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With all eyes on WWDC, AT&T makes some changes to their plans and lineup. Again.

Posted: 04 Jun 2010 04:24 PM PDT

It's official, AT&T has sold out of the 8GB iPhone 3G. But that's not as exciting as the clue provided to us by AT&T about its replacement and the iPad's soon-to-be-dead unlimited plan.

Continue reading…

Meet the Ozone Trace, a mouse pad from the sky

Posted: 04 Jun 2010 03:30 PM PDT

Attention to detail is a quality that most people can live without. Even most companies lack it. However, there are some times when you see a new product that just takes detail to the next level.

If you can appreciate such craft, then check out this mouse pad from Ozone called the Trace. They have found a way to take something simple, such as a mouse pad, and create a model that tops its class. It's designed with gamers in mind or whoever is serious enough to use a mouse pad this extreme. This pad has four layers to provide the plushest feel:

Starting from a rubber base, they add a plastic shell – for weight and structure followed by an "air-filled matrix structure made of polyurethane,” (i.e. foam rubber) topped by a heat-treated micro textured cloth, which "offers the smoothest feel and the softest flow." Wow. Now that's a kick-ass mouse pad — you know, if you like this kind of thing.

Mysterious “Freeman” picture tickles Half-Life fans’ Valve-strings

Posted: 04 Jun 2010 02:52 PM PDT


As we all know, Valve is going to be making a big announcement on the 14th. We’ll be there. Everyone expects it to be Portal 2, but recent teasing from Valve (Aperture Science issued a memo announcing the “Gala Cancellation” of Portal 2) suggests something even more serious is afoot. I just saw this image on Reddit; no one can vouch for its authenticity, but it goes along with my suspicions — namely, that Portal 2 and Half-Life: Episode 3 are one and the same.

Maybe not the same exactly, but wouldn’t that be a Valve thing to do? Spring Episode 3 on us with no warning, and tie it in directly to Portal 2 as a bundle? This cover, or folder, or whatever it is, if it’s real, definitely makes this a possibility. Or maybe it’s something completely unrelated. Or fake.

But you see the G-Man on there? Verrry subtle. Something Valve might do. Or just someone who knows what they think Valve might do. As some have noted, it’s not a very Valve-esque typeface.

Update: Supposedly someone emailed Gabe Newell and received the response “It isn’t ep 3.”


Android to get a Playstation emulator thanks to ZodTTD

Posted: 04 Jun 2010 01:13 PM PDT

We like ZodTTD. He’s a dude who just gets stuff done. Back in the early days of iPhone jailbreaking, he found his niche in building emulators for the platform; within months, he’d ported over pocket friendly versions of the SNES, Genesis, N64, Playstation, while somehow finding time to build things like an iPhone version of the VLC media player.

Now, after much demand by his fans, he’s building things for Android. His first project? An as-of-yet unnamed Playstation emulator.

Read the rest at MobileCrunch >>

CrunchDeals: Ten percent off game accessories at NewEgg this week

Posted: 04 Jun 2010 01:00 PM PDT


Just a quick note to anyone thinking of buying an extra Wiimote, charger, or HDMI cable: they’re all 10% off at NewEgg until the 10th. Just use promo code EMCYTYR22 at checkout and save a buck or two. [via GoNintendo]

Sony’s eye-tracking glasses prototype knows what you’re looking at

Posted: 04 Jun 2010 01:00 PM PDT


Hmm. These could be dangerous. If you have a girlfriend, she could check the log and know beyond a shadow of a doubt whether you were, in fact, checking out that lady.

Thanks a lot, Sony.

Video: Deus Ex: Human Revolution trailer is actually quite good (but where’s the in-game footage?)

Posted: 04 Jun 2010 12:15 PM PDT

The mere idea of Deus Ex: Human Revolution (aka Deus Ex 3) annoys me more than anything else, but having seen this trailer… yes, I will have to reconsider my position. Truly a fine, fine trailer. Well done, Squeenix.

There’s one small problem with the trailer: we see zero actual in-game footage. Whoever directed the trailer and whoever composed the music should get a free box of Thin Mints (the best cookies on the planet, of course) because it very much nails the feel of Deus Ex.

Cautiously optimistic.

Artist releases album on a single microchip

Posted: 04 Jun 2010 11:45 AM PDT


This is interesting, but you may not enjoy the music (caution: loud) unless you’re a chiptune fan like myself. Tristan Perich put together this album, “1-Bit Symphony,” as a single microchip, with battery and audio jack included in the jewel case. The music itself uses “simple audio waveforms – square waves, 1-bit tones” and, like other well-done chip music, is surprisingly rich considering its limitations. You can read more about it at Tristan’s site, or pre-order the album at his label.

Video: Snoop Dogg, David Beckham re-create Star Wars cantina scene for World Cup funsies

Posted: 04 Jun 2010 11:30 AM PDT

In the interest of killing two minutes of your time: the famous Star Wars cantina scene, as remixed by Adidas. Yes, that’s Snoop Dogg wielding a lightsaber. You youngsters may not know this, but Snoop Dogg used to be a legit gangsta. Now? /me whistles cantina song

The premise is that all these people—I spy Snoop Dogg, David Beckham, Frank Beckenbauer, Daft Punk, and that guy from “Freaks and Geeks”—are visiting the cantina to see the World Cup. I think Daft Punk needs to use the Millennium Falcon or something. Again, believe it or not, I’ve not seen the original trilogy. Please don’t tar and feather me for that.

My question is, what are these guys watching? World Cup players have been dropping like flies. Players set to miss the tournament include: Michael Essian, Didier Drogba, Rio Ferdinand, Andrea Pirlo, maybe even USA’s own Jozy Altidore. It’s seriously like that Simpsons episode when all the star baseball players mysteriously vanished, expect now players are getting injured left and right.

God help us if Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo get hurt…

via Nowhere Else

The Logitech Harmony Link for Google TV gets detailed

Posted: 04 Jun 2010 10:58 AM PDT

Google TV is all about blurring the lines between the web and TV — and ads of course. Logitech is playing a key role in this project by providing the oh-so-important remote interface, and the just-detailed Logitech Harmony Link goes way behind anything currently available.

Logitech has a long history in this field and is the right company for the job. The peripheral maker acquired Harmony Remotes a few years back and built a strong universal remote brand centered around a system that make programming universal remotes dead simple. Harmony Remotes are about the best universal remotes for the money.

Logitech Harmony Link is a bit different, though. It’s not a traditional IR blaster or even a remote, but rather hardware built into Logitech’s Google TV companion box that can read nearly any IR command and send it out to the appropriate set-top box or AV receiver. Since Google TV is always connected to the cloud, Logitech will be able to constantly push new device control schemes when they become available.

The system also builds in support for Android and iDevices. Free apps will turn phones into virtual remotes with all the bells and whistles found on Logitech’s high-end models. But we already knew that.

The platform will be open to developers, but to what extent is not yet known. It’s likely targeted primarily to home automation companies and other remote makers to allow the Google TV access to their devices as well. Both Google and Logitech are offering this all-knowing platform with a large degree of openness and seemingly wants everyone to come play.

Details are likely to continue filtering out until Google TV launches at least this blog post sheds a little light on how devices will talk to each other.

OpenDNS celebrates SysAdmin Appreciation Month with a contest for SysAdmin of the Year

Posted: 04 Jun 2010 10:30 AM PDT


I’m on paternity leave for a bit, so I’m not doing any of my normal sysadmin stuff. But there are countless sysadmins still out there working hard to make sure that your systems and networks just work. The curse of the sysadmin is that the better you do your job, the less anyone really knows what it is you do. July is System Administrator Appreciation Month, which is a marked improvement over the single System Administrator Appreciation Day that we used to celebrate! To make sure the unsung heroes of the data center get their fifteen minutes of fame OpenDNS is running a contest to find the System Administrator of the Year!

There are, of course, many hats that a sysadmin wears, so OpenDNS is trying to recognize as many of them as they can by naming a number of “Best Of” categories. Each “Best Of” winner gets some cash, and a chance to be crowned System Administrator of the Year!

From the OpenDNS blog:

There will be one winner selected in each category by a panel of esteemed judges, including OpenDNS System Administration team members George Patterson and Mack Nagashima, and CEO (and occasional SysAdmin himself) David Ulevitch. Winners in each category will receive a prize of $50, and from all entries the judging committee will choose one winner that stands out among the rest as the official OpenDNS SysAdmin of the Year.

The categories are

  • Best Disaster Response Award
  • Neat Freak Award
  • Shoestring Budget Award
  • Flying Solo Award
  • Large-Scale Deployment Award
  • DevOps Award

To submit yourself or a fellow SysAdmin, read the instructions at OpenDNS.

Sony Reader spreads its wings, will be available internationally later this year

Posted: 04 Jun 2010 09:45 AM PDT

The Sony Reader, going international. The electronic book reader, which is only available here and there, will spread to Japan, China, Australia, Italy, and Spain before the end of the year. Shocked.

Sony will work with local bookstores and whatnot to generate heat for the device. I imagine that means you’ll be able to walk into the equivalent of a Best Buy or whatever and walk out with a reader.

As you know, the Sony Reader works with Sony’s Reader Store, as well as with all the standard formats (PDF, ePub, etc.). Will the Reader store also launch internationally? One would assume so. How else would you sell books translated into the local language?

And wouldn’t you know it, but China is pegged to be the largest e-book market on the planet in a few years’ time. So says DisplaySearch, a researching outfit that knows a thing or two about e-books.

The real winner here? E-Ink, Inc. Their technology is in so many of these e-readers that they must be swimming in royalties and licensing fees right about now.


New bicycle helmet wafts stinky cheese smell from your head when you fall

Posted: 04 Jun 2010 09:06 AM PDT

As if falling off your bike weren’t embarrassing enough, now some German scientists have created a helmet that starts to stink when its cracked, thereby alerting you – and your loved ones – of potential danger.

It’s actually a great idea. When you fall, you put stress on the helmet. The resulting cracks could lead to weakening of the helmet and limit the protection afforded by your skull bucket. By making it stink using microcapsules of stinky oil, you’re forced to throw it away and not keep using it.

“Cyclists often replace their helmets unnecessarily after dropping them on the ground, because they cannot tell whether they are damaged or not,” Dr. Christof Koplin, a research scientist at the IWM, said. “The capsules eliminate this problem. If cracks form, smelly substances are released.”

If it’s a big crack, the smell is bigger (Interesting side note: That phrase is actually on my family crest.)

via Pysorg via DVICE


Video: What just smashed into Jupiter?

Posted: 04 Jun 2010 09:00 AM PDT

Awesome video is awesome? Yes, yes it is. Something smashed into Jupiter a few hours ago, and an amateur astronomer caught the event on video. A similar event happened almost a year ago to the day.

Now, does this mean that THE MAYANS WERE RIGHT or some other nonsense? No, of course not. What it does mean is that, now more than ever, amateur astronomers armed with impressively powerful telescopes, and they train these telescopes on individual celestial bodies (like planets, like Jupiter) 24 hours per day. Those giant NASA/ESA telescopes aren’t spending every waking hour trained on one planet or whatever, so they may “miss” when something like an impact occurs.

We’re just more vigilant now.

If you can, try to track down “Wonders of the Solar System.” It’s a pretty great documentary.

iPhone/iPad Wi-Fi Sync author goes (almost) legit

Posted: 04 Jun 2010 08:32 AM PDT

You know when an app company is serious when they send out a press release. I’ve gotten more releases about durfy little apps that I know what to do with, but this one is special. Sent to us by Greg, the author of Wi-Fi Sync, it basically says “This is great and new, but to get it you have to hack your iPhone and give money to the Cydia store.”

As far as I can tell, this is the first formal press release for a jailbroken iPhone/iPad app ever. While it’s no big deal to have a press release on PR Newswire – anyone can do it – it’s fascinating to see the Cydia store be given a jolt of authority with Greg’s move.

The app itself is pretty good – I used it for a few weeks and then stopped, just because I rarely needed to sync over Wi-Fi –

Revolutionary iPhone Syncing Application Available

New application allows easy wireless remote syncing from a variety of platforms
BIRMINGHAM, England, June 4 /PRNewswire/ — Independent mobile developer Greg Hughes (http://www.getwifisync.com) is pleased to announce “Wi-Fi Sync,” a groundbreaking and revolutionary wireless syncing application for the Apple iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. Wi-Fi Sync is currently available at a promotional sale price of $4.99. On June 11, the application returns to its $9.99 retail cost.
This simple and powerful application allows users to sync a compatible device (iPhone, iPod touch or iPad) with a Windows (Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7 operating system) or Mac OS X computer without connecting the phone to the computer, anytime – with just the touch of a button, by running the Wi-Fi Sync application on the device while connected to a Wi-Fi network.
Wi-Fi Sync enables wireless syncing with iTunes at the touch of a button, rendering USB cables obsolete. An upcoming update is planned to give Wi-Fi Sync users the ability to sync over 3G or VPN. The application’s features allow all iPhone users the ability to backup and protect their data at anytime, anywhere.
“Many people find it inconvenient to manually sync their devices and do it once a month, at best,” Hughes said. “I know from personal experience that’s not close to enough. I lost my phone once and with it all of my crucial information. Wi-Fi Sync allows all iPhone users the ability to backup and protect their data anytime, anywhere and avoid the problems I had.”
Pricing & Availability
Wi-Fi Sync is a premium iPhone, iPod touch and iPad application, available at $4.99 until June 11, 2010, then it will return to its standard price of $9.99. This application is available globally from the Cydia Store. For more information about Wi-Fi Sync, please visit http://www.getwifisync.com.
The application was submitted to Apple for inclusion on the iTunes App Store, but the company declined to approve it for sale.

First pictures of WWDC surface

Posted: 04 Jun 2010 08:25 AM PDT

The logo is up and the banners hung at San Francisco’s Moscone Center. That means Apple is in town getting ready for another exciting WWDC.

Judging from those banners, expect to hear all about iPhone OS 4.0 and the new iPhone due to arrive this summer. While we’ve all seen what the iPhone is going to look like, Steve Jobs still promises to not disappoint. Let the speculation begin and let’s hear what you think we will see on Monday.

Bill Gates says the iPad isn’t ‘there yet’

Posted: 04 Jun 2010 08:00 AM PDT

Bill Gates, the chairman of Microsoft, was on Larry King Live on CNN last night. (Larry King’s still on the air? Gotcha.) He was there with his father, William Henry Gates, Sr., and they talked about a number of fun and exciting things. And wouldn’t you know it, the iPad was one of those things. His take on Apple’s “magical and revolutionary” thingamajig? It’s “not quite there yet.” That’s fair to say, no?

Said Mr. Gates:

We’re all trying to get to something that you just love to take to a meeting and use and it is not quite there yet. You need to have input. You need to take notes and edit things. Microsoft and a bunch of other companies are working on getting that final, ultimate product. [...] It still isn’t the device that I’d take to a meeting because it has no input.

I do generally agree with Gates here, that the iPad is just short of being all that it can be, but not for the reasons he lists here. Like, what’s with Gates’ infatuation with making the iPad meeting-friendly, so to speak? Since when have Apple products lived and died by how well they do in the corporate environment? The average person doesn’t look at the iPad, and lust after all those Apps, but then say, “You know, if only I could bring this into my team meeting, then it’d be perfect.”

Note that this isn’t the first time Gates has given his thoughts on the iPad.

The iPad is a consumer device. People use it to watch Netflix movies, not to fiddle with spreadsheets or whatever.

Lord of the Rings Online will be free to play this fall

Posted: 04 Jun 2010 07:30 AM PDT

My inbox in the morning is usually filled with a good degree of nonsense. “Look, it’s an iPod dock in the shape of a protozoa!” No thanks, not interested. But this! This is big. Beginning with this fall’s expansion, Lord of the Rings Online, the MMO developed by Turbine, will be totally free to play! Meaning, you download the game for free and can play online for free. Free as in beer, folks.

How does Turbine make any money, then? Like they do in the East: they sell items and quests and so forth à la carte, or you can buy everything in one shot at a discounted price thereby making you a LOTRO VIP.

So you can download and play the game for free but maybe you’re limited to a certain number of swords or whatever. If you want more swords, you’ll have to buy ‘em.

A beta for the new expansion begins on June 16.

Given the way MMOs are going, it makes you wonder how much longer Blizzard is going to be able to charge $15 per month for World of Warcraft. I understand WoW is a special case, but if more and more MMOs move to the free-to-play model, will WoW look like the odd man out?

How to stick a USB charger into your Camry

Posted: 04 Jun 2010 06:49 AM PDT

Instructables has an interesting instruction set for adding a USB port to your car’s dashboard, thereby avoiding the “wall wart” that comes with most USB-charging devices for the car. Obviously you’re only sticking an old USB charger into the dashboard and cutting a hole for the port, but it definitely adds a touch of class to your auto.

via Giz

Hands-on Video with the Viliv X10 Windows 7 version

Posted: 04 Jun 2010 06:45 AM PDT

Viliv unveiled the Android-powered X10 a few days back at Computex. There was indication that Viliv might offer a Windows 7 version and UMPC Portal got a little face time with the slate. Is it just me or does it look and feel a lot like the HP Slate was meant to be?
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