After about 20 years on the air, The Simpsons have decided its time to skewer Apple. The target for the attack? Pretty much everything Apple Store related, Apple fanbois and even Steve Jobs himself. Seemed like it was all in good fun, well until the big SJ comes up - but hey its all in good fun!
If you are an update junkie, *eh hem to some special reader out there*, its hard to keep track of when one of your multiple applications update. Sure, there is the Apple system update but that only tracks Apple software. What about all the third party stuff?
Well, MacUpdate and Pingie to the rescue! As you know Pingie is your source for RSS to SMS updates, so by custom creating a watchlist on MacUpdate you can let Pingie drop you a text anytime an app updates.
Simply create a free MacUpdate account using this link. Once you create the account, make sure you are signed in and then search for an application you have installed on your computer. Click "Add to Watchlist". You know you added the software correctly when "Add to Watchlist" changes to "Remove from Watchlist".
Repeat this step for all the applications you have installed on your computer.
Once you are done click on the "Members" option in the upper right hand corner of the screen.
Once you click on the Members link, it will automatically open to the "Watch List" with a RSS icon. Click on that RSS icon and your web browser will open your special "Watch List" RSS feed.
Now copy that feed and log into Pingie. If you have a Pingie account, just login and add the feed. If you don't have a Pingie account (Its free!) just visit the signup page and plug in your "Watch List" RSS URL in the RSS feed field. BE SURE IT STARTS WITH HTTP://, NOT FEED://.
Enjoy! This tip is Mac only, but if there is an update listing service that has a watch list with RSS you can follow the steps above for Pingie.
If 2008 will be known as anything it will be known as the year of change. This is the year that digital albums (especially free ones thanks to LaLa.com and Imeem) has shown the CD is on its way to become a relic.
Britney Spears has just released her new album Circus exclusively on imeem, where you can stream the album in its entirety for free (you?ll also be able to embed the album playlist anywhere you?d like). The downloadable/physical version of the album won?t be available until December 2nd, but you can currently pre-order it through imeem and a number of other stores.
Now, to listen to the album you must register for a Imeem account (It's free) but if this release shows anything it that studios are more willing to embrace the digital age with new exclusive content as well as new streaming media licenses.
Busy day in the mobile world. Today marks the availability of the iPhone OS 2.2 which features:
Enhancements to Maps
- Google Street View
- public transit and walking diretions
- display address of dropped pins
- share location via email
Enhancements to Mail
- resolved isolated issues with scheduled fetching of email
- improved formatting of wide HTML email
Improved stability and performance of Safari
Podcasts are now available for download in iTunes application (over Wi-Fi and cellular)
Decrease in call set-up failures and call drops
Improved sound quality of visual voicemail messages
Pressing the Home button from any Home screen takes you to the first Home screen
Preferences to turn on/off auto-correction in Keyboard settings
Also, if you are looking for that OTHER touch screen device (As Apple would like you to think of it), the Blackberry Storm Verizon now has it on sale to the general public. Its available on the Verizon website for $200 on two-year contract.
Yahoo, yea remember them, announced that they are looking for a new CEO as its creator Jerry Yang resigned the job.
Below is the complete memo to employees:
To: all yahoos
Fr: Jerry
Subject: update
yahoos -
i wanted to address all of you on the news we?ve just announced. the board of directors and I have agreed to initiate a succession process for the ceo role of yahoo!. roy bostock, our chairman of the board, is leading the effort to identify and assess potential candidates for consideration by the full board. the board will be evaluating and considering both internal and external candidates and has retained heidrick and struggles to help in this effort.
i will be participating in the search for my successor, and i will continue as ceo until the board selects a new ceo. once a successor is named, i will return to my previous role as chief yahoo and continue to serve as a director on the board.
last june, i accepted the board?s request that i assume the ceo role to restructure and reposition the company as a whole in order to more effectively meet the fast-changing needs of both users and partners. since taking on the ceo role, i have had an ongoing dialogue with the board about succession timing. thanks in large measure to your tireless efforts, we have created a more open, competitive yahoo! and we believe the time is now right to transition to a new ceo who can take the company to the next level.
despite the external environment we face, the fact remains that yahoo! is now a significantly different company that is stronger in many ways than it was just 18 months ago. this only makes it all the more essential that we manage this opportunity to leverage the progress up to this point as effectively as possible. i strongly believe that having transformed our platform and better aligned costs and revenues, we have a unique window for the right ceo to take ownership over the next wave of mission-critical decisions facing the company.
all of you know that I have always, and will always bleed purple. i will always do what I think is right for this great company. while this step will be an adjustment for all of us, i know it?s the right one. i look forward to updating you on this process as soon as the board has developments to share, and will continue to do everything i can to make yahoo! fulfill its full potential.
thank you,
jerry
Now is do or die time for the company. There is massive innovation at Yahoo but Google continues to erode their market share and as well all know more eyeballs equals more ad revenue. Perhaps now is the time that Yahoo stops trying to compete and run a very lean ship of hungry employees - Just how Google started.
There are better search algorithms out there and if Yahoo cuts some fat and puts it all in R&D lets the engineers have no restrictions they can out search the search giant. Hey Yahoo. My resume is available :)
What do you do if you are Sprint and have a ton of Flash developers with a ton of time on their hands? You get the Sprint Speed Dashboard that is designed to be pure torture for the ADD sect. I'm not sure if I love it or hate it (I'll give you guys one guess) but its is sure worth a click and a few moments of your day!
As the major domo at Experiment23 and as a general technologist I travel a lot. I've had the opportunity to see tons of places and in the process have become an airport buff. A well designed airport can make a flight extremely enjoyable but the lack of attention to detail can really ruin anybodies whole traveling experience. Thankfully JetBlue, in cooperation with the Port Authority of NY paid careful attention to all the details to create a really unique and passenger friendly airport. Terminal 5 is such a breath of fresh air compared to the decrepit eroding Terminal 6.
From the get go the new terminal is clean, wide open and airy, there are tons of places for passengers to sit plug in a laptop and surf online. There are 20 security lanes with one central queue which makes waiting for security much shorter then other airports. However, I've never seen all 20 lanes open. Once inside there are 22 restaurants and food outlets plus 25 stores. JetBlue, on their new premium flying kick, has made each shop and restaurant have a very boutique modern feel. No nachos and beer here (well if you don't count one of their Mexican restaurants, Revolución). They have a steakhouse (5ive Steak), Tapas restaurant (Piquillo), Jamba Juice, French Fry House (Pommes Frites), two pizza places, as well as a open buffet market. But if you don't want to sit at a restaurant at each gate JetBlue offers at gate ordering via touch screens where your food is delivered as you wait.
Also if you forgot something to read or more importantly your headphones the retail at Terminal 5 is almost mall quality. They have Borders, EH Eyewear, Lacoste, a spa, Techshowcase (for all your plug in needs), and a pharmacy.
All in all the experience was VERY enjoyable and if you live in NY or fly in to NY via JetBlue take a little time to enjoy the new terminal.
Fresh in from Zatz, seems like TiVo has made, what I think is the most logical partnership ever.
You can now order Domino's pizza right from your TiVo UI. No need to get off the couch, forget looking for the phone, forget the computer (even though Dominos online pizza tracker is REALLY cool), just use your TiVo peanut to get your favorite multi thousand calorie meal delivered to your door.
Black Friday, also known as the day I lock myself in seclusion, can be a shoppers dream come true - being that they like crowds and waiting an inordinate amount of time in lines.
One of my favorite websites, BlackFriday.info lays out all the Back Friday deals, way before the ads hit. This year looks especially good for bargain hunters thanks to the lagging economy.
I also made a special Pingie alert so you can be immediately notified when a Black Friday ad is posted.
Not a fan of YouTube's crappy video quality? Did you know not so secretly for the last few months YouTube has been quietly saving and giving users the ability to display "high resolution" videos. Sadly however, all videos on YouTube and embedded on other sites load at normal quality by default.
Here is how you link to high quality YouTube videos:
If you need to link to a high quality video on your blog, append &fmt=18 onto the end of the YouTube URL, like so:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuqiGrWBRqE&fmt=18
Now if you wanted to embed high quality video in your blog:
Add &ap=%2526fmt%3D18 onto the end of the YouTube link in the embed code.
With the upcoming release of "Wall-E", I'm reminded Luxo Jr. is now 22. And as all 22 year olds do, Luxo seems to be getting himself into all sorts of trouble, well, thanks to come Luxo "fans" that have some 3D experience.
The biggest problem is this digital world is accessing your data. It is scattered all over the place and not in a central location, or if it is in a central location its usually at your home. Lacie hopes to solve this problem with the "Internet Space" hard drive.
Just plug the drive into your network and it will automatically sync with all your computers in your house and stream media files to your PS3 or Xbox 360. But as a bonus, you can access the files on it over the internet through LaCie?s website, which is a pretty nice feature.
The "Internet Space" drive will set you back about $210 for a 500 gig drive.
Verizon users, after swallowing up Altel, it seems the cellular behemoth is taking a page from Sprints book and offering a "Nationwide Connect Plan" sometime on November 16th that will include unlimited data and email, unlimited messaging (SMS and MMS) and unlimited mobile-to-mobile and night/weekend minutes. For 450 minutes this package will cost $70 and $130 for unlimited voice minutes.
This is a friendly reminder to all our US readers, and according to the stats we have a lot of you. Please go out to the polls today and cast your vote. Left or Right, Conservative or Liberal we all have an equal voice today.
Starbucks as a reward to voters (even though there is no way to verify) will give anyone a free cup of coffee. So, an chance to get your voice heard and a cup of joe. Happy Election day.
Feel free to post your political viewpoints in the comments - if you wish.
Hey UNEASY's! Tis the season to be scary! Figured I would throw up this post so we can post pictures of our halloween getups. Now, I don't expect posts to go unrewarded. The person with the most creative costume will win a REALLY cool prize, not going to say what it is exactly - but I'm digging into my tech collection and know somebody will enjoy this giveaway!
Just be sure that you post your email address in the email address field so I can contact the winner! Good luck!
I find it hardly fair that AT&T offers free WiFi that you can only use on your iPhone or Blackberry, so here is a work around to allow you to use your free wifi on nay device.
Fist of all you have to make sure you have a Blackberry or iPhone to qualify for the free internet. That being said to trick AT&T you have to change your browsers User Agent. If you use FireFox download User Agent Switcher (UAS) to start the process.
Then you need to alter the UAS settings (Tools - User Agent Switcher - Options - Options - User Agents - Add) to the following:
Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU like Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/420+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.0 Mobile/1A543a Safari/419.3
(Make sure all of that is on one line)
and if you have a Mac in Safari 3.0 in the Preferences, Select Advanced and check the "Show Develop menu in menu bar". A new menu item called "Develop" should appear in the menu bar. Click on that menu and select "User Agent" and then select the sub option "Mobile Safari 1.1.3 - iPhone".
With the user agent now switched you will be directed to a landing page designed just for AT&T iPhones where AT&T is asking your for your iPhones phone number. Put in your iPhone or Blackberries number. AT&T will then send you a text message with a secure lick that you click on to activate the free wifi. Just enter that link into your browser and you have free unlimited wifi on your laptop.
Well sure, Oprah my be dishing out $50 coupons for the Kindle but the Dash (for today only) has its price slashed and is available for less cash. (I have a feeling Zatz is gonna kill me for all these bad rhymes).
All joking aside Amazon Gold box offers the uber cool cellular connected Dash Express for $99 of retail price. So it's $199.00 instead of $299.99. Now, for those out of the loop, the Dash is a GPS navigation on steroids. It has always updated street maps, live traffic conditions and since its data enabled you can also do live searches for places as well as find movie show times and the cheapest gas prices to name a few cool features.
So, if you waiting to pickup the Dash now may be the time!
Well, its time for me to eat my hat. Now, I'm not posting a full review yet - BUT - I must say my gut reaction to Android was wrong. Yes, the OS is far from a finished look and feel. Yes, The G1 may not be the best piece of hardware to showcase the OS (Having to constantly switch the device on its side and flip out the keyboard to type IS annoying) BUT the Android OS has promise.
At first blush I thought the G1 was just a Sidekick on steroids (Although I can see may converters) but Android IS a viable OS. Having the ability to code any application and distribute it WITHOUT RESTRICTIONS is appealing. No, Android will not beat RIM or Apple but Palm should be VERY worried. Windows Mobile isn't safe either. Mark my words, Apple and RIM will battle for number one. Android will place a strong second. Windows Mobile third and I think Palm will fade away or just distribute the WinMo OS.
I must say, I thought I would hate Android. I don't. Stay tuned! Thoughts?
This MOST FRUSTRATING feature of the iPhone and the iPod is the inability to automatically sync your media on one computer and be able to manually manage it on another. If you try and sync (manual or otherwise) your iPhone or iPod on a guest computer iTunes will wipe all the media.
With a few small easy changes to the iTunes Music Library XML file you can then sync your phone (or iPod touch) with different systems.
Just make sure you backup the XML file before you start, but this solution works for me!
