Planex DigiJuke NAS snags YouTube and BitTorrent video — jams it down the Wii, Xbox 360, iPod… and throat of MPAA
Here it is copyright bandits, the single biggest reason (besides silicone) to make a Hollywood studio notice you: the MZK-NAS02SG1T network attached storage device from Planex. The main selling point behind the ¥54,799 (about $524) 1TB Gigabit Ethernet block is the claim to “universal access” for all your devices. That little trick comes courtesy of its DigiJuke browser for searching and tagging the BitTorrent and YouTube content you want downloaded in the appropriate PSP and iPod (MPEG-4), Wii (FLV), or TV (MPEG-2) format for in-home or on-the-go viewing. The NAS also streams audio and video to your iTunes laptops or desktops, DLNA TV, Xbox 360, or other compliant device in the home. A front-facing USB 2.0 jack offers one-touch dubbing of USB sticks while a second around back offers ready storage expansion. It ships with a pair of 3.5-inch 500GB drive which you can swap out for higher capacity spinners at a later date. That is if the studios don’t shut you down first.
[Via Impress]
Nokia’s “Beautiful to use” 6600 slide, fold and 3600 slide
Nokia just announced a trio of “Beautiful to use” Nokia handsets with its Nokia 6600 slide, 6600 fold, and 3600 slide. The €250 6600 fold is said to smoothly arc open with the press of a button to reveal a 2.13-inch OLED display sporting 16 million colors. It also features tap commands. When off, a double-tap of the monolithic cover reveals the time, messages and missed calls. A double-tap also snoozes alerts and silences or rejects incoming phone calls. The €275 6600 slide (pictured left) features the same tap technology but bumps the digital camera up from 2 to 3.2 megapixels with a 2.2-inch QVGA display based on LCD tech, presumably. The 3600 slide offers the same camera with built-in background noise cancellation — a first for a Nokia handset — for a respectable €175. All three ship in Q3.
Read — Press Release
Read — Promotional site
Triac: the highway-capable, three-wheeled electric car available now?
Our siblings over at AutoblogGreen discovered a little video hinting that a new three-wheeled, 70MPH electric car called the Triac is available… now. While we wait for the Aptera to hit the road, it seems Green Vehicles went ahead and made the Triac, tested it, and got it all sorts of market-ready. For
Asus rumored to be spinning off Eee brand, 11-inch Eee PC coming too
Information doesn’t get much more twisted that this so you’d best tread lightly with it. We’ve got a DigiTimes rumor whose message was modified in translation. Engadget Chinese tells us that the original DigiTimes article (in Chinese) states that Asus is planning an Eee PC “sub-corporation.” In other words, an ASUS spin-off that would include more than just low-cost ultra-portables. The rumor is attributed to DigiTimes’ proven ASUS sources. However, DigiTimes’ own English translation simply calls the move an Eee “sub-brand” which was already obvious with ASUS’ announced plans for additional Eee branded products including the E-DT desktop, E-TV television, and 19- to 21-inch E-Monitor all-in-one said to be due in Q3. DigiTimes’ sources also claim that ASUS will slap a 1001 model number on its 10.6-inch Eee PC and then — perhaps supporting the spin-off claim — says that there will be a premium 11-inch Eee PC before the end of the year as well. Originally, Jerry Shen, ASUS CEO, said the Eee PC would never exceed 10-inches so that it wouldn’t cut into ASUS’ laptop offerings. A spinoff would presumably give the Eee brand more freedom to compete.
[Via Engadget Chinese]
Read — DigiTimes (Chinese)
Read — DigiTimes (English)
Foxconn wins 3G iPhone contract, 3 million units shipping in June?
Need more unsubstantiated evidence that the 3G iPhone is near. Good, the Chinese language Commercial Times is quoting sources claiming that Foxconn (aka, Han Hai) — the maker of the 1st gen iPhone — is ramping up 3G iPhone assembly by “the end of May” to ship 3 million units in June. It’s expected to produce some 24-25 million units before the product reaches end of life. If those numbers are true then Apple had better be prepared for a proper global launch without those pesky revenue sharing schemes seen holding back world-wide uptake.
Reno urged to prepare for worse as earthquakes continue
By MARTIN GRIFFITH, Associated Press Writer
Sat Apr 26, 7:38 PM ET
RENO, Nev. - Scientists urged residents of northern Nevada’s largest city to prepare for a bigger event as the area continued rumbling Saturday after the largest earthquake in a two-month-long series of temblors.
More than 100 aftershocks were recorded on the western edge of the city after a magnitude 4.7 quake hit Friday night, the strongest quake around Reno since one measuring 5.2 in 1953, said researchers at the seismological laboratory at the University of Nevada, Reno.
The latest quake swept store shelves clean, cracked walls in homes and dislodged rocks on hillsides, but there were no reports of injuries or widespread major damage.
Seismologists said the recent activity is unusual because the quakes started out small and continue to build in strength. The normal pattern is for a main quake followed by smaller aftershocks.
“A magnitude 6 quake wouldn’t be a scientific surprise,” John Anderson, director of the seismological lab, said Saturday. “We certainly hope residents are taking the threat seriously after last night.”
But Anderson stressed there was no way to predict what would happen, and said the sequence of quakes also could end without a major one.
Reno’s last major quake measured 6.1 on April 24, 1914, and was felt as far away as Berkeley, Calif., said Craig dePolo, research geologist with the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology.
A rockslide triggered by Friday night’s quake was blamed for causing a 125-foot breach in a wooden flume that carries water to one of two water treatment plants in Reno, a city of about 210,000.
A backup pump was used to divert water to the plant, and the breach was not expected to cause any water shortages, said Aaron Kenneston, Washoe County emergency management officer.
The U.S. Geological Survey said Friday night’s quake was centered around Mogul, just west of Reno. The area of upscale homes along the eastern Sierra was rattled by more than 100 quakes the day before, the strongest a magnitude 4.2 that caused high-rise casinos to sway in downtown Reno.
The strongest aftershock measured 3.7 and was recorded early Saturday.
Mike Lentini of Reno said Friday night’s quake felt “like a big truck hit the building” and awakened his family.
“It’s the unknown. It’s shaking, and when’s it going to stop?” he said Saturday. “And when stuff starts falling off the shelves it’s a whole other ballgame.”
Jars of mayonnaise and bottles of ketchup and shampoo fell from shelves at a Wal-Mart store in northwest Reno. Overhead televisions swayed at a sports bar in neighboring Sparks, 11 miles east, where bartender Shawn Jones said the rumble was significantly stronger than Thursday’s event.
“The bottles were shaking, so I sent everybody outside,” he said.
Hundreds of mostly minor quakes have occurred along one or possibly more faults since the sequence began Feb. 28, said Ken Smith, a seismologist at the Reno laboratory. The quakes have occurred along an area about 2 miles long and a half-mile wide.
“We can’t put a number on it, but the probability of a major earthquake has increased with this sequence,” Smith said Saturday. “People need to prepare for ground shaking because there’s no way to say how this will play out.”
Among other things, scientists urged residents to stock up on water and food, to learn how to turn off water and gas, and to strap down bookshelves, televisions and computers.
“It’s getting a little bit frightening,” Daryl DiBitonto of Reno told the Reno Gazette-Journal. “I’m very concerned about this increase in not only activity, but also in magnitude.”
The quakes around Reno began a week after a magnitude 6 temblor in the northern Nevada town of Wells, near the Utah border. The Feb. 21 quake caused an estimated $778,000 in damage to homes, schools and historic downtown buildings, dePolo said.
Scientists said they’re unsure whether the seismic activity at opposite sides of Nevada is related.
Nevada is the third most seismically active state in the U.S. behind California and Alaska. The Wells quake was the 15th of at least magnitude 6 in the state’s 143-year history.
A magnitude-7.4 quake south of Winnemucca in 1915 is the most powerful in state history.
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Associated Press writer Scott Sonner in Reno contributed to this report.
___
On the Net:
U.S. Geological Survey: http://www.usgs.gov
University of Nevada, Reno, seismology lab: http://www.seismo.unr.educ
Lolcat site hiring; spelling skillz optional
By PETER SVENSSON, AP Technology Writer
Wed Apr 23, 5:49 PM ET
NEW YORK - “I can haz dream Job? My rezumez! let me showz u thm”
That’s the subject line of a cover letter sent by a job applicant to I Can Has Cheezburger, one of the premier sites for so-called Lolcat pictures.
Don’t think the letter will be rejected out of hand — bad spelling is no obstacle to a job in Lolcat world. It may even be an asset.
Lolcats became an Internet craze last year. A typical example shows a picture of a fat and hopeful cat accompanied by a caption in a baby-talk-like dialect known as Lolspeak: “I CAN HAS CHEEZBURGER?”
Apparently, looking at Lolcats all day is an appealing job. Ben Huh, founder of the site and chief executive of Seattle-based Pet Holdings Inc., has received 250 applications since the job was posted on Monday under the headline “Kittehs Want Moar Workerhumans.”
“I got a stack of resumes that I can’t even go through,” Huh said. “You know how they say, ‘Spell everything correctly because the people reading your resume will toss it out otherwise?’ Well, we can’t even do that. We won’t knock you out for spelling…. The traditional resume screening methods don’t apply here.”
The winning applicant will join three other people who moderate ICHC and a few related Pet Holdings sites (think dogs with funny captions). A big part of the job will be selecting from the 7,000 submissions the company receives every day of captioned photos, plus 2,000 uncaptioned ones.
Cat ownership is not required, just “a great sense of humor, a deep understanding and love of the Internets and a strong work ethic.”
___
On the Net:
http://www.icanhascheezburger.com
Sharpton vows to ‘close this city’ after officer acquittals
By VERENA DOBNIK, Associated Press Writer
2 hours, 33 minutes ago
NEW YORK - Hundreds of angry people marched through Harlem on Saturday after the Rev. Al Sharpton promised to “close this city down” to protest the acquittals of three police detectives in the 50-shot barrage that killed a groom on his wedding day and wounded two friends.
“We strategically know how to stop the city so people stand still and realize that you do not have the right to shoot down unarmed, innocent civilians,” Sharpton told an overflow crowd of several hundred people at his National Action Network office in the historically black Manhattan neighborhood. “This city is going to deal with the blood of Sean Bell.”
Sharpton was joined by the family of 23-year-old Sean Bell — a black man — and a friend of Bell who was wounded in the 2006 shooting outside a Queens strip club. Two of the three officers charged were also black.
The rally at Sharpton’s office was followed by a 20-block march down Malcolm X Boulevard and then across 125th Street, Harlem’s main business thoroughfare, where some bystanders yelled out “Kill the police!”
Fifty of the marchers carried white placards bearing big black numbers for each of the police bullets fired at Bell and his friends.
Sharpton urged people to return for a meeting this coming week “to plan the day that we will close this city down” with the kind of “massive civil disobedience” once led by Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
“They never accused Sean Bell of doing anything. Then why is he dead?” Sharpton asked, his voice roaring with anger. Authorities “have shown now that they will not hold police accountable. Well, guess what? If you won’t, we will!”
“Shut it down! Shut it down!” the crowd chanted, standing up and applauding wildly.
Sharpton didn’t say exactly how they would protest the acquittals of the officers who fired the 50 shots. He said Bell’s supporters could demonstrate all over the city, from Wall Street to the home of Justice Arthur Cooperman, who on Friday acquitted the three detectives after a nonjury trial.
Sitting behind Sharpton as he spoke were Bell’s parents, his sister and Nicole Paultre Bell, who took her fiance’s name after his death.
“The justice system let me down,” Paultre Bell told the crowd in a soft voice. “April 25, 2008: They killed Sean all over again. That’s what it felt like to us.”
It was her first public comment since she stormed out of a courtroom Friday after the NYPD detectives were cleared in Bell’s killing as he left his bachelor party.
One of Bell’s companions, Joseph Guzman, also spoke briefly on Saturday, saying: “We’ve got a long fight.”
Williams sparks Jazz past Rockets; take 3-1 series lead
By DOUG ALDEN, AP Sports Writer
1 hour, 11 minutes ago
SALT LAKE CITY - Deron Williams scored eight of his 17 points in the fourth quarter and the Utah Jazz beat the Houston Rockets 86-82 on Saturday night for a 3-1 series lead.
Mehmet Okur added 14 points and 18 rebounds, grabbing the biggest board of the game when Williams went 0-for-2 from the line with 7.3 seconds left and Utah only ahead by two.
The Rockets host Game 5 Tuesday and need a win to keep the series going.
Houston cut a 16-point third quarter deficit to a point and made a great push at the end after Shane Battier and Rafer Alston made 3-pointers in the final minute to get the Rockets back within two. Kyle Korver answered with two free throws for Utah to make it 84-80 with 12.5 seconds left, then after Carl Landry putback an offensive rebound, Williams had a chance to seal it for the Jazz.
He missed both attempts, but Okur was there for the offensive rebound and hit both free throws with 5.5 seconds to go. It was too much for the Rockets to overcome and Utah’s Andrei Kirilenko added an exclamatory block as the buzzer sounded and the Jazz left the court one win away from advancing.
Tracy McGrady, who is 0-6 in playoff series, scored 23 points to lead the Rockets. Only four came in the fourth quarter. McGrady was taunted with the chant “Over-Rated!” when he went to the foul line late in the game after another quiet fourth period.
Through four games, he has scored a total of 12 in the final quarter — and seven of those came in an 94-92 win in Game 3 that revived the Rockets’ hopes of going back to Houston with a possible 2-2 tie. Instead, it’s a 3-1 deficit to the Jazz, who won the first two games at the Toyota Center.
The Jazz were 0-for-14 on 3-pointers, but strong enough to make up for it inside. Carlos Boozer added 14 points and 14 rebounds, Kirilenko scored 11 and Ronnie Brewer had 12 points and two blocks as all five Utah starters scored in double figures.
After falling behind by 16 early in the third quarter, Houston rallied to get within five points at the end of the period and continued to push early in the fourth to almost completely erase Utah’s lead. Bobby Jackson and Landry hit two free throws each and Alston took a steal in all alone for a layup to cut the lead down to 68-67 with 10:39 left in the game.
Williams took control for Utah by driving for two layups to start an 8-0 run. Matt Harpring knocked the ball out of McGrady’s hands, Williams bounced a pass to Boozer in the lane for an easy basket, then Korver made a 19-footer that put Utah back ahead 76-67 with 6 minutes left.
McGrady didn’t score in the fourth until his layup over Boozer got Houston within 76-69 with 5:40 remaining. He had a chance to get the Rockets within two, but went 1-for-2 from the foul line twice.
McGrady also led Houston with eight assists and 10 rebounds, but the Rockets were outrebounded 48-41.
Notes:@ Jazz G Jason Hart missed the game with the stomach flu. … The Rockets closed the first quarter on a 12-3 run to take a 23-21 lead into the second. … After missing 13 free throws in Game 3, the Jazz improved Saturday by going 24-for-31 from the line. … Shane Battier scored 10 and Landry added 13 points for Houston.
Jake Long, Chris Long, Matt Ryan selected 1-2-3 in NFL draft
By BARRY WILNER, AP Football Writer
1 hour, 12 minutes ago
NEW YORK - Things were going so normally, so predictably at Saturday’s NFL draft. All six players the league invited to the festivities hit the stage in the first half-dozen selections. Yawn. Then came the wake-up call: trade after trade after trade, affecting 14 of the 31 first-round picks. At one point, five of seven selections had been bartered. A little while later, it was another five of six.
Jake Long just sat back and smiled — right from the outset.
The Michigan tackle already had signed with the Miami Dolphins as the top overall choice. He inked a five-year contract worth $57.75 million, $30 million of it guaranteed.
“I was a little more relaxed just knowing where I was going and just being here to make it official,” Long said. “That solidified it all. It was just breathtaking to walk out there and shake the commissioner’s hand and hold up that jersey. It was a dream come true.”
Chris Long of Virginia, Matt Ryan of Boston College, Darren McFadden of Arkansas, Glenn Dorsey of national champion LSU and Vernon Gholston of Ohio State didn’t have to wait long to walk under the floodlights, either. It was the first time since the NFL began inviting multiple prospects in 1993 and they all went at the very beginning of the proceedings.
So unlike last year, when Notre Dame’s Brady Quinn had to wait hours to be chosen.
“It’s great to see the green room empty,” said defensive end Long, who went second to St. Louis.
“It’s a blessing to be here, they only ask six guys to come,” DE/LB Gholston added. “Funny how it worked out, teams made good selections.”
After St. Louis took the son of Pro Football Hall of Famer Howie Long, Ryan, who could solve the quarterback problems in Atlanta, went to the Falcons.
Following a long-standing tradition, Oakland went for the gamebreaker in running back McFadden, prompting the fans to boo loudly. Many wanted the two-time Heisman Trophy runner-up to fall to the New York Jets at No. 6.
All-American defensive tackle Dorsey was taken fifth overall by the Chiefs. Dorsey patted his heart as he held up a No. 1 Chiefs red jersey that was so small he, frankly, could never fit into it.
“There was a lot of emotion,” he said. “I told myself I was not going to cry, but you get the tears start coming and you can’t control that.”
The Jets wound up with Gholston of Ohio State, who must now learn to play in the 3-4 alignment the team prefers.
“I’m looking forward to going up against Jake Long twice a year,” he said of what will be a revival of their Big Ten rivalry.
At the seventh overall spot, the bartering began, and never really stopped. Eight of the next 15 picks were involved in trades.
New Orleans moved up to No. 7 to get defensive tackle Sedrick Ellis of Southern California, who was recruited to the school by the Saints’ new defensive line coach, Ed Orgeron. New Orleans gave up the No. 10 overall spot to New England, and its third-round slot, and got a fifth-rounder along with the chance to take Ellis.
Then Jacksonville moved up from 26th overall to eighth, where it grabbed Florida DE Derrick Harvey. The Jaguars gave the Ravens four picks to get to that spot.
Everything moved at a good pace after the NFL cut the first round from 15 minutes per pick to 10. The first round took 3 hours, 30 minutes, a significant improvement over the five-hour marathons of previous years.
The Dolphins used only a few seconds to hand in their card. The Rams and Falcons didn’t take much longer, but the Raiders used almost their entire time, as did Kansas City.
Jake Long became the first top overall pick from Michigan since Tom Harmon in 1941. He was accompanied by several family members onstage as he donned a Dolphins hat.
Then came another Long, who proudly held up a Rams jersey and pointed to the fans in the upper deck of the hall. Chris Long is the second straight defensive lineman selected in the opening round by St. Louis, following Nebraska’s Adam Carriker last year.
“I knew I was in the running, but all the guys here were great players and they could have chosen anyone,” Chris Long said. “It came down to needs.”
Ryan has an open course to starting in Atlanta, with Michael Vick in jail on dogfighting charges, and only journeymen Chris Redman and Joey Harrington to compete with.
“I have to go down and gain the respect of my teammates, do everything I can do to get on the field next year,” Ryan said.
Asked about replacing Vick in Atlanta and whether he expected to play or watch as a rookie, Ryan added: “I’ll go down there to do all I can to be successful, try to not be distracted, try to win. … There’s not a right or wrong way to do it. I want to get there and learn the offense so I have a chance to play.”
McFadden joins a crowded backfield in Oakland, where Justin Fargas recently signed a new contract and Dominic Rhodes and LaMont Jordan are on the roster.
“The time I talked to the Raiders coaching staff, they tell me they’re missing a playmaker from their offense,” McFadden said. “I feel I can add to that with my big-play ability.”
Dorsey will be a building block for the Chiefs, who are revamping their roster this offseason. Gholston could do the same for the Jets, who have lacked a true pass-rushing threat since trading away John Abraham.
Cincinnati took USC linebacker Keith Rivers ninth, then the Patriots selected another linebacker, Jerod Mayo of Tennessee. Buffalo went for Troy CB Leodis McKelvin and Denver took Boise State tackle Ryan Clady.
Carolina, looking for a complement to DeAngelo Williams, selected Oregon running back Jonathan Stewart, then dealt with Philadelphia to get Pitt tackle Jeff Otah in the 19th position. The Panthers gave up next year’s first-rounder in that trade.
Chicago took Vanderbilt tackle Chris Williams for its spotty offensive line. Chris Long’s teammate, guard/tackle Branden Albert, went 15th to Kansas City after the Chiefs traded up with Detroit. Two slots later, tackle Gosder Cherilus of Boston College went to the Lions, prompting some in the audience to chant “FIRE MILLEN” in reference to Lions president Matt Millen.
The first player from the former Division I-AA went 16th when Arizona selected CB Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie of Tennessee State. At No. 18, another small college guy was taken when Baltimore traded up to get quarterback Joe Flacco of Delaware with a pick Houston had owned.
After cornerback Aqib Talib, who reportedly tested positive for marijuana while at Kansas, was taken by Tampa Bay, the Falcons moved up to 21st overall. They chose Southern California tackle Sam Baker, son of Arena Football League commissioner David Baker, to help protect Ryan.
Dallas, which came into Saturday with two first-round picks, used No. 22 for McFadden’s backfield mate at Arkansas, Felix Jones, who also can return kicks. That began a run on runners, with Illinois’ Rashard Mendenhall going to Pittsburgh and speedy Chris Johnson of East Carolina taken by Tennessee at 24.
The Cowboys then traded up three spots with Seattle to get cornerback Mike Jenkins of South Florida, regarded by some as the best defensive back in the draft.
In all, 14 of the 31 first-round selections — New England forfeited its own spot because of the Spygate scandal, but had a pick acquired last year from San Francisco — were involved in trades. The Jets finished off the swapping by moving into Green Bay’s No. 30 slot for Purdue tight end Dustin Keller, bringing a chorus of boos.
The Super Bowl champion Giants took Kenny Phillips of Miami with the final pick of the opening round. Phillips was the only safety selected in the round.
For the first time since 1990 and only the second time since 1967, there were no wide receivers taken in the first round.
Several renowned college players went in the second round, which began with Miami taking Clemson DE Phillip Merling. Houston’s Donnie Avery was next, the first wideout chosen, by St. Louis.
On consecutive picks toward the end of Round 2, Baltimore grabbed Rutgers star running back Ray Rice, Green Bay selected Louisville QB Brian Brohm, and Miami got Michigan QB Chad Henne.
