iPad

The 404 749: Where we trust rodents more than meteorologists (podcast)

Every year the citizens of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania gather around a small hut in Gobbler's Knob (pause) to witness a 100-year old marmot predict the future, and this year it looks like Spring is on its way. Old Phil may be losing his eyesight, because we also happen to be in the middle of the largest storm in the last few decades, according to a less-credible operation called NASA.

Maybe we should shift our focus to a closer weather-predicting rodent at the Staten Island Zoo, Mr. Charles G. Hogg aka Staten Island Chuck, who has accurately predicted winter weather 23 out of the last 30 years.

Still don't trust him? What if we told you that Staten Island Chuck has a Facebook page AND lives in a wireless log cabin adorned with solar-powered weather station panels that allows him to make daily weather predictions using renewable energy from the sun? It's not a joke, this guy is legit.

We can make fun of Groundhog's Day for the next 364 days, but let's move onto our next story about an unfortunate photographer in Zurich who lost over 4,000 puppy photos thanks to a Flickr fumble that accidentally mixed up his account with another scheduled for deletion.

To make up for it, the Yahoo-owned photo uploading service generously offered four years of a Pro account for free, worth about a hundred bucks- sounds fair. Think about this story the next time you can't find the time to back up your data to a physical storage drive.

We also suggest backing up your back ups to a disaster-proof drive, but the truly paranoid should also load their precious data on hidden thumb drives around the office for extra security.

Finally, the big tech story of the day is News Corp. and Apple's latest publication generated specifically for the iPad called The Daily. It's a modern news brand that Apple and News Corp. call the first "all media product" and includes highly interactive and curated text articles, photos, and videos, not to mention text-to-speech audio clips of selected stories.

Unlike most of the news sites on the web , however, The Daily won't be available for free. The publication introduces a new pricing model that costs $0.99 a week or $39.99 for the year. The subscription also includes access to the Web version and users can share articles for free on Facebook and Twitter.

The 404 is truly the Paris Hilton of the Web, so we happen to know the Technology Editor at The Daily. We're hoping Peter Ha can join us on Friday's show to tell us more about the publication, so check our Twitter for the latest updates!

Episode 749 Subscribe in iTunes audio | Suscribe to iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

LG readying mobile payment system in Europe

European consumers may finally be able to pay for items via their smartphones next year, through a system under development by LG Electronics.

LG's system would use a combination of near-field communication (NFC) and cloud computing to allow certain retailers in Europe to accept payments from customers using NFC-equipped smartphones. Scheduled to launch sometime in 2012, the system would also find its way into interactive TVs and security products sold by LG, Reuters reported this week.

"The point-of-sale technology, which will be targeted at small and medium-sized businesses..., is currently in beta testing," Jin-Yong Kim, vice president … Read more

Murdoch's Daily for iPad is hot--off the presses

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch and his News Corp. kicked off The Daily today, a publication built for the iPad and--Murdoch hopes--the next generation of readers.

For a yearly subscription fee of $39.99, The Daily will deliver to iPad owners up to 100 pages of news and information each day, News Corp. Chairman Murdoch and his lieutenants told the gathering of media and supporters at New York's Guggenheim museum. The Daily is available immediately at Thedaily.com and News Corp. will offer the first two weeks free, thanks to Verizon, which is picking up the tab.

The publication will … Read more

iPad 2 screen revealed?

Everybody's curious to know what the new display on the next iPad will be, and 9to5Mac claims to know what it is.

We don't know how the screen ended up in the hands of 9to5Mac, but the site says, "We have been able to acquire what we believe is an iPad 2 LCD, fresh out of China. At this point, we cannot tell if the resolution is higher (or "Retina") but it is definitely higher quality in terms of its build. The iPad 2's display is also lighter, and over a mm thinner than … Read more

TinkerBox for iPad: You'll want to tinker with these toys

Autodesk's TinkerBox combines the Rube Goldberg-esque fun of The Incredible Machine with the mechanical stylings of an Erector set, then tops it off with a dash of "Factory Made."

Though created primarily to "spark teens' interest in mechanical engineering," TinkerBox offers machine-building fun for all ages.

The game (simulator?) starts with a dozen training levels, which teach you to place, use, and tweak the various tools at your disposal: buttons, conveyor belts, levers, and so on. Of course, different puzzles have different tools available; it's your job to figure out where they go, how … Read more

Digital City 114: Intel's big chipset flaw; when to buy a laptop; and tech trivia

We get started this week just in time to follow Intel's major Sandy Bridge chipset crisis. How will this affect review systems we're testing in the Lab? Tune in to find out. Then we answer some popular reader questions about when to buy a laptop and when to wait, especially with rumors of a MacBook refresh in the air.

Finally, it's time to clean out the old game closet, and we try a new chat room contest, rewarding correct tech trivia answers with games.

Bonus: You can download the show's theme song as a free MP3 here for a limited time! Also, if you're a fan of Dan's previous jazz/funk/indie albums, check out some rough mixes from his new bossa-nova-inspired project.

Galaxy Tab return rate at 13%; iPad 2%

Samsung's revenue and profit may be up, but so is the return rate for its Galaxy Tab.

According to ITG Investment Research, which tracked sale data from 6,000 wireless stores in the U.S., an estimated 13 percent of Galaxy Tab owners are returning the devices. The data was tracked from the device's release in November until the end of December, according to AllThingsD.com.

The news doesn't get any better for Samsung as holiday returns continue to come in. According to the data, if you factor in cumulative data until January 15, the return rate … Read more

iOS devices: MobileMe sync issues after logging out and back in

After logging out of your MobileMe account, you may find that your iOS device no longer automatically syncs with your Mac, even after you log back in to MobileMe. This very thing happened to me this weekend after I logged out of my MobileMe account to troubleshoot an issue with iWeb.

What happens? When you sign out of your MobileMe account on your Mac (System Preferences > MobileMe > Account) your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch will no longer be syncing automatically. For example, adding an iCal event on your iPhone will not add it to your Mac, even after … Read more

Report: Netgear CEO slams Apple's Steve Jobs

Netgear chairman and CEO Patrick Lo reportedly slammed Apple CEO Steve Jobs for his business practices on Sunday, and said Apple would have to change its closed system to compete in the future.

Speaking at a lunch in Sydney, Australia, Lo reportedly said Apple would have to open its platform so it could compete with Google Android in the mobile space, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.

"Once Steve Jobs goes away, which is probably not far away, then Apple will have to make a strategic decision on whether to open up the platform," said Lo.

The statement … Read more

Cover Orange: Best game since Cut the Rope?

Last October I called Chillingo's Cut the Rope the best game since Angry Birds. And it appears the world agreed with me, as evidenced by its current number-three spot on the iTunes Top Paid Apps chart.

If you're looking for the next big thing in Cutesy Physics Puzzlers (or CPPs, as I like to call them), look no further: it's Cover Orange.

Weird title, I agree, but it's the literal explanation of the gameplay. In each level, you must shelter (i.e. cover) one or more oranges against the "poison rain" that pours in … Read more