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November 24, 2013

4 'Magic' Phrases to Use if Cops Stop You with Pot

A lawyer's advice on how to assert your rights when it comes to drugs and the police.
Photo Credit: Shutterstock.com/bikeriderlondon

  
This article originally appeared on Ladybud.com.
If you use pot you are a criminal.
This is true [according to federal authorities] even in Colorado and Washington, where the feds continue to outlaw cannabis. This is also true in California and other states that provide medical protection. This means the police not only have the right, but the obligation to try and stop you (though state police cannot legally enforce federal law). Fortunately, you do not have to help them. The United States Constitution gives you rights that protect you during police encounters. It is the job of the police to find evidence of a crime. It is not your job to confess or help them. They get paid quite well, so please do not do their job for them. Your job is to do and say the right things to protect yourself and defend your rights.
During a police encounter, the best case scenario is you will be let go with a warning or simple citation. The worst case is, you or someone you love will get hurt. No one should be the victim of police brutality, but it happens. Cops are jumpy. They are trained to be suspicious. Do not make any sudden moves they can claim were threatening. Be polite and respectful, even if the courtesy is not returned. Remember, the police do not have the final word and while they may be able to harass, intimidate, and arrest you, the real fight is in the courtroom before the judge and jury. But you must actually survive the police encounter first before you can win the battle in court.
To win that court battle, your lawyer needs to be able to prove the police acted illegally and the evidence should therefore be thrown out. The goal is to get all the evidence tossed so that there is no case left against you. If you give police permission, your lawyer will not be able to argue they acted illegally and there will not be much s/he can do to defend you. This is why what you do and say are very important. Your lawyer needs you to say the “magic words.” These are words that limit what the police can do and will help your lawyer prove the police acted illegally.
The Magic Words
What are the magic words, you ask? The first magic words can set you free. Simply ask,
“AM I FREE TO GO?”
If they reply that you are free to go, then you are free to go. You may have to wait for the officer to finish the citation, but yes, you are free to go. If you are not free to go, then you must use the other magic words,
“I DO NOT CONSENT TO ANY SEARCHES,”
“I WANT TO REMAIN SILENT,”
“I WANT A LAWYER.”
You must use all of the magic words and use them in this order. You must memorize and practice the magic words. During a stop, the police will not always tell you your rights or help you understand them. In fact, they are trained to harass, scare, and trick you into giving up your rights. You have to be strong while they get in your face and insult you. They are even allowed to lie. Do not believe them. Say the magic words, follow police orders, and shut up!
How Do the Magic Words Work?
The first question, “Am I free to go,” clarifies if you are being detained or not. If you are being detained, the police cannot ask you questions without reading you your rights, just like on the TV cop shows. If they do not read you your rights, your lawyer can use this against them in court.







November 24, 2013

What New Yorkers Want from Their New Mayor When it Comes to Food

Mayor elect Bill de Blasio heard from people concerned with food insecurity, hunger, community gardens, and reserving prime upstate agricultural lands for a sustainable regional food shed.
Photo Credit: Shutterstock.com/ Uros Zunic
"We have to thank outgoing Mayor Bloomberg for raising consciousness about the health consequences of what we eat," Jan Poppendieck, a professor at Hunter College reminded foodies and food activists attending "The Future of Food Policy in the Post-Bloomberg Era." The event, which featured New York city grass roots food organizations such as Just Food, the Brooklyn Food Coalition, the Food Chain Workers Alliance, and the New York City Community Garden Coalition took place at Talking Transitions, a huge glass enclosed "tent" in downtown Manhattan.
New York's incoming Mayor Bill de Blasio has been inviting public input there and offering the classic New York breakfast--bagels and cream cheese. These bagel klatches, dubbed "de Bagels with de Blasio" aim to promote dialogue between New Yorkers and the new administration, carrying forward the same open-door style that characterized de Blasio's work as Public Advocate--a clear contrast with Bloomberg's top down approach.
Bloomberg's most well-known innovation in the food sector was daring, but misfired. He correctly targeted supersized sodas as a major cause of mass obesity. But when he tried to ban them he met with strong public opposition.
"If instead of listening to the corn growers lobby, he had labeled soft drinks to show exactly how much high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) each drink contains, he could have empowered and educated people and enlisted their support in making healthier choices," says James S. Turner, Chairman of Citizens for Health. Several studies show that HFCS consumption is directly implicated in weight gain and obesity.
By seeking input and obtaining buy-in from the populace, de Blasio may have better luck than his predecessor even in the latter's chosen food arena. And there are many issues of concern about food for New Yorkers, including having enough of it.
"We must judge Bloomberg the way he says he wants to be judged-- by the data. When it comes to poverty, homelessness and hunger we've failed. One out of five children in NY live in food insecure homes-- homes where families cannot regularly put food on the table," said Joel Berg, Executive Director of the New York City Coalition Against Hunger (NYCCAH.) "We have hunger, we have too much poverty and too much inequality of wealth. We have replaced opportunity capitalism with crony capitalism."
As participants in the Talking Transitions' food policy forum ate a free burrito lunch supplied by Chipotle, Poppendieck, a Professor of Sociology at Hunter's NYC Food Policy Center pointed out, "You are eating a universal free lunch--do you like it?"
"How would you feel if someone asked your annual income to find out whether or not you should pay a small fee for the meal?  That shared meal is then replaced by a sorting of the haves and have nots. This stigmatizes both the kids receiving the meal and the food itself."
School sponsored universal free breakfasts remove the stigma and assure that kids begin the day right. "To be well read, you must be well fed," noted Berg. "Instead of treating poverty as a crime, the new Mayor could use school meals and SNAP (food stamp benefits) to help eliminate hunger."
From community gardens to composting, from reserving prime upstate agricultural lands for a sustainable regional food shed to upgraded nutrition, these and many more ideas surfaced at the panel discussion (and subsequent break out sessions). Kady Ferguson, executive director of the Brooklyn Food Coalition (BFC), pointed out that the right food initiatives confer multiple benefits: Eliminating hunger, improving nutrition and health, while simultaneously creating jobs and boosting New York's economy.
"Upstate farmers need downstate consumers to buy the foods they grow while downstate residents need farmers to supply them with healthy food at lower costs," noted Nancy Romer, the chair of the BFC Governance Board and an organizer of the NYC Food Forum. "If the city builds infrastructure, programs and jobs that promote upstate agriculture and support both downstate and upstate employment, the City could ask for reciprocity--for instance by asking the state to increase the income tax on wealthier New Yorkers."





October 14, 2013






This is guy is fraudulently genius 

 I remember going into a Foot Locker about 10 years ago, and getting a pair of fake Air Force Ones! I thought no way, this is a major chain.  Now I know why. 






Nike


Writes Nicholas Schmidle in the New York Times: "By the mid-1990s, a new brand of factory, specializing in fakes, began copying authentic Nike, Adidas, Puma and Reebok shoes. Counterfeiters played a low-budget game of industrial espionage, bribing employees at the licensed factories to lift samples or copy blueprints. Shoes were even chucked over a factory wall, according to a worker at one of Nike’s Putian factories. It wasn’t unusual for counterfeit models to show up in stores before the real ones did."









The Puente del Inca natural rock bridge in Argentina - Bright orange and yellow bacteria mats are created by natural sulphur springs which cover the rock walls. PIC BY STEFFEN AND ALEXANDRA SAILER / ARDEA / CATERS NEWS

Remember this, well it didn't look quite like this, but you get it... 1st cell phone! 

10 tech terms everyone needs to know for 2014











Information Technology (IT) is getting more pervasive and complicated every day. Although most of us experience IT in terms of personal computing devices (smartphones, tablets, or laptops), office productivity tools (word processors or spreadsheets), or infrastructure functionality (routers and servers), IT is steadily becoming more sophisticated and critical to everything we do.
At the Institute for Software Integrated Systems (ISIS) at Vanderbilt University, we conduct basic and applied research on the science and engineering of complex software-reliant IT systems to help industry, academia and ultimately, the general public.
The terms below suggest some of the key areas of technology development in the near future. Some of these may seem a bit more esoteric than others, but our future is clearly headed in these directions. To make intelligent decisions about our lives, our safety, our computers and more, here are the Ten Technical Terms Everyone Should Know for 2014.
1. Cyber-physical Systems (CPS) are an integrated set of hardware and software that controls physical things, which can involve humans or not. Classic examples of CPS’s include anti-lock brakes and automated mass-transit systems, like the subway. More sophisticated emerging CPS’s (such as driverless cars) are adaptive and intelligent, often solving problems as they occur in real time without direct human input. Among the hardest problems facing engineers is how robust and secure CPS’s should be to do what it is intended to do. More ‘robust and secure’ usually means more complex, expensive and apt to fail (ever had to reboot your car?), thus potentially costing time, money, lives or other unintended consequences.
2. Cloud Storage has become ubiquitous when talking about managing one’s growing cache of information, media and other data. The idea here is that your data is hosted by a third party, presumably secure and accessible anywhere you have an internet connection. The concept of a ‘cloud’ means many different resources connected together acting as one, thus increasing redundancy (and conceivably reliability) by creating many copies of data and storing it in many places. More copies in more places generate a potential security issue. If I store my file cabinet in your office, anyone with access to your office can get to my file cabinet. How good is your office door lock? Are you telling me the truth? Which files am I now comfortable storing in that file cabinet? These are the issues facing popular cloud storage services like Dropbox, Google Drive and iCloud.
3. Industrial Internet is an emerging communication infrastructure that connects people, data, and machines to enable access and control of mechanical devices in unprecedented ways. The Industrial Internet leverages the power of Cloud Storage and Computing to connect machines embedded with sensors and sophisticated software to other machines (and end users) so we can extract data, make sense of it, and find meaning where it did not exist before. Machines—from jet engines to gas turbines to medical scanners—connected via the Industrial Internet have the analytical intelligence to self-diagnose and self-correct, so they can deliver the right information to the right people at the right time (and in real-time).
4. 3G / 4G / 5G – The G stands for Generation, thus typically the speed of data transmission over wireless networks increases with each generation. U.S. wireless providers are far into the process of converting their networks from 3G to 4G, as are the device makers (Apple's iPhone 5 was its first 4G smartphone). Recently two competing 4G platforms were in use by various wireless telecom companies. For many reasons, LTE (long-term evolution) won out over WiMAX for North American cellular phone markets in 2012, thus moving all of us closer to a common broadband platform for the world. You can expect to see 5G roll out within the next decade.
5. Advanced Manufacturing involves the integration of IT-based systems and processes in the creation of products (fit, form, and function) to high levels of quality and in compliance with industry-specific certification standards. Products are increasingly complex and users demand more performance and reliability from them. With complexity comes cost and time, thus in order to keep costs and manufacturing time economical, methods like rapid prototyping and computer modeling are essential. For example, GE Aviation is applying Advanced Manufacturing technologies to develop new types of ceramic that outperforms the most advanced metallic alloys within a gas turbine and jet engine environment. Paramount to advanced manufacturing is a highly skilled workforce operating in lean and continuous improvement cultures.
6. Big Data refers to the massive amounts of data collected over time that are hard to analyze and handle using conventional database management tools. Big Data analytics operate upon a wide range of datasets, from organized to seemingly random, including business transactions, e-mail messages, photos, surveillance videos, and cyber incident activity logs. Scientific data from sensors can reach mammoth proportions over time, and Big Data also includes text posted on the Web, such as blogs and social media. Big Data analytics has traditionally focused on offline processing (download the data and process it locally somewhere). However, advances in computing clouds, analytics, programs, and automation for cyber-physical systems are broadening the applicability of Big Data techniques for use using the conventional Internet and the emerging Industrial Internet.
7. Cybersecurity involves preventive methods to protect information and machines connected to networks from being compromised or attacked. As we migrate more of our personal and business data to cloud storage—and as cyber-physical systems connected via the Industrial Internet and next-generation wireless networks become more integrated and essential to our health, economy, society, and homeland defense—we need better methods and tools for identifying and neutralizing potential cyber threats, such as viruses and other malicious code, as well as human vulnerabilities, such as insider threats. A cybersecurity plan is critical when company information is highly sensitive, such as medical records, financial information and other personal information. Recent arguments have been made regarding the intentional access of private information in the name of cybersecurity and national security.
8. Augmented Reality is the interaction of superimposed graphics, audio and other enhancements over a real-world environment displayed in real-time. A key challenge in cyber-physical systems is that users often can’t see the cyber information they need in the real-world setting. For example, as construction workers walk around a site, they can’t see the 3D building plan for the project directly overlaid on the walls in front of them to determine if they are built as planned. Augmented reality technologies enable these workers to reduce costly mistakes by visualizing what they are building atop what actually exists in the physical world. Retailers are currently experimenting with augmented reality to get more customers into the stores by allowing shoppers to ‘see’ the clothes on them without having to actually try them on. Some of these apps are a bit gimmicky now, but have the potential to change how we shop, train for new skills, game, build, and make other important decisions.
9. Agile Development Methods are a principled means of anticipating the need for flexibility in creating IT solutions. Agile software development focuses on keeping code simple, testing often, and delivering functional bits of the application as soon as they're ready. The goal of agile methods is to build upon small client-approved parts as the project progresses, as opposed to delivering one large integrated solution only at the end of the project. Now that agile methods are well-established throughout the commercial IT industry the challenge is to scale them up so they are suited in larger-scale mission-critical and life-critical environments, such as the Industrial Internet, automotive and avionics, space exploration, etc., that require balancing agility and discipline with large teams and long lifecycles.
10. Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) is a web-based class environment aimed at large-scale global participation and open access via the Internet. MOOCs have been dubbed a potentially disruptive technology trend that poses many challenges for traditional higher education. They are particularly relevant to the discussion of the other Tech Terms presented above because it’s likely that future researchers and practitioners of these topics will received a significant portion of their education through MOOCs and associated digital learning methods and tools. I recently taught one of the first four MOOCs offered by Vanderbilt on “Pattern-Oriented Software Architecture for Concurrent and Networked Software,” to 30,000+ students from all over the U.S. and scores of other countries. My experiences—both pro and con—teaching a MOOC underscored the point that in the rapidly changing and globally competitive environment in which we live, learn, and work, we need to continue to clarify and refine the value of—and affordable access to—high quality education.

Douglas C. Schmidt is the Associate Chair of Computer Science and Engineering and Professor of Computer Science at Vanderbilt University.  He works at ISIS at Vanderbilt University in Nashville.













ht tablet 120618 wblog Microsoft Surface Tablet: First Impressions and Photos
Image credit: Joanna Stern / ABC News
That’s a tablet made by Microsoft, and it’s a tablet unlike any other market: That’s the message Microsoft wanted to impart to journalists at a secretive event in Los Angeles today, and it’s exactly the thought that I’m leaving this event with.
Unfortunately, Microsoft continued its secretive streak at the event and only allowed journalists to play with the tablet for two minutes (give or take). Two minutes isn’t a very long time to form impressions or decide if this is a true iPad competitor, but here are my first thoughts.
The Surface Tablet is extremely well built. Microsoft’s lead designer Panos Panay really focused on the clean lines and the VaporMg material during the presentation, and it really doesn’t seem like he was blowing smoke. It feels very solid, but even more striking is how light it feels in hand; it feels lighter than the 1.5 pounds Microsoft has marked down on its spec sheet. It’s 9.3mm thin, which is thin, but it looks a bit thicker than the new iPad (even though the iPad is only 9.4mm). Granted it also has a full-size USB port, which makes that a bit more forgivable.
ht tablet2 120618 wblog Microsoft Surface Tablet: First Impressions and Photos
Credit: Joanna Stern / ABC News
The display is bright and beautiful and looks good from all angles. Microsoft won’t share the resolution of the screen yet, but it did respond very nicely to my gestures. I was able to swipe windows in and out very swiftly and pinch out to see all the apps on the Start Screen. (If you’re looking for more on how Windows 8 works you will want to check out my review from earlier this year.)
Now for the neat tricks! I love the kickstand and how it is really nicely integrated into the design. There’s even a small place on the side of the tablet to flick it out, so you don’t have to turn it around and pull the stand out. And then there’s the special covers. Unfortunately, the Touch Cover wasn’t working, but it simply attaches to the bottom of the tablet and turns itself on. The keyboard feels rubbery, but because it is all based on touch it doesn’t actually have any give. That’s what the Type Cover is for — that’s a full keyboard with real keys.
All those things taken together add up to what can ultimately be an extremely compelling package. With Windows 8, Microsoft refused to just address the tablet market but also the laptop market. It wanted to create “no-compromise PCs” and that seems to be what the Surface is all about. It is a tablet to read on and interact with, it’s a video player when you kick up the stand and set it back, and it’s a laptop replacement when you attach the cover.
Like I said, it’s a tablet unlike any other market. I’ll just need that pricing and more than two minutes to decide it’s capable of being the best tablet on the market.

Best Gadgets of the Week: Nikon Coolpix S800c, Logitech Washable Keyboard, Audyssey Speakers, IRISNotes 2 Digital Pen


PHOTO: Audyssey Wireless speakers, Nikon Coolpix S800c, IRIS Notes 2 pen and paper and Logitech_Washable_Keyboard
Audyssey | Nikon | IRIS | Logitech
First there was the new app releases -- new 2012 political convention apps, Facebook's new iOS app, and a cool service named Treater. Then came Microsoft's decision to revamp its logo after 25 years. And then the jury's decision in the landmark Apple v. Samsung case. No, it wasn't a quiet week in tech and the gadget releases followed a similar trend.
Nikon responded to the popularity of photo sharing with its Facebook and Twitter-equipped Coolpix camera, Logitech tended to the germaphobes with a washable keyboard, and IRISNotes announced a digital pen for all those headed back to school. There's more on all those and more in our weekly coolest gadgets roundup.




 January 30, 2012


Congolese inventor puts African tablet on sale

AFP –

Africa has its first handheld tablet to rival the iPad and similar western inventions, which went on sale in the Republic of Congo on Monday, its inventor Verone Mankou said.
"We have set up a team and logistics to sell the tablet since Friday. Today, anyone can buy one," if they are in the main cities of the capital Brazzaville and the oil port of Pointe-Noire, the 26-year-old told AFP.
The tablet is called the Way-C - "the light of the stars" in a dialect of northern Congo. It measures 19 x 17 x 1.2 centimetres (7.4 x 6.7 x O.5 inches) and weighs 380 grammes (13.4 ounces) and has integrated Wi-Fi circuitry and a 4.0 GB memory.
"In technological terms, this tablet is equivalent to all those to be found on the market," said Mankou, referring to the US giant Apple's iPad and its competitors.
The Way-C was conceived in Congo, where it was first presented to the public in September 2011, but it is assembled in China, "for the simple reason that Congo has no factories and for price reasons," Mankou added.
His tablet will sell for 150,000 CFA francs (229 euros / 299 dollars), which the developer, who is also an advisor on new information technologies to the ministry of communication, considered "acceptable and relatively low, considering the technology used".
For the moment, the Way-C will be sold exclusively in Airtel Congo stores in Brazzaville and Pointe-Noire, a private mobile telephone company which is a subsidiary of the Indian group Bharti.
Mankou's firm, VMK, has cut a deal with Bharti. "With this company, we are also going to conclude a partnership to use 3G (mobile telephony), because the tablet only has an integrated wi-fi."
The financing of the project, launched in 2006, cost more than 80 million CFA francs (almost 122,000 euros), essentially provided by VMK. The tablet is planned to be marketed in 10 west African countries, and in Belgium, France and India from February 15.



School bans fuzzy boots used to hide cell phones

By Dave Warner | Reuters 

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Singer Nancy Sinatra may have had boots made for walking, but she never attended Pottstown Middle School.
Starting Monday the Philadelphia suburban district is banning the wearing of fuzzy open-top boots, including the popular Ugg brand, to middle school classes because students have been stashing cell phones in the loose footwear, according to district director of community relations John Armato.
"Cell phones are a problem for obvious reasons," Armato said.
Superintendent Reed Lindley said the school principal asked for the boot ban "because of the classroom disruptions that are resulting from ringing cell phones."
Students at the school can avoid going toe-to-toe with school officials by wearing boots that lace up and usually have a snugger fit.
First time offenders will get detention, and subsequent violations include two detentions, followed by confiscation of the phone, Armato said.
Middle school parent Adrienne Beyer said she thinks the ban is extreme.
"I understand there may be a handful of kids that shove cell phones down their boots, but why does the handful have to ruin it for the other 600 students? But, I said to my daughter, 'It's a rule and we're going to follow it,'" Beyer said.
Ugg sheepskin boots originated in Australia and New Zealand and have become popular with pre-teens and teenagers in the United States in recent years.
(Editing By Barbara Goldberg and Greg McCune)

Apple chief executive Tim Cook, pictured here in 2011, has responded to media reports alleging harsh working conditions in China for manufacturing employees of the popular gadget-maker 'We care about every worker': Apple CEO

AFP



Apple chief executive Tim Cook has responded to media reports alleging harsh working conditions in China for manufacturing employees of the popular gadget-maker.
Cook, who took over as chief executive from Apple's late co-founder, Steve Jobs, addressed the reports of long hours and occasionally unsafe conditions in an email obtained by the 9to5mac.com website.
Cook's message comes after The New York Times and other media outlets published stories about working conditions in factories in China which make parts or assemble Apple devices such as the iPhone and the iPad.
"As a company and as individuals, we are defined by our values," Cook said in the email. "Unfortunately some people are questioning Apple's values today, and I'd like to address this with you directly."
The Times report cited safety issues and said workers assembling iPhones, iPads and other devices "often labor in harsh conditions" and work "excessive overtime."
The newspaper said two explosions at iPad factories last year killed four people and injured 77.
"We care about every worker in our worldwide supply chain," Cook said. "Any accident is deeply troubling, and any issue with working conditions is cause for concern.
"Any suggestion that we don't care is patently false and offensive to us," he said. "As you know better than anyone, accusations like these are contrary to our values. It's not who we are.
"For the many hundreds of you who are based at our suppliers' manufacturing sites around the world, or spend long stretches working there away from your families, I know you are as outraged by this as I am," Cook said.
Apple was inspecting more factories and this month opened up its supply chain for independent evaluations by the Fair Labor Association, he said.
"Every year we inspect more factories, raising the bar for our partners and going deeper into the supply chain," Cook said. "We've made a great deal of progress and improved conditions for hundreds of thousands of workers.
"We know of no one in our industry doing as much as we are, in as many places, touching as many people," he said.
"We are attacking problems aggressively with the help of the world?s foremost authorities on safety, the environment, and fair labor," he said.
"We will continue to dig deeper, and we will undoubtedly find more issues," Cook said. "What we will not do -- and never have done -- is stand still or turn a blind eye to problems in our supply chain. On this you have my word."
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.






January 26, 2012


Facebook to File for IPO Next Week [REPORT]

The long-awaited tech IPO of the year — perhaps of the decade — is on. Facebook will file its paperwork for an Initial Public Offering on Wednesday, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal.
If it comes to pass, this will be the largest tech IPO in history, yielding around $10 billion for the social network. The next-largest tech IPO is Infineon, a German company that raised $5.9 billion in 2000. Google’s 2005 IPO, as big a deal as it was, didn’t even reach the $2 billion mark.



SEE ALSO: Everything You Need to Know About Facebook’s $100 Billion IPO
Details are scarce, Facebook isn’t commenting, and the WSJ’s source is unnamed. But the Journal has a track record on such stories that is hard to dispute. The $10 billion share offering would yield the company a total valuation of $100 billion, the paper says, which is right in line with where we expected it to be.
Facebook halted its trading in secondary markets for three days earlier this week — the strongest signal yet that an IPO is coming soon.
An upcoming share offering would also explain why Facebook has been so keen to get its product offerings in place. This week the company announced it would be rolling out its new profile template, Timeline, to all users, at a speed that left us scratching our heads. Last week it revealed 60 apps that are tightly integrated into Timeline, and announced a process for developers to create more Timeline apps.
If and when Facebook does file its S-1 paperwork, it will be forced to enter a “quiet period” — without product announcements, interviews or any other public statements.



SEE ALSO: How Does Facebook Compare to the World’s Biggest IPOs?
The WSJ also reports that Wall Street giant Morgan Stanley will manage the offering, and that Goldman Sachs will be “intimately involved.” That’s a blow for Goldman, which managed a billion-dollar private share offering for Facebook this time last year.
Are you excited about Facebook finally going IPO, or will being a public company change it for the worse? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Rubinstein leaves Hewlett-Packard

By   




Former Palm chief Jon Rubinstein has left Hewlett-Packard, having completed the 24-month commitment period agreed when HP acquired Palm. An HP spokesperson has confirmed the story, first reported by AllThingsD, in a brief statement: "Jon has fulfilled his commitment and we wish him well."

Rubinstein rose to fame as a hardware guru at NeXT ultimately joining Apple after the company acquired NeXT in 1996. He was instrumental in developing the iMac and PowerMac desktops before spearheading the iPod project that would herald the company's business dominance. After retiring in 2006, he joined Palm to revitalize the flagging device maker's fortunes, developing the Palm Pre and WebOS software before being crowned as its CEO in 2009. A year later, Hewlett-Packard purchased the company for $1.2 billion: but just a year later, pulled the shutters down as Rubinstein was shifted (or "dumped") to a "product innovation role" within HP, where he saw out the last of his retention period before departing. In a terse comment to The Verge, the man himself has said that he's "going to take some well deserved time off," and after the last twelve months, we wouldn't blame him.

Distro Issue 25: Ultrabook overload, Snap Analysis and Gina Trapani

By
Distro is 25... weeks old, today! And to celebrate we're debuting a new page that puts you, our readers, front and center. We've been sending out questions over various social networking channels and collecting your answers for the inaugural run of Snap Analysis. Among other things, you weighed in on RIM's CEO switch up, as did our own Darren Murph in his editorial, "RIM's New CEO Isn't the Shakeup It Needed." We have more editorializing coming your way from the desk of Donald Melanson, who's taking the Ultrabook marketing hype to task. Also in this issue, we test drive the BlackBerry Porsche Design P'9981 and review the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GX1 and Huawei's Honor. Lifehacker's Gina Trapani takes on the Distro Q&A, IRL goes back to CES and Ross Rubin explores Apple's education push. There's a lot to soak up in this issue, so hit the appropriate link below and get to reading!
READ MORE
sourceiTunes, Android Market

Steam beta journeys to Android and iOS, for select invitees

By posted Jan 27th 2012 at 3:02AM
Our friends at Joystiq are members of a privileged club of which we are not. We've both downloaded and installed the mobile version of Steam -- now available as a free beta download for Android and iOS -- but where they found Mac and PC games for sale, along with the ability to chat with friends, browse profiles and read gaming news, we were greeted with red text that states our accounts are not part of the beta. Damn our luck! For those interested to give Valve's handiwork a spin, it seems that downloading and installing the app puts you in the queue for a future invite. Won't you join us in the line?
Joystiq
sourceAndroid Market, iTunes, Valve

Wii U controller to pack NFC, says Iwata, create new gameplay options

By posted Jan 27th 2012 at 12:18AM
Wii U controller to get NFC, says Satoru Iwata
Aching for more details on Nintendo's elusive Wii U console? Let Satoru Iwata scratch your itch -- quarterly reports aren't just for reporting losses and announcing new networks, after all. Boss hog Iwata told investors that Nintendo is spicing up their next console's tablet-esque controller with a little NFC magic. Nintendo's President briefly entertains the possibilities of a console controller rocking near field communication, suggesting that Skylander-like figurines or NFC enabled cards could be created to present a "new play format in the video game world." He even says the technology might be used to implement micropayments. Sounds neat -- but will you be able to buy DLC with your Google Wallet?
sourceNintendoDownload a native Engadget app for the platform of your choice. If you want. No pressure.




Smartphones drive record Samsung profit

By Miyoung Kim | Reuters 
A customer tries Samsung Electronics' Galaxy smartphone at a store in Seoul January …
SEOUL (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics Co posted a record $4.7 billion quarterly operating profit, driven by booming smartphone sales, and will spend $22 billion this year to boost production of chips and flat screens to pull further ahead of smaller rivals.
The South Korean firm, the world's top technology firm by revenue, is locked in breakneck competition with Apple Inc in the red-hot smartphone market. Apple, overtaken by Samsung in the third quarter, regained its crown as the world's biggest maker of smartphones in the fourth quarter, with record sales of 37.04 million iPhones.
Samsung didn't give its own sales volume data, but research firm Strategy Analytics put sales at 36.5 million smartphones in October-December, with 3rd-ranked Nokia on 19.6 million. Smartphones account for around 40 percent of all Samsung's handset shipments.
Samsung's telecoms business earned a record 2.64 trillion won ($2.35 billion) profit in October-December on increased sales of its flagship Galaxy smartphones.
"The battle of the two big smartphone powers, Apple versus Samsung, will go on," said Baik Jae-yer, fund manager at Korea Investment Management, which has around 9 percent of its portfolio in Samsung stock, according to end-September filings.
"The smartphone market will expand this year to more mid-and low-end models that are affordable to the wider public," Baik said. "Rather than focus on market share, I'd point out the strong contribution of Samsung's handset business to earnings growth and margins."
Samsung's October-December operating profit of 5.3 trillion won ($4.72 billion) was broadly in line with its earlier estimate and topped the previous record of 5 trillion won in the second quarter of 2010. Profit rose 76 percent from a year ago and 25 percent from the third quarter.
Samsung will increase spending this year by 9 percent to 25 trillion won - more than the GDP of leading cocoa producer Ivory Coast - with 15 trillion won going to the chips division, 6.6 trillion won to flat screens and the rest to boosting overseas production capacity and new research and development centers.
The record investment dwarfs a combined 1.3 trillion yen ($16.6 billion) that leading Japanese technology companies - Sony Corp, Toshiba Corp, Hitachi Ltd and Sharp Corp - have planned for the current year to end-March.
Samsung competes with Sony and LG Electronics Inc in televisions, Toshiba and Hynix in chips and LG Display in displays.
LG Display posted a narrower quarterly loss on Friday on demand from smartphone and tablet makers and as falling TV panel prices stabilize.
Samsung, which only entered the smartphone market in earnest in 2010 - some three years after the introduction of the iPhone with the touchscreen template - has adopted Apple's breakthrough concept probably better than others - and now seeks to offer the Apple experience at a better price, with better functionality.
Apple is Samsung's biggest client, buying mainly chips and displays, and the two firms are locked in a bruising patent battle in some 10 countries from the United States to Europe, Japan and Australia as they jostle for smartphone and tablet supremacy. In the latest legal skirmish, a German court ruled against Samsung in the second of three patent suits. The Mannheim court will decide on a third patent on March 2.
Apple, though, is streets ahead in profitability. It generates half its revenue from the iPhone, boasts a 37.4 percent operating margin, versus Samsung's 11 percent, and its $17.3 billion operating profit is almost four times what Samsung earned from selling phones, chips, flat screens and TVs combined.
"Apple had good sales, but it's very unlikely this will be a trend that will overwhelm Samsung later," said Kim Young-chan, analyst at Shinhan Investment & Securities, noting the likely boost to Apple sales from year-end promotions and the death of founder Steve Jobs.
"It's unlikely Samsung and Apple will fight over each other's market share, but they will eat up the market share of smaller companies like HTC and RIM," Kim said.
Samsung forecast its strong momentum in mobiles would continue this year and it aimed for 15 percent margins from the business, though it could come under renewed consumer pressure if and when Apple brings out next-generation iPads and iPhones.
"Samsung is playing catch-up with Apple in smartphone sales volume, but it's tougher to catch up in terms of margins," said Lee Yong-jik, fund manager at PineBridge Investment, which owns nearly 2.5 million Samsung shares, according to an end-November filing. Lee forecast Samsung would ship 150-170 million smartphones this year, from below 100 million last year.
"But price competition will intensify, putting its handset margins under pressure," added Kim.
CHIPS, FLAT SCREENS UNDER PRESSURE
Samsung faces headwinds this year, however, as global PC growth slows, likely denting sales of its core computer memory chips.
The company is looking to weather a squeeze on memory chips through new revenue sources such as mobile processing chips and high-end OLED displays. Rivals are increasingly turning to Samsung for components to power their tablets and smartphones.
Samsung makes mobile processors that power Apple's iPhone and iPad as well as its own Galaxy mobile products.
The company has warned that oversupply in dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chips will continue this quarter due to slack computer sales, while demand for flat screens is likely to remain subdued at least until March.
Yet Samsung is the only profitable DRAM chipmaker and is likely to fare better than rivals, as it invests heavily to cut production costs with finer processing technology.
Shares in Samsung, also the world's top maker of memory chips and TVs, have risen by a fifth in the past three months and added 1.1 percent on Friday to a record high close of 1.125 million won. The KOSPI share index, up 3 percent in the past 3 months, rose 0.4 percent on Friday.

Android tablets closing in on iPad: researcher

Reuters – Thu, Jan 26, 2012
Android mascots are lined up in the demonstration area at the Google I/O Developers …
(Reuters) - Tablet computers using Google's Android software narrowed the lead of Apple's iPad on the global market in the fourth quarter, research firm Strategy Analytics said on Thursday.
Global tablet shipments reached an all-time high of 26.8 million units in the fourth quarter, growing 2-1/2 fold from 10.7 million a year earlier, the research firm said.
"Dozens of Android models distributed across multiple countries by numerous brands such as Amazon, Samsung, Asus and others have been driving volumes," analyst Neil Mawston said in a statement.
Android's market share rose to 39 percent from 29 percent a year earlier, while Apple's share slipped to 58 percent from 68 percent a year before.
The tablet computer market grew 260 percent last year to 66.9 million units as consumers are increasingly buying tablets in preference to netbooks and even entry-level notebooks or desktops.
Strategy Analytics said Microsoft had a 1 percent share of the global tablet market last quarter.
(Reporting By Tarmo Virki; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)



TOKYO (AP) — Nintendo's chief is determined to get right the launch of its next game machine, Wii U, set for this year's holiday shopping season, and acknowledged Friday some mistakes with selling its 3DS handheld.
But Nintendo Co. President Satoru Iwata warned earnings for the fiscal year set to begin April will be the toughest ever for the Japanese manufacturer behind the Super Mario and Pokemon games.
Nintendo went against conventional wisdom with the original Wii in 2006. The quirky, cheap game console relied not on high-end graphics and complex buttons to lure in hardcore players, but on simple motion controls to lure in everyone.
Although the company successfully courted casual gamers with the Wii, it is now facing increased competition from Apple Inc.'s iPhone and other devices that offer simple games. It had hoped to win new gamers through a 3-D handheld device. But sales were slow, and Nintendo slashed prices on the 3DS within six months.
Iwata's remarks come a day after it lowered its annual earnings forecast to a 65 billion yen ($844 million) loss, much larger than the 20 billion yen ($260 million) loss projected earlier. It posted a 77.62 billion yen profit the previous fiscal year.
Iwata blamed the strong yen, which erases overseas earnings, as well as the arrival of smartphones and other devices that offer gaming.
The higher yen slashed nearly 54 billion yen ($701 million) from the company's operating profit for the April-December period.
"I can see how the red ink may be perceived as abnormal," Iwata told analysts and reporters at a Tokyo hotel. "The environment has changed."
The failure of the 3DS handheld to take off with enough momentum during the last quarter of 2011 was one of the main reasons for the dismal results, according to Iwata.
The 3DS has gradually started to sell better, but it took a price cut in August. It still lacks a strong lineup of attractive software games, a key factor for a machine to succeed in a big way.
Iwata vowed the company will be better prepared when it introduces the Wii U home console during the 2012 year-end shopping season for a strong comeback.
He declined to give details such as pricing or what the software games available at that time might be.
But he said the Wii U will come with a strong game lineup at the launch as well as secure and safe Internet services that will offer players individual accounts.
The Wii U will come with new ways of playing that will almost make the term "home console" obsolete, Iwata said. It will also offer mobile gaming. The machine has a touch-panel controller.
Nintendo has long competed against rival game makers, such as Sony Corp. and Microsoft Corp. These days, all face the threat from hit devices like the iPad and iPhone from Apple Inc. that also offer games.
Iwata's comments also showed Nintendo is growing less cautious about the Internet, which in the past it had brushed off as mainly for hard-core gamers.
Kyoto-based Nintendo has built its reputation on making games fun to play for casual and newcomer players.
"We are going to put to use our bitter experience with the 3DS," said Iwata.

Daily Mail making run at NY Times Web crown

The New York Times has long been the most-visited newspaper site on the Web, but Britain's Daily Mail is making a run at its crown.

According to figures from tracking firm comScore, the Mail Online surpassed the Times in unique visitors in December -- 45.35 million for the Mail to 44.8 million for the Times.
Not so fast, said the Times.
It noted that the Mail figure includes visitors not only to the newspaper site -- dailymail.co.uk -- but also to those of an affiliated personal finance site -- thisismoney.co.uk.
ComScore said dailymail.co.uk attracted 44.5 million unique visitors in December -- slightly less than the Times's 44.8 million.
Thisismoney.co.uk drew 1.03 million.
"The New York Times remains the number one individual newspaper site worldwide," Times spokeswoman Eileen Murphy said.
"In any case, a quick review of our site versus the Daily Mail should indicate quite clearly that they are not in our competitive set," she said.
Rounding out comScore's top five list of most-visited newspaper websites were USA Today with 37.17 million unique visitors in December, Tribune Newspapers with 32.83 million and Britain's Guardian with 29.15 million.
In an interview with Buzzfeed, Martin Clarke, the editor of the Mail's online properties, said growth of the site has been driven by US traffic.
"We just do news that people want to read," in an "entertaining, engaging way," Clarke said.

Nokia owns about Half of Second Generation Windows 7 Phones

There's a new phone every other day, I can't keep up!  Tell me what you think, I still don't own my 1st iphone!!



SOUL by Ludacris SL300 Elite Hi-Definition Noise Cancelling Headphones - SL300GG

I HEARD THESE HEADPHONES HAVE A BOMB ASS SOUND!! $300, they better!! I want a pair..

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