Texas Instruments has issued a DMCA notice to United TI, a group of enthusiasts. They had been cracking the keys that sign the operating system binaries in an attempt to gain access and possibly expand on the features. This seems, at least a little counter productive to us. Texas Instruments doesn’t sell the operating system separately do they? These people were buying their product and expanding on it. There is no difference in their income, except possibly a gain as people flock to the one they can modify. Maybe they are charging more for an expanded feature set that is crippled in…
Hack
TI lashes out at their biggest fans
Hack
Double the RAM on D-Link router
[Pelaca] upgraded the RAM on his D-Link DIR-320 router from 32MB to 64MB. This hack is simple enough: swap out the existing RAM chip for another one and change the bios to make use of the upgrade. The actual execution is not that simple because of the pitch of the TSOP II package; you’ll need to bring your mad soldering skills to pull this off.
This reminds us of when upgrading original Xbox RAM to 128MB was all the rage. It involved the same type of hack, adding four memory chips to unpopulated positions on the motherboard. The forums…
Business
U.S. tire duties fuel trade tension with China
BEIJING (Reuters) – A U.S. decision to impose special duties on Chinese tires could open the door to a host of trade complaints against Chinese products, creating tensions as Western nations seek Beijing’s support at a G20 meeting. China responded swiftly to U.S. President Barack Obama’s announcement Friday of safeguard duties on tire imports from China, saying on Monday it would request World Trade Organization consultations with the U.S. over the duties. It also announced its own anti-dumping investigations of chicken products from the United States, a trade worth $800 million a year, as well as U.S. automotive exports.…
Business
US SEC: Protecting long-term investors a priority
WASHINGTON: The first responsibility of the US Securities and Exchange Commision is to protect long-term investors if their interests conflict 10 most trade-friendly economiesBen Bernanke: Face of the FedMore on Financial crisisEconomies out of recession with short-term traders, the head of the SEC said in a letter revealed on Monday. “I firmly agree that the commission’s focus must be on the protection of long-term investors,” SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro said in a Sept 10 letter to Senator Ted Kaufman, Democrat of Delaware. Kaufman had asked the SEC to review what he called “questionable” developments in the structure of capital markets…
Business
Lehman Legacy Alters Global Markets
In the depths of the financial crisis a year ago, short sellers were blamed for driving some of the world’s biggest financial institutions to the brink of ruin. Regulators around the globe responded with emergency bans on selling those stocks short. Those bans have nearly all disappeared. It isn’t much harder now to bet against companies than it was before the crisis. The prohibitions didn’t stop stocks from tumbling and some say hampered trading. The legacy of the crisis may turn out to be rules that address longstanding controversies with short selling and attempt to prevent selling frenzies like…
Facebook
Spongecell Integrates Facebook Fan Box Widget Into Ads
While simple display advertisements may not be the best form of ads, more interactive versions have emerged over the years that attempt to provide a more engaging experience for the consumer. Spongecell is the latest company to try to increase the level of engagement by providing display ads which include the ability to become a fan of the advertiser’s Facebook Page.
The result is that brand advertisers can obtain a residual benefit from running these new forms of advertisements. Over the past month I’ve been discussing the best strategies for building out a company’s Facebook Page and why it’s so…
Hack
Diamond thermal paste: update
The need to conduct laboratory-style experiments runs deep in some people. [Freddyman] built an apparatus to test out several commercial and homemade thermal pastes, including the DIY diamond thermal grease we reported on last month. He setup each experiment in the middle of an air conditioned room, ran the heat sink fan for 30 minutes to equalize the temperature, then turned on the DIY heat generator that the paste and heat sink were connected to. He’s got a lot of data from tests he ran with the eight thermal conductors; air (using no paste), Arctic Silver 5, Ceramique, Dow…
Hack
USB gameboy cart
[Jose Torres] sent in his latest attempt at creating a custom Gameboy game cartridge. We’ve featured his projects before, and he’s come a lot closer over the last 2 years. He’s aiming to create an easy interface for homebrewers that doesn’t require any other special equipment. In this revision, he’s using a PIC and a memory controller to interface between an SD card and the Gameboy. The cart also has USB support for uploading files to the SD card and reprogramming the PIC. Because it’s just USB mass storage, it will work on almost any modern OS. He’s currently…
Health and Wellness
Teeth Whitening in Illinois
Teeth whitening in Illinois is important so that people can have that perfect smile. It turns people off when they see discolored teeth. It reflects how you are as a person in terms of hygiene and personal care.
With teeth whitening, you can change all that. Just imagine how people would react to you once they see you smiling. In addition, you will gain your old confidence back. No more tight-lipped smile or hiding behind your hands just so people will not see your teeth.
Teeth whitening methods basically reverse the discoloration process. Some methods are even about bleaching the…
Facebook
Facebook Search: 5 Takeaways From Facebook’s Assault On The Real-Time Web
Yesterday Facebook search went live for all Facebook users and pundits immediately began arguing over this being an attack on Google and an attack on Twitter, but what does this really mean? I’ve had a chance to Facebook’s new search for the past few months and have put the system to the test. Below are five immediate thoughts about what Facebook’s new search means for the future of the real-time web.
Facebook Search Is Finally Relevant
Facebook has been upgrading their search for sometime now but this new version is much more relevant than past iterations. When you search for…
Internet
Every Website is Someone’s Attempt at Achieving a Goal
Have you ever thought about the real stories behind all thewebsites on the Internet? There are over million sites outthere and a human being with some hope or dream driving theprocess constructed each one. Too much of our modern world ispresented to us in a barrage of superficial pictures that onlyshow a very external glimpse of the true reality beneath thesurface. Wouldn’t you like to know about the people who livebehind this wall of technology? Humanity is the force behind allthe websites, and for that matter, all technology that we usewithout a second thought everyday. Behind every advance intechnology is…
Facebook
Sub-Communities Are The Future Of Large Media Companies
When I read yesterday that the Wall Street Journal is creating a new “LinkedIn Killer” yesterday, I immediately thought about how likely it is that the company botches things up. When was the last time that you’ve visited a content site and were prompted to enter your contact information in order to “connect with the community” and then proceeded to fill out all your information? In theory it makes a lot of sense but no media company that I know of has gotten it right yet.
The Value In Segmenting Your Reader Base
Fred Wilson recently said to monetize the…
