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Good news, everybody! If you’re looking into one of Asus’s Eee Box 1501 nettops but weren’t exactly into the built-in DVD burner, well, better days may be ahead. It looks like a new version of the 1501 is on its way, this time packing Blu-ray. In case you’ve forgotten the specs, the Eee Box 1501 packs NVIDIA’s Ion chipset, an Intel Atom 330 dual-core CPU, 2GB of RAM, a 250GB hard drive, and an HDMI port for good measure. There’s no official word on this yet, but the release of the Blu-ray boasting updated nettop looks likely for Switzerland in the near future, so we’ll keep our eyes peeled for more information.

Asus Eee Box 1501 with Blu-ray on its way to Switzerland originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 13 Jan 2010 18:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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CL!CK is a short film made by Lego about how Legos can inspire you to come up with great ideas. It’s a fancy ad, to be sure, but a truly lovely one. [YouTube via NotCot]

Article Tags: World Temperatures

This year’s fierce winter in much of the Northern Hemisphere is only the beginning of a global trend towards cooler weather that is likely to last decades, say some of the world’s most renowned climate scientists. However, other experts say the cold spell does not contradict an overall trend of global warming.

A report on Sunday by the British newspaper The Mail cited forecasts by eminent climate scientists that are a direct challenge to some of the most deeply held beliefs among those who say the world is experiencing global warming – including claims that the North Pole will be ice-free by the summer of 2013.

The climate scientists questioning such predictions of global warming based their predictions of a “mini ice-age” on analysis of natural water temperature cycles in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.

Indeed, according to the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center in Colorado, summer Arctic sea ice has increased by 409,000 square miles, roughly 26 percent, since 2007 – a figure that even the most ardent global warming believers do not dispute.

Source: redorbit.com

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Natalie Portman graces the covers of Elle UK Magazine for their February issue. The 28-year old actress who recently co-starred with Tobey Maguire and Jake Jyllenhaal in the movie, Brothers is still one of Holywood’s most sought after A-List celebs. It’s been quite sometime now since she made her breakthrough performance as Mathilda in The Professional. With that film in mind, and with the evidence of her longevity in the film industry, we feel that Natalie Portman will always be a top notch Hollywood actress for years to come.

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Source: Fashion Gone Rogue

Looking to add some JavaScript oomph to your Windows Mobile device? Then you’ll want to grab the latest NetFront browser version from ACCESS. The concept edition of NetFront v.4 doesn’t hit the web until tomorrow, but when it does, you’ll find it at this link, which is a placeholder for now. The full press release is after the jump, but here’s what you need to know.

This version is freely available for a limited time only and boasts some super speeds. According to the company — I don’t have a version to test — NetFront v.4 is “1.61 times faster than Opera (and) 3.38 times faster than IE for mobile as for Windows Mobile version.” The browser reportedly gets an octane boost through a new JavaScript engine offering 20 times better performance than NetFront v.3.5, which hit nearly two years ago. Aside from faster JavaScript and overall performance, the new browser includes PagePilot for desktop-like presentation on a mobile device, smooth scrolling and animated zooming. Windows Mobile device owners won’t be the only ones with NetFront fun — the company is widening their audience with versions for “major mobile operating systems and Internet-enabled devices to improve Internet access and use” at some future time.

ACCESS Announces NetFront™ Browser v4.0 with Super Fast JavaScript™ Engine for Embedded Browsers

•             Free Windows Mobile® Concept version available for download

Sunnyvale, Calif., January 14, 2010 – ACCESS CO., LTD., a global provider of advanced software technologies to the mobile and beyond-PC markets, today announced NetFront™ Browser v4.0, the latest version of NetFront Browser for mobile handsets and Internet-enabled devices. Featuring one of the world’s fastest JavaScript engines  developed from the ground up by ACCESS, NetFront Browser v4.0 performs JavaScript executions twenty times faster than ACCESS’ NetFront Browser v3.5 , resulting in a significantly better browsing experience overall, especially for websites that make heavy use of complex JavaScript.

The NetFront Browser v4.0 API application and porting layers are compatible with those of NetFront Browser v3.5, so device manufacturers using NetFront Browser v3.5 can easily upgrade to take advantage of super fast JavaScript engine in NetFront Browser v4.0, making it possible to leverage customized applications with minimal additional investment.

ACCESS will make a concept version of NetFront Browser v4.0 for Windows Mobile available for free download for a limited time beginning January 14, 2010 and ending on June 30, 2010. In addition to the Windows Mobile version, ACCESS also plans to provide NetFront Browser v4.0 for major mobile operating systems and Internet-enabled devices to improve Internet access and use. For more information and to download NetFront Browser v4.0, go to ACCESS’ website:http://www.access-company.com/products/mobile_solutions/netfrontmobile/browser/concept.html.

“The more users and companies come to depend on cloud computing, the more important web application performance and web JavaScript execution become,” said Tomihisa Kamada, president, CEO and co-founder of ACCESS. “NetFront delivers not only an exceptionally fast mobile browsing experience, but also a mobile cloud computing experience that is fluid and truly useful. ACCESS will continue to improve and extend our technologies to bring users around the world a faster, easier and more enjoyable Internet experience.”

NetFront Browser is the most advanced, versatile and powerful full Internet browser for mobile and beyond-PC devices. Specifically designed and optimized to deliver high performance in resource-constrained environments, it has been deployed by major operators, handset manufacturers and consumer electronics manufacturers around the world.

NetFront™ products including NetFront Browser reached 850 million and 1,960 models at the end of October 2009. According to an analysis concluded in September 2009 of devices offered by top-tier operators and device ownership data from comScore’s MobiLens research, NetFront Browser is the standard browser deployed on more handset models in the U.S. and through multi-country operators in the top five European markets (France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy and Spain) than any other mobile Internet browser.

NetFront Browser v4.0 Features

Super Fast JavaScript Engine

NetFront Browser v4.0 boasts JavaScript execution performance that is twenty times faster than the JavaScript execution performance seen in NetFront Browser v3.5. NetFront Browser v4.0 delivers a significantly better browsing experience overall, but especially for websites that make heavy use of complex JavaScript.

Great User Experience

Libraries and UI options offered through NetFront Browser facilitate the integration of the NetFront Browser engine with any kind of application that needs advanced Web rendering capabilities. NetFront Browser application highlights include a stunning graphical tool that allows end-users to manage their favorite Web pages and PagePilot™ a pan and zoom navigation tool that enables a desktop-like presentation of Web pages on mobile devices with limited screen sizes.

Swift Navi

Swift Navi significantly smoothes the scrolling of Web pages on mobile devices.

Animated Zoom

Animated Zoom quickly and smoothly magnifies selected areas of a Web page.

PagePilot™

PagePilot enables smooth pan and zoom navigation. PagePilot is activated by continuously pressing the scroll key.

About ACCESS

ACCESS CO., LTD. is a global company providing leading technology, software products and platforms for Web browsing, mobile phones, wireless handhelds, and other networked devices. ACCESS’ product portfolio, including its NetFront™ Browser, Garnet™ OS and ACCESS Linux Platform™, provides customers with solutions that enable faster time to market, flexibility and customizability. The company, headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, operates subsidiaries and affiliates within Asia, Europe and the United States. ACCESS is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Mother’s Index under the number 4813. For more information about ACCESS, please visit http://www.access-company.com/

Few things bring out the hyperbole like genetically modified organisms (GMOs), and that was true again with a study making the rounds yesterday and today.

In the International Journal of Biological Studies, a team examined three genetically modified corn varieties created by Monsanto. The study’s authors say they see evidence of possible toxicity to the kidney and liver, “possibly due to the new pesticides specific to each GM corn.” However, the findings became over-hyped headlines like the Huffington Post’s “Monsanto GMO Corn Linked to Organ Failure, Study Reveals.”

That’s a pretty big leap from the not entirely convincing finding of a potentially questionable study. What actually happened is that the research team, led by Gilles-Eric Séralini, re-analyzed data from tests that Monsanto scientists themselves conducted on rats eating these three varieties of corn—data that, to be fair, the team had to scratch and claw and sue to get their hands on. In their statistical analysis, Séralini’s team says that Monsanto interpreted its own data incorrectly, and that its new analysis shows potential for toxicity.

But the scientists themselves give significant caveats that make such bold headlines a bit of a reach: “Clearly, the statistically significant effects observed here for all three GM maize varieties investigated are signs of toxicity rather than proofs of toxicity”—that is, the evidence isn’t rock solid, and not enough to warrant a bunch of alarmist headlines. The researchers argue that more research is necessary to settle the question either way: “In conclusion, our data presented here strongly recommend that additional long-term (up to 2 years) animal feeding studies be performed in at least three species, preferably also multi-generational, to provide true scientifically valid data on the acute and chronic toxic effects of GM crops, feed and foods.”

In addition, there are a couple issues that make the study itself seem a little fishy:

1. Funding. “Greenpeace contributed to the start of the investigations by funding first statistical analyses in 2006, the results were then processed further and evaluated independently by the authors,” the scientists write. Certainly one can’t oppose a huge corporation like Monsanto without funding, but drawing those funds from a political lightning rod like Greenpeace can paint conclusions in a bad light, University of California, Davis, plant genomics expert Pamela Ronald tells DISCOVER. “That does not mean that it is incorrect,” she says, “but makes me a little skeptical.”

2. The journal: The International Journal of Biological Sciences is somewhat obscure, with an “unofficial”–that is, self-assigned–impact factor of 3.24. “In other words, it has not been assessed for impact or quality,” Ronald says. Again, that doesn’t mean Séralini’s team is wrong, but it suggests that jumping to conclusions would be unwise.

The actual data analysis of the paper has started an in-depth back-and-forth on the the statistical analysis. We’ll continue following this story to see how the analysis shakes out.

Related Content:
80beats: New Biotech Corn Gives Triple Vitamin Boost; Professors Unmoved
80beats: Germany Joins the European Mutiny of Genetically Modified Crops
DISCOVER: Genetically Altered Corn tells how a corn not intended for humans got into the food supply

Image: flickr / Peter Blanchard

Dexter star Michael C. Hall has confirmed that he is being treated for cancer.

In a statement to The Associated Press on Wednesday, the celebrity said he was fortunate to be diagnosed with a “treatable and curable condition,” Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and thanked his doctors and nurses for their expertise. The name of the Los Angeles area health facility where Hall is undergoing treatment has not been released.

Craig Bankley, spokesperson for the star, tells the newswire that Michael’s cancer is in complete remission and his treatment is ongoing.

The acto is expected to appear at this Sunday’s Golden Globes Awards in Los Angeles, where he is nominated for his role as serial kille Dexter Morgan on Showtime’s hit series Dexter. Bankey confirmed that Hall is expected to return for production on the drama’s fifth season later this year.

Best wishes to Michael…..

Now everyone has pondered the idea of traveling to work like George Jetson.  Avoid the morning rush hour and traffic congestion prevalent in our modern cities. There have been many attempts at the flying car, some more plausible than others, but we are now almost there.  Its name, the Terrafugia Transition, as it can travel in both the air as well as on land. Now it’s not exactly as advanced as the Jetson’s car, but it is as advanced as we can ask for. It can switch between a car and a plane within 30 seconds, and can amazingly fit in any standard sized garage. On land it averages 30 mpg, not bad for a car/plane hybrid. In the air it maintains 115 mph and has a range of over 400 miles. Now the Terrafugia is not even considered to be a prototype yet but its developers plan on doing some additional testing to improve its performance and hopefully plan to get it into production. The real question we have to ask ourselves is if we really want to be flying around in the air thousands of feet above the ground with the same people who cut us off on our daily commutes and flip us the bird as if we did something wrong. Obvioulsy this flying car will not solve the traffic congestion problems in the city because there is no place to land, but if you were trying to avoid the traffic you may encounter between point A and point B, and you have the space to take off and land, the Terrafugia may be for you.

According to the The Korea Times, Apple is already prepping the next-gen iPhone, with a launch that could be as early as April. But — and this important — that early launch date may not be for everyone.

Here’s the scoop: Apparently, this buzz originated from an executive of KT, South Korea’s exclusive  iPhone carrier. He claims that the new handset will debut for bigshot Korean corporate clients in April, but the public won’t get it until June. Now even if that’s the case, the move would still be a surprising one, given Apple’s penchant for big, hotly hyped launch events. And iPhones have historically been debuted for worldwide release in June or July, so wouldn’t this limited release steal some of that thunder?

Maybe not. In the past, the idea of an iPhone launch in advance of Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) — which is believed to start June 28 — would’ve been unthinkable. That June 28 rumor was based on a report that a generic “Corporate Event” listing popped up in the Moscone Conference Center’s event calendar. (That type of listing has been a practice of Apple’s in the past.) But now — get this — that listing has since been removed from the conference center’s agenda.

In addition to the early launch date, the exec also asserts that the 4th generation phone will sport an OLED screen and video chat capability, plus a high probability that a removable battery will also be on board. Other claims include a dual core processor, and more powerful graphic chips capable of delivering higher video resolutions and capturing better still images.

We’ve all heard iPhone rumors every year since — well, since even before the device launched. What make these tidbits so interesting is that (1) they’re sourced from an exec with an Apple exclusive carrier and (2) the media’s widely been reporting that Apple needs to do something big to rein in the march of Android. Not only is there a greater number of Android handsets, say analysts, but the devices are getting increasingly faster and offering comparable features to the iPhone (such as Google’s own handset, the Nexus One).

As if this wasn’t enough to ponder, a spokesperson in Apple’s South Korean unit confirmed that the company is in discussions regarding launch timing for the new iPhone. (Wow, I must be dreaming. I can’t believe Apple’s actually responding to buzz. It’s the overseas unit, but still…)

“With KT, we’ve been in talks with other telecom carriers to gauge the launching timing of 4G iPhones in South Korea. More tech-oriented features will be added to the models,” a representative of Apple’s South Korean office said.

What could this mean for the U.S.? That’s hard to say. Just because it goes on limited release across the globe doesn’t necessarily mean that things will change here at home. (Then again, that Moscone Center reservation suddenly disappearing is kind of suspicious.) One thing’s for sure — If the next iteration of the iPhone does debut in April for Korean bigwigs, chances are good that info on the new device will be all over the webs shortly thereafter. (Especially if any of those bigshots have a techno-nerd for a kid.) So if there’s a grain of truth to this, at minimum, there’s a bright side to look forward to. We could get a real look at the new handset far earlier than what we’re used to.

(Hmmm. My uncle’s a Korean corporate exec in Seoul. Maybe I should ask him what device he’s packing…) 

Via: MacRumors, iSmashPhone

The latest print version of StraitTalk will be available later this week.  Look for it in the Nome Nugget.

The abstract and the vintage is evident in the illustrated works of Matthew Lyons. His angular approach to the art gives his viewers a mixture of something eerily familiar yet totally brand new. In some cases, you’ll notice the retro sci-fi inspired works as well as the James Bond-esque and Hitchcock themes. His movie title screens are also homages to the past but in a kind of new animated form. Its great to see that a 21-year old student from Britain can capture the past so well, yet put his own twist to make it totally fresh and fun to look at.

Visit: Matthew Lyons

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Source: Kitsune Noir

What a wrongheaded, quixotic, and yet opportunistic and callous idea. A cardboard PC. Now, they’re launching a product I was careful to denounce several months ago, and all my objections still apply. Take a moment to read why a cardboard PC is just the epitome of foolishness, or just glance over these handy bullet points:

• Corrugated cardboard will retain heat, limiting life of parts
• Corrugations will become clogged with dust, exacerbating insulation effect
• Cardboard is fragile, absorbent, and impossible to repair
• Expandability is very limited
• Only one 2.5″ HDD bay and it’s stuffed into the cardboard – obviously a heat risk
• The “limited to bare bones” is the same as almost any other computer
• Hello, cardboard is flammable, and parts of your computer get hot enough to burn things
• The case is perhaps the only part of a computer you don’t need to throw away, ever
• Would you buy a computer from people who misspelled power supply, ventilation, through, perimeter, and call RAM “RAM memory,” all on their spec page — a solitary JPEG?

The thing is, these guys have to know this stuff. They couldn’t design a case without knowing something about all this, but they’re doing it anyway. It’s a very disingenuous statement, and one that’s open to misinterpretation. “Now your computer is disposable!” That’s what people will take away from this. If they’re serious about this, these guys should be applying their green sensibilities and engineering experience elsewhere. If they’re just cashing in on the fact that green sells right now, then I we can just put them in the pile with Asus, whose transparently un-green “bamboo laptop” creates only the thinnest veneer of ecological awareness.

Look, I’m all for making things greener. But putting a cardboard shell around a bunch of toxic metal and plastic and calling it eco-friendly is bullshit of the highest order. We need to focus on consumer education so people don’t throw out entire PCs. People should know what they were buying, how to upgrade their computer or keep it working, or how to keep it in use after they buy a new one (home media server, anybody). This unbelievably inadequate band-aid (if we can even call it that) is the exact opposite of what needs to happen.

[Recompute, via The Next Web]

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Wait, before you write these things off, hear me out. Cable Caps are actually kind of cool in a quirky sort of way. They are cable organizers that are designed to protect the mail ends of USB cables, while also keeping the cables neatly wrapped and organized. Neat, eh? The only thing is that the product is just a few years late for most people.

The thought here is that you probably have multiple cables laying around, each with a different purpose. You might have a cable for your phone, camera, printer, webcam, external hard drive, and so one. Some people might, but the only cables on my desk right now are 6-inch mini USB and micro USB. Both of them handle everything, but a few years ago that wasn’t the case. Everything had it’s own proprietary cable.

And I have never once had the male end of a USB cable damaged. But still, somewhere out there, there might be people that actually use these things.

The real story here is that the product was the 22 product designed and developed by the Quirky community. This is the same Internet collaboration that brought the world the Split Stick and DigiDudes and the iPod nano case, the Kickster. Cable Caps are currently in the pre-order stage, with 82 orders placed out of a need 450 for them to be made. The Kickster is still in the same boat with only 118 orders placed out of a needed 300.

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Obesity activist and “Twinkie tax” creator Kelly Brownell is always complaining about what we eat and drink. Recently, Brownell has been going around the country shilling for taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages like fruit juice, soda, and sports drinks. As he told New Hampshire Public Radio last week, getting taxes on the state level is a springboard to a national tax on soft drinks. And Brownell apparently has at least one ally in New Hampshire: Beatriz Pastor, a state representative, is co-sponsoring a statewide tax on soft drinks. She told NHPR why she’s buying into the idea of a government-sponsored weight loss program:

I support the bill because the medical research shows unequivocally a link between high consumption of sugar drinks and adult onset diabetes and obesity beginning with children.

Of course, that’s a flawed premise, as we’ve documented multiple times before. No single food or drink is a unique contributor to obesity, and the medical research body is far from "unequivocal." (Also, the bill thankfully appears headed straight to nowhere.) Both the House Speaker (a Democrat) and the House Republican Leader were flat on the prospect of raising an obese tax on beverages. And the biggest newspaper in the Granite State, the New Hampshire Union Leader, rightly labeled this tax proposal an expansion of the nanny state:

This is not some science-fiction fantasy. This is happening right now. If we as Americans, as Granite Staters, don’t stand up and oppose this dramatic enlargement of the nanny state now, while we have the chance, we will find our choices narrowed year after year until we wake up one day with little control over any decision that the self-appointed experts deem a potential risk to our health or safety — which is more or less everything.

Hopefully this message will get around to any another statehouse considering a soft drink tax, like Mississippi. Instead of taxing beverages, politicians would do better to follow New Hampshire’s motto: “Live free or die.”

Testing the Clearwire developer network in and around Silicon Valley — first stop is the classic Menlo Park “VC Central” Starbucks on the corner of Santa Cruz Ave. and Curtis Street: Maybe low because the patio is blocked by the building?

Here’s the Clearwire hybrid modem speed:

A second test:

Here’s the Sprint 3G service, same location:

Now we’re in Palo Alto, at the Palo Alto shopping center — right next to Stanford. Getting a better signal:

Let’s try again:

Ah-ha! REAL WiMAX now. More testing soon!