Some fathers and sons spend their weekends flying kites in the park.
Luke Geissbuhler and his 7-year-old son Max thought it might be more fun to send an iPhone and an HD camera into space.
The purpose was simple: to film some of that stuff that is beyond us. So they thought they'd attach their equipment to a weather balloon. Once it's up there, they figured, the dearth of atmospheric pressure would ultimately burst it and send it back to Earth.
It all seemed very clever but not exactly foolproof.
As Geissbuhler and son say in their video: "It would have to survive 100 mph winds, temperatures of 60 degrees below zero, speeds of over a 150 mph, and the high risk of a water landing."
Still, the Wright brothers wouldn't have been put off by such uncertainty, and they never had an iPhone with which they could track the route of their flying craft. So father and son did a little low-altitude testing and then wandered off to the spacecraft-launching mecca that is Newburgh, N.Y., and sent their balloon into the sky.
The camera and the iPhone had been placed inside some handwarmers and, on the appointed day, father and son were their own two-man (with help) Mission Control in the park, as they watched their balloon sail off into the vast above.
The balloon burst after around 70 minutes. But it managed to record 100 minutes of footage. As if it knew its own way home, it came back to Earth 30 miles from where it had launched, which Geissbuhler attributed to "a quick ascent and two differing wind patterns."
This is a truly committed father and son partnership, so they searched for their flying machine until they found it "in the dead of night." Yes, it was 50 feet up a tree, but the iPhone's GPS and the camera's external LED light led them to it.
One can only wonder what their self-styled "Brooklyn Space Program" might attempt next. Perhaps a manned (and boyyed) space flight?
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Monday, October 11, 2010
Apple complaint halts sales of iPhone lookalike
Meizu M8
The Meizu M8
(Credit: Meizu)
Remember the M8? It's a smartphone made by Chinese manufacturer Meizu that looks suspiciously like an iPhone. And it's about to become a rare commodity.
Meizu CEO Jack Wong posted on a Meizu forum that Apple's lawyers have convinced China's intellectual property office to shut down production of the M8 and ban the sale of existing devices because they bear too much similarity to Apple's phone.
Wong's quote (translated), according to Engadget:
Apple requested that we cease manufacturing the M8 this month, we agreed but then [Apple] came back and asked for a sales ban instead. I can cope with a production freeze, but not with having our shops closed and thus not being able to use up our inventory. If Apple and the provincial IPO take another insatiable step, I can only go head-to-head against them.
It's not really a shock to anyone--and shouldn't be to Wong--that a product whose premise is its similarity to another more successful product is going to be the subject of a patent complaint. Especially when that company is one as powerful as Apple. The surprise is that it's taken this long--Meizu has a history of building gadgets that look strikingly similar to those coming out of Cupertino.
But the M8 is just one of Meizu's products, and from the sound of it there are more in the making. That is, if the current production and sales ban doesn't put the company out of business first.
The Meizu M8
(Credit: Meizu)
Remember the M8? It's a smartphone made by Chinese manufacturer Meizu that looks suspiciously like an iPhone. And it's about to become a rare commodity.
Meizu CEO Jack Wong posted on a Meizu forum that Apple's lawyers have convinced China's intellectual property office to shut down production of the M8 and ban the sale of existing devices because they bear too much similarity to Apple's phone.
Wong's quote (translated), according to Engadget:
Apple requested that we cease manufacturing the M8 this month, we agreed but then [Apple] came back and asked for a sales ban instead. I can cope with a production freeze, but not with having our shops closed and thus not being able to use up our inventory. If Apple and the provincial IPO take another insatiable step, I can only go head-to-head against them.
It's not really a shock to anyone--and shouldn't be to Wong--that a product whose premise is its similarity to another more successful product is going to be the subject of a patent complaint. Especially when that company is one as powerful as Apple. The surprise is that it's taken this long--Meizu has a history of building gadgets that look strikingly similar to those coming out of Cupertino.
But the M8 is just one of Meizu's products, and from the sound of it there are more in the making. That is, if the current production and sales ban doesn't put the company out of business first.
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Google testing previews of pages in search results Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-30684_3-20018743-265.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20#ixzz11w7poQk3
Google is testing a search results page that shows a preview of the pages generated by its algorithms.
Patrick Altoft, a search-engine optimization consultant in the U.K., spotted the test today. Some searchers on Google are seeing a search results page where some results are highlighted with a blue background, and when the searcher hovers over that result with their mouse, Google generates a preview of the page on the right side (over the ads, interestingly) that highlights the text in the original search query.
Google searchers can already refine their searches to generate results with page previews through the "search options" panel on the left-hand side of the search results page, but those previews are much smaller and aren't automatically generated by a hover, like the ones spotted by Altoft. Search Engine Land notes that Ask.com and Microsoft's Bing have offered similar preview options in the past.
Just because Google tests something easily spotted by the search community doesn't mean it will arrive soon for everyone, but those tests aren't red herrings, either. Google Instant was spotted in the wild a few weeks before it went live, as was also the case with the massive search-results page redesign that Google rolled out earlier this year.
Patrick Altoft, a search-engine optimization consultant in the U.K., spotted the test today. Some searchers on Google are seeing a search results page where some results are highlighted with a blue background, and when the searcher hovers over that result with their mouse, Google generates a preview of the page on the right side (over the ads, interestingly) that highlights the text in the original search query.
Google searchers can already refine their searches to generate results with page previews through the "search options" panel on the left-hand side of the search results page, but those previews are much smaller and aren't automatically generated by a hover, like the ones spotted by Altoft. Search Engine Land notes that Ask.com and Microsoft's Bing have offered similar preview options in the past.
Just because Google tests something easily spotted by the search community doesn't mean it will arrive soon for everyone, but those tests aren't red herrings, either. Google Instant was spotted in the wild a few weeks before it went live, as was also the case with the massive search-results page redesign that Google rolled out earlier this year.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Census of Marine Life reveals hidden life in oceans
Researchers have recently completed the global Census of Marine Life, a massive assessment of the world's oceans and the life contained within them.
The decade-long project, which involved more than 2,700 scientists from 80 nations, culminated October 4 with data on 120,000 species.
Tracking migrations across seas and up and down the water column, the study paints a broad picture of the health of the world's oceans. Among the findings are revelations of how much we don't know--an estimated 750,000 undiscovered species and vast areas of ocean that have never been explored.
One of four types of amoebas found living in open waters, the acantharians are fragile creatures, with a skeleton made of a single crystal of strontium sulfate and 20 mineralized spines radiating from their center.
Not much is known of these creatures because the strontium sulfate skeletal system quickly dissolves in the ocean waters after the organism dies, leaving little for the fossil record.
The decade-long project, which involved more than 2,700 scientists from 80 nations, culminated October 4 with data on 120,000 species.
Tracking migrations across seas and up and down the water column, the study paints a broad picture of the health of the world's oceans. Among the findings are revelations of how much we don't know--an estimated 750,000 undiscovered species and vast areas of ocean that have never been explored.
One of four types of amoebas found living in open waters, the acantharians are fragile creatures, with a skeleton made of a single crystal of strontium sulfate and 20 mineralized spines radiating from their center.
Not much is known of these creatures because the strontium sulfate skeletal system quickly dissolves in the ocean waters after the organism dies, leaving little for the fossil record.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Disney taps Yahoo exec to bolster Web efforts
Jimmy Pitaro, who is leaving his job running the powerful media properties at Yahoo, has taken a job as co-president of Disney Interactive Media Group, with John Pleasants.
Pleasants was CEO of Playdom, the online game company that Disney acquired for $763 million in late July.
The appointment of the pair, both of whom will report to Disney President and CEO Robert A. Iger, is a big move by the entertainment giant.
And it looks like another large-scale attempt to clarify and bolster its Web strategy, which has had a long and often rocky history and is the first major reset under Iger.
"I think we've built a framework of assets and now is the time to create a structure in a more focused way," said Iger in an interview this morning with BoomTown. "In splitting the divisions, we can focus more on them better and in a way they deserve."
He outlined the new setup, which will have Pleasants focus on the online gaming landscape and Pitaro on the Web and devices arenas. Iger said he felt Pleasants and Pitaro brought different backgrounds to the task, as well as longtime experiences.
Disney will need that going forward.
Under the previous regime of former CEO Michael Eisner, for example, Disney bought search engine Infoseek and tried to create a portal called Go.com. That failed, and was one of many efforts to define the online media company's Web strategy.
More recently in 2008, Disney gathered most of its Internet properties within DIMG, under Steve Wadsworth. He recently stepped down from his job.
Today, Disney owns a number of big Internet properties, including Disney.com, Family.com, and Club Penguin, although there does not seem to be a particularly cohesive strategy among them.
Of course, that's not surprise, given it is part of a multifaceted media company with a variety of businesses.
Due to its powerful content assets, in fact, it might be a perfect time for a more cogent plan. With the explosion of devices, such as the Apple iPad and others, the importance of cooperation between content and technology is more critical than ever.
News of the appointments of Pitaro and Pleasants had been rumored earlier this week by Silicon Alley Insider and the Hollywood Reporter.
As an interesting aside, Iger said that he was introduced to Pitaro via Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, as well as her husband David Goldberg. Sandberg is now on the board of Disney, and Pitaro came to Yahoo via Launch Media, which was co-founded by Goldberg.
More to come, obviously, but here is the official press release from Disney:
JOHN PLEASANTS, JAMES PITARO NAMED CO-PRESIDENTS,
DISNEY INTERACTIVE MEDIA GROUP
BURBANK, Calif., October 3, 2010-John Pleasants and James Pitaro have been named Co-Presidents, Disney Interactive Media Group (DIMG), it was announced today by Disney President and CEO Robert A. Iger.
John Pleasants, a well-respected new media executive whose career has included top jobs at digital commerce and game companies, will lead Disney's multi-faceted digital games businesses, including online, console, social and mobile. He will also continue to run Playdom, the fast-growing social games publishing company acquired by Disney earlier this year.
James Pitaro, an experienced Internet executive known for consistently delivering great branded web experiences to consumers, will oversee Disney Online, the home of Disney branded web and social media sites.
The new structure at DIMG is intended to enhance the strategic focus and responsiveness of the company's digital games and Disney Online businesses in a marketplace characterized by swiftly evolving consumer behavior and technologies. The structure is designed so that the two businesses can share consumer insights and technological resources and jointly take advantage of growth opportunities.
"Our rapidly growing Disney digital businesses will benefit greatly from the deep experience and distinct leadership skills shown by John and Jimmy," Iger said. "John has shown incredible agility and skill in helping companies achieve success in the ever-shifting digital games business, while Jimmy has vast knowledge of the online world and has been hugely successful at creating and building audiences around branded online content."
"Both have outstanding track records in anticipating trends and delivering to consumers creative, innovative and successful experiences and products," Iger added. "As Co-Presidents, I'm confident they will make Disney's digital content and businesses even more robust and successful."
Pleasants, who will be based in the Bay Area, will oversee Disney's overall games strategy and its global network of game development studios, including recently acquired mobile publisher Tapulous. The games group will include such popular online virtual worlds as Club Penguin and World of Cars as well as console and mobile titles.
Prior to joining Playdom as CEO in June 2009, he was President of Global Publishing and Chief Operating Officer of Electronic Arts Inc., where he led the company's online and mobile business units and its strategic expansion into online and social games. He previously served as President and CEO of Revolution Health and CEO of Ticketmaster, which included Match.com, CitySearch.com and Evite.com.
"I am extremely excited to be working with the DIMG team, and our colleagues across Disney, to advance the mission of enlivening people everywhere through the world's best interactive entertainment," Pleasants said. "Bob's vision and commitment to excellence in new media positions our organization to achieve great things."
In leading Disney Online, Pitaro will be responsible for enhancing the consumer experience on the company's numerous Disney-branded web and social media sites, including Disney.com, the number one global site for kids and families, and Family.com. Pitaro will also oversee Disney's social media marketing agency, DigiSynd.
Pitaro joins Disney from Yahoo! Inc. where he was Vice President and Head of Media. In that role, he significantly expanded Yahoo!'s original video, branded entertainment and editorial content and pioneered using data to enhance the consumer web experience. Pitaro led the successful expansion of Yahoo! Sports prior to being named to lead all of Yahoo!'s media properties, including its news, finance, entertainment and lifestyle sites. Previously, Pitaro ran Business Affairs for online music site Launch Media and practiced law at several New York firms.
"I'm honored to be joining the Disney family and energized to start working with the DIMG team. I've admired Disney for as long as I can remember and am looking forward to bringing my experience to the company and partnering with John to advance our online businesses," Pitaro said.
As Co-Presidents, they will be replacing former President Steve Wadsworth, who over many years established a firm foundation for DIMG's growth. Pleasants and Pitaro will report to Iger and will co-manage DIMG enterprise functions, including business affairs, finance and human resources. They will assume their new roles on October 18, 2010.
Pleasants was CEO of Playdom, the online game company that Disney acquired for $763 million in late July.
The appointment of the pair, both of whom will report to Disney President and CEO Robert A. Iger, is a big move by the entertainment giant.
And it looks like another large-scale attempt to clarify and bolster its Web strategy, which has had a long and often rocky history and is the first major reset under Iger.
"I think we've built a framework of assets and now is the time to create a structure in a more focused way," said Iger in an interview this morning with BoomTown. "In splitting the divisions, we can focus more on them better and in a way they deserve."
He outlined the new setup, which will have Pleasants focus on the online gaming landscape and Pitaro on the Web and devices arenas. Iger said he felt Pleasants and Pitaro brought different backgrounds to the task, as well as longtime experiences.
Disney will need that going forward.
Under the previous regime of former CEO Michael Eisner, for example, Disney bought search engine Infoseek and tried to create a portal called Go.com. That failed, and was one of many efforts to define the online media company's Web strategy.
More recently in 2008, Disney gathered most of its Internet properties within DIMG, under Steve Wadsworth. He recently stepped down from his job.
Today, Disney owns a number of big Internet properties, including Disney.com, Family.com, and Club Penguin, although there does not seem to be a particularly cohesive strategy among them.
Of course, that's not surprise, given it is part of a multifaceted media company with a variety of businesses.
Due to its powerful content assets, in fact, it might be a perfect time for a more cogent plan. With the explosion of devices, such as the Apple iPad and others, the importance of cooperation between content and technology is more critical than ever.
News of the appointments of Pitaro and Pleasants had been rumored earlier this week by Silicon Alley Insider and the Hollywood Reporter.
As an interesting aside, Iger said that he was introduced to Pitaro via Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, as well as her husband David Goldberg. Sandberg is now on the board of Disney, and Pitaro came to Yahoo via Launch Media, which was co-founded by Goldberg.
More to come, obviously, but here is the official press release from Disney:
JOHN PLEASANTS, JAMES PITARO NAMED CO-PRESIDENTS,
DISNEY INTERACTIVE MEDIA GROUP
BURBANK, Calif., October 3, 2010-John Pleasants and James Pitaro have been named Co-Presidents, Disney Interactive Media Group (DIMG), it was announced today by Disney President and CEO Robert A. Iger.
John Pleasants, a well-respected new media executive whose career has included top jobs at digital commerce and game companies, will lead Disney's multi-faceted digital games businesses, including online, console, social and mobile. He will also continue to run Playdom, the fast-growing social games publishing company acquired by Disney earlier this year.
James Pitaro, an experienced Internet executive known for consistently delivering great branded web experiences to consumers, will oversee Disney Online, the home of Disney branded web and social media sites.
The new structure at DIMG is intended to enhance the strategic focus and responsiveness of the company's digital games and Disney Online businesses in a marketplace characterized by swiftly evolving consumer behavior and technologies. The structure is designed so that the two businesses can share consumer insights and technological resources and jointly take advantage of growth opportunities.
"Our rapidly growing Disney digital businesses will benefit greatly from the deep experience and distinct leadership skills shown by John and Jimmy," Iger said. "John has shown incredible agility and skill in helping companies achieve success in the ever-shifting digital games business, while Jimmy has vast knowledge of the online world and has been hugely successful at creating and building audiences around branded online content."
"Both have outstanding track records in anticipating trends and delivering to consumers creative, innovative and successful experiences and products," Iger added. "As Co-Presidents, I'm confident they will make Disney's digital content and businesses even more robust and successful."
Pleasants, who will be based in the Bay Area, will oversee Disney's overall games strategy and its global network of game development studios, including recently acquired mobile publisher Tapulous. The games group will include such popular online virtual worlds as Club Penguin and World of Cars as well as console and mobile titles.
Prior to joining Playdom as CEO in June 2009, he was President of Global Publishing and Chief Operating Officer of Electronic Arts Inc., where he led the company's online and mobile business units and its strategic expansion into online and social games. He previously served as President and CEO of Revolution Health and CEO of Ticketmaster, which included Match.com, CitySearch.com and Evite.com.
"I am extremely excited to be working with the DIMG team, and our colleagues across Disney, to advance the mission of enlivening people everywhere through the world's best interactive entertainment," Pleasants said. "Bob's vision and commitment to excellence in new media positions our organization to achieve great things."
In leading Disney Online, Pitaro will be responsible for enhancing the consumer experience on the company's numerous Disney-branded web and social media sites, including Disney.com, the number one global site for kids and families, and Family.com. Pitaro will also oversee Disney's social media marketing agency, DigiSynd.
Pitaro joins Disney from Yahoo! Inc. where he was Vice President and Head of Media. In that role, he significantly expanded Yahoo!'s original video, branded entertainment and editorial content and pioneered using data to enhance the consumer web experience. Pitaro led the successful expansion of Yahoo! Sports prior to being named to lead all of Yahoo!'s media properties, including its news, finance, entertainment and lifestyle sites. Previously, Pitaro ran Business Affairs for online music site Launch Media and practiced law at several New York firms.
"I'm honored to be joining the Disney family and energized to start working with the DIMG team. I've admired Disney for as long as I can remember and am looking forward to bringing my experience to the company and partnering with John to advance our online businesses," Pitaro said.
As Co-Presidents, they will be replacing former President Steve Wadsworth, who over many years established a firm foundation for DIMG's growth. Pleasants and Pitaro will report to Iger and will co-manage DIMG enterprise functions, including business affairs, finance and human resources. They will assume their new roles on October 18, 2010.
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Mercedes-Benz puts new electric car into production
Continuing its electric car research, Mercedes-Benz has begun series production of 500 E-Cell electric cars. We got a look at the car during the 2010 Paris Motor Show.
The new E-Cell uses the Mercedes-Benz A-class platform, with an electric powertrain provided by Tesla. With two lithium ion battery packs sandwiched under the floor of the car, the interior space is unaffected by the electric drive.
Under New European Drive Cycle testing, the E-Cell gets a range rating of 125 miles (200 kilometers), making it suitable for urban areas. Its electric motor produces 95 horsepower and 214 pound-feet of torque.
Units from the initial production run will be leased to customers in Germany, France, and the Netherlands.
The new E-Cell uses the Mercedes-Benz A-class platform, with an electric powertrain provided by Tesla. With two lithium ion battery packs sandwiched under the floor of the car, the interior space is unaffected by the electric drive.
Under New European Drive Cycle testing, the E-Cell gets a range rating of 125 miles (200 kilometers), making it suitable for urban areas. Its electric motor produces 95 horsepower and 214 pound-feet of torque.
Units from the initial production run will be leased to customers in Germany, France, and the Netherlands.
Friday, October 1, 2010
Google Street View captures dead bodies--real ones
Whenever Google sends its Street View cameras to a new country, there is always more revealed than was anticipated.
And so is the case with the launch of Google Street View in Brazil.
Just a day after the service launched, up popped a couple of corpses. One, on the Avenida Presidente Vargas in Rio, the other in Belo Horizonte.
The images, which first reportedly surfaced on Gizmodo Brazil are disturbing because of their apparent normality. They are not in deserted areas, but in places where people and cars can be seen, places where city life just goes on.
Google moved swiftly to remove the images, here for the Rio body and here for Belo Horizonte, leaving just a blank screen.
While the Brazilian Street View launch Thursday also gave members of Tumblr the opportunity to offer their own discoveries, a little more amusing, such as passers-by reacting to the Street View cameras, one can imagine that the revelation of corpses captured imaginations rather more.
The tech section of Brazilian site, G1, which has a close-up of one of the images if you're in the mood for that, also reported that Google has asked anyone who finds disturbing images to contact the company immediately by clicking on the "report a problem" link.
Should you feel affection for statistics, Brazil's intentional homicide rate, while decreasing slightly over the last 10 years, is still put at around five times that of the U.S. (Which is itself around five times greater than, say, Italy.) One can only wonder whether the Street View camera car driver even noticed the bodies or whether it seemed to him or her like a normal scene.
These Brazilian images offer something of a difficult contrast with the recent case of 10-year-old Azeera Beebeejaun, who was captured by Street View cameras merely pretending to be dead
And so is the case with the launch of Google Street View in Brazil.
Just a day after the service launched, up popped a couple of corpses. One, on the Avenida Presidente Vargas in Rio, the other in Belo Horizonte.
The images, which first reportedly surfaced on Gizmodo Brazil are disturbing because of their apparent normality. They are not in deserted areas, but in places where people and cars can be seen, places where city life just goes on.
Google moved swiftly to remove the images, here for the Rio body and here for Belo Horizonte, leaving just a blank screen.
While the Brazilian Street View launch Thursday also gave members of Tumblr the opportunity to offer their own discoveries, a little more amusing, such as passers-by reacting to the Street View cameras, one can imagine that the revelation of corpses captured imaginations rather more.
The tech section of Brazilian site, G1, which has a close-up of one of the images if you're in the mood for that, also reported that Google has asked anyone who finds disturbing images to contact the company immediately by clicking on the "report a problem" link.
Should you feel affection for statistics, Brazil's intentional homicide rate, while decreasing slightly over the last 10 years, is still put at around five times that of the U.S. (Which is itself around five times greater than, say, Italy.) One can only wonder whether the Street View camera car driver even noticed the bodies or whether it seemed to him or her like a normal scene.
These Brazilian images offer something of a difficult contrast with the recent case of 10-year-old Azeera Beebeejaun, who was captured by Street View cameras merely pretending to be dead
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