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      Police arrest Korean couple that allowed their baby to die while caring for a virtual child

      March 8, 2010 /

      Prius Online character.Take your time and reread that headline. Yes, a couple in South Korea left their baby – their real baby – alone in their apartment while they raised a virtual child from a local internet cafe. The couple would return to the house once a day in shifts to feed the malnourished child. The baby eventually died of dehydration and severe malnutrition.

      According to police, the couple had been on the run for the past five months after it was discovered the child had died. South Korea has been lauded by web penetration advocates for having the highest broadband per capita stats in the world. With that comes the occasional terrifying story of internet addiction like this one. The country had another web related death recently when a young man died in an internet cafe after playing an online game for 86 hours straight.

      The report at AOL cites the economy as one possible cause of the obsession. At some point, though, I think we just need to hold people accountable without excuses. Unemployed or not, abandoning a baby isn’t justifiable.

      Gaming, News

      Palm PDK will boost the WebOS App Catalog

      March 7, 2010 /
      Palm is preparing to launch the WebOS Plug-in Development Kit next week, a developer tool that should have dropped with the Pre. It’s still a great tool, though, one that will supposedly allow developers to port applications from the iPhone OS to WebOS in a matter of days without any performance hangups. You see why this should have been released earlier?

      Since the advent of WebOS, Palm’s greatest weakness has been its App Catalog. There just isn’t enough there, mostly because the company didn’t get its developer kit out for months after the Pre launched. That left a lot of people waiting for something good before switching over. In the meantime we’ve seen a new iPhone, two juggernaut Android phones, and a slew of other releases that are much more attractive. The PDK will give the App Catalog a much needed boost, but realistically, it’s probably too late.

      I still can’t shake the feeling that Palm should have waited 12 months on the Pre release. It’s not like they’re making significant money off the phone and it’s mostly because of a really poor software experience. I don’t mean WebOS is a bad OS – it’s actually quite the opposite – but without any kind of app support the phone looks archaic next to its competitors.

      Source: AllThingsD

      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      Apps, Mobile, News

      iPad launches on April 3rd, 3G coming later in the month

      March 5, 2010 /

      iPad maps.Nearly good on his word, Steve Jobs will be delivering the iPad to US customers on April 3rd. I say almost because the April 3rd release is 66 days past the announcement, when Steve-O promised us 60. You can pre-order next week – next week – starting March 12th. The 3G version won’t be released until later in the month.

      Some of the questions people are starting to ask include questions about shortages, lines, and the number of iPad-centric apps we’ll see on launch day. The only question I want an answer for is when does iPad 2.0 launch? There isn’t much I care to see on the iPad at this point. Nine months from now, though, that’s a different story. By then most publishers should be comfortable with platform, certainly more comfortable than the haphazard rush we’re currently seeing to try to get things ready. That’s when you get to the good stuff.

      The rest of the world will be able to get Apple’s latest creation toward the end of April.

      Apple, Computers, ebooks, News

      Google: Desktops will be irrelevant in 3 years

      March 5, 2010 /
      Google Europe boss John Herlihy told an audience at the Digital Landscapes conference this week that desktop computers would be irrelevant in three years. His statement falls right in line with comments made by CEO Eric Schmidt, reinforcing the company’s focus on mobile computing and the cloud.

      “In Japan, most research is done today on smart phones, not PCs,” said Herlihy. Google believes that’s where the rest of the world is headed, which is why we see so much focus on Android and even Chrome OS. The company believes that cloud support will enable smaller devices to handle all the computing we’ll need.

      What he’s really talking about is entertainment devices. It’s not like desktops are going to disappear, you’ll just be highly unlikely to find one in someone’s home that’s been manufactured in the last three to five. Hell, that’s unlikely now. My parents just had their desktop die and being that they haven’t asked me about getting another one, I’d assume they won’t.

      From desktops we’ll go to laptops. Yes, even your beloved lappy will be going the way of the Dodo at some point, making room for smaller, entertainment centric devices like the iPad.

      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      Computers, google, News

      Apple pulls Wi-Fi detectors from the App Store

      March 4, 2010 /

      iPhone Wi-Fi detector.In yet another App Store obliteration, Wi-Fi detection apps have been pulled from the App Store without exception. The word from Apple is that these apps, the type that actively scan for wireless networks, use “private frameworks” to locate hotspots, which is a violation of Apple’s terms of use.

      “We received a very unfortunate email today from Apple stating that WiFi Where has been removed from sale on the App Store for using private frameworks to access wireless information,” said one developer. Apple declined to say more about the removal.

      I think it’s odd that Apple would start to rigorously enforce rules without explanation when so many applications continue to slip through the cracks. The most obvious example is the “titillating content” Apple barred not so long ago, though exceptions were made for both Playboy and Sports Illustrated. As The Register points out, it could be Apple is attempting to streamline everything for the iPad launch, that perhaps the tools to make these apps work won’t be available on the tablet. Even then, why all the secrecy? Why not just say, “we don’t want people exploiting certain parts of our devices for personal use.”

      Apple, Apps, iPhone, News

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