I’m not going to spend much time talking about the sweepstakes because all the details can be found at Engadget, (it is there sweepstakes you know) but this is just awesome! Laptops, tablets, digital cameras and a bunch of other goodies are all on the list to giveaway and will make any students day. Enter the sweepstakes from here, and be sure to sign up with DISQUS as they will be using the registered e-mail from there to contact the winners. Good luck everyone.

via: Engadget

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Worried that former HP CEO Mark Hurd might not know what to do with himself after getting caught falsifying expense reports to hide girl #2 and being forced to resign? Don’t be: ol’ Mark’s getting a $12,224,693 severance payment in exchange for agreeing not to sue HP. Yep, Mark Hurd just got $12 million in cash for fraudulently filing expense reports to conceal his mistress — not a bad trick if you can pull it off, we suppose. (We don’t know how much he’ll have to pay back, but we’re guessing he’ll have a little cash left over.) Oh, and he’s also having his option to buy 775,000 shares of HP stock extended to September, which is pretty groovy considering HP actually upped its quarterly forecast today, some other assorted stock-related compensation, and 18 months of health and dental benefits. Whoever said a little white collar crime doesn’t pay?

Update: CNBC has sources claiming the total value of Hurd’s severance including stocks is closer to $40-50 million, give or take. That’s… well, that’s a lot of ink cartridges.

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The Programmable Matter project unveiled by Intel in August last at the Intel Developer Forum is pretty incredible!

Programmable Matter allows you to materialize any object in the form of a spectrum 3D interactive and malleable at your request.

Imagine being able to email a 3D image to someone.

It’s not available yet, but Intel thinks that the transition from project to reality may be possible by only 5 to 10 years. I am thinking longer than this. Reminds me of Stargate Atlantis where they use nanobytes to create 3D items and people.

via: GeekAdviser

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Chen Xiao had pretty much given up making her own decisions and so decided to throw open her life to the whims of China’s hundreds of millions of Internet users, known in China as netizens.

“It’s your right to arrange Chen Xiao’s life, and it’s my obligation to serve you,” read her online shop.

Since December, Chen has been allowing others to decide what she will do each day, because, for the most part, last year was awful, she said. Her hometown was hit by blizzards, her country rocked by a devastating earthquake, friends divorced and her clothing shop went bankrupt.

“Every time I had a plan for what I wanted my life to be like, nothing would come of it. It was very disappointing. I figured if other people came up with things for me to do, I might stumble upon something new and better,” she told CNN.

What she stumbled upon was not only a new life but a new way to make a living. She charges about $3 an hour, and she’s been asked to do almost everything from delivering pet food to caring for stray cats to taking a hot lunch to a homeless man.

What surprised her the most was not so much the varied requests but being able to find happiness in the process.

“If somebody asks you to do something, something simple, and you do it, it can make you very happy. You can change from a gloomy person to a very bright one. It can help give you a new sense of self-esteem,” she said.

So far, the most meaningful assignment she was given was attending a child’s birth — the father was a complete stranger who just wanted someone to take pictures and share the moment.

There are limits to what she will agree to do. She will not do anything illegal, immoral or violent, but she said that has not stopped some from asking.

“When I first started there was this man who would send me these really disgusting text messages. His words were over the top… nauseating,” she said.

There was also a man who wanted to meet her for a few private hours at a ski chalet. When she turned up with a friend to take photographs, he backed out and then demanded a refund, but Chen refused.

In many ways she is just a glorified errand girl, but with a unique China twist. Chen is another example here of how in China the Internet is crossing over from cyberspace to the real world.

Chen does not know how much longer she will keep taking cyberrequests. For now it is a good way to survive the financial crisis when many others are losing their jobs and businesses are going broke.

“When people stop needing me, I’ll go back to my original life. But I don’t know what will come,” she said.

China’s netizens will most likely make that decision for her as well.

via: CNN

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LG, Samsung and Kodak have already gotten themselves into quite a legal tangle, but things have really come full circle in the last few days, with both Samsung and LG filing suits at the International Trade Commission over some alleged patent infringment on Kodak’s part. This, of course, follows Kodak’s complaints that both Samsung and LG were infringing on its patents, which the ITC is now apparently investigating in full. As you might expect, however, details on the patents involved, and any other specifics, are fairly light all around, but Kodak did manage to get a shot in at Samsung, saying that its latest filing is just a “retaliatory tactic and we intend to vigorously contest Samsung’s claims.” No word of a squabble between Samsung and LG just yet, though the two aren’t without their past tensions.

via: Engadget

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According to a UK tabloid The Sun, someone supposedly found a picture of the city of Atlantis using Google Earth.

Looking at the image and seeing how straight the lines are is a good indication that the lines are indeed man made. Rarely, if ever are there any kind of faults or terrain made by mother nature that would be this linear. And with these ones being about 620 miles off the coast of Morocco sure makes for a compelling story.

However, according to a Google spokesperson, these lines are actually sonar artifacts from a boat gathering data for Google Earth’s new ocean feature.

“What users are seeing is an artefact of the data collection process.… Bathymetric (or sea floor terrain) data is often collected from boats using sonar to take measurements of the sea floor.… The lines reflect the path of the boat as it gathers the data. The fact that there are blank spots between each of these lines is a sign of how little we really know about the world’s oceans.”

Here’s a link to the spot on Google Maps.

With that being said: What are your thoughts? Is this still the Lost city of Atlantis, or indeed artifacts like Google states?

via: Crunchgear

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Despite rumors of an Apple netbook, there hasn’t been any official word as to what it would look like. Regardless, designer Isamu Sanada decided to make some renditions of what he thinks they may look like.

Sliding cover with Touchpad

Flip cover with Touchpad

I think I would like the flip over version better myself. But first I would have to learn how to work a Mac.

Which one would you prefer?

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Verizon Wireless has picked Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) and Ericsson (Nasdaq: ERICY) as its main contractors in its planned deployment of its forthcoming 4G network, aka “Long Term Evolution.”

LTE, reputed to be so fast that users can download a song in just seconds, is considered the next industry benchmark for carriers to meet. Verizon’s project — which it outlined at the industry trade show GSMA Mobile World Congress, currently ongoing in Barcelona, Spain — is the largest LTE commitment to date.

Alcatel-Lucent and Ericsson will build the underlying infrastructure for delivery in 2010 — making Verizon Wireless the first wireless company to offer commercial LTE-based service in the United States, assuming it meets the deadline.

Also participating is Nokia Siemens Networks, which, along with Alcatel-Lucent, will be a supplier for the IP Multi-Media Subsystem (IMS) network. This technology enables multimedia applications regardless of access. It will play a key role in Verizon’s services infrastructure when it offers converged applications and services on its wireless and landline broadband networks.

During the past year, Verizon Wireless and Vodafone (NYSE: VOD) have been using existing spectrum to field-test LTE networks in Minneapolis; Columbus, Ohio; Northern New Jersey; Budapest, Hungary; Dusseldorf, Germany; and Madrid. The field trials yieled download rates of 50 Mbps to 60 Mbps peak speeds, though Verizon noted that actual average download results will not be determined until the commercial launch of the new Verizon Wireless LTE network.

Besides faster internet access, LTE should deliver better-quality video services and easier-to-use mobile applications. For instance, a wide-area wireless LTE network should be able to connect consumer electronics devices and machines to each other.

Verizon is planning to deploy the LTE network beyond its current coverage areas, so service in some rural areas not currently served by wireless broadband is also possible.

Read more >>

via: technewsworld

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Facing an outcry from its subscribers, Facebook has backtracked and replaced its new terms of service (TOS) agreement instituted Feb. 4 with the previous version. Mark Zuckerberg, the social network’s chief executive officer, announced the change in a blog post on the company’s site Tuesday night.

“A couple of weeks ago, we revised our terms of use hoping to clarify some parts for our users. Over the past couple of days, we received a lot of questions and comments about the changes and what they mean for people and their information. Based on this feedback, we have decided to return to our previous terms of use while we resolve the issues that people have raised,” Zuckerberg wrote.

“Going forward, we’ve decided to take a new approach towards developing our terms. We concluded that returning to our previous terms was the right thing for now,” he continued.

After a wave of criticism from users who have formed several Facebook Groups protesting the new ToS and an announcement from the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), a consumer electronic rights and privacy group, stating it planned to file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

This is not an inconsequential matter,  said Marc Rotenberg, executive director of EPIC. “We’ve filed similar complaints in similar matters in the past like this. And Facebook was concerned, I think. They are also concerned because a lot of their users were opposing what they were planning to do. So it was a good result.

“I don’t think the privacy issues have gone away, but Facebook did the right thing, and we’re happy about that,” he added.

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via: TechNewsWorld

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According to a report, Microsoft Corp. will be giving away free Windows 7 upgrades to people buying PCs with Windows Vista until as late as January 31 of next year. This is to encourage consumers to keep buying Windows Vista PCs, this year despite Windows 7 ‘s looming release.

The report, from the Malaysian blog TechARP.com, which has called similar details correctly in the past, is another clue that Microsoft plans to release Windows 7 before year’s end.

Citing purported confidential memos from Microsoft, TechARP.com had earlier reported that the Windows 7 Upgrade Program will begin July 1 of this year.

That would mean that any Vista PCs purchased between then and January 31, 2010 are eligible for free upgrades to Windows 7.

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via: PCWorld

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