Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Bug Labs announced in January that it'd be busting out a BUG+EDU program for getting units into the hands of impressionable youngsters, and now that they've sold out of the first crop of units they're getting those educational discounts off the ground. Students (with relevant ID) can now purchase modules at a 10% discount, while K-12 schools and secondary education institutions can buy Bug for 25% off. K-12 schools can also participate in Bug giveaways, while undergrad and postgrad programs can develop coursework in cojunction with Bug -- long story short, some kids out there are going to get themselves some fun edumicatin'.

 

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Bug Labs announced in January that it'd be busting out a BUG+EDU program for getting units into the hands of impressionable youngsters, and now that they've sold out of the first crop of units they're getting those educational discounts off the ground. Students (with relevant ID) can now purchase modules at a 10% discount, while K-12 schools and secondary education institutions can buy Bug for 25% off. K-12 schools can also participate in Bug giveaways, while undergrad and postgrad programs can develop coursework in cojunction with Bug -- long story short, some kids out there are going to get themselves some fun edumicatin'.

 

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

It looks like soldiers could one day have their own tab key of sorts to call up detailed, 3D maps at will, at least if the folks at General Dynamics UK have their way. As Physorg reports, they've developed a "near real-time" 3D map system that makes use of an array of different technologies including LIDAR, thermal imaging and x-ray backscatter techniques to not only display buildings and streets, but objects and people inside buildings as well. The use of LIDAR also promises to provide measurements of doors, windows, and alleys with "millimeter accuracy." All that obviously makes the system, dubbed Masthead, slightly less than portable, however, although General Dynamics says it'd be able to be carried in the back of a military vehicle or civilian 4x4, or in a plane for that matter. Of course, like most such projects, General Dynamics isn't just setting its sights to military applications, with it also touting Masthead's potential benefits for police forces in planning security measures for large events, to name one example.

[Via Physorg]

 

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

It looks like soldiers could one day have their own tab key of sorts to call up detailed, 3D maps at will, at least if the folks at General Dynamics UK have their way. As Physorg reports, they've developed a "near real-time" 3D map system that makes use of an array of different technologies including LIDAR, thermal imaging and x-ray backscatter techniques to not only display buildings and streets, but objects and people inside buildings as well. The use of LIDAR also promises to provide measurements of doors, windows, and alleys with "millimeter accuracy." All that obviously makes the system, dubbed Masthead, slightly less than portable, however, although General Dynamics says it'd be able to be carried in the back of a military vehicle or civilian 4x4, or in a plane for that matter. Of course, like most such projects, General Dynamics isn't just setting its sights to military applications, with it also touting Masthead's potential benefits for police forces in planning security measures for large events, to name one example.

[Via Physorg]

 

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While I tend to agree that RIM’s OS is definitely showing its age, Henry Blodget is totally down on the new 9000 interface with its iPhon-esque UI and, well, Blackberry-esque keyboard and lack of touchscreen. Again, this phone is not for skinny-jeans wearing hipsters. It’s for straight-leg khaki-wearing business guys who won’t shut up about cars and golf. Therefore, they’re perfectly happy upgrading incrementally every few months just to spend a little of that IT budget.

We’re glad to see RIM respond to the iPhone, even if it means we may actually have a choice to make when we finally trade in our battered Curve. (Until we saw the 9000 pics, we were just nursing the Curve along until the 3G iPhone came out. Now, we’ll at least take the 9000 for a test-drive. Who knows–we may even stick with the keyboard.) Given the rate at which business folks are setting aside keyboard concerns and snapping up iPhones, however, the days in which RIM had the corporate market to itself are gone.

I personally think Henry has a worse problem. His tendency to use the Royal We is unnerving.

So you’re out on a Saturday night, and half your crew met up at a local bar on their side of town while you and the rest of your buddies went straight to the club. Now what? You can call each other to find out where everybody is located, or you could even text each other back and forth to get the same information. Both require a good amount of time, and effort.

And for an event like SXSW, out-of-towners (like me) spent a good portion of their time figuring out the name of the bar where they were currently located so that they could text the name of it to their friends. Wait back for a reply requesting the address, asking around for that information, and texting it back to their friends again.

Sniff hopes to remedy this problem by leveraging location-based capabilities for informing you of where your friends are. Already gaining popularity in Sweden, Sniff is making its way to the US, and to other parts of Europe. I know what you’re thinking. There are already location-based services out there that help me keep tabs on all my friends. Loopt mobile even landed a deal with Verizon for similar features.

Well, there are a couple of options that Sniff hopes will help it stand out from the crowd, starting with a Facebook application. This not only gives you access to your friends without having to input them separately into Sniff’s service, but it allows you to check on friends’ locations both online and via your mobile phone. The other good thing about Sniff being a Facebook app is that it allows for a higher level of privacy features so that you share your location with only those friends you’ve selected (both of these aspects are not limited to the Facebook app).

Additionally, Sniff works via SMS messaging on your mobile phone. That means there’s no application you need to pull up in order to access the location of any of your friends. Text “sniff” along with your friend’s name to the Sniff service shortcode (60506), and you’ll receive a message back with their location on a map. I like the hand’s off approach to Sniff, in that there’s no time-consuming back and forth between friends. Other options allow for SMS updates pertaining to a friend or an event. But

I do wonder at Sniff’s viability to thrive in a growing mobile market, when existing services like Jaiku have such automated location-based options included in their larger suite. Not to mention, sending Sniff a text message will cost you. Thankfully, the billing is integrated and will show up through your carrier service, but paying for an SMS-based mobile feature in addition to a wireless plan could be a hard pill for some people to swallow.

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I hate, hate spam and fully agree that spammers should, after being convicted, be torn apart by a pack of BigDogs, drawn-and-quartered style. Spam is now 15 years old, and over 90% of communications on the Internet are spam.

Mark Sunner, chief analyst at online security firm Message Labs, likens fighting spam to an arms race, and in a sense he’s right: every time the spam fighters make an advance, the spammers make an advancement beyond that.

Likely this war of attrition will never end, but thankfully modern spam filters kill most of what comes in. Many people think that spam kills some parts of the Internet, but if those people had adequate filters, they problem wouldn’t be there at all.

Google’s Web-based word processor, Google Docs, can now be used offline to view and edit documents in your browser. That means you no longer need to be connected to the Internet to write a letter or draft an agreement. When you connect again, all your changes are updated. Google Docs now joins Google Reader as a Web app that can work offline. Spreadsheets and Presentations are coming up next.

This offline capability has been a long time coming. Google Docs is finally taking advantage of Google Gears, a browser plugin for creating all sorts of offline apps which launched nearly a year ago. Using Google Gears, Zoho came out with an offline version of its Web-based word processor last August.

Is it me, or is innovation at Google slowing down?

Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0

TheFunded, a site where entrepreneurs can leave anonymous feedback about their experiences with venture capitalists, has created quite a stir on Sand Hill Road. Rarely do I meet with a VC without the subject of it coming up, and how unfair it is. The fact that the site is now publishing confidential term sheet clauses as well only exacerbates the angst.

Now VCs are fighting back. Someone has launched TheUnFunded, a site that works very much like TheFunded but let’s VCs share their opinions of the entrepreneurs they meet with. The site will officially launch tomorrow (4/1), but it’s live now:

Inspired by TheFunded.com’s ability to allow entrepreneurs to anonymously rate VC firms, we thought it was only fair that investors also be able to anonymously rate startups and entrepreneurs. So we decided to launch TheUnfunded to do just that.

Only investors that can prove their identity will be allowed to join TheUnfunded, where they can anonymously provide feedback on the startups that they’ve met with along a five point scale. The fund raising process is indeed a long, difficult one. From an investors perspective there was just no way to tell how much an entrepreneurs well-crafted story matched the reality of their business. Until now.

The VC behind the site reached out to me to tell me about it, but asked to remain anonymous for now. There’s already entertaining content on the site, though:

The founder arrived 10 minutes late — and began the meeting by telling me that he just came from Sequioa (yeah, right). He then proceeded to state (five times) that his company was the next Facebook.

Wow - this guy was clueless. He started his slide deck and went on autopilot. I think he spoke for 18 minutes straight without even looking to see if I was awake. But worse than his pitching skills is his knowledge of his industry and competitors. I named four competitive companies that he never heard of.

The founder arrived on time and hit on my receptionist. My assistant came to bring him back to the board room, and the founder hit on my assistant.

Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0