Is Internet On Your TV Really a Good Idea? information from www.jsyk.com
The latest HDTVs have the ability to surf the Internet -- as seen in Vizio's recent Super Bowl commercial -- but we're not really sure people need to get online when they just want to watch TV.
Vizio's latest spot, featuring Beyonce, really drives the message home. Robotic arms cherry-pick famous Internet video stars and top websites like Twitter, Facebook and Flickr. They end up being dropped into the screen of a TV, showing that viewers can also navigate the web on their device. We get it.
But do you really need to get on the Internet while you're watching TV? No, not really. Accessing these websites basically turns your unit into a giant monitor, but right now, the functions are limited. Also, the picture can become pixelated when videos are blown up, or if your Internet connection is slow.
We can say, however, that the Pandora app gives you access to an entire database of streamable songs, which can be pretty amazing to listen to from your TV set, especially if you hook it up to a speaker system. But right now, you're better surfing the Internet in one place -- your computer.
Friday 12 February 2010
Read More | Books, Twitter, Word Count
Books, Twitter, Word Count information from www.andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com
Chait takes George Packer's side in the ongoing debate. Pivoting off the original thread, Henry Farrell thinks even good books are too long:
I would estimate that about 80% of the non-academic non-fiction books that I do not find a complete waste of time (i.e. good books in politics, economics etc – I can’t speak to genres that I don’t know) are at least twice as long as they should be. They make an interesting point, and then they make it again, and again, padding it out with some quasi-relevant examples, and tacking on a conclusion about What It All Means which the author clearly doesn’t believe herself. The length of the average book reflects the economics of the print trade and educated guesses as to what book-buyers will actually pay for, much more than it does the actual intellectual content of the book itself.
Chait takes George Packer's side in the ongoing debate. Pivoting off the original thread, Henry Farrell thinks even good books are too long:
I would estimate that about 80% of the non-academic non-fiction books that I do not find a complete waste of time (i.e. good books in politics, economics etc – I can’t speak to genres that I don’t know) are at least twice as long as they should be. They make an interesting point, and then they make it again, and again, padding it out with some quasi-relevant examples, and tacking on a conclusion about What It All Means which the author clearly doesn’t believe herself. The length of the average book reflects the economics of the print trade and educated guesses as to what book-buyers will actually pay for, much more than it does the actual intellectual content of the book itself.
Must Read | Macworld Expo 2010 Best of Show winners
Macworld Expo 2010 Best of Show winners information from www.macworld.com
When it comes to Macworld Expo, there’s one question that Macworld editors are asked without fail: What are the most interesting products at the show? And that’s the idea behind the Macworld Expo Best of Show awards—to highlight the products that stand out at the show.
Here’s a list of the winners. We also have a slideshow of the winners if you’re interested in checking out what these products look like.
Canson Papershow Last year, the Livescribe Pulse Smartpen was a Best of Show winner. The Papershow ($200) uses a camera-equipped pen similar to the Smartpen in conjunction with special paper that transmits your handwriting to a screen. For example, you can present a slide show with, say, a bar chart, and you can make annotation to the chart that appears on screen in real time. You can even print the annotated slides, or export them as PDFs.
Carina Software SkyFi Got a GoTo telescope? Got and iPhone? With SkyFi ($150) and the SkyVoyager ($15) iPhone app, you can use your iPhone to control your telescope. The SkyFi is a Wi-Fi device that connects to a GoTo telecope’s RS-232 port, and you can also use your Mac as a remote control. And since the SkyFi supports TCP/IP, you can set it up so that your telescope can be controller remotely over the Internet. It’s the type of device that sitcom astrophysicists would love.
FastMac U-Socket More and more people are using mobile devices, which means more and more people need a convenient way to charge the batteries in those devices. With the U-Socket ($30), you can plug your iPhone, iPod, digital camera, or other device directly into the wall, without needing a power adapter. The USB ports output 5V at 600 mA, and they have power only when a device is connected. FastMac is still waiting for UL approval on the U-Socket, but they hope to start shipping soon.
Frolicware AutoPark Here’s an iPhone app you might wish you had before coming to San Francisco and Macworld Expo. AutoPark ($5) is all about parking your car. It helps you track the time left on a parking meter; uses GPS to help find your car; find nearby gas stations, banks, and bathrooms; and more. In cities like San Francisco, where meter maids are aggressive, AutoPark can save you from a costly parking ticket.
Inrix Traffic Pro This iPhone app is great for driving into a major city or to work, or on a road trip. Inrix Traffic Pro ($10 for one year, $25 lifetime) helps you plan your commute with real-time traffic reports. It can tell you where there are incidents and events that influence traffic. The app even lets you access traffic cameras so you can see for yourself what’s happening on the road.
Kanex HDMI to Mini DisplayPort Connector The current 27-inch iMacs have a Mini DisplayPort capable of accepting a video signal so you can use the iMac as a display. You could connect a Playstation 3 or Blu-ray player to the 27-inch iMac—but you need a HDMI-to-Mini DisplayPort video-in adapter, and Kanex’s HDMI to Mini DisplayPort Connector ($150) is the first such adapter we’ve seen. It opens up the possibilities of using the 27-inch iMac as the centerpiece of your home entertainment center.
Marketcircle Billings Touch We like Billings (), Marketcircle’s well-designed time-billing program for the Mac, and we’re glad to see Billings Touch ($15) on the iPhone—it’s one of the better apps of its kind. Though it syncs with Billings on the Mac, Billings Touch is full-featured and works well on its own. Billings touch makes it easy to track your expenses, and you can even invoice clients from the iPhone.
Microvision ShowWX The trend in the projector market is to go small, and more manufacturers are releasing pico projectors. The ShowWX ($500) is the only pico projector that uses laser technology that produces color that’s better than other, non-laser based pico projectors. It comes with a cable for connecting to an iPod nano, iPod touch, or iPhone.
Quickoffice Connect Mobile Suite With Quickoffice Connect Mobile Suite ($10) traveling business users may finally be able to leave their laptop inside their hotel room’s safe and rely only on the iPhone or iPod touch. Quickoffice offers a pair of full-featured office applications (Quickword and Quicksheet) that let you create, open and edit Microsoft Word and Excel documents. You can also access files that are stored on online storage services like DropBox, Google Docs, and MobileMe.
SachManya Yapper Seems like everyone is making an iPhone app. And if you’re a content creator, you need one, too. Yapper is an online service that gives content creators access to easy-to-use tools to create an iPhone app—you don’t need to know how to code. Apps built on Yapper use your existing RSS feeds, have an optimized user interface, can cache content for offline reading, and more.
Ten One Design Inklet This ingenious application expends the functionality of the MacBook’s multitouch trackpad, allowing it to be used like a Wacom tablet. When using Inklet ($25) with the Pogo Sketch ($15) stylus, it even has pressure sensitivity, and it can sense unwanted trackpad touches.
When it comes to Macworld Expo, there’s one question that Macworld editors are asked without fail: What are the most interesting products at the show? And that’s the idea behind the Macworld Expo Best of Show awards—to highlight the products that stand out at the show.
Here’s a list of the winners. We also have a slideshow of the winners if you’re interested in checking out what these products look like.
Canson Papershow Last year, the Livescribe Pulse Smartpen was a Best of Show winner. The Papershow ($200) uses a camera-equipped pen similar to the Smartpen in conjunction with special paper that transmits your handwriting to a screen. For example, you can present a slide show with, say, a bar chart, and you can make annotation to the chart that appears on screen in real time. You can even print the annotated slides, or export them as PDFs.
Carina Software SkyFi Got a GoTo telescope? Got and iPhone? With SkyFi ($150) and the SkyVoyager ($15) iPhone app, you can use your iPhone to control your telescope. The SkyFi is a Wi-Fi device that connects to a GoTo telecope’s RS-232 port, and you can also use your Mac as a remote control. And since the SkyFi supports TCP/IP, you can set it up so that your telescope can be controller remotely over the Internet. It’s the type of device that sitcom astrophysicists would love.
FastMac U-Socket More and more people are using mobile devices, which means more and more people need a convenient way to charge the batteries in those devices. With the U-Socket ($30), you can plug your iPhone, iPod, digital camera, or other device directly into the wall, without needing a power adapter. The USB ports output 5V at 600 mA, and they have power only when a device is connected. FastMac is still waiting for UL approval on the U-Socket, but they hope to start shipping soon.
Frolicware AutoPark Here’s an iPhone app you might wish you had before coming to San Francisco and Macworld Expo. AutoPark ($5) is all about parking your car. It helps you track the time left on a parking meter; uses GPS to help find your car; find nearby gas stations, banks, and bathrooms; and more. In cities like San Francisco, where meter maids are aggressive, AutoPark can save you from a costly parking ticket.
Inrix Traffic Pro This iPhone app is great for driving into a major city or to work, or on a road trip. Inrix Traffic Pro ($10 for one year, $25 lifetime) helps you plan your commute with real-time traffic reports. It can tell you where there are incidents and events that influence traffic. The app even lets you access traffic cameras so you can see for yourself what’s happening on the road.
Kanex HDMI to Mini DisplayPort Connector The current 27-inch iMacs have a Mini DisplayPort capable of accepting a video signal so you can use the iMac as a display. You could connect a Playstation 3 or Blu-ray player to the 27-inch iMac—but you need a HDMI-to-Mini DisplayPort video-in adapter, and Kanex’s HDMI to Mini DisplayPort Connector ($150) is the first such adapter we’ve seen. It opens up the possibilities of using the 27-inch iMac as the centerpiece of your home entertainment center.
Marketcircle Billings Touch We like Billings (), Marketcircle’s well-designed time-billing program for the Mac, and we’re glad to see Billings Touch ($15) on the iPhone—it’s one of the better apps of its kind. Though it syncs with Billings on the Mac, Billings Touch is full-featured and works well on its own. Billings touch makes it easy to track your expenses, and you can even invoice clients from the iPhone.
Microvision ShowWX The trend in the projector market is to go small, and more manufacturers are releasing pico projectors. The ShowWX ($500) is the only pico projector that uses laser technology that produces color that’s better than other, non-laser based pico projectors. It comes with a cable for connecting to an iPod nano, iPod touch, or iPhone.
Quickoffice Connect Mobile Suite With Quickoffice Connect Mobile Suite ($10) traveling business users may finally be able to leave their laptop inside their hotel room’s safe and rely only on the iPhone or iPod touch. Quickoffice offers a pair of full-featured office applications (Quickword and Quicksheet) that let you create, open and edit Microsoft Word and Excel documents. You can also access files that are stored on online storage services like DropBox, Google Docs, and MobileMe.
SachManya Yapper Seems like everyone is making an iPhone app. And if you’re a content creator, you need one, too. Yapper is an online service that gives content creators access to easy-to-use tools to create an iPhone app—you don’t need to know how to code. Apps built on Yapper use your existing RSS feeds, have an optimized user interface, can cache content for offline reading, and more.
Ten One Design Inklet This ingenious application expends the functionality of the MacBook’s multitouch trackpad, allowing it to be used like a Wacom tablet. When using Inklet ($25) with the Pogo Sketch ($15) stylus, it even has pressure sensitivity, and it can sense unwanted trackpad touches.
Must Read | FLO TV coming to smart-books?
FLO TV coming to smart-books? information from www.electricpig.co.uk
FLO TV, Qualcomm’s stab at setting a standard for mobile television, will be show running on a smart-book at next week’s Mobile World Congress, the company has revealed. Is it set to come to bigger screens?
Wireless giant Qualcomm says it will show a “first-time smart-book demo integrating live TV with advanced mobile media applications” at its FLO TV stand next week at the tradeshow in Barcelona. It’s a first for the company, which so far has keep FLO TV to certain mobile phones, in-car entertainment systems and its personal television handset, but an unsurprising move considering Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chips are powering this new range of smart-books, such as the Lenovo Skylight.
FLO TV, Qualcomm’s stab at setting a standard for mobile television, will be show running on a smart-book at next week’s Mobile World Congress, the company has revealed. Is it set to come to bigger screens?
Wireless giant Qualcomm says it will show a “first-time smart-book demo integrating live TV with advanced mobile media applications” at its FLO TV stand next week at the tradeshow in Barcelona. It’s a first for the company, which so far has keep FLO TV to certain mobile phones, in-car entertainment systems and its personal television handset, but an unsurprising move considering Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chips are powering this new range of smart-books, such as the Lenovo Skylight.
Of course, proof of concept doesn’t mean that FLO TV will immediately make the jump to ultra portables, but bear in mind that there was only a two month gap between us breaking the news of the iPhone FLO TV receiver demo, and the company tying up a deal with Mophie to make it public, so there might not be long to wait.
Qualcomm has yet to bring FLO TV to the UK in any form, but it could make an interesting alternative to relying on patchy 3G for watching video on the move. We’ll be sure to hit up Qualcomm’s stand next week and report back.
Qualcomm has yet to bring FLO TV to the UK in any form, but it could make an interesting alternative to relying on patchy 3G for watching video on the move. We’ll be sure to hit up Qualcomm’s stand next week and report back.
Must Read | Google tweaks Buzz social hub after torrent of complaints
Google tweaks Buzz social hub after torrent of complaints information from www.seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/home
This weeWhen Google unveiled Buzz, its answer to Facebook and Twitter, on Tuesday, it hoped to get its service off to a fast start by scanning the contact lists of Gmail users and automatically adding the most frequent correspondents as online friends.
But what the company viewed as an obvious shortcut stirred up a beehive of angry critics. Many users bristled at the invasion of privacy and Google's failure to ask permission before sharing personal contact lists with a broad audience, and the company has faced its own Snowmageddon of criticism on blogs and Web sites for the past three days.
E-mail, it turns out, can hold many secrets, from the names of personal physicians and illicit lovers to the identities of whistle-blowers and anti-government activists. And Google, so recently a hero to many people for threatening to leave China after hacking attempts against the Gmail accounts of human-rights activists, now finds itself being pilloried as a clumsy violator of privacy.
As Evgeny Morozov wrote in a blog post for Foreign Affairs, "If I were working for the Iranian or the Chinese government, I would immediately dispatch my Internet geek squads to check on Google Buzz accounts for political activists and see if they have any connections that were previously unknown to the government."
"This is one of Google's biggest blunders," said Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center. Rotenberg said his group planned to file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission alleging an unfair and deceptive trade practice.
One blogger used this example to express her outrage: "I use my private Gmail account to e-mail my boyfriend and my mother. There's a BIG drop-off between them and my other 'most frequent' contacts. You know who my third most frequent contact is? My abusive ex-husband."
Critics said that Google's decision to use e-mail and chat correspondence as the basis of a social network was fundamentally misguided. While it is common for social networks to make public a person's list of friends and followers, those lists are not typically created from e-mail conversations.
"People thought what they had was an address book for an e-mail program, and Google decided to turn that into a friends list for a new social network," Rotenberg said. "E-mail is one of the few things that people understand to be private."
Some privacy experts said that Google had made matters worse by making it difficult for people to hide their lists of Buzz contacts after they realized that those lists had been made public. Some users assumed that they could simply turn off the Buzz service, but that proved inadequate.
"You want to have a simple rollback mechanism, so once things are not what you expected them to be, you can get out quickly and not have to play a game of Whack-a-Mole," said Deirdre Mulligan, a privacy expert and assistant professor at the School of Information at the University of California, Berkeley.
Google said it was planning to address that issue soon.
On Thursday, Google had tweaked the Buzz sign-up process to make the opt-out option clearer and made it easier to block people from following users. It also encouraged users to provide more feedback.
"We are open to improving Buzz more and to making other changes," Google spokeswoman Victoria Katsarou said.
"Among some of the future features we're considering is building a stand-alone Buzz experience in addition to the one in Gmail," Katsarou said.
Critics say Google, stung by the privacy backlash, is taking steps in the right direction, but they contend that Google should have asked for permission before automatically including contacts in Buzz.
The backlash is unusual for Google, which has substantial brand loyalty that it says comes from acting in the best interests of its users.
Rotenberg said Google might have overreached as it attempted to break into the increasingly competitive social-networking space, in which it has been outpaced and outmaneuvered by Facebook and Twitter.
"When you sign up for Facebook, you expect certain things. When you sign up for Twitter, you expect certain things. When you sign up for Gmail, you expect e-mail. So when Google turned people's e-mail contact list into their social-network friends list, they got understandably upset," he said.
This weeWhen Google unveiled Buzz, its answer to Facebook and Twitter, on Tuesday, it hoped to get its service off to a fast start by scanning the contact lists of Gmail users and automatically adding the most frequent correspondents as online friends.
But what the company viewed as an obvious shortcut stirred up a beehive of angry critics. Many users bristled at the invasion of privacy and Google's failure to ask permission before sharing personal contact lists with a broad audience, and the company has faced its own Snowmageddon of criticism on blogs and Web sites for the past three days.
E-mail, it turns out, can hold many secrets, from the names of personal physicians and illicit lovers to the identities of whistle-blowers and anti-government activists. And Google, so recently a hero to many people for threatening to leave China after hacking attempts against the Gmail accounts of human-rights activists, now finds itself being pilloried as a clumsy violator of privacy.
As Evgeny Morozov wrote in a blog post for Foreign Affairs, "If I were working for the Iranian or the Chinese government, I would immediately dispatch my Internet geek squads to check on Google Buzz accounts for political activists and see if they have any connections that were previously unknown to the government."
"This is one of Google's biggest blunders," said Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center. Rotenberg said his group planned to file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission alleging an unfair and deceptive trade practice.
One blogger used this example to express her outrage: "I use my private Gmail account to e-mail my boyfriend and my mother. There's a BIG drop-off between them and my other 'most frequent' contacts. You know who my third most frequent contact is? My abusive ex-husband."
Critics said that Google's decision to use e-mail and chat correspondence as the basis of a social network was fundamentally misguided. While it is common for social networks to make public a person's list of friends and followers, those lists are not typically created from e-mail conversations.
"People thought what they had was an address book for an e-mail program, and Google decided to turn that into a friends list for a new social network," Rotenberg said. "E-mail is one of the few things that people understand to be private."
Some privacy experts said that Google had made matters worse by making it difficult for people to hide their lists of Buzz contacts after they realized that those lists had been made public. Some users assumed that they could simply turn off the Buzz service, but that proved inadequate.
"You want to have a simple rollback mechanism, so once things are not what you expected them to be, you can get out quickly and not have to play a game of Whack-a-Mole," said Deirdre Mulligan, a privacy expert and assistant professor at the School of Information at the University of California, Berkeley.
Google said it was planning to address that issue soon.
On Thursday, Google had tweaked the Buzz sign-up process to make the opt-out option clearer and made it easier to block people from following users. It also encouraged users to provide more feedback.
"We are open to improving Buzz more and to making other changes," Google spokeswoman Victoria Katsarou said.
"Among some of the future features we're considering is building a stand-alone Buzz experience in addition to the one in Gmail," Katsarou said.
Critics say Google, stung by the privacy backlash, is taking steps in the right direction, but they contend that Google should have asked for permission before automatically including contacts in Buzz.
The backlash is unusual for Google, which has substantial brand loyalty that it says comes from acting in the best interests of its users.
Rotenberg said Google might have overreached as it attempted to break into the increasingly competitive social-networking space, in which it has been outpaced and outmaneuvered by Facebook and Twitter.
"When you sign up for Facebook, you expect certain things. When you sign up for Twitter, you expect certain things. When you sign up for Gmail, you expect e-mail. So when Google turned people's e-mail contact list into their social-network friends list, they got understandably upset," he said.
Thursday 11 February 2010
Must Read | Logitech wireless app uses device drivers to turn Apple smartphones into mouse and keyboard
Logitech touch mouse information as from www.drivershq.com
A new wireless application for the iPhone or iPod touch can turn those devices into a type of wireless trackpad, using them to replace both keyboard and mouse for a desktop computer.
Mobile applications blog Appmodo writes that the app can be used from "anywhere in the house" to control a desktop PC. Appmodo also reports that the app provides multitouch capability for simulating a mouse with up to three buttons and the ability to show or hide the keyboard via a simple command. The app will run on Windows XP, Vista, and 7, along with Mac OS X.
Lifehacker comments that "while such an arrangement isn't a practical replacement for a full-out wireless keyboard, it is a great tool for presentations or for pairing with one of the awesome media centers we've highlighted."
Analysts say that apps like the new one from Logitech are part of a shift towards greater interoperability for digital devices, a trend which began with Bluetooth connections for computers and appliances.
A new wireless application for the iPhone or iPod touch can turn those devices into a type of wireless trackpad, using them to replace both keyboard and mouse for a desktop computer.
Mobile applications blog Appmodo writes that the app can be used from "anywhere in the house" to control a desktop PC. Appmodo also reports that the app provides multitouch capability for simulating a mouse with up to three buttons and the ability to show or hide the keyboard via a simple command. The app will run on Windows XP, Vista, and 7, along with Mac OS X.
Lifehacker comments that "while such an arrangement isn't a practical replacement for a full-out wireless keyboard, it is a great tool for presentations or for pairing with one of the awesome media centers we've highlighted."
Analysts say that apps like the new one from Logitech are part of a shift towards greater interoperability for digital devices, a trend which began with Bluetooth connections for computers and appliances.
Must Read | Comcast reinvents image with 'Xfinity' campaign
Comcast reinvents image with 'Xfinity' campaign The Star-Ledger - NJ.com
AP PHOTO Comcast is launching a massive rebranding campaign, attaching the name “Xfinity” to its cable products ...
Comcast Plans Makeover to Boost Its Image Wall Street Journal
Comcast Corp., the nation's largest cable provider, will try to recast its image among consumers, launching a major effort this week to ...
Comcast becoming an X-word: XFinity Chicago Tribune
Comcast, the nation's largest cable service, is rebranding itself as XFinity, in an effort the company suggests is ...
AP PHOTO Comcast is launching a massive rebranding campaign, attaching the name “Xfinity” to its cable products ...
Comcast Plans Makeover to Boost Its Image Wall Street Journal
Comcast Corp., the nation's largest cable provider, will try to recast its image among consumers, launching a major effort this week to ...
Comcast becoming an X-word: XFinity Chicago Tribune
Comcast, the nation's largest cable service, is rebranding itself as XFinity, in an effort the company suggests is ...
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