LAS VEGAS---- A strange little ritual used to go along with Polaroid cameras. The shooter would grab the print as it came out of the camera and wave it in the air, as if that would stimulate the chemicals and make the picture appear faster. It didn't. Yet it felt dumb to just stand there, waiting for the picture to develop.
Andy Ihnatko: Some might call it prophetic that this was Andy's first Macworld keynote missed since 2000, as Apple is also calling it quits on the annual fan- and media-fest. Traditionally a launching pad for the company's coolest new toys presented by Steve Jobs, this year was more a solemn affair than pep rally.
Apple Inc. is cutting the price of some songs in its market-leading iTunes online store to as little as 69 cents and plans to make every track available without copy protection. In Apple's final appearance at the Macworld trade show, Apple's top marketing executive, Philip Schiller, said Tuesday that iTunes song prices will come in three tiers: 69 cents, 99 cents and $1.29.
Andy Ihnatko: As an ecumenical tech columnist who nonetheless has deep tendrils into the Apple soil, it dismays me that Steve Jobs' appearance — both in the "how's he look today?" sense and the "why the bloody hell isn't he showing up for the keynote at Macworld Expo" one — has been the subject of so much rumor and speculation. I mean, Mac users: help me out, here. I always give you guys the benefit of the doubt.
Laura Berman: Are you ready for another Nipplegate? Late last month, social networking site Facebook caused a bit of a stir when it banned several pictures of breast-feeding mothers. The content was deemed obscene and taken down if the mother in question showed any part of her areola (the dark area around the nipple) in the photograph. In addition, the users received warnings to cease and desist. If they did not comply, they risked being banned from Facebook completely.
Many teenagers cleaned up their MySpace profiles, deleting mentions of sex and booze and boosting privacy settings, if they got a single cautionary e-mail from a busybody named "Dr. Meg."
Brad Spirrison: As television stations complete their transition to digital broadcasting next month, all signals point to the Internet serving as the ultimate entertainment intermediary to the living room. Our favorite shows will soon be viewed more easily over the World Wide Web than through very high frequencies. Now we just need a better way of finding them.
The social networking site "Twitter" was hit with a hacker attack Monday with several popular accounts -- including President-elect Barack Obama, CNN's Rick Sanzchez, The Huffington Post and Bill O'Reilly -- according to several reports.
Netflix Inc. has come up with another way to get movies to people without sending DVDs in the mail. In a partnership announced today, LG Electronics will start selling high-definition TV sets that stream Netflix videos directly from the Internet, without an additional device. The deal marks the first time Netflix’s streaming service will be embedded in a television.
NEW YORK---- Apple Inc. founder and Chief Executive Steve Jobs, a survivor of pancreatic cancer, said Monday that a hormone imbalance is to blame for the weight loss that has prompted worries about his health.
Apple Inc. has been sued over claims display screens on its iMac desktop computer are defective and show unwanted vertical lines. The lawsuit, filed Dec. 31 in federal court in San Jose, Calif., blames a faulty transistor or connection on the back of the screens for the defect. The suit, filed on behalf of Aram Hovsepian, of Sunny Isles Beach, Fla., seeks unspecified damages and class-action status.
The International Consumer Electronics Show, the largest trade show in the U.S., opens this week in Las Vegas with a full slate of giant TVs and inventive gadgets, despite the pall of a recession hanging over the industry.
Sandra Guy: Yesenia Amaro was so enthused about her Web-design class at GO! Team, she decided to mentor younger kids in the program. Yesenia, a 14-year-old ninth-grader at Carver Military Academy, enjoyed writing poems and designing Web pages about animals the teacher brought to the after-school meetings to spur students' interest in science. Andrea Velarde, 12, sixth-grader at Orozco Elementary Fine Arts & Sciences School, learned about the role of walking sticks in South American culture.
Happy New Year from Microsoft Corp.: Your Zune is dead. Thousands of Microsoft’s Zune media players — the software company’s answer to Apple Inc.’s iPod — unexpectedly conked out today and showed users an error message, prompting references to “Y2K for Zunes.” The problems appeared when people tried to start up their devices.
Brad Spirrison: A silver lining found within today's financial storm is that more businesses are embracing cloud computing. The economic and environmental advancements of storing and delivering more corporate information via the Internet (aka "the cloud") will be the technology story of 2009.
Andy Ihnatko: With apologies to Oprah, it's time for the sorta annual “Favorite Thing” column covering the gadgetry of 2008. From the ubiquitous iPhone to a hard drive that isn't, to the perfect piece of Ma-only word processing software to the perfect PC-only browser. Check out the best of the best.
Sunday was a confusing day for many AT&T mobile phone users throughout the Midwest after a power failure in Michigan caused many people to lose service for most of the day.
SYDNEY, Australia -- A proposed Internet filter dubbed the "Great Aussie Firewall" is promising to make Australia one of the strictest Internet regulators among democratic countries.
Brad Spirrison: Call it the satiating stimulus. As consumers continue to tighten their belts, restaurant owners grow hungrier. My Greek blood boils at the sight of an empty table (it's true, all Greek Americans have some genetic attachment to the restaurant industry) as I understand nothing is more terrifying and economically debilitating to a proprietor than a meal not served. Sometimes it pays to give one away.
Sandra Guy: Shonice James, 16, wants to be a meteorologist but her interest in computers prompted her to take a free computer repair course at Bellwood's newest computer resource center. The two-semester course is taught by Triton College faculty. Students who complete the class "job shadow" members of Best Buy's Geek Squad. "The biggest surprise was how complex computers are," said James, a junior at Proviso West Mathematics and Science Academy.
BEIJING---- China has blocked access to the New York Times Web site, the newspaper said Saturday, days after the central government defended its right to censor online content it deems illegal.
Andy Ihnatko: Scrambling for last-second gifts is always a hassle, but here's a few suggestions to make the quest as painless as possible. You can use the Web for the the truly desperate search or share some cherished family memories if you have an extra few minutes to go the extra mile.
Congratulations! You have just been accepted to Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, one of America's elite business schools. See you in the fall!
Andy Ihnatko: I wish that I and the rest of the people who do the MacBreak Weekly podcast were this powerful. But its nonetheless true that Apple has an uncanny habit of waiting until just after we've finished recording the week's show before they make a serious move. Sure enough, not 90 minutes after the four of us terminated the Skype chat, Apple announced that they had bad news, good news, and worse news.
Apple said that Chief Executive and computing superstar salesman Steve Jobs won't be delivering the highly anticipated presentation that usually marks the highlight of the annual Macworld computer trade show in January. In fact, it will mark the last Expo the computer company itself will take part in. The event, traditionally a hype-machine rollout of new gear has been Apple's biggest PR blitz annually.
If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen and into the living room. Cooking simulation video games recreate much of the culinary experience without the need to leave the house and shop for groceries and other things. We put several of the games through their paces to help you decide which ones are worthy of ending up under your tree.
Brad Spirrison: As we meander through a meltdown of titanic proportions, it is easy to lose sight of what will ultimately steer the U.S. economy after the bailouts. While "survival is underrated," as a wise friend keeps reminding me, individuals and institutions can only tread water for so long.
Developed for gamers and other processor blazers, Hardcore Computer's high-end Reactor PC dunks the hottest parts of the machine, including the processor, in a non-conducting liquid to keep things cool.
Andy Ihnatko: My friends, I declare here and now that the usefulness of WiFi for home networking has run its course. It's time for us all to switch back to copper. Yes: wires. Thick CAT6 Ethernet cables snaking proudly and confidently throughout the house. C'mon. They're available in like six different colors and will match any decor. So long as the decorator's aesthetic was "I live alone and can do whatever I want."
Sandra Guy: Josephine Babos was admitted to a hospital for chest pains this fall, and ended up having her colon removed, undergoing kidney dialysis, being put on a feeding tube and losing her muscle strength. Despite the enormous setbacks, the 76-year-old Aurora native refused to give up. "Don't tell me I can't do something," she said.
While M2Z has powerful allies in its push to create a national wireless broadband network, a full FCC vote was proposed for Dec. 18, but opposition led by T-Mobile USA and the Bush Administration may scuttle the plan before any vote cam happen.
At any given moment on U.S. roads, 10 percent of young drivers are working their cell phones, according to highway safety research. Now, University of Utah researchers have developed a solution to this public safety danger: a key attachment that disables a youth's cell phone while the ignition is on. The idea was the brainchild of Wally Curry, a Kansas urologist who fields relentless calls from the office, often in his car.
As the holiday shopping season winds down, gift cards seem like the perfect gift, but they can be less than perfect if the consumer doesn't read the fine print.
Andy Ihnatko: On April 1, 2004, Google opened the doors to Google Mail. 1,716 days later, it’s still officially in beta, meaning that Google doesn’t consider it to be quite ready for release. This, despite the fact that its worldwide user base has been estimated in the high tens of millions and the free mail service has become as important to modern communication as the personal pronoun.
Andy Ihnatko: My friends, I declare here and now that the usefulness of WiFi for home networking has run its course. It’s time for us all to switch back to copper. Yes: wires. Thick CAT6 Ethernet cables snaking proudly and confidently throughout the house.
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.---- Google Inc. is shifting its Web browser out of test mode just 100 days after its debut, an unusually quick transition for a company known for keeping the ÒbetaÓ tag on some products for years.
Passing a flirtatious note to get someone's attention is so yesterday. These days, young people use technology instead.
