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27 Jul 2010 22:22

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Tech: Want to throw away 50 bucks? Have WordPress? Click here

  • $50 to make your WordPress theme iPad friendly source
  • » Why is this pointless? Not to criticize the hard work of Jason Baptiste, who clearly put a lot of time into this, but it just seems weird to pay $50 for an iPad version of a WordPress site. Why? Because, unless you’re using a bunch of Flash, your site is already designed to work properly on an iPad. And the price … there just aren’t enough iPad users to justify it yet, unless you’re Mashable. Even this site, while it would be great to do this eventually … $50 just seems steep. This is something you launch six months from now, after the Christmas season builds a huge iPad audience. Not now. Sure, there’s room to experiment with the form some more, but the timing just feels off.

27 Jul 2010 22:00

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Tech: Is Google doing a good job of courting government contracts?

  • yes … Google has a new Google Apps for Government, designed to bring the cloud to groups once the jurisdiction of Microsoft Word and the like.
  • … but Google had a chance to prove itself with the city of Los Angeles, only to miss a June 30 deadline for a contract over security concerns. source

27 Jul 2010 08:59

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Tech: Apple’s Magic Trackpad: For desktop users feeling left out

This wasn’t TOTALLY unexpected. In fact, the rumor mill had been suggesting this very idea for months – a trackpad for desktops. Neat. (Oh, iMacs also got a refresh.) source

26 Jul 2010 21:11

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Tech: The Library of Congress made iPhone jailbreakers’ collective days

  • yes They’re now allowing people to legally jailbreak their spiffy phones without fear of retribution. iPhone users win.
  • no That doesn’t mean Apple has to make it easy for you to jailbreak it. They can still void your warranty.
  • yes They’ve also made cracking and ripping DVDs totally legal, and expanded unlocking rights. source

26 Jul 2010 10:13

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Tech, World: The United Arab Emirates is all scared of the Blackberry

  • what The United Arab Emirates (a.k.a. the really rich Arab nation) says that the BlackBerry’s offshore storage model conflicts with the country’s 2007 data-storage law.
  • why Some of the platform’s numerous applications “allow people to misuse the service, causing serious social, judicial and national security repercussions.” source

25 Jul 2010 11:19

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Tech: FYI: We hate this guy and everything he represents

Why? Because he’s Mark Pincus, the CEO of Zynga, and he wants to turn his Farmville-spouting company into the Google of games. Really. source

24 Jul 2010 21:14

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Music, Tech: Chiptune nerd turns old electric organ into ultimate blip machine

  • When you imagine someone playing the Super Mario Bros. theme song, you don’t think of some guy hopping on a keyboard to do it. Instead, you think of a nerdy programmer type futzing away at a NES. But this guy just upped the game – Linus Åkesson turned an old organ into a multi-faceted chiptune device, capable of playing a perfect-sounding Mario just as much as a diverse blippy opera. Note to Dan Deacon: Record your next album in Sweden. With this guy. source
 

24 Jul 2010 10:31

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Tech: Say what you will about Microsoft, but Windows 7 is a cash cow

  • 10 copies of Windows 7 sold every single minute
  • 25M copies sold in the last 29 days alone
  • 175M copies sold since it first launched source

23 Jul 2010 17:24

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Tech: One Laptop Per Child = Old news, thanks to India’s ultra-cheap tablet

  • 1,500 rupees the cost of the Linux-based tablet prototype they showed off
  • $35 dollars the amount that is in American dollars (in other words, cheap!) source

23 Jul 2010 16:41

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Tech: Apple: White iPhones somehow harder to make than black ones

  • White models of Apple’s new iPhone® 4 have continued to be more challenging to manufacture than we originally expected, and as a result they will not be available until later this year. The availability of the more popular iPhone 4 black models is not affected.
  • A PR statement from Apple • Noting the technical limitations caused by in creating the white iPhone 4. Apple is certainly running into a lot of problems with the phone this time around, aren’t they? Considering how smoothly most of their other launches go, it’s almost absurd. source