red

Google lobbies against patent privateering

Google has banded together with BlackBerry, EarthLink, and Red Hat in an effort to expose the deleterious, industrywide consequences of patent privateering, or the practice of companies outsourcing patent enforcement to independent legal-happy entities with no technologies of their own.

The Mountain View, Calif., company, in conjunction with the others, submitted its comments -- more like grave concerns -- on the practice in a note to the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice. The companies assert that patent transfers to patent assertion entities (PAEs), aka patent trolls, undermine patent peace, and Google et al are pushing the government … Read more

Mars, the Red Planet, is actually pretty drab underneath

Mars has established a pretty pervasive image for itself. It's the big Red Planet. It's the Clifford the Dog of space. You don't confuse it with all those other, less glamorous, planets. Still, Mars isn't all that it seems. Scratch the surface and it appears to have more in common with the skin tone of an elephant than the ruddy glow of a tomato.

The Curiosity Rover recently broke new ground by drilling into a rock sample, the first time such an activity has been accomplished on a planet other than Earth. What lay beneath wasn't the familiar rust color of the surface, but a decidedly dull gray.… Read more

Surprise! 'Star Trek' gold shirts more deadly than red shirts

It's not easy being a "Star Trek" extra. I can only imagine the cold sweats and terror you'd feel if the wardrobe manager handed you a fresh red shirt from the rack. Your chance of making it through the episode just took a dive. Or did it? New mathematical calculations show that the redshirt death rate may not be as dire as we thought.

Matthew Barsalou breaks down the numbers for Significance Magazine. He sticks with the original series and starts by looking at the casualty rates for the different uniform colors across all three seasons.… Read more

Clothes for Curiosity seekers: Mars inspires fashion line

Along with Bermuda shorts, bold stripes, and statement sunglasses, Mars is hitting the catwalk this year.

Fashion designer Nanette Lepore debuted her fall 2013 collection at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York yesterday, and it's all about the Red Planet. Bags and high heels that shimmer like mysterious, shiny objects. Mod and angular shapes. And lots of red.

"Moody tones and spacey surfaces define Nanette's fall collection as she explores the contours of Mars," read a pre-show teaser on the designer's tumblr blog. … Read more

65,000 ping-pong balls turn pool party into cool party

Pools aren't just for swimming, you know. Brooklyn art studio Red Paper Heart made some pretty nifty art with a swimming hole and 65,000 ping-pong balls. Before you dismiss that as an exercise in lunacy, take a look at a clever interactive pool party experience for yourself in the video below.

Red Paper Heart created the mesmerizing show in conjunction with city guide Web site UrbanDaddy, all for a tequila promotional event in Hamptons, N.Y.. The art studio programmed some software (using C++) to control the projector-driven light show that reacts to music. To enhance the visuals, the group enlisted a team of synchronized swimmers and some tuxedo-clad scuba divers to class up the joint.… Read more

Sony paints super slim PS3 in red and blue

The world isn't black and white anymore for the super slim PS3.

Sony's Japanese PlayStation division released information today about several new color options -- Azurite Blue and Garnet Red -- coming soon to the CECH-4000 series PlayStation 3. The reveal follows a German Amazon listing for the same variations that appeared last week.… Read more

'Red October' malware spies on governments worldwide

Kaspersky Lab has discovered yet another worldwide spying campaign that targets governmental bodies, political groups and research institutions.

On par with the memorable Flame malware, Kaspersky and a number of Cyber Emergency Response Teams (CERTs) discovered the malware -- known as Rocra or Red October -- which mostly targets institutions based in Eastern Europe, former USSR members and countries in Central Asia.

Kaspersky says that Red October has been gathering data and intelligence from "mobile devices, computer systems and network equipment" and is currently still active. Data is gathered and sent to multiple command-and-control servers which the security … Read more

The 404 1,187: Where we bully the bullies (podcast)

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- One way or another, Danny DeVito will join us on the CNET stage at CES 2013.

- Here's hoping this doesn't happen to us on tomorrow's CES flight.

- How blind people use Instagram.

- Lego is officially producing the "Back to the Future" DeLorean time machine.

- Streetlight Manifesto trombonist thwarts phone theft with OKCupid trolling.… Read more

Mix music with the standard DJ app, PCDJ Red Mobile 2 for Mac

PCDJ Red Mobile 2 for Mac is a DJ mixing application for Mac OS. PCDJ Red Mobile 2 for Mac is not available from the App Store but is available from several download sites, as well as the publisher's Web site. The trial version is free, and a full licensed version is $129.

PCDJ Red has been our go-to DJ mixing app for many years, and PCDJ Red Mobile 2 for Mac is the latest iteration of this popular and powerful application. The interface of PCDJ Red Mobile 2 for Mac has two music decks in the upper pane, … Read more

The 404 1,185: Where 50 euros go a long way (podcast)

Bathroom break video: iPad magician at the world famous German "Hofbraeuhaus" in Munich, the beer capital.

Show title credit: Beatmaster (join us live at noon Eastern everyday to suggest a show title. The most-used suggestions at the end of every month will win a prize!)

Episode 1,185

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