Software Bug Causes Toyota Recall of Almost Half a Million New Hybrid Cars [Cars]
Toyota just announced a recall of its 2010 hybrid cars. Four hundred thousand worth. The reason? A change in “brake feeling” caused by faulty antilock braking software. There is no fix for cars on the road yet.
This problem, unrelated to the sticky gas pedal issue that other drivers complained about. But I’m still wondering what exactly is bothering our Prius-loving friend Woz, who claims he has a faulty cruise control issue that is software related, not mechanical.
Remember that old joke about if cars were as crash prone as computers? Yeah, not funny in 2010. [CNN]
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The Real War At SXSW: AT&T Versus 15,000 Data-Crazed Velociraptors
about 7 hours ago - No comments
We’ve talked a lot this week about the so-called “Location War” brewing at the SXSW festival in Austin, Texas starting tomorrow. That war will happen, but actually, there are likely to be a lot of winners because a few of the location-based services should be able to leverage the exposure to gain usage after the conference. Those with real bloodlust should probably be watching another war: AT&T versus everyone in Austin on their network.
AT&T’s struggles to stay up last year are well-documented. CNN recently ran a piece about how AT&T hopes to avoid a similar fate this year. But actually, “struggles” is way too kind of a word. If you were at SXSW last year and happened to be on AT&T’s network — like, say, if you had an iPhone, like many festival-goers did — it was an absolute nightmare. You couldn’t make a call. You couldn’t send a text. Data? Ha. At a few points early on I seriously wondered if I had forgotten to pay my bill and AT&T had simply shut my phone off — except that it was happening to everyone.
AT&T has a funny word for the failure, they like to say it is “unprecedented.” As in, the usage of its network was at levels previously unseen, as a strong percentage of the over 10,000 festival goers (just the interactive part) were using iPhones. Well guess what? Word is that is year, there will be some 15,000 people there for the interactive part. As Samual L. Jackson’s character, Mr. Arnold, says in Jurassic Park, “Hold on to your butts.”
HP Begins Rebranding Campaign With “Let’s Do Amazing” Ads
about 16 hours ago - No comments
Most people in the world hear Hewlett-Packard and think “printers.” And who can blame them? Since the relatively recent emphasis on the “HP” instead of “Hewlett-Packard,” and the general consumer move away from printers, HP hasn’t really done anything noteworthy — well, other than thrive despite the decline of the business in which they made their fortune. It’s like the old joke about the bricklayer and the sheep — but instead of drowning their sorrows in gin, HP is drowning them in money in an effort to rebrand the company. To that end, they’ve created a series of ads with the questionable tagline “Let’s Do Amazing.”
It’s not much of a time investment: a few 30-second spots with Flight of the Conchords‘ Rhys Darby bumbling around some professionals who appreciate what HP does. Won’t you join me for a look?
Safari 4.0.5 now available in Software Update
about 16 hours ago - No comments
Filed under: Software Update, Security
New browser time — and unfortunately, time to restart your Mac. Safari has been updated (for 10.4, 10.5 and 10.6 on the Mac side, and Windows XP/Vista/7 on the Win side); it includes the improvements noted:
- Performance improvements for Top Sites
- Stability improvements for plug-ins, and for sites with SVG graphics and online forms
- Fixes issues affecting settings changes to some Linksys routers and iWork.com user comments
There are also a slew of security fixes in this update; full list is in the continuation of this post, via the Apple Product Security mailing list.
The update weighs in at 31.8 MB on my Snow Leopard install, but your download size may vary. You can get it in Software Update or via the Safari download page.
TUAWSafari 4.0.5 now available in Software Update originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 17:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Apple – Mac OS X – Safari – Windows 7 – Mac OS X Snow Leopard
Barnes and Noble to Offer eReader on iPad
about 18 hours ago - No comments
Today Barnes and Noble announced that they are working on an iPad-specific version of their eReader software. What makes this of interest is that the eBooks you buy will be associated with your Barnes and Noble account, a departure from current iPhone app which tie your purchases to the app. This will allow Nook owners the option of moving their entire collection of eBooks to the iPad.
The app is scheduled to be released on April 3. This is a smart move for Barnes and Noble. By working with the iPad instead of trying to fight it, they have the potential to sell more eBooks, putting them ahead of Sony and making them a better competition with Amazon.
News: iPhone OS 4.0 to offer multitasking support?
about 21 hours ago - No comments
iPhone OS 4.0, the next major revision to the software that powers the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad, will offer support for multitasking, according to a new report. Citing anonymous sources “with a proven track record” in predicting Apple’s technical advancements, AppleInsider reports that iPhone OS 4.0, expected this summer, will include a “full-on solution” for multitasking, allowing third-party applications downloaded…
Microsoft issues vouchers for online training (San Francisco Chronicle)
about 1 day ago - No comments
Microsoft Corp. will offer thousands of Californians free training in its office software programs and distribute 18,500 vouchers to provide computer professionals with a no-cost way to upgrade their skills under a program introduced Wednesday in Mountain…
CA Acquires Cloud Monitoring Company Nimsoft For $350 Million
about 1 day ago - No comments
IT software giant CA has acquired cloud monitoring startup 
The Facebook Imperative Cannot Be Stopped
about 1 day ago - No comments
Two weeks ago on TechCrunch I posted “The Facebook Imperative,” which posed a simple question, “Why isn’t all enterprise software like Facebook?” It was the next iteration of the question I asked in 1999 that spawned salesforce.com, “Why isn’t all enterprise software like Amazon.com.” If you have read my book, Behind The Cloud, you are well aware how that one question launched a company, and a movement. Its been an exciting decade. But the real excitement is just starting.
Frankly, I’ve been amazed by the huge amount of responses, tweets, and comments (aka “the ruckus across the blogoshere,” as Joe McKendrick calls it). It only strengthens my conviction that we are about to see the greatest revolution in enterprise software, ever. Well, really, the most exciting revolution in computing, ever.
Editor’s note: This guest post is written by Marc Benioff, chairman and CEO of salesforce.com.
Election posters and readers’ images (Manila Bulletin)
about 2 days ago - No comments
Vivid by Alice Villareal With the elections just two months away, readers may want to help out their chosen candidates by printing their own posters. There are free software and free online services available for anyone with access to the Internet.
GDC 2010: From concept to Top Paid with Unity iPhone
about 2 days ago - No comments
Filed under: Gaming, Software, Developer
Unity Technologies hosted the sponsored lunch panel during GDC 2010 today, and their “product evangelist” Tom Higgins gave a quick rundown of the software platform that enables developers to assemble and release games extremely quickly on multiple platforms.
The company was actually founded in Denmark, but has since expanded around the world with just two products: Unity Pro and Unity iPhone Pro. The second product, as you might imagine, allows developers to put together an application that can then be exported out into an Xcode project and released on the App Store. Higgins said that they’ve had over 90,000 people download the software since it was released for free last fall, and that more than 500 games in the App Store were authored by Unity.
He also ran a short demo of the software at the panel. While some of the coding got a little technical (the system allows you to create and change variables on in-game objects even while the game is running in the engine), the coolest feature was the way they simulated iPhone controls: by using a real iPhone as a remote. They’ve released a free app on the App Store that will connect via Wi-Fi with a copy of the development tool running on your Mac, and as you touch and turn the iPhone, the editor reacts, and sends the (slightly lower resolution) output to the iPhone’s screen. You can also make changes to your code as the game runs in that mode, so you can be playing and coding at the same time.
That was pretty impressive. Of course, Unity won’t actually help you be a game developer — like many of the tools on display at the conference this week, it’s a professional tool that can only make your ideas and art come to life, not actually create them for you.
But when you combine Unity’s compatibility across platforms (there’s even a web player that will play your Unity-created game on any web-compatible computer) with the ease of development (the app just outputs an Xcode project, so you can write an app in Javascript with the tool and output it straight to the App Store, or even edit the Xcode after the output if you want to take advantage of features that Unity doesn’t support by default), it’s definitely worth a look as an iPhone development tool. I’m not a developer, so I don’t have much insight on how the program actually works, but just in terms of creating apps for multiple platforms at the same time (“author once, deploy anywhere,” as Higgins said during his talk), Unity seems like a worthwhile solution.
The Unity platform is available as a free download, and the iPhone app either comes in source code with the rest of the platform, or can be downloaded straight from the App Store.
TUAWGDC 2010: From concept to Top Paid with Unity iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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appstore – IPhone – Apple – Unity Technologies – Game Developers Conference