3152593
submission
thefickler writes:
YouTube is to attempt to raise revenues by allowing major media firms to sell their own advertising on their clips. The firms can even get cash from clips that have been illegally uploaded by users. The site says CBS is already on board for the scheme, with other giants expected to join. The scheme will allow TV, movie and music companies to upload content and then sell advertising themselves, for example through images or animations which are overlaid on suitable sections of the clips. YouTube will then take a cut of this advertising revenue.
3152113
submission
thefickler writes:
Unless you were in Washington DC watching the entire Inaugural Parade, chances are that you never got a chance to see NASA's next Lunar rover. It seems the Moon may have an electric vehicle, albeit one that appears to be made from at least a few spare parts. For those who have bemoaned the death of General Motors EV1 electric car, take heart. NASA bought a former GM EV1 inductive charger from eBay to charge the Chariot's batteries. I guess that's a sign of the times.
3085205
submission
thefickler writes:
The Chinese Government is expanding a crackdown on Internet pornography. Xinhua news agency, which is owned by the government and can safely be used for reporting in China, says the campaign to scrub the country's Internet of 'vulgar' content has so far resulted in 29 criminal cases. Police have ordered the removal of 46,000 pornographic and other 'harmful' items from websites. The latest crackdown comes after official warnings of rising social unrest as the economy slows. And it is no coincidence that this year is the twentieth anniversary of Tiananmen Square , or, to use the acceptable nomenclature, 'the June 4th incident'.
2955725
submission
thefickler writes:
The press is all of a twitter about the Kogan Agora Android phone. Kogan is a small company in Australia. What it does is sell, not make, electronic gadgetry. Well how does a small Australian firm make a breakthrough phone like this? And the answer is it doesn't. It goes to China and gets someone to make it. How do you find such people? You do not even have to go to China. Try searching Alibaba.com for an Android phone, and you'll see for yourself. If you look at the pictures of the Agora that are doing the rounds, you may come to the conclusion that the Agora is a little bit Blackberry, a little bit Treo, with a decent looking QWERTY keypad and square screen. True, it is a little bit of a lot of things. But mostly it is Chinese.
2927263
submission
thefickler writes:
According to programmers on Zuneboard, the recent problem that caused Zune players to stop working was the result of shoddy programing. Apparently a "nested if" had no escape if the original condition was not met.
2896995
submission
thefickler writes:
Imagine being able to turn your sex drive on and off. Scientists are working on just such a possibility. However, one commentator wonders "Can you be too successful?" — apparently a woman who had such a chip implanted, went from lack of interest to a very active sex drive. Her sex drive was increased to the point she decided to have the chip removed.
2843553
submission
thefickler writes:
Of course it's the silly season, and we're seeing some silly things out there on the Internet — still it is is interesting to see what one site considers to be the top 100 websites you must see before you die. Me, I'm going to hold off visiting all 100 sites, as I'd like to be around for a while yet.
2828613
submission
thefickler writes:
The last major supplier of VHS videotapes, is ditching the format in favor of DVD, effectively killing the format for good. This uncharitable commentator has this to say:"Will VHS be missed? Not ... with videos being brittle, clunky, and rather user-unfriendly. But they ushered in a new era that was important to get to where we are today. And for that reason, the death of VHS is rather sad. Almost as sad as the people still using it."
2789737
submission
thefickler writes:
The stars have been aligning for an earlier release of Apple's next-gen operating system. Although it's been billed as a rewrite of Leopard--heck the name's just a riff--designed to reduce and refine the existing code, there are new and potentially earth shaking changes coming under the hood.
2670589
submission
thefickler writes:
With falling gas prices, and the end of capitalism as we know it (otherwise known as the credit crisis), the
biofuels industry is not looking as viable as it once was. Indeed biofuel production has fallen well short of expectations, with biofuel companies closing down or reducing production capacity. It appears that the industry's only hope is government support.
447076
submission
thefickler writes:
By 2012 we could all be saying, "What format war?". In a study released by ABI Research, it seems that by 2012 they predict that the high definition drive market for computers will be a $2 billion dollar industry. The surprising part is that they expect two-thirds of that total market to be dual format drives.
