Author: Serkadis

Although gaming seems to be an ongoing trend now among casual gamers, there’s nothing for the hardcore to be worried about. According to Doug Creutz of Cowen and Company, these “non-traditional” formats can actually be good for

These days, having computer skills is an important part of a person’s resume. Likewise, it is important for a country’s ability to navigate through economic opportunities of our world. In recent years, countries like India have changed their position in the world based on their population’s ability to deliver computer skills and support to the rest of the world.

At the same time that these skills are becoming increasingly needed, prices are dropping dramatically for computing hardware. The netbook enjoyed a huge year in 2009. New form factors of computing devices also gained that attention of the masses, and 2010 started with a bang with the $499 iPad tablet computing device. The technology world is continuing to innovate computing systems that continue to get smaller and more portable. This video from a researcher in Japan shows a entirely new form factor of computer coming to market, in the shape of a pen with a projector and camera at the tips.

So we’re asking this question: For the world to live in harmony do we all need to own one (or more) personal computers?

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Does the Cloud Redefine What a Computer Is?

A computer is a machine that manipulates data according to a set of instructions. The definition was designed for a time when the components were all co-located within a single piece of hardware. But now there’s a more important question: Does a computer have to be “a machine”?

With the concept of virtualization and cloud computing, the definition is being stretched in both directions. Virtualization is a concept where one machine can be “multiple computers”. With cloud computing, it is possible for multiple machines and networks that aren’t not co-located to operate as one computer.

Maybe that’s the reason that the cloud is such an important concept in technology today – that it blurs the lines intentionally between the data, the instructions and the data manipulation. Conveniently, as a concept, clouds come in many shapes and forms, just like the current crop of computing systems being built and innovated upon.

What About 6 Billion Nodes Instead of 6 Billion PCs?

In 2010 there are several powerful trends taking hold of computing that are changing the paradigm of computing forever. One is the reality that there will be more mobile computing devices that computers, as mobile phone shipments today are much larger than PC shipments. And mobile phones, especially smartphones, are becoming more capable because they’re tied together with pervasive communication technology like SMS or MMS, and are powering applications like Facebook and Twitter that are becoming more powerful with location-aware services.

Delivering Computers in the Cloud

Nivio, a startup from India, is an example of the cloud evolving into a personal computing platform. Instead of delivering each person a physical device as the center of our computing experience, Nivio provides combination of storage, applications and “view anywhere” operating systems frame a cloud-powered vision of a universe. Nivio is assuming that it’s customers don’t each have a local machine with personal storage. Instead, these users will have network storage and applications and will access their computing power with the device they have on hand at the moment.

Take, for instance, the One Laptop Per Child project. It has struggled to keep its hardware as cheap as it once hoped. But one way they’ve kept costs down is by embedding cloud tools to keep the overall profile of the machine down and creating a future of cloud-based services for the population.

How many children are there in the world? How many nodes is that?

Where is your company positioned in this continuum of cloud computing?

Image credit: juhansonin

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Folks who demand budget discipline should be careful what they wish for.

According analysis from Bloomberg, Barack Obama’s new budget calls for $1.9 trillion in new taxes, and it’s going to come down super-heavy on the rich.

The budget released today would reinstate 10-year-old income tax rates of 36 percent and 39.6 percent for single Americans earning more than $200,000 and joint filers who make more than $250,000 as part of a broad $1.9 trillion tax increase proposal. It proposes to eliminate preferences for oil and gas companies, life-insurance products, executives of investment partnerships and U.S.-based companies that operate overseas.

“The administration proposes to restore balance to the tax code by providing tax cuts to working families, returning to the pre-2001 ordinary income tax rates for families making more than a quarter of a million dollars a year, closing loopholes, and eliminating subsidies to special interests,” the budget says.

Almost since the very beginning of his Presidency, there have been fears that Obama would seek to repeal the Bush tax cuts, and now he’s doing exactly that.

While taxing “the rich” isn’t a bad move politically — especially with the populist streaking running through American politics — the problem is that this will end up raising taxes on a lot of small businesses, whose taxes are taken out via the personal income of their owners. That’s the part that detractors will say, and with legitimacy, will harm the economy.

Don’t miss: The 23 New Taxes Being Floated By The Obama Administration >

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See Also:

• The 23 New Taxes Floated By The Obama Administration
• Here’s Why Attempts To Cut The Deficit Will Definitely Make The Nation Poorer
• Look At This Future-Generation Crushing Budget Obama Just Unveiled

Country starlet Taylor Swift had a tough time handling all the awards she won at Sunday night’s 2010 Grammys! The “You Belong With Me” songstress dropped one of her coveted prizes as she entered the press room after last night’s ceremony in Los Angeles. Where’s Kanye to grab one when you need him? The statuette hit the floor with a thud and broke as photographers continued snapping away. The broken Grammy was promptly replaced with a prop for the photo-op, but no word on whether or not Taylor will be issued a permanent replacement.

Swift won the Album Of The Year award for her platinum-selling disc Fearless, Best Female Country Vocal Performance for “White Horse,” Best Country Song for “Fearless,” and Best Country Album for Fearless.

Victoria Beckham drops to her knees for the March 2010 issue of Glamour Magazine! The skinny stylista speaks at length about her budding fashion empire, her favorite foods, and life with one of sport’s most handsome men.

Victoria Beckham On Her Fashion Line: “I consider all of my pieces to be investment pieces. A dress shouldn’t be worn for one season—you should be able to wear it year after year.”

Victoria On Her First Date With David: “When I first went out with David, I was in the Spice Girls, and David wasn’t so known. He told me when I got to know him a little better that he didn’t know very much about me, so he bought tabloids. He read that I liked Prada. So he went out and bought Prada trousers, Prada shoes, a Prada shirt, Prada jacket.”

Victoria On Her Relationship With David: “It’s not healthy to be jealous. I look at David and I think, He’s so handsome and I’m so lucky to have him as a husband. And he’s an amazing father. I don’t blame people for looking at him and finding him attractive. I mean, I do.”

VB On Her Looks: “I’m not a supermodel. I make the best of what I’ve got. I work out to look the best that I can, but I’m no Gisele.”

Victoria’s Diet: “I’m a very, very healthy eater. I eat lots of fish, lots of vegetables, lots of fruit. I don’t eat junk food. I work out.”

Beckham also revealed that she was once starstruck by actor Geroge Clooney. The former Spice Girl noted the eternal bachelor as one of the only celebrities who makes her nervous.

“Nervous in a good way. I [once] shared a plane with George Clooney. I still get excited….”

Filed under: Motorsports

This past weekend the 2010 North American motorsports season kicked off with the 48th running of the Rolex 24 at Daytona. The race started under caution after a two hours of torrential rain before the green flag, but the field of prototypes and GTs weathered the storm to make their way around the 3.56-mile, 12-turn course.

Although the rain eventually let up, track conditions remained treacherous and unpredictable for most of the night. The race featured a record 53 lead changes by 29 drivers, and all but two prototypes led at some time. Even after 24 hours the competition remained close, and the eventual winner took the checkered flag by just over 52 seconds. Unless you’re set to watch the race on DVR and don’t want to know the results, follow the jump for a race summary and two videos with highlights.

[Source: Grand-Am]

Continue reading SPOILER ALERT: 2010 Rolex 24 at Daytona full of surprises, lead changes

SPOILER ALERT: 2010 Rolex 24 at Daytona full of surprises, lead changes originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 01 Feb 2010 20:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Matthew Fox is telling his television career to get Lost. The 43-year-old actor he has no plans to return to television when the sixth and final season of the shipwreck drama Lost wraps in May.

Does this mean we won’t get to see any more Matt cameos on Sesame Street?!

Matthew says “thrilled” the show is finally coming to an end – because he’s tired of playing the same character.

“I’ve done two, six-year shows, about 300 hours of television,” Fox told UsMagazine.com on Monday. “I’m done with that.”

Matthew — who also played Charlie Salinger on the ’90s FOX family drama Party of Five — is hoping to relocate his family back to Oregon from their current home in Hawaii and looks forward to spending more time with them.

“I’m either going to make movies with filmmakers I want to work with or I’ll be doing something else entirely… My family will move to Oregon, back to the country I love. I miss the four seasons climate. We’re building a house up there and I’ll be closer to my brothers and my mother. Our kids will be closer to their first cousins.”

The eagerly-awaited Lost season premiere airs Tuesday, Feb. 2 on ABC.

Might We Suggest…

• Conspiracy Theory: Is Apple Orchestrating a Media Attack on Google?
  For various reasons, I’ve had plenty of free time on my hands lately.  And since I’m an Android Guy, I was closely following the CES 2010 developments.  I was also reading all I could about the Nexus …

We’ve been covering the case of a couple named Boring (no, seriously, that’s their last name) who got upset and sued Google after they found pictures of their house in Google’s Street View offering — even though Google lets anyone remove images they dislike. The couple claimed that the images invaded their privacy and devalued their home (how an accurate photo could devalue the home is an open question). The case was quickly dismissed, but the Borings appealed, in lovely language about how this was about Google trampling on their right to privacy. The appeals court has thrown out most of the case, but actually is allowing the claim of trespassing to move forward in the lower court. Indeed, many did point out in our comments that it appeared that the Google vehicle may have driven onto the Borings’ driveway in the process of photographing the home. Of course, proving any actual damage from the trespass may prove a bit more difficult.

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If you’re of the iTunes-using persuasion, you’ll want to know that Apple has just released iTunes 9.0.3, which includes a few bug fixes, including:

• iTunes no longer ignores your “Remember password for purchases” setting.
• Addresses problems with syncing some Smart Playlists and Podcasts with iPod.
• Resolves a problem recognizing when iPod is connected.
• Addresses issues that affect stability and performance.

Launch iTunes and check for updates to pull in the new version.

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Released for the PSP last October, Thexder Neo is a straight-up remake of Thexder, an ’80s PC game from Game Arts. It was a good enough game on PSP, but Square Enix wasted no time in bringing the game to the PS3 as well. It’s largely the same game, but the amount of new stuff shoved into Neo (more levels, mainly) makes it a slightly better fit as a console game, being something you can try and master with greater comfort and a larger screen.

You control the robot warrior Thexder, who can also transform into a jet at will in order to make it through tighter spaces in the game’s numerous mazelike levels. Thexder’s main weapon is a laser that, when he’s standing, immediately hones in on the nearest enemies, making for a cool effect and some satisfying destruction. Thexder was a pretty cool game for its time, when transforming-robot anime ruled the roost, and still is an enjoyable plaformer-shooter hybrid.

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In case you didn’t watch that iPad introduction keynote, someone’s gone through the trouble of condensing the entire 93-minute event event into 180 seconds. It does a great job at explaining what Steve Jobs and company think of their latest creation. Check out the iPad announcement video above to see what me mean.

A little excessive?

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Filed under: Emerging Technologies, EV/Plug-in, North America

There is a general consensus that the world’s lithium supplies are quite plentiful, with the metal found in Argentina, Bolivia and Russia, to name just a few places. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t some shady mining going on to find more of the stuff that is regularly seen as the most important advanced vehicle battery material for the coming decades.

For example, there is a lithium rush going on in West Quebec, Canada that has some property owners discovering “unknown prospectors drilling horizontally onto their land in their search for minerals.” Yikes. The problem is that landowners there only have surface rights, which means companies like Stelmine Canada Ltd., a Montreal-area mineral exploration company, can stake claims on 13,000 acres of private land in the area. As one resident told the Windsor Star, the unknown prospectors:

came with bulldozers and dug up everything with no letters, warnings or anything. They left the place a total disaster and didn’t fix anything. You feel that you shouldn’t own or develop anything because you could be left completely in ruins and destroyed.

That doesn’t sound very green to us.

[Source: Windsor Star]

Secret, horizontal lithium mines being dug in Canada originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Mon, 01 Feb 2010 19:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Sedan, Hyundai

Hyundai’s all-new 2011 Sonata goes on sale at dealers all over North America in the next few weeks and now it has an official price tag. The “fluidic design” challenger stakes a claim in the biggest segment in the U.S., starting at $19,195 (plus $720 for destination and delivery) for the GLS sedan with a six-speed manual transmission. That’s $500 more than the base 2010 model, but $200 less than the current class champion, the Toyota Camry.

At launch all Sonatas are powered by Hyundai’s new direct injected 2.4-liter inline-four, paired with either manual or automatic six-speed gearbox. The GLS and Limited are rated at 198 horsepower while the dual exhaust on the SE rounds it up to a nice round 200 hp. A maxed-out Limited with navigation will set you back $28,115, including D&D.

The Sonata Limited is the first entrant into the mid-size segment to get leather covered heated seats front and rear, and the manual transmission GLS also tops the segment in fuel economy for non-hybrids with a rating of 24 mpg city and 35 mpg highway. We’ll have our first opportunity to drive the new Sonata next week and we’ll finally find out if the dynamics live up to its new styling. Make the jump for the full breakdown.

[Source: Hyundai]

Continue reading Hyundai prices the 2011 Sonata starting at $19,915

Hyundai prices the 2011 Sonata starting at $19,915 originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 01 Feb 2010 19:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Maybe the single most useful feature of Gmail for me is how you can “star” items to highlight them to come back to later. In Google Reader, this starring feature also exists and is hands-down the best feature of the service. Today, Google News added the same feature, and it’s also awesome.

Now, I’ve never been a big fan of Google News. In fact, I think it’s pretty awful in many ways. But this is a great addition. Much like with Google Reader, I can now scan through Google News and pick out the stories I want to save to read later simply by clicking on the empty star icon to the left of the headline. Even better, by using these stars, Google News is actually able to better tailor its news surfacing experience for you. When there is new news about a headline you previously starred, Google News will bold it for you, making it easier for you to find on a quick scan.

There are a couple of downsides to this feature. Sadly, you can only star the story that Google News deems to be the most important in the cluster (that it places first). Clicking on a more detailed view removes the option to star any articles. Also, they say that you can only keep track of your last 20 starred items in the new Starred area — that seems pretty low. Also odd is that if the cluster changes after you star it (meaning a different story rises to the top), it appears to also change in your starred items area.

Still, this makes Google News much more interesting to me already.

[image: MGM]

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