Mystery Pic 114: What Is It?

What is it? Post your guess in the comments section below. Make sure you give your whole name and the city you live in! If you're first with the right answer, you'll earn the dubious honor of getting your name in the next issue of the awe-inspiring Mike's List newsletter. The answer will be revealed in the next issue of Mike's List. Go here to subscribe. (It's free!)

Why iGroups is coming to an iPhone near you!

Apple Inc. filed a patent application recently for mobile social networking technology called iGroups.

Mobile social networking is the use of location information ("I'm at MacWorld right now") to connect with colleagues ("you're here, too!") in a way that enhances social networking, replaces the exchanging of business cards and facilitates face-to-face meetings.

The filing of a patent doesn't mean Apple will turn this technology into a product. But I think they will -- and soon. Here's why.

Is Google Trying to Out-Microsoft Microsoft?

In the early 1990s, WordPerfect dominated the word processor scene, and Microsoft Word was a scrappy underdog. It's hard to believe now, but it's true.

As Word rose in popularity, many WordPerfect users resisted. They had spent so much time learning the WordPerfect-specific keystrokes, called function keys. So what did Microsoft do? They enabled a mode whereby WordPerfect keystrokes would execute the same commands in Word that they did in WordPerfect.

In addition, Microsoft gave discounts on Windows to OEMs who included Word on new PCs. The result was (and maybe still is) that most new PCs came with Word pre-installed, and the additional cost was pretty low.

Besides, WordPerfect was really just a relic of the DOS era, and Word was a creature of the new world of graphical computing. And the rest, including WordPerfect as a dominant application, is history.

Microsoft's tactics proved fatal to WordPerfect's preeminence. This was largely lost to history, but its lesson was not lost on Google. It appears that history is repeating itself. This time, Microsoft is the target. 

Diamond-studded iPad says "I'm an idiot, but a rich one!"

The Apple iPad is reasonably priced. If that bothers you, feel free to spend $19,999 on a diamond-studded iPad ("hand-set in a micro-pave styling," whatever that means). You'll feel like an idiot when the newer, faster iPad inevitably comes out within a year. (Props to Engadget)

Posted via email from Mike Elgan's Lifestream

Found photo: Genius? Or idiotic?

Does anyone know the story behind this picture?

Posted via email from Mike Elgan's Lifestream

Laptops disrupt lectures. So let's ban lectures!

Lecturing professors nowadays face a room full of students paying full attention -- to their laptops. A lecture, by definition, is a method of teaching whereby a person talks and an audience pays attention. But a laptop is an interruption machine that fragments attention. Lectures and laptops are incompatible activities. Some professors have addressed the fundamental incompatibility of lectures and laptops by banning the laptops. But maybe it would be better to keep the laptops and ban the lectures. Here's why.

Posted via email from Mike Elgan's Lifestream

The iPad paradox: Less is the new more!

I've noticed a trend online recently of new services whose main feature is that they hardly do anything. Twitter was the first major site in this new trend, which boldly asserted its limitations as features. "You can't send more than 140 characters!" "No pictures!" "No formatting!" "It does hardly anything!" Welcome to the future. The less-is-more world is here. Get used to it. And if you're going to argue with an iPad fan about why netbooks are better, don't bother with listing what the iPad cannot do. Limitations are what people want now. (Read)

Posted via email from Mike Elgan's Lifestream

What sort of man reads 'Playboy'? A criminal.

Playboy Enterprises has inked a deal with  2K Games for the product-placement of Playboy magazines all over scenes in the game Mafia II. 

Posted via email from Mike Elgan's Lifestream

Found photo: Hulk is a Blackberry user!

Mystery Pic 113: What is it?

What is it? Post your guess in the comments section below. Make sure you give your whole name and the city you live in! If you're first with the right answer, you'll earn the dubious honor of getting your name in the next issue of the awe-inspiring Mike's List newsletter. The answer will be revealed in the next issue of Mike's List. Go here to subscribe. (It's free!)

The Pentagon: "We're looking for a few good iPhone apps."

The Pentagon's DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), the people who created the Internet, have recently issued a call for iPhone and Android applications useful for national security, including for soldiers on the battlefield and also for spies. 

Microsoft wants to use your flesh as an input device.

Microsoft researchers are working on something called "Skinput," which is the use of human skin as an input device. In this case, a display is projected on the arm. When the user taps, a computer analyzes the sound in the body (which varies according to bone density and other factors) to determine which button to push. The company plans to unveil all this in April. (Props)

MIT invents small, social robot "avatar" that does hand gestures

MIT eggheads have assembled a telepresence robot (for a thesis) called MeBot. The robot acts as web cam application, except it has arms that convey hand-gestures. 

Mystery Pic 112: What is it?

What is it? Post your guess in the comments section below. Make sure you give your whole name and the city you live in! If you're first with the right answer, you'll earn the dubious honor of getting your name in the next issue of the awe-inspiring Mike's List newsletter. The answer will be revealed in the next issue of Mike's List. Go here to subscribe. (It's free!)

Taiwan news station simulates Gordon Brown abuse allegations.

That Taiwanese news station is at it again! First Tiger Woods, Now this!

Apple fans unleashed! Couple gets married at Apple store!

Apple enthusiasts Joshua and Ting Li got married at an Apple store on Valentine's Day. The priest was dressed like Steve Jobs, and read the service from a white iPhone. The rings were conveyed not on a pillow, but on a first-generation iPod. Her vows were written on a card that said "I love you more than this" with a picture of an iPhone. Oh, man. She's a keeper. (More)

New game based on Austin IRS plane attacker

A new online game called Tax Time! has you controlling an on-screen Joseph Stack, the Austin plane attacker. The game action is right out of the news. Your objective is to light your house on fire, jump into an airplane and fly it into the IRS building. Sick!

Fake iPhones from China reach UK

Cult of Mac says cheap Chinese fake iPhones are being sold in the UK. Anyone seen one in the US yet?

Mystery Pic 111: What is it?

What is it? Post your guess in the comments section below. Make sure you give your whole name and the city you live in! If you're first with the right answer, you'll earn the dubious honor of getting your name in the next issue of the awe-inspiring Mike's List newsletter. The answer will be revealed in the next issue of Mike's List. Go here to subscribe. (It's free!)

CNN running this ad with Austin anti-IRS attack

Almost everything on TV is filmed with green screen

Even the most mundane scenes these days are filmed with the magic of green screen technology. (Props to Kottke.org)

Mattel unveils Computer Engineer Barbie

The toy company Mattel rolled out today at the New York Toy Fair a new job for their most famous doll: Computer Engineer Barbie. Like most "computer engineers," Barbie carries a hot-pink laptop accessorized by matching pumps. (Computer Engineer Barbie is shown here with News Anchor Barbie, also unveiled today.)

Microsoft millionaire invents mosquito death ray

Former Microsoft genius Nathan Myhrvold has invented a "Star Wars" anti-missile system for mosquitoes, which tracks them in flight and zaps them out of the air with a laser beam. The mosquito death ray is designed to help protect against malaria and is funded by Myhrvold's former boss, Bill Gates. More videos. (Props to BoingBoing)

Mystery Pic 110: What is it?

What is it? Post your guess in the comments section below. Make sure you give your whole name and the city you live in! If you're first with the right answer, you'll earn the dubious honor of getting your name in the next issue of the awe-inspiring Mike's List newsletter. The answer will be revealed in the next issue of Mike's List. Go here to subscribe. (It's free!)

What's wrong with Google Buzz?

There's something wrong with Google Buzz. And it's the same thing that's wrong with Google itself. Google is all brains and no heart. All logic and no intuition. Google Buzz should be wonderful. It makes perfect sense. So why does it annoy? Here's why.

Got Google Buzz? Follow me here!

Have you got Google Buzz yet? You check by going to Gmail. It should pop up and announce itself. If you do have Buzz, please follow me by clicking here, then clicking on the big Follow button on the right. See you on Google Buzz!

Google announces 'Buzz' for a social Gmail

Google announced today a social or micro-blogging-like new "Buzz" feature in Gmail. The Google Buzz service auto-follows you to people you have e-mailed in the past. It supports Twitter-like public posting, as well as Facebook-like private posting. The private posting can go to groups created by the user, or individuals.

When bloggers collide on the streets...

Blogger Mike Arrington was talking on his cell phone while driving in front of Google's headquarters this week, looking for a place to park. Another blogger named Michael Shields, who works at Google, decided to engage in an act of resistance against Arrington's cell phone driving, and stood in front of Arrington's car. What's funny is that both snapped cell phone pictures of the standoff, and both blogged it. Here's Arrington's side of the story. Here's Shields'.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Homer Simpson gets an iPhone

Laptop with see-through screen to hit within a year.

Samsung’s AMOLED notebook has a see-through screen and lid. The company says the laptop will ship within a year.

Mystery Pic 109: What is it?

What is it? Post your guess in the comments section below. If you're first with the right answer, you'll earn the dubious honor of getting your name in the next issue of the awe-inspiring Mike's List newsletter. The answer will be revealed in the next issue of Mike's List. Go here to subscribe. (It's free!)

China recruits moms to surf the Web for porn.

The Chinese government has recruited sixty mothers to form a "Mom jury." Their mission? To surf the web in search of porn. When they find it, their job is to report it to authorities. The initiative is part of the Chinese government's "purify the social environment" campaign (not the "corrupt the mothers" campaign).

Worst USB gadget yet: Hand-cranked music box mouse!

A Japanese catalog called Generate LE, which specializes in rare products, is offering a USB mouse that looks like an old-fashioned children's music box. You turn the crank to scroll, or change window size. Fortunately, they're selling only five of them. (Props to the Red Ferret)

Banker caught looking at naked pictures on live TV.

A live news program in Australia interview an analyst, and used a bank's control center as a background. Unfortunately, one banker was unaware of the cameras, and was caught flipping back and forth between spreadsheets and cheesecake with some kind of boss key. (Click through for video.) 

Inside the Chinese hacker underground.

As I described in my Computerworld column Friday, an enormous, sophisticated and professionalized hacker industry emerging in China. The New York Times did a nice piece on the topic, and interviewed some of the hackers. 

Suddenly, Gmail is a LOT more powerful!

Google Labs has for months offered an optional add-on to Gmail that places a search window right there in the "Compose Mail" view of Gmail. Now they've added several powerful new features. What's new is what you can look up. Here are the new features.

Google adds search to Gmail's 'Compose Mail'?

Go2web20 co-founder Orli Yakuel discovered that Google added a search window in the Gmail "Compose Mail" view. Unfortunately, it doesn't show up for me. Do you have it? Let me know in the comments area here.

Steve Jobs says Google's 'don't be evil' is 'bull****'

Apple's CEO reportedly ripped into Google at an Apple town hall meeting. Here's what else he said about Google.

Prediction: Google to offer 'click to call' for PCs

Google hauled its click to call program out of beta this week, enabling one-click calling of participating AdWords advertisers -- but only by smart phone users. Here's why I think a PC or desktop version is coming soon.

China develops underwater firearms.

A recent documentary aired in China shows that the Chinese government has developed a range of underwater guns. There's not much detail on these other than that they appear to be based on Russian designs. I want one.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

What sort of person reads Mike's List?

A person always on the go (usually going to the bank). He's not afraid to say, "look, I'm a fricken billionaire, OK? I'm so incredibly rich that I tell other people to build my dream gadgets for me, then my adoring fans pay me millions to play with them." That's the sort of person who reads Mike's List. Fact: One out of three Mike's List readers is really, really, really wealthy. The rest are just really wealthy. Get rich. Subscribe here.

The iPad goes head-to-head with a rock!

(Props to TechCrunch)

Mystery Pic 108: What is it?

What is it? Post your guess in the comments section below. If you're first with the right answer, you'll earn the dubious honor of getting your name in the next issue of the awe-inspiring Mike's List newsletter. The answer will be revealed in the next issue of Mike's List. Go here to subscribe. (It's free!)

Fake Google search engine emerges in China

And it highlights why Google should leave China.

The Complete Apple iPad in 60 Seconds!

In what passes for "historic" here in Silicon Valley, Apple CEO Steve Jobs today unveiled his long-awaited iPad, an iPhone-like touch tablet. You've seen the speculation, rumor, hype and baloney. Finally, here are the facts – boiled down to 60 seconds of reading.

Here's the video Jobs showed about the iPad

http://www.apple.com/ipad/#video

Steve Jobs rolls out iPad (video)

Links to 16 sites live-blogging the Apple event.

1. 9to5 Mac
2. All Things D
3. Arstechnica
4. CNET
5. ComputerWorld
6. Engadget
7. Financial Times
8. Gearlog
9. Gizmodo
10. IGN
11. iLounge
12. MacWorld
13. Seattle PI
14. TheAppleBlog
15. Which
16. Wired

Sneakers tweet about your walking (so you don't have to)

New "Rambler" shoes connect to your cell phone via Bluetooth, and send out tweets to your Twitter feed about what's going on with your feet. The data takes the form of the words "step" and "tap," and a period when nothing is happening. So when you're sitting at your computer tapping your feet, tweets look like this: ".....tap tap tap.... tap." When you're walking, they look like this: "step step step step." This is why Al Gore invented Twitter. (Props to Nerd With Swag)

New gadget will let your dog use Twitter

A new, $30 device called Puppy Tweets will monitor your dog's activities, and automatically send out messages on Twitter based on what Fido is doing. Unfortunately, the unit can only detect crude motion data, such as not moving at all, or running around. It then sends lame canned messages, such as "I finally caught that tail I've been chasing and...OOUUUCHH!" Yeah, that'll get old fast.