Author: Serkadis

Um, okay? Just days after Apple introduced its exceedingly underwhelming iPad while simultaneously attempting to convince that masses that said product was the portable gaming device they had been waiting their whole lives for, Sony’s own hardware marketing honcho has come forward and extolled Cupertino’s decision to finally make the gaming leap. In a recent interview, John stated the following:

“Apple’s entrance into the portable gaming space has been a net positive for Sony. When people want a deeper, richer console, they start playing on a PSP.”

While we can’t seem to shake the suspicion that Mr. Koller is drawing links that probably don’t exist (at least fully) in reality, research firm NPD does show that sales of the PSP have “nearly tripled since the iPhone went on sale in June 2007.” Of course, it’s not like the PSP has gained functionality, become the home of more than a few killer titles and spawned a UMD-less sibling since the heydays of ‘07, but hey — who are we to question the suit?

Sony’s John Koller: Apple’s entrance into gaming market drives consumers to PSP originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 31 Jan 2010 15:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Etc., Marketing/Advertising, Toys/Games

You know what we like almost as much as real cars? Toy cars. It’s gotten to the point where there mere existence of Hot Wheels, Matchbox, and the like seem like an ongoing conspiracy to suck an extra few bucks out of our wallets with every trip to the store.

Furthering that belief is Hot Wheels’ new Kmart promo, wherein if you buy 20 cars from the basic assortment (they need to match certain SKUs, just FYI), you can then mail in your stack of receipts to receive the special edition ‘62 Corvette you see above. (A gallery of more detailed pics can be seen at HotWheelsCollectors.com.) It arrives on a special blister pack that notes its collector’s edition status, and is even shipped in a Kar Keepers protective case to help ensure that the heavy-handed employees at your local sorting station don’t wreck it in transit.

To qualify for the promotion, you must buy your 20 eligible Hot Wheels cars between Feb. 10 and Mar. 10, 2010. Additional details, official rules, etc. are available at HotWheelsCollectors.com. Now please excuse us – there’s a Jackson burning a hole in our pocket, and a Kmart within easy driving distance.

[Source: HotWheelsCollectors.com]

Attention Kmart Shoppers: Buy 20 Hot Wheels, get a cool ‘62 Vette by mail originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 31 Jan 2010 15:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Last week, we asked if you thought the iPad was a flop, and many of you told us exactly why.

In that comments thread, you joined us in collective head-scratching and fist-shaking over the price point and the lack of certain key features. It’s clear that many of us won’t be flocking to the nearest Apple store to pick up one of these gadgets. But there may be alternatives. In the event that a competitor releases a tablet device, what features would you want it to have? Give us your wish list in the comments; hopefully, manufactures are listening.

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Here’s our own wish list of features that would make us really excited to buy a tablet from an Apple competitor.

A Better Price

The iPad starts at $500, but with just 16 gigabytes of storage, it’s not the music/video/photo-carrying device most of us will need or want. That price point is essentially a phantom. And when we start to add up all the costs for the iPad we’d actually want to have, it makes more sense to scrape together another couple hundred dollars and spring for a top-of-the-line PC laptop – something a bit more functional, not just a big, expensive geek toy.

A Camera

For a device that promises to make picture- and video-sharing simple and fun, the lack of a camera is a great disappointment. Without a camera, it’s true that there’s no ability to snap pics and vids for Facebook or DailyBooth or talk to others via Skype video or TinyChat, but users are also missing out on one of RWW’s favorite tech trends: augmented reality! We wrote a whole post lamenting the fact that this long-awaited device can’t play nicely with some of our favorite AR toys.

A Stylus

Our awesome cartoonist, Rob Cottingham, just wrote this morning that as one who draws and doodles, he’s appreciate a way to interact with the iPad’s multitouch screen. Bridging that gap between the screen and the stylus might even be the graphics tablet-killer. For a company that’s traditionally held sway over the design and arts communities, Apple should’ve thought more about this part of its core audience.

A Slide-Out Keyboard

This is one of the reasons I’m so glad I held out for my Droid when the Apple fanboys and fangirls were mocking my iPhone-free lifestyle for years. Having a physical keyboard simply can’t be beat, particularly for content creators and enterprise users.

More Options for OSes and Carriers

No multitasking? AT&T? Those conditions are deal-breakers for me and quite a few others, I’m sure. I’d love to see a device that could run Jolicloud, Chrome OS or a lightweight Linux distro. And as a happy Verizon customer, I’d like to stick with my current carrier and perhaps even work the data charges into my current plan. Overall, we just want more openness and more options.

So, what do YOU want in a tablet? USB or other ports? A built-in WAN card for instant Internet connectivity? More storage? A faster processor? Flash? In the comments, give us your list of must-haves and what you expect to pay for them. Who knows – perhaps a manufacturer will be able to produce something for non-iPad fans sooner than we think.

Check out ReadWriteWeb’s full iPad Archives.

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Filed under: Etc., Marketing/Advertising, Toys/Games

You know what we like almost as much as real cars? Toy cars. It’s gotten to the point where there mere existence of Hot Wheels, Matchbox, and the like seem like an ongoing conspiracy to suck an extra few bucks out of our wallets with every trip to the store.

Furthering that belief is Hot Wheels’ new Kmart promo, wherein if you buy 20 cars from the basic assortment (they need to match certain SKUs, just FYI), you can then mail in your stack of receipts to receive the special edition ’62 Corvette you see above. (A gallery of more detailed pics can be seen at HotWheelsCollectors.com.) It arrives on a special blister pack that notes its collector’s edition status, and is even shipped in a Kar Keepers protective case to help ensure that the heavy-handed employees at your local sorting station don’t wreck it in transit.

To qualify for the promotion, you must buy your 20 eligible Hot Wheels cars between Feb. 10 and Mar. 10, 2010. Additional details, official rules, etc. are available at HotWheelsCollectors.com. Now please excuse us – there’s a Jackson burning a hole in our pocket, and a Kmart within easy driving distance.

[Source: HotWheelsCollectors.com]

Attention Kmart Shoppers: Buy 20 Hot Wheels, get a cool ’62 Vette by mail originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 31 Jan 2010 15:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you had any doubts about Steve Jobs’ confidence and convictions after returning to Apple from his sick leave, it’s time you leave those at the door. The revered CEO announced a hotly anticipated device last week and followed up by burning the competition. On Google, Steve Jobs said that its motto “Don’t be evil” is bullshit (Steve’s words, not ours). Clearly, Steve-o isn’t phased by the Nexus One while he boasts the three billion apps sold from the Apple app store. Regarding Adobe, Steve apparently went on to say they’re lazy and are squandering so much potential. Wow. And Flash? According to Steve, no one will be using Flash in the future; it’s going to be all about HTML5.

Is Steve Jobs’ boisterous attitude completely without warrant? Or is he just telling it like it is? Let us know your thoughts.

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Filed under: Motorcycle

The upper-middleweight naked bike segment, which currently has entrants from the likes of BMW, Aprilia and Ducati, is about to get an good ol’ injection of Japanese know-how as Yamaha readies its upcoming new FZ8 for production. Yamaha apparently sees room for a machine that splits the difference between the smaller FZ6 (and FZ6R) and the full FZ1 naked literbike.

As far as we’re aware, Yamaha has confirmed neither the FZ8 nor its fully-faired FZ8R sibling for North America (we’ll keep you posted), but it seems possible the models could make it Stateside if there’s sufficient interest… which is why we’re bringing you this initial official image of the FZ8. So, what do you think?

Judging from the photo, the FZ8 appears to be based on the current FZ1, and internet rumors suggest the 800cc mill will be a downsized version of the former R1 engine with an identical stroke and smaller bore. We’ll know soon enough – the official unveiling is scheduled for March 12 – but in the meantime, enjoy the teaser.

[Source: Yamaha, Asphalt & Rubber]

Yamaha pulls the covers off 2010 FZ8 naked sportbike originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 31 Jan 2010 14:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ah, yup. Between the price point, the locked-down App Store approach, the spiffy design, the tech specs, the lack of camera, the lack of multitasking, the lack of phone, the cool iBook Store, the corny iBook shelves, the impending transformation of personal computing, the impending collapse of Apple stock, the green light for 3G voice-over-IP apps, the telco deals, the publisher deals, the rumor fact checks, the comparisons with Windows, the Kindle-killing, the not-Kindle-killing and the just-have-to-wait-and-see, all of the good points are taken.

Okay, except maybe pointing out how disappointed cartoonists are that there’s no pressure-sensitive stylus. But That Would Be Self-Serving, so I won’t say it.

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I’m sure there are probably a few more sanitary-napkin jokes left waiting in the wings (Anyone joke about a Maxi model yet? They did? Bugger.) but I’d like to think I’m above that. (Addendum: Alex tells me that “wings” is also circulating as an iPad joke. God, I’m clueless about this stuff. Is there a course I can take somewhere? Or maybe an app?)

All I can say is this: Dollhouse wrapped on Friday night, and I’m just about certain that even if the zombie apocalypse was brought about, not by the depradations of the Rossum Corporation, but by an iPad OS update that went horribly, horribly wrong… I’d still want one of the gorgeous damn things.

More Noise to Signal.

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Ahh Steve. You can always be depended on to serve up a healthy dose of crazy. It’s just fortunate that people put up with your own special brand of crazy that no other CEO could put up with. For example, at a company wide Town Hall, Steve Jobs had some very special things to say about Adobe and Google and their business practices.

Typically after each product launch Steve holds a company wide “Town Hall” meeting at corporate headquarters. These meetings give Steve a chance to talk to the employees, and also give employees a chance to ask questions (if they are brave enough). During the most recent meeting, Steve had a few choice things to say about Google and Adobe, and offered somewhat of an explanation about why the iPhone/iPod/iPad won’t support Flash.

On the subject of Google, Steve said that their avowed policy of “Do no Evil” is “bullshit.” He called the release of the Nexus phone a direct attack on the iPhone, and stated that he won’t let them win.

Google wasn’t the only target of Jobsian ire, Adobe took their lumps on the subject of Flash. Steve called Adobe lazy, and said that while they have the potential to do interesting things, they don’t. He said that the reason Apple doesn’t support Flash is because it’s so buggy, and whenever a Mac crashes it’s most likely because of Flash. Steve also predicted that it won’t be long before everyone leaves Flash behind as the standard moves forward to HTML5.

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I have no idea why Jabba the Ailes decided to appear on “This Week” — but after this beatdown by Krugman, I doubt he’ll be back.

Notice Jabba doesn’t refute Krugman’s charge. He just ignores it, belches up a total non sequitur, then starts spewing Republican talking points. The result? The master propagandist was made to look like an ass on live teevee.

A thing of beauty.

Article Tags: Editorial

The case that global warming is man-made needs to be constantly tested and credible

The question of what, if anything, to do about global warming is one of the most important that humanity faces. Most people believe that the Earth is becoming warmer – but there are significant disagreements over the speed and extent of the process, the danger it poses, and its precise causes. The Government is convinced that the debate is over, won by the scientists who insist that climate change is the result of the carbon dioxide generated by human activity. It has now embarked on the project of “decarbonising” the economy; since carbon-based energy provides most of our electricity and powers nearly all of our transportation, this is a colossal, and colossally expensive, task.

We need, therefore, to be very sure that our policy is based on an accurate diagnosis. But such certainty has become much harder to come by in recent weeks. A paper to be published in the journal Science by a team of researchers from America’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration suggests that changes in the amount of water vapour high in the Earth’s atmosphere may affect the extent to which the planet heats up or cools down to a much greater extent than previously thought. That, of course, is something which those who doubt that man-made activity is responsible for global warming have long maintained. And other developments have struck not just at the data but at the trustworthiness of those presenting it. Our columnist Christopher Booker, among others, has highlighted that extent to which the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), whose objectivity and neutrality most people thought could be taken for granted, has been caught acting like a pressure group. Not only did it insert into its latest report the claim that the Himalayan glaciers would disappear by 2035 – which has now been acknowledged to have no basis in fact – but, as we report today, it appears to have recycled observations on the dwindling levels of ice on mountains around the world from a climbing magazine and a student dissertation.

Source: telegraph.co.uk

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Article Tags: Christopher Booker, ClimateGate, Headline Story, Law/Policy

The Information Commission claims it is powerless to bring charges over the Climatic Research Unit ‘conspiracy’

There is something very odd indeed about the statement by the Information Commission on its investigation into “Climategate”, the leak of emails from East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit. Gordon Smith, the deputy commissioner, confirms that the university’s refusal to answer legitimate inquiries made in 2007 and 2008 was an offence under S.77 of the Information Act. But he goes on to claim that the Commission is powerless to bring charges, thanks to a loophole in the law – “because the legislation requires action within six months of the offence taking place”.

Careful examination of the Act, however, shows that it says nothing whatever about a time limit. The Commission appears to be trying to confuse this with a provision of the Magistrates Act, that charges for an offence cannot be brought more than six months after it has been drawn to the authorities’ attention – not after it was committed. In this case, the Commission only became aware of the offence two months ago when the emails were leaked – showing that the small group of British and American scientists at the top of the IPCC were discussing with each other and with the university ways to break the law, not least by destroying evidence, an offence in itself.

The Commission is thus impaled on a hook of its own devising. By admitting that serious offences were committed, it is now legally obliged to bring charges. And if these were brought under the 1977 Criminal Law Act, alleging that the offences amounted to a conspiracy to defy the law, there is no time limit anyway.

The real mystery therefore is how the Commission came to misread the very Act which brought it into being. Undoubtedly a successful prosecution involving such world-ranking scientists would be extraordinarily embarrassing, not just to the Government but to the entire global warming cause. So what has persuaded the Commission not to do its duty?

Source: telegraph.co.uk

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Faking out athletes in the name of science: Every few years, there seems to be an article that describes how baseball players manage to accurately judge where a fly ball is going to land. It never occurred to me that there was something odd about the same “fact” being rediscovered every few years, until I read this paper, which pointed out that there were three competing ideas, and it was really hard to set up an experiment that would distinguish among them. Here in reality, you cannot change the laws of physics, but you can make it look like you have in virtual reality, and that turned out to be the key to the new experiments.

Basically, experienced ball players were placed in a virtual reality environment, and shown images of fly balls that followed trajectories that were physically impossible. Apparently, the successful model is called “optical acceleration cancellation,” which involves moving forwards or backwards based on elevation, and moving side-to-side to in a way that appears to cancel the ball’s motion from the player’s perspective.

Extra credit to the article for taking me to the Journal of Vision’s table of contents, which includes a visual for each paper, which happens to include a barn owl fitted with 3D glasses.

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According to a report in Wired (and a source whom the publication says “could not be named”), Steve Jobs spoke to an audience of Apple employees at a town hall in Cupertino and… pulled zero punches. If you believe what you read, Jobs tackled a handful of major issues that have been buzzing the company lately, namely its run-ins with Google on a number of topics, and the lack of Flash support in its mobile devices (most notably in the upcoming iPad). On Google, Jobs had this to say: “We did not enter the search business. They entered the phone business. Make no mistake they want to kill the iPhone. We won’t let them.” According to the attendee, another topic was brought up but Steve wouldn’t let the Google issue go, stating his thoughts on the company’s famous ‘Don’t be evil’ line. In Steve’s words? “It’s bullshit.”

Furthermore Jobs had a handful of choice words for Adobe, calling the company “lazy” and claiming that “Apple does not support Flash because it is so buggy. Whenever a Mac crashes more often than not it’s because of Flash. No one will be using Flash. The world is moving to HTML5.” Of course, these amazing nuggets of wisdom come from a source which Engadget cannot verify, so it’s possible there are misquotes or items taken out of context, though from the sounds of things, this kind of talk falls right in line with what we’d expect from the man who said Microsoft “had no taste” and makes “really third-rate products.” We eagerly await Eric Schmidt’s response.

CE-Oh no he didn’t? Part LXVII: Steve Jobs lashes out at Google, calls Adobe ‘lazy’ originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 31 Jan 2010 14:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Article Tags: Piers Akerman

PRIME Minister Kevin Rudd, the man who said he would never “knowingly” tell a lie, should begin the new Parliamentary session Tuesday with a few admissions of deceit.

His massively exaggerated claims of catastrophic climate change caused by human activity have been thoroughly rejected by the UK chief scientist, John Beddington. Even Australia’s chief scientist, Penny Sackett, has been unable to provide any evidence to support her wild December claim that there are about five years to avoid dangerous climate change damage.

Both scientific chiefs are now calling for absolute openness and rigour in the presentation of climate science evidence. Professor Beddington says scientists should be more open about the uncertainty of predicting the rate of climate change but has he told his Australian counterpart, Professor Sackett?

This is scientific backdown with a capital “B”.

Source: blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph

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Article Tags: Newspaper Article

Information was quietly removed from an influential government report on the cost of climate change after its initial publication because supporting scientific evidence could not be found.

The Stern Review on the economics of climate change, which was commissioned by the Treasury, was greeted with headlines worldwide when it was published in October 2006

It contained dire predictions about the impact of climate change in different parts of the world.

But it can be revealed that when the report was printed by Cambridge University Press in January 2007, some of these predictions had been watered down because the scientific evidence on which they were based could not be verified.

Among the claims that were removed in the later version of the report, which is now also available in its altered form online, were claims that North West Australia has been hit by stronger tropical typhoons in the past 30 years.

Source: telegraph.co.uk

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2001:
Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group [Say My Name]
Best R&B Song [Say My Name]

2002:
Best R&B Vocal by Duo or Group [Survivor]

2004:
Best Female R&B Vocal Performance [Dangerously In Love 2]
Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal [The Closer I Get to You]
Best R&B Song [Crazy in Love]
Best Contemporary R&B Album [Dangerously in Love]
Best Rap/Sung Collaboration [Crazy in Love]

2006:
Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal [So Amazing]

2007:
Best Contemporary R&B Album [B’Day]

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