WOW !! iPad Rival PlayBook Gets Tough Reviews

Shear English - RIM's PlayBook tablet has bombed with influential technology reviewers who call the new iPad competitor a rushed job that won't even provide RIM's vaunted email service unless it's hooked up to a BlackBerry. "RIM has just shipped a BlackBerry product that cannot do email. It must be skating season in hell," New York Times' David Pogue wrote in a review published yesterday.

Research In Motion built its reputation on a BlackBerry email service that it says is so secure that it can't bow to government requests to tap messages, winning high-profile customers in business, defence and politics before branching out to a wider consumer market. The PlayBook, which hits North American retailers on Tuesday, so far offers that secure service only in tandem with a BlackBerry. RIM says secure email and other key services will come later, not at launch.

"I got the strong impression RIM is scrambling to get the product to market," Walt Mossberg, the widely followed business and consumer technology critic, wrote in a Wall Street Journal article headlined PlayBook: a tablet with a case of codependency. The pessimism of the reviews seemed to hit RIM's often volatile shares, which fell 1.7 per cent to $US53.92 on the Nasdaq on Thursday, the lowest closing price since October 25.

RIM's 7-inch WiFi-only device is priced identically to Apple's 10-inch market leader and faces tough me-too competition from a slew of devices running Google's Android software. It is a first step in a major product overhaul intended to reinvigorate RIM's fortunes. But the lukewarm initial reception, coupled with an outburst from co-Chief Executive Mike Lazaridis, threaten to overshadow the coming-out party.

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Something Old, Something Nude : Naked Wedding

Shear English - William and Kate might like to give this idea for their big day a miss. A couple have turned the other cheek to tradition by getting married - in a naked wedding. Melanie Schachner, 26, and Rene Schachner, 31, had racked their brains to come up with something so memorable for their big day that they would never forget.

The groom and not-so-blushing bride decided to strip off and get married in the nude in front of their family and friends. They walked down the aisle in a register office service in Feldkirchen, Austria, before celebrating with a reception in a nearby castle.

Melanie wore a traditional veil and white high heels. Her breasts were exposed but a flesh-coloured thong covered her nether-regions. The groom, however, remained totally nude throughout the service, using only a top hat to cover his modesty when posing for wedding pictures.

Thankfully for the couple, the registrar managed to keep her embarrassment under control and make it through the reading of the vows. Melanie said: 'We're not ashamed of our bodies and we wanted to do something different. It certainly saved on a wedding dress.'

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Windows 7 on Tablets is Just Not Worth It

Shear English - It's got a higher-clocked processor (1.66GHz vs. 1GHz), bigger screen (11.6-inch vs. 9.7-inch), higher screen resolution (1366x768 vs. 1024x768), more memory (2GB vs. 512MB), a built-in HDMI output and easy storage expansion (USB & SD slots).

It's a pity, then, that the user experience is just not up to scratch. And that's the problem some tech buyers run into – it's easy to reach conclusions based on the spec sheet but this tells you nothing about what a product is like to use. One thing about Apple products is that even though they don't always contain all of the features the geeks love, they're almost never cluttered, unintuitive or frustrating to use.

The biggest downside to Windows 7 on tablets is that Microsoft has failed to offer a specialised tablet user-interface. This is a huge oversight as Microsoft was first to push tablets over a decade ago but has completely failed to make an impact on the new generation tablet market pioneered by Apple and Google.

Perhaps Microsoft's lacklustre efforts in the tablet space could be expected given that its chief strategy officer, Craig Mundie, recently told a lunch in Sydney that he didn't know whether the tablet category would be more than a passing fad. Analysts are so pessimistic about Microsoft's tablet prospects that Gartner recently predicted that even by 2015, Microsoft won't even be a player in tablets. 

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Glasses-free 3D Comes to iPad 2, iPhone 4

Shear English - A team of French researchers has brought glasses-free 3D to the iPhone and iPad in an ingenious piece of visual trickery that offers a similar effect to the new Nintendo 3DS handheld games console.

Jeremie Francone amd Laurence Nigay, from the Engineering Human-Computer Interaction research group, harnessed the front-facing cameras on the iPad 2 (video) and iPhone 4 (video) to track the user's head, thus allowing their software to deliver 3D experiences without the need for glasses.

Clips of the technology - dubbed "head-coupled perspective" - in action have begun going viral on YouTube, garnering hundreds of thousands of hits so far.

"It is based on a efficient head-tracker that uses the front-facing camera of the device," the researchers explain on their website.

"We use an off-axis projection in order to adapt the perspective of the 3D scene according to the head's position of the user."

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"Inspired by Goodwood" - The Rolls-Royce Mini

Shear English - BMW's lower- and upper-end British brands, Mini and Rolls-Royce, have combined to create a limited edition luxury hatchback. The new "Inspired by Goodwood" Mini was created by the Rolls-Royce design team behind million-dollar limousines such as the Phantom.

The all-black-exterior Mini Goodwood won't cost quite as much if BMW Australia is successful in securing the car, which will be built in a limited production run of 1000 units, but UK motoring media are reporting the car could be very expensive for a small car - about $80,000 (approximately £50,000).

Named after the home town of Rolls-Royce and built under the watchful eye of the town's locals, the Goodwood model features lashings of luxury with the aim of ensuring the top-dollar Mini exhibits "the highest level of workmanship and stylish supremacy".

The interior is the clearest indication of the conglomeration between the two brands. The dash, console, seats, roof-lining and door-pillars are all clad in the exclusive Rolls-Royce colour Corn Silk, while deep-pile lambswool carpet mats, identical to the fleece used in current Rolls models, are thick enough to put Ugh-boots to shame.

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Holden V6s for New Saab SUV

Shear English - A revived Saab is set to roll out a new-model offensive that includes its first SUV - the 9-4X - but it won't be available with popular diesel power when it arrives to Australia later this year. Instead, the Mexican-built mid-sizer will be powered by a choice of two GM Holden-built V6 engines to appeal to petrol-oriented US buyers - the Cadillac SRX-based vehicle's biggest target market.

A diesel-powered 9-4X was believed to be a hot topic at Saab's Trollhattan headquarters with the vehicle's sales success in Australia - and particularly in Europe -likely to be handicapped by the absence of an oil burner, which accounts for the majority of sales in the premium SUV segment.

"One of our challenges as a small company now is currency hedging and balancing currency risk, which gets quite difficult for us," says Saab Cars Australia managing director Stephen Nicholls. "We knew that we're building that car in the [North American] dollar zone, so we can sell it in the dollar zone to take away quite a bit of that risk".

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Cars are The Biggest Losers

Shear English - The race is on to become the 'biggest loser' in the car industry, with brands looking to shed hundreds of kilograms from their cars in a quest for improved fuel efficiency. The shift towards lightweight materials, such as carbon fibre and aluminium, is partly being driven by the development of electric vehicles. Companies have to offset the fitment of big, heavy battery packs that can add more than 300 kilograms to the weight of a car.

Earlier this week, Ford announced it would use special plastic panels infused with tiny bubbles in its vehicle's interiors. The company is looking to shed between 100 kilograms and 300 kilograms from each car and hopes to have the special material in every car in its range by 2020.

Closer to home, Holden is expected to begin using aluminium panels on the boot and bonnet of future versions of the Commodore. And last month, BMW revealed a range of new electric vehicles that will rely on extensive aluminium and carbon-fibre panels to offset the weight of their battery packs.

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Real Men Don't Buy Girls (How Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore Address Sex Trafficking)

Shear English - They recently launched their own foundation to address and try and combat the issue of child sex trafficking. And now, Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher have enlisted the help of their celebrity friends to launch an interactive video campaign which they hope will educate people about the shocking trade. 

The couple were helped by stars such as Justin Timberlake and Sean Penn who both starred in the 'Real Men Don't Buy Girls' videos, launched on behalf of the Demi and Ashton Foundation, or DNA.

In Sean's video, he is shown ironing a sandwich with the words, 'Real Men Know How To Use An Iron', while Timberlake is shown about to shave with a chainsaw with the tagline 'Real Men Prefer A Close Shave'.

Ashton also recorded a video, showing him sniffing his dirty socks, throwing them in the bin and getting a brand new pair out of a packet with the line 'Real Men Do Their Own Laundry'.

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Porn Scandal Ended with Resignation from Parliament

Shear Blog - A conservative Indonesian lawmaker caught watching a pornographic video on his computer during a parliamentary session has resigned.

The case has transfixed this Muslim-majority nation, dominating headlines and discussion on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter since the lawmaker was caught on camera Thursday.

Arifinto, who like many Indonesians uses one name, is from a conservative Islamic party and helped push through an anti-pornography law that came into effect in 2008. 

The law faced strong opposition from the public and some members of government, with many saying it is vaguely worded and carries harsh penalties. The 50-year-old lawmaker apologized to his constituents Monday and said he'd decided to step down from Parliament.

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"Indonesia Has Large Potentials to Develop Nuclear Energy in the Future"

Shear English - An International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) official said Indonesia has large potentials to develop nuclear energy in the future. "Indonesia has long experience in using nuclear energy. It also has many nuclear scientists and potentials to have good nuclear energy in the future," Kwaku Aning, deputy for technical cooperation to the IAEA director general, said at the National Atomic Energy Board (BATAN) here on Monday.

Kwaku Aning is in Indonesia to open the 33rd meeting of the Regional Cooperative Agreement (RCA) National Representatives in Bali on April 12-15. The meeting is expected to be attended by heads of nuclear energy agencies from 17 countries. Admittedly, nuclear power plants had the potentials to generate up to thousands of megawatts needed to improve the living standard of a country.

Compared to other energy, the use of nuclear energy also helped reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, the use of nuclear energy entailed high risks, he said. Despite the high risks, nuclear power plants gave priority to the principles of safety. Therefore, according to Kwaku Aning, all efforts covering regulations, construction activities, operations must be tightly directed towards the principles.

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Migration of Tringa Birds to Air Mati Beach - Ketapang

Shear English - Tringa brevipe birds of Siberia, Northern Asia, from March to April migrated to Air Mati Beach, Muara Pawan district, Ketapang district for search of food in the winter, an environmental activist said here Monday. The birds which were looking for food in the muddy shore are 25 centimeters long, a member of Bird Observers Association (bird watching) of Ketapang bird’s friends, Abdurachman Alkadri noted.

"The birds are one of the migrant birds from other countries," Abdurachman said.

They are also regular visitors of Air Mati Beach. In March and April they can still be found in Air Mati, Sungai Pawan village. According to him, the bird watchers association, managed to capture the activity of the birds including while they were looking for food.

"These birds migrate from their original place to the continent with a tropical climate or a tropical country to avoid the winter, " Abdurachman explained.

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Facebook Shares Green Data Centre Technology (BBC News)

Shear English - Facebook has announced that it will share the design secrets behind its new energy-efficient data centre with rival companies. The social network's facility in Prineville, Oregon is said to use 38% less power than existing centres. It hopes, by making the innovations public, to cut the amount of electricity the industry consumes.

Despite Facebook's advances, some environmental groups have criticised the firm over its green credentials. Working under the title Open Compute Project, Facebook will release specifications and mechanical drawings of the building and its servers.

"It's time to stop treating data centres like Fight Club (do not talk about them)," said Jonathan Heiliger, the company's vice president of technical operations. His comments are likely to be interpreted as a dig at other web firms, such as Google, Twitter and Amazon which have kept their own designs under wraps.

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A New Book Released, "The Secretive World of Google"

Shear English - A new book released next week lifts the lid on the secretive world of Google, revealing how the founders fell out with Apple's Steve Jobs and what happened in the search engine's exit from China. 'In the Plex' was written by Steven Levy, a technology reporter who says his latest work is 'informed by a two-year deep dive into the company'.

He reveals that when founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page were on the hunt for a chief executive they wanted Steve Jobs to take up the job. The only problem was that Mr Jobs had a much better job at Apple - a much more superior company at the time.

He turned their offer down but because he saw the potential of Google he agreed to mentor Mr Page and Mr Brin, even sharing advisers. Eric Schmidt, the man who eventually took the job as chief executive until last week, was also installed as a board member at Apple. Problems came when Google bought and started work on the Android mobile phone system. Apple saw it as a direct threat to iPhone and relationships broke down with Mr Jobs feeling betrayed by the pair.

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TNI-AU to Acquire T50 Golden Eagle Planes

Shear English - The Indonesian Air Force (TNI-AU) will acquire South Korean-made T50 Golden Eagle training planes next year, a top military officer said here Saturday. Speaking to newsmen after attending the 65th commemoration of the TNI-AU Anniversary here, Air Chief Marshal Imam Sufaat said there would be a squadron or 16 units of T50 Golden Eagle aircraft.

The procurement of the new training airplanes was part of the Indonesian Air Force’s efforts to meet its minimum essential force by 2024, he said. "The president’s policy is accelerating the needs of military equipments, especially changing the airplanes whose ages are above 30 years old," he said.

These T50 Golden Eagle planes would replace the British Hawk 53 MKs. Besides those new training airplanes, the TNI-AU would also buy Super Tucano planes to replace those of OV-10 Broncos. The Defense Ministry had even allocated budgets for purchasing these Super Tucano planes, he said. Asked about the total amount of budget allocated for buying a squadron of T50 Golden Eagle, he said the government had to allocate 400 million US dollars.

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