Mashable: Latest 8 News Updates - including “The Internet is Running Out of Space…Kind of” |
- The Internet is Running Out of Space…Kind of
- HANDS ON: Wireless Charger for iPhone 4 [PICS & VIDEO]
- Lush’s UK Website Hacked, Credit Card Numbers Used
- 31 New Social Media Resources You May Have Missed
- Palestinian Reporter On Trial For Facebook Photo
- Why Google Needs Its Own Steve Jobs [OP-ED]
- Website Challenges Visitors to Do Nothing
- 7 Pairs of Stylish 3-D Specs for Fashionable Film Fans
- Top 10 Twitter Trends This Week [CHART]
| The Internet is Running Out of Space…Kind of Posted: 22 Jan 2011 05:33 PM PST      On February 2nd around 4 a.m., the Internet will run out of its current version of IP addresses. At least that’s what one Internet Service Provider is predicting based on a rate of about one million addresses every four hours. Hurricane Electric has launched Twitter and Facebook accounts that count down to what it has termed the “IPcalypse.” Every device that is connected to the Internet gets a unique code called an IP address (it looks like this). The current system, IPv4, only supports about 4 billion individual IPv4 addresses. As PC World’s Chris Head explained in a blog post yesterday, some of these addresses are reusable. The problem, however, is that their one-time use counterparts will eventually lead to the complete depletion of IP addresses. Fortunately, some smart folks foresaw this problem long before we did and invented IPv6, a system that invokes both letters and digits to handle 340,282,366,920,938,463,463,374,607,431,768,211,456 addresses (shall we just call it “a zillion?”). Hurricane Electric’s doomsday campaign encourages other Internet service providers to transition to that system. Fortunately, the Internet Society‘s Wiki assures us that IPv4 and IPv6 can coexist during the transition despite being largely incompatible. Software and hardware developers are working on transition mechanisms, and most operating systems install support for IPv6 by default. Since many of us still have some canned food and bottled water stacked up in our basement from the Y2K era, we should be OK either way.  More About: Internet full, IP address exhaustion, IP addresses, IPv4, trending For more Tech & Gadgets coverage:
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| HANDS ON: Wireless Charger for iPhone 4 [PICS & VIDEO] Posted: 22 Jan 2011 04:16 PM PST   Tired of dealing with wires to charge your mobile device? The Energizer Inductive Charger lets you place your iPhone or Blackberry on its shiny black surface, where it immediately begins charging wirelessly. Energizer’s $89 inductive charging station has been available for a few months, and the company’s been working on the various sleeves that must be placed on devices so they can work with it. So far, there’s a sleeve for the iPhone 3G and 3GS, a replacement door for the BlackBerry Curve 8900, and now, Energizer’s finally finished its iPhone 4 sleeve and sent it to us for review. The charging station is a wedge-shaped piece of piano-black plastic that’s a little larger than a paperback book. It has two spots where you can place your mobile devices for wireless charging, and can accommodate both at once. There’s a USB port in the back to connect an additional device, letting you charge a total of three at the same time. This inductive charger is compatible with the Qi (pronounced “chee”) wireless charging standard adopted by the Wireless Power Consortium. Qi shows great promise — in fact, we’re so impressed, we named it one of the 8 Gadgets to Watch in 2011. The consortium members include Samsung, Panasonic, Sony, HTC, Verizon, Duracell, Energizer, Black & Decker and a few others — but notably missing so far is Apple. The idea is for all the products made by consortium members to be interoperable with each other. Here’s a diagram showing how it works:
Does it work? Yes, and it seems like magic. The Qi system uses an electromagnetic field to transfer energy instead of wires. When I plugged my iPhone 4 into its sleeve, all I needed to do was place it onto one of the targets on the charger, and its blue light began to glow, indicating that charging had begun. I like the way each of the two lights turn off, indicating the associated device is fully charged. When all are fully charged, the charging station goes into its energy-saving standby mode. The plan for the Qi system is to build this wireless capability into devices, eliminating the need for an external sleeve, or in the case of the BlackBerry Curve 8900, a replacement door. Energizer says that according to iSuppli, there could be 234.9 million units with built-in wireless charging by 2014. Whether that happens or not, for now, we have samples of the iPhone 4 sleeve and the BlackBerry Curve 8900 replacement door, and both are relatively unobtrusive. We also have the sleeve for the iPhone 3G and 3GS, and it’s slightly bulkier, more like a case than a 3/4 sleeve like that of the iPhone 4. See the gallery below for pictures of all. The iPhone 4′s sleeve is nowhere near as bulky as even the thinnest add-on external battery extenders such as the Mophie Juice Pack Plus. It’s thin, light at 1.6 oz, and only makes the 5.1 oz iPhone feel only slightly larger and heavier. In the case of the BlackBerry, look at the gallery below you’ll see that the door only adds a tolerable amount of depth to the current handset. Using the charger in these sleeves couldn’t be easier. The iPhone 4 sleeve has a snug fit, so you won’t be leaving it in your pocket as you pull out your phone. The target area where you place the device on the charger is big enough so that it’s easy to get the device to start charging, even if you don’t place it exactly on the circular graphic. There’s an added advantage to that sleeve — if you’re one who holds your iPhone with a finger underneath, covering up its tiny speaker, the sleeve redirects the speaker’s sound toward the front. It does the inverse for the iPhone 4′s microphone, directing its sound from the front rather than the bottom. I couldn’t tell a difference with the microphone, but I noticed the speaker sounds better with the sleeve on, an unexpected benefit. So is it worth it? Are we so lazy that we can’t bother to plug in our phones to charge them? Probably. Maybe it’s not laziness, but the desire for convenience that makes wireless charging so appealing. I found myself much more likely to lay my iPhone onto this charger than to plug it in. And, it’s good to know this charger will still be able to accommodate any device that’s compliant with the Qi standard in the coming years. That’s when this will really pay off — when many devices have this wireless charging capability built in, and no sleeves required. Until then, even with the sleeves, I enjoyed using the system and highly recommend it. Here’s a video showing how easy it is to charge your device by just placing it on the inductive charging station: Energizer Inductive Charger Place an iPhone in its special sleeve, and put it on the charger slab and it begins charging right away. Energizer Inductive Charger There's room for two devices Energizer Inductive Charger Here's a three-quarter view. The shiny surface is a fingerprint magnet. Energizer Inductive Charger There's also a USB port for an additional device. Energizer Inductive Charger Here's the underbelly of the charging station. Energizer Inductive Charger The charging sleeve fits snugly on the iPhone 4. Energizer Inductive Charger The blue light indicates that charging is underway. Energizer Inductive Charger While it would be better if it wasn't necessary at all, the charging sleeve doesn't add much weight or bulk to the iPhone 4. Energizer Inductive Charger It's not exactly thin, but thinner than an auxiliary battery pack. Energizer Inductive Charger See how the iPhone 4 is not entirely covered up by this charging sleeve. Energizer Inductive Charger The top of the iPhone is exposed. Energizer Inductive Charger The back of the iPhone 4 sleeve covers up one of its most fragile parts, its glassy dorsal side. Energizer Inductive Charger iPhone 4 sleeve without the phone inside Energizer Inductive Charger It's relatively thin and light, weighing just 1.6 ounces Energizer Inductive Charger That's the Qi logo on the back. Energizer Inductive Charger This is the replacement battery door for the BlackBerry Curve 8990. We didn't have a handset with which to test it, but it looks quite thin. Energizer Inductive Charger Another view of the BlackBerry curve 8990 replacement battery door. Energizer Inductive Charger This is the sleeve for the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS, significantly bulkier than the better-designed iPhone 4 sleeve. Energizer Inductive Charger Another view of the iPhone 3GS/iPhone 3G sleeve More About: BlackBerry Curve 8900, Energizer, Energizer Inductive Charger, iphone 4, Qi, wireless charging For more Tech & Gadgets coverage:
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| Lush’s UK Website Hacked, Credit Card Numbers Used Posted: 22 Jan 2011 03:34 PM PST   Hackers are cashing out after stealing credit card numbers from Lush’s UK website, which was shut down on Friday and replaced with a message that warns customers that their account information may have been compromised. According to the message, anyone who made online purchases on the handmade cosmetic company’s UK site between October 4th and January 20th is at risk of having their credit cards used fraudulently. Lush also left a message for the hacker: “If you are reading this, our web team would like to say that your talents are formidable. We would like to offer you a job – were it not for the fact that your morals are clearly not compatible with ours or our customers.” We’re sure that the hackers are absolutely broken up about the scolding — especially since comments on the cosmetic company’s Facebook profile make it clear that they have started a shopping spree on Lush customers’ dime. Several customers detail purchases made using their stolen credit card information. Others express anger over the length of time that Lush waited after discovering that hackers had penetrated the site on Christmas Day. Hilary Jones, ethical director at Lush, told the BBC that the company used the time between Christmas and Friday to investigate what the hacker’s intentions were (perhaps they were just looking for information on bath soaps?). When it became obvious that the hackers had started to make small test purchases using Lush customers’ credit cards, Lush shut down its site. Other companies like Trapster-maker Reach Unlimited and Gawker Media, on the other hand, notified customers immediately when their sites were compromised recently. A temporary Lush UK website, which prudently will only accept PayPal payments, is scheduled to be launched in a few days. But it might be a while before its customers muster enough forgiveness to shop there. More About: credit-card, e-commerce, hack, Lush, security For more Tech & Gadgets coverage:
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| 31 New Social Media Resources You May Have Missed Posted: 22 Jan 2011 02:18 PM PST   The cold snap may not have “snapped,” but all that winter chill hasn’t prevented Mashable from churning out another set of social media tools and resources. Have a read through resources below for a perspective on Wikipedia’s short life and it’s prospective future, or how videos games are helping social good. Tech & Mobile has some tips for Ruby and some odd Apple patents. Business offers up some case studies and how marketers can optimize crowdsourcing. Looking for even more social media resources? This guide appears every weekend, and you can check out all the lists-gone-by here any time. Social Media
For more social media news and resources, you can follow Mashable’s social media channel on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook. Tech & Mobile
For more tech news and resources, you can follow Mashable’s tech channel on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook. Business
For more business news and resources, you can follow Mashable’s business channel on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook. Image courtesy of Webtreats More About: business, facebook, Features Week In Review, List, Lists, Mobile 2.0, small business, social media, tech, technology, twitter
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| Palestinian Reporter On Trial For Facebook Photo Posted: 22 Jan 2011 01:22 PM PST   A Palestinian TV reporter faces charges of insulting a public figure after being tagged in a Facebook photo that ridicules the Palestinian Authority president, highlighting how social networks can just as easily be used to repress dissent as they can to aid it. Mamdouh Hamamreh, a correspondent for Palestinian television station Al-Quds, was detained in September after he was tagged in an image of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas next to a picture of a Syrian actor who played a spy in a popular Arab television show, English-language Israeli paper The Jerusalem Post reports. The implication of the image is that Abbas is a traitor. Hamamreh, who has since been released, told the Associated Press on Saturday that his prosecutors have set his first court date for next month. It’s worth noting that his TV station is sympathetic to militant Islamic group Hamas, which opposes Abbas’s Palestinian Authority. Prosecutors say Hamamreh posted the image, but Hamamreh says he had nothing to do with it. The arrest highlights how social networks can be double-edged swords when it comes to free speech. While it’s easy to point to conflicts in which social networks have played a critical role in aiding dissent like the Iran election protests last year and the recent overthrow of Tunisia’s corrupt government, repressive governments also use them to monitor and quell dissent. Bloggers in repressive countries were once largely permitted to write about topics that traditional media didn’t dare broach, but as their influence increased they started to be harassed and in some cases arrested by their governments. It wouldn’t surprise us if a similar story continues to emerge from social network use. More About: arrest, facebook, Palestine For more Social Media coverage:
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| Why Google Needs Its Own Steve Jobs [OP-ED] Posted: 22 Jan 2011 12:04 PM PST   The Social Analyst is a column by Mashable Co-Editor Ben Parr, where he digs into social media trends and how they are affecting companies in the space. By almost all standards, Google is in great shape. It had a fantastic fourth quarter, increasing revenue by 26% from Q4 2009. It is the undisputed leader in search, YouTube is on fire and Android is giving Apple a run for its money. Under the surface though, things aren’t all sunshine and roses. Google Buzz and Google Wave were failures. At the same time, Facebook has emerged as a legitimate threat to Google and has been stealing Google’s best talent. It’s gotten so bad that Google gave everybody a 10% raise in a desperate bid to retain talent. Perhaps that’s why Larry Page is replacing Eric Schmidt as CEO. There was nobody accountable at the top, and now Google risks losing big ground to Facebook and Apple. This is Larry Page’s company now. Thanks to Schmidt, Google is efficient, but it has also lost its ability to come up with a clear vision and execute upon it. What it needs now is a visionary leader to take Google to new heights, much like Apple’s Steve Jobs and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg have done with their companies. Google needs its own Steve Jobs, and it had better hope Larry Page is that man. Here’s why: Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer and Steve JobsThe graph below depicts the history of Microsoft’s stock price, starting from its 1986 IPO to today. In its entire history, the company has only had two CEOs: Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer. I’ve placed a line on the January 2000 mark to reflect when Bill Gates handed the reigns over to Steve Ballmer.  As you can see, Microsoft’s growth has stagnated since Ballmer has taken the helm. Gates, the visionary, was able to turn his company into a powerhouse by taking risks and creating groundbreaking products. Ballmer is an effective manager, but he is not a visionary. Let’s be fair, though: when Ballmer took over, Microsoft was in the midst of a brutal antitrust investigation and the dot-com bubble. Plus, Gates was still at the company as the chief software architect and the keeper of the “technology vision” of the company. Still, he wasn’t calling the shots; Ballmer was. Perhaps this is the more telling chart, though:  This is a graph depicting the changes in Microsoft and Apple’s market capitalizations over the last decade. In Q1 2001, Apple was worth a mere $7.64 billion, 1/38th the size of Microsoft’s massive $291.74 billion market cap. As of this Friday, Apple is worth $300.92 billion. Microsoft, on the other hand, has dropped all the way down to $239.73 billion in market cap. The change in fortunes is absolutely astonishing. When You Need a Visionary CEO While there are thousands of factors that contributed to the decline of Microsoft and the rise of Apple, nobody can discount the impact their CEOs have had in the last decade. Why was Steve Jobs declared “CEO of the Decade” by Fortune Magazine? It’s because he triumphantly returned to the company he founded, gave it a clear vision, and transformed Apple into one of the world’s most successful companies. You don’t have to look far for visionary CEOs who’ve had a monstrous impact on their companies, either. Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Oracle’s Larry Eliason, and Groupon’s Andrew Mason are just a few examples. And it’s not just recently that visionary leaders that have changed the fates of their companies, either: Ford Motor Company’s Henry Ford, Standard Oil’s John Rockefeller and General Electric’s Thomas Edison redefined business, technology and industry in ways few others have. It’s true that many companies don’t need visionary leaders. Sometimes a visionary isn’t an effective manager at a time when a company needs to focus on efficiency and not new products. However, visionaries are the best choice to take the helm when a company is first starting out, when it is out to redefine an industry or when it is stagnating or in decline. Zuckerberg turned a young company into a $50 billion empire in less than a decade. Steve Jobs steered a company on the brink of bankruptcy to new heights. Henry Ford single-handedly created the modern automotive industry. Is Larry Page the Visionary CEO Google Needs? Now what about Google? Here’s what I said late last year when I declared Google Buzz tech’s biggest flop of 2010:
Now, more than ever in its history, does Google need a visionary leader in the mold of Mark Zuckerberg or Steve Jobs. Eric Schmidt, while one of the best CEOs and managers of all time, isn’t a visionary. The vision has always been with the founders, especially with Larry Page, its President of Products and soon-to-be CEO. Earlier this week, I answered a question on Quora on the potential impact of Google’s leadership shake-up. Here’s what I said:
Google needs a clearer vision from the top. If it can’t find a way to limit the influence of Facebook soon, it will become the next Microsoft (or, even worse, the next Yahoo). It has an advantage most companies in its position don’t have, though: It still has its founders. For Google’s sake, let’s hope Larry Page is the visionary CEO that the company so desperately needs. More About: apple, Column, eric schmidt, Google, larry page, Opinion, Sergey Brin, steve jobs, The Social Analyst, tim cook For more Social Media coverage:
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| Website Challenges Visitors to Do Nothing Posted: 22 Jan 2011 10:59 AM PST   We’ve found it: the perfect weekend activity. Here’s a website that doesn’t want you to do anything. That’s right, nothing. This simple site, Do Nothing for Two Minutes, challenges you to do just that — nothing — and if you touch your mouse or keyboard during the countdown, you’re greeted with a “Fail” message. We would suggest Do Nothing for 2 Minutes creator Alex Tew and developer Ben Dowling add a motion-sensing webcam to the mix, so the only way to pass this challenging test would be to remain still, barely breathing. According to TechCrunch, Tew said,
Who is this guy, anyway? You might remember Alex Tew from 2005, when he convinced visitors to his Million Dollar Home Page to buy pixels on a million-pixel graphic for $1 apiece. It was a huge hit, bringing in $1,037,100 to help pay for his college education. His follow-ons haven’t been nearly as successful, including a lotto scheme called Pixelotto, PopJam, originally a social media humor site that’s now taken a turn toward becoming a ChatRoullette-style site, SockandAwe where visitors could throw a shoe at George W. Bush, and OneMillionPeople, where visitors submit their photos for free, with the goal of gathering a million “faces of a digital generation” into a 1,250-page coffee-table book of the photos. Tew hopes to sell that book for $100 per copy, as well as sell sponsorships for each page online. For all his trouble, he was called “the most annoying man on the Internet” by the Daily Telegraph. Perhaps to soothe his soul, Tew is focusing on a more Zen-like approach with his new do-nothing site. From the looks of it, it’s picking up some momentum, but there’s no monetization scheme involved with this one that we can see — just pure relaxation. As you can see in the graphic above, I succeeded in doing nothing for the full two minutes. Sorry, boss. No ADD here. I’m not alone — there are already 27,000 Facebook user who like this. Come on, high-powered, driven people. It’s the weekend; time to give yourself a time out. Go ahead, take a couple of minutes, listen to the relaxing sounds of the ocean and just do nothing. It might do you some good. How about it, readers? Did you pass the test? More About: Alex Tew, Do Nothing for 2 Minutes, trending, Viral websites, websites, Zen For more Media coverage:
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| 7 Pairs of Stylish 3-D Specs for Fashionable Film Fans Posted: 22 Jan 2011 09:19 AM PST   With 798,000 pairs of disposable plastic glasses doled out per day at the peak of Avatar’s popularity, the many 3-D films headed to the theater in 2011 may not be good news for the planet. Getting your own pair of reusable 3-D glasses will offer you an improved viewing experience and comfort, as well as help you look less like a dork, especially now that 3-D screens are coming out of the darkness of the movie theater. “3-D entertainment is breaking out of the movie multiplex. Once you’re with your mates watching 3-D sports events in bars and clubs, it’s just not acceptable to wear glasses that look like they have been handed out by some Stalinist health care service,” says Stuart Newman, development director of Moshka 3D. We’ve found seven pairs of stylin’, RealD-friendly, passive 3-D glasses suitable for movie-goers across all budgets. Have a look through our gallery and let us know which pair you might consider sporting at your next trip to the movies. 1. Oakley 3D Gascan Sunglasses super-brand Oakley has hopped on the 3-D wagon with its HDO-3D "Gascan" models which bring some futuristic chic to your movie experience. They are available in black and white, as well as a limited edition Tron-themed pair which, at $150, we'd perhaps think twice about splurging for. Cost: $120 2. Look3D LK3D252GC Look3D brings the fake gilt finish with these specs that might entice even the hippest of hipsters to a 3-D screening. With much thinner frames than your average freebie glasses, and much thicker lenses, you should see better, and in greater comfort, wearing these. Cost: $30 3. Polaroid Premium 3D Glasses Polaroid offers some sensibly-priced 3-D goggles with a variety of styles to suit. Designed to last, they're a more environmentally-friendly option than your disposable movie theater freebies, boast a curved lens for a wider viewing angle, and are lightweight and comfortable to wear. Cost: $30 4. Calvin Klein Eyewear If you like designer labels, then consider Calvin Klein's high-end options. The "ck3D" sunglasses come in three men's and three women's styles. They boast "photocromic" capabilities, which means that they change to proper sunglasses when contacted by light, while retaining all that RealD 3-D goodness indoors. It might almost justify that designer price tag. Cost: $180 5. Moshka 3D Airframe These lightweight aviator-style shades don't take themselves too seriously, but offer all the tech specs (circular polarised lenses for use with passive 3-D sources) that you need. Available in white, black, pink and red, the Airframes are simply fun. Cost: £21.99 (approx $35) 6. Gucci 3D Glasses The highest price prize in our round-up goes to Gucci, which asks $225 for its 3-D viewing apparatus. We work out that for this price, you could go to the cinema approximately 22 times. Or, buy these and just go once, but look really cool doing it. (Popcorn sold separately, of course.) Cost: $225 7. Look3D LK3D9042GC Affordable, and boasting a gorgeous vintage design befitting the rich history of cinematic 3-D, the only thing we don't like about Look3D's LK3D9042GCs is that clumsy product number name. We'd call them "Eugene." Cost: $27.50 More Tech Resources from Mashable:
More About: 3D, 3D glasses, accessories, List, Lists, tech, technology For more Tech & Gadgets coverage:
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| Top 10 Twitter Trends This Week [CHART] Posted: 22 Jan 2011 07:49 AM PST   We did it, everyone. We finally got Justin Bieber to trend on Twitter in two distinct capacities during one week. Hold for applause. But the Bieb didn’t take the cake. No, that pastry went to the 68th annual Golden Globe Awards. If you were anywhere near Twitter last Sunday, you’re probably not surprised to see it in the number one spot. The observance of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday in the U.S. prompted a flurry of tweets honoring the civil rights leader this past Monday. Dr. King reached the number two slot. And excitement about the NFL playoffs kept the league at the top of the trends again, this time at number three. And in one of the quirkier news items from the week, a 13th sign, “Ophiuchus,” was added to the Zodiac, sending Astrology enthusiasts into a tizzy, and exacerbating some long-held suspicions that horoscopes are a huge load of bunk. Lots of discussion topped out this topic at number seven. For the full list of top trends, check out the chart below, compiled by our friends at What The Trend. Because this is a topical list, hashtag memes and games have been omitted from the chart. You can check past Twitter trends in our Top Twitter Topics section, and read more about this past week's trends on What The Trend. Top Twitter Trends This Week: 1/15 – 1/21 |
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