Category: News

Google calls Nexus One a superphone, thinking that we’re all a bunch of imbeciles who would think it’s better that the rest of the smartphones. After all, “Superphone” beats “Smartphone”, right? Tell that to Batman. [JoyofTech—Thanks Robert Grossman]

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If you haven’t purchased Metroid Prime Trilogy but still plan to eventually, your window of opportunity is closing fast. Coffee with Games reports (via Kotaku) that Nintendo has confirmed the game is “no longer being shipped,” meaning if your local game retailers are all out of their new copies, you’re likely stuck looking in the used section.

“Unfortunately, Metroid Prime Trilogy is no longer being shipped. Having said that, you may be able to find what you seek through the secondhand video game market,” read a response from Nintendo about the status of Metroid Prime Trilogy. A later response added a bit more information, if not any more clarification: “When first introduced, it was announced that there would be limited availability. However, a reason for this was not announced.”

The end result is a compellation that was only at retail for about four months — a fairly unusual situation. This also marks the first New Play Control! title (adding Wii motion controls to the first two Metroid Prime games) to be discontinued, but Nintendo did make clear the other New Play Control! games (Pikmin, Mario Power Tennis, and Donkey Kong Jungle Beat) “are still being shipped.”

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Para los memoriosos, a fines del 2008 dábamos cuenta de que una ignota firma de diseño norteamericana, Revenge Design, iba a presentar en el NAIAS del año pasado un “super-deportivo” de diseño propio, con motor de 650 caballos.

Este año, Revenge vuelve a la carga y nos muestra el primer teaser, previo al salón de Detroit, de un curioso concepto llamado Verde Supercar. Se trata de un híbrido V8/eléctrico de unos 400 caballos y que da una economía de combustible bastante buena, a pesar de ser tildado de super-car: 2,14 litros a los 100 kilómetros.

Los deseos de Revenge no se quedarán esta vez en la presentación del modelo y en las fotos de rigor. Hay planes de comenzar a comercializarlo a partir del mes de julio, con un precio final de unos 180.000 dólares para el mercado norteamericano.

El Revenge Verde será presentado el próximo lunes en el NAIAS, mientras publica sus renders en el último número de duPont Registry, para ver si así atrae las miradas de los millonarios.

Vía | World Car Fans

Nine bloggers spent the day at the Ancestry.com facilities on Friday. Most of those in attendance had visited Ancestry.com in January 2009. However, I didn’t because I was just getting back into blogging at that time, after having lost my blog for a few months. So the experience this year was all new to me.

We met at the Little America Hotel in downtown SLC and first went to the data center, which is located in Salt Lake. Needless to say, I was impressed. There we saw row upon row of servers, all feeding data to over a million Ancestry.com members.

The group then traveled to the Ancestry.com Corporate offices in Provo where we spent the day touring the facility, and attending power-point presentations, each given by by the the Ancestry.com VPs and directors.

Ancestry.com CEO Tim Sullivan joined us for lunch, and spent an hour asking questions and looking for input from the bloggers. That evening we went to dinner at the Market Street Grill, and spent a couple more hours getting to know the Ancestry.com executives a bit better. PR Manager, Anastasia Tyler, coordinated the whole thing and made all of us feel very welcome.

On the way to the restaurant last evening, Myrt asked me what I was most impressed with at Ancestry.com. Without hesitation, I replied that I found the Membership Services operations to be the most revealing. Prior to the visit, I imagined that Membership Services was probably where you called if you wanted to cancel your subscription or find out why your Family Tree Maker 2010 wouldn’t work on your old computer (or visa versa). Boy, oh, boy – did I have that wrong. Sure – they do those things, but they now also do little things like making a call to all new members on day 4 or 5 after someone signs up, asking what they can do to help. They have 160 employees who answer the phones, and emails, taking about 110,000 calls per month, as well as answering 40 to 50 thousand monthly emails from Ancestry.com members. Every email is to be answered within 24 hours. Many of the membership services employees are skilled genealogists, who actually have the capability of helping members with their genealogy problems. They can not only help members with getting the most out of Ancestry.com, but can help with their research. Ancestry.com currently has 1,066,000 paying subscribers, and they figure that the best way to keep those members – and get many more – is to do everything in their power to make sure that their members have success in their hobby. To have that success, content is still king, but a great membership services program is right up there alongside it. I agree.

Ancestry.com has changed a lot – just in the last year of so. Not only is it a public company, but this emphasis on customer success and satisfaction is a marked change over the “old” Ancestry. I, like many other bloggers, have made negative comments about the company’s past seeming ineptitude when it came to doing dumb things that just ticked folks off. The management being human, I’m sure that at some point in the future, they’ll do something once again that all of us can pile onto. But, saying that, I’m willing to bet that it won’t happen often, since I firmly believe that they’re doing the right things.

This blog is just the first of a number that I plan to make, based on my time spent at Ancestry.com, as well as my own use of the Internet site. And yes, there’s some pretty exciting stuff to blog – much dealing with new data at Ancestry.com, as well as new indexes and ways to view data… There’s a lot to tell.

TEASERS FOR 2010…

• The 1920 U.S. Federal Census (all 2.2 million images) will see improved & enhanced images posted online.
• Ancestry.com will be KEYING THE FIELDS found within the 1790 through 1840 censuses (all 91,000 images). Previously only the heads-of-household were keyed and indexed.
• The Deaf, Dumb, and Defective (DDDs) U.S. Census Schedules for CA, SC, NY, IL, NJ, WA, NE, KS, MA, IA, ME, VA, and TX (all 30,000 images with 146,000 names) will be indexed and posted.
• A 1950 Census Substitute, made up of 2500 – 1946 though 1960 City Directories will be posted.
• and maybe most exciting of all! U.S. land ownership maps 1860-1920 (plat maps) will be posted complete with indexes for the seven million names found thereon. Over 100,000 images will be involved.

Bloggers attending the Bloggers’ Day 2010 event were:
Dick Eastman – Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter
Thomas MacEntee – Geneabloggers.com
Leland K. Meitzler – GenealogyBlog.com
The unknown blogger – The Ancestry Insider
Craig Manson – Geneablogie.com
Diane Haddad – The Genealogy Insider
Lisa Cooke – Genealogy Gems Podcast
Pat Richley-Erickson – DearMyrtle.com
Kimberly Powell – About.com Genealogy

Following is a group photo taken near the end of the day in Provo. The bloggers are in the same order as I’ve listed them above. Starting with Dick in the upper left hand corner (back row) and going left to right.

In order to keep the FCC happy, I need to state that Ancestry.com paid for the bloggers’ transportation to SLC, hotels, and our meals. They even offered to pay my airfare. However, I declined, as the flight from Bountiful to SLC would have only been about 5 miles, and I don’t believe that Salt Lake International accepts private aircraft.

Most women dream about having beautiful shining hair. They use a wide variety of hair care products like shampoos, conditioners and oils to take good care of their hair. But little do they know that some of the hair care products may have harmful affects on their hair because of the presence of some chemicals in the products. It is due to the indiscriminate use of hair care products that most women today are in search of some hair care remedies to restore natural hair growth.

Aloe vera (aloe barbadensis) is a natural hair care remedy, which can be used for treating alopecia. It contains aloenin, a potent stimulant which promotes rapid hair growth without any irritation in the scalp.

Rosemary (rosmarinus officinalis) is a medicinal herb used for treating various hair ailments. It is also used as a natural hair conditioner, especially for dark hair. It is also used as a treatment for dandruff. Rosemary oil stimulates the growth of hair. The main constituent of this hair care oil is caffeic acid and its derivative rosmarinic acid has antioxidant effects that help in providing shine to hair.

Natural hair loss treatments are believed by many to yield a lot of benefits. These are also the safest methods. You would also cut back on the cost of hair loss products. Healthy natural treatments may include proper diet, exercise, proper hair care habits and herbal remedies. Many of these natural remedies have shown wonderful effects in preventing, reducing or yes, even reducing hair loss.

Some herbs can be eaten or can be taken as a drink, while there are also other herbs that you can use externally. Try using aloe vera as a hair rinse. Not only that this will keep your scalp healthy, but will also stimulate your hair follicles to grow hair. Another natural treatment is aromatherapy. It has been found that the oils used in aromatherapy will be able to stimulate your hair follicles and encourage growth. Not only that, you need to remember that aromatherapy can help you get rid of stress, which is also one of the main causes of hair loss.

Causes of hair loss:

Genetics: The most common cause of hair loss is rooted in your genes also known as androgenetic alopecia, hereditary hair loss can begin any time after puberty, but usually sets in before the age of forty and may accelerate around the time you reach menopause.

Severe illnesses and infections can put great stress on the body thus triggering the hair into a resting phase which result hair shedding. Often the body recovers naturally within 3 to 9 months and the hair begins to regrow until it almost resembles its original condition.

Pregnancy: A large amount of oestrogen is produced during pregnancy causing the hair follicles to go into their growth phase. Once the birth is over the hormonal balance is restored and the opposite happens with the hair follicles going into a hair loss phase.

Rough combing and brushing of the hair and vigorous rubbing with a towel after shampooing can cause it to break, adding further to the problem of Hair loss in women. Wide toothed combs and brushes with smooth tips are recommended to minimize hair breakage.

At the Startup Debut event earlier on at CES, we got to check out this great, and practical, new guitar component called Evertune. It’s a bridge that keeps your guitar tuned at whatever you put it at, but not using freaky electronics. I thought it had to involve microservos and such, but no:

The EverTune bridge feeds your guitar strings into an adaptive spring-tensioner inside the guitar body. As each string or tuner posts loosens, the springs compensate, maintaining exactly the tension you set the first time you tuned the guitar, no matter how hard or how often you play.

Good for those of us who take an hour to tune our guitars because we don’t know what we’re doing at all. I am a little suspicious, however: if it’s such a simple principle and essentially has no downside, can it really have not occurred to anyone yet to create it? I mean, it is self-evident that no one has, but I wonder if there’s a dark side to the product they’re not telling us about.

Their FAQ is pretty comprehensive, though, and assures the reader that there will be no real change in tone and you can bend it like you would any other guitar. They’ve also got better pictures of the guts; I accidentally set my camera to EV-2 so they came out a little dark.

And just for kicks, here’s Greg rocking out:

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CES always seems shorter than it really is. We’ve been here in Vegas since Tuesday, reporting live on almost everything of any importance, and we’re all goofy and tired. I usually hate CES. It’s a long slog through endless halls and repetitive meetings that go over what has already been gone over. But this year was different.

This year’s CES was strangely subdued yet refreshing. CE companies have stopped the genitalia-waving associated with speeds, sizes, and megapixels and have started producing products with considerably more finesse. The devices we saw were well-designed and featured a number of clever UI tricks that can turn an average iPod dock into a thoughtful device designed for a specific purpose and person.

Manufacturers have figured out that numbers on products don’t sell. Features sell, and I’m talking about top-line features, not the details. Consumers have been bombarded with speeds and feeds for so long that they’re now noise. TV manufacturers, for example, have stopped fighting about screen size and have started focusing on how to convince millions of viewers to switch to a 3D-ready Blu-Ray/TV combo. That’s going to be a tough fight and it won’t behoove them to mention very much about HDMI interoperability and refresh rate. Instead, they are creating compelling reasons to upgrade including on-screen, open widget and streaming systems as well as cool new energy saving techniques.

The products this year are touchy feelie. Say what you want about cynical manufacturers “going green” but there is a focus on design and durability over high tech. Perhaps its a reaction to the economy – there’s no R&D budget – or maybe it’s a reaction to a skittish consumer who doesn’t want throwaway tech. Regardless, I like where this is going.

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Thankfully, Razer is finally getting into the console market. In addition to the Onza controller we told you about yesterday, Razer is also launching a wireless gaming headset to use with your Xbox 360.

The Chimaera definitely brings something to the table, it’s wireless of course, and supports full 5.1 sound just like your Xbox. Since this is considered to be a professional level headset, it also will allow you to daisy-chain several headsets together at one time so your entire team at the lan party can maintain communication. MSRP is $129.99, and they will be available worldwide. The one we saw at CES was a mock-up though, so I wouldn’t expect it soon.

From the press release:

Razer Chimaera Professional Gaming Headset for Xbox 360
The Razer Chimaera Professional Gaming Headset for Xbox 360 is designed to provide sharp sound quality that optimizes the gaming experience with crisp, roaring sound from a 5.1 Channel Virtual Surround Sound system. Although the majority of games are encoded with the full 5.1 surround sound, most gaming headsets are only equipped to offer stereo-grade sound, while the Razer Chimaera offers the full range of sound, enhancing the entire Xbox experience. A Daisy-Chain solution allows multiple Razer base stations to be connected to create a direct, private communication channel for in-game team conversations. The circumaural design of the headset allows for optimum noise isolation for long-hours of comfortable gameplay without any outside interruptions.

Razer Chimaera Professional Gaming Headset for Xbox 360
COST: US $129.99; Europe €109.99

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Luke Timmerman wrote:

[Correction: 1/11/10, 9:15 am Pacific, with distinction between IL-6 and IL-6 receptor.] Genentech, the U.S.-based unit of Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche, said the FDA has granted clearance to start selling a new drug for rheumatoid arthritis. The treatment, tocilizumab (Actemra), is the first approved antibody engineered to block the receptor for an inflammatory protein called IL-6, that is overactive in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Bothell, WA-based Alder Biopharmaceuticals is attempting to block the IL-6 protein with a “fast-follower” antibody called ALD518, which is being co-developed with Bristol-Myers Squibb.

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Tomorrow morning, two of the egmCarTech editors will be driving a 2010 GMC Acadia (we’ll tell you more about that during our drive tomorrow) to Michigan for the 2010 Detroit Auto Show. We’ll be kicking off live coverage on Monday, rolling into Tuesday.

Besides Transportation secretary Ray LaHood, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, we’ll see over 50- new vehicle premieres. Here is a list of what you can expect to see next week in Detroit.

If you need quick access to all the 2010 Detroit Auto Show news, click the shortcut in the sidebar under the Breaking and Featured Headlines – or you can just visit the 2010 Detroit Auto Show Tag directly.

Check out the complete list after the jump.

2010 Detroit Auto Show Debuts:

2011 Audi A8
2011 BMW 740i / 740Li
BMW Concept ActiveE
2011 BMW Z4 sDrive35is
Buick Regal GS Concept
2011 Cadillac CTS-V Coupe
Cadillac XTS Concept
Chevrolet Aveo RS Concept
Chrysler sedan derived from a Lancia
Fiat 500 electric Concept
2011 Ferrari 458 Italia
2011 Ford Focus
2011 Ford Mustang GT
2011 GMC Acadia Denali
GMC Urban Utility Concept
2011 Honda CR-Z
Hyundai BLUE-Will Concept
2011 Lincoln MKX
2011 Maserati GranTurismo Convertible
2011 Mercedes-Benz E-Class Cabriolet
Mini Beachcomber Concept
Toyota Dedicated Hybrid Concept
Volvo C30 BEV
2011 Volkswagen Touareg Hybrid

…and much more.

Once an Apple (AAPL) engineer, Andy Rubin went on to co-found mobile computing outfits Danger Inc. and Android, Inc. He sold the former to Microsoft (MSFT) and the latter to Google (GOOG), where he is now now vice president of engineering. He’s also the guy quarterbacking development of the company’s Android mobile operating system and the Nexus One–the smartphone with which Google hopes to fundamentally change the way people buy cellphones.

In conversation with All Things Digital’s Walt Mossberg today, Rubin talked about the mobile space, Google’s plan for an enterprise version of the Nexus One and its vision for the way phones should be bought and sold.

Walt starts off by asking Rubin about just how involved Google was in the development of Nexus One.

Rubin replies, “We threw out crazy ideas to our partners at HTC and they were pretty good about plucking the good ones out of the air and building them into the device.”

Walt asks about the new business model Google’s launched in concert with Nexus One. Was this something the company planned all along?

“This is the next phase of Android–taking the newest versions of the product, placing them online and allowing consumers to purchase them directly,” says Rubin. “What we’ve learned is that there are more efficient ways of connecting consumers with the phones they’d like to purchase…easier ways.” Purchasing a Nexus One through Google, says Rubin, is a casual process. “No one’s breathing down your neck,” he says. “No one’s trying to upsell you.”

Nexus One is aimed at consumers who love their Google services and live in the “Google world,” Walt notes. Yet, Google is encouraging developers to build new apps for Android and Nexus One. How do you reconcile that? Isn’t there something contradictory to saying “we’re an app platform, we’re open,” and then turning around and saying “we’re really a platform for people who love Google?”

Rubin obviously doesn’t think so. He stresses that an OS can’t be successful unless people are developing for it. “It reminds me of the accessory business,” he says. “The most successful phones have the most earbuds, car chargers, etc.”

Walt wonders if Rubin is at all surprised by the size of the apps revolution, by the fact that there are 100,000-plus apps in the iTunes Apps Store.

“I’m not surprised by it at all. This is what happens when you drop the barriers to entry,” he says, recalling how difficult it once was for developers to distribute their apps and how easy it is today.

This new purchasing model Google has created for the Nexus One puts the company at the center of the experience. People who purchase the Nexus One think of themselves as Google customers. Rubin says, “What we’ve done here is to offer a mobile platform where people don’t have to worry about the plumbing.”

Walt notes reports today about people unhappy the customer service Google is providing for the Nexus One; there is only e-mail customer service, and no phone support. Rubin concedes that there is no phone support and that there is sometimes a 3-day delay in response time. “We have to get better at customer service,” he says, adding that for launch, they are doing great.

Moving on to the issue now of 3G network performance, which is been a very real issue at CES, especially for AT&T. Rubin says Moore’s Law applies to bandwidth — 4G is on its way, and after that 5G. Walt suggests that the addition of new phones like the Nexus One and the host of other superphones going to exacerbate the problem. Rubin says that doesn’t have to happen; if carriers were more on point and did what was necessary to maintain and upgrade their networks dropped calls etc. would be as much of an issue as they are for some carriers today.

In his interview with Kara Swisher earlier, Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein–a former Apple engineer–said, “I don’t have an iPhone. I’ve never even used one.” In contrast, for those who may be wondering, Andy Rubin says he does use an iPhone. “What do you expect? I’m a gadget guy.”

More Posts and Articles from CES

• CES Full Coverage on AllThingsD.com
• Netflix CEO Reed Hastings interview with Peter Kafka
• Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein interview with Kara Swisher

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MOTO Development Labs devised a simple method of analyzing capacitive touch screens using drawing programs. They put the iPhone, the Nexus One, the Droid, and the Droid Eris through the paces and proved not all touch screens are created equal.

Using only your fingers and a drawing app, MOTO shows how you can test out the accuracy of your smartphone’s touch screen. The test is simple: draw some slow, steady lines across the screen with your finger. If they’re smooth and straight, your touch screen is tracking with relative accuracy. If they’re wavy or jagged, your phone might not be giving your fingers the attention they deserve.

MOTO’s test showed the iPhone tracking the most accurately of the four, with smooth, straight lines. The Motorola Droid fared worst of the bunch, its crossing lines tracking so jaggedly that the screen looked like a jigsaw puzzle. The Eris and the Nexus One landed somewhere in between.

If jagged lines are the symptoms of a subpar touch screen, MOTO suggests that the affliction can be any combination of too large a sensor, too low a touch-sampling rate, or too inaccurate an algorithm. [MOTO Development Labs – Thanks Sabrina]

Our buddies over at Phonescoop spotted a handset running a copy of the as-of-yet unreleased Windows Mobile 6.5.3 floating around at CES, and were nice enough to snap some footage for everyone not living in the Las Vegas Convention Center this week. They run through just about everything 6.5.3 has to offer, from the new finger-friendly UI to the brand new, seemingly much improved onscreen keyboard; if Windows Mobile is your thing, be sure to check it out.

Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.