Microsoft's 30GB Zune Fix is Coming; You Just Need to Wait for It

Think of it as the Zune version of Y2K. As it was dubbed earlier, Z2K. 30GB Zunes globally froze on startup as the device entered Dec. 31st locally. Microsoft announced they were working on it earlier today, and the fix is already ready. You just have to wait for it.

That's right, as I posited earlier today, this is a leap year problem. What I wasn't sure of was if the problem would resolve itself on January 1st, 2009. According to Microsoft, it will. And that's Microsoft's "quick fix."

Hey, since the device wouldn't boot, it would have been hard to apply a firmware fix anyway. Here's what they say (emphasis mine):

The issue should be resolved over the next 24 hours as the time change moves to January 1, 2009. We expect the internal clock on the Zune 30GB devices will automatically reset tomorrow (noon, GMT). By tomorrow you should allow the battery to fully run out of power before the unit can restart successfully then simply ensure that your device is recharged, then turn it back on. If you’re a Zune Pass subscriber, you may need to sync your device with your PC to refresh the rights to the subscription content you have downloaded to your device.

Customers can continue to stay informed via the support page on zune.net (zune.net/support).

We know this has been a big inconvenience to our customers and we are sorry for that, and want to thank them for their patience.

It won't affect any other Zune models, BTW, the issue is related to a part that is only used in 30GB Zune devices. Microsoft also said they would release a permanent fix before the next leap year in 2012, but seriously, by then we'll all have moved on to the iPod micron or whatever.

Large Screen iPod Touch Coming in 2009?

A report indicates that Apple is working on a large format iPod Touch which will be released in the fall of 2009. Screen size would be 7 - 9", putting it in the netbook or tablet PC range.

According to TechCrunch, it has received info from three independent sources, one of which has handled prototypes.

Just as with current rumors about a so-called iPhone nano, rumors about a Tablet Mac have been around for years, off-and-on, and hot-and-cold.

Still, one can imagine, now that Apple has an effective online store with the App Store, such a device being a success. Add a slider keyboard, with a 9" screen, and you've got the Apple netbook.

Tablet PCs haven't been big sellers, but netbooks? Those are hot. What do you readers think? Would you buy a netbook based on the iPod Touch?

RIAA Loses Jammie Thomas Mistrial Appeal

You'll probably recall that earlier this year the judge in the RIAA v. Jammie Thomas declared a mistrial in the case, setting aside the original verdict. A retrial date has already been set, but the RIAA had a chance to appeal the mistrial ruling. It has lost that appeal, and the retrial will apparently go on.

Jammie Thomas is the only target of the RIAA to take her case to trial. In October of last year the trial ended in an RIAA victory, with a $222,000 penalty assessed against her --- $9,250 for each of the 24 music tracks she allegedly made publicly available on the Kazaa P2P network.

However, U.S. District Judge Michael Davis of Duluth, Minnesota, ruled that he had erred in his jury instructions. Thus, the mistrial.

Recently, the RIAA stated that it will give up on threats and lawsuits, instead opting to work with ISPs to institute a "Three Strikes" rule that will result in terminating broadband for a user caught downloading. However, cases already underway are continuing.

Additionally, at least one ISP, admittedly a small one, has stated that if the RIAA wants it to "play cop," it will have to pay the ISP.

Z2K: 30GB Zunes Across the World are Frozen

30GB Zunes across the world seem to be failing, frozen on startup, in what some have snarkily called Z2K or Z2K9. The device can't be reset, and the best efforts at troubleshooting seem to point to an issue with the latest firmware.

Reports of resets, and then the Zune being frozen on startup, started surfacing overnight. You can find threads in several forums, here, here, and here. Note that all the forums are busy, and slooooow to load, at best.

I have to emphasize, this appears to only be occurring on the first-gen, 30GB Zune. It seems the issue started to happen as devices passed midnight locally across the world, though times don't seem to be exactly synchronized. One can imagine a "wave" frozen Zunes moving across the planet.

Z2K makes sense as a moniker for this: the theory that immediately came to my mind because of the seeming synchronization with midnight was that this was the first leap year since the 30GB Zune was introduced. Others have come up with that idea as well. It has also been reported, though unconfirmed, that older firmware does not have the issue.

BTW, some are suggesting taking apart the device and trying some procedures to fix it. I would recommend against that. If for some reason Microsoft needs these devices back to fix them (hopefully a software fix will work), it may not look too kindly on a Zune that's been previously disassembled.

Due to the timezone differences, there's no official word from Microsoft yet on why Zunes with the newest firmware have frozen. Let's be honest though: the Zune has had enough problems trying to gain market share against the iPod. This can only hurt.

I'll update this as the day progresses. 'Til then, watch a frozen Zune trailer.

Update: Microsoft says they are aware of the issue, and are looking into it.

Online Holiday Shopping Declines by 3 Percent: comScore

It was expected, and now it's been quantified. Holiday shopping was expected be dismal this season, what with the recession and all, and online shopping is no different. According to comScore, online retail spending for the holiday shopping season (Nov. 1st - Dec. 23rd, the last day to purchase online with the possibility of delivery by Christmas Eve) dropped 3% from 2007.

Despite a 15% rise in sales on Cyber Monday, sales dropped from $26.3 billion to $25.5 billion. According to comScore, the comparable days last year were Oct. 27th through Dec. 18th.

comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni said:

"The 2008 online holiday shopping season has declined 3 percent versus year ago, falling behind our expectation of flat sales this year. This marks the first time we’ve seen negative growth rates for the holiday season since we began tracking e-commerce in 2001. The combination of having five fewer shopping days between Thanksgiving and Christmas and the severe economic headwinds faced by consumers has made this a really tough season for retailers, both offline and online."

It's worse if you look at Q4 as a whole, according to comScore. It will be the first full quarter to report negative growth since comScore began tracking e-commerce, down 4% to $36.8 billion from $38.4 billion.

While sales were down, traffic was up, by 5%. Of course, traffic is not the same as sales.

Winners in terms of traffic among individual e-tailers: Hewlett-Packard, with a 28% jump from last year; Apple (19%); Wal-Mart, (4%), and Amazon.com which, as I wrote earlier, said it had the best holiday season ever, with a 7% increase. Best Buy was flat from 2007.

All the other sites had drops in traffic, some major, like Circuit City which dropped 21% from 2007. Small wonder as it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in November; many simply didn't want to take a chance on buying from Circuit City.

But other traffic losers were Dell (17%), and even eBay (4%). Just wait until we see overall retail numbers; I'm sure that will be far worse than this.

Nokia Cell Phones with Stalin Wallpaper Show Up in Russia

I'm not sure why this is such a surprise. In a recent poll Josef Stalin was deemed the third-greatest Russian of all time. Based on that, why wouldn't Russians want cell phones with Stalin wallpaper?

Yes, we know that Stalin was responsible for the deaths of millions of Soviets in labor camps and purges, but he led that poll, run by state-run TV station Rossiya nearly the entire way. It took a plea by the station manager that viewers vote for "someone else" for Stalin to fall to third.

Still, Nokia wants to be absolutely sure that consumers know that they had nothing to do with this "promotion." They said:

“Even if Nokia was on the brink of ruin and release phones or panel with a portrait of Stalin was the only chance to save our business, Nokia [would not do] that.”

Since the wallpaper is obviously being post-loaded on these phones, any buyers should probably ask for a discount, as they are technically used. Don't expect the warranty to be honored, either.

Dell's Claim of Carbon Neutrality More PR Than Green: Report

I had my doubts about Dell's claim of carbon neutrality, when they trumpeted it in August, and it appears I was right. However, I may have been wrong when I said I felt they had made some major strides in that direction. At least, I get that feeling after reading a Tuesday Wall Street Journal report.

The report notes that by Dell's definition, it has reached carbon neutrality. The problem is that there is no standard for what a carbon footprint should include, and so every company calculates its differently.

Dell's definition of their footprint excludes resources used to make their computers, transport them to customers, and the like. It only includes the emissions "produced by its boilers and company-owned cars, its buildings' electricity use, and its employees' business air travel."

According to the WSJ, that amounts to about 5% of Dell's actual footprint. Additionally, Dell is neutralizing that 5% mostly by purchasing carbon credits. While it's no secret that many companies are doing so, the word "mostly" is unsettling.

In terms of positives for Dell, they recently took a swing at Apple's "green laptop" claims. The WSJ also ran a similar story about Apple on Tuesday. Apple's claims of greenness appear to be as much about marketing as Dell's. So perhaps Dell doesn't have to feel quite so bad.

Apple Stock Drops After Another Steve Jobs "Poor Health" Rumor

You can predict it: anything negative about Steve Jobs, whether its his health, or (sometime) in the future, his retirement, and Apple stock tanks. There was yet another ill health rumor today, and you can probably see from the intraday stock graph above exactly when it hit the wire.

This rumor, from Gizmodo, stated that the reason Steve Jobs dropped out of Macworld was his declining health.

Steves health is rapidly declining. Apple is choosing to remove the hype factor strategically vs letting the hype destroy apple when the inevitable news comes later this spring.

This strategic loss will be less of a bang with investors. This is why Macworld is a no-go anymore. No more Steve means no more hype. Saying they are no longer needing [Macworld] is the cover designed by the worldwide "loyalty" department.

Actually, I in terms of Macworld, tended to believe the prior reason given, that Apple had plenty of other routes to highlight its announcements than trade shows. After all, Apple and IDG, who runs Macworld, have had a contentious relationship for some time.

On the other hand, Steve Jobs' health is a different matter. I don't necessarily believe Apple is being 100% up-front on that issue.

Now, according to Gizmodo, this source had been 100% reliable in the past. However, even they hedged their bets, saying:

This source has repeatedly been 100% correct before. Those times, however, were always related to news and images of unreleased Apple products.

Later in the day, Jim Goldman from CNBC checked with Apple, saying:

I was told two weeks ago by sources inside Apple that the decision had nothing to do with Jobs' health. I got the same message today. Period.

I will say again: if Apple is lying, holding some truth back, manipulating its own stock by manipulating the truth, someone — indeed a lot of people — could be going to jail. Do I like the way Apple has handled this ongoing story? No. But do I traffic in rumors to fill the void the company has created by not choosing to be more forthcoming about Jobs' health? Absolutely not.

While certainly not the sort of irresponsible behavior as exhibited in the iReport story which falsely claimed Steve Jobs had a heart attack, causing Apple stock to plummet, it's clear what CNBC thought of the rumor.

A commenter at Gizmodo called it irresponsible journalism, and to watch for a lawsuit. Now, the drop wasn't that drastic, but still. What do you readers think?

One thing's for sure: when a story about a tech CEO makes Perez Hilton's site, you know that CEO is the "rock star" that many claim him to be.

Don't Panic, But SSL is Broken

Don't panic, the "tubes" are still flowing and the Internet is not broken. What is broken is Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), the technology that's supposed to protect web users against spoofed and malicious sites.

Whenever you browse to a site whose URL starts with https:// (bsides getting a little padlock symbol in your browser, as above), you assume the site is safe, that the connection is encrypted, and that you're really at Amazon.com's site, and not fake-Amazon.com.

Researchers on Tuesday, December 30, 2008 presented their findings at the 25th Annual Chaos Communication Congress in Berlin, which showed that they could create a rogue Certificate Authority and issue fake digital certificates, thus circumventing SSL.

This weakness is only exploitable with regards to digital certificates created using the MD5 cryptographic algorithm. However, the researchers (Alexander Sotirov, Marc Stevens, Jacob Appelbaum, Arjen Lenstra, David Molnar, Dag Arne Osvik, Benne de Weger) determined there are at least six CAs still using MD5. They are:

• RapidSSL
• FreeSSL
• TrustCenter
• RSA Data Security
• Thawte
• verisign.co.jp

While researchers were able to create the fake certificate (you can try it out yourself here if you set your system date to August 2004; researchers made the expiration date September 2004 a precaution against misuse in case their CA ever "falls into the wrong hands."

It's not something the common hacker will be able to reproduce easily, which should ease any worries. It took researchers approximately two weeks of computing time on a cluster of 200 PlayStation 3 consoles. Additionally, a hacker would need a way to route traffic from a legitimate site to a malicious one; not impossible, of course.

Of course, rather than MD5, CAs could, and should be using at least SHA-1, or preferably SHA-2. And while that's the case, one of the researchers, Jacob Appelbaum told C|Net that as many as 30 - 35% of the SSL certificates in use may have an MD5 signature in their authentication chain. He said:

"The CAs should contact every customer that currently uses an MD5-signed certificate and offer a free replacement."

The presentation given Tuesday (.PPT) and a detailed explanation of the hack are available from the researchers.

MSI Intros Wind U115 Hybrid Netbook, with Both SSD and HDD

MSI has introduced the Wind U115 Hybrid Netbook (risking, apparently, the wrath of Psion) which uses both solid-state and hard-disk drives, making it the first netbook to do so.

The SSD is used for most of the U115's operations, while the HDD is used for storage. The netbook has a "ECO on" mode which "temporarily disengages the hard drive." According to their press release, this results in "super long" battery life, which they quantify as 12 hours on their product page.

Aside from the hybrid storage system, it's pretty standard fare for a netbook. No word on pricing or availability yet.

• Intel® Atom™ Processor Z530 （1.60GHz）
• Windows® XP Home
• Intel® Poulsbo US15W
• Up to 2GB DDR2 RAM
• 10" 1024x600 LCD Panel
• 8GB SSD / 120GB HDD or 16GB SSD / 160Gb HDD
• 4 in 1 Card Reader
• 1.3 or 2.0 MP Webcam
• D-sub x 1 , USB 2.0 x 3 , Mic-in , Headphone, RJ45
• 3 / 6 cell battery
• 802.11b/g/n, 802.11b/g, Bluetooth V2.0EDR （option）
• 2 speakers
• 260 x 180 x 19-31.5mm
• ~1.0 Kg （with 3 cells battery）

More Teasing From Sony About Its P-Series

Sony, at least on its Japanese site, continues to tease site visitors about the P-series of notebooks that it either keeps leaking accidentally --- or on purpose.

Now if you go to the web page on Sony Japan's site where you can register for email updates on this new device, you get to watch a woman walking out her front door, interspersed with some images of a keyboard.

The darn animation flashes the "scenes" by pretty fast, but I captured what looks to be the keyboard and a tracking nub.

I wonder just how many more teasers will be revealed before CES, where Sony will probably unveil this device.

New Netflix Shipping Procedure May Net You a Freebie

Netflix has announced a new shipping procedure which if the movie you’ve requested isn’t available from your local distribution center, may net you a freebie in the form of the next highest up movie in your queue.

Netflix says they have 55 shipping centers across the country, so if your choice is not available in your local shipping center, they'll send it from another, and to make up for the inconvenience of a shipping delay, send you a freebie as well. When I say freebie, what I mean is it does not count against your monthly allotment. Netflix's original blog post is a bit fuzzy on the matter, but they cleared it up in the comments (emphasis mine):

Now, if your first choice is not available in your local shipping center, we immediately send the next locally available movie in your Queue, and whenever possible, we also send your first choice from another part of the country.

We want you to receive DVDs as quickly as possible, so we’re taking this extra step to ensure you have another movie to enjoy as a complimentary extra DVD rental if your first choice will be delayed.

And just to be clear, in the comments, they said:

That is correct - the complimentary DVD does not count toward your disc plan allotment. If you are on a 2-disc plan, this new process temporarily provides you with 3 discs.

Nice move by Netflix. As they said, the old procedure was "especially inconvenient for our members on 1-disc plans."

The new policy took effect Dec. 11 and applies to all Netflix members.

AnyDVD Again Cracks the Latest BD+ Copy Protection

On Monday Slysoft released version 6.5.0.3 of AnyDVD HD, which now cracks the latest iteration of BD+. Slysoft, based in Antigua, generally thumbs its nose at organizations like the MPAA and says it is promoting "Fair Use Rights."

The only slightly embarassing part of this story is that they first made that claim with version 6.5.0.2, then had to quickly release 6.5.0.3 to add "more support" for the latest BD+ copy protection.

BD+ had been designed to be extensible as they were sure the the original protection scheme would be cracked (shows just how confident they were). Although considered by many to be one of the key differentiating features of Blu-ray, which led to its adoption by more studios, BD+ was not released until late 2007. After Slysoft cracked the first iteration, Macrovision came out with a new release, but now the ball is back in Macrovision's court.

For those who don't know, AnyDVD can be used two ways: it can sit between your DVD and software like Nero, making it believe the DVD is unprotected, or it can rip the DVD to your hard drive itself. There are two versions of AnyDVD, an HD and a non-HD version.

In their press release, Slysoft decided to not be too modest (emphasis and comments mine):

Although newer BD+ decryption wasn't expected until February 2009, today's AnyDVD HD 6.5.0.2 (yes, yes, it's now 6.5.0.3) release decrypts copy protection on all current Blu-ray movies and, in turn, ensures that consumers may continue to backup and enjoy their Blu-ray movie purchases even when using computer monitors that are not HDCP compliant. In fact, Anydvd HD remains the only program that can decrypt all commercial Blu-ray releases, and this incredible magic is, as per usual with Anydvd HD, performed on the fly without requiring users to rip first to their hard drives.

The changelist for 6.5.0.2 / 3 is as follows:

6.5.0.3 2008 12 29

• New (Blu-ray): More support for new version of the BD+ copy protection
  

6.5.0.2 2008 12 28

• New (Blu-ray): Added support for new version of the BD+ copy protection
• New (Blu-ray): Improved region code removal
• Fix: Bug introduced in 6.4.9.2, MyMovies could hang
• Fix (HD DVD & Blu-ray): Bug introduced in 6.4.9.2, retrieving disc information with DVD Profiler for HD DVD and Blu-ray discs did not work while AnyDVD was running
• Some minor fixes and improvements
• Updated languages

Of course, a program like this should only be used for archival backups. Also, anyone considering buying this program should note that as of January 1, 2009, Slysoft will no longer have a free lifetime upgrade program, but instead an annual subscription. However, this means that if you buy before January 1st, you can still get into that program.

I hate to say it, but the subscription model makes sense, as they have to constantly update the program, much as an antivirus vendor must.

Start your downloading engines.

Update: Slysoft apparently keeps finding edge cases. They've updated the software yet again, to 6.5.0.7, as of 12/31.

Release notes:

6.5.0.7 2008 12 31

• New (Blu-ray): More support for new version of the BD+ copy protection. All remaining discs with the new BD+ protection should work now, e.g. "X-Files 2 - I Want to Believe", US ; "In the Name of the King", US; "Meet Dave", US
• Some minor fixes and improvements

New HP MediaSmart Server Adds MacOS Time Machine Support

HP announced new versions of its MediaSmart Server on Monday which, acknowledging the inroads Mac OS X has made in market share, adds better support for Mac OS X, including support for OS X's Time Machine backup feature. This makes it the first 3rd-party hardware to support Time Machine.

Time Machine was one of the key features introduced in October 2007 with OS 10.5 Leopard. Of course, Apple had problems getting its own Airport Disk to work with Time Machine; let's hope HP has made a better first attempt.

HP's MediaSmart Servers run Microsoft's Windows Home Server operating system. The internals of the new ex485 (750GB) / ex487 (1.5TB) have been upgraded to Intel Celeron 2.0GHz CPUs and 2GB of DDR2 RAM from HP's original ex470 (500GB) /ex475 (1.5TB), which had AMD Sempron 1.8GHz CPUs and 512MB of RAM.

Compared to ordinary NAS devices which simply add storage to your network, these HP Servers come at a premium, there's no doubt about that. The ex485 is $599 and the ex487 is $749. In other words, you pay for all the functionality that you could, in fact, perform manually (or have other software perform automatically, rather than the server software).

In addition to Time Machine functionality, HP has also teamed with Amazon to provide an Amazon S3 managed online backup service. Of course, you could easily use a service like Mozy for your PCs, but most of those services don't work with NAS.

However, this is another way to suck the life out of any broadband caps you may (or may not) run up against.

HP has also added a free 5-year SSL certificate when you activate the remote access using the HP Personal option, eliminating the warning messages you used to see in your browser.

Finally, another feature of MediaSmart is remote MP3 streaming. However, when streaming over the web, the software transcodes MP3s at a 128kbps bitrate, to minimize any potential for choppiness.

BTW, if you run over to HP's site and check out their whitepapers, you might get confused. They haven't updated them and the information (like no Time Machine support) is old.

Features of note in the HP press release:

• HP Media Collector: conveniently schedules the MediaSmart Server to copy and centralize digital files and libraries from networked PCs
• Media Streaming: remotely streams photos and music to any Internet-connected PC or Mac
• Server for iTunes: centralizes iTunes music libraries on the server for playback to any networked Mac or PC running iTunes
• HP Photo Publisher: easily upload photos to Facebook®, Picasa™ Web Albums and Snapfish
• HP Photo Viewer: allows easy sharing of photos with friends and family
• PC Hard Drive Backup: backs up networked PCs via the Windows Home Server backup feature
• Mac Hard Drive Backup: backs up Macs running Leopard using Apple Time Machine software
• Server Backup: duplicates designated shared folders to a separate hard disk drive
• Online Backup: duplicates designated folders to Amazon’s S3 online backup service for an additional layer of protection
• Smart Power Management: can schedule times for server to go to “sleep” and “wake up,” saving on energy costs
• Processor: Intel® Celeron®, 2.0 GHz 64-bit. Two gigabytes (GB) of 800-MHz DDR2 DRAM now standard on MediaSmart Server
• Expandability: additional drives can be added for up to 9 terabytes (TB)

The HP MediaSmart Server can be pre-ordered beginning Jan. 5, 2009, from Amazon.com, BestBuy.com, Buy.com, Frys.com and NewEgg.com; it is expected to ship in February.

Acer Plugs Intel's New Q9000 Quad-Core CPU Into the Aspire

On Sunday, Intel introduced the Q9000, a surprisingly affordable ($348, quantity 1,000) quad-core CPU, and on Monday, Acer jumped on it, announcing the Aspire 8930G-7665 notebook, including that processor.

The Q9000 is certainly a bargain compared to the other Q9x00 CPUs, such as the QX9300, which lists at $1,038, and the Q9100, listed at $851, but part of that price difference is attributable to the size of its L2 cache: 6MB, rather than the 12MB in the other processors.

Still, the 8930G-7665 is definitely performance and multimedia-oriented. It comes with an 18.4" WUXGA LCD (1920 x 1080), the aforementioned Q9000 running at 2.0GHz, 4GB of DDR3 RAM, Blu-ray, and more.

Sumit Agnihotry, vice president of product marketing for Acer America said:

"By incorporating the latest capabilities of Intel’s Core™ 2 Quad mobile processors into the Aspire 8930G-7665, Acer is delivering a perfect combination of mobility, innovation and extreme gaming capabilities. Gamers and enthusiasts who enjoy HD multimedia entertainment will find the performance benefits of quad core mobile performance in the Aspire 8930G unrivalled (sic) to other multimedia notebooks on the market."

I wouldn't necessarily say it was unrivaled, though at its price, that might be true. If you want to empty your wallet you could get a Sager with dual 9800GTX GPUs in SLI, but that would be nearly twice the price.

The specs of the Aspire 8930G-7665:

• Intel® Core™2 Quad Mobile Processor Q9000 (6MB L2 Cache | 2.0 GHz | 1066MHz FSB)
• 18.4" WUXGA Acer CrystalBrite™ TFT LCD (1920 x 1080)
• 4GB DDR3 1066 MHz Dual Channel Memory
• NVIDIA® GeForce® 9700M GT with 512MB dedicated video memory
• 500GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive
• Blu-ray Disc™/DVD-Super Multi double-layer drive
• 6-in-1 Digital Media Card Reader
• 802.11a/g/Draft-N Wi-Fi CERTIFIED®
• Acer Crystal Eye Webcam
• Dolby Home Theater®
• Windows Vista® Premium 64-bit
• MSRP $1799.99

According to the press release, it's already available via Acer’s authorized resellers and at select major retailers nationwide. It's not yet on Acer's site, however.

Well-Known Case Maker Advertises iPhone nano Cases

It's one thing when a relatively unknown case maker advertises an iPhone nano case. It's something completely different when a well-known case maker does. Vaja has added an iPhone nano link on their site, leading to still more speculation over a possible Macworld iPhone nano announcement.

Vaja is a relatively well-known maker of cases for anything from notebooks to PDAs. The link above simply takes you to a form where you can sign up for an email alert about the future iPhone nano cases coming from Vaja.

To be honest, simply shrinking down the iPhone to a smaller phone factor doesn't really make any sense. But these multiple leaks from different places, as well as this particular one from a reputable manufacturer, makes one wonder.

What do you readers think? Is Apple working on an iPhone nano, which is simply a downsized iPhone? And would you buy one, if the only difference was size?

Facebook's War Against Lactivists

As a new father, I have to admit, watching my wife breastfeeding our daughter brings on feelings in me, but not sexual ones, rather sweet ones, as I find the interaction between mother and daughter beautiful. Facebook, on the other hand seems to think breastfeeding is obscene, having removed many photos from its site, citing violation of its terms of use.

It has resulted in the creation of a Facebook group, Hey, Facebook, breastfeeding is not obscene!. At the time of this writing, the group has about 78,000 members. This actually was first reported as an issue in 2007, but has really come to a head of late.

On December 27th, the group held its first Mothers International Lactation Campaign (MILC) virtual event, with 11,000 Facebook users posting breastfeeding pictures (some of which were removed), as well as an actual sit-in (or, I guess, a nurse-in) at Facebook's Palo Alto headquarters.

According to the Washington Post, the above image (which I wouldn't have posted if I felt it was obscene) resulted in Kelli Roman being warned that her account might be suspended, as well as having the picture taken down. Is that really obscene? I mean, really?

On the other hand, one might wonder just why a nursing mother would want their picture posted at Facebook. There's no way my wife will let me take such a picture, no matter how modest the pose.

It should be noted that Facebook has said it only removes pictures with a visible nipple or areola, and only when they are flagged by other users. While a protest against Facebook is probably called for, perhaps users should be also protesting against the close-minded people who report such images.

MP3 Player Leads to Skiers' Rescue

Swiss air rescue organization Rega says that an MP3 player was the key to locating two lost French tourists.

No, the two weren't found by rescuers listening for music. Rather, the light from the display of the MP3 player was enough for rescues to home in on.

Rega said it received a distress call from the French tourists late Friday. Unfortunately, the phone battery went dead before they could be located.

The tourists, one a skier and one a snowboarder, got themselves lost late Friday outside marked runs near the resort of Savognin in southeast Switzerland. According to Gery Baumann, Rega spokesman:

"The two winter sports enthusiasts were found by the crew of the Rega helicopter shortly after midnight -- thanks to the faint light of their MP3 player."

It's unclear which brand of MP3 player was used by the tourists; we slapped a Zune picture into this article to give Microsoft some air time, considering the iPod's market share.

Psion and Its netBook Trademark Battle: "Only Going After Those Profiting From the Term"

Earlier last week jkOnTheRun broke the story that Psion Teklogix, a Canadian firm, had been sending cease-and-desist letters to tech bloggers telling them to stop using the term "netbook." The reason: it's a Psion trademark from an old, discountinued product. Since then, the company's legal team has clarified the situation, indicating they are only going after those "making a direct, financial profit from use of the 'Netbook' trademark."

It should be noted that the Psion product was actually called the netBook (above). It ran a version of Psion's EPOC OS, which later became the basis of the Symbian OS.

Origin, the the legal firm representing Psion clarified their position as follows:

We have sent letters out solely to those making a direct, financial profit from use of the ‘Netbook’ trademark.

95% of all letters have been sent to retailers and manufacturers using the ‘Netbook’ trademark.

5% have been sent to websites that have sponsored advertising or other for-profit links that include the prominent use of the ‘Netbook’ trademark and a link to a retailer or manufacturer using the ‘Netbook’ trademark.

0% have been sent to straight blogs, tech enthusiasts sites or review sites – i.e. with no prominent ‘Netbook’ related sponsored advertising or other ‘Netbook’ related for-profit links.

Now, it seems that the 5% could actually become a much larger percentage, since any site which has affiliate advertising, perhaps from Amazon.com or Overstock.com, could become a target of their C&D order. Frequently the retailer determines the advertising on the site (e.g., Amazon's Omakase).

In reality, Origin clarified that site which use such advertising simply need let them know, and they will focus on the retailer rather than the site. At least they are open in that regard.

Much of the criticism around the C&D order is the fact that Psion is basically a nobody now. Others bring up the fact that sometimes trademarks become common-use terms, such as Kleenex or Xerox.

One also has to wonder why they bother with all the cost and effort here. While they are indeed protecting a trademark that is still in use with regards to accessories and supplies they still sell for their netBook PDA, if they're not getting anything asides from a takedown, why bother?

Corporations, after all, are in the business of making money, not throwing it to their lawyers to protect a trademark that's of little use to them. Is there something I'm missing? At any rate, we haven't heard the end of this.

Check out a video demo of the Psion netBook (from someone who was selling it on eBay):

Text Messaging: Yes, It's a Rip-Off

I've written before about the high cost of text messaging versus the actual bandwidth used (wireless carriers even encourage users to SMS, rather than call in the event of an emergency, because there is so little bandwidth used). The New York Times recently posted an excellent story about just how much of a rip-off text messaging charges are.

Earlier this year, the relatively high cost of SMS caught the attention of Senator Herb Kohl (D-WI) and chairman of the Senate's antitrust panel. He sent a letter to the big four U.S. cell carriers (AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, T-Mobile) asking just why SMS rates have doubled since 2005.

The obvious answer is: because they could. The answers he received, according to the New York Times, just danced around the issue.

Part of Kohl's letter, excerpted below (emphasis mine):

Text messages were commonly priced at 10 cents per message sent or received in 2005. As of the end of the month, the rate per text message will have increased to 20 cents on all four wireless carriers. Sprint was the first carrier to increase the text message rate to 20 cents last Fall, and now all of its three main competitors have matched this price increase. What is particularly alarming about this industry-wide rate increase is that it does not appear to be justified by rising costs in delivering text messages.

According to the NYT, T-Mobile made one point, that it's revenue per text message has dropped by 50% since 2005. But, if you recall the Nielsen Mobile report I wrote about earlier, text messaging has risen more than 5x since 2006, much less 2005. Thus, even if carriers are making less per SMS, they are making way more overall.

As I previously indicated also, text messages piggyback on the "control channel," and thus, as the NYT notes:

But text messages are not just tiny; they are also free riders, tucked into what’s called a control channel, space reserved for operation of the wireless network. That’s why a message is so limited in length: it must not exceed the length of the message used for internal communication between tower and handset to set up a call. The channel uses space whether or not a text message is inserted.

So they're charging us for stuff that's essentially free --- once storage requirements for the text messages and maintenance costs are taken into account.

A rip-off or not? Probably not a 100% rip-off, but since they charge for incoming (including text message spam) as well as outgoing text messages, it's definitely a cash cow. Readers?

Intel Denies Trying to Kill NVIDIA's Ion Platform

A report last week that stated that Intel would not unbundle the Atom CPU from its 945GSE and 945GC chipsets. If true, it would have been a major blow to NVIDIA's recently announced Ion platform, which combines the GeForce 9400 GPU with the Intel Atom CPU. However, a response from an Intel spokesman denies that assertion.

The rumor was started by DigiTimes, who said that it had been told by OEMs that Atom CPUs were only available bundled with Intel chipsets. However, InternetNews.com received an email from Bill Calder, an Intel spokesman:

"There is nothing preventing vendors from using the Ion platform. We sell Atom as a stand-alone processor, or as package with chipset."

Ion is obviously aimed at the netbook market and would compete directly with Intel's above-mentioned chipsets. The proof will be when we see the Ion platform in an announced product, I suppose.

Video Games Can Influence Body-Image Self-Esteem: Study

A pair of studies has concluded that much like the effect images of super-thin supermodels have on teenage girls, images of overly-muscled male figures and overly-skinny females in video games can have much the same effect on the body-image self-esteem of gamers.

My psychologist wife has called this a "Grandmother Conclusion," regarding studies done which come up with answers your grandmother could have come up with. Personally, I prefer a female avatar in a MMORPG (like City of Heroes) because a third-person view of a guy isn't really something I enjoy all that much.

The studies, by Richard Harris, Kansas State professor of psychology, and Christopher Barlett, a former Kansas State graduate student in psychology, were detailed in the paper "The Impact of Body Emphasizing Video Games on Body Image Concerns in Men and Women."

According to the Kansas State press release, the men played "WWF Wrestlemania 2000," while the women played a beach volleyball game. It's unclear what the age of the beach volleyball game was, but that WWF game was an N64 game. Looking at the graphics in it, the male participants must have had some serious self-esteem issues from the get-go.

It only took 15 minutes of gameplay to affect their self-image scores, determined by a series of questions. Harris said:
"The results really weren't surprising; they were kind of what we were expecting and fulfilled one of our hypotheses. I'm not going to say that we were happy about that, to see such an effect. It was kind of sobering that it did have such a short-term effect.

There's been a lot of interest for a long time on the unrealistic supermodel image in advertising. What isn't as well known is that idealized masculine image is becoming so much more muscular and is just as unrealistic as the supermodel image.

While Harris added that not everyone who plays video games has body-image problems, the studies do emphasize that there is more to be concerned about in terms of video games than just violence.

Future studies, Harris said, could include studies on whether video games increase objectification of women, the long-term effects of video games on body image and how video games affect the body-image views of the opposite gender.

A previous study ran by Harris in 2006 determined that watching a scary movie on a date reinforces stereotypical gender roles and that men actually enjoy "chick flicks," at least while on a date.

Surprise! Men Love Video Games Because of Their Drive to Win

File this as another one of those studies that probably didn't need to be done to come to the conclusion they did. According to a study, gaming activates parts of the male brain which are linked to rewarding feelings and addiction. It does so to a much lesser extent among women (no!).

Professor Allan Reiss of the Center for Interdisciplinary Brain Sciences Research at Stanford University led the research, published recently in the Journal of Psychiatric Research. He said that while women understood computer games as well as men, they did not have the same neurological drive to win.

Like I said, did we really need this study? I guess it validates what most wives and girlfriends probably already know.

Professor Reiss told the Telegraph:

"These gender differences may help explain why males are more attracted to, and more likely to become 'hooked' on video games than females. I think it's fair to say that males tend to be more intrinsically territorial. It doesn't take a genius to figure out who historically are the conquerors and tyrants of our species – they're the males. Most of the computer games that are really popular with males are territory and aggression-type games."

Interesting that Reiss would say that one of the parts of the brain most stimulated by games affects addiction; after all, last year the AMA backed off calling video game addiction a disorder akin to alcoholism.

The Pentagon's Latest Universal Translator: an iPod Touch

Believe it or not, there's a Pentagon News Channel, and recently one of their reports had a segment on a high-tech translation device. Not really all that exciting, except for the fact that the device is actually an iPod Touch.

They call it a VCOM, and as they reported, you simply have to choose the language, and then the combat scenario you are in, such as a raid (as demo'ed on the video), and then select what you might want said like "Drop the weapon" or whatever.

After you do that, an avatar shows up on the screen and verbalizes the phrase, which is then said through the iPod Touch's speaker. It's pretty cool, but I wonder how they got it onto the iPod Touch without passing it through the App Store.

Watch the segment (the full episode is available on the Pentagon's News Site linked above):

Imagine: John Lennon Pitching OLPC Laptops 28 Years After His Death

On December 8th, 1980, Mark David Chapman murdered John Lennon. But with the approval of his widow Yoko Ono, Lennon lives on again, sort of, in an One Laptop Per Child ad pitching the organization's XO-1 laptop.

The OLPC program, the brainchild of Nicholas Negroponte, is been about getting laptops into the hands of underprivileged children around the world. In the digitally produced ad, Lennon is portrayed as saying:

"Imagine every child no matter where in the world they were could access a universe of knowledge. They would have a chance to learn, to dream, to achieve anything they want. I tried to do it through my music, but now you can do it in a very different way. You can give a child a laptop and more than imagine, you can change the world."

The OLPC's second annual "Give One, Get One" campaign, in which you pay for one XO-1 laptop for yourself and one for a child in a developing nation, is currently in progress and runs through Dec. 31st.

If you prefer, you can simply donate a laptop for a child, without paying for one for yourself.

The commercial went life on Christmas eve, and can be viewed below:

CastleCops: In Memorium

CastleCops, the volunteer-run website and organization famous for fighting phishing, highly recommended by many, has gone offline. The site had reached its five-year anniversary in 2007.

CastleCops had made many enemies among the malware community, who used DDOS attacks on the site as well as PayPal donations from compromised accounts to ruin the site's PayPal reputation.

In June, founder Paul Laudanski announced in June that he had been hired by Microsoft to work on phishing and spam investigations, and said that he hoped to find someone else to run the site.

On their site, CastleCops said:

You have arrived at the CastleCops website, which is currently offline. It has been our pleasure to investigate online crime and volunteer with our virtual family to assist with your computer needs and make the Internet a safer place. Unfortunately, all things come to an end. Keep up the good fight folks, for the spirit of this community lies within each of us. We are empowered to improve the safety and security of the Internet in our own way. Let us feel blessed for the impact we made and the relationships created.

CastleCops said they will try to return any donations made for their "server marathon," but those made by check will be donated to the Internet Systems Consortium (ISC.org), as CastleCops does not have the donators' addresses.

SecurityFocus said that some of CastleCops' data has moved to the System Lookup site. This closure isn't really a surprise, but CastleCops' Phishing Incident Reporting & Termination Squad (PIRT) and Malware Incident Reporting & Termination Squad (MIRT) will be missed.

More Dell Adamo Rumors: DisplayPort, Blu-ray

Rumors keep flying about the Dell Adamo. It's already pretty much certain details abou the MacBook Air competitor will be announced at CES, we don't have long to wait, but even that seems too long. Meanwhile, more details continue to leak out about possible specifications for the laptop.

A Google cache of Dell accessories from Dell's site shows that the Adamo will have DisplayPort for video-out, and will at least have the option for a Blu-ray drive.

Aside from that the largest internal drive I see is 250GB; I also saw an external 500GB hard drive, but the external interface isn't listed; some have noted eSATA support but it appears they confused the internal SATA interface with the unlisted external interface (more likely USB 2.0, but eSATA would be cool).

A recent DigiTimes article said the Adamo could be priced as high as $3,000, which would significantly higher than the lowest-priced MacBook Air, but of course, it all depends on what's "in" the $3,000 Adamo, if that's its price. A new story today said the pricing could be as low as $1,500, which would be more like it, if Dell really wants to "take on" the MBA.

Teenagers Spoof Speed Cams, Prank "Enemies" and Teachers

When I was a teenager, we might TP the house of someone we disliked. Some Maryland teenagers instead have figured out how to fool speed cameras by spoofing the license plates of their "enemies," resulting in those spoofed receiving unwarranted speeding tickets.

Students have dubbed the prank the "Speed Camera Pimping Game." Originating from Wootton High School, students duplicate the license plates by printing plate numbers on glossy photo paper, using fonts that are similar to those on Maryland license plates. They then run by a speed camera, so that those they feel have "wronged them" receive a citation in the mail.

Students are even going so far as to use vehicles that are similar or identical to the make and model of the car owned by the targeted victim, according to a parent.

Ironically, this school says it is a "Blue Ribbon School of Excellence." Excellence at pranking, apparently.

Unsurprisingly, the Montgomery County Police say they are unaware of this prank.said they have not seen or heard of this prank. However, they said they will keep an eye out for it.

Montgomery County Council President Phil Andrews said that the issue is troubling, in more than one way:

"I am concerned that someone could get hurt, first of all, because they are speeding in areas where they know speeding is a problem. It will cause potential problems for the Speed Camera Program in terms of the confidence in it."

Too late for that, I think.

The speed cameras in Montgomery County haven't been warmly received. One person even went so far as to create a Google Earth KML file mapping the locations of the cameras.

Despite Recession, Amazon.com Has a Record Holiday Season

Despite the recession, Amazon.com has announced that its 14th holiday season was the best ever. Of course, while it listed numbers of items sold, it didn't list any revenue or profit figures. That, in fact, was the big question for all retailers this holiday season: would they make any money?

In other words, it was Amazon.com's best holiday season ever, but was that in terms of items sold, revenue, or profit, or what? At any rate, Amazon.com said its peak day was Dec. 15th, with 6.3 million items ordered worldwide, a record-breaking 72.9 items per second.

Once again, no deals in terms of money. And in the rest of the press release, Amazon.com emphasized a set of factoids:

• Top sellers in consumer electronics included Samsung's 52-inch 1080p 120Hz LCD HDTV with RED Touch of Color, the Apple iPod touch 8 GB (2nd Generation) and the Acer Aspire One 8.9-inch netbook (1.6 GHz Intel Atom N270 processor, 1 GB RAM, 160 GB hard drive, XP Home, 6 cell battery), sapphire blue.

• During the period from Nov. 15 - Dec. 10, Amazon sold one copy of Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007 every 2.5 minutes.

• The weight of all GPS devices sold from Black Friday through December equals the combined weight of 151 Mini Coopers.

• Amazon sold enough high-performance headphones that everyone attending the last three Super Bowls could grab a set and rock out.

• Amazon Grocery sold enough coffee to give each resident of the highly caffeinated city of Seattle a cup per day for two months.

• Amazon sold enough Casio G-Shock watches to outfit every Kanye West fan attending the 2008 Glow in the Dark Tour concert at Madison Square Garden, N.Y.

• Amazon sold enough Coldplay CDs that laid side by side they'd stretch from Seattle to Violet Hill (a street in London and the album's first single) and more than halfway back.

• In DVDs, top sellers included "Wall-E," "The Dark Knight" for Blu-ray and "The Dark Knight."

Unsurprisingly, the Nintendo Wii dominated the top sellers in video games and hardware including the Wii console, the Wii remote controller and the Wii nunchuk controller.

Interestingly, buyers who used Amazon's new TextBuyIt and Mobile Web services were fans of Monopoly Here and Now World, the Nintendo Wii and "Wall-E" (three-disc special edition + digital copy and BD Live) for Blu-ray.

Get Your $99 iPhones (Not at Wal-Mart, and Refurbished, Though)

Well, there are no $99 iPhone 3Gs at Wal-Mart --- yet --- but if you want a $99 iPhone, and you don't mind a refurbished one, you can get them straight from AT&T, but only until 12/31.

I noticed the refurbished iPhone 3Gs at AT&T earlier, but they were priced at $149 for the 8GB model and $249 for the 16GB model. Now, as the site says, they're marked down another $50, to $99 / $199, until 12/31 (while supplies last).

Details on refurbished iPhones (emphasis mine):

Refurbished phones are previously owned devices that have been unused or lightly used and returned during the 30-day trial period. Each refurbished phone is independently quality tested and loaded with the latest software to meet current factory standards. Some refurbished iPhone 3G devices will have minor scratches.

Refurbished iPhone 3G devices carry a warranty of 90 days or more. For details about the warranty on your refurbished iPhone 3G go to www.apple.com/support/oss/.

They also say you'll get free two-day shipping.

Whenever AT&T has refurbished iPhones, they usually go quickly, so if you want one, you'd better head over to the site fast.

Yes, Virginia, Wal-Mart to Start Selling iPhones on Sunday

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus, although he's coming to Wal-Mart a bit late. Confirming what I and many other sites have been saying for quite some time, Wal-Mart has finally announced that sales of the iPhone 3G will begin on Dec. 28th, Sunday.

Of course, since some stores had been putting out in-store displays, it wasn't really all that much of a secret.

As expected, there's only going to be a slight $2 discount, with 8GB models selling for $197 and 16GB models for $297 (new customer or qualified for an upgrade, and a two-year contract). Wal-Mart does have a price match policy, and Best Buy is currently selling iPhones at a $10 discount, until Dec. 31st, so don't forget that.

And no, no $99 iPhone anywhere in sight.

Gary Severson, senior vice president, Entertainment, Walmart said:

"We are delighted to bring customers this ground-breaking mobile technology. Our electronics associates have been preparing for many weeks for the arrival of iPhone 3G. We are excited to now help new customers learn more about the features and services that make the iPhone unique."

The press release also noted that the iPhone has "3G networking that is twice as fast" but added the caveat "*Based on 3G and EDGE testing. Actual speeds vary by site conditions." Nice CYA.

The Vatican Approves an iPhone App

Don't get worried; it's not necessary for the Vatican to approve iPhone apps nowadays (it's tough enough to get through the App Store process without that added hurdle). But on Monday the Vatican approved this app, an electronic version of the Breviary, designed for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

iBreviary was created by Rev. Paolo Padrini and Italian Web designer Dimitri Giani. The app is available in the App Store for $0.99. With the latest version of the app, users can view not just the Breviary, but the Mass and other prayers.

Monsignor Paul Tighe, secretary of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Social Communications, told the AP that the Church is:

"learning to use the new technologies primarily as a tool or as a mean of evangelizing, as a way of being able to share its own message with the world."

You can switch between English, Italian, French, Spanish, Latin and the Rite Ambrosiano in the App. You can check out the developers website (Italian) for more details on the app.

The Internet Overtakes Newspapers as a News Source

As newspapers struggle to stay in business while revenue declines, a Pew Research Center study released on Tuesday confirms what most of us already figured: those eyeballs are now viewing the Internet, rather than newspaper print.

These findings are based on a recent installment of the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press' weekly News Interest Index. This survey was conducted Dec. 3 - 7
among 1,489 adults.

The survey (.PDF) notes that 40% pf those surveyed say they get most of their news about national and international news from the Internet, up from 24% in September 2007. Meanwhile only 35% cite newspapers, while television, at 70% continues to be cited most frequently as a main source for news.

Totals can exceed 100% as those surveyed could cite more than one source.

For those between 18 and 29, 59%, equal to the number who cite television as a major source, use the Internet for news. In September 2007, things were quite different, with 68% saying the relied mostly on TV, vs. 34% using the Internet.

The trend among the younger respondents has to worry the newspaper industry; that's the future, of course. So the future is, as is obvious to most, a dire one for newspapers.

At the same time, however, where do people get their news online? That's not made clear by the survey. But as News.com notes, much of the content that Internet "viewers" read are from sites such as the New York Times or MSNBC. The problem, as with much of the Web, is monetization, not something easily solved.

Other interesting conclusions from the survey were the the top stories of 2008:

1. Conditions of U.S. economy (Sept 22-28) 70%
2. Rising price of gasoline (June 2-8) 66%
3. Debate over Wall St. bailout (Sept 29-Oct 5) 62%

The presidential election fell in at #4, with 61% of respondents mentioning it.

And despite what Fox News would like you to believe, the survey showed that CNN is still the most widely watched TV news source, 23% to 17% (Fox News is #2).

USA Today Joins List of Amazon Kindle Newspapers

The USA Today is joining the list of other newspapers Kindle owners can subscribe to. The USA Today is the nation's top-selling newspaper, and joins other such newspapers as the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.

An email to Kindle owners tells it all:

Dear Amazon.com Customer,

USA TODAY, the nation’s top selling newspaper, will be available on Kindle starting December 26, 2008. From world news to the daily Sports report, USA TODAY provides 3.6 million readers with the information they need to manage and enjoy their busy lives.

As a gift to you, December 26th only, get the Kindle edition of USA Today wirelessly delivered to your device for free.

It's interesting that they say "December 26th only" as all the other subscriptions available on their newspaper page have a two-week free trial anyway.

There's no info on pricing yet, but the highest priced papers go for $14.99 a month, and the NY Times goes for $13.99. I'd expect pricing to be in the above $10 range.

Don't expect to see a huge uptick in Kindle sales because of this; for one, the darned thing is backordered again, with an 8 -10 week wait for the device. It's somewhat hard to understand, as in March, when founder and CEO Jeff Bezos apologized for the shortage, he said their goal to was to get Kindle inventory to the point where it was order one day, shipped that day.

Obviously that's still not the case.

Sony's P-Series Notebook Leaked --- by Sony

Sony on Christmas Day appears to have given us a Christmas present, although probably temporarily, with an accidental entry at their online store for a P-series notebook. It looks like this might be the designation for the "revolutionary new VAIO" that has been teased, intentionally or not, at the Sony Japan and Sony New Zealand sites.

The Sony site doesn't have all the details. For example, the notebook weighs x.xx lbs., up to an x-hour battery, and costs $NaN.00. But some things are filled in (though not the photo; it looks to be a TT filler). Such as:

• 1.33GHz Intel CPU
• 32-bit Windows Vista Home Premium or Home Basic
• Up to 60GB hard drive, available 128GB SSD
• 8" LED backlit 1600 x 768 display
• Colors: Crimson Red, Champagne Gold, Black Silk
  

Not sure how many people would use an 8" screen with that resolution without a magnifying glass.

No launch date is given, but all signs point to a Jan. 9th announcement, based on the earlier teasers. Oh, and if you're curious, clicking on Shop Now doesn't work, so don't even bother.

Wii Video Service Coming in 2009: Report

According to a report in Japan's Nikkei business daily newspaper (subscription required), the Nintendo Wii will get its own video distribution service in 2009.

Unlike the services offered on the PS3 or Xbox 360, which offer existing movies or TV programming, Nintendo is going to create original programming, cartoons and family-oriented programming, for its video service.

Nintendo will team with Dentsu Inc, Japan's largest ad agency, with some of the programming free and some of it ad-supported.

According to the Nikkei, the service will launch in Japan in the spring. It will expand worldwide "later." I wonder how much anime we'll see on that service? Hey, how about some new Inuyasha episodes, Nintendo?

iPhone nano Concept Photos, Case Photos Emerge

On Monday, continuing the stream of iPhone nano rumors of late, a concept photo of the iPhone nano showed up (above) at MacRumors. I didn't even bother covering it, because it was, well, a concept photo. But remember XSKN, the case manufacturer who listed the iPhone nano on their site, sans details? Well now they have pictures of their cases, not just a blank listing.

The cases run from $24.95 to $26.95, and are similar to many other iPhone cases, not just by XSKN, though naturally smaller. One example is shown below.

Naturally it would be wonderful if they added dimensions, but that would make our lives way too easy, wouldn't it?

It should be noted that XSKN leaked accurate designs for the iPhone 3G and iPod nano 4G before their release; despite that, these designs have been met with doubt.

Microsoft Launches "Vista Answers" Site

Microsoft, possibly expecting some computers with Windows Vista to be delivered by Santa, has unveiled Microsoft Answers (beta). Don't worry Yahoo! Answers or Mahalo Answers, this is not a general answers site. It's strictly for questions about Windows Vista, at least for now.

Some might wonder (I do) why Microsoft took so long to roll this out, particularly since they launched the Windows Vista Compatibility Center in July. Why not add this functionality to that site then, or launch them together?

Time's apparently rapidly running out on Windows Vista, with Windows 7 heading for launch in late 2009 or early 2010, and with Windows XP still highly desired by many OEMs, system builders, and consumers.

At the site, you can Search for answers, Browse for answers, or Ask the Community, meaning other users as well as "Microsoft Answers Team," for help.

Now, while there are many who complain about Windows Vista, sometimes I wonder if that's just people seeing someone down and trying to pile on. If you have a state-of-the-art or at least decent PC, it runs just fine. I hate UAC, but that's just one part of it. Other than that, while I constantly say it's evolutionary, rather than revolutionary, when compared to XP, it works just fine for me.

So my question to Microsoft is, what are you going to do with this site when Windows 7 releases? Move to Windows 7 only questions (there is no XP coverage on the site)? Or split the site? Or what?

Santa Tracking Hits Twitter

NORAD and Google have been best buds since 2007 in terms of Santa tracking, with the ability to track Santa via Google Earth, watch YouTube video of Santa's flight, and track him on Google Maps on NORAD's site as well. And this year, Santa has decided to tweet updates via Twitter, as well.

Follow St. Nick on Twitter by adding "@noradsanta." You can also track him on Google Maps for Mobile by searching for "NORAD Santa” --- if you're trying to race him home.

BTW, Santa is obviously too busy steering the sleigh to actually be Twittering himself. He's got Bitz the Twittering elf to do that.

Oh, and if you prefer Microsoft's Virtual Earth to Google Earth, they and MSNBC (that MS might tell you of their relationship, if you didn't already know) have teamed for their own Santa Tracker.

Either way, there are plenty of ways to answer the question "Where is Santa Claus," and more every year. Want to know more about Google's efforts in this most important task? Check out their Santa Tracking history here.

Watch a video of Santa visiting the International Space Station (ISS):

Sony Japan's Teaser Video Hints at "New VAIO"

First Sony New Zealand put up a teaser site which said it will "change the way you look at laptops. Forever." Now Sony's Japanese website hints at a "VAIO New Mobile," coming soon. The Japanese site doesn't specify the date, but the NZ site said Jan. 9th (before it was taken down).

Go the Sony's Japanese site, and you are greeted with a Flash animation that shows an elegantly dressed woman pulling a long, thin, mobile device out of her purse. It eventually morphs into an envelope, which then shows the text "VIAO New Mobile. Coming Soon."

Click on the page and you're taken to another one where you can register for to be emailed information about the upcoming device. Assuming of course, you can read Japanese.

Based on the teaser video, this looks very similar to the notebook discovered via FCC docs a few weeks back, IDed as the PCG-1P1L and PCG-1P2L.

Couple this with the Dell Adamo and January looks to be an interesting month for notebooks.

Report: New iMacs to Ship in January

Clues in Apple's OS have led many to believe that a new Mac Mini and iMac are just around the corner. A report in the Chinese-language Economic Daily News (EDN) (via DigiTimes) now says that the iMacs at least will start shipping in January, with manufacturer output of 800,000 units / month.

The report says that Quanta Computer would be Apple's manufacturing partner in this venture.

Now, that's a pretty large number. That would be 2.4 million iMacs in the first quarter of 2009. And considering Apple's market share dropped from 3.7% to 3.2% in Q3, according to iSuppli, that's a pretty ambitious goal. Apple's figures for Q3 (its fiscal Q4) show 2.6 million Macs shipped total. If you're going to ship 2.4 million iMacs alone --- well, that doesn't really add up.

Still, it's about time for an iMac revamp. The numbers might be wrong, but the timing and the rest, perhaps not. Macworld is just around the corner, after all.

Dell Confirms MacBook Air Rival, the Adamo

I wrote earlier about the Dell Adamo, or at least, the Dell Adamo website and the various clues around the Web about what was rumored to be a MacBook Air competitor. It seems that there is now confirmation.

It all started when the New York Times Bits blog noticed a blurb (since removed) at luxury lifestyle site Uptownlife.net that said:

"Rumor has it that Dell is coming out with a computer called Adamo that will rival the MacBook Air. At press time, the company was keeping the product tightly under wraps, but PC users rejoice - word on the street is that something cool is coming your way."

According to Bits, it's now been confirmed by Dell that the blurb above was supposed to be an ad for the Adamo. Why they chose a site like Uptownlife.net, I don't know. But apparently the site added to the confusion by "lumping blog posts and ads together."

One thing though: according to Bits, Dell has only confirmed the existence of the Adamo, not that its a MBA rival. Uh, huh. But a lot of the evidence from my prior post still points to a super-thin laptop.

Expect to see something from Dell at CES in January. They won't admit exactly what yet, just that it will be called the Adamo, but I still vote for something MBA-ish.

HP Releases iPhone Photo Printing App

Want an easy way to print photos from your iPhone or iPod Touch? Well, HP has released iPrint Photo, a free app that allows you to print wirelessly to a network-attached printer. Of course, only HP printer owners need apply.

Come on, why would they want you to print to Canon or Epson printers?

HP iPrint Photo uses Apple's Bonjour technology to print to a pretty large list of HP printers. It's pretty simple to use, as outlined on HP's site:

I have an iPhone, but no HP inkjet printer (I do have a LaserJet). I simply can't stand having to pay exorbitant prices for HP ink cartridges (3rd party cartridges just never worked correctly for me). However, the App Store has plenty of 5-star reviews for it. There are also plenty of 1-star reviews, though, as the average rating is 3 stars.

Hit the Eject Button: VHS is Dead

While Variety announced the death of VHS in 2006, it wasn't really dead, just sliding rapidly toward the grave. But now, the last major supplier of VHS tapes, Distribution Video Audio of Palm Harbor, Florida, has shipped its last truckload of tapes, and it's truly dead (once again, more or less).

Ryan Kugler, president and co-owner of the company said:

"It's dead, this is it, this is the last Christmas, without a doubt. I was the last one buying VHS and the last one selling it, and I'm done. Anything left in warehouse we'll just give away or throw away."

Rather than just dumping all that inventory in a landfill, one has to wonder if parts of those tapes are recyclable. Of course, I still have a number of friends who continue to use a VCR rather than a TiVo or other DVR,

So, the end has come in terms of buying pre-recorded VHS tapes, unless perhaps at a flea market or garage sale, but there will still be blank tapes for sale. Still, its ironic this story comes just as Gartner tells the music industry to dump the CD.

Apple's PC Market Share Drops 1/2 Percent in Q3 as Laptops Outpace Desktops

One might think that if laptops were to outpace desktops (for the first time in a quarter, according to iSuppli), that Apple might be the beneficiary of some added market share. But apparently not, as Apple dropped from a 3.7% share to 3.2%.

It shouldn't be a surprise that notebooks are outselling desktops in this iSuppli report; an earlier IDC report said the same thing.

It is somewhat somewhat surprising that Apple would see a market share drop. According to the report,

Notebook PC shipments rose to 38.6 million units, nearly a 40% from Q3 2007. Meanwhile, desktop PC shipments dropped 1.3% to 38.5 million units.

Matthew Wilkins, principal analyst for compute platforms at iSuppli said:

"Momentum has been building in the notebook market for some time, so it’s not a complete surprise that shipments have surpassed those of desktops. However, this marks a major event in the PC market because it marks the start of the age of the notebook. The notebook PC is no longer a tool only for the business market, or a computer for the well-off consumer; it’s now a computer for everyman."

Rankings were as follows:

1. Hewlett-Packard, 18.8%, 14.9 million units
2. Dell, 13.9%, 11 million units
3. Acer, 12.2%, 9.7 million units
4. Lenovo, 7.5%
5. Toshiba, 4.6%

Apple was #7. iSuppli didn't mention a reason or theory for Apple's drop, but they did highlight Acer, which they said shifted into "overdrive." Acer grew its market share 79% on a year-over-year basis. iSuppli pointed out the company's successful netbooks.

Some have suggested that Apple's next move in PCs should be into the netbook sector.

iPhone Ranks in the Top 5 in Flickr Cams

Despite having only a 2-megapixel camera, Apple's iPhone ranks in the top 5 cameras (overall) used on Flickr, based on the site's Camera Finder (click above image to enlarge). Quite obviously, given that overall ranking, when looking only at camera phones, the iPhone is #1.

The top 5 cameras overall are:

1. Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi
2. Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT
3. Nikon D80
4. Canon EOS 40D
5. Apple iPhone

That puts the iPhone into some pretty expensive company. For camera phones, the rankings are:

1. Apple iPhone
2. Nokia N95
3. Nokia N73
4. Nokia N82
5. Sony Ericsson K800i

Flickr does place this caveat on their site as far as camera phones go:

The graphs are only accurate to the extent that we can automatically detect the camera used to take the photo or shoot the video (about 2/3rds of the time). That is not usually possible with cameraphones, therefore they are under-represented.

C|Net theorizes that the iPhone's ability to tap into the social networking elements of Flickr, meaning it's ability to post pictures at will, and thus keep friends and relatives up-to-date on what's happening in your life.

They do also state, however, the statistics fluctuate daily, and that the holidays might be skewing the numbers.

The New York Times Sued Over Its Linking Policy

You'll recall that earlier this year AP took a hardline stance on linking to their stories and including short excerpts, a practice generally accepted as "fair use." On Monday, in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, GateHouse Media, which publishes 100+ local newspapers, sued the New York Times for copyright infringement, because its Boston.com online unit was linking to GateHouse Media stories, using a headline and one line of text.

Personally, I fail to see how that is anything but "fair use." The headline and one line? That's definitely going to drive traffice GateHouse Media's way. So why the fuss?

In the lawsuit (.PDF), GateHouse specifically points to linking between the Boston.com's local Newton section, and the Newton TAB. The Newton TAB is part of the Wicked Local website. And you can see from the image above just how much Boston.com uses: a headline, and a sentence at most. In some cases, just the headline. As I said, that's bound to drive traffic to GateHouse.

Now, there was an earlier content theft complaint made about the Huffington Post. In that case, it was more like taking an entire piece, and linking. One sentence and linking? Big deal. Once again, I can't see how that hurts GateHouse. And it's not as though Boston.com is only taking content from GateHouse, and nowhere else.

Me? Link to me, please.

As far as this suit goes, if successful, it could prove to be the end of sites like Topix, Propeller, Digg, Techmeme --- and I consider linking from there to my site a plus!

Anyway, rather than a lawsuit, here's what GateHouse should do. Link to stories on Boston.com. That'll show 'em!

Gartner to Music Industry: Dump the CD Already, Will You?

A report by research analyst firm The Gartner Group says what many consumers have know for some time: the age of the CD is over. The report states that the music industry, by continuing to rely on CDs as their main revenue generator, is limiting its ability to embrace digital distribution.

Further, Gartner said that the music industry should make Christmas 2008 the last one for retail CDs.

Mike McGuire, research vice president at Gartner said:

“By propping up the CD business, rather than fully investing in online distribution alternatives, the major labels and the larger music industry have neither succeeded in stamping out piracy nor done much to recreate the business models of the old ‘record business. Music labels should instead emphasize 'digital first,' making all new releases and catalog issues via digital services and moving CDs to an on-demand publishing mode.

The industry's comfort with past marketing and promotional practices centered on CD launches is ingrained and difficult to give up. But the reality is that digital natives and immigrants are more interested in convenience and choice. This is not to say that the physical CD would disappear altogether. Rather, it could shift to being a promotional tool to be sold or given away at concerts for example.”

The move toward on-demand publishing is one that the book industry has already begun to embrace, by the way.

McGuire went on to state that there is some evidence that retailers are reducing shelf space for CDs. Additionally, he noted that physical media sales have gone from 91% of revenue in 2005 to only 77% in 2007, and that CD revenue is unlikely to recover.

Despite all this, the introduction of the "slotMusic" format in September shows that the music industry is thinking, not of new ways to digitally distribute music, but new ways to physically distribute music.

Gartner's report comes in the year that iTunes surpassed Wal-Mart as the No. 1 music retailer.

Garmin to Ship Android Smartphone in 2H09

Some pretty interesting news from Garmin today. Despite the economic downturn, and despite the inclusion of more and more GPS functionality in smartphones, Garmin said that it expects its 2008 total sales volume of GPS PNDs will increase by 50% from 2007 to 18 million units. But it's the Android news that struck a chord.

Garmin's Asia Pacific marketing director Tony An added that:

Garmin will launch Nuvifone, its first GPS-enabled handset, in the Taiwan market in the second quarter of 2009, An noted. Garmin also plans to launch self-developed Android handsets in the second half of 2009, with production to be outsourced.

It was to be expected, what with Garmin joining the Open Handset Alliance in early December. It's tough to tell the way that paragraph is written, but to me it sounds like the reference to the Taiwan market only applies to Nuvifone. The Android phone is probably not going to launch in Taiwan, I would think.

With all the Android phone announcements and rumors of late, 2009 is shaping up to be the year of Android.

Roku's Netflix Player Gets an HD Upgrade

On Monday, Roku's popular Netflix player became the latest Netflix-compatible device to support high-definition video streams, with a firmware upgrade to 1.5.

With that update, the Roku box finally joins the other HD-capable Netflix players: the Xbox 360, TiVo HD DVRs, and Samsung BD-P2500 and BD-P2550 Blu-ray players. The lone "hold-out," the LG BD300 Blu-ray player will probably receive a firmware upgrade soon.

The Roku box, at $99, is the most affordable of these options, and in addition, clicking the "What's New" button on the new home screen gives users a teaser of what's to come:

"By now you’ve discovered our new home screen. This screen will become your launching pad for a number of great new channels that will begin to appear on your player in early 2009. In addition to the hugely popular Netflix channel, you'll see movie channels, TV channels, web video and more! We've also upgraded your player to support an advanced video format that will deliver better video quality, especially over Internet connections. Finally, your player is now fully HD compatible. If you have an HDTV, select 'update display type' below to get the full HD experience. (Tip: visit www.netflix.com/InstantHD for HD movies from Netflix.)"

Yep, there are more partnerships to come in 2009, besides Netflix. Good thing, too, as Netflix's HD catalog is a pretty lackluster set right now, around 300 titles. Not a surprise though, as in September Roku CEO Anthony Wood told an audience at the Streaming Media West conference that his company wants to be able to stream video from any content provider.

Of course, this puts a still further strain on the bandwidth caps that are being placed on end users by ISPs, wonderful, wonderful.

Palm Gets Its Own Bailout; Is It Enough?

Palm has been struggling to stay afloat until its soon-to-be-announced (at CES) Nova OS is released, but it's been burning through cash as rivals such as the iPhone and BlackBerry continue to take market share. But on Monday Palm received its own bailout, as Elevation Partners, which took a 25% stake in Palm in 2007, bought $100 million in preferred stock in the beleaguered company.

In a press release, Ed Colligan, president and CEO of Palm, Inc. said:

"The additional capital from Elevation Partners will enable us to put added momentum behind the new product introductions scheduled for 2009 and will provide us with enhanced stability in unsettled economic times. Elevation has been a great partner to Palm, and we appreciate their continued confidence and support."

Meanwhile, stated Roger McNamee, co-founder of Elevation Partners (no, they didn't ask Bono, another of the partners, to comment) said:

"We believe that Palm is in a position to transform the cell phone industry, and we are pleased to have the opportunity to make this additional investment in the company. Palm has an industry-leading team and an exciting, differentiated product roadmap. We are proud to be associated with the company and look forward to great things from Palm in 2009 and beyond."

Palm had the smartphone market in its control at first, but a lack of innovation and clunky designs, as well as reliance on the old PalmOS platform has put it in the position it finds itself in now: a company desperate for a hit.

Yes, the Centro was a hit (even with PalmOS), but it wasn't something that made Palm money, at $99 a device.

Is this investment enough? Palm fans, and there are still plenty of them, may be wondering if they will have to face life "With or Without Palm."

Shares of Palm surged 22.5% on the news, finishing the day at $3.05 a share.

Windows XP: It Keeps Going, and Going, and Going

Windows XP: it's not an Energizer battery, but it still seems to keep going. Microsoft has given yet another reprieve, of sorts, to the operating system that many refuse to switch from.

System builders, the smaller shops and computer dealers that build PCs to order, were undoubtedly getting a little antsy over the impending Jan. 31, 2009 date, which was the original deadline after which they could no longer order XP.

Microsoft's latest change in terms allows resellers to order before January 31, 2009, but take delivery at any time up to May 30, 2009. Some resellers had been prepared to stockpile XP licenses prior to January 31st.

It was just October when Microsoft announced that OEMs (such as Dell, HP, etc.) would be able to continue to ship XP until July 31, 2009. At the time, it said the date for system builders (Jan. 31st) had not changed. Now it's extended the system builders' date as well, though it might be nice to align the two dates.

At any rate, even if the cutoff for license delivery is May 30th, system builders will probably have a backlog, and be able to install XP for some time past that date.

And even then, after both OEMs and system builders run out of licenses, XP will still be available in ultra-low-cost PCs (nettops, netbooks), until June 30, 2010. By then we should have Windows 7 to be kicking around.

iBreath for the iPhone: Analyze Your BAC, Then Call a Taxi

Took 'em long enough, I'd say. After all this same company, David Steele Enterprises, released a similar device for the iPod way back in 2006. The company has now released a version of the iBreath for the iPhone and iPods, so you can check your blood alcohol content while making phone calls (to a taxi company or a designated driver, I hope).

Don't worry, they wouldn't charge you $79 to just check your blood alcohol level. Nope, it also has an FM transmitter, to send your tunes to an FM radio. It better, as you can buy a keychain BAC tester for under $10 (of course, who knows how accurate that one is).

According to their press release (which seems to only list iPods, but their site and video clearly show and mention iPhones):

It's simple to use. Just fold out the blow wand and exhale into it for at least 5 seconds. Seconds later, this potential jail-saving tool will let users know if they're within the legal limit to drive. It even contains a timer that can be set from 1 minute up to 8 hours in order to remind users when to test again.

Accuracy is a good question. You may recall Sharper Image was sued over inaccurate blood alcohol level results from breathalyzers it sold.

The box includes:

• iBreath
• 12V Car Plug (for those times when you may not have an iPod or iPhone with you)
• USB Cable
• Instruction Manual

I'm really not sure why you need a USB cable, personally. Watch a video demo:

Mensa Alarm Clock; Takes a Genius to Shut It Off

Frankly, I find this to be one of the sillier things I've seen in a while, but as a member of American Mensa I had to write about it. It's the Mensa Puzzle Alarm clock, and apparently it's been developed with the assistance of the U.K. Mensa branch. Not a genius? Move along; you'll never turn it off.

Seriously, it's similar to that old Simon game. You have to remember and enter a sequence of colored lights to shut the darn thing off. However, if you get it wrong or are too slow, it'll sound the alarm again --- this time louder --- and louder --- and louder.

Of course, if you look carefully, there's a "Wimp Out" button. Press that, and you'll get a bonus of 30 seconds of an extra loud alarm as punishment.

Now, it doesn't seem to be available on the U.K. Mensa site, though they do have other gadgets for sale. Despite that, I assume that with www.mensa.org.uk emblazoned on the clock, it was indeed developed in concert with Mensa.

It doesn't seem to be available in any U.S. stores, but it's on eBay and at Amazon's U.K. site.

Strangely, the U.S. Mensa site is much more boring than the U.K. site; the only gifts it has for the holidays is a gift test set, no gadgets as on the U.K. site.

App Store Rejects E-Book Over "Objectionable Content"

Apple's App Store has rejected an e-book over what it called "objectionable content" (meaning, the f-word, and some sexual content), citing a clause in the iPhone SDK. This is just another example of what some have called the "nightmarish" App Store approval process.

The book, Knife Music, by C|Net Editor David Carnoy, was submitted using an embedded e-reader, which is how the SDK clause came into play. Section 3.3.12 of the iPhone SDK Agreement states:

"Applications must not contain any obscene, pornographic, offensive or defamatory content or materials of any kind (text, graphics, images, photographs, etc.), or other content or materials that in Apple's reasonable judgment may be found objectionable by iPhone or iPod touch users."

The image above, via Gizmodo, shows an example of the content Apple deemed too racy for the App Store. Come on, there are classics of literature that use words or scenes worse than that.

C|Net (figures) has in-depth coverage of their beleaguered editor's plight. In it, Alexandru Brie, the developer Carnoy enlisted for help with the e-book, said he believes Apple is using word-matching software to search for such content. Or perhaps Apple simply flags sections with such software and then has a human check further.

But more to the point, there's plenty of stuff on iTunes far worse than this. Just check out all the R-rated titles amongst the movies, or even the lyrics to some of the songs they sell.

Rather than rejecting a book, why not simply create some ratings categories, as they have for games or entertainment titles, like Pull My Finger?

Of course, you might remember the comment Steve Jobs made to the New York Times about the Kindle:

"It doesn’t matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people don’t read anymore."

Given that, Apple may just not care. Perhaps Carnoy should have been thinking Kindle, rather than iPhone, for an e-book.

More iPhone nano Clues Emerge

Earlier I wrote about an image of a purported iPhone nano case emerging, pointing to an upcoming nano version of the iPhone, which has been rumored since the first iPhone was released. The case in question was an XSKN case, and now XSKN itself has references to the iPhone nano on its site, meaning this long-running rumor could finally be true.

It should also be noted that the site which first leaked the iPhone nano case image (below), iDealsChina, also leaked accurate 4G iPod nano case design images.

Now, as MacRumors also points out, XSKN isn't too good at keeping things secret; it also leaked information on the iPhone 3G and iPod nano 4G as well. MacRumors also states it has heard Apple's Macworld plans have been pushed out, so even if this is true, it might not make Macworld.

As I previously pointed out, howver, it's tough enough to type on the iPhone 3G screen with its current size. Can you imagine an iPhone nano? Unless of course, Apple finally adds in native landscape mode for emails and SMS (hint, hint, Apple).

Missouri Begins Prosecuting Cyberbullying Cases

Following the 2006 suicide of Megan Meier over a MySpace hoax, Missouri revised the the state's already existing harassment law to include telephone and electronic communication, effectively outlawing cyberbullying. And now they are starting to prosecute violators of that law.

The law has only been in effect for three months, and according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, seven individuals have been charged in cyberbullying cases.'

• Nicole Williams, 21, is charged with misdemeanor harassment, accused of sending harassing text messages to a 16-year-old girl and letting friends use her cell phone to leave threatening voice messages, including threats of rape. The heart of the disagreement? Jealousy over a boy.
  

• In separate cases, two St. Louis men were charged in November of sending numerous harassing text messages to their ex-girlfriends.

• A man protesting a proposed resort was accused in September of sending a threatening e-mail to Wildwood City Hall.

• A 28-year-old woman was accused in September of sending harassing text messages to her ex-husband's girlfriend.

• A 19-year-old Belleville man sent at least 17 text messages to his mother's husband, who lives in Troy, Mo.

• A 17-year-old was charged in October with writing death threats in text messages to a classmate in another case involving jealousy, over a girl.

While some have likened the law to criminalizing "behavior that otherwise wouldn't be illegal except for the medium," akin to the passing of notes in a classroom, I would disagree.

After all, most of the cases above involve adults, some involving serious threats. And even in more minor cases, it should be remembered that things put on the Internet, unlike a classroom note, stay there forever, unless explicitly removed.

You'll recall that Lori Drew, the adult involved in the Megan Meier case, was convicted of three misdemeanors in a federal case using an anti-hacking law, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. She was found innocent of felony charges. She is expected to appeal.

European Users Steamed Up Over Steam Currency Equivalency

It certainly made sense, Valve's move earlier in the week, in which it stated that games would be priced in local currencies for the U.K. and Europe, meaning pounds and euros. Not bad except for the fact that they tried to use a "€1 = $1" rule. This naturally has European Steam users hot under the collar.

The U.K. isn't shafted as such, but the rest of the E.U. seems to be getting a huge price increase.

For example, right now the conversion rate (according to Google) for euros to U.S. dollars is €1 = $1.40. So, if the game costs €40, that's the same as $56.02. If the game costs €60, that's $84.03.

There's even been a Steam Group created over the issue, called 1€ ≠ 1$ (1euro1us). There are currently 5,109 members in the Steam Group.

Hard to understand how Valve didn't foresee a big ruckus over this. This falls into one of those "common sense" categories of issues. Common sense would say that you don't do something like this. Of course, common sense and business don't always mix.

Sony Teaser Site Promises to "Change the Way You Look at Laptops, Forever"

What is it with companies and teaser sites nowadays? First we have the mystery Dell Adamo site, now Sony has a site up that says on January 9th, they're going to unveil a revolutionary new VAIO.

They have a countdown timer, and state that they will "change the way you look at laptops. Forever." At the same time, you can enter to win whatever this is at the site. The entry form says:

The wait is almost over. In only a matter of days you will change the way you think about laptops.

We can’t tell you exactly what Sony is about to launch but this is your chance to sign up and be among the first in New Zealand to find out.

New Zealand? So, is this a VAIO netbook? A netbook by Sony won't change the way I look at laptops. Guess we'll wait to January 9th to see, but I did enter the contest.

First Hybrid DVD / Blu-ray Title Coming to Japan

I know that most of you buy both DVD and Blu-ray versions of your optical disc titles (insert sarcasm here). But while JVC developed a combo DVD / Blu-ray format more than two years ago, no titles have been released for it. That's soon to end, with the announcement that Japanese entertainment software developer Pony/Canon will release the first movie title on a hybrid Blu-ray/DVD disc, where else, in Japan in February.

According to CDR-Info, it's a move designed to accelerate adoption of Blu-ray. The first title is the world-famous "Code Blue emergency helicopter doctor Blu-ray BOX."

Typical of a boxed set, it won't be cheap. The 4-disc 534-minute hybrid version will cost 36,540 Yen ($406), while the 7-disc DVD version will cost 23,940 Yen ($266).

The hybrid disc works as follows: the Blu-ray and DVD sections are separated by a film that reflects blue light while it allows the red light to pass through the DVD layer underneath.

The disc itself was produced by Kyodo Television and Infiniti Storage Media. Infiniti Storage Media claims 99% compatibility with existing BD and DVD players.

T-Mobile Android G2 Rumors Grow Louder

I wrote earlier about a highly speculative rumor about the T-Mobile G2, but it looks like we more "confirmation" of a possible new Android device.

Howwever, it's still pretty much in the rumor category, as even BGR states.

The specs of the G2 are very close to those that Cellphone Signal noted (in my earlier post). It will be non-exclusive to T-Mobile, but G1, G2 and the like are trademarked by T-Mobile, so it will have a different name on other carriers.

The original rumor said Jan. 26th, but the date was actually February, according to BGR, at least at first. It's now scheduled for April, due to "software issues."

As the device is full touch-screen with no physical QWERTY keyboard, it makes sense. You'll recall I noted that the Android roadmap stated that soft (on-screen) keyboard support wasn't going to be available until Q1.

Oh, and the rumor states there is already a G3 in development.

The G1 just launched in late October, so this would be about six months afterwards. While some are speculating this might bring some early adopter wrath down upon T-Mobile, just as Apple felt when it dropped the price of the original iPhone (including a lawsuit).

But that was just a $200 price drop, and after all, all buyers shelled out for the G1 was about $200 as well. I mean, this will be a new device as well, incorporating many of those nifty new features I wrote about earlier ... oh, wait. Hmmm, maybe they should start worrying about some early adopter anger.

(Although, it should have been obvious that the platform was still developing, and that as the first device, the G1 might be lacking once other ones rolled out. Ah, the pains of early adoption).

New iMac, Mac Mini to Have NVIDIA Chipsets

At Apple's October Mac event, it was made clear that Apple would be embracing NVIDIA chipsets still further in the future. An errant bit of code in the extension files that ship with the latest MacBooks and MacBooks Pros shows not only new Mac Minis and iMacs are coming, but that they will share the MCP79 chipset of the new MacBooks.

The MCP79 chipset uses the NVIDIA 9400M GPU, and a change would give both systems a boost in graphics over the Intel integrated graphics that they currently use.

The findings were first noted in a forum post, where references to later versions of the iMac and Mac Mini (iMac9,1 and Macmini3,1) than the current iMac and MacMini (iMac8,1 and Macmini2,1) were discovered.

The entries for the new (and unannounced) iMac and Mac minis list their chipset as the "CFG_MCP79," the same as in the new MacBooks.

However, with no Steve Jobs keynote at Macworld this year, are we going to see these new products. If so, it would be the first new product announcement sans Apple's revered leader in a looooong time.

Warner Music Group Pulls Videos From YouTube

Warner Music Group (WMG) was the first major label to make a deal with YouTube, way back in Sept. 2006, before YouTube was acquired by Google. Now it's also the first one out, following the expiration of the deal and the failure to reach a new agreement.

WMG released the following statement:

"We are working actively to find a resolution with YouTube that would enable the return of our artists’ content to the site. Until then, we simply cannot accept terms that fail to appropriately and fairly compensate recording artists, songwriters, labels and publishers for the value they provide."

YouTube, of course, had its own take on the matter, saying in a blog post:

That said, despite our constant efforts, it isn't always possible to maintain these innovative agreements. Sometimes, if we can't reach acceptable business terms, we must part ways with successful partners. For example, you may notice videos that contain music owned by Warner Music Group being blocked from the site.

YouTube pointed its users to AudioSwap for music they could freely add to their videos.

According to the Financial Times, WMG became frustrated by the "negligible revenue" they were seeing from the YouTube deal. Meanwhile, earlier this week, Universal Music Group said they were bringing in "tens of millions of dollars" via YouTube. Huh? One wouldn't expect one label to do well, while another does poorly, unless their deals were radically different.

Aside from the labels, is YouTube making any money? According to All Things Digital, the answer is no. They also state that things were going just fine negotiations-wise until WMG changed terms at the last moment, and Google pulled the plug.

According to Nielsen Online, YouTube had 82.5 million unique viewers in October. Of course, that study also indicated that a lot of them did their viewing at work, 9 - 5, M - F. While it's going to take a long time for all those WMG videos to be taken down (FT said that YouTube started on Friday night), those workday users might miss out by Monday.

Right now, channels like Led Zeppelin and Madonna, for example, are still available. Monday, who knows?

Lenovo's Dual-Screen Laptop: No, It's Not the First

Lenovo's upcoming ThinkPad W700ds is impressive in many ways, but the laptop is attracting attention for one very unusual feature: a second, integrated screen. The displays and graphics cards are as follows:

• Displays
  • 17" WUXGA with CCFL backlight and 1920 x 1200 resolution
  • 10.6" WXGA with white LED backlight second display and 768 x 1280 resolution
• High-performance mobile graphics:
  • NVIDIA Quadro FX 2700M, 512 MB dedicated video memory
  • NVIDIA Quadro FX 3700M, 1 GB dedicated video memory

The secondary, 10.6" screen slides into the primary screen, and is able to tilt 30 degrees like a car's rearview mirror. The question of overkill, and of who would want two screens on a laptop comes to mind, but the obvious answer, particularly with Quadro graphics cards, is CAD users and the like.

Wes Williams, a Lenovo segment manager, told eWeek:

"People that use high-end computers, whether they are professional photographers or work in other fields, all use two displays at their desktops. What we were trying to do in building a mobile workstation is give them the same experience. Not only do you need a great display, great graphics, great processor and RAID hard drive with a workstation, but it is hard going back to a single display mode."

It's definitely a niche product, and while an official price hasn't been announced, the extra screen is expected to add $500 to the single screen version's $2,500 price. With a weight of 11 pounds, it's two pounds heavier than the original. It'll ship in January, and make its first appearance at CES on Jan. 5th.

While some have been saying it's the first dual-screen laptop, it certainly isn't. At the very least there (and there may be more), there's the Xentex Dual Screen laptop which was auctioned on eBay earlier this year (above).

Yep, that one had a folding screen, and it even flipped around. Kinda weird, right? Weirder still than the Lenovo. Of course, that was a complete flop. This one? We'll wait to see, but there are undoubtedly going to be buyers of the W700ds.

The W700, the original one-screen version, that is, was introduced in August.

Dell's Adamo Mystery Product: a MacBook Air in Waiting?

A mystery Dell website, some trademark info, info on a fashion blog site, and a wild look of surprise on a Dell exec later, speculation is that Dell has an upcoming laptop designed to be as thin or thinner than the MacBook Air. And, as time goes on, the evidence keeps mounting.

Dell's own mystery site doesn't say much, but it does say "Adamo by Dell" and "Coming Soon." Aside from that, nothing.

However, the New York Times unearthed some trademark info on both "Adamo by Dell" and "Dell Adamo." Both appear related to computer systems.

There was also a post (since removed) at the luxury lifestyle site Uptownlife.net which said "Rumor has it that Dell is coming out with a computer called Adamo that will rival the MacBook Air."

But the look on Michael Tatelman, Dell’s vice president in charge of consumer sales and marketing when asked about it told volumes:

Mr. Tatelman’s mouth gaped open and his eyes darted away from my face.

After a couple of moments, Mr. Tatleman said, "I think we need to get some iconic products out there, so people associate Dell’s brand with other things." Namely, that’s goodbye to clunky, and hello to sleek.

Since then enGadget has stated that its own separate sources have said that the Adamo is in fact real. In a post with pics of the upcoming Dell Studio XPS 13 (above), they noted an anonymous source leaked the following to them:

• Adamo was scheduled for a December release, but was pushed back until at least February.
• Dell plans to market the Adamo as the "world’s thinnest laptop"
  
• It’s definitely going after MacBook Air market share.
• Adamo will feature a black and silver color scheme similar to the Studio XPS 13 pictured above, but "different," whatever that means
  

Finally, BetaNews found some accessories in Dell's catalog, since removed, that referenced "Adamo 13" --- a 13.3" screen, perhaps?

Yep, the evidence keeps piling up.

Still, the delay until "at least" February has to hurt. So far notebooks such as Lenovo's Thinkpad X300 / X301 and the Voodoo Envy 133 are already out there, and the MacBook Air will have been out for a year before the Adamo reaches the market, if the dates are correct.

And it's not as though the MBA competitors have managed to tarnish the gleam in the eyes of thin-and-light Mac fans' eyes. Will Dell fare any better?

Oh, and for laughs, here's a video posted soon after the MacBook Air launched, a parody of what Dell would "probably come up with" in response to the MBA.

Samsung to Launch Android Phone in Q2 2009: Report

According to a Korean news report, Samsung is the latest handset manufacturer to jump on the Android bandwagon. Samsung's device will hit the market in Q2 2009, for both T-Mobile and Sprint.

Now that's interesting, as Sprint is a CDMA carrier, and T-Mobile is a GSM carrier. Totally different technologies. At this point there are have been CDMA Android phones announced until now; all have been GSM (T-Mobile's G1 or unlocked from Kogan or Huawei Technologies' Android-based phones announced earlier this week).

The report goes on to indicate the phone will be a full touch-screen phone, similar to the Omnia and Instinct.

It is interesting that the report comes from a Korean source, and they take the time to diss the competion from Taiwan, HTC:

Currently, HTC, a Taiwanese mobile phone maker, only released a Google phone, G1.

Its Google phone has been assessed to have lower competitiveness in design and quality.

Well, tell us what you really think!

Wal-Mart Starts to Put Out iPhone Displays

We know Wal-Mart is about to start selling iPhones, as of Dec. 28th, according to the memo I highlighted earlier. But they've apparently decided they didn't want to wait until the last minute to put out displays, as noticed by an observant Flickr user.

That memo also noted that a pilot program would be starting at 488 stores on Dec. 17th, so that should be well underway by now. The program involves raffling off the chance to "win" an opportunity to buy an iPhone 3G, to a "lucky" associate.

I say lucky in quotes because the associates who win have the opportunity to buy the phone at the normal Wal-Mart retail price, which is really just $2 off the regular price.

And heck, Best Buy has a sale for $10 off iPhones right now, so why exactly would an associate even enter? And which of those sales associates can really afford the iPhone and its service plan?

However, according to the memo, those pilot program stores have to sell those five. Good luck with that.

Go Figure! YouTube's Biggest Usage Window: 9 - 5, M - F

Cyber Monday is the first Monday after Black Friday, and its so named because its the first day that employees have to go back to work, and use the 96% broadband penetration at work to do some Internet shopping. Well, a recent study by Nielsen Online confirms what we already probably should have known: the majority of YouTube viewers do at least some of their viewing at work.

The percentages in the above table show, according to the study (.PDF), what percentage of unique YouTube viewers, 82.5 million watched at a particularly period of time. Weekend nights between 11pm and 6am attract the fewest viewers, unsurprisingly.

At the same time, YouTube continued to dominate overall, but Hulu picked up the pace, jumping from 6th overall to 3rd overall. We know from past stories that despite the advantage that YouTube has in viewership, Hulu is close to or equal to YouTube in terms of ad revenue.

While the study might lead one to believe that a lot of people are slacking at work, it should probably also be noted that a lot of people spread videos virally via email, and where do people have nearly constant connectivity via email? Work.

Sony Declares "Death to the Clamshell"

Yes, Sony has declared a war on the clamshell, packaging that is. I wrote earlier about Amazon.com's "frustration-free packaging" initiative, and this is an example of a similar initiative, aimed at getting rid of those clamshell packages that seem almost lethal.

I call them lethal because (and I know you've experienced this if you've opened up any of these packages) those edges can be as sharp as a knife when you try to cut or pry them open.

But while Amazon.com has no brick-and-mortar operations to worry about, Sony does have to be concerned with security. I suppose a thief whose hand is bleeding is more obvious to security guards, but still.

Sony has released a video that reveals the incident that spurred on this initiative (albeit, fictitious). Fictitious or no, it's great to see more companies embracing an end to packaging that's as ridiculously hard to open as clamshell packaging is.

Take a look, below.

T-Mobile G2 Due on Jan. 26th?

File this under the rumor heading with the word "iffy" next to it. However, if true, I'm sure you'd all be pretty interested in this, the T-Mobile G2.

The site Cellphone Signal says an anonymous tipster has given them this hot info. Now conspicuously missing is the phrase "QWERTY keyboard," while conspicuous in its placement near the top of the list of features is "Full Touch screen."

Of course, the Android roadmap says that soft keyboard support won't be added until Q1 2009.

The list also claims Stereo Bluetooth connectivity and Video Capture. Those would be features from the "Cupcake" release I wrote about earlier. Thing is, these changes were apparently merged not that long ago.

It also seems rather quick for a G2 to emerge. Not that it's impossible mind you. One other thing that makes me a doubter? The site involved didn't notice that it spelled "update" as "upadate" in this headline. Yeah, yeah, I know, I make typos too, but still ...

Best Buy's iPhone Sale (If $10 Off Really Counts)

Best Buy effective Friday cut prices for the iPhone 3G by $10; the 8GB model is $189.99, and the 16GB model is $289.99. In addition, Best Buy is also offering double Reward Zone Points which work out to about $10 for the 8GB and $15 for the 16GB. Hey, money's money (though the Points only matter if you shop at Best Buy a lot).

There's some slight argument about how long the sale lasts: Barron's (old media) says it lasts until Dec. 31st, while Boy Genius Report (new media) says Jan. 3rd. I'll go with new media, considering BGR has some screenshots that validate their date (click above to enlarge).

Two-year contracts are required (of course). A bonus named by BGR is that a Best Buy employee will also setup your iPhone with one personal email account. For that I say: whoopee.

Considering Best Buy was trying to sell things Apple Stores do for free when they first started selling iPhones, I'm not impressed by the setup offer. Still, $10 is $10. Heck, in California, that's at least $10.80 with tax.

Orange Loses iPhone Exclusivity in France

France is a lot more, shall we say, friendly to cell phone users in France than other countries are. And on Wednesday the French Competition Council said "non" to the so-far exclusive deal for iPhones that Apple and France Telecom's Orange unit had arranged.

Orange and Apple have had their deal in place for a year, and the company said during that time, Orange has sold over 150,000 iPhones and over 450,000 iPhones 3Gs. Orange plans to appeal the decision to the Court of Appeal in Paris.

Orange had already been required to sell an unlocked iPhone in France (for a fairly exhorbitant price), but this decision opens things up completely.

The Competition Council said the exclusive rights to the iPhone held by Orange "by nature introduces a new factor of rigidity in a sector that already lacks competition."

The Council any operator can now sell the iPhone.

The Competition Council reviewed the Apple / Orange deal following a complaint from Orange's rival Bouyges Telecom SA. The complaint was filed in September this year.

Don't expect this to be the end of the issue, however.

Now if we could get the same thing in America, it would be great (never happen, though).

RIAA Gives Up on Piracy Lawsuits, Embraces "Three Strikes" Rules

According to a report Friday in the Wall Street Journal, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has decided to give up on its practice of mass lawsuits as a way to deter illegal file-sharing. Instead the industry is apparently going to use a "three strikes" policy, similar to that under consideration in the E.U. and France.

The WSJ says that the RIAA is negotiating with ISPs over the "three strikes" policy. If the RIAA detects illegal file-sharing taking place, it will send an email to the ISP, and then:

Depending on the agreement, the ISP will either forward the note to customers, or alert customers that they appear to be uploading music illegally, and ask them to stop. If the customers continue the file-sharing, they will get one or two more emails, perhaps accompanied by slower service from the provider. Finally, the ISP may cut off their access altogether.

Very similar to the proposed European policy, with the additional throttling step, perhaps.

C|Net has obtained the text of the proposed email (if they've gotten far enough to draft an email already, perhaps things are further along than we might think!), (.PDF).

However, the RIAA would still reserve the right to sue file-sharers, though they expect such lawsuits to be rare. On the other hand, litigation currently ongoing is going to continue. This must make those hit in the last round of RIAA warning letters feel really good.

It also must one wonder if the RIAA will continue to prosecute Jammie Thomas. Thomas is the only plaintiff to go to trial, and was initially convicted of file-sharing in October of 2007, but a mistrial was declared by the original presiding judge, who said he erred in jury instructions. A nice, good-faith gesture might be to drop the retrial, which has already been scheduled for next year. Naah, they'll never do it.

But this begs the question: nothing (particularly technology) is perfect. The RIAA has in the past sued a family with no computer, and even a dead person. So what happens to those false positives (FPs)? Is there a "statute of limitations" on these reports?

Meaning, you're reported once (FP). Five years later another FP. Are you now up against the wall or has the first one expired? And don't think that if you are falsely accused it'll be easy to fix it. Ever try to fix a credit report?

I wonder if coffee shops with free wi-fi are suddenly going to see an influx of downloaders. I'm not really serious about that, but hey, I wonder if any free wi-fi hotspots have been sued over downloading yet.

Finally, the RIAA (and MPAA) need to get it through their thick skulls: just as DRM has not stopped game piracy, they're not going to put a lid on file-sharing. As the EFF notes, estimates are that 20% of Americans are active file-sharers.

The industry needs to embrace technology, not fear it (yes, I know they do need to make money). It's not as though anything they've done so far has corked the leak in the dam.

iPhone Users Crave Their Wi-Fi: Study

A study released by mobile ad company Admob shows that as wi-fi becomes nore commonplace among handsets, mobile wi-fi use is accelerating. That trend is no more obvious than among iPhone users, where 42% of Internet requests came via wi-fi rather than AT&T's 3G wireless network.

According to the study (.PDF), Internet requests via wi-fi for other smartphones average between 10 and 20%.

Why the big difference? I feel it's the ease of connectivity (by default) to wi-fi networks on the iPhone. Try to browse, and if there's a wi-fi network around, it'll ask to connect. And, of course, the iPhone's UI makes connecting a breeze.

Or perhaps, as some have theorized, it's because AT&T's 3G network is still spotty. I'm not so sure it's quite that simple, though even with the recent firmware fixes, some still report dropped calls and poor connectivity.

Other highlights from the study:

• In the US, 8 percent of total requests in November were on WiFi networks, up from 3 percent in August. 42 percent of iPhone requests are made from WiFi, notably higher than most other WiFi capable phones which average between 10-20 percent. iPhone WiFi usage is generally higher on iPhone specific sites and applications than on normal mobile sites.

• In the UK, 8 percent of requests in November were on WiFi networks, up from 4 percent in August. After the iPhone and iPod Touch, the Nokia N95 and other N series phones are the leading WiFi devices.

• Worldwide requests were flat in November at 5.8 billion. Requests from North America, Western Europe, Latin America, and Eastern Europe each increased more than 10 percent month over month. These increases were offset by a decline in Indonesian inventory.

• The G1 (HTC Dream) generated 15 million requests in November and already represents 7 percent of all T-Mobile traffic. Android had a 2 percent share of smartphone operating system traffic in the US.

Most, but not all, of the latest and upcoming smartphones support wi-fi. 3G speed cannot compare to connectivity via broadband and wi-fi. Mobile Internet use via wi-fi is therefore going to keep increasing.

One notable exception to the wi-fi enabled smartphone trend, recently introduced, is the BlackBerry Storm. Some have said that was a big mistake, but perhaps the biggest mistake was releasing the device with so many bugs.

Finally! NVIDIA Begins Posting Notebook Drivers on Its Site

Finally, finally! As of Thursday, NVIDIA has finally added notebook drivers to its website. Prior to this, if you wanted updated NVIDIA drivers for your notebook, you'd have to either hope the OEM (Dell, HP, whoever) would update their drivers on their site, or use modded drivers from 3rd-party sites.

OEM driver updates were few and far between, and while I have to admit that I've used modded drivers before, without issues, they always trailed official NVIDIA releases (and naturally the modding broke WHQL). With NVIDIA's new policy, it will be far easier to keep up with the latest NVIDIA drivers.

NVIDIA's emailed press release says:

Notebook manufacturers have historically only allowed graphics drivers to be offered directly from them. This was due to the fact that the drivers had to be customized in order to maintain unique implementations of dedicated hotkeys, power management, and smooth suspend/resume. NVIDIA has worked diligently over the past year to modularize its driver architecture and develop a unified driver install package that will not only work with laptops from all manufacturers but also maintain all of their specific model customizations such as hotkeys and suspend and resume functionality. Consumer demand for timely driver updates has outgrown the rate at which drivers are currently supplied to the market. Customers need new drivers in order to be able to take full advantage of the latest visual computing applications.

With the percentage of users opting out of desktops (though, the desktop is far from dead), a move like this was to be expected. But, to be clear: this is still a beta set of drivers (179.28) and currently only supports 8M and 9M notebook GPUs and those Quadro NVS-equipped. There are caveats as well.

• If you own a Dell Inspiron 1420, Dell XPS M1330, or Dell XPS M1530 NVIDIA recommends that you first install these Dell BIOS updates.
  

• And the following notebooks are not supported in this release:
  1. Hybrid SLI notebooks (these notebooks will be supported in an upcoming release):
     
     Acer Aspire 7530
     BenQ Joybook S42
     Fujitsu Siemens Amilo Xi 3650
     MSI EX630
     Qosmio X305-Q706
     Qosmio X305-Q708
  2. Dell Vostro notebooks (please contact the notebook OEM for driver support for these notebooks)
  3. Lenovo ThinkPad notebooks (please contact the notebook OEM for driver support for these notebooks)
  4. Sony VAIO notebooks (please contact the notebook OEM for driver support for these notebooks)

Here are the release highlights:

• Beta driver for GeForce 8M and 9M series notebook GPUs.
  
• Supports NVIDIA CUDA technology.
• Supports NVIDIA PhysX hardware acceleration on GeForce 8M and 9M GPUs with a minimum of 256MB dedicated graphics memory (this driver package installs NVIDIA PhysX System Software v8.09.04).
• Experience CUDA and NVIDIA PhysX in several free applications and demos by downloading the GeForce Plus Pack.
• Supports single GPU and NVIDIA SLI™ technology* on DirectX 9, DirectX10, and OpenGL
• Supports Folding@home distributing computing application. Download the high performance client for NVIDIA GPUs in the GeForce Plus Pack and join the NVIDIA team: #131015
• Please read the release notes (.PDF) for more information on product support, features, and known compatibility issues.

Note: according to NVIDIA's press release a WHQL-certified version supporting all GeForce 7, 8, and 9 series and Quadro NVS series notebook GPUs will be available early in 2009.

New Features Coming to Android via "Cupcake"

It's a strange name, but Google's Android development branch is named "Cupcake," and this week a look at the roadmap shows significant new features and fixes coming to Google's nascent platform.

A couple of features to bring to light and point out to Apple: cut-and-paste in the browser and video recording. Ahem.

These changes were rolled up into the main branch, and consist of the following, in summary:

Applications

• MMS
  
• New features
  
• Save attachments from MMS.
• Significant bug fixes

• Email
  
• Significant bug fixes

• Alarm Clock
  
• Significant bug fixes

• Package Installer
  
• Significant bug fixes
  

• Settings
  
• New features
  
• New menu option to list running processes in Settings->ManageApplications.

• Music
  
• New features
  
• Music playback fades in after suspending for phone call.
• New media search intent allows for 3rd party apps to launch or respond to media searches based on artist, album, or title.
  Affects: Music Player, YouTube, Browser applications.

• Browser
• New features
• Updated WebKit browser core, synced with Nov 2008 WebKit version.
• Support for new, optimized JavaScript engine (SquirrelFish).
• Copy / paste is enabled in the browser. To copy with touch, press and hold the shift key and select the text. Releasing the shift key or ending the touch drag copies the text. To copy with the trackball, press and hold the shift key, move the cursor to the selection start, click the trackball, and move the trackball to the extend the selection. Releasing the shift key, or clicking the trackball a second time, copies the text.
• Find is enabled in the browser. To find text, choose it from the menu and type the text to find.
• Drawing has been sped up substantially by supporting partial content invalidates and partial screen invalidates. Pages with animations are 5x faster.

• VoiceDialer
• New features
• VoiceDialer supports 'open app' command

• Camera/Gallery
• New features
• Video recorder mode
• Share intent for videos
• Video thumbnails
• Local file playback

Download manager

• New features
  
• Support for HTTP codes 301, 302, 303 and 307 (redirects).
• HTTP code 503 is now handled, with support for retry-after in delay-seconds.
• Downloads that were cleanly interrupted are now resumed instead of failing.
• Applications can now pause their downloads.
• Retry delays are now randomized.
• Connectivity is now checked on all interfaces.
• Downloads with invalid characters in file name can now be saved.

Framework

• New features
  
• Support of touch events in WebView.
• New JavaScript engine (SquirrelFish) in WebView.
  
• Input method framework, for soft keyboards and other on-screen input methods. Includes new APIs for applications to interact with input methods, and the ability for third party developers to write their own input methods.
• Access to the raw audio data for playback and recording from application code.
  
• New PendingIntent.FLAG_UPDATE_CURRENT option.
• Support for top-level boolean resources.
• Tactile feedback to the LockPatternView. Tactile feedback can be enabled/disabled by going to Settings > Security & location and then checking/unchecking "Use tactile feedback". Note that this can be used independently of the visual feedback of the lines ("Use visible pattern"). Thus it gives users a middle ground between showing the lines on the screen and having no feedback at all.
• PackageManager changes to support un-installation of partially installed applications. Added new flag PackageManager.GET_UNINSTALLED_PACKAGES to include partially installed apps in all relevant PackageManager api's. ManageApplications screen now lists such partially installed apps and the user can uninstall these applications completely.
• Support third party updates of system applications. New menu options in Settings->ManageApplications to list updated system applications.
• Framework support to list current running processes. New API in ActivityManager.
• Framework feature to declare required configurations by applications. New manifest attribute uses-configuration in android manifest.
• Hardware accelerated video encode (video recorder) in opencore.
• Simplified SREC speech recognition API available.
• Streaming audio I/O for applications.

• Significant bug fixes
  

Bluetooth

• New features
  
• Support for A2DP & AVRCP profiles.
  

• Significant bug fixes
• First connection after pairing always fails on many carkits.
• Mini Cooper and some late model BMW cars fail to use Bluetooth or take 2 minutes for Phone Book transfer.
  

System software

• New features
  
• New kernel based on Linux 2.6.27.
• Improvements to the wakelock API.
• Work to transition to the USB Gadget Framework underway.
• Basic x86 support.
  

Radio & Telephony

• New features
• SIM Application Toolkit 1.0.
• Green CALL button is no longer a shortcut for "add a new call". This has been a rarely used feature and confusing if triggered accidentally.
• Longer in-call screen timeout when using the speakerphone.
• "Show dialpad" / "Hide dialpad" item added to the in-call menu, to make it easier to discover the DTMF dialpad.

• Significant bug fixes

Toshiba Announces Industry's First 512GB SSD

On Thursday Toshiba announced new additions to its line of solid-state drives (SSDs), including the industry's first 2.5" (sorry, not yet for notebooks!) 512GB SSD. These new drives will be shown at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January and will begin shipping the in the second quarter.

Pricing was not announced, but this will undoubtedly be expensive. For more frugal (or less data consumptive) consumers, there will also be 64GB, 128GB, and 256GB models, and these will come in 1.8" and 2.5" versions and SSD flash modules.

These drives are based on 43nm MLC NAND. MLC NAND, vs. SLC NAND, allows manufacturers to provide higher capacity drives at the cost of, in general, speed and reliability.

Toshiba states the drives will have a maximum sequential read speed of 240 MBps and maximum sequential write speed of 200 MBp and will also offer AES data encryption.

The company feels that SSDs will have approximately 10% of the notebook market by 2010, and 25% of the notebook market by 2012.

MobileMe Nabs an iPhone Thief

This is the second story in the last few days about technology aiding in the recovery of, well, still more technology. Last time it was a wireless controller helping to track down an Xbox 360. This time it's Apple's beleagured MobileMe service helping to nab an iPhone thief.

MobileMe was the subject of many complaints when it was first launched; Steve Jobs even went so far as to take the blame for the buggy rollout of Apple's nascent cloud computing service.

In this case, MobileMe worked just fine, thank you.

You can read the story yourself on eBay. The user, J. Rob Greene, had apparently had his iPhone stolen. Well, he was so addicted (or crazed) over his old iPhone that he went out and bought a new one that same night.

The next day, as I'm scrolling through to make a phone call, I notice some new contacts in my brand new phone. Apparently, the thief had added contacts to my stolen phone, and Apple's MobileMe service synced those contacts with the internet, and then with my NEW iPhone! I called the contacts, got the thief's information, and called the police. By the end of the night, I was the proud owner of TWO iPhones.

Hilarious. The thief was entering contacts information that was syncing to the cloud and then to Greene's new iPhone. Of course, if his contacts had been more loyal, the thief still might have gotten away with it. But they weren't (or perhaps Greene was slightly tricky).

At any rate, the iPhone, which is a 16 GB black model in, as Greene says, perfect shape. However, his starting bid is $399 and he has 0 bids as a result. I'm also unclear how much he had to pay for his new phone; since he obviously hadn't run through his two-year contract yet he would have had to pay the full price, unsubsidized, for a 16 GB model.

He also states in his auction that he received a $150 speeding ticket on his way to the Apple store. I'm not sure if that's simply hyperbole, or if he is as seriously crazy about the iPhone as he sounds.

Sorry, EA, Xbox 360 Graphics ≠ Wii Graphics

Electronic Arts is the latest company to run afoul of Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) in the U.K. The ASA has twice banned iPhone ads over false or misleading claims. In this case, the ASA said that an EA ad tried to pass off Xbox 360 graphics as Wii graphics.

In the ad, Tiger Woods uses a Wiimote to play the game, but the graphics displayed are from the Xbox 360 version. EA claimed that while Woods was shown using the Wiimote and Wii branding was shown at the end of the ad, the text "available on all formats" was displayed during the ad, adn that should be enough for customers to know that the graphics aren't necessarily from a Wii.

Eh?

EA further said that Wii graphics aren't "broadcast quality," and thus they had to use Xbox 360 graphics. Huh? Perhaps they intended the commercial for HDTV ONLY or something.

The ASA's decision states:

The ASA noted the ad showed Tiger Woods in the foreground using a handset from the Nintendo Wii console and that each time he played a shot, a character in the game footage behind him mirrored his actions. We also noted the only console-specific branding displayed at the end of the ad was the Wii logo. Although we acknowledged that the message "AVAILABLE ON ALL FORMATS" appeared in the final scene, we considered that viewers would infer from the ad that Tiger Woods was playing the game on a Wii console and the graphics shown behind him were representative of the actual game he was playing. We also considered that the Wii logo at the end of the ad reinforced that impression. Because viewers would not be able to achieve the graphical quality shown in the ad on a Wii console, we concluded that the ad was misleading.

The ASA indicated that the ad cannot be shown again in its current form.

New York State Considers an "iPod Tax"

New York State must be the leader in clever, snarky names for taxes. First, facing a huge budget deficit and noting just how sales to e-tailers was siphoning off sales tax, they imposed an "Amazon Tax," named after Amazon.com. Now it is apparently looking at a possible "iPod tax," to plug the huge budget deficit gap it has.

According to the New York Daily News, Gov. David Paterson has proposed an "iPod tax" on the sale of downloaded music and other "digitally delivered entertainment services."

New York wouldn't be the first state to do so; at this point Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, New Jersey, Nebraska, New Mexico, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Washington tax digital downloads, as well as the District of Columbia.

Of course, this is still a sales tax, so the states are only be able to tax retailers who have a physical presence in that state. New York, however, redefined such presence to mean any e-tailers who have affiliates in that state, such as Amazon.com.

To get around the "Amazon Tax," Overstock.com terminated its relationship with any New York affliates; it also filed suit against the state of New York (as did Amazon.com, separately). Meanwhile, Newegg.com simply stopped collecting it.

In a 1992 Supreme Court decision, Quill vs. North Dakota, the Supreme Court ruled that out-of-state retailers cannot be required to collect sales tax on purchases sent to states where they did not have a physical presence.

The Supreme Court’s reasoning was at least partially based on the fact that, at the time the case was decided in 1992, there were over 6,000 separate sales and use tax jurisdictions in the United States (states, localities, special tax districts, etc.) and to impose a collection obligation on a remote seller would impose a crushing burden that would severely restrict interstate commerce.

New York's method of getting around the physical presence clause seems quite iffy to me, though I am not a lawyer. It remains to be seen if it holds up in court, but with the ongoing economic crisis and state budgets facing huge deficits, there's no doubt that many are considering such taxes.

The Wal-Mart iPhone: Expect it on 12/28, But Not at $99

Looks like we finally have a confirmation, not of Wal-Mart selling the iPhone, that was already known, but of the exact date: 12/28. And it looks like that $99 Wal-Mart iPhone rumor, was just a rumor.

December 28th was the most rumored date, and Engadget has a shot of a pilot launch letter (above, click to enlarge in separate window) confirming that date, and also indicating that the phones Wal-Mart will sell will be priced at $197 (8GB) and $297 (16GB) with no $99 4GB model in sight.

Yet. There are still rumors about a 4GB model showing up later.

Still, for now, the only thing this gets you is availability at the nation's largest retailer, and a few bucks off. Sales will start at 9 AM, and let's hope there are no more trampling incidents.

Microsoft Releases Emergency Patch for Critical IE Security Flaw

As I wrote yesterday, Microsoft on Wednesday released an emergency patch for the zero-day* vulnerability, KB960714, that affects all versions of Internet Explorer since 5.01.

The patch is available via Windows Update, or can be downloaded for your specific IE version and OS from this page. It should be noted that there doesn't appear to be a download on that for the Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2, but that version is vulnerable, and the fix can be picked up via Windows Update, Microsoft says.

Last weekend Microsoft indicated it had seen an upsurge in exploits, but targeted only at IE7. The fact that this vulnerability is being exploited in the wild, and from, Microsoft says, some legitimate sites, means that end users should patch as quickly as possible.

This is the second emergency patch, outside of the normal Patch Tuesday updates, that Microsoft has released since late October.

* A zero-day vulnerability is one that is exploited or attacked before a vendor can patch it.

Yahoo! Shortens Data Retention Policy to 90 Days

The shorter, the better, right? Google recently stated it was cutting its data retention policy by half, to nine months, but Yahoo! on Wednesday leapfrogged that number by stating it would anonymize user data after 90 days.

In their press release, Yahoo! said they would also anonymize user data on page views, page clicks, ad views and ad clicks in addition to its user logs. Since July 2007, Yahoo! had been using a 13-month policy.

Yahoo! did note what it called limited exceptions for "fraud, security and legal obligations." With regards to those limited exceptions, Yahoo! said:

To protect users and our business partners, there will be some specific and limited exceptions to the anonymization policy. In order to fight fraud and preserve system security, Yahoo! will retain system specific data in identifiable form for no more than 6 months -- but only for this purpose. Yahoo! may have to retain data for longer periods to meet other legal obligations.

That's pretty vague, but still limited to six months (at least). Although they stuck in yet another loophole.

Anne Toth, Yahoo!'s Vice President of Policy and Head of Privacy said:

"In our world of customized online services, responsible use of data is critical to establishing and maintaining user trust . We know that our users expect relevant and compelling content and advertising when they visit Yahoo!, but they also want assurances that we are focused on protecting their privacy.

This policy represents Yahoo!'s assessment of the minimum amount of time we need to retain data in order to respond to the needs of our business while deepening our trusted relationship with users. We're proud this new policy sets a new benchmark for the industry."

Will this change make me start using Yahoo! search? Probably not. But Yahoo! made sure to note that earlier this week the Ponemon Institute and TRUSTe released their Most Trusted Companies for Privacy survey with Yahoo! ranked as the #14 overall trusted company. Google has dropped out of the top 20, as of this year.

Survey: Nearly Half of Women Would Pick the Internet Over Sex

A recent survey, "Internet Reliance in Today's Economy" conducted by Harris Interactive for Intel, found that most U.S. adults find Internet access essential to daily life, so essential that some would choose it over TV ... or sex.

According to the survey, 46% of women and 30% of men would forego sex for 2 weeks rather than give up Internet access for the same amount of time. For women and men aged 18-34 it was 49% and 39% respectively. More than half of the women in the 35-44 range (52%) would forego sex.

Men, is this starting to make you feel inferior to your cable or DSL modem?

TV has no chance against the Internet: 67% of adults aged 18-34, 57% of adults aged 35-44 and 52% adults aged 45 and older would rather go 2 weeks without watching TV than give up Internet access for one week. Yes, one, not two weeks.

Of course, there's an obvious downward trend as age increases in the TV vs. Internet comparison, so does that mean older people don't want to give up Leno or Letterman?

Other interesting tidbits:

Life Improvement: 91% report that the ability to access the Internet has improved at least one aspect of their lives. Within this group:

• 78% say their ability to stay in touch with friends and family has improved.
• 68% say they are able to shop more effectively.
• 47% say they are able to manage their finances better because of the Internet through activities such as online banking and paying bills.

The Internet is a Must-Have: Among discretionary items surveyed, Internet access ranks highest among the items listed as something adults cannot live without.

• Internet access (65%)
  
• Cable television subscriptions (39%)
• Dining out (20%)
• Shopping for clothes (18%) who did they survey, Carrie Bradshaw?
  
• Gym membership (10%)

Internet Access Essential in Today's Economic Climate: 95% of adults surveyed feel that it is very important, important or somewhat important for people to have devices that allow them to access the Internet. 82% feel that the Internet helps them keep abreast of the state of the economy (though why they would want the constant depressing news is beyond me). Meanwhile 87% say that Internet access has helped them save money. Of these adults:

• 84% have saved money by comparing prices online and finding the best deals before making purchase decisions.
• 66% have saved money simply by shopping online.
• 65% say the Internet has helped them save money by allowing them to search for promotions or deals.

This survey was conducted online within the U.S. from Nov. 18 - 20 among 2,119 adults ages 18 and older. There is no theoretical sampling error estimated as the online survey is not based on a probability sample.

iPhone 3G to Get "Software Unlocked" as a New Year's Present

The iPhone Dev Team has done it again, as they have announced a software unlocking solution for the iPhone 3G. They're in the midst of cleaning it up and making it user-friendly, and say the release date for the software will be Dec. 31st, New Year's Eve.

A few limitations and cautions have to be stated, however, as they said:

• This unlock method is available to iPhone 3Gs that have 2.11.07 baseband or earlier, we did warn you.
• The unlock requires a jailbroken 3G iPhone.

Of course, it will only be a matter of time before Apple releases a "must have" software update for the iPhone (perhaps one with copy-and-paste) that will disable all such unlocking.

Meanwhile, Apple continues to make it harder for people to use Macs to do their unlocking. Reports indicate that Apple's Mac OS X 10.5.6 update causes problems with DFU mode, preventing the use of tools like PwnageTool and QuickPwn. An easy workaround, however, besides using Windows, is to attach a USB hub.

Report: Microsoft Knew of Xbox 360 Disc-Scratching Issue Prior to Launch

Soon after Microsoft released the Xbox 360 in 2005, the now well-known disc scratching issue that may occur if the console is repositioned while the disc is in motion was discovered. While one might say common sense would require you to not move the console while playing a disc, some said scratching occurred when someone walked by, or even spontaneously, as in a study. Documents recently unsealed in a lawsuit against Microsoft over the issue now suggest the company was aware of the problem prior to launch.

The document is a motion for class action status for Xbox 360 owners in the case, first filed in July 2007.

According to the motion (.PDF), Hiroo Umeno, a Microsoft program manager, said in a deposition:

“This is . . . information that we as a team, optical disc drive team, knew about. When we first discovered the problem in September or October, when we got a first report of disc movement, we knew this is what’s causing the problem.”.

According to the document, Microsoft rejected three possible solutions to the problem, including one which the motion characterized as costing as little as 50¢ per console, labeling it as "too expensive."

Microsoft put warnings in the manual and on the drive itself, but also had to institute a Disc Replacement program.

The motion goes on to quote Microsoft Manager Douglas Park who stated that 55,000 complaints had been received regarding scratched discs as of April 30, 2008.

Microsoft responded to the report on Tuesday, saying:

"Xbox 360 is designed so that it will not damage a game disc as long as the console is not moved while the disc is spinning. Too much movement of any game console, not just Xbox 360, can cause scratches on a disc. That's why we put a warning on the face of the disc tray, which the user has to physically remove before the initial use of the system. We also have warnings posted online and in hard copy instruction manuals.

While we have had some users contact us with concerns about scratched discs, it is less than one-half of 1% of the total Xbox 360 user base."

You've Been Served, Via Facebook

Can't be reached via phone or face-to-face? Can't be reached by email? You're not out of the reach of being served, at least in Australia. Well, not unless you set your privacy settings correctly, that is.

Australia has in the past allowed legal documents to be served via email or text message when other avenues of contact have failed. Last Friday, the Australian Capital Territory Supreme Court approved lawyer Mark McCormack's application to use Facebook to serve legally binding documents, notifying a couple that they had lost their home after they had defaulted on their mortgage.

Of course, they should have kept it all hush-hush. Apparently the couple heard about the attempt, and changed their privacy settings, so now that venue is shut to the lawyer as well.

McCormack told AP:

"It's somewhat novel, however we do see it as a valid method of bringing the matter to the attention of the defendant."

According to the report, McCormack found the woman's Facebook page using personal details that she had given the lender. The man was listed on her page as a friend. At the time, the page was public.

While McCormack hasn't looked for the couple on other social networking sites, it might be time for him to do so (though if they were smart they would have locked those dowen as well). However, he has a Facebook account of his own, and that was the reason he looked there.

"It's one of those occasions where you feel most at home with what you know and I myself have a Facebook account."

Microsoft Preps Wednesday Fix for Zero-Day IE Vulnerability

Microsoft on Tuesday announced an out-of-band fix will be made available on Wednesday for the critical Internet Explorer bug that attackers have been exploiting for more than a week. This flaw has been acknowledged by Microsoft as affecting all versions of its browsers from IE 5.01 -> IE 8 Beta 2.

The vulnerability can allow remote code execution on unpatched machines. This out-of-band (meaning non-"Patch Tuesday") fix is the second since October; the first one was the first since April 2007. Microsoft said:

Our target time, as always, is 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time. We’ll be holding two special webcasts to give you details and take your questions.

December 17, 2008 1:00 PM Pacific Time
December 18,2008 11:00 AM Pacific Time

A reminder that this information is subject to change and that when we do release this security bulletin, we’ll let you know through the MSRC weblog.

Last weekend, Microsoft researchers said that they had seen a large "upward trend" in attacks, and that some were originating from legitimate Web sites. At the same time, Microsoft said in their security advisory that they have only seen attacks against IE7 thus far.

It should be noted that the Microsoft advisory about the out-of-band patch indicated that IE8 will get its own, separate patch.

Apple Waves Good-Bye to Macworld

It's the end of an era. The 2009 edition of Macworld will be its last, Apple announced on Tuesday. Additionally, Steve Jobs will not be giving the keynote.

Now Apple doesn't run Macworld, IDG does. But pulling out of Macworld may in fact be the death knell for the show.

It was noted at this year's WWDC that Jobs was less of a front-and-center presence at the show. There was a suspicion that Jobs might skip Macworld as there had been no announcement of a keynote by him yet, as in previous years.

Apple today announced that this year is the last year the company will exhibit at Macworld Expo. Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, will deliver the opening keynote for this year’s Macworld Conference & Expo, and it will be Apple’s last keynote at the show. The keynote address will be held at Moscone West on Tuesday, January 6, 2009 at 9:00 a.m. Macworld will be held at San Francisco’s Moscone Center January 5-9, 2009.

Apple is reaching more people in more ways than ever before, so like many companies, trade shows have become a very minor part of how Apple reaches its customers. The increasing popularity of Apple’s Retail Stores, which more than 3.5 million people visit every week, and the Apple.com website enable Apple to directly reach more than a hundred million customers around the world in innovative new ways.

What Apple seems to be saying is, "we no longer need Macworld; we have many alternative ways to reach the public." While that may be true, Macworld was the only event that fans off the street could attend via reasonably priced tickets.

It also means that Apple will focus on their own dedicated events, such as WWDC and this year's "Let's Rock" iPod event.

Before people freak out about Jobs' absence and attribute it to health problems, Apple representative Steve Dowling told C|Net:

"Phil is giving the keynote because this will be Apple's last year at the show. It doesn't make sense for us to make a major investment in a trade show we will no longer be attending."

That of course, leads to still more speculation. Does it mean:

1. Philip Schiller is Jobs' heir apparent?
2. Apple has nothing sigificant to launch at the event?

2) might be right, 1), who knows? We'll see.

App Store Incorrectly Rejects App Over "Undocumented API Use"

A developer has had his app rejected by Apple's App Store because he used undocumented APIs. Problem is, he didn't.

Landon Fuller developed a photo contact management system called Peeps. On his blog, he outlined the rejection:

Upon review of your application, Peeps cannot be posted to the App Store due to the usage of a non-public API. Usage of non-public APIs, as outlined in the iPhone SDK Agreement section 3.3.1, is prohibited:

"3.3.1 Applications may only use Published APIs in the manner prescribed by Apple and must not use or call any unpublished or private APIs."

The non-public API that is included in your application comes from the CoverFlow API set.

However, Fuller states that he didn't use any undocumented APIs. Rather, "when I needed a CoverFlow-like user interface I wrote my own -- from scratch. I suppose I should be flattered that Apple mistook it for their own implementation."

While using an undocumented API would violate SDK rules, what about the fact that Google has admitted to using undocumented APIs in its new release of the Google Mobile App? I haven't seen that app being bumped from the App Store, despite a public acknowledgement of the violation by Google. What, Apple doesn't read the news?

No, taken at face value, it seems like Google has received a free pass on this violation. And that's something I expressed concern over in my earlier post. The App Store approval process should ensure a level playing field. That's what the rules are for. If it does not, developers will start heading for the other hot OS platform: Android.

Amazon UK Accused of Running a Sweatshop Operation

A report in the Sunday Times of London accuses Amazon UK of forcing to employees to work under sweatshop conditions. The report states that Amazon UK is "making its staff work seven days a week and threatening them with the sack if they take time off sick."

The conditions cited in the article remind me of those I've seen in investigative reports of sweatshops in countries in countries like Bangladesh. I'm sure you have seen those, or I hope you have. Sweatshops making goods for Wal-Mart for example. An undercover Sunday Times reporter took a temporary job with Amazon after a tip, so it would seem they have first-hand knowledge.

While the employees at Amazon UK are not paid the ridiculous wages of countries like Bangladesh ($0.20 / hour in the above linked Dateline story), they Times cited the following which sound eerily similar.

• Employees are given only one break of 15 minutes and another of 20 minutes per eight-hour shift and told they have to get permission to go to the restroom.
  

• No sick leave, even if the worker has a legitimate doctor’s note. Taking a day off sick, even with a note, results in a penalty point. A worker with six points faces dismissal.
  

• Made to work a mandatory 10 1/2 hour overnight shift at the end of a five-day week. The overnight shift runs from Saturday evening to 5 AM on Sunday, which means they have to work every day of the week.
  

• Quotas for the number of items to be picked or packed in an hour are so high that even a manager described them as “ridiculous”. An example given was packing Xbox games consoles: a target of 140 / hour.
  

• Bonus schemes that penalize employees if any member of their group fails to hit their quota.
  

• Made to walk up to 14 miles a shift to collect items for packing.

Amazon UK didn't even bother denying it to the Times; rather, they tried to justify if (without admitting to it), as Allan Lyall, Vice President of EU Operations for Amazon said:

"Every single member of the Amazon.co.uk workforce, be that a temporary picker in Marston Gate, a permanent packer in Gourock, a customer service representative in Cork or a product manager in our Slough head office, is currently working flat out to ensure that our millions of customers receive the products that they have ordered on time this Christmas. Our number one focus is our customers and everyone at Amazon works hard on their behalf. "

At the same time Amazon.com in the U.S. tried to deny the allegations. Amazon spokeswoman Patty Smith told SeattlePI.com:

"Don't believe everything you read! There were many inaccuracies in the U.K. article. Case in point: We don't allow FC (fulfillment center) associates to work more than 6 days a week in any location -- they must have at least 1 day off."

Technically, the Times is still right on the money. Sure, they get from 5 AM Sunday off. So they do only work six days --- sort of.

And what about the rest of it? This saddens me. It's bad enough to read of sweatshop conditions in other third-world countries. That of course, is why companies love globalization: low wages in such countries.

But to read of it in a country like the U.K.? And to note that in America we are being forced into service-level jobs such as these as other jobs are shipped overseas? It's shameful, if this story is true.

What worse: corporations are all about the bottom line. I wouldn't put it past 'em.

Don't Ever Try to Steal from a Smart Gamer

Watch any reality cop shows, and the undeniable truth is that in general, thieves aren't too bright. In this case, the thief was outsmarted by the former owner of a stolen Xbox 360 console, who used a little tech knowledge, as well as some diligence.

Ryan Ketsenburg, a sophomore construction management major at Missouri State had just returned from a field trip, and was so exhausted he apparently left his dorm room door unlocked. Someone snuck in that night and snagged Ketsenburg's console.

But they left his wireless controller. He was able to get it to connect to the console, which meant it was nearby. After that it was just a matter of legwork, as Ketsenburg used the controller to close in on the culprit.

The controller, which has a 30-foot range, connected to the Xbox on the fourth, fifth and sixth floors of the dorm, but not on the third and seventh floors. Logically, it had to be one on the fifth floor.

He eventually narrowed the search down to an exact room, and then called the fifth floor R.A. The console was found, and since the controller was able to turn it on, was confirmed to be Ketsenburg's.

But despite finding the console, he's out a lot: the hard drive had been reformatted, erasing his game data. And that, not the theft, is why he is going to prosecute.

"I'm going to try to prosecute to the fullest extent of the law, because I had to follow all the rules, so let's make sure it gets done right," Ketsenburg said.

More iPhone nano Rumors Surface

As early as last year rumors of an iPhone nano surfaced, and they were repeated in August of this year. They're baaaaack, this time prompted by a post on iDealsChina which purports to show an iPhone nano case.

iDealsChina says the above shows an XSKN case vs. a iPhone nano version of the XSKN case.

It is the same height as the just release Nano but wider and thicker and with the same iPhone 3G contours. It has 3 sensors, camera, mirror screen but no 3G. Production will start on the 20th with 60,000 to 80,000/day pieces coming off the assembly line. Steve Jobs will be announcing it during the January MacWorld Show and you will find it in the stores shortly afterwards.

Yeah, well, I'll believe it when it happens. I might find it more likely if it was a clamshell or a slider keyboard device, but just making it smaller with no other changes? I mean, it's tough enough to type as it is (about that native landscape mode for emails, Apple?).

I admit, there were leaks of case designs for the iPod nano 4G, but that was after previous leaks. So for now, let's call this a very speculative rumor.

Ad-Aware Developer Lavasoft Enters the Antivirus Business

Lavasoft, developer of the long-time entrant in the spyware detection arena, Ad-Aware, has released a stand-alone antivirus application. The new product, Lavasoft Anti-Virus Helix is based on technology from antivirus vendor Avira.

It's interesting that Lavasoft would make this move shortly after Microsoft's announcement to drop OneCare and replace it with a simplified free product in the second half of next year. Additionally, the AV market is rather crowded, though obviously, the development of this product was long underway prior to the Microsoft announcement.

Pricing is reasonable, with a 1 year license for $23.95. Multi-year and multi-PC licenses are available as well. Right now they also have a deal which gives you Ad-Aware Plus and Anti-Virus Helix for $26.95. Basically you get Ad-Aware Plus for $3, while it normally sells for $26.95.

While obviously a fast way for Lavasoft to get into the AV business, by using another firm's technology, I've never been a great fan of that approach. I mean, I realize it's faster, but why wouldn't an end user buy the original firm's software rather than the rebranded version?

Avira also has a free version of its software, which doesn't include features such as anti-phishing protection, but for many users who aren't in the high-risk category, it and other free solutions from Avast and Grisoft would probably do just fine.

Still Ad-Aware has a great reputation (though I personally use Spybot S&D) and Lavasoft is hoping to capitalize on that.

The Key2SafeDriving: Halting Cell Phone Use Behind the Wheel

I wrote earlier about DriveAssist, software designed to detect when a cell phone is moving at car speeds, at which point the phone would essentially be disabled. A new, competing technology called Key2SafeDriving aims to do the same thing, but in this case relying on hardware as well as software.

Key2SafeDriving has connects the car key to a cell phone via Bluetooth or RFID. When the key is used to drive the car, a signal is sent to the phone putting it into "driving mode." This is how it works:

1. A car key is configured to wirelessly connect with a cell phone through Bluetooth or RFID.
2. To turn on the engine, the driver has to either slide the key out or push a button to release it, then a “driving” signal is automatically sent to the associated cell phone, and the cell phone changes to “driving” mode, during which
   • Teen drivers are not allowed to talk/text while driving
   • Adult drivers need to use a hands-free device, and are not allowed to text while driving
   • Incoming phone calls/text messages are auto-replied to
   • Cell phone capabilities can still be used during an emergency (as required by law)
     
3. When the car key is used to turn off the engine, a “car stopped” signal is sent to the phone, and the cell phone returns to normal communication mode.

The firm obviously hopes to gain insurance industry acceptance. One use posited for the technology is compiling data on cell phone use / non-use while driving, turning that into a "safety score" which then would be used by insurance companies to provide discounts to motorists with good scores.

Shades of Big Brother. The site further goes on to say that:

The score also could include data recorded via Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites on the driver's speeding, rapid braking or running of lights, which are calculated by comparing the driver's position with a database of maps, speed limits, stop lights and so on.

Not that I haven't been expecting something like this; I have. Still ...

You can watch a video demo here:

Change.gov iPhone Web App Now Available

Barack Obama certainly used tech to his advantage during the 2008 Presidential Election, and he's not stopping there. Since the election, he has opened up his Change.gov transition site, added OpenID login for commenters, and changed the copyright license for the site to a much more liberal Creative Commons license. And last week, largely due to the Creative Commons license, an iPhone web app was released as well.

Just to be clear, this isn't an App Store app, but a web app. And it wasn't created by Obama's team, but by Cerado, using their Ventana service. And in all honesty, they also have a web app for other mobile devices, as well as a widget you can post on your site.

You can find all of them here.

Here's what Christopher Carfi, co-founder of Cerado, had to say on his site, about Creative Commons on Change.gov and the creation of these apps and widgets:

This opening up of the content on Change.gov has the stated intent that "anyone can take the policy points and discussions from the site and create their own remix or branch of it."

Thanks to this important step by the administration, we were able to create both mobile and widget versions of the site using Cerado Ventana.

Seadragon Mobile: Microsoft's First iPhone App is Released

It had to be a tough decision for Microsoft, as the iPhone definitely competes against Microsoft's Windows Mobile OS, but you can't deny popularity. So, on Saturday night, Microsoft's Live Labs quietly rolled out its first iPhone App.

Seadragon Mobile is free, but it's really a demo of Seadragon photo technology. Seadragon is a core technology already in some of Microsoft's products, such as Photosynth and DeepZoom in Silverlight.

But no Windows Mobile version, and an iPhone version? Some Microsoft heads might have exploded over that thought. But as Alex Daley, group product manager for Microsoft Live Labs, told TechFlash:

"The iPhone is the most widely distributed phone with a (graphics processing unit). Most phones out today don’t have accelerated graphics in them The iPhone does and so it enabled us to do something that has been previously difficult to do. I couldn’t just pick up a Blackberry or a Nokia off the shelf and build Seadragon for it without GPU support."

Curious? Here's how Microsoft describes the app:

Get the goodness of Seadragon on your iPhone!

Browse large quantities of high-resolution imagery smoothly and quickly with a flick or a pinch. Explore massive galaxies, pore over maps, or flip through collections of photographs, all over the air. You can also add your own photos or browse those already available on Photosynth.com.

FEATURES:
- View thousands of images over the air
- Quickly view massive gigapixel images
- Explore Photosynth collections in 2D, including your own
- Add your own PhotoZoom / Deep Zoom Composer content
- Subscribe to Deep Zoom RSS feeds

Released as a tech preview, Seadragon Mobile is designed to show off the 'what if?' of mobile user experiences. Expect more cool stuff from Live Labs in the future at http://livelabs.com.

Lemme tell you, it's pretty cool. You can download it from the App Store, as I said, for free, here.

Asus Rolls Out Celeron-Based Asus Eee Box Nettop

It's official; Asus has unveiled a new version of its Eee Box nettop. The Asus Eee Box B203 is a near-clone of the B202, with one notable change: it swaps out the Intel Atom CPU for an Intel C220 Celeron.

It seems a reasonable move: while the Atom is more energy efficient, this is a desktop, not a netbook, and plugged in all day. It had been rumored that Asus was planning the change.

Aside from that the specs seem pretty standard: up to 2 GB of RAM, up to a 160 GB HD, Windows XP Home, 802.11n, Gigabit LAN, 4 USB ports, and the like.

While the pricing infomation hasn't been revealed, the Celeron is cheaper than the Atom, so hopefully they'll be a slight price reduction involved. DigiTimes, in fact, said the price would drop from $320 to $240 when revealing the information about the new Box in early December.