May 2010
Comic for May 31, 2010 →
Featured Google Chrome Extensions for Web... →
Google Chrome is designed to be fast in every possible way: It’s quick to start up from your desktop, loads web pages in a snap, and runs complex web applications fast. And Chrome’s browser window…
BP Knew of Deepwater Horizon Safety Risks Almost a... →
Top kill has failed. As BP moves on to whatever it is they plan to do next, we’re learning executives knew there were “serious problems and safety concerns” with the rig as early…
Wave 4: Windows Live Sync – A First Look →
Last week we were fortunate enough to catch a glimpse of the Windows Live Essentials Preview website (http://windowslivepreview.com/essentials) as it briefly went online before it got…
Chrome Extensions Get Desktop Notifications →
Extensions for Google Chrome can now send out desktop notifications. Google just announced the availability of a notifications API for Chrome extension developers. Until now, only websites…
Chuck & Beans →
OnTopReplica: display any app or video in a... →
Ever wished you could keep a small representation of a program or window always visible on your desktop? OnTopReplica is a free app for Windows 7 and Vista that can create a…
The F-22 and F-35 Killer Finally Captured In... →
Feast your eyes in these detailed videos of the beast that is designed to match-and-crush 5th generation American combat jets. It’s the Sukhoi PAK-FA, and it comes loaded with…
Microsoft Has Some Bad News and Some Worse News... →
Via the company’s Twitter, Microsoft debunked the fun rumor that a seven-minute slice of Steve Jobs’ WWDC keynote would be set aside for Steve Ballmer. Then, cruelly, they created…
NBC, Time Warner Tell Apple They're Sticking with... →
It sounds like not everybody is ready to just throw Flash out the window because Steve Jobs told them to, as Time Warner and NBC have just told Apple they’re happy to stick with it…
Apple Is Now Bigger Than Microsoft: The Most... →
So, it’s happened. By at least one metric, for at least this very moment—it could change tomorrow—Apple is now bigger than Microsoft. Apple’s market cap passed Microsoft’s today,…
Foxconn Asks Employees to Sign Promise Not to... →
Shanghaiist got ahold of this memo being sent out to Foxconn employees, trying to help them deal with whatever working conditions is leading toward this recent string of suicides. It starts off good, then, well, gets not so good.
Pew: 71% of Young Adults Change Online Privacy... →
The same day on which Facebook has rolled back changes to its default privacy settings, Pew Research has released a report on privacy and reputation among young adults that has some…
Kids More Likely to Own a Cellphone Than a Book,... →
As technology becomes more a part of our day-to-day lives, some are worried that it is stunting the education of children by taking away time from activities like reading. A startling…
Apple to Microsoft: "Eat My Dust!" →
Yesterday Apple passed Microsoft to become, for the first time, the “world’s most valuable technology company,” according to the New York Times. Apple gained a stock-based valuation of…
The Half Truths of Mark Zuckerberg →
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg just led a phone call for the press announcing a number of substantial changes to Facebook’s fluid and controversial privacy policy. Today’s changes were…
Facebook to start rolling out simplified privacy... →
It’s no secret that Facebook has been hammered by criticism for its lack of adherence to user privacy. In an email response to a tech enthusiast, CEO and founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg,…
Rid The Internet of All Mentions of Justin Bieber,... →
You just have to look at Twitter’s trending topics to see that the world has gone Justin Bieber-mad. I say world, I mean tweens and teens—who seem to be populating all channels…
The Best Lost Building—and My Favorite Scene... →
Lost became a mess and left many questions unanswered, but it also left us with some of the best scenes and sets in television history. This is the best building in the series,…
MOTHERF*CKING SHARKS CAN BECOME MOTHERF*CKING... →
As if they weren’t scary enough, scientists have discovered that sharks can become invisible to prey/you using an optical trick. Not scared yet? Well, one of the invisible shark…
Google Wave Has Come a Long Way - Graduates to... →
Google Wave has graduated to Google Apps, showing a resurgence in user interest that seemed unlikely just a few months ago. It took a lot of criticism over the past year, following its…
46% of Web Users are Ready for HTML5 →
HTML5 is quickly becoming an important part of the Web surfing experience, and according to online ad network Chitika, almost half of all Internet users are already using HTML5-compatible…
Why doesn't the Windows Vista copy progress dialog... →
When you copy multiple files in Windows Vista,
the progress dialog gives you an estimate of the time
remaining as well as an indication of what fraction of the
operation has been completed.
But one…
This Is How You Lift a Sunken Warship Out of the... →
With huge chains and honking cranes, that’s how. Example: This Republic of Korea Navy’s corvette—half of it, actually—floating over the sea’s surface. And before you cry…
Patents for Startups from an Anti-Patent P.O.V. →
If you have been working in the startup industry, then you may already be well aware of what venture capitalist Brad Feld calls “a massive tax on and retardant of innovation” - software…
This Is How You Lift a Sunk War Ship Off the Sea... →
With huge chains and honking cranes, that’s how. Example: This Republic of Korea Navy’s corvette—half of it, actually—floating over the sea’s surface. And before you cry…
Windows Live Groups Wave 4 to get group... →
With the release of Windows Live Wave 4 imminent, Picturepan2 from LiveSino.net has provided us with some exclusive screenshots of Windows Live Groups Wave 4. We’ve previously mentioned…
Seagate Dishes Out Momentus XT HDD, World's... →
Offering 250GB, 320GB and 500GB options, Seagate’s hybrid Momentus XT HDD is allegedly the world’s fastest 2.5-inch drive for laptops (breaking their previous record), and comes…
Facebook CEO: "I know we've made a bunch of... →
According to an email from the Facebook CEO earlier today, Facebook is planning some changes to their much-debated privacy policies. Mark Zuckerberg told blogger Robert Scoble, “We’re going…
Amateur Astronomers Spot Super Secret X-37B Space... →
Remember the X-37B, that super-secret unmanned U.S. military space shuttle replacement no one knows anything about? Bad news, chickenhawks—it’s most likely just a nonlethal…
May 23, 2010 →
Whee! Storybook time.
Bill Gates: (Almost) a Tech Nostradamus... →
15 years ago Bill Gates published The Road Ahead, a book in which he laid out his vision for the future of personal computing. The Atlantic took a look at his predictions and…
Wave 4: What’s New in Windows Live Essentials →
Following the announcement of Messenger and Hotmail Wave 4, the next step for Microsoft’s Windows Live Wave 4 announcement is the new Essentials. Today the Windows Live Essentials…
The InfoLadies of Bangladesh, Armed With Bicycle... →
Many people living in Bangladesh’s impoverished villages haven’t yet been reached by technology. But a determined band of InfoLadies—young women equipped with netbooks, phones, and…
The 30 Best (And Worst) Web Tech Tattoos →
Love Linux? Love your Mac? No you don’t - not like the hundreds of people out there with Apple and Tux tattoos. But even then, that’s not hard core - it’s not like Apple is just a Web 2.0…
Fujitsu announces 25Gbps data transfer using... →
Engadget reports that Fujitsu has announced that their quantum dot laser technology is able to transfer data at 25Gbps (gigabits per second). If you’re wondering what a ‘quantum dot’ is, you aren’t…
Riveli Shelving →
While at ICFF, I met Mark Kinsley, who is the owner of Riveli Shelving. Kinsley, a product designer, struggled with space issues in his small Chicago studio, so he developed a space-saving…
HP Envy 15 Shipping With Serious Display and... →
The HP forums are up in arms—and rightly so—over the popular Envy 15, with some buyers receiving models with screens that randomly go blank and/or webcams that only show full…
Google Celebrates Pac-Man's 30th Birthday with... →
As the eerily familiar bleeps and bloops of video games past began emanating from my computer this morning, a friend nearby immediately recognized them and quipped that he’d spent “way too much…
Another Foxconn Worker Kills Himself [Suicides] →
Today, another of Foxconn’s workers jumped to his death from a dorm window. The story goes that the 21-year-old jumped (or fell) from his window, just like the eight who died this…
Steve Ballmer "We tried too big a task" with Vista →
It’s not every day that you hear the CEO of a major corporation admit that they wasted time on a product. But Steve Ballmer did just that when talking about Windows Vista. Ballmer stated that “We…
Foxconn Guards Allegedly Beat Up Workers On Tape... →
The stories coming out of Chinese gadget manufacturer Foxconn keep getting worse. Now, there’s a video clip floating around the Chinese internet that shows a group of guards…
Immaculate Creation: Birth of the First Synthetic... →
For the first time, scientists have created life from scratch – well, sort of. Craig Venter’s team has made a bacterial genome from smaller DNA subunits and then transplanted the…
Astigmatism →
Greg bought the promises of the startup. They wanted him to step in and take a mentoring role on a cutting edge, object oriented, SaaS project that was promised to be “a game changer”. There would…
Undercover Report From Foxconn's Hell Factory... →
Chinese newspaper Southern Weekly sent 20-year-old reporter Liu Zhi Yi undercover in Foxconn’s factory in Shenzhen, China. For 28 days, he experienced dreadful conditions that…
Undersea Internet Cables Are Dangerously... →
Here’s a surprising fact: 99% of intercontinental data travels through underwater cables (not satellites.) But a report by the IEEE says that those cables, which are essential to…
So That's How They Filmed the Star Wars Opening... →
All these years I’d assumed George Lucas and his team of SFX artists had used some kind of obscure, obsolete compositioning technique to create the Star Wars’ iconic opening…
The Internet's Running Out of Room →
Today’s Internet was built largely on the IPv4 or Internet Protocol version four, first introduced in 1980. Now, three decades on and with mobile Internet tracing a shining arc across the…
Nvidia's Android Tablet: Okay, I Could Want This... →
A rounded, plasticky take on the iPad. That’s how Nvidia’s latest Android tablet prototype struck me. It’s pretty nice. But not as nice as the inside. More »