IBLOG SPACE

Ultramobile PC and MID manufacturer Viliv is imminently close to shutting down, reports suggest, amid claims that the company has been in receivership for some time. The US support line has been disconnected and, UMPC Portal‘s sources tell them, Viliv has been attempting to find a buyer for its tablet and convertible notebook designs, to no avail. Viliv last showed new products back at CES 2011, where it brought two Android tablets – the X7 and X10 – along with a Windows slate, the X70. Subsequent to that, the company was a no-show at the traditionally tablet-centric Computex 2011 last month. According to Viliv’s Korean site, the company is on its summer holiday at present and that explains the service center being closed; the department is supposedly due to reopen in early August. However, Viliv’s US support line has been disconnected, according to the prerecorded message. Viliv follows fellow ultramobile innovator OQO in finding that its well-reviewed devices failed to gain traction

Pokémon in 3D: does life get any better than this? Nintendo has announced its first Pokémon title specifically created for the 3DS, Pokémon Rumble Blast , complete with StreetPass support for challenging other gamers physically nearby, along with over 600 toy characters to collect. Launching on October 24, the new game will see group battles of multiple toy Pokémon all taking part at once, as well as familiar characters brought in from Pokémon Black Version and Pokémon White Version . In addition to StreetPass, there’s more traditional online gameplay using the 3DS’ WiFi connection. As Nintendo puts it, the game promises “instant Pokémon gratification” with a 3D element that so far has been missing from the handheld; although previous DS and DSi Pokémon titles will work on the 3DS, they of course do not include 3D graphics. Nintendo’s obvious hope is that the widely-popular franchise will help turn around what it has admitted are “weaker than expected” sales of the 3DS so far. Around

Open-source robot Qbo continues to make its way to autonomy, with a new video demo showing the Linux-based DIY ‘bot capable of learning to recognize people and objects. Developers The Corpora have also previewed a cloud-based object learning system, which will allow Qbo units to crowdshare the data and thus recognize local objects initially identified by other Qbo ‘bots elsewhere in the world. In the first part of the demo below, Qbo is shown using first a face-identifying system to spot people nearby, and then a skin color filter to track that person’s movement around the room. The second demo relies on the robot’s stereoscopic vision, with Qbo defaulting to focusing on objects nearest to it. Interestingly, once Qbo has identified an object, it can subsequently spot it even if there are changes in color, scale, orientation or even if the object is partially blocked from the robot’s sight. Repeated viewing speeds up subsequent identification, and thanks to the cloud system those recurr

If you are like most people, you probably have a lot of video content and other stuff on your smartphone. I know I use my iPhone for Netflix and Hulu Plus streaming regularly. I have on more than one occasion wished that I could get that content on a larger screen to make it easier to watch when on the go. If your car has, a screen in it with an input for AV gear Scosche has a new cable you will want. The cable is called the sneakPEEK auto in-car AV cable for iPad, iPhone, and iPod. The cable will work with any of those iOS devices with a docking port. The cable will shoot audio and video out to your car and is 9-feet long. That means that you should be able to use the thing in the back seat if the inputs are in the front. The cable has all-metal barrel connectors, gold plated RCA connectors, and a 10W charging circuit. That charge circuit will charge the iPad. The cable is available right now and will cost you $74.99. This could be the perfect way to shoot Netflix out to your car ente

I haven’t heard or thought of virtual reality in a long time now. I remember back years ago, I tried out a set of virtual reality goggles for computer gamers and they sucked so bad it really turned me off from the tech. With 3D here now I really thought VR was dead. Apparently, Sony thinks differently and is at work on some software that uses VR glasses. Sony London Studio chief Mick Hocking has said that Sony is working on a couple games that are experimenting with VR interfaces. Back during CES Sony showed off a head-mounted 3D display. I can see this possibly being cool. You could get 3D and have the ability to turn to see what’s around you. The downside to the VR goggles I tried back in the day was this ability to turn. The turning motion was mapped to the mouse look keys and it was so inaccurate that it was impossible to use the tech fluidly. The next issue is if using VR hardware with a PC or console are cables and controllers that can get tangled. I hope if Sony goes the VR path

The Kinect for the Xbox 360 has turned out to be a very cool device with a lot of potential outside of just letting you be the controller for video games. The thing has been hacked for motion control of all sorts of things since it launched. Asus has an Xtion Pro motion control device that looks a lot like the Kinect, but isn’t as robust. Asus has a new Xtion Pro Live that it will be launching soon that has the IR and depth of view sensors that the Pro version has and adds in a webcam. It has a low resolution of 640 x 480, but it does match the Kinect cameras performance. The new Live version of the Xtion Pro is the same size even with the webcam added in. The Pro Live version also gets a pair of microphones as well. An app store for the Xtion will also be opening that will let developers that make apps for the Xtion line sell their wares. Neither of the Asus Xtion devices have the automatic tilting that the Kinect features. The big downside here is that Asus appears to be charging the

Google chairman Eric Schmidt has accused Apple and others of jealousy over Android’s success, claiming the spate of patent lawsuits against Android OEMs are “just inspired by our success.” Speaking in Tokyo at the Google Mobile Revolution conference, Schmidt suggested that “the big news in the past year has been the explosion of Google Android handsets and this means our competitors are responding,” PerthNow reports, going on to sneer that “they are not responding with innovation, they’re responding with lawsuits.” The Google chairman’s aggressive stance echoes HTC’s comments from recent weeks. The Taiwanese smartphone manufacturer called out Apple for trying to compete in the courtroom rather than on the strength of its products, after it added a fresh batch of patent infringement allegations to the ongoing litigation between the firms. The harsh words didn’t help HTC’s case much, however, with the ITC still finding that its Android devicesinfringed on two Apple patents, something HTC

The number of EVs on the streets around the world will only continue to grow as technology improves and the EV gets more driving range and faster charging. There will come a tipping point eventually when the EV can drive long enough that consumers finally leave the range anxiety that plagues many drivers behind. Suzuki is showing off its first EVs by creating a handful of its small Every vans that are battery powered and handing them out to dealers. Suzuki is working hard on getting a production EV to market, but ahead of that production vehicle, it is testing the waters with the Every van that it has converted from the gas-powered version. The company made 13 of the vans and gave them to dealerships on a trial basis. The van uses a lithium-ion battery pack and electric motors. The battery packs needs five hours to charge fully. The driving range is only 62 miles and that will vary depending on how the car is driven. The battery pack and electric gear adds 441 pounds to the van compare

Back in March OnStar announced that it had changed the name of its add-on mirror for all vehicles to OnStar FMV or For My Vehicle. I had expected to see that mirror on the market already honestly. If you like the idea of OnStar in your car that didn’t come with the feature from the manufacturer you can now pre-order the FMV mirror at Best Buy stores around the country. The price for the FMV mirror will be $299.99 plus another $75 for installation. Once the mirror is installed, you will need a service plan from On Star for the mirror to work. The service starts at $18.95 a month or $199 for a year. The mirror will be able to be installed at 1,000 different Best Buy locations after purchased. The mirror has most of the same features as the integrated OnStar system offers in various GM vehicles. The mirror will automatically dial 911 if you have an accident using the integrated accelerometer inside the FMV mirror and GPS capability inside the mirror. The mirror will also provide turn-by

RIM has strongly denied reports that the WiFi-only version of the BlackBerry PlayBook could be discontinued, describing the speculation as “pure fiction.” The company is yet to confirm sales of the PlayBook, only a 500,000 shipment figure for Q1, and has supposedly slashed sales projections for Q2. Talk of an early cancellation was ignited by RBC Capital Markets Managing Director Mike Abramsky, who suggested in a note to investors that RIM could shutter the WiFi-only version of the slate and instead focus on carrier variants. Ceasing production now, Abramsky claimed, would still allow RIM’s remaining channel inventory to satisfy what demand for the PlayBook remained. However, in a Twitter message from the official RIM account to BGR, the company insisted that there was “no plan to discontinue” and that “in fact, [the] WiFi PlayBook is launching in new countries practically every week.” Nonetheless, with RIM’s quarterly sales figures proving disappointing, and talk of layoffs among the

NASA may have retired the shuttle fleet after the last launch, but the space agency still plans to keep shooting astronauts to the ISS for research and to continue manned space flight. NASA has announced that it has signed an agreement with United Launch Systems (ULS) to adapt the ULS Atlas V rocket to launch astronauts into space to the ISS. ULA is a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin and was designed to make it more affordable to send men and cargo into space. It will be at least four years according to PhysOrg before the Atlas V can be modded to send astronauts into space. Until that time, US astronauts will continue to hitch a ride on the Russian Soyez spacecraft. The agreement between NASA and ULA will have the two working to figure out the best way to use the Atlas V rocket for launching manned missions. The main competitor to ULA is SpaceX, which broke ground on the redesign of a launch facility for its more powerful Falcon Heavy rocket this month.

Cisco may be madly enthusiastic about its Cius tablet, but investors aren’t so keen, and so the company has has officially confirmed plans to axe 6,500 jobs in an attempt to save $1bn every year. According to a recent SEC filing, Cisco is cutting 9-percent of its workforce after attempts to stem the flow of cash losses by shutting down the Flip camcorder business failed to convince shareholders that the company was taking its core networking business seriously. Around 2,100 of the staff losses will be through voluntary early retirement, which Cisco has already negotiated with its employees. Those redundancies in the US, Canada and “select countries” will be announced in the first week of August, with the remainder worldwide to be revealed at a later, unspecified date. While cost-cutting is Cisco’s stated intention, the downsizing will cost it significantly. Overall, the combination of redundancies and early retirement offers are expected to exceed $1.3bn over the course of 2011 and 201

Lately there have been a lot of interesting DIY robots that have surfaced. One of the cooler ones was the Android mascot robot that I mentioned last week. One thing that all these little robots have in common is that they all use Arduino for programming. If you are the sort that likes to make little projects that you can control and add various functionality to the Arduino platform is a good one to go with. Over on Make there is a new cable that will allow you to connect the iPhone to an Arduino box without having to jailbreak the device. The cable will also work on the iPad and iPod touch as well. The cable plugs into the docking connector on the Apple device and has a RS232 port on the other end that allows connectivity to the Arduino board or any other device that does serial protocol. The kit Make is selling in its Maker Shed pairs that cable with a RS232 to TTL serial adapter and the minitronics survival Pack with components and sensors to use. The kit gets you ready to make your

I was too young to catch the first two Star Wars flicks when I was a kid in the theater. I did watch Return of the Jedi in the theater about six times in one week when it opened though. I called both my grandparents and my various aunts and uncles looking for anyone to take me to see it again. I liked that flick a lot and I even had my own metal Return of the Jedi lunch box I rocked in grade school. I loved that box, but inevitably, it would get squished on the bus and end up not closing correctly. Few lunch boxes are made from metal today, they all tend to be insulated plastic or just hard plastic. Thermos has been around forever as far as I know. In fact, it was the brand of drink holder that came with my old Jedi lunch box. The new thermos R2D2 lunch box is not metal. It’s a cylinder shaped insulated plastic lunch box with a zippered droid dome on top to let your kids get access to the lunchroom treats inside. The lunchbox even has a button you can press to activate sounds and annoy

PLX Devices came out with a headset that worked with an app for the iPhone a long while back that promised to measure the concentration of the wearer and allow them to play games using their brain on the smartphone. KDDI Research in Japan has working on something similar but this app and headset is on an Android phone. The goal is the same, which is to allow the app to measures the relaxation and concentration of the wearer. The app on the smartphone works with a headband that has sensors inside that can measure neural activity. The app in the smartphone measures the user’s neural activity after 30 seconds of play on the app games. Once the neural activity is measured, the results are offered up in chart form. There are three different games included in the app . The charts offered after play will show the amount of concentration or relaxation. The app also offers charts with a diagram of the brain showing what parts of the brain were used. The user is also able to use the app to focus

Amazon has finally released the much-anticipated Kindle app for the HP TouchPad, allowing owners of the 9.7-inch webOS slate to access their existing ebook library as well as purchase new titles. Fresh to the App Catalog, the new beta is so new that Amazon doesn’t even list it on its Kindle app page yet. As with other platforms, the Kindle app for the TouchPad offers a range of screen colors, font types and sizes, as well as support for page-turn animations (which can be turned off if you find them distracting). In landscape orientation, two pages are shown, while a single page is visible in portrait orientation. WhisperSync is used to keep all copies of your ebook up to date with reading progress, notes and highlights. Unfortunately, the Kindle beta for webOS is currently locked to the US version of the App Catalog, which means that even though the TouchPad went on sale in other locations, like the UK, earlier this month, right now they can’t officially download the ereader software.

My mom wears contacts and I can remember her always cleaning them and complaining about how much they bothered her eyes. I would never wear contacts just for style and I think we can be honest in saying that the contacts that try to change the color of your eyes aren’t fooling anyone. If you are rich and want some contacts that have more bling than something that just makes your eyes look gold Shekhar Eye Research has your lenses. The company worked with Dr. Chandrashekhar Chawan and the contact lenses were designed by Sanjay Shah. Each of the lenses is encrusted with 18 diamonds on a gold plate. The lenses can be customized to suit the individual user’s tastes. The gold plate used in the lenses is 6-9mm away from the cornea and will hold water underneath to make them more comfortable. The contact weighs 5g. I can’t understand how you could put diamonds on contacts that go in your eye and be able to wear them and see through them. These lenses sound uncomfortable and they make you look

If the Jedi were to induct a robotic Jedi master that was gifted with the speed of a sloth, this robotic arm could be the inductee. Engineering students at Stanford have created a robot arm that is able to have a real sword fight with you using foam swords rather than light sabers. The bot senses each time the human blocks an attack and then resets itself for another attack. The students designed and built their project for a three-week long course in Experimental Robotics. There were a number of other projects developed during the course with one that can grill a burger and add ketchup to it for you afterwards. One of the bots even plays golf. The sword fighting bot is the coolest. I would like to see the thing control its force and actually go at you full speed. I know robot arms can be faster than the project arm is. It would be sort of like a fencing training bot that would actually try to hit you. That would be cool. Check out the videos below to see the robot arms in action.

HTC’s recent legal loss in the ITC Apple patent case, along with Microsoft’s aggressive patent push amid Android OEMs, has reportedly left manufacturers increasingly wary of Google’s open-source OS. According to the 21st Century Business Herald, growing Chinese brands like ZTE and Huawei are looking to adopt Windows Phone Mango either as a placatory measure toward Microsoft or the first step in a transition from over-reliance on Android. However, the platform spat could also have an unlikely beneficiary: MeeGo. Chinese analysts have pointed to the relatively closeness of MeeGo’s system kernel and that of Android, suggesting that both hardware and apps could be reasonably straightforward to migrate. MeeGo’s under-the-radar legal situation, and backer Intel’s extreme willingness to find new partners – now that Nokia has all but abandoned MeeGo in favor of Windows Phone – could make the platform a safer bet for spooked Android OEMs. Interestingly, rumors have already surfaced earlier in t

Basically, there are two types of  Supernatural  tie-in novels.  The first are essentially one-off stories that involve Sam and Dean investigating a case where we generally meet new villains and victims we'll never see again.  These can be hit or miss in terms of enjoyability.  The second type are those like Rebecca Dessertine's book "One Year Gone", which I thought was distinctive because it really made an effort to fill in the blanks of the missing year before season 6 began, focused primarily on Sam and Dean, and was also very consistent with the characterization of the Winchester brothers that we know from the show. Then came " Supernatural:  Coyote's Kiss", by Christa Faust, the most recent  Supernatural  tie-in novel that's actually more like the first type.  Only it's different because it's probably the most interesting of all the one-off cases explored in the books and contains characters that I actually grew to care about.  In

With three episodes remaining in its successful first season,  Single Ladies  has been renewed for a second season by VH1. The stylish romantic-comedy, which premiered earlier this summer in the form of a two-hour movie event, will be returning in 2012. Created by Stacey A. Littlejohn ( All of Us ,  The Wanda Sykes Show ),  Single Ladies  tells the story of three very different friends from Atlanta and their respective dating lives. Featuring Stacey Dash (Val), LisaRaye McCoy (Keisha), and Charity Shea (April), the show has tackled online dating, celibacy, and one night stands, among other hot-button issues in the world of dating, sex, and relationships. Single Ladies  airs tonight at 9:00, with its season finale coming August 8th. Have you been watching  Single Ladies ? Do you think VH1 should add more scripted content? What do you hope happens with the ladies in season 2?

We told you how you could catch  Glee: The 3D Concert Movie  earlyand now you can see the trailer for this all singing and dancing extravaganza. The 3D movie will show not only songs and performances from  Glee Live! In Concert!  but it will also take you backstage so you will be able to catch all of your favourites preparing and hanging out together. The film will also feature a cameo from Gwyneth Paltrow's Holly Holiday as she performs "Forget You", an appearance she only made on a couple of the tour dates. So even if you saw the show live there will be plenty of unseen footage that will add to the Glee! Live  experience.

During the season four premiere of Breaking Bad tonight, AMC aired a one minute sneak peek from the upcoming season of  The Walking Dead . I won't bore you with much analysis before you watch it, especially because this specific scene really warrants none. All you need to know is that it involves Rick Grimes, a couple of zombies...and a very large rock. If this preview is an indication of what's to come on the next season of  The Walking Dead , we may be in store for some absolute mayhem. Though not a lot's going on in this clip (aside from some epic rock-wielding, face-obliterating zombie carnage) it does raise a few questions. What is Rick doing out in the woods alone? And is a rock really the best weapon he could find? Season 2 of  The Walking Dead  debuts on AMC in October.

This week's  Real Housewives of New Jersey  was all about the ladies preparing for Christmas and Melissa's Christmas charity event to raise money and collect presents for sick kids in the area. While we did get peeks at what Jacqueline, Caroline, and Kathy were up to, this episode was a basically a lead up to the hell that crashed Melissa's party towards the end of the episode in the form of Kim Granatell, aka Kim G., aka The Grinch. So since Kim G. is so desperately clawing for her 15 minutes of fame and screen time on the show, I'm going to dedicate this post mostly to Kim G's antics tonight, because the crap she pulled in the last 5-10 minutes of the show blew everything else in the hour out the water. Melissa's party already had enough drama going for it. First of all, Kathy and Teresa got into it (and Kathy, God love her, still doesn't know how to let certain things be as they may) and Melissa's brother-in-law thought it was appropriate to a

The hacker group took credit for the attack on its twitter account where readers were redirected after seeing the fake news story about Murdoch’s death. News International, Sun’s parent company, took the page down. The only comment offered by News International was that it was “aware” of what was happening. I guess LulzSec couldn’t stand the thought to AntiSec getting all the attention and decided to come out of retirement. The LulzSec hacking group has made another hack this time against the website of The Sun where they planted a fake obituary for news mogul Rupert Murdoch. The hack redirected readers to a story saying that Murdoch had been found dead in his garden. The fake obituary said that Murdoch had been found dead resulting from ingesting a large quantity of palladium. To get the fake page off the website, News International had to completely take the Sun website down as well as its own website. The attack comes only a month after Lulzsec said it was quitting after its 50-day

Google+ makes demands on free time users simply don’t have, LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner has claimed, going on to suggest that the new Google service will struggle as it doesn’t fit into the established triumvirate of popular social networks. Speaking at an event this week, Weiner was asked whether Google+ could coexist with Facebook, Twitter and his own LinkedIn, Business Insider reports; the CEO’s own perspective is relatively negative, claiming that “nobody has any free time.” As Weiner sees it, until recently three main networks saw the most usage: Twitter, for “microcasting” short snippets of information; Facebook, for communicating with family and friends; and LinkedIn for “your professional life.” That leaves little room for Google+, he argues. “You introduce Google+, where am I going to spend that next minute or hour of my discretionary time? I have no more time.” It’s not just Weiner that is time-short and network-rich, the CEO argues. Google+ will suffer, he suggests, because it

Samsung has denied certifying the contentious Anymode folding Smart Case for the Galaxy Tab, and has had the Apple-alike product pulled from the retailer’s site. According to Samsung, Anymode was not granted “Designed for Samsung Mobile” certification, and the companies are now working “to address this oversight.” In the meantime, the case has been taken offline, and Samsung is keen to point out that none were actually sold. “As a general practice,” the company’s official blog states, “Samsung Electronics reviews and approves all accessories produced by partners.” Anymode’s Smart Case for the Galaxy Tab 10.1 made headlines yesterday given its distinct similarity to the Apple Smart Cover offered for the iPad 2. As with the Smart Cover, the Anymode case could be folded into a triangular-section stand to prop the Galaxy Tab up in either fully-upright orientation (for video watching) or at a more shallow incline (for typing). Of course, Apple’s Smart Cover is no stranger to controversy its

Curious as to how PlayStation gaming, ereading and multimedia will look on Sony’s S1 and S2 Android tablets? The company’s latest video teaser has quietly gone live, offering the briefest of glimpses at some of the entertainment options the Honeycomb pair will deliver. As you’d expect, there’s video playback – including the S1 showing a copy of The Green Hornet – and audio support, but Sony also shows the clamshell S2 running an ereader app. The app itself is unspecified, but it appears to support showing two pages of an ebook simultaneously, one to each of the S2′s 5.5-inch displays. Finally, there’s a sneaky look at how PlayStation gaming will work on the S2, with a copy of Crash Bandicoot playing on the tablet. Gameplay and a small number of controls are shown on the top screen, but unfortunately we can’t see what’s going on with the lower panel; the assumption, though, is that a D-pad and other buttons are displayed there. Crash Bandicoot is one of the PSOne titles available to Son

Apple’s release of OS X Lion, along with the new MacBook Air ultraportables, is being tipped for Wednesday morning this week, with multiple sources claiming the company’s retail stores will ready their new displays and demo areas overnight on Tuesday, July 19. The new Air range was initially expected to be launched last week, but Apple is believed to have delayed the release at the final moment. Both 9 to 5 Mac and MacRumors have heard that Apple stores have received LaCie drives loaded with installation copies of the OS X Lion Golden Master seed, ready to be installed onto all of the showroom computers. There’s also talk of a preconfigured Mac Pro being delivered, already running Lion. Meanwhile, posters and other printed materials are in sealed tubes, ready to be opened up and displayed. That process will supposedly take place overnight tonight, at least one source claims. AppleInsider‘s source suggests the company will release the new MacBook Air – and, presumably, OS X Lion at the

Nokia’s “Sea Ray” Windows Phone smartphone has leaked again, turning up in a Chinese video complete with an overview of the casing design – still very similar to the Nokia N9 - and some brief pre-release play. First shown in a leaked presentation by Nokia CEO Stephen Elop late last month, the Sea Ray phone now shows off its touch-sensitive buttons and, around the edges, its various ports. In the video – found by WPXAP and then re-uploaded by iluvwp - the handset is initially clad in some sort of test chassis, which bears a resemblance to previous Nokia casings we’ve seen where the company wants to disguise the device itself. Underneath is the slender Sea Ray itself, with volume and a camera button on the side, the capacitive back/Start/search buttons under the display and, on the top edge and covered by a plastic flap, a microUSB port. That’s obviously a similar design to what we’ve already seen on the N9, though we still aren’t clear on what’s inside the Sea Ray. Nokia used a Texas In

On tonight's episode of  Keeping Up With The Kardashians , "Thicker than Water," The family is convinced Bruce is losing his hearing but he just laughs it off.  Kris asks him what he would do if he could never hear her voice again, and Bruce simply replies “perfect.” Rob is celebrating his 24 th birthday in Vegas. Kim and Khloe are in attendance, but not Kourtney. Kim reprimands him for not having invited her. Rob claims he didn’t invite her because she has a baby, but Kim reminds him he hasn’t even visited with Mason in months.  The real reason Rob has kept his distance is Scott.  He sees that Lamar treats Khloe like a queen, but he doesn’t see Scott treat Kourtney the same way, and this bothers him. Khloe visits her parents and also tries to convince Bruce his hearing is going. She pulls out a harmony cone to clean wax out of Bruce’s ears.  She sticks the cone in his ear and lights it. The cone has managed to extract a gross amount of wax.  Bruce refuses to do the

On tonight's  Big Brother , I became officially done with a) the return of the Veterans and b) the Newbies entirely. After Keith's eviction last Thursday, the Newbies were scrambling around pissed about two of their own becoming turncoats with their votes. The two culprits, Shelly and Kalia, had their game faces on lock, managing to fool their alliance into thinking they had nothing to do with the vote switch. It didn't make sense for anyone to question Cassi's vote given that she was campaigning hard for Keith to stay. Meanwhile, Lawon made it clear that he was heavily pissed about the move, shedding tears and mean mugging everyone to prove his point. So who does that leave? Adam and Dominic. As we all know, neither guy voted for Keith to leave the house, but their actions told otherwise. Adam mentioned the Vets coming to him to vote out Porsche and him telling them "yes," but doing the opposite. This causes Dominic to walk out the conversation, which

Eric continued to act like his new self in the most recent episode of  True Blood .  After getting drunk off of the faerie blood, he decided to run off on Sookie, so she called Alcide to help her track him down.  Pam, meanwhile, lied to Bill about knowing Eric's whereabouts.  But despite not being able to find Eric, Nan thinks that Bill is overreacting about the witches and ordered him to get control over the situation. Marnie had strange dreams about a witch being burned and she continued to be possessed by this witch.  She agreed to help Tara, Lafayette and Jesus heal Eric, but once they finally found and attempted the spell, Marnie was possessed again and turned on Pam, invoking a spell that started turning her into a corpse. Jason continued to be raped by the were-panther girls, until he managed to convince one of the young girls to free him.  After learning that he escape, Felton and some of the other men took chase.  Later, Jason managed to kill Felton, which made Cry

You might recall last month we spent a bit of hands on time with the new Archos G9 80 and G9 101 tablets. The tablets were prototype devices, not the final consumer versions. The tablets had decent performance even though Chris though the TI OMAP 4 1.5GHz processor was slow compared to the Tegra 2 we commonly see on Android tablets today. At the time, we played with the tablets the launch date was pegged as a vague “this fall.” The launch date is a bit more firm today with the announcement that the tablets will ship in September. That is good news, but the bad news is that apparently the price has been increased a bit from what it was last month when we played with the tablets. Last month we were expecting the G9 80 to land starting at $279. The price is now pegged at $299 to start making the tablet $20 more than we expected. The larger G9 101 version for the tablet will reportedly start at $369.99. Those prices are both for the base 8GB capacity version. There is no indication on what

MySpace founder and former president of the social network, Tom Anderson, has cautioned Google against relying too greatly on algorithmic filtering technologies in Google+, suggesting that over-reliance on such systems has left Facebook struggling to compete. In attempting to manage the Google+ “signal to noise” ratio, Anderson writes in a TechCrunch editorial, the search giant could inadvertently kill off the copious interaction that has marked the initial days of the new social network. As Anderson sees it, Facebook has shifted to an aggressive filtering algorithm so as to prioritize what it believes its users will be most interested in seeing, but simultaneously failed to make clear how more information – or manual controls over that information – can be unlocked by the users themselves. “I post something that used to generate some interaction,” he suggests, “and now I receive almost nothing.” Facebook has put so much emphasis on the “EdgeRank” algorithm, Anderson argues, that most