Bump : A New Social Network for License Plates

A new social networking tool is trying to turn your vehicle’s license plate into an all-in-one identifier that acts as an E-mail address, phone number, shopping rewards card and even an IP address.

Bump.com, the brainchild of entrepreneur Mitchell Thrower, uses license plate recognition technology to allow businesses and government services to connect with drivers and drivers to connect with each other. Thrower says it should be in a public beta by Thanksgiving, just in time for drivers stuck in holiday traffic to send messages to one another.

“The license plate has never given the consumer anything,” said Thrower, who calls the automobile the “last wall that separates us from a communications standpoint.”

That wall may be coming down, as drivers who “claim their plate” at Bump.com will soon be able to sign up for a roadside assistance and rewards program called Bump Advantage and might even get a targeted rewards coupon on their Bump-enabled smartphone when they pull into the mall parking lot.

“It works like a cookie,” said Thrower, except it uses the license plate as a physical marker for a camera that can read up to five plates per second at up to 150 miles per hour. That technology allows for automated check-ins at hotels and sporting events and easy rental car returns, but it also is helpful for marketers. “It can tie back the owner of the vehicle to their purchase patterns,” Thrower said.

Thrower said the technology might actually be able to cut down on road rage, allowing drivers to constructively communicate with each other. Software is used to filter obscenities, and if you’re the passive-aggressive type you can leave a negative rating for a driver that follows them around online. Thrower assures us the rating will never be seen by insurance companies, which is a promise we sure hope ends up in writing somewhere.

"It adds a layer of accountability,” said Thrower. “It’s like an eBay seller rating system for every driver in the country.”

Once it gains ground, Thrower said, the possibilities for Bump are nearly endless. Fleets and cab companies can use Bump to contact their drivers, meter maids can alert you when your car is about to get towed, car manufacturers can send important recall information directly to Bump accounts and eventually drivers will be able to renew their licenses and registrations through the service.

The concept sounds quite intriguing, though we hope that the same folks who post photos of themselves passed out at frat parties remember that there’s no clearing your cache when it comes to a car registration.

Obama: I am a Christian by choice

US President Barack Obama said that he was a Christian "by choice" in remarks lent added significance by recent surveys showing many Americans think mistakenly that he is a Muslim.

"I am a Christian by choice," Obama said at a backyard conversation with voters in New Mexico, in response to a question from a woman who asked him why he followed the faith.

Obama said he was not raised by a family that frequently went to church, but said that he came to his Christianity late in life, saying it was the teachings of Jesus Christ that inspired "the kind of life I would want to lead."

"I think, also understanding that Jesus Christ dying for my sins spoke to the kind of humility we all have to have as human beings."

But Obama also said that the United States must stick by its constitutional requirements to allow freedom of all religions, as well as offering a home to atheists and agnostics.

A Time magazine poll in August found that 24 percent of respondents wrongly said Obama is a Muslim.

The surveys were taken at the height of a controversy over plans to build a Muslim cultural center near the Ground Zero site of the felled World Trade Center in New York. Obama spoke out for the right of Muslims to build the center, despite its unpopularity so close to the epicenter of the September 11 attacks in 2001.

Sachin Tendulkar - The Cricketer cum Actor

After a long list of cricketers-turned actors like Ajay Jadeja, Vinod Kambli, Sunil Gavaskar, Salil Ankola, Syed Kirmani and Sandeep Patil, it’s now the turn of Sachin Tendulkar to don the makeup paint.

Tendulkar is reportedly set to do a role in Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s Ferrari Ki Sawari, a film to be directed by Rajesh Mapuskar. Tendulkar will do the important role alongside Sharman Joshi and Boman Irani in the film, informs a crew member.

Chopra isn’t ready to reveal anything. Just like the term Gandhigiri, which was a well-kept secret until Lage Raho Munnabhai (2007) released, the real length of Sachin’s role in the movie, too, is under wraps.

Earlier this year, Tendulkar had tweeted, “Vinod Chopra has a script called Ferrari Ki Sawari. Just heard it. Sounds awesome.” In yet another tweet, which he posted with a picture of him and Chopra, he had said, “Hanging with Vinod Chopra and Atul Kasbekar... 3 more Idiots?”

A cricket legend’s Ferrari inspires a dream in a boy to play at the Lord’s cricket ground. The hint is obvious: the only cricketer who owns a Ferarri in India is, Tendulkar!

Obama: “Mexicans” Were Here “Long Before America Was Even An Idea”

Blogged by PrimeRose.

The Majestic Plastic Bag

Blogged by PrimeRose.

Narrated by Academy Award-winner Jeremy Irons, this "mockumentary" video, hammers home the stark reality of California's plastic bag pollution situation.

Learn more at http://www.healthebay.org

You too can make the difference.

Google Voice app coming to iPhone = Save Call Minutes

It’s only been a couple weeks since Apple relaxed their app guidelines, and two native iPhone apps that were once taken out of the App Store have been re-included. These two apps are ones that users can use with their Google Voice account (GV Connect and GV Mobile+) — both of which are unofficial.

Around the same time those two apps were initially removed from the App Store, Google had been trying to get their own app approved. That didn’t go anywhere — Apple didn’t approve or deny it. The official Google Voice app has been sitting in limbo ever since.

With these old apps being approved all of a sudden, will the official app far behind. Whatever happens, will the end-user be able to save minutes by using Google Voice on the data plan?

Facebook Changes Friend Requests Process - Not Now Button

On Facebook, you have two options for processing friend requests — confirm or ignore. Today, we’re learning that Facebook is replacing the “Ignore” button with a “Not Now” button, that when clicked, will place the friend request in a separate section called “Hidden Requests.”

Facebook has confirmed that it is indeed replacing the current “Ignore” option for all members and will be rolling it out to everyone in the next few days.

The “Not Now” alternation will change how you process friend requests moving forward. You can continue to confirm requests as usual, but if you’re not interested in friending a wannabe connection, you’ll now need to click the “Not Now” button. That action will not ignore the request, but hide it, relegating it instead to a new “Hidden Requests” menu for future processing.

“If you choose ‘Not Now’, the other person will never be notified that you have hidden their request and you’ll have the option to take action on it at some time in the future if you want to. Their request will remain in a pending state, meaning they won’t see the option to add you as a friend. They will just see the ‘Awaiting Friend Confirmation’ text as if you hadn’t taken any action on the request at all,” says a spokesperson for the company.

You can return to the “Hidden Requests” menu to revisit all requests you previously marked “Not Now,” and can then either choose “Confirm” or “Delete Request.” Should you delete the request, you can also optionally mark that you don’t know the person in question, and that behavior will block the individual from requesting your friendship in the future.

Facebook wants members to take advantage of the latter option to prevent friend request abuse. For most of us, the new “Not Now” option will be a welcome change that should go a long way in helping us process requests a bit faster. Removing requests completely, however, is a tad more complicated and now takes two additional steps.

No ice in Artic by 2030, warn scientists!

Arctic sea ice melted over the summer to cover the third smallest area on record, US researchers have said, warning global warming could leave the region ice free in the month of September 2030.

Last week, at the end of the spring and summer "melt season" in the Arctic, sea ice covered 4.76 million square kilometres, the University of Colorado's National Snow and Ice Data Centre said in an annual report.

"This is only the third time in the satellite record that ice extent has fallen below five million square kilometres, and all those occurrences have been within the past four years," the report said.

A separate report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) found that in August, too, Arctic sea ice coverage was down sharply, covering an average of six million square kilometres, or 22 per cent below the average extent from 1979 to 2000.

The August coverage was the second lowest for Arctic sea ice since records began in 1979. Only 2007 saw a smaller area of the northern sea covered in ice in August, NOAA said. The record low for Arctic sea ice cover at the end of the spring and summer "melt season" in September, was also in 2007, when ice covered just 4.13 million square kilometers.

Mark Serreze, director of the NSIDC, said climate- change skeptics might seize the fact that Arctic sea ice did not hit a record-low extent this year, but said they would be barking up the wrong tree if they claimed the shrinkage had been stopped.

"Only the third lowest? It didn't set a new record? Well, right. It didn't set a new record but we're still headed down. We're not looking at any kind of recovery here," he said.

In fact, Serreze said, Arctic sea ice cover is shrinking year-round, with more ice melting in the spring and summer months and less ice forming in the fall and winter.

"The Arctic, like the globe as a whole, is warming up and warming up quickly, and we're starting to see the sea ice respond to that. Really, in all months, the sea ice cover is shrinking there's an overall downward trend," Serreze said.

"The extent of Arctic ice is dropping at something like 11 per cent per decade very quickly, in other words. Our thinking is that by 2030 or so, if you went out to the Arctic on the first of September, you probably won't see any ice at all. It will look like a blue ocean, we're losing it that quickly," he said.

The New Twitter Has Begun... Check out the new bird

Twitter is revamping its Web page so that users will actually stay on the site. With its reliance on 140-character messages that typically link to other content, Twitter's model was tailor made to send users elsewhere.

The design changes and new partnerships with content providers are meant to keep users at the site longer -- and draw in more advertisers.

Twitter is rolling out the changes incrementally to its 160 million-user base. At the center of the redesign is a two-pane format: Links clicked on the left-hand side open up on the right. The result is that users will be likely to stay on Twitter longer instead of navigating away to check out a link.


Other features include infinite scroll, which means the user no longer has to click "more" to view additional tweets, and the ability to see a mini profile of a user without navigating away from the page.

Twitter has forged partnerships with YouTube to make it easy to see and embed video, which also could significantly bolster use of Twitter.

The greatest benefit will likely accrue to Twitter itself, in the form of increased advertising dollars. Users who stay on the Twitter page for longer periods of time will be more likely to see a promoted tweet.

Check out this new video on the NEW TWITTER INTERFACE:

Microsoft, Facebook In Search Engine Talks

Microsoft and Facebook are negotiating to increase their ties in search, according to anonymous sources speaking to AllThingsD. That strengthened relationship could include feeding data from Facebook’s “Like” button to Microsoft’s Bing search engine.

Microsoft is a longtime investor in Facebook, and the two companies already have an agreement in place to display Facebook’s public status updates on Bing Social. According to the article’s sources, only Facebook users’ “public” information will ever find its way into Microsoft’s search database.

Siphoning anonymous data from Facebook’s “Like” button into Bing could help refine the latter’s search process. Microsoft executives offered similar justification for its 2009 search-and-advertising agreement with Yahoo, which it said would boost the amount of data digested by Bing, increasing its accuracy. The article’s sources emphasized, however, that talks are nowhere close to a finalized deal.

Facebook’s subscriber numbers and ad revenue continue to grow, but at the cost of periodic user uprisings over the Website’s privacy controls and how their personal information is being used to boost that ad revenue. Nonetheless, the model developed by Facebook has managed to spread from the consumer world and into the enterprise, where tech companies such as Salesforce.com now offer applications that connect business users and their information into either open or closed social networks.

According to analytics firm Nielsen, Bing overcame Yahoo in August to become the second-ranked search engine in the United States, with a 13.9 percent market-share.

Bing and Google have spent the last year matching each other feature-for-feature, with only the occasional divergence—Bing, for example, now has an Entertainment Tab with access to movie trailers and games. Any method that allows Bing to import more data into its system would not only increase the accuracy of its search, but also enhance any future features.

How to make FREE PHONE CALLS in Gmail

You already know Gmail integrated with Google Voice for free phone calls (and cheap international calls) from your inbox. But apart from using it to phone a friend, Gmail's new phone calling capabilities introduce a lot of cool capabilities to your inbox.

If you don't check out this video:

Get Caller ID from Your Computer:

Let's say you've got a landline set up with Google Voice and you don't want to pay for caller ID. Or you just spend a lot of time staring at your computer. If you're logged into Gmail, and someone rings up your Google Voice number, you can see who's calling on your computer without digging your phone out of your pocket.

Transfer Calls to (and from) Your Computer to Save Cellphone Minutes:

Assuming you've already added your Gmail Chat account as a number that can be reached through Google Voice, you can transfer calls from your phone to your computer to save cellphone minutes.

Here's how it works:
1) If you're logged into your Google account, go to theGoogle Voice phone settings page. At the bottom, you should see a new option for Google Chat (like in the image). Make sure it's checked.

2) Now, when you're in the midst of a call on your cellphone—let's say you were talking to someone in the car, and now you're home—just hit the * (asterisk) on your phone's number pad to send the call to another Google Voice phone. If your Gmail account is open, your inbox should start ringing. Pick up in Gmail and hang up your cellphone.

The opposite works, as well—i.e., transferring calls out from Gmail to your cellphone. Oh, and remember: If you've got a decent Bluetooth headset, you should also be able to stay relatively mobile, even if you're talking from your computer.


Find Your Misplaced Phone:
Misplace your cellphone under a pile of clothes or deep in your couch cushions? If you left your ringer on but don't have another phone on hand, just log into Gmail, dial your cellphone number, and follow the faint sound of ringing.

Use It for a  Speakerphone for Group Calls:
Google Voice is already pretty good at setting up conference calls (demonstrated in the video). Now that you can call from your computer, you've also got a  speakerphone perfect for the group of people sitting around a table.

Secretly Record Calls:
Google Voice has a handy recording function, but whenever you enable it (hit 4 to start and finish recording), Google Voice announces "This call is now being recorded." Prefer to record a conversation surreptitiously? Calling from Gmail puts the audio on your computer, where you can use any number of tools to record your system audio on-the-sly. 

Make Free Calls Anywhere You've Got Free Wi-Fi:
Your mileage may vary on this one, but anywhere you've got your laptop and free Wi-Fi—like, say, any Starbucks in the U.S.—you can fire up a free phone call to anyone in the U.S. or Canada and chat away. There's a good chance that many free Wi-Fi hotspots don't provide you with enough bandwidth to make high enough quality calls, but if you're desperate to save on minutes (or just don't have a phone handy), it's worth a try.

Terry Jones Cancels Quran Burning Event

The leader of a small U.S. Christian church says he has called off his plan to burn copies of the Quran on Saturday.

Dove World Outreach Center pastor Terry Jones (l) shakes hands with Imam Muhammad Musri, president of the Islamic Society of Central Florida in Orlando, 09 Sep 2010

The Reverand Terry Jones said Thursday he called off his protest because he had reached an agreement with Muslim leaders to move the controversial location of a planned Islamic cultural center and mosque in New York. He said the mosque would be moved away from the site of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

A local Muslim cleric who appeared with Jones to make the announcement said he would be traveling to New York to discuss the proposed mosque. But officials connected with the New York mosque project said there was no agreement to move the location.

Jones said moving the planned Islamic cultural center in New York would accomplish his church's goals because, he said, "the American people do not want the mosque at the ground zero location."

Jones heads the small Dove World Outreach Center church in Gainesville, Florida.

U.S. President Barack Obama and other U.S. and international political and religious leaders have spoken out against the plans to burn copies of the Quran. President Obama said publicly burning the Quran would be a destructive and dangerous act.  He called the minister's plan an attention-seeking
 "stunt" that could endanger U.S. troops, but said it is a valid exercise of free-speech rights under the U.S. legal system.

At the end it seems that all this was a publicity stunt by Jones to advertise this cult-society and after receiving all the attention and funds, he calls it off.

Nonetheless, the world sighs a breath of relief as the Jews and Muslims begin celebrating their respective holy days and festivals over the weekend. As for the Christians, most of them were honest enough to refuse this bigotry from Jones from the start.

Child Playing on the Road: Speed Bumps of the future?

Officials in West Vancouver, Canada, apparently aren't satisfied with the driver-slowing properties of traditional speed bumps. On Tuesday, the town unveiled a new way to persuade motorists to ease off the gas pedal in the vicinity of the École Pauline Johnson Elementary School: a 2-D image of a child playing, creating the illusion that the approaching driver will soon blast into a child.

The pavement painting appears to rise up as the driver gets closer to it, reaching full 3-D realism at around 100 feet: "Its designers created the image to give drivers who travel at the street's recommended 18 miles per hour (30 km per hour) enough time to stop before hitting Pavement Patty -- acknowledging the spectacle before they continue to safely roll over her."

We wonder if the designers of the "speed bump of the future" considered that drivers might become conditioned to disregard Pavement Patty and her imaginary cohorts, creating something similar to a "boy who cried wolf" effect. Couldn't such conditioning reduce drivers' caution if a real child should cross their path?

Asked whether confusing and/or tricking drivers with such images might create such unintended hazards, David Dunne of the British Columbia Automobile Association Traffic Safety Foundation said that pedestrians need to be just as alert as drivers.
"People tune out. It takes an attitude shift for people to change," Dunne said. "Pedestrians need an attitude shift too. They have to realize that just because they are in a crosswalk doesn't mean they are safe. In fact, most get hit while using crosswalks."

As for drivers who become can't process optical illusions, Dunne argued that they have no business on the road in the first place. "It's a static image," he said. "If a driver can't respond to this appropriately, that person shouldn't be driving, and that's a whole different problem."

iPod Nano 6G - Now in TouchScreen

The iPod Nano 6G that was recently announced at the Apple’s annual music meet sports a swanky new design and sheds the tralatitious click wheel that once paraded all the iPod’s maneuverable controls.

It is sleeker, lighter, smaller and even more beautiful than the iPod Nano 5G. Unlike the earlier generations of the iPod Nano, the iPod Nano 6G features a touchscreen area in all the entirety of its face and subtly lined by sleek borders.

The iPod Nano sixth generations sports a multi-touch display that allows you to customize the homescreen icons, swipe on screen to skip/play track and precisely use the iPod Nano the same way as you would use the iPod Touch.

The iPad Nano 6G also comes with other interesting features like Shake-to-shuffle, Genius mixes that will be your automatic DJ, a touchscreen controlled FM Radio with Live Pause, support for VoiceOver in 29 languages, adjustable display contrasts, mono audio feature and Nike+iPod support.

There’s also a built-in rotatable clip that grips your iPod Nano to your apparel so that you can easily dance, exercise, travel or play – without the fear of a possibility of dropping or losing it along the run. And with the in-ear headphones remote with mic, listening and controlling your iPod Nano 6G becomes even more easier than ever.

With up to 24 hours of music playback and a choice of memory variants in either 8GB or 16GB, the iPod Nano 6G is a breath taking device for all the iPod Nano admirers, lest you should land in incertitude, get past the jump link at the bottom to see it yourself.

Click here to buy iPod Nano 6G or click here to find a retailer near you. Click here to know more or watch the following video to see iPod Nano 6G in action.

US, Israel spying behind BlackBerry row in UAE: Dubai Police

Concerns over Israeli access to BlackBerry data and the use of the device by the US to spy on the UAE are behind the country's moves to curb service of the smartphone, the city's police chief has said.

"The United States is the primary beneficiary of having no controls over the BlackBerry, as it has an interest to spy on the UAE. The West has accused us of curbing the liberties of BlackBerry users, while America, Israel, Britain and other countries are allowed access to all transferred data," Dubai's police chief Dhahi Khalfan Tamim was quoted as saying by Arabic daily Al-Khaleej. 

The UAE has announced it would suspend BlackBerry Messenger, email and Web browser services from October 11 until it could get access to encrypted messages. BlackBerry maker RIM has 500,000 users in the country. BlackBerry's Messenger application has spread rapidly in the Gulf where it is a popular business and social networking tool. However, the application has come under scanner since the data cannot be tracked locally as it is encrypted and routed through offshore servers.

ZOMM - World's First Wireless Leash

ZOMM is the World's First Wireless Leash™ for mobile phones. It is a Bluetooth® keychain device that prevents you from ever leaving your phone behind. ZOMM has a high-quality speaker that allows you to take your calls on the go and also serves as a panic alarm should you ever need it, even dialing emergency assistance for you with one push of a button.

Watch the demo below or click here to buy: