Software
Apple announces Final Cut Pro X, rebuilt from ground up with 64-bit support (update: $299 in June)
By Richard Lai posted Apr 12th 2011 10:16PM

Breaking News
Apple's just announced Final Cut Pro X at NAB, and Chief Architect of Video Applications Randy Ubillos is demonstrating a beta release as we speak. The "rebuilt from ground up" video editing suite -- which now shares a similar look and feel with iMovie -- will be shipped with 64-bit support to finally make use of more than 4GB of RAM, as well as handling 4K clips on 8-core editing rigs (by way of the Grand Central Dispatch feature on OS X Snow Leopard). Most notably, though, is that this new FCP will always be rendering instantly in the background, meaning you can edit on the fly much like you do on iMovie! There's also a whole stash of other new features: editing before media ingest, magnetic timeline, people detection, instant color matching between clips, smart collection of media based on custom keywords and people, auto image stabilization on import, and many more. Itching to get your hands dirty with Cupertino's new video tool? You'll be able to download it from the Mac App Store in June for just $299.

Update: @robimbs has just posted a video of Randy Ubillos' wrap-up at the show. We've got it after the break.

FearSquare

via ReadWriteWeb


Welcome to FearSquare! FearSquare is an application which allows FourSquare users in the UK to easily see the official crime statistics for the places where you 'check-in'. The intention is to give you a uniquely individual look at the levels and types of crimes you are exposed to in your daily life.


"Rather than scaring users about publicly sharing their location, Fearsquare "takes a list of your ten most recent FourSquare check-ins and cross-references these with the UK Police Crime Statistics database" and shows "how many crimes were committed, during a recent one-month period, in the locations where they checked-in." It is all part of an opt-in study that examines "the interaction of people with crime statistics that are presented in a uniquely personal manner."

After authorizing Foursquare, Fearsquare makes the comparison and shows you how many instances of robbery, violent crime and "antisocial crime" have occurred in the vicinity. They can then see how they rank on a leaderboard of users and 'FearPoints.'"

http://fearsquare.com/ 

Glasses-free 3D with face tracking on iPad 2

A Dad Talks about Toddler Apps

**Update the app. It's great when you can update the app and the toddler can see the changes. It doesn't have to be new features, but could just be new themes or other look changes. Elmo's Monster Maker does this well by releasing seasonal and holiday updates. **

Full Gabriel Weinberg Blog Post

(Via Kottke.org)

How to access more NYTIMES articles after 20 article limit

Here's two options to get around it:

1. install Readability on your Firefox or Chrome. As the page loads, click on the Readability button.

2. Wait for the page to load, with the limit notification. Then reload, and as soon as the text appears on the page, hit the 'stop load' button.

I'll be curious to see how long it takes nytimes to fix these loopholes.

Classic Commodore 64 Lives Again

Via BBC News

"Fans of retro computing will soon be able to buy a modern PC clad in a classic case.

Commodore is making a Windows PC that fits inside a boxy beige shell that looks exactly like its original C64."

Read more at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-12997245 

Hacker wipes out whole season of TV show

A fired employee allegedly admits he erased syndicated children's series

By Eriq Gardner

updated 3/31/2011 7:49:03 PM ET

NEW YORK — The producer of the syndicated children's TV series "Zodiac Island" claims that an entire season of the show has been wiped out thanks to a fired employee at its data-hosting company who hacked into networked computers and destroyed its work.

"Zodiac Island" has run on more than 100 U.S. TV stations around the country, including ABC, NBC, Fox and CBS affiliates. The show is produced by Hawaii-based WER1 World Network, which signed up with Wisconsin-based ISP and data-hosting company CyberLynk.

According to a lawsuit that was filed last week in Hawaii District Court, a man named Michael Scott Jewson was terminated from CyberLynk. From his parents' residence, he allegedly accessed CyberLynk's data and intentionally wiped it out. Jewson is alleged to have been charged in February with a federal computer crime violation and admitted his guilt in a plea agreement.

The data breach allegedly knocked out 6,480 WER1 electronic files, or 300 gigabytes of data, comprising two years of work from hundreds of contributors globally, including animation artwork and live action video production.

The lost data is said to include fragments from 14 episodes of Zodiac Island, which WER1 says is impossible to reassemble or reproduce.

WER1 says it got some restitution as a result of Jewson's plea agreement, but is now suing CyberLynk and Jewson for breach of contract, negligence, conversion and computer fraud, saying that the company violated its contractual promises to provide secure data hosting.

Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42366946/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/