Wi-Fi Coming to London Underground by 2012

Nearly half of the London Underground’s 270 stations are being outfitted with Wi-Fi access ahead of the 2012 Olympic Games.

London Underground commuters got their first taste of subterranean Internet access in October 2010, when a six-month test funded by U.K. broadband service BT brought Wi-Fi hotspots to the Northern and Bakerloo line platforms, as well as the ticket hall at the central London station.

Users of the service will only be able to connect to Wi-Fi on the platforms, and not on the trains themselves.

Hanwha releases a new USB and HDMI connector for iPad/iPhone4

Hanwha released a new and well-built USB and HDMI converter for iPad and iPhone4. Cool!

Jeff Koons Must Die!!! The Video Game

“Jeff Koons Must Die!!!” is an 80’s style stand-up arcade cabinet loaded with a first-person shooter, by Hunter Jonakin, in which players can virtually destroy the work of artist Jeff Koons.

The game is set in a large museum during a Jeff Koons retrospective. The viewer is given a rocket launcher and the choice to destroy any of the work displayed in the gallery. If nothing is destroyed the player is allowed to look around for a couple of minutes and then the game ends. However, if one or more pieces are destroyed, an animated model of Jeff Koons walks out and chastises the viewer for annihilating his art. He then sends guards to kill the player. If the player survives this round then he or she is afforded the ability to enter a room where waves of curators, lawyers, assistants, and guards spawn until the player is dead. In the end, the game is unwinnable, and acts as a comment on the fine art studio system, museum culture, art and commerce, hierarchical power structures, and the destructive tendencies of gallery goers, to name a few.

Twenty-five cents to play. Check out a video of “Jeff Koons Must Die!!!” in action over at Curated.

Via:Highsnobiety

Rumor: iPhone 5 To Have Metal Back?

More iPhone 5 rumors  just surfaced on the net, with rumors of a metal back heading the list.

No more glass back? If rumors are true, the iPhone 5′s dorsal side will evolve into a metal back similar to the very first iPhone (that’s not a picture of the iPhone 5 above — it’s an iPhone 4 with a metal sticker on the back). That’s according to a reliable source at Foxconn, the Chinese manufacturer that builds iPhones and such, who tattled the tantalizing tidbit to 9 to 5 Mac.

Via:Mashable

Google reacts to Japanese tsunami with a Person Finder tool

Google has put together a Person Finder tool where people worried about the plight of their loved ones can look them up by name. There are only a few thousand records up on the site at the moment, but it should still be a useful repository for missing person data, particularly since mobile networks were taken down by the tsunami’s damage. Information should also start piling up as recovery efforts continue. Let’s just hope this Person Finder won’t have to be used for too long and things can be brought back to normal soon.
Via: engadget

Five Best VoIP or Voice Chat Apps

Whether you use them for business communication, talking to family over long distances, or just fragging your friends over the latest FPS, communication has been revolutionized by voice calling apps. Here’s a look at the five most popular options for having voice conversations over the internet.

The applications below may do more than just allow you to voice chat—many also allow you to call telephone numbers or video chat. We are evaluating these apps based on their user friendliness and quality of audio.

And the contenders are: Fring, Google Voice, Mumble, Skype, and Ventrilo.

Keep on reading at (via) LifeHacker.

Titania – The Leading Israeli FOREX Portal

We at the gallery are in constant need of updated knowledge of the world financial markets data for our own trading needs. At Titania we found a great overall solution that can benefit both institutional and individual investors to make clever trading decisions.  Titania systems cover a wide range of trading needs, taking into consideration ROI goals, levels exposure, risk-levels, etc. Titania has built a quantitative rating system for equities, mutual funds, and FOREX pairs.

Thanks guys for the great free help and analysis that you guys bring to the online world.

Check it out: Titania

Christie’s Launches New iPhone Application Allowing Optimized Access to Website

Christie’s, announces the availability of a new mobile application that extends the company’s online experience to a global audience of Apple mobile device users. Beginning July 15, Apple iPhone and iPod Touch users can enjoy optimized mobile access to Christie’s online features, including previews of all sales and lots, real-time sales results, and more. This free application will be made available to the one million plus unique visitors to Christies.com each month via http://www.christies.com/on-the-go/iphone, the company’s Facebook and Twitter audiences, and to visitors of the iTunes App Store.

Michael O’Neal, director of Digital Media at Christie’s comments: “The Christie’s app ensures our existing and potential buyers are always in touch and informed of our latest offerings, no matter where they may be. New advancements in mobile devices now allow for a very rich visual experience perfectly suited to viewing Christie’s broad array of offerings, including fine art, jewels, decorative objects, furniture, and fine and rare wines.

As our global audience grows increasingly reliant on mobile communication devices, Christie’s is leading the way as the first international fine art auction house to launch a mobile access strategy, so that our clients may select the communications medium best suited to their needs at any given moment. The Christie’s app ensures that our clients continue to enjoy the enhanced online services they’ve become accustomed to with Christies.com, as well as take advantage of new custom features that leverage the revolutionary unique features and functions of the iPhone and iPod Touch.”

The Christie’s App was developed in partnership with Kargo, a leading independent mobile media and technology partner that specializes in producing breakthrough entertainment and information applications. With the Christie’s app, buyers and sellers around the world can:

Browse any Christie’s auction, anywhere in the world: Search by Category, Location, or Area of Interest, so you can easily find items of interest while on the road, or with a client.

Get Real-time Auction Results: Even if you are not in the saleroom, you can still track sale results in real-time. The app receives results direct from the saleroom and refreshes the tally as each sale progresses, so that users have the latest news at their fingertips, as soon as the hammer falls.

View Sale Catalogues and Lot Details: Always have the latest sale catalogue at their fingertips, with flip-through access and detailed information about every individual lot in each sale, including dimensions, estimates, provenance, and detailed catalogue notes.

Zoom-In on Lots of Interest: Use the high-quality display and innovative Multi-Touch user interface of iPhone and iPod Touch to make viewing Christie’s catalogues easy. Users can zoom in and inspect any lot in detail, and rotate and re orient an image to best fit their screen.

Email A Lot to a Friend: See an item that is perfect for a client or a friend? Users can select any lot and instantly send a link to it by email, along with a personal note.

Find A Salesroom: When traveling, it’s easy to locate any of our 10 salesrooms around the globe with location-aware functionality and Google map links.

Submit Images for Appraisal: Interested in selling an item? The iPhone camera function makes it easy to take a picture of an object and submit it to our auction specialists for appraisal. Buyers and sellers alike can use the app to view all 80 collecting categories that Christie’s represents, including fine and decorative arts and design, jewelery, antiquities, furniture, books, watches, wine, musical instruments, and more.

Download Wallpaper Images: Make an artistic statement by downloading iconic images of fine arts, jewelery, collectibles, wine and more from Christie’s image library to use as their wallpaper.

As the first step in Christie’s broader mobile access strategy, the new app is an example of the company’s continuing commitment to leveraging best-in-class digital technologies to enrich the client experience. In addition to its mobile offering, Christie’s remains the only international fine art auction house to offer online bidding capability via Christie’s LIVE™, a real-time multi-media bidding application. In 2008, Christie’s LIVE™ generated $82 million in online sales and direct underbidding. Online sale registrations per sale grew 138% in 2008 and the percent share of all lots sold through remote bidding channels grew 33%.

Wikimedia Foundation receives Ford Foundation Grant to grow Wikimedia Commons

The Wikimedia Foundation, the non- profit organization which operates Wikipedia, has received a $300,000  Ford Foundation grant to make it easier for people around the world to  participate in Wikimedia Commons, the Internet’s largest repository of  high quality, freely reusable educational illustrations, photographs,  maps, sound, and video files. Available in 85 languages, Wikimedia Commons is a global community  dedicated to sharing media. The Wikimedia Commons also acts as the  central multimedia library for Wikipedia. The Ford Foundation grant  will support interface and work-flow improvements to make it much  easier to contribute freely reusable content.

“The global community that is building Wikimedia Commons is setting  the standard for the way that video and images are uploaded and shared  through the Web,” said Jenny Toomey, a program officer for the Ford  Foundation. “The whole process is simplified, promotes collaboration,  and is driven by consensus among the community. Ultimately, this  approach and others like it can help ensure that the Internet remains  a rich and open space for learning, expression, and participation.”

Since Wikimedia Commons was founded in 2004, a strong community of  international volunteers has formed to support its growth and  development. Wikimedia Commons currently hosts more than 4.5 million  freely reusable educational media files. Its files are used in  thousands of educational and informational initiatives around the  world, including in mass media and books.

“We are thrilled that the Ford Foundation is supporting this project,”  said Sue Gardner, Executive Director of the Wikimedia Foundation. “We  want to make uploading files to Commons as easy as possible, so that  people everywhere can join us in helping Commons grow. The bigger  Commons is, the more people it will serve.”

The grant will fund a project team to study challenges faced by new  participants in Wikimedia Commons, as well as to identify best  practices from other media sharing websites. Following a research  phase, the team will design and implement a simple upload work-flow,  enabling users to easily upload files, select licenses, and provide  descriptions.

About The Ford Foundation
http://www.fordfound.org/

The Ford Foundation is an independent, nonprofit grant-making  organization. For more than half a century it has worked with  courageous people on the frontlines of social change worldwide, guided  by its mission to strengthen democratic values, reduce poverty and  injustice, promote international cooperation, and advance human  achievement. With headquarters in New York, the foundation has offices  in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.

About The Wikimedia Foundation
http://wikimediafoundation.org

The Wikimedia Foundation is the non-profit organization which operates  Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. According to comScore Media Metrix,  Wikipedia and the other projects operated by the Wikimedia Foundation  receive more than 300 million unique visitors per month, making them  the 4th most popular web property world-wide. Available in more than  265 languages, Wikipedia contains more than 12 million articles  contributed by a global volunteer community of more than 100,000  people. Based in San Francisco, California, the Wikimedia Foundation  is an audited, 501(c)(3) charity that is funded primarily through  donations and grants.

Google To Buy Twitter?

There is a rumor that Google is in late stage negotiations to acquire Twitter…

Evil is getting stornger? I sure hope they would not kill the service.