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Kevin Smith announces that his final directorial effort will be Clerks 3

We knew this was coming, but I didn’t think it would make me this sad. Kevin Smith, who has been talking about his retirement for a while now, has announced that his final film will be a second sequel to his first film, 1994’s Clerks . The news comes after his intended swan song, the two-part hockey movie Hit Somebody , was set to become a six-part television miniseries . No news yet on which channel might host Hit Somebody . Some are guessing AMC, where Comic Book Men resides, but considering Smith’s generous amounts of colorful language, I’m thinking somewhere premium would work best — who wants to watch censored Kevin Smith? (Not a lot of people, judging by the short life of ABC’s Clerks: The Animated Series — but don’t rule out a possible return for that. coughcough::get on it, Adult Swim::coughcough) Smith’s retirement will be a bummer, considering he just proved he has stories like Red State up his sleeve; it’s sad to think he won’t try to do something else out of the box. (Insert dirty Chasing Amy joke here.) No additional information is out yet about Clerks 3 , but watch for more rumblings next year. I hope Matt Damon and Ben Affleck come back for this (if they don’t do Hit Somebody , that is). Kevin Smith Is Heading Back To The Quick Stop One More Time!! [Ain’t It Cool News]

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Kevin Smith announces that his final directorial effort will be Clerks 3

FCC and mobile carriers commit to nationwide text-to-911 by May 2014

It seems almost stupid that it’s nearly 2013 and we’re still unable to communicate with our emergency services in any way other than picking up the phone and calling them. We can certainly imagine situations where you’d want to be able to send a quick  text message  to local police. The US is a bit behind here—British mobile phone users have had access to  EmergencySMS since 2009. For years, we’ve been covering the slow ascent of text-to-911 . But now, the Federal Communications Commission says that the nation’s Big Four mobile carriers have agreed to “accelerate” text-to-911 capabilities for debut in 2013, with a nationwide deployment by May 15, 2014. “Building on text-to-911 deployments and trials that are already underway, this agreement will accelerate progress and ensure that over 90 percent of the nation’s wireless consumers, including millions of consumers with hearing or speech disabilities, will be able to access emergency services by sending a text message to 911, where local 911 call centers (known as a Public Safety Answering Points, or PSAPs) are also prepared to receive the texts,” the FCC said in a statement Thursday. Read 1 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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FCC and mobile carriers commit to nationwide text-to-911 by May 2014

AMD puts brakes on chip manufacturing as sales plummet

Windows 8 and the holidays have failed to give PC makers the usual yearly bump in sales, and now Advanced Micro Devices is paying the price. The company announced yesterday that it has reduced its chip manufacturing orders for the last three months of the company’s 2012 fiscal year by more than 75 percent, and it will pay a heavy penalty for the changes. In a new agreement signed with manufacturing partner GlobalFoundries , AMD reduced its promised silicon wafer purchases to just $115 million, down from $500 million, while agreeing to pay a $320 million penalty for the order change over the next year. AMD spun off GlobalFoundries in 2009, and in March of 2012 it  sold off its remaining stake in the company , leaving an investment arm of the government of the United Arab Emirates as the company’s sole owner. The move is part of an emergency plan to keep AMD’s cash on hand up as revenues continue to slide. On a conference call yesterday, AMD interim Chief Financial Officer Devinder Kumar said, “Liquidity and cash management remain a key focus for AMD.” The chipmaker is still looking for a permanent CFO to fill the gap left by Thomas Seifert, who bailed on the company in September “to pursue other interests.” Read 4 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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AMD puts brakes on chip manufacturing as sales plummet

Holy Spock! The Star Trek Medical Tricorder Is Real, And It’s Only $150

The device you’re looking at is called the Scanadu SCOUT and, basically, it’s a medical tricorder that will give you precise vital information about any human being within seconds, just on contact. I tried it myself, and knew I was looking at the beginning of a personal health revolution. Star Trek -level stuff. Except it’s coming at the end of 2013. More »

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Holy Spock! The Star Trek Medical Tricorder Is Real, And It’s Only $150

Google Apps discontinues basic package, asks new customers to pony up $50 per user for premium

Looking towards Mountain View to provide a suite of digital tools for your new business? Make sure to pen per-user costs into your ledger — Google Apps isn’t free anymore. According to Google’s enterprise blog, the basic Google Apps package is being abandoned to streamline the service, offering businesses a single, $50 per user option that promises 24/7 phone support, 25GB inboxes and a 99.9% uptime guarantee. Pre-existing free customers can still hum along unmolested, of course, and the standard pricing doesn’t apply to schools or universities, either. Personal Google accounts are still free too, doling out gratis Gmail and Drive access to anyone with a unique user name. The team hopes that streamlining the Apps will allow it to provide better service, possibly offering enterprise users new features on a faster timetable. Filed under: Internet , Google Comments Source: Google

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Google Apps discontinues basic package, asks new customers to pony up $50 per user for premium

Sean Parker and Lars Ulrich talk Napster vs. Metallica, hug it out with Spotify

One of today’s many , many Spotify announcements was that legendary thrashers Metallica would be coming to the streaming service. As part of the announcement CEO Daniel Ek brought out the bands notoriously outspoken drummer Lars Ulrich and Spotify board member Sean Parker who, as you might remember, had a hand in founding Napster . While there was some broad discussion about the direction of the music industry and the future of music consumption, a large chunk of the half hour-long conversation revolved around the shared history of the two and the legal feud between the pioneering file sharing service and the band. The two were surprisingly cordial, if slightly uncomfortable looking, and delved deep into the details of what both described as a “street fight” between the parties. Ultimately, both admitted that things got blown out of proportion and escalated unnecessarily. But there also seemed to be some admission by Lars that there was an element of Luddism to his band’s reaction. To see the entire, extremely interesting conversation, check out the video after the break. Continue reading Sean Parker and Lars Ulrich talk Napster vs. Metallica, hug it out with Spotify Filed under: Internet Comments

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Sean Parker and Lars Ulrich talk Napster vs. Metallica, hug it out with Spotify

Tablets Go Head-to-Head on Battery Life, iPad Comes Out On Top

Consumer weblog “Which?” tested the most popular 7- and 10-inch tablets to compare battery life, and found quite a bit of variation. If you’re looking for a new tablet, here are some things to watch out for. More »

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Tablets Go Head-to-Head on Battery Life, iPad Comes Out On Top

iTunes (temporarily) serves porn images to Russian users

iTunes users in Russia got an eyeful on Wednesday (hat tip to Wired ) when a newly released version of the app displayed graphic images of porn instead of the foreign films they were expecting. The bug, reported to be present in the iTunes Store shown to users in Russia, is most likely the result of images that were linked to xxx.xxx. Security experts speculate it was an oversight by Apple developers, who put the address in as a placeholder and then forgot to revise it. The site happens to be the official search directory for domains that carry the .xxx top level domain, which was created last year. As a result, the iTunes section briefly featured a smorgasbord of pornographic images. Apple quickly fixed the mishap, but has yet to explain how it happened. Read on Ars Technica | Comments

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iTunes (temporarily) serves porn images to Russian users

SpaceX gets its first military contract

The iconic “blue marble” picture of Earth, taken during the Apollo missions, will be a regular feature of the DSCOVR hardware NASA SpaceX announced that it had won two big US Air Force launch contracts Wednesday. If successful, the two demonstrations would help them qualify to compete for Air Force business against launch provider ULA (United Launch Alliance), which currently has a stranglehold on the largest Air Force launches. The first launch, planned for a Falcon 9, will send up the long-awaited NASA DSCOVR satellite to a distant point between the Sun and the Earth, where it can look at the Earth with the Sun behind it. The second, a Falcon Heavy launch, will put up several satellites and a 5 metric ton ballast, in an effort to demonstrate the Falcon 9 Heavy for the Air Force. Both contracts fall under the Air Force’s OSP-3 (Orbital/Suborbital) program, an Air Force program specifically designed to bringing in new launch companies. “GoreSat” rises from storage DSCOVR, NASA’s Deep Space Climate Observatory , has been in deep storage since 2001, when it was imprisoned by the incoming Bush Administration. DSCOVR is designed to measure the Earth’s albedo by tracking sunlight reflected back from the Earth from a distant vantage point. Former Vice-President Al Gore suggested that a video camera be installed on the satellite, with the hope that the constant video feed of the distant Earth would provide the same kind of ” Blue Marble ” perspective that the first pictures from Apollo did. The original Blue Marble picture is probably the most-circulated picture in human history, and is widely credited with contributing to the start of the modern ecology movement. Read 9 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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SpaceX gets its first military contract