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Saturday, October 22, 2011

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Achtung: German satellite to crash down tonight, won't land in Germany

Posted: 22 Oct 2011 03:27 PM PDT

Achtung: German satellite to crash down tonight, won't land in Germany


Achtung: German satellite to crash down tonight, won't land in Germany
As if it weren't hard enough keeping your house safe from debt collectors these days, now you have something else to worry about: a falling German satellite called ROSAT. The German Aerospace Center has estimated that the hunk of decommissioned, extra-orbital metal will enter the atmosphere sometime between 7:30pm ET tonight and 1:30am ET tomorrow....

Daimler BYD electric vehicle renderings leak out

Posted: 22 Oct 2011 02:45 PM PDT

Daimler BYD electric vehicle renderings leak out


Daimler BYD electric vehicle renderings leak out
Filed under: EV/Plug-in, China, Daimler, BYD Back in May of 2010, BYD and Daimler formed a joint venture to manufacture electric vehicles exclusively for the China. Today, we present to you the first renderings of the EV from the Shenzhen BYD Daimler New Technology Co. Ltd. The renderings come directly from the Chinese patent bureau, which seems to leak images in streams....

DirecTV shows off its new HD UI with a website and trailer, still no release date

Posted: 22 Oct 2011 01:22 PM PDT

DirecTV shows off its new HD UI with a website and trailer, still no release date


DirecTV shows off its new HD UI with a website and trailer, still no release date
That slick, speedy new interface DirecTV recently pushed out to beta testers is officially getting hyped with a new landing page and (unfortunately not embeddable) video trailer. It advertises all the features we'd heard about, including the facelifted HD graphics, "lightning fast" scrolling, visual browsing experience and personalized recommendations. The HD UI is still without a release date however, and while we'd probably put it it ahead of the DirecTiVo on...

Brand Table concept revolutionizes fast food, NFC still won't make it good for y...

Posted: 22 Oct 2011 11:16 AM PDT

Brand Table concept revolutionizes fast food, NFC still won't make it good for you (video)


Brand Table concept revolutionizes fast food, NFC still won't make it good for you (video)
Jersey girls and boys can now tap and pay their way around, but for the Garden State's myriad of malls, cash'll still have to do. Not so for the Ozzies Down Under who may soon never have to leave the comfort of food court chairs -- if they're packing a Nexus S, that is....

Hong Kong to purchase 8 "supercapacitor," 28 electric buses for $180 million

Posted: 22 Oct 2011 09:51 AM PDT

Hong Kong to purchase 8 "supercapacitor," 28 electric buses for $180 million


Hong Kong to purchase 8 "supercapacitor," 28 electric buses for $180 million
Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Asia The government of Hong Kong is ready to invest $180 million to acquire 36 single-decker buses, but ordinary coaches won't cut it. Ordinary emissions buses, that is. Concerns over roadside pollution have convinced government officials in Hong Kong to purchase eight low-emissions "supercapacitor" and 28 electric buses to trial throughout the city-state....

TechCrunch Gadgets Weekend Giveaway: Name PocketCloud’s Mascot, Win An iPhone 4S

Posted: 22 Oct 2011 09:51 AM PDT

TechCrunch Gadgets Weekend Giveaway: Name PocketCloud's Mascot, Win An iPhone 4S


TechCrunch Gadgets Weekend Giveaway: Name PocketCloud's Mascot, Win An iPhone 4S
See Mr. Fauxcredible over there? He needs a name and Wyse wants to give an iPhone 4S to the reader who comes up with the best one for him. Pocketcloud by Wyse is a remote desktop solution for IT folks and they're trying to jazz up their marketing. To that end, they asked if I would "crowdsource" their mascot and ask you folks for some help....

T-Mobile's Andrew Sherrard: 'the iPhone is not the only option'

Posted: 22 Oct 2011 09:08 AM PDT

T-Mobile's Andrew Sherrard: 'the iPhone is not the only option'


T-Mobile's Andrew Sherrard: 'the iPhone is not the only option'
Remember when T-Mobile CMO Cole Brodman splashed a bucked of cold water on our hot iPhone 4S dreams? Yeah, well the carrier's back to clarify its glaring lack of the handset in its lineup, and it appears the choice wasn't theirs to make. In a statement released today, SVP of Marketing Andrew Sherrard expressed the operator's desire to play host to Apple's latest device, but claims Cupertino's omission of an AWS-friendly...

Mobile Miscellany: week of October 17, 2011

Posted: 22 Oct 2011 08:25 AM PDT

Mobile Miscellany: week of October 17, 2011


Mobile Miscellany: week of October 17, 2011
This week was packed with news on the mobile front, so it was easy to miss a few stories here and there. Here's some of the other stuff that happened in the wide world of wireless for the week of October 17, 2011: The HTC Rezound (codenamed the Vigor) started showing up in Cellebrite systems, just another indicator of its impending arrival -- and likely name....

Galaxy Nexus, HTC Rezound (still) bound for Verizon on November 10th, Droid RAZR...

Posted: 22 Oct 2011 07:42 AM PDT

Galaxy Nexus, HTC Rezound (still) bound for Verizon on November 10th, Droid RAZR bumped to October?


Galaxy Nexus, HTC Rezound (still) bound for Verizon on November 10th, Droid RAZR bumped to October?
Three's the magic number, and the third time is the charm so, this triple confirmation of release date gossip's got us thinking an Android avalanche is on its Big Red way. We've seen November 10th bandied about as the day Google's Ice Cream Sandwich flagship Galaxy Nexus and HTC's awkwardly monikered Rezound would hit Verizon's shelves....

Nokia N9 review

Posted: 22 Oct 2011 06:16 AM PDT

Nokia N9 review


Nokia N9 review
It's taken a long time for Nokia's MeeGo-packing N9 to make its way into our top secret labs (the N9 moniker was first applied to early E7 prototypes), but it's here in our dirty little hands, at last, and it's glorious -- well, as glorious as a stillborn product can be, anyway....

Solar Ship sails the skies, schlepps supplies

Posted: 22 Oct 2011 05:33 AM PDT

Solar Ship sails the skies, schlepps supplies


Solar Ship sails the skies, schlepps supplies
Filed under: Solar, Transportation Alternatives By crossing airships with airplanes, Solar Ship is creating craft that can carry heavy loads long distances with a tiny carbon footprint. Filled with helium, they soak up rays from the sun to provide the energy for forward motion and fulfill its original design challenge - carry 1,000 kilograms (2,205 lbs) of payload 1,000 kilometers (621.4 miles). The company says it has recently completed and flown its first...

Rear window LED hack minds bad drivers' manners, has nothing to do with Hitchcoc...

Posted: 22 Oct 2011 04:08 AM PDT

Rear window LED hack minds bad drivers' manners, has nothing to do with Hitchcock (video)


Rear window LED hack minds bad drivers' manners, has nothing to do with Hitchcock (video)
Typically, road rage responses range from a flip of the bird to some gentle highway drag racing. For an enterprising hacker by the name of Gagandeep Singh, however, those on-road hijinks have given way to a more eloquent, albeit LED-lit resolution. Conceived as means of informing errant drivers of their transportation follies, Singh rigged up a 40 x 16 LED matrix display and affixed it to his car's rear window....

Mesa Robotics' mini-tank is perfectly happy on point (video)

Posted: 22 Oct 2011 02:02 AM PDT

Mesa Robotics' mini-tank is perfectly happy on point (video)


Mesa Robotics' mini-tank is perfectly happy on point (video)
The Acer ground-bot from Mesa Robotics does way more than your average 4,500-pound semi-autonomous mule. In addition to carrying kit and providing that extra bit of ballistic steel-deflecting cover, it also scans for IEDs using ground-penetrating radar and then autonomously switches into "flail" mode when it finds one -- digging up and detonating that critter with barely a break in its 6MPH stride....

BBC's global iPlayer app adds AirPlay streaming, should just be on Apple TV

Posted: 21 Oct 2011 11:56 PM PDT

BBC's global iPlayer app adds AirPlay streaming, should just be on Apple TV


BBC's global iPlayer app adds AirPlay streaming, should just be on Apple TV
British expats and international fans of BBC television alike can now stream some Gavin & Stacey to their televisions (past season 1 anyway, which is on Netflix and Amazon Prime Instant Video), as long as they're properly equipped. The global iPlayer app for iPad has been updated with AirPlay streaming (those in the UK however, have no such luck so far) so once users update to iOS 5 and buy an...

Bill Gross On How He Will Avoid Stepping On The Giants’ Toes

Posted: 21 Oct 2011 11:16 PM PDT

Bill Gross On How He Will Avoid Stepping On The Giants' Toes


Bill Gross On How He Will Avoid Stepping On The Giants' Toes
Earlier this week, Bill Gross launched a new mobile app and website called Chime.in at the Web 2.0 Summit. I dragged Gross in front of our cameras in teh hallway, where he gave me a demo and sat down for an interview. "The goal of Chime.in is to make an interest network," he tells me in the video above. The whole point of Chime.in is to help filter all the noise in...

U.S. Army urges vets to get outta their dreams and into the virtual world

Posted: 21 Oct 2011 09:53 PM PDT

U.S. Army urges vets to get outta their dreams and into the virtual world


U.S. Army urges vets to get outta their dreams and into the virtual world
You've heard of power walking, but "power dreaming?" That practice's usually the stuff of Buddhism, and now, could go a long way towards mending the psychic wounds of our nation's bravest. With about 52% of PTSD-affected veterans reported as having disturbing nightmares, the U.S. Army's working towards a virtual solution that'd marry the design of Second Life with laptop-displayed or 3D head-mounted, physio-emotional healing....

Scientists capture birth of new planet on camera, mother and child doing just fine

Posted: 21 Oct 2011 07:51 PM PDT

Scientists capture birth of new planet on camera, mother and child doing just fine


Scientists capture birth of new planet on camera, mother and child doing just fine
After all the pushing, squeezing and screaming, the universe has finally given birth to a new planet, in an eruption that two scientists managed to capture on film. The newborn pile of planetary pudge, named LkCa 15 b, was discovered by Drs. Michael Ireland and Adam Kraus, who, over the course of 12 months, successfully documented the event using Keck telescopes and a technique called aperture mask interferometry....

BlackBerry Playbook 2.0 developer beta previewed, Android apps look right at hom...

Posted: 21 Oct 2011 05:48 PM PDT

BlackBerry Playbook 2.0 developer beta previewed, Android apps look right at home (video)


BlackBerry Playbook 2.0 developer beta previewed, Android apps look right at home (video)
Are you in DevCon withdrawal? Need a little BBX preview to ferry you safely into the weekend's arms? Well, you're in luck, as German site Macberry.de took the time to film a walkthrough of the recently released BlackBerry Playbook 2.0 developer beta. The homescreen of this new build now offers users folder options similar to that on iOS, neatly collecting your gaggles of data into appropriate bundles -- like documents and...

Fiat still working on 500 EV; could have slight external changes

Posted: 21 Oct 2011 05:07 PM PDT

Fiat still working on 500 EV; could have slight external changes


Fiat still working on 500 EV; could have slight external changes
Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Fiat The Fiat 500 has been a popular vehicle to convert to electric drive - so much so that even the recently deceased Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi had one (see also here and here) - but an official 500 EV has been nothing but auto show reveals and secret tests and that's about it for the past few years....

Ethanol industry claims victory as McCain withdraws amendment against blender pu...

Posted: 21 Oct 2011 04:25 PM PDT

Ethanol industry claims victory as McCain withdraws amendment against blender pump subsidies


Ethanol industry claims victory as McCain withdraws amendment against blender pump subsidies
Filed under: Ethanol, Legislation and Policy, USAThe ethanol industry is claiming victory with its stoppage of John McCain's (R-AZ) amendment to an agriculture appropriations bill that would've prevented the government from subsidizing E85 blender pumps. Senator McCain proposed the amendment on October 17, but quickly withdrew it on October 19 due to "timing issues", according to Brian Rogers, a spokesman for McCain. The ethanol industry calls that a win, with Brian Jennings, executive...

Google Voice app returns to iTunes, iOS 5 crash bug fixed

Posted: 21 Oct 2011 04:25 PM PDT

Google Voice app returns to iTunes, iOS 5 crash bug fixed


Google Voice app returns to iTunes, iOS 5 crash bug fixed
Less than a week after it disappeared from iTunes, the Apple-friendly Google Voice app is back and declared iOS 5 friendly, per its official Twitter account. Also improved is operation when you don't have a data connection, as there's no data required for all numbers previously called. Hit the source link below for v1.3.1.1891 -- we'll never go back to the dark days of v1.3.0.1771.Google Voice app returns to iTunes, iOS...

Verizon (finally) confirms it will have the Galaxy Nexus

Posted: 21 Oct 2011 03:44 PM PDT

Verizon (finally) confirms it will have the Galaxy Nexus


Verizon (finally) confirms it will have the Galaxy Nexus
After a few leaks and false starts, Verizon has finally made its plans to offer the Galaxy Nexus "later this year" official. That's really the only detail revealed, as its price, release date and availability on other carriers are still unknown. Check out the press release after the break if you need any more confirmation.Continue reading Verizon (finally) confirms it will have the Galaxy NexusVerizon (finally) confirms it will have the...