Will touchscreen PCs catch on?

Among the plethora of shiny new Windows 7 PCs, laptops and netbooks bowing amid much ballyhoo in the last week are a handful of models with touchscreens.

A gimmick, right? Touchscreens are fine for cellphones and maybe a tablet, but for a desktop PC? What additional flexibility could a touchscreen offer that a keyboard, mouse or scratchpad can't? And won't your computer screen soon be covered with finger oil smudges and streaks? Touchscreens will be a boon to screen-wipey makers, butSource: DVICE RSS Feed

Facebook Launches Live Status Dashboard for Monitoring Platform Performance

Yesterday, Facebook announced that it would be creating a Live Status dashboard for developers to get the latest on Platform performance and issues.  The new site just went live, and here’s how it looks:

As you can see, Facebook is providing a color-coded status feed, graphs of overall API response time and error counts (without Y axes) for the last six hours, and “top live platform bugs.” Overall, the Live Status dashboard will provide developers with a quick way to see if any Source: Inside Facebook RSS Feed

The Tech Vendors That Will Cash in on the Smart Grid Stimulus Funds [Earth2Tech]

In a couple months the $3.4 billion in stimulus funds for smart grid projects will be doled out to about 100 utilities and cities. But the tech vendors — smart meter makers, network software developers, wireless sensor gear companies — will see those funds flow down in the form of contracts. While the ecosystem as a whole will benefit, here’s a breakdown of companies that we know already have a piece of these projects:

Meter Makers:

Itron: The largest meter maker, withSource: GigaOM Network RSS Feed

Ridley Scott Describes the Timeline of His Alien Prequel

We don’t know much about what Ridley Scott is planning to do with his prequel to Alien, the landmark sci-fi horror film he directed in 1979. There has been a lot of speculation that the film would involve the race of creatures from which hails the original film’s ’space jockey’, that giant skeletal being which fell prey to the xenomorph long before Ripley and her crew arrived on a derelict spaceship. Now Sir Ridley has divulged some ideas about the timeline of the film, which leads toSource: SlashFilm RSS Feed

Social Media and Advertising - The State of the debate

Motivations for Social Media Usage (from TrendStream)
Last week I attended the IAB Europe's Research Showcase on Social Media (hat tip Andrew Gerrard). Speakers were:
- Tom Smith Managing Director of Trendstream
- Bradley Little Director Industry Solutions Online, Nielsen
- Pawel Petkowicz, from Poland’s largest social networking site, Nasza Klasa.
- Charlie Osmond, Managing Director of FreshNetworks
Here are my snapshot views from quite a thoughtSource: broadstuff RSS Feed

GPU shipment numbers for Q3 2009 show robust growth

The poor global economy resulted in some of the worst quarters in the history of many electronics and notebook makers thanks to consumers not buying in droves. It looks like the market is starting to turn around for many computer makers and the latest figures for GPU shipments from Jon Peddie Research are in for Q3 2009, and they look good.

JPR reports that the overall GPU market jumped by 21.2% compared to the previous quarter. The increased shipments of GPUs means that overallSource: SlashGear RSS Feed

Verizon announces the BlackBerry Storm2, available Wednesday for $179.99

Lovers of all things BlackBerry might want to stop on by their local Verizon dealer this Wednesday as that’s the day “a powerful new Storm rolls onto Verizon Wireless’ network” (sorry, we couldn’t resist.) Going for $179.99 on a 2-year contract after a $100 MIR — no word yet on full retail — the Storm2 is everything that Storm 9530 users could hope for in that it is reliable, dependable and has Wi-Fi. We’ve got a production unit from Verizon that we’re currently testing and Source: The Boy Genius Report RSS Feed

How To Quickly & Easily Remove A Background In Photoshop

Background Eraser Tool
If you want to remove a background from an image you’re working on, there are many ways to do this using Photoshop. You could select the object you’re interested in, copy and paste it to a new layer. Another way to do it is to use the Background Eraser tool. This tool samples the colour at the centre of the brush and then deletes pixels of a similar colour as you “paint”.

1. Start by opening an image that you want to remove the background from.

Source: SitePoint Blogs RSS Feed

Abbie Cornish Says Sucker Punch Is “Six Films In One”

While doing press for Bright Star, HitFix was able to get actress Abbie Cornish to dish some dirt on the upcoming Zack Snyder film Sucker Punch, which began shooting in Vancouver last month.

As you know already, Snyder has called the film “Alice in Wonderland with machine guns”, a 1950’s-period action movie which tells the story of a girl named Baby Doll (Emily Browning) who is confined to a mental institution by her evil stepfather, who intends to have her lobotomized inSource: SlashFilm RSS Feed

Make your own SNES games with developer cartridge

Have you always wished that you could develop games for the Super Nintendo but couldn’t because you were only 4 years old when it was released in 1990? Here’s a second chance. [Max] and his team have created a SNES developer’s cartridge that allows you to load your own code, run it on the SNES, and debug as needed. At its core is an Atmel AVR ATmega644 that is running a boot loader, allowing for firmware updates via USB. Once the system is powered on, ROM code is sent overSource: Hack A Day RSS Feed

Amazon Brings Kindle Content to the PC with Free Software

Kindle for PC Demo on Windows 7

Want to read e-books from Amazon on hardware you likely already have? There’s an app for that but it doesn’t come from Cupertino. At a Windows 7 launch event today, Amazon introduced a Kindle application for PCs that will be available next month. Like the Kindle for iPhone application, the PC software works with Amazon’s Whispersync — stop reading your book on a Kindle or iPhone and you can pick up right where you left off on a computer.Source: jkOnTheRun RSS Feed

Fashion Fab: Tetris Dress

This one's more for the girls who like rumble packs. Few of us would be able to pull this off! Too bad it's not for sale; it was made by the dress blogger (that's a thing?) behind A Dress A Day. It's pretty awesome though, from an objective Project Runway watcher perspective. It's a classic design, using tetrominoes in place of shapes that could easily be mistaken for flowers. It also looks really well constructed and flatteringly shaped. Tim Gunn would approve! Congratulations, TetrisSource: GayGamer.net RSS Feed

Yahoo hires strippers for hackers

Yahoo has issued a public apology for an event that occurred at their recent Hack Day in Taiwan. Apparently they  hired strippers for the event, two years in a row. The girls did their usual bump and grind all over some poor hackers. Poor guys. While there is a part of us that says, “what about the little girls getting into hacking?” the other part of us says, well, you know what it says.  Wow, we’re suddenly feeling the urge to use yahoo for all of our services. HowSource: Hack A Day RSS Feed

The Economic Case for Slashing Carbon Emissions

By Frank Ackerman

The climate change news from Washington is cautiously encouraging. No one in power is listening to the climate skeptics any more; the economic stimulus package included real money for clean energy; a bill capping U.S. carbon emissions emerged, battered but still standing, from the House of Representatives, and might even survive the Senate. This, along with stricter emission standards in Europe and a big push for clean energy and efficiency standards in China,Source: Matter Magazine RSS Feed

Miyamoto: Wii successor will likely feature motion controls in 'more compact' form

It sounds like Nintendo's plans for the next console are going to continue largely in the direction they've always been going (you know, the one that has resulted in millions of dollars). Shigeru Miyamoto told Popular Mechanics that, despite not having a solid plan yet for upcoming hardware, motion controls are likely to stick around.
"With both the Wii remote itself and Wii MotionPlus, what we've been able to do is introduce an interface that is both I think appealing and at the right Source: Houstonist RSS Feed

ASUS Designo MS gets handled, gushed over

ASUS' stylish Designo MS monitors might not be quite on the same diet as the world's thinnest LCDs, but they're plenty svelte enough to collect glances of envious admiration. Suffering from a rather severe case of techno-lust, the Electric Pig crew got to handle a 23.6-inch sample and couldn't stop talking about the sex appeal of the exterior -- they were even big fans of the circular stand on the back of the display, which we suspect will have as many supporters as detractors. In spite ofSource: Engadget RSS Feed

Continuing Education for Web Workers

There are a lot of professions where continuing education is an absolute necessity. For professionals providing financial or legal services, for instance, it’s often a legal requirement to take a class every year or two. Even if it isn’t legally required, though, continuing education can be very useful. It allows you to stay up to speed in your field, which can be an important deciding factor if you’re trying to get hired by a new employer or want to take on a new type of project.

Source: Web Worker Daily RSS Feed

Windows Mobile 6.5.1: Windows Phone salvation can’t come soon enough

With Windows Mobile 6.5 proving less than a total success in reviews, and the most hotly anticipated Windows Phone seemingly achieving that status by throwing out Microsoft’s UI and replacing it with one schooled on another platform altogether, now seems as good a time as any to ask what happened to the tweaks in later pre-launch builds.  istartedsomething’s Long Zheng has pointed out that some of the more finger-friendly adaptations – such as the moved Start button and narrower statusSource: SlashGear RSS Feed

The Best of Big Download: October 12-18

Filed under: Mac, PC, Meta (about Joystiq)

We are just a few days away from the official launch of Windows 7. Will it create the push that gets more console gamers into PC gaming? Only time will tell. While we wait to find out, Big Download takes a look at the previous seven days of news for the already converted:
Exclusive Features

• A Brief History of Windows Gaming: We look back at the various versions of Windows as they related to PC gamingSource: Houstonist RSS Feed

Game of choice for extremists and eliminationists - '2011: Obama Coup Fails'

Another WTF moment, brought to you by Dave Neiwert, who covers the over-the-edge extremists on the right.

It seems like every week I come across some truly weird piece of militia organizing from the freshly revived Patriot movement.
This week's is pretty special: An online game at which you can actually earn money by defending America in the year 2011 against the evil forces of the fallen Obama administration. The game is called "2011: Obama Coup Fails". [Only go to the site ifSource: Pam's House Blend RSS Feed

SNES / Sega Genesis USB cartridge adapter now available for pre-order

Looks like our old friend, Matthias -- the developer of the USB SNES cart reader -- is back on the scene, and this time he's going commercial. His newest project, Snega2USB, adds Sega Genesis, read and write for battery-backed SNES games, open source firmware, and up to four gamepads to the homebrew fave of classic gaming fanatics world o'er. This is a work-in-progress, but all the pieces are in place to have all orders met on the December, 2009 street date. Pre-orders will be takenSource: Engadget RSS Feed

My Ripple Launches “Spires,” an ITX Main Board Case Brand

SEOUL, Korea (AVING) — My Ripple (http://myripple.co.kr) launched the “Spires” brand, a Mini-ITX main board case with a fine design.

The Spires case is a Ripple brand showcased by My Ripple, which is expanding the mini PC market based on its Mini-ITX form factor in Korea, and is distinctive for its small, sleek and fine design.

In particular, the “Blue Eye” case, the first Spires brand model showcased, is based on the distinctive design philosophy pursued by MySource: Remove The Labels RSS Feed

LG Crystal’s Keypad Doubles as Mini Fish Tank

Apparently, the LG Crystal’s keypad can be converted into a mini fish tank, as this modder proves. Both the fish and phone were not harmed in the experiment. Continue reading for the video.

Looks like the phone still works after this sort-of-upsetting experiment, which is nice and all.

[via Gizmodo]

Original post by TecheBlog Staff

Source: TechBlogger RSS Feed

Polycarbonate fish uses three servos to swim

[Amnon] is learning the hard way that water and electronics don’t always like to play nicely together. He’s been working on creating a swimming fish that uses three servos to flex a sheet of fish-shaped polycarbonate. This photo doesn’t really do the project justice but you can get a better idea of what he’s accomplished by watching the videos after the break.

The three servos along with some distance sensors for obstacle avoidance are all controlled by a PICSource: Hack A Day RSS Feed

Germany to make some very cool new domain suffixes available. Grab them while they’re hot.

Starting October, 23rd 9:00 CEST, Germany’s top level domain organization DENIC amends its Domain Guidelines and will thus abolish most of the restrictions currently applicable with regard to the registration of second level domains under the TLD .de.

In doing so, the registry creates room for a large number of new domains.

In future, also one and two-digit domains as well as domain names composed exclusively of numerals will be allowed. Additionally, people may reserveSource: The Next Web RSS Feed

In-App Sales and iTablet: The Killer Combo to Save Publishing?

Apple on Thursday made a subtle-yet-major revision to its App Store policy, enabling extra content to be sold through free iPhone apps. It’s a move that immediately impacts the publishing industry, and it could pay even bigger dividends if the Cupertino, California, company indeed delivers its highly anticipated touchscreen tablet.

While the most obvious beneficiaries would be app developers, a market segment that can also benefit from the new in-app commerce model areSource: Wired RSS Feed

ActivTouch: Remote-control tech comes to the showerhead

The ActivTouch lets you play, pause and pick what kind of experience you want, all at the touch of a button. But it's not a remote control — it's a showerhead.

While typical showerheads have filters you need to manually turn to adjust the spray, the ActivTouch features buttons that change the stream's intensity — from gentle spray to full-on gusher. Pushing the pause button on the handle will reduce the stream to a trickle (for further reduction, may I suggest turning the tap). TheSource: DVICE RSS Feed

Arduino EMF detector gets numeric

One of the great things about remaking simple projects is the extra time they allow us to add enhancements and a personal touch. Instructable member computergeek swapped out the LED bargraph from my EMF detector to create a single-digit numerical display version. Good idea -

A while back I saw an EMF (Electromagnetic Field) Detector at makezine.com that used a led bargraph. I decided to modify it to use a 7-Segment LED Display! Here's my project. Sorry I don't have any pictures of it inSource: MAKE: Blog RSS Feed

Internet Addiction Made this Man Homeless

Andrew Ross, the depressing brother of Newsweek writer Winston Ross, is the star attraction of the magazine’s feature on how Internet addiction can destroy lives. In Andrew’s case, he’s homeless, subsisting on food stamps and free usage of a computer at a nearby university.

Basically a more detailed discussion of how people get addicted to the internet, the article’s point is scary and interesting at the same time, presenting internet addiction as similar to otherSource: The Gadget Blog RSS Feed

Darwinopterus, the remarkable transitional pterosaur [Tetrapod Zoology]

Pterosaurs - the charismatic flying archosaurs of the Mesozoic Era - fall fairly nearly into two great assemblages: the primitive, mostly long-tailed basal forms (or 'rhamphorhynchoids') and the more strongly modified, consistently short-tailed pterodactyloids. Pterodactyloids emerged in the Middle Jurassic and persisted to the very end of the Late Cretaceous, and fossils show that they did an awful lot more in their evolution than did non-pterodactyloid pterosaurs. Several lineages evolvedSource: Thoughts from Kansas RSS Feed

Twitter as the New Ouija Board

Online retailer FancyDress.com is hosting what it claims is "the world's first interactive Twitter Snce or "Twnce" on October 30th - the day before Halloween.
The Twnce allows participants to nominate the names of their favorite "departed stars" along with a question they would like them to be asked by "renowned psychic medium Jayne Wallace." Participants are asked to simply tweet this to @tweance.
FancyDress says a shortlist of "those departed spirits" that have received theSource: WebPro News RSS Feed

Fuji Instax Mini 7 Proves Film is Still Best – For Instant

There are two ways to get instant photos from your camera: using either an instant film camera or a digicam with a built-in printer. However, there is only one way to get good instant photos, and that is still film.

Without testing it, we’re not sure just how good the pictures are from Fujifilm’s new Instax Mini 7. One thing we do know is that, unless somebody has seriously messed something up (replacing the lens with an piece of beer-bottle, for example), the Mini 7 will embarrassSource: Wired RSS Feed

EA Russia lists Mass Effect 2 for PS3 [update]

The confusion over whether or not BioWare's second space opera, Mass Effect 2, is coming to the PlayStation 3 has been a fiasco of epic proportions. We've heard plenty of rumor and speculation supporting both sides of the heated debate, but as the game's release draws nearer, more savory indications of the game's possible Sony-bound trajectory have surfaced -- namely, a listing on the EA Russia site for a PS3 version of the upcoming RPG.
Gaming news site Just Push Start also noticedSource: PS3 Fanboy RSS Feed

ASUS Readying a 12-inch Eee PC? [jkOnTheRun]

Image Credit: Liliputing

In August, we saw a leaked ASUS product road map. Right on cue, ASUS appears to be prepping larger laptops with the guts of a netbook. Liliputing says that two models of the 1201 recently found their way to various web sites. Here’s a rundown of the reported specs for the devices, both of which are expected to offer a 12.1-inch display with 136668 resolution and run Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium out of the box:

Asus Eee PC 1201N

Source: GigaOM Network RSS Feed

Windows Mobile 7 aiming for Spring 2010 RTM?

Purported release dates for the first crop of WIndows Mobile 7 phones have varied in a surprisingly tight range over the past year, slipping from late '09 to the latest we've heard, late 2010, and the latest info we've got here dovetails nicely with that. What you're looking at up above is allegedly a slide out of an Office 2010 deck presented to Microsoft partners, where an updated Office Mobile suite is mentioned in passing alongside a WinMo 7 RTM date of Spring 2010. As Mary Jo FoleySource: Engadget RSS Feed

Presenting: The Most Useless Gadget Ever

Turns out creating the most useless gadget ever is easy: simply build a machine designed to turn itself off. Flip the on switch and machine dutifully pushes the switch back to “off”.

As you can see, the machine will insist on turning itself off even after as the user repeatedly pushes the switch back to “on”. Why is this the most useless gadget ever? Simply because it uses up energy without providing a foundation for any productive activity whatsoever. You probably think that Source: The Gadget Blog RSS Feed

Mobile Subscriptions To Reach 4.6 Billion

Global mobile subscriptions are on track to reach 4.6 billion by the end of the year, and mobile broadband subscriptions are set to surpass 600 million in 2009, according to a new report by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

More than a quarter of the world's population is online and using the Internet, as of 2009. Increasing numbers are opting for high-speed Internet access, with fixed broadband subscriber numbers more than tripling from 150 million in 2004 to aSource: WebPro News RSS Feed

Online Brazilian Apple Store now live

Filed under: Apple Corporate, Retail

After months of rumors, Apple's official online store for Brazil has officially opened at apple.com/br. It joins the 34 other countries with localized online stores. The Brazilian store is a mirror of many others and joins Apple's effort to establish a presence south of the United States. Presently, there are localized online stores in Brazil, Costa Rica, Chile, Colombia and Ecuador among others.
Right now, there are noSource: The Unofficial Apple Weblog RSS Feed

Hear the Call of Juarez on the cheap at GameStop

For those who've had trouble hearing the Call of Juarez over the much louder Call of Saving Money, we've got some good news: GameStop has lowered the price of the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC versions of Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood to a paltry $30. For those keeping score, that's $20 off the PC version and a full $30 shot off the PS3 and 360 versions. Not bad for a game hailed by critics as a "gritty, completely entertaining experience."
[Thanks, CJ]

Hear the Call of Juarez on theSource: Xbox 360 Fanboy RSS Feed

BlackBerry Storm 2 / Odin Preview

It wasn’t all that long ago that we jumped on board the BlackBerry bandwagon and gave you a glimpse of what’s to come with the BlackBerry Storm 2. Since then a lot has changed. Vodafone have the handset exclusive and a reliable source have informed us that Blackberry may be shaking off the Storm title and re-naming it the BlackBerry Odin. Better still we’ve got our hands on the Odin itself.

First things first and the question on everybody’s lips, ‘have BlackBerry sorted outSource: Dial-a-Phone RSS Feed

AVG launches free antivirus suite as Microsoft crashes its party

AVG Technologies has made itself into a familiar name on the Internet by giving users antivirus software at a pretty good price: free. That’s how it got 85 million users. Today, the company is announcing that the ninth version of its AVG antivirus software will be available in mid-October.

AVG is also announcing today it has received a $200 million investment from TA Associates, a private equity firm, which bought the stake in AVG from current investors.

AVG’s newestSource: VentureBeat RSS Feed

briiiiicks in lego 4 dead

Four brave survivors must stand against the tide of an undead minifig army. Armed with few weapons, two unfortunately bald heads, and a bag full of snappy one-liners, they will repel the brick zombies.

Alright, take a moment to admire the beauty and detail. From a distance, this Lego rendition looks pretty good, eh? You’ve got rubble, proper outfits, shadows… the works.

But take a look at it up close.

Francis has tattoos! Louis is down! All we need is Bill’s verySource: technabob RSS Feed

New Apple Bluetooth keyboard and mouse arrive at the FCC

Well, well, what's this? A new Apple Bluetooth keyboard and mouse have arrived at the FCC, and they've got new model numbers of A1314 and A1296 -- the current wireless keyboard is A1255 and the Mighty Mouse is A1197. That's pretty much all we know for now, but these keyboard dimensions are also smaller than the current model, which rules out a return of the numeric keypad -- sorry to dash your hopes, Excel jockeys. Is this the new keyboard rumored to accompany an iMac refresh? We'llSource: Engadget RSS Feed

Choose Your Own Adventure Review: PSPgo

Welcome to the world, PSPgo: you may not have been the most popular gadget that arrived this fall, but you're the Sonyiest. Um, except the PS3 Slim. And that unnamed vibrator motion control thingy. At any rate, the fancy, expensive gadget is in my Tinylab undergoing extensive testing for its review next week, and while Tinycorp spares no expense on testing (or the puppies we test things on), my research assistants have begged me to ask for your help in defining certain parameters. This isSource: GayGamer.net RSS Feed