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Silver Lake condo battle: The Eastsider LA is reporting on a battle between a developer and environmentalists:

The developers have refused to set aside land for a walking and wildlife trail as called for in a community plan that guides development in the area, [Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy planning chief Paul] Edelman said. The conservancy would also like the trail extend north of the undeveloped Menlo Property behind the large apartment complexes that line Riverside Drive.

Bacon and chocolate funnel cake: The Orange County Register reports that Knott’s Berry Farm has brought back its bacon and chocolate funnel cake:

The souped-up funnel cakes started out as an online joke from Jeff Tucker, one of the park’s entertainment chiefs… The treats were popular enough during the Bash that Knott’s kitchens brought them back for another weekend. Now, they will be available for the masses to enjoy.

— Anthony Pesce

Have some news for Linking L.A.? Contact Times reporter Anthony Pesce.

Sheesh — Kate Gosselin’s really taking a beating in the court of public opinion this week! First the reality Octomom’s paso doble was deemed a dud on Monday’s Dancing with the Stars, then her sleazy ex slapped her with a custody suit, and to top it all off now Kate’s being told that her lady lumps aren’t lusty enough for the pages of Playboy!

Ouch.

We almost feel like sending her a giant gift basket stuffed with chocolates and Sweet Tarts and lots of other fattening snacks that God created to take your mind off the fact that sometimes life really sucks. Unfortunately, tis our job to chronicle the misery of celebrities and duty calls.

Kate’s no “Bunny,” says Playboy founder and eternal Ladies Man Hugh Hefner. Hef says he’ll be resting six feet deep before the frumpy spitfire makes it onto the pages of his iconic men’s mag in her birthday suit.

A resounding “No! No!” was the response when E! Online asked Hugh if the mother of eight had been/would ever be considered for a Playboy spread. Hefner even questioned why Katie’s on Dancing with the Stars, saying simply, “I don’t think she’s a celebrity.”

Filed under: Spy Photos, Coupe, Performance, Paris Motor Show, Lamborghini

Nine years ago the Lamborghini Murcielago replaced the Diablo as the marque’s biggest bull, and in the automotive world – even in the rarified supercar realm – that’s a lifetime and a half. Given the Murcie’s age and the planet’s ever-tightening emissions standards, it should come as no surprised that Lamborghini is hard at work on the Murcielago’s successor. And along with a new name, the Jota will pack more power, less weight and a range of high-tech appointments.

Although the camouflage doesn’t divulge much in the way of the Jota’s exterior, expect certain elements of the Reventon to carry over to the largest Lambo. However, we suspect that advanced aerodynamics (and likely some active elements) will find their way onto the Jota, toning down Lamborghini’s patented extreme styling (think McLaren MP4-12C with more creases and LEDs).

More important than the exterior (or the interior, which will reportedly ditch the offset driving position), is the all-new V12 nestled amidships. Early reports indicate that the new 7.0-liter V12 will put out over 700 horsepower and 520 pound-feet of torque to a new seven-speed automated manual transmission, with a sequential ‘box with the same number of ratios available as an option. Lamborghini has apparently deemed the use of a dual-clutch tranny to be too much of a hastle, and as reported previously, a traditional gated manual won’t find its way into future Lambos.

With a curb weight of around 3,300 pounds, it’s safe to assume that the carbon fiber chassis Jota will be able to break the 60 mph mark in around three seconds, hit 100 mph in around six ticks and top out at 220 mph. In keeping with recent tradition, all-wheel drive will be standard – this time an adaption of Audi’s Quattro system – complete with a new torque-vectoring differential measuring power to the rear wheels.

Considering the current pace of development and Lamborghini’s penchant for unveiling a new model at every major auto show, the Jota should make its debut later this year at the Paris Motor Show or sometime in early 2011, with sales beginning in the middle of next year.

Spy Shots: Lamborghini Jota set to replace Murcielago in 2011 originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 08 Apr 2010 13:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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[JURIST] US Attorney General Eric Holder announced Thursday that Spain has agreed to resettle four detainees from the Guantanamo Bay detention facility. The four detainees are in addition to a Palestinian detainee transferred to Spain earlier this year. The governments have yet to decide which detainees will be transferred. Holder met with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero during his visit to Spain to discuss issues of counter-terrorism and combating international organized crime. Holder also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Prosecutor General Conde-Pumpido to strengthen the ability of law enforcement officials to work cooperatively within each others’ countries.
In February, Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos initially agreed to accept five detainees after the government had previously agreed to accept only two detainees, one Yemeni and one Palestinian, in response to a June request by the Obama administration. Moratinos indicated that Spain was willing to increase the number of detainees accepted in order to help remedy what it sees as an unacceptable situation at the detention facility. Spain joins a growing list of countries that have recently accepted transfers, including Latvia, Switzerland, Slovakia, Algeria, Afghanistan, Palau , Bermuda, Albania, and Somaliland.

by David Roberts

Paul Krugman has a fantastic piece on the cover of the upcoming issue of the New York Times Magazine: “Building a Green Economy.” With his typical patience, cogence, and clarity, Krugman walks through the mainstream economics take on climate change: its cost, the best way to respond, the cost of responding, and the proper scale of response. It’s Mainstream Economics of Climate 101, and a great place to start for anyone trying to catch up on the issue.

As Grist readers know all too well by now, I have issues with mainstream economics, and so I have issues with several points Krugman makes in the piece. I’ll get to those in subsequent posts. For now I just want to pause and emphasize something:

The consensus of mainstream economists is that responding to climate change is both necessary and affordable.

This basic fact, like the consensus among climate scientists, is often obscured in media coverage, which emphasizes controversy and extremes. But at least within the economics profession, there is no “other side” that believes climate policy will destroy the economy. The “other side” is composed of fossil-fuel industry groups and the conservative politicians and think tanks who do the bidding of fossil-fuel industry groups. Within economics, the consensus in favor of action is broad and stable.

As I said, I’ll be taking issue with Krugman on a few points; I think academic economists underestimate the danger of climate change and overestimate the cost of good climate/energy policy. But even with those conservative biases, mainstream economists support taking action.

There is no credible case—scientific or economic—against taking action. The mainstream press seems incapable of making that clear, so kudos to Krugman for doing it for them.

Now, on to the arguments!

Related Links:

The problem with a green economy: economics hates the environment

Paul Krugman on ‘Building a Green Economy’

Obama administration celebrates clean energy investments, reaffirms support for cap-and-trade

Fourtune’s Brainstorm Tech blog has posted an interview with current Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein. The interview is an interesting read for webOS users and Palm history buffs alike. The interviewer pitches out a series of direct and to the point questions on Palm’s current situation, issues and competition. Ruby provides some straightforward answers for change and is upfront about the challenges that lie ahead for Palm Inc.

F: Can you succeed being frugal when the competition is going pedal to the metal spending money and has the resources to do it?

JR: Necessity is the mother of invention, right? I mean, would I rather have a spare billion dollars to go spend on brand advertising around the world? Of course I would. But that’s not the reality. So it may take us a while, but we will work our way through this, and we’re continuing to invest very heavily in engineering on both webOS development and on new product development.

People ask us this question all the time and the answer is 22, as compiled in a new infographic. That’s not quite the answer to the ultimate question, but it’s still impressive. There are 16 catch share programs in federal water and 6 in state waters covering more than 50 species.

Read the full post »

Riddle me this, Batman. How many Comcast cable techs does it take to install a TiVo? We’d love to give you an answer, but we can’t because reader Lynn still hasn’t got a working TiVo after 3 appointments. Whoooops.

Here’s Lynn’s story. She cc’d us on an email to Comcast’s executive service team:

On Saturday, 4/3, I attempted to get a cable card from Comcast in order to run my new Tivo Premiere. I have so far had three appointments that have been unsuccessful in one way or another.

The installer showed up for the appointment around 10:30 on 4/3. I let him into the building and into my apartment. I had the Tivo hooked up to the TV but sitting on my coffee table for easy access. I said that I had already chosen settings and hooked up my Netflix, so it was ready to go and showed him the slot for the Multi Stream cable card.

He looked at me, dumbfounded. He asked, “What am I supposed to be installing?”

I reiterated that it was a cable card for a Tivo, the thing that gives Tivo its channels. He told me he had never installed a cable card before and did not have one with him.

I’m not sure why he was so proud of his ignorance, but he mentioned several times that he had no experience with cable cards. It was also clear that he hadn’t made even a cursory glance at the work order or he would have known what to bring.

Standing in my apartment for another 10-15 minutes, he called a dispatcher and located cards at the North Ave. location, and he then said he would go get one.

An hour and half later, he returned (by the way, North Ave. is about four miles away, no clue why it would take 90 minutes) with a cable card that seemed correct. It said M (for Multi) on it and it fit in the slot.

He called Comcast and relayed some numbers from the card to them. Then I flipped back to the Tivo and attempted to load channels. It searched for a while, then gave an error message saying to check the cable connection. It did this about three times while the installer was still in my apartment. But his dispatch told him that the Tivo just needed time to load these channels and that he should leave.

I reluctantly signed the work order despite not having channels when he left. Since the card is supposed to deliver all of my channels, he also took the cable box I was formerly using.

An hour later, I called Comcast because I was sure that the installation had been unsuccessful. No channels had loaded and I was getting the same error message. They attempted to send signals to the card to no end result. It became clear that another card would need to be tried.

They first offered to send the same installer back, but I asked for someone different in the hopes that the new installer might have some idea what they were doing. The reps at Comcast told me they would work on finding someone to come out later the same day (still 4/3).

A rep at Comcast called me around 3:30 and told me an installer had been found and he would be out shortly. Nothing happened for a while. I called Comcast at 5:30 and they confirmed that someone was on his way, after his other appointments.

Again, nothing happened for a while. I called Comcast again at 7:30, and in that interaction, I was told that there was no sign of a second appointment ever being made. In fact, their records showed that the first appointment was successful. It should be noted that during all of this, I was stuck at home waiting since I live alone. I couldn’t even shower for fear that I would miss someone arriving. For nine hours.

While on the call with Comcast, I got another call (presumably this was directly from the local installers, acting independently of the Comcast office). I spoke to Junior. He told me that they were out of cards and installation times for the day, but we would make a new appointment.

They said that they really wanted me to get my card as soon as possible, but then proceeded to offer me a weekday, daytime appointment. I work and attend school, so that was not an option. We ultimately agreed on four days later, Wednesday at 6pm, after work on a day that I don’t have school.

Yesterday, Wednesday (4/7), I rushed home from work and was in my apartment by about 5:50. I waited for my phone to ring. At 6:05, I decided to call Junior’s direct line (the one he called me with on Saturday) and check on the status of the appointment. He told me that he regretted to inform me that they were out of working M cable cards and would not be installing one for me tonight. How they could be out of cards when we had this appointment scheduled since Saturday, I don’t know. How I was supposed to figure out the appointment was canceled without any notification, I don’t know.

I am traveling out of state this weekend. Perhaps I shouldn’t have planned a trip only one week after my installation appointment, but I actually thought Comcast might be able to do this correctly, since it is literally just putting a card into a Tivo and activating it.

I guess I thought that Comcast would have known, like the rest of the planet (or at least those in the cable television industry) that Tivo was coming out with a new box and to make sure they had cable card inventory and that said inventory was compatible.

I guess that was overly optimistic and asking too much of Comcast. So now, I have yet another rescheduled appointment after my trip, on Monday, 4/12 at 6pm. Junior assured me that there would be working M cable cards to install. It remains to be seen whether the appointment will happen, whether anyone will contact me if it doesn’t, and whether cable will finally be reinstated in my apartment.

To summarize, my complaints are as follows:
· The first installer was incompetent, slow, and unhelpful, leaving without correctly installing the card.

· The Comcast office was, as usual, terrible in its customer service and communication. Both with me and with other branches of Comcast.

· The second installation appointment was lost and no one showed up.

· The third group of installers canceled my appointment without telling me.

· I still have no cable! Right now I’m paying for cable and Tivo service, which I can’t use because I have no channels to record.

Lynn sent her EECB (Executive Email Carpet Bomb) to the team at [email protected] (along with everyone else at Comcast,) so maybe between the 50 or so names on the email someone at the company can locate a working cable card in Chicago.

Have you been having similar problems getting your new TiVo Premiere to work with your cable company? Tell us about it.

To celebrate their 10th anniversary in the UK, “Olay” the cosmetic company have chosen Thandie Newton to be the new face of “Olay” Total Effects collection. The Total Effects products focus on minimising lines, providing nourishing moisture, enhancing tone, exfoliating, refining pores, defeating anti-oxidants and firming skin.

Thandie said in a statement,” Olay is a brand I trust and I love the fact that the range offers me an all-in-one, anti-ageing moisturiser which takes care of all my skincare needs”.

Congrats Mrs Newton!

The California DNA databank has matched 2,000 crime scene samples to suspects and set a record in March with more than 400 matches, Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown announced Thursday.

The database averages 300 matches a month, and the number jumped to 405 in March, Brown said.

"This is a remarkable milestone in the advancement of criminal justice technology," Brown said in a statement. "The DNA database has been used in over 12,000 investigations and contributed to thousands of convictions of the most violent criminals. Otherwise, these crimes are likely to go unsolved."

The state’s DNA databank became operational in 1994 and now contains more than 1.5 million DNA samples, according to the state department of justice. Officials say about 25,000 DNA profiles are added to the database each month.

The database received a significant boost in 1994 when a voter-approved initiative, Proposition 69, required all defendants convicted of a felony to submit a DNA sample. The requirement was extended in 2009 to all adults arrested on felony charges.

The DNA profiles uploaded to California’s database also are given to the national Combined DNA Index System.

In February, the database tied convicted sex offender John Gardner III to rape and homicide in the disappearance of Chelsea King, a 17-year-old high school student from San Diego County. In that case, forensic experts compared crime scene samples to DNA from convicted offenders and arrested suspects in the databank.

The database has also revealed new crimes committed by already imprisoned offenders. In 2009, Richard Ramirez, a death row inmate known as the "Night Stalker," was connected to the 1984 killing of a 9-year-old San Francisco girl, Mei Leung.

Last August, a 34-year-old cold case was solved when Dennis Vasquez, 50, of Los Angeles, was arrested and required to submit a DNA sample to authorities. Vasquez’s DNA matched the DNA found at a murder scene in 1975. He is being prosecuted for murder by the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.

— Richard Winton

I am very pleased and excited to announce that I will be moderating a fascinating panel in Pasadena California on Tuesday, April 21. The topic is “The Quest for a Living World”: how modern astronomy is edging closer to finding another Earth orbiting a distant star.

[Click for a higher-res version.]

The panelists are all-stars in the field: Caltech astronomy professor John Johnson, Berkeley astronomer Gibor Basri, MIT planetary astronomer Sara Seager, and NASA Ames Research Center’s Tori Hoehler. We’ll be talking about how we’re looking for these new worlds, what the state of the art is, and perhaps toss around some of the philosophy of why we’re looking for them. You might think the answer is obvious, but I’ve found that astronomers have lots of intriguing reasons for why they do the work they do.

The event is sponsored by Discover Magazine, the Thirty Meter Telescope (yes, a project to build a telescope with a 30 meter mirror!), and Caltech. It will be at 7:30 p.m. at Caltech’s Beckman auditorium. It’s also free! Send an email to [email protected] if you want to attend.

We’ll be taking questions from the audience, and if you have a question you’d like to submit in advance then we have an online form where you can send it it.

Last year’s panel on astronomy frontiers was a lot of fun, and very well-attended. If you’re in the LA area, then I highly recommend you come! I know you’ll have a great time, and you’ll get a taste for some of the astronomical adventures in store for us in the next couple of years.

Here’s why government spending is really out of control.

First of all, half of Americans don’t even pay income taxes, but it gets worse. If we look at total federal taxes, 20% of Americans pay 70% of taxes, as shown below. 40% of Americans pay 95% 85% of federal taxes.

Yet when it comes to deciding how these tax dollars are distributed, those that pay 85% of the taxes are outnumbered by the 60% who pay just 5% 15%.  Thus, when it comes to the politics of government spending, most Americans are arguing about how to use other people’s money. No wonder nobody wants to see real spending cuts.

(According to the 2006 data from the Congressional Budget Office’s latest tax burden release.)

Join the conversation about this story »

Never you mind Blockbuster has admitted they might need to declare bankruptcy, or that it’s in danger of being thrown off the NYSE, or that its single biggest investor dumped his stock in a 3-day fire sale… the once-majestic video rental giant is still gripping onto life with both of its arthritic hands, having signed deals with two more studios — Fox and Sony — that will allow Blockbuster to make new movies available across multiple platforms on the day of release.

It’s very similar to the deal made with Warner Bros. a few weeks ago and will help the struggling video vendor to compete with on-demand video providers and DVD delivery service Netflix.

Perhaps more important to Blockbuster is that the deals with Fox and Sony is that the studios have restructured Blockbuster’s payment terms, making it easier for the company to restructure as it attempts to avoid going under.

The catch is that, for Blockbuster to get those payment terms from Fox & Sony, it had to essentially offer up all of their Canadian assets — including 459 retail stores — as collateral, giving the studios first lien on these assets.

Do you think this is enough to keep Blockbuster afloat? Or are they just kidding themselves?

Blockbuster press release on the deal

Some recent posts at the 37signals Product Blog:

Basecamp
[Case study] Happy Cog: ”’Photos, or it didn’t happen?’ is how we feel about Basecamp”
“We use Basecamp as a file repository for shared resources, from An Event Apart attendee email boilerplate to every deliverable of every phase of every Happy Cog client job. It’s our discussion forum for the editorial and technical review of every article commissioned by or submitted to A List Apart Magazine. Our A List Apart editorial team edits and copyedits every accepted piece in Basecamp’s Writeboard tab. We also use Writeboard to edit site and newsletter copy and for cross-studio strategic discussions about the agency, the conference, the book series, and the direction of the magazine. And of course we use Basecamp to keep project dates and deliverables on track.”

Freshlog lets you easily take a screenshot, annotate it, and upload it to a Basecamp project
You can send screenshots directly to Basecamp with Freshlog. The app lets you take a screenshot, crop it, annotate it, and upload it to a project.

Tip: Add client names to your Basecamp Milestones for quick scanning on your Dashboard
“We type in the name of the client when creating a milestone. That way, we can see the client that any given milestone relates to on the dashboard.”

Basecamp is now more secure with XSS protection
“We have improved the security of Basecamp against cross-site scripting attacks. This means filtering all HTML posted to messages, comments, and anywhere else you can enter text in Basecamp for JavaScript and dangerous tags.”

How Resolve Digital starts its day: “Coffee. See what’s going on in the world. Basecamp.”
“We also use todos lists not just to log tasks that need to get done, but as a brainstorming tool. For example, we’re using a todo list to document marketing ideas for the upcoming release of a new version Refinery, our Content Management System. The team can then elaborate upon any todo item by posting comments to it.”

How KROME uses TimeTrack to count hours in Basecamp
“I use Basecamp everyday to track my project deadlines, keep everyone on the same page to prevent miscommunication, and, of course, I need to measure the amount of time I’ve spent to always counter check if the project is profitable. TimeTrack is a Basecamp widget on Mac OS that I use as a counter and submit the results directly into the system every time.”

Highrise
Bridge is a Blackberry app for Highrise
Bridge is a subscription based BlackBerry application that enables synchronization and online and offline access to Highrise. (Note: Bridge is not a 37signals product.)

Campfire
Latest Propane update lets you use new Campfire conference calling feature
If you use Campfire with Propane (a Mac download that lets you run Campfire as a standalone app), you can now upgrade Propane and start making conference calls.

UK/Indonesia team leader gives four reasons why using Campfire to communicate can be better than voice discussions
“1. You can take your time. 2. You review what you say before you say it. 3. You have a written record of what you all said, which is super-helpful when you forget why, exactly, you thought that doing such-and-such was a good idea. 4. In-line images.” More details at link.

Subscribe to the Product Blog RSS feed.

I guess Apple is serious about gaming now. It just announced, as one of its many iPhone “pillars,” the development of GameCenter, which our man on the scene, Greg Kumparak, described as “Xbox Live for the iPhone.” Match-making, leaderboards, achievement points, the works.

Los Angeles: Los Angeles Police Department Rampart
detectives are asking for the public’s help in identifying two men
suspected of snatching a business woman’s purse which contained over
$100,000 in cash.

The robbery took place on January 14, 2010 around 5 p.m.  According to
investigators, a woman entered the Bank of America at 3320 West Olympic
Boulevard in Los Angeles and withdrew a large sum of money.  Afterwards,
the woman got into her car and returned to the parking garage of her
business located in the 1500 block of West Olympic Boulevard.  When the
woman stepped out of her parked car, a man approached her and tried to
grab her purse.  The woman resisted, and the man violently grabbed her
purse while a second suspect stood by.  The pair escaped in a blue
four-door sedan, possibly described as a Dodge Intrepid.  The woman was
not injured as a result of the incident.

Investigators believe that prior to the incident, the suspects had been
lurking around in the bank, eyeing customers who withdrew cash.

Both suspects are described as African American.  The first suspect is
25 to 28 years old, between 5 feet 8 and 5 feet 10 inches tall and
weighs between 170 and 180 pounds.  He was last seen wearing a black
shirt, blue pants and black shoes.

The second suspect is 23 to 27 years old, between 5 feet 8 and 5 feet 11
inches tall and weighs between 190 and 200 pounds.  He has a goatee and
was last seen wearing a black and grey knit cap, white T-shirt, blue
jeans and dark shoes with white soles.

Anyone with information regarding this crime is urged to call Rampart
robbery detectives at (213) 484-3629.  During non-business hours or on
weekends, calls may be directed to 1-877-LAPD-24-7.  Anyone wishing to
remain anonymous may call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS
(800-222-8477).  Tipsters may also contact Crime Stoppers by texting to
phone number 274637 (C-R-I-M-E-S on most keypads) using a cell phone. 
All text messages should begin with the letters “LAPD.”  Tipsters can
also go to LAPDOnline.org, click on "web tips" and follow the prompts.

We just posted this story from our partners at OilPrice.com about how natural gas players are going to the “dark side,” drilling for oil, a commodity that might actually make it some money.

Goldman Sachs seems to think they’re calling the bottom and that prices for natural gas can only be headed up.

In a new report out today analyst David Greely calls current prices unsustainably low.

Here’s the breakdown of his argument:

The current low NYMEX natural gas prices are already triggering a
series of reactions that should tighten the supply-demand balance 
NYMEX natural gas prices have declined meaningfully over the past few weeks, as an early
end to winter temperatures has been reflected in high inventory numbers and an earlier-
than-normal start to the summer injection season in the United States (see Exhibits 1 and
2). However, we believe that the decline has taken NYMEX natural gas prices to a level that
motivates a substantial tightening of the supply-demand balance.

NYMEX natural gas prices have fallen substantially below NYMEX Appalachian
coal prices, which have remained stable over the past month (see Exhibit 1). This
has re-established the economic incentive for coal-to-gas substitution in US power
generation.

NYMEX natural gas prices have also fallen substantially below UK NBP natural gas
prices (see Exhibit 1), reducing the economic incentive to send LNG cargoes to the
United States.

We also believe that the decline in NYMEX natural gas prices will motivate high-
cost US natural gas producers to curtail production. It has recently been reported
that the US Department of Energy (DOE) production data has not accurately
captured this response, and that it is currently overestimating US domestic
production. With the introduction of the revised EIA-914 survey, we expect a more
accurate picture of the response of high-cost US domestic production to lower
prices to emerge.

Join the conversation about this story »

The iPhone OS 4.0 event just wrapped up and the faithful are filing out of the Apple venue with a slightly shell-shocked look. What happened? Oh nothing, just multi-tasking, iAd, a huge Mail update and a bunch of other stuff. Yes, the long-awaited OS update for the iPhone has just been run down and we’ve got all the details.

Here, in handy bullet point form, are all the things you need to know about iPhone OS 4.0…

• There have been 50 million iPhones sold so far (along with 450,000 iPads)
• OS 4.0 will be going out to them this summer, but a developer preview will be available today
• Thousands of new APIs, including many “accelerate” APIs which allow developers to add hardware acceleration
• Multi-tasking is coming. They admit they are a bit late to the party. Details below:
  -double tap of home button shows running applications. Invoke at any time, it’ll pause games and so on.
  -the app-switching tray pushes up the other home icons and has a sort of metallic background.
  -it’s a bit disappointing, actually: it’s more the ability to switch quickly between “active” apps. Nice, though.
  –iPhone 3G and iPod touch 2nd gen will not get multitasking. No mention of iPad.
• There are seven background services that will be allowed, and which shouldn’t significantly affect the performance of other apps:
  –Background audio: i.e. Pandora can play in the background and popup controls can control it.
  –Background VoIP: Skype calls will continue if you need to switch apps; a “return to call” button will show, and you can also receive Skype calls on a locked phone.
  –Background location: turn-by-turn directions can continue when you leave the app. Music can run at the same time and will quiet down when directions need to be said. Very slick. Uses cell-tower-enhanced AGPS. A notification will show in the status bar if an app is transmitting your location. You can also turn off location app-by-app.
  –Push notifications: the same push notifications you know and love.
  –Local notifications: in-phone notifications for, say, pop-up alarms and such. Local app stuff.
  –Fast app switching: this is the service by which apps can store their state when you switch to and from them.
• Folders. These are basically stacks of apps. Drag one app onto another to create a folder. This will really help un-clutter some iPhone screens (makes room for people to buy more apps). Makes for a maximum of 2160 apps. Is there an app for taking it easy on app downloading?
• Homescreen wallpapers. Yes, very nice.
• Enhanced mail. Several changes here:
  –Unified inbox. Web mail, MobileMe, multiple exchange accounts – thank god. This is nice.
  –Thread organization. Handy for such a powerful inbox.
  –Attachments for third-party email. Get your Gmail attachments right in Mail now.
• iBooks: I think we all expected this. It looks just like the iPad version, though somewhat smaller, obviously. Sync bookmarks and such between devices. Comes with Winnie the Pooh!
• Better email encryption, and some sort of in-app encryption is in the works.
• SSL VPN support
• Social gaming features: challenge friends to games, compare high scores on leaderboards and so on. Matchmaking and achievements. Nice, looking forward to this on the iPad. Hot seat Civ 4 with someone I’ve never met? Why not?
• iAd: In Steve’s words, somewhat paraphrased: “Developers [of free apps] need to find a way to start making their money. A lot of developers turn to advertising – and we think these current advertisements really suck. If you look at advertisements on a phone, it’s not like on a desktop. On a desktop, its about search. On mobile, search hasnt happened. People aren’t searching on their phones. People are spending their time in apps. The average user spends over 30 minutes using apps on their phone. If we said we wanted to put an ad up every 3 minutes, that’d be 10 ads per device per day — about the same as a TV show. We’re going to soon have 100m devices. That’s a billion ad opportunities per day! “This is a pretty serious opportunity, and it’s an incredible demographic. But we want to do more than that. We want to change the quality of the advertising. We’re all familiar with interactive ads on the web. They’re interactive, but they’re not capable of delivering emotion. We have figured out how to do interactive and video content without ever taking you out of the app.”
  –Apple will sell and host the ads; the revenue will be split 60/40, with devs getting the 60. Anybody can make them, just like apps.
  –Ads are done in HTML5 (a little dig in there for Adobe)
  –Fully interactive; the Toy Story ad he showed looks like a native app, includes a game, graphical interface and everything. They can call out for showing times, current prices, and so on. It’s essentially a commercial break app.
  –Access to APIs: somewhat scarily, ads will have access to location, accelerometer, and a lot of other stuff.

That’s all! Pretty crazy update, actually. We’ll be filling out coverage throughout the day with more careful examinations of the new features.