Google CEO Eric Schmidt Is Not Impressed With Your iPad [Blockquote]

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Google's CEO rarely comments publicly on the competition. When asked directly today about the iPad, though, he couldn't resist a minor jab in Apple's direction.

Schmidt was fielding questions from reporters at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland when he made is opinion—such as it is—of tablets known. Of course, Google also has a vested interest in the space, with more than a few upcoming slates set to run Android. Still! It's actually a pretty good point. [Guardian via Business Insider]


First Video of Russia’s T-50 Stealth Fighter Jet [Aviation]

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Russia's been testing its new T-50 "Sukhhoi" stealth fighter jets and so far they're a success. This video shows the first test flight and is supposedly also the very first time the public is getting to see the bird.

With the T-50's "basic specs" including "greater agility, sustained supersonic-flight capability in non-afterburning mode, low radar visibility, low heat signature, as well as enhanced take-off and landing performance," I wonder what the upgrade options are. Either way, this successful test flight makes Russia the only country aside from the United States to have fifth-generation fighters—if you don't count the Joint Strike Fighter and it's multi-country financial backing. [Ria Novosti]


Man Sells Hacked Comcast Modems to FBI, Gets Up to 20 Years in Prison [Crime]

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Matthew Delorey's business idea was to sell hacked Comcast modems which allow free Internet access. He just forgot to avoid FBI agents, conspiracy, wire fraud, and $250,000 fines. Now he may get 20 years in prison to rethink things.

Delorey wasn't doing anything insanely difficult. He was just modifying modems' MAC addresses to match those of modems whose owners were old-fashioned and actually paying for Internet access. He would've probably gotten away with selling them for a while longer had some of his buyers not been undercover FBI agents. Whoops.

The resulting conspiracy and wire fraud charges held up in federal court and a ridiculously huge fine and prison sentence were suggested. Yeah, the guy's a criminal—a stupid one—but come on. 20 years and $250K are just a bit overboard. I hope the final sentence and fine are a bit more reasonable. [Computer World via Crunch Gear]

Pictured modem is probably not one of the hacked ones. It's a picture by chaunceydavis818


Google Slowly Choking the Life Out of IE6 [Google]

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Google's slowly killing compatibility for IE6 with Google Apps—as of March 1, Docs and Sites aren't supported with Internet Exploder 6 anymore. It'll load, but most of the features won't work.

Gmail and Gcal will be killing support for IE6 sometime this year TechCrunch hears, which should bring death even more swiftly to probably the most maligned web browser in history. [TechCrunch]


The iPad’s Interface and Gestures: What’s Actually New (Video) [Ipad]

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The iPad is a gargantuan iPhone, perhaps more precisely than many hoped. But, if you look closely, you can see hints of what's truly coming next.

There are a few new scraps of gestures and interface bits, all thanks to the larger screen, which you can see sprinkled throughout the keynote video:

• True multi-finger multitouch
Two finger swipes, three finger twirls—multitouch gestures that weren't really possible on the iPhone's tiny screen, unless you're a mouse. This is what people were excited about, and we only get a taste. Though, the gesture Phil uses to drag multiple slides in Keynote, using two hands, looks a bit awkward and belabored.

• Popovers
The most significant new UI element of the iPad vs. the iPhone are popovers, which you see all over the place when you need to dive further into the interface, or make a choice from a list (since blowing up lists to full screen size doesn't make a whole lot of sense now). A box pops up, and has a list of choices or options, which might take you down through multiple levels of lists, like you see in the demo of Numbers, with selecting functions to calculate. Gruber has more on popovers, and why they're significant, here.

• Media Navigator
In some ways, the media navigator Phil Schiller shows off in iWork is the most interesting bit to me: That's what Apple sees as replacing a file browser in this type of computer. It's a popover too, technically.

• Long touches and drags
Lots of touch, hold and drag, something you didn't see much of in the iPhone. With more UI elements, and layers of them, you need a way of distinguishing what type of motion action you're trying to engage.

These are all pretty basic, so far, building right on top of the iPhone's established interface, but it points to the future: More fingers, more gestures, more layered UI elements and built-in browsers.


Wasabi Fire Alarm Awakens You With a Slight Burning Sensation [Fire Alarms]

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In this case the burning sensation is "delicious," not "first degree and could result in your death." And apparently it really works too, although the advertised "time to awaken" period seems a bit too long for my taste.

Effective over an area of 50 feet, the Wasabi alarm can typically wake people up within two-and-a-half minutes. Update: This is a non-traditional fire alarm, for the deaf community. With that in mind, this could certainly save lives.

Two years ago this alarm was but a concept. Now it's a $560 (?!?!) reality. [CNET via Technabob]


Amazon Gives In, Will Sell eBooks On Macmillan’s Terms [Amazon]

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Amazon has given in to Macmillan, and will switch to a pricing model that sees bestseller and new hardcover releases offered to customers at $12.99 to $14.99. The official statement is as follows:

Dear Customers:

Macmillan, one of the "big six" publishers, has clearly communicated to us that, regardless of our viewpoint, they are committed to switching to an agency model and charging $12.99 to $14.99 for e-book versions of bestsellers and most hardcover releases.

We have expressed our strong disagreement and the seriousness of our disagreement by temporarily ceasing the sale of all Macmillan titles. We want you to know that ultimately, however, we will have to capitulate and accept Macmillan's terms because Macmillan has a monopoly over their own titles, and we will want to offer them to you even at prices we believe are needlessly high for e-books. Amazon customers will at that point decide for themselves whether they believe it's reasonable to pay $14.99 for a bestselling e-book. We don't believe that all of the major publishers will take the same route as Macmillan. And we know for sure that many independent presses and self-published authors will see this as an opportunity to provide attractively priced e-books as an alternative.

Kindle is a business for Amazon, and it is also a mission. We never expected it to be easy!

Thank you for being a customer.

Well, that was quick. [Kindle Community]


More Toxic Natural Gas Spills Reported

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For those who continue to think natural gas is a clean energy alternative,  read this story from ProPublica.  Natural gas is a fossil fuel being touted as part of our “green energy future”, along with biofuels;  a nonsensical claim considering that it emits CO2 when burned. In addition to emitting greenhouse gases when it burns, it must be extracted from the ground by various methods, all of which use toxic chemicals, energy and water. Natural gas doesn’t just flow harmlessly out of a tap you can turn on and off. If people knew more about the toxicity of its extraction process and all the spills that occur, I wonder if they would be so ready to embrace something that is so damaging to the environment.  For more information, read about gas drilling’s serious environmental threat here.

(Jan. 27 2010) — As more gas wells are drilled in Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale, more cases of toxic spills are being reported. Earlier this month, Pennsylvania’s environmental officials fined Pennsylvania-based Atlas Resources after a series of violations at 13 wells, including spills of fracturing fluids and other contaminants onto the ground around the sites. And just last week the agency fined M.R. Dirt, a company that removes waste from drilling sites, $6,000 for spilling more than seven tons of drilling dirt along a public road.

The reports come on the heels of a string of other incidents that have killed fish in one of the state’s most prized recreational lakes and released toxic chemicals into the environment.

The Atlas spills are significant because they are among the latest and because they happened repeatedly during the routine transfer of fluids. Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection fined [1] Atlas Resources $85,000 for the offenses, which took place between May and December of 2009. Many of the spills were discovered by DEP inspectors.

The violations [2] (PDF) cited by the DEP include spills of fluids from the hydraulic fracturing [3] process at seven sites, and failure to report a spill at one of those sites. One spill was the result of a faulty pit liner, which is supposed to insulate the ground from hydraulic fracturing fluids after they are pumped out of a well.

Atlas Resources [4] controls more than half a million acres within the Marcellus Shale, the massive gas deposit that stretches from Tennessee to New York. The company, whose total revenue was $787.4 million in 2008, issued a statement acknowledging that it had entered a voluntary settlement with the DEP and saying that each of the incidents had been corrected. An Atlas spokesman declined a request to answer additional questions about the violations, or about the company’s operations in Pennsylvania.

“If you look at this series of violations — it’s not only that there are multiple violations,” said DEP spokeswoman Helen Humphreys, pointing to the fact that the same three violations were turning up at each site. “This is a pattern, and it’s a problem.”

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Sir, You’ll Have to Check Your Bags and the Navy Guidance System [Odd]

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The Unclaimed Baggage Center, a real, live place where—wait for it—unclaimed airline baggage goes to market, is a smorgasbord of eclectic lost gadgets, guidance systems and diamonds, oh my:

For those gadget lovers amongst us, there's a $250,000 Navy guidance system. Maybe all the military transports were full that day? Also, there's a camera designed specifically for the space shuttle. Perhaps someone at NASA was delivering it to a buyer (if that's the case, we doubt the engines will be "mailed" in quite the same way). Just add some unclaimed weaponry and the Unclaimed Baggage Center might be comparable to the armies in some third world countries.

For movie buffs, the original Hoggle puppet from Labyrinth was also lost and found by the Center, as was a real, live snake on a plane (rattlesnake).

Indiana Jones might have been flying the day a suitcase full of Egyptian artifacts was lost and never claimed. There were also a number of unclaimed diamonds and jewels, with some of the former having been found hanging out inside a loose sock. [Mental Floss via Consumerist]


ExoPC Tablet Looks Familiar, But Similarities End There [Tablets]

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The comparisons to another recently revealed tablet are unavoidable, but believe you me the similarities end with the aesthetics. Inside there's Windows 7, flash support and multitouch. In fact, the more apt comparison is probably "netbook," as you can see:

There's the Atom N270 processor, running at 1.6Ghz, for example. And then there's the 2GB of memory and solid state 32GB drive. Lastly, the replaceable battery on this 8.9-in. multitouch tablet is clocked at a mere four hours, which doesn't seem that great (saving grace being that is replaceable).

Pricing is set at $599 when it launches in March. Impatient types can buy a non-multitouch prototype for $780 right now. [ExoPC via Engadget]