Those darn millennials. When they’re not telling me how much they really enjoy that goofy Zooey Deschanel iPhone 4 commercial, they’re explaining just how old fashioned physical mannequins are in this day and age. This may explain why Macy’s is preparing to go digital with their latest in-store advertising gimmick. If mannequins are being phased out to make room for digital displays, how am I suppose to fall in love with the sultry Egyptian trapped inside one? The modern world is so complicated. In a shareholder meeting on Friday, Macy’s CEO Terry Lundgren discussed several projects that are currently in the works for the department store, one of which involved replacing mannequins with digital displays that can be updated on the fly. Instead of hiring a merchandizing expert to come in and make them look all pretty and fancy, someone sitting at a computer can quickly replace summer clothing with, say, a winter ensemble. Honestly, the decision to go digital makes perfect sense, especially when fashion can change at the drop of a hat. Lundgren also discussed placing tablets throughout the store to inform customers about items that aren’t currently available at that particular location. In addition to these newfangled contraptions, Mayc’s plans to roll out news ways to contact customers via social networking sites, a “new generation of price checkers” on the floor that also have the power to suggest sales, and, last but not least, digital displays that can be utilized in areas where space is limited. Macy’s isn’t the only company looking to make some technological changes to their stores. Brazilian fashion retailer C&A recently unveiled hangers that display the number of likes a particular piece has received on Facebook. Whenever a customer “likes” an article of clothing that’s featured on the company’s official page, it is reflected on the item’s hanger in-store. That way you’ll never make a bad wardrobe decision ever again. Yeah, right. For those of you hoping to find true love magically locked inside a mannequin, you’d better act fast. Your significant other is in serious danger of becoming obsolete.

We reported last week on the efforts of Charles Nesson to have the Supreme Court hear his client’s (Joel Tenenbaum) case. The Supreme Court has denied Nesson’s petition. It’s unfortunate since a Supreme Court verdict would go a long way in clearing up the mess we’re in right now. As we explained on Friday, the problem came in the form of the original jury award in Tenenbaum’s case. The judge overturned the jury’s decision, however, saying that the award was unconstitutional. When the case went to the appellate level, the judge said that the trial judge couldn’t denounce the award as unconstitutional without first using remittitur. That funky word – remittitur – is the main problem here though. Remittitur is a process that the judge can use to slash the award before reaching any kind of constitutional question. As Ars Technica points out, judges must try to resolve processes using “lower-order issues” before they can even approach any questions of constitutionality. So what does the refusal of the Supreme Court mean? Tenenbaum will be heading back to the trial level where the judge will more than likely apply remittitur. Unfortunately, remittitur has a drawback – the RIAA can accept the lesser amount or they can force Tenenbaum through the legislative process again. The goal, according to Nesson, is to get Tenenbaum to settle so they can send a message to other would be file-sharers. The message according to Nesson is that the RIAA controls the Internet. He says that the RIAA is creating an “urban legend” of sorts that will scare people away from using the Internet. He says their goal is to “reverse the tide of the digital future.” While I regret that the Supreme Court didn’t choose to hear this case, I think that Nesson may have played a part in their refusal. I agree that the RIAA was trying to create this “urban legend” during the last decade, but they have cleaned their act up in the last few years. While their tactics may still seem awful and draconian to us, they probably appear far less offensive to the Justices. Nesson’s argument that Tenenbaum wasn’t responsible because the songs would have been pirated anyway probably didn’t win over any of the Justices either. The fact of the matter is that Tenenbaum was caught and he admitted to the file-sharing. While we may agree that the music would have been pirated either way, Tenenbaum has already submitted himself to the courts with his admission. The only thing we can hope for now is that the Supreme Court will hear a similar case someday, but it looks like it won’t be Tenenbaum. The only thing he can do is keep on fighting or just settle. Considering that the RIAA seems to spare no expense when it comes to court battles, I’m putting my money on a settlement happening anytime soon. We’ve reached out to Nesson for comment and we’ll update this story if we hear anything back.

The Cable Show, a yearly trade show for the cable industry, is taking place in Boston this week. There, cable companies gather to show off their new products and services. This year’s hot item seems to be software that are similar to, yet not as good as, an Apple TV or Roku. Motorola is announcing DreamGallery by Motorola Medios. DreamGallery is a new on-screen display. Specifically, Motorola is touting DreamGallery’s bookmarking function, which allows content to be marked for later viewing. The platform also has recommendations. “Consumers spoke. We listened. DreamGallery is to TV what search was to the Web,” said John Burke, senior vice president and general manager for Converged Experiences at Motorola Mobility. “Consumers want to be able to find personalized and relevant content, fast. We set out to address this hunger by leveraging our expertise in media software and our leadership in content delivery. We ended up reinventing the entire interface for television. DreamGallery isn’t just a better search and discovery experience. It’s a better way to watch TV.” Presumably, DreamGallery will come standard on new Motorola DVRs. Also, much like Comcast’s just-announced X1 platform, there is no mention of DreamGallery having any meaningful internet connectivity. No YouTube, Netflix, or Hulu to be seen in the preview video below. DreamGallery does, however, allow users to watch programming on multiple devices. How this works, and what restrictions might be placed on it, have not been revealed. These Apple TV-like devices have not been impressive, though The Cable Show is not for consumers. Comcast and Motorola are trying to impress cable service providers. To that end, these products feature interfaces that can be changed easily to promote programming or otherwise control the viewing environment of the subscriber. This focus on cable companies as customers instead of end-users is why many in the U.S. are simply dropping cable altogether. Take a look at DreamGallery below in a video provided by Motorola:

Motorola has announced that only some of its Android-based smartphones will be getting updated to the latest version of Google’s operating system, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. In a blog post on Friday, the company acknowledged that many were wondering when their phones might be getting upgraded. They pointed users to their upgrade schedule, where they could see when their device would be getting the latest Android update. They acknowledged that some users might be confused by the lack of upgrades to their specific devices. In response to those concerns, Motorola claimed that “obviously we want the new releases to improve our devices” (emphasis original), and said that “[i]f we determint that can’t be done – well then, we’re not able to upgrade that particular device.” Now, what exactly they mean by “improve” is unclear. Presumably they intend to imply that some devices are too old or lack the necessary specifications to run Ice Cream Sandwich properly. But barring such concerns, it’s hard to imagine any Android device not being improved by upgrading. This issue is made all the more interesting by the fact that Google is about to own Motorola. The deal is expected to close as soon as Wednesday. While it might be in Motorola’s best interest to make people buy new phones, it’s in Google’s interest to make sure everyone has the best Android experience possible. Once the purchase goes through, it will be interesting to see how those to needs intersect, and whether Google decides to light a fire under Motorola’s upgrade schedule.

The Cable Show, a yearly trade show for the cable industry, is being held in Boston this week. There, cable companies showcase their latest technologies and developments. What’s the trend in cable technology for this year? Copying Apple, of course. Comcast is touting its new X1 video platform for its DVRs. The platform sports an Apple TV-like interface (seen above) and allows customers to use their iPhone or iPod as a remote control. Users will be able to access TV, DVR recordings, and Comcast Xfinity On Demand programming. The company will launch Xfinity TV on the new X1 platform soon, starting in Boston and rolling out to other major markets throughout the year. To be fair, Comcast hasn’t actually succeeded in cloning the Apple TV. For example, though it claims that X1 will deliver the world’s largest collection of video, there is no mention of a YouTube app. There is no mention of Netflix, Hulu, a browser, or internet access of any sort aside from the weather, traffic, radio, “social networking” and a couple of other apps. Comcast uses buzz-phrases such as “IP enabled” and “cloud-enabled” in a very odd manner. Speaking of “cloud-enabled,” there is also no mention of customers being able to store video, or anything, remotely. “The X1 platform makes the TV smarter, richer and more personalized – and that’s only the beginning. Our goal is to leverage this platform to redefine the entertainment experience for our customers,” said Marcien Jenckes, senior vice president and general manager of video services for comcast cable. “X1 is a giant leap forward, essentially transforming our video product from a hardware experience to a software experience, allowing us to innovate faster and more aggressively.” Will Comcast innovate faster and more aggressively? All of the innovation in the cable industry has come from outside of it and was then absorbed in a less-functional incarnation. Take TiVo, for example. The company innovated and brought DVR to the market. Cable companies, unable to ignore consumer demand for the technology, built DVRs of their own that had just enough functionality to make them passably usable. Comcast’s X1, a watered-down version of Apple TV or Google TV, is more of the same, giving customers “just enough” to keep them from fleeing cable altogether. This sort of begrudging change is why more Americans than ever are finally abandoning cable.

If you’ve watched the national news in the past few days, you’ve probably already heard this story. It is still amazing, every time we see it. In a breakthrough procedure, a woman has been given the ability to control a robotic arm with her thoughts. The breakthrough came from Dr. Hochberg and his team of 20 researchers at Brown Mass General and the Providence V. A. Cathy Hutchinson was the first woman to participate in the study. She suffered a debilitating stroke 15 years ago, that left her completely paralized. Now, after 15 years of not being able to do anything for herself, she drank from a thermos without any assistance. Over five years, Hutchinson lived with a device attached to her brain. A tiny chip about the size of a aspirin recorded and analyzed brain waves. Dr. Hochberg and team measured the signals that the brain produces when it wants to move one’s arm. After noticing patterns that often crop up when performing certain tasks, he designed a program to recognize those patterns and translate them into physical movement via a robotic arm. The obvious implications of this are astounding. In the future, robotic limbs could be attached directly to a person, and electrical signals from the brain could give an amputee or a paralyzed person full use of their appendage. “I felt a great accomplishment was made and I was thrilled to be a part of it,” Cathy Hutchinson said. “It’s exciting for us. Seeing the smile on her face when she was able to bring that thermos of coffee up and to take that first sip – it’s something that all of us on the research team will never forget,” Dr. Leigh Hochberg said. [source: 9news.com]

Last week we brought you all sorts of news about Apple’s upcoming iPhone. Reports were coming fast and furious from major news agencies that the iPhone 5 (or, more likely, “new iPhone”) would be getting a major redesign, the main feature of which would be a screen at least 4-inches long on the diagonal, and which was designed in large part by Steve Jobs himself before he passed away in October. Today, a report from PiperJaffray analyst Gene Munster provides some more information about the redesign. In a note to investors, Munster discussed the redesign, as well as the potential problems Apple could have with the iPhone’s release due to shortages of 28 nm chips manufactured by Qualcomm (which produces the cellular baseband chips for the iPhone 4S and new iPad). Munster said that he did not expect these shortages to negatively impact the iPhone’s launch, and estimates an 80% change of Apple meeting Wall Street’s December quarter expectations of 49 million iPhone sold. As to the redesign, he said that the new iPhone will have a metal rear panel like that of the iPad, rather than the glass panel found in the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S. The metal rear panel is a long-anticipated change, and would be welcome to those who feel that the glass rear panel on the current iPhone is too fragile and a poor design choice. Munster also said that he expects the new iPhone to sport LTE functionality. Given the increasing size of the major carriers’ 4G LTE networks and the proliferation of 4G-capable competing smartphones, that seems extremely likely. The fact that the third-generation iPad also has 4G capability makes a 4G iPhone a virtual certainty. [Lead Image: Concept Photo from ADR Studios]

When the new version of Flipboard was leaked from a preview version of the upcomming Samsung Galaxy S III, the members of the XDA Developers forums were excited, but wondered why Samsung’s exclusive S-Voice software hadn’t been leaked as well. This weekend, the hackers at the XDA Developers forums came through again, leaking S-Voice S-Voice is Samsung’s new answer to Apple’s Siri. It was supposed to debut, the same as the new Flipbook, as an exclusive on the company’s highly anticipated Galaxy S III smartphone in less than one month. User Ascarface23, on the XDA Developers forum for Samsung Galaxy S II themes and apps, has posted the .apk for S-Voice, meaning any Android user running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich should potentially be able to use it. Since the software was developed to specifically run on Samsung’s new flagship smartphone only, some users are having difficulty installing it. Throughout the same thread, though, a solution for many different installation issues is found. Once users get it installed, though, they might have another hurdle to contend with. Many users who are trying out S-Voice are getting network connection error messages from the program. The fix for this particular issue is to use a root explorer to change the product signature of the phone to mimic the Samsung Galaxy S III. It seems Samsung either doesn’t want their new software to be used yet, or they haven’t implemented the infrastructure for the feature completely. Seeing as the Galaxy S III got over 9 million pre-orders, Samsung will need quite a few servers if it hopes to make a good impression with this product. (via XDA Developer’s forums)

People living near the area that will soon become Apple’s new campus have begun receiving information from the company about the “Campus 2″ project. The letter includes some pictures of the new campus, along with information about how it will impact the area. The letter also invited residents to offer feedback and express their concerns about the new campus. The letter, a copy of which was obtained by 9to5Mac, comes from Apple’s CFO, Peter Oppenheimer, and includes some interesting details about the new facility. It points out that the facility is not going to replaces Apple’s current headquarters, but will serve as additional R&D space. It will also serve as the venue for Apple’s new product launches. Unfortunately, the campus will not be open to the public, meaning that there won’t be any museum or on-site Apple Store. To minimize the site’s environmental impact, the entire roof will be a massive solar array. The letter also reassures local residents that the new facility is not a factory. There will be no manufacturing on the site. Additionally, the company will plant additional trees along the perimeter of the property and convert much of the site (which is currently paved) into green space. The building itself will be well back from the street, meaning that most neighbors and passersby will see the perimeter treeline, rather than the building itself. The letter can be seen below (click to enlarge): The letter included a postage-paid feedback card that recipients could return with their comments, questions, and concerns.

The long awaited, oft delayed launch of the Falcon 9 rocket from the private space firm SpaceX has been delayed again after a failed valve on engine #5 caused an unsafe rise in pressure in the engine. The rise in pressure could have caused an explosion so the mission was aborted shortly before launch. The mission is slated for a relaunch try on May 22nd. The SpaceX guys went on Google+ to tell us the update on the problem: .dittoboxfz13hj5pj2zj3ghk5504cjrkgzzahihmavzw0k {font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size: 13px;}.innerdittoboxf {background-color: #FFF;padding: 10px;}.dittoPost {text-align: left;margin: 0 0 0 60px;min-height: 50px;color: #000;font-size: 13px!important;line-height: 18px;border: 1px solid #CCC;padding: 10px;-moz-border-radius: 4px;border-radius: 4px;}div.pic {display: block;float: left;padding: 0 10px 0 0}div.pic a img {border: 0;}.dittoPost span.author {display: block;line-height: 15px;padding-bottom: 10px}.dittoPost span.author a {text-decoration: none;color: #000;}.dittoPost span.author a:hover {text-decoration: none;color: #06C;}.dittoPost span.metadata {display: block;font-size: 12px!important;line-height: 13px;padding: 10px 3px 0 3px;color: #C84035;font-weight: bold;}.dittoPost span a.timestamp, .dittoPost span a.timestamp:hover {color: #999;text-decoration: none;font-size: 11px;font-weight: normal;}.dittoPost span.pic img {width: 50px;height: 50px;}.dittoPost span.metadata .fbextra {color: #385998;text-decoration: none;}.dittoPost a, .dittoPost a:visited {color: #06C;text-decoration: none;}.dittoPost a:hover {color: #06C;text-decoration: underline;}.proflinkPrefix {color: #999;} SpaceX   1 day ago Engineers replacing failed valve on engine #5 following today’s abort. Data review Sunday, if all looks good next attempt is Tues. May 22 at 3:44 AM ET 434   67 Powered by socialditto SpaceX also released a statement regarding the aborted launch: “Today’s launch was aborted when the flight computer detected slightly high pressure in the engine 5 combustion chamber. We have discovered root cause and repairs are underway. During rigorous inspections of the engine, SpaceX engineers discovered a faulty check valve on the Merlin engine. We are now in the process of replacing the failed valve. Those repairs should be complete tonight. We will continue to review data on Sunday. If things look good, we will be ready to attempt to launch on Tuesday, May 22nd at 3:44 AM Eastern.” Here is a short part of the interview about the abort with the abort video at the end: Here is the full interview from NASA and SpaceX explaining the abort: If the Falcon 9 ever launches and is successful, the Dragon capsule will dock to the International Space Station, then SpaceX will begin to fulfill its contract through the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The resupply contract for the International Space Station has it making 12 runs, and since it is reusable, they will have the ability to ferry items back and forth, not just trash but experiments.