Web Nectar

Start.io delivers a customizable start page engine

2009-03-24T14:26:00.001-07:00

Start.io is an engine for creating customized start pages, with the added bonus of letting you know when your favorite sites have updated. It comes equipped with a drag-and-droppable interface for adjusting and grouping your links, and several nice-looking preloaded layouts to choose from. On top of that, the CSS is entirely customizable, so you can modify existing layouts, or build your own from scratch.

The first thing I wondered about Start.io was why it just lets you know that one of your links has updated, instead of using RSS to show you exactly what the updates were. The answer (explained on the about page) makes a lot of sense: you don't come to your start page when you want to read a bunch of RSS feeds. You go there when you want to click through to the sites themselves, not Google Reader or your standalone RSS app. If you want an RSS reader as your start page, there are other services you can check out, but I haven't see a complete start page engine like Start.io anywhere else.

What's your start page? Do you like Start.io, or do you have a better alternative? Let us know in the comments.

Google introduces better related terms and longer snippets

2009-03-24T14:26:00.000-07:00

We report on a lot of new software and projects from Google, so sometimes it's easy to take it for granted that search is still one of the things they do best. Google searches just got even better, too, with useful improvements to the way the search engine finds related concepts and an increase in the length of search result "snippets" for longer searches.

Longer snippets are something I've wanted for a long time. I hate it when I get really close to finding the entirety of the information I need without actually having to click through to a result, but the snippet comes up one word short. That frustration should be greatly decreased with longer snippets that attempt to show more of your search terms together. This new feature kicks in when your search contains 4 or more words.

The improvements to related terms mean that Google can now more accurately suggest other searches that relate to your search terms. The example they give is searching for principles of physics, which now suggests searches for things like quantum mechanics, special relativity and the big bang. This should make narrowing down your results and finding what you want on Google even easier.

Grotrian Pianolina - Time Waster

2009-03-24T14:25:00.001-07:00

Download Squad is a strange place to read about German piano builders, but when their site has a time waster as good as this one, we can't ignore it. I don't know whether Grotrian makes good pianos, but I know that their Pianolina game is a great way to kill some time. It's a sort of open-ended music composition toy, where different colored blocks represent different notes that sound when they bounce off a wall or another block.

To get you started, the Pianolina has a few pre-programmed compositions by the likes of Beethoven and Satie. These quickly go awry, though, when things inevitably start bumping into one another. If you let them play long enough, you wouldn't recognize the melodies anymore. When you switch to compose mode, and start experimenting with your own composition, half the fun is in hearing it gradually break down. Pianolina may be a time waster, but at least it's a creative one.

Hulu plans to go international

2009-03-24T14:25:00.000-07:00

Online video site Hulu has become one of the most popular video portals in the internet over the past year. It showcases high quality content from major television and film studios with fewer commercials than you'd see if you watched the same programs on TV. But Hulu has faced one major hurdle: The company doesn't have deals in place to distribute that content outside of the US, which is why international users are typically met with a message telling them that videos aren't available when they visit the site.

Hulu's been planning to go global for a while now, but it looks like the company could be a bit closer. PaidContent reports that the company has hired a new vice president to oversee international operations.

It seems likely that one of the first areas outside the US that Hulu will be available will be the UK. What I'd love to see is a reciprocal relationship, where in addition to streaming US content to British viewers, Hulu could work out a deal to distribute BBC content in the US.

PirateBay's IPREDATOR VPN service to debut on April 1

2009-03-24T14:24:00.000-07:00

It's no April Fools' prank. On April 1st - the same day that Sweden's Draconian new intellectual property legislation (IPRED) goes into effect - the Pirate Bay will debut their new IPREDATOR VPN service.

Where IPRED aims to make it easier for copyright holders to get their hands on ISP log files to investigate suspected transgressors. With IPREDATOR, a user can give "the man" a swift kick in his digital groin and sneak away unscathed while he's doubled over in agony.

No log files are maintained, and all traffic is tunneled, making it more difficult to track activity to a specific user.

Initially, the service will be opened to a select group of 500 testers. Once the kinks have been worked out, IPREDATOR will be available world-wide for a modest 5 Euro monthly fee.

Those who are interested and want to roll the dice in hopes of getting in early can register for the beta at ipredator.se.

[via TorrentFreak]

Drop.io launches Conference.io real-time collaboration in 2 clicks

2009-03-24T14:23:00.001-07:00

Last week file sharing service drop.io launched a new real-time feature that allow users to chat with one another at a drop site. Today the company is fleshing out the real-time features by adding support for free conference calls. This means you can set up a virtual space for a conference at a moment's notice, chat with participants, talk on the phone, record or listen to voicemails, and share files all from one location.

Here's how it works. Just hop on over to conference.io and name your chat room. If you want to add any files you can do it here, but you don't have to. Click the drop it button and you're good to go. You can set an administrator password for the room, but again you don't have to.

Conference.io isn't the first service available that lets you set up a web-based chat room in a matter of seconds. But it's the first one that I'm aware of that also supports file uploads, embedding images in chat, and telephone conference calling.

Zinc Beta 3 is a better multimedia web browser

2009-03-24T14:23:00.000-07:00

Zinc is a full screen browser for internet video. But that description doesn't really do the application justice. Basically, it allows you to watch internet video on your television screen using a remote control almost as easily as a keyboard and mouse. You know, a lot like Boxee. But there's one major thing setting Zinc apart from Boxee: Zinc is based on Firefox. And that's going to make it awfully hard for content partners to detect whether you're using Zinc or Firefox, which means it'll be a lot harder for companies like Hulu to ask Zeevee (the makers of Zinc) to block access.

Zinc started out its life as the interface for a hardware set top box that ZeeVee wanted to charge $499 for. That business model didn't really pan out, so the company split is focus and started working on a $2500 enterrprise hardware solution that lets companies like hotels stream HD content throughout the building and the free Zinc media browser.

Version 3 which came out today has a smoother interface, more detailed information about videos and channels, and content from new sources including The CW, Revision3, and Netflix. You can either install Zinc as a standalone application or download and install a Firefox extension that will let you launch the Zinc interface from within Firefox 3.

Right now Zinc is Windows only, but a Mac version is due out next month.

[via NewTeeVee]

Get the best deals on eBooks with ebookprice.info

2009-03-24T14:22:00.001-07:00

When you walk into a bricks and mortar book store, you can either pay the price the company is asking for the books, or decide that you can get a better deal and walk away. On the internet, you can just shop around from the comfort of your desk chair until you find the best price and click buy. But there's an even faster way.

Ebookprice.info is a web site that finds prices for a handful of popular eBook stories including Amazon, eBooks.com, and Powell's. I'll be honest. The web site is ugly. But it's functional. In a quick scan, I've found several titles that are going for $7.99 in one store and over $16 in another.

[via jkOnTheRun]

Lifehacker's Better Gmail scripts come to Google Chrome

2009-03-24T14:22:00.000-07:00

Since I wrote a post about ten great Firefox userscripts, I've been excited to see how user scripting is progressing for other browsers. Apparently, in the case of Chrome, it's come along far enough that Lifehacker's insanely popular Better Gmail script collection now has a Chrome version. Many Gmail addicts swear by these, so this could make the difference in choosing a browser for some.

So, what's better about Better Gmail? You can hide the stuff you're not using, including chat and the unread spam message count. You get handy visual touches like highlighting a row when you hover over it, and showing icons for attachment types without having to open a message. You can also use labels as folders, sub-folders included. These sound like small improvements, but you'd miss them if you didn't have them. Now users of one more popular browser don't have to worry about that.

Redlasso rises from the ashes, set to offer TV clips from Fox

2009-03-24T14:21:00.001-07:00

Redlasso is a company that made a big splash last year by offering bloggers and web publishers the chance to find and embed television clips on their web sites. And then it was hit by lawsuits from NBC and FOX and it sort of faded away into oblivion.

Now Redlasso says the suits have been settled and the company has reached an agreement with Fox News Corp to distribute clips from local Fox affiliate stations. Clips from local news reports and other content will be available. And Redlasso will split advertising revenue with Fox.

It's interesting that Redlasso will be providing local content and not material from FOX's national programming. Techcrunch infers that this means the relationship is a trial run. It could also be an attempt to figure out a new way to monetize local news content at a time when local news outlets are having a hard time keeping afloat.

[via Business Insider]

Mozilla unveils "cognitive shield" new tab concept for Firefox

2009-03-24T14:21:00.000-07:00

When you open a new tab in Firefox 3.0 you see a blank page. Mozilla has been working on ways to make that page more useful for a few weeks now. Mozilla isn't the first company to rethink the blank window. Opera has offered a "speed dial" feature with user-customizable thumbnails for your favorite web sites for a while. And Google Chrome automatically generates thumbnails from your most frequently visited pages.

But Mozilla doesn't just want to give you quick access to the sites you visit most. The team also wants to make sure the new tab area isn't too distracting. And that's led to a completely new concept that the developers are calling a "cognitive shield."

What happens is that Firefox will keep track of your recently and frequently visited pages. But instead of showing you a list of links or thumbnails every time you open a new tab, Firefox will show you a dull gray set of icons for those pages. If you type an address or search term into the location bar, you'll never see anything other than this unremarkable list of icons. But if you scroll your mouse over the page it will expand into a colorful list of web sites and favicons.

Unlike Opera's speed dial, the Firefox bookmarks are automatically generated. But unlike Google Chrome's thumbnails, you can add or remove links from the Firefox new tab page. You can also disable this behavior by clicking the asterisk in the bottom left corner of the screen.

In order to try out this concept design, you'll need to have the most recent beta version of Firefox 3.1 and then you can download and install the New Tab prototype add-on. Eventually this feature or one very much like it could find its way into a future version of Firefox.

Qimo Linux teaches kids to be penguins from an early age

2009-03-24T14:20:00.000-07:00

Want your kid to love Linux as much as you do, but worried that he or she might be learning too much about Windows and OS X on the streets (or at school) to feel comfortable with an open source operating system? Qimo is here to help.

Qimo Linux is based on Ubuntu, but it's designed for children over the age of 3. It features large cartoon-like program icons and comes with a bunch of open source and educational games including Tuxmath, Tuxpaint, Tuxtype (a typing game) and even some games that don't have Tux in them like GCompris and Childsplay.

Unlike Edubuntu, Qimo is designed for home use, not classroom use. The operating system can be run from a LiveCD or installed. Qimo uses a simple interface based on Xfce.

[via instant fundas]

Box.net launches full text-search

2009-03-24T12:33:00.001-07:00

Content storage and collaboration solution, Box.net, has really been on a tear with new and enhanced features. In the last two months, the service has launched enhanced collaboration tools and a web-based word processor; today, they add another new feature: full-text search!

Now, Box.net Business customers can search the full text of PDF, TXT, CSV, Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and Excel files and Box Web Documents. The new search feature will also scan any file descriptions added by users, which is great for more generic documents that might be tagged for something more specific. According to Box, they've already tested the new search feature with one customer who has more than 300,000 documents, and the results have been great.

When I talked to Box last month, it was clear that the company's focus is really on building tools for small and large businesses. Having used Box to share and collaborate with some of my fellow Weblogs bloggers, that focus really comes through in the actual service itself.

With full-text search, Box is really making the argument for businesses to move their file systems online or over to Box, without having to pay for something like Microsoft SharePoint. And because you can access the documents from anywhere, this is a really nice solution for telecommuting employees or businesses with multiple locations.

Last.fm to charge international users a subscription fee

2009-03-24T12:33:00.000-07:00

Online music streaming service Last.fm is about to begin charging users in all but three countries a subscription. If you don't live in the US, UK, or Germany, you'll be able to listen to up to 30 tracks as part of a free trial. after that, you'll need to shell out €3.00 each month to use the service.

Last.fm, which is owned by CBS works with thousands of musicians, labels, and others to secure the rights to stream music in the US and internationally. But either Last.fm is getting greedy, or someone at the company realized that the cost of streaming music and paying for license fees in all of those countries was too high and Last.fm needs to find some way to pay its bills.

Last.fm competitor Pandora pulled the plug on all of its international streams in 2007 and 2008.

[via Mashable]

The Windows 7 UI changes that Microsoft discarded

2009-03-24T12:32:00.001-07:00

Windows 7 has a shiny new user interface that aims to make it easier to accomplish tasks on your computer without getting distracted by all the eye candy. But before settling on the new Windows taskbar, Aero Peek feature and other design elements, Microsoft considered a number of other possibilities. TechRadar has a look at some of them.

For instance, an early toolbar design had a taskbar with thumbnails of running programs instead of icons and pop up menus. But the icons were too small to be usable. Another version used a "Bat Signal" because when you scrolled your mouse over an icon the full window would open on the desktop, and a spotlight would shine up from the taskbar at it.

You can find more early ideas for Windows 7 at TechRadar.

Start.io delivers a customizable start page engine

2009-03-24T12:32:00.000-07:00

Google introduces better related terms and longer snippets

2009-03-24T12:31:00.001-07:00

Grotrian Pianolina - Time Waster

2009-03-24T12:31:00.000-07:00

Hulu plans to go international

2009-03-24T12:30:00.001-07:00

PirateBay's IPREDATOR VPN service to debut on April 1

2009-03-24T12:30:00.000-07:00

Drop.io launches Conference.io real-time collaboration in 2 clicks

2009-03-24T12:29:00.000-07:00

Zinc Beta 3 is a better multimedia web browser

2009-03-24T12:28:00.000-07:00

Get the best deals on eBooks with ebookprice.info

2009-03-24T12:27:00.000-07:00

Lifehacker's Better Gmail scripts come to Google Chrome

2009-03-24T12:26:00.001-07:00

Redlasso rises from the ashes, set to offer TV clips from Fox

2009-03-24T12:26:00.000-07:00

Mozilla unveils "cognitive shield" new tab concept for Firefox

2009-03-24T12:25:00.000-07:00

Qimo Linux teaches kids to be penguins from an early age

2009-03-24T12:24:00.001-07:00

Find local food in season with the Locavore iPhone app

2009-03-24T12:24:00.000-07:00

There are lots of iPhone apps that help you find nearby places to eat or shop, but Locavore offers a totally different twist. It tells you which foods are in season and available locally, and also helps you find farmers' markets where you can pick them up. It also links to information and recipes for each of the ingredients in its database.

The search is by state, so some of the markets that come up might not be as close as you'd like. On the plus side, Locavore does use the iPhone's location features to show the closest markets first. If you're a serious foodie, Locavore looks like the app you want in your pocket when you plan a shopping trip. The pricetag is a reasonable $3.

Vuze adds remote playback support for videos on iPod, consoles

2009-03-24T12:23:00.001-07:00

You're probably using a bittorrent client to download the occasional movie or episode of The Office by now. If you're looking to make the process of going from torrents to remote viewing a little more hassle-free, you might want to take a look at the newest version of Vuze. After conducting a user poll, it was clear that Vuze users wanted easier access to their downloads on devices like the iPod Touch, PS3, and Xbox 360.

The development team has delivered, with beta support for those devices. Turn on device support, and adding a file to iTunes requires only a simple click-and-drag - Vuze takes care of conversion. PS3 and Xbox users, your content is automatically ready to stream from your desktop to your console.

CEO Gilles BianRosa states in the official blog post that "Vuze has always supported open platforms and technologies, and we've designed our device support to embrace as many of the devices you asked for, as possible. Expect more to follow soon." Based on the results of the poll, Wii users should be next in line.

Device support makes Vuze a very compelling option for media-heavy torrent downloaders, especially less technically savvy types that don't want to be bothered with having to convert files after downloading.

To try it out, grab the new version from Vuze's download page.

[via TorrentFreak]

ScreenToaster adds support for YouTube uploads, MOV downloads

2009-03-24T12:23:00.000-07:00

ScreenToaster is a web-based screencasting utility. You just fire up the web page, hit record, and ScreenToaster launches a Java applet that lets you record audio and video of anything happening on your desktop. It's great for recording tutorials, presentations, or showing off your video game skills to friends.

Today the ScreenToaster team launched a few updates that make the service even more useful. First, users can now automatically upload HD screencasts directly to YouTube from ScreenToaster.com. Second, you can download videos in MOV format for editing on your desktop.

There's also a new beta API available that lets web publishers incorporate ScreenToaster with their web sites. You can let your visitors record and publish videos directly on your site using the API.

These are just the latest new features. ScreenToaster also recently added the ability to download SWF files, set privacy levels, and share videos via email, social networking sites, or social bookmarking pages.

Use Google Voice with your own phone number? Not yet, but maybe soon

2009-03-24T12:22:00.000-07:00

Google Voice, or the service formerly known as GrandCentral, assigns users a single phone number that you can give out to friends, colleagues, enemies, or just about anybody else. You can then link that number to your existing phone lines so that when a user calls it will ring your home, work, and/or cellphone. You can set permissions so that calls from some numbers will always go straight to voicemail. And you can get text transcriptions of voicemails emailed to you.

There's just one problem - you have to give everybody a new phone number. To date there's been no way to make your current number the primary number for Google Voice or GrandCentral. But it looks like that feature could be coming soon.

In the Google Voice help section, there's an area labeled "Porting your number." Unfortunately, right now the page says that you can't actually do this... yet. But it does state that Google is looking into this option and the company is asking for feedback. So if you like the idea of using Google Voice but don't like the idea of reprinting your business cards, go ahead and send Googel a note to let them know what you think.

[via Lifehacker]

Google introduces better related terms and longer snippets

2009-03-24T10:35:00.001-07:00

Grotrian Pianolina - Time Waster

2009-03-24T10:35:00.000-07:00

Hulu plans to go international

2009-03-24T10:34:00.000-07:00

PirateBay's IPREDATOR VPN service to debut on April 1

2009-03-24T10:33:00.001-07:00

Drop.io launches Conference.io real-time collaboration in 2 clicks

2009-03-24T10:33:00.000-07:00

Zinc Beta 3 is a better multimedia web browser

2009-03-24T10:32:00.001-07:00

Get the best deals on eBooks with ebookprice.info

2009-03-24T10:32:00.000-07:00

Lifehacker's Better Gmail scripts come to Google Chrome

2009-03-24T10:31:00.000-07:00

Redlasso rises from the ashes, set to offer TV clips from Fox

2009-03-24T10:30:00.001-07:00

Mozilla unveils "cognitive shield" new tab concept for Firefox

2009-03-24T10:30:00.000-07:00

Qimo Linux teaches kids to be penguins from an early age

2009-03-24T10:29:00.001-07:00

Find local food in season with the Locavore iPhone app

2009-03-24T10:29:00.000-07:00

Vuze adds remote playback support for videos on iPod, consoles

2009-03-24T10:28:00.001-07:00

ScreenToaster adds support for YouTube uploads, MOV downloads

2009-03-24T10:28:00.000-07:00

Use Google Voice with your own phone number? Not yet, but maybe soon

2009-03-24T10:27:00.000-07:00

Newssift: business-oriented news trend browser

2009-03-24T10:26:00.001-07:00

Newssift is a way to gauge the media buzz around various business topics, companies and people. It analyzes qualitative data from a whole bunch of news sources, and lets you browse stories on a subject and see if the overall media vibe is positive or negative. It strikes me as a sort of Metacritic or Rotten Tomatoes for the business world.

Newssift has a search feature, and also a list of popular topics to browse from the front page. You can combine more than one topic into a single search, and save searches if you want to keep up to date on them. Newssift also shows a breakdown of the sources on a specific topic, so you know how many stories are coming from newspapers, TV or blogs. I'm not in the financial field, so I'm not sure how useful a tool Newssift is, but it's definitely an interesting experiment.

Thomson releases mp3HD lossless codec and toolkit

2009-03-24T10:26:00.000-07:00

Lossless audio codecs (like FLAC and ALAC) have been around for a while, but Thomson's new mp3HD format might be the one that finally achieves mainstream adoption.

mp3HD has one key advantage over other lossless formats: it's fully backwards compatible, meaning you should be able to play encoded files back on any device that supports mp3.

Bitrates are similar to FLAC, ranging from 500 to 900kbps. The average bitrate for pop/top 40 music comes in at 876kbps which produces a 26mb file for a four-minute track.

One more thing mp3HD has going for it is that it utilizes something most users have grown accustomed to: the .mp3 file extension. Familiarity means a lot to the average user - try asking some of your non-techy friends what an .ogg file is. Using the extension that has become synonymous with digital audio files should improve mp3HD's chances of achieving mainstream adoption.

Thomson has also released a command line enocder and decoder for Windows and Linux, as well as a Winamp plugin for mp3HD.

Browser Ball - Time Waster

2009-03-24T10:25:00.001-07:00

Browser Ball is an experimental time-waster that lets you spawn new browser windows and throw a beach ball around them. You can set up as many new windows as you want, and the ball will bounce off their edges and cross between overlapping windows, which makes for satisfying free-form play.

The most appealing part of Browser Ball isn't the game itself, but the concept of using multiple windows to create a playing surface. Sure, you can blow off steam by bouncing a beach ball around, and it's actually kind of addictive, but this could also be a fun way to create simple environments for browser-based games. Your desktop is the playing field, and that's pretty neat.

Skype goes corporate, allows Skype calls from SIP phones

2009-03-24T10:25:00.000-07:00

Skype has launched a new beta service that allows businesses using SIP telephone systems to make and receive Skype calls on their regular telephones. No headphone and computer needed.

Skype for SIP beta works a lot like Skype, in that you can call and receive calls from other Skype users for free, and pay Skype rates to make calls to domestic and international land lines or cellphones. Customers can also purchase Skype phone numbers that people can use to call in from traditional phones.

The service is aimed at medium to large sized businesses tht use PBX phone systems with Session Initiation Protocal, or SIP. Because the service hooks right into the PBX, users will be able to use their phone hardware to do things like route calls, engage in conference calls, record calls, and record voicemail.

Web Developers: help rid the world of IE6 with a simple script

2009-03-22T13:49:00.001-07:00

Now that IE8 is here, maybe it's high time that a concerted effort was made to get rid of Internet Explorer 6 once and for all. You'd think by now that most users would have at least upgraded to IE7, but just about every Windows XP system that appears on my workbench is still running the clumsy old oaf-of-a-browser.

@staringispolite has created a simple, open source way that you can help drive the IE6 demon out of our Internet. The Google Code project is called, aptly enough, sevenup. It's inspired by both Google's effort and the movement started by a group of Norweigan websites.

It's a 1k javascript that displays a polite CSS reminder to people who visit your site using IE6 that they should seriously consider upgrading their browser to something a bit more modern. It's respectfully done, though, and includes an option for the user to dismiss the reminder and never be bothered again.

Sure, you could do this on your own from scratch, but sevenup is ready to use and easy to integrate. Do your part to save less tech-savvy web surfers from their browser!

Microsoft pokes fun at the web, acknowledges what private browsing is for

2009-03-22T13:49:00.000-07:00

Microsoft has put together a series of videos to promote the launch of Internet Explorer 8. The strategy? Poking a bit of fun at the things we spend our time doing on the internet, like looking at videos of hamsters dancing, ordering completely useless things on eBay, and replacing language with acronyms.

Toward the end of the video above, several of the comedians tapped by Microsoft for the campaign also imply what everyone knows: the new private browsing mode in Internet Explorer 8 (and Firefox 3.5 and Google Chrome) isn't just for privacy advocates. There might be another reason people would like to surf the web without saving any cookies or other items that would indicate which web sites they've been visiting. It's not exactly rocket science, but it's interesting to see it (almost) acknowledged in an officially sanctioned video from Microsoft.

You can check out more videos in the series at the IE8 YouTube page or on Microsoft's web site for the campaign. But you'll need to have Silverlight installed to see the videos on the latter site.

[via Mashable]

YouTube launches video player for Windows Mobile, Nokia S60

2009-03-22T13:48:00.001-07:00

Google has launched a new mobile video player for Windows Mobile and Symbian Series 60 phones. The application adds support for additional phones, boots faster than previous versions, and streams video optimized for 3G and WiFi connections.

You can use the application to search or browse for videos and play them on your device. When you click play, videos will launch in full screen mode.

To install the application, visit m.youtube.com on your mobile device and click the download link. There's a list of supported S60 devices, but no support list for Windows Mobile. Having tried unsuccessfully to install the YouTube player on my Dell Axim X50v, I can tell you that it does not support Windows Mobile 2003SE. But I suspect if you've ot a device with Windows Mobile 6.0 or a newer operating system you should be covered.

[via CoolSmartPhone]

Crowd-source your blog editing with gooseGrade

2009-03-22T13:48:00.000-07:00

Have you ever wished that you could have someone edit your blog posts for typos, spelling errors and grammatical mistakes? Most of us aren't lucky enough to have someone dedicated to catching and fixing our every mistake.

Rather than asking one person to edit for you, why not effectively enlist the help of all of your blog's readers? That's what the folks at Brave New Code figured, anyway, when they decided to create the gooseGrade WordPress plugin.

The concept is simple: install the gooseGrade plugin on your site. Then when readers are visiting your site and they see something that could be corrected, they click on a Grade This button on your site and enter the correction they believe should be made. As the site's owner you have the final say as to what changes to apply, so this isn't a tool that is going to let people insert spam all over your site.

While the concept is interesting, I have doubts that people will take the time to edit someone else's work online, in particular I have doubts that people will take the time to understand that they even have the capability of suggesting edits. This tool would have to be baked-in to a major blogging platform like WordPress.com or TypePad before I think enough people would understand what is going on to actually make use of it.

I kind of wish that it was, actually, because the idea is appealing. It's just going to take a lot for this idea to reach the critical mass it would need to become successful.

[via Panache]

10 GMail Labs features worth enabling

2009-03-22T13:47:00.001-07:00

The GMail crew has been doing a great job of adding useful features of late -- some of them right into GMail, others in Labs. If you haven't clicked on the little green beaker in the top toolbar yet, there are plenty of excellent features worth turning on. Here are 10 that I find particularly useful.

Offline
Arguably the most powerful feature available in labs right now. Offline access requires the installation of Google Gears, but it's an invaluable option for anyone who needs access to their inbox any time internet access isn't available.

Undo Send
Newly added, the five-second windows is just long enough to evaluate any misgivings you might have or catch the rare but horrendous typo that you didn't notice was underlined.

Media Previews
Apart from the obvious convenience of previewing Flickr and Picasa images and Yelp comments below a message, the YouTube preview is a much less obvious way for you to watch that clip your buddy sent you about the kid that just left the dentist's office.

Continue reading 10 GMail Labs features worth enabling

Windows Mobile 6.5 updated, Honeycomb UI tweaked

2009-03-22T13:47:00.000-07:00

Microsoft showed off a recent build of Windows Mobile 6.5 at MIX09 yesterday, and it doesn't look quite like the earlier builds we've seen. Probably the most notable change is that Microsoft has removed the "honeycomb" grid lines that populated earlier versions. Program icons are still laid out in a staggered pattern, but there aren't lines separating the areas. I can't decide if I like the new UI better or not, what do you think?

Another update is that when you flick your finger to scroll through pages of icons, the animation will flip through one window at a time and then stop, which should make it a lot harder to miss the button you're looking for. Of course, if you have a ton of applications, it'll take longer to scroll through them all this way.

You can watch a 3 minute video of the presentation at I Started Something.

Fifty gorgeous and free icon sets

2009-03-22T13:46:00.001-07:00

Icons are to me like clothes are to my wife - meant to be changed. I love sprucing up my desktop with customized icons and a funky background, only to change it all up a week later.

If you're like me, then you're going to enjoy this list of 50 of the most beautiful icon sets created in 2008 at NOUPE. The icon sets listed are intended for everything from customizing your Mac or Windows desktop, to iPhone replacement icons, to web development. There's a little something for everyone, so have a peek if you're at all curious.

Do you have a favorite resource for free icons? Link it up in the comments.

Shareaholic releases accelator for Internet Explorer 8

2009-03-22T13:46:00.000-07:00

Shareaholic has long been a favorite Firefox addon of mine, and today its developers announced that Internet Explorer users can now get in on the social sharing goodness.

Right-click anywhere on a page to call up the accelerator and you've got instant access to popular sharing options like Digg, Delicious, Facebook, StumbleUpon, Twitter, and Yahoo Buzz. The email option is equipped to send via GMail, your default desktop mail app, or Buzzster. Clicking the related link will send you to OneRiot to see who else is talking about the page.

Unlike some other accelerators I've used, Shareaholic loads fairly fast. I'd prefer to have the Firefox-style button always at the ready, but the fraction of a second delay is barely noticeable.

Jay from Shareaholic shared a few words about the development process, saying "It was quite easy to develop for IE8. Took us less than a week to go from nothing developed to keynote ready [and the] Ie8 team was great to work with. In the past developers have tended to stay away from IE because of the complexity involved with creating addons for it. Accelerators in IE8 make it much easier."

That's good news for Microsoft and IE8 users, especially if it means other developers follow in Shareaholic's footsteps and port their addons to accelerators.

Firefox 3.5 will support IRC through Mibbit

2009-03-22T13:45:00.001-07:00

Mibbit is a web-based IRC client that lets you log onto pretty much any IRC server from the comfort of your web browser. Typically the first thing you need to do is visit mibbit.com. But that's about to change, because Mozilla is adding Mibbit support to the next version of Firefox.

If you download a recent nightly build of Firefox 3.5, you'll find a new option for "irc" in the applications setting in the options dialog. From the drop-down menu, you can select Mibbit or designate a desktop IRC client. Now when you enter an IRC server in your URL bar, Firefox should automatically launch Mibbit. Just make sure the address starts with "irc://" or "ircs://" and you should be good to go.

SMPlayer 0.6.7 adds support for DVD menus

2009-03-22T13:45:00.000-07:00

SMPlayer is a frontend for the open source MPlayer media player. Like MPlayer, that means SMPlayer can handle a wide array of video formats. And the latest build brings SMPlayer one step closer to being a complete replacement for Windows Media Center with experimental support for DVD menus.

SMPlayer 0.6.7 also makes it esier to load external subtitle files, doest a better job of sorting new files added to playlists, and and allows users to configure audio and subtitle delays if necessary.

The media player is available for Windows or Linux. There's also a portable version for Windows that can be run from a USB flash drive.

[via gHacks]

Windows 7 Volume mod for Windows XP

2009-03-22T13:44:00.001-07:00

Windows Vista and Windows 7 have a ton of features that differentiate them from Windows XP - an operating system that is, after all, nearly a decade old. But some folks are going to be slow to upgrade because XP still meets their needs, runs software they need it to run, and because you don't need to pay a new fee to keep using the operating system that came with your computer.

But that doesn't mean you can't still have some of the advantages of a new operating system. Microsoft puts millions of dollars and plenty of manpower into optimizing its operating system and making it easier to use. Sometimes it even works. And it usually only takes a short time for hackers and graphic artists to start figuring out ways to make older operating systems such as Windows XP look like newer software like Windows 7.

If you're not looking for a complete transformation pack, there are ways to just change the look and feel of certain Windows components. For example, the volume mixer. fediaFedia has put together a tool for making the Windows XP sound mixer look like the Windows 7 version. Installation is a bit tricky. You need to:

Go to your Windows\System32 director, back up your sndvol.exe file to a safe space
Press Win+R and type "dllcache" in the box to open a new window
Copy the sndvol.exe file you downloaded to the dllcache directory and click OK when it asks if you want to overwrite the existing file
Now copy the downloaded sndvol.exe file to your Windows\System32 directory and click OK to overwrite existing files

When you're done you should see shiny new volume mixers. If you don't like them, fire up the Windows task manager and kill the sndvol.exe process and then copy your backup version of sndvol.exe back to the dllcache and system32 directories.

[via Technobuzz]

Google makes 500,000 free eBooks available for Sony Reader

2009-03-22T13:44:00.000-07:00

Sony and Google are partnering to make half a million books that Google has digitized for its eBook project available for free to Sony Reader customers through the Sony digital book store. That brings the total number of books in the Sony store to 600,000, or more than twice the number of eBooks found in Amazon's Kindle store.

The only catch is that these books are all public domain works, most which were written at least 80 years ago. Not exactly the stuff of the New York Times bestseller list. Amazon, by contrast offers a number of new release titles for around $10.

You also don't need a Sony Reader to access the Google library. Any computer or mobile device with an internet connection will do.

Microsoft confirms widgets coming to Windows Mobile 6.5

2009-03-22T13:43:00.000-07:00

The rumors were true. Microsoft plans to support internet widgets in Windows Mobile 6.5.Widgets are basically bits of internet code that can run like native apps on your mobile phone. In other words, rather than launching a program that's taking up space on your mobile device or loading a web browser and then navigating to a web page, you'll be able to just click a button and launch a web service in a standalone window.

You can already use these types of widgets on desktop computer operating systems, the iPhone, or the upcoming Palm Pre with WebOS. Windows Mobile 6.5 support could make it a lot easier for developers to create web apps that will run on multiple platforms with minor modifications. Instead of developing for the iPhone, Windows Mobile, OS X, Windows 7, and so on, they'll be able to develop for the web and make sure their apps are compliant with the widget engines on each platform.

Right now, Microsoft is showing off screen shots of a few sample widgets for Live Search, stocks, and weather. More information will be available to developers in April.

Movable Type launches Motion social streaming package

2009-03-22T12:05:00.001-07:00

The Moveable Type folks at Six Apart have officially released the cross-platform publishing package they announced late last year. It's called Motion, and it's available to Movable Type Pro users now. Motion lets you publish to multiple services at once, and it allows your community members to comment using their existing accounts on Google, Yahoo and Facebook.

You can quick-publish a microblog via Motion -- including photos, videos and other rich content -- and you can pull in your activity on other sites, including Twitter, Flickr and YouTube. This basically seems like a quick and easy way to do the kind of thing social networking geeks have been doing by hand on their own sites. If you're the sort of person who thinks of a website as a community, you definitely want to give Motion a look.

Facebook users hate the redesign, but does it matter?

2009-03-22T12:05:00.000-07:00

There's a buzz going around about a poll on Facebook, where 94% of the almost 800,000 respondents gave the site's new redesign a thumbs-down. That's a pretty big sample size, so it seems clear enough that at least a portion of Facebook's base isn't happy with the changes they've made. The important question might not be "do people like the new redesign?" though. It might be, "Does it matter whether people like it?"

I'm with Eric Eldon at VentureBeat on this one: users don't always know what they want, and a lot of people have negative attitudes toward having to relearn a site they were already very familiar with. When the dust clears a little bit, and folks have had a chance to test-drive the site a bit, then Facebook might have to start listening to constructive criticism. For right now, they should -- and will, more than likely -- work out any kinks in the new design, but give it some time to win people over.

Download Squad readers, what do you think? Do initial user reactions to the new design matter? Should Facebook scrap it, or give it a chance, and why? Vote in our poll, or leave a comment if you have more to say.

View Poll

Wordds organizes articles by reading time for mobile devices

2009-03-22T12:04:00.001-07:00

Wordds is a web service that solves a problem that I'm not really sure that I had. The idea is certainly clever: Wordds is a service that organizes full-length articles from a number of publications based on the number of words in the article. It then presents them to the reader grouped by estimated reading time in ascending order. There is a regular browser interface, and Wordds also provides a mobile interface for most handheld devices.

The list of publications Wordds uses as sources is fairly lengthy. Currently it consists of BusinessWeek, Foreign Affairs, New York Magazine, New York Times Magazine, Newsweek, Portfolio, Rolling Stone, Salon, Smithsonian, Sports Illustrated, The Advocate, The Atlantic, The Economist, The Nation, The New Republic, The New Yorker, Time, and Wired. Unfortunately, there is no indication of just what the selection criteria is for articles that make it onto Wordds. If random selections from these publications do not suit your tastes, you may not find Wordds to be of much value.

Personally, I like the innovation of organizing content by reading time, especially for mobile devices. I could see this being of use in an RSS reader, or in an article clipping application like Instapaper. But when I have little to no control over the articles that Wordds presents to me, I can't honestly see myself using it terribly often.

[via jkOnTheRun]

Moogis: Would you pay $125 to stream live concerts online?

2009-03-22T12:04:00.000-07:00

There are a lot of people trying to figure out how to make money online by charging for music that many internet users have come to think of as free (MP3s downloaded from BitTorrent or Limewire, music videos and concert clips on YouTube, and so on). Some folks, like Trent Reznor and RadioHead have chosen to give away music for free or ask fans to pay what they can afford in order to promote CD sales and concert tickets. Allman Brothers founding member Butch Trucks has another idea - use the internet to provide live streaming video of concerts for fans who can't make it to the shows.

This month Trucks launched Moogis, a web site that allows subscribers to watch all 15 of the Allman Brother's concerts at the Beacon Theater in New York this month live as they happen. Once the concerts are over, you can watch them any time you like for up to 6 months. The price? $125.

Compared to the price of an album of music on iTunes, that sounds pretty expensive. But compared to the price of a single front row concert ticket, it's not so bad. And the video streams are available in high definition, from multiple angles, meaning you get a better view than you would if you were in the theater. And nobody's going to spill beer on you, (unless your house is a bit rowdier than mine).

Trucks hopes to expand the service to include performances by other bands soon. And I think die-hard music fans would be willing to pay for this kind of access to performances. But I have to wonder whether the price is too high. Because let's face it, sitting in front of your computer or TV and watching a concert isn't the same thing as being there. It's hard to justify paying a price as if you were.

[via NewTeeVee]

Fugly Friday: The World's Worst Website?

2009-03-22T12:03:00.001-07:00

Unfortunately the stout folks at Guinness don't have a "World's Worst Website" category (best I could find was the worst mouse plague, which I assume happens frequently in schools). Fear not, as one intrepid designer has endeavored to show by way of example; I give you the "World's Worst Website," and oh boy, does it deliver.

Pretty much every web design sin in the book is covered, from hosting with Angelfire, to using frames, marquee text, blinking backgrounds, misspellings, links to dead-end pages and much, much more. Try turning your sound all the way up before visiting, then run.

This appears to be created by Michelle from Gold Nugget Webs, a site that isn't exactly fugly, but isn't going to win any awards, either. In fact, it appears Michelle has a thing for understated design, opting to choose aliased text, pixelated JPEG's and CAPS LOCK. To be fair, I get the feeling her clients aren't the most web-savvy or design-savvy bunch (do you know of an opal mine that Starck designed?), so what you see could be at the client's request. And I've certainly had the experience of a client demanding something that made you want to retch. Still, as a monument to fugliness, Michelle's "Worst Website" is easily in the top 10.

Web Developers: help rid the world of IE6 with a simple script

2009-03-22T12:03:00.000-07:00

Microsoft pokes fun at the web, acknowledges what private browsing is for

2009-03-22T12:02:00.001-07:00

YouTube launches video player for Windows Mobile, Nokia S60

2009-03-22T12:02:00.000-07:00

Crowd-source your blog editing with gooseGrade

2009-03-22T12:01:00.001-07:00

I kind of wish that it was, actually, because the idea is appealing. It's just going to take a lot for this idea to reach the critical mass it would need to become successful.

[via Panache]

10 GMail Labs features worth enabling

2009-03-22T12:01:00.000-07:00

Continue reading 10 GMail Labs features worth enabling

Windows Mobile 6.5 updated, Honeycomb UI tweaked

2009-03-22T12:00:00.000-07:00

Shareaholic releases accelator for Internet Explorer 8

2009-03-22T11:59:00.000-07:00

Firefox 3.5 will support IRC through Mibbit

2009-03-22T11:58:00.001-07:00

SMPlayer 0.6.7 adds support for DVD menus

2009-03-22T11:58:00.000-07:00

Windows 7 Volume mod for Windows XP

2009-03-22T11:57:00.001-07:00

Go to your Windows\System32 director, back up your sndvol.exe file to a safe space
Press Win+R and type "dllcache" in the box to open a new window
Copy the sndvol.exe file you downloaded to the dllcache directory and click OK when it asks if you want to overwrite the existing file
Now copy the downloaded sndvol.exe file to your Windows\System32 directory and click OK to overwrite existing files

Google makes 500,000 free eBooks available for Sony Reader

2009-03-22T11:57:00.000-07:00

Microsoft confirms widgets coming to Windows Mobile 6.5

2009-03-22T11:56:00.001-07:00

Google Street view goes live in the UK

2009-03-22T11:56:00.000-07:00

Google has launched Street View in the UK. Street View lets Google Maps users see photographs of streetscapes photographed by Google vehicles. At launch, you can see imagery for 25 cities in the UK including London, Edinburgh, Cambridge, Glasgow, and Sheffield and Southampton.

Overall, Google Maps has pictures of more than 22,000 miles of streets in the UK.

When the service launched in the US, it raised some privacy concerns. The UK is already light years ahead of the US when it comes to government surveillance cameras. But the BBC reports that Google did take some steps to ensure privacy in the UK version, including blurring faces and automobile license plates.

Facebook users hate the redesign, but does it matter?

2009-03-22T10:17:00.001-07:00

View Poll

Wordds organizes articles by reading time for mobile devices

2009-03-22T10:17:00.000-07:00

[via jkOnTheRun]

Moogis: Would you pay $125 to stream live concerts online?

2009-03-22T10:16:00.001-07:00

Fugly Friday: The World's Worst Website?

2009-03-22T10:16:00.000-07:00

Web Developers: help rid the world of IE6 with a simple script

2009-03-22T10:15:00.001-07:00

Microsoft pokes fun at the web, acknowledges what private browsing is for

2009-03-22T10:15:00.000-07:00

YouTube launches video player for Windows Mobile, Nokia S60

2009-03-22T10:14:00.001-07:00

Crowd-source your blog editing with gooseGrade

2009-03-22T10:14:00.000-07:00

I kind of wish that it was, actually, because the idea is appealing. It's just going to take a lot for this idea to reach the critical mass it would need to become successful.

[via Panache]

10 GMail Labs features worth enabling

2009-03-22T10:13:00.001-07:00

Continue reading 10 GMail Labs features worth enabling

Windows Mobile 6.5 updated, Honeycomb UI tweaked

2009-03-22T10:13:00.000-07:00

Fifty gorgeous and free icon sets

2009-03-22T10:12:00.001-07:00

Icons are to me like clothes are to my wife - meant to be changed. I love sprucing up my desktop with customized icons and a funky background, only to change it all up a week later.

Do you have a favorite resource for free icons? Link it up in the comments.

Shareaholic releases accelator for Internet Explorer 8

2009-03-22T10:12:00.000-07:00

Firefox 3.5 will support IRC through Mibbit

2009-03-22T10:11:00.001-07:00

SMPlayer 0.6.7 adds support for DVD menus

2009-03-22T10:11:00.000-07:00

Windows 7 Volume mod for Windows XP

2009-03-22T10:10:00.001-07:00

Go to your Windows\System32 director, back up your sndvol.exe file to a safe space
Press Win+R and type "dllcache" in the box to open a new window
Copy the sndvol.exe file you downloaded to the dllcache directory and click OK when it asks if you want to overwrite the existing file
Now copy the downloaded sndvol.exe file to your Windows\System32 directory and click OK to overwrite existing files

Google makes 500,000 free eBooks available for Sony Reader

2009-03-22T10:10:00.000-07:00

Microsoft confirms widgets coming to Windows Mobile 6.5

2009-03-22T10:09:00.001-07:00

Google Street view goes live in the UK

2009-03-22T10:09:00.000-07:00

Internet Explorer 8 slips early on Windows Update

2009-03-22T10:08:00.000-07:00

Despite what CNET announced ealier this week and what Microsoft has announced as the official release time for Internet Explorer 8's RTM (4pm GMT), I've just finished watching the installation wrap up on a system on my workbench via Windows Update. Due to the heavy server load Microsoft is anticipating, that wasn't supposed to happen right away.

In case you're not excited about the prospect of IE8 sneaking on to the systems you support (including your home computer), you can grab the blocker toolkit from Microsoft's web site.

We've looked at the new browser before (just this morning, as a matter of fact). Warnings aside, IE8 is a step in the right direction from Microsoft.