As you’ve probably already figured out, only one creation can emerge when you combine and : ElmoSapien. This admittedly bizarre mishmash of toys combines WowWee’s and Sesame Street’s famed Elmo (or his costume, at least) into one creature that somehow manages to look innocent and menacing simultaneously. ‘Course, there’s only so much a picture can show, so be sure and check out ElmoSapien’s adventures on video after the jump for a hearty chuckle.
US blasts Myanmar for silencing Internet (AP)
WASHINGTON - The White House criticized Myanmar on Friday for cutting off Internet access and called on “all civilized nations” to pressure the military-run government to end its violent crackdown on protesters. ADVERTISEMENT
“They don’t want the world to see what is going on there,” White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said. President Bush and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown talked about the situation via secure video teleconference on Friday. They agreed on the importance of a planned visit this weekend to Myanmar by U.N. special envoy Ibrahim Gambari and on “the need for countries around the world to continue to make their views clear to the junta,” Stanzel said. “They need to refrain from violence and move to a peaceful transition to democracy,” Stanzel said. The government of Myanmar, also known as Burma, said 10 people have been killed since the violence began earlier this week, but diplomats say the toll is likely much higher. By blocking public access to the Internet, the regime cut off one of the few ways of getting information about the protests out of Myanmar, where media freedom is severely restricted. Daily protests drawing tens of thousands of people have grown into the stiffest challenge to the ruling military junta in two decades. The crisis began Aug. 19 with rallies against a fuel price increase, then escalated dramatically when monks joined in, drawing world attention. The crackdown has been muted by Myanmar standards, but there are fears the government is preparing to intensify it. On Friday, soldiers clubbed and dragged away activists while firing tear gas and warning shots to break up demonstrations. The United States imposed new sanctions Thursday on more than a dozen of the junta’s leaders. Bush’s conversation with Brown was part of a U.S. determination to keep the international focus on the situation high, and Stanzel said there would be more such talks. “We call on the junta to stop the violence,” Stanzel said. “The crackdown on the peaceful protesters there is quite barbaric.”
Apple Shuts Down Hacked iPhones (NewsFactor)
Apple issued a software update on Thursday that puts iPhone hackers in their place. The update renders the devices inoperable. ADVERTISEMENT
The drama began in August, when hackers found a way to unlock the iPhone and connect to a cellular service other than AT&T, which has an exclusive five-year deal as Apple's carrier of choice. Indeed, hackers came out of the woodwork to crack the new handset. There were the three Israeli hackers who claimed they unlocked the iPhone. The Israeli hacker coup followed closely on the heels of a similar story about 17-year-old George Hotz, a New Jersey teen who set iPhone users free from the tethers of AT&T. In addition, a group operating at indicated users could break the iPhone's SIM lock and equip the phone with a SIM card that allows the operation of the phone on competing GSM networks. In all, five hackers or hacker groups have laid claim to the iPhone-unlocking crown since July. Apple Carries Out Threat On Monday, Apple warned iPhone owners to hack at their own risk, making it undoubtedly clear that unlocking programs used to connect the iPhone to nonsanctioned wireless carriers could cause irreparable damage. Apple warned that the damage could make the iPhone inoperable, and it would void the device's warranty. "The permanent inability to use an iPhone due to installing unlocking software is not covered under the iPhone's warranty," the company said in a statement. "Apple strongly discourages users from installing unauthorized unlocking programs on their iPhones." Apple made good on its promise Thursday when it released the software update. Gadget enthusiast sites and bloggers are confirming that some of the hacked iPhones no longer worked after they downloaded the software update. Other hacked phones worked, but only with the original SIM card that forces the iPhone to connect to AT&T's network. Let the Hacker Beware The message in this, said John Jackson, an analyst at Yankee Group, is let the hacker beware. "If you hack the iPhone you should probably not expect to benefit from any of the software upgrades over time," he warned. "Once it's hacked it is what it is. There's probably not a lot you can expect in terms of enhanced utility. You assume that risk." The hacker incident poses an interesting dilemma as the wireless world begins to explore new business models, Jackson noted. Specifically, as service and handset distribution become decoupled, hackers that dare to unlock phones that are supposed to work exclusively with one service could disrupt exclusivity deals. Still, analysts said it's not clear how the hacking issue is hurting Apple. "There's a school of thought that says any press is good press and if you are not hacked perhaps you are not good enough to be hacked," Jackson said. "I'm sure Apple had every expectation this was going to be a focal point for geeks. It's not clear to me that it's hurting anybody except the hackers."
Asus intros U1E ultra-portable laptop
Wipro to Acquire Oki's Wireless Chip Design Arm (PC World)
Oki Electric Industry Co. Ltd. is selling its semiconductor design subsidiary to Indian outsourcer Wipro Ltd., preferring instead to have semiconductor design services delivered from a dedicated center set up by Wipro. ADVERTISEMENT
Wipro has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Oki Techno Centre Singapore Pte. Ltd (OTCS) and related intellectual property rights, Oki's wireless design subsidiary, Oki said Thursday. The companies expect to complete the transaction, for an undisclosed cash sum, in one month. Wipro will establish a dedicated development center to offer wireless semiconductor and embedded software design services to Oki, said A. Vasudevan, vice president for Semiconductor and System Solutions in the Wipro Technologies Division of Wipro. OTCS is a wholly owned subsidiary of Oki focused on wireless design in the areas of RF (radio frequency) and baseband design. The company's design center in Singapore has 40 staff, and primarily caters to Oki's in-house requirements for semiconductor designs for its wireless communications equipment business, Vasudevan said. In 2005, Wipro acquired NewLogic Technologies AG, a privately held Austrian semiconductor IP (intellectual property) and design services company, in its bid to increase its portfolio of semiconductor IP and design services. The acquisition brought to Wipro expertise and IP in the area of Bluetooth and wireless LANs (local area networks). The acquisition of OTCS will bring to Wipro expertise in wireless communications, and IP in the area of digital TV, Ultra-wideband (UWB), and RFID (radio frequency ID), Vasudevan said. The acquisition will also give Wipro access to the Japanese market for outsourced semiconductor designs, he added. Oki has been looking for a global partner to improve its efficiency in semiconductor design through outsourcing, as it focuses on improving its core designing capabilities, Oki said.
3Com to be sold for $2.2B (AP)
BOSTON - 3Com Corp., a maker of networking hardware and software, will be sold to affiliates of private equity firm Bain Capital Partners LLC for $2.2 billion and taken private, 3Com said Friday. ADVERTISEMENT
The cash deal also gives Huawei Technologies, China’s largest manufacturer of telecommunications equipment, a minority stake in 3Com that the American company hopes will improve its growth prospects in Asia. By going private, 3Com hopes to free itself from markets’ short-term financial expectations, Edgar Masri, president and chief executive of Marlborough, Mass.-based 3Com, told analysts in a conference call. “As a private company, we will be able to focus on our long-term strategic objectives,” Masri said. Shareholders will receive $5.30 in cash for each share of 3Com stock, or a premium of about 44 percent over the stock’s $3.68 closing price on Thursday. 3Com is a maker of network equipment for data and telecommunications systems, with more than 6,000 employees in over 40 countries, and annual revenue of $1.3 billion. The company’s fortunes rose sharply during the late 1990s amid the technology boom. 3Com’s stock price briefly rose above $100 in 2000, but later plunged as boom turned to bust. 3Com had recently been the subject of buyout speculation, and entertained competing offers. Masri did not identify other bidders, but said the company decided the offer from Boston-based Bain was the best, in part because of Bain’s reputation as a leading private equity firm with deep financial resources and ties in Asia. He said the premium that Bain is paying “validates the tremendous opportunity for growth 3Com has ahead of it,” particularly overseas. 3Com said its board had unanimously approved the deal, and recommended shareholders approve it. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of next year, subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals. 3Com would be required to pay a break-up fee of $66 million if it backs out of the deal, while Bain would pay at least $66 million and up to $110 million if it backs out, depending on the circumstances. Masri declined to specify how large of a minority stake that Huawei would have in 3Com after the deal is completed, but said that information would be made public in coming weeks. Huawei also will become a commercial and strategic business partner of 3Com, Masri said. The companies previously teamed up in a networking products joint venture called H3C, but 3Com bought out Huawei’s 49 percent stake for $882 million in November 2006. Trading of 3Com shares was halted early Friday after the Wall Street Journal reported on its Web site that 3Com planned to announce a sale to Bain and Huawei later in the day. Shares rallied $1.20, or 32.6 percent, to $4.88 — within range of the reported purchase price — before trading was shut down.
AT&T’s “Tilt” Kaiser variation spotted in the wild
Air-driven robotic legs hop, skip and jump
Air-driven robotic legs hop, skip and jump
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The Revolution Is Being Text Messaged
The Skinny is Keach Hagey’s take on the top news of the day and the best of the Internet.
The attempt at revolution in Myanmar will be televised, it turns out, largely thanks to footage shot on citizens’ cellphone cameras.
The Wall Street Journal reports that even as the country’s ruling military junta attempts to keep out foreign journalists and unplug Internet servers, “citizen journalists” armed with cell phones were beaming news of the protests and crackdown to the world.
“Citizen witnesses are using cellphones and the Internet to beam out images of blodied monks and street fires, subverting the Myanmar government’s efforst to control media coverage and present a sanitized version of the uprising,” the paper reports.
Since the Journal article went to press last night, the Myanmar government has pulled the plug on the country’s lone Internet server, yet those cellphone camera images keep coming.
That now-famous photo of a monks’ bloody sandals was taken from a blog, the Journal reports. “The AP, Reuters and other media have been retransmitting photos are reports given to them by exile media organizations like Mizzima, Irrawaddy, and the Oslo-based Democratic Voice of Burma,” the Journal reports. “Those outfits are acting as a clearinghouse for images and reports produced by people in Myanmar.”
The actual identities of the hundreds of people sending out text messages and cellphone images are mostly unknown, and that’s the point. In Myanmar, people caught protesting or writing against the government risk years in prison.
These sometimes blurry on-the-scene photos are in stark contrast to the media message the last time there was a protest of this scale in Myanmar. In 1988, when a pro-democracy uprising was crushed by the military and more than 3,000 people died, first reports came from diplomats and official media.
“Technology has changed everything,” said Aung Zaw, a Myanmar exile whose Thailand publication Irrawaddy has been covering the protests hour-by-hour. “Now, in a slit second, you have the story.”
And Myanmar is hardly a technological hub. Cell phones are expensive, and Internet penetration is less than 1 percent.
Even before the clash, the government took steps to restrict Internet content, but students and activists just used tricks they picked up from the Chinese (which also restricts internet content) to get around them. “These include using proxies, which create a hole in the censorship network by connecting directly to one computer outside the country,” the Journal reports.
By the end of the day yesterday, Reporters Without Border said the government had disconnected most of the country’s cellphone lines and shut down some Internet cafes to block bloggers. So groups are turning to satellite phones.
“The more they try to suppress information,” Zaw said, “the more will come out.”
Key Gitmo Detainees Get Lawyers
Fourteen “high-value” terrorism suspects being held at Guantanamo Bay - including the crazy guy who’s confessed to just about everything from masterminding 9/11 to kidnapping Jonbenet Ramsey - have finally been given a shot at getting legal representation, the Washington Post reports.
The move presents the first opportunity for confession-happy Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and the 13 other detainees to see human beings other than their captors and representatives from the Red Cross since they were taken into custody.
This bunch of suspects makes U.S. officials lose sleep because they were transferred to Gitmo from secret CIA prisons. U.S. officials have argued in court papers against granting lawyers access to the “high-value” detainees without special security rules, fearing that attorney-client conversations could reveal classified elements of the CIA’s detention program and its, ahem, “controversial interrogation tactics.”
But in the end the 14 will be given a chance to see lawyers because the Detainee Treatment Act, enacted in late 2005, gives Guantamamo Bay captives the right to challenge their enemy-combatant designations in federal court.
So far, four have filled out the lawyer-request forms offered to the detainees this month. One of them, 27-year-old Majid Khan, who went to high school in the Baltimore area, scrawled a note at the bottom of his form, which the Post got hold of.
“Please send me a lawyer or representative who can brief me on my options,” Khan wrote. “Also please, if you can send me basic introduction criminal law books with all law terms, etc. Also I would like to know what the media said about me and full copy of tribunal CSRT about me, which was available on the Internet. (Thanks in advance).”
Launching Start-Ups Like It’s 1999
Nevermind that depressing story about the continuing decline - and spread! - of the housing market’s woes on USA Todays’ front page. Inside the paper’s money section, there’s talk of another dot-com boom.
U.S. venture-capital investment in the first six months of the year jumped 9 percent from the previous year, according to a study from Ernst & Young. The biggest chunk went to the San Francisco area, where more than 400 companies closed deals with a median size of $10 million.
“You can’t find anybody who doesn’t have a business plan sticking out of their pocket,” saiys Matt Marshall, editor of the VentureBeat blog. “Silicon Valley is back to its usual self.”
But don’t quit your job to launch your own start up just yet. The frenzy doesn’t quite compare to the peaks of 2000. In the first six months of that year, companies raised $52.2 billion in venture capital, compared with $14.5 billion in the first six months of 2007. And relatively few start-ups have cashed out through public stock offerings this time.
Still, some familiar scenes are popping up. At a recent tech conference, a San Francisco hotel ballroom with gilded walls and chandeliers hosted a very dot-com-looking scene: “company-logo polo shirts, khakis or faded jeans and lots of guys with black-rimmed glasses,” the paper reports. “As was the case during the previous dot-com boom, an overwhelming majority of the participants were young men.”
So while Dot-Com Boom 2.0 may have a new fashion in its start-ups - these days everyone is trying to launch an internet phone company or a social networking site - the basic uniform is still 1.0, circa 1997.
A NOTE TO READERS: The Skinny is available via e-mail. Click here and follow the directions to register to receive it in your inbox each weekday morning.
Panoramic GigaPan images to hit Google Earth
Remember that from earlier this year? The one that made taking ridiculously large panoramic shots — like the one of Dublin Castle above — a lesson in simplicity? Yeah, well that very system is now being used to add detailed, wide-angle images to Google Earth thanks to collaboration between the search giant and Carnegie Mellon University. Additionally, we’ve now learned that Charmed Labs in Austin, TX will be manufacturing the mechanical devices and selling them for $300 apiece. But before the public gets their hands on ‘em, the firm is producing 300 systems “for people who will provide them with feedback.” Ah, the perfect excuse for a new widescreen monitor, no?
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