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August 20, 2009

Linkpost | 8.20.2009

[Note: I'm on vacation this week. Thanks to Jim Thompson & Will Radcliffe for keeping up with the Linkposts while I was out of town. -- D.S.]

Beatles: "Discussions regarding digital distribution will continue" - And so does speculation that the band's catalog will end up in the iTunes Music Store. (Every day the Beatles delay electronic distribution, they lose more money to unauthorized sharing of their music.)

Snow Leopard Box Set Briefly Appears in Apple Online Store [Updated] and Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server Leaked as Torrent Download

Palm's Colligan Said to Reject Steve Jobs Proposal to Stop Employee Hiring - Called the suggestion "likely illegal".

Survey: Average gamer is 35, fat and depressed - Insert "Game Over" joke here.

10 Things You Need to Know About the PS3 Slim - Most important: This version won't play older PS2 games.

Windows Live Movie Maker - get it now - The latest version is out of beta, and it's optimized for Windows 7.

Amazon.com avoids showdown over Kindle pricing policy - With the publisher backing down from demands for higher pricing. the Kindle version of  the new Dan Brown book will sell for only $10.

San Francisco Crimespotting, An Interactive Map of Crimes In San Francisco - Pretty slick way of tracking crime trends.

Why Facebook's IPO could be disappointingly weak - In its internal stock buyback program, the people who know the most about the company are "heading for the exits". Also Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg

RIM planning on including full Flash and Silverlight support in browser - In its BlackBerry OS.

Posted by Dwight at 09:28 AM in | Comments (0)
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August 19, 2009

Linkpost | 8.19.2009

[Note: Dwight is on vacation. Jim Thompson and Will Radcliffe will be tag-teaming on linkposts through Wednesday.]

Windows 7 will cost half as much in the UK as in the US, crikey! - "Converted to $107, that's less than Americans have to shell out just for an upgrade ($120) and about half the price of the full thing ($200). The Professional and Ultimate varieties are also cheaper by about $40 each."

Experts debate Apple's plans for huge NC data center - "One expert recently cited inside sources at Apple who say it will be used to take over more of the company's own content delivery for iTunes. A dissenting opinion, though, suggests that the data center's size, comparable to some of the largest data centers in the world, is more indicative of cloud computing infrastructure."

Free, Video-Enabled iPhone 3GS Charms Japanese Consumers - "Electronista cites market data from Gfk Japan, which found the 32GB iPhone 3GS was Japan's hottest seller in July. "

What Real Women Want in Their Gadgets - "Nearly 40 percent of spending in consumer electronics comes from women, says the NPD group. Other estimates are much higher. Women account for about 85 percent of all consumer purchases and represent the majority of shoppers online."

Office Web Applications will support mobile browsers - "Microsoft has been slowly giving more and more information on Office 2010 and its rather ambitious goal of making the suite available via a familiar experience across the PC, phone, and browser"

Better late than never as FCC finally joins blogosphere - "The Commission is calling its new blogsite Blogband, and its purpose is to "foster public dialogue" about the agency's biggest work-in-progress--its National Broadband Plan."

Posted by Will Radcliffe at 11:57 AM in | Comments (3)
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August 18, 2009

Linkpost | 8.18.2009

[Note: Dwight is on vacation. Jim Thompson and Will Radcliffe will be tag-teaming on linkposts through Wednesday.]

Fortune names RIM fastest growing company... in the world - "That's apparently based on a combination of profits, turnover, and investment return over three years which, in RIM's case, translates an 84% growth in profits in the past three years, a 77% growth in revenue, and a total return of 45%."

Verizon tests first data connections on LTE network in Seattle and Boston - "Big Red's flexing its 4G muscle today, announcing that it has successfully completed the first true tests on its nascent LTE network -- end-to-end data calls that presumably approximate real-world usage."

Five ways to keep laptop thieves from jacking your data - "This is a creepy reminder that once your laptop is stolen, in most cases, a burglar can access almost anything on it--that is, unless you take the right precautions with the extremely mobile window into your life."

DNA May Help Build Next Generation of Chips - "The breakthrough, which allows for the DNA structures to be positioned precisely on substrates, could help shrink computer chips to about a 6-nanometer scale. Intel's latest chips, by comparison, are on a 32-nanometer scale."

Hackers set new high score for credit card theft at $130M - "A Florida man may have busted the world record for consumer data theft after allegedly stealing 130 million credit and debit card numbers."

$99 TomTom for iPhone now available, challenges 99¢ mentality - "Already climbing to the top of the paid download charts for the navigation category, though, TomTom for iPhone challenges the notion that consumers won't pay a fair price for an app that can prove its worth."

Posted by Will Radcliffe at 11:38 AM in | Comments (0)
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August 17, 2009

Linkpost | 8.17.2009

[Note: Dwight is on vacation. Jim Thompson and Will Radcliffe will be tag-teaming on linkposts through Wednesday.]

Updated 8:49AM

The Media Bundle Is Dead, Long Live The News Aggregators - "The newspaper industry is blaming online news aggregators for its dwindling profits and inability to adapt to a world of links and truly-free flowing information."

'Uh-Oh They're Here' - "A persistent blogger annoys police -- and winds up in jail."

Is Comcast poised to do another Disney? - Is Comcast going after Viacom, Paramount, or Time Warner?

TomTom iPhone app released in New Zealand, priced at $84 U.S - Ouch. Who needs a TomTom app that badly? Update: TomTom for Apple iPhone released in U.S. App Store for $99 More ouch.

88% of Electronics Exports Reused, Not Dumped - "... most of the exports of used computers imported by buyers overseas(88%) are really for reuse and repair." So says WR3A.org.

Where will Google send its new Street View tricycles? - Next thing you know, they'll be attaching their cameras to pigeons.

Gmail Nudges Past AOL Email In The U.S. To Take No. 3 Spot - Gmail still trails Yahoo and Hotmail.

Our Mac Chromium Updater: Stay Up To Date On The Best Versions Of Chrome For Mac - I still haven't tried Mac Chromium - have you?

OS X Snow Leopard 10A432 Installer Tweaks, Public Launch on August 28th - Will Apple beat its predicted September launch date? I've got mine on pre-order.

Images of Next-Generation iPod Touch - Are these blurry images really the next iPod Touch?

What would be inside an Apple tablet - Speculation reaches DEFCON 2.

Facebook 3.0 For iPhone Submitted. - What would a linkpost be without a little Facebook linkage?

Facebook's Purchase Is Bid to Own Social Media - I don't think that Friendfeed equates to "everything" I do online.

Posted by Jim Thompson at 06:39 AM in | Comments (7)
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August 16, 2009

Linkpost | 8.16.2009

[Note: Dwight is on vacation. Jim Thompson and Will Radcliffe will be tag-teaming on linkposts through Wednesday.]

Using Twitter as a Collective Mood Ring - Two University of Vermont researchers are calling Twitter "a hedonimeter, a device that measures happiness."

First Look Windows 7 Shapes Up as Microsoft’s Best OS Yet - If you’ve been stuck in a time loop using Windows XP ... you can finally break free: Windows 7 is almost here.

Zune HD's HD Radio breaks through the FCC as well - The Zune's onboard HD radio is a compelling feature.

Microsoft's technology strategy needs a refresh - Is "Microsoft is becoming a footnote in the history of computing"? I rather doubt it.

Apple iPAD outed in Borders bookstore survey - The Apple tablet rumor hurricane reaches Category 4.

The rise of the $299 Wal-Mart laptop - It's inexpensive, but is it really worth your money?

The Fallacy Of The Link Economy - "So when the AP and the newspaper owners demanded that they get revenue from the linkers, it was clear that they just didn’t understand the web and didn’t appreciate all the value they were receiving from link traffic."

Google LatLong Picasa photos in Street View - "The feature is available at major landmarks around the world..."

How To Bake Your Own Chrome OS, Right Now - "Here's how to live out Google's online-only OS vision, right now"

Google Points At WebFinger. Your Gmail Address Could Soon Be Your ID - An extension of the old "finger" protocol.

NPR Mobile Strategy Mixes Text With Live And On-Demand Audio - "a free NPR News iPhone app, approved late today and launching tonight, opens up a new dimension for the network and its member stations with live and on-demand mobile streaming."

Google Wave Preview Opens Up on Sept 30th - What to Expect - I have been trying to get into Google Wave, with no success.

Mathematical Model for Surviving a Zombie Attack - "It is possible to successfully fend off a zombie attack, according to Canadian mathematicians. The key is to 'hit hard and hit often.'"

Posted by Jim Thompson at 06:00 AM in | Comments (2)
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August 15, 2009

Linkpost | 8.15.2009

Verizon Successfully Tests LTE In Boston, Seattle - Places its first LTE data calls, including involving Voice over IP.

Lenovo to Replace Defective ThinkPad Batteries - On Lenovo's R60, R61, T60, T61, X60 and X61 models.

Images of Next-Generation iPod Touch Surface?  [Updatedx3] - Complete with a camera.

iPhone 3GS Camera Pre-Caches Images Before You Take Them? - Buffering images constantly, like a video camera.

iPhone vs. Pre- Satisfaction bakeoff - 99 percent of iPhone 3GS users are satisfied with their phones, compared to 87 percent of Pre owners.

Cocktail part of Apple's September event - At which new iPods may possibly be unveiled.

Phil Schiller Is A Man On A Mission: To Save The App Store - He apparently reached out to a developer who'd complained about an app not being approved, and now the app is in the store.

A taste of their own medicine - Top Apple executives will be deposed in the Psystar infringement case.

The Most Interesting New Tech Startup of 2009 - Anil Dash thinks it's the Executive branch of the U.S. Government, as evidenced by its advanced Web sites.

Zune HD TV Interface Makes It a Media Center For Your Pocket - Its video output to TV is excellent.

Are You Evil? Profiling That Which Is Truly Wicked - Researchers generate a computer character with artificial intelligence skewed to "pure evil".

Quake Live for Mac hits the Web on August 18 - Oooh, deathmatches on my 24-inch iMac!

'Rage' Trailer Debuts at QuakeCon 2009

Posted by Dwight at 08:29 AM in | Comments (1)
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August 14, 2009

Open comments, and I’m outta here

Here are your Friday open-comments, fresh off the grill and piping hot.

Enjoy them responsibly by leaving your thoughts on personal tech-related subjects. I'll approve them.

But it may be a little slower than usual, because I'm now on vacation, and will be offline much of the time. I'll do what I can to keep up with comments.

Will Radcliffe of our Game Hacks blog and my old friend and former TechBlog co-blogger Jim Thompson will tag-team on the linkposts through Wednesday. I'll resume blogging on Thursday.

See you on the other side!

Posted by Dwight at 07:00 AM in | Comments (9)
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