How to fix a spaceship: The owner's manual for Star Trek's U.S.S. Enterprise
By Niall Firth
Last updated at 1:17 AM on 31st October 2010
They are best known for their in-depth manuals explaining how to get your aging Fiesta moving just one more time.
But now motoring enthusiasts’ bible Haynes has put out a rather unusual new version of its popular guidebooks: an illustrated guide to Star Trek’s U.S.S Enterprise.
With detailed cutaways of all of the versions of the iconic ship from its inception in the early TV shows with Captain Kirk right through to Jean-Luc Picard, the book is destined to be a science-fiction geek’s dream Christmas present.
Enlarge
A side elevation of the USS Enterprise (NCC - 1701) which shows the position of the thrusters
Warp Speed: An overview of the main bridge including details of where every crew member stood
The captain's chair on the main bridge, as used by Captain Kirk and Jean-Luc Picard, is broken down while Spock's role is analysed
The Haynes team even hired famous graphic designer Michael Okuda, who produced a technical manual for Star Trek scriptwriters to make sure the technology was consistent throughout the shows.
The Star Trek version looks just like every other Haynes manual
‘We’ve tried to capture a bit of Star Trek magic,’ he said.
Each iteration of the Enterprise comes with a full-ship cutaway and details of the bridge, the transporter room and engines. Even the space ship’s crew quarters
Each ship’s systems are analysed in detail and key developments from one version to another are discussed at length.
The 160-page book even covers technologies such as defensive shields, deflectors and computer systems.
Derek Smith, editor at the Book Division at Haynes Publishing said: ‘We’ve had a lot of success with our manuals on classic historic aircraft, such as the Spitfire and the Lancaster, and also with our manual on Apollo 11.
'So we started looking for other iconic subjects to cover.’
Haynes has manuals on the ‘Titanic’ and the Space Shuttle as well as a Wallace And Gromit contraptions manual due to be released.
Mr Smith told the official Star Trek website: ‘Haynes Enterprise Manual covers the various Enterprises – some in more depth than others – at a level that is accessible to anyone.
'So it was really about getting the level of technical detail just right.
‘What’s also important is that the book shows how the design of these ships evolved from NX-01 through to NCC-1701-E.
'Along the way we go into more detail about the key technologies used on board. People want to know how warp engines work. We explain that. People want to know how transporters work. We explain that.’
The U.S.S Enterprise manual will be published as a hardback and priced £19.99.
Enlarge
The guide book even comes with a detailed analysis of how the Enterprise was able to hit warp speed to get out of trouble
The Enterprise's warp core is investigated including the elements that took it to beyond light speed
Add your commentsComments (65)
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If you check the motoring forums Haynes manuals are refered to as B.O.L. , which stands for 'Book of Lies'.
The lack of detail to demonstrate working on any DIY repair is pathetic as are pathetic pictures they use.
I would stick to Space Dock for repairs Captain Kirk.
- Roger, Epping, 31/10/2010 23:53
Everybody know that all you have to do is run a level 3 diagnostics to fix a star ship.
- George, Rockville, MD, 31/10/2010 22:18
Great, they will do a book for a fictional tv space ship, but they wont do one for Renault Kangoo- one of the most popluar van /mpv s on the Road
- andy, bogus, 31/10/2010 11:10
You mean the Enterprise isn't real? Hmm. :)- Martin, Ashford, 31/10/2010 20:10
Dark Matter wasn't in the original manuals.
Presumably these new ones go hand in hand with the manufacture recall.- Andrew, Darlington, 31/10/2010 15:47
Marvellous :)
Can they do a TARDIS one next - my son would love that!
- Donna M, Chichester, 31/10/2010 12:47
Great, they will do a book for a fictional tv space ship, but they wont do one for Renault Kangoo- one of the most popluar van /mpv s on the Road
- andy, bogus, 31/10/2010 11:10
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Sunday, October 31, 2010
Haynes publishes owner's manual for Star Trek's U.S.S. Enterprise | Mail Online
Saturday, October 30, 2010
iPhone: 4% of market, 50% of profit - Apple 2.0 - Fortune Tech
iPhone: 4% of market, 50% of profit
Source: Asymco
When it comes to helping investors visualize the effect of Apple's (AAPL) entry on the mobile phone market, nobody does it better than Asymco's Horace Dediu.
It's not just that every new phone that arrives looks like an iPhone and comes with an app store.
Or that Apple has helped shift the industry from so-called "feature" phones, dominated by Nokia (NOK), to "smartphones," a market that was dominated by Research in Motion's (RIMM) BlackBerry until Apple came along.
It's that Apple is selling iPhones as fast as it can make them and raking in huge profits in the process.
Everybody else is playing catch-up while trying to match Apple's manufacturing efficiency and cost structure. To hold on to market share they either have to sell at razor-thin margins or give their product away in two-for-one deals.
The proof: These two pie charts. One shows Apple's share of the worldwide cell phone market in terms of unit sales (4%). The other shows Apple's share of the profits (50%).
As Dediu puts it: "The disruption continues."
Dediu has created a set of six pie charts that compare the mobile phone market in 2007 and 2010 in terms of unit share, sales share and profits. See here.
NOTE: In the last chart, he is using EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes) for the mobile phone division of each company as a proxy for profits.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
IPads Gain Prominence in Hollywood - NYTimes.com
Pitching Movies or Filming Shows, Hollywood Is Hooked on iPads
By BRIAN STELTER
Published: October 24, 2010
Last month at a meeting in Hollywood, it was time to plot out the sequel to “Star Trek,” last year’s blockbuster reboot of the sci-fi franchise.
Rick Friedman for The New York Times
John Carroll Lynch and many other actors use the Rehearsal app on iPads to practice lines. He is preparing for a new series.
Related
Times Topic: iPad
The attendees all brought smartphones — gadgets far more powerful than the videophones imagined by the “Star Trek” writers 40 years ago. Bob Orci brought something the writers back then could only dream of: an iPad.
Mr. Orci, meeting with the producers J. J. Abrams, Damon Lindelof and Bryan Burk, and his fellow writer Alex Kurtzman, jump-started the discussion with an iPad slide show, showing stills from the first film, snapshots of potential locations and a photo of a suggested actress for one of the roles. On the woman’s photo, he had used his iPad to paint on a Vulcan ear.
“When you’re carrying a little TV around, you bring the power of imagery to places that you don’t normally have it,” Mr. Orci said in an interview.
When Apple introduced the iPad six months ago, ushering in an era of tablet computing, experts predicted that tablets would transform the habits of groups of people like college students (who would carry digital textbooks) and doctors (who would manage patient records). They can add Hollywood to the list of those affected.
The iPad is the must-carry accessory on sound stages this season, visible behind the scenes of television and film shoots and in business meetings. When Paula Abdul, the former “American Idol” judge, wants to preview her new dance show for prospective sponsors, she turns on her iPad and pulls up a YouTube video. When Julie Benz, a star of “No Ordinary Family” on ABC, has downtime between shoots, she plays Angry Birds, the popular physics-based puzzle game.
“It’s perfect for the long hours here,” Ms. Benz said in her trailer on the Walt Disney Studios lot this summer.
All this acclaim amounts to free advertising for Apple, which has rarely if ever given away its products to A-list customers. And the use of iPads inevitably ends up inspiring story lines that millions of people see. On the NBC show “The Office” this month, when one character asks what time it is, another character pulls out his iPad, like an oversize pocket watch.
The iPad’s most prominent appearance in prime time came in April, just days before it was put on sale, on the ABC sitcom “Modern Family,” when one of the characters desperately wanted an iPad for his birthday. Eyebrows were raised because Apple’s chief executive, Steven P. Jobs, is on the board of ABC’s parent, Disney. An Apple spokeswoman said the company did not pay for product placement, and an executive producer of “Modern Family,” Steve Levitan, said the iPad story originated with the show’s writers.
Mr. Levitan happens to be an avid iPad user, sometimes posting to Twitter from the tablet.
According to the Nielsen Company, Apple products have popped up about 2,438 times on television programs through September of this year. Some of those are news programs: iPads are visible on the set of the “Fast Money” talk show on CNBC, and Glenn Beck sometimes brings his to “Fox & Friends,” the Fox News morning show.
Hollywood’s converts to the iPad say it can drastically reduce the amount of paper that is wasted on script rewrites.
The actress Dana Delany, who will star in “Body of Proof,” a coming ABC drama, said she now has revisions sent to her digitally. “I think it’s the greatest invention in years,” Ms. Delany said. (The iPad will be a fixture in the medical examiner room on “Body of Proof,” which will start in early 2011.)
Mr. Orci’s iPad has served as the daily “call sheet” with the day’s instructions; acted as a map in an unfamiliar location; and allowed him to keep tabs on “Fringe” and “Hawaii Five-0,” two shows he helps produce. “Oh, and it woke me up in the morning with its alarm,” he said.
His one complaint is that the screen is hard to see in the sun.
There are some iPhone and iPad apps made especially for the entertainment community, like Rehearsal, which helps actors learn their lines. John Carroll Lynch, who appeared in the A&E series “The Glades” last summer and will appear in “Body of Proof” next year, swears by Rehearsal, which was created by the actor David H. Lawrence XVII.
The app imports the script for a television episode. “Then I run the scenes with just the others’ dialogue, and I speak when I’m supposed to be speaking,” he said.
In his downtime in his trailer, Mr. Lynch also plays the Madden 2011 app and watches shows he downloads from iTunes. He said he was surprised by how much he had come to use the tablet.
“It’s like we’re getting to the tricorder,” he said, referring to the scanning and recording gizmo from the original “Star Trek.”
This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: October 25, 2010
An earlier version of this article misstated when the ABC sitcom "Modern Family" showed the iPad. It was days before the iPad's release in April, not days after.
5 Most Engaged Brands in Social Media - via Mashable
The Social Media for Business Leaders Series is supported by The Awareness Social Marketing Hub, an enterprise-grade application for marketers who manage multiple social channels. Learn more here.
Engaging in social media is about being extremely open, creative and flexible. To stay competitive online, brands need to be investing in social media as a way to extend themselves to their customers.
While advertising and cultivating an image are still important, it’s interaction that creates loyal customers. Using social media to show customers that your business is connected to what they say, think and feel about your products can amplify your brand’s message.
We’ve compiled a list of five big brands that are most engaged in social media, and that go to extensive lengths to connect with consumers. Add your own thoughts on which brands are ahead of the curve in the comments below.
1. Starbucks
Starbucks is on just about every corner in the real world, and that’s the same strategy the company has taken online as well. When it comes to a web presence, Starbucks has made its mark on Twitter (
), Foursquare (
), mobile apps and with its own social network, My Starbucks Ideas. The company dominates the social media landscape, creating active and engaging profiles on a variety of platforms. And according to some reports, Starbucks is the most engaged brand using social media for a few years running.
Take a quick look at the coffee giant’s Twitter page, and you’ll see the company has just more than 1 million followers. The next thing you’ll notice is that there’s a lot of conversation going on. Starbucks is keeping busy responding to mentions, apologizing for bad experiences, and just carrying on some interesting conversations with its followers.
Meanwhile on Facebook, more than 15 million people “Like” the brand. And Starbucks is trying to make buying its product as integrated and seamless as possible. Take, for example, the Starbucks Card Facebook application it introduced this past April, which allows customers to manage their Starbucks Card accounts from within the social network. The company also recently announced that customers could now “Give a Gift” and credit their friends’ cards via Facebook, too.
That feature is an idea born out of their community site, My Starbucks Idea. The Seattle-based caffeine king wants to know what you want from Starbucks, and the company is listening. The site enables consumers to share their ideas and critique others’ ideas as well. Discussions are encouraged, and the community votes to see which ideas become reality. The “Give a Gift” idea was suggested back in 2008, and drew more than 42,000 votes. It may have taken some time for the idea to become a reality, but it shows that Starbucks is listening to its customers.
2. Coca-Cola
As one of the most universally recognized brands, it’s not surprising that Coca-Cola is the second most engaged brand according to Famecount. Just like Starbucks, Coke is active on Twitter, engaging in conversation with its 142,000 followers. Given that it has a worldwide following, it’s appropriate that many of the tweets are written in different languages. In addition to its overarching brand, each drink it produces also has its own Twitter page.
On Facebook, it’s somewhat astounding that 15 million people “Like” the soft drink empire, but the company has done a good job of keeping things interesting and interactive. The Page is a hub of all sorts of activity, including posting fan photos, videos and social good initiatives like Live Positively, where fans voted for America’s favorite park to receive a $100,000 grant.
On Coca-Cola’s YouTube channel, the soda company launched “Unlock The Secret,” a viral video campaign featuring Coke’s inventor, Doc Pemberton. By clicking on bottle links in the videos, viewers are taken to the @docpemberton Twitter page, Coke’s Ahh Giver app on Facebook (which allows users to send a message to a friend delivered in video format by the Coke polar bear), and Coke’s Smilezier, a novel feature that allows users to record their laughter and listen to other people’s as well.
All of these efforts tie together Coca-Cola’s brand of happiness, and it’s created an interesting and original experience while engaging with consumers online.
3. Oreo
Oreo is the third most engaged brand according to Famecount, and for a brand that’s been around since 1912, racking up 12 million “Likes” on Facebook is a great way to prove that good products have real staying power.
For Kraft, makers of the delicious black and white cookie, Facebook outreach has been the main strategy. While other brands are engaged across the board, Oreo hasn’t leveraged Twitter at all yet.
The Oreo Facebook Page is a place to find recipes, videos, photos of fans enjoying the cookie, and games like Twist To Win for a chance to meet the Double Stuf Racing League (Shaquille O’Neal, Apolo Ohno, Eli Manning and Venus Williams).
The DSRL’s videos are the main focus on Oreo’s YouTube channel, including interviews with the athletes, commercials, and behind-the-scenes footage.
Check out Kraft Foods’ digital and social marketing lead Beth Reilly speaking on “how Oreo learned to fish where the fish are” in the video below.
4. Skittles
Skittles has an amazing online presence, starting with its website — a vibrant landing page that invites you to “Experience The Rainbow” by interacting with various features throughout the on-site experience. Users have opportunities to vote and post photos and videos while interacting with content. Keeping with the community theme on another site, Share Skittles is the place where YouTube videos of fans eating Skittles are posted.
While Skittles hasn’t quite figured out how to leverage Twitter, logging little more than 6,000 followers and producing some really weird tweets, more than 12 million “Likes” show they managed to figured out how to make use of Facebook.
The “Mob The Rainbow” feature was an innovative effort that strove to bring fans together to create something big. The first mob was a massive outpouring of Valentine’s Day greetings to a person who doesn’t get much love: a parking enforcement officer. Fans were asked to either make a card on the site or get the address and send one on their own — 43,037 cards were sent. Since the launch of Mob The Rainbow last year, fans have completed three mobs, with plans for a fourth one to “crash” an 85-year-old grandmother’s birthday party. It’s a brilliant way to engage the company’s audience with social good and keep its quirky image alive.
5. Red Bull
Red Bull is a brand that is associated with procrastination and the need for energy — last-minute studying, late-night partying, early morning meetings or classes, and the ability to keep you awake at almost any hour of the day.
With social media, though, the Austrian company has something more to offer than salvation from long work days and early morning grumpiness. With more than 10 million “Likes” on Facebook, it offers a really cool and interactive Facebook Page that appeals to the brand’s core consumer.
The Procrastination Station, featured on its Games page, offers high quality, engaging and interactive options for procrastinators, including a soapbox car racing game, a rock, paper, scissors game, and “Drunkish Dials” recordings — recordings of Red Bull drinkers who called the company’s toll free number, leaving “drunkish” messages. Yep, that’s what happens if you leave them a ridiculous drunken message — they’ll put it online.
Plus, they’ve run creative contests like 2009’s Red Bull Stash, where the company hid Energy Shots all over the country and posted clues on its Facebook wall. It was the company’s way of thanking fans when it hit the 1 million fan mark. Currently, the company has teamed up with San Francisco Giants player Tim Lincecum to create an ongoing scavenger hunt for 11 autographed baseballs hidden on the streets of San Fran. A picture of each baseball has been uploaded at a specific location and the first fan to arrive and check in with Facebook Places and the password “San Francisco’s Got Wings” wins the coveted ball.
The company has also done an impressive job on the mobile front with the Red Bull X-Fighters app for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad, the Red Bull TV app, and the Red Bull BPM app that turns your iPhone into a complete DJ setup. All these apps are great extensions of the brand’s core product, and complementing the consumer’s lifestyle goes a long way.
Series supported by Awareness
The Social Media for Business Leaders Series is supported by The Awareness Social Marketing Hub, which builds social marketing software for marketers leveraging multiple social channels to engage with customers, build their brand, and increase revenues. Built upon Awareness’ expertise deploying more than 200 communities and social media projects for the world’s biggest brands including Sony, JetBlue, Kodak, ASOS.com and AIRMiles.
The Awareness Social Marketing Hub is a leading enterprise-grade application for marketers struggling with the social media chaos of managing multiple social channels. With the Awareness Social Marketing Hub, marketers are now able to publish, manage and measure across all their social channels from one central location using advanced built-in permissioning, workflow and audit controls.
More Social Media Resources from Mashable:
- Top 5 Enterprises Using Social Media
- 5 Winning Social Media Campaigns to Learn From
- HOW TO: Get the Most Out of Your Business Facebook Page
- 5 Huge Trends in Social Media Right Now
- A Field Guide to Using Facebook PlacesImage courtesy of iStockphoto (
), mattjeacock
For more Social Media coverage:
- Follow Mashable Social Media
- Subscribe to the Social Media channel
- Become a Fan on Facebook
- Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad
There's not a single media/entertainment company listed. Very sad.
dealnews.com: Southwest: 15% off flights w/ $20 purchase at Cost Plus World Market store
Southwest: 15% off flights w/ $20 purchase at Cost Plus World Market store
At Cost Plus World Market stores, make a $20 purchase and receive a coupon for 15% off the total price of a Southwest Airlines Wanna Get Away roundtrip purchase, via the directions below. (It's not available for online purchases.) That's the best percent off discount we've seen on Southwest flights this year. A 7-day advance purchase is required. Restrictions may apply. The $20 purchase must be made by November 6; it's valid on travel between October 30 and January 25, 2011. It's valid for the first 25,000 redemptions. To get this deal:
- Make a $20 purchase at a Cost Plus World Market store
- click here to register your receipt
- click here to redeem your code for 15% off your flight
Monday, October 25, 2010
French Laundry gets its iPad on - Jon Bonné
Will the French Laundry's beloved clothespins go virtual when the iPads arrive? (Photo: Craig Lee / The Chronicle, 2004)
We were taken aback today with word that the French Laundry, of all places, will be taking its extensive wine list to iPads by year’s end. iPads. At the Laundry. Yep.
Or perhaps it’s not the most surprising thing, seeing as iPads have become the trendiest thing in wine service these days — notably after Barbacco moved its list to said tablet format.
Exact rollout is still to be determined. But a Laundry spokeswoman says the move was made “to be a lot more eco-friendly,” specifically to stop using all the paper required to reprint the voluminous selections. Unlike some prior iPad migrations, like Barbacco’s, where restaurants retain a printed list for those who prefer to browse in the dead-tree manner, the Laundry apparently will abandon paper lists entirely.
Of course, the Laundry list has long been available digitally through the Real Wine Lists service. But if the iPad rollout is anything like others (most of them handled by Long Island firm Incentient), each wine entry will provide extra information on producer, varietal and so on — though of course, the restaurant’s crack team of sommeliers will remain be on hand to naivgate guests through a list that ranges from the 2009 Diatom Drum Canyon Chardonnay ($80/375 ml) to the 1991 Henri Jayer Echezeaux ($5,900). Pairings will, presumably, still be handled the old-fashioned way.
Seeing as Keller’s flagship not only maintains arguably the best restaurant service practices in the nation but serves as a fine-dining barometer, we can safely say the iPad list has come of age. Consider yourself on notice.
Update: Grant Gilligan of Real Wine Lists weighed in to say that the firm is behind the French Laundry’s iPad efforts, with some help from a new application that pulls in data from RWL’s servers. The RWL web-based system was designed to manage inventories and generate wine lists on the fly, and the iPads will simply be reprogrammed a couple times a day, replacing the need to reprint the lists at least daily. Real Wine Lists has other customers — including, based on this video, Saratoga’s Plumed Horse — developing similar iPad systems. The system is capable of adding pictures of wine labels and extra info on each wine, Gilligan said, but the Laundry hasn’t opted for that: “They’re keeping it very clean and simple.”
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Emailing tweet from: TheFeed (TheFeed)
Sent from my iPhone
Thursday, October 21, 2010
@ SPT - AXN online video content Android application - Gergo @ media
@ SPT - AXN online video content Android application
Following Sony Bravia and Playstation 3, the next platform (not the last) where AXN video content is available is the Sony Ericsson Xperia Android mobile. The AXN Player Android application is pre instealled to the Sony Ericsson Xperia™ X10, X10 mini, X10 mini pro and X8 phones and AXN catch up tv content can be watched in great quality. After an exclusivity period for Sony Ericsson, the app will be launched to the Android App Market. Below is our Hungarian promo spot for the application.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
USB Typewriter
The USBTypewriter™ is a new and groundbreaking innovation in the field of obsolescence. Lovers of the look, feel, and quality of old fashioned manual typewriters can now use them as keyboards for any USB-capable computer, such as a PC, Mac, or even iPad! The modification is easy to install, it involves no messy wiring, and does not change the outward appearance of the typewriter (except for the usb adapter itself, which is mounted in the rear of the machine). So the end result is a retro-style USB keyboard that not only looks great, but feels great to use.
Check it out:
usb typewriter working as a Typewriter Dock™ for an Apple iPad
Monday, October 18, 2010
Stimulus, Earmark Critics Try Back Door For Funds
I found the following story on the NPR iPad App:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130602175&sc=ipad&f=1001
by Audie Cornish
NPR - October 18, 2010
Congress passed the economic stimulus bill in early 2009, but with the unemployment rate still above 9 percent, the bill is a prime target of criticism and contempt on the 2010 campaign trail.
That doesn't mean lawmakers haven't been trying to get their hands on some stimulus money for their districts. Indeed, an investigation by the Center for Public Integrity finds that some of the bill's biggest critics worked behind the scenes to get a slice of the pie.
One of the major selling points of the stimulus bill was that it was supposed to be free of congressional earmarks -- those little flags lawmakers plant in legislation claiming money for pet projects. President Obama celebrated the bill on its anniversary.
"I'm grateful that Congress agreed to my request that the bill include no earmarks," he said, "that all projects receive funding based solely on their merits."
But the Center for Public Integrity has discovered that lawmakers, instead of going through the congressional earmark process, have written directly to federal departments with backdoor requests for stimulus funds. It's a practice known as lettermarking, says John Solomon, an investigative journalist for the center, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research group.
"The letters one day were on my desk, and they were a foot high. ... I couldn't look over my desk and see my colleagues across the hallway," he says, "because literally there was a mountain of paper."
An About-Face
The center collected the letters using federal agency sources and the Freedom of Information Act.
The Obama administration tried to insulate the bill from lettermarks by ordering agencies not to consider the requests, Solomon says. But the calls and letters poured in, he says, from everyone from Democrats who had crowed there would be no earmarks to Republicans who had panned the stimulus bill for failing to create jobs.
"But when they wrote the letter to try to get money for their local district or local company, they said, 'This project is going to create jobs, and we hope you give it stimulus money,' and so their letters undercut the arguments they make politically on the campaign trail or on FOX and MSNBC," he says.
For instance, when the stimulus passed, Tennessee Republican Lamar Alexander spoke out against the bill on the Senate floor.
"It is not temporary. It is not targeted. It is not primarily creating jobs. It is not a stimulus bill. It is mostly a spending bill," he said.
But Alexander later wrote letters to the Transportation Department seeking stimulus grants for local projects he said would spur job creation.
Half a year after the bill passed, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky told CNN the stimulus was a big mistake.
"I think we can fairly safely declare it now a failure," he said.
But that fall he wrote the Transportation Department endorsing a state application for stimulus funds for a rail project.
This year, conservative Democrat Walt Minnick of Idaho -- one of seven Democrats to vote against the stimulus bill -- is running ads touting his opposition.
"I've had to say 'no' far more than I've said 'yes.' I've said 'no' to government spending," he says in them.
But Minnick wrote the Commerce Department at least three times lobbying for stimulus funds for broadband projects.
None of these lawmakers would agree to a taped interview with NPR.
But staff from the offices of Minnick and Alexander issued written statements defending the right to aid constituents who ask for help. They said the lawmakers didn't necessarily get the grants they sought, and when they did, it was based on merit and competitive bidding.
Seeking Transparency
The Center for Public Integrity calls its report "Stimulating Hypocrisy."
"Well that's a strong word. Inconsistent for sure," said Republican Jim Walsh, a former New York congressman who is currently a lobbyist with K&L Gates.
Walsh served 20 years in the House, many of those on the Appropriations Committee. He says what matters more than the request is the response.
"When I was looking at bills and members were railing against earmarks and requesting them at the same time -- that was duly noted," he said, meaning that those lawmakers who had earlier opposed earmarks didn't receive funding.
Without journalists and researchers filing requests under the Freedom of Information Act, there's no way for the public to know whether lettermarking is effective, says Ryan Alexander of the budget watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense.
"If the agencies get letters from members of Congress, they should make them public immediately. They should not wait for a FOIA," he said. "They should be clear about how those letters may or may not influence their decisions."
Now that these letters are public, investigators at the Center for Public Integrity say they hope to see voters demand more transparency from lawmakers. [Copyright 2010 National Public Radio]
To learn more about the NPR iPad app, go to http://ipad.npr.org/recommendnprforipad
Article: Create Automated Website Tests with Ease
Create Automated Website Tests with Ease
http://mashable.com/2010/10/13/fake-for-mac/(Sent from Flipboard)
Article: 4 Game-Changing Trends in Web App Design
4 Game-Changing Trends in Web App Design
http://mashable.com/2010/10/14/web-app-design-trends/(Sent from Flipboard)
Tweet by Oliver Reichenstein on Twitter
50 Secrets Your Pilot Won't Tell You | Work & Career | Reader's Digest
We asked 17 pilots from across the country to give us straight answers about maddening safety rules, inexplicable delays, the air and attitudes up there—and what really happens behind the cockpit door. What they told us will change the way you fly.
My favorite quote : "There's no such thing as a water landing. It's called crashing into the Ocean"
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Add a Metal Back to Your iPhone 4 | Apartment Therapy Unplggd
I found this metal back on cnn.cn, an OEM cellphone parts company from Hong Kong. There are similar flat metal backs that can be found on eBay, but this is one of the few places that sells it with a beveled back. The slight bevel rounds out the back of the phone, making it feel less sharp. It also adds a tough industrial look. For even more durability, adding a bumper and a front screen protector protects your phone further while still managing to keep the iPhone’s refined look. The best part is, it’s simple (only requires removing a couple screws—see ifixit’s tutorial for installing an iPhone 4 rear panel) and cheap ($12.99 for the metal panel).
1. Remove two screws at the bottom of the phone with a Philips #00 screwdriver.
2. Slide back panel off by pushing the panel up with your thumbs.
3. Line up metal panel and slide down. Return screws.
Friday, October 15, 2010
Livescribe and Evernote Team Up
It appears Livescribe's Smartpens (known for their digital on-the-fly transcription and audio notes) and Evernote (a note backing-up and syncing multimedia service) are teaming up. Could this possibly be the ultimate note taking experience for those digital junkies looking to get their notes up in the cloud?
The Business Behind the Internet TV Revolution
This post originally appeared on Forbes.com, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about social media, business and technology.
The television is about to become the latest medium to get a major makeover at the hands of the Internet. Already more than half of Americans are watching TV and surfing the web simultaneously. But another trend — giving connectivity to the device itself — is going to fundamentally change the business models around television and the way we consume and interact with content.
Yahoo, which has been an early mover in the space, anticipates that 8 million to 10 million devices with its Connected Television platform preinstalled will be in consumers’ hands by March 2011. That’s triple the amount in March 2010, according to Russ Schafer, Yahoo’s senior director of product marketing for the platform. Market research firm iSuppli estimates that by 2014 some 148 million televisions with Internet connectivity will be sold annually.
Millions of consumers who buy televisions from the likes of Samsung, LG and Sony won’t just be plugging into the programming offered by their satellite or cable provider, they’ll also be able to access applications ranging from Facebook to eBay and view content from a limitless number of video publishers.
That represents a shift similar to what we saw in print media, where the Internet (and mobile phones) opened up the opportunity for anyone to become a content creator. Blip.tv, which bills itself as a “next generation television network,” has been eyeing this trend since 2005, hosting thousands of independently created shows. Now, according to cofounder Dina Kaplan, blip.tv is serving up nearly 100 million views each month (or, put another way, about 10% of the combined audience of the major TV networks) across the web, mobile devices and, increasingly, Internet-connected televisions.
The Growing Market for Internet-Enabled Televisions
Blip.tv is growing its audience by forming partnerships with traditional TV manufacturers and a new breed of company in the set-top box market that lets consumers connect to the Internet via their televisions. One of those companies is Roku, which sells its entry-level box for $60. CEO Anthony Wood told me the company is closing in on 1 million customers and that the average user is consuming 33 hours of content each month using the device.
Roku rival Boxee has amassed about 1.2 million users so far, says CEO Avner Ronen. That’s just through its downloadable app, which requires users to connect their computers to their televisions. The company plans to introduce its own box in November and bring with it a string of content partnerships, like BBC and Major League Baseball, as well as from companies like blip.tv and other purely digital outfits.
Boxee is planning to monetize the set-top box in part through a transaction platform that Ronen says will let publishers “offer content and charge for it without the need for users to enter payment information … [they can pay] with just one-click” for things like premium content, tickets or subscriptions. Roku has plans for a similar platform that will launch this fall. For now, both Roku and Boxee let their content providers control their own advertising and keep the revenue generated by it.
The Changing Advertising Landscape
The potential for new forms of advertising isn’t lost on any of these players, though. Experiments are still very early stage, but Yahoo’s Schafer says that, right now, “the basic ad formats are the same as we use on the web … and you’re just playing it to a different device. But the next stage is Yahoo bringing our own advertising offering further optimized for television … monetizing our service first and then offering it to third parties.”
Pandora, the popular Internet radio service that also has millions of users across connected devices, recently extended its ad platform to Internet-enabled televisions. “Campaigns on this newest platform will primarily feature audio ads, which create a more lasting and emotive connection with consumers. The ability for brands to connect with consumers using audio ads on an in-home device is a new and exciting opportunity,” says Chief Revenue Officer John Trimble.
Meanwhile, blip.tv sees opportunities for targeting ads with unprecedented levels of precision. For example, the company recently developed a campaign for Electronic Arts that was able to target Xbox 360 owners with an interactive ad for NCAA Football ‘11 that allowed them to download a demo of the game to their console. Kaplan says that such complexity can’t yet be achieved across the dozens of different television and connected device manufacturers, but that “within a year we’ll see video advertising much more seamlessly transition from web video to the TV set.”
Such interactivity is already possible with so-called “second screen” providers, which are building social experiences on smartphones and tablets that allow users to interact with friends and content as they watch their favorite shows. They simultaneously create opportunities for engagement that have both the networks and advertisers excited.
Philo is a startup that, along with competitors like Miso and GetGlue, has taken the concept of “checking in” — popularized in recent months by location-based apps like Foursquare — and applied it to television shows. Users can check in to shows, interact with friends who are also watching and engage with ads in unique ways. For example, the company recently launched a promotion for the upcoming film You Again that enters users into a sweepstakes when they check in to shows like Glee or Dancing with the Stars and interacts with the ads through Philo’s app.
Prime Opportunities for Television Networks
The huge shift taking place in the TV landscape isn’t lost on the networks. CBS is getting its content on a multitude of connected devices and experimenting with a variety of content plays, social features and revenue models. Zander Lurie, SVP of strategic development at the company, doesn’t see new consumption models making networks like CBS irrelevant. “We’re excited by the fact that these services are offering consumers more ways to view our content. The priority [for us] is to create more opportunities for our content to be consumed than ever before. As long as we have a business model in place for that [type of] consumption, we win,” says Lurie.
Despite all of the activity, Internet-connected television will shift even more dramatically over the next year, with both Google and Apple introducing their own set-top box offerings this fall. While upstarts like Boxee and Roku might see that as validation of what they helped pioneer, it could significantly disrupt the business models emerging in the quickly evolving world of Internet-connected television.
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Thursday, October 14, 2010
Article: Badgeville Gives Publishers Trendy, Plug-and-Play Game Mechanics
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