Star Trek Original Series Now Warping on YouTube [Free Series]

Just a few days after its TV anniversary, and in time for the new Star Trek movie, YouTube is now airing a bunch of full episodes of Star Trek. According to them, this is just the beginning:

We are starting to test full-length programming on YouTube, beginning with some fan favorites requested by you.

For now there are 15 50-minute episodes of each series—for Jason and Wilson they are are also showing MacGyver and Beverly Hills 90210—all supported by advertising. I don’t mind the advertising too much, although it just feels like old school TV broadcasting (including the quality). But as long as I can watch them on my iPhone from time to time, I’m happy. Specially since I’m in my Star Trek mood now, maybe to save myself from all the Clone Wars and the rest of stormtrooper raping coming from Lucasfilm—if you didn’t watch South Park this week, go and see it.

And maybe professor Michael Zeller will get his pop references right and help us solve one of the most important questions of all time: Imperial Star Destroyer or Enteprise? [Star Trek on YouTube via Cnet]

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Intel patent attorneys kick some dirt at AMD

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

AMD’s breakup into two separate companies is certain to have wide-ranging impact in the industry, and unsurprisingly, Intel’s among the first to react — it’s warning that it has “serious questions about this transaction” as it relates to its patent cross-licensing agreement with AMD and that it’ll “vigorously protect” its intellectual property rights. That’s about as aggro a patent attorney can get without coming to your house and peeing on the lawn (or, uh, filing a lawsuit), so we’ll see how this shakes out — for its part, AMD says that it’s taken the deal into account, and that it’ll “continue respecting Intel’s intellectual property rights, just as we expect them to respect ours.” That’s a respect throwdown, right there — you gonna take that, Intel?

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Clouds on Vista’s horizon to be dubbed Strata?

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

When Ballmer dropped a few sprinkles of information about Vista’s successor, he dubbed it “Windows Cloud,” but said the real moniker would be unveiled at the Professional Developers Conference later this month in LA. That show’s agenda was recently posted, and interestingly contained a number of sessions under the header “Windows Strata,” leading many to believe that it’s the true name of Redmond’s next offering. That the section was quickly changed to “Windows 7″ makes things all the more suspicious, but don’t go cyber-squatting WindowsStrata.com just yet (oops, too late). Strata — a term that can apply to the layers of the atmosphere — might be more of a general classification for numerous cloud computing-related offerings destined for all manner of devices. But if so, why rename the sessions, and why the secrecy? And, most importantly, why are we so intrigued?

[Via CNET]

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Filed under: Robots

Playskool’s Kota the Triceratops is a robot dinosaur that uses 11 sensors to respond to touch and sound by wiggling its horns, wagging its tail and turning its head. It also plays a few “adventure themed songs.” Best of all, it can’t stampede or impale anyone; like the animatronic Triceratops in Jurassic Park, Kota can’t get up and move around. That won’t stop kids from adoring it though. Like Pleo before it, Kota’s cuteness overpowers all. Don’t believe us? Shipments have begun, so you can buy the cuddly robot and see for yourself. All you need is 300 bucks. Or you could just check out the video beyond the cut.

Continue reading Kota the Triceratops ships from the land before time to your home

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Via [Engadget]

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Asus Admits That a Virus Shipped With Some Eee Box Mini PCs [Asus Eee Box B202]

Asus has admitted to its Japanese customers that some of the Eee Box B202 mini PCs they shipped included a recycled.exe virus loaded on the D: partition. When the drive is opened, the virus (identified by Symantec as the W32/Usbalex worm) attempts to infect the C: drive and any removable drives attached to the system. So far, Asus has not confirmed that the problem is limited to PCs released in Japan, and they have offered no explanation about how the virus may have appeared on the drive. However, Reg Hardware believes they can confirm that other areas may be affected. Either way, it is probably a good idea to run a check if you picked one up. [Reg Hardware]

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South Park iPhone App Looks Awesome, Almost Perfect [South Park]

The South Park guys clearly get it. They’ve already put every episode ever online for free. Now they’ve come up with a snazzy South Park iPhone app Xeni at BoingBoing got the first look at. While it doesn’t look like it’ll stream or download full episodes (yet), it’ll grab clips, snag wallpapers, drop news and do other wackiness, like assign Butters’ face as your awkward roommate’s picture. Overall, it looks pretty slick and Xeni says it “functioned beautifully,” but what’d make it truly killer is being able to stream full episodes.

[BoingBoing]

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Filed under: Robots

Playskool’s Kota the Triceratops is a robot dinosaur that uses 11 sensors to respond to touch and sound by wiggling its horns, wagging its tail and turning its head. It also plays a few “adventure themed songs.” Best of all, it can’t stampede or impale anyone; like the animatronic Triceratops in Jurassic Park, Kota can’t get up and move around. That won’t stop kids from adoring it though. Like Pleo before it, Kota’s cuteness overpowers all. Don’t believe us? Shipments have begun, so you can buy the cuddly robot and see for yourself. All you need is 300 bucks. Or you could just check out the video beyond the cut.

Continue reading Kota the Triceratops ships from the land before time to your home

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Via [Engadget]

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Walmart Changes Mind on DRM, Keeps Servers Running [Walmart]

When Walmart made a special effort to remind us why DRM’d music should always be avoided by shutting down their authentication servers, the response must have been deafening. The world’s largest retailer has decided to maintain its digital rights management servers for the present time “based on feedback from [its] customers,” otherwise known as “the interminable wrath of the internet.” I’m guessing a flood of emails with compelling arguments like “don’t destroy my legally purchased music” and “I hate you” had something to do with the decision.

From: Walmart Digital Music
Date: October 9, 2008 11:03:39 PM CDT
Subject: UPDATE: Important Information About Your Digital Music Purchases

NOTE: This is a follow-up to our email titled “Important Information
About Your Digital Music Purchases” from 9/26/08.

Based on feedback from our customers, we have decided to maintain our
digital rights management (DRM) servers for the present time. What this
means to you is that our existing service continues and there is no
action required on your part. Our customer service team will continue
to assist with DRM issues for protected windows media audio (WMA) files
purchased from Walmart.com.

While our customer support team is available to assist you with any
issues, we continue to recommend that you back up your songs by burning
them to a recordable audio CD. By backing up your songs, you insure
access to them from any personal computer at any time in the future.

We appreciate your support and patience as we work to provide the best
service possible to you. As we move forward with our 100% MP3 store,
we’ll continue to update you with key decisions regarding our service
and your account via email.

Thank you for using Walmart MP3 Music Downloads.

The Walmart Digital Music Team

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FLOW 6-Axis Water Jet Cutting System Runs Off a Robot Arm [Water Jet]

Given the recent rumors about a “revolutionary” new manufacturing process from Apple involving water jet-cut aluminum for new MacBooks, it seemed appropriate to discuss a new product coming out of the 2008 Fabtech International & AWS Welding show. The FLOW is a 6-axis system that perform full 3D water cutting without a bulky gantry holding it back. Instead, the entire system runs off a flexible robotic arm for more precision work (although its accuracy has been described as “mid range”). Either way, it looks like the FLOW 6 will be used to fabricate some awesome stuff down the line. [AVING via Slashgear]

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Apple Announces MacBook Event For October 14 [Apple]

Apple’s just sent out invites for the October 14 MacBook event being held in Cupertino at Apple’s headquarters. How do we know it’s about MacBook? Well, take a look at the image. The fun starts 10:00 AM, PST. We’ll see you there early that morning for our usual entertaining pre-game commentary before the actual Liveblog starts. Looks like we’ll get to see which one of those MacBook “brick” rumors will be coming true. We’re hoping for the one where Steve Jobs gives all attendees a new car.

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