Vote for your favorite M&M’s and get a chance to win $1,000 worth of swag

We’ve just been visited by the unlikeliest of visitors: M&M mascots. Red, Yellow, Green, Orange and Blue M&Ms just paid a visit to the Gadgets office trying to garner our support for their bids as the most popular character in the world’s favorite chocolate snack. And much to our surprise, each color has its own unique personality. Orange is apparently the paranoid one, Blue is the cool one, Green is the fashionable one, Yellow is the charming one and Red and naturally the hot one. You can support each candydate at the official voting page here, and by doing so you’ll be eligible to win $1,000 worth of M&M swag. If you do win, just remember to keep your dentist on speed dial.
Source: M-Ms

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Hackers cripple al-Qaida web communications

Here’s one of the rare instances where hacking is used for good: NBC reports that a group of hackers have apparently shut down al-Qaida’s ability to communicate with nefarious ne’er do wells around the globe, according to Evan Kohlmann, of Flashpoint Global Partners, which monitors the group’s communications. ”Al-Qaida’s online communications have been temporarily crippled, and it does not have a single trusted distribution channel available on the Internet.” Additionally, the attacks were, ”well coordinated and involved the use of an unusual cocktail of relatively sophisticated techniques,” Kohlmann said. The sophistication of the attack may suggest that this was a government sponsored hacking incident, similar to the hilarious MI6 operation a few months ago where terrorist cook books for explosives and bombs were replaced with actual cook books for cookies. Good stuff.
Source: NBC News

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eSariSari.com – a new approach to daily deals

Filipinos love a bargain, and it comes to no surprise that our local industry welcomes a new website offering great deals. From spa packages all the way to massive restaurant discounts, there is no better way to spend money, than to spend less of it.
With that said, keep your eyes peeled for eSariSari.com, a daily deals service that is set to launch its beta site. While they offer great discount packages just like other similar sites, what makes them unique is their use of a distinct algorithm to display their current deals. According to their press release

Careful analysis has been conducted by the eSariSari.com team to come up with this algorithm that benefits merchants and puts fairness and balance on all deals. Numerous factors have been used in developing this algorithm, each given its corresponding weight in the algorithm. eSariSari.com boasts their algorithm to be something different and new adding spice to the conventional daily deals service that most consumers are familiar with.

eSariSari.com is founded by the same minds behind SocialApp.ly, so users may expect the same creative output and quality of service. Through this newly developed algorithm, consumers will be able to better connect with local businesses and vice versa, promoting a mutually beneficial relationship between buyers and merchants.

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Change in leadership at Nokia Philippines

Media Advisory

Nokia Philippines announces the resignation of Benoit Nalin as General Manager of Nokia Philippines effective July 2011.  Mr. Nalin has decided to pursue interests outside of Nokia and the company only wishes him all the best on this new endeavor.  Nokia Philippines will soon announce his successor and looks forward to new challenges and further successes with the new leadership direction.
Until the announcement of a new General Manager, the Country Management Team will move forward with the same strategy and plans for Nokia Philippines, as laid out at the beginning of the year.
For any questions, contact Nikka Abes, Corporate Communications Manager of Nokia Philippines, email nikka.abes@nokia.com.

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TV5 and MMDA’s traffic update system makes life easier for drivers

Here’s something that you’ll need to bookmark in your browser real quick – TV5, in cooperation with the MMDA, have created a traffic navigator that tells you in real time what the traffic’s like in the major roads in the metro. While it only shows you the current traffic status of six major roads namely EDSA, SLEX, Quezon Avenue, España, C5 and Roxas Blvd., it’s still a huge help for people who travel constantly in the metro. There are also a couple of views that are available to motorists, including a traffic overlay on Google Maps so you can plan your trip accordingly. According to the interview in Technograph, the system was a collaboration between Interaksyon.com (the online news portal of TV5) and the MMDA, with the former ponying up the resources and know-how to make it happen, with the latter being responsible for the data to keep the display accurate. Head on over the link below to check it out in action.
Via: Technograph
Source: Interaksyon

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GADGETSLAB: Nokia X2-01 Smartphone

I may be able to type without looking at the laptop keyboard but QWERTY phones are a different story. I knew the Nokia X2-01 would pose a bit of a challenge for me and my long nails. But then again, who was I to resist such a slim and sleek-looking phone with a high-gloss finish on the front and a red (or azure, grey, silver, and lilac) matte, smudge-free finish at the back? Its minimalist design also includes the battery charger and 3.5mm headphone jack on top, USB and microSD card slot on the right side and a rather small battery and SIM card slot just behind the back cover. And if you’re already familiar with Nokia’s usual buttons and icons, then using the X2-01 will be a breeze. Of course now, this phone allows for a much brighter screen and more intuitive icons. You can view photos and web pages on a wide 2.4-inch color display as well as customize your phone by changing themes and icons. You can also add shortcuts to your favorite contacts, social communities and apps onto your home screen for an easier and more personal experience. And with the Nokia Ovi Store, you can personalize as well as customize your X2-01 for free.

However, for a smartphone that’s going against a lot of others in the market, the Nokia X2-01 may seem sub-par especially to those familiar with what competition can offer. It may give off a lovely first impression but you may also begin to see some not-so-attractive qualities such as the flimsy plastic-ky back cover, VGA camera at the back, and yes, a tightly spaced QWERTY keyboard the kind that makes typing a chore despite the simple iconic designs and symbol placements. This phone also doesn’t include WiFi connectivity which really just dampens its potential to become a truly smart smartphone.

Yet for its price that less than Php 5,000, you still get a fairly decent smartphone that can keep you mobile and in-touch with friends through social networks plus a battery that can last a good 1½ to two days with normal use. It will also keep you entertained with music downloads and the one-click access to songs as well as your choice FM radio station. One-click access also applies to your email, chat, and social networks. But if you’re like me, who simply likes to talk and text with their phone, the Nokia X2-01 is a luxurious choice. Calls were clear and loud while the QWERTY keyboard became easier to use with time.

Specs:
FORM FACTOR: QWERTY Candybar
DISPLAY: 320 x 240 pixels
PHYSICAL DIMENSION: 119.4 x 59.8 x 14.3 mm
WEIGHT: (with battery) 107.5 g
BAND: Quad-band GSM 850/900/1800/1900
INTERNAL MEMORY: Combo 128 MB/64 MB; MicroSD memory card slot up to 16GB

What’s Hot:
-Light and stylish design
-One-click access to features and apps

What’s Not:
-VGA camera
-No WiFi capability

Bottomline:
A smartphone for beginners, the Nokia X2-01 gives you just what you need without breaking the bank.

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A few gadgets that help to discover new species

A few days ago, visiting researches from the California Academy of Sciences discovered 300 new species on our very own shores. The diversity of life forms found ranged from inflatable sharks Air Swimmer Remote Control Inflatable Floating Sharkto “never before seen” slugs.

But what kind of tools do these scientists use? Obviously, they require standard diving gear, but they also have unique instruments that aid their quest in discovering new life forms.

Since recording data is essential, specialized notebooks filled with underwater paper are used. While most divers use slates to communicate and record, using paper allows for more data to be recorded without needing to constantly “wipe the slate clean”, so to say.

Other tools used to discover new life at unprecedented depths include surface marker buoys (aka safety sausages), LED lights and lift bags (pictured above) to send samples towards the surface. Furthermore, these underwater scientists also wear Datamasks, which are military grade masks that display real-time stats such as depth, dive time, tank pressure etc.
Let us all hope that the visiting researchers (as well as local scientists) find more unique life forms to renew our appreciation and awe for the diversity of our home, the Philippine islands.

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Globe Business first to introduce cloud computing to enterprise customers

 

Nokia to Provide Globe Telecom with Expanded GSM Network.(Brief Article): An article from: European TelecomGlobe Telecom recently introduced its latest cloud computing services to enterprise customers. Offered through its Globe Business unit, the company said that as cloud services are the next phase in communications, Globe is ready to provide Infrastructure as a Service to business customers whose telco needs continue to evolve.

(from L to R) Rowena Cristobal, Service Delivery Director of ASTI; Jocelyn Villame, Chief Finance Officer of ASTI; Kissinger Reyes, Sales and Marketing Head of ASTI; Anthony Lau, President of ASTI; Enrique Velasco, Managing Director of SANDZ; Jesus Romero, Head of Globe Business; JD Montelibano, Head of Product Development at Globe Business; Butch Velasquez, Product Development Manager at Globe Business; and Nino Obach, Business Development Head of SANDZ.

Globe Business has been providing a comprehensive range of ICT solutions relevant to the needs of various small, medium and large enterprises in the Philippines. This suite of solutions comprises fixed, data and mobile services, including managed services, and today Globe announces its venture into a series of cloud offers by introducing Globe Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS).
With IaaS, enterprises can have access to the latest technologies without the high costs of purchasing and maintaining hardware. As equipment that support operations are outsourced to a virtual environment, customers can get network access and solutions on-demand and pay only for what they use. Whether it is storage, back up, hardware, servers or network components, these resources can be provisioned fast and are highly-scalable suited to the specific needs of businesses. In addition, among the many advantages of IaaS are its relatively quick setup time and high availability.
Globe Business’ suite of IaaS solutions includes Backup as a Service, Storage as a Service and Compute as a Service. All these are hosted at the Globe Data Center (GDC), a highly-secure ISO-certified facility that manages the critical ICT resources and needs of enterprises requiring the highest level of availability, reliability and redundancy.
Globe’s first IaaS offering, Backup as a Service, was launched last June 16, 2011. The service allows users to backup and restore critical data to and from the GDC, using the best backup/restoration software offered in the market today.
Similarly, Compute as a Service will allow enterprises to acquire processing power without the high cost of purchasing additional servers.  Server “instances” or virtual machines are available for customers to load with their choice of OS and applications.
Storage as a Service, on the other hand, will enable customers to upload and download data to and from an off-site or web-enabled data server, or a data repository for web-based applications.
Globe IaaS can be used in various enterprise-grade applications. For instance, IaaS can be employed to run large-scale operations such as that of a national election. Instead of purchasing physical servers then worrying about their subsequent disposal, the government can utilize the on-demand capability of cloud computing to manage and streamline their operations during the elections. IaaS offers users the convenience in maintaining servers and devices, with all the equipment maintained by certified engineers 24/7. Moreover, it provides a more cost-efficient alternative since customers only need to pay for their required service, for the duration of time that they require it.
According to Francisco J. Claravall, Head of Business Products and Services at Globe Business, “We are continuously expanding our solutions portfolio by offering the latest ICT innovations, such as Infrastructure as a Service, to our valued customers. Our goal is to keep enterprises abreast of new technologies and business solutions to help decision makers set future ICT directions for their organizations.”
“Globe remains steadfast in its commitment to provide superior customer experience as the solutions enabler and partner of the top corporations in the country,” said Jesus C. Romero, Head of Globe Business. “We bring in new services such as cloud computing to make sure that the enterprise market in the Philippines has access to the most advanced, relevant ICT solutions available in the market today,” he added.
Globe has partnered with respected industry leaders, SANDZ Philippines and Ayala Systems Technology, Inc. (ASTI), to bring Infrastructure as a Service to its enterprise customers.
ASTI President Anthony Lau said, “We are pleased to partner with Globe, whose visionary commitment to customer satisfaction has inspired a new era of utility model. With the broadest portfolio of technology solutions partners and expertise, ASTI can provide all the necessary pieces for a real cloud computing pay-per-use IaaS.  I am very optimistic that it will help Globe maintain its lofty position as one of the telecom leaders in the country”.
SANDZ Philippines also shares the same sentiment. According to Managing Director Enrique Velasco, “We are delighted to enter into a strategic partnership with Globe for IaaS. Providing innovative cloud services to the local market has always been one of the key initiatives of the SANDZ Group of Companies. We aim to partner with no less than Globe Telecom, who has a solid reputation of providing quality ICT solutions and services to its customers.”

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New NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M now on Alienware M18x, puts most desktop rigs to shame

Most desktop rigs already consider being able to run Crysis 2 without major niggles an accomplishment in itself, but that’s apparently not enough for NVIDIA and Alienware. No, the duo needs to play the game in the most eye-popping way possible, by way of 1920×1080 resolutions, with “Ultra” settings and PC crippling high-res textures and DX11 Ultra updates. The Alienware M18x is able to handle all of this graphic intensity by using not one, but two NVIDIA GTX580M GPUs on board running on SLI (see a video demo below for proof). Users will also be able to enjoy the same desktop shaming performance on the smaller, M17x. We don’t know the local prices yet, or if the duo of machines will even grace our lovely shores, but you know what they say, if you have to ask…

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The predator becomes the prey: Lulzsec members supposedly unmasked by rival hacking group

Well color us surprised</sarcasm>. Notorious internet hacking collective Lulzsec, which claim have disbanded a few days ago have themselves been hacked by a rival group calling themselves the A-Team, and have been unveiled via a comprehensive list of names, email addresses and possible locations of those involved in some of the group’s hacking activities in the same site that Lulzsec used when dumping data, namely pastebin. The timing of the unveiling sheds new light to Lulzsec’s abrupt departure from the hacking scene, which confirms rumours that the group was forced to go their separate ways because of rising pressure from both government agencies like the FBI and other hacking groups that doesn’t share Lulzsec’s view on hacking for the lulz. The data dump gives the A-Team’s motivation for unmasking, or in internet speak, doxing, the group, and gives hackers everywhere a piece of wisdom that’s always conveniently forgotten: “The internet by definition is not anonymous.  Computers have to have attribution. If you trace something back far enough you can find its origins.”
Via: Gizmodo
Source: Pastebin

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Get a chance to win a 7 X7s with Nokia

If you haven’t heard, there’s a new Transformers movie out beginning today, and to commemorate the occasion Nokia is giving away 7 Nokia X7s to a group of 7 lucky people (that’s a lot of 7s). The contest mechanics are all in Nokia’s Facebook account, but if you’re too lazy to go in now, it involves a digital camera, you, 6 other people and a Transformer standee that’s scattered about in different Ayala cinemas in the metro namely Glorietta, Greenbelt, and Trinoma. Again, the winning group will get 7 awesome Nokia X7 phones. So, what are you waiting for? Go to Nokia’s FB page now and start with the snapping.
Source: Nokia FB

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PossessedHand will teach you how to play an instrument while freaking you out

Learning how to play a guitar (a real one, mind) is a pain in the ass. Few of the population have the requisite hand-eye coordination needed to go beyond the requisite do-re-mi plucking. But what if there was a device that could teach you how to play a musical instrument by possessing your hand and showing you how it’s done? That’s the premise of PossessedHand, a project being developed jointly by the University of Tokyo, Japan, and Sony Computer Science Laboratories  which electrically stimulates your muscles to move the fingers of your arm. Test subjects report that they’re able to sense the movement of their fingers and hands, even while their eyes were closed. The test subjects, of course, found the whole experience unsettling. “I felt like my body was hacked,” said one.
Aside from the obvious benefits to budding musicians, the device will one day be able to rehabilitate people who have suffered strokes or other injuries that has impaired muscle control. The ability of the device to produce finer motor movements is leaps and bounds over the crude electro therapy that currently exists today. We’ve embedded a video of a demonstration below.
Source: New Scientist

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iLike Pendant for the avid Facebook “liker”

First it was shirts, then shoes. Now, jewelry. The internet has definitely inspired our sense of fashion as well as many designers who take many iconic internet logos and symbols have turned them into fun and wearable pieces.

Inspired by Facebook and the new social habit of “liking,” French designer Lysander Follet from French studio Minigorille has created the iLike to adorn the necks of a limited few. It is a 30-piece pendant fully handmade out of silver 925 and made in Lyon, France. The pendant takes on the shape of the “Facebook Like” icon — which probably is the reason why throwing up a thumbs up sign became cool again.

This limited edition iLIKE Silver Pendant is available at selective shops around the world.

Source: Trendhunter

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Hackers penetrate secure network through the use of a jerry-rigged mouse

In the security world, there are two kinds of hackers – there’s the black hat hackers, or the bad dudes, then there’s white hat hackers, aka the good guys. White hat hackers basically do the same things that black hat hackers do, except they’re usually hired by corporations to legally break into their defenses to test it. It was under this particular premise that penetration testing firm Netragard was hired to pierce a company’s firewall. The job was a bit different than they were used to, because the client has specifically forbade against the use of social networks, telephones, and other social-engineering vectors as well as physical contact with the machines.
Never one to back away from a challenge, the guys at Netragard came up with an ingenious solution – they modified an off the shelf mouse with a custom micro-controller (which is essentially a small computer) that ran an attack code on whatever computer the device was plugged into. The firm then sent the mouse to an employee that they knew would use the mouse, under the guise of a promotional campaign. Long story short, Netragard was able to penetrate the firm’s firewall, and three days later, the malware contained on the mouse connected to a server controlled by Netragard.
Aside from giving network admins another layer of paranoia, this particular feat of network penetration should serve as a cautionary tale for many. Even the biggest firewalls and the best equipment isn’t a guarantee that you’ll never be penetrated if the guys on the ground start plugging in every foreign device that they happen upon in your network without being cleared first.
Source: The Register

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Meet the Genius LuxePad

If you’re getting weary of typing on your iPad’s touchscreen, then perhaps you need this.
Meet the Genius LuxePad, a physical keyboard that is the perfect accessory for your iPad. It is stylishly leather bound and communicates via Bluetooth, with an astounding range of 30 feet.
The keys itself are quiet and ergonomic, due to its ultra thin scissor key structure. It also showcases custom made function keys to access specific features on your iPad, has its own power switch and can be recharged via USB.

The LuxePad has a suggested retail price of only Php 2,995.

For Metro Manila residents interested in Genius’ new products, you may visit the Genius Concept Store located at SM Megamall’s Cyberzone (Building B, 4th Floor)

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Give yourself a hug with Sense-Roid

Family therapist, Virgina Satir advises: We need 4 hugs a day for survival. We need 8 hugs a day for maintenance. We need 12 hugs a day for growth.
That may seem a little much (then again, I think with how the world is coming to, we need to hug it out more often) and people may not be as “needy” for touch therapy as you are. Now, you never have to feel like you’re suffering from huglessness ever again.
A team from the University of Electro-Communications on Japan brings to you the Sense-Roid jacket. It uses pneumatic ‘muscles’ to simulate the pressure and sensations of a hug, a stroke, or a petting motion, as needed by the wearer.
Source: Dvice

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Facebook scam uses unwitting users as malicious delivery devices

Here’s another reason why you should NOT click on every single thing that pops on your wall: your account being used as an unwitting tool in spreading malware. Ah yes, malware writers and scammers are again targeting the naturally curious to deliver the newest Facebook scam: a video of a, ahem, well-endowed Italian actress, Marika Fruscio, suffering a wardrobe malfunction on TV. We’ve seen a number of remixes to the description of the scam, and while the name is different they all do the same thing, which is namely to spread an online survey to you and spam your friends’ and contacts with the same link, over and over. The payload may seem benign, but to be honest there’s no telling what the code contains – these people aren’t exactly following a strict code of moral ethics. So the lesson here is clear: stop clicking on every single thing you see on your feed, lest you appear as a gullible twit to all of your friends and contacts.
Source: Sophos

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Product highlight: Asus ROG Matrix GTX 580

Lest everyone forgets, Asus doesn’t just make notebooks and tablets. Believe it or not, they’re also a prolific PC parts manufacturer, famed for their motherboards and videocards that usually cost more than your smartphone. That seems to be the case with the Asus ROG Matrix GTX 580, an absolutely massive beast of a videocard that can also double as a bludgeoning tool*. The Taiwanese firm took an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 GPU and slapped a number of improvements and overclocking technologies on top of it to earn the Asus ROG badge. Things like on-the-fly OC, GPU tweak utility, 19-phase Super Alloy Power components and multicolored MATRIX LED load indicator make it one of the most overclockable cards on the market. Asus is making two variants of this monster: the MATRIX GTX 580 P /2DIS/1536MD5 that has an engine clock of 816MHz, and a MATRIX GTX 580 /2DIS/1536MD5 that runs at a slower 782MHz.

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Absolutely epic Garrus costume blows our minds, can save our galaxy anytime

There’s cosplayers that buy a Naruto costume off the shelf and calls it a day. Then there’s cosplayers like Robert Rodgers, an artist and consume designer from Florida that create epic pieces that’s more art than costume. His latest work truly blows the minds of Mass Effect fans as he’s managed to painstakingly re-create Garrus Vakarian’s costume, complete with a total of 75 LED lights. The mouth of the Garrus mask he’s wearing moves when he speaks, and every detail in the armor is correct, down to the small, mini screen that’s in front of Garrus’ eye. He’s also recreated the way Garrus stands, which was no mean feat, as Turians (the species of Garrus) in the Mass Effect universe are digitigrades or beings that walk on their toes. Impressive stuff. Word is that he’s making more costumes for guys (and gals) who want some, but I think it’s safe to say that they won’t be cheap. Still, it won’t stop people from yelling “shut up and take my money” to him anytime soon, we guess.

Via: Geek

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Skype on your iPad soon!

iPad users finally have another app to watch out for: Skype on their iPad.
There is no announced official release date yet from either company, but iSpazio.net has leaked a video of the app’s prototype, which is rumored to be approved quite soon.
While some people might wonder why Skype is only releasing an app now, this is directly linked to the addition of a camera on the iPad 2.
According to Skype’s VP of Consumer and Product Design, Rick Osterloh, the app will have almost all of the same functions as compared to the PC version, although a few features (i.e. file sharing) will not be available.


Source: TUAW

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Solar Sinter creates objects from sand using nothing more than sunlight and a 3D printer

Aside from that one bitching scene from the first movie Mummy, we don’t like deserts. It’s hot, there’s nothing there and sand tends to get everywhere. Markus Kayser sees it a bit differently, and when he looks at a desert, he doesn’t see a desolate landscape – instead he sees infinite raw materials for his Solar Sinter.

His little invention combines the power of sunlight and a 3D printer to create unique works of art using only what’s available in the harsh desert. The solar panels on the device keep it powered, while the focusing lens on top of the device provide enough heat to melt the silica in the sand to create glass. We’re still not entirely convinced that there’s no kind of witchcraft involved. You can follow this link to see the thing in action.
Source: MarkusKayser

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Lulzsec calls it quits, the Internet breathes a sigh of relief for now

Notorious hacking collective Lulzsec, responsible for quite a bit of tomfoolery in this series of tubes we call the internet is apparently calling it quits. In a post in their favorite data dump pastebin, the group has announced that “it’s time to say bon voyage. Our planned 50 day cruise has expired, and we must now sail into the distance, leaving behind – we hope – inspiration, fear, denial, happiness, approval, disapproval, mockery, embarrassment, thoughtfulness, jealousy, hate, even love. If anything, we hope we had a microscopic impact on someone, somewhere. Anywhere.” The group has added “We hope, wish, even beg, that the movement manifests itself into a revolution that can continue on without us. The support we’ve gathered for it in such a short space of time is truly overwhelming, and not to mention humbling. Please don’t stop. Together, united, we can stomp down our common oppressors and imbue ourselves with the power and freedom we deserve.” Some people are saying that their sudden and abrupt departure was a direct result of several organizations banding together and looking for the group, including the FBI and other hackers. Whatever the case, the entirety of the internet is breathing a sigh of relief, and we can all go back to sending chain emails and putting grammatically incorrect captions on cat pictures again.
Source: Pastebin

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Nokia killing MeeGo on its phones even if the N9 sells well

Remember the Nokia N9, the Finnish company’s first device running on MeeGo? Yeah, it turns out it’s also going to be the last MeeGo device that the company releases. In an interview with the Finnish Daily Helsingin Sanomat, Nokia head honcho Stephen Elop has pronounced MeeGo’s fate on future Nokia devices. There is no returning to MeeGo, even if the N9 turns out to be a hit, writes Helsingin Sanomat. “I have taken part in the conversations with the teleoperators and I have been part of the consumer test groups. The feedback has been extremely positive and I am sure that the Windows Phone system will be a great success”, said Elop, referring to the partnership with Microsoft.
This announcement may partly explain the convenient leak of an N9-like device running Windows Phone 7 a couple of days back, as the CEO seems to be preparing customers for Nokia’s comeback. That doesn’t mean everyone is happy with the change of tactics – a lot longtime supporters of Nokia (which coincidentally have an attachment to MeeGo) fear that the Finnish company would become just another OEM manufacturer for Microsoft. “Nokia will continue its research and development on the software side, as well as in services and equipment design. We will build inventions for our Windows phones that will make us stand apart from our competitors and bring significant additional advantage to our application developers”, he declared firmly. “Those working within the software R&D sector are more and more motivated thanks to our achievements. I am continuously in touch with them. I constantly receive emails that tell me how the pace of problem-solving has quickened.”
Source: Helsingin Sanomat

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Porous concrete makes flooding almost impossible, does away with storm drains

Here’s an invention that’s desperately needed in the flood prone metro: Pervious concrete. It’s a type of concrete that’s extremely porous and doesn’t require sand, is able to allow water to seep straight through into the ground water stores below and does a good job standing in for regular concrete for most applications. Since the porous nature of the concrete allows water to go right through it, a lot of other flood management structures like retention ponds and swales are made obsolete, lowering the overall cost of road projects. We’ve linked a demonstration of the thing in action below, in which 1500 gallons of water is dumped on Pervious concrete in 5 min with the water going straight through, equivalent to 43 inches of rain event with no runoff.
Source: Pervious Pavement

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Team Fortress 2 now free to play forever

Excellent gameplay, constant updates and balance fixes and tasty DLCs (downloadable content) are just a few things that has made Team Fortress 2 a multiplayer staple for most online gamers since its release 2007, and now gamers can add another feature – it’s free to play, forever. Yes, Team Fortress 2 is now a free-to-play game, so if you’re one of the few people who’ve always wanted to try Valve’s amazing multiplayer masterpiece (but was just too cheap to pony up the dough), you can now head on over here to grab it. Naturally you will need Valve’s digital content distribution system, Steam to download it.  Valve will now earn money from the game via in-game micro transactions from items, and knowing Valve and their zealous approach to in-game balance, the items won’t give players an edge over other players. Fair warning though – it’s a hefty, 10GB download (pretty impressive for such an old game), but trust us, it’s worth it. We’ve also embedded the latest chapter of Valve’s “Meet the” series below for your enjoyment.

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Going Green: Turn magazines into walls.

Back then, old magazines and back issues made great recycled materials for collages and other geeky art stuff. But now, better ways to reuse, reduce, and recycle them are becoming more and more pertinent as more people become environmentally-conscious due to the adverse effects on the ecological footprint.

Extreme Office Makeover from Oktavilla on Vimeo.
Despite the urgency to find better solutions to go green, this does not mean we can’t think of fun and quirky ideas. And one such idea is from Elding Oscarson, who took stacks of recycled magazines and turned them into office walls of graphic design agency, Oktavilla in Stockholm. The magazines looked like glossy, thick bricks that were just absolutely colorful and awe-inspiring.
So I suggest you keep your copies of GADGETS MAGAZINE. Because who knows? You may have the urge to turn your wall into a work of functional art.

Source: Curbly

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Meet the first programmable iPad pedalboard (for guitarists)

This is the DigiTech iPB-10, the first fully programmable pedalboard that utilizes the touch-power of Apple’s iPad.  Essentially, this device provides guitarists the ability to create and program their dream effects rig, which is fully capable for live performances due to its solid build, high-def processing and zero latency.
Used in conjunction with DigiTech’s iPB-Nexus app, users can pick from 87 pedals, 54 amps and 26 cabinets, which they can drag/drop and rearrange to their heart’s content. The iPad docks into the pedalboard (as seen in the photo above), so users can still browse through their saved presets by touch, or by stomping on the foot switches during a performance.

Shipping in this month of June, the suggested retail price is roughly Php 30,366 ($699.95).

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Nokia “unveils” first Windows Phone 7 device, codenamed “Sea Ray”

You just gotta love reporters who don’t follow instructions. In a private event where Nokia CEO Stephen Elop gave a talk to reporters, the Nokia head honcho gave selected media a sneak peek into the first device of the company running Windows Phone 7 with strict instructions not to photograph or record it. Naturally the reporters then promptly ignored him and took videos and pictures of the new device. Eerily similar to the just released Nokia N9 device unveiled earlier this week, the new device seems like a good match of the excellent hardware we saw on the N9 combined with some of the more distinct features of Windows Phone 7. More importantly, the device tells us that Nokia probably  has smartphones in its HQ running Windows Phone 7, and that it won’t be long until we see full fledged retail units with Phone 7 running. We’ve embedded a short snippet of the presentation below, and you can go to Technet.nu for the whole shebang.

Source: Technet.nu

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Nanotechnology will soon be able to power your devices forever

What if it was possible to charge your phone, tablet or notebook by just tapping on the top of the device? Or if your iPod could take its charge from the impact of your shoes on the floor? That’s the potential ramifications of the work being done by researchers at the RMIT University in Melbourne who have, for the first time characterized the ability of piezoelectric thin films to turn mechanical pressure into electricity. The work combines two technologies – piezoelectrics and thin film technology to fuel devices of the future. Lead co-author Dr Madhu Bhaskaran paints a pretty awesome picture of the future of the technology. ”The power of piezoelectrics could be integrated into running shoes to charge mobile phones, enable laptops to be powered through typing or even used to convert blood pressure into a power source for pacemakers – essentially creating an everlasting battery. The concept of energy harvesting using piezoelectric nanomaterials has been demonstrated but the realisation of these structures can be complex and they are poorly suited to mass fabrication. Our study focused on thin film coatings because we believe they hold the only practical possibility of integrating piezoelectrics into existing electronic technology.” You better start collecting chargers for your devices folks, because if this tech manages to pan out, those things will become relics in no time flat.
Source: Physorg

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