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Boeing's futuristic X-48C makes final flight

It's mission accomplished for the experimental X-48C aircraft.

The distinctively shaped machine this week made the last of 30 flights in an eight-month program as backers Boeing and NASA sought to show how well a "blended wing body" aircraft can perform. The X-48C program is tied to NASA's Environmentally Responsible Aircraft project, which is geared toward developing futuristic airplanes that burn less fuel, spew fewer emissions, and make less noise.

The Boeing-designed X-48C has a radically different look than that of conventional aircraft. Where a big 747 or a little Cessna has -- very roughly speaking … Read more

Split up an image with artistic results

Split Pic Pro is a fun photo-editing app that lets you clone yourself (in a manner of speaking), create collage-like projects, add effects, then share your work with your friends.

To get started, you need to select one of the 12 different layouts. You have the option to move each of the bars that separates your layout for a little customization, but it really seems like it needs more default layouts. Fortunately, even with the small assortment, you'll be able to make some really cool projects.

The next step is to fill each of the panes with an image … Read more

Adobe: Web standards match 80 percent of Flash features

SAN FRANCISCO--Adobe Systems, retooling as fast as it can for a future of Web publishing and Web apps, sees the technology as mostly caught up to the Flash technology that Adobe previously preferred.

"I think it's close to 80 percent," Arno Gourdol, Adobe's senior director of Web platform and authoring, said in an interview during the Google I/O show here.

Gourdol, who leads Adobe work to embrace Web standards, has a lot on the line as the company tries to make a difficult transition away from the widely used but fading Flash. He's eager … Read more

Mediocre merging

Our least favorite type of program is the kind that takes what should be a simple task and needlessly complicates it. Unfortunately, that seems to be the entire point of Merge. This program takes the process of merging two images--something that can be done easily in countless other programs--and makes it a confusing, frustrating, nonsensical mess.

The program's interface is both unintuitive and extremely unattractive. A dockable toolbar on the right side of the interface contains a series of unlabeled buttons and collapsible menus that represent the program's features. We had an easy enough time selecting the two … Read more

Sonim phone survives 'Will It Blend?' torture test

We already embedded the rugged Sonim XP3300 Force in concrete and smashed it against a sidewalk. Other Sonim phones have been cooked on a grill, run over with a car, tossed into a cement mixer, and cleaned in a washing machine. They all survived the PR stunts.

The "Will it Blend?" online show pitted the XP3300 against the powerful Blendtec Total blender. It took only a matter of seconds for the Blendtec to turn an iPhone 4 into something you could pack into a Campbell's soup can.

When the XP3300 came out the other end, it was covered in a pile of phone dust, but it still rang and could make and receive phone calls. The verdict? "Mostly blended." We're going to need a bigger blender.

What did these poor phones do to deserve such treatment? For starters, Sonim calls them the toughest phones in the world. They are built to military-grade specs and come with a three-year warranty that covers accidental damage. That's just asking for punishment.

If you're prone to dropping your phone, running over it with an elephant, or leaving it in the pocket of your wetsuit when you dive down to the Titanic, then the $525 XP3300 may be perfect for you. Sonim's CEO helpfully reminds customers that intentionally blending your XP3300 is not considered "accidental damage."… Read more

Buzz Out Loud 765: Thank goodness for robot crabs

I'm so sick of saying the name of that darn phone, but the fact of the matter is, people want to hear about it. So we do one more day about the weekend issues and thank goodness for Microsoft and Yahoo giving us something else to talk about. And robot crabs. Thank goodness for robot crabs. Listen now: Download today's podcast Episode 765

Yahoo rejects joint-bid for search business by Icahn and Microsoft http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-9989870-93.html

Microsoft' Latest Offer Detailed; Major Shareholder Legg Mason (Still) Unimpressed http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-microsoft-latest-offer-detailed-legg-mason-unimpressed/ http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/07/13/1217220… Read more

No. 1 in Google may not be enough

Google's new teleportation, its search-within-search function, is getting mixed responses, at least from some site owners, who may be remembering occasions when teleportation in the Star Trek transporter went wrong. Earlier in the month, Google introduced the teleportation functionality as a way to better help searchers find information within a site by providing a search box below the snippet of the top listing, which performs a "site:" search on the domain of that listing using the additional search terms the searcher added in.

The "site:" advanced query is quite familiar to those within the search … Read more

Blended searches for cavemen

Search is a constantly evolving and changing entity, and this year has certainly seen more than its fair share of change. Possibly highest on the list has been the move to blended or universal results. Much of the focus and discussion has revolved around Google Universal, but they aren't the only game in town and all the majors have now entered into blended results to some extent or another.

This presents interesting opportunities and challenges. Those who focus on developing a fuller and broader Web presence, adding video, news, blogs, images, local content and social media to the mix, … Read more

Go wide and deep for blended search

I often talk about blended results and refer to Google universal results. It has become an important tenet of SEO, yet its exact impact continues to be defined. A great example of Google universal and blended search results can be found in reference to one of my recent posts here. Last week I addressed progressive enhancement with regard SEO, and as a result of Google's addition of news and blog items in their results, that posting landed on page one of for the ultra-competitive search phrase "seo."

More than likely, Google applies a greater focus on freshness … Read more