$99 WikiReader

Introducing the Wiki Reader

My first inclination is to ask, what is the point of this device? With Wikipedia accessible on every internet connected device already, is there a market for a handheld dedicated device like this? Clearly this is directed towards people that don't have a smartphone, netbook, or Kindle. And it does not use a wireless signal, the Wikipedia content is a static version already loaded on the device. This means you have to purchase updates and get them installed to the device. One of the key ideas behind Wikipedia is that it is an always evolving knowledge base. Information about recent events is available pretty quickly. You definitely lose a key part of the Wikipedia experience on this thing.
Still, I could see getting this for non-internet savvy seniors or children that are too young for their own laptop (and don't already have a PSP or NDS, I suppose.) With the parental control features, it seems OpenMoko thinks the same thing.
Still, for $99 (don't forget those updates, $29/year or free for the tech-savvy with fast broadband) I think this is a little expensive. At a hundred bucks, we are in NDS or almost PSP territory, both of which can browse Wikipedia (plus the actual web.) I've even seen cheap handheld internet tablets for under $200 online.
I have an idea, OpenMoko. How about you sell us the Wikipedia file on an SD card or download and we can make use of those old Palm devices lying around?

ARES I X Test Flight

NASA's Ares I-X test rocket lifted off at 11:30 a.m. EDT Wednesday from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida for a two-minute powered flight. The test flight lasted about six minutes from its launch from the newly-modified Launch Complex 39B until splash down of the rocket's booster stage nearly 150 miles down range.

"This is a huge step forward for NASA's exploration goals," said Doug Cooke, associate administrator for the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "Ares I-X provides NASA with an enormous amount of data that will be used to improve the design and safety of the next generation of American spaceflight vehicles -- vehicles that could again take humans beyond low Earth orbit."

Netflix Coming To PS3

PRNewswire:
Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. (SCEA) and Netflix, Inc. (Nasdaq: NFLX) today announced that they are joining forces to make thousands of movies and TV episodes from Netflix available to be streamed instantly to TVs via the PlayStation®3 (PS3(TM)) computer entertainment system. Netflix expects to begin streaming via the PS3 system next month at no additional cost to Netflix members in the United States who have a PS3 system.
Today's announcement pairs two of the most popular and fastest growing home entertainment brands in the U.S. The PS3 system's installed base has reached close to 9 million units in the United States, and Netflix recently reported 11.1 million U.S. subscribers as of September 30.

This will give PS3 one more positive feature; it's slick new Slim model paired with it's ability to play Blu-ray movies and new lower price strongly positions it against the Xbox 360 as a movie/game device. It has a long way to go to catch up to the 360, though. Xbox has had Netflix streaming for years now, a thriving online community, and a year headstart on PS3. This coupled with a much better game selection and lower price for entry level models has given 360 (30 million units sold) domination over the PS3 (25 million) in the game console marketplace. Both pale in comparison to Nintendo's Wii, however, with 53 million units sold.

Wal-Mart To Sell Tech Support, Geek Squad Responds

Wal-Mart has been mulling over the idea of entering the field of basic tech support for a while now. Last year, they test marketed Dell-run 'Solution Stations' at DFW Texas locations. Last month, they announced the rollout of 'Tech Expert' in their Sam's Club stores. Now they have teamed with NEWCorp to sell tech services in their stores.

Reuters: Wal-Mart Stores Inc is selling a new support service to help shoppers set up consumer electronics in their homes, posing a new challenge to rival Best Buy.

Wal-Mart said it began rolling out the service this month with privately held N.E.W. Customer Service Companies Inc and is making it available through all of its U.S. Wal-Mart stores in time for the holiday season.

Shoppers can buy service plans on a prepaid card ranging from $99 to $339. The service spans help with basic television installation on the low end to setting up a home theater, wireless router network or a home office computer network.

The service includes a preliminary consultation and a tutorial after installation is completed.

In an e-mail to Reuters, Best Buy said Wal-Mart's entry to home delivery and installation services via third-party contractors might be "sufficient" as consumers don't expect the discount chain to "specialize in technology to the same degree" as Best Buy and its tech support task force, Geek Squad.

"Geek Squad helps people with their PCs, TVs and other tech gear no matter where they bought their devices, so Wal-Mart customers can feel confident they can still depend on Geek Squad for tech support," Best Buy spokeswoman Paula Baldwin added.

Consumer electronics retailers have been offering technology support to differentiate their business and cut down on the number of products, particularly flat-panel TVs, that are returned after customers get the gadgets home but cannot use them properly.

Best Buy said last month it would hire more staff for the U.S. holidays and was betting that services like its Geek Squad repair assistance would give it a further edge over rivals.

Hulu To Charge For Content Next Year?

From BroadcastingCable.com:

News Corp. Deputy Chairman Chase Carey opened the B&C OnScreen summit to discuss where he sees the business going. “It’s time to start getting paid for broadcast content online,” he said. Carey said that while everyone cites the infamous Jeff Zucker quip that “We’re exchanging analogue dollars for digital dimes,” the industry continues to do exactly that. The strategy needs to be more than just fighting piracy and Google, he says.

“I think a free model is a very difficult way to capture the value of our content. I think what we need to do is deliver that content to consumers in a way where they will appreciate the value,” Carey said. “Hulu concurs with that, it needs to evolve to have a meaningful subscription model as part of its business.”

AdVerse had a quick chat with Carey too and posed the question, when exactly does Hulu start charging then? Carey, who says he’s only been to one Hulu board meeting since arriving at News Corp., suggests there is still no timeline but supposes it’s at least in 2010.

Fight The Future?

From Telegraph.uk:
Forget the far-fetched belief that it will create a black hole, two distinguished physicists have gone even further claiming nature itself is stopping the troubled £4.4billion project from getting off the ground.

In a theory reminiscent of the time travelling film Back to the Future, the theoretical physicists Holger Nielsen, from Denmark, and Masao Ninomiya, from Japan, have concluded that its discoveries could be so "abhorrent to nature" that they are coming back to stop their own creation.

They have outlined their thoughts in a series of papers with titles like “Test of Effect From Future in Large Hadron Collider: a Proposal” and “Search for Future Influence From LHC.”

The pair's hypothesis centres around the Higgs Boson, a mysterious tiny particle and building block of life that it is hoped the LHC will discover.

They have come up with a theory that it will "ripple backward through time" and stop the collider before it could make one, like a time traveler who goes back in time to kill his grandfather.

"It must be our prediction that all Higgs producing machines shall have bad luck,” Dr. Nielsen said.

He said that his theories may even provide a "model for God" who "rather hates Higgs particles, and attempts to avoid them”.