From the man himself "digg update: coders found a big bug in the promotion algo, fix going live soon. fingers cross upcoming goes live tomorrow"

While she may not be as hot as the voice actress of the original Miranda Lawson, Yvonne Strahovski, she is still indeed pulling it off with that nice ass.

In the debate between the old version of Digg and the new Digg, the readers have spoken.Last week, Digg launched version 4.0 of the popular social news website. Its been a rocky road pre-launch, so why would it be any different post-launch?Since the launch of the New Digg, which introduced the ability to follow friends, a faster architecture and personalized news, users have been in revolt, mostly over the types of stories reaching the front page. Digg has since addressed some of these issues, but the debate rages on.Last week we asked you, the Mashable readers, for your opinion on Digg. Which did you prefer: The new digg or the old one?The old version of Digg was clearly your choice. With a full 78% of the vote (4,808 votes), the classic version bested the new versions 12% (747 votes). Four percent of you (230 votes) said it was a tie, while 6% of you (348 votes) said you werent a fan of Digg.In the comments, the debate surrounded features that were available in the old version that werent in the new one, including the ability to bury stories and the ability to check upcoming stories. Many of you were also quick to point out that the new Digg is designed to broaden the appeal of the social news website, rather than limit it to its current niche of tech-savvy users.Were going to revisit this debate in the future, when weve had time to reflect on the changes happening at Digg. In the meantime though, we want to hear your thoughts on this debate in the comments. New Digg vs. Old Digg: Which one do you prefer?online surveys Follow Mashable on DiggReviews: Digg, MashableMore About: digg, New Digg, poll, web faceoffFor more Battles coverage:Follow Mashable Battles on TwitterBecome a Fan on FacebookSubscribe to the Battles channelDownload our free apps for iPhone and iPad

Yesterday Digg announced that Matt Williams, currently an executive at Amazon, will be joining at CEO in September. From Kevins post: Matt has spent the past 11 years in a variety of roles at Amazon, most recently as GM for Consumer Payments, and earlier in his career he led Amazons community efforts. He was the Founder and CEO of LiveBid.com, which was acquired by Amazon in May of 1999. Matt brings seasoned management experience and has a reputation for delivering innovative products and excellent results. Welcome, Matt!

#xbox360 Oh dear. It's not just Spaniards who won't be able to control Kinect with their voices when the peripheral launches. It's everyone who doesn't live in the US, Mexico or United Kingdom. More

#iphone Gears of War and Unreal Tournament creators Epic Games will bring competitive multiplayer sword-based combat, powered by its Unreal Engine, to the iPhone later this year with slash-em-up Project Sword. More

#apple Friends lists, matchmaking, and a unified multiplayer gaming experience come to the iPhone in next week with the release of Apple's Game Center in iOS 4.1. More

We know the new Apple TV is really small, and cheap and easy-to-use. That's all good, but still not knocking our socks off despite being the ripest area for expansion by a company that has already firmly established itself on the computer, phone, portable media player and tablet. Here are five reasons Apple TV is still boring.

If you've been holding yourself back during these early rounds of the smartphone wars in anticipation of Windows Phone 7, your wait just got a tiny bit shorter. Today Microsoft is announcing that its fancy new mobile operating system has been released to manufacturing, making the idea of you holding an actual WP7 device in your hands that much closer to reality. The finished product is now rolling out to partners around the world where it will be getting carrier and manufacturer tweaks and additions, and going through the kind of pre-launch testing you would expect for a release of this scale. If you had any doubt that the Windows Phone 7 onslaught was close at hand, feel free to abandon them now. Furthermore, the folks on the 7 team have managed to cram a few last minute goodies into the OS, one of which we're particularly excited about. As you probably know from our in-depth preview of an early version of the software, we had a lot of issues with overflowing Facebook contacts in our phone. Microsoft has now solved that problem by enabling a contact filter system which looks for pre-existing matches to your Facebook contacts. If it doesn't find a match, it doesn't pull that contact into your address book (kind of like how Android filters Facebook friends). It's a welcome addition and should make the Facebook / Windows Phone 7 combo a lot more palatable to to a lot of people. Furthermore, Microsoft has added functionality into the People Hub which will allow you to "like" someone's posts, and you'll be able to comment directly onto someone's Wall right in the hub. The company has also made tweaks and fixes focusing on feature discoverability (another issue we pointed out in the early look), along with the expected set of polishing and finish you'd expect from a product that's gone gold master.Windows Phone 7 goes gold master, begins rolling out to partners for final launch preparations originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Sep 2010 16:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | |Email this|Comments

Did you oooh and ahh at the fantastic gaming graphics that accompanied today's Apple keynote? You won't have to wait for next week's iOS 4.1 to get a taste of those textures for yourself. Though the full-on gladiator dueling of Epic's "Project Sword" may be a while off, you can get your hot little hands on "Epic Citadel" right now, a 82.2 megabyte download that explores a beautiful medieval castle town. Oh, and did we mention it's free? Even id Software's mindblowing 60FPS Rage demo must be quaking in its boots right about now.Epic's spectacular Unreal Engine 3 tech demo free at iTunes App Store originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Sep 2010 15:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.PermalinkTouch Arcade | Epic Citadel (iTunes) |Email this|Comments

Apple's music event was so full of shiny gadgets and awesome news that your head might still be spinning. In case you struggled to keep up with everything or want a review, here are all the highlights:

RT @Ohdoctah: If I was @Ford I'd pay out the WAZOO to get this AD played during the Superbowl @filmriot KILLED this http://bit.ly/akakv ...

submitted by _ak to pics [link] [142 comments]

The Wall Street Journal is very confident! Using the word guaranteed in the financial world is like telling a pitcher hes got a no-no going in the 6th inning. But apparently the WSJ doesnt care. They have found 10 money moves that will always, always pay off guaranteed! Aside from the catchy title luring me in, I had to see what financial advice they were talking about, and of course, I wanted to weigh in on it too. So, here are their 10 sure-fire money ideas and financial advicewith my side commentary. 1. Max that 401(k) Heres what WSJ says: This is a slam dunk for you. Every dollar you invest saves you money on taxes because it comes off your taxable income. So Uncle Sam is effectively chipping in. I agree with the concept max your savings and youll have more for retirement. You also get a tax-break now, which is great financial advice. But, tax rates are going up next year and although we dont know where tax rates will be in the future, theres a pretty good chance that theyll be much higher than they are now. Tax rates are at a historical low. You may be creating a tax time-bomb that is just waiting to go off! In my opinion, dont fall in love with your 401k!! Anything beyond the company match is up for debate in terms of contributions and really, you should be looking to diversify yourself from a tax perspective any way. 2. Give up the vacation home What WSJ says: Most of the time we use them for a few weeks or months of the year. They cost money to buy. There are annual upkeep, maintenance, condo fees and taxes. Ok, this makes sense. Get rid of excess, trim the fat, reduce expenses. All smart things. But, what if you could buy a vacation home at or near the bottom of the market and you can use it to build True Wealth? That is, of course, you can afford it! 3. Put $5,000 into an IRA account or Roth IRA tax shelter WSJ says: If youre over 50, put in $6,000. And make sure your spouse does too. IRAs are a great deal. There is a big difference between putting into a Roth or a Traditional IRA and that has to do with IRA withdrawals! Again, the idea of saving money is great financial advice! Not everyone is eligible for a Traditional IRA or a Roth for that matter. So make a careful decision when figuring out which retirement account is right for you. 4. Pay off your credit-card debt WSJ: Eat macaroni and cheese for three months if you have to, but pay off those balances. Youre probably paying at least 15% interest. You may be paying a lot more. Youd have to earn maybe 17% before tax on an investment just to keep pace. Boring? Nobodys making 17% these days. So pay off your credit-card debt and brag to all your friends that you just beat Wall Street. Amen!! Paying off credit-card debt is possibly the greatest sure-fire money move you can make. Of course, you knew that piece of financial advice already, but its time to do it! Heres a good tool to knowyour credit-card payoff amount . 5. Fire your banker Heres what WSJ says: If youre like most people, youre probably paying hundreds of dollars a year in account service fees, ATM charges for access to your own money and the like. Im actually not paying account service fees or ATM charges because I dont overdraft and I dont use outside ATMs! 6. Get your tax refund early WSJ: How? By not overpaying your taxes in the first place. Every year, millions of people cheer when they get a check back from Uncle Sam. But that just means they paid too much withholding tax during the year. So Uncle Sam got an interest-free loan. I do like this point, unless of course, you need a tax refund because you simply wont save that extra money! 7. Buy inflation-protected bonds According to WSJ: Treasury inflation-protected securities, or TIPS, arent sexy. They wont make you rich. But theyre guaranteed twice over. Theyre issued by the U.S. government, so they are guaranteed against default. And they are protected against inflation because coupons and principal will adjust to reflect it. Really? Hmm. It seems like everyone has jumped on the TIPS bandwagon and those things are completely oversold leaving an opportunity for a TIPS bubble to burst. So theyre guaranteed by the U.S. government, but it doesnt mean they wont drop in value. Im not saying you dont want some exposure here, but to make it sound like its a no-lose proposition is a little scary. 8. Buy a bread machine WSJ says: If a $50 breadmaker saves you, say, $7 a week on buying bread, thats $350 year. The easiest dough youll make. Modern breadmakers are, well, a piece of cake to operate. The return on investment: 600% in year one and 700% after that. Wow, they are stretching for financial advice now!! Id bet that once the novelty wears off after four or five times using it, youll be right back to buying bread once a week at the grocery store.and youll be out $50 for the bread machine! My wife and I always talk about making bread and then we go buy some at the store. 9. Play hardball with your insurance company WSJ says: Call competitors and ask them to quote you prices for your current house and auto policies. Amen!! Heres how to negotiate your home and auto insurance. 10. Get a freebie from a bank WSJ says: Sign up for a credit card with a big bonus like a free air ticket or weekend hotel stay. Use the card enough to qualify. Then cancel the card. I know its a free airline ticket, but I have never done this mainly because it sounds like such a hassle. I hate calling customer service lines. Id almost rather pay for the ticket than deal with the headache. What Are Your Thoughts onThese Sure-Fire Money Moves? Let me know in the comments below!

Everyone deserves a second chance, right? In the world of cheapo tablets, sure! Or at least that's our attitude when it comes to a company like Augen. Sure, it was just about a month ago that it released its $150 GenTouch78 at Kmart, but it's planning some future tablet products and hoping to right all those previous wrongs. According to the statement put out by the company, this new set of "Espresso" tablets will be unveiled at CES 2011 and will span from 7 to 10 inches diagonally. They'll still be aggressively priced and range from $200 to $400, but at least this time around it's planning for some with capacitive touchscreens. Other specs are of the fairly cookie cutter mold: WiFi, an accelerometer and more storage space. No word on what version of Android they'll run, but there's mention of a new "human friendly input." That all sounds much better than the previous GenTouch products we've seen, but by the time January rolls around there's no telling what the tablet landscape could look like. We'll be following this one to see if Augen can keep the caffeine in its system, but hit the break for the full statement and one more render.Continue reading Augen planning its next generation of tablets, not giving up without a fightAugen planning its next generation of tablets, not giving up without a fight originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Sep 2010 02:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | |Email this|Comments

Foursquare, the social network that allows members to broadcast their location and activities, has joined forces with MTV in an effort to remove the stigma attached with getting screened for sexually transmitted diseases. Members who "check in" for an STD test during the month of September will receive a special virtual "badge."

Netbook makers like Lenovo, Gigabyte and ASUS have been quietly releasing new systems with Intel's new mobile, dual-core N550 processor, but HP's not keeping its use of the fresh chip in 10-inch netbooks a secret... anymore. Just as we've previously heard, the professional-aimed $399 Mini 5103 will be getting a dual-core 1.8GHz processor option, which HP tells us can improve benchmark performance by up to 20 percent without a significant impact on battery life. It's also been updated with a new "espresso" color and will have HP's Day Starter instant-on OS -- no WebOS buried in there yet. On the consumer end, the HP Mini 210 has also been refreshed -- actually, more like gutted -- with a new design. The 10.1-inch netbook is now available in a bunch of cleverly named colors, including crimson red and ocean drive, and has been revamped with a new back that integrates the battery into the bottom of the chassis. Don't worry: the battery is still swappable and you can open the bottom cover to replace the RAM and hard drive. It still has that chiclet keyboard we like so much, the rather hit-or-miss ClickPad touchpad and a Broadcom Crystal Accelerator option for 1080p playback. The Mini 210 will start at $330 with a single core Atom CPU and six-cell battery, but will be available with the N550 processor for a bit more (we're guessing around $75). The full release is after the break and some snazzy hands-on pics are below. Gallery: HP Mini 210 and Mini 5103 press shots Gallery: HP Mini 210 and HP Mini 5103 hands-onContinue reading HP Mini 210 and Mini 5103 officially announced with dual-core Atom powerHP Mini 210 and Mini 5103 officially announced with dual-core Atom power originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Sep 2010 00:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | |Email this|Comments

Days after launching a major revision to its social-news website, Digg has appointed Matt Williams, a former Amazon.com manager, as its new chief executive. And man, does he have some work ahead of him. The overhaul of Digg, which shifts the focus from a page edited by the masses to a personalized news feed, has angered some of its most loyal users. Many Diggers have been very vocal about staging an exodus to rival news site Reddit. Of course, these types of rumblings seem to happen just about any time a large site has its formula tinkered with. Twitter saw backlash recently when it released a feature called Retweet. A loud group that included the service's creator, Jack Dorsey, criticized Retweet for not letting users add a short note to those messages. The small music website TheSixtyOne heard angry chants when it unleashed a simpler version of the service. And such revolts make up practically a bimonthly tradition for Facebook. So how should social media website owners, who find the cries are loudest on their own pages, deal with the attacks? The Times talked to some of those administrators and looked to examples from the past for clues as to how Williams might want to handle the indignation he's inherited. Twitter has millions of passionate and observant users who will notice every time a new button is added or a new "promoted" thing shows up on the site.The San Francisco company provides guidelines for businesses using its social network, and when prompted for Twitter's own philosophy, a spokeswoman highlighted a line from that Best Practices page: "Listen regularly for comments about your company, brand and products -- and be prepared to address concerns, offer customer service or thank people for praise," she quoted. In other words, don't ignore the negativity. Facebook, with 500 million active members, knows push-back perhaps better than anyone. Sometimes the Palo Alto, Calif., developers lose (see: Beacon). Sometimes they win (News Feed).But judging by Facebook's reactions in the past, these issues are usually handled as such: The company lets things stew for a bit and eventually finds either a mountain or a molehill. Molehills disappear rather quickly. Mountains normally get addressed through company blog posts, often by Chief Mark Zuckerberg. Those messages have offered an excuse, some reasoning or an unusual alternative. (To ease privacy concerns, Facebook said users could vote on a sort of Bill of Rights. Few opted to participate, and so the program mostly fell by the wayside.) Beacon, a veritable Everest,resulted in a $9.5-million settlement. Reddit may have benefited the most from Digg users' revolt this week, but the small company has had to deal with tantrums of its own in the past. Though, comparedwith Digg's,"We've never had anything quite like that,"Reddit founder Alexis Ohanian said in an interview with The Times. But Ohanian seems to think Digg is scaling its mountain reasonably well. "It's important to remember that you're still running the site, and you're responsible for doing what's best for it," said Ohanian, who is no longer involved in Reddit's daily operations. "It's impossible to please everyone. And it's important to be wary of the silent majority, who will never let you know how they feel." Digg's response aligns with Ohanian's advice and that of Facebook. Founder Kevin Rose, who was filling in as interim CEO until Tuesday, wrote a blog postaddressing many complaints and offering fixes in the future. A Digg spokeswoman declined to comment for this story. While Rose maintains a great deal of influence at Digg, those decisions may ultimately fall on the shoulders of the new chief. "Introducing change is never easy, and bringing something as radically different as Digg version 4 was bound to generate a strong reaction," Rose wrote in a statementannouncing the hiring of Williams. "We are absolutely listening and really value everyone's feedback as we take Digg in new directions." So Williams will have plenty to mull over as he reshapes the fast-changing company. Rose offered some thoughts in an interview with AllThingsD about Williams' new role: "It's a pain in the ass and something I would never wish on my worst enemy." Have fun, Matt! -- Mark Miliantwitter.com/markmilian Photo: From left to right, Reddit founder Alexis Ohanian, StumbleUpon founder Garrett Camp, Digg founder Kevin Rose. Credit: Tony Pierce / Los Angeles Times

You hit a site; its down. You immediately reload; its still down. You start to freak out. How the hell are they down again!? Is anyone in charge over there?! WTF?! But quite often, its just you. And you look like an ass for your rant that you just spewed on Twitter (or on Facebook when its Twitter that is down). Thankfully, it looks like Chrome can now potentially save you from thatembarrassment. Tech geeks are very familiar with sites like Down For Everyone Or Just Me (which was incidentally created by a then-Twitter employee and sold earlier this year). You go there, enter a URL and see if others people around the world are having trouble accessing the site as well. But the latest version of Chrome appears to do the same thing for you now, as the blog Rudefox pointed out today. While trying to load Chatroutlette today (like the rest of us) only to find that it was down, the author got a fairly typical browser note that Oops! Google Chrome could not connect to chatroulette.com. But whats interesting is that below that, it reads Other users are also experiencing difficulties connecting to this site, so you may have to wait a few minutes. See, there are some benefits to Google watching us. They can now save us a trip to Down For Everyone Or Just Me. [thanks Tom]