With mountains of cash on hand, Apple is broadening its horizons a little bit. The company is planning to start a creatively designated “Apple University,” following in the corporate educational footsteps of the likes of McDonald’s and Pixar. Though this will likely just be a training campus for Apple employees, they’ve already poached the dean of Yale’s management school to serve as VP of the operation. Why would someone like that leave such a prestigious position for a post as a corporate zombifier? Is it Steve Jobs’ revolutionary, all-in-one, totally-not-modular curriculum? Maybe. Ridiculous amounts of money? Definitely. [WSJ]
My first thoughts on seeing this USB mouse with in-built fan-powered palm cooler and rotary LED message scroller: “Holy moly that’s one craptaculous bit of gadgetry!” But then I reconsidered. First, who wouldn’t like a less sweaty palm when mousing for protracted periods? And second, that message scroller (which even has its own remote control) could carry some incredibly useful phrases. “Mum…Don’t Turn on The Monitor. AT ALL”…life-saving stuff like that. Wonderful, and yours in green or red for $US35. [Gadget4All]
We rounded up the first three clues earlier this afternoon, so that you could still try and crack the Quantum Code. Now here’s the second half of what we know, below the fold.
Remember that you’ll need to be at Sony Central at World Square in Sydney at midday tomorrow if you want to get your hands on the final clue, and you’ll need to bring the other six codes with you. Don’t forget your mobile phone and a pen and paper…
If you’re not in Sydney, make sure you try and recruit someone at the Quantum Central forums to act on your behalf and share the $15,000 Sony prize.
McGill University researchers have discovered a new state of matter to go along with good ol’ solid, liquid, gas, plasma and a handful of quantum states–it’s called a quasi-three-dimensional electron crystal. While the name sounds like something that would sap Superman’s powers, this new state of matter could be used to fabricate modern transistors and continue Moore’s Law… possibly indefinitely.
The latest to join the Netflix streaming crowd, Samsung Blu-Ray player users can now download a free update for Internet movie watching. The first Samsung players that will definitely support Netflix are the BD-P2500 and the BD-P2550. Netflix members can have their PC queues automatically displayed on Samsung’s players for instant viewing. Using the remote will let you fast forward, rewind, browse and rate movies from your TV set. Both players are $US400. [Engadget]
Japanese textile maker Toray Industries is on the road to mass producing carbon fibre cars, bringing us ever closer to the day when the lightweight automobiles are on the market for more than just really rich racing enthusiasts. The company said it’s developed a new carbon fibre processing method that moulds auto platforms in 10 minutes. That’s two and a half hours shorter than what current methods allow.
Ok guys, sorry about this, but our LG TV giveaway is holed up in Legal while we work out the ins and outs of such an awesome comp. We’ll tell you what you need to do to win it next Thursday. In the meantime, feel free to continue suggesting ideas for the comp (we won’t listen), whinge about the delay (we won’t listen) or tell us how awesome we are for giving one of you a TV (we’ll listen to that).
If you’ve been following the trials and tribulations of Constance Newlove and the quest to crack the Quantum Code, then you’re probably already aware that tomorrow she’ll be personally delivering the final Clue at Midday at World Square in Sydney. You’ll definitely need to be there in person if you want your shot at the prize – the final clue won’t be available to anybody other than the people at Sony Central tomorrow.
If you haven’t been trying to crack the clues, it’s not to late for you to start. You can track down the video mission briefings online, look for Constance’s profile and hit the Quantum Central forums to find someone else to help you along your way.
And if you’re not based in Sydney, remember that the Quantum Central Forums contain people from Sydney that you can partner with to win the prize. How you split the booty is up to you.
A recap of the first three clues is below the fold. We’ll recap other three clues later this afternoon… [Quantum Code on Giz]
In case registering on the national Do Not Call list didn’t really do anything, two ex-telemarketers in the U.K. have invented a blocking device that acts like a receptionist for your landline. The TrueCall intercepts all your calls before they reach you, letting them through if the number is recognised as a family member or friend, and replying with an automated message if the number belongs to a telemarketer.
This USB key from Kingston doesn’t feature an animal humping your computer, or look like food, or have any other weird-looking skin. It’s just a USB key. But it has 32GB worth of flash storage built in to its 77.9mm x 22mm x 12.05mm body and it costs just $149.
My first notebook had 80 megabytes of hard drive space. My second has 40GB. To see 32GB in a stick this big still blows my mind… That’s enough space to carry around pretty much all your important documents, photos, videos and music. And it works with pretty much every OS as well, even if it doesn’t rape your PC while you sleep
[Kingston]
