Monday, October 13, 2008

Picasa Web Albums Uploader 1.2 adds video

Google has released a new version of its Picasa Web Albums Uploader for the Mac, which is now at version 1.2. The update allows for the sharing of both still images and video clips, from iPhoto '08 via the Picasa exporter, or else using the standalone direct uploader. Once submitted, content can be shared with family and friends via the web....
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MacBreak 18: DVD Studio Pro

MacBreak 18: DVD Studio Pro
Brent Bye from Boxwrench.net shows us the full power of Apple's DVD Studio Pro.

Saturday, October 11, 2008

MDI's "AirCar" officially becomes the FlowAIR

Filed under: Transportation


MDI's compressed air vehicle has been unofficially known as the AirCar for years now, but it looks like the company is now finally putting a stop to that, and officially bestowing the decidedly less catchy "FlowAIR" name on the car. What's more, it's also gotten official with no less than four different vehicles based on the technology, including the One FlowAIR open-top model, the Mini FlowAIR three-seater (pictured above), the City FlowAIR truck-type vehicle, and the Multi FlowAIR urban public transportation concept, all of which have been making the rounds under various guises for some time now. From the looks of it, the One FlowAIR will be the first out of the gate in 2009 (in France, at least), with the rest to follow over the next few years.

[Via AutoblogGreen]
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Thursday, October 9, 2008

MacBreak 160: MacBreak: Foldit

MacBreak 160: MacBreak: Foldit
iJustine and Dr. Kiki fold proteins and aim for the nobel prize with Foldit.

Sony adds video podcast support to PSP

Sony adds video podcast support to PSP
The Sony PSP is definitely moving way beyond video games these days. Then again, I suppose there are number of people thinking that it had to happen thanks to the Apple iPod’s success. Video podcast support is coming to the PlayStation Portable (PSP) thanks to a firmware update Sony Computer Entertainment has published. The update takes [...]

The Sony PSP is definitely moving way beyond video games these days. Then again, I suppose there are number of people thinking that it had to happen thanks to the Apple iPod’s success.

Video podcast support is coming to the PlayStation Portable (PSP) thanks to a firmware update Sony Computer Entertainment has published.

The update takes the PSP firmware to version 2.8. It allows the PSP to receive video clips through RSS (really simple syndication) feeds from blogs and other websites. Sony first added RSS and podcast support in November 2005 and expanded it in April this year.

Additionally the firmware update adds compatibility for the “.3gp” audio format used by some mobile phones, and greater access to content stored on Memory Stick memory cards…. Source: MacWorld


Poll: Which RSS reader do you use?

We'd like to hear which RSS readers you use to read RSS and Atom feeds. So we're running a poll that asks that very question. Please select all the readers that you use on a daily basis. If your reader isn't specifically in the list, feel free to tell us about it in the comments (along with an URL, if possible, so others can check it out).


Which RSS reader do you use?

Bloglines

Newsgator

FeedDemon

NetNewsWire

Yahoo

Google

Other software reader

Other online reader

I don't read RSS feeds.

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Ads in RSS: Obnoxious Works

Don't get me wrong; I'm all for ads in RSS, and have said so for months. I have intuitively felt that inconspicuous ads would probably work best, if only because they would piss off readers less than big, loud ads. However, a study from Pheedo indicates the reverse is true, and it's two layers of bad news. First, ads run as separate RSS feed items are far more successful (generating about eight times the clickthroughs) as ads embedded in RSS items. Then, it turns out that blitzing the feed with ads in every other item is the most successful tactic of all. Of course, you might lose most of your readers, but the remaining ones will be clicking your ads.

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GBTV #380 (small) | GeekBrief.TV

GBTV #380 (small) | GeekBrief.TV
Based on what I've seen so far, Spy Pens haven't surpassed novelty quality. OhGizmo.com pointed us toward a new one called the DVR Pen Recorder that stores up 30 hours of audio and video, but only at a resolution of 352x288.

Sony's HDR-CX12 Memory Stick Handycam camcorder uses "smile shutter technology" to automatically take photos of people when they smile.

SpotCrime recently got TechCrunched. It's a google map mashup that gives you a graphical representation of crime activity in a particular area on the map.

Psystar is tempting fate again by selling an OSX rack server.

iRetroPhone is a rotary dial for iPhone.

PortableApps.com is a source for downloading small applications that run from a flash drive, including Firefox 3.

MacBreak 51 Macworld 2007: The Omni Group

Merlin chats with Ken Case from the Omni Group about their products and the application development possibilities for the iPhone. Read more

Apple to bring iPhone Tech Talks on tour

Apple has scheduled a worldwide series of Tech Talk events for the iPhone, according to an announcement. Called the iPhone Tech Talk World Tour, the aim is intended to improve iPhone application development through expert help in optimizing code and interface design. Events are set to begin October 22nd in San Francisco and Paris, but will spread to a number of other major cities, such as London...
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China Blocks FeedBurner RSS Feeds

China Blocks FeedBurner RSS Feeds
Wow, perhaps China is feeling a little paranoid here? I mean, what else would be the reason for blocking FeedBurner? FeedBurner, which powers hundreds of thousands of blog, podcast and mainstream news feeds (including this one), is apparently being blocked by Chinese authorities. Here is a Yoda-esque loose English language translation of William Long’s original post. [...]

Wow, perhaps China is feeling a little paranoid here? I mean, what else would be the reason for blocking FeedBurner?

FeedBurner, which powers hundreds of thousands of blog, podcast and mainstream news feeds (including this one), is apparently being blocked by Chinese authorities. Here is a Yoda-esque loose English language translation of William Long’s original post. William even used a proxy server to verify that the issue is with the Chinese, not FeedBurner. His subscriber count dropped from over a thousand readers to zero overnight.

I have nothing but respect for Dick Costolo and the FeedBurner crew. They have been extremely helpful in troubleshooting various issues on my blog and others. I am sure they are doing everything in their power to remedy as best they can. This issue goes way beyond FeedbBurner…. Source: Micro Persuasion


Turn Your IM Program Into A Productivity Tool Using Imified

Turn Your IM Program Into A Productivity Tool Using Imified
Most people would associate an Instant Messaging (IM) program with chatting idly to friends all day long but in actual fact a lot of companies have been developing chat bots which enable you to use your IM program to make you more productive.   The best one (in my opinion) is Imified.   I use it on [...]

Most people would associate an Instant Messaging (IM) program with chatting idly to friends all day long but in actual fact a lot of companies have been developing chat bots which enable you to use your IM program to make you more productive.   The best one (in my opinion) is Imified.   I use it on a daily basis and I can’t say enough good things about it.   I’d like to show you today some of the things it can do to help you.

Imified basically allows you to connect with online services using your chat program.    Whether you are a user of Google Talk, AIM, Windows Live or Jabber, information from these online services is securely passed back and forth, allowing you to do everything from your desktop.    This can be anything from updating your Twitter stream to checking an IP address.   One thing is for certain.   Imified is going to be the most valuable friend on your IM contact list.

So the first step to setting up Imified is to get the bot onto your contact list.   This is extremely simple.   All you have to do is pick your chat service, take the associated email address and add it to your contact list :

AIM: IMified

MSN (Windows Live Messenger) : imified@imified.com

Google Talk: imified@imified.com

Jabber: imified@imified.com

Once it is on your contact list, send the Imified bot a message to wake it up.  It should then be approved and brought online either right away or after a short period.

The first thing you will get is an activation link to the Imified website and a very small menu, one of which will say “My Account”.   Ignore that for the moment.   First, click on the activation link as this will activate your account and get you into the Imified website.

Once you are in, you will see 3 pages of widgets which you can add to your IM client :

All you need to do is just go through the lists, choose the ones you want and add them to your IM client.

How do you add them?    It’s very easy.    See those green plus signs in the top left hand corner of each widget?    Just click on the green plus sign for the widget you want to install.   That opens it up.  You’ll be asked to give it a preferred name and depending on the app, you may also be asked for a username and password.    Then click “enter” and suddenly your IM program will update!

It’s a bit hard to explain here.   It’s one of those things where it’s easier if you just do it.

OK now this is basically what my Imified menu looks like on Google Talk.   I’m sure I’ll add more later but right now, I’ve confined myself to these five apps.

If at any time I want to access my Imified account, all I have to do is hit “6″ and Imified will create an unique URL for me to get into the website.

Let’s take a look at some of the things on my menu to demonstrate how useful Imified is :

NetLookup :

By using certain commands, you can find out all kinds of information about a domain.

ping ********.com - Pings the given hostname five times and outputs results.
traceroute ********.com - Outputs a traceroute (originating in Munich, Germany) to the given domain.
alexa *******.com - Prints Alexa Web Information about the given domain name.
whois ********.com - Looks up information about the domain name in the WHOIS database.
enum +1-604-958-1212 - Looks up ENUM entries for a phone number at multiple ENUM registries.

Post to Delicious

We all know about Delicious, the bookmarking site.   Well, using Imified, you can send bookmarks straight to Delicious.   You can even add descriptions and tags.   There’s a slight delay before the bookmark gets added to your profile though so don’t expect an instantaneous addition.    But it DOES work!

Post to Twitter / Jaiku

I’ll lump these two together since Twitter and Jaiku are essentially both microblogging services and do the same thing.

No delay with this one! My Twitter feed is updated instantly!

There are LOTS of widgets you can add to your Imified bot which can help you do things faster.   Which ones do you like?

(By) Mark O'Neill is a blogger, professional freelance writer and the editor of Make Use Of. Check out his personal blog at BetterThanTherapy.net

New subscriber? Get your freebies at MakeUseOf Downloads. Enjoy!

Tags:bookmarks, bots, chat, chat bot, Cool Web Apps, IM, productivity, widgets

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TUAW Review: WunderRadio

TUAW Review: WunderRadio

Filed under: Audio, Software, iPhone, App Store

WunderRadioThe geniuses at Weather Underground have done it again! Now they've capitalized on their insight into weather radio to bring the iPhone world WunderRadio. Available in the App Store (click opens iTunes) for US$5.99, WunderRadio provides NOAA Weather streams based on your current location.

But there's a lot more to WunderRadio than NOAA Weather. Weather Underground has joined with RadioTime.com to provide thousands of radio streams from around the world. Once again, based on your current location, WunderRadio provides a listing of nearby stations to provide you with local AM, FM, and Internet radio streams.

Enthusiasts of live police, fire, and EMS scanners get a bonus in the form of scanner feeds from ScanAmerica.us. With all of this content, who needs iTunes? Of course, the app has to do a good job of capturing the audio stream on the iPhone.

"The initial impetus behind this application was to provide iPhone users with instant access to local weather radio streams," said Alan Steremberg, President of Weather Underground. "During development, we decided to extend the scope of radio stations offered by working with RadioTime - the result is an easy to use portal to over 60,000 of the best talk, music and sports radio stations around the globe."

Read on for a quick review of WunderRadio.

Continue reading TUAW Review: WunderRadio

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Tuesday, October 7, 2008

MacBreak 138: NAB: Lite Panels

Alex stops by the Lite Panel booth. Read more

MacBreak 17: Quicksilver Tips

Merlin Mann's back sharing more productivity tips with Leo using Quicksilver. Read more

Sanyo's laser could bring 12x Blu-ray burners and 100GB discs

Sanyo's laser could bring 12x Blu-ray burners and 100GB discs

Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment, Storage

Sanyo's laser could bring 12x Blu-ray burners and 100GB discsWhile Sony and others compete with Blu-ray burners of a paltry 8x, Sanyo's looking ahead with a new laser that could enable write speeds of up to 12x. More impressively, the 450 milliwatt diode (twice that of current burners) could read and write through four 25GB layers. If you're not so good at math (it's okay, we had to break out the calculator) that means discs of up to 100GB burned in 10 minutes or less! But don't go running down to your local Blu-ray emporium looking for double-digit speed drives just yet; new standards will be needed for discs that big and drives that fast, which could mean a year or two before production begins. If speculation of Blu-ray's impending demise is to be believed, that may be cutting things a bit close.
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MacBreak 38: Path Finder

Merlin Mann is back to talk about Path Finder, a feature-rich alternative to OS X's Finder. Read more

MacBreak 63: TextExpander

Leo and Merlin discuss TextExpander, which saves you keystrokes with customized abbreviations for frequently used text. Read more

Monday, October 6, 2008

MacBreak 51 Macworld 2007: The Omni Group

MacBreak 51 Macworld 2007: The Omni Group
Merlin chats with Ken Case from the Omni Group about their products and the application development possibilities for the iPhone.

InfoCenter vs. iTunes: The Battle of the Podcatchers?

The battle of or for the podcatchers? Based on what this piece below is saying, Microsoft is attempting to bring “order” to the world of podcasting. Would more people subscribe to RSS feeds and podcasts if they were easier to capture and manage? That’s the perception of Marc Mercuri, an architect evangelist on the Microsoft developer and [...]

The battle of or for the podcatchers? Based on what this piece below is saying, Microsoft is attempting to bring “order” to the world of podcasting.

Would more people subscribe to RSS feeds and podcasts if they were easier to capture and manage?

That’s the perception of Marc Mercuri, an architect evangelist on the Microsoft developer and platform evangelism team, who has developed in his free time an information-aggregator he has coined Information Center, or InfoCenter.

Carl Franklin, the CEO of Pwop Productions, who has had a chance to see the product, described InfoCenter as “an RSS aggregator/podcast-enclosure downloader on steroids.”

Mercuri showed off a prototype of InfoCenter to a handful of individuals at Microsoft’s TechEd conference in June. In July, he unveiled InfoCenter to a broader group, via the “.Net Rocks” radio show. Mercuri is expecting to release for download the latest InfoCenter bits, complete with a newly redesigned interface, around August 9.

When asked whether he had discussed with any division at Microsoft the possibility of InfoCenter becoming a Microsoft-branded ware, Mercuri said that “there have been absolutely no talks about this becoming a product…. Source: Microsoft Watch

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Apple TV 2.2 fixes security, adds Genius support

Apple TV 2.2 fixes security, adds Genius support
Apple has released an Apple TV 2.2 update to address security issues with the company's set-top box and media player as well as add a few new features to keep pace with iTunes 8, released last month. Specifically, the update fixes two separate issues where a maliciously crafted movie file could lead to either an unexpected application termination or arbitrary code execution. According to Apple, th...

Wipeout HD: A speedy trippy experience

Wipeout HD: A speedy trippy experience
Some games never die. Wipeout, an arcade racer and Sony hit since 1995 and the early days of the original PlayStation has just been reborn in striking 1080p HD visuals, 60 frames a second and in Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound as...

Yahoo! Mail Beta Adds RSS

Yahoo! again demonstrates its facility with RSS by adding feeds to the beta Mail which is still in restricted distribution. (Original review of it here.) Yahoo! Mail takes advantage of the Outlook-styled interface to create an intuitive RSS package. It's preloaded with selected feeds, and, remarkably, that selection appears personalized. I'm waiting for confimration of this, but it seems that the preset feeds are taken from profile information and personal-interest choices in Yahoo! 360. Naturally, that information wouldn't be available for every user in a wide rollout of the new Yahoo! Mail, but millions of people have Yahoo! IDs that contain a bit of profiling, so perhaps Yahoo! plans to mine every bit if personalizable information it can get. I'm all for it. This level of integration makes for a satisfying experience from the first click.

yahoo mail beta rss 01

Of course, you can add feeds. Yahoo! provides a recommended list of about 25 feeds, asnd users can specify an RSS address. NOTE: Users should be able to paste in a Web-page address also, and the feed reader should have the smarts to find the feed; Yahoo! has started a tradition of RSS invisiblity in My Yahoo!, and it should be carried over into Mail.

Somewhat oddly, Yahoo! presents the feed in a three-pane view: feed list on the left, feed items in the middle ... and nothing in the right-hand vertical pane. I expected the source page for the feed item to appear in that pane, and was disappointed to see Yahoo! opening a new browser window to display that page. that system works best on some monitors and resolutions, granted. I'd like to have a view choice. Put the source page in the same window as the feed item, and you're really starting to emulate a desktop newsreader. Since Yahoo! mail (beta) emulates a desktop mail program, this would make sense.

Good start! Excellent start. Yahoo! is going to have one rowdy, boat-rocking launch when the new Mail emerges from beta.

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Special TUAW reader pricing for iPhoneLive Conference

Special TUAW reader pricing for iPhoneLive Conference

Filed under: Software, Other Events, Developer, iPhone

We posted early last month about the O'Reilly iPhoneLive Conference, scheduled for November 18th in San Jose, CA. Now TUAW readers can get a 20% discount on the conference registration by using a special code -- ip08gd20 -- at checkout.

This is in addition to the $125 discount for signing up for the conference before October 14th, so be sure to get your registration in soon. Erica Sadun will be a presenter at iPhoneLive, and I'll be providing coverage of the event.

iPhoneLive is a one-day event highlighting iPhone development, the emerging iPhone market, and how businesses can capitalize on the success of the platform.
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MacBreak 118: Macworld 2008: BlueMic

MacBreak 118: Macworld 2008: BlueMic
Cali Lewis investigates the Snowball by Bluemic.

World's largest computing grid lives to go live

Filed under: Desktops, Misc. Gadgets


Contrary to popular belief, the world as we know it didn't implode after the Large Hadron Collider was flipped on. Sure -- someone, somewhere is growing a ninth arm and trying desperately to land a cameo on Fringe, but the planet at large is still humming along just fine. Now, the world's most ginormous computing grid (the Worldwide LHC Computing Grid, or WLCG) has gone live, and the gurus behind it are celebrating the beginning of its momentous data challenge: to analyze and manage over 15 million gigabytes of data each year. The Grid combines the IT power of over 140 computer centers, 100,000 processors and the collaborative efforts of 33 countries. Unfortunately, there's no word on when the official WLCG-based Call of Duty 4 server will be green-lit for action, but we hear it's pretty high on the priorities list.

[Via China View]
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GBTV #426 (small) | GeekBrief.TV

GBTV #426 (small) | GeekBrief.TV
We saw the Microsoft ad for a laser free mouse last week. Now we have the details. Three mice have been introduced using BlueTrack. They're the Explorer, the Sidewinder and a mini Explorer.

Ion Audio releases a large range of analog to digital converters. If you're looking for a turntable for those old records, take a look at the Ion LP2 FLASH.

RIM and TiVo announced a partnership, allowing Blackberry users to program their TiVos remotely.

Advanced Windows users running the .NET framework might enjoy an alpha CircleDock, a tool for launching applications quickly.

Today I posted on BigTrip.TV about how we're rethinking the type of bus we might buy for the trip. Then we saw the Tabbert Paganini and fell in love.

MacBreak 76: Studio: Motion 3 Paint

MacBreak 76: Studio: Motion 3 Paint
Mark Spencer returns to show us the new paint features in Motion 3.

Thursday, October 2, 2008

GBTV #433 (small) | GeekBrief.TV

GBTV #433 (small) | GeekBrief.TV
Fitbit is a small device that monitors your fitness activity and your sleep at night, and automatically uploads information to the website for you to see how you're doing.

There have been several crowdsourcing ventures that haven't made it, but let's hope FairSoftware does. It was a TechCrunch50 finalist.

MagHound takes the idea of Netflix and applies it to magazines. Switch around the titles you receive each month, or keep receiving the same ones. Up to you.

CRAY intends to make supercomputers available to everyone, although I'm not sure they're there just yet at $25,000 a pop. The AOC V17 is a very inexpensive HD monitor. It's 17" and cost $200.

GBTV #360 (small) | GeekBrief.TV

GBTV #360 (small) | GeekBrief.TV
On Saturday, I hung out at the My Home 2.0 studio, a technology makeover show. I got to see some really cool D.I.Y. projects, but I'm not allowed to show you those just yet. On Brief #360, I talk to one of the three gurus, Alison Lewis about how her interest in integrating technology into fashion. She gets her fashion cred from Parsons, and her tech cred from creating and installing interactive exhibits in children's and science museums.

EMI case aganst MP3tunes owner dismissed

MP3Tunes announced on Thursday that the Recording Industry Association of America�s copyright infringement lawsuit against its CEO, Michael Robertson, was dismissed by New York District Judge William H. Pauley III. The lawsuit against MP3Tunes will proceed as planned, however. The lawsuit, headed up by EMI Music and 14 other music RIAA-supporting labels alleges that MP3Tunes infringed on copyright...
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AMD demos Mobility Radeon HD 4000 chip

AMD is tipping its hand early at the CEATEC technology show by showing a pre-production version of a Mobility Radeon HD 4000 chipset. Although AMD has yet to publicly discuss the hardware, the company's booth at the Japanese expo contains a clearly identified test bed with the notebook-oriented chipset demonstrating its full hardware Blu-ray video decoding....
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