FlexBeta

BitTorrent Bundle Puts a Music Store Inside Torrents

Posted by Gsurface on May 7, 2013 No comments

An anonymous reader writes “BitTorrent has come up with a new way to sell music. It’s called BitTorrent Bundle, and it puts the music store alongside the torrent. At last, someone has come up with a way to turn all us entitled, lawless downloaders into paying customers. BitTorrent thinks of BitTorrent Bundle as a sort of 21st century band flyer. Post a torrent with a handful of live tracks from your latest tour, Bundle it with a store that lets your groupies buy the full album.” Put simply, the idea is that bands publish a basic torrent with a few songs as a teaser. When users download that .torrent file from BitTorrent.com, they’re shown a page asking for something — money, an email address, or social media interaction — in exchange for the rest of the album (or other bonus content). If they comply, they get a different .torrent file. It’s not intended as a guard against piracy, but as a way to link up content creators with the torrenters who are actually willing to pay.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Google Formally Puts Palestine On Virtual Map

Posted by Gsurface on May 4, 2013 No comments

hypnosec writes “Google has indirectly walked right into one of the Middle East’s most obstinate conflicts by labeling Palestine as an independent nation — wiping off the term ‘Palestinian Territories’ and replacing it with ‘Palestine’ in its localized search page. Google’s move is more or less in line with the UN’s October decision to name Palestine as a non-member observer state. The status given to Palestine will allow the state to join UN debates as well as global bodies such as the International Criminal Court, in theory at least. Up until May 1, anyone visiting http://www.google.ps were shown the phrase Palestinian Territories. This change is definitely not a huge one but, it has attracted criticism from politicians in Israel.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

New on MIT Technology Review

Twitter Tests a Toolkit That Puts the Internet in Things

Posted by Gsurface on May 3, 2013 No comments

Platforms that combine networking with user interfaces will help companies test post-PC ideas.

Why should only computers, smartphones, and tablets be able to send a tweet? In the hopes of challenging this idea, Twitter recently developed a whimsical tweet-enabled cuckoo clock. It uses a toolkit that could help other designers and engineers test ways for new products to contribute to, and feed on, the social network’s chatter. Twitter created the clock, called #Flock, last month in partnership with London-based technology consultancy Berg; the clock responds to incoming tweets, @-messages, and retweets by animating small wooden puppets.

Xing puts a Wii U at the heart of its costly karaoke machine

Posted by Gsurface on April 25, 2013 No comments

Sure, we’ve seen game consoles modified for use beyond their original purpose, but this apparatus turns things up a notch. Pictured above is the Joysound Festa, a mobile entertainment system powered by the Wii U‘s hardware and software. Built by Japanese karaoke machine maker Xing, this beastly console mod is controlled from the system’s Gamepad and includes the gracelessly named Nintendo x Joysound Wii Karaoke U. Pre-loaded with 90,000 songs, this party starter also ships with a set of dance, exercise, yoga and brain training videos. Already reaching for your wallet? You should know that this unique setup is Japan-only, and headed to hotels and nursing homes at a hefty price of 1,580,000 yen (around $ 15,884). At that price, it may take around 25 years until we see one of these bad boys up for grabs on eBay.

Filed under: Gaming, Nintendo

Comments

Via: Kotaku

Source: Joysound Festa (translated)

Nokia Lumia teaser asks ‘what can the matter be?’, puts Malaysians on edge (video)

Posted by Gsurface on April 19, 2013 No comments

Flickering hospital lights. A man going ballistic in a padded cell. A hooded ghoul. These are the images Nokia Malaysia wants to put into our heads in the run-up to a mysterious Lumia-related launch coming on April 25th. That date has also been linked to Verizon’s launch of the Lumia 928, but we’re not sure how that might be relevant. Alternatively, it could be a countdown to the Malaysian launch of the Lumia 720 or Lumia 520. The thing is, we’re intimately familiar with both those handsets and neither can be described as even remotely spooky. Unless it’s another Batman Edition?

Update: The video on Nokia’s official YouTube channel has been pulled. We’ve added a different embed in the hope of preserving this curious piece of marketing for future generations.

[Thanks, Piaget]

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Nokia

Comments

Source: Nokia Malaysia (YouTube), LumiaLiveCentre.com

Monster Watts WiQiQi puts wireless charging in Samsung Galaxy phones without new cases

Posted by Gsurface on April 10, 2013 No comments

Samsung already has wireless charging options for phones like the Galaxy S4, but they require a separate cover that adds a slight amount of bulk. For Monster Watts, that’s still too much. The company’s upcoming WiQiQi charging receiver is thin enough to slip under the existing cases of both the S4 as well as the Galaxy S III and Galaxy Note II, giving them the same Qi-based wireless power as official kits without disrupting the design or wrecking compatibility with accessories. Kits for the two phones already on the market should be available as soon as the middle of this month, with discounted early pricing for a receiver-and-charger bundle starting at $ 45 (normally $ 78) for the GS3; a WiQiQi for the GS4 won’t show until around early June at a regular $ 88 price, although it should also start at $ 45 for advance buyers. Monster Watts’ wire-free solution isn’t seamless, but it may be one of the more elegant in an era when wireless charging is only occasionally built-in.

Filed under: Cellphones, Peripherals, Mobile, Samsung

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Source: Monster Watts, Indiegogo

Foursquare puts search first in update of iOS app

Posted by Gsurface on April 10, 2013 No comments

The check-in app continues to ramp up its search functions in its quest to take down Yelp. [Read more]

CNET News

Silverline puts iPhones, apps in seniors’ hands

Posted by Gsurface on April 8, 2013 No comments

An Indiegogo social enterprise project from Singapore aims to equipping the elderly with an iPhone 3GS preloaded with essential apps. [Read more]

CNET News

Critical denial-of-service flaw in BIND software puts DNS servers at risk

Posted by Gsurface on March 30, 2013 No comments

A flaw in the widely used BIND DNS (Domain Name System) software can be exploited by remote attackers to crash DNS servers and affect the operation of other programs running on the same machines.
Computerworld News

Action Launcher Pro version 1.5 puts Android widgets just a swipe away (video)

Posted by Gsurface on March 28, 2013 No comments

Android launchers cross our desks every so often but only a handful catch our eye. Action Launcher Pro is the latest to strike our fancy thanks to its quick and compact widget solution dubbed Shutters. With the freshly added feature, users can open up widgets by simply giving app icons a vertical swipe. Version 1.5 also packs a number of improvements, including support for 10-inch tablets and increased stability. Devices running Android 4.0.3 or newer will be able to take the launcher for a spin, but Shutters is a Jelly Bean-only affair thanks to API limitations. Head past the break to catch the software in action, or click the second source link to pick it up for $ 3.99.

Filed under: Mobile, Google

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Source: Action Launcher Pro (1, Google+), (2, Google Play), Action Launcher Release Notes, Chris Lacy (YouTube)

InMobi Launches App Publish, An Android App Distribution Platform Covering Hundreds Of Stores; Puts Its Metaflow Acquisition To Work

Posted by Gsurface on March 27, 2013 No comments

Mobile advertising network InMobi today took one more step in its bid to be a one-stop shop for developers’ app marketing needs, in the process taking advantage of the massive fragmentation that exists on the Android platform. It has launched App Publish, a distribution platform specifically for Android apps, which lets developers push their free, paid, or freemium apps to many different Android app stores at once. App Publish, which is free to use, is kicking off with about 130 app stores worldwide, and it will be adding more at the rate of around one to two per week, according to Charles McLeod, director of business development for InMobi.

3BaysGSA Putt: a Bluetooth golf gadget that puts eyes in your putter (hands on)

Posted by Gsurface on March 23, 2013 No comments

3BaysGSA Putt a Bluetooth golf gadget that puts eyes in your putter hands on

Motion sensor-based golf devices are all the rage these days, but they mostly target the full swing. Can such electronics be accurate enough to measure a much smaller stroke, namely the all-important putt? Since golf season’s nearly here, we decided to find out with the Putt from 3BaysGSA, a tiny, lightweight device that fits in the handle of a putter and relays stroke information via Bluetooth to an Android or iOS device. As Engadget’s resident golf nut, yours truly put the device through its paces both objectively and in a less-than-formal way to see whether it could accurately track a stroke. Will it help you lift your putter in victory, or make you wrap it around a tree? Hit the break to see how we did.

Gallery: 3Bays GSA Putt Hands-On

Filed under: Misc, Wireless

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Nimbuzz Hits 150M Emerging Market Users, Puts The Heat On Facebook In Asia

Posted by Gsurface on March 15, 2013 No comments

Free messaging apps are a dime a dozen these days. There’s everything from Viber, to Skype, to WhatsApp to GroupMe. But while these startups concentrated on smartphone apps, it has been in the emerging markets that messaging over data has made a huge impression, and that has required paying attention to feature phones which use Java apps. We saw Saya.im appear only last year in Africa for instance. So starting way back in 2006, this is exactly what Nimbuzz, a startup originally from the Netherlands, did. And that strategy is paying off. Today it announces that it has just passed 150 million users globally and is doubling its users year on year.
TechCrunch

iFixit releases tablet repairability list, puts Apple and Microsoft on the bottom

Posted by Gsurface on March 1, 2013 No comments

Not only has iFixit long been the go-to source for gadget teardowns, it’s often seen as an authority on just how repairable a device is post-purchase. So when the outfit released its “Tablet Repairability” list recently, we took notice. The Dell XPS 10 took top marks (9 out of 10) for its color-coded screws and labeled cables, while Apple and Microsoft slumped to the bottom. Every iPad from the second generation onward scored a 2, and the Surface Pro has the unenviable position as the worst of the lot with a score of 1. Excessive adhesive is the culprit behind the low scores, as is the high probability of part breakage upon disassembly. Not every tablet on the market made it on the list, but it’s a decent start as iFixit finds more slates to tear down. Head on over to the source to see if your favorite tablet is easily fixable or if you need to look into rugged cases and extended warranties.

Comments

Via: CNET

Source: iFixit

Samsung puts latest Exynos 5 Octa chip into a prototype tablet, we go hands-on (video)

Posted by Gsurface on February 25, 2013 No comments

Samsung puts its latest Exynos Octa chip into a prototype tablet, we go handson video

The Exynos 5 Octa was definitely one of the biggest things to come out of CES. Given how well the regular dual-core Exynos V performs in the Nexus 10 and Chromebook, devices containing the souped-up Octa version could be really special. As you probably know already, we’re looking at four Cortex-A15 cores for when you need raw performance for gaming or media creation, and then four energy-saving Cortex-A7 cores for less demanding tasks like surfing or watching video. We’ve just seen how fast and fluid this big.LITTLE core-switching technology is, courtesy of a Samsung reference tablet on show at ARM’s booth at MWC — check it out for yourself after the break.

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Samsung

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PunkSPIDER Project Puts Vulnerabilities On (Searchable) Display

Posted by Gsurface on February 24, 2013 No comments

First time accepted submitter punk2176 writes “Recently I started a free and open source project known as the PunkSPIDER project and presented it at ShmooCon 2013. If you haven’t heard of it, it’s at heart, a project with the goal of pushing for improved global website security. In order to do this we built a Hadoop distributed computing cluster along with a website vulnerability scanner that can use the cluster. Once we finished that we open sourced the code to our scanner and unleashed it on the Internet. The results of our scans are provided to the public for free in an easy-to-use search engine. The results so far aren’t pretty.” The Register has an informative article, too.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Read The Full Story
SlashGear

Wall Street Beat: Shareholder pushback puts Dell on defensive for privatization deal

Posted by Gsurface on February 16, 2013 No comments

The growing number of shareholders voicing opposition to Dell's US$ 24.4 billion plan to go private appears to be putting the company increasingly on the defensive, raising questions about the terms of the deal.
Computerworld News

UPS puts 100 electric trucks on the road in California

Posted by Gsurface on February 10, 2013 No comments

In an effort to cut down on the amount of diesel used throughout the day, the United Parcel Service (UPS) is deploying 100 electric trucks in central California to continually test out its new initiative of going green. While the new trucks might not be able to last all day on a full charge, it’s

Blizzard puts kibosh on Surface Pro launch event in NY

Posted by Gsurface on February 8, 2013 No comments

Microsoft’s low-key Surface Pro launch has been canceled due to a blizzard expected to hit New York. But Best Buy is still planning to sell devices at midnight as planned. [Read more]

CNET News

Sony K-12 initiative puts the Xperia Tablet S into schools

Posted by Gsurface on February 6, 2013 No comments

The selection of tablets in education has been narrow, especially for teachers that want support after the hardware is on their doorstep. Sony figures that it can widen the field through its K-12 Education Initiative. The effort gives schools a discount on the Xperia Tablet S, but that’s just the start: they have access to Education Ambassador, an online resource for incorporating Android tablets into the classroom, as well as 50GB of free Box storage and a year’s worth of Kaspersky security services. Sony is already taking orders for schools waiting to hop onboard; if they’re willing to try a company that’s relatively untested in education, they may get a better deal than they expect.

Filed under: Tablets, Sony

Comments

Via: ZDNet

Source: Education Ambassador

Updated Model Puts Earth On the Edge of the Habitable Zone

Posted by Gsurface on February 5, 2013 No comments

cylonlover writes with news of an update to the model used for calculating the habitable zone around stars shifting things out a bit. From the article: “Researchers at Penn state have developed a new method for calculating the habitable zone (original paper, PDF) around stars. The computer model based on new greenhouse gas databases provides a tool to better estimate which extrasolar planets with sufficient atmospheric pressure might be able to maintain liquid water on their surface. The new model indicates that some of the nearly 300 possible Earth-like planets previously identified might be too close to their stars to to be habitable. It also places the Solar System’s habitable zone between 0.99 AU (92 million mi, 148 million km) and 1.70 AU (158 million mi, 254 million km) from the Sun. Since the Earth orbits the Sun at an average distance of one AU, this puts us at the very edge of the habitable zone.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Breakfast sandwich maker puts it all together

Posted by Gsurface on January 28, 2013 No comments

The Hamilton Beach 25475 Breakfast Sandwich Maker cooks popular favorites like egg, ham, and cheese English muffin sandwiches. The kitchen gadget features a sliding mechanism for automatic construction. [Read more]

CNET News

Pwn2Own hacking contest puts record $560K on the line

Posted by Gsurface on January 18, 2013 No comments

HP TippingPoint, the long-time organizer of the annual Pwn2Own hacking contest, has revamped the challenge for the second year running and will offer cash awards exceeding half a million dollars, more than five times the amount paid out last year.
Computerworld News

Apple online store lets Chinese buy on a 2-year plan, puts iPads within reach

Posted by Gsurface on January 16, 2013 No comments

Apple has repeatedly stressed that China is important to its bottom line, but it faces a dilemma given the premium associated with its name: when it can take weeks’ worth of typical pay to buy an iOS device, let alone a Mac, many locals either have to save up or else turn to alternatives. The company may not have truly low-cost devices — at least, not yet — but it is offering an olive branch in the form of installment plans. Chinese who order from the online Apple Store with a China Merchants Bank credit card can now buy virtually anything priced between ¥300 and ¥30,000 ($ 48 to $ 4,821) using up to 24 payments spread over two years. Much like in other countries, there’s higher additional fees the longer the installments carry on. The strategy only helps a certain segment of the population for whom the up-front cost is the lone obstacle; that may be enough in the near future, though, given that there’s still significant demand.

[Image credit: Sina Tech]

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Mobile, Apple

Comments

Via: Bloomberg

Source: Apple (translated)

Continue reading TourWrist puts a twist on the photo sphere (hands-on video)

TourWrist puts a twist on the photo sphere (hands-on video)

Posted by Gsurface on January 12, 2013 No comments

You’ve heard of Instagram, right? Are you familiar with Microsoft’s Photosynth and Google’s Photo Sphere on Nexus phones and tablets? How about Apple’s brilliant continuous-scan panorama mode on iOS devices? Well mash all this up and you get TourWrist, an app / social network for sharing photo spheres. The app started life as a social network for virtual tourism and gained one million users since launching in 2010. Here in Las Vegas, the company just launched the latest version of TourWrist with a focus on capturing photos spheres. Unlike Microsoft’s and Google’s approach, which stitches 360-degree images from discrete pictures, the app uses continuous-scan like Apple’s panorama mode. The resulting photo spheres are truly impressive and look significantly better than the competition, especially when captured in tricky lighting conditions. All 360-degree images can be shared with other TourWrist users, Instagram-style, and with other social networks by linking to an HTML5-compatible viewer. Take a look at our gallery below and peek after the break for our hands-on video and sample photo sphere captured on site.

Gallery: TourWrist hands-on

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Apple, Microsoft, Google

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Continue reading Huawei puts Ascend P1 on sale in the US through Amazon for $ 450

Huawei puts Ascend P1 on sale in the US through Amazon for $450

Posted by Gsurface on January 3, 2013 No comments

We’ve grown accustomed to the Huawei Ascend P1 ourselves, but most Americans haven’t had that same luxury without going through an importer. Huawei wants to be more accommodating, if somewhat belatedly: it’s now selling its mid-tier phone directly to the US through Amazon. Shelling out $ 450 gets the same 4.3-inch screen, dual-core 1.5GHz processor and lightly customized Android 4.0 as elsewhere, but in an unlocked form with a proper US warranty. The only real disappointment is that it’s not the LTE variant, although we’ll bite when there’s HSPA+ 3G for American GSM carriers like AT&T, Straight Talk and T-Mobile. If you’re willing to make the sacrifice for carrier independence, the Ascend P1 awaits at the source link.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Amazon

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Source: Amazon

Continue reading LG’s 2013 AV lineup puts NFC into Blu-ray player, 9.1-channel home theater

LG’s 2013 AV lineup puts NFC into Blu-ray player, 9.1-channel home theater

Posted by Gsurface on December 26, 2012 No comments

LG is in the midst of a whirlwind tour of its 2013 CES introductions, and the next stop is its AV catalog. The running theme this year is NFC: both the BH9430PW 9.1-channel home theater and the BP730 Blu-ray player include the short-range wireless format to simplify mirroring content from your Optimus G (and, most likely, other NFC phones). The surround system also packs an iPod dock and a Private Audio Mode that funnels sound to a nearby smartphone when a quiet house is paramount. Beyond these two devices, LG promises the Bluetooth-equipped, 310W NB4530A sound bar, a ND8630 speaker dock with both Android and iOS support (including AirPlay and Bluetooth) and an NP6630 portable speaker that stuffs AirPlay, Bluetooth and NFC into its frame. We’ll know more at CES next month, but those who want LG’s overview can see it for themselves after the break.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Portable Audio/Video, HD, LG

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Google puts businesses’ interiors inside search results

Posted by Gsurface on December 20, 2012 No comments

Google Business Photos present 360-degree panoramas, allowing users to scope out businesses without actually visiting. [Read more]

CNET News

Verizon’s limited edition Droid DNA puts the company colors in employees’ hands

Posted by Gsurface on December 16, 2012 No comments

There are more perks to being a Verizon employee than just discounted phone plans — like limited edition versions of the carrier’s hottest handsets. Much like it did for the Droid RAZR and RAZR Maxx, Verizon’s gearing up to offer its staffers a special, red-backed version of the Droid DNA that adheres strictly to the company’s signature colors. Apart from the obvious red and black cosmetic change, each phone is set to ship with a serial number denoting its exclusivity and type on the back marking it as a “Verizon Employee Limited Edition.” According to DroidLife, these one-offs have already begun to enter into circulation. So, don’t be surprised if you see any related listings surfacing on eBay in the near future.

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, Verizon

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Source: DroidLife

Nintendo Puts a Bedtime On Wii U Content In Europe

Posted by Gsurface on December 8, 2012 No comments

kc67 writes “Nintendo of Europe is blocking Wii U content in the region that is rated PEGI 18+ between the hours of 3 a.m. and 11 p.m., according to a Eurogamer report. Under these stipulations, the four-hour window of 11 p.m. to 3 a.m. is the only time users can purchase games like ZombiU or Assassin’s Creed III or even view trailers for such games. The story originated from a NeoGAF forum user, which reportedly received an email from Nintendo saying the following: ‘Dear customer, we would like to let you know that Nintendo has always aimed to offer gameplay experiences suited to all age groups, observing carefully all the relevant regulations regarding content access that are present in the various European countries. We have thus decided to restrict the access to content which is unsuitable to minors (PEGI) to the 11 p.m.- 3 a.m. time window.’ Eurogamer has since verified the claim. It received a message stating ‘You cannot view this content’ and ‘The times during which this content can be viewed have been restricted.’ Nintendo has yet to comment on the matter.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Rogers puts all Windows Phone 8 devices on sale, keeps them well under $100

Posted by Gsurface on December 7, 2012 No comments

Rogers is currently in a full-court press to get us using Microsoft-branded devices, and it just made that clear through steep, across-the-board sales on everything Windows Phone 8. Nokia’s Lumia 920 has dropped from $ 100 to $ 50; the yet-to-ship Samsung ATIV S has already dropped from $ 150 to a more tempting $ 80 for early adopters. The sweetest of deals may be for the HTC Windows Phone 8X, which has dipped to $ 30 for a 16GB model and a solitary penny for the 8GB version. For all the cuts, Rogers is careful to warn that they’re part of a “limited time offer” and might not last beyond the weekend. We’re delving deeper for an official statement on the drops, although the ATIV S cut may be to counter a leaked (and as yet unconfirmed) Bell deal at the same price. Whatever the cause, we’ll gladly take steep discounts on cutting-edge hardware.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Samsung, HTC, Nokia

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Via: MobileSyrup

Source: Rogers

Continue reading MR-808 recreates Roland drum machine with robot instruments, puts them in an 808 State (video)

“In the Studio,” MkII’s Ron Palmeri Puts His Own Spin On The VC Model

Posted by Gsurface on November 23, 2012 No comments

“In the Studio” kicks off some special holiday episodes this weekend by hosting a repeat entrepreneur, a product maker and marketer, a technology operator, a venture capitalist, an innovator in the venture model space, and a longtime friend of TechCrunch.

Ron Palmeri, founder of MkII Ventures (pronounced “Mark 2″ Ventures) is one of my favorite kind of entrepreneurs, the type who has throughout his career helped start, incubate, and bring new ventures to market, all while not trying to seek too much attention for himself. After a career in business development in Silicon Valley, Palmeri helped Minor Ventures help start companies from scratch for about five years, and as that fund closed, he wanted his next fund to be a more interwoven into the startup community.
TechCrunch

MR-808 recreates Roland drum machine with robot instruments, puts them in an 808 State (video)

Posted by Gsurface on November 8, 2012 No comments

Music lovers will often tell you that Roland’s TR-808 gave birth to modern music. Acid house, rap, techno and other genres owe some of their original (and even current) sounds to that synthetic beat. Moritz Simon Geist appreciates the effort, but has built a solution for those who think the drum machine is a little too perfect: his MR-808 installation has robot limbs playing all the equivalent real-world instruments, right down to the cowbell. A laptop musician at the helm sends MIDI input to an Arduino controller that then triggers the robot’s instrument motors and matching lights. The effect is a unique mix of flawless cues with imprecise, almost organic sounds — imagine 808 State or Kanye West replacing each and every machine with a live band and you’ve got the idea. Although the sheer size of the MR-808 sadly nixes chances you’ll ever see one at the local nightclub, it could give any of Geist’s recorded music one of the more distinct vibes we’ve heard.

Filed under: Robots, Alt

MR-808 recreates Roland drum machine with robot instruments, puts them in an 808 State (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 07 Nov 2012 18:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Boing Boing | source Sonic Robots | Email this | Comments
Engadget

With Computerized Cars Ahead, GM Puts IT Outsourcing in the Rearview Mirror

Posted by Gsurface on November 5, 2012 No comments

The Detroit automaker is bringing thousands of IT jobs back in-house as it seeks faster software innovation.

For a dramatic sign of the strategy reversal under way at General Motors as it moves on from its 2009 bankruptcy, look no further than the IT department.

When Randy Mott, the company’s new chief information officer, took the position in February, the company had been outsourcing its information technology work—just like countless other global corporations seeking to shed costs. A massive 90 percent of this work was being done outside the company.

New on MIT Technology Review

Google’s New Nexus Commercial Puts Focus On The Platform, Not The Hardware

Posted by Gsurface on October 30, 2012 No comments

Despite a storm in the North East that started out as a sheepish school girl and ended up in leather pants with a cigarette (you know, Sandy), Google still managed to pull off their big announcement yesterday. We officially met the Nexus 4 and Nexus 10, as Google refreshed the Nexus 7 with 3G.
TechCrunch

Cardrops Is A Service That Puts Stuff You Order Into The Trunk Of Your Car. Yeah. Really.

Posted by Gsurface on October 29, 2012 No comments

“Delivering parcels in the trunk of a car is new concept,” said Cardrops co-founder Nick De Mey in what may be one of the finest examples of understatement in recent history. His startup sounds simple: you order something and it’s left in the boot of your car. However, when you consider the ramifications – that your car can tell people where it is, that you’re going to be getting shoes or a blender hidden in your car at some point, and that this is actually a serious startup – and you start to wonder if Nick De May isn’t crazy… like a fox.

Continue reading MooresCloud Light runs Linux, puts LAMP on your lamp (video)

Google puts Hurricane Sandy on its crisis map, hopes to help you weather the storm

Posted by Gsurface on October 29, 2012 No comments

Just because Google abandoned its October Android event doesn’t mean it’s left its users out to dry — Hurricane Sandy now has its very own Google Crisis Map. It isn’t the first time Mountain View has lent its mapping tech to folks in harm’s way — survivors of Hurricane Issac used a similar Crisis Map to track the storm, follow public alerts and find shelters. Sandy’s map is no different, providing locals with information on the storm’s path, forecast information, evacuation routes, areas of high wind probability and even links to webcams surrounding affected areas. Google isn’t the only firm lending a hand, either — both the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal are lifting site paywalls during the storm, ensuring the public has access to developing news as long as their internet connection doesn’t give out.

Filed under: Internet, Google

Google puts Hurricane Sandy on its crisis map, hopes to help you weather the storm originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 28 Oct 2012 20:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Verge, TechCrunch | source Google | Email this | Comments
Engadget

MooresCloud Light runs Linux, puts LAMP on your lamp (video)

Posted by Gsurface on October 13, 2012 No comments

Yes, we’ll admit that we borrowed that pun in the title. MooresCloud founder Mark Pesce’s Xzibit reference is still a very apt description of the Light, his company’s Linux-based LED lamp. The Australian team’s box-shaped illumination runs the open OS (including a LAMP web server stack) on an integrated mini PC with an accelerometer and WiFi. The relative power and networking provide obvious advantages for home automation that we’ve seen elsewhere, but it’s the sheer flexibility of a generalized, web-oriented platform that makes the difference: the Light can change colors based on photos or movement, sync light pulses to music and exploit a myriad of other tricks that should result from a future, web-based app store. When and how the Light launches will depend on a Kickstarter campaign to raise $ 700,000 AUD ($ 717,621 US) starting on October 16th, although the $ 99 AUD ($ 101 US) cost is just low enough that we could see ourselves open-sourcing a little more of the living room. At least, as long as we don’t have to recompile our lamp kernel before some evening reading.

Filed under: Household

MooresCloud Light runs Linux, puts LAMP on your lamp (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 13 Oct 2012 10:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink ZDNet | source MooresCloud | Email this | Comments
Engadget

Google Puts Its Virtual Brain Technology to Work

Posted by Gsurface on October 5, 2012 No comments

A powerful new approach to artificial intelligence is ready to improve many Google products.

This summer Google set a new landmark in the field of artificial intelligence with software that learned how to recognize cats, people, and other things simply by watching YouTube videos (see “Self-Taught Software“). That technology, modeled on how brain cells operate, is now being put to work making Google’s products smarter, with speech recognition being the first service to benefit.

Technology Review RSS Feeds

AMD AppZone Player puts Android apps on APU PCs

Posted by Gsurface on September 27, 2012 No comments

AMD will bring Android apps to PCs based on its processors, the chip company has revealed, with the new AMD AppZone Player offering thousands of titles as well as remote smartphone control. The deal with BlueStacks uses a specially optimized version of the virtualization software tailored for AMD Radeon graphics, and allows Android apps to run as

Read The Full Story
SlashGear

Vivid’s porn app puts the ‘O’ in iPhone

Posted by Gsurface on September 25, 2012 No comments

Going mobile is tough — at least on Apple devices — for pornography companies, as Apple doesn’t allow such apps in its App store. But on Monday, 28-year-old Vivid brought its “entertainment” to iOS devices with Vivid Touch.

FOX News

Drought Puts Modified Corn Seed to the Test

Posted by Gsurface on September 7, 2012 No comments

Three major seed producers are working on drought-resistant crops. The conditions this summer are providing a stern test.

Illinois farmer Mike Cyrulik didn’t foresee this year’s drought when, this spring, he planted 20 bags of a new corn seed on a slice of his 5,000-acre farm. Today, weeks before the harvest, much of his and his neighbors’ crop is dead or dying. But not the portion of his land where he planted the new seed. The healthy looking plants have “wound up being the talk of the town,” says Cyrulik, who expects a significantly higher yield, by 30 to 50 bushels, from each of those 220 acres in Bloomington.

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Startup Sauna Puts Some Money Where Its Mouth Is, Secures Inventure Backing

Posted by Gsurface on September 6, 2012 No comments

Startup Sauna has always been a slightly puzzling thing. It acts ike an accelerator but does not fund startups. It simply offers European (mostly from Nordic countries) and Russian startups coaching sessions and demo trips to Silicon Valley, and takes no equity. That’s because it is funded by Finland’s Aalto University and the Finnish Funding agency for technology and innovation. However, it has its uses. It’s now announced an open term sheet agreement with venture fund Inventure. The fund will now offer seed funding to Startup Sauna’s best teams – so now there is real money involved. Inventure, based in Helsinki and Shanghai, will invest 100,000 Euro in exchange for taking 15 percent equity in each of the top three startups that will complete the Startup Sauna acceleration program. The VC will decide which startup will get the investment, and the final deal will be sealed between the fund and the startup.
TechCrunch

Sony puts a price on its 4K TV: $25,000

Posted by Gsurface on September 6, 2012 No comments

Early adopters who want twice the resolution as ordinary HD TV will have to pay dearly for it. The price tag for Sony’s XBR-84X900 works out to 3 cents per pixel.
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CNET News

Taking A Big Hit On Design, Samsung Doubles Down On Chips, Puts $974M Into ASML

Posted by Gsurface on August 27, 2012 No comments

Samsung Electronics has been knocked hard on mobile phone design innovation in the last few days, but in what might be a spectacular display of diversionary tactics, it is also doubling down on another significant part of its business — chipmaking. Today, the Dutch semiconductor machine maker ASML announced that Samsung would be investing close to $ 1 billion — yes, more or less the same amount for which the jury in California held it liable over Apple patent violations on Friday — towards R&D and an equity stake in the business. In doing so, Samsung will be joining Intel, which took a 10% stake in ASML in July for $ 2.1 billion.

AXA Private Equity Puts $248M Into Parent Of German Uber-Private Buying Club BestSecret.com

Posted by Gsurface on August 7, 2012 No comments

From over in Germany, news of a cash injection in the fashion world that could have repercussions in e-commerce: the private equity firm AXA has taken a majority stake in Schustermann & Borenstein, a family-owned firm that focuses on exporting clothing, but also operates Best Secret, one of the more exclusive, and by the sounds of it lucrative, private buying clubs on the continent. The investment, thought to be worth some €200 million ($ 248 million), could see Best Secret expand its model beyond its current German home market to elsewhere in Europe, where private buying clubs have been a hit with consumers.

The AXA investment was first reported by Reuters, which noted first murmurs of the deal back in July. The investment values the fashion house at about €300 million ($ 371 million), and the two families who started the business will continue to hold on to the remainder of the business.