AOL: You Can Call it a Comeback

AOL: You Can Call it a Comeback | NBC Bay Area: "Who'd a thunk it? AOL is doing some pretty cool stuff. Yes, AOL. The company showed off new initiatives to reporters in a casual briefing Thursday night and while I can't speak for others, I walked away impressed.

The new AOL is much different than the old America Online, a company famous for the squeak of dialup modems and 'You've got mail!'

The first fix? Move some of the best minds away from the company's headquarters in old fashioned Virginia and to the hip and happening Palo Alto. Hire Stanford grads (lots of Stanford grads).

In fact, AOL's west coast offices offer no-strings-attached incubator space to Stanford students with the hopes the young computer scientists will stick around and take jobs at AOL. Even if they don't, they fill the offices with the young 'can do' attitude that an old-media company so desperately needs. The new west coast offices, with bright colors and snarky signs feels -- dare I say it -- Googley.

AOL is working on a number of new projects, one of which is predictably code named Phoenix - rising from the ashes and all that.

'We no longer say 'turnaround'' says West Coast head Brad Garlinghouse. 'We've already turned the company around. Now we're concentrating on comeback.'

- Sent using Google Toolbar"

10 Androids That Outmuscle the iPhone

10 Androids That Outmuscle the iPhone - Yahoo! Shopping: "Apple's iPhone had a good run atop the smartphone league, but 10 Google Androids aim to bury the tuckered-out leader this year.

Motorola Mobility, Samsung, HTC and LG have promised to deliver supercharged, ultra-thin, 4G Android devices in the coming weeks and months.

But not always. Before the mobile phone industry got all busy with design makeovers and tummy tucks, there were -- and still are -- some delightfully hideous phones that represented the other side of the beauty trend. The Street has gone back through the past decade to dig up some of the best examples of designs that make you wince and stare in disbelief. The clueless stylings, the flights of fancy into odd shapes, the obsession with square versus rounded -- it is a wonderfully colorful history.

The giant Android attack features bigger screens, better cameras, faster processors and speedier 4G connections than the upcoming iPhone.

The Android's phone screens, for example, start at 4 inches and go to 4.5 inches, advancing the size standard for this generation of touchscreens. By comparison, Apple's next iPhone is expected to have a 3.5-inch screen.

The new Androids are 4G phones either on AT&T HSDPA-Plus network or Verizon's LTE network, and four of the 10 will come with dual core processors.

Apple, on the other hand, is expected to upgrade to a dual-core processor this year, but the 4G LTE iPhone has been delayed to 2012, as first reported.

The presumed delay of the next iPhone from June to September, and the decision to wait a year on 4G LTE upgrade highlight just a few of the areas where Apple has been lagging behind the leaders in the Android pack.

'The processor and display quality improvement in the Android camp is proceeding at such a clip that Apple will be under a lot of pressure to deliver a substantial jump in iPhone specs next autumn,' MKM Partners' analyst Tero Kuittinen.

'It's not clear how Apple can battle the rapid Android evolution,' says Kuittinen, 'unless it picks up the pace of its iPhone launches.'

- Sent using Google Toolbar"

SHOW #108 - NerdBoyTV: RoyceWare

In this episode of NerdBoyTV, Ryan Yee interviews Cynthia Mace, owner and jewelry designer of RoyceWare. She has six different collections, including Divine Protection (stylish, stunning dog tags), Twin Jewels, and PetWare. Go to http://RoyceWare.com

NerdBoyTV App SPOTLUGHT: Pimp Your Screen - Home Screen Wallpapers and App Shelves

Check out this application on the App Store:

Pimp Your Screen - Home Screen Wallpapers and App Shelves Apalon Category: Lifestyle Updated: Apr 15, 2011 3700 Ratings

iTunes for Mac and Windows

Please note that you have not been added to any email lists. Copyright © 2011 Apple Inc. All rights reserved

Sent from my iPad

NerdBoyTV App SPOTLIGHT: I loves it!

Check out this application on the App Store:

I loves it! bubbleby Category: Lifestyle Updated: May 11, 2011

iTunes for Mac and Windows

Please note that you have not been added to any email lists. Copyright © 2011 Apple Inc. All rights reserved

Sent from my iPad

NerdBoyTV loves Fiverr.com!

If you've never used it before, it's pretty much hybrid between an "ebay" and "elance." People post "gigs" that they're willing to do for $5 (like post a video testimonial, write a press release, hold a sign up in Times Square with your name on it, call someone as a celebrity on his/her birthday, etc.). You get the idea. I had someone create this movie intro for my sister's toy store for $5—the guy got it back to me within two hours (though they don't always promise THAT!). Check out Fiverr.com today.

SHOW #107 - NerdBoyTV: Flying Fatress iPhone App by 15-Year-Old Entrepreneur, Connor Rodriguez

In this episode of NerdBoyTV, Ryan Yee interviews 15-year-old entrepreneur, Connor Rodriguez, who developed a popular iPhone game app called "Flying Fatress." Connor demos the game that's available for $0.99 on iTunes. http://AppsByConnors.com.

Brink is wickedly fun

Courtesy of MSNBC.com

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

iPhone 5G case photos show off edge-to-edge screen, new camera flash location

It’s okay if you can’t keep up with the crush of future iPhone rumors and speculation. There’s a lot to sort through. Just last Friday it was reported that the rumored September iPhone release — Apple has historically announced new phones in the early summer, but reports suggest that the yearly cycle is being shifted to the fall — won’t be the iPhone 5, but rather an upgraded version of the iPhone 4. The fifth generation iOS phone may or may not be arriving this fall, but previous reports that revealed it will sport an edge-to-edge screen have received additional support from a new source.

CLICK HERE to read more.

NerdBoyTV App Pick: Flying Fatress

Check out this application on the App Store:

Flying Fatress. App Equities Category: Games Updated: May 12, 2011 10 Ratings

iTunes for Mac and Windows

Please note that you have not been added to any email lists. Copyright © 2011 Apple Inc. All rights reserved

Sent from my iPad

Designer Honors 3 Active Military Sons With Timeless ID Dog Tag

RoyceWare Honors The History of The Dog Tag; Designer Honors 3 Active Military Sons and Their Grandfather / Purple Heart Recipient With Timeless ID Dog Tag

This jewelry designer makes some pretty stunning dog tags that mix military pride and remembrance with very nice contemporary style. Check them out...just in time for Memorial Day!

Don't usually mix "fashion" with "technology," but these look VERY kewl! Gonna try to get a Skype interview with the designer of these dog tags, Cynthia Mace. Think I may get my 16-year-old son one for his birthday, too. Very unique gift!

NerdBoyTV App Store Pick: Scott's Submarine

Check out this application on the App Store:

Scott's Submarine Square Igloo Category: Books Updated: May 13, 2011

iTunes for Mac and Windows

Please note that you have not been added to any email lists. Copyright © 2011 Apple Inc. All rights reserved

Sent from my iPad

SHOW #107 - NerdBoyTV: Flying Fatress iPhone App

In this episode of NerdBoyTV, Ryan Yee interviews 15-year-old entrepreneur, Connor Rodriguez, who developed a popular iPhone game app called "Flying Fatress." Connor demos the game that's available for $0.99 on iTunes. http://AppsByConnors.com.

Modern Warfare 3 Details Leaked — Coming in November

This game looks AWESOME! Can't wait for its release!

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

SHOW #106 - NerdBoyTV: Animal Phone iPhone App

In this episode of NerdBoyTV, Ryan Yee interviews Ross Sharrott of Long Weekend, publisher of the "Animal Phone" app. Kids from 3--6 years old can make "calls" to animated animals who repeat everything they say.

http://www.animalphoneapp.com

SHOW #105 - NerdBoyTV: Amazon Penny Sale

In this episode of NerdBoyTV, Ryan Yee discusses Amazon.com's "Penny Sale" on smartphones for Mother's Day, Amazon's $0.69 mp3s, an iPhone app for kids called "Animal Phone," and the Top Five Viral Videos of the week on YouTube.

Amazon's lengthy cloud outage shows the danger of complexity

Amazon's lengthy cloud outage shows the danger of complexity

"Reddit, Foursquare, and Quora were among the many sites that went down recently due to a prolonged outage of Amazon's cloud services. On Thursday April 21, Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS) went offline, leaving the many Web and database servers depending on that storage broken. Not until Easter Sunday (April 24) was service restored to all users.

Amazon has now published a lengthy description describing what went wrong, and why the failure was both so catastrophic and so lengthy.

Amazon has cloud computing data centers in five locations around the world; Virginia, Northern California, Ireland, Singapore, and Tokyo. Within each region, services are divided into what the company calls Availability Zones: physically and logically separate groups of computers.

This design allows customers to pick a level of redundancy that they feel is most appropriate; hosting in multiple regions provides the most robustness, but at the highest cost. Hosting in multiple Availability Zones within the same region is cheaper, and guards against problems affecting any one zone.

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Top Viral Videos of the Week: Even Cute Penguins Can't Beat Rebecca Black

TOP VIRAL VIDEOS OF THE WEEK: Even Cute Penguins Can't Beat Rebecca Black

"Rebecca Black's music video for her song 'Friday' has gotten a staggering 124 million views in just over two months.

It's so popular that even a video of a cute baby penguin couldn't ouster Rebecca Black from the top spot this week. If cute animals can't do it, then I don't know what can.

Find out which viral videos tried and failed to kick Rebecca Black out of the front seat.

- Sent using Google Toolbar"

Bill Gates Takes On Education's Biggest Bureaucratic Beast With Video Games

Bill Gates Takes On Education's Biggest Bureaucratic Beast With Video Games | Fast Company

"Around the country, a new career-minded education standard is slowly edging out the old academic focus on Lord Of the Flies book summaries and five-paragraph essays. So far 42 states have pledged to adopt the (coercively) voluntary standards championed by President Obama, the National Governors Association, and billionaire education crusader, Bill Gates.

While educators are slowly dipping their feet into the pool of critical thinking, persuasive communications, and exploratory learning, the Gates foundation is looking to swing the direction of the standards with a mega-investment in digital learning.

Gates has previously financially supported YouTube sensation Sal Khan, funded the game-centered Quest2Learn school, and most recently, invested millions more in educational video games, hoping their addictive quality can lead to scientific curiosity.

- Sent using Google Toolbar"

Delicious founder on site's potential: 'The time has passed'

Delicious founder on site's potential: 'The time has passed' - CNN.com: "More than five years after the social bookmarking website was sold to Yahoo for a reported $15 million, Joshua Schachter's Delicious is suddenly in the news again.

Yahoo flipped the struggling property Wednesday to the pair who founded YouTube for an undisclosed sum. People immediately turned to Schachter for his take.

'I think the time [for Delicious] has passed, but maybe they'll do something cool with the name,' Schachter told CNN in an interview from his new office here. 'I use it somewhat, but I'm not a heavy user anymore.'

The new owners, having formed a venture in San Mateo, California, called AVOS, are 'currently heads down working hard' on their vision for Delicious, the company said in an e-mailed statement. Chad Hurley and Steve Chen, who shepherded the world's largest online video service to Google, have been vague about their plans for Delicious and declined an interview request.

'We're excited to work with this fantastic community and take Delicious to the next level,' AVOS CEO Hurley said in a statement. 'We see a tremendous opportunity to simplify the way users save and share content they discover anywhere on the Web.'

- Sent using Google Toolbar"

Android to get video chat via Google Talk upgrade

Android to get video chat via Google Talk upgrade - CNN.com: "Google is beginning its rollout of Google Talk video chat to Android devices.

Android device users will be able to use video and voice chat with any Google Talk contact using another Android devices (phones or tablets) or Google Talk on Gmail. The features will work of standard 3G, 4G and Wi-Fi connections.

According to the Google Mobile blog, these features are rolling out to Nexus S phones over the next few weeks along with the next over-the-air OS update. Video chat via Google Talk will be available on other Android 2.3 and higher devices soon.

Using the new features is simple. On your Android device, from the Google Talk contacts list, you'll see a video and voice chat icon next to each contact. Touch the button for the feature you'd like to use, and chat away.

Video can be paused while audio chat continues if you need to navigate elsewhere during a video session. During voice or video chat, text chats from that contact are overlaid on the device screen.

Video and voice chat first came to Gmail late in 2008 and to iGoogle in 2009.

See the original article at Mashable.com.

- Sent using Google Toolbar"

Forget iPhone 4 and 5. What about iPhone 6?

Forget iPhone 4 and 5. What about iPhone 6?! - CNN.com: "If you're a mainstream Apple fan, you probably got all hot and bothered on Thursday when an e-mail hit your inbox saying the 'amazing iPhone 4' is now available in white. Previously the phone only came in black, and tech blogs have been drooling over the possibility of this white whale of a phone for months.

But the real Apple nerds are so over that now.

Even rumors about the yet-to-be-announced-and-possibly-non-existent iPhone 5 are growing passé.

The new topic du second: the 'iPhone 6.'

Seriously, people? A new version of the iPhone 4 just came out. People have been talking about the iPhone 5 for -- well, pretty much since right after the iPhone 4 debuted in June 2010. And now, even before the release of the iPhone 5, which is rumored to come out in September, the techies are fixated on the next-next version.

This might seem ludicrous, but maybe it's normal in the hyper-drive world of tech news. So we'll go with it. Here's a look at what the plugged-in bloggers are saying about the iPhone 6 (to repeat: not the iPhone 5, but the one after that).

- Sent using Google Toolbar"