Finally! Now You Can Get Thousands Of The Best Android Apps On Your PC (GOOG)

With the exception of the Apple's App Store, PCs have yet to get on board with the vibrant app ecosystems that power popular smartphones and tablets.

Today it finally became possible (and easy) to get Android apps on your PC thanks to a nifty platform from BlueStacks.

It may not sound appealing at first, about the poor selection of apps and games on PCs, the BlueStacks approach makes perfect sense.

Suddenly, you have access to thousands of apps that have never been able to run on a PC before.

And it opens up the possibility of seeing Android apps on any device with a screen, not just smartphones and tablets.

BlueStacks works in conjunction with your Android phone to push your apps to the cloud and then download them to your PC later. (Sorry, Windows only for now.)

The apps run within BlueStacks on your PC, and can even be scaled up to full screen.

Even though Android apps require touch controls to work, we're told by BlueStacks VP John Gargiulo that you can use about 85% of them just as easily with a keyboard and mouse. The obvious exceptions are apps that require smartphone-only functions like accelerometer and GPS.

BlueStacks is in Alpha right now, meaning some features will be limited until the full, paid version is ready.

But Gargiulo tells us there are big plans ahead for bringing the Android ecosystem to the PC. Of note, the company is in talks with Opera to bring the Handster app store to BlueStacks. (Opera acquired Handster last month.)

If the deal goes through, developers will be able to have their apps available on both smartphones and PCs without having to deal with multiple app stores.

"Just submitting to an app store will make it work. Developers won't have to do anything else," Gargiulo says.

Handster isn't the only app store in BlueStacks' sights. Gargiulo says they're talking with all the other big players in Android such as SlideME.

Even farther down the road there's an opportunity to bring Android apps to other devices, not just Macs and PCs.

Conceivably, BlueStacks could make it possible to get Android everywhere, even those fancy Windows 8 tablets coming our way.

I you have a Windows PC and want to try BlueStacks, you can download the alpha version. You'll also need to download the Android app to push your apps to your computer.

And that's not just good for BlueStacks, that's good for Google too. The more exposure Android gets, the faster it gain adoption and continue to stretch its lead over Apple's iOS.

Check out this quick demo for an idea of how BlueStacks works:

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College Admissions Directors Finally Admit They Want RICH Students More Than SMART Students

So much for ethics--admissions directors admit they're not out to recruit the best and brightest students, but rather the richest, according to the 2011 Survey of College and Admissions Directors.

Conducted by Inside Higher Ed in August and September, the study drew responses from 462 top directors at nonprofit colleges and universities, who revealed that "finding the right fit" is more about recruiting "full-pay" students who aren't in need aid than providing a rare opportunity for low-income applicants without resources.

With battered endowments and declining government aid, more than half the admissions offers at public research universities and more than a third at four-year colleges feel pressure from administrators, trustees, and fund raisers to recruit more out-of-state and international students since they tend to pay higher fees.

Sadly, 10% of admissions directors at four-year public colleges and nearly 20% at private liberal arts schools said many full-pay admittants had lower grades and test scores than other applicants; more than a quarter of admissions directors likewise revealed they're being pressured by senior-level executives to admit minority students, children of alumni, athletes, and international students--a practice that harkens back to the University of Illinois scandal that made headlines two years ago.

David A. Hawkins, director of public policy and research at the National Association for College Admission Counseling tells the Times that "as institutional pressures mount, between the decreased state funding, the pressure to raise a college's profile, and the pressure to admit certain students, we're seeing a fundamental change in the admissions process ... there's now a different dynamic that places a lot of emphasis on marketing."

But whether it's a product of hard times or a sign of failed leadership, Inside Higher Ed's findings are deeply troubling and speak to the American college system's inability to make the grade, both for students and parents, who the study found are "significantly worried" about how they'll shoulder the burden of such exorbitant tuition costs.

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FINALLY! A Scientific Explanation For Why Teen Brains Are Different

(http://www.flickr.com/photos/malingering/2675267732/in/photostream/)

The new National Geographic features a fascinating article by David Dobbs on the teen brain (via @abnormalreturns).

It explains some of the known drawbacks of teenagers from the point of view of a parent (David Dobbs) whose son was pulled over for driving 113 miles per hour.

Here are a few great facts we learned:

The brain's white matter develops from age 12 to 25, increasing transmission speed and thought complexity. During this process of maturity the brain is unbalanced and may pay attention to one part -- reward -- and ignore another part -- risk.Before the white matter fully develops, the brain is actually more developmentally flexible. This is why a teen can learn new skills from language to video games faster.Sensation-seeking, risk-taking and peer association are cerebral urges that peak in teenagers.Teens rightfully believe that "knowing, understanding, and building relationships with" their peers can be more important than listening to their parents. Dobbs writes: "Knowing this might make it easier to abide the hysteria of a 13-year-old deceived by a friend or the gloom of a 15-year-old not invited to a party. These people! we lament. They react to social ups and downs as if their fates depended upon them! They're right. They do."

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GEITHNER: I've Finally Scared The Crap Out Of Europe, Huge Bailout Coming Soon

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God's gift to Wall Street, Secretary Treasury Tim Geithner, says he has finally convinced Europe that the world will end if Europe doesn't bail everyone out the way the US did.

On ABC's World News With Diane Sawyer, Geithner said that Europe finally gets it:

“If you listen carefully to what they said this weekend, not just to us in private, but what they said publicly, they’re foreshadowing now the escalation that’s going to come. And we’d like them to get on with it.”

The "escalation," presumably, is a full-on Euro-TARP bailout, in which the losses on the idiot loans made by Europe's banks to Europe's fringe countries are transferred to Europe's taxpayers.

One can only hope that the rescue plan willl include forced bank writedowns and recapitalizations, which Geithner's US version of the bailout didn't--an error for which the country is still paying the price.

Geithner put the fear of God in Europe at the IMF meeting, at which he warned of “cascading default, bank runs and catastrophic risk” if Europe didn't get the situation under control.

Bloomberg's Ian Katz has more >

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SABMiller FINALLY Manages To Take Over Foster's After Months Of Being Rebuffed

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You have to be ruthless and persistent to win in a hostile takeover, and that's what SABMiller has just proved.

Australian brewer Foster's has finally caved to a $10.2 billion bid from the UK-based brewer and bottler, after three months of telling them to shove off, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Here's all the drama that led up to the final deal:

SABMiller first tried back in June, but the $10 billion bid quickly rejected -- Foster's CEO John Pollaers later said it was "so far from reality, it wasn't worth engaging," according to the Wall Street Journal.

It just got more hostile from there. In August, Foster's rebuffed another $10 billion offer, saying that it "significantly undervalued" the company. 

Then it really got ugly. The brewer accused Foster's of making misleading financial statements and tried to get Australia's Takeovers Panel to intervene, but it refused the review.

SABMiller actually reduced its cash offer to $9.6 billion in another bid earlier this month, and was once against told that it was "inadequate." Foster's gave up the fight just over a week later after the bid was increased back over the $10 billion mark.

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Confirmed (Again): Turntable.fm Finally Admits It Raised $7 Million

Earlier this summer we reported that Turntable.fm raised between $7 and $7.5 million dollars.

A lot of people didn't believe us. But, we were right.

On stage today at TechCrunch Disrupt, the group music listening company is announcing that it raised a $7 million round led by Union Square Ventures.

Turntable.fm was a pivot from a failed startup, Stickybits. Stickybits' original investors, First Round Capital, Polaris Venture Partners, and Lowercase Ventures, also participated in the round.

In addition, a number of entertainment and Internet industry executives invested. Some declined to be named (we speculate Kanye West and Lady Gaga). Other investors include Lady Gaga's manager, Troy Carter, MTV's Courtney Holt, former Facebook executive Tim Kendall, The Roots, and Madonna's manager, Guy Oseary.

Union Square Ventures' Fred Wilson will be joining Turntable.fm's board. 

The founders had a relationship with Fred Wilson that goes back 15 years. They've pitched him before, and Wilson has turned them down before. While west coast investors wanted in on the deal, the founders say that, because they're a New York company, they wanted to choose nearby investors.

Turntable.fm has been used by 600,000 people (40% are active users), and 1 million songs are streamed on the music site per day.  Turntable.fm was founded in May, 2011 by Billy Chasen and Seth Goldstein.

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Finally, You Can Make Your Own VH1 Pop-Up Video

  x You have successfully emailed the post. A Rick-roll and a pop up video in one!

You know you've watched VH1's classic TV show, Pop-Up Video.

Now the station is bringing back the '90s hit and giving you the opportunity to make your own. Get excited.

Here's how you do it.

Pick a video from their offerings.

Log-in (you can do it through Facebook)

Watch the video and write your witty quips

Share with friends.

We suggest you pick a video you love, hate, or think is incredibly stupid. You can see ours here (though you'll have to be signed into Facebook).

Have fun!

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FINALLY, FALL TV: Here's Your Complete Guide To The Season's New Shows

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At long last (and it felt extra-long, this summer, didn't it?), TV is back.

The season kicked off tonight with the premiere of Sarah Michelle Gellar's "Ringer."

And from here on out, we're in for a flurry of flight attendants, Playboy bunnies, 22nd-century sci-fi, surveillance paranoia, and girl-on-girl comedy.

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Now Is The Perfect Time For Apple To Finally Kill The iPod -- Here's Why (AAPL)

  x You have successfully emailed the post. Before we get started and before you start lambasting us in the comments, just know that we love the iPod. It changed the way we carry music around in a very fundamental way.

Think back to the pre-iPod days. Most MP3 players could barely hold a single album. The Discman was king.

And the iPod will never truly die. It will always live on as an app or feature in Apple's iDevices. That's a very, very good thing.

Now, 10 years after the iPod was first introduced, we think it's time for it to finally die. With the iPhone and iPad, Apple has moved past the classic iPod. In fact, it hasn't changed much over the last few years. 

We agree with this excellent argument for killing the iPod written on the personal blog VintageZen. But we have some additional thoughts of our own.

First of all, we don't think Apple should push an iPhone "lite" as an iPod Touch replacement. Instead, it should be a 3G-enabled iPod Touch.

We hate to say it, but it's time for the iPod to go.

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Microsoft Finally Admits Windows Media Center Is A Dud (MSFT)

Microsoft has admitted that people just don't use the Media Center interface in Windows all that much.

Media Center gives people a special remote-controllable interface for watching TV and video, listening to music, and viewing photos.

It was introduced as a special version of Windows XP almost a decade ago, and later put into the high-end versions of Vista and Windows 7. PC makers sold a lot of copies of Windows with Media Center, and it has a devoted and vocal fan base.

But toward the end of today's post on the Building Windows 8 blog, Windows chief Steven Sinofsky shot down comments from Media Center enthusiasts who claimed that lots of people use it.

In fact, only 6% of Windows users ever open Media Center, and most just look at it for a minute or two. As Sinofsky wrote:

Our opt-in usage telemetry shows that in July, Windows Media Center was launched by 6% of Windows 7 users globally with the heaviest usage in Russia, Mexico, and Brazil (frequency and time). However, most people are just looking around; only one quarter (25% of 6%) of these people used it for more than 10 minutes per session (individual averages), and in 59% of Media Center sessions (by these 6% of users) we see almost no activity (less than a minute or two of usage). TV was the most common scenario we observed, and not surprisingly, traditional media (DVD and CD) are less common (and declining over time) than streaming and file-based content. By comparison, Media Player (66% of Windows users in July) and IE (88%) are popular rendering engines for all types of media content, including an increased volume of "premium" and streaming content.

Sinofsky insisted that Microsoft is still committed to Media Center, and it will be released in Windows 8 in some form. But it won't be in the early test versions -- including the build that Microsoft is showing off at its BUILD developers conference later this month.

In the same post, Sinofsky also addressed the feedback Microsoft has gotten about some parts of the Windows 8 interface, like the Windows Explorer, and said that the company is already making some changes based on that feedback.

Whether or not you agree with all the design choices Microsoft is making, this blog is proving to be a very interesting spotlight into how Microsoft works.

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Russia Finally Decides To Back Libyan Rebels After Criticizing NATO For Months

Fred Wier is a correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor.

Russia has been one of the loudest critics of NATO's air war against forces loyal to Muammar Qaddafi over the past six months.

But on Thursday Moscow suddenly pushed the mute button on its criticism, joined a Paris conference of some 60 nations aimed at consolidating support for the victorious anti-Qaddafi insurgents, and surprised many by extending immediate official recognition to Libya's rebels as the country's only legitimate government.

"The Russian Federation recognizes the Transitional National Council of Libya as the ruling authority and notes the program of reforms announced by it, which envisions developing a new constitution, holding general elections and forming a government," the foreign ministry said in a terse statement posted on its website Thursday.

In recent weeks Moscow had urged the rebels to seek a negotiated settlement with Mr. Qaddafi, and President Dmitry Medvedev suggested earlier this week that Russia might withhold official recognition from the TNC until it demonstrated an ability to unite Libyans and control the country's whole territory.

But the foreign ministry statement offered a small, diplomatically-worded hint on the reasons for Russia's swift about-face: "We presume that the contracts previously concluded by the Russian Federation and Libya, and the other mutual obligations of the parties continue in effect in relations between the two states and will be carried out in good faith," it said.

In plain terms, Russia has economic interests to protect – $10 billion worth.

These include about $4 billion in arms contracts that were negotiated with Qaddafi, including a $1 billion deal to supply anti-missile systems that was shut down by sanctions when the war began. There is also a $3 billion contract for the state-owned Russian Railroads company to build a high speed rail link between the Libyan cities of Sirte and Benghazi, and another $3 billion or so in oil and gas related contracts signed by Qaddafi with Russian state companies such as Gazprom and Tatneft.

Experts say that by dumping Qaddafi, with whom Russia has long enjoyed good relations, Moscow is only acknowledging the inevitable. But as nations gather in Paris to consider Libya's way forward, the backroom scramble over economic contracts, past and future, is already underway.

"Yes, Russia's recognized the (rebel) government, what else could it do?" says Boris Kagarlitsky, director of the independent Institute of Globalization and Social Movements in Moscow.

"This drama is reaching the final curtain, and until today the Russian Foreign Ministry has been in a kind of paralysis. So, at last they understood that if they continue waiting, everyone will move on without Russia," Mr. Kagarlitsky says.

Some analysts suggest the imminent rebel victory in Libya may politically benefit Mr. Medvedev in his increasingly fierce but still undeclared competition with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin for the establishment nomination in Russian presidential elections, now barely six months off.

Medvedev has consistently been gentler than Mr. Putin in expressing Moscow's criticism of NATO for "going beyond" the UN Security Council's Libya resolution – which authorized the use of force to protect Libyan civilians – by using airpower to help the rebels overthrow Qaddafi. At one point Medvedev publicly chastised Putin for referring to the NATO action as a "crusade."

Analysts say that the Kremlin's fast footwork on Libya may cause momentary embarrassment, but no lasting pain in Moscow.

"Russia's relations with Qaddafi were never based on love, but were all about mutual pragmatic interest," says Irina Zvigelskaya, an expert with the official Institute of Oriental Studies in Moscow.

Now, she says, there is a worry that the "Libyan provisional government may give economic preferences to Western companies, because it was the West that supported them directly. ..."

"But now's the right time to acknowledge the realities on the ground. We had pragmatic relations in the past, so there is reason to hope that they can be restored in future," she says.

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Bernanke Finally Admits Economic Realities And Still The Fed Does Nothing

One positive thing in Bernanke’s speech — I’m trying to look on the bright side — is that for what seems to me the first time he has more or less acknowledged that we are not, in any real sense, experiencing a recovery:

Notwithstanding these more positive developments, however, it is clear that the recovery from the crisis has been much less robust than we had hoped. From the latest comprehensive revisions to the national accounts as well as the most recent estimates of growth in the first half of this year, we have learned that the recession was even deeper and the recovery even weaker than we had thought; indeed, aggregate output in the United States still has not returned to the level that it attained before the crisis. Importantly, economic growth has for the most part been at rates insufficient to achieve sustained reductions in unemployment, which has recently been fluctuating a bit above 9 percent.

Indeed. I usually illustrate the unrecovery using the employment-population ratio, but here’s an alternative, the ratio of real GDP to the CBO estimate of potential (which is the level consistent with stable inflation, not the absolute maximum the economy can produce):

Does that look like a solid if slow recovery? Of course not.

Ideally, the realization that the economy is not healing would spur the Fed to take the kind of action Bernanke recommended a decade ago when Japan was similarly in a long-term trap.

Not yet, however.

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RIM Will Finally Update The PlayBook With E-Mail And BBM In September (RIMM)

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Finally, Someone Prices One Of These New BlackBerrys To Sell (RIMM, S)

Following RIM's announcement about the new BlackBerry Curve models, Sprint says it will offer the phone for $79.99 with a two-year contract and $50 rebate.

It goes on sale September 9.

This is a much, much better price than what RIM and carriers are asking for the new BlackBerry Bold, which will cost up to $300, depending on the carrier.

True, the Bold has a touchscreen and is more powerful than the curve, but there are plenty of other smartphones out there that can be bought at a more reasonable price.

The full announcement from Sprint is below.

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OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (BUSINESS WIRE), August 23, 2011 - The next generation of Research In Motion’s (RIM) (NASDAQ: RIMM; TSX: RIM) popular BlackBerry® Curve™ series of smartphones, the stunning new BlackBerry Curve 9350, comes to Sprint (NYSE: S) on Friday, Sept. 9, offering the latest BlackBerry operating system – BlackBerry® 7. The new BlackBerry Curve 9350 is a fast, affordable, easy-to-use, full-featured and socially connected smartphone that is as beautiful as it is functional.

The slim and stylish smartphone will cost just $79.99 (excluding taxes) with a new line or eligible upgrade and two-year service agreement, after a $50 mail-in rebate via reward card1 and be available in all Sprint sales channels, including Sprint Stores, Business Sales, Telesales (1-800-SPRINT1) and web sales (www.sprint.com). Sprint Business customers may qualify to get BlackBerry Curve 9350 for $49.99 (excluding taxes) on a business account with a new line or eligible upgrade and new one- or two-year service agreement, after a $50 mail-in rebate via reward card1.

“It is exciting to see the BlackBerry Curve line continue to evolve, building upon past success,” said David Owens, vice president – Product Development, Sprint. “This latest iteration offers the recognizable form factor our customers have come to enjoy, while adding powerful new features and innovative apps of BlackBerry 7 to deliver the smoothest and fastest BlackBerry Curve experience to date.”

The BlackBerry Curve 9350 smartphone offers a full QWERTY keyboard and trackpad for easy one-handed navigation and keeps users connected by allowing them to easily share moments through pictures and videos via MMS, as well as by instant message with world-class IM services like BBM™ (BlackBerry® Messenger). With easy access to social networking sites like Flickr®, MySpace and Facebook®, this smartphone provides smooth integration to keep users up to speed on what’s happening in their personal and professional lives.

Key features include:

BlackBerry App World™, the official app store front for BlackBerry smartphones offering customization, fun and productivityNear Field Communications (NFC) support for a secure exchange of information between NFC-enabled devices over a very short distance5MP camera with HD video capture, flash and zoom512MB RAM2GB microSD card included, with support for up to 32GB microSD cardBlackBerryPlayBook support with BlackBerry Bridge™ (BlackBerry Bridge is available as a free download on BlackBerry App World)DataViz Docs To Go® Premium suite preloaded, for editing Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint files from anywhereWi-Fi® (802.11 b/g/n)Bluetooth® 2.1+EDR support

Smoother and Faster with BlackBerry 7

With BlackBerry 7, the BlackBerry Browser is significantly enhanced to provide a faster and more fluid user experience and includes optimized HTML5 performance for incredible gaming and video experiences.

Building upon the Universal Search feature introduced in BlackBerry 6, BlackBerry 7 expands the capability to include voice-activated search. This new capability makes it easier and more convenient to search for content on the smartphone or web.

BlackBerry 7 also integrates BlackBerry® Balance™, which separates personal content from corporate content, giving users the freedom and flexibility to use the smartphone for personal email, Facebook®, Twitter®, multimedia, games and other apps, while satisfying the very real need for corporate data to be highly secure and manageable. BlackBerry Balance works in conjunction with BlackBerry® Enterprise Server 5.0.3, which provides a number of unique IT policy controls, such as wiping only corporate data or blocking work-related content and apps from being copied or forwarded to personal contacts.

BlackBerry Curve 9350 requires activation on one of Sprint’s Everything Data plans plus a required $10 Premium Data add-on charge for smartphones. Sprint’s Everything Data plan with Any Mobile, AnytimeSM includes unlimited web, texting and calling to and from any mobile in America while on the Sprint Network, starting at just $69.99 per month plus required $10 Premium Data add-on charge – a savings of $40 per month versus Verizon’s comparable plan with unlimited talk, text and 2GB web or $10 per month versus Verizon’s 450-minute plan with unlimited text and 2GB web. (Pricing excludes taxes and surcharges.)

Sprint was unbeaten among major wireless carriers for customer satisfaction according to results from the 2011 American Customer Satisfaction Index. In addition to tying for first place among wireless carriers, Sprint was also the number one most improved company in customer satisfaction, across all industries, during the last three years, according to the survey.

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