June, 2011 — Tech News and Analysis

Archive for June 2011

After watching other hardware makers launch Google Honeycomb tablets, Toshiba’s take is ready. The Thrive ships next month but can be pre-ordered starting today. At $429, you only get 8 GB of internal storage, but a full-sized USB port and memory card slot can expand memory. Read More »

Comcast has partnered with Skype to bring its video chat service to subscriber living rooms. With an adapter box and HD video camera, Comcast subscribers will soon be able to video chat with any other Skype users from the comfort of their living rooms. Read More »

 
 

A beginner’s guide to international tax worries

As I noted in my post about the amnesty offered by the IRS for those with hidden overseas assets, the flexibility of web work can encourage cross-border collaborations and contracts and allow location-independent workers to live abroad for a period of time. Taxes, predictably, get complicated. Read More »

SeaMicro's SM10000-64 server.

Online dating service eHarmony is using SeaMicro’s specialized Intel Atom-powered servers as the foundation of its Hadoop infrastructure, demonstrating that big data applications such as Hadoop might be a killer app for low-powered micro servers. Read More »

The “uncanny valley”– the quality of an animation or robot looking close to, but not exactly like, real life — may be set to get even smaller. MIT researchers have developed new computing techniques for reproducing the slight natural blur of moving objects in animation. Read More »

Utility takes on solar challenge with grid redesign

Adding more clean power to the grid will require utilities to redesign the network that transports solar electricity locally. Southern California Edison on Monday laid out its plan to make its distribution grid more responsive to the fluctuating infusion of solar electricity throughout the day. Read More »

The Spanish company behind Rojadirecta.org has sued the U.S. government, the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement for seizing the domains of its website. Rojadirecta was used to trade links to live sporting events, but its former owners say the sites were legal. Read More »

We’ve spent so long consuming the news in fairly predictable formats that the new forms of journalism we are seeing all around us can be confusing. But these new forms have the potential to broaden the field immensely, and that is a good thing. Read More »

Annotation hack brings Tic Tac Toe to YouTube

Thought YouTube was about passive video watching? Think again: YouTube producer Rutter Jared has put together an interactive Tic Tac Toe game by utilizing the site’s annotation feature. The game consists of 131 videos and more than 1000 annotations and producing it took an entire month. Read More »

This is Swoop, the “first mobile plush for your iPhone and iPod touch.” Yes, it’s funny, but we do sleep with our phones according to quite a few studies, and that’s a really cute owl. Plus, he’s good with kids and won’t mess up the carpets. Read More »

Xeround enters GA, tests the SQL-in-the-cloud water

Xeround’s cloud-based MySQL service enters general availability today, becoming the first cloud-based third-party MySQL distribution that actually requires customers to pay for the service. If it’s successful, there are plenty of other cloud database startups waiting in the wings to ride the SQL-in-the-cloud wave. Read More »

Nokia is about to lose its crown as the smartphone king, but not to Apple. Instead, Samsung will take up the mantle of top smartphone seller according to analysts at Nomura. These five reasons explain how it’s Samsung’s smartphone Galaxy and we just live in it. Read More »

More Must Reads

Verizon Wireless is tapping Payfone, an emerging mobile payment platform, to offer its customers a way to pay for online items via their cell phone bill. The deal illustrates the kind of scale Payfone is putting together with its new payment service. Read More »

Electric bus maker Proterra announced Monday morning that it has raised $30 million from investors including Kleiner Perkins, GM Ventures, and Mitsui. Founded in 2004, Proterra makes drive components and energy storage systems for electric and hybrid buses, delivery vans and other commercial models. Read More »

Roku has confirmed that it’s struck a retail partnership to sell its broadband set-top boxes in Walmart stores. But the deal comes without the help of Netgear, whom Roku had partnered with last year to extend its reach into major retail outlets. Read More »

Apple seems to have a significant impact on the future of work without directly intending to. The company’s next generation mobile operating system brings big improvements for consumers, but they’ll be no less beneficial to mobile workers. Read More »

The surprise death of London’s much-loved Tower Bridge Twitter account over a trademark claim has upset its fans. But with the service facing increasing demands from litigious trademark owners and well-funded businesses, should we really expect Twitter to hold a higher standard? Read More »

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