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The Week In iPhone Ap...

Gizmodo 6 mins ago, 462 words

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The Week In iPhone Apps: Spore Origins Hands-On Edition [IPhone Apps]

I've been running around at CEDIA this week, so for today's installment, on top of a rundown of our app news from the week, we had a chance to give Spore Origins for the iPhone a spin before it drops (hopefully) this Sunday.

As we saw at E3 and WWDC, the iPhone version of Spore is Spore Origins, which is limited to the "primordial ooze" stage you see here, with a limited version of the Creature Creator thrown in for tweaking your bug cosmetically. On the plus side, it's simple and a quick diversion, and it's fun combo-ing your way through 35 increasingly difficult levels of munching little floaties. You can also import photos from your iPhone camera to texture-map on your creatures (Benny's Michigan Fab 5 tee).

But on the downside, the game suffers from the same control awkwardness that all of the accelerometer-only games do—as you can see in our video, the camera had a tough time keeping focus because you're always dramatically moving the phone to try to reign in your creature. A training stage featured a level-like bubble for each axis that showed you when you were at the zero-point, which was incredibly helpful—too bad it disappeared after training.

And most disappointingly, Spore for iPhone does not connect with the greater Spore hive in any way, meaning you won't see any procedurally generated creatures made by real other players of the game via Spore's central server. Kind of a weird choice for such a connected phone, and most confusingly, EA says the simpler Java based game for most other cellphones does in fact have connectivity to the greater spore world.

There's still some vagueness with release date (EA's site still only says "sometime in September") but all other Spore platforms launch in the US this Sunday. Look for it then or soon thereafter in the App Store for a price that'll probably be in the $10 and below range.

This week's app coverage on Giz:

Remember what it was like to buy a CD? Apple's plans to include lyrics and additional album art via an app download for certain albums will help you remember.
Continunig to carry the torch for political apps is Election '08 - a $1 app that collects poll data, electoral vote projections, and tons of other election data.
And at CEDIA, all of the home automation systems are racing each other to release remote control applications, turning your iPhone into a capable touchscreen control surface for opening the blinds from across the street or jacking up the AC if your cat gets hot.

For even more apps: see what you missed last week and check our original iPhone App Review Marathon. Have a good weekend everybody.

Researchers Build Malicious Facebook App

Slashdot 45 mins ago, 121 words

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Researchers Build Malicious Facebook App

narramissic writes "Back in January, a team of researchers uploaded a malicious program to Facebook to demonstrate the possible dangers of social networking applications. Called 'Photo of the Day,' the app serves up a new National Geographic photo daily, but every time it's clicked it sends a 600 K-byte HTTP request for images to a victim's Web site. Photo of the Day is still listed on Facebook, with its authorship attributed to Andreas Makridakis, one of the researchers. The application has 514 active users now, with several comments praising it. The study was published by the Foundation for Research and Technology in Heraklion, Greece, and the Institute for Infocomm Research in Singapore."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Google Chrome: Anatomy Of A Logo [Design]

Gizmodo 53 mins ago, 80 words

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Though it's in no way official, I happen to enjoy Google Blogoscoped's analysis of the Google Chrome logo and agree with the influences listed. In addition to the hodge podge of handheld Simons, Pokeballs, Firefox, webcams and Google logos, Neatorama also throws in the Sal-9000 eye from 2010 for good measure. It also kinda looks like that robot lamp from yesterday (obviously, they're not remotely related). Anything else this reminds you of? [Google Blogoscoped via Neatorama]

Panasonic's 65VX100U ...

Gizmodo 1 hrs ago, 247 words

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Panasonic's 65VX100U Premiere Kuro-Killing Plasma Reviewed (Verdict: Best Flat Panel to Date) [Th-6

Just yesterday we got our first taste of Panasonic's new TH-65VX100U plasma technology, which features specs that meet or exceed Pioneer's Kuro. Our initial impressions were extremely positive, but Gary at HD Guru managed to get his hands on an early production sample for a closer look, and he too was impressed. In fact, he called it the "new king of flat panels."

During the review he broke down some of the technology behind the eye popping specs, as well as taking note of a feature set that is high on performance and low on ordinary TV functions. Being a monitor, the 65VX100U does not feature a built-in HDTV or analog tuner and standard definition source imputs like composite and S-video. However, it does include 4 HDMI jacks, one component video, one PC input (VGA), and a RS-232 jack.

As far as performance is concerned, Gary compared it side by side with the 50-inch Kuro and found that Pioneer won on ultimate black level and in the effectiveness of its anti-reflective screen, but the latter results in an purple-reddish tint that can be clearly seen when compared side by side with the 65VX100U. The Kuro also requires a higher level signal to come out of black, which obscured details that the Panasonic did not. All in all, it seems that if you have $10,000 to plunk down on a 65-inch flat panel, the 65VX100U should be at the top of your list. [HD Guru]

The 25 Funniest Videos on the Web

Rolling Stone 1 hrs ago, 118 words

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As a compendium to the current issue, RollingStone.com presents the “25 Funniest Videos on the Web,” a collection of the most hilarious and outrageous Internet video creations currently available on this series of tubes. Click below for classics like “Fat Kid on a Rollercoaster,” “Dramatic Lemur” and of course, the above Bill O’Reilly freak out megamix.

• The 25 Funniest Videos on the Web (No, Really!)

• The Rolling Stone Interview: David Letterman

• Table of Contents: Inside The Comedy Issue

5 Years of RIAA Filesharing Lawsuits

Slashdot 1 hrs ago, 113 words

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NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "David Kravets of Wired.com, who provided in-person gavel-to-gavel coverage of the Capitol v. Thomas trial last year, takes stock of the RIAA's 5-year-old litigation campaign, concluding it is 'at a crossroads', and noting that 'billions of copies of copyrighted songs are now changing hands each year on file sharing services. All the while, some of the most fundamental legal questions surrounding the legality of file sharing have gone unanswered. Even the future of the RIAA's only jury trial victory — against Minnesota mother Jammie Thomas — is in doubt. Some are wondering if the campaign has shaped up as an utter failure.'"

Parking Comparison Sites

AboutAirportParking.com - Has listings for over 400 parking lots near over 100 international airports. Can add optional services like valet, car wash, mechanics and more. You can read more about this site in our Startup Review.

BestParking.com - Allows you to compare parking rates of various garages in Boston, New York City, Philadelphia and Washington D.C. Also offers a mobile version.

ParkingAnytime.com - Locate garages, lots, free parking and more for a given area. Limited to Chicago, IL during their beta phase.

ParkingCarma.com - See real-time data of available parking spaces. If you register, you can reserve parking spaces in advance. Serves multiple US cities.

PrimoSpot.com - Gives you information on parking conditions in Manhattan and Brooklyn, and will show you the actual parking rules for a specific space. The service plans to include more cities. You can read more about PrimoSpot here on Mashable.

Streetlinenetworks.com - Not operational yet, Streetline is putting monitors in 24,000 San Francisco metered parking spots so people will know where spots are available. Read a summary of Streetline’s services here on Mashable.

Parking Spot Rentals

CraigsList.org - As with just about anything else you can sell or rent, CraigsList has numerous listings for parking spaces.

ParkAtMyHouse.com - Specializes in renting out parking spaces around sporting venues, airports or just about anywhere. Available in Australia, Canada, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the UK and the USA.

ParkingHunter.com - Lists available spaces to rent in cities such as Chicago, New York City, San Francisco, Vancouver and more.

ParkLet.co.uk - Offers listings of thousands of parking spaces available for rent all over the United Kingdom.

ParkingSpotter.com - Helps you locate parking spots for major events, airports or everyday use.

Parkingspots.com - Parking spot rental connections for those who own them, and those who need them, in the USA and Canada. You can find a more detailed review of Parkingspots here.

ParkWhiz.com - Offers parking options around airports, sports arenas, daily & monthly parking and some more tools for those who need a place to park.

SpotScout.com - Parking garages list their inventory and then you can look them up on the Web or your mobile device.

YourParkingSpace.co.uk - A site to help connect people with spare parking spaces in the UK with those who are looking for them.

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Related Articles at Mashable! - The Social Networking Blog:

ParkingHunter is Just a Google/Craigslist Map Mashup. Yawn.
At Least ParkingSpots.com Has a Good Domain Name
Plan Ahead with About Airport Parking (The Startup Review)
Learn NYC’s Street Parking Landscape With PrimoSpot
WeFi Finds Friends from Their WiFi
Infield Parking to Launch NASCAR Social Network
Orbitz Launches Incentives for Traveler Update Service

The 50-Foot Mechanical Spider Awakens [Clips]

Gizmodo 1 hrs ago, 74 words

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The 50-Foot Mechanical Spider Awakens [Clips]

The 50-foot robot spider known as "La Princesse" has awakened from hibernation to explore the streets of Liverpool. This £1.5m beast is supposed to aid tourism and spur the local economy—which will just mean that La Princesse has more goodies to eat. We're not quite sure what strange marching bands and snow have to do with taming giant arthropods on a rampage, but we're not ones to judge the miracles of science. [BBC]

Grateful Dead to Play Another Show for Barack Obama

Rolling Stone 1 hrs ago, 86 words

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Grateful Dead to Play Another Show for Barack Obama

It’s official. Sources tell Rock Daily that the Grateful Dead will play a fundraiser for Barack Obama on October 13 at Penn State. The band, including Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann, Phil Lesh and Mickey Hart, are planning to rehearse next week to prep for the show in one of the more hotly contested presidential swing states with Warren Haynes on lead guitar. Phil Lesh’s son, an Obama volunteer, lined up the gig. “They are all totally committed to the show,” said a friend of Jerry Garcia.

Question of the Day: ...

Gizmodo 2 hrs ago, 109 words

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Question of the Day: Have You Made Google Chrome Your Default Browser? [Question Of The Day]

It's been a few days since Google Chrome was released, so you should have a fairly decent idea of what the deal is by now. Obviously, it is still in beta, so there are bugs to work out and scary EULAs to be freaked out by—which is why I'm curious to know how many of you have taken the bold step of running it as your default browser. I'm also interested in knowing whether or not you plan on keeping it that way.

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