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Daily Crunch: Keytar High Edition

Posted: 28 May 2010 12:00 AM PDT

UK national ID program scrapped entirely

Posted: 27 May 2010 05:50 PM PDT


I’m not familiar with the vagaries of UK politics, specifically the new “coalition” government and the implications of the latest election, but this is a good move no matter what party you’re in. The national ID cards, a grievously flawed part of a crippled program, are to be completely abolished within 100 days. For a state that has invested so heavily in surveillance, this about-face comes as rather a surprise — though a pleasant one, to be sure. Rejoice, UK cousins!

The lady in the video has the most inscrutably satisfied tone towards the end, there. Cracks me up.

OLPC tablet to have dual-mode screen, run Android, be at CES 2011

Posted: 27 May 2010 05:20 PM PDT


The One Laptop Per Child program’s leader, Nicholas Negroponte, showed off some renderings of the XO-3 tablet, and announced several new details at an MIT Media Lab event. The occasion for the presentation was a partnership with Marvell, whose extremely low-cost Moby tablet design surfaced a few months ago. They’re working with Marvell (and Pixel Qi, reportedly) to produce this new tablet, which they are hoping will cost only $75.

The tablet will show at CES 2011, but it won’t be final, said Negroponte: the main difficulty is getting the construction to be all-plastic, and by the start of 2011 they will likely still have to rely on a glass screen. He said it would use an ARM processor and run Android at first, although the final product will probably feature their own custom OS. The first prototypes we’ll see will be more Moby-like and less XO-like, so don’t get your hopes up about those renders.

New Rock Band to feature the keytar – because as we all know, everyone loves keytars

Posted: 27 May 2010 04:42 PM PDT


With sales of music games dropping at alarming rates, the savvy game designers at Harmonix (or more likely, the desperate marketers) have decided that in order to revive their flagging franchise, they needed something truly mind-blowing. “I know! How about a keytar?!”

I’m not really sure it’s the best way to go. I mean, the keytar didn’t really work out so well for… anybody. Or itself. It was an oddity in its own time, and is a subject of near-universal mockery. Be aware that the instrument in the following is not a keytar:

This is a keytar:

See where I’m coming from here?

[image from Synthtopia]

Black Kindle spotted and (barely) pictured

Posted: 27 May 2010 04:07 PM PDT


An anonymous tipster has confirmed the long-whispered rumors that Amazon will offer a Kindle that isn’t white. A mystery unit, described by our tipster as “exactly like a Kindle DX but black,” was being photographed at a Seattle coffee shop (with a 5D mk II, he or she notes) and Mr/Mrs Tipster had the presence of mind to snap a picture before they put it away.

A quick google suggests that this isn’t the only one out there; a report from only a few days ago describes a black Kindle with no keyboard at all. There is no guarantee this wasn’t an iPad, but it’s intriguing nonetheless. That Amazon is photographing the unit now suggests a final design and an imminent launch. In the next month, even?

New colors don’t necessarily mean new features, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the Darth Kindle sported an updated screen, and perhaps more internal memory. A refresh like this (visual and performance-wise) would be a good holdover for people already invested in the Kindle ecosystem.

Update: Here’s a comparison with some (really) bad image manipulation to show the DX at a similar orientation. As you can see, the spacing of the buttons seems right, and the shape as well. I think it’s legit. Amazon shooting this in the middle of the day at a coffee shop in Seattle seems to be asking for it, though. They were probably hoping for a little buzz.

If it’s fake or just a skin, well, it’s the usual CrunchGear punishment for me: forty lashes with a wet noodle.

Man shoots AT&T employee, is killed by off-duty cop

Posted: 27 May 2010 03:44 PM PDT

A 79-year-old man from Utica, NY entered an AT&T store with a hit list of names and a 357 Magnum. He opened fire, hitting one employee, before an off-duty police officer who was shopping at the store pulled his own gun and shot the attacker dead.

The shooter, Abraham Dicken, had held a grudge against the store’s employees for months, even threatening them with a gun once before. His hit-list contained the names of six employees.

It wasn’t the first time that Dicken had been in the AT&T store and given the staff trouble. Authorities said that he had been in the store numerous times in the past, even brandishing a handgun to employees.

via WKTV via Giz

Blizzard: DRM is a waste of everyone’s time

Posted: 27 May 2010 12:30 PM PDT

“We need our development teams focused on content and cool features, not anti-piracy technology.” Thank you, finally! See, Blizzard gets it. The company’s co-founder, Frank Pearce, recently told the good folks at Video Gamer that he thinks the fight against DRM is misguided. Not that he supports end-users going around torrenting his games till the end of time, but that the way to “beat” piracy is to embrace gamers and treat them like complete jerks.

Part of the process is the new Battle.net, which launches with StarCraft II. Its DRM is rather simple: a one-time online activation. After that, you can play online or off without having to worry about Blizzard’s mommy-state servers keeping tabs on your authentication status. No, Blizzard isn’t the only company whose DRM works like that, but it does highlight the idea that, “Oh, well, all the top publishers see piracy as a huge, catastrophic issue, so clearly we need to implement ridiculous DRM policies.”

Pearce also called DRM a “losing battle.” By that he means what we’ve been saying forever: no matter how robust your DRM is, it will be cracked. It is a complete waste of resources (time, money, sandwiches, etc.) developing trying to outfox crackers. (These crackers, most of the time, aren’t even interested in pirating the game, but merely seeing if they’re “hacking” skills are as sharp as possible. That people can then pirate these games is but a nasty side effect.) There’s too many of them out there to develop a truly hack-proof system. So, spend those resources making sure your game isn’t a pile of dross! Maybe then it’ll sell?

Sigh, if only other PC publishers would follow Blizzard’s lead here…

via Tom’s Hardware

Why haven’t our clichés been updated to better reflect today’s technology?

Posted: 27 May 2010 11:15 AM PDT

Our clichés need updating. “Axe to grind”? How many people still regularly use axes, axes that need grinding? Why not something like “hard drive to defrag”? “Best thing since sliced bread”? Why not “best thing since the iPad“? We are surrounded by technology, but our language still reflects life on the farm. Let’s do this!

First off, yes, this topic is completely ripped off from Fez Ron and Fez. If you going to rip off, you might as well rip off from the best.

It’s an interesting idea. So many idioms and clichés and whatnot are based in language that has no relevance to us here in the year 2010. Some examples:

• “Straw that broke the camel’s back.” Means nothing to the average person. Why not “baseclock frequency that causes the processor to overheat and continually crash”?

• “When pigs fly.” What? Try “when Spotify comes to America.”

• “Free as a bird.” Lame. I much prefer “free as Firefox.”

• “Money makes the world go ’round.” Sorry but as we all know “SEO makes the world go ’round.”

And so on.

If we’re not going to ban clichés outight, then we might as well update ‘em. I don’t know how to grind an axe, but I do know how to defrag a hard drive.

Republican Party discovers the scourge of Internet trolls on new Web site: ‘Stop teaching about heliocentric universe, it contradicts the Bible’

Posted: 27 May 2010 10:15 AM PDT


Who let the trolls out? (They are trolls, right?)

There’s just no hope anymore. The GOP, one of the two great political parties in the United States, recently requested people submit ideas to be incorporated into the party’s platform this fall. A Web site was created. And then, predictably, people starting trolling the site. “A ‘teacher’ told my child in class that dolphins were mammals and not fish! And the same thing about whales! We need TRADITIONAL VALUES in all areas of education. If it swims in the water, it is a FISH. Period! End of Story.” Well, I’m assuming that’s a troll. You never can tell anymore.

The Web site censored obscenities, but didn’t make any attempt to filter out nonsensical ideas. How about this gem: “End Child Labor Laws. We coddle children too much. They need to spend their youth in the factories.”

Or maybe this: “Don’t let the illegals run out of Arizona and hide… I think that we should do something to identify them in case they try to come back over. Like maybe tattoo a big scarlet ‘I’ on their chests — for ‘illegal’!!!”

These are trolls, right? Surely no one is suggesting we end child labor laws?

My favorite part of the story is that congressmen are pointing to their number of Facebook friends as some sort of indicator of being “connected.” There’s nothing wrong with using Facebook or Twitter to keep in touch with your continuants, but please don’t think that makes you some sort of technology expert. I don’t expect Tom Brady to know how to play shortstop, and I don’t expect my congressman to know the difference between an @ and a d on Twitter.

New Japanese cell phone behemoth NEC Casio Mobile to go America soon

Posted: 27 May 2010 09:21 AM PDT

We reported last year that NEC, Hitachi and Casio were in negotiations to merge their cell phone operations to become Japan's second biggest manufacturer, following Sharp. And the new company, which is called NEC Casio Mobile Communications and was established on May 1, just yesterday announced ambitious expansion plans.


Friends Around Me iPhone/iPad app lets you interact with friends or strangers, just like they were really there

Posted: 27 May 2010 09:11 AM PDT

Friends Around Me is a mobile app for iPhone and iPad that searches around you for nearby friends -- or anyone else willing to say hello -- and enables you to view their profile, look at and rate their photos, chat with them, or send them virtual gifts. The service joins together your Foursquare, Twitter, and Facebook networks, allowing you to check in to venues and update your Twitter/Facebook status from one place. Best of all, the service doesn't require yet another social network registration: you can sign in using Facebook Connect or the Twitter API. One cool thing about the service (that will probably freak out the privacy paranoid) is that there are no restrictions on whose profile you can view, or who you can chat to. Plus, you get to see and respond to everyone who has viewed your profile, making it a great tool to meet new people. Of course, there are options to hide yourself from strangers, but where's the fun in that?


Video game addiction: The same as getting high on cocaine?

Posted: 27 May 2010 09:00 AM PDT

A UK therapist claims that two hours of playing video games gives the same high as doing a line of cocaine. Of course that raises the question of, well, what would you rather your kid do, bump lines off a dirty mirror or play Mario Kart before going to bed? What, too flip?

The deal is that, apparently, video game (and Internet) addiction is the new addiction that’s sweeping the UK. Young people are playing games to the detriment of their social lives, their studies, and their psychological well-being. Stealing money from their parents to buy the latest game, staying up at all hours of the night trying to unlock Achievements, etc. It’s pure chaos.

Spending two hours on a game station is equivalent to taking a line of cocaine in the high it produces. It is the fastest growing addiction in the country and this is affecting young people mentally, as well as leading to physical problems such as obesity…. Computer game addiction can also spiral into violence as after playing violent games, they may turn their fantasy games into reality.

That’s weird because I’ve been playing video games, violent and otherwise, since I was a youngster, and the most violent I get is when I shout “son of a gun diddily-un” after I stub my toe. I don’t recall robbing any banks, or beating up little kids to take their lunch money to buy Alpha Protocol or whatever…

I guess I’m not addicted to video games then. I mean, yeah, I’ll sit there and play something for hours at a time, but I’m not doing it to the detriment of any other aspect of my life. I still exercise, I still read, I still get very excited for Rashad Evans vs. Quinton “Rampage” Jackson this Saturday, and so on.

We do now have Internet addiction centers for this type of thing. Maybe rehab is necessary? Who knows?

Ouch rumor: Project Natal will cost $150 stand-alone, part of $300 Xbox Arcade bundle this October

Posted: 27 May 2010 08:30 AM PDT

I sure hope for Microsoft’s sake this isn’t true. Word on the street is that Project Natal (which won’t be the final name) will cost $150 and will launch in October. Considering Microsoft is aiming Natal at so-called casual gamers, what are the odds these people are going to shell out $150 to be able to play that paint-slinging game we’ve seen demoed over and over again?

Microsoft will also bundle Natal with a new edition of the Xbox 360 Arcade SKU, with a price of $299.

How on God’s green Earth does the Xbox 360, five years after its debut, still cost three hundred dollars? Is that not crazy to anyone else?

These prices come from one of Edge’s “trusted sources.” Edge doesn’t mess around, so I’d take these numbers pretty seriously.

All these motion controllers, Natal and PlayStation Move, are direct responses to the Wii’s success. That success happened several years ago. You have to figure that most of the “grandmas,” for lack of a better term, who bought a Wii to play Wii Sports with their grandchildren have already gotten their rocks off, so to speak? They have a Wii, it does what it does, and everyone’s happy. How many of these people will now shell out an extra $300 to play more casual games, particularly when the entire world economy is on its tippy toes? Who has an extra $300 lying around to play Silly Game? How many casual games are free on Facebook or whatever? It just seems sorta crazy to me.

I don’t know, but these prices don’t look good at all.


Exploded Andy: A t-shirt for Android fans

Posted: 27 May 2010 08:06 AM PDT

Are you totally into Android? Then you’re totally in luck. The folks who brought you Exploded iPad and Exploded iPhone present Exploded Andy, the Android android cut down to his component parts, including a fat, fleshy brain.

You can pick up a poster or t-shirt of Andy. Both are available right now at the product page

Mionix Naos 3200 gaming mouse does gaming mouse things

Posted: 27 May 2010 08:00 AM PDT

There’s a new gaming mouse in town, amigos. It’s the Mionix NAOS 3200, and it’s made of “carefully selected high-end components.” What kind of components? I’m guessing dark matter.

It’s a gaming mouse, so you pretty much know what you’re getting. High DPI (up to 3,200), built-in memory to save various setting and bring them from computer to computer, flashy LEDs for no real reason other than aesthetic grandeur, adjustable polling rate up to 1000MHz, and enough buttons (seven) to effectively play First-Person Shooter till sunrise.

Mionix wants €55, which currently translates to $67. I say currently because the eurozone isn’t in the best of shape these days. Next week that price may work out to $65!

It looks damn svelte, that’s for sure.


Video: Acer gets all official with their 1GHz Snapdragon- and Android-powered Stream

Posted: 27 May 2010 07:39 AM PDT

Today Acer officially announced their latest Android handset, the Stream (coz a whole lotta Liquid makes a Stream). The device will rock Android 2.1 UI atop a 1GHz Snapdragon processor, a 3.7" 800x480 AMOLED screen, 5MP camera with 720p video, 512MB RAM, 2GB on-board storage (+ an 8GB MicroSD card), and the usual connectivity options (ie WiFi b/g/n, Bluetooth, HSDPA, GPS). So, yeah, pretty much the standard "high-end" Android device.


Old cranks now learning to love their iPads

Posted: 27 May 2010 07:07 AM PDT

Remember when everyone was like “I’m returning my iPad? It’s the garbage?” That was SO early Spring 2010. The new hotness is increased iPad affection with a soupcon of wistful disappointment that comes to the folks who originally attacked the iPad and are now smitten. It was so fun to have a flat, glassy enemy back in April!

First, anecdotally, Disrupt this week featured so many iPads you could have feasibly placed one on every seat in the auditorium and still had iPads left over to pave halls by the loading dock. The iPad is the new iPhone but the tamagotchi effect – that thing you see where people just endlessly fiddle with their iPhones in public, rubbing them like hamsters – just doesn’t happened. The iPad sits, open, on your table in front of you and you occasionally brush your hand over it like a sleepy wizard. It doesn’t require as much attention as the iPhone.

Then you have Fred Wilson who, at first, was against the iPad and then he was for it. Why? Because it is unobtrusive.

Here’s what I think is going on. The iPad hits a sweet spot between a “device” and a piece of printed matter. If you see someone at dinner whipping out a phone, they’re a douche. But the iPad requires a bit more preparation and since it looks like a book or a magazine, we process its intrusion differently. If you pull it out in mixed company, it’s to show them something. It’s not so you can check 50 email messages and send tweets while everyone else is toasting the bride and groom.

Because the iPad looks like a book, the rules of book reading apply. If you’re outside using it, you’re available. You wouldn’t shush someone as you skimmed the Do’s and Don’t in Glamour just as you wouldn’t shush someone while using the iPad. It’s not a private activity, really. The screen is big and there’s always something you can share on the iPad’s screen with the other person. It’s inclusive rather than exclusive.

So go ahead and hate your neighbor and go ahead and cheat a friend, but don’t claim the iPad hasn’t hit a sweet spot with far to many people to dismiss it.

AirSwing: Toshiba’s gesture-based UI system in action (video)

Posted: 27 May 2010 06:41 AM PDT

Natural user interfaces using gestures aren’t really new, but AirSwing, a technology developed by Toshiba, offers something unique: it neither requires expensive hardware nor substantial CPU resources to work. After installing AirSwing (which is in prototype stage) on your computer, all you need is just a conventional web cam as the input device to start.

In fact, NEC claims their UI system uses only 3% of the processing power of a 400MHz ARM 11 CPU. The way it works is that the display shows a semi-transparent image of the user, a menu and the content the user is supposed to interact with. It’s then possible move around or select pieces of content, for example flick through photos in a photo gallery, simply by making gestures.

The idea is that because AirSwing users see a picture of themselves on the screen, it’s clear for them where to “press” a virtual button or how to move hands at all times. Once it’s ready, Toshiba plans to market AirSwing to digital signage companies.

As you can see in the video below, Toshiba has some kinks to iron out before that can happen though:
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