Gnip, the guys that are helping move data around from one social network to the next, launched v 2.0 of the service tonight.

The new version of the service allows data consumers (services like Plaxo that take data from other services, like Twitter, Friendfeed, Digg, Delicious, etc.) to have data from requested users pushed to them. It’s no longer “Hey, TechCrunch just tweeted. Go query the API to get the data.” Now it’s “TechCrunch just tweeted – here’s the data.” Data consumers are no longer required to build pollers for any of the publishers pushing data into Gnip, they just give Gnip an endpoint and they push the data to them in real time.

Data consumers can get complete public data streams for Twitter, Digg, Delicious, Six Apart and others without ever visiting those sites or accessing their individual APIs, subject only to the terms of service of those services. And this data can be gathered via a REST-based PI or the newly launched XMPP support.

Gnip also added a number of filter options to allow data consumers the ability to create rules based queries based on tags, keywords, etc.

Gnip’s business model is freemium – lots of data for free and commercial data consumers pay when they go over certain thresholds (non commercial use is free). The model is based on the number of users and the number of filters tracked. Basically, any time a service is tracking more than 10,000 people and/or rules for a certain data provider, they’ll start paying at a rate of $0.01 per user or rule per month, with a maximum payment of $1,000 per month for each data provider tracked. For now billing is turned off and the service remains completely free. Thirty to sixty days from now, people will start to pay.

Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0

Original post by Michael Arrington

Killing two marketing birds with one stone, Microsoft’s bundling some of its Zunes with various Gears of War 2 (launching soon!) paraphernalia. Each 120GB Zune will sport a laser-etched “Crimson Omen” and come pre-loaded with 244 pieces of media, including the soundtrack, behind-the-scene videos and concept art. The entire package will cost you $280 and will start shipping on November 7th. Pre-orders on Amazon.com and Walmart.com will begin at 6am EST. Looks like M’soft’s stopped going after babies and chosen to focus on teenage boys instead. [Engadget]

Original post by Elaine Chow

Recommendation engine StumbleUpon has been facing some tough times lately: earlier this month we reported that eBay was looking to sell the startup less than 18 months after acquiring it (the company refuses to comment). And its traffic has been showing signs of stagnation (though the number of registered users to steadily rise). But tonight, the site is launching a new feature that may very well turn things around: a long awaited install-free web toolbar.

StumbleUpon has long been hindered by the fact that it requires a browser plugin that users have to download and install. Such plugins create a large barrier to entry, as they are time consuming and tend to be associated with malware. These problems are magnified by the fact that StumbleUpon’s purpose isn’t immediately obvious – many users have to actually try it out before they understand what it does (for the uninitiated, it uses an algorithm based on your preferences and other users to direct you to websites that you’ll find interesting).

The service’s web-based browser toolbar, which launches tonight, overcomes these issues by replicating much of StumbleUpon’s functionality without requiring an install. To access the web toolbar, you simply visit the revamped StumbleUpon homepage and click on one of the recommended links. The toolbar sits conveniently at the top of the browser window in its own frame, with a prominent “Stumble” button sitting aside a set of stars for rating the sites you come across. The service uses cookies to persistently keep track of your actions across multiple sessions (you can import this data to the toolbar if you ever choose to install it).

To coincide with tonight’s announcement, StumbleUpon is introducing a partner program for sites that will take advantage of the web toolbar. At launch, The Huffington Post and HowStuffWorks will include widgets alongside their articles that will allow users to launch a StumbleUpon browser toolbar that is restricted to their sites (a toolbar launched at Huffington Post would only stumble across Huffington Post articles). The program will likely be a big success, as it allows partner sites to increase their page views by introducing users to new content, while helping StumbleUpon reach a broader audience.

StumbleUpon will still have some obstacles to overcome – the purpose of the web toolbar won’t be immediately obvious to new users, especially those who reach it from partner sites like The Huffington Post. But the burden of the browser plugin has finally been lifted, and I wouldn’t be surprised if these additions prompt impressive growth numbers in the coming months.

Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.

Original post by Jason Kincaid

Research into invisibility cloaks, which work by bending light around 2D objects, could end up protecting offshore rigs and vulnerable coastlines from water. Scientists at the Fresnel Institute in Marseille, France said that established cloaking principles can be applied to ocean waves, and built a 10cm model to show how carefully placed concentric pillars make objects in the center “invisible” to the sea.

Waves pass along the radial corridors, interacting with the pillars and producing forces that pull the water away from the innermost ring. The water is then pushed out of the cloaking area as if it had not encountered anything at all. The circular formation could be used to protect anything from oil rigs to islands, though very few islands can probably afford the amount of pillars needed to make this effect work. [New Scientist via Dvice]

Original post by Elaine Chow

Podcaster, the app that just won’t quit no matter how many times Apple tries to shut it down, is now up for download on Cydia as version 1.1. People who want Podcaster can now get it through the iPhone app black market, though questions about why it was blocked from legitimate channels are still left unanswered. [Thanks Ameet and MN!]

Original post by Elaine Chow

Picture this: You’re trying to figure out why your grandmother’s computer is running so slow when she mentions that an error message told her to download a $39.95 “fixer-upper,” and you realize that some rat bastard out there tricked the poor old dame into installing spyware. Doesn’t that make you angry? It’s certainly pissed off Microsoft, who’s filed a lawsuit with Washington state against “scareware” software makers.

The Redmond giant is able to get its lawsuit off the ground because of a recent law update called the Computer Spyware Act, which not only bans illegal spyware, but any other program that misleads people into believing that their computers need to be fixed. The fake error messages sent to Windows users, some of whom have received over 200 a day, fall under that category.

Microsoft’s asking for a fine of up to $2,000 per incident, plus restitution and attorney’s fees. Considering half of the customer support calls it receives are related to spyware crashes, that’s a lot of money. But whether the suit will deter “scareware” purveyors is still up in the air. In 2006, Microsoft filed a similar case against the same people and won… to little effect it seems. [Dailytech]

Original post by Elaine Chow

When I see images of Bruce Munro’s Field of Light installation, whatever glumness I might have felt during the day disappears, and that Beatle-esque Lenny Kravitz song of a similar name starts playing in my head. If I had the chance to check out Munro’s light installation, coming to Project Eden in Cornwall, England on November 1, I would totally wander through the fields—slowly, slowly through the fields, in fact—touching the acrylic globes that float at the ends of 6,000 fiberoptically united tubes.

The tubes’ intensity and color are controlled by an external projector; they’re in sync but don’t actually contain any electricity. (Sorry, Tesla.) In the Cornwall exhibition, they will be installed on a huge 1,200-square-meter grass-covered roof using 24,000 meters of fiber. It is of course “best viewed in hours of darkness.” Munro has actually set up Field of Light shows on a number of occasions in the past, each successive installation growing in some way. His next all-new project is “a massive illuminated maze synchronized with choral music” named (what else?) Water Towers. That will be on display next March in Frome, Somerset, so yes, again again with the England. You lucky Limeys had better send pictures! [Dezeen]

Original post by <a href=”http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/407821559/field-of-light-nikolai-tesla-meets-lenny-kravitz” title=”Field of Light: Nikolai Tesla Meets Lenny Kravitz [Design]“>Wilson Rothman

Ars got their hands on Nero’s freshly-announced LiquidTV/Tivo PC team up, and thought the Tivo software and Hauppauge TV Tuner hardware was a good experience for $200 ($100 for software only). They looked not only at how the UI functioned in the PC environment, but also at export options, content exchange, and hardware performance. Here’s what they liked and didn’t like.

The Good: • Feels Like Tivo — Ars really liked that the whole Tivo experience exists on Tivo PC with few limitations.

• The UI is made for the PC — Ars noted that the interface works as well with a keyboard and mouse as it does with the remote. You can click with ease, or use the keys to do what you need to do.

• PC Versatility — With Tivo PC, you can swap content between other Tivos or Liquid TV setups on the same network. You can also remotely schedule programs to record.

The Bad: • Exporting — The ability to export to PSP or iPod was a plus on paper, but the execution wasn’t so great. Ars said that even with a 2.66 GHz Core 2 Duo and 8 GB of RAM on a Mac Pro, it took even longer than the minute of conversion for minute of content that Tivo PC suggested. Secondly, the lack of customizable encoding options and automated uploading to devices detracted from a good experience.

• No TivoCast Support — Downloading from Tivo content partners like The Onion is not an option on Tivo PC. I’m sure there are some legal issues for this, being on the PC and all, but still, it’s nice to have content like that already waiting for you.

• No CableCard Support — if you want to record more than Over The Air content in HD, you’re out of luck with Tivo PC. Nero says they plan to add CableCard support in the future, but Ars doesn’t think we’ll see it any time soon.

So there you have it. If you want a good, solid DVR program that records basic TV content, this might be right for you. If you want more, you may want to look elsewhere. [Ars Technica]

Original post by Adrian Covert

Netflix will introduce their API to the public tomorrow at the Experience AJAX conference, and according to ReadWriteWeb, it will allow free access to movie data and stats stored on their servers. This doesn’t mean that anyone will be able to write a streaming video app for any random piece of open hardware. However, it does mean that people will be able to will be able to integrate movie info (ratings, related films, etc…) into widgets, like the ones you’d see on Typepad or Facebook. Or more importantly, create apps that allow for queue management (yes, this API is read and write capable).

So potentially, non-PC gadgets that are running the Netflix streaming service could have the ability to directly add and reorder movies to the queue — saving the trouble of having to pull out your computer when you think of something you want to add on the fly.

Data will be accessible via REST and Javascript APIs (no JSON, though), plus ATOM feeds. The API will also be usable for commercial purposes, so if you have a Netflix killer app for the iPhone planned that you think could make you some money, you’d better get to work. Netflix’s API will be available starting tomorrow at the Netflix developer site, which you will be able to sign up for by clicking here tomorrow, and not a moment earlier. [Netflix Developer via ReadWriteWeb]

Original post by Adrian Covert

Okay, so you don’t have a Blu-ray player and you’re not getting a new Dell. That still leaves you with eight—EIGHT—different versions of Iron Man to choose from, with everyone from Walmart to Borders hawking their own exclusive kit. Best Buy’s might the most exquisitely fanboy fapworthy, encasing the flick and a custom lithograth in a Mark II mini-bust made by Sideshow Collectibles. Here’s a guide to the rest, which we’ve placed in order of awesomeness, if you need some help deciding.

Target also goes the Iron Man trophy head route, though it just has the Ultimate 2-Disc Edition, in both DVD and Blu flavors, inside.

FYE and Suncoast deliver the Ultimate 2-Disc Edition in a superclassy steelbook case that I really, really like.

Walmart waltzes in with not one, but two exclusives, though only the first one matters to you: Ultimate 2-Disc edition with an exclusive Nick Fury comic. The other packs the first ep of the Iron Man animated series in with the single disc edition of the movie.

Costco‘s gift set throws in a bobblehead of each Iron Man suit from the movie. Feh for bobbleheads.

Borders rolls with a collectible book loaded with sketches and the top 24 Iron Man comic covers.

Circuit City gives you access to some exclusive Marvel Digital comics, snore.

Kmart and Sears are knocking five bucks off the Ultimate Edition if you buy $25 in Craftsman tools. I’m…not really sure what’s going on there either.

Which version are you going to pluck from this overloaded orgy of marketing? This “exclusive” crap—and most of it is crap—has really gotten out of hand.

On September 30th, Paramount Home Entertainment will release the critically acclaimed box office smash IRON MAN: 2-DISC ULTIMATE EDITION on DVD and Blu-ray!

With this release comes EIGHT fantastic retail exclusives! Below, you will find details and article work on these eight exciting, exclusive offers!

Here are the details for these Eight Exciting Retail Exclusives:

**Circuit City – Access to exclusive Marvel Digital Comics featuring the artwork of Adi Granov.

**Best Buy – Custom Lithograph created by Marvel artist Gerald Parel.

**Target – Target Deluxe Edition includes exclusive Mark III mask packaging. Available on both the Ultimate 2-Disc Edition and 2-Disc Blu-ray.

**Costco – Giftset includes the Ultimate 2 Disc Edition DVD and 3 Iron Man Bobbleheads, with all 3 Iron Man suits from the film. Giftset includes the “Battle Damaged Mark II”, available exclusively in this giftset at Costco.

**Walmart – Two exclusive SKUs. Ultimate 2 Disc Edition packed with an exclusive comic book chronicling the Nick Fury story. The single disc giftset is packed with the 1st episode of the new Iron Man animated series.

**Kmart & Sears – Save $5 on the Ultimate 2 Disc edition with any $25 Craftsman purchase.

**Trans World – FYE and Suncoast Exclusive Steelbook Package available on the Ultimate 2- disc Edition. (pictured above, left)

**Borders – On pack collectible book featuring original sketches by Bob Layton and the top 24 comic cover of Iron Man.

[Paramount]

Original post by matt buchanan