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24 Aug 2011 20:45

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Tech: “You can’t connect the dots looking forward. You can only connect them looking backwards”

  • Here’s Steve Jobs in 2005, passing on some wisdom to newly minted Stanford grads. It’s a very nonconventional college commencement speech, a fact that becomes obvious as soon as Jobs says that dropping out of college was one of the best decisions he ever made. He also explains how a spontaneous decision to drop in on a calligraphy class helped shape the future of home computing, and his comments about retroactively connecting the dots of our past decisions is one of the more insightful things we’ve heard in a while.  source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

23 Aug 2011 21:39

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Tech: The LA Times’ latest headline scares the crap out of us

  • Despite the relatively benign story, everything about this–the headline, the positioning of the robot’s arms, the fact that the robot has its own Twitter account–has us doubting humankind’s continued reign of dominance on Earth. “I’m semi-autonomous,” Robonaut 2 (or “R2”) tweeted. “I require ground control, but I can also respond to my environment within controlled specifications.” Yeah, well, you say “controlled specifications,” we hear “I, Robot.” source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

19 Aug 2011 11:11

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Biz, Tech: Hewlett Packard’s stock reflects yesterday’s poor decision-making

  • » Investors were NOT happy with the news: HP fell down to its lowest level in years — a level so low that they last time it was at this nadir, Carly Fiorina had just left the company. We think this should tell HP something — killing off the race horse (WebOS) immediately after it starts the race is terrible business strategy, and investors will not react kindly to this. That was your future, HP, and you blew it because you had no idea how to feasibly make it work.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

16 Aug 2011 20:10

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Tech, World: A growing market: Kenyans buying $80 Android phones left and right

  • This isn’t the fastest Android phone you can buy. Nor does it have the largest screen — in fact, at 2.8 inches, it’s downright tiny. And battery life is reportedly so short that it can cause problems for those without nearby electrical sources. But the Huawei IDEOS has a major advantage for Kenyan consumers — it costs just $80 without a contract. The result? In a country where 4 in 10 people live on less than $2 per day, they’ve sold in the hundreds of thousands. The moral of the story? There is a huge market in the developing world for phones like these — region-specific apps, too. Other companies, including Apple, are rumored to be trying for this market. But can they hit an $80 price point with their phones? That’s the real question. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Aug 2011 10:04

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Biz, Tech: Google to buy Motorola Mobility: More on the blockbuster deal of the day

  • $12.5 billion to buy a key seller of Android phones
  • 17,000 number of issued patents the mobility side of Motorola owns, which would now be Google’s; Motorola split in half back in January
  • 7,500 number of patent filings made under Motorola Mobility’s name; these patents are almost as valuable to Google as the phones source
  • » Google stocks didn’t react well: While an argument could be made that this is a great move for Google, investors appear to be at least somewhat spooked, with Google’s stock currently down despite the more positive market at large. Is it because the company has never really had any sort of success in the hardware business? And what does this mean for HTC or Samsung or all the other big Android makers?
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

12 Aug 2011 21:09

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Tech: One of the masterminds of the IBM PC admits its decline

  • They’re going the way of the vacuum tube, typewriter, vinyl records, CRT and incandescent light bulbs.
  • Mark Dean, IBM’s Middle East and Africa CTO • Talking about PCs. This is the one of the guys who originally designed the IBM PC, which has set the basic template for most desktop computers for roughly 30 years now. He goes on to say that he didn’t ever think that he’d witness its decline. “It’s becoming clear that innovation flourishes best not on devices but in the social spaces between them, where people and ideas meet and interact,” he said. And it’s true — think about all of the different devices we use today. The PC did start it all, but this article highlights why it’s evident that the PC is on its way out. source
Posted by Justin Jones • 0 Comments • Permalink

09 Aug 2011 20:46

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Music, Tech: Spotify slowly wins over America, one invite at a time

  • 1,400,000 number of Americans on Spotify, the all-you-can-eat music service that came to the U.S. last month
  • 175,000 of them pay for subscription; that’s 12.5% of the invite-only U.S. users, which is impressive source
Posted by samimain • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

09 Aug 2011 17:08

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Tech: Researchers find DNA nucleobases in fallen meteorites

  • Big discovery, big implications? Suffice to say, this video is absolutely worth the full 2:50 if you have it to spare, and maybe even if you don’t. Researchers funded by NASA have discovered DNA nucleobases (commonly referred to as the “building blocks” of DNA) within fallen meteorites. Without climbing too far out on any limbs pending further research, at minimum this is fascinating knowledge about the nature and possible origins of DNA, and of life. Give it a look! source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

08 Aug 2011 22:21

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Tech: CyFi: 10-year-old girl pretends to be a hacker at DefCon

  • Everyone’s a hacker with sunglasses: This anonymous girl figured out that she can turn off the wi-fi and change the time on her phone, allowing her to cheat on numerous timing-based Farmville-style games on the iPhone and Android. Now, after she puts on these glasses and attends DefCon, CyFi is suddenly a “hacker.” And suddenly this trick, which has been around since the days of Commander Keen, is a “zero-day exploit.” Kevin Mitnick is currently rolling in his dusty 286 Compaq. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

03 Aug 2011 20:28

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Tech: Hoaxsters say IE users are dumb, prove smarter than everyone else

  • yeah, We were surprised, too. Canadian firm ApTiquant recently reported that Internet Explorer users had lower IQ scores than users of other browsers — a study which, by the way, got picked up by a ton of news outlets. Turns out their entire study was completely fabricated (and the firm didn’t even exist until recently). When the BBC asked Professor David Spiegelhalter of Cambridge University’s Statistical Laboratory for his opinion, he said “these figures are implausibly low — and an insult to IE users.” Some people are willing to do anything to get IE users to upgrade — and we don’t blame ’em. source
Posted by samimain • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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