Ashton Kutcher plugs tech companies

Ashton Kutcher may be in some hot water.

The actor promoted several Internet ventures (that he personally invests in) during Monday’s episode of “Two and a Half Men.” According to the Hollywood Reporter, CBS is not taking action.
Ashton, 33, provided free publicity on CBS using his character’s laptop, decorated in stickers touting Foursquare, Flipboard, Hipmunk, GroupMe and Chegg. His character, Walden Schmidt, is an Internet billionaire, but still…

A spokesperson for CBS shot down reports that the network would be blurring the stickers in future episodes. The rep tells THR that CBS is not seeking financial compensation for the plugs, and notes that it is the network’s policy to disclose any financial interests at the end of the broadcast.
“Check out @aplusk showing some @foursquare & @GroupMe laptop-sticker love on Two & a Half Men,” tweeted Foursquare CEO Dennis Crowley of the show, which reached 20 million viewers.
In August, The New York Times reported that Ashton could be investigated by the feds for using his guest-editing stint with “Details” to plug Internet companies without disclosing his financial ties to tech startups like Foursquare, Flipboard and Airbnb.

“If you’re out there promoting individual products that you have a specific investment in, it needs to be disclosed,” said a rep for the Federal Trade Commission at the time.

The actor’s love for social media may be hurting his personal life, as well. A lack of Twitter activity from the usually prolific Ashton and wife Demi Moore (who were suspiciously silent on their recent anniversary) adds to allegations of marital trouble.
Tabloid reports of infidelity gained steam after Moore tweeted a philosophical quote about anger.
Yesterday, Ashton tweeted a link to the Public Enemy song “Don’t Believe the Hype.”Joint-Tech-Family --- What do you think about Ashton and his shenanigans?

iFixit busts Apple's Thunderbolt Display wide open, no creamy center inside

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Motorola Xoom 4G LTE upgrade process begins tomorrow, new tablets on sale October 13th

 
Verizon's dangled a 4G LTE upgrade carrot in the noses of the Xoom-adopting hordes from the start. Now, it appears the carrier's ready to make good on that promise. Starting tomorrow, current owners of Motorola's Honeycomb tab can visit a dedicated VZW site for a step-by-step guide through the upgrade process. If you were amongst the eager few who signed up for alerts, the company's going to prioritize you and send out a notification via email. The entire swap-out should take up to six business days, returning a freshly enhanced LTE-enabled slate free-of-charge. As for the rest of you Xoom-less onlookers, Big Red's going to be offering up the updated tablets this October 13th for $499 on a new two-year service contract. Jump past the break to parse through the official presser.

Toshiba prepping new 560Mbps TransferJet chip

So, TransferJet hasn't exactly taken off the way many had hoped, especially Sony which crammed the wireless tech into CyberShot cameras and Memory Sticks. But some, like Toshiba, are still holding on to the dream. By the end of January 2012 Tosh plans to ship samples of its new TC35420 TransferJet chip to manufacturers, which can move files at an impressive 560Mbps. The short-range, high-speed sharing protocol could make moving photos, videos and other media between your smartphones, tablets and laptops quick and easy... or it could just become another feature that lies dormant in a few select products collecting piles of virtual dust. It only started showing up in products last year, so we're not ready to put a nail in its coffin just yet -- we'll just have to see if the tech can finally live up to it promise of painless connectivity.

India's $35 tablet said to ship in October, do dreams really come true?

This mysterious $35 tablet has broken our hearts, crushed our fantasies and even made unicorns crywith delay after delay. Today, HRD Minister Kapil Sibal assured us that the much anticipated slate willbe released on October 5th -- promising that this time, "[It's] not just a dream." Evidently, the tablet has overcome the manufacturing problems that plagued the project previously and now production is proceeding according to a new plan. That means that five, seven and nine inch slates are said to be shipping to lucky Indian students in early October -- sadly, both the Loch Ness Monster and Bigfoot have advised us not to hold our breath.

Joint tech Family: Apple All Set to Unveil iPhone 5 on Oct 4

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Google Journey

In 1998, the primary Google Webpage, was accessible at google.stanford.edu and the Beta version not yet live. The logo was planned by Sergey Brin and Google mimicked the Yahoo Exclamation mark. An outlook to the primary Google page rather looked substandard. 


Google is celebrating its 13th birthday this year. Initially named BackRub in 1996, Google peeped out of its shell when Yahoo! or AOL was widely used. Eventually, its name replacement was inspired by a play called googol, meaning "followed by a hundred zeroes". The name itself signifies their main endeavor to endow with outsized quantities of information for populace, and this is what they are known for today. 

During the early days of its commencement, the search engine was run by Stanford University's website and its realm name was google.stanford.edu. On 15th September, 1997, the domain name Google.com was registered. After receiving its first $100,000 funding from Andy Bechtolsheim, co-founder of Sun Microsystems, the new name was finally integrated on 4th September, 1998.

And this is how history was created. The word "Google It" was soon to become a common verb in households. 

2000 was a year of achievement for Google. It reached the 1 billion mark, turning itself the largest available search engine. Google turned default browser. A self service ad program, AdWord, was introduced, that lets users buy keywords that appear alongside search results. 

In year 2001, Google came up with image search options. It was immediately after 9/ 11 attacks and for the first time Google showed news and supported links on the front-page. Google mounted at a stable rate and was enthusiastic on trying something more than searching.  

In 2003, Google shifted to Mountain View, CA which housed their infamous Googleplex. The ad program AdSense was launched. They also acquired PyraLabs. 

In 2004, they launched the invitation only, Beta-version of Gmail on April Fool's Day. It also acquired Keyhole, the developer of Earth Viewer, which brought us the 3D view of the earth. Google also had its Doodles referring to holidays, festivals and important events.

Year 2006 was yet another year of achievements. You Tube acquired $1.65 billion in stock. Trends, Gchat for Gmail Users and Google Checkout were launched. 

In 2007, the company acquired Grand Central, which later evolved into Google Voice. They also launched their mobile platform Android.

A platform for real-time web communication, Google Wave was launched in 2009. A Mac-based photo editing application, Picasa, was also launched. 


In 2010 Google manifested its first investment in renewable-energy project. Gmail-based Google Buzz was launched, which failed at social networking. Google Apps. Marketplace was their take on the Apple iTune Store. They also started the Google TV, a service that came from Google's team with Sony, Intel and Logitech. The TV service did not gain much grip. The company also acquired Slide for $200 million.

The latest Google+ made news in 2011. It shook the whole social network scene. This is till date the most successful attempt from Google. Motorala Mobility was also bagged for $12.5 billion, but the reasons to acquire it are still unclear. Photovine App was launched, but the slide was dissolved as well as the apps except for one.