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Facebook, PayPal tycoon embraces sci-fi future (AP) : Technet |
- Facebook, PayPal tycoon embraces sci-fi future (AP)
- Father's app lets disabled son 'speak' thru iPad (AP)
- Assange says signed 1.1 million pounds in book deals (AFP)
- Kids Tell Santa: What I Really Want Is an iPad (NewsFactor)
- Best Celebrity Twitter Pictures (The Daily Beast)
- Geekmas Greetings From the GeekTech Crew! (PC World)
- Free Kindle Books: A Guide (Mashable)
- Create Slide Shows Easily With PhotoStory on CD & DVD (PC World)
| Facebook, PayPal tycoon embraces sci-fi future (AP) Posted: 25 Dec 2010 01:00 PM PST SAN FRANCISCO – In the movie The Social Network, the character of Peter Thiel is played as a slick Master of the Universe, a tech industry king and kingmaker with the savvy to see that a $500,000 investment in Facebook could mint millions later. Reality is a little more rumpled. On a recent December night, Thiel walked, slightly stooped, across a San Francisco stage to make a pitch to an invitation-only audience of Silicon Valley luminaries — investors and innovators who had scored sometimes huge fortunes through a mix of skill, vision and risk-taking. The billionaire PayPal co-founder didn't tell them about the next big startup. He wanted them to buy into a bigger idea: the future. A future when computers will communicate directly with the human brain. Seafaring pioneers will found new floating nations in the middle of the ocean. Science will conquer aging, and death will become a curable disease. If anything can transform these wild dreams into plausible realities, he believes it is the entrepreneurs of Silicon Valley — the minds and money that have conjured the technological marvels that have already altered everyday life. "Do we try to pursue ideas that are weird and have optimism about the future, or do we give up on all new things and compromise?" Sitting before him in the audience, among others: Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz, Yelp co-founder and CEO Jeremy Stoppelman and technology publishing guru Tim O'Reilly. As venture capital in Silicon Valley chases the next big mobile app or group discount service, Thiel was asking for them to fund technological breakthroughs that some believe in fervently and others see as sheer fantasy. He even has a name for it: Breakthrough philanthropy. Instead of just giving to help the less fortunate here and now, Thiel encouraged his fellow moguls to put their money toward seemingly far-fetched ventures that he believes could improve the lives of everyone for good. Gathered on the stage were eight groups that Thiel thinks are on the right path. One was the Singularity Institute, whose members believe in the near-inevitability of the arrival within the next century of computers smarter than the humans who created them. The institute works to ensure that self-programming machines will create a world that looks more like Star Trek, less like the Terminator. Another was the SENS Foundation, a group of biomedical researchers seeking a path to radical life extension based on the controversial aging theories of computer scientist-turned-gerontologist Aubrey de Grey. And the Seasteading Institute, led by Patri Friedman, the grandson of famed economist Milton Friedman. It looks to establish distant ocean colonies to serve as laboratories for experimenting with new forms of government or "startup countries." "As innovators, you are the best at finding and nurturing the right big ideas that can change the world," Friedman told the audience. The history of Silicon Valley is filled with such ideas. The smartphone, the Web, the search engine, the personal computer itself — these all seemed far-fetched until they became commonplace. To raise money from the wealthy, it's a time-honored strategy to flatter. Witness the names emblazoned across hospital wings and university buildings. But building important buildings has never seemed to especially interest Silicon Valley's elite. They have "the right kind of cultural DNA to at the very least pay attention," said Greg Biggers, a longtime software executive who recently founded a startup, Genomera, that lets members conduct health studies using their own genetic data. Biggers said Silicon Valley entrepreneurs would likely be receptive to Thiel's unconventional message because they succeeded by not conforming to others' expectations of what was possible. "This is a roomful of people who bucked the system," he said as he mingled, glass of wine in hand. Charles Rubin, a Duquesne University political science professor and blogger who has written critically about some of the movements endorsed by Thiel, said these visions of the future align closely with the Silicon Valley outlook. All share the view that "scientific knowledge and technical capacity will continue to increase at an accelerating rate," Rubin said. "This is a core idea that practically defines what Silicon Valley is all about: ceaseless innovation." Thiel himself seems to thrive on flouting convention, sometimes in ways that have led to harsh criticism. In September, he announced a program designed to discover the next Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's founder, by paying $100,000 each to 20 young people under 20 years old to skip college for two years to learn about entrepreneurship. Jacob Weisberg, editor of the online magazine Slate, excoriated Thiel for the program and what he sees as its underlying impetus. "Thiel's philosophy demands attention not because it is original or interesting in any way — it's puerile libertarianism, infused with futurist fantasy — but because it epitomizes an ugly side of Silicon Valley's politics," Weisberg wrote. Thiel is not a traditional conservative — he has donated to Republican candidates but also to California's marijuana legalization ballot measure. But he does seem to believe in a trickle-down theory of technology. Unlike the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which has poured billions into providing basic health care for some of the world's most impoverished people, Thiel said he wants to prioritize major scientific advances he thinks will spread to benefit humanity as a whole. His faith appears grounded in a pervasive Silicon Valley belief that motivates gifted individuals to achieve on a grand scale, no matter the apparent hurdles — death included. But even Thiel admitted he has no idea how long that last obstacle will take to overcome. "I would like to say that I would still be doing this even if I thought there was no chance I would benefit from this in any way," he said in an interview. "I think we have to work on these things even if they take centuries." |
| Father's app lets disabled son 'speak' thru iPad (AP) Posted: 24 Dec 2010 08:35 AM PST RALEIGH, N.C. – Victor Pauca will have plenty of presents to unwrap on Christmas, but the 5-year-old Winston-Salem boy has already received the best gift he'll get this year: the ability to communicate. Victor has a rare genetic disorder that delays development of a number of skills, including speech. To help him and others with disabilities, his father, Paul, and some of his students at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem have created an application for the iPhone and iPad that turns their touch screens into communications tools. The VerbalVictor app allows parents and caregivers to take pictures and record phrases to go with them. These become "buttons" on the screen that Victor touches when he wants to communicate. A picture of the backyard, for example, can be accompanied by a recording of a sentence like "I want to go outside and play." When Victor touches it, his parents or teachers know what he wants to do. "The user records the voice, so it's something the child's familiar with. It's not robotic," Paul Pauca said. The app, which should be for sale for $10 in Apple Inc.'s iTunes store by early next week, is one of dozens of new software products designed to make life easier for people with a range of disabilities. The category is expanding so fast that Apple now has a separate listing for it in the App Store. More apps are added every week, ranging from Sign4Me, a sign language tutor that uses an animated avatar, to ArtikPix, a flash card-like app that helps teachers and speech therapists improve their students' articulation of words. "It opens up his mind to us, because he can show us what he's thinking," said Victor's mother, Theresa. Victor has a rare genetic disorder called Pitt Hopkins Syndrome, a diagnosis he shares with about 50 other people in the U.S. The ailment causes delays in cognitive abilities, motor skills, social development and language skills. Victor's progress, in many ways, has been good — he could walk at age 2, whereas some children with the condition can't walk until they're 10 or older. The Paucas tried a number of therapeutic devices designed to help people with similar disabilities communicate. These standalone devices are often low-tech — the one the Paucas first tried required paper printouts. Or they are expensive: a top-of-the-line model similar to the one used by famed physicist Stephen Hawking can cost about $8,200. Paul Pauca, a computer science professor, decided that he and some of his students could do better. Starting in January, they worked to create an app that would use the versatility of the Apple devices to make communication easier. Because the hardware already existed, and the work was done as part of a class, there were essentially no direct costs of development. The prototype was done by late spring. "We're not a big-budget operation, and that allows us to sell it for $10," said Tommy Guy, who is one of Pauca's students and is now a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Toronto. Jim Tobias, president of consulting firm Inclusive Technologies and an expert on disability-accessible technology, points out that VerbalVictor takes advantage of general-purpose, mass-market gadgets that cost hundreds of dollars rather than thousands. People who already own an iPhone or iPad need to pay only $10 more for the app, "instead of taking a risk with $1,000" with specialized machines, said Tobias, who is not involved with the project. There are dozens of apps designed to help people with a variety of disabilities, ranging from sign language aids to apps that play back text on the screen in a clear voice to help visually impaired people navigate their phones. The apps also offer a rich experience with bright colors, high-definition photos and crisp sound recordings that weren't possible before mobile computing technology, Tobias said. But a potential downside exists when people start to think of the apps as a magic wand. Not every app will help every person, he said. "I've been contacted by about 100 eager and enthusiastic parents in the last three or four months about things like this," he said, "and if it doesn't work out, they're a little bit at a loss as to what to do next. We still need to do more to help professionals understand what's available and what might be best suited for individuals." For the Paucas, who founded the Pitt Hopkins Syndrome International Network to meet and share information with other families, something as seemingly commonplace as a smart phone app has added inexpressible richness to their family life. "He has the most positive attitude and the brightest smile," Theresa said about Victor. "He teaches us something new every day about what we need to be thankful for." ___ Online: Pitt Hopkins Syndrome International Network: http://www.pitthopkins.org |
| Assange says signed 1.1 million pounds in book deals (AFP) Posted: 25 Dec 2010 08:09 PM PST LONDON (AFP) – WikiLeaks chief Julian Assange said in an interview published Sunday he had signed deals for his autobiography worth more than one million pounds (1.2 million euros, 1.5 million dollars). Assange told Britain's Sunday Times newspaper that the money would help him defend himself against allegations of sexual assault made by two women in Sweden. "I don't want to write this book, but I have to," he said. "I have already spent 200,000 pounds for legal costs and I need to defend myself and to keep WikiLeaks afloat." The Australian said he would receive 800,000 dollars (600,000 euros) from Alfred A. Knopf, his American publisher, and a British deal with Canongate is worth 325,000 pounds (380,000 euros, 500,000 dollars). Money from other markets and serialisation is expected to raise the total to 1.1 million pounds, he said. The latest project of Assange's whistleblower website is the gradual release of tens of thousands of US diplomatic cables. Since this latest project began Assange, who is on bail in Britain fighting a bid by Sweden to extradite him over the sex assault claims, has faced problems financing WikiLeaks. Credit card companies Visa and MasterCard and the Internet payment firm PayPal have blocked donations to WikiLeaks, prompting Assange to label them "instruments of US foreign policy." The Bank of America, the largest US bank, has also halted all transactions to WikiLeaks. Washington has been infuriated by WikiLeaks as the site slowly releases the cache of around 250,000 secret US State Department cables. The US is believed to be considering how to indict Assange over the the huge leak. Assange has been staying at a friend's country mansion in eastern England since his release from jail on December 16 on strict bail conditions that include reporting to police daily and wearing an electronic tag. A court in London is due to hold a full hearing on the Swedish extradition request starting February 7. |
| Kids Tell Santa: What I Really Want Is an iPad (NewsFactor) Posted: 25 Dec 2010 08:41 AM PST A recent survey conducted by Nielsen suggests that this year's holiday season is shaping up to be a boom period for electronic-gear vendors -- with Apple's iPad at the top of many wish lists. Among American kids between six and 12 years old, for example, the iPad led the pack with a 31 percent interest score, followed by a new computer and Apple's iPod. Older U.S. consumers appear to be a tad more interested in upgrading to a next-generation computer, TV set, or smartphone, Nielsen observed. Still, 18 percent of all U.S. respondents over the age of 13 also indicated an interest in buying Apple's red-hot tablet, although Blu-ray players and e-readers also appeared to have good traction with teens and adults. "Given the continued pressure on consumer spending, it is difficult to know how robust a holiday season this will be for tech devices," Nielsen blogged in mid-November. "But this survey suggests the electronics aisle will be heavily traveled this season." Netbooks Hotter Last Year Industry watchers at the NPD Group recently noted that holiday-season purchases accounted for about 33 percent of total technology sales over the past three years, with revenue averaging $48 billion in the fourth quarter. This time around, interest in Apple's iPad is high among prospective shoppers of all ages, the research firm's analysts noted, with 11 percent of the respondents to NPD's survey saying they are likely to purchase one by February. However, Nielsen said a new computer actually topped the shopping lists of 20 percent of all U.S. consumers 13 years of age and older. The response is a bit surprising, given that 97 percent of households already have a computer, according to NPD. The research firm also noted that 58 percent of Windows PC owners already own two or more machines and 86 percent of Apple computer owners indicated the same. The average retail price of a notebook during the first nine months of 2010 was $663, while desktops averaged $724, the firm's analysts added. Though netbooks were hot during 2009's holiday shopping season -- when sales accounted for 38 percent of netbook revenue for the entire year -- the low-priced computing devices seem to have lost much of their luster. NPD observed that if it were not for the success of Apple's iPad, sales in the combined tablet/mini-notebook segment would have fallen 13 percent in the first nine months of this year compared to the same period in 2009. Smartphones and Gaming Nielsen indicated that 19 percent of U.S. consumers are interested in buying a non-iPhone smartphone in the next six months. Still, 13 percent of the respondents to Nielsen's survey indicated an interest in buying Apple's iconic mobile device between now and the end of April. Interest in gaming platforms also remains high among U.S. consumers 13 and older. In Nielsen's survey, the Nintendo Wii led the field with a 15 percent score, followed by the Sony PlayStation 3 (13 percent) and Microsoft's Xbox 360 (9 percent). American gaming aficionados also expressed interest in the eight to nine percent range in acquiring one of the new motion peripherals now offered by Sony and Microsoft. Among consumers who already own an iPad, NPD survey respondents said their usage increased over time -- growing from about 15 hours per week at the two-month mark to about 18 hours after three months and thereafter. Among those using the iPad outside the home, 37 percent said they used the device on trips and vacations, 21 percent at work, and seven percent while commuting. |
| Best Celebrity Twitter Pictures (The Daily Beast) Posted: 25 Dec 2010 03:52 PM PST |
| Geekmas Greetings From the GeekTech Crew! (PC World) Posted: 25 Dec 2010 07:15 AM PST Happy Geekmas to all! It was only last night that not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. The stockings were hung by the TiVo awaiting St. Geek and the children nestled all snug in their beds with visions of Dominion warriors masquerading in their heads. *Ahem.* St. Geek was busy this year with so many houses to visit; I only hope that Rudolph had the LEDs installed this year. When you awoke this morning, we hope that you found Geekmas galore below your glowing tree made of recycled bottles and cans. Perhaps you found that dynamic-pixel keyboard, or perhaps some Twitter Mood Lights to brighten your day. Or maybe you got lucky and got all you wanted for Geekmas. Either way, we all here at GeekTech hope that your letter to Santa brought you all of your favorite Geekmas picks on your Geektacular list. So have a happy, safe, and fun holiday season, and thank you for reading GeekTech! --The GeekTech Crew |
| Free Kindle Books: A Guide (Mashable) Posted: 25 Dec 2010 09:46 AM PST If Google Trends are anything to go by, a fair number of you were fortunate enough to unwrap a Kindle 3 this Christmas (currently, "free kindle books" is trending at number 9). As such, we thought we'd alert you to some of the following resources for getting free Kindle books on your new device (as well as your smartphone and desktop). For all but the Kindle Store, you'll need to transfer the books manually using a computer and USB cable.
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| Create Slide Shows Easily With PhotoStory on CD & DVD (PC World) Posted: 25 Dec 2010 03:30 PM PST PhotoStory on CD & DVD is all about sharing. It's designed to help you create slide shows that you can share online, or--as its name would imply--offline, by burning them to CD or DVD. Its interface isn't the prettiest, but once you get used to its look, you'll find this app pretty easy to use. PhotoStory's ease of use is apparent when you first launch the app. A pop-up window asks whether you'd like to edit an existing project, create a new one manually, or create a new slide show with help from the wizard. Whichever option you choose, you'll find that you can create a slide show quickly: Simply select photos to include, select the type of fade (or transition) you'd like to use, add background music, and--voilá--your slide show is created. I like that PhotoStory lets you enhance the photos you include. Simpler apps require that you complete all editing offline, but PhotoStory lets you optimize the color, brightness, and sharpness of your images. You can also add intros and outros, as well as titles and credits. Once your slide show is complete, you can easily burn it to a CD or DVD. That may feel a bit antiquated now that it's so easy to share everything online, but the functionality is nicely implemented. And you can share slide shows online, too. I found PhotoStory a bit slow to load, and the app seemed to slow down even more when loading photos or switching between features. Its drab gray interface could use some color, or at least some larger-sized text. But if you're interested in creating slide shows for offline sharing, Magix PhotoStory on CD & DVD will easily meet your needs. |
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