Technology

First time accepted submitter RenderSeven writes "Manufacturing .NET reports that U.S. Food and Drug Administration officials plan to investigate whether inhalable caffeine sold in lipstick-sized canisters is safe for consumers and if its manufacturer was right to brand it as a dietary supplement. AeroShot went on the market late last month in Massachusetts and New York, and it's also available in France. Consumers put one end of the canister in their mouths and breathe in, releasing a fine powder that dissolves almost instantly."

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Just like a camera, the best store is the one you have with you. And most of us carry our smartphones with us everywhere we go and buy things all day long.

After reports earlier this month that LinkedIn was buying contact management service Rapportive, the startup just published a blog post confirming that yes, it has been acquired.

For those of you who don’t use it, Rapportive is a Gmail plugin that shows you the latest social network updates from whoever you’re corresponding with. (I’ve gotten so used to seeing the Rapportive window next to my emails that I sometimes forget that it’s not a default part of Gmail.) And if you’re a Rapportive user who’s worried that the deal will follow the pattern of so many other startup acquisitions, it sounds like LinkedIn won’t be shutting Rapportive down. CEO Rahul Vohra says:

Over the last two years, Rapportive has become an essential product for folks all around the world. When rumours of our acquisition surfaced last week, many asked what was going to happen to the product. Well, we have fantastic news: at LinkedIn, we will support Rapportive, and we will continue to build beautiful products that make you brilliant with people.

The blog post also includes a section titled “The Future,” though Vohra doesn’t say anything specific about what new things he’ll be working on at LinkedIn. He does say that the Rapportive vision involves building products that “you don’t have to remember to use” (italics his) and that become “an intrinsic part of the tools you use every day.”

After AllThingsD broke the news, TechCrunch’s Alexia Tsotsis dug up the fact that the deal was for $15 million in cash. When I asked Vohra today if he had any comment on Alexia’s story, he said, “Yeah — which of our investors were bragging ?”

Speaking of investors, Rapportive raised $1 million from Charles River Ventures, Paul Buchheit, Scott Banister, Jason Calacanis, Gary Vaynerchuk, Dharmesh Shah, Shervin Pishevar, Roy Rodenstein, Kima Ventures, Zelkova Ventures, 500 Startups, Michael Zirngibl, Ashish Soni and David Cancel.

While the early history of the Internet is littered with the corpses of music start-ups, not all digital music companies have failed. Take, for example, Gracenote. Founded in 1998, the Berkeley based company was sold to Sony in 2008 for $260 million and is one of the real pioneers of the evolving digital economy. Gracenote has built its business out of maintaining and licensing a massive (currently 100 million tracks) database of information about music. And today, Gracenote – with its 350 employees in Europe, the US and Asia – is expanding into licensing digital data for video and television content.

Last week, at SFMusicTech, I sat down with Ty Roberts, Gracenote’s co-founder and current CTO, to learn more about his company’s past and future. The experienced data mogul was particularly wise on our uses and abuses of data, warning that a failure to respect user’s data (Path, Facebook, Google, Twitter et al) is not only immoral but also bad business practice. And Roberts also offered some sagacious advice to music executives, arguing that traditional, file based information no longer has much value and that there was a need to radically change the way in which music is both packaged and sold to consumers.

My conversation with Roberts is part of an extended series of interviews about the current state of the online music industry that I conducted last week at SFMusicTech. Other interviews include the Grateful Dead’s Bob Weir, BitTorrent inventor Bram Cohen and Stageit CEO Evan Lowenstein.

YokimaSun writes "Sony have today released the PSVita in the USA and Europe, the console comes with features such as dual touch pads at the front and rear, dual cameras at the front and rear, dual analog sticks, a 5-inch OLED screen, GPS, six-axis motion sensors and a three-axis electronic compass. The PSVita is Sony's attempt at stealing the thunder away from the 3DS but also bringing back the gamers lost to the likes of Android and IOS Devices. The PSVita in japan sold massively on its first release week but since has struggled and sold less than the PSP. With this in mind sites like Amazon have been offering many different deals to entice people to buy the console. Can Sony stop homebrewers from taking over this console?"

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Even geeks who got picked last in gynm class are caught up in the story of Jeremy Lin, the unlikely NBA star who seems to come from nowhere. Sure, performing well in the country?s media capital on what had been a losing team helps. And of course, an easily pun-able surname helps spread the word. But none of these explain why I ? and many of my fellow geeks ? love him so damn much. Here's why ?Lin is a validation of our worldview: Ignore expectation, follow the data.

New submitter rescrv writes "Key-value stores (like Cassandra, Redis and DynamoDB) have been replacing traditional databases in many demanding web applications (e.g. Twitter, Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, and others). But for the most part, the differences between existing NoSQL systems come down to the choice of well-studied implementation techniques; in particular, they all provide a similar API that achieves high performance and scalability by limiting applications to simple operations like GET and PUT. HyperDex, a new key-value store developed at Cornell, stands out in the NoSQL spectrum with its unique design. HyperDex employs a unique multi-dimensional hash function to enable efficient search operations — that is, objects may be retrieved without using the key (PDF) under which they are stored. Other systems employ indexing techniques to enable search, or enumerate all objects in the system. In contrast, HyperDex's design enables applications to retrieve search results directly from servers in the system. The results are impressive. Preliminary benchmark results on the project website show that HyperDex provides significant performance improvements over Cassandra and MongoDB. With its unique design, and impressive performance, it seems fittng to ask: Is HyperDex the start of NoSQL 2.0?"

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Been keeping up with Mozilla Labs' Apps project? Today the company's focused on developers, with pleasing news if you've been looking to get your app's feet wet in it. In the coming weeks at Mobile World Congress, the Firefox maker will finally open its self-titled Marketplace's doors for app submissions. If you're unfamiliar, Mozilla's been working to create an "operating system- and device-independent market," based on its own APIs, HTML5 and other open source materials. The end result will be the ability to use your apps without being locked down by your devices and their respective app stores. The store is set to open up for consumer consumption later in the year, so now's your chance to reserve your software's spot and name on the list. More details await in press release after the break and at source link below, while you get your code ready.

Continue reading Mozilla Labs Apps set to allow developer submissions for Mozilla Marketplace at MWC

Mozilla Labs Apps set to allow developer submissions for Mozilla Marketplace at MWC originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 22 Feb 2012 14:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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judgecorp writes "Microsoft has filed a complaint with the European Commission complaining that Motorola Mobility is charging too much for use of its patented technology in phones and tablets. The complaint follows a similar one by Apple last week, and will need to be resolved by Google as it takes charge of Motorola Mobility."

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Research firm eMarketer has put together a few interesting data points that show Google doing better in display ads than you might have realized. That is, by growing this business across properties and networks that it at some point acquired — YouTube, DoubleClick, and mobile (AdMob) — it’s set to pass Facebook’s own display business.

The social network had the highest online ad sales of any company in the U.S. last year, at $1.73 billion. But that was a mere $200 million or so above Google. This year, eMarketer expects a similar story, with Facebook bringing in $2.58 billion versus Google’s $2.54 billion. Things change in 2013 and 2014, further off from what the data can tell us accurately.

The firm thinks Facebook’s growth rate is going to plummet after this year, down to 13 percent in 2014, while Google’s is going to continue at nearly 50 percent through 2013 and still at nearly 30 percent in 2014.

I’m not ready to bet on that.

The estimates are based on publicly available documents from both companies, and other sources. On Google’s side, its earnings from last quarter indicated that its non-search ads were on track to reach $5 billion a year, or 12 percent of its total business. This is double what it brought in over the previous five quarters. YouTube is getting better and better at monetizing videos, DoubleClick is a market leader in online display ads, and AdMob has a strong position across mobile platforms. I agree it makes sense to be bullish about this part of Google’s business.

On Facebook’s side, eMarketer’s original estimate for its revenue had been $2.01 billion in the US, but Facebook’s S-1 filing proved this to be around 15 percent over what it actually was. The projections here read as if eMarketer feels burned by being so positive about last year. But the report manages to qualify itself in the event that Facebook revenue does in fact start to grow more quickly, by noting the potential benefits of newer advertising features like Sponsored Stories.

That’s the thing. Facebook’s ad business is still young, the company is fine-tuning all sorts of interesting features, and there are other ways that the business could see new growth, for example if Facebook launches a web-wide ad network that competes with DoubleClick and the rest of the online ad industry. 2013 and 2014 are a long ways off, and other numbers like traffic are looking fine.

There’s a new startup called Tugg unveiling itself today that promises audience members that they can create their own movie screenings at local theaters.

It’s led by Nicolas Gonda, who was a producer on The Tree Of Life. When I asked why theaters would want to do this, Gonda and his co-founder Pablo Gonzalez (they’re CEO and COO, respectively) said via email that the idea came from Gonda’s work with filmmakers — this is supposed to complement existing distribution methods.

“We felt there was a real opportunity to develop a platform where films and theaters could benefit from having a guaranteed audience in place for screenings, helping to reduce uncertainty about whether a film could find an audience,” they said. “Additionally, we think Tugg presents a great opportunity to foster more interaction with local theaters, helping to increase a personal relationship with theaters and communities.”

The basic process, as outlined on the Tugg website, sounds pretty straightforward. You can select a movie from Tugg’s library (the company says it will announce its distribution partners before this year’s South by Southwest, and it claims to have a “growing library of hundreds of studio and independent films”), choose from available theaters and timeslots, and set other event details like ticket price. Then, a certain number of people need to commit to attend before the event is actually on (the higher the ticket price, the lower the attendance threshold), so you need to spread the word.

This is an appealing idea for anyone who’s ever looked at the list of movies at their local multiplex and thought, “Ugh, why are they showing that stuff, rather than this movie that’s a million times better?” Or to any person or company (including TechCrunch) who wants to organize their own screenings.

On the other hand, changing the distribution model for movies is a big challenge for a startup, since there are so many institutional players. One reason to be confident: Tugg’s board of advisors includes prominent names from the film world, like actor/writer/director Ben Affleck (The Town), writer/director Richard Linklater (Before Sunset), and Tree of Life writer/director Terrence Malick. More importantly, the company says it’s already working with an impressive list of theater chains, including Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, AMC Theatres, Bow Tie Cinemas, Cinemark Theatres, Goodrich Quality Cinemas, Rave Cinemas, and Regal Cinemas.

In fact, even though today is Tugg’s big announcement, the company says it already held pilot screenings in Austin, San Francisco, Seattle, Boston, Philadelphia, Houston, and Boulder, Colo.

Pro tip: when suing the pants off another company for patent infringement, it's a good idea to make sure you're not violating any of that same company's intellectual property. That's the lesson we imagine Sprint is learning at this very moment. Just two months after it filed a lawsuit against Comcast for getting all up in its VoIP business, the digital services company is now ready to go Comcastic on the Now Network's derriere, as it has filed a lawsuit of its own in a Pennsylvania court. While it's not directly tied into December's case, it seems oddly coincidental that this new suit came into existence so soon after Sprint fired the first shot.

Comcast and subsidiary TVWorks, LLC allege that Sprint is guilty of violating four wireless patents: its wireless broadband cards, Vision Pack and other SMS services, MMS transfers and voice and data using IP / MPLS backhaul. That's a pretty hefty portion of the carrier's basic operations, it seems, and we're assuming that a settlement or licensing agreement will be the end result here. Regardless, as the adage says, what goes around comes around.

Comcast sues Sprint with patent infringement, says two can play that game originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 22 Feb 2012 13:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Asus Transformer Prime was the great, grey hope for many Android lovers – until they realized that the bootloader was locked it was impossible to upgrade or install a new bit of firmware onto the device. Asus has finally relented, allowing folks to download an unlocked bootloader and install it over the “official” Asus bootloader.

The best part?

2. Before you download, install, and use the Unlock Device App you acknowledge and assume complete risk to the quality and performance of this App, including but not limited to the following: once you activate the App you will not be able to recover your ASUS product (“Original Product”) back to original locked conditions;the Original Product with the activated App will not be deemed the Original Product; the Revised Product will no longer be covered under the warranty of the Original Product; the software of Revised Product will no longer be deemed the software of the Original Product and can no longer receive ASUS software updates; your purchased digital content may also be affected.
…
It is strongly advised that you avoid activating this App unless you fully understand and accept the risks that may arise.

Blam. Want your device to work as advertised? Go for it, cowboy, but don’t expect Asus to hold your hand and consider this thing junk, babies, because no warranty will cover it.

Back in the fall, Apple gave developers an ultimatum: sandbox your applications, or see yourself out of the Mac App Store and sell your apps elsewhere. Originally, devs had until March 1st to make the change, which limits the resources apps can access, thereby making a malware infection less likely. Still, sandboxing inherently means less control for developers: the fewer resources an app can use, the less it can actually do. Well, code monkeys, you've now got a few more months to decide which camp you'd rather be in: Apple has extended that deadline to June 1st. As MacRumors notes, the move comes amid mounting concerns from developers, who have been complaining of bugs and other issues associated with the sandboxing process. In a statement on its developer site, Apple gave a pithier explanation, saying it wants to give devs more time to make use of new sandboxing entitlements available in OS X 10.7.3, along with new APIs in Xcode 4.3.

Apple: developers now have until June 1 to sandbox apps for the Mac App Store originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 22 Feb 2012 13:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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astroengine writes with an excerpt from an article at Discovery: "For the first time, 'buckyballs' have been discovered in the cosmos in a solid form. Until now, the only evidence in space for the bizarre little hollow balls of carbon atoms have been in interstellar gases, but with the help of NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, astronomers have discovered buckyballs accumulating and stacking atop one another to form solid particles. 'These buckyballs are stacked together to form a solid, like oranges in a crate,' said Nye Evans of Keele University in England, lead author of a paper appearing in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 'The particles we detected are minuscule, far smaller than the width of a hair, but each one would contain stacks of millions of buckyballs.'"

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no0b writes with an Op-Ed by the FCC Commisioner on a UN plan to gain more control over Internet regulation. From the article: "On Feb. 27, a diplomatic process will begin in Geneva that could result in a new treaty giving the United Nations unprecedented powers over the Internet. Dozens of countries, including Russia and China, are pushing hard to reach this goal by year's end. As Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said last June, his goal and that of his allies is to establish 'international control over the Internet' through the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a treaty-based organization under U.N. auspices. " BoingBoing offers a slightly different perspective; The Register offers a quite different perspective.

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There's a new adventure video capture company in town, and both Zeyez and GoPro would have good reason to be afraid. You may not have heard of Pivothead -- the company has had a remarkably quiet push to market over the last few months -- but the video recording eyewear startup could very well become a household name after its first products hit the market this April for $349. Aurora, Durango, Moab and Recon may offer distinct exterior designs, but they're virtually identical under the hood. Each model includes an eight-megapixel Sony sensor (that reportedly captures higher quality images than the iPhone 4S cam), a four-element glass lens, 8GB of built-in storage, a 440mAh battery (with about an hour of shooting time) and three video modes: 1080/30p, 720/60p and 720/30p. We had a chance to go hands-on with Pivothead earlier today, and took the glasses for a spin on the streets of New York City. You'll find that sample video, along with our impressions, just past the break.

Gallery: Pivothead video glasses hands-on

Continue reading Pivothead video glasses offer impressive quality, we go hands-on (sample video)

Pivothead video glasses offer impressive quality, we go hands-on (sample video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 22 Feb 2012 13:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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For quick and efficient plastic comb binding, check out the GBC CombBind C450e, an electric comb binding machine. With helpful measuring tools, a sharp electric punch, and a sleek design, this is one machine you’ll appreciate having in your...

If you pay any attention at all to legislative efforts to address the Postal Service’s financial crisis, you’ll soon hear the phrase, “budget score.” Someone will say that a bill has a high score or a low score. But what is a budget score?...