ipod car adapter

eBay expands RSS feeds to searches

2008-10-13T07:40:00.003-07:00

eBay has recently added RSS feeds to its search results, allowing users to track their favorite auction items in their news readers. Given that most RSS readers only check for new feeds every half hour, listings in the feeds won't have an end time less than 15 minutes from the time the feed is retrieved. eBay also said the RSS feeds won't initially support all search parameters available through advanced search pages.

The new RSS feed is part of an effort to make more of eBay accessible via the technology. Last November, the auction site began its foray into the RSS world with feeds for the announcement board, discussion boards and listings from specific eBay Stores. Arturo Zacarias, eBay's senior product manager for new technologies, said that the company will add RSS feeds to other areas of the site "in the coming months."

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Screen Grabs: Nokia 5800-branding womanizer snaps pics of Britney Spears

2008-10-13T07:40:00.001-07:00

Filed under: Cellphones

Screen grabs chronicles the uses (and misuses) of real-world gadgets in today's movies and TV. Send in your sightings (with screen grab!) to screengrabs at engadget dt com.

We're not quite sure what Britney is trying to say here. It would help if she could be more specific about what she thinks of this guy. If only there was a word she could use to describe him, over and over and over. Regardless, she absolutely doesn't want any pictures snapped of her on Nokia's 5800 XpressMusic. Who knows where those might end up? Full video after the break.

[Thanks, Sam]

Continue reading Screen Grabs: Nokia 5800-branding womanizer snaps pics of Britney Spears

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Geek Brief Radio #430 | Home Automation by Savant

2008-10-13T07:39:00.015-07:00

We have an audio conversation with Jim Carroll, the founder of Savant. They the only company (that I'm aware of) that builds home automation systems on Apple hardware. You can check them out at SavantAV.com. I don't see the iPhone/iPod Touch app in the App Store. As soon as I get the link, I'll update this post.

We also officially announce the 2008 Christmas Party in Nashville with Geoff Smith. Last year, we did it virtually over Ustream. This year, we're inviting everyone to come to The Big Bang Bar (Geoff's dueling piano bar). We'll stream if we can on Ustream, and if we can't because of bandwidth, we'll record it and release later. If you can make it to Nashville on December 15th, it's going to be a blast!

We'll be renting a couple cameras and a Tricaster in addition to piping in some additional bandwidth. If you're interested in underwriting the event, please contact me. Read More

Tidy Up 1.4.6 adds missing tag search, bug fixes

2008-10-13T07:39:00.013-07:00

Hyperbolic Software has released the latest version of its Tidy Up! duplicate file search utility, meant for iTunes, iPod and iPhoto databases. The update enables searching for a missing song tag, and implements a few bug fixes to prevent the program from crashing. Tidy Up can be used to search for duplicate files, folders and packages, by criteria including type, creator, extension, date, visibil...

GBTV #438 (small) | GeekBrief.TV

2008-10-13T07:39:00.011-07:00

GBTV #438 (small) | GeekBrief.TV
I've eaten octopus before, but I've never heard of Octopus Balls, otherwise known as takoyaki in Osaka. The Automatic Octopus Ball Maker makes it easy to make your own.

TiVo partnered with Nero a few months ago, and out of that partnership, we get the Nero LiquidTV, which let you turn your PC into a TiVo DVR.

Thanks to AutomatedHome.com for finding Jaikoz. Using MusicBrainz and Acoustic ID, it works to tag your music files to fill in the missing blanks.

The Jupiter Mouse is a nice looking gyroscopic mouse.

Netgear announced the WRN2000 and the DGN2000 WiFi-N Routers. Their intention is to make setup and connecting additional computers to your home network. The routers take advantage of the Push 'N' Connect technology. Push a button on the router, then on the computer, and it automatically connects that computer.

Cali's Shirt Courtesy of MacMost.com

Chris Barton : Disk failure takes family to the brink of disaster and back

2008-10-13T07:39:00.009-07:00

Chris Barton : Disk failure takes family to the brink of disaster and back
To whom it may concern: My daughter is unable to complete her assignment today because, on Saturday night, we suffered a catastrophic disk crash. Unfortunately, Monika has not made a backup of her work. I have taken the comatose disk...

How to explain RSS the Oprah way

2008-10-13T07:39:00.007-07:00

How to explain RSS the Oprah way
OK, this is both interesting and disturbing – RSS, the Oprah way…. (Don’t say I didn’t warn you) Today, I’m going to explain how RSS can help you live your best life online. We all have busy lives with very little time. Web surfing is fun but can take hours going to visit every single website and [...]

OK, this is both interesting and disturbing – RSS, the Oprah way…. (Don’t say I didn’t warn you)

Today, I’m going to explain how RSS can help you live your best life online.
We all have busy lives with very little time. Web surfing is fun but can take hours going to visit every single website and blog you enjoy. Wouldn’t it be fabulous if you could just get all the headlines of the most current stories from all your favorite websites and blogs in one place?
Well now you can, and it is called RSS feed.
The Oprah definition
The technical acronym for RSS is “Really Simple Syndication”, an XML format that was created to syndicate news, and be a means to share content on the web. Now, to geeks and techies that means something special, but to everyday folks like you and me, what comes to mind is, “Uh, I don’t get it?”
So, to make RSS much easier to understand, in Oprah speak, RSS stands for: I’m “Ready for Some Stories”. It is a way online for you to get a quick list of the latest story headlines from all your favorite websites and blogs all in one place. How cool is that…. Source: cravingideas.blogs.com

MacBreak 60 : iTheater Video Glasses

2008-10-13T07:39:00.005-07:00

MacBreak 60 : iTheater Video Glasses
Leo and Kendra discuss the iTheater Video Glasses for use with your iPod video.

Picasa Web Albums Uploader 1.2 adds video

2008-10-13T07:39:00.003-07:00

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

GBTV #442 (small) | GeekBrief.TV

2008-10-13T07:39:00.001-07:00

GBTV #442 (small) | GeekBrief.TV
On Sunday, we had a meetup at the Great State Fair of Texas. Friends of the Brief got together so we could all eat way too much. Some of the braver souls in the group tried Chicken Fried Bacon for the first time while those of us with Chicken Fried Bacon experience stuck with our "Never Again!" position. We were invited to visit a Smart Home exhibit at The Women's Museum. A team of women engineers were heavily involved in the tech used in the exhibit. Marji Smith, Director of Product Strategy at AMX, gives us an overview of the Smart Home in Brief #442, and she'll give us a more in depth look at the tech in action on the next episode. Stay subscribed! :)

How To Protect Your Gaming Assets on MMO Games

2008-10-10T17:19:00.009-07:00

I love computer gaming. In a real sense computer gaming was the driver behind my interest, in the early 1980’s, in becoming computer literate, and then taking that literacy to new levels. Computer gaming has changed enormously of course from the early 1980’s to the present. The technical changes in both the games themselves, and the [...]

I love computer gaming. In a real sense computer gaming was the driver behind my interest, in the early 1980’s, in becoming computer literate, and then taking that literacy to new levels.

Computer gaming has changed enormously of course from the early 1980’s to the present. The technical changes in both the games themselves, and the platforms the games run on, would have seemed like science fiction viewed from the perspective of the early days.

Online gaming has effectively opened up a whole new world of computer gaming, both literally and figuratively, and has changed the face and the complexities of computer gaming.

Played over the internet, online games allow gamers to become part of a virtual world, consisting of literally millions of players who form online communities with all the associated social aspects of real world communities; the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Just as there are crooks and cyber criminals in a real world community, these same type of characters also inhabit the virtual worlds of internet gaming.

You might wonder why virtual reality would mimic real life so closely that it would include virtual criminals. The answer is very simple - money, and lots of it.

In many virtual worlds, virtual currencies are used to purchase virtual possessions. You may be surprised to learn that these virtual possessions have real world value, in real world cash, and as in real life; a market exists for stolen goods in these other worlds.

The first step cyber criminals employ in stripping gamers of their virtual possessions (remember, real world cash), is password theft - an activity that has increased dramatically recently.

Stolen passwords for games such as World of Warcraft and Lineage, are particularly valuable, since in these games it is common for less skilled gamers to buy/pay for the virtual possessions they have been unable to acquire through skilled game play.

Increasingly, the theft of passwords relies on specially designed malware, whose function is to steal online gaming passwords, allowing crooks access to gamers virtual possessions so that these possessions, just as in real life, can be sold.

Explaining just how this works Greg Hoglund, CEO of HBGary, developers of advanced software security technologies says,

“Once a criminal learns a gamer’s username and password, he can log into the game and sell the victim’s virtual possessions for virtual gold coins. Those coins are then handed to another character in the game who sells the gold for real-world dollars at an online exchange such as IGE. IGE operates a network that deals with the legitimate buying and selling of virtual currencies and assets on the internet.

Video gaming companies are now fighting back through the use of authenticators. An authenticator is an electronic device which generates a unique, one-time use password which combined with the user’s regular password provides an increased security level against malicious attacks, including keyloggers and Trojans.

Blizzard Entertainment, the company behind such popular games as World of Warcraft, Lineage, Diablo and StarCraft sells an authenticator for $6.50 USD through the Blizzard online store.

So, if you are one of the millions of virtual gamers, purchasing an authenticator to help protect your virtual assets, it seems to me, is vital.

If you’re interested in FREE online gaming then check out an excellent article by Simon, one of my fellow writers here on Makeuseof.com - Top Five Free Online Shooter Games.

(By) Bill Mullins. Bill is involved in the computer industry, including diagnostics, networking and system security. Check out his personal Blog; Tech Thoughts.

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

Tags:cyber criminals, gamer, Games, mmo, password theft, security

MacBreak 08: Automator Life Poster

2008-10-10T17:19:00.007-07:00

Leo and Automator guru Sal Soghoian show you how to use Automator and iPhoto to create a poster-sized collection of your photos. Read More

MacBreak 150: NAB: Gefen

2008-10-10T17:19:00.005-07:00

Alex shows how Gefen hardware can hold your production together. Read More

MacBreak 69: NAB 2007: RED

2008-10-10T17:19:00.003-07:00

MacBreak 69: NAB 2007: RED
Alex and Craig visit the RED booth at NAB.

RSS and the academic library

2008-10-10T17:19:00.001-07:00

Boy, it seems like there is a growing number of institutions working to implement RSS these days. Long-time readers will know all about my long-time admiration for UBC’s librarians. Yesterday was a notable new chapter in the saga, as 35 of our university’s finest information specialists (with more on a waiting list) packed into a lab [...]

Boy, it seems like there is a growing number of institutions working to implement RSS these days.

Long-time readers will know all about my long-time admiration for UBC’s librarians. Yesterday was a notable new chapter in the saga, as 35 of our university’s finest information specialists (with more on a waiting list) packed into a lab for a three hour workshop on RSS and academic libraries.

Much of the time was spent on the basics, though about half the attendees had at least set up a newsreader already. But the preparation for the more advanced and context-specific elements unearthed some useful and powerful resources that I thought I would pass on…

Electronic Journals and RSS - Librarians at my old school in Saskatchewan maintain a couple of valuable lists — electronic journals with an RSS feed and publishers and sources for academic RSS. The number of Table of Content updates through this means is still too small, but blogging librarians such as Steven Cohen are keeping up the pressure for more… I was pleasantly surprised to learn that ProQuest has begun to offer this service…. Source: Abject Learning

Converting Safari RSS feeds into exportable OPML file

2008-10-09T12:38:00.003-07:00

At first, saving and reading your RSS feeds from Safari may have seemed appealing. But that may have changed. After all, there are a good five or six solid RSS readers for the Mac that can do the job better. Well, there seems to be a way to move those RSS feeds out of Safari and into the reader of your choice.

By using an XML stylesheet and running it in the Mac terminal, you can convert the RSS feeds into an OPML file. Nearly all RSS readers -- both desktop and online -- will let you import feeds via OPML. Here's how you do it:

Download the XML stylesheet from here. Then run it in the terminal with these commands:
$ cd ~/Library/Safari
$ plutil -convert xml1 Bookmarks.plist
$ xsltproc SafariFeeds2OPML.xslt Bookmarks.plist > SafariFeeds.opml
$ plutil -convert binary1 Bookmarks.plist

Now you have an OPML file called SafariFeeds.opml. Download a news reader or use an online one and import the file. Now you can enjoy those RSS feeds in a more comfortable reading environment.

Via Mac OS X Hints.

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Audi confirms pure electric car, will likely be based on VW Up! concept

2008-10-09T12:38:00.001-07:00

Filed under: Transportation

With an electric MINI Cooper just around the bend, a Twin Drive hybrid Volkswagen landing in 2010 and Chevrolet's Volt rolling into showrooms in a matter of months, Audi's ten-year plan is looking a little awkward. Though we've yet to hear that it's actually speeding things up, Peter Schwarzenbauer, who sits on the management board at Ingolstadt, recently confirmed that the company would be offering "a pure electric car" sometime in the future. Additionally, rumors of it being based on the A1 were dashed, opening the door for speculation that it will instead be built around the VW Up! (Lupo) concept. Here's hoping we find our prior to 2018.

[Via Autoblog]

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Yahoo! Mail Beta Adds RSS

2008-10-09T12:37:00.009-07:00

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

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

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

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

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Judge orders RealNetworks to pull DVD copying software

2008-10-09T12:37:00.007-07:00

Judge orders RealNetworks to pull DVD copying software
LOS ANGELES - RealNetworks said it had temporarily stopped distributing its DVD copying software, RealDVD, at a federal judge's request in a copyright case brought by Hollywood studios. "We temporarily suspended distribution of...

GBTV #0389 (small) | GeekBrief.TV

2008-10-09T12:37:00.005-07:00

GBTV #0389 (small) | GeekBrief.TV
On Brief #374, I put out a call to action for an affordable live switching application that would work with services like Ustream.tv and Stickam. After that, we began working with Mike Versteeg, the developer of Vidblaster. Vidblaster has actually been around for two years, but in the past couple weeks, Mike has been working hard (and amazingly fast!) at making it accomplish what we were looking for. There's a growing need in the market for this application, and Mike is now offering it at an affordable price so churches, community groups, schools, and individuals can have access to software that gives us all a live TV studio at our fingertips.

GBTV #0393 (small) | GeekBrief.TV

2008-10-09T12:37:00.003-07:00

TuneUp is an app for Windows iTunes users to keep iTunes clean and organized.

The Hacked OH! *#% Flash Drive make geek 2GB or your data safe in a completely unique way.

The HomeSeer HomeTroller is an energy efficient home automation appliance that can controll your lights, appliance, climate, security, telephones, irrigation, window shades and home entertainment equipment. Thanks to AutomatedHome.co.uk for the heads up!

N-Gage has a FIFA football game that's free through August, but only in certain European countries.

PS3 pricing will drop to $400 for the 80GB version in September.

Lyndsay Williams from Girton Labs is working a project called SenseSurface. It makes it possible to use physical knobs on a fluid display. Read More

GBTV #0395 (small) | Blooper Special

2008-10-09T12:37:00.001-07:00

It's been a really, really long time since we released a bloopers special. Friends of the Brief (affectionately known as Fothbas or Briefers around our house) ask at meet-ups and in email for a new one. Neal was moving archives from 500 GB My Books to a Drobo this week and he found 5 unreleased blooper reels with about 20 minutes of non-stop giggles. These are the ones that made us laugh the most.

Thursday was a big day for domain name purchases at GoDaddy.com because it was the first time the .me top-level extension was available. People were pinging me on Twitter and calling me on the phone asking which promo code would be best, but then it turned out promo codes weren't working on some .me purchases. If you're in the market for a .me or a .com or a dot something else, I apprecieate you trying my promo codes GB1, GB2 or GB3 at check out and I apologize if they aren't working to give you a discount. I've called Mevio to get it figured out. Bob Parsons, the CEO of GoDaddy is a great guy. I don't think this was intentional. It seems like their system was overwhelmed by all the orders because .me (nothing to do with MobileMe) is such a great extension. Read More

MacBreak 60 : iTheater Video Glasses

2008-10-09T12:36:00.005-07:00

MacBreak 60 : iTheater Video Glasses
Leo and Kendra discuss the iTheater Video Glasses for use with your iPod video.

7 Firefox Quick Searches You Should Set Up

2008-10-09T12:36:00.003-07:00

A Firefox Quick Search is one of the coolest Firefox features and at the same time the least known one. Using Quick Search feature you can search a website of your choice directly from the Firefox address bar. So instead of say going to www.youtube.com and then searching for standup comedy, you can set up a [...]

So instead of say going to www.youtube.com and then searching for standup comedy, you can set up a Firefox Quick Search for Youtube and then type in the address bar y standup comedy. Hit enter and you will be taken straight to the search results on Youtube.com.

Let me illustrate how this actually works by setting up a quick search for MakeUseOf.com. And the best thing about this feature is that it takes only about 10 seconds to set up. So, follow me! Once we’re done you will be able to do this for any other website as well.

How To Create Quick Search for MakeUseOf.com

Add a Keyword for this Search …

(2) Next, you should see a small window like the one below. Here basically you need to enter a name for that Quick Search (I usually use the name of the website here) and the keyword that you want to use for it. You might want to use something short and easy to remember for the keyword. For instance, for MakeUseOf it can be muo, for Youtube y or yt or you, etc.

(3) Once it’s been added to your bookmarks you will be able to search the website right from the address bar. For instance, as can be seen above when creating Quick Search for MakeUseOf.com we used the keyword muo.

Now let’s say I want to search MakeUseOf.com for some reverse phone number lookup website. To do that I can simply type muo reverse phone number lookup website into the address bar and hit enter.

And here is where it takes me … directly to the search results.

So as you can see, quick searches can be major time savers. Instead of going to the website and searching from there you’re able to search directly from the Firefox address bar.

I highly recommend you setup Quick Searches for the websites you frequent. Here are some of the essential sites I have on my quick searches.

MakeUseOf

Youtube - I guess it’s fair to assume that for many of us Youtube became the to go place for videos. It’s the only video sharing site I visit. I use keyword you for it.

IMDB - I am a major movie addict and frequently use IMDB (Internet Movie Database) to check reviews and ratings before watching the movie. A quick address bar entry imdb some_movie_title takes me straight to the needed page on IMDB.com.

Wikipedia - The Wikipedia search is already included among default Firefox search engines, nonetheless it’s still a lot faster to search it directly from the address bar. My keyword for Wikipedia search is wik.

Del.icio.us - Believe it or not but I use del.icio.us as much as Google these days. Since you’re searching through people’s bookmarks it can be quite effective when it comes to finding the right website for the task.

PriceGrabber - This lets quickly lookup the price of a product across different retailers. No need to digg through eBay or Amazon listings, simply type in the keyword and product you want to check inside the address bar and hit enter.

ThePirateBay - If you frequently download torrents then setting up a keyword search for your favorite torrent search website might be a good idea as well. I prefer to use ThePirateBay, you may use something else.

What are you favorite Quick Searches? Let me know in comments.

(By) Aibek, the guy behind MakeUseOf.

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

Tags:browser tips, firefox tips, productivity, shortcuts

Paparazzize Your Webpage Screenshots [Mac Only]

2008-10-09T12:36:00.001-07:00

Paparazzize Your Webpage Screenshots [Mac Only]
How many instances have you needed to take a full-page snapshot of a website but lacked the resources to do it? We’ve covered some browser screenshot web-apps in the past but most of them have some limitations. Kyle wrote about kwout but the screenshots can’t be larger than 600 x 600 pixels. SuperScreenshots works pretty [...]

How many instances have you needed to take a full-page snapshot of a website but lacked the resources to do it? We’ve covered some browser screenshot web-apps in the past but most of them have some limitations. Kyle wrote about kwout but the screenshots can’t be larger than 600 x 600 pixels. SuperScreenshots works pretty well but the font rendering is changed slightly in the screenshot.

Luckily for Mac, we have Paparazzi! No, I’m not getting excited, it just happens to have an exclamation sign in its name. Unlike the other two web-apps, Paparazzi is a desktop application. I prefer Paparazzi! over SuperScreenshots because it is more configurable and also provides an option to create thumbnails.

Launch Paparazzi! and you’re presented with a simple interface where you’ll see an address bar and some optional configurations for your snapshot output (minimum size and crop), a preview and a large Capture button.

In order to take a webpage snapshot, you’ll need to enter the site’s address into the address bar. If the site is in focus within your browser (I’ve only tried this on Safari), you could go to the File menu -> Capture from -> Capture URL from Safari. Pretty neat stuff if you have a bunch of websites to take snapshots of because it saves some “Copy & Paste” manual labour.

After clicking on Capture and getting a preview, you can now save your snapshot. Clicking on “Save image as” will present a typical ‘Save As’ pop-up. You will have the ability to save the image as the format you desire (PNG, JPG, TIFF or PDF). Out of the four options, three are high quality output formats. Brilliant! You also have the chance to save a thumbnail of the snapshot. A thumbnail is just a smaller version of the image which you can show as a preview. The fact that Paparazzi! does this for me automatically with one click is very useful. Normally, I would have to save the image in two sizes to achieve the same effect.

Here is a snapshot comparison between SuperScreenshots and Paparazzi. Both are PNG formatted. Can you spot the difference?

Paparazzi was last updated in 2006 but it still works fine on OS X Leopard 10.5.5. Download it for free!

Personally, I would prefer to use Paparazzi if the need arises compared to any web-app. But then, that’s my opinion. What about you? Are there any other full-length website snapshot applications you would like to suggest?

(By) Jackson Chung is a full-time medical student attempting to perform a juggling act with relationship, studies and his future.

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

Tags:Cool Software Apps, desktop, full-length, graphics, image, screen capture, screenshot, screenshots, web, webpages

Apple announces date for Q4 conference call

2008-10-06T05:00:00.009-07:00

Apple announces date for Q4 conference call

Filed under: Apple Financial, Apple

Earlier this week, Apple announced that their fourth quarter financial conference call will take place on October 21st. The live audio stream will begin at 2PM Pacific time.

We'll be liveblogging the call, so check back on the 21st for up-to-the-second information and analysis. Apple's stock took a significant dive last month, as did the rest of the market. Still, Apple's overall market share continues to be strong, and retail stores continue to open across the globe. It will be an interesting report.

[Via MacNN]

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GBTV #0389 (small) | GeekBrief.TV

2008-10-06T05:00:00.007-07:00

On Brief #374, I put out a call to action for an affordable live switching application that would work with services like Ustream.tv and Stickam. After that, we began working with Mike Versteeg, the developer of Vidblaster. Vidblaster has actually been around for two years, but in the past couple weeks, Mike has been working hard (and amazingly fast!) at making it accomplish what we were looking for. There's a growing need in the market for this application, and Mike is now offering it at an affordable price so churches, community groups, schools, and individuals can have access to software that gives us all a live TV studio at our fingertips. Read More

Nintendo unveils Wii Speak channel for four-way voice chats

2008-10-06T05:00:00.005-07:00

Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals

Remember that Wii Speak microphone that Nintendo announced at E3 for Animal Crossing socialization, and then everyone promptly forgot about? Well, shuffled in with its other announcements yesterday, Nintendo announced the Wii Speak channel, that will allow for up to four people to voice chat directly without all that pesky fishing and digging and tea sipping and cute getting in the way. Unfortunately, literally nothing else is known about the feature -- we're curious if we can use that USB mic we got for karaoke, and we're sure you have burning questions of your own, but Nintendo's clearly going to debut this feature and the related hardware in its own sweet time.

[Via Joystiq]

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GBTV #0350 (small) | GeekBrief.TV

2008-10-06T05:00:00.003-07:00

The all-in-one desktop club has a new member. AkihabaraNews.com had pictures and specs for the Fujitsu FMV F-A50. It's specs line up pretty nicely with other all-in-ones and the front of the PC is as pretty as you'd want. The back, though...It looks like the back of a TV. You wouldn't want to show it off.

OhGizmo.com has a story about an Exhaust Air Jack. It includes a hose that attaches to a tail pipe and an inflatable bag strong enough to lift one side of a car. I'm not sure how safe it would be, but it's a cool idea.

A design firm called Clusta created a Web site for Publicis & Hal Riney that is entirely navigable using hand gestures read by a Web cam. It's in my top 10 list of cool things we've featured on GeekBrief.TV. Visit the Web site, if you'd like to play with the interface. The content isn't all that exciting, though. I hope we see more HID like this soon.

Brief 350 closes with a video clip of a 3D hologram that is also controlled by hand gestures. The technology is called AirStrike and it was created by LM3LABS.

Oh, and PodShow is now Mevio! Less about the Pod and more about the cast. Read More

Apple TV 2.2 fixes security, adds Genius support

2008-10-06T05:00:00.001-07:00

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

How would you change Apple's iPod touch 2G / nano 4G?

2008-10-04T13:36:00.005-07:00

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

ipod-touch-and-nano.jpg" alt="" />

Hope you don't mind two similar worlds running together, because today we're asking about not one, but two of Cupertino's latest. The iPod touch 2G and iPod nano 4G were both simultaneously (give or take a few minutes) announced back in early September, and after getting a chance to handle both, we felt that Apple did a stand-up job with the each of 'em. That being said, there's always a thing or two that could use tweaked, added or removed completely, but we'll spare you any additional opinions from us on that. Instead, we want to know how you, dear reader, would change either of Apple's freshest PMPs. What are you digging? What's still not good enough? The floor is yours.

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iTunes 8.0.1 improves Genius, spoken menus, more

2008-10-04T13:36:00.003-07:00

Apple on Thursday released iTunes 8.0.1, an update for the company's media player that adds a number of bug fixes, performance enhancements, and functionality. The update advertises seamless playing of a current track when generating Genius playlists, as well as improved spoken menu synching for the new iPod nano. Also resolved was an issue related to in-progress HD TV downloads mysteriously delet...

eBay expands RSS feeds to searches

2008-10-04T13:36:00.001-07:00

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GBTV #0391 (small) | GeekBrief.TV

2008-10-04T13:35:00.013-07:00

GBTV #0391 (small) | GeekBrief.TV
Today was the launch of the iPhone 3G and the 2.0 software. Large groups of people lined outside the Apple Stores quickly before the 8:00 AM sale time. AT&T got involved in the activation process and decided they wanted all customers' purchases to be activated in-store. Instead, the servers weren't ready for the demand. Transactions couldn't be handled, and a 10-15 minute process turned out to be twenty minute to an hour per customer.

I eventually got my iPhone untouched by the Apple employees, ready for me to take home and activate. This is the process...

MacBreak 105: Macworld 2008: Gelaskins

2008-10-04T13:35:00.011-07:00

MacBreak 105: Macworld 2008: Gelaskins
Justine Ezarik explores the Gelaskins booth at Macworld.

Lenovo's ThinkPad W700 gets reviewed, practicality gets questioned

2008-10-04T13:35:00.009-07:00

Filed under: Laptops

You could tell from the specs sheet that Lenovo's ThinkPad W700 wasn't a common man's machine, and a review from the cats at Laptop Mag has all but confirmed that. Dubbed "a beast of a 17-inch [laptop]," this rig was marveled upon right from the get-go; after all, it's not everyday that you see a full-fledged digitizer built right into the palm rest, not to mention the integrated color calibrator. Unfortunately, such niceties weren't bundled in for free, as the review unit they had rocked a $3,802 price tag. Still, the design, build quality and performance were all stellar, but critics couldn't help but point out that this unique creature wouldn't be worthwhile for everyone. In fact, they praised Lenovo for "incorporated some truly innovative features," but they did confess that they weren't "entirely convinced of their practicality." Think long and hard before digging into your kids' college fund for this one, you hear?

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Blog feeds may carry security risk

2008-10-04T13:35:00.007-07:00

Blog feeds may carry security risk
Even our friend RSS, is not without it’s challenges, folks. Security people, nothing is immune. LAS VEGAS–Reading blogs via popular RSS or Atom feeds may expose computer users to hacker attacks, a security expert warns. Attackers could insert malicious JavaScript in content that is transferred to subscribers of data feeds that use the popular RSS (Really Simple [...]

Even our friend RSS, is not without it’s challenges, folks. Security people, nothing is immune.

LAS VEGAS–Reading blogs via popular RSS or Atom feeds may expose computer users to hacker attacks, a security expert warns.

Attackers could insert malicious JavaScript in content that is transferred to subscribers of data feeds that use the popular RSS (Really Simple Syndication) or Atom formats, Bob Auger, a security engineer with Web security company SPI Dynamics, said Thursday in a presentation at the Black Hat security event here.

The problem doesn’t affect only blogs–any kind of information feed using any kind of format could potentially be used to transmit malicious content to a subscriber, Auger said. People, for example, subscribe to mailing lists and news Web sites via RSS, he said, noting “this is about the entire concept of Web feeds.”

SPI Dynamics examined a number of online and offline applications used to read RSS and Atom feeds. In many cases, any JavaScript code delivered on the feed would run on the user’s PC, meaning it could be vulnerable to attack, Auger said. JavaScript is a scripting language that experts say is increasingly causing security concerns. … Source: News.com

RSS/Copyright Debate

2008-10-04T13:35:00.005-07:00

RSS/Copyright Debate
Is RSS syndication honestly a threat to copyrights and those trying to protect them? It’s beginning to look that way. In the past few weeks, I’ve gotten several fresh calls, four in fact (some out of the blue, some from people I know well) about RSS, aggregation, and copyright issues. I think the matter continues to [...]

Is RSS syndication honestly a threat to copyrights and those trying to protect them? It’s beginning to look that way.

In the past few weeks, I’ve gotten several fresh calls, four in fact (some out of the blue, some from people I know well) about RSS, aggregation, and copyright issues. I think the matter continues to have traction and importance. Two follow-ups:

- I never managed, somehow, to see a very fine reply from Nathan Yergler to a post of my own a few months ago. I had proposed a series of 5 licenses specific to syndicated online sources. (I understand that Nathan works for CC in a technical job but was not writing as a CC employee.) His sense is that there is a need for more explicit licensing of citizen-generated content, but that CC licenses (and other things, like full copyright and the public domain) already cover the five variants that I had in mind. It’s a nice argument. I have to think about whether I agree in full — there are reasons why CC Attribution 2.5 may not get the job done in full for all users, say — but if he’s right, then we’d need no new licenses, but just a campaign to get people to know about the options and to use them in ways that reflect their desires related to aggregation and re-use of their content. (Apologies, Nathan, that I’m just getting to reply now, but I managed to miss it the first time; it was a strong argument.)…. Source: blogs.law.harvard.edu

Blast from the Past: Lunatic Fringe

2008-10-04T13:35:00.003-07:00

Filed under: Gaming, Software, Blast From the Past

If you're a long-time Mac user, the words "After Dark" conjure memories of flying toasters, Star Trek, city lights, and -- my favorite -- Lunatic Fringe.

Lunatic Fringe was a Maelstrom-like game built-in to After Dark, a screen saver utility for Mac and Windows popular in the early- to mid-90s. Fringe Player, from Sealie Software, is a app that brings Lunatic Fringe back to your new, Intel-based Mac. It supports Leopard, and there is a version for PowerPC processors as well.

You have to obtain the original screensaver module separately, however. You can get the module from your original After Dark disks (or online, if you're clever with the Google.)

Now if you'll excuse me, my Friday afternoon is suddenly spoken for.

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Poll: How many RSS feeds do you track?

2008-10-04T13:35:00.001-07:00

We're curious to know how many RSS feeds you have loaded into your RSS feeder of choice. If it's in the hundreds, we doubt you read them all every day, but that's for another poll. For now, let us know the number of feeds you track in total by selecting the poll choice that includes your total. We'll print the results in another week or so.

Take our poll.

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Who is snooping on Skype?

2008-10-02T17:10:00.005-07:00

NEW YORK - A Canadian researcher has discovered that a Chinese version of eBay's Skype communications software snoops on text chats that contain certain keywords, including "democracy." The revelation is not only of interest... Read More

Geek Brief Radio | Copy and Paste for iPhone

2008-10-02T17:10:00.003-07:00

Geek Brief Radio | Copy and Paste for iPhone
Interview with Zac White about bringing Copy and Paste to the iPhone via OpenClip.org

Android Market will offer free trials, but not free bandwidth

2008-10-02T17:10:00.001-07:00

Filed under: Cellphones

Apple's App Store, with its millions of downloads, is clearly a hit with consumers. But with developers? Not so much. Like a dashing hero to a scorned mistress, Google's Andy Rubin is pledging a different, more loving and respectful relationship with those who would fill his company's Android Market with selections -- and his pockets with royalties. He indicates that the Market will enable free downloadable trials, something that Apple is stubbornly refusing to add, and that those downloads would not be subject to any arbitrary bandwidth caps. Meanwhile, T-Mobile at least will be levying a $2/month fee on developers of free apps expected to use more than the (somewhat arbitrary) amount of 15MB of data per user per month, though how they'll be keeping track of that data outside of their own content stack is unclear -- our guess is that they can't.

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Safari Search Plugins Showdown: Glims vs Inquisitor [Mac Only]

2008-10-02T17:09:00.013-07:00

Safari Search Plugins Showdown: Glims vs Inquisitor [Mac Only]
The standard search box in Safari is pretty simple. Type in your search query and hit Enter. Boom! View the results from Google. Well, that’s only if you’re quite certain about what you’re searching for. What if you’re in that zone when you’re looking for something but you aren’t really sure what it’s called or [...]

The standard search box in Safari is pretty simple. Type in your search query and hit Enter. Boom! View the results from Google. Well, that’s only if you’re quite certain about what you’re searching for. What if you’re in that zone when you’re looking for something but you aren’t really sure what it’s called or which keywords to type in? Search suggestions are what you need. Maybe a more powerful search box?

Here are two search enhancement plugins for Safari which will improve its search function by leaps and bounds. Find out which is better!

Inquisitor

I’ve been using Inquisitor ever since I had my Mac and it has proven to be a very handy tool when surfing. It hasn’t completely replaced the regular Google searches but it has definitely enhanced the process.

Searching with Inquisitor is something like using that Google “I’m feeling lucky” button all the time. That’s because by default, Inquisitor uses the Google search engine. So, its first result is most frequently the right one.

In Inquisitor’s results field, you’ll be presented with five websites; each with its own title, one-line description and web address. It will also tag the results which you have clicked with each own time-stamp and the number of visits. That’s quite handy in order to keep track of the sites which you’ve visited and the ones which you haven’t.

Below the website results, you will also be presented with suggestions based on the search keywords which were entered. That will prove useful when you don’t really know which keywords will produce results closer to the item that you’re searching for.

During the time when I was using Inquisitor, I never felt that it had let me down as a search plugin. Most of the time, the results were spot on. Rarely, I had to hit ‘Enter’ to view the Google results page - probably because my keywords were too broad to find what I was looking for.

Glims

Glims sprung up not long ago, masquerading as a search plugin but it does so much more! It adds quite a bit of functionality to Safari which I feel Apple should have had natively. Besides the search function, Glims allows me to re-open closed tabs, automatically re-open the tabs I had during the last session and full-screen browsing. Even Opera has these options by default! But since Safari doesn’t, I’m glad I found Glims.

As for its search enhancements, well, it’s half and half. Glims provides the results in the same format as Inquisitor but without the number of visits and time-stamp tag. In my opinion, that’s quite essential and it’s a big drawback not to have that.

However, Glims makes up for it by the extra functionality it provides. The option to re-open closed tabs comes in very useful, especially for me because I get quite trigger-happy when it comes to pressing Cmd+W and most of the time I accidentally close more tabs than intended. Glims also has more search engines built-in compared to Inquisitor (which only has Google, Yahoo!, Amazon and Flickr).

The only thing which irked me about Glims was the fact that it replaced all the close buttons on my tabs with favicons. I had to delve deep into the preferences to get rid of that.

Conclusion

Purely for its search enhancements, Inquisitor surely shines brighter. But we can’t ignore Glims for the extra useful functionalities which it adds to Safari, and because of that, Glims is better overall.

Glims requires Safari 3.0.4 [Mac only] or greater and is available for free from machangout

Which one do you prefer? Or do you have another favourite you’d like to nominate?

(By) Jackson Chung is a full-time medical student attempting to perform a juggling act with relationship, studies and his future.

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

Tags:glims, inquisitor, Mac, plugin, safari, search

MacBreak 89: Studio: Troubleshooting Compressor

2008-10-02T17:09:00.011-07:00

Brian Gary shows us how to troubleshoot in Compressor. Read More

MacBreak 53 Macworld 2007: Cocoalicious

2008-10-02T17:09:00.009-07:00

Merlin speaks to the developer of cocoalicious about his del.icio.us client and the software possibilities of the new iPhone. Read More

GBTV #0368 (small) | GeekBrief.TV

2008-10-02T17:09:00.007-07:00

GBTV #0368 (small) | GeekBrief.TV
Griffin Technology has been busy. They released an updated iTrip AutoPilot with SmartScan that works with iPhones and iPods. The PowerDock 2 we saw at Macworld is now available and Popgadget says the PowerDock 4 will be out in July.

RickMacMerc introduced me to Animation-ish, a D.I.Y. Animation application.

PopularMechanics has a step-by-step guide to installing Linux on a PS3.

Dean Kamen has done it again. This time his team has developed a robotic arm that is controlled by thought.

MacBreak 138: NAB: Lite Panels

2008-10-02T17:09:00.005-07:00

Alex stops by the Lite Panel booth. Read More

MacBreak 71: NAB 2007: Sony

2008-10-02T17:09:00.003-07:00

MacBreak 71: NAB 2007: Sony
Alex and Craig discuss Sony's announcement of the XDCAM EX camcorder at NAB.

Core biotech companies triple in three years

2008-10-02T17:09:00.001-07:00

The number of New Zealand companies producing biotechnology goods and services tripled in three years and exports almost doubled to $104 million, according to Statistics New Zealand. The second release of information from the Biotechnology... Read More

Protopage: Ajax-Driven Personal Pages

2008-10-01T09:03:00.017-07:00

Ajaxy personal pages with newsreaders are gaining traction and usability. Protopage is a free service that is astonishing easy to use and doesn't even require registration. (If you create a page and wish to make it persist at an easy-to-remember URL, you must register. But it's still free.) Floating information panels can be dragged around the screen, and there are three basic types: RSS reader; sticky note; and link panel. As far as I can tell there is no way to add a photo to a page, which is a shame. Protopage also provides a default search panel with keyword boxes for Google, Yahoo!, Dictionary.com, and Wikipedia.

Overall a simple product, but the RSS panel does allow OPML uploads, and you can fashion more than one panel for extra sorting power. All colors and backgrounds are customizable with sliders and drop-down menus. You can add pages to your Protopage space, and make those pages public or private individually. A mechanism for inviting friends is furnished, but there's no integrated social action here. You share you page by giving someone the URL, and, of course, friends can build link panels with each other's addresses.

Perhaps the funnest application of Protopage would be to share a password, and get a group together to build a space. Protopage would be an entertaining environment in which to assemble news, links, and notes. Conversations could transpire on the sticky notes. More widgets are needed to bring this thing to life, though. Give it a calendar and photo uploading, and Protopage would start to rock.

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MacBreak 123: Macworld 2008: Jersey Boy

2008-10-01T09:03:00.015-07:00

Merlin Mann chats with some guy from Jersey about punching Steve Jobs. Read More

MacBreak 134: NAB: Lensbabies: Video

2008-10-01T09:03:00.013-07:00

Alex checks out Lensbabies for Video. Read More

MacBreak 17: Quicksilver Tips

2008-10-01T09:03:00.011-07:00

MacBreak 17: Quicksilver Tips
Merlin Mann's back sharing more productivity tips with Leo using Quicksilver.

DXG and Geotate team on geotagging video camera

2008-10-01T09:03:00.009-07:00

DXG and Geotate team on geotagging video camera

Filed under: Digital Cameras

We're still waiting for geotagging to go mainstream on consumer-level still cams, but Geotate isn't waiting around in its quest for location-aware domination -- it's teamed up with DXG to develop the first geotagging video camera we've seen. The camera itself isn't anything special -- it's just another average DXG HD cam, based on the DVH586 -- but the geotagging is powered by Geotate's Yuma software, which does most of the heavy lifting on the server at import, so we'd expect it to be pretty robust. No word on pricing or availability, but we're assuming it'll fall in line with the rest of DXG's lineup on the cheaper side.

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Apple's ugly YouTube channel

2008-10-01T09:03:00.007-07:00

Apple's ugly YouTube channel

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Video, Apple, iPod nano, iPod touch

Apple has designed some beautiful stuff over the years, from the ][e (hey, I think it looks good) to the iPod, but you can take the new OfficialApple YouTube channel off that list -- it's hideous. The glaringly huge sidebar ads got squished and crunched, and managed to make even the new nanos and iPod touches look ugly.

On the plus side, the channel offers lots of Apple videos in the YouTube player, from tutorials to tours to TV ads, so that's nice -- what YouTube videos lack in quality they make up for in ease of use and playability. Sure, the comments aren't much to read (unless you're a glutton for punishment), but at least the videos work.

But what did they do to those icons?! I'm tempted just to report the background with the link at the bottom of the page -- not because it's offensive or crude, but just because it's so badly done.

Update: The evil, unpleasant background is gone. Most commenters, justifiably, are quite skeptical that this is an actual Apple effort (could it be the 'ca' Canadian prefix?) -- we'll ask Apple.

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MacBreak 115: Macworld 2008: MacHeist

2008-10-01T09:03:00.005-07:00

MacBreak 115: Macworld 2008: MacHeist
Kendra Arimoto gets details on the MacHeist Bundle at Macworld.

MacBreak 44 Macworld 2007: Unicon MCopy

2008-10-01T09:03:00.003-07:00

Kendra visits the Unicon booth at Macworld to check out the MCopy and MBridge Read More

Apple laptops gaining ground on Windows

2008-10-01T09:03:00.001-07:00

Apple is making inroads in the portable laptop sector, so much so that even Microsoft-focused bloggers are noting that MacBooks are gaining ground on Windows laptops. eWeek Microsoft Watch blogger Joe Wilcox says that while 'Windows laptops are losing luster, Mac laptops are making surprising gains.' Mac laptops have moved to a 20-percent market share (for June/July brick-and-mortar sales), with a...

GBTV #0391 (small) | GeekBrief.TV

2008-10-01T09:02:00.001-07:00

iriver's Mplayer: now in soul-invading "eyes" version

2008-09-30T16:21:00.015-07:00

Filed under: Portable Audio

If you've been tickled or otherwise delighted by the sheer cuteness of iriver's little Mplayer in its multi-colored, gold, or pink-bow variations, this one might send you through the roof. The company has introduced a new riff on its Disney-branded music machine, and it's dubbed the "Mplayer eyes." The device comes sporting ten LED "eyes" (naturally), 2GB of storage, and can be picked up for around $50 in light pink and baby blue. Of course, the player -- which was shown off at this year's IFA -- is only available in Korea right now, but with looks like these, we have a feeling you'll be importing. [Warning: read link is in Korean]

[Via Akihabara News]

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Studios to sue Real over 'illegal' RealDVD

2008-09-30T16:21:00.013-07:00

Studios to sue Real over 'illegal' RealDVD
Several major studios plan to sue RealNetworks for what they believe is inherent copyright infringement in the company's RealDVD ripping software, according to a tip sent to the AP. Disney, Fox, Paramount, Sony, Universal and Warner are all said to believe that the software is deliberately bypassing the CSS encryption on DVD movies and so violating their copyrights. They also plan a temporary in...

MacBreak 48 Macworld 2007: iPod Accessory Roundup

2008-09-30T16:21:00.011-07:00

Kendra shows us more fun iPod accessories from the Macworld Expo. Read More

App Store loses "All Free Apps" link

2008-09-30T16:21:00.009-07:00

App Store loses "All Free Apps" link

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Freeware, Apple, iPhone

Apple's made some strange changes to the App Store lately. While the reviews change was a good one, this latest update is just confusing: they removed all of the "See all" links from the sidebar of the main App Store page, including the much-visited "All Free Apps" that many of our readers used to browse the new free stuff in there.

Now, all that's there is a bunch of category links. You can still search for apps, obviously, and you can click on the Top Paid and Free apps to see those, and you can even click on the "See all" near "New," "What's Hot" and "Staff Favorites." But if you want to browse all the new Free apps in the store completely unfiltered, you're out of luck.

Why would this be? Depends on who's guessing -- if you're angry at Apple (perhaps one of many developers who haven't seen their apps in the store yet), you might claim that it's because Apple wants to keep a firm grip on just what new free apps get seen on the homepage. If you're so-so on the issue, it might be because you think Apple wanted to streamline the process and keep you from the hassle of browsing all the free trash yourself. And if you're what our kind commenters call a "fanboy," you might claim that Apple is just having problems with their store, or that they're actually trying to help developers by raising app prices.

Personally, I'm going for option D: someone working on the iTunes page didn't realize how popular the link was, and after a little outcry, it'll be back soon. In the meantime, there are still a few RSS feeds around that will help you keep tabs on what's showing up in the store.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in!

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Sharp LC-65XS1U-S and LC-52XS1U-S X-Series AQUOS LCD HDTVs eyes-on

2008-09-30T16:21:00.007-07:00

Filed under: Displays, Home Entertainment

While we knew these new Sharp Aquos HDTVs were coming, we had no idea how thin and bright they were in person. Today at CEATEC 2008 Sharp officially announced its LC-65XS1U-S (65-inch) and LC-52XS1U-S (52-inch) AQUOS LCD HDTVs right at CEATEC Japan's opening bell. The displays' 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio and 1080P panel are nice and all, but we now know they measure in at a super gaunt 2.28-cm (0.9-inch) depth and are outfitted with a 2.1-channel, three-way five-speaker system that Sharp jointly developed with Pioneer. Meanwhile, Sharp boasts some serious energy savings with the new displays, promising a 26% reduction in power consumption. Expect them to hit stores in Japan October 15 in limited numbers for an undisclosed (read: 'spensive) price. Check the emaciated photos in the gallery if you're so inclined.

Gallery: Sharp Aquos XS1

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DealNN: refurb wireless, bargain storage, MacMini

2008-09-30T16:21:00.005-07:00

Current deals at DealNN include a range of products from wireless routers to external hard drives. First off is the refurbished Netgear Wireless-G router priced at $16.97 at TigerDirect.com. OnSale.com has the AirPort Express base station with Air Tunes for $59, a price cut of $70 off the original price. The Calvary 1TB external hard drive has been reduced to $139.99 from $239 at Buy.com, and t...

Fujifilm adds 6MBps SDHC cards, up to 16GB

2008-09-30T16:21:00.003-07:00

Photography and digital imaging company Fujifilm today announced the expansion of its flash memory products with new SD card offerings. Two SD cards will be available, in capacities of 1GB and 2 GB. For applications requiring additional storage, three high capacity SDHC cards were announced including 4GB, 8GB, and 16GB variants. Micro SD cards will include 1GB and 2GB in the standard capacity mode...

Sketches goes 1.3, offers discount for those who waited

2008-09-30T16:21:00.001-07:00

Sketches goes 1.3, offers discount for those who waited

Filed under: iPhone, App Store, iPod touch

At TUAW, we love the Sketches application for iPhone and iPod touch. Without a doubt, this app is the best way to draw/edit photos on the iPhone -- and it recently got better with update 1.3. This update gives you some additional functionality as well as providing some major improvements to current features:

You can now input text using the built-in soft keyboard. Now you won't have to attempt to read someone's horrible handwriting.
Web sharing is now built-in. This feature is found on many other iPhone applications, and it is now standard in Sketches. You will no longer have to email your pictures to your computer -- just browse your masterpieces in your favorite web browser.
You can now take one finger off the screen while placing images in a multi-finger gesture. This is handy when you are "zooming" an object and you run out of room on the screen.
Additional shapes categories including "Office." The "Fun" and "Callouts" categories have additions as well.

If you are a new user to Sketches, the developers have added a tips system just for you -- this displays popups that let you know what each function does. This is handy for the less-experimental people among us.

To celebrate the launch of Sketches 1.3, the developer is offering the software for just $1.99 (regular price is $4.99). You can download Sketches from the iTunes App Store today for this special price. The special will last until Oct. 4, 2008.

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iriver's Mplayer: now in soul-invading "eyes" version

2008-09-29T20:23:00.011-07:00

Filed under: Portable Audio

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Icons: It’s Still Orange

2008-09-29T20:23:00.009-07:00

I am glad to see that we can maintain some level of RSS icon standards between Mozilla and Microsoft. Wouldn’t be great if this level of cooperation could continue? My last post shared some of our conceptual designs of the feed icon and expressed some of the criteria that we are using to select the right [...]

I am glad to see that we can maintain some level of RSS icon standards between Mozilla and Microsoft. Wouldn’t be great if this level of cooperation could continue?

My last post shared some of our conceptual designs of the feed icon and expressed some of the criteria that we are using to select the right icon. Several of the comments liked icon #4 simply because it looked liked the Firefox icon, and many (like this one) suggested that we work with the Firefox team to standardize on an icon.

This seemed like a very good idea, so in November, Amar and I took a visit down to Silicon Valley to meet with John Lilly and Chris Beard from Mozilla to get their thoughts on it. We all agreed that it’s in the user’s best interest to have one common icon to represent RSS and RSS-related features in a browser. And the winner is… [Source: Microsoft Team RSS Blog]

GBTV #0363 (small) | GeekBrief.TV

2008-09-29T20:23:00.007-07:00

It's been an extremely slow day for gadget news, so I decided to jailbreak my iPhone today (or, rather, Neal's iPhone). I decided to use iFuntastic, recommended by TUAW. If you have your iPhone plugged in before opening iFuntastic, it immediately recognizes it and all all you have to do is click on "Unshackle", then follow directions. I installed the BSD Subsystem since many third party apps require it, then I got to the fun part and installed Pool, and Twinkle. I kept getting an error with Labyrinth, but it eventually installed. If you do get an error, try "Clear Queue", then try again. Sometimes that helps.

I'll be playing and testing with it, and will keep you updated! Remember, jailbreaking your iPhone or iPod Touch voids the warranty and the geniuses will not help you! Read More

Nasa faces midlife crisis

2008-09-29T20:23:00.005-07:00

WASHINGTON - The signs of a midlife crisis are there: A 50th birthday approaching; a longing for the glory days of youth; a hankering to dump the aging partner of 27 years; and a costly flirtation with a new young thing. This isn't... Read More

App Store loses "All Free Apps" link

2008-09-29T20:23:00.003-07:00

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Freeware, Apple, iPhone

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GBTV #0368 (small) | GeekBrief.TV

2008-09-29T20:23:00.001-07:00

Griffin Technology has been busy. They released an updated iTrip AutoPilot with SmartScan that works with iPhones and iPods. The PowerDock 2 we saw at Macworld is now available and Popgadget says the PowerDock 4 will be out in July.

RickMacMerc introduced me to Animation-ish, a D.I.Y. Animation application.

PopularMechanics has a step-by-step guide to installing Linux on a PS3.

Dean Kamen has done it again. This time his team has developed a robotic arm that is controlled by thought. Read More

GBTV #0373 (small) | GeekBrief.TV

2008-09-29T20:22:00.007-07:00

This is our recap of WWDC08. What can I say? Monkey Balls, but that could be perceived as inappropriate. I could say Cromag Rally, but then people may think I'm pro-caveman. I'm ambivalent about cavemen, so ladies and gentleman, Steve Jobs and the 3G iPhone. Read More

Sharp LC-65XS1U-S and LC-52XS1U-S X-Series AQUOS LCD HDTVs eyes-on

2008-09-29T20:22:00.005-07:00

Filed under: Displays, Home Entertainment

Gallery: Sharp Aquos XS1

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Hydrogen generators in cars 'fraud'

2008-09-29T20:22:00.003-07:00

A Hamilton company which has spent a lot of money developing on-demand hydrogen generators today denounced the technology as a fraud. Michael Fresnel, co-founder of OctaFuel New Zealand, made the admission in a statement... Read More

MacBreak 71: NAB 2007: Sony

2008-09-29T20:22:00.001-07:00

MacBreak 71: NAB 2007: Sony
Alex and Craig discuss Sony's announcement of the XDCAM EX camcorder at NAB.

InfoCenter vs. iTunes: The Battle of the Podcatchers?

2008-09-29T10:08:00.013-07:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rumor: Is the Apple TV being replaced?

2008-09-29T10:08:00.011-07:00

Rumor: Is the Apple TV being replaced?

Filed under: Rumors, Apple TV

We just got an e-mail from an anonymous Apple reseller, stating that they received an e-mail from Apple with instructions to remove all Apple TV displays and literature and to destroy them (which I assume means throw away the literature, send back the Apple TVs) by September 30, 2008 at 5 PM. Additionally, the e-mail says that there will be a webcast "kick off" on September 30.

Incidentally, September 30 IS a Tuesday (and the last day of the September quarter), making all of this information, very, very interesting.

So, what does this mean? Could this potentially be the introduction of the Mini/Apple TV hybrid we've all been begging for? Is this related to the rumors of "The Brick?"

I guess we'll have to wait until Tuesday to find out for sure. Hey, it's Saturday, so speculate away in the comments!

Addendum: In the comments and in some subsequent e-mails, we're receiving the impression that the licensing for the shows/images displayed in the literature has run out, and that the actual physical units may not be disappearing. Of course, that still leaves the issue of the webcast event on Tuesday...

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Get rid of your old PCs, phones safely

2008-09-29T10:08:00.009-07:00

Get rid of your old PCs, phones safely
About 1000 tonnes of toxic waste are expected to be diverted from landfills during a day dedicated to recycling old computers and mobile phones. Kiwis can dispose of the items at 32 centres throughout the country free of charge...

NZ firm opens door to US bank services

2008-09-29T10:08:00.007-07:00

NZ firm opens door to US bank services
An Auckland company's multi-million-dollar deal to supply mobile-phone banking services in the United States may be the start of things to come, the Kiwi electronic payments industry hopes. Cellphone-banking software company M-Com...

MacBreak 87: Studio: Audio Keyframes

2008-09-29T10:08:00.005-07:00

MacBreak 87: Studio: Audio Keyframes
Mark Spencer shows us how to use audio to drive animation in Motion.

GBTV #433 (small) | GeekBrief.TV

2008-09-29T10:08:00.003-07:00

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

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

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

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

iYo Yo-Yo almost certainly doesn't work

2008-09-29T10:08:00.001-07:00

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Hardware, Odds and ends, iPhone

Seriously? I have to say: I don't buy it. I really don't believe that you could pull enough power to charge an iPhone out of an inducting yo-yo, but that is apparently exactly what the iYo Yo-Yo claims to be. It's not actually in production yet (or even produced, singular -- there's a demo of a rendered unit running on the site), so I'm as skeptical as James Randi at an astrologists' convention.

Not to mention that nothing developer Peter Thuvander would actually be able to release could have that logo on it -- even if it did work, Apple would just release their own anyway, and then pay Pete twenty years later, right? But some people will do anything for alternative energy these days, including believing that a yo-yo could power your iPhone. Someone call the Mythbusters!

[via Engadget]

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GBTV #0405 (small) | GeekBrief.TV

2008-09-29T10:07:00.005-07:00

GBTV #0405 (small) | GeekBrief.TV
Sunday, I clicked a link from Twitter friend, Daynah, the PHP Princess . It took me to a Seesmic video posted by Eric Rice. The video is an augmented reality demonstration that gives us a glimpse into the future. Eric also blogged about the potential of augmented reality at ericrice.com/spin.

This kind of stuff is what The Big Trip is all about. I'd travel the world if I could, capturing innovation in HD and sharing what I find. I want to be Indiana Jones in reverse! Buying a bus is a pain in the butt, it turns out. You can track our progress (and lack of it) at BigTrip.TV. Obscura Digital has also been showing off some beautiful tech. They combined their multi-touch research with a Musion Eyeliner holographic projection system to demonstrate the future of presentations.

Apple deals: 3rd gen. iPods, Time Capsule, wireless

2008-09-29T10:07:00.003-07:00

A variety of previous generation refurbished iPods are now available at Apple's online store. The 1GB iPod shuffle is the lowest priced at $39 in silver, blue, green or purple with the 2GB Shuffle a close second at $59 with silver, blue and green being the only remaining colors. Next up at $99 is the 8GB iPod nano in silver, blue, green, black or pink. The iPod classic has two color (black or s...

According to Hoyle, it's 2009

2008-09-29T10:07:00.001-07:00

According to Hoyle, it's 2009

Filed under: Gaming, Software

Encore Software apparently has a time machine, and it's not the one built into Leopard. They have just introduced three new entries in their Hoyle series of Mac games -- Hoyle Puzzle & Board 2009, Hoyle Cards 2009, and Hoyle Casino 2009.

Hoyle Puzzle & Board 2009 features puzzle games, including Sudoku, Anagrams, Hangman, Mahjongg, and over 1,200 crossword puzzles. The "Board" part of the game is actually Freeverse's Big Bang Board Games, which includes Backgammon, Checkers, Chess, and four more classic games. You can play against virtual or real opponents, and you gain Hoyle Bucks to purchase new music and backgrounds.

Hoyle Cards 2009 has hundreds of card games, and you can now play online against other card sharks in the Royle (sic) Suite. Hoyle Casino gives you slots, roulette, and all of the other casino favorites, now with access to the Royle Suite and online tournaments.

The games are available for $19.99 each and require Mac OS X 10.4.10 or later. Be sure to check out the system requirements before you buy, since some of the games require Intel processors, and then party like it's 2009!

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Cellphone tower drama 'could have been handled better'

2008-09-28T22:01:00.003-07:00

Telecom today said it could have recognised community concerns about cellphone towers better. Telecom representatives today fronted up to the local government select committee which is considering a petition signed by more than... Read More

MacBreak 117: Macworld 2008: Software Bisque

2008-09-28T22:01:00.001-07:00

Dr. Kiki Sanford gets the scoop on Mac Astronomy Software at Macworld. Read More

MUO Games - 4 Web Games to Kick-Start your Brain

2008-09-28T22:00:00.009-07:00

Though a lot of money sneaks into next generation gaming, smaller, browser-based games are far from extinct. Everyday, tons of them are released on the world wide web. As a reply to this huge part of the free gaming community, there will be one weekly MUO Gaming compilation of Flash games. For this very first episode, we [...]

Though a lot of money sneaks into next generation gaming, smaller, browser-based games are far from extinct. Everyday, tons of them are released on the world wide web.

As a reply to this huge part of the free gaming community, there will be one weekly MUO Gaming compilation of Flash games.

For this very first episode, we have pointed the theme towards a very important aspect of ourselves and our lives. It’s the thing that keeps the drool in our mouth and our feet on the ground nearly every day. As you may have guessed, I’m talking about our brain.

Featured in this article are five web-based games to kick-start your brain in the morning, or to keep it going in the evening.

Z-Rox

Z-Rox is a brilliant game. It’s a game that’ll make you use parts of your brain that you probably haven’t used before, maybe even parts you don’t realise you have.

Here’s the concept. On your screen is a line. This line is getting longer, shorter or breaking up into different parts. The thing is, you don’t have to look at it as a line, you have to look at it as a very slim window.

Behind this window, several things will fly upwards, be it letters, numbers or shapes. By looking at the changing line, you have to determine the global form of the object.

It’s almost impossible to guess all of them, but because it’d be a huge shame to miss out on half of the levels, just because you’re stuck at one, a walk-through is provided here. Try to use it as less as possible.

Loops of Zen

You’ll probably recognize the principle behind “Loops of Zen”. Your screen is filled with lines, which you can turn respectively 90, 180, 270 or 360 degrees. Hereby, you must reach the point wherein all the lines are properly connected.

At the beginning of the game this looks pretty easy, but the levels gradually get harder, towards the point where you’ll be staring in despair at the screen.

Use your mouse to tilt the tiles, the arrow keys to skip back and forth through the levels and the ‘m’ key to mute the sound.

light-Bot

Meet light-Bot. He’s like Wall-E. Only less cute, less patented and less smart. You can help him with that last one, though.

Your job (no, you won’t get paid) is to program little light-Bot. Using simple commands (like walk, turn jump, etc.) and repeating functions, you can make him maneuver through the environment and light up specific tiles.

Logic Problems - Mom Goes Shopping

A woman took her four kids shopping one afternoon. To keep the peace, she said she’d buy one item each of their choice. As she shopped, she discovered that there were four extra items in her shopping cart that she hadn’t added or approved. After leaving the store, they stopped at an ice cream stand for a snack. She bought each child got an ice cream cone and a drink. From the clues, determine the item each child got, the extra item each child snuck into the cart, the flavor of ice cream each got, and the type of drink.

1. Amanda, who had maple walnut ice cream, didn’t get the fruit juice or the coloring book.
2. Sara didn’t get the comic book or the doll but she did slip the board game into the cart.
3. The boy who got the toy car didn’t add the action figure and didn’t have strawberry ice cream.
4. Each child is represented by the following: the girl who got the doll, the boy who got chocolate chip ice cream, Chris, and the girl who got milk.
5. Sara didn’t have vanilla ice cream. The boy who added the baseball cards got water to drink.
6. The child who got the computer game got iced tea. Larry didn’t get water.

Now which is connected to what item? This is a very classic type of riddle, but one that never gets old. Push your deduction skills to the limit and learn to make connections.

Puzzles.com hosts tons of different entertaining and mind-breaking puzzles.

We’ll bring you more compilations of flash games next time. In the meantime, do you have any favourites of online brain games that you’d like to share with us? What games get you thinking?

(By) Simon is a student from Belgium who wastes his time relaxing, gaming and surfing the net. He would tell you to check out his blog, only he doesn't have one (yet)!

Tags:brain, flash, Games, memory

Give Your Presentations A Boost With ZoomIt (Windows Only)

2008-09-28T22:00:00.007-07:00

Give Your Presentations A Boost With ZoomIt (Windows Only)
Sometimes the words ‘Microsoft software’ conjures up an image of a gigabyte sized bloated package. But Microsoft too sometimes goes against the grain and some of the tools available from the “Sysinternals Lab” prove that size doesn’t really matter. One example is ZoomIt. What would a bundled app of 145KB have to offer? Some [...]

Sometimes the words ‘Microsoft software’ conjures up an image of a gigabyte sized bloated package. But Microsoft too sometimes goes against the grain and some of the tools available from the “Sysinternals Lab” prove that size doesn’t really matter. One example is ZoomIt.

What would a bundled app of 145KB have to offer? Some nifty help if you look at it closely. Imagine you are giving a PowerPoint presentation to a roomful of people. Perhaps you need to get your point across with a chart but the guy on the fourth row can’t make it out. With a click of a mouse you can now zoom in and focus on that part of the screen with the important information and then zoom back out. You save your audience the pain of squinting.

Plainly speaking, ZoomIt gives you three tools to play around with.

Zoom (zoom in on any area of your screen)
Draw (draw on your screen, whether zoomed or not)
Break Timer (to countdown till a break is up)

�

Zoom : Screen Magnifier for Windows

As a screen magnifier, I think this tool is the best free one out there. It does show quite a high level of magnification which can be seen clearly from a long distance. The screen can be panned around to the desired area of focus. The entire operation can be controlled by a toggle keystroke and/or the mouse.

Draw : Freehand Drawing Tool

The freehand draw function serves as a great presentation aid. Of the three features, this one is the richest. Use the mouse to circle or highlight any part of the display. Then, with a simple push of the E (’E’ for Eraser, maybe?!) key, the drawings are erased again. You can erase all the drawings or just the last one.

Or just use the screen like a white or black sketch pad to give an impromptu drawing or a typed remark. Or just have fun by drawing some simple shapes like circles, rectangles or ellipses. Change the width or color of the draw pen. To further enhance its appeal, you can combine the zoom function with the draw to give your presentations the savvy edge.

Break Timer

After the first two tools, this one is more of an anti-climax. It just acts like a countdown timer rolled into an alarm clock. You can get bit of a reminder help from it if you configure it to play sounds when the break time is up.

Inside the 145 Kilobyte Package

The first time you click the ‘exe’ file, it presents a simple configuration screen. The three functions (the ‘type’ function makes it four actually) are well explained with default hotkeys. Of course, it also allows you to specify your own. The program sits unobtrusively on the tray and all features are easily accessible with a right click.

ZoomIt is a free download, does not require Microsoft validation and is installable on all versions of Windows.

(By) Saikat is a techno-adventurer in a writer's garb. When he is not scouring the net for tech news, you can catch him on his personal blog(www.grafittisplash.blogspot.com)ruminating about the positives in our world

Tags:alarm, drawing, Microsoft, Powerpoint, presentations, timer, zoom

RSS/Copyright Debate

2008-09-28T22:00:00.005-07:00

Is RSS syndication honestly a threat to copyrights and those trying to protect them? It’s beginning to look that way. In the past few weeks, I’ve gotten several fresh calls, four in fact (some out of the blue, some from people I know well) about RSS, aggregation, and copyright issues. I think the matter continues to [...]

Is RSS syndication honestly a threat to copyrights and those trying to protect them? It’s beginning to look that way.

In the past few weeks, I’ve gotten several fresh calls, four in fact (some out of the blue, some from people I know well) about RSS, aggregation, and copyright issues. I think the matter continues to have traction and importance. Two follow-ups:

- I never managed, somehow, to see a very fine reply from Nathan Yergler to a post of my own a few months ago. I had proposed a series of 5 licenses specific to syndicated online sources. (I understand that Nathan works for CC in a technical job but was not writing as a CC employee.) His sense is that there is a need for more explicit licensing of citizen-generated content, but that CC licenses (and other things, like full copyright and the public domain) already cover the five variants that I had in mind. It’s a nice argument. I have to think about whether I agree in full — there are reasons why CC Attribution 2.5 may not get the job done in full for all users, say — but if he’s right, then we’d need no new licenses, but just a campaign to get people to know about the options and to use them in ways that reflect their desires related to aggregation and re-use of their content. (Apologies, Nathan, that I’m just getting to reply now, but I managed to miss it the first time; it was a strong argument.)…. Source: blogs.law.harvard.edu

GBTV #0373 (small) | GeekBrief.TV

2008-09-28T22:00:00.003-07:00

Sky HDi - is the grass any greener?

2008-09-28T22:00:00.001-07:00

Sky HDi - is the grass any greener?
Our home is crammed full tech waiting to be reviewed, most of which my ever-patient wife is itching to get rid of. The one bit piece of gadgetary she won't live without, however, is our MySky box. Not only has it totally changed...

TUAW Tip: Add file extensions to Quick Look

2008-09-26T18:58:00.011-07:00

TUAW Tip: Add file extensions to Quick Look

Filed under: Hacks, Terminal Tips, TUAW Tips

TUAW reader David wrote us to ask how he could view .erb files (Rails development) in Quick Look. The fact is, there are a lot of plain-text files with extensions that Quick Look doesn't recognize. It's relatively straightforward to tell Quick Look to treat these files like any other text file and preview them as plain text; it does require diving into plist files and possibly breaking an application, so don't dive in unless you're comfortable and fully backed up. Read on for a short tour of Quick Look hacking basics ...

Continue reading TUAW Tip: Add file extensions to Quick Look

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GBTV #0390 (small) | GeekBrief.TV

2008-09-26T18:58:00.009-07:00

GBTV #0390 (small) | GeekBrief.TV
I woke up this morning to a flurry of activity in the tech world. The iPhone 2.0 software had been unofficially released, and the App Store was in iTunes. I downloaded some apps quickly before heading to the airport to pick up Dave Peterson.

Some of my favorites were PhoneSaber, AIM, Super Monkey Balls and HoldEm.

Seagate released their first 1TB hard drive.

Belkin's BreakFree incorporates a Magsafe adapter with 1/4" TRS cables, and the FlyWire streams HD video across the room to your flat screen across the room.

My iPhone line plans are at www.icali.tv

Apple now selling iPhone 3G unlocked in Hong Kong

2008-09-26T18:58:00.007-07:00

Filed under: Cellphones, Portable Audio, Portable Video

If you can't get your goods into China via the front door, there's always the back. Apple is now selling its iPhone 3G unlocked via its on-line Apple Store in Hong Kong. The 8GB model sells for HK$5,500 (about US$694) or HK$6,200 (about $797) for the 16 gigger. Already available since July 11th with a local Hutchison Telecommunications contract, this is the first time that Apple has sold its device unlocked in Hong Kong:

"iPhone 3G purchased at the Apple Online Store can be activated with any wireless carrier. Simply insert the SIM from your current phone into iPhone 3G and connect to iTunes 8 to complete activation."

Unfortunately for the 1 billion mainland Chinese, the terms and conditions limit sales to those in Hong Kong only -- not that the gray market cares about T&Cs. It'll be interesting to see if Apple extends the unlocking more broadly (presumably as exclusivity deals expire) or if this is strictly a local phenomena, perhaps in direct response to having its WiFi and the imperialistic 3G gutted from handsets sold under Apple's rumored China Mobile deal.

[Via PC World, thanks Twins N]

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Panasonic's Lumix DMC-G1 tentatively priced for USers at $799

2008-09-26T18:58:00.005-07:00

Filed under: Digital Cameras

Take this with a pinch of NaCl, but Adorama has it that Panasonic's Yasunori Takase confessed to a US price tag on the newly unveiled Lumix DMC-G1. During a leisurely chat at Photokina, the higher-up noted that the Micro Four Thirds camera would hit US soil for $799, though he didn't bother to mention an expected ship date. If you'll recall, we found that the G1 would start shipping at the tail end of October for ¥80,000 (around $750); considering that, we'd say $799 sounds about right over on this side of the world.

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GBTV #0374 (small) | GeekBrief.TV

2008-09-26T18:58:00.003-07:00

GBTV #0374 (small) | GeekBrief.TV
Producing a technically good streaming show isn't something we need to do for any reason beyond the difficulty of making it work without spending thousands of dollars on equipment. The challenge has driven us to distraction. We've spent days researching options and talking to developers. We've spent nights dreaming about possible solutions. Streaming doesn't scale like podcasting, but it's a lot of fun to go live whether it's on QIK or On Location or in the studio.

Leo Laporte is doing the best job of anyone. He's got the talent to keep viewers interested for a long period of time and/or keep checking in throughout the day. He also has the foresight to invest in equipment to make his stream look better than any other live show I've seen. That's why he is and pretty much always has been a role model. TWiT is a leader because of talent plus Leo's commitment to making it sound great. TWiT Live will be a leader in streaming for the same reasons.

Leo is using a $10,000 TriCaster for switching and lower thirds. We considered investing in one, but we aren't going to be live every day.

We've researched alternatives and there aren't that many. Sony has it's AnyCast, but it's about $20,000. The Datavideo SE-800 sells for about $5000, but it doesn't really fit the mission.

We started looking into software solutions too. Mike Versteeg's VidBlaster is awesome. He's now working to make it work with streaming services like Ustream.TV, but it's going to take some time. Wirecast would be a great solution too, if it worked with the streaming services. Ustream tells me it will by August.

Tonight we're testing CamTwist Studio on CaliLive.TV at 8PM CDT.

It's almost like this quest has become a massive mountain we have to conquer before we can move on and get back to normal. We want to get to the point where we can produce a live streaming show that looks as good as TV. This Brief is about our streaming quest, but I hope it can result in motivating some hardware developers to consider the emerging demand for an even less expensive solution than Tricaster. Tricaster is awesome and the price is low for what it accomplishes, but churches, community groups and people like me are looking for something that isn't being sold yet. Hopefully someone who watches Geek Brief will take on the challenge and meet the need.

I opened up a topic on GBTVTalk.com to discuss the need

ipod car adapter

eBay expands RSS feeds to searches

Screen Grabs: Nokia 5800-branding womanizer snaps pics of Britney Spears

Geek Brief Radio #430 | Home Automation by Savant

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