BMW to Launch NYC Tech Incubator With $100 Million Investment Fund

Today, BMW announced the planned creation of a tech incubator in New York City to seed innovations in mobile and location-based services. The announcement follows the automaker's establishment in February of a venture capital company, BMW i Ventures, with an investment fund of as much as $100 million, and serves as yet another indication that BMW is turning its eye toward the mobile startup scene.

While such a strategy has obvious benefits in an industry increasingly looking to merge vehicles with high-end tech (BMW's iPhone integration, Ford SYNC, Hyundai's iPad owner's manual), the automaker is clear that it's not expecting to invest only in technology applicable to automobiles.

"As a mobility company, we are focusing on mobility services that may not even have anything to do with cars,"says Joerg Reimann, a managing director of BMW i Ventures."We're not coming at this from a car {perspective}, we're coming from a consumer {perspective}."

That's partly why the company chose to set up shop in New York City. It's of course ironic that BMW would settle on a city known for its public transit, but according to Alexander Diehl, another MD at the venture fund, the Big Apple serves as the ideal case-study for mobile tech."We're interested in things that actually help you get around in cities, {and} New York creates some interesting challenges for mobility,"he says."There are some people who are commuters, and other people are living in Manhattan without {cars}."

Such a dense urban space helps seed very unique innovations, he says. Think of all the technology that has spawned from these--much of which has applications in the auto industry, from Zipcar to UberCab. It's no surprise that distinctly mobile services such as GroupMe and Foursquare were founded New York. Diehl says he's interested in new ways to look at traffic, parking, entertainment, the interlinking of different transportation modes, and places where"the digital meets the offline space."

"As megacities become bigger, people have mobility needs, but they satisfy them in different ways,"says Bernhard Blaettel, director of project mobility services at BMW AG."So there's two possibilities here. We could say as BMW, we are cars, we are the ultimate driving machine; let's hope we'll still be successful 20 years from now; let's not look left and right. Or, we say no. We have also always been innovative--trying to shape the future--so let's not ignore what's happening but deliberately go into this space and see what we can contribute here and transfer our ideas and brand value in the field of {mobile} services."

That's not to say BMWs (and cars for that matter) are going away anytime soon."It doesn't mean we're convinced cars are going to become less important,"Blaettel says."We just think that in some areas they may be used in a different context."

BMW i Ventures is currently looking for a space to set up its tech incubator in New York City. In terms of its available funding, BMW says it will determine investments in each startup on case-by-case basis.

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Microsoft to Apple:"App Store" as Generic as"Grocery Store"

Microsoft fired back at Apple this week in the on-going dispute over the trademark of the coveted compound term,"App Store."The dueling legal briefs shows the depth of the age-old rivalry and also reveals a fascinating look into the hair-splitting world of trademark. Microsoft's latest argument is, essentially, that Apple cannot own"App Store"anymore than a large food retailer could lay claim to"Grocery Story,"since its the very descriptor needed to discuss what a group is.

Thelegal retort{pdf} comes on the heels of Apple's public denunciation ofMicrosoft'shypocrisy, namely, that"App Store"is no more generic than"Windows"is for describing an operating system. As such, it was contradictory to claim that a descriptive term couldn't be trademarked by its competitor.

We reached out to to Microsoft to rebut this seemingly devastating argument by Apple. In an e-mail, a Microsoft representative wrote:

"Although there is overwhelming evidence that the term“Windows” is not a generic term to describe operating systems, the term “app store” is widely used in the technology industry today as a generic term for stores that offer apps and not to identify a single company’s application marketplace."

In other words, 'operating system' isn't synonymous with 'Windows'; no one with a Mac would say"My laptop is running slow, I need a new a Windows."

However, Microsoft argues, 'app store' is an exceedingly common descriptor for an online database of applications. In fact, to even conceive of similar competitor databases, one has to search for the term"app store."

"What do people call Apple’s and its competitors’ stores as a group, or genus?"the brief asks."To find that, you need to look where people talk about multiple stores, not just Apple’s. And when you look there, you find them called app stores.'"

Thus, Apple has trademarked the very descriptor of the concept."We buy shoes at a“shoe store,” toys at a “toy store,” groceries at a “grocery store,” computers at a “computer store,” and so on."

Still, Apple maintains that plenty of competitors have found workable, intuitive alternative names without much sweat: Android Marketplace, RIM's App World, and the Palm App Catalog. Ripping away Apple's own trademark would punish success. Indeed, a previous court worried that disputes against a company that popularizes a product is dangerous because it"penalizes the trademark’s owner for his success in making the trademark a household name and forces him to scramble to find a new trademark."

Apple is already entrenched with the term: they own theFacebook page, theWikipedia entry, and have displayed it countless advertisements that can't be retroactively scrubbed. Thus, Apple would take a substantial hit for something that competitors have already found a workable alternative for.

To this, Microsoft has a clever, if only somewhat convincing retort: fear of Apple's legal attack dogs forced competitors to find another name. Apple's market dominance doesn't give it the right to own the concept.

Unfortunately, to arbitrate the dispute, legal precedent isn't much help: courts have upheld brand names likeHoney Baked Ham, yet rejectedScreenwipe. Thus, the extended legal dispute may come down to the subjective perception of just how essential"App Store"is to the market.

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Nintendo 3DS: Controlling Innovation

While I have issues withNintendo 3DS as a gadget, there is no denying that it is a remarkable gaming machine. With the 3-D capabilities come interesting media opportunities--it allows you to take 3-D photos, a 3-D version ofOK Go's"White Knuckles"music videocomes with the handheld, and Netflix will stream in 3-D this summer. But looking beyond the flashy 3-D graphics, it is the treasure trove of innovative gameplay features that should make gamers excited.

Since the Nintendo 3DS features both outward- and player-facing cameras (two cameras for 3-D images, actually), it enables some impressive Augmented Reality gaming. The 3DS comes with a picture of a coinblock fromSuper Mario. Point the camera at it, and it comes to life, letting you play minigames like archery and fishing, right there on your table. The player-facing camera can also be used in interesting ways:The Sims 3uses a photo of your face as part of your Sim.Simsproducer Ken Ogasawara said,"I had a lot of fun working with the camera and using it to get pictures of friends into the game. A combination of the face recognition and augmented reality would be an interesting concept, where it would not only bring something out into the world, but perhaps bringing in something into the world at the same time with the camera on the front and back."

The gyroscope and accelerometer allow motion control gaming, such as inSteel Diver. You are at a submarine periscope and actually rotate your whole body to turn your view and spot enemy ships to torpedo. These same sensors allow the 3DS, when in"sleep mode"to act as a pedometer to track how much you walk--which earns you coins to buy extras in certain games.

Even the system's wireless capabilities provide an innovative feature--Street Pass. When your 3DS is in sleep mode, you can exchange data with other 3DS systems in your vicinity. This enables features like automatic battles inStreet Figher IV 3D. InRidge Racer 3Dyou share ghost data, so you can race against cars that reflect the best lap times of other players. Tony Key, Ubisoft's SVP of Sales& Marketing, said,"The StreetPass feature will garner a lot of attention from players. StreetPass has enormous potential to create sophisticated meta-games."

All of these features create new opportunities for game developers to create unique experiences--even the 3-D graphics are just ripe for brand-new types of games. The control innovations coupled with the innovations carrying over from the Nintendo DS--dual screens, touchscreen controls, and voice controls via microphone--create a portable gaming package that will provide gameplay previously unseen."Working on a new platform is always exciting; our development teams get to flex their creativity on designing games,"said Key.

It isn't really surprising, since Nintendo has a history of leading the gaming industry. When the Nintendo Entertainment System game out in 1986, it reinvigorated the space, and had a handful of new features: games complex enough to last more than the handful of minutes like Atari games, or games with batteries so you could save your progress and resume your game later--which allowed lengthy quests like the originalLegend of Zelda.

With each machine they released, Nintendo continued evolving: the Gameboy was the first portable system with cartridges to switch titles; Super Nintendo added shoulder buttons to controllers, along with  rudimentary 3-D sprites; the Nintendo 64 had the first controller with analog controls for precise movements; the Game Cube console and Gameboy Advance handheld had interconnectivity for unique gameplay opportunities, such asPac Man Vs.andZelda: Four Swords Adventure; and Nintendo DS had the aforementioned mic, touchscreen, and dual-screen design. Most recently and emphatically,the Wii's motion controlsand Mii system for creating cute versions of players left a huge impact on the game industry, evidenced by Sony and Microsoft's later strategies (Move and Kinect for motion controls, PlayStation Home and Avatars matching Miis).

As a gamer who has played since the original NES was released, I have seen each generation of system and accompanying innovations change gaming. And now I have seen true 3-D graphics and watched a printed image of ink come to life through AR with the Nintendo 3DS. And so gaming has evolved again.

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Apple Rumor Roundup: New MobileMe, More and Better Location Apps, Smart TV

The Apple rumor mill grinds ever on, and has turned up new hints about the future ofMobileMe, location apps, and that Apple TV story (again).

MobileMe goes free?

Apple seems to have ceased sales of MobileMe direct to customers, and a revamp is both highly anticipated and overdue. Rumors have been building up, and center on a new free access business model, and the launch of iTunes streaming service as a"music locker"stored in user's MobileMe iDisk space in the cloud--possibly utilizing the North Carolina data center.

Now those rumorshave acquired an extra momentumwith suggestions from"informed sources"that Apple has closed a deal with Warner music, and then leveraged that fact in discussions with other labels. The closing date for these deals is seemingly close--Apple is rumored to be planning an April launch for the revamped MobileMe. The new service may well be free (or at least partly) and include more cloud-centric facilities for storing and sharing files of all sorts, from photos to business productivity files.

The rumored price for Apple's"music locker"? A very reasonable-sounding $20 per year.

Location, location, location (apps)

Apple'sjust advertisedfor two new staff to work in"iOS Maps Application"Development, positions to be based in Apple's HQ in Cupertino. The ad begs applicants to"come work for the team that revolutionized the mobile technology industry"to"define what computing looks like in a post-PC era."Most excitingly, the advert notes that"the Maps team is looking for an exceptional developer to join us in our mission to radically improve how people interact with maps and location-based services."

The words"radically improve"have set the tech world atwitter. Apple has always touted the location-based powers of the iPhone and iPad, integrating Google Maps into an app right from the get-go andapplyingforlotsofpatentsin location-based systems. The company has beenbuyingmany location-based companies over the last several years, and may be moving away from using Google's code, prompting observers to wonder if an upcoming iOS revamp would see Apple launching advanced location-specific apps that use its own navigation codes.

Apple TV hardware?

Recent rumors hintedthat Apple was looking into licensing its AirPlay protocols, enhanced for wireless streaming video powers, to third-party TV makers in the same way it does for streaming music currently--a move that would allow Apple to sneak into the TV market.

Now the oft-quoted"analyst"crowd hascome up withsome new information that hints Apple is actually working on TV hardware of its own, a Smart TV that's connected to the Net to enable app and video content downloads and streaming, DVR powers, and perhaps FaceTime video conferencing. According to Katy Hubert of Morgan Stanley, the motivation for a new Apple product in a new market is (no surprise) the cash: If it can tap a mere 1% of the HDTV business by 2013 then it'll add $4 billion in revenues to Apple's already impressive finances.

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iFive: AT&T/ T-Mobile's FCC Barriers, YouTube's Non-Camera Content, Senators vs. DUI Apps, E.U. Cyberattack, Gmail Woes in China

1. Regarding the proposed deal from AT&T to buy T-Mobile, an FCC official hasalready spokenup to suggest the purchase is unlikely to go ahead unmodified, if it were to be approved at all. The official was speaking anonymously and off the record, as there's been no official word from the FCC yet, but is confident that a rubber-stamped green light is very unlikely. 

2. Fresh from moves to boost YouTube's video skills with automatic image stabilization for shaky amateur camera work, Google isreleasing a new systemthat lets you create clips without needing a camera at all. The site atYouTube.com/createincludes access to a number of effects, animation and speech generators that Google's linked in from third party suppliers. It's all aimed at getting new, original content on YouTube to attract more visitors and thus drive ad revenues. 

3. Agroup of US Senators is pressingApple, RIM andGoogleto remove DUI check-point alert apps from their respective smartphone app stores. According to the letters sent to execs 10,000 Americans die in drinking-related accidents every year, and the firms should share the official's"desires"to"end the scourge."It's a carefully targeted effort, ignoring other crowd-sourced apps that warn of red light cameras and speed traps, and ignores the fact these apps probably aren't illegal, and don't violate app store policies: These government officials have an axe to grind. 

4. The E.U. has seen aserious cyber attackon the Commission and External Action Service in the hours before an economic summit in Brussels. The E.U. has shut down external Net connections and email at the affected institution, to prevent"disclosure of unauthorized information"--which hints that the attack was a specifically aimed at seeking secret data rather than a DDoS. The affair has echoes ofan attackon France's government in December that came before the G20 economic summit, and which may have come from China.

5. Google recently accused the Chinese government of suppressing Gmail to deflect efforts at a popular revolution, and China quickly denied any such action. But a tracking system that monitors censorship in Chinahas remarkedthat Gmail is now 45 times slower than the speed of local provider QQ. Google has checked, and there's no reason for the slowdown inside its servers. 

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Samsung's Anti-iPad 2 Policy: Clone the Heck Out of It

In what may be a perfect"if you can't beat 'em, join 'em"maneuver,Samsunghasjust revealedits answer to the iPad 2--a new set of Galaxy Tab tablets. In terms of specs, they're pretty much clones of Apple's offering.

Apple's iPad created the new tablet PC market, and the company just revealed a brand new iPad 2 version that upped its game even before competing devices were really arriving on the market in meaningful numbers. The biggest challenger to Apple yet is Korea's Samsung, whose Galaxy Tab 7-inch Android tablet was touted as the most successful rival to the original iPad (although itmay nothave sold in huge numbers).

The Galaxy Tab is getting a new 8.9-inch edition and a 10-inch version because, as the company's Omar Khan remarked at the unveiling at the CTIA show, Samsung"doesn't believe in the one-size-fits-all"strategy (a completely overt stab at Apple's single tablet offering, somewhat confusingly sharp since Apple's defined the market with this plan).

The"new and improved"10-inch version (seemingly adjusted since its limited debut at the Mobile World Congress because the company deemed it anunsuitablerival to the new Apple device) supports HSPA+ tech for up to 21 Mbps mobile Net speeds, with an LTE and WiMAX version in the future. Inside there's a 1GHz dual-core CPU, dual Wi-Fi antennas, a rear-facing 3-megapixel camera and front-facing 2-megapixel unit, and it's in a super-thin chassis that's just 8.6mm deep and weighing in at 595 grams. A quoted 10 hours of battery life, plus a custom TouchWiz UI on top of Android 3.0, an e-book"reader's hub,"1080p video playback, a dual speaker solution for"surround sound"and Flash 10.2 support. Samsung's positioning it as the"thinnest, lightest and most full-featured large-screen tablet"there is. The 10-inch version will be priced at $499 for a 16GB version with Wi-Fi connection only, and the 32GB edition costs $599. It will hit shelves June 8th in the U.S.

The 8.9 Tab has a similar design, battery life, 8.6mm depth, an 8.9-inch WXGA screen, and comes with a plug-in accessory that adds USB and SD card-reader support. The 8.9-inch version will cost $469 for the 16GB edition and $569 for the 32GB, but its launch date has merely been confirmed as"Summer"2011.

Compare thesespecs to the iPad 2: Starting at $499 for a Wi-Fi-only version, the iPad 2 has a 9.7-inch screen, a 8.8mm-deep metal chassis, a weight of 601 grams,"up to ten hours"of battery life, up to 1080p video playback, 1GHz dual-core CPU, dual"HD"resolution video cameras, a built-in e-reader app ... and so on.

Although Samsung has released two tablets for people chasing two different use-cases, the actual sizes aren't extremely different to the iPad 2, and though there's support for Adobe Flash tech and a few bells and whistles like the pre-loaded Readers Hub for books and (in the US) Music Hub for digital music--which will certainly be attractive to some consumers--the machines are close to being clones of the Apple device, in terms of specs.

In other words, Samsung has thrown in the towel on innovative tablet design, and has realized it has to match Apple's successful design and pricing recipe (to the extent it's even tweaked its design plans) to capture any meaningful market share. You can argue that this is a victory for consumers, who'll now get an aggressively-priced Android tablet to rival Apple's iOS one, for cheaper than the Motorola Xoom costs, and this sort of market diversity is a good thing.

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How a U.S. Spy Drone Could Help Solve Japan's Nuclear Crisis

Therearereportsthat the U.S. military used a Global Hawk spy drone to peep inside the damaged nuclear reactors at Fukushima Daiichi in Japan. It's a tech that could help Japan solve its nuke woes.

The aged boiling water reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi are the subject ofintensescrutinywithin Japan and around the rest of the world: The plant was damaged in the earthquake and subsequent tsunami, and since then numerous safety systems designed to shut down the nuclear reactors have failed, resulting in hydrogen explosions that have damaged the reactor vessels and their surrounding buildings. It's hard to determine what's going on inside the tangled mess of collapsed structures, and efforts to contain the reactors are hampered by radiation leaks. Hence the U.S. offer to assist with a Global Hawk surveillance drone. But what can it do?

Radar Imaging

The autonomous Global Hawk is equipped with a sophisticated radar system that can do far more than the blips and tracks of an air traffic control display you probably imagine when someone says the word"radar."The radar systems onboard the drone can be trained down onto the ground at a long range away from where the aircraft itself is flying. By illuminating"strips"of a battlefield with the radar beam as it flies, the drone can carry out sophisticated surveillance of remote locations thanks to sophisticated computer processing which generates radar images that look a lot like aerial photos--anexample, taken by a JSTARS aircraft is shown below.

The drone can even train the radar onto a specific spot as it flies ("spotlight"mode) and garner incredibly high resolution imagery. Thestatedradar resolution of the Hawk is six feet, but it's reasonable to assume the actual power of the radar package is a secret--such synthetic aperture imagingcan resultin resolutions as small as one foot.

Since the Global Hawk doesn't have to fly directly over the damaged reactors to record its images, it's possible it's being used to generate very high resolution images of what's going on inside the damaged reactor buildings, in a way that's not possible with direct observation from helicopters due to the risk of radiation contamination.

Thermoptic imaging

Thesensor packageon Global Hawks also includes complex infra-red imaging systems that, under battlefield situations, work in collaboration with the radar systems--the combined imaging and heat-signature data can be used to identify vehicle and building targets, identify hotspots on vehicles that recently ran their engines, and even target heat blooms from people.

In the case of the Fukushima reactors, the Global Hawk's IR sensors are probably being used to generate very high resolution images of the reactor containment vessels--the thick metal"bottles"that shield the actual reactor"core"from the outside world. The big worry in this situation is that hydrogen gas explosions may have cracked the vessels, or leaking partially-melted nuclear fuel rods have, and that dangerous radiation leaks may result. The drone's IR images will certainly be able to aid with working out where hotpots on the damaged reactors are, and thus where technicians and engineers are best directed to try to seal up or stabilize the structures. To see how detailed the Global Hawk's imagery is, check out the image below--a shot of adamaged cathedralin Haiti.

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{Image byRennett Stowe}

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Google Cash Powers Up CoolPlanet Biofuels

CoolPlanet Biofuels,a startup that churns out biofuel from cellulosic waste (think plant waste and woodchips) just snagged an undisclosed amount of cash from Google Ventures in its Series B round of funding. This comes after an $8 million funding round last year, which included GE and North Bridge Venture Partners. Out of all the biofuel players in the market, why is CoolPlanet getting so much attention?

CoolPlanet claims that it can develop"carbon-negative fuels"that can replace gasoline found in cars in the road today. The company's secret sauce is a thermal/mechanical processor that extracts hydrocarbons from biomass, leaving behind excess carbon in solid form. That biochar can be sequestered and used as a soil conditioner or burned as a coal substitute. CoolPlanet explains:

The process generates activated carbon with a very high surface area which will allow it to be used as a soil enhancer similar to"terra preta."By burying this carbon in an appropriate manner, we can greatly enhance soil fertility while sequestering carbon for hundreds of years. In contrast, normal plant decomposition occurs in just a few years, releasing the plant's carbon as CO2 and even more harmful methane gas. Our process yields about the same amount of carbon as gasoline so, if we sequester this carbon as a soil enhancer, or simply bury it as coal, the associated fuel has a N100 Negative Carbon Rating.

This fits right into Google Ventures's motto of investing in disruptive companies that change the world for the better. Other companies (includingCarbonscape) produce biofuel with a biochar byproduct, but CoolPlanet is by far the most prominent. And with a global fuel market of $4 trillion each year, there is plenty of money to be made.

Google Ventures's other environmentally relatedinvestmentsincludeWeatherBill, Next Autoworks, and Silver Spring Networks.

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Nokia Leads Ride Pimping Initiative With Apps, Smartphones, NFC, Wireless Charging

Nokia and a long list of car and consumer electronics firmsjust agreedto form the Car Connectivity Consortium--a global effort to harmonize the electronic magic that will power your future car, and which would fill K.I.T.T. with envy. {Ed: And Kit}

According to the press release, the newly minted Car Connectivity Consortium is an"open alliance focusing on cross industry contribution"that will release its first specification"within the next few months"with some of the"first commercial products"due later this year. But what exactly is it they're aiming at? It's exactly the kind of car-to-portable electronics standard that's needed to give us the same kind of super-clever car entertainment, navigation and information systems that we dream of from watching too much sci-fi.

Specifically it's all about connecting"high-performing mobile devices to vehicle-based systems"so that there's"new opportunities for business"and a"world of innovative applications for consumers."

Essentially, Nokia knows that future cars--be they EV editions, or next-gen conventional vehicles--will be rammed full of smart displays, in-car computer and wireless broadband powers, and that consumers would like their pocket-sized computers (smartphones, in other words) to interact with them all. Hence the Consortium is all about tightly connecting"in-car systems such as digital displays, steering wheel buttons, rotary knobs and car audio systems."In particular, there's a system dubbed Terminal Mode based upon established systems like IP, USB and Bluetooth, that could let consumers control their mobile devices via in-car systems for the purposes of convenience and safety.

Along with Nokia, Daimler, GM, Honda, Hyundai, Toyota, Volkswagen, Alpine, Panasonic, LG, and Samsung are involved--but it's an open consortium, so"further leading industry players will join over the coming weeks."It's an open question whetherAppleandGoogle(two huge players in this market who're starkly missing from the initial list) will be among the latecomers.

Best of all among the plans, the Consortium hints that wireless charging for mobile devices is on the cards, andNFC too--which could have a host of uses from electronic"keys,"to individual ID for automated seat-and-mirror adjustments, to automated data sharing between navigation apps in smartphones and in-car systems. BMWrecently revealedits NFC car-key plans, which hints at some of the functionality the CCC may end up designing, and the exciting possibilities that NFC offers could well tempt Apple and Google to play along with their competitors. And to imagine the sort of super-smart in-car systems that may well result, take a glance at the recent news about the Tesla S EV which, it'sjust been revealed, will support third party app integration into its huge 17-inch multitouch system.

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iFive: Facebook Ads vs. Google, IE9's 2.3 Million Downloads, Apple's iPad GPS Trick, Microsoft's Ethics, Asus Chrome Netbook

1. The battle for advertising market share between Facebook and Google just took an interesting turn: Some Facebook app developersare reportingthat Facebook's instructing them to stop using Google's AdSense network. It's because Google hasn't signed Facebook's terms for ad partners, and it's unlikely to--it could impact Google's business model for earning cash. Although not many app writers use AdSense, it's the next step in the battle between the two giants.

2. Microsoft launched its new IE9 browser the other day--and Microsoft islaudingthe code (which has had good reviews) thanks to 2.3 million downloads in its first 24 hours, a success measured as 27 downloads per second according to Microsoft. But incontext, Firefox 3.5 wasdownloaded5 million times in its first day in late 2009, and a year before Firefox 3 was acquired 8 million times in a day.

3. Apple seems to have gifted the Wi-Fi only iPad 2 with anunexpected bonusthat may further its lead in the tablet wars: When tethered to an iPhone, the data link also communicates the iPhone's GPS solution. In other words, Apple's entry-level $499 iPad 2 can geotag photos and act as a full-screen nav unit. Will this help extend the iPad's lead over its nearest rival, the Wi-Fi only Motorola Xoom which starts a full $100 more?

4. Google may be ready to aidnonprofitorganizations generously, but itjust failedto get on the Ethisphere list of the 110 most ethical companies in the world. More than 3,000 companies applied to be measured for their performances in regulatory infractions and sustainable business practices...but only Microsoft scored a hit, being more ethical than Google or Apple thanks to its"corporate citizenship"program.

5. Can Asus rejuvenate the netbook market? It certainly seems to be trying--thereare rumorsit will be launching a $200 netbook with around a 10-inch screen powered by Chrome, undercutting the average cost of today's netbooks by a good margin. It could be considered the next step that was started with the CR-48...and a final move before tablets superseded the entry-level computing game.

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iFive: Google's NFC Payments, Street View Site Revamp, Link Tagging Robot Released, Net Wins Over Newspapers, Japan Data Cables

1. NFC is really taking off--andGooglewants in on the game (bad newsforApple?). It'ssoon to start testingan NFC smartphone credit payment system in New York and San Francisco, possibly inside four months, leveraging its own smartphone and Google Checkout expertise and Verifone's EPOS card processing hardware.

2. Google justtotally overhauledits site that explains its Street View service, for the first time since 2009. The idea is to boost education about the sometimes very controversial street-level photo captures, and to explain what vehicles are used (including the tricycles and hand-carts) as well as showing where Street View vehicles are at any moment.

3. Two ex-MySpace execs havejust launcheda new company level service that you may well encounter in the near future: It's an automated link tagging and curation service dubbed Tagging Robot. Why's it clever? It churns through your Facebook newsfeed looking for links, then applies clever language algorithms to work out what they mean before aggregating them in categories. The idea is to bring the interesting"signals"out from the"noise,"and it's already so successful in beta-testing the robot will expand beyond Facebook soon.

4. A Pew report just revealed an interesting stat: For the first time, in 2010,more peoplein the U.S. used Net tools to access the news compared to traditional newspapers. This represents a sea-change in the industry, and reinforces a trend that's been continuing for quite a while. From this point on, paper-based newspaper publishers will have to reinvent, innovate, and fight for their trade--the report also says every sector in the news industry grew last year, except paper publishing.

5. The tragedy in Japan has had another unexpected technological effect: Many of the transoceanic data cables that connect to and from the nationhave been damagedby the natural disaster, which is affecting Internet traffic crossing the pacific from the Americas to Asia--a key data and trade connection. The companies that own the lines are reported to be rushing to fix them.

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Google Shifts Toward Content Creation With Purchase of Next New Networks

Web TV destination and production companyNext New Networkshas built its brand by scouting for talent on YouTube--but it looks like Google and YouTube may have been the one scouting NNN.

Today YouTube, whichFast Companyprofiled in our February issue,announcedthat it had acquired NNN in a deal that could turn YouTube from content host to content creator.

"Since launching in March 2007, the Next New Networks team has built a highly effective platform for developing, packaging and building audiences around original web video programming, attracting over 2 billion views and 6 million subscribers,"wrote Tom Pickett, director of global content operations, in ablog post."Within YouTube, Next New Networks will be a laboratory for experimentation and innovation with the team working in a hands on way with a wide variety of content partners and emerging talent to help them succeed on YouTube."

NNN, which was also a focus of ourSeptember issue on web TV, features more than a dozen channels of original shows and episodes, includingBarely Politicaland the music parody seriesThe Key of Awesome. According to theNew York Times, Googlespent lessthan $100 million acquiring NNN.

The purchase marks a shift toward original content creation for parent company Google. Competitors from Yahoo to AOL, which recently purchased The Huffington Post, have already ventured in this direction. With NNN, Google may become less reliant on user-generated content.

Still, YouTube is clear that it's not interested in leaving its independent partners behind.

"We’re focused on building a great technology platform for creators, and so we leave the actual creation of great videos to the people who do it best: our partners,"Pickett wrote."The addition of the Next New Networks team doesn’t change that."

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Welcome to the TED Revival: Blind People Drive, Paralyzed People Walk

Yesterday morning at TED resembled an old-time faith-healing session--except instead of the Bible, the force was technology.

FirstDennis Hongpresented the results of his robotics labRoMeLa's collaboration with the National Federation of theBlind. They equipped a car with an accelerometer, GPS, two cameras, and laser rangefinders, and then created a set of novel nonvisual interfaces--vibrating gloves and seat mats, and a brand-new screen called the AirPix that looks like a tiny air hockey table. It uses puffs of air like pixels to create an"image"of obstacles in the road ahead.

Mark Riccobono, blind since age 5, drove the specially outfitted Ford Escape around the track at Daytona one month ago, successfully dodging obstacles along the way. There are more than a few safety issues to be worked out before the legally blind can take the wheel but the interfaces their team developed have other possible applications as well.

Next,Eythor Bendertook the stage. Dressed all in black and speaking in a German accent about exoskeletons, he recalled nothing more than a lost scene fromAvatar. The sinister effect only increased when a burly soldier took the stage, wearing a set of mechanical extra legs that helped him easily shoulder a 200-lb pack. His company Berkeley Bionics has licensed the technology, HULC, to Lockheed Martin.

Finally, the big reveal.Amanda Boxtel, paralyzed from the pelvis down in a skiing accident 19 years ago, walked on to the stage wearing the eLegs with a gait only slightly halting. The legs are artificially intelligent and battery-powered, with a small battery pack worn on the back. She said that adaptive technologies had enabled her to ski, cycle, and climb, but"Nothing has been invented that has enabled me to walk--until now."

{Images:TED Conferenceon Flickr}

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iFive: Cloud iTunes Due Soon, Windows for Tablets Delay, Groupon Sued Over Expiries, South Korea DDoS'd, Iceland Likes WikiLeaks

With memories of the trilogy fading from minds of recent generations, Lord Lucas deemed it time to re-energize his movies with a new type of Force--3-D. Yes,Star Warsfans--The Phantom Menaceisdue for a releasein glorious 3-D in February 2012. This may be the most welcome use of 3-D yet: Getting everyone's favorite sci-fi movie hexology back on the silver screen. On with the news.

1.Appledidn't reveal much other thaniPad 2this week, but is back in the news due to further info about its cloud iTunes plans. Severalpeople with inside knowledge have confirmedApple's in advanced talks with the recording industry to allow iTunes subscribers to"back up"their music to the cloud, then download it as often as they like to their mobile devices--creating a de facto music streaming service. It's due midyear.

2. Is Microsoft effectively ceding the tablet PC market to Apple andGoogle? You'd think so when you hear that its tablet version of Windows has nowbeen slated for a 2012 releasedate. Public testing will begin later in 2011, but it will then take months for MS to integrate all the necessary tweaks, fixes, and polish to create a full public release version.

3.Grouponis facing aclass action suitthis week that centers on a key part of its business--short expiration dates of offers. The date is key to ad partners, who'd prefer not to have to redeem loss-leading coupons over an long period (it hardly preserves the momentum of an offer-driven sales push), but the suit alleges credit card protection laws in the U.S. forbid sale of gift certificates that expire faster than five years.

4.South Korea revealeda number of government websites, including the presidential one and national intelligence agency's were subject to an effective DDoS cyber attack yesterday. In character the attacks are similar to a spate of DDoS events in 2009 that came from North Korea, so says the South. Is this the first evidence of a real, visible cyber war? Innovative, and we suppose it's better than fighting with bullets.

5. Krstinn Hrafnsson, an Icelandic journalist and spokesman forWikiLeaks,just wonIceland's Journalist of the Year award for"excellent processing of a video of a helicopter attack in Baghdad"(the controversial attack that killed Reuters reporters, revealed on WikiLeaks) and"his work as a representative for WikiLeaks."An Icelandic MP was also a WikiLeaks volunteer, and isbeing investigatedby the U.S.

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Obesity Shocker: Pacemaker Zaps Stomach Internally to Prevent Overindulging

Forget stomach stapling and lap band surgery. The next big thing in weight loss surgery may be the stomach pacemaker.

Designed by pacemaker manufacturer Intrapace, theabilitistomach pacemaker is purportedly the first"intelligent"form of obesity intervention. Instead of simply constricting the stomach, the surgically-implanted pacemaker detects when a patient downs food or drink, and zaps the stomach with a series of electrical impulses to generate a feeling of fullness (the system utilizes the nerves around the stomach that signal fullness to the brain). As a result, patients eat less than they would normally.

The system goes beyond just zapping the stomach. It also collects information about food consumption and exercise, all of which can be downloaded to the doctor's office or shared in the abiliti online community.

Of the 65 patients who have used abiliti in clinical trials, half have kept the pacemaker in for a year (it lasts for up to five years)--and the majority of those patients lost 20% of their weight, according to theAP.

The pacemaker, which was approved for sale this month in the EU, costs $24,040 including implantation. Some patients have reported infections caused by the surger, but by and large, the pacemaker seems easier to stomach than lap band or stapling surgery. It doesn't make patients sick when they overeat; it painlessly stops them from doing it in the first place.

The stomach pacemaker is expected to go on sale in the U.S. by 2014, at which point Intrapace can really find out if its device can stem the obesity epidemic.

Follow Fast Company onTwitter.Ariel Schwartz can be reached byemail.

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iFive: Google Tweak Hits Mahalo, Malware Android Apps, Yahoo Leaving Japan, Amazon Threatens Cal., Twitter Axes Apple Parody

On this day 42years agoConcorde took its first flight in Toulouse, France. Back in 1923Timemagazine debuted, and in 1807 Congress outlawed the importing of slaves--each of these facts, and a trillion others, contributed to today's world. So what's today's early news? 

1. Google adjusted its search algorithm last week to suppress content mills and promote quality web writing--and now, in direct response, Mahalo (which has reinvented itself as a"human powered search engine"but is essentially a content factory) hasreduced its staff by 10%because of a"significant dip in ... traffic and revenue."CEO Jason Calacanis sees the move as defining web 3.0 as an era of online experts, not journalists.

2. Google, meanwhile, has justpulled 21 popular appsfrom the Android Marketplace because instead of delivering entertainment, the code behind each is actually malware--either aimed at gaining root control of an owner's phone, or garnering a large amount of personal data. At least 50,000 people had downloaded the code from Google's open app market, possibly because they masqueraded as genuine apps.

3. Yahoo may be trying to extricate itself from its Yahoo Japan joint venture with Softbank in attempt tomobilize $8 billion in funds. Inside data says Yahoo may sell its 35% stake to add to Softbank's existing 42% stake within a few weeks. The target for this cash? China, where Yahoo already has a big stake in popular sales site Alibaba, and also to challenge Google, Facebook and AOL elsewhere in the world.

4. Amazon is flexing its (considerable) economic muscles, and isthreatening to endits advertising relationship with over 10,000 Californian affiliates if the state legislates to force online retailers to collect sales taxes from state residents. Amazon argues it has no on-ground presence in California, which would render the Californian laws unconstitutional and a 1992 Supreme Court ruling supports it. But the 10,000 affiliates are in California, and this is giving Amazon it's leverage. 

5. It may be Apple day, but Twitter'sjust suspendedthe account of parody commenter @CEOSteveJobs--a light-hearted string of pithy, amusing, and apparently brand-/character-smearing comments about Apple affairs. Apple complained in January, and Twitter's yanked the account because of its strict"no parody accounts"stance. Where's the fun element, Twitter? And how closely does this resemble censorship?

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Fumble: Groupon's Super Bowl Spots Boost Traffic a Paltry 3%

Daily discount service Groupon spent millions of dollars on a couple controversial Super Bowl spots--before almost immediatelyapologizing for the commercialsandpulling them from the airwaves.

But if CEO Andrew Mason's candid response--"We hate that we offended people, and we're sorry that we did it"--wasn't evidence enough that these ads were poorly executed, anew reportfrom Nielsen leaves nothing to the imagination.

Nielsen measured whether the large viewership of the Super Bowl spots helped increase traffic to advertisers' websites. Those notoriously scandalous ads from GoDaddy.com? Rocketed post-Super Bowl traffic 41% in terms of unique visits, the biggest lift for any sponsor. Volkswagen? The spots boosted traffic 27%. HomeAway.com? By 27% too. Even Mercedes-Benz managed tojack the stratby 9%--and the company isn't an exclusive or traditional web service.

So how did Groupon.com fare? During the week following the Super Bowl compared to the week prior, Groupon increased traffic by a paltry 3%--a negligible boost given how expensive a Super Bowl spot is and the hundred million-plus consumers who viewed it live.

Compare that to competitor LivingSocial, which managed tosurge traffic 80%with just one popular discount on Amazon.com.

Groupon did win one category however: Super Bowl advertiser buzz. Groupon’s ads, a spoof on celebrity charity endorsements, caused plenty of conversation, placing the rookie Super Bowl telecast advertiser as the No. 5 most buzzed about brand out of all Super Bowl advertisers,"said Nielsen."Among the pure-online players, Groupon took the top spot, capturing 10.5% of total Super Bowl marketing buzz the day after the game, three times the buzz of GoDaddy, which had the largest increase in web traffic."

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