FocuSoft Tech Blog

Apple enlists David Puddy to take on the Laptop Hunters
WSJ: Steve Jobs ‘pouring almost all of his attention’ into an Apple tablet
NPD expects PS3 sales to jump 40-60% post-price cut
Why not carry around an extra film camera?
Colbert to Launch Tomorrow to the International Space Station [Space]
Robot Fish: Because Android Children Deserve Unsatisfying Pets Too [Robots]
David Recordon Leaves Six Apart To Join Facebook
Google’s Top Chef Contestant Can’t Open Clams [Television]
Video: The first (televised) kiss between robots
Review: Watchmen: The End is Nigh The Complete Experience (PS3)

Apple enlists David Puddy to take on the Laptop Hunters

Posted: 24 Aug 2009 08:09 PM PDT

Apple’s created a whole new chapter in its “Get a Mac” ad campaign based on targeting Microsoft’s successful Laptop Hunters series, and while at this point it’s just a lot of back-and-forth, the gang in Cupertino managed to spice things up by bringing in an all-too-recognizable face and voice: Patrick “David Puddy” Warburton. Mr. Brock Samson / Joe Swanson / The Tick comes on as the top-of-the-line PC who some say has a “much too fast” processor but prone to viruses and causing headaches — you knew were the narrative was going. Video after the break, and you can go ahead and start work on your parody video, “You got a question about PCs, you ask the eight ball.”

[Thanks, Travis]

Continue reading Apple enlists David Puddy to take on the Laptop Hunters

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

Apple enlists David Puddy to take on the Laptop Hunters originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 Aug 2009 22:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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WSJ: Steve Jobs ‘pouring almost all of his attention’ into an Apple tablet

Posted: 24 Aug 2009 07:37 PM PDT

There isn’t a lot to go by here, but if the Wall Street Journal’s sources are to believed, recently-returned Apple CEO Steve Jobs is currently focusing the vast majority of his attention on the oft rumored tablet device, micromanaging every detail much in the way he did with the iPhone. The report also says that the tablet project has been twice killed by Jobs in recent years — first time because of bad battery life, which we get, and second because of insufficient memory, which seems a little less believable. Interestingly and uncharacteristically, Jobs took it upon himself to respond, saying via email, “much of your information is incorrect.” If Apple really is ramping up to unveiling a tablet, the first of its kind for the company, we have no doubt Jobs would be personally watching over every minute detail of it — what we really want to know is when we might see something materialize, and that’s still very much a mystery.

Filed under: Handhelds, Laptops

WSJ: Steve Jobs ‘pouring almost all of his attention’ into an Apple tablet originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 Aug 2009 21:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NPD expects PS3 sales to jump 40-60% post-price cut

Posted: 24 Aug 2009 07:16 PM PDT

It doesn’t take a whole lot of analysis to figure out that a $100 price cut will result in a boost in sales, but market research group NPD seems to think that the PS3’s new $299 price point could have a particularly big impact on Sony’s numbers once next month’s sales are tallied up. While it’s obviously not a sure thing, NPD expects sales of the PS3 to jump between 40% and 60% over the course of September, noting that “the USD 299 price point is important to getting to a point where the next segment of price-conscious consumers can jump into the market and it most certainly will re-energise sales of the platform.” It’s also quick to point out, however, that those sales might not be enough for Sony to take the lead in US console sales for the month, adding that “other systems might too take a price cut,” and that “content is still the key motivator of a hardware purchase decision.”

Update: Joystiq offers a clarification from the original quote that, historically, price cuts tend to lead to a 40 to 60 percent increase in sales over the previous, higher priced month. The group is not specifically predicting PS3’s sales, just pointing out what’s happened in the past — it’s a subtle but important difference.

[Via gamesindustry.biz]

Filed under: Gaming

NPD expects PS3 sales to jump 40-60% post-price cut originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 Aug 2009 21:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Why not carry around an extra film camera?

Posted: 24 Aug 2009 07:00 PM PDT

5233_9340
I understand, it’s the year 2009, you think that if it comes down it, you can always take a picture with your iPhone or whatever. You could, but for those random snapshots, I think a super-cheap little film camera like this is awesome. You don’t have to worry about it getting stolen ($30), you don’t have to worry about focus or any scene settings (it has a fixed-focus super-wide 22mm lens) and it takes any junk 35mm film you want to put in it!

Load it up with 1600 and get insanely overexposed daytime pictures and ridiculously grainy evening pictures. Normally I’m an image quality fiend, but when it comes to shooting onto cheap film, I say everything goes.

You can buy it here at the Fred Flare shop — fun to pass out at parties or whatever. I like it.

[via Geeksugar]

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Why not carry around an extra film camera?

Colbert to Launch Tomorrow to the International Space Station [Space]

Posted: 24 Aug 2009 07:00 PM PDT

You heard it well. Colbert is launching tomorrow at 1:36am EDT onboard the space shuttle Discovery, headed to the International Space Station. The mission objective, according to him: “Help slim down all those chubby astronauts.” In his own words:

Now, this is Steven Colbert saying: I’m go to launch me!

“Me” meaning the “Colbert”—or C.O.L.B.E.R.T.—the Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill. That’s the new name for this piece of hardware, known during its development as T2, the second version of the ISS treadmill

The smartypanties at NASA had to come with the acronym as a thank you—and consolation prize—for Stephen Colbert, who gave a major popularity boost to the International Space Station after participating in a contest to name the next ISS module. He actually won the contest, but NASA decided not to use it thinking it was inappropriate. At the end, NASA selected Tranquility in honor of the Apollo 11’s landing site. [NASA]

Colbert to Launch Tomorrow to the International Space Station [Space]

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Colbert to Launch Tomorrow to the International Space Station [Space]

Robot Fish: Because Android Children Deserve Unsatisfying Pets Too [Robots]

Posted: 24 Aug 2009 06:40 PM PDT

So it’s not expressly intended to provide baby Asimos with unfulfilling relationships, but that would be adorable, no? In reality, it fancies itself an industrial tool, for monitoring “pipelines, sunken ships, and pollution.” Where’s your whimsy, robofish?

Designed by scientists at MIT, this mechanized trout shares a lot in common with the British robo-carp we saw earlier this year. For one, its primary use is to carry sensors and monitor industrial projects that present accessibility problems for divers and larger submersibles. It’s also colorful, ornate and exceedingly fishlike, which is fun for us, but probably doesn’t do a whole lot for its effectiveness as an industrial chemical sniffer.

Unlike the carp, though, these fish aren’t comically huge, nor are they very complicated: Each one has just 10 parts, draws just a few watts of power, measures in at between 5 and 8 inches long, and moves in a startlingly lifelike way. (Video below.) The fish are just a research project for now, but the university has firm plans to use these same techniques to build robotized salamanders and manta rays. You know, for science! [CNET]

63c5a0f32fyZXMZM.jpg Robot Fish: Because Android Children Deserve Unsatisfying Pets Too [Robots]

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Robot Fish: Because Android Children Deserve Unsatisfying Pets Too [Robots]

David Recordon Leaves Six Apart To Join Facebook

Posted: 24 Aug 2009 06:36 PM PDT

2510939641_8a14fa8a73 David Recordon, the Director of Corporate Development at Six Apart, is leaving the company to join Facebook after two years at the company. Recordon made the announcement on his blog, where he writes that he is joining Facebook’s Engineering team as a Senior Open Programs Manager, and will continue to work on open source and open standards inside Facebook. Over the last two years at Six Apart, Recordon was the Open Platforms Tech Lead.

Besides Six Apart, Recordon has played a pivotal role in the development and popularization of key social media technologies such as OpenID. In 2005, Recordon collaborated with Brad Fitzpatrick in the original development of OpenID, which has since become the most popular decentralized single-sign-on protocol on the web.

According to Recordon, Facebook has always been built on open source software, has released powerful open source infrastructure technologies such as Thrift, and this year become an active member of the Activity Streams and OpenID communities from a standards side. So Recordon will continue to focus on open source and standards at Facebook.

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David Recordon Leaves Six Apart To Join Facebook

Google’s Top Chef Contestant Can’t Open Clams [Television]

Posted: 24 Aug 2009 06:20 PM PDT

8241267e32947338.jpg Googles Top Chef Contestant Cant Open Clams [Television] You wouldn’t know it from her job title (”Executive Chef, Bon Appetit Management Co.”), but Top Chef contestant Preeti Mistry is actually head chef of the lauded cafeteria at Googleplex. Unfortunately, her chances on Top Chef don’t look too promising.

[Warning: Video clip is US-only. Sorry, foreigners.] In the first episode of the show’s sixth season, which aired last Wednesday, Mistry was assigned to open 15 clams in the Quickfire relay race—sounds easy enough, except Mistry had never opened a clam before. Her leg of the relay race, the first of four, was as far as her team would get, as the winning team blasted through all four legs before Mistry could finish her clams.

She did fine in that day’s Elimination Challenge, but lacking a basic skill like opening clams is a good indication that the Great Nerd Hope of this season won’t be making it too far. Still, her Twitter feed shows that at least she’s got a sense of humor about the situation. [Gawker]

Googles Top Chef Contestant Cant Open Clams [Television]

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Google’s Top Chef Contestant Can’t Open Clams [Television]

Video: The first (televised) kiss between robots

Posted: 24 Aug 2009 06:19 PM PDT

Theatrical bots “Thomas” and “Janet” — who look complex enough to do non-theatrical work too — have been smacking lips since a December 2008 production of Phantom of the Opera in Taiwan, but only now has video evidence of their deviant activities surfaced on the interwebs. Causing equal measures of dread, horror and subconscious freaky thoughts, it’s a tour de force of science going down a very dark (and probably moist) path. Technically, it’s a fine exhibition of complex multidimensional coordination and intrinsic self-balancing mechanisms, an excuse you’re at liberty to use if someone catches you watching the videos after the break.

Continue reading Video: The first (televised) kiss between robots

Filed under: Robots

Video: The first (televised) kiss between robots originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 Aug 2009 20:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Review: Watchmen: The End is Nigh The Complete Experience (PS3)

Posted: 24 Aug 2009 06:00 PM PDT

I'll save you the trouble of having to read a full review of Watchmen: The End is Nigh Part 2, folks. It stinks just like Part 1 stunk. Both parts are ridiculously repetitive and there's only so much you can take of Rorschach hitting a guy in the nuts, head butting another and breaking some dude's arm. There's also the incessant repetitiveness of having Nite Owl lifting a garage door so that Rorschach can get through.

Really? All this over a snuff film, Rorschach? The gameplay is lackluster and the storyline makes it marginally tolerable. At least it comes with the Blu-ray Director's Cut of the movie, which is visually appealing if nothing else.

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Review: Watchmen: The End is Nigh The Complete Experience (PS3)

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