A quick search for companies like Virgin Airlines and a bit of glare lead us to click on one of the two ads at the top of the page rather than an organic search result. What happened? Google’s famous ‘not-quite-a-404-error-but-your-page-is-not-there’ screen. A few more quick searches, looking up DirectBuy, Hotwire, and a couple other household names yielded the same strange result. The server that manipulates, publishes and tracks the ads which make Google (and myriad Web based ad agencies and their clients millions of dollars a day) is down. Like it’s not working. And that’s a problem.

According to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Google pulled in 29.321 billion in 2010, which averages out to about $80 million a day. As of this writing, the advertising web servers were down from 11:13 Eastern until about 12:11 am Thursday morning —  you do the math.

So how did we know it was really down and it’s not just our computers, Internet connection or something unique to us? We checked on the world-renowned website, http://www.downforeveryoneorjustme.com/and what we got back was the flagship image of this post.

Reasons? This might be due to Google’s roll out of their new +1 service, where users can rank ads they find useful. It might also be hacking, which huge companies like Epsilon have recently suffered. It’s hard to believe Google’s ad tracking server would be hacked though, especially when grabbing user records is so much more lucrative. Maybe, just maybe, someone forgot to renew the domain license for www.googleadservices.com. It did happen to Hotmail once.

*updated at 00:30, Eastern Time

In this episode, Devindra, Dwayne and Chris chat about the launch of the iPad 2, Motorola vs. Samsung as Android leaders, and more!

Subscribe via iTunes or via RSS (for other media players), stream it with the player below, or download the episode. As always, you can email us at symbiotekpodcast@gmail.com.

News Discussion

• (01:48) Motorola is back from the dead/The Droid was not a One hit Wonder.
• (17:15) Is Samsung ready for the big time? It’s ruling Android and home tech/entertainment products, will they
• (24:44) iPad 2 thoughts. Is the iPad about the specs?
  • (31:39) Determining who it’s for: The Post PC isn’t about PC Specs
  • (35:40)  Clean your phones. Don’t take them to the bathroom. It’s gross.
  • (41:00) Thoughts on the iPad 2′s screen resolution
  • (45:55) The iPad 2′s case, err cover…sorta reminiscent of InCase’s design.
  • (49:16) iPad 3. Will it come out later this year? We breakdown the pros and cons. 4G? Tighter/Higher resolutions? Position in the markets
  • (58:38) /is the iPad disposable?
• (59:00) Intel’s Thunderbolt interface, AKA Lightpeak
  • (59:00) Which name is better for you?
  • (1:00:04) What is Thunderbolt? An Apple/Intel Love child?
• Rundown
  • Man installs MS DOS on a virtual machine and does a steady stream of upgrades until he hits windows 7. So geeky. So awesome. Doom II played on every OS.

Featured Music

• M83, “Teen Angst”; Sidhe, “Amethyst Caverns” (from the Shatter game soundtrack)

In this episode of the show, Devindra, Dwayne, and Chris chat about Google’s big week with the launch of the Nexus S, Chrome OS netbook, online eBooks, and more.

Subscribe via iTunes or via RSS (for other media players), stream it with the player below, or download the episode. As always, you can email us at symbiotekpodcast@gmail.com.

News Discussion

• Google’s big week!
  • Nexus S coming
  • Chrome OS netbook stuff
  • Ebook store
  • Google Maps update looks CRAZY good
• Wikileaks talk
• Run down
  • Playstation Android phone gets benchmarked
  • Notion Ink Adam Android tablet up for preorder
  • BlackBerry PlayBook tablet updates
  • Looxcie

Featured Music

• “The Grid”, “Derezzed”, “Finale” – Daft Punk, Tron Legacy Soundtrack

An open table

There’s been a lot of talk about OpebTable, the wildly popular online reservation service which helps optimize table traffic and server productivity.  It all started with a blog post by Mark Pastore, a restaurant owner in San Francisco, who claimed that the costs for the reservation service, which focuses on using consumer-friendly ways to fill empty seats in 13,000 restaurants across the US, may not be worth it.

I read the post carefully and must confess that while he made some compelling arguments, he seemed to just be complaining about the fact that it was yet another mega-corporation making its money off the backs of the hard-working restaurateur. I have a friend at OpenTable, so I reached out to her in order to get her perspective.

I’ll start by saying that OpenTable’s one of those tech’s that theoretically totally inline with the idea of Symbiotek: a user can pop in what time they want to eat, along with where they are, and voila, a list of nearby eateries pop onto the screen, allowing the user to make a real reservation– without having to pick up the phone/use minutes/ or do anything really but tap or click their way to a dinner date.

Locate where you are, and it does the rest for your (Courtesy of Arstechica)

Pastore’s article speaks of OpenTable’s meteoric rise to a $1.5 Billion market cap and how, via his informal, non-scientific survey, he determined that the service is problematic at best. The problem is– he’s never used OpenTable himself. A further problem is that TechCrunch picked up the story in the form of a ‘something’s not right here’ complaint from Sarah Lacy, a confessed OpenTable detractor.

From a marketing perspective Open Table seems to be fundamentally sound– the people who run fine dining establishments are working 80 hours weeks to keep the ship running, they have little time for promotion (when was the last time you saw a great restaurant website?

OpenTable’s designed around bringing in customers and getting paid on a CPA or Cost Per Action basis. The action’s different for different companies. Some drive leads, membership sign-ups or sales. They get paid on those actions and those alone– delivering something to the client which the client can then work their magic on.  After the OpenTable’s of the world get the consumer in the door of the restaurant, it’s the proprietor’s responsibility to get the most out of the new consumer. In the case of a restaurant the wait staff should be trained on the up-sell, whether that’s the bottle of wine or wine pairing over a single glass or carafe, or caressing the consumer into  appetisers or desserts, etc.

But OpenTable is much more than that. The service provides its restaurant members with software and tools that allow them to track both the productivity of the tables (are there two people at a 4-top?) and the productivity of their wait-staff (in which sections are desserts and the other entre add-ons I mentioned above being sold the most?). There’s even a video site designed to get people new to the platform started.

OpenTable's Mobile App (Thanks to LarryFire.Wordpress.com)

Given the focus of the original article and it’s Techcrunch spin-off, it’s clear that these complaints are not coming from people are using the full functionality of the software. If they were, we’d be hearing complaints about how it doesn’t or is too hard to make work, has fundamental algorithmic problems and so on. But they’re not mentioning anything that substantive at all, which leads me to believe that they are either ignorant of this functionality, or are purposefully ignoring it for the sake of a well-publicized rant.

Truthfully, these owners should be clamouring for a chance to partner more deeply with OpenTable in order to drop the customers CRM (Customer Relationship Management) offers in an effort to make those people into return customers. Perhaps OpenTable can begin to license the database of similar customers of restaurant X to restaurant X for the purpose of targeted but limited promotions, which would allow the restaurant owner the user-access these people are complaining about.

OpenTable may not be perfect, but it’s clear that like all CPA business models, it’s designed to be an opportunity engine, one which can produce more growth by how well a restaurant owner chooses to wield it.

RaceAbout Electronic Motorcar - Photo Courtesy of ERA via TreeHugger.com

The Europeans have done it again – the Finnish Raceabout car seems to push hard at our American electric car efforts on a few key levels. It is:

1. Just as beautiful as a Tesla and seems as
2. fast (super light because no mechanical transmission is needed) but it’s got
3. all wheel drive (four motors for four wheels) and it
4. charges in 10 minutes for a 125mile range

Now, the thing to note here is that this isn’t a production vehicle, while Tesla’s roadster is. That’s a big deal as questions of true afford-ability and road worthiness need to be put to the test if you’re going to sell the thing retail. What it does show is that where Americans have been leading via Elon Musk’s electronic supercar, the Europeans aren’t far behind.

Check out the videos below:

Intro to the RaceAbout

The RaceAbout at the Automotive X-Prize

]]> http://www.symbiotekpodcast.com/finnish-raceabout-to-rival-tesla-roadster/feed/ 0 http://www.symbiotekpodcast.com/the-xbox-fights-back-app-hub-will-give-the-console-much-needed-competitive-freedom-in-the-age-of-the-set-top-box/ http://www.symbiotekpodcast.com/the-xbox-fights-back-app-hub-will-give-the-console-much-needed-competitive-freedom-in-the-age-of-the-set-top-box/#comments Tue, 12 Oct 2010 01:30:54 +0000 Dwayne http://www.symbiotekpodcast.com/?p=1482

The MSDN App Hub for Windows Phone 7 & X-Box 360

Today, Microsoft announced App Hub, a subset of the Microsoft Developers Network that focuses on submitting apps & games for the newly announced Windows Phone 7 & the Xbox360.

We all know how important it is for any smart phone platform to have access to third-party applications. If late-to-the-game MS wants to push this Windows Phone 7 operating system into the hands of millions around the world, it needs to make sure that the device’s functionality is always growing – like iOS and Android devices.

But that’s not the big news here. The big news is that the App Hub specifically asks for Xbox 360 development, and this is where Microsoft has the advantage. Currently, the Xbox 360 is often compared to its 7th generation game console rival, Sony’s PlayStation 3. Both have similar hardware specs, and both create top-notch game playing environments for those into console gaming, but for a while now, that world has not been enough. Both Sony and MS have launched Netflix support, and earlier this year, MS made a deal with ESPN, which plans to bring live streaming sports to the console.

The MSDN App Hub News Block

Now one would think that between the gaming and the Netflix and the sports, the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 would be kings of the living room, with no end of media options for their owners to choose from. The thing is, that spot under the TV is about to get a lot more crowded with devices focused on movies and sharing, and video.

Huge tech giants like Apple and Google are pushing their way into the living room with consumer-friendly devices like the new Apple TV and Google TV, in the form of the Logitech Revue (to start with). The first to market streaming media player, the Roku, has seen some serious update and Boxee, the media platform that’s been in beta for so long, is finally on the cusp of launch via the D-Link manufactured Boxee Box.

These are the new kids on the block, the next generation of techie-consumer love-children which seek to displace the age old HTPC (stick a computer next to your TV and play stuff off of it) model with something that doesn’t quite require a mouse and keyboard. But they’re not the only ones.For years now the generation 7 game consoles have been making inroads into the media consumption experience. Sony’s Playstation 3 is the de-facto Blue-Ray player for many a household, and the Xbox 360 continues to remain the best NetFlix Streaming experience around. Now MS is solidifying that station.

With MS’s App Hub asking for developers to code apps and games for the console, they’re asking their MSDN faithful, and all that would join them, to create not just another Roku Channel or Android-based Google TV app. They’re asking them to take a tested platform, sitting in the center of 41.7 million homes worldwide. With 25 million Xbox Live accounts, MS has valuable credit or debit card information on these users already – users that have already purchased through them.

With the exception of Apple’s iTunes App Store, no app marketplace has ever had such reach. And unlike Apple’s phone/tablet/ipod based store, this device isn’t enjoyed by one person at a time, it’s enjoyed by everyone in front of the TV at once. That means it’s not a question of what apps Mom wants to download on her iPhone, but more about what Mom and Dad are going to purchase that night to keep the kids quiet, and that’s a wholly different way of making decisions about what your purchasing for your Xbox 360.

Boxee Likes Google TV

So what does this mean? Are devices like D-Link’s Boxee Box dead in the water? It’s hard to tell. We do know that Boxee sees Google TV less as a threat and more as a platform for their content navigating application. Given that Boxee is based on Xbox Media Center (XBMC), which was created for the original Xbox, there’s no doubt that the 360, as a backwards-compatible console with a 3.2Ghz Tri-Core processor would be able to handle just such an application should Boxee want to develop one.

Now there’s a lot that needs to happen to make the dream of an extensible app-laden Xbox 360 console to come true. The SDK or Software Developer’s Kit has to be robust and easy to use. The guidelines for the applications developers want to create need to likewise be easy to deal with, and most importantly, developer talent has to be lured away from all the other App marketplaces out there in order to head over (or back to) Microsoft for the purposes of turning the X in Xbox back into the mysterious mathematical variable that’s symbolically Symbiotek.

—-
Felipe Oduardo Sierra contributed to this article.

Android-Zon.com

Ever since the iPad launched, we’ve seen a slew of Android based tablets and other devices hit the market and a bunch more in the press as pipeline pieces for some of the top brass tech companies. The problem is that many of these offerings or intended offerings fall flat – either because either they are running the ancient Android 1.6 or they’re pushing Android devices that do not connect to Google’s Marketplace, the chief Internet space where users can download and manage their Android devices, not unlike Apple’s iTunes Store.

It seems that Amazon’s out to change some of that. According to Yukari Iwatani Kane of the WSJ, Amazon.com is planning to launch a software store for products that run on the Google’s Android operating system. Just like Apple’s iTunes, Amazon would take a 30% chunk of the profits of any sales off of their store. Another interesting piece of the deal concerns exclusivity. It looks like Amazon is asking that developers that sign the Amazon Android store agreement to place their apps in the store within two weeks of pushing it anywhere else. This means that as long as the app is publicly available anywhere online, consumers can expect it to show up in a bona-fide, sketch-free market place within two weeks of that launch date.

While the WSJ article alludes to the potential for marketplace cannibalism in the Android software market as Google and Amazon will be selling many of the same products, there are some really positive aspects to this new relationship. Amazon is responsible for  8% of all online sales, which means that not only do they know retail, but that they are extremely powerful at the promotion of new products. We can highlight their popularity with the tech savvy crowd by mentioning that right now, both the Boxee Box and Logitech Revue are available for pre-order exclusively on Amazon.

People know this store. People have accounts on this store. Rather than Google having to ask its Android user base to sign up and and over their credit card information, Google’s making a play to take market share by extending the range of people who can buy and download android apps easily, by leveraging Amazon’s considerable existing user base.

The bottom line is that here, Google’s trading marketplace exclusivity for a push at delivering all that android has to offer to the mainstream, hassle-free, and that’s Symbiotek.

Zuckerberg of Facebook

Less than a week after the zany P.R. that is the Facebook movie, The Social Network, CEO and Founder Mark Zuckerberg laid out the changes to the massive site in his blog today. Along with the new group features, users will be able to download all the data (updates, photos, videos) that comprises their Facebook presence. Felipe brought up that the strange thing here is that competing social networks like Disaspora will likely be able to take that data, and allow users to import it, so that they can move from one network to another without missing a step.

Here’s a link to where you can watch the announcement yourself.

Hoverboards beat Realtime Search and Video Codecs any day.

Episode 51!  Facebook’s new places feature has been alive for a week and there’s already a follow-up.  Google and Yahoo announce new moves in the Realtime Search market and Digg debuts it’s new version 4.x interface— Chris, Dwayne and Devindra break down what the big deal is. They also go into the headlines spawned by MPEG-LA’s move to keep their h.264 codec “free” until their rights to it run out. And then, there’s The Rundown.

Subscribe via iTunes or via RSS (for other media players), stream it with the player below, or   download the episode. As always, you can email us at symbiotekpodcast@gmail.com.

Discussion Highlights

• (02:17) Facebook Places Vs. Google Places. Both are aiming for local advertisers. Which tech giant’s strategy will succeed?
• (17:47) Google’s Gmail Voice Call allows users to make calls from a web browser… to a real phone. Without paying. What’s Skype to do?
• (22:01) Realtime Search! What is it and why are Yahoo and Google making moves in this area?
  • Google’s Realtime Search Update
  • Yahoo’s Realtime Search Update (OneRiot)
  • Blekko’s New Search Tactics (Customized Searches)
• (33:55) The New Digg.com: Digg 4.x Can Kevin Rose save one of the pillars of Web 2.0?
• (40:20) MPEG-LA’s new plans for the H.264 Codec: It’s Free. Sort Of.
• (53:13) The Rundown!
  • (53:22) Facebook gives Hacker News/Y Combinator start-up’s “VIP treatment.”
  • (1:00:16) Diaspora’s almost here. Chris has the updates.
  • (1:05:20) Finally, a “stovetop” heating surface for the 21st Century.
  • (1:10:27) Nike patents automatically lacing sneakers and finally, we’ve been brought Back to the Future! (2!)

Featured Music

• Music: Shiro Sagisu – Magma Diver, Barefoot in the Park (from the Evangelion soundtracks)

The Galaxy S - Samsung's Found Another Hit Phone for Android

We mentioned the Samsung Galaxy S some weeks ago back in Episode 49. It looks like Samsung’s strategy of making what’s basically the same device available on all carriers is working for them. They’re not selling in iPad numbers (1 million the first month of availability) but at 1 million units in just over ~six weeks, this launch is fairly remarkable…and maybe that’s because the marketing is not being pushed by one carrier alone. This is certainly easier on everyone’s wallet.

You can expect more from the accessory manufacturers too, with these numbers– something that iPhone users get great support from, and which is part of the secret sauce of that platform’s success.

If you’re looking to upgrade from a 2008 era device, the Galaxy S is worth investigating, especially if you’re an Android fan. Given that the device is being sold across the aisle from the iPhone at the AT&T store, it shows that when there are valid options, people will choose what’s best for them…especially if they don’t have to pay an Apple premium for it…and that goes double for when Samsung gives them away for FREE!

Google CEO Eric Schmidt with Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam

In this episode, Devindra, Dwayne, and Chris chat about Google and Verizon’s plan for an “open internet”, foreign countries threatening to ban BlackBerries for security reasons, and the death of the Plastic Logic Que ereader.

Subscribe via iTunes or via RSS (for other media players), stream it with the player below, or   download the episode. As always, you can email us at symbiotekpodcast@gmail.com.

Discussion Highlights

• (04:15) Google and Verizon talk net neutrality
• (30:10) BlackBerry comes under fire from Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, India, and more
• (40:55) The death of the Plastic Logic Que ereader
• The Rundown!
  • (51:21) Samsung backs up Galaxy S Android phones with plenty of accessories
  • (57:05) How to get Amber Alerts for lost kids texted to you
  • (1:01:00) Apple TV now iTV, a few more potential details emerge

Featured Music

• Sex Bob-omb — “We Are Sex Bob-omb”, “Threshold” — from the Scott Pilgrim Soundtrack

Skimmers in Action (Courtesy of The Epoch Times)

The oil spewed from a mile beneath the gulf for around eighty days before being cappedn ad hopefully, eventually plugged. In the meantime, government scientists who studied the phenomenon via the underwater video cameras estimate as many as 50,000 barrels of oil spewed from the broken well every day– that’s four million barrels of crude oil altogether– an environmental disaster to be sure.

So the question becomes, how to deal with the clean-up. How do you take 4 million barrels of oil out of the Gulf of Mexico quickly and cleanly? Well, you ask the experts. The Gulf oil Spill is big, but surely, there are people who deal with spills approaching this size, or, more importantly, who’ve dealt with big spills recently.

Enter the Dutch. Rotterdam’s a port of call for oil, and the Dutch have made an industry of cleaning it up. The tech is called The Sweeping Arm Oil Skimmer. they have machines that can sift oil from the ocean’s surface and hold onto it while spitting filtered water back into the Gulf. PRI’s Marketplace reported that the Dutch offered Uncle Sam their technology and expertise in dealing with the spill at the outset in May, however–

American officials refused. Rather, they decided to tackle the millions of barrels of oil in the cheapest, most environmentally destructive way possible: burn it.

And that plan didn’t even begin until mid June– the explosion that began the spill happened on 22 April (or Earth Day). When that didn’t work, the people running the cleaning effort moved to a slightly less deadly technology: toxic oil dispersants…nevermind the vibrant fishing industry that works these waters. The EPA censured the use of the dispersants, but still refused to allow the use of the Dutch skimmers because the ‘filtered’ water that was being put back into the Gulf wasn’t covered by their rules.

To give you an idea of how ridiculous this decision was, understand that according to the Examiner, on 8 June, more than six weeks after the spill commenced, BP reported that they had collected ~64k barrels of oil…less than a days work for one of the Dutch skimmers.

But that wasn’t the only tech fail to occur in during the spill. Kevin Costner (that’s right, Mr. Field of Deams, and perhaps, more appropriately, Waterworld) attempted to get machinery that he heavily invested in, machinery that does indeed clean oil off the surface of the water. According to Costner, oil companies would not invest in the machines because they “did not think another spill could occur,” while regulators would not allow his unapproved machines on the scene. Logical as that may sound, the regulators would not allow the machinery to be approved without testing it first…but since it was unapproved testing could not happen… (you see the problem here).

It wasn’t until mid July that the US government started to re-consider the use of the Dutch skimmers. A move back in the right direction to be sure, but a move that came way too late.

There’s another tech tragedy here. The Deep Horizon oil rig, whose explosion commenced the spill that ill-fated spring night, was outfitted with alarms to wake and warn the oil drillers of anything out of the ordinary. That alarm was partially turned off, in an effort to ensure the  oil-rig personnel slept well.

Overall, the technological decision making taking place during this crisis has been horrendous. Many lives– human, wetlands and marine could have been saved if the leadership involved in this situation had been more technologically open, and more technologically aware. Allowing regulations to get in the way of legitimate the clean-up efforts of an environmentally and economically sensitive area is as close to criminal negligence as one can get; and what’s worse? It violates the spirit of those regulations at the expense of people’s livelihoods, and worse, nature’s majesty.

The Graphite version of the new 6" Kindle

They said the Kindle was dead. They said it could never compete with Apple’s iPad, and the waves of Windows and Android-based tablets to come. They yelled that it wasn’t versatile enough, they derided it for it’s singular drive.

They should all stop talking, because they’re all dead wrong.

The first clue was that earlier this month, Amazon announced that it sold more E-Books in Q4 of 2009 than it did the old-fashioned paper kind, and a lot of that selling, was through the Kindle.

The second clue came in when the Kindle’s price point dropped and started FLYING off the shelves. It’s been Amazon’s best selling item for “two years running.”

The third clue came when suddenly, they were all gone.

Kindle has always been popular, but it’s always been out of reach for the average user– the price, just a touch above what seemed logical for an electronic book reader, especially when it came out two years ago, and few saw its potential. But recently with price drops, the device has seen an explosion of popularity, and if anything, that popularity has been bolstered by the iPad (and perhaps how it’s not trying to be that device).

The new Kindles have taken a lesson from the new kid on Apple’s block. They’ve got a cheapy WiFi version at $140.00 and then the 3G WhisperNet version for $190.00.

Each has:

1. New E-Ink displays with claims of 50% higher contrast than other E-Readers
2. the same no-glare screen that allows readers to pull it out while sitting out under the sun.
3. Slimmer body (21% slimmer)
4. 8.7 ounces, so less than a paperback book
5. 3,500 books worth of storage
6. connectivity to any AT&T wifi hotspot in the US (without a password or clumsy logins) and, if you have the 3G version, access to new content anywhere you receive AT&T 3G
7. Up to 1 month of battery life (with wireless off)

The New 6" Kindle. Thinner than a standard pencil.

Of these seven features, lucky number seven sticks out to us the most here, because it’s tailored to the Symbiotek. By that I mean long battery life is key to an E-Reader if it wants to properly replace books, the current traditional technology we use to consume poetry, literature, satire and so on.

Don’t get me wrong, the iPad is an evolutionary device that will become a platform for all sorts of mobile computing but if you’re in it for the reading, 10-12hours on a charge isn’t going to suffice. The Kindle isn’t trying to be the jack of all trades that the iPad is, and that’s its strength.

When you want to cross people out of a centuries-old paradigm, companies need to give them what I call a TRUE upgrade. leave nothing behind. A true upgrade to paper books gives you everything you have with traditional paperbacks, but a little bit more– or in Kindle’s case, a lot more. That’s what the kindle is.

You want to get lost in your books, and with the Kindle it’s easy to do that. Turn to a page and there you are. No Facebook notifications or the like to get in your way. Kindle doesnt require a second hand to ‘flip’ pages, so you can lay in more positions as you fall deeper into the content than with a traditional book. You can read it in sunlight on your deck without the annoyance of glare. You don’t have to think about charging it with any regularity. It’s light, so you can hold it longer without noticing it. The plastic/graphite is warm to the touch since it doesn’t have a metal back, and it’s not flashy, so the attention’s on the content, not the device. It’s got everything a book’s got, but there’s no paper waste, there’s no need for loads of bookshelves, there’s no need to find time to hop in the car or on the bike and head to the library or book store; and the books are cheap with best sellers starting at $9.99.

With the exception of that sensual feel of paper, you’re not really losing anything — it’s the the TRUE upgrade.

Tech like this really speaks to us. With devices this cheap, it’s conceivable that schools (and I don’t mean higher education alone) could leverage it to get students reading more often, as the ten pound, back-breaking model of the text book can quickly become a thing of the past. Text book version updates are tantamount to software patches for a few dollars, rather than mandating that the students buy a whole new text books at full price, and best of all, maybe we’ll see a possible change in the future, from Generation Fat, to Generation Lit – a generation of kids, toting their books, everywhere they go, devouring knowledge when they have a chance, and getting more out of life because of it.

Lagoa Multiphysics 1.0 – Teaser from Thiago Costa on Vimeo.

Computers and physics go together like Jimi Hendrix and a guitar. One was practically made for the other.  Computational physics was one of the very first applications of computers and, indeed, along with decrypting military codes, virtual physics was one of the very uses that lead to the development of the modern computer.

However, while certain physical problems are easily solvable with sufficient computational power, many of the more common ‘real-world’ physics that surround us are much more difficult to simulate.  While dropping your clothes in a pile on the floor might be easier than washing them, simulating the behavior of such an action would be extremely difficult.  Non-rigid physics of objects like cloth, water, putty,etc is very difficult to do.

Still, the folks over at Lagao Technologies (there’s not much there, but the owner says more is coming soon) have come up with an absolutely amazing and super powerful physics engine for representing exactly this sort of interaction! How long these take to render at video-game or movie quality is anyone’s guess, but as processing power increases there is a lot of potential here.

Lagao Technologies

Via CrunchGear.

Go Here to Fix Your iPhone 4 Antenna Problem: http://www.antenn-aid.com/

In this episode, Dwayne and Chris mourn Devindra’s absence as they discuss Apple’s huge Anti-Recall, the fate of the Verizon’s Droid Marketing platform, and where Android 2.2 is going. NOTE: This is Dwayne’s first time editing, so you might have to just drop the volume a bit. He’ll do better next time.

Subscribe via iTunes or via RSS (for other media players), stream it with the player below, or   download the episode. As always, you can email us at symbiotekpodcast@gmail.com.

Discussion Highlights

• (01:39) Apple’s Anti-Recall
  • It’s gonna cost Apple some MONEY as they give away many a bumper case
• (27:16) The Droid X launched on Thursday
  • Impressions
  • Specs
  • Efuse? What the What?
• (49:55)The Rundown!
  • (50:14) End of Nexus 1
  • (53:28) Why haven’t there been any Android Tablets launched?
  • (59:21) Michael Arrington’s new Robot…and why it costs more than the JuJu.
  • (104:19) Renewable Energy for Cell Phone Towers? Sign us up!

Featured Music

• Escaflowne, Music from the Original Series Soundtrack: “Cubic;” “Flying Dragon;’ & “Dance of Curse”

In this episode, Devindra, Dwayne, and Chris chat about the unsurprising demise of Microsoft’s Kin phones and the many internal details that have leaked out about it, as well as the iPhone 4 antenna issue.

Subscribe via iTunes or via RSS (for other media players), stream it with the player below, or   download the episode. As always, you can email us at symbiotekpodcast@gmail.com.

Discussion Highlights

• (01:39) Microsoft kills the Kin
  • Engadget’s rundown on what happened, Ars Technica’s rundown
  • Mini-Microsoft’s compilation of insider info
• (31:58) Our thoughts on iPhone 4′s antenna issues
• The Rundown!
  • (48:52) Solar powered planes
  • (52:45) Lucasfilm upset about laser replicas
  • (55:23) Microsoft’s Instaload battery tech

Featured Music

• Them Crooked Vultures “Dead End Friends”; Ryuichi Sakamoto “Self Portrait”

In the first episode of Symbiotek’s second season, Devindra, Dwayne, and Chris discuss their impressions of the iPhone 4, Amazon’s state of affairs inspired by its Woot purchase, and how technology may be used in future World Cups.

Subscribe via iTunes or via RSS (for other media players), stream it with the player below, or   download the episode. As always, you can email us at symbiotekpodcast@gmail.com.

Discussion Highlights

• (06:48) Our iPhone 4 impressions
  • We compare it to the Evo 4G, Samsung Galaxy, and iPad
• (44:14) On Amazon’s Woot purchase, and its expanding cloud
  • Including how Zappos, IMDB, and Audible fits into Amazon’s gameplan
• (1:10:08) On FIFA’s use of technology in the World Cup, and how that may change
• The Rundown
  • (1:23:00) Seagate launches 3TB external hard drive
  • (1:29:38) Blockbuster gets delisted from the NY Stock Exchange
  • (1:34:10) Hulu introduces Hulu Plus premium service
  • (1:39:45) Bloomberg says Verizon iPhone coming early next year
  • (1:45:28) Google buys travel data company ITA

Featured Music

• Bad Dudes and the One Ups – Chronotorious, Star Stealing Girl, Cave Girl – from Chronotorious and Time & Space

[Image: "Morning in the Amazon" via MarkG6 on Flickr]

The 4th iPhone, hitting shelves on 24 June, 2010. Can the Apple Empire hold onto their lead with this one?

In this episode, Devindra, Dwayne, and Chris go in depth about Apple’s WWDC, and spend some time focusing on the iPhone 4. The three get into it about iAd and whether or not Apple’s intentions here are competitive or not– especially with the new Reader feature on Safari 5. The rundown features the iPad security breach, Tested.com’s guide to ripping your data off of the Cloud, and China’s wage raising and how it might affect the US consumer. All right here, on the Symbiotek Podcast.

Subscribe via iTunes or via RSS (for other media players), stream it with the player below, or   download the episode. As always, you can email us at symbiotekpodcast@gmail.com.

Discussion Highlights

• (01:52)Apple’s WWDC Overview
  1. (03:40) iPhone 4, design, features, and, new technology development history.
     • (22:00) Looking at the iPhone 4 hadrware and projecting it onto the iPad 2 (speculation station)
     • (27:00) iMovie on the iPhone. Apple shows advanced software that steps away from the keyboard and mouse paradigms.
     • (30:42) Apple & AT&T– the relationship under strain?
     • (39:08) A call to Congress to conform wireless network standards across 4G (LTE) and changes to the AT&T data plans
  2. (46:50) Apple’s iAd and competitiveness: A breakdown.
     • (50:35) Apple block’s AdMob
     • (51:55) What Ads are to the web
     • (52:41) The debate on whether or not iAd is anti competitive or not.
     • (59:55) The Safari 5 tie-in and the lack of B2B platform support.

• (1:11:27) The Rundown!
  • (1:11:30) iPad 3G/AT&T security breach
  • (1:18:30) China Raises Wages So Prices for their goods may Rise:
  • (1:24:46) Tested show us a really, really, useful How To: Utils for ripping your data off the cloud
    • Flickr, Google Docs, Word Press, and even Tumblr

Featured Music

• Music: M83 – Teen Angst, Run Into Flowers, Gone (Live)

The Old AT&T was about transmitting Morse code and making phone calls. Today, the Data's a little more complex. And it shows.(Thanks Alice for the cert.)

About a week ago, AT&T unveiled some new data plans in advance of the WWDC iPhone 4 announcement. Rather than paying $30 for unlimited data, users would now have something of a choice: $15 for 200mb of data over 3G (dubbed DataPlus) OR $25 for 10x that much, or 2gb of data over 3G (dubbed DataPro).

There has been uproar. There’s been some serious evangelizing about how wonderful it is. We’ll see. What we know for sure, is that it looks like  AT&T’s missed an opportunity here to generate gobbs and gobbs of revenue from data-hungry subscribers, while also missing a chance making  some real waves in the industry on the customer service side, the kinds of waves that would likely siphon off yet more clients from the likes of Verizon.

But before we get into that, it’s time to drop some facts:

1. Who? – If you already had an iPhone before these changes were made by AT&T, your plan will remain the same, regardless of whether you upgrade or not.
2. iPad users?  - If you have an iPad w/ 3G capabilities, it doesn’t matter when you got it because there’s no contract with this device, only the ability to re-up with whatever 3G services they’re offering when your 30 days runs out.
3. Differences? – These plans (200mb and 2gb) are much less than those data plans advertised by Steve Jobs back on 27 January 2010 when he mentioned the ‘revolutionary new data plans’ from AT&T. Those data plans were 250mb for $14.99 and 5gb for $29.99 respectively. The current plans are 1/5th less for the same money in the case of the DataPlus and 3/5th less– less than half of the data for the same money when it comes to the DataPro.
4. Real Life Usage – This leaves many AT&T users upset but— fact no. 4 is that ~200mb a month is about what the average person with an iPhone uses on AT&T’s 3G network, so many new users won’t really feel the sting of these new plans with their average usage. Even John Gruber only uses 500mb a month. So in this case, he’s saving $5/mo.
5. Tethering – the ability to use your phone as a 3G modem for your computer (Windows pr OS X) will cost $20 /mo in addition to the DataPro and DataPlus plans… but that’s just for access to the tethering software. Users will NOT get access to any more data for that price. So while you may be able to get away with a $15 plan for your phone, if you move to $35/mo to use tethering and go over your 200mb limit, you’ll be charged $15 for every additional 200mb you use…so that’s at least $55 if you go over by as much as 1mb. If you’re gonna tether, get yourself on the DataPro plan!
6. iPad tethering? Not in the cards people. Unlike Android’s WiFi tethering capabilities, Apple and AT&T have left you in the stone age with wired, USB tethering– the same stuff that Blackberries and Treos have been able to do for cycle upon tech cycle now. This means that you need to plug your iPhone into a laptop to get that machine online over 3G. Currently, the iPad does not have a connector that supports direct connections to the iPhone. If you want to get your WiFi only iPad online in the absence of a good WiFi connexion, you’re going to have to either hack your iPhone to pull off wifi, OR, you’re gonna have to get yourself another device, like a MyFy, or an Android phone.

Now all these changes were likely made after looking intensely at the real world stats on how much people use, and how to give bandwidth hogs disinscentives to be, well, bandwith hogs. Theoretically, such actions would clear up the network and give each user access to more consistent data bandwidth and maybe even less dropped calls. The problem is that it’s all hogwash. Here’s why:

iPhone OS 4.0 or iOS4 allows for multitasking in a big way. It’s not TRUE multitasking, as some tech-heads would like it, but the fact is that it allows for things like Pandora and Rhapsody to play in the background, just as your iPod application would while you’re using the phone for something else which means that any user taking advantage of that data’s gonna use much more data without even knowing it.

The iPad…the 3G version just launched, and with it, NetFlix, ABC’s content App and even Wired’s multi-media interactive app. Unlike traditional Apple products, which focused on content creation, the iPad’s  focus is on media consumption. YouTube’s bigger and available in HD; the aforementioned applications all deliver streaming video, whether you’re in an airport or enjoying a drink at a charming street-side wifi-less cafe. The future is video people, and with 200 megabytes equating to about 20 minutes of standard quality video consumption…per month. And that doesn’t at all include emailing updated versions of Keynote or PowerPoint presentations to work, or blogging, or checking into 4Square or, well, anything else. The DataPro plan is limited to 200 minutes of standard quality video a month which leaves on with a film off of NetFlix along with a couple of TV shows from ABC’s streaming service. Again, forget email Twitter, or any other use for your 3G.

SO what do we take away from this? The first thing we take away is that WIFI IS YOUR FRIEND. The video looks better because the connection is faster, and AT&T has tens of thousands of  hotspots all around the country– mostly in the city. Starbucks cards give you at least twofree hours of fairly speedy wifi in their seemingly endless locations and feel free to be a little pushy and pester your friends for their WPA keys when you’re visiting their humble abodes. Use WiFi wherever possible and you should actually be fine.

Still, having to rely on Wifi does not leave the average consumer settled. Apple promised the world and AT&T took it away. Perhaps it’s because they’re just plain mean– but I don’t think so. They need to protect their 3G network while they build their 4G/LTE data distribution system or else their reputation will be so bad, no consumers will stick around to use it (iPhone or not). The missed opportunity here for AT&T was to charge $60 for a real unlimited data plan– even if it was only, in reality, 4GB. They’d have the money’d data hogs over there in a jiff, gathering data on their demographics, and the types of activities they do on their phones (at least), which would allow them to refine the data packages even more carefully, for near perfect price discrimination.

AT&T could have also taken care of their customers by auto-tiering the new DataPro and DataPlus plans. Switching a 200mb user to 2gb automatically should they go over and charging them $15 is much better than charing them $15 for 200 more measly megabytes. In the same vein, users of the 2gb plan who use less than 200mb should find a nice surprise on their bill when they realise that their usage left them with a $15 charge at the end of the month rather than $25. Such action would encourage lower usage.

Still, there seems room for a third tier of data. Yet AT&T offers no option for it. It seems that without offering a third, unlimited tier, that perhaps AT&T is showing their hand where their 3G network is concerned– the network simply cannot afford to care for new unlimited data subscribers at any reasonable price. And that means that in some way or another, these drastic steps are justified.

FourSquare rewards users with various badges depending on their activity.

When I first heard about Twitter in 2007, my initial reaction was something along the lines of “That is the silliest idea I have ever heard of.”  Time has proven me wrong and I was determined not to make the same mistake with the newest hot trend in the social web: GeoLocation based social networks like FourSquare, BrightKite and Gowalla.  Like Twitter, these networks took off at the uber-hip SXSW conference in Austin Texas and like Twitter, the tech world can hardly stop talking about them.   I was leery, but determined to see if all the hype is worth it.  For the last few weeks I have been dutifully living the GeoLocation lifestyle and am ready to report on my initial findings.

The first question, as with Twitter, is, “Why would you ever want to do this?” Well, to a certain extent we already do.  We share on Twitter, Facebook and via text where we are.  We invite friends and look for them. These services are a great way to meet up with people, particularly at large events like SXSW (where they first really began to take off).  So why not use the ubiquitous GPS and map applications on our smart-phones to add some clarity and structure to this type of interaction. It is fun to declare loyalty to your spots, and advertise businesses you care about! That local coffee shop? No longer let it languish in the shadow of the nearby Starbuck’s – shout it out!

There are also non-social applications to these services. They provide a way for you internally to keep track of where you have been.  This seems rather minor, but at the end of the month when going over your credit card bills how often do you wonder where a particular bill you don’t recognize came from? Check Foursquare and you’ll find out where you were on that day and rather easily narrow it down.  Secondly, Foursquare is experimenting with a sort of location based wiki at each venue.  You can leave tips for other Foursquare users who go there (try the Pad Thai and avoid the tofu) as well as notes to yourself (make an appointment to get a tune up next time I’m at the gas station).

Most of the utility and business-models of these services are relatively untapped, but they are simply fun ways to connect with friends and places in real life.  I will say one of the real advantages for nerds like myself is that they are definitely an encouragement to get out of the house and explore new places.  It is fun to check into a new place and find out what others have thought about it.  Also, you may find places you did not know that existed right in your area.  It is a very quickly growing field and it will be very interesting to see where we end up (both literally and figuratively).

Still, there are a number of hurdles that these networks will need to overcome if they are going to really take off.  As long as Foursquare is a game without any real consequences, there is no real motivation (other than obsession) to game the system.  However, as Foursquare monetizes and business start to offer real life rewards for being the mayor, people trying to game the system will become much more of a problem. How to define what constitutes a ‘check in’ and how long before you can check-in again?  Also, as the network grows, they will need to find better ways to fix broken/duplicate venues, spam-tips and other such pests of large networks.

For right now, it is fun to vie for dominance at your local venues.  Hopefully the creativity that pushed these networks will continue to increase their utility as well as their fun.

Image via Mariss007