If you know what this is and where it’s located, you could win a prize in the CNET Road Trip Picture of the Day challenge.
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Ping picks at the good parts of Twitter and Facebook and builds a social network around something for which everyone has strong feelings. Might Ping teach Facebook something about privacy too? Originally posted at Technically Incorrect
EMULEX
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ELECTRONICS FOR IMAGING
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Apple’s release of iWork 9.04 this week has a significant capability that could help transform document distribution: You can now export EPUB files from the productivity suite’s Pages word processor. (The folks at Macworld explain how that works, if you’re interested.) EPUB is the standard format for e-books used by a range of devices, including of course Apple’s iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad.
COGNIZANT TECH. SOLUTIONS
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Skype’s Windows client is showing a bit of ambition today as its latest beta version now boasts a mighty 10-way video calling implementation. The earlier v5.0 beta threw up five-way vidchat, but it’d seem Skype kept its software engineers working through the summer and now we’ve got double the visual fun. Which would be awesome if we actually had nine other people we cared to see while talking to them. This update also brings a UI makeover, your typical stability and call quality improvements, and a neat automated call recovery feature. Download away, if you must.Skype 5.0 beta brings 10-way video calling to the world originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Sep 2010 04:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Skype Blog | Email this | Comments
There seems to be some confusion out there right now about iTunes Ping, Apple’s new music social network, and Facebook. Some people seem to think it was never a part of iTunes, that Apple decided against connecting; while other reports say they think it was at one point integrated, but that it wasn’t working and has since been removed. I can tell you for sure that yesterday Facebook Connect was a part of Ping — because I used it.
When I first loaded iTunes 10 yesterday and started up Ping, connecting with Facebook was the first thing I did to find friends. At first, I will say that it didn’t work. I hit the Connect button, entered my credentials, and nothing happened. But I tried again and it worked perfectly. I found a handful of Facebook friends who had just started using Ping as well and connected with them.
VISHAY INTERTECHNOLOGY
VIRGIN MEDIA
VIEWSONIC
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Apple’s iOS mobile operating system is now the third-most popular platform on the Internet, with a share nearly six times larger than Android’s, a Web measurement company said Wednesday.
ANIXTER INTERNATIONAL
APPLE COMPUTER
APPLIED MATERIALS
ARIAN SEMICONDUCTOR EQUIPMENT
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I often point to my first post on Twitter, the day it launched in 2006. Why? Mostly because of how wrong I was. Best line: “I imagine most users are not going to want to have all of their Twttr messages published on a public website.” I also love that original vowel-free logo.
The first couple of comments to that post are classic as well:
Do you remember the Nintendo Family Computer, or Famicon? Well, you might not — it came to earth in 1983 and was Japan’s version of the NES. Now, continuing its week of vintage teardowns, iFixit’s gotten its hands on one of these colorful gems and done what it does. The Famicon is pretty easily dismantled, and simple inside, as well. As you can see, there’s almost nothing going on in there! There’s one more photo below, but hit up the source link for the full set.Continue reading iFixit tears apart the Nintendo FamiconiFixit tears apart the Nintendo Famicon originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Sep 2010 14:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | iFixit | Email this | Comments
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Looks like options for iOS gamers are only expanding. Not only has Apple just announced the new Game Center, but Aurora Feint has just announced that its OpenFeint social network will soon enable interconnectivity between iOS and Android. The service, called OpenFeint PlayTime, will allow multiplayer gameplay between both platforms — in addition to matchmaking, game servers, and real-time voice chat during gameplay. If you’re a developer, and you’re interested in adding cross-platform multiplayer to your next game, hit up the source link to apply for the private Beta. And now you’ll have to excuse us — we were in the middle of a rousing game of Bomberman Touch 2.OpenFeint PlayTime brings cross-platform multiplayer gaming to iOS, Android originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Sep 2010 10:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink Joystiq | OpenFeint Developers | Email this | Comments
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An increasing number of Euroland news outlets are reporting an eye-watering set of prices for Samsung’s Galaxy Tab. Although still unofficial and therefore not yet to be trusted, the values we’re hearing are €699 ($890) in France and €799 ($1,020) in Germany. Those presumably represent the cost of the 16GB and 32GB Tab, respectively, and align perfectly with Apple’s iPad WiFi + 3G pricing — aside from the fact the iPads have double the storage at each price point. Oops! That does make us wary to believe these numbers just yet, but if you want a laugh, why not check out UK importer Expansys today, which is offering a cracking deal for the 16GB Galaxy Tab at £680 ($1,050). And with only a 39-day wait!
[Thanks to everyone who sent these in]
Update: So we’re hearing some conflicting information here. Samsung itself is telling us at IFA that no pricing has been announced and that any prices floating around are speculation — but it seems the company has already announced a suggested retail prices of SEK 9,000 in Sweden including VAT, which works out to about $1,240 (or $930 without VAT). In other words, even after taxes have been removed from the equation, you’re looking at a pretty pricey option for an unsubsidized device here. Let’s hope we see some steep discounts on contract, eh? Thanks, Rasmus!Samsung Galaxy Tab reported to retail at ?699 and ?799 in Europe (update: Samsung responds) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Sep 2010 16:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | ARMdevices.net, Journal du Geek, Expansys, Chip.de | Email this | Comments
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Ping picks at the good parts of Twitter and Facebook and builds a social network around something for which everyone has strong feelings. Might Ping teach Facebook something about privacy too? Originally posted at Technically Incorrect
HYPERCOM
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Ever since it became stable enough to use on a day-to-day basis on a Mac last year, Google Chrome has been my browser of choice. Other browsers have been adding some nice features — but Chrome keeps adding them faster. And today on its second birthday, that rate of change isn’t slowing down.
Google has officially rolled out Chrome 6 as the latest stable version of the browser today. This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone using the dev or beta builds of the browser, but it’s nonetheless an important mark as it means it’s stable enough for mass consumption.
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CNET took a ride in the full flight simulator for Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner aircraft in Renton, Wash. Catch a glimpse of our virtual flight.
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Microsoft has launched a new Bing for Mobile Android App, via the Verizon Android Marketplace, which offers all the things you’d expect: a mobile-friendly homepage, quick-access maps with listings of local businesses, a Favorites option, and instant answers for things like movies and flight status.
The company’s baked a good amount of voice search into the app, allowing you to say things like “movies” in order to pull down info like theaters and show times. I haven’t had a chance to test it out, since my current Android phone (the upcoming Samsung Epic 4G) doesn’t run on Verizon’s network, but I’ve no doubt that my colleague Clint Boulton and his trusty Droid Whatever are putting the app through its paces as we speak.
Obviously, the Bing for Mobile Android bears a more-than-passing resemblance to the version available for iPhone. And I can only assume that similar functionality will find its way onto Windows Phone 7, once those devices begin trickling onto the street.
Now that Yahoo’s transferred its back-end search to Bing, raising the latter’s share of the search-engine market to nearly a third (depending on the outside analysis company), the competition between Microsoft and Google will only intensify–not that it isn’t at DEFCON-2 already. Given how much the two companies will depend on mobile for their broader corporate strategy, trust their smartphone-search-app battle to follow the one for traditional search, with a tit-for-tat matching of features.
As the old capitalist cliché about competition goes, the ultimate victors will be consumers. In the meantime, though, it’ll be interesting to see how Bing and Google build out their smartphone offerings.
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Microsoft on Tuesday again abstained from naming which of its Windows programs, if any, contain bugs that could lead to widespread “DLL load hijacking” attacks. Also on Tuesday, the company published an automated tool to make it easier for users to block attacks exploiting vulnerabilities in a host of Windows applications.
We had a chance to check out Philips’ new GoGear Connect a few hours ago ahead of its IFA debut later this week, a brushed metal media player that pretty closely apes the Muse but adds a wee bit of girth, swaps in Android 2.1 for the proprietary OS, and adds a trackball down below. Interestingly, it’s got both a 3.2-megapixel camera and edge-mounted microphone on board, meaning that it’s basically just a GSM radio shy of being a full-on smartphone — but we digress: the point is that the Connect will be going head-to-head with the likes of the Galaxy S-inspired Samsung Yepp YP-MB2 and the new iPod touch for the hearts and minds of the dedicated PMP crowd this autumn. Read on for our impressions!
Gallery: Philips GoGear Connect hands-onContinue reading Philips GoGear Connect hands-onPhilips GoGear Connect hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Sep 2010 22:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | | Email this | Comments
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Since early June, CNET reporter Daniel Terdiman has posted a daily picture and tasked readers with identifying it. Now, with Road Trip 2010 completed, the daily challenge is going weekly. Please come back each Thursday.
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Forget the iTV name, the refreshed Apple TV is still called the Apple TV. But that’s about where the similarities end. The entire system from the form factor to the UI is different; even the entire concept is different. I think we can officially say Apple is taking the Apple TV and the whole streaming market seriously now. It’s no longer just a hobby despite what Steve says.
ARIAN SEMICONDUCTOR EQUIPMENT
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ASML HOLDING
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An anonymous tipster – we have reason to believe it was actually a Microsoft employee or contractor – just casually pointed us to a new promotional video that was published on one of the Redmond software giant’s YouTube channels.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock the past few weeks, or are the type of person that goes out and actually interacts with people in real life on a regular basis, you’ll immediately realize they are riding the coattails of the (awesome) ‘Double Rainbow’ meme.
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES (IBM)
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Facebook Places appears to be off to a strong start, with integration into services like Gowalla, Yelp, and SCVNGR. But it also has some pretty glaring omissions, namely the fact there’s not really a good way to do much with Places data from the browser. Now PlacePop, a startup that launched at our CrunchUp in July, has fixed that with a new Facebook application that gives you an overview of how you friends are using Facebook Places. You can access the new application right here.
The new application can best be described as a power user’s tool for Facebook Places. After connecting it with your account, you’ll see a dashboard offering an overview of your recent Places activity: data like your total checkins this week, the venues you check into most frequently, and how often your friends are checking in.
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Enerkem breaks ground on facility that plans to convert 100,000 tons of household trash a year into ethanol, diverting landfill and reducing emissions.
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The PlayStation Move. It’s funny to think just 15 months have passed since Sony first unveiled its motion controller, and now we’re mere weeks away from hitting the retail market. To be sure, it’s not like the company didn’t have waggle on the mind already — patents dating as far back as 2005 reveal as much, and of course the incredible success of Nintendo’s Wii proved there’s a market for more physically exerting gameplay. And it’s not just PlayStation; Microsoft’s got its controller-free Kinect motion camera system coming this November. So, in the year where all major game consoles now ask you to get off the couch and earn arm muscle, how does Move fare? Read on for more! Gallery: PlayStation Move reviewContinue reading PlayStation Move reviewPlayStation Move review originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Sep 2010 03:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | | Email this | Comments
NASA and the Internet Archive have agreed to bring historic photos related to the space organization to Flickr Commons.
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If you know what this is and where it’s located, you could win a prize in the CNET Road Trip Picture of the Day challenge.
AMERICA MOVIL
AMKOR TECHNOLOGY
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Sometimes it feels like the Military-Industrial Complex only exists to keep us entertained with tales of laser weapons and robots that eat enemy combatants — not that we’d complain if it did! And for today’s fantastical wargadget, we have nothing less than a flying Humvee. The Transformer TX project calls for four-man vehicle that drives like a jeep and then takes off to avoid roadside bombs (or impress the ladies). While DARPA has yet to say who will be awarded with the contract for the conceptual design stage of the project, Popular Mechanics has done some digging and it looks like Lockheed Martin and AAI Corp are both on the short list. While the former has declined to talk about its offering, AAI’s incorporates something called “slowed-rotor / compound,” where a rotor provides lift on takeoff, and when it achieves a certain speed wings take over. We’ll be waiting for our review unit, but in the meantime you can get a closer look after the break.Continue reading DARPA’s Transformer TX ‘flying Humvee’ project gets off the groundDARPA’s Transformer TX ‘flying Humvee’ project gets off the ground originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 Aug 2010 13:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink FOX News | Popular Mechanics | Email this | Comments
For months we’ve heard Apple was pitching Hollywood studios to adopt a 99-cent rental fee for TV shows. According to the Journal, Disney and Fox have signed on.
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CNET took a ride in the full flight simulator for Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner aircraft in Renton, Wash. Catch a glimpse of our virtual flight.
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It’s on like “Donkey Kong,” as the kids say.
Days after Microsoft’s lead attorney opened fire (rhetorically speaking) on Yahoo Japan’s selection of Google for its search and search ad technology, Microsoft announced it would take more concrete steps to scuttle the deal.
“We plan to present evidence to the Japanese FTC explaining why we believe that this deal is substantially more harmful to competition than Google’s deal with Yahoo in 2008 that the U.S. Dept. of Justice found to be illegal,” a Microsoft spokesperson told eWEEK in an e-mail July 30.
In a July 27 statement e-mailed to eWEEK, Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith argued that the Yahoo Japan deal “gives Google virtually 100 percent of all searches in Japan, both paid and unpaid.” For its part, Yahoo Japan has insisted that Google’s Japanese-language services currently outpace those of Microsoft.
Bing currently powers Yahoo’s back-end search in 59 countries, and Microsoft no doubt hopes that the major components of its search-and-advertising deal with the Web portal company–which will see Bing power search for all of Yahoo’s online properties, while Yahoo takes over worldwide sales force duties for both companies’ search advertisers–will be in place by the end of 2010.
But Yahoo only owns 35 percent of Yahoo Japan (according to Bloomberg), meaning the subsidiary can choose its vendors without mother-ship interference. Now, ordinarily, I’d caveat that statement with “in theory,” but Yahoo Japan CEO Masahiro Inoue seems determined to go his own road on this one; if the U.S. Yahoo tried to apply leverage before this situation erupted, it evidently didn’t work.
As I mentioned in my previous post on this, the brouhaha suggests that Microsoft may face a decidedly heavy battle in some markets as it tries to expand Bing’s international reach. The latest twist suggests that Microsoft is willing to use the tools at its disposal, including an army of lawyers, to make that happen; it’ll be interesting to see what happens when Redmond tries to face down an opponent with equally substantive cash flow and leverage.
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Remember Apple’s “Get A Mac” ads? They featured Justin Long as a Mac, and John Hodgman as a PC. Throughout a variety of 30-second spots, Mac demonstrated his superiority over fussy, buggy, increasingly frustrated PC:
During the late and unlamented Windows Vista era, those ads forced Microsoft on the defensive; not until the economic recession compelled PC buyers to give serious thought to cheaper devices (allowing Microsoft to score points with a series of ads emphasizing PCs’ ostensible cost-effectiveness), and Windows 7 negated many of the arguments about buggy Microsoft operating systems, did Redmond seem to find its public footing again. The last few “Get A Mac” ads, one of which tried to launch a broadside at Windows 7, were also the series’ weakest:
Now Microsoft’s reviving that old rivalry somewhat, with its PC vs. Mac Website. Some of the information presented here is accurate: Windows PCs really do have more gaming options than Macs, and there are some security advantages.
In other areas, however, Microsoft’s arguments are more subjective. “While some may say Macs are easy, the reality is that they can come with a learning curve,” insists one section. “PCs running Windows 7 look and work more like the computers you’re familiar with, so you can get up and running quickly.”
There are obvious differences between the respective user interfaces of Mac OS X and Windows 7, but anyone who uses one can learn the other fairly quickly. Does it take time? Sure. But I’ve also known technologically inept individuals who, having spent their working lives on Windows machines, were able to make the leap to Mac versatility in an afternoon. I use both operating systems, often side by side, for hours a day; the differences aren’t even close to insurmountably vast.
That aside, Microsoft shoots itself in the foot when it comes to the Website’s Compatibility section. “Apple’s productivity suite file formats won’t open in Microsoft Office on PCs,” this part claims. “This can be a real hassle for Mac users sharing work documents with PC users.”
I suppose that was true a decade ago. And maybe iWork has some compatibility issues, despite Apple’s insistence to the contrary, but I also don’t know a single Mac user who relies on it; everyone in that category uses either Office for Mac or Google Docs. By suggesting that documents created on a Mac are incompatible with a PC, Microsoft seems to be implicitly denigrating its own work in creating Apple software–but given how the company stands to profit more if someone purchases a Windows 7-equipped PC, as opposed to a Mac running Office, I’m sure that position was regarded as the lesser of two corporate evils.
In its public-facing communications, Microsoft likes to emphasize how consumers have a choice. For its part, Apple has a Webpage where it touts the benefits of Macs over PCs. Either way, I’m happy to see the discourse between the two companies has elevated itself above a kindergarten level.
TRIDENT MICROSYSTEMS
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In the water, we’re such natural swimmers that we sometimes forget what stroke we’re using to propel ourselves through that clear, chlorinated cocktail at the Y. If only we had the Finis Swimsense wrist-worn performance monitor that wouldn’t be a problem. Using internal motion sensors plus a little information from you (such as pool size) the thing can not only tell you how many laps you swam and at what pace, but how many strokes you took to get there and even what style you were using at the time. At the end of the day it’ll spit back total calories burned, which could help us identify just how many crullers we’re allowed to down during our apres-swim donut binges.The Swimsense is slated for release in time for stocking season this year, priced a penny under $200.Continue reading Finis Swimsense swimming performance monitor can tell a butterfly from a breaststrokeFinis Swimsense swimming performance monitor can tell a butterfly from a breaststroke originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 Aug 2010 09:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Finis | Email this | Comments
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The days of needing a desktop computer and a portable system may be numbered. Various hardware vendors appear to be working on dual-boot hybrid systems that will come loaded with two operating systems: a fat, full-featured desktop OS and a fast, lightweight mobile-oriented OS.
ADVANCED SEMICONDUCTOR ENGINEERING
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AMERICA MOVIL
Flexible thin-film solar modules are designed to be glued to flat commercial rooftops or integrated directly into roofing membrane materials.
PRICELINE.COM
QIMONDA
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RESEARCH IN MOTION
A new wave of App Store offerings, including Proloquo2Go, is gaining favor over clunky and uberexpensive devices for those with communication disorders–and making assistive technology cool.
Are you the warden of a small-town prison, or perhaps an irate movie theater usher who’s sick of ungrateful patrons interrupting Step Up 3D because they can’t be bothered to turn of their handsets? Cellphone jamming is, for the most part, still out of the question, so Berkeley Varitronics has introduced a little something called the Wolfhound. Previously known as the Bloodhound, the device lets you hone in on RF signals, which means it won’t help you if phones are powered down, but if your perp has one on standby, or if they’re talking, texting, or surfing the web, you’re golden. Interested? Of course you are! Hit the company up for a price quote — but not before checking the video after the break.Continue reading Wolfhound sniffs out inmates’ cellphones much better than an actual wolfhound would (video)Wolfhound sniffs out inmates’ cellphones much better than an actual wolfhound would (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 Aug 2010 16:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink Gearlog | BV Systems | Email this | Comments
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PR firm Reverb is settling with government over charges that its employees posed as customers to write fake game reviews on iTunes. Originally posted at News – Politics and Law
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We’ve seen these kinds of Verizon launch decks before, so we tend to believe the September 8 date we’re seeing for the Fascinate here is legit — granted, Wednesday is an odd day to launch a phone, but not a lot weirder than the Thursday, September 9 date we’d had before. Either way, it’s looking like a sure thing that we’re going to see this on shelves come next week, completing Sammy’s impressive four-way coup to get its high-end Galaxy S line launched on all of the US nationals. Like the Droid 2 and Droid X, the Fascinate will feature Blockbuster Mobile to let you download full-length movies on the go — in other words, that’s a feature that won’t be a Droid brand exclusive — and Bing search will be installed out of the box, giving Microsoft a fun little foothold in Google’s kingdom. So, who’s buying? And while we’re on the subject, why isn’t this thing called the “Droid Fascinate?”
[Thanks, Bryan]Samsung Fascinate launching on September 8? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 Aug 2010 17:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Android Does | Email this | Comments
With Apple’s fall music event coming up in days, technophiles are busy tossing around speculation on what will be announced. So, what’s the most sure bet? Originally posted at Crave
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In a sign that supply may have finally caught up with demand, Apple’s tablet is now heading out the door within 24 hours of order placement.
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Between online video, DVRs, and on-demand cable the amount of time people spend watching live TV (you know, with all of those commercials that advertisers spend $70 billion a year on) is shrinking fast. Only 52 percent of American’s viewing time is spent on live TV compared to online and time-shifting alternatives, according to a new survey of 1,000 American consumers by market research firm Morpace. And that percentage decreases the younger the audience, with the key 18-to-34-year-old demographic watching live TV only 41 percent of the time, versus 64 percent of the time for those 55 and older.
The alternatives to live TV are growing and basic cable is under assault, but no one single competing technology is taking over. People watch DVDs 14 percent of the time, online (including streaming video from services like Netflix) 13 percent of the time, saved programs on their DVRs 12 percent, and on-demand cable 6 percent. The survey breaks down online viewing into video from online sources like YouTube (9 percent) and streaming video from services like Netflix and Hulu (4 percent). For 18-to-34-year-olds, online video makes up 16 percent of their viewing time, and streaming video makes up another 7 percent.
LAM RESEARCH
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LM ERICSSON
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Workers who can’t browse certain websites or access particular networks at the office are voicing their complaints, senior IT leaders say. Among 1,400 CIOs surveyed by Robert Half Technology, 12 percent said it is “very common” and 29 percent said it is “somewhat common” for employees to complain about IT security measures that limit their access to certain websites or networks. (Also see the tech debate: Social network sites: Block or not?)
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Intertrust Technologies Corporation, a company that develops and and licenses technologies and intellectual property for digital rights management (DRM), has moved to acquire the assets of media search service Seeqpod.
Intertrust, which holds over 150 patents and has offices in Silicon Valley, London and Beijing, announced this morning that it has purchased all software and patents developed by Seeqpod via Chapter 7 Bankruptcy proceeding. Intertrust – former by Sony and Philips in partnership with Stephens Bank – has however not acquired the domain names used by the company.
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It’s time for this week’s episode of OMG/JK, the TechCrunch TV show that features fellow TC writer MG Siegler and myself discussing the top stories in tech.
In this episode we cover the integration of Gmail with Google Voice (which is awesome), the launch of Digg 4 (finally), and a peek into our crystal ball to weigh in on next week’s Apple event (MG is already prepping his double rainbow reaction to whatever Steve Jobs holds up). We also take a second look at Facebook Places, which we discussed at length last week.
Here are some links relevant to the stories we discuss this week:
Google Voice Integrated Into Gmail. Make And Receive Calls From The Browser
Digg?s Kevin Rose: ?One Of Us Has To Leave?
Java founder James Gosling’s campaign for a “free” Java has extended to offering a line of T-shirts and other merchandise.
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This isn’t tech related, other than the fact that I’m writing this post 20,000 or so feet in the air thanks to Gogo on Virgin Flight VX746 from San Francisco to Seattle. But if I’m going to rightly trash Delta for their atrocious behavior on a recent set of flights then it is only fair that I give a high five when I see an airline fail to fail its customers.
Virgin and Southwest Airlines tend to have happier employees, and that translates to a much better customer experience. I’ve found Jet Blue and Alaska to also be decent, but with occasional flaws. None of them are perfect, but it sure feels nice to be on a flight where common empathy isn’t nonexistent.
Case in point – I had just boarded the flight with my carry on luggage (the luggage that Delta says is too big, but Virgin seems not to mind). I was just about last on again, and even up in first class the luggage racks were mostly full. A women in coach with a violin came up and asked a flight attendant if she could find space for her instrument. Because the last thing you want to do is put an extremely fragile violin into the vagaries of the mysteriously brutal checked luggage system.
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Yahoo Japan has apparently agreed to use Google for its back-end search and advertising system, according to online reports. For Microsoft, the news must be something of an unexpected blow, considering that its 10-year search-and-advertising agreement with Yahoo is currently in the midst of implementation; although Yahoo’s U.S. corporate mother ship only owns about 35 percent of Yahoo Japan (says Bloomberg), you’d think that the sheer magnitude of the agreement would be enough to sway even the most recalcitrant franchise into preemptively jumping onboard the Bing wagon, right? Right?
Wrong, I guess.
“At the present time, we feel there are quite a few areas where Microsoft is not yet ready,” Yahoo Japan Chief Executive Masahiro Inoue told the media during a news conference in Tokyo, according to The New York Times. “Google is one step ahead in Japanese-language services.”
For its part, Microsoft seems furious.
“This agreement is even more anti-competitive than Google’s deal with Yahoo in the United States and Canada that the Department of Justice found to be illegal,” Brad Smith, Microsoft’s general counsel, said in a statement currently drifting around the Web. “The 2008 deal would have locked up 90 percent of paid search advertising. This deal gives Google virtually 100 percent of all searches in Japan, both paid and unpaid.”
Under the terms of the search-and-advertising agreement, Bing will power back-end search for Yahoo’s online properties, while Yahoo takes over worldwide sales force duties for both companies’ search advertisers. Microsoft’s AdCenter platform will power search advertising for Yahoo, as well. Both the U.S. Department of Justice and the European Commission cleared the agreement in February.
Microsoft likely hopes that the deal will result in Yahoo’s search-engine market share porting over to Bing with relatively little attrition. But this brouhaha with Yahoo Japan suggests two things: a.) Yahoo’s global presence is too fractured, with too many other players possibly owning their own little pieces, to make such a transition uniform, and b.) Microsoft may face a very steep uphill battle as it tries to increase Bing’s market presence into new international markets.
Fear Godzilla’s mighty roar!
TRIQUINT SEMICONDUCTOR
TRIMBLE NAVIGATION LIMITED
TRIDENT MICROSYSTEMS
TRANSACTION SYSTEMS ARCHITECTS
TOTAL SYSTEM SERVICES
Sounds Beginnings lets pregnant women wrap waterproof speakers in a fabric band around their bellies and play voices and music right into the womb.
TELETECH HOLDINGS
TECHNITROL
TAKE-TWO INTERACTIVE SOFTWARE
SYNTEL
SYNTAX-BRILLIAN
“Publishers are all cohorts of the devil.
There must be a special hell for them somewhere.”
- Goethe
If I were a commissioning editor in a major publishing house, I?d be feeling a little unloved right now. Like the wife of a guy who runs over his neighbour?s cat: why does everyone hate me? What did I do?
Maybe hate is too strong a word: hate is when you hope that someone will burst into flames and die. The current feeling towards publishers isn’t quite that: no one wants them to combust – it’s just that, well, they wouldn’t urinate on them if it happened.
VERISIGN
VERIFONE HOLDINGS
VEECO INSTRUMENTS
VARIAN SEMICONDUCTOR EQUIPMENT ASSOCIATES
UNITED ONLINE
For the seventh consecutive year, fake e-mails are filling up in-boxes around the world warning that on August 27, Mars will approach Earth and grow to the size of a full moon.
CANON
CDW
CHINA MOBILE
CISCO SYSTEMS
COGNIZANT TECH. SOLUTIONS
It is now roughly 40-plus years since Richard Stallman released his text editor with the words “Emacs General Public License” in the documentation and 20 some years since the world first saw the phrase “GNU General Public License.” Back in those days, finding the best open source software was relatively simple. There was Emacs, and then came vi. Choosing between them was never easy, and many still argue over the best editor.
IKON OFFICE SOLUTIONS
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HEWLETT PACKARD CO
Recently Nike — a shoe company that seems to enjoy a side dish of tech from time to time — challenged 78 artists to “hack” its shoes and come up with something decidedly different than your typical Air Force Ones. Now, a lot of the projects were more art and less tech, but that can’t be said for entrant Nick Marsh’s contribution to the experiment. The designer fused the internals of a Wii Balance Board with a pair of Air Maxes to create a gaming experience that may not be nuanced, but certainly seems capable of making you break a sweat. According to Nick, games are played exactly as they would have been previously, but since you can’t step of the board, you’re required to lift your foot or sit down when you need to back off on the pressure. Nick finished the project in April, but it sounds like a slightly more polished version could be in the offing. Check out a quick video of the shoes in action after the break, and hit the source for a slew of pics.Continue reading Nike Air Maxes get a Wii Balance Board infusionNike Air Maxes get a Wii Balance Board infusion originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Aug 2010 11:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink DVICE | Nick Marsh | Email this | Comments
LAM RESEARCH
LIBERTY GLOBAL
LM ERICSSON
LOGITECH INTERNATIONAL
MEMC ELECTRONIC MATERIALS
Offering Windows developers an alternative to Microsoft’s rival Silverlight rich Internet technology, SapphireSteel Software on Monday is releasing an IDE providing Adobe Flash capabilities for Microsoft’s Visual Studio software development platform.
GOOGLE
GRUPO IUSACELL
HARRIS
HCL TECHNOLOGIES
HEWLETT-PACKARD
One of the big problems with drug and prostitution transactions is that they tend to involve a lot of cash, and cash is hard to launder. Taking credit card payments has never been easier via Square, which lets anyone swipe credit cards with their iPhone.
Sure, it leaves one heck of a paper trail, but you have to wonder if at least a few of those person to person transactions aren’t being done via that sexy startup. I certainly have.
TAKE-TWO INTERACTIVE SOFTWARE
SYNTEL
SYNTAX-BRILLIAN
SYNOPSYS
SYNNEX
The hybrid supermini, to debut at the Paris Motor Show, will borrow most of its propulsion technology from its Honda Insight big brother. Originally posted at Crave
LEXMARK INTERNATIONAL
LEVEL 3 COMMUNICATIONS
LAWSON SOFTWARE
LAND SOFTWARE
LAM RESEARCH
Road Trip 2010: Each year, CNET reporter Daniel Terdiman gets the chance to test out Apple’s latest over several thousands of miles of driving. This year, that meant the iPhone 4, the iPad 3G, and the latest 13-inch MacBook Pro.
VIEWSONIC
VERISIGN
VERIFONE HOLDINGS
VEECO INSTRUMENTS
VARIAN SEMICONDUCTOR EQUIPMENT ASSOCIATES
Some may get crushes on Hollywood stars. Some get crushes on blue, fictional Aliens. Sarah gets crushes on countries. And right now she is obsessed with Kenya. The closest she?s been is Rwanda, but at Cape Town?s Net Prophet conference last spring, several speakers made a compelling case for why Kenya– not South Africa–was the up-and-coming African tech hot spot to watch.
One of those making the argument was Stefan Magdalinski, well known in the UK as founder of Upmystreet.com and former CTO of Moo, but who last year who relocated to Africa to run Nairobi-based Mocality.
We decided?in part to shut Sarah up about Kenya?to invite Magdalinski to come on ?Why Is This News?? and talk about why he left the cozy confines of London and whether the Kenya-hype is justified. [SPOILER ALERT: Sarah is planning a trip to Kenya.]
NETGEAR
NCR
NATIONAL SEMICONDUCTOR
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MOTOROLA
SAP and Sybase officials gathered in Boston on Thursday to reveal how they plan to bring together their respective technologies in the areas of mobility, analytics, and enterprise information management.
NVIDIA
NUANCE COMMUNICATIONS
NOVELLUS SYSTEMS
NOVELL
NETWORK APPLIANCE
Microsoft’s Internet Explorer turns 15 years old this week. It’s hard to think of a software application that’s found itself at the center of more sector-changing drama: in addition to the seemingly never-ending browser wars, remember (how could we forget?) that the bundling of Internet Explorer with Windows was the fulcrum for the landmark United States v. Microsoft antitrust case.Given its outsized position in peoples’ Web lives–despite strong challenges from Firefox and Google Chrome, IE retains a lion’s share of the browser market–it’s easy to forget the browser’s tiny stature upon its release in August 1995. At 1MB in size, and incapable of displaying graphics or newsgroups, Internet Explorer 1.0 could be forgiven for seeming like an afterthought; it came installed as part of the Internet Jumpstart Kit (subsequently Internet Connection Wizard), itself part of the Windows 95 Plus! Pack.IE descended from an early Web browser named Mosaic, whose source code Microsoft licensed from a small company named Spyglass–which later filed a lawsuit over loss of royalties, once Redmond started giving away IE for free.From that point on, though, the browser grew in complexity. The final version of IE 2.0, released in November 1995, supported newsgroups, cookies, Javascript, frames and the SSL (Secure Socket Layer). A little under a year later, Internet Explorer 3 featured support for .gifs and .jpg files, as well as MIDI sound files and streaming audio. By the time Internet Explorer 4 rolled around in 1997, the browser included another layer of multimedia features (Web Publishing Wizard, where are you now?)In 1998, Microsoft found itself faced with antitrust action over the bundling of its Web browser with Windows. Microsoft argued that browser and operating system were mutually dependent, and eventually reached a settlement with the Department of Justice in 2001. But the case’s effects continue to reverberate, in subtle ways; Microsoft executives’ continual use of the word “choice” when describing any new initiative (“we realize customers have a choice”) is one of those, I suspect.Even with the publicity surrounding antitrust case, though, Internet Explorer continued to hold a dominant market position (Netscape had been thoroughly pulverized by that point). It was only until the rise of Firefox, along with challenges from Google Chrome and other browsers, that IE’s share has been seriously threatened.Then again, not that threatened–at least, not yet. Net Applications estimated IE’s July market share at 60.74 percent, an increase from June’s 60.32 percent. At the same time, the analysis firm estimated Firefox’s share at 22.91 percent, Chrome at 7.16 percent, Safari at 5.09 percent, and Opera at 2.45 percent.If IE’s own history proves anything, though, it’s that things change. Microsoft will launch its public beta of Internet Explorer 9 on Sept. 15, in a high-profile event in San Francisco; their hope is that the browser’s improvements–which reportedly include speedier browser performance, greater compatibility and compliance with standards, and enhanced HTML5 support–will allow it to retain that market share for some time to come.
The days of needing a desktop computer and a portable system may be numbered. Various hardware vendors appear to be working on dual-boot hybrid systems that will come loaded with two operating systems: a fat, full-featured desktop OS and a fast, lightweight mobile-oriented OS.
JDS UNIPHASE
JDA SOFTWARE GROUP
JACK HENRY & ASSOCIATES
IXYS
ITRON
Java founder James Gosling’s campaign for a “free” Java has extended to offering a line of T-shirts and other merchandise.
UNITED ONLINE
UNISYS
TRIQUINT SEMICONDUCTOR
TRIMBLE NAVIGATION LIMITED
TRIDENT MICROSYSTEMS
Amazon’s third major iteration of its flagship reading device, the Kindle, comes out of the gate looking strong: the new graphite finish (just like its big brother, the Kindle DX) with a slimmer, lighter form factor, plus a bumped refresh rate for its E Ink screen. Best of all, the WiFi only and 3G readers have newly lowered prices (though they’re still not exactly bargain basement level). We’ve spent the past few days putting the tinier Kindle through the paces to see just how much Amazon’s improved it. Though the market is increasingly flooded with cheap readers, the Kindle is arguably still the leading name in the field, and Amazon is already touting the third model as its bestselling ever — even though there are still no sales figures to be had. So, is this the best Kindle ever? Read on to find out.
Gallery: Amazon Kindle unboxing and hands-onContinue reading Amazon Kindle review (2010)Amazon Kindle review (2010) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Aug 2010 13:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | | Email this | Comments
EARTHLINK
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DISCOVER FINANCIAL SERVICES
DIODES INORATED
DIEBOLD
Sure, there are any number of phones with dual SIM card slots, most of them built for Asian markets, but the iPhone 4 is about the furthest thing from dual SIM: in fact, it doesn’t even have one Big Person SIM to call its own. Luckily, USBFever has a hacktastic solution to this problem (a followup to their iPhone 3G version), with a new $30 case that can host dual full size SIM cards on the back of an iPhone 4 (entombed in some classy clear plastic, naturally), while running an adapter to the iPhone 4’s micro SIM slot. You can then switch between the two SIMs from the iPhone’s own settings menu, though unfortunately you can’t rock both SIMs simultaneously. Looking for a more DIY approach? Bust out your X-Acto and check out our SIM resizing guide!Dual SIM iPhone 4 case gives your multiple personality disorder a new lease on life originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Aug 2010 15:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | USBFever | Email this | Comments
It looks like that Xerox IP isn’t the only thing Steve Jobs appropriated for Apple. Here he is in all his chubby 1997 glory, introducing the TBWA/Chiat Day produced “Think Different” campaign with an unattributed quote from poet Jack Kerouac, “People who think they are crazy enough to change the world, are the ones who actually do.” What’s most jarring about this video is the chasm between what Jobs holds as Apple’s core values in 1997 and those of the patent hungry-monopoly that is the Apple of today. As one commenter pointed out: “Think different… as long as we approve your application for download on the app store.” Or, unless you’re Adobe.
MEMC ELECTRONIC MATERIALS
MICROSOFT
MILLICOM INTL. CELLULAR
MOBILE TELESYSTEMS
NANYA TECHNOLOGY
We’ve written about Fanvibe (formerly FanPulse) a few times because they do a nice job mixing some of the hottest elements of the web these days (tweets, check-ins, gaming elements) with sports. And now we’re about to enter the peak time for sports in the U.S. with the NFL season about to kickoff. With that in mind, the guys behind Fanvibe have come up with a new football-specific iPhone app called TweetQB.
The idea is as simple as can be: you load up the app and you see a list of all the current NFL games. If the games are currently in progress, you see an up-to-date score. If they have yet to start, you’ll see when they do. Clicking on any of these matchups takes you to a screen filled with tweets about that specific game. From here, you can respond to any of these tweets, or start tweeting yourself.
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Now we don’t have much more to go on here than some analyst chatter and a lengthy article from TechCrunch, but if you believe what you read, a major player has just dropped Windows Phone 7 devices from its roadmap. And that player is Dell. According to Jonathan Goldberg, an telecom analyst at Deutsche Bank, the only remaining partners currently working on Windows Phone 7 handsets are HTC, Samsung, and LG. If this is true (and that’s a big if), that means that the seriously awesome looking Dell Lightning that we spied in leaks recently will never see the light of day — as a WP7 device, at least.
We already knew that HP was out of the game (instead focusing on webOS phones), but the casual suggestion that Dell has made for the door here is somewhat suspect. The company itself hasn’t made any statements (we’ve reached out but have yet to hear back), and while Dell has certainly concentrated a lot of effort on Android devices recently, its partnership with Microsoft is long-standing (despite dabbling in the world of open source). If the story turns out to be true, it could spell mixed (if not outright bad) tidings for the Windows Phone 7 launch, which Goldberg alleges may cost Microsoft upwards of half a billion dollars — no small fee. Losing two of the biggest computer-makers in the world can’t feel very good when you’re trying to fight your way back to relevancy, but at least on the bright side, neither HP nor Dell have a track record of making anything other than heroically mediocre handsets. Take this all with a grain of salt right now, however, as the author of the TechCrunch article provides no source for the statements from Goldberg, and… well, he’s an analyst, and they’re prone to making up all kinds of crazy things. We’re investigating, and will let you know as soon as we have more info.
Update: We’ve been pinged back by Dell’s Matt Parretta, and he was 100 percent clear that Dell was most certainly still part of the Windows Phone 7 game. In the company’s words:
Any reports, or speculation, that report Dell will not support Windows Phone 7 are false… Microsoft announced Dell as a supporting partner at this year’s Mobile World Congress and nothing’s changed. We are excited to collaborate with Microsoft on Windows Phone 7, and are looking forward to bringing customers amazing mobile experiences.
Furthermore, the analyst in question here (Jonathan Goldberg) has also reached out to us to clarify his statements, saying that he believes Dell is still a partner on Windows Phone 7, just not a launch partner. Dell was mum on release schedules, but one thing is clear — they intend to follow through on this collaboration.Dell dropping Windows Phone 7 devices from its roadmap? (update: Dell responds, is definitely still in the game) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Aug 2010 10:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink Business Insider | TechCrunch | Email this | Comments
MICROCHIP TECHNOLOGY
METHODE ELECTRONICS
MENTOR GRAPHICS
MCAFEE
MAXIMUS
Um, oops? ATI’s latest Catalyst driver release has dished out some info that we imagine the company didn’t want to reveal quite yet. The names of some Southern Islands have been spotted — Cayman and Antilles appear to be the flagship chips — suggesting a refresh to the critically acclaimed Evergreen line of GPUs may not be far off. Rumors have been swirling for a while about ATI’s reputed shift to island-based nomenclature, and while hard specs are nowhere to be found, we can see that the Red Team is planning an overhaul with no less than 10 new additions to its roster. Hardly unpredictable, but good to know that ATI has something to counter NVIDIA’s heart-stealing GTX 460.
[Thanks, Jack]ATI leaks out Southern Islands codenames for next-gen GPUs originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Aug 2010 04:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink Fudzilla | VR-Zone | Email this | Comments
AMAZON.COM
AMERICA MOVIL
AMKOR TECHNOLOGY
AMPHENOL
ANIXTER INTERNATIONAL
Last fall Zynga sued rival gaming developer Playdom (recently acquired by Disney) for an array of issues including misappropriation of trade secrets, breach of contract, and breach of the duty of loyalty.
In short Zynga accused Playdom of stealing its confidential ‘Zynga Playbook’.
The case continues, but the drama has reached its peak. The court today held one former Zynga and Playdom employee, Raymond Holmes, in contempt and sentenced him to ten days in county jail and a $4,000 fine. Fortunately for Holmes, Judge Mark Pierce then suspended the sentence. That means Holmes won’t do the time unless he continues to, well, piss off Judge Pierce. The full order is embedded below.
Chemists say breakthrough could one day lead to device for collecting electricity from the atmosphere for energy use, prevention of lightning.
LM ERICSSON
LOGITECH INTERNATIONAL
MEMC ELECTRONIC MATERIALS
MICROSOFT
MILLICOM INTL. CELLULAR
The dividing line between computer monitor and HDTV grows ever thinner. Samsung is announcing two new series of multi-function monitors, displays that handle the computing you need with sizes ranging from 21.5- to 24-inches, 1920 x 1080 worth of pixels, and a response time of 5ms. But, they also handle the entertainment you want, with HDTV tuners, built-in speakers, and even remote controls. The $420, 24-inch 90 Series offers LED-backlighting and a retina-punishing 5,000,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, while the 21.5-, 23-, and 24-inch 30 Series makes do with a paltry 70,000:1 dynamic ratio at prices ranging from $270 to $330. All these genre-benders are shipping now, perfect for your dorm room escapades.Continue reading Samsung 90 and 30 series LCDs work hard as computer monitors, play hard as 1080p HDTVsSamsung 90 and 30 series LCDs work hard as computer monitors, play hard as 1080p HDTVs originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Aug 2010 07:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | | Email this | Comments
MICROSEMI
MICROS SYSTEMS
MICRON TECHNOLOGY
MICROCHIP TECHNOLOGY
METHODE ELECTRONICS
A federal program to encourage economic activity in green technologies has not yet yielded the volume of fast-track patent applications as expected.
ADVANCED SEMICONDUCTOR ENGINEERING
ALLIANCE DATA SYSTEMS
ALLTEL
AMAZON.COM
AMERICA MOVIL
Microsoft’s big plan is to launch the public beta of Internet Explorer 9 on Sept. 15, at a high-profile event in San Francisco. While the browser’s features–including speedier browser performance, greater compatibility and compliance with standards, and enhanced HTML5 support–are well-known among the developer community by this point, there’s been precious little info about how IE 9 will actually look.
Until now, perhaps. That’s because a Microsoft Russia site might have accidentally posted a screenshot of IE 9’s interface. Mary Jo Foley over at All About Microsoft seems to have spotted the image first, before a site administrator yanked it down, and posted it on her blog along with a machine translation of the accompanying text:
If the image is authentic, and that text a reflection of the final product, then IE 9 will include a streamlined navigation panel with a merged search/address bar, as well as Firefox-style tabs that can “rip away” to become new windows. To me, at least, the interface feels quite a bit like Google Chrome.
What do you think?
SILICON LABORATORIES
SI INTERNATIONAL
SEAGATE TECHNOLOGY
SCIENTIFIC GAMES
SANDISK
If you have an iPhone, this experience may be familiar: Your phone shows only a bar or two, and either you can’t make a call or the call you do make is so scratchy and garbled that the person you’re calling can’t understand what you’re saying. Meanwhile, right next to you, someone on a different AT&T phone connects without a hitch and chats away happily. I decided to informally test whether there’s a solid basis for that common gripe.
HYNIX SEMICONDUCTOR
INFOSYS TECHNOLOGIES
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES
INVENTEC
KDDI
What now, Verizon? We kid, we kid — regional player MetroPCS’ bid to become the first American carrier to launch a commercial LTE network won’t likely have much bearing on the competitive landscape, but that doesn’t make it any less impressive. We’d already known on the record that the company was on track for a launch before the end of 2010, but Samsung — which is producing MetroPCS’ inaugural 4G handset, the Craft — is now saying on no uncertain terms that they’re ready to flip the switch in the service’s first two commercial markets, Dallas and Las Vegas, next month. Interestingly, MetroPCS won’t confirm Samsung’s statement, so we suspect Sammy just blew the lid off this thing before MetroPCS was ready. Whoops! Service pricing — and device availability beyond the Craft — both remain to be seen.Samsung: MetroPCS launching LTE service next month originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Aug 2010 09:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink GSMA Mobile Business Briefing | Wall Street Journal | Email this | Comments
FEI COMPANY
FAIRCHILD SEMICONDUCTOR INTERNATIONAL
FAIR ISAAC
FACTSET RESEARCH SYSTEMS
F5 NETWORKS
Following on the heels of a European team’s discovery of a distant solar system with up to seven planets, a NASA spacecraft, using a different detection technique, finds another multiplanet system.
INFORMATICA
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IMS HEALTH
IMATION .
IKON OFFICE SOLUTIONS
Microsoft employees will apparently be given free Windows Phone 7 smartphones, according to staffer Tweets escaping from Microsoft Global Exchange, the company’s annual sales conference (Mary Jo Foley tweeted about it first). Gizmodo’s also posted an internal e-mail purportedly from Andy Lees, senior vice president of Microsoft’s Mobile Communications Business, with additional details:”I am thrilled to announce that a new Windows Phone 7 will be made available to every Microsoft employee as we launch in each market around the world. The process will vary based on your market, your carrier and your launch date so stay tuned for more information closer to launch.”This is exactly what you’d expect, no? Apple employees walk around campus with the iPhone, Google employees have a tendency to whip out their Android in meetings, so it stands to reason that Microsoft staffers would follow suit.I’ve expended a lot of digital ink on the question of whether Windows Phone 7 will succeed. But this week’s earnings numbers from both Apple and Microsoft make the stakes of that success all too clear. On the strength of its mobile devices–the iPhone and the iPad in particular–Apple posted quarterly revenues of $15.7 billion… while analysts predict that Microsoft, with much of its energies still focused on the desktop, will post revenues of $15.27 billion (the earnings call takes place at 5:30 EST).Microsoft knows it needs to diversify into the cloud and mobile–its Worldwide Partner Conference last week devoted substantial amounts of time to both. If Windows Phone 7 succeeds beyond expectations, then Microsoft will have another robust vertical to supplement Windows 7 and the other flagship software that support its current revenue model. If it fails, then Microsoft will find itself trapped in its old paradigm, at least in the short- to medium term; while the company has a number of cloud initiatives, none have translated into awe-inspiring cash flow. (So many heads would roll in the event of a Phone 7 meltdown, it would make the recent restructuring in the Entertainment & Devices Division look like a haircut by comparison.)Being trapped in the old paradigm is, frankly, unacceptable. Microsoft knows this. Giving its 88,000+ employees a Windows Phone 7 is a no-brainer; the next step is seeing whether it can convince a few million outsiders to put down cash for the privilege.
With all the recent excitement over touch screens, it’s sometimes easy to overlook that the mouse remains essentially unchanged from Ye Olden Days of the Reagan era. Sure, they’ve gotten more ergonomically inclined, with new inputs such as scroll wheels and third buttons; but a time-traveler from the 1980s would have no trouble recognizing and using one.The mouse’s current evolution, it seems, centers on making it more touch-centric than ever. Look at Apple’s Magic Mouse, with a multitouch surface that allows for scrolls, swipes and zooms. Then there’s Microsoft’s Arc Touch Mouse, images of which recently appeared on a German shopping Website. Microsoft’s not making anything official, but if the rumors prove true, the mouse includes some features that would give Sonny Crockett a severe case of future shock: touch-scrolling, a 2.4GHz nano transceiver and the ability to flatten its regular arched shape for easier transport.The mouse’s page on that German Website has already been taken down, but Engadget managed to snatch some screenshots ahead of the deletion. Slashgear’s also posted a supposed marketing image, which has the Arc Touch Mouse looking like a black plastic inchworm.Rumors peg the mouse’s price at $69.95, and its release date sometime during the fall (soon, in any case). Personally, aside from the coolness factor, I don’t see the point of a mouse that can alternatively curve or flatten–I know some people would rather use a mouse with their laptops, and carry one along on trips; but I didn’t figure enough of them out there to justify that sort of engineering decision. In any case, it’s a differentiator.Given how that silver strip bifurcates the top of the mouse into two black “tabs,” I’m guessing this is a two-button mouse in the tradition of previous Microsoft offerings. Does a finger-swipe on that strip activate the touch scrolling? I’m thinking maybe; it’s certainly positioned in the same place as a traditional scroll wheel. I’m curious about whether this follows in the steps of the Magic Mouse, with a multitouch surface, or if we’re dealing with old-fashioned mechanical buttons.Either way, Microsoft will likely make an announcement soon. For your viewing pleasure, here’s one of the snatched box shots that’s been drifting around the Interwebs:
Micro Focus this week announced the 2010 releases of SilkTest and SilkCentral Test Manager, which boast integration between the former Borland application lifecycle management (ALM) products and development platforms from Microsoft and Eclipse.
Apple is giving authors a new tool that will allow them to create books in the ePub format. This will allow users to add books to Apple’s iBooks store application.
VISHAY INTERTECHNOLOGY
VIRGIN MEDIA
VIEWSONIC
VERISIGN
VERIFONE HOLDINGS
A child-size humanoid bot with a face inspired by comics is being used to teach interaction skills to kids who may lack an instinctive understanding of social cues.
CYPRESS SEMICONDUCTOR
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ADOBE SYSTEMS
ADVANCED SEMICONDUCTOR ENGINEERING
Welcome to Engadget’s Back to School guide! We know that this time of year can be pretty annoying and stressful for everyone, so we’re here to help out with the heartbreaking process of gadget buying for the school-aged crowd. On the menu today are a handful of fun yet practical gadgets, but feel free to check out our Back to School hub for more recommendations in other categories.
It’s a tough road ahead for aspiring students like yourself (yes, you!), but that doesn’t mean one should abstain from any form of entertainment throughout the course. If anything, you’ll be needing a few fun gadgets from our Back to School guide to impress your schoolmates — it’s not like your Facebook page will be automagically adding friends any time soon. But as the old saying goes, “work hard, play hard,” so we’ve also thrown in a few picks that’ll aid your study. When you’re ready, click along for our latest list of awesomeness.Continue reading Engadget’s back to school guide: Fun Stuff!Engadget’s back to school guide: Fun Stuff! originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Aug 2010 14:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | | Email this | Comments
Sun is the king of unpatched software vulnerabilities followed closely by Microsoft and Mozilla, according to the mid-year security report by IBM’s X-Force.
HCL TECHNOLOGIES
HEWLETT-PACKARD
HIGH TECH COMPUTER
HON HAI PRECISION IND.
HYNIX SEMICONDUCTOR
It’s that time again, the Engadget Show is back in a big way tomorrow, August 27th at 8pm! First up, Josh is sitting down with Samsung Chief Strategy Officer Omar Khan to chat up the company’s recent Android sprint, then Engadget’s investigative correspondent Rick Karr is back to scale a skyscraper and check up on an AT&T team tasked with improving New York’s data infrastructure. Next up, Josh and Paul welcome fellow editor Joanna Stern back to the roundtable and we’ve got an exclusive live demo of Rock Band 3, plus a special Harmonix surprise… oh, and be ready to rock out to mind numbing chiptunes music, since Zen Albatross and invaderbacca are back for an encore performance! You were wondering about giveaways? You’re in luck, because this time we’ll be giving away, not one, but four Samsung Galaxy S phones! Yep, we’re talking about four phones, on four different carriers. And if that isn’t enough, we’re also giving away an insane laptop rig from AMD, featuring the HP Envy 17 Eyefinity laptop and three (count em!) HP ZR24w 24″ S-IPS Pro LCD monitors! Whatever you do, don’t miss this one! As usual, we’ll be doing the giveaways at the live show only, so make the trek and join us at The Times Center in person. If you’re geographically incapable of joining us in New York City, just tune into the stream at right here on Engadget.
The Engadget Show is sponsored by Sprint, and will take place at the Times Center, part of The New York Times Building in the heart of New York City at 41st St. between 7th and 8th Avenues (see map after the break). Tickets are — as always — free to anyone who would like to attend, but seating is limited, and tickets will be first come, first served… so get there early! Here’s all the info you need:
There is no admission fee — tickets are completely free
The event is all ages
Ticketing will begin at the Times Center at 5:30PM on Friday, doors will open for seating at 7:30PM, and the show begins at 8PM
You cannot collect tickets for friends or family — anyone who would like to come must be present to get a ticket
Seating capacity in the Times Center is about 340, and once we’re full, we’re full
The venue is located at 41st St. between 7th and 8th Avenues in New York City (map after the break)
The show length is around an hour
If you’re a member of the media who wishes to attend, please contact us at: engadgetshowmedia [at] engadget [dot] com, and we’ll try to accommodate you. All other non-media questions can be sent to: engadgetshow [at] engadget [dot] com.
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Continue reading The Engadget Show returns tomorrow, with Samsung CSO Omar Khan, Rock Band 3, crazy giveaways, and much more!The Engadget Show returns tomorrow, with Samsung CSO Omar Khan, Rock Band 3, crazy giveaways, and much more! originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Aug 2010 17:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | | Email this | Comments
LEVEL 3 COMMUNICATIONS
LAWSON SOFTWARE
LAND SOFTWARE
LAM RESEARCH
L-1 IDENTITY SOLUTIONS
I’ve been reading up on Facebook’s most recently filed lawsuit, and the more I learn, the more the whole ordeal aggravates me.
As you may have heard, the social networking juggernaut has decided to sue a fledgling startup called Teachbook, which is preparing to launch an online community for teachers, over the word ‘book’ in their name.
Greg Shrader, managing partner of Teachbook, told Wired that it doesn’t plan to be bullied into changing its name without a fight.
In his words: ?They?re throwing bombs at a mosquito. They believe we?re going to roll over and in some respect they get to own the term ?book.??
Harrison Krix understands if you don’t remember his name. After all, your mind can’t be expected to retain information when you’ve just seen the spectacular Portal gun and Daft Punk helmet the man has already authored. Latest on his hitlist is an homage to the awesomeness that is Mass Effect. Employing mostly leftover bits from previous projects and $28’s worth of new materials, Harrison set about the task of recreating Commander Shepard’s trusty assault rifle. The source will delight your eyeballs with a litany of pictures and build details, though our major question remains unanswered — does it use armor-piercing, incendiary, or shredder rounds?Continue reading Mass Effect’s M8 Avenger rifle brought to exquisitely detailed lifeMass Effect’s M8 Avenger rifle brought to exquisitely detailed life originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Aug 2010 08:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Volpin Props | Email this | Comments
VERISIGN
VERIFONE HOLDINGS
VEECO INSTRUMENTS
VARIAN SEMICONDUCTOR EQUIPMENT ASSOCIATES
UNITED ONLINE
Apple announces immense growth in downloads from its online store’s educational section. Over 800 universities have active sites. Originally posted at The Digital Home
MICROCHIP TECHNOLOGY
METHODE ELECTRONICS
MENTOR GRAPHICS
MCAFEE
MAXIMUS
If you know what this is and where it’s located, you could win a prize in the CNET Road Trip Picture of the Day challenge.
The European Commission has started legal action against Britain, claiming the country is allowing Internet service providers to target users by letting the companies use technology that accesses personal data….
If you know what this is and where it’s located, you could win a prize in the CNET Road Trip Picture of the Day challenge.
LAM RESEARCH
LIBERTY GLOBAL
LM ERICSSON
LOGITECH INTERNATIONAL
MEMC ELECTRONIC MATERIALS
Executives from Cisco and Verizon see 3D video and eventually holography as the tech advances that fuel their growth in the future.
Well, this is curious.
From our checks, it seems like Google has completely omitted Yelp reviews from Google Places. As you may recall, Yelp has been frustrated by Google’s recent decision to pump up its Places service with Yelp’s content— without Yelp’s consent.
During a recent interview with TechCrunch TV, Yelp’s CEO Jeremy Stoppelman said he was surprised by Google’s move but was confident that it was not a “permanent situation, from what we gather from talking to Google, they are sort of headed in a new direction that which hopefully will be more positive.?
It’s unclear whether this is the “positive” outcome Stoppelman was hoping for.
Updated.
EMULEX
EMS TECHNOLOGIES
EMC
ELECTRONICS FOR IMAGING
ELECTRONIC DATA SYSTEMS
More than a decade of work in Canada and Sweden leads to the successful implants of artificial corneas in 10 Swedish patients with advanced keratoconus, or central corneal scarring.
SILICON LABORATORIES
SI INTERNATIONAL
SEAGATE TECHNOLOGY
SCIENTIFIC GAMES
SANDISK
Searching for evidence of water, the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment Camera on NASA’s Mars orbiter offers new, detailed views of the Martian landscape.
HARRIS
HCL TECHNOLOGIES
HEWLETT-PACKARD
HIGH TECH COMPUTER
HON HAI PRECISION IND.
A child-size humanoid bot with a face inspired by comics is being used to teach interaction skills to kids who may lack an instinctive understanding of social cues.
SANDISK
SALESFORCE COM
SAIC
ROCKWELL AUTOMATION
RF MICRO DEVICES
Ever wanted to buy a friend a drink, but couldn’t because it was 2 in the afternoon and you were at work? Or because they’re half-way across the USA? Or because you’re so slammed you lost your wallet 3 bars ago? Well, now you can Bartab them a drink coupon. Bartab is a new iPhone, Web and Android app that lets you buy friends/girls/randoms-you’ve-never-met a drink.
With Bartab, the first app from Webtab, you pay $1 and send a friend a virtual coupon for a drink. Yes, a real drink with real alcohol. Not a Facebook gift that sits on your profile or a virtual drink you can put on your Twitter background. Hard, cold, liquor.
It is now roughly 40-plus years since Richard Stallman released his text editor with the words “Emacs General Public License” in the documentation and 20 some years since the world first saw the phrase “GNU General Public License.” Back in those days, finding the best open source software was relatively simple. There was Emacs, and then came vi. Choosing between them was never easy, and many still argue over the best editor.
EMS TECHNOLOGIES
EMC
ELECTRONICS FOR IMAGING
ELECTRONIC DATA SYSTEMS
ELECTRONIC ARTS
Google announced that its Google Analytics Data Export API beta is now available for developers….
MOBILE TELESYSTEMS
NANYA TECHNOLOGY
NII HOLDINGS
NIKON
NINTENDO
The European Organization for Nuclear Research says external module on the International Space Station will look for antimatter and dark matter while measuring cosmic ray composition.
INFOSYS TECHNOLOGIES
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES
INVENTEC
KDDI
KLA-TENCOR
Citrix’s next version of XenDesktop will automatically encrypt corporate data on employee-owned laptops and include a bare-metal client hypervisor.
EMS TECHNOLOGIES
EMC
ELECTRONICS FOR IMAGING
ELECTRONIC DATA SYSTEMS
ELECTRONIC ARTS
Dek:
InfoWorld's Test Center picks the top open source operating platforms and middleware of 2010
Source:
InfoWorld
No
DIGITAL CHINA HOLDINGS
DIRECTV GROUP
ELPIDA MEMORY
EMC
FIDELITY NATIONAL INFORMATION SVCS.
Citrix’s next version of XenDesktop will automatically encrypt corporate data on employee-owned laptops and include a bare-metal client hypervisor.
CISCO SYSTEMS
COGNIZANT TECH. SOLUTIONS
COMCAST
COMMSCOPE
COMMUNICATIONS HOLDINGS
PDP is no stranger to the third-party peripheral game, adding a little Tron theme to controllers, adding a little motion to the Xbox 360, and releasing the Rock Band Stage Kit so that you can add a little fog to your foyer. Now the company is taking things a step further, producing a series accessories for what Microsoft hopes will be the hottest accessory this fall: the Kinect. There is a trio of mounts, starting with the $15 Kinect wall mount, then the $30 floor stand, and finally the $40 TV mount, which will occupy the VESA holes on the back of flat-panels. Curiously, the most expensive thing is the extension cable: $50 for the privilege of moving your googly-eyed camera a further nine feet from your console. All should be available this November, and all are officially Microsoft licensed, so you can feel good about paying too much for them.Continue reading PDP announces accessories for your accessory so you can connect your KinectPDP announces accessories for your accessory so you can connect your Kinect originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 25 Aug 2010 09:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink Joystiq, TechDigest | | Email this | Comments
NVIDIA
NUANCE COMMUNICATIONS
NOVELLUS SYSTEMS
NOVELL
NETWORK APPLIANCE
3Par will open discussions with Hewlett-Packard following that company’s unsolicited $1.6 billion cash bid for the data storage maker, which exceeded an earlier bid from Dell.
CDW
CHINA MOBILE
CISCO SYSTEMS
COGNIZANT TECH. SOLUTIONS
COMCAST
Iomega’s already begun its transition to SuperSpeed USB 3.0 hard drives, but it’s making a bit more news on that front today — it’s announced that it plans to keep all its USB 3.0 hard drives at USB 2.0 prices. As expected, that transition begins with its eGo line of portable hard drives, which are officially set to be available this October in 500GB and 1TB capacities, each of which will include Iomega’s Drop Guard Xtreme to guard against drops of up to seven feet. Those will be followed by Iomega’s Prestige line of portable hard drives, which will begin their transition to USB 3.0 sometime in the first quarter of 2011. We should note, however, that plenty of retailers are already selling USB 3.0 eGo drives now, but it seems that it’ll take until early October for the full line to make the jump and receive the aforementioned price-match. Head on past the break for the complete press release.Continue reading Iomega pushes ahead with USB 3.0 transition, promises to keep drives at USB 2.0 pricesIomega pushes ahead with USB 3.0 transition, promises to keep drives at USB 2.0 prices originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 24 Aug 2010 12:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Iomega | Email this | Comments
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES (IBM)
INTERDIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS
INTEL
INSIGHT ENTERPRISES
INGRAM MICRO
Next month’s revamped JavaOne conference, the first under Oracle’s jurisdiction, will feature a keynote presentation from Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, as well as the latest on Java technologies ranging from the GlassFish application server to the JavaFX rich media platform. Ellison will take the stage Sept. 20 in San Francisco to discuss Oracle’s vision and strategy for Java, Oracle said.
HARRIS
HCL TECHNOLOGIES
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HON HAI PRECISION IND.
A new option–in Japan only for now–will allow Prius owners to add a small speaker system to their vehicles to help alert pedestrians. Originally posted at The Digital Home
GRUPO IUSACELL
HARRIS
HCL TECHNOLOGIES
HEWLETT-PACKARD
HIGH TECH COMPUTER
In a report about Apple possibly adding 99-cent TV show rentals to Apple TV, Bloomberg sources say the annual fall event will be held the Tuesday after Labor Day. Originally posted at Circuit Breaker
Motorola has acquired Y Combinator startup 280 North, we’ve confirmed. We haven’t confirmed, but have heard from multiple sources, that the price is around $20 million. This is a sizable exit for the founders – the company has raised just $250,000 in a 2008 angel round.
280 North created a programming language and set of frameworks collectively known as Cappuccino that can be used to create rich web applications in the same way you?d create desktop applications for MacOS X. Developers we’ve spoken with have praised the framework, calling it one of the best ways to make applications with little programming knowledge.
TERADATA
TELETECH HOLDINGS
TECHNITROL
TAKE-TWO INTERACTIVE SOFTWARE
SYNTEL
Another patent application surfaces showing the iMac maker is at least thinking about a way to incorporate its touch interface with its desktop lineup. Originally posted at Circuit Breaker
If you know what this is and where it’s located, you could win a prize in the CNET Road Trip Picture of the Day challenge.
LEXMARK INTERNATIONAL
LEVEL 3 COMMUNICATIONS
LAWSON SOFTWARE
LAND SOFTWARE
LAM RESEARCH
Surfing and science are something of an odd mix, but we’ve seen time and time again that the two subjects to together like, well, salt and water. The latest high-tech stick to hit that briney mix comes from a team at UC San Diego, who outfitted a board with eight sensors on the bottom that measure the speed of the water as it rushes beneath. All are controlled by a waterpoofed computer embedded in the nose, which transmits data wirelessly to an Eee PC left sadly on the beach while its partner splashes around in the waves. The goal is to attempt to determine what level of flex is optimal and, once determined, to create the ultimate board and rule the world… the surfing world, at least.Continue reading Researchers use sensors to find the perfect surfboard, Gidget still looking for that perfect bikini (video)Researchers use sensors to find the perfect surfboard, Gidget still looking for that perfect bikini (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 24 Aug 2010 13:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink Switched | Jacobs School of Engineering | Email this | Comments
LAM RESEARCH
LIBERTY GLOBAL
LM ERICSSON
LOGITECH INTERNATIONAL
MEMC ELECTRONIC MATERIALS
We covered Scitable.com, the social network for science education from Nature Publishing Group, back in May. At that time, I was told that a mobile-friendly version of the site was in the works. Today that mobile site is ready, as seen in the screenshot above.
Scitable’s Vikram Savkar has been studying broadband adoption, and has drawn some interesting conclusions. Obviously one of those conclusions is that a science education site like Scitable isn’t a one-size-fits-all operation. As mentioned in our original review of Scitable, a large portion of the target audience that Scitable is courting may not have easy and regular access to a modern PC with a broadband connection. Instead, many will be using mobile devices.
HON HAI PRECISION IND.
HYNIX SEMICONDUCTOR
INFOSYS TECHNOLOGIES
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES
INVENTEC
Smartphones and modems are about to get faster mobile broadband connections — 14.4Mbps and 42Mbps, repectively — using HSPA+ (High Speed Packet Access).
ACER
ADOBE SYSTEMS
ADVANCED SEMICONDUCTOR ENGINEERING
ALLIANCE DATA SYSTEMS
ALLTEL
Dek:
Looking for ways to customize your new mobile device? Here are nine valuable, free apps that'll run on RIM's brand-new BlackBerry Torch 9800 slider smartphone
Source:
CIO.com
No
D-LINK
DIGITAL CHINA HOLDINGS
DIRECTV GROUP
ELPIDA MEMORY
EMC
Mint is a new floor-cleaning robot that can wipe down hard surfaces with dust cloths. How does it stack up to iRobot’s Scooba?
TEXAS INSTRUMENTS
TERADATA
TELETECH HOLDINGS
TECHNITROL
TAKE-TWO INTERACTIVE SOFTWARE
The BDXL format offers 100GB on a single-sided disc, and while that sounds great for archiving content, we’re a little leery about Hollywood adopting jumping on to stuff even more deleted scenes on our discs. Why? Because no current Blu-ray players can read the things, and we can’t say we’re keen to buy another. We’re getting a little closer to that kind of support with Panasonic’s new Diga-series recorders. There are six in total, all shipping on September 15 and each offering dual tuners used to stuff HDDs ranging from 500GB up to 2TB. From there, content can be dumped onto BDXL discs, so Panny is also announcing availability of its first 100GB, single-sided, write-once media. Naturally BDXLs can also be played back on the things and, in all but the smallest two models, can even be played in 3D. We’re still warming up to 3D, Panasonic, don’t push too much change too fast.Panasonic launches six new BDXL-compatible DVRs, the media you’ll need to feed them originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 24 Aug 2010 08:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink Akihabara News | Panasonic (1), (2) | Email this | Comments
CDW
CHINA MOBILE
CISCO SYSTEMS
COGNIZANT TECH. SOLUTIONS
COMCAST
Dek:
Looking for ways to customize your new mobile device? Here are nine valuable, free apps that'll run on RIM's brand-new BlackBerry Torch 9800 slider smartphone
Source:
CIO.com
No
Dek:
Looking for ways to customize your new mobile device? Here are nine valuable, free apps that'll run on RIM's brand-new BlackBerry Torch 9800 slider smartphone
Source:
CIO.com
No
SI INTERNATIONAL
SEAGATE TECHNOLOGY
SCIENTIFIC GAMES
SANDISK
SALESFORCE COM
digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/xbox/Iron_Man_Xbox_360_escapes_Stark_Industries_heads_right_to_e’;
Halo-inspired Xbox 360? Check. Xbox 360 laptop? Seen it. Xbox 360 fused with a PS3? Yep. A Tony Stark-approved Xbox 360? Thanks to one Zachariah Perry Cruse, we can now add this beaut to the list. This here design student managed to use his summer vacation for a little more than weekend jaunts to Gary, putting an awful lot of blood, sweat and fear into his very own Iron Man Xbox 360. Naturally, it’s the older, less slimmer 360 console, complete with a 120GB hard drive and an HDMI socket. There’s a video of the LEDs doing their thing after the break, and that eBay link will get you where you need to be if you’re a prospective buyer. And let’s be honest here — you are a prospective buyer.Continue reading Iron Man Xbox 360 escapes Stark Industries, heads right to eBayIron Man Xbox 360 escapes Stark Industries, heads right to eBay originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 23 Aug 2010 06:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Zachariah Perry Cruse, eBay | Email this | Comments
Microsoft is touting the fact that it’s had about 300,000 downloads of its development tools for the forthcoming Windows Phone 7 mobile OS, which is expected to
TRIQUINT SEMICONDUCTOR
TRIMBLE NAVIGATION LIMITED
TRIDENT MICROSYSTEMS
TRANSACTION SYSTEMS ARCHITECTS
TOTAL SYSTEM SERVICES
Kodak just kicked out a pair of devices with its Playtouch pocket camcorder and EasyShare M590 point and shoot. Kodak’s $229.95 Playtouch is capable of shooting image stabilized 1080p video with stereo audio to SDHC cards. A 3-inch capacitive touchscreen gives you plenty of room to edit your video (or extract a still) on camera before flipping out the USB arm for a quick PC transfer. Otherwise, an HDMI jack lets you pump that digital keepsake right to the living room television without the PC assist. Rounding things out are an external microphone jack and Share button that makes it easy to push those memories to YouTube or FaceBook, or send via email if that’s your preference. Kodak’s rather mundane $199.99 EasyShare M590 is being billed as the world’s slimmest digital camera with 5x optical zoom. Otherwise, things simmer down with a 2.7-inch LCD, some kind of image stabilization, face recognition, unspecified HD video capture, and microSD card support. And as you’d expect, the M590 also features a Share button that makes tagging and uploading photos and video to social media sites like Facebook, Flickr, and YouTube a snap. M590 image and press releases after the break. Expect both cameras to ship sometime in the fall.Continue reading Kodak’s Playtouch 1080p pocket camcorder and EasyShare M590 announcedKodak’s Playtouch 1080p pocket camcorder and EasyShare M590 announced originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 23 Aug 2010 01:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | | Email this | Comments
LSI
LINEAR TECHNOLOGY .
LEXMARK INTERNATIONAL
LEVEL 3 COMMUNICATIONS
LAWSON SOFTWARE
Smartphones and modems are about to get faster mobile broadband connections — 14.4Mbps and 42Mbps, repectively — using HSPA+ (High Speed Packet Access).
GOOGLE
GRUPO IUSACELL
HARRIS
HCL TECHNOLOGIES
HEWLETT-PACKARD
In the open source software community, there’s considerable nervousness about paying people to work on volunteer-driven projects. For example, Joomla recently hired some developers to work on its core software, a decision that has caused much debate in the Joomla community.
Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.
Before the mass adoption of smartphones in the U.S., many fretted that the heavy subsidization model was feeding a free handset model that would keep Americans hopelessly addicted to basic voice plans and phones optimized for them. The price consumers paid in relation to the value of the handset, it was argued, was hopelessly out of whack. This year, a string of successful smartphones have shown that an increasing percentage of U.S. consumers are willing to pay $200 for a flagship device. On the other hand, there’s still ample evidence that price and value can remain disconnected. And the carriers aren’t making it much easier.
The smartphone surge has been driven in part by a desire to acquire the best and by a response to carrier advertising. However, a recent run-up in advanced smartphones have made it difficult to define a clear top of the line at many carriers, and carriers simply cannot promote them all with the same attention lavished on the iPhone or original Droid. Take the turn of events at Verizon, for example, which in the space of a few months has rolled out the Droid Incredible, Droid X and Droid 2, with the Samsung Fascinate in the wings. At least the first three have been all priced at $199, with strong precedent for the Fascinate coming in at that level. And while AT&T has been a bit more diverse in the operating systems of its recent spate of high-end contenders — the iPhone 4, BlackBerry Torch and Samsung Captivate — they too have all been priced at $199.Continue reading Switched On: Gluts and glorySwitched On: Gluts and glory originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 21 Aug 2010 19:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | | Email this | Comments
EMC
ELECTRONICS FOR IMAGING
ELECTRONIC DATA SYSTEMS
ELECTRONIC ARTS
ECLIPSYS
Brainchild of a U.S. engineer, the Imagine PS is operated by up to four hand cranks. The driver and passengers pull and push levers in order to go.
QLOGIC .
PROGRESS SOFTWARE
PLANAR SYSTEMS
PEROT SYSTEMS
PALM
Chris Anderson is a brilliant man. Here at InfoWorld, we are devotees of his Long Tail theory, which posits that unpopular content is just as valuable as popular content. That just seems to work incredibly well for us. As for his endorsement of all things “free” — well, are you paying to read this?
AMKOR TECHNOLOGY
AMPHENOL
ANIXTER INTERNATIONAL
APPLE COMPUTER
APPLIED MATERIALS
Strip out the references to mobile applications, and some of the text for Microsoft’s new Mobile App Match reads suspiciously like a dating Website. “You’re not picky. You’ve just got standards,” reads one headline. “Mobile App Match is putting the chemistry back in your Marketplace.”Is that a subtle jab at Android’s somewhat anarchic Marketplace? Or equally subtle acknowledgment that Microsoft’s mobile apps, well, haven’t exactly sizzled like those in Apple’s App Store? Is this Microsoft’s equivalent of standing in developers’ and smartphone users’ parking lot with a boombox blasting “In Your Eyes”?I hope not, at least on that last part. If I had to think of John Cusack every time I downloaded another app to my phone, I’d have to stab myself in the eye with a spork. The site’s mission, in its own words, is “bringing the people who build Windows phone apps together with the people who seek them for personal use–to start conversations, exchange ideas, and see what develops.”Developers can post apps and videos to the site, and read users’ comments, in order to build and refine their products. For their part, potential app users can “post ideas and videos to influence mobile app builders,” vote on ideas and finished apps, and connect with developers to advocate ideas.The “Ideas” page, for example, lists user-generated concepts such as “MySQL/SQLite Manager,” “Cross Platform MMO,” an app with maps of different ski resorts that leverages GPS and “Home Theater Remote Control.” Zombies are a hot topic. Some links on the site are broken, which is somewhat disconcerting to say the least.Based on these ideas’ relatively low number of votes, I can’t help but think this site isn’t highly trafficked yet. That’s not surprising, considering that Windows Phone 7 is still a few months away from (scheduled) release, and Windows Mobile 6.5 has begun to enter that limbo reserved for last-generation tech. (Yes, I know that a number of enterprises and SMBs will continue to use Mobile 6.5, as it ties into their legacy apps; but even those diehard organizations will likely be considering a change–either to Phone 7 or another smartphone OS–sooner rather than later.)But that traffic could rise precipitously, once Windows Phone 7 becomes more of a tangible reality for consumers. Microsoft has already been encouraging developers to build apps for the platform, offering all sorts of assistance; the company itself hasn’t yet predicted how many Phone 7 apps will be present in its Marketplace at launch.I think this site is a good idea, but it’ll take Windows Phone 7’s release to see whether it has legs.
MAXIMUS
MANTECH INTERNATIONAL
MANHATTAN ASSOCIATES
LSI
LINEAR TECHNOLOGY .
Exploration of the Red Planet will shift into a higher gear in 2012 with the arrival of a car-sized, instrument-laden robotic rover named Curiosity.
ALLIANCE DATA SYSTEMS
ALLTEL
AMAZON.COM
AMERICA MOVIL
AMKOR TECHNOLOGY
Ladies and gentlemen, the next generation of Droid has entered the building. Verizon officially took the wraps off its Motorola Droid 2 Tuesday morning, and now it is available at a store near you.
CISCO SYSTEMS
COGNIZANT TECH. SOLUTIONS
COMCAST
COMMSCOPE
COMMUNICATIONS HOLDINGS
These shots of a real, live G2 confirm what we’d already suspected from renders: this is basically an Americanized version of the upcoming HTC Vision. What does that mean? Well, it means you can expect a 3.7-inch display paired with Android and a sliding QWERTY keyboard — higher-end than the myTouch 3G Slide and a fitting successor to the trailblazing G1, if you ask us (though admittedly not quite as geeky as the model it replaces). Follow the break for another shot!Continue reading Exclusive: T-Mobile G2 in the wild!Exclusive: T-Mobile G2 in the wild! originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 20 Aug 2010 11:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | | Email this | Comments
This week’s episode of Speaking Of… is the CEO and founder of deviantART.
One of the greatest things about TechCrunch is that they celebrate and reward each writer’s own voice rather than forcing every writer to sing from the same hymn-sheet. They encourage differences of opinion. While deviantART isn’t Erick Schonfeld’s cup of tea, I’m definitely a huge fan. I have five pictures up on my wall that I’ve purchased from the site, and they’re absolutely beautiful.
Deviant recently passed the milestone of their 100 millionth submission or “Deviation” as they’re called. I think that’s pretty cool, but what I think is even cooler, is that they just celebrated their 10th year of being in business. I don’t know how old Angelo is, but I imagine that’s about 1/3rd of his life. For a startup entrepreneur, that’s a very long time.
YAHOO
XILINX
WESTERN DIGITAL
VOLT INFORMATION SCIENCES
VISHAY INTERTECHNOLOGY
IT organizations have a lot on their plates, and keeping the data center humming is only part of the equation. Factor in the threats coming at IT from every direction, and you can see why IT pros have ample reason to be paranoid. The invasion of consumer devices into the workplace, the rush toward cloud computing, the constant vigilance to prevent data spills, all while managing a meager budget in an era when your career can be cut short at any time can cause even the most level-headed IT pro to start looking over his shoulder.
COMMUNICATIONS HOLDINGS
COMPAL ELECTRONICS
COSMOTE MOBILE TELECOM.
D-LINK
DIGITAL CHINA HOLDINGS
Supersized power station, which would connect three major arteries of the U.S. power grid, to use PowerCell energy storage system.
Um, awesome.
I’m a huge fan of the AMC show Mad Men. I’d argue it is the best show on television right now, but that will just lead to a flamewar with the Breaking Bad people. Anyway, as the winner of the past two Emmys for best drama, the show has a lot of fans. And it has plenty of people who wish they could live in that moment of time (New York City in the 1960s). Now, thanks to eBay, you can get pretty close.
And, if you’re willing to act a little bit — and spend a whole lot of money — you can get very close.
FEI COMPANY
FAIRCHILD SEMICONDUCTOR INTERNATIONAL
FAIR ISAAC
FACTSET RESEARCH SYSTEMS
F5 NETWORKS
MyFitness Pal is a free online tool that lets you track your weight loss and set fitness goals. The service also offers companion apps for mobile devices such as the iPhone.
AUTOMATIC DATA PROCESSING
AVNET
BHARTI AIRTEL
BT GROUP
CANON
With smartphones and point-n-shoot cameras doing most of our impromptu video recordings, it’s getting harder and harder to justify the purchase of these pocket-sized camcorders. Perhaps that’s why Sanyo is positioning its Flip competitor as a “dual camera” — capable of capturing 10 megapixel stills or 1080P/30fps MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 video with stereo audio. Model VPC-PD2BK features an integrated USB jack that swivels out for some hot laptop mating sessions, a 3X optical zoom, 37-mm wide-angle lens, mini-HDMI port, and support for SD/SDHC/SDXC memory cards. Look for it in September with a suggest price of $169.99 in North America.Continue reading Sanyo Xacti VPC-PD2BK 1080P pocket camcorder with 3x optical zoomSanyo Xacti VPC-PD2BK 1080P pocket camcorder with 3x optical zoom originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 20 Aug 2010 01:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | | Email this | Comments
DIODES INORATED
DIEBOLD
DELL
CYPRESS SEMICONDUCTOR
ACCENTURE
Apple is readying another tablet similar to the iPad but with a 7-inch touchscreen for launch as early as the end of this year, according to a major Taiwanese newspaper.
MCAFEE
MAXIMUS
MANTECH INTERNATIONAL
MANHATTAN ASSOCIATES
LSI
About 40 different Windows applications contain a critical flaw that can be used by attackers to hijack PCs and infect them with malware, a security researcher said Wednesday.
NUANCE COMMUNICATIONS
NOVELLUS SYSTEMS
NOVELL
NETWORK APPLIANCE
NETGEAR
Lunascape, the company behind the eponymous triple-engine browser for desktop PCs, has just released its first browser created specifically for the iPad. Dubbed iLunascape, the browser is available for free in the App Store, and it’s a more than solid alternative to Safari on the iPad.
L-1 IDENTITY SOLUTIONS
KINGSTON TECHNOLOGY COMPANY
KEY
JDS UNIPHASE
JDA SOFTWARE GROUP
So just how much would you pay for a set-top box or Blu-ray player with Google TV built in? That appears to be what Dish Network is trying to find out with this online survey sent to potential customers, laying out some of the features offered and presenting several different pricing options from a one time up-front purchase of up to $300 at retail or cheaper possibilities with a monthly fee (pictured above). It also helpfully points out that Dish will be the only one with “advanced integration,” meaning search across internet sources, TV listings, VOD and programming stored on the DVR at launch to probe the potential of enticing switchers. Check out the gallery for all the questions and imagine what fits your budget before Google TV gets real this fall.Gallery: Dish Network Google TV pricing survey
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]Dish Network survey hints at Google TV pricing options originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 Aug 2010 16:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | | Email this | Comments
HON HAI PRECISION IND.
HYNIX SEMICONDUCTOR
INFOSYS TECHNOLOGIES
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES
INVENTEC
There SAP goes again: Making vague promises in the guise of major strategy. Today, SAP once again laid out a strategic vision for the stagnant ERP firm, this time pronouncing on how its recent acquisition of Sybase will lead to — wait for it! — mobile-enabling SAP’s application suite. That is why SAP paid $5.6 billion for Sybase in the first place, of course. So tell me something I don’t already know.
LINEAR TECHNOLOGY .
LEXMARK INTERNATIONAL
LEVEL 3 COMMUNICATIONS
LAWSON SOFTWARE
LAND SOFTWARE
Sure, the iPad is a great device for Web surfing, book reading, and movie watching. But it’s also getting a lot of interest in corporations as a possible business device for field forces, nurses and doctors in hospitals, and knowledge workers in the office and on the go.
LAWSON SOFTWARE
LAND SOFTWARE
LAM RESEARCH
L-1 IDENTITY SOLUTIONS
KINGSTON TECHNOLOGY COMPANY
Road Trip 2010: At Celebration V, the “Star Wars” fan convention, a fantastic exhibit of custom-painted TK helmets wows.
MICROS SYSTEMS
MICRON TECHNOLOGY
MICROCHIP TECHNOLOGY
METHODE ELECTRONICS
MENTOR GRAPHICS
SAP and Sybase officials are gathering in Boston on Thursday to reveal how they plan to bring together their respective technologies in the areas of mobility, analytics, and EIM (enterprise information management).
JDA SOFTWARE GROUP
JACK HENRY & ASSOCIATES
IXYS
ITRON
IRON MOUNTAIN INORATED
Dek:
Here's a look at the features that just might keep BlackBerry users from jumping ship to an Android device or Apple's iPhone
Source:
PC World
No
A little more than a year ago, I was in London at a dinner party and my friend Matt Ogle was glued to his phone, hanging on every update he could find about an impending shuttle launch. Given it was a room full of entrepreneurs and techies, no one was too offended that anyone was glued to his or her phone?but we were all mocking him about his somewhat dated NASA obsession. And Matt said, ?Yeah, I get that a lot. I can?t help it, I still like space.?
What happened to our love affair with astronauts?
INTERDIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS
INTEL
INSIGHT ENTERPRISES
INGRAM MICRO
INFORMATICA
If you own a Galaxy S anywhere in the world or you’re thinking of buying one, you’re probably well-acquainted at this point with the GPS issues it’s been suffering that prevent you from getting anything close to a precise lock on your location — it might not be a deal-breaker for some, but for anyone planning on using their phone for turn-by-turn nav or fitness tracking (for instance) it’s a big deal. Samsung’s already committed to updating released versions of the phone in September, but what about the upcoming Epic 4G? Our testing suggests that it’s functional — Google Maps was able to give us extremely precise positions very quickly — and a statement we’ve received from Samsung seems to corroborate that:
“We have tested and validated both Network Assisted (indoor) and Autonomous (outdoor) GPS on the Epic 4G. With regards to Vibrant and Captivate, we are currently testing software updates which will optimize GPS performance. We expect to be able to make the updates available in September and will communicate more information and download instructions in the next few weeks.”
In other words, the Captivate and the Vibrant have the bug and will be fixed next month; the Epic, meanwhile, should be good to go when it launches on the 31st. Cheers to that, we say.Samsung says GPS is ‘tested and validated’ on Epic 4G, our testing agrees originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 Aug 2010 20:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | | Email this | Comments
Toshiba will detail a breakthrough in data storage later Wednesday that it says paves the way for hard drives with vastly higher capacity than today.
The great thing about being an executive at a Silicon Valley giant (aside from the obscene paychecks) is that you don’t have to mess with consumer technology problems. You have minions to handle such quotidian chores. But the rest of us, particularly those who rely on wireless technology to do our jobs, have no such luxury.
INSIGHT ENTERPRISES
INGRAM MICRO
INFORMATICA
INFOCUS
IMS HEALTH
How long have dumblamps been ruling our desktops for? Their reign of evenly scattered light might finally be coming to a close. A few months back it was MIT student Natan Linder putting a pico projector in a lamp to create LuminAR. Now, researcher Li-Wei Chan from National Taiwan University has crafted something similar, again with a pico projector replacing a bulb, this time relying on an IR camera to detect position. The lamp projects an image into a surface that users can interact with, while tablets (also augmented with use IR cameras) can be used to display a 3D view of the 2D projected content, allowing a user to look around and zoom in dynamically. The voice-over in the video below talks of potential military applications, generals analyzing battlefields, but for once we’d like to think that this sort of thing would be used for peace. You know, planning nature walks, watching virtual horsies romp around in a pretend field, that sort of thing.Continue reading Another augmented reality, pico-projecting lamp threatens desktops, brings tablet reinforcements (video)Another augmented reality, pico-projecting lamp threatens desktops, brings tablet reinforcements (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 Aug 2010 12:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink Gearlog | NewScientist | Email this | Comments
INFOSYS TECHNOLOGIES
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES
INVENTEC
KDDI
KLA-TENCOR
We know, we just told you less than 48 hours ago that the dual screen Toshiba Libretto W100 was finally on sale and after $1,100 of your hard earned cash, but it looks like those that didn’t move quick enough are out of luck. Both Toshiba and Amazon list the Windows 7-running Libretto W100 as out of stock at the moment. Now, of course, Tosh has always said the W100 was going to be available on a limited basis so there’s no telling how many of these were actually sold, but it certainly seems impressive for a very niche gadget. We’ve reached out to Toshiba to ask if they plan on refreshing the depleted stock and for a bit of information on how many they had boxed up to begin with — stay tuned, we’ll let you know what we hear.
Update: If you’re still lusting after one of these bad boys there’s still some available through Conics.com and some Japanese retailers. Toshiba Libretto W100 sells out at Amazon, really was a limited run originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 Aug 2010 18:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink Pocketables | Amazon | Email this | Comments
EPICOR SOFTWARE
EMULEX
EMS TECHNOLOGIES
EMC
ELECTRONICS FOR IMAGING
Think of it as the un-iPhone. The new BlackBerry Torch 9800 from Research in Motion is a retro smartphone, a classic BlackBerry that happens to have a touchscreen. Not that you need to use that touchscreen — the Torch works very well without it, thanks to its slideout physical keyboard and trackball. The Torch works even better with the touchscreen, though, allowing BlackBerry users who aren’t so sure about all this gesture stuff to ease into the new mobile world.
RACKABLE SYSTEMS
QUEST SOFTWARE
QUANTUM
QLOGIC .
PROGRESS SOFTWARE
We’ve yet to see an official announcement for Nokia’s all-but-real C7 with Symbian^3, but let’s be honest: wouldn’t you rather see a few more leaked shots of it posing next to a nip of Chivas Regal anyway? Of course you would, and Chinese site zol.com.cn has your number along with a few thoughts on the device: it’s got a 3.5-inch capacitive touchscreen display, 8 megapixel camera sans Carl Zeiss branding (a nod to the fact that the Nseries will still reign supreme for photography), dual LED flash, and a pretty meager 1,200mAh battery, presumably to keep the shell sexy and slim. It’s unclear when we might see Nokia finally fess up to the C7’s existence, but Nokia World in the middle of next month seems like an obvious target; stay tuned.Nokia C7 leaks again in press-quality photo shoot originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 Aug 2010 15:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink Mobile Bulgaria | zol.com.cn | Email this | Comments
APPLE COMPUTER
APPLIED MATERIALS
ARIAN SEMICONDUCTOR EQUIPMENT
ARROW ELECTRONICS
ASML HOLDING
Think of it as the un-iPhone. The new BlackBerry Torch 9800 from Research in Motion is a retro smartphone, a classic BlackBerry that happens to have a touchscreen. Not that you need to use that touchscreen — the Torch works very well without it, thanks to its slideout physical keyboard and trackball. The Torch works even better with the touchscreen, though, allowing BlackBerry users who aren’t so sure about all this gesture stuff to ease into the new mobile world.
MAXIMUS
MANTECH INTERNATIONAL
MANHATTAN ASSOCIATES
LSI
LINEAR TECHNOLOGY .
Microsoft didn’t bother to send me one of the Windows Phone 7 prototypes they’ve been circulating to media over the past week–which is OK, because I had my hands full reviewing the Samsung Galaxy S–but I’m hoping they’ll see the light over the next couple of days, if only so I can jump into the review fray.A lot of those reviews seem very polite. There’s some praise for the Windows Phone 7 operating system, which attempts to aggregate Web content and applications into subject-specific Hubs, as opposed to arranging individual apps on a grid-like home screen. And then there’s Galen Gruman, who basically went nuclear.”Microsoft needs to kill Windows Phone 7 and avoid further embarrassing itself by shipping this throwback,” Gruman wrote in a July 15 posting on InfoWorld’s Mobile Edge blog. “It’s not a question of whether Windows Phone 7 will fail–it will–but how long it will take Microsoft to admit the failure. For the company’s sake, the earlier it fesses up, the better.”According to Gruman, Windows Phone 7’s sins include an “awkward and unsophisticated” UI that “recalls Microsoft’s history of clunky design” and use of “inexcusably old technology” such as Internet Explorer 7. Microsoft, he says, has come up with “an imperfect copy of an old iPhone.”Gruman predicts that Windows Phone 7 devices will find their way to the carriers’ remainder bins by “in January 2011.”I’m not so sure that’s the case here. I haven’t had the chance to dropkick a Windows Phone 7 device of my very own (you truly never know how well a smartphone can suit your needs until you test whether it can survive a stray boot), but I have seen it in action, in a very limited way. Based off that limited interaction, the user interface seemed intuitive, and certainly nothing like the iPhone circa 2007.The bigger question–and this will affect its rate of consumer adoption–is how versatile the UI proves in handling people’s lives and apps. If it’s a snap to add new apps, or update information for a particular Hub, then Windows Phone 7 could prove sticky in the marketplace. If it’s a pain, then users will shy away.If anything’s going to kill Windows Phone 7, it’s the Windows Phone Marketplace. I’ve said this before: if third-party developers don’t get onboard with their apps and games, then this platform will die–but that death will be gradual, certainly not the “$25 bin by President’s Day” demise predicted by Gruman.At this point, the developer front seems a toss-up. On one hand, Microsoft is pushing very hard (and even offering cash, rumor has it) for developers to port their wares on Windows Phone 7. On the other, I’ve been hearing a lot of angry rumblings from Windows Mobile developers–who could be the natural core group for Phone 7 development–grumbling about how Microsoft’s attempt at a smartphone “reset” has left them with a.) no easy upgrade path for their existing apps to the new platform, and b.) needing to adapt to the all-new requirements of building for Phone 7. And at least one of those developers is a pretty major-sized entity.So we shall see. If Microsoft mismanages the launch–I’ve listed some of the things they need to do to succeed, here–then they’re in very big trouble. But I think they could have the platform to make it work, or at least halt their slide in smartphone market share.What do you all think?
COMMSCOPE
COMMUNICATIONS HOLDINGS
COMPAL ELECTRONICS
COSMOTE MOBILE TELECOM.
D-LINK
If you know what this is and where it’s located, you could win a prize in the CNET Road Trip Picture of the Day challenge.
EARTHLINK
DST SYSTEMS
DISCOVER FINANCIAL SERVICES
DIODES INORATED
DIEBOLD
It’s on like “Donkey Kong,” as the kids say.
Days after Microsoft’s lead attorney opened fire (rhetorically speaking) on Yahoo Japan’s selection of Google for its search and search ad technology, Microsoft announced it would take more concrete steps to scuttle the deal.
“We plan to present evidence to the Japanese FTC explaining why we believe that this deal is substantially more harmful to competition than Google’s deal with Yahoo in 2008 that the U.S. Dept. of Justice found to be illegal,” a Microsoft spokesperson told eWEEK in an e-mail July 30.
In a July 27 statement e-mailed to eWEEK, Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith argued that the Yahoo Japan deal “gives Google virtually 100 percent of all searches in Japan, both paid and unpaid.” For its part, Yahoo Japan has insisted that Google’s Japanese-language services currently outpace those of Microsoft.
Bing currently powers Yahoo’s back-end search in 59 countries, and Microsoft no doubt hopes that the major components of its search-and-advertising deal with the Web portal company–which will see Bing power search for all of Yahoo’s online properties, while Yahoo takes over worldwide sales force duties for both companies’ search advertisers–will be in place by the end of 2010.
But Yahoo only owns 35 percent of Yahoo Japan (according to Bloomberg), meaning the subsidiary can choose its vendors without mother-ship interference. Now, ordinarily, I’d caveat that statement with “in theory,” but Yahoo Japan CEO Masahiro Inoue seems determined to go his own road on this one; if the U.S. Yahoo tried to apply leverage before this situation erupted, it evidently didn’t work.
As I mentioned in my previous post on this, the brouhaha suggests that Microsoft may face a decidedly heavy battle in some markets as it tries to expand Bing’s international reach. The latest twist suggests that Microsoft is willing to use the tools at its disposal, including an army of lawyers, to make that happen; it’ll be interesting to see what happens when Redmond tries to face down an opponent with equally substantive cash flow and leverage.
Road Trip 2010: After a mass gathering of droids–R2-D2s and friends–at Celebration V, what happens when they must all go their separate ways? A lot of beeping, booping, and confusion over whose R2 is whose.
METHODE ELECTRONICS
MENTOR GRAPHICS
MCAFEE
MAXIMUS
MANTECH INTERNATIONAL
Oracle’s lawsuit against Google over the Java-derived Android reveals an aggressive plan to profit
DISCOVER FINANCIAL SERVICES
DIODES INORATED
DIEBOLD
DELL
CYPRESS SEMICONDUCTOR
IBM has strengthened its hand in the Unix business with new servers based on its Power7 processors, including a server for large enterprises that scales to 256 cores. The Power 795 is IBM’s biggest Unix server to date. It’s aimed at companies that run large-scale database applications or want to consolidate multiple Unix or Linux workloads onto a single system using IBM’s PowerVM virtualization software.
SATYAM COMPUTER SERVICES
SES
SHAW COMMUNICATIONS
SIEMENS ZORAN
Silicon start-up Smooth-Stone seeks to use the power thriftiness of ARM processors to reduce the energy consumption at large data centers. Originally posted at Nanotech – The Circuits Blog
About four months ago we decided to take a look at our logs to see how many people were visiting our site from the iPad. At the time, the device wasn’t even a month old, so it was surprising to see that it had already surpassed Android in terms of visitors to TechCrunch. Some attributed this to the fact that it was a great web browsing device. Others thought it was because there was an initial surge of purchasers (especially among tech early-adopters) who were browsing a lot to test it out. So let’s take a look to see where things stand now, shall we?
I’ll cut to the chase: the iPad browsing traffic is surging. In the past 30 days, it’s up almost exactly four-fold from what it was back in April. It’s now the fourth most-popular OS that people browse TechCrunch from — last month it surged past Linux machines. The only devices more popular to view TechCrunch from are now Windows machines, Mac machines, and the iPhone.
The iPad is also quickly catching up with the iPhone. And when combined, iOS devices are now well past 10 percent of browsing share.
ACCENTURE
ACER
ADOBE SYSTEMS
ADVANCED SEMICONDUCTOR ENGINEERING
ALLIANCE DATA SYSTEMS
Road Trip 2010: After a mass gathering of droids–R2-D2s and friends–at Celebration V, what happens when they must all go their separate ways? A lot of beeping, booping, and confusion over whose R2 is whose.
It’s on like “Donkey Kong,” as the kids say.
Days after Microsoft’s lead attorney opened fire (rhetorically speaking) on Yahoo Japan’s selection of Google for its search and search ad technology, Microsoft announced it would take more concrete steps to scuttle the deal.
“We plan to present evidence to the Japanese FTC explaining why we believe that this deal is substantially more harmful to competition than Google’s deal with Yahoo in 2008 that the U.S. Dept. of Justice found to be illegal,” a Microsoft spokesperson told eWEEK in an e-mail July 30.
In a July 27 statement e-mailed to eWEEK, Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith argued that the Yahoo Japan deal “gives Google virtually 100 percent of all searches in Japan, both paid and unpaid.” For its part, Yahoo Japan has insisted that Google’s Japanese-language services currently outpace those of Microsoft.
Bing currently powers Yahoo’s back-end search in 59 countries, and Microsoft no doubt hopes that the major components of its search-and-advertising deal with the Web portal company–which will see Bing power search for all of Yahoo’s online properties, while Yahoo takes over worldwide sales force duties for both companies’ search advertisers–will be in place by the end of 2010.
But Yahoo only owns 35 percent of Yahoo Japan (according to Bloomberg), meaning the subsidiary can choose its vendors without mother-ship interference. Now, ordinarily, I’d caveat that statement with “in theory,” but Yahoo Japan CEO Masahiro Inoue seems determined to go his own road on this one; if the U.S. Yahoo tried to apply leverage before this situation erupted, it evidently didn’t work.
As I mentioned in my previous post on this, the brouhaha suggests that Microsoft may face a decidedly heavy battle in some markets as it tries to expand Bing’s international reach. The latest twist suggests that Microsoft is willing to use the tools at its disposal, including an army of lawyers, to make that happen; it’ll be interesting to see what happens when Redmond tries to face down an opponent with equally substantive cash flow and leverage.
ANIXTER INTERNATIONAL
APPLE COMPUTER
APPLIED MATERIALS
ARIAN SEMICONDUCTOR EQUIPMENT
ARROW ELECTRONICS
There comes a time in any electronic gadget’s life when it becomes useless and although it’s inevitable, the length of the useful lifespan can vary greatly. In recent years firmware updates have really helped extend the life of devices, but when the manufacturer has no financial incentive to support older products, it can mean a premature end (at least from the customer’s perspective). Well after three years that time has apparently come for FiOS TV subscribers who own ATI Digital Cable Tuners (and many other CableCARD devices). Now before you get too up in arms about this, it isn’t really Verizon’s fault, you see said company wants to be able to use Cisco and Motorola devices in the same area and this means it needs a tech called Simulcrypt. This is good for most customers as it will likely bring better prices and selection. And although this is a CableLabs certified technology, a firmware update is required to ensure the device handles the encryption properly. So while a company like Ceton or TiVo has already released updates for its devices, ATI and other TV manufactures have long since given up on the CableCARD market, and hence, supporting any legacy devices. The only good news is that you now have the perfect excuse to justify replacing your obsolete device. Don’t like this option? Well you can get a FiOS DVR (with it’s 2002 circa 160GB HDD) or just file a complaint to the FCC — this won’t do much, but might make you feel better.
[Thanks, Scott!]Verizon FiOS Simulcrypt rollout will break most CableCARD tuners originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 Aug 2010 22:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | The Green Button, DSL Reports | Email this | Comments
Look at the image above. There are three services listed on the San Francisco Giants’ scoreboard during a baseball game. Twitter. Facebook. Foursquare. The first two are ubiquitous. Each has hundreds of millions of users and a firm place in pop culture. The third has about 2.5 million users. And much of the world has no idea what it is.
But is it on its way to entering that pantheon of great services?
This is a particularly interesting question given that on Wednesday, Facebook is expected to unveil its initial push into the location space. Earlier, BoomTown cited sources stating this would be the case. We’ve since heard from multiple source as well that location will be at least a part of Facebook’s event (which we’ll obviously be at). With location, Facebook has long been seen as the 800-pound gorilla in the room. And now they appear ready to check-in for the first time, as it were.
So Foursquare is dead, right? Don’t count on it.
TERADATA
TELETECH HOLDINGS
TECHNITROL
TAKE-TWO INTERACTIVE SOFTWARE
SYNTEL
Starting Sunday, GRIP project to get close-up view of tropical cyclones to learn how they become hurricanes and help people better forecast and prepare for such disasters.
The much buzzed about BlueGlass Interactive announces today the launch of its automated SEO platform for businesses, which the company is releasing in private Beta after trying it out on high profile customers like Intuit, Homeaway, and Saleforce, and Disney.
Dubbed SecondStep, the platform is in the same league as BrightEdge SEO and DIYSEO, with cloud based auditing and link building tools. What’s unique about SecondStep is CopyPress, a Demand Media-type virtual labor force of content writers. Interestingly enough CopyPress makes it so that small businesses have no need to hire their own writers to produce search engine friendly content. Business owners can just enter select keywords in the SecondStep portal and Blueglass’ team of 150 US-based writers will produce content according to budget and SEO needs.
LEVEL 3 COMMUNICATIONS
LAWSON SOFTWARE
LAND SOFTWARE
LAM RESEARCH
L-1 IDENTITY SOLUTIONS
A portable game console mod is like a still life: sure, it’s been done before, but it’s very satisfying when it’s done well. Or, to take the analogy further: where a still life lets the artist arrange the design elements with in a composition any way he wants, the modder works with elements necessary for game play, but is free to arrange them in the manner of his choosing. Our man Techknott, who once thrilled us with his Wireless Visual Interface for the PS3, is back on the scene with the third iteration of his very own Dreamcast Portable — and it just might be a work of art in its own right. This bad boy features: a PSone LCD display, both a built in VMU and a removable VMU slot, CD drive, SD card slot, A/V out, and original Dreamcast controls — all in a custom CNC acrylic case. You want one, right? Peep the video after the break to see it in action. And be sure to check back next week, when we’ll trace the origin of the Bomblympics back to the worship of Zeus in Ancient Greece.Continue reading Techknott’s Dreamcast Portable inspires musings on art, life, and Bomberman OnlineTechknott’s Dreamcast Portable inspires musings on art, life, and Bomberman Online originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 Aug 2010 11:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink Technabob | Ben Heck Forums | Email this | Comments
JDA SOFTWARE GROUP
JACK HENRY & ASSOCIATES
IXYS
ITRON
IRON MOUNTAIN INORATED
Start-up 24M Technologies receives $10 million in venture funding to pursue high energy density storage for vehicles and grid storage that combines lithium ion and flow battery concepts.
CHINA MOBILE
CISCO SYSTEMS
COGNIZANT TECH. SOLUTIONS
COMCAST
COMMSCOPE
Now men can feel the delights of Mother Nature’s monthly gift with the Menstruation Machine by Japanese-British artist Hiromi Ozaki.
LAM RESEARCH
LIBERTY GLOBAL
LM ERICSSON
LOGITECH INTERNATIONAL
MEMC ELECTRONIC MATERIALS
Google just confirmed it at an Android / Flash event in San Francisco, and sure enough, our trusty Nexus One just found, downloaded and installed the final (read: non-beta) version of Adobe’s Flash Player 10.1. It weighs in at just under 5MB, and it’s looking as sweet as ever so far. Nexus One owners can hit up the Android Market to get their download on, and we’d highly encourage you to bookmark a few dozen Flash sites just to rub in the faces of your dearest iDevice-owning friends. Just sayin’.Flash Player 10.1 goes final for Nexus One handsets, available to download now originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 Aug 2010 16:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | | Email this | Comments
YAHOO!
YAHOO
XILINX
WESTERN DIGITAL
VOLT INFORMATION SCIENCES
Yahoo Japan has apparently agreed to use Google for its back-end search and advertising system, according to online reports. For Microsoft, the news must be something of an unexpected blow, considering that its 10-year search-and-advertising agreement with Yahoo is currently in the midst of implementation; although Yahoo’s U.S. corporate mother ship only owns about 35 percent of Yahoo Japan (says Bloomberg), you’d think that the sheer magnitude of the agreement would be enough to sway even the most recalcitrant franchise into preemptively jumping onboard the Bing wagon, right? Right?
Wrong, I guess.
“At the present time, we feel there are quite a few areas where Microsoft is not yet ready,” Yahoo Japan Chief Executive Masahiro Inoue told the media during a news conference in Tokyo, according to The New York Times. “Google is one step ahead in Japanese-language services.”
For its part, Microsoft seems furious.
“This agreement is even more anti-competitive than Google’s deal with Yahoo in the United States and Canada that the Department of Justice found to be illegal,” Brad Smith, Microsoft’s general counsel, said in a statement currently drifting around the Web. “The 2008 deal would have locked up 90 percent of paid search advertising. This deal gives Google virtually 100 percent of all searches in Japan, both paid and unpaid.”
Under the terms of the search-and-advertising agreement, Bing will power back-end search for Yahoo’s online properties, while Yahoo takes over worldwide sales force duties for both companies’ search advertisers. Microsoft’s AdCenter platform will power search advertising for Yahoo, as well. Both the U.S. Department of Justice and the European Commission cleared the agreement in February.
Microsoft likely hopes that the deal will result in Yahoo’s search-engine market share porting over to Bing with relatively little attrition. But this brouhaha with Yahoo Japan suggests two things: a.) Yahoo’s global presence is too fractured, with too many other players possibly owning their own little pieces, to make such a transition uniform, and b.) Microsoft may face a very steep uphill battle as it tries to increase Bing’s market presence into new international markets.
Fear Godzilla’s mighty roar!
INFORMATICA
INFOCUS
IMS HEALTH
IMATION .
IKON OFFICE SOLUTIONS
Best Buy is rolling out an in-store mobile couponing system in conjunction with a startup called shopkick. The system will be in place in 187 stores by tomorrow and 257 stores by October 1.
Earlier this month, we got a preview of how the system works (see video below). Instead of checking in, as you would with a geo app like Foursquare or Gowalla, shopkick automatically recognizes when someone with the shopkick app on their phone walks into a store.
HARRIS
HCL TECHNOLOGIES
HEWLETT-PACKARD
HIGH TECH COMPUTER
HON HAI PRECISION IND.
While WiMAX isn’t exactly streaming through the air everywhere at this point, domestically it has a solid head-start on LTE. Despite that, with many major players (like Verizon and AT&T) already choosing the latter of those two, WiMAX has a tough fight ahead of it for 4G supremacy. Maybe its successor will charm the competition, WiMAX 2 — the artist formerly known as 802.16m. That standard will boast theoretical speeds of 1Gbps for downloads, though users are rather more likely to see something in the 100Mbps range (still a huge jump over what gets an Evo 4G user excited today). When can we expect all this bandwidth? The standard is due to be finalized in November, then hardware is expected to be ratified through 2011 before getting bolted to towers in 2012 where it will, thankfully, be fully compatible with O.G. WiMAX devices. Something good to look forward to, or too little too late to hold off the LTE hoards?WiMAX 2 standard, and its theoretical 1Gbps downloads, to be finalized soon originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 15 Aug 2010 10:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Computerworld | Email this | Comments
HON HAI PRECISION IND.
HYNIX SEMICONDUCTOR
INFOSYS TECHNOLOGIES
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES
INVENTEC
Road Trip 2010: After a mass gathering of droids–R2-D2s and friends–at Celebration V, what happens when they must all go their separate ways? A lot of beeping, booping, and confusion over whose R2 is whose.
NETGEAR
NCR
NATIONAL SEMICONDUCTOR
NATIONAL INSTRUMENTS
MOTOROLA
If anyone’s still in the market for a Kin phone, you’re officially out of luck: Verizon Wireless will no longer carry the devices, 19 days after Microsoft decided to pull the plug due to anemic sales. Dustbin of history (or at least dead tech), here they come.”Verizon Wireless will no longer sell the Kin One or Kin Two in our company-owned stores,” Verizon spokesperson Brenda Raney told the blog Phone Scoop on July 19. “Existing customers should not be impacted. There are no current plans to change any of the services associated with either the phone or the customers’ services.”Right before the end, Verizon had slashed the price of the stubby Kin One from $49.99 to $29.99 with a two-year plan; the more rectangular Kin Two was also given a price-tag haircut, from $99.99 to $49.99. But the carrier did nothing to lower the price of the devices’ calling/data plan, which many pundits found excessive.The Kin devices had one cool feature, and that was their ability to seamlessly port users’ photos and other content to a cloud repository–I’m testing a number of upcoming smartphones right now, for a set of reviews, and I sorely wish (with some of them) that it was easier to lift photos and video from the device and into the digital stratosphere. But everything else about Kin was pretty much half-baked, from the social-network updates to the conspicuous absence of games and third-party applications.Given the phones’ narrow target demographic (teenagers and young adults), and lack of true smartphone functionality, I’m not sure there are many lessons that Microsoft can draw from this fiasco, except maybe don’t try it again.
DST SYSTEMS
DISCOVER FINANCIAL SERVICES
DIODES INORATED
DIEBOLD
DELL
Itching to get some hands-on time with Symbian^3? Or maybe it’s the promise of a 12 megapixel camera that’s drawing you? Whatever the case may be, you might be interested to know that Nokia’s US outpost is now ready to take your name down for an N8 with availability expected at the “end of September 2010.” In the past, Nokia has often bundled goodies like Bluetooth headsets for anyone willing to pre-order well ahead of time, but not so much this time around — $549 will net you the phone, and that’s it. Heck, they’re not even throwing in free shipping. Maybe waiting for the actual release isn’t that bad of an idea, eh?Nokia N8 pre-orders go live in the US, $549 for ‘end of September’ delivery originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 Aug 2010 11:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Nokia USA | Email this | Comments
TAKE-TWO INTERACTIVE SOFTWARE
SYNTEL
SYNTAX-BRILLIAN
SYNOPSYS
SYNNEX
Apple’s newest Mac mini is a distinct and welcome departure from the comparatively bulky white Mac mini of yesteryear, and while we appreciate the unibody construction, inbuilt SD card reader and HDMI port, asking $700 and up for a headless PC without tons of oomph is still asking a lot. We’re curious to know if your new Mac mini has been treating you well (as an HTPC or otherwise), and moreover, we want to know how you’d change things even further if given the key to Cupertino’s design labs. Would you have added a Blu-ray option? Maybe an OTA TV tuner? Thrown any other ports on the rear? Beefed up the GPU a little? Trimmed things down for a cheaper entry-level model? Go on and vent in comments below — hugs are free and limitless.How would you change Apple’s HDMI-equipped Mac mini? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 13 Aug 2010 23:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | | Email this | Comments
INSIGHT ENTERPRISES
INGRAM MICRO
INFORMATICA
INFOCUS
IMS HEALTH
Copying a standard sci-fi film plot, humanoid robot Nao is becoming more human by developing emotions. The RoboCup star might be able to fake it like the best human soccer players.
LSI
LINEAR TECHNOLOGY .
LEXMARK INTERNATIONAL
LEVEL 3 COMMUNICATIONS
LAWSON SOFTWARE
Researchers at Russian security company Kaspersky Lab say they’ve discovered the first malware program to target Google’s Android mobile operating system.
UNISYS
TRIQUINT SEMICONDUCTOR
TRIMBLE NAVIGATION LIMITED
TRIDENT MICROSYSTEMS
TRANSACTION SYSTEMS ARCHITECTS
AppBistro, a marketplace for Facebook tabs that businesses, bands, and brands can use to add functionality to their Facebook pages, has just scored some angel funding. The company has raised a $550,000 convertible note led by Sand Hill Angels, with participation from Alfred Lin (TellMe, Zappos, Sequoia) Dave McClure’s 500 Startups, i/o Ventures, Zelkova Ventures, Seraph Group, Erik Moore, and Thomas McInerney.
AppBistro launched in May at TechCrunch Disrupt. The startup offers a directory of tab applications for sprucing up Facebook Pages, with apps for quizzes, signup forms, contests, multimedia, and a broad range of other categories.
EMS TECHNOLOGIES
EMC
ELECTRONICS FOR IMAGING
ELECTRONIC DATA SYSTEMS
ELECTRONIC ARTS
For $40 (plus $20 per year), MagicJack’s USB VoIP dongle will let you make free unlimited telephone-to-telephone calls, but this week the company’s announced MagicTalk, a piece of software for internet-connected phones and computers that will waive even those upfront costs. The Associated Press tracked down one of our favorite ruthless salesmen, MagicJack CEO Dan Borislow, who described a service much like Google Voice and Skype, number portability and all — except it adds the whole allowing-free-calls-to-regular-ol-telephones bit by charging the companies that carry incoming calls. The service will reportedly be available on Windows and Mac next week, with iOS, Blackberry and Android by October, but speaking of promises, Borislow said plans for the company’s legally-ambiguous femtocell are now on hold — the device can’t legitimately muster up enough power without a cellular carrier on board.
In other news, NetTalk announced last week that its pair of competing VoIP boxes now support free video calls. We imagine the timing (and naming) of MagicJack’s new service isn’t making ‘em feel too good.MagicJack announces software for completely free internet-to-phone calls, places femtocell on hold originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 15 Aug 2010 13:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Associated Press | Email this | Comments
Editor’s note: This guest post is written by Dmitry Dragilev, the lead marketer at ZURB, an interaction design firm whose clients have included Facebook, eBay, Yahoo, NYSE, Britney Spears, and Zazzle.
Ever read a great book? What do you remember about it? Maybe a few dramatic moments, some wild story twists, and most definitely the ending. Your product is just like a book. You?re telling a story to your customers and they?ll remember only a select few moments from what you tell them. What are these moments? Can you use these moments to plant a memory in a customer?s mind?
There are millions of books, courses and talks out there about building great products online. An awful lot focus on “user experience” as a silver bullet to delighting customers and driving revenue for businesses. Everyone gets caught up thinking it?s user experience they need to worry about, but it?s what they remember about their experience that?s critical. Their memory is what they?ll draw on to tell other people about it. Their memory is what they?ll project into the future. We should focus on making experiences happen that plant memories in people?s heads, like in Christopher Nolan?s film Inception.
It turns out there are three different kinds of moments in your story customers remember: transitions, Wow moments, and endings.
FIDELITY NATIONAL INFORMATION SVCS.
FISERV
GOOGLE
GRUPO IUSACELL
HARRIS
Oracle’s lawsuit against Google over the Java-derived Android reveals an aggressive plan to profit
Though it’s really quite a capable handset, Dell’s Streak brought several disappointments to its belated US launch; namely, a pastry-based OS without any creme filling, and a $549 version that’s still SIM-locked. While we doubt AT&T’s iron grip will release the Streak from the latter servitude, Dell’s Lionel Menchaca suggests that the former problem may get solved all at once, because the company is considering skipping Android 2.1 altogether for stateside Streaks and upgrading them directly to the faster, more capable Android 2.2. We don’t have a timeframe for a potential release, of course, as the device just went on sale, but it’s clear that Dell hears your cries for the functionality Froyo brings.Dell: Streak likely going straight to Froyo in US originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 15 Aug 2010 11:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | @LionelatDell (Twitter) | Email this | Comments
FAIR ISAAC
FACTSET RESEARCH SYSTEMS
F5 NETWORKS
EPICOR SOFTWARE
EMULEX
The great thing about being an executive at a Silicon Valley giant (aside from the obscene paychecks) is that you don’t have to mess with consumer technology problems. You have minions to handle such quotidian chores. But the rest of us, particularly those who rely on wireless technology to do our jobs, have no such luxury.
FAIRCHILD SEMICONDUCTOR INTERNATIONAL
FAIR ISAAC
FACTSET RESEARCH SYSTEMS
F5 NETWORKS
EPICOR SOFTWARE
Road Trip 2010: CNET reporter Daniel Terdiman checks out the “Star Wars” scene at Celebration V, the global fan convention.
SYKES ENTERPRISES INORATED
SYBASE
SUN MICROSYSTEMS
STANDARD MICROSYSTEMS
SRA INTERNATIONAL
Oracle’s lawsuit against Google over the Java-derived Android reveals an aggressive plan to profit
While we’re still likely a few months away from seeing the first Chrome OS devices, work continues to move forward on getting the OS ready to go. And some recent discussions on the Chromium OS (the open source version that Chrome OS will be based on) Google Code page suggest that not only is wireless connectivity going to be a part of some of these devices, but that Verizon may be a partner.
As you can see in a few of discussions on the Google Code pages for the projects, a lot of work is being done to figure out the UI for network connectivity. For example, they’re thinking about how will the OS will alert users when they’re running low on data they’ve purchased. The interesting part is that the latest mockups for these UI changes are in a folder called “Verizon”.
GRUPO IUSACELL
HARRIS
HCL TECHNOLOGIES
HEWLETT-PACKARD
HIGH TECH COMPUTER
Can’t say we’ve ever seen anything like this before… well, aside from those cameras of old that forced you to look down into the viewfinder while cradling the camera against your gut. In fact, that’s exactly the experience that Yaniv Berg is attempting to recreate here, with his Digital Reflex Camera concept shaped more like a periscope and less like a camera. In theory, at least, all of the hardware would be encased in a tube, and if you flip the camera, the LCD turns into a display, creating an undercover spy device of epic proportions. Naturally, there’s probably no hope that this will ever hit retail, but feel free to check back a few score from now to see just how close this was to predicting the future.Digital Reflex Camera concept puts the viewfinder on top, everything else in a tube originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 14 Aug 2010 07:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink Switched | Yanko Design | Email this | Comments
JACK HENRY & ASSOCIATES
IXYS
ITRON
IRON MOUNTAIN INORATED
IOMEGA
A midlevel Apple manager is being charged with accepting more than $1 million in kickbacks from Asian supply companies.
SEAGATE TECHNOLOGY
SCIENTIFIC GAMES
SANDISK
SALESFORCE COM
SAIC
I knew I would be touching a raw nerve with my last two posts, on patents. But I was really surprised at the divergence of opinion. Entrepreneurs overwhelmingly supported my stance that software patents hamper innovation and need to be abolished, but friends in Microsoft, IBM, and Google were outraged at my recommendation. The big companies? executives argued that abolishing patents would hurt their ability to innovate and thus hamper the nation?s economic growth. (They believe that companies like theirs create the majority of jobs and innovations, and they claim that without patents they cannot defend their innovations.) I am not convinced that software patents give Google any advantage over Microsoft and Yahoo, or make IBM?s databases any better than Oracle?s. But I do know one thing for sure: it isn?t the big companies that create the jobs or the revolutionary technology innovations: it is startups. So if we need to pick sides, I vote for the startups.
Let?s start with the question of who creates the jobs. This is one of the issues that I recently took Intel co-founder Andy Grove to task for, in BusinessWeek. Grove wrote a profound essay lamenting the loss of American manufacturing jobs. I share his concerns about jobs. But Andy?s protectionist recommendations for restoring America?s competitiveness were largely based on his flawed premise that companies like Intel create all the jobs?not the startups. I also discussed the tradeoff between bailing out companies like General Motors, AIG, and Citibank and nurturing startups in this BusinessWeek piece. This question is more important than it may seem.
NETWORK APPLIANCE
NETGEAR
NCR
NATIONAL SEMICONDUCTOR
NATIONAL INSTRUMENTS
What is your company doing to collect all those emails, PDFs, and other documents that never get printed? Regulators want to know….
SYNTAX-BRILLIAN
SYNOPSYS
SYNNEX
SYMANTEC
SYKES ENTERPRISES INORATED
PetroAlgae looks to raise $200 million for algae-growing equipment, although making fuel from algae cost-effectively has proved elusive.
Can’t say we’ve ever seen anything like this before… well, aside from those cameras of old that forced you to look down into the viewfinder while cradling the camera against your gut. In fact, that’s exactly the experience that Yaniv Berg is attempting to recreate here, with his Digital Reflex Camera concept shaped more like a periscope and less like a camera. In theory, at least, all of the hardware would be encased in a tube, and if you flip the camera, the LCD turns into a display, creating an undercover spy device of epic proportions. Naturally, there’s probably no hope that this will ever hit retail, but feel free to check back a few score from now to see just how close this was to predicting the future.Digital Reflex Camera concept puts the viewfinder on top, everything else in a tube originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 14 Aug 2010 07:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink Switched | Yanko Design | Email this | Comments
CYPRESS SEMICONDUCTOR
ACCENTURE
ACER
ADOBE SYSTEMS
ADVANCED SEMICONDUCTOR ENGINEERING
var digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/apple/Apple_supply_manager_arrested_for_money_laundering_fraud’;
Ever wonder why — after years of secrecy — camera-ready iPod cases began rolling out? The answer could possibly be Apple supply manager Paul Shin Devine, who was just fingered by the FBI and IRS as a fraudulent, money laundering mole. Devine was arrested Friday for allegedly receiving kickbacks from six accessory suppliers in exchange for confidential information, which apparently gave them an edge in negotiating Apple contracts. “The alleged scheme used an elaborate chain of U.S. and foreign bank accounts and one front company to receive payments,” reports the San Jose Mercury News, “and code words like ’sample’ were used to refer to the payments so that Apple co-workers wouldn’t become suspicious.” Though we’re not yet sure what specific confidential information might have been passed along and we doubt the indictment will say, a separate civil suit filed by Apple claims Devine accepted over $1 million in “payments, kickbacks and bribes” over the course of several years.Apple supply manager arrested for wire fraud, money laundering originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 14 Aug 2010 11:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink TUAW | San Jose Mercury News | Email this | Comments
MISCROSOFT OFFICE
MICROSOFT
MICROSEMI
MICROS SYSTEMS
MICRON TECHNOLOGY
Betting that moving to the cloud won’t be as easy as vendors promise, CA on Thursday bought 4Base, a consulting firm that helps companies adopt and implement cloud computing.
PRICELINE.COM
QIMONDA
QUALCOMM
QUANTA COMPUTER
RESEARCH IN MOTION
A123 Systems, one of the few energy tech companies to go public in recent years, is trying to compete in auto and grid storage with manufacturing scale.
An international team of scientists is putting the final touches on a robot to explore mysterious air shafts leading from the queen’s chamber.
XILINX
WESTERN DIGITAL
VOLT INFORMATION SCIENCES
VISHAY INTERTECHNOLOGY
VIRGIN MEDIA