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My kids need some typing software. I remember a “Broderbund” “Mavis Beacon” product from eons past, so I started looking into the current state of the product. It took me a while to sort things out; and along the way I was reminded of how much was lost in the tech bubble of the 1990s.

It turns out there’s now a Mac-only “Mavis Beacon” product sold by “Software MacKiev” (Ukranian Mac contract software development) and another product (XP/Mac) sold by “Encore Software”. The Encore Mac product is buggy and unsupported, the MacKiev version sounds a bit more promising.

… Softkey …purchased The Learning Company for $606 million in cash and then adopted its name…Brøderbund was purchased by The Learning Company in 1998 for about US$420 million in stock…

In a move to rationalize costs, The Learning Company promptly terminated 500 employees at Brøderbund the same year,[16] representing 42% of the company’s workforce. 

Then in 1999 the combined company was bought by Mattel for $3.6 billion … Jill Barad, the [Mattel] CEO, ended up being forced out in a climate of investor outrage. 

Mattel then gave away The Learning Company in September 2000 to Gores Technology Group, a private acquisitions firm, for a share of whatever Gores could obtain by selling the company. In 2001, Gores sold The Learning Company’s entertainment holdings to Ubisoft, and most of the other holdings, including the Brøderbund name, to Irish company Riverdeep.[19] Currently, all of Brøderbund’s games, such as the Myst series, are published by Ubisoft…

This kind of churn is death to software. Software needs continuity to survive. The cycle of acquisition and ‘rationalization” creates zombie software that staggers on, brainless, for years … then dies.

The tech bubble made a few people rich, and it destroyed a lot of good products. Not to mention costing Mattel’s shareholders quite a few pennies.

After the tech bubble burst came 9/11, then the great asset bubble and, not least, the Bush administration. One, two, three, four. No wonder America is reeling.

[1] At one time Mavis Beacon was sold under the Broderbund name, but by that time Broderbund might have been owned by Riverdeep. I include this story as an example of all the things the tech bubble killed.

In 2007, James Randi took the stage at TED and apparently had a pretty good time (I still hear stories about it). The folks at TED just put the video up, and it’s a hoot.

I’ll note that Randi was 79 when this was filmed. Could you do this well now? There’s a reason his middle name is “Amazing”.

Aunque se les haya restado importancia por ser “móviles para adolescentes”, creo que los anunciados Microsoft Kin One y Microsoft Kin Two merecen una lectura por el cambio con el que desde Redmond se afronta el teléfono móvil. Tras muchos años jurando y perjurando que su rol era el de ofrecer el sistema operativo a todos los fabricantes que lo quieran, Microsoft decide seguir el camino de Apple otra vez (ya lo habían hecho con Zune) y apostar por teléfonos en los que controlan software y hardware. Con ello desarrolla una línea alternativa a su rol de proveedor de software para terceros que Windows Phone Series

Lo más importante es que Microsoft dejará de ser percibida como una empresa “no competidora” por parte de los fabricantes de terminales. Lanza teléfonos con su propia marca, lo que se podría equiparar al movimiento de Google con Nexus One con la diferencia de que el software con el que equipo los “Kin” lo mantiene en exclusiva, mientras que Nexus se basa en el mismo Android con el que cuentan los demás fabricantes. A esa lectura hay que añadir otra, para recuperarse del batacazo de los últimos años en el móvil, Microsoft quiere ir a por todo el mercado: no sólo el de los usuarios avanzados que quieren “lo último”, no sólo el de los profesionales… también el de perfiles que busca terminales más baratos y/o especializados como son Kin One y Kin Two en redes sociales.

Más información en Xataka, Kin, el teléfono social de Microsoft

Starting as early as this week, baseball-loving PlayStation 3 owners will be able to watch live streams of almost every Major League Baseball game through MLB.tv… for a price, of course.

For either $99.95 or $119.95 per year (depending on the package), users can subscribe to MLB.tv and get access to out of market games and an archive of all the games. The service is already available via your computer, iPad, some mobile phones and set top boxes. MLB is hoping to increase its subscriber base substantially by tapping into the 12 million PS3 owners in the U.S.

“It continues our path of making sure that our content is available to the fans,” said some guy with a long job title from MLB.

PlayStation to Stream Pro Baseball [NY Times]

Peter Misek at Canaccord Adams downgraded Nokia Corp. from Hold to Sell and slashed his price target from US$15 to US$10 after the company's first quarter results missed expectations across the board.

In a research note titled "Caught between an Apple and a BlackBerry," the analyst noted that while the earnings were only slightly below consensus expectations, Nokia continues to face intense competition in the high end of the smartphone market. It also faces average sales price erosion in the low end of the market.

"With gross margins compressing, we would expect that even with a rebound in revenue, earnings growth will be limited," Mr. Misek told clients.

RBC Capital Markets analyst Mark Sue believes Nokia may have to spend aggressively in the near term to ready its new handset portfolio. He also suggests it might cut pricing on its existing portfolio to maintain unit market share.

“We expect a sharp dip in profitability,” Mr. Sue said in a note. “Nokia dominates with 33% unit market share, and its distribution network is solid. Yet catching up to competitors comes with costs and risks.

The analyst maintained an Outperform rating on Nokia shares but trimmed his target from US$16 to US$15.

Jonathan Ratner

Everyday the battle between iPhone and Android gets more intense. Even though Android is nowhere close to iPhone yet, but the growth rate is phenomenal. A recent proof of that comes from the fact that Android market now has over 38,000 apps. FierceMobileContent reports that this is a 70% increase from last quarter.

More interestingly, Google claims that they are now selling and activating around 60,000 new Android phones every day. There are now 34 different phones from a dozen different manufacturers that are powered by Android. With Google’s acquisition of adMob, Apple starting a rival mobile ad platform and the high growth rate of Android apps, the competition between iPhone and Android will just get more fierce.

However, it is clear that Google has its fair share of problems when it comes to mobile. For example, the FTC still doesn’t like Google’s acquisition of adMob for $750 Million and is trying to mount an anti-trust challenge. If Google cannot hold ground in this issue, it would be a huge below for Android. There are tens of other mobile ad networks out there and with so many new phones coming out each week, the market is getting quiet competitive.

Don’t miss these Related Posts:

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Pity the poor scientists–no matter how hard they try to convince the public that science is one of the few things you can trust in this crazy, mixed-up world, public faith in science is still tough to come by.

A new study (pdf) conducted at the University of Maryland examined people’s belief in extrasensory perception (ESP), the supposed paranormal phenomenon of mind-reading. The study not only found that people tend to disregard the views of the scientific community when it comes to paranormal activity, it also showed that they’re inclined to disagree with the scientists.

For the study, the researchers had 160 college students watch a video of a person performing brilliantly on a card-guessing exercise. What the students didn’t know is that the player was discreetly being fed all the answers. To the viewers, it appeared that she was either extremely lucky or had some sort of sixth sense, writes online magazine Miller McCune.

After watching the video, the students were asked a series of questions, including if they believed in ESP and if they thought that the woman in the video had extrasensory powers.

Miller McCune writes:

The participants were broken up into four groups. Those in Condition One were informed that 25 percent of the public believes in ESP, but the scientific community rejects the concept. Those in Condition Two were told that more than 90 percent of the public believes in ESP, but the scientific community considers it bogus.

Those in Condition Three were told that 25 percent of the public believes in ESP, and the scientific community is becoming more open to the idea. Those in Condition Four were informed that more than 90 percent of the public believes in ESP, and the scientific community is beginning to warm to the possibility it is real.

The scientists found that individuals were more likely to report belief in ESP when they were told that a greater percentage of the public believed in it. But, the researchers wrote, “We found no effects indicating that science rejecting a claim led individuals to be less likely to believe the claim.” In fact, those students who were told that scientists dismiss ESP were more likely to declare that the phenomenon is real.

The researchers say there are several possible explanations for this odd result. It might be, they say, that people see paranormal activity as a matter of belief and not evidence. Or it could be that when it comes to psychic coolness, people placed more faith in their peers’ opinions than in those of scientists. But there’s a final, more ominous interpretation, say the researchers: “The findings may result from a decreasing trust in the institution of science.”

Miller McCune writes that the news is particularly worrisome for climatologists–whose warnings about global warming’s dire effects are increasingly being pooh-poohed by a cynical public.

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Image: iStockphoto

It looks real to me. Our friend Rob from Phandroid has posted some pics of a T-Mobile myTouch 3G running a test version of the Android 2.2 firmware. Not a lot of new information was revealed, but image gives us a preview of a newer Android Market.

It appears the next update to the Market will allow for automatic updating of select apps. A check box is located on the app detail page which allows the user to toggle this feature on and off. This was a major gripe for many Android users, so it is nice to see Google address it.

We know Android 2.2 is coming and new versions of the Market have been tied with firmware upgrades in the past. Hopefully all will be revealed at next month’s Google I/O conference.

Allow automatic updating.

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[JURIST] Kyrgyzstan interim deputy leader Omurbek Tekebayev announced Thursday that the country would hold a referendum on a new constitution on July 27. Tekebayev, part of the interim government that took power two weeks ago amid an anti-government uprising, said the new constitution would guarantee a parliamentary republic and reduce the powers of the president in order to prevent authoritarianism. He said the new constitution will also try to prevent powerful parliamentary majorities by limiting any political party to only 50 seats out of a 90-seat parliament. The country’s last parliament was controlled by the ousted president Kurmanbek Bakiyev’s Ak-Zhol party. Tekebayev also announced that elections in the country will be held on October 10.
On Wednesday, Human Rights Watch (HRW) urged Kyrgyzstan’s interim government to begin a comprehensive investigation into the violence between April 6 and 8 that resulted in the overthrow of president Bakiyev. Kyrgyz interim leader Roza Otunbayeva said last week that Bakiyev should stand trial for the recent violence. Despite the pledge to bring Bakiyev and his allies to justice, so far only former defense minister Baktybek Kaliyev has been arrested. The protests, prompted in part by a drastic increase in utility costs, led to at least 84 deaths and many more injuries. Earlier this month, Otunbayeva launched the interim government after the violence forced Bakiyev to flee the capital.

Word around the web has pegged May 17^th as the rumored release date. The new rumored release date is June 2^nd. Neither of these days has been confirmed by T-Mobile or HTC so take this information with a few grains of salt.

Nobody knows exactly when this phone will be released or why it’s being delayed. Maybe it’s because T-Mobile doesn’t want it to interfere with the HD2 sales? Or maybe they don’t want to run out of them and have their customers wait for new shipments. Who knows, either way there are a bunch of people waiting on the release of this awesome Android handset.

[via tmonews]

What’s that you say? Your Nexus One can’t hold a 3G signal worth a damn?

Bummer, dude! In a response to the angry masses demanding a OTA fix to rid them of their woes, Google employee Ry Guy has disclosed that they’re no longer “investigating further engineering improvements”.

The full text of the post:

I’ve seen some recent speculation on this thread about an OTA to improve 3G connectivity and I want to give you an update on the situation.

While we are continuing to monitor user feedback regarding the 3G performance on the Nexus One, we are no longer investigating further engineering improvements at this time.

If you are still experiencing 3G issues, we recommend that you try changing your location or even the orientation of your phone, as this may help in areas with weaker coverage.

-Ry Guy

Can’t get 3G where you’re standing? Well, then “[change] your location.” Duh.

It’s entirely possible — likely, even — that there’s simply no way to improve reception via a software update. They can only improve basebands and radio firmware so much; at a certain point, it’s like trying to improve your car’s mileage by changing the shape of the gas pedal.

by Grist

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Art: Nat Damm

Mike Mathieu

Founder, Front Seat
Seattle, Wash.

After working at Microsoft and founding an internet publishing firm,
Mike Mathieu, 41, decided to put his software smarts to work for the
greater social good. Seattle-based Front Seat, which he founded and chairs, has launched “civic software” projects like Walk Score,
which shows you how walkable any given U.S. address is (Grist HQ scores
a whopping 98 out of 100—a “Walkers’ Paradise”), and City-Go-Round, which spotlights innovative public transit apps, like Exit Strategy NYC, an app that shows you exactly where you should stand on the subway platform
to arrive directly in front of the exit at your destination
(brilliant). Walk Score has already started to change the way the real
estate industry thinks about walkability; its scores have been
incorporated into real-estate sites like Zillow.com as well as many agents’ individual listings, giving prospective
homebuyers more info about the kinds of neighborhoods and lifestyles
they might be buying into.

Follow Mathieu on Twitter.

Meet more people who are redefining green.

Next »    

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Tonight’s debate, some say, could have a dramatic effect on British politics.

This is the first election period in the United Kingdom with televised debates between the leaders of the main parties.

One debate down.  Two to go.  But already people are saying that the first debate alone has managed to shake up the campaign, to energize it, and has led to the wholly unexpected rise of the leader of the perennially third party.

Nick Clegg, leader of the Liberal Democrats, previously the outsider, was seen as the winner of the first debate.  His relaxed style went down well with the audience.  The Brits are fed up with politics and politicians.  Or so they say.  Many feel their leaders lie to them.  The recent expenses scandal, in which Members of Parliament’s expense accounts have been leaked, scrutinized and deemed by many UK taxpayers to be excessive, has angered a lot of people.  The scandal centered on the ruling Labor Party and the Conservatives.

The pundits say Clegg really felt like the breath of fresh air an angry electorate is hankering for.  That said, being an outsider and never viewed as a possible Prime Minister, his policies have not been scrutinized. The incumbent Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Conservative Party Leader David Cameron’s have been time and again.  Their performance in the debate was perceived by viewers as more restrained, more guarded.  They clearly had more to lose.  It’s not that they made any major gaffes.  The perception among viewers was that Clegg seemed more like the man for change.

Today the papers, particularly conservative ones, have been full of stories slamming Nick Clegg.  They involved party donations that allegedly went in to his personal account a few years back, but were actually used to pay a staffer.  Clegg denies anything unethical.  Also, a comment he made back in 2002 has been cited, and come back to bite.  Then he told a newspaper that the UK has “a more insidious cross to bear than Germany over the Second World War”, a reference to the British suffering delusions of grandeur over having defeated the horrors of Nazism.

Just last week, Clegg’s popularity was compared to that of Winston Churchill after his success in last week’s debate, said today “I must be the only politician who has, in a week, gone from Churchill to a Nazi.”

The British system is different from the American one.  The Brits vote for Members of Parliament.  If a party wins more than half the seats in Parliament, its leader forms a government, and becomes Prime Minister.  If no party gets more than half the seats, it’s called a hung Parliament, which is highly unusual and which either means a coalition is formed among parties or a new election is called.

Before the debate, the Conservatives were favored to win the requisite chunk of votes to be the part of power.  The Nick Clegg phenomenon has made the prospect of a hung Parliament seem more real.  No one expects the Liberal Democrats to win the election.  But their success after the first debate has changed the picture.  The latest YOUGOV poll puts Conservatives at 33 percent, Liberal Democrats at 31 percent and Labour at 27 percent.

People are saying it’s the first time in a generation the outcome of a British election is so uncertain.

Volkswagen ha anunciado hoy que la presentación oficial de su buque insignia, el Volkswagen Phaeton, tendrá lugar en el salón del automóvil Auto China 2010, que se celebrará en Pekín del 27 de abril al 2 de mayo de 2010. Una primera vista al exterior, nos permite ver que el nuevo Phaeton presenta un frontal completamente nuevo así como también un ensanchamiento en su carrocería y ligeras modificaciones en la silueta y en la parte trasera.

Tecnológicamente, el nuevo Phaeton es un modelo de los más avanzados de su gama, gracias a una cámara frontal, el Phaeton reconoce las señales del tráfico, las indicaciones de velocidad y como característica única, las señales de prohibición de adelantamiento se visualizan en los instrumentos y en la pantalla táctil principal de la consola central.

En una visión más profunda, en el diseño actual del Phaeton 2011 predominan las líneas horizontales, que junto a sus dos anchuras, entre 5,06 y 5,18 metros dependiendo de la distancia entre ejes, acentúan su robustez, además, y tal como se indicó anteriormente, presenta un frontal completamente nuevo, el cual contiene elementos cromados que remarcan el carácter exclusivo del Phaeton.

Completando el frontal se exponen dos faros Bi-Xenón de serie, de nuevo diseño, que incorporan iluminación dinámica en curva y luz de giro integrada. Tanto los intermitentes como la luz de giro están formados por LED extremadamente visibles de un estilo marcado.

El parachoques ha sido rediseñado para que encaje perfectamente con la parrilla y los faros, en este nuevo diseño también predominan la líneas horizontales, incluso los faros antiniebla se han diseñado como bandas estrechas horizontales con tecnología LED.

La parte trasera del Phaeton mantiene el estilo de su predecesor, lo único que se ha rediseñado son los faros traseros LED y el parachoques. Estos nuevos faros cuentan con una banda LED en forma de M, que dotan de un aspecto inconfundible tanto de día como de noche a la parte trasera del phaeton. En cuanto al parachoques trasero, incorpora una nueva moldura cromada de tres piezas. El equipamiento exterior lo completa unas nuevas llantas de 18 pulgadas.

El interior destaca por ser uno de los más elegantes y confortables de su gama, como elementos únicos incorpora el climatizador de 4 zonas, absolutamente libre de corrientes de aire, y los asientos de 18 puntos, premiados por su ergonomía. Se pueden adquirir dos tipos de modelo, una versión de cinco plazas, con tres asientos traseros o una versión de cuatro plazas con dos asientos individuales regulables en la parte trasera.

Gracias a la infinidad de revestimientos de cuero y Alcántara, las aplicaciones de madera y los detalles de equipamiento como la nevera o los sistemas multimedia de la parte trasera, es posible individualizar la berlina de forma ilimitada.

Tecnológicamente la nueva berlina de Volkswagen es sobresaliente, incorpora entre otras cosas una cámara integrada en el retrovisor interior que permite reconocer a otros conductores y regula automáticamente la iluminación de la calzada. La cámara frontal permite el reconocimiento de las señales de tráfico y el innovador sistema Dynamic Light Assist permite aumentar la seguridad pasiva del vehículo con una luz de carretera permanente basada en cámaras de vigilancia.

En cuanto a las diferentes variantes a elegir por el cliente, el Phaeton se puede adquirir con dos batallas, dos versiones traseras (tres asientos / dos asientos individuales) y cuatro motores (un turbodiésel y tres motores de gasolina). Los motores de 6, 8 ó 12 cilindros ofrecen potencias de 240 CV a 450 CV. La motorización básica del Phaeton es un motor de gasolina V6 de 280 CV. Para los umbrales de potencia superiores al V6 FSI se ofrecen los motores de gasolina V8 y W12 de 335 CV y 450 CV respectivamente.

En el ámbito de los diésel, Volkswagen ofrece un motor extremadamente ahorrador y confortable, el V6 TDI. En Europa es el propulsor más extendido entre las berlinas. El motor sobrealimentado con inyección Common-Rail cuenta con una potencia de 240 CV, acelerando de 0 a 100 km/h en tan sólo 8,6 segundos y alcanzando una velocidad máxima de 237 km/h. Esto contrasta con un consumo medio que se ha reducido nuevamente hasta 8,5 l/100 km y una baja tasa de emisiones de 224 g/km CO2.

Volkswagen Phaeton 2011

Fuente | Volkswagen

Yesterday at Facebook’s f8 conference, the company launched tools for any web site to add a social layer by bringing over Facebook friend connections. These social plugins are available to any web developer and use a simple piece of code to add a Facebook frame onto a page and instantly make that page social. So, for example, if you visit CNN.com, you could see what news stories your friends liked and shared there.

CNN doesn’t actually see that happening — to them it’s just a box they leave open on their site for Facebook to populate — but it’s presumably happy because users get a more personal experience and stick around longer. And users don’t get identified for simply visiting a site; they have to login to Facebook through a dialog box for their presence and activities to be shared with their Facebook friends.

Ta-da! It’s personal

Facebook also introduced a way for certain sites to push this further than everyone else. Three carefully chosen launch partners — Microsoft’s Docs.com, Yelp and Pandora — have access to what Facebook is calling “instant personalization.” This is a powerful, inventive and creepy tool that the company hopes to extend to other partners but is testing the waters with these three first.

Instant personalization means that if you show up to the Internet radio site Pandora for the first time, it will now be able to look directly at your Facebook profile and use public information — name, profile picture, gender and connections, plus anything else you’ve made public — to give you a personalized experience. So if I have already publicly stated through my Facebook interests page that I like a musical artist — say, The Talking Heads — the first song I hear when I go to Pandora will be a Talking Heads song or something that Pandora thinks is similar.

The idea is that Pandora is a somewhat hard concept to explain to new users — before it existed, people didn’t have their own personalized radio stations based on similarities between artists and song. Now, new users will derive value from Pandora before they even sign up. The first time they load the page it will be to their favorite music.

This new sign-up customization has the biggest privacy implications of everything Facebook did yesterday. Until now, when you browsed the web, it was safe to assume you were anonymous until you actively logged into a site. But in recent years, behavioral advertisers have started following us around as we browse, using cookies about where we’ve been to customize ad on new pages we visit. (So if I’ve been shopping on Kayak for an upcoming trip, I might get ads about similar flights and travel destinations showing up on a page I visit later that day.) In the post-f8 world, when you show up to Yelp having never been there before, the page will now show a feed of restaurants and stores that your Facebook friends have liked and reviewed using Yelp before you go there.

I spoke with Facebook platform engineering lead Mike Vernal at f8 yesterday about instant personalization after having trouble grokking the concept when CEO Mark Zuckerberg threw it in as a “one last thing” during his f8 keynote. Vernal described the goal as to create a “magical” experience for users. However, he said Facebook is well-aware that these privileges could be abused. “We’ve very cognizant of balancing building great user experiences and respecting privacy,” was how Vernal put it.

Vernal said Facebook has not finalized any plans for allowing additional sites into the instant personalization program. Users are also able to opt out entirely with a new option at the bottom of the list on their privacy settings page. And further, if they want to prevent their friends from sharing their information with an instant personalization partner, users must block that specific application individually. Multiple Facebook employees told me the company was unsure about how to label the sensitive product and which partners were launching on it until the last minute.

I made this just for you

The problem is, users aren’t accustomed to instantly personal services, and we have no idea where that personal information is coming from. Going back to the relatively benign social plugins from the beginning of this story, it probably won’t be obvious to the casual visitor to CNN.com that CNN doesn’t know anything about the story recommendations Facebook is providing. To most of us, it will look like CNN knows who we are. And further, arriving on a brand-new web site that instantly knows who you are might be ultimately useful, but the first time it happens you’re going to freak out.

Facebook’s way of addressing that is by placing an icon in every social plugin that leads back to an explanation on Facebook, and layering a big blue bar on top of the three sites — again, Microsoft’s Docs.com, Pandora and Yelp — that are getting the special treatment. So when I go to Yelp today I’m greeted right up front with: “Hi Liz. Yelp is using Facebook to personalize your experience. Learn More – No Thanks.” That’s fine, but the fact is, this tool is designed to help users become acquainted with sites they’ve never been to before. So the experience is necessarily going to be foreign.

I recently signed up for a new web photo service giving an email address and password. When I went to fill out my profile, there was already a picture of me staring back. Whoa. That’s useful, I guess — I didn’t have to find a headshot to upload yet again — but it weirded me out. It turned out the site was probably using Automattic’s Gravatar, to match my email with my profile pic. Clearly, Facebook’s not the only platform that wants to enable shortcuts to make my new web experiences better — expect this instant personalization to catch on, if users and privacy advocates don’t revolt and drive the company to drop the feature. We saw that happen with a cousin of this product, Facebook Beacon, three years ago.

But if my Facebook stream is any indication, some users have already caught onto this latest privacy tweak. Here’s one message making the rounds:

“Do NOT forget to OPT OUT of the new FB Instant Personalization sillyness. Under your Privacy Settings so 3rd parties cannot collect your personal data. Account–>Privacy Settings–>Applications & Websites–>@bottom is the Instant Personalization thing–>Uncheck Allow.”

But then, lots of people just hate change; every Facebook redesign, ever, has been protested. And so, like Facebook, we’ll have to wait to see how much instant personalization freaks people out.

Related content from GigaOM Pro (sub req’d):

How Facebook Should Fix Its Privacy Problem

Please see the disclosure about Facebook in my bio.

Victor wants to warn Consumerist readers: no matter how much you love your TiVo, do not jump in and let yourself be an early adopter of the company’s new product, the Premiere (or series 4) box. He and other Premiere users have shared their tales of heartbreak and bugs with the Internet.

I’ve been a huge fan of TiVo, going all the way back to the Series 1 launch in 1999 when Prince was partying and no one understood the concept of a DVR-thingie. So when TiVo released the Series 4 (aka Premiere) earlier this month, I dutifully upgraded three of our four TiVos on the spot. Big mistake. The series 4 is, without a doubt, the buggiest, not-ready-for-primetime experience in the company’s history. The new high-def user interface is a sluggish, lockup-prone mess. Lockups are not something you want from your DVR appliance. It’s always a treat to find out your favorite show won’t be taped in its entirety because you had the nerve to navigate menus or see what else was on the box while it was recording, leading to a random lockup. There’s a TON of complaints about this in the TiVo community forums (www.tivocommunity.com). The solution seems to be just to turn the HD interface off and use the Series 4 with the SD menus only. Unfortunately that doesn’t guarantee a bug-free experience as the SD user interface still has lockups as well. TiVo pushed out an update last night, but in 12 hours of testing, the interface is still buggy and lockup-prone. This box should NOT have been released in this condition. It’s obvious that TiVo needed at LEAST 6 more months to give this the polish TiVo was formerly known for. In my experience with TiVo series 1-3 I’ve never had a box so unstable. Caveat Emptor.

Finally, the agonizing wait is over for Motorola Milestone users on Telus. The long overdue Android 2.1 update has arrived, but in a distasteful manner.  Unfortunately, Telus users don’t get an OTA update option, but a multi-step process using the nearest PC will have you boasting your multi-touch within Google Maps in no time.

What’s new with Android 2.1:

• Animated wallpapers and multiple home screens
  • You can choose between 3, 5, 7, and 9 homescreens.
  • Live wallpapers are now available, others can now be installed from Market.

• Facebook App and Widget
  • Names, profile pictures, and status will can be implemented into your Contacts.
  • A widget can be placed on one of your homescreens.

• Google Maps Updates
  • Personalized suggestions: Autocompletes locations based on personal search history.
  • Syncs with desktop: Synchronizes starred items between Google Maps application and maps.google.com.
  • Multi-touch is now enabled within Google Maps.

• Other Enhancements
  • Help: A new Help Center application is included for mobile access to user guide, video tour of key features, tips and tricks, and FAQs.
  • Bluetooth support: Support for Bluetooth headset multi-function for initiating voice calls.
  • Security: Prevents unauthorized pattern lock bypass, allows for PIN security and local device wipe following PIN error input.
  • Music Player: Album art 3D gallery view supported in landscape orientation.
  • Battery life: Ongoing battery life optimization.
  • Email account removal: Improvements to manual removal of email accounts.

What are you waiting for? Update your Milestone from your PC by clicking here and following the provided 4-step instructions. An OTA update would have been nice, but I think justifying four simple instructions should be easy after you’re reaping the benefits of 2.1. If you’ve already updated your Milestone to 2.1, tell us what you think!

Via MobileSyrup

A 70-year-old Greenwich construction executive was sentenced Thursday to probation and home confinement in the corruption probe of former Waterbury Mayor Philip Giordano.

Giordano served in the state legislature and lost by a huge margin in the 2000 U.S. Senate race against Joseph I. Lieberman before being arrested by the FBI in a sex scandal involving minors in Waterbury. He is serving a 37-year sentence in federal prison.

The Courant’s veteran court reporter, Ed Mahony, has the details at http://www.courant.com/community/waterbury/hc-web-waterbury-sentencing-422,0,3819920.story

A long, detailed profile on Giordano from The Courant is at http://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-giordano-2001,0,5431576.story

Filed under: Sedan, Volkswagen, Beijing Motor Show, Luxury

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. And then again. That could very well sum up Volkswagen‘s strategy with its quizzical Phaeton. The flagship sedan – which took “the people’s car” up-market into Mercedes S-Class territory – was introduced in 2003, then underwent a facelift in 2009 and has now undergone yet another.

The most immediately evident change is the new front end, bearing LED running lights and the brand’s ubiquitous new grille. But that’s not the end of the changes to the Phaeton for MY2011. As befits a car in this category, the Phaeton comes packed with tech, including Google Maps-enabled sat-nav, variable headlights, road sign recognition and a four-zone climate control system, all interconnected by some two miles worth of cable.

Buyers can choose from standard wheelbase or long, four (adjustable) seats or five, four engines (diesel six and gasoline six, eight or twelve)… the list goes on, but they’re all driven through VW’s 4Motion all-wheel drive system. Most pertinently, the new Phaeton is anticipated to mark the model’s return to the North American market to take on another humble-badged full-size luxury sedan in the Hyundai Equus, never mind the Mercedes S-Class, BMW 7 Series, Audi A8, Jaguar XJ, Lexus LS…well, you get the point. Read all about it in the press release after the jump and check out the images in the gallery below.

[Source: Volkswagen]

Continue reading Third Time’s a Charm: Volkswagen unveils 2011 Phaeton in Beijing

Third Time’s a Charm: Volkswagen unveils 2011 Phaeton in Beijing originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 22 Apr 2010 12:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Three young men who are suing trouble-ridden actress Lindsay Lohan are planning to ask a judge to order the Mean Girls star to appear for a deposition after she blew off the legal hearing twice in the past week.

LiLo was called to give testimony regarding a lawsuit filed by a group of Hollywood revellers, who accuse the star of holding them hostage during a drunken high speed chase through Malibu in 2007. The anything-but-joyous ride ended with Lindsay behind bars for DUI and cocaine possession.

She was due to attend a deposition in Venice on April 14, but showed up 90 minutes late, forcing the meeting to be cancelled. The deposition was rescheduled for yesterday morning, but Lohan — who is reportedly almost bankrupt — failed to show again because she reportedly couldn’t get to court on time.