Nikon finally took the wraps off the D3X tonight and everything we’ve been hearing about it are true. The full frame DSLR from Nikon features a 24.5-megapixel CMOS sensor and ability to capture five frames per second. Start-up time is pretty quick at 0.12 seconds with a shutter release time lag of 0.04 seconds. And the optional GPS is pretty cool for geotagging. Newly developed Nikon FX-format… → Read More
Chances are you use at least two major social networks – 49 million people, for example, visited both MySpace and Facebook in October 2008 (Comscore, worldwide). Nearly 7 million people in the UK use both Bebo and Facebook. A lot of people maintain very different friend lists on LinkedIn than MySpace or Facebook. Etc. And when you add in niche social sites like YouTube, Flickr, etc., there’s even… → Read More
We were doubtful last night when the story first broke. There were just too many oddities to The Times’ tale about a complicated Yahoo/Microsoft search arrangement that would guarantee billions to Yahoo in exchange for a ten year search deal. We’ve checked with our sources – all of them – and we can’t verify a single fact in the story.
The first part of the story: “Microsoft is in talks to… → Read More
Today’s the day that Facebook makes their big press push for their Facebook Connect service, which was first announced last May. The NY Times has a story giving a broad overview of Connect as well as competing services from MySpace (Data Availability) and Google (Friend Connect).
All three services are platforms for third party sites (Digg, Twitter, Citisearch, CBS, whatever) to let users sign in… → Read More
I’m with you on this one Jason. Randall Stross’ article (it’s really an editorial, but not marked as such) rips into Tesla as “not much more than a functioning concept car” and suggests it would be foolish of the government to grant it a loan under a 2007 Federal loan program designed specifically to encourage development of vehicles that conserve fuel. → Read More
Love it or hate it, Amazon.com’s Kindle e-book reader is selling well — in fact, even at $359 there currently aren’t any in stock. So Amazon certainly doesn’t need any advice from me about how to sell more Kindles, but I have some ideas about how the company could make the device more attractive to casual readers like me. The basic idea would be to make the Kindle reach critical mass… → Read More
Walmart has some pretty good video game deals going on right now. Available games are limited to certain titles, some better than others. For instance, there are 63 Wii titles to choose from but only 21 Xbox 360 titles. Games for the PS3 are nowhere to be found but there are two available PS2 bundles. Here are the available packages: → Read More
Wow. That’s pretty much the only word that can describe Tom Armitage’s “If Games Ran The World.” Its thesis is that, in the next few years, people who grew up playing video games will become world leaders. People who have played all the big games from every generation—Pac-Man, the first EA Sports games, Resident Evil, MMOs, fighting games, etc. Real gamers. Then point, then… → Read More
Last week’s attacks in India have reminded us all of the keen danger that terrorism poses. But one tool that was to be employed at airports to combat terrorism, those body scanners that sometimes reveal a person’s, well, person, came under criticism. Fighting terror (inasmuch as you can fight it) is great and all, but should people literally be exposed in the process? The Germans say… → Read More
The company behind MyQuire, a simple but pretty powerful online application that lets individuals and team members work on projects in a social network-like environment, has been recently acquired.
That’s about all we know. We got in touch with CEO Michael Dawson but he declined to comment or share any details because the buyer apparently requested full confidentiality on the deal.
A tipster… → Read More
Startups can be the most conservative organizations in the world. We spend so much energy nurturing our delicate egos against naysayers and self-doubt that we can hardly admit mistakes. This is especially true of first-time CEOs. Thousands of new web companies were born in the last few years, and many of us just got the job.
We set off with the same directions: tackle a big problem, listen to… → Read More
Surveillance cameras can sometimes give you a creepy feeling (especially the ones you can’t directly see) but the nation of cute- and friendliness, Japan, now offers two solutions for that problem. One example of a “friendly” CCTV camera is the Daruma surveillance doll. Daruma is a wish doll in Nippon so that many Japanese people see the little guy in a positive light by nature… → Read More
Last year Amazon had trouble filling orders of the then-new Kindle, so eBay took over and prices rocketed to $1,500. This year, same problem. Amazon says orders for Kindles will take 11-13 weeks to fulfill (which is, we believe, when they will launch the Kindle 2). So you aren’t getting one by Christmas directly from Amazon.
But eBay and Amazon stores have them for sale. New ones are going for as… → Read More
The UK’s Times Online is reporting that “Microsoft is in talks to acquire Yahoo’s online search business for $20 billion.” The report is filled with lots of juicy, specific details that lend it credence, but don’t make a lot of sense when you drill down into them.
The new deal, according to the Times Online, is a complex transaction that involves Microsoft supporting a new management team made… → Read More
148Apps, which tracks and reviews iPhone Apps, says 10,000 applications have now been released on the iPhone App store (the site is named after the fact that you can add up to 148 applications to an iPhone or iPod touch). A tribute page shows a mini icon for every application. And it also gives some interesting data. About 24% of apps are free; 35% cost $.99. The average cost is $3.12, including… → Read More
Everybody these days has some advice for the beleaguered U.S. auto industry. Bail them out. Break up the unions. Do something about the dealerships. Do something about spiraling health care and pension costs. Design cars people will love. Etc.
There’s always the “be more like Apple” advice that’s been going around for a couple of years. Make the iPod of cars. One that people love so much that… → Read More
Joost launched their iPhone application on the App Store this evening, giving users access to 46,000 Joost videos, including major television shows and films. The iPhone has a built in YouTube application already, giving them a serious head start when it comes to video on the iPhone. But archrival Hulu doesn’t yet – giving Joost a little room to maneuver for now. → Read More
The competition for the next wave of enterprise computing has heated up since Microsoft announced its Windows Azure strategy a month ago. While the jury is out in some quarters about Microsoft’s ability to actually deliver the reliability, security, and even the interoperability that is promised, the timetable has accelerated the plans of competitors and forced some to define themselves in… → Read More
From the briny deep comes this mad-eyed comment on a post about game companies: Hi. I regularly scan this forum. This is the head together unequivocal to ask a query. How multitudinous in this forum are references Nautical port behind, disingenuous users? Can I depute all the facts that there is? Can you, sir? Can you? → Read More
From the Courier Mail: Among their arsenal of weapons are bags of almonds and BlackBerry mobile phones – almonds to keep their energy up, and the mobile internet connections to stay one step ahead of police and the military. These fuckers turned our tools against us and it’s an embarrassment – and a reminder – that the tools that make our lives easier and, dare I say it… → Read More
http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=2283082&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1Papervision – Augmented Reality (extended) from Boffswana on Vimeo. A digital design shop in Australia, Boffswana, shows off a neat parlor trick in the video above. It places a 3D Flash character made with Papervision into a regular… → Read More
Our own sassy Doug Aamoth appeared on the Dr. Fitness and the Fat Guy Show last week, turning said show into Dr. Fitness and the Fat Guy and One Really Tall Norwegian. Pop over to their site to listen to Doug’s interview. → Read More
If you’ve been trying to find the ultimate in personalization, look no further – how does an 8×10 portrait of your DNA sound? For $169, you can send a swab of the inside of your mouth to dna11.com and 4-6 weeks later, you’ll get a visual image of your one-of-a-kind DNA sequence. You can customize the image in one of 25 colors, too, and it comes with a certificate of authenticity. I’d… → Read More
Hey, look at this deal! You can see what all the SSD fuss is about for just thirty bucks after a $60 mail-in rebate. Tiger Direct has the 32GB OCZ SATA II 2.5-inch solid state drive for $89.99 with a $60 mail-in rebate. The rebate deal is good until 11/30 – that’s tomorrow — so you’ll have to be relatively nimble if you want to see that $60 ever again. The rebate applies to higher… → Read More
Bureaucracy kills innovation. We all know that. But why? Partly, it’s because bureaucracy grows out of prudence, a desire not to repeat the mistakes of the past. With the current economic crisis, for example, you can be sure that a lot more checks will be put into place—both in Washington and in corporate boardrooms—to prevent the excesses that got us into this situation from happening… → Read More
148Apps, which tracks and reviews iPhone Apps, says 10,000 applications have now been released on the iPhone App store (the site is named after the fact that you can add up to 148 applications to an iPhone or iPod touch).
A tribute page shows a mini icon for every application. And it also gives some interesting data. About 24% of apps are free; 35% cost $.99. The average cost is $3.12, including… → Read More
How were the crowds at your local Best Buy, Circuit City and PC Richards yesterday? Good? Great? Grim? (My local Best Buy was pretty crowded yesterday, to say nothing of the mall itself; parking space was at a premium.) To be sure, if there’s one item these retailers hope to sell this holiday season it’s HDTVs. Lots of them, preferably. Like it or not, but HDTVs have become the great… → Read More
In case you’ve noticed more notifications from Facebook in the past 24 hours, it’s probably not because you’ve suddenly become more popular. It looks like Facebook’s email notification problem is getting worse.
Facebook lets members turn email notifications on or off for more than 30 different actions on the site. These include anything from when someone sends you a message inside Facebook… → Read More
http://www.liveleak.com/e/f59_1227894726 Here is a prime example of America’s incessant spending habits. They were fighting over Wal-Mart’s Xbox 360 Arcade Guitar Hero 3 bundle for $199, BTW. Insane. No wonder there was fatalities yesterday. → Read More
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