Top 10 Biggest Tech 'Fails' Of 2010

In 2010, we saw social networking skyrocket in popularity. We embraced a new category of tablet computer. And we rushed to new gaming systems that let us play video games without a controller.

But in the technology world, not all valleys are made of silicon. While the highs were high for the tech winners this year, the low points were equally low.

Even tech titans such as Apple and Google had some rough moments in 2010. And some ambitious ideas that must have made sense behind closed doors just didn't translate well to the real world.

So here are our top "tech fails" of the year: the missteps, misdeeds and mistakes that remind us that no one -- not even Steve Jobs -- is perfect. What did we miss? Let us know in the comments below.

1. iPhone 4 'Antennagate'

Apple drama -- nothing brings out the diehard fans and Cupertino haters quite like this one.

The newest iteration of the wildly popular smartphone was released in June.

By all standards, it's been a huge success. All standards except one.

Some people couldn't actually use it for phone calls.

OK, maybe that's an overstatement. But the Grip of Death (caused when users covered part of the antenna in a band around the phone's edge) was real -- and a big glitch in the device's rollout.

First Apple said the problem didn't exist. Then they said it was a software issue. Then they kind-of admitted it existed and gave away free cases to help. Then, they said it doesn't really exist anymore and stopped giving away the bumpers. Read also How do you hold your iPhone?

Months later, the problem is all but forgotten and the phones show no sign of dipping in popularity. So "fail," in this case, is a pretty relative term.

2. 3-D TV

After being all the buzz at the trend-making Consumer Electronics Show in January, 3-D television didn't do much of anything this year.

Three-dimension movies may have taken over your neighborhood multiplex. But how many people do you know who will pay $4,000 or more for a TV that has a limited amount of special content and makes you wear special glasses in the comfort of your own home?

That will likely change as prices fall and the technology gets better. But so far, in a market full of folks who just recently shelled out four figures for high-definition TVs, 3-D television has fallen flat. Read 3D Sex & Zen: Extreme Ecstasy - World's First IMAX-3D Porn

3. Microsoft Kin

We almost don't have the heart to beat up on the Kins anymore.

Having already served up the short-lived, tween-centric phones in our Thanksgiving all-time tech turkey list, we'll just remind you that the Kin One and Kin Two (Born: April 2010. Died: July 2010) aimed to be the fun, social smartphone for kids but ended up as a sort-of iPhone Lite, with a pricier data plan than their limited functions could justify.

Microsoft seemed happy to move on to the Windows Phone 7 system, so we will, too.

R.I.P. Kin. We hardly knew ye.

4. Nexus One

Speaking of phones that failed ...

Google's Android phone operating system came into its own in 2010, actually outselling phones running Apple's system by the end of the year.

But Google's effort at making their own phone to run it, the Nexus One, fizzled fast.
And here's the thing -- just about everyone who tried out the Nexus One liked it. It had features to rival the iPhone's, and reviewers were kind.

But Google might have gone wrong by originally selling the phone only online.

Apparently, folks like to get their hands on their gadgets before paying for them. Read Google Nexus One not iPhone killer after all

Read more: Google Nexus One not iPhone killer after all

5. Facebook privacy

Nothing on the internet elicits as much squawking as a change to Facebook.
Any change will do, really.

But this spring, some of the roughly half-billion users on the site got really miffed when a handful of privacy bugs, among other things, made private chat conversations briefly visible to Facebook friends.

And on April 21, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced a new Facebook feature called the "Open Graph," which essentially brings Facebook-like functionality to a number of websites. Read Why is deleting Facebook profile so hard

A few folks actually left on a protester-created "Quit Facebook Day." Most didn't, but the sustained anger led Facebook to eventually simplify its privacy controls and roll out some new ones.

6. Google Buzz

Buzz was supposed to be Google's entry into the world of social networking in much the same way that Google Wave, which Google killed in August, was supposed to revolutionize real-time communication.

But it didn't help that, right out of the gate, Buzz's default settings amounted to a privacy breach. Basically, if users didn't tweak things at set-up, the people they e-mailed and chatted with the most through Gmail automatically became their followers.

So, theoretically, someone only needed to take a quick look at your profile to see who you interacted with the most in forums that most people assume are private.

Google quickly patched the problem. But the tool never really caught on. In Google Land, that might be OK, though -- the latest speculation is that Buzz might have been just the first step toward a networking site called "Google Me."

7. Gawker media sites hacked

Two fails here, really.

Fail No. 1: Gawker Media sites were breached in early December, with hackers saying they got access to the user names and passwords for about 1.3 million users of sites such as Gizmodo, Jezebel, Lifehacker and Kotaku.

Fail No. 2: A published list of the most-popular passwords hacked showed that "123456," "password," "12345" and "qwerty" were at or near the top of the list.

Sorry, folks. If those are your passwords, it's awfully tough to feel sorry for you getting hacked.

8. Content farms

Creating click-bait junk on the internet didn't start in 2010. But it certainly took off in a big way.

Demand Media, Aol's Seed and Associated Content, bought this year by Yahoo!, operate on a similar "content farm" model: They choose topics people are searching for on the internet, pay a "journalist" a tiny amount to write something -- anything -- about it, then slap it on the Web so people will click on it.

According to a Wired article, industry "leader" Demand Media already was cranking out 4,000 videos a day in late 2009. And they were on pace to publish 1 million items a month by this summer.

The magazine interviewed a videographer who has done 40,000 videos for Demand. Asked about his favorite, he said he couldn't really remember any of them.

Writing to what readers are interested in is one thing. At CNN, we monitor Twitter, Google Trends and other digital listening posts to make sure we're covering what people want to know about in the tech world.

But cranking out by-the-numbers copy, with profit as the only motive, just junks up the Web for everyone. It cynically betrays the promise of what the internet could, and should, be.

And maybe it won't work. The Wall Street Journal has said Demand has never made a profit. And just this week, there were reports that Demand is delaying a public stock offering because of concerns about its accounting practices.

9. Digg relaunch

It's impressive that content-sharing sites such as Digg have clung to some degree of relevancy in an era when most people share their favorite digital content on Facebook and Twitter.

But, to be sure, they've struggled. And a revolt by some vocal members of Digg this summer didn't help. The site got a major overhaul to make it easier for users to find content.

But the changes were buggy at first, and some old-school features such as the "Bury" button (which was eventually returned) had regulars claiming they were bolting for Digg competitor Reddit.

The fallout was still clearing by year's end, and the reasoning behind Digg's changes -- to help curate content in a more manageable way -- made sense. But the change brought some headaches that Digg's top brass no doubt would have liked to avoid.

10. iTunes Ping

There's a whole social network set up in Apple's iTunes store now.

Didn't know that? Well, there you go.

Not all musical artists are on there. And it doesn't integrate with Facebook.
(Although Ping and Twitter just linked up). And, a lot of the time, it simply pushes you to buy music.

Needless to say, Ping hasn't really caught on.

Power Balance bracelets scam

A bracelet worn by high profile sports stars that claims to improve athletic performance has been exposed as a sham by the consumer watchdog.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has ordered Power Balance Australia to refund all customers who feel they were misled by the supposed benefits of Power Balance bracelets.

The wristbands were touted as providing better balance, strength and flexibility by working with the wearer's "natural energy field".

English cricketers Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Strauss, AFL bad boy Brendan Fevola, St Kilda captain Nick Riewoldt and NRL star Benji Marshall have all been known to wear the bracelets.

But ACCC chairman Graeme Samuel said in a statement: “Power Balance has admitted that there is no credible scientific basis for the claims and therefore no reasonable grounds for making representations about the benefits of the product.

“Its conduct may have contravened the misleading and deceptive conduction section of the Trade Practices Act 1974," Mr Samuel said.

"When a product is heavily promoted, sold at major sporting stores and worn by celebrities, consumers tend to give a certain legitimacy to the product and the representations being made."

The bracelets sell for $60 on the company's website.

Mr Samuel also warned that retailers that continue to sell the products with misleading advertising or packaging would be open to action from the ACCC.

Last month an independent review panel that deals with complaints about breaches of the therapeutic goods advertising code found that powerbalance.com.au violated the code.

Power Balance acknowledged it had breached the code and said the relevant claims had been removed from its website.

The company was also named in this year's Shonky awards.

Consumer advocate group Choice found the bracelets were just rubber bands with plastic holograms.

"The band was tested at CHOICE under controlled lab conditions which showed it did little else than empty purchasers' wallets," Choice said in October.

via SMH. Illustration: Matt Golding.

Ernst & Young sued for Lehman Brothers Fraud

Accounting firm Ernst & Young was sued by New York state prosecutors on Tuesday, accused of helping to hide financial risks at Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc before the Wall Street firm's 2008 collapse.

The civil fraud case seeks $150 million in fees that the accounting firm collected, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said in a statement.

The lawsuit also seeks investor damages and other relief in what is one of the biggest government cases involving an accounting firm since Arthur Andersen was criminally indicted in 2002 over the Enron scandal.

Ernst & Young was Lehman's outside auditor from 2001 until the investment bank filed for bankruptcy in September 2008.

Ernst & Young was not immediately available for comment on Cuomo's lawsuit, which was filed in New York State Supreme Court.

Cuomo said that for more than seven years leading up to Lehman's bankruptcy, Lehman engaged in fraudulent accounting transactions that were explicitly approved by the auditor. Cuomo said he is seeking the return of more than $150 million in fees that Ernst & Young collected for its Lehman work.

"This practice was a house-of-cards business model designed to hide billions in liabilities in the years before Lehman collapsed," Cuomo's statement said. "Just as troubling, a global accounting firm, tasked with auditing Lehman's financial statements, helped hide this crucial information from the investing public."

The firm has said previously that it believes its work as Lehman auditor "met all applicable professional standards" and that accounting issues were not to blame for the bankruptcy.

The audit firm has been under scrutiny since a court-appointed Lehman bankruptcy examiner released a scathing report in March on the investment bank's accounting methods. The report concluded that Ernst & Young was "professionally negligent" in its oversight.

The examiner said Ernst & Young failed to challenge accounting gimmicks that gave the appearance that Lehman was reducing its overall leverage levels in 2008, when in reality it was not.

via Reuters

Make Money As Drinking Buddies

Drink along, be merry and make money at the same time by being a drinking buddy to some lonely guy. Definitely a serious money making ideas that you can consider.

A Ukrainian company called Kind Fairy offers an interesting service, for a fee they will provide 'professional drinking buddies'.

Now, one may well think that the idea sounds stupid, childish even - but these are sophisticated drinking buddies that are there to provide entertainment and stimulating conversation.

"Virtually all of our people are talented. They can play guitar, sing or recite poetry."

"Today you may want to talk about art and tomorrow to read Faust," a spokesman for the company was quoted as saying.

He said the company does not encourage binge drinking and that a number of its professional drinking buddies are psychologists - so people can get analysed as they drown their sorrows.

Gawker was hacked by Gnosis

Millions of web users are being asked to reset their passwords as concerns spread over a major hacking attack.

Yahoo, Twitter and LinkedIn have asked users to change their details, days after gossip site Gawker was hacked.

Online game World of Warcraft, which has more than 12 million subscribers, has also asked some users to reset their passwords.

Blizzard, the company behind the game, said it was an attempt to "minimise the effects" of the Gawker breach.

Although thousands of Twitter accounts were compromised after the attack, there have been few other reports of damage directly linked to the breach.

Many companies, however, have taken steps to identify users at risk and warn them before an exploit can take place. A spokesman for LinkedIn said it necessary to take "proactive security measures" to screen users thought to be in danger.

The attack on Gawker, which runs one of the world's most popular blog networks, was carried out over the weekend by an organisation calling itself Gnosis.

The group - which says it was making a protest at the site's perceived "arrogance" - subsequently published account details of 1.3 million Gawker users online, including a significant number of passwords.

Analysis of the breach has triggered a widespread defensive response because it emerged that many users had chosen common words and codes that left them wide open to abuse.

Documents show that the most popular password among Gawker users was "123456", followed by "password" and "12345678".

Other common terms, used by hundreds of people, included "monkey", "qwerty" and "consumer".

Although security experts warn against the use of passwords that are easy to guess, research suggests such behaviour is increasingly common online.

According to a study by computer security company Sophos, 33% of people admitted using the same password for every single website they visit.

A further 48% said they used just a handful of different codes, while just one in five said they never used the same password twice.

The firm's Graham Cluley said that the domino effect evident among web companies exposed a number of significant issues.

While it was important to remind users that their passwords should be changed regularly, he said, the warnings sent out to users did not always address the central issue of poor password choices.

"The bad guys already have databases of the most common passwords, and they look a lot like this," he said.

"It's no bad thing to try and help, but websites should give users more information about how to create a secure password."

Tips for keeping your password safe

* Never use the same password across lots of different websites

* Do not use a word that you - or a hacker - could find in the dictionary: these are susceptible to so-called 'brute force' attacks

* Try to include some digits and special characters to add a layer of complexity that will make life difficult for a criminal

* Pick a phrase or mnemonic that helps you remember your password

* You can avoid having to remember passwords altogether by using a password manager program. There are many available to download online

via BBC

Cancer cure from Aglaia foveolata tree?

A compound from the Aglaia foveolata tree, found in Malaysian state of Sarawak’s highlands, has entered pre-clinical trials, showing positive results in inhibiting the growth of some forms of cancer like leukaemia.

According to scientists at the Sarawak Biodiversity Centre (SBC), which owns the intellectual property rights to the plant, experiments found an extracted compound called Silvestrol offered benefits not found in other cancer-fighting drugs.

“First, it seems to inhibit leukaemia growth compared with controlled tests performed on mice. Second, the tests show that it seems to bypass drug resistance,” said Dr Yeo Tiong Chia, senior research officer at the centre.

Dr Yeo, a graduate of the Washington University in immunology, said he was confident of the compound’s potential.

He added that if tests continued to be positive, then the next step would be to conduct clinical trials on humans.

However, as with all experiments, he added, outcomes were hard to predict and could go either way.

Dr Yeo was speaking to The Star during SBC’s annual open day at its headquarters near Padawan, here.

Meanwhile, SBC chief executive Dr Rita Manurung said the centre needed funds to speed up research.

She said the centre had submitted a development proposal of RM5mil to both state and federal governments.

The development included expanding its chemistry labs and having better facilities to attract more visiting scientists.

Dr Rita explained the urgent need for funds.

“Intellectual property rights are not forever. At SBC, we hold just one right, which is for the Aglaia plant.

“We acquired that right in 2004, but such rights usually expire after 15 to 20 years. As such, all research must be speeded up,” she said.

Another important role of the centre is documenting indigenous vegetation, with focus on those that have medical qualities not yet known to the scientific community.

The programme has been ongoing for almost a decade, with about 3,000 plants documented.

via theStar

Hacktivists using LOIC program to attack Amazon, Visa, Mastercard and PayPal sites

Activists are targetting using the Anonymous attack tool, known as LOIC. When a person installs the tool on their PC it enrols the machine into a voluntary botnet which then bombards target sites with data.

Once downloaded, LOIC would enabled computers to join the co-ordinated attacks against websites perceived to be "anti-Wikileaks" and is now reported to have been downloaded more than 31,000 times.

However, security experts warned people to avoid joining the voluntary botnet.

These distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks are illegal in many countries.

Social network Facebook confirmed that it had removed Operation Payback - as the campaign is known - from the site because it was promoting its attack tool.

Earlier attacks against Visa and Mastercard knocked the official websites of the two offline for a while and resulted in problems for some credit card holders.

Defending against an attack typically involves analysis to work out which ones are being employed. A tactic that may not work well in this case.

As well as releasing the attack tool, the Anonymous group has also been active in helping to create mirror sites. To date there are over one thousand sites offering exact copies of the content on Wikileaks.

It is also ensuring the information is available on dark nets, heavily encrypted layers of the internet via which information can be extracted while remaining untraceable.

via Reuters

Microsoft scam calls exposed

Thousands of Australians have been taken for hundreds of dollars each by cold call scammers pretending to be Microsoft but police, regulators and the software company are powerless to fight the growing problem.

The scammers, typically based in Indian call centres, cold call people claiming to be Microsoft staff informing them that their computer has a virus on it. They provide bogus evidence of a virus infection and after winning over the victim, convince them to allow the scammer remote access to their computer through an internet website.

The scammers then pretend to fix the machine and ask for a fee that is up to $400. They use a combination of high pressure sales tactics and social engineering to scare the victim into paying the fee and because victims willingly hand over their credit card details, there is little legal recourse.

As is common with internet crimes, there was little police or local regulators could do to shut down the scams because the perpetrators are based overseas.

Anyone who has allowed remote access into their computer should immediately change all of their passwords, scan their computer for viruses and, ideally, get a professional company to scan the computer as well.

Microsoft had reached out to one of the sites the scammers use for remote access, logmein123, which had implemented IP address filtering and examined misuse of their test accounts to prevent scammers from using the service.

The International Consumer Protection and Enforcement Network (ICPEN), which coordinates responses to global scams such as this said that "both ICPEN and other national enforcement agencies are aware of the scam that you refer to".

However, it could not detail any specific measures taken to shut the scam down.

via SMH

OpenLeaks to rival WikiLeaks

A number of WikiLeaks defectors, including founder Julian Assange's former right-hand man, plan to launch a rival site on Monday after accusing Mr Assange of behaving like "some kind of emperor or slave trader".

With WikiLeaks itself vowing to press on with its leaking regardless of the fate of Mr Assange, it seems that any attempts by US politicians to stop the leaks will be futile.

The new site, Openleaks, will launch on Monday, respected Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter reported. Like WikiLeaks, it will allow whistleblowers to leak information to the public anonymously. However, Openleaks won't host the documents itself, instead acting as an intermediary between whistleblowers and other groups including media organisations.

Several WikiLeaks members abandoned the site following perceived autocratic behaviour by Mr Assange. They said he failed to consult them on many decisions and put himself front and centre of everything WikiLeaks did.

Some members were also concerned that the Swedish rape allegations against Mr Assange were damaging the organisation's reputation. Dagens Nyheter reported that insiders were sabotaging the site earlier this year in order to convince Mr Assange to step down.

OpenLeaks, one member said, would be "democratically governed by all its members, rather than limited to one group or individual".

via SMH

Top searches for 2010

Top searches for 2010 in no particular order (excluding sex and porn).

1. chatroulette - Andrey Ternovskiy and ChatRoulette.com in the spotlight and How does ChatRoulette.com make money

2. world cup 2010 - Vuvuzelas - World Cup 2010 Controversy

3. wikileaks

4. trapped chile miners - Chile Miners and Number 33

5. haiti earthquake - 7.0 earthquake hits Haiti capital

6. ipad - Apple iPad unveiled

7. iphone 4 - iPhone 4 on sale

8. oil spill - Gulf of Mexico Big Slick

9. Julia Gillard

10. Kim Kardashian - New Kim Kardashian Nude Photos

11. tiger woods scandal

12. gary coleman dead - Gary Coleman dies due to brain haemorrhage

13. chelsea clinton wedding

14. iron man 2

15. transformers 3 - Transformers 2 Sneak Peek

Billionaires who pledged to give away fortunes

Another 17 U.S. billionaires, including Facebook co-founders Mark Zuckerberg and Dustin Moskovitz, have pledged to give away at least half their fortunes in a philanthropic campaign led by Warren Buffett and Bill Gates.

A total of 57 billionaires now have joined The Giving Pledge, which was launched by Microsoft founder Gates and investor Buffett in June. The campaign announced the new pledges in a statement late on Wednesday.

Gates, his wife Melinda, and Buffett have asked U.S. billionaires to give away at least half their wealth during their lifetime or after their death, and to publicly state their intention with a letter explaining their decision.

The Giving Pledge does not accept money or tell people how to donate their money but asks billionaires to make a moral commitment to give their fortunes to charity.

"People wait until late in their career to give back. But why wait when there is so much to be done?" Zuckerberg, who gave $100 million in September to the beleaguered public schools of Newark, New Jersey, said in a statement.

"With a generation of younger folks who have thrived on the success of their companies, there is a big opportunity for many of us to give back earlier in our lifetime and see the impact of our philanthropic efforts," he said.

In addition to Zuckerberg and Moskovitz, the world's youngest billionaires, pledges were made by AOL co-founder Steve Case, financier Carl Icahn and Michael Milken, a former Wall Street executive who went to prison in the early 1990s for securities violations.

Morningstar Chief Executive Joe Mansueto, businessman Nicolas Berggruen and private investor Ted Forstmann also are among the new billionaires to take the pledges.

"In just a few short months we've made good progress," said Buffett, who made his fortune with insurance and investment company Berkshire Hathaway Inc.

"The Giving Pledge has re-energized people thinking about philanthropy and doing things in philanthropy and I look forward to many more conversations with families who are truly fortunate and whose generosity can and will change lives," he said.

Along with speaking to about a quarter of the wealthiest people in the United States about The Giving Pledge, Gates and Buffett hosted a dinner with Chinese billionaires in Beijing in September in a bid to promote a culture of philanthropy in China. The pair plan to visit India in March.

Forbes magazine said the United States is home to more than 400 billionaires, the most of any country.

Individual Americans gave more than $227 billion in 2009, according to the Giving USA report by the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, down just 0.4 percent from the previous year despite the U.S. recession.

Buffett pledged in 2006 to give away 99 percent of his wealth to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and family charities. Bill and Melinda Gates have so far donated more than $28 billion of their fortune to their foundation.

The full list of billionaires and their letters can be seen at www.thegivingpledge.org.

PAUL G. ALLEN
LAURA AND JOHN ARNOLD
NICOLAS BERGGRUEN
MICHAEL R. BLOOMBERG
ELI AND EDYTHE BROAD
WARREN BUFFETT
JEAN AND STEVE CASE
MICHELE CHAN AND PATRICK SOON-SHIONG
LEE AND TOBY COOPERMAN
BARRY DILLER AND DIANE VON FURSTENBERG
ANN AND JOHN DOERR
LARRY ELLISON
TED FORSTMANN
BILL AND MELINDA GATES
DAVID AND BARBARA GREEN
LYDA HILL
BARRON HILTON
JON AND KAREN HUNTSMAN
CARL ICAHN
JOAN AND IRWIN JACOBS
GEORGE B. KAISER
SIDNEY KIMMEL
ELAINE AND KEN LANGONE
GERRY AND MARGUERITE LENFEST
LORRY I. LOKEY
GEORGE LUCAS
DUNCAN AND NANCY MACMILLAN
ALFRED E. MANN
JOE AND RIKA MANSUETO
BERNIE AND BILLI MARCUS
MICHAEL AND LORI MILKEN
GEORGE P. MITCHELL
THOMAS S. MONAGHAN
TASHIA AND JOHN MORGRIDGE
DUSTIN MOSKOVITZ
PIERRE AND PAM OMIDYAR
BERNARD AND BARBRO OSHER
RONALD O. PERELMAN
PETER G. PETERSON
T. BOONE PICKENS
JULIAN H. ROBERTSON, JR.
DAVID ROCKEFELLER
DAVID M. RUBENSTEIN
HERB AND MARION SANDLER
DENNY SANFORD
VICKI AND ROGER SANT
WALTER SCOTT, JR.
TOM AND CINDY SECUNDA
JIM AND MARILYN SIMONS
JEFF SKOLL
TOM STEYER AND KAT TAYLOR
JIM AND VIRGINIA STOWERS
TED TURNER
SANFORD AND JOAN WEILL
SHELBY WHITE
CHARLES ZEGAR AND MERRYL SNOW ZEGAR
MARK ZUCKERBERG

Chrome-based PCs to be unveiled mid 2011

The first laptops powered by Google Inc's Chrome operating system will reach store shelves months later than expected and miss the holiday shopping season as the Internet company fixes software issues.

The Web-centric computers, intended as an incursion into territory dominated for years by Microsoft Corp and Apple Inc, will ship around the middle of 2011.

Google is holding off launching the Chrome-based PCs until it can fix some software bugs and make sure that the computers are compatible with other devices such as digital cameras, Google product manager Sundar Pichai said on Tuesday.

"Amazing progress, but we aren't fully done yet," Pichai told reporters at a press briefing in San Francisco.

"If I'm shooting for one holiday season, I wouldn't be working on it. This is a journey," Pichai told Reuters.

Once they arrive, the computers will embody Google's strongest foray into consumer and business computing.

Prices of the laptops have not been determined, executives said when asked if the Web-centered notebook computers might cost less than traditional PCs which brim with storage and processing hardware.

"You will see a variety of notebook price units," Pichai said.

Samsung Electronics and Acer will make the first laptops. Intel Corp will make the processors in the first batch.

The first laptops will come with 100 megabytes of free wireless data transfers per month for two years, courtesy of Verizon Wireless. According to Verizon, streaming video for just two minutes every day amounts to 260 megabytes of data downloads in a month.

The laptops promote Web-centric computing, in which people use online applications instead of software loaded onto PCs.

As part of that effort, the company on Tuesday opened an Internet store selling about 500 games, news and other software applications for Chrome, carving out a bigger role in Internet media and entertainment.

The company did not explain how the Chrome operating system would contribute to profits. With Google's Android operating system for smartphones and tablets, Google offers the platform for free, but earns revenue from mobile advertising.

As with Android mobile phones, the Chrome software is expected to spur people to use the Internet more often, and likely to search for more things. That could boost Google's Internet ads business.

"Success is tens of millions of users using these products. That's what we work toward," Pichai said.

Google will earn 5 percent on every application sold through its online store, enough to cover costs, while most of the revenue goes to its developers.

Apple, maker of iPhone and iPad, said in October that it would open an applications store for its Macintosh computers as it tries to replicate the success of iPhone apps. That store is expected to go live early next year.

Google has begun a pilot program distributing prototypes to schools, businesses, developers and other users with the intent of collecting feedback.

The all-black "CR 48" prototypes come with 12.1-inch screens, 3G connectivity and webcams, but do not have any logos or branding.

The Chrome Internet browser, on which the operating system is based, has 120 million users, Google executives said. In May, it had 70 million.

via Reuters

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Karsan V Could Be The Taxi of Tomorrow

Turkey could be one of the provider of New York's icon, the yellow cab.

It's a long way from the streets of New York to the factories of Turkey, but this 5,000-mile journey could soon be made by all of the city's iconic yellow taxis.

A glass-roofed, eco-friendly vehicle designed by Turkish automaker Karsan is among the three finalists in New York City's search for a taxicab for the future.

New York launched the "Taxi of Tomorrow" competition to find a safe, energy efficient and accessible model. The winning design will be the exclusive New York City taxi for at least 10 years, according to city officials.

Karsan's V1 is the only model that was designed from scratch for the contest.
A reflection of the country's growing automotive ambitions, it would be Turkey's first high-profile branded vehicle if it wins.

So far all the cars Turkey makes are built under license for major manufacturers. Karsan, while not exactly a household name outside its homeland, makes vehicles for Hyundai, Peugeot, Citroen and Renault.

"Having a vehicle designed and built in Turkey being used as a New York taxi would be a very strong branding opportunity for the Turkish automotive industry," said Jan Nahum, executive director of Karsan.

"It's an incredible source of pride and passion for us," he said of being named a finalist. "New York is probably the most popular and visible city in the world, and its iconic yellow taxis are seen in almost every picture."

The Karsan V1 would be wheelchair accessible, spacious enough to hold five passengers and a stroller, and have a glass roof to give passengers a view of New York's skyscrapers.

It could hold a gasoline, compressed natural gas or electric engine, depending on which technology is the greenest at any time.

Nahum said his ambition is to build taxis for other major world cities.

"We believe in the next 10 to 15 years, other cities will follow New York's lead in looking for a dedicated taxi responding to the needs of the city," he said.

The winner of the "Taxi of Tomorrow" contest will be the first ever custom-built New York taxi. There are 16 different vehicles from nine manufacturers in the current fleet of 13,000 licensed taxicabs.

There have been many efforts to design futuristic taxicabs over the years, but "this project marks the first time ever -- anywhere -- that such an exercise will be backed up by an automotive manufacturer that can turn these concepts into tangible reality," New York Taxi and Limousine Commissioner David Yassky said in a statement when the finalists were announced last month.

The winning proposal will be announced early next year and the first new vehicles are expected to be on the road in 2014.

The V1 isn't the only contender in the race to have a Turkey connection. Another finalist, Ford's Transit Connect, will be built in Turkey and adapted in the United States if it wins. Also in the running is a taxi design based on a Nissan van.

Turkey's prime role in the race to produce a new taxi might come as a surprise to New Yorkers, but the country is quietly becoming an automotive powerhouse. It's the 15th largest vehicle producer in the world, according to Invest in Turkey, producing around 900,000 vehicles a year.

According to Nahum, the industry is planning to increase its output to 2.5 million vehicles annually within the next three or four years.

As well as home-grown companies like Karsan, many international companies, such as Fiat, Ford and Renault, have established a presence in the country, often with local partners.

Renault announced last year that it would begin production on the electric version of its Fluence car in Bursa, the so-called "Detroit of Turkey," in 2011.

"The Turkish automotive industry has grown a lot in the last 10 years because manufacturers in Western Europe have seen it as a low-cost place to make cars and ship them to the European Union," said David Leggett, an automotive industry analyst at just-auto.

Fiat, Ford, Renault and many others have got together with local partners and made a lot of vehicles, mainly for export.

"There's also a lot of demand coming from Turkey's domestic market, because the economy has boomed," he told CNN.

via CNN

Recommended reading:
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Things You Should Know About Sex

How much you do know about sex? Continue reading below.

1. He doesn't care if you've shaved

2. Wide beats long every time. If you care at all about penis size (and studies show that women are far more into how penises look than how they're hung), you know that width matters more than length.

3. All the girls are doing it. Masturbating, that is. In a 2004 survey by AARP, nearly half the women between the ages of 45 and 49 said they had taken matters into their own hands in the previous 6 months. And many women have used more than just their hands. In a 2009 survey by the University of Indiana, more than half the respondents had used a vibrator at least once, and nearly one in four had used one in the previous month.

4. He likes the cuddling part, too...and not just because he's half comatose when you snuggle up after sex. During lovemaking, both men and women release the chemical oxytocin—the so-called “cuddle hormone” that helps new moms bond with their babies. So what does than mean for men? Oxytocin boosts their desire for intimacy, along with their feelings of trust, according to a 2008 study by the University of Zurich. And in this case, what's good for the gander is good for the goose.

5. You really can tell a guy's size by his hands. The longer a man's ring finger, the longer his penis, a study by University of Liverpool shows. Both are determined by the amount of testosterone he was exposed to in the womb. If his ring finger is the same size or smaller than his index finger, he received lower levels of testosterone. If it's bigger...watch out!

6. It's worth a try. Variety is the spice of life...and of sex. Whether you do it in a hammock or an airplane; on the kitchen floor or in the shower; dressed in leather or in lace, if it's new, it's improved.

7. Porn is hot. The idea that women take longer to get aroused just isn't true. Show us some skin and we're off and running. In a 2007 study, women who watched porn got turned on as quickly as men did. Using thermal imaging technology, researchers at McGill University in Montreal found that while watching porn, men became fully aroused in 664.6 seconds (11 minutes), compared to women, who took 743 seconds (12 minutes).

8. Say Ohh instead of Ohm. Craving the calm you get from yoga? Go for an orgasm instead. You feel relaxed after climaxing because you were practically brain-dead while you were doing it. Using scans to measure brain activity, researchers from the Netherlands found that women experience no emotions during orgasm—including fear, anxiety and stress. When you're in the throes, there's no worrying about the kids' report cards, the weekly grocery list or the pile of bills on your desk. But it's a chicken and egg situation: The only way to reach orgasm is to clear your head of that stuff to begin with.

9. Faking it: pointless. Showing him what you like: brilliant

10. It's better with your socks on. If your sex life isn't hot, it may be because you're cold. Research from the Netherlands shows that couples with cold feet had a harder time reaching orgasm—only 50% made it. When couples put on socks, the jumped to 80%.

11. Honesty: Not always the best policy. So you've thought about cheating—maybe even stolen a kiss or snuck out for coffee. Should you confess to make up for it? No way. Coming clean only inflicts pain on your partner and damages his sense of trust. If you want to protect him and keep your relationship going, swallow your guilt and keep your mouth shut.

12. Love is in the air... as long as your man doesn't shower after his workout. The musky smell of male sweat can be a real turn-on for women. In a 2007 study from the University of California at Berkeley, the scent of a man boosted women's sexual arousal, mood, heart rate, blood pressure and breathing rate.

13. It's never too late. Even if having sex is something you do only on birthdays and Bastille Day you can always get back on the stick. All you have to do is...have sex. You may have to force yourself at first, but the more you do it, the more you want to do it. Start with once a month, then once a week, and who knows? Maybe you'll be a once-a-day woman.

14. When it comes to how big, how often, how many times in one night, your friends are lying

15. It's the next best thing to being there... but not that many forty-somethings know it. According to a 2004 survey by AARP, only 17% of men and 18% of women between the ages of 45 and 49 had phone sex.

16. Nobody does it better than you. You can lie around waiting for your partner to bring you to orgasm, but you'll get there a lot faster if you take care of it yourself. When women masturbate, they typically climax in less than 4 minutes. When they're engaged in foreplay and intercourse, it can take 20 minutes. Your best bet for a speedy climax: using a vibrator.

17. Fantasy is fabulous. If your regular sex routine is a little stale, invite Johnny Depp and his pirate hat into bed with you. Losing yourself in a sex fantasy spices up the real thing, and boosts your overall sex drive. Sharing certain fantasies can add even more zip. In a 2004 ABC News poll, more than half of all men and women said they talk about their fantasies to boost their sex lives. The most common fantasies? Unexpected sex, threesomes, and sex at work.

18. If you're too tired, it's too bad for him. The best thing about getting older is that you can do—or not do—whatever you want. Say it nicely, and your partner should understand if you've got a headache or you want to watch the Desperate Housewives marathon instead of making love. Unless, of course, the marathon—or the headache—is a weekly event.

19. Size matters—to him. A survey of 50,000 heterosexual men and women showed that the vast majority of women (85%) felt satisfied by their man's size, while nearly half of all men (45%) were unhappy with their package. Let him know he's all you need.

20. He doesn't care if you wear flannel to bed

21. Money isn't everything...but when it comes to sex, it certainly helps. Women who had wealthy husbands or boyfriends reported having more orgasms than those who didn't, according to a 2009 survey by the University of Newcastle in England.

22. Good kissing is a good sign. Studies show that women tend to assess a relationship by how skilled his smooching is. And they're more likely to have sex with a man who does it well

23. Ladies first. You're likely to be eager—if not aching—to give right after you've received. So everyone wins if he gets you off first.

24. Intercourse doesn't cut it. In case you thought you were the only one, you'll want to know that nearly one-third of women don't have orgasms during intercourse. That's because thrusting rarely stimulates the clitoris, our most reliable source for the ultimate pleasure.

25. Less sex means more work. If you're not having sex, what are you doing with your time? Chances are, you're working more. Men and women both turn to work to fill the void when they have sex less than once a week, according to a survey of 32,000 people by the University of Gottingen in Germany. Bo-RING.

26. A little cleavage goes a long way. Do you really think you look hot with your shirt buttoned up to your chin? Or a T-shirt shrouding your tankini? Get over yourself already. You may have stretch marks and spider veins everywhere else, but with the right support, your boobs can still hold their own. So let 'em show, and you'll feel sexier than you have in a long time.

27. Making the first move...is as much a turn-on for you as it is for him.

28. It's not you...it's him. Contrary to popular belief, men aren't always ready and raring to go—especially middle-aged men. Many go through their own form of menopause as their testosterone levels start to drop. After the age of 40, testosterone levels decline approximately 1 percent per year, with a steep drop between the ages of 45 and 50. So if he takes longer or is less gung-ho, go easy on him...and yourself.

29. He doesn't care if you can't quite button your pants

30. His nipples are as much fun as yours. Imagine if your partner never touched your nipples during foreplay or sex. Ignored them entirely. Well, why are you ignoring his? Men's nipples are as important to them as yours are to you. Slightly more than half of the men surveyed in a 2006 study by the University of Sheffield in England said nipple stimulation caused or enhanced their arousal. But only 17% ever asked for it.

31. Nobody wants to hear about it. Spare your friend, sister, college roommate and, especially, your colleague the details of your sex life. It might have been fun to compare notes in your twenties, but as a grown woman, it's embarrassing and just plain gross. Put yourself in their shoes—Do you really want them to picture you and your husband doing it on the roof?

32. Smutty is sexy. Dirty talk (aka “Aural Sex”) is a real turn-on for some couples. It can be as clean or raunchy as you both like. Just make sure you know where your partner draws the line between dirty and disgusting.

33. Casual sex isn't for everyone. Brief casual sexual encounters may sound like a kick, but for many women, they're not a great experience. In a 2008 study by the University of Durham in England, only 54% of the women who'd had a one-night stand had positive feelings about it. Surprise, surprise: 85% of men thought it was just dandy.

34. Anything goes. What used to be too “kinky” to contemplate is jolly good if you've finally shed your inhibitions in your old age. What better time to make a sex tape, strip, try a threesome or whatever you've secretly wanted to do? Guaranteed, if it's exciting to you, it will be orgasmic for your mate.

35. The toes have it. Next time you go down on your mate, go way down. If you haven't discovered this already, toes are one of the key erogenous zones for both men and women, along with fingers, earlobes and the back of the knees.

36. He doesn't care if you haven't showered

37. Romance can last forever..or at least for a long time. New research shows that long-term relationships can keep their sexual chemistry, intensity and engagement going strong. If they're missing the passion of short-term relationships, that's probably a good thing, according to a 2009 study by Stony Brook University in California. That means they're also free of anxiety and insecurity.

38. It's not you...it's your hormones. How does perimenopause mess up your sex life? Let us count the ways:
Your period lasts forever: you bleed like a stuck pig for seven days, and stain for another three
Your sex drive has shriveled up
You're as dry as dust
Your mood swings like a wrecking ball

Still, it could be worse.

39. Marrieds do it more. Believe it or not, if you're married, you're having more sex than single people. That may not be saying much—the average of times that married people have sex is 69 per year. But that's nine more than single people do, according to a 2002 study by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago. And by now, you're old enough to know that quality counts more than quantity

40. He thinks you're hot...just the way you are

via Prevention.com

Sale Of Tiger Paste An Insult To Conservation Efforts

A local conservation group voiced opposition Friday to the planned sale of tiger paste by Vietnamese authorities, amid warnings by the international community that the animal's survival is in serious jeopardy.

Officials in Vietnam's northern Thanh Hoa province agreed last month to organize a public auction of 6 pounds (2.8 kilograms) of tiger paste seized from traffickers. An auction date has not been set.

Vietnam bans the hunting or trade of wild animals and their products, but the Ministry of Agriculture has issued a directive allowing its use in making medicines.

In Vietnam, tiger bones are used to make expensive traditional medicines purported to cure many illnesses. Two pounds (1 kilogram) of tiger paste could be sold for $10,000 on the black market.

Nguyen Thi Phuong Dung, deputy director of Hanoi-based Education for Nature Vietnam, said Thanh Hoa authorities had used a "loophole" in the law to allow the sale of the tiger paste.

"The auctions go against conservation efforts," she told The Associated Press in a phone interview, adding the move has "helped legitimize the trade of the animal."

"We had recommended that the paste be destroyed to send a clear message to the public that the authorities do not encourage the consumption of wild animals' products," she said.

Wildlife experts warned at a summit last month in St. Petersburg, Russia, that wild tigers could become extinct in 12 years if countries where they still roam fail to take quick action to protect their habitats and step up the fight against poaching.

The World Wildlife Fund and other experts say only about 3,200 tigers remain in the wild – a dramatic plunge from an estimated 100,000 a century ago.

The summit approved a wide-ranging program with the goal of doubling the world's tiger population in the wild by 2022. The program is backed by the governments of the 13 countries that still have tiger populations, including Vietnam.

Several people have been arrested in the last few months in the communist country for their involvement in the trade of wild tigers.

Recommended reading:
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* Malaysia center of illegal animal trading
* 10 Endangered Animals On The Brink Of Extinction

Dagestan Airlines crashed landed at Domodedovo airport

At least two people have been killed and many others injured when a passenger plane rolled off the runway after making an emergency landing at a Moscow airport, Russian officials say.

All of the plane's engines had failed by the time it landed at Domodedovo airport in Moscow, an official said.

The aircraft, a Russian-built TU-154 of Dagestan Airlines, was carrying about 150 passengers.

It made the emergency landing after taking off on a flight to Dagestan.

"As a result of the TU-154 making an emergency landing at Domodedovo airport, two people died and several dozens were injured," Tatyana Morozova, a spokeswoman for Moscow transport investigators, said.

Civil aviation official Sergey Izvolskiy told broadcaster NTV that the plane had taken off from Vnukovo airport in Moscow, and was heading to Makhachkala in Russia's southern Dagestan region.

Shortly after take-off, the crew reported engine problems and was forced carry out an emergency landing at Domodedovo, Mr Izvolskiy said.

"Following the landing, the plane slid off the runway and broke up", he said.

The BBC's Steve Rosenberg says the plane broke in two during the landing
By the time the aircraft landed all three engines had broken down, Russian media reported.

The cause of the engine failure is under investigation.

Russia's national carrier airline Aeroflot took all its remaining 23 TU-154 aircraft out of service in January, after a series of crashes led to safety fears.

The Tupolev midrange jets are banned from landing in Europe because of excessive engine noise.

But the aircraft are still used by smaller airlines across Russia and the former Soviet Union.

Polish President Lech Kaczynski was killed earlier this year when a Polish Airforce TU-154 crashed in western Russia.

Via BBC

XM-25 With Programmable Bullets

Trenches and wall won't be able to shield you from their bullet. A new gun the US military hopes will help take on the Taliban has been unveiled. Called the XM-25 it has been described by the US Army as a 'game changer'.

It uses a laser guidance system and specially developed 25mm high explosive rounds which can be programmed to detonate over a target.

Richard Audette helped develop it for the US Army and says it's a big leap forward because it's the first small arms weapon to use smart technology.

The way a soldier operates this is basically find your target, then laze (laser) to it, which gives the range, then you get an adjusted aim point, adjust the fire and pull the trigger.

Say you've lazed out to 543 metres... When you pull the trigger it arms the round and fires it 543 metres plus or minus one, two or three metres. It means the weapon can be used to target insurgents hiding behind walls or in ditches without the need to call in air strikes.



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* Jun 2009 - XM25 Laser-Guided Smart Bullets