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Jul
8th
Tue
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Family First Mortgage, a lender in Palm Coast, Fla., now out of business, laid people off by phone recording. The call began, “Thank you for calling Family First Mortgage Corp. If you have been directed to this voicemail box, your employment with Family First Mortgage Corp. has been officially terminated, effective immediately.
— Loan Pains Turned Site Into a Hit - NYTimes.com
Jul
4th
Fri
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In gadget-head circles, one of this summer’s most buzzworthy new products is the Pulse pen: a ballpoint that simultaneously records both your handwriting and the sound of the words you are transcribing. (via State of the Art - Digital Pens to Write on Any Paper - NYTimes.com )

In gadget-head circles, one of this summer’s most buzzworthy new products is the Pulse pen: a ballpoint that simultaneously records both your handwriting and the sound of the words you are transcribing. (via State of the Art - Digital Pens to Write on Any Paper - NYTimes.com

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Jul
3rd
Thu
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Painfully visible are the inherent design deficiencies of a foundation that was never intended to support such weight. Windows seems to move an inch for every time that Mac OS X or Linux laps it. The best solution to the multiple woes of Windows is starting over. Completely. Now. (via Digital Domain - Why Windows Software Could Use a Rush of Fresh Air - NYTimes.com )

Painfully visible are the inherent design deficiencies of a foundation that was never intended to support such weight. Windows seems to move an inch for every time that Mac OS X or Linux laps it. The best solution to the multiple woes of Windows is starting over. Completely. Now. (via Digital Domain - Why Windows Software Could Use a Rush of Fresh Air - NYTimes.com

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Jul
1st
Tue
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It’s a 2-gigabyte memory card ($100), compatible with most digital cameras, with a twist: it has Wi-Fi networking built in. Each time you bring your camera home to your wireless network, it transmits your photos back to the computer, automatically and wirelessly. It can also upload them to Flickr, Picasa or another online photo-gallery site, automatically and wirelessly. (via State of the Art - Don’t Know Where You Are? Your Camera Can Tell You - NYTimes.com )

It’s a 2-gigabyte memory card ($100), compatible with most digital cameras, with a twist: it has Wi-Fi networking built in. Each time you bring your camera home to your wireless network, it transmits your photos back to the computer, automatically and wirelessly. It can also upload them to Flickr, Picasa or another online photo-gallery site, automatically and wirelessly. (via State of the Art - Don’t Know Where You Are? Your Camera Can Tell You - NYTimes.com

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Jun
26th
Thu
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For centuries, in the closed-off and conservative society of rural northern Albania, swapping genders was considered a practical solution for a family with a shortage of men. Her father was killed in a blood feud, and there was no male heir. By custom, Ms. Keqi, now 78, took a vow of lifetime virginity. She lived as a man, the new patriarch, with all the swagger and trappings of male authority — including the obligation to avenge her father’s death. (via Albanian Custom Fades - Woman as Family Man - NYTimes.com )

For centuries, in the closed-off and conservative society of rural northern Albania, swapping genders was considered a practical solution for a family with a shortage of men. Her father was killed in a blood feud, and there was no male heir. By custom, Ms. Keqi, now 78, took a vow of lifetime virginity. She lived as a man, the new patriarch, with all the swagger and trappings of male authority — including the obligation to avenge her father’s death. (via Albanian Custom Fades - Woman as Family Man - NYTimes.com

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Jun
25th
Wed
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A new wingless, saucer-shaped aircraft is scheduled to take to the skies. Just don’t call it a UFO. Subrata Roy, a scientist at the University of Florida, calls his aircraft a “wingless electromagnetic air vehicle,” or WEAV, and if it flies he says it could usher in a new age of aircraft design. (via Discovery News : Discovery Channel : Flying Saucer Craft Set to Fly )

A new wingless, saucer-shaped aircraft is scheduled to take to the skies. Just don’t call it a UFO. Subrata Roy, a scientist at the University of Florida, calls his aircraft a “wingless electromagnetic air vehicle,” or WEAV, and if it flies he says it could usher in a new age of aircraft design. (via Discovery News : Discovery Channel : Flying Saucer Craft Set to Fly

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Jun
24th
Tue
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It’s easy to be cynical about this new class of celebrity. The lines between empowerment and self-promotion, between sharing and oversharing, between community and cliques, can be blurry. You can judge for yourself whether the following microcelebs represent naked ambition, talent justly discovered, or genius marketing. The point is that renown is no longer the exclusive province of a select few. Nano-celebrity is there for the taking, if you really want it. (via The Microfame Game and the New Rules of Internet Celebrity — New York Magazine )

It’s easy to be cynical about this new class of celebrity. The lines between empowerment and self-promotion, between sharing and oversharing, between community and cliques, can be blurry. You can judge for yourself whether the following microcelebs represent naked ambition, talent justly discovered, or genius marketing. The point is that renown is no longer the exclusive province of a select few. Nano-celebrity is there for the taking, if you really want it. (via The Microfame Game and the New Rules of Internet Celebrity — New York Magazine

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Chinese scientists claim some space fruit and veg are better than the original. The Vitamin C content in some vegetables is nearly three times higher and there is a marked increase in trace elements such as zinc. Yields of space rice are also 25 per cent higher. Research also shows that certain space breeds use proportionately less water than their more traditional predecessors so they could be perfect for arid areas.
To date China has bred more than 50 new species of plants and has plans to produce more than 200 new species.
— MINA Breaking News - China grows ‘Super Vegetables’ with Seeds from Outer Space
Jun
23rd
Mon
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Nokia is also positioning itself as a promoter of social networking, with photo and video sharing and games for users of its cellphones. That is because Nokia predicts that in the next five years, mobile phone users will create 25 percent of the entertainment watched on so-called smartphones, like the iPhone and BlackBerries. (via An Unlikely Promoter Drives Nokia’s Push in Hollywood - Biography - NYTimes.com )

Nokia is also positioning itself as a promoter of social networking, with photo and video sharing and games for users of its cellphones. That is because Nokia predicts that in the next five years, mobile phone users will create 25 percent of the entertainment watched on so-called smartphones, like the iPhone and BlackBerries. (via An Unlikely Promoter Drives Nokia’s Push in Hollywood - Biography - NYTimes.com

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Jun
18th
Wed
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On Wednesday, LinkedIn will announce that it has raised $53 million in capital, primarily from Bain Capital Ventures, a Boston-based private equity firm. The new financing round values the company at $1 billion. That heady valuation is more than the $580 million that the News Corporation paid for MySpace in 2005, but less than the $15 billion value assigned to Facebook last year when Microsoft bought a minority stake. (via At Social Site, Only the Businesslike Need Apply - NYTimes.com )

On Wednesday, LinkedIn will announce that it has raised $53 million in capital, primarily from Bain Capital Ventures, a Boston-based private equity firm. The new financing round values the company at $1 billion. That heady valuation is more than the $580 million that the News Corporation paid for MySpace in 2005, but less than the $15 billion value assigned to Facebook last year when Microsoft bought a minority stake. (via At Social Site, Only the Businesslike Need Apply - NYTimes.com

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