Hasta La Gadget!

[photo via petergtrimming on Flickr]

You might text your friends when you see a small animal scurry by, but the government of Aberdeen, Scotland is asking you to keep them in the loop too. A program designed to keep an eye on gray and red squirrel populations is asking residents to text their squirrel sightings to a special number.

The program, called “Text-a-Squirrel”, ran last October with impressive success. 154 people reported sightings, giving researchers with the group Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels valuable information on the number of squirrels in the area and where they congregate. According to the group’s website, there are only around 121,000 red squirrels left in Scotland, and Scottish environment minister Roseanna Cunningham called them one of the most “iconic and beautiful species” in Scotland. This program aims to be an innovative way to keep tabs on the protected squirrels and study them using readily-available technology.

Researchers asked that anyone sighting the animals should include where they saw it, either the park, intersection or any other identifying information. I can’t help but think they’d appreciate GPS coordinates from the smartphone users in the city. Don’t know if they’d complain about a cute squirrel photo either, you know, for science.

[via STV]

This first-person view is the most terrifying and astonishing video I’ve seen of the Japan tsunami. Initially everything seems ok, just a mild wave coming towards the camera. But keep watching—the sea goes Godzilla and destroys everything. More »

Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.

This January, Vizio became the second major TV manufacturer to announce its support for Google TV at CES 2011. Samsung and LG also rallied behind the idea of “smart TV,” with the former announcing results of a “Free the TV” competition designed to encourage television app development. After years of serving mostly as a display for other development platforms such as video game consoles and TiVo, it seems the TV is ready to serve as a connected platform of its own, not wholly unlike the PC and smartphone.

However, there are two things standing in the way of the television as a platform to lead interactivity in the home — a lack of access to the core video assets, and the separation of user interface from display.

Continue reading Switched On: A screen too far

Switched On: A screen too far originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 13 Mar 2011 22:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This article was written on August 01, 2007 by CyberNet.

Remember back in April when Google announced that they were acquiring DoubleClick, and Microsoft said “not so fast” and protested the move saying it would hurt competition? Then what did Microsoft do? They acquired online advertising firm aQuantitive, and more recently, they announced they were acquiring an advertising exchange firm called AdECN as well. They weren’t the only major Internet Company with an advertising related purchase either. AOL recently announced their acquisition of TACODA, and Yahoo announced they were acquiring Right Media. All of the major Internet Companies are getting in on advertising, yet Google seems to be the only one under scrutiny for the intention of their purchase.

I think Ars Technica’s article title perfectly describes what Google is thinking right now: “Google on DoubleClick merger: Everyone else is doing it, why can’t we?” Ain’t that the truth! An article recently published on the official Google Public Policy Blog essentially says that everybody is in fact doing it, so why can’t we, without actually saying that. They point out all of the other advertising related acquisitions lately and explain that “each of the leading Internet companies believe that they can position themselves to succeed in the online advertising space — through the free market, and without government intervention.”

So why is it that Google has to fight to finalize the acquisition of DoubleClick? I think the answer is simple. Google is becoming the next Microsoft and everybody is screaming ANTITRUST! When Microsoft became dominant is when they were criticized and had to fight to do what they wanted. It seems Google is now quickly entering the same position that Microsoft has been in where everything that they do is looked over with a magnifying glass, checked, and rechecked. With Google growing faster than a weed, I think they need to prepare for many trips to Washington in the future with lobbyists in tow, to fight for what they want to do. Without a doubt, Google is quickly becoming the next Microsoft whether they like it or not.

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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Ladies and gentlemen, the days of unlimited broadband may be numbered in the United States, and we’re not talking wireless this time — AT&T says it will implement a 150GB monthly cap on landline DSL customers and a 250GB cap on subscribers to U-Verse high speed internet starting on May 2nd. AT&T will also charge overage fees of $10 for every additional 50GB of data, with two grace periods to start out — in other words, the third month you go over the cap is when you’ll get charged. DSLReports says it has confirmation from AT&T that these rates are legitimate, and that letters will go out to customers starting March 18th.

How does AT&T defend the move? The company explains it will only impact two percent of consumers who use “a disproportionate amount of bandwidth,” and poses the caps as an alternative to throttling transfer speeds or disconnecting excessive users from the service completely. Customers will be able to check their usage with an online tool, and get notifications when they reach 65 percent, 90 percent and 100 percent of their monthly rates.

We just spoke with AT&T representative Seth Bloom and confirmed the whole thing — rates are exactly as described above, and the company will actually begin notifying customers this week. He also told us that those customers who don’t yet have access to the bandwidth usage tool won’t get charged until they do, and that AT&T U-Verse TV service won’t count towards the GB cap.

Update: What prompted this change to begin with? That’s what we just asked AT&T. Read the company’s statement after the break.

Continue reading AT&T will cap DSL and U-Verse internet, impose overage fees (update)

AT&T will cap DSL and U-Verse internet, impose overage fees (update) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 13 Mar 2011 19:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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