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[an error occurred while processing this directive] 09/05/2008

Passion for gaming launches Gearbox founder's career

LOUIS DeLUCA/DMN

Randy Pitchford says that when it comes to Gearbox, he’s a businessman first.

Co-founder, chief executive officer and president Randy Pitchford was studying law in California and working as a professional magician when his girlfriend (now wife) encouraged him to follow his passion for gaming.
Link: Gearbox Software
Link: Gearbox online community

Google becomes the world's most powerful 10-year-old
Google's lengthy to-do list includes: making digital copies of all the world's books; establishing electronic file cabinets for people's health records; leading the alternative energy charge away from fossil fuels; selling computer programs to businesses.

Tech review: Use a modem or cellphone to connect to Wi-Fi with Personal Hotspot

Cradlepoint

The Cradlepoint PHS300 Personal Hotspot is a niche product. But if you're in the target niche, you'll wonder why someone didn't invent this years ago.
Link: Cradlepoint.com

Facebook to test New Jersey's Web safety icon
Facebook will display a "Report Abuse!" icon on a small fraction of its pages that display videos instead of its own link for reporting objectionable material.

09/04/2008

Comcast appeals FCC Web traffic-blocking decision
Comcast Corp. is appealing an FCC ruling that the company is improperly blocking customers’ Web traffic, triggering a legal battle that could determine the extent of the government’s authority to regulate the Internet.

Dell releases a mini laptop
The new device, which packs an 8.9 inch screen into a 2.24 pound package, will compete with similar models from Hewlett-Packard, Acer, Asus and others.

New home door locks can be controlled online
Users who forget to lock a door and want to enter their code remotely can hop onto a Web portal or an application added to their mobile phones.

Internet traffic grows 53 percent from mid-2007
The big increase came in regions where the Internet is less mature. Traffic between the U.S. and Latin America more than doubled.

Sony recalls Vaio laptops that may overheat
Sony Corp. said Thursday that the recalls involve 19 models of Vaio TZ laptop series manufactured between May 2007 and July 2008, including three export models.

09/03/2008

Get free music by staying ahead of the curve

Popcuts charges users 99 cents per song. Thereafter, whenever someone else buys the same song, those who have already bought it get paid in credit that can be redeemed for more Popcuts music.

New eBay site to sell goods that help the poor or the environment
The site will sell fixed-price goods that purportedly have some positive effect on people and the planet. The goal is to help consumers align their social values with their shopping decisions

Software lets parents follow the lunch money
As children return to school, parents again will ask the question they have pondered for ages: What happens to lunch money? Bullies? Pockets with holes? Kids who eat too many Twinkies? Computer technology might have solved the mystery.

09/02/2008

Metro PCS signs distribution deal with Best Buy
Best Buy Mobile will offer handsets and calling plans at 200 store locations in the 14 markets the MetroPCS serves.

Ad targeting based on ISP tracking now in doubt
A slow-building privacy storm moved in on NebuAd Inc., the Silicon Valley startup that can facilitate the Web tracking. And its potential partners, the Internet service providers, failed to make the case that they should be in the ad business at all.

How 6 small ISPs have tested ad targeting
The nation's largest Internet service providers all say they haven't partnered with Silicon Valley startup NebuAd Inc. but some smaller ISPs have. Here's a look at who has done what.

Google takes aim at Microsoft with new Web browser
Google Inc. is releasing its own Web browser in a long-anticipated move aimed at countering the dominance of Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer and ensuring easy access to its market-leading search engine.

08/30/2008

Even critics give Apple a pass on iPhone 3G woes
Apple Inc. isn't just another electronics company. Even as iPhone griping rages online, it looks like Apple's sterling reputation will emerge untarnished.

08/29/2008

Murderers betrayed by their GPS devices
Hanson's trial was among recent criminal cases around the country in which authorities used GPS navigation devices to help establish a defendant's whereabouts. Experts say such evidence will almost certainly become more common .

08/30/2008

WowWee's Tri-bot signals robots to come
A two-pound, foot-and-a-half-tall, fire-engine red toy robot tooling around on your living room floor on three wheels might not look revolutionary.

08/29/2008

Tech review: WowWee's Tri-bot signals robots to come

WowWee Group Ltd.

WowWee Group's new remote-controlled Tri-bot is just the latest sign that the robotics industry is on the verge of a huge leap forward.The Tri-bot is a charming little machine that will only occasionally make you want to punch it in the face.

Comcast will cap Internet use. How many other ISPs will follow?
Time Warner Cable Inc. is testing caps between 5 gigabytes and 40 gigabytes in one market. Frontier Communications Co., a phone company, plans to start charging extra for use of more than 5 gigabytes per month.

08/28/2008

Reborn retail site fires salvo in shipping war
Chicago-based Enable Holdings Inc. plans to launch RedTag.com on Friday and sell retailers' excess inventory at a fixed price. Its shipping charge will undercut a similar site, Overstock.com Inc., which charges $2.95 for standard ground shipping.

Researchers offer new way to avoid bogus Web sites
The researchers created a program that can tap into a network of publicly accessible servers that have been programmed to ping Web sites and record changes in the encryption keys they use to secure data.

Printer maker offers to help people print less
Printing an article off the Web often produces several pages of waste, including ads, links and boxes for entering text. So the latest version of a Web toolbar from Lexmark International Inc. gives people more ways to block such images.

New Nikon the first SLR camera to shoot high-def movies
Some compact digital still cameras can shoot movies, but only with their built-in lenses. Digital movie cameras also lack interchangeable lenses, except for some high-end professional models.

08/27/2008

Best Western rebuts claims of massive data breach
Did a computer intrusion at a Best Western hotel in Germany open the door for a hacker to steal the records of 8 million customers and pull off "the greatest cyber-heist in world history," as a Scottish newspaper put it? Or was the incident a significantly more minor affair, affecting only 10 customers at the one facility, as claimed by Best Western?

08/25/2008

Research aims to put tongues in control of devices
Georgia Tech researchers believe a magnetic, tongue-powered system could transform a disabled person's mouth into a virtual computer, teeth into a keyboard — and tongue into the key that manipulates it all.

More Internet service providers cap usage -- and threaten Net's growth

Limitations could have consequences not just for consumers — who would have to learn to watch how much data their Internet use entails — but also for companies that hope to make the Internet a conduit for movies and other content that comes in huge files.

Facebook cuts off Scrabulous after legal complaint
A highly popular Scrabble clone already pulled from Facebook in the United States and Canada continued its tumble over the weekend as the online hangout extended its block of the game throughout most of the world.

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