San Francisco, San Jose and Palo Alto, California were all too happy to endorse Better Place's electric vehicle infrastructure two years ago, but now the powers that be have invested some cash to get this show on the road. The Bay Area's Metropolitan Transportation Commission has dropped $6.9 million to purchase and build 61 electric taxis and four robotic battery swap stations to put freshly juiced cells in place -- just like Better Place has been doing with Tokyo taxis since April 26th. Yellow Cab Cooperative and Yellow Checker Cab will operate the zero-emission vehicles, though CNET reports that they've yet to choose a particular type -- perhaps we'll finally see Mitsubishi's i MiEV with a steering wheel on the left-hand side? PR after the break.

Continue reading Better Place's electric taxis coming to SF Bay Area, thanks to $7 million grant

Better Place's electric taxis coming to SF Bay Area, thanks to $7 million grant originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 31 Oct 2010 14:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A curious Apple fan decided to email Steve Jobs a note asking about whether there'll be USB 3.0 support in Macs soon. This was the reply: More »

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Filed under: Fun, Games, Time-Wasters

Quiet, blocky, cryptic, and minimalistic. These are the first adjectives that come to mind when I think of Feign 2. It's a maze game, but it's built like an FPS (first-person shooter). So, it's like Quake with a creepy soundtrack, but there are no monsters.

Your goal is to collect nine bodies by navigating the maze. The whole thing is done up in shades of gray, but the bodies are bright orange. They're almost iridescent, so they're very easy to spot, but they're not so easy to find. This means that once you're in the vicinity of a body, you won't miss it. However, if it's hiding just behind a wall or two, you're in for a bit of hunting.

This is not an arcade game. I think it's something to do while you're on the phone, because you can easily pause, and it's not fast-paced. You don't really "pause" per se - you just stop moving, and nothing happens.

Bottom line: Feign 2 is soothing, artsy, and just a tad creepy.

Feign 2 is an eerie, artsy first-person maze game -- Time-Waster originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 27 Oct 2010 13:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Think Fourquare's counts as oversharing? Try Residential Foursquare, where the checking-in's not nearly as important as the comments. The horrible, personal, hilarious comments that people leave about your mom. More »

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Filed under: Security

Facebook's immense popularity has made it a prime target for cybercriminals. Malicious (or 'poisoned') links, spam, and malvertising are all too common -- and it's far too easy for an unsuspecting Facebook user to be taken in. Hey, if one of your friends sends you a link to what seems like a hilarious picture, there's a decent chance you'll click through, right?

... And that's how the bad guys get you. Fortunately, however, there's a slick new Facebook app from BitDefender called safego that can help protect you (and your less-technical friends and family).

The idea is simple: install safego and let it scan your profile. Any links you've received will be scanned, including short URLs from services like bit.ly and tinyurl. Fire up the scanner and let it check all those new messages and wall posts you've received, and you'll know in an instant if there's anything that you should avoid clicking.

My mind boggles when I think about all of the infected computers I've cleaned that could have been spared that fate if their owners had used an app like safego to defend their Facebook profiles.
safego even checks your account for any privacy issues which might need to be addressed. Right now, unfortunately, attention items aren't linked -- so I can't find out what it is about my profile safego thinks I should check.

The app is in beta, however, so I'd fully expect that problem to be addressed by the time it sheds the tag. It's also worth noting that on some versions of Google Chrome the bottom boxes in safego's dashboard (last scanned items and infected items) never update. Again, this is likely a beta issue.

Growing pains aside, BitDefender safego is still a fantastic way for any Facebook user to protect him or herself. If you've ever been the victim of a malicious link on Facebook or had your profile attacked by some nasty malware, safego is an app you simple shouldn't be without.

BitDefender provides safego totally free, and with good reason. The Facebook app is a great idea, and it's got tremendous viral potential. That means a lot of free PR and more name recognition for BitDefender -- which in turn could lead to increased sales of the company's paid products.

It should also allow BitDefender greater insight into the Facebook threat landscape, and that's a good thing for all of us. The more security companies know about what the bad guys are up to on Facebook, the better equipped they'll be to protect us.

Install the BitDefender safego Facebook app

BitDefender safego protects you from Facebook dangers originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 27 Oct 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Aakkoset bookshelf from Kayiwa might not be the most efficient way to store your things, but the alphabet shelf sure would get a typographer excited. Look at how useful a well constructed 'W' can be! More »

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Though Verizon famously turned down the original iPhone before Apple ultimately signed a deal with AT&T, the company's outspoken CEO -- Ivan Seidenberg -- has been very careful over the past couple years to note that he'd love to eventually have an iPhone in his lineup. With Verizon Wireless boss Lowell McAdam tapped to take over the top job next year, what'd be a better swan song for Seidenberg than to finally pull it off? Fortune's new profile of the longstanding chief exec and elder statesman is reporting in very matter-of-fact terms that a CDMA version of the iPhone 4 will be a reality on Verizon in "early 2011," lining up with most of the rumors the interwebs has been generating over the past few months.

The piece details the phone as the culmination of literally years of careful discussions between Seidenberg, McAdams, and Steve Jobs; Verizon's guys claim that Jobs acknowledged in late 2007 that the two companies had "missed something" by failing to partner up. The first visible fruit of those talks is the MiFi-bundled iPad that just launched, but that's clearly a minor stepping stone on the way to an actual handset. Fortune reports that Jobs has voiced his concerns over CDMA in the past and the fact that it doesn't work in nearly as many countries as GSM does, but the story goes on to say that the first model on Verizon's shelves "probably" won't be dual-mode and presumably won't have compatibility with the company's shiny new LTE network, either. If true, that'll make for an interesting battle for the spotlight in the first few months of 2011 as an EV-DO iPhone wages war with a number of LTE phones -- some of which look downright gorgeous -- and might put Verizon in the awkward position of having to heavily push two almost diametrically opposed handset and platform initiatives. Furthermore, it's hard to deny that a Verizon iPhone would stress the carrier's network in ways it's never been stressed before; they may be prepared for it, but there's no way of knowing until it all goes down and they get a sense for uptake and conquests from AT&T. Translation: McAdam looks to have a busy 2011 ahead of him as he transitions into the new office.

iPhone locked for early 2011 on Verizon, says Fortune originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 29 Oct 2010 16:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Bummer. Just a few short days after PlayOn support was apparently added to Roku's stable of set-top boxes, it looks as if the fun has come to an abrupt halt. Based on quotes from both PlayOn and Roku staff members, it sounds like the PlayOn channel will no longer work on those who try to get it installed, but those who managed to slip in early may be in the clear. Jim, a PlayOn staffer, stated that his company was "contacted today by Roku and told that they were going to disallow this channel," and because neither the Roku channel developer nor Roku "are affiliated with PlayOn, [they] have no control over the situation." On the Roku side, one Patrick has confirmed that "while... many of you are excited about a PlayOn-compatible Channel and may be using it, it unfortunately presents the possibility of legal exposure for us; as a result, the current PlayOn channels have been removed and are no longer available to add to your Roku player." If your bubble has just been popped in the worst possible way, we'd probably start looking into that 30-day return policy -- for you early birds, is PlayOn still working on your Roku box? Hit us up in comments below.

[Thanks, Brian]

Roku 'disallows' PlayOn, cites 'possibility of legal exposure' originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 29 Oct 2010 09:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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QUANTUM FINISAR ELECTRONICS FOR IMAGING HEWLETTPACKARD PROGRESS SOFTWARE

Think Hyundai's 70-inch multitouch table concept is hot stuff? Have a gander at this. The Table Connect for iPhone is dangerously close to completion, with a full-on mockup shown above. Put simply, this 58-inch multitouch surface accepts iPhone 4 connections via a 30-pin Dock Connector, and with a bit of magic, the table becomes your iPhone. The crew is currently wrapping up an alpha software release, and while a jailbroken iPhone is obviously necessary to get things going, the end result is bound to be impressive. Or at least hilarious. Here's hoping these eventually go on sale, but for now, feel free to hit the source link for one more shot and a slew of diagrams.

58-inch Table Connect for iPhone multitouch surface easily dwarfs your iPad originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 29 Oct 2010 10:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You can't blame the people of 1920 for falling for Edison's practical joke. After all, this was the man who invented the light bulb! When he told a magazine he'd invented a phone that communicates with spirits, hysteria understandably ensued. More »

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