The Raw Feed has been redesigned!

Most of the changes are "under the hood." I've moved the blog from Google's Blogger to Posterous. The changes will enable me to publish a much better blog!

Best of all, and in keeping with all previous redesigns, I've tried to strip The Raw Feed down to the simplest, most minimalist blog possible. I hope you like it.

If you're getting this via RSS, please note that this RSS feed is no longer active. To continue getting The Raw Feed, please subscribe to the following feed:

http://therawfeed.com/rss.xml

In the meantime, the site you're reading now will serve as the permanent archive for all posts before May 7, 2010.

Thank you for your readership!!

Mike

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Will Apple crash AT&T?

Apple's iPad Wi-Fi + 3G is finally here. And now the trouble begins. I believe that both the 3G-equipped iPad's sales and data usage will exceed expectations, meaning more people will be using more data than AT&T has planned for. Worse, other network-taxing developments may conspire with iPad data gluttony to overwhelm AT&T's mobile broadband capability, resulting in slowdowns and possibly even crashes. (Read)

Mystery Pic 119: 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 mentioned in the Mike's List newsletter! (The answer will be revealed exclusively in the next issue. Go here to subscribe now!)

Microsoft cancels Courier tablet (as I predicted)

Gizmodo reported today that the Microsoft Courier Tablet project has been canceled. The news must have been especially bitter for Gizmodo, as the blog was first to uncover the project and referred to it many times as one that would ship Real Soon Now.

If Gizmodo wants to see why Microsoft canceled Courier, they should read my September 23 column, "Why Microsoft's 'Courier' Tablet Will Never Exist."

Even now, Gizmodo seems betrayed and confused by the move, saying that Courier was "compelling," "innovative," and that they "loved" the interface.

The reason Gizmodo loved the "product" so much is that it was a fantasy product, not a real one. It's easy to conjure up product magic when you never have to actually build it.

This is one of the long-standing problems I have with a lot of tech coverage by both blogs and the mainstream media -- they're indifferent to the distinction between an actual, real, shippable product -- say, the Apple iPad -- and the mere idea for a product conjured up with Hollywood special effects like the Microsoft Courier.

I even wrote a column about that phenomenon (centered on the hype that followed Gizmodo's Courier coverage) called "Dispatch From Gadget Fantasy Land." It makes delightful reading now that it appears the Courier will never exist.

Enough! Let's all call blogs and news organizations on reporting vague ideas as imminent products that will soon be on the market. It's just sloppy reporting.

Why cell phone companies are throwing lawyers at each other

Microsoft announced this week that it has inked a deal with Taiwan-based High-Tech Computing (HTC). Under the agreement, HTC will pay royalties to Microsoft for phones that run Google's Android platform. Wait, what? If Google's platform violates Microsoft's intellectual property, why doesn't Microsoft sue Google? Meanwhile, Apple seems to sue other companies only when somebody sues Apple. And why is Nokia suing everybody? The patent system is totally out of control.

Cell phone has a built-in electric razor

The Shave Mobile is a cell phone with a built-in razor. No, it's not a gag gift, but a real product built by Tondemoketai China that you can buy for $100. Here comes the video!

Worst cell phone design ever

Anyone know the story behind this one?

iPhone cradle looks like an old-school landline phone

Someone is selling on the Etsy catalog hand-made iPhone bases that look like old-fashioned landline phones. Called the iRetrofone Base, the charging stations come in a variety of styles, and cost $195. Useful only as a charging and syncing cradle, they're as function-limited as they are pointless.

Me talking about cloud computing and trust on BBC

BBC Click's Ian Hardy interviewed me on the promises and perils of cloud computing for BBC Click -- 275 million viewers worldwide! They also wrote an article to accompany the TV segment. 

Mystery Pic 118: 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 mentioned in the Mike's List newsletter! (The answer will be revealed exclusively in the next issue. Go here to subscribe now!)

Old-school handset turns iPad into a telephone!

The $30 Moshi Moshi 01H handset lets you transform your iPad into an old-school telephone. Using Skype or some other VoIP software, you can make and receive calls. Who needs an iPhone? Or dignity? (Props to BoingBoing)

Gadget shows the cost of meetings in real time.

I just wrote a column this week about the gazillions of dollars companies waste on pointless, unfocused meetings (among other things). My solution is to replace some of those meetings with social networking tools. But here's another solution: Bring TIM! is a $24.99 real-time meeting cost calculator. Just enter in the average hourly rate of the employees in the room, plus the number of employees. The price of the meeting ticks by like a gas pump.

Microsoft uses my picture in YouTube video

I ran across this video, created by Microsoft Research and called "Manual Deskterity: An Exploration of Simultaneous Pen + Touch Direct Input," and was interested to see it because of my unhealthy obsession with touch input PCs. Imagine my surprise to find a picture of my own hand holding my own Kindle in the video! The picture was originally posted here, on The Raw Feed. Here's the Microsoft video.

What Google isn't telling you about its real-time Twitter results

Google offers real-time Twitter results. What they're not telling you is that those results are incomplete.

Vest turns a dog into a 4-legged Internet

A student at the Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design named Laura Boffi invented this idea for a vest to be worn by messenger dogs. The dog would be trained to find people (during a disaster, in the mountains, whatever) and sit in front of them so they can type their name and record a voice message ("Send brandy next time!"). A GPS device records the location. The dogs then return to where they started so rescuers get the message.

Is the iPad addictive? No, I mean *really* addictive?

While some tech products and services have one or two addictive drug-like elements, the iPad has them all. iPad users are speed-balling seven addictive qualities at once. Should the Apple iPad come with a warning label? Should psychologists be studying its effects on people? Is the iPad dangerous? Should we keep it away from kids? Read the whole story.

Mystery Pic 117: 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 mentioned in the Mike's List newsletter! (The answer will be revealed exclusively in the next issue. Go here to subscribe now!)

What was behind Steve Jobs' AdMob cheap shot at Google?

Apple today rolled out it's new iPhone OS 4.0 platform, and also a new program for mobile advertising called iAds. But during a Q&A session, Jobs said: "We tried to buy AdMob, but Google snatched them up because they didn’t want us to have them, so we bought another smaller company, Quattro." The implication is that Google bought the company out of spite, or as a blocking maneuver, or over paid for the company, and that there was nothing poor little Apple, an advertising "babe in the woods," could do. "Snatched" implies theft or sneaky dealings. Read it here.

When the iPad gets multi-tasking and VoIP this Fall, why do I need an iPhone?

Steve Jobs announced today that the next version of the operating system (OS) that powers both the iPhone and the iPad would support multi-tasking. Jobs said the iPhone gets the new OS this summer, and the iPad gets it in the Fall. Jobs also said iPhone OS 4.0 would support VoIP. When you combine those capabilities in the iPad 3G, does that transform it into a giant phone? If so, can I get rid of my iPhone?

Why the HP Slate won't 'kill' iPad: It's a Windows PC with 1 GB RAM.

We can dispense with any speculation that the HP Slate, a consumer tablet device demoed recently, will enjoy any success at all. Yes, the video looks awesome. But the bottom line is that it's a Windows 7 PC with 1 GB of RAM. It's going to suck. And it has other problems, too. Read the whole story.

New iPhone app lets you fine tune RC car performance

A company called Team Tekin has come out with an iPhone app called HotWire for iPhone. It provides you with an interface for tweaking performance characteristics of programmable RC cars. 

2-year-old has no trouble using iPad

Dude installs an iPad in his car dashboard.

Sure, the iPad is nice. But will it blend?

LG to host robot-vacuum soccer tournament

Korean electronics giant LG is planning a soccer tournament in Seoul where all the players are robotic vacuum cleaners. This may or may not prove exciting to sports fans, but you can bet the floor will be clean when it's all over.

Fast typing on iPad? It CAN be done!

Impressive! (Props to Cult of Mac)

New cell phone shows 3D without glasses!

Sharp unveiled cell phones that show 3D without lame glasses. The
phone's special screen shows different images to each eye, as long as
the user's eyeballs are within 12 inches of the screen. They could go
on sale this year.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Japanese robot genius clones model

A Japanese robot maker named Hiroshi Ishiguro unveiled his latest robot: Geminoid F. The robot is a replica of a 20-something woman who's identity is being kept confidential. The robot is more advanced than the clone Ishiguro made of himself a few years ago, and can make much more convincing facial expressions. Is it even possible to see this without thinking about the 1975 movie, "The Stepford Wives"?

Luxury Hyundai will come with an iPad!

Hyundai's Equus luxury sedan will come with a free iPad (well, it's "free" after you pay $65,380 for the car), pre-loaded with custom software that will enable customers to make service appointments. What I'd really like is an iPad dock built into the dash, with all controls displayed on the iPad.

I've written 20 columns on iPad and the future of PCs!

Here's the complete list of opinion columns I've written about the iPad and the future of multi-touch computing. 

Can Microsoft survive in an iPad world?

Unlike Apple, which has gone for the jugular with the iPhone and now the iPad, Microsoft is dabbling around on the periphery with its multi-touch initiatives. Surface was designed for casinos and retail marketing. Courier, if it exists at all, uses both pen and touch and is narrowly focused on specific uses. The Windows Phone 7 Series is vaguely promising, but it will have to compete not with the iPhone, which has been dominating the market for three years, but with a future iPhone, which may not be easy to compete with. Microsoft's initiatives strike me as projects designed above all to avoid the cannibalization of existing products. But if Microsoft doesn't kill its existing cash cows with innovative new systems, Apple surely will. Read the whole story.

Mystery Pic 116: 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 mentioned in the Mike's List newsletter! (The answer will be revealed exclusively in the next issue. Go here to subscribe now!)

3D Chess for iPad hits. No glasses!

A company called High Jinx Interactive announced today a combination hardware-software board game called 3D Chess for iPad. The $25.99 game comes with a special code for downloading the software component from the iTunes iPad app store. The software displays a professional-quality, life-like chessboard in any of three color schemes. The package also includes physical, 3D chess pieces made from high-quality black-and-white, biodegradable polylactide plastic. No glasses required! (Go here for more.)

Don't look now, but here comes the 'ePad'

Hype surrounding Apple's long-awaited touch tablet centers on the living room. But are iPads ready for the boardroom? The cubicle? The data center? Let's dispense right up front with any notion that iPads will be successfully blocked from enterprise use. It's going to happen. Resistance was futile against PCs, laptops, instant messaging, PDAs, personal smart phones (including the iPhone), and it will be futile again for the iPad. Call it the "ePad."

Netbook keyboard concept folds out like origami.

Designer Yang Yongchang came up with this design, which is the best idea I've seen in a while to solve the netbook cramped-keyboard problem. This is just a concept, but Lenovo should get right on it. 

A second fake iPad hits in China!

The first fake iPad was a Windows 7 touch tablet with a custom-made copy-cat iPad OS. This new one, spotted on a Chinese web site, runs Android. It should cost $147.

Envelopes made from Google Maps? Why not?

Syracuse University Industrial Design students came up with the concept of envelopes made from printed Google Maps. The concept isn't a real product, and Google isn't involved. But the idea is interesting. The mailing address on the mailing address points to its location on the map. Although Google isn't likely to do this, you could. Simply print out the maps and address, and glue the envelope together old school. 

Why the iPad is the most important launch in Apple's history.

I think the iPad is the most important launch in Apple's history -- bigger than Mac, iPod or iPhone. More important, I think it's the most significant cultural phenomenon of this generation. It's bigger than technology. I'm no fanboy. I've tried to envision some conceivable series of events that might leave the iPad as only moderately successful, but I can't come up with any. All circumstances, facts and events in technology, media and elsewhere seem to point to the same inexorable outcome: The iPad will be huge. 

Guy replaces license plate with SQL injection to foil red light cameras

Who knows if this works, but you have to admire the creativity and audacity. (Props to Gizmodo)

Mystery Pic 115: 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 mentioned in the Mike's List newsletter! (The answer will be revealed exclusively in the next issue. Go here to subscribe now!)

Worst USB gadget yet: Tampon flash drive!

What can I say, except that a tampon flash drive means we've reached a new low in USB flash drive gimmickry? (Fortunately, this looks like a computer-generated image, and no prices are listed.)

Why Yahoo will be next to leave China.

Based on a sample of two companies, Google and GoDaddy, we can construct a profile of what kinds of companies might also leave China. In both cases, these companies offer Internet services to the Chinese public used for exercising Article 19 human rights. And in both cases, the Internet business is more than 95 percent of the total business attempted in China. Based on this profile, any company based outside of China that offers any sort of online communications service that might be used for expressing or "consuming" political, cultural or historical ideas as its sole or main business is a candidate for imminent departure.

My prediction is that Yahoo will be the next major company to announce a pull-out or scale back of operations in China. Go here to read the whole story. 

Say hello to Microsoft's Buzz killer. Maybe.

Every once in a while, Microsoft comes up with a super popular product, one that people love to use. No, really!

Windows 95 and Windows 7 are good examples. Xbox is awesome. Word had a good run. And a lot of people love Outlook. There are others.

The issue of lovable Microsoft products is separate and distinct from market success, which often earns Microsoft billions, even though people hate using them. Windows Vista, Exchange and Windows Mobile come to mind.

Don't look now, but Microsoft is sitting on a super lovable product -- or at least a concept that could be a product, if Microsoft can muster the vision to ship it before they smother it with features and functionality.

It's called OfficeTalk.

Why I'm quitting Google Reader.

RSS is the life blood of my work. I rely on it to keep me informed on the industry in a timely fashion. Long ago, I switched to Google Reader, because it did what I wanted it to do: It displayed my subscriptions in reverse-chronological order. At some point, Google added sharing. I ignored it. That is, until Buzz came out. Google decided that everyone you choose to follow on Buzz would also automatically be followed on Google Reader as well. It's as if all the movies, photos, blog entries and e-mails of every person you followed on Twitter suddenly came flooding into your inbox every minute of the day. It would be fine if I could turn if off somehow. But I can't. Go here to read the rest. 

It's on! Chinese government responds to Google (with hostility)

Google's move is "totally wrong," said a government spokesman, described as the "official in charge of the Internet bureau under the State Council Information Office" through though the official Chinese news agency Xinhua. Further, he said, "Google has violated its written promise it made when entering the Chinese market by stopping filtering its searching service and blaming China in insinuation for alleged hacker attacks." Read the rest.

Why Google's move slaps the Chinese government in the face!

Google's carefully worded blog post today explaining why they redirected mainland Chinese traffic to the Hong Kong version of Google sounds fair and balanced. In fact, it's a humiliating slap in the face for the Chinese government. Here's why.

Dairy cows get big-screen TVs, watch video of green pastures.

Dairy cows who live in tiny, indoor pens must be miserable, reasoned a Russian dairy farmer. So he decided to lift their moods by installing 40-inch LCD TVs above the pens that show video of Swiss Alpine pastures. The farmer is testing his theory by measuring the milk output of the TV-watching cows against a control group of cows that have no TVs.

Shirt has built-in microfiber for cleaning cell phone or glasses!

A small Japanese design company called FIFT has created something they called the Wipe Shirt, which has built-in microfiber for cleaning your cell phone or glasses in either the left bottom or right sleeve.

Found Video: Virtual choir has all singers performing on PC webcams.

This is amazing.