Version 10 of Google’s Chrome web browser has entered the dev channel, available to those who enjoy living on the edge. This release features an update to the V8 rendering engine that powers Chrome, a more refined preferences dialog and print and save options for any PDF files you view in Chrome.

If you’re already subscribed to the dev release channel you should be automatically updated. If you’d like to take the dev channel for a spin, Google has instructions on how to switch Chrome channels.

Of course the dev channel releases often have bugs and Chrome 10 is no exception. Commenters on the Google Chrome blog report that Google Sync no longer works with this release. If that happens to you, you might try disabling any startup flags you might have been using with previous releases, which reportedly solves the problem.

Along with the update to the underlying V8 rendering engine, this release features a number of bug fixes (particularly on the Mac platform) and some welcome refinements to the new tabbed preferences dialog. In addition to a better looking UI, the new settings page now has a search box to quickly find the preference setting you’re looking for.

Chrome 10 also features an updated message for the “clear browsing data” option on the preferences page. Instead of just deleting your browsing history and other items, you can now “obliterate the following items from the beginning of time.” We doubt that bit of linguistic whimsy will make it all the way to the stable release of Chrome 10, but it’s certainly more entertaining than the old “clear browsing data” message.

Provided Google sticks with its six week update schedule, Chrome 10 should arrive as a stable release in April 2011.

See Also:

• Chrome 8 Adds Google Instant to the URL Bar
• Chrome 7 Shows Off Hardware Acceleration, ‘Tabpose’
• Early Birds Will Dig Chrome Canary

View full post on Webmonkey

The Computer History Museum in Mountain View, Calif., this week opens a $19 million, 25,000-square-foot building expansion and signature exhibition titled, “Revolution: The First 2000 Years of Computing.”

View full post on Macworld

The Computer History Museum’s new 25,000 square-foot exhibit entitled “Computer History: The First 2,000 Years” opened this week and includes media and artifact-rich galleries with an in-depth focus on more than 20 major areas of computer history. Here are some highlights from the show.

View full post on Macworld

The future of Research In Motion hangs in the balance. It is the early summer of 1997, and Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie stand in a BellSouth conference room. They’ve spent the last few years trying to convince the world that mobile email is the future. They’re almost there. RIM has already produced one device, the Inter@ctive Pager 900; and is developing a second – sometimes called the Leapfrog.

But BellSouth – the one and only customer for RIM’s soon-to-be Leapfrog – isn’t happy. They’ve spent $300 million to buy and build the Mobitex wireless network. But without products to make use of that network, BellSouth finds itself with an unprofitable enterprise. If BellSouth goes through with plans to sell the network, RIM loses its Leapfrog network and the only customer for the device.

RIM Co-CEO’s Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie have but one chance to change the minds of the high-level executives in that room. The executives "walked in there thinking they were going to pull the plug," says Jim Hobbs, VP Operations, BellSouth Mobile Data. As Lazaridis begins the presentation that will decide the future of his fledgling company, he comes to a horrid realization. He and Balsillie had been so nervous about the meeting that they had left the models of the Leapfrog in their taxi. It was a make-it or break-it presentation, and the most important parts were lost.

read more

CrackBerry.com‘s feed sponsored by ShopCrackBerry.com. A History of Research In Motion – part 1

View full post on CrackBerry.com blogs

This is a pretty good teaser video for Motorola’s latest tablet venture. They took at look at tablet evolution from B.C. to today. They even poked some fun at the Galaxy Tab, which of course is the leading tablet in the market right now. Take a look at the video below and let us know if the end of the video is just as upsetting as it was for us.

View full post on AndroidSPIN

Image courtesy of The American Museum of Natural History

Next time you’re in New York City you should stop by the American Museum of Natural History and visit a good friend and favorite zombie snack: your brain. Millions of years of evolution have helped shape our gray matter into the thought processing plant it is today.

In a new exhibit called Brain:The Inside Story, the AMNH combines new findings about how our brains work with research on evolutionary history and the diversity of life to give visitors a deeper understanding of their brain.

The exhibit starts off small with a preserved brain on display then plunges you into the high speed communications network that is the nervous system. Spanish Artist Daniel Canogar has built a 35 foot walkway of cables and lights, made from 1,500 pounds of recycled material, to represent the brain’s electrical system.

This is just the beginning of the journey. With multimedia presentations, interactive exhibits and giant representations of the cells that make up the brain you will get a real sense of how your noggin gets so much done throughout your day.

Here’s a rundown of some of the exhibits:

Introductory Theater: To learn some basics about the brain and how it functions, visitors follow a Julliard dance student during an audition. A video projection shows how her activities simultaneously correlate with activity in her brain through the illumination of a large three-dimensional brain model in the theater.

Your Sensing Brain: Explore the senses through interactive exhibits and learn how your brain gets and process information. You’ll also learn how your brain can be fooled by sensory illusions.

Your Emotional Brain: This section explores how emotions are processed in the brain. You can explore how our emotion processing evolved over millions of years.

Your Thinking Brain: This section asks visitors to think about thinking, as intelligence is portrayed in all of its complexity as a sum of different types of intelligence, including spatial, general, mathematical, and emotional. With interactive exhibits to test and tease those special parts of the brain, you’ll have a lot to think about.

Your Changing Brain: Examine how the brain has evolved over millions of years to help us claw our way to the top of the food chain.

If you’re planning on visiting New York for the holidays you should block out some time to visit the American Museum of Natural History and get reacquainted with a good friend who’s always been there for you: Your Brain!

What: BRAIN: THE INSIDE STORY
Where: The American Museum of Natural History
When: Until August 14th 2011
Cost: Free With Admission

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Photo Courtesy of The American Museum of Natural History

Has a recent science breakthrough gotten you excited? Has some new development changed the way you work or live? How about telling the folks at the American Museum of Natural History all about it in a two-minute video.

The American Museum of Natural History in New York is having a video contest. The winner will win a weekend trip for two to New York City to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Frederick Phineas and Sandra Priest Rose Center for Earth and Space at the American Museum of Natural History on October 10, 2010.

Contestants are being asked to make a 2 minute video explaining how a recent scientific breakthrough has impacted them. the deadline is September 19th so if you’re looking for a weekend project this might just fit the bill.

Here are the Official Rules:

• The Rose Center Anniversary Video Contest ends on Sunday, September 19 at 11:59 PM. Videos will not be accepted after this deadline.
• All submissions titles must start with “Rose Center Anniversary Video Contest”
• All videos must start with the Rose Center Anniversary slide (Download here — Warning: This is a very large file.)
• Videos may be no longer than 2 minutes
• Submissions must be uploaded via the contest page. Videos uploaded directly to YouTube will not be considered.
• You must be 18 years of age or older to submit a video. If you are under 18 please have a parent or guardian submit the video on your behalf.

What are you waiting for? An invitation from Neil deGrasse Tyson? Well, all right then:

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Mario Timeline (Image: Nintendo)

I was just reading about a new Mario advert and getting ready to scoff at the marketing ploy, when I realized they are actually kind of right.

The new advert from Nintendo celebrates 25 years of Mario games, since it was on September 13, 1985 that Super Mario Bros. was first released in Japan.  They have a range of celebrities involved to share their Mario memories. Famous faces including Jonathan Ross, Ant & Dec, Jamie Cullum, Ashley & Peri from Diversity, Jamie Redknapp, Lawrence Dallaglio, Jodie Kidd, Iain Lee, Sarah-Jane Crawford and Patrick Moore.

Although I’m not usually partial to this kind of drum banging, Mario actually does have a special spot in my family’s life. Having grown up in the 80’s enjoying Super Mario Bros in the arcades as well as on my NES at home, I’ve often tried to get my kids to understand how different it was back then.

It’s great to see them working their way through the likes of Mario Kart, New Super Mario Brothers and most recently Mario Galaxy 2. What struck me seeing the different Mario’s all laid out was how consistent this world is. The music, architecture and characters perpetuate from the 80’s right through to 2010. So much so that I could almost tell a Mario game by just listening to it.

My kids have been inspired to go back and play some of the old games that “dad” used to play when he was little — courtesy of the virtual console. I’ve also decided to go and fill in some of my Mario gaps – those years when I was studying and not able to play. So they have just started on Super Mario Bros, and I’m dipping my toe into Super Mario Sunshine.

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Struggling to find a site or string together the magic set of key words that helped you locate that perfect recipe for waffle batter the other day? If you only have access to your Android handset or iPhone you can now pull up your previous history of any searches performed while signed into your Google account. The new History link will bring you to a page detailing your searches and results, and if you performed the search on a computer you even get thumbnail views of results to help you easily recognize the most helpful sites. Mobile searches are marked with a cell phone icon.

The feature only works if you have enabled saved search history, which you can toggle on and off by navigating through the Settings link. With searches already saved, you can edit and delete entries and even star your most used or best searches for quick access. It probably won’t change the way you browse and search on your phone, but you will be glad the feature exists when you just can’t figure out how to duplicate previously successful searches.

[via Google Mobile Blog]

View full post on Android Phone Fans

Superimposing historic photos on current locations is a neat way to bring history to life, using augmented reality, as the website History Pin and Museum of London demonstrate, says Engadget.

But you need to ensure it is taken from the same spot, and with the same zoom level. If you don’t, the combined picture ends up looking disjointed, with roofs, walls and roads poorly matched, explains New Scientist.

Perfectly matching current snapshots with a photo taken in the same spot a hundred years ago is an awesome idea. But it’s tricky business. Now MIT and Adobe researchers are using a technique called visual homing. The program compares your camera’s current view to known historical images.

It will give you positioning and zoom instructions so you can best match the scene, improving on the services offered by current apps like StreetMuseum and sites like History Pin.

Right now, the app runs on a laptop, but the idea is that it’ll work directly on digital cameras, letting you view the past while shooting the present.

The Portland CivicApps competition, held last week, was a contest where developers build interesting applications using open municipal data sets provided by the City of Portland.

Imagine listening to neighborhood oral history while taking the train, biking on a Radical History Tour, or traveling up the river viewing photographs from 100 years ago narrated by a Native American guide.

View full post on dailywireless.org

The 2010 FIFA World Cup may be over, but the results of how sports fans viewed the video from the tournament’s numerous games are just coming in.

With an estimated worldwide viewership of 1.5 billion, the 2010 FIFA World Cup will likely be the world’s largest sports broadcast in history.

France-based HBS (Host Broadcast Services), has been the exclusive host broadcaster for this event since 1998. The company was created with the specific task of producing the television and radio feeds for the FIFA World Cups.

Media Rights Licensees (such as ESPN) have a choice of feeds. They can set up their own production at the venue, take feeds at the centralized International Broadcast Center (IBC), which makes all the feeds and clips available immediately by a large media server, or just taking the finished show feed. Many national broadcasters have their own production facilities at the venues. They can take the clean feed from the production switcher to add their own graphics plus ISO feeds of the cameras, so they can feature their home team.

ESPN estimated that 132 million people consumed World Cup related content across all ESPN platforms—that’s more than two out of five Americans. Of that total 132 million people, 90% watched TV, 27% used the Internet, 11% listened to Radio, 7% used mobile and 2% read ESPN The Magazine. ESPN networks (ABC, ESPN, ESPN2) averaged a 1.9 U.S. rating, up 36% from 2006.

ESPN Mobile (including the ESPN mobile Web, ESPN 2010 FIFA World Cup App and ESPN ScoreCenter App) generated 94 million visits and 499 million page views to World Cup content through July 8. In total, ESPN says that a staggering 110,000 people per minute have been using its online and mobile services to access World Cup content.

ESPN estimates that out-of-home viewing and usage of non-TV platforms added 47 percent to ESPN’s daily World Cup TV average audience. Moreover, there are some interesting regional differences in the way fans in the U.S. consumed the World Cup events on television.

Soccer fan visits on ESPN3.com was highlighted by the USA vs. Algeria game on June 23, which resulted in the largest U.S. audience ever for a single sporting event on the Web. ESPNSoccernet received more visits than any other day in its history and ESPN Mobile had the most-trafficked day to-date for World Cup content.

ESPN’s World Cup App has been downloaded more than 2.5 million times and averaged over 1.1 million unique devices accessing the app per day.

World Cup content on ESPN.com delivered 87.5 million visits and 305.9 million page views from June 11-27. The 3D World Cup coverage was carried in the U.S. on ESPN’s new 3D network, and Sony will also be making a 3D film of the event that will be distributed on Blu-ray disc.

The 3D capture end was a massive undertaking, but the transmission side was just as challenging. Two discrete left-eye/right-eye 720p 16×9 feeds ran into NEP’s SS31 3D production truck. Both fed into a Miranda Imagestore processor, which inserted YES 3D branding graphics and provided a full-screen YES 3D graphic to be displayed instead of black screen before the game and during commercial breaks.

The Japanese proposed to host the 2022 World Cup with a holographic broadcast. It would capture all 360 degrees of World Cup matches using up-to 200 HD cameras, then the footage would be projected, creating life like full 3D images on genuine football fields the world over.

View full post on dailywireless.org

Though my kids are mostly too young to stay up for Saturday Night Live, we occasionally watch parts of the show online. Currently, their favorite is the Timecrowave sketch. They love it, not the least of which because of the Nazis, the giant cat at the end, and the talk about danger to the space/time continuum.

Their interest in the sketch started me thinking about alternate history stories in general.

I’ve always been fascinated by the idea that one change, large or small, can forever alter our world. I got hooked on alternate history stories in my teens after reading number of great stories in Asimov’s Science Fiction magazine and many of them have stayed with me. When I started to write my novel, Dinah of Seneca, it quickly morphed from a fantasy tale based on several different cultures into an alternate history where the Roman Empire and Vikings have established colonies in North America. It just seemed more fun that way.

So, inspired by the SNL sketch, I compiled a list of my favorite alternate history stories, with input from my kids and the geek husband.

1. Somtow Sucharitkul’s Aquila Stories

Image © Dell Magazines

These are my absolute favorite alternate history stories from Asimov’s. Sucharitkul also used the pen name S. P. Somtow.

Obviously, these stories stayed in my mind, given that they’re about the Roman Empire ruling North America. The hero of the story is Aquila, a Lakota warrior. The narrator of the stories is the befuddled Roman in charge, who keeps talking about how backward the barbarians are but never quite seems to win in any encounter with Aquila. The writer  also had a series of stories about a time detective whose time machine is a garbage can and from the looks of some of the descriptions of his books that are now available, he’s apparently tied these two series together.

They’re wryly funny and incredibly imaginative. Sucharitkul, as I discovered while doing research for this article, is also a composer and is currently the artistic director of the Bangkok Opera.

2. The Dragon Waiting by John M. Ford

I mentioned this book in an earlier post about novels I wish had sequels. Like many alternate history stories, it revolves around a key point in English history. This time, it’s Richard III and his succession to the English throne. Part alternate history, part horror, this brooding story adds vampires to the mystery of who killed the Princes in the Tower.

3. Lord Darcy by Randall Garrett

I also mentioned this collection in a previous post. Unlike many alternate English histories, which tend to hinge around the Tudor era, this one goes all the way back to Richard I’s death in 1199. Richard died young and without a direct heir, leading to his brother John inheriting the throne. In this history, Richard recovers from the arrow wound that killed him in reality and is later succeeded by his nephew, Arthur. This not only leads to England’s continual rule by the Plantagenets but the discovery and shaping of magic as science. The hero of the stories is Lord Darcy, a Sherlock Holmes analogue, assisted by his Watson, a forensic sorcerer.

4. Fatherland by Robert Harris

Nazis are another popular staple of alternate history and it seemed wrong to put together a list without one. In this world, they Nazis won and the story is set in 1964 in a world where Adolf Hitler is still alive and America and Germany are involved in a Cold War. The main character is a German police investigator who tries to solve a simple murder that, of course, leads to a conspiracy at the highest levels.

5. Guns of the South by Harry Turtledove

Turtledove has written many alternate history novels but this one, where the South wins the Civil War, is my husband’s favorite. White supremacists from the future go back in time and supply the South with AK-47s. Thus armed, Lee has the victory. Subsequent events, however, do not shake out the way the time travelers wish as Lee turns out to have a conscience.

The alternate history is intriguing and I can see why my husband, who enjoys non-fiction about the Civil War, would like it. But I do have to say that I think making Lee into a hero might be doing history a disservice, as he did fight for a system that supported slavery and he was well aware of this fact. I’m not certain at all that victory would have changed his mind about it, as he does in the book.

6. Bring Me the Head of Anne Boleyn edited by the late Martin H. Greenberg

The rise and fall of Anne Boleyn  seems to be not only of continual interest to historians and fodder for many movies and televisions shows but  also draws science fiction writers into its web. I blame Asimov’s yet again for this entry because I first read one of the stories in this collection, about time travelers collecting Anne Boleyn so she would die as she does in all the chronicles, in the magazine.

7. Murder by Magic, Twenty Tales of Crime and the Supernatural

The Tudors again play a key role in my favorite story from this collection, “The Necromancer’s Apprentice” by Lillian Stewart Carl. Robsart is a fairly obscure name as far as Tudor histories go but if you recognize it, then you’ll know what the story is about. During the early reign of Elizabeth I, it was widely rumored that she might make Robert Dudley her consort. The only problem was that Dudley was married, to one Amy Robsart. Amy, however, perished by falling down the stairs at her home. It was supposed that Dudley murdered his wife so he could marry Queen Elizabeth. However, the resulting scandal scotched any talk of marriage and Elizabeth remained the Virgin Queen.

Image © Warner Books

8. Code Geass

My kids get the credit for this entry. This series, available in both manga and anime, is set in a world ruled by three main empires: The Holy Britannian Empire, the Chinese Federation, and the Euro Universe. The turning point is way back in history, when Caesar’s conquest of Britain was thwarted by the banding together of the Celtic tribes under one leader. This led to a tradition of absolute monarchy in Britain.

But that’s all in the distant past so far as the main story — set in 2010 — is concerned. Japan’s been conquered by the Holy Britannian Empire and its citizens are held in utter thrall to their new overlord. But then the discarded heir to the Empire is determined to fight against his family and takes command of the Japanese resistance. My youngest son said the plotting was as “complicated as Harry Potter’s worldbuilding.” In any case, three of the four kids in the house are addicted to the show and the manga.

9. The End of Eternity by Isaac Asimov

I couldn’t resist putting in a book by Asimov. This is one of his earlier stories, first published in 1955. It concerns the actions of an agency outside time that has responsibility for something called Reality Change. The books explores a number of different timelines but the central clue to the mystery of the book is the inclusion of the image of a mushroom cloud — an atomic explosion — in a magazine in 1932.  This leads to the time travelers affecting the decisions that eventually led to the creation of the atomic bomb.

10. The Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling

This doesn’t exactly fit my favorite type of alternate history stories, which is having an event already known unfold in a different way. Instead, this alternate history is based on the invention of a type of computer in the Victorian Age. But I had to include this book because it’s one of the first steampunk novels that I’ve ever read and I love the juxtaposition of Victorian Society with more advanced technology.

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Image By Stilfehler used under Creative Commons License

The Urban Advantage Middle School Science Initiative has been helping more than 300 teacher in over 150 Middle Schools bring science to life through hands on inquiry for six years. In honor of their sixth anniversary the American Museum of Natural History is hosting the biggest Middle School Science Expo in New York City. More than 700 public middle school students will be showing off their best research projects. These students come from all five boroughs and the projects cover a wide range of topics, including:

• Analyzing the effects of colored lights on the growth of sunflowers
• Investigating how the consumption of popular “energy bars” affects heart rates
• Observing the swinging behavior of spider monkeys
• Studying the connection between volcanic activity and climate change
• Designing the best earthquake-proof structures

Hailed as a national model, this pioneering education program has helped thousands of 7th and 8th graders pursue investigations at eight science-rich New York City institutions and complete their science exit projects, a requirement by the NYC Department of Education for advancement into high school.

The expo is free with Museum Admission and should be a blast for all the science fair geeks out there. The expo will be open from 1PM to 4 PM on Saturday June 12th in the Milstein Hall of Ocean Life. For more information about The Urban Advantage Middle School Science Initiative check out their website.


What:
The Urban Advantage Middle School Science Initiative Science Expo

When:
Saturday, June 12th 1 P.M. – 4 P.M.

Where:
Milstein Hall of Ocean Life
The American Museum of Natural History
79 Street And Central Park West
New York, NY 10024

Cost:
Free with Museum admission

View full post on GeekDad

It really bugs me sometimes knowing that I can’t clear the search history in the Android Market. Well luckily I came across this free app called “HistoryEraser” by DUMAPIC (who is also the Dev of OperaBridge) which does just that – deletes the Android market history – and without the need for root.

Usually – as far as I could tell – you couldn’t delete the history of the market without factory resetting your phone so this is real handy. I’m not sure if this works for any version of Android above 1.6 but leave a comment confirming and tell us so we can update the article!

If you’re on Android 1.5 (Cupcake) you have to download “MarketHistoryEraser”

Appbrain Link ~ Or you can scan the QR code below

If you’re on 1.6 (Donut) Download “HistoryEraser”

AppBrain Link -> or scan the QR code below

P.S This app can also easily delete your call log, contacts (not recommended!), default browser history, google map search history and search shortcuts.

Enjoy & Thank you Dev DUMAPIC!

View full post on Android Phone Fans

Image by JIm Conrad used under Creative Commons License

Have you ever wondered what kind of rocks are in your backyard? Has your dog ever found a bone that you want identified? OK the bone is probably from your neighbors garbage, but it might be something interesting. On May 22nd The Museum Of Natural History is holding its annual Identification Day. Visitors are asked to bring their rocks, feathers, shells insects and other other artifacts to the museum where scientists will identify them for you. It’s like an Antique Road Show for nature!

This years Identification Day is being held in conjunction with International Biodiversity Day. In addition to identifying artifacts there will be three presentations by museum scientists to highlight the importance of biodiversity. Entomologist Louis Sorkin will discuss and display the many insects and arachnids housed at the museum. Ornithologist Paul Sweet will talk about the continuing effort to collect specimens to help our understanding of avian biodiversity. Documenting biodiversity of fish will be the subject of ichthyologist Radford Arrindell’s presentation.

The presentations and Identification is free with museum admission. So get those bones, rocks and that lump you found under your bed last week and head to the museum to find out what they are.

WHEN:
Saturday, May 22, 12:30–3:30 pm
WHERE:
Milstein Hall of Ocean Life
American Museum of Natural History
ADMISSION:
Free with Museum admission
URL:
Identification Day at AMNH

View full post on GeekDad

Image by Pearson Scott Foresman

With winter over and the spring constellations moving into place the American Museum of Natural History presents Celestial Highlights: Beasts of the Spring Sky with Ted Williams. Join Ted Williams, under the stars of the Zeiss Mark IX Star Projector at the Hayden Planetarium. Ted will take you on a tour of the changing spring sky and show you how to locate Leo, Ursa Major and other spring constellations.

With warm nights coming it’s time to do a little star gazing with the kids. So head over to the Hayden Planetarium and take Ted’s tour to be ready for those “What’s that star called?” questions. Better yet bring the kids so they can tell you.

What:
Beasts of the Spring Sky with Ted Williams

Where:
Hayden Planetarium Space Theater
American Museum of Natural History
Enter at 81st Street/Rose Center

When:
Tuesday, April 27 6:30 P.M.

Admission:
$15 Adults; $13.50 Members, students, seniors Buy Tickets

View full post on GeekDad