Crypteks USB offers physical lock and AES hardware encryption

That's surely an imitation of Da Vinci's cryptex. Looks really cool!

http://www.theverge.com/2011/11/29/2596033/crypteks-usb-physical-lock-aes-hardware-encryption

There's a Kick­starter cam­paign going that might inter­est those who carry sen­si­tive data and swooned over Tom Hanks in The Da Vinci Code — if it comes to fruition, the Crypteks USB drive will com­bine both a phys­i­cal lock as well as 256-bit AES hard­ware encryp­tion. The drive itself is sealed inside an anodized alu­minum cylin­der with five rings con­tain­ing all the let­ters of the alpha­bet; all you have to do to remove the drive is enter your pass­word. Once the drive is removed, you can reset the pass­word by remov­ing and re-orienting the rings in the posi­tion of your choice. Even after the drive is removed from its shell, it's still secured by thely in use by thet. …

Little Printer serves up a personalized receipt-sized newspaper, twice daily

Not sure this is great idea. Especially when I think of trees. What do you think?

http://www.theverge.com/2011/11/29/2596138/berg-little-printer-cloud-receipt-sized-newspaper

It hap­pens to all of us: you wake up in the morn­ing and awk­ward­ly clutch your cell­phone, swip­ing through tweets, emails, weath­er, and news. You know it's a good day when you man­age not to drop the phone on your face while doing it. BERG's new Lit­tle Print­er plans to change that with a receipt-sized col­lec­tion of per­son­al­ized mate­r­i­al that's no longer than 10 inch­es in length, twice daily. With back­up from a ser­vice called Berg Cloud, it offers mate­r­i­al like top head­lines, weath­er reports, Sudoku puz­zles, to-do lists, bite-sized info on a range of top­ics, upcom­ing birth­days, word of the day, Nike+ work­out reminders, and recent Foursquare check-insd he­err. …

Google Maps 6.0 for Android adds indoor maps, new Places homescreen

This seems like a genuinely good idea. Hope they keep expanding it.

http://www.theverge.com/2011/11/29/2596484/google-maps-6-0-for-android-adds-indoor-maps-new-places-homescreen

Google Maps for Android 6.0 just hit Android Mar­ket, and it's a pret­ty big update: it adds indoor maps of select air­ports, malls, and retail stores in the US and Japan. High­lights of the ini­tial list include the Mall of Amer­i­ca, Chica­go's O'Hare and Mid­way air­ports, San Fran­cis­co Inter­na­tion­al, and var­i­ous Macy's, Bloom­ing­dale's, IKEA, and Home Depot loca­tions. We just tried it out and it's quite well-done: a tog­gle appears as you zoom in on a build­ing that lets you select each floor, and fea­tures like restrooms and retail shops pop right up. Addi­tion­al indoor maps are promised soon, and if you're a busi­ness owner you can upload floor plans to get your loca­tiond. …

Microsoft reportedly launching Office for iPad in 2012

Microsoft office is that one application (set) that still people care for in Microsoft setup. That coming for iPad is surely a welcome thing. At least for me.

http://www.theverge.com/2011/11/29/2596371/microsoft-office-ipad-2012-availability

Microsoft's released a few apps here and there for the iPhone and iPad but has kept one of its prize bread­win­ners out of the iOS fray. Accord­ing to The Daily, that all might change in 2012 with the launch of Office for iPad. The pub­li­ca­tion claims that this new release will play nice with Office 365's cloud-based ser­vice, and iPad doc­u­ments should be com­pat­i­ble with the desk­top ver­sions of Office. In fact, this close­ly mir­rors both Office for Win­dows Phone and iWork on the iPad, with doc­u­ment sync­ing and com­pat­i­bil­i­ty between mobile and desk­top apps. Office for iPad's price point also is rumored to be sim­i­lar to iWork on iOS's $10 per app pric­ing.h iggger. …

DIY 'privacy monitor' hides screen from prying eyes

This is an interesting application of probably a known concept. Spectacles specifically privacy spectacles of different styles could become a big part of new fashion very quickly.

http://www.theverge.com/2011/11/25/2586133/hidden-screen-diy-lcd-privacy-monitor

Adding a fil­ter to secure your screen is hard­ly unusu­al, but a new mon­i­tor hack actu­al­ly works bet­ter by remov­ing the built-in polar­iz­ing fil­ter. An LCD with no polar­ized film sim­ply dis­plays white light, but pop­ping lens­es made from the film into a pair of glass­es lets the wear­er use the com­put­er nor­mal­ly. And you thought 3D glass­es looked silly. Read the full instruc­tions for mak­ing a pri­va­cy mon­i­tor at the source below.

Ubuntu sees massive slide in popularity, Mint sprints ahead ... but why? | ZDNet

This is not great news for ubuntu fans like me. May be i need to try mint

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/hardware/ubuntu-sees-massive-slide-in-popularity-mint-sprints-ahead-but-why/16550

Try to please everyone, and pretty soon you please no one.

Asus Transformer Prime goes up for Pre-Order in the US 32GB for $500

Friends, this may be the thing you have been waiting for. Check it out!

http://igyaan.in/2011/11/asus-transformer-prime-pre-order-32gb-500/18227/

AdityaT | Android, Latest, Tablet News

Why Facebook Is Winning The Great Tech War In India

So guys it seems we are all siding with Facebook. I would have wished it to be google. Even apple would have been ok. Amazon is not very known to us yet. Guys can we side with google. But my wish is not your command!

http://www.fastcompany.com/1796532/india-big-tech?partner=rss

In Fast Company's recent cover story, The Great Tech War Of 2012, Farhad Manjoo plotted the battle plans for the four U.S. tech titans: Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google. The four companies have dominated somewhat separate parts of the U.S. tech space in the past, but are speedily converging on eac…

Jeopardy contestant Roger Craig stomps competition with data mining

It's all about the data. I think data crunching and mining (especially big data) is something which none of us can ignore anymore. There is going to be lot of it in the near and far future. What do you think?

http://www.theverge.com/culture/2011/11/23/2583181/roger-craig-jeopardy-data-mining

When Jeopardy master Ken Jennings recounted his loss to computer Watson early this year, he referred to the game show's questions as an "open domain...

Twitter / DataStax: Get a handle on #Cassandra ...

Cassandra is doing the rounds nowadays. DataStax CEO who is also the lead of apache cassandra is ensuring that people know more and more about Cassandra

http://twitter.com/DataStax/statuses/139137299098243072

Get a handle on #Cassandra in the #Cloud - 1M writes a second.#NoSQL #BigData http://t.co/5VWLihn2

How To Create A Product

Knowing the market is key. Put the market before you - that is the mantra to a successful product. That is the gist of what is below.

http://www.entrepreneurs-journey.com/8190/how-to-create-a-product/

This four part series on cre­at­ing your own infor­ma­tion prod­uct will start with address­ing a vital start­ing point with prod­uct cre­ation: cre­at­ing a prod­uct that will sell.

Apache Wicket is a Flawed Framework

A read that will make you ponder about the wicket framework.

http://mail-archives.apache.org/mod_mbox/wicket-users/201111.mbox/%3C1321544691689-4080411.post@n4.nabble.com%3E

Where's that plane overhead going? Wolfram Alpha knows

That sounds cool. Wolfram Alpha, if I remember correctly is the brain behind SIRI. It would surely be good to know more about it. Also if it can be used in more places it will be great. Time to get to know more about it!

http://www.theverge.com/2011/11/18/2570664/wolfram-alpha-can-now-tell-you-the-exact-flights-details-of-any

Wol­fram Alpha, the search engine that's more than just a search engine, has added a neat new trick to its reper­toire: it can now answer the ques­tion, "where is that plane over­head going?" More than that, it can tell you where the flight's com­ing from, what air­line is oper­at­ing it, the alti­tude the plane is fly­ing at, and even its angle from the hori­zon rel­a­tive to you. All that info is com­ing into Wol­fram Alpha from the US Fed­er­al Avi­a­tion Admin­is­tra­tion, though it arrives with a five-minute delay that means Wol­fram's real time data is actu­al­ly a pro­jec­tion of each plane's posi­tion — cal­cu­lat­ed on the basis of its last known head­ing, speed, and alti­tude — rather than a per­fect­ly accu­rate mea­sure­ment. Anoth­er lim­i­ta­tion that aris­es from the source of the data is that the "flights over­head" search string only …

Thank you, young Mr. Suarez, for showing us what's possible (Jason Womack)

Its possible. If a 12 year old can get into development of iPhone apps, then what is impossible. Impossible in BS!

http://www.jasonwomackblog.com/working_outwhile_youre_ou/2011/11/thank-you-young-mr-suarez-for-showing-us-whats-possible.html

Early (in Lon­don) on a Thurs­day morn­ing, I gave myself the gift of watch­ing this "less-than-5-minute" TED.com talk by Thomas Suarez. The dude is 12 years old, and his mes­sage is clear ... "It is possible."

Titanoboa robotic snake sizes up against Mondo Spider

The snake motion is very realistic. The fluidity is amazing. At short distance it must be unnerving.

http://www.theverge.com/2011/11/16/2566209/titanoboa-robotic-snake-mondo-spider-eatart

In a move bound to prey on those with pho­bias, Cana­di­an robot­ic design house eatArt has released a video of its lat­est project: the Titanoboa, a robot­ic snake based on a 50-foot long pre­his­toric ser­pent. The video pits the basilisk-like robot against the Mondo Spi­der, a walk­ing machine large enough to hold a man, and there's obvi­ous com­pe­ti­tion between the two. While eatArt showed a short­er ver­sion of the snake rollerblad­ing at the Burn­ing Man fes­ti­val ear­li­er this year, at 35 feet this is the largest ver­sion of the robot so far, with the team aim­ing to reach the full length in the next year or so.

Apple iPhone 4 refurbished units will be available in India for Rs 22,500

This does seem like a good idea to me as a consumer. I would have jumped on it had I not already got the s2. Trying to convince my wife on this. A good opportunity guys! Go for it.

http://www.bgr.in/2011/11/15/apple-iphone-4-refurbished-units-will-be-available-in-india-for-rs-22500/

While we are wait­ing for an offi­cial announce­ment, we can con­firm that Apple iPhone 4 fac­to­ry refur­bished units are now avail­able in India for Rs 22,500 for the 16GB vari­ant. These units come with prop­er bill and one-year war­ran­ty. Refur­bished units should not be con­fused with usual second-hand units – these are sent back to the assem­bly fac­to­ry where they are cleaned, and some com­po­nents changed. They come with the same sup­port as new phones. We are also hear­ing there is a short­age of brand-new iPhone 4 16GB, which can be attrib­uted to the upcom­ing iPhone 4S launch in India on Novem­ber 25. Apple will intro­duce the 8GB vari­ant of the iPhone 4 and dis­con­tin­ue both the 16GB and 32GB vari­ants once the iPhone 4S is launched. If you are still look­ing for an afford­able iPhone 4, we think the …

Tangle: a JavaScript library for reactive documents

It really looks like a new idea (though I can't be sure). The initial examples seem simple but they drive home the point. A deeper look might reveal more possibilities. Exploration time guys!

http://worrydream.com/Tangle/

Tan­gle is a JavaScript library for cre­at­ing reac­tive doc­u­ments. Your read­ers can inter­ac­tive­ly explore pos­si­bil­i­ties, play with para­me­ters, and see the doc­u­ment update imme­di­ate­ly. Tan­gle is super-simple and easy to learn.

Google's Think Insights offers a peek behind the search giant's curtain

I am not sure what this is. Is it google trends productised. I guess we should check it out. I would really like to know whether I can find more about what google thinks about me and everybody else (search engine secrets so to say). We will see.

http://www.theverge.com/2011/11/11/2554455/google-think-insights-available

Google's pri­ma­ry rev­enue source — search-related adver­tis­ing — is get­ting a more pub­lic face with its Think Insights web­site that's now out of beta. The site is a cen­tral­ized hub for access to much of Google's search-related ana­lyt­ics and research stud­ies, which allow mar­keters and oth­ers to spot emerg­ing trends quick­ly and eas­i­ly. It's promised that you'll be able to use the site's "real-time insights find­er" (above) to gauge con­sumer opin­ion in real-time, but it's also just fun to dig around and see all of the data that Google has amassed. Accord­ing to the com­pa­ny, the site makes find­ing answers to most ques­tions — when does demand for pret­zels peak? — no more than 60 sec­onds away. There are also lots of charts to be made using Google's data in mere­ly sec­onds, like the one below com­par­ing smart­phone adop­tion in …

This superhydrophobic coating is truly stunning

This is truly DEFYing! Hope Apple does not buy them. I guess not since it has applicability in so many areas and Apple is too focused for that. If the manufacturing cost is cheap, it could revolutionize the 'material' world.

http://pulse.me/s/34E78

pulse.me/s/34E78

Supporting entrepreneurs around the world with Startup Weekend

This really seems like a great thing to participate. I am not sure when this will come to Bangalore (I really hope it does). It can probably provide us with an opportunity to try our hand at something new. Let us wait and watch.

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/11/supporting-entrepreneurs-around-world.html

We rec­og­nize the trans­for­ma­tive power of star­tups and the entre­pre­neurs behind them that have the pas­sion and courage to pur­sue a dream; the impact they can make on soci­ety can be sig­nif­i­cant. Google was once a start­up in a garage, and Google Ven­tures is a tes­ta­ment to our ongo­ing com­mit­ment to entre­pre­neuri­al­ism. As we head into Glob­al Entre­pre­neur­ship Week, it’s clear that hav­ing a robust com­mu­ni­ty of entre­pre­neurs, men­tors and edu­ca­tion­al resources can be a key ingre­di­ent in a start­up’s suc­cess, and we’re excit­ed to be part of that.

RT @gigaom: Need to optimize your sleep? There’s an app for that. http://t.co/iUbx2WLa

http://t.co/iUbx2WLa

New in 11: Diff Tool for Binary Files http://t.co/oYZgBX4M via @zite. Funny, should check it out.

http://t.co/oYZgBX4M

Kill the Telcos Save the Internet - The Unsocial Network http://t.co/EXFMGqHB via @zite. Good read on the inner working of the Internet!

http://t.co/EXFMGqHB

This is as futuristic as it gets! Ok may be it is not yet that polished.

Sony HMZ-T1 Personal 3D Viewer review

http://www.theverge.com/2011/11/10/2552518/sony-hmz-t1-personal-3d-viewer-review

Hardware / design

That is cool! May be we could get that in our office ;)

Biscotti video conferencing camera puts Grandma on your TV for $199

http://www.theverge.com/2011/11/9/2548251/biscotti-video-conferencing-camera-for-tv-199-demo

We've seen plen­ty of failed home video con­fer­enc­ing cam­eras ideas come and go, but that sad his­to­ry hasn't deterred Bis­cot­ti — the start­up just announced a $199 video cam­era that sits on top of your TV and can call both other Bis­cot­ti units as well as phones, tablets, and PCs using Google Talk. The cam­era itself is fair­ly clever: it sits between your TV and cable box's HDMI con­nec­tion, allow­ing it to over­lay its menus and UI on top of what­ev­er you're watch­ing. You can also set it to auto-answer calls and even auto­mat­i­cal­ly turn on your com­po­nents using HDMI-CEC con­trol, so it's fair­ly par­ent- and grandparent-friendly. We got a brief chance to play with it and the menus and inter­face seemed well-thought-out and com­plete, but we'll wait to com­ment on video qual­i­ty when we actu­al­ly get a review unit.

Did not realise that it is a quad core too! Cool Asus Eee Pad!

Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime: the first quad-core Tegra 3 tablet arrives in early December for $499

http://www.theverge.com/2011/11/9/2548200/asus-eee-pad-transformer-prime-pricing-release-date-quad-core-tegra-3

Asus promised an offi­cial launch of its Eee Pad Trans­former Prime on Novem­ber 9th, and not a moment too late, the com­pa­ny is ready to give up the remain­ing details on its forth­com­ing tablet. How­ev­er, those hop­ing that "launch" meant the world's first quad-core Tegra 3 tablet would start hit­ting stores today should be pre­pared to be dis­ap­point­ed — the $499 tablet (with 32GB of stor­age) and its $149 key­board dock won't be arriv­ing until early Decem­ber. (The 64GB ver­sion will ring up at $599.) That said, after you read on below about all the improve­ments, you'll like­ly think it's worth the wait.

This is really cool! A tablet with a natively attachable keyboard.

ASUS launches the new Transformer Prime with Tegra 3 and 12 Hour Battery (PR)

http://igyaan.in/2011/11/asus-launches-transformer-prime-tegra-3-12-hour-battery-pr/17795/

Asus has Launched the Eee Pad Trans­former tablet in India, with the option­al dock. The 16Gb WiFi only ver­sion was launched for Rs. 32,899/- and the ...

The second spot light has also focused on Html5. This time the shift is from silver light

Microsoft may halt development work on Silverlight plugin after next release

http://www.theverge.com/2011/11/9/2548975/microsoft-may-halt-development-work-on-silverlight-after-next-release

It's not just Adobe that's alter­ing its plans when it comes to brows­er plu­g­ins designed to play back rich web media — Microsoft's join­ing in too. New releas­es of Sil­verlight, Red­mond's big com­peti­tor to Flash Play­er, are report­ed­ly going to be aban­doned after the launch of Sil­verlight 5, expect­ed later this month. This infor­ma­tion comes from mul­ti­ple sources cited by the usu­al­ly well-informed Mary Jo Foley. They don't know how long Microsoft will main­tain sup­port for Sil­verlight 5 or if there'll be any ser­vice packs, but it does seem like the com­pa­ny will be switch­ing its oper­a­tional focus to other areas and halt­ing active devel­op­ment of Sil­verlight.

WIMM One review http://t.co/0Is09oGI more smart watches... Android this time!

http://t.co/0Is09oGI

Looks like Apple has finally truly won! Good bye flash. Html5, please take centre-stage. You are truly on the spotlight

Adobe ends Flash development for Android and PlayBook, will focus on HTML5

http://www.theverge.com/2011/11/9/2549196/adobe-flash-android-blackberry

Adobe officially kills Flash Player for mobile, says HTML5 is 'the best solution'

Watch "Samsung Flexible AMOLED and Transparent OLED Screens" on YouTube ... http://t.co/TKdr0gGu

http://t.co/TKdr0gGu

This would be really something if we pull it off. http://t.co/e5EEJP1S

http://t.co/e5EEJP1S

Nokia exploring free Wi-Fi service in India http://t.co/ZvFaQMCL Is it dream or reality

http://t.co/ZvFaQMCL

Google Reader interface changes

As I read news and articles from my twitter and google reader (ah the irony!), a repeated theme in the last few days has been the interface changes on Google reader. I have heard lot of complaints about it. These did induce me to go a take a look at the google reader page. After spending less than 5 minutes, which means I was superbly (is that a word! never mind) superficial, I felt there have been changes. But I could not form an opinion of whether it is good or bad. I guess I hardly spent any time to make such a conclusion.
It might seem that I probably don't use google reader. The truth is quite the opposite. I spent quite a bit of my reading time on feeds from google reader. But the google reader has become my backend for feeds. For consuming the feeds, I am using specific applications like Flipboard on my Ipad and d7 google reader on my phone. Even on my laptop I use news square or feedly (both used sparingly as I do most of my feeds reading in the tablet or the phone).  Hence the change in the google reader UI did not impact me at all.
How will these changes play out? Are the complaints just temporary - rants from people who resist any kind of change which will die eventually? Will the might and dominance of google in this area just make people stick to it despite there being problems (if there are any at all)? Will people start moving to other alternatives for consuming there feeds (like me)? Will a new and good alternative to google reader emerge out of this? Throwing these questions in the air. At least time will answer them (but I am open to getting answers from others too!)