The Top 10 Places People Lose Their Smartphones

BY AUSTIN CARR OF fASTCOMPANY.COM

"Can you call my phone?"

How many times have you been asked this question in the last year? Losing your phone, whether between your couch cushions or (like most Apple employees) at a bar, is a common headache. But finding your phone is another story, one that usually requires a bit of serendipity or the kindheartedness of a good Samaritan.

Today, mobile-security startup Lookout, which specializes in Android smartphone protection, released an infographic on the lost-phone phenomenon--namely, the 10 worst places to lose your phone, and the top U.S. cities for smartphone loss or theft.

According to Lookout's data, the No. 1 city for cellphone loss, based on the percentage of its population, is Miami. No doubt that season of the Jersey Shore factored into the outcome. (Who could've possibly been sober in the MIA during the weeks the MVP were present?) New York City comes in second, followed by Los Angeles, and Phoenix. Philly, Dallas, and Chicago are all in the bottom half.

As for the top 10 worst places to lose your phone, based on chance of recovery, a restaurant or bar isn't such a horrible place, coming in at No. 9 (chance of recovery is fairly high, at 80% to 95%). The car roof comes in at No. 8, with a 25% to 75% chance of recovery. Unsurprisingly, public transit makes up a big part of the top 10. Airport security, buses and subways, airplanes, taxis--all these areas are prime spots to lose your phone.

The worst location to have your phone go missing is the swimming pool, which has a 50% to 75% chance of recovery--but your sopping-wet phone, even if retrieved, has less than a 5% chance of ever working again.

READ article on FastCompany.com.

NewsCorp Unloads MySpace at Huge Loss

News Corp. has sold struggling social networking site MySpace for $35 million. The deal values MySpace at a fraction of what News Corp. paid for the site six years ago. (June 29)

5 tech products that just won't die

5 tech products that just won't die

By Suzanne Kantra, Techlicious.com

Recently, I wrote a story about which tech products will be dead in five years. Boy, was I surprised by the response! Who knew that people could be so passionate about DVD backups?

But it’s that passion for the status quo that keeps some technologies going long past the end of their useful lives. And there are other products that just won’t die because, no matter how inefficient or clunky they may be, nothing else has come along that’s better (or at least better at a reasonable price).

Five, in particular, should have gone the way of the dodo long ago, yet continue to hang on and, in some cases, even flourish.

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.'

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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.

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.

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!

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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Wi-Fi cars hitting the information superhighway

Wi-Fi cars hitting the information superhighway - Yahoo! News: "More cars are hitting the information superhighway thanks to new automotive Wi-Fi technology that allows vehicles to become rolling 'hot spots.'

Analysts say consumers are warming to the notion of more connectivity in their cars, with 'apps' for information and entertainment just as they have with their smartphones or tablet computers.

'Initially, putting Internet access in the car sounds like a distraction and frivolous but as time passes it will become a part of our lives and we will feel uncomfortable not having access,' said Jeff Kagan, an independent telecoms analyst.

'I think this is going to grow into a vibrant sector.'

Market research firm iSuppli said it expects a surge in worldwide shipments of car Wi-Fi systems to 7.2 million units by 2017, from just 174,000 in 2010.

Wi-Fi has been around for several years as an aftermarket accessory but many major manufacturers now offer some form of Wi-Fi or are developing it.

Ford has been offering Wi-Fi in selected models since 2010 and some form of Internet access is also offered by many other major automakers including General Motors, BMW, Audi, Saab and Chrysler.

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SHOW #101 - NerdBoyTV: Disaster in Japan

In this episode of NerdBoyTV, Ryan Yee discusses the earthquake and tsunami disaster in Japan that struck on 3/11/2011. If you can help, go to this Yahoo! page, Japan Earthquake and Tsunami: How To Help, to donate to a variety of organizations from the Red Cross to Save The Children.

SHOW #99 - NerdBoyTV: National Day of Unplugging

In this episode of NerdBoyTV, Ryan Yee jokes about how miserably he failed to stay off gadgets and the Internet for National Day of Unplugging. It's still a good idea, so if you missed this annual event, try it another day — no gadgets, no WiFi.

Apple Buys Up Touchscreens, Limiting Supply for Rivals

By Yahoo! News: "To keep up with soaring sales of Apple's hit iPad tablet, competitors will have to do more than just design and market a good rival. A report Friday said they may face problems building them.

It's no secret that Apple, which sold more than 14 million iPads last year and could see sales of more than 45 million in 2011, hedges its bets by ordering components it needs in massive quantities, ahead of demand.

Now Taiwan-based DigiTimes, citing sources from both component and computer manufacturers, says Apple has a grip on 60 percent of this year's expected output of capacitive touchscreens used in tablets. Unless capacity increases, that could put a strain on other companies' goals for the year.

'Touch panels are currently suffering the most serious shortage due to Apple holding control over the capacity of major touch-panel makers such as Wintek and TPK, and with U.S.-based RIM, Motorola and Hewlett-Packard also competing for related components, second-tier players are already out of the game,' sources told the industry journal. (Research In Motion, maker of BlackBerry devices, is actually based in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.)

News of Apple buying up LCD and OLED touchscreens preceded the release of the iPad at the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show, fueling rumors about the forthcoming tablet. Insiders say Apple could have sold even more iPads last year if it could have had more touchscreens and won't allow that to happen this year as it gets ready to release the second generation of the device.

Touchscreen shortages also reportedly affected the supply of iPhones when the fourth-generation model was released last June.

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Who do YOU want to win the Academy Award for BEST PICTURE?

I'm taking on a "Citizen-At-Large" reporting assignment for CNN and I want to know who YOU would want to win BEST PICTURE at this year's Academy Awards next Sunday? I don't want you to tell me who you THINK would win—simply tell me who you LIKE if you could vote. If we can SKYPE (soon), I'd like to put together a video of the all the picks from everyday people (not the critics). Wanna participate? SKYPE me at "NerdBoyTV" to set up a 1 minute interview.

Obama has dinner with the WHOLE Internet!

Let's see, we have Obama sitting with Steve Jobs to his left and Mark Zuckerberg to his right (that's about $100 billion right THERE). Also apparently in the house, Google exec Eric Schmidt, Yahoo!'s Carol Bartz, Oracle's Larry Ellison, and Twitter's Dick Costolo. This is like a "nerd's" dream come true, huh? LOL

Obama chats with Facebook's CEO, Mark Zuckerberg

I think this is soooooooooo kewl. Obama talking with Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook with Carol Bartz (in red) of Yahoo! standing behind them!

10 Most Memorable Tech CEOs of the Digital Era

10 Most Memorable Tech CEOs of the Digital Era | News & Opinion | PCMag.com: "Chief Executive Officer is a title with significant cachet. As a CEO, you may as well be a modern day king of a commercial fiefdom. Your influence within your firm is unmatched, and your leadership determines the success or failure of everyone serving beneath you.

Through a complex series of cascading algorithms stuffed into an Excel spreadsheet, a few coin tosses, the heart of a Wookie, and the brain of a historian, I have determined what I consider the 10 most memorable CEOs of the digital era. With the PCMag audience in mind, favor was given to American CEOs of prominent high tech companies. As for the 'digital era,' well, that's a fuzzy term that essentially means post-WWII, computer-related companies.

You may not agree with the choices, but that won't stop you from engaging in frank, intelligent discussion with your fellow readers. I also encourage you to nominate your own Most Memorable CEOs in the comments below after you check out the slideshow.

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Mobile phones helping improve people's lives

This video (courtesy of MSNBC.com) shows some very cool ways that smartphones and apps are helping people improve their lives.

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

Blockbuster files for bankruptcy protection

CLICK here to read entire article.

"Troubled video-rental chain Blockbuster Inc. filed for bankruptcy protection and said it plans to keep stores and kiosks open as it reorganizes.

The move, long expected and pre-arranged with bondholders, effectively ends an era that Blockbuster dominated — of Americans visiting video-store chains for the latest movie-rental releases.

Increasingly, Americans are watching movies via video subscription services like Netflix Inc., video on demand and vending machine services such as Redbox.

In a submission to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of New York on Thursday, the company said it reached an agreement with bondholders on a recapitalization plan.

Blockbuster plans to reduce debt from nearly $1 billion to about $100 million or less by swapping debt for equity in a reorganized Blockbuster with bondholders that hold about 80.1 percent of the company's senior notes.

It has received commitments for $125 million in 'debtor-in-possession' financing from senior noteholders to repay customers, suppliers and employees during the reorganization.

'After a careful and thorough analysis, we determined that the process announced today provides the optimal path for recapitalizing our balance sheet and positioning Blockbuster for the future as we continue to transform our business model to meet the evolving preferences of our customers,' said CEO Jim Keyes.

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Gamers lend support to widow of heroic developer

Gamers lend support to widow of heroic developer - Plugged In - Yahoo! Games: "by Ben Silverman

Brian Wood spent his life thrilling millions of faceless gamers, but his last moment was spent saving the lives of those he loved most.

Wood, a 33 year-old lead designer at popular game developer Relic Entertainment, was on his way back to his Washington home when his wagon was struck by an oncoming Chevy Blazer being driven by a 21 year-old woman believed to be driving under the influence. With his pregnant wife Erin in the passenger seat, Wood swerved his car to put himself directly in the path of the oncoming SUV -- a decision that ultimately cost him his life, but protected his wife and unborn child from harm. Two other passengers riding in the backseat of the Blazer were also killed.

'All the policeman say that if we had hit the car head-on all of us would be dead,' Erin Wood told The Province. 'At the very last second (Brian) braked really hard and turned right so that he would be put in the path of the SUV and not me and the baby, and that is the only thing that saved us both.'

'He was always sacrificing himself for me and the baby,' she added.

But while Wood's impossibly brave act left a permanent void in the life of Erin Wood, the same people who Brian strived to please with his work have returned the favor with a striking show of support for his bereaved widow.

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September 18 deemed 'No Device Day'

September 18 deemed 'No Device Day' | Crave - CNET

"Click, send, call, text, Like, tweet, undo, reset, delete... it just doesn't end. Which is why a couple of marketing guys are dubbing September 18 'No Device Day' for consumers who might be too involved with their gadgets.

Though the idea of dedicating an entire day to shutting devices off may seem silly (or virtually impossible) to some, Mark DiMassimo, CEO of ad firm Digo, and Eric Yaverbaum say they believe Americans need to be reminded to turn off their electronics from time to time. Thus, their 'lifestyle intervention.'

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