Remember Viacom suing YouTube and Google for one BILLION dollars eons ago? That’s still going on! And while a judge ruled yesterday that while Google doesn’t have to reveal its secret search sauce to the multimedia giantface, he did grant Viacom’s request for YouTube to turn over records of “every video watch by YouTube users,” and that includes their username and IP address. Yeah that’s right, Viacom will know each time you watch “Pork n Beans” or need to refuel your day with Powerthirst. (Or watch Viacom’s The Daily Show, you bastard.) And like that, the illusion of YouTube privacy was gone. [YouTube]

Via [Gizmodo]

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Think Intel’s breakthrough 45-nanometer chips are impressive stuff? Intel thought at one time dipping below 100nm would be miraculous, but Intel exec Pat Gelsinger says that “today we see a clear way to get to under 10 nanometers,” and it’ll be within the next 10 years.

The next die shrink is the 32nm Westmere chips next year, followed by 14nm a few years later and then the crazy sub-10nm chips after that. But they’re probably going to have to make use of something like carbon nanotubes or spintronics to get below 10. The result of all that processing power, says Gelsinger, will be “a dramatic restructuring of the user interface.” Yes! I’ve always wanted true 3D computing goggles. [CRN]

Via [Gizmodo]

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Apple has dropped the price of its solid say drive MacBook Air by $500. Now, the useless laptop equipped with a solid state drive can be had for the low, low price of $2,598. That’s with a 1.8GHz Core 2 Duo processor.

Note that the upgrade price from the 1.6GHz to 1.8GHz has also dropped, from $300 to $200.

Not that solid state drives save you any battery power, mind you.

via AppleInsider

Via [crunchgear]

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The Gadget: Linksys’ Dual-N Band Wireless Router just became official, giving users simultaneous 5GHz and 2.4GHz bands so 802.11N users and 802.11G users can coexist without N users having to use the crowded 2.4GHz space. Also, since it’s dual N-band, two N users can connect (one to each frequency) without interfering with the other. It’s styled in Linksys’ new form factor, which helps accentuate that Linksys is more for consumers (especially compared to their parent company Cisco).

The Price: $199 MSRP, but Amazon lists it for $149 for some reason.

The Verdict: Great. Although the outside shell has changed from the traditional utilitarian Linksys blue and charcoal to a shiny dust-magnet black, the innards still carry on their workmanlike quality. We placed it on the second floor of our three floor home and it was able to cover each room, including through the walls to all the bathrooms. File transfers were speedy and comparable to the Apple Gigabit Airport Extreme we’ve been using for a while. The on-router configuration website is typical Linksys, but it also comes with their slightly newer EasyLink Advisor configuration application that helps you set up your network if you’re not used to diddling with this stuff.

The upside is that if you have both N and G devices co-existing on your network now, this is a good solution to not slow down the N devices. Plus, one N device doesn’t slow down another N device if they’re using different frequencies. You also get a USB port for simple network storage sharing. Its Darth Vader glossy black is pretty much the polar opposite of Apple’s Luke-white Airport Extreme. Since the prices are so close and the feature set is nearly the same (Apple’s $179 vs. this one’s $149/$199), it’s really up to you which style you want. [Amazon]

Here’s Mani getting the name right and explaining some details.

Via [Gizmodo]

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Hot on the tail of the D700 release, Nikon let loose firmware 2.0 for the D3 DSLR making the extraordinary camera even superior. The main points of interest are improved autofocus and white balance, but I’ve blockquoted the laundry list below. The D300 gets a bug fix firmware update to 1.03 to mend incorrect battery indicator readouts, which is not almost as exciting. Also, if you’ve either one of these cameras you are a very lucky duck. [Nikon via Rob Galbraith via Gadgetlab]

Modifications enabled with upgrade of A and B firmware to v.2.00

* Images captured with “Rotate tall”, in the playback menu, set to “On”, are not automatically rotated for display immediately after capture (image review).
* The following changes and additions have been made to “f4: Assign FUNC.Button > FUNC. Button + dials” ; “f5: Assign preview button > Preview + command dials”, and “f6: Assign AE-L / AF-L button > AE-L / AF-L + command dials” menus in Custom Settings:
o The “Choose image area” option has been separated into two options, “Choose image area (FX / DX / 5:4)” and “Choose image area (FX / DX)”
o A new “Shooting menu bank” option has been added.
* When “Choose image area (FX / DX / 5:4)” or “Choose image area (FX/DX)” is selected and the function button (Fn) is pressed, the image area setting is displayed in the top control panel, in the shooting information display, and at the bottom of the viewfinder.
* A “Copyright information” item has been added to the setup menu. When “Copyright information” is enabled, the copyright symbol ( © ) is shown in the shooting info display.
* “Recent settings” can now be displayed in place of “My Menu”.
* The virtual horizon can now be displayed with shooting in LiveView mode.
* The “Vignette control” setting can now be confimed in shooting information.
* The “Vignette control” item in the shooting menu now supports all types of G- and D-type lenses, except DX and Computer lenses.
* The “Vignette control” compensation value has been optimized for shooting with “Active D-Lighting” the shooting menu.
* Electronic analog exposure displays are now shown in the control panel and shooting info display while the exposure compensation setting is being applied.
* The degree of the “High ISO NR” setting can now be confirmed in the shooting info display while the “High ISO NR” setting item, in the shooting menu, is being applied.
* Design of the FX-format icon in the “Choose image area” setting has been altered.
* Ankara, Riyadh, Kuwait, and Manamah have been added to the “Time zone” options for the “World Time” item in the setup menu.
* When a GPS device is used and no heading information is available, —.—° is now displayed for the “Position > Heading” option in the “GPS” item in the setup menu.
* When shooting in LiveView mode using Camera Control Pro 2 (ver. 2.2.0) or later with a PC-E lens, the aperture setting can now be adjusted from the personal.
* Autofocus performance has been improved.
* Auto White Balance performance has been improved.
* An issue that, in some rare circumstances, caused the battery indicator to blink, regardless of actual battery charge, has been resolved.
* Errors in the German help displays have been corrected.

Via [Gizmodo]

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I have to state Nokia succeeded here. They’ve got a bizarre teaser site promoting the release of the presumably more bizarre “weirdest clip ever made” that’s “stranger and more amazing” than anything ever seen on July 7 at 5AM EDT. Apparently the secret to unlocking it is contained in the four greatest technological achievements of the modern age: Edison’s light bulb, the Wright brothers’ first plane, Apollo 11 and whatever the hell Nokia is releasing. We’re guessing it’s a video phone. Mind. Blowing. [Open at Own Risk, Thanks Bakr!]

Via [Gizmodo]

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Bill Veghte from the Windows group at Microsoft sent out a nice large memo to those who still haven’t installed Vista in their enterprises and are waiting for some real improvement before they even consider it. His advice?

Windows Vista offers significant advances in security and productivity and we recommend that enterprises that haven’t yet deployed it should absolutely evaluate its benefits. If you looked at Windows Vista previously and had concerns, the combination of Service Pack 1 and improvements made by our partners probably fixed many of the issues you were worried about and we encourage you to take a second look.

Translation: Spend more man-hours poring over our software. We’ll wait!

He then goes on to say:

If you have existing PCs running Windows XP, then you can use Windows XP for as long as you need. If you do stay on Windows XP, we suggest you install Service Pack 3 and World wide web Explorer 7.

Translation: If you’re not going to drink this Kool-Aid then you might as well stay safe.

Not terribly compelling reasons to leave, Bill or even to stay. I know Microsoft’s whole financial plan involves “selling lots of copies of Windows” but there if Vista ain’t gonna sell, it ain’t gonna sell. Keep trying.

Via [crunchgear]

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Stunning! Imaginative! Practical! Never to be mass produced! All words and phrases you can use to describe Shiu Yuk Yuen’s concept umbrella, the Eco Brolly, which looks a lot less douchey than that other umbrella concept from a while back. It’s a plastic sleeve that you slide newspapers, shreds of cardboard and other assorted doodads to protect you from the cold hard rain.

Talking of which, here’s a troubling anecdote. One afternoon about a month ago, it started to rain like the dickens. An elderly woman didn’t have an umbrella, so she put a plastic bag over her head. So, in the interest of not getting wet, she risked suffocation. Like, the bag was over her head and pulled tight as can be. It was both hilarious and thought-provoking.

Via [crunchgear]

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CDs and DVDs tend not to last long in my house… but since I just fling them in a pile in the cupboard, that’s entirely my fault. The Sanwa CD-RE1AT might be just the ticket, though: it works on 8cm or 12cm CDs, DVDs and BDs. With a push of a button it removes dust, fingerprints and “oily spots” from discs, and with the “repair” button it solves skipping problems and coats the discs with a protective layer, without grinding. Available now for $79. If only it found missing CD case inserts too, it’d be perfect. [Akihabaranews]

Via [Gizmodo]

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After the debacle that is firmware v2.4 for the PS3, Sony has pulled the firmware upgrade from their servers and are looking into issues that have affected some with a bricked console. Some Playstation forum members are reporting that bricked consoles from the upgrade can simply remove the hard drive and reformat via Personal computer.

Via [crunchgear]

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