Category: Tech news

Here at Wired, we take things very seriously. Correction — we take protecting our desks and planning sneak attacks on our coworkers very seriously. We put office-warfare gadgets to the test.

USB Thunder Missile Launcher
First on our list was the USB Thunder Missile Launcher ($36). Download the free controller software, plug in the launcher to your Windows laptop or PC by USB (a Mac update is in the works), and use your mouse or arrow keys to aim and shoot.

Because the launcher doesn’t include a webcam, ballistics are a trial-and-error affair. But it’s surprisingly easy — my first shot sent one of its four foam missiles straight into my boss’s shoulder. Oops! The sound effects are fun, but they give your victim a heads up that they’re under siege if they’re paying attention. Four foam missiles are included, and the range is up to 25 feet. Perfect for guarding your desk area, or surprising a coworker across the office.

Moon Blaster Gun
Next up is the Moon Blaster Gun, a 19-inch tube gun that uses air pressure to pop glow-in-the-dark, ping-pong-like balls across the room. Pricing starts at $12.50 on Amazon, or $65 for 10 guns direct from Glow Universe.

The Moon Blaster’s small, rolling ammo was a little tricky to locate after a round of battle, but turning the lights off may give you better luck spotting them since they glow in the dark. It definitely takes a couple of forceful pumps to build up enough pressure, but after that, the balls shot out in rapid fire. The cheapest of the bunch, and it definitely felt like it. But it’s still a fun and effective weapon.

Zing Z-Curve Bow
The Zing Z-Curve Bow probably delivered the most powerful punch in our arsenal. The foam arrows are surprisingly hefty, and they can fly up to 100 feet and strike with a vengeance. It’s also easy to use — after only a few practice shots, we were able to achieve some deadly accuracy.

This weapon is great for ninja-style guerrilla warfare because it is quiet and features a fairly slim profile. It comes with two foam “bounce back” arrows and one “Zartz” suction-cup-tipped arrow. You’ll probably want to get a pack of extra arrows so you don’t have to constantly retrieve them after only a few shots. The sets start at $18 on Amazon.

N-Strike Stampede ECS
No office battle could be complete without Nerf’s latest and greatest, the N-Strike Stampede ECS. You can’t help but feel like a badass when you’re wielding this monster. Priced at $50, it’s Nerf’s first blaster with a fully automatic clip system. One big squeeze and you can ambush your office mates with a non-stop onslaught of pink foam darts.

The N-Strike Stampede ECS includes three 18-dart clips and one 6-dart clip for a total of 60 rounds. You’ll go through the darts surprisingly fast if you hold the trigger down, so I ended up duct-taping two clips end to end for super-speedy reloading. An optional handle with pop-out bipod slides onto the bottom front of the gun for added stability; a removable blast shield slides onto the top to protect your face (but only if you keep your face inches from the blaster body).

It’s bright yellow and orange, and it lets off a loud racket while you’re unloading on the stooge from marketing, so you won’t win any points for stealth. But at least the Nerf-neon darts are pretty easy to spot amongst power cables and desk debris. It’s powered by six D batteries, which are not included.

Compact cameras with fast, professional-style lenses have been blowing up big time in the past year.

However, Olympus only recently joined the fun. Yes, the company did produce some point-and-shoot style models with “fast” apertures back in the early 2000s — the chunky 4-megapixel Olympus C-4040, with its f/1.8 lens was one of our favorites at the time. But of late, its focus has been on mirrorless, interchangeable lens, Micro Four Thirds cameras such as the PEN E-PL2.

All of that changes with the new 10-megapixel Olympus XZ-1, a stylish little camera with an impressive attached lens: a 4x zoom (28-112mm equivalent) with a maximum aperture of f/1.8.

The lower the aperture number, the wider the opening in the lens, allowing more light to hit the sensor which (theoretically) makes for better photos in dim conditions. Camera nerds already know the importance of this — most professional photographers consider an f/1.8 DSLR lens an essential part of any camera bag — but at the consumer level, it’s a big step up from the norm.

With compact cameras, the f/1.8 designation is a little different though. You can only achieve that aperture when the camera’s lens is pulled back to the widest focal length — 28mm in the XZ-1’s case — and because the sensor in a point-and-shoot is so small, it’s hard to get that shallow depth of field to create beautiful background blur in portrait photos.

There are other benefits to a fast aperture though, not the least of which is that you can turn off that nasty flash on your camera and still capture crisp photos in the dark. Some of the XZ-1’s competitors, such as the 10-megapixel Canon Powershot S90 and Panasonic Lumix LX5, both of which boast f/2 lenses, are veritable low-light killers. They let you snap sharp photos of your pals at the pub no matter how bleary-eyed you’re feeling. In fact, we liked the LX5 so much we named it Camera of the Year for 2010.

In addition to its fast lens, the XZ-1 uses a larger-than-average imaging chip for a point-and-shoot: a 1/1.63-inch 10-MP CCD that’s the same size as the one in our favorite LX5. With this one-two punch, plus a slew of interesting features packed in a slim, attractive camera body, the XZ-1 should be quite the little sharpshooter, right? Well, yes and no.

Though the all-black XZ-1 I tested (it also comes in white) resembles some competing cameras in this category, there are a couple of differences. For one, that iZuiko-branded f/1.8 lens does not retract fully into the body like the lens on the S90, making the camera about an inch thicker than the Powershot at its widest point.

This wasn’t such a big deal — it’s still pretty thin — but what did annoy me was the dangling lens cap. If you decide to use the cap, you need to tie it down to the neckstrap eyelet with the included leash or it will fall off when the camera extends its lens while powering on. Good luck fitting both the neck strap and the camera leash into that eyelet though. It’s a struggle. On the other hand, if you decide to forego the cap, the protruding lens has a tendency to get smudged.

Also disappointing are the tiny buttons and overly Spartan layout on back of the camera. Since the XZ-1 is, ostensibly, aimed at photographers who might know their way around f/stops and shutter speeds, why is there no button on the camera for ISO, white balance, or other important creative features? Yes, you can access some of these using the Control Ring around the lens on the front of the camera, but it’s an extra step that will slow you down.

And, while the 3-inch OLED screen with a 610,000-dot resolution on back of the XZ-1 is sweet, the camera’s menu system is cluttered and counterintuitive. The napkin-sized Quick Start Guide was also not much help in making sense of the settings and menus. So if you want to do a deep dive on the XZ-1’s functions, you have to pop in a CD-R to view the full user guide. Not convenient.

The good news is that when you figure everything out on the XZ-1, it hums like a well-oiled machine. The camera uses Olympus’ TruePic V processor and it powers on and is ready to shoot in about a second and a half. Shutter lag is almost non-existent in good light and only minor in low light. I also liked the red one-touch video button on back of the camera below the mode dial, which immediately gets the camera rolling in its 720p, 30fps HD video mode.

It’s official: 2011 is the year of incremental progress. Mobile handsets have settled into a groove featurewise and are now gently nudging their way upward in speed, power and capabilities.

If we’re going to be stuck in a climate of baby steps, at least Samsung’s Galaxy S 4G is an example of baby steps done right.

From the moment I got my mitts on the S 4G, something felt eerily familiar. I’d seen many of its elements before — the unsettlingly light chassis, the glass and faux-chrome accents, and even the flashless 5-MP camera. As it turns out, the feeling of déjà vu was completely warranted.

The S 4G is essentially a mildly tweaked Samsung Vibrant with a couple of extra goodies. For those keeping score, a lot of the Vibrant’s perfectly serviceable features (1-GHz processor, 4-inch 800 x 480 AMOLED screen, 720p video recording) are back.

So, what’s new? Android 2.2, for starters. Also, as the phone’s awkward moniker boasts, this handset brings T-Mobile’s particular brand of 4G (HSPA+) to the fold.

I honestly wasn’t expecting too much given the piecemeal rollout of this next-gen data network, but the difference was noticeable immediately. Heavy hitting image-rich sites like (ahem) Wired.com loaded with virtually no hesitation, and raining down large file downloads from Dropbox produced nary a stutter.

Converting the phone into a hot spot was also one of the more useful data-centric features, though the option is strangely buried within the menu tree. Samsung’s TouchWiz user interface has never been especially appealing, and this is another nail in that coffin.

Yet another addition is the S 4G’s front-facing VGA camera. Though it’s perfectly poised for video conferencing, I was a little underwhelmed by the options on the app side. Getting the service up and running is simple enough thanks to a preloaded Qik app, but the occasional stutter and noticeable lag left a lot to be desired.

Lack of polish aside, I can’t really fault the VGA camera in terms of functionality. I was able to make and receive video calls just fine. They just resembled fireside chats with Max Headroom.

Other goodies include a copy of Inception offered from Samsung’s Media Hub storefront. Normally I’m prone to ignore extras like this entirely, but watching the film on the S 4G uncovered some interesting tidbits. Due to the smart combination of a workhorse battery and a power-sipping display, the film’s hefty 2-hour-28-minute run time only slightly dented the Galaxy’s gas tank.

As the movie finished I noticed that only 20 percent of the battery had been depleted. It’s doubtful that I would ever force myself into a back-to-back four-peat viewing of Inception, but it’s good to know that Samsung realistically views the S 4G as an entertainment device.

If we’ve learned anything over the past year, it’s that incremental improvements are incredibly easy to flub. Even with our lingering gripes with the S 4G, we can’t give the phone too much guff.

Samsung managed to transform an already well-appointed blueprint into an even stronger contender. Sure, it’s not the overwhelmingly overhauled quad-core beast of our dreams. But even incremental progress still counts as progress.

WIRED Stronger iteration of a solid design. Mostly smooth navigation thanks to a humming 1-GHz processor. Great call quality. Awesome battery life and power management. Gorgeous high-def 720p video (in well-lit environments). Ready for downloads and app-tion thanks to an included 16-GB memory card (expandable to 32 GB).

TIRED Accessing the movie storefront requires a tedious login process. Bloatware aplenty. Where’s my HDMI out? HSPA+ service is fantastically fast (where available). 4G to 3G to EDGE handoffs are often slow. White backgrounds often produce the dreaded “screen-door effect.” Froyo is already old hat — give us Gingerbread!

Photos by Jim Merithew/Wired.com

We’re back with a new episode of TC Cribs, the show that takes you inside the hopping offices of tech startups. This week we check out Seesmic, the multi-protocol client that lets you monitor you Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, and many other accounts from one place (they offer a nice web app and native mobile apps). And they have a thing for raccoons, as you’ll see in the video above.

Tune in for our full walkthrough of the office, led by Seesmic CEO Loic Le Meur.

Oh, and if you want to watch Loic’s full description of Seesmic (which ran a bit long), you can watch it right here.

As usual, credit to Ashley Pagán and John Murillo for the camera work, and to Mr. Murillo for the great editing.

Here are the past episodes of TC Cribs:

• Inside The Psychobox: A Tour Of Dropbox’s Bumping Office
• Take A Doc On The Wild Side At Scribd (With Bonus Go Karts!)
• Dogs, Unicorns, And Mysterious Gongs: Inside Yelp’s 5-Star Pad
• TC Cribs: IGN HQ Gets Its Game On With Lawn Gnomes, Plumbers, And Creepy Dinosaurs

We’re entering another round of testing in the paywall/microtransactions world, but it doesn’t look to be turning out any better than the last one. I argued that until payment methods are improved, everyone is just whistling in the dark, but that hasn’t stopped the NY Times from taking another shot at it, and The Daily from trying a whole new format. The necessary precursor to any of these schemes, however, is a simple, easy, and generally agreed-upon payment system — an e-wallet.

Minno seems to feel this is true as well, and are hard at work making a payment tool they feel is as simple and powerful as cash, without the political and regulatory trappings of bank-related NFC schemes or credit card tie-ins. It’s simple, all right, but is it powerful enough?

The idea is to remove as many obstacles as possible from between the user/buyer and the seller. Thus, Facebook connect is employed, no card or bank account need be tied to the account, and the payment plugin is just a line of javascript. It’s not aimed at real-life situations or point-of-service, as NFC is, and it doesn’t have a “twist” like Flattr or Bitcoin. It’s not an alternate currency and it doesn’t come with a built-in community. I could do without the whimsical aquatic theme, but other than that: so far, in my opinion, so good.

It’s built by a couple guys who left Google to pursue this project, and who think that there will be a place for this kind of payment system, mainly for purchasing online works like subscriptions, single articles, media and books (directly from the creators, for example Project 7 Alpha), and web app functionality (as demonstrated by the Torrent Traveler demo app). It’s fundamentally a different market than that for NFC and expedited credit and debit payments, and requires a less extensive (though no less secure) infrastructure.

The plugin and system look good, and I think that for now there is definitely an emerging opportunity for point-to-point money transfers on the web. A sane monetization plan will help, too, and Minno wisely isn’t planning on draconian minimum fees or 30% transfer scrapes. But timing and placement matter, and I’m less confident that Minno will be in the right place with the right clout when this field really takes off.

Maybe it’s looking too far out, but I think that a transfer of funds between two unique IDs on the internet is likely to be standardized into a fundamental protocol. Until that time, I find it unlikely that it’s going to be branded, or rather a brand that grows into prominence, as Facebook and PayPal have. It seems that whenever money is changing hands (even if it’s pennies), big interests tend to step in, and regulation gets involved as well. Not to mention that potential business models and the market they exist in are neither of them even close to solidified yet. We’re looking at serious changes to the way money and the web interact over the next few years.

The bigger companies aren’t nearly agile enough to offer an actual product after just a few months of development, as Minno is doing, but they’re going to come to market with a product that is, if not actually superior, still carries more weight. Banks, VISA, Apple, Google, PayPal — every one of these monsters has good reason to be spending millions on a successor system to the holdover online payment methods we’ve had in place for 15 or 20 years now. It’s a David vs. Goliaths situation, and I’m not holding out much hope for David.

To their credit, Minno has a system that plainly works; at the moment they’re short on partners (no one wants to go with a newcomer like this on faith) and the ability to scale and provide service, customization, and behind-the-scenes wirework to large and important customers (like if, say, a large blog network or media conglomerate were to use Minno) is by necessity unproven.

The micropayments world is going to be one of these billion-dollar businesses everyone likes to talk about (and get in at the ground floor of). But the battle will be hot amongst the heavyweights, and Minno may find themselves (as they seem to have inadvertently set themselves up to be) a small fish in a big pond.

There isn’t much information out there about Stripe, a new payments startup cofounded by brothers Patrick Collison and John Collison (last seen selling their startup Auctomatic to Live Current Media for $5 million).

It’s an online business to business and business to consumer payments provider, we’ve confirmed. “How is it different than PayPal or Google Checkout?” I asked someone who’s seen the product. Their answer – “It doesn’t suck.”

Developers have a lot of trouble getting the various payments parts to work properly – from getting a merchant account to making the software work properly on your website. And then there is fee gouging. Stripe is said to make the process very, very easy for developers.

Apparently Stripe really doesn’t suck, because the company has taken approximately $2 million in a venture round from PayPal founders Peter Thiel and Elon Musk, as well as Sequoia Capital, Andreesen Horowitz and SV Angel. Stripe was valued at around $20 million in the round, we’ve heard but haven’t confirmed. The company wouldn’t comment on whether or not the financing occurred at all.

Sequoia partner Michael Moritz is said to be personally involved in Stripe as well. He’s not known to spend a lot of time on startups he doesn’t think will have huge exits.

Hurrah! After a short hiatus while Sarah travelled around Indonesia at the behest of the State Department, Why Is This News is back!

And what better way to mark our triumphant return to your screens than with a whole show dedicated to Indonesia, and specifically the curious lack of a brain drain from the country to the US.

Apparently Indonesian students are so keen to return home after studying in the US that they’re one of the few nationalities to which the government is glad to issue visas. “They just never overstay,” one US official told Sarah.

So is Indonesians’ loyalty to home a good or bad thing for the country? Video below…

A new early stage investment firm is de-cloaking in London today. Three prominent Angel investors on the tech scene in London – Stefan Glaenzer, Eileen Burbidge and Robert Dighero – have been operating out of their White Bear Yard base in Clerkenwell for just under a year. Rumours circulated that they were looking to raise a real fund to continue their work, and now the news is about to break (ok, now it’s broken).

Passion Capital (@passioncapital)is a brand new fund aimed squarely at early stage tech startups and has closed its first investment at £37.5 million ($60 million). They anticipate making about 50 investments, where the average investment size is likely to be £150k-£200k at a time. But they say they will go as small as £15k-£50k and also “most certainly higher” than £200k depending on the situation. They are being pretty open. Here’s their investment strategy and they’ve even published their term sheet.

This first fund for Passion comprises significant funding from the private sector, family funds and high net-worth individuals. In addition the UK Government has also invested £25 million via the the tenth Enterprise Capital Fund (ECF).

Video advertising company Adap.tv has raised $20 million in funding led by Bessemer Venture Partners with Gemini Israel Funds, Redpoint Ventures and Spark Capital also participating in the round. This brings Adap.tv’s total funding to $43 million.

Adapt.tv’s ad platform allows advertisers to buy and manage online video ad inventory from a single interface and enables publishers to monetize their online video content. Advertisers can run campaigns across all publishers, ad networks and the Adap.tv Marketplace. The Adap.tv Marketplace connects publishers and brand name advertisers, with over 4,200 sites selling inventory and hundreds of campaigns running daily.

Currently, Adap.tv reaches over 60 million unique viewers and delivers more than 1.8 billion video ad views monthly. Adap.tv says it will use the new funding to support international growth, expand product development, and strengthen the company’s footprint in the U.S.
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The story of SimpleGeo is a familiar one: two founders — Matt Galligan and Joe Stump — set off to create location-based games, only to find that the tools they wanted to use to build their apps didn’t exist yet. So they switched gears and decided to build what they wished they had: a suite of tools optimized for the creation of location-based services (which was probably a good call given the explosion of location-aware mobile devices).

The startup launched almost exactly one year ago, and now offers products including ‘Places’ (a database of POIs) and ‘Context’, which lets developers query for data relevant to a given location, like the local weather. And now, they’re ready for what Galligan calls the company’s “grand unveiling”, explaining that it’s what they’ve been focused on for the last year: SimpleGeo Storage, which will be going live tomorrow.

‘Storage’ is a new, hosted database that developers can use to store and quickly retrieve data that has location information associated with it. And Galligan says that it has some key optimizations that make it significantly faster than other available database solutions. During a month-long beta-test with multiple partners, SimpleGeo saw 99% of spatial queries with processing times of less than 100ms (and engineer Mike Malone says that average was more like 20ms).

So what makes SimpleGeo Storage different from other database solutions that have been used for location-related apps? First, there’s the fact that it’s hosted, so developers can outsource their infrastructure issues (all data is replicated in at least two datacenters). It’s also distributed using Cassandra, so there’s no single point of failure. Storage is actually hosted on AWS, so it’s a ‘cloud built on a cloud.

Galligan says that Storage also has special optimizations related to dealing with location — it uses a tree structure for managing data which allows for efficient queries. It isn’t the only database to do this — PostGIS, for example, uses R-trees — but Galligan points out that even if PostGIS could match SimpleGeo Storage’s sub-100ms processing times with ease, it doesn’t include the same pre-baked APIs, reliability, or scalability afforded by SimpleGeo.

As a hosted service SimpleGeo is charging based on usage (there aren’t any plans to open-source the database). Storage is 25 cents per thousand data calls, and 10 cents per thousand records stored.

Galligan is very optimistic about the future of the product: he points out that location information can be attached to a huge number of things, from transactions to virtual goods, to mobile phones. And he’s hoping that SimpleGeo becomes the definitive solution for managing this data. However, SimpleGeo isn’t alone in this question — other developer-focused location tools include Location Labs, and Microsoft’s Azure has some location tools as well.

Jack Dorsey isn’t the only one announcing a new role at Twitter … Twitter HR Manager Cheryl Palarca tweeted that the company has hired another batch of people today, “in honor of Lady Gaga’s birthday.”

For those of you that got excited (myself included), that Gaga thing is a joke, even though the popstar did recently visit the company and today is indeed her 25th birthday. The actual number of new hires is also 24 not 25,  which bumps the total Twitter staff up to 450 people, Twitter PR rep Carolyn Penner tells me. So Twitter basically just hired 5% of the company. And is still hiring.

@rcoder
Lennon Day-Reynolds

We look for engineering talent everywhere! Even @ladygaga stopped by to do some code reading today. /cc @jointheflock

March 23, 2011 4:18 pm via Twitter for AndroidRetweetReply

While Twitter wouldn’t give me a list of new hires (“they’re all key hires”), we hear that the @Twitter account is pretty good about following new employees a couple of days after they start work so you can check there if you’re curious. At least one, communications representative Kristen Hawley, has already tweeted about getting her dream job.

Also: I wouldn’t be surprised if this round of new employees included a good proportion of Googlers, as Google bonuses get paid out in March.

@kh
kristen

Big news: I am unbelievably excited to announce that soon I will be starting my dream job with the communications team at @twitter!

about 8 hours ago via webRetweetReply

This past weekend, we broke the news that iOS 5, the latest version of Apple’s mobile operating system, was likely being released in the fall. This would break the tradition of a summer release. And we also noted that instead of a separate event in the early spring, Apple was likely to use their WWDC event in June to talk about the new OS for the first time. Sure enough, today came word from Apple that seems to verify both things.

Apple will host WWDC in San Francisco on June 6 through June 10, they formally announced today. The focus of the event? “At this year’s conference we are going to unveil the future of iOS and Mac OS,” Apple marketing exec Phil Schiller says in the release. Yes, that means iOS 5 as well as OS X Lion. We previously reported that Lion development was moving along quickly and it could mean a release around WWDC. I suspect we may at least see a release candidate given to developers around then.

And if Apple intends to first show off iOS 5 at the event, they won’t release it then. Developers will need time to prepare their apps for the big changes in store.

But the biggest news may be what’s not mentioned in the WWDC release: the iPhone. In our post this weekend, I noted that I hadn’t heard anything specifically about the iPhone 5 release given the iOS delay, but I speculated that it could still be unveiled at WWDC with a new build of iOS 4. That is incorrect. The iPhone 5 will not be making an appearance at the event, we’re now hearing. Others are hearing this as well.

So where does that leave the product? Some are already speculating that the iPhone 5 may be pushed until 2012. But based on what we’re hearing right now, that will not be the case. Instead, it is expected to launch this fall, leading up to the all-important holiday shopping season. As is always the case with Apple, plans can change in a heartbeat, but that is the plan right now.

And it may prove to be worth the wait. TechCrunch contributor Steve Cheney (who nailed the timing of the Verizon iPhone last year), believes that a fall iPhone 5 launch makes LTE much more likely. He currently puts the odds at zero to ten percent for LTE if the iPhone 5 launched this summer (again, not happening), 50 percent if it comes in the fall, and 100 percent if it comes in January.

A fall timeframe would give Apple a more vetted and lower power Qualcomm chip for LTE, Cheney says. When the Verizon iPhone was unveiled in January, Apple COO Tim Cook addressed the LTE issue directly. “The first generation LTE chipsets force some design compromises. Some of which we would not make,” he said. If Cheney is right, that may not be such an issue later this year.

Of course, Apple has a history of waiting to adopt technology until it is proven — see: the original iPhone launching with EDGE instead of 3G support. But come this fall, there will be many Android devices with LTE capabilities. It’s hard to imagine Apple sitting on the sideline for another year. In fact, perhaps that’s the very reason for the new iPhone launch timing.

And if this timetable is correct, that means Apple is gearing up for a truly epic fall.

iOS 5, iPhone 5, some new iPods, the so-called “iTunes in the cloud”, and perhaps even a new piece of iPad hardware.

The latter two will raise a lot of eyebrows. Back in February, we reported hearing of Apple lining up for a “surprise” this fall, and our sources indicated this was related to the iPad. Of course, Apple has since released the iPad 2 and dubbed 2011 “the year of iPad 2″, which seems to imply that an “iPad 3″ would have to wait. Perhaps the iPhone 5 is the surprise instead?

We haven’t heard anything specific about a new iPad since February, but there’s also no reason to believe that it’s no longer in the cards. It’s possible that it never was meant to be thought of as an “iPad 3″, and perhaps it’s more of an advanced version of the iPad 2. Again, nothing new here yet, but also no indications this is no longer happening.

With regard to “iTunes in the cloud”, in our report this past weekend, we noted hearing that it was due this fall. It would make a lot of sense for Apple to unveil it at their music/iPod event held in the September timeframe.

At the same time, we’ve heard that the cloud is going to be a big part of the announcements at WWDC this year. So we could get a preview of it there. Or maybe just some wording implying that it’s coming.

The other question: would Apple really cram all of this stuff into one event in the fall? Probably not. Nothing concrete here, but we’ve heard whispers that there may be two events, similar to how Apple had their iPod/music event in September, and then a “Back to the Mac” event the following month. The logistics of all of this may or may not be decided already.

Oh, and one more thing. Following our report on iOS 5, we heard a tiny bit more about it.

A year ago, Apple bought Siri, a virtual personal assistant startup that had released a very cool iPhone app. The Siri team and technology are now said to be a big part of iOS 5.

The use of Siri’s artificial intelligence and assistance technology is said to be deeply integrated into the OS for all the different services offered. And the team is now putting the finishing touches on the elements that will be demoed at WWDC, we hear. This tech may also be opened to developers for use in third-party apps — though that information isn’t quite as concrete.

And one more thing to consider: while we’re not going to see an iPhone 5 this summer, remember that Apple has stated repeatedly that a white iPhone 4 was coming this spring. There’s no reason to believe that is no longer the case. I suspect we may see something along those lines shortly. That should help with the wait.

Today’s return of Twitter inventor Jack Dorsey to the company he created to once again head up its product efforts raises the question of what will co-founder Evan Williams be doing now. When he handed over the CEO reigns to Dick Costolo last October, the company said he was going to focus more on the product side of things. Dorsey is now the head of product and the two co-founders have a contentious relationship. (Early investor Fred Wilson describes the relationship like that of John Lennon and Paul McCartney of the Beatles: “They made great music together for a while, but then they both kind of got ambitious about things and didn’t see eye to eye anymore.”)

It’s an open secret in tech circles that Williams is not spending that much time at Twitter anymore. His absence has been been noted in various news reports, but it’s usually stated as rumor or from unattributed sources. Well, it’s true and it’s official. Today, I asked Twitter about Ev’s current role in light of Dorsey’s taking over the product lead. A company spokesperson sent me the following statement:

Ev decided a couple months ago to be less involved day to day at Twitter. He continues to have a close relationship with the company providing strategic advice and, of course, he remains an active board member.

So what is Williams doing? In today’s article on Dorsey’s return, the New York Times reports:

Mr. Williams, meanwhile, has been spending less time in the office and long periods in Tahoe, where he is mulling a new start-up idea, according to several people with internal knowledge of the goings-on at Twitter.

Twitter is now five years old, which is a long time for someone like Williams who likes to start new things. Twitter’s in good hands. It’s time for something new.

Anyone who follows Williams on Twitter (@ev) might have noticed that his Tweets have dropped off significantly since the beginning of the year. He hasn’t even Tweeted about Dorsey’s return yet.

Newsy, a multisource video news service that analyzes the world’s news coverage, announced today that it has closed a $1.5 million series B round led by a St. Louis-based private equity firm. The second round adds to the $2.75 million in funding Newsy has already raised, bringing total investment to $4.25 million.

The funding will be used to grow the company’s editorial, marketing and sales teams. As its name would suggest, Newsy is a news-destination service that monitors, analyzes, curates and presents the world’s news coverage. Through bite-sized 2 to 3 minute video segments, Newsy offers busy people a useful way to quickly consume the important news stories of the day from around the world.

Newsy also announced that its iPad, iPhone and iPod apps are now fully Airplay-enabled, allowing users to stream Newsy content to their Apple TV. Newsy’s iPad app is pretty cool (Apple just added it to its “Great Airplay-Enabled Apps”) and fellow TC writer Robin Wauters is a fan. The app enables you to flip through videos in a cover flow-type fashion, a la iTunes, drag and drop videos, and build customized playlists. You can also share videos through email and social networks like Facebook and Twitter.

Newsy definitely gives you an interesting look at the differences in how different global media outlets — from Al Jazeera to CNN and even blogs(!) — report the news and disseminate information. Worth a look.

Amazon has just announced that Kindle users who subscribe to The New York Times on their device will receiving access to news site for free. The date in which this access will hit has not been determined, according to the release.

As we reported last week, the New York Times announced its paywall, which allows for free access to a set amount of content across digital platforms. The Kindle subscription for the New York Times costs $19.99 per month, and these users will not have to pay for any content when accessing the NYTimes.com.

For non-home delivery subscribers, access to the NYTimes.com plus its Smartphone Apps starts at $15 every four weeks. For tablet access, the subscription will cost $20. Obviously, if Kindle user are already paying for a subscription to the New York Times via their e-reading device, it wouldn’t make sense to charge them twice.

The New York Times rolled out the paywall today and updated its mobile apps in advance of the new structure.

It’s unclear if Barnes and Noble’s e-reader, the Nook, has also reached a similar agreement with the New York Times.