January 2010
French online piracy law in force
The first effects of France’s new law against internet piracy will begin to be felt as the new year begins. The law was passed after a long struggle in parliament, and in the teeth of bitter opposition from groups opposed to internet restrictions. Illegal downloaders will be sent a warning e-mail, then a letter if they continue, and finally must appear...
Apple to unveil tablet device, says companyâs...
Apple will unveil a tablet device next month and expects to ship 10 million in its first year of release, former Google Greater China president Lee Kai-fu wrote on his web log, citing a friend familiar with the project whom he didn’t name.
Related posts: Former Google China president reveals details on Apple’s tablet
Apple tablet rumor party: Fox News, former Google China president, and...
Appleâs iPod Court Victory Upheld
A federal appeals court on Wednesday upheld a lower court ruling that said Apple’s iPod music players do not pose an unacceptable risk to users’ hearing.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth District affirmed a 2008 decision by a California district court to dismiss a long-running lawsuit that claimed iPods endangered users’ hearing. iPods, said the original 2006 lawsuit...
December 2009
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Study: middle-aged people unimpressed with modern...
The Olds — they’re never happy, are they? Just look at this study conducted by the feared and respected Zogby International. According to a poll, those aged 35-54 are most disappointed by how far technology has come by 2010, having grown up with the concept of that Jetsons robot that automatically brushes your teeth and the promise of Sleeper’s Orgasmatron. Still, 21 percent of...
Chairman of FCC has Facebook account compromised
The social networking site Facebook can be somewhat dangerous for those who aren’t completely up to speed on how to use it. It stores a lot of personal information, and can also be taken over by spammers after a small slip up, as the FCC’s Chairman recently found out. The New York Times reported this incident, stating that Julius Genachowski, the Chairman of the FCC, had begun...
YouTube on Quest to Become Next âBoob Tubeâ
In a relative sense YouTube is big—itâs ten times more popular than its nearest competitor. But, YouTube isnât satisfied—the average user spends a mere 15-minutes a day on the service. It looks at TV and laments: â[People] spend about five hours in front of the television.â And thatâs action YouTube wants a piece of.
Whatâs YouTubeâs plan? To give users what they...
In Depth: The 15 worst, WTF and best mobile phones...
The sun has nearly set on the first decade of the third millennium, and we have been truly blessed… with phones. Sodding millions of the things. We’ve seen phones made from wood, plastic, glass (and one from cheese… but that’s a story we swore we’d never tell again), we’ve seen mobiles that delighted, dismayed, made us go ‘meh’ and those that have...
US feds squeeze bloggers for posting TSA orders
At least two bloggers who posted the latest Transportation Security Administration security guidelines have received visits from the feds. One had his laptop confiscated and was served a subpoena. The other just received the subpoena.
In case you’ve been recovering from a massive holiday bender and haven’t viewed the news recently, on Christmas day a singularly inefficient...
Whoops! F.C.C. Chairman Spams Facebook Friends
Update | 3:27 p.m. Adding statement from Facebook at the end.
Facebook scam artists have closed out 2009 by snagging a prominent victim: Julius Genachowski, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission.
On Friday morning at around 10:30 a.m., Mr. Genachowski sent his Facebook friends this puzzling message: âAdam got me started making money with this.â It was followed by a link...
Tinkercell: CAD for designing artificial life
Scientists in Seattle have made a major breakthrough in designing computer-aided design systems to allow them to build artificial life forms. In a research project which sounds like it was inspired by Will Wright’s magnum opus Spore, the group of synthetic biologists are now designing artificial life forms with the new CAD system. Meddling with Artificial Life Deepak Chandran and his...
Steve Jobs named as âman of the noughtiesâ
Apple’s Steve Jobs is officially the ‘person of the decade’ â at least, he is according to the readers of esteemed US newspaper the Wall Street Journal. Journal readers voted for Jobs one as their man of the Noughties following the Apple CEO’s return to work after some time away for medical treatment. WSJ notes that Jobs increased the company’s stock by an amazing...
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Acer Aspire One AO532h joins the Pine Trail party...
It’s about time that the number one netbook manufacturer officially release details on its Pine Trail packing netbooks. The 10-inch Acer Aspire One A0535h seems to look slightly different than its predecessors, but its brand new Intel Atom N450 CPU, GMA 1350 graphics and promised 10-hours of battery life should give it bragging rights at the family dinner table. The rest of the specs are...
ROCK ET ROLL: Eco Champagne Bottle Rocket for New...
Looking for a way to give your New Yearâs Eve bottle-poppinâ festivities a bit of fun eco flair? Check out Zo Loftâs awesome little Rock-et-Roll champagne bottle rockets! These spaceworthy eco-crafts are composed of bioresin and recycled foam rubber, and are 100% recycled and recyclable â talk about the perfect way to ring in a green 2010! Zoloftâs recycled Rock et Roll spaceship is...
The Most-Viewed Bits Posts of 2009
From announcements about next-generation technology products to speculation about whether the biggest computer virus of the year was actually a big practical joke and mysterious sightings in Google Earth, here is a list of the of the top 10 stories on Bits that captured our readersâ attention. We were surprised by a couple ourselves.
10. Googleâs âImmigration Fixerâ
Although more...
Palm App Catalog Nearing 1,000 App Mark
Pre and the webOS have brought about Palm’s revival. Now that it is back in the hunt, it can comfortably concentrate on growth. It now features nearly 950 titles and is expected to cross the 1,000 app mark after Palm’s CES keynote. The pace at which apps are being added to the App Catalog is a trickle compared to the App Store, which hit the 10,000 apps mark in just six months...
UK games developers and execs named in Queenâs...
It’s the time of year when her majesty The Queen bestows MBEs and other honours on Brits that have given considerable services to British culture and industry, with a number of games devs and execs picking up honours in the 2009 list. Firstly, the two brothers who founded London-based Sports Interactive - they of the original Championship Manager and (more recently) Football Manager fame -...
Top 10 tech news stories of the decade
(CNET) — As hard as it may be to remember now, the dot-com boom was nearing its dizzying peak as the decade started. But just as the bust hit a few months later, Google was pairing a savvy business model with great technology, Apple was most decidedly getting its mojo back, and Bill Gates was becoming exasperated with those pesky trustbusters. Since then, Google became a giant, the...
Technology not as advanced by 2010 as some had...
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Despite iPods, genetic sequencing, the Internet and Twitter, nearly a third of Americans said they thought there would be more technological advances by the year 2010.
Technology  |  Lifestyle
Not everyone expected to be living like The Jetsons, the space age television cartoon series of the early 1960s, but the Zogby International survey of more than 3,000...
Improve 3G Modem Reception with a Kitchen Pot...
It would only make sense, after seeing what a kitchen strainer and aluminum foil can do, that a metal kitchen pot would provide a significant signal boost for a mobile broadband modem, or “dongle.” The homemade video evidence tells all.
The video is edited in a rather stuttered style for reasons unknown, but the segments where a USB broadband modem is...
Today is not New Yearâs Eve â or the end of...
El Reg would like to apologise to all its readers for the recent spate of ill-timed end of the decade articles, which it, along with the rest of the media have been tacking on to the close of 2009.
In fact, the end of the first decade of the 21st century does not take place until the year 2010. Or 2004 if a more accurate reckoning is made of the current date.
However, following an...
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Official Lego iPhone photo app launches
If, like us, you have often wished to have the ability to turn the real world around you into a Lego simulacrum of reality, then the new Lego Photo app for iPhone has been designed almost specifically for you. The newly-launched Official iPhone Lego App is two things that we like. It is both awesome AND free, so you really do have no excuse to not play around with Lego photos today. Unless you...
In Depth: The 12 most incredible games of the...
It’s not only the traditional time of year for us to compile our lists of favourite things, it is the time of the decade for definitive lists of favourite things. Add this to the fact that geeks, tech-heads and gamers just love to compile definitive lists, and you will understand what a job it has been trying to identify a list of only 12 games that could genuinely be described as...
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Stanley Torch Watch lights your path, highlights...
It takes a rather unique — or hilarious! — flashlight to make the pages of this august publication. We’ve seen torches that record video and torches that induce nausea, but never before have we seen a flashlight that’s been haphazardly shoved into a digital clock and called a “watch.” The Stanley LED Torch Watch features a backlit alarm clock, timer, and mini...
âStart-upâ visas to boost US tech
A proposal that will make it easier for foreign entrepreneurs in the US to start the next Google or Yahoo will be debated in the new year. Congressman Jared Polis has proposed a start-up visa to entice “foreigners with good ideas” to stay in the US. The issue has been gathering steam in Silicon Valley where half of all tech company founders are...
Welcome to the out-of-control decade
Comment Back in the turbulent 1960s, the anti-establishment rabble was often derided as being “out of control.” Fast-forward 50 years to the 2010s, when that same phrase will soon be back in vogue.
But with a very different meaning.
The coming decade is shaping up to be one in which we, as consumers and citizens, will see our control over choice and privacy eroded by business...
Update: Fox Rejects Arbitration in Time Warner...
Time Warner Cable said Tuesday that it is open to an agreement that would keep News Corp.-owned TV channels on its lineup while the two companies continue to negotiate licensing fees, but News Corp. is reportedly not in favor of an extension.
Without a deal, Fox stations could go dark for Time Warner Cable customers at midnight tomorrow.
“Time Warner Cable will agree to whatever...
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Mophie iPhone credit card reader coming to a CES...
iPhone accessory maker and recession antidote regular Mophie is about to make the most buzzworthy move of its short history by offering a credit card reader and accompanying transaction app for the Apple handset. Positioned as a direct competitor to Jack Dorsey’s Square iPhone Payment System, Mophie’s solution looks to be integrated into an iPhone case — making it possible to...
Orange launching Mobile HD Voice in 2010 [UK]
Orange has announced that it will offer mobile High Definition (HD) Voice for its customers in late 2010. The announcement is a first for any UK mobile operator. Currently voice calls use a narrowband speech codec of 300–3400 Hz meaning call quality isn’t as crystal clear as it could be. HD Voice uses the WB-AMR (Wideband Adaptive Multi-Rate) speech codec. This provides excellent...
Report: Rush Limbaugh taken to Hawaii hospital
A Honolulu television station is reporting that conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh has been taken to a hospital with chest pains.
Related posts: My hospital HAL – Google man moots syringe that says no
Kleiner Perkins Joins the Private Sale Rush
Kleiner Perkins Joins the Private Sale Rush
http://bit.ly/92XGdp
Ford Announces App Store for Sync Applications
Ford this week announced an app store for its Sync applications.
The Sync Open API lets developers create applications, or port over existing applications, for use with the Sync audio and Bluetooth system that’s on more than one million Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury vehicles.
Ford recently showed the first two applications, SyncCast and FollowMe, developed in just 100 days this fall by a...
Palm Unveils WebOS Upgrades for Pre, Pixi
Earlier this week Palm announced version 1.3.5 of WebOS, the operating system on the Palm Pre and Palm Pixi smartphones.
The update doesn’t include any new applications or utilities, but it does make some significant changes to the operating system that users have been clamoring for, including the ability to use all of the storage capacity of the phone for app downloads, improved battery...
Former Google China president reveals details on...
By Brian Garner
Published: 11:00 PM EST
The ex-president of Google China has revealed on his microblog supposed details on Apple’s forthcoming tablet: 10.1-inch screen with webcam, “awesome UI.”
Kaifu Lee, former president of Google China, someone with supposed close ties to Apple, has revealed several details about Apple’s tablet on his...
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Nexus One trounces 3D benchmark, gets caught in...
Just when you thought you’d seen it all with Nexus One, along comes an old friend with some higher resolution shots of the handset (hooray!) and a pretty impressive 3D benchmark test using Qualcomm’s Neocore. Video’s after the break —that Snapdragon chip outputs a mean framerate, no? Continue reading Nexus One trounces 3D benchmark, gets caught in high-res photoshootNexus...
The Litl Has a Big Idea
One of the hottest ideas in the digital world now is the notion of dumping the traditional personal computer, where most programs and data are stored locally, for a stripped-down device that would operate primarily as a gateway to servers on the Internet, where your programs and data are accessed remotely. This approach is often called “cloud computing.”
In fact, the original...
When Phone Says Youâre Drunk, Call a Taxi
By STEPHANIE SIMON
DENVER — Heather Poli wasn’t quite sure how to react when her friend’s cellphone informed her she was drunk.
The 27-year-old ad-agency worker had been at a bar here with her buddies. It was late; she was about to catch a ride home. Then a friend pulled out an iPhone, and the gang took turns entering their weights and what they had imbibed into an app...
Hulu Lets Us Know They Had a Killer Year
This year has been a very good one for video streaming site Hulu. What started out as a niche product for the more tech-savvy, has broken through into the mainstream community. Hulu CEO Jason Kilar wrote in a blog post that Hulu has over 43 million unique visitors. Thatâs a 95% increase over one year ago. As the number of visitors goes up, the number of streams goes up even faster, having...
Apple Wins iPod Hearing Loss Suit
NEW YORK - A federal appeals court on Wednesday rejected a class-action lawsuit seeking to hold Apple Inc responsible for possible hearing loss caused by using its popular iPod music player.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco affirmed a 2008 district court ruling that the plaintiffs failed to show that use of the iPod poses an unreasonable risk of noise-induced hearing loss.
...
Holiday E-Commerce Sales Increased Five Percent
Several readers wrote to us, in response to a Bits post about the best and worst e-commerce sites, to say that they did all their holiday shopping online this year.
âI did not set foot into a store this holiday season and all Christmas shopping was done online, completely stress-free,â wrote a reader in New York using the name Happy Online Shopper. âGreat prices, great service, no...
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Motorola buys Super Bowl ad spot
Looks like Motorola’s fully back in the game: not only does it have the hottest Android device you can (currently) buy in the Droid, word today is that the company’s dished out somewhere between $2.5 and $3 million for at least one Super Bowl commercial. It’s been a while since Motorola last spent so lavishly on an ad campaign, so we’re super curious to see what device...
Notion Ink to Offer âAdamâ, Tablet with First...
Hopping right into the tablet vacuum left by Appleâs conjectured announcement of a tablet device (What is it now, the iPad, iSlate or iGuide? Iâve lost track.), Notion Ink has announced a tablet of its own, the Adam, which will come equipped with Nvidiaâs Tegra, Android, and a Pixel Qi LCD display.
Tegra and Android are current news, so letâs focus on whatâs new: the Pixel Qi...
The Y2K That (Thankfully) Never Happened
In hindsight, the Y2K scare wasnât nearly as devastating as we all feared. But looking back to a decade ago, there was a high level of anxiety in the air. Through the last wintry months of 1999, people didnât really know what to expect. Would missiles begin a âWar Gamesâ chain of events between Russia and the United States? Would planes fall from the sky? Would everything on my...
Microsoftâs Dropped Call
BY MARTIN PEERS
Reasons to feel bearish about Microsoft aren’t hard to find. But it’s the software giant’s diminishing profile in the mobile world that is the talk of Silicon Valley right now. The explosion of mobile applications on devices like Apple’s iPhone and Motorola’s Droid presages far-reaching changes in consumer behavior. Google gets that....
How Can I Defog My Car Windows Quicker? [Ask...
Dear Lifehacker,
I hate when my car windows fog up. Is there a trick to defogging them as quickly as possible?
Signed,
Can’t See the Street
Photo by Muffet.
Dear Can’t See the Street,
Depending on the temperature and the situation you’ll want to attack the condensation on your windows with different methods.
It’s chilly in most of the...
The Game Boy: My Favorite Games of the Decade,...
So here we are. The ballâs just about to drop on 2010, and while weâre not controlling games with our brains or Vulcan nerve pinching aliens on the holodeck just yet, itâs been a pretty great decade for games, all told. So Iâve written an arbitrarily numbered list of my favorite games of the past decade, because what else are you going to do to ring in a new decade? Your glamorous...
DirecTV to Launch First-Ever Satellite 3D-HD...
We always take rumors with a large grain of salt, but as far as pre-release speculation goes, news and rumor site Fudzilla has a knack for being right on the money. And if their latest claim turns out to be true, DirecTV will announce the world’s first satellite 3D-HD channel next month during CES.
What isn’t known is when the channel will actually go online, though it’s...
Canadian Start-up Sticks it to Google, Wins Domain...
Going up against Google over a domain name dispute is like facing the Boston Celtics in the NBA championship. In other words, there’s a good chance you’re going to lose. Out of the 65 domain name disputes Google has filed to date, it has only lost twice, the most recent coming today.
The latest dispute involved Groovle.com, which Google claims is “confusingly similar” to...
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Ten gadgets that defined the decade
As 2009 winds down and we try to come up with new and clever ways of referring to the early years of this century, there’s really only one thing left to do: declare our ten favorite gadgets of the aughts and show them off in chronological order. It’s arguable that if this wasn’t the decade of gadgets, it was certainly a decade shaped by gadgets — one which saw the birth...
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HTC Russia says HD2 will get Windows Mobile 7...
And what do we have here? HTC’s Russian contingent has been rather forthcoming with its Windows Mobile 7 plans this morning, which will please HD2 owners but disappoint many others. The good news is that HTC’s flagship WinMo handset is assured of getting Microsoft’s finest when it comes out, but the bad news is that the rest of the line will remain stuck at version 6.5 or...
Sales of Appleâs iWork office suite surge 50% in...
By Neil Hughes
Published: 10:20 AM EST
Apple’s iWork software suite, in both standalone and box set SKUs, had a strong 2009, particularly in the wake of the launch of Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard in August.
According to the NPD Group, iWork 2009 sold 50 percent more units in its first 11 months on the market, from January to November 2009, than its predecessor,...
Microsoft Hopes to Turn Windows Mobile Into a...
Even Windows Mobile’s most militant admirer will find it difficult to rate the mobile OS as a competent gaming platform. Microsoft is hoping that it will soon be able to restore parity between WinMo and other contemporary smartphones. For WinMo to compete with the Androids and the iPhones, it will need to provide a vastly improved gaming experience than it currently offers. Two new job...