Planar intros transparent electroluminescent displays

from Engadget by Darren Murph

While Planar was all about snazzy projectors and enviable plasmas at CEDIA, the firm is branching out a bit with its latest displays. The transparent and segment electroluminescent (TASEL) displays join the firm's family of EL displays and offer up the "added benefits of transparency and the ability to be cut or shaped." The units can also be transparent or mirrored, boast a viewing angle of 179-degrees, and feature "instant on" response times of under one-millisecond. Currently, only samples of Planar's TASEL displays are available, but hopefully these things will be going commercial real soon.

[Via LetsGoDigital]

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Inexpensive solar panels nearly ready for commercialization

from Engadget by Darren Murph

We've been inching closer to low(er) cost solar panels (for the mainstream public to enjoy) for some time now, and apparently, AVA Solar Inc. is just about ready to start cranking out units that "will cost less than $1-per watt by the end of next year." The technology was reportedly developed by Colorado State University's Professor W.S. Sampath, and production is slated to begin soon in a "200-megawatt factory" that could employ some 500 individuals. Of note, it was said that the "cost to the consumer could be as low as $2 per watt," but even that figure purportedly rings up at about half the cost of current options.

[Via Slashdot, image courtesy of CSU]

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Augustine: Notice the point about spending less, yet their sales increased.  There is another example from a credit card company where they cut ad spending by 4/5ths (80%) and not only did they see no decrease in new cards acquired, in fact they got more cards acquired and higher spend in the same time period. While this was still a relatively small example that needs time to corroborate, it is a data point to illustrate the utter lack of effectiveness of traditional forms of advertising in this day and age.

As more and more of these examples come to light, it will further accelerate the "mass exodus" of dollars from traditional media -- funny how it's referred to as "measured media" -- to other forms of marketing, including online -- funny how it's referred to as "unmeasured media."



Source: http://adage.com/article?article_id=120644

Big Brewers Gut Ad Spend, Sell More Beer

Exclusive: Miller and A-B Move More Money to Unmeasured Media

By Jeremy Mullman

Published: September 24, 2007

Spend less on measured media, reap more sales.

That's appears to be the lesson from the big brewers, long among the steadiest and most stalwart users of traditional mass media, who are now pouring their ad dollars elsewhere at a froth-inducing rate.

Source: TNS Media Intelligence

According to TNS Media Intelligence, top brewers cut measured media spending a whopping 24%, about $131 million, during the first six months of 2007, following a 12% cut during 2006. At the same time, the brewers insist they haven't cut spending at all -- and in many cases have increased it.

They maintain those beer bucks are flowing into less-traditional sponsorship and promotional activities that services such as TNS don't pick up on. Moreover, as a result of the influx of smaller brands into the big brewers' portfolios, more of their ad budgets are being channeled into local media, which the brewers say TNS doesn't measure either.

Successful strategy
The net effect is the disappearance of nearly one in four dollars from measured media. Oh, and one other thing: As measured media has dropped off the charts this year, brewers' long-struggling sales trends have improved.

"We're not walking away from traditional media by any means, but we're using it more intelligently," said Jackie Woodward, VP-marketing services at Miller Brewing Co. "Some of those new uses are not things that TNS is going to measure."

Indeed. TNS figures show Miller's spending fell by $36 million, about 36% in the first half, even though while Ms. Woodward said outlays increased ahead of revenue growth vs. the same period last year.

An example of Miller's new approach, Ms. Woodward said, was a Miller Chill-themed sketch that appeared on NBC's "Late Night With Conan O'Brien" a few weeks ago. The sketch showed Mr. O'Brien's bandleader, Max Weinberg, starring in an absurd, obviously fake Japanese ad for Chill (which, incidentally, is not available anywhere in Asia). Because the ad was embedded in the show -- and, because it didn't say anything remotely positive about the brand, wasn't clearly an ad -- it was unlikely to be detected by media measurers.

Bar events
Other examples of Miller's tactics: a High Life-themed olympics of bar games in Chicago, co-developed with Tribune Co.'s properties there, that uses a smattering of print and online advertising to fuel a wide array of promotional events, as well as Miller Genuine Draft's "The Craft" concert series.

Beer marketers note that measuring services such as TNS tend to undercount outlays on local media, which is becoming a more crucial part of their strategies as they increasingly depend on import and craft brands that generally don't have national distribution.

"Brands like Stella Artois and Beck's obviously require a lot of local support, and it's not reported accurately, in our opinion," said Mark Wright, VP-corporate media for Anheuser-Busch, which earlier this year took over U.S. distribution and marketing of InBev's stable of import beers. "Actually, it's not my opinion; it's a fact that they have [spending estimates] wrong."

Mr. Wright said A-B's heavy investment in local sports programming -- including its position as the dominant alcohol player in stadium signage -- also tends to be undercounted. He said the only reduction in A-B's spending for this year was based on the absence of the Olympics, of which A-B is a major sponsor, compared with 2006. But that wouldn't account for the $50 million, or 21%, decline reported by TNS.

Shipments up
TNS, for its part, said it is measuring the use of traditional media by brewers accurately but that it's not uncommon to see steep declines in measured spending from marketers who target younger consumers, as brewers do.

"It's a broad generalization, but the advertisers and the categories that experience the largest declines are generally the companies whose customers skew younger," said Jon Swallen, senior VP-research at TNS. "Any smart marketer is going to identify where their customers are and try to reach them there."

On the latter point, the brewers appear to be succeeding: According to Beer Marketer's Insights, which was first to report the apparent spending declines, brewer shipments rose 2% during the period in which measured spending cratered, a healthy clip by the mature beer industry's modest standards.

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Breaking: Online Backup Startup Mozy Acquired By EMC For $76 million

from TechCrunch by Michael Arrington

Online storage startup Mozy, headquartered in Utah, has been acquired by EMC Corporation, a public storage company with a nearly $40 billion market cap. EMC paid $76 million for the company, according to two sources close to the deal.

We first covered Mozy in January 2006 as part of an overview of the current generation of online storage solutions. The company has a dead simple way for users to back up their computer hard drives online. Download their software (Mozy supports both Windows and Mac machines) and the backups occur slowly over time. If there is ever a problem, you can restore your hard drive from Mozy's servers.

Mozy's chief competitor is Carbonite, another company we've tracked over the last couple of years. Carbonite has raised $21 million in venture financing.

Mozy, by contrast, raised just $1.9 million in capital. The round, closed in May 2005, was led by Wasatch Ventures, with participation from Tim Draper and Novell co-founder Drew Major.

That's quite an exit for Mozy - $76 million on just $1.9 million raised. It's almost identical to StumbleUpon, which was acquired by eBay earlier this year for $75 million after raising just $1.5 million in venture capital.

Rumors circulated a year ago that Mozy was close to being acquired by Google for significantly less than this. The company eventually passed on the deal, which must have been a tough call. They clearly made the right choice in waiting.

Look for an official announcement of the Mozy acquisition in the next few weeks. Congratulations to Josh Coates, Mozy's CEO (who refuses to comment on the deal), and the rest of the Mozy team.

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10 Universities Paving The Way For Cellulosic Ethanol

from Earth2Tech by Adena DeMonte

The key to cracking the code for cellulosic ethanol — biofuel made from non-food crops and plant byproducts — could be under development in a university lab near you. While researchers have spent years trying to figure out how to effectively produce the alt-fuel, universities across the country have recently been working on moving the ball forward.

Here's our picks for 10 schools making significant strides in cellulosic ethanol research and production:

University of Tennessee (Knoxville, Tenn.): Last week, the executive committee of the University of Tennessee Board of Trustees approved a business partnership with Mascoma Corp. to jointly build and operate a five-million-gallon-per-year cellulosic ethanol biorefinery. The partnership is a result of the UT Biofuels Initiative, an effort to grow the biofuel industry in Tennessee.

University of Florida (Gainesville, Fla.): The University of Florida recently said it will build a cellulosic ethanol plant at a Florida Crystals Corp facility. The plant will be a research and development lab as well as a commercial facility and will produce between one and two million gallons of fuel each year. The plant is financed by a $20 million state grant. The school's Bioprocess Engineering Research Laboratory also has a sustained research program on biogasification of biomass; additional work in cellulosic ethanol is being done through the Florida Center for Renewable Chemicals and Fuels.

Iowa State University (Des Moines, Iowa): DuPont (DD) pledged $1 million to Iowa State University's New Century Farm. For info on other cellulosic ethanol initiatives at the school, check out their Office of Biorenewables Programs.

Purdue University (West Lafayette, Ind.): Chemical engineers from the school are working on a eco-friendly cellulosic ethanol production process that they say is more efficient than traditional methods and also suppresses the formation of carbon dioxide. Separately researchers from the University say they have an insight into the structural changes cornstalks go through in the ethanol-production process, which could "establish a viable method for large-scale production of ethanol from plant matter."

University of California, Davis (Davis, Calif.): Last year, Chevron Corp (CVX) announced that it would fund up to $25 million in research at UC Davis over five years to develop affordable, renewable transportation fuels from farm and forest residues, urban wastes and crops grown specifically for energy. UC Davis is also home to a lot of cleantech activity, including The California Biomass Collaborative, a statewide collaboration of government, industry, environmental groups, and educational institutions.

Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta, Ga.): Chevron has also teamed up with the Georgia Institute of Technology with up to $12 million in funding for research to make cellulosic biofuels and "hydrogen viable" transportation fuels. The school has also partnered with Atlanta-based startup C2 Biofuels.

University of Massachusetts Amherst (Amherst, Mass.): Microbiology professor Susan Leschine, a leading authority on cellulose digesting microbes, founded SunEthanol. The company licenses microbe technology Leschine developed at UMass that converts biomass into ethanol using an efficient carbon-neutral process. In August, we chatted with SunEthanol's CEO Jef Sharp about the company's Series A funding.

University of California, Berkeley (Berkeley, Calif.) & the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (Urbana, Ill.): Let's not forget Berkeley and Illinois, which in February jointly received a whopping $500 million from British Petroleum (BP) for biofuels research. The funding is being used for the creation of the Energy Biosciences Institute (EBI), which will initially focus its research on biotechnology to produce biofuels, including ways to turn field waste, switchgrass, and algae into transportation fuels.

University of Minnesota (Minneapolis): Researchers at the University of Minnesota have developed a way to convert sawdust and waste biomass directly into a mixture of gases, called syngas, that either be burned to generate electricity or made into liquid fuels.

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Why knockoffs are good for fashion

from Boing Boing by Cory Doctorow

James Surowiecki (author of the great book The Wisdom of Crowds) has a fantastic, tight little article about copyright and fashion in this week's New Yorker. Fashion designs aren't covered by copyright, and this means that couture designs are knocked off and sold at huge discounts in department stores and shops like H&M within seconds of appearing on the runway. This upsets many designers, but there's plenty of evidence that it's good for the industry as a whole -- the knockoffs sell to people who'd never buy the couture originals, so they don't really cannibalize sales; what's more, by making a hot new look ubiquitous, the knockoffs contribute to making it look tired and boring, which creates the market for next season's clothes.

This reminds me of the story of database copyrights, which exist in Europe and not the in the USA. Advocates for these monopolies argue that a copyright spurs investment and makes the industry bigger. But the fact is that the European database industry has stagnated over the past 25 years, while the US industry has grown 25-fold, and the biggest difference between the two is that European firms can prevent competition by using the database right.

Even though the evidence is that a database right has retarded the industry and limited growth, European database firms still profess a great love for their regulatory monopoly, and American firms still bemoan its absence.

The recipients of regulatory monopolies are like kids getting candy: they all believe that they need more, and nothing will convince them otherwise. But monopolies end up costing the public and the next generation of creators: by limiting competition in databases, Europe has created a smaller and less useful database industry. By encouraging competition in fashion, the world has created an easy means for all of us to get cheap clothes, while creating a huge amount of investment in the "next thing," making it easier for new designers to break into the field.

Designers' frustration at seeing their ideas mimicked is understandable. But this is a classic case where the cure may be worse than the disease. There's little evidence that knockoffs are damaging the business. Fashion sales have remained more than healthy--estimates value the global luxury-fashion sector at a hundred and thirty billion dollars-- and the high-end firms that so often see their designs copied have become stronger. More striking, a recent paper by the law professors Kal Raustiala and Christopher Sprigman suggests that weak intellectual-property rules, far from hurting the fashion industry, have instead been integral to its success. The professors call this effect "the piracy paradox."

The paradox stems from the basic dilemma that underpins the economics of fashion: for the industry to keep growing, customers must like this year's designs, but they must also become dissatisfied with them, so that they'll buy next year's. Many other consumer businesses face a similar problem, but fashion--unlike, say, the technology industry--can't rely on improvements in power and performance to make old products obsolete. Raustiala and Sprigman argue persuasively that, in fashion, it's copying that serves this function, bringing about what they call "induced obsolescence." Copying enables designs and styles to move quickly from early adopters to the masses. And since no one cool wants to keep wearing something after everybody else is wearing it, the copying of designs helps fuel the incessant demand for something new.

Link (Thanks, Scott!)

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Citigroup Data Leaked on Limewire; Will There Be Jail Time?

from CenterNetworks - by Allen Stern

eWeek is reporting that a Citigroup employee running p2p software Limewire has potentially been used to find over 5,000 customer records including Social Security Numbers, names, credit information and mortgage types. eWeek notes:

Tiversa found over 10,000 files, deduplication revealed only 5,208 unique Social Security numbers, along with names and what type of mortgage each customer had: conventional, 30-year or conforming, for example.

The information is likely to have been exposed to millions of LimeWire users, given that there are at least 10 million nodes online in a P2P file-sharing network at any point in time, said Chris Gormley, Tiversa's chief operating officer.

If this information is proven to be accurate, should the employee or the Citigroup execs face jail time? The monetary fines are obviously not working, would a stint in jail start to wake up companies that our data is the most important piece to their ability to generate revenue.

I raised my concerns earlier this week with Mint and their "bank-level" security. What I would like to see from them (and the other apps in this sector) is their plan for when data is breached. How will they handle the breach in both communications to customers and in monetization to those who were affected.

And while many wrote about Facebook blocking in corporations, one of the issues no one (including me) seemed to touch on is security. How far are we from a malicious Facebook app?

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MySpace News Is Stealing Your Search Results

from TechCrunch by Duncan Riley

We’ve wondered previously who was going to use MySpace News (if ever), and now we’ve found the traffic source: Google.

Framed pages of blogs and news sites, complete with MySpace News branding and MySpace URL, are being indexed by Google as original content, stealing search engine placement and direct links from content creators.

A search of Google found thousands of MySpace News pages presenting story headlines with a MySpace url that led directly to a framed page that uses content from other sites.

The legality of passing off content as your own is questionable. The case most frequently cited in content framing cases is Washington Post vs Total News where the Washington Post argued that this was unfair and harmful use of their trademark and there was a danger that the user would be confused concerning whose content was being displayed. Unfortunately that case was settled out of court; notably MySpace today is framing content from the Washington Post as well (example here). Some refer to the practice as stealing, and even Chilling Effects notes that the legality of serving framed content is questionable.

The practice may also be in breach of Google’s TOS; MySpace is leveraging its position of strength to promote your content branded as their content in the Google search results, a practice that looks like search engine manipulation from a distance.

No matter what the legalities and moral dimension, if you’re a publisher and MySpace is hijacking your search results and throwing up a frame with their branding around your content, it’s not a good thing. Given what little traffic MySpace News is doing on their main site, there is little new traffic benefits from the service, instead the traffic from the MySpace News pages on Google cannibalizes existing search traffic.

Here’s hoping the Washington Post and the other big media outlets who are having their content framed and presented as MySpace News content take the matter further.

Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0

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Salmon Sperm makes LEDs Brighter

A University of Cincinnati (UC) researcher has an unusual approach to developing “green” electronics — salmon sperm. Date: 9/10/2007 By: Wendy Beckman Phone: (513) 556-1826

Professor Andrew Steckl, a leading expert in light-emitting diodes, is intensifying the properties of LEDs by introducing biological materials, specifically salmon DNA.

Electrons move constantly — think of tiny particles with a negative charge and attention deficit disorder. It is through the movement of these electrons that electric current flows and light is created.

Ohio Eminent Scholar Andrew Steckl is one of the world's leading experts in photonics. (Photo by Dottie Stover)

Steckl is an Ohio Eminent Scholar in UC’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. He believed that if the electrons’ mobility could be manipulated, then new properties could be revealed.

In considering materials to introduce to affect the movement of the electrons, Steckl evaluated the source of materials with an eye to supply, especially materials that do not harm the environment.

“Biological materials have many technologically important qualities — electronic, optical, structural, magnetic,” says Steckl. “But certain materials are hard for to duplicate, such as DNA and proteins.” He also wanted a source that was widely available, would not have to be mined, and was not subject to any organization or country’s monopoly. His answer?

Salmon sperm.

“Salmon sperm is considered a waste product of the fishing industry. It’s thrown away by the ton,” says Steckl with a smile. “It’s natural, renewable and perfectly biodegradable.” While Steckl is currently using DNA from salmon, he thinks that other animal or plant sources might be equally useful. And he points out that for the United States, the green device approach takes advantage of something in which we continue to be a world leader — agriculture.

Steckl is pursuing this research in collaboration with the Air Force Research Laboratory. The research was featured recently in such premier scientific publications as the inaugural issue of naturephotonics and on the cover of Applied Physics Letters.

“The Air Force had already been working with DNA for other applications when they came to us and said, ‘We know that you know how to make devices,’” quotes Steckl. “They also knew that they had a good source of salmon DNA.” It was a match made in heaven.

So began Steckl’s work with BioLEDs, devices that incorporate DNA thin films as electron blocking layers. Most of the devices existing today are based on inorganic materials, such as silicon. In the last decade, researchers have been exploring using naturally occurring materials in devices like diodes and transistors.

“The driving force, of course, is cost: cost to the producer, cost to the consumer and cost to the environment” Steckl points out, “but performance has to follow.”

And what a performance — lights, camera, action!

“DNA has certain optical properties that make it unique,” Steckl says. “It allows improvements in one to two orders of magnitude in terms of efficiency, light, brightness — because we can trap electrons longer.”

When electrons collide with oppositely charged particles, they produce very tiny packets of light called “photons.”

“Some of the electrons rushing by have a chance to say ‘hello,’ and get that photon out before they pass out,” Steckl explains. “The more electrons we can keep around, the more photons we can generate.” That’s where the DNA comes in, thanks to a bunch of salmon.

BioLEDs make colors brighter.

“DNA serves as a barrier that affects the motion of the electrons,” says Steckl. It allows Steckl and his fellow researcher, the Air Force’s Dr. James Grote, to control the brightness of the light that comes out.

“The story continues,” says Steckl, again smiling. “I’m receiving salmon sperm from researchers around the world wanting to see if their sperm is good enough.” The next step is to now replace some other materials that go into an LED with biomaterials. The long-term goal is be able to make “green” devices that use only natural, renewable and biodegradable materials.

This research was funded by the United States Air Force.

Here we have the “yin” of biological materials in photonic devices. See Steckl’s “yang” research placing electronics in biological materials: UC Engineering Research Widens Possibilities for Electronic Devices: NSF-funded engineering research on microfluidics at the University of Cincinnati widens the possibilities on the horizon for electronic devices.

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60+ Free Password Managers and Form Fillers

September 17, 2007 — 06:09 PM PDT — by Palin Ningthoujam

If you're an active internet user with accounts on dozens of websites, chances are you already have dozens of user IDs and passwords to remember. An identity system like OpenID may eventually solve all your problems, but until that time you can make use of various tools to save your passwords and automatically fill out forms.

See also: 25+ Ways to Manage Your Online Identity

Password Managers (Online)

Agatra - Online password manager that helps you log in to websites automatically. You can click on the Agatra dashboard where your website links will be displayed.

Clipperz - Online and offline password manager. You can use its one-click login feature to access your websites. It also has a stripped down edition designed for the Firefox sidebar and the Opera panel.

Handy Password - Firefox and IE addon that functions as a password manager, form filler, and a bookmark manager. You can save your data locally or on your email server.

Passlet - A simple online password manager that provides you with your Passlet page where you can store your passwords. Clicking on a particular entry pops up a window that displays the information that you stored for that particular entry.

PassPack - This is an online and offline password generator and manager with many features like 1-click logins, Anti-Phishing, Rapid Sign In, disposable logins, import and export, etc. My personal favorite.

Password Safe - Password manager that has a mini web browser pop up to help you log in to sites. It also has a desktop application for Mac and Windows.

Shibbo - Online password manager that you can use to manage passwords and private information anonymously.

SpyShakers - Online password manager with a drag and drop feature. Password Managers (Desktop applications)

4uOnly - This tool stores your password, which you can access without having you to enter a master password. It uses your windows login ID as your account password.

Absolute Privacy - Stores your contacts, calendar, task list, diary, memos, passwords, and financial information.

Access Manager - Drag and drop passwords from user list to websites.

Agile Password Manager - A small freeware utility to store all your passwords. Offers five sections where you can store your passwords separately - personal, business, web, financial, etc.

Any Password - Store your password in a tree-type structure. Also has an import-export facility.

Comodo -i-Vault - Password generator and manager with a drag and drop interface.

Echo Password Manager - Automatically remembers and retrieves your online passwords and login information. Also has password generator, validator, and multi-language support.

Era Password Manager - Install the Era Password Manager on your USB drive and carry your passwords securely.

Halsa - A simple password manager that comes in six languages - EN, DE, PL, CZ, ES and HU.

JK Password Manager - Stores your passwords on a encrypted and master password protected file.

Keepass Password Safe - Open source application to store all your passwords in a encrypted form.

Keychain - Tracks and stores your passwords in a master-password protected file.

KeyWallet - Free tool to store your passwords. You can drag and drop your passwords to their respective websites forms in a browser.

Master Password - This application has a small floating toolbar that will track, add and manage entries.

nPassword - With this cool application, you can log in to any website or program with its QuickPassword popup feature from where you can drag your login information.

PassLocker - access your websites, email, standalone applications, instant messengers etc.

Passweerd - A USB key portable password manager application where you can store passwords by categories.

Password Assistant - A nifty password generator and analyzer tool. You can make the password output pronounceable so that it is easy to remember.

Password Assistant 2.0 - A Java based application to store all your passwords on your PC.

Password Gorilla -Stores and encrypts your passwords. You can copy the passwords in an encrypted form into your browser.

Password Manager for Opera - Allows you to store non-website related information like application logins, cell phone PINs, etc. using the built-in wand in your Opera browser.

Password Corral - This application stores your passwords in an encrypted form. You can launch browsers from the application itself.

Password Guardian - A simple password manager with import-export facility.

Password Keeper - Stores your passwords in an encrypted form.

Password Keychain - A small password generator and manager. You can use this to launch sites by double clicking the entries in the application.

Password Keyper - A tool that you can use to store and encrypt your passwords. You can launch the urls from the application itself.

Password Organiser - A small tool to store your passwords in one place.

Password Picker - Generate and store your passwords in a secure way.

Password Prime - This tool saves all your passwords and the locations where they are used.

Password Scrambler - An IE addon that provides scrambled passwords for all your web log-ins. You just have to remember the master password and let Password Scrambler do the login automatically.

Remember Me - This tool helps you create multiple password protected profiles and save your password in different categories in an encrypted form.

RN Password Manager 4.0 - Store all your passwords and website urls in one file that can password protected. You can launch your browser from the application or use the application's default web browser.

Scarabay - Password manager application from where you can drag and drop your login information.

SimplePasswords - A lightweight password manager that you can carry around on your USB stick. You can store notes with your passwords as well.

Universal Password Manager - Store your passwords at a password-protected web address. Runs on Windows, Mac OS X & Linux.

YGS Password Manager - Enables you to store all your passwords in the application. You can open the web address from the application itself and also copy the passwords into your clipboard.

Zaid - A simple password manager that can be run from your USB stick.

Form fillers / Browser Add-ons

Billeo Free Password Manager Plus - Browser toolbar that will automatically pre-fill your login information, autofill your contact details on shopping sites, and also serves as an online bill pay assistant.

Biz Form Bar - Browser toolbar with password manager and form filler features with unlimited passwords and profiles.

Google Toolbar - The Autofill feature in the Google toolbar for Internet Explorer and Firefox helps fill web forms with a click.

Easy login - This is a toolbar button for Internet Explorer that you can use to log into websites with a single mouse click.

Form Auto Filler - Helps automate your form filling in Internet Explorer with a few keyboard buttons.

Formfiller - This is a small Firefox extension to help fill forms. Information from the Formfiller window can be pasted into web forms.

FormSaver - Firefox addon that will save the information you provided while filling an online form and provide the data the next time you fill a similar form.

iMacros for Firefox - Firefox addon that can act as a password manager and form filler, automate the download and upload of pages, and capture web page response time for web developers.

iNetFormFiller - Stores your private data and reproduces order of clicks on web-links when you want to fill an online form.

inFormEnter - A nice Firefox extension that puts image markers beside input fields on websites which can be selected for auto filling forms.

Login Manager - Firefox addon to help you login to the same web service using two different IDs in the same browser session.

Personal Web Helper - A password generator, manager and form filler with an inbuilt browser history cleaner.

Roboform - Browser toolbar that helps automate online form filling and logins. You can only store ten passwords in its free edition though.

Roboform2go - Version of Roboform that you can install on a USB key. It leaves no trace of the application when you unplug the USB key. Only ten passwords on the free version.

Secure Login - Firefox addon for automating web logins. When you are on a particular webpage and you hover above the login button on the toolbar, it displays a series of available login IDs and passwords.

Signupshield Passwords - Firefox addon that has a 1-Click Password manager, form filler, spam control and anti-phishing toolbar.

Shopwiki Form Filler Assistant - Firefox addon that will help you fill forms at various online shopping sites.

Sxipper - Firefox addon that uses the Firefox password manager to track your passwords and form filling information and provides you login options whenever you return to that particular site.

Miscellaneous password tools

Change Forgotten Passwords - Recover your forgotten passwords from Internet Explorer, IMs, Outlook, shared folders, and many more.

Master Password Timeout - This Firefox addon locks the master security device after a specified amount of time. Password Decrypter - Decrypts hidden asterisk passwords into plain-text.

Password Dynamo - A nifty password generator. Requires .NET Framework 2.0+ to work. Password Exporter - Imports and exports passwords from Firefox, Thunderbird, Flock, and Songbird.

Password Finder - This Firefox addon adds the search function to the password manager.

Password Generator - You can generate up to 1000 passwords with this tool and save them on your clipboard.

PDF Filler - Online tool to help you fill any PDF form on-line in 3 steps.

Serial Key Manager - Saves your software serials in the Windows Registry.

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How does Dyson make water go uphill?

Augustine: with a little imagination, even a lowly water feature can be a remarkable "purple cow."


Source: http://www.watercascades.com/files/Dyson_uphill_fountain.htm

How does Dyson make water go uphill?

What a shower

James Dyson's uphill water feature has been the striking image of this year's Chelsea Flower Show. But how did he do it?

It certainly beats your common or garden water feature.

Inventor James Dyson, he of the bagless vacuum cleaner, has stolen the headlines from the gardeners at this year's Chelsea Flower Show with his "Wrong Garden".

A set of four glass ramps positioned in a square clearly show water travelling up each of them before it pours off the top, only to start again at the bottom of the next ramp.

It is a sight which defies logic, and has become probably the most memorable image of this year's show.

Mr Dyson says his inspiration was a drawing by the Dutch artist MC Escher (he of Gothic palaces where soldiers are eternally walking upstairs, and of patterns where birds turn into fish).

"One of these is an optical illusion that shows water going uphill and round and round the four sides of a square perpetually," he says [see Internet Links]. "I wanted to create a series of cascades that are all on the same level - an everlasting waterfall."

After much head scratching and experimentation, the effect has been achieved. Derek Phillips, the Dyson engineer who spent 12 months building the feature, told BBC News Online that his head was spinning when he was given his brief.

"James came up to me and said he wanted this idea to make water go uphill. My initial reaction was to look for Paul Daniels' phone number. But I've had to become a bit of an illusionist myself."

How is the illusion achieved?

Covering the ramp is a glass surface. Water is pumped in at the bottom, and comes out of the opening at the top. At the opening, some of the water is diverted back down the ramp, covering the glass in a thin layer of water.

Compressed air is also pumped in where the water enters - bubbles then travels up the ramp to the opening. These bubbles, combined with the thin later of water going downhill, are what create the illusion that the surface of the ramp is not just a glass lid.

I stand a discreet distance away and listen to some of their theories - there are some fantastic ideas there Derek Phillips, Dyson engineer

It is a trick which has greatly intrigued the crowds at the Chelsea Flower Show, where Dyson's work is part of the Daily Telegraph's Silver Gilt award-winning garden. People have been queuing up 10-deep to see the fountain, says Mr Phillips, many of them discussing their various ideas as to how it works.

"I stand a discreet distance away and listen to some of their theories - there are some fantastic ideas there, some of them I actually wish I could make.

"One person was saying that they thought the water was actually travelling the other way - they were wondering how I was managing to get a water jet to shoot up to the top of the glass."

No sooner has it got to the top than it starts again up the ramp

So could the uphill feature become a common sight around the country, either in people's gardens or as features in public squares?

"We could certainly make mini versions of it - or even larger versions," says Mr Phillips. "I've had a few architects coming up to me asking me about it. But I'm not telling exactly how I achieve the effect."

Before someone tries to market their own uphill water feature, they had better be warned. James Dyson - no stranger to court battles over patents - has presumably taken care of the necessary legal business.

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MatchMine Takes $10 Million From Kraft Group

from TechCrunch by Duncan Riley

Media discovery startup MatchMine has raised $10 million from original seed investor the Kraft Group.

Boston based MatchMine launches Sunday with a product that is advertised to "unlock a whole new world of music, movies, video and other cool stuff to match the tastes of the original, quirky, one-of-kind inner you."

MatchMine's "MatchKey" technology uses demographic information about a user and a ratings system to deliver suggested media, and can also be plugged into third party sites to deliver recommendations. Three sites will support MatchKeys at launch: Peerflix, FilmCrave and Fuzz.com.

Th Kraft Group (not to be confused with Kraft Foods) is best known in the United States for its investments in Gillette Stadium and the New England Patriots.

(via Boston.com)

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Mandelbrot Demo using a WorkerPool

from Ajaxian

Nick Edgar started to play around with the Workerpool component and decided to build a distributed Mandelbrot generator:

A UI/administrator task would farm out work (columns in the Mandelbrot set) to different worker tasks, possibly running on different machines. As each worker sent in its result, the UI would draw the column, and respond with more work for the worker. It was a cool example, and looked cool too: due to different machines running at different speeds, you would see the results kind of shimmer in, with faster machines generating the leading edge, and slower machines trailing and filling in the blanks.

He put together a demo using Workerpool and without to compare.

After you start the simulation, click on the toggle button to see how the UI can remain responsive in the Workerpool case. Although you would be foolish to rush to use Workerpool thread for every little thing you do, it is nice to have this in the arsenal for truly long running actions.

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some things are better left un-sent

Augustine: if such an error did make it through QA of marketing pieces, suck it up and honor the price for those customers who DO come in to buy the unit. This would lead to such positive and rapid viral spread across the internet that would amplify the intended outcome of the ad in the first place (drive-to-store, plus sales). And, economically speaking, how many more people would jump to buy the 50-inch HDTV between Sept 23 - 29 anyway? So the "costs" are limited, while the positive upside is unlimited.

Instead, by sending this email to "valued Best Buy customers" they have created the exact opposite -- they may have limited their costs of selling 50 inch TVs at $1799 but the PR and word of mouth downside is unlimited. And they might have a while longer to continue looking forward to my next visit to their store.


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Best Buy <BestBuyInfo@emailinfo.bestbuy.com >
Date: Sep 21, 2007 2:14 PM
Subject: Important 9/23 Ad Correction

As a valued Best Buy customer, we want to inform you of an error that will appear in the September 23, 2007 Best BuyTM ad.  On the front cover we mistakenly listed the price of the 50" Panasonic Plasma TV (TH_50PZ77U- 8501711) at $1799, before $90 savings.  We intended to advertise the 42" Panasonic Plasma TV (TH-42PZ77U-8501757) at $1799, before $90 savings.  Best Buy will not be honoring this price on the aforementioned 50" Panasonic Plasma TV.   We apologize for any inconvenience, and we will offer a $100 Instant Rebate on all Plasma Televisions from Sunday, September 23, 2007 through Saturday, September 29, 2007. This Instant Rebate will be deducted from the price you see in the store, including our regular sale prices.   Thank you for your understanding.  We look forward to seeing you in our store soon.   (c) 2007 Best Buy

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Banner Blindness: Old and New Findings (Jakob Nielsen)

Banner Blindness: Old and New Findings (Jakob Nielsen)

A new research by Jakob Nielsen proves: users rarely look at display advertisements on websites. Of the four design elements that do attract a few ad fixations, one is unethical and reduces the value of advertising networks.

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