Archive for July, 2008
I like “Sex and the City” as much as the next person, but the HBO-licensed GraytLittleSpeaker portable iPod speaker is downright unsightly. There’s more to capturing the essence of Carrie and the gang than just slapping a bad image of a martini glass and some stilettos onto a frighteningly fuchsia little speaker.
On the bright side, I do like that it draws on the power of the iPod/iPhone it’s plugged into, and if it’s anything like the Lego-inspired speakers my husband just got, then sound quality and overall volume should be acceptable for personal listening.
Available now from the HBO Store for $20.
Via Chip Chick.
Share This
Popularity: 2% [?] Share This
No Comments »
Posted by: in Apple News
Recently I came across a post about the new file backup service, Dropbox. After a little digging, I got myself an invite to the private beta, and got it set up.
Set up was truly a breeze. This is one of those programs that just seem to work. I’ve it installed on my Mac and on my Windows XP Desktop. From receiving the beta invitation to uploading files was 3 steps. I’d write a tutorial, but really, it’s just that easy.
The ideal part is that the software is designed, specifically, to sync one folder on your computer to the internet. Whatever you put in the folder, syncs to the on the internet service and in turn to your other computers that are linked to your account. Change that file at work, and it’s changed on the web and at home as well.
The one negative, I suppose, is that it only watches and syncs one designated folder on your computer. If you want it to be in sync, it has to be in that folder. I know they’re working on more advanced ways to designate what syncs, but I would rather not move stuff out of my folder/naming scheme to get it to sync.
Dropbox will also let you share folders of pictures as slideshow albums. I think Flickr (or other comparable service) would probably be a better tool for that particular feature, but might be useful for some people. It also lets you share public folders and individual files. Just consider the next time you need to email that 100 MB file. Just drag it to the public folder and email the link instead.
The timing on this is probably what I like the most. I’ve been debating about Mobile Me since the announcement, but with the bugs their facing and a $100 per year cost, I just haven’t convinced myself its worth it. And this is just one more free option that takes the place of one of Mobile Me’s features. (It looks like after the beta, 1 GB accounts will still be free).
Currently, Dropbox works with Windows Vista/XP or Mac OSX Tiger/Leopard. There’s a Linux version soon to be released in Alpha. The program is still an invite only Beta, but I have invites available for the first 10 comments.
Check it out and let me know what you think. Could this, with a few other free tools, replace Mobile Me?
Tags: drop box, Dropbox, Mobile Me, online storeage
Share This
Share This
Popularity: 2% [?] Share This
No Comments »
Have you heard of Photrade? I uncovered the Photrade website a while back through another website I’d visited and an email newsletter I received about the upcoming blogINDIANA conference coming up in Indianapolis. I then realized they were also advertising on this blog here so decided to check them out.
I was quickly impressed with what you could do with sharing your photos and even making money from them as well.
Photrade is where photographers reclaim ownership of their pics. Photraders decide how, when, where and at what cost their pics are used online. We provide unprecedented protection for photos and offer a free photo marketplace where photographers can sell stock, prints and merchandise or use our Adcosystem (TM) where photographers get paid for every view of their photo, anywhere on the web. Through Photrade, publications and blogs can access a fast-growing library of legally licensed, ad-supported photos. Reclaim your photos, start photrading.
Now they’ve expanded their offerings some more an can now provide an even broader range of border options available for your pics.
The Photrade site is currently in beta and you need an invite code to sign-up and join, but don’t worry, we’ve taken care of that for you as well. Just enter B5UTI as your invite code to let them know you heard about it here and check them out.
When you sign-up for an account look me up, I’m “bnpositive” on the site. I’d love to hear what you think.
Uncover your own pics and some money at
Tags: images, make money, money, photography, pics, share images, share photos, stock pics
Share This
Share This
Popularity: 2% [?] Share This
No Comments »
Well, that’s what the team behind it are hoping… A group of former Google engineers is going up against their ex-employers with a new search engine called Cuil (pronounced “cool”), a word derived from the Gaelic for knowledge.
Cuil uses 120 billion(!) webpages to build up its index of search results, which its makers state is more than Google (although Google adamantly denies this).
The main problem I can see with the new search engine is that’s doesn’t transform to a verb as readily as google did. Would you admit to “cuiling” yourself? If you’d like to try, click here.
Via The BBC.
Share This
Popularity: 2% [?] Share This
No Comments »
I rarely use earbuds with my iPod because, among other reasons, I’m afraid they’ll do damage to my hearing, which, I suspect, isn’t that great to begin with (I can never hear my cell phone ringing unless it’s set at the highest volume). I also don’t enjoy being totally cut off from my surroundings (it’s a dangerous world, even inside my own house), so when I do use them, I keep the sound at a very low volume, like an old lady.
Purebuds from Amazing Tech Products promises a different kind of listening experience. These earbuds use Reverse Sound Technology, which reduces discomfort and potential damage to eardrums by, among other design elements, placement of the speaker unit facing opposite the ear so that there is no direct impact to the eardrum.
Popularity: 2% [?] Share This
No Comments »
Television execs who see on the internet video as a mere supplement to TV had ideal wake up and smell the coffee. A new study shows that 50% of American online video viewers watch network shows on the internet instead of watching them on Television.
We’re already seeing network shows include clips obviously made for the Web. Soon whole network shows will be obviously made for the Web.
Tags: TV
Share This
Share This
Popularity: 2% [?] Share This
No Comments »
Hat tip to Aaron Brazell for reminding me of this great example of clueless people making important decisions in Congress.
It looks like Senator Stevens cluelessness has caught up with him though as he’s being indicted on 7 counts. Sadly, there are probably a number of other Congressmen that should be caught up in that indictment as well.
Uncovered by Aaron Brazell
Tags: Comedy Central, false statements, indictments, Jon Stewart, Senator Ted Stevens, series of tubes, tubes
Share This
Share This
Popularity: 2% [?] Share This
No Comments »
Cuil.com brings another search player into town to do battle with the existing sites that we’re all already familiar.
It used to be that Google was the king of simple design and layout but Cuil.com makes Google’s homepage look more like a cramped portal site with more items there to distract you from what you’re really there to do… search!
The Internet has grown exponentially in the last fifteen years but search engines have not kept up—until now. Cuil searches more pages on the Web than anyone else—three times as many as Google and ten times as many as Microsoft.
Rather than rely on superficial popularity metrics, Cuil searches for and ranks pages based on their content and relevance. When we find a page with your keywords, we stay on that page and analyze the rest of its content, its concepts, their inter-relationships and the page’s coherency.
Big talk from the new guy, but in my brief experience of playing around with the site so far, they’re delivering on their expectations and doing it in a nice layout and style.
I really like the multi-column layout view and potentially pertinent image thumbnails to help you decide about the search results. I don’t expect it to last long, but I also like the page devoid from advertisements and sponsored search results.
What’s been your experience with Cuil.com? Have you uncovered anything new with Cuil.com since you’ve been using it? What do you think about their accuracy and relevance to what you’re searching for online?
Let us know.
Tags: content, cool, Cuil, Google, Irish, knowledge, relevance, search, topics
Share This
Popularity: 2% [?] Share This
No Comments »
Posted by: in Apple News
So this day I accidentally stumbled across the new Windows marketing campaign. If you haven’t seen it, check out “The Mojave Experiment”. The gist of the campaign is that Microsoft disguised Windows Vista and told random people that it was the new Windows OS, code named Mojave. After a brief demo and rave reviews, they revealed to everyone the secret. What you just saw was Windows Vista.
The comment I loved the most was one guys shocked disbelief with a easy question. “So why is it faster?” And I guess that’s my point for sharing this.
One of the things I dislike about Mac is their limited offerings of hardware configurations. BUT… by only offering certain configurations, they have the ability to insure that even the most basic system is going to be able to run the OS properly and swiftly. Windows, on the other hand, has often been sold inside of “value machines” that are stripped down junk. They need an upgrade just to meet system suggestions. So whether you’re buying XP, Vista, or a new Mac, lesson to be learned, don’t buy the bare minimum.
And more important lesson number two… You are the cause of most of your problems. Or at least I am the cause of most of my problems. My Mac is currently running slow as snot. BUT… I’ve just about maxed out the hard drive, I am running 5 or 6 programs with at least 30 or 40 tabs open in Firefox and I haven’t rebooted it in at least a week. A few weeks ago, I cleaned off the hard drive, exercised some self-discipline with the number of tabs I used at any given time, and rebooted each couple of days. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear they were different machines.
Same goes for my Windows PC’s. My old Dell is a fresh clean install of XP Pro with only a couple of apps and only one user. And as old as it is, it runs very well. The computer I’m typing on at the moment is one my whole family uses. We have multiple accounts and often are logged into a couple of them at the same time. My wife tends to download tiny apps here and there and it has been at least 3 years since I have reformatted it. The hard drive is nearly full and even though this machine has more RAM than my Dell, there is a noticeable lag most of the time.
So yes, Vista on a kick butt demo machine with Microsoft staff demoing the features is impressive. Honestly, I don’t mind the Vista interface and think a lot of the features are astounding. Of course, I had those same features on my Mac a year or two previous to them being available for Personal computer, but that is beside the point. The question, and the issue Microsoft needs to address, is how is Vista working for the average user with the average Personal computer? How is the average user supposed to pick which version they need?
What do you think? Any Vista users out there absolutely satisfied with their experiences? If so, on what kind of hardware?
Tags: Mac, microsoft vist, Mojave Experiment
Share This
Share This
Popularity: 2% [?] Share This
No Comments »
Posted by: in Apple News
First I was ecstatic! Then.. I was disappointed. The good, WordPress finally released their app for the iPhone and iPod Touch. The bad, The After Mac still runs on a version that’s not supported by the app. Bummer…
It looks to be like a good app though. If you’re a WordPress blogger with an iPhone of iPod Touch running v2.0 I think this will be a must have. So download it but check out the FAQ first.
As for me, I’m hoping b5 tech upgrades our WordPress version soon. So I can use this app. For the rest of you who’re on WordPress 2.5.1 and up plus the latest MU version of WordPress, enjoy!
Share This
Popularity: 2% [?] Share This
No Comments »
|
Entries (RSS)