Techland Roundup: The Daily Dose; Technology News 1/29/10 | Techland

Friday, Jan. 29, 2010

Today in Techland: We welcomed our uber-talented new contributor Douglas Wolk, who will be Techland’s comic genius. His first post focused on real issues and events that get a comic interpretation. Read it here. We also bestow upon you yet another edition of the award-caliber Techland Show, this time with Steve and I staging a coup and taking over. We talk iPad, Caprica and stupid celebrity comics.

Here’s what else going on in nerd news around the Web:

Get ready. We know we’re not the only ones counting down to the Feb. 2 season premiere of LOST, so listen up if you’ve got some catching up to do. ABC and Hulu are now streaming every episode of LOST online for free. I feel like we should all be wearing “How will it end?” buttons…

Maybe he’ll even save NBC’s reputation. It seems that the network has picked up pilot The Cape about an L.A. ex-cop turned superhero in an attempt to reunite with his son.

AT&T customers, take note. If you buy one of these mobile devices from AT&T, you could be required to purchase a $20 minimum data and messaging plan: Pantech Reveal, Pantech Impact, Motorola Karma, Samsung Flight, Samsung Impression, Samsung Magnet, Samsung Solstice, Samsung Mythic, Samsung Propel, LG Xenon, LG Neon, and the LG Vu. And that’s before the calling plan. Ouch.

The black market? It looks like hackers are accessing the passwords to Twitter accounts and then turning around to sell the account for a profit. Apparently, even Facebook, RapidShare and Gmail accounts are on the auction block as well.

Extermination, Google style. Google is looking to external researchers to help them kill bugs found in its Chromium browser. According to the Chromium blog, the base rate for eligible bugs is $500.

The geeks are coming! As Best Buy expands its franchise into the UK, adding around 8,000 jobs, 1,000 of those will be tech support on its famous “Geek Squad” team.

Can you really be this self-involved? Why someone would ever okay a comic about themselves as a mindless money maker? Especially if it’s about their celebrity life that is of little interest or importance? Why? Why? Why? Do they all sign off on this stuff? Still not getting it…

Gross

Trying to Be Optimistic About a Google Music-Streaming System

The Wall Street Journal’s Amir Efrati and Ethan Smith are reporting that Google is working on a consumer-electronics system designed to stream music–and, eventually, maybe video and other media–around the home. Their story doesn’t have much in the way of detail, but does say that Google’s brainchild might be akin to a lower-cost version of Sonos’s excellent-but-pricey music-streaming products. Absent more details, there are several ways to respond to this sketchy bit of news.

The 12 Best Android Widgets for 2012

With all due respect to smartphone apps, sometimes you don’t want to open a new program just to get some quick info or perform a minor task. That’s where Android widgets come in handy, bringing the functionality of those apps right to the phone’s home screen. But not all widgets are wonderful. Some are glorified app launchers, while others are downright ugly. Here are the 12 best widgets that no discerning Android user should be without.