Tom Glocer's Blog

Sanyo's laser could bring 12x Blu-ray burners and 100GB discs

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 06:13:00 GMT

Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment, Storage

While Sony and others compete with Blu-ray burners of a paltry 8x, Sanyo's looking ahead with a new laser that could enable write speeds of up to 12x. More impressively, the 450 milliwatt diode (twice that of current burners) could read and write through four 25GB layers. If you're not so good at math (it's okay, we had to break out the calculator) that means discs of up to 100GB burned in 10 minutes or less! But don't go running down to your local Blu-ray emporium looking for double-digit speed drives just yet; new standards will be needed for discs that big and drives that fast, which could mean a year or two before production begins. If speculation of Blu-ray's impending demise is to be believed, that may be cutting things a bit close.

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ASUS has SideShow flashback with OC Palm mobo companion

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 06:36:00 GMT

Filed under: Displays, Peripherals

We know this here device is real, but excuse us while we share our skepticism of ASUS' ability to deliver -- after all, we're still waiting patiently for that ROG XG Station to actually find a price and release date. That aside, this here motherboard companion was recently demonstrated by ASUS, and apparently, it gives users the ability to monitor their PC internals, overclock devices in real time and check out widgets on the side. The OC Palm is one of the very few devices we've seen of late to actually take advantage of SideShow-like functionality, though it's only compatible with the high(er)-end P6T DELUXE mobo right now. ASUS has yet to disclose a sticker / launch date, but it's not like you didn't see that coming, right? Check the read link for lots more hands-on shots.

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Red Hat CEO: The secret to open-source success is "iteration"

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 02:37:00 GMT

Red Hat's CEO gives the secret to the company's open-source success, but also points to a new opportunity for open-source application providers.

Green news harvest: Green Tech Rising, utility-scale solar

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 03:08:01 GMT

The limits of "green IT," the math behind carbon footprints, off-shore wind may come to New Jersey, credit crunch hitting both homeowners and clean-tech companies, Imperium's biodiesel woes, and free piston engines for hybrid cars?

iPhone 3G prompts a third of users to jump ship to AT&T

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 03:28:00 GMT

Nearly a third of all iPhone 3G customers were willing to dump their carrier to go with Apple's exclusive 3G carrier AT&T, in order to get the popular smartphone.

MySpace Music: 1 billion songs streamed

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 03:35:00 GMT

The social network says it hit the mark in just the couple of weeks since the debut of its streaming music service. Keep in mind that getting to 5 billion took the iTunes Store five years.

Analyst: Half of 'social media campaigns' will flop

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 04:00:00 GMT

New research from Gartner, to be presented later this month, encourages marketers and businesses to approach social media with caution because it's just so easy to screw up.

Two Europeans indicted over U.S. cyberattacks

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 04:01:00 GMT

A 24-year-old from England and a 25-year-old from Germany face conspiracy and computer damage charges related to a large-scale DDoS attack resulting in major financial losses.

$4.5 million for GigaOM's tech blogs

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 04:02:02 GMT

Alloy Ventures leads Giga Omni Media's third round of funding, which was planned both as a means for growth and a safeguard against economic troubles.

Suit against magazine-sharing site settled

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 04:04:00 GMT

The magazine-sharing site Mygazines.com is removing much of its copyrighted content after reaching a settlement in a suit filed by magazine publishers.

HTC's Touch HD gets very early review, called an iPhone killer in German

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 05:30:00 GMT

Filed under: Cellphones

Not even a fortnight after HTC's Touch HD went official in Germany, out pops a review from Deutschland calling it the best thing since sliced bread. Okay, so maybe our translation skills are a bit off, but one thing's for sure -- it was hailed as the first "iPhone killer to deserve that name." Right off the bat, reviewers praised the TouchFLO 3D interface for masking Windows Mobile, and of course, the expansive display was drooled upon numerous times. Additionally, critics praised the Opera browser while scolding Internet Explorer, and while it's hard to say for certain whether the battery life was remarkable, it definitely seemed to get their vote of approval. Of note, the 3.5-millimeter headphone jack was also loved, making us weep while thinking of what could have been with the T-Mobile G1. At any rate, it seems pretty clear that the Touch HD is going to rock some socks off, but we're trying to push it out of our minds until it becomes available on this side of the drink. Too bad that approach isn't working at all.

[Via WMPowerUser]

Read - Early Touch HD review
Read - Video showing off Stocks tab

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Sprint XOHM WiMAX networks reportedly active in other cities

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 05:52:00 GMT

Filed under: Wireless

Flying out of BWI to Chicago, Boston, Dallas, Philadelphia, Washington D.C. or Northern Virginia? Make sure you pack in that SWC-E100, because we're hearing that Sprint's XOHM WiMAX networks are already live in each of those locales. According to a XOHM representative at a booth in Baltimore, the networks in each of those cities are already up, though they aren't officially supported as they're still "being tested." If any of you XOHM early adopters happen to head to any of the previously mentioned regions, bust out your ExpressCard and see if you get lucky (and then let us know how it goes).

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BlackBerry App Center photos leaked

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 01:26:00 GMT

Research In Motion is launching a competitor to the iPhone App Store, according to reports. It's about time.

Get a Sony Blu-ray player for $199.96 shipped

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 02:04:00 GMT

Finally, a Blu-ray player for under $200, with no rebates required!

Yahoo price target cut to $21 a share

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 02:38:00 GMT

A Sanford Bernstein analyst also cites several reasons related to the proposed Google-Yahoo deal why a transaction between Yahoo and Time Warner's ailing AOL is unlikely.

Brits value sex and in-laws, Web dating company finds

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 09:41:04 GMT

LONDON (Reuters) - Being too tired for sex is less of a problem for married Britons than for U.S. or Australian couples, and Brits place more importance on agreeing on how to handle their in-laws, online dating company eHarmony has found.

D.Telekom seeks stolen data on 17 million mobile users

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 09:52:20 GMT

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Thieves have hijacked sensitive data on millions of Deutsche Telekom mobile phone customers, the German company has acknowledged in its second major security scandal this year.

EBay to cut 10 percent of jobs

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 09:26:47 GMT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - EBay Inc plans to cut its work force 10 percent and sees third-quarter revenue hitting the low end of its forecast, though profit will exceed expectations, the online auction Web site said on Monday.

T-Mobile's BlackBerry Pearl 8220 gets unboxed

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 04:21:00 GMT

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

There's no telling what sort of crazy behind-the-scenes negotiations had to take place in order for our good friend Boy Genius to get his hands on the very first retail T-Mobile-branded BlackBerry 8220 we've seen in the wild -- and let's be honest, the whole unboxing takes on a sexier tone when there's an element of intrigue to it, doesn't it? Mr. Genius flatly pans the thing for having a pair of awful screens and a prototype feel (despite the fact that he's got a final production unit), so odds are the Bold owners out there aren't going to be throwing fits of jealousy any time soon. To top it off, the contents of the box are about as exciting as flannel underwear (we guess it's cool that RIM saw fit to throw in a pair of headphones), so don't expect too much. At least it'll be available in a few colors, right?

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The wowPOD is art, or so we're told

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 04:45:00 GMT

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

Have you always dreamed of a giant, wall-hanging iPod seemingly warped and twisted like a big, crappy, old television? Well, Russian artists Aristarkh Chernyshev and Alexei Shulgin have, and now they're subjecting the world to it. Yes, say hello to the wowPOD, a fully functional iPod mutation which is absolutely worth whatever our business manager has been authorized to pay for it.

[Via TUAW]

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T-Mobile's CAMEO frame shows holiday snaps while you're still taking them

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 05:08:00 GMT

Filed under: Cellphones, Displays

It's been nearly a year since Parrot announced its DF7700 GPRS-endowed picture frame, said to possess the mystical ability to pull photographs straight out of the ether. Now T-Mobile has pledged to bring Parrot's magic frame to the US as the CAMEO, a $100 device that, when coupled with a $10/month service fee, can be the recipient of picture-bearing messages. When you get bored with that feature (or that fee), there's a mini-USB port plus slots for SD/MMC cards that will enable it to accept pics in a more traditional manner. Its 7-inch screen has a 720 x 480 resolution and is surrounded by an interchangeable leather border guaranteed to look cheap in any decor -- not just those with golden mirrors astride a marble mantelpieces.

[Thanks, Mark]

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eBay buys Bill Me Later, lays off 1,000

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 01:27:00 GMT

Online auctioneer, soon reporting third-quarter results, also announces plans to acquire Danish classifieds specialists Den Bla Avis and BilBasen for approximately $390 million in cash.

Ask revamps for faster Web search, better relevance

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 09:39:19 GMT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - IAC Corp's Ask.com is overhauling its Web search engine to deliver faster results and improved relevance as it bids to win share from market leader Google Inc.

EBay to cut 10 percent of jobs

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 09:26:47 GMT

Ask revamps for faster Web search, better relevance

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 09:39:19 GMT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - IAC Corp's Ask.com is overhauling its Web search engine to deliver faster results and improved relevance as it bids to win share from market leader Google Inc.