VeriFone Payware Mobile iPhone peripheral looking ready to square off with, er, Square

Sure, it's not quite as elegant as a little cube jutting out of one corner of the iPhone à la Square, but it looks like the Payware Mobile could certainly double as a pretty sturdy case should it drop. More importantly, the backing of VeriFone means this mobile payment peripheral has some pretty important backing and should be able to hit the ground running. That magical date should be January 15th of next year, free on a 2-year Payware Connect contract, and pre-orders are now live on the website for those who want to join in on the phone. Just one word of advice: when you hand the iPhone over for someone to sign as proof of purchase, make sure you're able to outrun the chap. Just in case.

[Thanks, Jason]

VeriFone Payware Mobile iPhone peripheral looking ready to square off with, er, Square originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 10 Dec 2009 21:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments
Read More... [Source: Engadget Mobile]

Lionheart Group | <b>CONSERVATIVE</b> REPUBLICAN FORUM: TEA Party <b>...</b>

There is no doubt that the Republican Party as a whole has behaved more like � tax and spend� Democrats, than fiscally responsible Republicans in recent years. The GOP has paid for this behavior with huge losses in both the 2006 and ...
Read More... [Source: Conservative - Google Blog Search]

Memo to Washington: We Are Not a Conservative Country - Dec 11 - Beyond Chron

Christian Science Monitor

Memo to Washington: We Are Not a Conservative Country - Dec 11 Beyond Chron 11� 2009 �We are a conservative country.� It's a myth the corporate media repeats regardless of the facts. It's the excuse progressives get � and too often ... GOP infighting shakes partyTampa Tribune Reader Commentaries: Reforming the Democratic Party?Berkeley Daily Planet The Republican 'purity test' (part three)Examiner.com Big Government (blog) -CBS News all 316 news articles »

Read More... [Source: Conservative - Google News]

<b>Conservative</b> convert buried outside main cemetery | JewPI

JPostChief Sephardi Rabbi Shlomo Amar ruled Sunday that a 13-year-old boy who passed away over the weekend in Madrid had to be buried in a separate burial ...
Read More... [Source: Conservative - Google Blog Search]

Report Confirms That 16% of Xbox 360s Are Broken

Filed under: Video Games, Breaking News

Finally, a third party has confirmed what many have been saying for a while: Xbox 360 failure rates are much higher than the three to five percent Microsoft claims. Though not quite as high as the 30 percent some retailers have suggested, the 16 percent failure rate reported by SquareTrade is way beyond an acceptable rate.

SquareTrade is an independent warranty provider, covering products after the manufacturers warranty has expired, so its numbers don't include 360s that fail while still under Microsoft warranty. Microsoft recently extended the warranty on Xbox, leading SquareTrade to suggest that the failure rate is actually much higher than 16 percent since customers may have been bypassing its reporting system and going straight to Microsoft.

The infamous Xbox 360 failure has been colloquially called the "Red Ring of Death," because the console displays a red ring upon startup (like the photo above) to let its owner know that it's time to dial Microsoft 911. Causes are unconfirmed, but the most recent reports say that poor component choices in a rush to get the 360 out to market are to blame.

SquareTrade's study tracked 1,040 Xboxes over six to ten months after Microsoft's warranty expired. In that time, 171 claims were filed.

From Team Xbox

Related Links:

• Peeved Bill Gates Says Everyone Copies Microsoft
• Microsoft Celebrates Five Years of Xbox Live With a Free Game
• Xbox 360 Elites Showing Up Dead on Arrival

Report Confirms That 16% of Xbox 360s Are Broken originally appeared on Switched on Wed, 27 Feb 2008 11:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments
Read More... [Source: Switched]

Danish crown prince to drive Fisker Karma prototype to climate conference

Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Hybrid, Fisker

With the UN Climate change conference currently under way in Copenhagen Denmark, it's not at all surprising that a member of the Danish royal family would make an appearance at some of the events. Of course it wouldn't do to show up at such a conference in a Rolls-Royce or Bentley. However, a Prius would be a bit too pedestrian. How about something with some flash and lower emissions than the iconic Toyota? Throw in a Danish connection and you've got a deal.

Thus, Crown Prince Frederik will arrive at two of Tuesday's events at the wheel (yes, the wheel) of the Fisker Karma. Designer and Fisker Automotive CEO Henrik Fisker is Danish by birth and the plug-in serial hybrid (or ER-EV if you prefer) is expected to score about 83 g/km in CO₂ emissions. The prince becomes the first non-Fisker staffer to be allowed to drive the high performance, low emissions sedan. We now expect the Karma to hit the streets in the second half of next year.

The Karma has been making the rounds in Denmark, as we can see in these pictures.

[Source: Fisker]

Continue reading Danish crown prince to drive Fisker Karma prototype to climate conference

Danish crown prince to drive Fisker Karma prototype to climate conference originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Mon, 14 Dec 2009 16:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments
Read More... [Source: Autoblog Green]

The Daily Grind: Virtual worlds, real gifts

Filed under: Culture, Opinion, The Daily Grind

You can't really wrap up, say, a +1 sword in Dungeons and Dragons Online. But that doesn't mean it makes a bad gift. After all, for some of your friends it's cheaper to ship and more relevant to your friendship than a fruitcake. You can't always trade the important things in MMOs, but even as the games celebrate the holidays by giving us several cosmetic items, it's possible for the players to find a more personal and intimate way to share in the holiday spirit.

Today, we ask you if you've given a gift to a friend in a game, whether they're an in-game buddy or a real-life chum. If so, what did you give them? Was it something that you farmed up or crafted just for them, a bit of equipment you had lying around that they always wanted, or something sentimental? If you havven't, is it something you would consider doing? Today's the right time of year for sharing these stories, so even if you've only been a giftee rather than a gifter, we'd like to hear about it. (And for safety's sake, please, don't try to wrap a +1 sword. Those things are sharp.)

The Daily Grind: Virtual worlds, real gifts originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 13 Dec 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments
Read More... [Source: Massively]

Content vs. Technology: What MySpace and AOL Have in Common

The Social Analyst is a weekly column by Mashable Co-Editor Ben Parr, where he digs into social media trends and how they are affecting companies in the space.

When a group of people starts discussing social media, it usually takes only a few seconds until it becomes a discussion about the most popular and widely used social media tools. Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube dominate the discussion today.

If you think a few years back though, it was a completely different story. At its peak in 2001, America Online — AOL — was a behemoth worth $240 billion. Now it’s not even worth $3 billion. MySpace, once the world’s largest social network, has seen its traffic plummet and 30 percent of its staff fired. They were the kings of their eras.

MySpace and AOL (and their execs) are facing similar challenges as they try to turn their respective companies around. What’s more interesting though is the similarities in their strategies and why their strategies are sound.

Recent History: MySpace and AOL

Before I dig into the similarities between the AOL and MySpace situations, it’s necessary to know how they got to this point.

Let’s start with AOL. In 2000, it bought media giant Time Warner for $184 billion. Take a moment to really think about the enormity of that number. It’s the worth of Twitter times 184. That’s enough to buy Apple, Inc. right now, with several billion to spare.

Right after the merger/acquisition though, AOL’s ISP and dial-up business went down the tubes, and so did AOL’s worth. Fast forward to this year, when we learned that AOL would spin off from Time Warner. Just a few days ago, the separation became official and AOL started trading on Wall Street. Its current market worth is $2.59 billion, 1/90 of what it was worth less than a decade ago.

While MySpace didn’t see its worth get cut in such dramatic fashion, its fall from grace is something for the history books. It launched in August 2003, got acquired in July 2005 by News Corp, and continued to grow. At least, until Facebook came into the picture. Fueled by college students and a savvy team that launched feature after feature, Facebook grew like a weed while MySpace’s growth completely stalled.

MySpace has been in crisis mode ever since. News Corp fired its CEO, removed the iconic Tom from management, and replaced them with Owen Van Natta, a former Facebook executive. MySpace is starting to stabilize, but it has resulted in a sizable hit to its web traffic and its staff.

The Evolution from Technology to Content

So what went wrong? While you can blame bad decisions (like completing the worst merger in history), that’s really not what doomed AOL or MySpace. No, what took these companies to the brink was the outdated technology they offered to consumers.

AOL’s core business in the ’90s was dial-up Internet, which was wildly profitable then. Now, it’s a joke. Cable Internet, DSL and wireless made AOL’s technology obsolete, and it wasn’t able to respond. MySpace’s social networking technology, while groundbreaking, was messy and limited. In retrospect, it had no chance against Facebook’s technology, especially news feed, the Facebook Platform, and Facebook Connect.

What some people don’t realize though is that both companies have already conceded defeat on the technology front. MySpace knows it won’t beat Facebook, and AOL knows that it won’t ever be the leading ISP again. Once they internally realized this, they began to evolve into content companies.

Let me explain what that means and how it’s quietly been happening:

AOL: While there were signs of AOL’s transition, the change really began when AOL bought blog network Weblogs (publishers of Engadget, Joystiq, and other blogs) and begun to build out an online news operation. Now, AOL has more than 3,000 freelancers and 150 full-time journalists. The still-popular AOL portal drives traffic to all of these in-house publications. They even moved their headquarters from Virginia to New York in order to help grow their advertising operation.

MySpace: Take a look at the Twitter stream for MySpace. You’ll find that it is now filled with music and celebrity content. Years ago, MySpace was about networking with your friends, but now the company is focused on entertainment channels such as MySpace Music, New Moon partnerships, and MySpace Music Videos. The biggest sign that they’re refocusing on content, though, is the news that MySpace may boast widespread Facebook Connect functionality by the first half of 2010. That would have never happened if MySpace still aspired to beat Facebook in social networking technology.

AOL and MySpace Have the Right Strategy

Each company has taken a different (but similarly bumpy) path to get to this point. The question now is: Will their strategies succeed?

Before even answering that, we have to define “success” for these companies. If you define success as these companies returning to their former glory, then you’re simply deluding yourself: MySpace and AOL will never regain what they once had. Instead, success should simply mean that they don’t crater any further and, in fact, begin a turnaround with slow but consistent growth.

Both companies have the right idea with their shift in strategy and focus. Instead of trying to attract new audiences with better technology (a losing proposition), bring them in by churning out content. Online content creation is in demand (more so with the rise of article sharing on social media channels) and each company has preexisting audiences that are not only consuming it, but helping share it to others.

MySpace and AOL are no longer technology companies; they are content companies. When they realized that they couldn’t win in technology, the switched. In my estimation, they are making the right moves to ensure that both companies don’t simply disappear or become the next BusinessWeek.

Reviews: Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, YouTube

Tags: aol, Ben Parr, content, facebook, myspace, The Social Analyst

Read More... [Source: Mashable!]

How reputation governs the game

Ravius over at Kill Ten Rats ruminates on the importance of reputation in these very social games that we're playing with each other, and it resonated with me in terms of a few different things going on in World of Warcraft right now. We've talked lots before about ninjas and how that back-and-forth works -- in that case, karma is directly driven by what other people think of you, and of course that's seen more weakly in lots of other places around the game, including guild recruitment, your friends list, and just the general server at large.

Ravius talks mostly about the negative reputations we earn, and certainly that's a powerful motivator for a lot of people. But positive reputation is also a strong force in this game -- I'm interested to see how we deal with earning and keeping positive reputation in the new Dungeon Finder and eventually the Battle.net system. Gone may be the days when you build up a good reputation by saying "remember me if you need a good DPS" at the end of a run. It'll be interesting to see what methods we replace that one with.

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Virtual selves, Guilds, Instances, Raiding

How reputation governs the game originally appeared on WoW.com on Fri, 11 Dec 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Read More... [Source: WoW.com]

Modern Warfare 2 continues to stay on top of Steam's top 10 sales list

Filed under: Biz, Modern Warfare 2, Left 4 Dead Series, Dragon Age: Origins, Borderlands

All those complaints, all those online petitions and all those message board comments from upset PC players have apparently yet to affect the sales of Modern Warfare 2. Infinity Ward's latest first person shooter is still on top of the weekly top 10 best selling PC games on Steam (based on revenue).

Valve's zombie co-op shooter sequel Left 4 Dead 2 is firmly in second place while another Valve game, Counter-Strike Source, moved up several places this week to the number three position (likely because of this weekend's price cut). The first DLC for Gearbox Software's Borderlands is at number four this week, followed by the main Borderlands game at number 5:

1. Modern Warfare 2 - Infinity Ward/Activision
2. Left 4 Dead 2 - Valve
3. Counter-Strike Source - Valve
4. Borderlands: The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned - Gearbox/2K Games
5. Borderlands - Gearbox/2K Games
6. Dragon Age: Origins - BioWare/EA
7. Dragon Age: Origins Digital Deluxe Edition - BioWare/EA
8. Dirt 2 - Codemasters
9. Torchlight - Runic Games
10. Medieval II: Total War - The Creative Assembly/Sega

Modern Warfare 2 continues to stay on top of Steam's top 10 sales list originally appeared on Big Download Blog on Mon, 14 Dec 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Read More... [Source: Big Download Blog]

TeliaSonera launches world's first LTE network, awaits phones eagerly

TeliaSonera has today flicked on the green light for its LTE networks in Stockholm and Oslo, officially starting the countdown for LTE-enabled phones. For the moment, keen mobile webstronauts will only be able to hook up their laptop or other USB-equipped device via the Samsung-provided 4G modem, but 100Mbps download speeds on the world's first commercial LTE network are still nothing to sniff at. This rollout is in fact slightly ahead of schedule, and the other major cities in Sweden and Norway are likely to soon get treated similarly well, while TeliaSonera makes a point to mention it has a license to do similar damage to Finland's 3G operators. The US might not be too far behind, either, given that the modem in use in Scandinavia recently cleared the FCC. Now if only we had phones that could ride these massive waves we'd be all set.

TeliaSonera launches world's first LTE network, awaits phones eagerly originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 14 Dec 2009 07:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Newswire, TeliaSonera  | Email this | Comments
Read More... [Source: Engadget]