My Journey

“Sherman is sighted.” The message is terse but complete. More importantly, it’s the first wireless message ever received by a U.S. station from a ship at sea.

Source: http://www.wired.com/thisdayintech/2011/08/0823first-us-ship-to-shore-radio-signal/

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Add one more to the tally of patent lawsuits involving Apple and RIM. This time it’s Openwave Systems using the license-by-litigation technique, and it’s alleging that multiple devices infringe five of its patents on mobile internet — including offline email access, cloud computing, and secure server access. The company claims that Apple’s iPhone 3G, 3GS and 4, the iPod Touch, both iPads, plus RIM’s Blackberry Curve 9930 and the PlayBook all infringe its IP. Apparently, Openwave initially took the pacifist route to persuade Cupertino and Waterloo to pay up, but when its overtures were ignored, it decided upon more aggressive tactics. As others before it, Openwave wants to fight a two front war in the ITC and federal court, but we’ll have to wait and see if the ITC elects to take up the cause. Armchair attorneys can get a gander at all the juicy details at the source below.

Openwave sues Apple and RIM for patent infringement originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 31 Aug 2011 14:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Before today, HP had only expressed that it “will consider a broad range of options” for the future of its Personal Systems Group; and now, said company’s released a series of ads to confirm its intention to spin it off into a separate company. Amidst the lovely (and ironic) mention of HP’s long-lived success with its $40 billion PC business, the underlying message here is all about “staying focused on our customer needs” and to “better anticipate change” — much like being a start-up all over again, as suggested by Executive Vice President Todd Bradley on HP’s website. Of course, the customer in question here is likely from the enterprise sector, as we’ve all learned from CEO Leo Apotheker’s interview at D9, the death of HP’s webOS devices, and the pending acquisition of Autonomy. Still, we’ve yet to hear more concrete plans or even figure out who the potential buyers might be (if any), but for now, you can take a gander at HP’s “sample ad” after the break.

Continue reading HP promotes ‘$40 billion’ PC business spin-off with new series of ads

In news that will no doubt shake the very bedrock of your belief system, Apple has asked Toyota to remove its Scion theme and its advertising from ModMyi, a Cydia repository. The Scion theme has been available for weeks, but after it received a ton of press in the last couple of days, Apple finally lashed out.

It’s not like we should be surprised, considering Apple has claimed in the past that jailbreaking is illegal – but at the same time, did the Cupertino cronies hear about the ruling that made circumventing DRM, and thus jailbreaking, legal? Anyway, whether Toyota was supporting illegal, legal, or deliciously gray and ambiguous, activity, it doesn’t matter: Apple asked Toyota to remove the theme, and Toyota graciously bent over and capitulated.

Microsoft, citing Google’s tyrannical 95% share of the European search market, has lodged a formal complaint with the European Commission. It’s not like Microsoft is breaking any ground here — the European Commission has been investigating Google’s alleged violation of European competition law since November 2010 — but there’s no doubt that the addition of Microsoft’s gravitas will affect the proceedings.

Microsoft’s complaint reads like a sincere and plaintive cry for help against the Google Overlord. Microsoft lists no less than six damning reasons why Google’s behavior is anti-competitive — from Windows Phone 7′s incompatibility with YouTube, to its nefarious handling of Google Books — and finishes with a wide-eyed plea to the European Commission to please find Google guilty.

So, you’re a ball. A Tarzan Ball, to be precise. You’ve earned the nickname thanks to your astonishing ability to shoot out a lengthy ‘vine’ (I hope it’s a vine) at objects, and then pull yourself towards those objects.

That’s a handy ability to have, especially since you’ve got no legs, no arms, and no other means of transportation. In Tarzan Ball, the rope is everything. But you don’t just swing around the screen aimlessly – that wouldn’t be much of a game now, would it?

Zenok Leather is an Etsy shop.  They sell beautiful handmade leather electronics cases and Moleskine covers.  An example of their work is this Handstitched Leather Briefcase (shown, left) made from Italian natural beige leather (2mm thick).  The bag is 15″ X 11″ X 3.5″, big enough to hold many laptops.  It comes with a brown [...]

Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2011/08/29/zenok-leather-handstitched-laptop-bag/

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Just like its big brother the X100, Fujifilm’s X10 is not so much launching as leaking out a drip at a time. Now we have some proper product shots and specs for the high-end digicam intended to go up against the Canon G12, the Nikon P7100 and the Panasonic LX5.
The biggest similarity to the retro-styled [...]

Source: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2011/08/fujifilm-x10-photos-and-specs-leaked/

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Sony’s just been showing off its Reader Store for the Android-powered Tablet S and Tablet P, but it hasn’t forgotten its more eye-friendly options. Announced at IFA just now, the self-explanatory Reader Wi-Fi (PRS-T1) claims to be the world’s lightest 6-inch e-reader with an “enhanced” touchscreen — the “enhanced” bit referring to its “Clear Touch Infrared” technology that supports multitouch for pinch-to-zoom, though it’s also bundled with a stylus. At 168 grams (5.93 ounces) light and 8.9mm thin, this device packs a 600 x 800, 16-level gray scale E-Ink Pearl v220 display, along with 1.3 GB of usable internal storage plus microSD expansion of up to 32GB.

So this professor comes up with a new toilet cleaner that works by “eating” the dirt; or so he thinks. That’s how the plot starts for Tasty Planet. You play the role of the toilet cleaner, but you’re not really a toilet cleaner after all — you’re a blob of gray goo that can eat anything that’s smaller than yourself.

As you chomp away, you grow — and as you grow, you can eat bigger and bigger stuff. The first level pits you against microscopic particles; by the time I stopped playing, I got all the way to eating cats and dogs. I know that sounds disturbing, but it’s a really cute game, and there’s no gore or anything like that.

Photographer Joao Silva lost both of his legs last year to an IED landmine explosion in Afghanistan. He kept shooting as he was dragged to safety and treated by medics. But to hear him tell it, he’s just an ordinary guy who ran into some bad luck. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/aA-Z47LjxNI/wounded-photographer-joao-silva-talks-about-his-injuries-and-the-state-of-photojournalism

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QR codes are everywhere now, so why not have your own?  The QR Code Necklace Pendant from Blend Creations is a stainless steel tab laser-etched with a QR code of your choice.  The pendant is 7/8″ X 7/8″ X 5/8″, and you can choose to have it engraved with one of three ready-made messages (I [...]

Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2011/08/29/identify-yourself-with-a-qr-code/

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Remember that crazy wearable 3D display concept Sony was showing off at CES 2011? Turns out the company is actually going to make it, and the HMZ-T1 is scheduled to be released in Japan on November 11th. While the design has changed slightly since we first laid our eyes, and heads, on it, the specs appear to be the same, with two 1280×720 0.7-inch OLED panels mounted in front of each eye giving the wearer an experience similar to viewing a 750-inch screen from 20m away, as well as 5.1 surround sound from headphones integrated into the Head Mounted Display (HMD). You can see the helmet above, as well as the processor unit (complete with HDMI input and output, so you can take off the helmet and watch on TV) that it must remain tethered to. Pricing is expected to be 60,000 yen ($783 US). Check out the press release and our hands-on video from CES after the break and decide if living out a Geordi La Forge-style fantasy is worth it.

Update: Tech From 10 seems to be offline — but we have lots of images and a hands-on review if you want to see what the new Music app is like.

In what is probably a bit of a big-G whoopsie, the folks at Tech From 10 woke up to find a new, test version of Android Market installed on their Galaxy S.

Visually, the new version is almost identical. The carousel of featured apps has been updated slightly, and apps now have a ‘Content rating,’ but that’s it (image after the break). The interesting bit, however, is the inclusion of alpha and beta apps — most notably, there’s a new version of the Music app, which looks like a scaled-down version of the Android 3.0 Honeycomb Music app (see right).

Happy first birthday, Windows Phone 7! One year on, and the fledgling mobile operating system has 36,000 active developers in its AppHub community, 1.5 million downloads of its Developer Tools, and 11,500 apps in its Marketplace.

Microsoft is quick to take a couple shots at competitors’ app stores, beating its chest about not re-counting tanslations of an app or “lite” apps, “increasing tonnage” by supporting apps from other mobile platforms, and not listing wallpapers as a category.

Apple isn’t too keen with their prototypes ending up in the wild, no matter how old they are or how they got there. The 3G MacBook Pro that appeared on eBay, garnered an incredible $70,000 bid before being pulled by Apple, is now awaiting transport back to Apple at their insistence. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/XhkdBVgnxuI/3g-macbook-pro-prototype-head-back-to-apple

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The crew in Oslo keeps plugging away at Opera 11.10, and the latest snapshot build includes a number of improvements to Opera’s built-in email client — as well as HTML5-related additions.

On the IMAP front, Opera now supports special folders like sent items, spam, and trash. It also better handles duplicate items in Gmail — such as those which appear in all mail and under your custom labels.

Opera 11.10 now partially supports the HTML5 File API as well, which means your favorite Web apps (like Gmail) may soon begin adding Opera to the list of supported browsers.

When you find yourself in the back-country during a downpour and need a fire—like 5 seconds ago—that fancy Zippo of yours isn’t going to cut it. The Exotac nanoStriker, however, will get your fire going with a shower of burning Ferrocerium. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/ZCoff6UsRTU/exotac-nanostriker-lightning-review-fire-on-demand

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The definition of “cybercrime” is ever changing, as is the severity of attacks. 2011 has already been labeled the “year of the data breach,” and yet many of the breaches are not the typical SQL injection attacks or database hacks. Instead, criminals are using legitimate website functions to steal data and sometimes money, from targeted organizations.

Source: http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/73162.html

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If you can’t wait until 2020 to take a vacation on Virgin’s Spaceship to an orbital tour of outer space, then make a reservation in 2016 for the Russian Space Hotel.   The cost is a bit steep at $818,000 to travel via a Soyuz rocket to the hotel, and then another $163,000 for five days [...]

Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2011/08/28/have-a-few-extra-million-to-spend-take-a-vacation-on-the-space-hotel/

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So, you’re a ball. A Tarzan Ball, to be precise. You’ve earned the nickname thanks to your astonishing ability to shoot out a lengthy ‘vine’ (I hope it’s a vine) at objects, and then pull yourself towards those objects.

That’s a handy ability to have, especially since you’ve got no legs, no arms, and no other means of transportation. In Tarzan Ball, the rope is everything. But you don’t just swing around the screen aimlessly – that wouldn’t be much of a game now, would it?

They’re funny because they’re terribly, awkwardly, sadly true. All due credit to Chris Kohler, who runs Wired.com’s very excellent Game|Life. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/0FdjKaBTrsk/

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As far as Tetris goes, most variations look quite similar. You’re usually looking at a “wall” of bricks directly from the front. Torus takes that notion and throws it away; as you might have guessed from the name (or screenshot), this Tetris clone is played on a ring-like 3D surface.

You rotate the ring itself with the arrow keys, while a Tetris-like piece slowly (excruciatingly slowly, in fact) descends from the top. As soon as you make a solid line, it disappears.

Not all pieces are Tetris-like; some of them wouldn’t really work with a regular Tetris game but are a good fit for Torus’ 3D format.

Just one day after Dell announced its first infrastructure-as-a-service offering, the company is jumping deeper into the cloud. Dell will offer a family of hosted software applications for small and midsized businesses, through partnerships with Salesforce.com, Microsoft, Intuit, and others, the computer maker announced Tuesday.

Source: http://www.infoworld.com/d/cloud-computing/dell-jumps-deeper-the-cloud-171174

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Kevin Mitnick, legendary hacker and author of Ghost in the Wires, sat down with Reuters reporter Anthony De Rosa to illustrate how someone’s voicemail can be accessed—sans password—simply by spoofing the caller ID. It’s absolutely wild, just watch. [Reuters] More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/OpFOiPlGWM4/kevin-mitnick-explains-how-to-listen-to-voicemail-like-news-of-the-world

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Hold on to something tight, webOS geeks. Your favorite tablet, which I can only assume is the TouchPad, might not be the last webOS tablet incarnation from HP. An HP excutive and former webOS VP recently stated that the company could resurrect the TouchPad stating to Reuters, “tablet computing is a segment of the market that’s relevant, absolutely.” But let’s hope that HP’s Personal Systems Group head Todd Bradley remembers the TouchPad’s rough path to success.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/8XRdeJoWOEk/

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If you’ve signed your pooch up for a dog walking service and you have suspicions that your dog walker is isn’t fulfilling the “walking” portion of their job description, Pet Check Technology has a solution that doesn’t involve implanting a microchip or buying an expensive collar for your furry best friend. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/PQb8mBrFlj4/pet-check-stalk-your-dog-and-dog-walker-with-gps

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We’ve all thought it, but never dared think it could be true: what if Microsoft, Yahoo, and AOL actively monitor our instant messenger chats? What if mentions of ‘bomb’ and ‘underage’ are tracked and sent to law enforcement agencies? What if chat providers don’t agree with the things we say, or the links we share, and filter or censor the content of our transmitted messages?

It was only a matter of time before leaked screen shots of HTC’s Sense 3.5 became leaked video footage. Purportedly running on the OEM’s unreleased, ladies-only Bliss handset, XDA.cn has a hands-on of the Android-based UI that looks to be more of a refinement, than revolutionary update. So, what can we glimpse from this apparent sneak peek? The ROM, shown to be running atop Android 2.3.4, now sports a more pared-down look, as evinced by the lock screen’s sleeker ring. There’s still the same seven homescreens on offer, although it now appears you can delete the contents of a selected screen by dragging it to the trash. Gone is the familiar home panel with its curved shape, in favor of two non-intrusive, dedicated app and phone buttons on the left and right sides of the screen. The widgets also look to have taken on a roomier size, and the volume can now be controlled via an on-screen widget. Aside from those minor tweaks, not much else has changed, but you can definitely see an improvement in the UI’s fluidity. Could this be HTC’s very next upgrade to its popular Android skin, or are we looking at a slickly-produced ROM? You can judge for yourself in the video after the break.

Continue reading HTC Sense 3.5 caught on camera, gets a manicured walkthrough (video)

iSites — a zero-code cloud-based ‘app creator’ — can now generate HTML5 apps that work on iOS devices. With this new feature, dubbed ‘InstantApp’, you can now design a single app in your browser and publish it natively on Android and iOS, and as an HTML5 iPhone app.

We haven’t looked at iSites before, but it shot to fame last year when it launched with native iOS and Android support. Self-publishing Android apps wasn’t a problem because Google does very little moderation of the Market, but iSites ran into trouble with its iOS apps. Thousands of people signed up for the service after it was featured on Mashable and TechCrunch, and you can imagine Apple’s chagrin as thousands of cookie cutter apps flooded its approval queue.