June 12, 2006, 10:13 PM PDT
Publish your media to anywhere, from Fabrik
Posted by: Rafe Needleman

We are slowly--too slowly--moving toward unified storage: one interface to access our data no matter where it is, be it our computer, a file server we own, a cell phone, or a hosted storage service somewhere on the Net. We need unified storage because managing the file systems and keeping track of what's where is getting way out of hand.

One small step toward unified storage is coming from Fabrik, a start-up run by former Maxtor exec Mike Cordano. Fabrik wants to be your one and only file system. It doesn't quite succeed at that, but the system has some good and useful ideas.

If you put your media files (music, photos, videos) in Fabrik, you'll find it easy to get the code that enables you to publish them to whatever media-sharing service you want--your MySpace or Facebook page, an eBay entry, or a blog. There are plenty of options, more than I've seen on any other system, and more should be added shortly. What's missing is a tool to publish directly to the sites, though, like VideoEgg has.

You can also share items directly, either by creating a stand-alone Web page or by tagging individual items as visible to certain people. However, you'll find Fabrik's native media viewer to only functional, not as attractive or as flexible as the dedicated viewers you'll find on the sites Fabrik helps you publish to.

Fabrik technology will ship first as software built into a line of Maxtor Fusion network hard drives, turning them into Internet media servers as well as drives for your local network. It will also be available from Maxtor as a hosted service. Eventually the hard drives and the hosted service will communicate with each other; very popular files on your network drive will end up getting mirrored onto the hosted service to conserve your bandwidth (similar to Pixpo's architecture).

Fabrik is similar in concept to the Mirra product and service, which is owned by Seagate. Seagate has acquired Maxtor, so we can expect these products to merge. What Fabrik has that Mirra doesn't is the multisite publishing capability.

While Cordano pitches Fabrik as a replacement for media file management on a PC, it can't reach that far yet; whenever you want to work with files on your hard drive, you'll need to use Windows (or the Mac OS, depending). But Fabrik is a decent platform to help you publish your media files to wherever on the Web you want them.

Fabrik will be presenting at the Under the Radar conference on Wednesday. I'll be at the event, moderating a few sessions and scouting out companies to cover. Find me there if you have one.

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June 12, 2006, 3:21 PM PDT
Google builds a better Earth
Posted by: Rafe Needleman

Tomorrow the Where 2.0 conference kicks off, but Google is doing its best to set the agenda by introducing a new version 4 beta of Google Earth today, as well as a major update to the Google Earth imagery and improved integration with the 3D design app, SketchUp.

Google Earth is already an attractive product, and the new version is a solid improvement. The biggest user interface change is the "More Earth, less interface," design. You can slide the bottom and left-hand navigation bars off the screen and have your display completely taken up with your Earth view. When you mouse over to the upper right of the screen, a subtle but useful navigation pane pops up.

The new navigation makes it easier to view the enhanced data on the Google servers. Google people say 30 percent of the world's population should be able to see their house in high resolution, plus nearly all cities and many major geographical landmarks have been updated with 70 cm or better resolution.

Google has also updated its 3D design application, SketchUp, and improved the integration of this program into Google Earth. This is one of the coolest new directions in this product. Now, from within Google Earth, you can demark a plot of land as the baseline for a SketchUp model and pull up walls from the image. Then, if you have a picture of the building you're working on, you can map the image of it onto the blank walls, stretch it to correct your perspective, and send the new photo-realistic building back to Google. Google execs expect that real estate professionals will start to send interns and college kids out with cameras to photograph their properties and build 3D models for them, which could make online house shopping even more interesting than it is right now (and it's pretty interesting already, thanks to Zillow and competitors).

So what of Google Maps? It's just a "different browser on the same database," one exec said. Indeed, as of today, the KML bookmarks Google Earth uses will work in Google Maps--just paste in the address and Maps will snap to the location as Earth would. Ultimately, the distinction between the two products should vanish, but for the moment Maps is all about utility and directions, while Earth is better for visualization and exploring.

Still missing from both versions are true bird's-eye images like Microsoft has. And one question was not answered at the press announcement: Where are the ads?

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June 12, 2006, 1:38 PM PDT
T-Mobile's kidConnect
Posted by: Kent German

T-Mobile is aiming to grab a share of the growing market for parental controls on cell phones. The carrier said today it will launch kidConnect, a new service plan that will ensure a kid's cell phone bill won't exceed $19.99 per month. A kidConnect plan will offer unlimited calling between a parent and a child, unlimited nationwide weekend calling, and 50 nationwide anytime minutes per month. In addition to going toward making calls, the value of the 50 anytime minutes can be used toward text messages, instant messages, and multimedia messages. Free 911 calls are included as well.

After the 50 minutes are used, plans can be topped off with a refill card. Refill minutes don't expire and can be carried over to a new month. Also, a WAP interface will prevent kidConnect from downloading extra services.

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June 12, 2006, 1:24 PM PDT
Cingular scales back sale of 3G handsets
Posted by: Kent German

Phone Scoop is reporting that Cingular has stopped selling 3G handsets such as the LG CU320 in markets where the carrier's UMTS network is not yet available. At the moment, Cingular's 3G service is available in 15 markets nationwide. Although UMTS handsets such as the CU320 are backward-compatible with the carrier's slower EDGE network, the carrier's 3G services, such as Cingular Video, are not optimized for use over EDGE. Customers in non-UMTS markets have until June 30 to return their 3G handsets or wait until Cingular expands the network later this year.

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June 12, 2006, 1:13 PM PDT
Disney Mobile goes live
Posted by: Kent German

Disney Mobile is now selling phones and wireless plans on its Web site. Although the new familycentric MVNO has yet to announce formally that it's up and running, the Pantech DM-P100 is now available for $59.99. Another phone, the LG DML200 (pictured here), will launch later in the summer. Individual service plans range from $39 for 400 anytime minutes per month up to $169 for 3,500 anytime minutes. Family plans start at $59 for 450 anytime minutes and go up to $249 for 4,500 minutes. It's all a bit expensive, and there seems to be a litany of fees involved as well. They include 10 cents per text message, 25 cents per multimedia message, and activation fees of up to $35 per line. We'll have to see if such services will be offered in a bundle. Also, while the coverage through Sprint's network is nationwide, off-network roaming charges are 40 cents per minute. You do, however, get free nights and weekends.

By anyone's estimation, Disney Mobile should be a hit. Unlike many kid-friendly cell phones, Disney Mobile's handsets come with a wealth of features, including a 1.3-megapixel camera, Bluetooth, a speakerphone, and voice dialing. This means parents can take advantage of the high-end feature while Junior isn't stuck with a dinky phone that everyone at school will tease him about. And to help kids learn to use those features responsibly, parents can set when the phone is used and which numbers it can call, determine spending allowances for both calls and messages, locate their kids with GPS capabilities, and send family messages. The controls can be set through an online interface or on their child's handset. To top it off, the handsets feature access to Disney content and a Disney-designed interface. We'll report back more when we have a handset in our hands.

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June 12, 2006, 12:34 PM PDT
BMW rolls with HD radio
Posted by: Wayne Cunningham

The German carmaker announced that its 2007 5 Series cars will have optional HD Radio. BMW has previously made HD Radio available in its 7 Series and 6 Series cars. The HD Radio format seems to be catching on, with 800 U.S. stations currently broadcasting it. The format lets stations broadcast multiple streams on a frequency with CD-quality audio on FM stations. The format also transmits data, so radio stations can send artist and song information, similar to the currently used Radio Data Signal format. CNET senior editor John Falcone talks about the format and reviews three homebound HD sets here: "Tune into HD Radio."

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June 12, 2006, 12:19 PM PDT
Yahoo Web mail worm considered a very low threat
Posted by: Robert Vamosi

Symantec issued a warning about a new worm that exploits a known Java-based vulnerability in Yahoo Mail. Yahoo Mail customers should be suspicious of e-mail sent from av3@yahoo.com, with the subject line "New Graphics site" with body text that reads "this is a test." Symantec warned on Monday that Yahoo customers need only open the message to read its content to become infected; no need to open any attached files. Once active, the worm spreads to all yahoo.com and yahoogroups.com e-mail addresses found on the victim's computer. Despite the potential for widespread damage, the worm is not spreading very quickly and is considered to be a very low threat. For more details on this worm, see Symantec's alert regarding JS.Yamanner@m.

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June 12, 2006, 11:54 AM PDT
Verizon launches Chaperone child-monitoring service
Posted by: Nicole Lee

Verizon just launched a new GPS service that lets parents keep track of their kids. Called Chaperone, the service costs about $10 a month, and for an extra $10, it'll also let parents know when their kids have stepped out of predetermined boundaries. The first phone out the gate with this service is the LG Migo VX1000, one of the better kiddie phones we've seen so far. Once the kid is equipped with the Migo, parents can track the tyke with their own Verizon handsets. In what seems like a new wave of child monitoring, Sprint already has a similar service for $10 a month, and new MVNO Disney Mobile will have its own version coming this summer.

Source: CNET News.com

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June 12, 2006, 11:51 AM PDT
Dress up your iPod with SkinIt
Posted by: Jasmine France

There's no shortage of protective cases and decorative skins with which you can dress up your iPod. In fact, you can find plenty right here on CNET. But we did come across some particularly fun stickers at SkinIt.com. What's neat about the decals you'll find at this site is that they're not just for the iPod. You can dress up everything from a Sony PSP to a Mac Mini to a whole slew of cell phones. And the selection of skins is so various that you can find something for any taste. Choose from art, sports, comics, fashion, music, and more. We picked out two very different skins for the iPod Nano: Neko Press's dark graphic called Window and one entitled simply Elvis Presley, but we like to call it Gold Lamé Elvis. Both stickers look quite nice on our Nanos, but don't expect these skins to protect your Nano's screen or sides--they don't have a clear, square sticker, nor do they wrap around the edges of the player.

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June 12, 2006, 9:04 AM PDT
Insulated Intel inside
Posted by: Matthew Elliott

Megahertz and gigahertz are yesterday's specs. Take, for example, that fact that Intel hit the 1GHz mark in 2000, 2GHz in 2001, and 3GHz in 2002, and we've yet to see a (non-overclocked) CPU running at 4GHz. As transistors are more tightly packed onto smaller chips, the chips become less efficient, as they require more power and generate more heat--so much so that some have predicted the end of Moore's Law, which states that the number of transistors on a chip will double every two years.

Instead of merely increasing the clock speed from one generation to the next, chip manufacturers have looked to other areas to improve performance, from low-voltage chips for longer battery life on laptops to dual-core chips for improved performance at lower clock speeds. Yahoo News reports today that Intel researchers have settled on a way to insulate a chip's transistors, which will allow the continuation of Moore's Law. Intel has experimented with various insulation tactics over the years and announced today that its "tri-gate transistor" is the method it will use on future chips. A tri-gate transistor differs from a traditional flat transistor in that it wraps around three sides of a transistor rather than just one side. The result? Less electricity leaked and less power required to run. Still early in development, tri-gate transistors won't be featured on Intel's upcoming 65-nanometer Core 2 Duo chips or even next year's anticipated 45nm chips. Intel says that this could be a feature you'll see on 32nm chips as early as 2009, or just in time to replace the PC you're planning on buying today.

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