Saturday, February 28, 2009
Braeden received a Marvel Heroes pinball machine from Santa for Christmas. It's not full size, but it's pretty nice. And I'd say it stands about four feet tall and is maybe 20 inches wide so for his purposes it is perfect and he loves it. The pinball machine of course got me thinking about how awesome it would be to have a mini arcade in our house. Short of winning the powerball and buying a bigger house I really don't foresee this ever happening.
BUT
The Sega Taikan Game Collection from Organic looks back at Sega's custom sit down coin-ops which rocked and veered from side to side to simulate the onscreen action. Four games are lovingly recreated in miniature PVC form as follows:
- Space Harrier
- Super Hang-On
- Outrun
- Thunderblade
I know, I know, it's not even remotely the same, but maybe with a little imagination I could turn my office desk into a pipe dream.
*~*~*
On Friday, Mufin launched its music player, which analyzes the songs in your music collection based on their audio content, rather than on human analysis or genre.
Mufin stands for music finder, and it's your personal music discovery engine for helping you find, listen to, and discover music online! Mufin has millions of tracks and counting ready for you to explore!
The mufin player doesn't just sort your music by artists or track names like you are used to, but also by sound similarity. It's not just useful when you're building a playlist, but also to keep track of which music tracks go together in your library musically.
Once Mufin has analyzed your tunes, it can recommend similar-sounding songs from your collection. It also catalogs songs in its online database and can recommend music from its own sources, if it doesn't find anything similar on your hard drive.
*~*~*
Hearst, one of the largest media conglomerates in the world, announced on Friday that it has developed an electronic reader for newspapers and magazines, the way Amazon.com's new Kindle does for books.
Soon you'll be able to read magazines and newspapers on an e-reader.
The news, first reported by Fortune magazine, is really significant, as Hearst owns about 16 daily and 49 weekly newspapers, and has a strong influence on hundreds of magazines. Examples of those include the San Francisco Chronicle, Oprah Winfrey's O, and Cosmopolitan.
Of course what would be better is if one e-reader could do it all. No one is going to want to carry around more than one gadget for reading when we already have a bunch of other gadgets in our pockets and bags.
Labels: arcade, e reader, hearst, mufin, music, sega, video game
Friday, February 27, 2009
Prime View International, maker of electrophoretic displays AKA epaper makes the screens for Amazon's Kindle 2. That much we know. However, rumors that they are working on a larger-sized touchscreen makes us think they are now ramping up production of the "student's Kindle" we heard about last year. *~*~*
Identity theft cases surged in 2008, according to the Federal Trade Commission's annual data.
In 2008, ID theft was by far the biggest complaint to the FTC, representing 26 percent of complaints. The next biggest one--third party and creditor debt collection scams--represented only 9 percent of complaints.
The FTC's annual Consumer Sentinel Network report (PDF), released Thursday, details that ID theft complaints totaled nearly 314,000 in 2008, up from about 259,00 in 2007 and up substantially from about 31,000 in 2000.
The Consumer Sentinel Network is a secure online database that harvests complaints from law enforcement authorities, as well as other groups such as the Internet Crime Complaint Center and Better Business Bureau.
*~*~*
Small robots the size of riding mowers could prepare a safe landing site for NASAs Moon outpost, according to a NASA-sponsored study prepared by Astrobotic Technology Inc. with technical assistance from Carnegie Mellon Universitys Robotics Institute.
Astrobotic Technology and Carnegie Mellon researchers analyzed mission requirements and developed the design for an innovative new type of small lunar robot under contract from NASAs Lunar Surface Systems group.
The results will be presented Friday in Washington, D.C., at a NASA Lunar Surface Systems conference co-sponsored by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and its Space Enterprise Council.
*~*~*
On Friday, Microsoft is releasing a free add-on, dubbed Canvas for OneNote, that takes that same approach to viewing one's notebooks in OneNote.
Because it is an adjunct to OneNote, Canvas requires one really be a heavy user of that program to get the benefit. (It also requires Windows Vista and uses Microsoft's Windows Presentation Foundation graphics technology).
*~*~*
While CDs have not yet gone the way of the LP, more and more users are starting to carry their entire music libraries on iPods and MP3 players. When it comes time to drive, these users don't want to take a quantum leap backwards to carrying dozens of CDs in their glove compartment. No, these days, any car stereo receiver worth its salt will either play digital audio from an external storage device or seamlessly interface with a portable digital-audio player.
The Alpine iDA-X100 takes a bold step forward by completely eschewing the CD legacy format, moving to a completely USB-based input scheme with full-speed iPod connection, and an exceptional control scheme for navigating large digital-audio libraries.
Those who haven't jumped on the iPod bandwagon will appreciate the Sony XPLOD CDX-GT920U, which natively supports USB devices, but not the iPod. Users who have chosen to carry their digital audio on a Bluetooth-compatible device, such as a mobile phone, will appreciate the Sony MEX-BT2600, which features A2DP stereo audio streaming over Bluetooth.
Labels: identity theft, kindle student, Microsoft, music, NASA, robots
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Hershey's has joined hands with Jazwares to develop a line of consumer electronics. They are rather interesting and unique. Check out the 1-4GB USB drives that resemble Hershey's chocolates. I hope they have a dark chocolate version. Besides this, there will be a range of digital cameras, earphones and speakers that will assume the shape of one of your favorite Hershey's candies too. I wonder if the earphones will look like Kisses? Expect the price of the products to vary between $15-$30.*~*~*
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos showed up at Jon Stewart's pad the other day to discuss the Kindle 2, and Jon seemed fairly unimpressed. They were just finally getting into a groove when Bezos dropped the price bomb, and then their fleeting segment was over. It's embedded after the break. Amazon VP Ian Freed has also been chatting up the device, but in a more technical nature. On designing the Kindle he reiterates the "invisibility" design ethic surrounding the device, about making it "disappear" for the user. They also improved the cellular modem for improved reception, and also fended off features like a color screen that would shorten battery life, up the price and cause the device to generate more heat and make its presence known. As far as text to speech goes, he thinks it's good for short stretches of reading, and notes that it covers the vast majority of titles that aren't available in an audio format.
*~*~*
Apple has failed in its bid to trademark the word "pod" in Australia, due to an objection from a guitar electronics company that produces a product by a similar name. Guitar accessories group Line 6, manufactures the "POD" device, blocked the trademark claim, arguing it has a pre-existing trademark in the same category related to musical devices. While Line 6 has sold far fewer units of its product than Apple's range of iPod devices, Australian Trade Marks Office hearing officer Iain Thompson declared that the POD device was still an established product.
*~*~*
NASA has announced the imminent debut of a promotional film entitled Return to the Moon, made for the radical new "spherical film-making" projection system.
What, you didn't know about spherical movies? Neither did we, to be honest. In essence, the idea is to project the images not onto a flat screen but onto a large sphere hanging suspended in the auditorium.
This is obviously ideal for movies such as Return to the Moon, which largely consists of imagery from various NASA lunar missions. According to the space agency:
"The LRO in particular will be looking to map the Moon very precisely, hoping to avoid bottom-puckering moments like that suffered by astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin in 1969 when they found their lander's autopilot taking them down into a crater bottom strewn with massive boulders. By the time they had manually maneuvered to a clear area for landing, they had less than 30 seconds' fuel left."
Labels: amazon, Apple, Gadgets, hershey, kindle 2, NASA
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
The Microsoft SideWinder X8 Mouse, available on store shelves this week, offers a best-in-class tracking engine with Microsoft BlueTrack Technology and wireless freedom built for lag-free play. The newest mouse to join the SideWinder line, the SideWinder X8 offers the best frame rate, speed and acceleration on the market and a tracking range from 250 dots per inch (dpi) to 4,000 dpi, giving gamers ultimate control and precision.The SideWinder X8 Mouse offers the following top features to deliver ultimate wireless gaming performance:
- BlueTrack Technology. The world's most advanced tracking technology for gaming, with image processing of 13,000 frames per second, 75g maximum acceleration and 120 inches per second maximum speed.
- 2.4GHz wireless. The device is built for lag-free play with virtually no latency.
- Play and charge. Get up to 30 hours of active gaming on a single charge, or use the play-and-charge cable for nonstop action. The winding cord management system offers easy charging - simply unwrap the cord from around the storage box and snap it onto the underside of the mouse.
*~*~*
Apple today announced the public beta of Safari 4, the world's fastest and most innovative web browser for Mac and Windows PCs. The Nitro engine in Safari 4 runs JavaScript 4.2 times faster than Safari 3.* Innovative new features that make browsing more intuitive and enjoyable include Top Sites, for a stunning visual preview of frequently visited pages; Full History Search, to search through titles, web addresses and the complete text of recently viewed pages; Cover Flow, to easily flip through web history or bookmarks; and Tabs on Top, to make tabbed browsing easier and more intuitive.
"Apple created Safari to bring innovation, speed and open standards back into web browsers, and today it takes another big step forward," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. "Safari 4 is the fastest and most efficient browser for Mac and Windows, with great integration of HTML 5 and CSS 3 web standards that enables the next generation of interactive web applications."
Safari 4 is built on the world's most advanced browser technologies including the new Nitro JavaScript engine that executes JavaScript up to 30 times faster than IE 7 and more than three times faster than Firefox 3. Safari quickly loads HTML web pages three times faster than IE 7 and almost three times faster than Firefox 3.
*~*~*
Google denied its Google Earth ocean-floor mapping software had unearthed the mythical sunken island of Atlantis.
Walter Smith of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and David Sandwell of UC San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography, two scientists who helped gather some of the ocean-floor data in Google Earth, cleared it all up in a post on the company's official blog.
"Some have speculated that these are the plow marks of seafloor farming by aliens," the post said of the undersea grid pattern off the coast of northwest Africa that had sparked the speculation. "One theory that's gained more traction is that these marks might be the ruins of the lost city of Atlantis. If that were the case, some of the city blocks would have to be over eight miles long--that's about fifty times the size of a city block in New York City."
"These marks are what we call 'ship tracks,'" it explained. "You see, it's actually quite hard to measure the depth of the ocean. Sunlight, lasers, and other electromagnetic radiation can travel less than 100 feet below the surface, yet the typical depth in the ocean is more than two and a half miles. Sound waves are more effective. By measuring the time it takes for sound to travel from a ship to the sea floor and back, you can get an idea of how far away the sea floor is. Since this process--known as echosounding--only maps a strip of the sea floor under the ship, the maps it produces often show the path the ship took, hence the 'ship tracks.'"
*~*~*
Taking the lessons learned from the development of hydrogen-powered cars and applying them on a larger scale, New Holland Agriculture has developed the impressive NH2, the world's first hydrogen-powered tractor.
The NH2 was developed as part of New Holland Agriculture's Energy Independent Farm concept, a framework for future agriculture in which farmers produce their own compressed hydrogen from water using electricity produced by wind farms, solar panels, or biomass and biogas processes situated on the farm.
Labels: Apple, browser, concept tractor, google, google earth, Microsoft, mouse, safari
Monday, February 23, 2009
A recent study found that only 30 percent of people who purchased an iPhone app actually used it the next day; for the same group, only 5 percent were using it 20 days later! And those are for paid apps; the stats get worse for free apps.Only about 10 percent of iPhone applications appear to retain an audience over time, and most of those are games, entertainment applications such as movie listings, and things like Facebook ("their user sessions must be off the charts," Pinch Media CEO Greg Yardley said).
*~*~*
Police to receive new helicopters
The new state-of-the-art helicopters will help police protect communities and tackle crime.
A total of nine police forces will have access to the new aircraft, under the latest round of funding for police air operations.
One of the helicopters will be used as part of a trial project to enable neighbouring police forces to work together by sending the nearest available aircraft to incidents across force borders.
Statement from the Policing Minister
Announcing the new aircraft funding, Home Office Policing Minister Vernon Coaker said, 'Air support units play a crucial role in helping police protect communities against crime.
'They help officers with a wide range of operations, from searching for offenders or missing people, to assisting other emergency services with transporting injured people.
'I am pleased to announce that we are building on the success of our existing fleet of police aircraft with these new helicopters, and that we are strengthening the way forces work together to make best use of the resources available to them.'
The police aircraft fleet
The police aircraft fleet comprises 29 light and medium twin-engine helicopters and three fixed-wing aircraft, operating from 29 units in England and Wales.
Police aircraft use hi-tech daylight and thermal imaging cameras to search for offenders who run off from crime scenes, assist in vehicle pursuits and look for vulnerable missing people.
The helicopters are also fitted with 'Nitesun' - a powerful searchlight to help find offenders in the dark and also to floodlight accident scenes.
The helicopters can be used to transport critically injured people to hospital at night, which air ambulances are not equipped to do. They are also fitted with 'Skyshout' - an airborne public address system used to pass critical messages to the public or emergency services.
*~*~*
Microsoft laid over close to 1,400 employees last month. A letter went out this week to some of those employees letting them know they were overpaid, and asking for them to give some of the money back.
Word on the street is that the overpayment issue effected a good number of those employees, and some employees might have also been underpaid their severance from the company, which also isn’t exactly exciting.
Microsoft informed affected employees via a letter that most received Friday. The letter didn't explain why the overpayment happened, just told previous employees how much money they owed Microsoft and how they could go about paying the company back. Pretty harsh.
The letters employees received did give them the number for Microsoft customer service to call if they had questions, although that number was closed for the weekend so they're SOL until Monday morning.
Labels: economy, helicopter, iPhone, iphone app, Microsoft
Friday, February 20, 2009
For those who are looking for the latest and greatest construction toy, like Lego or K'nex, then you have found what you are looking for with the Topodo.Topodo is designed by people at the MIT Media lab, and allows the user to create projects that can walk and do other actions of motion. That may sound like Lego's Mindstorms NXT, but in this case, the Topodo user does not need a computer, or even batteries.
That's right, no batteries are required to make these toys move, as the Topodo comes with a special set of kinetic memory motors. They work by having the user moving the limbs or body parts, and these special parts will reproduce the action, enabling creations to walk across the floor without power.
*~*~*
Applied Nanodetectors Ltd. (AND) from the UK is currently parading a prototype cell phone at the International Nanotechnology Exhibition & Conference that is able to detect various diseases simply by analyzing the user's breath. The phone itself is made by Nokia, featuring AND's chip inside that features integrated sensors which are able to detect minute traces of different gases including CO2, NOx and ammonia (NH3). Once detected, the chip will get to work by analyzing the composition of the user's breath while tabulating the density of each gas. The results will be compared against characteristics of various diseases in order to detect whether one is possibly suffering from a certain type of disease or not. Sounds cool, but the phone is still a long way off from being commercially available.
So tell your boss that your phone told you to stay home sick. See how that one works for ya.
*~*~*
A report in The Wall Street Journal is indicating that cable giants Time Warner Cable and Comcast are in talks with some of the companies that operate pay-cable channels, for a plan to make some of the networks' content available online to subscribers. It'd probably be on a streaming, ad-supported basis, and probably available for free to existing subscribers.
Labels: cell phone, Gadgets, online tv, toys
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Nokia signed a loan agreement with the European Investment Bank (EIB) to the tune of $623.9 million. Why the sudden need for cash?
According to Reuters, the five-year loan will be used in part to "finance software research and development (R&D) projects Nokia is undertaking during 2009-2011 to make Symbian-based smartphones more competitive."
*~*~*
Didn't Gateway go bankrupt?
Gateway has a full line of notebooks that come in all sizes. The company is also closely related to Acer, which has the most popular netbook on the market with its Aspire One. Last year Gateway launched a pair of new notebook lines called the MC and MD series. The difference was a scant 0.6-inches in screen size with the MC line using a 16-inch LCD and the MD using a 15.4-inch screen.
The MC and MD machines had the same chassis design and Gateway has launched a new notebook line called the TC series that uses the same chassis design with a smaller 14-inch screen. The notebook is low priced at $649.99.
*~*~*
Hewlett-Packard workers fired up their PCs this morning only to find a long memo from Mark Hurd explaining why he was hitting them with wide-ranging pay cuts in an effort to prevent further job losses at the computer vendor.
The move followed HP's first quarter earnings report yesterday in which it coughed to a double digit dip in printer, server, and PC sales.
HP CEO Hurd told employees yesterday that no more jobs would be axed for the foreseeable future, but instead applied salary reductions across the board.
He said that he would take a 20 per cent base pay cut, presumably as a show of solidarity with his workforce.
*~*~*
The Obama administration has apparently opted to forbid Google and other search engines from indexing any content on the newly launched Recovery.gov.
Is this even more evidence that the administration's much-publicized commitment to transparency is simply hype?
Recovery.gov, which went live Tuesday, is set to act as a central clearinghouse for information related to the newly signed American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The legislation is designed to stimulate the flagging U.S. economy.
The site's robots.txt file has just a few lines of text:
# Deny all search bots, web spiders
User-agent: *
Disallow: /
Shameful.
Labels: cell phone, Gateway, google, Hewlett Packard, nokia, president barack obama
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Nintendo DSi is scheduled to hit stores on April 5th. The system will launch for $169.99, will include all the goodies you've been reading about. The DSi has two cameras -- an outward-aiming camera for taking pictures of others, as well as an internal one for taking pictures of the person holding the system.An SD card slot allows for additional picture storage beyond the internal memory and for digital music files (iTunes' standard AAC format) that can be played back on the system. An audio player lets you tinker with speed and pitch of songs and of recorded sounds (using the built-in microphone). Songs can be broken down into vocals and instrumentation for use in karaoke games.
Downloadable games will be available through a DSi Ware shop, similar to the current Wii Ware game store.
DSi will not include a slot for inserting Game Boy Advance games.
When the DSi launched in Japan last November, it came in both a "matte black" and "matte white" color scheme. But we're hearing it will be available in blue as well.
SOURCE
*~*~*
Samsung wasn't the only company showing a solar-powered cell phone at the GSMA World Congress. On Wednesday, Chinese manufacturer ZTE launched a green model of its own.
Created with Digicel and Intivation, the Coral-200-Solar is designed for emerging markets where electricity may not be readily available. And, of course, it's Earth-friendly.
It should be available in June.
*~*~*
Pentagon boffinry chiefs have announced that they would like some self-aware computer systems capable of "meta-reasoning" and "introspection". The plan is to place these machine intelligences in command of heavily armed, well-nigh invulnerable robotic tanks.
This latest plan for humanity's subjugation comes, of course, from DARPA - the agency believed to harbour the largest known group of lifelike people-simulant robots piloted from within by tiny, malevolent space lizard infiltrators in the entire US federal government.
The plan is called Self-Explanation Learning Framework (SELF). It is being handled by Dr Mike Cox of DARPA's renowned Information Processing Technology Office.
*~*~*
Amid user revolt Facebook backed away from a newly implemented terms of service that many considered a privacy violation. Last night Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said the company would reverted back to its previous version of its terms of service that "everybody can understand."
(I think I'm slightly insulted by that remark.)
Zuckerberg explained in a blog post: "Over the past few days, we have received a lot of feedback about the new terms we posted two weeks ago. Because of this response, we have decided to return to our previous Terms of Use while we resolve the issues that people have raised."
Labels: cell phone, dsi, Facebook, nintendo, robots, zte
Monday, February 16, 2009
Panasonic recently unveiled it's first Blood Pressure monitor with an SD card slot. You can save health data on the SD card for up to 5 different people. Tip: If you have 5 people in your house unhealthy enough to need this device, you are in some serious trouble and should probably be in the hospital right now.
The data can be read via your computer or your doctor's PC.
*~*~*
Since Verizon has now purchased Alltel, subscribers have wondered if the company would offer "My Circle" as a feature on their plans. My Circle was a group of friends or family that you could call an unlimited number of times and not have it count against your plan minutes. Verizon announced this week, its new Friends & Family feature, a comparable option to My Circle.
With the Friends & Family single line option, you can choose 5 of your contacts to make unlimited calls to without using your plan minutes. For family line users, the allowance is extended to 10 contacts.
This is not surprising.
*~*~*
ManicTime is a detailed time-tracking application for keeping tabs on where your workday goes. Get a handle on how you spend your time with tags, graphs, and reports.
If you were intrigued by previously reviewed RescueTime but were turned off by the idea of uploading all your data to the RescueTime servers, ManicTime offers a very similar set of tools but stores your data locally.
ManicTime runs as a background process and consumes very few resources. When open, ManicTime records which programs are open and what files they're accessing. Even if you never plugged any input into it, the app would do a very thorough job telling you when you were working and what you were working on. There are three primary timelines in ManicTime: the activity line shows whether you were idle or active, the application line shows which applications were in use, and the tag line is for user supplied information about the work at hand. You can tag both idle and active blocks of time by simply highlighting them and applying the tag.
I certainly hope this never gets applied on a server level in the workforce.
*~*~*
Facebook's terms of service (TOS) used to say that when you closed an account on their network, any rights they claimed to the original content you uploaded would expire. Not anymore.
Now, anything you upload to Facebook can be used by Facebook in any way they deem fit, forever, no matter what you do later. Want to close your account? Good for you, but Facebook still has the right to do whatever it wants with your old content. They can even sublicense it if they want.
Labels: Facebook, manictime, sd, social network, verizon
Saturday, February 14, 2009
IBM has filed a patent (US 7484451) for Bionic Body Armor, that could essentially allow us to dodge bullets like Neo in The Matrix. Not to be confused with knight armor from medieval ages.Your science fiction fantasy may be coming a reality, if IBM has anything to say about it. The company was recently granted a patent for bionic body armor, originally filed last March, that's intended to bestow the wearer the power to dodge bullets. The device works by constantly emitting electromagnetic waves that bounce off any fast-moving projectiles, and it uses the data to calculate risky trajectories. If the object in question is determined to be a threat, muscle stimulators activate and cause the wearer's body to contort in such way to avoid being hit. It works under the idea that a sniper typically fires from a distance, given the armor time to detect the oncoming bullet and react accordingly.
*~*~*
As layoffs continued to pound the economy in January, one beneficiary was job networking site LinkedIn. According to the latest January data from comScore, the LinkedIn's U.S. unique visitors shot up 22 percent to 7.7 million, up from 6.3 million in December. Total minutes spent on the site doubled in January to 96.8 million, from 47.6 million in December.
*~*~*
Is Apple being sued?
You've probably never heard of Picsel Technologies, but the Scottish company claims that its technologies are in over 250m handsets worldwide from manufacturers like Motorola, Nokia, Palm, Samsung and Sony Ericsson -- and, if a lawsuit it filed today is to be believed, Apple. Picsel says the iPhone infringes on a patented method of accelerated screen updating, and as usual, the answer is probably going to be for Uncle Steve to open his $25 billion piggy bank and dole out some cash.
*~*~*
The latest version of the ever-evolving $789-billion economic stimulus bill contains some good news on the energy front. According to the Washington Post, it "includes more than $40 billion for energy-efficiency programs and new energy technologies, including $11 billion to upgrade the national electricity grid."
But there could be a problem with the agency that's supposed to hand out all that cash, according to the Wall Street Journal.
"The Energy Department has had limited experience pulling off big, transformative energy projects," the Journal notes. "Most of the department's $25 billion budget goes toward maintaining the nation's nuclear stockpile, cleaning up former weapons plants, and doing basic scientific research...
Hmm, I hope someone closer to the heart of energy efficiency oversees this spending.
*~*~*
New York Fashion Week and Silicon Valley may not appear to have much in common, but a growing number of tech companies have been collaborating with clothing designers and the garment industry over the past few seasons.
Hewlett-Packard, Google and Microsoft are among the companies that have been sponsoring or partnering with various designers, and other sponsors, giving tech a decidedly stylish presence during the twice-a-year event, which started Friday in Manhattan and continues through next Friday.
San Jose-based eBay, whose own style director, Constance White, is among the front-row seat regulars at the shows, announced Thursday that it is expanding its role by sponsoring designer Yigal Azrouël for his runway show. The online auction site also will host a charity sale featuring the designer's spring collection beginning June 4. Proceeds from the auction will benefit the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Labels: Apple, bionic armor, IBM, linkedin, matric, social network, stimulus
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Uh oh. Up to 40 to lose jobs as Google scraps radio ads.
Google's radio advertising business has become the newest project that didn't pass muster in Google's new financially rigorous era, and up to 40 employees will lose jobs as a result, the company said Thursday. However, the company isn't completely withdrawing from the market, saying it's begun exploring ads for streaming audio instead.
"While we've devoted substantial resources to developing these products and learned a lot along the way, we haven't had the impact we hoped for. So we have decided to exit the broadcast radio business and focus our efforts in online streaming audio," said Susan Wojcicki, Google's vice president of product management, in a blog post Thursday. "We will phase out the existing Google Audio Ads and AdSense for Audio products and plan to sell the Google Radio Automation business, the software that automates broadcast radio programming."
*~*~*
Disney World's specialty is fantasy, but a new attraction that opened this weekend deals in real-life dreams.
The American Idol Experience, a near-exact replica of the theater the American Idol TV show uses, will give singers a chance to audition, perform and maybe even get a spot to try out for the real Idol.
If the singing is as polished as the set, it should be another Mickey triumph.
If the singing is bad, no Disney magic will be able to fix it.
*~*~*
Fraunhofer has developed a dash that displays your location and the surrounding area in 3D, in real time. The system uses cameras to keep track of the location of your eyes, so the depth imaging effect can be achieved without using those funny glasses. In addition to the GPS, the dashboard only displays the information that is most relevant to the driver at any time -- fuel gauge, tire pressure, route information or the title of the song can be displayed, depending on user preferences. It's only a prototype at this point.
I am sure it would make me car sick.
*~*~*
The 2011 Chevrolet Volt is all about energy efficiency, but that doesn't mean boring. The new Energy Efficient Series sound system from Bose is 30 percent smaller, 40 percent lighter and uses 50 percent less energy than conventional Bose sound systems, company reps say.
*~*~*
Japanese cell phone maker KDDI has teamed up with Hitachi to one-up your iPhone as the iPhone can't manage 3D content. The Hitachi WOOO H001 will show you 3D versions of your phone's still images and video.
But that's not all, the phone also will give you a 5 megapixel camera, Bluetooth, microSD slot, and a 1Seg TV tuner. No word on price, but the handset should hit the Asian market by spring.
Sounds like an infomercial, doesn't it? Lol.
Google's radio advertising business has become the newest project that didn't pass muster in Google's new financially rigorous era, and up to 40 employees will lose jobs as a result, the company said Thursday. However, the company isn't completely withdrawing from the market, saying it's begun exploring ads for streaming audio instead.
"While we've devoted substantial resources to developing these products and learned a lot along the way, we haven't had the impact we hoped for. So we have decided to exit the broadcast radio business and focus our efforts in online streaming audio," said Susan Wojcicki, Google's vice president of product management, in a blog post Thursday. "We will phase out the existing Google Audio Ads and AdSense for Audio products and plan to sell the Google Radio Automation business, the software that automates broadcast radio programming."
*~*~*
Disney World's specialty is fantasy, but a new attraction that opened this weekend deals in real-life dreams.
The American Idol Experience, a near-exact replica of the theater the American Idol TV show uses, will give singers a chance to audition, perform and maybe even get a spot to try out for the real Idol.
If the singing is as polished as the set, it should be another Mickey triumph.
If the singing is bad, no Disney magic will be able to fix it.
*~*~*
Fraunhofer has developed a dash that displays your location and the surrounding area in 3D, in real time. The system uses cameras to keep track of the location of your eyes, so the depth imaging effect can be achieved without using those funny glasses. In addition to the GPS, the dashboard only displays the information that is most relevant to the driver at any time -- fuel gauge, tire pressure, route information or the title of the song can be displayed, depending on user preferences. It's only a prototype at this point.I am sure it would make me car sick.
*~*~*
The 2011 Chevrolet Volt is all about energy efficiency, but that doesn't mean boring. The new Energy Efficient Series sound system from Bose is 30 percent smaller, 40 percent lighter and uses 50 percent less energy than conventional Bose sound systems, company reps say.
*~*~*
Japanese cell phone maker KDDI has teamed up with Hitachi to one-up your iPhone as the iPhone can't manage 3D content. The Hitachi WOOO H001 will show you 3D versions of your phone's still images and video.
But that's not all, the phone also will give you a 5 megapixel camera, Bluetooth, microSD slot, and a 1Seg TV tuner. No word on price, but the handset should hit the Asian market by spring.
Sounds like an infomercial, doesn't it? Lol.
Labels: 3D, american idol, cell phone, chevy, disney, Fraunhofer, google
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
I'm curious. While I have, in the distant past, signed up with online dating services, I've never used one which was meant for a specific audience other than the single audience. And I really didn't have much luck anyway, but it didn't matter because I'm married now and very much in love.So I'm wondering. Are there those of you out there who are looking for love online and are part of more than one network for finding a significant other?
If so, are you joined to networks which are for specific types of people?
For example, Equestrian Cupid is an exclusive community for horse lovers and equestrian singles. So you know right off the bat that people you meet here will have the same hobby or interest as you in the way of horses.
Their site offers FREE sign-up and says it's "totally free to place lifetime ads."
They also provide website design, dating software, hosting, membership database, payment processing, customer support and more with their EquestrianCupid Private Label Program.
So what do you think? Is this type of online dating best because it's more fine tuned? I imagine there are less people to have to filter through and so that would be a blessing. As a platform I definitely see potential for them. Online dating seems to be getting more and more popular after all.
Labels: EquestrianCupid, online dating
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Nokia today launched the 5630 XpressMusic. The new mid-range phone in the company's media-focused lineup centers around a rare voice recognition system that will play artists, songs and other music content just through speaking its name.The 5630's music emphasis comes through dedicated side controls, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a microSDHC slot that comes with a 4GB card as well as room for up to 16GB. Nokia expects the UK and certain other countries to get a Comes With Music version that offers a year's worth of unlimited yet permanent music downloads for a higher price.
A 3.2-megapixel camera with flash, Wi-Fi and software N-Gage game support are also supplied with the handset.
*~*~*
In other new tech gadgets, Sony Ericsson has launched a pair of handsets that both have features often left out of non-Japanese cellphones. The Cyber-shot S001 has the 8-megapixel camera still rare for the company but centers on an extremely sharp, 854x480 OLED display with enough color saturation to help previewing photos or watching 1Seg digital TV. The camera itself also has features closer to dedicated cameras with shooting up to the equivalent of ISO 1,600, image stabilization and detection of both faces and smiles.
*~*~*
Joining Google's Android, Calendar, Docs, Mail, Maps, Reader and a few dozen other products today is a new application, PowerMeter. It's not launched yet, but when it is, it will help you keep track of your home power usage by tapping into information sent from your devices to your electrical meter, and from there on to the "smart grid".
What Google is showing of PowerMeter looks a bit like a line graph, with the X-axis representing time and the Y-axis showing both the amount of power used and which device used it. The theory is that if people can see how they're wasting electricity, they'll change their behavior. As its motto for PowerMeter, Google is using a Lord Kelvin quote: "If you cannot measure it, you cannot improve it."
Labels: cell phone, doodle 4 google, nokia, powermeter, sony
Sunday, February 8, 2009
YouDiligence.com, a service launched late last year that alerts parents and educators to questionable content on Facebook, MySpace and other social networking websites. The company says that business has been exploding since MySpace recently cooperated with Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal to hand over the names of 90,000 registered sex offenders that were identified and blocked by the social networking site.Here's how it works: When a child (or one of their friends) post inappropriate or questionable content on their page, an email alert is sent to the parent. A pretty comprehensive report is also stored on the user's dashboard. Reports include time, the inappropriate words used, the context of how the terms was used, where it was posted (i.e., on a profile page, caption, wall comment, or if child writing a comment on someone else’s page) and a link to the exact URL.
To quote their site, "YouDiligence offers you the comfort to know you are still able to protect your child even if you don't have the time to review their pages on a regular basis or if you happen to miss one day. It gives you, as a parent, the comfort to know that you are doing everything you can to protect your child from on-line predators and internet bullies."
Sounds good to me. The hard part is it requires to know your child's password AND they had to have added you as a friend to their network. Maybe you can make a deal with your child and tell them that all you want to do is reassure them and yourself that all is safe and well. Even write up a little mock contract which swears you'll keep your nose out of their business (as much as you can) and that you trust them, but you don't trust the rest of the world with them. Explain they are your heart and your world and that this service will help keep it that way.
I think as a teen I would have fought it. I would have tried to rebel and made it difficult for my parents. But now that I'm a Mom I absolutely see this service as being nearly a necessity.
Either way, you should have an open discussion with your child about the dangers on social networks. You don't want to scare them or be paranoid, but it's an unfortunate fact and being aware is always the first step.
Labels: social network, youdiligence
Saturday, February 7, 2009
In December 2008, an Iraqi reporter decided it would be a good idea to throw his shoes at George W. Bush.
Apparently Apple doesn't think the incident was nearly as funny. According to Mashable, a developer based in Pakistan submitted an application called MyShoe. MyShoe is a simple accelerometer based application that allows users to virtually throw a shoe at the former president. Apple denied the application placement at the App Store and responded to the developer stating:
"We cannot post this version of your iPhone application to the App Store because it contains content that ridicules public figures."
The creator refuted and said this discriminates against popular public opinion. Hahahahaha.
*~*~*
Would you like to read a February 5, 2009 press briefing on the stimulus package?
With joblessness rising and the U.S. economic recession deepening, Democratic senators and a handful of moderate Republicans reached a compromise late Friday on a scaled-back $780-billion economic stimulus plan.
The deal, slashed by more than $100 billion from earlier estimates to win a few Republican votes.
"We are pleased the process is moving forward and we are closer to getting Americans a plan to create millions of jobs and get people back to work," said White House spokesman Robert Gibbs.
"Americans across this country are struggling, and they are watching to see if we're equal to the task before us," the President says in this morning's Weekly Address. "Let's show them that we are."
With the United States in the grip of the worst economic crisis in more than 70 years -- a report on Friday showed nearly 600,000 jobs were lost in January -- Obama has demanded that a bill be put on his desk by February 16.
*~*~*
ESPN.com has launched many new college football widgets that offer scores, stats, and news.
Visit the ESPN Widget Center.
*~*~*
Google Latitude is a feature in Google Maps for mobile and iGoogle that allows you to share your location with your friends and family. While not pinpointing your exact location, it gives you a good idea of where your friends are at a given time.
Using your Google account, you can opt into the feature, and then invite friends and family to join Google Latitude. Once they accept, you will see their profile picture appear on a map through your mobile device or your desktop PC. Google will also give you directions to their location on the map.
Apparently Apple doesn't think the incident was nearly as funny. According to Mashable, a developer based in Pakistan submitted an application called MyShoe. MyShoe is a simple accelerometer based application that allows users to virtually throw a shoe at the former president. Apple denied the application placement at the App Store and responded to the developer stating:
"We cannot post this version of your iPhone application to the App Store because it contains content that ridicules public figures."
The creator refuted and said this discriminates against popular public opinion. Hahahahaha.
*~*~*
Would you like to read a February 5, 2009 press briefing on the stimulus package?
With joblessness rising and the U.S. economic recession deepening, Democratic senators and a handful of moderate Republicans reached a compromise late Friday on a scaled-back $780-billion economic stimulus plan.
The deal, slashed by more than $100 billion from earlier estimates to win a few Republican votes.
"We are pleased the process is moving forward and we are closer to getting Americans a plan to create millions of jobs and get people back to work," said White House spokesman Robert Gibbs.
"Americans across this country are struggling, and they are watching to see if we're equal to the task before us," the President says in this morning's Weekly Address. "Let's show them that we are."
With the United States in the grip of the worst economic crisis in more than 70 years -- a report on Friday showed nearly 600,000 jobs were lost in January -- Obama has demanded that a bill be put on his desk by February 16.
*~*~*
ESPN.com has launched many new college football widgets that offer scores, stats, and news.
Visit the ESPN Widget Center.
*~*~*
Google Latitude is a feature in Google Maps for mobile and iGoogle that allows you to share your location with your friends and family. While not pinpointing your exact location, it gives you a good idea of where your friends are at a given time.
Using your Google account, you can opt into the feature, and then invite friends and family to join Google Latitude. Once they accept, you will see their profile picture appear on a map through your mobile device or your desktop PC. Google will also give you directions to their location on the map.
Labels: Apple, economy, google, google latitude, iPhone, iphone app, president barack obama, stimulus, widgets
Friday, February 6, 2009
I know we're in an age where we'll be seeing more and more lifelike robots and dolls and such, but I still think it's all incredibly creepy.And this particular tidbit has me even more freaked out.
Meet the Little Island Custom Robot Dolls.
The idea is that this plush looking bot can replace your beloved, as they can be designed to freakishly mimic their features. The doll-bot has a 500MHz processor include, so it's not just a pretty face, and you can use it for Skype conversations.
A Japanese company called Little Island will sell you a $2,215 robot based on a picture you send. So it's expensive AND you'll have to wait over six weeks after sending in your picture to receive it.
*~*~*
Google has adapted its Book Search for the iPhone and its own Android platform, it announced on Thursday. It joins a growing group of network operators and content providers that are putting books on mobile phones.
The new service opens up mobile access to 1.5 million public domain books in the U.S., and half a million outside the U.S., Google said.
*~*~*
New York-based Loudwater Labs has sold the assets of its online personal finance management application Thrive to Tree.com; the company behind services such as the formerly IAC-owned LendingTree and RealEstate.com. This means that the publicly listed Tree.com now has a very good resource in its hands as well as sufficient reach to give Mint and other personal finance management tools like Wesabe, Geezeo and Buxfer a good run for their money.
Labels: google, iPhone, robots, stocks, thrive
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Good grief, I thought all the different Windows Vista options were a pain in the neck, but with Windows 7 there will be even more!
* Windows 7 Starter
* Windows 7 Home Basic (for emerging markets)
* Windows 7 Home Premium
* Windows 7 Professional
* Windows 7 Enterprise
* Windows 7 Ultimate
Good luck.
*~*~*
Using a Wi-Fi connection for voice calls is not a new idea , as we're currently enjoying the Truphone app on the iPod Touch and the specially created Skype phones from 3, but this is the first time T-Mobile have chosen to dip their toes into this treacherous pool. They've updated their Shadow handset, which will now be capable of using a Wi-Fi signal. This allows you to make unlimited calls over Wi-Fi networks, moving away from the standard cellular network.
*~*~*
Google announced its "Doodle 4 Google 2009" competition Tuesday. According to the company, all Kindergarten through 12th grade U.S. students can design a Google logo based on the theme, "What I wish for the World." Applications will be accepted until March 31 and the winner's doodle will be displayed on Google's homepage on May 21. The winner will receive a $15,000 college scholarship and a $25,000 technology grant for their school. Google will also award a school district $10,000 for the "greatest quality participation."
*~*~*
Do your kids need a "screen time" manager? Parents don't have to worry about just too much TV viewing these days, they also have to worry about just how long their child is glued in front of their computer screen.
Hook the gadget up to your computer. With each child, you can pick and choose how long you want them to be able to be on the computer. It can track hours per day and hours per week, as well as being able to recognize periods of time when they’re not allowed on the computer at all. Once they’ve reached the time limit, it shuts off the device.
* Windows 7 Starter
* Windows 7 Home Basic (for emerging markets)
* Windows 7 Home Premium
* Windows 7 Professional
* Windows 7 Enterprise
* Windows 7 Ultimate
Good luck.
*~*~*
Using a Wi-Fi connection for voice calls is not a new idea , as we're currently enjoying the Truphone app on the iPod Touch and the specially created Skype phones from 3, but this is the first time T-Mobile have chosen to dip their toes into this treacherous pool. They've updated their Shadow handset, which will now be capable of using a Wi-Fi signal. This allows you to make unlimited calls over Wi-Fi networks, moving away from the standard cellular network.
*~*~*
Google announced its "Doodle 4 Google 2009" competition Tuesday. According to the company, all Kindergarten through 12th grade U.S. students can design a Google logo based on the theme, "What I wish for the World." Applications will be accepted until March 31 and the winner's doodle will be displayed on Google's homepage on May 21. The winner will receive a $15,000 college scholarship and a $25,000 technology grant for their school. Google will also award a school district $10,000 for the "greatest quality participation."*~*~*
Do your kids need a "screen time" manager? Parents don't have to worry about just too much TV viewing these days, they also have to worry about just how long their child is glued in front of their computer screen.
Hook the gadget up to your computer. With each child, you can pick and choose how long you want them to be able to be on the computer. It can track hours per day and hours per week, as well as being able to recognize periods of time when they’re not allowed on the computer at all. Once they’ve reached the time limit, it shuts off the device.
Labels: doodle 4 google, Gadgets, google, kids, truphone, windows 7
Monday, February 2, 2009
CHOMPr, is a conceptual hamburger grasping device bound to divide the burger savoring tongues and hands in at least one way.If I ever see anyone using something like this I think I'd scoff aloud and throw something at them. Licking the salt off your cheeseburger fingers is part of the process. And if it's a really ketchupy burger than just use the wrapper or a napkin for pete's sake. This invention is ludicrous.
Pshaw to whomever thought it up!
*~*~*
Windows/Mac/Linux (Firefox): Grab a whole cluster of links and open, bookmark, copy, or download them with Snap Links, a nifty extension recently updated for Firefox 3.
After installing the add-on, you head to the options, choose which button—left, right, or middle—you want to activate it from, then use a familiar rectangle selection tool to select multiple links on a page. The basic option is to open each selected link in a new tab, but hold the control key when releasing your button and you'll get a range of convenient options—the "Download All" choice, in particular.
Snap Links Plus, updated recently by the official author after months of unofficial versions for Firefox 3, is a free download, works wherever Firefox does.
*~*~*
How to photograph snow?
in a nutshell: turn your exposure up to +1 - find it in exposure compensation, of just the menu option marked +/-
*~*~*
Rubik's 360.It's sphereical!
Imagine that, right? Said device is about to be officially unveiled in Germany this week at a national toy show, and while many question its ability to recreate the wonder and amazement associated with the original Cube, puzzle aficionados the world over are still enthusiastic about giving it a go. The unit features six balls trapped inside of three transparent plastic spheres; in order to solve it, players must figure out how to get the internal balls "from an inner sphere into matching slots on the outer sphere by shaking them through a middle sphere that has only two holes."
I will definitely be getting one for Braeden.
Labels: bookmarking, firefox addon, Gadgets, photography, rubik cube, snap links, stupid inventions
Sunday, February 1, 2009
We already know I'm a geek so I'm not going to pretend, I found a website called Moshi Monsters where you adopt your own little monster pet. And YEAH I adopted one! I named her Merka and she's sort of devilsh looking. Essentially you play puzzles to earn Rox which are Moshi money. Then you can buy food, clothing, decor and even gardening seeds for your Moshi Monsters house. I played for a bit last night and it was entertaining enough. Though I can say it's definitely more targeted for a young teen or middle schooler. I think Braeden will like it in a couple of years, right now it's a little too involved for him as he is only five years old.The challenge puzzles are simple and they gauge your quickness along with your logic which is great for kids. I for one take too long and so I only earn like 5 Rox at a time which is painfully little when some of the monster food costs 60 Rox. Even so it's fun and a time killer.
If you want to adopt a monster and you use thislink, my Merka will earn some Rox.
*~*~*
Your Spotify is a pretty cool site, though the premise has been done before many times.
The About page says: "Do you remember back in the days when you made mixtapes on your tape recorder? You can now experience the feeling of sharing and listen to other peoples playlists again by using www.yourspotify.com. Simply make your playlist in spotify, copy the URI and paste it in the field under “share your spotify playlist"."
*~*~*
And something not fun at all is the Valentine's Day virus.
PC World wants us to know it's out there. Spam trumpeting the power of love is nothing more than an old trick dressed up in new clothes, more evidence that the backers of the Waledec bot Trojan are the same bunch that hammered users in 2007 with Storm, security companies are warning.
So just make sure you continue to be careful with what you open and share.
Labels: apps, moshi monster, music, pcworld, spotify, virus
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