No more Bill & Ted for China, all hope officially lost

At least, that's what the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television in China now claims based on new standards put into effect on March 31st. You know, so that the Chinese people don't get any funny ideas. That's why media involving "fantasy, time-travel, random compilations of mythical stories, bizarre plots, absurd techniques...ambiguous moral lessons, and a lack of positive thinking" are forthwith banned.

That sounds like all the good American TV. Ironically Bill & Ted never re-wrote history, but used historical figures to teach classmates about the importance of history. Well played Chinese government.

The dirtiest almost-SFW video you'll watch all day

If NatGeo could put out TV like this, I'd never get off the couch.

iPhone 5 production starting in September?

I jumped on the iPhone bandwagon early. I had the original iPhone, and now have the 3GS. For the past nine months I've wanted an iPhone 4, but have been stuck in my contract and couldn't get a good deal. The iPhone 5 was supposed to put me back in front of the curve.

Or so I thought. Rumors of the iPhone 5 arriving holiday season 2011 to match the Verizon iPhone release may leave current AT&T iPhone owners stuck between service contracts. According to Avian Securities, "conversations with yet another key component supplier indicates that production for iPhone 5 will begin in September." That is to say, it'll likely hit Apple stores in November.

The rumors could be true, and it does make sense. The holiday season is the best time to sell phones. 4G is quickly becoming a requirement for high-end smartphones. The obvious downside is anyone on a two-year contract will get screwed. 3GS owners would have to keep their phones for another 5-6 months and iPhone 4 owners wouldn't be able to get the upgrade unless Apple/AT&T made exceptions like they did with the iPhone 3G.

Or Apple just hates me. There's always that.

[Business Insider]

Amazon offering cheaper, ad-based Wi-Fi Kindle for $114

Everyone just wants a piece of Groupon. That's what Amazon is doing by throwing an even cheaper Kindle - for just $114 - which includes advertised deals like "a $20 Amazon gift card for $10" or "an album from the Amazon MP3 store for $1." Best of all, it does it all through the screen saver, so your reading is never interrupted...but after a long day, you could "open" your book to see a sweet deal. Or possibly a worthless one that is still prettier than the wallpaper sitting on the e-reader's screen.

The Kindle with Benefits will release on May 3rd.

Uneasy about Google Streetview? Soon thermal imaging can catch you in the act

It's one thing to get an odd photo taken by the Google Streetview bus. It's another to have an entire city photographed using thermal imaging. Because, who knows, you could be doing something where body heat is disproportionately below the waste for that time of day, or growing something that just gets really hot. Springfield and Hamilton residents will soon find themselves in this conundrum, but Bostonians can relax for a little while thanks to the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts.

The camera system, deployed by Sagewell, is intended to find hot spots to determine where excess energy is being expended, which in turn could help curb energy usage and save money. The problem is we don't necessarily want all of our homes completely visible, even if it's just a blob of reds and blues. The last thing I need is Predator stalking me during the day to watch me typing away.

[CBS Boston] (image from Time.com)

If AT&T is buying T-Mobile, why are these antagonistic ads still running?

News that AT&T was buying T-Mobile stirred the industry. Verizon would drop to send place, T-Mobile customers (and, well, everyone) could get the short end of the stick, and Verizon could buy Sprint, even if they don't think so just yet. Then why are we still seeing ads like this:



I just saw this ad run on TV. If you're wondering why they're still showing, and why T-Mobile is still competing in full force against their possible buyer, here's the reason: if the deal doesn't pan out, especially for legal concerns, then T-Mo will have to fight for it's life to succeed even harder than it is now. As the smallest of the tier-1 wireless providers, AT&T's buyout makes the no-metal company part of the gold-winning team. So while AT&T might see it as a loss for any customers switching from iPhones to Android devices on the smaller network, T-Mobile has a win-win opportunity, even Deutsche Telekom doesn't make a cool $39 billion.

But really, who switches from an iPhone on AT&T to Android on T-Mobile. Seriously guys, you can do better than that.

Google Labs chatbot makes coworkers believe you actually have friends

Lonely at the office? Need to look like someone will actually talk to you online? Chatbots are so old school, and the good ones moved to the web, so who would even remember. Google's Talk Guru is a Google Labs project that essentially puts an "I'm feeling lucky" search in the form of instant messages, but without the search. It's great for finding information, like a calculator or translation or weather patterns, and it works pretty well. It works across any client that support Google Talk just by inviting guru@googlelabs.com to a conversation. Send it an invite and voila, someone to finally talk to! Never be lonely again.

[Techcrunch via Google Labs Guru]

Analyst predicts 100 million iPhone 5 sales, what a surprise

Analysts and investors just love Apple. Go to any meeting with these number crunchers or golf players and it's "Google this" and "Apple that". The only thing you'll hear more of than that is "but does it work on the iPhone?" So, surprise surprise, one analyst at Asymco has determined that the iPhone 5 will sell about 100 million units in it's lifespan. That's one for every third person in the US, give or take a few hundred thousand.

How analyst Horace Dediu determined this is pretty simple, as seen in the chart above: historical data based on current iPhone model sales per year. According to Dediu, they've basically doubled with each new iteration. Based on this data, he's probably not wrong, considering two interchangeable factors: Verizon picking up the iPhone, and the possible delay of the iPhone 5. If the iPhone 5 is announced at WWDC, as expected, then we'll be seeing long lines at Apple, AT&T and Verizon stores, which in the US alone is over 200 million people. And more people on Verizon will likely switch, because they're waiting for the newer iPhone. If the release is delayed, then we may not have an iPhone 5, but an iPhone 4G, which besides for helping Apple out on the nomenclature of their beloved iOS device, it would sell even more units because both AT&T and Verizon are shelling out the big bucks for 4G.

[Wired via 9to5 Mac via Asymco]

Subscribe to the New York Times on Kindle? No more NYTimes.com workaround

Blip

Instead of using a workaround to read content off the New York Times website, or, you know, paying, current Kindle users who already subscribe to the digital newspaper version of the New York Times can view all content on the site for free. The catch, of course, is that it costs $20/month to get the NYTimes sent daily to your Kindle, as opposed to paying $15/month for the current online-only subscription or finding interesting and fun ways around the paywall. But if you already get the NYTimes on your Kindle, easier for you!

iPad 2 available at Radioshack tomorrow

Having trouble finding an iPad 2? That's no surprise with recent shortages, but look no further than your local Radioshack, where several stores have confirmed that the new Apple tablet will be in stock after eagle-eyed readers found the above ad in a local paper. The store closest to me has several units arriving later today, but these darn Malibu folks already gobbled them up by calling in ahead of time and putting them on reserve. Most stores don't allow that, but with all the rich people here, exceptions are made.

If, however, you've been looking for one, drop by your local Radioshack tomorrow before they're all gone. Because even with iPad 2s available in 500 stores, that's still only going to be a few per store.

[Macrumors]