An old exploit that worked to control the iPod Touch 2G can be used to take control of the iPhone 3GS, ensuring that carrier unlockers will soon be able to crack their fancy new phones. It seems a piece of boot code was left unaltered since August 2008, allowing the Dev Team to use an old exploit. → Read More
Our own beardy Devin Coldewey had quite a tech boner for the Asus Eee Keyboard back at CES. At that time, a company representative made a “confidential estimate” that the device would be released in August. Then someone at Asus apparently got all giddy or something and it was announced that the Eee Keyboard would launch in June. Well, June’s almost over and there’s no Asus Eee Keyboard. → Read More
The story goes like this: Jimmy Fallon challenged Tiger Woods to Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 on the Wii. Jimmy embarrasses Tiger in Times Square. And then both of them made fools of themselves on Late Night. We won’t spoil the surprise, but lets just say they both play like crap and our own Doug Aamoth would be happy to conduct a golfing clinic for either one. → Read More
When you’ve just gotten laid off, the last thing you want to hear is that you can’t cash your last check because of one final payroll screwup. But that’s apparently exactly what’s going on over at MySpace, which laid off over 30% of its staff (or around 480 employees) earlier this month. The company has just asked many of its laid off employees to refrain from cashing their checks due to an error in calculating how much they should be receiving. Employees are getting voicemails from FIM notifying them that the company has issued a stop payment on their checks, and that they can expect an updated check next week.
This isn’t the company’s only blunder during this sensitive time. We’ve heard that that last day for the terminated MySpace employees was chaotic and poorly planned, and that the company hasn’t been very tactful regarding treatment of laid off employees. In the press release announcing the layoffs, CEO Owen Van Natta called the company “bloated”, displaying a surprising lack of respect towards the terminated workers. It gets worse: MySpace has been holding a number of meetings for staff who are still at the company, during which they’ve referred to the recently terminated employees as “fat”. Unfortunately, some of these “fatty” employees have been present at these very meetings — the company has kept a number of terminated employees onboard through the duration of their contract, creating a group of so-called “walking dead” who are being insulted to their faces. Classy. → Read More
One of the hottest areas of search right now is real time search, which attempts to find results based on what is happening right now. Twitter’s search engine fast becoming one of the key ways to navigate the service and discover what people are thinking about any subject at any given moment. Facebook is testing out ways to let you search your personal stream. Google is waking up to the challenge as well (Larry Page is particularly concerned with keeping up).
Every week, it seems, a new startup launches tackling real time search from a different angle. (Collecta, One Riot, Scoopler, Topsy, Almost.at, Tweetmeme, CrowdEye, Omgili, to name a few).. They are trying to apply real time search to all the different streams of information flowing over the Internet right now: Twitter, Facebook feeds, Digg submissions, blog comments, RSS feeds, Flickr photos, YouTube uploads, shared links on bit.ly and elsewhere. The list keeps getting longer every day.
There is something about human nature which makes us want to prioritize information by how recent it is, and that is the fundamental appeal of real time search. The difference between real time search and regular search didn’t really crystallize for me until I had a conversation with Edo Segal, who sold his real time search company Relegence to AOL a few years ago and holds three patents on the subject. “Real time taps into consciousness,” says Segal, “search taps into memory. That is why it so potent. You experience the world in real time.” → Read More
Remember the Sega Nomad? If you excitedly shot up out of your chair yelling “YES!” then you may be interested in a newer, more streamlined device called the Retro-Gen Portable that’ll be available for $50 in about a month. → Read More
Looks like the licensing nazi has struck again. The slick “Sense” UI on the coveted HTC Hero is not going to be available as an upgrade for anybody in the US any time soon. That’s right, even though my G1 and the MyTouch/Magic are made and developed by HTC, you’ll find it also says Google on the back. Being a Google-branded product apparently precludes the Magic and G1 from using the Sense UI featured on the Hero, by dint of some sort of evil licensing sorcery. Personally I’m not that offended; the Hero was made to take advantage of the Sense UI, and I think you would get a sub-optimal experience on the G1 or Magic. Sure, I would have liked to give it a shot, but not so much that I’m going to take it to the streets. → Read More
Amazon’s got a nice deal on the Tonium Pacemaker portable DJ system until 1:00 PM Eastern today. Normally selling for $499, you can get an extra $100 off as one of Amazon’s daily Gold Box deals. → Read More
Flickr, Yahoo’s photo property, is one of the largest picture sharing services in the world. However, if you were to ask a group of random people how you spell its domain, a high percentage would likely tell you F-L-I-C-K-E-R. That’s not surprising, but it’s undoubtedly longstanding a headache for Yahoo. And now the people who own Flicker.com are looking to capitalize on it.
If you visit the site, you’ll see that it now exposes its traffic stats in the lower right-hand corner. It’s a blatant attempt to make money, at the very least from advertisers willing to throw links on the page. Or presumably to get someone to buy the domain. → Read More
Secretly taking photos of people is sort of easy to do with a cell phone but it’s probably even easier to do with a Volkswagen-style car key. For $66, Brando will be more than happy to sell you one too. → Read More
You know who loves the Wii Motion Plus? Doug Aamoth. You know who’s about to write about the Wii Motion Plus? Me, Nicholas Deleon. Such is life. Anyway, one small problem arises when you use the Wii Motion Plus: you can no longer outfit the controller with those fun plastic accessories—a pistol, for example. Italy’s Nihoto fixes all that with its new line of accessories that do indeed work with the Wii Motion Plus. → Read More
Apple is nearly tripling its stake in UK-based Imagination Technologies, boosting its interest to 9.5 percent with the purchase of 2.2 million new shares at £1.4275 ($2.35 million) each – the mid market close price on 25 June – and another 11.52 million shares.
In total, Apple is spending £3.14 million (approx. $5.17 million) for the new shares, exactly the same amount it paid last December when it purchased a 3.6 percent stake in the microchip maker. → Read More
Tokyo-based USB gadget specialist Thanko has been quite active in the last few days, having launched two PC mice in a row. One of these devices is silly, the other isn’t: You can now get a mouse with a built-in mini fish tank [JP] of sorts (Liquid Mouse) and one which hardly makes any noise [JP] (Silent Mouse EX). → Read More
Microsoft has an interesting problem on the horizon in trying to persuade netbook owners to upgrade to Windows 7 when said netbook owners’ netbooks don’t have optical drives. What’s a giant software company to do? → Read More
When the iPhone SDK launched and the platform was opened to native applications, it was huge news. No longer limited to cruddy web apps, developers flocked to the platform and the App Store exploded. Last night, Google announced that developers were now free to develop native applications for the Android platform. Unfortunately, this move isn’t nearly as monumental. Unlike the iPhone’s web apps, the non-native applications that run on Android are actually quite capable. Android apps generally run inside of a virtual shell called “Dalvik”, allowing improved compatibility across devices without hindering the functions supplied by the platform. Native applications are a big tradeoff; they can perform better and can make use of C/C++ code, but require significantly more work for the same functionality and device portability. In other words: don’t expect the Market to fill with goodies because of this, but some apps might make use of it in time. → Read More
First, we present Fracture. You tap the iPhone to “crack” the screen and then you tap again to cause the apps to explode, triggering the rest of the apps to explode in rapid succession. Next, we find SkyFart. You press a little man and he farts. Then you press him again and he farts and again and flies into space. Then you press him again and he farts and flies. Then you press him again… → Read More
If you curled your lip and slowly shook your head when Sony announced that the PSPgo would cost $249, you weren’t alone. So it’s perhaps even more irksome when the head of Sony Europe just comes right out and says that you’re paying a premium price just because the PSPgo is new. What’s with all the honesty, Sony? → Read More
We’ve all heard it before, whether you work in a Fortune500 company or waited tables at a restaurant. There’s always an uptight guy or girl who’s defensive, paranoid, over-stressed and nitpicky. And someone– maybe you’re too polite– but someone says, “That guy (or girl) soooo needs to get laid.” (Note, I didn’t use the example “leading tech blog” above. I’d like to keep my job.) A new study says there’s some truth to that. Seriously. According to Dr. Helen Fisher, biological anthropologist and chief scientific adviser to Chemistry.com, regular sex can make you a better worker bee. The dopamine rush from sex improves creativity making you a better problem solver. A boost of oxytocin and vasopressin generate feelings of trust, making you more likely to be a team player. And, a boost in testosterone can make you more confident and competitive. Yep, sounds like a dude wrote the study. But, hey, if it’s true, maybe there’s a productivity justification for all that porn online. → Read More
A family that builds food-based weapons together stays together. Take the DeRose family — they issue themselves a “design challenge” every year around the holidays. This year’s challenge: build a potato gatling gun. [via MAKE] → Read More
The drama in iPhone porn world continues. Yesterday, Hottest Girls, the first app with nudity was accepted into the App Store. But early this morning it was made unavailable, and everyone presumed Apple was behind it. But apparently, the app has not been pulled from the App Store by Apple, but rather by the developers because of high demand.
The guy team behind the app, Allen the Geek, writes on its site:
The Hottest Girls app is temporarily sold out. The server usage is extremely high because of the popularity of this app. Thus, by not distributing the app, we can prevent our servers from crashing. Those who already have the app will still be able to use our app. To answer the question on everyone’s mind: Yes, the topless images will still be there when it is sold again. -ATG dev team
So is this BS? Is this just them covering up for Apple pulling it? I don’t think so. → Read More
