Ping this
photo by Joi
A founding member of Skype, Toivo Annus, (orange shirt above) has a new startup developing video calling applications and user interfaces for flat-screen TV-s. In other words, Toivo is going to bring video conferencing and VoIP to your next LCD TV. I found this nugget over at Jan’s blog.
Investment group Ambient Sound Investments’ (ASI) project is named InkSpin1 which includes creating Skype user interface for LCD TV sets. So that the video calls can be hold on large TV screen.
type (toivo) in skype chat
Popularity: 65% [?]
Ping this
photo by Martyn Starkey
I just noticed over on Jerry Ong’s blog that Ping.FM has updated their service to support friendster, Yahoo 360, Delicious. Great to see more social networks added.
I’m still hoping for Skype status updates.
Popularity: 67% [?]
Ping this
photo by teenage jesus
Best not to talk local politics when your an American in Malaysia. I’ll let Raja Petra talk instead.
“There is a growing consensus in government that those who run websites and blogs should be held accountable and this means that laws should be used to take action against those who defame and spread disinformation.
“If not, we are going to have a situation where everyone will be free to make all sorts of allegations with no downside at all. There is a fear that the trust level with BN would be very low if nothing is done, ” said a senior government official familiar with details of the meeting.
The prevailing mood in the government against the alternative media is one of frustration. After decades of being able to control newspapers and television stations through a raft of legislation, government officials and politicians are finding that their tools are useless in setting boundaries for new media.
via mt
Popularity: 67% [?]
Ping this
photo by miskan
According to Nicholas Guan, an OgilvyOne social media researcher, the best social network reach Asians is not always Facebook but on alternative social networks. Does that mean you should advertise on Friendster instead of Facebook if you are selling electric scooters in Malaysia? Of course not because online marketing often about targeting influencers much of whom I suspect are on Facebook. If you are targeting a mass audience your ad dollar might not always be best spent on a social network anyways. Interesting research though.
via PaidContent
Popularity: 63% [?]
Ping this
photo by JuanShot
Hackintosh PC users everywhere will be watching this case. Hopefully Apple learns to think different on this one. Apple is missing a huge opportunity by not opening up the Mac OS to run on other platforms. Apple’s losing billions in revenue by not selling OSX separate from their cool Asus manufactured hardware.
Psystar, based in Doral, Fla., is challenging Apple’s requirement that only Apple-branded devices use its software, which Pystar contends illegally ties the sale of one product to another. That’s not the case with operating systems software from Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) or the open source Linux, which can be installed on devices from any number of manufacturers, Psystar said.
Psystar made its claims at a press conference Tuesday, during which it said it will soon file a legal complaint against Apple alleging the Cupertino, Calif., computer maker is engaged in unfair competition and an attempt to monopolize and other violations of U.S. antitrust acts.
Psystar’s pending complaint is its formal response to a lawsuit Apple filed against it on July 3 claiming Psystar’s Open Computer desktop computers and servers violate Apple copyrights and trademarks. Pystar denied those allegations Tuesday.
“Our goal is to provide an alternative,” Psystar co-founder Rudolfo Pedraza said Tuesday.
via CNN
Popularity: 57% [?]
Ping this
image by jonrawlinson
I’ve just heard from Ashod at MeBeam that he’s released personal MeBeam server. According to Ashod this is “full backend mebeam is now running on – single exe, no installs, 760k file.”
MeBeam is opening its network to the public, with a vast array of back end services, including dedicated servers, private networks, and co-location services.
Some of our more exotic services will include, flash to SIP telephony, 3G video gateways, Web to Polycom transcoding, and of course, high end video conferencing.
This is a bold and smart move. I’m excited to see how this performs on an intranet. Attention universities, law enforcement, medical technologists, this is one the most promising multipoint video conferencing platforms I have seen. Windows only for now.
Popularity: 54% [?]
Ping this
Back in November 2003 I was pulling for and blogging about Howard Dean. As an American living overseas, I found it exhilarating that I could participate in the US political process from my computer sitting in Malaysia. I had the idea for the Dean blimp while reading about how an HMO used a blimp for advertising at college football games. I posted on the Dean blog forums and a few people agreed it was a cool idea. An hour later I’d photoshopped a Dean blimp from the Blockbuster blimp and then put up a crude page to give the idea a home. I contacted a blimp company, got quotes and put the pricing info out there for Dean folks to respond. A few weeks later an email arrived from Dean supporter, Ken Leach.
I was with Howard Dean last Tuesday in Houston. He had no idea there is an idea about a DEAN BLIMP and recoiled at the mention of 2.5 million. I told him it would be the best 2.5 million he could spend and it would pay out more attention for the campaign than any other money he could spend. As he was leaving, I said, “Think about it – A Dean Blimp!” He smiled and gave me the thumbs up. The seed has been planted.
Alas, Dean never went for the blimp idea. Still though, how cool is it that a supporter all the way in Malaysia can have an idea, post it on the web and a few weeks later it is pitched to the man himself ?
Although I’m for Obama – I really admire Ron Paul and the guts he has. When he stood there at one of the early GOP primary debates talking about “blowback” to a crowd filled with Rudy Giuliani suck ups – that took hutzpah and Paul didn’t even flinch. He’s kooky, but I’ll take kooky over Evil any day. I admire people that tell you what you need to hear even if it’s not going to be popular.
The Ron Paul movement reminded me allot of the Dean movement. Paul’s campaign was also bringing new people into the fold of politics and they were using the internet to organize. Much of what was happening was not being directed by the Paul campaign, it was just happening organically. Millions of dollars were getting raised daily and most of it was being raised and organized off site and by volunteers. I had almost forgotten about the Dean blimp and then one day to my surprise, Paul folks launched a Blimp. Still halfway around the World, I smiled.
The Dean blimp never flew and the Paul blimp did not get him the nomination. Some mock the idea of course, but what did happen is a powerful demonstration of internet enabled democracy in modern political campaigns. The power of communication and internet publishing can make your ideas literally take flight.
Howard Dean said, “You have the power!” And we did, and still do have the power. As head of the DNC and architect of the 50 State Strategy – Dean wields a bit of power himself these days.
Obama blimp in 2012?
Popularity: 57% [?]
Ping this
photo by weare mockorange
You might not want to burn incense all day. I’ll still burn some Nag Champa and savor the positive effects, but with good ventilation.
Study participants who used incense in their homes all day or throughout the day and night were 80 percent more likely than non-users to develop squamous cell carcinoma of the entire respiratory tract.
The link between incense use and increased cancer risk held when the researchers weighed other factors, including cigarette smoking, diet and drinking habits.
“This association is consistent with a large number of studies identifying carcinogens in incense smoke,” Friborg’s team writes, “and given the widespread and sometimes involuntary exposure to smoke from burning incense, these findings carry significant public health implications.”
via Rueters
Popularity: 54% [?]
Ping this
Red Digital Cinema has unleashed the Red One, a HD digital video camera that looks as good as film.
skate – shot on red – 120 fps from opus magnum prod. on Vimeo.
His team of engineers and scientists have created the first digital movie camera that matches the detail and richness of analog film. The Red One records motion in a whopping 4,096 lines of horizontal resolution—”4K” in filmmaker lingo—and 2,304 of vertical. For comparison, hi-def digital movies like Sin City and the Star Wars prequels top out at 1,920 by 1,080, just like your HDTV. (There’s also a slightly higher-resolution option called 2K that reaches 2,048 lines by 1,080.) Film doesn’t have pixels, but the industry-standard 35-millimeter stock has a visual resolution roughly equivalent to 4K. And that’s what makes the Red so exciting: It delivers all the dazzle of analog, but it’s easier to use and cheaper—by orders of magnitude—than a film camera. In other words, Jannard’s creation threatens to make 35-mm movie film obsolete.
via Wired
Popularity: 51% [?]
Ping this
photo by tesla1000
Sounds great but not sure I’d be an early adopter of wireless power without wearing lead underwear.
Electricity was sent wirelessly to a lamp on stage, lighting a 60 watt bulb that uses more power than a typical laptop computer.
“It turns out the human body is not affected by magnetic fields; it is affected by elective fields. So what we are doing is transmitting energy using the magnetic field not the electric field.”
via Yahoo News
Popularity: 47% [?]
Ping this
I’m sitting here (at home) watching the closing ceremony for the Olympics and was surprised to hear Led Zeppelin’s Whole Lotta Love, pretty cool. I notice the lyrics were changed. Makes sense. I did not mind, still very cool to see Jimmy Page playing at an Olympics ceremony.
Popularity: 46% [?]
Ping this
Looks like Ikea will have PV panels in stores within a few years.
IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad’s son Peter is an avowed green tech believer, and Stenebo’s Greentech will put about US$75 million into at many as ten companies in five different areas: solar technology, energy conservation, water saving products, alternative lighting, and new product materials. Scandinavian companies are Greentech’s first focus. Nearly all of these areas are ones we would welcome the IKEA low-cost approach to, although setting up solar roof panels with just the simplistic diagrams and little Allen keys that accompany IKEA’s usual do-it-yourself furniture seems something of a stretch. Then there’s the problem than many installations require building and other permits. But IKEA’s fabulous distribution network of 270 global superstores would mean green tech for the global masses, a welcome development.
via TreeHugger
Popularity: 47% [?]
Ping this
photo by desevilla
Refocus Imaging has raised 250k series A funding from Greylock. The company is developing camera technology that will change how we take photos. Imaging being able to change the focus of an image after you’ve taken the picture. I wonder how large these photos will be.
Refocus is developing what is says will be the most advanced digital cameras in the world. “By recording and processing the entire light field, not just an ordinary picture, Refocus’ technology transforms imaging hardware into software. This frees physical limitations, and enables capabilities previously thought impossible. One example is the revolutionary ability to change the focus and depth of field /after/ the image is taken. Another example is enabling a new class of lenses that are lighter and cheaper yet have more powerful zoom and aperture than anything possible today.”
via Alarm:Clock
Popularity: 45% [?]
