Gadzooki

Bad DIGG

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A post on Forever Geek digs deep (wow, that’s a pun) into DIGG’s inner workings, particularly whether the popular website is indeed the democratized news source it fames itself to be.

Digg as an idea is fantastic. As a system of disseminating news without having to wait for editors it is amazing. But it seems to be suffering from a power complex. The two articles we originally mentioned were obviously promoted to the front page in an artificial manager.. Our website getting banned was obviously in retaliation to our story. Their entire philosophy now feels shallow and false – the editors decidedly put those two articles to the front page, just like they decidedly removed us from their system. Users may have originally driven the website, but it looks like that ideal is nothing more than a nice idea in the past.

{ via Fosfor.se }

Nokia and Aston Martin co-branded phone

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It’s cars, cars, cars everywhere! First, we have Ferrari and Lamborghini-braned notebooks, and now mobile phones are also co-branding with auto manufacturers.

Aston Martin and Nokia have announced today that they’ve teamed up to create the the Nokia 8800 Aston Martin Edition

This exclusive version of the phone will be manufactured in strictly limited numbers, and features a discrete laser-etched “Aston Martin” logo on the stainless steel casing.

Personally, I’m not impressed with the phone as it’s basically still the Nokia 8800 with just the design change (the etchings) and some added content. It’s still your good ol’ 8800 that has 64MB of internal (non-expandable) memory, and multimedia playback capabilities. What’s great, though is that the phone will have smooth synchronisation and connectivity with all Aston Martin models via Bluetooth. Your hands-free calling will be fuss-free. But then, you’d have to have an Aston Martin. If not, you can perhaps settle for having the sound of an Aston Martin V8-engine revving up as a ring-tone (which comes standard with the phone)!

{ via PocketLint }

Own a Lamborghini for under £2000

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First, Acer brought us a Ferrari-branded laptop. Not to be outdone, Asus brings us the Ferrari’s little cousin, the Lamborghini (said to be the poor man’s Ferrari, but what the heck–it’s a great Italian sports car brand–exotic nonetheless). The co-branded laptop model is expected to be released by end-April and will retail for less than £2,000 (about US$3,500). Expensive, but hey, it’s fast, it’s sleek, it’s cool. It’s a Lamborghini!

Full specs include a Colour Shine Glare Type 15-inch SXGA + (1400 x 1050) screen, nVIDIA GeForce 7400/512MB Turbocache graphics card, a 120GB hard drive, DVD 9.5-inch Super-Multi Double Layer and 1GB DDRII – 667 MHz Ram.

{ via PocketLint }

Doodle for Google – My Britain

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Here’s your chance to design your own Google logo variation (called a Doodle): Doodle 4 Google – My Britain. Open to students across the UK, the contest will choose among artwork submissions for a Google Doodle to display for a whole day. Not only that, top prizes include an expenses-paid week-long trip for four to the Googleplex in Mountain View, California!

Bring out your pencils and crayons, kids!

{ via Google Blog }

Google Calendar

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Get ’em while they’re hot! Google has just released its very own calendar application. This has been in the rumour mill for a few months now, something that started when ever-observant bloggers noticed the use of a “calendar.google.com” domain. Well, we say it’s inevitable. A calendar application is just the logical step next to email, personalized search, and a feed reader.

We’re all busy people. Whether it’s work or play, school or family, every day is filled with stuff that takes time. Keeping track of schedules isn’t easy, and frankly we haven’t been too happy with the tools available. So we invite you to try Google Calendar — a tool that simplifies keeping track of events, special occasions, and appointments — whether they’re on your own agenda or on the calendars of contacts who opt to share their schedules with you.

Google calendar lets you publish your own public calendar, or selectively choose which events are available for public viewing or for your eyes only. You can also have group/team calendars, and each user can view an unlimited number of calendars in his own interface–including public calendars, friends’ calendars, and even any country’s public holiday calendar. What’s great is that Google Calendar publishes RSS feeds and can communicate with Apple iCal.

{ via Google Blog }

Google patents voice search

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Ever at the forefront of search technology, Google has patented a system that uses voice commands for searching. If, indeed Google intends to develop this, I’d say it’s most likely for use with telephony applications, say through mobile phones, landlines, or VoIP.

The patent describes the interface as “a system (that) provides search results from a voice search query. The system receives a voice search query from a user, derives one or more recognition hypotheses, each being associated with a weight, from the voice search query, and constructs a weighted boolean query using the recognition hypotheses. The system then provides the weighted boolean query to a search system and provides the results of the search system to a user.”

{ via The Regsiter }

Intel-based Macs can now run Windows XP

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Apple StartupHoly smokes! This is groundbreaking news. And it isn’t even April 1st anymore (otherwise, no one would take it seriously). Apple will now let you install Windows XP on your Intel-based Mac.

You can thank an app called Boot Camp (the reason of which we don’t know why) for that. This great software is included in OS X Leopard, but Apple has announced a public alpha release.

Once you’ve completed Boot Camp, simply hold down the option key at startup to choose between Mac OS X and Windows. (That’s the “alt� key for you longtime Windows users.) After starting up, your Mac runs Windows completely natively. Simply restart to come back to Mac.

You’ll need your own standalone copy of Win XP SP 2, though. And of course, your Mac should be Intel-based!

Mustek bluetooth headset

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bluetooth headsetNow you can enjoy listening to your digital music or laptop audio without being tethered by wires and cables. Just plug the dongle into your audio device, and it will transmit the audio to the headset via Blutooth. Mustek claims a battery life of six hours, which I find too short for such a device–will make you switch back to your traditional earphones after half a day’s (or night’s) worth of tunes.

{ via the Gadget Blog }

Apple software chief quits

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First, Apple’s founder and CEO Steve Jobs sells almost $300 million worth of personal Apple shares (or returned them to the company, for tax purposes). Then, Avie Tevanian, the company’s chief software and technology officer calls it quits!

Tevanian is said to have been the “prime inspiration for the highly successful OS X operating system.” Woe to Apple then! So what would happen to Mac OS X? I’m hoping the Mac OS X Leopard is every bit as great as Tiger was.

iPod engineering head Jon Rubinstein in also leaving the company. Their products seemed so successful in the market and among Apple fans, especially given recent developments (new Intel-based Macs, rumours of wireless-connected iPods). Perhaps they’re quitting while they’re ahead. Does this signal they’re expecting some impending doom for Apple?

Dell to buy Alienware

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AlienwareIt’s an alien invasion!

Top PC manufacturer Dell has confirmed its planned acquisition of Alienware, top producer of cool–and expensive–high end computers.

The world’s largest computer maker Dell is buying gaming-computer firm Alienware whose PCs are famous for their “Alien” UFO style look.

Texas-based Dell said Alienware would operate as a standalone division, keeping its brand name.

With the acquisition, Dell is likely to get a hefty bite of the gaming computer pie, with Alienware’s high-performance machines, usually AMD-powered.

via BBC News