It has been one month since Apple unveiled a developer preview of their latest operating system, OS X Lion. And while the initial deployment was a bit rocky, Apple appears to have worked through their initial Mac App Store distribution issues. And now another update looms — and it’s potentially a big one.
Specifically, Apple is gearing up to deploy an OS X Lion update to developers that they may be classifying as the “GM1″ release, we’ve heard. “GM” or “Golden Master” is a title reserved for software that is complete. But from what we’ve heard, this is only the initial Golden Master candidate. In other words, don’t get too excited just yet. → Read More
The SmartBird, designed by Festo, is an ultra-light flying machine modeled on “herring gulls,” whatever those are (we have “seagulls” here), and it actually flies by flapping its wings as a bird would — not just up and down, either, but twisting at the precise angles that make precise flight possible. → Read More
It’s only a matter of time till Sony shuts these guys down, so better write about this quick. It’s called the Cobra USB, and presumably it has nothing to do with Santino Morella’s finishing move. Actually, no, I know it has nothing to do with Sanitno, for it’s a USB dongle that unlocks a few handy features, including region free Blu-ray playback and the ability to play DVD ISOs right from the PS3′s hard drive. → Read More
Stroll through downtown Palo Alto right now, and there’s a chance you’ll pass by one of the most buzzed-about startups in the Valley: Color, the new photo-swapping service that raised $41 million pre-launch and has been met with waves of hype and backlash. Color’s office is pretty nondescript from the outside — that is, until you notice the handwritten note that’s hanging on the door.
Color CEO Bill Nguyen, who sold Lala to Apple in 2009 before starting Color, has written a letter to passersby inviting them to come inside and check out the office — where they’ll actually be able to submit ideas for the product.
Here’s the full text:
“What is Color? We are an open social network for your iPhone and Android. → Read More
Here’s a great way to fritter away your Friday afternoon. Remember those little LCD games you used to play before Game Boy? With only like two or three buttons, and the static graphics? Well, this site has collected about a dozen of them, photographed the assets carefully, and remade them for you to enjoy. → Read More
Take a quick look at where BMWs are conceived. The video doesn’t show much, but clearly gets across the message that BMW is committed to making the world’s best cars. Crafting prototypes out of solid aluminum says commitment. Nuts. → Read More
Looks like HSN wasn’t lying when they said the Nook Color would be getting an update next month. Of course, they continue to lie about the price of the device ($500, HSN? Really?), but that’s a whole other thing. → Read More
We’ve all seen the ads: nerdy AT&T guy takes punches from the cute T-Mobile girl. Sure, it works for them, but now that AT&T intends to acquire T-Mobile, what will happen to the commercials? → Read More
If nothing else I can now report that Crysis 2 is quite a bit longer than Homefront. I’m still churning through it, even after a good four hours last night. Hopefully I can finish it tonight or tomorrow. So at least the game has a decent length campaign going going for it. What it may not have going for it is, how shall I put this… the PC version looks too similar to the console versions. If you’re playing on an Xbox 360 and all you’re used to is, say, Dragon Age 2, then sure, the game looks pretty great. But PC gamers expect more. The jump from Far Cry to Crysis was pretty much insane. The jump from Crysis to Crysis 2 was less insane. → Read More
We’re now two days into to the life of Color, and it’s still the tech story that everyone in the blogosphere wants to talk about. Yesterday, I detailed why so much of that talk is directly related to the massive funding they were able to secure, rather than the product itself. And I wondered why so many people seemed to be rooting for it to fail spectacularly rather than succeed? The answer, it seems, may be quite simple.
There were some great discussions in the comment section (can you believe I’m saying that?) of yesterday’s post and a number of people reached out to weigh in as well. Of those, the most interesting perspectives were from entrepreneurs. A common refrain among them points to a simple reason for the Color backlash beyond the larger “bubble” talk: no one wants to root for Goliath. → Read More
“Technology has been one of the biggest drivers of new vocabulary for centuries” — Jesse Sheidlower, editor at large for the O.E.D.
The Internet’s importance as a preserver and driver of language use has been reinforced this week with two key symbolic developments.
The first is the news that the Internet-isms OMG, LOL and the usage of “heart” as a verb have made the Oxford English dictionary, throwing purists into a tizzy, because basically people generally hate change (it took about fifteen years for people to finally accept that the doubled-up adjectival noun “web site” would inevitably become the all inclusive noun “website.” And it took the AP Stylebook about twenty to eventually join the two). → Read More
It’s Nintendo 3DS weekend, and Walmart (of all companies~!) has a pretty decent deal going on. Select stores will accept old DS models for credit, credit that you can then apply toward the purchase of a 3DS. → Read More
Gary Vaynerchuk is a busy guy. I don’t expect him to pick up the phone every time I call. After all, he’s on a book tour or something, and busy tweeting, and drinking wine. But then I saw the picture above. Yup, that’s Gary V on his cell phone in front of a poster advertising his new book, The Thank You Economy. The poster lists a phone number, (646) 401-0368, and asks prospective readers to:
Call now and the author Gary Vaynerchuk will answer this or any other question about The Thank You Economy.*
*Unless he’s in a plane or meeting
Lightsabers: Able to make a man’s sport out of anything including badminton. Jokes, all jokes, because played right, badminton will melt your face with awesomeness. [via Geekologie] → Read More
Some users of the free, ad-supported version of digital music service Spotify are getting hit by malware-based attacks, reported The Register earlier today, echoing a report from Netcraft.
Netcraft explains that at least one attack used a Java exploit to drop malicious executable code on a victim’s computer, with security software identifying one of the malicious payloads as Trojan horse Generic_r.FZ. → Read More
Ever since the iPad 2 launched, getting your hands on one hasn’t been easy — some resorted to paying outrageous prices on eBay. After huge sales during launch weekend, Apple began to push back estimated shipping dates to 2-3 weeks before finally leveling out at 4-5 weeks. Now, Apple has moved up the shipping dates one week to 3-4 weeks. [via Mobileburn] → Read More
If the rumors prove accurate, and it certainly looks like they will, Google will introduce a mobile streaming music service à la Spotify or Rdio sooner rather than later. The big idea is that you’ll be able to listen to any song you want on demand so long as you have network access, either via Wi-Fi or 3G/4G/etc. It’s music in the cloud, in other words. Google won’t be the first company to offer mobile streaming music, but there’s something different between “small-company-launches-mobile-cloud-music-with-indie-record-labels” and “Google-launches-mobile-cloud-music-with-every-label-on-the-planet.” → Read More
Ever wonder how all those data bits, naughty sexting messages, and angry voice calls get from point A to point B? Most folks are perfectly content with chalking it up to magical fairies and space dust, but it’s really a bit more complicated than that. The signal hops from your phone to the nearest cell tower, which then forwards everything on to the local “switch”. The switch, essentially a massive building filled ceiling to floor with routing boxes and back-up power generators, is the unsung hero of the cellular network — it’s also the thing that the least people get a chance to see. The guys over at Geek.com got a chance to tour the Orlando “superswitch” (dubbed “super” because of its ability to withstand insane weather conditions, not because it’s particularly huge), and brought back a bevy of photos and details. If you’ve got any interest on how things work behind the scenes, be sure to check out their debriefing right over here. → Read More
The botnet is dead (enough), but now what? You’l recall that Microsoft, working in conjunction with pretty much every organization on the planet, had managed to lop the head off the Rustock botnet. The world’s attention now turns to finding the people behind the botnet. Leads show that the botnet may have been run by as few as two or three people, so actually tracking these people down may prove a tricky proposition. → Read More
If you’ve got an iPhone (well, an AT&T iPhone) and a burning desire to upgrade something today, you’re in luck: Apple has just pushed out iOS 4.3.1 for iPod Touches, iPads, and GSM iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4s. As for all those shiny new Verizon iPhone 4s out there? No update for you, just yet. But don’t fret, Verizoners — you’re not missin’ too much here. As the itty-bitty numerical hop from 4.3 to 4.3.1 implies, this update is a pretty small one. It fixes a graphical issue on iPod Touches, nixes an issue related to connecting to some cell networks, kills off the flicker that some folks reported with the Apple Digital AV Adapter, and cleans up a few enterprise authentication bugs. You can find the new patch by hittin’ the “Update” button on your iPhone’s profile screen in iTunes. → Read More
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