Archive for December, 2011

The face of mobile? One little girl appears in Apple AND Samsung commercials.

Dec 30 by Scarlett Madison | 4 comments

One of the most important ongoing stories in tech for 2011 was the incessant legal maneuvering between Apple and Samsung. The patent wars have crossed the globe with battles being fought every day in different countries and over different patents. Both sides have had major victories. Both sides have suffered devastating more »

My faith in the US education system has been restored

Dec 30 by JD Rucker | 2 comments

Blogging can be rough (from a #firstworldproblems perspective, at least). You’re constantly being attacked for your opinions, bashed for your mistakes, and ridiculed for your presence as one of the biggest failures on the internet. I deal with it every day. Sometimes, it’s hard to muster the more »

"Blue Busters" video proves nothing, not even Apple, was immune to the 80s

Dec 30 by JD Rucker | 1 comment

Those of us who grew up in the 80s are well aware that the culture, attitude, and utter cheesiness of the era was impossible to avoid. “Cool” had a much different meaning than it did in the 60s, 70s, 90s, and 00s, and the video you’re about to watch was likely considered “totally radical, dude” by the more »

Windows Phone 7 will see 3 LTE releases within 6 months

Dec 30 by Connor Livingston | 4 comments

Just when many (including us) were writing off Windows Phone 7 and waiting for their more-anticipated next generation of phones and software, Microsoft leaked plans to bring 3 or more LTE Windows Phone 7 devices “within the next half year”, all on AT&T. This information refers to US markets only. As VentureBeat put more »

How Digg left its tech geek roots behind and embraced the mainstream

Dec 29 by Amy Vernon | 5 comments

I was struck by something when I began reading Digg’s list of its “Ten stories you’ll be sorry you missed this year.” None of the stories had anything to do with tech. Oh, how times have changed. When Digg launched in 2004, it was almost completely a tech site, much like its predecessor, Slashdot. It was a place where more »

Flying robots that build things open doors to automated architecture

Dec 28 by Rocco Penn | 3 comments

In the movies, it always start innocently. They are designed to help humans, to do the mundane or difficult tasks that are better suited for non-sentient robots rather than men and women. In the end, they always turn on us. Hopefully, the folks at the Swiss Federated Institute of Technology in Zurich more »

Apps are rising on Windows Phones. Should they be taken more seriously?

Dec 28 by JD Rucker | 1 comment

I’ll never forget when my boss at the time showed me his shiny new Windows Phone. I liked the interface, the feel of the hardware itself, and the responsiveness of the internet even on the (dreaded) AT&T network. I nodded politely and congratulated him on his bold move away from the norm (something more »

Google+ predicts that it will have 400 million users by end of 2012

Dec 27 by Connor Livingston | 5 comments

They just passed 62 million users by adding 625,000 new users per day. Now, Google+ is predicting that they will have over 400 million users by the end of 2012. Are the numbers reliable? Some say no. Not really. Those who sign up through Android 4 must create or attach their Google+ account whether they intend more »

What trended in 2011 (and what to expect from 2012)

Dec 26 by Scarlett Madison | 2 comments

Tech exploded this year. There’s little to argue that gadgets and gizmos, social media and apps all had huge years as everyday life moved a step closer to becoming completely tech-driven for many in western society. What can we expect to see growing as the next big thing in 2012? That’s the question more »

Taliban on Twitter: How congressional attempts to block them is asinine on 2 levels

Dec 25 by JD Rucker | 1 comment

Twitter is used by different people for different things. It’s a communication tool for some, a news aggregator for others, and a way to spread a message for individuals and groups around the world. From the perspective of the US government, it can be a beacon of freedom as well as a source of international more »

Social Media 2011: The bullseyes and blunders that dominated chatter

Dec 25 by JD Rucker | 2 comments

In the past, the best way to review the year was to look back through newspaper headlines and pick out the stories that were thought to be the biggest. It wasn’t an exact science and required intuition and subjective reasoning to decide what was most important to the people that year. Today, social more »

GoDaddy lost 72,354 domains this week. It's not enough.

Dec 24 by Connor Livingston | 147 comments

Despite a massive Twitter campaign and a blog post that claims “Go Daddy no longer supports SOPA legislation” the company and their CEO have dodged questions about opposing the bill. In essence, they are taking a lesser role by not showing support for the bill. They have not opposed it. This week, they lost around 72,000 domain registrations. more »

As Santa Anita Park opens, smartphones take center stage with the horses

Dec 24 by Rocco Penn | 2 comments

Big races, big crowds, and big bets have been associated with Opening Day at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, CA, for decades. Traditionally opening the day after Christmas, the biggest names in horse racing converge to start the new season. This year, there’s a bit more attention falling on the track from two different more »

House of the Rising Sun, ancient computers version

Dec 23 by Scarlett Madison | 4 comments

The term “ancient” is relative and unfortunately I can remember using many of the machines in this video, but compared to what we have today, the various equipment used here are “older than the internet,” so to speak. It makes the end result, an equipment-generated variation of “House of the Rising more »