Miscellaneous

Twitter in the court: Federal judge gets it

U.S. District Judge Thomas J. Marten gets it. He's the judge who has allowed a reporter to Twitter court proceedings in a trial of six Crips gang defendants taking place in his Wichita, Kan., courtroom.

"The more we can do to open the process to the public, the greater the public understanding," Marten told the Associated Press. And when asked about lawyers' concerns that jurors might be influenced by the tweets, he said that jurors are always told to avoid broadcasts, newspaper, and online reports.

The tweets are from Ron Sylvester, a reporter from the Wichita … Read more

Week in review: Apple's hardware harvest

Apple announced updates to its desktop offering this week in hopes of jump-starting sales in a category that has stagnated.

Three Mac desktop categories were updated, but only one really matters: the Mac Mini and Mac Pro aren't nearly as popular as the all-in-one iMac. Apple did improve the specifications of the iMac at the same price points, lowering the cost of acquiring a 24-inch version to $1,499. But it made few significant changes to a design that hasn't been updated since September 2007 and resisted calls to reduce the price of the iMac below $1,000, … Read more

Recession demands vertical industry approach

It seems like the headlines are more and more depressing each day. Layoffs, stock market drops, budget deficits, etc. Heck, even my friends in the ever-optimistic Silicon Valley are bummed out.

Yeah, it's looks pretty gloomy, but it's important to remember that the economy isn't binary-- different industries are feeling the pain in different ways. ESG Research recently compared internal data on 2009 IT budget changes by industry with external data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Situation Summary from February 2009. This comparison uncovers some interesting trends:

Three industry sectors will experience employment … Read more

PC shipments to decrease 4.5 percent in 2009

As bad as the second half of 2008 treated the PC industry, 2009 is shaping up to be even worse.

PC shipments worldwide will drop 8 percent in the first half of this year, according to a forecast update Thursday to IDC's Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker. The fourth quarter saw a 1.9 percent decline, driven in large part by large enterprise companies delaying buying replacement PCs during the recession.

But after a rocky start, the industry should turn around a bit by year's end. IDC predicts that shipments will improve over the second half of the year, … Read more

New camera backpack options arrive

LAS VEGAS--Sure, they don't have 11-point autofocus systems or image stabilization, but a lot of money is spent on camera packs as well as cameras, and Tamrac, M-Rock, and Think Tank Photo introduced some new ones here at the Photo Marketing Association (PMA) show.

Tamrac First up are Tamrac's Aero Speed 75 and 85 backpacks. These feature a lower compartment with a side-access zipper so cameras can be removed without taking the pack off.

Unlike related predecessors, the new models come with waterproof zippers for that compartment, and the lower section also has been reworked to permit larger 70-200mm telephoto lenses to fit, said product specialist Derek Gross.

The Aero Speed 75 costs $109.95, and the 85, which adds a compartment that can accommodate a laptop with a 17-inch screen, costs $149.95. … Read more

Comcast runs trial Wi-Fi service at NJ transit stations

In an effort to keep/acquire new broadband customers, Comcast is testing Wi-Fi service at about 120 New Jersey Transit rail stations, according to DSLReports. The trial is for existing customers only and is designed to gauge user interest, spokeswoman Mary Nell Westbrook said, adding that no formal announcement of the service has been made.

The move comes after Cablevision launched its Optimum Wi-Fi program throughout the tristate area last fall. The two companies are collaborating to extend the reach of their wireless networks, enabling Comcast customers to access their operator's Wi-Fi at train stations in Cablevision territory and vice versa.

Although the two companies worked together on technical tests, the Comcast and Cablevision services in New Jersey will remain entirely separate, though there will apparently be some gear cohabitation. "A Comcast customer cannot access any of the Optimum Wi-Fi Hot Zones," notes Westbrook. "For the trial, our services are both available at all of the locations that are included--generally New Jersey Transit commuter rail stations--but the two services are offered separately."

Rail stations with free Wi-Fi include those along the Northeast Corridor, Morris, Essex, Montclair-Boonton, Main-Bergen County, the North Jersey Coast, Pascack Valley, and Raritan Valley lines. Coverage areas at each station include platforms and parking lots, but do not extend to the trains. … Read more

Sony's PSP 'virtual console' in the works

In a brief interview with MTV Multiplayer late last week, Sony's Director of Hardware Marketing John Koller says that Sony plans to expand its digital catalog to include non-PlayStation console titles as well as back-catalog games from the PlayStation One console.

"PSOne is included, but everything is on the table. We look for some of those big hits from all of the past games in their history and look for ways we can bring them over," John Koller says. "It's not always easy. There are obviously technical areas that need to be bridged. But when … Read more

First impressions of the Kindle iPhone app

Updated below, after reading on the iPhone for a few hours.

Anyone with an iPhone or an iPod Touch can now download the Amazon Kindle for iPhone application and use the device to read electronic books.

I tried the application on both an iPhone 3G and an iPod Touch, which worked in exactly the same way. You can download the free application from the iPhone App Store.

The first time you run the application, you're asked to enter your Amazon account information. In my case, because I had previously purchased books for a Kindle I reviewed last year, the … Read more

Podcast: MySpace promotes OpenID

At a Tuesday afternoon panel at the Demo conference, representatives of MySpace, Google, Facebook, and Plaxo explained how they are working to create a more open environment so that people can take their identity with them as they migrate from one social-networking site to another.

While we're not yet about to see Facebook let people log on to its site with their MySpace ID, or vice versa, we are starting to see more cooperation among sites. MySpace ID product lead Max Engel speaks with Larry Magid about MySpace's efforts, including collaboration with AOL.

ScanCafe now digitizes black-and-white negatives

LAS VEGAS--ScanCafe, a start-up that digitizes film images using relatively cheap labor in Bangalore, India, announced a new service on Tuesday to scan black-and-white negatives.

The Burlingame, Calif.-based company already scanned color slides and negatives as well as prints, but film scanners have trouble with black-and-white negatives. ScanCafe uses a "wet mount" process for which the company has applied for a patent, said Wade Lagrone, vice president of marketing, in an interview at the Photo Marketing Association (PMA) show here.

The process is more expensive but still competitive, Lagrone said. Color negatives cost 24 cents each, color slides 29 cents, prints 27 cents, and black-and-white negatives 69 cents apiece. The cost includes retouching and color correction. … Read more