Filed under: Cell Phones

While everyone today walks around with a cell phone in his pocket or purse, most people have the common sense to set it on silent when in theaters or, say, giving speeches. Forget that, and you run the risk of embarrassment, like a woman at a recent press conference for presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani who was called out by the man himself during his speech when her phone rang. Odd, then, that he would interrupt his own speech when his cell phone rang as he stood on the podium at the National Rifle Association. It was his wife, of course, who he chatted with for a few moments before saying he’d call back later.

Impromptu glimpse into the “real” Rudy Giuliani? Not likely. Apparently that same call happened during another speech in Florida, making this seem like a very poorly-planned comedy skit. Unfortunately for him, nobody’s laughing.

From HeraldTribune.com

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Filed under: Peripherals, News

It’s something that happened at TGS we were all a little concerned over. Sure, the DualShock 3 officially exists, but for some reason or other, it’s not getting a release outside of Japan until spring of ‘08. Curious as to why this is the case, 1UP did a little bit of research and contacted Sony for a reason. Sony responded: “Given our production/manufacturing timeline we plan to introduce the new controller in Japan first and then release it in NA/Europe.” It’s vague, but we don’t need to cry out in pain and reach for our pitchforks.

The DualShock 3 will work on our systems if we import them. Sony says there’s no reason for them not to work, although some of the games that will require retroactive patches (Resistance, Warhawk) probably won’t get those patches until the controller officially releases in our respective territories. But newer games and old PS2 games can get the rumble as soon as you import. As Captain Planet would say, “The power is yours!” A bonus cookie to anyone who recites the Captain Planet theme song.

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The following is republished from the Tech Times #174.

Yahoo! acquires all the coolest companies. First it was Flickr, then del.icio.us, and now it’s bagged Zimbra (for a reported US$350 million!), which I dare say is the company with the most Ajax know-how on the planet (with the possible exception of The Google).

“How will Yahoo! change Zimbra?” in the SitePoint Forums

If you haven’t heard of it already, Zimbra is an open source email, address book, and calendaring server based on open source technologies tied together with a bunch of Java code. It competes with Microsoft Exchange, and is most noted for its rich web interface that makes heavy use of Ajax. We use Zimbra at SitePoint.

Zimbra was doing Ajax-powered email before Google made it cool. The company has also contributed a great deal of Ajax know-how to the world. Zimbra released of one of the first industrial-strength Ajax libraries, it helped to spearhead the OpenAjax Alliance, and has published numerous blog posts that have illuminated the sometimes murky waters of real-world Ajax development.

Now that Zimbra belongs to Yahoo!, I would only expect to see these trends continue. Yahoo! has made amazing contributions of both code and knowledge to the community lately, especially through the Yahoo! Developer Network. This open and sharing approach to web development seems to be something the two companies have in common.

As for how Zimbra the product (as opposed to Zimbra the company) is likely to change, that’s something many people are a little more nervous about. Yahoo! has seemed—at least from my vantage—to favor PHP over Java for server-side development, and is reportedly looking to leverage its investment in Zimbra to make inroads into new markets. What changes to Zimbra might this strategy prompt?

“How will Yahoo! change Zimbra?” in the SitePoint Forums

This article provided by sitepoint.com.

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In bad taste? Maybe. A word allowed only sometimes on American television and much more frequently on British television? Twice. Silly? You bet. Viewer discretion advised.

I. Love. Parodies.

It was self defense!

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Filed under: Gaming, Laptops

Hiddy Ho Mr. XPS M1730, nice to see you up and dancing on Dell’s own website for a change. While it’s not exactly official, reader Evgeni noticed that a little E-Value code tomfoolery will pull up pictures, specs, and prices easy enough. $4,192 will take home a crimson red, 17-inch WUXGA beast with a Vista Ultimate pre-load and the following specs:

• 2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Extreme X7900 processor (800MHz FSB and 4MB cache)
• 2GB 667MHz DDR2 memory (4GB for an additional $375)
• 2 x 200GB 7200RPM disks
• DVD burner (upgradeable for Blu-ray playback for an additional $550)
• 512MB Dual (!) NVIDIA GeForce 8700M GT with nVIDIA SLI Te
• 802.11a/g/n WiFi
• 9-cell primary and 9-cell secondary batteries

That’s only the start.

Continue reading Dell’s XPS M1730 sneaks onto Dell’s site: a beast indeed

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

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The Queen of soaps is hunting the Khans of Bollywood to perform at the television awards nite. Ekta Kapoor’s television awards will be held in December in the United Arab Emirates. The latest buzz is that either Shah Rukh Khan or Salman Khan will be performing at the event. The business head of the Balaji […]

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Filed under: Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), Marketing and advertising

Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) is planning to expand its staff by a third over the next couple of years, and it says it will hire most of those people in Europe. According to the FT: “Google plans to hire several thousand engineers in Europe to create a research and development team in the region as big as the one it has in the US.”

Why Europe? For one thing, Google is the most visited website in most big European countries including the UK, France, and Germany, according to comScore.

But the reason extends well beyond the search company’s popularity in the EU. After watching Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) attacked for anti-competitive practices, the search company may feel that a larger presence in Europe will help it to be considered a part of the family. Its image as another huge US tech company coming to the region to collect revenue would not help its chances if authorities where to question why its search market share is so large.

Google may be smart where other big US tech companies have not been. If Google has thousands of engineers in the region, regulators may not want to put those jobs at risk.

And, Google may calculate that it can hire good engineers almost anywhere.

Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.

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Filed under: Contests and Giveaways

It’s not too often gamers are afforded the opportunity to have a direct impact on a video game … like actually getting to create a character, but once again, Sony’s giving you that very chance in the Create a Folk contest for Folklore. Currently, there are more than 100 Folks in Folklore, but Sony needs just one more.

Developer Game Republic will turn the winner’s artwork into an in-game character that will be downloadable from the PlayStation Store. Even more exciting is that entries will be judged by a panel that includes Yoshiki Okamoto of Resident Evil and Devil May Cry fame.

The competition just kicked off and will run through Oct. 22. To create an entry, you must provide an illustration of your character, his name, a detailed description and a unique attack the player can absorb from him. You can post entries here or e-mail them here.

[Thanks, Kspraydad]

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RotoView’s “Tilt and Scroll” display navigation system for smartphones and other mobile gadgets have just had its European patent granted, making a RotoView-enabled smartphone a possibility sometime down the road. This user interface requires the user to tilt the device left-right or up-down in order to see beyond what is shown on the display, with the option to center the display anytime they like. You can even zoom in and out using this navigation system, and could bring about a revolution where handheld devices are concerned. How do you see this upcoming technology impact the way we use smartphones and other mobile devices?

Permalink | Comment | Uberbargain | Uberphones

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