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27 January 2010

1. Portable Power Solutions

PowerStick: Portable, universal, and clever USB charger for iPhone and iPod touch

Carbon nanotubes used to make batteries from fabrics

Pull-string charger eliminates the plug-in leash

2. Google's Nexus 1 Cellphone

Speech recognition - profanity

Claims by heirs of Philip K. Dick for royalties on "Nexus" (from Blade Runner)

Android or iPhone? Wrong Question

3. If Your Kids Are Awake, They’re Probably Online

The average young American now spends practically every waking minute — except for the time in school — using a smart phone, computer, television or other electronic device, according to a new study from the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Those ages 8 to 18 spend more than seven and a half hours a day with such devices, compared with less than six and a half hours five years ago, when the study was last conducted. And that does not  count the hour and a half that youths spend texting, or the half-hour they talk on their cellphones.

Bits & Bobs

Video game music scores are to be recognised at the Ivor Novello awards, which hail excellence in music writing.

16 December 2009

1. Study: Americans Consume 34 Gigabytes of Information Per Day

A report looks at the year 2008 and tries to quantify how much information the average American consumes across all forms of media: TV, newspaper, Web sites, radio, you name it. When you crunch all the numbers, it looks like the average American consumes 34 gigabytes of data every single day.

2. @Uh-oh: Twoddler lets toddlers send tweets

A prototype gadget --the Twoddler, a tricked-out Fisher Price Activity Center with pictures of family members and friends attached and an Arduino board inside. When a child presses a certain picture for a
select amount of time, software captures sensor data from the activity center and selects and sends a predefined text related to that data.

3. Is the 'Bandwidth Hog' a Myth?

They claim that bandwidth hogs steal all the bandwidth and cause network congestion, and therefore their behaviour harms all the other regular and peaceful law-abiding users. And to add insult to injury
they pay the same price as the others! No, policing and rationing must be applied by the benevolent telco to protect the innocent.

Unfortunately, to the best of our knowledge, the way that telcos identify the Bandwidth Hogs is not by monitoring if they cause unfair traffic congestion for other users. No, they just measure the total data downloaded per user, list the top 5% and call them hogs.

For those service providers with data caps, these are usually set around 50 Gbyte and go up to 150 Gbyte a month. This is therefore a good indication of the level of bandwidth at which you start being considered a "hog".  But wait: 50 Gbyte a month is… 150 kbps average (0,15 Mbps), 150 Gbyte a month is 450 kbps on average. If you have a 10 Mbps link, that’s only 1,5 % or 4,5 % of its maximum advertised speed!

And that would be "hogging"?

Bits & Bobs

Welcome to Lug-It, the quick and easy p2p package delivery system Lug-it builds you a peer-to-peer package delivery system on top of your extended social network.

Once you sign into FaceBook you can create quick, easy listings for the packages you want to send/receive. We then find you that friend (or friend of a friend ad infinitum) in your network who will be going to the city where you want your package delivered.
http://www.lug-it.com/

Site of the Week: Let them sing it for you

2 December 2009

1. 2009 Year-End Google Zeitgeist: New Zealand

Kiwis headed online this year to learn about things both close to home (new toll roads, lyrics to Kiwi music, Matariki) and global phenomena (swine flu, twilight, twitter, sustainability). But some things don't change - All Blacks tickets are still the most searched for, and we still love our TradeMe. Enjoy this look at New Zealand's searching psychology.

2. If You Gain Unauthorized Access To A Character In A Virtual World, Is It Theft?

If it's okay to charge someone for theft of virtual goods in a virtual world, what do you do if "theft" is a part of the game? And then does killing another character in a virtual world become "murder"? These
issues are coming up again as Slashdot points out that a guy in the UK has been arrested for "robbery" of a player in the online world RuneScape.

3. Pub 'fined £8k ($18,000)' for Wi-Fi copyright infringement

A pub owner has been fined £8,000 because someone unlawfully downloaded copyrighted material over their open Wi-Fi hotspot

Bits & Bobs

There will be 1.2 billion Wi-Fi hotspot connections worldwide by the end of 2009, up 47 percent from a year ago, according to research firm In-Stat. Worldwide hotspot venues will reach 245,000 locations in
2009.

Despite talk of piracy damaging their cut and the recession, APRA manage to announce a substantial increase in profits.

Site of the Week: interfacelift.com

Amazing backgrounds to suit all sizes of desktop (including dual monitors)

26 November 2009

1. What happened to Second Life?

Not long ago Second Life was everywhere, with businesses opening branches and bands playing gigs in this virtual world. Today you'd be forgiven for asking if it's still going.

Once upon a time Second Life had a Twitter level of hype. Even those without a cartoon version of themselves couldn't plead ignorance due to blanket coverage in newspapers and magazines.

2. Depressed woman loses benefits over Facebook photos

A Quebec woman on long-term sick leave is fighting to have her benefits reinstated after her employer's insurance company cut them, she says, because of photos posted on Facebook.

She said her insurance agent described several pictures Blanchard posted on the popular social networking site, including ones showing her having a good time at a Chippendales bar show, at her birthday party and on a sun holiday — evidence that she is no longer depressed, Manulife said.

3. YouTube turning on automatic captions

Ever since 2006, Google has allowed those uploading videos to first Google Video, and then YouTube, to place captions in their videos so that deaf or hearing-impaired viewers can follow what's going on.

However, there's only about 100,000 videos on YouTube (out of the hundreds of millions on the site) that use the caption option because of the time and expense of transcribing a video, uploading a caption, and timing it properly to the action onscreen.

Warning that results may vary at first, Google engineers later this week plan to turn automatic captioning loose on the YouTube Education channel for videos in English.

Bits & Bobs

Men and women have different approaches to dealing with technology problems, according to a gadget helpline. The service found that 64% of its male callers and 24% of its female callers had not read the instruction manual before ringing up.

There will be 1.2 billion Wi-Fi hotspot connections worldwide by the end of 2009, up 47 percent from a year ago, according to research firm In-Stat. Worldwide hotspot venues will reach 245,000 locations in 2009.

18 November 2009

1. Get your phone embedded in your arm

Called a Digital Tattoo interface and made as a project for the Greener Design Competition, the device is permanently implanted between the skin and muscle in your arm. The interface is visible through the skin like dark marks from a tattoo. You can answer your phone through the device, and a video of your caller comes up, you can browse the internet or just download a picture to sit there, looking like a standard tattoo.

2. Free uploads for summer holidays

From now until the end of January, all Telecom home broadband customers will be able to upload whatever they want without affecting their monthly data allowance.

“Postcards, Christmas cards, holiday snaps and videos: the great Kiwi Christmas holiday is all about sharing experiences with family and friends,” says Telecom Director of Home Ralph Brayham. “Letting New Zealanders upload content online for free is our way of recognising and encouraging the modern equivalent of that great tradition.”

3. Intel debuts text reading device

Chip giant Intel has shown-off a device designed to give vision-impaired and dyslexic people access to printed text.

The device, known as the Reader, captures text and then reads it aloud and displays it on its built-in screen.

Bits & Bobs

I got invited to Google Wave. And I recently upgraded to Windows 7, no review, but I know what it looks like.

Men and women have different approaches to dealing with technology problems, according to a gadget helpline. The service found that 64% of its male callers and 24% of its female callers had not read the instruction manual before ringing up.

There will be 1.2 billion Wi-Fi hotspot connections worldwide by the end of 2009, up 47 percent from a year ago, according to research firm In-Stat. Worldwide hotspot venues will reach 245,000 locations in
2009

4 December 2009

1. A New Electronic Reader, the Nook, Enters the Market

"One of the differentiating factors of the Nook is that customers can “lend” books to friends. But customers may lend out any given title only one time for a total of 14 days and they cannot read it on their own Nook while it is lent."

2. Google offers free sat-nav and music search

Google has announced a free mobile satellite navigation application and a music element to its search, but both are limited to US users for now.

Google has stepped up its challenge to rival Apple with a sat-nav application for Samsung and Motorola smartphones running Google's Android operating system.

The new navigation application will add real-time directions, Google Street View photos, live traffic data and voice technology. Industry analysts say this combination could pose a serious challenge to established sat-nav suppliers like Garmin and Tom-Tom.

Google search results in the US now automatically include links to audio previews of artists, songs and albums.

3. Recovery.gov Augmented Reality Mashup

As of today Android and iPhone 3GS users can see recovery.gov contract data on their phones via the Layar augmented reality application. Layar is an application that overlays your view of the real world with waypoints representing your favorite coffee place, the movie theatre you're trying to find, or in this case, where some of that $787 billion from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is going.

If you have an iPhone 3GS or Android device you can install the Layar app for free and then search for "recovery" or "sunlight" within Layar to find this layer. The layer works best near large cities where you are most likely to find recovery contracts.

Bits & Bobs

A market research report found that VoIP services worldwide topped $US20 billion in the first half of the year and were set for even more growth, as recession-plagued customers turn to VoIP to save money.

Bandit.fm's New Zealand launch is set for late November.  The new service will let you stream (play but not save) an unlimited number of songs each month for $9.95, payable in advance by credit card. Bandit.fm will also offer a more traditional, iTunes-style service that will let you buy individual songs, albums and videos to download and keep.

Site of the Week: www.eyc.org.nz

Wellington ICT which promotes technology to non profit organisations is running a conference next week for non profits on how to use communication technology. Called Engage Your Community. Topics will include social media,  writing for the web, online marketing etc. Interesting line up of NZ speakers from orgs like National Library, Oxfam etc.

14 October 2009

1. Iceland exports "cold"

In Iceland, with its year round cool climate and chilly fresh water, just a fraction of this energy for cooling is needed. It means big savings. Just outside Reykjavik, work is well advanced on the first site which its owners hope will spark a server cold rush.

In around a year - if all goes according to plan - the first companies will start leasing space in this data centre. And if this proves successful more sites are planned.

The company expects demand to be huge because as the number of servers around the world grows, a big environmental cloud is looming - all that energy use means an increase in CO2 production. Iceland has far more power than it can domestically use

2. "Paranormal activity" rides the social web to millions at the box office

A social media campaign Paramount is sing with the low-budget horror film, “Paranormal Activity” succeeds wildly.

Although the goal of 1,000,000 requests for wide-release was met, the real test of the campaign’s success came over the weekend. The results? Spectacular. The film expanded to 160 screens and averaged $49,379 per screen.

That’s the highest per-screen average ever for a film playing in more than 100 theaters. These results would be impressive regardless of the marketing method used, but the fact that the campaign has been very, very Internet — and especially social media focused, makes this story that much more interesting.

3. Phone sales hit by Sidekick loss

US carrier T-Mobile has halted sales of the Sidekick cellphone after a server caused customers to lose personal data. Microsoft subsidiary Danger, which designed Sidekick's software and service, confirmed the disruption. The issue is seen by industry experts as the largest failing for cloud computing in recent memory.

Site of the Week: photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com

"Have you seen a truly awful piece of Photoshop work? Clumsy manipulation, senseless comping, lazy cloning and thoughtless retouching are our bread and butter. And yes, deep down, we love
Photoshop."

7 October 2009

1. LED lightbulb puts out equivalent of 60 watt bulb, uses only 6 watts

So what’s the big deal? Well, the bulb only consumes six watts of power and puts out light equivalent to a standard 60-watt bulb. Also, unlike standard light bulbs, this one’s got an estimated working life of 25 years. Imagine moving into a new house or apartment and bringing the lightbulbs over from your old place.

2. Google Wave

Google Wave is a tool for communication and collaboration on the web.

In Google Wave, users create and invite other people to “waves”. Everyone on a wave can use richly formatted text, photos, gadgets, and even feeds from other sources on the web. They can insert a reply or edit the wave directly. It’s concurrent rich-text editing, where you see what other users on the wave are typing in real-time. That means Google Wave is just as well suited for quick messages as for persistent content – it allows for both collaboration and communication. You can also use “playback” to rewind the wave to see how it evolved.

3. Google SideWiki

Google Sidewiki is a browser sidebar that lets you contribute and read information alongside any web page, enabling point-specific comments, expert opinions, and related links to be aggregated.

Bits & Bobs

Cinemas Must Warn Visitors Of ‘Anti-Pirate’ Goggles - To prevent movie goers from sneaking in recording equipment, movie theaters nowadays have implemented all sorts of security measures. Employees are equipped with night-vision goggles so they can closely monitor the public.

In Germany the local authorities decided to do something about this. The state administration office of Sachsen-Anhalt ruled that movie visitors must be informed about the use of night vision goggles before they buy their tickets. This advance notice allows them to decide if they want to be spied on or not.

IBM Aims To Undercut Gmail - Big Blue's new $3/inbox/month enterprise e-mail service could steal market share from Google.

ASTONISHINGLY, “Monty Python’s Flying Circus,” the groundbreaking BBC comedy series, is 40 years old this year, almost as ancient as the Beatles.  And still getting paid.

Site of the Week: mobileactive.org/blog

A global network of people using mobile technology for social impact.

23 September 2009

1. More than 20,000 online creators meet over 6,000 digital fabricators

The launch last week of www.100kgarages.com begins a new chapter in how things are made and distributed, enabling anyone with an Internet connection to get almost anything custom made and delivered from local state-of-the-art digital makers.

The website is a partnership between Ponoko, the making system, and ShopBot, who design affordable, high-performance digital making tools.

2. Web-monitoring software gathers data on kid chats

Software sold under the Sentry and FamilySafe brands can read private chats conducted through Yahoo, MSN, AOL and other services, and send back data on what kids are saying about such things as movies, music or video games. The information is then offered to businesses seeking ways to tailor their marketing messages to kids.

Bits & Bobs

Nissan gives silent electric cars 'Blade Runner' appeal - “We decided that if we’re going to do this, if we have to make sound, then we’re going to make it beautiful and futuristic,” Toshiyuki Tabata, Nissan’s noise and vibration expert.

Google's Data Liberation Front Aims to Make Your Data Portable - The Data Liberation Front wants to make it easier for you to get your data out of Google services and take it wherever you please. In other words, Google wants you to use their services because you like them, not because you’re trapped in them.

In South Africa, carrier pigeon faster than broadband - The fast data delivery that broadband promises has yet to materialize. So much so, in fact, that a carrier pigeon can beat it.

Like a 1.2 billion pound book - If you printed the internet reading it would take 57,000 years 24/7. Reading it for 10 minutes a night before bed would take 8,219,088 years.
 
Mobile app sees science go global - A mobile phone application will help professional and "citizen" scientists collect and analyse data from "in the field", anywhere in the world.

Audio labels speak to the blind - A low-cost device for attaching audio labels to everyday objects is on show at a technology event for people with impaired vision.

Introducing the color picker pen - A pen that lets you scan a color from your environment. The pen, using RGB ink cartridges in the pen, will then immediately let you draw with the selected coloUr. Pricing
and availability hasn’t been announced yet
 
Site of the Week: 100kgarages.com

100Kgarages is a community of workshops all over the world that are run by "Fabbers", with digital fabrication tools for precisely cutting, machining, drilling, or sculpting the components of your project. We're here to help hook you up with these Fabbers. 100kGarages is also a place to learn how the process works and to help you create and refine your own creative designs and make them "Fabber
ready".

9 September 2009

1. Google map shows free food sources in city

Residents have pooled their knowledge of public fruit trees and wild foods from Aro Valley to Island Bay and pinpointed the locations on Google Maps.

2. ROBOs changing retail rules of engagement

The increasing number of people who are researching online before buying offline - known as ROBOs - is fuelling a mini-boom in retailers advertising online, with search marketing rather than e-commerce
leading the charge.

Half of Australia's shoppers are going online before they go into a shop, says a study by Google and the Australian Centre for Retail Studies.

3. Open Textbooks beat Proprietary Publishers

Recently California's Governor announced a free digital textbook competition. The results of that competition were announced today. Of the 16 free digital textbooks for high school math and science
reviewed, "ten meet at least 90 percent of California's standards. Four meet 100 percent of standards." Three of those recognised as 100% aligned to California standards were from CK-12 and one from H. Jerome Keisler. None of the publisher's submissions were so recognised.

26 August 2009

1. Kids' top searches include 'porn'

A survey of children's web habits shows that "sex" and "porn" are among the top 10 most-searched terms.

2. Layar Reality Browser 2.0 Launched Globally

The Layar Reality Browser displays real time digital information on top of reality in the camera screen of the mobile phone. While looking through the phone’s camera lens, a user can see houses for sale, popular bars and shops, tourist information of the area, play a live game, etcetera.

3. UK Government is proposing a tougher stance which would include cutting off repeat offenders from the net

Originally the Digital Britain report, published in June, gave Ofcom until 2012 to consider whether technical measures to catch pirates were necessary. However, according to a statement from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) released on Tuesday, that timeframe is now
considered "too long to wait". Stephen Timms, minister for Digital Britain, said: "We've been listening carefully to responses to the consultation this far, and it's become clear there are widespread concerns that the plans as they stand could delay action, impacting unfairly upon rights holders."

Bits & Bobs

The Big Draw of a GPS Run

Part sport, part art, GPS drawing lets runners, walkers, cyclists and hikers imagine themselves anew, they are neo-cartographers, jumbo-size doodlers and bipedal pencils, mapping their track lines across cities, roads and farms, and sharing them online.

Site of the Week: www.usnowfilm.com

In a world in which information is like air, what happens to power? New technologies and a closely related culture of collaboration  present radical new models of social organisation. This project brings
together leading practitioners and thinkers in this field and asks them to determine the opportunity for government. This website features all material being created during the making of the film.

29 July 2009

1. Monitoring your web usage

Censorship software is coming to the New Zealand internet - but unlike Australia, our site filtering programme is voluntary for internet service providers, and centres around software custom developed to
exclusively target images of child sexual abuse.

2. Monitoring your sleep patterns

The Zeo stores your sleep records on a memory card. As often as you can, you’re supposed to pop it out and insert it into a U.S.B. card reader (also included) on your computer. At this point, you can go to MyZeo.com and upload your data to the Web for further analysis.

3. Monitoring your rubbish

Tracking devices - about the size of a match-box - will make their in Seattle, where thousands of volunteers will attach the tags to trash selected by researchers and then discard the rubbish as they normally would. The tags then provide real-time location information which can be plotted and followed on the researchers website. The hope is that tracking the trash through the disposal system - and making it viewable in real time - will cause consumers to give more thought to what they are tossing out.

Bits & Bobs

Pirate Bay, sold...

Entertainment Industry Growth
Film: Despite film production down 20.7% in 2008 the MPAA has reported a word-wide 5.2% increase in box office profits.
Music Performance Licensing: APRA had their best year ever in 2008. Music Sales: Up in the US by 10.5% this year and singles up 27%.
Gaming: Profits up 30% over last year or up 300% since 2000
UK Music Industry’s Own Economist Says Revenue Up 4.7%

15 July 2009

1. The Return of S92A

MED have announced a Section 92A Review Policy Proposal Document for public comment. The document was released yesterday and it appears to be significantly better, affording due process and for independent experts to decide if an infringement has occurred - the Copyright Tribunal. Internet account termination is still an option.

2. Google announces an Operating System, Microsoft Plans to enter the free on-line word processing market.

While both are examples of "announceware" in that they aren't immediately available, the implications are interesting.

Bits & Bobs

Site of the Week: www.fancyfastfood.com

"Yeah, its still bad for you, but see how good it can look."

Funny FAIL Pictures and Videos, especially OMG You Fail So Hard.

1 July 2009

1. Sky hits pause on online service

Pay television giant Sky is planning to hit the pause button on its Sky Online site, saying the service does not make sense in the current New Zealand broadband market.  Chief executive John Fellet said data caps applied by internet service providers had been annoying too many customers who subscribed to Sky Online.

2. It Happens When Nobody’s Watching

An interactive poster for Amnesty International. The camera detects when you're looking at the ad and only shows the violent image when you're looking away.

3. Grameen Foundation, Google and MTN Uganda Launch New Mobile Services for Uganda's Poor

In Africa, it is launching a suite of SMS services today, including SMS search, Q&A-style tips, and an SMS-based marketplace. But the most interesting application is Google Trader, which allows people to post items for sale and jobs via SMS. The first country to get these services is Uganda.

Bits & Bobs

The Pirate Bay sold

Site of the Week: thereifixedit.com

"Kludge - An ill-assorted collection of poorly matching parts, forming a distressing whole. There are as many sources for the word Kludge as there are jury-rigged mailboxes in the mobile home parks of America. Whether the source of the word is Gaelic, German, or Naval Acronym, we know them when we see them, and on this web site, we celebrate these iconic images of mankind’s eternal struggle to hammer square pegs into round holes (with duct tape.)"
Jackson Granholm
Datamation Magazine February 1962

17 June 2009

1. Iran Election

Twitter has been a focal point in coverage of the Iran election, as its users have railed against mainstream-media outlets and shared proxy information so that Iranian citizens can maintain anonymous Internet access.

Users also asked the microblogging service to postpone its maintenance so that it could stay online as protests hit a flash point, which Twitter agreed to late Monday. At a conference Tuesday, Twitter
co-founder Jack Dorsey thanked the service’s hosting provider, NTT America, for delaying the upgrade.

2. Time Spent on Social Networks Doubles in a Year

If you thought you wasted a lot of time on Facebook last year, this year things have gotten out of hand, according to a study by Nielsen Online. Time spent last year reading our friends' Facebook updates and sharing "25 Random Things About Me" questionnaires totaled 1.7 billion minutes compared to this year's total of 13.9 billion. That's a 700 percent increase in time spent.

3. On the Street and On Facebook: The Homeless Stay Wired - Mr. Pitts Lacks a Mailing Address But He's Got a Computer and a Web Forum

Like most San Franciscans, Charles Pitts is wired. Mr. Pitts, who is 37 years old, has accounts on Facebook, MySpace and Twitter. He runs an Internet forum on Yahoo, reads news online and keeps in touch with friends via email. The tough part is managing this digital lifestyle from his residence under a highway bridge.

"You don't need a TV. You don't need a radio. You don't even need a newspaper," says Mr. Pitts, an aspiring poet in a purple cap and yellow fleece jacket, who says he has been homeless for two years. "But you need the Internet."

Bits & Bobs

The Associated Press will make investigative stories from four nonprofit news organizations available to its member newspapers beginning in July.

The invention that transformed the supply chain — the Universal Product Code bar code — turns 35 on June 26. The UPC bar code has 59 machine readable black and white bars that identify products and its
manufacturer. Despite all the talk about RFID devices taking over the supply chain, the bar code is alive and well.

3 June 2009

1. Google Wave

"Essentially, Wave is an architecture, and not really a very new one. It's an old solution to a very old problem: that of synchronicity in distributed applications. As database architects know better than
anyone, the problem with maintaining a distributed database is that multiple users may make changes that conflict with each other, leading to disparity and multiple versions."

It extensibly supports aspects of email, instant messaging, wikis, web chat, social networking, and project management to build many elegant, in-browser communication clients and to federate (interoperate) among autonomous servers.

2. Microsoft Bing - Is it a search engine? Is it a computational knowledge engine?

No it's a decision engine. Microsoft relaunches its live.com search aiming to beat Yahoo! for the number two spot.

3. Academics tot up costs of mobiles

Mathematicians and scientific advisers from Oxford University have helped develop a price comparison website for mobile phone users.

Despite attempts to simplify, new Telecom XT network charges are still a challenge.

Bits & Bobs

Wolfram Alpha - has "search web" button that chucks to Google. Plus Firefox add-ons allow you to compare results. Computes result for "How many roads must a man walk down before you can call him a man?"

Site of the Fortnight Before: StarshipMPA

Starship's Mobile Phone Recycling Campaign has officially launched (February) and you can now turn your old technological trash into essential equipment and services for Starship kids. Old cellphones with onset of XT.

Site of the Week: PapersPast

Papers Past contains more than one million pages of searchable digitised New Zealand newspapers and periodicals. The collection covers the years 1839 to 1920 and includes publications from all regions of New Zealand.

20 May 2009

1. Wolfram Alpha - Computational Knowledge Engine

"Alpha’s biggest problem, right now, is interpreting search queries. Too often, a minor change in a query can mean the difference between no result, and finding exactly what you are looking for."

Very good at what its good at, Betamax to Google's VHS.  Not called a search engine, 'cos it isn't one.

Interesting to note competition to Google may be coming from the social networks. In "How Twitter and Facebook Now Compete with Google" Mark Cuban notes "For the 1st time ever, more people are finding my blog from Twitter and Facebook referrals than via Google."  A sentiment echoed by John Borthwick, "Over the past year there has been a rapid shift in social distribution online. I believe this evolution represents an important change in how people find and use things  online. At betaworks I am seeing some of our companies get 15-20% of daily traffic via social distribution — and the percentage is growing."

2.  The Hidden Secrets of Online Quizzes

While Web quizzes may be fun to take, they're also a powerful tool for companies to collect your data and even your money -- and often in ways you might not notice.

3. Google’s SkyMap: A Virtual Viewfinder For The Stars

Google recently released an application called SkyMap, made for Android phones.

At first glance, the application seems like a basic interactive starmap. You can flick through space, looking at your favorite stars and including overlays of constellations. But the application also houses far more impressive functionality. By tapping into the phone’s compass and accelerometer, SkyMap can serve as a virtual viewfinder for space - just point the phone in any direction in the sky, and the application will tell you which stars you’re looking at.

Perhaps even more exciting: this is just a taste of what’s to come from our mobile devices. Phones are quickly becoming far more than communication tools - they’re becoming tools that streamline and enhance our lives. And now they can tell what we’re looking at in the real world, serving up contextually relevant information in real time.

Bits & Bobs

"I'm a guy who doesn't see anything good having come from the Internet. Period." That bit of insight is from Sony Pictures CEO Michael Lynton

6 April 2009

1. Panasonic’s Lumix GH1

The Lumix doesn't just recognize that something *is* a face; it actually tries to determine *whose* face it is. That way, it can give priority of focus and exposure to your own friends and family, even
plucking them out of a crowd.

2. Man Delivers Baby With YouTube's Help

Don’t Try This At Home, but sometimes one has no choice. Pressed for time, a British man delivered his wife’s baby with the help of instructions uploaded to YouTube.

3. Chinese Exercise Balls That Kinetically Charge Your Batteries

Inspired by Chinese baoding balls, Shanghai designer Jiang Qian has created a kinetic charger concept that juices up your batteries all while fixing that pesky carpal tunnel.

Bits & Bobs

Windows 7 for yourself? Head to http://microsoft.com/downloads

Site of the Week: www.textsfromlastnight.com. Hilarious regrettable TXT messages... drexting, texting while drunk, or otherwise incapacitated.

22 April 2009

1. Guardian launches Open Platform service to make online content available free

The Guardian today launched Open Platform, a service that will allow partners to reuse guardian.co.uk content and data for free and weave it "into the fabric of the internet".

Open Platform launched with two separate content-sharing services, which will allow users to build their own applications in return for carrying Guardian advertising.

 A content application programming interface (API) will smooth the way for web developers to build applications and services using Guardian content, while a Data Store will contain datasets curated by Guardian editors and open for others to use.

2. The Pirate Bay founders sentenced to prison, website soldiers on

In what's being described as a landmark verdict, four men responsible for assisting throngs of dubious internet users to download all sorts of copyrighted material are being ushered off to prison cells for
twelve whole months. The Stockholm district court in Sweden found the defendants guilty not of hosting materially illegally, but of "providing a website with sophisticated search functions, simple download and storage capabilities, and a tracker linked to the website [that helped users commit copyright violations]."

3. Australian music chart website We Are Hunted is top of the pops

We Are Hunted promises to chart what people are really listening to by searching through social networks, blogs, file-sharing networks and Twitter instead of official sales figures. It also lets users listen to the songs (streamed from other sites) in full or purchase them from iTunes. (rates "Elenore" by the Turtles at 42).

Other sites that stream from other sites have not fared well in the US.  "The legality of Seeqpod is murky. The company says that it doesn’t store any songs, but instead streams them from countless music files littering sites across the web. In effect, it acts as a powerful music search engine with a media player built in."

Also Fizy.com

Bits & Bobs

Actor Ashton Kutcher and now a Web 2.0 enthusiast outperformed media-giant CNN in the cold battle to get one million followers on Twitter (currently 1,298,808), Oprah joins. Will celebrities poison the democratic well?

Did you know that you can assemble your own wiki pages from Wikipedia and print them out in boo form? You can, for a while now, thanks to a partnership between Wikimedia Foundation and a German startup called PediaPress. Last week, the wiki-to-print feature was activated for six more languages besides German but as of yesterday the functionality is also being tested on the regular English Wikipedia. Prices start at ~$NZ16.00 (100 pages).

A wink, a smile or a raised eyebrow could soon change the music on your iPod or start up the washing machine, thanks to a new Japanese gadget.

The device looks like a normal set of headphones but is fitted with a set of infrared sensors that measure tiny movements inside the ear that result from different facial expressions.

The gizmo - called the "Mimi Switch" or "Ear Switch" - is connected to a micro-computer that can control electronic devices,essentially making it a hands-free remote control for anything.

Site of the Week: ANZAC Poppies - www.ANZACPoppy.com

Contribute by buying handset ring-tones and wallpapers from the web. Also a Wall of Remembrance where you can contribute your personal remembrance of those who served and died in war without charge. If you don't have a cellphone, or one that doesn't do ring-tones or wallpaper, http://tr.im/ANZACPoppy is for you.

Great to see the Returned and Services Association moving with the times. Not so pleased to see the .com domain. This is a nationalist celebration/remembrance and its unfortunate that .nz wasn't the
primary site. Further, ANZACPoppy.co.nz and ANZACPoppy.org.nz have been registered (to prevent others I'm guessing) but they don't work.

Another interesting domain, NZOnAir.com? Check out http://nzonair.co.nz/

8 April 2009

1. Lure of free Skype calls to NZ firms

Yellow Pages are off the leash!

Users of internet calling service Skype have three months of free calls to New Zealand businesses under a deal with Yellow Pages.

Yellow Pages online listings will be available in Skype's directory service and links on yellow.co.nz will connect Skype users to business land lines for free - normally a 4c-per-minute call.

2.  iiNet pulls out of net censorship trials

Australia's third largest internet provider, iiNet, has withdrawn from the Government's internet censorship trials, saying "We are not able to reconcile participation in the trial with our corporate social responsibility, our customer service objectives and our public position on censorship," iiNet managing director Michael Malone said.

"It became increasingly clear that the trial was not simply about restricting child pornography or other such illegal material, but a much wider range of issues including what the Government simply describes as 'unwanted material' without an explanation of what that includes."

3. Guardian launches Open Platform service to make online content available free

The Guardian today launched Open Platform, a service that will allow partners to reuse guardian.co.uk content and data for free and weave it "into the fabric of the internet".

Open Platform launched with two separate content-sharing services, which will allow users to build their own applications in return for carrying Guardian advertising.

A content application programming interface (API) will smooth the way for web developers to build applications and services using Guardian content, while a Data Store will contain datasets curated by Guardian editors and open for others to use.

Bits & Bobs

S92A - Whither now?

$1.5B Crown Fibre Investment Company to drive deployment of optical fibre infrastructure to homes of 75% of New Zealanders.

Did you know that you can assemble your own wiki pages from Wikipedia and print them out in book form? You can, for a while now, thanks to a partnership between Wikimedia Foundation and a German startup called PediaPress. Last week, the wiki-to-print feature was activated for six more languages besides German but as of yesterday the functionality is also being tested on the regular English Wikipedia.

A wink, a smile or a raised eyebrow could soon change the music on your iPod or start up the washing machine, thanks to a new Japanese gadget.

The device looks like a normal set of headphones but is fitted with a set of infrared sensors that measure tiny movements inside the ear that result from different facial expressions.

The gizmo - called the "Mimi Switch" or "Ear Switch" - is connected to a micro-computer that can control electronic devices,essentially making it a hands-free remote control for anything.

Site of the Week: Tribe of Noise

Tribe of Noise is a music community that connects artists, fans and professionals. The music is uploaded by independent artists under a Creative Commons 3.0 by-share alike license in MP3 format. All music may be freely and lawfully shared.

11 March 2009

1. The Kindle 2 - eBook vs iPhone

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kindle

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9129139&intsrc=hm_list

http://features.csmonitor.com/innovation/2009/03/04/review-roundup-kindle-on-the-iphone/

The original kindle was launched in the United States November 19, 2007, and the new Kindle 2 became available for purchase on February 23, 2009. Price of the unit is USD $359. The new Kindle features improved battery life, 20 percent faster page-refreshing, a text-to-speech option to read the text aloud,  and overall thickness reduced from 0.8 to 0.36 inches (9.1 millimetres). The Kindle 2 has 2 GB of internal memory of which 1.4 GB is user-accessible. Amazon estimates that the Kindle 2 will hold about 1500 books.

Controversy surrounds the Text-To-Speech service. The American Author’s Guild claims that the text-to-speech software is illegal, stating that "they don’t have the right to read a book out loud". Paul Aiken, executive director of the Authors Guild, said "that’s an audio right, which is derivative under copyright law".

Amazon has responded by allowing per title disabling of the service. US copyright expert Lawrence Lessig has said "this is very bad news".

NB. It is also possible to modify the font size, which might impact on the large-print book market? Amazon has also release iPhone software. The free application allows users to read books already purchased through their Kindles, buy new ebooks from their phones, and access Amazon’s 240,000-title catalogue.

2. "Chavez Phone" promises to answer the prayers of the poorly connected

Although being dubbed the "Jesus Phone", Apple’s iPhone is unlikely to ever gain many followers among the less fortunate citizens of the world due to its relatively high price.

However, a savior for these poor souls is coming soon with a promise of eternal connectivity. And this one is also named after a larger-than-life figure - enter the "Chavez Phone".

Say what you will about semi-socialist revolutionaries, but at least Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez is answering his people’s prayers to get connected.

Last week he unveiled what is being touted as the world’s cheapest mobile phone costing just US$14 (NZ$26).

3. YouTube to block UK music videos

YouTube is blocking all premium music videos to UK users after failing to reach a new licensing agreement with the Performing Right Society (PRS).

Thousands of videos will be unavailable to YouTube users from later on Monday.

Steve Porter, head of the PRS, said he was "outraged... shocked and disappointed" by YouTube's decision.

In a statement, Mr Porter said the move "punishes British consumers and the songwriters whose interests we protect and represent".

The PRS has asked YouTube to reconsider its decision as a "matter of urgency".

The body, which represents music publishers, added: "Google has told us they are taking this step because they wish to pay significantly less than at present to the writers of the music on which their service relies, despite the massive increase in YouTube viewing.

Mr Walker told BBC News the PRS was seeking a rise in fees "many, many factors" higher than the previous agreement.

He said: "We feel we are so far apart that we have to remove content while we continue to negotiate with the PRS."

"We are making the message public because it will be noticeable to users on the site."

Bits & Bobs

The NSW Premier, Nathan Rees, has jumped into the middle of a spat between RailCorp and mobile software developers and has chosen to side with the developers. Last week it was revealed that RailCorp threatened four Australians with legal action over their applications for iPhones and other mobiles that allow people to check train times. The threats were made even though RailCorp offers no equivalent service to commuters.

The strong-arming by RailCorp, which invoked its copyright over timetable data, sparked a furore online and Rees was alerted to the issue over Twitter. Last week, he promised he would "look into it".

In a new Twitter message, Rees indicated he would override RailCorp's decision and force the bureaucracy to meet the mobile software developers and work out a way they can use the timetable data.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/technology/biztech/rees-orders-railcorp-to-talk-to-iphone-app-makers/2009/03/09/1236447098079.html

Did you know that you can assemble your own wiki pages from Wikipedia and print them out in book form? You can, for a while now, thanks to a partnership between Wikimedia Foundation and a German startup called PediaPress. Last week, the wiki-to-print feature was activated for six more languages besides German but as of yesterday the functionality is also being tested on the regular English Wikipedia.

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/QNsGSEe0aPM/

Site of the Week: http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/

Cake Wrecks: When professional cakes go horribly, hilariously wrong. Hat tip to Andrew Dubber for this link and much more.

25 February 2009

1. Online networking 'harms health'

There are concerns that social networking keeps people apart. People's health could be harmed by social networking sites because they reduce levels of face-to-face contact, claims Dr Aric Sigman,
author of Remotely Controlled: How Television is Damaging Our Lives - and what We Can Do about it.

2. Twitter! What Is It Good For? Absolutely Anything ...

Twitter's limited format of short, text-based announcements are a natural match for sites like TrackThis, which you can use to get status updates on FedEx and UPS packages, and Tweetajob, which job seekers can use to get real-time updates about new job openings. Anyone who needs help quitting smoking can use Qwitter to monitor their progress. Those looking to lose weight can turn to
TweetWhatYouEat or TweetYourEats. Hardware hackers have put a new spin on the Twitter mashup -- as it turns out, just about anything that can be plugged into the internet is capable of talking to Twitter.

Programmer Ryan Rose rigged up his washing machine to send him a tweet when his clothes are done. He just follows his machine's twitter account (it's PiMPY3WASH) and he knows when to go downstairs and move his undies to the dryer. Linux hacker Shantanu Goel set up a video camera and some motion-sensing software on a PC connected to the internet. If anyone breaks into his house or goes snooping through his room, the software detects the movement and sends out a tweet. Tech-savvy environmentalists can install Tweet-a-Watt, a gadget that plugs into your wall socket and connects to your wi-fi network. Once a day, the pocket-sized device broadcasts stats of your daily energy
usage to Twitter.

3. S92A

A controversial clause in copyright law covering the internet will be delayed until March 27 to see if the sector can make it workable, Prime Minister John Key announced Monday.

It is hoped that the sector could agree by then on a workable code of practice to implement the law which was intended to prevent copyright abuse on the internet. If no agreement was reached then the section would be suspended, Mr Key said. If a code was agreed to, there would be a review after six months to see if the law was working as it was intended. "Obviously our preference is for the parties to reach a compromise agreement with each other and hopefully the law will work properly," Mr Key said.
"If it doesn't we will change it."

"Mr Key has been advised that it was not possible to codify in law how copyright protection would work in practice and implementation of copyright law was best organised through a code of practice."

The Code of Practice, and WTF are the TCF?

Key: We still need a new internet copyright law

Tuesday, 24 February 2009
Mr Key Tuesday told TV3's Sunrise show that internet copyright laws were being implemented in countries aligned with New Zealand.

"One of the challenges is that internationally, the equivalent of Section 92A is emerging around the world - Australia has a version, the UK has a version," he said.

The laws were striving to recognise that copyright holders had some rights and could potentially be important here.

"If New Zealand was to sign a free-trade agreement with America for instance, we would need an equivalent of Section 92A," he said.

Site of the Week:

11 February 2009

1. Video games thrash movies and DVDs

The video games industry is now double the size of the boxoffice and more than 40 per cent larger than the movie disc industry in Australia, thanks to explosive growth in social games that allow the whole family to play.

Additionally, US film box offices broke multiple records this year,
grossing an estimated $9.78 billion. Thanks to both major and
not-so-major releases this year, films from studios like Warner Bros,
Paramount, and Sony all contributed to the highest-grossing year in
film history.

2. Hitachi highlights gesture-controlled HD TV

A prototype of a TV for which you are the remote. Wave at the TV and it turns on, another wave brings up the channel selection and turning your finger in the air adjusts the selection. Similar for volume. The TV can also control environmental factors such as temperature and lighting.

3. Google Latitude

Just in case you have ever wanted to know your friends' precise movements - every location, every right turn, every trip to Starbucks - Google has launched Latitude, a new feature for Google Maps that runs on your PC and mobile device.

Michael Zimmer, PhD, a writer on the subject of locational privacy considers Google got it right, mostly:

"Here's a quick rundown (based on my analysis of the help pages and this video) of what Google's done to help give users control of their information flows in Latitude:

• Only friends you have explicitly invited or accepted can see your location
• You can hide your location to everyone so no friends can see where you are (and neither will Google)
• You can hide your location to select friends
• You can share only city-level data with select friends
• You can manually select a location on the map that will be shared with friends (which means you can send the wrong location to obfuscate your location)
• And, perhaps most importantly, Google is not logging your pings to servers; they only keep you latest location on file"

Bits & Bobs

"Hey there! stephenfry is using Twitter." With 168,214 followers... (he's following 32,169) as at 6am this morning.

http://twitter.com/stephenfry 

Site of the Week: www.baracksnowbama.com 

Photoshops a series of pictures where Barack Obama throws a snowball
at a picture you choose...

28 January 2009

1. Barack Obama

Chalk up one possible win for Obama: He might be able to keep his
BlackBerry after all.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0109/17542.html

PolitiFact has compiled about 500 promises that Barack Obama made during the campaign and is tracking their progress on our Obameter. We rate their status as No Action, In the Works or Stalled. Once we find action is completed, we rate them Promise Kept, Compromise or Promise Broken.

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/??

The Inauguration Committee apparently sold the broadcast rights of the
Inauguration Concert (held this past Sunday night) to HBO (for a six
month period). Because of that, HBO has been going around demanding
all videos of the event be pulled down from YouTube.

http://techdirt.com/articles/20090120/1958413469.shtml

Here's a small and nerdy measure of the huge change in the executive branch of the US government today. Here's the robots.txt file from whitehouse.gov yesterday, excluding almost 2400 directories! Here's the new Obamafied robots.txt file:

    User-agent: *
    Disallow: /includes/

That's it! BTW, the robots.txt file tells search engines what to include and not include in their indexes.

http://www.kottke.org/09/01/the-countrys-new-robotstxt-file

2. Large Numbers

One Billion Internet users, Four Billion cellular subscribers

http://www.dailywireless.org/2009/01/23/global-landmark-one-billion-internet-users/

Monty Python's DVDs climbed to No. 2 on Amazon's Movies & TV bestsellers list, with increased sales of 23,000 percent.

http://mashable.com/2009/01/22/youtube-boost-sales/

500M iPhone App Downloads

http://www.russellbeattie.com/blog/500m-iphone-app-downloads-didnt-see-that-one-coming

Bits & Bobs

Google Search Carbon Footprint

http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article5489134.ece

http://epeus.blogspot.com/2009/01/hold-your-breath-while-googling-to-save.html

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/powering-google-search.html

Netsafe - No holiday snaps of kids on Internet

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/4809055a11.html

Ferrit fails

http://lancewiggs.com/2007/02/20/ferrit-36m-flushed/

The video games industry is now double the size of the box office and more than 40 per cent larger than the movie disc industry in Australia, thanks to explosive growth in social games that allow the whole family to play.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/technology/biztech/video-games-thrash-movies-and-dvds/2009/01/20/1232213602650.html

Hitachi highlights gesture-controlled HD TV

http://go.theregister.com/feed/www.reghardware.co.uk/2009/01/17/ces_video_hitachi_gesture_tv/

2009 - Year of the Netbook - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7822564.stm

Site of the Week: Explain This Image

http://explainthisimage.com

Have you ever seen a picture that simply makes no sense. Here we have collected pictures from around the web that left us scratching our heads and saying "wut".

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