Best New Technology

by Paul Miller, posted May 15th 2008 at 12:01AM

Don’t call it Jawbone 2, Aliph’s Jawbone sequel is the company’s new flagship product, with the old Bluetooth headset being put out to pasture to make way for the new hotness. The new Jawbone is 50% smaller than the original, and includes “NoiseAssassin” technology, a followup on the noise canceling tech of the original. There’s a faster processor on board to handle heavier signal processing duties for canceling out ambient noises better and faster, along with that Voice Activity Sensor which lets the Jawbone know when you’re talking so the rest of the time can be noise free. A new fast charge battery can suck up 80% of its capacity in 30 minutes, but the overall battery life is lower than the original, with 4 hours of talk time and 8 days of standby. The whole unit weighs in at 10 grams, and is available now for $130 at AT&T retail stores and online at Jawbone’s site. Initially it’s being offered in black only, but silver and rose gold (pictured after the break) versions are coming soon.

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Filed under: Peripherals

MySpace has won what is thought to be the biggest payout ever made in an anti-spam lawsuit. The ruling in favor of MySpace against spammer Sanford Wallace a.k.a “Spamford” and Walter Rines came with an award of US$234 million.

The lawsuit was set in motion after the spamming duo used MySpace accounts to lure other members to their pages and then either attempt to sell them something or gain income from the hits. They didn’t stop there, however, and started stealing other members’ passwords and taking over their pages to increase the potential earnings.

The huge damages payout was awarded by Judge Audrey B. Collins and splits down as follows:

• US$157.4 million against both defendants under the CAN-SPAM law
• US$63.4 million on top of that against Walter Rines under the CAN-SPAM law
• US$1.5 million against both defendants under California’s anti-phishing law

MySpace chief security officer Hemanshu Nigam commented:

MySpace has zero tolerance for those who attempt to act illegally on our site … We remain committed to punishing those who violate the law and try to harm our members … Anybody who’s been thinking about engaging in spam are going to say, `Wow, I better not go there,’ (after this ruling) Spammers don’t want to be prosecuted. They are there to make money. It’s our job to send a message to stop them.

Both defendants did not turn up at court for the ruling and there is also doubt over whether any of the money will actually make its way to MySpace. John Levine, board member of the Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial Email said:

The giant judgments are all defaults, which means they don’t necessarily even know how to find the spammer

Read more at the Associated Press article

Matthew’s Opinion

Even if they did find them and demand the money I doubt either one of them has that kind of cash lying around in a bank account or under the bed. After this I doubt either of them ever will have that kind of money as employment may be hard to find.

The ruling will certainly act as a warning to others attempting such actions on MySpace, but spam will continue to be a problem for the foreseeable future. Even with all these laws in place our inboxes is still littered with unsolicited e-mails. Open a new web account such as Hotmail and it doesn’t take long to start filling up with offers of pills, watches and money transfer deals.

by Paul Miller, posted May 14th 2008 at 11:21AM

Samsung rightly hasn’t wasted much time in finding a successor for its suddenly-vacated CEO position. Yoon-Woo Lee as of today will be taking on the role of Vice Chairman and CEO of Samsung Electronics, swiping the spots from Jong-Yong Yun — who will remain in an advisory role — and the disgraced former CEO Lee Kun-hee, respectively. Yoon-Woo Lee is no young upstart, however. He joined Samsung SDI in 1968 and moved to Samsung Electronics in 1977. From 1996 to 2004 he was the President of Semiconductor Business and since then he’s been working as Vice Chairman of Corporate CTO. Given Samsung’s dominance in the Flash and DRAM memory markets, it’s hard to call this a bad move, but Samsung also has appointed Hyung-Kyu Lim to work on new “growth engines” to help Samsung find new ways to make cash as its current strongholds meet stronger and stronger competition. Nice to have you back on your feet Sammy, now let’s see some more of those world firsts you’re so fond of.

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Filed under: Misc. gadgets

MP3 I-dog

Axiom Audiobyte Desktop Speaker System

Do you ever get the urge to blow the roof off your office with some AC/DC or Metallica? Yeah, me neither. Most offices just don’t roll like that.

But if you do like to crank tunes on your PC, Axiom’s Audiobyte speaker system is one of the biggest desktop boomers out there. It includes two satellite speakers, a subwoofer, and a 55-watt-per-channel amplifier that connects to a PC, ipod, or any other source via the minijack port.

The satellite speakers put out a clean, neutral sound with plenty of detail and depth in the high and midrange, even at low volumes. And they look pretty sweet too: we opted for the high gloss walnut wood models. They look gorgeous, but might feel a little out of place if your desktop decor is littered with brushed aluminum Apple products. The front-firing subwoofer has three positions, and fills out the system sound nicely, with smooth and hearty bass.

For a desktop system, though, the sub is awfully big and boxy. I even began to wonder what was inside – an ant farm maybe, or some runaway Cabbage Patch dolls? The amp also doubles as a space heater, so you’ll probably want to stash it under the desk, and then use your feet on the volume knob.

At $350, and another $180 for the sub, this is one of the priciest desktop systems you’ll find.  But if you have a home office where you listen to music, play video games, and watch movies, it will certainly breathe new life into the experience. —Christopher Jones

WIRED Nice build quality, including titanium-domed tweeters. Satellite speakers look and sound sharp. Lots of color and finish choices, like faux walnut burl. Crank up the volume without distorting the sound.

TIRED Over five hundred bucks and there’s no remote? We like our LEDs and all but the big ring of them around the volume knob is overkill. Seriously, a sub that large should thump harder.

$530 as tested, axiomaudio.com

(Photo by Jon Snyder for Wired.com)

Perhaps there will come a day when all of our electronic devices, mobile and stationary, will be linked by Bluetooth. Until that day, companies such as Spracht are ready with products like the Aura Mobile BT.

The Aura Mobile BT is a small handheld device that allows a Bluetooth sync with your mobile phone. It was built to take conference calls, and it works right out of the box with no software to install. All a user needs to do is press the sync button, and then prepare his or her mobile phone or other Bluetooth compatible device for pairing.

In addition to Bluetooth Mobile phones, the Aura Mobile BT also works with cordless phones, as well as PC and Macs for VoIP calls. There are some wires required for that particular function, but the setup is just as simple.

One of the best features of the Aura Mobile BT is its portability. Users can charge the device with AC power or car adapter, and then take it with them on the go. The device isn’t quite pocket-sized, but it does not take up too much space for travel.

The Aura Mobile BT is available at the Spracht website for approximately $129.95.

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From the dawn of intellectual thought, man has been contemplating the idea of independent flight, soaring through the clouds, nothing between us and the earth’s surface. What if us humans had wings?

No doubt, airplanes were a huge step towards the independent flight of man, but in order to fly a plane, you have to be a licensed pilot, and who has the time and patience for all of that mess? A Swiss man named Yves Rossy has unveiled his personal flyer, a jet-powered set of wings which allows humans to act as airplanes, even performing plane stunts such as the figure eight.

48-year-old Rossy sprang into the air at 7,500-feet, jumping from the inside of a Pilatus Porter aircraft, with nothing but a pair of eight-feed wide wings standing between himself and the unforgiving Earth below. As Rossy’s free fall slowly evolved into a steady glide, four jet-turbines were ignited, accelerating the man to speeds of 186 miles per hour, or “about 65 miles per hour faster than the typical falling skydiver.”

“I still haven’t used the full potential,” Rossy told reporters, exclaiming his hope to one day use the wings for a fly through the Grand Canyon. He explains how there is almost no stress caused to the body while using the wings, how it’s almost like “riding a motorbike.” Though he still must wear a heat-resistant suit to protect him from the heat of the jet-engines, with the air temperature also assisting in cooling him down.

Rossy and his sponsors have poured about $285,000 and countless hours of labor into producing the personal flyer, and he won’t comment on how much the device might be if it were marketed to the public. Though one thing is for sure, thrill-seekers everywhere just got a glimpse of the future. Something to really look forward too.

Project Page via Yahoo News 

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Apparently in this day and age where technology rules supreme, there are still some folks who prefer to rely on good old voodoo magic to take revenge instead of backstabbing one through e-mail and forums. The VoodooBuddy brings voodoo magic to the 21st century, where you enter the information of your most despised foe, followed by poking away at the doll as you please. The same theory applies here - poking certain areas of the doll supposedly allows you to curse the victim. Strangely enough, if you go overboard on your curses, it will snap a photo and send it to the victim instead automatically in order to reverse the curses. I suppose it ought to be connected to the computer or something in order for this to happen.

As most of us know from experience, it is very expensive to put high-quality stereo speakers on your television. Of course, we all want movie theater-quality sound from our High Definition television sets, and companies like Orb Audio are ready to give us that at a cheaper rate compared to other companies.

Orb Audio is able to save the customer money by using internet-only, direct-to-consumer business models. They also use made-in-America products with no outsourcing of labor.

As you can see from the photo, the Orb Audio speakers have a distinct look to them. These ball-shaped speakers are about four inches in diameter, and have five distinct finishes available for a unique look that blends in with any room. These speakers can be made from one, two, or four individual Orbs (the Mod1, Mod2, and Mod4, respectively).

Combined with a subwoofer, Orb Audio systems can produce some seriously great sound in a little package. For example, the Mod1 Plus, the company’s most popular model, includes six speakers and a subwoofer for the price of $999.

Keep your eyes peeled for the Super Eight and Uber Ten, two new models that will be available soon for about the same price. In fact, both may be available at cheaper rates, depending on what deals Orb Audio will be offering.

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A screenshot of a Javascript error was posted on the PBD forums. It says nothing about a Sidekick Gekko. It just happens that the engine that Danger uses for the Sidekick browser (on all their devices) back-end web proxy (to be exact) is based on the Gecko layout engine, just like Firefox and Netscape. So, nope this doesn’t confirm anything about the Gekko sadly. Not to mention that this sort of screenshot is easily faked with literally 1 line of code on a webpage. The original screenshot below:

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