Author: Serkadis

As is to be expected of any device that the masses get excited about prior to it actually existing, the iPad has torn the Internet in two. Some love it, seeing it as the first iteration of an eventually world-changing device; others just don’t see a point. “It’s just a big iPhone,” they say, “and I already have an iPhone!”

These iPhone owners are exactly who should be the most excited about the iPad – even if they don’t plan on buying one. Even before its release, the iPad has heralded a number of changes on the way for iPhone OS – and presumably, the iPhone itself.

Read the rest of this entry at MobileCrunch >>

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Steve mentioned in his iPad preso yesterday that he was pretty confident the company would have international data deals locked up by June or July of this year — but since the thing uses some wacky new micro SIM standard, carriers that intend to support it are going to need to get the new chips in stock after having used traditional SIMs for nearly twenty years. That makes moving your iPad around between carriers and your SIM between devices that much harder, but we’ve got a sliver of good news here: we’re hearing from a tipster with connections at supplier Gemalto that O2 and Orange both have micro SIM orders in the pipeline. That doesn’t necessarily mean that Apple is going to be trumpeting them as iPad partners with special data plans, of course — but even if they aren’t, at least they’ll have the necessary equipment ready for you if you want to use your unlocked tablet on their airwaves. Gemalto also has outstanding orders with T-Mobile and AT&T (of course), so yeah — it might be a long road, but we’re hopeful that these will start to become commonplace over the next few years.

[Thanks, anonymous tipster]

Rest easy, iPad roamers: O2 and Orange have micro SIM orders, too originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Jan 2010 20:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Henry Nicholas got a big break today as a federal judge decided to drop criminal drug charges against the former chief executive of chip maker Broadcom.

The legal victory for Nicholas comes on the heels of the dropping of 21 charges related to his alleged improper backdating case. U.S. District Court judge Cormac Carney dismissed the earlier charges in December because of prosecutorial misconduct. Nicholas still faces a divorce case, but his worst legal problems that threatened jail time are over.

“From the evidence, as well as what’s been attained from the pretrial services, it does seem that you had a serious drug problem,” the judge said from the bench. “You paid dearly for that. You lost your marriage, you lost your job, your reputation has been tarnished, but from what I gather you’ve been clean and sober for two years and I commend you for that.”

I’ve mentioned before that I occasionally interviewed Nicholas as he was on his way to making billions of dollars at Broadcom. It was shocking to see him brought low by the allegations of drug abuse. But it looks like he’s getting a second chance. It will be most interesting to see what he does with it.

[photo credit: OCBiz]

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Microsoft posted strong earnings for the final three months of 2009, but some parts of its business have been having a harder time, executives acknowledged during an analyst conference call this afternoon. The company’s good news was driven by strong sales of Windows 7, while business sales are lagging.

There’s a clear contrast in tthe revenue numbers Microsoft posted today. During the last three months of 2008, business revenue outpaced Windows and Windows Live revenue, $4.9 billion to $4.1 billion. A year later, Windows leaped past to $6.9 billion, while business revenue fell slightly to $4.7 billion.

“While we have yet to see a return on business spending growth, the consumer segment continues to perform better than expected,” said Bill Koefoed, Microsoft’s general manager of investor relations.

The question-and-answer session at the end of the call seemed pretty brief, but Microsoft found time for a few answers about the enterprise sales. Chief Financial Officer Peter Klein said that it’s taking longer and longer to close those sales, and there’s sometimes a gap between the expiration of old deals and the start of new agreements — but in most cases, Microsoft isn’t losing those customers.

One analyst asked whether Microsoft expects things to remain sluggish in the coming months.

“The thing that I can say is that we have the great product pipeline,” Klein said. “We don’t have visibility into exactly what business spend will be, so we’re just going to have to work through that in the next couple quarters.”

During the just-ended quarter, Microsoft also continued its cuts with another 800 layoffs. The company’s scheduled releases this year include Windows Mobile 7 (which Microsoft is expected to demo at the Mobile World Congress in February) and Office 2010.

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Might We Suggest…

• Nexus One, Other Android Phones to T-Mobile UK?
  Robin O’Kelly, head of corporate affairs for T-Mobile U.K., just let the Twitterverse know a few bits of Android news: T-Mobile U.K. is in talks with Google to carry the Nexus One, and that T-Mobile U…

At this year’s Midem, there was still a fair bit of talk about the various “three strikes” proposals around the world that get ISPs to kick people accused (not convicted) of file sharing offline. To hear supporters tell it, the concept of “three strikes” is gaining widespread support and is really going to save the industry. Of course, the reality is quite different. Michael Geist details the state of such proposals around the globe, noting that while a few countries have implemented them, many others are rejecting them. At the same time, he highlights the high costs of implementing such proposals — without any evidence that they will actually get people to buy more music. While supporters of such proposals may think that there’s momentum behind them, if you look at the details, it seems like pretty limited support, and the plans that are in place don’t seem likely to do much other than frustrate and annoy people.

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Augmented reality — the idea of overlaying relevant digital information on top of a view of the real world — is, in a word, futuristic. And while many people are excited about it, many are turned off by all this fuss with not much to show for it. Out of concern that early and incomplete AR demo products make a bad name for the technology, a new startup called QderoPateo is attempting to make an end-to-end platform for augmented reality. That includes building and releasing its own phone chipset, hardware and operating system, as well as APIs, applications, advertising sales and an AR industry consortium.

The QderoPateo Ouidoo phone prototype

Yup, you read that right, a tiny startup is making its own phone — for a market that doesn’t exist yet. But I’ll go ahead and lay out QderoPateo’s idea, as it’s notable for its ambition alone. The company was founded by Steve Chao of China and Matt Gaines of the U.S., who had been working on similar projects separately and found each other online. They raised a Series A round — “several million” from CWG Wireless — before they had actually met. Under the QderoPateo name, they have designed a phone called the Ouidoo, partnered with a Southern Chinese manufacturer, and are working with China Mobile and an unnamed U.S. carrier. They hope to have demos in the spring launch this fall at the Shanghai 2010 World Expo.

“The market has branded many things as AR that aren’t,” said Chao in a phone interview, disparaging projects that use markers such as barcodes to inform a phone of what it is seeing. “The baseline is image recognition.” For the Ouidoo device, Chao promises 2GB RAM and an 8GB chipset with two dual-core parallel processors to handle interactive 3D images. The phone uses triangulation between accelerometers, gyrometers and GPS to calculate its user’s location 10 times more accurately than GPS alone, according to the company.

Screenshot from QderoPateo's forthcoming iPhone app

In the meantime, Qdero knows it needs to get something into the broader market — and to that end, an iPhone application called WorldLenns that demonstrates its computer vision is due next month (see screenshot).

Along with fees for device use, Qdero is building out a platform for proximity-based marketing, and to that end its 30-member team already includes salespeople.

Clearly, QderoPateo’s plan is too ambitious to work — augmented reality stands a much better chance of becoming mainstream by being incorporated by powerful device makers — but I don’t fault them for trying to give us a glimpse of the future a little sooner than that.

Related research from GigaOM Pro (subscription required): Report: Augmented Reality Today and Tomorrow

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Yes, Mitsubishi. We’re all very impressed with your 149″ OLED TV (even though it runs at a ridiculous 1024×640), but we also know that thing is one-of-a-kind and proves nothing. Why don’t you skip the showboating and put out a couple sweet displays people might actually want to use in their homes? I know they’d be expensive, but someone would buy them because they cost less than infinity dollars. And you can fit them through doors.

The pic above is a non-real OLED display from last year, and still the only OLED in my possession is in the Zune HD.

[via OLED-display.net]

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Working from home can be a good gig, but as any of us bloggers can tell you, there are real challenges. Lack of regular human contact, for instance, can make a wild animal out of anyone. My neighbors can testify, having occasionally to disengage my teeth from the calves of FedEx guys who come to my door. I’d chase them outside, but it’s so bright! And with no appearance standards to live up to, hygiene can become a problem. This is the beard of a lazy man, my friends, a lazy, lazy man. But I try to keep the birds out of it, at least.

But enough of that. You know what I’m talking about, homebodies. Luckily for us, a Mr. Gordon Wu has introduced a series of products that recreate the office environment at home. Like the Eleva-door! Who wouldn’t want to wait for an imaginary elevator to come to your “floor” before being allowed to enter your work area?

And of course, you must keep active while at the office! I remember walking to and from the front desk, mail room, copy room, and so on until my feet hurt back when I was a 9 to 5er. But now I just wave my arms around and flex my toes to keep the blood moving. What I need is a Wu Fit Wonder Walk!

There’s lots more home-office (or truck-mounted office) insanity at the designer’s website. Check out the PDF on the right side there and learn of such marvels as the stapler phone and iHolepunch.

[Nice find, Treehugger]

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“I still can’t believe this! All this hype for something so ridiculous! … I want something new! I want them to think differently! Why oh why would they do this?! It’s so wrong! It’s so stupid!”

Sound familiar? That wasn’t a reaction to yesterday’s Apple iPad launch, that was a MacRumors commenter in 2001 reacting to the launch of the iPod. The iPod, the device that symbolized personal electronics more than any other product in the last decade, was widely criticized when it was unveiled. It was “just another MP3 player.”

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One notable detail in comparing the history of the iPod with the new iPad: iPod sales were no big deal until 3 years after the product was launched. There was no iTunes for Windows until 2 years after the iPod came out – the iPad already has a thriving app store. (See this conversation on Hacker News for more snarky historical perspective.)

Thus while these old comments about the iPod are humorous in retrospect, the history of the iPod is a reminder of just how much has to go right for even a revolutionary Apple product to really explode. There may be a lot of us who wait for the iPad 2.0.

“I’d call it the Cube 2.0 as it wont sell, and be killed off in a short time…and it’s not really functional. Uuhh Steve, can I have a PDA now?” That’s what they said then. Will we look back in ten years at today’s complaints about the iPad missing a camera and chuckle in the same way? Maybe not about the camera, but the missing Flash support? Now that might seem silly in retrospect.

Discuss

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Filed under: Aftermarket, Performance, SUV, Geneva Motor Show, Mercedes-Benz, Luxury

Mercedes-Benz GL 63 by Brabus – Click above for high-res image gallery

The performance boffins over at AMG keep themselves pretty busy, churning out high-output versions of just about every vehicle in the Mercedes-Benz line-up. Just about, but not quite. For example, if you want a GL-Class family-hauler with the division’s stonking 6.3-liter V8 engine, you’re SOL. But that’s where the aftermarket comes in, and Brabus has arrived at the scene to save the day. And then some.

Not only has Brabus fitted the 6.3-liter V8 to the GL, but they’ve bolted a pair of turbochargers in the process. And while they were at it, they tweaked the seven-speed auto-box, fitted a big water-to-air intercooler and upgraded the intake, exhaust, brakes, suspension and rolling stock. The result? 650 horsepower and nearly as much torque. That oughta be good for 300 kilometers per hour (186 miles per hour) and hitting 100 km/h (62 mph) in 4.7 seconds along the way.

The Widestar body kit also widens the vehicle’s stance, while the interior has been tricked out in custom leather, carbon fiber trim and LCD screens aplenty to keep the kids busy while you focus on maximum velocity. The super-truck will be unveiled in a couple of months at the Geneva Motor Show, but is available for order now from €368,000 ($518k). Details in the press release after the jump and photos in the gallery below.

[Source: Brabus]

Continue reading Brabus GL 63 Biturbo picks up where Mercedes AMG leaves off

Brabus GL 63 Biturbo picks up where Mercedes AMG leaves off originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 28 Jan 2010 20:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Motorsports

NASCAR severely curtailed and occasionally banned the on-track bump-n-grind because it didn’t want drivers taking each other out and compromising the spectacle of good racing. At the same time, drivers were being fined and reprimanded for colorful outbursts and language. The aim was to keep the racing clean and the sponsors happy, but while it might have worked for the corporate backers, the fans, the drivers and the racing were all suffering.

That was so 2009. In 2010 drivers won’t have to be “robotic sponsor shills too frightened to make waves,” and trading paint is back on the menu. Said the series’ VP of competition, when it comes to bumping the overseers “will put it back in the hands of drivers, and we will say ‘Boys, have at it and have a good time,’” and drivers will be allowed a greater degree of personal expression. The new, looser NASCAR just wants competitors to keep things “within reason,” and we have a feeling drivers will be exploring those boundaries pretty quickly.

The cars are also coming in for revisions, with a rear spoiler setup eventually replacing the current rear wing. The goal is to improve downforce and the look of the car. Will all of this improve the racing? It can’t hurt, because when it comes to NASCAR, how can you even call it racing if there’s no rubbing?

[Source: ESPN | Image: Streeter Lecka/Getty]

NASCAR announces rule changes, ups excitement by adding danger, emotion originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 28 Jan 2010 19:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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I cant wait to get my hands on the IPad. Its going to be a HUGE hit.

You can book it right now that it will be the product that kids of this generation grow up with and look back on with affection just like we did with the first video games. Video games changed how we grew up. The IPad will change how kids grow up.

Apple was brilliant in how they cultivated apps for the IPhone and  Touch.  With so many apps for kids, any parent with young kids and either of these 2 devices will tell you that their kids use and love them.  In fact, it was this very reason that I helped create Puzzle Palace for the IPhone. It allows my kids to take the pictures they take and turn them into puzzles. My 3 year old loves it.

The IPad will take this to the next level.  I recognize that its very expensive for most families right now. Hopefully that will change over time. If it does,  you can bet every home with kids will have an IPad. And the first person to create the “kidproof” covering will make money as well (Hint to entrepreneurs) On the flipside, the minute these devices hit critical mass in families,  the DVD market for kids, who watch the same movie over and over will end as we know it.  Download Scooby Do one time and  the need to hassle with all those DVDs for the kids at home or on trips becomes a distant memory. A relic of an older generation.

Thats big.

Whats also big is the exclusion of flash.  The reason is obvious. No flash.  Far less streaming over 3G. Less streaming over 3G means less bandwidth consumed. Less bandwidth consumed means ATT can  offer a GREAT price on the 3G data service. I personally have never had problems with the ATT Network.  The limits on 3G streaming probably means I wont going forward either. Thats a good thing.

Its big that there is no USB port. As a content producer thats not a good thing. It means that Apple wants to force us through ITunes to sell content. It will be the path of least resistance for consumers to add content to the IPad and a HUGE source of revenue for Apple. Im sure there will be work around alternatives, but they wont be able to match the simplicity of the ITunes Store.

Outside the Apple Universe, the company that should be licking its chops is Dish Network. Their SlingBox product just became a grand slam.  I absolutely LOVE the sling box app I run on my IPod Touch to watch NBA League Pass games, HDNet in a hotel room  and other shows that I record on my DVR. I cant wait to  put it on the IPad and its big screen.

And finally, if i was just out of school and fluent in all things Wi Fi , networking and wireless, I would immediately go door to door offering to fine tune your home’s wireless network.  With new HDTVs coming out with Wi FI, the IPad, SlingBox, Netflix Streaming and other applications consuming tons of bandwidth in the home, it is an ABSOLUTE certainty that 99pct of home networks can be improved and perform significantly better.  Be that kid in your neighborhood that comes in and fine tunes everyone’s wi fi in their home for 50 or 100 bucks (or more if you live in a fancy part of town) and you will make some good money.

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Leonardo DiCaprio — and an all-star lineup of Hollywood notables like Forest Whitaker, Emmy Rossum, Jason Batemen, and Chace Crawford — are uniting and asking Americans to lobby for support the Clean Energy Jobs & American Power Act.

The bill was designed in hopes of decreasing America’s depedence on foreign oil and to reduce carbon pollution while creating more new jobs.

A new public service announcement on the topic, titled “This Is Our Moment,” was made by the Natural Resources Defense Council and released on Thursday. In it, Leo says: “This is our moment — our moment to fight for a cleaner and more secure future..The time is now for people across the country to stand up and have their voices heard. We all must call on the Senate to act on this historic opportunity.”

Check out www.thisisourmoment.org for more information…..

As we noted back in December, VeriFone wasn’t just going to sit back and let Square, the new startup by Twitter creator Jack Dorsey, dominate the iPhone/iPod touch payment space. Unfortunately, their announcement of PAYware Mobile looked rushed (and Photoshopped), and Dorsey himself didn’t seem too worried. Since then though, VeriFone was nice enough to send us the hardware they are going to use to accept payments on the iPhone — it’s very real.

Today, the other key part of the equation has just gone live in the App Store, the PAYware Mobile app. This free application, when paired with the hardware, allows you to use your iPhone to easily accept credit card payments, just as Square does. Still, as Dorsey noted in the original video we took with him (second video below), Square is being aimed at a broader market of people who may not have merchant accounts but still wish to be able to accept payments. Also, while VeriFone’s hardware is clearly better designed for use with the actual iPhone, Square’s method of using the headphone jack is so that it will be able to be used with other mobile devices eventually (Square is currently working on an Android app, for example). VeriFone promises support for other platforms as well, but this particular hardware unit will only work with an iPhone 3G or iPhone 3GS.

VeriFone also clearly believes its solution is the safer bet for merchants thanks to its secure payment gateway. Truth be told, running transactions on this device does feel a bit safer than Square’s, but there are also a range of confusing options. And setting the thing up is kind of a pain. You’re also paying for this extra security. VeriFone’s solution has a $49 activation fee, along with a monthly fee of $15 — on top of the 17 cents you’re paying on each transaction. Square gives its hardware and accounts away for free, but plans to take a small percentage of each transaction. This will be an interesting battle to watch.

Watch a quick demo of VeriFone PAYware Mobile in the video below. You can order the hardware here. And you can find the app in the App Store here.

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Amazon has been notoriously and aggravatingly mum on releasing concrete sales figures for its Kindle series. Last tidbit we heard was that it was the most gifted item in the retail company’s history. Or maybe there was some indication by AT&T’s note today that 1 million non-phones have been activated, which at this point includes newer Kindles, Nooks, and Sony Readers. At any rate, CEO Jeff Bezos let out the tiniest smidgen of Kindle’s sales today in its fiscal report, saying that “millions of people now own Kindles.” If we’re lucky, next earnings call we’ll get to play a “higher or lower” guessing game. Maybe.

‘Millions of people’ now own Kindles, says Amazon in its most non-vague sales statement yet originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Jan 2010 19:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft posted strong earnings for the final three months of 2009, but some parts of its business have been having a harder time, executives acknowledged during an analyst conference call this afternoon. The company’s good news was driven by strong sales of Windows 7, while business sales are lagging.

There’s a clear contrast in tthe revenue numbers Microsoft posted today. During the last three months of 2008, business revenue outpaced Windows and Windows Live revenue, $4.9 billion to $4.1 billion. A year later, Windows leaped past to $6.9 billion, while business revenue fell slightly to $4.7 billion.

“While we have yet to see a return on business spending growth, the consumer segment continues to perform better than expected,” said Bill Koefoed, Microsoft’s general manager of investor relations.

The question-and-answer session at the end of the call seemed pretty brief, but Microsoft found time for a few answers about the enterprise sales. Chief Financial Officer Peter Klein said that it’s taking longer and longer to close those sales, and there’s sometimes a gap between the expiration of old deals and the start of new agreements — but in most cases, Microsoft isn’t losing those customers.

One analyst asked whether Microsoft expects things to remain sluggish in the coming months.

“The thing that I can say is that we have the great product pipeline,” Klein said. “We don’t have visibility into exactly what business spend will be, so we’re just going to have to work through that in the next couple quarters.”

During the just-ended quarter, Microsoft also continued its cuts with another 800 layoffs. The company’s scheduled releases this year include Windows Mobile 7 (which Microsoft is expected to demo at the Mobile World Congress in February) and Office 2010.

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House Energy and Commerce chairman Henry Waxman, and subcommittee chairman Bart Stupak, said today that Congress will hold the first hearings on Toyota’s recall woes in February.

Both said that the committee will hold a Feb. 25 hearing “to examine the persistent consumer complaints of sudden unintended acceleration in vehicles manufactured by the Toyota Motor Corporation.”

“Like many consumers, I am concerned by the seriousness and scope of Toyota’s recent recall announcements,” Waxman said. “I look forward to learning more about the steps Toyota is taking to address safety defects, and I hope that the automaker will continue to cooperate with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to get unsafe vehicles off our roads.

Toyota said it will cooperate with the hearings.

“Toyota appreciates the opportunity to inform the committee about matters related to the recent recalls of Toyota and Lexus vehicles and our efforts to address the situation for our customers,” spokeswoman Martha Voss said. “Helping ensure the safety of our customers and restoring confidence in Toyota are very important to our company and we pledge our full cooperation with the committee.”

– By: Stephen Calogera

Source: Detroit News

Josh Brolin, Shia LaBeouf, and original star Michael Douglas has teamed up for Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps, a modern-day follow-up to Oliver Stone’s 1987 cinema classic.

Wall Street 2 opens April 23….

Unless your whole home is decorated with weirdo technology scraps, these lamps, cool as they are, will probably look out of place. But! Do you work in an office that values design and decor? These would be perfect for the copy room. Am I right?

Etsy seller boxlightbox’s hanging Epson cartridge lamps are 6″x6″x8″ and sell for $45 plus shipping. That ain’t bad, though you’ll need a few of these 40-watt wonders to make your work environment any species of bright. They come in various colors, obviously.

[via GeekSugar]

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