Cafe Mignon - Blog

File Ai Shares Large Files Instantly

2008-12-12T01:59:00.000+01:00

from Lifehacker by Adam Pash

Web site file ai supports instantaneous file sharing for large files, allowing the file recipient to begin downloading the file as soon as you begin uploading it.

Similar to previously mentioned EatLime, that means you don't have to wait an hour for a large file to upload to the site's servers before your friend or co-worker can start downloading it. Unlike EatLime, file ai has no limit on file size—presumably because the file never actually goes through the site's servers.

Instead, file ai uses a BitTorrent-style transfer protocol that goes directly from you to your peer. Like BitTorrent, if you're sharing the file with more than one person, file ai will create a swarm, speeding up the download. The downside is that if you do have plenty time to upload the file to a site's server, your recipient won't get the benefit of the fat download pipe that other file sharing servers boast. file ai is free to use, works in any Java-supported web browser.

file ai [via Download Squad]

Sync iCal and Google Calendar with Ease

2008-12-06T06:24:00.000+01:00

Mac OS X only: Google announced CalDAV support in Google Calendar this summer, which meant that with a little know-how, you could sync iCal with Google Calendar. Now the Google Mac Blog has officially announced CalDAV support for iCal, and to go along with the announcement they've released a new iCal sync application called Calaboration. With Calaboration, you can quickly and easily set up bi-directional syncing between iCal and Google Calendar with just a few clicks of your mouse. It's quick, it's easy, and it works like a charm; just run it once to set up your calendar syncing and you shouldn't need to run it again until you need to add a different calendar. Calaboration is a free download, Mac OS X only. If you're not on a Mac, check out how you can sync Google Calendar to any desktop calendar you've got.

Calaboration [Google Code via Official Google Mac Blog]

Toucan Syncs and Backs Up Your Files

2008-12-06T06:17:00.000+01:00

Windows only: Portable application Toucan backs up and syncs your data between two locations (like your hard drive and your USB drive). It's like Time Machine for Windows! Only a mere 4.10MB once in installed, Toucan offers several advanced backup and syncing settings, like incremental backup with compression (supporting 7-Zip format), portable drive variables, scripts and advanced rulesets. Similar to SyncBackSE but smaller and portable, Toucan is a nice option for making sure you've got everything on your thumb drive. Toucan is a free download for Windows only.

Toucan [PortableApps.com]

Windows Live Photos Overhauled [Windows Live]

2008-12-06T06:12:00.000+01:00

from Lifehacker by Gina Trapani

One way you can use your 25GB of free Skydrive space courtesy of Microsoft Windows Live is share your photos online Flickr-style at the newly-revamped Windows Live Photos site. Create albums (folders) in Windows Live Photos, set permissions on who can see your photos, comment on others' photos, and play your photos back slideshow-style. While Windows Live Photos slideshow is inferior to Flickr's full-screen option, the webapp does set itself apart from Flickr a few ways. Overall it's more customizable, with your choice of themes for your photo pages, and while it doesn't offer free-form photo tags like Flickr, you can identify particular people within a given photo (like Facebook). You'll need a Windows Live ID to sign in and try out Live Photos.

Our new Photos web service is LIVE! [Windows Live Photo & Video Blog via CNET]

Google Reader Simplifies Look, Adds Features

2008-12-06T06:10:00.000+01:00

from Lifehacker by Adam Pash

The Official Google Reader Blog announces a handful of changes to Google Reader today, most notably in the form of a visual refresh designed to bring a more streamlined look and feel to Google's popular newsreader. That means less visual clutter, more space, and a softer, less saturated skin. Beyond that, the new Reader update adds collapsible navigation to each section of the sidebar, improved options for sharing items with friends, and the option to hide unread counts for any section of reader—like your friends' shared items. As a final (and probably least exciting) addition, Google has created more feed bundles for subscribing to a topic en masse (e.g., music blogs, Nascar, etc.). Keep reading for more detailed screenshots of the new features.

Collapsible Navigation

Hide Unread Counts

New Feed Bundles

We're not seeing the update on our accounts yet, so if you're in the same boat you're likely to see it on yours within the next few days. Still not happy with the simplified Google Reader? Try recently mentioned Helvetireader for another minimalist Reader skin.

Square is the new round. [Official Google Reader Blog]

Hi Ho Silverlight? Microsoft Windows Mobile Gets PDF and Flash Friendly

2008-03-17T17:10:00.002+01:00


	from Gizmodo by Wilson Rothman Microsoft just signed a deal to license Adobe's Flash Lite and Reader PDF formats for Windows Mobile. There's no word yet on when this will appear in the operating system itself, but it's a nice show of openness. It also means two things: 1) Microsoft's Flash competitor, Silverlight, may not be cutting the mustard, and this is no way to spur developers. 2) Steve Jobs' allegation that Flash Lite isn't good enough for the iPhone might hold less water, though few would disagree that iPhone quality standards are higher than Windows Mobile's. [InfoWorld]

MacOS 10.5.1 Out Soon, Taking 10.5 GM Out of Beta

2007-11-10T13:07:00.000+01:00

from UNEASYsilence by Dan

Its always my policy to wait 48 hours before installing any update, but I always sit on the bench a little longer for OS upgrades.

Seems to think that Apple agrees the Leopard is a little buggy and are working on quickly releasing 10.5.1 to plug some of the gaping holes.

Among the fixes already baked into the first test build are corrections to Leopard’s application Firewall, Spotlight indexing, iCal syncing, Keychain login and text drawing corruption. […] In total, build 9B13 includes well over two dozen fixes and code corrections, those familiar with the software say, and addresses an issue present when moving files across partitions — possibly one and the same with the widely publicized Finder data-loss bug.

If you haven’t installed Leopard yet, I say wait it out until 10.5.1 is out - because the data loss issue is awfully scary.

Leopard Review: First Apple OS X Leopard Reviews by The Mainstream (Verdict: It's Good)

2007-10-25T13:09:00.000+02:00

from Gizmodo by Jason Chen

Three reviews are in from USA Today, WSJ and NYT and they're all positive (though some more positive than others). That's Mossberg's video, above, but the rest of the reviews are summarized below.

USA Today Review: Ed Baig says it "hits all the right spots"—a obvious pun, but it gets right to the heart of his review. He continues to say that OS X is superior to Windows (especially with the latest iteration), but points out the Boot Camp feature for people who need both. Upgrading for him was super easy, as was using Time Machine for backing up or migrating files, the iChat video chat/theater, the upgraded Mail.app, and the improved desktop, Finder (file browser), and .Mac features. It reads like a shortened Leopard feature checklist with the praise preceding or following each item, which shows how much of a thumbs up Baig is giving the new OS. [USAToday]

Mossberg WSJ Review: After his headline ("Leopard: Faster, Easier Than Vista") and on a short history tour of Apple as a company, Mossberg moves on to say that while Leopard is good, it's evolutionary, and not revolutionary—but still manages to keep Apple's "advantage over Windows". He does have some gripes. He says the menubar is translucent (it's actually not, in the final version), the icons are "dull and flat and less atractive than Vista's" (we disagree), Time Machine, although described as "sexy", has limited backup locations. And that none of Apple's 300 new features are a major breakthrough. However, Leopard doesn't have any of the upgrade problems (when upgrading from Tiger) that Vista had from XP. Mossberg then goes into feature list mode, but ends by saying that Leopard isn't a must-have, it just adds a lot of value on an existing machine. [WSJ]

Pogue's NYT Review: After spending half the first page (and 1/4 of the whole piece) talking about how Time Machine works, Pogue moves on to Spaces, parental controls, Boot Camp, screen sharing, and iChat upgrades. Although backup features and virtual desktops have been around for a while, Pogue says the point of Leopard is that Apple takes all those apps, improves on them, and integrates them well into the OS. But he too has complaints.

Stacks are a bit awkward and inconsistent, see through menus are hard to see (he may be using an old version because the final version looks fine), as well as occasional glitches in Spaces and program switching. Final thoughts: it's polished and offers few disappointments. Looks like a buy from Pogue. [NYTimes]

Mobile Google Docs

2007-10-18T10:36:00.001+02:00

from Google News by Ionut Alex Chitu

The mobile version of Google Docs, available at http://docs.google.com/m, displays the list of documents and almost lets you view them. The interface is somewhere between the iGoogle gadget and the desktop interface. It's pretty easy to find documents by using search, going to a folder or looking in the list of recent documents. But once you find the file, you won't be able to do too much. For most phones, you can read documents and view spreadsheets a column at a time. If you have an iPhone, your experience will be better: spreadsheets can be fully displayed and presentations can be opened.

"At this point, we support both the iPhone and Blackberry mobile devices. Note, however, that presentations are only supported on the iPhone. Google Docs documents and spreadsheets should also work on phones that offer rich-browser support. While we haven't tested it across all mobile devices, a good rule of thumb is that the more advanced your phone's browsing capabilities, the more seamlessly Google Docs will work," mentions a note from the help center.

Maybe Google should release a mobile application that actually lets you edit the documents.

Google Docs Mobile homepage

A Google document

The painful way to view a spreadsheet
(one column, 20 rows at a time)

{ via Google Blogoscoped }

Unlocked??: The French iPhone Comes Unlocked

2007-10-17T21:55:00.000+02:00

We told you yesterday that Orange would be the exclusive iPhone provider in France, but that's only half the story. The other half is that since French law prohibits the exclusive sale of phones locked to a provider, Orange will be selling both a locked and an unlocked version of the iPhone as a compromise. The unlocked version doesn't have a finalized price at this time, but we do know it will be more expensive than the €399 bundled version.

With all of the efforts all over the world to unlock iPhones, it's almost a slap in the face (or just a step in the right direction?) that Apple/Orange will be offering an unlocked version to France. Guess it's time to import if you don't like AT&T. [iht] from Gizmodo by Mark Wilson

More Great Features in Leopard

2007-10-16T21:12:00.000+02:00

Yes folks, Leopard will be available on October 26, complete with its shiny new interface, Finder, QuickLook, Spaces, iChat with presentation sharing, Boot Camp, and—our all-time favorite—Time Machine without flux capacitor. Beyond that, the new Leopard comes with 316 new features, some of them really interesting (the below were highlighted by Jesus Diaz on Gizmodo) :

• Mail's Post-It-style notes synchronize automatically with the iPhone.
• Address Book now synchronizes with Yahoo.
• For programmers, AppleScript has now a bridge with Objective C. Looks like it has been one of the winners.
• Automator has a cool looking UI recorder and playback, along with an improved interface.
• Boot Camp is now official, complete with Microsoft WHCL-Certified Windows Drivers.
• Another expected feature is Web Clip in Dashboard. No sign of iPhone integration, however.
• The new-look dock is now spring-loaded. This means that you can drag an image over iPhoto, press the space bar and, once iPhoto is opened, you'll keep dragging the image to the desired folder.
• You can now have the dock synched in many Macs (this requires a .Mac account.)
• A welcome addition to early-morning Giz editors: a Japanese-English dictionary (not a translator, but in the Dictionary application.) Too bad they haven't included Spanish, French, Swedish or any other language but those two.
• DVD Player now comes with auto zoom, to box your movies correctly.
• Apple says that DVD Player has now higher quality video thanks to "Adaptive Video Analyzation technology that applies deinterlacing and inverse 3:2 pulldown on demand."
• Apart from all its well-known interface improvements, the Finder now includes precise grid control for icons and a one-click way to make all folder views look the same.
• I like the printable font book pages now, but just because I'm a font addict.
• Front Row will stream iTunes content from any Mac around the house.
• iCal has received a lot of new features, like inline editing of events, sharing of meeting materials in an event dropbox, and CalDAV group scheduling.
• Beyond the iChat Theater and all the screen sharing capabilities, iChat has also received a lot of small improvements, including a very-welcomed File Transfer Manager and persistent chat windows (at last.)
• Image applications will be able now to import photos from 802.11- and Bluetooth-enabled cameras.
• Self-Tuning TCP promises "optimum application performance, especially in high-bandwidth/high-latency environments."
• Photo Booth comes now with a burst mode, so you can record four-photo successive shots as GIFs. The objective: to annoy everyone in iChat with your moving buddy image.

Anybody who purchased a Mac on or after October ...

2007-10-16T21:08:00.000+02:00

By the good grace of God a.k.a. Steve Jobs, anybody who purchased a Mac on or after October 1 will get a free Leopard upgrade. [Mac OS X Leopard Up-to-Date Program]

Apple: Apple Confirms October 26th Leopard Ship Date, Preorder Start Now

2007-10-16T20:51:00.000+02:00

from Gizmodo by Wilson Rothman

The horse has spoken: The eagerly anticipated, occasionally delayed Mac OS 10.5 Leopard is finally shipping. It will be available in 10 days, on Friday, October 26th, at 6pm in Apple Stores and at authorized resellers. Leopard may be the most ambitious MacOS update since the switch to OS X, with new features such as Time Machine, Spaces and Quick Look, plus updated iChat and Mail and a snazzy new Dock with Stacks. The upgrade will cost $129 for a single-user license, and $199 for five-user "family pack." Meanwhile, students'll pay $116, up from the previous academic price of $79. Today's announcement does not appear to contain any previously unknown surprise features, but we'll have an interview where we can dig for more. (Oh, and preorders start today at Apple's website.)

Apple also confirmed the simultaneous shipping of the Leopard Server software, and unveiled a new utility, Podcast Producer, "the ideal way to automatically publish podcasts to iTunes or the web."

Apple to Ship Mac OS X Leopard on October 26
CUPERTINO, Calif., Oct. 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Apple(R) today announced that Mac OS(R) X Leopard will go on sale Friday, October 26 at 6:00 p.m. at Apple's retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers, and that Apple's online store is now accepting pre-orders. Leopard is packed with more
than 300 new features and introduces a brand new desktop with Stacks, a new way to easily access files from the Dock; a redesigned Finder that lets users quickly browse and share files between multiple Macs; Quick Look, a new way to instantly see files without opening an application; Spaces, an intuitive new feature used to create groups of applications and instantly switch between them; and Time Machine, an effortless way to automatically back up everything on a Mac(R).

"Leopard, the sixth major release of Mac OS X, is the best upgrade we've ever released," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "And everyone gets the 'Ultimate' version, packed with all the new innovative features, for just $129."

Leopard's new desktop includes the redesigned 3D Dock with Stacks, a new way to organize files for quick and easy access with just one click. Leopard automatically places web, email and other downloads in a Downloads stack to maintain a clutter-free desktop, and users can instantly fan the contents of this and other Stacks into an elegant arc right from the Dock. Users can also create their own Stacks for quick access to folders, documents or applications. Leopard's gorgeous new look extends to all applications, with every window on the desktop offering a consistent design theme and active windows outlined by deeper shadows that make them stand out.

The updated Finder includes Cover Flow(R) and a new sidebar with a dramatically simplified way to search for, browse and copy content from any PC or Mac on a local network. Content on any computer on a local network can now be searched using Spotlight(TM), browsed using Cover Flow or copied across the network with a simple drag and drop. .Mac members can use the new Back to My Mac feature to browse and access files on their remote Macs over the Internet.

Quick Look is the fastest and easiest way for users to look inside files without launching them or even having the application that created them. With Quick Look, users can instantly view full-screen, high-resolution files of virtually anything, even media files, from any view in the Finder.

Spaces gives users a powerful new way to organize their work by creating customized desktops which can contain only those applications or documents needed for each project, with the ability to quickly switch between Spaces with the mouse or keyboard.

Time Machine lets users easily back up all of the data on their Mac, find lost files and even restore all of the software on their Mac. With just a one-click setup, Time Machine automatically keeps an up-to-date copy of everything on the Mac.* In the event a file is lost, users can search back through time to find deleted files, applications, photos and other digital media and then instantly restore the file. If it's ever necessary, Leopard can also easily restore an entire system from the Time Machine data on an external drive.

Mail has been updated in Leopard and features more than 30 stationery designs and layouts that look great on a Windows PC or Mac so users can easily send stylish, personalized emails with beautiful graphics and photos. Notes and To Dos help users stay organized by acting just like emails that can be easily created, saved as drafts, synced across multiple Macs and stored in Smart Mailboxes. Data detectors automatically sense phone numbers, addresses and events so they can be added to Address Book or iCal(R) with just a few clicks, and users can keep up-to-date by getting the latest news and blog feeds delivered directly to the their mailboxes with a built-in RSS reader.

iChat(R), the easiest-to-use video conferencing application on any personal computer, offers even richer video chats in Leopard with iChat Theater, which makes it easy to show photos, presentations, videos or files in a video conference; screen sharing which lets users remotely view and operate another Mac; and Photo Booth(R) effects for fun distortions and video backdrops that can instantly make users appear to be anywhere they choose.

Other new features in Leopard include:

-- improved Parental Controls, aiding parents in managing their kids' online activities with automatic identification of unsuitable content before allowing website access, plus time limits and activity logs that can be accessed from any Mac on a home network;
-- the complete Boot Camp(R) release, previously available only as a beta, making it possible to run Windows natively on Intel-based Macs;**
-- Web Clip, bringing anything that a user wants from a web page to Dashboard as a live widget;
-- new Photo Booth features, helping users create animated iChat buddy icons or fun effects and backdrops with still or video images;
-- an enhanced Dictionary with Wikipedia built in, allowing users to access up to date information on virtually any subject in a snap;
-- a newly updated iCal with multi-user calendaring based on the new CalDAV standard; and
-- an updated version of Front Row, making it even easier to play music or watch movies, TV shows and photos on a Mac using the ultra-simple Apple Remote.

Pricing & Availability

Mac OS X version 10.5 Leopard will be available on October 26 at Apple's retail stores and through Apple Authorized Resellers for a suggested retail price of $129 (US) for a single user license, and online pre-orders can be made through Apple's online store (http://www.apple.com) starting today. The Mac OS X Leopard Family Pack is a single-household, five-user license that will be available for a suggested retail price of $199 (US). Volume and maintenance pricing is available from Apple. The standard Mac OS Up-To-Date upgrade package is available to all customers who purchased a qualifying new Mac system from Apple or an Apple Authorized Reseller on or after October 1, 2007 for a shipping and handling fee of $9.95 (US). Leopard requires a minimum of 512MB of RAM and is designed to run on any Macintosh(R) computer with an Intel, PowerPC G5 or G4 (867 Mhz or faster) processor. Full system requirements can be found at http://www.apple.com/macosx/techspecs.

Apple Announces Mac OS X Server Leopard
CUPERTINO, Calif., Oct. 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Apple(R) today announced that Mac OS(R) X Server version 10.5 Leopard will go on sale on Friday, October 26, at the same time as Mac OS X Leopard. Leopard Server extends Apple's legendary ease of use, making it even easier to take advantage of the benefits of a server, and introduces Podcast Producer, the ideal way to automatically publish podcasts to iTunes(R) or the web. Leopard Server packs more than 250 new features including Wiki Server, allowing people to collaboratively create and modify their shared web sites with just a few
clicks; and iCal(R) Server, the world's first commercial CalDAV standard-based calendar server.

"Leopard Server is the best release of Mac OS X Server yet, bringing more great innovations, like Podcast Producer, Wiki Server and iCal Server," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing.

"With new setup features that have a server up and running within minutes and no client access licenses, Leopard Server is the ideal alternative to complicated and expensive server offerings for small and large businesses."

Leopard Server presents new features for effortless setup, management and monitoring of systems on the network. Server Assistant configures server applications, network settings such as IP addresses and DNS configurations and user accounts with just a few clicks. Server Preferences simplifies management of users, groups and key server applications, and a Server Status Dashboard widget remotely monitors activity and usage. Leopard Server also eliminates the need to manually set up Leopard clients by automatically configuring client applications, including file sharing, Mail, iChat(R), iCal, Address Book and VPN from user information stored on the server.

Podcast Producer is the easiest way for anyone to record content, automatically upload it to the server and convert it into a podcast optimized for playback on almost any device, including a High Definition TV, iPod(R), Apple TV(TM) or multimedia-enabled cell phone.

With Wiki Server, anyone can easily create and edit collaborative web pages, called wikis, with a few clicks of a mouse. Wiki Server has 20 Apple-designed web page themes and provides a complete revision history to make it easy to restore previous entries and merge or compare different versions. Wiki Server can automatically notify users whenever a change is made, keeping them up-to-date on the latest information, and users can tag keywords to find content quickly.

It's easy to share calendars, schedule meetings and coordinate events within a workgroup, school, small business or large corporation using iCal Server. iCal Server is the first open, standards-based calendar server that works with popular calendar programs which support the new CalDAV standard and does not require client access licenses, so businesses can add users freely as they expand at no additional cost.

Leopard Server is fully UNIX compliant and its core services, including Apache 2, MySQL 5, Postfix, Podcast Producer and QuickTime(R) Streaming Server, are 64-bit, allowing users to work with larger data sets and take full advantage of the performance and processing power of their 64-bit hardware. Since Leopard Server is fully 32-bit compatible, users can run 32-bit and 64-bit applications natively side-by-side.

Pricing & Availability

Mac OS X Server version 10.5 Leopard will be available on October 26 at Apple's retail stores and through Apple Authorized Resellers for a suggested retail price of $499 (US) for a 10-client edition and $999 (US) for an unlimited-client edition. An unlimited client license of Leopard Server is included with Apple's powerful Xserve(R) rack-mount server hardware at no extra charge. Online pre-orders can be made through the Apple Store(R) (http://www.apple.com) starting today and current subscribers to the Apple Maintenance Program will receive Leopard Server as part of their service agreement. Volume and maintenance pricing is available from Apple. The standard Mac OS Up-To-Date upgrade package is available to all customers who purchased a qualifying new Xserve system from Apple or an Apple Authorized Reseller on or after October 1, 2007 for a shipping and handling fee of $9.95 (US). Leopard Server can run on any Macintosh(R) computer with an Intel, PowerPC G5, or G4 (867 Mhz or faster) processor, a minimum 1GB of RAM and at least 20GB of available disk space.

[Apple]

Apple: iPhone in France Will Be an Apples and Oranges Deal

2007-10-16T20:50:00.000+02:00

from Gizmodo by Charlie White

Apple officially announced that French wireless carrier Orange will be the exclusive provider of the iPhone in France. Set to roll out on November 29, Apple CEO Steve Jobs crowed about how excited he was to partner with Orange, just in time for the holidays. So now French Apple fanboys won't have to hack that iPhone any more, and they can actually buy one legit for €399, a whopping $565.98 in good ol' US dollars. Click through for the Orange/Apple press propaganda.

PARIS, Oct. 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Apple(R) and Orange today announced that Orange, the leading wireless carrier in France, will be the exclusive French carrier partner for the revolutionary iPhone(TM) when it makes its debut in France on Thursday, November 29. iPhone combines three devices into one -- a mobile phone, a widescreen iPod(R), and the best mobile Internet device ever -- all based on Apple's revolutionary multi-touch interface and pioneering software that allows users to control iPhone with just a tap, flick or pinch of their fingers. Apple sold its one millionth iPhone just 74 days after it went on sale in the US on June 29. "We are excited to partner with Orange and bring iPhone to France in time for the holidays," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "iPhone is an amazing product and we hope mobile users in France will love it as much as we do."
"The iPhone is a marvelous product and will change how people think about mobile. I'm delighted that it is launching in France through Orange, and I'm sure that our customers share my excitement. Our partnership with Apple is a natural fit because we are two global brands who share the same values of simplicity and innovation. It's going to be a very merry Christmas for Orange customers all over the country!" said Didier Lombard, CEO, France Telecom. In addition to all the revolutionary features that made iPhone so popular in the US, iPhone users in France will have access to Apple's latest music offerings on iPhone including the iTunes(R) Wi-Fi Music Store. The iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store offers customers the ability to browse, search, preview, purchase and download songs and albums from iTunes over the built-in Wi-Fi on their iPhone. Music fans can start enjoying their music purchases immediately on their iPhone with no computer required. Once they connect their iPhone back to their PC or Mac(R), downloaded music will automatically sync back into their iTunes library.

Pricing & Availability
iPhone is scheduled to go on sale on November 29 and will be sold in France through Orange's online and direct retail stores. iPhone will be available in an 8GB model for euro 399 including V.A.T. for any subscription to one of the dedicated rate plans and will work with either a PC or Mac. iPhone activation will require an Internet connection; an iTunes Store account; the latest version of iTunes available at http://www.itunes.fr and a PC or Mac with a USB 2.0 port and one of the following operating systems: Mac OS(R) X v10.4.10 or later; Windows XP Home or Professional with Service Pack 2 or later; or Windows Vista Home Premium, Business, Enterprise or Ultimate Edition.

iPhone Coming to Europe

2007-09-15T10:00:00.001+02:00

From Gizmodo:

Germay:

Reuters has confirmed with an insider that Apple and Deutsche Telekom have reached an agreement to sell the iPhone in Germany. The price will (supposedly) be 399 euros ($554), which is slightly more than the $399 Apple's selling the phone here in the US. Whether this price premium is because the phone will be a 3G version to appeal to Europe's 3G-ness, or whether they're charging early adopters more money first before lowering the price for the mass market is unknown. [Reuters via Apple Insider]

UK:

We have received confirmation from two 100% proven sources that next Tuesday's UK-only Apple event will herald the iPhone's arrival to the United Kingdom. The first European iPhone will most probably arrive in mid- to late-October, not on November 1, as some media outlets have previously reported. Our sources are the same ones from when we broke the news of the secret meeting between Steve Jobs and Telefonica/O2's President Cesar Alierta and said Bollocks! to all the earlier rumors. Unofficially confirmed, but we stand by this one.

Touch iPods Have Arrived!

2007-09-05T20:44:00.001+02:00

Multi-touch interface.

The revolutionary technology that made iPhone a hit is now on one amazing iPod. Learn more

Gorgeous 3.5-inch widescreen display.

Touch your music in Cover Flow and watch video on a stunning, widescreen display. Learn more

Wi-Fi web browsing.

Browse the web with Safari and watch YouTube videos on the first-ever Wi-Fi iPod. Learn more

Music downloads from iTunes.

Search, preview, and buy songs from the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store on iPod touch. Learn more

What the Google is going on?

2007-09-01T11:07:00.000+02:00

August 2007 Recap from Google Operating System blog

This month Google didn't release its presentation tool, didn't launch any new version for Google Talk and JotSpot is still outside Google Apps. But what did Google do in August?

Mapping
Google launched a new version of Google Earth that lets you explore the sky and also includes a "hidden" flight simulator. Google Maps made it easier to embed maps into your site without knowing JavaScript. Four new cities from the US were added to Google Street View.

Communication
Gmail added the option to pay for more storage and started to share this additional storage with Picasa Web Albums. Gmail is now the top webmail service with the least amount of free storage. orkut suffered a small redesign and it's not ugly anymore.

Search
Google News had a lot of updates this month: the addition of comments from persons involved in a story, videos hosted by YouTube and articles from news agencies like AP that will be hosted by Google. Google indexes web pages faster than ever and gives more options to find fresh web pages.

Video
Google Video closes the video store and concentrates on advertising-supported solutions. YouTube experiments with overlay video ads for premium content.

This month we also found out that the internationalization of Google search has interesting side-effects, Google Browser is already here, Google Docs has a lot of interesting uses and organizing data is a difficult task.

What’s new in iLife ’08 iPhoto

2007-08-23T16:54:00.000+02:00

iPhoto
• Events: A new way to view the thousands of photos in your library, organized by the events in your life
• One-click photo sharing via your Web Gallery on .Mac
• Selective importing from your camera
• Ability to hide photos without deleting them
• More powerful editing tools
• Improved desktop printing with themes

iMovie
• Brand-new, completely redesigned
• A single library for all your video
• Ability to instantly watch any clip in your library
• Moviemaking as easy as creating a slideshow
• Quick movie sharing directly to .Mac and YouTube
• Support for more camcorders and formats, including AVCHD

iWeb
• Ability to incorporate web widgets from other websites onto your webpage
• Integrated Google Maps and AdSense
• New photo albums, and photo and video index pages
• More powerful page design and customization tools
• New Apple-designed themes and one-click theme switching
• Personal domain name support on .Mac

GarageBand
• Magic GarageBand—a virtual band that you conduct
• Multi-take recording that helps capture your best performance
• Ability to arrange and move entire sections of your song, including intro, verse, chorus, and so on
• 24-bit recordings for even higher quality
• Powerful new effects and mixing tools
• Simple music notation printing

iDVD
• New Apple-designed DVD themes
• Faster response during editing and preview
• Pro-level encoding for better-quality DVDs
• More control over the design of DVD menus

iLife ’08 requirements

Hardware
Mac computer with an Intel, PowerPC G5, or PowerPC G4 processor
• iMovie requires a Mac computer with an Intel processor, a Power Mac G5 (dual 2.0GHz or faster), or an iMac G5 (1.9GHz or faster)
• iDVD requires 733MHz or faster processor

512MB of RAM; 1GB recommended; high-definition video requires at least 1GB of RAM

Software
Mac OS X v10.4.9 or later
QuickTime 7.2 or later

3 GB of available disk space
DVD drive required for installation

Other configurations may be supported. AVCHD video and 24-bit recording have additional requirements. Visit www.apple.com/ilife/systemrequirements.html for details.

Apple News - Major Updates

2007-08-22T21:56:00.000+02:00

I'm back from my two week Eurotrip vacation and ready to fill you all in (a little late, sorry) on all the great things that happened while I was gone...in Mac. Apple has released a series of updates and upgrades to their existing hardware and software. Both the iMac and Mac Mini has experiences upgrades. The long rumored iLife 2008 was finally released along with a 2008 version of iWork, which features a whole new program called "Numbers". Apple's .Mac service has also seen some handsome upgrades.

The new iMac packs all its components — from processor to video camera — into an astoundingly thin, anodized aluminum frame. It's glossy wide screen display will bring you photos, movies, and games to life. The new iMac also sports a fabulous new keyboard that is also available as a wireless model. Here are the specs for this beautiful beast:

2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
1GB memory
250GB hard drive¹
8x double-layer SuperDrive
ATI Radeon HD 2400 XT with 128MB memory

Ships: 3-5 business days

Free Shipping

$1,199.00

or as low as $29 a month

2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
1GB memory
320GB hard drive¹
8x double-layer SuperDrive
ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO with 256MB memory

Ships: 3-5 business days

Free Shipping

$1,499.00

or as low as $36 a month

2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
1GB memory
320GB hard drive¹
8x double-layer SuperDrive
ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO with 256MB memory

Ships: 5-7 business days

Free Shipping

$1,799.00

or as low as $43 a month

2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Extreme
2GB memory
500GB hard drive¹
8x double-layer SuperDrive
ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO with 256MB memory

Ships: 5-7 business days

Free Shipping

$2,299.00

or as low as $55 a month

The Mac Mini has finally joined the Intel Core 2 Duo club, taking it's place amongst the iMac, Macbook, and Macbook Pros. Just 6.5 inches square and 2 inches small, Mac mini lets you have more fun with your music, photos, and movies, more quickly and more easily. Delivering unprecedented power in such a small package, the Mac mini runs up to 39% faster than previously. Here's the little Tiger's new specs:

1.83GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
1GB memory
80GB hard drive¹

Ships: Within 24 hours

Free Shipping

$599.00

or as low as $15 a month

2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
1GB memory
120GB hard drive¹

Ships: Within 24 hours

Free Shipping

$799.00

or as low as $19 a month

iWork 08'

Pages ’08

Writing comes naturally when you’re using Pages ’08, the streamlined word processor for the Mac.

Keynote ’08

Create absolutely stunning, cinema-quality presentations more easily than ever before.

Numbers ’08

Introducing Numbers, the familiar yet revolutionary new spreadsheet application.

iLife

iPhoto

Now iPhoto automatically organizes your library by Events. Learn more

iPhoto.
Watch video.

iMovie

Completely redesigned to help you make movies in minutes. Learn more

iMovie.
Watch video.

.Mac Web Gallery

iLife and .Mac let you share photos and movies online with a click. Learn more

.Mac Web Gallery.
Watch video.

GarageBand

Make music, audition instruments, even create your own virtual band. Learn more

GarageBand.
Watch video.

iWeb

Create websites that are more custom, more complete, more you. Learn more

iWeb.
Watch video.

iDVD

Create Hollywood-style DVDs featuring your movies and slideshows. Learn more

.Mac

On August 7th, Apple announced significant enhancements to its .Mac online service, highlighted by the debut of .Mac Web Gallery, a new feature for sharing photos and movies on the Internet. .Mac Web Gallery lets members easily share photos and movies directly from iLife® ’08 with anyone on a Mac, PC or iPhone™ in stunning quality. In addition, .Mac Web Gallery visitors can download high quality images for printing and even contribute photos using a standard web browser or email. Other new .Mac features include a tenfold increase in .Mac storage to 10GB, support for personal domains for iWeb™ websites and enhancements to .Mac Mail.

“.Mac Web Gallery is an awesome way to share photos and movies on the Internet with friends and family,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “You can share your favorite photos and movies with anyone on a Mac, PC or iPhone, and they can turn them into high-quality prints as well as contribute photos to your site using a web browser or email.”

With iPhoto ’08, .Mac members can easily create a .Mac Web Gallery with just a few clicks and choose whether they want to make their albums available to everyone or limit access to specific people, allow visitors to download high-quality images suitable for making up to 16x20-inch prints, and even allow friends and family to contribute photos. .Mac Web Gallery offers an amazing online photo experience that feels more like a desktop application than a web page. Visitors will have the same rich viewing experience whether they are using a Mac or PC and can experience .Mac Web Gallery photo albums in their choice of views, including mosaic, grid, slideshow or carousel. Users can skim through albums just like they do in iPhoto by simply moving their mouse over an album on the web page to see the photos inside. Friends and family can easily contribute to a .Mac Web Gallery by clicking the upload button from their browser or sending an email. iPhoto ’08 automatically stays in sync and downloads contributed photos directly to the .Mac member’s iPhoto library. .Mac Web Gallery is also designed to work great with iPhone, enabling users to view albums or simply snap a picture, choose an album and post it to their .Mac Web Gallery.

With iMovie ’08, .Mac members can easily encode and upload their movies to their .Mac Web Gallery for viewing in several sizes, with the largest size offering higher-than-DVD resolution. Visitors can view .Mac Web Gallery movies on a Mac, PC or iPhone. .Mac members can also choose to make their movies available for download, so that friends and family can play them back on their computer, iPod, iPhone or Apple TV™.

.Mac members now have 10 times more online storage space for photo and movie sharing, email, website hosting, exchanging files and backing up important documents, increasing from 1GB to 10GB for individual members and from 2GB to 20GB for Family Pack customers. Members can choose to purchase an additional 10GB of storage. .Mac members can send and receive larger email attachments up to a maximum size of 20MB and manage unwanted mail better with improved webmail spam filtering. Using iWeb ’08, .Mac members can embed dynamic web widgets like Google Maps, Google AdSense, .Mac Web Gallery albums or HTML snippets in their .Mac website and host their websites at their own personal domain.

Pricing & Availability

.Mac is available as a subscription-based service for $99.95 (US) per year for individuals and $179.95 (US) for a Family Pack which includes one master account and four sub accounts. Customers save $30 (US) on either the individual subscription or the Family Pack when purchased with a new Macintosh® and anyone can sign up for a free, 60-day .Mac trial at www.mac.com.* Individuals can optionally purchase an additional 10GB of storage for $49.95 (US) annually.

.Mac requires a Macintosh computer with Mac OS® X v10.3.9 or v10.4.3 or later and 256MB of RAM. Internet access requires a compatible ISP; fees may apply. Broadband Internet connection recommended. Some features require Mac OS X v10.4 Tiger and iLife ’08, available separately.

*The .Mac service is available to persons aged 13 and older. Annual membership fee and Internet access required. Terms and conditions apply.

New iMacs On the Way

2007-08-05T16:48:00.001+02:00

Today, Gizmodo reported that "Apple and Best Buy stores are no longer going to receive old Apple keyboards shipments." It has yet to be confirmed, but if this is indeed true than the many rumors of the release of a new iMac could hold true. The new iMacs are rumored to be released on August 7th. Let's cross our fingers, people. Apple's flagship may just be due for a makeover.

Activate Your iPhone Without Contract Using iActivator

2007-07-24T20:18:00.000+02:00

Gizmodo made a really useful post today about a program called iActivator, a graphic program for Mac OS X that will activate the iPhone just by clicking a simple button.

iActivator is a program that allows you to use some of the functions of Jailbreak, iASign, and iphoneinterface using buttons instead of text commands. Activation will not unlock the phone, however, just allow to use all its functions except calling without any contract. [Mod My iPhone]

OLPC Turns Their Backs On Their Young Porn Addicts

2007-07-24T20:10:00.000+02:00

It seems the One Laptop Per Child Foundation didn't like that all children in Africa were interested in using their new free laptops for was for hunting down the best porn on the net. OLPC told Reuters they're considering selling their XO laptop in stores for $350-$525 this coming holiday season. [Reuters]

Just yesterday it was reported by Reuters (and Cafe Mignon, of course) that, "Nigerian schoolchildren who received laptops from a U.S. aid organization have used them to explore pornographic sites on the internet." It seems the OLPC doesn't want to fund 10,000 pornos per child project. Can you blame them? More importantly, will anyone actually buy this wind-up PC for regular use and not just to resell to idiots on ebay?

Apple Patents Rolling In One After Another

2007-07-22T17:35:00.000+02:00

Is it just me, or has there been a lot of talk about Apple patents in the blogosphere? Well, here's a quick overview of all the latest Apple patents that have hit the Cafe Mignon radar:

First off, Gizmodo's claims of an iPhone Nano....

It sounds crazy, so soon after launch, but the iPhone nano could be coming out before Xmas. Kasper at Apple Insider claims:
• "The second iteration of the handset is presumed to marry iPod functionality with rudimentary cellular capabilities."
•"More resource-heavy internet browsing and email capabilities are not expected of the device."
•"Pricing of the new handset is expected to fall significantly below the $500+ asking cost of today's iPhone models, these sources say, but not so much so as to pinch sales of an upcoming revision to the iPod nano."

He also makes reference to the same clickwheel dialpad patent JP Morgan did in their statement and retraction.

Why isn't this filed under the Department of Duh? Kasper's track record has been better than good lately, and when he quotes extremely reputable sources, he's not screwing around. (Last time he was this adamant, if my memory serves me right, it was in reference to the iPod HiFi.) Kind of makes sense if Apple wants to hit those market share targets. Like with the full-sized and nano iPod, there's always a bigger market for lower end gear. [Apple Insider]

TUAW tells of another Apple patent, but this time it's a wireless iPod. Hmmmm.

Ryan from Cybernet (thanks!) dropped a note about his find of a new Apple patent. These things spring up faster than mushrooms (or rabbits, depending on your preference for down home expressions), but sometimes they are a good indication of what Apple is at least considering producing in the future.

This one's all about the iPod, by the looks of it, and giving it the ability to "wirelessly control and access a media server." Ryan speculates that means iTunes, which would mean that you could listen to streaming music from your iTunes install, through your iPod. But I think he's thinking small on this one-- what if Apple wanted to create an iPod that actually hooked up to AppleTV. You could sit in your bedroom watching the latest Daily Show, streaming from the AppleTV in the other room, while someone else watched the latest episode of Lost on the television. The possibilities there are very interesting-- combine a widescreen iPod with a wireless function like this (and we might as well throw in MobileSafari, right?), and you're looking at a very droolworthy multimedia gadget.

Of course, as with all Apple patents, this is total and complete speculation-- this patent may never actually be built, and even if it is, we might be looking at something planned years from now. But it's always fun to guess at what Apple's doing next.

And finally, Giz talks of and iPod Karaoke patent, bleh.

Some may call this latest iPod/iPhone patent from Apple "dynamics lyrics display for portable media devices," but we call this Karaoke City. The patent details a scheme to activate "karaoke style lyrics," which then grabs lyrics and displays the lyrics in time and in sync with the music that's playing. This way, the right words are highlighted at the right time, automagically, thanks to the software that supposedly detects and matches vocals to lyrics. If they can make ANY song a karaoke song, it'll make driving to the supermarket infinitely more fun than it is now. [UnwiredView]

Booby Trap: Kids Use US-Donated Laptops To Surf The Porn, Of Course

2007-07-22T16:18:00.000+02:00

It appears kids in the third world aren't very interested in learning at all. According to Reuters, "Nigerian schoolchildren who received laptops from a U.S. aid organization have used them to explore pornographic sites on the internet." The article says that the Nigerian government, who released the statement, felt the educational program had "gone awry" on account of the boobies, but did not say whether government officials were angry at the schoolchildren, angry with the US-based providers of laptops, or angry that they themselves did not have the necessary laptoppage to do some "exploring" of their own.

Although the laptops were not the celebrated OLPCs that will soon be manufactured for distribution throughout the developing world, OLPC officials were asked about the porn-savviness of the upcoming $180 laptop.

A representative of the One Laptop Per Child aid group was quoted as saying that the computers, part of a pilot scheme, would now be fitted with filters.

Yeah, like that's going to help sales. [Reuters]

from Gizmodo by Wilson Rothman

Yahoo! adds search suggestions to front page

2007-07-13T19:27:00.000+02:00

Yahoo's front page search box now offers search suggestions as you type. Google has a similar service, but only in Google Labs. Yahoo! is the first search engine to really incorporate this feature in their website and not just in their toolbar or Firefox extension. Also, keep in mind that Yahoo! now offers unlimited email inboxes and is quickly developing one service after another to keep its head in the game. With the great strides they've been making so far this year, I think they stand a good chance of capturing some more market share.

Having trouble picking a new domain name?

2007-07-09T18:36:00.000+02:00

Hey kids, there's a new web service in town. Just enter a couple keywords and Bust-a-Name suggests a bunch of possible and available domain names for you. This is by far the easiest way to find a great domain name. If you already have a domain name in mind, you can check if it's available right there on the site.

Bust-a-Name lets you search through thousands of domains and see which are available. This is definitely a site you want to remember for the next time you're looking to start a new website.

Visit Bust-a-Name now.

Zoho Now On Facebook

2007-07-09T12:54:00.000+02:00

Online office suite, Zoho, is now available for integration with Facebook:

You can now create documents, spreadsheets and presentations from within Facebook. You can also view and edit all your existing documents, spreadsheets and presentations (both personal and shared) from Zoho Writer, Sheet and Show.

via Gizmodo

Some of Zoho's features.

Zoho Writer
Online word processor with collaboration features.
No download, No install, just sign up to create documents. 100% free Online word processor with collaboration features.

Zoho Sheet
Online spreadsheet application to create and share spreadsheets on the web. 100% free

Zoho Show
Online presentation tool to create, edit, publish, and show presentations. 100% free

Zoho Wiki
Wiki that is as easy to use as a word processor
with group concept, versions, sub-pages and more ...
100% free

Zoho Notebook (beta)
Create, Aggregate and Collaborate on multiple types of content online.

Zoho Meeting (beta)
Web conferencing - Quick and easy Web meeting, Desktop sharing, Remote assistance

Zoho Creator
Create Online Database Applications in minutes.
Build Forms, Collect Data and Manage. 100% free

Zoho Planner
Online organizer to maintain your todo’s, reminders, notes, attachments etc.
100% free

Zoho Chat
Unique and intuitive way to make group decisions faster.
100% free

Zoho Mail (private beta)
A web-based collaboration groupware that includes Email Client, Documents, Calendar and more.
On-Demand - Free for individuals.

Site 24x7
Website Monitoring Service.
Free for 2 websites. For more, price starts at $0.5

and so much more...

www.zoho.com

"Mac or PC" Rap Music Video

2007-07-09T12:36:00.001+02:00

"I'm a right clicka, I'm a iBook flippa. Macs or Pc's, no fight gets bigga!

Rumor: iLife '07 Ready To Go

2007-07-06T16:03:00.000+02:00

According to MacScoop and (TUAW), the long awaited 2007 edition of Apple's applications suite, iLife, is almost ready for shipping! Despite no mention of an iLife 07 at Macworlk '07, some believe iLife 2007 could be released before Leopard in October. This is no more than a rumor at this point, MacScoop seems to think that iLife could ship this summer. Some have also speculated that iLife will be a part of the OS from here on out, and no longer as a stand alone purchase. If this is true, then MacScoop can't be accurate. As TUAW said, we aren't any closer to iPhoto '07 than we were yesterday.

Note: Keep in mind that this is just a rumor, don't get too excited and the picture here on the left isn't for real.

eBuddy Mobile is Cool & Works on the iPhone

2007-07-06T12:25:00.000+02:00

eBuddy Mobile is a beta feature of the eBuddy web based messenger service. Like meebo, eBuddy is a web-based IM client from which you can get started logging in to your existing MSN, Yahoo, and AIM accounts right away.

eBuddy support for IM services is limited to: AIM, MSN/Windows Messenger, and Yahoo! Messenger. However, this should suffice for the average user. eBuddy Mobile offers the same capabilities on your phone. You have two choices when adopting the eBuddy service, either download a small program onto your phone or simply use a web based eBuddy in your phone's browser that has been specially made for mobile access.

eBuddy Mobile Messenger Beta

Download & install for the full experience.

Download the new eBuddy Mobile Messenger to your Mobile Ph

one to get the best user experience. And it is Multi-network: all buddies from MSN, Yahoo! and AIM in one single list.

Features

Rich interface
Fast response
Minimal data usage
Easy to use
Sound & Vibration
Group-chat

Download »

eBuddy Mobile Internet

Chat directy from your mobile browser.

Surf to mob.ebuddy.com with the browser of your Mobile Phone, PDA, Sony PSP or Nintendo DS and find the basic functionalities to chat with your buddies.

Features

Runs in your browser
Basic chat functionalities
Fast response
No download required
Easy to use
Also works on older phones

Learn more »

Further more, Gizmodo has reported that eBuddy works on the iPhone.

All the AT&T calling plans on the iPhone include 200 SMS messages, but if you're pushing that limit where you'll have to start paying per message, eBuddy gives you access to regular old AIM on your iPhone. Go to this URL and you can use AIM without paying a per-message charge. It's not perfect, though.

Click Here to read the rest of this post on Gizmodo

FlyGesture Now Free

2007-07-06T12:18:00.000+02:00

FlyGesture, a great service that enables your Mac with the power to open files, run Automator apps/AppleScripts, type text and more - all with the gesture of your mouse over FlyGesture's guided layer that you can toggle like Exposé and Dashboard. Who freed this marvelous service? It was Gus Mueller of Flying Meat software, maker of popular apps like VoodooPad and FlySketch, has decided to reduce FlyGesture's price to free. First Google frees Feedburner and now this, is capitalism going out of style? Make ebay free, then I'll really get excited.

FeedBurner Frees Pro Features

2007-07-04T20:58:00.000+02:00

FeedBurner now offer TotalStats and MyBrand for free thanks to the deep pockets of their new owner, Google.

Existing PRO customers will not be charged as of June 2007, and those that sign up for new Feedburner accounts will instantly get the services for free.

found on UNEASYsilence

Google Acquires GrandCentral

2007-07-04T20:57:00.000+02:00

Google today has snapped up “anywhere phone number” company Grand Central. GrandCentral combines multiple phone numbers, to one phone number that you can set to ring all, some, or none of your phones, based on who’s calling. This way, your phone number is tied to you, and not your location or job.

GrandCentral is joining Google. We’re excited about this. Being part of Google will helps us make our vision of improved voice communications one step closer to reality and bring innovative communications services to millions of users around the world. This will also ensure that your GrandCentral number is here for the long run, and that no matter how often you move, change jobs or phone providers, everyone can still reach you through the same phone number.

from UNEASYsilence

Google Phone Is a Collection of Apps

2007-07-04T20:55:00.000+02:00

from Google News by Ionut Alex Chitu

After having a dedicated application on Apple's iPhone, YouTube made a deal with LG and, by the end of this year, we'll see LG phones that let you upload, view and share YouTube videos. "LG Electronics will unveil a mobile handset that fully supports the YouTube service for the first time in Europe in the second half of this year," said an LG representative.

LG has already launched LG-KU580, a phone preloaded with Google mobile apps (Gmail, Google Maps) and shortcuts to Google's sites. "We know Google services are not good for all cell phones due to screens being too small in comparison to a PC monitor, and mobile data transmission is too expensive. However, Google provides a mobile-specific service lineup. As a result, handset users will be able to enjoy a decent service," was honest to admit an LG official.

As phones start to feel more like real computers and mobile browsers like iPhone's Safari, Opera Mini or Nokia S60 Browser render the web pages closer to a desktop browser, the Java applications that emulate web sites will become unnecessary. So maybe Google should focus on creating a smart mobile browser instead of service-specific applications.

"Becoming an equipment manufacturer is pretty far from our business model On the other hand, we're very interested in the platforms that other people are building. We are quite eager to be part of the mobile revolution," said Vinton Cerf, Google's chief internet evangelist, in March. And Google's list of mobile-optimized services grows every day, but there's nothing revolutionary in the lite version of a site.

Did you know: iTunes Capacity Bar Is Interactive

2007-07-04T20:51:00.000+02:00

According to (TUAW): Many iTunes users are unaware that the capacity presentation for iPods and iPhones actually is interactive. Tap on the bar to switch from between views. These views include the default view (space occupied), an item-count view (number of items for each category) and a duration view (the length of playback for the items loaded onto the device). It's just one more sweet little Apple feature.

Is That A Theater In Your Pocket: Cellphone Projectors on the Way?

2007-07-04T20:45:00.000+02:00

South Korean company, Iljin Display, has been crowing about its coin-sized laser projector module for more than a year, but with no real proof of their existence. The company is now saying it's inked a deal with South Korea Telecom (SK Telecom) to mass produce the projector for use inside cellphones. Is this Nano Projector finally for real?

Iljin says the diminutive projector will be installed in SK Telecom's cellphones beginning this September, and those pocket theater-toting cellphones will be for sale both in Korea and perhaps even in the U.S. soon thereafter.

The company is also claiming that the future of its of its pint-sized projectors is in tiny stand-alone units that'll let you set up an 800 milligram-ish guerrilla theater with a 20-inch screen virtually anywhere you want. Only time will tell if there's any truth to their claims.

Iljin Display to Commercialize Nano Projector [Far East Gizmos, via Digital Tokyo]

found on Gizmodo

FonePorn: Your Chance to Fondle the iPhone Without Spending A Dime

2007-07-02T18:25:00.000+02:00

Lack of an iPhone getting you down? Well, how'd you like to simulate having an iPhone for a while? With this 3D animated model by Thomas Milvaux, you can! Play, turn, twist, fondle, and manipulate the coveted communicator in simulated 3D space. You might have to download the 3D XML or 3D Life player, but it's well worth it for you desperate folks.

found on Gizmodo

5 Things You Might Not Know About an Unactivated iPhone

2007-07-02T18:16:00.000+02:00

Are you one of the lucky lads or lasses who already managed to swoop up an iPhone? If so, you may be waiting around waiting for it to start working. Thanks to (TUAW), there are a couple of things you can do with your unactivated phone to keep from going insane with eagerness to play with your new $500 puppy.

1. The SIM number is listed on the box. You'll find both the SIM number (the subscriber identity module or ICCID) and the associated IMEI (the international mobile equipment identity) on the bottom of your iPhone box. They are the bottom-most two barcodes, left and right. The IMEI consists of 15 numbers that uniquely identifies your mobile phone. The SIM number is a 20-digit identity that allows you to access the AT&T network.

2. You can display your SIM and IMEI numbers on the un-activated iPhone. Press the little "i" button on the main screen.

3. Attaching peripherals to the unactivated iPhone's dock connector may produce odd effects. I attached speakers and it offered to put my iPhone in Airplane mode (not a good idea, by the way). TUAW reader Tim O. connected a Kensington Pico FM Transmitter and was able to access the iPod application.

4. You can turn the iPhone off and on--but you probably don't want to. The press the sleep/wake and menu button trick works in terms of turning your iPhone off but it may have unpredictable results. Doing this (under instructions from the AT&T tech) apparently (but not provably) wiped my first SIM card.

5. Tapping the screen keeps it awake before you can adjust those activation-required settings. This is particularly helpful when you're trying to read the ICCID and IMEI numbers off your screen to the AT&T tech.

Apple posts "Finger Tips"

2007-06-29T17:46:00.001+02:00

from The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) by Dan Pourhadi

Filed under: Tips and tricks, iPhone

Apple loves them their videos: first the iPhone Guided Tour, then the Keyboard video, and now ten separate, easy-to-digest videos -- cleverly titled "Finger Tips" -- demonstrating various iPhone functions and offering some pointers to make good use of your new multi-touch monster. Tips include:

You can also watch all the Finger Tips in one video.

Apple: Everything We Know About the iPhone

2007-06-28T11:54:00.000+02:00

from Gizmodo by Jason Chen
Following up our list of features the iPhone was finally confirmed not to have, here's a comprehensive list based on the four reviews currently out detailing everything we know about the iPhone so far: what it has, what it doesn't have, its known problems and what we still don't know.
What it has:• Built-in iPod with Video playback• Intelligent predictive typing• Multi-touch interface (fast)• Great scratch resistant screen (easily cleaned with your sleeve)• Tilt sensors that lock the screen when up to your face, but unlocks it when you lower it to type numbers• Screen that's visible in direct sunlight• Software upgrades over time• Decent voice quality• Call and song control from its headphones• Viewing Word, Excel and PDF documents• Free live traffic in Google Maps• Turn by turn directions that simulate a GPS (need to tell the phone when you're turning)• Dedicated volume control and mute switch• Microsoft Exchange support if your IT staff enables a setting on the server• Push email via Yahoo Mail• Syncing via Outlook calendar and contacts through iTunes (works even on Vista with the latest Outlook)• Ability to play with other applications while you talk• Good battery life• A "real" browser• Yahoo, Gmail, AOL, EarthLink, and various other email support• Visual voicemail (support for rewinding, fast forwarding like a song)• YouTube support• Decent 2-megapixel camera• It's thin• Lots of eye candy• Conference call with up to 5 people• Built-in speakers if you don't want to use headphones• Quicktime support in Safari• Activating the phone requires iTunes and internet access• A speakerphone
What it doesn't have:• Support for all iPod accessories—doesn't support all car adapters for playing back, only charging• An easy way to transfer phone numbers, via AT&T, from an existing phone• Copy and paste support• MP3/iTunes music ringtones• Built-in game support• Flash support anywhere (including browser)• Instant Messaging• Picture messaging (MMS)• Video recording• Voice recognition or voice dialing• Wireless Bluetooth Stereo Streaming (A2DP support)• One-size-fits-all headset jack (May have to buy an adapter for certain headphones)• 3G (EV-DO/HSDPA)• A hardware keyboard• GPS• Removable battery• Expandable Storage• Direct iTunes Music Store Access (Over Wi-Fi or EDGE)• BlackBerry support• Flash or zoom on the camera• Windows Media support
Known Problems:• Can get a little warm after use• Battery will need to be replaced by Apple after 300-400 charges• Levy had problems with one of his email accounts, due to his ISP blocking port 25. Apple's engineers "suggested a fix and said that this was something that would probably be addressed in an update."• EDGE data is very slow• AT&T's signal is lousy• No hardware playback buttons (on the phone itself) make you go back to the iPod app to change songs or stop music• Takes more taps to reach the phone interface than other smartphones• Getting your contacts onto here from your old phone may be a hassle• No real-time navigation• The few web-app programs Mossberg tried weren't' impressive• Camera is only good with ample light and no motion• Only 200 text messages included on any calling plan• Playing back music through an iPod dock may cause interference, so the iPhone "offered to switch to airplane mode". Doing so means you get no calls.
What we still don't know:• How fingerprinty/face greasy it gets• Whether Bluetooth file transfer works• When and how often software updates (with new features) will appear
WSJ Review
NYT Review
USA Today Review
Newsweek Review

Technophilia: Publish and map your photos with Picasa

2007-06-25T19:44:00.000+02:00

from Lifehacker by Wendy Boswell

Besides using Picasa to organize and edit the digital photos on your computer, you can also use this versatile photo editor to create web albums, send and resize bulk photos to Flickr, and geotag photos using Google Earth. Keep reading for more on how to make your photos stand out a bit more with Picasa.

Web albums

Creating a Picasa Web album - a way to share you photos publically - is simple. Once you're in your Picasa workspace, just click on the Web Albums button at the bottom; you'll need a Google account and the sign-in process is pretty straightforward.

Pick the folder/pictures that you'd like to share in a Web album, name it, and then you come to privacy settings. Google swears up and down that privacy means PRIVATE, however, it's relatively easy to dredge up so-called "hidden" photos if you really want to. So! Keep in mind that you probably don't want any particularly, uh, naughty pics to be uploaded to your Picasa Web albums, capiche?

Once it's all uploaded, you are taken directly to your Picasa Web albums dashboard, which is connected with all your other Google-riffic stuff. You have a variety of options here to play with - download, embed, organize, share, etc. Here's my Germany album; you're also given the option to embed it (code is included, just copy and paste) from within your photo album workspace.

Picasa and Flickr

Once you've tricked out your Picasa Web album a wee bit, you'll probably want to move on to some Flickr goodies. Now, anyone who has used Flickr to upload a lot of photos realizes that it's kind of time-consuming; plus, you have to resize each image individually. However, there is a way around that using Picasa to send your images to Flickr instead (credit to Digital Media Minute for this shortcut).

Log-in to Flickr and find the Upload by Email link. Keep that window open because you'll need that temporary email addy.
Get into Picasa and go to Tools, Options, Email. Choose the My Gmail account (you can use Outlook too) and flip the slider to whatever size you want your photos to be. Click OK.
Click on the image(s) you want to upload and click the Email button at the bottom of your Picasa workspace.
Enter in the temp. Flickr address in the To: field of the popup window. You can enter in a description here and that's what will show up on your Flickr page.
Click Send, and the image will show up in your Flickr account in about 10 seconds or so.

Picasa and Google Earth

Picasa integrates nicely with Google Earth and gives you the ability to geotag your photos very simply. Here's how it works (another shoutout to Ogle Earth for helping me figure this out!):

Pick the photos you're interested in geotagging, then click on Tools/Geotag/Geotag with Google Earth.
You'll see a popup window with some crosshairs on it; you'll be asked to drag it to where the photo was taken. Click away until you're all done.
Once you're finished, the geotagged photos will be marked with a small earth symbol; you also come away with the ability to play around with the KMZ file or export the whole lot to a Picasa Web album.

Picasa - a lot to play with

With all this, I didn't even get to light on the various interesting widgets, extensions, and even more innovative uses that people all over the world are finding for this simple yet powerful program. Picasa has definitely become one of the most valuable additions to my efficiency/organization software tools. If you've come up with a new and interesting way to use Picasa to organize, edit, or display your photos, please share in the commets.

Wendy Boswell, Lifehacker's Weekend Editor, has gone a little crazy with the Picasa slideshows. Subscribe to her feature series Technophilia using the Technophilia feed.

Students: Video iPod SAT study guides now available

2007-06-25T16:40:00.000+02:00

from Lifehacker by Gina Trapani

In addition to - or instead of - taking an expensive SAT prep course, download interactive study guides for the video iPod, which are now available at the iTunes Store.

The three programs, in critical reading, mathematics and writing, correspond to the three graded sections of the exam. The programs cost $4.99 each and are available in the iPod games section of the iTunes store alongside slightly more entertaining, if less educational, options like Tetris, Pac-Man and Lost: The Game.

SAT preppers should also check out how to rap vocabulary words. How do you study for big tests? Let us know in the comments.

Prepare for the SAT Test, or Play With Your iPod? Have It Both Ways [NYT]

Frankenreview: 7 Takes on the Santa Rosa MacBook Pros

2007-06-24T08:41:00.000+02:00

from Gizmodo by Mark Wilson

We've already shown you the new MacBook Pro benchmarks, which show respectable improvements over the old model, not just because of the new Santa Rosa chipset, but Nvidia's new monster 8600M makes short work of 3D gaming. But what about the other features? How's the battery life? What's the deal on those LED screens? Is the MBP still hot enough to sterilize me if actually left on the lap? Hit the jump to see what they reviewers have to say on the new 15-inch laptops beyond the benchmarks.

Touchy Fire-Fly
If you touch the computer it results warm, but much cooler than my previous MacBook Pro with the lower limit of the cooling fan setted to 2000 rpm.

CNET
Perhaps the biggest improvement in the revamped MacBook Pro is in battery life. ... we got an impressive 3 hours and 35 minutes with our DVD battery drain test--that's 36 minutes more than the non-LED version of the MacBook Pro...[and] you can expect longer life from casual Web surfing and typical office use.

Ars Technica
Intel's new mobile platform ups the front-side bus speed to 800MHz from 667MHz while adding support for Dynamic FSB Switching, which allows the FSB to be underclocked in order to save power. There's a new 965 Mobile Express chipset and built-in support for 802.11n, as well as Intel Turbo Memory.

PCWorld
The new [GeForce 8600M] chip is designed to improve performance with demanding programs, such as 3-D games and HD video editors. Indeed, in frames-per-second tests with id Software's Quake 4 and Doom 3 games...improvements of 25 to 60 percent...

Notebook Review
LED back-lighting is touted to provide a more evenly lit screen with sharper images and colors without sacrificing battery life. All these I find to be true, the screen is without a doubt the best i've ever seen on a laptop, and better than a lot of desktop monitors I use. With the brightness up to full, even in the most well lit rooms, solid whites are almost blinding,

Computerworld
The only difference in software is the version of OS X being used. Earlier models run Build 8P2137; the new one runs 8Q1058 -- tweaked, no doubt, to run smoothly on the new chips...the best laptop Apple has ever made.

MacInTouch
Past MacBook Pro models have not been without their issues, from overheating to sparkly displays to uneven lid gaps to optical drive problems. If our test unit is indicative, all of these issues have been addressed

Now if I could convince my wife that I needed to upgrade from my old model...

Google Apps: Add live Google data to Google Spreadsheets

2007-06-23T00:15:00.000+02:00

from Lifehacker by Adam Pash

The Webware weblog highlights 5 things you didn't know about Google Docs and Spreadsheets, most notably that you can insert live lookups in Google Spreadsheets via Google search and Google Finance.

Using two special formulas, users can create cells that will update constantly with data or information gleaned from Web searches or Google's finance service. This works for things such as stock symbols, sports statistics, or any other piece of information you want to source and keep up to date automatically

For example, you can insert the current price of Google stock in a spreadsheet by entering =GoogleFinance("GOOG"; "price"), or check out the number of internet users in Paraguay with =GoogleLookup("Paraguay"; "internet users"). Very cool.

5 things you probably didn't know you could do in Google Docs & Spreadsheets [Webware]

Dell customers win, no software pre-installed option

2007-06-22T22:44:00.000+02:00

Future Dell hardware customers can rest at ease. Dell now offers an option to ship computers without the standard default crud pre-installed. After a long hard fight with Dell, this much desired option is FINALLY available.

Find free wifi with WeFi

2007-06-22T09:59:00.001+02:00

from Lifehacker by Adam Pash

Windows only: Freeware utility WeFi helps you find free wifi connections on-the-go.

WeFi works like this: users install the WeFi client on their computer, then contribute data to the community by discovering open networks with the WeFi client. The client reports to WeFi headquarters, which then shares the open access point with other WeFi users. Aside from helping you find open hotspots, WeFi also has a social aspect that shows you where other WeFi users are. To be honest, it's hard not to be a little dubious of an app like WeFi, which basically tracks where you are as long as it's running and you're on the internet (plus I had difficulty installing it on my computer). However, if you're in desperate need of free wifi, it might be worth a try. WeFi is freeware, currently Windows only (with a Mac version "Coming soon").

Beta software icnic offers shared folders via Bonjour

2007-06-21T08:37:00.002+02:00

from UNEASYsilence by Derek

Mac OS X users will enjoy this beta release from Objectpark Software. Picnic provides OS X users - who own multiple Macs - with the ability to share files between synced folders on two or more Macs via Bonjour.

Apple: OS X 10.4.10 is Out Now

2007-06-21T08:37:00.001+02:00

from Gizmodo by Ben Longo

Mac users, Apple's first double digit OS X update (.10) is officially out, so go and hit the software update button and enjoy. But for the detail oriented readers out there, here's what they fixed.

Bluetooth •Addresses an issue in which a Bluetooth headset may show up as an available device for sound output in the Sound preference pane after it had been removed from Bluetooth preferences.
Third-party
•Adds RAW image decoding support for the following cameras: Panasonic DMC-LX1, Panasonic DMC-LX2, Leica M8, Leica D-LUX 2, Leica D-LUX 3, Fuji S5 Pro, Nikon D40x, and Canon EOS 1D Mk III.
•Resolves an issue in which some DNG images may appear tinted or distorted.
•Improves compatibility of Mathematica 6 with 64-bit Macs.

USB
•Improves reliability when using the IR remote control after waking from sleep.
•Improves reliability when mounting external USB hard drives.
•Resolves an issue in which a TomTom GO 910 may not be recognized when connected via USB to an Intel-based Mac.

Other
•Improves responsiveness when using the Control-Eject key combination to display a shutdown dialog.
•Addresses a specific issue in which users importing video from a DV camera may experience dropped frames.
•Includes recent Apple security updates.
•Addresses issues with calendar calculations in certain applications.
•Addresses issues when rounding decimal numbers for display in certain applications.
•For Motion, addresses an issue in which some texture corruption could appear in Motion if VRAM is full.

– Ben Longo

About the Mac OS X 10.4.10 Update (delta) [Apple via MacRumors]

Six creepy things I can learn about you

2007-06-20T21:05:00.000+02:00

from Valleywag by Nick Douglas

Serendipitous meetups and I-know-you-so-well moves look so good in romantic comedies, so why have I been served so many restraint orders? Search and social sites have gotten sophisticated enough that I can pull off a good John Cusack boombox-over-the-head scene with your favorite song -- on date one. Here's how I can find out everything about you online.

1. Your favorite bands: Easy. If I'm lucky, you use last.fm or iLike to track your favorite music, or you're on a concert service like Sonic Living.

In any case I can rely on your MySpace or Facebook profile for what you've listed as your favorite bands. (I'll have to play safe and only count the newer bands, since you probably haven't updated in a year.)

But if I see you at the other side of a cafe, you might have iTunes on and be sharing your music. Jackpot!

2. Your age: MySpace and Facebook are obvious, but you probably hid your birthday on there. But you didn't hide your graduation year on LinkedIn. Subtract 21 or 22 years and I'm set!

3. Your school friends: Even if I can't see your friend list, I can probably find some schoolmates of yours on Facebooks who list you as a friend, and then I just need to cross-reference, maybe look at those classmates' snapshots for ones that include you. Naturally, this works better the more recently you've graduated.

4. Your other friends: And where you work, and so on and so on. Good thing you joined the "network" for your city on Facebook! Now that I've told the site I'm from the same city, I can see more about you without actually being part of any organization with you!

5. Whom you're dating: Gotta check if you're single, right? After a MySpace/Facebook check, I'll search for photos of you and a significant other on SmugMug, Flickr, Webshots, Zooomr, and other sites that let me search by names.

I'll check Technorati to see if you have a blog, even just a quiet LiveJournal. By that point I'll be searching not just for your name but for any user names you use on other sites. You didn't think a username would protect your privacy, did you?

If I still can't figure it out, I'll search for your description on dating sites like Match.com and eHarmony. God forbid I find that, because you've probably opened a bit of your soul up! Good thing you can trust the people you meet on the Internet!

6. Extra bits: Googling your name and digging down (maybe adding keywords like "date" or "angry") will unearth what others have written about you. I can find some serendipitous bits on Spock, a new people-search site, thanks to my beta account (though you can do the same to me if you join -- ask me for an invite at nick at lookshiny dot com).

Photo: Sumo gripp. Nick Douglas writes for Valleywag and Look Shiny. Like to stalk? Also see Stalking 2.0 at Mashable.com.

Tweak Vista settings with Vispa

2007-06-20T21:04:00.001+02:00

from Lifehacker by Adam Pash

Windows Vista only: Freeware, standalone application Vispa tweaks Vista settings with a focus on privacy and security via a simple, organized interface.

On the privacy front, for example, you can disable automatic updates, error reporting, or Windows Media Player's automatic licensing downloads and sending your player ID to content providers (so you control when and to whom your computer talks to). Beyond that, it has all kinds of minor Internet Explorer, usability, and service tweaks. If you've got a Vista annoyance or two that you want addressed, chances are Vispa will address at least a couple of them. Vispa is freeware, Windows only.

Vispa [via Download Squad]

Launch: Edit your videos with the YouTube remixer

2007-06-18T18:14:00.000+02:00

from Lifehacker by Gina Trapani

YouTube releases a video editing tool which remixes your 'tube clips using a Flash-based in-browser application.

Drag and drop your clips to a timeline (much like iMovie) and add music, effects, graphics, captions and borders. The remixer is throwing a couple of "still working out the kinks" hiccups here and there this morning, but it's still a fun and easy way to splice, slice and dice your clips together.

YouTube Remixer [via CNET]

Skype 1.4 beta for Linux

2007-06-15T19:26:00.000+02:00

Linux meet Skype, Skype meet Linux.

Skype finally released the 1.4 beta version for Linux of its popular free cross-platform VoIP application.

It's nice that Skype has finally put some effort into updating its oft-forgotten Linux version, but Skype for Linux is still leaps and bounds behind the Mac and Windows version. Skype for Linux is still without webcam support and has been reported to be far below the standard of quality seen on Mac and Windows. Linux users can find a version for just about every distro at the Skype website. Has anyone out there had a good experience with Skype on Linux? Please share in the comments. The Skype 1.4 beta is a free download for Linux only.

Skype 1.4 Beta for Linux [Skype] found on Life Hacker

iPhone Ads - Four of Four

2007-06-14T23:58:00.000+02:00

iPhone Ads - Three of Four

2007-06-14T23:56:00.000+02:00

iPhone Ads - Two of Four

2007-06-14T23:51:00.000+02:00

iPhone Ads - One of Four

2007-06-14T23:41:00.000+02:00

Apple.com Redesign

2007-06-14T14:25:00.000+02:00


from Appleology by Appleologist Along with today’s exciting announcements, Apple has redesigned their entire website, to shed its old “gray-lined theme” and opening it up to a new streamlined theme that reflects much of Leopard’s new iTunes-7-esque user-interface. The new website also includes some Coverflow-esque navigation and some AJAX-implementation.

Featured Windows Download: Give Windows an OS X-like dock with ObjectDock

2007-06-14T14:23:00.000+02:00

from Lifehacker

Windows only: Freeware application ObjectDock brings the functionality of the Mac OS X Dock to Windows.

ObjectDock comes in a free and a pay version and gives Windows users all the perks of the OS X dock. With all the buzz surrounding Apple yesterday, this little application was too good to pass up. The free version of ObjectDock allows you to add launchers, run docklets (small applications like weather and RSS) and minimize apps directly to the dock. ObjectDock has a variety of themes and customization options for those that really want to hammer out an OS X look and feel. ObjectDock is freeware for Windows only. Thanks, Landon!

ObjectDock [Stardock via FayObserver]

YouTube Redesigns and Moves to Google Accounts

2007-06-14T14:20:00.000+02:00

from Google News by Ionut Alex Chitu

After updating their embeddable player, YouTube experiments with a new layout for the site. The new design places the search box in the center, moves the metadata below the video, makes it easier to rate the video and to find other related videos. There's also an option to embed a video using the old player.

To get the new interface, add &v3 at the end of a YouTube URL, like for this video.

YouTube also added to the homepage a list of videos that are being watched right now using active sharing, cleaned their search results and included a new option to view the results as thumnbnails.

But more importantly, you can now use your Google account to login to YouTube. Yay!

The login page proudly lists YouTube's features:

Upload, tag and share your videos worldwide
Browse millions of original videos uploaded by community members
Find, join and create video groups to connect with people with similar interests
Customize your experience with playlists and subscriptions
Integrate YouTube with your website using video embeds or APIs

Blogger Adds Video Uploading

2007-06-14T14:12:00.001+02:00

from Google News by Ionut Alex Chitu

Blogger has a place where you can test new experimental features: it's called Blogger in Draft and it's available at draft.blogger.com. Everything will look the same as the normal Blogger, but you may discover new features or new interfaces that aren't yet ready to be released to the general public. There's even a new blog that promises to keep us up-to-date with the new functionalities. "Features on Blogger in draft may be updated, changed, re-imagined, transmogrified, or removed at any time. Draft gives us the freedom to see what works and what doesn't before we turn a feature on for everyone, so expect us to make changes — hopefully you'll think they're for the better!"

The first feature added to Blogger's labs is video uploading: you're now able to upload videos directly from Blogger's editor. After you click on the video icon, you only need to select a video from your computer and to enter a title.

The video will be uploaded to Google, but until it's ready you'll see this nice placeholder:

You can continue to edit the post during the upload, but you can't publish it until the upload finishes. The video can be aligned and resized in the rich-text mode and that's a good idea since the initial size is very small.

Google hides the details of the implementation and includes this obscure code in your post that depends on some JavaScript to actually work:

The videos don't seem to be uploaded to Picasa Web Albums and they're not available at Google Video either, so it's unclear how you can reuse them or share them. Blogger mentions that "your videos are kept private and will not be included in Google Video search."

Apple links iTunes to social networking through Bebo

2007-06-13T01:28:00.000+02:00

from AppleInsider

Apple Inc. has made one of its first overt attempts to tap into web youth culture, establishing links between its iTunes Store and European social networking site Bebo.

The Financial Times reports that a deal with Bebo.com will let the site's nearly 9 million users in Ireland and the UK jump directly to Apple's online music store through embedded links in the profiles of musicians, providing a shortcut that displays their albums and songs on the iTunes Store.

Apple's deal will potentially give it access to as many as 500,000 musicians who maintain profiles on the page and will also serve as a vehicle for pushing new artists for both companies. A free Bebo single of the week will operate separately from the official iTunes release to encourage visiting Bebo itself and buying the music. Mercury artist Amy Macdonald will be the first to have a free Bebo single, according to the report.

The iPod maker is said to consider the move experimental and a means of encouraging legal downloads by putting them a click away on the artist page. If it proves successful, the Bebo project may expand to the full 33 million international Bebo users.

An incidental benefit of the move, however, is exposure to a younger market of web visitors that it has known in the past. Almost a third of youth between 16 and 24 years old visit at least one social networking site occasionally and will likely see the iTunes links if they visit to explore music. Most of that same audience is also especially active on peer-to-peer networks trading illegal copies, giving Apple an extra incentive to target their social sites.

The decision is the first of its kind for Apple, which has largely remained absent from social networking sites. Although the California-based firm has already established a system for linking directly to artists, albums, or songs from websites, the web referral method has so far been used for general ad campaigns independent of any one website.

Although easily recognized on the Internet, Apple has been relatively slow to embrace social networking and other Web 2.0 elements. Facebook recently put in place a development kit that lets Amazon and other online retailers embed store-related links in member profiles, and European carriers Orange as well as Vodafone have both outpaced Apple in striking deals for mobile access to Bebo.

Apple will begin to learn how well its name carries forward to a younger Internet community on Wednesday, when Bebo will reportedly start hosting the British and Irish iTunes Store links.

Bullet Points: Our Favorite Dozen Features in Leopard

2007-06-12T23:22:00.001+02:00

from Gizmodo

Let's recap what's new about Leopard, right here in easily-digestible form. Here's our fave dozen updates:

•There's a new Desktop, with a dock and menu bars that adjust to your background.

•Stacks are like folders but they let you see items in a bundle, and when you click on them, they pop up.

•Network View shows computers in their files as if they were residing on your own machine.

•Cover Flow comes to OS X, giving you that same liquid movement to all your documents that you have with your album covers now in iTunes.

•Quick Look lets you view Excel, PDFs and Word documents without having to launch an application.

•Leopard is now entirely 64-bit, but you can still run 32-bit applications on it.

•Core Animation makes it easier for developers to add spectacular animations to everyday apps.

•Boot Camp is built in, and Jobs says that XP and Vista can now run at native speed.

•Spaces is barely changed since last year, giving you four separate virtual desktops that can be moved between with the arrow keys.

•Dashboard is slightly upgraded, letting you make widgets out of any web page.

•iChat has been beefed up with a lower delay in tabbed chats. Conferences can be expanded to full screen.

•Time Machine, the spiffy real-time incremental backup routine, looks about the same as when we first saw it, and it also has that great-looking cover flow user interface.

•Okay, it's a baker's dozen: one more thing, Safari 3 finally shows up on Windows XP and Vista. Some people are saying it's a lot faster. – Charlie White

Mac OS X Leopard: Leopard to usher in much-needed Finder improvements

2007-06-12T23:20:00.001+02:00

from Lifehacker

Out of all the Mac OS X Leopard announcements made today, the one that I'm most excited about isn't hologram effects in iChat, it's the whole new revamp of OS X's file manager, Finder. We've long been complaining about Finder's general stuck-in-the-mud suckiness as compared to the rest of OS X, and wishing it would act more like iTunes. Well, the Apple gods today are granting our wish.

Apple's official Leopard marketing around Finder is just what the doctor ordered:

Imagine if browsing the files on your Mac was as easy as browsing music in iTunes. That's the idea behind the new Finder in Leopard. Now you can access everything on your system from an iTunes-style sidebar and flip through your files using Cover Flow.

Preview some screenshots of the new Finder to be launched in Leopard (available in October) after the jump.

Leopard's Finder sidebar displays all the Macs connected to your computer as well as devices.

Bigger, better-looking and more informative preview icons let you know what type of file is listed and previews its contents in a thumbnail:

Select an icon and hit the new "Quick Look" button (or press the Spacebar):

And you can preview it without launching its associated app:

The new CoverFlow view in Leopard's Finder can flip through your documents as if they were album covers in a jukebox (or in iTunes.) You can also page through multi-page documents and play Quicktime videos right inside Finder, courtesy of the aforementioned Quick Look preview.

The new Finder also support saved Spotlight searches, ala iTunes Smart Playlists, which appear in the sidebar.

Finally, you can also use Spotlight + Coverflow to search for files on shared Macs:

Check out Apple's video demos of Finder and Quick Look below.

Apple Releases Safari for Windows

2007-06-12T23:09:00.000+02:00

from Google News by Ionut Alex Chitu

Apple launched a beta version for Safari 3 for both Mac and Windows XP/Vista. Apple claims that Safari is "the fastest, easiest-to-use web browser in the world" and that it loads pages two times faster than Internet Explorer. Because Safari has a Mac interface it's hard to argue that the browser is easy to use for a Windows user. This beta version is not very stable, so you may experience frequent crashes.

For a browser that claims to be the most innovative in the world, Safari doesn't bring too many new features: private browsing that lets you pause the web history, resizable text fields, clever inline find, progress bar included in the address field.

I also don't understand how a company that promotes elegance and simplicity tries to install QuickTime with all their software and bundles Bonjour, a service that detects shared devices on your local network, with a browser.

But the most important thing is that web developers can test their sites in Safari without buying a Mac or using a service like Browsrcamp and more sites will support Safari.

Wwdc 2007: 10 Updated Features of Leopard

2007-06-12T23:05:00.000+02:00

from Gizmodo

At the WWDC keynote, Steve Jobs described 10 key features of the upcoming Leopard operating system.

1) Leopard has a new Desktop. Instead of putting another blue pattern up that you'll put your pictures over, their dock and menu bar will adapt and adjust to whatever background you set.

"Stacks," a new feature that helps you clean up desktops. Stacks sits on your dock and gives you a stack of items that pops up when you click on it. Works with folders and downloads. You can put any folder there, and access them quickly.

The dock is changed as well, and has reflections/transparency/3D-ness.

Stacks can also work as an app launcher if you put all your apps there, and will pop up a square with all your app icons so you can launch stuff with it. Demoing the stack with pictures and movies. HE SAID BOOM.

New sidebar, which looks like iTunes and has the capability to search other Macs & servers. Things are grouped, and collapsible. It also has a "Search" group, where there are smart folders that can group stuff by when you modified the files, for example.

Back to My Mac: .Mac knows all your IP addresses of your computers, so you can use .Mac to communicate over the net (encrypted) and grab files off your home machine from the road. It's easier to browse and share files on a local network. If you're a subscriber with .Mac, you can share stuff with other machines.

Also, Cover Flow. Details: Same views as before, list, columns, and now, Cover Flow view.

You can read PDF pages in Cover Flow. Cover Flow can view PDFs and scroll up and down through pages. When it's on a movie, you can preview the movie right in Cover View. Presumably the same for music as well. Steve says it's a great way to find things, but if you've used Cover View then it's more of a cool slideshow app rather than finding things.

Network view: One of the groups on the left side is network computers, so you can view other files as if it were on your own machine, including Cover Flow view. Back to My Mac: Click it on the left (if you're a .Mac subscriber), click Start, and it'll hook up all your machines that are also signed in to .Mac.

Boom Count: 2. You can also use Spotlight searching to search other machines over the network.

Boom Count: 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. I think he did that one on purpose.

3) Showing preview in Finder to preview Excel docs, PDFs and Word docs without launching Preview.app. You can preview movies in the Finder Cover Flow, but if you hit space bar then it pops open and gives you a big view. And that's "Quick Look."

4) Leopard is entirely 64 bit. One version of Leopard runs 32-bit and 64-bit side by side. You can run both 32-bit and 64-bit apps on every copy of Leopard. "First time 64-bit goes mainstream." Demoing a 64-bit and 32-bit version comparison. Their demo app loads a 4GB image that can only be kept in memory on the 64-bit version, and 32-bit has to keep accessing the disk to load part of the image when you zoom in.

5) Core Animation. It's automatic animation that makes it easy to add "high production value" to your apps. Text, images, video, OpenGL. Compose things on Scenes of Layers and auto-uses the GPU acceleration. Demoing the starting movie in AppleTV with the giant screen of videos. This is interactive, and you can search for stuff by tags. Search for water, all the water videos come out. Pops out all with a fancy animation. Easy to add stuff to your apps if you're a developer.

6) Boot Camp is built-in and better than ever, letting you run XP or Vista with native speed. Since it's built in, no more burning CDs to install drivers. Interestingly, Steve-o says that it complements Parallels and VM Ware, which they're "helping...as much as we can." Over 2.5 million downloads of the Beta. Leopard has Boot Camp built-in.

7) Not much has changed with Spaces since last year—you can group apps into (only four?) separate "spaces," (pictured above) or virtual desktops, and move between them with the arrow keys. You can also zoom out to scope all of them at once and toggle from there.

8) Dashboard gets an upgrade, but nothing we haven't seen. WebClip is in full force: you can make a widget out of any webpage, like Rotten Tomatoes. New, kinda meh, kind cool: partnership with Fandango for on-the-fly movie times, tickets, and previews in Dashboard.

9) iChat is spiffied up with AAC-LD (low delay), tabbed chats (<3),>

10) Time Machine also hasn't changed much since it was demoed, but that doesn't bother us too much. The sweet Cover Flow interface that's everywhere rears its head here, too, as it flows through your typed keywords. Click and restore, essentially. It automatically backs up to a local HD or network server, plus you can back up every Mac in the house to one shared drive. Lost files can be hunted down with a Spotlight search, which are spot-checkable with QuickLook.

One More Thing: Safari 3 on Windows XP and Vista. Besides sporting all of its OS X Leopard features, it supposedly smokes IE 7 and Firefox 2, rendering twice as fast as IE and 1.6x faster than Firefox. Grab the public beta here.

Apple to release Safari browser for Windows

2007-06-11T20:53:00.000+02:00

By AppleInsider Staff Published on Apple Insider

Apple Inc. at its developer conference on Monday announced that it plans to make available a version of its Safari Web browser for rival Microsoft Corp.'s Windows operating systems. Safari 3.0 is now the fastest browser running on Windows, chief executive Steve Jobs said, referencing industry standard iBench tests that show the Apple browser rendering web pages up to twice as fast as IE 7 and up to 1.6 times faster than Firefox 2.

Safari joins iTunes in delivering Apple's user experience to both Windows and Mac users as well as full support of open Internet standards. Safari 3 features easy-to-manage bookmarks, effortless browsing with easy-to-organize tabs and a built-in RSS reader to quickly scan the latest news and information.

Apple is making a Safari 3 public beta is available today as a free download at its Safari website.

"We think Windows users are going to be really impressed when they see how fast and intuitive web browsing can be with Safari," said Jobs. "Hundreds of millions of Windows users already use iTunes, and we look forward to turning them on to Safari's superior browsing experience too."

The speed of Safari combined with its intuitive user interface lets users spend more time surfing the web and less time waiting for pages to load, Apple said. Other Safari features now available to Windows users include SnapBack, one-click access to an initial search query; resizable text fields; and private browsing to ensure that information about an individual's browsing history isn't stored.

Safari 3 supports all modern Internet standards so users can view websites as they were meant to be seen, including HTML, CSS, JavaScript, SVG and Java. Safari software updates are delivered seamlessly through Apple's Software Update application, which automatically checks for updates.

Pricing & Availability

The free public beta of Safari 3 is available immediately as a download at Apple's Safari website, and is preview software licensed for use on a trial basis for a limited time. The final version of Safari 3 will be available as a feature in the upcoming Mac OS X version 10.5 Leopard, and will be available as a free download to Mac OS X Tiger and Windows users in October.

System Requirements

Safari 3 for Mac OS X requires Mac OS X Tiger 10.4.9 or later, a minimum of 256MB of memory and is designed to run on any Intel-based Mac or a Mac with a PowerPC G5, G4 or G3 processor and built-in FireWire. Safari 3 for Windows requires Windows XP or Windows Vista, a minimum of 256 MB of memory and a system with at least a 500 MHz Intel Pentium processor.

LEAKED NOTES from the WWDC Keynote

2007-06-11T10:35:00.000+02:00

Apfelkueche (Translated by DailyTechTalk) supposedly has a leaked copy of notes of the WWDC keynote:

Highlights are as follows:

Announcment of new Retail store in Italy
New iMac with a new Design, which follows itself to iPhone, partly brushed metal, even thinner, Santa rosa chip set,LED back light, in 20″ and 24″ sized
New features in Leopard: New Mail client, ZFS standard, Resolution Independence, iChat theatre
New .mac, iLife 07, iWork 07: .mac release with smooth Google integration, but in the Apple Look, .mac services all on Google basis, .mac free of charge with each bought Mac, all documents can be worked on and administered also on-line with Google applications, guest appearance Eric Schmidt (Google CEO)
iPhone: New secret features include iWork and iLife integration, .mac integration (iDisk access, Mail, documents on-line, etc. work on)
One more thing: NEW product “iphone@home”: 10: multitouch screen, 30 GB Flash memory, iPhone user surface, 8 hours of battery, no connections except dock Connector, resemble functions as iPhone, except mobile phone, but iChat, integrated iSight

Real or fake? I guess we'll have to wait and see....

The public respond to the London logo

2007-06-11T10:31:00.001+02:00

from Cherryflava by Jonathan Cherry

Armed with ripped copies of Photoshop and half an ounce of creativity - spoofers have delivered their own visual protest - making their feelings know about the new 2012 London logo. [thanks Cara - via]

The BBC even ran a competition to find a better alternative from the public - the winners version was safe, but ok.

...oh, and another underground version.

This has to be the most talked about logo in history.

More: The London logo vs Lisa Simpson - YouTube

Previously: London logo exposed - Cherryflava

Web Surfing: Use multiple search engines in one place with Sputtr

2007-06-10T17:43:00.000+02:00

from Lifehacker

Search multiple search engines and search services all from one place with Sputtr.

Sputtr's layout looks like a simple keyboard - and you use it kind of like a keyboard, too. Just type in what you're looking for and then click on the icon that represents the search service you'd like to use, anything from Google to Reddit to MySpace and much more. Over 30 different search options are available for you to use; I'm definitely adding this to my list of good search tools. — Wendy Boswell

Sputtr [via Search Engine Watch ]

Yahoo! Rolls Out Unlimited Storage

2007-06-10T00:17:00.000+02:00

from UNEASYsilence by Dan

Yahoo! mail users who are close to their quota should love this announcement. Yahoo has begun to roll out thier touted unlimited email storage with FREE POP access. How do you know you have been upgraded to unlimited storage? Easy, if you see the “You have unlimited storage” status indicator you’re all set.

Also according to a reliable source Yahoo will also soon enable IMAP for all existing and new users to compete with Google’s offering.

What free email provider to you use?

Google Talk Gadget, Now with Emoticons

2007-06-09T20:03:00.000+02:00

from Google News by Ionut Alex Chitu

The showy Google Talk Gadget has three sets of emoticons right there, next to the input box. You know, just in case you want to express your feelings and you can't find the right words.

You can choose between three skins: rounded, rectangular and black&white emoticons. If you select a different skin, all the emoticons from the current conversation will change to the new look.

Download any MP3 from MySpace

2007-06-09T20:02:00.000+02:00

from UNEASYsilence by Dan

Here we go again. All you need to do with this service is enter the name of a band the way it appears after www.myspace.com (eg: http://www.myspace.com/bandname) and MySpaceMP3 provides download links for all the bands songs.

Hey anything to download music from MySpace without actually visiting the site is good in my book.

Google's Gallery of Public Calendars

2007-06-09T20:00:00.001+02:00

from Google News by Ionut Alex Chitu

Google Calendar added a directory of public calendars, structured in 8 categories: popular, TV shows, sports, events, entertainment, miscellaneous, holidays, and Google-related. The directory contains calendars from the web indexed by Google and public calendars created with Google Calendar.

Before subscribing to a calendar you can preview its events in a big overlayed box that can't be closed unless you have a big monitor (tip: if you can't see the OK button at the bottom of the box, press Enter).

In a surprising move, Google made searching the public calendars the default option, so if you want to restrict your search to the events from your calendars, you have to click on "Search my calendars". The option to search for public events is now available as a barely-visible link in the new gallery. Instead of complicating the interface, Google Calendar should have a single search results page that shows the events from your calendars, then other related events from public calendars.

The fact that Google Calendar complicates itself unnecessarily is obvious if you look at how many options are available to add a new calendar: you can add a public calendar, or the calendar of one of your contacts, you can enter the URL or just upload it. And each option has a different place in the interface.

All in all, searching for public calendars is not too important, so it didn't deserve so much focus (it's like a new search engine that returns web sites, not web pages). The option to search for public events should be available even if you don't use Google Calendar, maybe as a OneBox in Google's main search results.

TorrentSpy to SPY on Users

2007-06-09T19:58:00.000+02:00

from UNEASYsilence by Dan

TorrentSpy, one of the world’s largest torrent sites, has been ordered by a federal judge, Jacqueline Chooljian, to monitor its users, without consent, in order to create detailed logs of their activities which must then be handed over to the MPAA.

But before you start deleting your caches the decision was arrived at last month but under seal and the MPAA has stated that they will start to track the actions of TorrentSpy’s visitors.

Although no data has seemingly changed hands TorrentSpy has decided that it would turn off access to the U.S. before tracking its users.

First photos from Apple's WWDC emphasize Leopard focus

2007-06-07T17:35:00.001+02:00

"Welcome to WWDC07. Expand your universe," reads one of the banners, set to a backdrop of Mac OS X icons in a galaxy setting. "Mac OS X Leopard. Rocket fuel for your apps," reads another.

Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference will kick off with Jobs' keynote address beginning at 10:00 a.m. on Monday, June 11, 2007 at San Francisco’s Moscone West convention center.

Source: RoughlyDrafted

New iPhone Ad - The Fourth

2007-06-07T16:12:00.000+02:00

NEW MACBOOK PROS!

2007-06-05T14:51:00.001+02:00

WHOOOOOOOOOOO I AM THE FIRST TO BLOG THIS!!!

A 2.2GHz or 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo. Next-generation 802.11n wireless. Gorgeous upgraded displays. Wickedly fast NVIDIA graphics. Now available in 15- and 17-inch models starting at just $1999. Start your engines.

The new MacBook Pro is available in 15-inch models with a new mercury-free, power-efficient LED-backlit display and a 17-inch model with an optional 1920-by-1200 pixel display.

I've had a terrible day until now, but I beat Lifhacker, Gizmodo, Apple Insider, EVERYBODY TO THE PUNCH!

2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
1440 x 900 resolution
2GB memory
120GB hard drive¹
8x double-layer SuperDrive
NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics with 128MB SDRAM

Ships: 1-3 business days

Free Shipping

$1,999.00

or as low as $48 a month

2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
1440 x 900 resolution
2GB memory
160GB hard drive¹
8x double-layer SuperDrive
NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics with 256MB SDRAM

Ships: 1-3 business days

Free Shipping

$2,499.00

or as low as $59 a month

2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
1680 x 1050 pixels
2GB memory
160GB hard drive¹
8x double-layer SuperDrive
NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics with 256MB SDRAM

Ships: 1-3 business days

Free Shipping

Santa Rosa-based iMacs with Brushed Metal Frame on the Horizon?

2007-06-04T18:04:00.000+02:00

Call it wishful thinking, but the folks at 9 to 5 Mac are reporting that Apple's new iMacs (which they say will debut at WWD) will pack Intel's Santa Rosa technology and come in sizes larger than the current 24-inch model. Both are pretty safe assumptions, but what they'll look like is up in the air. Will they have brushed metal frames, will they resemble Apple's Cinema Displays, or is Apple dropping a completely new design on us? Only a few days before we officially find out. – Louis Ramirez on Gizmodo

New iPhone Ad!!!

2007-06-04T10:08:00.000+02:00

This means the release date of the infamous iPhone has been confirmed as June 29th!

Melon, Oranges, and Apples, OH MY!

2007-06-01T22:18:00.000+02:00

MacBook Pro updates

With last month's rather mild 13-inch MacBook refresh in the rear-view mirror, Apple is believed to be in the final preparatory stages of launching a more significant update to its professional line of MacBook Pro notebooks.

The new 15- and 17-inch portables, which AppleInsider began detailing back in January, are expected to borrow several architectural enhancements from Intel Corp.'s Santa Rosa platform while also introducing L.E.D.-backlit displays to the 15-inch models.

According to an industry source who has filed accurate reports in the past, Apple ramped down production of its current MacBook Pros a few weeks ago. The source notes that pending orders for new models in regions that require custom parts -- such as alternative keyboard layouts -- have been on backorder for a number of weeks with a estimated delivery date of "early June."

The source added that a similar series of events played out last year, ahead of Core 2 Duo updates to the then Core Duo 13-inch MacBooks.

At the same time, a second -- albeit unverified -- report claims that Apple this week accidently fired-off an email communication regarding the impending MacBook Pro updates to its major U.S. distributors and high level dealers.

The e-mail, titled "Setup info for new SKUs," purportedly contained new part numbers, product dimensions, palette makeup, and pricing information. The shipping weight for the two 15-inch MacBook configurations was listed at 10lbs (approximately the same as the 10.4lbs listed for current models), while the shipping weight for the 17-inch model was listed at 11lbs (compared to 11.6lbs).

A price list accompanying the communication was said to reflect no changes from today's MacBook Pro pricing.

Within minutes of sending the e-mail, Apple reportedly sent out a second communication calling the first message a "mistake" and asking that the information contained therein be discarded.

Apple Outlet Store

Meanwhile, Apple this week launched its Apple Outlet -- essentially a branded and remodeled section of its online store reserved for the sale of clearance items and refurbished products.

The update drew particular interest amongst tipsters, who noted that the outlet launched with a Mac section stock-full of refurbished Core Duo and Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro. Discounts on the refurbished notebooks ranged from 18 to 41 percent, hinting towards a final inventory clearing ahead of new models.

The Apple Outlet also launches amid reports that Apple has canceled monthly fire sales at some of its brick-and-mortar retail stores. This may imply that a larger majority of returns and open box retail items will now be funneled back through the company's Elk Grove facility in Sacramento for repackaging and sale online.

found on Apple Insider

Parallels Turns (Version) 3 and Gains 3D

2007-06-01T11:41:00.000+02:00

found on uneasy silence

Parallels has announced that they are a week or two away from releasing version 3.0 of their VM product, and this update is going to be a serious one, with more then 50 brand new features.

The new version will allow your preferred application handlers to work cross-platform. That means you can open URLs in IE7, mailto: links in Mail.app, or .xls files in Excel 2007 to name a few. Parallels also auto backups up with system snapshots, browse through Windows folders, without launching Windows, but the most notable feature is now limited support for 3D graphics.

To upgrade to version 3.0 it will set you back $40 before June 7 and $50 after that.

Google Gears - Offline Functionality for Web Apps

2007-05-31T18:45:00.000+02:00

Web applications bring your data online and make it available anywhere there's an Internet connection. But happens when you're on a plane or when you can't find a WiFi hotspot?

Google launched an open source browser extension for IE and Firefox called Google Gears that enables web applications to be available offline.

"Gears is an incremental improvement to the web as it is today. It adds just enough to AJAX to make current web applications work offline. Gears today covers what we think is the minimal set of primitives required for offline apps. It is still a bit rough and in need of polish, but we are releasing it early because we think the best way to make Gears really useful is to evolve it into an open standard. We are releasing Gears as an open source project and we are working with Adobe, Mozilla and Opera and other industry partners to make sure that Gears is the right solution for everyone," explains Google.

Once you install the extension, every Gears-enabled web application will ask your permission before storing data offline.

Depending on the functionality implemented in the application, Google Gears caches resource files so they're available offline, stores data in a SQLite database that has powerful search features and synchronizes data in the background.

Google Gears will enable you to read the most recent messages from Gmail while offline or to edit your documents in Google Docs even without a network connection.

Google Reader is the first Google application powered by Gears. To enter the offline mode, just click on the small arrow and all the recent feed items are downloaded to your computer. You can disconnect from the Internet or click on "work offline" in your browser and you will still be able to read your favorite feeds in Google Reader. Like in any feed reader installed on your computer. Well, almost, because Google Reader doesn't download images or other multimedia files embedded in the posts.

You can even close Google Reader's tab and try to load the site again: it will instantly show the cached data. Try to add tags to a post or star it; once you go back online, Google Reader will synchronize the data.

P.S.: Another nice update in Google Reader is that you can see the exact number of unread posts for each feed. Google Reader learned to count beyond 100.

Found on http://googlesystem.blogspot.com

Linux Embraces Mac-Like Dock

2007-05-31T18:43:00.000+02:00

Linux only: Free open-source app Awn is an application dock for Linux.

Awn allows you to setup custom launchers exactly the same way it's done on the Mac OS X Dock. Additionally, Awn supports the drag and drop method of adding launchers, and it even tracks your open windows. The homepage describes the features of Awn very concisely:

Clicking an icon switches to that window, clicking again will minimize the window. Right-clicking will bring up a menu exactly like that of what you see on the window-list, allowing you to maximize, minimize, close, and resize the window. Dragging something on top of an icon will activate that window. Visually (and quite attractively) responds to 'needs attention' & 'urgent' events. Can show windows from the entire viewport, or just the visible viewport.

Ubuntu users should closely follow the installation instructions on the Awn homepage. Users of other Linux distros can find specific instructions on the homepage, also. Awn is a free download for Linux and requires Affinity.

Ebay + StumbleUpon = WTF?

2007-05-31T18:41:00.000+02:00

Yesterday eBay purchased StumbleUpon for $75 million. Although it is not immediately clear HOW this will fit into eBay’s portfolio, it seems as if the auction giant will take a hands off approach to the social bookmarking service.

All StumbleUpon’s founders and management team will remain in their respective positions for the foreseeable future, and will focus on building out the website to expand the community.

Google Gears: Take Your Online Apps Offline

2007-05-31T18:32:00.000+02:00

The only problem with Google’s web applications, is that you need to be ONLINE to use them. Google Gears hopes to fix that. Gears is a browser extension using Java, that enables web applications to provide offline functionality. So, now you can load up your favorite enabled Google applications (Think Writely, or Feed Catcher) when you DON’T have an internet connection.

The Google Gears Beta is currently available for Windows XP, Vista, Mac and Linux.

More Information
Google Gears (BETA) is an open source browser extension that enables web applications to provide offline functionality using following JavaScript APIs:

	Store and serve application resources locally
	Store data locally in a fully-searchable relational database
	Run asynchronous Javascript to improve application responsiveness

Get the BETA version here!

What to Expect from Dell's Ubuntu Machines (Hint: It's Fantastic for Linux Users Who Don't Buy Dell)

2007-05-23T07:53:00.000+02:00

Now that Dell's on the verge of shipping Ubuntu-installed computers, potential Linux converters could have some questions as to what they're getting when they buy the package. Dell's got some answers.

First off, Dell's going to be shipping the default install of Ubuntu. However, when it comes to drivers, they're going to be supporting a subset of other OS installations, and using some closed source drivers when it's necessary—as in, when there's no equivalent open source version. For you, this means better compatibility.

However, the fact that Dell is entering this Linux game means they're going to push people hard to make drivers compatible and/or open source. Fantastic for Linux users.

As for peripherals, Dell is going to set up a wiki page so you can see which ones are supported and what problems they have. This includes printers, which they recommend you buy from Dell (shocker).

For other hardware, Dell is working on adding support in conjunction with other manufacturers, which means it's actually great news for Linux fans since a big manufacturer like Dell will lean hard on peripheral makers to provide Linux compatibility.

The bad news is they're not going to support any "proprietary audio or video codecs" like MPEG 1/2/3/4, WMA, WMV, DVD, Quicktime and others. If you want those, you're going to have to install them yourself. – Jason Chen

Ubuntu 7.04 Offering--Technical Details [Direct2Dell]

Found on Gizmodo

52 Ways to Speed Up OS X

2007-05-18T19:08:00.000+02:00

After Apple recently announced a delay to OS X 10.5 Leopard I had to delay my iMac upgrade until the Autumn. This led me to thinking about how to speed up Tiger to get the most out of my ageing G5.

This is what I came up with:

General System

1. Repair Disk Permissions
Navigate to Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility. Select your Macintosh HD and select Verify Disk Permissions. If needed you can then Repair Disk Permissions.

2. Clear out login items
Its good to check that unwanted programs are not starting up when you login to your Mac. This can be done from System Preferences > Accounts > Login Items.

3. Clear out unwanted applications
Go through your applications folder and see if you can save yourself some disk space by removing any applications you no longer use.

4. Clear out unused system preferences
Check in your system preferences if there are any unused system preferences tabs that can be removed. If you do find something you don’t use you can either disable it within its menu or remove it from ‘~/Library/PreferencePanes’. You may have to reboot or do a force empty trash (see #38).

5. Clear Desktop
Its been reported numerous times that having a clear desktop can increase the speed of your Mac. So either put your junk in folders or delete it!

6. Empty Trash (if it wont empty see #38)
I’m always amazed when I’m looking on someone’s Mac and they haven’t ever emptied the trash! Check what’s in there then save yourself some space and empty it.

7. Turn off Universal Access (if not used)
Navigate to System Preferences > Universal Access and turn off anything you’re not using.

8. Turn off Bluetooth (if not used)
Navigate to System Preferences > Bluetooth.

9. Turn off speech recognition (if not used)
Navigate to System Preferences > Speech Recognition.

10. Turn off internet sharing (if not used)
Navigate to System Preferences > Sharing > Internet

11. Check there is plenty of disk space on the boot drive.
Your Mac uses some of your hard drive space as virtual memory when there is not enough actual memory available. Its good to always keep 10% of your hard drive free for such activity.

12. Remove Unwanted Language Packs
OS X contains hundreds of languages that you most likely wont use. Monolingual is a free program that can root out these languages and remove them saving you some extra disk space.

*Edit: Warning people have experienced problems with Monolingual so becareful what you remove. Only a reinstall will put the languages back so decide weather you really need the extra space by removing them.

13. Remove any desktop changing programs
Until recently I had a nice program that would put a different babe on my desktop each month. It looked great but once I started looking in activity monitor it was taking up lots of memory and processor time.

14. Check dock for unwanted apps.
Your dock should only contain your most used applications so take a look through to see if there is anything you can remove or uninstall.

15. Choose suitable applications for files
Be sensible when choosing what applications open by default - think do you really need Photoshop to open just to view an image when preview will work fine? Right click on a file then select Get Info.

16. Check Software Build
If you have an Intel Mac then check the build of the software is universal - it might be that the application is still running through Rosetta and that a universal update is available.

Eye Candy

17. Remove dock animation
Navigate to System Preferences > Dock then un-tick Animate Opening Applications.

18. Avoid animated desktops
Navigate to System Preferences > Desktop & Screen Saver then un-tick Change picture.

Dashboard

19. Remove unused widgets.
Each widget takes some memory and processor power even when you’re not using the dashboard so only enable the ones you use. Alternatively you can disable the dashboard - see #23.

20. Check to see how much processing power and memory each widget uses.
Some widgets are more intensive than others, if there is one that is particularly demanding see if there is one with similar functionality on the Apple website. To do this run Activity Monitor - Applications > Utilities > Activity Monitor.

As you can see the widgets I have running are all using an acceptable amount of Real Memory.

Tinkertool

Tinkertool is a utility that gives you access to additional settings within OS X.

21. Remove animation effects.
The animation effects are the eye candy that make OS X look nice but they are not really needed, you can turn them off from the Finder pane within Tinkertool.

22. Disable Dock shadow.
From the Dock pane un-tick Enable Dock shadow.

23. Disable Dashboard.
If you don’t use the Dashboard you can deactivate it from the General pane.

24. Skip checksum verifications when opening DMG files.
This will speed up the loading of disk images when opening. This can be found in the Applications pane.

25. Remove or deactivate unwanted login items from the Login Items pane.
You might already have done this in #2.

26. Reduce delay time for display of loading pages in Safari.
This should speed up your web browsing experience, found within the Safari Pane.

OnyX

OynX is similar to Tinkertool however has many more options and preferences.You may have already done some of these in previous tips.

Parameters

27. Un-tick Graphic Effects (Finder tab).
You may already have done this with Tinkertool #21.

28. Un-tick Animate ‘Opening applications’ and ‘When alert in background’ (Dock tab).

29. Disable Dashboard (Dashboard and Expose tab).
You may already have done this with Tinkertool #23.

30. Set Safari speed of web page display to fast (Safari Tab).
You may already have done this in #26.

Maintenance

31. Repair Disk Permissions.
You may already have done this in #1.

32. Run Maintenance Scripts.

33. Reset Spotlight Index (it may take over a day to rebuild the index afterwards).

34. Run complete system optimization.

Cleaning

35. Clear Internet Settings.

36. Clear User and Font Caches.

37. Clear unused logs.

38. Force Empty Trash

Automation

39. Check settings - The default settings should be fine here. Click Execute.

Safari

You can do some of the following by resetting Safari - click Safari > Reset Safari.

*Edit: Resetting Safari does not clear Favicons.

40. Clear Cache.
To speed up page loading Safari saves a copy of every page in its cache however if the cache gets too large it can actually slow down page loading so its best to empty it occasionally. To do so click Safari > Empty Cache.

41. Clear History.
Safari can remember every single site you have visited which can have a negative effect on its performance. You can empty it be selecting History > Clear History.

42. Clear AutoFill.
AutoFill is the data is saved in forms such as your username and password on websites. As with the cache and history the AutoFill can mount up over time. To empty select Safari > Preferences then select the AutoFill tab. From here you can go through the three AutoFill sections and clear out data that you no longer want stored.

43. Clear Favicons.
Favicons are the little icons you see to the left of the URL in the address bar. These can be cleared by emptying user folder/Library/Safari/Icons.

Firefox

44. If you use Firefox then you can get specially optimized versions of the browser based on your processor architecture - either G4, G5 or intel.

45. Extensions
Firefox has some great extensions but they can slow down the browser so take a serious look to see weather you really need that extra toolbar!

iTunes

46. Smart Playlists
These can slow down the operation of iTunes as they reload the contents of the list every time the program loads. If you have a a smart play list that does not change very often then you can either deactivate live updating (by clicking file > edit smart play list) or copy of the contents of the smart play list in to a regular play list.

Other

47. HP Printer drivers can often cause problems and use a lot of processor power so check in the activity monitor for HP Communicator, if it seems to be constantly running at 80% - 100% then try uninstalling it. I had problems on my Mac Mini for my HP PSC 1110 all in one with the HP software on OS X 10.3 maxing out the CPU after printing. I had to remove the software and just use the basic drivers rather than the full suite.

48. Check Classic is not running if not being used. Classic can be disabled from within System Preference.

49. Run Software Update.
The latest updates sometimes provide speed increases as well as fix bugs and vulnerabilities.

50. Update other applications.
It’s always best to run the latest versions of your programs. Websites such as Mac Update and Version Tracker are good places to keep your applications up to date.

51. Add More RAM.
There is only so much you can do with software, the cheapest way to give you’re Mac a speed boost is to upgrade the memory.

52. Reboot your Mac.
After doing all this optimization it might be an idea to reboot your Mac. If your like me and use sleep mode for the majority of the time then a reboot once in a while often helps too!

Found on www.imafish.co.uk

Penguins at home

2007-05-18T12:48:00.000+02:00

I found the below article on Akihabara News.com

A Matsushita Electric brand called "National" came up with a new system to control the electrical and power consumption at home. You'll tell me that this is nothing new and you have your very own with a 1 inch 2 colors screen but this is Japan, it HAD to be different !!

As a result you'll be helped by penguins, they'll tell you if it's ok or if you're a naughty power consumer using famous "mangas attitudes" that are really part of the Japanese culture and tradition.

The Lifinity ECO can also be used as an alarm. Just make sure your kids don't think it's a new GameBoy because it costs 350.000Yen (2.000€ or 2.700$). Available in October.

Google’s Gmail integrates Office Powerpoint viewer

2007-05-18T09:11:00.000+02:00

Yet another reason to make the move to Gmail as your primary email service, Google quietly released the option to view attached Powerpoint slides using a Google Flash tool. Since making the move to Gmail and deciding to drop Microsoft Office, Google & Gmail have definitely helped make life without Office much easier - contacts / clients still prefer to send Office documents (there’s just no way around it).

Now that attached Powerpoint slides can be viewed from [select] Gmail accounts, when will we see Google Docs updated to support the file format?

found on uneasy silence - well said.

Facebook offers free classifieds

2007-05-16T10:36:00.000+02:00

Social networking service Facebook adds a new Marketplace area where members can post free classified ads. Marketplace works a lot like Craigslist, except you get to see how you know the guy who's selling his old projector. The Times reports:

On Facebook, buyers will be able to see how they are connected to the seller -- the series of links between the friends they share. "There are no anonymous listings, and we give you a very clear path to see how you can trust the other person you are conducting business with," (Facebook founder) Mr. Zuckerberg said.

You can list job and housing opportunities, stuff wanted and items for sale in Facebook Marketplace. —Gina Trapani on Life Hacker

Macbooks Just Got Even Better...

2007-05-16T09:50:00.000+02:00

I'm happy to be bringing good news in this post, for it is M.O Photo's 200th Post.
Okay, stop applauding and cheering, let's get down to business.

Apple has done something I've been hoping they would for a while now; Apple updated its MacBook consumer notebooks with faster Intel Core 2 Duo processors, 1GB of memory and larger hard drives in every model. Apple Insider's description of the Macbook and what it now has to offer is simply perfect and so I'm sharing it with you here.

The new line of MacBooks remain just one-inch thin and feature built-in 802.11n wireless networking for up to five times the performance and twice the range of 802.11g. Every MacBook also includes a built-in iSight video camera for on-the-go video conferencing, Apple's MagSafe Power Adapter that safely disconnects when under strain, and iLife '06, Apple's award-winning suite of digital lifestyle applications.

"The MacBook is a huge hit with customers, and is one of the reasons that Mac sales are growing three times faster than PC sales," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. "The new MacBook is faster, has even more memory and storage, and is an ideal notebook for customers' growing library of digital music, photos and movies."

Featuring a 13-inch glossy widescreen display, the one-inch thin MacBook comes in three models: white 2.0 GHz and 2.16 GHz MacBook models, and a black 2.16 GHz MacBook model. The MacBook includes a built-in iSight video camera for video chatting on-the-go with friends or family using iChat AV, recording a video podcast or iMovie using iLife '06, or taking fun snapshots with Photo Booth. Designed for the mobile lifestyle, the MacBook includes Apple's MagSafe Power Adapter that magnetically connects the power cord to the MacBook and safely disconnects when under strain, and the latest generation of 802.11n wireless networking for up to five times the performance and twice the range of 802.11g.

The MacBook comes with iLife '06, the next generation of Apple's award-winning suite of digital lifestyle applications featuring iPhoto, iMovie HD, iDVD, GarageBand and iWeb. The MacBook also comes with the latest release of the world's most advanced operating system, Mac OS X version 10.4.9 Tiger, including Safari, Mail, iCal, iChat AV, Front Row and Photo Booth.

But wait, there's more good news...for Europeans, that is. Europeans will enjoy a nice price cut and the new Macbooks may also have better LCD's. Apple insider says...

Italians who received news of the spring 2007 MacBook update directly from Apple may have also been tipped off as to a change in the 13.3-inch displays used for the systems.

In its announcement, Apple Italy listed a 250cd/m2 brightness figure for the top 2.16GHz black model. The company has previously refrained from mentioning the display's specifications in the past, suggesting that the brightness was a selling point for at least the top system.

Europe as a whole also saw the price of the systems drop despite the change, with each system dipping 70 Euros to 1,049, 1,249, and 1,449 Euros respectively.

Pricing & Availability

The new MacBook is available immediately through the Apple Store, Apple's retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers.

The 2.0 GHz, 13-inch white MacBook, for a suggested retail price of $1,099 (US), includes:

13.3-inch glossy widescreen 1280 x 800 display;

2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor;

667 MHz front-side bus;

1GB of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM, expandable to 2GB;

80GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm, with Sudden Motion Sensor;

a slot-load Combo (DVD-ROM/CD-RW) optical drive;

Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950;

Mini-DVI out (adapters for DVI, VGA and Composite/S-Video sold separately);

built-in iSight video camera;

Gigabit Ethernet port;

built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.0+EDR;

two USB 2.0 ports and one FireWire 400 port;

one audio line in and one audio line out port, each supporting both optical digital and analog;

Scrolling TrackPad;

the infrared Apple Remote; and

60 Watt MagSafe Power Adapter.

The 2.16 GHz, 13-inch white MacBook, for a suggested retail price of $1,299 (US), includes:

13.3-inch glossy widescreen 1280 x 800 display;

2.16 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor;

667 MHz front-side bus;

1GB of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM, expandable to 2GB;

120GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm, with Sudden Motion Sensor;

a slot-load 8x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD+R DL/DVD +/- RW/CD-RW) optical drive;

Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950;

Mini-DVI out (adapters for DVI, VGA and Composite/S-Video sold separately);

built-in iSight video camera;

Gigabit Ethernet port;

built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.0+EDR;

two USB 2.0 ports and one FireWire 400 port;

one audio line in and one audio line out port, each supporting both optical digital and analog;

Scrolling TrackPad;

the infrared Apple Remote; and

60 Watt MagSafe Power Adapter.

The 2.16 GHz, 13-inch black MacBook, for a suggested retail price of $1,499 (US), includes:

13.3-inch glossy widescreen 1280 x 800 display;

2.16 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor;

667 MHz front-side bus;

1GB of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM, expandable to 2GB;

160GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm, with Sudden Motion Sensor;

a slot-load 8x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD+R DL/DVD +/- RW/CD-RW) optical drive;

Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950;

Mini-DVI out (adapters for DVI, VGA and Composite/S-Video sold separately);

built-in iSight video camera;

Gigabit Ethernet port;

built-in AirPort Extreme wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.0+EDR;

two USB 2.0 ports and one FireWire 400 port;

one audio line in and one audio line out port, each supporting both optical digital and analog;

Scrolling TrackPad;

the infrared Apple Remote; and

60 Watt MagSafe Power Adapter.

Additional build-to-order options for the MacBook include the ability to upgrade to 120GB or 160GB (5400 rpm) or a 200GB (4200 rpm) hard drive, up to 2GB DDR2 SDRAM, Apple USB Modem, Apple Mini-DVI to DVI adapter, Apple Mini-DVI to VGA adapter, Apple MagSafe Airline Adapter and the AppleCare Protection Plan. Additional build-to-order options also include pre-installed copies of iWork '06, Logic Express 7, Final Cut Express HD 3.5 and Aperture 1.5.

[Apple Insider]

Leapin' Linux, Let's Make the Jump, Sheep!

2007-05-10T00:00:00.000+02:00

F%&$ Windows, and f%&$ the Mac, too. Maximum PC shows you how to make the jump to Linux from start to finish, and shows you how to stay there once you've abandoned all those other PC and Mac sheep to go your own open-source way.

Let's all get the hell out of these mainstream operating systems and get into the real stuff. How about we dig into that latest Ubuntu Feisty Fawn, easy as pie to use, and let's slather on a heaping helping of the 3D Beryl desktop compositing engine on top to keep things all prettied up?

But, but ...

There's even a way to run Windows on Linux using Parallels, so the excuses are getting thinner and thinner for staying with your white-bread religion. Sure, there's plenty of help on the Interwebs for Linux and Ubuntu installation, but none as to-the-point as this.

And hey, there's Firefox on Linux, too, so the Giz will still look just about the same. Get thee hence, all we like sheep who have gone astray. Every one to his own way. Live your own life! Get down to it. – Charlie White on Gizmodo

You Can Switch to Linux! [Maximum PC]

10 Intermediate Ways To Speed Up Windows

2007-05-08T20:27:00.000+02:00

Given how successful my Simple Guide to Tweaking Windows XP has been I’ve decided to post some more complex tweaks. The effectiveness of each of these tweaks will vary from machine to machine. I’ve tried to focus on tweaks that I’m confident can be made on any XP machine regardless of the individual setup. Please do not make any of these changes if you are not sure what you are doing, and remember to make backups first and good luck!

1. Disable Unnecessary Services
Because Windows XP has to be all things to all people it has many services running that take up system resources that you will never need. Below is a list of services that can be disabled on most machines:

Alerter
Clipbook
Computer Browser
Distributed Link Tracking Client
Fast User Switching
Help and Support - (If you use Windows Help and Support leave this enabled)
Human Interface Access Devices
Indexing Service
IPSEC Services
Messenger
Netmeeting Remote Desktop Sharing (disabled for extra security)
Portable Media Serial Number
Remote Desktop Help Session Manager (disabled for extra security)
Remote Procedure Call Locator
Remote Registry (disabled for extra security)
Remote Registry Service
Secondary Logon
Routing & Remote Access (disabled for extra security)
Server
SSDP Discovery Service - (Unplug n’ Pray will disable this)
Telnet
TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper
Upload Manager
Universal Plug and Play Device Host
Windows Time
Wireless Zero Configuration (Do not disable if you use a wireless network)
Workstation

To disable these services:

Go to Start and then Run and type “services.msc”
Doubleclick on the service you want to change
Change the startup type to ‘Disable”

2. Turn Off System Restore

System Restore can be a useful if your computer is having problems, however storing all the restore points can literally take up Gigabytes of space on your hard drive. To turn off System Restore:

1. Open Control Panel
2. Click on Performance and Maintenance
3. Click on System
4. Click on the System Restore tab
5. Tick ‘Turn off System Restore on All Drives’
6. Click ‘Ok’

3. Defragment Your Pagefile

Keeping your pagefile defragmented can provide a major performance boost. One of the best ways of doing this is to creat a separate partition on your hard drive just for your page file, so that it doesn’t get impacted by normal disk usage. Another way of keeping your pagefile defragmented is to run PageDefrag. This cool little app can be used to defrag your pagefile, and can also be set to defrag the pagefile everytime your PC starts. To install:

Download and Run PageDefrag
Tick “Defrag at next Reboot”,
Click “Ok”
Reboot

4. Speedup Folder Access - Disable Last Access Update

If you have a lot of folders and subdirectories on your computer, when you access a directory XP wastes a lot of time updating the time stamp showing the last access time for that directory and for ALL sub directories. To stop XP doing this you need to edit the registry. If you are uncomfortable doing this then please do not attempt.

Go to Start and then Run and type “regedit”
Click through the file system until you get to “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem”
Right-click in a blank area of the window on the right and select ‘DWORD Value’
Create a new DWORD Value called ‘NtfsDisableLastAccessUpdate’
Then Right click on the new value and select ‘Modify’
Change the Value Data to ‘1′
Click ‘OK’

5.Disable System Sounds

Surprisingly, the beeps that your computer makes for various system sounds can slow it down, particularly at startup and shut-down. To fix this turn off the system sounds:

1. Open Control Panel
2. Click Sounds and Audio Devices
3. Check Place volume icon in taskbar
4. Click Sounds Tab
5. Choose “No Sounds” for the Sound Scheme
6. Click “No”
7. Click “Apply”
8. Click “OK”

6. Improve Boot Times

A great new feature in Microsoft Windows XP is the ability to do a boot defragment. This places all boot files next to each other on the disk to allow for faster booting. By default this option in enables but on some builds it is not so below is how to turn it on.

Go to Start Menu and Click Run
Type in “Regedit” then click ok
Find “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Dfrg\BootOpt imizeFunction”
Select “Enable” from the list on the right
Right on it and select “Modify”
Change the value to “Y to enable”
Reboot

7. Improve Swapfile Performance

If you have more than 256MB of RAM this tweak will considerably improve your performance. It basically makes sure that your PC uses every last drop of memory (faster than swap file) before it starts using the swap file.

Go to Start then Run
Type “msconfig.exe” then ok
Click on the System.ini tab
Expand the 386enh tab by clicking on the plus sign
Click on new then in the blank box type”ConservativeSwapfileUsage=1″
Click OK
Restart PC

8. Make Your Menus Load Faster

This is one of my favourite tweaks as it makes a huge difference to how fast your machine will ‘feel’. What this tweak does is remove the slight delay between clicking on a menu and XP displaying the menu.

Go to Start then Run
Type ‘Regedit’ then click ‘Ok’
Find “HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop”
Select “MenuShowDelay”
Right click and select “Modify’
Reduce the number to around “100″

This is the delay time before a menu is opened. You can set it to “0″ but it can make windows really hard to use as menus will open if you just look at them - well move your mouse over them anyway. I tend to go for anywhere between 50-150 depending on my mood

9. Make Programs Load Faster

This little tweak tends to work for most programs. If your program doesn’t load properly just undo the change. For any program:

Right-click on the icon/shortcut you use to launch the program
Select properties
In the ‘target’ box, add ‘ /prefetch:1′ at the end of the line.
Click “Ok”

Voila - your programs will now load faster.

10. Improve XP Shutdown Speed

This tweak reduces the time XP waits before automatically closing any running programs when you give it the command to shutdown.

Go to Start then select Run
Type ‘Regedit’ and click ok
Find ‘HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop’Select ‘WaitToKillAppTimeout’
Right click and select ‘Modify’
Change the value to ‘1000′
Click ‘OK’
Now select ‘HungAppTimeout’
Right click and select ‘Modify’
Change the value to ‘1000′
Click ‘OK’
Now find ‘HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop’
Select ‘WaitToKillAppTimeout’
Right click and select ‘Modify’
Change the value to ‘1000′
Click ‘OK’
Now find ‘HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control’
Select ‘WaitToKillServiceTimeout’
Right click and select ‘Modify’
Change the value to ‘1000′
Click ‘OK’

That’s it. I hope you find these tips useful - you should now see a noticeable speed improvement if you make all of these changes correctly. Hopefully you’ll be pleasantly surprised!

I found all of this on the following site and I suggest you pay it a visit to read the comments. I think it’s a great, GREAT compilation of tricks and although I’m not gutsy enough to try all of them I did do most and had no problems just great results. I love my computer again. Yay! Here’s the URL.

http://www.connectedinternet.co.uk/2005/12/05/10-intermediate-ways-to-speed-up-windows/1/

Lazy Apples

2007-05-08T15:42:00.000+02:00

What the hell is wrong with Apple this year? So far it's nothing but bad news. From exploding macbooks and iPods to delayed operating systems and now to this very lame ad that doesn't mention a single thing about Apple. All it does is bashes Microsoft for having taken longer than expected on Vista, but HELLO YOU MORONS AT APPLE; you guys just delayed Leopard for crap's sake! Uneasy Silence, where I found the video, says

Watch out Apple, you should not be talking about delayed operating systems when you just delayed 10.5. Also, I am TIRED of the “Get a Mac” ad series - How about “Get a new Ad agency”

Something is just not right. I'm really getting annoyed at Apple and I expect them to do something about it. Impress for God's sake! It used to, but now when I think Apple I just tighten my grip on my wallet and all the bad news about Apple products fills my had and I'm left with a feel of caution towards Apple. I'm not excited about the iPhone, I'm excited by competitive pricing, unique features, and quality products. I don't want to buy overpriced so-so products that might be pretty but are lacking in ability. Also, I'm sick of waiting for leopard. I want to know when to expect it and I want more information about it so I can know whether or not it's even worth the wait. Otherwise, I can just buy a much cheaper Windows computer with compatible specs, hacked OSX Tiger +hacked iLife and iWork and then I'll have a "hackintosh" that can compete with most genuine macs and I'd probably save myself 700 euros or more.

Get off your lazy apples Mr. Jobs and turn your company image around. And for God's sake don't let one more stupid add like this into the world. You're making a fool of yourself. This isn't advertisement this is a petty blame game. Apple is taking heat for delaying Leopard and instead of taking it and being professional about it they're pointing the finger. This is just plain stupid.

In case anyone cares, there are two more new ads that came out with this one and you can of course see them at apple.com. Enjoy..... I know I didn't.

Yahoo's Web Messenger

2007-05-06T16:07:00.000+02:00

In March, Google introduced an online version of Google Talk that extends the limited features previously available in Gmail. Yahoo didn't want to give yet another competitive advantage to Google, so they integrated the IM into Yahoo Mail and now offer a standalone version of Yahoo Messenger for the web.

Like Google Talk gadget, it's built in Flash, each conversation opens in a new tab inside the same window, you can find a contact and see his status. Yahoo's web messenger saves all your conversations and makes the history searchable from the same interface. Google Talk saves your conversations from any client, but the history is only available in Gmail.

While Google Talk's gadget is compact and can live inside your personalized homepage, in a new window or in your browser's sidebar, the new Yahoo Messenger for the web adopts the Meebo style of occupying and entire page. If you don't trust third-party clients like Meebo and most of your friends use Yahoo Messenger or Windows Live Messenger, the new interface can be useful when the desktop client is not installed or is blocked.

found on http://googlesystem.blogspot.com

Dell Goes Ubuntu

2007-05-01T22:00:00.000+02:00

It seems that the wildly popular linux variant will sign a deal to get distributed and supported on Dell PC’s.

Ubuntu senior support engineer Fabian Rodriguez wrote, “Many people have been involved in this and I can only say I am excited to be a tiny small part of it: Ubuntu will be officially supported on Dell computers. Any other details will come on www.ubuntu.com, check it for the official press release

Although nothing has been formally announced, this deal seems finalized. Finally, this will allow you to buy a PC and run the operating system of your choice (with a little hackery you can use the MacOS too) without paying the dreaded “Windows Tax”.

found on Uneasy Silence

This is BIG news for the Linux community!

Joost

2007-05-01T21:38:00.000+02:00

Joost is a new way of watching TV on the internet. With Joost, you get all the things you love about TV, including a high-quality full-screen picture, hundreds of full-length shows and easy channel-flipping.

What's Joost?

Inside the box

You get great internet features too, such as search, chat and instant messaging, built right into the program - so you find shows quickly and talk to your friends while you watch. And with no schedules to worry about, you can watch whatever you want, whenever you like - as often as you want. Joost is completely free, and works with most modern PCs and Intel Mac-based computers with a broadband connection. Get Joost today!

Free TV

Now showing at Joost: hundreds of full-screen shows from your favourite channels.

Exciting extras

Chat, instant messaging, search and more - baked right into the TV experience.

Complete control

With Joost, you're in charge. No more schedules - watch what you want, as often as you like.

Coming soon...

Write your own add-ons, watch yet more great content. Come back regularly for updates.

Screenshots:

For more screenshots click here to see it on the Joost website.

iGoogle Gadget Maker

2007-05-01T09:02:00.000+02:00

As reported by Google Blogoscoped, Google Personalized Homepage will be rebranded as iGoogle and will let you build your own gadgets using wizards. The gadgets are very simple and are more like containers for things that matter to you: photos, videos, events.

"Once the gadget is created, you can invite other people to view & use the gadget, and make it publicly available for other people to view & use it." So whatever you choose to add to a gadget will be visible to the people you invited.

The wizards let you enter the settings for seven new gadget templates:

1. Photo album - add up to 7 photos that can be rotated.

2. GoogleGram - enter seven greeting messages.

3. Daily Me - type what you are doing.

4. Countdown - count the days until a special event.

5. Simple list - you can use it as a ToDo list, shopping list.

6. YouTube videos - up to 10 videos.

7. Freeform gadget - add an image and some text.

The gadgets are a way of staying in touch with your friends: if one of your Gmail contacts creates gadgets you'll be able to see them in a new section of iGoogle called "My Community".

found on http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/

$100 OLPC to Cost $176 and May Run WINDOWS!

2007-04-28T20:55:00.000+02:00

If you weren’t sick of the OLPC, here is even more news. Nicholas Negroponte, the head of the One Laptop Per Child project, has almost confirmed that the cost of the laptop would be close to $176 but also make a reference to the machines may be adopted in US schools and it may run Windows.

XO’s developers have been working with Microsoft so a version of Windows can run on the machines […] It could be the $3 software package that Microsoft announced last week for governments that subsidize student computers. It includes Windows XP Starter Edition and some of Microsoft’s “productivity” software.

That would be a direct blow to Steve Jobs who offered MacOS X for Intel to run on the upcoming laptop - for free. However, Jobs’ offer was declined in 2005 as the organization is searching for a 100% open source solution.

Posted on Uneasy Silence by Dan

Fresh News Become Standard Search Results

2007-04-27T08:49:00.000+02:00

As promised last week, Google's web search results integrate results from Google News. The standard news OneBox that was displayed at the top of the page for queries related to recent news was replaced with a list of links to news articles, displayed anywhere in the top results.

The important news will rank higher than less important ones and they become a standard search result. This is the first step in Google's big plan of integrating every type of content in one index: an universal search engine that mixes web pages, images, videos, books, scholar papers, news articles and more.

It will still take some time until the change propagates to all Google's data centers, so you may not see results from Google News displayed as standard results (try to search for news-related queries like Bush, Iraq).

Creative Commons-licensed by rustybrick. More screenshots.

found on googlesystem.blogspot.com