When I reminisce about the Best of 2008 I can't help but think Google. Their biggest addition to the geek world in 2008 is probably the Android platform (which now runs on the T-mobile G1 phone), but other features and updates like the Chrome Browser, Gmail themes and additions, iGoogle (and themes), Knol (Google’s Wikipedia), Mail Goggles for Gmail, Picasa 3.0 and Video Chat for Gmail all provided their own unique function and entertainment. What Is Your Favorite New Google Feature? Android/T-mobile G1 Chrome Browser Gmail Themes iGoogle Themes Knol (Google’s Wikipedia) Mail Goggles for Gmail Picasa 3.0 Video Chat...
It looks as if Microsoft’s customized version of Windows Vista Ultimate for the PRODUCT RED project is no longer exclusive to Dell as it was announced earlier this year in January. Amazon recently began listing a product titled “Windows Vista Ultimate with SP1 Upgrade (Project Red Edition)” to be released on December 15, 2008. The Dell version of Vista RED came with 6 wallpapers, screensaver, two sidebar gadgets and a Dreamscene, all of which has since been posted to many downloading websites. As some of the RED customizations in the Dell computers were specifically branded for Dell, I’d imagine...
Giving users complete control of their online experience has always been a core tenet of Windows Live and this hasn't changed with the What's New list feature in Windows Live. This feature enables users to view an activity feed of what members of their social network are doing AND to provide an activity feed of what the user has done recently. You can see an example of the latter on my Windows Live profile. Listed below are the various ways we keep users in control of their online experience related to this feature. In Control of What You See...
RIM no doubt got a boost of confidence from AvianResearch's sales numbers a few days ago, but it looks to be a bit of a gloomier mood today, as it has been forced to slightly lower its third quarter profit and revenue outlook. Apparently, instead of the previously forecast revenue of $2.95 to $3.10 billion, RIM now says it's expecting to rake in just $2.75 to $2.78 billion, with its adjusted earnings now expected to be 0.81 to $0.83 per share, and not $0.89 to $0.97 per share, as previously forecast. According to RIM's Jim Balsillie, the company is laying...
All images via Pooktre People get pretty excited when they come across a shrub that looks like an animal or an object, so you can only imagine the reaction when they encounter something created by the ingenious practice of tree shaping. Tree Shapers Peter Cook and Becky Northey of south east Queensland loved their trees but weren’t satisfied with growing pretty shapes, they wanted something better, and in 1996 Pooktre was born. Pooktre is the particular brand of tree shaping that Peter and Becky have pioneered. The process involves months and often years of painstakingly working the trees in...
The problem with many online to-do list managers is that they don't support sub-lists for tasks that involve several steps—but outliner webapp Checkvist does just that, and with a clean interface that supports tons of keyboard shortcuts. Sign up for a free account at Checkvist to make your first list (hit Enter to add a task). Each list node can have a note attached to it, and any number of sub-nodes (Shift+Enter to enter one). Reorder your list items (Ctrl+arrow) and mark an item complete by selecting it and hitting the Spacebar. Export your lists from Checkvist to plain...
Lots of great ideas and discussion ensued in the comments section of last week’s post, “The Beginners Guide To Promoting Your Blog.” As with most of my lists or ideas, there are always different perspectives or ideas that can add to my suggestions. In that way, Social Media Explorer becomes sort of an instigator to crowdsource good advice. Thank you all for your additions and input. One of the comments on that post, however, found here and from Michael Bertoldi, a social media evangelist and copywriter at The Barco Firm, actually asked for some more thinking on linking. Since linking...
CrunchBase, our free database of startup and people information, continues to grow thanks to countless additions and corrections by the community. The site now has entries on 20,000 people, 10,000 companies and over 1,000 venture funds. The majority of content is added by the community (CrunchBase has wiki features to allow unlimited versioning control to step back if bad entries are made). When an important deal or milestone about a person or startup is reported on any site, people add it to Crunchbase for others to find. We’re starting to see grass roots efforts by local startup communities to make...
Matt Miller called our attention to two new programs in the T-Mobile Android Market for the G1. Opera Mini 4.2 Beta is a solid browser on any device and I've been playing with it on the G1. It's too early to call it good or bad, it's just different than the Android browser. It's lightning fast however you look at it. Also up for grabs in the Market is the Visual Voicemail program from Fusion. This is a no-frills voicemail program for the G1 that lets you see your voicemail like messages, like the iPhone and the Blackberry Storm. ...
An iPhone clickjacking attack was fixed with last week’s release of the 2.2 software. Prior versions contained a CSS transforms bug that caused iframe content to appear as part of the actual page. It looks like the bug never saw malicious use in the wild, because the developers who noticed it alerted Apple and kept the bug secret while it was fixed. Like other clickjacking attacks, the most likely use is to get a user to inadvertently click an ad. Although, an even more dangerous example is shown to harvest passwords. If the StreetView and Maps additions in the latest...
On Monday, Evernote, a good triple-platform note-taking service for Windows, Mac, the Web, and (multiple) mobile platforms (see all), updated its application for Windows Mobile phones. Speed is the main story here, with text, photo, and audio notes uploading faster than before. Of course, depending on your carrier and the phone's capabilities, this still may not be as rapid as it is on the highest-end Windows phones. The latest Evernote for Windows Mobile also improves the interface, a spare but attractive app consisting of four actions to take various notes or upload a file from the phone's folder, in...
Filed under: Audio, Internet, Windows, Freeware Back in August I wrote about Screamer, a nice portable streaming radio app. KSoft's Icy Radio offers a similar experience with a couple of nice additions.Icy Radio is completely portable - just download the zip archive and extract it to a folder. Apart from a large library of audio streams, Icy Radio includes several nice skins and streaming video support. As with Screamer, you should expect some of the included streams not to work. After all, many of these feeds come from ad-supported sites and their owners probably aren't so keen on the idea...
Leave it to Chinese automaker BYD to build a Toyota Aygo cheaper and cooler, as they've done with the release of the BYD F0 Sport. The F0 Sport comes equipped with such innovative additions of performance as red seat covers with pillows on them, a red shifter knob, and a sporty paint job over a mild body kit. The whole deal goes for $5,000 US, which, is a fair bit more than the Guangzhou International Auto Show committee spent on press room food. We don't mean to complain or anything, but were the fried grasshoppers really necessary? Sure they're good,...
Leave it to Chinese automaker BYD to build a Toyota Aygo cheaper and cooler, as they've done with the release of the BYD F0 Sport. The F0 Sport comes equipped with such innovative additions of performance as red seat covers with pillows on them, a red shifter knob, and a sporty paint job over a mild body kit. The whole deal goes for $5,000 US, which, is a fair bit more than the Guangzhou International Auto Show committee spent on press room food. We don't mean to complain or anything, but were the fried grasshoppers really necessary? Sure they're good,...
