Corvette-Inspired Desk Is A Must-Have For Anyone Who Loves Cars

There are a lot of things in this world that you can have to show your love for cars, but nothing screams that fact more than bringing home a desk that has been made to look like the rear end of a Chevrolet Corvette.

Really, anybody who calls themselves a card-carrying member of the auto enthusiast club should have one of these desks at home or at the workplace. Die-cast models? Old news, people. These desks are what it’s all about now.

Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen sues Apple, Google...everyone...for infringing patented Web technology

Interval Licensing LLC, a company controlled by billionaire entrepreneur and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, shocked the Silicon Valley, Friday, by filing a patent infringement lawsuit against 11 major corporations, including Apple, Google, Yahoo, eBay, AOL, Facebook, YouTube, Netflix, OfficeDepot, OfficeMax and Staples.

In the lawsuit filed in the US District Court in Seattle, Interval has asserted ownership of four technology patents related to e-commerce and Internet search that are being used by the companies without licensing them.

Interval said one patented Web technology allows a site to offer suggestions to consumers for items related to what they're currently viewing, or related to online activities of others in the case of social-networking sites. LINK

Apple says goodbye to design firm that helped develop some Apple products

The New York Times reports that Apple and SurfaceInk have parted ways after the small Silicon Valley developer showed off a tablet design to some potential clients. Apple obviously didn't like one of its partners demonstrating a product that could become a competitive threat, so out the door they went.

The Times quotes founder and Chief Executive Eric Bauswell as saying that SurfaceInk and Apple had "gone separate directions."

SurfaceInk was founded in 1999, and has worked for Apple, Hewlett-Packard and Palm.

Millions of American Taxpayers Make Money Off Federal Taxes

Now meet the Freeloading Fifteen. Those are the 15 million American households who've got it even better. Representing about 10 percent of all taxpayers, they receive more cash from the IRS than they contribute in federal income taxes andemployment taxes. (Excise and corporate taxes notwithstanding, you could say they are making money off of federal taxes.) To some, they are low-income Americans benefiting from smart and targeted welfare run through the tax code. To others, they are unacceptable free riders, contributing net zero or worse to the federal government.

Why? As National Journal's Peter Cohn explained it in a great article: The IRS as 'Sugar Daddy,' if we hate the system, we only have Congress and voters to blame. In the last 40 years, Washington has passed a series of laws, such as the Earned Income Tax Credit and the child tax credit, that send money to lower- and middle-income families through the tax system. Republican presidents started and expanded some of these credits. Democratic presidents have started and expanded some of these credits. No party exclusively owns or disowns the Freeloading 15 million. LINK

Federal contractor charged with leaking secrets

The Obama administration on Friday accused an analyst who worked at the State Department of leaking top secret information about North Korea to a reporter. Steven Kim, who worked at State as an employee of a contractor, maintains his innocence.

He was named in a federal indictment unsealed Friday and charged with illegally disclosing national defense information, which carries a top penalty of 10 years in prison, and with making false statements to the FBI, which has a maximum five-year sentence.

It was the latest move in an aggressive campaign to crack down on leaks, even as the administration has supported proposed legislation that would shield reporters from having to identify their sources. LINK

PR firm staff wrote iTunes 'customer' reviews

US regulators have said a public relations firm has agreed to settle charges that it had employees pose as unbiased videogame buyers and post reviews at Apple's online iTunes store.

The deal requires Reverb Communications and its owner, Tracie Snitker, to remove such potentially deceptive reviews and refrain from the practice, according to the Federal Trade Commission.

"Companies, including public relations firms involved in online marketing need to abide by long-held principles of truth in advertising," said FTC division of advertising practices director Mary Engle.

Internet Age overhaul of USA Today to cost jobs

The reorganization included the creation of five new departments and marked the most extensive overhaul of the publication since it launched in 1982.

The move came in the wake of unofficial reports that media colossus News Corporation is working on a US publication that will be delivered exclusively in digital format to mobile devices such as Apple's iPad tablet computers.

The USA Today overhaul will eliminate about 9 percent of the publication's staff of 1,500 people. A company spokesman told AFP it was too early to say how the layoffs would be distributed and orchestrated. LINK

PayPal, Apple Servers Not Compromised in iTunes Hacks

There have been a number of reports in recent days about iTunes customers who have uncovered unauthorized purchases on their accounts. A Wednesday blog post from PayPal, however, said that the problems are not the result of compromised PayPal or Apple severs.

Anecdotal reports suggest that some iTunes users have discovered multiple App Store charges on their credit cards that they did not make. But while the issue made headlines this week, PCMag security analyst Larry Seltzer noted last month that the issue has actually been going on for years, and the most recent reports do not represent a major spike in activity. LINK

HP blasts back with new bid for 3Par, besting Dell

Hewlett-Packard Co. has again raised its bid for 3Par Inc. above an offer from rival Dell Inc., suggesting that the little-known data-storage maker could be worth more with one of the PC companies' marketing muscle behind it.

The latest offer from HP for $27 per share in cash, or about $1.69 billion, is nearly three times what 3Par had been trading at before Dell made the first bid last week.

Earlier on Thursday, Dell said 3Par had accepted its second offer of $24.30 per share in cash, or $1.52 billion. Dell made its first offer, $18 per share, for 3Par on Aug. 16, and HP responded Monday with a bid of $24 per share. LINK

Former Realtime Worlds Employee Points Finger at Top Management

Realtime Worlds employees sacked after the company became insolvent and went into administration earlier this month are fighting mad, with one former dev likening the actions of top management to the behavior of "a deluded, greedy, addicted gambler."

CVG tracked down the blog of former RTW developer Luke Halliwell, a man who spent six years at the Scottish studio. Halliwell alleges the company's management "burned through $100 million" while making ill-fated MMO All Points Bulletin: APB and ultimately left its employees hanging. LINK

Baby got bass: Speakers for the unborn

More recently, a new and improved fetus speaker system called Sound Beginnings hit the market, and while the idea of wrapping wombs in speakers may ring wrong to some, the company behind the device, Creative Baby, makes an interesting point: this is a surefire way for traveling or military partners to familiarize their unborn children with their voices. LINK

Dell checks for open-source licensing misstep

Dell is responding to concerns in the open-source community that it didn't comply with the rules governing Android software used in its Streak tablet.

The Streak was released in the U.K. in June, and in the U.S. in July. Recently, a group of developers started a mini-protest online after they found, they said, that Dell failed to release some source code components for the Streak as required by anyone using software governed by the GNU General Public License.

The GPL requires those who use software governed by the license to make available any changes they made to the software. It's not unknown for companies using GPL code in embedded computing devices--the Linux kernel being a prime example--to be called out by open-source and free-software fans for their shortcomings.

Dell responded to the criticism via a post on Twitter Wednesday, saying, "We're reviewing concerns re: the #dellstreak source code. We intend to comply with all applicable requirements. More details soon."

World-Renowned Robotics Visionary and Molecular-Simulation Pioneer to Headline NVIDIA's 2010 GPU Technology Conference

Klaus Schulten of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, one of the world's top computational biologists, will deliver the second keynote on Wednesday, Sept. 22, highlighting the major discoveries made using the computational microscope. In addition, he will review his pioneering research on cell disruption and viruses, including the H1N1 virus. His H1N1 research uses the GPU-based computational microscope to focus on the structure of the virus, determine how it reacts to drug treatment and investigate possible methods of combating it.

Sebastian Thrun, a robotics pioneer at Stanford University and distinguished engineer at Google, will conclude the conference with his keynote on Thursday, Sept. 23, unveiling how advances in GPU computing for computer vision will fundamentally advance self-driving, robotic technology for cars. LINK

Will Apple Take iTunes Into The Cloud?

Apple (NSDQ:AAPL) has slated a "big announcement" for next week, and the rumor mill is swirling over what Steve Jobs and Co. might showcase in San Francisco on Wednesday.

With a new iPhone recently under its belt, Apple most likely will focus on the music side of the house with an iPod refresh and a retread of its iTunes media service. The invitations that were sent out to potential attendees featured an acoustic guitar -- complete with an Apple cutout.

One major expectation is that Apple will launch the long-rumored cloud-based version of its iTunes music and video service. A cloud-based iTunes offering would let users store their music and videolibraries in the cloud -- on Apple's servers, aside from on their PCs, Macs or own hard drives -- and stream music from any Internet-capable device. That would eliminate the need to always have your iPod by your side. It'd be like a MobileMe just for music. LINK

This little box convinces astronauts they're in space

Who knew spaceflight felt like 5 milliamps of electricity behind your ears?

Apparently, that's all it takes to trick the brain into simulating similar sensorimotor disturbances that an astronaut would experience during, say, reentry. It's an incredibly disorienting time for astronauts as the body is trying to adjust from the near weightlessness of orbit to the regular ol' forces exerted on us planet-side.

The Galvanic vestibular stimulation (or GVS) system, created by Dr. Steven Moore of the National Space Biomedical Research Institute, is especially useful during training as it allows astronauts to prepare for the disorientation during a mission.

NASA boasts first multi-planet system discovered

So, how small does this make you feel? NASA announced that its Kepler spacecraft has "discovered the first confirmed planetary system with more than one planet." That means pretty much one thing: there's still a lot of space we just can't see.

It's rather fitting that it was the Kepler spacecraft that made the discovery, as the craft is named after Johannes Kepler, whose "eponymous laws of planetary motion" are used to approximate the motion of planets around a sun. The spacecraft itself is tasked with rooting out Earth-like planets using a 95-megapixel camera, and has met with quite a bit of success since its launch in 2009.

A rival to the Empire State Building

See that shiny tower right in the middle there? That's the proposed 15 Penn Plaza, a skyscraper that would rival the Empire State Building in height. What's worse, it wants to occupy the same space as the Empire State, which has caused quite a ruckus.

To Empire State Building owners such as Anthony Malkin, 15 Penn Plaza is a "monstrosity." He and his peers want city officials to limit the height of the tower to 825 feet. As it stands now, 15 Penn — already approved by city officials — will come within 40 feet of Empire, standing 1,216 feet tall compared to the 1,250-foot Empire State Building.

The hubbub is being raised over the fact that the new tower could block the view of the Empire State Building, which has been an iconic part of the New York City skyline along with the Chrysler Building, Rockefeller Center and, when they still stood, the World Trade Center's twin towers.

New skyscraper projects are going up all over NYC, making it a skyline that is very much set for a change in the next decade.

It's also worth mentioning that this isn't the first skyscraper the Empire State Building has butted spires with. In fact, the construction of Empire itself unseated the Chrysler building as the tallest in the world, the latter of which was in a heated race against 40 Wall Street to be the world's tallest building. The Chrysler beat out 40 Wall Street thanks to its iconic art deco spire, though both buildings were silenced by the Empire State Building, which came about only 11 months later.

Via Luxist

How the Gulf oil spill can be cleaned in just one month

Clean up the Gulf in just one month, you say? A claim like that would normally have usrolling our eyes, save for the fact that we heard two magic words: "MIT" and "robots." Lots and lots of robots, all soaking up oil using a special technique.

MIT calls its proposed legion the Seaswarm, an extension of the university's cooperative Swarm robots. As you'd expect, the Seaswarm involves a mass of 'bots working together using wireless communication and GPS, though right now the name implies to one prototype robot that's 16 feet long and seven wide.

The cleanup portion comes into play thanks to a highly absorbent conveyor-belt-looking attachment the Seaswarm drags behind it, which can absorb 20 times its weight in oil and actually repels water, so it won't waste time sucking that up. A collection of 'bots based on the Seaswarm prototype could work tirelessly soaking up oil from the Gulf, requiring little more maintenance than tending to their attachments.

Check out a video of the Seaswarm in action down below. LINK

IBM helping Europe scan historical documents

IBM and the European Union are teaming up to offer a better way to scan the massive collection of Europe's treasured historical documents.

Expanding on an existing collaboration project, Big Blue and the EU will now be working with more than two dozen libraries, research institutes, universities, and companies across Europe to help them digitize their rare books and documents. LINK

Is your phone the wallet of the future?

Imagine walking into your favorite cafe and instead of waiting in line to place your order for a large iced nonfat latte and handing over your debit card, you submitted your order and authorized payment from your bank account via an application on your phone.

You can't do that now. But it's very possible that some day you will. It will be a big leap forward getting banks, credit card companies, retailers, and cell phone makers--not to mention consumers--on board with this idea. But a few companies are beginning to provide digital stepping stones to what someday could be a wallet-less future.

On Thursday, Intuit and Mophie (maker of the JuicePack battery for iPhone) will introduce the Complete Credit Card Solution, which fits over the iPhone 3G and 3GS like the JuicePack and has a credit-card reader that uses Intuit's 18-month-old GoPayment mobile payment software. It will be available as an iPhone accessory in Apple Stores. LINK

iPod Nano click wheel to go way of the dodo?

September 1 has become a circled date on every Mac nerd's calendar following Apple's announcement of a music-related media event to be held in San Francisco. One of the big announcements, according to analysts, could be an overhauled iPod Nano, sans click wheel.

The click wheel has been one of the most iconic pieces of industrial engineering in technology since its release, but may be relegated to science museums sooner than later. Kaufman analyst Shawn Wu claims via sources that a "significant redesign" of the iPod Nano may also be part of Apple's media event announcements.

Wu goes on to say that he is not sure whether the click-wheel-free version of the iPod Nano will actually appear at this year's media event, or even at all, but says, "This would be a big departure from the design it has had since 2005 when it replaced the iPod Mini. From our take, a radical refresh may make sense to jump-start what was once its top-selling iPod." LINK

Scientists work to harness lightning for electricity

Nikola Tesla would be jealous.

A group of chemists from the University of Campinas in Brazil presented research on Wednesday claiming they've figured out how electricity is formed and released in the atmosphere.

Based on this knowledge, the team said it believes a device could be developed for extracting electrical charges from the atmosphere and using it for electricity.

The team, led by Fernando Galembeck, says they discovered the process by simulating water vapor reactions in a laboratory with dust particles common to the atmosphere.

They found that silica becomes more negatively charged when high levels of water vapor are present in the air, in other words during high humidity. They also found that aluminum phosphate becomes more positively charged in high humidity.

"This was clear evidence that water in the atmosphere can accumulate electrical charges and transfer them to other materials it comes into contact with. We are calling this 'hygroelectricity,' meaning 'humidity electricity,'" Galembeck said in a statement. LINK

Exercise bike belongs in an art gallery

Exercise bike, or alien artifact? We could go either way on this one.

This gorgeous design is the Ciclotte, which apparently borrows heavily from amonowheel prototype cycle called the Ciclò, which itself is an art piece in Milan's Triennale Design Museum.

Everything about the Ciclotte is designed to boil down components into their most simple form, from its body that doubles as its only wheel, to the bare-bones touchscreen it has on its side. The panel allows the rider to choose from 12 different exercise programs, and the wheel itself is magnetized to build resistance as you pedal.

Check out more of the Ciclotte in the gallery below — you know, unless you have $10,700 handy, then you could check it out in your living room. LINK

Wired, via Gizmag

For America's Middle Class, the Hits Just Keep on Coming

A lot of ink and pixels have been spilled this week over the ICI's report thatequity mutual funds suffered net withdrawals totaling over $33 billion in the first seven months of 2010. Myriad reasons were cited for the trend, including a mistrust of stocks, the flash crash and an aging population. (See: The Next Bubble? Investors Flee Stocks in Droves In Favor of Bonds.)

Perhaps the biggest reason of all hasn't gotten enough attention: Americans are making due with less and don't have the money to put into stock funds, and many are taking money out of their investments to pay for basic necessities like food, clothing and shelter.

With wages stagnant for those who still have a job "a lot of people are having to tap into their nest egg to keep their living standards going," says Damien Hoffman, co-founder of WallStCheatSheet. "A lot of people are living out of principal. There's no other way to get around that."

Fidelity's recent report of a sharp increase in the number of 401(k) participants seeking loans or hardship withdrawals in the second quarter is further evidence of the disappearing middle class. "These are basically emergency ways to fund yourself. We think it's a scary statistic," Hoffman says. "Where is the middle class going to be if they draw down their 401(k)s drastically over course of next few years?" LINK

RIM seeks broad industry-gov't talks on encryption

Research In Motion Ltd., which is facing a service shutdown in India next week over demands for access to its users' e-mails, said Thursday it is seeking to involve other technology companies in its talks with government officials.

RIM, which is based in Waterloo, Canada, said it has offered to lead an "industry forum" on the use of encrypted communications, on which law enforcement can't be easily eavesdrop.

India has set a Tuesday deadline for RIM to give access to the e-mails, or the service would be shut down in the country. There are about 1 million BlackBerry users in India, and travelers would probably be affected as well. LINK

HP raises offer for 3Par, trumping Dell's

Hewlett-Packard is raising its offer for data-storage maker 3Par to about $1.69 billion.

That tops rival Dell Inc.'s offer Thursday morning of $1.52 billion.

Dell made its first offer for 3Par Inc. on Aug. 16. Hewlett-Packard Co. countered on Monday.

Both companies are interested in 3Par as a way to save money as they bulk up data center operations, which help them deliver software and services to customers over the Internet.

Dell's agreement with 3Par gives Dell time to match competing offers such as the latest from HP.

Dell declined to comment on the new bid. LINK

Google Improves Realtime Search

Since its December 2009 launch, Google has been making minor improvements to Google Realtime Search. Today, the offering has been refreshed with three key additions: conversation view, location refinements and Google Alerts for updates. LINK

Scarcity of jobs puts more at risk of foreclosure

One in 10 American households with a mortgage is at risk of losing its home, and the foreclosure crisis could worsen if jobs remain scarce.

About 9.9 percent of homeowners had missed at least one mortgage payment as of June 30, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Thursday. That number, adjusted for seasonal factors, was barely down from a record-high of more than 10 percent as of April 30.

The Labor Department said requests for unemployment benefits fell sharply last week. The drop in first-time claims to a seasonally adjusted 473,000 was the first decline in a month and a hopeful sign after a raft of dismal economic reports.

Still, unemployment claims remain much higher than they would be in a healthy economy. Employers are reluctant to hire as economic growth appears to be slowing. LINK