Kompato

 

Did Google sell out tech companies?

From what I've read so far, it sure seems like Google can't use their "don't be evil" slogan with a straight face.

http://gigaom.com/2010/08/09/tech-companies-google-sold-you-out/

(via Daring Fireball)

UPDATE: More commentary: "Google-Verizon plan: Why you should worry" and "There's Only One Internet".  I highly recommend staying on top of Daring Fireball's site -- John Gruber is following this story very closely and linking to posts like these.

2010-08-12 UPDATE: There's a lot more commentary available on this issue -- almost exclusively with a negative view of Google's actions.  Here are a few: Wired's article (calls Google a "carrier-humping, net neutrality surrender monkey"), Betanews' article (calls the plan "worse than evil"), an EFF article breaking down the components of the plan, and a PC World article noting the objections to the plan.  There's also this MacWorld article noting that AT&T has endorsed the plan (surprise!).

Filed under: news technology
 

"Apple of My Eye" - an iPhone 4 film

 Short film shot and edited on the iPhone 4:


Direct link.

Filed under: iphone technology
 

Inexpensive, highly efficient solar cells may be on the way

"Using arrays of long, thin silicon wires embedded in a polymer substrate, a team of scientists from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) has created a new type of flexible solar cell that enhances the absorption of sunlight and efficiently converts its photons into electrons. The solar cell does all this using only a fraction of the expensive semiconductor materials required by conventional solar cells."

Read more at http://media.caltech.edu/press_releases/13325

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/28/caltech-gurus-whip-up-highly-efficient-low-cost-flexible-solar/

Filed under: environment technology
 

Upstate NY Time Warner customers: reboot your cable modem

Time Warner has increased the upstream speed for standard Road Runner accounts from 384kbps to 1Mbps, but you may have to reboot your cable modem to notice the speed increase.

You can test your speed here.
Filed under: news technology
 

Google launches a new programming language

 Mashable has the details on "Go" here, including an embedded Google Tech Talk video.  Looks very interesting.
Filed under: development technology
 

Securing local Evernote data on the Mac

I'm enjoying Evernote thus far, and have upgraded to a premium membership. The only thing bothering me was that my local data was left unencrypted -- unless I were to encrypt each and every note individually.

My workaround -- create an encrypted sparsebundle, copy everything in "~/Library/Application Support/Evernote" into it, and create a symbolic link from that location to the mount point ("/Volumes/Evernote").

So long as I remember to mount the encrypted volume before I launch Evernote, everything seems to work just fine so far, and all my data is encrypted. However, if you try this yourself beware that there may be problems that I have not yet encountered.

Filed under: technology
 

Going paperless

My Fujitsu S300M scanner arrived today & I am thoroughly impressed.  Not only is it compact and fast, but it does a great job of managing various workflows (save to file, send via email, save to Evernote).  It also impressively handles straightening crooked scans, which inevitably happens when you're sticking different-sized documents into the thing at maximum speed.

I spent the evening scanning in family recipes and putting them into Evernote -- an idea I got from this Evernote blog post.

Next step will be to scan every single receipt and important document that I receive and then shred the paper version when possible.
Filed under: personal technology
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