Guys more likely to cheat on high-earning women

Baffled by how Jesse James could have cheated on his superstar wife, Sandra Bullock ? Or why Eric Benet stepped out on Halle Berry (Halle Berry!)?

A new study may help explain it. Men who earn significantly less than their female partners, or who earn nothing, are far more likely to cheat than those in relationships where incomes are more or less equal, the study found.

In fact, men who were completely dependent on their partner's income were five times more likely to cheat than men who contributed an equal amount of money to the relationship, according to research presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association.

You’d think such men wouldn’t want to risk their meal ticket. But lower-earning men may be self-medicating their inner macho guy, says Cornell University sociology graduate student Christin Munsch, who conducted the study.

“Having multiple sexual partners may be an attempt to restore gender identity in response to these threats,” she writes. “In other words, for men, sex [outside their relationship] may be an attempt to compensate for feelings of inadequacy with respect to gender identity.”

In fact, says Munsch, we finally have scientific support to the enduring cliché about why any man would drive a Hummer: he’s overcompensating.

But if you’re a woman, here’s the lousy part: “At the other end of the spectrum, those making a lot more are also more likely to cheat,” said Munsch. Men can be bad whether we’re broke or filthy rich.

Original article.

Google, Verizon make Net neutrality proposal

IDG News Service - Google and Verizon Communications have released a proposal that suggests the U.S. Federal Communications Commission should enforce network neutrality rules and fine broadband providers up to $2 million for violations.

Officials from the two companies, in an announcement today, said they hope to move the often-contentious Net neutrality debate ahead with the recommendations. Under the proposal, broadband providers could not block or degrade Web traffic, although they could provide "differentiated online" services apart from the public Internet.

The announcement comes after days of rumors and news reports that the two companies had reached an agreement on how Verizon would handle Google's traffic. But the proposal is a set of recommendations to U.S. policymakers and broadband providers, and the proposal would not allow for any prioritization of Google's traffic on the public Internet, said Ivan Seidenberg, Verizon's chairman and CEO.

"There is no business arrangement, and reports that there was a business relationship are false, misleading and incorrect," said Eric Schmidt, Google's chairman and CEO.

Under net neutrality, or open Internet, rules, broadband providers would be prohibited from selectively blocking or slowing Web traffic.

"The original architects of the Internet got the big things right," said Alan Davidson, Google's director of public policy, and Tom Tauke, Verizon's executive vice president of public affairs, policy, and communications, in a blog post. "By making the network open, they enabled the greatest exchange of ideas in history. By making the Internet scalable, they enabled explosive innovation in the infrastructure."

The proposal is an effort to "find ways to protect the future openness of the Internet and encourage the rapid deployment of broadband," Davidson and Tauke wrote.

original article.

Brother intros iPhone app, allows users to scan to and print

Printer specialists Brother UK has launched what the company says is the world's first iPhone application that allows users to scan to and print from their smartphones.

Brother iPrint&Scan allows customers to wirelessly print from and scan to their iPhone, iPod touch or iPad - with a compatible printer from Brother's latest inkjet multifunction printer range."Smart phones are becoming an essential modern day business tool and we are pleased to be able to offer even more convenient features for our customers," said Phil Jones, sales and marketing director at Brother UK announcing the application.All of Brother's latest inkjet multifunction printers introduced from 2009 onwards that have a wireless interface will be fully compatible with the application. Models with network interface are also compatible when connecting to a wireless network."iPhone users have been waiting for an app like this for quite some time. We're really pleased to be at the forefront of innovative printing technology, providing businesses with the means to succeed," Jones adds.Available from the Apple iTunes App Store, Brother iPrint&Scan is free and requires the iPhone 3.0 Software Update or later and a compatible Brother printer.

The application is initially launched in English, with plans to introduce French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and Dutch versions by the end of 2010. Brother also has plans to develop similar applications for other smartphones including Google-based Android 1.6 handsets.

Original Article.

Postal Service Seeks 2-Cent Rise in First-Class Mail

July 6 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Postal Service proposed raising the price of first-class stamps by 2 cents, to 46 cents, while rates for periodicals increase 8 percent and parcels 23 percent to narrow a deficit projected at $7 billion this year.

The increases would generate $2.3 billion in the first nine months of 2011, the service said today in a statement. Increases, which must be reviewed by Postal Regulatory Commission, would take effect Jan. 2.

“We’re doing this because the Postal Service really faces a serious risk of financial insolvency,” said Stephen Kearney, a senior vice president with the Postal Service.

The commission has 90 days to rule on the proposal, one of several steps the Postal Service is considering to cope with a decline in mail volume as Internet use increases. The service also is seeking approval from Congress to end Saturday delivery, provided since the Post Office was founded in 1863.

“The Postal Service is wrong on the law, wrong on the economics, and wrong as a matter of public policy,” James Cregan, executive vice president of government affairs for the Magazine Publishers of America, said in an interview before the announcement. The increase will drive away profitable mail, heading the service toward a “death spiral,” he said.

Mailers of catalogs, magazines and newspapers are prepared to fight the rate increase, Cregan said. The group’s members include Time Warner Inc. and Meredith Corp.

‘Exceptional, Extraordinary’

The Postal Service is using a legal provision that lets it propose increases greater than the rate of inflation under “exceptional or extraordinary” circumstances, Kearney said. The average increase would be 5.6 percent, compared with inflation of 0.6 percent, he said.

Express mail and priority mail, such as the flat-rate boxes advertised by the Postal Service, are excluded from the current proposal, and higher prices for those offerings will be announced in October, the agency said.

A 23 percent increase would apply to parcels under one pound, said Maura Robinson, a spokeswoman. Heavier packages typically used to ship books, videos and merchandise face an average increase of about 7 percent, she said.

The Postal Service’s parcel charges “will remain competitive, which shows how underpriced they are now,” Kearney said.

The Postal Service lost $1.6 billion in its recent quarter as customers continued to use the Internet to pay monthly bills and read publications that previously were delivered by mail. The service projects a deficit of $238 billion through 2020.

Mail volume dropped 6.3 percent from Oct. 1 through March 31, the service said May 6. Profitable types of mail are falling faster than less-profitable categories, which include bulk advertising mail, Chief Financial Officer Joseph Corbett said.

The agency also has asked Congress for permission to delay a required retiree health benefits payment and for more flexibility to close facilities.

--With assistance from Angela Greiling Keane in Washington. Editors: Steve Geimann, Larry Liebert

To contact the reporter on this story: Todd Shields in Washington at Tshields3@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Larry Liebert at lliebert@bloomberg.net.

original article.

HTC EVO 4G In Short Supply

Sprint says demand for the 4G smartphone has been greater than expected.

By Esther Shein
InformationWeek
June 30, 2010 01:12 PM

Sprint HTC EVO 4G SmartphoneDue to higher than expected demand, the HTC EVO 4G smartphone is in short supply, said its carrier Sprint Nextel.


More Hardware InsightsWhitepapersA Mobile Software Quality Framework RSS Mobile Reader AnalyticsVirtual Servers, Real Risks Private Clouds On The Horizon Videos
Data Warehouse Appliance Promises Database Transparence, Mixed BI Workload, Massive ScalabilitySprint CEO Dan Hesse acknowledged this week that sales of the device, which was launched at the beginning of June and is widely viewed as the carrier's answer to the Apple iPhone 4, have been far greater than they anticipated. Both Hesse and HTC said they believe the issue has more to do with underestimating the demand for the 4G phone than a lack of available components.
"We're certainly doing everything we can to ensure we're supplying devices as quickly as possible. We're seeing greater demand for our products than we ever have in the past," HTC spokesman Keith Nowak said in a statement to Reuters.

Best practices for managing and securing corporate assets with these consumer mobile devices

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The news follows the rocky start the EVO 4G has experienced since its debut on June 4. On Monday, HTC and Sprint began offering an update for the device after reports surfaced about bricked phones. And some users also complained about the device's touchscreen, claiming that it separates from the device and causes light leakage.

Sprint also caught some flak for overestimating early sales, after announcing that the $199.99 phone set a single-day sales record.

The HTC EVO 4G also runs on Sprint's 3G network if the phone is used in places that don't yet have 4G. The Android 2.1-based device has a custom Web browser designed for the 4.3-inch touchscreen.

Its long list of features include simultaneous voice and data capability in 4G or Wi-Fi coverage areas for Web surfing; Google Goggles, which provides the ability to search anything from books and DVDs to barcodes and logos using pictures instead of words; 1-GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor; two cameras: an 8.0-megapixel auto-focus camera with HD-capable video camcorder and a forward-facing 1.3-megapixel camera; built-in mobile hotspot functionality allowing up to eight Wi-Fi enabled devices to share the 3G or 4G speeds; and integrated HD video capture so users can capture and share live video via the Qik Web site and social media sites.

The EVO 4G also comes with the ability to transmit video from the device to an HDTV via a separate HDMI cable; a built-in kickstand in the back to watch videos; Adobe Flash technology; and pinch-to-zoom and automatic text reflowing for Web page views.

HTC's Droid Incredible, sold at Sprint's biggest competitor, Verizon Wireless, is also in short supply, according to Verizon's website, which says that due to high demand the device will ship by July 28.


Virtualization and cloud computing have taken over the mantle of hottest technology that only a few years ago was held by unified communications, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to align the cloud with UC--or any major initiative, for that matter. Download our report here (registration required).


original article.

Texting While Driving: Everyone's Doing it

The stereotype of a teen texting while driving has been challenged by new research from Pew, which found that adults engage in the high-risk behavior as much as younger age groups do. Laws banning texting behind the wheel don't seem to be having any impact at all, noted Russ Rader, a spokesperson for the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety.

Adults are at least as likely as teenagers to text and engage in other distracting behavior behind the wheel, according to a survey released Friday by the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

Twenty-seven percent of adult survey respondents said they have sent or read text messages while driving. Sixteen- and 17-year-olds reported a texting-while-driving rate of 26 percent in the same survey, which was conducted in May.

Adults 18- to 33-years-old were the most likely to report texting while driving, with 59 percent saying they've done so. Half of 34- to 45-year-olds admitted texting behind the wheel, while 29 percent of those 46-65 reported such behavior. And half of all passengers said they've been chauffeured by a texting driver.

"Even those of us who make a conscious choice to put down our cellphones while driving may still be at risk when we are passengers simply sharing the road with other distracted drivers," Pew Senior Research Specialist Mary Madden told TechNewsWorld.

Forty-four percent of adults have been in a car while the driver recklessly used a cellphone in a way that could have hurt them or someone else, the survey also found. One in six respondents, or 16 percent, said they'd been so distracted by their phones that they actually hit something as a result.


Disparate Results
The Pew survey's findings on adult texting run counter to some other research suggesting that teens are much more likely to engage in what is generally viewed as a predominantly teenaged activity. For instance, a February report released by the Insurance Institutes of Highway Safety found that incidences of reported texting-while driving were highest with 18- to 24-year-olds and declined consistently with age.

Regardless, there's evidence that texting-while-driving may be on the increase, despite a spate of legislation seeking to stop the practice, as well as a federal Department of Transportation summit and subsequent ban on texting behind the wheel by federal employees.

In January, Pew found that 34 percent of texting adults had sent or received a message while driving, while about 47 percent of all texting adults reported texting and driving in the May survey. Although the wording in the two surveys was somewhat different, it is likely evidence that such activities are becoming increasingly common, Madden said.

Laws Ineffective
Legislation doesn't seem to be having any impact at all, noted Russ Rader, a spokesperson for the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety.

"If politicians think laws against texting and handheld phoning are going to be a big boon for safety, it isn't coming," Rader told TechNewsWorld.

The Pew center doesn't take policy positions and didn't include any recommendations in its report. But it's likely that technology may turn out to be the best solution -- not just to texting while driving, but all forms of distracted driving.

Technology exists to block cellphone signals while a vehicle is in motion, and automakers are increasingly beginning to equip cars with collision warning systems, equipment that automatically applies the brakes if an accident seems imminent, and even sensing technology that can tell when a driver is falling asleep.

"We have to realize that distracted driving is much bigger than anything we do with our phones, and it's nothing new," said Rader. "People have been driving distracted since Henry Ford -- whether it's checking out the driver in the car next to you, scolding the kids at the wrong time, or just daydreaming."

original article.

Starbucks Offering Free Wi-Fi starting July 1st

Starbucks Corp. will make wireless Internet service free at all U.S. stores starting July 1, eliminating a previous fee of $3.99 for two hours of access.

The move comes after McDonald’s Corp. earlier this year dropped all access fees on wireless Internet service, as the fast-food chain sought to make its restaurants a more suitable place to hang out.

Starbucks had offered wireless Internet service at its stores through provider AT&T Inc. under an array of options.

Customers who had a registered Starbucks loyalty card could get two hours of free wireless Internet service a day, while users of AT&T mobile devices that had Wi-Fi capabilities received unlimited access to the service.

Customers who subscribed to AT&T’s DSL service could also use Starbucks wireless Internet service free of charge. All other Starbucks customers were charged $3.99 for two hours of access.

Starbucks Chief Executive Howard Schultz disclosed the changes Monday at the Wired Business Conference in New York. Starbucks customers using the in-store Internet will also, starting in the fall, be able to have free access to various paid sites, including WSJ.com, through a network developed with Yahoo Inc.

original article.

Apple introduces iPhone 4

okay okay so its finally here the Iphone 4. and it does look pretty cool . i personally do not have an i phone i have a blackberry but still I'm a little jealous and if i could have it my way i would love an iphone too bad its not offered to tmobile customers.

Apple on Monday announced the next version of the iPhone, called the iPhone 4, during Steve Jobs’s keynote to kick off the company’s Worldwide Developers Conference.

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Jobs described the phone as, “beyond a doubt, the most precise thing and one of the most beautiful things we’ve ever made” before highlighting a number of its new features.

Updated design
Apple says the iPhone 4 is 9.3mm thick, or 24 percent thinner than the iPhone 3GS. It includes new camera with an LED flash on the black, but a second, front-facing camera as well. There are new volume buttons, a mute button, plus a second microphone on the top for noise cancellation. Just like the iPad, it now incorporates a micro-SIM tray.



Apple has also engineered three integrated antennas into the design: one for Bluetooth, one for WI-Fi and GPS, and one for UMTS and GSM.

Improved display
A new screen technology called a retina display add much higher precision to the iPhone. In fact, at 326 pixels per inch, it’s double the 163 pixels per inch resolution of the iPhone 3GS.

The new display is the same 3.5 inches diagonally, but at 960 by 640 it has four times as many pixels as the previous model. And the 800:1 contrast ratio is also four times that of the iPhone 3GS. It uses the same IPS display technology as the iPad and the iMac for good color fidelity, brightness, and viewing angle.

New processor
Designed by Apple, the A4 chip is tiny and has good power management. Apple went with the micro-SIM design to save space, mostly for a new battery that—coupled with the new chip—Apple says provides 40 percent more talk time. The company says talk time is up from 5 hours to 7 hours; 6 hours of 3G browsing; 10 hours of Wi-Fi browsing; 10 hours of video; 40 hours of music; and 300 hours of standby.

Environmentally, the new iPhone is arsenic free, BFR-free mercury-free, PVC-free, and made from highly recyclable materials.

It comes in sizes up to 32GB of storage (the same as the iPhone 3GS) and includes quad-band HSPDPA/HSUPA networking with a maximum of 7.2Mbps down and 5.8 Mbps up.

“That’s theoretical because the carriers don’t support it yet,” said Jobs.

There’s also 802.11n Wi-Fi wireless networking, an improvement from 802.11g in the previous model.

Gyroscope
The iPhone 4 add a three-axis gyroscope for measuring angular velocity. It can figure out pitch, roll, and yaw; and rotation about gravity. The gyroscope plus the accelerometer provide six-axis motion sensing. There are also new CoreMotion APIs that developers can call for extremely precise position information—ideal for games.

New camera system
The iPhone 4 has a new, 5-megapixel camera with 5x digital zoom and an LED flash. It also adds 720p HD video capture at 30 frames per second. To go along with the new video capabilities, Apple has created a version of its iMovie consumer video-editing application for the iPhone. With it, you can record or edit you videos (and add photos as well). You can add titles, changes themes, and use music from your iTunes library.

iMovie for iPhone will be available for $5—“if we approve it,” Jobs joked, in reference to the App Store.

Video chat
For Jobs’ patented (well, probably not, but it should be) One More Thing moment, he sat down on a chair to show off the iPhone 4’s video chatting capabilities. Using either of the two cameras, you can make video calls—a feature called FaceTime—between iPhone 4 phones over Wi-Fi only—at least through 2010. Jobs said Apple needs to “work a little bit with the cellular providers in the future”. You can switch between cameras and chat in landscape or portait mode.

Pricing and availability
The iPhone 4 will come in black and white, at $199 for 16GB and $299 for 32GB (with the same qualifications and two-year contract with AT&T as in the past). Apple will also have an 8GB iPhone 3GS for $99.

Jobs said that AT&T is going to make “an incredibly generous upgrade offer.” If your contract expires any time in 2010, you’re immediately eligible for that pricing, for up to six months early eligibility.

The iPhone 4 goes on sale in the U.S., France, Germany, the U.K., and Japan on June 24, with pre-orders starting on June 15. It will ship in 18 more countries in July, in 24 more in August, and in 40 more by the end of September.

Apple also showed off some accessories: a $29 dock and a $29 case that comes in different colors


original article.

Woman sues Google over Utah walking directions

SALT LAKE CITY — A pedestrian injured by a motorist while following an online route has filed a lawsuit claiming Google Inc. supplied unsafe directions.

Lauren Rosenberg filed a lawsuit on Thursday seeking more than $100,000 in U.S. District Court in Utah. It also named a motorist she says hit her.

Rosenberg used her phone in January to download directions from one end of Park City to the other.

Google Maps led her to a four-lane boulevard without sidewalks that was "not reasonably safe for pedestrians," according to the lawsuit filed by the Northridge, Calif., resident.

The case has become a sensation on tech blogs, websites and cable television channels, with critics assailing the woman for ignoring her own safety to blindly follow online directions. Her lawyer, Allen Young, said the truth was different.

Rosenberg believed she could reach a sidewalk on the other side of Deer Valley Drive and tried to cross the boulevard, but didn't even make it to the median, he said.

She was struck by a speeding car on a pitch-black night and received multiple bone fractures that required six weeks of rehabilitation, Young added.

"We think there's enough fault to go around, but Google had some responsibility to direct people correctly or warn them," Young said. "They created a trap with walking instructions that people rely on. She relied on it and thought she should cross the street."

Rosenberg is seeking compensation for medical bills, plus more for lost wages and punitive damages. The lawsuit provided no other information about the woman, who has been misidentified online as a Los Angeles publicist by the same name.

Young said the woman is a native of Northridge in her mid-20s and is unemployed. No phone listing could be found for her.

Google spokeswoman Elaine Filadelfo said the company had not received a copy of the lawsuit and couldn't discuss it, but she disputed Young's assertion that Google Maps provides no warning that walking routes may be missing sidewalks or pedestrian paths.

Every software version for desktop computers and mobile devices has had that disclaimer since Google Maps was launched in 2008, she said.

Park City police said some segments of Deer Valley Drive have sidewalks but not the stretch that Rosenberg reached. The boulevard has a walking path on the side Rosenberg failed to reach, police Capt. Rick Ryan said.

Young said the walking path was "totally snowpacked" and of no use to pedestrians in January.

original article.

Brittany Murphy's Mom Discovered Simon Monjack's Body

Just before he died, Simon Monjack was making plans for a European getaway and a new book project.

Speaking to PEOPLE on May 14, just nine days before his death at age 40, the onetime screenwriter said he hoped to travel to Europe with Sharon Murphy, the mother of his late wife Brittany.

"Of course I’ll take her with me – I can’t leave her, " he said of Sharon. Planning to begin work on a photography book about ballet, he said he hoped the project would be therapeutic given Brittany’s love of ballet. "It seems fitting to do it, " he said.

A friend of Sharon's confirms that it was she who found Monjack dead in the Hollywood home where the pair continued living after Brittany's death. Already fragile in the wake of her daughter's death five months earlier, a devastated Sharon is "not well at all," says the friend.

"Brittany's mom made the 911 call. He was unresponsive when responders arrived and was pronounced dead at the house," L.A. Assistant Chief Coroner Ed Winter tells PEOPLE. "It's being reported [by the responding fire department] as a possible heart attack. We're not sure if it is natural causes or a possible accident maybe because of the prescription medication found there."

Late last month, Sharon spoke to PEOPLE to vehemently refute rumors that she and Monjack were romantically involved.

"That's disgusting," she said. "We're close friends and we're family. It's an awful and ridiculous thing to say."


A History of Health Problems
Still, the British-born Monjack was no stranger to controversy. During his three-year marriage to Murphy he drew fire from critics who said he was controlling of her. The scrutiny only intensified after her death at age 32 in December from pneumonia, a low-blood count and multiple drug intoxication.

"Every story needs a villain,” he told PEOPLE. "I don't understand why people say such horrible things. "

Monjack’s own health had long been fraught with problems – and mystery. In January, Monjack's mother, Linda Monjack, told PEOPLE that her son was "unwell” and that he had suffered “a slight heart attack" a week before Brittany’s death.

LAPD spokeswoman Mary Grady says there was no sign of foul play surrounding Monjack's death but that a coroner's investigation is underway. "There were some prescription meds found, " she says. "I don't know if they were involved. They will have to do an autopsy and toxicology report."

In February, Monjack told PEOPLE that he had survived a battle with oral cancer. (Something Linda had claimed she had no knowledge of.) He also noted that an anti-seizure medication found at the house at the time of Brittany's death was intended for his use but did not elaborate.

Having gone up and down on the scale frequently over the years, Monjack had packed on weight since his wife’s death and struggled to regain his footing.

"Some days he wants to kill himself and other days, he seems to be coping better," Linda Monjack said in January, noting that her son’s closeness with his mother-in-law was helping them both to heal. "I think they are really clinging to each other for support."

original article.

10-year-old Brooklyn girl watches in horror as father gunned down in street

Terrible story and i feel for this 10 yr old girls. its horrible. i wish her and the family the best and i hope she can over come this in her life and grow up to be something soo wonderful.


A 10-year-old girl watched in horror as her father was shot to death outside their Brooklyn home while on his way to the corner store.

Ashley Lopez was watching her father, Jose Lopez, 27, from the fourth-floor window of their Cypress Hills home around 9:25 p.m. Sunday when the shooting occurred, her mother said.

"She was just watching him go to the store," said Melissa Delgado, 26, the mother of Ashley and Lopez's two other children, Jose Jr., 5, and Alana, 6 months.

"All of a sudden, I heard a gunshot. It sounded like a firecracker. Then Ashley started screaming, 'Daddy! Daddy! Leave my daddy alone!'" she said. "She said the shooter looked up, right at her. That's what really scared her. She saw him."

Lopez was transported to Brookdale Hospital where he was pronounced dead, police said.

Delgado's uncle, Ismael Ortiz, 38, was visiting the family and tried desperately to save Lopez.

"I heard Ashley screaming, ran downstairs so fast. I came out and saw Jose lying on the ground. He wasn't moving."

"I tried to give him CPR," Ortiz said, "but he took his last breath and just died in my arms.

"I don't understand why this happened."

Police said Lopez had a criminal record dating to 1994, including robbery, criminal possession of marijuana and criminal possession of stolen property.

In 2007, he was busted for reckless endangerment, driving without a license, driving with a suspended license, and disorderly conduct.

But Delgado insisted that "his kids always came first."

"He was crazy about them, always with them, for their appointments, everything," she said. "He never missed out on anything. I don't know what we're going to do now without him."

Friends and family lit candles at the crime scene on Eastern Parkway and left a cigar and a bottle of Hennessey cognac.



Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2010/05/17/2010-05-17_10yearold_brooklyn_girl_watches_in_horror_as_father_gunned_down_in_street.html#ixzz0oD6GEpeS


original article.

Facebook Denies Hiring Former FTC Chief Muris

Facebook on Monday denied that is has hired former Federal Trade Commissioner Chairman Timothy Muris as an official staffer.

"Tim Muris has not joined Facebook," the company said in a statement.

News reports earlier today suggested that Muris was hired to help defend the social networking site against privacy inquiries. Consumer groups, members of Congress, and privacy watchdogs have filed separate complaints against Facebook with the FTC regarding recent changes to the site's privacy settings.

Muris served as chairman of the FTC from 2001 to 2004. Since 2004, he has worked as an attorney at private firm O'Melveny & Myers, where he is co-chair of the firm's antitrust and competition practice. His profile is still listed on the firm's Web site.

Separately, it was revealed this weekend that Facebook board member Jim Breyer was the victim of a recent hack, which resulted in his personal Facebook account sending phishing e-mails to his friends.

Facebook blocks "malicious links from being shared and work[s] with third parties to get phishing and malware sites added to browser blacklists or taken down completely," a Facebook spokesman said in an e-mail. "Users whose accounts have been compromised are put through a remediation process, where they must take steps to re-secure their account and learn security best practices. This appears to be what happened with Jim Breyer's account."

Facebook urged users not to click on strange links "even if they've been sent by friends" and to be wary of sites that ask you to download or upgrade software.

This post originally appeared on AppScout.

original article.

The once ubiquitous floppy finally being axed by Sony

The 3.5" 1.44MB HD floppy may finally be going gentle into that good night. Sony, one of just a few companies that still produce the archaic computer storage media, has announced plans to end production of floppies in March 2011.

The company sold about 12 million 3.5" floppies in Japan last year, which represents 70 percent of that market (and incidentally, about 17TB of data capacity). Floppies are still used with legacy equipment in education and research sectors, according to Sony. However, the company cited dwindling demand as the reason for ending production.

The 3.5" floppy largely replaced the 5.25" floppy by the early '90s, but other storage mediums had begun to replace it by the late '90s. Apple's original iMac was the first mass-market computer to come without a floppy drive in 1998, and Windows PCs gradually followed suit. Iomega's 100MB Zip disk format became quite popular for larger file transfer for a short while, before succumbing to cheap 650MB CD-Rs early last decade. Today, most file transfer happens via the Internet, USB flash drives, or relatively low-cost, high-capacity portable hard drives.

Memorex and 3M offshoot Imation still offer floppies for sale for the time being, but with Sony ending production, we expect the floppy will rage no more against the dying of the light. Frankly, we're a little surprised it raged this long.


original article.

Android Market hits 50,000 apps

Launched in October 2008, the Android Market now has 50,000 apps to choose from in its application marketplace.

While not nearly as quick as the iPhone to 50,000 apps, which Apple achieved within a year, the Android Market is proving to be the alternative market for mobile apps. The Android Market was announced on August 28, 2008 and was made available to users two months later. This weekend, it passed the 50,000 app mark.



Apple currently has almost 200,000 apps in the App Store, and notably has started purging certain types of apps, like the those in the "sexy-to-porn" category. In fact, Apple CEO Steve Jobs said in an email to a customer, "You know, there’s a porn store for Android. You can download nothing but porn. You can download porn, your kids can download porn. That’s a place we don’t want to go – so we’re not going to go there".

Google (GOOG) has also been forced to remove tethering apps in its US Android Market due to contractual agreements with T-Mobile, though developers who enable their phones for development can get those applications running on their Android phones.

With hot new Android devices like the Dell Mini 5 and Sprint Evo waiting in the wings, the market for Android apps shows no sign of slowing.


original article.

10 Breakfasts that Slim and Energize

Did you eat breakfast today? If your answer is yes—good job!—you’ve already done something pretty fantastic for both your weight and your health and your desire to slim down for spring! Breakfast eaters consume fewer calories and less saturated fat through the day than those who don’t have a morning meal, research shows. Morning munchers also have flatter abs and a lower risk for heart disease.

For these reasons and others, I’m a big fan of breakfast. In fact, I sometimes have two—a quick bite before my workout and then a fiber- and calcium-filled “second breakfast,” such as my favorite parfait of Greek yogurt, granola and fruit, at the office a couple of hours later. A high-fiber, calcium-rich mix of whole grains, protein (including eggs and dairy) and fruit keeps my energy up and my weight down.

If you want quick, healthy breakfasts you can whip up before dashing out of the house, post this list of 350-calorie meals on your fridge door. (Don’t let cholesterol worries keep you away from the egg options—research shows you can eat up to three eggs daily without raising LDL, the harmful cholesterol.) Get set to rise and shine—and slim!

SPEEDY WEEKDAY BREAKFASTS (about 350 calories each)

Breakfast Burrito
Cook 1 Amy's Breakfast Burrito as directed on package. Top with 2 tablespoons plain nonfat yogurt. Serve with 1 orange.

Bacon, Egg and Cheese Sandwich
Order 1 Starbucks Reduced-Fat Turkey Bacon and Egg Whites English Muffin sandwich.

Cream Cheese, Fig and Nut Wrap
Roll up a whole-wheat wrap with 2 tbsp light cream cheese, 4 dried fig halves and 2 tbsp chopped walnuts.

Cherry-Vanilla-Almond Smoothie
Blend together 1 cup frozen cherries, half a medium banana, 1 cup skim milk, 1/2 cup plain nonfat yogurt and 1 tbsp sliced almonds. Add a few ice cubes to make it more frothy.

Strawberry Almond Oatmeal
Prepare 1 packet instant plain oatmeal with 1/2 cup skim milk instead of water. Top with 3/4 cup frozen strawberries, thawed; 2 tbsp sliced almonds and 1 teaspoon brown sugar.

Apricot, Almond and Ricotta Toast
Spread 2 slices whole-wheat toast each with 2 tbsp part-skim ricotta and 1 tsp apricot preserves; top each slice with 1 1/2 tsp sliced almonds.

5-Minute Egg and Smoked Salmon Sandwich
Crack 1 egg into a microwave-safe bowl. Cover with a paper towel and microwave until egg is cooked through and not runny. Layer 1 wedge The Laughing Cow Light cheese, egg, 2 oz smoked salmon and 1/4 cup raw baby spinach on a Whole Wheat Arnold Sandwich Thin. Serve with 1large apple.

LEISURELY WEEKEND BREAKFASTS (about 350 calories each)

Portobello and Pesto Egg Scramble
In a medium sauté pan, cook 1 sliced portobello mushroom cap with 1/4 cup chopped red onion in 1 tsp olive oil until soft, about 5 minutes. Whisk 4 egg whites with 1 tbsp water and add to pan. Scramble mixture over medium heat until eggs are no longer runny; add salt and pepper to taste. Just before removing from heat, fold in 1/4 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella and 1 tsp prepared pesto. Serve with 1 slice whole-wheat toast.

Peanut Butter Waffle-wich
Top one toasted whole-grain waffle with 2 tsp peanut butter, 2⁄3 cup sliced apples and a sprinkle of cinnamon. Top with another whole-grain waffle. Serve with a café au lait made with 4 ounces coffee mixed with 4 oz steamed skim milk.

Spinach and Smoked Gouda Egg Sandwich
Sauté 1 cup fresh spinach with olive oil cooking spray until wilted (add pepper and garlic powder if desired); set spinach aside. In same pan, fry 1 egg plus 1 egg white in cooking spray until no longer runny. Top eggs with 2 tbsp shredded smoked Gouda. Sandwich eggs, cheese and spinach between 2 sides of a toasted whole-wheat English muffin. Serve with 1 orange.

original article.

Microsoft debuts 'social' phone

morning!

The software firm says the phones have been created specifically to help people who like to stay in touch with friends and share content.

Fitted with a high-resolution camera, the phone is also the first to access Microsoft's Zune music service.

The launch is designed to counter rivals such as Apple, Google and Research In Motion's Blackberry.

Made by Sharp, the two Kin handsets will go on sale in the US in May. In Europe, the Kin models will be available on the Vodafone network and will be launched in Autumn 2010. No prices have been given for the phones.

"This is a phone that knits together a tight community of kindred spirits..., the phone personifies true kinship between people, technology, friends and customers," said Robbie Bach, president of the entertainment and devices division at Microsoft.

Both phones have a multi-touch screen and a slide-out keyboard. The home screen of the device is always on and shows the latest events, such as text messages, tweets, or shared images, happening among someone's group of friends

The phone has an area dubbed the "spot" onto which owners can drag content, such as videos, and then decide how to share it and who to share it with. The phone works with popular social network sites such as Facebook, Twitter and MySpace.

Also, anything created on the phone is mirrored online and organised into a timeline and can be accessed from any web browser.

"Social is the DNA of this phone," said Microsoft's Derek Snyder, one of the product marketing managers who worked on its development. "Social is the fabric of this experience."

The Kin marks a departure for Microsoft which has typically offered its software to phone makers. With Kin it will have control over both hardware and software.

One question being asked after the launch was if Microsoft was coming too late to the feature-phone party.

Blackberry maker Rim has a firm grip as the market leader for business smartphones and Apple's iPhone is the one to beat among consumers.

"Sure, Microsoft has fallen behind in this space but there is a lot to like here," Van Baker, vice president of research at analyst group Gartner, told the BBC.

"They are not deemed to be very competitive in the marketplace and deemed largely to be an enterprise play and this is their effort to get into the consumer space in a very good way," he said. "I think it is a good entry."

According to research firm Canalys, Microsoft's software currently has about 9% of the smartphone market. That puts it fourth in the global market behind Symbian, Rim and Apple.

In early 2010, Microsoft launched the latest version of its mobile phone operating system, called Windows Phone 7 series.

It will replace Windows Mobile. The next OS will integrate the company's other products including its Bing search engine, Zune media marketplace and Xbox Live video-game network.

original article.

Apple owners eyeing iPad but leery of buying

Survey: Apple owners eyeing iPad but leery of buying
by Lance Whitney
Font sizePrintE-mailShare46 comments Yahoo! Buzz
.Share6 Apple hasn't had any trouble getting attention for its forthcoming iPad among Apple loyalists, but convincing Mac, iPhone, and iPod users to actually buy another device poses a challenge, according to the NPD Group.

Interest in the iPad, which hits store shelves Saturday, was 40 percent higher among existing Apple owners than among non-Apple users, said NPD's survey report "Apple iPad: Consumers' Perceptions and Attitudes."


(Credit: Apple)
NPD found that 82 percent of current Apple users are aware of the iPad. Among people with incomes $100,000 of higher, 80 percent said they're familiar with the iPad. And among consumers between 18 and 34 years of age, 78 percent know about the new tablet.

Those results, however, only gauged awareness of the Apple iPad. How many consumers may actually order one? Only 18 percent of all those surveyed said they're extremely or very interested in owning an iPad. That compares with 27 percent of those 18 to 34 years of age, and 24 percent of Apple owners.

Separately, however, some sources have reported that preorders by eager customers have already reached the hundreds of thousands.

A major reason some Apple users may buy an iPad is simply because it's from Apple. Among existing Apple owners surveyed by NPD, 37 percent said they're interested in the iPad because they like the Apple brand. Those in the 18-to-34 age range said they're most excited by the multitouch screen and would primarily use the tablet to play music and surf the Web.

The iPad's $499 entry price is lower than some had been expecting, but it's still seen as too high by many of those surveyed by NPD. Among the 18- to 34-year-olds questioned, 57 percent tagged price as the main reason they're not ready to open their wallets for the iPad. Even 43 percent of Apple owners think the price is too high.

Many of those surveyed may also hold off on an iPad because they see it more as a notebook or Netbook replacement than a unique device in its own right. Among 18- to 34-year-olds, 51 percent said they'd rather use a notebook or Netbook, while 44 percent of Apple owners echoed that sentiment.

"Considering what people are planning to use the iPad for, it's not hard to understand why people who have these capabilities on other devices, such as the iPod Touch or a notebook/netbook, may not want to spend $500 or more on a similar device," said Stephen Baker, vice president of industry analysis at NPD, in a statement. "This points to the need for Apple to close the content deals that focus the iPad on what is likely to be its best long-range value proposition around high quality media consumption."

Even people most interested in the iPad may not scoop one up right away. Among all those surveyed, only 9 percent said they were extremely or likely to buy the device in the next six months. That was the same percentage for Apple owners, while just 10 percent of those aged 18 to 34 said the same.

Among all consumers, 66 percent said they were not very likely or not likely at all to buy an iPad in the next six months. That percentage held true for those 18 to 34 years of age, while 60 percent of Apple owners felt the same.

NPD compiled its report based on a survey of around 2,000 consumers 18 years or older conducted from February 24 through March 3.

original article.

30 healthy picks

Not really a related topic. but i thought it was pretty interesting especially since I'm trying to eat a little more healthier these days.. especially since its getting hotter and we will be spending a lot of time at the beach this summer.

30 healthy picks
Great snacks with less than 200 calories
By Wendy Giman
From the November 2006 Issue
More from this story
A guide to slim snacking
Beat office candy cravings
10-calorie snacks
Eat and stay satiatied
Upgrade your diet
Eat to beat fat genes
Healthy TV snacks
Your snacks by the numbers
Healthy vending machine snacks
Avoid beverage diet sabotage
Eat your breakfast and drop pounds
How healthy are energy drinks?
Chose diet-friendly snacks
How smart is your favorite snack?

Craving salty?
•5 olives (any kind) (45 calories)
•1 small Martin's pretzel (50 calories)
•2 oz Applegate Honey and Maple Turkey Breast wrapped around 2 bread-and-butter pickles (80 calories)
•1/4 cup hummus, 3 carrot sticks (80 calories)
•1 Laughing Cow Light Swiss Original wedge, 3 pieces Kavli Crispy Thin (85 calories)
•One 1-oz package tuna jerky (90 calories)
•1 oz buffalo mozzarella, 1/2 cup cherry or grape tomatoes (94 calories)
•1 bag Baked! Cheetos 100 Calorie Mini Bites (100 calories)
•15 Eden's Nori Maki Crackers rice crackers (110 calories)
•1 cup unshelled edamame (120 calories)
•50 Eden's Vegetable Chips (130 calories)
•One 1-oz package of Planters NUT-trition almonds (130 calories)
•1/4 cup Trader Joe's Chili con Queso, 18 baked tortilla chips (140 calories)
•1/2 cup pumpkin seeds in shell (143 calories)
•2 pieces (30 grams) prosciutto, 4 dried figs (154 calories)
•1 Subway Turkey Breast Wrap (190 calories)


Craving sweet?
•1 package Original Apple Nature Valley Fruit Crisps (50 calories)
•1 packet O'Coco's Mocha cookies (90 calories)
•1 Jelly Belly 100-calorie pack (100 calories)
•One 100-calorie pack Trader Joe's Chocolate Graham Toucan Cookies (100 calories)
•One 100-calorie Balance Bar (100 calories)
•1 Starbucks Mocha Frappuccino bar (120 calories)
•1 package Back to Nature Honey Graham Sticks (120 calories)
•1/2 banana rolled in 1 tbsp frozen semisweet chocolate chips (123 calories)
•2 tbsp Better 'n Peanut Butter, 4 stalks celery (124 calories)
•1 bag Orville Redenbacher's Smart Pop Butter Mini Bags topped with a spritz of butter spray and 1 tsp sugar (126 calories)
•24 Annie's Chocolate Chip Bunny Graham cookies (140 calories)
•Half of a 1.08-oz container of M&M's Minis mixed with 1/3 cup lowfat granola (145 calories)
•1 McDonald's Fruit 'n Yogurt Parfait (160 calories)
•1 container Fage Greek Total 2% fat yogurt, 2 tsp honey (173 calories)

original article.

Best Companies for Job Growth

Not really on the topic but still i thought it was pretty neat because well i want a new job and i know ive been looking and I'm sure I'm not the only one who has been. so yeah it would be great anyways here's the article.
Best Companies like the Scooter Store and DreamWorks notched some impressive job growth last year and are showing no signs of slowing down.

1. Scooter Store
The Scooter Store

Job growth: 51%
U.S. employees: 2,173
2010 Best Companies rank: 38

Not to be confused with those zippy little rides for kids, the Scooter Store specializes in medical power chairs for seniors -- and is no fad. The company notched some impressive job growth last year thanks to the aging baby boomer population and a strategic marketing shift.

Instead of relying on television advertisements, the Scooter Store bulked up its sales force to court doctors and assisted living facilities directly, with much success. New positions have also opened up for those who provide delivery, service and administrative support across the country.

Although Executive Vice President Mike Pfister doesn't anticipate the same level of growth that the company experienced last year, he estimates it will remain in the double digits. "We try to provide an alternative for going to a nursing home," he said, and "people believe in our ideology."



2. Brocade Communications Systems
Brocade Communications

Job growth: 39%
U.S. employees: 2,873
2010 Best Companies rank: 61

After the acquisition of Foundry Networks at the end of 2008, the Silicon Valley equipment supplier focused its energy on hardware and software development, which meant adding more technical jobs, mostly overseas.

This year, the company is focusing its hiring primarily on sales and customer support positions worldwide. "We'll probably grow about 20% to 30%," estimates Lisa McGill, vice president of human resources. Many new opportunities will be concentrated at the company's offices in Plymouth Minnesota and Broomfield Colorado as well as the research and development center in Bangalore, India.



3. Scottrade
Scottrade
Job growth: 22%
U.S. employees: 2,409
2010 Best Companies rank: 27

Last year the online investing firm opened 58 branch offices across the country and has plans to open a little more than 60 in the year ahead, which means more staff in the offices and at the company's corporate headquarters in St Louis.

Plans are also in the works for a new business operations center in Denver, which will fuel more job growth going forward. "We currently have 230 job openings, not including the Denver openings which have not been posted yet," according to Kelly Doria, a spokeswoman for the company.

Available positions are mostly concentrated in information technology, including developers, network engineers, infrastructure specialists and computer operations specialists but there are also openings for managers and stock brokers at the new office sites.



4. Salesforce.com
Salesforce.com

Job growth: 21%
U.S. employees: 2,361
2010 Best Companies rank: 43

Salesforce.com, which makes software to help companies manage customer relations, has thrived thanks to two hot sellers: Sales Cloud and Service Cloud. The latter, geared for call centers, is the company's core product and its fastest growing. A key selling point is that Salesforce's software integrates with Twitter and other social media channels, "taking the old service model and bringing it into the 21st century," said a company spokesman.

CEO Marc Benioff says the company is hiring more sales people worldwide to meet increased demand and is expecting growth to continue in the year ahead because of overall improvement in the information technology environment.



5. Chesapeake Energy
Chesapeake Energy

Job growth: 20%
U.S. employees: 7,720
2010 Best Companies rank: 34

Increased activity at one of the company's most promising projects, the Marcellus Shale, has uncovered new job opportunities for engineers, superintendants, foremen and field laborers as well as supporting positions in human resources, accounting and information technology. Currently there are over 420 positions still open companywide, which means hiring is showing no signs of slowing.

"We expect job growth to exceed last year," said Kip Welch, the director of recruiting. "We could as much as double the job growth from last year if we continue hiring people at the rate we are today," he added.



6. Scripps Health
Job growth: 15%
U.S. employees: 11,444
2010 Best Companies rank: 40

The San Diego-based hospital system has been growing its workforce consistently over the last few years as the industry overall has flourished along with Scripps itself, thanks to cutting edge programs like robotics surgery and human genetics research.

Scripps currently has about 400 positions open for registered nurses, imaging techs, laboratory and pharmacy staff as well as clerical and support staff. As a large corporation with expanding businesses, Scripps is also recruiting managers and professionals in accounting, finance, information technology, human resources, compliance, biomedical and quality assurance.


original article.

3d tv.

Morning all!
going to keep it sweet and short.. i think that's the saying haha well anyways i hate really long articles and i know i have posted some in the past but this one is super shirt and about a 3d television.. I'm guessing for all the 3d movies that have been made recently. haha enjoy.

Reuters) - Panasonic Corp will launch its 3D televisions in the United States on Wednesday, and work with top U.S. electronics retailer Best Buy Co to promote the products, the Japanese electronics maker said.

Entertainment

The maker of Viera flat-panel TVs said it expects a 50-inch model to retail for $2,500, and aims to sell 500,000 3D TVs in the United States in the first year of their launch, half its annual global sales target.

Under the joint promotion, Best Buy will set up special sections at its retail outlets, where prospective customers can try out Panasonic's 3D TVs.

Panasonic, the world's No.4 flat TV maker behind Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, LG Electronics Inc and Sony Corp, holds high hopes for 3D TVs as it aims to turn its TV business profitable in the year starting April.

The sci-fi blockbuster "Avatar" and other recent titles have sparked massive interest in 3D movies, raising TV makers' hopes for a strong debut of 3D models.

Shares in Panasonic closed up 2.8 percent at 1,307 yen on Monday, outperforming the Tokyo stock market's electrical machinery index, which gained 2.1 percent.

original article.

Greener Gadgets You’ll Love

Green Green green.. we have all gone or at least attempted to go green. and let me tell you. trying to find articles on this topic is getting harder and harder so if there are any suggestions on there on maybe certain products that would be greaat! hope everyone had a good weekend.. if not well then try again next weekend haha :D


The Greener Gadgets event in New York City was a stark contrast to its Las Vegas counterpart, the Consumer Electronics Show. The venue was vastly smaller, the visual appeal was significantly absent, and the huge techie crowd was lacking (but we’ll blame that on the snowstorm).

But there was one compelling dissimilarity about Greener Gadgets, and it was perhaps the reason we made the cross-country trip: undiscovered ingenuity.

While there were no elaborate booths with devices for us to test, Twitpic and geek out about, the ideas were concrete through illustration and avid speakers, making us even more excited about how the future will better merge both technology and sustainability.

As keynote speaker Yves Béhar poignantly put it, “If a design is not ethical, it cannot be beautiful. If it cannot be beautiful, it probably shouldn’t be at all.”


Fuseproject founder Yves Behar presents his idea of a super-simple, "hackable" car that can be utilized in developing countries. Photo: Inhabitat
The Hackable Car
Béhar is the founder of Fuseproject and designer of several other greener gadgets. He opened the show with a theme that we would later see throughout the program: Green should be available to the wider world.

Using the One Laptop Per Child project as an example, Béhar said greener design can be both simple and crave-worthy.

“When Nicholas Negroponte contacted me about the One Laptop Per Child Project, I was so over designing laptops. They are all the same, there is no innovation [...] But Nicholas really wanted to do something different and groundbreaking, and he really became an ambassador for design.”

“We learned a lot of things, and the rest of the world learned a lot of things through this process. For instance, we learned that a laptop could be made light and cheap and that people would find that desirable.”

Springboarding off that idea, Béhar presented his dirt-simple electric vehicle design that would make sense in a developing country. It’s tough, versatile and “hackable,” meaning that you can build your own functions on top of its basic frame.

The car is completely symmetrical – the front and back component pieces are interchangeable, and the roof is covered in photovoltaics. While the setup is basic, the portions can be changed to suit a wide array of needs ranging from a car to a truck, van, taxi, delivery vehicle or ambulance.

The design is still in its initial phase, but we think it definitely has potential as “electric” continues to become a buzzword for the automobile industry.

Ecovative Design
We remember Ecovative founders Eben Bayer and Gavin McIntyre when their EcoCradle design was simply an ambitious idea from insanely gifted students at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. But the two entrepreneurs are making their design idea an actual product.

An alternative to hard-to-recycle polystyrene foam packaging, EcoCradle is made from agricultural byproducts such as seed husks, which would normally be landfilled. Once the seed husks are wet, they are combined with mushroom roots, which act as a binding agent.

Part of Greener Gadgets Sustainable Showoff event, Bayer explained that the compostable fibers can literally be put in your garden to improve your topsoil. It is the ideal shipping and packaging material for products weighing more than 15 pounds.

And manufacturers will not incur an added expense to make the switch. Bayer said the price is comparable to its widely used polystyrene foam counterpart. You’ll be able to purchase furniture and consumer electronics packaged in EcoCradle starting this spring.

Read more
Ecovative Design: Making Magic Out of Mushrooms

ANDREA absorbs toxic gases, such as formaldehyde, from home and office environments by enhancing the absorptive properties of living plants. Photo: Amanda Wills, Earth911.com The ANDREA Air Filter
Who doesn’t love a good houseplant for the office? (They’re all over Earth911’s space.) We’ve heard of the air quality improvements of keeping plants indoors, but the process has never been timely one when compared to commercial air purifiers.

But a new design called ANDREA actually accelerates this. In fact, its general gas removal rate is, according to the RTP Labs data, more than 1,000 times faster than plants alone.

Invented by French designer Mathieu Lehanneur along with Harvard professor David Edward, ANDREA transforms household plants into air cleaners which effectively rid indoor air of toxins and pollutants to purify any room in the home or office.

ANDREA’s fan system pulls dirty air through the holes in the top of the plastic casing, swirls the air around the leaves of the plant, sucks it through the soil, roots and water, releasing cleaner air through its vent.

It will cost you about $200, but the ANDREA is 44 times more efficient than a standard HEPA or carbon filter and works with any household plant. The ANDREA is now available in the U.S. and can be purchased on Amazon.

AUG/Living Goods Program
How would our purchasing habits change if we could actually see a product’s complete lifecycle in-store, on demand?

The winner of the Greener Gadgets Design Competition, the AUG/Living Goods Program is a concept that encourages the localization of Living goods (produce, meats and dairy) through the use of a barcoded “Producers” directory.

The mobile application scans products’ barcodes and generates information for the consumer by using a geo-location system that tracks the product’s origin and how many miles it traveled to be placed on store shelves. According to the designers, the app’s benefit is three-fold, a positive impact on the farmer, the grocer and the consumer.

The judges loved this design because it is practical and mobile, two things that other designs lacked this year. This project is still in development and is not yet available to the public. It also doesn’t specify if the app will be made for just the iPhone or if it will also include multiple formats for other cell phones with Internet access.

While judge Sarah Rich pointed out that this design is very similar to the GoodGuide app for the iPhone, the audience loved it, as evidenced by the massive applause it received


original article.

Behavior: Napping Can Prime the Brain for Learning

well i couldn't find anything remotely interesting on this topic.. as usual but i do like research on naps.. because lets face it we all love naps. especially the ones that you literally only slept 15 minutes but it feels like hrs and after you wake up you feel well rested.



Behavior: Napping Can Prime the Brain for Learning

It turns out that toddlers are not the only ones who do better after an afternoon nap. New research has found that young adults who slept for 90 minutes after lunch raised their learning power, their memory apparently primed to absorb new facts.

Other studies have indicated that sleep helps consolidate memories after cramming, but the new study suggests that sleep can actually restore the ability to learn.

The findings, which have not yet been published, were presented Sunday at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in San Diego.

“You need to sleep before learning, to prepare your brain, like a dry sponge, to absorb new information,” said the lead investigator, Matthew P. Walker, an assistant professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of California, Berkeley.

The study recruited 39 healthy young adults and divided them into two groups. All 39 were asked to learn 100 names and faces at noon, and then to learn a different set of names and faces at 6 p.m. But 20 of the volunteers who slept for 90 minutes between the two learning sessions improved their scores by 10 percent on average after sleeping; the scores of those who didn’t nap actually dropped by 10 percent.

original article.

Already! in only 2 days.Spammers already targeting Google Buzz

wow! that was fast this article makes a Good point. it did take twitter a few months i think before it started sending out spam. because i remember i even had to to change My password to prevent it from happening. so yeah that was pretty fast 2 days.

Spammers began targeting Google Buzz just days after it was launched, according to security company Websense, Inc.

The security company issued an alert on Google Buzz late last week noting that the first spam attack, which was about smoking, hit the new social networking hub last Thursday.

Websense noted that its analysts expected spam messages to pop up on Google Buzz, just not so soon.

"When Twitter was launched, it took a while before it was used to send spam and other malicious messages," Websense said in its alert. "In this case, it only took two days. It's clear that the bad guys have learned from their experience using social networks to distribute these type of messages."

Last week, Google added social networking tools to its Gmail e-mail service. Google Buzz is designed to help users more easily and quickly find the most important information contained in their flood of social posts, pictures and videos.

Last Friday, Google rolled out several tweaks to Buzz in an attempt to address privacy concerns. Then over the weekend, Google said that over the next several weeks it will offer up more tweaks to deal with privacy issues.

original article.

Google tweaks Gmail to challenge Facebook, Twitter

GOOGLE! we all love google.pshh at least i know that i do.. I'm always googling things! so yeah lets see what google can now offer us! gotta love them over there at google. great thinkers!

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Feb 9 (Reuters) - Google Inc (GOOG.O) injected social networking features into its popular Web email product as the world's No. 1 search engine seeks to fend off competition from Facebook and Twitter.

Google introduced a new product dubbed Google Buzz on Tuesday that allows users to quickly share messages, Web links and photos with friends and colleagues directly within Gmail, the company's popular email product.

And the company unveiled a handful of new products designed to make the new social networking features suited to mobile devices, like smartphones based on Google's Android operating system.

Google's new social networking technology mimics some of the key features of popular social networking services like Twitter and Facebook, which are increasingly challenging Google for web surfers' online time.

Gmail is the third most popular Web based email in the world, with 176.5 million unique visitors in December, according to comScore. Microsoft Corp's (MSFT.O) Windows Live Hotmail and Yahoo Inc's (YHOO.O) Mail were No. 1 and No. 2, with 369.2 million unique visitors and 303.7 million unique visitors respectively.

In addition to the Buzz features for Gmail, Google said it is launching a special mobile application for Buzz, as well as weaving Buzz technology into the mobile versions of its flagship Web site and its maps products.

Google has tried to ride the social networking wave before, launching the Orkut social network in 2004. But while Orkut is big in certain overseas markets, like Brazil, it has failed to attract as many users as social giants like Facebook and MySpace in the United States.

In building a social network on top of an email product, Google is following in the footsteps of Yahoo, which has taken a similar approach in efforts to keep up with Facebook. (Additional reporting by Ian Sherr, editing by Gerald E. McCormick)

Google Chrome

i use Google Chrome at home i love it.. i really think its alot faster then the Internet exploer but i guess there are some new updates i havent read the article yet so i cant really go into detail but i'll post it so you can see for yourself. hope you all have a great weekend,or had a great weekend i should say.

The latest browser market share numbers are out and, judging by the headlines, Google is crushing the competition with the Chrome Web browser. Chrome is "on a roll", or even "skyrocketing" depending on the source.

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•Apple Releases Firmware Update for IMac Screen Flickering 30200484 You may be surprised to find that, behind the hyperbole, Chrome is the third place Web browser with a meager 5.2 percent market share. Chrome has only about one-fifth the market share of second place Firefox, and a miniscule one-tenth of the still-dominant Internet Explorer.

I am not sure that 5.2 percent and "skyrocketing" really go together. Chrome "jumped" almost six-tenths of a percentage point--a whopping six-hundredths of a percentage point more than the drop experienced by Internet Explorer.

Microsoft should just fold up its tent and get out of the browser business now. Its demise is obviously inevitable judging by the sensational assessments being made throughout the media.

Wait. Perhaps that is a tad premature. At the rate of a six-hundredths of a percent gain each month, Chrome will pass Internet Explorer....carry the three...divide by the co-efficient--never mind. It will be a long, long, long time--like after I'm dead and buried.

But, here's the real question: who cares?? Honestly. The browser wars are the technology equivalent of following celebrity stories in the tabloids, or worrying about who will take home the Grammy award for "best female artist". It captures headlines and makes for some passionate debate around the water cooler, yet matters not one iota in the real world.

From the perspective of the vendors making the browsers, the only thing really at stake is bragging rights. The software is distributed for free. There is no profit motive to the browser wars. Winning the browser wars is, at best, a hollow victory.

Google and Microsoft generate revenue from other Web-based ventures, particularly online and search-based advertising, but that revenue is browser-agnostic. Google and Microsoft get paid for the ads no matter which browser is used to surf the Web and view the ads. If Microsoft could capture a dominant share of the Web advertising revenue, but lose the browser wars, that would be an acceptable exchange as far as shareholders are concerned.

As far as users are concerned, the Web browser is really a simple matter of preference. One may be milliseconds faster than another, or include a unique feature or two, but for the most part a browser is a browser is a browser.

The decision between using Firefox, or Chrome, or Internet Explorer is like the decision between buying a Mustang, or an Impala, or a Suburban, or like choosing whether to watch Big Bang Theory or How I Met Your Mother. It's a matter of subjective opinion.

For businesses and IT administrators, there are some other, more practical considerations that go into the browser decision. Businesses have Web-enabled applications that may not work in some browsers, or may work better in one browser than another. Switching browsers could invite a massive undertaking to re-engineer those applications.

IT administrators also need Web browsers that are simple to deploy, configure, and maintain across the network. Web browsers that tie in with Microsoft Active Directory and provide the ability to manage via Group Policy have an advantage in a business-world that tends to be Microsoft-centric.

Aside from that, though, businesses don't really need to care about the browser wars either. As long as the browser works with the applications the business uses, and provides a means for centrally managing and maintaining it, IT administrators aren't going to lose any sleep over whether it comes from Microsoft, or Mozilla, or Google.


original article.

Wal-Mart Prepares to Sell Nexus One

good morning! well as usual i cant really find a consumer electronic article that is semi interesting so yeah its probably going to be a boring one again.. maybe one that only the picture caught my attention haha if someone is and expert on finding good articles on this topic. don't be shy and send me tips!

Google's decision to exclusively sell the Nexus One may be short-lived.

Wal-Mart Stores has created a page on its wireless Web site featuring the Nexus One. It says the device is "coming soon," but does not include pricing information.

The blog AndroidandMe spotted the page, which is still live at the time this story posted.

Google did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

The Wal-Mart page indicates that the Nexus One may soon become available for use on other networks besides T-Mobile. It says that the phone works on UMTS/HSDPA (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System/High-Speed Downlink Packet Access) as well as 1xRTT and 1xEvDO. That means the phone could operate on the Verizon and Sprint networks.

While Google is selling the phone unlocked to users willing to pay US$530, the phone will only operate on 3G on T-Mobile's network. Unlocked phones will make and receive phone calls and deliver slower data speeds on AT&T's network. The current Nexus One phones won't work on the Verizon or Sprint networks.

When Google introduced the Nexus One in early January, it said that it would be available exclusively through the Google online store initially. The search giant had hoped to jump-start the market for unlocked phones sold without a subsidy. But it quickly became apparent that Google was not prepared to offer the kind of customer support that phone buyers expect.

original article.

4 Things that could keep 3d out of your living room

This article is far too long and i know if i post it no one will read it so let me just post a small portion and then if your interested you can go back and read more about it.


3-D Glasses are a drag
Watching a clip of Monsters vs. Aliens or Avatar on a 3-D TV can be fun. But first you have to need to put on a pair of compatible glasses — either specially polarized ones, or active shutter glasses that contain electronics synchronized with the images on the screen to deliver a 3-D effect to your eyes.

Wearing glasses for a three-hour movie like Avatar is one thing. But doing it every day, day after day, can quickly become annoying.

Though active shutter or polarized 3-D glasses are getting more lightweight and sleeker, there’s no escaping that they are still a pair of glasses you’ll have to wear every time you want to watch 3-D video on your TV.

What’s also not clear is how 3-D glasses will work for those who already wear prescription eyeglasses. For now, you just have to put them on over your regular glasses — hardly an elegant solution.

The glasses will also cost extra. Consumers who spend $3,000 for a 3-D TV will have to shell out more to get a pair of glasses. Active shutter glasses can cost $50 a pop or more and for a big family, the cost can add up. Also, buyers need to factor in losses, because glasses can be misplaced easily.

TV makers will likely offer bundled deals where a pair or two of glasses are included with purchase of a TV set, but so far there have been no clear announcements.

And if you’re having friends over to watch a movie or a game, you’ll have to remind them to bring their own glasses. If they forget, they are out of luck.

Some companies, such as LG, Samsung and Mitsubishi, are showing prototypes of 3-D TVs that require no glasses. But in that case, the TV can be a very limiting experience. 3-D TVs without glasses have a very specific viewing range — four feet in some cases — and have very specific viewing angles, so they’re not well-suited to screenings with more than a small number of viewers



Read More http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/01/3dtv-analysis/#ixzz0d6OAUKPs


original article.

Nexus One

nexus ryhmes with my name? can you figure it out haha yes i know lame but im extremely bored! can you blame me. anyways couldnt really find anything on this topic today slow day for consumer electronics. but enjoy this one.

Q: In reviewing Google's new Nexus One phone, you said its memory is expandable to 32 gigabytes, but that the portion of memory used for storing apps is just 190 megabytes. Is the expandable memory unusable for apps? Is memory for apps expandable?


A: On the Nexus One, the Motorola Droid and other Android phones, there are two main types of memory: one internal, which is fixed, and the other external, in the form of removable memory cards, which the user can increase in capacity. In general, apps can be stored only in a small, restricted portion of internal memory, which on the Nexus One is a meager 190 megabytes. Although there are exceptions, apps can't generally be stored on the roomier removable memory cards, though some files they rely upon, like graphics, can be offloaded onto the cards.

Google acknowledges this is a limitation, but says it designed the system to protect apps from being copied by merely removing the memory card and inserting it into a PC which could duplicate its contents. The company says it is working on ways to secure the memory cards to the satisfaction of the app developers, so that apps could be stored on them. Meanwhile, Android phones can't hold nearly as many apps, especially sophisticated large apps, as some users might like.


Q: AT&T and Verizon are each saying that they have wide areas of coverage. Can you tell me who really has the widest area of coverage for cellphone signals?

A: If you are comparing basic cellphone signal availability, each of the two leaders has a very wide footprint. However, Verizon claims a larger geographic footprint when it comes to 3G networks, which are currently the fastest widely deployed cellular data networks. AT&T claims its 3G is the fastest. But, partly because AT&T has the iPhone, which is both popular and makes heavy data usage very easy, its network too often seems overwhelmed in large cities, in my experience. Verizon so far lacks a specific phone with similar popularity which users employ to consume as much data, and thus network capacity, as iPhone users typically do. However, iPhone-class phones like the Motorola Droid and the Nexus One, if they sell well, will test the Verizon network's robustness.

Q: Any idea how well or badly the new Google Nexus One syncs with Macs for things like Calendars, Notes, Address Books etc.?

A: The Nexus One doesn't come with software for syncing with computers, whether Macs or PCs. It is primarily intended to sync with online calendars and address books, not those stored locally on computers. It also lacks software for syncing even larger files, like music, photos and videos. Its method for transferring those files from Macs and PCs is to connect the phone via a USB cable, causing the phone to appear to the computer as an external hard disk. You then must manually drag and drop files onto the Nexus One's icon. In other words, Google doesn't supply any equivalent to Apple's iTunes or the BlackBerry media-syncing software. However, the third-party program doubleTwist, available at doubletwist.com, is designed to function as a sort of iTunes for syncing Android, Palm and BlackBerry devices. It runs on Macs and PCs and even looks a bit like iTunes. But it only syncs media files, not calendars or address books

original article.

Tracking your kids, stuff is the future, according to AT&T

blahh! boring day for electronic"s .. how come people are always trying to find more ways to track there kids?? like come one give them a little freedom.. seriously.

More of your everyday stuff may be able to communicate with cell networks throughout 2010, at least if AT&T has anything to say about it. The company says that it plans to add services to a plethora of consumer products as part of an expansion of its mobile offerings, and that the first of these products may be available in the second half of this year.

AT&T head of emerging devices Glenn Lurie told Reuters about the company's plans during the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, noting that AT&T is already in the process of inking deals to get into 20 consumer devices. These would include, among other things, entertainment systems in your car, your e-reader, your digital photo frame, or even your child (we assume something you strap onto your child, not put in your child). AT&T believes the venture might net the company as much as $1 billion more in annual revenue.

In theory, this would mean that users will be able to keep track of their items and locate them in case of loss or theft. Amazon's Kindle, for example, already has wireless tech built in for book downloading, but that that law enforcement could use to help track stolen devices—if it really wanted to. Though Kindle users have been somewhat frustrated in achieving that goal as of late, Lurie believes the future is definitely in tracking your things. "There's going to be more and more there in terms of anything you want to track, whether it's a parcel or a container or a kid," he told Reuters.

To many of us, being able to always find our electronics—a la Apple's "Find My iPhone" feature—would be wonderful. Imagine how much easier it would be to find your keys if you could pop onto a website and see where you last left them? But, as with most devices that have tracking capabilities, those worried about privacy are sure to be uncomfortable with the proliferation of these services. Gadget makers will have to be extremely cautious in making sure the tracking features are off by default and offered as an opt-in if they want to stay on the good side of organizations like the EFF.

Original article.