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- First sales survey indicates iPad is big hit in Japan
- Daily Crunch: Anatomy Lesson Edition
- It’s real: iPad Arcade…well at least its not fake
- AT&T security breach leaks thousands of iPad owners’ emails (but luckily, little else)
- Like human anatomy? There’s a really awesome iPad app for that
- Don’t Buy The HTC EVO, It Is A Seriously Flawed Device
- Lomography’s “Spinner 360″ panoramic film camera looks manual-riffic
- Jobs accused of misleading remark about Retina display – come on, give the man a break
- Sony releases a bunch of new 3D displays
- Microsoft expands Games on Demand service to non-Live titles
- FIFA Soccer 11, Pro Evolution Soccer 11 first details
- Panasonic announces lightest 14″ Toughbook yet: the F9
- Your first 3D PS3 games launch tomorrow, including Wipeout HD
- Excellent: Mac Classic converted to iPad stand
- Low-power monitor from 3M is driven and powered by USB 3.0
- Radiohead’s Thom Yorke predicts end of music industry
- Notion Ink Adam “on track,” gets funding, looks at hardware variants
- Sony exec: PSP Go was our way of learning what gamers want (findings: not the PSP Go)
- Wikileaks not worried post-U.S. Army kerfuffle
- 700 IP addresses from Hurt Locker BitTorrent lawsuits released: See if you’re one of the lucky ones!
| First sales survey indicates iPad is big hit in Japan Posted: 10 Jun 2010 03:06 AM PDT
The firm, which collected POS data from 2,364 Japanese electronics retailers, says Apple’s share in that segment stood at just 3.5% in April. But the iPad (launched in Japan on May 28), helped Apple to eclipse Sony, which – at 9.3% – fell down to No. 5 in the notebook sales ranking (at least for the time being). Toshiba (22.1%), Fujitsu (17.4%), and NEC (16%) are still leading, but according to BCN, all have been losing market share to big A last month. This isn’t that surprising (Apple surely profits from the “sexy new product” effect) and BCN hasn’t released absolute numbers (neither did Apple itself), but it looks like the iPad is a winner in Japan, too. Another interesting tidbit of information: BCN also said the iPad is selling about three times faster than the iPhone did in the first ten days after the products lauched on the Japanese market. Via Kyodo
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| Daily Crunch: Anatomy Lesson Edition Posted: 10 Jun 2010 12:00 AM PDT |
| It’s real: iPad Arcade…well at least its not fake Posted: 09 Jun 2010 08:30 PM PDT
Using Arduino circuitry, the iPad Arcade is a fully functioning mod. It controls the iPad just as if you were playing a real arcade game. Yeah, it’s not as flashy as ThinkGeek’s version, but remember, they didn’t actually have to make it. iPad accessory makers need to start thinking up cool ideas like this. They'd be entering a empty market with plenty of customers (hint hint Guitar Hero). [via Gizmodo]
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| AT&T security breach leaks thousands of iPad owners’ emails (but luckily, little else) Posted: 09 Jun 2010 07:41 PM PDT
The hackers, a group known as Goatse Security (I’ll let you work out the reasoning for the name yourself), organized a brute-force attack in which they pummeled a public AT&T script with semirandom ICC-ID numbers, which would return nothing if invalid but an email address if valid. A few hours later, they had the ICC-IDs and email addresses of everyone from Michael Bloomberg and Diane Sawyer to a Mr. Eldredge, who commands a fleet of B-1 bombers. As is occasionally the case with grey-hat hacker actions like this, the hack seems to have been executed first and AT&T notified shortly afterward — though not before an unknown number of third parties had access to the script. AT&T closed the hole immediately (it was as simple as turning off the script), and apologized as follows:
Impacted. Like wisdom teeth. Why not “affected?” Anyway, I notice they say they were not contacted by the group but by some business customer. The timing isn’t clear from the Gawker article, but I wonder if there’s a little more to this than anyone cares to admit. Groups like Goatse often warn their targets beforehand, but it seems like one or the other would have mentioned that if it happened. You’d think a company as exposed as AT&T would have bells on its scripts that would ring if suddenly requests increased by 1000%, but practices like that are perhaps too much to be expected.
As AT&T mentioned, the only information the breach could provide was an email address. Some of the high-level ones (CEOs and such) noted as leaked were likely already public, like all of ours here. But let’s not forget that of the 114,000, 113,950 weren’t high-level media executives. A vast list of early-adopting, 3G-using, iPad owners is be a valuable thing (to say nothing of a guy with a bunch of bombers), and I have no doubt that someone more unscrupulous than Goatse Security will be passing that list on to interested buyers. Nothing else, though, if we are to believe those in the know — and they have no reason to deceive us in this case. What will the outcome be? A bit of extra spam for those involved is likely the worst that will happen. The ICC-ID isn’t used in any secure access protocols. And who’s to blame? AT&T, AT&T, and AT&T. It’s arguable that Apple (who gets it in Gawker’s headline) should have something in place to prevent something akin to a unique device ID from being used as authorization, but that’s stretching it. The script, which accepted any properly-formed input and spat out private information, was the issue from start to finish and it is AT&T who created and served that script. Apple isn’t safe from the fallout, though: many who hear of this in the papers tomorrow will choose not to separate the device maker from the service provider. The worst part is there’s not much they can do but say hey, we’re committed to security and point their finger at AT&T. What can you do? If you are an iPad 3G customer, call customer service and demand reasonable satisfaction. A few months of free unlimited 3G would probably go over nicely, don’t you think? And, of course, there is their always-personable CEO as well. I’m sure he’d like to hear from you (limit one email per customer, please). The rest of the story (and continuing updates) can be found at Gawker.
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| Like human anatomy? There’s a really awesome iPad app for that Posted: 09 Jun 2010 07:00 PM PDT
[via CNET]
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| Don’t Buy The HTC EVO, It Is A Seriously Flawed Device Posted: 09 Jun 2010 06:39 PM PDT
When MG reviewed the new HTC EVO, which is now selling out in the U.S., I wasn’t surprised he gave it a thumbs down. The device was too big in his opinion, the software too flaky. And the battery life isn’t just bad, it’s 90’s laptop bad. You need to be near a power source at all times. But the commenters came at him anyway, attacking so viciously that they were actually starting to act like the evil twins of rabid Apple fanboys. “Android Fanboys Have Arrived,” quipped MG. Well, I’m an Android Fanboy, and I’m telling you not to buy this device.
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| Lomography’s “Spinner 360″ panoramic film camera looks manual-riffic Posted: 09 Jun 2010 06:00 PM PDT
So they’re putting out a new gadget this week, the Spinner 360, specifically for taking panoramas. And how do you think it works? Just as funcontrollable as the Diana — with the benefit of full-bleed negatives! How cool is that?! Basically you load this thing up with 120 roll film, set the exposure estimate, and pull the chain. It’ll spin around and roll the film at the same time, creating a pano shot thusly:
How fun is that? I know you can put together panoramas in some digital cameras, but I think we all know how weird they look. It’s a bit expensive for a single-serving device, though, at $150 (125 euros). Plus you have to buy film. It’s a lifestyle choice, I guess.
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| Jobs accused of misleading remark about Retina display – come on, give the man a break Posted: 09 Jun 2010 05:15 PM PDT
Here’s what Steve said, word for word:
An expert has been consulted, who says that once we do the requisite optical conversions, at 12 inches the actual retinal resolving power would be something like 477 pixels per inch. Well, I have no doubt that in a way, he’s right. The retina (I’m assuming this is in the fovea) is an amazing visual machine, and I have no doubt that it would be able to discern individual pixels at 326ppi at 12 inches, if you presented it correctly. For all intents and purposes, however, including advertising purposes, Jobs is well within reasonable limits. And do you think they just made up the numbers? Apple has physicists too! By the way, if you want to call me an Apple apologist, this is coming from a guy who mocked Apple for the actually misleading “Twice as fast, half the price” campaign. The fact is that this display is a huge improvement over all existing displays, and it exceeds the DPI used to print books and magazines. He may have overstated it as being the actual physical limit of the retina, but the practical meaning of that remark was that you won’t (without effort) be able to differentiate between a 300ppi display and a 400ppi display. On the other hand, you could instantly see the difference between 200dpi and 300dpi. Anyway. It’s really a non-issue, since the display is the sharpest in the world and we’re complaining about how technically, physics allows for a sharper one. Let’s move on, if you please. Update: Just noticed this little tidbit, though. Samsung says the display isn’t all that, and that its Super AMOLED displays are just better. The pixel density just isn’t there, though. As I noted on the day of, 800×480 in a 4″ display is significantly less impressive than 960×640 on a 3.5″ display. He says the improvement is only “3-5%,” but that sounds like a nonsense number to me. The improvement is substantial and observable. But I do agree that Super AMOLED is a superior base technology for displays. It’s just not as good as Apple’s IPS tech right now.
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| Sony releases a bunch of new 3D displays Posted: 09 Jun 2010 04:30 PM PDT
Sony has decided, for the time being, to stay with active shutter glasses that will work with their proprietary high frame rate screens, offering full HD 3D images. Most of the TVs announced will require you to purchase an additional 3D sync transmitter and the 3D glasses, $50 and $150 each respectively. However, the granddaddy television, the Bravia XBR-LX900 series will include both the sync transmitter and two pairs of the active shutter glasses. Those top-of-the-line displays come in either the 60-inch flavor for $5000 or 52-inch for $4000, and both have onboard 802.11n to connect to your network. Other models down the line include the XBR-HX909 with 52-inch and 46-inch variants for $4,000 and $3,500 respectively and the KDL-HX800 with 55-inch, 46-inch and 40-inch models going for $3,400, $2,700 and $2,100 respectively. None of which include either the glasses or sync transmitter.
The coolest part of the announcement is for those with iPhones and soon for those with Android. With an app called BD remote, you can control the players right from in the app. So, if the remote is stuck in a seat cushion, don't worry about looking for it. Sounds like the Harmony app has a competitor. Here’s the full press release: Pre-sales Begin for BRAVIA 3D HDTVs; 3D Upgrade For Earlier 2010 Blu-ray Models
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| Microsoft expands Games on Demand service to non-Live titles Posted: 09 Jun 2010 03:30 PM PDT
Seeing that perhaps a GfWL layer might better be advertised as a value-add rather than a necessary component, Microsoft is opening up its digital delivery system to non-GfWL games. They’re kicking off the expansion of the store with a sale on Prince of Persia games, specifically The Sands of Time and Warrior Within &mdsah; both cost $2.49, which is a hell of a price. Now’s a good chance to grab them as gifts or just rainy day games if you never played them. There’s also the new PoP game, but I think I’ll wait for the price to come down. $50? Not so much! I liked the reboot, though.
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| FIFA Soccer 11, Pro Evolution Soccer 11 first details Posted: 09 Jun 2010 03:00 PM PDT
Both EA and Konami have revealed details regarding the next FIFA, called FIFA Soccer 11 in the U.S., and Pro Evolution Soccer, called Pro Evolution Soccer 11, games, respectively. The first detail: they exist. There was approximately a zero percent chance that EA and Konami wouldn’t continue with the franchises, but you and I know that big corporations make terrible decisions all the time. EA’s big new feature is called Personality+, and it aims to make each player in the game as much like the player in real life. That is, Messi should be able to waltz pass defenders in-game as he does for Barcelona week in, week out, while Michael Carrick should be able to complete one pass in 50 as he does for Manchester United. (Exaggerated for effect. folks, so calm down.) Konami’s big feature this go-round is to give you, the player, the ability (or “freedom,” as the render below shouts) to control how powerful (or weak) your every pass and shot is. By the looks of it there will be little gauges that pop up so you’re not guessing how much power you’ve put behind each pass; it’ll be there for you to see in real-time. Both games should come out in the fall.
The new FIFA has only been announced for the 360 and PS3, while PES is slated for the 360, PS3, PSP, Wii, and PC. Yes, I will be scoping these games out at E3 next week. What’s the over/under on number of games before Rooney gets a red card for mouthing off at the referee during the tournament? My guess is two games, that seems fair.
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| Panasonic announces lightest 14″ Toughbook yet: the F9 Posted: 09 Jun 2010 02:30 PM PDT
Here’s the full press release.
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| Your first 3D PS3 games launch tomorrow, including Wipeout HD Posted: 09 Jun 2010 02:00 PM PDT
OK, Wipeout HD is a fine, fine game, but how will it look in 3D? Probably disappointing, if only because it’s going to have to be run in a rubbish resolution in order for the PS3 to create the stereoscopic image. Kvetching aside, Sony will release four stereoscopic 3D games for the PS3 tomorrow: Wipeout HD, Super Stardust, PAIN, and Motor Storm Pacific Rift. You will, of course, need a 3D TV to appreciate the extra dimensionality. To Sony’s credit, its upcoming Bravia 3D TVs (prices start at $2,099 for a 40-inch model, so I guess we’re pretending the global economy isn’t crumbling!) come with a voucher for all four games. Think of it like a pack-in game for a console, except you’re shelling out thousands of dollars to replace that HDTV you bought only a few years ago. I do hope Sony has these 3D TVs are at E3 next week. That way I can actually say, definitively, if 3D gaming is either A) neat or B) simply a gimmick. I’ve played 3D games here and there at various events and they were all sorta… meh. Not terrible, but not something I’d go out of my way to get. Then again, if you have the cash to burn, why not? Live it up, I say.
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| Excellent: Mac Classic converted to iPad stand Posted: 09 Jun 2010 01:35 PM PDT
Verrry nice. They’ve even hooked up a nice full-size keyboard! [via Nowhereelse.fr]
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| Low-power monitor from 3M is driven and powered by USB 3.0 Posted: 09 Jun 2010 01:30 PM PDT
Well, there are already some USB-based solutions, but they’re far from popular. And yeah, there are actual considerations like latency and throughput, but with really high-performance stuff like Light Peak and USB 3.0 soon to become commonplace, I get the feeling designated display interfaces will soon be a thing of the past. 3M’s taking a step in the right direction with this monitor, which not only gets its video signal over USB 3.0, but is also powered by it. Admittedly, it takes up two ports, but hell, I just reviewed a hard drive like that. A whole 18.5″ monitor just via USB? Not bad at all.
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| Radiohead’s Thom Yorke predicts end of music industry Posted: 09 Jun 2010 01:00 PM PDT
“It will be only a matter of time—months rather than years—before the music business establishment completely folds. [It will be] no great loss to the world.” So says Radiohead lead singer Thom Yorke, a man who knows a thing or two about how the music industry works. Yorke made the comments, bizarrely, in a new British textbook about citizenship. My civics textbooks had quotes from the likes of George Washington and Voltaire, so clearly the books in Britain are a little more current. But is he right? I actually think the music industry has been doing pretty well for itself in recent months. Granted, it took the industry ten years to get its act together, but not everyone is perfect. How much of the music on iTunes is now DRM-free? Don’t like iTunes? You have options, and options that work well: Amazon MP3, specialized digital music stores à la BeatPort, the Zune Marketplace, etc. Certain countries in Europe even have access to Spotify, which is about as perfect a music-delivery service as I can think of. Will Spotify ever be released in the U.S.? Hard to say, but let’s not pretend that there aren’t alternatives to buying whatever Wal-Mart wants to stock on its shelves. You’ll also recall that Radiohead, a few years back, released an album online for a whatever-you-like price. (A physical album was eventually released as well.) It was very much a success, but not every band is Radiohead, a band with dedicated fans and who are, I would imagine, more technologically savvy. (I base that on the fact that everyone I ever knew who said Radiohead was their favorite band certainly knew their way around the Internet. Plus, I think I read something to that effect in the book Ripped.) I do agree with his last bit, that the “loss” of the music industry will be of not great loss to the world. Pretty sure music existed before the RIAA showed up.
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| Notion Ink Adam “on track,” gets funding, looks at hardware variants Posted: 09 Jun 2010 11:44 AM PDT
For one thing, and perhaps it is only I who did not know this, but they are looking at two hardware variants for the Adam in addition to the one we’ve seen. First, a normal LCD screen (as opposed to the Pixel Qi one), and a second, which they say is “extremely efficient on battery and much cheaper as well.” E-ink, perhaps? But with Android? We saw that before and it didn’t impress. They also tease “wonderful innovations on e-mail front.” That’s good; one feature of the iPad I truly covet is the email client. A tablet really needs a good interface for the few applications that are absolutely proper for it, email being among them. Notion Ink seems to think they’ve got something special for that, and I look forward to it. Lastly, they have raised an unspecified amount in their final round of fund raising. They’re not disclosing it right now, but they say it’s an emotional day, so it must be more than a jar full of pennies. Hopefully we’ll see the result of that funding in a couple months when they launch the device and SDK.
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| Sony exec: PSP Go was our way of learning what gamers want (findings: not the PSP Go) Posted: 09 Jun 2010 11:30 AM PDT
Hmm. I guess I can’t blame them for trying. The world of content distribution is changing, of course, and disc-based platforms are, in the words of EA’s Peter Moore, a “burning platform.” But the way Sony went about trying to change that platform downright ridiculous. The PSP Go had little in the way of compelling features and cost significantly more — and then there was the whole issue of getting your library of games onto the thing. Oh right, you couldn’t. I mean, not that these numbers prove anything, but the PSP Go sold around 18,000 units in Japan during 2009. By comparison, the DS sold over 10,000 units per day in Japan. That’s pretty much a total failure. But as CEO-man says of the worth of the PSP Go: “Is that measured by success in sales? I don't think it is.” Well, I’m not sure I agree. But at least they’re willing to admit the Go isn’t what consumers had in mind. They were considering a re-launch, but… somehow I doubt that would make any difference. Is this a CYA moment, or do you think they were legitimately just testing the waters? [via iPodNN]
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| Wikileaks not worried post-U.S. Army kerfuffle Posted: 09 Jun 2010 11:00 AM PDT
A quick update to that Wikileaks story from the other day. The site says that the recent arrest of a U.S. Army analyst who had contributed to the site won’t negatively affect the site at all. More importantly, the arrest shouldn’t prevent future whistle-blowers from shining the light of truth on humanity’s darkest secrets. (That sounds ominous, no?) At the same time, Wikileaks did not confirm whether or not SPC Bradley Manning was, in fact, one of the site’s sources. That makes sense: the whole point of Wikileaks is to give people a forum to publish information that otherwise would never be published. It goes back to the old idea of journalisitic source protection:
That said, Wikileaks told the BBC that they would be interested in defending Manning if it comes to that.
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| 700 IP addresses from Hurt Locker BitTorrent lawsuits released: See if you’re one of the lucky ones! Posted: 09 Jun 2010 10:00 AM PDT Around 700 IP addresses implicated in the Hurt Locker BitTorrent downloads lawsuit have been released. They’re part of the public record so it’s not like these addresses were surreptitiously acquired or anything like that. One interesting observation: none of the IP addresses belong to Time Warner, the one ISP that’s putting up a fight. Hmm? The exciting thing to do is check if your current IP address is on the list. I mean, there’s a good chance your ISP uses dynamic IP addresses, which means that the IP address at the time of downloading could be different that they one you have right now. In any event, the easiest way to check your IP address is just to go to ipchicken.com. Bam, that’s your IP address. Now see if you can find yourself on the list. Very exciting! Of course, as we’ve talked about for years now, the idea of using an IP address to identify someone is pretty silly. Who’s to say that some punk kid in your apartment building either hopped onto your unencrypted Wi-Fi connection, or that he cracked the encryption for funsies. Then he loaded up a Hurt Locker torrent and got you in trouble. It could very well happen. And it’s not like that scenario required a PhD in computer science to pull off. Seriously, any teen can pull that off with a few hours of free time on a Saturday.
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When 
Let’s start things off with a disclaimer – I love Android phones. Last year I 
The buzzword is 
Finally, Sony has announced additions to its Blu-ray and home theater systems that handle 3D. The new 3D Blu-ray player is the BDP-S770 going for $300, and if you happened to have purchased either the BDP-S470 or the S570 in the past, then you can upgrade to the new firmware that supports 3D for free off Sony's website. Available in July for $800 is the new BDV-HZ970W Blu-ray home theater system.
Panasonic is rolling out the 
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