Best New Technology

With the flood of oil money, Dubai is a hotspot for construction with extravagant buildings being built on what was once a barren desert wasteland. The skyline has changed so much over the last 10 years compared to many other cities around the world, with ever higher skyscrapers being planned and built to wow even the most seasoned traveler. There is a new project coming up that not only ranks right up there where luxury is concerned, it will also boast architectural genius with the ability to generate up to 10 times the power it will use. Want to know more? Head on after the jump to find out.

Each floor of Dynamic Architecture’s wind-powered rotating skyscraper consists of a single apartment with the unique ability to rotate independently, allowing residents to change the current view at the touch of a button. Imagine moving along to the sun’s direction as you attempt to hang dry your clothes - although with that kind of money to purchase an apartment like this you’d be better off using a dryer instead. Wind turbines peppered on each floor is capable of generating a surplus of electricity that will then be used to power the surrounding neighborhood. This new building relies on pre-fabricated segments before being put together, making the entire construction process totally radical from what is being applied at the moment. Not only does this make it more secure, it also lowers the overall cost as well as construction times by quite a significant amount. I wonder whether existing buildings around the world will be able to be retro-fitted with such power-generating capability.

The rotating tower will begin construction soon, with the final product boasting 80 floors at 420 meters in height. Imagine each city center featuring a few buildings such as these - we won’t be suffering from an energy crisis then, at least for a while. There are currently talks being held to construct similar buildings in the cities of Milan, London, New York, Hamburg and Sao Paolo.

Source: Gizmag

According to TmoNews (an unofficial blog about T-Mobile) the new Sidekick Slide color is going to officially be called “Scarlet” and should be available May 15th. They’ve got what looks like to be an internal memo about it.

According to French newspaper Les Echos, Apple is pushing Orange to subsidize iPhone handset prices in order to shift more units. French iPhone sales have so far been poor, at a measly 825 units per day. These slow sales are no surprise. Europeans are used to paying little or nothing for handsets. Even top of the range models can be had for pennies if you sign up for a big enough monthly tariff. Paying €400 ($630) for a handset and also being tied to a contract and carrier? No thanks.

If Orange does cave to Apple’s demands (and Les Echos’ sources suggest that there is considerable pressure coming from Cupertino), then France will join Britain and Germany in offering cheaper iPhones. In fact, T-Mobile Germany is already using what looks to be a tiered subsidy model: the iPhone can be had for just €100 with a €90 per month plan. We first thought that these changes were a way to dump inventory before The Second Coming, but maybe Apple has realized that in Europe at least, the old ways are the best.

If the carriers do adopt this new model, then it’s likely that Apple will lose the monthly, per-subscriber kickbacks it now enjoys, which in turn hints that multiple carriers could offer the iPhone. You want the iPhone cheap? Sign up for two years. Happy to pay full price? Fine, choose your carrier and plan.

This would mean that all carriers would need to provide Visual Voicemail, but otherwise it would be business as usual for Euro Telcos. Problems of roaming and international trade would also be solved. In fact, the more you think about it, the more likely this seems, especially in the light of rumors that in Australia the iPhone will ship unlocked and not tied to any one carrier.

UPDATE: It looks like the Italians will be getting a subsidized iPhone, too. La Repubblica reports that Telecom Italia will be carrying the iPhone and will be neither sharing revenue with Apple nor entering into a long-term contract.

The iphone it arrives in Italy. Telecom has already signed [La Repubblica via Engadget]

The failure of the iPhone pushes Orange and Apple to renegotiate [Les Echos via Marketwatch]

For those who don’t know Carrefour, it’s huge retailer, much like a WalMart (except that they sell all kinds of food as well). They started out in France but Carrefour retail stores can be found in many countries. For example, there are around 10 Carrefour stores in Beijing. Anyhow, when you see a company like that going into the Movie Download business, it means a few things:

• The technology behind the business is a commodity. Sure, it can be improved, but it is no an edge anymore.
• Margins are going to get thin. I doubt that Carrefour will compete on user-interface or user-experience. They will compete on price. It’s their DNA.
• Expect more companies to jump in, as the technology behind it can probably be “bought” as a white label service.

PayPal’s chief information security officer, Michael Barrett, and senior director of risk management for Europe, Dan Levy, have released a whitepaper entitled A Practical Approach to Managing Phishing.

In the paper the duo make it clear that older versions of web browsers are not acceptable due to a lack of security. They also go on to say plans are in place to first warn users accessing PayPal with old browsers, but then eventually block access completely.

Here’s an excerpt from the paper talking about unsafe browsers:

The alarming fact is that there is a significant set of users who use very old and vulnerable browsers, such as Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 4 or even IE 3. Inevitably, this set of users is a subset of the passive group. We argue that it’s critical to not only warn users about unsafe browsers, but also to disallow older and insecure browsers. Further, we suggest that any Web site that asks for personal or financial information should consider logic along the following lines:

Version N (current) – allow with no messaging.

Version N-1 (previous major version) – allow, but with a warning message.

Version N-2, or older – disallow, with a message indicating why.

There is not timescale specified for when PayPal plans to implement these new controls. However, it does look to be a two stage process with warning messages appearing first followed by the implementation of a complete block following the rules they set out in the whitepaper.

Read more at BBC News and The PayPal Blog and download the PayPal whitepaper (PDF)

Matthew’s Opinion

I totally agree with this plan of action they are proposing. Older browsers do constitute a security risk and therefore users of them should be encouraged to upgrade at every opportunity. Actually blocking access to sites and services they need is the best form of encouragement, making even the laziest user click a button and take the few minutes to download and install a new version.

This kind of action will cause problems for some public services, however, but again they are problems that need to be fixed as soon as possible. For example, my local library still uses an old version of Internet Explorer, yet you often see people accessing their webmail, bank accounts and online shops from it. As far as most users in the library are concerned the library itself is handling the security and trusts them to do so. If they suddenly lost access to key sites then complaints would rise and the library would be forced to upgare quicker than it usually would.

This blocking should be something all sites taking financial and personal information from users conform to. It needs to be coordinated alongside the development of new browser versions to ensure blocking version N-2 will not cause any significant problems. All the browser providers also need a roadmap so they know when and why older versions of their software are being blocked.

Hopefully, if co-ordinated properly, this kind of initiative will not only force users to upgrade their software, but also ensure browsers are taking advantage of the latest security.

Head over to Amazon’s Kindle page and you’ll see these long-awaited words:

Availability: In Stock. Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.

Whether it was excessive demand or a mess-up at the factory which caused the Wii-like shortage, Jeff Bezos’ ebook reader (and always-on internet appliance) is back.

It’s still $400, it’s still ugly, and it still won’t make you look like a romantic intellectual when you read it whilst sipping espresso at a Paris pavement café. But it is the first step towards a cheap and useable ebook reader, unless Apple gets there first.

We particularly like Amazon’s tagline for the Kindle: “Amazon’s New Wireless Reading Device”. Yes, Wireless reading device. A brand new product category. Thank God I won’t have to plug my paperbacks in ever again.

Product page [Amazon]

Photo: DrStarbuck/Flickr

Filed in archive Digital Photo Sites by jim on April 21, 2008

<!– –>

Most photographers like showing their pictures to other people and displaying them in their homes and offices.

Of course we shutterbugs are proud of our work, and we're eager to have it critiqued by others, or are we?

I was always happy when someone commented that, my "pictures looked like postcards", and then, many years ago, I read in a photography magazine that if someone says that your pictures are common and not special.

It bothered me for a while because it seemed to make sense. After all, postcards are supposed to document something in a purely technical way, they're not supposed to be works of art.

With that in mind I decided that the comparison between professionally done postcards and an amateur's efforts is valid and it is complimentary.

I say that because postcard photos generally are very well done at least in terms of technical factors such as exposure, focus, etc. So if someone feels that your photos could be used on postcards the observer is saying that they are correct technically.

As far as subject matter and composition are concerned that's where the creative aspect enters the mix and as is said, "beauty is in the eye of the beholder".

If you would like some critique of your photos, and the opportunity to comment on other photographer's efforts then start a "Photoblog" and show off your masterpieces.

Check out this article about digital photoblogs and then set one up.

By the way, feel free to comment on any of the pictures in this blog that I took, such as todays and on the previous posting.

All compliments will be graciously accepted and criticisms carefully considered.

Take a camera with you whenever possible, and look around, you'll find a picture somewhere.

Source:www.jimippolito.com

Ozitech Knife Sharpener

You can have this for ?24.95

I’m probably the biggest evangelizer of Dash Network’s Dash Express GPS device. The Dash Express is the first two-way Internet-connected GPS navigation system delivering traffic and destination information in wicked new ways. The Dash Express is the next generation of GPS technology and it’s available today!

Unique to the Dash Express, you rely on the Dash Driver Network to provide the latest and most accurate current traffic information available and with features like emailing your Dash Express addresses for your next generation and MyDash which allows you to Browse the Dash Network library of user-created and locally relevant searches such as “Movie Times” and “Great Steakhouses”.

Gimmie!

Suggested Price: $399

Posted in GPS, Gizmo of the Day

It doesn’t look like the participants in the McAfee S.P.A.M. Experiment have received grand jury summonses in their inboxes yet, but it’s something they can look out for. According to the FBI’s press release about the email,

“At first glance, the e-mail appears authentic. It contains a court case number, federal code, name and address of a California federal court, court room number, issuing officers’ names, and the court’s seal. The spammer directs recipients to click the link provided in the e-mail in order to download and print associated information for their records. If the recipient clicks the link, a malicious code is downloaded onto their computer.
The e-mail also contains language threatening recipients with contempt of court charges if they fail to appear. Recipients are told the subpoena will remain in effect until the court grants a release. As with most spam, the content contains multiple spelling errors.”

Sure enough, if you look at the sample email on Snopes.com, there are typos such as “thas,” “offcers,” “wich,” and “oresent.” The FBI press release also says those who receive this fake subpoena should report it to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3).  The spammer wants people to think the feds are after them, well the feds should go after the spammer instead!

Read [Snopes.com]

Keep up with the latest gadget goodness! - Subscribe to our feed →