IBLOG SPACE

I used to work with a woman that was weird. She had an unnatural fear of balloons and always brought her own straws to work. Apparently, she didn’t trust the balloons to not pop on her randomly and getting a straw out of a box was gross. What that woman needs is this titanium drinking straw. You can cram it into just about anything you want to drink from oranges to milk cartons. I bet you can get it through one of those randomly super tight drink lids that make plastic straws explode too. The cool part is that you can wash the straw so you always know no one has had it in their nose and then put it back in the box. I think this would be perfect for vampires with a little modding. Sharpen the straw to a point and you could be drinking blood neater in a jiffy. If you want one of these straws, you can pick it up at ThinkGeek for $15. That is a lot of loot for a straw, but they are made from titanium and don’t get hot or cold. The downside is if you miss your straw while talking to someone

The AT&T and T-Mobile deal heated up again today as Senator Herb Kohl issued a statement in strong opposition of the merger that was then promptly followed by a response from AT&T. The carrier claims that a majority of the public support their acquisition of T-Mobile, including dozens of government officials and millions of union workers. But the folks behind the following T-Mobile commercial parodies certainly don’t, as they poke some fun at the situation. The set of four commercials produced by FreePress parody the T-Mobile ads with the pretty brunette in a pink dress that we’ve seen plenty and often while we watch our evening programs. The videos add in a pretty blonde representing AT&T along with other actors portraying a T-Mobile customer, a T-Mobile worker, and an indifferent Verizon. Although humorous, the videos poke at serious issues that do concern many folks about the potential merger. There’s the fear of price hikes and fewer choices when it comes to GSM carrier

Apple today released OS X Lion to the masses, but only allowed customers to download the major OS revamp via the Mac App Store—no boxed versions were offered in Apple retail stores. This will be the fate of many Mac applications starting today as the company aims to purge all boxed software from its retail stores. In a notice sent to resellers, Apple revealed that they are discontinuing the boxed versions for several applications including OS X Snow Leopard, iLife, iWork, and Aperture. Starting today, these software titles can only be purchased online via the Mac App Store, although resellers can still sell off their remaining inventory or return them to Apple. While the Logic Express and Logic Studio software titles will continue to have boxed versions, GarageBand Jam and Mac Box Set will be discontinued in all channels, meaning they’ll be axed even from the Mac App Store. Also completely discontinued today are any preinstalled configured-to-order software products.

Senator Kohl, chairman of the Senate’s antitrust subcommittee, had issued a letter today opposing the AT&T acquisition of T-Mobile, stating that the deal could cause “substantial harm” for competition and for consumers. In response, AT&T has issued its own statement emphasizing the mergers benefits and supporters. AT&T says that Senator Kohl is ignoring the benefits of the merger as well as the large number of supporters, which the company says outweighs the opposition. Those supporters include 26 governors, 76 democratic members of congress, 72 mayors, and unions representing 20 million members. The statement reads: “We respect Senator Kohl. However, we feel his view is inconsistent with antitrust law, is shared by few others, and ignores the many positive benefits and numerous supporters of the transaction. This is a decision that will be made by the Department of Justice and the FCC under applicable law and after a full and fair examination of the facts. We continue to b

Intel’s Q2 earnings report has beat expectations with record revenue of $13 billion, up 21 percent from the same quarter last year. Net profit for the quarter hit $3 billion, up 2 percent year-over-year. The chip giant’s PC business growth slowed down, netbook sales expectedly declined, but its server business burgeoned with data center upgrades that followed the increased demand for cloud computing. PC business revenue for Intel rose by 11 percent year-over-year, indicating that PC sales have yet to be majorly impacted by more mobile developments but have certainly slowed. Their Intel Atom chipset business dropped 15 percent year-over-year, which reflects the decline in netbook sales. This raises concerns in the company’s transition to smartphones and tablets. However, when asked about Intel’s missing presence in the mobile device market, the company argued that they’re actually already a major mobile device player because they power all of the data centers that deliver content to mob

The AT&T and T-Mobile acquisition proceeding may be hitting a snag for the two major U.S. carriers. Senator Herb Kohl has just issued a stern letter warning against the acquisition, saying that it could cause “substantial harm” to competition and consumers. Senator Kohl also happens to be the chairman of the Senate’s antitrust committee. News of AT&T’s decision to purchase T-Mobile for $39 billion first broke in March and has since stirred strong opposition from at least one competing carrier and stoked consumer concerns on price hikes. AT&T’s first official pitch to the FCC argued that the acquisition was necessary to support the rapid growth in data demands and would ultimately benefit consumers with better coverage and a more reliable network. Competing carriers have argued that AT&T’s inability to keep up with data demands lies in AT&T’s poor strategy and lousy management of its data networks, and that the T-Mobile acquisition is simply a lazy solution to catch

Google announced that they’d be shutting down their Google Labs department this Wednesday in an effort to “put more wood behind fewer arrows.” This is the department of Google that brought such classics forth as Google Reader, Google Goggles, and more than a couple other things in the official Google Inc Developerssection of the Android Market. They’ve been responsible for Google Wave, Google Calendar, and of course, the king, Gmail. What the chief engineers at Google Labs Mark Friedman, Aravindh Murthy, Yushi Jing, Joe Marshall, and Andy Hertzfeld will be doing this weekend is still up for debate. In their official last rights as administered by Bill Coughran, SVP for Research and Systems Infrastructure, Google Labs was, as Coughran noted, beginning to “wind down.” They had decided, said Bill, that they’re prioritizing their product efforts and that while they’ve learned a great deal by launching early prototypes in Labs, they’ve come to the conclusion that “greater focus” is necessar

Apple’s long-awaited MacBook Air refresh has finally been delivered, and SlashGear caught up with the Cupertino company to find out what makes the new notebook special. Now up to date with Intel Sandy Bridge processors – and NVIDIA conspicuously off the menu – could the Air be not just the best ultraportable on the market but perhaps the best laptop? Read on for our first impressions. One area the MacBook Air didn’t need any help with is aesthetics, the narrow aluminum chassis still looking modern and thoroughly outclassing most Windows-based rivals. Apple has sensibly left the design unchanged, beyond addressing one lingering criticism: the backlit keyboard. Present on the original Air, then removed in the 2010 refresh, the 2011 ultraportable once again gets illuminated keys that make typing in low-light situations far more straightforward. The oversized glass trackpad remains responsive and smooth, though OS X Lion’s default flipping of the scrolling direction – mimicking touch-scrol

Opening a new chapter with the successful launch of Google+, it looks like the search giant is closing its doors on Google Labs, which has been behind a jumble of experimental projects over the years. This move was announced in a Google blog post explaining the decision as part of CEO Larry Page’s promise to put “more wood behind fewer arrows,” that is to refocus the company on its most important products. Google Labs has been the breeding ground for many fascinating and quirky products, some more successful than others. One in particular that has become an official Google product is Google Goggles, an Android app that recognizes real world objects and then identifies them for you. You can take a picture of a landmark using the app to receive more information about the place. Some other projects include Google Scribe, which helps with writers block by suggesting words and phrases based on the structure and setup of your sentences as you write. Another more recent one is Swiffy, a web-b

Netflix for Android has been hit or miss, with the huge variety of Android devices sporting different versions and customizations leaving the app compatible with only 9 Android handsets. But that situation has improved with a new update today that more than doubles the number of Android devices supported. This Netflix Android app update to version 1.3 now officially lists 24 devices as compatible, including a new Android tablet. The updated information was listed last night on the Android Market, but downloads weren’t enabled until today. The devices listed are as follows: • Casio G’zOne Commando C771 with Android 2.2 • HTC Droid Incredible • HTC Droid Incredible 2 • HTC EVO • HTC EVO 3D • HTC G2 • HTC Thunderbolt • Lenovo IdeaPad Tablet • LG Revolution • Motorola Atrix • Motorola Droid • Motorola Droid X • Motorola Droid X2 • Motorola Droid 2 • Motorola Droid 3 • Samsung Droid Charge • Samsung Epic 4G • Samsung Galaxy S • Samsung Galaxy S 4G • Samsung Fascinate • Samsung Nexus S • Sam

​If you lived through the 1980s, chances are you owned, listened to or watched the tiny blue gnomes named The Smurfs. They're actually much older than that, as Belgian cartoonist Peyo created them way back in 1958. And since then they've been entertaining (and boring the minds out of) millions of people around the world. Which brings up the question: How can the Smurfs be both universally popular and so boring that watching their "adventures" makes you want to take a smurfing gun and smurf yourself? It might be because the having a giant village of identical creatures doesn't really lend themselves to interesting, nuanced plots. Or it might be that their cartoons and comics relied on paper-thin storylines that were shallow even for '80s Saturday morning cartoons, which is really saying something.

Microsoft’s Windows Phone Mango update, along with a slew of new and hopefully exciting Mango handsets, may have only two more months before their big debut. A recent Tweet from Microsoft unwittingly confirmed Mango handsets to be sent out to ImagineCup finalists in September, and now a message to Windows Phone developers further supports that release timeframe. Microsoft’s Todd Brix, in a blog post today, announced the rollout of a new App Hub for Windows Phone developers. The refreshed portal allows developers to manage their accounts, stay up to date on Windows Phone developments, and submit apps. Brix then revealed that Mango app submissions will be accepted starting in August with the Windows Phone Release Candidate tools made available to developers later that month to finalize Mango apps. Assuming no unexpected bugs turn up during the last half of August, it seems certain that Windows Phone Mango will be released in September with a possible debut at Microsoft’s Professional Dev

The Google+ for iPhone app was released yesterday and it’s already hit the top of the list for the most popular free apps in the iTunes App Store. This is fascinating since Google+ is limited to the invite-only beta users currently on the network. That number was announced as 10 million last week during Google’s earnings call, but is now estimated to be at 18 million. Facebook still holds the title for number one free iOS app downloaded of all time, but it does have a more established network with a staggering 750 million users. Google+, on the other hand, is just three weeks old and has yet to open its doors to the general public. Oddly, the Google+ Android app that’s estimated to have been downloaded as much as 5 million times was not chart topping in the Android Market. Despite its popularity, the app still needs a lot of work. Some of the key features that puts Google+ ahead of its competitor are missing from the app. This includes the interface for organizing Circles, which ends u

Google chairman Eric Schmidt has reiterated his regret that the search giant historically lacked focus on social networking, describing Google+ as “a partial answer” to Facebook. “Google should have worked on this earlier” Schmidt told CNN, “developing these identity services and ranking systems that go along with that. That would have made a big difference for the internet as a whole.” Meanwhile, Google+ is tipped to have come close to doubling its already impressive user figures in the space of a week. “Fundamentally, what Facebook has done is built a way to figure out who people are. That system is missing in the internet as a whole,” Schmidt argued, “I think that’s the area where I would have put more resources.” Google has been pushing against anonymity and pseudonyms on Google+, deactivating accounts of those using fake names. “The lesson to be learned in high tech, you need to move through these new phenomena very quickly and you need to get the details right. Otherwise you’re l