techbus

@Square in Montclair

2011-06-24T18:47:00.000-07:00

@Square gains market share in Montclair!

@izzyiz20

Plain English

2010-11-05T12:36:00.000-07:00

by Slate Labs

This product is still in development. Contact us if you have an idea for how to use it.

By Jeremy Singer-Vine.

Every field has its own jargon that's meaningless to everyone else. Sometimes you want to translate a given -ese into lay terms while preserving the original text. Plain English is designed to facilitate this.

The premise is straightforward: The original text is highlighted in yellow. When you click on a phrase, it toggles to the re-written simpler version, in gray. Buttons at the top allow you to toggle the whole thing at once. The words are stored in a simple JSON file.

Example: Federal Reserve jargon simplified.

* * * *

the following works, but doesn't have the gray and yellow highlighting of the original:

The Federal Reserve is about to create $600 billion out of thin air. It's a huge, experimental stimulus program that will affect stock markets and government policies around the world.

But the Fed announced its plan in a statement written largely in jargon and code. So here, from Planet Money and Slate, is today's statement, translated into plain English.

You can click on each sentence below to see our translation line by line. Or click "convert all" to translate the entire statement.

Gravilux

2010-05-21T13:33:00.001-07:00

fun! *

flickr

Gravilux lets you draw with 'stars': it’s a combination of painting, animation, art, science, and gaming. As you touch the screen, gravity draws simulated stars to your fingertips. You can tease and twist the particles into galaxies, or explode them like a supernova.

When you double-tap, you can change parameters including gravity and number of stars, and enable antigravity or heat. Multiple fingers and multiple people can touch the screen at once, collaborating or competing.

Gravilux was first released as a work of interactive art by Scott Sona Snibbe that was only available in galleries and museums. [review, Padvance] Now it’s available as an iPhone and iPad application.

Xoomin LLC

2010-04-09T16:52:00.000-07:00

Etude (iPhone App)

2010-03-16T12:30:00.000-07:00

View In iTunes

Etude is sheet music on steroids. Whether you're an accomplished musician or someone who couldn't carry a tune given a wheelbarrow, Etude will quickly become an indispensable tool for adding new songs to your repertoire. Choose from hundreds (and soon to be thousands) of songs, hear and see how they should be played, and learn them yourself. From Fur Elise to The Entertainer to The Itsy Bitsy Spider, Etude spans music genres, ages, and difficulty levels to bring a vast assortment of sheet music literally to your fingertips!

HOW IT WORKS
Discover and download sheet music instantly from Etude’s in-app store, where you’ll find hundreds of well known songs (all of which are free right now). Scroll through real sheet music, hear it, and even see where to place your fingers on the keyboard as the notes scroll by at your desired speed. Learning to play new music could not be easier!

INTERFACE

Displays authentic, beautifully-engraved sheet music reformatted for optimal viewing on your mobile device
Graphical piano keyboard reveals which keys to press at each point
Built-in MIDI music synthesizer lets you listen at any speed you'd like
Customizable settings let you fine-tune how Etude shows and plays back music

IN-APP "STORE"

Access hundreds of songs of all genres and styles and download them instantly to your personal library to play as often as you like.
Search or browse by composer, style, staff picks, or most popular
All music in the store right now is FREE. In the future, we'll be working with publishers to bring you premium tracks from current artists.

INTEGRATION

Social networking features let you share the music you're learning with your friends via Facebook and Twitter.
View in depth metadata about music, including composer, arranger, year published, and links to further reading on sites like Wikipedia.
Connects with the iTunes Music Store to point you at professional performances of the piece you're trying to master.

twitter @anywhere

2010-03-15T17:42:00.000-07:00

twitter blog

@anywhere

Monday, March 15, 2010

When we designed Twitter, we took a different approach—we didn’t require a relationship model like that of a social network. Keeping things open meant you could browse our site to read tweets from friends, celebrities, companies, media outlets, fictional characters, and more. You could follow any account and be followed by any account. As a result, companies started interacting with customers, celebrities connected with fans, governments became more transparent, and people started discovering and sharing information in a new, participatory manner.

We’ve developed a new set of frameworks for adding this Twitter experience anywhere on the web. Soon, sites many of us visit every day will be able to recreate these open, engaging interactions providing a new layer of value for visitors without sending them to Twitter.com. Our open technology platform is well known and Twitter APIs are already widely implemented but

this is a different approach because we’ve created something incredibly simple. Rather than implementing APIs, site owners need only drop in a few lines of javascript. This new set of frameworks is called

@anywhere.

Twitter will be part of our favorite sites!

When we're ready to launch, initial participating sites will include Amazon, AdAge, Bing, Citysearch, Digg, eBay, The Huffington Post, Meebo, MSNBC.com, The New York Times, Salesforce.com, Yahoo!, and YouTube. Imagine being able to follow a New York Times journalist directly from her byline, tweet about a video without leaving YouTube, and discover new Twitter accounts while visiting the Yahoo! home page—and that’s just the beginning. Twitter has proven to be compelling in a variety of ways. With @anywhere, web site owners and operators will be able to offer visitors more value with less heavy lifting.

iPad IMagineering

2010-03-12T11:47:00.001-08:00

iPad iMagineering from Penguin Books on Vimeo.

Some imagined book-related ipad products.

. . .. ... .. . .

more thoughts on books in the age of the iPad

@craigmod (& NYT)

Blogger Template Designer

2010-03-12T10:36:00.000-08:00

In Blogger’s more than 10 years, we’ve learned that blogging is a powerful way for people to express themselves. More than 350,000 words are written on Blogger every minute of every day and over the years we’ve added a bunch of features to ensure that writing those words is as easy, fun and rewarding as possible. Today, we’re happy to announce the launch of theBlogger Template Designer on Blogger in Draft, our experimental playground where you can try out the latest features Blogger has to offer. Instead of creating a lot of new templates that will grow stale over time, we decided to go beyond static templates and reinvent the whole process of designing your blog, making it even easier to express yourself online.

The Blogger Template Designer is our big first step in improving not just our template designs, but all the ways that you can customize the look and layout of your blog. If you try out the Blogger Template Designer, you’ll find:

Fifteen new professional templates to start from (and more on their way)
Custom blog layouts with one, two and three columns
Hundreds of free professional background images from iStockphoto, the leading microstock image marketplace
Customizable colors, fonts and more

Check out this video for a peek at what you can do with the Blogger Template Designer:

For more info, check out our post on the Blogger in draft blog. Give the Blogger Template Designer a test drive, and then let us know what you think!

Posted by Pete Hopkins, Tech Lead, Blogger

The Wired iPad App: Video Demo

2010-03-11T10:32:00.000-08:00

xtranormal

2010-03-02T15:31:00.001-08:00

xtranormal.com

"If you can type, you can make movies."

. . .. ... .. . .

montevideo's xtranormal adaptation of wikiworldview's Borges & Bellow (2007)

Google Picnik

2010-03-01T13:06:00.000-08:00

Google Blog

A Web Clipboard for Google Docs

2010-02-19T19:28:00.000-08:00

Google Docs blog

We want copying and pasting content within Google Docs to just work. So, today we’re launching a new web clipboard that improves copy and paste in Google Docs. This new clipboard temporarily stores items you’ve copied in the cloud, then allows you to paste them with proper formatting into other Google Docs.

Say you work for a cheese company and you've created a table in a Google spreadsheet summarizing cheese sales. You want to present the results to your coworkers using a Google presentation.

Now, you can just select your cells in the spreadsheet and copy them using the new clipboard menu.

In your presentation, select the cells from the web clipboard menu to paste.

Your spreadsheets table will now be in your presentation. It works just as you would expect.

The new web clipboard lets you copy content between documents, spreadsheets and presentations more easily and with improved fidelity, and this is just our first step. Note that while items in your web clipboard are available across browsers and across sessions, they doexpire after a month.

We hope you find these changes useful, but please let us know how you think we can improve interaction between Google Docs on our forum.

Posted by: Ben Margolin, Engineer, Google Docs

Evernote & iPad

2010-02-13T21:05:00.001-08:00

blog.evernote.com

Evernote loves tablets. We’ve got a long and storied history with tablets of all kinds. Got an old tablet lying around somewhere? Chances are we either developed technology for it, had applications that ran on it, or both. Usually both.

Remember the awesome Apple Newton? Evernote’s current R&D engineers developed the handwriting recognition technology that made it so notable (and ahead of its time). Remember those Doonesbury strips making fun of the Newton? You know who cried when those came out? We did. Well, not me personally, I was in college and the Newton was at the top of my unattainable gadget drool-list, but the guys sitting next to me right now clutching their Newton prototypes while watching the Apple liveblogs did. I’ve got those Doonesbury strips in my Evernote account now.

We’ve also been on just about every other form of tablet known to man. The original version of Evernote was written to run on Tablet PCs and the digital ink technology in the current version of Evernote for Windows is still the best in the industry. I even use an old Hitachi slate as a drink tray at home. Tablets are our roots, man. Our roots.

So naturally, we’ve been getting a lot of questions lately about our plans for supporting Apple’s hitherto-mythical tablet device, but we’ve avoided answering them just in case it turned out not to be a tablet but, um, a shoe or something. Still, we always hoped it’d be a tablet. You always remember your first love…

Anyway, now that the iPad has officially gone from “imminent!!” to “just announced!!” we can officially spill the beans on our official plans for Evernote on it. Here’s we go:

Evernote is going to support the Apple iPad. Oh Yeah. We’re gonna support the hell out of it. We’re glad to see that the current Evernote iPhone app will run on the iPad without modification, but we’ll be modifying it anyway to optimize the experience on the larger device. Oh how we’ll be modifying it! Expect rapid improvements to our iPhone app which will benefit all of our iPhone, iPod Touch and, now, iPad users in the near future.

Ok, so we’re excited by the iPad itself, and by the HP Slate, and the Sony VAIO L series, and the Nvidia Tegra, and by the added light that these and other devices will shine on touch computing in general. I’m looking at some happy engineers right now.

rumors after my own heart

2010-01-25T10:27:00.000-08:00

HuffPo

What does Apple CEO Steve Jobs think about Apple's rumored Apple Tablet device?

According to TechCrunch's sources, Steve Jobs has said, in reference to the forthcoming Tablet, "This will be the most important thing I've ever done."

But just how credible is Jobs' alleged statement?

TechCrunch notes,

We haven't heard this first hand, but we've heard it multiple times second and third hand from completely independent sources. Senior Apple execs and friends of Jobs are telling people that he's about as excited about the upcoming Apple Tablet as he's ever been. Coming from the man who has created so much, that's saying something.

In September 2009, the Industry Standardreported that Jobs had made the Tablet his "personal project:"

I should say the "presumably" forthcoming Apple tablet, which sources inside Apple say is getting their maximum leader's personal and special attention. Jobs apparently sees the device as too important to have a less-than-exciting launch, so it will miss the holidays and launch in 2010.

Google Image Swirl

2010-01-21T17:03:00.000-08:00

Google released a new Google Labs experiment related to image search: Google Image Swirl. The service "organizes image search results based on their visual and semantic similarities and presents them in an intuitive exploratory interface."

Google Image Swirl clusters the top image search results for more than 200,000 queries and it lets you explore the clusters and the relation between images.

"Once you find the group of images you're interested in, you can click on the thumbnail and a cluster of images will "swirl" into view. You can then further explore additional sub-groups within any cluster. Image Swirl expands on technologies developed for Similar Images and Picasa Face Recognition to discern how images should be grouped together and build hierarchies out of these groups. Each thumbnail on the initial results page represents an algorithmically-determined representative group of images with similar appearance and meaning. These aren't just the most relevant images — they are the most relevant groups of images," explains Google.

Try queries like: jaguar, flowers, van Gogh and keep in mind that this is an early demo, so not all the queries will return results.

youtu.be, goo.gl

2009-12-23T14:59:00.000-08:00

YouTube Blog

Make Way for youtu.be Links

It's all the rage: link shorteners to ensure that those useful URLs you're sharing don't take up too much precious character count while also giving you an inkling of what you're about to click on. Well, we've just launched youtu.be as a shortener for YouTube video links -- and nothing but YouTube links -- so you can rest assured that when you see a link with this URL, you are indeed about to click on a YouTube video. (Also, because the link contains the ID of the video you're going to see, developers can do interesting things like show you thumbnails, embed the video directly, or track how a video is spreading in real-time.)

To see this feature in action, use AutoShare to link up your YouTube account to social networks like Twitter and Google Reader. Then, whenever you favorite a video on YouTube, for example, that action will get syndicated out to your network, who will see this shortened edition of the video's URL.

To use youtu.be manually, simply take a URL like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCo-o_cHA34 and replace the"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=" with "http://youtu.be/" to get: http://youtu.be/dCo-o_cHA34 Plug that shorter URL into a browser, and you'll see it redirects to that video.

iPhone Dragon Dictation

2009-12-08T22:46:00.000-08:00

tuaw.com

Put this into the 'I didn't think they could ever get this to work on an iPhone' category.

I'm talking about Dragon Dictation [iTunes link] from Nuance, the developers of the very popular Dragon Naturally Speakingfor the PC. Nuance also provides the speech recognition engine for MacSpeech Dictate on the Mac platform.

To dictate on the iPhone you just launch the app, press the record button, and start talking. Your dictation can be a brief sentence, or a much longer treatise. Once the text has been created from your speech, it's possible to email it, send it as a text message, or put the result in your clipboard. After recording your message, you can edit the resulting text before you send it off for others to read.

It's pretty slick!

demo:

reeldirector

2009-12-08T12:50:00.001-08:00

by nexvio

video editing for iPhone 3GS

swyper no swyping

2009-11-24T22:29:00.000-08:00

HuffPo

Swype could completely change the way we type on touchscreen smartphones -- and potentially pose a real challenge to the iPhone.

Swype, invented by the creator of the T9 predictive typing system, offers a new input system for typing on touchscreen phones.

TechCrunch explains, "the way you type with Swype is you literally swipe your finger from one letter to the next as fast as you can."

The new "Swyping" system will debut with Verizon's new Samsung Omnia II smartphone.

The video below shows a smartphone typing smackdown: Swype vs. iPhone, side-by-side. (Spoiled alert: the Samsung Omnia II, with Swype, beats the iPhone hands down.)

See the new technology for yourself below.

Ideas from Mark Stout: A Few Things I've Learned about Evernote

2009-11-13T12:34:00.000-08:00

Ideas from Mark Stout: A Few Things I've Learned about Evernote

Folder Watch

You can have Evernote watch a folder, and automatically suck in any file saved there. [File/Import/File Import Wizard - it will watch the folder for you, but the first time it will import all files in that folder]

That basically gives me a "Copy to Evernote" and a "Print to Evernote" ability. If I download a photo from my phone, I just save it to that folder and it is absorbed into Evernote. If I'm working in a document, I print to PDF into that folder and voila, it is in Evernote.

Mostly I use this with my Neat Company scanner. I scan to PDF, placing the PDF file into the watched folder, and it goes right into Evernote. (other posts about Neat)

Update August 6, 2009: Lifehacker just had a great idea related to this. Create shortcut to this Evernote folder and place it in your SendTo folder. That way, in Windows Explorer you can select a file, right click and send it into Evernote.

More:

When you click on a tag, you can then control-click another tag and see notes that are tagged with both tags; their intersection.

Control - semicolon - inserts date & time into your current note - great for logging actions

tweets in google search results

2009-10-21T22:41:00.000-07:00

google blog

At Google, our goal is to create the most comprehensive, relevant and fast search in the world. In the past few years, an entirely new type of data has emerged — real-time updates like those on Twitter have appeared not only as a way for people to communicate their thoughts and feelings, but also as an interesting source of data about what is happening right now in regard to a particular topic.

Given this new type of information and its value to search, we are very excited to announce that

we have reached an agreement with Twitter to include their updates in our search results.

We believe that our search results and user experience will greatly benefit from the inclusion of this up-to-the-minute data, and we look forward to having a product that showcases how tweets can make search better in the coming months. That way, the next time you search for something that can be aided by a real-time observation, say, snow conditions at your favorite ski resort, you'll find tweets from other users who are there and sharing the latest and greatest information.

Posted by Marissa Mayer, Vice President of Search Products and User Experience

nook

2009-10-21T19:31:00.000-07:00

h/t eye

Wolfram Alpha iPhone

2009-10-19T11:56:00.000-07:00

ReadWriteWeb

Quite a bit ahead of schedule, Wolfram Alpha's iPhone app appeared in the iTunes App Store today. The app, which costs $49.99, gives users full access to Wolfram Alpha's capabilities and greatly improves on the speed and ergonomics of Wolfram Alpha's mobile site. The company is targeting this app at students and professionals and marketing it as a replacement for stand-alone graphing calculators, which is clearly reflected in the price.

Dual Keyboards

One of the most interesting feature of the app, besides the ability to quickly access all of the power that Wolfram Alpha now offers, is the fact that the company has found a way to make inputing queries very easy. Instead of a single keyboard at the bottom of the screen, the app actually displays two keyboards - one for numbers and symbols, and a regular QWERTY keyboard at the bottom of the screen. Given the nature of a typical query for Alpha, this makes perfect sense and we hope that others will follow Alpha's lead here.

A Web-Connected Graphing Calculator, But With Some Limitations

It's important to note that the app only works when a user is connected to the Internet. This could be a deal-breaker for some, but then, the app store already offers plenty of basic graphing calculators for those times when you don't have Internet access. Thanks to its vast database of chemical compounds, nutritional data, geographical information, financial data, and its ability to solve pretty much any math problem that a high school or college student will ever encounter, the app can do a lot more than any current graphing calculator can offer.

For some students, though, the problem could be that some teachers won't allow them to bring a full-blown Internet-capable device like the iPhone or an iPod touch into an exam. In addition, it's also important to note that the Wolfram Alpha doesn't offer the ability to write programs inside the app, though maybe somebody else will build an app that can do this based on Alpha's newly released API.

It's also important to remember that Alpha isn't as easy to use as Google. Alpha, and, by extension, the app, can be rather strict about how you structure a query, for example. If you don't capitalize a chemical formula, the app won't know what to do with these symbols. While Google has virtually no learning curve, Alpha works best if you invest some time into exploring the intricacies of how to structure queries. To help you along the way, the app features a demo video, lots of example queries, and an FAQ section.

Native App Offers a Bit More Than the Web Service, But Is That Enough to Justify the High Price?

In its press materials, the Wolfram Alpha team stresses that the app offers a number of features that the web app can't currently offer. The app can now make assumptions based on your location, for example. Wolfram also has added quite a few features that make using the app easier than using the web service. You can easily bookmark queries and the app keeps a running list of recent searches available as well. In addition, you can easily email queries or share them on Twitter.

Is $50 Too Much?

At $49.99, there can be no doubt that Wolfram Research is pricing the app at the higher end of the spectrum. A spokesperson for Wolfram Alpha told us that the company wants to target the app at "serious users, and is priced as such." The team is clearly aware that this price could be controversial, especially given that the mobile web site offers a similar interface, though without the ergonomic benefits of the native app. In addition, Wolfram tells us that the team wants to use this price to make a statement about the "non-trivial nature" of Wolfram Alpha's capabilities.

While the company plans to offer regular discounts and sales, we can't help but wonder if the price isn't a bit too high. At $9.99 or even $19.99, the app would be more of an impulse buy, while now, even though it obviously offers more features than a user would ever expect from a high-priced hardware graphing calculator which would generally retail for more than $100.

Verdict

Wolfram Alpha launched to so much hype that a backlash was inevitable when it finally launched. As Schoeller Porter, the product manager for the iPhone app, notes, the company is also launching this app "as an opportunity to highlight how far the system has come since launch." Indeed, the Wolfram Alpha team continues to add new data sources and new ways to query them, making the service more useful with every new dataset it adds.

The high price will probably keep quite a few potential users from downloading the app, however. While we understand the company's rational behind this high price, users generally consider a $10 app to be a 'premium' product. $49.99 is a hefty price for this app, especially considering that the majority of features is available through the web service. If you are a student or engineer who really needs these features, though, the app is worth a look, but we recommend you try the web service and see how it works for the kinds of queries you would enter before you spend $50, especially given that the company will surely offer discounts or bring the base price down at some point.

Verizon Wireless, Google in Android partnership - San Jose Mercury News

2009-10-06T12:55:00.000-07:00

Verizon Wireless, Google in Android partnership - San Jose Mercury News

NEW YORK — Verizon Wireless said Tuesday it will put substantial resources into developing and selling phones that use Google's Android software.

Verizon Wireless had already said it would sell Android phones, but the announcement suggests that the carrier is positioning these smart-phones as a main means of competing with Apple's iPhone, which is exclusive to AT&T in the U.S.

Verizon Wireless and Google said they plan to "codevelop" Android-based devices that will be pre-loaded with their applications. They will be made by major manufacturers, they said.

The carrier now expects to sell the first Android phones in a few weeks, it said. It has already said it will be a carrier for a new smart-phone from Motorola, which is releasing several new devices based on Android software as a part of its turnaround effort.

The announcement adds to the momentum behind Android, which is seeing significant interest from carriers and manufacturers. Sales of the few existing Android phones have been small compared to the iPhone's, however.

Rival carrier T-Mobile USA came out with the first phone based on Google's operating system last year. It recently announced that it will carry Android phones from Samsung Electronics and Motorola. Sprint Nextel is also set to release an Android phone.

Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications of New York and Vodafone Group of Britain.

Google Help forum

2009-10-03T06:29:00.000-07:00

Help forum

tag you're it

2009-10-01T12:36:00.001-07:00

. . .. ... oOo ... .. . .

Shootit & Evernote & JotNot: i do like your hydrangeas ...do you like my iphone app?

2009-09-30T11:56:00.000-07:00

so far so good. can u send a snapshot of what you received in the mail? then I can finalize my initial evaluation of your iPhone app.

also, evernote boy, have you seen JotNot? [app store]

It's an image processing app tailored for evernote, in case a snapshot needs enhancement to work well as an evernote entry

e.g.,

straighten text to facilitate OCR or
'whiteboardize' some document to make it more suitable for display, sharpen lines, etc.

worth $3 imho

. . .. ... oOo ... .. . .

evernote & twitter

2009-09-23T20:06:00.001-07:00

. . .. ... oOo ... .. . .

New Blogger Post Editor

2009-09-02T16:11:00.000-07:00

Blogger Help

The updated post editor will bring a more stable, compatible, and predictable posting experience to Blogger. Improvements have been made to many different components, and we'll continue to update it over the coming months and years. Here's an overview of some of the improvements:

Blogger on the Go

2009-09-02T15:31:00.000-07:00

. . .. ... ..... ... .. . .

or:

funky flow

2009-09-01T19:17:00.000-07:00

I like how the image returns to it's original form. It's my new favorite metaphor generator for the viscosity of history analogy.

I imagine that those who don't like the idea of increasing viscosity might not share my opinion about this snapping back of the image ...

Perfect for unscrupulous spin doctors, lobbyists, lawyers ... anybody who depends on the ability to scramble reality and have it stay scrambled.

I suppose I hope they add the non-snap-backedness feature too; then I'll have a handy metaphor for previscosic experience.

But I don't think I would like it anywhere near as much.

That is to say, I'm a proponent of antinonsnapbacketarianism.

But that's a whole nother story.

Find iPhone apps at AppStoreHQ

bit.ly, a simple url shortener

2009-08-06T14:57:00.000-07:00

bit.ly, a simple url shortener

Paste any long link into the big box at top and click Shorten. Better yet, Sign Up and you can get a complete history, real-time stats, and saved preferences.

It's not just you!

2009-08-06T07:45:00.000-07:00

It's not just you!: "It's not just you! http://twitter.com looks down from here.

Check another site?"

xpal power case for 3G & 3GS

2009-07-31T22:07:00.001-07:00

lightweight, not bulky. $50 at buy.com

Motorola MOTOROKR S9-HD Bluetooth Stereo Headphones

2009-07-24T09:20:00.001-07:00

Changes to Google Docs hint at GDrive release | Web Crawler - CNET News

2009-07-22T10:29:00.000-07:00

Changes to Google Docs hint at GDrive release | Web Crawler - CNET News

Google Chrome OS :)

2009-07-10T15:20:00.000-07:00

Gizmodo - iPhone 3GS Review - Iphone 3gs review

2009-06-25T12:14:00.000-07:00

Gizmodo - iPhone 3GS Review - Iphone 3gs review

What's the point in buying a new iPhone if it looks exactly like the old one? Because once you start using it, the speed of the iPhone 3GS will amaze you.

There's a reason why Apple called this the iPhone 3GS for Speed and not the 3GC for "compass" or 3GV for "video recording." Speed is the central upgrade here, and probably is the single biggest reason you would upgrade to a 3GS from a 3G. And if you're coming in as a virgin iPhone user, there's definitely no question: The 3GS is worth an extra $100.

That declaration may be weird to most of us since we usually look for features, and not specs, when we're evaluating phones—and iPhone 3GS doesn't blow us out in the feature department. Instead, it's like getting a bigger TV or a faster car. Your old machine works just fine, but once you've tried the new one for a week, you'll never want to go back, even if it costs you a little extra.

Like we said, from the outside the 3GS is exactly the same as the 3G. It's slightly heavier and has glossy text on the back, but if Steve Jobs whipped one out in public before it was announced, you wouldn't have been able to tell the difference.

By holding the 3GS next to the 3G, you'll notice that the screen is slightly more reflective because of the new fingerprint resistant oleophobic coating. It even has a little bit of a rainbow effect if you reflect a monitor with it. Surprisingly, the coating actually works in preventing a good deal of fingerprints and face grease, and it allows the phone to still be smooth and usable even if there are fingerprints on the surface.

The shot above illustrates the fact. The two phones may look similar in how much finger and face grease are on the screen, but the iPhone 3GS is still usable and doesn't have the problem of "sticking" in certain areas that are slightly greasier. It's also easier to clean just by wiping on your shirt. The glass treatment won't eliminate smudging from your bodily secretions altogether, but it's a very useful improvement for something you're touching all the time.

The 3GS display is ever-so-slightly warmer than the 3G's, having a yellow/orangish tint when viewed side by side. If you remember, the 3G's screen was also warmer than the 2G's. It's not distracting in any way, and the warm screen is slightly easier on your eyes even if the brightness is bumped up high.

The video really shows how fast the iPhone 3GS is. Safari, Email, Camera all load noticeably faster than on the iPhone 3G (both running 3.0 software). Even booting the phone takes about half the time. Apps with long load times, like Sims 3, Oregon Trail or Metal Gear Touch all show how much faster you get up and running on the new device. Seriously, everything is faster. It's exactly the same experience as switching from a two- or three-year-old computer to something brand new. Your apps all look the same, but they load and run much more smoothly. Even if you're doing the same things on both machines, the new machine is that much better to work on.

What does this speed increase mean for future iPhone apps and games? With the iPhone 3GS running on a 600MHz CPU with 256MB RAM (up from 400MHz and 128MB), there's a much higher performance ceiling for apps to hit. The OpenGL ES 2.0 graphics standard that's now supported paves the way for an impressive visual boost. Hubert (a former Nvidia developer) from Ubergizmo says it's somewhere along the lines of going from Half Life 1 to Half Life 2, which is essentially going up a console generation. Gamers should pay attention.

Like we said before, the iPhone 3G will still run most of the games for the near future. That 40 million unit potential market of iPhone/iPod Touch devices is too big to just ignore and put out an app just for 3GS phones, so your old phone will still be able to keep up. But developers are like alcoholics. If you put more system resources in front of them, they can't help but use all of it just because they can. Also, they drink a lot.

Apple hates to emphasize specs in products like the iPhone 3GS, but even they couldn't resist bragging about the speed boost. That S is there for a reason.

The 3GS also has a 3-megapixel camera, adding auto focus and video recording. You even get an interface that lets you tap on a section of the screen that you want to focus on and the phone will automatically adjust the focus to that point in space.

By tapping on the screen and activating the auto-everything—not just auto focus but improved auto exposure and auto white balance—you're gaining the ability to control more of what your shots look like. It's most obvious in macro shots where the subject is only a few inches away (above). Those two photos were shot from the exact same distance in the exact same lighting. You can also see in the gallery below that the 3GS is slightly better in low-light conditions (something the 3G was no good at), as well as having better overall auto white balance.

I wouldn't say it's a mindblowing revolutionary step for the iPhone camera, but it's definitely more than just shoving in more megapixels and leaving it at that.

The video quality, on the other hand, is pretty good for a cellphone. Apple claims up to 30 frames per second, and as this video of an HD recording of SNL shows, it comes pretty damn close. Even if it's not quite 30FPS at all times, the video is smooth as hell. Recording still isn't great in low light since it's a physical limitation of cameras in general, but at least it's fluid. The tap-to-focus (and re-expose) feature also carries over to video, which you can use to "aim" your camera at a part of the scene.

You'll also want to use the quick trimming feature before you upload your videos directly to YouTube to cut out the excess at the front and back of your clips. The quick trim is just like trimming a clip in iMovie, with the yellow draggable borders. Apple says that the 3G doesn't have video because the old processor isn't capable of handling it, and after taking the 30FPS videos on the 3GS, we can believe that they didn't want to settle for just 15FPS videos.

Data hogs will also be happy about the increased 7.2Mbps data speeds the 3GS can achieve. We used the Speedtest app in the App Store and over multiple days and multiple times (early, mid-day and late at night), clocked the 3GS at an average of 1568Kbps, whereas the 3G only measured 1165Kbps. Their uploads were relatively equal, at 226Kbps (3GS) and 209Kbps (3G), but there was a noticeable difference in latency with the 3GS pulling ahead at 174ms to the 3G's 231ms. Although on average the 3GS scored about 50% higher than the 3G, occasionally, in individual runs, it could have ranged anywhere from twice as fast to about the same speeds.

The speed boost for downloads is interesting, seeing as AT&T hasn't even begun to really roll out their 7.2 HSPA in very many places yet. Since we're testing this before the actual 3GS release date, we'll see how much loads of 3GS users will impact overall speeds, and we'll see how fast the 3GS speeds increase once AT&T has the infrastructure to support it.

If you're talking practical use scenarios right now, the increased network speeds and the increased processing speeds help to cut down wait times for both the email and Safari and whatever other app you use that grabs a bunch of data often. Even if you're on Wi-Fi, the fact that there's a faster processor on board mean that you're going to be done faster than on the 3G.

The compass app, along with the magnetometer, is great at pointing you somewhere in the general direction of North. It also doesn't matter which way you're holding the phone—either parallel or perpendicular to the ground—the arrow and numbers will still more or less give you a sense of where you're facing.

As a bonus, if you hit the "find me" button in Google Maps a second time after it's located your GPS position, it'll re-orient your map to reflect the way you're facing. It would have been extremely useful when I was on foot, lost in San Francisco trying catch the last train, not knowing which way was which since the street signs are so small and the blocks are so large. If I had this, I wouldn't have to have gone a block in the wrong direction just to figure out I should have been heading the other way.

The compass may not sound like a great feature, but apps like Layar, an augmented reality browser, are now capable of running on the 3GS with the help of the magnetometer and GPS.

Nike+ support is something that I've been looking forward to for a long time—so much so that I even bought an iPod Touch 2G to use it. Well, it's here, and it works. The app is exactly like the one on the 2G Touch, and enables you all the running features you're accustomed to using on any other Nike+ device. What's nice about using your phone when running is that you always have your phone with you, and if you have a stereo Bluetooth headset, you'll be able to listen to music, run and answer a call if need be.

Voice control actually works. As long as you know the right commands, like "call" for calling someone on your contact list and "dial" if you want to dial a number. The accuracy is quite high, and the app can recognize what you're saying as long as there's not too much background noise. It's also fairly smart. If you say "call Mike" and you have multiple Mikes in your list, the iPhone will say the names of all your Mikes and ask you to be more specific.

The song control works, but gets confused occasionally because bands have weird names that aren't exactly English—they just share the same letters. The iPhone kept confusing "Phoenix" with "INXS" or "DMX", for example, but managed to actually get commands like "pause music", "who is this song by", "previous track" "what song is playing?", "shuffle" and "play more like this" correct. And if you're worried about figuring out what to say to control your phone, just activate the Voice Control function and watch the screen; eventually the command you want will come floating by in the background.

What's also surprising about the 3GS is that you wouldn't expect battery life to be improved, but it is. Apple's figures that measured improvement over the 3G in every category except 3G calling were more or less what we found in our own testing, which means you should be able to last the entire day on one charge with no problems. Plus, since the phone is faster, you'll probably spend less time looking up directions or getting to a restaurant's web page—which also saves battery.

The iPhone 3GS is not an insignificant step forward in the iPhone family. The Nike+ support, magnetometer (compass), video recording, voice command, better camera, better battery life and faster data network are all improvements nobody would call a step backwards. But the biggest day-to-day improvement over the 3G is undoubtedly the increased processing speed, which is why Apple called this phone the 3GS (with the S standing for super fast) in order to designate that it's basically the 3G, but better.

3G users have the unfortunate question of asking themselves whether or not they want to spend the $399/$499 to upgrade to the 3GS right now. If you're eligible to upgrade in July, August or September, AT&T's letting you do so at the full subsidized $199/$299 price. If not, you'll have to wait until your 18 months are up. It's definitely a better phone, but AT&T's plan of making early adopters wait another six months from now until they can get the standard $199/$299 price is frustrating, since we'll already be halfway into the iPhone 3GS lifecycle. And by then, it'll be worth waiting until June 2010 for a true revolutionary jump in iPhone design, instead of just an evolutionary improvement on the 3G.

¿Apple Touch Tablet?

2009-05-21T11:13:00.000-07:00

AppleInsider

With a conventional netbook clearly out of the question, researchers for Piper Jaffray said Thursday there's mounting evidence to suggest Apple next year will introduce its own take on the market in the form of a tablet-based device that will sell for $700 or less.

"Between indications from our component contacts in Asia, recent patents relating to multi-touch sensitivity for more complex computing devices, comments from [chief operating officer] Tim Cook on the April 22nd conference call, and Apple's acquisition of P.A. Semi along with other recent chip-related hires, it is increasingly clear that Apple is investing more in its mobile computing franchise," analyst Gene Munster and his team wrote in lengthy research note to clients.

More specifically, the analyst said these investments will likely culminate with the launch of a touch-screen tablet with a display somewhere between 7- and 10-inches at a special event sometime in the first half of 2010. Such a move, he added, would be consistent with management's comments that Cupertino-based company has no interest in catering to the existing segment for "cheap" miniaturized notebooks and its spoken desire to differentiate in a market currently dominated by cramped computers with razor thin margins and a subpar user experience.

Thus far, Munster's contacts in the component supply chain have not seen a prototype of the device but say there's ongoing discussions between the company and its suppliers about the parts that will eventually be required to build the product.

For his part, the analyst believes the device will end up retailing somewhere in the range of $500 - $700, bridging the gap between the $399 iPod touch and the $999 MacBook. He expects that it will be driven by a proprietary microprocessor designed in-house by engineers Apple adopted in the acquisition of P.A. Semi and others it's known to have hired in recent months.

Apple has also been consistent in its communications that software will play a vital role in any and all of its efforts to achieve success in the mobile space, and therefore Munster anticipates that the tablet will run an operating system more robust than the iPhone's but optimized for multi-touch, unlike Mac OS X. He envisions a new "hybrid" piece of software that would meld traits from both its Mac-based OS and the one that runs on both the iPhone and iPod touch.

"The device's OS could bear a close resemblance to Apple's iPhone OS and run App Store apps," the analyst wrote. "Apple could possibly introduce a second screen resolution into the iPhone OS software development kit (SDK), enabling developers to build apps specifically for the larger tablet device." The larger screen real estate offered by a tablet could also pave the way for more than one iPhone application to run simultaneously in unaltered form.

"Key apps, like Safari and Mail, could make use of the larger screen resolution, making Apple's tablet appealing for more extended use, but the company could continue to leverage its primary asset in mobile computing, the App Store, in this scenario," he explained.

Alternatively, Munster said Apple may be working on a customized version of Mac OS X for traditional computers that would be optimized for its multi-touch platform. Such an effort would be extensive and time consuming, even if it's already underway, and therefore the analyst believes it may not be ready for consumption until sometime next year.

"In other words, we expect the end result of the expected product to be launched later but with more dramatic differentiation than the Street is expecting," he wrote. "Another important possibility for the tablet that we expect Apple to launch in 2010 is that of wireless carrier subsidies."

Apple has become all too familiar and rather comfortable with subsidy pricing on its iPhone 3G, and Munster believes the company may take a similar approach to sales of the tablet. He also points to recent media reports about ongoing talks with Verizon wireless, which lead him to believe the company "could include an integrated mobile data feature such as 3G wireless into the device and partner with AT or Verizon to subsidize the device together with a contract for a wireless data plan."

The Piper Jaffray analyst also told clients that a tablet device could pave the way for Apple to get more serious about eBooks and give devices like the Kindle and Kindle DX from online retailer Amazon.com some unwanted competition.

"While we do not expect this to be a core selling point for the device, it would make sense for Apple to develop an electronic reading app for the device (and possibly for iPhones and iPod touches too) along with digital books sold on the iTunes Store," he wrote.

Munster maintained his Buy rating and $180 price target on shares of Apple.

Yooouuutuuube

2009-05-11T12:38:00.000-07:00

Andrew Sullivan

You can now watch any YouTube in a somewhat more comprehensive manner: a program provides every frame simultaneously in a blizzard of cascading imagery. Yeah, it's called Yooouuutuuube.

Try it!

FREE Conficker Removal Tool

2009-03-31T20:04:00.000-07:00

Enigma Software Group USA LLC.

Form Factor Memo

2009-03-29T17:54:00.000-07:00

TPM

Until quite recently, I'd seen a Kindle only once. It was at a friend's house, only for a moment, and my general impression was that it was clunky and only borderline readable. But I'm very partial to my iPhone. So a few weeks ago in my never-ending quest to find iPhone 'apps' I might actually use, I noticed that Kindle, or rather the Kindle software, was now available for iPhone. So I promptly downloaded it and bought my first book.

Like everything else on an iPhone it was very easy on the eyes. Maybe even beautiful. But after reading a bit, it struck me mostly as a clever novelty. The text was crisp and readable. But the physical thing itself was just too small. Maybe half as small as anything you could hold and get comfortable with like you can with a book.

But then my habit betrayed my first impression. I kept reading -- when I had a free moment, before I went to bed at night and then just when I wanted to read my book. Even at that small size the system provided me what you need from a book, which is that you fall into the writing and forget the book. Or in this case, the imitation of a book.

Then, with me reading my Alexandria book on my Kindlefied iPhone, my wife got the idea to order the real thing and promptly got hooked reading on an actual Kindle.

Now, here's the thing. And I'd appreciate hearing from those who've used either or both to see whether others agree. But I still find the greyness (which is mainly the non-backlitness) of the Kindle inferior to my iPhone. It's designed that way in part because it allows the battery on a Kindle to last an insanely long period of time but also because it's supposed to be easier on the eyes. Maybe I just spend so much time in front of a monitor that my eyes are trashed and I don't know the difference. But for me, on the iPhone, it just looks more crisp and readable.

All that said, though, I tried reading a book on the actual Kindle (the new one that just came out) and I fell right into the reading there too. It maybe took me 10 minutes to get acclimated. Even though I like the cleaner, whiter screen better, the physical size won me over, at least on the initial use.

(Porting the product to other devices is very clever on Amazon's part. Not only does it expand the market for their digital books. I suspect it will function something like the iPod has with Apple, a gateway gadget that gets people to switch to Mac from PC once they see how well Apple technology works compared to PC drek.)

What I'd intended here, though, wasn't just a product review. I've always been an inveterate collector of books. Not in the sense of collectibles, but in the sense that once I buy a book, I never let it go. As I made my way through adulthood it was while dragging a tail of several hundred books along with me.

Finally, only a few months ago, I purged a decent chunk of my collection. And most are now in storage. But in our living room we have two big inset shelves where I keep all the books I feel like I need or want ready at hand. And last night, sitting in front of them, I had this dark epiphany. How much longer are these things going to be around? Not my books, though maybe them too. But justbooks. Physical, paper books. The few hundred or so I was looking at suddenly seemed like they were taking up an awful lot of space, like the whole business could dealt with a lot more cleanly and efficiently, if at some moral loss.

Don't get me wrong. Book books still have some clear advantages. Kindle is a disaster with pictures and maps. But I didn't realize the book might move so rapidly into the realm of endangered modes of distributing the written word. I was thinking maybe decades more. The book is so tactile and personal and much less ephemeral than the sort of stuff we read online.

I hope it's clear that I'm not of the attitude that this is a good thing or something I welcome. When I had the realization I described above it felt like a sock in the gut, if perhaps a fillip on the interior decorating front. All the business model and joblessnes stuff aside, that's how I feel about physical newspapers too. There's a lot I miss about print newspapers, particularly the serendipitous magic of finding stories adjacent to the one you're reading, articles you're deeply interested in but never would have known you were if it weren't plopped down in front of you to pull you in through your peripheral vision. Yet at this point I probably read a print newspaper only a handful of times a year.

When I think about it I kind of miss it. In a way I regret not reading them. But I just don't. I vote with my eyes. And I wonder whether I'll soon say something similar about books.

--Josh Marshall

TwitPickr cross-posts TwitPic images to Flickr | Webware - CNET

2009-03-29T08:35:00.000-07:00

TwitPickr cross-posts TwitPic images to Flickr | Webware - CNET

If you're a Flickr user who delights in the simplicity of using TwitPic to take pictures in various mobile Twitter applications, you'll dig TwitPickr. This simple tool lets you republish any shots you've sent to TwitPic over to your Flickr account.

To begin, you simply drop in your Twitter username and it pulls up all the shots you've posted to TwitPic. Then you just check off the ones you want to publish to your Flickr photostream and it copies them over in one click.

As a future feature I'd love to automatically have photos from Twitpic sent over to Flickr. Until that happens, the easiest way to send to both is to save your special e-mail posting address from each service, then send the photo to both using your phone's MMS or e-mail client. However, this method defeats the purpose of using TwitPickr in the first place, since TwitPic posting is built into so many of today's mobile Twitter apps.

Official Google Docs Blog: Custom views give you more control of your spreadsheets

2009-03-18T21:05:00.000-07:00

Official Google Docs Blog: Custom views give you more control of your spreadsheets

Wednesday, March 18, 2009 3:52 PM

A few weeks ago we enhanced mobile access to spreadsheets by adding the ability to add, edit, sort, and filter rows. Today, I'm happy to announce that this same list view is now available when you're working on spreadsheets from desktop and notebook computers. You can find list view under the View menu.
List view provides a simplified interface to your spreadsheet. Here's an example of a spreadsheet that could be used by employees that are staffing a trade show booth:

Notice that you can quickly sort and filter data in list view without changing the underlying spreadsheet. Each sort and filter view has a unique web address (URL), making it easy to return to a particular view to inspect and analyze your data. You can share list view URLs with your colleagues, provided they have permission to access the spreadsheet. Below, I've filtered the spreadsheet to see who requested "Large" t-shirts on "Tuesday":

List view can also be embedded in a web page, either in read-only or editable mode. Here I've embedded a view of the example spreadsheet right into this blog post:

Here are a few more ways to use list view:

Imagine that you collected 100 names and t-shirt sizes using a Google Docs form. You might share a list view of the form responses, allowing people to fix errors (such as someone entering the wrong size) without worrying about a novice user accidentally messing up other parts of the spreadsheet.
Rather than embedding a published snapshot of a spreadsheet in your Google Sites page, you can now embed a read-only list view of the spreadsheet, which allows users to easily sort, filter and page through the data.

List view also loads very quickly in your browser, making it especially useful when you just want to quickly give others basic editing access rather than the full functionality normally available. And if you're using list view and need full spreadsheet functionality, just follow the "Go to spreadsheet view" link.

2Go PC - Computer Technology Link

2009-03-17T20:45:00.000-07:00

2Go PC - Computer Technology Link

sony vegas - pesky black clips

2009-02-25T12:04:00.001-08:00

Evernote Blog » Blog Archive » Evernote + Eye-Fi = Instant Photographic Memory

2009-02-24T12:43:00.000-08:00

Evernote Blog » Blog Archive » Evernote + Eye-Fi = Instant Photographic Memory

dudefree unit circle

2009-02-23T20:18:00.000-08:00

dudefree.com

This is a Flash animation [freedude] created to help students study and learn the Unit Circle. It's probably most useful to pre-calculus and trigonometry students, but many other students will find it helpful as well. It has many features, so play around with it to see how it works.

Evernote w/ Griffin Clarifi iPhone case

2009-02-10T20:59:00.000-08:00

Griffin 8245 Clarify case for the iPhone to use with Evernote:

Official Google Mobile Blog: Google Sync Beta for iPhone, WinMo and SyncML Phones

2009-02-10T15:22:00.000-08:00

Official Google Mobile Blog: Google Sync Beta for iPhone, WinMo and SyncML Phones

Monday, February 9, 2009 9:15 AM

One of the hardest parts about switching phones is getting your address book and calendar to your new device. We're making that process a little easier by releasing a beta version of Google Sync for the iPhone and Windows Mobile phones as well as a contacts-only version for phones that support SyncML.

For iPhone and Windows Mobile devices, Google Sync allows you to get your Gmail Contacts and Google Calendar events to your phone. Once you set up Sync on your phone, it will automatically begin synchronizing your address book and calendar in the background, over-the-air, so you can attend to other tasks. Sync uses push technology so any changes or additions to your calendar or contacts are reflected on your device in minutes. The connection is always on so you don't have to manually sync your phone after Sync has been set up. This means that when your colleague changes the time of the TPS report cover sheets meeting, you'll know about it right away.

Since Sync is a two-way service, you can make changes on your phone or in your Google Account. Your calendar and contacts are always up-to-date, no matter where you are or what you're doing. Also, since your data is automatically backed up to your Google Account, it's securely stored even if you lose your phone.

For devices that support the open SyncML protocol, Google Sync will allow for two-way contacts synchronization. If you're a BlackBerry user, a version of Google Sync is already available.

Following the Google credo to launch early and iterate, we're introducing Sync in beta. We encourage you to visit our Help Center to review device specific instructions and known issues. Also, please keep in mind that Google Sync may remove all existing contacts and calendar events from your phone, so make sure to back up any important data before you set it up. You can find more information on backing up in the Help Center.

To try Sync out, visit m.google.com/sync

to sync multiple calendars: m.google.com/sync

Posted by Bryan Mawhinney, Software Engineer, Google Mobile

problem playing a movie on new laptop with Mircosoft Vista Home

2009-02-09T12:56:00.000-08:00

This low-rent version of the operating system (Vista home) doesn't let you watch DVDs with Windows Media Player. I also had problems with the built-in HP player (i.e. it wasn't working). I tried to download missing codecs, but when that didn't immediately bear fruit, I found a free mediaplayer download that does play DVDs (and also, for some reason - maybe a codec had been missing - made the built-in HP player start working too).

(Good strategy, Microsoft!)

Since JMJ has the same laptop, I thought I'd post this for him here to shortcut a solution for him in case he encounters the same problem.

You can read the CNET review and download KMPlayer here.

Screen Resolution Idea

2009-02-08T17:48:00.000-08:00

Multiple screens can be set to different resolutions. So you can have a really hi-res (zoomed out) one with lots of real estate (but too-small text), alongside a lower-res (more zoomed in) one. Sliding a window from one screen to another resizes it on the fly. Here the resolution increases from left to right (click on image):

Windows Explorer Patch

2009-02-04T23:41:00.000-08:00

annoyances.org

Default Folder Template Patch

Intended For

Windows Vista only

Windows Vista has a bug that prevents it from choosing the correct view for a folder based on its contents, which is why you may see thumbnails when they're not appropriate, and no thumbnails when they're needed. The following patch stops Vista from trying to guess how to display a folder, instead forcing it to use the template of your choice.

Download ResetExplorer.exe (119 kb) and save it to your desktop. (Don't worry... there's no adware, malware, or spyware here; this tool just deletes some unimportant cache data from your Registry. Thereafter, Windows Explorer will recreate the data as needed.)
Double-click the ResetExplorer.exe file to reset your saved Windows Explorer view settings. (Feel free to delete ResetExplorer.exe when you're done with it, or keep it around for future use.)
Next, download ChooseTemplate.reg and save it to your desktop.
Double-click the ChooseTemplate.reg file to add a new option to Windows Explorer (shown below). When prompted, answer Continue, Yes, and then OK. (You may delete the ChooseTemplate.reg file when you're done.)
Open Windows Explorer, and from the Organize drop-down, select Folder and Search Options.
Choose the View tab, and from the Default Folder Template option, choose one of the templates to be the default for all your folders:
Thereafter, Windows Explorer will use your preferred view settings every time unless you manually change the template for a folder.
To choose a new template for a folder or branch, right-click the folder, select Properties, choose the Customize tab, and select the desired template from the What kind of folder do you want? box.

geocoded user content on google

2008-12-31T23:44:00.000-08:00

How to Insert an Image Inline in Gmail - About Email

2008-12-21T21:58:00.000-08:00

How to Insert an Image Inline in Gmail - About Email

You can describe the look on your friend's face as she got your birthday present with words for paragraphs on end, but wouldn't it be nice to show a picture, too?

Now that you have the image attached in Gmail, wouldn't it be even nicer to put that picture right in the body of your email alongside the imaginative description?

Gmail, alas, lacks an "insert image" button. Fortunately, that does not mean you cannot insert an image.

Insert an Image Inline in Gmail

To add an inline image to an email you are composing in Gmail:

Make sure the image is located at a web server.
- That means you can open the image in your browser and have an address line that starts with "http".
- You can upload the image to your web host or use a graphic you found on the web (which you can use without violating any terms).
- If you don't have a web site, turn to a free image hosting service instead.
- If the image is larger than some 640x640 pixels, consider shrinking it to more handy proportions before you put it online.
Locate the image on the web site or open it directly in your browser.
- If the image appears on a page together with other items:
- Click on the image with the right mouse button.
- Select View Image from the menu.
Hit Ctrl-A (Windows, Linux) or Command-A to highlight the image.
Hit Ctrl-C (Windows, Linux) or Command-C.
Make sure rich text editing is turned on in the Gmail message you are composing.
- If you can see a Rich formatting » link above the editing area, click it.
Position the cursor in the Gmail message where you want the image to appear.
Hit Ctrl-V (Windows, Linux) or Command-V.
If you use an image uploaded to a free image hosting service:
- Click on the image.
- Now click the Link button in the rich-text formatting toolbar.
- Copy and paste the image's page address at the free image hosting service under To what URL should this link go?. If you uploaded the image to ImageShack, for example, you could link to "http://img.imageshack.us/my.php?image=example.jpg".
- Click OK.
Continue composing the message.

If inserting an inline image does not work in your browser, try in Mozilla Firefox.

More Email Quick Tips

More Tips

Gmail Tips Most Popular Email Tips All Email Tips

This tip is known to work with

Gmail Free Image Hosting Services

Now It's Gmail, Now It's a Doc with New Labs Offering - ReadWriteWeb

2008-12-19T07:19:00.000-08:00

Now It's Gmail, Now It's a Doc with New Labs Offering - ReadWriteWeb:

"In the workaday world, it happens all the time. You get caught in a string of emails among colleagues, the thread grows and grows as everyone adds their two cents, and when the dust settles, you realize that you've managed to create a ton of good content. Unfortunately, you're now tasked with cutting and pasting all of that good content into a more formal document. If only you could press a button and turn that email into something more useful.

Now, you can. Thanks to Google Labs.

imgCreateADoc.jpgJust add the 'Create a Document' Labs feature, open the email string you'd like to convert, and you'll notice a new option in your right sidebar called - appropriately enough - Create a document. Click the link and, after a few moments of conversion, you'll be transported to a Google Docs version of the email you were just reading.

But what if you're simply inspired by the email and not its contents? Create a Document can help you there, too. Once the feature and keyboard shortcuts are enabled, you gain the ability to start a new blank Doc directly from Gmail. Simply, hit the G and W keys at the same time and you'll have a new blank document. Ta dah!

Now, granted, this may not seem like a huge leap forward in technology. But it does mark yet another step that enhan"

Link Directly to High Quality YouTube Videos!

2008-11-22T22:55:00.000-08:00

mix.epicfu.com

to embed a High Quality MP4 Youtube video, you need to add the following code onto the end of both URLs in the embed code:

&ap=%2526fmt%3D18

also: HiDef on YouTube

also

When you’re viewing a high quality video on YouTube, you can use the KeepVid bookmarklet to download the mp4 file for later viewing on your computer, iPod, or iPhone. I tested this with the Burn-E video and the resulting mp4 was in letterbox format (480×198, or roughly the standard 2.40:1 aspect ratio).

[plus, YouTube allows uploads to be 1GB now (still subject to 10 minute limit)]

How To Quickie: Vista Permissions - "you need permission"

2008-11-17T11:25:00.000-08:00

How To Quickie: Vista Permissions - PaulStamatiou.com

For this example, I’ll be giving my user account full read/write permissions for a random file. Again, this is just an example and I have no idea why you would ever need full read/write permissions for such a random file. The point is to show you how to overcome a “you need permission to perform this action” situation if you ever find yourself in it. Bookmark the page as you might need it down the road.

Right-click the file and select Properties.
Click on the Security tab.
Click Advanced in the lower right.
In the Advanced Security Settings window that pops up, click on the Owner tab.
Click Edit.
Click Other users or groups.
Click Advanced in the lower left corner.
Click Find Now.
Scroll through the results and double-click on your current user account.
Click OK to all of the remaining windows except the first Properties window.
Select your user account from the list up top and click Edit.
Select your user account from the list up top again and then in the pane below, check Full control under Allow, or as much control as you need.
You’ll get a security warning, click Yes.
On some files that are essential to Windows, you’ll get a “Unable to save permission changes… access is denied” warning and there’s nothing that you can do about it to the best of my knowledge.
Reconsider why you’re using Windows.

That’s generally how the process goes. You don’t want to be doing this too often though. Should you ever get a virus in Vista, the files thought to have been protected, which you gave your account full permissions for, could easily be destroyed - not good if that’s a critical system file. This probably also works in XP but I haven’t used XP in a while. Vista is just a lot more protective about things so you probably never had this type of situation in Vista, or at least I haven’t.

Knowliz: 20 Things to do after installing Ubuntu Linux

2008-11-16T21:35:00.000-08:00

Knowliz: 20 Things to do after installing Ubuntu Linux

MaximumPC: Locked Folders in Vista

2008-11-14T15:00:00.000-08:00

MaximumPC

navigate the epaper to page 37 for article

WRT54G Firmware Upgrade Notes

2008-11-12T14:49:00.000-08:00

WRT54G Firmware Upgrade Notes

I began by refreshing my memory about the topic of wireless router firmware upgrades and found an excellent article that provides a good history and overview of the subject: The Open Source WRT54G Story.

The Linksys Routers Tricks, Tips and Firmware page provides some very useful background information.

A variety of firmware upgrade options are available, and this 3rd Party Firmware Comparison provides details about 4 of the most popular choices.

After a while I began zeroing in on a selection, and this first-hand account of someone’s experiences upgrading their own router helped solidify my choice: DD-WRT.

I quickly found a great (clear and accurate) set of WRT54G upgrade directions and shortly thereafter was back on the internet via a router that had just had the electronic equivalent of a brain transplant. After I finished my upgrade I found another page with upgrade directions that looks pretty informative and includes a photo gallery of screen-shots taken during the upgrade process.

Just in case there were any problems, I had a great router firmware upgrade troubleshooting page open for reference; thankfully it wasn’t needed.

Overall, while this wireless router upgrade isn’t necessary, it isn’t terribly hard to perform (though carefully following the instructions is important), and does provide both a better interface and some extra new features, including the ability to increase the transmitted power (useful if you have a computer that is a bit too far away from your wireless access point).

One caveat if you’ve read this far: only a few modern routers support this type of upgrade, so carefully read the above pages to ensure you have (or purchase) a model/version that will work with these router firmware upgrades that are available. If you have a newer model, the DD-WRT “micro” distribution is said to work, and if so is still likely better than the default software provided with the unit.

How to Link to a YouTube Video So It Starts at a Specific Time

2008-10-26T07:47:00.000-07:00

blogoscoped.com

You might already know how to do this for embedded videos, but now here’s how to start a video playing at YouTube.com at a certain point of time – by using a “#t=" at the end of the URL, and then a time in the format of e.g. “1m45s”:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bibCui3lFM#t=1m45s

& see Splicd.com

40 brilliant Gmail hints, hacks and secrets | News | TechRadar UK

2008-10-20T19:15:00.000-07:00

40 brilliant Gmail hints, hacks and secrets | News | TechRadar UK

35. Want to track where that spam list got your address from? Use this little known Gmail trick. Insert a + symbol in your email address and Gmail will ignore everything between the + and @ symbols. For example - if your Gmail address is yourname@Gmail.com you could tell Amazon that it's yourname+amazon@Gmail.com. The mail will still be routed to you...

TechCrunch Blogger Michael Arrington Can Generate Buzz ... and Cash (archiving magazine articles 7/2007)

2008-10-16T12:03:00.000-07:00

TechCrunch Blogger Michael Arrington Can Generate Buzz ... and Cash

Originally a solo operator, he now has a half dozen writers and researchers pumping out three to 10 posts a day in addition to maintaining an opinion blog called CrunchNotes, a gadget blog called CrunchGear, a classified-ad site called CrunchJobs, and a portable-computing blog called MobileCrunch. He says he has looked at, however briefly, more than 7,000 startups in two years and has written about nearly 500 of them. "I saw a parade," he says, "and I got in front of it."

GoodSync : File Synchronization, File Backup Software, File Sync Software (archiving magazine)

2008-10-16T10:57:00.000-07:00

GoodSync : File Synchronization, File Backup Software, File Sync Software

Something to look at...I just saw an ad for this.

Internet Security 2.0 - Page 4 | Maximum PC (archiving magazine articles)

2008-10-16T10:56:00.000-07:00

Internet Security 2.0 - Page 4 | Maximum PC:

"ThreatFire picks up the installation routine where AntiBot leaves off, and rather than throw a few arbitrary options at the end user, the app gives you customizable control over additional subsets of the application. If you’d rather not tinker, the default options will keep the set-it-and-forget-it folks protected, but power users will want to poke around the menus and tailor ThreatFire in ways AntiBot doesn’t allow, such as enabling automatic restore points before quarantining files. You can also schedule rootkit scanning at set intervals, just as you would with your anti-virus software. But we’re most enamored with the Advanced Rule menu, where you can set up custom security rules for virtually any kind of threat. If you want to create a rule that disallows any process from deleting or overwriting files in the Windows/System32 folder, you can do that and then configure exceptions for programs or processes that might legitimately need those types of privileges. Give your custom rule a name and description, and you can enable or disable it thereafter with a click of the mouse. And to add icing to an already tasty cake, ThreatFire’s wizard walks you through the process in plain English, so you never feel overwhelmed or unsure about what you’re doing. Bravo!"

Internet Security 2.0 | Maximum PC (archiving magazine articles)

2008-10-16T10:51:00.000-07:00

Internet Security 2.0 | Maximum PC:

"We’ve had our share of “uh-oh” moments, when curiosity superseded our better judgment and we impulsively clicked a suspicious link or downloaded a suspect file. In most cases, those moments have been followed by a laborious malware disinfection, or if the damage was severe, a full-blown Windows reinstall. Trustware Security promises to make those situations a thing of the past. To prove it’s serious, the company will pay you $500 if BufferZone fails to keep your PC secure, with a few caveats (http://tinyurl.com/2nvc23). Normally, we’d worry that such lofty claims would result in a Chapter 11 filing, but despite our best efforts, we were unable to wreak irreversible havoc on our test systems and claim our bounty."

Flash 10 Released - Finally, Flash Videos In Firefox Work Again! - ReadWriteWeb

2008-10-15T08:48:00.000-07:00

Flash 10 Released - Finally, Flash Videos In Firefox Work Again! - ReadWriteWeb

Today Abode announced the availability of Adobe Flash Player 10 for Windows, Mac, and Linux. The new plugin offers a number of improvements such as native support for 3D, a new text rendering engine, and integration with Adobe's Pixel Bender technology. However, we know that many of you aren't interested in these upgrades, which are mainly aimed at Flash developers. What you want to know is this: Will Flash video finally work in Firefox?

We're pleased to report the answer to that question is YES. After installing the new player, we loaded up a bunch of tabs in Firefox and played a YouTube video. The video played to completion. It worked!

The Firefox 3/Flash Bug

If you don't have any idea what we're talking about here, consider yourself lucky. The Flash/Firefox bug has been a major source of aggravation for many users running Firefox 3 on Windows XP or Vista. When viewing an embedded video on a web site like YouTube, the videos would start playing, but they would stop after only a couple of seconds. There was nothing you could do to fix it except to close the browser and re-open it (which only sometimes worked) or load up an alternate browser like IE or Chrome.

People's experiences with this bug weren't consistent - some people were affected, some not at all, and for some it was intermittent. To make matters worse, the only solution at the time was to install the Flash 10 player which was then still in beta and therefore unsupported by many large web sites, like CNN, for example. That site would prompt you to upgrade to Flash 9 as it thought you must be running an older version of Flash.

Both Mozilla and Adobe were aware of the issue, but neither company seemed to really know what the problem was. At one time, Adobe suspected that it was another Firefox plugin that was affecting Flash. The Mozilla developers also did their best to determine the cause on their end, too, but because Adobe was a closed-source company, their efforts could only go so far.

G1 Hands-On: Live with T-Mobile’s Android Smartphone! | Android Community

2008-09-23T13:29:00.000-07:00

G1 Hands-On: Live with T-Mobile’s Android Smartphone! | Android Community

more:

Browser Tricks:

Copy and Paste:

Reader and Photos:

Media in the Browser:

Fast Scroll and Maps:

Keyboard Shortcuts:

Apps without borders"

Apps are created equal:

Google Book Search API Released

2008-09-23T07:34:00.000-07:00

Google Book Search API Released

Google now offers a book search API which allows other sites to embed book previews, query for certain book information, or just link to books at Book Search (the former Google Print). In Google’s blog post announcing this, Google mentions they already partnered with several online book sites who use their widget-style preview functionality – like this BooksaMillion.com page which shows a “Google preview” button. Clicking the button opens a box which lets you page through parts of the book, search, and zoom.

continued...

YouTube - stick figure animation

2008-09-21T21:57:00.000-07:00

YouTube - stick figure animation

Microsoft Watch - Web Services & Browser - Chrome: The Google OS

2008-09-05T15:18:00.000-07:00

Microsoft Watch - Web Services & Browser - Chrome: The Google OS

Chrome looks to be what Netscape wanted to be: a Web-based operating system that treats Windows like a shell. Perhaps the best commentary on Chrome comes from John Gruber (aka Daring Fireball) in a two-sentence blog post: "Sounds more like an application run-time than a Web browser, though." He's absolutely right. Chrome isn't just Google's long-rumored Web browser, it's the long-rumored operating system, too.

Google Chrome

2008-09-02T15:03:00.000-07:00

Google Chrome

An animated explanation from the developers.

Wikipedia Comes to the iPhone with Wikipanion - ReadWriteWeb

2008-08-25T21:57:00.000-07:00

Wikipedia Comes to the iPhone with Wikipanion - ReadWriteWeb

« Prior Post

A new school year is about to start very soon and students nation-wide will be clamoring for ways on how best to keep up with their school work. With many schools starting to offer free iPod Touches, iPhones, and laptops, the iTunes App Store will be one of the first places to go for back to school apps. The new school year also means that research via Wikipedia is going to be on the rise. Fortunately for those with iPhones and iPod Touches, they can now access Wikipedia anywhere while on the go with Wikipanion from the iTunes App Store.

Wikipanion Review

Wikipanion (iTunes link) is the best application out for Wikipedia on the iPhone and iPod Touch. This app is simply genius and gives you a simplified version of Wikipedia without leaving out any of the site's extra features. To simply the site to fit the screen size of the iPhone, the normal links that you'd see to each section of an article are foregone on the main screen. Instead, there's a small icon located at the bottom of the app that's similar to the bookmark button in Safari on the iPhone. Using this button, users can access all the sections of an article.

Amazon Acquires Shelfari: Moves To Corner Book-Centric Social Networks

2008-08-25T21:55:00.000-07:00

Amazon Acquires Shelfari: Moves To Corner Book-Centric Social Networks

Shelfari, a social network for bibliophiles, has been acquired by Amazon for an undisclosed amount. Amazon has been a longtime supporter of the Seattle based startup, having invested $1 million in the site in February 2007.

The move comes less than a month after Amazon’s acquisition of AbeBooks, a vendor of rare and used books from independent publishers. As part of that acquisition Amazon also got a stake in Shelfari’s competitor LibraryThing, which AbeBooks had previously purchased a 40% stake in.

This resulted in an awkward scenario - while Shelfari and LibraryThing are similar and could conceivably be merged by Amazon pending a dual aquision, there is bad blood between them. LibraryThing’s founder has openly criticized Shelfari for spamming users and astroturfing blogs, and generally behaving as a “bad actor”.

In light of the tension between the companies (and their locations on opposite sides of the country), we speculated that Amazon was going to have to choose to acquire one of the competitors and divest its shares in the other. Amazon has clearly sided with Shelfari, though a later acquisition of LibraryThing is still feasible.

You can see Shelfari’s blog post on the acquisition here.

Howard Rheingold's Vlog: Why Teach About Social Media

2008-08-19T20:16:00.000-07:00

Howard Rheingold's Vlog

Portal:Featured portals - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

2008-08-19T20:01:00.000-07:00

Portal:Featured portals - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This page highlights portals that are regarded as being particularly useful, attractive, and well-maintained. Of the many portals on Wikipedia, these featured portals are those which stand out.

What Linux Will Look Like In 2012

2008-08-14T19:18:00.000-07:00

What Linux Will Look Like In 2012 -- Linux -- InformationWeek

Virtualization in the Linux kernel -- either in the form of KVM or Xen -- will make it that much easier to run Linux side by side with any other operating system, either as a way to migrate non-destructively from an existing Windows installation or as a way to expand Linux's own native functionality (for instance, by running multiple kernels each tailored for different needs).

Amazon.com: No Video Playback In Vista - flip video Discussion Forum

2008-08-03T19:37:00.000-07:00

Amazon.com: No Video Playback In Vista - flip video Discussion Forum: "After trying lots of things, I stumbled onto Vista Codecs ... a free download. I can now see and hear video although sharing doesn't work."

Copy File Path

2008-07-28T12:53:00.000-07:00

Be Shifty

Quickly Copy a File's Path to the Clipboard

In the pre-Vista days, coping a file or folder path to the clipboard meant you had to right click, select Properties, highlight the path, and select Copy. That's more steps then are in a Broadway musical! To perform the same action in Vista, hold the Shift key when right clicking and select Copy as Path.

Assign hotkey to Common Tasks

2008-07-28T12:51:00.000-07:00

XP & Vista Tips Maximum PC March 2008 51 Tips/Games for Windows May 2007 20 Tips for Vista (*FINISHED*) - PlayStation Tech Central - PlayStation.com Forums

Hotkey Hokey Pokey

Assign Hotkeys to Common Tasks

Quick, try to open the Task Manager without lighting your hand from the mouse. Unless you have unusually long fingers or a third hand growing from your torso, you can't hit CTRL-ALT-DEL combination without contorting into an unnatural position. Luckily, there's an easier workaround. Navigate to C:Windows\System32 and create a shortcut for taskmgr.exe, and assign a new hotket combination in the Shortcut tab. Use this trick for any commonly used application.

Codec Library

2008-07-28T12:49:00.000-07:00

XP & Vista Tips Maximum PC March 2008 51 Tips/Games for Windows May 2007 20 Tips for Vista (*FINISHED*) - PlayStation Tech Central - PlayStation.com Forums

Codec Cornucopia

Improve Video Viewing with a Codec Library

Life would be so much easier if all videos clips adopted a unified standard, but instead we're forced to hunt down codec after codec to play an assortment of videos. At least, that's how we used to do it, until we found ffdshow troyouts (http://ffdshow-tryout.sourceforge.net/). Ffdshow sports an expansive codec library, several filters, and the ability to display pertinent details about the file it's playing. CPU-utilization monitoring and the ability to grab screenshots add icing to the cake.

"No to All"

2008-07-28T12:45:00.000-07:00

forum.datacad.com :: View topic - Windows Explorer - "No to All":

"Whenever you copy multiple files from one location to another, Windows prompts you with an overwrite request if duplicate entries already exist. You can select “Yes to All” but there is no “No to All”. If you hold down the [Shift] key the first time you select “No”, Windows will act as if you selected “No to All”."

Youtube videos pausing • mozillaZine Forums

2008-07-25T12:09:00.000-07:00

Youtube videos pausing • mozillaZine Forums

n case it helps:

My C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\Macromed\Flash folder has two files with "FlashUtil" as part of the name:
FlashUtil9e.exe and NPSWF32_FlashUtil.exe
...Both file properties describe it as "Adobe Flash Player Helper 9.0 r115". I did a google search for "FlashUtil" and found this:
http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewCon ... &sliceId=2

Flash Player 9 (9.0.28.0) and later.

The utility file FlashUtil.exe is installed with Flash Player 9.0.28.0 and later in the C:\Windows\system32\Macromed\Flash directory. FlashUtil.exe includes functionality required by Windows Vista and by the auto-update notification process. The previous utility (UninstFl.exe) is no longer required by or installed with Flash Player.

The utility is versioned with the control. For example, FlashUtil9b.exe is installed with the control Flash9b.ocx. FlashUtil.exe also contains several options that developers can use to switch between player and debugger versions during testing.

Also this:

The Windows plug-in installer also places a broker application called
NPSWF32_FlashUtil.exe in the same directory as the Flash Player Plug-in DLL.
NPSWF32_FlashUtil.exe includes functionality required by Windows Vista and by the auto-
update notification process

You could also do a search of Adobe's Macromedia Flash Player forum to see what else you can find out about that utility.

iTablet?

2008-07-23T09:47:00.000-07:00

h/t the eye

Apple hints at something new - International Herald Tribune

Apple is widely expected to be getting ready to refresh its line of notebook computers, and there is some speculation that it may introduce a new kind of device that is smaller than a laptop but larger than an iPhone. In several ways, Apple executives hinted that this new product would compete aggressively on price with rival devices.

'Band' iPhone applet

2008-07-22T10:56:00.000-07:00

moo cow music

see also 'pianist'

CNET presentation:

iPhone bug & potential fix

2008-07-19T00:53:00.000-07:00

Bug: one or more of the app store apps stops working (opens, hangs for a second, then returns to home screen). or maybe crashes the phone. try this:

Apple - Support - Discussions - Apps won't open ...:

perform 'Authorize computer' (in the Store menu) in iTunes

run 'Transfer Purchases from xx's iPhone' (in the File menu). All your apps should then appear in iTunes, in the applications tab of your phone.

With your iPhone still docked, pick an app and delete it from the iPhone

sync your phone

unplug the iPhone, plug it back in, and sync again

Wonders of wonders, every single app should now work again.

It's a pain, and will no doubt be fixed, but that's a simple solution for now.

I recommend choosing an app to remove/reinstall that does not save any settings - perhaps a gimmicky thing like iBeer because I did lose my saved settings for Bejeweled.

Hope this helps someone.

Intuos3 - Product Overview

2008-07-18T16:18:00.000-07:00

Intuos3 - Product Overview

The Intuos3 professional pen tablet makes it easy to quickly and professionally edit photos and create digital artwork by turning on the full power of Adobe® Photoshop®, Corel® Painter™, and over 100 other leading software applications. Create universal settings for your pen and tablet or alter your settings by application for maximum productivity.

Intuos pen tablets use Wacom's patented technology to give you the natural feel and superior performance of Wacom's patented, cordless and battery-free technology. Get the control, comfort, and productivity of Intuos3—and join millions of satisfied Wacom tablet users. Alternating between the comfortable Grip Pen and the ergonomic five-button Intuos3 mouse reduces repetitive motion. It's an easy and natural way to work.

Intuos3 runs on both PCs and Macs. Also, you can use an Intuos pen to unleash new functionality designed for pen tablets within Windows Vista™ like personal note taking, email signing, handwriting recognition, handwritten emails, and pen flick navigation.

Many software applications have features and tools that are designed to be used with a pen. Click here for more information on these applications and their features.

tablet mouse

2008-07-18T14:18:00.001-07:00

Cintiq 21UX Product Information

Remember everything. | Evernote Corporation

2008-07-17T23:25:00.000-07:00

remember this app?

i just came across it in the app store (new on iPhone 2.0)

Remember everything. | Evernote Corporation

Developer Interest in the iPhone, Android, and Symbian - O'Reilly Radar

2008-07-15T00:35:00.000-07:00

Developer Interest in the iPhone, Android, and Symbian - O'Reilly Radar

Gmail Superstars

2008-07-13T18:07:00.000-07:00

Gmail Superstars

SolFocus

2008-06-28T10:49:00.000-07:00

SolFocus - Products & Technology:

SolFocus CPV systems are designed to deliver the lowest Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) and the highest energy density of any solar-energy generating systems. By concentrating sunlight using innovative optics onto a small area of high-efficiency solar cell material, SolFocus systems dramatically reduce the amount of expensive and often supply-constrained solar material used in the system. The multi-junction solar cells incorporated into the system provide the highest levels of efficiency in converting light to electricity. These cells also offer the benefit of not being impacted by high temperatures which cause dramatic degradation of performance in other systems such as silicon PV and thin film cells. The largest portion of the SolFocus systems is glass and aluminum which are readily available and have proven field durability. The result is solar energy systems which are cost-efficient, reliable and scalable globally to gigawatts of energy production.

The SolFocus CPV panels are mounted on a dual-axis tracker that maintains the alignment of the optics with the sun. The tracking system, designed by SolFocus subsidiary InSpira, has been engineered for optimal flexure, pointing accuracy and tracking range to deliver the highest energy production. Inspira-designed trackers are recognized for their leadership in robust design and tracking accuracy. The close coupling of SolFocus CPV panels with the design of the tracker results in a system optimized for high output and system reliability.

authorSTREAM

2008-06-26T13:16:00.000-07:00

authorSTREAM Present and Share PowerPoint Online

Docstoc.com

2008-06-26T13:11:00.000-07:00

Docstoc.com – free legal forms and business templates

and also free file hosting / sharing / embedding solution

docstoc is a user generated community where you can find and share professional documents. Find free legal documents and free business documents. Upload your documents for all the world to share.

the myth of multi-tasking

2008-06-23T14:15:00.000-07:00

The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan

Or one reason I don't answer my cell-phone:

One study by researchers at the University of California at Irvine monitored interruptions among office workers; they found that workers took an average of twenty-five minutes to recover from interruptions such as phone calls or answering e-mail and return to their original task.

Vimeo, Video Sharing For You

2008-06-04T15:54:00.000-07:00

Vimeo, Video Sharing For You

MIT Center for Collective Intelligence

2008-06-04T15:23:00.000-07:00

MIT Center for Collective Intelligence

The Library in the New Age

2008-06-01T10:20:00.000-07:00

The New York Review of Books

Information is exploding so furiously around us and information technology is changing at such bewildering speed that we face a fundamental problem: How to orient ourselves in the new landscape? What, for example, will become of research libraries in the face of technological marvels such as Google?

How to make sense of it all? I have no answer to that problem, but I can suggest an approach to it: look at the history of the ways information has been communicated. Simplifying things radically, you could say that there have been four fundamental changes in information technology since humans learned to speak.

XO laptop redesign: Pics!

2008-05-29T18:43:00.000-07:00

TED | TEDBlog

One Laptop per Child designer Yves Behar (watch his TEDTalk) shares exciting news about the top-to-bottom redesign of the XO laptop -- sometimes called the "$100 laptop." He writes:

With the XO (1.0), we pushed the boundaries of what a laptop could be by lowering the cost dramatically, being green (no heavy metals, lowest energy consumption ever), and a human-driven unique design approach.

Now, with XOXO (2.0), we are challenging what a truly collaborative and creative computing experience could be ... a true departure from the traditional keyboard and screen layout, a new way to interface and play with data, information and communication:

- imagine if your learning machine was an un-interrupted screen one could interface with from any direction

- imagine if it was a reading experience just like a book, and at the same time a seamless large visual tablet

- imagine if children could play board games sitting across from each other (or computer games).

The XOXO is a book, a tablet, a board...and yes, a laptop too if that is what you need. The design is still green and white, but thin, simple, and un-interrupted by keyboards, buttons, speaker holes, input devices and visible connectors. And it is soft to the touch, like a piece of luggage, everyday luggage you can take anywhere.

Planned for early 2010, the XOXO should be the next learning object of desire, from Bogota, to Istanbul, to New York.