New 'Experiments' Gmail feature discovered in Android 4.0.3

The Android 4.0.3 update for the Asus Transformer Prime brought with it some improvements to the Google Apps. However small any changes may be, nestled among them the Gmail application has received an interesting new feature menu known as "Experiments."

Experiments at the moment consists of a couple of new features which are probably not quite ready for the prime-time. 

The first of these, enables full text search. Pretty straight forward this one, but still pretty useful. It allows you to index an entire message to search for keywords. 

The second may not be immediately obvious as to its function. The contact chip is bascially the name entered into the To, Cc, and Bcc fields when composing a new message. Enabling this function allows you to long press on one of these contact chips, and simply drag and drop to another box. 

At the moment, the updated Gmail app is rolling out with Android 4.0.3. But, enter the Android community, as the apk has been extracted from the Prime and is working just fine on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. It has been tried on Honeycomb, but ran into some nasty force close issues meaning this is purely for Ice Cream Sandwich guys. 

If you're keen to try it out for yourselves, hit the source link where you'll find a handy download.

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Boycott SOPA: An Android app that terrifies publishers and politicians

Armchair activists now have a tool that can transport their SOPA protestations into the real world: Boycott SOPA, an Android app that scans barcodes and tells you whether an object’s manufacturer/publisher is a supporter of the much maligned Stop Online Piracy Act.
If you’ve ever scanned a barcode on your Android phone to look up a book or CD on Amazon, Boycott SOPA works in exactly the same way: First you have to install the ZXing Barcode Scanner app, but then you simply go around pointing your phone’s camera at product barcodes. Boycott SOPA gives you a big red cross if the product is distributed by a SOPA supporter, or a green tick if it’s “clean.” Much to my chagrin, Coca-Cola supports SOPA — but Smirnoff, on the other hand, does not. If you ever needed a sign from Above that you ought to drink more, there it is.
Scanning food isn’t really where Boycott SOPA is at, though: Really, it’s all about scanning books, CDs, movies, and games — products that are protected by massively militant groups like the MPAA, RIAA, and BSA who are spending millions on buying off Representatives to shoehorn SOPA through Congress. If you scan a random selection of media in your DVD rack or bookcase, you’ll be unsurprised to see that almost every object is produced by a company that supports SOPA. It’s worth noting that the app isn’t perfect, though: It relies on a user-curated list of SOPA supporters — a list that isn’t complete nor publicly visible. The app developer claims that the list will be regularly updated.
Technicalities aside, though, the ultimate goal of Boycott SOPA is to change your shopping habits. The idea is that you should scan everything that you buy at the supermarket, and refuse to put any SOPA-backed products into your basket. It’s a very grandiose idea, and in a day and age where shoppers regularly eschew a selection of products on principle (“damn baby-killing multinationals!”), or buy entirely local produce, Boycott SOPA fits right in.
Inadvertently, though, the developers of Boycott SOPA have given us a tantalizing hint of how technology empowers consumers. Imagine for a second if you chopped “SOPA” from the name of the app and simply called it “Boycott.” Imagine if there was an Android app that let you boycott whatever you wanted. If you had a personal beef with Coca-Cola — which has very long tendrils indeed — you could program the app to pick up anything produced by Coca-Cola and its manifold subsidiaries. Likewise, if you want to stick it to publishers or artists that refuse to make their songs available on Spotify, you could tell Boycott to block them.
You could even take it one step further and make Boycott the one-stop-shop for all of your political needs. Imagine if you could scan a cereal box and find out that the company’s CEO likes to hunt rhinos, ride elephants, and eat shark fin soup — at the same time. Imagine if you could scan a video game box and immediately see all of the active legislation, the Representative sponsors and supporters, and how much money they’ve received from industry lobbying. You could even go as far as equipping the app with facial recognition, so that you can point your phone at a Senator’s face on the TV and quickly find out whether what he’s saying actually jibes with his real world behavior and voting record. This isn’t a futuristic concept; we could do this right now with the tech we have.

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CES 2012 proves it’s never safe to buy a new Android device

It’s no secret that the rate of improvement in mobile technology is staggering when compared to almost any other industry. Faster components, new software, and preferential treatment for some device updates all conspire to make your new device feel old as soon as you buy it. Some Android phone-buyers are so stymied by this never-ending cycle that they freeze, and wait for the right time to buy. In a market where a minor specification bump is becoming a new SKU altogether, there may not be such a time.
Before the official start of CES, both Verizon and AT&T announced some new devices that you will find very familiar. The Droid Razr Maxx is the terribly named successor to the still-new Droid Razr. The Maxx has a much larger non-removable battery rated a 3300mAh, and double the storage at 32GB. Make no mistake, this is a new phone that will be taking the Razr’s place in the lineup. That’s incredibly irritating for people that shelled out $300 for a Razr back in November or December.
The Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket HD is likewise the successor to the Galaxy S II Skyrocket, which was itself a mildly improved version of the first Galaxy S II on AT&T. The Skyrocket HD, as its name suggests, has a 720p HD Super AMOLED screen and LTE. The first Skyrocket added LTE to the mix. This too is a bummer for users that got a standard Galaxy S II or Skyrocket just a few months ago.
This is a trend we see more and more — minor spec bumps are splitting off a phone’s user base to multiple models. Verizon has been doing it with world-band and non-world compatible Droids. T-Mobile also replaced the HTC Sensation mere months after its debut with the almost-identical HTC Amaze 4G, which added a much-improved camera. There is certainly a psychological issue here in that no one wants to feel like they made the wrong choice, but matters are exacerbated by the way the US mobile industry works.
Almost all phones are bought on two-year contracts. Once you’re in, the carrier holds a multi-hundred dollar early termination fee (ETF) over your head to keep you docile. The carrier then moves on to the next customer, and may tempt them with a slightly better version of the phone you just bought. After a few iterations in as many months, your device starts to look outdated fast. It’s not like you can do anything, though; you’re under contract.
The increasing segmentation also affects users in a more roundabout way. When an OEM makes tiny iterative changes, but still breaks the devices into different SKUs, that fragments its internal development efforts. A different radio, new screen technology, tweaked chipset, or even a storage increase can mean a different software update needs to be built when and if the time comes. When most of these Android devices are shipping with Android 2.3 Gingerbread, that could spell trouble.
It is not uncommon for phones with very similar hardware to get updates at different times. It’s happened with phones in the Droid line, as well as the Galaxy S devices. HTC is well aware of the problems it created for itself as it tweaked a small number of hardware bases into nearly two-dozen phones in 2011. It has resolved to focus on a smaller number of higher-quality experiences in 2012. Even with HTC reevaluating, other OEMs seem dead-set on innovation via spec bumps. This means that the situation will remain a mess, and users will continue to feel frustrated that better versions of their own phones are coming out.
There is probably no perfect time to buy a phone, so there’s frankly no use in being paralyzed, constantly waiting for the right time to pounce. Your best bet is to watch for a good deal on a fairly new device around the holiday season. Take solace in the fact that most spec bumps are going to be minor, and don’t be surprised when it happens. Hopefully it’s a small difference, but if not, it’s time to grit your teeth and bear it as you wait out that contract.

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SE Android released: Build your own NSA-approved Android device today

On January 6, the US National Security Agency (NSA) released the first public release of the Security Enhanced (SE) Android Project, a program designed to find and plug security holes and risks in the Android flavor of Linux. SE Android is based on the NSA’s SELinux, first released in 2000.
SELinux started as a string of security patches to the Linux kernel along with a few utilities to help with access control and damage confinement. One of the key differences between the base Linux kernel and SELinux is the switch to Mandatory Access Control (MAC), a change from the Discretionary Access Control (DAC), which allows users to elevate their permissions to run certain commands as if they were the root user of the system. MAC can be configured system-wide and only allows users minimum access required to do their jobs. This level of security keeps programs and daemons from causing more harm than they would normally be able to if they become compromised. Individual applications can also be “sandboxed,” which means they are kept away from other applications running, isolating them in case one becomes compromised.
As of the 2.6.0-test3 kernel, SELinux was compiled into the base Linux kernel, and no longer requires separate patches or updates. This merging occurred in August of 2003, and SELinux has also seen contributions from Network Associates, Secure Computing Corporation, Trusted Computer Solutions and Tresys.
SE Android was first publicly described at Linux Security Summit 2011. In essence, the NSA is attempting to bring the same access control and damage mitigation measures found in SELinux to the Android Open Source Project. In the Security Summit presentation, a number of known security vulnerabilities were demonstrated and tested against a version of Android running SE Android controls. All exploits failed unless specifically tailored to the particular system, and even in those cases the exploit’s effectiveness was much reduced.
Going forward, the SE Android Project team is looking to incorporate SE Android into Application Layer Security, so it is able to thwart unauthorized access and compromised programs at the application layer instead of only battling at the kernel level.
There’s a lot to do to get SE Android built into the current Android tree, but it certainly seems like the right way to go. With the explosion of applications in the Android market, and some question of why certain applications need access to user information such as the user’s contact list or the ability to access the internet or telephone application when it’s not a facet of the application itself, SE Android controls would be a welcome addition to security-minded Android users. Government entities may find a security-hardened mobile phone operating system enticing to use, as well.
The need for security on the internet and in the mobile space has never been more important. SE Android is looking to bridge the current gap between Android and a secure experience for always-connected communication devices. SE Android won’t make malware a thing of the past on its own, but it will certainly be a welcome edition in the fight against malicious hackers.

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$999 will get you a hexacopter drone designed for aerial photography

$999 will get you a hexacopter drone designed for aerial photography

• By Ray Walters on January 23, 2012 at 5:03 pm
• 1 Comment

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For those of you who are aspiring aerial photographers, there is a new Kickstarter project looking to help you get the equipment you need to send your camera rig soaring into the air. Called the “eye3″, the project hopes to create an affordable hexacopter unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that can be used without any special training. UAV enthusiast Kellie Sigler and her husband are looking to cut out the middleman between the photographer and their equipment by creating a UAV package that uses open source software combined with Google Maps.
The first goal for the eye3 project the Siglers focused on was the need to make the vehicle lightweight, but powerful enough to be able to support a payload consisting of a professional-level DSLR camera and lens, which can get in the range of 5 to 10 pounds. To meet this requirement, the couple designed the six arm structure of the eye3 out of carbon and glass fibers, both of which offer strength without having to add weight to the frame. For the lifting power, each arm was outfitted with a 350W motor capable of up to four pounds of vertical thrust. With a combined capability of 24 pounds of thrust, the hexacopter has more than enough muscle left over after taking into consideration its own four pound weight.
Along with the vertical lifting power, having six motors gives you some redundancy. The Siglers claim that two of the rotors could fail and the eye3 could still remain in the air, allowing to land the UAV safely and make repairs. Because the kit is modular in nature, replacing parts is less expensive and it is possible to replace just what is fault as opposed to the whole assembly.

The eye3 also makes use of some excellent open source software called APM Planner that is built on the APM2 platform. APM Planner is an autopilot software that allows you to use Google Maps to plot out the path of the UAV, allowing you to dictate the speed and waypoint’s around an area. The software takes care of the takeoff, flight path, and landing, allowing you to focus on the photo’s you are trying to get. This along with the auto-stabilization features that have been built in make UAV flight incredibly simple.
The eye3 is powered by three CPUs, with a board that has additional I/O ports to add your own customizations. One of these will be needed for a live feed of what the camera is seeing, so you can make sure you are framing your shots correctly.
Having some experience with UAV photography, I can tell you that if you can afford to back this project and need to get a UAV kit, go run for your credit card or check book. At $999 for a basic kit and $2,500 for an full kit (including the transmitter and receiver) that will allow you to put your camera in the air, the eye3 is much cheaper than what we were flying five years ago. We estimated between the camera support, remote camera control, ground station, and specialized parts we had about $5,000 in the rig we were working with. My team would have killed for an eye3 back then.

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CES 2012: From 8K to Wormholes and back again

From gadgets to gimmicks, the Consumer Electronics Show is the coming out party for technology. If it has a battery or a power cord it was probably on display this week in Las Vegas this week. ExtremeTech has covered some of the blockbuster products launched at the show separately, like the Nikon D4 and Fujifilm X-Pro1, but there are plenty of other exciting devices worth learning about.
Here are a few of the most interesting things we spotted this week…

This Zalman robot vacuum cleaner is the first to be drivable with a game-like steering wheel. It should make cleaning your room fun. It’s a pricey $600 in Europe, with US pricing to be announced later this year.

Craftsman’s new system allows you to close your garage door from anywhere. Who buys this stuff?

CloudFTP is a tiny wireless device which allows any USB peripheral to be used wirelessly with any computer or tablet. Here it is being used to gateway a Flash drive onto a tablet.

Corning’s new Gorilla Glass 2 is just as strong as the original, but 20% thinner, lighter, and with better optical qualities as a result. This audience member had a hard time breaking it — the stylus broke first.

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5 ways the new Android design guidelines will make apps better

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One of the primary complaints about Google’s Android operating system has always been about the sometimes erratic and unattractive application design. Unlike Apple, which strongly prescribes the look and feel of apps on its platform, Google has been silent on the subject of interface design — until now. Last week, Google unveiled its new Android Design site. This is a resource for developers and designers to understand the minutia of Android’s new look and feel under version 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS).
If developers begin taking advantage of this resource, Android apps will change dramatically. Here are the five ways that Android Design is going to make your app experience better.

Holo theme

Google announced a few weeks ago that all Android 4.0 and higher devices would need to include the stock Holo theme. OEMs that want to skin Android can still do so, but to be certified and gain access to Google’s apps, the visual assets from ICS need to be included. This was a move to make things easier for developers, who can call up the stock Holo theme for use in their apps.
The Android Design site reinforces this policy with a section on choosing a theme. There are three types of Holo interfaces for developers to pick. Holo Light is the white/gray interface used in Gmail. Holo Dark is the back/blue look used in the Honeycomb and ICS settings menu. There is also a version of Holo Light with a dark action bar, where the menu options live.
Google is encouraging developers to choose the interface that suits their apps best, and build around it. This is going to be worlds better from the perspective of developers that have thus far had to deal with the layout foibles of half a dozen OEM skins. Your apps will look better not only because they will use Google’s sharp new themes, but because developers will be able to spend less time on troubleshooting layouts, and more on actual design work.

Better notifications and dialogs

Android’s notification system has always been phenomenal, and developers have really embraced it. Apps can spawn dialogs in the form of modal popups, and the more common status bar notification. A point Google is trying to make in the new design docs is that maybe developers like notifications a little too much.
Apps often produce notifications for every minuscule action. Google now says that an app should only produce a notification for things that require user intervention. For example, if the relevant information is already displayed on the screen, a notification is not needed. Similarly, developers should not create notifications to let you know that everything is working correctly.
Google has also offered some notes on how notifications should be worded. With a system like Android, rife with complicated options and settings, it can be easy to get overly-technical. One of the principals of the new Android design is to present users with easy to understand notifications and popups. If an app force closes, the dialog should not list a package name and other technical information. Rather, notifications and dialogs should contain just what you need to know.

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Apple’s new iBooks textbooks package is going to change publishing as we know it

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Steve Jobs’ vision of the future has once again fomented revolution in the media industry, this time in the form of a new education-oriented iBooks package that Apple announced today at an event in New York City. Looking to take the textbook industry head-on, Cupertino has created a set of apps that will lead to the extinction of the physical textbook and replace it with electronic media while at the same time increasing the market penetration of its iPad device. Apple’s goal is to get schools to purchase an iPad to give to every student, a goal that after the announcement today could very well become a reality. Rather impressively, Apple also announced today that it has secured partnerships with Pearson, McGraw Hill, and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, three publishers that make up 90% of textbook sales in the US — and get this: e-textbooks will cost just $15.
Apple has taken a three-pronged approach to its effort to make a strong move back to being the leader in desktop publishing. First, iBooks has received a major update to become iBooks 2. Included in the book store is a new textbook section that allows students to purchase and download the titles they need for class. While this is nothing new in the world of e-publishing, Cupertino has added a wealth of interactivity that finally brings important features to using an e-reader for study. The most obvious being the ability to interact with the textbook through the iPad’s touchscreen; students will be able to rotate and look at virtual 3D models, as well as getting descriptions and definitions that are associated with it. Videos and the ability to search online glossaries will truly bring a rich media experience to textbook study. One of the biggest gripes about e-books is the lack of ability to take notes in an effective way: iBooks 2 has tackled that by giving you a highlighting system that not only lets you create visual cues when re-reading, but also gives the ability to create electronic note cards that look just like the real thing for studying key ideas and terms.

While interactivity is important, another major barrier for the success of the digital textbooks has been getting such content created by major publishers. Textbook companies have been dragging their feet because of the fact that the current model in place makes them a large amount of money. Instead of trying to forge deals with each individual publisher, Apple has done an end-around by creating iBooks Author, a free application that allows anyone to create an e-book for use with iBooks 2. Teachers and professors can take Keynote presentations, text documents, videos, music, and images to create their own textbooks for use in the education arena. A brilliant move on Apple’s part, this busts through the content barrier by putting the power of creation in the hands of the user. But how are these created materials going to be distributed?
Apple has thought of this as well by implementing the third part of its plan. Distribution will be handled through iTunes U, which previously had been a separate section of the popular online music store. Previously only offered to universities, iTunes U allows lecturers to upload audio and video content for students to use in study or to audit a course from home. Cupertino has now opened this system up to all schools, meaning that K-12 education districts can sign up to distribute materials created by teachers and other educators.
In one neat package, Apple has implemented a content creation and delivery system that doesn’t rely on partnerships with large corporations — though it has secured the three publishers that count — and will undoubtedly go on to sell vast amounts of hardware to students and institutions alike. The iPad is now poised to make a significant change like the iPod did on its release. Today’s students have not known a world without computers or electronics to aid them in their everyday tasks. The classroom is one of the last frontiers that has yet to see a significant advance that brings convergence between digital devices and learning. Until now. While Apple will be the leader for some time because of the announcement today, it won’t be long before everyone else falls in line and begins to operate in the same method.
Today is going to be looked at as the time that marked the death of the physical book. Soon we are going to see authors that creatt works of written art that bring the stories they write to life in the hands of their readers. We are going to see a true convergence of media experience which will be seen as the end-times by some. I for one am hoping that Wizards of the Coast will bring back the old Dungeons and Dragons “choose your own adventure” books in this format. I will not mourn the death of the physical novel, but revel in the evolution of the medium that will finally bring it in line with the way we are consuming other forms of media.

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Smartphones with long battery life (roundup)

Smartphones are the Swiss Army Knives of the tech world.
They're cell phones, music and video players, mobile Web browsers, and personal organizers, among other things. Not surprisingly, all this can take a toll on battery life, and when you depend on your smartphone for so much, the last thing you want is for it to run out of juice when you need it most.
Generally speaking, with moderate use, smartphones can give you a full day's performance before needing to be recharged, but not all gadgets are created equal--some simply run out of steam early, whereas others will hang in there for the long haul. Here are five smartphones with battery usage that really impressed us, whether it was because they scored well in our CNET Labs battery tests, or simply because their usage time stood out from the crowd of humdrum cell phone batteries we encountered (and believe us, we encounter a lot). Give one of these devices a try if you're looking for a phone that packs some decent juice.

Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc S
With its beautiful slim design and multiple color versions, the Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc S also impressed us with its long-lasting battery. Read the full review.

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Motorola Droid Razr
The Motorola Razr reincarnated itself as a smartphone this time, with tons of top-notch features and decent battery life to boot. Read the full review.

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Nokia Lumia 710
Don't let the plastic construction fool you. The Nokia Lumia 710 packs a pretty good punch when it comes to battery life. Read the full review.

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HTC Rhyme
Perhaps purple isn't your favorite color, but if you like compact smartphones with good battery life and extra accessories, then the HTC Rhyme is worth a look. Read the full review.

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Samsung Galaxy S II
When it came to testing the Galaxy S II, let's just say a certain editor was stuck at the office late waiting for the smartphone's battery to die. Read the full review.

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Looking for specs and pricing? Compare these phones head-to-head. If you're curious to see how another smartphone stacks up, check out CNET's cell phone battery life charts.

Read more: http://www.cnet.com/8301-17918_1-20127942-85/smartphones-with-long-battery-life-roundup/#ixzz1kNaTKtuE

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Virgin America pays tribute to Steve Jobs with jet name

The "Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish" aircraft entered Virgin America's fleet late last fall.

(Credit: Virgin America)

As the first airline company to offer fleet-wide Wi-Fi and the only one based in Silicon Valley, it seems natural that Virgin America would name a jet after Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.
The plane, which first flew late last year, is an Airbus A320 and has the popular Jobs' quote "Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish" stenciled on its nose.
"The 'Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish' aircraft name was actually submitted as a tribute to Mr. Jobs by one of our employees in an internal plane naming competition," Virgin America spokesperson Abby Lunardini told CNET.
"The idea behind Virgin America was to reinvent the travel experience by thinking differently about design and service--we are known for the tech-forward amenities we offer onboard," Lunardini said.
Besides fleet-wide Wi-Fi, Virgin America's new airplanes also have touch-screen entertainment and power outlets at every seat. Sometime within the next few months, their planes will also offer Gogo's next-generation ATG-4 service, which will increase Wi-Fi capacity by nearly four times the current performance.

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Facebook, Twitter, MySpace create social search tool

These are the results using the new 'don't be evil' bookmarklet. Note the inclusion of Facebook, Twitter and other social network results to the right of the main results, in addition to Google+.

Following complaints that Google's new social search tool gives skewed results instead of the most relevant ones, a group of social networks have banded together to offer an alternative.
Engineers at Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace created a proof of concept that lets people use Google to get search results from those sites as well as LinkedIn, Flickr, Quora, Tumblr, Foursquare, Crunchbase, FriendFeed, Stack Overflow, Github, and Google+. The results show the highest social media results for a given search and not just the Google+ results that Google's new Search Plus Your World does.
Dubbed "don't be evil" in reference to Google's much-maligned motto, the tool is a browser bookmarklet, or small piece of code, that runs in Chrome, FireFox, or Safari, but not Internet Explorer. When you do a search, the software automatically checks Google for the social profiles associated with a search query typed into the search engine and replaces the Google+ profiles that Google now features with the ones ranked highest in its own search results.
For instance, a search for comedians on Google with its social search function enabled shows the Google+ pages of Dane Cook, Gabriel Iglesias, and Chris Tucker to the right of the search results. Whereas in a browser with the 'don't be evil' bookmarklet installed, the area to the right of the main results includes links to combinations of results for Dane Cook, Gabriel Iglesias, and Joe Rogan on a variety of social networks. There were also eight personal results above the main results in which people I know posted items about comedians on Google+, Facebook, and blogs.
The open-source software can be downloaded from Focusontheuser.org. The site provides examples of search results using the tool, a video, and a FAQ with more details. The coding project was led by Blake Ross, director of product at Facebook and co-founder of the Mozilla Firefox project, according to All Things Digital.
A Facebook spokesman said the company was declining to comment, and Twitter said it had no comment. Representatives from MySpace and Google did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
After Google launched its Google+ search feature two weeks ago, Twitter representatives were the first to complain publicly, accusing Google of warping its search results to feature its own social-networking content.
The Electronic Privacy Information Center filed a complaint with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission a few days later, asking the agency to look into whether Google's new search offering violates federal antitrust rules. An FTC probe into complaints that Google unfairly promotes its own services in its search results was already under way.
In its defense, Google has complained that Facebook and Twitter don't allow it to fully crawl their sites, but the site still provides results from those sites in its main results, which are used to flesh out the social results via the "don't be evil" bookmarklet.
Meanwhile, Facebook has an agreement with Microsoft to integrate some of its user content (likes and friend lists, for instance) into Bing search results and Bing includes real-time data from Twitter. Google used to include real-time Twitter data but the contract between the two companies expired last summer and was not renewed.
Later today the Twitter Communications account posted this relevant tweet: "Q. Does Google need a deal to crawl Twitter? A. No. Google's web bots crawl Twitter 120M+ times a day; 3 billion pages indexed & counting."

These are the top results for "comedians" on Google with its new social search enabled.

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Google+ updates policy to address identity crisis

Google+ update

Almost since it debuted, Google+ has wrestled with the idea of how users can identify themselves on the social network.
The company wanted to create a service without pseudonyms or impersonation. But Google+, which now claims 90 million users, had plenty of people sign up who are better known by some other identity than their real name. Google has suspended many of those accounts, much to their users' chagrin.
Google is changing the policy to "broaden support" for some pseudonyms, Bradley Horowitz, a co-leader of Google+, wrote this afternoon in a Google+ post. Now Google+ will allow users to be known by "established" pseudonyms, such as Madonna. Google will be the final arbiter of what is established.

Madonna's Google+ page

(Credit: Google; screenshot by Jay Greene/CNET)

If Google threatens to suspend an account because of a pseudonym, users can appeal by offering, among other things, "proof of an established identity online with a meaningful following." They can also submit references to an established identity offline that might have appeared, for example, in print media. Or, if the assumed-pseudonymous name is official, users can scan and submit official documentation, such as a driver's license.
That doesn't mean Google will automatically let users proceed with an alternative identity. Horowitz said Google would "review the information and typically get back to you within a few days." While those users wait, their old names will continue to be displayed. And new accounts using pseudonyms will appear in a nonpublic, read-only state during the review.
"Today is a small step towards improving the ways in which you can communicate your identity on Google+," Horowitz wrote. "We will be listening to feedback from the community and will continue to refine all aspects of how we handle names and identity over the coming weeks, months, and beyond."
The policy sparked heated debate among digerati when Google+ debuted. Google wants the site to be trustworthy, so that users could know that the people they've chosen to follow are indeed who they say they are. Moreover, real names force a degree of accountability, since users can be called to task for comments spouted online if their true identity is attached.
But there are plenty of arguments for using fake names as well. Political dissidents may want to comment on or organize around brutal leadership. Some folks may be better known in certain circles--in gamer communities, for example--by their handles. Others may simply seek the privacy that the anonymous Web allows.
Google is also changing its identity policy to allow nicknames, maiden names, and names in another script--alongside users' common names. To add an alternate name, users can go to their Google+ profile, click "Edit Profile," select their name, and click "More options."

Source : http://news.cnet.com

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The Fifty-Dollar Follow Focus

You may be able to guess exactly what the following product is, based solely on its name: The Fifty-Dollar Follow Focus. That’s right, it’s a way of cheaply adding a follow-focus lever to your video-shooting DSLR. Just one thing: it costs a minimum of $60, not $50, thanks to shipping fees.
The Fifty-Dollar Follow Focus (FDFF, as I shall now call it in order to save your screen’s precious photons) is an aluminum CNC-machined rig that uses a belt drive to move the lens, meaning that it will fit lenses of almost any size. And as the lever spins a spindle smaller than the lens, you get a step-down effect which will smooth out your jerky hand motions.
The FDFF, which fits any standard movie-camera rail-mount system, comes with two sizes of both pulley and belt, so you can combine them for the lens and speed you want. The lever can also be unlocked and moved to a new position without changing the focus.
This is a Kickstarter project, but you shouldn’t have to wait long as it has already almost doubled the $10,000 goal. All the makers, Wiley Davis and Keifer Albin, need to do is buy a newer, faster CNC machine and bulk order the parts. Easy.

Source : http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/

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