Daily Tech and Gadget

Windows: If you’d like more out of your weather reports than a simple sunshine icon and the high and low for the day, YoWindow gives you a real time and animated peek into today’s weather and forecast. More »

Apple A new Apple patent is going around that offers up something called “iGroups” functionality — it seems to be a kind of location-based social networking, including an ad-hoc currency functionality between a crowd of Apple devices. It’s pretty interesting , though it sounds more like an idea Apple is playing with than an actual service they’re going to debut. They specifically mention rock concerts and tradeshows (including WWDC), with the plan that someone would start up a “group,” and then individual group members in the same location (determined by GPS) would be able to hook into that group and/or exchange contact info or “tokens” with other members of the same group. Not quite a Foursquare or Facebook competitor (this definitely seems like a much more local service), but a new kind of ad-hoc network based on the idea that everyone in the area who is using an Apple device can connect up in new ways.

According to the Microsoft Security Response Center, Microsoft will issue two Security Bulletins addressing eight vulnerabilities on Tuesday, and it will host a webcast to address customer questions about the bulletins the following day (March 10 at 11:00 am PST, if you’re interested). Both of the vulnerabilities are rated “Important” and both may require a restart. The list of affected operating systems includes Windows XP (x86 and x64), Windows Vista (x86 and x64), and Windows 7 (x86 and x64). In terms of the Microsoft Office suites, all supported versions are affected on both Windows and Mac OS X. Compared to last month’s whopper of a Patch Tuesday , this one is quite a small one, especially given that there are no “Critical” patches coming.

Just unwrapped at Geneva is this extraordinary Porsche 918 Spyder concept car, a mid-engined two-seater combining supercar performance with just 70 grams CO2 per kilometre emissions and a fuel consumption of 3.0 litres/100 kilometres (94 mpg imp). Under those curvaceous lines hides a 500 bhp V8 plus three electric motors totalling 215 bhp offering a wickedly fast 0-100 km/h time of 3.2 seconds, a top speed of 320 km/h (198 mph) and it’s already done a lap of the Nordschleife Nurburgring circuit under 7:30 minutes, which is faster than even the Porsche Carrera GT. Buyers will be queued up around the block if (or more likely, when) this goes into production. .. Tags: Concept , Geneva Auto Show 2010 , Geneva Motor Show 2010 , Hybrid , Plug-in , Porsche Related Articles: Boxster Spyder – 166mph Porsche roadster to debut in LA Hybrid Drive for the Porsche Panamera – the fuel efficient Gran Turismo Porsche Plans Cayenne with Hybrid Engine Porsche motorsport heritage on display Back to the future: electric-drive Lohner-Porsche at the L.A.

Hamburg, Germany based Qype , a Yelp-like site that’s focused on European markets, has recently had long acquisition looks from both Google and Nokia, we’ve heard from multiple sources. A deal with Nokia in particular was looking extremely likely until recently. The site was first launched in 2005 and today attracts 9 million monthly worldwide visitors, according to Comscore, just a little less than Yelp’s 11 million. Both likely have far more actual visitors, but Comscore is good for comparision – in December, for example, Qype told us they had 17.7 million unique visitors. A year ago the company brought in a new CEO and have been expanding rapidly across Europe.

When a startup entrepreneur tells the story of his/her mistakes and how they’ve corrected them, it’s endearing. When an investment associate for one of the more prestigious VC firms does it, it’s surprising. Union Square Ventures’ Andrew Parker recently started a Got It Wrong Series on his Gong Show blog where he identifies his own mistakes and mis-judgements about the industry. Sponsor While investment analysts and associates don’t directly control the money in the VC world, a large number of our readers believe associates help drive the decision-making process. When someone like Parker decides to air his mistakes for all to see, he’s giving us a glimpse at the information that guides the future of the tech landscape and whether or not the funding will follow.

Now here’s a possibly handy little gadget to have at home for the health conscious, the new Tanita weighing scale that comes with a built in memory card slot for SD cards. Why? Because it stores your information on the card that can be a later transferred to your PC. It doesn’t just measure the users weight but with its body constitution meter (an industry first) it keeps tabs on your body fat ratio and internal age. The scale also comes with its own software for the PC that updates your information when the card is plugged in.

Daniel Moloney , president of Motorola’s Home business, has decided to leave the company to serve as the CEO for an unnamed Philadelphia, PA-based global producer of electronic components, electrical contacts and assemblies. Update: he’ll be joining Technitrol as head honcho at the end of March 2010. Moloney will not be replaced, as Motorola co-CEO Sanjay Jha will continue to lead the previously announced combined Mobile Devices and Home businesses, as well as take the leadership role for the Home business, effective immediately. Moloney served nearly 10 years in senior-level capacities at Motorola and, previously, 16 years in managerial positions at General Instrument Corporation before its acquisition by Motorola early in 2000. Since 2007 up until the recently announced reorganization , Dan Moloney ran Motorola’s Home & Networks Mobility group.

RightSide Capital Management is about to shatter the funding landscape. Led by David Lambert, Kevin Dick and John Lee , RightSide Capital believes that seed-stage capital needs a complete overhaul. RightSide will make 100-200 investments per year, and literally manufacture companies in a way that no firm has ever done. The fund, announced at TheFunded.com’s Future of Funding event last Thursday, will debut in the second half of 2010 and may give the angel funding market a much-deserved shakeup. Partner Kevin Dick went on stage during a panel on alternative funding methods and laid out what he believes to be the future of funding.

Women, Hispanics and blacks have always been underrepresented in the ranks of the Valley’s tech companies.  A new analysis by the Mercury News shows that from 2000 to 2008, the proportion of women tech workers in Silicon Valley dropped from 25.3% to 23.8%, and that the national numbers dropped from 30% to 27.4%.  In 2008, blacks and Hispanics constituted only 1.5% and 4.7% respectively of the Valley’s tech population — well below national tech-population averages of 7.1% and 5.3%. It seems that the problem I highlighted in my last post on the dearth of tech women is actually getting worse, particularly in Silicon Valley.  And it’s not just the women who are being left out, but also important minority groups.

Oh the Associated Press, our most favorite banned new source. It seems almost monthly they do something that defies logic and/or looks to be a suicidal act. And today brings another oddity. The AP is using their Twitter feed to tweet out their stories — nothing new there, obviously — but every single one of them links to the story on their Facebook Notes page. It’s not clear how long they’ve been doing this, but Search Engine Land’s Danny Sullivan noted the oddness of this, and how annoying it is, tonight.

In November of last year, Gowalla finally extended its reach beyond its iPhone app with a version of its app that worked on the mobile web for Android (and the iPhone’s Safari browser). It was a pretty good web app but had some limitations, which founder Josh Williams accepted because his team was at work on a native app for Android as well. That wait is over. While it’s not yet in the Android Market, Gowalla has released a very early beta version of the native Android app to its most dedicated users that patrol the company’s Get Satisfaction page. Williams posted about the new app a few days ago, and noted that “ Technically, we are calling this beta release 0.1.

A serious geek I know asked me how many people with gray hair were at Internet conference I had just attended. I answered that there were quite a few. He shook his head and said that when the suits take over, it’s the beginning of the end of innovation. There are two things happening here. First, the suits are taking over and, second, the pioneers are going gray.

In August 2009, home haircutting system maker Flowbee filed suit against Google in federal district court in Corpus Christi, Texas. The company was the umpteenth to take the Mountain View company to court for selling sponsored search ads to competitors under its trademarked keyword, which it alleged ‘confused’ customers. On the 18th of February 2010, Google filed its answer to the complaints and simultaneously moved to file a counterclaim against the haircutting system vendor (documents here ). In the most recent filing for the case, Google denies most of the allegations Flowbee had brought forward, including that it has made any unlawful use of Flowbee’s alleged trademarks and similar marks. At the same time, the company admits that it allows third parties to bid on keywords that may trigger display of their advertisements as Sponsored Links.

NBC is driving people on the Internet crazy by tape-delaying coverage of the Olympics until primetime. Okay, maybe it’s only driving Henry Blodget crazy , and everyone on Twitter. Well, not everyone on Twitter—68 percent, according to a recent reading I took on Twitter Sentiment . Roughly two thirds of Tweets about the NBC Olympics are negative. Some examples of the venting occurring on Twitter about NBC’s delayed Olympics coverage: NBC sucks.