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Technology News and Updates Related: Gadgets and the Future
Thu, Sep 2 12:00 PM
Google and AOL agreed to extend their search partnership for five years and expanded their pact into mobile search and online video. WSJ.com: What's News Technology
Thu, Sep 2 11:47 AM
rsmiller510 writes "Could Apple's announcement about Ping, a music-based social network be Apple's social networking trojan horse? Facebook might want to be concerned." Of course it is. Jamie points out this post on Daring Fireball, according to which Steve Jobs blames the non-integration on "onerous terms" suggested by Facebook.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.


Slashdot
Thu, Sep 2 11:47 AM
pickens writes "David Pogue writes in the NY Times that when you buy a new Windows PC, it comes festooned with stickers on the palm rests: one for Windows, one for Skype, one for Intel, one for the laptop company, maybe an Energy Star sticker and so on. 'It's like buying a new, luxury car — and discovering that it comes with non-removable bumper stickers that promote the motor oil, the floor mat maker, the windshield-fluid company and the pine tree air freshener you have no intention of ever using,' writes Pogue. But the worst thing is that when you peel them off, they shred, leaving adhesive crud behind. 'When you've just spent big bucks on a laptop, should you really be obligated to spend the first 20 minutes trying to dissolve away the sticker goop with WD40?' But AMD has a solution. Starting next year, AMD will switch to new stickers that peel off easily, leaving no residue; after that, it's considering eliminating the sticker program altogether."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.


Slashdot
Thu, Sep 2 11:32 AM
Reuters - Energy production and distribution in the United States can be a dangerous pursuit, in spite of strict safety regulations for oil, gas and coal producers and processors.Yahoo! News: Science News
Thu, Sep 2 11:32 AM
wiedzmin writes "Public broadcaster ARD's show 'Plusminus' teamed up with the known hacker organization 'Chaos Computer Club' (CCC) to find out how secure the controversial new radio-frequency (RFID) chips were. The report shows how they used the basic new home scanners that will go along with the cards (for use with home computers to process the personal data for official government business) to demonstrate that scammers would have few problems extracting personal information. This includes two fingerprint scans and a new six-digit PIN meant to be used as a digital signature for official government business and beyond." That was quick. Earlier this year, CCC hackers demonstrated vulnerabilities in German airport IDs, too.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.


Slashdot
Thu, Sep 2 11:30 AM
LiveScience.com - Mass extinctions have served as huge reset buttons that dramatically changed the diversity of species found in oceans all over the world, according to a comprehensive study of fossil records. The findings suggest humans will live in a very different future if they drive animals to extinction, because the loss of each species can alter entire ecosystems.Yahoo! News: Science News
Thu, Sep 2 11:12 AM
On Wednesday, Apple said users of its music social network could find friends via Facebook. But the feature has vanished, apparently over a tiff between the companies.CNET News.com
Thu, Sep 2 11:08 AM

FILE - In this file photo made Jan. 11, 2010, a Google logo is displayed at the National Retail Federation convention in New York. Google Inc. will continue to provide the search results on AOL Inc.'s websites under a new, five-year deal the companies signed this week. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, file)AP - Google Inc. will continue to provide the search results on AOL Inc.'s websites under a new, five-year deal the companies signed this week.


Yahoo! News: Technology News
Thu, Sep 2 11:01 AM
Dell said it will pull out of the bidding war for 3PAR after rival Hewlett-Packard raised its offer for the data-storage company yet again to $33 a share, or roughly $2.1 billion. WSJ.com: What's News Technology
Thu, Sep 2 10:59 AM

Because we all need another social network in our lives, Apple introduced "Ping" as part of iTunes 10 during its big media event this week. Described by Steve Jobs as "Twitter and Facebook meet iTunes," Ping aims to let the already-existing (and quite massive) audience of iTunes users friend each other, stay up-to-date on their friends' musical tastes, and like/comment on things found around iTunes.

Getting started with Ping is fairly easy, although it takes some time to figure out how to do all the things you would want to do with the service. Ping requires iTunes 10 and is not turned on by default—it looks as if Apple is trying to head off complaints about privacy by making users turn it on themselves. Once you install iTunes 10, you can click on "Ping" in the everything-is-now-gray left-hand sidebar to get started.

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Ars Technica
Thu, Sep 2 10:57 AM

Nearly one year after launching a free application for the iPhone and the iPod Touch, the US space agency has created a program for the iPad.(NASA)AFP - NASA has landed on the iPad.


Yahoo! News: Technology News
Thu, Sep 2 10:56 AM

Children from Nairobi's Kibera slums scavenge through a garbage dump February 17, 2009. REUTERS/Noor Khamis (KENYA)Reuters - About 45 nations met on Thursday to seek ways to raise billions of dollars in aid to help the poor combat climate change as the United Nations warned them of a long haul to slow global warming.


Yahoo! News: Science News
Thu, Sep 2 10:51 AM
Outlook add-in maker Xobni finds Americans and Britons are having trouble getting away from the workplace because of the reach e-mail has into their lives.CNET News.com
Thu, Sep 2 10:36 AM
eldavojohn writes "A Michigan judge removed a juror after a Facebook comment and also fined her $250 and required her to write a five-page paper about the constitutional right to a fair trial. The juror was 'very sorry' and the judge chastised her, saying, 'You violated your oath. You had decided she was already guilty without hearing the other side.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.


Slashdot
Thu, Sep 2 10:35 AM
Car will take its battery pack temperature, then automatically cool or warm it to optimal temperature range before charging or engaging the battery.CNET News.com
Thu, Sep 2 10:28 AM
Coulomb Technologies installs free public electric-charging station in downtown Detroit as part of ChargePoint America program to encourage EV adoption.CNET News.com
Thu, Sep 2 10:16 AM
Notices of winning the lottery and requests from Russian women who want to know you better are also up there on Panda Security's ranking of decade's top Net swindles.CNET News.com
Thu, Sep 2 10:13 AM
ZTE and Huawei Technologies, China's two biggest telecommunications hardware makers, said they will offer new mobile devices that use Google's Android operating system, with ZTE planning a tablet computer.WSJ.com: What's News Technology
Thu, Sep 2 10:08 AM

Playing games on the PSP Go was one of the most annoying experiences possible in a job that can be full of annoying experiences; if it takes you hours to play a game on a portable system out of the box there is something tragically wrong with your product. After only a year on the market, it looks like Sony's experiment in digital distribution is on its last legs.

Finding any sort of sales information on the system for the US has been difficult, although Media Create does track the hardware sales for Japan... and its performance has been abysmal. The PSP has long come in last place in the US sales numbers, and breaking that number down between the PSP and PSP Go doesn't give Sony the possibility of a happy ending.

We called a local GameStop to see what they were offering for trade-in credit on the hardware. Even though you can still buy the PSP Go for $250, the trade-in value was only $50. Just to rub salt in the wound, the latest model of the standard PSP will get you $80 in trade-in credit, and is eligible for a $20 promotional bump. The PSP Go is specifically exempt from that offer.

No, PSP Go. Not yours.

Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep is coming to the PSP on September 7 and should be one of the platform's largest releases this year. The bad news? Square Enix currently has no plans to release the game on the PlayStation Network; the company doesn't seem to care about missing out on digital sales, which means PSP Go owners will not be able to play the game. Sony leaves decisions about digital sales up to the publishers, and there is no way to tell in advance whether a game will be made available to Go owners.

There's nothing wrong with the idea of a gaming system with no physical media—Apple seems to be doing just fine in the gaming space without requiring carts or discs—but Sony's implementation has been disastrous. It may be a while before any company has the gonads to step up and take another crack at the idea.

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Ars Technica
Thu, Sep 2 10:04 AM
rexjoec writes "Cisco is making a bid for Skype. The deal, if successful, would derail a planned initial public offering from Skype and redraw the battle lines in the lucrative market of video communications." The rumored price is $5B.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.


Slashdot
Thu, Sep 2 10:00 AM
SPACE.com - NASA needs more funding for commercial spaceflight, technology development and robotic missions. So said a group of Nobel laureates, former astronauts and former space agency officials in a recent letter to Congress.Yahoo! News: Science News
Thu, Sep 2 09:45 AM
India plans to ask the three companies to set up local servers in the country so that security agencies can monitor customer communications.CNET News.com
Thu, Sep 2 09:40 AM

Hamadoun Toure, chief of the U.N.'s telecommunication agency talks to Associated Press in London, Wednesday, Sept. 1, 2010. The chief of the U.N.'s telecommunications agency urged the Canadian manufacturer of the BlackBerry to allow law enforcement agencies access to customer data, saying that governments all over the world had legitimate security concerns which should not be ignored. The International Telecommunication Union agency's Secretary-General Hamadoun Toure said that all governments engaged in the fight against terrorism had the right to demand access to users' information from the maker of the BlackBerry  Research in Motion Ltd. (AP Photo/Sang Tan)AP - BlackBerry's Canadian manufacturer should give law enforcement agencies around the world access to its customer data, the U.N. telecommunications chief said, adding that governments have legitimate security concerns that should not be ignored.


Yahoo! News: Technology News
Thu, Sep 2 09:30 AM

Apple became the biggest fish in the very small touchscreen tablet pond when it launched the iPad this past spring. But more fish will arrive starting mid-month when Samsung launches its Galaxy Tab mobile device in Europe (US and Asia will get it "in the coming months"). After being rumored and teased for weeks, Samsung officially unveiled its entry into the burgeoning market at the IFA show in Germany on Thursday.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab is a 7" widescreen touch tablet powered by Android 2.2. The Tab will use the same TouchWiz UI used on Samsung's line of Galaxy S smartphones, which gives it a very iOS-like look and feel. Also following the iPad's lead, the device has a metal back, black bezel, bottom speakers, and even a 30-pin connector.

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Ars Technica
Thu, Sep 2 09:25 AM
A few readers have noted that another gulf oil rig has exploded. This one is off the coast of Lousiana. So far all the workers are accounted for, but they are in immersion suits waiting for rescue.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.


Slashdot
Thu, Sep 2 09:16 AM
tlhIngan writes "Despite all the lawsuits and injunctions by Sony to keep the PS3 Jailbreak out of modder's hands, it appears that a third party has made a clone. The best part is, it only requires a cheap (approximately $40) development board by Atmel, and the requisite software is open-source. Get the Atmel code from GitHub and apply a small patch which will enable backup play (the code by itself only lets you run unsigned code, the patch allows for BD backups). The code is GPLv3. It would be highly ironic if someone ported this to Linux USB Gadgets, then you could use a Linux device to jailbreak your PS3, to which Sony removed Linux functionality. An Android phone would be suitable."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.


Slashdot
Thu, Sep 2 09:03 AM

HADOPI, meet the internautes. The French "high authority" that oversees the country's three strikes anti-P2P file-sharing campaign is now being used by spammers and scammers who attempt to trick people out of their cash by accusing them of copyright violations.

The e-mails have appeared in recent days, purporting to come from France's Haute Autorité pour la diffusion des œuvres et la protection des droits sur Internet (HADOPI). This is the government group that will accept file-sharing complaints from movie and music rightsholders, then issue sanctions and fines to users, with Internet disconnection and blacklisting the ultimate penalty.

Scammers hope to capitalize on the publicity surrounding HADOPI, which has pledged to start sending out its first warning letters soon. The e-mails purport to come from HADOPI, charging that the recipient was detected sharing files, and they direct the user to website to make a payment.

"As expected, this is classic Internet," said HADOPI's Secretary General Éric Walter to Agence France Press yesterday. He advised recipients to exercise caution and not to turn over bank details or personal information.

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Ars Technica
Thu, Sep 2 08:48 AM

AOL's corporate headquarters in New York. Google will power Internet search across AOL properties and AOL video will appear on YouTube under an agreement reached on Thursday between the Web companies.(AFP/Getty Images/File/Mario Tama)AFP - Google will power Internet search across AOL properties and AOL video will appear on YouTube under an agreement reached on Thursday between the Web companies.


Yahoo! News: Digital Video/TV Technology
Thu, Sep 2 08:41 AM
A new streaming Apple TV arrives with Netflix as predicted, iOS 4.1 comes with HDR photography and GameCenter, and new iPod Nanos drop the iconic clickwheel.CNET News.com
Thu, Sep 2 08:30 AM

FILE - In this file photograph taken Feb. 16, 2010, the exterior of Hewlett Packard headquarters is shown in Palo Alto, Calif. The bidding is heating up between computer makers Hewlett-Packard Co. and Dell Inc. for the data storage company 3Par Inc., Thursday, Sept. 2, 2010. Even before Dell could make its latest offer public, HP has come back with a higher bid. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, file)AP - Dell Inc. is walking away from a bidding contest with rival Hewlett-Packard Co. for data-storage maker 3Par Inc.


Yahoo! News: Technology News
Thu, Sep 2 08:25 AM

Twitter officially disabled Basic authentication this week, the final step in the company's transition to mandatory OAuth authentication. Sadly, Twitter's extremely poor implementation of the OAuth standard offers a textbook example of how to do it wrong. This article will explore some of the problems with Twitter's OAuth implementation and some potential pitfalls inherent to the standard. I will also show you how I managed to compromise the secret OAuth key in Twitter's very own official client application for Android.

OAuth is an emerging authentication standard that is being adopted by a growing number of social networking services. It defines a key exchange mechanism that allows users to grant a third-party application access to their account without having to provide that application with their credentials. It also allows users to selectively revoke an application's access to their account.

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Ars Technica
Thu, Sep 2 08:00 AM

In this photo taken on Friday Aug. 27, 2010, a man chats on his mobile as he walks past the hoarding of BlackBerry mobile in Ahmadabad, India.  Indian authorities are scheduled to meet Monday evening, Aug. 30,  to decide whether to ban some BlackBerry services in India, an official said, one day ahead of a government-imposed deadline for BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. to give security agencies access to encrypted data or face a ban. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki)AP - India has widened its security crackdown, asking all companies that provide encrypted communications — not just BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion — to install servers in the country to make it easier for the government to obtain users' data. That would likely affect digital giants like Google and Skype.


Yahoo! News: Technology News
Thu, Sep 2 07:27 AM
The companies say they'll keep their worldwide partnership going for five more years, in an arrangement that now factors in YouTube and mobile search.CNET News.com
Thu, Sep 2 04:22 AM
AP - The U.N.'s climate chief says poor countries are right to expect that any funding they receive to combat global warming be kept separate from development aid or poverty relief.Yahoo! News: Science News
Thu, Sep 2 04:00 AM
More and more sporting events are being broadcast in 3D, but exclusive distribution deals limit who can see what.CNET News.com
Thu, Sep 2 03:56 AM
Mashable - Google and AOL have signed a deal that extends the search and advertising partnership between the two companies for another five years. The agreement also includes mobile search and adds a content sharing partnership with YouTube.Yahoo! News: Digital Video/TV Technology
Thu, Sep 2 03:52 AM
Digital Trends - Samsung Digital Imaging has announced its new HMX-T10 high-definition camcorder, which aims to put high-definition video shooting comfortably in consumers’ hands: the camcorder’s lens features a 20-degree tile so users can hold the unit more naturally while shooting video.Yahoo! News: Digital Video/TV Technology
Thu, Sep 2 02:54 AM
Digital Trends - Internet giant Google and struggling online portal AOL have announced a new five-year deal that will see Google continue to provide search results for AOL’s network of content and services; however, the new deal will be expanded to include mobile search capabilities and YouTube.Yahoo! News: Digital Video/TV Technology
Wed, Sep 1 11:42 PM
Apple is making another push to bring Internet-delivered TV to the living room, but CEO Steve Jobs's plan to offer 99-cent TV-show rentals is getting limited support from media companies.WSJ.com: What's News Technology
Wed, Sep 1 06:56 PM
Sony announced a new digital-music service that would work on Internet-connected Sony TVs, Blu-ray disc players, and PlayStation 3's, entering a competitive space dominated by Apple.WSJ.com: What's News Technology
Wed, Sep 1 06:35 PM
The FCC is still considering a proposal to re-regulate broadband access under rules designed for telephone service, contrary to speculation that the agency had abandoned the effort in the face of industry opposition.WSJ.com: What's News Technology
Wed, Sep 1 06:12 PM

Gladys Rubio answers phone calls, at the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Wednesday, Sept. 1, 2010 as powerful Hurricane Earl wheeled toward the East Coast, driving the first tourists Wednesday from North Carolina vacation islands and threatening damaging winds and waves up the Atlantic seaboard over Labor Day weekend.(AP Photo/J Pat Carter)AP - Sophisticated computer models that replaced instinct with cold, hard math have helped forecasters predict where a storm like Hurricane Earl is going about twice as accurately as 20 years ago.


Yahoo! News: Science News
Wed, Sep 1 06:02 PM
Amazon.com cut the price on some downloaded TV shows to 99 cents from $2.99 in the wake of Apple's announcement it will begin streaming some shows for 99 cents.WSJ.com: What's News Technology
Wed, Sep 1 04:20 PM
PC World - Today’s unveiling of a smaller, cheaper Apple TV set-top box is the latest in a long line of tech industry efforts to conquer the living room. Recent reports and rumors have Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Sony all developing low-cost entertainment devices that would stream entertainment bits—movies, TV shows, music, photos, and so on—from the Internet to your HDTV.Yahoo! News: Digital Video/TV Technology
Wed, Sep 1 04:13 PM
Investor's Business Daily - Apple (NMS:AAPL) — after big success with computers, phones and music players — is taking another swing at its hobby, the tough-to-crack market for providing streaming video content to TVs.Yahoo! News: Digital Video/TV Technology
Wed, Sep 1 02:56 PM
Trade group approaches Apple on the eve of Wednesday's media event to inform company publishing rights must be secured first.CNET News.com
Wed, Sep 1 01:41 PM
A new application from a Vegas company is making its way to BlackBerry devices to provide users with free gambling functionality.CNET News.com
Wed, Sep 1 11:38 AM
The Ping social-music feature in iTunes 10 is what Microsoft imagined when it launched the Zune with one critical difference: an addressable user base of more than 100 million.CNET News.com
Wed, Sep 1 11:07 AM
The megaretailer plans to sell $15, $25, and $50 Credits cards in its brick-and-mortar stores and on its site, the company announces. Sales will start on Sunday.CNET News.com
Wed, Sep 1 09:56 AM
PC Magazine - Panasonic on Wednesday unveiled a new consumer-friendly 3D camcorder, and two new Blu-ray home theater systems.Yahoo! News: Digital Video/TV Technology
Wed, Sep 1 09:39 AM
Usage of Microsoft's Windows 7 outpaces that of Vista for the second month, though XP remains the dominant operating system, Net Applications says.CNET News.com
Wed, Sep 1 08:02 AM
Two researchers reported that the sweet spot for digital music sampling is around 60 seconds. Apple is expected to boost length of iTunes samples to possibly 90 seconds.CNET News.com
Wed, Sep 1 12:44 AM

FILE - In this Wednesday, May 21, 2008 file photo, a Tasmanian devil searches for food in his enclosure at Taronga Zoo in Sydney, Australia. The Tasmanian devil population has plummeted by 70 percent since Devil Facial Tumor Disease was first discovered in 1996. (AP Photo/Rob Griffith, File)AP - A Tasmanian devil named Cedric, once thought to be immune to a contagious facial cancer threatening the iconic creatures with extinction, has been euthanized after succumbing to the disease, researchers said Wednesday.


Yahoo! News: Science News
Tue, Aug 31 01:36 PM
Wall Street Journal reports the commission has been meeting with TV broadcasters, others to finally hammer out details for opening up unused spectrum for unlicensed use.CNET News.com
Mon, Aug 30 05:47 PM
Skype and Cisco Systems could be a match made in heaven. Cisco is reportedly courting Skype, which plans to go public sometime this fall.CNET News.com
Mon, Aug 30 01:10 PM
TechCrunch reports that it has heard a rumor that Cisco Systems has made a bid to buy the company's voice over Internet Protocol service.CNET News.com
Mon, Aug 30 12:19 PM
Ben Patterson - Fighting the urge to check your work e-mail while you’re on holiday doesn’t exactly qualify as the worst problem in the world; after all, it’s pretty nice to have a job at all in this tough economy, right? Then again, the pressure to hang onto a job seems to be driving more and more connected workers to stay plugged in even while they’re trying to tune out.Yahoo! News: Technology News
Mon, Aug 30 10:14 AM
Company reaches a milestone in about six weeks with this line of Android-based smartphones, which have been available via AT&T and T-Mobile. Sprint is up next.CNET News.com
Mon, Aug 30 08:58 AM
Ben Patterson - Feel the need to "check in" on Foursquare or Facebook every time you saunter into a restaurant, browse the goods at your neighborhood grocery store, or cram into a rock concert? Well, if you, you’re still in the minority — and you’re also probably a guy below 40 — according to the latest research.Yahoo! News: Technology News
Wired Top Stories
Thu, Sep 2 11:33 AM
Fujitsu's scanner is your new (albeit bulky) buddy if you want high-quality images. The sturdy document feeder gets pages in straight, so you get them out right.


Wired Top Stories
Thu, Sep 2 11:00 AM
String theory has finally made a prediction that can be tested with experiments — but in a completely unexpected realm of physics: quantum entanglement.


Wired Top Stories
Thu, Sep 2 10:30 AM
Chemical analysis of the bones of an ancient Sudanese Nubians who lived nearly 2,000 years ago shows they were ingesting the antibiotic tetracycline on a regular basis — likely from a special brew of beer. The find is the strongest yet to support that antibiotics were previously discovered by humans before Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin in 1928.


Wired Top Stories
Thu, Sep 2 10:06 AM
Samsung has announced the launch of a tablet that could become the first major Android-powered challenger to the Apple iPad.


Wired Top Stories
Thu, Sep 2 10:00 AM
Superman is a surly noob searching for reality in the digital age in J. Michael Straczynski and Shane Davis' update of the superhero's origin story. Who knew the Man of Steel would miss the musty Daily Planet more than the rest of us?


Wired Top Stories
Thu, Sep 2 04:00 AM
Two psychiatric experts think the way to treat troops returning home with PTSD: Have them undergo intensive psychotherapy while they're rolling on ecstasy.


Wired Top Stories
Thu, Sep 2 04:00 AM
Six weeks after landing men on the moon, Americans take another giant leap for mankind with the nation’s first cash-spewing, automated teller machine.


Wired Top Stories
Thu, Sep 2 04:00 AM
Video calls aren't for people to see you — they're for people to see what you see.


Wired Top Stories
Thu, Sep 2 04:00 AM
Blazing fast (four minutes and nine seconds!), streamlined and full of highlights, Cuisinart's PerfecTemp puts its kettle competition to shame.


Wired Top Stories
Thu, Sep 2 04:00 AM
A Q&A with Jeff Ma, the former leader of the infamous MIT Blackjack Team that took Vegas for millions in the mid-'90s. Now a successful entrepreneur and author, Ma talks about his love of fantasy sports, selling his company Citizen Sports to Yahoo (and why he didn't join them), and how young statgeeks can make their way in a sports industry dominated by traditionalists.


Wired Top Stories
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