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Daily Crunch: Worm Projection Edition

Posted: 12 Feb 2011 12:00 AM PST

Free! Super Mega Worm For iOS

Posted: 11 Feb 2011 10:18 PM PST


Perfect timing. I’ve got a long flight tomorrow, and although I already have Death Worm on my iPad, I always wanted to check this one out too. The pixelicious graphics do it for me. The giant worm thing, too. And it’s free for a limited time. How limited? A minute? An hour? The weekend? I’m guessing the weekend, but I’m just a guy, what do I know?

Head over to the App Store and get your worm on.

Pico Projectors Aren’t Far Off From Next-gen Smartphones

Posted: 11 Feb 2011 06:39 PM PST

We’ve talked about pico projectors quite a bit. Right now, there’s nothing terribly exciting about them; the images are dim and projectors themselves aren’t small enough to be super useful. We know that pico projector integration into smartphones is imminent, but when?

Starting next week at MWC, a new pico projector developed by STMicroelectronics and bTendo will be on display. The overall volume of the projector is less than 2.5 cubic cm and shorter than 6mm. This very small projector should be able to render more vivid color and sharper images than current-gen projectors.

According to the CEO of bTendo, Dana Gross, the projector will be able to display high-res movie clips on any surface. Right now we are sure on specific like resolution and brightness, but if the technology is really that small and competent, then we could see more pico projectors making their way into smartphones very soon.

Audi Carbon Skis Get Their Close-Up

Posted: 11 Feb 2011 06:08 PM PST


I posted a slick pair of Audi-designed skis a couple weeks ago, but unfortunately the pictures weren’t very big — a tragedy when the whole point of the post was how incredibly beautiful these things are. Luckily, DesignBoom has posted some much larger shots, and I thought I’d just point you snow and design fans in their general direction. It’s just the first in a series, too.

Rumor: Samsung To Announce The Galaxy Tab 2 On Sunday

Posted: 11 Feb 2011 05:14 PM PST


The Galaxy Tab entered 2011 as one of the more worthwhile tablets on the market. It’s rumored that Samsung, wanting to stay competitive against growing tablet offerings, will release a 10-inch version of the Tab at the Mobile World Congress on Sunday. The new tablet will run Honeycomb: Android’s OS optimized for tablets.

Samsung currently offers the Tab as a 7-inch tablet; a 10-inch will be more competitive with the iPad and Xoom. The rumor also says that the new tablet will be thinner and lighter than the current iPad and also physically smaller. To be thinner and lighter, the screen will have to be something entirely different then the current TFT-LCD. Could those AMOLED rumors finally come true?

[via Techland]

People, Not Things, Are The Tools Of Revolution

Posted: 11 Feb 2011 05:00 PM PST

Warmest congratulations to the Egyptian people, whose truly grassroots revolution has reminded the world what political action is supposed to look like. Although the work is far from done, and reconstituting a government by the people and for the people is perhaps the more difficult phase, it is right that they, and the world, should take a moment to reflect on a job well done.

Some are using that moment to praise the social media tools used by some of the protesters, and the role the internet played in fueling the revolution. While it’s plain that these things were part of the process, I think the mindset of the online world creates a risk of overstating their importance, and elevating something useful, even powerful, to the status of essential. The people of Egypt made use of what means they had available, just as every oppressed people has in history.

Twitter and Facebook are indeed useful tools, but they are not tools of revolution — at least, no more than Paul Revere’s horse was. People are the tools of revolution, whether their dissent is spread by whisper, by letter, by Facebook, or by some means we haven’t yet imagined. What we, and the Egyptians, should justly be proud of, is not just those qualities which set Egypt’s revolution apart from the last hundred, but those which are fundamental to all of them.

Continue reading…

Sony: “Publishers Are Being Held To Ransom By Apple”

Posted: 11 Feb 2011 04:48 PM PST


There’s much to be said in favor of a successor to iTunes. Not just the application itself, though I’d love to see it disappear, but the whole service. Things move fast, and although Apple moved faster than the music industry, it now finds itself in a distressingly similar, and vulnerable, position. Sony seems to think the iron is hot, and consequently is preparing to strike; SCE CEO Michael Ephraim is quoted by The Age as saying, “Publishers are being held to ransom by Apple and they are looking for other delivery systems, and we are waiting to see what the next three to five years will hold.”

Strong words, but can Sony back them up? The future, they believe, is in streaming, and strong competition is already present in the form of established services like Spotify, Rdio, and Grooveshark. Will Sony’s Music Unlimited service, in the middle of a stepped roll-out in Europe, actually form a credible alternative, or will it languish with low subscriber numbers until Sony kills it off in a couple years?

My guess is the latter. Apart from the ability to stream directly to certain Sony devices, it’s not really clear what the service has going for it. I’m reminded of the baked-in web services offered on TVs from a couple years back, which were almost instantly obsoleted by various set-top boxes and streamers. And then there’s Sony’s disconnect from the world of users: one exec said “Free doesn’t make any money,” explaining why the service will have no free or ad-supported component. Unfortunately, free is what a lot of people expect right now, though of course a business model for “giving everybody everything all the time for no money” still eludes us.

They’re right in considering it a long game, though. Apple is on top for a reason, and the old music industry is still clinging tenaciously wherever it can. Apple has been the big guy for a while, and they’re entitled to a few years on top. They’ve earned it. But committing to that position makes it difficult to maneuver, and they may get blindsided by a new service or device that makes them look like the status quo they’ll have become by then.

It’s the circle of life in tech, and the revolutions are getting shorter — the RPMs are increasing, if you will. Sony may not produce the service that beats iTunes, but the labels and media companies will only champ at the bit for so long before they start to buck, and bottom-up innovation is already starting to weaken the position of the big, central repository for music. I can’t say what’s going to happen next, but I look forward to it.

Boeing To Debut 747-8 Intercontinental This Weekend

Posted: 11 Feb 2011 04:18 PM PST

There’s nothing quite like flying; it amazes me that it used to take 30 years to travel from east coast to west. Now, after a magazine and a quick snooze, you’re on the other side of the country.

The 747 is no doubt one of the most popular model numbers for commercial jets, and tomorrow Boeing is going to show off its newest version: the 747-8. We don’t know more yet, other than whats on Boeing’s website:

The 747-8 Intercontinental is the only jetliner in the 400- to 500-seat market, stretched [18.3 ft] from the 747-400 to provide 467 seats in a three-class configuration and a [8,000 nautical mile] range. Using 787-technology engines, the airplane will be quieter, produce lower emissions, and achieve better fuel economy than any competing jetliner. The 747 Intercontinental will provide nearly equivalent trip costs and 13 percent lower seat-mile costs than the 747-400, plus 26 percent greater cargo volume….The 747-8 is more than 10 percent lighter per seat than the [Airbus] A380 and will consume 11 percent less fuel per passenger than the 555-seat airplane. That translates into a trip-cost reduction of 21 percent and a seat-mile cost reduction of more than 6 percent, compared to the A380.

Stay tuned this weekend for more on the maiden voyage.

HP TouchPad: $699 In June?

Posted: 11 Feb 2011 03:29 PM PST


BGR has word from a source that the TouchPad will be launching in June for $699. Sounds about right to me — any later, and their goose is cooked. I’m not sure $699 is going to pull a lot of people, though, since what HP is selling is a little more subtle than Android, and the average consumer might not be able to pull themselves away from the default iPad, especially if the update hits and pushes down prices on the original. We’ll see, though. It’s all speculation right now.

Nokia’s Windows Phone 7 Concept Revealed?

Posted: 11 Feb 2011 02:34 PM PST

Engadget has what they say are some of the first shots of Nokia’s Windows Phone 7 concept. Right now this is just a conceptual device to show just what the marriage of Microsoft and Nokia will look like. It looks like they spent a lot of time on this because the phones look great.

We’ll keep you updated as the story develops.

AT&T Trying To Keep Their Customers, Show They’re Cool Too By Gifting Free Minutes

Posted: 11 Feb 2011 02:14 PM PST

Hey AT&T, you’re trying too hard. At least that’s what they think they aren’t doing. Just to be nice — and probably make friends of enemies — AT&T is gifting customers 1000 rollover minutes. But, they’re going to make you work for it. You didn’t think AT&T would make it easy did you?

The guys over at 9to5Mac claim that all you have to do is send an SMS to 11113020 that says YES. Do it by March 31 and your account will be credit with the 1000 minutes.

[via tuaw]

Chinese Hackers Break Into Big Oil’s Computer Systems, Sensitive Documents Taken

Posted: 11 Feb 2011 01:53 PM PST

Chinese hackers are at it again. This time they went after five multinational oil and gas companies and got some very sensitive information including bidding contracts, proprietary industrial processes and other financial documents. The attack is being called “Night Dragon” by Dmitri Alperovitch, McAfee’s vice president for threat research. Alperovitch said that, “It speaks to quite a sad state of our critical infrastructure security.” He also added, “These were not sophisticated attacks, yet they were very successful in achieving their goals.” McAfee was able to trace the origin on the attack to Beijing IP addresses and a server located in the Shandong Province. I don’t think anyone here is crying over this virtual kidnapping. “That information is tremendously sensitive and would be worth a huge amount of money to competitors,” said Alperovitch. If the companies were smart, they’d figure out a way to pay a ransom and get their stuff back. If the criminals were smart, they’d run and hide run and hide.

Duke Nukem Forever “Balls Of Steel Edition” Is Swag-Excessive

Posted: 11 Feb 2011 01:40 PM PST


If you’re one of the rabid Duke Nukem fanboys who has truly been looking forward to Duke Nukem Forever these last 10 years, this may be the special edition for you. It may not include functional night-vision goggles, like Modern Warfare 2 did, but it does have a bust of Duke.

The “Balls of Steel” edition comes with an avalanche of tchotchkes: a comic, art book, certificate of authenticity, some dice and a deck of cards, and more. And of course a copy of the game.

No word on where you can get this just yet. The May 3 release date is still a ways off, though, so I expect we’ll get a separate announcement of this edition in the next couple months. And I don’t even want to think about how much it will cost.

Adobe Photoshop Was Almost Nikon Photoshop

Posted: 11 Feb 2011 12:00 PM PST


There’s an interesting history of Nikon’s electronic division over at NikonWeb.com, and among other things, it mentions a fact I didn’t know about Photoshop: before it was bought by Adobe, it was offered to Nikon and a few other camera companies. They turned it down, and perhaps not unwisely: they weren’t software companies, after all.

It’s strange to think about what might have happened. Personally, I’m guessing Photoshop wouldn’t be what it is today; Adobe was a different kind of incubator and, uninhibited by a completely different primary business, as Nikon was, they could dedicate much more time and energy to the program.

There’s also an account of the interesting QV1000C, a very early electronic camera from 1988 that stored NTSC analog images. Head over to NikonWeb and check out the rest of the story.

[via Pixiq and Petapixel]

Vodafone Releases Webbox $100 Web-Surfing Keyboard For Emerging Markets

Posted: 11 Feb 2011 11:50 AM PST


Emerging markets need the Internet. Whether they’re looking up commodity prices or contacting loved ones overseas, users in developing countries like South Africa and Ghana need a way to get online and this unique device from Vodafone looks like a logical and quite elegant way to do just that.

The device is a keyboard with a standard set of RCA cables sprouting out of the back. You plug it into any TV, new or old, and turn it on. Instantly you have 2G or 3G access to an Opera Mini browser, locally relevant news, as well as games, a dictionary, and a text editor. Instead of a PC, a user would plug this in and use it as necessary, downloading data at 90% compression.

Of all the devices like this I’ve seen, the One Laptop Per Child project included, this one makes the most sense. It clearly just “works” out of the box and the size and form-factor are excellent. It’s basically a small, flat cellphone inside of a keyboard and given the prevalence of cloud-based services, this is an excellent, inexpensive solution to a thorny problem.

The device will cost R749 (about $100) with 2GB SD card, prepaid SIM, and 100MB of data.

Product Page via Cellular News


Smartphones And Tablets Continue To Consume All The Mobile DRAM

Posted: 11 Feb 2011 11:36 AM PST

In 2011, the market for mobile DRAM is expected to increase by 71% according to IHS. It’s projected that we will see 2.9 billion gigabits shipped in 2011; quite a bit more than last years sales of 1.7 billion Gb. By 2015 it’s expected that shipments will increase to 20.5 billion Gb. The reason for all this growth: smartphones and tablets. Maybe that’s why Apple bought all that flash memory a few years ago.

[via cellular-news]

GPS-Guided Mortar Puts An End To Foxhole Calculus

Posted: 11 Feb 2011 11:26 AM PST

My grandfather was a mortarman in WWII and he used to tell us how he planned trajectories in the heat of battle. Now, however, soldiers can punch in some coordinates and send a hot slug of death soaring straight at the enemy in a fusillade of metal. Much easier for the folks in the field, I think.

This new mortar, part of the Accelerated Precision Mortar Initiative, gives 10 meter accuracy at 11 miles. The mortar includes a programming wand to choose the exact landing location.

via DefenseTech


Aspyr Updates Civilization V For Mac With Downloadable Content

Posted: 11 Feb 2011 11:18 AM PST

Aspyr Media has updated the Mac version of Civilization 5 to fix a few bugs and include support for all of the various DLC packs. The downloadable content includes various new civilizations to play with, plus map packs that load up certain areas or scenarios to rule and conquer as your favorite civ.

Unfortunately, the game isn't in the Mac App Store, but it's available at the usual places to buy Mac games online, including Steam. As you'll know if you've ever played any version of Civ, it's a terrific game, and it's good to see that the Mac version has capability for all the DLC now as well.

Xavi Hernandez: To Be As Good As Barcelona You Have To Think ‘Like PlayStation’

Posted: 11 Feb 2011 11:00 AM PST

What's the secret to FC Barcelona and Spain's Xavi Hernández's success? Simple: think "like PlayStation." If only it were that easy, Xavi. (El Mundo Deportivo’d)

England Rugby Captain Tracks Down Missing iPad, Narrates Ordeal Via Twitter

Posted: 11 Feb 2011 10:45 AM PST

This is a fantastically fun story. Former England Rugby captain Will Carling's iPad was stolen, yeah, but he had tracking software on there. What followed was a gripping tale, told on Twitter, of Carling's attempts to hunt down his missing iPad using MobileMe.

Hold onto your hats.


On an adventure! Left my Ipad on train yesterday, Doh ! Have now tracked it down to a building in Woking. On my way! Could be interesting !less than a minute ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®Will Carling
willcarling


Used the Mobile me tracker. It is in a block of flats! Managed to get in & knock on all 18 doors! No answer surprisingly. So left notes :-Oless than a minute ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®Will Carling
willcarling


breaking news! My Ipad has moved! It is now at the station! This is like Enemy of the State !!less than a minute ago via TweetDeckWill Carling
willcarling


The olice have been notified. So all go in the Ipad rescue. Cracking line from the Police lady who was talkin… (cont) http://deck.ly/~s5Hasless than a minute ago via TweetDeckWill Carling
willcarling


Can’t believe this. Mobile me is now showing my Ipad near the station round the back of some shops- has it been dumped???less than a minute ago via TweetDeckWill Carling
willcarling


Just sent the moving Ipad a message telling them they are being tracked! quoted Police crime reference. Shall update soon…..less than a minute ago via TweetDeckWill Carling
willcarling


Just sent the ‘moving’ Ipad a message ‘you are very close to the Police Station now….’ would freak you out if you had hold of it….:-)less than a minute ago via TweetDeckWill Carling
willcarling


Result! Police have just called, Ipad has been handed over! It was handed into Woking Station. Tracked it al… (cont) http://deck.ly/~BXmWLless than a minute ago via TweetDeckWill Carling
willcarling
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