VIA VN1000 digital media chipset launched

VIA introduced the VN1000, a new digital media chipset with Blu-ray playback, DX10.1 and DDR3 memory support. VIA Technologies, Inc, a leading innovator of power efficient x86 processor platforms, today announced the VIA VN1000 digital media chipset for next generation desktop and all-in-one PCs, offering a world-class HD multimedia entertainment platform compatible with the advanced desktop features of Microsoft Windows 7.
The VIA VN1000 is the most power efficient DX10.1 digitalSource: DV Hardware RSS Feed

Incredible VISTA of the cosmos

Astronomers with the European Southern Observatory have just revealed the first images from their new telescope called VISTA: the Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy. If ever there was an appropriate name for a ’scope, that’s it.

Why?

Here’s why:

Oh baby. Yeah, click it to embiggen.

This image is of the Flame Nebula, a star forming gas cloud in Orion. The image itself covers about half a square degree on the sky (twice theSource: Bad Astronomy Blog RSS Feed

How Apple's Camel Case Hurts the English Language

You may have never really noticed the weird capitalization pattern on iPhones; or perhaps you just thought it was part of Apple's brilliant marketing schtick. In reality, though, this weird mid-word capitalization has been around for a while, and is commonly known as 'camel case' (because of the visual "hump" that a nested capitalized letter gives a word).
Caleb Crain, in a great article for The New York Times, takes a cursory look at the evolution of camel case over the years. WhileSource: Switched RSS Feed

Poynt Bringing New Features to BlackBerry…and (soon) iPhone!

Multiplied Media’s popular local search application, Poynt, recently won first place in the “Life On BlackBerry” category  at the 2009 BlackBerry Alliance Program’s EMEA Innovation Awards in Rome, Italy.   Not resting on their laurels, Multiplied Media showed us some upcoming changes to their BlackBerry application…and a sneak peek at their upcoming iPhone app!

Want to know some of the new features you can look forward to seeing from Poynt?  Let’s jump right in…

Source: Gear Diary RSS Feed

China, India, Brazil, South Africa plan joint walkout if pressured at Copenhagen

From the Times of India – a “put up or shut up” moment – “we’ll go along if you pay us”.

Excerpts below:

BEIJING: In an unprecedented move, India on Saturday joined China and two other developing countries to prepare for a major offensive on rich nations at the Copenhagen conference on climate change next month.

The four countries, which include Brazil and South Africa, agreed to a strategy that involves jointly walking out of the conference ifSource: Watts Up With That? RSS Feed

Samsung Behold II review

It was but a year ago that Samsung graced us with the original Behold. At the time it was more or less positioned to win the hearts of folks who wanted a luscious touchscreen but had no real truck with smartphones. So what do we have here? With the Behold II, the company has switched things up a bit: instead of a respectable feature phone, you not only get Android 1.5, but a 3.5mm headphone jack and WiFi as well. At least this shows that Sammy has been paying attention! Still, a coupleSource: Engadget Mobile RSS Feed

Weekly Webcomic Wrapup is falling behind

Oh, man! We knew we forgot to do something yesterday! In the midst of our holiday spending spree, we forgot to post the winner of last week's Wrapup! Here's a shocker: First place went to Brawl in the Family's music-infused "Ode to Minions," which garnered a simply preposterous 1,357 votes. Second and third place went to Virtual Shackles' "Pokemon Green," and Penny Arcade's "Grim," respectively. A belated congratulations to all our winners!
Now, to the matter at hand. We've arrangedSource: Houstonist RSS Feed

Brando debuts USB 3.0 ExpressCard for laptops

Brando has introduced an ExpressCard device that adds two USB 3.0 ports to your laptop. The maximum bandwidth of ExpressCard is 2.5Gbps, less than the 4.8Gbps supported by USB 3.0 but still faster than the 480Mbps offered by USB 2.0. The product also includes a USB power cable, this is necessary because ExpressCard can't deliver enough power.
You can find it over here for $39.

Brando debuts USB 3.0 ExpressCard for laptops - More news at DV Hardware

Source: DV Hardware RSS Feed

Breakthrough Nano Tech Will Boost Solar Power Efficiency

by Michael Graham Richard, Ottawa, Canada

Inexpensive Nanostructure Film Keeps Photons from Bouncing Off
That's the beauty of science. You discover something new, and then you keep finding new applications for it. Chemical engineers at Oregon State University (OSU) have invented a new way to deposit "nanostructure films" on a variety of surfaces. The obvious use is for eyeglasses; this could make them better and less expensive. But the holy grail here is making more efficientSource: Science Pal RSS Feed

Hot gaming news for the week of 11-22-2009

Section:

No need to scour the interwebs for hot gaming news, Gamertell‘s already done that for you! Here’s a look at this week’s top stories…

• Video game deals in the Best Buy pre-Black Friday 2009 sale ad
• Check your Sunday paper, Walmart’s Black Friday 2009 sale ad could be in it
• Man marries Love Plus DS game
• Black Friday DSi bundles with pre-installed games
• Black Friday 2009: Old Navy Gobblepalooza goes Rock Band crazy

Source: Gadgetell RSS Feed

New AOL (or is it Aol.?) Logo Revealed

AOL has shown off a new logo, which it considers a significant part of its new "brand identity." That is of course to go with its newfound independence from Time Warner. The logo is simple. Aol. That's it - capital A, lower-case o, lower case l, and a period.
"Our new identity is uniquely dynamic. Our business is focused on creating world-class experiences for consumers and AOL is centered on creative and talented people - employees, partners, and advertisers. We have a clear strategy Source: WebPro News RSS Feed

10 Ways your Mobile Phone Can Feed Your Lottery Addiction

The lottery is a lot of fun for some people. For barely any cash at all you can buy a moment of hope that your life could change for the better. But for some people, the appeal of the lottery becomes a serious problem. People with gambling problems may become addicted to the instant gratification of playing the lottery. There are scratch lottery games, PowerBall-style lottery competitions and even video lottery in some places. And if you really have a problem with the lottery then your mobileSource: Dial-a-Phone RSS Feed

AOL Has New Branding: Here is The Logo AOL Should Have Used

Over the weekend AOL announced their new branding for the upcoming spinoff on December 10th. Here at Crenk we didnt really think too much of the new branding and even if AOL paid £10 for this, we thought that was over priced. The picture to the left is our take on AOL branding!

Here is their new branding:

Release:

AOL today previewed its new brand identity for its future as an independent company committed to creating the world’s most simple andSource: Crenk.com RSS Feed

Another Green Lantern Fan Made Movie Trailer

Earlier this year, we featured an awesome fan made Green Lantern movie trailer, which was sort of a mash-up, combining scenes and sequences from a bunch of different movies with composited special effects. /Film reader movieboy has sent us another fan made Green Lantern movie trailer, this time a teaser trailer. This one isn’t nearly as good, buts more of a traditional fan film — shot and edited independently. I thought it was good enough to pass along. Check it out after the jump.

Source: SlashFilm RSS Feed

Mass: We Pray is almost certainly a hoax

In a world where things like extreme Bible-reading apps exist, it was hard for us at first to accept that Mass: We Pray could be anything other than legit. After watching the alleged (read: probably fake) developer Prayer Works Interactive's over the top trailer for the game, though, we were fairly confident in casting doubt on the game's veracity. A quick WHOIS of the game's official homepage revealed nothing, and our email to the company was met with a boilerplate auto-response denying ourSource: Houstonist RSS Feed

Review: Kensington K33926US Universal Notebook Docking Station with VGA/DVI and Ethernet

A lot of people are going to a laptop only computing experience.  There are even some that are going to a netbook only experience as a netbook is all they need.  Sometimes, however, it is nice to have a screen that is bigger than what a netbook can provide.  The same can be said about the touchpad and the keyboard.  Wouldn’t it be nice to plop your laptop or netbook down and have it attached to a 24 inch LCD?  That’s where this dock comes in. … [visit site to ]

:

Source: Gear Diary RSS Feed

iBuyPower unveils Chimera 2 gaming desktops

In May of this year iBuyPower unveiled its slick new custom painted Chimera gaming PC and it was really cool. The custom paint looked like it would be more at home on a show car than a gaming computer. iBuyPower has now announced the follow up called the Chimera 2.

The Chimera 2 has a new Inferno II chassis with a custom pained flame dragon that looks awesome. The custom computers have wrap around paint covering four exterior surfaces and a charcoal black interior. A range of CPUSource: SlashGear RSS Feed

ASUS' Ion-packing Eee PC 1201N gets official, gets handled (video)

It was late-August when we first got word of a new addition to the Eee PC lineup, the 12-inch, Ion-smuggling Eee PC 1201N. ASUS has just now confirmed the thing and a few sites have rather coincidentally posted hands-on impressions of it -- but let's go over those specs one more time before we dive into that, shall we? It has a 12.1-inch, 1366 x 768 LED-backlit display (that's sadly glossy), a dual-core Atom 330 processor at 1.6GHz, 2 or 3GB of DDR2 memory, either a 250 or 320GB HDD, aSource: Engadget RSS Feed

Kitty Brain Simulated By IBM, but Not Just for Adorable-ness

Maru goes in the box. Maru goes out of the box. Maru goes back into the box, again. Not exactly genius (adorable, but not genius), though apparently scientists say there is something about the feline brain that may help advance the "thinking computer." A machine that can replicate basic human cognition -- abstract concepts, emotional data -- is still pretty distant, but IBM researchers in Portland, Oregon have scaled it down a bit. Using a kitty cortex as a model, these neuro-computerSource: Switched RSS Feed

Activision censors Russian version of Modern Warfare 2

Activision has noted today that they have in fact removed the controversial airport scene from the blockbuster Modern Warfare 2, but only for the Russian version of the game.

"Other countries have formal ratings boards that we regularly work with. However, Russia does not have a formal ratings entity. As a result, we chose to block the scene after seeking the advice of local counsel," said Activision, via Eurogamer.
The announcement comes after the Internet flared withSource: AfterDawn.com RSS Feed

New XPERIA X10 hands-on video brings the snappy

Sony Ericsson's Android-based XPERIA X10 was mighty sluggish when we played with it at the launch a couple weeks ago, but this new video from hdblog.it shows what looks like a much newer software build that's dramatically faster and more responsive. There's nothing much new here in terms of features, but just the fact that the X10 is in the wild and running well is encouraging -- especially since we're really digging that media playback interface. Now all we need is some Stateside shippingSource: Engadget RSS Feed

Samsung Galaxy Spica I5700 announced (again)

Samsung have obviously been using the Royal Mail to shuttle their corporate updates around the globe, as three weeks after Samsung Russia officially announced the Galaxy Spica I5700 the company’s Korean HQ have pushed out their own press release.  As before, they’ve confirmed that the Android-based Spica has an 800MHz processor, 3.2-megapixel camera and 3.5mm headphone jack, all in a casing measuring 13.2mm thick.

What we already knew, however, is that the Spica I5700 has aSource: SlashGear RSS Feed

The SCOTTEVEST Evolution Travel Jacket Review

I was a big fan of SCOTTEVEST’s technology enabled clothing long before I began writing for tech sites. It just appealed to my inner geek. I got one of their classic vests, as well as their mid-weight jackets, long before most people had heard of the company and wore them for years.

Those jackets were among some of the earlier designs Scott and Co. offered but were already highly functional. I had not, however, seen any of the more recent designs other than through occasionallySource: Gear Diary RSS Feed

Daily Crunch: Water Pixi Edition

Palm Pixi Review: Not for everyone, but it fits a niche
NASA: We found water on the Moon
Japan to operate solar energy station in outer space
Review: Alesis DM6 Drum Kit
Google Chrome OS To Launch Within A Week

Source: CrunchGear RSS Feed

AMD Over-clocked Processor hits 7GHz

An event held recently by AMD was recently run where contestants tried to overclock their processors – to the extreme. A few months back those working on the overclocking projects were getting very close to 7GHz but never actually broke through that barrier. CrunchGear have now reported that the 7GHz barrier was smashed through by also setting a record on 3DMark. The AMD processor that was overclocked was a Phenom II.

To achieve the goal of 7GHz a large amount of liquid helium wasSource: Gadget Venue RSS Feed

Pielke Sr. on the Record Highs -vs- Record Lows story

From Roger Pielke Senior: Bias In News Reporting

There is a press release on a paper yesterday from NCAR titled Record High Temperatures Far Outpace Record Lows Across U.S.

I plan to post on the paper on which this news article is based next week ( it has major problems, as already identified at Watts Up With That). However, today, I want to just compare the news exposure of three press releases, one of which supports a surface temperature changes Source: Watts Up With That? RSS Feed

Archos 9 PC Tablet suffers FCC teardown

You can usually rely on the FCC to provide not only pre-announcement shots of upcoming gadgets, but internal images that give modders a good idea of how the final device might be tweaked into something far more useful.  The Archos 9 PC Tablet has already been well fondled in real life – we grabbed one back in September – but thanks to the FCC we now have some teardown shots to counter the glossy exterior images.

As arch-modder jkk from jkkmobile observes, the most obvious upgrade Source: SlashGear RSS Feed

Project Natal at #5 in Time’s top inventions of 2009

Project Natal, the controllerless gaming interface Microsoft is developing for Xbox 360 will happen only next November. But, even so, Project Natal is gaining recognition. Time magazine has listed Project Natal at No. 5 in one of the top 50 inventions of 2009, with editors calling the system “It's that simple. And that cool.” You can see other 49 inventions including Herschel telescope and solar power shingle here. Top 10 shown as under:

Source: D' Technology Weblog RSS Feed

Celebrating Veterans Day with IAVA

Our client, the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), is the nation’s first and largest group dedicated to helping the Troops and Veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  With today being Veterans Day, you won’t be surprised to know that today they have a great deal up their sleeve.  They debuted a great new Public Service Announcement (PSA), “We’ve Got Your Back”,  on their Facebook page.

In addition, we helped them launch a redesigned version of theirSource: The Bivings Report RSS Feed

Ghosts 'n Goblins now punishing iPhone players

Capcom has released a new Ghosts 'n Goblins game to, of all places, the iPhone. Ghosts 'n Goblins: Gold Knights features polygonal graphics like the PSP's Ultimate Ghosts 'n Goblins, and, for the first time, two playable characters: Arthur and new hero Lancelot, who each have different weapons and lifebars.
We're going to assume that the difficulty of the series is tuned for iPhone play: Ghosts 'n Goblins games tend to be nightmarish in difficulty even with real d-pads and buttons, andSource: Houstonist RSS Feed

GOGII updates textPlus 2.0 – Adds Usernames, Remains Free for Apple iPhone

If you’re anything like me, you’re probably still stuck on the anemic AT&T SMS package of 200 text messages and find yourself over each and every month. It’s not that I’m cheap, but that overage per month adds up over time and I’ve wanted a good, reliable way to send messages to people and do it for free. Some methods of sending “free SMS” via the web can’t be replied to by the person you’ve sent a message or they might not know that it is indeed you that’s doing theSource: Remove The Labels RSS Feed

Legend of the Seeker Returns for Season Two: +2 Con, -2 Int

I was reluctant to watch Legend of the Seeker to start, owing to the fact that I was very lukewarm about Terry Goodkind’s books in general, and had just come off of a Battlestar Galactica high (followed by a low…). On the heels of disappointment I decided to try out Legend of the Seeker just to fulfill my weekly swords and corsets quota, because you know, I’ve got to get it somewhere.

Surprisingly, I was hooked. I mean, I admit it: I loved Raimi’s Xena: Warrior Princess andSource: Geeks are Sexy RSS Feed

RIM Announces BlackBerry Academic Program

One of the things that has been missing for anyone interested in mobile application development has been where to start. Most developers may have studied programming languages in college, but when it comes to keeping up with the constant changes and new platforms most current and would-be developers have to rely on self-taught methods and a lot of trial and error.  RIM’s looking to help make it easier for anyone wanting to develop mobile applications for their BlackBerry devices.

Source: Gear Diary RSS Feed

Gizmodo Reviews the HD2

John Herrman at Gizmodo has released an overview of the HTC HD2. Needless to say he loved the hardware, but deeply hated the Windows Mobile software, even obscured as it is by HTC’s Sense GUI.

Despite the fact that to a great degree the review is used to once again make WinMo into Gizmodo’s personal software piñata (truly, the Gizmodo editors hate WinMo like it killed their dog), it makes several goodpoints about the physical features of the device, and Herrman really doesn’tSource: Mobility Site RSS Feed

The Best of Big Download: November 2 - 8

The first full week of November 2009 kept us at Big Download on our toes with a ton of news, downloads, and special features. As usual, we take some time to smell the roses and look back at the past week. Please, won't you join us?
Exclusive features

• Unreal Development Kit: We were all over the release of Epic Games' free version of Unreal Engine 3 with a feature on the UDK itself and interviews with the teams behind the first two free UDK games; Whizzle and TheSource: Houstonist RSS Feed

Firefox is five years old!

Party at Mozilla's people, or better yet, party everywhere as today is the global celebration of Firefox's birthday. It was five year ago when the Foxxy One 1.0 made its debut and since then it was nothing but up, up, up for the open source browser. After five years the promising software has turned into more than an alternative to Internet Explorer and captured almost 25% of the web browser market.
Currently there are over 330 million people surfing the web using one of more than 70Source: TechConnect Magazine RSS Feed

Stealth's rugged LPC-395F Mini PC: it's like a caged monster, but weak

Stealth Computer has been kicking, shoving and blasting ruggedized PCs out of its labs for years on end, and the latest mini PC is amongst the smallest we've seen to still sport such a hardcore shell. The LPC-395F is a fanless rig with integrated removable storage, featuring front-loading removable media slots (for HDDs and flash media), a 1.6GHz Atom N270 processor, a metal chassis and an overall size of just 6.54- x 6.18- x 1.89-inches. As for ports, you'll find twin gigabit EthernetSource: Engadget RSS Feed

The TEDIndia Experience – Ideas That Should Spread – Part – 3

By the 3rd day of TEDIndia I was convinced in my mind and my heart that I hadn’t experienced so many thoughts, ideas and emotions in such a short span of time ever before as the first and second day were fantastic. When I was invited to TEDIndia I had thought that I would just cover the Technology side of stuff that came up during the event but I soon realized that TEDIndia was not about a vertical, not about businesses or cultures or India alone but it was about life and its experiences.Source: WATblog RSS Feed

Apple Rushes Out Apple TV Update To Cure Disappearing Content

Last week, Apple released its new 3.0 software for the Apple TV. Unfortunately, it looks like it came with a pretty big bug in tow: Disappearing content.

Here’s the problem in Apple’s words:

There is an issue with Apple TV software version 3.0 that can possibly cause your content to disappear after a period of time. All customers running Apple TV software version 3.0 should immediately restart their Apple TV and then upgrade to Apple TV software version 3.0.1.

Today, Source: TechCrunch.com RSS Feed

GearGames Weekly: November 8 – 14

This entry is part 22 of 22 in the series GearGames Weekly

Welcome back to the GearGames weekly video game release feature here at Gear Diary! This we get the game claiming to be ‘the most pre-ordered game of all-time (not coincidentally by folks who make money off pre-orders!) Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. The early word is that this is a fine addition to the franchise for console gamers, offering a similarly short single player campaign, but loads of fun in multiplayer. I saySource: Gear Diary RSS Feed

Bad news, good news: Eee Keyboard delayed, but it’s getting the old touchscreen back

I amaze myself sometimes. You see, I have so much power as a writer on this invincible and influential blog that sometimes I can change an entire industry with but a word. Case in point: apparently my recent post on Eee’s decision to change the touchscreen to resistive on their Eee Keyboard was so crushing that they’ve altered their entire business plan and delayed the device to accommodate it. O Mighty Blogger! Thou humblest the world!
Actually, I’m guessing they did someSource: CrunchGear RSS Feed

AT&T launching white BlackBerry 8900?

One of our connects just hit us up with this shot, and it would appear that RIM has a theme going on. Step 1: make successful handset in black, step 2: relaunch said handset in white. Almost a month after the vastly popular vanilla BlackBerry Bold hit the streets, AT&T and RIM are teaming up to bring you the WhiteBerry Curve 8900 sans color, or is it the presence of all the colors? Whatever. Now, the 8900 won’t have the sensual white leather back, but the white bezel looks pretty sexy toSource: The Boy Genius Report RSS Feed

Has Research In Motion’s BlackBerry Lost Its Edge?

Over the past decade, Research In Motion’s BlackBerry phone has become a cultural phenomenon. But can it stay one?

With a confusing mix of new products, poor developer support, lack of innovation and an unwillingness to take risks, RIM is in danger of being outsmarted and overshadowed by aggressive new rivals, such as HTC and Motorola.

RIM is a victim of its own success, says Michael Mace, principal at Rubicon Consulting, a strategy consulting firm for technology companies,Source: Wired RSS Feed

2011 Mercedes SLS AMG: First Drive [Jalopnik Reviews]

The 2011 Mercedes SLS AMG is the first clean sheet design from AMG and the new flagship for the entire company. As a modern re-interpretation of the 300SL it's also a return to the fast, striking Mercedes of yore.

Full Disclosure: Mercedes wanted us to drive the SLS AMG so badly they flew us out to San Francisco and put us up in a fancy hotel on the ocean. Also, I got in really late so I missed dinner and helped myself to a free Snickers bar and a bottle of OJ from the minibar. ISource: Jalopnik RSS Feed

Windows 7: Microsoft’s Multimedia-Friendly OS

I’ve always believed in the separation of church and state: My desktop computer stays in my home office, and my TV and entertainment gear stay in the living room. Sure, sometimes there’s crossover between the two — I like to view Web-based streaming video or shows I’ve downloaded on my big-screen TV, for example. But I’ve never been tempted to make my desktop PC my home entertainment center.

Until now. Now, I have a shiny, new Windows 7 PC, and it’s almost ready to make theSource: NewTeeVee RSS Feed

jin saotome, action figure customizer extraordinaire

I don’t know if he’s the action figure counterpart of console modder Ben Heck, but the customizer who goes by the moniker Jin Saotome does have an extremely long list of modified or custom made action figures. While most of them are Transformer mods/creations, I like his G.I. mods, where he mixes parts together to recreate characters from other brands. If you’re a fan of webcomics, prepare to have your day made, because here comes Dr. McNinja!

I could hardly believe my eyes when Source: technabob RSS Feed

Orange Wednesday iPhone App Launced in the UK

Orange have launched a new iPhone app for Orange Wednesdays in the UK. Orange Wednesdays have been running since 2003 and allow those on the Orange network to text a number and get a free 2 for 1 voucher for use in cinemas across the UK every Wednesday of the year.

The new Orange Wednesdays app for iPhone and iPod Touch allows you to actually check cinema listings in your area, read reviews and grab a free voucher to redeem while at the cinema. Although not the most exciting of appSource: Gadget Venue RSS Feed

Scientist proposes cyborg astronauts to seek out new life

If University of Chicago geoscientist Patrick McGuire starts calling the shots, NASA won't have to decide between sending a person or a robot into space. They could just send a "cyborg astrobiologists" — or advanced artificial intelligence riding piggyback on an astronaut.

McGuire's team has been working on what's known as a Hopfield neural network, specifically programmed to identify new forms of life. Right now, the system can differentiate between different types of lichen basedSource: DVICE RSS Feed

iPhone as e-Reader? I get the picture...

Dr Seuss - his early political satire cartoons prove remarkably timely today
An Article in GigaOm arguing that the iPhone is the Next e-Reader:
Yesterday at the urging of a friend, I ordered “Your Brain at Work” by David Rock on my iPod touch via the Amazon Kindle app. In doing so, I became one of many people who are helping the iPhone become more than just a phone. It’s latest role: e-reader....
Apparently this is because "Book-related apps saw an upsurge in launchesSource: broadstuff RSS Feed

Not Another Brick In The Wall

The Save Water Brick design is really unique; the brick is a mixture of discarded plastic bottles and dried rotting leaves molded into bricks. There are funnels within the brick to channelize the rain water to nearby plants or underground tanks. So the basic idea is that it collects rainwater for consumption. Obviously the bricks are intended for external walls so that they can absorb the water, but the question is will they be strong enough to endure the elements?

Designers: Jin-youngSource: Yanko Design RSS Feed