Inhabitat's Week in Green: reach for the stars, safer kids and sexier cars

Each week our friends at Inhabitat recap the week's most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us -- it's the Week in Green.

This week Inhabitat saw several incredible feats of green architecture reach for the stars as Richard Branson unveiled the world's first commercial spaceport and a lunar solar power tower won the Moon Capital International Design Challenge. We were also impressed by Snøhetta's design for a massive möbius strip-shaped particle accelerator and we caught the groundbreaking of what will be one of the world's most efficient solar skyscrapers in Korea.

Ultra-efficient autos blazed a trail this week as an electric audi shattered a world EV distance record by traveling 372 miles on a single charge. We also caught a glimpse of the future of green transportation as major auto manufacturers unveiled a set of incredible eco concept cars, and we caught wind of a plan to bring these insane traffic-straddling buses to the United States.

In other news, we learned that iPhones and other communication devices may have potentially deadly side effects for kids, and we showcased several innovative designs for safer cycling - an inflatable airbag collar that automatically pops up to prevent injuries and a crash helmet that makes a stink when it cracks.

Finally, to celebrate Halloween we rounded up a ghastly array of ghoulish green designs - from a skeletal x-ray lamp to a skin-crawling camera made from a human skull to a company that will press your mortal remains into a vinyl record. Happy Halloween!

Inhabitat's Week in Green: reach for the stars, safer kids and sexier cars originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 31 Oct 2010 20:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/b9EtHtOgAKc/

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Dutch police manipulate botnet to warn infected users

Filed under: Security

The battle against malware sure has changed over the past couple of years. It's no longer you and I in our chairs at home armed only with knowledge and an antivirus app. No, today's fight against trojans, botnets, and other software evil-doers involves everyone from lawyers to the police.

In the case of the recent Bredolab botnet, it was the Dutch police who stepped up. Following a concerted effort involving members of several security firms and the Dutch National Crime Squad, more than 140 Bredolab servers were seized. Here's where this story really gets good.

After they successfully gained control of the servers, the Dutch Police put the botnet to creative use -- pushing notifications to infected users and providing links to a removal tool. Sophos Labs' Graham Cluely mentions that as many as 30 million PCs may have been infected by Bredo, so what better way to notify users than via the botnet's own plumbing?

Dutch police manipulate botnet to warn infected users originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 26 Oct 2010 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.downloadsquad.com/2010/10/26/dutch-police-manipulate-botnet-to-warn-infected-users/

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Gmail launches new Labs feature: Auto advance to next message

Filed under: E-mail, Google

Usually, when you hit Archive (or Delete) while reading a Gmail message, you find yourself back in the message list of whatever label you were reading (the Inbox, for most). However, once you're there, you usually just click the next message to keep on reading and handling your email.

So... why not just move on to the next message automatically? That's just what the Gmail guys thought, and hence this new Labs feature. Sure, you already have keyboard shortcuts that do this -- [ and ] by default -- but most people don't use them. This new setting makes the process automatic, so you don't have to remember any keyboard shortcut. You can also decide whether "next" means "the next newer conversation" or "the next older conversation." Very handy!

Gmail launches new Labs feature: Auto advance to next message originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 27 Oct 2010 05:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.downloadsquad.com/2010/10/27/gmail-launches-new-labs-feature-auto-advance-to-next-message/

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Firefox Friday: Mozilla refuses to ban Firesheep, a more-Awesome Bar, delayed Firefox 4, and more

Filed under: Features, Mozilla, Browsers

This week has been a busy one for Mozilla, and not in a here-are-lots-of-awesome-toys-to-play-with way.

First of all, Firefox 4 was pushed back to 2011. We had originally hoped to see it launch before the end of 2010, but in all likelihood we probably won't see before March or April 2011. There are still a bunch of Beta releases to get through, and then the Release Candidates. On the flip side, FF4 is already very fast and a joy to use -- as long as you don't mind the occasional hiccup, it's well worth the upgrade from FF3.6!

Then there was Firesheep, a sidejacking add-on that gets its name from Firefox, which Mozilla has decided not to ban. Mozilla retains the ability to blacklist add-ons, but generally only blocks add-ons that cause browser crashes. There have been a few add-ons blocked for 'security issues', though, which raises the question: is Mozilla simply looking at the bigger picture -- a Web made all the more secure because of awareness-raising add-ons like Firesheep?

Finally, the Nobel Peace Prize website was hacked to exploit a 0-day Firefox vulnerability. The hole was summarily patched and new versions of Firefox 3.5 and 3.6 were released.

It wasn't all bad this week though! Mozilla Labs threw out a few of very fun toys to play with (an auto-complete Awesome Bar!), and I've found a few other goodies to show you, too.

Mozilla Labs brings you Awesome Bar word completion

This add-on, which is the first deliverable from Mozilla Labs' Prospector experiments, is all about enhancing the search experience inside Firefox. If you thought the Awesome Bar was good -- this will blow your mind! It's hard to explain exactly what 'word completion' does, but essentially it means you have to type less while searching -- just like Google's search suggestions!

Incidentally, this is yet another Chrome-like feature -- but hey, I don't think anyone's complaining.

Combine your address books and friends lists with Mozilla Labs' Contacts

Mozilla Labs has been quietly plugging away at the Contacts add-on for a while, and with release 0.4 it's definitely starting to become usable.

Contacts is part of Mozilla's continued efforts to make the browser a tool, rather than a portal. While Google's Chrome tries to get out of your way as quickly as possible, Mozilla wants Firefox to be part of the browsing experience. With Contacts you can import contacts and friends from a variety of services (Facebook, Gmail, Twitter, Yahoo, etc.) into your browser.

Having your contacts in your browser is great for two reasons: a) you always have an offline backup handy, and b) when registering for new Web services, you'll be able to give those sites access to your contacts directory. You won't have to give up your Facebook, Google, Flickr and Twitter credentials every time a site asks you to 'look for friends'!

[At the time of writing, this add-on doesn't seem to work -- I don't know if it's an issue with Contacts, or the latest builds of Firefox -- either way, I guess you just have to bookmark this one and hope Mozilla fixes it ASAP.]

Grab a faster, optimized version of Firefox 3.6 for Windows and Linux

The tenacious Mitch over at Firefox Facts dug up two gems this week: The Pale Moon Project and Swiftfox, which provide optimized versions of Firefox 3.6 for Windows and Linux respectively. Documentation for Swiftfox is lacking, but fortunately Pale Moon provides tons of details for why its build is faster than Mozilla's. The memory management runtime library has been custom-compiled for faster operation, and overall complexity has been reduced by removing unnecessary features (like accessibility and ActiveX). In general, it sounds like the Pale Moon build is angled towards speed, while Mozilla builds for compatibility.

The only real problem is that these are builds of Firefox 3.6. No matter how hard you tune it, 3.6 still languishes some way behind 4.0. Still, if you're not quite ready to transition over to the beta builds of Firefox 4, these two optimized builds should definitely give you a bit of a boost. Pale Moon also says it will build an optimized version of Firefox 4 when it's released -- and when that happens, Download Squad will be sure to review it.

Of course, neither of these optimized versions are overseen or ratified by Mozilla, so use them at your own risk!

Firefox Friday: Mozilla refuses to ban Firesheep, a more-Awesome Bar, delayed Firefox 4, and more originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 29 Oct 2010 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.downloadsquad.com/2010/10/29/firefox-mozilla-refuses-to-ban-firesheep-a-more-awesome-firefox-4/

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PlayOn yanked from Roku over legal fears?

You snooze, you lose; if you’d been holding off installing the PlayOn channel to Roku’s streaming boxes after it showed up at the start of this week, it looks like you’re too late. �Roku has removed the option over “the possibility of legal exposure” as neither they, nor the developer responsible for the channel, “are [...]

Source: http://feeds.slashgear.com/~r/slashgear/~3/-52h8rlxZAo/

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All 89,000 Microsoft staff getting Windows Phone 7 devices

Back in July, when we were still tentatively confident about Windows Phone 7 after our technical preview, rumors surfaced that Microsoft would be encouraging its employees to drink the smartphone kool-aid by giving everyone a free WP7 device. �Now the company has confirmed that’s the case, with Microsoft exec Guy Gilbert telling Network World that [...]

Source: http://feeds.slashgear.com/~r/slashgear/~3/xHpeKyys_ok/

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Sprint: iPad has increased demand for 3G and 4G mobile hotspots

Sprint CEO, Dan Hesse, says his company has seen an increase in the demand for their 3G and 4G Overdrive wireless hotspot devices since the launch of the iPad. He also noted that most iPads sold are the WiFi only model and they have become increasingly reliant upon devices such as their Overdrive to have [...]

Sprint: iPad has increased demand for 3G and 4G mobile hotspots is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/_dwQFxnphxQ/

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Verizon's new rebate form shows two Droid 2 Globals, Samsung Continuum, and more

Carrier rebate forms have a fun tendency to reveal unannounced hardware, since they cover several upcoming weeks when they're published -- and Verizon's latest for the month of November is a particularly juicy one. Here's what we've got:

• There are two SKUs listed for the Droid 2 Global, but only one for the Droid Pro, leading us to wonder whether it'll actually be the Global that's getting a cameraless version.
• Speaking of Motorola, the WX445 Citrus is in the mix for the first time.
• The Pre 2 is in the system with a $100 rebate.
• There are two new SKUs for the Bold 9650, possibly indicating the release of new versions with BlackBerry 6 pre-installed.
• The LG Cosmos Touch is in here, which we imagine will be a touchscreen successor to the Cosmos.
• There's a Samsung Zeal listed with a $50 rebate, but we're not sure what it is -- we know that Sammy has a number of Android phones in the pipe for Verizon, and we suppose this could be one of 'em (likely low-end considering it's not a $100 rebate).
• More interestingly, the Samsung Continuum is in here, suggesting that the November 8 event could be for this dual-screened (and Galaxy S-branded) beast. $100 rebate here.

Of course, November is a time when retailers of all types and sizes bring out new products in time for the holidays, so we're not surprised to see the mother lode here. Who's excited?

Verizon's new rebate form shows two Droid 2 Globals, Samsung Continuum, and more originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 29 Oct 2010 13:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/hpV6kG2ppz4/

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Trick or Treat with TUAW: Thought Out Stabile iPad stand

TUAW is giving away a gaggle of ghoulishly good gadgets over the next few days. Be sure to come back every day between now and October 30th for a chance to win. The good part of the giveaways? You don't need to wear a costume to win 'em.

According to the Dictionary app on my Mac, stabile is defined as "a freestanding abstract sculpture or structure, typically of wire or sheet metal, in the style of a mobile but rigid and stationary." Stabile is also the name of a rugged and sturdy iPad stand from Thought Out.

Using what looks similar to the base from an iMac attached to a set of padded metal "fingers," the Stabile is perfect for iPad owners who want a way to hold up their devices without wearing out their arms. I can see where the Stabile would be perfect for kiosk applications running on an iPad.

The Stabile comes in two finishes -- black solid steel (US$59.99) and silver solid steel (US$69.99). These things are incredibly well built, weighing in at almost 4 pounds. The base has a set of non-slip rubber pads on it, so it's hard to accidentally move the Stabile when an iPad installed. The center of gravity is low enough that tipping is out of the question as well.

As part of our Trick or Treat with TUAW promotion, we're giving away a pair of Stabiles to some lucky readers. To enter, just let us know what you'd use your Stabile for -- watching movies on your iPad, running a point-of-sale app on the iPad, whatever... Here are the rules:

• Open to legal US residents of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia, and Canada (excluding Quebec) who are 18 and older.
• To enter, leave a comment telling us how you'll use the Thought Out Stabile stand with your iPad.
• The comment must be left before midnight on Sunday, October 31st, 2010, 11:59PM Eastern Daylight Time.
• You may enter only once.
• Two winners will be selected. One will receive a black solid steel Stabile valued at $59.99, while the other winner will get a silver solid steel Stabile value at $69.99.
• Click here for complete official rules.

Good luck!

Trick or Treat with TUAW: Thought Out Stabile iPad stand originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 28 Oct 2010 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.tuaw.com/2010/10/28/trick-or-treat-with-tuaw-thought-out-stabile-ipad-stand/

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Trippy Delay Pedal Is a Guitarist?s BFF

Musicians looking to add some serious oscillations to their tunes should take a trip down the Memory Lane.

Source: http://www.wired.com/reviews/2010/10/memory_lane_pedal/

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Roll Your Own E-Books

Summary: /* Converting digital files */

---

[[Image:Pr kindle2 f.jpg|thumb|630px|left|Photo by Jon Snyder/Wired]]

The book is an antiquated method of delivering words to your brain. Just as the iPod compressed massive record collections onto tiny go-anywhere devices, so the e-book readers are putting entire libraries onto paper-thin portable devices you can shove in your (oversized) pocket.

Want to ditch the heavy backpack full of books and join the digital book revolution? Here's out guide to creating a digital copy of just about any book -- whether it's your own masterpiece or an old paper copy of Cervantes -- into a digital book.

''This article is part of '''a wiki anyone can edit.''' If you have advice to add about rolling your own e-books, log in and contribute.''


==Format Overview==

Before you get busy converting your library into e-books, just remember this: traditional books are anything but antiquated, as you are about to learn. Once you see just what you're in for on this shtick, you may well want to save those old, beautiful paper and board masterpieces. But, assuming you still want to go ahead on this folly, let's start with some formatting decisions. Unfortunately, due to the relatively new status of e-book readers, there is no one-size-fits-all format yet. The popular ePub format is probably the closest thing and works nearly everywhere, but sadly, not on Amazon's popular Kindle reader.

But once you've got your book in the ePub format, you're 90 percent there. All of the ''other'' major e-book readers, including Apple's iBooks on its iOS devices, the Barnes & Noble Nook and Sony's various readers can all handle the ePub format. That just leaves the Kindle. Luckily there is [http://calibre-ebook.com/ Calibre] a free and cross-platform (though rather ugly and unwieldy) e-book manager that can convert your ePub document into something the Kindle can display.

==Converting digital files==

You've penned your masterpiece and you want to give it to the world in digital form. How do you do that?

If you're starting with a Microsoft Word document, the simplest way to convert that to an e-book format is start by exporting it as an HTML file (Save As, choose "Web Page, Filtered (*.htm, *.html)" in the "Save as type" dropdown box). Once you have an HTML file, just use one of the many free HTML to ePub converters (the previously mentioned [http://calibre-ebook.com/ Calibre] can convert HTML to ePub).

After you've created your ePub file, you can use an ePub editor like [http://code.google.com/p/sigil/ Sigil] to cleanup any conversion errors, adjust styles, split files into chapters, create a table of contents and edit metadata.

Here is a list of conversion tools, including Calibre:

* [http://www.epubbud.com/ ePubBud.com] - Find out more online in [http://www.epubbud.com/help.php their FAQ].
* [http://www.juliansmart.com/ecub eCub Cross platform tool]
* [http://www.infogridpacific.com/igp/AZARDI/eScape%20-ODT2ePub/ eScape ePub Creator] - Converts OpenOffice documents to ePub format.
* [http://www.pincette.biz/odftoepub/index.xhtml ODFtoEpub] - Converts OpenOffice files to ePub format.
* [http://www.bookglutton.com/api BookGlutton] - Converts HTML web pages to ePub format.
* [http://www.easypress.com/products/aqpep/ EasyEPub] - Convert from Adobe InDesign or Quark format to ePub
<br />


You can also use these tools to convert from existing documents to ePub format:

* [http://calibre-ebook.com/ Calibre] - fantastic tool and comes with [http://www2.le.ac.uk/departments/beyond-distance-research-alliance/projects/otter/about-oers/Creatingandformattingepub.pdf a great tutorial].
* [http://code.google.com/p/sigil/ Sigil] - Free cross-platform tool to edit ePub books
* [http://www.lexcycle.com/ Stanza Desktop]
<br />

==Converting dead trees==

The above techniques and tools work well if your source is already in digital form, but what if you want to convert an existing paper book? Well, it can be done -- using free software, no less -- but it takes a bit of work.

===Scanning===

First off you're going to need to scan the book in question. While there are [http://diybookscanner.org/ specialized V-shaped scanners] that make book scanning much easer, most of us have flatbed scanners. The problem with flatbed scanners is that books aren't flat.

Unless you plan to debind the book, you're probably going to end up with some warped text and shadows on the edges of each page when you convert the images to an ePub document. For most books, you can get the text looking pretty good if you scan carefully.

But if you want a pure, digital copy with searchable text and all, there is a way to do it.

===Using OCR===

The ideal process works like this: scan the entire book into images, run the images through [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_character_recognition optical character recognition] ('''OCR''') software to extract the text. Once you have the text, just follow the steps above to get an ePub document.

We'd recommend [http://www.paperfile.net/ FreeOCR], a non-commercial bit of software that's a free download.

The only catch -- aside from the time investment of scanning an entire book -- is the OCR software. While OCR tools like [http://www.paperfile.net/ FreeOCR] (which is what Google Books uses) are pretty good, a truly accurate OCR engine that can perfectly convert your text remains a pipe dream.

OCR software in its current state achieves an accuracy rate of above 95 percent. The quality of the output depends on the quality of the image you start with. So correcting an OCR'd document that started with a dirty scan job can be a tedious, time consuming process. Luckily, most antique books have rather large print, and translate well.

The reality is that you're going to have to go through afterwards and fix a few words and phrases yourself. But for books that hold personal memories and are long out-of-print -- maybe a cookbook that great-grandma Agnes wrote -- it can be worth it. You'll end up with a document that makes a wonderful gift you can share with your friends and family.

With a little patience and perseverance you can convert your own library and cram countless e-books into your backpack without the weight of the physical world on your shoulders.


[[Category:Software]]
[[Category:Gadgets]]
[[Category:E-Books]]

Source: http://feeds.wired.com/~r/howtowiki/~3/1VMDOrAyIVg/Roll_Your_Own_E-Books

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Apple Inc. files SEC form 10-K with sales figures

Like every other publicly traded company, Apple Inc. is required to file a form 10-K with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission every three months. These typically contain some interesting bits of information that aren't necessarily revealed in press releases. Apple's most recent 10-K chronicles its unit sales and per-unit revenue for its just completed 2010 fiscal year.

Apple sold almost 13.7 million Macs in 2010, a 31 percent increase compared to 2009. Interestingly, portables (not including the iPad) accounted for almost two-thirds of that total. Nonetheless, desktops still grew faster than portables with a 45 percent increase to almost 4.7 million units. Unfortunately, Apple doesn't break out sales of specific models, so we're not sure which machines account for the growth. However, it's a safe bet that the huge and gorgeous 27-inch iMac, and perhaps the latest generation mini, accounted for most of the increase. Overall revenue per unit for all Macs (portable and desktop) dropped off a bit from $1,333 last year to $1,279, which points to success for both the mini and the plastic MacBooks.

The U.S. market has always been the strongest for Apple, but the increasing popularity of the iPhone and the opening of new retail stores overseas seems to be helping Mac sales, too. Overseas Mac growth outpaced the U.S. in 2010 with Asia-Pacific in particular jumping 62 percent to 1.5 million units while Europe was up 36 percent to almost 3.9 million units.

All of these Mac sales, however, are dwarfed by the iPhone and the iPad. Global Sales of the iPhone nearly doubled last year to 40 million units while nearly 7.5 million people picked up the new tablet in its first six months on the market. You can check out all of the details of Apple's 10-K right here.

[Via Mac Daily News]

Apple Inc. files SEC form 10-K with sales figures originally appeared on TUAW on Fri, 29 Oct 2010 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.tuaw.com/2010/10/29/apple-inc-files-sec-form-10-k-with-sales-figures/

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IBM patents system that uses hard drives to accurately measure earthquakes, predict tsunamis

Filed under: Fun, IBM

It is with dubiously raised eyebrows that we bring you this gem: using accelerometers in hard disks to detect seismic activity, IBM can divine a wealth of natural disaster-related information.

These hard disk sensors are so sensitive that they can detect the tiniest of vibrations. The seismic data, along with the sensor's geographical location, are then sent to a mainframe computer to be processed. IBM can then interpret that data to tell emergency response teams where an earthquake hit with the most magnitude. "It tells them I need to go to this school; I don't need to worry about this bridge," explains Bob Friedland, one of the patent's inventors.

While this technology doesn't go as far as predicting the next major earthquake, it can predict the likelihood and direction of a tsunami following an earthquake. Presumably, though, this system can detect with greater accuracy the small foreshock tremors that can precede large earthquakes.

For more information, feel free to read through the patent.

IBM patents system that uses hard drives to accurately measure earthquakes, predict tsunamis originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 25 Oct 2010 08:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.downloadsquad.com/2010/10/25/ibm-patents-system-that-uses-hard-drives-to-accurately-measure-e/

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How to keep your mirror from fogging in the shower

Summary:

---

"The best way to keep your shower mirror from fogging-up while you shave is to use a wet body scrubber brush (a loofa sponge will work as well) that still has some of the liquid body wash or soap on it from the last time you showered (or if not add a few drops) and use it to gently wipe up and down over the entire mirror. Don't worry about the slight, bubbly, soap residue that has now formed on the mirror, as that is exactly what you want to happen. Use the next few moments to apply your shave cream to your steam-softened beard and by the time you have done that and rinsed your razor with warm water the mirror will be as clear as you have ever seen it. ~ Just be sure not to rinse the mirror with water as that will wash off the slight, soap-shean which is keeping it so clear and will simply create more of those nasty water-spots you are trying to get rid of."

Source: http://feeds.wired.com/~r/howtowiki/~3/5n5Rj4ah-aw/How_to_keep_your_mirror_from_fogging_in_the_shower

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Dean Kamen unveils revamped bionic arm and water machine, LED light bulb powered by Cree

Segway inventor Dean Kamen just stole the show at TEDMED 2010, with both a far-reaching lecture on how technology can save the developing world, and a peek at his latest projects. We'll spare you the wave of guilt for now and get right to the cool stuff, like the latest rendition of his Luke prosthetic arm and Slingshot water machine. Dean admitted he's having difficulty finding companies interested in manufacturing the former, but it's looking snazzier than when it last grabbed Stephen Colbert, with components like this shoulder piece printed out of titanium in a custom 3D printer, and it's slated to look like this. The Slingshot's seeing even more action, as Dean and company have pulled it out of the ugly box into these svelte tubes, and finally has a distribution deal (with Coca-Cola, of all companies) to bring the clean-water-from-any-source machines to developing countries in trials early next year.

Last but not least, the man's got a product you might be able to afford for your home. In the quest for an item for his FIRST young engineers to sell -- a la Girl Scout cookies -- he tapped LED manufacturer Cree to produce an 450 lumen light bulb that draws just 7 watts and will retail for about $25 door-to-door. In case you're wondering, that's cheaper and more efficient than most any lamp we've seen before. Dean says they've already produced several hundred thousand of the bulbs thanks to a surprise $3 million investment from Google, and plan to have them in the hands of every FIRST kid soon. Keep on fighting the good fight, Dean.

Gallery: Dean Kamen at TEDMED 2010

Dean Kamen unveils revamped bionic arm and water machine, LED light bulb powered by Cree originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Oct 2010 20:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/rRicgs91SFU/

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