov 2009 | 4:00 pm

• 
  MSN Tech & Gadgets Highlights

• Facebook makeover: The good, the bad and the backlash

  2 Nov 2009 | 11:52 am

  Facebook's latest interface tweaks make the default feed more like it was before the last major home page overhaul, but the changes aren't without some issues, and they have sparked some backlash among Facebook users.

• 10 cool gadgets we really, really want

  2 Nov 2009 | 11:52 am

  Colorful netbooks, personal TV systems, powerful digital cameras and a potent webcam: Our list is made and we're checking it twice.

• Evolution of the cell phone

  2 Nov 2009 | 11:52 am

  Cell phones have become a lot smaller over the years, but they're bigger than ever in functionality and popularity. Here's a look at how the mobile phone has changed over the decades.

• 5 new technologies that will change everything

  2 Nov 2009 | 11:52 am

  3-D TV, HTML5, video over Wi-Fi, superfast USB and mobile "augmented reality" will emerge as breakthrough technologies in the next few years. Here's a preview of what they do and how they work.

• Motorola debuts new Droid

  2 Nov 2009 | 11:52 am

  The first Android 2.0 phone impresses with a strong suite of Web features and a stunning 3.7-inch display, but some users might have trouble with the shallow keyboard.

• 
  Mashable!

• POLL: TweetDeck Trounces Seesmic Desktop in Reader Vote

  Barb Dybwad

  6 Nov 2009 | 8:41 pm

  We’ve had a number of close calls here during our Web Faceoff series, but this wasn’t one of them. This week we pitted TweetDeck and Seesmic Desktop against each other in a bar room brawl for favorite Twitter client. Now, the results are in. Whereas last week’s Windows 7 versus OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard battle was a close one, with Windows 7 going the distance to outlast the current Mac OS, this week’s showdown had a big winner. …and TweetDeck was it, with a full 71% of the vote (3294 votes) as compared to Seesmic Desktop’s 23% (1055 votes). Six percent or 260…

• iPhone Coming to Verizon in 2010 [RUMOR]

  Adam Ostrow

  6 Nov 2009 | 5:21 pm

  Many signs point to the Apple and AT&T agreement that makes the latter the exclusive carrier of the iPhone within the US coming to an end within the next year. For starters, non-exclusivity has been profitable for Apple in other parts of the world. Moreover, even AT&T’s CEO acknowledges the deal won’t last forever. And while Verizon might be all about showing off what Droid does right now, a new report suggests it could become the first carrier other than AT&T to offer iPhone on American soil, starting in the second half of 2010. According to a report obtained by Apple…

• DocVerse Puts Google Docs-Like Collaboration Inside Microsoft Office

  Ben Parr

  6 Nov 2009 | 5:20 pm

  This post is part of Mashable’s Spark of Genius series, which highlights a unique feature of startups. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here. The series is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark. Name: DocVerse Quick Pitch: DocVerse brings the collaboration functionality of products like Google Docs to the 600 million users of Word, PowerPoint and Excel. Genius Idea: Collaboration is a key to success in any business, especially when you have a scattered team that needs to work on documents constantly. There are already a lot of options,…

• FishVille Launches on Facebook; It’s Like Underwater FarmVille

  Barb Dybwad

  6 Nov 2009 | 3:56 pm

  We were sort of surprised to discover how many of you proclaim your love for FarmVille, the social farming sim game from Zynga. We reported that the company had trademarked the name FishVille last month, and speculated that an aquatic derivative of the wildly popular social game might be in the works. And indeed it was, with FishVille launching in beta today. It’s a bit of a late contender to the aquarium games space, with Happy Aquarium, Fish World and My Fishbowl all getting a head start. Nevertheless, Zynga has enough clout in the social games space to make FishVille a quick winner…

• 5 Must-Have iPhone Apps for Wine Lovers

  Megan Berry

  6 Nov 2009 | 3:23 pm

  Megan Berry is an evangelist for Mobclix, the industry’s largest mobile ad exchange, working on social media and marketing. She also blogs at The Huffington Post and the Mobclix blog. You can follow her on Twitter as @meganberry, or through the @Mobclix handle. Unsure about mixing your iPhone with wine? Well, if you’re a true vinophile, the iPhone is an amazing device to keep you more connected to your wine. The following list of top wine apps on the iPhone will convince you that mixing the two is worth the risk of spilling some pinot noir on your phone. Like wine itself, these…

• 
  Techdirt

• Thinking About Real Copyright Reform

  Mike Masnick

  6 Nov 2009 | 7:37 pm

  Michael Scott alerts us to a recent paper by professor and copyright expert Jessica Litman about "Real Copyright Reform." While there's been some chatter here and there about doing real copyright reform, there seems to be no real effort behind it. That's for a few reasons, including the fact that many people still remember what a pain the last attempt at real copyright reform was (it took decades) combined with the realization (especially on the part of copyright holders) that their ability to push through laws that solely favor themselves to greater and greater degrees may not be so easy…

• The Moral Argument In Favor Of File Sharing?

  Mike Masnick

  6 Nov 2009 | 6:47 pm

  I've discussed in the past the question of whether or not there's even a moral question to consider when it comes to copyright, if you can first show a situation where everyone is better off (i.e., if the end result of content being shared, willingly, is better for both the content creators and consumers, why should morals even be a question?). Separately, I have made clear that I do not engage in any sort of unauthorized file sharing -- noting that it is illegal and, I personally believe, wrong. Some people have pushed back on that latter point, suggesting that my labeling it as "wrong" is,…

• Sarah Palin Joins Al Gore In Not Realizing That Everyone's A Reporter These Days

  Mike Masnick

  6 Nov 2009 | 6:01 pm

  Last year, we wrote how odd it was that former VP Al Gore banned reporters from a speech he gave, where all audio-video equipment was also banned. These days, such "no reporters allowed" speeches make no sense -- because anyone can be a reporter. Yet, it seems that there's something in the veep sauce (or veep wannabe sauce) that leads to these sorts of positions, as former VP candidate, Sarah Palin, is trying to do the same thing, barring "reporters" along with any kind of recording devices from a talk that she is giving. You can understand, perhaps, why politicians like to do this, but it…

• Murdoch Reconsidering Paywalls? Delaying Implementation

  Mike Masnick

  6 Nov 2009 | 5:14 pm

  Is Rupert Murdoch flip-flopping on paywalls again? Way back when (i.e., two years ago) Murdoch was a big believer in the idea that news should be free online, and that he could more than make it up with other business models. But, then, earlier this year, he did a complete flip-flop, declaring that all his publications would put up paywalls, saying that free content is bad, and accusing aggregators and search engines of "stealing" content. Some speculated that it was all a ploy to get others to put up paywalls. Though, others just think Murdoch's getting a little senile. Either way, it looks…

• IP Czar Focused On Protecting Jobs, Not Promoting Progress?

  Mike Masnick

  6 Nov 2009 | 4:31 pm

  We were already somewhat concerned about the nomination of Victoria Espinel for the IP Czar job in the administration (forced on the administration by the silly and pointless "ProIP" Act from last year). On Thursday, she had her confirmation hearings where she said pretty much what we expected about how important intellectual property is, and how she viewed her job as coordinating different government agencies to crack down on infringers. Much of her (brief) testimony (pdf) talked up the usual industry claims about the importance of intellectual property on the economy, not recognizing how…

• 
  NYT > Technology

• Virtual Goods Start Bringing Real Paydays

  By CLAIRE CAIN MILLER and BRAD STONE

  6 Nov 2009 | 11:58 pm

  Consumers are spending to send computer images on social networks and to get an edge in online worlds.

• Chinese Agencies Struggle Over Video Game

  By MICHAEL WINES

  6 Nov 2009 | 11:11 pm

  Two government agencies are facing off over the right to regulate the popular online game World of Warcraft.

• Activision Posts Profit and Reaffirms Outlook

  By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

  6 Nov 2009 | 10:26 pm

  Lower costs and a good response for games such as Guitar Hero 5 and World of Warcraft helped the company in the third quarter.

• Research in Motion Plans Big Share Buyback

  By IAN AUSTEN

  6 Nov 2009 | 10:26 pm

  Stock in the company, creator of the BlackBerry smartphone, has lost about a third of its value since September.

• Founders Win a Piece of Skype From eBay

  By BRAD STONE

  6 Nov 2009 | 10:08 pm

  The founders of Skype will drop their lawsuits against the company and a consortium of buyers who bid to purchase Skype. In exchange, the founders will get a 14 percent share in the new Skype.

• 
  The Register

• Mozilla aborted IE in Firefox clothing

  Team Register

  Google we're not At one point, Mozilla considered building a plug-in that would turn Microsoft's Internet Explorer into a decent browser. But unlike Google, it quickly abandoned the idea.… Web threats: Why conventional protection doesn't work

• El Reg shrinks seven days into webpage

  Team Register

  Attention span not required Week in Review  As a service to our with readers with (particularly) short attention spans, we at The Reg have squeezed the week that was into a single webpage. Or at least most of it. Before your attention drifts elsewhere, we should get to it:… Web threats: Why conventional protection doesn't work

• Vint Cerf: 'Google doesn't know who you are'

  Team Register

  Identifiers don't identify Interwebs founding father and Google evangelist Vint Cerf has insisted that when you search Google, the company doesn't know who you are.… Offloading malware protection to the cloud

• Animal lovers say no to radioactive NASA monkeys

  Team Register

  Appeal irradiated monkeyshines Animal rights groups are apparently not pleased with NASA's plan to zap squirrel monkeys with repeated doses of radiation for science.… Web threats: Why conventional protection doesn't work

• Sun's surviving staff hit with 'motivation' missive

  Team Register

  Code: Your solace, our savior Exclusive  Sun Microsystems has set software engineers seven goals in the wake of new layoffs, hoping to keep them focused amid uncertainty but to also hit existing corporate objectives.… Offloading malware protection to the cloud

• 
  Home - THE INQUIRER

• A slew of smartphones is on the way

  6 Nov 2009 | 9:08 am

  Alexandra Pullin THE INQUIRER Acer, Nokia, HTC and Motorola all bid for attention

• Dell Adamo XPS takes anorexic laptop crown

  6 Nov 2009 | 8:55 am

  Ian Williams THE INQUIRER Super slim notebook is slightly unhinged

• Microsoft will release six updates next Patch Tuesday

  6 Nov 2009 | 8:10 am

  Alexandra Pullin THE INQUIRER No Window 7 ones, this time

• Fujitsu workers are set to strike

  6 Nov 2009 | 8:07 am

  Alexandra Pullin THE INQUIRER Over pensions, pay and redundancies

• YuuWaa USB backup drive

  6 Nov 2009 | 6:21 am

  Clive Akass THE INQUIRER Review USB drive backs itself up online

• 
  OSNews

• * The iPod Touch 2nd Gen *

  6 Nov 2009 | 5:06 pm

  Geeks.com, a popular shop for computer parts and mp3 players sent us over the second generation iPod Touch 8 GB for a review. Check in for more! Read more on this exclusive OSNews article...

• Microsoft Shows Off Another 'Minority Report' UI Concept

  6 Nov 2009 | 4:24 pm

  Whether you like Microsoft or not, the Redmond giant does have one thing going for it: the company's research division. Working together with several universities and other institutions, Microsoft Research works on the soft and hardware of the future, ranging from research operating systems to insanely cool things like what Microsoft's chief research and strategy officer Craig Mundie showed off during the Microsoft College Tour '09 (more videos).

• Moblin 2.1 Released

  6 Nov 2009 | 3:45 pm

  "The Moblin project steering committee today announces the project release of Moblin v2.1 for Intel Atom processor-based netbooks and nettops. This project release includes the broadest feature additions, customer requested improvements, and overall polish to date. With this community release you will see significant feature additions and improvements including enhanced browser functionality and plug-in support, UI enhancements, support for 3G data connections, Bluetooth device management, input method support for localized languages, integrated application installer for the Moblin Garage,…

• 'No, ZFS Really Doesn't Need a fsck'

  6 Nov 2009 | 3:42 pm

  "There is a discussion at osnews.com about a simple question: "Should ZFS Have a fsck Tool?". The answer is simple: No. I could stop now, as this answer is pretty obvious when you work a while with ZFS, but i want to explain my position. And i want to ask a different question at the end."

• Red Hat Virtualization Manager Requires Windows

  6 Nov 2009 | 3:41 pm

  "As a major Linux vendor, one might expect that Red Hat's new Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization for Servers solution would be able to run on Linux servers. You'd be wrong. Not only is that not the case, but the Management Server piece of RHEV, which provides virtualization management capabilities, requires users to be running Microsoft's Windows Server. That's no typo: A Linux vendor is requiring its users to run one of its key new products on the rival, closed source Windows operating system. According to Red Hat, the plan is to have a Linux version ready by some point in 2010. But in the…

• 
  Wi-Fi Networking News

• MSNBC Examines Free In-Flight Wi-Fi

  5 Nov 2009 | 9:40 am

  The Well-Mannered Traveler, Harriet Baskas, gives an overview and some insight into in-flight Internet: Baskas provides a comprehensive listing of what airlines have free deals, and which flights (if particular ones are involved) are covered. This includes AirTran's Baltimore-to-Boston route, which the airline told Baskas was a competitive advantage. I suspect that Acela is a competitor on that route, among other airlines. (Acela will gain Wi-Fi in about six months.) Copyright ©2009 Glenn Fleishman. All rights reserved. Please notify us if you find this content anywhere but at…

• Is Verizon Being Unfair to AT&T in 3G Map Comparisons?

  3 Nov 2009 | 2:42 pm

  AT&T is suing Verizon over a snarky campaign that compares Verizon's 3G coverage to AT&T's: Is this unfair? It's maybe impolite, but it doesn't appear unfair or incorrect. Is it actionable? AT&T says the ads will make customers believe AT&T has no coverage whatsoever, not just no 3G data coverage, in the white areas in the AT&T map displayed. And the map is from a few months ago, while AT&T has built out a bit more blue in that time. (AT&T isn't complaining about the accuracy of the map's depiction of 3G.) Fundamentally, though, we're seeing a battle between the last advantages of the…

• Starbucks Makes It Harder to Get Free Wi-Fi (Revised)

  3 Nov 2009 | 1:44 pm

  Starbucks is revising its stored-value affinity card programs, making it easier harder to get free Wi-Fi: I've noted before that Starbucks doesn't offer free Wi-Fi in the sense that an indie coffeeshop with an open access point does, nor like airports that provide Wi-Fi at no cost. Rather, Starbucks ties two consecutive hours per day of no-cost Wi-Fi to purchases made using a stored-value card. The firm announced changes last week to its affinity program that require some teasing out of the details; the Web site appears to have been updated today. [Update: Starbucks hid a detail in a pop-down…

• Gogo Offers $25 30-Day Airline Wi-Fi Pass for Three Airlines

  3 Nov 2009 | 10:23 am

  Gogo keeps pushing deals for in-flight Internet during the holidays: A tweet from the Aircell service says that you can purchase a 30-day pass for access for $24.95 for AirTran, American, or Delta airlines on your next flight through 31 December 2009. This is usually priced at $50. Copyright ©2009 Glenn Fleishman. All rights reserved. Please notify us if you find this content anywhere but at wifinetnews.com or wimaxnetnews.com. Reproduction of full articles from RSS feeds is prohibited without permission.

• Atheros Offers Family of Three-Stream Chips

  3 Nov 2009 | 6:01 am

  Atheros announced its 2010 family of three-stream, high-data-rate and rate-over-range chips: The AR9300 XSPAN line up has a three-stream, 3x3 format for up to 450 Mbps raw (300 Mbps TCP/IP) 802.11n traffic. But speed is critical only at close distances: the chips have been designed to keep data rates high as devices move further and further from an access point. Pen Li, senior product marketing manager at Atheros, explained that the company's goal with what it's calling SST3 technology is to "maintain signal reliability across the entire link." To that end, it's employing four features. At…

• 
  kuro5hin.org

• Ogg Frog Magazine #5

  The readers of Kuro5hin.org

                                       /\            _______                  /  \           /       \          5     /    \        __/_________\__      #     /  /\  \          (o)-(o)----             /\  \/   \  …

• Further Adventures in Self-Publishing

  The readers of Kuro5hin.org

  In days of old when knights were bold and toilets weren't invented, I wrote a k5 article about my adventures in self-publishing. In it I wrote, "I recommend self-publishing for anybody whose temperament and objectives resemble mine. All others should beware." That's still pretty my much point of view. Below the fold, I've updated & revised that original story & added some additional reflections based on the eight years of self-publishing experience I've amassed since then (including six years of making my books available for free download under Creative Commons license).

• OGG FROG MAGAZINE #4

  The readers of Kuro5hin.org

    _______   _______   _______   __________ _________ _______   _______  /       \ /       \ /       \ /          \         \       \ /       \ |         |         |         |   \________\ \_______\       |         | |     |   |     |___|___  |___|___   ___|      |   |     |   |…

• Ogg Frog Magazine #3 (REPOST)

  The readers of Kuro5hin.org

  K5's buggy formatting code broke the submission after I moved it to vote, so here is a repost.                                                                ____                                                             __/____\__                …

• Telephone Relay Services, or More Shit You Don't Know Anything About

  The readers of Kuro5hin.org

  In 2008, the U.S. telephone relay service (TRS) industry pulled in around 30 million dollars in revenue, 16 million of which was profit. If you've ever had to dial 711, or received a phone call from a 'relay service' then you've used it before. The TRS exists as a mandate of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Their mission is to assist the hearing or speech disabled to communicate with their fellow citizens over the phone, typically by using a TTY* device. The industry is governed by the Federal Communications Commission, and is funded through NECA, the National Exchange Carrier…

• 
  Digital Trends

• Why Calling is Better than Text Messaging for Men and Women that are Dating

  Leif Iverson

  6 Nov 2009 | 5:32 pm

  In what situations should you call the person you’re dating rather than send them the message in a text or email? The fact of the matter is that men and women are calling each other less and less—but with good reason—with so many other easy forms of dropping a memo with your latest fling. We get the dish from senior editor at Cosmopolitan .com, Christie Griffin, on why breaking the dating world’s digital barrier is more important than it used to be.

• LG’s New Chocolate Phone: The LG BL40 Goes Global Today

  Dena Cassella

  6 Nov 2009 | 4:26 pm

  LG Electronics announced the worldwide availability of its new LG Chocolate phone, also known as the LG BL40, with content from James Cameron's Avatar movie embedded on the new Chocolate phone itself.

• Gstar 2009: The Future of Video Games and the Video Game Industry

  Dena Cassella

  6 Nov 2009 | 4:08 pm

  Video game enthusiasts rejoice: Gstar 2009 the video game industry's exhibition show will reveal the best online video games, 2009's best video games, and the future video games to come.

• Best Digital Cameras: Top 10 Digital Camera Reviews and Ratings

  Dena Cassella

  6 Nov 2009 | 2:36 pm

  We rounded up the ten best digital cameras and some great digital camera reviews. Check out our selections from top digital camera manufacturers like Canon, Nikon, Leica, Fujifilm and more.

• The 10 Hottest Smartphones of 2009

  Greg Mombert

  6 Nov 2009 | 2:02 pm

  With this year coming to a close we decided to roundup the best cell phones of 2009. From the Palm Pre to the lastest and greatest BlackBerry models we showcase all the best smartphones of 2009.

• 
  Lifehacker

• From the Tips Box: Multiple Dropbox Accounts, Twitter Notes, and Cloud Billing [From The Tips Box]

  Whitson Gordon

  6 Nov 2009 | 5:00 pm

  Readers offer their best tips for running multiple instances of Dropbox at once, using Twitter to jot down notes and ideas for yourself, and using Google Docs to manage money between friends. Don't...

• This Week's Most Popular Posts [Highlights]

  Adam Pash

  6 Nov 2009 | 4:00 pm

  This week we showed you how to really browse without leaving a trace, rounded up a handful of media-center-boosting apps, uncorked a bottle of wine with nothing but a shoe, and oh so much more. How...

• Make a Hand Truck Out of a Shopping Cart [Weekend Project]

  Whitson Gordon

  6 Nov 2009 | 3:00 pm

  So you need to move some large, heavy stuff, but you don't want to throw out your back? Instead of renting or paying two hundred dollars for your own moving dolly, DIY web site Instructables details...

• Keep Dishonest Landlords at Bay with Your Camera [Apartments]

  Sarah Rae Trover

  6 Nov 2009 | 2:00 pm

  Even if your landlord seems happy-go-lucky upon moving in, there's always a chance they won't be so nice when you move out. Keep all parties accountable and in check for a hassle-free lease with a...

• Boxee to Launch Beta Early Next Month with Loads of New Features [Media Center]

  Adam Pash

  6 Nov 2009 | 1:30 pm

  Boxee has taken the media center world by storm in the last year, which is why it's always a surprise when we're reminded that it's still only an alpha release. Until December 7th, that is, when...

• 
  GigaOM

• Free Conferencing CEO Asks FCC to Keep on Google Voice

  Stacey Higginbotham

  6 Nov 2009 | 5:05 pm

  Even though less than 1 percent of the population uses Google Voice, David Erickson, president of the Free Conferencing Corp., a conference call company whose numbers are blocked by the service, is pretty aggrieved. So he met with the FCC and filed a letter urging the regulatory agency to get Google to play fair. He also offered to help Google find lower rates for its rural call termination fees. “Google shouldn’t be able to tell consumers where they can call and where they can’t,”  he said in an interview with The Hill, a trade publication. Actually, I’m with him on…

• Thanks to Our GigaOM Sponsors!

  Edit Staff

  6 Nov 2009 | 5:00 pm

  We’d like to say thanks to this week’s GigaOM sponsors: PEER 1: Fully Scalable Hosting Solutions Concentric: Hosted IT Services Mozy: Simple, Automatic, Secure Online Backup SoftLayer: SoftLayer delivers on-demand virtual data center services and solutions. Salesforce: Force.com Cloud Platform PayPal: Innovate 09 – The Intersection of Ideas and Money

• 11 Top Open-source Resources for Cloud Computing

  Sebastian Rupley

  6 Nov 2009 | 1:00 pm

  Open-source software has been on the rise at many businesses during the extended economic downturn, and one of the areas where it is starting to offer companies a lot of flexibility and cost savings is in cloud computing. Cloud deployments can save money, free businesses from vendor lock-ins that could really sting over time, and offer flexible ways to combine public and private applications. The following are 11 top open-source cloud applications, services, educational resources, support options, general items of interest, and more. Eucalyptus. Ostatic broke the news about UC Santa…

• Rich Carriers Got Richer in Q3

  Colin Gibbs

  6 Nov 2009 | 12:30 pm

  The rich mobile carriers got a little richer in the third quarter, as the nation’s top two operators increased their leads over the rest of the field. Verizon Wireless added a million subscribers and posted revenue of $15.8 billion, up 24.4 percent year-over-year, while AT&T reported 2 million net adds — thanks largely to the iPhone — and $13.65 in revenue, up 8 percent over the year-ago period. Meanwhile, the increasingly heated prepaid space took its toll on Leap Wireless and MetroPCS, as both service providers saw customer growth slide in the third quarter.  Leap…

• Vint Cerf Plugs His Plucky Space Web Protocol Into Android

  Sebastian Rupley

  6 Nov 2009 | 10:13 am

  Google evangelist Vint Cerf, who many people think of as one of the fathers of the Internet, has his eyes on some interesting Earth-based applications that can work with his long-standing interplanetary extensions of the Net. He announced at the Open Mobile Summit this morning a software stack that sits on top of the open-source Android operating system that could strengthen wireless network communications through his DTN (Delay Tolerant Netorking) Interplanetary Net protocol. Cerf has been working with NASA since 1998 to develop DTN as a way to overcome limitations in the TCP/IP protocol…

• 
  Gizmodo

• 10 Terrible Tips for Longer Battery Life [Humor]

  Wilson Rothman

  6 Nov 2009 | 11:00 pm

  Nowadays, everything comes with a rechargeable battery, but who knew that getting long battery life could get soooo confusing? Here are 10 expert-backed tips to keep you from running low on the...

• This Inflating Bra Commercial Left Me Confused Yet Reaching For My Wallet [Nsfw]

  Rosa Golijan

  6 Nov 2009 | 9:03 pm

  Based on my non-existent Chinese skills, I managed to understand that this inflatable bra makes boobs big, BIG, BIG. And I guess it comes with odd sound effects included? Can someone watch please...

• Office Building Or Home To A Super Heroine? [Architecture]

  Rosa Golijan

  6 Nov 2009 | 8:25 pm

  Switzerland gets all the cool offices. This particular one's dubbed "Cocoon" and acts as headquarters for an architecture firm. I prefer to imagine it as home to a super heroine who zoom-zoom-zips...

• New For iPhone: 2 Balls 1 Cup [IPhone Apps]

  Adam Frucci

  6 Nov 2009 | 7:00 pm

  Presented for your approval without comment. [iTunes Link via The Awl]

• Pangolin Backpack [Bags]

  Brian Lam

  6 Nov 2009 | 6:20 pm

  The Pangolin is a spiny anteater covered in razor sharp scales, with razor sharp claws, that can shoot acid out of its anus. This backpack is inspired by the creature. gawkerGallery(5398994,6,'');...

• 
  Engadget

• Managed Copy hits Blu-ray Discs December 4th, but you still can't use it

  Ben Drawbaugh

  6 Nov 2009 | 11:34 pm

  The egg had to come before the chicken right? Well either way, one of 'em came first and in the case of the latest Blu-ray feature, Managed Copy enabled Blu-ray Discs will come before the hardware. Less than five months since AACS was finalized and the details of Managed Copy were revealed and so far we've only seen one demo and not a single product announcement. This doesn't surprise us, but AACS-LA is apparently surprised because although all Blu-ray Discs sold after December 4th have no choice but to allow at least one copy to be made, the requirement to label the packaging as such has…

• How would you change Windows Mobile 6.5?

  Darren Murph

  6 Nov 2009 | 9:59 pm

  We know, today is totally Android 2.0's day to shine, but what would a Friday night be without a little diversity? Windows Mobile 6.5 officially landed on a gaggle of Windows Phones back in early October (a month ago to the day, in fact), but by and large, all of 'em have seemingly drifted off into some forgotten corner while Motorola's DROID has taken over the hype. Still, we've got a feeling at least a few of you loyalists went out and gave Sir Ballmer a few more of your nickles, and now we're eager to hear if you're loving or regretting that choice. Is 6.5 really a worthy update over 6.1?

• The daily roundup: here's what you might've missed

  Ross Miller

  6 Nov 2009 | 8:37 pm

  Netflix instant streaming demoed on PlayStation 3 We've got to admit -- the whole thing looks exceptionally sleek, but given the PS3's multimedia prowess, we didn't really expect anything less HTC Hero / Eris mega faceoff on video Any way you lean it's a pretty good handset with some perhaps overly bulky software, a wonderful pricepoint and probably a limited time in the sun with upcoming Android 2.0 devices rolling on in. DROID mania sweeps the nation, so to speak And if riffraff like us can waltz into the store and get them, you should certainly be able to. Good luck being assimilated out…

• Microsoft emancipates Digital Cable Tuners with second Media Center update today

  Richard Lawler

  6 Nov 2009 | 7:19 pm

  Scant hours after the SDV tuning, DRM-relaxing firmware update for Vista and Windows 7 Digital Cable Tuner users became available, Missing Remote let us know Microsoft has come through on the other half of its CEDIA promise by pushing the Digital Cable Advisor to Media Center Extras galleries everywhere. This half should enable all Windows 7 PCs to work with the CableCard tuners, sans-OEM requirement or inconvenient hacking. Sure we could ask for more from Windows 7 Media Center, but for now Netflix and these two (in less than 100 days) will have to do. Read - MCE: Digital Cable Advisor Tool…

• Guitar Hero and Rock Band drums combine for ultimate MIDI kit (video)

  Darren Murph

  6 Nov 2009 | 6:09 pm

  We've seen our fair share of Guitar Hero / Rock Band drum kit mods, but without exception, this one is our fav. Tipster (and tinkerer) Jordan has taken the time to wire up a Guitar Hero kit and a Rock Band kit in order to create the most bodacious set of MIDI skins this planet has ever seen. Using a combination of Osculator, JunXion Lite and Logic, he was able to rig up the Rock Band pedal to operate as a high-hat pedal, while reprogramming some of the heads to act as cymbals. We'd bother explaining more, but we'll just point you past the break and advise you to watch (head to 2:20 if you're…

• 
  Yahoo! News: Technology News

• IBM offers to swap higher-interest debt (AP)

  6 Nov 2009 | 2:34 pm

  AP - IBM Corp. on Friday made an offer to certain debt holders to swap their long-term debt with bonds carrying a lower interest rate plus cash in a move to save money and bolster its balance sheet.

• Internet, Cell Phones Don't Increase Isolation, Study Says (NewsFactor)

  6 Nov 2009 | 2:07 pm

  NewsFactor - If you're worried that your employees or children are disengaging from the world by using the Internet and cell phones, relax. A new study from the Pew Internet and American Life Project found that these technologies have not increased social isolation in the U.S.

• AIG, Magna, Activision Blizzard are big movers (AP)

  6 Nov 2009 | 2:05 pm

  AP - The following stocks were among those that moved substantially or traded heavily Friday on the New York Stock Exchange:

• AT&T completes delayed Centennial acquisition (AP)

  6 Nov 2009 | 1:41 pm

  AP - AT&T Inc. said Friday that its acquisition of smaller wireless carrier Centennial Communications Corp., has closed after several delays due to the regulatory process.

• xGestures updated for Snow Leopard (Macworld.com)

  6 Nov 2009 | 12:52 pm

  Macworld.com - Brian Kendall has released an updated version of xGestures for Snow Leopard, which allows you to drive your Mac with "mouse gestures"—a particular combination of mouse movements that triggers a menu item, keystroke, or AppleScript.

• 
  CrunchGear

• Zune Pass troubles? Users report Zune purchases are busted

  Devin Coldewey

  6 Nov 2009 | 8:39 pm

  Zune down! The Zune support forums are awash with users claiming various issues with Zune subscription media. Songs are not showing up, or if they do, they aren’t playing. Sounds like an authentication issue to me, and those happen every once in a while — but for weeks on end? Any of you fine folks out there having trouble? I’ll see if I can scare up any info from the Zune team and post an update later. [Thanks, Aditya]

• The iPhone coming to The Shack

  Dave Freeman

  6 Nov 2009 | 7:15 pm

  There were rumors out there that the iPhone would be coming to authorized resellers soon, and we're finally starting to see it showing up. Surprisingly, The Shack will be the first one out the gate.

• Siren.gif: Microsoft COFEE law enforcement tool leaks all over the Internet~!

  Nicholas Deleon

  6 Nov 2009 | 7:14 pm

  It was one of the most sought after applications on the Internet until it was leaked earlier today. And now that it’s out there—and it is all over the place, easily findable by anyone able to use a search engine—we can all move on with our lives. Yes, Microsoft COFEE, the law enforcement tool that mystified so many of us (including Gizmodo~! and Ars Technica~!), is now available to download. If only there were a “bay” of some sort where, I don’t know, pirates hang out… I’m not mentioning any names, nor will there be any screenshots, but the resourceful…

• A 31-page 7D review for your consideration

  Devin Coldewey

  6 Nov 2009 | 5:49 pm

  The always thorough DPReview has finally published its epic review of the Canon 7D. Their conclusion? Brilliant. While in the end your purchase probably will rely more on your investment into the Canon, Nikon, Pentax, or whatever ecosystem, the 7D performs incredibly well and should be considered among the very best available. Not much else to say except I wish I had two grand burning a hole in my pocket so I could pick one up.

• Bad news, good news: Eee Keyboard delayed, but it’s getting the old touchscreen back

  Devin Coldewey

  6 Nov 2009 | 4:48 pm

  I amaze myself sometimes. You see, I have so much power as a writer on this invincible and influential blog that sometimes I can change an entire industry with but a word. Case in point: apparently my recent post on Eee’s decision to change the touchscreen to resistive on their Eee Keyboard was so crushing that they’ve altered their entire business plan and delayed the device to accommodate it. O Mighty Blogger! Thou humblest the world! Actually, I’m guessing they did some focus groups and found that the trade-off of “lower price and crappier touchscreen” with…

• 
  Neowin.net / All

• Apple opens its first retail store in France

  Max Majewski

  6 Nov 2009 | 10:49 pm

  Today Apple opened its second store on mainland Europe at the Carrousel du Louvre in Paris, France. They don't stop there, however; another store in Montpellier, France opens next week on November 14th and one near the Opera Ganier to debut in the summer of 2010. France's first Apple store opens today at 10AM CET. This is a prestigious location to be sure, right across the famous inverted pyramid inside the Louvre museum. Just for that it would be worthwhile to visit this store, which spans two floors. 150 employees work in the store to offer the same services, which have made the…

• Google introduces Google Dashboard

  Sam Symons

  6 Nov 2009 | 2:53 pm

  Google's one of the biggest companies on the Internet; between search, IM, email and everything else, they have a huge user base. Though, with that comes the worry of how much user data they've collected; to remedy this, a tool has been announced, showing users that exact data. Google has an extremely vast range of services. Read full story...

• Windows 7 surpasses Snow Leopard in under two weeks

  Andrew Lyle

  6 Nov 2009 | 8:17 am

  In only two weeks since the official commercial launch of Microsoft's latest operating system, Windows 7 has managed to surpass Apple's Snow Leopard market share. Snow Leopard has been on the market for three months while Windows 7 has only been on the market for two weeks. Microsoft still stands dominant in the market share, holding strong at 92.52% of all computers in October, compared to Mac OS X with 5.27%, Linux with 0.96% and 1.25% with other operating systems. Windows 7 managed to surpass Snow Leopard's market share (1.17%); Windows 7 managed to grab 2.15% of the market…

• EU embraces "Internet Freedom"

  Brad Sams

  6 Nov 2009 | 6:07 am

  The EU took a big step forward last night and approved a measure to ensure "internet freedom" would remain and that individuals would not have their internet cutoff unjustly. The Internet freedom provision, which was part of a massive telecommunications package, was approved late last night after France determined that its own HADOPI law assumed guilt rather than innocence. The passage still allows for countries to adopt a three strike policy but "must presume innocence, guard privacy, and allow for judicial appeal". This differs from previous policies that gave EU governments the full…

• Rivals challenge Microsoft browser settlement

  Matthew Hopson

  6 Nov 2009 | 3:22 am

  Three rivals of Microsoft's Internet Explorer web browser are seeking last minute changes to a proposal, that would see new users of Windows presented with a ballot screen of the top five browsers. Rivals believe that the current ballot screen proposal still gives Internet Explorer an unfair advantage. After a complaint from the makers of the Opera web browser, the European Commission decided in January that Microsoft's inclusion of Internet Explorer in Windows constituted an abuse of their dominant market position. In October, the Redmond-based company proposed a so-called browser…

• 
  RISKS Digest

• "Jimmy Carter era" computer causes traffic jams

• Central Traffic unControl === gridlock

• Washington Metro system communications depend on single data center

• T-Mobile suffers major outage: nationwide or nearly so

• File share leaks data on US Congress members under investigation

• 
  Social Business

• Twitter Lists will change the social dynamic

  Jennifer Leggio

  6 Nov 2009 | 10:30 am

  Lists will either be the great equalizer, or create a pseudo ‘class’ system within Twitter.

• Nothing is viral, but everything is contagious

  Jennifer Leggio

  4 Nov 2009 | 10:42 am

  We trust George Carlin. We trust the celebrity. We don't trust random, unknown bloggers or Twitter users that no one has heard of.

• Developing government's human voice

  Jennifer Leggio

  3 Nov 2009 | 9:19 am

  Government, unlike private sector companies, has not had a major review of its business processes and corporate culture. We are long overdue.

• Social book reading in the digital age

  Jennifer Leggio

  2 Nov 2009 | 9:28 am

  * Jennifer Leggio is on vacation Guest editorial by Andy Santamaria I know what you’re thinking. You read the title of this post and thought, “Books have always been social, we share them with friends, form book clubs, and bend at Oprah’s will.” That’s all true, but like many things, It’s going to be re-invented for [...]

• 2010 Predictions: Will social media reach ubiquity?

  Jennifer Leggio

  27 Oct 2009 | 9:19 am

  A sampling of social media predictions and forward-looking ideas from thought leaders, entrepreneurs and in-the-trenches workers.

• 
  InternetNews Realtime News for IT Managers

• In Defense of Steve Ballmer

  Microsoft's CEO has taken a lot of knocks, but are the critics being fair?

• UCSD Plans First Flash-Based Supercomputer

  Spinning media just wasn't up to the job, so UCSD is banking on flash memory to build its dream machine.

• Digging Into N.Y.'s Antitrust Suit Against Intel

  Why is New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo suing Intel?

• Analyst: Sony-Ericsson's Android Bid Is Late

  The company's Android-powered X10 brings the OS in a new multimedia direction, but it's not clear when it will arrive in the U.S.

• Microsoft Sites Up Big in Time Spent Online

  Software titan may run a weak third in Web searches, but its sites are high on users' agendas.

• 
  News Tom's Hardware US

• Pencil-thin Dell Adamo XPS Has Core 2 Duo Brains

  6 Nov 2009 | 12:41 pm

  This ultra ultra thin doesn't have an Atom!

• Presented By:

  6 Nov 2009 | 12:41 pm

• Activision Defends Modern Warfare 2 PC

  6 Nov 2009 | 12:41 pm

  PC gamer rage isn't worrying Activision too much.

• Nvidia Pokes Fun at Intel by Using Cartoons

  6 Nov 2009 | 11:50 am

  Intel's not happy with Nvidia's funnies.

• Presented By:

  6 Nov 2009 | 11:41 am

• 
  Ubergizmo

• Uber10: the greatest gifts, coming up on November 12

  6 Nov 2009 | 2:17 pm

  Yes, it's that time of the year again (we can't believe it!). Soon, you will run around wondering what to get for your loved ones -probably at the last minute. We can help by suggesting the 10 greatest gifts (under $500) for this holiday season. They are called the “Uber10&rdquo. Please help us select an 11th gift by voting on an extended list (coming any day now). The Uber10 will be unveiled in a private event in San Francisco on November 12, thanks to our Platinum Sponsor Dolby and Gold Sponsor Intel. Dolby will build a surround sound setup at the event venue to show us what the…

• Nvidia fighting Intel with...humor?

  6 Nov 2009 | 12:35 pm

  I had to scratch my eyes a couple of times, but NVIDIA has built a parody website called intelsinsides.com (yes it's been confirmed that Nvidia owns the site). I don't think that Intel will laugh, but I wonder how they will react to that. Who’s next? Qualcomm? Marvell? Broadcom? AMD? Permalink: Nvidia fighting Intel with...humor? from Ubergizmo | Hot: Motorola Droid Review

• Microsoft demonstrates glass interface

  6 Nov 2009 | 11:13 am

  Microsoft chief research officer Craig Mundie recently demonstrated an extremely interesting concept that could be part of a future computing interface during his college tour. While this concept supports the use of pens for precise input, the transparent glass display is also more than capable of recognizing voices and detecting touch-free gestures, pretty much in the same vein as the Xbox 360's soon-to-happen Project Natal. Apart from that, this system is smart enough to detect a pair of eyes and navigate based on one's gaze - guess the physically impaired will find this infinitely more…

• Witstech A81 tablet

  6 Nov 2009 | 11:07 am

  Here's another tablet that might just pique your interest if you're into devices like these - the Witstech A81 tablet. This 7" ARM-powered tablet will most probably fall under the WinCE category, but we're pleased to note that it comes with a capacitive touchscreen display while running on an unidentified ARM Cortex A8 core. No idea on pricing, but a range of $200 to $250 has been bandied about alongside a future Android build. Permalink: Witstech A81 tablet from Ubergizmo | Hot: Motorola Droid Review

• Barnes & Noble gift card does not work with eBooks

  6 Nov 2009 | 11:05 am

  Some guy known as Dave had a Nook pre-ordered for him from the local Barnes & Noble store, picking up a $100 gift card in the process to kickstart the eBook collection. Unfortunately, when the bloke tried to buy a few books virtually, he realized that the gift card was useless, and this without having the staff at Barnes & Noble inform him earlier. Hopefully not too many people will suffer the same fate this holiday season. Permalink: Barnes & Noble gift card does not work with eBooks from Ubergizmo | Hot: Motorola Droid Review

• 
  Gadgetell

• New battery technology could greatly improve battery life of mobile devices

  Shawn Ingram

  6 Nov 2009 | 5:12 pm

  Section: Computers, Laptops, Netbooks Finding a new way to store power in our mobile devices has been a problem for quite some time.  We’ve been stuck with Lithium-Ion batteries for a while now, and unless a device is using ULV or is a netbook, chances are the battery life could be a lot better.  There’s been promises of several types of new battery tech recently, but none has really taken off.  Now yet another new possibility has come as the replacement for the Lithium-Ion. The new technology is called Metal-Air Ionic Liquid.  It works by conducting…

• Verizon launches LG Chocolate Touch

  Sue Walsh

  6 Nov 2009 | 2:07 pm

  Section: Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers, Mobile As if the new Droid phone from Motorola wasn’t enough, Verizon Wireless has announced the launch of the LG Chocolate Touch.  The Chocolate Touch has a 3 inch touch screen, a 3.2MP camera, full HTML browser, 1GB of memory with additional memory up to 16GB easily added via the SD slot, a music player that plays back MP3, WMA and ACC files, a built in FM radio, Bluetooth, EVDO Rev. 0 connectivity and easy access to social networking sites like MySpace, Facebook and Twitter. Verizon is offering the Chocolate Touch for just $80…

• Epic Games offers Unreal Engine 3 Development Kit for free

  NEWS

  6 Nov 2009 | 1:57 pm

  FROM GAMERTELL - The UDK offers advanced tools including a physics engine, video encoding, particle effects, destructible environments, audio encoding and an AI system. Find out how to get your copy… MORE » Full Story » | Written by NEWS for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

• Rumor: White BlackBerry Curve 8900 headed to AT&T

  Robert Nelson

  6 Nov 2009 | 12:25 pm

  Section: Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers, Smartphones, Mobile It looks like AT&T users may soon have one more BlackBerry to choose from, that is assuming we can believe the latest rumor. Sadly, though aside from the above image there are little to no details as to when this is expected to be available. Price wise, it would be safe to think that it would drop at the same price as the existing Curve 8900 in black, which is currently $149.99. That said, I am not sure I really like this model. Which is a change because I am typically a fan of white phones, but this one sort of…

• Appletell reviews the BookArc Desktop Stand for MacBooks

  NEWS

  6 Nov 2009 | 11:31 am

  FROM APPLETELL - The BookArc allows you to rest your MacBook in its closed position while in use. Why would you need that? You wouldn’t be asking if you use an external monitor and keyboard. MORE » Full Story » | Written by NEWS for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

• 
  CNET News.com

• Video: A new workout for the Wii

  6 Nov 2009 | 8:56 pm

  Ubisoft's upcoming fitness game, YourShape, promises an experience a step up from Wii Fit. In the process, can it help revitalize the Nintendo console?

• Popular iPhone movie app flops on BlackBerry

  6 Nov 2009 | 4:57 pm

  Flixster's Movies app just isn't up to snuff on BlackBerry.

• Mobile: Still waiting to see what sticks

  6 Nov 2009 | 4:53 pm

  As businesses try to capitalize on the growing mobile software market, open source can offer a way to encourage adoption and build products in the image of the prospective buyer.

• Reporters' Roundtable 9: The business of app stores

  6 Nov 2009 | 4:15 pm

  The App Store business model, nearly perfected by Apple, has changed the way software is made, sold, distributed, and priced. Join Rafe Needleman in discussion with CNET's Maggie Reardon and GigaOm's Sebastian Rupley.

• EMI to offer instant concert recordings

  6 Nov 2009 | 3:21 pm

  An initiative called Abbey Road Live will enable concert attendees to buy CDs, DVDs, or flash cards with recordings of the show they just heard.

• 
  TechNewsWorld

• Verizon Launches a Droid of a Different Color

  Richard Adhikari

  6 Nov 2009 | 11:56 am

  Amid the frenzy Friday surrounding the launch of Verizon Wireless's Motorola Droid smartphone, another Verizon Android handset also made its debut -- the HTC Droid Eris. The Eris is essentially a slightly modified version of the HTC Hero, a phone Sprint started selling last month. The one-two punch powered by the Droid and Droid Eris mark the beginning of a new Android line of phones from Verizon. The Eris has a seven-panel home screen that users can customize with a variety of widgets, according to Verizon.

• Droid Lurches to Life

  Paul Hartsock

  6 Nov 2009 | 10:03 am

  Today is the day of the Droid. The Motorola smartphone touches down today in what's shaping up to be one of the biggest handset launches in recent memory. Of course Verizon is going all-in as far as advertising is concerned, but there's more to the Droid's story than a marketing campaign. First, there's Motorola. Droid is it's big jump back into the smartphone market, a place where it's been at best lame and at worst absent over the past few years. It's got a lot of chips on the table with this one.

• Let's Give the iPhone Hackers a Big Round of Applause

  Chris Maxcer

  6 Nov 2009 | 4:00 am

  I'm the kind of guy who rarely bothers to hack my devices. By "hack," I mean use the hacks and instructions of those who are much more intrepid than I. Tinkering with a device that I shelled out hundreds of dollars for, if not more, isn't something I take lightly. If I break it, I've not only lost usage of the device, I'm out of the money, too. If I had a bigger bank account, I might be more cavalier about it all. I've poked at my Apple TV, messed around with a first-generation iPhone, and the like.

• Droid: Enjoyed

  Renay San Miguel

  6 Nov 2009 | 4:00 am

  If I had my way, I would encourage Verizon Wireless to invest in both hologram technology and more "Star Wars" film rights. That would allow the carrier to hire an Alec Guinness lookalike who could pop up in 3-D visions in Verizon stores across the country, wave his hand over racks full of Motorola's new smartphone, and in full Obi-Wan Kenobi drag intone the words, "these are the Droids you're looking for." Ohhh-kayyyy, so maybe it's a good thing I'm not in charge of Verizon marketing.

• Cyber-Meltdown: Managing the Message When IT Hits the Fan

  Renay San Miguel

  6 Nov 2009 | 4:00 am

  It started as an act of Web site defacement by some anti-capitalist zealots, attacking one of Canada's largest multinational corporations. You know the kind -- they've got their fingers in all kinds of business pies, from airplane parts to media content to their own very popular brand of hand sanitizer. So they were ripe for some cyber-sabotage, judging from the overheated invective that appeared scrawled all over the corporate Web site. Things went downhill fast, however, for the information technology specialists on hand trying to clean up the vandalism.

• 
  ZDNet News - News Page One

• Thunderbird 3: Near-final version due next week

  6 Nov 2009 | 8:56 am

  Thunderbird 3, an update to the email software Mozilla hopes will give it some of the advantages its Firefox browser has enjoyed, is due to arrive in near-final form next week.

• Skype deal averts shutdown, allows sale

  6 Nov 2009 | 8:45 am

  Skype's founders Niklas Zennstrm and Janus Friis are to regain some of their control over the company as part of a deal that will let Skype carry on using its core peer-to-peer technology.

• Firefox, Chrome get quick fixes

  6 Nov 2009 | 4:42 am

  Mozilla and Google have released new Firefox and Chrome browsers to fix bugs. The new Firefox patches one critical bug across Windows, Mac and Linux platforms.

• 10 ways to evaluate your IT management software

  5 Nov 2009 | 1:32 pm

  Does your helpdesk work for you or do you work for your helpdesk? Saar Bitner of SysAid Technologies tells how to manage you IT management software.

• Zero-day flaw found in web encryption

  5 Nov 2009 | 9:41 am

  A zero-day flaw in the TLS and SSL protocols, which are commonly used to encrypt web pages, has been made public.

• 
  Top Tech News

• Internet, Cell Phones Don't Increase Isolation, Study Says

  6 Nov 2009 | 11:07 am

  If you're worried that your employees or children are disengaging from the world by using the Internet and cell phones, relax. A new study from the Pew Internet and American Life Project found that these technologies have not increased social isolation in the U.S. The Personal Networks and Community Survey is the first to examine this issue. It found that the amount of "severe isolation" has hardly changed since a previous study, which was conducted in 1985 before these technologies emerged. About six percent of adults, roughly the same as in 1985, report they have no one in their life that…

• World Smartphone Market Grows Despite Economy

  6 Nov 2009 | 11:07 am

  Having a device that enables users to take pictures, e-mail colleagues, browse the web, and send text messages is no longer a nice-to-have device but a need-to-have device. That mentality is creating a recession-proof smartphone market. While technology businesses continue to suffer because of the downturn in the economy, the smartphone market continues to thrive, according a report by IDC, a technology research firm. In fact, in the third quarter the market set a new record for quarterly shipments, according to IDC. Vendors shipped 43.3 million units worldwide during the quarter, an increase…

• EMI Wins Beatles Music Injunction Against BlueBeat.com

  6 Nov 2009 | 11:07 am

  On Friday, EMI won an injunction against BlueBeat.com, forcing the web site to stop selling Beatles songs without permission. The London-based record label alleged that the music site was breaching its copyrights. A Los Angeles federal court moved swiftly to issue a temporary restraining order against BlueBeat. EMI, which represents The Beatles works, filed suit against the BlueBeat site on Tuesday. BlueBeat.com was selling songs from the British band's archives for 25 cents each. By contrast, Apple's iTunes Store sells songs for about $1, but does not have The Beatles' catalog. BlueBeat had…

• Is Google Dashboard Really Transparent or a PR Stunt?

  6 Nov 2009 | 11:06 am

  A new product that gives users a new level of insight into what the world's biggest search engine knows about them was launched Thursday. Google Dashboard lets users see reports on the data Google has collected on them. In a blog post, Google said the Dashboard is an improvement on past efforts like the Privacy Center to give users access to retained information. Dashboard is "an effort to provide you with greater transparency and control ... (and) designed to be simple and useful," the posting said. "The Dashboard summarizes data for each product that you use (when signed in to your account)…

• Verizon's Buzz for Motorola's Droid Fizzles at Day's End

  6 Nov 2009 | 11:06 am

  Motorola's Droid smartphones may have been dropping out of the sky like meteors in Verizon Wireless commercials, but they weren't selling with as much force on the first day of launch. Verizon stores throughout the nation made the Droid available Friday after heavily marketing the Android 2.0-based device during the World Series. Motorola and Verizon are hoping the Droid will have as much success as the Motorola Razr during in its four-year run, when it sold 110 million units. Anxious consumers lined up at midnight to have first dibs at purchasing the Droid, and some shorter lines formed…

• 
  Wash Post Technology

• Fast Forward: Verizon's Droid takes on Apple's iPhone

  Post

  7 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm

  Please don't call the Droid an "iPhone killer." Verizon Wireless's new Motorola smartphone , running Google's Android open-source software , won't drive Apple's device from the market. (Besides, labeling anything an iPod or iPhone killer usually seems to ensure its quick demise.)

• Security Fix Live

  Brian Krebs

  6 Nov 2009 | 8:00 am

  Security Fix blogger Brian Krebs answers your technology questions and offers ways to protect yourself from online security threats.

• Fairfax County crime report

  Post

  4 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm

  The following incidents were reported by the Fairfax County Police Department. For more information, call 703-246-2253.

• N.Y. files antitrust lawsuit against Intel

  Tomoeh Murakami Tse and Cecilia Kang

  4 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm

  NEW YORK -- New York Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo filed an antitrust suit against Intel on Wednesday, accusing the world's largest chipmaker of illegally threatening computer makers and paying them billions of dollars in kickbacks to stop using chips made by rivals.

• Controversial speed cameras cause gear-grinding among irked drivers

  Neely Tucker

  4 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm

  You rip open the envelope and there it is: Another darned photo-enforcement traffic ticket.

• 
  CNN.com - Technology

• Q&A: How design can change the world

  6 Nov 2009 | 10:51 am

  The title of Warren Berger's recently published book -- "Glimmer: How Design Can Transform Your Life and Maybe Even the World" -- is ambitious.

• Going to the office . . . in Second Life

  6 Nov 2009 | 9:49 am

  As recession-minded businesses cut back on travel for employees, online communities such as Second Life are filling the void. More than 1,400 companies and agencies now use Second Life avatars to hold virtual meetings and conduct training.

• Google releases Dashboard tool

  6 Nov 2009 | 8:06 am

  Ever wonder what information Google knows about you? With a click or two, now you can find out.

• Google tries its hand at customer service

  5 Nov 2009 | 10:14 am

  If you rely on a compelling service that happens to be free, what level of customer support are you entitled to receive?

• Life-logging camera may help fight memory loss

  5 Nov 2009 | 8:08 am

  A small, wearable camera that captures images automatically could change the way memory loss patients, in particular those with Alzheimer's, are treated, experts say.

• 
  TechNews

• Fall Fest ‘09: a memorable way to kick off Halloween

  Lory Mishra

  2 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm

  On Thursday, October 29 and Friday, October 30, Union Board and the Campus and Conference Centers executed one of the most successful and well-attended events in the Bog. Fall Fest was a two-day event, with a dance party and costume contest on day one and Bottomless Bog on day two. This event marked the debut of IIT’s new Student Planning and Bog Coordinator, Chris Dayss. Mr. Dayss worked alongside Union Board’s VP of Bog Events, Hamza Obaid, to deliver a fantastic experience for all 250 students who attended Fall Fest ’09.

• Zombies in MSV: RHA terrorizes 4th East residents

  Manuel Lopez

  2 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm

  On Friday, the gloominess of the night, the breath-revealing cold, the solitude of the streets, and the wet leaves outside of MSV prepared the atmosphere for what was about to happen. As soon as I entered MSV and attempted to head to the warmth of my room, something sneaked up behind me. Barely after I identifed the thing as a zombie, it yelled “HEY!”. Of course, as every human would do at that point, I got startled. The zombie then calmly told me that I should go to the haunted 4th East.

• Letter from the Editor: herpes in the bookstore?

  Lory Mishra

  2 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm

  In the 9 issues I have served as the Editor-in-Chief, I never felt so compelled to write you all a Letter from the Editor, as I do now. Something very strange is happening in the bookstore and it would mar my journalistic integrity if I didn’t tell you about it. A few days ago, I walked into our very own bookstore in the MTCC to purchase a few school supplies for some of my classes. Towards the end of my trip to the bookstore, I noticed some new additions: large, bright stuffed toys. The bookstore has had some quirky merchandise in the past but these stuffed toys definitely caught me…

• Race against time: trying to make the most of it

  Nithya Rajamanickam

  2 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm

  The participation in the Procrastination session held by IIT Counseling Center had my mind ticking about the ways to make the most of my time. But then, battling with procrastination is again losing time, and there are no means to gulp down all the time in the world and store it in your system for future use, or lock it in a cabinet safely from escaping you. You can talk about cherished moments but not treasure time in your grandma’s chest.

• Speaking of IIT: language classes, theater, and SocialDevCamp

  Linda Goldstein

  2 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm

  Spanish, and French- to name just a few- for several years in high school, and want more advanced courses. But a major problem (other than finances) is that language courses do not fit well into the rigorous class schedule that many IIT students must adhere to in order to get their degrees. But, if offered a low-stress, flexible, and entertaining way to keep up and improve their skillz, many students would jump for it.

• 
  msnbc.com: Technology & Science

• Space junk buzzes station while crew sleeps

  6 Nov 2009 | 11:51 pm

  A small chunk of space trash made an uncomfortably close pass by the International Space Station late Friday, but not close enough to force the astronauts aboard to take shelter in their Russian lifeboats.

• Space elevator team wins $900,000 from NASA

  6 Nov 2009 | 11:31 pm

  A Seattle-based team has won $900,000 in this year's Space Elevator Games, a NASA-sponsored contest to build machines powered by laser beams that can climb a cable in the sky.

• New survey finds 22 of the earliest galaxies

  6 Nov 2009 | 6:41 pm

  A new survey has found 22 of the earliest galaxies to form in the universe, confirming the age of one at just 787 million years after the theoretical Big Bang.

• Moon’s ‘friends’ say no to future lunar crashes

  6 Nov 2009 | 6:37 pm

  When a NASA spacecraft rammed into the moon in October, the event also stirred an observable cloud of public anxiety and protests in some quarters about "bombing" the moon.

• Judge stops sites from selling Beatles songs

  6 Nov 2009 | 12:53 pm

  A federal judge has temporarily blocked two music-sharing Web sites from selling songs by The Beatles and other artists for 25 cents apiece.

• 
  tech news - Google News

• Boise slips by La. Tech - Shreveport Times

  Google Inc.

  Boston GlobeBoise slips by La. TechShreveport TimesRUSTON — The Louisiana Tech Bulldogs came close to costing themselves approximately $500000 here Boise State survives LA Tech to remain undefeatedSeattle Post IntelligencerNo. 5 Boise State survives Louisiana Tech 45-35The Associated PressLouisiana Tech faces monumental challenge tonightESPNNPR -IdahoStatesman.com -Monroe News Starall 426 news articles »

• Hokies' defense held their own against Pirates - Lynchburg News and Advance

  Google Inc.

  Hokies' defense held their own against PiratesLynchburg News and AdvanceGREENVILLE, NC — Though it was pushed to the brink a few times, Virginia Tech's defense didn't concede much in the Hokies' 16-3 win over Sweet redemption for Tech's Williams at ECUDaily PressSad Days at Virginia TechBleacher ReportGeorgia Tech moves one step closer to ACC title gameAtlanta Journal ConstitutionSan Francisco Chronicle -Philadelphia Inquirer -Philadelphia Daily Newsall 677 news articles »

• Wake Forest at Georgia Tech - News & Observer

  Google Inc.

  Atlanta Journal ConstitutionWake Forest at Georgia TechNews & ObserverLogic says Georgia Tech (8-1, 5-1 ACC) is going to have a bummer of a game somewhere. It's just a question of when, and this one looked like a prime Keys for Tech vs. WakeAtlanta Journal ConstitutionWFU will face tough test today at Georgia TechWinston-Salem JournalRaised expectations: Tech's Johnson surprises some with rapid Jackets successMacon TelegraphCharlotteObserver.com -Offshore Insiders -GoJackets.com (subscription)all 225 news articles »

• Ex-New Orleans tech chief, wife, vendor indicted - The Associated Press

  Google Inc.

  Ex-New Orleans tech chief, wife, vendor indictedThe Associated PressNEW ORLEANS — A federal grand jury on Friday indicted former New Orleans technology chief Greg Meffert, his wife and a one-time city vendor in an alleged Former NO tech chief and wife, vendor indictedWWL First NewsFormer NO tech chief and wife, vendor indictedWXVTall 0 news articles »

• Too Much Information: Georgia Bulldogs v. Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles - Dawg Sports (blog)

  Google Inc.

  Atlanta Journal ConstitutionToo Much Information: Georgia Bulldogs v. Tennessee Tech Golden EaglesDawg Sports (blog)Too Much Information: Andy Landers, the head basketball coach of the Lady Bulldogs, is a Tennessee Tech alum. Watson Brown, the head football coach of the Keys To Georgia vs. Tennessee TechAtlanta Journal ConstitutionGeorgia Holds Final Practice Prior To Homecoming Contest Against Tennessee TechWCTVTurnover-plagued Bulldogs looking for better bounces against underdog WHNTRed and Black -CharlotteObserver.com -Online Athensall 87 news articles »

• 
  Technology Story

• Augmented Intelligence

  Scott Klososky

  5 Nov 2009 | 8:02 am

  Being a creative person, I am always on the look out for a way of mixing words that might be a new way to describe something that is not well described today. As I speak to audiences about business intelligence and how it will move us to artificial intelligence engines that run our organizations, I have been struggling to replace the AI moniker. Artificial intelligence was never a good descriptor of a software application that would appear to be able to think. The reality is AI is just a sophisticated set of rules that simulate how a human might process a set of variables. The human brain is…

• Stories From the Road

  Scott Klososky

  21 Oct 2009 | 5:49 pm

  One of the cool things about being a speaker is hearing all the interesting stories of how technology is impacting people. Here are a few I have heard in the last couple of weeks… On gentleman in his 60’s came up today and said he really did not know much about social media, but he was proud of something he has accomplished this year. His wife had picked up a stray dog she had found and had promptly gone old school to find the owner. She put up posters around town with a picture and a phone number. After a week or so, the dog was still at the house and this guy was getting nervous about a…

• Tech Spending – How Much Is Enough?

  Scott Klososky

  19 Oct 2009 | 11:53 am

  One of the most difficult aspects of technology as a tool is deciding how much to invest, when to invest, and then being at peace that you will get a return on the investment. This applies to us individually, and to all organizations. I have been wrestling with both the last few weeks and that inspires me to write this content for you. I have a client that is growing quickly, been in business many years, has the profits to upgrade their digital plumbing, and the need to take a big step forward. We are talking a possible investment of one to two million dollars possibly – maybe more. At the…

• Augmented Reality

  Scott Klososky

  9 Oct 2009 | 7:34 am

  Before you read any future, if you do not understand the concept of Augmented Reality (AR), please watch this video by BMW because it will give you a quick picture in your head: YouTube link. The concept of AR is that with either glasses, a visor, a camera device, or eventually direct to our retina, we can look at anything and have the scene we are looking at enhanced with information driven from the Web, or any other data source. There are starting to be iPhone apps written that use AR to accomplish things like advertising, or scene enhancement for a computer aided tour of a location. Since…

• A New Tech-Enabled Sales Model

  Scott Klososky

  29 Sep 2009 | 7:23 pm

  Just about every organization in the world is involved in some type “selling.” The product could be a widget, a service, donations, or content, and in every case, it has to be “sold” to someone. I happened to start my career in 1980 and in the first few years I was lucky enough to work for a company that sent me to some of the top sales schools of the day, including IBM, Xerox PSS, and 3M sales programs. This was a blessing because I was classically trained in the basics of prospecting, identifying needs, closing and generally learning the psychology of understanding a buyer and how I…

• 
  Tech-On! : tech news - straight from Asia.

• Japan's Vice Minister Discusses CO2 Reduction, Smart Grid

  6 Nov 2009 | 5:43 am

  Tetsurou Fukuyama, Japan's Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs and upper house member of Japan's Democratic Party, discussed the environmental policies of the Hatoyama administration Nov 5, 2009, at Smart Energy Symposium 2009.

• 35 Million Netbooks to Ship in 2009, Says ABI Research

  5 Nov 2009 | 10:48 pm

  According to ABI Research, almost 35 million netbooks will be shipped by manufacturers in 2009, a forecast the firm first made in February. ASUS dominated the netbook category in 2007 when it debuted the Eee PC, and Acer made a big push in Q4 2008 to lead the second year.

• Toshiba Introduces 'Highest-Capacity' 1.8-Inch HDD Series

  5 Nov 2009 | 10:43 pm

  Toshiba Corp has introduced what it claims is the industry's highest capacity 1.8-inch hard disk drive (HDD) series targeted at thin and light mobile PCs and portable external HDDs.

• Samsung's New R&D Center Begins Advanced Foundry Logic Process Development

  5 Nov 2009 | 10:39 pm

  Samsung Electronics said its new Semiconductor Research & Development Center has begun advanced logic process development. The center brings together logic and memory process research teams to realize synergies in various areas including new materials,

• ProMOS to Manufacture Elpida's 1Gb DDR3 Device

  5 Nov 2009 | 10:37 pm

  Elpida Memory Inc and ProMOS Technologies have signed a DRAM foundry agreement, in which Elpida will provide advanced DRAM process and product technologies to ProMOS while ProMOS will provide certain amount of manufacturing capacity

• 
  Tech News- Livemint.com

• Lenovo Q2 net more than doubles, beats forecasts

  5 Nov 2009 | 6:56 am

  Q2 net profit $53.08 mn vs street expectation of $24.5 mn; revenue declines 5%; China share of sales up to 49% of total; shares almost doubled this year, beating main board

• More than just a messenger

  5 Nov 2009 | 6:36 am

  An online instant messenger client that is loaded with goodies

• Microsoft CEO eyes Yahoo partnership outside US

  4 Nov 2009 | 8:42 pm

  Microsoft may look to extend its search engine partnership with Yahoo outside the US, if it gets regulatory approval

• 250,000 strong Facebook group finds owner of lost camera

  3 Nov 2009 | 4:13 pm

  An Australian tourist, who created a Facebook group to track down the owner of a camera lost in Greece, has attracted the attention of almost 250,000 people

• Internet could run out of web addresses next yr: report

  3 Nov 2009 | 1:58 am

  According to the Europeab Commission, businesses urgently need to upgrade to Internet protocol version six or IPv6, a new version of the Internet’s addressing protocol

• 
  PV Tech - News

• Applied Materials buys assets of Advent Solar: Emitter-Wrap Through technology provider

  6 Nov 2009 | 12:06 pm

  The struggling start-up, Advent Solar, which had already closed its solar module manufacturing line, several rounds of layoffs and shifted its business model to Intellectual Property (IP) provider, has been acquired by Applied Materials for an undisclosed sum. Applied said that the assets of Advent Solar would be integrated with Applied’s Energy and Environmental Solutions Group.

• Quercus Trust acquires Applied Solar assets

  6 Nov 2009 | 8:11 am

  Applied Solar has now finalized the previously announced sale of its assets and operations to Quercus APSO LLC, the wholly owned subsidiary of The Quercus Trust. Quercus APSO LLC, intends to change its name and conduct business as Applied Solar, LLC. With the consummation of the transaction, Applied Solar will have the benefit of a much stronger balance sheet and little or no long-term debt.

• MiaSolé receives certifications for thin-film solar modules

  6 Nov 2009 | 5:21 am

  MiaSolé has received ceritification of standards UL 1703 and IEC 61646 and 61730 for its 100 and 107W CIGS thin-film solar modules. The three certifications were given simultaneously. 

• EDF Energies Nouvelles beats solar capacity target for ‘09

  5 Nov 2009 | 9:38 am

  EDF Energies Nouvelles has said that the Group now has 183.4 MW in gross capacity (129.8 MWp net) in service or under construction as of 30 September. The company had previously guided a new capacity target for 2009 of between 100MW and 150MW.

• Solar Power International 2009 records highest attendance to date

  5 Nov 2009 | 8:15 am

  Solar Power International's 2009 conference marks the sixth time the business-to-business solar energy conference and exposition has broken attendance records. Nine hundred and twenty nine companies were featured on the exhibit floor, encouraging the attendance of 24,000 industry professionals, some 17,500 more professionals than last year. In addition, at least 2,700 Southern Californians came to the conference's annual Public Night.

• 
  Alice Hill's Real Tech News - Independent Tech

• Survey: iPhone Users Are Dogs

  Michael Santo

  6 Nov 2009 | 2:09 pm

  By Michael Santo Editor-in-Chief, RealTechNews Retrevo, a website that calls itself the “ultimate electronics marketplace,” took a look at iPhone owners. It tried to determine an iPhone user’s personality profile. One thing’s clear: in terms of dating, iPhone users are dogs. Why is that? Well, One in three iPhone owners has texted or emailed [...]

• Review: Vantage Vue Weather Station

  Martin

  6 Nov 2009 | 3:43 am

  By Martin Regtien Contributing Writer, RealTechNews The Vantage Vue was sent to us courtesy of  www.davisnet.com in USA and  through their Australian distributor Ecowatch at www.davisinstruments.com.au in Australia.  With the product being their latest 2010 model hot off the assembly line it required some last minute radio frequency alterations to conform with Australian legal requirements. Have Davis set [...]

• Axus FiT RAID Chassis - a review

  Martin

  6 Nov 2009 | 3:34 am

  By Martin Regtien Contributing Writer, RealTechNews Kevin Cheng reports: From time to time DigitalReviews is approached to review products because of our reputation for unbiased, no holds barred reviews.  I have to admit that I never heard of Axus in my travels, but they have kindly provided two of their FiT RAID Series chassis for our reviewing [...]

• Kingston, Paramount Team Up on Movie Delivery Via Flash Memory

  Michael Santo

  2 Nov 2009 | 12:19 pm

  By Michael Santo Editor-in-Chief, RealTechNews Remember the slotMusic format? That is a different way of deliveriing music, using microSD cards instead of CDs. With flash memory prices continuing to drop, it was only a matter of time until movies and DVDs would start being delivered the same way. On Monday, Kingston and Paramount Digital Entertainment (PDE) announced [...]

• NVIDIA Fermi (GT300) Ray Tracing Demo

  Martin

  31 Oct 2009 | 2:39 am

  By Martin Regtien Contributing Writer, RealTechNews Code-named “Fermi” next-generation CUDA architecture is the history of the world’s most advanced GPU computing architecture.  Fermi has more than 30 million transistors, with a maximum of 512 CUDA core, enabling supercomputing performance, features and terror.  With only the CPU-based compared to traditional servers, while its cost is only one-tenth, and [...]

• 
  TechWeb

• Virtual Desktops Are For Real

  6 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm

  We tested nine products that will transform how IT provides end user PCs.

• CIO Profiles: Christopher Rence, Chief Information And Business Transformation Officer Of FICO

  6 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm

  Our national technology policy must call for the widespread adoption of analytics as a core tool for making sound decisions, Rence recommends.

• InformationWeek Analytics Research: Federated Search

  6 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm

  Organizations are slow to adopt enterprise search systems that empower users to find data on the desktop, the network, and the Internet. The challenges are more operational than technical and the payoff is efficiency.

• InformationWeek Analytics Research: Federated Search

  6 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm

  Organizations are slow to adopt enterprise search systems that empower users to find data on the desktop, the network, and the Internet. The challenges are more operational than technical and the payoff is efficiency.

• Securing The Cyber Supply Chain

  6 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm

  Many parties touch your organization's systems and software, potentially exposing them to malware, breaches, or worse. A new end-to-end approach is required to minimize the risks.Many parties touch your organization's systems and software, potentially exposing them to malware and breaches. An end-to-end approach is needed to minimize the risks.

• 
  Technology Review RSS Feeds

• Blog - Spots 'n' pimples

  6 Nov 2009 | 9:10 pm

  The best of the rest from the physics arXiv this week

• Blog - Computer-Predicted Catalysis

  6 Nov 2009 | 10:30 am

  Two computer programs accurately predict how molecules interact with metals

• Blog - U.S. Congress Considers Geoengineering

  6 Nov 2009 | 10:00 am

  Plans to purposefully re-engineer the world's climate got their first serious committee hearing yesterday.

• Blog - Absent-minded Robots Remember What Matters

  6 Nov 2009 | 8:00 am

  Robots could mimic human forgetfulness to filter out less useful information.

• Blog - Waiter, Is There a Fungicide in My Soup?

  6 Nov 2009 | 6:00 am

  Scientists in Canada have developed dipstick that measures levels of pesticides in food and beverages.

• 
  BBC Blogs | Technology

• My life online - time to delete?

  Rory Cellan-Jones (BBC Blogs)

  5 Nov 2009 | 2:01 am

  How much do you know about all the data you have stored out there on the web? And how much control do you have over it? Questions prompted by Google's latest move to deal with concerns about privacy. The search company has today launched its Dashboard, which it says will allow users to view and control all the data associated with any of the Google products they may use - from Gmail, to web history, to documents and so on. Why should you want to do that? Well it may give you a bit of a wake-up call about just how much information you are leaving stored on servers in California or elsewhere.

• Orange's 'unlimited' iPhone

  Rory Cellan-Jones (BBC Blogs)

  3 Nov 2009 | 1:13 am

  Remember the price war that was supposed to break out once O2 lost its exclusive contract to sell the iPhone in Britain? Well, the price plans that Orange has published for the phone show little sign of an eagerness for hand-to-hand combat. Apart from an entry-level £30 tariff which promises twice as many minutes as O2's deal, the two firms' offers look virtually identical. Look at what's likely to be among the most popular tariffs, a 24-month contract for a 16GB iPhone 3GS at £34.26 a month, where you pay £87 for the device. That's identical in every respect to the O2 deal, except for the…

• Google on the march

  Rory Cellan-Jones (BBC Blogs)

  2 Nov 2009 | 1:03 am

  I've been abroad on holiday for the last week - apologies for the lack of blog posts - but even 6,000 miles away I couldn't help noticing that it was quite a week for technology news. The UK government promised to press ahead with tough measures against illegal file-sharers, Nintendo admitted that the Wii had "stalled", Facebook was awarded $711m in damages against a spammer, and approval was given for web addresses in non-Latin scripts such as Arabic and Chinese. Oh, and there've been countless Twitter stories - from the new lists function to the soul-searching about the mob effect when…

• 24 hours with Ubuntu

  Rory Cellan-Jones (BBC Blogs)

  23 Oct 2009 | 6:15 am

  On Wednesday morning I was on BBC Breakfast talking about Windows 7, and each time I was on air I mentioned Ubuntu, the most popular version of the Linux operating system. So were its devoted fans pleased? Quite the opposite, because in my second broadcast I committed an unpardonable sin. In a rather clumsily phrased sentence - my only excuse is that it came in the middle of a rather stressful live technology demo - I suggested that Ubuntu was a minority sport only for dedicated enthusiasts. Afterwards, one blogger transcribed my conversation with Bill Turnbull and Sian Williams: RCJ:…

• A week with Windows

  Rory Cellan-Jones (BBC Blogs)

  21 Oct 2009 | 1:52 am

  In computing terms, I live a double life. At work, I use our corporate IT system which runs on Windows XP; at home, I'm a Mac user and have grown accustomed to the Apple environment. But for the last week, I've been living in a Windows world, preparing for the launch of Microsoft's latest operating system. I borrowed a small, very expensive Sony Vaio X running Windows 7 - the lightest laptop I've ever used - and tried to do as much of my work as possible using the unfamiliar operating system. I didn't carry out the kind of tests you might find in a grown-up review but then most of us don't do…

• 
  Web User | News

• PlayStation owners more faithful: study

  6 Nov 2009 | 4:20 am

  Ladies: Does your boyfriend own a games console? If the answer is no, you should be worried, according to a survey.

• Twitter silence for Remembrance Day

  6 Nov 2009 | 3:32 am

  An online campaign to encourage Twitter members to mark the traditional two-minute silence on Remembrance Day has been launched.

• FA launches live match streaming portal

  6 Nov 2009 | 2:44 am

  This weekend's FA Cup matches, including Oldham Athletic versus Leeds United, will be the first games streamed on the FA's new video portal.

• Robbie Williams album exclusive on Spotify

  6 Nov 2009 | 2:04 am

  Robbie Williams' new album Reality Killed The Video Star will be exclusively available to Spotify members before it is officially released.

• Sesame Street scareware scam

  5 Nov 2009 | 8:43 am

  Big Bird's birthday has been blighted by cybercriminals pushing fake anti-virus software.

• 
  Liquidmatrix Security Digest

• Security Briefing – November 4th

  Matt Johansen

  4 Nov 2009 | 7:04 am

  Morning all! Sorry I’m running a bit late this morning, been one helluva week. I hope you all are enjoying amazing weather as I am in New York. Time to go outside and drink my coffee. Signed, Matt Click here to subscribe to Liquidmatrix Security Digest!. And now, the news… Microsoft: Vista Infected 62% Less Often Than XP – Network World Symantec Uncovers Scheme to Use Facebook to Relay Commands to Trojan – EWeek New Ransomware Variant Features Novel Payment SC Magazine Microsoft Report: Worms Rise, New Vulnerabilities Decline – Dark Reading Dutch hacker holds…

• Shmoocon Tickets Round One, Users TKO’d, Sorta

  Dave Lewis

  1 Nov 2009 | 6:38 pm

  So, the Shmoocon tickets started round one today. And, people were pissed. The ticketing system immediately showed signs of being off kilter. It appeared to many that tickets were sold out in the first few minutes. Having successfully navigated the CAPTCHA from hell it was disconcerting to see a failure message saying that round two would take place in December. Most people missed the link buried at the bottom of the page to get tickets once having navigated the CAPTCHA. It couldn’t have been in a worse spot. Shmoo responded on their news page today, It really was there folks…at…

• Security Briefing – October 29th

  Matt Johansen

  29 Oct 2009 | 5:46 am

  Morning all! Everybody update their Firefox? Good. I finally got around to installing Windows 7 and so far so good. I’m still happier with Ubuntu but that is just me. Also very excited about the Droid Hopefully I’ll have a chance to pick it up when it comes out. Looks very promising. Anywho, news! Signed, Matt Click here to subscribe to Liquidmatrix Security Digest!. And now, the news… Orange County California Medicaid Members at Risk – SC Magazine India’s new IT law increases surveillance powers – Network World SF Bay Area News: Random Hacks of Kindness @…

• Security Briefing – October 28th

  Matt Johansen

  28 Oct 2009 | 6:12 am

  Morning all! Hope your week is going well. I’m lucky I remembered what day it was. Wheeeeeee! Signed, Matt Click here to subscribe to Liquidmatrix Security Digest!. And now, the news… Former Anti-Virus Researcher Turns Tables On Industry – Washington Post From Pizza Delivery to ATM Hacker to Criminal in Two Years – Infosecurity Magazine Facebook Spam Contains Trojan – SC Magazine Announcing the Release of the Enhanced Mitigation Evaluation – Technet Cisco to buy cloud security firm for $183 million – CNet 2010 Predictions: Will social media reach…

• Security Briefing – October 22nd

  Matt Johansen

  22 Oct 2009 | 6:16 am

  Morning all! Metasploit was bought eh? Sorry for the overload of links on that topic I just think it is all important news. Have a good weekend folks! Signed, Matt Click here to subscribe to Liquidmatrix Security Digest!. And now, the news… Cyber Attacks Smite Atheist Websites – SMH Understanding How Secure Your Medical Information Is And Who Has Access To It – I’ve Been Mugged RSA Europe 2009 Day 1 Recap – Infosec Ramblings Opinions of a Contributor to Metasploit about the sale to Rapid7 – Pauldotcom Metasploit Rising – Offensive-Security FTC Orders…

• 
  Developer Techno

• C++ OOP and Concurrency - OO paradigm and concurrency links

  Developer Techno

  6 Nov 2009 | 11:42 am

  Are there links between the OO paradigm and concurrency? Does the current pervasive need for improved concurrency change the implementation of designs or the nature ofOO designs?Bjarne: There is a very old link between object-oriented programming and concurrency. Simula 67, the programming language that first directly supported objectoriented programming, also provided a mechanism for expressing concurrent activities. The first C++ library was a library supporting what today we would call threads. At Bell Labs, we ran C++ on a six-processor machine in 1988 and we were not alone in such uses.

• C++ OOP and Concurrency

  Developer Techno

  5 Nov 2009 | 11:36 am

  The average complexity and size (in number of lines of code) of software seems to grow year after year. Does OOP scale well to this situation or just make things more complicated? I have the feeling that the desire to make reusable objects makes things more complicated and, in the end, it doubles the workload. First, you have to design a reusable tool. Later, when you need to make a change, you have to write something that exactly fits the gap left by the old part, and this means restrictions on the solution.Bjarne: That’s a good description of a serious problem. OO is a powerful set of…

• C++ Using the Language – moved to C++ advantages

  Developer Techno

  4 Nov 2009 | 2:49 pm

  Why should a programmer move his code from C to C++? What advantages would he have using C++ as a generic programming language?Bjarne: You seem to assume that code first was written in C and that the programmer started out as a C programmer. For many—probably most—C++ programs and C++ programmers, that has not been the case for quite a while. Unfortunately, the “C first” approach lingers in many curricula, but it is no longer something to take for granted.Someone might switch from C to C++ because they found C++’s support for the styles of programming usually done with C is better…

• Windows 7 Media Platform

  Developer Techno

  4 Nov 2009 | 11:08 am

  Media Foundation and DirectShow® provide the basis for media support in Windows. Media Foundation was introduced in Windows Vista as the replacement for DirectShow. In Windows 7, Media Foundation has been enhanced to provide better format support, including MPEG-4, as well as support for video capture devices and hardware codecs.Format SupportIn Windows 7, Media Foundation provides extensive format support that includes codecs for H.264 video, MJPEG, and MP3; new sources for MP4, 3GP, MPEG2-TS, and AVI; and new file sinks for MP4, 3GP, and MP3. In addition, a new DirectShow wrapper source…

• C++ Using the Language – moved to C++

  Developer Techno

  3 Nov 2009 | 2:48 pm

  Kernels like Linux’s or BSD’s are still written in C. Why haven’t they moved to C++? Is it something in the OO paradigm?Bjarne: It’s mostly conservatism and inertia. In addition, GCC was slow to mature. Some people in the C community seem to maintain an almost willful ignorance based on decade-old experiences. Other operating systems and much systems programming and even hard real-time and safety-critical code has been written in C++ for decades. Consider some examples: Symbian, IBM’s OS/400 and K42, BeOS, and parts of Windows. In general, there is a lot of open source C++ (e.g.,…

• 
  TechCult

• Social Worker Posts Sex Ad And Lists Child’s Phone Number

  Ally

  1 Nov 2009 | 1:03 pm

  Craigslist is great for finding cheap furniture and getting rid of things that are cluttering up your garage.  However, it’s also notorious for its strange sex related ads posted by different people.  This ad actually targeted a 9 year old girl, who supposedly got into an argument with Margery Tannenbaum’s daughter.  Margery is accused of posting a sex ad and giving out the little girl’s phone number.  The 40 year old woman is actually a social worker who is now, obviously, going to have her social worker’s license re-evaluated. People did actually call the number…

• Pilots messing with laptops overshoot destination

  Ally

  30 Oct 2009 | 12:47 pm

  Everyone has their ways to deal with those long flights, a lot of us are on our laptops or other electronic devices as soon as it’s allowed in the plane.  Well it turns out that the passengers aren’t the only ones enjoying their technology just a little too much.  Two pilots were on a Northwest Airlines flight headed to Minneapolis, MN.  They decided to mess with their laptops a bit while they were flying the plane.  That seems like it wouldn’t be too bad, as long as it was put away quickly at the right moment.   Instead the pilots actually managed to overshoot the…

• Hulu Takes A Beautiful Thing And Ruins It

  Ally

  25 Oct 2009 | 8:50 am

  Hulu has brought our TV shows to the internet and made it much easier to watch TV whenever you feel like it.  If you miss a couple weeks of your favorite show, it’ll probably still be there waiting for you.  Yes, you do have to deal with ads and there’s no way to fast forward through them, but you still get to watch TV for free at your convenience.  It made everyone happy, Hulu gets money through their ads and people get their internet TV.  Well, Hulu has officially gotten a touch more greedy and have marked the beginning of the end.  It was fun while it lasted. One overpaid…

• Driver Crashes Into Cop Car While Texting

  Ally

  23 Oct 2009 | 2:32 pm

  If one were creating a top ten list of things not to do, this would at least be in the top five.  Texting while driving is an act that even if it’s still legal in your state, it’s heavily frowned upon.  Even though it’s not illegal now, it just seems as if it’s going to become that way sometime in the somewhat near future.  Basically texting while driving is just asking for trouble.  Then if you manage to hit someone while you’re texting, you can bet that you’re going to get even more trouble.  If you somehow make things even worse and hit a cop car,…

• Poking Within Facebook Could Land You In Jail

  Ally

  18 Oct 2009 | 9:26 am

  It turns out there are more things to worry about on Facebook than just posting a not so well thought out status.  No, now you need to worry about who you poke.  Should anyone have a restraining order on you, poking them is not the best idea.  Shockingly, it can actually land you in jail.  One woman, Shannon Jackson of Tennessee, learned that the hard way.  She was not allowed to telephone, contact, or otherwise communicate with the petitioner.  It turns out, poking counts as contacting. I suppose it does make perfect sense that would count as contacting.  However, it still can be…

• 
  Pinoy Tech Blog - The Philippines' Premier Technology Blog

• Sony Ericsson introduces three new exciting phones to the market

  Calvin

  6 Nov 2009 | 2:42 am

  In conjunction with Sony Ericsson unveiled three new and exciting mobile phones in the market today that are geared towards consumers looking for mobile entertainment for their phone. I like the way SE decided to give names to its phones instead of calling them by their model number. The first one is the Kita (or Yari as called outside the country) which is a revolutionary slider phone for gaming. It detects your movements and gestures with its camera sensor to play games similar to what Wii does with its Wiimote. Instead of a remote, you use hand gestures or body movements to play its…

• Windows 7 Philippine Pricing

  Calvin

  3 Nov 2009 | 7:07 am

  Windows 7 will be officially introduced to consumers this Saturday (Nov. 7) at the Cyberzone in SM North Edsa. If you’re interested in acquiring a license of Windows 7 but don’t know which edition is the right one for you, here’s a chart to guide you. If you’re wondering about Windows Home Basic, it is targeted towards netbook users and is similar to Home Premium but with the following restrictions: No Windows Media Center Partial Windows Aero functionality And you can only join Home Group (not create) For the local prices (according to a Microsoft marketing rep): Windows 7 Home Basic…

• The World’s First Multi-Touch Mouse

  Calvin

  30 Oct 2009 | 9:58 pm

  Last week Apple unveiled the world’s first multi-touch mouse, the Magic Mouse. Apple’s Mighty Mouse’s predecessor is now a wireless, sexy-looking piece of gadget. What Apple basically did was turn the glass touchpad surface of their Macbook Pro into a wireless, mouse-shaped device. No more mechanical buttons and now you can do all those finger gestures that you can do on the touchpad with the Magic Mouse. You can scroll through long documents as if the magic mouse has a scroll wheel, pan across large images or swipe to move forward or backward through web pages and photos. Magic Mouse…

• Sony Vaio X Unboxing Video

  yuga

  28 Oct 2009 | 2:57 am

  Sony Philippines sent us their new ultra-light and ultra-thin laptop — a Sony Vaio X, powered by the fastest Intel Atom Z550 processor running at 2.0GHz. Check out our unboxing video and some close up shots. Sony Vaio VPCX113KG/B 11.1″ LED screen @ 1366×768 pixels Intel Atom Z540 @ 1.86GHz 2GB DDR2 SDRAM Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 500 64GB SSD (PATA) WiFi 802.11 b/g/n Media Card Reader Li-Ion battery up to 3.5 hours Weight: 655 grams (1.44 lbs) Price: Php69,999 Sony Vaio VPCX117LG/B 11.1″ LED screen @ 1366×768 pixels Intel Atom Z550 @ 2.0GHz 2GB DDR2 SDRAM Intel Graphics…

• Designing the LG GD900 Crystal

  Calvin

  28 Oct 2009 | 1:04 am

  The LG GD900 Crystal is one of the most coolest and interesting looking phone I’ve seen in a while with its transparent slide-out keypad made with tempered glass. If you’re wondering how the design concept came about with the LG Crystal, here’s an interview with Youngho Kim, VP of design at LG Mobile Communication. Q: Tell us about the experience of creating the LG GD900 Crystal. How did you come up with an idea of transparent phone? Kim: We started toying with the idea in 2005 and later the concept won the Presidential Design Award at the Korea Industrial Design Exhibition in 2006. At…

• 
  Shiny Shiny

• How to be a Human Online

  Anna Leach

  5 Nov 2009 | 10:35 am

  Lovely blog post from social media guru Chris Brogan on how to be a human online or "at a distance" as he puts it. Aimed at corporates trying to be friendly on social media, there are also some useful tips for the average geek wishing to communicate their personal charm a bit better... get friends, dates, free software, that sort of thing.

• Ribbit - a phone network for web 2.0

  Anna Leach

  5 Nov 2009 | 9:33 am

  A silicon valley company have set up a mobile phone network - it's smart, user-friendly and it aims to change what we expect from phone networks - forever. Yes, Forever. In the rapidly morphing world of telecomm it's sometimes hard to categorise the new products that crop up. Ribbit is one of those services. Part internet provider, part mobile phone network provider, a bit like an open-source Skype... it describes itself as an open platform for voice innovation. Ribbit connects up devices to the internet, any internet-ennabled device, not just one of your phones, as in the current system.

• Meme of the Day: mashing up the crap bits of social networks to create social network dystopia

  Anna Leach

  5 Nov 2009 | 6:59 am

  Today's meme can be best described as... Mashing up the bad bits of one social networking site with the bad bits of another social networking site to make something mind-bogglingly dystopian. Social networking? More like terror networking. The only one example of this I have come across is FaceSpace a truly genius concoction of Facebook and MySpace - mixing, yes the songs that auto-play from MySpace with the "melodramatic friend spam" from Facebook, with the give-me-your-credit-card-ads from MySpace and the 500 pictures of me in my bathroom from Facebook. Please go see the full page here:…

• iSkin FX SE, the iPhone skin with geometric ripples and a mirror screen

  Anna Leach

  5 Nov 2009 | 6:13 am

  Another day, another iPhone skin, this time it's matte and embossed and in three different colours: Onyx (black), Cosmo (pink) and Ice (white). Cosmo works best with a white phone of course. The iSkins aren't chunky phone-swaddling protectors but they do offer increased protection as well as an interesting feel and the look, which I genuinely like: the translucent designer circles look like geometric ripples. This one has an anti-microbial substance impregnated in the skin which prevents odours and stains. Another interesting feature on the iSkin solo FX SE is the screen-covering surface…

• Take That comes to SingStar

  Anna Leach

  5 Nov 2009 | 4:41 am

  Ooo, Take That comes to the Singstar catalogue tomorrow. Fans around the world can now sing / howl tunelessly to the boy band's energetic pop tunes and soulful ballads. The latest addition to the Singing game's catalogue includes 25 of the classics and a few more off-beat hits.

• 
  Tech Digest

• App Store launches a Musée de Lourve app

  geraldlynch

  6 Nov 2009 | 9:44 am

  Coming to your iPhone free of cost, it's a fair bit cheaper than a knock-off canvas or a trip on the Eurostar.

• Spotify-ready HTC Hero from 3 now on sale

  geraldlynch

  6 Nov 2009 | 9:28 am

  After an initial £100 outlay on the handset, £35 a month over 24 months will bag you an unlimited Spotify Premium account for 2 years, 750 minutes to other mobiles, unlimited 3-to-3 calls, free Skype-to-Skype calls and unlimited email and internet browsing.

• Unofficial Michael Jackson phone for sale

  geraldlynch

  6 Nov 2009 | 7:47 am

  With faux diamonds and moon walking silhouettes of Jackson etched on the back, the gold coloured handset is a sight to behold.

• Robbie Williams new album exclusively available on Spotify

  geraldlynch

  6 Nov 2009 | 7:00 am

  He's had a kooky couple of years, chasing UFO's and growing a beard, but it looks like Robbie Williams is getting back to business with new album "Reality Killed the Video Star".

• First Look: Canon imageFORMULA P-150 portable duplex scanner

  geraldlynch

  6 Nov 2009 | 6:26 am

  Weighing less than a bag of sugar, the P-150 is incredibly compact. It measures up at 280 x 95 x 40 mm when closed, folding out to 280 x 222.7 x 202.2 mm to reveal the loading tray. It'd easily fit in a hand-bag or "man-bag", and is light enough to not be too much of a hassle when travelling.

• 
  Gear Live

• Bleeding Edge TV 322: Motorola DROID Review

  Andru Edwards

  5 Nov 2009 | 1:43 pm

  Yes, we definitely hit you with our full Motorola DROID review, but many wanted to see a bit more video of the device. That being the case, we recorded this episode of Bleeding Edge TV to show off the different features of the Motorola DROID smartphone. We give you a look at the hardware, some of the Android 2.0 features, Google Maps Navigation, and more. All in all, it’s a twelve-minute walkthrough of the DROID, the smartphone that has grabbed the attention of the industry, giving Google, Motorola, and Verizon Wireless a lot of attention. If you are at all curious, be sure to hit the…

• PS3 Netflix Instant Streaming discs now shipping

  Andru Edwards

  5 Nov 2009 | 1:20 pm

  If you’re a Playstation 3 owner who ordered one of the Netflix Instant Streaming discs, you’ll be happy to know that they’ve started shipping to customer as of today. In fact, our disc is scheduled to arrive tomorrow, alongside copious amounts of junk mail, we’re sure. The disc is the only way you’ll be able to enjoy the Netflix Watch Instantly service on your PS3 for the time being, so if you want to get in on that action and haven’t already done so, go ahead and order your disc. You do need to have an active Netflix membership as well, of course. Tags:…

• Google Chrome 4.0 Includes Bookmark Sync

  Andru Edwards

  5 Nov 2009 | 11:08 am

  Google announced Monday that its Chrome browser’s 4th version has gone Beta.  Most important feature in my eyes: Bookmark syncing. Back when I was an Firefox fanboy, Delicious’ method of syncing bookmarks was magic to me, and was the epitome of the internet experience.  When Chrome was released, its speed sang to me, and I willingly sacrificed my bookmark sync to Chrome’s seductive quickload times.  Now, Google makes everything magical again as Google announced Monday that its Chrome browser’s 4th version has gone Beta, including with it Bookmark Sync.

• 2009 Holiday Gift Guide: Roku HD-XR Player

  Andru Edwards

  4 Nov 2009 | 5:45 pm

  We are kicking off our 2009 Holiday Gift Guide with the Roku HD-XR player. Why? Well, we think that it’s the perfect time to introduce someone to the new hotness that is TV, delivered over the web, and right into the living room. Sure, Netflix has come to the Xbox 360, but if you want streaming access to the Netflix service and don’t own a game console, this is your cheapest barrier to entry. The HD-XR model also gives you access to the Amazon Unbox catalogue, as well as the entire MLB game service as well, if you are subscribed. Definitely a great gift for movie buffs, the Roku…

• Motorola DROID review

  Andru Edwards

  4 Nov 2009 | 12:32 pm

  The Motorola DROID is a symbol of change, for a bunch of different reasons. The fact is, the DROID is a Motorola phone, exclusive to Verizon Wireless, and runs Android 2.0. There is major significance for each of those three bullet points, and that’s not even getting into the actual device. In many ways, the DROID is something new for all three companies involved, which is likely why the three worked to closely together on getting the device just right. So the question is, did they succeed? We’ve had the device for about a week now, and we’ve been playing with it non-stop…

• 
  aGEEKspot

• Top 23 Free iPhone/iTouch Apps 10.23.09

  ageekspot

  23 Oct 2009 | 8:53 am

  Top 23 Free iPhone/iTouch Apps 10.23.09 1. Photoshop.com Mobile Category: Adobe Systems Incorp Released: Oct 08, 2009 Yesterday’s ranking: Unchanged 2. Kingdoms Live – 20 Legend Points Category: Storm8 Released: Oct 16, 2009 Yesterday’s ranking: Unranked 3. Fling (free) Category: CandyCane Released: Oct 16, 2009 Yesterday’s ranking: Unchanged 4. Hangman Classic Free Category: VirtueSoft.com Released: Aug 18, 2009 Yesterday’s ranking: Unchanged 5. Line Up FREE Category: LabPixies Released: Sep 15, 2009 Yesterday’s ranking: 2 6. Truth or Dare – play…

• Top 20 Free iPhone/iTouch Apps 10.08.9

  ageekspot

  8 Oct 2009 | 10:42 am

  Top 20 Free iPhone/iTouch Apps 10.08.9 1. Marine Sharpshooter Category: Groove Media Inc. Released: Jun 24, 2009 Yesterday’s ranking: Unchanged 2. BeerPong (Beirut) FREE Category: Corey Ledin Released: Feb 04, 2009 Yesterday’s ranking: 4 3. Alarm Clock Free Category: iHandySoft Inc. Released: Sep 24, 2009 Yesterday’s ranking: 8 4. Cartoon Wars Lite Category: BLUE Released: Sep 18, 2009 Yesterday’s ranking: 2 5. Kingdoms Live – 15 Legend Points Category: Storm8 Released: Sep 10, 2009 Yesterday’s ranking: 3 6. Haunted 3D Rollercoaster Rush FREE Category:…

• #178 Steven Jobs – The World’s Billionaires 2009 – Forbes.com

  ageekspot

  3 Oct 2009 | 7:02 am

  The World’s Billionaires 2009 – Forbes.com The World’s Billionaires #178 Steven Jobs” (See it HERE) Posted in geek, interesting Tagged: geek, steve jobs

• Apple’s App Store Downloads Top Two Billion

  ageekspot

  28 Sep 2009 | 11:40 am

  “Apple’s App Store Downloads Top Two Billion September 28, 2009 Apple today announced that more than two billion apps have been downloaded from its revolutionary App Store, the largest applications store in the world. There are now more than 85,000 apps available to the more than 50 million iPhone and iPod touch customers worldwide and over 125,000 developers in Apple’s iPhone Developer Program. ‘The App Store has reinvented what you can do with a mobile handheld device, and our users are clearly loving it,’ said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO.” (Read all about it HERE ) Posted…

• Top 20 iPhones/iTouch Free Apps 09.20.09

  ageekspot

  20 Sep 2009 | 8:33 am

  Top 20 iPhones/iTouch Free Apps 09.20.09 1. TightWire Lite Category: iBright Studios Released: Aug 22, 2009 Yesterday’s ranking: Unchanged 2. Max Injury Lite Category: Box Shaped Games Released: Sep 04, 2009 Yesterday’s ranking: Unchanged 3. Word Scramble 2 by Zynga Category: Zynga Released: Sep 15, 2009 Yesterday’s ranking: 4 4. What’s Your IQ? Category: Trippert Labs Released: Sep 13, 2009 Yesterday’s ranking: 9 5. Ninjas Live – 10 Honor Points Category: Storm8 Released: Aug 30, 2009 Yesterday’s ranking: 3 6. Optical Illusions Category: Avallon…

• 
  ShanKrila

• Was My Gmail Hacked This Morning?

  K

  4 Nov 2009 | 1:06 pm

  I really thought that was the case when I saw a bunch of emails marked as read when I know for sure I hadn’t opened them. I was in a 3 hour meeting. My first thought was to check to see if anyone else is logged into my Gmail account elsewhere right now. You can do that by going all the way down to the bottom of the page and clicking on the ‘Details’ link in the Account Activity line. If you see someone is logged in from another IP, you can log them out now and you should change your password instantly. Plus, it is a good idea to make sure you have an alternate way like recovering Gmail…

• Best Deal on Canon EOS Rebel T1i DSLR + EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Lens + EF-S 55-250mm f/4.0-5.6 IS Telephoto Lens

  K

  3 Nov 2009 | 4:00 am

  I stepped up into an advanced amateur photography domain with Canon SX 10 purchase a few months back and have had nothing but fun with that camera. Last night, I came across an excellent deal on a DSLR Camera that has been on my wish list for a long time – Canon EOS Rebel T1i DSLR Camera! Here is the scoop: Amazon has this excellent deal where they are offering a $200 instant rebate and a $400 mail in rebate when you purchase these items together. Add these to your shopping cart and make sure every time you add is sold by Amazon and not another vendor. (if it shows a different vendor, just…

• Sync Folders Outside of My DropBox to Dropbox

  K

  2 Nov 2009 | 4:00 am

  Dropbox is an excellent file sync software that offers upto 2GB free storage. However, Dropbox limits you to sync files only in My Dropbox folder. However, you cannot beat Dropbox for the fast superior seamless syncing it offers. I use Windows Live Writer extensively for my blogging and I wanted my drafts folder to be in sync with all the computers I used with Dropbox. Only one problem, My Weblog Posts resides outside My Dropbox folder. Creating a regular shortcut in Windows just doesn’t cut it. Although I use Windows Live Writer as an illustration, you can apply this trick to any folder…

• Firefox 3.6 Beta 1 Available For Download

  K

  1 Nov 2009 | 7:35 pm

  Firefox 3.6 with Gecko 1.9.2 is here as beta 1 now. Here are the new features in Firefox 3.6 Users can now change their browser’s appearance with a single click, with built in support for Personas. Firefox 3.6 will alert users about out of date plugins to keep them safe. Open, native video can now be displayed full screen, and supports poster frames. Support for the WOFF font format. Improved JavaScript performance, overall browser responsiveness and startup time. Support for new CSS, DOM and HTML5 web technologies. If you are a web developer or develop add-ons for Firefox, check out the…

• How to Add Facebook Events to Google Calendar?

  K

  31 Oct 2009 | 11:01 am

  I use Google Calendar all the time now that I can sync Google Calendar with my iPhone. Go to Events page in Facebook (see the bar in the bottom of the page) Look for Export Events link in the Events page Copy the url in the popup window Go to Google Calendar – Look for Other Calendars in the left and a ‘Add’ link Use the Add by URL link Paste the url you copied from Facebook Export Events option and hit ok Go to Calendar Settings and change the name of the Calendar to something like FB events You are done! Now, your Facebook events will appear in your Google Calendar. Enjoy. [via How to…

• 
  One Laptop Per Child News

• BoomingBang: XO Laptop Role Playing Game

  Guest Writer

  6 Nov 2009 | 7:01 am

  BoomingBang, a RPG game, whose release is due till late OCTOBER 09. The BoomingBang project, started by me, Abhishek Indoria, initially, and a friend, was a small deployment. It was started in March 2009, when none of them (us, actually) have heard of OLPC. Back again, in June, 2 XO laptops were requested, and the project was started officially. The basic mission of players is to eliminate all other players from the game in a funny way. You control a team of creatures, be it a penguin or Pigeon or a bull. You try various methods, like dropping them into water by pushing them towards water…

• OLPC: The Best ROI for Indian Children

  Wayan Vota

  5 Nov 2009 | 6:00 am

  Yesterday I had an interesting talk with Satish Jha of OLPC India. Overall he had an compelling theme - India has the ability to finance One Laptop Per Child for all 25 million children in India, and it should do this now - for if children are not studying on a screen today, they (and India) will not reach full potential in the future. Satish Jha of OLPC India OLPC is affordable to state governments Education in India is a province of the state governments, not the national one, and Satish has visited many of them to bring the one laptop per child to their attention. Through OLPC, Satish sees…

• OLPC Video of Twinning Canadian and Kenyan Schools

  Mark Battley

  4 Nov 2009 | 7:00 am

  Hi, my name's Amal Chandaria, and I'm one of the four students from Upper Canada College who researched, designed and deployed an OLPC laptop implementation program at the Ntugi Day Secondary School in Kenya in March 2009. A few weeks ago, Connor Cimowsky and I created a video documenting our trip, its challenges, and its successes. The National Middle School Association's invited students to submit short films to a contest for their annual conference this week in Indianapolis. The videos had to address the conference's theme: 'Making a World of Difference'. Since we felt our trip really…

• Negroponte: XO-1.75 goes ARM, XO-2 is canceled

  Christoph Derndorfer

  3 Nov 2009 | 2:30 am

  This morning I woke up to find an e-mail in my inbox which contained a link to an xeconomy.com interview with Nicholas Negroponte. While reading it over breakfast I managed to spill my tea because I couldn't believe I was really seeing the words I was looking at. XO-2 development canceled? An XO-1.75 to replace it? Talk about an XO-3? Going from OLPC to olpc? But let's take it step by step, shall we... Nicholas Negroponte of OLPC From XO-2 to XO-1.75 to XO-3 NN: 2.0 has been replaced by two things: 1) model 1.75, same industrial design but an ARM inside, 2) model 3.0, totally different…

• WinPro and Orphans Gain - OLPC India Loses XO Believer

  Wayan Vota

  2 Nov 2009 | 7:16 am

  Back in June of this year, René Seifert, entrepreneur and global citizen, had a vision to create OLPC for Vatsalya Girls Orphanage in Bangalore, India. As an internet-entrepreneur and sublime nerd who spends a big chunk of the day in front of the computer, he felt that bringing children from an early age in touch with technology as part of their fundamental education was an imperative mission. But his vision turned into a nightmare of dead ends and foolish tangents with OLPC India. His quest for 11 XO laptops ended in failure - OLPC India never delivered the computers. That's not XO Sugar…

• 
  TightWind

• Newspapers as Music Labels

  Kyle Baxter

  6 Nov 2009 | 11:08 am

  Jim Dalrymple thinks newspaper publishers will be for the tablet what music labels were for the iPod: However, Apple does need a new hook for the tablet. That hook will, in part, be the worldwide publishers. Think of it like this. Part of the overwhelming success of the iPod was the iTunes Store and the deals Apple was able to forge with the music labels. Part of the success of the iPhone is the App Store and what Apple has been able to do with developers. Part of the draw for the tablet will be newspapers and magazines and the subscription deals they can offer users for publications around…

• Daniel Jalkut’s Coupon

  Kyle Baxter

  5 Nov 2009 | 10:51 pm

  While MacHeist is running, Daniel Jalkut has a 20% off coupon for all of his software. The code is “OneFingerDiscount.”

• Broadersheet

  Kyle Baxter

  5 Nov 2009 | 2:38 pm

  Broadersheet is a new iPhone application which tries to deliver news articles you’re interested in. Interesting, and incredibly exciting, idea.

• Unmasked

  Kyle Baxter

  29 Oct 2009 | 1:38 pm

  Chris Ware’s incredible cover for this month’s New Yorker, and comic.

• Apple TV 3.0

  Kyle Baxter

  29 Oct 2009 | 1:19 pm

  Apple releases Apple TV 3.0. Adds iTunes LP support and another UI redesign, First thought: meh, The UI feels uninspired, and it’s quite ugly. The white at the top with the gray “floor” for the movie art is terrible.

• 
  Techie Buzz

• Five years of Ubuntu: Warty Warthog to Karmic Koala

  Chinmoy Kanjilal

  6 Nov 2009 | 5:00 pm

  Ubuntu is undoubtedly the most popular Linux distro ever. Ubuntu has a strong development team, strong funding and a strong user base. It’s got what it takes to make a successful Open Source software. Ubuntu has come a long way from the days of Ubuntu Warty Warthog to Karmic Koala. This video gives a tour of the changes in the look of desktops, of all the releases over these five years. Enjoy. Share: Comment on This | Tweet This | Share on Facebook | Save to Delicious | Stumble This | Digg This | Reddit This TAGS: 5 years of ubuntu video, ubuntu changes, ubuntu changes video Five years…

• Ubuntu Karmic Koala Video

  Chinmoy Kanjilal

  6 Nov 2009 | 12:59 pm

  We’ve covered the Ubuntu release here earlier. The release introduces many new features and improvements. For more information on whats new, visit this post. This video also shows what’s new, with information on the new UI features. It displays small floating notes giving details wherever a change has taken place in the interface. Check the video: Share: Comment on This | Tweet This | Share on Facebook | Save to Delicious | Stumble This | Digg This | Reddit This TAGS: karmic features video, karmic new features, Ubuntu karmic video Ubuntu Karmic Koala Video originally appeared on…

• Thunderbird 3 RC1 Release: Due Next Week

  Chinmoy Kanjilal

  6 Nov 2009 | 11:00 am

  Thunderbird 3 is scheduled to come out of beta next week. Mozilla Messaging has decided to release Thunderbird 3 Release Candidate on Monday next week. This release will mark the end of the beta version and the beginning of Release Candidate of Thunderbird 3. The last release of Thunderbird, was Thunderbird 3, beta 4. [ For those who do not know, Thunderbird is a e-mail client from Mozilla. Like Firefox, it is free, open source and powered by Firefox. ] Thunderbird has not been able to succeed in its sphere as much as Mozilla did in the browser market. The new Thunderbird will feature one of…

• Scientific Linux 5.4 Release

  Chinmoy Kanjilal

  6 Nov 2009 | 7:00 am

  Scientific Linux version version 5.4 is released for both the i386 and x86_64 bit architecture. scientific-linux With the release of Scientific Linux 5.4 there is no need to add packages manually. There were some packages which were required but not present. This time, the packages are present and can be easily installed. The new release also supports the Atheros wireless chipset. If you do not already know, Scientific Linux is a Linux developed by Fermilab, CERN and many universities and labs across the world. It aims at providing common productivity and development environments for research…

• Moblin Linux 2.1 for Intel Atom based Netbooks and Nettops

  Chinmoy Kanjilal

  6 Nov 2009 | 4:59 am

  Moblin version 2.1 as been released for Intel Atom based netbooks and nettops. The Moblin Linux is best described as applications_panel_moblin an open source project focused on building a Linux-based platform optimized for the next generation of mobile devices including netbooks, Mobile Internet Devices, and In-vehicle infotainment systems. The new version of Moblin features a lot of changes. Some of them are: A new browser with support for add-ons and plugins, making web-browsing experience all the more enhanced on the Moblin platform. Moblin 2.1 supports 3G data connections, although modem…

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  OLED-Info - OLED TV and displays information and news

• Casio and Toppan Printing to co-develop OLED displays

  oled

  6 Nov 2009 | 1:59 pm

  Casio Computer wand Toppan Printing will form a new joint-venture to develop and produce OLED displays. The new JV, which will begin in February next year, will combine Casio's display production technology with Toppan Printing fabrication technology.  Casio will set up the firm with around 600 employees (from ther OLED development team and LCD production unit), and will later sell a 80% stake in the firm to Toppan Printing. Via American Chronicle UPDATE: we now have a bit more information. The new company will focus on small and medium size displays. The new company will continue the…

• Lumiotec shows new OLED panels, plans to start mass-production in January 2010

  oled

  6 Nov 2009 | 1:34 am

  Lumiotec is showing new OLED lighting panels. Lumiotec has equipment for developing 300x300 mm OLED panels (although the ones on show are 142x142mm). The panels are 3.5mm thick with a 3800k-4000k color temperature. Lumiotec plans to begin mass-production in January 2010, which is great news. The company is in contact with the big 3 lighting companies - OSRAM, Philis and GE (all of them has independent OLED Lighting programs). Via OLEDNet

• The MOTO group's 5" OLED Android 2.0 MID is now available

  oled

  5 Nov 2009 | 4:48 pm

  The MOTO Development Group's 5" Android 2.0 internet device (MID) is now available for developers. It is powered by a TI OMA3430 CPU and has a 5" OLED capacitive touchscreen. There's also a version with a similar LCD. The device includes a 8Mp camera, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and an optional 3G module. The group is also developing 3.5" and 10" devices (should be available in 2010). No price is given yet for the 5" MID. Via Electronista

• 4D Systems releases new range of graphic processors and display modules

  oled

  4 Nov 2009 | 9:49 pm

  4D Systems have recently released a new and improved range of custom graphics processors and display modules: The GOLDELOX-GFX2 (enhanced GOLDELOX-GFX): an embedded 4DGL graphics controller. The chip is designed to interface with many popular OLED and LCD display panels. New PMOLED modules: The modules are compact and cost effective, with an embedded GOLDELOX-GFX2 graphics processor that delivers ‘stand-alone’ functionality to any project. Powerful graphics, text, image, animation and countless more features are built inside the GOLDELOX-GFX2 chip. The GOLDELOX-SGC(8-bit) and the…

• ETRI shows new OLED Lighting designs and panels made by SMD

  oled

  4 Nov 2009 | 9:17 pm

  The Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) in Korea has displayed 13 pieces of OLED lighting - some hese were the winners in an OLED lighting design contest, and some were designed by InnoDesign (from Korea): The lighting panels were co-developed by ETRI and Samsung Mobile Displays (SMD). The have 20,000 lifetime and are as bright as fluorescent lamps (and consume less than half the power). There were different sized panels shown, including 180x180mm and 150x150mm. Via OLEDNet

• 
  AltSearchEngines

• Medeguide launches search service for international hospitals

  Charles S. Knight

  6 Nov 2009 | 6:08 pm

  Healthy Travel Media, publisher of the Patients Beyond Borders series, and Medeguide, an online international doctor directory, have jointly launched the Patients Beyond Borders FOCUS ON: series. Produced by Patients Beyond Borders editors and marketed by Medeguide, FOCUS ON: is an easy-to-distribute digital publication with search capability, enabling hospitals to showcase their centers of excellence, signature services, facilities, doctors, leading-edge technology, and international patient resources. FOCUS ON: also provides a direct connection to Medeguide’s doctor and…

• Search the botanical world with iBotanika

  Charles S. Knight

  6 Nov 2009 | 5:15 pm

  iBotanika is an online community, knowledge base, and marketing platform related to the botanical world. It’s an extremely useful tool for everyone: from horticulture veterans to those sowing their first seeds, shop owners, green businesses, and all kinds of plant enthusiasts. What’s different about iBotanika? Aren’t there similar platforms out there? iBotanika turns the information flow around. Add your plants to your profile and the system takes care of the rest, helping you to find all sorts of relevant information. You’ll find people with the same plants, groups…

• Search engine Cheapism

  Charles S. Knight

  6 Nov 2009 | 5:10 pm

  Cheapism Pronunciation [chç-piz-uh m] -noun An economic system in which individuals (consumers) acquire goods and/or services at a relatively low cost or price (inexpensively or comparatively inexpensively). Those who advocate and support cheapism are “cheapists”. As a result of practicing cheapism regularly, cheapists manage to save money and live within their means, or to utilize their finances for other purposes. Origin: 2009 # We find what are the best cheap products out there, and tell you what they are. # We scour the internet for news stories and resources that are…

• What’s on my food? Hopefully not pesticides…

  Charles S. Knight

  6 Nov 2009 | 4:57 pm

  At Pesticide Action Network (PAN) we know one thing: Pesticides are the linchpin of industrialized agriculture. Their mass introduction into farming 70 years ago, along with petrochemically-derived fertilizers, set U.S. farming down a costly and unsustainable path. Along the way, community-scale farming was nearly destroyed, generations have suffered ill health ranging from cancer to autism and Parkinson’s, biodiversity has taken big hits, and the six mega-corporations who dominate the pesticide industry have gotten very rich and very powerful. “PAN promotes the elimination of highly…

• Lunarama – a searchable directory of all-night restaurants

  Charles S. Knight

  6 Nov 2009 | 4:25 pm

  early to bed and early to rise makes a man or woman miss out on the night–life —Mark Sandman Lunarama is a public directory of all-night restaurants and joints. Browse through the list of cities on the right. Don’t see your habitat or favorite all–night spot? Contribute! Bottom’s Up Pizza 1550 Buck Jones Rd. Richmond, VA pretty late (1-2am) Great late night pizza joint right in the middle of the bar scene. With outside seating (in good weather), and a alcohol license this place has it all. Live music on the weekends and Karaoke on Thursday’s. A must visit. Thanks to…

• 
  MRAM-Info - MRAM tech news and resources

• Spingate: a new startup to develop Perpendicular-MRAM

  mram

  4 Nov 2009 | 9:27 pm

  Spingate is a new US-based fabless company focusing on development, licensing and manufacturing of solid state memory, specifically, perpendicular MRAM. We have talked to Dr. Alex Shukh, Spingate's co-founder, CTO and CEO. Alex explains that they have decided to focus on perpendicular MRAM because according to their estimates it does not suffer from several fundamental issues of its longitudinal (in-plane) analogue. read more

• Intel and Numonyx announced a new higher-density phase change memory technology

  mram

  29 Oct 2009 | 11:21 pm

  Intel and Numonyx have announced a new memory technology that "paves the way for scalable, higher density phase change memory (PCM) products". They have created a 64Mb chip that enables to stack multiple layers of PCM arrays in a single die. They cal it PCMS (phase change memory and switch). Via Engadget

• Researchers create first MRAM-based FPGA

  mram

  2 Oct 2009 | 5:15 am

  Researchers at the Montpellier Laboratory of Informatics, Robotics and Microelectronics (LIRMM), in France, say they have developed an MRAM-based FPGA circuit. They use Thermally Assisted Switching (TAS)-MRAM with a small current for heating the Magnetic Junction Tunnel, allowing a higher sensitivity to magnetic fields. The magnetic field is induced by a current line above or below the junction depending on the technology. read more

• Crocus announced a new STT-MRAM technology that can compete with DRAM and NOR-Flash

  mram

  1 Oct 2009 | 10:55 am

  Crocus Technology announced the development of a new STT-MRAM technology with a minimum feature size of 50nm that will deliver on the promise of using STT memory in high-density memory applications, that will be competitive with DRAM and NOR-Flash. Crocus' development addresses two critical problems in the implementation of STT MRAM that have previously hampered competitiveness with other popular memory types: memory bit density and stability. Crocus has developed a magnetic cell with an industry leading dynamic (i.e. sub-10 nanosecond) write current level of 2x10(6) amp/cm(2), e.g. less than…

• Micromem's MRAM product is fully packaged and being tested

  mram

  29 Sep 2009 | 12:44 am

  Micromem says that their Memory (MRAM) product is now complete through the Global-Communication-Semiconductor and BAE Systems foundries. The MRAM is fully packaged in arrays, and it's being tested and evaluated against standard and routine memory tests.

• 
  All things tech and beautiful

• Sense Substitution

  23 Oct 2009 | 11:39 am

  Two interesting products from the field of neural interfaces.Both of them leverage the fact that our sensory organs are just transducers which give inputs to a really flexible and remarkable signal processing system called the brain. This makes it possible to use one sensory organ to achieve a similar result to that of another. Sensory substitution.In a very indirect way, sign-language or braille could be considered as external sense substitutions. But these two instances that I came across thanks to Engadget and Google, a few months ago, are much more direct. Interestingly, this article…

• Eko rebranded

  4 Oct 2009 | 11:54 am

  If you'd noticed, Eko has changed its colors and its logo over the past few days. Instead of orange, it now sports an earthy green and has a tail-piece (lets call it 'slash dash') added which makes it identify itself with the way most Indians sign off a cash amount while writing it on paper.So adieu ol' logoAnd a warm welcome to the new oneHow do you find our new logo?

• William Kamkwamba: Building a windmill

  3 Oct 2009 | 4:27 am

  The following is the 2009 TED talk by William Kamkwamba who simply set up a windmill in his backyard. Inspired by two library books (more by the cover on one), from a really constrained background, with a scrapyard for raw materials and despite the local skepticism and superstition, William did what he set out to do.His simple message - to never give up. Do also scroll down to view his 2007 TED appearance. And heres his TED appearance in 2007:TED is simply amazing! I think it would be great to have a TED equivalent on prime time media in India instead of some of those really crappy shows and…

• Patient Capital - Sunflowers in the desert

  28 Sep 2009 | 5:39 am

  The poor need tools more than charity.People providing these tools need more support and capital than mere aid.And most importantly, the folks supporting these people needa deep understanding of social capital and delayed monetization.Jacqueline appropriately calls this - Patient Capital.Another great TED Talk by Jacqueline Novogratz, CEO Acumen Fund:(Courtesy: Guy Kawasaki)Related: "Poor Aren't Lifeless Bricks"

• Aggregation of Senses

  26 Sep 2009 | 12:24 pm

  I like Nostradamizing the future of telecommunications. So, if you're in the mood for some etherspeak; read on...One major hypothesis I have is that user interfaces will be neural in nature.Here's another one: Services in the future will be about aggregation of senses.Just look around- Blogs are an aggregation of personal journals. Social Networking is about aggregation of weak-relationships. Advertisement is about aggregation of perceived demand. Cloud Computing aggregates processing power. Malls and Shopping Centers aggregate sales. Indices aggregate performance. Cities aggregate people.

• 
  SitePoint » News & Trends

• ICANN Approve International Domain Suffixes

  Craig Buckler

  6 Nov 2009 | 10:46 am

  SitePoint is fortunate to receive visitors from all over the world. However, the vast majority are from the US, UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. As native English speakers, it’s easy to forget the billions of Russian, Chinese, Arabic and other computer users who do not speak the language. OS manufacturers make considerable efforts to internationalize their systems, yet entering a web address requires everyone to use the same 26-letter Latin alphabet for domain name suffixes such as .com, .org and .net. All that will change on 16 November 2009. The board of the Internet…

• The New W3C Website Goes Live … With Invalid CSS!

  Craig Buckler

  4 Nov 2009 | 5:07 am

  Following requests for feedback in April, the W3C finally launched their sparkly new website on 13 October. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is an international community of organizations, full-time staff, and public members who work together to develop web standards and technology specifications (HTML, XML, CSS, DOM, RDFa, SOAP, SVG, semantic web, etc.).Until recently, those of a polite disposition would describe the website as functional rather than usable or attractive. The W3C hope the redesign will make the site easier to navigate and more pleasant to use. The new site is undoubtedly…

• Apple Bites Windows 7

  Craig Buckler

  3 Nov 2009 | 2:36 am

  Just when you thought all was quiet on the OS front, Apple breaks its silence to slam Windows 7 as being complex, expensive, and the cause of user headaches. Brian Croll, Vice President of OS X product marketing, explains: Windows users are really tired of all the headaches that they’ve been getting over the years, starting all the way back from Windows Me to NT to Vista and now Windows 7. As a result, I think people are looking for something different, and the Mac offers real ease of use, stability and security. Windows 7 is still just Windows. It doesn’t change a lot. It’s…

• LA City Council Choose Google Docs Over Microsoft Office

  Craig Buckler

  2 Nov 2009 | 4:06 am

  Los Angeles City Council has approved a $7.2 million deal to use Google’s applications for its 30,000 personnel. The council voted unanimously to replace several of their current IT systems with Google Apps and GMail instead of competing offers over a dozen other IT suppliers. The deal is a massive boost for Google as it attempts to compete with Microsoft, IBM and HP in the business arena. Perhaps it’s the first sign that cloud computing is being considered as a serious proposition by major corporations. Google’s ambition is to lure companies away from their dependency on…

• What is a Browser? Google Explains…

  Craig Buckler

  26 Oct 2009 | 7:27 am

  It’s a simple question: “What is a web browser?” Unfortunately, Google’s random survey in Times Square, New York, revealed that only 8% of people knew the answer. The remaining 92% of users either did not know or confused it with a search engine. Google had even more worrying concerns — the vast majority of respondents had never heard of their Chrome browser. This is a problem that directly affects web developers. We want people to use the latest browsers so we can implement new technologies and techniques without spending time coding around problems on older…

• 
  SolSie.com

• Last Considerations Before Getting the Motorola Droid

  SolSie

  6 Nov 2009 | 9:21 am

  Today marks the public debut of the most anticipated smartphone for the holiday season, the Motorola Droid on Verizon network. Many reviewers have compared and contrasted the new device with the Apple iPhone and other high-end Smartphones. The overall verdict seems to agree that the Droid is not an iPhone killer but unarguably a [...]

• Slacker Radio Now Available for Android (US only)

  SolSie

  6 Nov 2009 | 6:28 am

  Slacker Radio is the Best Way to Discover New Artists and Hear Your Favorite Music – for Free Slacker , the Personal Radio company offering "Your Radio Everywhere." Slacker allows music lovers to play highly personalized music online at the Slacker web site or on the go. Slacker mobile applications are currently available for BlackBerry [...]

• DROID ERIS by HTC Debuts with Verizon

  SolSie

  5 Nov 2009 | 6:34 am

  DROID ERIS by HTC Debuts with Verizon Wireless with HTC Sense Experience and an Attractive $99.99 Price Beginning Nov. 6, DROID ERIS by HTC will join Verizon DROID army,  bringing the power of the Google’s Android platform and the Verizon Wireless network together.  DROID ERIS by HTC combines the popular Android [...]

• Home Screen Refreshed 3.0 Released

  SolSie

  5 Nov 2009 | 6:06 am

  If you miss in Windows Phones the notification of unanswered phone calls, or unread  messages… You will enjoy very much with the new version of Home Screen refreshed. Home Screen refreshed is a replacement of Home Screen in Windows Phones without touched screens (previously called Windows Smartphones, or Windows Mobile Standard). [...]

• Mobile Macros for Windows Mobile

  SolSie

  4 Nov 2009 | 9:36 am

  One of the shortcomings of the Windows Mobile platform is some actions might take more taps than user had hoped for. Mobile Macros for Windows Mobile can simplify the common tasks by allowing them to record stylus events (taps and moves) into an editable text file and replay them when needed. “When developing the [...]

• 
  Swift Kick Central

• The Value of Leveraging Network Nodes In The College Community

  Tom Krieglstein

  14 Oct 2009 | 10:36 am

  Last spring, I was traveling on a public bus from Laguardia Airport in New York to my hotel on the north side of Manhattan. When I got on the bus at the airport, the bus driver was in a heated argument with someone complaining about being charged twice for the ride. The bus driver was clearly not amused and went from zero to outrage in ten seconds. Trying not to be his next target, I smiled, paid and sat down in the first open seat. For the next 30 minutes, I watched the driver mumble under his breath and shake his head in a perpetual state of anger. Each new passenger who entered the bus…

• Playing Catch Up: Colleges and the Web

  Kevin Prentiss

  17 Sep 2009 | 7:56 am

  (This is a cross post from the Student Affairs Blog) "We shape our tools and then our tools shape us." - Marshall McLuhan You've probably heard the term "Web 2.0."  The idea was that the changes in how the internet worked over the last 8 years were profound enough to warrant a whole new version. While the term has come to embody a whole host of ideas, for our purposes, I'm going to focus on one main idea: the shift from one to many to many to many.At the beginning of the web, pages were published and static. The web surfer could read or look at multimedia.

• The Anyone, Anything, Anytime, Anywhere Education

  Tom Krieglstein

  3 Sep 2009 | 11:21 am

  Whether educational institutions like it or not, education is changing and walled gardens are evaporating. New ideas in education are emerging...or, probably better to say, old ideas are finally able to be technologically implemented. Whichever the case, the change is no longer bound by old ideas like nationality, income, time, or location.ANYONE: The One Laptop Per Child Association is a non-profit organization whose mission is to: Create educational opportunities for the world's poorest children by providing each child with a rugged, low-cost, low-power, connected laptop with content and…

• At Student Orientation, Don't Forget About Bridging Social Capital

  Tom Krieglstein

  7 Aug 2009 | 10:31 am

  The Bystander Effect is a well-known psychological study conducted by Bibb Latane and John Darley that grew out of the stabbing death of Kitty Genovese in 1964 while eyewitnesses looked on but did nothing to help. According to Wikipedia:...individuals are less likely to offer help in an emergency situation when other people are present. The probability of help is inversely proportional to the number of bystanders. In other words, the greater the number of bystanders, the less likely it is that any one of them will help.Robert Putnam's famous book on the collapse of the American community,…

• Stop Making Parents the Punchline and Include Them in the EdTech Conversation

  Tom Krieglstein

  16 Jul 2009 | 9:30 am

  Digitally ignorant parents find themselves once again the punchline of a new website dutifully called MyParentsJoinedFacebook.com. The site was created by a daughter after her dad joined Facebook and his social networking activity quickly became obnoxious to her. With a swift gain in popularity, MyParentsJoinedFacebook.com joins others in exploiting (right or wrong) parents' naivete as a way to add a few laughs and clicks.  Between the easy laughs and "Dateline" fear mongering, I can understand why a 2008 MacArthur Foundation supported study showed that parents tend to be…

• 
  Ask Owen

• How do I handle ISO files?

  Owen

  6 Nov 2009 | 2:50 pm

  I downloaded Ubuntu recently and now I have a .iso file. What’s the best way of handling and opening those files? An ISO file is a disk image, meaning it’s a copy of the entire contents of a CD or DVD. There are a couple of things you can do with this file; for example, you can open the ISO file and extract the individual files from it. I like using a program like 7-Zipp to do this. So, for example if you had an ISO file with the best work Philly had to offer; and didn’t want to waste a DVD, you could point 7-Zip at it and just extract the file you’re interested in.

• How do I block Autorun on my computer?

  Owen

  2 Nov 2009 | 4:07 pm

  I would like to stop the constant popup-up windows that appear when I plug in a USB memory stick or insert a CD into my computer with Windows XP. I would either like to set a default action or disable the messages altogether. How can I do this? Although these messages can be helpful, they often get cluttered with suggestions for other software. There should be an option to “Take no action” at the bottom and a check box to remember this option. The easiest way to disable the messages with Windows XP is to use TweakUI. Install it, start it up and click on the small plus next to My…

• How can I protect my laptop?

  Owen

  25 Oct 2009 | 3:08 pm

  I travel around the country a lot and carry my laptop around wherever I go. My previous one ended up all scratched and dented, how can I prevent this from happening to my new one? I guess from your question that you already have your new laptop, otherwise it’s worth considering a ruggedised one (although they don’t look very pretty, so it really depends what line of work you’re in). Anyway, as you have a new laptop already, what I would suggest is a proper case for your computer. I came across an interesting one that you leave your computer in ever as you use it. It’s…

• Can I get one device to replace all remote controls?

  Owen

  24 Oct 2009 | 11:33 am

  We’ve just rounded up all the remote controls in our living room and it turns out we have six different ones! My cousin mentioned that it’s possible to get a “super-remote” that can replace all of them. Is this really possible? Your cousin is quite right; there are a class of gadget around that lets you replace all your different remote controls with one device that can replicate their function. This is thanks for the fact that different remote controls are designed not to interfere with one another, therefore this device can just replicate the signals that each remote…

• How can I scan slides into my computer?

  Owen

  23 Oct 2009 | 12:58 am

  I’ve recently inherited a box full of slides that were taken by my grandfather, an avid photographer and represent a lifetime of his work. I’d love to convert them to a digital format for posterity but when I tried using my flat-bed scanner the result was very poor. Is there a better way to scan them? Although you can use a flat-bed scanner for scanning slides, you’re not going to get a good result unless the scanner has a special attachment for slides. You can get this sort of scanner, but they end to be a bit more expensive than standard models. There are better ways to…

• 
  @LiveCrunch

• 1464 Free Songs froom Amazon

  Live Crunch

  30 Oct 2009 | 8:51 pm

  Amazon is currently offering 1,464 mp3 songs for free to download. An Amzon account and Amazon’s mp3 downloader is required.

• Google Reader Keyboard Shortcuts

  Live Crunch

  30 Oct 2009 | 5:19 pm

  Google Reader one of the web RSS readers. Here are some great keyboard shortcuts that will enhance your Google reader experience and save you time. Navigation Acting on items j/k: next/previous item s: star item space: next item or page <Shift> + s: share item <Shift> + space: previous item or page v: view original n/p: item scan down/up (list only) t: tag item <Shift> + n/p: next/previous subscription m: mark item as read/unread <Shift> + x: expand folder o/enter: expand/collapse item (list only) <Shift> + o: open subscription or folder <Shift> + a: mark…

• Address Book for Android from Asurion Mobile

  Live Crunch

  26 Oct 2009 | 6:00 am

  Tomorrow Asurion Mobile is releasing new Android application called AddressBook. Address Book App like this has not been seen in Market Store yet. This address book ties most popular social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, Youtube or Flickr with your contacts. With this Address Book you get more functions than your standard Address Book.  You can download this address book via Get Address Book Some Key Points: MixIns – gives users a choice of the content and services they want to build to get a complete view of their relationships and drive their personal communications. Social…

• Teardown of new iMac, Macbook, Mini & Magic Mouse

  Live Crunch

  24 Oct 2009 | 7:00 pm

  iFixit has torn down Apple’s new releases which include the new iMac, Macbook and Mgaic Mouse. They discovered that the new iMacs feature: Use of the 27″ iMac as an external display via its MiniDisplayPort connector requires that the machine be fully powered up, as the signal is routed through the main logic board. The 27″ iMac unsurprisingly carries the biggest power supply ever seen in an iMac, putting out 310 watts. The CPU and GPU are located on opposite sides of the machine and have separate massive heat sinks, allowing Apple to utilize desktop-class processors within…

• Freeware Pick: Open Office

  Matt

  18 Oct 2009 | 11:38 pm

  Many a student or office worker will remember spending long sleepless nights on Microsoft Office, praying to Bill Gates that the program wouldn’t die on you, nor would the evil Mr. Clippy come and ask you, “It appears you are writing a letter. Would you like help with it?” You bang your hands on the keyboard in frustration, frustration at the fact that you’re not using a Mac, or Linux. But you don’t have to continue being at the mercy of Bill Gates. Instead, there are many freeware Office Suites out there, from the extra-portable Google Docs, to the almost…

• 
  Black Web 2.0

• Bloggers, Is Your Content Safe Under The “Fair Use” Doctrine?

  Joe Miller

  6 Nov 2009 | 12:00 pm

  As blogging evolves, it is becoming increasingly important to recognize the legal limitations associated with building upon the works of others. Under 17 U.S.C. §504(c), damages for a single copyright infringement can range from anywhere between $750 to $30,000 per infringement. Paradoxically, some of bloggers' best content incorporates the authorized works of others. The safest course of... Visit Black Web 2.0 for the full story....

• 10+ Tips to get the most out of an Ad Network or Rep

  BW 2.0 Staff

  6 Nov 2009 | 9:00 am

  Some of the most liveliest discussions here in the past have occurred around topics related to advertising networks.  Most of us have been an associated with an ad network at some point in time, some of us still are, while others have moved on to an ad rep or direct sales.  When joining an ad [...] Visit Black Web 2.0 for the full story....

• Tech Week in Review 11-6-09

  rahsheen

  6 Nov 2009 | 6:00 am

  Google Chrome Enables Bookmark Syncing If you use multiple computers, keeping your bookmarks in sync can be a pain. Now, Google Chrome adds the ability to sync your bookmarks between computers running Chrome by simply entering your Google Account information. The changes are instantaneous. The only catch is that you have to be running the latest beta [...] Visit Black Web 2.0 for the full story....

• How to: Build Track-able Links for Google Analytics

  Markus Robinson

  5 Nov 2009 | 11:00 am

  Analyzing your websites traffic is a great way to determine how and where you should devote you efforts and resources to attract more traffic. Most analytics software provide the necessary tools to report this traffic information, but building a utm sourced link will help sort and organize your advertising campaigns. In this how to, I [...] Visit Black Web 2.0 for the full story....

• Vegas Hotels Trade Rooms In Exchange for New Twitter Followers

  Lesly Simmons

  5 Nov 2009 | 8:00 am

  The Rio and MGM Grand Hotels in Las Vegas are running new Twitter promotions, giving away hotel stays in exchange for tweets. Until Nov. 27, folks who tweet their sins along with the hashtag #mgmsin will be entered in a once-a-day random drawing for a night's stay at the MGM Grand Hotel & Casino on the strip. MGM's social media team is posting the names of the winners as soon as they are... Visit Black Web 2.0 for the full story....

• 
  Scientechie

• Windows 7 - Why I’ll take Ubuntu 9.10 over it anyday

  Muhammad Fahd Waseem

  25 Oct 2009 | 2:11 am

  I’ve written about this before - a view on why both Windows 7 and Ubuntu 9.10 will co-exist. But the matter of fact is, I have a preference. I run Vista as my primary OS, yet I see no reason whatsoever to upgrade to Windows 7. Much maligned as Vista was, two service packs down the lane and it has become reliable enough for my needs. But if one must really toss aside Windows Vista, Windows 7 is probably not the best way to go. Exorbitantly expensive for all who need any less that full scale compatibility with specialist software suites such as Adobe Creative Suite or Microsoft Word 2007,…

• Eid Greetings!

  Muhammad Fahd Waseem

  20 Sep 2009 | 8:31 pm

  Eid is a Muslim celebration that comes after the holy month of Ramadan, in which we fast from daybreak to sunset everyday. Eid is, thus, a day of rejoicing for all Muslims, everywhere in the world. I extend the Eid Greetings to all readers, Muslim and non-Muslim alike (non-Muslims must share in the happiness too Eid ‘Mubarik’!

• Scientechie is now on AboutUs.org

  Muhammad Fahd Waseem

  4 Sep 2009 | 3:32 am

  I just finished adding my blog to AboutUs.org. Please feel free to visit aboutus.org/superphysics.awardspace.com and edit it! To be very truthful, I’m interested in seeing what kind of reaction I get: in terms of visits and/or comments.

• The Excellent SUSE Studio (and tips)

  Muhammad Fahd Waseem

  18 Aug 2009 | 9:08 am

  I study in an engineering university full of geeks and nerds. Most of them use some (pirated) version of Windows, though they all know how superiorly Linux would perform on our sprawling LAN network. They do not. And one of the major reasons is that there are some particular softwares that everyone here uses, but cannot be bothered to download for a Linux distro. People in Pakistan do not like the idea of not being able to double click and install, and when they see their favourite apps missing, they don’t bother to enable a repo and download them. They ditch Linux altogether. Enter…

• Gearing up for the next RoboCup

  Muhammad Fahd Waseem

  17 Aug 2009 | 12:58 pm

  As my readers might know, I was part of Pakistan’s first participation in the RoboCup, this July. It was SAVIOUR, a team of GIKI institute. Admitted, we participated only in the rescue leagues, and the results were not quite astounding, a start is a start. We are already gearing up the next RoboCup. www.projectsaviour.co.cc has the details.

• 
  Digital Natives

• Youth Policy Research Positions with danah boyd; John Palfrey and Urs Gasser

  scortesi

  3 Nov 2009 | 3:06 pm

  The Berkman Center is looking for an intern for its Youth Policy Working Group. The Working Group is part of the Berkman Center’s Digital Natives initiative, which studies how young people interact with digital media. The Youth Policy Working Group specifically seeks to draft policy prescriptions around three areas of youth interaction: privacy, safety and information quality/creativity. The intern will perform research and draft text for a literature review for the information quality/creativity track of the Working Group. Knowledge of issues surrounding youth engagement with digital…

• Minds for the Future: Why Digital Immersion Matters

  Kyle Bylin

  22 Oct 2009 | 6:30 pm

  “If we hope to head towards a bright future in the digital age, then, it begins with preparing Digital Natives and other young kids to help lead the way.” To be sure, the term “Digital Native” is misleading, because no two Digital Natives are created equal. Each of them has varying degrees of access to digital technologies, literacy skills, and participation within their peer culture. What’s more alarming is the “divide” opening up between those that have access to the network and those without. But that in itself isn’t the whole problem, because having access alone…

• My Parents Joined Facebook: Personalized Clubhouses and Divergent Social Norms Online

  dianakimball

  18 May 2009 | 8:20 pm

  Black text on a white background reads “Oh Crap. My Parents Joined Facebook.” Below, in all caps: “Congratulations! Your parents just joined Facebook. Your life is officially over.” The site is myparentsjoinedfacebook.com, a collaborative portfolio of social doom. In the grand instatradition of thematic tumblelogs (see: ThisIsWhyYou’reFat, Scanwiches), MyParentsJoinedFacebook isn’t so much website as permutations on a sentiment. Every new screengrab conveys chagrin, disdain, and bewilderment at the impressive range of collisions between the incongruous ways digital natives…

• The Future of Digital Natives Dialogue

  aleavitt

  15 May 2009 | 9:21 am

  A couple weeks ago, I participated (read: lurked) in a project called FOCUS: Cross-Generational Voices on Digital Media and Society, sponsored by Global Kids, Common Sense Media, and The GoodPlay Project. Having evolved from previous years’ FOCUS projects aimed to create dialogue between teenagers about their online experiences (a white paper report of last year’s activities can be read here), the project aimed this year to foster discussion between teens, parents, and educators on a multitude of topics related to social interactions on the Web. The discussion took place on…

• Living and Dying on Geocities

  aleavitt

  31 Dec 1969 | 4:00 pm

  Recently, Geocities announced that they would be shutting down their services later in 2009. In my history on the Web (I’m graduating college this May, if that provides perspective), this is a significant event for Digital Natives. At least, for the older Digital Natives. Growing up on the Internet in middle school, many of my peers had little if any digital skills. I was lucky enough to grow up with a Macintosh in my house, so I was introduced to programs like kid-targeted graphic tools (in my case, it was Kid Pix, the Photoshop for primary school students) from an early stage.

• 
  SuperGeekery.com

• Activating an Update Version of Windows 7 with a Fresh Installation

  john@johnfmorton.com

  28 Oct 2009 | 7:07 pm

  (Images are screen shots taking you through the activation steps described below.) When Vista was released, I ended up getting 2 full copies of Vista Ultimate to install on my MacPro and my MacBook Pro. I use VMWare Fusion, although I've also used Parallels and recommend either to people who ask. When Windows 7 was available for pre-order, I bought 2 upgrade copies. I decided against getting another 'Ultimate' version though. I chose 'Pro' because it was all I needed. I'm not the first and I won't be the last to say it either, but all those versions are way too confusing, Microsoft. If you've…

• So you’re building a Wordpress portfolio?

  john@johnfmorton.com

  26 Oct 2009 | 9:08 am

  I've been doing some investigation into Wordpress for a potential new project. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I've been exploring various CMS's recently based on some client requests. SuperGeekery is still powered by Expression Engine, as is a variety of other projects I've developed. I've had several recent proposals that specified Wordpress as the CMS requirement, so I've been doing some additional research on it. One of the projects that I've been investigating in particular is a portfolio type site and I've found a group of plug-ins for Wordpress that might help creating such a site…

• Flash AS3 Font Embedding Issue - A Problem with Grandchildren?

  john@johnfmorton.com

  30 Sep 2009 | 9:57 am

  I've been working on a project that was causing me endless frustration with Flash font embedding. Basically, I had a Main.swf that I had embedded a font in. It has a child SWF, say "child.swf", that gets loaded. Then that child.swf, used a class file which created a loaded in a photo and created a dynamic text field, so I thought of it as a grandchild of Main.swf. In the 'grandchild' the dynamic text field is formatted to embed the font that is in Main.swf. Since I wanted to be able access that font from Main.swf everywhere, I first made a new Font in my Library and checked "Export for…

• Snow Leopard Warning About Flash and Typography

  john@johnfmorton.com

  1 Sep 2009 | 6:53 pm

  I've upgraded my Mac to Snow Leopard and one thing I've immediately noticed was how some of my typography has shifted in Flash with the upgrade. Below are screen shots of SWF files built from the same FLA file with the same fonts active. The top image is published while booted in Leopard. The bottom image is from the same FLA but published while booted in Snow Leopard. I've circled a few places for comparison's sake.   Basically, leading is being calculated differently under Snow Leopard. I seem to remember something similar happening in an earlier upgrade. Perhaps it was moving from…

• A Quick Tour of CMS Options.

  john@johnfmorton.com

  19 Aug 2009 | 12:49 pm

  I've been an Expression Engine developer since it debuted. SuperGeekery is built on Expression Engine (aka EE). Before EE, I used Ellis Labs' previous CMS called pMachine, so I've been in that camp for quite a while. I've built many sites using EE. It's intuitive for me and I can quickly imagine a solution to most 'internet problems' I run into. Recently I've been approached about a number of different CMS projects, often with a preferred choice of CMS, usually WordPress or Drupal. Joomla was mentioned once as well. Since most of my exposure has been to EE, I thought I should spend some time…

• 
  Popular Science - Science

• This Week in the Future, October 30- November 6, 2009

  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.baarbarian.com/&quot;&gt;Baarbarian&lt;/a&gt;

  6 Nov 2009 | 10:21 am

  Leave a comment to win a TWITF T-shirt! The future continued to unfold before us this week, and it's been quite a week indeed. A bread-loving bird shut down the LHC, a martian weatherman forecasts conditions on Mars, a space hotel set to open its doors in 2012 already has paying guests, and, by the time the holidays roll around, every Nintendo-loving household can stick a wiimote in an anatomically correct doll's back to rock it lovingly via accelerometer and hear its gurgles, giggles and wails through a tinny Wiimote speaker. The past is looking pretty weird, too; as it turns out, kissing…

• Nanoparticles Can Damage DNA Without Crossing Cellular Barrier

  Jeremy Hsu

  6 Nov 2009 | 9:28 am

  Metal nanoparticles use a newly observed cell signal process to wreak havoc indirectly Scientists know that nanoparticles can damage DNA in cells through direct interaction. Now, though, it appears that nanoparticles can also mess with DNA on the far side of a cellular barrier, by creating signaling molecules -- a never-before-seen phenomenon. The finding could hint at unintended consequences: using nanoparticles to deliver medicine within the body, or for targeting specific cells such as cancerous clusters in tumors. But it also provides new insight into how small particles such as metal…

• Study Proves That Specialized Prosthetic Legs Grant No Advantage In Sprinting

  Stuart Fox

  6 Nov 2009 | 6:32 am

  In 2008, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) banned double amputee Oscar Pistorius from racing in the 2008 Summer Olympics. Later that same year, the ban was reversed. The back and forth centered on Pistorius' specially designed, spring-loaded, prosthetic legs. The IAAF argued that artificial legs designed especially for running gave Pistorius an unfair advantage against runners whose flesh-and-blood limbs didn't benefit from advanced engineering and space-age materials. While an MIT study last year eventually led to the overturn of the original IAAF decision, no one…

• Mutant Bacteria Are Likely to Threaten Future Space Travelers

  Rebecca Boyle

  5 Nov 2009 | 12:57 pm

  When humans eventually travel to Mars and beyond, they'll have plenty to worry about along with the discomforts of eating freeze-dried food and drinking their own urine. A new report says they will probably be really sick, to boot -- from flare-ups of E. coli, chicken pox or staph infections. A host of microscopic stowaways could make interplanetary voyagers sick, especially because human immune systems are compromised in space, and because bacteria seem to thrive in micro- or zero-gravity environments. E. coli, staphylococcus, and salmonella are among common bacteria that grow faster in…

• Digital TV Switch A Boon For Astronomers

  Stuart Fox

  5 Nov 2009 | 12:11 pm

  The brief period of radio silence during the switchover makes it possible to listen for pulsars and other space entities that are otherwise drowned out While most of the world looked forward to the switch from analog to digital TV for the sharper picture and clearer sound, astronomers around the US anticipated the changeover period for a totally different reason: clarity. In the brief period between the removal of analog television signals and the assignment of those frequencies to other devices like cell phones, astronomers will get their first look at a time in the universe that has been…

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  tinyComb

• Sharp Establishes New Solar Conversion Record

  Sharp just announced a new record in solar cell conversion efficiency. The new material is a high-efficiency crystalline compound called indium-gallium-arsenide which assisted in bumping the  record from previous 31.5% to 35.8% efficiency. Well done Sharp, wonder who will push it over 40%, any ideas?

• Live @ ad:tech, New York

  TinyComb's live at the ad:tech conference in NY. If your company/startup is present and interested in a write-up, tweet @hohme.

• Pleasant Surprise: Windows 7 Is Green

  The Windows 7 hype has been a little overbearing for the last couple months, but it sounds like there might be a great deal of good that comes out of the new OS, no matter hard it is for me to say. Along with promises to drive down the cost of ...

• Google Launches AdWords Comparisson Ads. A.K.A LEAD GEN INDUSTRY KILLER

  Google wrote this fluffy piece about an hour ago regarding their launch of AdWords Comparitive Ads. Don't be fooled, beware. Google describes it as: "Today we're excited to begin testing a new feature of AdWords called AdWords Comparison Ads, which lets users compare multiple, relevant offers more easily. Comparison Ads is ...

• Tinycomb Cleantech Roundup

  Top 10 solar technologies to watch out for. Door opens for Aptera, 3 wheelers to grab DOE green car funds. How Fort Irwin just signed the largest solar farm in the department of defense's history. After Bitter Feud, hybrid car startup, Greentech plans $6.5 billion plant. Tata Nano increases production to keep up with ...

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  Reuters Video: Technology

• EA turns Dante's Inferno into game

  6 Nov 2009 | 6:53 am

  Nov 6 - The fourteenth century literary masterpiece by Italian poet Dante Alighieri has been reinterpreted as a graphic slasher video game which will come out in 2010.

• Japan's high-tech cemeteries

  4 Nov 2009 | 9:48 pm

  Nov 5 - Japan, known for cutting-edge technology as well as ancestor worship, is merging the two with the latest in the funereal: card-activated crypts.

• Detroit sees green future

  3 Nov 2009 | 3:54 pm

  Nov 3 - For decades Detroit has been known for building big gas-guzzling SUVs but these days it looks as though the country's automakers, both big and small, see green in their future.

• UK mobile tracking device launches

  3 Nov 2009 | 10:13 am

  Nov. 3 - A new tracking service for mobile phones has been unveiled in Britain, utilizing the mapping data from the government agency Ordnance Survey.

• Israeli companies tackle water leaks

  3 Nov 2009 | 7:59 am

  Nov 3 - Israeli companies are making water thrift easier, with a drone that reads water meters and a turbine that generates electricity from inside pipes. The innovations will be unveiled at a conference in Tel Aviv next month.

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  Science & Technology Videos

• Breast Augmentation 3

  6 Nov 2009 | 9:42 am

  http://www.BreastAugmentationGuide.com/ Breast Augmentation is one of the most common elective surgical procedures performed annually by members of the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, otherwise referred to as Breast Enhancement and Breast Implant Surgery.Author: jhonwilliamsKeywords: breast augmentation breastaugmentation Added: Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:42:51 GMTVideo codes to display this video on your website!http://www.livevideo.com

• Buy Frontline dogs 23-44 lbs

  6 Nov 2009 | 8:21 am

  http://buyfrontline.org/buy-frontline-dogs-23-44-lbs Buy Frontline Dogs 23-44 lbs. Fleas and ticks can silently invite themselves onto your pet & harm your pet. FRONTLINE kills fleas & ticks on your dog/cat & prevents re-infestation.Author: katerae0529Keywords: Buy Frontline Dogs 23-44 lbs Buy Frontline Buy Frontline for Dogs Buy Frontline for Cats Buy Frontline Flea Control Buy Frontline Flea Treatment Frontline Added: Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:21:32 GMTVideo codes to display this video on your website!http://www.livevideo.com

• Buy Frontline Dogs up to 22 lbs

  6 Nov 2009 | 8:14 am

  http://buyfrontline.org/buy-frontline-dogs-up-to-22-lbs Buy Frontline Dogs up to 22 lbs. Fleas and ticks can silently invite themselves onto your pet & harm your pet. FRONTLINE kills fleas & ticks on your dog/cat & prevents re-infestation.Author: katerae0529Keywords: Buy Frontline Dogs up to 22 lbs Buy Frontline Buy Frontline for Dogs Buy Frontline for Cats Buy Frontline Flea Control Buy Frontline Flea Treatment Frontline Added: Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:14:57 GMTVideo codes to display this video on your website!http://www.livevideo.com

• Skin And Vein Laser Center

  6 Nov 2009 | 7:57 am

  http://www.skinandveinlasercenter.com The solution that works is laser liposuction. SmartLipo is quickly becoming one of the most popular fat reduction methods. A person in good health with about 10 pounds of fat to lose in specific areas is a great candidate, just see our webpage www.skinandveinlasercenter.comAuthor: jnford82Keywords: skin and vein laser center laser center skin and vein smartlipo smart lipo lipo liposuction smartliposuction houston smartlipo Houston smart lipo smartlipo center smart lipo center liposuction center lipo laser liposuction laser smartlipo in houston liposuction…

• Windows 95 on NTFS file system (better proof & explanation)

  6 Nov 2009 | 6:56 am

  EN: Windows 95 on NTFS file system (better proof & explanation) It was a great idea to show that, because no one still can't believe that you can use Windows 95 somehow on NTFS. So then you'll need to have a better information scientist's brain to get that right. A video response to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjuuQQbk0zo just to make it real. Recorded on: 20th October 2009. PL: Windows 95 w systemie plików NTFS (lepszy dowód i objaśnienie) To był świetny pomysł, aby to pokazać, bowiem wielu nadal nie wierzy, że można jakoś korzystać z Windows'a 95 w NTFS. Tak więc…

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  Softpedia News - Technology

• ThinkPad X100e is Lenovo's Business Netbook

  Softpedia News (Traian Teglet)

  6 Nov 2009 | 6:39 am

  Lenovo, one of the world's most recognizable brands in the segment of business-focused notebooks, is reportedly planning the expansion of its successful line of ThinkPad laptops with the introduction of a new ThinkPad X100e model. Set to launch on January the 5th, 2010, the upcoming system will be called ThinkPad X100e and is going to be part of the company's growing line of netbook systems. Said to have been designed as an “entry level ultra portable, the first ThinkPad of its size,” the new system could provide users with a few surprises, in terms of internal specifications.

• NVIDIA's Q3 FY2010 Revenue Up 16 Percent

  Softpedia News (Traian Teglet)

  6 Nov 2009 | 5:52 am

  NVIDIA has recently announced its financial results for the third quarter of the fiscal year 2010, with a reported revenue of US$903.2 million, representing an increase of 16 percent from the previous quarter and up from US$897.7 million, recorded in Q3 FY2009. According to the Santa Clara, California-based graphics chip maker, the revenue went up in each of the company's product lines, confirming a stronger consumer demand “We continued to make progress in the third quarter with healthy market demand across the board,” Jen-Hsun Huang, president and chief executive officer,…

• Radeon HD 5870 2GB Card Packs Six DisplayPort Connectors

  Softpedia News (Traian Teglet)

  6 Nov 2009 | 3:54 am

  One of the main features that have been enabled by AMD's new series of Radeon HD 5000 GPUs (aside from the DirectX 11 support) is the integration of AMD's latest ATI Eyefinity technology, a solution that allows computer enthusiasts to use a Radeon graphics card for employment in a multi-display configuration. On that note, it appears that the Sunnyvale, California-based chip maker is preparing to launch a new version of its Radeon HD 5870 flagship product, which will provide customers with a choice for a card that is featured with a more-than-impressive six DisplayPorts. Although the card…

• Netbooks Still in HTC's Plans, Company CEO Confirms

  Softpedia News (Traian Teglet)

  6 Nov 2009 | 3:29 am

  The popularity of netbook systems continues to grow as new technologies will enable vendors to further diversify their designs and provide customers with a few more options when choosing a new, low-power, ultraportable, Internet-capable device. We have already seen a number of companies joining the race for a better netbook design, including Nokia, the industry's leading phone maker. It now appears that HTC might also be entering the market with a design of its own, according to recent reports. During an interview at the HD2 launch, earlier this week, the company's CEO, Mr. Peter Chou,…

• Dual-Core Tegra 2 Scheduled to Arrive in 2010

  Softpedia News (Traian Teglet)

  6 Nov 2009 | 2:19 am

  NVIDIA's Tegra has gained an impressive amount of popularity over the course of the last few months, especially for having powered Microsoft's highly appreciated Zune HD media player. On that note, the Santa Clara, California-based chip maker is preparing to update its Tegra family of processors with the much-rumored introduction of the Tegra 2 chip. According to recent reports on the said processor, the chip is due out sometime next year, bringing along double the computational and graphics performance of its predecessor. In a recent news article on Fudzilla, NVIDIA is said to be preparing…

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  SitePoint » News & Trends

• ICANN Approve International Domain Suffixes

  Craig Buckler

  6 Nov 2009 | 10:46 am

  SitePoint is fortunate to receive visitors from all over the world. However, the vast majority are from the US, UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. As native English speakers, it’s easy to forget the billions of Russian, Chinese, Arabic and other computer users who do not speak the language. OS manufacturers make considerable efforts to internationalize their systems, yet entering a web address requires everyone to use the same 26-letter Latin alphabet for domain name suffixes such as .com, .org and .net. All that will change on 16 November 2009. The board of the Internet…

• The New W3C Website Goes Live … With Invalid CSS!

  Craig Buckler

  4 Nov 2009 | 5:07 am

  Following requests for feedback in April, the W3C finally launched their sparkly new website on 13 October. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is an international community of organizations, full-time staff, and public members who work together to develop web standards and technology specifications (HTML, XML, CSS, DOM, RDFa, SOAP, SVG, semantic web, etc.).Until recently, those of a polite disposition would describe the website as functional rather than usable or attractive. The W3C hope the redesign will make the site easier to navigate and more pleasant to use. The new site is undoubtedly…

• Apple Bites Windows 7

  Craig Buckler

  3 Nov 2009 | 2:36 am

  Just when you thought all was quiet on the OS front, Apple breaks its silence to slam Windows 7 as being complex, expensive, and the cause of user headaches. Brian Croll, Vice President of OS X product marketing, explains: Windows users are really tired of all the headaches that they’ve been getting over the years, starting all the way back from Windows Me to NT to Vista and now Windows 7. As a result, I think people are looking for something different, and the Mac offers real ease of use, stability and security. Windows 7 is still just Windows. It doesn’t change a lot. It’s…

• LA City Council Choose Google Docs Over Microsoft Office

  Craig Buckler

  2 Nov 2009 | 4:06 am

  Los Angeles City Council has approved a $7.2 million deal to use Google’s applications for its 30,000 personnel. The council voted unanimously to replace several of their current IT systems with Google Apps and GMail instead of competing offers over a dozen other IT suppliers. The deal is a massive boost for Google as it attempts to compete with Microsoft, IBM and HP in the business arena. Perhaps it’s the first sign that cloud computing is being considered as a serious proposition by major corporations. Google’s ambition is to lure companies away from their dependency on…

• What is a Browser? Google Explains…

  Craig Buckler

  26 Oct 2009 | 7:27 am

  It’s a simple question: “What is a web browser?” Unfortunately, Google’s random survey in Times Square, New York, revealed that only 8% of people knew the answer. The remaining 92% of users either did not know or confused it with a search engine. Google had even more worrying concerns — the vast majority of respondents had never heard of their Chrome browser. This is a problem that directly affects web developers. We want people to use the latest browsers so we can implement new technologies and techniques without spending time coding around problems on older…

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  Mark Evans Tech

• Nine Things Social Media Can Do

  Mark Evans

  6 Nov 2009 | 5:00 am

  Social media is not a silver bullet or panacea that will magically provide the answers to all of your personal or business needs. Rather, social media can be a valuable and interesting way to augment, enhance and jump-start your communications, marketing and sales efforts. By effectively using some of the tools (blogs, Twitter, Facebook, etc.), social media can bolster your strategic and tactical arsenal. In response to B.L. Ochman’s post in AdAge about the 10 things social media can’t do, here’s a quick summary of nine things that social media can do: 1. Improve customer…

• A Band Goes Guerilla…Naked

  Mark Evans

  5 Nov 2009 | 6:15 pm

  My brother’s band, Freeflowg, is competing for $150,000 prize being given out by Peak 100.9 in Vancouver. In an attempt to sway voters and generate some publicity, they’ve launched some guerrilla marketing campaign involved a “naked suite” – supported by the powers of YouTube. Not sure if it will gain them a lot of votes but you have to admire their, um, tenacity.

• Mini-Review: Epson Workforce 610

  Mark Evans

  3 Nov 2009 | 8:41 am

  For the past week, I’ve been testing the Epson Workforce 610, an all-in-one machine that prints, copies, scans and faxes. For people running a small business, it’s a powerful and economical way to do pretty much everything you need or want. Here’s a snapshot of what you get: Pros: - One-stop shopping for to meet a variety of needs - Fast and high-quality laser prints in black & white, and colour (38 ppm) - Relatively small footprint - Built-in wireless connectivity using Wi-Fi - Two-sided printing Cons: - Using all the features can be time-consuming and complicated. It…

• Twitter Lists Seem Interesting But….

  Mark Evans

  2 Nov 2009 | 4:45 am

  Update: Twitter had introduced a list widget that you can place on your blog to display the list of your choice. TechCrunch describes as “pretty cool”. You’d think given the buzz about the recent launch of Twitter Lists that someone had re-invented slice bread. That said, my take is the emergence of Twitter Lists is putting the cart before the horse. By that, there’s a bigger problem that Twitter should have addressed before introducing Lists: specifically, how to find new people to follow that meet your personal or professional interests. Sure, there are these kind of…

• Can Less (Time Online) Be More?

  Mark Evans

  1 Nov 2009 | 5:09 am

  Given my company is focused on helping start-ups improve how they market and communicate online, spending a lot of time on the Web is an occupational hazard. I probably spend 50 to 60 hours/week online, depending on how much work needs to be done. I really enjoy my work, as well as everything the Web has to offer (e.g. entertainment, content, etc.) but I’ve been questioning whether I actually need to spend less time on the Web. It may sound like a strange proposition but it’s based on the idea of trying to be more efficient and productive – aka doing the same of work but…

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  Info Exponential

• Information Reformation

  Bill Petro

  29 Oct 2009 | 5:23 pm

  I wrote the following article over a dozen years ago when I was a technology evangelist at Sun. Back in the mid-’90s, we were experienced the early part of the first wave of “The Web.” Today, with the advent of Web 2.0 technologies we’re seeing an explosion in different dimensions. Wikis, social networking, mass collaboration, blogging, and Instant Messaging have expanded what was largely a “reader oriented” phenomenon into a dynamic read-write participatory platform. While the mantle of managing information has passed to a new generation of companies, the…

• Cloud OS: VMware vSphere 4 Launches

  Bill Petro

  21 Apr 2009 | 11:29 pm

  CLOUD OS: VSPHERE 4 LAUNCHES This week, VMware upgraded its main product line VMware Infrastructure 3, to deliver IT infrastructure as a service internally. SaaS, or “Software as a Service” is a term often seen in discussions of Cloud Computing, where these services are offered remotely from data centers over the Web. With vSphere, companies can now do this internally as well. VMware is calling it “the industry’s first operating system for building the internal cloud.” vSphere was foreshadowed with the announcement of  VDC-OS (Virtual Data Center Operating…

• Obama Inauguration: Info Extravaganza

  Bill Petro

  24 Jan 2009 | 6:38 pm

  OBAMA INAUGURATION: INFO EXTRAVAGANZA This was not your grandfather’s Inauguration. Grandpa might have listened over the radio, your parents viewed it on television, but this generation viewed/participated in it through so many different media. In my article on the History of Inauguration Day, I said that: …the event will be covered simultaneously by networks, live Internet streaming video, as well as coverage via Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, MySpace, blogs, and Hulu… It will not be just the number of people who are physically present at the Inauguration, many times the 30K…

• Cloud Optimized Storage: Atmos

  Bill Petro

  10 Nov 2008 | 11:20 am

  In 1969 during the original Star Trek TV show, The Cloud Minders episode featured Stratos, a city in the clouds. Today, EMC launches Atmos, cloud optimized storage. This is not science fiction, but the realization of much work on managing very large amounts of data “in the cloud.” Having been in the hands of customers since early Summer, this offering is intended to manage massive amounts of Internet-based information. How massive? Petabytes to begin with. Forecast: Cloudy? “Cloud computing” is a very popular topic right now, and there is often more heat than light…

• CLARiiON co-stars in Body of Lies

  Bill Petro

  22 Oct 2008 | 11:16 am

  Last week I saw the new Ridley Scott spy thriller Body of Lies. Scott has made a number of movies in recent years starring Academy Award winner Russell Crowe, including Gladiator, A Good Year, and American Gangster. In this film Crowe co-stars with Leonardo DiCaprio, and additional co-stars who are even more flashy. EMC loaned Warner Brothers six Symmetrix DMX-3 and nine CLARiiON systems. These were featured in a particularly intense negotiation scene in the film, situated in the US Embassy in Amman, Jordan. The arrays were originally configured to be be fully working, but proved to be too…

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  Business 2.0 Press

• Skype sale moves forward, patent disputes settled

  Peggy

  6 Nov 2009 | 10:22 am

  eBay is inching closer to selling it’s popular internet telephony service Skype after reaching an agreement with Joltid and Joost M.V. over patent infringement litigation. The settlement did not come cheap. Skype founders Niklas Zennstorm and Janus Friis have given up a lot of equity, bringing their total stake in the company to 14-percent, in order for Joltid to drop litigation and to pass all rights to the questioned underlying VoIP technologies to Skype. eBay will sell Skype to private investment group Silver Lake (among other investors such as the massive Canada Pension Plan Investment…

• Telus, Bell iPhone price plans unveiled

  Chris

  3 Nov 2009 | 11:11 am

  Canadian CDMA carriers Telus and Bell are set to launch the iPhone 3G S on Nov 5, and Nov 4, respectively. The companies have now announced pricing for the devices. Telus will offer the 16GB (black/white) version for $199, the 32GB version will cost CND $299 and will be available in both black and white. Both companies are not introducing exclusive monthly plans for the iPhone. Plans start at $50 per month at Telus, and at $55 per month at Bell. At Telus, the most affordable plan will set you back $50 per month, and will give you 150 minutes with 500MB of data (with tethering included). All…

• Wal-Mart announces sharp toy price cuts

  Tahir R

  1 Nov 2009 | 11:02 pm

  The world’s largest retailer, Wal-Mart, has announced it would further lower its prices on toys for this Christmas, effective immediately. The company has vowed it would be the price leader this holiday season when it comes to selling toys. Wal-Mart will be slashing prices on select toys such as Buzz Lightyear action figures by up to 30-percent, followed with more price cuts to up to 100 additional toys. The company said it would offer a group of new and popular toys each week for only $10 each. Today marks the second week of specials. Wal-Mart will offer the deeply discounted products all…

• A chronological video look at Google

  Tahir R

  1 Nov 2009 | 10:46 pm

  Google has been around for just over a decade, and truly has revolutionized the way people work and play over a relatively short time span. The company has compiled a quick video documenting its accomplishments chronologically from the early days when the founders, Larry & Sergey first met, to the present day Google. For more complete information, you can also check its history time-line.

• Google to release free GPS turn-by-turn navigation app, TomTom/Garmin stock plummets

  Murad H

  30 Oct 2009 | 9:29 pm

  The search giant unveiled its free mobile GPS turn-by-turn directions app, sending stocks of traditional GPS-makers plummeting Well, we knew Google would do this sooner or later. The company has announced it would begin to offer free GPS turn-by-turn navigation with its new and free Google Maps Navigation application. The application will be initially available only in the United States and with support for devices running Android 2.0 or higher (see the second embedded video below to learn more about Android 2.0). Google Maps Navigation supports voice search, satellite view, 3D view, traffic…

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  Techvibes Global Blog

• Carleton University and AMITA to secure Vancouver Olympics

  6 Nov 2009 | 5:12 pm

  Carleton University and public safety and emergency management solutions firm AMITA have teamed up to bring high-tech safety measures to the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. Carleton's Human Oriented Technology Lab and AMITA will be providing a casualty tracking system which will allow health care providers and emergency co-ordinators to quickly exchange data, giving hospitals a heads-up on what types are injuries will be arriving in the event of an emerency. According to the press release, the system will also give decision makers real-time data on the size and scope of the emergency.

• The Organic Incubator

  6 Nov 2009 | 4:14 pm

  Since the recession hit (and yes we are now climbing out) there was a flurry of articles on how the VC model is broken. I believe it’s true.  For entrepreneurs, the road to equity investment is challenging at best, and at times, less and less desirable as much is given away in return for immediate cash. The concept of smaller early exits, debt financing, and organic growth are becoming increasingly popular with entrepreneurs.  Why? I see a few good reasons. First of all IT based businesses are not as capital intensive as they used to be. The cloud is a cost effective way to…

• Welcome the Communications Hub to Ontario

  6 Nov 2009 | 3:22 pm

  So what is this digital media Hub? In a nutshell it is an initiative by the Government of Ontario found in the Waterloo region. It will help bring hardware and software entrepreneurs together to being new tools, tech and applications to market. With Ontario’s digital media generating over $1 billion a year and quickly growing they will invest $26.4 million to launch what is called The Communications Hub: Digital Media& Mobile Accelerator. So the Hub will focus on commercialization, business development, financing and connecting clients with other digital hubs across Canada. It will…

• MetroLyrics leverages Google Friend Connect

  6 Nov 2009 | 3:21 pm

  This week Google introduced a new set of Google Friend Connect features that let site owners help their visitors get to know each other and personalize their site's experience and content. Vancouver's own MetroLyrics partnered with Google along with sfstation.com, huffingtonpost.com, and pachakam.com to demonstrate some of the new features in action. MetroLyrics was a logical choice for Google's pilot as they are the largest lyrics community online with over 37 Million unique visitors. As part of the program, MetroLyrics is also working with Google on improved the integration of AdSense…

• Nokia Mobifest Toronto celebrates the Best in Mobile Films

  6 Nov 2009 | 2:45 pm

  On November 17, 2009 the Nokia Mobifest comes to the stage to present over 35 films and videos less than 90 seconds from nearly 20 different countries at the Revue Cinema at 7pm. This event will allow the audience to see amazing films made for mobile. It will also include 2 competitive series - the official selections and the completed Toronto Made-For-Mobile Challenge films, along with 2 showcase series the Word Tour 2009 highlight films and a speak peak of 2 Althletes in Motion films. For the first time the event will show completed works from the Toronto Made-For-Mobile Challenge. The…

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  w3w3.com

• Build an 'A' team, a vision, culture

  w3w3.com

  5 Nov 2009 | 8:07 pm

  730_ Build an 'A' team, create a vision, build a culture for the long haul  Larry coralled Paul Jerde, CU-Boulder, Robert H. & Beverly A. Deming Center and Larry Jones the CEO of StarTek and Chairman of the Deming Board and asked them to share the three biggest strategies that they would recommend for entrepreneurs. Larry Jones said, "The first and foremost is picking your team. Picking the 'A' team, people you know well, who you think have the expertise whether it be technical, people, marketing & sales - but building the right team, and don't…

• Entrepreneurs Unplugged: David Cohen, Techstars

  w3w3.com

  4 Nov 2009 | 6:01 am

  731_ Entrepreneurs Unplugged: With David Cohen, Executive Director of Techstars Brad Feld, Managing Director & Co-founder of the Foundry Group, Brad Bernthal, Entrepreneurship Initiative Director at Silicon Flatirons and Jill van Matre got to do something many of us would like to do...ask David Cohen, Executive Director of Techstars how he got to where he is including the 'learning experiences' along the way. Brad really got into some deep and important issues. David Cohen is the founder and Exective Director of TechStars. David has a soft spot for technology startups and…

• Using innovation for social good - NCWIT

  w3w3.com

  3 Nov 2009 | 6:45 am

  Using innovation for social good - NCWIT Entrepreneurial Tool Box 732_ Lucy Sanders, the CEO for the National Center for Women and Information Technology or NCWIT and Lee Kennedy, NCWIT Director, serial entrepreneur and founder of Boldersearch, along with Larry Nelson, from w3w3.com interviewed Yoky Matsuoka for the NCWIT Entrepreneurial Tool Box series. Yoky is a Torode Family Endowed Career Development Professor in Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Washington. She received her Ph.D. at MIT in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science in the fields of Artificial…

• International multi-jurisdictional trademark filing

  w3w3.com

  2 Nov 2009 | 6:20 am

  733_ International multi-jurisdictional and national trademark filing options  What you don't know can cause you and your organization some unbelievable financial pain. Melody Harris and Samantha Sturgis, attorneys at Holme Roberts & Owen LLP (HRO), just conducted a program that had to do with 'Multi-Jurisdiction Filing Options' (The Madrid System), Community Trademarks (CTMs - European Union, 27 countries) and Registered Community Design (RCDs - Euro union, only for last 12 mos). While Larry has owned businesses in five countries and has a registered trademark for w3w3(R)…

• CO Rotary Club, Gates Foundation - End Polio Now

  w3w3.com

  29 Oct 2009 | 6:54 am

  727_ Colorado Rotary Club Challenge with Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation - End Polio Now "Polio is a devastating disease, and we have Polio on the ropes! We have a 99% reduction worldwide and we just have to make this final push to get rid of the last cases as a gift of our generations to all future generations, so no child has to be paralyzed, crippled for life from this terrible disease," pointed out Walter A. Orenstein, MD, is a Deputy Director for Vaccine-Preventable Diseases in Integrated Health Solutions Development of the Global Health Program at the Bill and Melinda Gates…

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  RockyRadar.com - On the Radar

• November New Tech Meetup – Boulder

  admin

  5 Nov 2009 | 4:13 pm

  November’s meeting of New Tech Boulder saw a return to the traditional format of five company presentations after October’s Denver Mile High Tech meetup. Before the companies took the stage, a new Steamboat Springs-based incubator, StormPeak Innovations, was introduced the crowd. The program follows a model similar to TechStars and is currently accepting [...]

• Everlater Raises Series A Round

  admin

  5 Nov 2009 | 9:10 am

  Everlater, a Boulder class of 2009 TechStars alum, has raised a seed round of funding led by Highway 12 Ventures, based in Boise, Idaho. The size of the round was not disclosed. Everlater provides a one-stop online platform for travelers to chronicle and share their experiences. Among the features of Everlater’s [...]

• Solar Cell Maker Ampulse Announces $8M Series A Round

  admin

  4 Nov 2009 | 8:56 am

  Ampulse Corporation announced that it has closed an $8M Series A round led by Globespan Capital Partners and El Dorado Ventures. Also participating in the round were existing investors Battelle Ventures an Innovation Valley Partners. Ampulse seeks to combine the conversion efficiencies of crystalline-silicon solar panels with the convenience and cost advantages of [...]

• GlobeImmune Reports Encouraging Hepatitis C Trial Results

  admin

  2 Nov 2009 | 1:46 pm

  GlobeImmune, Inc announced data from a Phase 2b trial of Tarmogen GI-5005 in the treatment of patients with hepatitis C. In the trial, 74% of interferon-naïve patients receiving GI-5005 in combination with standard of care (pegylated interferon plus ribavirin) showed end of treatment response (at 48 weeks) compared with 59% receiving standard of care [...]

• The Week Ahead: Nov 2 – 9

  Chris Vincent

  2 Nov 2009 | 8:37 am

  The first week of November is highlighted by two events from Silicon Flatirons: Today there is a Entrepreneurs Unplugged event with Centennial Ventures founder Steve Halstedt, and on Wednesday the organization joins Governor Bill Ritter in hosting Nir Barkat, Mayor of Jerusalem at the Denver Art Museum. On Tuesday the da Vinci Institute hosts [...]

• 
  L.A. Times Tech Blog

• Web ads that learn from you

  Mark Milian

  6 Nov 2009 | 7:25 pm

  This might surprise you, but the holy grail for many online advertisers is to make an ad that people actually like. Based on the current state of the banner ad economy, that might not seem like the case. Thanks to the simple addition of thumbs up and thumbs down buttons on many websites, advertisers are finally getting a sense of how enjoyable (or annoying) their ads are. The Internet has long provided a measurement of how effective an ad is -- that is how many times it was clicked versus how often it was shown, a metric called click-through rate. But that's based simply on how loud and…

• Windows 7 sales topped Vista in first weeks, but economy still a drag on PC sales

  Alex Pham

  6 Nov 2009 | 1:14 pm

  It wasn't a high bar, but Windows 7 made it. Consumer retail sales of Microsoft's newest computer operating system topped those of Vista by 234% on a unit basis within the first few days of launching on Oct. 22, according to a report released this morning by the NPD Group. (The report did not include sales to businesses and large organizations.) That Windows 7 would do better than Vista is not too surprising. Critical buzz for Windows 7 was relatively positive and largely void of the savage language that reviewers heaped on Vista when it launched in January 2007. This time around,…

• Motorola's Droid review: It's the best phone on Verizon

  Mark Milian

  5 Nov 2009 | 6:18 pm

  We're getting this out of the way now: Motorola's Droid is the best Google phone on the market. Maybe that's not saying a whole lot. The Droid's only competitors in the U.S. are T-Mobile's 1-year-old G1, its chubby younger brother the MyTouch 3G and HTC's Droid Eris, a $99 Verizon Wireless phone that comes out Friday -- the same day as the Motorola Droid -- with an already-outdated Android operating system. Here's another one: Droid is the best phone on Verizon. As we wrote last week, the Droid marks a notable shift for the nation's largest carrier.

• Quitting smoking isn't child's play. Or is it?

  Melissa Rohlin

  5 Nov 2009 | 5:23 pm

  You can play music on the iPhone with the Leaf Trombone app. Researchers believe they can come up with a similar app for smokers to help them quit smoking. Credit: Peter DaSilva/Los Angeles Times .In a few years if you see a person nervously blowing on his cellphone for five minutes, do not call the cops. He might not be a crazy person who forgot to take his meds; he might just be a smoker trying to quit smoking. Columbia University's Teachers College announced today that it received a  $150,000 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, through the foundation's…

• Activision CEO forecasts flat industrywide game sales for holiday quarter

  Alex Pham

  5 Nov 2009 | 2:27 pm

  Activision CEO Robert Kotick. Credit: Lori Shepler / Los Angeles Times. Video game sales this holiday aren't likely to top last year's, said Robert Kotick, chief executive of Activision Blizzard Inc., the world's largest video game software company. "If the consumer materializes and spends money, we'll do well," Kotick said in an interview today. "If not, things will be a challenge. And today, you really have no way of knowing what will happen. Shopping season hasn't kicked off. Consumers saw significant discounts last year after Black Friday, and…

• 
  Jump Into Tomorrow

• This Kinda Blows Away A Bunch Of Other Ideas

  samspear

  5 Nov 2009 | 11:00 pm

  Why it’s Breakthrough: It’s a wind turbine that could sit on a cell phone tower and generate everything the cell tower needs to operate, replacing the dirty, nasty diesel usually used. The Story: Helix Wind Corporation (OTCBB: HLXW), a global renewable energy company, has come up with a new way to provide cost-effective renewable energy solutions to telecommunications companies. Specifically, Helix’s wind turbines are ideal ways to lower the costs of operating expenses associated with cell phone towers in remote locations. These solutions are ideal for telecom infrastructure…

• You’ve Got The Whole Printer In Your Hand

  samspear

  5 Nov 2009 | 1:08 am

  Why it’s Breakthrough: It’s a hand-held printer that silently and beautifully prints material it has stored on an array of different surfaces and paper sizes that would otherwise be very difficult on which to print. The Story: Though it might seem older than it is, desktop printing is only about 30 years old, coming into its own with the rise of desktop PCs. The way printers are made is based on that same, in technological terms, ancient technology. Simply put, it’s inefficient. If you wanted something printed, you’d have to go to a printer, or perhaps bring along a…

• Heating Up Your Wetsuit The Non-Urinating In Your Wetsuit Way

  samspear

  3 Nov 2009 | 11:00 pm

  Why it’s Breakthrough: It’s a wetsuit with a built-in heating unit that warms the body, enabling surfers to venture into waters that were otherwise impossible to enjoy. The Story: Surfing is no longer a seasonal sport – unless there’s an “in season” time to surf the Arctic Circle. Introducing the Rip Curl H-Bomb, the world’s first power heated wetsuit that was tested in the frigid waters of the Arctic Circle, and endorsed by the engineers, technicians, designers and surf team at Rip Curl. Though the concept was always simple, creating something viable…

• Monitoring The Future

  samspear

  2 Nov 2009 | 11:00 pm

  Why it’s Breakthrough: It’s a portable fetal monitor a mother-to-be can wear and feel comforted knowing her high-risk pregnancy is being watched closely by some breakthrough technology. The Story: Every mother-to-be wants to deliver a healthy baby, and doctors use large ultrasound monitors to check the health of unborn babies. Now, a new cell phone sized device keeps watch on unborn babies around the clock. Whether you’re an experienced mom who can look back at pregnancy and smile or a new mother-to-be, all women want to deliver a healthy baby. OBGYN doctors often use…

• The End Of The Road For Icy Roads?

  samspear

  1 Nov 2009 | 11:00 pm

  Why it’s Breakthrough: It’s a nano-particle coating that can easily be applied to roads, power lines and lots of other solid surfaces that prevents ice buildup. An aluminum plate glazed with Gao's superhydrophobic coating (left) repelling the supercooled water. For the uncoated plate (right), the water freezes on contact and ice accumulates. (Credit: Image courtesy of University of Pittsburgh) The Story: Ice collecting on roads, power lines and even on aircraft have been a gigantic concern every single winter since the industrial age. But now, a team of researchers…

• 
  Tubefilter News

• ‘Dr. Horrible’ Comic Goes For Origin Story

  Joshua Cohen

  6 Nov 2009 | 5:46 pm

  The winner of my Coolest Cross-Media Promotion of a Web Series award goes to GOLD. The online program about a group of professional role players who play collectible card games recently produced its own character card game. GOLD, the CCG features 20 of the series’ most popular characters and gameplay based upon actual show events. It’s the perfect mix of fundraising, marketing, and meta. The almost winner of my Coolest Cross-Media Promotion of a Web Series award goes to Dr. Horrible, which just released some sneak peak shots to Splash Page of its upcoming, highly-anticipated,…

• Friday Rewind: Tubefilter News of the Week – November 6, 2009

  Tubefilter News

  6 Nov 2009 | 4:47 pm

  Comedy Central’s Atom.com isn’t the cable network’s only source for web series to snatch up, as this week it announced it was calling up one of The Onion’s hit online shows, Onion Sports Network for a test run. And east coast hipster favorite The Burg returned to the internet this week with its first full-length episode since 2007(!). Indie web shop Dinosaur Diorama is also busy cranking out more All’s Faire, which prances out 15 new episodes later this month. Bro-tastic Break.com had its own sports web series debut this week with Social Sportz Net, with lead…

• RPG Gaming Series ‘GOLD’ Rolls Its Own Game

  Marc Hustvedt

  6 Nov 2009 | 11:56 am

  From the moment table-top RPG comedy series GOLD launched, we knew they were sitting on the ultimate interactive merch play—its own custom tabletop game, perhaps even the very same game that its heroes play throughout the series. We already thought their t-shirts were cool, but this is the release we’ve been waiting on. This week they released the GOLD Character Card Game (CCG), a relatively easy to pick up team battle style card game for two to four players. “Initially there was some talk about a standalone ‘Goblins & Gold’ RPG,” wrote creator David Nett,…

• Ti West’s ‘Dead & Lonely’, Vampire Hotties Try Online Dating

  Jake Weaver

  6 Nov 2009 | 10:17 am

  It can clearly be argued that this world is not left wanting for more vampire love stories. I don’t know if all of this modern day blood lust and sexual ambiguity got started with Anne Rice or not but it certainly didn’t end there. The past few years especially have brought us an increased amount of vampire laced content. I’m specifically thinking of HBO’s successful, blood slurping and breast exposing True Blood, the Swedish coming of age vamp flick Let the Right One In (which is great by the way if you aren’t afraid of subtitles, mediocre English dubbing, or…

• Comedy Central Picks Up More Web Series, ‘Onion Sports Network’

  Joshua Cohen

  5 Nov 2009 | 11:28 pm

  Irreverent, sports-related comedy programs don’t exist, at least not on television. While series like FOX’s Best Damn Sports Show Period or ESPN’s Pardon the Interruption can definitely be comical, they make quips about and poke fun at the wide world of sports with a measured amount of deference. The shows operate under the assumption that the subject is significant, that sports – and the people that play, coach, and watch them – are important. Yes, you could try point to something like the Sklar Brothers’ defunct Cheap Seats as an exception to the…

• 
  IndianWeb2.com - Web 2.0 and Technology Startup News and Reviews

• Youtube is Down Again for Maintenance (Unscheduled)

  Vardaan

  1 Nov 2009 | 11:22 am

  Youtube is down again for maintenance and this time too its unscheduled, interestingly its second time in just one month of period that such all of sudden downtime occurs and that’s too unscheduled. On Sunday  mid-night (1st Nov.09) IST youtube pages are showing up downtime maintenance message. Moreover, there is no twitter updates nor a blog posts from Youtube’s behalf that can clarify whatsoever reason of downtime. Youtube’s videos are used in millions of websites, blogs and webpages across the web through direct embedding and Youtube APIs and such downtime obviously made…

• India is Top Global market for Google Sites: Comscore Report

  Vardaan

  9 Oct 2009 | 12:29 am

  India has been identified as Top Global internet market by Google Sites’ in terms of share of time spent on Google owned sites in July 2009 by comScore Inc., a digital marketing intelligence company. In India 28.9 percent of total time spent online was spent on Google owned sites such as Gmail, Orkut, Blogger, Picassa, etc.. India stands just after Brazil which is at top with 29.8% share of time spent on Google sites. Google Sites ranked as the most visited Internet property worldwide with 854 million unique visitors age 15 and older in July, an increase of 18-percent during the past year.

• Bitstream’s Bolt Mobile Browser Comes Out of Beta

  Vardaan

  8 Oct 2009 | 12:10 pm

  Bitstream Inc. (BITS) today announced its first commercial release of the BOLT mobile browser,  a web browser designed for use on a mobile devices such as a mobile phones or PDAs. After ending eight months of public beta testing that saw the browser downloaded more than 2 million times, rendering in excess of 200 million Web pages. Building on the user experiences and feedback from beta users in more than 190 countries and territories around the world, the company is today making available version 1.5, its fastest, most capable mobile browser to date. Although, the bolt browser since its…

• Ring2Skype gives You Local no. to Recieve Calls on Your Skype ID

  Vardaan

  6 Oct 2009 | 12:57 pm

  Ring2Skype is a new start-up that allows you to have a local number (in NYC, London, Madrid, etc.), forwarded to your Skype ID, no matter wherever in the world you are and for free. Although the service is unavailable in India, however its available in Pakistan as only country from Indian sub-continent. The service requires no credit card info and not even software download are necessary. You just need a Skype account, select the city where you want the “Online Number” (there are currently more than 100 options), and Ring2Skype sends that Online number to your email. An online…

• NASSCOM Product Conclave’09: Mecca of Indian Products & High-tech Companies

  Vardaan

  5 Oct 2009 | 12:09 pm

  NASSCOM Product Conclave 09, Bangalore Are you building software products from India? Does the vision of being responsible for the next Windows ™ or Firefox™ or Oracle™ keep you up late at night? Do you believe that it is certainly possible to create world-beating products right here, right now? The flagship event for software product companies in India – NASSCOM Product Conclave 09 Mecca of Indian Product and High Technology Companies– happening in Bangalore on Oct 27-28 – in its 3rd successful year… ..Know more of NASSCOM Event »

• 
  ChurchCrunch

• The Internet and Your Social Skills (Or Lack Thereof)

  John Saddington

  6 Nov 2009 | 4:30 am

  There have been a number of reports published within days of each other about technology and our ability to relate to others, both online and in the real. One report suggests that New Technology is Making us more Socially Isolated and yet we have another report saying that the Internet is Leading Us to Become more Diverse in our relationships. We have (somewhat dogmatic) reactions from Mashable titled, Myth Busted: Internet Doesn’t Lead to Isolation and then another from the NYTimes that would suggest the opposite, that people that use these technologies are more socially diverse. So,…

• The Waterproof Bible

  John Saddington

  5 Nov 2009 | 12:21 pm

  The waterproof Bible is almost a “duh” product. I can’t count how many times I’ve been frustrated after spilling something on my bible and then having to fan out the pages. Argh! Published by Bardin and Marsee, it’s available in both KJV and NIV versions and recently they’ve released a great campaign where you can “buy one and give one,” just like TOM Shoes: “We believe every consumer benefits from the increased lifespan and durability of the Waterproof Bible. However, we are especially passionate about getting this better designed Bible into…

• Why Chris Brogan Could Build a Church Better Than You

  John Saddington

  5 Nov 2009 | 3:59 am

  Many of us know Chris Brogan and his accomplishments as well as the authority that he brings to the social media landscape. His new book Trust Agents (affiliate link) is acclaimed already being named a Top 10 from Amazon. What’s fascinating is that he could probably build a “church” better than most of us. If we we’re to take out the spiritual-side of things, Chris has got it in the bag. And to a certain degree, he’s even said it himself. It’s because Chris has managed to discover what his true gifts are and then has also managed to use them effectively to…

• Faith, Children, and Church Online

  John Saddington

  4 Nov 2009 | 8:16 am

  Watch this great video (embedded above) by Dana Byers about how to “Engage Your Kids in Church Online.” I’ll tell you that I too was very skeptical with Church Online in general before diving deep into what and how it can be used for the Kingdom. Take it a step further and even today with my 3 year old daughter, would I be willing to have Church Online be a significant part of her faith journey? I’m thankful for people like Dana who is willing to experiment by faith with new technologies with her own children. Way to go. Sponsored By:Advertise Here

• 5 Wordpress Analytic and Metric Plugins I Trust

  John Saddington

  4 Nov 2009 | 3:41 am

  There are a lot of analytic programs and systems out there that are awesome but not many Wordpress Plugins for those systems that I trust to do a good job of, well, simply not breaking. The fact is that I’d much rather insert the code myself instead of banking on a plugin that may become old, outdated, or deprecated. Not a risk I’m typically willing to take! But, here are 5 Analytic Plugins that I’ve used historically that haven’t failed me (yet): 1. WP Stats Dashboard This is an oldy but goody. Used on Wordpress.com sites this is a standard for most self-hosted…

• 
  EurakAlert!: Tech

• A new computer simulator allows to design military strategies based on ants' movements

  5 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm

  (University of Granada) Researchers from the University of Granada (Spain) have designed a system for the mobility of military troops within a battlefield following the mechanisms used by ant colonies to moveThey have used settings of Panzer General, a commercial war video game, for the development of this software .

• SNM applauds House action to build medical isotopes reactor in the US

  5 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm

  (Society of Nuclear Medicine) SNM applauds the US House of Representatives for its passage of H.R. 3276 -- the American Medical Isotopes Production Act of 2009.

• eStadium application brings multimedia sports features to smartphones

  5 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm

  (Georgia Institute of Technology) The eStadium application allows fans sitting in the stands of an athletic event to access video replays, up-to-the-second statistics, player bios, play-by-play analysis and a wealth of other information designed to enhance the thrill of the game.

• Perfectly proportioned

  5 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm

  (Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft) The manufacture of parts by compaction and sintering involves filling a die with metal powder. Research scientists have simulated this process for the first time to achieve an evenly distributed powder density. This improves the cost-efficiency of sintering.

• UWM study explores why women leave engineering careers

  5 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm

  (University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee) A study getting under way at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee is the first systematic study of women's retention in engineering. Funded by the National Science Foundation, the study, POWER (Project on Women Engineers' Retention) includes an online survey open to all women who have completed at least a bachelor's degree in engineering, whether or not they have worked as engineers.

• 
  Newsweek Columnists - Steven Levy

• Why Microsoft's Steve Ballmer is No Bill Gates: Lyons

  29 Oct 2009 | 6:51 am

  Why Steve Ballmer is no Bill Gates.

• Apple's Tablet PC Will Reinvent Computing

  14 Oct 2009 | 6:33 pm

  Apple's tablet will reinvent computing.

• Green Energy Should Trump Politics: Daniel Lyons

  1 Oct 2009 | 3:14 pm

  Clean energy should trump politics.

• Twitter's Popularity: Users Love Stupid Content

  17 Sep 2009 | 8:19 am

  Twitter shows that stupid stuff sells.

• Cuban's Plan to Kill Aggregators: End Free Links

  3 Sep 2009 | 8:27 am

  A radical plan to save old media.

• 
  Spot Cool Stuff: Tech

• Working iPhone Costume? There’s an App For That

  Spot Cool Tech Stuff

  25 Oct 2009 | 12:47 pm

  Looking for something to wear to your next costume party? If you have a car battery, spare 42-inch LCD TV—and a whole lot of time—you could go as an oversized working Apple iPhone. That’s what Reko Rivera and Bobby Hartman did. Two years ago they developed an iPhone costume that simply played a looped video of an iPhone on a wearable TV screen. Not content with that, the duo recently decided to set about creating a “working” wearable iPhone that would respond to user input. Their ingenious solution for doing that: Modify the software on a real iPhone to allow a live dual…

• A Better, Gentler iPod Lamp & Alarm Clock

  Spot Cool Tech Stuff

  21 Oct 2009 | 6:24 am

  Spot Cool Stuff does not understand why most of the world’s alarm clocks wake their owners with a jarring buzz or annoying beep. We can imagine some worse ways to be awoken—eg. via cobra bite, bucket of cold water or missile attack—but not many. Imagine instead being woken by the sound of birds chirping, wind chiming, jungles jungling (or by the radio playing or whatever tune you wish from your iPod) as a soft bedside light gradually brightens over a period of several minutes. That’s how one starts one’s day with the Philips HF3490 iPod clock radio. In essence, the…

• The Kindle Goes Global

  Spot Cool Tech Stuff

  7 Oct 2009 | 9:31 pm

  Regular readers of the Spot Cool Stuff Tech blog know what huge fans we are of the Kindle. They also know that our Kindle enthusiasm comes despite harboring a few gripes about Amazon’s e-book reader. Well, today that list of gripes grew shorter by one: The Amazon Kindle is now available in an international version. Previously you could only purchase a Kindle if you had a U.S.A. credit card and a U.S.A. address for Amazon to send your purchase to. After obtaining a Kindle you could only download books from Amazon while inside the U.S.A.. Getting magazine and newspaper updates, or…

• The Future of Robotics Is In the Gutter

  Spot Cool Tech Stuff

  27 Sep 2009 | 9:12 am

  We were very skeptical that the Looj would be able to get our gutters anything close to clean. Household robotic machines, after all, are best at routine tasks like making your coffee or grinding your beans to put into the coffee maker. Cleaning gutters is anything but predictable. There aren’t only loose leaves up there but packed pine needles, twigs, rodents (both alive and not), sticks, mud, Frisbees and an old set of our car keys. Enter the Looj from iRobot. The Looj is a miniature light-weight tank-like device fronted by a bristle capable of rotating at 500 RPM. The Looj’s…

• Today, Touchable Holograms. Next, a Holodeck?

  Spot Cool Tech Stuff

  22 Sep 2009 | 11:32 am

  If the world of Star Trek were real Spot Cool Stuff would probably spend the majority of our time in a holodeck—a computer generated world fantasy world in which everything feels real. So it is probably for the best that holodecks are fictional. Or, at least, fictional at the moment. Researchers at Tokyo University have come up with a technology that makes holodecks a step closer to reality—”touchable” holograms. We have to qualify the word “touchable” because these new holograms offer no tactile experience; you can not feel them. However, while holograms until now…

• 
  Christopher Kusek, Technology Evangelist

• I’m coming to Massachusetts Nov 8 – Nov 13th! (Schedule)

  Christopher Kusek (PKGuild)

  5 Nov 2009 | 3:13 pm

  I couldn’t think of a better way to publish my schedule… so I’ve instead opted for this blog post! I think I’m gonna be hardpressed to find time to step out of everything going on, but I’ll see what kind of flexibility exists! The official “Agenda” which was delivered to me stated this: Times: M & W 8-5pm; Tu 8am-9pm; Th 8-6pm; F 8-2pm Considering I’ll be shuttled to the Airport at noon on Friday, not much chance to do things then.   And as far as the other days.. here is my “unofficial” agenda I came across… :) Sunday, Nov 8th – 6-7 Dinner, 7-930…

• Facebook tells Twitter users to “Keep it to yourself!”

  Christopher Kusek (PKGuild)

  5 Nov 2009 | 2:48 pm

  Yea, that’s right! Facebook was all “Hey, I know you like to share your tweets with the Facebook Community, well NO MORE!…” Well, kind of no more. If you are like me, you may have noticed that ever since Tuesday November 3rd after 8PM Central – Your tweets have shown up on Facebook as Private “Only Me” However, after I took steps to figure out WTF happened, I solved it, and I’ll show you how too! Out of nowhere, Facebook decided to setup some function called “Publisher Control Default” which if yours looks like mine, it’d look like this: Effectively making it so all…

• Who thinks VCE is a good idea?

  Christopher Kusek (PKGuild)

  3 Nov 2009 | 10:47 am

  I remember in the early days of UCS, the competitive question on the table was “I don’t see why I’d want to do this, noone is using it” and I also imagine to hear that echoed here today. So, who DOES think that this whole VCE coalition is a good idea? Is anyone willing to put their name against it? (Other than the CEO’s of 3 of the largest and best of breed innovative companies on the planet?) Certainly, Steven Tally – CTO of Purdue University wouldn’t go on record saying: “Purdue is a research university and the majority of our IT needs are spent on high-performance…

• VMware, Cisco and EMC get together for vBlock party around Power of Three

  Christopher Kusek (PKGuild)

  3 Nov 2009 | 9:17 am

  Today was the big day! The launch of the Virtual Computing Environment coalition, also known as the VCE Initiative! CNN Broke the news as far as the link to the Webinar would go, with announcements being made by: John Chambers, chairman and CEO for Cisco Joe Tucci, chairman and CEO for EMC Corp Paul Maritz, president and CEO for VMware There has been a lot of chatter about this, over the weekend and even moreso leading into this announcement, with some highlights: The launch of Privatecloud.com is only the beginning in the mass of places to find out information and content on this amazing…

• Life Changing Highlights of the Iomega ix4-200d

  Christopher Kusek (PKGuild)

  21 Oct 2009 | 9:32 pm

  Welcome to the ix4-200d! This single device is a life changer for both the active home user as well as the SOHO business user who wants to take things to the NEXT Level! If you’re not familiar with this little beast in a box, here are some of the high-lights which this brings to bear!   NFS, CIFS, iSCSI, AFP Support, BitTorrent client, Xbox Media Services, Printer, USB, Rsync, Celerra integration, dual gigabit Ethernet?!   Oh, and did I mention it’s –VMware- Certified out of the box?!? Now, seriously! Let’s take a tour of this little system which has taken quite a…

• 
  Random Thoughts by Jim Gaudet

• Yankees | 2009 World Series Champions

  Jim Gaudet

  5 Nov 2009 | 7:16 am

  Yankee Pride If you know me, then you know that I have been a Yankees fan for a long time now. In fact, I even have a Yankees Tattoo! It’s been 9 years since we last won a World Series and that has been too long. We are back, for now. I will just sit on this win and see what happens next year. I just wanted to say Congratulations to the Yankees! Post from: Jim GaudetYankees | 2009 World Series Champions Share and Enjoy: Related posts:Yankee Pride | My New TattooThe Billabong ISA World Surfing Games come to Costa Rica in one week!2009 NFL Schedule – KC Chiefs

• Frozen in Time

  Jim Gaudet

  3 Nov 2009 | 6:37 am

  Taking a Break Not really, I have been extremely busy with my cape cod consulting company (don’t laugh, the website is not finished yet). Not only that but I have been a bit unhappy with the design of this site and that’s the real reason for this post. I Need Help My site will basically focus on three main subjects; Costa Rica SEO Web Design I have been trying to come up with ideas on a good web design, but have been coming up short. I think mainly because my focus has not been on this blog, but on my other companies. So now I want to ask my readers for their help. Some of you…

• Google Voice | Free SMS

  Jim Gaudet

  16 Oct 2009 | 1:13 pm

  Sending Text Messages from Costa Rica Did I mention that I love Google Voice? I have to be honest here, I spend a lot of my time on the phone for my consulting business. So much time in fact that I do not like to talk on the phone unless absolutely necessary. But since I moved to Costa Rica I have not been able to text anyone that I know in the states and this means I wasn’t calling them either. But now that I have Google Voice I am allowed to send text messages for free from my web browser. And I can type with a full sized keyboard! Anyway, if you need to send text messages to the US…

• Take Action against Climate Change

  Jim Gaudet

  14 Oct 2009 | 11:01 pm

  Climate Change Blog Action Day 09 Here we go again, another Blog Action Day. For those of you who don’t know what blog action day is; Blog Action Day is an annual event that unites the world’s bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day on their own blogs with the aim of sparking discussion around an issue of global importance. Blog Action Day 2009 will be the largest-ever social change event on the web. One day. One issue. Thousands of voices. Why not add another voice? Take Action Here are just a few things you can easily do to help save the planet. Use Compact…

• Crime in Costa Rica

  Jim Gaudet

  23 Sep 2009 | 5:23 am

  Crime in Costa Rica In this weeks AM Costa Rica I came across this headline; “Two suspects nabbed in wave of tire-puncturing robberies”. The very first thing I notice is that the robbers are Columbian and not from Costa Rica. This seems to be the norm. Don’t get me wrong there are many Costa Rican criminals but there are far more from Columbia and Nicaragua. Stay Safe There is always a new article complaining about security and crime in Costa Rica, so I decided to check out some stats for myself. I went to OSAC and found the Costa Rica 2009 Crime and Safety Report Here is…

• 
  by Ron Miller

• Google Tries Transparency with New Dashboard

  Ron Miller

  6 Nov 2009 | 4:49 am

  The sheer amount of information that Google has on us across its properties can be daunting. The new Dashboard tool is a step toward letting us see what they have. Read my analysis on DaniWeb .Photo by Jeff Belmonte on Flickr. Used under Creative Common License.

• Leslie Stahl Needs to Get a Clue About P2P

  Ron Miller

  3 Nov 2009 | 6:31 am

  Leslie Stahl's complete ignorance about peer to peer networking and its role in content distribution was on full display on 60 Minutes Sunday night.Read my take on DaniWeb.Photo by hellochris on Flickr. Used under Creative Commons License.

• My First Impressions of Google Wave

  Ron Miller

  2 Nov 2009 | 6:10 am

  Image via CrunchBaseI took Google Wave out for a spin over the last several weeks, and as I promised, I've written a post on my DaniWeb TechTreasures blog providing my impressions of the good, the bad and the potential.Read my post on DaniWeb.

• Is Google Android Strategy to Trip Up Win Mobile

  Ron Miller

  27 Oct 2009 | 12:18 pm

  There was a good analysis in the NYT yesterday regarding the Google Android strategy, which according to author Saul Hansell, is intended not to make money for Google, but to block Microsoft from getting traction in the mobile space. Given that Google is giving Android away, it's a theory that makes a lot of sense...Read the rest on DaniWeb.Photo by michperu on Flickr. Used under Creative Commons License.

• Microsoft and Apple: A Tale of Two Earnings Statements

  Ron Miller

  25 Oct 2009 | 9:01 am

  In a week full of news from Apple and Microsoft, one thing that stood out was the contrast between the two company's earnings reports with Apple having a quarter for the ages, while Microsoft's wasn't as *bad* as analysts expected  -- faint praise indeed...Full Story on DaniWeb.Photo by Ryumu on Flickr. Used under Creative Commons License.

• 
  Brad Grier

• Getting Twitter Spam? Here’s how I deal with it

  Brad Grier

  5 Nov 2009 | 10:22 am

  This is the second part of a post series I started a few days ago, dealing with Twitter spam. What got me thinking about it was the recent spate of incoming DM tweets from trus­ted people I follow. I received another one this morning. I’m coming at it from the perspective that it’s not deliberate. Rather, these unwitting spammer’s have fallen vic­tim to diabolically-crafted account phish­ing schemes and their Twit­ter accounts are now compromised and sending spam without the real account owner’s knowledge. As such, I always give owners of spamming accounts the benefit of the…

• Old school dungeon crawling on the iPhone

  Brad Grier

  3 Nov 2009 | 10:07 pm

  Last week Torchlight was released. Future Shop Techblogger Matthew Kumar wrote a great overview of the game. But there was a time, way back in the last century, when similar computer games were played without the benefit of 3D graphic cards, Dolby Surround Sound, or mice and gamepad macro programming applications. Strap yourself into the way-back machine ’cause we’re going to look at the progenitors of Torchlight, Diablo, and any other hack ‘n slash dungeon crawl, and we’re going to use the iPhone / iPod Touch to do it. …more This post is an excerpt from one of my weekly posts on…

• Want to get more ReTweets (RT)?

  Brad Grier

  3 Nov 2009 | 11:10 am

  I just had a quick conversation with a friend about ReTweets. Not enough for a full blog post, but an idea I didn’t want to not write about. The concept is to leave enough room so that anyone who wants to retweet you doesn’t have to work to do it. Here’s a simple formula I use: 140 - (RT @<your twitter ID>) - <colon> - <space> = Maximum Tweet Length In my case: 140 - (RT @bgrier) - <colon> - <space> = 128 140 - 10 - 1 - 1 = 128 So if I keep my tweet under 128 characters, anyone can retweet me without having to edit my tweet. Easy for them and effective for…

• Backups don’t have to be painful

  Brad Grier

  3 Nov 2009 | 2:00 am

  In a previous post (on my personal blog) about preparing for your Windows 7 installation, I briefly discussed backups. Aside from the obvious reason of having a copy of your imortant stuff stored safely, backups have another benefit; they give you the confidence to work on your computer yourself — not having to rely on your friend, office mate or the 14yr old neighbour. But making good backups, backups that are easy to use and restore can be a challenge. Especially the restore part — without a good restore, the backup is worthless. And if making and restoring your backups isn’t easy,…

• How to avoid becoming a Twitter spammer, the easy way

  Brad Grier

  2 Nov 2009 | 12:30 pm

  Over the last few weeks I’ve been receiving spam on Twitter from trusted people I follow. It’s not that they’ve all been overcome by the need to monetize their Twitter accounts (there, I said monetize in a blog post, I’m doomed), rather, they’ve fallen victim to diabolically-crafted account phishing schemes and their Twitter accounts are now compromised. There’re two parts to this subject, which logically means that I’ll deal with it in two posts: How to avoid becoming a Twitter spammer How to deal with Twitter spam Part One — How to avoid becoming a Twitter spammer To keep…

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  Skylarking

• LeapFish, Searches in Real Time

  Robert Saunders

  3 Nov 2009 | 2:31 pm

  Leapfish.com Quite recently the multi-media search engine site, LeapFish.com, announced they’re developing a real time search engine. You can find the press release here. Real time, I assume, means that when something happens on the web, anywhere, LeapFish will be able to find it for you. This will be quite a feat as even search engines like Google or Yahoo may take a few days, some times, to add or update content, though information from major sites may be updated more frequently. Leapfish will be drawing information from Google, Yahoo, MSN, and other search sites and portals, and…

• Gestures with Windows 7

  Robert Saunders

  30 Oct 2009 | 6:00 am

  I’m sure you Windows Vista users out there had several gestures you used when Vista let you down, but with Windows 7 gestures are more productive. Gestures refer to mouse movements on your screen, and how they affect objects on the screen. Today’s video demonstrates the new windows minimization technique, and the “Aero Snap” gesture. Minimize gesture: Windows 7, as other Windows versions before it, allowed you to minimize a window and hide it from view by clicking the minimize button on the top right of the window’s title bar, but now with Windows 7 you can…

• Windows 7 and ClearType

  Robert Saunders

  28 Oct 2009 | 10:53 am

  This is the second post in a series of articles about the new Windows 7 operating system from Microsoft. You can read the first post about installing Windows 7 here. An interesting feature of Windows 7 is ClearType. ClearType was available for Vista, but it has some enhancements for Windows 7. ClearType is a technology developed by Microsoft for sharpening the appearance of yext on the monitor’s screen. Earlier versions didn’t work on every monitor, but those problems have largely been cleared up by now. As a matter of fact, monitor manufacturers can even label their monitors…

• I’ve Upgraded to Windows 7. No static at all

  Robert Saunders

  23 Oct 2009 | 5:32 am

  This is the first of a series of articles about the new Microsoft Windows 7 operating system which was released on Thursday, October 22, 2009. Well, I ran out yesterday afternoon and picked up the Windows 7 Upgrade package from Costco. They had three or four different versions to choose from, from what I was told,and the pricing was fair for an upgrade. I had intended to shop around locally, but I was under the impression their price would be the best because they order in such large quantities. The versions the had were Windows 7 Home Basic (Full or Upgrade), Windows 7 Home Premium (Full…

• Support Breast Cancer Awareness Month

  Robert Saunders

  2 Oct 2009 | 9:25 am

  For the entire month of October, Buy.com has set up a special Breast Cancer Awareness Store. If you buy any of the 2 dozen or so products, a portion of the sale will go to benefit the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. I’ve highlighted a few items here from companies that are making the highest contributions. Additionally, Skylarking, Skylark Webworks and Skylark NetWorks will be donating 10% of its proceeds for October to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation at the end of the month. Click the links or the photos, and you’ll be taken to Buy.com’s Breast Cancer…

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  Techworld

• And the penguin-powered Androids are off!

  Rodney Gedda

  3 Nov 2009 | 9:17 pm

  How was your Melbourne Cup this year? Did you pick a winner, or even a place? read more

• Let’s give PulseAudio a chance

  Rodney Gedda

  19 Oct 2009 | 6:32 pm

  I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Lennart Poettering of PulseAudio fame. read more

• No Nokia prophecy, I promise!

  Rodney Gedda

  21 Sep 2009 | 9:59 pm

  Why is it every time I blog about something, a big announcement is made right after and I’m then forced to write a follow-up? read more

• KOffice 2.1 hits beta 2

  Rodney Gedda

  15 Sep 2009 | 10:22 pm

  The KOffice developers hit another milestone today with the second beta of version 2.1. read more

• Can Linux's market share be adversely affected by the competition?

  Rodney Gedda

  10 Sep 2009 | 8:12 pm

  In an article about the Linux kernel I wrote last week I threw in a few lines about Linux's market share and how it may have pressure put on it by Windows 7. It would be good to know if that's fact or fiction. read more

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  GeekSugar

• UBoard Desk Shelf: Love It or Leave It?

  GeekSugar

  6 Nov 2009 | 3:44 pm

  I just spotted this shelf over on CrunchGear, and I must admit, I love it. The UBoard USB board and shelf ($50) features a glass top and three USB ports on its side. There's even a cup holder that attaches to the side! I don't know that I'd use the cup holder, but I like the idea of a clear shelf that goes over my keyboard, and the USB ports are pretty convenient. What do you think? UBoard Desk Shelf: Love It or Leave It? Love it! Leave it!

• Website of the Day: ColorJack

  GeekSugar

  6 Nov 2009 | 2:30 pm

  Sometimes a girl just needs a little help with picking out a palette. Whether it be for your home, your website, your wedding, whatever, ColorJack can help. Similar to Colourlovers, ColorJack helps you find colors that work together so you can stop worrying if a certain hue of purple clashes with your favorite color of pink and get down to business. Just move the dots around the color wheel to get six different (but totally workable) color options, and you're ready to export your palette to Illustrator or Photoshop, or save it as a web link for reference. Have an interesting website you want…

• Name That Video Game!

  GeekSugar

  6 Nov 2009 | 1:15 pm

  It's time for another edition of Name That Video Game! This is one of my favorite old-school video games - and the cause of some of the biggest fights in my house as a kid. Hint: this was the third highest-selling game in SNES history.

• Daily Tech: The Droid Invades the Nation!

  GeekSugar

  6 Nov 2009 | 12:05 pm

  Shoppers line up bright and early for the Motorola Droid - Engadget TechCrunch writes an open love letter to the Droid - TechCrunch Here's how you can scoop up a Motorola Droid for only $150 - CNET Verizon has already promised tethering for the Droid - Wired David Pogue says the Droid's design screams "Star Wars" if not "Darth Vader" - NY Times It's giveaway time on GeekSugar! Log in for your chances to win one of these AT&T Smartphones - GeekSugar

• Finally! An Absolutely Brilliant iPhone Case

  GeekSugar

  6 Nov 2009 | 11:06 am

  I am beyond excited about this case that I just discovered on Chip Chick. I have long complained that although my iPhone has an excellent camera that takes great photos, it's useless in less-than-direct light. Now, finally, a solution. The Beamer ($32) is a hard plastic case with a built-in light. The light is battery powered - so it won't drain your phone's batter - and stays on for 10 seconds at a time. It's perfect to use as a light for your phone's camera, or just as a flashlight. I recently wrote about an app for the BlackBerry that turns the flash into a flashlight, and I have to admit,…

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  HomeBiss

• Motorola DROID’s greatest enemy: Magnetic phone cases!

  Saidul A Shaari

  6 Nov 2009 | 12:02 pm

  Do you know that Motorola DROID, the hottest Android-powered (runs on Android 2.0) smartphone right now, has a major flaw? It seems to have problems dealing with magnetic phone cases! Shocking video included. Motorola DROID’s greatest enemy: Magnetic phone cases!Before you accuse me of being nuts,... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my awesome blog for full links, other content, and more! ]]

• iPhone users are naughtier than we thought; they’re damn nasty too!

  Saidul A Shaari

  6 Nov 2009 | 12:41 am

  If you have been following this blog very closely in the last few weeks, you would know that iPhone users in general are naughty but yesterday I learned that they’re naughtier than we previously thought and they can be so damn nasty too! Read on for more shocking news.iPhone users are naughtier... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my awesome blog for full links, other content, and more! ]]

• Verizon Wireless announces HTC DROID ERIS. Should you get one now or wait for HTC HD2?

  Saidul A Shaari

  5 Nov 2009 | 8:40 am

  The rumors I’ve been hearing about HTC DROID ERIS turn out to be true after all. Rumors have been saying HTC DROID ERIS will be launched today and true enough, the launch was announced earlier today by Verizon Wireless.Verizon Wireless announces HTC DROID ERIS. Should you get one now or wait for... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my awesome blog for full links, other content, and more! ]]

• Motorola DROID VS iPhone 3GS: Bad news for Android fans, iPhone is winning

  Saidul A Shaari

  5 Nov 2009 | 12:54 am

  I have high hopes for Motorola DROID, hoping that it would turn out to be a real iPhone-killer but I was left disappointed after watching PhoneDog’s side-by-side comparison of Motorola DROID and iPhone 3GS earlier today. Read on and learn what I have discovered.Motorola DROID VS iPhone 3GS: Bad... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my awesome blog for full links, other content, and more! ]]

• Europe and Asia get HTC HD2 earlier than US, leaving Americans with puny HTC DROID Eris

  Saidul A Shaari

  4 Nov 2009 | 11:26 am

  I have wonderful news for HTC geeks in Europe and Asia, HTC has announced that their new HTC HD2 smartphone is on the way and will hit stores in their neighborhoods much earlier than their compatriots in America!Europe and Asia get HTC HD2 earlier than US, leaving Americans with puny HTC DROID... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my awesome blog for full links, other content, and more! ]]

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  Consumer Reports Electronics Blog

• Buying the Verizon Droid: My pre-dawn odyssey

  Consumer Reports Electronics Blog

  6 Nov 2009 | 5:11 pm

  A line outside the Verizon Wireless store Friday morning, shortly before opening. It’s not easy to find a decent cup of coffee—or any kind of coffee, for that matter—before the sun rises in the suburbs of New York City. If it hadn’t been for Verizon’s new Droid phone, I might never have known that (which would have been fine). However, in the interest of seeing the Droid for myself, and gaining some insight into the bizarre, early-morning rituals of the mad-for-mobile crowd, I decided to meet a Consumer Reports secret shopper at 5 a.m. in a dark, empty parking lot outside a dimly…

• Droid vs. iPhone: A 10-round bout

  Consumer Reports Electronics Blog

  6 Nov 2009 | 9:36 am

  The Motorola Droid, available today from Verizon for $200 after rebates, is the latest in series of phones, including the Blackberry Storm, T-Mobile G1, and Palm Pre, to be floated as a potential threat to Apple’s iPhone, the undefeated champion of the smart-phone world. Other media who’ve weighed in on the showdown include Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal, Gizmodo, and Engadget. I liked what I saw when I put a press sample of the Droid through its paces. (See the Droid review here.) Now, as our testers complete their extensive tests on the Droid, here’s my 10-round preliminary…

• Olympus unveils the E-P2, its second SLR-like digital camera

  Consumer Reports Electronics Blog

  6 Nov 2009 | 6:00 am

  Olympus Pen E-P2 For a little over a year, Olympus and Panasonic have attempted to popularize a new type of compact digital camera that has the image quality of an SLR. Panasonic already has three models—the Lumix G1, GH1, and GF1. Yesterday, Olympus introduced its second SLR-like (or micro four-thirds) camera, the 12-megapixel Pen E-P2. In many ways, it has many of the same specs as the E-P1 such as body-based image stabilization, the ability to shoot HD-resolution video, a 3-inch liveview LCD and a compact retro camera-body design (although it will only be offered in black). Both are also…

• 4 Tips for Taking Great Parade Pics

  Consumer Reports Electronics Blog

  5 Nov 2009 | 4:10 pm

  There are lots of opportunities coming up for photographing seasonal parades, from tomorrow’s World Series victory parade to Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, and New Year’s.Here are some ways to prepare to capture those special images:Bring the right gear. To capture both close-ups and wider shots, you need a zoom lens with a fairly wide range. The typical 3x zoom of a point-and-shoot camera (Ratings available to subscribers) is barely adequate. A zoom of 5x or greater is better. Before the event, fully charge your camera’s battery and bring a fully charged spare battery. A lens cloth and an…

• Verizon's fee hike: A surprising slap to its best customers

  Consumer Reports Electronics Blog

  5 Nov 2009 | 1:57 pm

  By choosing to boost its early-termination fees (ETFs) to as much as $350 for its smart phones, like the Blackberry Storm2 and the hot new Motorola Droid, Verizon Wireless has chosen to (literally) penalize some of its best customers. The hike is a slap to Verizon’s “advanced device” owners, which are every carrier’s biggest prize because they tend to buy more services than most customers—voice minutes plus lots of data downloads. Indeed, Verizon itself told us last year that Blackberry-type customers drop twice as much revenue into the till as traditional voice-only cell users.

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  @LiveCrunch

• 1464 Free Songs froom Amazon

  Live Crunch

  30 Oct 2009 | 8:51 pm

  Amazon is currently offering 1,464 mp3 songs for free to download. An Amzon account and Amazon’s mp3 downloader is required.

• Google Reader Keyboard Shortcuts

  Live Crunch

  30 Oct 2009 | 5:19 pm

  Google Reader one of the web RSS readers. Here are some great keyboard shortcuts that will enhance your Google reader experience and save you time. Navigation Acting on items j/k: next/previous item s: star item space: next item or page <Shift> + s: share item <Shift> + space: previous item or page v: view original n/p: item scan down/up (list only) t: tag item <Shift> + n/p: next/previous subscription m: mark item as read/unread <Shift> + x: expand folder o/enter: expand/collapse item (list only) <Shift> + o: open subscription or folder <Shift> + a: mark…

• Address Book for Android from Asurion Mobile

  Live Crunch

  26 Oct 2009 | 6:00 am

  Tomorrow Asurion Mobile is releasing new Android application called AddressBook. Address Book App like this has not been seen in Market Store yet. This address book ties most popular social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, Youtube or Flickr with your contacts. With this Address Book you get more functions than your standard Address Book.  You can download this address book via Get Address Book Some Key Points: MixIns – gives users a choice of the content and services they want to build to get a complete view of their relationships and drive their personal communications. Social…

• Teardown of new iMac, Macbook, Mini & Magic Mouse

  Live Crunch

  24 Oct 2009 | 7:00 pm

  iFixit has torn down Apple’s new releases which include the new iMac, Macbook and Mgaic Mouse. They discovered that the new iMacs feature: Use of the 27″ iMac as an external display via its MiniDisplayPort connector requires that the machine be fully powered up, as the signal is routed through the main logic board. The 27″ iMac unsurprisingly carries the biggest power supply ever seen in an iMac, putting out 310 watts. The CPU and GPU are located on opposite sides of the machine and have separate massive heat sinks, allowing Apple to utilize desktop-class processors within…

• Freeware Pick: Open Office

  Matt

  18 Oct 2009 | 11:38 pm

  Many a student or office worker will remember spending long sleepless nights on Microsoft Office, praying to Bill Gates that the program wouldn’t die on you, nor would the evil Mr. Clippy come and