Video: The shared experience of absurdity
News Headlines
Microsoft opens up beta program for Security Essentials
Microsoft is readying a new public beta program for its popular Security Essentials application. They have started to send invites to existing Security Essentials 2 beta testers, inviting them to a future test program on Microsoft Connect. – WinRumors
Rackspace lures San Francisco talent with games and videos.
Rackspace Hosting Inc., the Texas- based operator of data centers, is heading west in a search of dot-com talent. The company has added a San Francisco office replete with a game room, video studio and bike-repair shop. – Bloomberg
The Yahoo! billboard in San Francisco is coming down.
The Yahoo billboard in San Francisco is coming down at the end of November. If you live anywhere in the area, you know the one. It’s been there since the dot-com days of 1999, hovering over Interstate 80 as you leave the city and head east toward Oakland, Reno, and points beyond. – Business Insider
“Occupy Flash” campaign urges users to uninstall Adobe Flash
Last week, Adobe abandoned development of the mobile version of the company’s Flash browser plugin. Now, a group calling itself “Occupy Flash” has launched a campaign to get Adobe to abandon Flash altogether and push Web developers to HTML5. – Ars Technica
Roku expands to Canada, United Kingdom
Roku, the leading streaming platform in the U.S. today announced plans for international expansion. Roku expects that consumers in the United Kingdom and Canada will be able to purchase Roku streaming players beginning in early 2012. – Financial Post
BlackBerry 7 sales on the decline after strong start
After some initial excitement for the new line of BlackBerry 7 smartphones and a strong launch–both unusual for RIM for the past year–sales are starting to sputter. – CNET News
New startup Personal wants to be your private data vault
Say hello to Personal, a startup that wants to be the private data vault for everything in your life, from your insurance to your dining preferences. There are plenty of websites and social networks for sharing information publicly, but these social sites are not suited for the storage and transmission of private information. – Mashable
George Clooney to portray Steve Jobs in upcoming biopic?
Clooney is said to be vying with former ER costar Noah Wyle for the role, according to Now Magazine in the U.K. The article did not cite any sources for the claim. – Mashable
Today in Tech: November 18, 2011
Tech firms making news this morning: StockTwits Inc., Amazon.com Inc., AOL Inc. and Angie’s List Inc. – Financial Post
Productivity through Technology
Consolidate your most important work hours into distinct periods
Success-focused blog Study Hacks notes a study which examined the differences between elite violinists and average players, and found that one of the biggest differences for achievement isn’t the amount of time you practice, but how you delegate your time. – Lifehacker
—
Lunch Break Tech is our daily digest of interesting videos, technology news headlines, and useful tech tips. If you’d like to contribute something to Lunch Break Tech, send us a message.