In The News

The Countach turns 40

Not many 40-somethings can still stop traffic just by showing up, but the Lamborghini Countach does exactly that four decades after it debuted here in Geneva in 1971.

Marcello Gandini's masterpiece is this audacious, aloof, leering thing that avoids the overly curvaceous lines that long ago became Italian cliche. Instead it's a piece of Piedmontese origami, all creased, slatted, and ducted. It looks like it was designed yesterday in the way a Mies van der Rohe building or vintage Knoll table does.

Study the pure Countach LP400 to really take in Gandini's work, though in your mind'… Read more

A Planned Ooops Moment for a Windows Phone 7 Tablet?

Perhaps Microsoft isn't so stubborn about Windows 7 tablets after all. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer may have just left himself an out to pave the way for a Windows Phone 7 tablet. The official line is that Microsoft will not offer a Windows Phone 7 tablet.

Ballmer, speaking at the Gartner Symposium in Orlando, was set up for a rough keynote from the beginning. A video of tech exec questions all asked whether Microsoft could compete with Apple on the iPad and iPhone. Gartner analyst John Pescatore noted that "no one is lining up in the snow to get that hot new Windows phone and there's no hit movie about SharePoint."

Gartner set up the interview as a consumer/enterprise dueling banjos sort of thing. The big topic was Windows Phone 7 whether it could appeal to both the business and consumer markets. Naturally tablets came up. When asked about whether there would be a Windows Phone 7 tablet instead of a Windows 7 slate, Ballmer held up a WP7 phone and said:

"This is Windows too. Could be this Windows or another Windows. There are technical details I'm not getting into today. We get multiple experiences."

Microsoft has officially said that there will be no Windows Phone 7 tablet. Indeed, Ballmer could have been referring to Windows embedded and Windows 7 on tablets. However, Ballmer seemed to indicate that Windows Phone 7 would be a possibility - or at least that experience. The Gartner analysts had noted they wanted the Windows Phone 7 experience on a tablet.

Reading the tea leaves, it sure sounds like Microsoft is at least open to a Windows Phone 7 powered tablet. That's a move that would make a lot of sense. Windows Phone 7 appears to be much more suited to tablet use. And if Microsoft can leverage its PowerPoint franchise, a WP7 tablet could be a winner. Instead, Microsoft seems to be force-feeding Windows 7 on the tablet form factor.

Ballmer was cagey throughout the interview about tablets, which were a big focus at the Gartner conference. On Windows tablet availability, Ballmer said:

Japan's (Freakily) Realistic Singing Humanoid Robot

Rate this one freaky but nonetheless intriguing. During the just-concluded CEATC tech exposition, show goers got a look at a singing robot that mimicks a human singer with startling accuracy.

Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, the country's biggest public research organization with around 3,200 employees, has shown off a variety of robots at previous CEATC shows. But the body and facial movements of this latest incarnation, called the HRP-4, or the "diva-bot," are a notch higher than earlier versions.

Although still a bit on the stiff side, she can belt out … Read more

Robot Cars Invade Calif., on Orders From Google

Google has been testing self-driving cars on roads in California, according to a report, and so far they've avoided everything but a minor fender bender--caused by a human-driven car.

The New York Times reports that seven test cars have traveled 1,000 miles without need for human intervention (a driver has been stationed behind the wheel just in case, accompanied by a technician to monitor the navigation system), and that they've covered more than 140,000 miles with the human chaperone stepping in only occasionally. One of the cars was even able to safely make its way down … Read more

How to Make Phone Calls Using Gmail

Earlier this week, Google introduced a feature that lets you make VoIP phone calls to landlines and mobile phones from within your Gmail account (and iGoogle). The calling service, which is available to U.S. Gmail users, integrates with the Google Talk chat app that you can find on the left-hand sidebar in Gmail.com.

Google's "Call Phone" feature has so far made a splash, inspiring 1 million calls in its first day--even before all Gmail users received the notification that they could activate the feature.

A favorable response is good news for Google; the last … Read more

Viacom: Google used piracy to coerce content owners

Viacom says newly released documents in its copyright fight with Google over the search engine's YouTube subsidiary help prove its case.

We've heard these kinds of sweeping declarations from both sides throughout the legal standoff, which began when Viacom filed a $1 billion lawsuit against Google in 2007, claiming YouTube encouraged users to commit intellectual property theft. A review of the documents filed with the court on Thursday shows that much of the material, such as Google employees making critical statements about YouTube's "rogue" business model before buying the video sharing site in October 2006 … Read more