FocuSoft Tech Blog

Microsoft’s new retail logo revealed in trademark application
NVIDIA inks deal for SLI support on Intel Core i5, i7 systems
Samsung ST1000 GPS-enabled camera appears in blurrycam shot
Facebook to acquire FriendFeed, a threaded message service
Survey: 13 percent of teens have posted nude photos of themselves online
CourseSmart Dumps 7,000+ Textbooks Into the iPhone App Store [Ebooks]
Zune HD hits FCC in prolific photo shoot, 16GB and 32GB capacities
Everyone needs a Vespa; even the kiddies
Microsoft Flower Power Logo Suggests Leaked Store Plans Are a Go [Microsoft Store]
Ultra Slim Emergency Charger for iPhone and iPod

Microsoft’s new retail logo revealed in trademark application

Posted: 10 Aug 2009 01:54 PM PDT

You know how serious Microsoft is about those new retail stores it’s currently building? New logo serious, fool. This artful rethink of the familiar Windows logo just popped up in a trademark filing saying it’ll be used to identify “retail store services and online retail services” for computers, media players, cell phones, video games, and more. Sounds like this is one box you’ll be seeing in person sometime soon.

[Via PC World]

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Microsoft’s new retail logo revealed in trademark application originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 10 Aug 2009 15:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NVIDIA inks deal for SLI support on Intel Core i5, i7 systems

Posted: 10 Aug 2009 01:32 PM PDT

The relationship between the two companies may have descended to the level of a schoolyard fight at times, but it looks like NVIDIA and Intel are now doing their best to get along — in public, at least — united, in part, by AMD’s entirely in-house CrossFire graphics solution. This latest gesture of goodwill comes in the form of an announcement that NVIDIA will indeed be licensing its SLI graphics technology to Intel and various motherboard manufacturers for use in upcoming Core i5 and Core i7-based systems, which Intel describes as the “perfect complement” for each other. Intel further goes on to say that “NVIDIA and Intel share a combined passion for furthering the PC as the definitive platform for gaming,” while unconfirmed reports also have NVIDIA holding up its fingers in a comical gesture behind Intel’s head during the announcement.

[Via Electronista]

Filed under: Desktops, Gaming

NVIDIA inks deal for SLI support on Intel Core i5, i7 systems originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 10 Aug 2009 15:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung ST1000 GPS-enabled camera appears in blurrycam shot

Posted: 10 Aug 2009 01:03 PM PDT

We’ve been waiting for some more compact cameras with integrated GPS features to hit the market, and this blurry shot of an upcoming Samsung ST1000 gives us a little hope. It’s actualy looking like a pretty hot piece of kit in addition to the geotagging features, with a 12 megapixel sensor with ISO 4800 sensitivity behind a stabilized 5x zoom lens, 3.5-inch touchscreen with gesture support, face detection that prioritizes the most-common faces, and WiFi support all cooked in. The rumor says we’re looking at an August 13 launch, so we should know more soon — hopefully the

Facebook to acquire FriendFeed, a threaded message service

Posted: 10 Aug 2009 01:01 PM PDT

Facebook announced today that it was acquiring FriendFeed, the 12-person Mountain View, Calif., company that runs a messaging network of the same name and has stayed viable in a crowded social-media landscape.

FriendFeed is a messaging platform that allows friends to easily create long threads

Survey: 13 percent of teens have posted nude photos of themselves online

Posted: 10 Aug 2009 01:00 PM PDT

beerrrr

A new poll, conducted by Common Sense Media, suggests that teens are complete idiots when it comes to comporting themselves online. A whopping 13 percent of teens have posted online nude or semi-nude photos of themselves or someone they know. And then some 25 percent of teens have posted something online that they later regretted. You know, drunk photos and the like.

Now, when you’re still a freshman in college no one particularly cares that you drank two beers during an up-all-night Rock Band party, but come senior year? Yeah, all those photos of you running around campus wearing nothing but Scooby Doo underpants while doing so many lines of coke may come back to haunt you when you’re looking for a job. You see, when you send in your resume to COMPANY, odds are the human resources department is going to be combing through your online presence. Racist tweets? Oops! Incriminating Facebook photos? Yikes!

Young people need to keep in mind that what they post on the Internet will always be there. Oh, sure, you can delete the photo, but probably not before interested parties have already hit Print Screen and ricocheted it around the Web.

Of course, it’s not all bad news, per se. Keep a reasonably accurate Facebook profile, and prospective employers can say, "Man, look at this kid. Seems like he’s got a good head on his shoulders. Let’s get him in here for an interview." Or maybe you’re moving into an apartment and don’t know a damn thing about one of the roommates—oh, he likes "baseball" and "rock music," too? Great, we’ll be the best of friends.

Of course, all of this assumes that teens still even use Facebook, which seems to be less certain these days.

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Survey: 13 percent of teens have posted nude photos of themselves online

CourseSmart Dumps 7,000+ Textbooks Into the iPhone App Store [Ebooks]

Posted: 10 Aug 2009 12:40 PM PDT

b0452f7f34d6f7b1.jpg CourseSmart Dumps 7,000+ Textbooks Into the iPhone App Store [Ebooks] They’re hugely different devices, sure, but could the iPhone be stepping on the Kindle’s toes again? CourseSmart, which offers subsciption-based, notes-capable eBooks online, has released a full-featured iPhone app for their subscribers. In other words, yes.

The app is free, but you’ll need preexisting subscriptions to textbooks in order to access any. It’s actually a shrewd, if somewhat obvious move for CourseSmart: lots of college kids have iPhones and iPod Touches, and while taking notes and reading long passages might be a little cumbersome on such a tiny screen, the ability to carry all your books in-pocket, complete with search and bookmarking capabilities, is a pretty big value-add.

As far back as May, it was clear that Amazon was pursuing CourseSmart for e-textbook content, an effort that may have culminated in a wimpy partnership with McGraw-Hill—a CourseSmart partner—which netted the ebook reader, and specifically the textbook-reader DX, about 100 regular old e-textbooks. This looks like something of a snub to me, or maybe just a lack of initiative on Amazon’s part, but I get the feeling there’s a still a lot going on behind closed doors here.

Anyway, do you want to hear all about this same story again, this time run through cable news’ inexplicably tech-illiterate (and possibly word-illiterate) tech reporters? Sure you do! TEXT BOX! I-PHONE! Good lord.
Watch the latest business video at FOXBusiness.com [WSJ, Fox Business]

CourseSmart Dumps 7,000+ Textbooks Into the iPhone App Store [Ebooks]

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CourseSmart Dumps 7,000+ Textbooks Into the iPhone App Store [Ebooks]

Zune HD hits FCC in prolific photo shoot, 16GB and 32GB capacities

Posted: 10 Aug 2009 12:39 PM PDT

Well, would you look at that. Microsoft’s Zune HD’s overexposed — both in quantity of pics and in quality of photography — camera shoot with the FCC has been made public, showing off quite a bit of the device, its internals, and its dock. We’ve got two model numbers listed here, 1395 and 1402 representing the 16GB and 32GB models, respectively, and in case you’re wondering, that’s Windows CE you’re seeing above, the OS on which Zune HD’s UI is built. Hit up the read link to browse yourself, or check out the gallery below for the highlights, including a NVIDIA Tegra chip sighting and an amusing “For our princess” tattoo on the inside of the back cover. Now if we could only get a MSRP or narrower release window…

Gallery: Zune HD hits FCC in prolific photo shoot

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

Zune HD hits FCC in prolific photo shoot, 16GB and 32GB capacities originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 10 Aug 2009 14:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Everyone needs a Vespa; even the kiddies

Posted: 10 Aug 2009 12:30 PM PDT

Vespas are wonderful machines and now even your kids can scoot around town. Fred Perry has teamed with Piaggio for a limited edition run of a full size and what looks like to be kiddie Vespa. Who cares about the full size model, it’s the mini one that I can’t stop looking at.

I can’t dig up any details on the little guy, but I’m hoping that it is at least battery-powered. These bikes will see a limited run of only 100 models and will be available in Europe, Japan, and US. Gorgeous.

hypebeast via daddytypes

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Everyone needs a Vespa; even the kiddies

Microsoft Flower Power Logo Suggests Leaked Store Plans Are a Go [Microsoft Store]

Posted: 10 Aug 2009 12:20 PM PDT

Microsoft’s official line on those leaked store plans were “early concepts,” but besides the short timeline between the plans’ July 7 date and construction, Microsoft’s filed a trademark for the “INCLUSIVE EXUBERANCE” flower-power logo detailed inside.

That would suggest at least some of the stuff in the leaked plans is definitely a go. I wonder if they’ve decided whether it’s going to be Guru Bar or Answers Bar? [PC World]

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Microsoft Flower Power Logo Suggests Leaked Store Plans Are a Go [Microsoft Store]

Ultra Slim Emergency Charger for iPhone and iPod

Posted: 10 Aug 2009 12:18 PM PDT

ultra slim iphone charger 1 Ultra Slim Emergency Charger for iPhone and iPod

If you tend to run the battery out on your iPhone at really inconvenient times when you aren’t around a charger, you might want to consider an emergency charger. Actually this will also work with many other iPods as well. So when you’re in serious need of some battery life, you can just pull out this 1cm thick charger and charge it up again. Since it is so small you could easily keep it in your pocket or a purse.

The charger will work with the iPhone (all versions), iPod Touch (1st and 2nd gen), iPod Classic, iPod with video and finally the iPod Nano (4th and 3rd gen). Although I can’t think of many times when I was in an emergency situation where I absolutely had to have my iPod up and running. However, iPhone users will probably get plenty of use out of something like this. It has a built-in LED indicator to let you know it’s charging. To recharge the emergency charger, you can either plug it into your computer or into the wall with the included AC adaptor. You can purchase it for $24.99 from USB Fever.

Source: GeekyGadgets

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