Blog, Interrupted…no typing for a few days.

Maybe next year, you can watch me tumble down the mountain.

Broken man

(Credit: Larry Augustin)
I managed to fracture some bone in my hand and sprain my right thumb while performing a 360 backside-air at the Open Source Goat Rodeo.

The building will be powered by ground-source heat pumps from 72 geothermal wells, considered the most efficient way to heat and cool buildings.

Three of the people who spoke at Tuesday's event: June Grant, architect at AECOM Design, left; Simon P. "Pete" Worden, NASA Ames Center director, center; and Lt. Governor John Garamendi, right.

There will be solar hot water collectors and a network of sensors to react to changing conditions, such as sunlight, temperature, wind, and energy usage. Data on the building’s mechanical systems can be monitored via a Web-based console.

(Credit:
James Martin/CNET)

The NASA Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., hosted a groundbreaking ceremony for Sustainability Base, a research center that will be a net zero energy building.

After decades of developing technology to explore space, NASA is bringing its expertise in self-sustaining systems back to Earth.

NASA expects that the “high-performance building” will cut water usage by 90 percent compared to an equivalent-size building. NASA also hopes to significantly reduce maintenance costs. The structure itself will be built on top of steel frames and use natural daylighting extensively.

The $20.6 million building is expected to be completed by the end of 2011. NASA expects to get the Platinum level LEED certification from the U.S. Green Building Council, the highest level.

Updated at 4:00 a.m. PT to clarify roles of architecture firms.

NASA had contracted the architecture firms of famed “cradle to cradle” William McDonough and Swinerton Builders was hired to complete construction on the project.

Project managers, architects, NASA officials, and Lt. Governor John Garamendi break ground Tuesday on Sustainability Base, a new building at NASA Ames Research Center, which will showcase sustainable technologies.

(Credit:
James Martin/CNET)

A dedication plaque, written on a solar panel, at the site of Tuesday's Sustainability Base groundbreaking.

The project aims to be a proof-of-concept for sustainable design and a number of green technologies developed at NASA.

So, what was the final verdict?

Still, some interesting details were revealed. Mossberg didn’t seem very happy about the battery life. “In my tests, the iPhone 3G’s battery was drained much more quickly in a typical day of use than the battery on the original iPhone, due to the higher power demands of 3G networks,” he wrote. “In daily use, I found the battery indicator on the new 3G model slipping below 20% by early afternoon or midafternoon on some days, and it entirely ran out of juice on one day.”

Baig: “While not everything on my wish list made it onto the new device, Apple has raised the bar with iPhone 3G. To which I offer an enthusiastic thumbs up.”

Pogue didn’t address battery life, but Baig thought the iPhone 3G consumed roughly the same amount of juice as its predecessor. “I started receiving low battery warnings toward the end of a busy work day; I found myself charging the device overnight, the same as with the older iPhone.”

One big addition to the iPhone 3G was GPS, but according to Pogue, Apple has said the antenna is too small to permit useful things like turn-by-turn navigation. Baig, however, didn’t think it was that bad: “I was pretty impressed by the accuracy on the new device as I drove along in my
car, searched for nearby pizza places, and requested directions,” he wrote.

As far as nits go, that was about it. The outstanding issues remain: the touchscreen keyboard doesn’t work for everybody, the cost of operating an iPhone has risen despite the drop in the starting price, and it doesn’t have things like voice-dialing or MMS.

On the plus side, all three reviewers thought Apple dramatically improved the audio quality of the iPhone 3G, both in terms of the built-in
iPod and the phone. All were enthused about the new applications that would be coming to the phone; Pogue wrote, “Above all, the iPhone is about to become a dazzling hand-held game machine.” And, of course, downloading Web pages over a 3G network is much faster than over an EDGE network, which you probably already knew.

Mossberg: “If you’ve been waiting to buy an iPhone until it dropped in price, or ran on faster cell networks, you might want to take the plunge, if you can live with the higher service costs and the weaker battery life. The same goes for those with existing iPhones who love the device but crave faster cellular data speeds. But if you already own an iPhone, and can usually use Wi-Fi for data, you probably should hold off and get the free software upgrade before deciding whether it’s worth getting the new hardware.”

(Credit:
Apple)

Walt Mossberg of All Things Digital, David Pogue of The New York Times, and Edward Baig of USA Today were the chosen few selected to review the
iPhone 3G ahead of its launch on Friday. There wasn’t nearly as much suspense about the reviews this year, since we already knew the iPhone 3G was–with the exception of the faster networks, GPS, and third-party applications–essentially the same phone.

The iPhone 3G, which goes on sale to the public Friday, gets generally positive marks from three prominent gadget reviewers.

Pogue: “So the iPhone 3G is a nice upgrade. It more than keeps pace with advancing technology, and new buyers will generally be delighted. But it’s not so much better that it turns all those original iPhones into has-beens. Indeed, the really big deal is the iPhone 2.0 software and the App Store, neither of which requires buying a new iPhone. That twist may come as a refreshing surprise to planned-obsolescence conspiracy theorists — and everyone who stood in line last year.”

CNET’s Kent German will have his own review up this Friday, when the iPhone 3G is formally released.

The problem caused Gmail to reject some legitimate PayPal service e-mails, Google confirmed in a statement Friday. The problem, reported Tuesday, prevented people from using Gmail to receive confirmation e-mails, set up new accounts, or reset passwords for eBay’s online payment system.

A problem this week hampered some Gmail users trying to use their PayPal accounts.

(Credit:
IGN)

• Your contract is finally up. Do you get an iPhone or wait until Palm finally releases the Pre? Bonnie Cha sizes up the two handsets side by side.

• David Carnoy makes a valid argument about why the PS3 needs Netflix streaming pronto.

• If an
Xbox controller and a
Wii-mote mated, the offspring would probably look like this.

Take a break from contemplating whether you’re “cool enough” to own a
Mac and check out some of the more newsworthy gadget stories that graced Crave this week.

Speaking of smartphones, CTIA starts in Vegas on Wednesday and there will be loads of mobile coverage right here at Crave. Make sure to come back then!

• The ultimate DIY arcade goes horribly, horribly wrong.

Integration with Microsoft’s dominant Exchange is a major requirement for many companies. Yahoo got it working by using existing Microsoft Exchange APIs (application programming interfaces), said John Robb, Zimbra’s vice president of product marketing. “We are using WebDAV, standard Exchange settings, and a Zimbra module that runs alongside the Exchange server,” he said in a statement.

The University of Pennsylvania is one organization using Zimbra’s Exchange connection software, according to Sumatra Development, a company that specializes in e-mail migration.

Zimbra Collaboration Suite, an open-source software package, now has an “open extension framework,” and the first extension works with Exchange 2003, Yahoo said Tuesday. The company is leaving it to others to develop extensions for other software, such as IBM’s Lotus or Novell’s GroupWise.

Subscribers still worth money
Given what AOL has built up over the years–still an impressive property if not a high-growth company like Google–it would be foolish to lose its link with people as they ditch their dial-up.

The Time Warner division told subscribers last week that beginning July 27, it would raise its monthly dial-up rate from $9.99 to $11.99 per month. Subscribers who specifically sign up for a plan with limited technical support can keep the $9.99 rate, though, but they won’t get phone-based help unless dealing with an Internet connection issue.

Time Warner CEO JEff Bewkes

Those subscribers already have a potentially strong AOL affiliation through their own e-mail addresses and instant-messenger nicknames, not to mention a social network of sorts through e-mail address book and IM buddy lists.

The move obviously could hasten the exodus of subscribers from AOL. But critics may be wise to take a deep breath before deriding AOL for a boneheaded membership disincentive for people who have abundant other options.

Losing subscribers and their $120 a year is an obvious downside for AOL. But a more subtle problem is that losing subscribers could hurt the online business that’s AOL’s future. That’s because AOL subscribers happen to own a lot of the eyeballs visiting AOL’s Web properties and watching AOL-delivered advertisements.

“This really brings into question, for the price-sensitive consumers still on dial-up, ‘Maybe we should just upgrade to broadband,’” Cohen said. “In some markets you can get DSL for cheaper than $12 a month.”

So in short, AOL is packaging up the dial-up business for sale or some other significant change, and fine-tuning the subscription plans is part of an effort to make the package look as tempting as possible to a would-be buyer.

Bye-bye subscribers
AOL lost 647,000 subscribers in the first quarter of 2008, dropping to a still impressive 8.7 million in the United States, but clearly the company hopes not to lose more.

“AOL’s Advertising revenues associated with the AOL Network, in large part, are generated from the activity of current and former AOL subscribers,” AOL parent company Time Warner said in a regulatory filing regarding AOL’s not-so-hot first-quarter results. “Therefore, the decline in subscribers also could have an adverse impact on AOL’s Advertising revenues generated on the AOL Network to the extent that subscribers canceling their subscriptions do not maintain their relationship with and usage of the AOL Network.”

The change could wring more revenue from low-value subscribers, lower AOL’s costs for those who stay at the $10 rate, and shuck the least active, least valuable AOL members. Overall, the rate change could play a small role helping make AOL’s Internet access business look more appealing to would-be buyers as Time Warner seeks to “enhance…strategic flexibility.”

“This plan is still a great value, saving you at least $3 to $10 per month over comparable plans from other major Internet service providers,” the company said in the e-mailed notice, which touts features such as online storage, parental controls, and antivirus software. And AOL spokeswoman Anne Bentley pointed out limitations on various rival plans such as technical support fees and low prices that are introductory only or that are contingent on signing up for a full year.

“AOL’s strategy is to continue to transition from a business that has relied heavily on subscription revenues from dial-up subscribers to one that attracts and engages more Internet users and takes advantage of the recent as well as anticipated growth in online advertising,” Time Warner said in the filing.

But still, the move could indeed drive some subscribers away, either to broadband Internet service or to dial-up competitors such as NetZero, Earthlink’s budget PeoplePC subsidiary, and Microsoft’s MSN Dial-up, said Forrester analyst Sally Cohen.

AOL is a significant business for Time Warner, but it’s shrinking. In the first quarter of 2008, AOL generated $1.13 billion in revenue–10 percent of Time Warner’s total but down 23 percent from $1.46 billion in the year-earlier quarter. It also generated $284 million in operating income in the first quarter, a 74 percent drop from $1.08 billion the year earlier.

So AOL would be wise to work hard to keep ex-subscribers part of the AOL network–not just with marketing but with education to help people figure out how to ditch AOL’s all-in-one software for dialing up, checking e-mail, browsing the Web, and using AIM. It will take time for people to find and install the standalone version of AIM, to figure out how to use AOL’s Web-based e-mail, and to download and print that picture of the grandchild.

If AOL handles the transition well, though, it could keep those AOL members and the revenue they generate even as dial-up fades into technology history.

(Credit:
Time Warner)

AOL’s plans
Protecting the dial-up business at all costs clearly isn’t a great long-term strategy. More than half of U.S. homes with Internet access now use broadband, Cohen said, and clearly it’s the wave of the future, and AOL knows it.

To help make the move, AOL is splitting in two, the access business such as dial-up and the audience business that includes the Web sites and advertising. All necessary decisions to split the two parts’ operations and finances should be done by now.

AOL is raising the subscription fee by 20 percent for its low-cost dial-up service plan, a move that illuminates an awkward phase of its transition from an Internet service provider to an online media and advertising company.

Trips to the video rental store may be a thing of the past sooner than thought.

Assuming the report is spot-on, and Blockbuster attempts to make this transition to digital content, it’s time to wonder how much longer physical media will be a factor for mainstream movie renters.

Netflix and Blockbuster are already offering DVD rental service by mail. Amazon.com, Microsoft’s
Xbox Live, and Netflix deliver movies directly to the PC. TiVo, Vudu, and Apple TV–not to mention cable and satellite companies–are doing the same for TV sets. Local independent stores notwithstanding, the only major brick-and-mortar options left for renting discs are Hollywood Video/Movie Gallery, which is close to bankruptcy, and Blockbuster.

The service would take advantage of video-on-demand technology from Movielink (which Blockbuster bought last year) that allows movie downloads from Universal Studios, Paramount, Sony Pictures, MGM, and Warner Bros.

A Blockbuster spokeswoman said it is “talking to numerous companies” about ways it can provide “access to media content across multiple channels–from our stores, by mail, through kiosks, through downloading, through portable content-enabled devices–so it’s not surprising that there are rumors out there.”

(Credit:
Blockbuster)

But The Hollywood Reporter says Blockbuster may be giving customers more reasons not to visit its stores. The rental chain is said to be making a set-top box that will allow video content to be streamed directly to a television. The announcement should come sometime later this month, according to THR

No matter the details of the how the device would work, this represents a new direction for Blockbuster and the video rental market. Money spent on DVD ownership and rentals has been decreasing steadily for the past four years, according to the Digital Entertainment Group, which tracks sales of disc media. And though there’s no indication Blockbuster would eliminate its brick-and-mortar stores, a streaming video service would clearly cannibalize some of that business.

The company has also adapted its technology to create a mobile version of Flash that is used on smartphones. The mobile version lets people watch Flash-enabled video on the go. Now Adobe is turning its attention to the living room and big screen HD TVs. This means that people could have full access to the entire YouTube library of video on their TVs instead of a subset that has been specially encoded for TV viewing.

Developers will also be able to create “widgets” for TVs to help bring Web content onto the TV screen. Widgets are specially designed Web applications that can easily be added to consumer electronics devices.

“Yahoo supports Flash on desktops and our hope is that they will support Flash in TVs as well,” he said. “We see Flash as being valuable in a number of new frame works.”

Murarka wouldn’t say which consumer electronics makers plan to use the new version of Flash, but the technology is available to device makers and application developers now. And Flash-enabled TVs and set-tops should be out later this year.

The company will on Monday announce its latest version of its Flash multimedia platform that will essentially put its technology in Internet connected TVs, set-top boxes, Blu-ray players, and other digital home devices. The main purpose of the TV and consumer electronics optimized Flash is to allow viewers to see high-definition video, interactive applications and new user interfaces right on their TVs.

“There are some products and services that offer a subset of online video for TVs,” said Anup Murarka, director of technology strategy and partner development for Adobe’s Flash Platform Business Unit. “But they don’t provide all the content. For example, a lot of devices play back YouTube content. But they can’t offer all the videos on YouTube.”

Yahoo is also offering widget technology for TVs, which it co-developed with Intel. The Yahoo Widget Channel provides access to Flickr, Yahoo News, Yahoo Weather and Yahoo Finance, USA Today, YouTube, eBay and Showtime Networks, among others. Motorola, Samsung, and Toshiba are all planning to add Yahoo Widgets on some of their new TVs.

From the PC to the TV, Adobe Systems wants to bring rich Web animation and video into consumers’ living rooms.

(Credit:
Adobe)

A mock-up of what Adobe Flash for TVs would look like.

Until now, Adobe’s Flash Player has mainly been used on computers to make animation and video from Web sites like YouTube available in a Web browser. And the company has been very successful in this market. About 80 percent of online videos worldwide are viewed using Adobe Flash technology, according to comScore.

Murarka said that Yahoo is not really competing with Adobe. He pointed out that both Adobe and Yahoo are working with Intel, and he said the Flash technology was actually complimentary to what Yahoo is doing with its Widget Channel.

One utterly moronic trend that is deservedly near death are the venture funds specifically for Facebook applications. The company has the ability to turn on/off any features it wants and can replicate any external application that it sees as successful. Being totally dependent on that was risky from day one.

From the Valleywag article:

Open APIs or not, Facebook is not the internet. It’s a site that wants to monetize it’s users. Anyone who thought differently should certainly be singing a different tune.