Friday, May 27, 2011

Smiling Stool Gives Hope

Source: http://www.yankodesign.com/2011/05/26/smiling-stool-gives-hope/

The Smile Stool is the result of a study on the declining Indonesian furniture industry, that in recent years has had incredible difficulty competing its handmade craftsmanship against China’s mass manufactured products. In addition, the more than 3500 Indonesian companies often end up with huge amounts of excess material that often ends up as firewood. Using the waste in the construction & streamlining a simple assembly process, this sustainable design gives hope to the industry & provides a solution for the survival of the local craftsman.

Designer: Fitorio Leksono

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How Many Spam Mails Does It Take to Sell $100 of Viagra? [Factoid]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5805930/how-many-spam-mails-does-it-take-to-sell-100-of-viagra

How Many Spam Mails Does It Take to Sell 0 of Viagra?12.5 million. It's a staggering number to just get a ridiculous $100. Unfortunately, it's worth for the spammers—billions of mails are sent every day by zombie computers all around the world. Fortunately, there may be a simple solution.

A new research paper by a team of Californian computer scientists shows the way: According to their research on almost one billion messages, 95 of all credit card sales generated by spam mails are handled by three banks from Azerbaijan, Denmark and the West Indies.

That means that, if you get those banks to cut business with the illegal spammers—and chase any other financial institutions that may spring to take their position, I guess—then you will be able to kill the spam. No way to collect money means no business, as Stefan Savage of the University of California, San Diego, explains to NYT's John Markoff:

In the end, spam is an advertising business. However, it only makes sense if you can find a way to take people's money. This means credit cards. Credit cards are the only payment platform that is ubiquitously available to Western consumers and can be used for Internet commerce.

It makes total sense. If you kill that critical part, it's game over for the spammers. Of course, that means that the banks and the credit card companies would stop collecting their juicy commissions. But, for the good of the worldwide communications, I'm sure every authority in the world would be willing to punch some fat cats on the bracket. [UCSD (PDF) via New York Times]

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A New Netflix Update for Android is Here [Blip]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5806103/a-new-netflix-update-for-android-is-here

A New Netflix Update for Android is HereOoh, a new version of Netflix landed in the Android Market today. The update enabled streaming on the LG Revolution, Motorola Droid and Casio G'zOne Commando. Don't shake your head in disbelief, you read that list correctly. The Commando really did get the update before the flasghip Motorola Xoom. [Android Market via Android Central]

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Buffalo's 256GB SSD comes with 6GBps SATA interface, silly price tag

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/26/buffalo-introduces-256gb-ssd-with-sata-6gbps-interface/

The SSD market is about to get a little more crowded, now that Buffalo has unveiled a new, 256GB fatty. The company's SSD-N256S/MC400 has a SATA 6Gbps interface, supports multi-level cell NAND Flash memory and boasts read and write speeds of up to 405 MB/s and 223 MB/s, respectively. If you're interested in grabbing one, you'll have to shell out a cool ¥72,200 ($882). Or, you could get an even faster SSD for less money. The choice is yours.

Buffalo's 256GB SSD comes with 6GBps SATA interface, silly price tag originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 May 2011 11:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Akihabara News  |  sourceBuffalo  | Email this | Comments

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Google Wallet mobile payment service, Google Offers announced

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/26/google-wallet-mobile-payment-service-google-offers-announced/

It may not be as big a surprise as Google hoped it would be at this point, but the company has now officially announced its NFC-based Google Wallet mobile payment service, complete with backing from a number of retail and financial partners including Subway, Macy's, Walgreens, Toys 'R Us, First Data, Citibank and MasterCard -- plus Sprint on the carrier side. In the case of MasterCard, that partnership means Google Wallet will be fully compatible with the PayPass contactless payment system that's already widely in place today. Trials are beginning immediately in New York and San Francisco, with a full release planned for this summer. Initially, the Sprint Nexus S 4G will be the only compatible phone, but support for more phones is promised "over time," and Google even suggested that phones without built-in NFC could simply use an NFC sticker (the Google Wallet app itself will work on non-NFC phones as well). You'll also have to use either a Citi MasterCard or Google Prepaid Card with the service, although the latter can obviously be funded from any other card.

Also announced today is Google Offers, which will deliver an "offer of the day" to your inbox, and let you seek out other offers from retailers. Of course, it also ties into Google Wallet, and you'll be able to both redeem offers and receive loyalty rewards from retailers with just a tap of your NFC-enabled phone. As far as Google is concerned, however, mobile payments and special offers are just the beginning for Google Wallet. It eventually sees everything from boarding passes to tickets to IDs (and even keys) being stored on your phone. Not surprisingly, all of this is US-only for the time being, but Google is apparently working on international expansion. Head on past the break for a video and the complete press release.

Gallery: Google Wallet

Gallery: Google Offers

Continue reading Google Wallet mobile payment service, Google Offers announced

Google Wallet mobile payment service, Google Offers announced originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 May 2011 12:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceGoogle Wallet, Official Google Blog  | Email this | Comments

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Google Wallet vending on Nexus S hands-on

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/26/google-wallet-vending-on-nexus-s-hands-on/


We just got done watching the unveil of how Google is going to revolutionize the way you pay for denim shorts at the mall, and we just got to try it in a slightly different way -- buying a Coke out of a vending machine. The process is as easy as can be: just select your beverage and, when you're ready to pay, swipe your phone. In a few seconds out pops your frosty beverage and somewhere Santa Claus laughs merrily. It's retail bliss and a lot easier than fishing filthy coins out of your skinny jeans. Check out the short video after the break -- the break that refreshes.

Continue reading Google Wallet vending on Nexus S hands-on

Google Wallet vending on Nexus S hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 May 2011 13:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NVIDIA 3D Vision machines get 3D YouTube video support on Firefox

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/26/nvidia-3d-vision-machines-get-3d-youtube-video-support-on-firefo/

NVIDIA and YouTube made a rather caveat-heavy announcement today that promises to bring stereoscopic 3D YouTube videos to NVIDIA 3D Vision PCs and notebooks, running Firefox 4. If you're rocking an NVIDIA GeForce GPU-equipped machine, sporting driver release 275 or later, a 3D Vision monitor, notebook, projector, or DLP HDTV, and Firefox 4 with streaming HTML5, you've got access to all the 3D goodness YouTube has to offer -- given you're not trying to access content via a standard YouTube channel, as the outfit's HTML5 support is still limited. And don't forget, you'll need your active shutter 3D glasses handy, too. So, if you fit all of the aforementioned criteria, check out the demo video after break (and make sure to hit the HTML5 function under options) -- otherwise, feel free to go on using the old cyan and red method for viewing YouTube in 3D. Full PR after the break.

Continue reading NVIDIA 3D Vision machines get 3D YouTube video support on Firefox

NVIDIA 3D Vision machines get 3D YouTube video support on Firefox originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 May 2011 16:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceNVIDIA  | Email this | Comments

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Researchers boost multi-core CPU performance with better prefetching

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/26/researchers-boost-multi-core-cpu-performance-with-better-prefetc/

CPUPiling on cores is one way to boost performance, but it's not necessarily the most efficient way -- researchers at North Carolina State University have developed a new prefetching technique for processors that could boost performance by up to 40-percent. As you may know, any data not stored in a CPU's cache must be pulled from RAM, but as more cores are added they can create a bottleneck by competing for memory access. To counter this designers use prefetching to predict what information will be needed and grab it ahead of time, but guessing wrong can hurt performance. Researchers tackled this problem from two fronts: first, by creating a better algorithm for divvying up bandwidth, and second, by selectively turning off prefetching when it might slow the CPU. Full PR and an abstract of the study being published June 9th are after the break.

Continue reading Researchers boost multi-core CPU performance with better prefetching

Researchers boost multi-core CPU performance with better prefetching originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 May 2011 18:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink ! ;   |  sourceNorth Carolina State University  | Email this | Comments

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PayPal swiftly slaps Google with mobile payment suit

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/27/paypal-swiftly-slaps-google-with-mobile-payment-suit/

Just this morning we reported on the rather jovial atmosphere at Google's big mobile payment announcement -- well, it looks like PayPal's prepared to bring an end to the celebration. According to Bloomberg, PayPal filed a suit against Google today in a California Superior Court, alleging that former PayPal executive, and one of this morning's MCs, Osama Bedier misappropriated the company's trade secrets. The suit further fingered Stephanie Tilenius, also formerly with PayPal, of violating the terms of her contract in recruiting Bedier. Though we've yet to get our hands on any clear details about which trade secrets PayPal's pointing to, we'd say the timing speaks volumes.

PayPal swiftly slaps Google with mobile payment suit originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 May 2011 00:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceBloomberg  | Email this | Comments

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Apple's iCloud music service will automatically mirror your iTunes library using 'high-quality' tracks?

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/27/apples-icloud-music-service-will-automatically-mirror-your-itun/

There's been so much chatter about Apple iCloud that you'd think the streaming music service had already been announced and the deals inked. But it's still just a rumor until an Apple executive takes the stage and unleashes the Amazon Cloud Player and Google Music competitor in a spate of superlatives. That hasn't stopped Businessweek from stepping up with a good summary of all that is "known" thus far, while giving us some insight into the particulars of how the service will work and the motivations to make it happen. One revelation, sourced from three people in the know, claims that Apple will scan customers' iTunes libraries (hello, LaLa) and quickly mirror the contents on Apple's own servers -- no massive DSL-choking upload required. And Apple will do you the solid of "replacing" any low bitrate tracks with the "high-quality" versions it stores in its fully licensed music locker for streaming to your connected devices.

Of course, this value-add won't come free and will certainly require a subscription fee. The cost to the consumer, though, is still very much unclear as is the service's integration with Apple's $99 per year MobileMe sham. And you know those rumors about MobileMe being offered as a free service? We wouldn't be surprised if it stays at $99 with iCloud being announced as a "free" feature update; aka, an $8.25 per month music subscription that also provides web access to your synced bookmarks, contacts, email, and calendar. Regardless, it's this subscription model that has the major labels so enthusiastic as it will finally allow them to extort fees for all that pirated audio you may have stumbled upon since Napster was loosed on an unprepared music industry a decade ago. All signs point to WWDC for this to get official but we're sure to hear more -- much more -- before the event kicks off on June 6th.

Apple's iCloud music service will automatically mirror your iTunes library using 'high-quality' tracks? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 May 2011 03:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceBusinessweek  | Email this | Comments

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Thursday, May 26, 2011

Convergence - The Present Tsunami Hitting Advertising | ClickZ http://bit.ly/mj5aD2

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Wednesday, May 25, 2011

WebMD for iPhone and Android Is a Dynamic Mobile Health Compendium [App Of The Day]

Source: http://lifehacker.com/5805317/webmd-for-iphone-and-android-is-a-dynamic-mobile-health-compendium

WebMD for iPhone and Android Is a Dynamic Mobile Health CompendiumWhether you're trying to figure out what's wrong with you (health-wise), locate a pharmacy or hospital, learning about drugs and treatments, or track your health problems, WebMD is an extremely comprehensive solution for all of those tasks.

While probably an enormous time-waster for hypochondriacs, if you're trying to figure out what's ailing you, WebMD's mobile app for iPhone and Android is helpful. You can specify symptoms easily by tapping the part of the body where they exist, and then once you've finished adding them all the app will identify some possible problems. You can then save those conditions for later to keep track of what you've discovered—perhaps for when you're seeing a real doctor to verify.

The WebMD app also lets you check out drugs and treatments, so you can learn more about them, and provides photo and video content to help you learn about things like CPR. Additionally, if you're looking for a local pharmacy or healthcare provider, it'll help you search using your current location (or any other location you want).

The only potentially major downside is that the app is a little slow to launch, but that seems to be more of a problem on older hardware. On the iPhone 4, it loads in just a few seconds.

WebMD is available for free, right now, on iPhone and Android.

WebMD for WebMD for iPhone and Android Is a Dynamic Mobile Health Compendium iPhone (iTunes App Store) and Android (Android Marketplace)


You can follow Adam Dachis, the author of this post, on Twitter and Facebook.  If you'd like to contact him, Twitter is the most effective means of doing so.

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Space Archeologists Discover a Thousand Egyptian Tombs Hidden in Tanis [Video]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5805387/space-archeologists-discover-a-thousand-egyptian-tombs-in-tanis

Space Archeologists Discover a Thousand Egyptian Tombs Hidden in TanisDr Sarah Parcak thinks that "excavating a pyramid is the dream of every archaeologist" but that Indiana Jones is "old school". Well, she must know. After all, she has discovered two pyramids and 1000 tombs. From space.

Two pyramids, one thousand tombs and 3000 ancient settlements. That's what Parcak—an Egyptologist from the University of Alabama in Birmingham—and her team have discovered without even moving from their armchairs. Using infrared satellite imagery, the team has been looking for archeological rests in Tanis, the legendary city Northeast of the Nile delta, which became the capital of Egypt during the 21st dynasty.

And while there's no Map Room in the real Tanis, the satellite—which takes photos from a 435-mile (700km) orbit—is so accurate that it can clearly create a map with the streets and every building buried in the soil. In fact, it can tell if a tomb has been looted or not, distinguishing objects one meter in diameter and even identify materials under the surface of the desert.

Their discoveries have been shocking, revealing a dimension that nobody imagined and it's now considered one of the most important sites in Egypt. Dr Parcak believes that this is just the beginning of her work, which has been already confirmed by test excavations in the area:

They'd excavated a 3,000-year-old house that the satellite imagery had shown and the outline of the structure matched the satellite imagery almost perfectly. That was real validation of the technology.

Space Archeologists Discover a Thousand Egyptian Tombs Hidden in TanisShe believes that, by making them understand the sites as a whole and have a clear idea of where they are getting in, the work can be more selective and focus on the important sites.

It is indeed impressive. The only thing I don't like: "We have moved from Indy," she said. Fine, but can you use a whip and, more importantly, have you found the bloody Ark? That's what I want to know. [Egypt's Lost Cities via BBC

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I'm A Little in Love With My New iPad Arcade Machine [Video]

Source: http://kotaku.com/5805409/im-a-little-in-love-with-my-new-ipad-arcade-machine

I'm A Little in Love With My New iPad Arcade Machine Last night I sat in front of an arcade machine in a darkened room of my house and played '80s arcade games until well past midnight.

While I haven't given up on the idea of building a little arcade in my home, Ion's iCade does a good enough job of replicating a form of the experience on an iPad or iPad 2 to at least temporarily satisfy that urge.

The $99 iCade, which starts shipping from ThinkGeek on June 9, is essentially an iPad Bluetooth arcade controller housed in a smartly designed box that looks just like an 80s arcade machine. There's even a bit of fake wood paneling and a light-up coin return slot.

The kit showed up at my house yesterday afternoon in a nondescript cardboard box. Inside was a collection of wood panels, the hard plastic box housing the joystick and buttons, and a small sack of bolts.

It took about ten minutes to screw together the iCade, and resulted in only one, plastic-breaking mistake (turned out it wasn't a big deal). Once assembled, I lifted the lid of the iCade, slid my iPad into the holder and read the instructions.

The iCade is really just a fancy dock and controller for your iPad. It doesn't power your Apple device or provide a monitor or even come with a game. But Ion so nails the aesthetic and feel of those old arcade machines that it doesn't matter. Besides you can string the Apple charger into the iCade and plug it into a wall to charge as you play.

Since the device doesn't come with any games you'll have to do some downloading to get any practical use out of the iCade. Ion suggests you download Atari's Greatest Hits, a collection of Atari arcade and console games that supports their controller.

The collection is free to download and includes one free game (Missile Command was the freebie when I downloaded it last night, but it sounds like they switch it sometimes. Pong was the previous freebie.) The collection includes more than 100 games, but you have to pay to play them. I ended up splurging and getting the entire collection for $15.

The iCade, when paired with a supported game, is a marvel to play on. I set it up on my kitchen table and sat in front of it for hours playing Crystal Castle, Red Baron, Millipede and others. My only regret was that the system doesn't have more support on iTunes. Games like Pac-Man, Dig-Dug and Space Invaders, all available through the online store, simply don't support Bluetooth controllers.

So while I think the iCade is well worth the $99, you may want to consider whether you're a fan of Atari games before picking it up. I'd like to think that down the line more developers will add support for the device, or Bluetooth controllers in general, but there's really no way to be sure.

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Someone Will Pay You $100,000 to Drop Out of School and Start a Tech Company [Genius]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5805452/someone-will-pay-you-100000-to-drop-out-of-school-and-start-a-tech-company

Someone Will Pay You 0,000 to Drop Out of School and Start a Tech CompanyThere are several problems, of course. One: you'd be mentored by PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, who's only one of the most impressive (and likely scariest) web 2.0 people in all the land. Two: of 400 applicants, only 24 were picked.

The 24 ex-students, all under 20 years of age, presented their tech company ideas to Thiel and were selected to join his Thiel Fellows program. Some of the initiatives sound great so far—there's Faheem Zaman, who's building a mobile payments system for developing countries (and is only 18 years of age), and John Burnham who is doing what any 18 year old would love to do, working in the field of space—specifically by extracting minerals from comets and asteroids.

Instead of sending out a message that "everybody should drop out of college," Thiel believes "you have a bubble whenever you have something that's overvalued and intensely believed...In education, you have this clear price escalation without incredible improvement in the product. At the same time you have this incredible intensity of belief that this is what people have to do. In that way it seems very similar in some ways to the housing bubble and the tech bubble."

A lot of parents are probably shaking their heads right about now, and hoping their school-age children don't catch wind of Thiel's comments, but as you no-doubt know, a lot of the most successful tech entrepreneurs—Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, even Twitter co-founder Evan Williams—dropped out of school early. There does some to be the running theme of opportunity, however—all these people met other people who helped them along into their careers. How rare is it that you actually meet the right person, who's willing to give you a chance? [NY Times]

Image Credit: Shutterstock

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8 Great Experimental Features to Enable in Google Calendar's Labs [Google Calendar Labs]

Source: http://lifehacker.com/5805460/8-great-experimental-features-to-enable-in-google-calendars-labs

8 Great Experimental Features to Enable in Google Calendar's LabsWe've highlighted plenty of Labs features for Gmail, but Calendar has some pretty great Labs offerings, too. Since it's been nearly two years since Labs were added to Calendar, we thought it was about time they got a bit more attention. Here are eight of the most useful experimental features available for Google Calendar that you can start using right now.

Next Meeting (a.k.a., the One New Calendar Labs Feature You Should Definitely Enable)

8 Great Experimental Features to Enable in Google Calendar's LabsNext Meeting is probably the single most useful experimental feature in Calendar, because it shows you exactly what event is coming up next, along with a clearly readable countdown timer so you don't miss it. It shows up as a widget in the sidebar, and the event displayed in the widget is highlighted the same color as the calendar set that it came from.


Jump to Date

8 Great Experimental Features to Enable in Google Calendar's LabsThis feature allows you to quickly jump straight to any date in the past or future, without a flux capacitor. Not only is it great for jumping back to check what events happened on past dates, but enabling it along with the Year View feature (below) is a great way to get a handle on long-term planning.


World Clock

8 Great Experimental Features to Enable in Google Calendar's LabsThis feature adds a simple, minimal world clock to the sidebar, and you get to pick and choose which cities to include in the list. It's especially useful for people trying to schedule events with co-workers who are located globally, and even better, it displays cities with dark backgrounds if it happens to be night time in their time zones.


Year View

8 Great Experimental Features to Enable in Google Calendar's LabsThe ability to view the entire year is something that most would agree should be included in any calendar service, but that's not the case in Calendar if you don't have this feature enabled. It's quick to use, unobtrusive, and extremely useful for planning events several months ahead of time.


Dim Future Repeating Events

8 Great Experimental Features to Enable in Google Calendar's LabsThis feature only applies to events that are slated for a specific time period, not a whole day. If there are recurring events scheduled for the same day as a one-off item, they'll dim slightly to make the slightly more important event stand out. Pretty useful if you've got a packed schedule and you're trying to skim through it for appointments.


Gentle Reminders

8 Great Experimental Features to Enable in Google Calendar's LabsGentle Reminders was one of the first experiments to hit Calendar's Labs. When enabled, event reminders will flash in the browser tab and play a soft alarm sound, which is less obtrusive than a pop-up window. If you're using Chrome, a new option allows desktop notifications as well.


Automatically Declining Events

8 Great Experimental Features to Enable in Google Calendar's LabsCalendar already offers an option to list yourself as busy during events, but that won't stop people from inviting you to anything and everything while you're gone. This feature handles those invites for you by simply declining each and every one if you tell it to do so.


Event Attachments

8 Great Experimental Features to Enable in Google Calendar's LabsSharing calendars with friends or co-workers is great, but it only shares the events. This feature allows you to upload attachments to any event you want, and even grabs items from other Google services. The only catch is that if you're sharing something from Docs, you'll still have to actually set the doc itself to share, too.



There are a few more experimental features in Google Calendar's Labs settings, so be sure to check them out for yourself to see if any suit your workflow.

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