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This Week: Worst new gas guzzlers

Not too long ago I delivered a few blog posts featuring some big-ol' gas guzzling SUVs like the Hummer and the Dartz Kombat. Well, I was sitting here stumped on what to write a blog about and I thought to myself that I hadn't done a full-fledged theme week with this video blog in a while, and from there I brainstormed what to do: this week's video blog posts are going to take a look at some of the worst new and ongoing offenders in gas mileage. And I figured since I was giving Hummer some air time … Read more

Bing getting a fall refresh

Unlike when you stand over your coworker's desk, Microsoft's Bing search engine actually works better when you hover.

One of the key features of the would-be rival to Google is that when you hover to the right of a result, you can get a preview of what to expect. As part of an update this week, Bing's hover result will now feature more information including a thumbnail preview of the site in question.

One of the ongoing challenges for Bing, besides just getting more people to use the site, is letting them know that the hover feature … Read more

BOL 1087: Google's leaky cloud

Have a Google Voicemail account? Have some voicemails in there? I may have listened to them today! Thanks to some leaks in the Google cloud (rain?) it seems some folks voicemails are searchable on Google. Glad that eye appointment went well! Also Verizon and Motorola are bringing it to the iPhone. But will Verizon have to make a switch next year if the rumors are true?

Subscribe with iTunes (audio) Subscribe with iTunes (video) Subscribe with RSS (audio) Subscribe with RSS (video) EPISODE 1087

Verizon’s anti-iPhone gets its first commercial: ‘Droid Does’ http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/17/verizons-anti-iphone-gets-its-first-commercial-droid-does/ … Read more

Wolfram Alpha iPhone app is cool but overpriced

The iPhone app for Wolfram Alpha (iTunes store link) got approved by Apple surprisingly quickly, I was told in a breathless e-mail from Wolfram PR on Sunday. But the real surprise was the price: The app is $49.99.

The rationale is twisted.

"It's less than half the price of a graphing calculator, but it does more," the rep told me. By the way, "price of a graphing calculator" is a calculation that Wolfram Alpha can't compute.

For much, much less than the price of a graphing calculator, or $0.00, you can point … Read more

Wolfram Alpha opens API to developers

Developers can now put Wolfram Alpha results in their own applications. The company today opened up its API to open access, allowing coders to query the Wolfram system and incorporate its data, calculations, and rich media results.

The company put out a blog post about the new API without showcasing any example apps. However, the post, by Wolfram's Schoeller Porter, does mention developer ideas for using Wolfram Alpha programmatically, from "researching cancer through computational biology" to "determining the optimal temperature for draft beer based on the current weather conditions."

A spokesperson for Wolfram confirms that … Read more

The factor factor, part 1

Listen carefully. I am about to reveal one of the great apparent secrets of the microprocessor industry. This secret largely determines whether new products succeed or fail.

I don't know why it seems to be a secret. It's simple enough. I figured it out early, in my first job in the industry, and I've seen it demonstrated over and over since then. I'm hardly the only one who knows this secret; I've seen dozens of talks that allude to it, and a few that mentioned it specifically. I've talked about it myself in articles I wrote for Microprocessor Report and other publications.

Unfortunately, I've also seen hundreds of products brought to market in apparent ignorance of this simple rule, and they've all failed, wasting the billions of dollars invested in their development. Assuming the developers weren't throwing away their money on purpose, I conclude they must not have known the one basic fact that doomed their projects, which means it must be a secret.

The secret is...… Read more

With cameras, do color choices equal lower quality?

On September 16, Pentax launched the K-x, an entry-level-ish digital SLR that it's offering in navy, red, white, and black versions. While different body colors are not unusual for point-and-shoot digital cameras, offering more than a black dSLR is still rare. (In fact, just Pentax and Sony offer color options, currently.)

Unfortunately, after testing many snapshot cameras available in a single color as well as those offered in several colors, I've developed a working theory that the more colors a camera comes in, the more likely there's something wrong with the model.

It's not the case … Read more

Report: Wolfram Alpha to offer API for data feeds

Wolfram Alpha, the "computational knowledge engine" developed by Mathematica, will soon allow its dynamic search results to be queried and mashed up in a variety of new ways.

According to the Guardian, Wolfram will be opening its curated data to be queried via an application programming interface, or API. Currently, you can view results in a browser, export them as a PDF, or "play" them using a Mathematica plug-in. The ability to use the data on other sites and for other means, such as computations in spreadsheets, is appealing, if not earth-shattering.

Wolfram's launch fanfare … Read more

Sony gets up close with new lenses

Today, Sony announced two new lenses, the 30mm f2.8 DT Macro lens (SAL30M28) and the 28-75mm f2.8 SAM lens (SAL2875) along with three new dSLRs. Providing an inexpensive entry into macro photography is the new 30mm f2.8 DT Macro lens which will sell for about $200 when it becomes available in October 2009. The lens is a DT series for Sony's APS-C sensor size cameras such as the new Alpha a550 and Alpha a500 announced today, as well as the Alpha a380 and Alpha a330. It features a distance scale in both feet and meters. Reflecting … Read more