Saturday, December 03, 2005
Mozilla offers Flock extensions
By now I hope you know about Flock, the social web browser based on Firefox. And we've mentioned Flocker, which allows you to turn Firefox extensions into Flock extensions. Well it looks like the Mozilla Foundation is joining in the love-fest by hosting a page full of Flock extensions. Web developer tools, Gmail tools, and one of my faves— FlashGot, are all there. So if you haven't checked out Flock yet, there's never been a better time. Join the social web revolution!
[Thanks Jason]
iPod, Therefore iDJ
Remember that iPod DJ mixing console we mentioned earlier? Well, it won’t be available next year. You see, that’s because it’s available right now! Yes, as in right this instant! The iDJ can accept up to two iPods and lets you bust out your inner Tiësto. It also charges those iPods while they’re plugged in, so you can dance the night away without fear of the music stopping.
iDJ iPod Music Mixing MP3 Console: Dance Techno Party! [GadgetMadness]
PCWorld Dubs Firefox Best Product of 2005
Peaceful_Patriot writes "PCWorld's list of the 'Best Products of 2005' is out and Firefox tops the list. Also notables are GMail at number 2, Apple OS X, Tiger at number 3, Skype ranks in at 8 and Ubuntu at 26!" From their Firefox article: "Are you sick and tired of Internet Explorer? Have you grown weary of the constant vulnerabilities and patches? Do you scratch your head at sudden program lockups and crashes? Are you dismayed that Microsoft hasn't lifted a finger to improve or enhance IE since it buried Netscape's Navigator browser at the dawn of the century? Yeah, me too."
Friday, December 02, 2005
More on the Moto ROKR E2
More info about Motorola’s upcoming iTunes-capable ROKR E2 is starting to surface, and it looks like the fuzzy pic we posted a few days ago is indeed what the phone will look like. According to AppleInsider, Moto showed off the E2 to investors last month, and highlighted several features, including Bluetooth and USB 2.0 support. Of course, given that, as AppleInsider points out, Moto is planning several other phones with iTunes support — including the SLVR L7 and RAZR 2 — we have to wonder why Moto doesn’t just kill the ROKR marque altogether. After all, it’s not like it’s brought them a whole lot of success in the past.
Yahoo & Google Testing Pay-Per-Call Ads
khundeck writes "'Internet giants Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc. are testing a new form of online advertising that encourages people to pick up the phone rather than click on a link, lending credibility to the 'pay-per-call' ad model.'" From the article: "Google is testing a variant in which users click on a phone icon and type their number into a box. Google then dials the user, who hears ringing until the merchant answers. Google says the service is free for callers even on long-distance calls, and it promises not to divulge the caller's number to anyone."
Investors Debate Value of Google Stock (AP)
AP - Is Google Inc.'s incandescent stock a golden opportunity or fool's gold? Investors have been arguing that question since Google's initial public offering in August 2004.
Search Engine Ordering - Today's Browser Tip
Firefox's search box has a few odd quirks: One, there's no easy way to remove a search engine once it's been added, and two, there's no easy way to customize the order they're listed in. Search Engine Ordering is an extension that remedies that. With Search Engine Ordering you can just drag-and-drop each search engine listed under your search box to reposition it in the list, and to delete one you just need to right-click on it and click on "Remove." It also has an option to automatically sort your search engines alphabetically.
Win an Aeon Flux Laptop
As big a fan of Alienware as I am, I tend not to post much about their contests, but this one was just too cool to pass up.
The computer maker is giving away one of their Area-51 laptops tricked out with a sweet Aeon Flux skin. Chances of winner are about one in 2.5 million, so don’t get your hopes up, but it’s still worth trying for.
Aeon Flux Contest [Alienware]
Edit photos online with PXN8
PXN8 is a free online image-editor. And while we've mentioned online image-editing tools before, PXN8 has a lot to offer.
Along with a slew of nice editing features, PXN8 also integrates with Flickr, allowing you to edit your Flickr photos with the click of a bookmarklet, then save the edits back in Flickr.
For the Flickr-addicted, PXN8 gives you the opportunity to tweak your photos anytime you're bored and at a browser. If you're not into Flickr, the editor still offers a lot of simple, useful editing tools that may come in handy in a pinch.
Weather Underground and Google Maps
Weather Underground has a neat use of Google Maps. They've got maps that show where their stations are and by clicking on them you can get all kinds of weather information about that local area.
Thanks to Jason for the tip!
Oboe’s Web Music Locker
I begged for this in a post last week about companies I’d like to profile that don’t exist yet (no. 1 - “better and cheaper online storage”). MP3Tunes nailed it with a product suite called Oboe.
Oboe offers unlimited online storage of music for $40/year. A free version of the product is also available, although it has extremely limited functionality (no online storage, for example).
I’ve registered and have paid for the premium product. Music syncing is accomplished via a downloaded application (windown, mac and linux), and it is going to take forever. I have somewhere around 10,000 songs - and they upload at a rate of 200 songs per hour. That means I’ll be uploading for about 50 hours.
Once the songs are uploaded, I’ll write more about how Oboe works. The site promises that users will be able to create and edit playlists, stream music at 128k, and even stream directly through itunes. Supported formats include MP3, MP4, M4A, M4P, AAC, WMA, OGG, AIF, AIFF and MIDI.
One feature that is not clearly addressed in the FAQs is whether or not users will be able to download music back to their hard drive (in the event they’ve lost the data locally, for example). The FAQs do state, however, “Just a few mouse clicks will ensure you never lose your music. You can even load it to your other computer with no hassle!”.There are obvious pirating issues with allowing this, as anyone with borrowed or stolen account credentials could download the music.
MP3Tunes is a Michael Robertson company, who was the founder of MP3.com. Oboe is his latest attempt at allowing users to access their music online. Previously, MP3.com offered a service called Beam-It which allowed users to verify that they owned a cd by inserting it into their computer, and were subsequently able to access that music directly from the web.
MP3Tunes is hoping to avoid the fate of Beam-It by acting as a service provider only and assuming that users legally own the music they upload. The Digital Millenium Copyright Act provides limitations on service provider liability “with respect to information residing, at direction of a user, on a system or network that the service provider controls or operates”.
I hope they win this one.
Via Brad Hill.
Wikipedia Plans API, WYSIWYG Socialtext Interface
Jimmy Wales, President of the non-profit Wikipedia Foundation and creator of Wikipedia, spoke at a Brookings Institute event yesterday and revealed some interesting news about the open source encyclopedia, according to one observer. According to Mike Lee, you can listen to a related podcast recorded in September here (MP3). Here's a summary...
* Wikipedia gets 2.4 billion page views monthly. It has over 120 servers, which are mostly in Florida
* Over half of all edits to the English version are done by 0.7% of its users, or 615 users
* They are working on a WYSIWYG interface so more newbies will feel comfortable. It is being built using SocialText and should be ready for wide release in January. It will become the default UI for MediaWiki.
* Last but not least, Wikipedia has early plans to open up their API
Nike Gives In, Releases iPod nano Armband
Nike in the past has tried (and failed) to break into the DAP market, so it looks like the company finally gave in this time around. Their new case is an armband designed for the iPod nano. Strap it to your arm and you're ready to exercise, because, being an exercise-oriented company and all, Nike had this in mind when designing the armband. It's made from Nike's special Dri-FIT material and Pro Compression fabric for a sleek, tight fit. So no fatties. It comes in two color combinations as well: gray & orange and gray & black. The case also comes in two sizes, small/medium and medium/large, designed to fit your arm as comfortably as possible. Gotta have it so it matches your jumpsuit? Shell out $40 and you're golden.
Nike releases iPod nano armband [iLounge]
Japan Says No To iPod Tax
The Japanese recording industry had been calling for an iPod tax -- a levy on digital music players they claimed was necessary to reimburse them for revenues "lost" to home copying -- for some time, but a government committee there has rejected the idea. The country already charges such a tax on older devices, like CD recorders, and the recording industry claims the decision "robbed it of revenue". It's hard to see exactly why the labels in Japan, or anywhere else for that matter, feel the right to tack an extra charge on to a product with which they've got absolutely nothing to do. The assumption that every music player owner illegally copies music is completely bogus, as is the entertainment industry's idea of "lost sales" due to piracy. Then, again, these are companies that would just assume fair use was criminalized, so from their viewpoint, yes, everybody that rips music from a CD onto a music player is a criminal.
Firefox Flicks: Open Source Marketing?
Mozilla Corp. is launching Firefox Flicks, a grassroots campaign to promote its alternative Web browser with user-recorded video testimonials and 30-second user-created ads.
[via Designtechnica - News, Reviews and Talk Backs]
Atheist group offers free porn in exchange for Bibles
Cory Doctorow: 
Atheist Agenda, an atheist group at U Texas San Antonio, staged a "Porno for Bibles" event, where they gave free pornography to people who traded in religious scripture. Link (via Zombiebite)
Adobe Acquiring Macromedia on December 3, 2005
dennison_uy writes "Adobe Systems Incorporated and Macromedia, Inc. today announced they have either received or been notified they will receive all regulatory clearances necessary to complete Adobe's pending acquisition of Macromedia. The companies expect to close the transaction on December 3, 2005. Does this mean the end for Fireworks and Freehand
[via Slashdot]
Google School: Filter adult content with safesearch
For my mother-in-law who was searching for the Dick's Sporting Goods web site last week at the office: to filter out adult web sites from Google search results, use the safesearch operator.
So a search for Dick's (whose web site, unsurprisingly, is NOT dicks.com), Google up:
safesearch: Dick's Sporting Goods And before I sink to the level of unfunny crude jokes, I'll do us both a favor and press "Publish."
If you’re reading Engadget, you probaby have a mobile phone. You probably also have a computer.
...see any connection? Quixun did. For 1,980 yen (about $16), you can pick up their “lipii Beam Station,” a small USB device that accepts infrared signals from your mobile phone. Using a special iAppli on the phone, which is currently supported by pretty much all FOMA handsets, you’re able to control various functions of your PC by using only the phone’s keypad. Move the mouse, type up a term paper, skip to the next porn music video, control your browser, and so on. Mac and Linux users are out of luck; only Windows is supported for now. Oh well, infrared isn’t exactly a common feature for phones outside of Japan anyway.
More speedy CompactFlash news from Kingston with what the company calls the "Ultimate" line of cards. All three CF cards have a sustained write speed of 100x and come in 1GB, 2GB and 4GB storage capacities. Pretty much designed for professional photogs, these CompactFlash cards provide a seamless flow of imaging info from camera to memory card. Basically, it's saying you'll never miss a thing. Sounds like it should be written on an ad somewhere, no? Maybe it is, who knows? All cards come with a lifetime warranty and 24-hour support, seven days a week. They are also compatible with PC Card Type II adapters. The 1GB is $89. 2GB is $159 and 4GB is $289.
Looks like Siemens is deciding to jump on the RAZR bandwagon, even though the RAZR's trendiness factor has started to die a little. The SLV140 is a triband GSM phone with UTMS support and has some features that make it a tad bit nicer than the RAZR. Some of these include a 2-megapixel camera, video calling, and a 2.2-inch 262k color screen. Not too bad. It's got an overall design very similar to the RAZR, right down to the all-silver coating. You can even expand storage via microSD. No word on when it's going to be released or how much it will cost.
Siemens Razr Phone: SLV140 [MotoRAZR]
Cory Doctorow: Neuros have shipped an amazing-sounding device that takes the video you've already paid for -- DVDs, TV shows, and so on -- and repackages it to play on your PSP, laptop, phone or any other device that can handle MPEG4 video and Memory Sticks or Compact Flash. It's small enough to use as a portable VCR, slipping it into your pocket and taking it on holiday or to meetings.
It's seems ridiculous that you can record a TV show to play back on your TV, but you have to buy it again if you want to watch it on your iPod, phone or PSP. Why do you need to buy a DVD and an iPod version? Why can't you "home-tape" your media to something more convenient, the way you could with your old LPs?
Thank (or curse) the entertainment companies: they have threatened to sue any company that makes a better digital VCR (they put one manufacturer, ReplayTV, out of business, by sucking up all their dough with legal fees). They've even proposed legislation to close the "analog hole" that makes this recording without permission possible. That's right, Hollywood's media-savvy technophobes really think that they'll be able to convince Congress to help them with something called the "A-Hole problem." Hey, if the shoe fits.
But Neuros's pocket-sized "Recorder 2" defects from the tacit agreement to withhold better technology from the market. Just in time for Christmas, Neuros is taking a stand, letting you home-record your stuff and watch it the way you want, the way the law allows. They've even written a stirring editorial explaining their commitment to their customers' freedom, with such choice quotes as "But who will stand up for you today if you are to continue to have the right to enjoy your legally obtained media content wherever and whenever you want?" and "these proposed laws are about Big Media using piracy as an excuse to take away your right to control your own legally obtained content and thereby open up new revenue streams by forcing you to pay multiple times for the same content."
* Record effortlessly from any video source (TV Cable box, Satellite Receiver Box, PVRs or DVRs Like TiVoTM, DVD players, VCR, Camcorders).
* Simple setup that works without a PC and operates like a VCR.
* MPEG-4 video format allows you to view content directly on your PSP(TM) or any other device that accepts standard Memory Stick or Compact Flash (CF) memory cards (not included).
* The MPEG-4 format is also compatible with most other portable media devices.
* A great way to digitize your home movies for archiving, emailing, or playback on portables and laptops.
* Can play back from Recorder 2 through TV's and home theatres. Pocket-sized device is small enough to use as a portable VCR.
Bravo, Neuros. I hope you sell a million of these things. I'm buying one right now. Link (Thanks, Kathryn!)
datemenatalie writes "CNN.com reports that the Inernet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is still awaiting the decision of an advisory committee regarding .xxx domains. According to the article, "ICANN announced in June it would move ahead with plans to evaluate establishing a sex-site domain, but the proposal hit a snag in August when the U.S. Commerce Department asked for more time to hear objections." ICANN's president Paul Tworney was unable to say when a formal decision might be announced."
More than one reader has tipped us off on foXpose, an extension for Firefox that binds a keyboard shortcut to an Exposé-like thumbnail display of all of the currenly-open tabs. It's a cool extension, for sure, but in my experience has been a little bit buggy. Often when I click on one of the thumbnails, nothing will happen. Viamatic, the makers of foXpose, also make Tabnail, an extension that adds thumbnails to the standard tab bar, which makes it a little chunky, but may be handy for certain users.
While we're talking about thumbnails, I though I'd remind you of a couple other extensions for Firefox 1.5: Tab Preview and Tab Sidebar. The former displays a thumbnail when you hover the cursor over a tab, and the latter is a sidebar that replaces your tab bar with thumbnail views of each tab.
AP - When asked a few years ago if they might someday offer a Mac that works like a Microsoft entertainment PC, Apple executives joked that they were instead focusing on the convergence of computers and toasters.
Jookster’s search engine launched yesterday. Like Wink, Jookster is aiming to provide more relevant search results by putting user-generated bookmarked links above normal results.
Unlike Wink, which allows users to add significant metadata to bookmarked pages (tags and reviews), Jookster determines relevance of bookmarked queries solely based on a keyword analysis of content on the bookmarked page.
Any web page may be bookmarked, or “Jooked” by users. No additional metadata is requested at the time of bookmarking. These results are shows above normal search results on Jooked.
A key part of the service is associating with friends. When you perform a search, you have the option of determining who’s bookmarks are also included - just you, friends of friends, one more level out, etc.
The Jookster idea is great, but the lack of metadata associated with the bookmarks (particularly tags) means it will not return results nearly as relevant as Wink results. I also question whether users will have any real incentive to give up browser real estate to yet another bookmarklet, and bookmark pages.
John Cook also writes about Jookster today.
Merlin has outlined a how-to that will surely get him on the del.icio.us home page. It covers five ways to get on the del.icio.us home page! I can tell you from experience his ideas do work.
Today the wait is over for European Xbox 360 fans. About 300,000 Xbox 360 consoles are apparently available for Europe today. In contrast to the United States, most Xbox 360 offered for pre-order were not bundled, thus making them more affordable. ...
If the radiation doesn't get you or your phone doesn't draw lightning to you and you've managed to avoid exploding wall chargers, you're still not safe: your phone may make you kill yourself. An Australian researcher says that there was an increase in the country's suicide rate following solar flares and the increase in geomagnetic storms they cause. This means, apparently, that mobile phones and other things that generate radiation could affect people's moods, and, by extension, make them suicidial. Guess we'd all better run out and get those special radiation-blocking watches to save ourselves from the radiation. That just leaves us the explosions and lightning to deal with.
Back when eBay bought Skype for $2.6 (potentially $4.1 billion), the company tried to justify the decision with a variety of vague statements. However, two specific rationales stood out: (1) it would be easier for eBay buyers and sellers to talk to each other (2) Skype was huge in China, where eBay had very little presence. The China story didn't make much sense. First off, as had been announced before the acquisition even occurred, Chinese telcos were looking at ways to block Skype, a process that has continued to move forward. However, even without that, it was never clear why someone who used a free VoIP system would then turn around and start using an online auction, just because it was the same company. The first point, about eBay buyers and sellers talking, didn't make much sense either. As we noted at the time, it's extremely rare that a voice conversation is needed in an eBay transaction. Turns out that we weren't alone in feeling that way. The executive director of the Professional eBay Sellers Alliance, a group that apparently represents the top sellers on the site, says that most of the group's members have no interest in Skype, and prefer to discuss auction results via email as they've always done. So, we've now crossed off the two big reasons why the company was worth buying at all (neither of which explained the price tag, either). What else is there?
This entry was brought to you by gada.be
Have you tried our new megasearch service yet? It's at gada.be - and that's where you gotta be if you wanna get in on a unique way to search the Web and subscribe to the results in RSS! gada.be is for anybody with access to the Web and in need of immediate, impartial results. The most interesting part about our tool? You can enter your search query as the subdomain of gada.be. It will automatically redirect to the proper page in your Web browser, fully accessible from your desktop or mobile device. http://christmas.gada.be/ is a live search of our general category - whereas http://christmas.gada.be/p searches inside our photos category specifically. You can use gada.be for tagging your blog posts, too. Give it a shot yourself!Thursday, December 01, 2005
Skype Video Launches
As predicted, Skype v2.0 with video functionality has launched before the holidays.
Skype Video is available only for Windows users currently (and the compression technology they are using is windows only, which could significantly delay an Mac version).
While video functionality is great, I’d actually much prefer the ability to share applications (browser, powerpoint, excel, etc.) through Skype, making it significantly more useful for business calls. In other grumblings, Om Malik ponders whether independent developers will continue to build for Skype, since they tend to subsume the better ideas (Festoon, Skylook, etc).
Gift Ideas for the Gamer Who Has It All
Sure, you, your friends and your family got the Xbox 360 the week it came out (no mere mortals are Kotaku readers). But now comes the hard part: figuring out what games, gadgets and accessories to buy to pimp out your next-gen console.
Fear not! We present the 2005 Kotaku Gift Guide, filled with gamer shopping goodness. Between now and Christmas we'll update the guide at least three or four times a day with items we think you might want to consider. We'll tell you what's good and what's crap. And we'll tell you what we're buying ourselves.
To make the guide easier to navigate, we set up categories for Nintendo, PlayStation and Xbox. In addition to the home consoles we have categories about portable platforms like the PSP. And we have enough game-genre categories to make Melvil Dewey dizzy.
And don't forget to check out Gizmodo's Gift Guide too.
Gawker Media Gift Guides [Launch page]
Nintendo Gift Guide [Kotaku]
PlayStation Gift Guide [Kotaku]
Xbox Gift Guide [Kotaku]
Gadget Gift Guide [Gizmodo]
Tab thumbnail extensions for Firefox 1.5 - Today's Browser Tip
More than one reader has tipped us off on foXpose, an extension for Firefox that binds a keyboard shortcut to an Exposé-like thumbnail display of all of the currenly-open tabs. It's a cool extension, for sure, but in my experience has been a little bit buggy. Often when I click on one of the thumbnails, nothing will happen. Viamatic, the makers of foXpose, also make Tabnail, an extension that adds thumbnails to the standard tab bar, which makes it a little chunky, but may be handy for certain users.
While we're talking about thumbnails, I though I'd remind you of a couple other extensions for Firefox 1.5: Tab Preview and Tab Sidebar. The former displays a thumbnail when you hover the cursor over a tab, and the latter is a sidebar that replaces your tab bar with thumbnail views of each tab.
LookLater private online bookmarks
LookLater is a free and private bookmarking tool. It's similar to del.icio.us (and it will integrate with it) but totally private.
If you're looking for an anti-social bookmarking service, this might be just the thing.
Five Ways to Get on the del.icio.us Home Page
Merlin has outlined a how-to that will surely get him on the del.icio.us home page. It covers five ways to get on the del.icio.us home page! I can tell you from experience his ideas do work.
Microsoft Launches Anti-Virus Public Beta
Chris Gondek writes "The Register has a story reporting that Microsoft has released a free beta of its upcoming anti-virus application. According to Microsoft, the new anti-virus application known as Windows OneCare Live is 'like taking your PC in for a tune up at the service station'. Microsoft announced in May that it would be releasing an anti-virus application based on software developed by GeCad, a Romanian anti-virus company that Microsoft purchased several years ago." More details from InformationWeek.
GMail Adds Virus Protection
AxsDeny writes "Google has rolled out virus protection for it's web based email service. Apparently they are scanning incoming and outgoing messages for infected messages. Read more on their "what's new" page."
BellSouth, AT&T Cut From The Same Cloth
Even if the merger rumors between SBC -- er, AT&T -- and BellSouth continue to go unfulfilled, the two companies' ideologies already sound joined. Following the head of AT&T's earlier assertion that Internet sites and services should pay to access "his pipes", BellSouth's CTO says that ISPs shouldn't be allowed to block content from reaching their customers, but rather should be allowed to let companies pay to have data prioritized -- and sent at higher speeds -- to their customers. The exec was quick to add that ISPs shouldn't be allowed to degrade the performance of those that don't pay, but rather establish a baseline service and then sell the premium speeds on top of it. You don't have to be a cynic to imagine they'd just set the baseline at a low level, probably too low for third-party VoIP services and other competitive applications they've talked about blocking before, basically requiring anybody that wanted their data to reach customers at a reasonable speed to pay. Every time a carrier makes an absurd statement like this, it merely highlights the need for network neutrality rules given the lack of real competition in the broadband access market. Blocking content or hobbling services would break the Internet. Part of its beauty is the relative ease with which a new site or service can reach a large audience. Legalizing these sort of virtual protection rackets would throw up a ridiculous barrier, merely to protect carriers' interests because they can't be bothered to, or simply can't, compete.
[via Techdirt]
It seems like I've installed a dozen extensions for Firefox that integrate it with del.icio.us in some way, and in the end I found none of them to be as useful as the stock del.icio.us bookmarklets. The del.icio.us crew have released an official del.icio.us extension for Firefox that's perfect for those of us who are wholly dependent on del.icio.us to keep our online lives organized. The extension adds two buttons to Firefox's toolbar, one that's a shortcut to your del.icio.us page, another that popus up the post-a-new-bookmark form. It also adds a new del.icio.us menu to the menubar with a bunch of handy options, and adds "Tag This Page" and "Tag This Link" items to the context menu. It's simple and works great and takes one more item off my too-cluttered links toolbar.
TechWeb - Microsoft Corp. is testing internally an online classifieds service that would enable people to sell personal items over the company's instant messaging, social networking or local search services.
AP - Skype is upgrading its popular Internet telephone service to add video calling and a toolbar for Microsoft Outlook to find and dial contacts with a click.
Dotnaught writes "Glide Effortless has gone live. New York Times columnist David Pogue describes it as "full-blown online operating system" that's a mix of genius and interface awkwardness. (Glide has been covered previously on Slashdot.) Pogue concludes "Glide's core idea is unassailably fresh and useful. If TransMedia's plans for world domination fall into place, maybe it won't need an elevator pitch. Maybe 'You gotta try this' will be the only pitch it needs.""
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
Buying Blogging.com: The domain blogging.com is on the market with a $2-million asking price. That may be more than the cumulative revenues of all blogging tools companies.
You’ll have to forgive us for missing the feature-packed ilo XM-ready MP3-CD car stereo, but rarely do our electonics shopping excursions include Wal-Mart as a featured destination. The ilo delivers a lot of bang for the $175 pricetag: XM-ready tuner (for displaying programming info), MP3-CD player, 2-inch color TFT-LCD, and perhaps sweetest of all, an SD slot that reads MP3s, JPEGs, and AVIs. Seems that next time we’re picketing Wal-Mart for their sexist glass ceiling and questionable labor practices, we may actually pop in and see what other goodies we’re missing out on.
[Thanks, Car Guy]
It appears that the Creative Zen Personal Media Center wasn’t really flying off the shelves with its hefty $500 price tag, so Creative is hoping to give it a little nudge by offering an enormous $200 rebate on it. This device was never really that bad, it has somewhat of a big design, but that accompanies the high-end specs that this PMP features. $300 for a device of this caliber isn’t too bad, and a hell of a lot more effective at video watching than the, ahem, iPod Video. Yeah, we talk down on iPod from time to time. Better bookmark this, it won't happen again for a while.
Zen PMC now $200 after Rebate [Digital Media Thoughts]
Product page with rebate form [Creative.com]
Fear. You can just feel it in the air, can't you? There is fear everywhere that Google has become too powerful. As John Battelle notes, the tide of public opinion is starting to turn from loving Google to fearing them. Perhaps. But I have news for you. Google's not the only monarch to watch - or fear - anymore. Despite the media's fascination with all things search, Wikipedia is waiting in the wings as the next Google. They (or maybe that's “we”) are the emerging king disruptor; the one entity that we will soon fear most, if not already.
Let's take a walk through history. King Disruptor I was Microsoft. For years this king attracted legions of fans for providing access to information; for making getting on the Internet easy. However, soon the once-loved king saw its popularity erode once Microsoft invaded one too many industries.
At its peak, Microsoft ruled the technology kingdom like a tyrant, leaving fear everywhere in its wake. This reached a climax when it slayed the emerging prince with so much promise, Netscape. Later, as Microsoft invaded the nations of telecommunications, cable, gaming and media, it began to attract more ire. Eventually, the fear rose to a fever pitch and it was determined that Microsoft crossed the line. It went too far.The people - the people's government that is - rose up to dethrone the king, or at least slow it.
In Microsoft's wake a new ruler emerged - King Disruptor II, commonly known as Google. With its lightning quick search technology, friendly face and “do no evil” motto, Google won fans around the world. But eventually they too, like Microsoft, began to face enemies when they went too far. Now, for all of Google's contributions to society, King Disruptor II is viewed as a scary king. This will surely continue as Google grows, moving its tentacles in to areas like books, classifieds, email, news, shopping, advertising, entertainment and more. It will only become a bigger target.
History is about to repeat itself. A successor to Google's throne is waiting in the wings - it's Wikipedia, King Disruptor III. Like its predecessors, Wikipedia is powerful because it provides access to largely accurate information that can be hard to find. This king, however, is unlike any other because it operates in a completely democratic way. It's run by the people, without any grand financial ambitions. This doesn't mean its rule will be perceived solely as a benevolent one, however.
Already, Wikipedia instills a deeper fear than either Google or Microsoft did when they were at such a young age. It's the emerging king. Will it face the same scrutiny and fate as its predecessors as it expands? Certainly. But this time it will be far more difficult to slow. Yes, King Disruptor III - Wikipedia - might rule for years. And perhaps this may just be the way it was meant to be.
Gtalkr, a flash-based website to access Google’s Gtalk, launched yesterday. It allows you to access your Gtalk instant messaging account without a client, from any computer.
Comparisons will inevitably be drawn to Meebo, a similar service, although built on Ajax, that allows users to access a variety of instant messaging services (including gtalk). I wrote about Meebo back in September, and the passionate user comments to that post illustrate the popularity of these services.
Gtalkr is taking a different approach by focusing just on Gtalk, and adding in additional features to, I assume, get users to use it more as a home page or dashboard. Gmail emails are pulled in as well as Yahoo maps (Google maps doesn’t have a flash API, Yahoo does). Gtalkr also plans on pulling in addtiional services, such as del.icio.us and flickr. Independent Flash developers can create these extensions as well.
It’s a useful tool, and like most flash applications I see, very well designed. It does not support gtalk voice (just text IM), and a few bugs are being worked out. See Brian Benzinger and Om Malik for more.
- Cheap’o Creative Zen’o PMC
- Loc8tor Finds Stuff
- Real Life Pacman (Kind of)
- Hype Street: The Moto PEBL
- Contemporary Bathroom Faucets
- eNook to the Rescue
- WiFi Ambulance Just Ta’ Connect Ya’
- Epson Shows Off Large Projection TVs
Is IBM according to an observant article at The Street. The reason? All three console companies had IBM work on the gaming chips that will power the next generation of hardware. Regardless of who wins the console war, IBM ends up the biggest winner of them all.
Gaming's Surprise Winner: IBM [The Street]
Yesterday we mentioned CryptoExpert 2006 Lite, but reader Demetri pointed out a totally free, open-source, cross-platform (Windows and Linux, as the Mac has FileVault built in) disk encryption app called TrueCrypt. Aside from being totally free, TrueCrypt can encrypt entire disks (including floppies and USB drives), partitions, and create virtual, mountable encrypted disks. As an added bonus, there's a hidden volume feature and a masking feature for encrypted volumes. Of course, all the usual encryption algorithms are included, as is LRW mode for better security.
AP - A federal judge moved a step closer Wednesday to reissuing an injunction that threatens BlackBerry e-mail service in this country, placing more pressure on the wireless device's maker, Research In Motion Ltd., to settle the patent case.
With most operating system upgrades, there are very few features you leave behind that you’d want. Most actually seem to be as much about security as features, but if you’re a fan of the Sony Playstation Portable (PSP) then you might have realized that any upgrade to your firmware past 1.50 means that you can’t play homebrew games, download custom software or software ports onto the PSP, and more. So, should you upgrade, or not?…
Direct and Related Links for 'The Sony PSP Question: Upgrade, or Not?'
In its latest port to, um, RC, real PacMan does lack a certain immediacy of its console predecessors. But damned if the Man doesn’t actually eat those power pellets, and damned if our wish list this year doesn’t just keep getting longer and longer.
[Thanks, Mr. BENDER]
Yahoo gathered a small group of bloggers, press and others at Sauce in San Francisco tonight to announce the launch of two new RSS products. They have integrated an RSS reader directly into Yahoo Mail Beta, and are expanding Alerts to include RSS feeds.
These are significant new products, aimed squarely at new and mainstream RSS users. The service is not live as of the time I am posting this. I’ve added a screen shot picture from the live demo.
Yahoo has deeply integrated RSS into the Yahoo Mail beta experience. Directly below the email folders are “RSS folders”. Clicking on the top folder show all posts in a “river of news” format, meaning all posts for all subscribed feeds are listed in the order they have appeared in feeds.
Each feed also has its own folder, allowing the user to read feeds individually (more like bloglines).
A post from any feed is treated exactly like an email - any post can be forwarded as an email or dragged into a folder and saved. All of the great AJAX functionality already working in Yahoo’s Mail beta works with the new RSS functionality as well.
Adding feeds is straightforward - include the feed URL or choose from a number of popular feeds.
Alerts
Yahoo users can now use Yahoo Alerts to be notified whenever RSS feeds update. Alerts, which include a summary of the updated content, can be configured to be sent via sms, email and/or messenger. This is a great way to monitor small groups of important feeds.
Yahoo clearly took the lead for best email application this evening. The ability to “pop in” other email accounts, the ajax functionality and, now, the integrated RSS reader are absolutely stunning features.
John Furrier was at the event tonight as well, and as usual has an exclusive podcast.
UPDATE: RSS in Yahoo Mail is now fully live. As Jeff Clavier says, My Yahoo and Yahoo Mail syncronize feeds - a long list in email doesn’t work so well in My Yahoo. I spoke to Scott Gatz at Yahoo about this earlier this evening and he says they’ll find a fix for it. There are a few other features which still need to be added, but Yahoo Mail is just an incredibly awesome product.
A few weeks back I introduced you folks to Meebo, a browser-based IM aggregation client that leveraged technologies collectively known as AJAX. Now meet Gtalkr, a Flash-based implementation of Google Talk. I have been playing around with it for a few days, and as a Mac user, I can finally enjoy the GTalk IM Service. It is fairly simple product to use. Go to this website, use your Gmail ID and log in. Nothing to download, nothing to install. But ease of use is not the only thing. In many ways it is like GTalk plus. (I wish it looked prettier, but it works nicely
It can index conversations, and allows you as a user to search the conversations. (I am worried about my chats being stored on someone else’s server, but then I imagine rest of the IM services also do that on their servers.) You can also read short previews of your Gmail messages as well. You can invite your Gmail contacts by clicking on the “Add or invite a friend to Gtalkr” link. You can drag and drop the names from your contact list. (This is the list of people who have emailed your Gmail account.) For windows users, they also have a Gtalkr notifier. Mac version is in the works. Other nagging aspect of the service - no support for smiley faces, or you cannot import your photo/icon. (The icon image import is working now, even on Safari.) But then they are in beta!
Given Gtalkr leverages Flash 8, independent developers can simply write apps that work with this client and leverage the GTalk network. Actually, Macromedia is working closely with Jabber folks. I asked CEO Dudley Carr about the potential apps that can be built to ride this browser based client, and he emailed me this reply:
We’re planning on adding extensions that will have integration with del.icio.us, flickr, and other web-based services. The current set of default extensions in Gtalkr are Yahoo! maps which is Flash-based thanks to Yahoo!, a To do list implementation, and a Buddy Pounce implementation which is the example implementation that we’ll share with other developers. With some modifications, the news reader could be brought back as an extension to Gtalkr.
I wonder what Google thinks of the name, Gtalkr? Not to mention that they have built an extension for Yahoo Maps. Here is a link to their API information and how you can build your own extensions to it.
Update: While iChat is a good client for Mac users who want to connect to GTalk, it does act up behind corporate firewalls for some odd reason. I think this is a clear option, where you can do chats using a browser. Secondly, since app is called Gtalkr, it works only with the Gtalk network and not other Jabber networks. (Thanks Boris, good to have you back!)
Pain in the Tech has written up a how-to on keeping your bookmarks in synch over multiple computers.
Keeping your bookmarks synchronized between different computers is difficult since operating systems represent data differently. While social bookmarking sites like digg and del.icio.us, or RSS readers like Google’s Personalized Home and Bloglines let account holders store links and feeds to their favorite sites, I’ve found that I still want to use traditional bookmarks, but am frustrated when I move between my different computers and they are not there. With the Bookmarks Synchronizer Firefox extension and an FTP account, this problem goes away.
I keep expecting Sony to make some major announcement about the Playstation Portable's LocationFree TV support, but it keeps not coming.
Back at firmware 2.5, Sony released an update that allowed you to watch cable TV, DVDs and DVR from your home entertainment center anywhere you can access a broadband connection. The one (major) downside is that you have to fork out about $350 to buy the LocationFree TV base station.
Despite adding this cool, albeit pricy, option to the PSP, Sony never really said anything about it. Yesterday I started nosing around on the LocationFree TV site, which also supports special portable TVs and other devices, and found that Sony had added PDFs that walk you through the process of using your PSP with LocationFree TV. It looks like they are preparing for some sort of announcement. I just hope to god it include a major price drop.
I've read through all of the documents and summarized how to set-up LocationFree TV and what features it includes on the jump.
Set-up looks fairly easy:
Upgrade PSP
You can do this via USB connection to your net enabled computer or WiFi.
Connect your base station
The base station has one cable in and two other audio/video ins for use with a DVD player, DVR or VCR. There is also an IR blaster so you can change channels or control the various devices connected.
Finally, you have to connect the base station to the internet. It looks like the preferred method is a LAN cable, though you can also use (thank God) your home WiFi network.
Configure the TV channels and on-screen remote control
It looks like TV channel set-up is well put together, supporting both the base stations internal tuner and the tuner of whatever device (cable box, VCR) you happen to plug it into.
Once you decide what tuner you use, you just need to choose what channels you want usable.
Watching TV on Your PSP
To watch TV on the go you just need to make sure you left your base station on and that you can find a hotspot that you can access.
Once you hook-up to your base station via the network there are a variety of things you can do. The PSP's TV watching options let you adjust the video rate, get channel information, remotely switch input from TV to one of the other A/V inputs you set up, switch audio for bilingual broadcasts and, most importantly, bring up the on-screen remote.
On Screen Remote
There are two types of remotes for the PSP, the standard TV remote and the connected device remote.
The standard TV remote lets you change channels and control the volume settings. The connected device remote lets you do a variety of things depending on the device connected. If the connected device is made by Sony you can bring up a remote similar to the one you would use at home, otherwise you may not get full use out of the remote. In general though, it can let you do things like start watching a DVD, access the menu, pause, fast forward, rewind.
Overall this sounds like a great device and something that really adds and cool set of features to your PSP. The only drawbacks I see our the price and the need to have an accessible hotspot for TV viewing outside the home. Of course, this second issue can't be helped, but it does make me wonder if I'd buy this device.
The problem is that anywhere I'd want to be able to watch TV on the go probably doesn't have a hot spot I can access or I have to pay extra to use it.
Despite the drawbacks, I'm still falling on the side of hella sweet. Now Sony just has to figure out a way to deliver cheap, fast episodic TV to memory cards and the PSP will be rocking.
LocationFree TV [Official Site]
Filed under: Browsers, Fun, Mozilla
To those who came for a serious browser tip: Sorry. Maybe check out Firefox 1.5. This browser tip is about Firefcat. Which, so far as I can tell is just a replacement icon for Firefox. In the shape of a fuzzy orange cat. Cute, huh? Download it now.
Reuters - The market for television and other media on mobile phones is poised for an explosion and could be a hot area for investment, advertising and media executives at the Reuters Advertising and Media Summit said on Wednesday.
yapplejax writes "In the new war of the Internet based applications, Yahoo is testing creating an email folder as the hub for RSS instead of using a web page for the feeds. " I've long thought this was the best way to do it- I've used web and application RSS readers for years, and email clients are simply a better interface.
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
New Orleans has the right idea. To help get everyone communicating again, the ravaged city is starting up the country's first municipally-owned wireless Internet system that will, thankfully, be free for everyone. Obviously a great perk for those living and trying to come back to their homes in the city, the hope is that this system will make business more attractive and, of course, help city government officials. Most of the equipment being used was donated, but New Orleans will own and operate it all themselves. Wireless devices will be mounted on streetlights and should be operational in the central business district today.
New Orleans' new connection [msnbc]
The iPod shuffle has been overshadowed by the nano in recent months, but that doesn’t mean developers have stopped trying to graft accessories onto the minimalist player. Evergreen Japan’s GH-SP-125W speaker, which follows in the footsteps of the PodGear Pocket Party and Griffin TuneBox by adding a wimpy 2.5-watt speaker to the shuffle making it an instant micro-ghettoblaster. The $25, 2.5 ounce speaker can be strapped onto your shuffle and worn with it around your neck, though we can’t quite figure out why you’d want to do that over slapping it on your shoulder— or bulking up the shuffle with a speaker system of any kind in the first place.
Blu-ray and HD DVD may become non-existent with the new HVD coming into play. HVD is the holographic versatile disc which has been in the making for nearly 20 years and it is finally going to happen, maybe. The two players in this battle are American InPhase and the Japanese company, Optware, which we have reported on in the past. Optware is already claiming that they will have a 200GB HVD drive out by the end of 2006. HVD is where it is at, better speed, size, and would possibly serve as a better new media format.
Blu-Ray/HD DVD Could Become Irrelevant as HVD Nears [Game Daily]
Download free audio and video lectures from LearnOutLoud.com
Most of us have at least a couple of hours each day where we could be learning a foreign language, deepening our spiritual or philosophical interests or learning about any of hundreds of different subjects. We want to help you find material that is both entertaining and educational.
With over 9,000 titles, LearnOutLoud is a great resource for commuters and audiobook lovers alike.
If you've got a new Mac and are looking for ways to get the most from it, Paul Stamatiou has a great post for you.
I’ve compiled a list of 10 things every first time Mac owner, particularly Mac Mini owner, should know about their new computer and operating system. This article should answer some burning questions, enlighten you about some features you did not know about OS X and just all around be helpful.
There are also some good tips in the comments.
The red phone in the Kotaku office just lit up and EA let us know that their insanely popular Sims 2 was shipping a week ahead of schedule for Sony's handheld. Now instead of Dec. 13, the realish-life simulator ships Dec. 7 (omg next week!). It is a little disheartening that one of the biggest PSP titles of the holiday season is one of the biggest PC games - from last year.
This week we're going to be taking a cue from a couple of our sister sites and starting a new regular feature called "What Would You Change." Here's the idea: Even the best apps and web services aren't perfect for everybody. Maybe the buttons are in the wrong order, maybe it takes too many clicks to change some setting, or maybe the icon is just the wrong shade of blue. "What Would You Change" is your chance to throw in your two cents.
And what better place to start than one of our favorite web services, Digg? Digg's popularity has been surging essentially since its birth, and the Digg crew have made some updates including a killer redesign a few months back, but no site is perfect. What's the worst thing about Digg? What would you eliminate, what would you revamp, and what would you tweak? Chime in below, and then check back later this week when we'll count up all those two cents and see what it adds up to.
AP - To help boost its stalled economy, hurricane-ravaged New Orleans is offering the nation's first free wireless Internet network owned and run by a major city.
