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 New York Times Blogs |
Top this! 2009 BMW Z4 gets folding hardtop
AutoWeek - By GREG MIGLIORE AND BOB GRITZINGER BMW will unveil its first roadster with a retractable hardtop, the all-new 2009 Z4, at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit in January. New BMW Z4 revealed BMW Z4 – two cars in one |
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 Web Trends |
Twitter Chooses Google, Not Facebook
CNNMoney.com - By Nicholas Carlson (alleyinsider.com) — Twitter cofounder Biz Stone announced this morning that the micro-blogging service would integrate Google's Friend Connect service. Google Friend Connect syncs up with Twitter Twitter: Google Friend Connect’s social hub for the web? |
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 PhysOrg.com |
In the Year 2020…
Technologizer - By Ed Oswald | Posted at 11:51 am on Monday, December 15, 2008 Us longtime Conan O’Brien fans know that one of the signature skits of his late night show was “In the Year 2000,” which made predictions – however ridiculous – of what life would be like … Predictions for 2020: Vanishing keyboards and demise of copy … Future Tech |
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coondoggie writes “Despite the daily drumbeat of new and improved hardware or software, the tech industry isn’t all bits and bytes. Some interesting things happen along the way too. Like floating data centers, space geekonauts, shape shifting robots and weird bedfellows (like Microsoft and Jerry Seinfeld). What we include here is an example of what we thought were the best, slightly off-center stories of 2008.”
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 PC World |
Has Lessig ’softened’ on net neutrality?
ZDNet - The article claims Lessig has “softened” his position on neutrality and that he is a potential pick for FCC chairman; thus, any softening on Lessig’s part must mean Obama, who has dismayed the left with such picks as Larry Summers for a top economics … Google, Industry Downplay 'Fast Lane' Plans Net Neutrality Proponents Blast Google Story |
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Looking to build or upgrade systems during the holiday season? We’ve got motherboard recommendations for any and all price points….
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 PC World |
Microsoft Shows Up at the iPhone App Store Party
TechNewsWorld - By Chris Maxcer Just because Microsoft and Apple are big rivals doesn't mean they can't develop software for each other's platforms. Microsoft's first iPhone application is broken, but the company is … The myth of the 99-cent killer app |
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 The Tech Herald |
Apple releases Mac OS X 10.5.6
Macworld - by Jim Dalrymple, , Macworld.com Apple on Monday released an update for Mac OS X Leopard that fixes almost 40 issues related to the operating system. Businesses double down on Apple; 68% say they'll add Macs in '09 Apple releases Mac OS X 10.5.6 Update |
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 iPhonesTalk |
An iPhone Nano At Macworld? No
CNNMoney.com - By Dan Frommer (alleyinsider.com) — We don't doubt that Apple (AAPL) chief Steve Jobs will mention the iPhone during next month's Macworld keynote. Did XSKN Leak the New iPhone, Again? (We Doubt It) The ToyBox |
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 The Tech Herald |
Google Chrome crosses 1% market share again
TG Daily - By Wolfgang Gruener Chicago (IL) – Google’s strategy to update its browser more frequently has positively impacted Chrome’s market share and the release of the final version of the browser helped the software to jump back over the 1% mark again. New browser security handbook released by Google Browsers fail password protection tests |
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Novell has unveiled their latest release to the openSUSE line with 11.1. Offering both updates and new features, Novell continues to push for more openness and transparency. The new release includes Linux kernel 2.6.27, Python 2.6, Mono 2.0, OpenOffice 3.0, and many others. “[...] Our choice was also influenced by impressive changes that are transpiring in the openSUSE community, which is growing rapidly and is also becoming more open, inclusive, and transparent. Last month, the project announced its first community-elected board, a major milestone in its advancement towards community empowerment. This is a very good openSUSE release and it delivers some very impressive enhancements. The distro has evolved tremendously in the past two releases and is becoming a very solid and usable option for regular users.”
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PC World – IBM’s Data Governance Council, a group of 50 large financial companies and other organizations worldwide, on Monday announced an initiative aimed at persuading the industry to adopt XBRL (extensible business reporting language) as a standard for risk reporting.
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 The Money Times |
Google slips from most trusted list
CNET News - Google has stepped off the top 10 list for the most trusted US companies for privacy, according to a report in theSan Francisco Chronicle. American Express tops most trusted list Google Drops Out of Most Trusted Companies List |
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Google Friday replaced Mozilla Corp.’s Firefox with its own Chrome as the default browser in the English version of Google Pack , the search company’s application bundle for Windows.
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NewsFactor – Delta Air Lines is taking Internet access to the skies this week with the launch of Gogo Inflight Internet service on board six of its planes. Delta is introducing the service with a free trial that lets consumers experience the technology.
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 ABC News |
Mahalo Answers Pays Cash for Your Two Cents
ABC News - By CHRIS SNYDER Mahalo, the human powered search engine, is launching a crowd-sourced Q&A feature Monday to compete with sites like Yahoo Answers and Wiki. Mahalo expands human-powered search with paid Answers service Jason Calacanis’ “Project A” is surprisingly compelling Mahalo Answers |
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AP – An Egyptian telecoms giant launched an advanced mobile phone network in North Korea on Monday, the latest attempt to introduce a global symbol of personal freedom into one of the world’s most tightly controlled societies.
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 The Associated Press |
Orascom Telecom starts mobile services in N. Korea
Reuters - CAIRO, Dec 15 (Reuters) – Orascom Telecom (OT) ORTE.CA(ORTEq.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), the largest Arab mobile operator by subscribers, started mobile service in North Korea on Monday, the company said in a statement. North Korea To Get Its First National Mobile Phone Network North Korea Launches 3G Cellular Service |
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Onion Radio News – with Doyle Redland
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 Canada.com |
Amazon MP3 Not Killing iTunes Yet (AAPL)
CNNMoney.com - By Dan Frommer (alleyinsider.com) — How was Amazon's (AMZN) first year in the MP3 business? Not great: Music industry execs peg Amazon's market share between 5% and 10%, according to MediaMemo — similar to the 8% to 10% we reported in July. Amazon's First Year in MP3s: Fair to Good French Screenshot Shows DRM-Free Music in iTunes |
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 ITBusiness.ca |
Businesses double down on Apple; 68% say they'll add Macs in '09
Computerworld - By Gregg Keizer December 15, 2008 (Computerworld) The number of businesses planning to add Apple Inc.'s Mac desktops and laptops to their corporate mix has doubled since earlier this year — part of what an analyst calls the "consumerization" of IT. Apple releases Mac OS X 10.5.6 Apple releases Mac OS X 10.5.6 |
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SteveOHT writes “Google Inc. has approached major cable and phone companies that carry Internet traffic with a proposal to create a fast lane for its own content, according to documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. Google has traditionally been one of the loudest advocates of equal network access for all content providers. The story claims that Microsoft, Yahoo, and Amazon have quietly withdrawn from a coalition of companies and groups backing network neutrality (the coalition is not named), though Amazon’s name is reportedly once again listed on the coalition’s Web site. Google has already responded, calling the WSJ story “confused” and explaining that they’re only talking about edge caching, and remain as committed as ever to network neutrality. The blogosphere is alight with the debate.
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Lucas123 writes “The Santa Cruz, Calif. DA’s office had been counting on a DVD with the recorded testimony of a victim in case against a serial rapist, but when they popped the video into the player, nothing came up — the disc was blank. To make matters worse, the cop who performed the original interview with the victim told the DA she never said she was ‘forced,’ so the judge wasn’t going to allow the witness to testify in a case where her original statement to police was in conflict with her current testimony. After two local data recovery firms said there was no way to restore the data, a third was able to recover the police interview from two years earlier, which led the defendant to plead guilty earlier this month. Close call.”
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rsmiller510 writes “In a wide-ranging interview with Tech Crunch’s Michael Arrington on Wednesday at Le Web in Paris, Google’s Marissa Mayer talked about all things Google, but what I found most interesting was when the conversation turned toward the future of search. Mayer said the key to the future of search lies in personalization. … Mayer said in the future, Google (and presumably other search tools) will understand more about the user and be able to deliver more relevant information based on that knowledge. ‘We think that when you look at the winning search engine in 2020 and what traits it’s likely to have, we think the one thing that will be true is that it will understand more about you the user.’” Video of the interview with Mayer is available at Tech Crunch. The personalization of search content focuses mainly on SearchWiki, which we discussed when it went live last month. The Register has a more cynical take on the discussion, seizing on comments by Mayer which indicated Google employees may evaluate SearchWiki’s user ratings and use them to make “obvious changes” to search results for everyone.
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 Ars Technica |
Pre-activated iPhone 3Gs available online in the US
BetaNews - By Tim Conneally, BetaNews AT&T has simplified the 3G iPhone acquisition and activation process, allowing the iconic device to be purchased pre-activated online. A More Petite iPhone by Christmas? AT&T now offering iPhone 3G online with at-home activation |
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 BBC News |
White House removes protections for endangered species
Christian Science Monitor - With just over a month remaining in office, the Bush administration loosened federal protection of plant and animal species threatened with extinction. Rule Eases a Mandate Under a Law on Wildlife Administration Loosens Species Protections |
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Roland Piquepaille writes “US astronomers and engineers have built a new camera to precisely measure the size of planets moving around distant stars. This camera has been dubbed OPTIC — short for ‘Orthogonal Parallel Transfer Imaging Camera.’ According to the research team, it is ‘so sensitive that it could detect the passage of a moth in front of a lit window from a distance of 1,000 miles.’ I’m not sure if this analogy is right, but the team said it was able to precisely define the size of a planet called WASP-10b which is orbiting around the star WASP-10, about 300 light-years from Earth.”
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 Canada.com |
Andy Grove urges Intel to build car batteries
CNET News - Intel CEO Andy Grove has joined others among the Silicon Valley elite who advocate a shift to energy technology. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal published Friday, Grove said that he is urging Intel to invest in battery manufacturing as a … Intel needs to build car batteries, co-founder says Ex-Chief Says Intel Should Power Cars |
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 Globe and Mail |
Critical Report on Health of Zoo Elephants Is Debated
New York Times - By CORNELIA DEAN Living in a zoo drastically shortens the lives of Asian and African elephants, possibly because of the effects of stress and obesity, researchers are reporting. Zoos 'Consuming' Elephants From the wild Study Shows Elephants Do Not Live As Long In A Zoo |
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 Ars Technica |
Transitioning NASA: Tensions high between Griffin, transition team
ZDNet - In a heated 40-minute conversation last week with Lori Garver, a former NASA associate administrator who heads the space transition team, a red-faced Griffin demanded to speak directly to Obama, according to witnesses. NASA, Obama Team Dispute Reports of Tension Star wars between NASA head and Obama transition team |
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 New Zealand Herald |
Sony needs a common-sense Czar
CNET News - With so many czars running around these days trying to solve the nation's problems in tech, auto and drugs–perhaps Sony should employ a common-sense czar. Sony Settles Online Privacy Case for $1 Million Hey, Sony, leave those kids alone: Settlement in COPPA case |
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CNET – With so many czars running around trying to solve the nation’s problems in tech, auto and drugs, perhaps Sony should consider hiring a common-sense czar.
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 Reuters |
Nintendo Wii Outsells Xbox 360 More Than Two-To-One
InformationWeek - By Paul McDougall The Xbox 360's strong performance on Black Friday wasn't enough to help Microsoft close the sales gap with rival Nintendo in the gaming console market, according to research group NPD. Best Buy to take $20 off select PS3, Xbox 360 titles Wii Sales Set Record During November |
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 China Daily |
Missed Friday’s Full Moon? It’s back Tonight!
ScienceMode - Stargazers were in for a real treat Friday night when the full moon lit up the night sky in its brightest display in 50 years. But if you missed it, there’s another full moon tonight that will be only slightly dimmer. Full Moon Lights Up Friday Night Sky As It Nears Earth Year's Biggest Full Moon in Skies Friday Night |
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 Thaindian.com |
McCain campaign sells info-laden Blackberrys
Computerworld - Just as every losing political camp usually does, the defunct McCain / Palin campaign has been holding a fire sale to get rid of all its assets. McCain campaign sells unwiped Blackberry for $20 McCain Team Sells Info-Rich Blackberry to Reporter |
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Reuters – With more than $1 billion in sales and 50 million tracks downloaded between them — on a base of only about 350 songs — the “Guitar Hero” and “Rock Band” videogame franchises emerged this year as serious moneymakers for the music industry. But are they bringing in enough per track?
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Toren Altair brings news that NASA and the Ad Astra Rocket Company finalized a Space Act Agreement earlier this week to test the Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket (VASIMR) on the International Space Station. The agreement hinges on a series of requirements for the thruster’s performance and efficiency in ground-based tests. “The primary technical objective of the project is to operate the VASIMR VF-200 engine at power levels up to 200 kW. Engine operation will be restricted to pulses of up to 10 minutes at this power level. Energy for these high-power operations will be provided by a battery system trickle-charged by the ISS power system. These tests will mark the first time that a high-power, steady-state electric thruster will be used as part of a manned spacecraft.” Reader clarkes1 points out related news of a runway trial for Virgin Galactic’s WhiteKnightTwo, the mothership that is designed to carry SpaceShipTwo from the ground to 50,000 feet. A very brief video shows the oddly-shaped plane moving down a runway under its own power.
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ruphus13 writes “HP finally begins to actively push open source in its products. From the post, ‘HP has been quirky over the years when it comes to open source. It has been, traditionally, a company that supports open source — especially in larger enterprises… Wednesday, it announced two new open source products, geared to small businesses and educational institutions. HP plans on including its ‘Mozilla Firefox for HP Virtual Solution’ on more of its business class desktop PCs (to a total of seven models between the HP Compaq dc/dx lines in the US, eight models worldwide). Come December 15th, HP will also offer Novell’s SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop on its HP Compaq dc5850 model. The base SLED-equipped model will cost $519, and features the usual open source suspects for the small business setting — OpenOffice, and mail clients such as Evolution.’”
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bahstid writes “As the year comes to a close, it’s time to look at the big events, memorable moments and emerging trends that captivated us in 2008. As it happens, studying the aggregation of the billions of search queries that people type into the Google search box gives us a glimpse into the zeitgeist — the spirit of the times. While the global aggregated results are what one might expect, the breakdown by country is filled with ‘hotmail,’ ‘yahoo’ and ‘facebook,’ indicating that in 2008 your average user still hasn’t quite grasped this address bar thing.” This year’s focus on the US presidential election and the economic crisis made for some interesting trends. It also seems that many Americans frequently checked their Facebook profile while watching American Idol and wondering who Sarah Palin was.
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Brenton Fletcher writes “A nationwide protest rally against the internet censorship filter proposed by the Australian Labor Government was held today. Over 9,000 people were slated to attend. I was fortunate enough to go to the rally on the steps of Parliament House in Adelaide, South Australia. I heard speeches from the Digital Liberty Coalition, the Green Left Weekly, and other concerned members of the public.” Reader mask.of.sanity adds a link to ComputerWorld’s photo-heavy coverage of the gatherings.
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