[WEB2] When rockers cut ties from labels
[WEB2] Yahoo Kickstarts a social service aimed at college grads
Yahoo is set to launch Kickstart on Monday, a social network aimed at college students, alumni, and recruiters. Yahoo already is experimenting with a general-purpose social network, Mash. But whereas Mash will be for socializing, Kickstart will be for career networking, says Scott Gatz, senior director of Yahoo's Advanced Products division. "It's a professional network with a purpose--to help college students and recent graduates build a professional network," he says. The initial "e...
[WEB2] Protector all set to go against pirates
The USS Winston S. Churchill follows a suspected pirate vessel in the Indian Ocean.(Credit: U.S. Navy) Pirates have grown mighty bold around the Horn of Africa of late--so bold that the Navy is reportedly considering the deployment of 30-foot, armed robo-boats to challenge the dusty buccaneers. Surely they'll mend their ways. Pirate RPG round stuck in metal hull. No word on how Hypalon inflatable tubes would hold up to similar abuse.(Credit: U.S. Navy) The Navy began testing the Isr...
[WEB2] Robot race at the starting gate
ORO GRANDE, Calif.--This is the experiment of all robot experiments. In 30 minutes, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) will unleash 11 driverless cars on a 10-plus mile course here at the former George Air Force Base, as part of its $3.5 million robot race, the Urban Grand Challenge. It will be the first time DARPA has tested fully autonomous cars (with "no animals or midgets inside") driving on a course with other robots, as part of a test of the technology's capabilities ...
[WEB2] Robots drop fast in driverless car race
ORO GRANDE, Calif.--After two hours in the race, three teams have fallen out of the DARPA Urban Challenge, leaving eight driverless cars to finish the urban course. So far, Team Oshkosh, Team Annieway, and Intelligent Vehicle Systems have been eliminated from the challenge for various reasons. Oshkosh Truck's TerraMax truck is eliminated from the race after nearly running into an old shopping center.(Credit: Stefanie Olsen/CNET Networks) Team Oshkosh, a more than 24,000 pound Oshkost tr...
[WEB2] Astronaut fixes torn solar panel on space station
An astronaut fixed a torn solar panel on the International Space Station on Saturday in a risky procedure that involved riding a robotic arm to the damaged area in order to install cufflinks on the torn wing, according to the Associated Press. In an emergency mission, spacewalker Scott Parazynski rode the 90-foot robotic arm to the far end of the shuttle complex as the crew extended the wing to its full length. He then clipped a hinge wire and, guided by fellow spacewalker Douglas W...
[WEB2] A peek back at the history of computing
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--For an industry that's just 30 years old, personal computing has a lot of history. Here at the Computer History Museum, just a stone's throw from the Microsoft campus here in Silicon Valley, PC industry veterans, tech enthusiasts, and even a few kids came out for the annual Vintage Computer Festival. The ConBrio 200R, one of four that exist in the world.(Credit: Robert Balousek/CNET Networks) The event is highlighted by seminars and panels on topics like "...
[WEB2] Stanford, CMU robots cross the finish line
ORO GRANDE, CALIF.--Three robots finished the DARPA Urban Challenge within the allotted time Saturday, a new milestone in the development of self-driving vehicles. In the running for the $2 million first prize and $1 million second prize are Stanford's robotic VW Passat, Virginia Tech's modified Ford Escape Hybrid, and Carnegie Mellon's autonomous Chevrolet Tahoe. These teams finished the urban challenge's three missions within the allotted six hours and without significant problems. CMU'...
[WEB2] Memo to EMI: Technology is the key
Guy Hands is the head of equity firm Terra Firma, which took over music label EMI earlier this year. A few days ago, Hands sent a memo to all EMI employees outlining his basic vision for the company, and Hits Daily Double got ahold of the memo and published it. Guy Hands, head of Terra Firma, which owns EMI(Credit: Terra Firma) As with most corporate memos, it's short on specifics--these communications always get leaked, so executives are naturally careful with them. But it's surprising t...
[WEB2] China's Suntech to build factories in the U.S.
Update: Suntech Power Holdings, an aggressive, rising star in the solar world, said in a conference call yesterday that it hopes to build plants in the U.S. to help it break into the market here. "We are currently in discussion with the governors of three different states who have been recruiting us to build factories," said Roger Efird, president of Suntech America, the company's U.S. subsidiary, according to a report on Greentech Media. Efird was speaking on a conference call for the Solar ...
[WEB2] Apple ships patches for iMacs, Macbook Pros
Update 10:50 a.m.: Apple confirmed that the iMac patch corrects the freezing issue reported by some users, and it's encouraging people to download that patch as soon as they get a chance. Also, the Macbook Pro patch is just for Tiger users; the graphics stability issues fixed by the patch were corrected in Leopard. If you haven't been prompted already, iMac and Macbook Pro owners should wander over to Apple's downloads page and install new patches released Friday. Apple didn't provide any deta...
[WEB2] Lenovo bids an early adieu to IBM brand
If you haven't already, say goodbye to that little IBM sticker on your ThinkPad. Turns out, Lenovo doesn't need the reputable computer brand to sell its notebooks and desktops anymore. Lenovo Chief Executive Bill Amelio said as much following the company's most recent earnings results, which was noted by E-Channel Line. Now you see it, soon you won't: The IBM logo like the one on this ThinkPad will be no more.(Credit: Lenovo) "By making substantial progress on all of our critical prio...
[WEB2] Is capturing carbon the next growth business?
Electricity generator NRG Energy and Powerspan announced on Friday a plan to create one of the largest projects to capture and bury the carbon dioxide from coal-burning power plants. The companies said the facility in Sugar Land, Texas will capture and sequester the emissions equal to a 125 megawatt generator. That would make it a commercial-scale demonstration of the technology, one the biggest thus far. Experts have singled out carbon capture and sequestration as an...
[WEB2] Is Real ID plan on its deathbed?
The U.S. government's controversial plan to outfit all Americans with uniform electronic identification cards--officially known as Real ID--may be on its deathbed, opponents of the program charged this week. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has long said that starting as soon as May 2008, and definitely after May 2013, it will deny state citizens the right to board planes or enter federal buildings unless they show Real ID-compliant documents. But on a re...
[WEB2] HD Photo to become JPEG XR
A new attempt to provide a higher-end sequel to the ubiquitous JPEG image standard is officially under way. The multiple countries participating in the Joint Photographic Experts Group, which created the JPEG standard, have approved an effort to make Microsoft's HD Photo format a standard called JPEG XR, said Bill Crow, who has led Microsoft's HD Photo effort and who just took over the company's Microsoft Live Labs Seadragon imaging project. XR stands for "extended range," a reference to ...
[WEB2] Google will reveal mobile plans on Monday
The Wall Street Journal reports that Google will make a big announcement on Monday that will detail the company's partnerships with various handset makers and carriers for its much-ballyhooed "open" mobile OS. Apparently U.S. carriers T-Mobile and Sprint are slated to be in on it, while Taiwan's HTC is a safe bet for a handset manufacturer. Other manufacturers are also possible (Samsung, LG , and Sony Ericsson, to name a few), but we won't know until Monday. As we've previously theorized, th...
[WEB2] Leopard looks great. But what if you can't see?
Leopard is Apple's best-looking operating system yet, from its breezy Cover Flow file browsing to the starry-looking Time Machine backup. It's no wonder visual artists love Macs. But how well does Leopard work for blind users? "[Vision-impaired] people who use Macs are mostly in the category of, "My boss says we have to use Macs," or "I'm a teacher and that's what I'm stuck with,"" said Crista Earl, director of Web operations at the American Foundation for the Blind. Among 10 milli...
[WEB2] Taking the Al Gore Rorschach test
One of my closest friends in the entire world is convinced Al Gore is full of it. Like a lot of News.com readers who have reacted to the Nobel Prize announcement, he doesn't believe Gore deserves the award. I should add that my super-skeptical buddy--no names here or he'll come after me with a rolling pin--also dismisses the arguments seeking to prove the existence of global warming as warmed-over pseudo-science. He just doesn't believe the available evidence makes for a strong case. ...
[WEB2] To make money in biofuels boom, think plastics
BioEnergy International is turning to biochemicals to survive in the low-margin world of biofuels. The biofuels market has grown so rapidly the past two years that many people are already calling it the bursting of the proverbial investment bubble. The tough economic situation is brought on in part by the rising price of corn--the source for nearly all ethanol. And a fuel's input, now in high demand, makes up about 60 percent to 70 percent of a fuel's production costs,...
[WEB2] Cookie conundrums? Google contest wants to help
WASHINGTON--Ever tried giving your mother a primer on cookies--the Web, not chocolate chip, variety, of course? It's not easy, but a user-generated video contest chiefly bankrolled by Google wants to help. The competition began accepting entries about a month ago from about two dozen filmmakers interested in helping to demystify the tiny, widely used text files for a general audience. It concluded here Friday, at the second day of a Federal Trade Commission workshop on...