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Apple does it again: special conversion rate system if you inhabit Infinite Loop

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snow-leopard

Apple announced today the long awaited Snow Leopard or Mac OS X.6 (Mac OS 10.6). The new operating system, which is more Mac OS 10.5 R2, will be available August 28th, for the interesting price of $29. If you live in the US.

If you live in the UK or in Continental Europe, screw you! As known from the great conversion rate has used for the Apple TV, the Jobsian devotes like to apply their own conversion rates and overcharge us Europeans. $229 converts to £195, today’s market converts to less than £140.
No exceptions are made for Snow Leopard:

  • $29 converts to £25: today’s market value is less than £18. At today’s rate £25 is worth more than $41
  • $29 converts to €29: today’s market value is less than €21. At today’s rate €29 is worth more than $41

As an Apple user with every new release I feel ripped off once more.

Originally posted on August 24, 2009 @ 10:09 am

Microsoft playing catchup with Zune HD App Store?

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zune-hd-appsMicrosoft must be pretty pleased with the latest speculation over its new Zune HD media player, for although companies have to officially denounce any rumors that come out, behind closed doors they’re usually pretty pleased there’s any interest in the next big thing they’re releasing.

It’s something Apple thrives on, and perhaps Microsoft is hoping that the mere mention of an application store for its new PMP will make it more exciting than it is.

OK, so it’s been covered by Engadget without much (if any) MS snark, so it has a reasonable cool factor. [Read more…]

Originally posted on August 24, 2009 @ 12:01 pm

Facebook acquires FriendFeed

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The big social network news of the day is Facebook’s acquisition of FriendFeed.

facebook-friendfeedFriendFeeds’ cofounder Bret Taylor spoke of the two networks’ “common vision of giving people tools to share and connect with their friends”, while Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg spoke of how he “admired their team for creating such a simple and elegant service for people to share information” ever since he first used FriendFeed.

For the moment, FriendFeed will continue to run as a standalone service, while all FriendFeed’s staff will work for Facebook and its directors will take new senior positions. [Read more…]

Originally posted on August 10, 2009 @ 6:43 pm

NASA Establishes 800Mbps Connection to the Moon

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Lunar Reconnaissance OrbiterIf you thought Verizon FiOS was fast, wait ’til you hear this. The new high-power microwave signal amplifier on NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter transmits data at 100 megabytes per second.

Let that sink in for a second. NASA has established a wireless connection of 100 megabytes per second — 800 megabits per second — to the Moon. Meanwhile, most wired DSL subscribers can barely get 3 megabits per second on Earth.

Sure, like many technologies developed in space, this so-called Traveling Wave Tube Amplifier will eventually filter to commercial applications on Earth. Given telcos’ hypocrisy over network expansion, however, don’t expect 800Mbps porn anytime soon.

Originally posted on August 21, 2009 @ 3:40 am

Google Insights for Search gets new features

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google-mail-logoGoogle Insights for Search, the tool that lets you analyze one or more keywords or phrases to see how it changes in search popularity over time, has just been given some new features.

Firstly, it’s now available in 39 languages, which is great news if you’re not an English speaker or you’re checking out trends in another language. [Read more…]

Originally posted on August 19, 2009 @ 5:52 am