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Palm Runs Out Of Options As HTC Reviews, Declines To Buy The Company

Posted: 23 Apr 2010 05:40 AM PDT

According to a report based on a source from an Asia-based Reuters correspondent, smartphone maker HTC has decided not to bid for Palm after looking at the company's numbers. The source, which reportedly has direct knowledge of the talks, said there "weren't enough synergies to take the deal forward". That leaves Palm, which has been struggling to boost sales of its new range of smartphones, running out of options fast.


Nook update adds “Read in Store” functionality

Posted: 23 Apr 2010 05:35 AM PDT


Huh. This is interesting. So Barnes & Noble just added “Read in Store” functionality to the Nook, a feature that allows you to browse any ebook on your Nook while you’re in the store. When you leave, the ebook disappears. It’s the Brigadoon of ebook reading.

The update also adds chess, soduku, and some improvements to speed and UI. However, the Read in Store is the real star. But is it valuable? I mean when is the last time you stood in a store, in front of a book, and then said to yourself “Hey, I’d like to see this on a screen.” While I’m totally down with the concept, this doesn’t do much for the long-tail books that aren’t situated front and center by the doors.

If you want to update right now, pop over here. Click through for the press release.

Barnes & Noble Launches More NOOK™ eBook Reader Firsts:
Read In Store™ Experience and Apps with Games, Along With
Web Browser and Enhanced Wi-Fi® Connectivity

NOOK Customers Can Browse Complete eBooks for Free in Barnes & Noble Stores

Enjoy Chess and Sudoku, Faster Page Turns, Enhanced Home Screen and More
on Updated NOOK Software Now Available

New York, New York – April 23, 2010 – Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the world's largest bookseller, announced more new firsts and features for its popular NOOK eBook Reader, including the breakthrough Read In Store experience (in beta) to browse complete eBooks in Barnes & Noble stores at no cost, as well as challenging games – the first Android applications available on the device – enhanced Wi-Fi connectivity and a basic Web browser (in beta). The new features, along with additional reading and device performance optimization, such as faster page turns and an enhanced home screen, are part of NOOK v1.3 software, which is now available.

In Barnes & Noble stores, NOOK automatically connects to the fast and free Wi-Fi where NOOK customers can tap on the Shop button to now enjoy the beta Read In Store feature. Customers can read many complete eBooks available in Barnes & Noble's expansive eBookstore of more than one million digital titles, even if the physical book is not in stock. From current bestsellers to classics, customers can enjoy a wide variety of eBooks from hundreds of publishers, including all the major publishing houses. Soon, in-store visitors will also be able to virtually flip through leading daily newspapers and magazines covering news, finance and technology available in the eBookstore.

NOOK customers can explore the content of as many digital titles as they wish, on any given day, including any available eBook for up to an hour per day; and to come, current-edition newspapers and magazines in the BN eBookstore will be available for up to 20 minutes per day. NOOK's Read In Store experience is another first for the retail and eBook arena, like the More In Store™ experience which offers NOOK owners access to free, exclusive content from leading authors and special discounts and promotions when in Barnes & Noble stores.

"Our digital customers will feel at home in our stores with Read In Store, which puts a digital spin on the popular Barnes & Noble bookstore experience that millions of our customers enjoy each day. At no cost, NOOK customers can browse through our robust collection of digital content while enjoying their favorite beverage in our café," said Tony Astarita, Vice President, Digital Products, Barnes & Noble.com. "We know our customers enjoy discovering great reads in our bookstores. So, we worked closely with our valued publishing partners to offer this innovative digital experience for NOOK owners when they visit any of our 723 Barnes & Noble stores." Mr. Astarita added, "We also included new games and many other entertaining features to continue to deliver on our promise to make NOOK the most fun, easy-to-use eBook Reader for people who love to read."
Other updates NOOK customers will enjoy with v1.3 software include:
Reading experience: To help customers get to their content conveniently and quickly, Barnes & Noble has continued to optimize NOOK's performance with improved page turn speed, faster access to previously opened eBooks, enhanced color touch screen navigation and more.
Games: From eBooks to rooks, play Chess against NOOK with one of three levels of difficulty, or get puzzled with Sudoku, choosing from four levels of play. Control the game using the color touch screen as the game board appears on the E Ink® display.
Wi-Fi connectivity: In addition to Barnes & Noble bookstores and other Wi-Fi hotspots, enjoy high-speed connectivity in even more places, such as those that require access to additional information through a Web browser including hotels and coffee shops.
Basic Web browser (Beta): While connected via Wi-Fi, explore the Web and check Internet-based e-mail accounts on the E Ink display, while using the color touch screen for navigation and to access the virtual keyboard.
Updated home screen: From the home menu (located on the lower color touch screen), get easy, direct access to existing features including Audio and Wi-Fi settings, as well as new features such as Games and beta Web browser.
NOOK v1.3 is now available via manual download at www.nook.com/update with additional information and easy-to-follow directions. NOOKs connected to Wi-Fi will receive an automatic NOOK v1.3 update over the next week.

Two awesome Gundam PC cases

Posted: 23 Apr 2010 04:02 AM PDT

We all know Japan is Gundam country (I’ll go cover the newly opened Gundam Cafe in Tokyo next week) and that Akihabara is heaven for PC geeks and modders. So what can you expect when you combine both things? Not one but two cool Gundam PC cases.

These special cases are based on this [JP] conventional one. Unfortunately, neither one of these is actually for sale.

Via Akiba Watch [JP] (Thanks, Akky!)

Video: Meet AILA, a fembot made in Germany

Posted: 23 Apr 2010 03:22 AM PDT

It seems not only Japan, but also Germany is capable of producing super-advanced humanoids. Case in point: AILA, a fembot [GER] developed at the Deutsches Forschungszentrum für Künstliche Intelligenz (DFKI/German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence).

AILA, in her current form, stands 170cm tall. There are 22 joints in her body, a 3D camera, two laser range finders, six wheels shes moves on and an RFID reader. The DFKI says the main purpose is to put a semantic product memory system the research center developed to practical use. The DFKI doesn’t view AILA as an isolated product, but as a platform for further research in robotics.

To be more concrete, AILA is designed in a way so she can touch and handle a number of different objects safely, for example a bottle made of glass or a small box.

She can identify, grab, sort or transport those objects autonomously. AILA could, for example, fill up empty shelves in a super market one day or take care of problems in an assembly line in a factory by herself. (For orientation, AILA uses the laser range finders. To identify the objects in question, AILA uses the cameras installed in her head.)

In order for AILA to work properly, the objects she has to handle must have RFID tags, which are scanned by the RFID reader in her left hand and tell AILA what kind of object she’s dealing with (weight, fragility, what she needs to do with it etc.). Each of AILA’s arms are 5.5kg heavy, and she’s able to carry around objects weighing up to 8kg.

Here’s a video showing AILA in action:

Via Plastic Pals via Golem [GER]

Transparent Nissan 370Z is the star in this sweet engine oil ad

Posted: 22 Apr 2010 09:01 PM PDT


Yeah… I was going to post this a bit earlier but I had an attack of conscience, seeing as how it’s Earth Day and I’m essentially posting an advertisement for Shell Corporation. But the clear Z was too cool to skip altogether. Out of respect for the planet, I’ve scheduled this post ahead for 12:01. Click the video for some hot perspex-on-perspex action.

[via Doobybrain]

Lever-activated faucet: get one

Posted: 22 Apr 2010 06:36 PM PDT


It’s Earth Day, friend reader. Not that you’d know it, what with a gazillion pounds of waste being thrown indiscriminately into holes and oceans every day. But while I am quite sure that we will eventually find a way to deal with that junk (fire it into the sun, am I right?), a more problematic problem is that of fresh water. Sure, your tap will pour out delicious, cold water all the time — but the cost of providing fresh water for population centers is getting… but you probably know all this. And you know what’s coming. Stop wasting so much water!

I try to minimize my own water usage, but sometimes there’s just no way to turn the tap on and off in a timely fashion — or is there? Yes, there is, and it’s existed for decades, you just don’t have one in your home yet. Time to get one.

It’s a lever-activated faucet, silly, you knew that because you read the headline. For $40 you’ll have a nice chrome faucet that will take away that gnawing feeling inside of having wasted too much water while shaving or brushing your teeth. It won’t take away the gnawing feeling on your ankle from the coyote that’s taken over the den, though. Just don’t go in there! It’s obviously not friendly, look at its eyes!

Anyway, I might just pick one of these up in honor of Earth Day, but you definitely should, because you earn more than me. Yes, I’m sure. Ask the coyote. Don’t ask the coyote!

[via Lifehacker]

Freezing the Boeing 787 using weather control technology

Posted: 22 Apr 2010 06:00 PM PDT

So where exactly are you supposed to go if you need to freeze one of largest passenger jet planes ever made? Well if you’re Boeing, you go to the McKinley Climatic Chamber at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. This facility is designed to simulate anything from the most extreme freeze, to the hottest desert. You have to wonder though, what is the military doing with this technology? Is this part of Bill Gates’ agenda to control the weather?

Ordinarily, the jet would have just been flown up into the arctic and test there, but due to delays Boeing missed the timing on winter. After they realized that it wouldn’t time out properly, Boeing announced that they would be flying the jet to Florida to be tested. The advantage of the McKinley Climatic Chamber is that not only will Boeing be able to test the cold, but they also plan on testing the jet in high desert temperatures.

[via Autopia]

Did you know? Sony can pull a Reverse Amazon and push updates to your PS3

Posted: 22 Apr 2010 05:30 PM PDT


This is interesting. While checking up on the implications of Sony’s removal of the “Install Other OS” option, Thinq ran into a particularly troubling clause in the EULA.

Some services may be provided automatically without notice when you are online, and others may be available to you through SCE’s online network or authorized channels. Without limitation, services may include the provision of the latest update or download of new release that may include security patches, new technology or revised settings and features which may prevent access to unauthorized or pirated content, or use of unauthorized hardware or software in connection with the PS3™ system.

While I might have at first considered it boilerplate to say that they may provide matchmaking services and trophy tracking without your express consent every time, that second bit does go out of its way to say “no, this is about us keeping the PS3 in Sony-approved condition.”

I actually glanced over this EULA when I was researching that User’s Manifesto post. I ended up using Apple’s EULA as a sample, but as it turns out, the Sony one might have been even better. The language says, without exaggeration, that they may change settings and shut off access to your own software and hardware, without asking and without notification.

Do you like the sound of that? I doubt it. But you did agree to those terms. Luckily, it seems Sony hasn’t felt the need to exert this power yet, seeing as the clause above has been in the PS3 EULA since launch and we haven’t heard of anything as nauseating as the Amazon thing. Cold comfort that.

It really just amounts to something a PS3 hacker needs to account for (find the method by which automatic updates occur; block it), but it sends a chill up your spine, doesn’t it — what’s next, remote access of the Eye to check if you’re not having enough fun? Quick! Check the EULA!

[via HardOCP; image: Penny Arcade]

Left 4 Dead 2 DLC now available. Too bad Xbox 360 players have to pay for it.

Posted: 22 Apr 2010 04:30 PM PDT

There’s pretty much no need to write this next story, especially if you’re a fan, but… Valve, darling developers that they are, have released the very first DLC for Left 4 Dead 2, The Passing. I was supposed to mention this fact this morning, forgot about it, then logged into Steam to see something downloading. “What the heck is downloading? I don’t remember authorizing this? Oh, it’s the L4D2 DLC. Wasn’t I supposed to write about that?” As you can see, I live a very exciting life.

The DLC, which is free for PC users—Xbox 360 users have to pay 560 Microsoft Points (around $7.00)—adds the original Left 4 Dead cast to the game, along with three new maps, a couple new weapons, a new zombie type, and Achievement Points.

Additionally, Valve employees will be playing the game 7pm-11pm PDT (10pm-1am EDT) on the Xbox 360 version under the following GamerTags: L4D2 DEV 1, L4D2 DEV 2, L4D2 DEV 3, L4D2 DEV 4, L4D2 DEV 5, L4D2 DEV 6, L4D2 DEV 7, L4D2 DEV 8, L4D2 DEV 9, L4D2 DEV 10.

The PC version play-along is wrapping up as I type this, so yeah, oops.

But man, what’s the deal with Xbox 360 owners having to pay for the DLC while PC gamers don’t have to? Presumably it’s some sort of 360 licensing thing. Still, lame.


Dolby Labs: Laptops should have surround sound too!

Posted: 22 Apr 2010 04:00 PM PDT

Dolby Laboratories, longtime industry leaders in theater and film audio, have set their gaze upon the PC entertainment side of things. Specifically, getting surround sound from a laptop or netbook. I got a demo of some of the new tech they’ll be releasing in the coming months. Some super cool stuff.

Dolby is working with various OEMs to include a number of new audio driver technologies. Dolby Home Theater v3, Dolby Advanced Audio, and Dolby Headphone. All three are post-processing that optimize your sound for the specific laptop you’re working on, bass and high frequency boost, and do a bit of compression repair. Unlike most “enhancers”, the Dolby algorithms don’t sound like a graphic EQ just haphazardly slapped on the signal. And they’re smart enough to not mess with your uncompressed material.

Now for all the surround sound stuff. First, you can get simulated surround sound on any pair of headphones. It may not sound as distinct as actual 5.1 or 7.1 headphones, but the Dolby software will recreate the full sound field with any stereo headphones. Not the best solution, but for the price and portability, you can’t beat it.

Also, instead of requiring separate sound cards with multiple ports, these drivers will sum the multiple channels of a surround signal to one. End result, you can run a single cable from your PC’s audio out to any surround sound receiver. Now you can hear all that pirated material the way it was supposed to.

Look for the “Approved by Dolby” sticker on various Sony, Lenovo, Toshiba, Acer, and Medion models in the coming year.

Wicked headphones – you know, for the Hot Topic kids

Posted: 22 Apr 2010 03:40 PM PDT


Although these little headphones, at $10-$30, aren’t likely to push any boundaries audio-wise, they might just get a few kids to move away from the included iPod headphones or other even cheaper earbuds than these. That can only be a good thing.

The company that makes these already has its stuff in a lot of stores, and I have no doubt that these headphones are already available with different color schemes and trim. Ah well. Some kid buying $30 in-ears is doing himself a favor — that’s how I started caring about how my music really sounded, instead of just blasting it really loud through a pair of $9 buds.

I hate computers: confessions of a sysadmin

Posted: 22 Apr 2010 03:00 PM PDT


I often wonder if plumbers reach a point in their career, after cleaning clogged drain after clogged drain, that they begin to hate plumbing. They hate pipes. They hate plumber’s putty. They hate all the tricks they’ve learned over the years, and they hate the need to have to learn tricks. It’s plumbing, for goodness sake: pipes fitting together and substances flowing through them. How complicated can it be?

I hate computers. No, really, I hate them. I love the communications they facilitate, I love the conveniences they provide to my life, and I love the escapism they sometimes afford; but I actually hate the computers themselves. Computers are fragile, unintuitive things — a hodge-podge of brittle, hardware and opaque, restrictive software. Why?

I provide computer support all day every day to “users”. I am not one of these snotty IT guys who looks with scorn and derision on people who don’t know what an IRQ is. I recognize that users don’t care about computers. The computer is a means to an end for them: a presentation to solicit more grant money, or a program to investigate a new computational method, or just simply sending a nice note to their family. They don’t want to “use the computer” so much as do something that the computer itself facilitates. I’m the same with with cars: I don’t want to know how an internal combustion engine works or know how to change my oil or in any other way become an automotive expert — I just want to drive to the grocery store!

But the damned computers get in the way of all the things the computers help us do. There’s this whole artificial paradigm about administrator accounts, and security, and permissions, and all other manner of things that people don’t care about. A host of ancillary software is required just to keep your computer running, but that software introduces more complexity and more points of failure, and ends up causing as much grief as it’s intended to resolve.

Computer error messages are worthless.

What sparked this current round of ire was a user’s inability to check for Windows Updates. Windows Update, the program, starts up just fine. But clicking on “Check for Updates” results in an unhelpful message that Windows Update could not check for updates. A meaningless error code is presented to the user, as if he’ll know what to do with that. There’s even a helpful link that says “Learn more about common Windows Update problems”. The list of suggested problems includes a variety of other meaningless error codes, but not the one that this user received. The Windows Event Log, which I know how to access but the user does not, contains nothing instructive. For a normal user, this would be a dead-end with one of two options: ignore the problem and hope nothing bad happens in consequence; or try to repair the operating system using some half-baked recovery method provided by the computer manufacturer or the Windows install disk (assuming they have one).

Another user I support has had nothing but trouble with Adobe Acrobat. Trying to open PDFs from within his browser fails spectacularly. Either the links simply never open, or they open a completely blank page, or Internet Explorer renders an error page suggesting that there’s a network problem! The user can right-click and “Save As” the links to get the PDFs, and I’m thankful that this user understand how to right-click at all, such that he has a viable workaround to the problem until I can find the root cause. But many, many users do not know what the right mouse button is for.


I pick on Microsoft a lot, because I think they do a lot of things fundamentally wrong. But plenty of other companies are just as guilty of bad design, bad implementation, and bad communication with their users. Google’s Chrome browser is cute when it says “Aw snap!”, but that leans the other way in terms of uselessness: it doesn’t give the user any better idea of what might be wrong, and users are left to feel helpless, powerless, and stupid.

Even when things go right, users are left to feel powerless and stupid. Installing almost any program on a Windows based system involves an inordinate number of clicks, all of them just saying “Okay” “Okay” “Okay”. No one reads the click-through EULAs, no one changes the default installation location, and no one selects specific installation options. They just keep clicking “Okay” because that’s what they’ve been trained to do. And then they end up with four extra toolbars in their browser and a bunch of “helper” programs that don’t actually help the user in any way and which they user doesn’t actually want. And they don’t know how to get rid of them.

Computers don’t make sense.

There’s an awful lot to be said about the simplicity and usefulness of installing software on Mac or Linux. In the latter case, you simply drag a file to your Applications folder, and you’re done. Linux package managers do all the heavy lifting without any user intervention. If a Linux program requires additional libraries, the package manager finds them and installs them automatically. In both instances, I can install new applications in a fraction of the time it takes to install something on Windows.

Removing software is another cause of much consternation for users. Again, Mac and Linux make it pretty easy most of the time. Heck, on any Linux system I can enumerate all of the packages installed in seconds with a single command from the package manager (or click of the appropriate button using a GUI for the package manager). But in any Windows machine — even a brand new one with top-of-the-line hardware — it requires long minutes to enumerate and display the installed software; and to make things worse the “Add and Remove Software” control panel item doesn’t actually show you all the installed applications. And removing any particular piece of software is not always a clean operation: cruft is left behind in the filesystem and the registry (don’t even get me started on my loathing of the Windows registry!).

Speaking of filesystems, why is it that a SQL database can find a specific record in a database of millions of records in a fraction of a second, but finding a specific file on your hard drive takes minutes? I’m sure there’s some very real reason why filesystems are so unfriendly to users, but I’ll be darned if I can explain it to any of my users.

Computers are too complex to use.

Average folk might take a “computer class” which instructs them on a few specific tasks — usually application specific (How to use Microsoft Word), as opposed to task specific (How to use a word processing program) — but when experiences diverge from those presented in the class, the user is not well equipped to deal with the situation. How does one interpret this new error message? How does one deal with a recurring application fault?

The pace of change in the computer industry works against users. The whole color-coded ports initiative was a great step toward end user convenience, but that’s not enough when users now need to know the difference between VGA, DVI, and DisplayPort. A lot of the computers that are coming into my office have all three video ports, and the monitors support multiple inputs, leaving users to wonder which one(s) they should use when setting up their PC. I’ve had multiple calls from really smart graduate students who couldn’t figure out how to connect the computer to the monitor. Sure, it’s an easy joke to make fun of these situations, but it’s a damning indictment of the computer industry as a whole, if you ask me.

Like Nicholas, I’ve never had a malware infection on any computer I own; but I’ve helped lots of people — users I support professionally, and family and friends — recover from malware infections. Can you imagine your mother-in-law being able to find and follow these instructions for removing malware? Or worse, knowing about and responding to a botched antivirus update from your AV software?

Computers fail spectacularly, taking all our data with them.

Hardware and software companies know that we use our computers to store information that is important to us. And yet backing up data to keep it safe is still a gigantic pain in the ass. Lots of “enterprise” backup software exists to try to protect us from computer failures (hardware, software, and user errors), and a host of “consumer” solutions vie for our consumer dollars; but frankly they all suck. Why do we need third-party software to protect the investment we’ve made in our computers? Users don’t buy backup software because they don’t expect their computers to fail.

It’s so easy to amass a huge amount of data today — digital photo archives, MP3 collections, and video — that it’s a real pain to reliably back up. Not only is it a pain, it’s expensive. You shell out a couple hundred bucks for a fancy new camera, and you’ll need to shell out a couple hundred more bucks to get an external hard drive onto which you can duplicate all your photos for safekeeping. And then, of course, it takes a long time to actually copy your data from your computer to your external hard drive, and you just don’t have the time or patience to commit to that regularly, so you start to neglect it and them *bam* your computer blows up — hard drive failure, malware infection, whatever — and you lose weeks and months worth of irreplaceable data.

Sure, some computers come with redundant disks, but most consumer-level RAID is a fragile mix of hardware and software, further complicating the setup. Why haven’t reliable, low-cost RAID solutions reached the mainstream yet? Why don’t end users have better access to useful things like snapshots, or ZFS yet?

And what about all the little failures that end users can’t possibly begin to detect or diagnose, like bulged capacitors on their mainboard, or a faulty video card, or wonky RAM?

Computers are overwhelming.

The mind-numbing number of computers available for purchase at any retail establishment right now is enough to cow even the most stalwart bargain shopper. How is a layperson to proceed in the face of row after row of meaningless statistics? Will that extra 0.2 GHz make a demonstrable difference in their use of the computer? Will it give them an extra six months, or even a year, of useful life? Why should a normal user even care about the number of bits in their operating system?

The Laptop Hunters tried to help people find the right laptop, but Sheila’s $2,000 HP isn’t necessarily the best pick of the available options, is it? Sure, AMD is simplifying its brand. But is that enough to really help people find the best product for their need? Will their branding refresh make any difference at all when there’s still five or ten seemingly identical systems on the shelf at the big box retail computer store?

I hate computers.

I know my little rant here is like shouting at the storm: there’s a huge, lethargic industry making gobs of cash on the complexity of the computer era, and there’s little capitalistic incentive to change the status quo. These complaints aren’t new. Many of them have been made for the past quarter century. We try, in our little way, to highlight some of the deficiencies we perceive in the industry as a whole, but that’s about all we can do from here. What are you doing about these problems?

Maybe I’ll become a plumber…

Don’t forget to enter the Lomo Diana F+ giveaway

Posted: 22 Apr 2010 02:30 PM PDT


Today is the last day to put your name into the hat for a free Diana F+. The instructions for entry (very simple) are right at the bottom of the review.

Absolutely bananas Asus Rampage III Extreme motherboard first offered by Origin

Posted: 22 Apr 2010 02:00 PM PDT

This is the greatest motherboard that has ever lived. It’s the Asus Rampage III Extreme, and it’s designed for people who do insane things like run three video cards simultaneously alongside an Intel Extreme Edition processor. People need to run Metro 2033 (and, soon, Crysis 2) at 200 frames per second. Origin is the first enthusiast builder to offer the motherboard.

My guess is that someone who’d buy an Asus Rampage III Extreme (which retails for $379.99 on NewEgg) would be comfortable with building a PC from scratch, but not everyone has all day to research memory timings and the like—maybe you have a nice bonus coming your way from work and simply want a new PC without having to know a damn thing about it? “I want the fastest computer money can buy, do whatever you have to do to get me there.”

That’s what I’d do if I were an investment banker or highly paid athlete. I am, in fact, neither.

Back to the motherboard—it has everything. Try USB 3.0, SATA III, 3-Way SLI or CrossFire (for Nvidia and ATI GPUs, respectively), and plenty of overclocking options.

I do believe it is the absolute top-of-the-line motherboard available.

The 3-Way SLI or CrossFire is most intriguing to me. My current motherboard, some mid-end Asus, technically supports CrossFire, but only at 1/4 of the maximum memory bandwidth. Why bother? Plus, it’s be an awfully tight fit trying to get two beefy video cards in there. No room for fans, wires would be pressed up against the case, etc. Pure and utter chaos.

Now, I have no idea who these Origin people are, but I’ve dealt with, similar companies. But if they’re offering the Asus Rampage III Extreme, you know they’re right-thinking.


Do you wish to own a Joule iPad Stand? Yes?

Posted: 22 Apr 2010 01:30 PM PDT


So Joule sent us an $129 iPad stand to give away and we want you to have one. It’s actually quite cool. It’s made of a solid piece of metal and just kind of feels weighty and important. It’s amazingly heavy duty and it’s great to know someone out there still cares about aesthetics. Biggest problem? You can’t stick your iPad in there while it’s in the case.

To win one, just name one fact from the Joule product page and put it into comments. I’ll pick a winner tomorrow.

Make your laptop power brick not suck

Posted: 22 Apr 2010 01:00 PM PDT

This ingenious little bugger plugs inline to your laptop power brick and turns it into a multiple outlet power supply. It’s pretty simple – you just match your cable style – three or two prong – and plug it in. Then you have two extra power ports. Easy peasy, right?

The best part? This Google translation of the website:

More “T-ACTAP Series” is a friendly tap to safety. It uses a urea resin with excellent heat resistance to outlet, is structured so hard to melt the fever even if the event is effective in preventing electrical fires.

Elecom’s “AC Adapter Tap: T-ACTAP series”, the outlet had been insufficient to relieve the stress, please enjoy a comfortable life mobile.

Urea resin? I hardly knew her!

FCC pressing for AllVid to replace Cable Cards

Posted: 22 Apr 2010 12:30 PM PDT

Looks like the FCC wants to replace your Cable Card with, I don’t know, something useful. The new device, dubbed “AllVid,” would work with a variety of media—TVs, computers, and the like—to deliver “multichannel video programming and Internet content.” And I’m the Queen of England~!

AllVid was proposed by FCC president Julius Genachowski at a fancy meeting yesterday. It’s probably a fine idea—I don’t know if you can call the Cable Card any sort of success—but the reception seems mixed. And this is the reaction by other FCC people—they’re all but rolling their eyes, partly because, you know, let the private market work itself out.

I guess the pie-in-the-sky idea is for some company to come up with a brand new, totally amazing device (like our inanimate carbon rod friend here) that allows your to receive over-the-air TV signals, cable and satellite signals, and everything in between, and output said signal to a TV or computer screen or mobile phone screen.

That’s probably not going to happen, no, but I can think of something that’s pretty close: it’s called Usenet. Use it while it’s still around.


The Mint Automatic Roboswiffer: Like Roomba but more like Robocop

Posted: 22 Apr 2010 12:00 PM PDT

What the deuce? This looks like some sort of Swiffer/robot cyborg that mated with an Apple power supply. Apparently the Mint floor cleaner is available for $249 and is now on pre-order. The sweeper dusts and wet mops floors and you can add Swiffer cloths to it.

It’s much smaller than the Roomba and I’d actually wager it’s a bit more handsome. This is truly an exciting time for the terminally lazy!

Click through for a video of the Mint in action.

via Gizmag

Happy birthday, NCSA Mosaic!

Posted: 22 Apr 2010 10:45 AM PDT


Good golly, was it really seventeen years ago that NCSA Mosaic 1.0 was released? How far we’ve come in the nearly two decades since images were first rendered inline with text. Now we take it for granted that we can watch movies in our browsers!

As usual, thanks to Wired for the trip down nerd memory lane!

Asus Eee Keyboard: It’s a keyboard–no, it’s a netbook.

Posted: 22 Apr 2010 10:30 AM PDT

Fancy keyboard is fancy.

It’s the Asus Eee Keyboard, a sorta PC-keyboard hybrid that pretty much blew my mind.

It’s got an Intel Atom processor, 1GB of memory, and either 16GB or 32GB or storage space, and a five-inch touch screen on the right-hand side.

The idea, nearest I can tell (this is the first I’ve ever heard of the thing), is to squeeze a netbook into a keyboard. You can connect it to an external monitor and control it like it was any old Windows netbook.

I have no idea what’s going on anymore, but this is neat. $600 neat? That’s for you to decide.


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