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Google loses European GMail trademark battle — Google has failed to win the right to register the term "Gmail" as a wide-ranging European trademark. — The Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (OHIM), the body which is responsible for European community trademarks …
Source: The Register
Author: Jan Libbenga
Link: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/01/31…
Windows only: Free, open source app Pandora Downloader lets you save MP3s from the popular internet radio site, Pandora.
Pandora Downloader is similar to Pandora's Jar with a few important differences. It's not nearly as tightly integrated with Pandora, but it's much easier to set up and get started with. The best part of Pandora Downloader is that it keeps a running tally of all of the tracks you've played (it even shows three songs in advance), so you can download any of the songs you've heard in your session by selecting as many as you want and clicking Download.
Pandora Downloader saves all of your downloads to C:\pandora. If you want to automatically add those songs to iTunes, I'd recommend setting up iTunes Library Updater to scan C:\pandora daily for new songs to add to your library.
The interface of Pandora Downloader could use some improvement - the window won't minimize or resize - but it's dead simple to understand and use. You have to stream Pandora through Internet Explorer for it to work, but Firefox users can just use IETab if they don't want to open another window. Pandora Downloader is free (as in speech), Windows only, requires .NET 2.0.
Almost lost in the Vista-launch shuffle was the announcement that Microsoft and T-Mobile have teamed up to offer 90 days of free Wi-Fi at various T-Mobile hotspot locations (Starbucks, Fedex Kinko's, etc.).
Considering that T-Mobile normally charges $39.99 per month for unlimited access, that's a pretty decent deal. (Actually, it just about pays for an upgrade copy of Vista.) The catch, of course, is that your notebook needs to have Vista installed. There's a rumor floating around that you can bypass this requirement, but anecdotal evidence suggests the hack doesn't work. If you've tried the free wi-fi, with or without Vista, let us know how it went in the comments!
The Sound Money Tips weblog has put together a guide for successfully snagging a bank loan.
The basic thesis is that you need to be prepared, which is obvious enough. What won't be obvious to the first-time borrower is how to best prepare, but the post goes into excellent detail on what kind of research you should have done before you go in to meet with your bank. If you're looking for a bit of cash (mortgage, small business loans, etc.), these tips should give you a really good starting point. If you've successfully secured a loan in the past, share your experience and tips in the comments.
Windows only: Shareware app Enso is an application launcher and extensible command interface designed to help you perform more actions quickly and easily from the comfort of your keyboard.
To begin with, let's make the obvious comparison. Enso is intended to be a Quicksilver-like application for Windows. For starters, it's an app launcher. We've seen plenty of those for Windows, though, most notably Launchy. It's the functionality beyond app launching that should make Enso stand out over its Windows competitors. So how does it stack up?
Enso can perform calculations, manipulate text and windows, and spellcheck in any app. After reading all kinds of Enso press, and after watching the demo video on their homepage, I was eager to try it out (after all, I'm a rabid Quicksilver lover). Unfortunately I wasn't thrilled with the results.
For anyone who's actually delved into Quicksilver, Enso, quite frankly, sucks. Here's why:
Problem 1: The Caps Lock hotkey Invoking launchers with a hotkey is great. Enso takes over your Caps Lock key, meaning that not only does Caps Lock no longer work (which isn't terrible), but you actually have to hold down Caps Lock while you type commands. Suddenly you're a nine-fingered typist (apparently a, z, and q aren't that important?). Since Enso has absolutely no settings configurations, you can't do anything about it.
Problem 2: It's expensive The Enso Launcher and Enso Spellcheck and Dictionary apps are two different programs, requiring two different licenses. Launcher costs $25, Words costs $40. While they don't do everything that the Enso prodcuts do, Launchy, Colibri, or SlickRun are all great launchers with a bit of added functionality - and they're all freeware. There's less in the freeware realm for universal spellchecking, but there are available options.
Problem 3: Enso is somewhat one-dimensional While this is certainly up for debate, I found the Enso interface to be limiting. It's attractive enough, to be sure, but it doesn't provide you with an overarching framework for understanding how to operate with the tool. Enso operates exclusively with commands, meaning that there's no subject-action-object type interface provided by a truly powerful tool like Quicksilver. Additionally, Enso doesn't let you navigate your filesystem from its command line, meaning that if you are manipulating or performing actions with a file, you have to go through all the regular navigation work to do it (as opposed to Quicksilver).
The only thing I really liked about Enso was the "go" command, which indexes every window and tab (even Firefox tabs) and lets you go directly to it. So you'd press and hold Caps Lock, type go lifehacker, then release Caps Lock, and - if Lifehacker is open somewhere on your computer - you should be taken to that window/tab.
The upshot is, I'm not impressed. If there's something I'm missing, let me know, but this is one app that's not worth anyone's money yet.
Finance (and, apparently, horticulture) blog Get Rich Slowly explains that February is the right time to start planning your vegetable garden and offers tips for beginner growers. For example, test your soil:
Many states offer free soil testing, which will tell you how to amend the soil if nutrients or organic matter are lacking, or if the pH of the soil needs to be adjusted. Your county's Master Gardener program may also offer this service.
Lots of good advice here, especially the stuff on annuals versus perennials. Mostly it just whets your appetite for winter to get the hell over with already. Come on, spring!
If you use Vista Media Center to record TV shows, you can use Vista Movie Maker to edit them.
That's because Movie Maker now supports the proprietary DVR-MS format Windows uses for TV recordings. To edit a show, press Ctrl-I to import media, navigate to your Recorded TV folder and choose the one you want. Then drag the show down to the timeline and have at it. When you're done editing, use the Publish Movie option to save it in the desired format. This is great way to cut out commercials before archiving shows to DVD or copying them to, say, an iPod or Zune.
Yahoo! Food posts the top 10 foods that facilitate a good night's sleep.
The list has a few of the obvious contenders, like Chamomile tea, warm milk, and turkey, but you're sure to find a new sleep-inducer on this list. The remaining 7 healthy foods are bananas, honey, potatoes, oatmeal, almonds, flaxseeds, and whole-wheat bread. As an added bonus for insomniacs, Yahoo! includes a recipe for muffins that contain several of the sleepy ingredients. Let us know what foods put you out in the comments.
Reader Charles was looking for a way to stream his music library via Netvibes, his preferred RSS reader. When he couldn't find one, he mashed up a solution using SlimServer. Now he can stream his MP3s from any web-connected PC!
To do likewise, you'll need a free Netvibes account, the free SlimServer software and about 15 minutes to follow Charles' configuration instructions. They're very clear, though I had trouble getting SlimServer to work properly on my machine (probably owing to a router problem). If you have better luck, tell us about it in the comments. This looks like a very cool method for accessing your music library from any remote computer. Of course, you could always try Avvenu.
Google tips site Google Tutor shows Mac users how to sync iCal with Google Calendar. Or, more accurately, how to subscribe to Google Calendar from within iCal.
The process looks quite simple: Just copy the iCal URL from Google Calendar's management screen into iCal's "subscribe to" window. iCal creates a new calendar which can be automatically or manually updated, depending on your preference. Admittedly, it's a one-way synchronization, but it still seems like a fine method for pulling your Google Calendar appointments into iCal.
All platforms: Run the FreeBSD Linux Unix distro from a CD with FreeSBIE, the latest in a growing line of live CDs.
Built around FreeBSD 6.2, FreeSBIE comes with your choice of interfaces--FluxBox or Xfce--and a whopping 450 pieces of software, including AbiWord, Audacity, GIMP and the rest of the usual suspects. As with other Live CDs, this offers users a chance to try Linux Unix without setting up partitions, installing the OS or making any changes to their systems. Just boot the CD and you've got a full-blown Linux Unix environment in which to play--or even work.
The initial 2.0 release of FreeSBIE contained a bug that caused problems with USB mice. The developers have since released an update, but that version is available only via Bittorrent (for now). See the FreeSBIE blog for details if you want that version. In the meantime, let us know (in the comments, of course) what you think of FreeBSD compared with the countless other Linux distros.
The free FreeSBIE live CD is distributed as an ISO file; you'll need a program like Nero or ISO Recorder to burn it to a blank CD. It works on all platforms.
Update: Several commenters correctly pointed out that FreeBSD is not technically Linux, but rather an OS derived from Unix. My bad.
Open your Zoho Writer documents from within Word. Save Excel spreadsheets directly to Zoho Sheet. Do that and more with the Zoho Plug-In for Microsoft Office.
The plug-in not only allows you to save documents from Word and Excel to their Zoho counterparts, but also to open Zoho-hosted documents from within Word and Excel. In other words, it bridges the gap between online and offline document management. And it works like a charm. Suddenly Zoho Writer and Zoho Sheet are looking a lot more attractive than Google Docs, which currently lacks any kind of Office synchronicity. The plug-in is free and, of course, requires Word and/or Excel.
by Gina Trapani
After using Windows Vista for awhile, even the most begrudging upgrader will find that it's got a lot more features and options for the power user compared to Windows XP. After weeks of test-driving Windows Vista full-time, there are several tips and tweaks I'd wish I'd known before I started.
In the spirit of saving you the time when it's your turn, today I've got a selection of useful Vista pointers for power upgraders.
Dual-boot Vista: It's still early in Vista's life, and you should probably wait to pull the trigger for a seamless Vista transition. But, for those of you throwing caution to the wind: if you're concerned about incompatibilities - or you just want to dip your toes in Vista without fully committing - consider dual booting your current PC with Vista. Here's a rundown of how to dual boot Windows XP and Vista.
Currently you'll need the full installation (not the upgrade disks) to do this the way Microsoft intended, but big brother site Gizmodo just posted a tip on how to install a Vista upgrade on a blank hard drive..
Once you've go t dual-booting set up, you can set your primary boot partition (the default OS at startup) right inside Vista.
Hardware drivers: Before you start your Vista installation, do try to have all your current drivers downloaded or on disk and easily accessible. Vista's pretty good at detecting devices and installing the drivers itself, but just in case you get stuck with an unrecognized device, here's a good place to find missing drivers for Vista.
Grade your PC's Vista capabilities: Once Vista's installed you want to see how your hardware stacks up against the new OS, and maybe identify where a little upgrad e here or there could improve your PC's performance. Here's how to get your PC's "Windows Experience Index." (We don't like the name either.)
Get a system health report: Admins who want more details on their PC's health and status from head to toe should run a System Diagnostics report. There might be more information here than you ever wanted to know, but this thing comes in handy when there's something awry.
Speed it up with a flash drive: Perhaps one of my favorite performance-improving strategies, using Windows Vista's new ReadyBoost technology, you can speed up your PC on the fly by simply plugging in a USB drive with some spare megabytage. Nifty.
Disable UAC: Roast me over the hot, user-specific coals if you want for this one, but Vista's annoying "Windows needs your permission to continue" dialogs are nothing short of a total nuisance during your PC's initial setup, especially since they appear every time you try to install software. Here's how to disable User Account Control to install your favorite proggies in peace. Should you turn it back on when you're don e? Well sure. It is a big part of Vista's new security strategy. But you know what you're doing, so I trust you'll make the right decision either way.
Repartition your hard drive in Vista: Once Vista's installed, and you decide you want to store all your data or music on a separate partition, you can create that partition on the fly right inside Vista. Here's a step-by-step on expanding, shrinking and creating disk partitions with Vista.
Trick out the Windows Task Manager: Finally! As compared to XP, the Windows Task manager in Vista can actually give you useful information about running processes. Windows guy Chris Pirillo explains:
The Windows Task Manager gives you a lot more troubleshooting information in Vista. Flip to the Processes tab, and in the View menu, click "Select Columns" and add Description, Command Line, and Image Path Name. Moreover, when you right-click a process, you can select either "Go to Service(s)" or "Open File Location." These are all long overdue options.
Indeed.
Run DOS games: If Vista's inability to run your classic DOS game in fullscreen mode on Vista takes the air out of your tires, check out Hackszine's workaround using the free, open source DOSBox.
Disable the Sidebar: I'm not saying you shouldn't try out the Sidebar, explore different gadgets, and see if it all works for you. I'm just saying if it doesn't? Here's how to disable it.
Set up Favorite folders: Stop unnecessarily exploring the file tree! Easy access to folders you use often is essential for quick Open and Save As dialog action and Windows Explorer usage. Here's how to set up your favorite locations in Vista.
Quick Launch bar keyboard shortcuts: The Quick Launch bar in Vista is the same thing as in XP - except it's got built-in keyboard shortcuts! Here's how to open your favorite apps and documents from the Quick Launch bar with a key combination.
Saved searches: Finally, the most powerful and interesting thing Windows Vista can do is save folders based on search criteria, ala iTune's Smart Playlists and Mac's Spotlight. This one will get more ink once we figure out how to use all of Vista's file metadata well, but in the meantime, here's how to save your searches in virtual folders on Vista.
What have been your favorite power user discoveries in Vista? Let us know in the comments.
Gina Trapani, the editor of Lifehacker, enjoys a good operating system upgrade. Her semi-weekly feature, Geek to Live, appears every W ednesday and Friday on Lifehacker. Subscribe to the Geek to Live feed to get new installments in your newsreader.
Exactly two years ago today we popped the proverbial cork and let Lifehacker out of the bottle. Time sure flies when you're having fun, and we had no idea what a hyperlinkin' blast Lifehacker would turn out to be. In celebration of our birthday today, we've got a few gifts to give you as a way to say thanks for a great couple of years.
First things first: All Lifehacker tee-shirts are on sale today only, for $15.99 each (that's 20% off!). The blue Geek to Live shirt is no longer in print, so snag one of the limited editions left in stock while you still can. Our red Productively Lazy robot is going strong, and there's a new Men's XXL size available. Only orders placed TODAY, Lifehacker's birthday, will get the discount.
Next! I've got a few lonely copies of Lifehacker the book just crying out to be in your hands. After the jump, win yourself an autographed copy in our First Annual Lifehacker Archives Scavenger Hunt.
I've got 4 books to give away, and thousands of you I'd like to give 'em to. So this is how this is gonna work. There are 4 sets of Lifehacker trivia questions listed below. All the answers, my friend, can be found in the Lifehacker archives.
Choose one hunt and get to scouring the site archives for answers. The first reader to post all three correct answers for a single hunt in the comments below will win an autographed copy of Lifehacker the book. I've got exactly 4 books to give away, so only one book will go to a reader who answers one set of questions correctly first. So don't go trying to answer all 12. In your comment, list the hunt number and your answers.
Got it? Good. Let's play!! (Cue Jeopardy music.)
Alrighty, get to posting your answers! Remember, the first three unique readers to leave the correct answers to each set of questions gets an autographed copy of Lifehacker the book. Get to hunting!
And thanks, from the bottom of our nerdy hearts, for a fabulous first 2 years.
Yahoo Planning to Add 100 Web Sites for Entertainment — Yahoo said Tuesday that it planned to build individual Web sites around 100 entertainment "brands" this year that would pull together content from Yahoo's sprawling array of online properties. — The effort, called Brand Universe …
Source: New York Times
Author: Miguel Helft
Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/31/technology/31yahoo…
Photoshop how-to site Photoshopsupport.com shows you how to make objects disappear from photos using Photoshop's Vanishing Point tool.
This is actually an excerpt from one of the site's video tutorials. The three-minute clip demonstrates the use of the Vanishing Point tool, which, when combined with the clone tool, enables you to quickly and easily scrub almost anything out of a photo. The results are quite impressive, especially the way the lines in the floorboards stay completely intact. Worthwhile viewing for anyone learning Photoshop (specifically, Photoshop CS2).
New Technorati "WTF" Feature Clones Digg — Technorati has launched a new feature called Technorati WTF. No, it doesn't stand for "what the..." It's short for "Where's the Fire?" — Basically, Where's the Fire appears to be a digg clone. It allows users to share what's hot.
Source: Micro Persuasion
Author: Steve Rubel
Link: http://www.micropersuasion.com/2007/01…
The Yahoo! Widgets blog provides a detailed comparison of the crowded desktop widget/gadget area, weighing the pros and cons of Google Gadgets, Vista Sidebar, Mac's Dashboard and Yahoo!'s Widget Engine (oh, let's just call it Konfabulator). One interesting point is about OS-specific widgets/gadgets (like Sidebar and Dashboard), which use browser-specific DHTML to run:
DHTML is great for those people who only care about one platform, or have a strong needs or desires to use DHTML. It's familiar and fairly simple. Plus, these systems are built-into the OS, so no extra software is required. But the resources required to drive such a Widget can be a bit excessive, and you're limited to the one platform.
The conclusion is very Konfabulator-positive (this is their blog) but overall makes a lot of informative comparison points for developers and users. What's your favorite gadget/widget engine right now, if any? Let us know in the comments.
PC World says farewell to floppy — The time has come to bid farewell to one of the PC's more stalwart friends - the floppy disk. — Computing superstore PC World said it will no longer sell the storage devices, affectionately known as floppies, once existing stock runs out.
Source: BBC
Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6314251.stm
The web site Innovations and Insights offers this clever way to remember which months have 31 days and which have 30:
Count the months on your knuckles and the grooves between your knuckles. Leave out your thumb knuckle. Every month that lands on a knuckle is 31 days, every month that lands on a groove between knuckles is 30 days (or 28 for February).
You know what? It's silly, but it works. Finally, a more peaceful use for knuckles.
Has Yahoo Picked Marketing as Its Game? — Yahoo is cooking up new media model — one that involves creating little-to-no content. The company is harnessing its ability to build online audiences around brands, something it trumpeted at a media lunch held Tuesday at its Sunnyvale headquarters.
Source: GigaOM
Author: Liz Gannes
Link: http://gigaom.com/2007/01/30/has-yahoo-picked…
Going Small - How the MumboJumbo Merger Will Affect Ritual — Last week, to the surprise of industry observers and gamers alike, MumboJumbo acquired Ritual Entertainment in order to reinforce its own army of developers and further strengthen its hold on the casual games market.
Source: Ritualistic
Link: http://www.ritualistic.com/content.php/interviews…
Alleged porn spammer settles with FTC — An alleged marketer of online porn has agreed to pay a $465,000 penalty to settle spam charges, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission said Tuesday. — Under a proposed settlement, TJ Web Productions has also agreed to adhere to federal spam laws, the FTC said in a statement.
Source: CNET News.com
Author: Joris Evers
Link: http://news.com.com/2100-7348_3-6154911.html
I've been an on again off again speed reader for some time. Every couple of years I find myself in the book store going through the discount bin and finding, buying, and reading yet another speed reading book. I'm addicted to the idea of speed reading, even if the art itself somewhat escapes me.
Spreeder and Zap Reader are two tools designed to help you improve your speed reading ability on the web. The basic idea behind each tool is that you copy content from the web (an article from the New York Times, for example) into the tool on the website. Then you click the play button and "read" the article one word at a time. Controls let you adjust the speed at which each word is shown to you so that you can read faster or slower.
Both of these tools work well for speed readers because they let you work through an article more quickly by resting your eyes at the same place on the screen as the application churns through the content for you. And, since speed reading is really the art of recognizing words and phrases instead of just letters, the focus on a single word acts as a kind of flash card system to help you memorize both small and large words quickly.
Continue reading Speed reading with Zap Reader and Spreeder
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Remember when we told you that Microsoft was giving away copies of Vista and Office 2007 as part of their "Power Together" campaign? They weren't blowing smoke. I received my copy of Office 2007 yesterday in the mail. It didn't come with an actual CD, only a license key and the URL to download it, but I did get it in the end. If you had been wondering if you would ever get yours, that is if you ever got the website to work at all, and completed the 3 webcasts you had to watch, you should get it soon (if you haven't already). I just thought you should know that Microsoft did live up to what they said, which makes this geek happy. I feel like I stuck it to the man, getting their softw are (which is usually expensive) for free, legally, and all shiny to boot.
Oh, did I mention that if you weren't able to get the site to work or couldn't complete the offer to get Vista, we are giving away a few copies of it. Sadly, we don't have copies of Office to give away.
The field of Content Management Systems (CMS) mirrors what my grandfather always said, "Cream rises to the top." Scores of open source products jockey for position among the field and only a very few rise to the occasion. Joomla (formerly Mambo), Typo, and Drupal stand out among the field and, of those, Drupal mostly wins the overwhelming support of the FOSS community. Drupal can be seen in action at sites like OurMedia, SaveThe76Ball, and Spread Firefox, all of which receive regular traffic poundings.
Michael Stutz of Linux.com has taken Drupal 5 for a thorough test drive and put together a medium-depth look at installation, changes to the new version, Drupal's new CSS caching engine and other wide ranging upgrades.
It's an impressive overhaul, over 500 developers submitted 1000 patches to the popular framework. The final verdict? Drupal is easier but, still not easy. Stutz writes, "Installing and running Drupal is fairly easy now, but configuration of a first-class site still takes work and ultimately a programmer's hand -- you have to know your PHP and CSS, and you have to spend time learning how it all interacts in Drupal." Fortunately for the brave souls tasked with developing first-class CMS backed websites and web applications, Drupal's community is strong, and very helpful.
[Thanks Dolores!]
Companies with Volume License Keys (VLKs) should watch out, according to recent statements from Microsoft's license police monitors. Spokespeople for Microsoft say they're on the lookout for situations which don't add up, such as companies with several server licenses and a few hundred employees but with only a small number of client access licenses.
According to PC Advisor magazine, a popular outlet in the UK, "Most companies comply, but up to 3 percent don't. Under the new programme, if Microsoft doesn't receive a response after 14 days, the company will send a succession of three "escalation" letters over three weeks. The last two letters warn the case could be turned over the BSA, which could pursue lega l action."
The BSA claims as much as 27 percent of software used by businesses is unlicensed and, when it finds violations, issues fines that are many times the cost of valid licenses. Audits are no fun, and given the complexities of software licensing for large numbers of employees, it's not unusual to find small discrepancies in any large audit.
Windows Vista Gaming Performance - NVIDIA and ATI Compared … Introduction — Introduction — Chances are you might have heard of some software package that was released today; a new version of Windows or something like that. It's only the biggest software release in the last five or so years …
Source: pcper.com
Author: Ryan Shrout
Link: http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=354&type=expert
Web giants ask for feds' help on censorship — WASHINGTON—Google, Yahoo and Microsoft representatives on Tuesday implored the U.S. government to help set ground rules for complying with demands by foreign law enforcement agencies for user records or censorship.
Source: CNET News.com
Author: Anne Broache
Link: http://news.com.com/2100-1028_3-6154930.html
Woops, seems like our friends at Apple had left a back door open for hackers to enter through QuickTime. It seems like no matter what companies do, hackers always find a way to penetrate and drop harmful code in. Don't worry, Apple has it fixed now with a patch, but the issue in question stemmed from a concern about a buffer overflow. When QuickTime processes a Real Time Streaming Protocol URL it directs the player to a streaming file, and allows the user to play a nd pause the file. During the buffer overflow, a hacker could have penetrated through a malicious RTSP URL embedded into a web page that would open a door to run code on the user's machine.
You can grab the patch now at Apple's download page, or through the Apple Software Update service.
There are few file formats ubiquitous as JPEG (ASCII text comes to mind). It's almost universally compatible, available in every image handling application you could possibly want to use and, it works swimmingly well. Who could possibly want to change all that? Microsoft, that's who.
Last year Microsoft began promoting its Windows Media Photo format, recently renamed HD Photo (ostensibly to gain a little street cred from public familiarity with HDTV), as a "better" alternative to the standard JPEG. According to Microsoft's specification literature, HD Photo gives twice the quality compared to JPEG at similar file sizes. Vista includes built-in support for HD Photo and, Microsoft has been actively promoting HD Photo to camera m anufacturers as a superior alternative to the aging JPEG specification.
Sounds great, where's the catch? Licensing. Patents surrounding JPEG have expired, meaning if you want to include JPEG support in your application, and be universally compatible with other applications supporting JPEG, you don't have to pay fees to any company or individual. HD Photo is a published standard, but it's owned by Microsoft lock, stock, and barrel. If you want your application to be compatible with cameras that use HD Photo, you'll need to sign a deal with the boys in Redmond, and pay the license fees they demand for the privilege. If widely adopted, HD Photo could spell big trouble for compatibility on Open Source platforms, or any platform Microsoft feels presents an undue competitive threat.
Update : HD Photo is licensed under the Open Specification Promise, under whic h Microsoft vows not to enforce its patent rights as long as developers conform to the specification. Thanks to Bob for straightening me out!
The last time Flickr tried this there was such a backlash that they supported both the old Flickr IDs and corporate overlord ones. But that was then, and this is now...
The Flickr News blog just announced that as of March 15th, the only access to your Flickr account will be via a Yahoo! ID. So, the last holdouts in denial of the acquisition will either have to quit the service or link to a Yahoo! ID. This official thread has been created to voice your concerns \ questions to the Flickr staff and community.
We're told that this change is in preparation for some large projects later this year (ohhh - anyone have any ideas??). We've seen this requirement already with the recent updates to Flickr Mobile and Yahoo! Go that only allow Yahoo! accounts.
The same post also mentions the addition of a couple of limits:
On Monday Google released a relatively minor, but useful, feature. It's worth examining a bit more closely, because it's yet another signal that Google is quietly pecking away at Microsoft's lunch in office software. Now I know that Microsoft Office has a lot of advanced functionality that the online office apps don't have, but hear me out...
The new feature is a one-click import feature for attachments in Gmail. The D&S team explained:
"Whenever those of you who use Gmail receive a spreadsheet or a document in an email, you will see a new link next to the "Download" link that says "Open as a Google document." Click on that and the attachment will automatically be imported into Docs & Spreadsheets and added to your personal document list where you can make changes, invite collaborators and search for it later."
In the Google Groups mailing list for D&S, one of the guides listed a couple of "caveats" to this:
"- This feature is only available in Gmail.
- And, at this time it only works with Microsoft Word documents (.doc)."
It also works with Microsoft Excel files (.xls), which the guide clarified in a latter comment.
So, this new feature specifically targets Microsoft Office documents and spreadsheets -- and it only works in Google's email program. If I were a conspiracy theorist, I would be a blindingly obvious one. Yes, Google is making it super easy for users to open up Microsoft's (proprietary) file formats in Google's online version of Word and Excel. In Jay Fortner's excellent SWOT analysis yesterday of Microsoft and the new threat of online office suites, he pointed out that competitors such as Google, Zoho, and AjaxWriter "could build critical mass through the installed base of former Microsoft users." And this, in a tiny but significant way, is what this new integration between Gmail and Google D&S is about. Google is quietly compelling Gmail users to switch from Word and Excel to Google D&S.
Granted, the main flaw in this strategy is that Google has mostly failed to get a large user base in Gmail over the past couple of years, which gives them a smaller pool of potential Microsoft Office converts. Gmail is the least used web email service amongst the Big 3 - Yahoo and MSN email services are far bigger. Imagine if Google had Yahoo Mail's 250-odd million users! Now that would make the webmail/D&S integration a major play...
Miramar Mike points out a slight flaw in the execution too - there's no connection from the imported doc/spreadsheet back to the originating email, so it loses a bit of context (more a missed opportunity than a glaring omission).
I don't want to overstate the importance of this small feature in Gmail and D&S, or use it to proclaim the death of Microsoft Office. The battle between Microsoft and Google for office software market share is deep and complex, as Jay's post and the excellent comments to it show. But this new integration feature is another example of how the desktop and online worlds are being munged together by Google, right under Microsoft's nose and directly threatening MS Office.
VoIP company SIPphone is at DEMO today, where it is launching Gizmo Call - an online service that makes VoIP phone calls possible from any web browser. It works via a Flash plugin, which enables users to make calls simply by typing a phone number into a text-field in a browser. Users can also use URLs like http://gizmocall.com/18005551212 (that link is an example only and will not work). Gizmo Call is separate from SIPphone's other app, The Gizmo Project, which is a download VoIP app like Skype.
You do need to download a 1MB Flash plugin for Gizmo Call to work, so it's not a download-free browser app. However it's a once-only install and it lowers the bar for consumers wanting to start using VoIP. I myself am trying to use VoIP more in my life and telling family members about it too (of course poor broadband service is an issue here in my country!).
Gizmo Call is a nice step forward in VoIP, because users don't need to download a big client and run a traditional installer. They don't even need to setup an account. After the Flash plugin is installed, users can immediately make calls - albeit limited to 5 free minutes of calling per day "to just about any phone number". They can get 10 minutes free calling if they register with an email address and can also buy Call Out minutes. Besides PSTN phones, Gizmo Call users can call for free Google Talk users, Windows Live users, Gizmo Project users and any SIP address/device. There's also a feature enabling users to customize their CallerID, so when they make a web call it can appear to come from their mobile or office phone. Plus, being a browser-based service, users can integrate Gizmo Call into their blogs and social network pages.
Right now I use SkypeOut (and also SkypeIn), but as a non-US user I usually have to pay for SkypeOut calls. So I will probably try Gizmo Call on a few short calls and, if the calling rates are lower than Skype and with no discernable loss in quality, I will probably switch. So beware Skype, the switching costs are pretty low in this industry, with so much hot competition in the VoIP arena. It certainly keeps Skype on their toes and pushes everyone to come up with free or low cost solutions for consumers. Note that it's still relatively expensive to use these services if you don't happen to be based in the US, so I'm looking forward to more price competition in VoIP-to-phone for international users. Bring it on!
Within the past month, both HD DVD and Blu-Ray's AACS protection scheme has been bypassed, and now news has broken of a researcher cracking Vista's DRM scheme. Mind you, Vista just barely hit the shelves. Boing Boing sums it up very nicely:
"As with previous multi-year DRM development efforts, this one disintegrated like wet kleenex on contact with the general public. Now that Vista, HDCP, Blu-Ray and HD-DVD are all broken, it seems like the millions of dollars and thousands of work-hours sunk into these systems was mis-spent. The only benefit that these anti-copying systems confer to the companies that developed them is the right to sue competitors -- and that benefit could have been had by shellacking a one-atom-thick layer of token DRM onto their systems, just enough to be able to invoke the DMCA. Everything else was just gold-plating, wasted money."
So the trend continues. Anything meant to be protected will always be cracked, it seems. Researcher Alex Ionesco's hack bypasses Vista's anti-copying technology and allows for full-res, unencrypted high-def video streams. Due to legal concerns, he has not yet released his code, so it is unknown what will become of his hack. And how will companies respond to the prompt obsolescence of their copyright protection schemes?
In my previous post, I noted how the new Gmail/Google Docs & Spreadsheet integration feature threatens Microsoft. There's also some high level discussion going on in the tech sphere about how Microsoft's continued loss of search market share and confusion over the Live branding means they are losing the "web war". Infamous Dot Com analyst Henry Blodget goes as far as to say that Microsoft is sliding into "Web Irrelevance". I very much disagree with that prognosis. Like John Battelle, I think there is a lot more Web innovation to happen yet. Google certainly won the battle (with search and online advertising), but they have not won the war.
Let's look at the threats to Google. As Greg Linden pointed out, Microsoft has a prime opportunity to "control the search experience in Windows". So desktop/web search may be Microsoft's best hope to challenge Google in search. Also as the Read/WriteWeb crew has written about many times on this blog, there are a lot of very innovative search solutions being worked on by startups - any one of which might rise up and surprise Google. Check out Charles Knight's list of top 100 alternative search engines, for a taste of the amazing innovation happening right now in search.
Also I think Microsoft is in a strong position with multimedia across devices and potentially they could end up controlling the living room and TV/entertainment with Media Center and Xbox - all tied into Vista of course. Apple is also a strong contender in this media/devices/tv domain. These are things that Google is relatively weak in right now. So Google doesn't have it all going their way in the Web world, even though they appear to be dominant at this point.
Note: I'm not sure of the relevance of the stormtrooper pic, I just thought it was very funny!
Way back when they published books about good Web sites, we Internet pioneers who were around when it was decided that an "@" symbol should separate the username from the TLD used to have a line of yellow sticky notes on our monitors to note the entire URL for Yahoo when it was at Stanford and required our paying fealty to a Sumo wrestler. Surfing, a quaint but archaic term, was how we found Web sites. Click on one, then click another. Use the back button to go home. It's impossible to really surf anymore; there are a gazillion Web sites and what with pop-ups and other drekky code impeding our way, there's no going home again.
With TMI overload, we need to tiptoe through the Web sites with more focus yet not lose the joy of discovery, because that's why the Web was born. Enter StumbleUpon, a social site determined to help you discover pre-reviewed sites that pique your interest. The model is friendly and the toolbar non-malicious. (I keep it turned off when working because the siren song of discovery outweighs my willpower.)
The Web is fairly female-brained IMO in that women can often start a conversation, travel in several seemingly unrelated directions (click links), converse where they are (view Web pages), and journey backward through the conversation to the starting point (back button). Some of us are comfortable using our mental dropdown lists to jump several topics backward without rehashing the entire exchange. StumbleUpon is conducive to taking a break; it's like visiting or make new friends.
Case in point: a new Photoshop tutorial site? I found one in undiscovered country and added it to my StumbleUpon favs. With some careful keywording and reviewed pages, I'm not wasting time clicking on pay site links from (the) Google, stupid sites, or sites that pop up garbage. Fairly Flickr-like, I can invite friends (although I never upload my contacts anywhere) with a couple of keystrokes. If you have friends, you can visit what they visited if they care to share.
Think of it as a personality test. Look at my tag cloud - it's pretty easy to analyze me as a geek, isn't it?
A temporary gold star to Stumblers who review sites so I can save time between that work stuff.
Mission Research, a vendor of contact management solutions for the nonprofit sector, has launched a product today at DEMO aimed at the SOHO market. The product is called SalesWorks and is similar to Salesforce.com, in that it's used to manage contacts or sales leads. In fact it's being billed as "a Salesforce.com for the SOHO market", but without the cost or complicated features.
The people who founded Mission Research have a successful Dot Com sale behind them already - Charlie Crystle and team sold Chili!Soft for $70 million in 2000 to Cobalt Networks (which was subsequently acquired by Sun Microsystems). Perhaps that success is the reason why their current venture is focused on being "socially responsible". For example, last year they donated over $1 million of software to nonprofits. In terms of their software approach, Mission Research aims to produce a combination of desktop and Web tools - an approach they've named "The Hybrid Web". They want to achieve "the power and safety of desktop applications integrated smartly and safely with web-based functionality."
Mission Research's feature product is called GiftWorks, used for fundraising. But the product they're launching at DEMO today is called SalesWorks. Some of its defining features include a dekstop app; integration with web services such as mapping, eCommerce, back-up/restore, e-marketing mailings; and a user friendly interface.
The cost is either free or $100 upward, but it's not clear how the cost structure works yet. In any case SalesWorks may well find a niche for businesses who don't want to give up the relative stability and security of a desktop app for contact management, but also want to take advantage of the Web. While Salesforce is a purely browser-based service, SalesWorks is betting on its low cost and desktop app rich interface as ways to differentiate itself.
Here are some screenshots:
For good or bad, venture funds are flowing like it’s 1999 all over again. Seattle-based Farecast , which predicts and guarantees airline prices, dipped its toes in the cash pool for its third round of financing, taking $12.1 million from Sutter Hill Ventures and others. Previous investors Greylock Partners, Madrona Venture Group, and WRF Capital [...]
My Currency is launching another take on the wisdom of the crowds, this time aimed at the real estate market. Unlike Zillow, My Currency derives its housing valuations from the marketplace of user opinions by having them assess properties as over or undervalued along with the strength of their conviction. For instance, if I feel [...]
Written by Alex Iskold and edited by Richard MacManus
I was reading a Time magazine article online today, entitled Marketing to your mind. This article was very provocative and I enjoyed reading it. But after I was done, something else caught my attention. I was surprised to see a row of 'web 2.0' buttons at the bottom of the article. Time magazine, a mainstream publication, has an impressive array of web links to these services. Is this an indication that mainstream media has caught the new social media winds? Time magazine after all did name the Web-enabled YOU as their person of the Year last year.
Whether we like it or not, media has a huge influence on us. We learn news and in exchange media gets to pitch us (gently) their points of view and their advertisements. The blogosphere has a strong hold on the minds of early adopters. However, it is mainstream publications that reach millions of people - many of whom still know very little nothing about new web technologies.
Saturating media hubs - like New York Times, PCMagazine and Business Week - with links to popular new web sites and services, is critical to achieving the threshold for mass adoption of those services. So the key question is: Has mainstream media recognized 'web 2.0' (or the read/write Web, or whatever you want to call it)? To answer this question, we reviewed the web sites of some prominent newspapers and magazines. The result is the chart below.
As seen from the chart, and perhaps surprisingly, many publications have incorporated web 2.0 services into their sites. Time magazine has a particularly impressive array, followed closely by New York Times, Washington Post and InfoWorld. Notably two publications owned by IDG, Macworld and ComputerWorld, are lagging behind. Yet even these publications recognize the power of RSS - the single most widely adopted feature. Indeed, all the mainstream media websites I surveyed had RSS feeds.
It appears that we are nearing a tipping point for the mass adoption of prominent web 2.0 services, like digg and del.icio.us. Endorsement by mainstream media opens these services up to millions of people who otherwise would either not know about them, or not take them seriously. So these are not just links, these are literally endorsements - or recognition of additional value for mainstream media.
The image above is from Dr. Barabasi's network gallery
And if 2007 brings massive adoption to services like del.icio.us, digg and facebook, what would those services be worth then?! Ironically I am writing this from one of the Starbucks cafes on Wall Street, which after it got burned by tech stocks in 1999 practically closed its doors to the tech IPOs. Could the mainstream adoption of these services change the minds of gray-haired men and women in Armani suits? Perhaps. What we do know is that whenever crowds come, the (advertising) money follows. Of course only time will tell, but it seems like 2007 will provide a good measuring stick for mainstream adoption of 'web 2.0'.
In a battle for relevance in the mobile payments space, mobile to mobile payment service Obopay has acquired social payment service Billmonk. Neither are disclosing the size of the acquisition, which is undoubtedly a tiny and probably stock for stock deal. The integration of the two services will first let users settle the debts they [...]
PriceProtectr is a neat new tool that helps you take advantage of guarantees by many online retailers to refund the difference on purchased items if the price drops in the 30 or 60 days following your purchase (example - Best Buy’s policy). Those guarantees are great, but few people go to the trouble of following [...]
Steve Rubel somehow came across a new Digg-like Technorati product called “WTF,” which stands for “Where’s the Fire?” It was briefly live at technorati.com/wtf, but is no longer available. >From the screen shots (see below, care of Rubel), it appears to have very similar features as Digg, where users can vote for stories they find interesting [...]
Yahoo’s brand-centric sites, announced in November 2006 and dubbed “Brand Universe”, have started to go live. These sites each revolve around a single popular brand - like this one on the Nintendo Wii - and have almost no original content. Instead, Yahoo is taking content from Flickr, Del.icio.us, Yahoo Answers and other Yahoo properties, along [...]
The Official Google Blog has posted a brief introduction on how to control how Google and other search engines index your web site.
If you've ever looked into this subject before, you know that search engines all look for a simple file on your server called robots.txt. This post is the first in a series detailing the finer points of robots.txt, so expect a basic overview with a few resources for learning more. If you've ever wanted to take a little more control over how your site is accessed and indexed by search engines, this getting started guide has some nice tips straight from the biggest horse's mouth. You also might want to check out a few more ways to have a say in what Google says about you.
Mac OS X only: Freeware window switcher Witch gives you more control over how you access and switch between open windows with your keyboard.
For most purposes, Witch mimics the Alt-Tab behavior we've gotten used to on Windows computers, meaning that rather than switching between applications, you can switch between single windows. Not only that, but Witch will pull minimized windows out of the Dock when you switch to them, something I've been dying for. Long-time Mac users may not find this especially useful, but for recent Windows switchers, this could come as a godsend.
Witch installs as a new preference pane, and the Witch preferences are super-configurable. That means that if you're not especially thrilled with Witch out of the box, you can do loads of tweaking to get it acting exactly how you want.
If you like Witch's familiar Windows feel, check out this post for more on switching from Windows to a Mac. Witch is donationware, Mac OS X only.
Web site Midomi lets you find the name of a song by humming or singing a few bars of the unknown tune.
We've posted about similar search tools before, most notably Humming Search, but Midomi stands out in a few of ways. First, its database of searchable tunes is user-contributed, meaning that the more popular the site gets, the more potentially deep and accurate the search will become (if Midomi has their ducks in a row, that is). Second, it uses an embedded Java applet that works anywhere as opposed to the Internet Explorer-only ActiveX control of Humming Search. Third, Midomi let's you listen to user-contributed audio clips, which - frankly - is a blast. I put Midomi through the paces with a few songs this morning and was, in general, impressed. Again, it's not terribly deep yet, but the user community seems to be growing quickly, so it will hopefully get better in time.
Windows only: Freeware app Paint.NET is a powerful, lightweight image editing alternative to Photoshop and GIMP.
We've mentioned Paint.NET on a couple of occasions, but they've released a new version, and since it's my favorite low-power editor, I wanted to give it a mention. If you need to do basic/intermediate image editing from time to time, but you don't need the horsepower of Photoshop or GIMP, Paint.NET is a wonderful alternative. Version 3 adds, among other things, a tabbed interface for managing several projects in one window. Paint.NET is freeware, Windows only. Requires .NET 2.0.
Windows Vista is officially in stores today, but before you plunk down your hard-earned cash, make sure you're getting what you expect. With Vista's ability to adjust its features based on the hardware it's on, CNET reports:
Customers who pay about $233 for an upgrade copy of Vista Ultimate (or about $399 for the full version), for instance, could essentially end up running the equivalent of Vista Home Basic ($100 to $199) if Vista's installation software finds that the computer doesn't have the hardware to run specific Ultimate features optimally.
If you're upgrading your existing PC, while it's not foolproof, give your computer a once-through with the Vista Upgrade Advisor. The checker doesn't tell you whether or not the swanky Vista features like Aero or BitLocker will work on your machine, so buying from a retailer who will back a return on the OS - like PCs for Everyone - will get you a little extra insurance.
My Vista notebook's a lowly 2.2 compared to Gizmodo's 3.7. Kind of a like a GPA for your PC's hardware and it's ability to handle the Vista monster, Gizmodo's Jason Chen interprets the "Windows Experience Index" numeric scale:
A 1 means you should just seriously go back to XP. Microsoft wants your money, but not that badly. A score of 2 is the basic score you'll need to do anything on Vista worth while. A 3 (which is what we have, a high 3) is going to be the "value end", or super cheap, PCs being shipped into 2007. A 4 is a mid-range machine, and a 5 is a high-end monster that can do Aero-Glass on multiple monitors and hack into the Matrix.
What would be nice is to see these numbers before you install Vista, but for new upgraders it's a useful place to see your machine's weakest spot. (Your score is based on the lowest one in the group, not the average.) What's your computer's Vista score? Get it in Control Panel, System and Maintenance and let us know in the comments.
Collaborative DIY site Instructables posts a step-by-step for making your own invisible bookshelf.
In a nutshell, you have to build a mount into a book you're not all that interested in using anymore (it won't ruin the book, but you'll have to rip out the mount if you want to use it again). All you need is an L-shaped bracket, a book, glue, and you're pretty much set. The results look to be just as good as what you'd get from a commercial version. This simple project brings to mind other, previously-posted book repurposing projects like the iPod carrier book and the secret hollow book.
Dear Lifehacker,
The Microsoft marketing blitz for Windows Vista has begun, and while I planned to wait awhile before I transitioned, everything I've heard about it is making me hot to upgrade sooner rather than later.
So, should I run to Best Buy tonight and grab a copy of Vista, or should I wait till the wrinkles are ironed out? You've posted about both pros and cons of Vista, but do you think it's ready for primetime? I don't want to spend a lot of time messing with incompatible software and drivers, but I'm willing to spend a little.
Signed,
Earlyish Adopter
Dear Earlyish,
If you want a truly seamless transition to Vista - especially if you're upgrading your existing PC versus buying a new one with it pre-installed - I'd say wait. Not the possible 11 months or so it will take for Service Pack 1 to come out, but mayb e a month or two to let software and hardware vendors to work out the kinks with their apps and drivers.
For the most part I've enjoyed using my (pre-installed) copy of Vista, but it hasn't been without its problems. Trying to print a PDF from FoxIt or even trying to install Adobe Reader dependably results in a program crash (sans printout). My favorite desktop program, Samurize, isn't yet compatible with Vista. Our very own Rick had incompatibility heartache with Lifehacker favorite IrfanView and his wifi connection. These are all small things tha t can seriously trip up early Vista upgraders.
If you absolutely can't wait, remember you can easily install Vista on a secondary partition to give it a test drive in dual-boot mode without screwing up your working XP machine. It's a good way to have your cake and eat it too.
May the road rise up to meet your (eventually upgrading) feet and the wind be at your (eventually upgrading) back,
Lifehacker (aka )
When you're stuck on a problem - like, oh, "What the hell am I doing with my life?" - the best adviser you can find might be sitting right in your chair. Career advice columnist Penelope Trunk lists four ways you can be your very own career coach. The first one will make you feel like you've lost your marbles, but the feeling might be worth it:
Talk to an imaginary coach. If you pretend you're talking to someone else then you have to explain what you're doing in much more detail than if you were mulling it over in your head. The result is similar to writing down a problem - more clarity about the problem leads to more clarity about the solution.
Being a "verbal processor," I'm embarrassed to admit how much I talk to myself (behind my office door, alone) about stuff I need to suss out, and it does help boil things down. The rest of the post is great reading for anyone on a job hunt or pitching a client.
Mac user Leander Kahney's got Vista installed on his Mac Pro with Boot Camp, and says it runs beautifully:
The Mac Pro is a very fast and capable OS X machine, but it's an even faster Windows Vista machine. Vista really flies on this beast, and feels like it's faster than OS X - it boots faster, folders burst open and apps launch instantly.... I'm especially delighted with Vista's "glass" Aero interface, which works in all its glory on this machine.
The Mac Pro's a meaty piece of hardware and BootCamp makes you restart to switch to Windows. Can't wait to see Vista on a Macbook Pro with Parallels.
Save that YouTube or Google Video file with one click o' the toolbar using the All-In-One Video Bookmarklet:
The all-in-one bookmarklet supports YouTube, Google Video, Metacafe, Myspace, Break.com, Putfile, Dailymotion, Sevenload, MyVideo.de and Clipfish.de. Bookmark the link... and access the bookmark when looking at videos on any of the supported websites. The bookmarklet will give you the download-link(s) for the video you were looking at.
While the bookmarklet doesn't convert files to other formats, this is a handy, browser-inspecific alternative to a downloader Firefox extension.
Today Apple released their AirPort Extreme 802.11n Enabler for Mac software, which unlocks fast networking capabilities for Intel Core Duo 2 Macs.
What the hell is 802.11n, you ask? In 5 words, screaming fast, crazy wide-range wifi. Of course, your wireless router has to support 802.11n for the enabler to enable anything; Apple's new AirPort Extreme does (and comes with the Enabler software, so don't go buying them both at once.) For those of you who already have access to 802.11n points with your Mac, download the Enabler for a makes-you-wonder-if-it's-worth-charging-at-all $1.99.
When you happen upon a new web site - or you're just interested in finding more about one you frequent all the time - it's difficult to get a sense of how popular it is, how long it's been around, what people are saying about it and how much it's been bookmarked. The About This Site Firefox extension offers one click access to web services that compile just that kind of information for you.
We mentioned an earlier version of About This Site back in October, but the newest release (fre sh off my hard drive) lets you configure what services are in the menu. After the jump, get a feature rundown with screenshots and the download link.
Version: 1.2
Author: Gina Trapani
License: Mozilla Public License
What it does: Adds an "About This Site" submenu to the Firefox Tools menu pulldown and to the right-click context menu. By default it offers 16 web services which provide information about the site you're viewing, from a WhoIs query to Alexa traffic charts to del.ici.ous bookmarks to Technorati inbound links.
Add your favorite lookup sites to the menu yourself, delete ones you don't use so much, and rearrange the whole shebang to your liking in the add-on's options area.
Here's a screenshot of the default list of services:
You can add a new link or edit an existing service:
The address of the site you're viewing will be appended to the end of each lookup URL and the lookup will open in a new tab when selected from the menu.
Installation: Right click the About This Site download link and save the file to your computer. In Firefox, from the File menu, choose "Open File" and select the file you just downloaded. Press the "Install Now" button in the Software Installation dialog and restart Firefox.
Usage: Once About This Site is installed, go to a web site you want to get more details about. Right-click and choose "About This Site" from the popup menu to view your lookup choices, or launch them all by choosing "Open all."
Customize your choices by choosing "Configure services" from the About This Site menu.
Bug reports and feature requests: Leave a comment here if you've got any feature requests or bug reports for About This Site 1.2. Newcomers, here's how to get a comment login.
More about Lifehacker Code: While we love writing about OPS (Other People's Software), occasionally we editors will push up our sleeves and do a little coding ourselves. We'll offer the scripts, utilities, bookmarklets and Firefox extensions we develop for exclusive download here at Lifehacker and feature them under our brand, spankin' new Lifehacker Code tag.
Firefox only: Open multiple windows within each tab with Split Browser, a new Firefox extension.
Once installed, you simply right-click, select "Split Browser to" from the context menu, and then choose a direction: above, below, left or right. Each new window is like a mini browser, complete with its own address bar and navigation controls. You can drag links into any of the windows and even move windows around. However, there's one rather annoying glitch: When you load a favorite, it appears only in the original window, not the window that last had focus.
Even so, this comes in really handy if you want to keep certain snippets of information visible at all times, like an eBay auction or a calendar. It's an especially great way to take advantage of those widescreen monitors, which have all that extra screen estate. Split Browser is free and works wherever Firefox does.
by Adam Pash
Putting any old video file - like the DivX/Xvid-encoded videos you've downloaded with BitTorrent - onto a DVD to play on your TV can be a daunting task. There's plenty of software that tackles this sort of thing for a price, but as a lover of open source software, free's always my first choice.
Luckily for all of us, authoring playable DVDs from just about any video file has gotten a lot easier in the open source community. This week I'm going to show you how to burn those downloaded TV shows to a DVD you can play in your living room using the free (as in speech), open source application, DVD Flick.
NOTE: DVD Flick's almost embarrassingly simple to use, but since it's a subject that can be confusing for people who haven't authored many DVD's, and it's a question we've been asked about several times before here at Lifehacker, we thought DVD Flick deserved a quick guide.
In a few simple steps, here's how to burn almost any video file on your computer to a playable DVD.
DVD Flick is a free, open source DVD authoring tool that will take care of pretty much all of the legwork involved in authoring your DVDs. So thank the gods of open source and go download it here.
In order to make a DVD that you can play on your DVD player, your video files need to be encoded in MPEG-2 format. What makes DVD Flick special (aside from the fact that it's free) is that it handles all of the necessary transcoding of your AVI, MPG, MOV, and WMV files (among others) to MPEG-2, and then authors and burns your DVD all in one fell swoop - meaning it's very simple for anyone to use.
The DVD Flick interface is very no-nonsense - everything you need to access is available to you through the 7 buttons in the toolbar. Before we add videos to your DVD project, let's take a look at the settings and make sure everything's as you want it.
Click the button labeled Project settings. By default you probably won't have to change anything, but I do want to point out a couple of things.
The General tab lets you set the size of your target media (i.e., the capacity of your DVD). If you're burning to a standard DVD-R, you'll want to keep the default 4.3GB setting. However, you can also set your target size to Dual Layer DVD, Mini-DVD, CD-R, or your own custom target size.
The Video tab lets you set the format of your DVD player - namely whether your DVD should be NTSC or PAL-formatted. If you live in the US, NTSC is your pal. Most of Europe and Asia, on the other hand, use PAL. You can also set the encoding quality in the Encoding profile drop-down. If you feel that the quality of your authored DVDs isn't high enough, you might want to try upping the quality and ensuring the "Second encoding pass" checkbox is ticked. If you're more than happy with quality but you want to speed up the encoding process, you can lower the quality and get rid of the second encoding pass (you probably won't want to do this, but just in case, there it is).
Also of note, the Burning tab lets you set the options for the final product. If you don't have a DVD on-hand for burning, for example, you can tell DVD Flick to create an ISO image that you can easily burn to a DVD later on using a tool like ISO Recorder or ISOBurn.
As I said above, DVD Flick lets you add nearly any type of video file to your DVD project. The easiest way to do this is to open up the folder holding your vide o files and drag-and-drop the files into DVD Flick. The yellow bar on the left of the app shows you how much space you've used. The amount of video you can fit on one playable DVD will vary by length and quality, so keep an eye on your space.
DVD Flick is pretty no nonsense at this point; you can't build any fancy menu screens. [1] Instead, the DVD you author and burn will simply play each file as a chapter in the order you add them to the project by default. If you want to add chapters to individual video files, select the video/title and click on Edit title... and change the method of chapter creation. You can create chapter points every so many minutes, create a set number of chapters per title, or leave your video chapter-free.
Advanced users can add extra audio tracks (like commentary) and s ubtitles through the Edit title menus as well.
Before you start, pick the directory that the transcoded files will be saved to while DVD Flick works. You'll need to have a drive with a fair amount of space, so keep that in mind. You'll also want to keep that in mind so you can remove those files after the process is complete so you don't end up with a hard drive full of pre-burned DVDs.
Now that you've got everything set up how you want, click the button labeled Create DVD. DVD Flick will now start transcoding the video files and authoring the DVD while you sit back and browse the internet. If you've never done thi s before, you'll learn quickly enough that video transcoding takes some time and CPU horsepower.
If you don't want DVD Flick to eat up precious CPU cycles while you're working on your computer, it's sometimes useful to save this sort of operation for when you're away from the computer. Tick the checkbox labeled Shutdown when completed and you can leave DVD Flick to do its business overnight and shutdown your computer when it's f inished. When you get up the next morning, you'll be the parent of a newly authored DVD!
Adam Pash is an associate editor for Lifehacker who likes his DVD creation to be dead simple. His special feature Hack Attack appears every Tuesday on Lifehacker. Subscribe to the Hack Attack RSS feed to get new installments in your newsreader.
[1] If you're looking for a free solution for authoring DVDs with nice menu screens, check out DVD Styler. The downside to DVD Styler is that it doesn't handle all the transcoding that DVD Flick does, meaning that you'll need to transcode your video files to to MPEG yourself. [back up]
Microsoft Launches Windows Vista and Microsoft Office 2007 to Consumers Worldwide — Flagship products available at over 39,000 retail locations and online around the world. — On Jan. 30 the most significant product launch in Microsoft Corp.'s history culminates in the release to consumers …
Source: Microsoft
Link: http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2007/jan07…
Apple pays $700,000 for bloggers' legal fees — Bloggers and online journalists have completed their final victory lap in a protracted fight against Apple. Earlier this month, a Santa Clara County Court ordered Apple to pay the legal fees associated with the defense of subpoenas issued …
Source: MacNN | The Macintosh News Network
Link: http://www.macnn.com/articles/07/01/29/apple.pays…
Correct Me If I'm Wrong...: "Pilotless Drone" — Almost every day, The Chronicle hears from readers (and some non-readers). Most of these comments — voicemail, email and letters — don't make it into our letters column. But they can be unusually passionate, irate, confounding and creative.
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
Link: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail…
Watch AO Media Live! — Click the image to the right to launch to live Webcast. — Viewers can join in the discussion by asking questions and sharing comments and see them beamed up on the big screen at our event. — No other media brand has dared to create such open interaction between its editors …
Source: AlwaysOn Feed
Link: http://alwayson.goingon.com/permalink/post/4267
Ask a Ninja Makes $300K Plus Ad Share — Kent Nichols and Douglas Sarine, the dynamic duo behind the web's most deadly source of advice, Ask a Ninja, have struck gold with a Federated Media payday, which includes a $300,000 upfront payment along with 60 percent of ad revenue, according to our sources.
Source: NewTeeVee
Author: Jackson West
Link: http://newteevee.com/2007/01/29/ask-a-ninja/
Exclusive: Zoho Notebook Sneak Peak — Zoho continues to rock along, releasing new products every few weeks (see Zoho Wiki for example) that have turned their Ajax office suite into the best on the web, bar none. See here for all of our previous Zoho coverage.
Source: TechCrunch
Author: Nick Gonzalez
Link: http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/01/30/sneak-peek-zoho…
First the Wait for Microsoft Vista; Now the Marketing Barrage — Microsoft's power in the technology industry, some analysts insist, is waning. It faces a host of rivals from a reinvigorated Apple on the desktop to Web-based challengers like Google, delivering services and software online.
Source: New York Times
Author: Steve Lohr
Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/30/technology/30soft…
Windows Vista TV Commercials — DUDE! MAKE THEM STOP! SERIOUSLY, THESE ARE EMBARASSINGLY BAD. I HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO USE MY CAPS LOCK KEY TO CONVEY JUST HOW MUCH OF A WASTE OF MONEY THIS WAS. — I'm sorry. I'm watching Comedy Central right now, with Windows Vista (apparently) …
Source: Chris Pirillo
Author: Chris
Link: http://chris.pirillo.com/2007/01/29/windows-vista-tv…
Google products are no strangers to mashups from all forms of enthusiastic users and 3rd parties, but you know something cool is brewing when Google mashes up two of their most visionary services: Maps and Book Search. Recently on the Google Book Search blog, David Petrou announced this cool new feature, which they've added to the "About this Book" section of books you find in Google Book Search. Now, not all books will that have text about a location or two will get a map link (at least for now), but the ones that do will also include links to the actual pages of the book where a mapped location is mentioned.
If you want to see how cool this all is, the announcement post includes links to quite a few examples of books they've already mapped, such as Around the World in Eighty Days, Illustrated New York (1888) and The Travels of Marco Polo.
Here's a complain that would go along nicely with our Seven rules for Web 2.0 start-ups: Keeping me waiting for an account activation email, or anything else for that matter. Say you have a potential customer who wants to run a cool Ajaxy poll on his blog. He googles and finds that there are at least a dozen companies offering a free Ajaxy poll service. Your site looks good to him, so he jumps through your registration hoops (clearly you didnt' follow rule #2), slicks on the Submit button, and then... he has to wait.
I'm no Guy Kawasaki, but here's a free bit of business advice: If you're trying to compete in a field with a half-dozen nearly identical products, don't make a potential customer w ait. If it takes five minutes for that account activation email to show up, he'll have already wandered along and found a different service that does what he needs without the wait. Thirty seconds is too long. The vagaries of the world's email relays aside, if your service's SMTP server isn't lightning fast, get another one, or you've just a pile of impatient customers--and on the internet, they're all impatient.
OMG, the hour is nearly upon us! At midnight Windows Vista will go on sale all around the world. Can you hear the excitement? Hmm, maybe if you took out your white earbuds. How about now?
In case you found the other day's 10 reasons to upgrade (and 10 not to) less than convincing, PC World took a stab at it too, upping the ante by 50% with its 15 Reasons to Switch. Here's the first five:
No this is not a post on the hot TV show Heroes but is about a FREE site that allows you to search for your Social Security Number or credit card number in their database they build from scouring the web. It is what it sounds like, no fancy Ajaxy Web 2.0 junk, just enter your numbers and click the button, get the results. I can't tell you what the information looks like if it finds your information, because mine was not found.
So where did they get their data from? Well from the FAQ on their site, here is their response. "The information that powers StolenID Search is found online, by looking in places where fraudsters typically trade or store this kind of information. All information behind StolenID search is publicly available, but not in places where search engines such as Yahoo and Google would look. TrustedID abides by all state and federal laws in the collection and provision of this compromised information. The information behind StolenID Search comes from collection efforts led by TrustedID directly and also from other reputable companies that assist us in finding this information on our behalf. One of those companies is Cyvellience."
Of course after your search they offer up information about subscribing to their Monitoring product offering. But it is not that should detract you from searching for your information.
You might recall awhile back we posted some ads from Japan featuring Apple's "I'm a Mac" guy and his PC foil just like the U.S. ads but, er, Japanese. Today we have some more foreign "I'm a Mac" ads, but this time you won't need subtitles. Apple has brought its popular ad campaign across the Atlantic this time, to the U.K. Here's the first, called "Office at Home" and you can find the other five after the jump. (Or, if you're a purist, you can watch them in glorious hi-res QuickTime at the Apple web site.)
I'm more fond of the UK Mac than the smarmy US version, but as I said before there's no replacing John Hodgman as the PC. And I have a soft spot for that Eurobeat-grooving Japanese PC. The actors, in case you're curious, are Britons David Mitchell and Robert Webb as the PC and Mac respectively, stars of Channel 4 sitcom Peep Show.
Continue reading I'm a Mac, guv: Apple's UK Mac ads - VIDEO
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We have three hot copies of Vista, sealed and ready, and we're just itching to give them away. These aren't hot as in stolen, but hot as in fresh. While Engadget has been putting Vista through the paces (and then some), we're willing to send off these three little boxes of
newness to three lucky individuals... Of course, we'd love to hear back from you, and we're even willing to do a little interview in a couple of weeks, just to see what you've been doing with this shiny OS from Redmond.
With the launch of Microsoft's Windows Vista today, I have to say that I will not be installing it for awhile. Why? Simple reason: I want to see what works with the new operating system, what needs upgrading, and what totally bombs out on it. I utilize quite a few of Yahoo's widgets for my PC and was excited to learn today that the Yahoo! Widget Engine 3.1 and all of their over 3,700 widgets have no issues running on Vista. That's one daily use application checked on my list. Wil l the others work? I will have to wait until some further reports come out. Until that time, no Vista for me. Stay tuned as Download Squad covers the trials and tribulations that come with the new Microsoft Vista release.
Searching for electronics usually tends to be somewhat tedious. Researching and trying to gauge the feel for a new product can totally turn you off of even considering said product. You scour the internet looking for the best prices and what users and owners experiences are with the product. With lots of research areas out there, one that I tend to rank highly when making a decision is CNet.com. With video overviews of electronics put together by professionals and users in the field, I always know the information is top. Add to that the comments dropped by owners of the products.
But Wize.com has launched a search engine that ranks consumer electronics, focusing on research. Similar companie s in the same sector include Become, Retrevo, Shopping, Nextag, and Pricegrabber. Wize does their ranking by putting their "Wize" ranking formula into effect. Venture Beat compares this to Google's Page Rank, a proprietary formula that is of course, not going to be published for public eyes. How does the search fare? When searching for information and rankings on Canon's SD700 digital camera, I was able to see a Wize ranking of 84, see pricing through a long list of online suppliers and ratings, and save my research for viewing later. Wize was very convenient, fast, and a nice companion to my usual CNet ratings. In all, it's another weapon to add to your arsenal when on the lookout for your next consumer electronic purchase. Look out for some growth at Wize as they have just secured some funding that could push their offering out even more.
In this issue of Googleholic we cover:
As promised, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates was on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart last night, pimping his little heart out for Windows Vista. I didn't get to watch it then, but thankfully Comedy Central has put the whole interview online. It's not a laugh riot, and I'm sad to report that John Hodgman (the PC from Apple's "I'm a Mac" ads and a regular Daily Show contributor) didn't make an appearance, but there's plenty of cute banter between Gates and Stewart. Here's Part 1:
Gates seems a little ill at ease, but I guess I would too if I were a guy not known for his sense of humor trying to sell a product on a show run by a guy known for skewering public figures. But everything goes down without any trouble until the very end, when Gates, apparently not unaware that the usual talk show protocol is to sit and chat (or pretend to chat) with the host while the credits run, BOLTS OFF STAGE! But, when you're worth $50 billion, I guess you can get away with that.
Check out the second part of the interview, and Gates' sudden departure, after the jump.
Continue reading Bill Gates on The Daily Show With Jon Stewart - VIDEO
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Released on January 15th, FreeSBIE 2.0 is a FreeBSD live CD for those looking to experience FreeBSD without making any commitment. Version 2.0, based on FreeBSD 6.2, is the result of almost 2 years of work by the FreeSBIE team (the last release was Dec 6th, 2004). FreeSBIE includes many popular desktop packages such as Gaim, Firefox 1.5, AbiWord, The Gimp and others (including MP3-playback codecs). I like that it also includes Wireshark and NmapFE, both handy tools for troubleshooting network issues and anomalies.
By default it features Xfce as its desktop environment and alternately Fluxbox. Both are not as popular as the obvious picks Gnome or KDE, but both are perfectly usable and are a nice change of pace. If you decide to do some actual work you can save and restore it from FAT32, UFS2 (Unix File System), ext2 (Linux) or ReiserFS disks or "slices" (partitions), including USB thumb drives - just use the mountdisks cheatcode at boot.
While not as mature as comparable Linux live CDs, FreeSBIE 2.0 is a big milestone for the team and good step forward for the project. If you are curious about the Unix-world beyond Linux, FreeSBIE is a great and easy way to get a feel for FreeBSD.
[Thanks, Dolores!]
Imagini Friends is an unusual new social network, that calculates your "VisualDNA" and uses it to find other people that match your choices. It's an application of Imagini, the technology - which aims to understand the emotional preferences of consumers, using VisualDNA. This can be used for marketing and advertising purposes, as well as social networking.
Imagini Friends reminds me of those personality tests in magazines like Vogue. It's certainly addictive and, a bit like when you read your horoscope, when your profile is created you find yourself nodding your head and going: yeah, that sounds like me. After your profile is finished, you're invited to find other people with similar profiles - and contact them if it's a good match. I looked around the site for some scientific evidence that visual profiling actually works, but the closest thing I found was the use of an old cliche: "a picture paints a thousand words". Hmmmm. However when it comes down to it, the success or otherwise of Imagini will be determined by how compelling it is to use, whether users will return time and again to the service, and whether it has potential for network effects - it's got the first part, but not sure about the second two.
Robin Klein, one the investors, expects Imagini to have "a global database of millions of VisualDNA's within the next 12 months." Imagini also provides widgets and another service called Imagini Valentine Giftfinder, which searches for gift ideas for your valentine.
To be frank, I think the most promising application for Imagini is advertising and marketing. And in that regard, I'm a bit concerned that the social networking part will just be a front to gather marketing data. In the recent PC World review, it was clear that Imagini data is pretty valuable from a marketing perspective:
"Last August, Imagini used its Visual DNA service to identify new market segments for Nectar, a multibrand loyalty card operated by Loyalty Management.
In a test on Nectar's Web site, Imagini measured customers' reactions to a series of images. From their reactions, it was able to identify a group of customers passionate about reading, something not revealed by the transactional data Nectar already held, Willcock said."
So for marketing purposes, Imagini looks to be a winner because of the demographic and consumer preferences data that it can obtain. Imagini Friends seems like a compelling use case for their technology, but there are privacy concerns around it that may put people off.
Written by Jay Fortner and edited by Richard MacManus
With the consumer release today of Microsoft Office 2007, it's a good time to look at the online office space - and what, if anything, Microsoft will do to address this growing market.
In 2007 we expect to see good progress in the adoption of Internet-based productivity applications, such as Google Docs & Spreadsheets and Zimbra. At this point, the 'Web Office' space is in its infancy - but the market is maturing quickly. Already online suites such as those offered by Thinkfree and Zoho are starting to get some traction as cheaper, hosted alternatives to the Microsoft Office desktop suite of products. Online office services are usually free, you can easily share and edit with others, and you can access them from anywhere with an internet connection. But still, people will have to get over security and server concerns; as well as interface and usability differences.
Perhaps the real question here is: what will Microsoft do to defend its office software turf from online office services? We know they are keeping close tabs on online office products. For example in August 2006, Microsoft listed ThinkFree (a web-based word processing and spreadsheet program company) as one of its competitors in its annual 10-K filing.
To help frame the question of how Microsoft will respond to Web-based office software, here is a SWOT analysis of where Microsoft is, where it could be, and some things it could consider looking at - in 2007 and beyond.
1) Offer comparable MS online office products, using free ad based and/or subscription business models (may cannibalize existing strategy and core competency).
2) Blur the line between online and offline apps in the existing Microsoft Office desktop suite (appears to be where they're headed)
3) Buy the online competition (ThinkFree, Zoho, et al)
4) Block any interoperability between online office competitors and MSOffice (isn't that how they usually play ball?)
5) Continue with current business model and ignore the competition (not wise, in our opinion)
It could also be a combination of these strategies - and more. Please add other options that Microsoft has, in the comments section.
Disclosure: Zoho is a sponsor of R/WW.
At DEMO today Zoho, the Web Office suite company, will announce an interesting new preview product called Zoho Notebook. I was given a run-through of the product by Raju Vegesna. The obvious competitors to Zoho Notebook are Microsoft's OneNote application and Google Notebook. This new offering by Zoho is sufficiently different to both of those - indeed Raju went so far as to say that Zoho Notebook is "not just an online OneNote". And from my tests of the product, it offers far more than Google Notebook.
Zoho Notebook is an online app that works in both Firefox and IE browsers. You can create many different types of content, including text, image, audio, video, drawings. With audio, Zoho Notebook comes with a recorder - or you can get your audio from the Web or in your file system. And with the video, you can insert it from a service like YouTube, or record from your webcam straight into Notebook. Zoho Notebook will also come with a browser plug-in, similar to Google Notebook.
It's also a content aggregator and you can add files, pull in content via RSS, integrate office content (Zoho Writer, spreadsheets, presentations, calendars, etc) and even full-fledged applications can be aggregated into Notebook - for example from Zoho Creator. In some ways the aggregation parts resemble a personalized start page.
The best part of Zoho Notebook though is its collaboration features. You can share a whole Notebook, or just pages - and even just parts of pages, which Raju calls "sharing at the content level". It enables collaborative editing, so that more than one person can edit a notebook at a time. It also has version control too and access controls. A neat value add is that you can show the Skype status of the users.
Raju has a video up on YouTube that explains more about the product.
I asked Raju about possible use cases. He told me that a student could use it for compiling research, or enterprises could use it as a project management tool - to gather project documents into one notebook and collaborative on them from within Notebook.
The product is pre-beta and won't be released until March, but it is being announced at DEMO. Right now it still has some issues to be ironed out - e.g. I had trouble inserting some bits of content. But you can see the promise of an online and collaborative Notebook application, especially one that handles multiple types of content. Game on Google, not to mention Microsoft!
AllFreeCalls, a new service which lets people make free phone calls by first calling a phone number in Iowa and then calling to any of dozens of other countries, just added eight new countries to the permitted lists (plus Antarctica). In an email the founder also said that they handled 80,000 call minutes yesterday. The company [...]
SocialPicks, a social network around stocks, is officially out of private beta and has added features to make it one of the more compelling places for stock junkies to hang out. SocialPicks tracks imaginary portfolios as they shrink and grow, ranking users by paying close attention to how well their predictions pan out. The new [...]
YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley has hinted future plans of revenue-sharing at YouTube in the coming months. The BBC is speculating that the ads might take the form of 3-second pre-roll, but Chad Hurley didn’t mention that in his comments. The millions of YouTube videos is a huge inventory that finally gives advertisers a real reason [...]
For-fun betting sites like Gottabet and PicksPal, which combine social networking with betting, are gaining popularity. The success of PicksPal in particular has been stunning. Friends group together and bet on the winners of upcoming sporting events, or more detailed things like the number of touchdowns in a given game. A small percentage of users [...]
The Wall Street Journal reported (behind paywall) this morning that News Corp would announce a $12 million investment in online video startup ROO. However, unlike other investments and acquisitions in Internet startups, News Corp. subsidiary Fox Interactive wasn’t involved in the deal. Fox Interactive owns Myspace and has made investments in startups such as [...]
For those of you who don’t know the basics of widgets, or the difference between desktop and web widgets, check out this surprisingly unbiased overview post on the Yahoo Widgets blog where they talk about the pros and cons of the four major desktop widget platforms offered by Yahoo, Microsoft, Google and Apple. A key factor [...]
Portland based SplashCast is launching this morning after a long beta period. Marshall Kirkpatrick wrote a long review late last year after demo’ing the product (and he liked it so much he now works there). Splashcast is a little hard to describe, but once you get it it makes sense. It’s a Flash media player where [...]
KushCash is a mobile payments solution that launched in 2005, and they’re pushing out a new version of the service this morning. Back in 2005, mobile person-to-person payments were seen as a viable niche, since PayPal didn’t yet have a mobile product. KushCash promoted their product to the urban elite - the surf and skater [...]
Zoho continues to rock along, releasing new products every few weeks (see Zoho Wiki for example) that have turned their Ajax office suite into the best on the web, bar none. See here for all of our previous Zoho coverage. Today they’ll release their newest product - Zoho Notebook - into private alpha for selected users. [...]
Let's face it: some people are just natural born buttheads.
However, some of these people are part of our lives whether we like it or not (relatives, teachers, coaches, etc.). The Happiness Project has written up a list of tips to help you muster up less of the "he's such a tool!" feeling and more of the "he's a tool, but I'm a better person for dealing with him in such a mature manner" feeling. Here are my favorites from the list:
- Do nice things for that person. "We prefer to see those to whom we do good than those who do good to us."
- Act friendly. We think we act because of the way we feel, but often we feel because of the way we act. So act the way you want to feel. This is uncannily effective--just try it.
- Be grateful. Reflecting on reasons to feel grateful, instead of reasons to be angry or annoyed, will help change your view.
Obviously, this won't work for every situation...but it's a good start. What would you add to this list? Let us know in the comments. — Wendy Boswell
Looking for some good, free Photoshop brushes and patterns? Try Brusheezy, a community-driven site where you can download and vote for various Photoshop additions.
The site is organized into categories from Abstract to Vintage; you can upload your own patterns and brushes and vote on others that you like (or dislike). The site is still relatively new so the offerings are a bit sparse; but the stuff they've got so far is pretty good. What are your favorite sites to grab free Photoshop brushes, by the way? Thoughts in the comments.
Ever get annoyed that you can't view a lot of Flickr photos at the same time? Try Flickrleech, a simple site based on the Flickr API that pulls up as many as 200 Flickr thumbnails at one time.
You've got a few search options here: you can go with your basic Interestingness stream, by username or user ID, Favorites, by specific photoset, etc. Anyone who plays with Flickr on a regular basis will really appreciate how much easier it is to view mass quantities of photos, instead of tapping the "more" key every two seconds.
Need to de-clutter? Try the Four Container Method:
- Throw Away: You don't want it, you don't love it. It's a mess and it's hogging your counter space.
- Give Away: Goodwill or your friends--one way or another, get that good but unwanted stuff out of your place.
- Put Away: Does it go in another room? Don't stop what you are doing to put it away or you'll get side-tracked! Put it in this box and deal with it later.
- Keep or Toss?: Not sure just what to do with a certain item? Put it in this box and see if it passes the test: If you don't think about it or go in search of it, then feel free to toss. Check this box every month.
Seems like a pretty easy system to implement, and once you've got it going, your clutter demons (hopefully) won't come back. Any more good decluttering tips? Leave 'em in the comments.
Impress your friends and family with ten different easy to learn magic tricks this weekend, all taught and demonstrated in video format. Tricks include:
- The snap card. This tutorial demonstrates how to make a card selected by the audience appear on your hand instantly.
- Coin into Can. Using this technique, the audience receives the illusion that a coin has instantly been forced into and unopened can.
- Glass through table - Amazingly simple yet effective trick where you force a glass through the table.
Yes, you could be cleaning out the garage instead, but how could you pass up a chance like this to become the next David Copperfield? Plus, it's a superb way to impress the ladies (and that's me as a lady speaking, yall).
Send and share your files (up to 100 MB) with Senduit, a simple filesharing application.
Here's how it works: navigate to Senduit, find the file you want to share with someone, upload it (took me about 20 seconds to upload a 518 KB file), and then Senduit gives you a URL where your file can be accessed - this link goes inactive after 30 minutes. Click on the URL and your file starts downloading immediately. It's an extremely non-complicated way to share larger files, that's for sure.
by Rick Broida
Last week we took a big step toward improving your MP3 collection by leveling the track volume. Now it's time to focus on album art, which is less of a practical improvement and more of a fun one.
Indeed, there's something to be said for eyeballing an album cover when you play a song. It draws you in a little more, connects you with the band or artist. Plus, some covers are just plain cool-looking. And don't forget the nostalgia factor: Those of us who grew up with LP records have fond memories of flipping through those glorious covers.
If your music library was built from a variety of sources (CDs, friends, download services, peer-to-peer software, etc.), chances are good you've got some missing or messed-up artwork. Fortunately, it's not hard to fix, though it does take some time. Let's get started.
There are a number of tools that can fix or restore your songs' album art. I recommend MediaMonkey (Windows), which, in addition to being one of the all-time great music managers, provides excellent album-art features.
If you're an iTunes/iPod user, you're in luck: iTunes 7 handles album art quite nicely, retrieving it automatically when you're signed into the iTunes Store and copying it to your iPod when you sync. However, it doesn't actually embed the artwork into your music files, so if you migrate to a different ecosystem, your album art stays behind.
iTunes is, of course, the preferred music manager for the Mac platform. If you want to embed artwork the way MediaMonkey does (see below), try this tip.
We're going to use MediaMonkey to embed album art in your music files. This is a bit different from Windows Media Player's messy default method of adding art as separate files within each album folder. The advantage of embedding is that all desktop music players (including Windows Media Center) and portable devices (like the Creative Zen Vision:M, which is notoriously finicky when it comes to album art) should be able to display the art, because it's, well, embedded.
Before we get started, I should note that t his method works not only with MP3s, but also WMAs, both protected and unprotected. That means you can add art to songs downloaded from online music services like Napster and Yahoo.
Once you've installed MediaMonkey (the basic version is free, in case you were wondering), follow these steps to get your art on:
Press Ctrl-L to launch MediaMonkey's Auto-Tag from Amazon feature (click to enlarge the thumbnail and see an example). In a moment, you should see the artwork and song list for the album. If it didn't fetch the right info (which happens sometimes, especially if your album's ID3 tags are incorrect), clear the search field and try entering the album name manually. You can also click the search field's down arrow to see if there are any other results that match more clos ely. 
One final note on what to do if MediaMonkey can't find any artwork for your album: add it manually. Here's how:
If you have a portable player, delete all the songs from it and then copy over your album art-enriched tracks. Or just fire up Media Center, Winamp or whatever desktop player you use and enjoy the arty goodness.
Rick Broida, Lifehacker associate editor, finally wrangled his own MP3 collection into submission after years of disarray. His special feature, Alpha Geek, appears every Monday. Subscribe to the Alpha Geek feed to get new installments in your newsreader.
If you're tired of bloated software slowing down Windows XP, check out tech blogger Matt Thompson's list of "lightweight" alternatives.
Categories include anti-virus utilities, media players, PDF readers and instant-messaging clients. Interestingly, all of the nearly two dozen programs listed are open-source freeware or open-source, so they won't cost you a penny. We've seen plenty of sites that list open-source substitutes for popular Windows apps, but never one focused exclusively on lightening Windows' memory load. Granted, there's a lot of crossover here, and the author doesn't provide any actual data to prove these are "lighter" apps, but it's still an interesting perspective and a useful collection.
Yet another fabulous use for Firefox's keyword bookmark feature: bypass a username and password authentication web page and automatically log in with a keyword and your password in the Firefox address bar.
The Republic of Geektronica weblog explains that once your keyword is set up:
To login, you'll go to the address bar (Ctrl+L is the keyboard shortcut), type the keyword, space, and your password. Your password will appear in the address bar while you type, so this is only a good idea if no one will see you type it.
This trick requires that your passwords are saved in Firefox, and like Geektronica says, since your passwords aren't obscured by asterisks, it's not something you'd want to do in front of anyone else. It's no secret we're in love with Firefox quick searches here (check out some of my aging favorites and Adam's keyword navigation hacks), and this is yet another sweet addition to the mouseless Firefox arsenal.
It's getting easier to test-drive Linux distros. First came the Windows installer for Ubuntu; now there's a similar (and even easier) option for Debian.
Just head to the "Debian-Installer Loader" project site (check out the amusing URL) and click the provided link to run the installer. In a few moments it'll ask to reboot your PC, at which point you'll be given the option to run Windows or Debian. Choose the latter and you're off to the races. As with the Ubuntu installer, this one leaves your system otherwise intact; it's like booting with a live CD (just without the CD). This is a great solution for systems that lack a CD drive, users who don't know how to burn CDs or anyone who simply wants to check out Debian without the hassle of partitions, dual-boot configurations, etc.
Sometimes it seems like Windows users get all the open-source and freeware love. Maybe that's why tech blog JakeJarvis.com compiled a list of 10 must-have freebies for the Mac set.
Aimed more at Mac newcomers than seasoned pros, the list includes everything from the VLC media player to the Parallels-like OS emulator Q. Make sure to peruse the site's comments for a few other worthwhile freebies suggested by readers. (Meanwhile, feel free to add your own in our comments area.) This is a nice companion to The best 20 Mac apps you've never heard of, especially if you're new to Macs.
Studying for a test? You can't beat flashcards for help with memorization. Memorizable.org combines tables and wikis to let you create web-based flashcards.
Using simple wiki markup language, you build a table containing the items you need to memorize: words and definitions, flags of various countries, music notation and so on. You're not limited to text; tables can include graphics as well. Once you've built your table, you can quiz yourself on the questions or the answers, using either a flashcard or match-game method.
This is one busy site--a little confusing at first, especially if you've never worked with wikis before. But once you learn the ropes (everything is spelled out pretty clearly), you're sure to find this a killer memorization tool. In the meantime, don't miss Quizlet, another great study aid. Thanks, Craig!
AOL's Home site has added home-improvement videos starring Eric Stromer, host of TLC's Clean Sweep.
Stromer shows you how to build toy-storage benches, picnic tables, tree swings and more; how to make new furniture look antique; and much more. It also includes home-improvement tips from Stromer and ideas submitted by other users. Once nice extra is that each how-to video includes detailed plans you can print, so you don't have to constantly rewatch the video. I particularly liked Stromer's inclusion of handyman tips within the videos, like how to avoid kickback when using a circular saw. If you're into DIY home improvement, you'll definitely want to pay this site a visit.
When you're upgrading your PC to Windows Vista this week and you're missing hardware drivers, check out RadarSync's collection of Vista drivers, compiled in one place for your download pleasure.
Windows Vista is better than you'll expect at finding drivers for your obscure whoozywhatsit card, but this bookmark's a good one to have, just in case.
27 TIPS FOR TELECONFERENCING — Whether you call them conference calls or telecons or excruciatingly dull time-wasters, multi-participant phone conversations are as important to most web workers as email. If you can't meet face to face or arrange video conferencing, the conference call is the next best thing.
Source: Web Worker Daily
Author: Anne Zelenka
Link: http://webworkerdaily.com/2007/01/28/27-tips-for…
Announcing the Media 2.0 Workgroup … The term "Web 2.0" has become a little worn out lately, but it has had an important and dramatic effect on our industry. It has spurred innovation, driven investment and ignited the imagination of the entrepreneurial community.
Source: Are You Paying Attention?
Author: Chris
Link: http://www.touchstonelive.com/blog/2007/01/announcing…
Verizon rejected Apple iPhone deal — NEW YORK — Verizon Wireless, the No. 2 U.S. cellphone carrier, passed on the chance to be the exclusive distributor of the iPhone almost two years ago, balking at Apple's rich financial terms and other demands. — Among other things …
Source: USA Today
Link: http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2007-01-28-verizon…
Ever had a PDF document that you needed to read, but was protected by a pesky password? Digital Inspiration has you covered. Now none of us endorse breaking passwords in ways that violate copyrights and so on, DI posits a plausible scenario: "Say one of your former colleague created some critical sales reports in PDF format but he is not working with the company anymore. In his absence, you have no option but to crack the PDF password in order to open, read or print these PDF files." Ah, yes, the good old departed, paranoid colleague. The guide covers how to copy or print PDFs that restrict such activities and how to use password recovery tools to ferret out that password--just hope your colleague used a simple password or it's bound to take awhile.
The Top 100 Alternative Search Engines — Written by Charles S. Knight, SEO, and edited by Richard MacManus. The Top 100 is listed at the end of the analysis. — Ask anyone which search engine they use to find information on the Internet and they will almost certainly reply: "Google."
Source: Read/WriteWeb
Author: Richard MacManus
Link: http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives…
Gizmo, now making browser based phone calls — Update: The service is still not publicly available and is protected right now. Don't try your Gizmo username or password - this is a seperate combo, which only company officials are privy to. More updates to follow.
Source: GigaOM
Author: Om Malik
Link: http://gigaom.com/2007/01/29/gizmo-now-making-browser…
Microsoft: Forget about PayPal; how about a MasterCard killer? — Ever since PayPal burst on to the scene, the Nostradamus types have been predicting one PayPal killer after another. First it was "e-gold," then Western Union, then C2IT (by Citibank), then Google.
Source: Ars Technica
Author: Ken Fisher
Link: http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070128-8718…
A Second Life for MTV … Lounging by a bright blue pool, Kyndra and Cami, stars of MTV's hit reality show Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County, chat with a bunch of other teenagers. Kyndra's white bikini shows off an artificially enhanced figure, while Cami's dark skin glows against an unnaturally bright blue sky.
Source: Wired News
Author: Mark Wallace
Link: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/15.02/mtv.html
One Paper Hopes Fans of Politics Will Pay Up — Part of the news media's job is to make information from people in high places more accessible to the masses. Now one newspaper has decided to restrict access to its own content, and it hopes to make some money by doing so.
Source: New York Times
Author: Maria Aspan
Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/29/business/media…
Why can't we live in a magical world where the document you email on this end can be opened on the other end, regardless of whether the recipient runs MS Word or OpenOffice or any other standards based word processor? Want to know a secret? We could. ODF, the Open Document Format is an XML based file format designed to do just that. Microsoft claims they can't guarantee ODF can handle the full and rich feature set available in MS Word, and have balked several times at making Word fully compatible with the open format. In fact, Mike Champion, of Microsoft's XML team says "there is not an official standard for one that represents all the features supported in the MS Office binary formats and can be efficiently loaded and processed without major redesign of MS Office." In line with that logic, Microsoft has pr oposed yet another document standard which would be incompatible with ODF, ECMA 376.
Developers at the Open Document Foundation have managed to prove Microsoft wrong. They've released a plugin for MS Word versions 97-2007 which allows Word to open and save in the ".acme" format, an ODF compatible format which can retain all the information contained in any ".doc" file, without losing formatting and, more importantly, without a "major redesign of MS Office." They've essentially destroyed Microsoft's argument as to why they can't fully support ODF, and in the process given us the basis for a universally compatible document format with actual working support across platforms.
You can download the "Acme 376 Compatibility Kit" from the Open Document Foundation and, if you're not cross-eyed from the long and tedious explanation of why we don't live in a universally compatible world, you can re ad more on this nerdy but uniquely important battle in several places around the web.
After the recent acquisition from Yahoo!, I only just got around to checking out MyBlogLog (My profile shows me registering on 1/26/2007).
These days, most social services integrate with the Flickr API, so I thought nothing of it when I saw that I could set that up. However, according to a post on Mashable!, it looks like this is a shiny new feature (we love those here).
Further investig ation finds a post on the MyBlogLog blog where the developers announce this new way of adding pictures to your profile.
The Mashable post gets into additional thoughts for Yahoo! property integration - Yahoo! IDs is a given, and del.icio.us makes sense also. I'd also like to add Yahoo! 360 - for those of us that use it, it'd be nice to incorporate the MyBlogLog tracking into the 'official' blogging service from 'Big Daddy'.
If you already use MyBlogLog, we'd love to see you in our Community.
If profit isn't your motive, then swapping pirated music, movies and software via P2P isn't illegal. That's what a high court in Italy ruled last month, marking yet another blow for enforcement efforts by the recording, software and motion picture industry trade groups.
According to the Associated Press, "The court's decision [...] overturns earlier convictions against two former Turin Polytechnic Institute students who set up in 1994 a peer-to-peer, file-sharing network that was shut down within months." The students were each sentenced to one year in jail, which had already been reduced to 3 months upon appeal, a point which this ruling makes moot.
The ruling does not have any effect on the legality of v iolating the terms of copyright within the country, but does appear to decriminalize the act of file-sharing in and of itself.
Good news if you're creating original content which is popular on YouTube. According to co-founder Chad Hurley, YouTube will soon be offering a revenue share to creators of popular videos. The BBC reports, "The system would be rolled out in a couple of months, [...] and use a mixture of adverts, including short clips shown ahead of the actual film." Revenue sharing will only be available for non-copyright infringing videos, and its unclear exactly how much money per video play will be offered.
Now the debate begins; Will YouTube users leave in droves once they're forced to sit through advertising? Will bright, independent content creators work harder to impress now that money, not just temporary Internet fame, is involved? With mu ch discussion going on around Download Squad this week about abandoning your TV, how television as we know it is doomed, and YouTube's pilot to push ads on major label music videos, are we really witnessing the birth-cry of a full scale television revolution?
Written by Jitendra Gupta of KarmaWeb and edited by Richard MacManus
On the internet it is easy to pretend to be somebody else. Don't like your name, adopt a new one. Don't like the way you look, Photoshop your picture. Think you are too young or too old, select a new age. How is anybody going to find out anyway? As the now classic cartoon goes: On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog.
With the growing popularity of online dating, more and more people are asking: how do I know you are who you say you are? Also with the popularity of online peer-to-peer transactions, like the ones at Craigslist or eBay, it is more important then ever to establish that both parties are reliable. But how does one establish trust in an environment where it is easy to pretend? One way to do it is to share personal information, that can help the other party establish that you are indeed who you say you are. The problem with such an approach is that the information you give may be abused.
This problem has spawned a number of identity verification services. These services provide a verification-chain framework to both parties, while protecting sensitive information. These services typically work as follows:
These services provide value by acting as a mediator in an identity transaction. They create trust by certifying that the user is indeed the person he/she claims to be, without disclosing sensitive information about the user to the other party.
There are a number of players in this space. The main ones are Trufina, Opinity and Idology. Over the course of last year most of these services have announced new partnerships with popular dating sites, and some eCommerce and social networking sites.
Trufina joined up with dating sites HonestyFirst.com and Loveaccess.com.
Opinity Inc. announced partnerships with Social-networking site GoingOn.com, Classified site Edgeio.com and Technology news site CNET.com.
IDology Inc. announced agreements with Michigan State Liquor Control Commission, Platform Shoes Forum (a national nonprofit that runs Zoeys Room - for age verifications at the point of sign-up, to help shield their members from online predators) and WineWeb (to perform electronic age verification on direct wine shipments at the point of sale, on a State by State basis).
A couple of other services in the space are RapLeaf and iKarma. These services rely on transaction history (RapLeaf) or explicit recommendation and testimonials (iKarma) to evaluate the reliability and trustworthiness of an individual. All of these services provide tight integration at the point of transaction.
While these companies provide a valuable service, their penetration outside the online dating space seems to be somewhat limited. Let's look at the potential issues with such services.
One of the main issues is that identity validation services rely on public records. These services typically ask users to provide some personal information, based on which they access public records available for that person. These services then challenge the users to answer questions, based on the information in these public records. If the user answers these questions correctly (i.e. the answers match the information available in public records), the user is considered verified.
All of the public records are available online for everybody to search and see. Check out Intelius and do a search on your name, to access a number of these public records (you will need to pay to download all your records, but search and superficial results are free... and beware, you might find information about yourself that you did not think was public!). Now, if somebody wanted to pretend to be another person, wouldn't access to all these public records provide enough information to answer the challenge questions correctly? How can we really know that the person is indeed authentic based on such a validation?
Given that such validations cannot be 100% reliable, users can rely on the signaling associated with creating a validated profile. A validated profile can signal to other users that this user is validated and so takes his/her identity seriously. On the other hand, it could also signal that the user is trying hard to come across as authentic! In any case, one way to provide the best signaling is for a site to mandate a verified identity as a part of their terms of service - although this extra effort will surely cause some users to shun the service.
The ability to establish the identity of a person on the internet is absolutely crucial in a number of social and financial interactions. There are quite a few companies trying to provide services, to establish user identity and thereby generate trust in transactions. While these services fill an important void in order to facilitate online transactions, there is still a lot of room for improvement.
Written by Charles S. Knight, SEO, and edited by Richard MacManus. The Top 100 is listed at the end of the analysis.
Ask anyone which search engine they use to find information on the Internet and they will almost certainly reply: "Google." Look a little further, and market research shows that people actually use four main search engines for 99.99% of their searches: Google, Yahoo!, MSN, and Ask.com (in that order). But in my travels as a Search Engine Optimizer (SEO), I have discovered that in that .01% lies a vast multitude of the most innovative and creative search engines you have never seen. So many, in fact, that I have had to limit my list of the very best ones to a mere 100.
But it's not just the sheer number of them that makes them worthy of attention; each one of these search engines has that standard "About Us" link at the bottom of the homepage. I call it the "why we're better than Google" page. And after reading dozens and dozens of these pages, I have come to the conclusion that, taken as a whole, they are right!
In order to address their claims systematically, it helps to group them into categories and then compare them to their Google counterparts. For example, let's look at the first thing that almost everyone sees when they go to search the Internet - the ubiquitous Google homepage. That famously sparse, clean sheet of paper with the colorful Google logo is the most popular Web page in the entire World Wide Web. For millions and millions of Internet users, that Spartan white page IS the Internet.
Google has successfully made their site the front door through which everyone passes in order to access the Internet. But staring at an almost blank sheet of paper has become, well, boring. Take Ms. Dewey for example. While some may object to her sultry demeanor, it's pretty hard to deny that interfacing with her is far more visually appealing than with an inert white screen.
A second example comes from Simply Google. Instead of squeezing through the keyhole in order to reach Google's 37 search options, Simply Google places all of those choices and many, many more all on the very first page; neatly arranged in columns.
A second arena is sometimes referred to as Natural Language Processing (NLP), or Artificial Intelligence (AI). It is the desire we all have of wanting to ask a search engine questions in everyday sentences, and receive a human-like answer (remember "Good Morning, HAL"?). Many of us remember Ask Jeeves, the famous butler, which was an early attempt in this direction - that unfortunately failed.
Google's approach, Google Answers, was to enlist a cadre of "experts." The concept was that you would pose a question to one of these experts, negotiate a price for an answer, and then pay up when it was found and delivered. It was such a failure, Google had to cancel the whole program. Enter ChaCha. With ChaCha, you can pose any question that you wish, click on the "Search With Guide" button, and a ChaCha Guide appears in a Chat box and dialogues with you until you find what you are looking for. There's no time limit, and no fee.
Perhaps Google's most glaring and egregious shortcoming is their insistence on displaying the outcome of a search in an impossibly long, one-dimensional list of results. We all intuitively know that the World Wide Web is just that, a three dimensional (or "3-D") web of interconnected Web pages. Several search engines, known as clustering engines, routinely present their search results on a two-dimensional map that one can navigate through in search of the best answer. Search engines like KartOO and Quintura are excellent examples.
Another promising category is the recommendation search engines. While Google essentially helps you to find what you already know (you just can't find it), recommendation engines show you a whole world of things that you didn't even know existed. Check out What to Rent, Music Map, or the stunning Live Plasma display. When you input a favorite movie, book, or artist, they recommend to you a world of titles or similar artists that you may never have heard of, but would most likely enjoy.
Next we come to the metasearch engines. When you perform a search on Google, the results that you get are all from, well, Google! But metasearch engines have been around for years. They allow you to search not only Google, but a variety of other search engines too - in one fell swoop. There are many search engines that can do this, Dogpile, for instance, searches all of the "big four" mentioned above (Google, Yahoo!, MSN, and Ask) simultaneously. You could also try Zuula or PlanetSearch - which plows through 16 search engines at a time for you. A very interesting site to watch is GoshMe. Instead of searching an incredible number of Web pages, like conventional search engines, GoshMe searches for search engines (or databases) that each tap into an incredible number of Web pages. As I perceive it, GoshMe is a meta-metasearch engine (still in Beta)!
And so it goes, feature after feature after feature. TheFind is a better shopping experience than Google's Froogle, IMHO. Like is a true visual search engine, unlike Google's Images, which just matches your keywords into images that have been tagged with those same keywords. Coming soon is Mobot (see the Demo at www.mobot.com). Google Mobile does let you perform a search on your mobile phone, but check out the Slifter Mobile Demo when you get a chance!
Finally, almost prophetically, Google is silent. Silent! At least Speeglebot talks to you, and Nayio listens! But of course, why should Google worry about these upstarts (all 100 of them)? Aren't they just like flies buzzing around an elephant? Can't Google just ignore them, as their share of the search market continues to creep upwards towards 100%, or perhaps just buy them? Perhaps.
Issac Asimov, the preeminent science fiction writer of our time, once said that his favorite story, by far, was The Last Question. The question, for those who have not read it, is "Can Entropy Be Reversed?" That is, can the ultimate running down of all things, the burning out of all stars (or their collapse) be stopped - or is it hopelessly inevitable?
The question for this age, I submit, is. "Can Google Be Defeated"? Or is Google's mission "to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful" a fait accompli?
Perhaps the place to start is by reading (or re-reading) Asimov's "The Last Question." I won't give it away, but it does suggest The Answer..
Charles Knight is the Principal of Charles Knight SEO, a Search Engine Optimization company in Charlottesville, VA.
For an Excel spreadsheet of the entire Top 100 Alternative Search Engines, go to: http://charlesknightseo.com/list.aspx or email the author at Charles@CharlesKnightSEO.com.
This list is in alphabetical order. Feel free to share this list, but please retain Charles' name and email.
| A9 | www.A9.com | |
| AOL | www.aol.com | |
| AURA! | http://aura.research.microsoft.com | |
| blinkx | www.blinkx.com | |
| boing | www.boing.mobi | |
| bookmach.com | www.bookmach.com | |
| BOXXET | www.boxxet.com | |
| ChaCha | www.chacha.com | |
| ClipBlast! | www.clipblast.com | |
| Clusty | www.clusty.com | |
| collarity | www.collarity.com | |
| CometQ | www.cometquery.com | |
| CONGOO | www.congoo.com | |
| d e c i p h o | www.decipho.com | |
| del.icio.us | http://del.icio.us | |
| digg | www.digg.com | |
| digg labs swarm | http://labs.digg.com/swarm/ | |
| Ditto | www.ditto.com | |
| dumbfind | www.dumbfind.com | |
| exalead | www.exalead.com/search | |
| factbites | www.factbites.com | |
| fazzle | www.fazzle.com | |
| FEEDS|2.0 | www.feeds2.com | |
| Feedster | www.feedster.com | |
| FindSounds | www.findsounds.com | |
| GIGABLAST | www.gigablast.com | |
| girafa | www.girafa.com | |
| gnn o d | www.gnod.net | |
| GoDefy | www.godefy.com | |
| goshme | www.goshme.com | |
| GoYams | www.goyams.com | |
| grokker | www.grokker.com | |
| ICEROCKET | www.icerocket.com | |
| ixquick | www.ixquick.com | |
| KartOO | www.kartoo.com | |
| last.fm | www.last.fm | |
| Lexxealpha | www.lexxe.com | |
| like | www.like.com | |
| LiveDeal | www.livedeal.com | |
| liveplasma | www.liveplasma.com | |
| Local.com | www.local.com | |
| lurpo | www.lurpo.com | |
| MetaGlossary | www.metaglossary.com | |
| mnemomap | www.mnemo.org | |
| Mojeek | www.mojeek.com | |
| Mooter | www.mooter.com | |
| MrSAPO | www.mrsapo.com | |
| MS. DEWEY | www.msdewey.com | |
| nayio | www.nayio.com | |
| Octora | www.octura.com | |
| OiHoi Search | http://oihoi.com | |
| Pagebull | www.pagebull.com | |
| PlanetSearch | www.planetsearch.com | |
| pluggd | www.pluggd.com | |
| PODZINGER | www.podzinger | |
| Previewseek | www.beta.previewseek.com | |
| pronto.com | www.pronto.com | |
| QTsearch | www.qtsearch.com | |
| Quintura | www.quintura.com | |
| Releton | www.releton.com | |
| retrevo>gamma | www.retrevo.com | |
| riya | www.riya.com | |
| ROLLYO O | www.rollyo.com | |
| SearchTheWeb2 | www.searchtheweb2.com | |
| SEEQPOD | www.seeqpod.com | |
| sidekiq | www.sidekiq.com | |
| Simply Google | http://www.usabilityviews.com/simply_google.htm | |
| Singing FISH | www.singingfish.com | |
| Slideshow | http://slideshow.zmpgroup.com/ | |
| Slifter | www.slifter.com | |
| soople | www.soople.com | |
| Speegle | www.speegle.com | |
| Sphider | http://www.cs.ioc.ee/~ando/sphider/ | |
| SPURL.net | www.spurl.net | |
| S R C H R | www.srchr.com | |
| SurfWax | www.surfwax.com | |
| Swoogle | http://swoogle.umbc.edu | |
| TagJag! | www.tagjag.com | |
| thefind.com | www.thefind.com | |
| Trexy | www.trexy.com | |
| turboscout | www.turboscout.com | |
| UJIKO | www.ujiko.com | |
| url.com | www.url.com | |
| VMGO.com | www.vmgo.com | |
| Web 2.0 | www.web20searchengine.com | |
| Webaroo | www.webaroo.com | |
| WEBBRAIN | www.webbrain.com | |
| What to RENT? | www.whattorent.com | |
| whonu? | www.whonu.com | |
| WIKIO | www.wikio.com | |
| WiseNut | www.wisenut.com | |
| Yahoo! MINDSET | www.mindset.research.yahoo.com | |
| yoono | www.yoono.com | |
| yoople | www.yoople.com | |
| yubnub | www.yubnub.com | |
| YuFind | www.yufind.com | |
| ZABASEARCH | www.zabasearch.com | |
| zapmeta | www.zapmeta.com | |
| Zippy | www.zippy.co.uk | |
| ZUULA | www.zuula.com | |
In this week's R/WW poll, we're asking whether you ever fake your Web identity - or even just part of it. Note that this doesn't count times when you are anonymous on the Web (such as almost all snarky blog comments). We're specifically asking about the times when you use an identity - e.g. online dating, peer-to-peer transactions sites such as craigslist or ebay, social networking sites like MySpace and Second Life.
See Jitendra Gupta's post today, Nobody Knows You're A Dog 2.0, for more on this topic.
New Zealand is the first country to experience the worldwide consumer launch of Windows Vista on 30 January, due to its position on the timeline. New Zealanders get the opportunity to buy Windows Vista in retail stores a few hours before Australians, 13 hours before the UK and a day ahead of Americans. The 2007 Microsoft Office system is being launched at the same time.
It's about 1.30am NZ time on 30 January as I write this, so I guess some extra keen kiwi geeks will be ripping off the shrink-wrapping on their Vista OS right about now.
As Geekzone noted, the first purchase in the world of a Microsoft Windows Vista loaded PC took place in Auckland, New Zealand at one minute past midnight in the early morning of 30 January 2007. All Black Dan Carter kicked off the Vista launch by signing a laptop, which was then put up for auction for charity on Trademe (NZ's version of eBay). There are also 15 copies of Windows Vista (Ultimate) digitally signed by Bill Gates, and other items, being auctioned to raise funds for New Zealand charity Cure Kids.
Tomorrow morning I'm part of a local media contingent checking out a digital home in Wellington, New Zealand. It's a home outlayed with Microsoft technology, perhaps a bit like Bill Gates' home! I'll wait and see what it's like tomorrow morning (if I can drag myself up in time) and will write up a report later for R/WW.
Wellshpere is launching an alpha version of their wellness community site tomorrow. It joins a host of other health related search, training, and Q&A sites we’ve covered. Wellsphere is concerned with day-to-day sorts of health choices that make up “wellness”, the kind you don’t ask your doctor, but consult your peers about. Wellsphere is meant [...]
In 1993 Adobe published the full specifications for its Portable Document Format, or PDF, granting royalty free license to those who chose to build PDF tools into their applications, and helping PDF to become a de-facto standard for document creation. Tomorrow they will announce that they are relinquishing control over the PDF format to AIIM, [...]
Professional social network LinkedIn will announce a previously rumored $12.8 million round of financing on Monday, led by Bessemer and the European Founders Fund. The company, which has been profitable since March 2006, has raised $13.4 million in two previous rounds of financing, bringing the total to more than $26 million. The company had something [...]
In December I noted that using a Flash interface allowed a little known custom casino chip maker called thechiplab to offer far more powerful schwag design tools than the heavily funded Zazzle and CafePress. My post didn’t serve as much of a wakeup call - those guys still have design tools stuck in the 90’s (although [...]
