There has been some talk about the Associated Press’ new system, called hNews for some reason, for protecting its precious copywritten materials from bloggers, pirates and pederasts. The system will include a DRM system that will make sure you can’t cut and paste data from a browser to a blog post, thereby ensuring that no one can steal the AP’s valuable, value-added content. As… → Read More
Intel said today that it plans to acquire Wind River Systems, maker of software for embedded devices – think smartphones, other consumer electronics devices, in-car “info-tainment” systems, networking equipment and the likes- in a deal valued at approx. $884 million (or all outstanding Wind River common stock for $11.50 per share in cash). With the move, Intel aims to grow its processor and… → Read More
TellMe, which Microsoft bought two years ago, is rolling out an upgrade to its call center automation software which should improve its speech recognition rates. It is also adding Global Crossing as partner for reselling its VoiP carrier service, along with AT&T and Verizon. TellMe handles 2.5 billion calls a year for customers such as American Airlines and ETrade, all on-demand. Even a… → Read More
IBM is moving into the transportation industry by helping railway companies operate their trains and infrastructure. In particular, IBM is helping develop high-speed rail networks globally, and released a study called the “The Smarter Railroad,” highlighting how emerging technologies will help rail companies better instrument and manage rail networks. According to the report, the top… → Read More
Sadly, this is no April Fool’s joke. Silicon Graphics, the high-end computer computer workstation and server company founded by Jim Clark in 1982, today declared bankruptcy and sold itself to Rackable Systems for $25 million plus the assumption of “certain liabilities.” In its bankruptcy filing, SGI listed debt of $526 million. A decade ago, SGI’s revenues peaked at about… → Read More
The iPhone 3.0 Announcement has come to an (abrupt) end. So how did Apple fare according to our Scorecard? Well, as you can see there is still room for improvement, but slighty better than expected – 75 out of 120 possible points. Here is the specific point breakdown: → Read More
Even though we’re losing newspapers left and right in the U.S., people ought not be afraid for the future of news, journalism, etc. So says Steven Johnson, author of, among other things, The Invention of Air. Johnson, speaking at a panel at SXSWi, tried to allay the fears of every kid in journalism school—and those of us who recently graduated, lol!—by saying that people need only look… → Read More
DeskspaceGenie launches today as a marketplace for people who want to rent desks and others to rent out. It sounds like a God-send for people with spare desks and who need the revenue in these tough times – and could be great for small startups who could well get deskspace for a fraction of the normal market prices. The site will be aimed at freelancers, journalists, entrepreneurs… → Read More
Live video streaming service Ustream is rolling out a white-label service today called Watershed for Websites and businesses that want to broadcast their own live streams. Watershed comes with a lot of extra management capabilities like the ability to customize the player, add a logo, turn on features like chat, polling, picture-in-picture video chat, Twitter integration, analytics and… → Read More
Apple published a support bulletin recently, finally disclosing what it’s going to take to replace those Macbook Pro batteries.
It can be done, but not by the end user, and not for free. If you take it into your local Apple store (with an appointment) it’ll be a same day process. If you ship it in, expect a 3-4 week delay. Either way, it’s going to cost you $179 to get it done. Ouch. → Read More
D-Link announced two new products today, something they are calling a “networked video recorder,” or NVR, system. This is intended mainly for small business surveillance, however I’m sure there would be some crossover to the home market. → Read More
Time to run like crazy to your local Best Buy. Turns out that from now until December 31st, you like can get a iPhone for about $10 less then from the Apple store. → Read More
It’s true, anything can be improved. Some clever designer has created what could be the penultimate kitchen gadget. The digital spoon. The issue is, while for general cooking, you can use volume measuring. Normally, just using that one cup measure isn’t going to cause problems. However when you get into more gourmet usage of high end spices, it just doesn’t cut it. So you need to… → Read More
Turns out the iPod is being used by soliders for psychological operations in Iraq. A very creative solider used his iPod and a loudspeaker to broadcast Iraqi pop music while on an operation to distribute food. Another soldier is using a transmitter to do the same thing. The transmitter and iPod use a very low powered system (normally used for rescue beacons) to transmit a pro-coalition message… → Read More
Apple’s shares took a little bit of a hit today, after a Wall Street analyst lowered his rating in the short term on their stock. The analyst said that while Apple is still strong, in the short term they may find it difficult to reach sales targets on the MacBook Pro, and the ever popular iPods. He also said that it’s appearing unlikely that Apple will release a new product at MacWorld… → Read More
Good news for older gamers: that secret desire to rush your enemies’ base can be healthy! A study published in the medical journal Psychology & Aging shows that playing games like Rise of Nations and other real-time strategy titles can actually help elderly gamers maintain or improve their ability to reason, and help them with short term memory. To me, this seems like a great thing. Now… → Read More
I’ve always been impressed by hardware hackers. Whether it’s a simple DIY digital picture frame, or a full-scale conversion of a gasoline car to electric, there’s something about the “can do” spirit of these guys that really impresses me. I marvel at the stuff in Make Magazine on a regular basis. → Read More
Best Buy announced today that they are going to start selling Smartphone software applications from their in-store “Mobile Genie” system. They also announced that Handango’s In-Hand client will be custom branded for Best Buy, and automatically downloaded into each device so customers can continue to purchase apps with Handango and Best Buy after they leave the store. In… → Read More
If you’ve been worried about getting too much electromagnetic radiation from your cell phone, you can finally take off that tinfoil hat! A Belgian firm has announced that they have finally created a gadget that blocks your phone’s harmful rays, or “signal.” Supposedly, their little dime-sized sticker will emit “a quantum physical information wave” to counter… → Read More
Fresh out of Japan, is the new SNUG iT PRO from Delkin. Now, you might have seen other, similar silicone camera cases from other companies, but what makes this one slightly more exciting is that it’s one of the first brands to support the Nikon D90 and Canon 50D. It’s scheduled to be released into the wilds of Japan on December 19th, however there is no word as of yet about the U.S. → Read More
So the rumors were true: Leica has announced that they will be producing the limited edition Leica D-Lux 4 Titanium. This very exclusive camera is expected to ship on January 9th, 2009, and will be limited to a run of 500. The price is expected to be $995, assuming you can find one of course. → Read More
Looking for a good camera to buy for the parents this year? Well, from the current batch of ultra-slim products coming out, it looks like you can’t top the Canon Powershot SD790. While it’s a little heftier then the other brand offerings, you can’t beat it on performance. Combining 10 megapixels with some nifty new image stabilization technology, if you’re shopping for a… → Read More
Axiotron announced yesterday that they are releasing an updated version of their tablet Mac solution, the Modbook. While the update mainly consists of some minor hardware changes, the really juicy bit is that you can now crack the thing open and void your warranty. Modders take note. And, in typical Mac fashion, they are priced almost twice as much as a tablet PC. → Read More
Google’s plans for global empire, by way of digitizing a bunch of dusty old newspapers, received a strong boost today, now that Mountain View has secured the archives of paperofrecord.com. Paper of Record has been digitizing entire newspaper archives, including the Toronto Star as well as other international newspapers, for some time now. With those archives now under its control… → Read More
The hottest news on the interwebs right now is the official release date and price of the BlackBerry Storm – Nov 21 @ $199, btw. It is getting nearly as much press as the iPhone and even though it’s a hot handheld, are you planning on buying the latest CrackBerry now or in the near future? {democracy:43} → Read More
Just in case you’re wondering if your local Circuit City store is going to be open this holiday season, Circuit City just announced the list of the 155 stores closing ASAP. [PDF link] These stores will be shut down quickly, with Firedog employees and Roadshop installers allegedly getting cut today and the inventory transfered to other locations. Do not expect liquidation or blow-out sales as… → Read More
Cloud computing keeps advancing like rolling thunder. Amazon today announced a major upgrade to its EC2 compute cloud service and Sun co-founder Andy Bechtolsheim has decided to spend more time at his startup Arista Networks, which sells 10-Gigabit Ethernet switches aimed at handling the loads at cloud-computing data centers. And just yesterday, RackSpace announced two small acquisitions to help… → Read More
Nokia announced their Comes With Music program last month, a media download offering with backing from Sony BMG, Warner Music Group, EMI, and Universal Music Group. The system, along with the Nokia Music Store, has about 5 million tracks currently available and Nokia has announced the Music PC client for easy downloads. You can drag CDs into the application for immediate ripping. Comes With Music… → Read More
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