VUDU brings Pandora, Picasa and Flickr to connected HDTVs, promises more apps soon

And you thought HDTVs were made for watching TV. VUDU has today slung its (admittedly paltry) library of applications over to its television partners, making both Picasa and Flickr access possible through LG and Mitsubishi sets with integrated VUDU software. Of course, all of this was already available to those relying on one of VUDU’s dedicated set-top boxes, but it’s always nice to have everything wrapped up neatly within the display itself. In related news, Pandora streaming is also available on VUDU-infused Mitsubishi panels, though for whatever reason, LG has “requested that only free TV and games be available on their devices.” All bummers aside, the company has asserted that even more internet apps will be released to VUDU customers in the coming months, so make sure hold ’em to their word.

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VUDU brings Pandora, Picasa and Flickr to connected HDTVs, promises more apps soon originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 Nov 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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CyberNotes: Quickly Assign Hotkeys to Folders, Programs, URL’s, and More

This article was written on August 14, 2008 by CyberNet.

CyberNotes
Tutorial Thursday

arrow Windows Windows only arrow
When it comes to computers I’d say that keyboard shortcuts (a.k.a. hotkeys) are something I couldn’t imagine not having at my beckon call. Certain applications take advantage of keyboard shortcuts more than others, but what we’re looking to do today is show you how to assign hotkeys to any folder, program, or URL that you come across.

Would you believe that any of the above can be done using a simple drag-and-drop action? It can be with Qliner Hotkeys, and I’ve been using it ever since Nosh introduced me to it last year.

Despite what you might be thinking this isn’t your run-of-the-mill hotkey configuration utility. What makes this special is the fact that it has a configurable on-screen keyboard that displays what key each shortcut is assigned to:

qliner.png
(Click to Enlarge)

How do you get the on-screen keyboard? During installation you were asked whether you wanted to use the Caps Lock key as a replacement for the Windows Key (for keyboards that have no Windows Key). If you choose to do this, hold down the Caps Lock key for 5-seconds, otherwise hold down the Windows Key for 5-seconds.

Did it work? You should have seen the keyboard with the default shortcuts already assigned. To use/activate any of the shortcuts shown just press the Windows Key followed by the key shown on the on-screen keyboard. What you’ve probably noticed by now is that working with the keyboard in this fashion could get quite annoying since it disappears as soon as you release the Windows Key. Try pressing the Windows Key+Z to bring up the keyboard more permanently.

Now you can go to town. I’d start by dragging and dropping your favorite folders and applications onto the shortcut keys:

qliner shortcut.png
(Click to Enlarge)

Don’t limit yourself to just programs and folders though. You can go to any website, and start dragging hyperlinks onto the keyboard to create shortcuts to your favorite URL’s. In this example I’m dragging our logo onto a key to create a shortcut to our homepage:

qliner ie shortcut.png
(Click to Enlarge)

If you make a mistake you can right-click on a key, and then select the Delete option. Also from the right-click menu you can copy and paste shortcuts from one key to another.

Don’t like the drag-and-drop method? The alternative method to adding shortcuts is to right-click on any key that hasn’t already been assigned a shortcut, and go to the New Hotkey menu. From there a wizard will take you through the necessary steps, or you can dive deeper into the menus to find pre-made shortcuts for things like shutting down your computer, minimizing all windows, volume control, and more.

That’s not all either! While you’ve got the keyboard up you can start playing with some of the customization options. To do this just right-click anywhere on an empty space on the keyboard, and start navigating through the menus. You can change the color of the keyboard to black, silver, or slate, and even alter the layout to match that of your laptop. Supported keyboard layouts are:

  • Dell Latitude
  • IBM Laptop
  • Sony VAIO Laptop
  • Standard Desktop Keyboard
  • Toshiba Laptop

I’m not sure if it could get any simpler than this for creating and managing your own hotkeys. If you’ve got a better tool that you use be sure to let us know in the comments.

Get Qliner Hotkeys

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CyberNotes: Protect and Secure your Browser with Sandboxie

This article was written on July 11, 2007 by CyberNet.

CyberNotes
Web Browser Wednesday

We’ve written a lot about protecting your computer while browsing the Internet, and now we thought it was a good time to cover an application that quite a few of you have recommended. Sandboxie is a free (for the most part) application that can wrap itself around your browser to provide a more secure session when downloading applications or trying out new extensions.

Sandboxie serves as a middle man between an application, which for our purposes today is a Web browser, and the hard drive. When you want to protect the browser you simply run it in a “sanboxed” mode through the Sandboxie menu:

Sandboxie

Then anything that you do from within the browser is stored in a sandbox that can be deleted at anytime. Don’t quite understand? I’ll walk you through a common scenario that explains it a little better. The first thing I did after installing Sandboxie was start Internet Explorer by using the menu option seen in the screenshot above, but you can use your default browser by choosing the respective option.

Sandboxie

One thing that you’ll notice in the screenshot is that the window title for Internet Explorer has a “[#]” on each end. This represents that I’m running that program in a sandbox.

Now lets say I came across a program that I want to try out, but I’m not too sure whether I’ll like it or I’m not sure if it is going to try and install a virus on my system! With Sandboxie you just download and run the installation as you normally would, and if you watch the Sandboxie process explorer you’ll notice that even the installer runs in a sandbox:

Sandboxie

Don’t worry about doing anything special…Sandboxie takes care of it all! After the program is done installing you can go ahead and run it. The program will work just like you expect it to, but underneath lies a secret that is keeping you secure! When the program installed everything it did was placed in a special location on your hard drive (registry settings, files, Start Menu links, etc…).

If you want to get to the location where the files are stored just go to Function -> Contents of Sandbox -> Explorer Contents and you will instantly be presented with the area where all the files are being stored. After installing Taskbar Shuffle into the default sandbox that I made, here is what the file structure looked like in Vista:

Sandboxie

It replicated everything in my Vista folder structure perfectly, and as you can see, it will create a different folder for each sandbox that you make. That way you can switch between sandboxes depending on what you are doing, and if you ever want to get rid of a program you don’t have to worry about uninstalling it…just delete the corresponding sandbox!

If you’re looking for the ultimate privacy control in your Web browser then Sandboxie also has a setting for you. You can designate a sandbox to automatically be emptied after each use. If you run your browser in a sandbox, as soon as you finish everything will instantly be wiped clean…talk about covering your tracks! :)

Some of these features are compliments of the new Sandboxie version 3 that was just released yesterday. Features such as automatic sandboxing of a Windows Installer as well as sandboxing Windows Explorer is all new, and I have thoroughly been enjoying the work that has been put into this new version.

Sandboxie doesn’t cost a thing and you can use it as long as you would like, except for one small catch. After 30-days it will periodically pop-up asking for you to enter in a registration code. You can continue to use the program for as long as you would like, but you will have to get a valid registration code for $25 if you don’t want to get nagged.

Sandboxie supports 32-bit versions of Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista and 64-bit versions of Windows XP/2003. The installer is just 245KB, so the whole thing is a small and efficient application.

Sandboxie Homepage

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CyberNotes: How to Put Microsoft Word to Work for You!

This article was written on March 31, 2008 by CyberNet.

CyberNotes
Microsoft Monday

Microsoft Word is such a powerful application that can do a lot for you and save you time! The key though is knowing how to put it to work for you. Today’s Microsoft Monday includes five tips that will help you make the most out of Microsoft Word. If you have a tip of your own, feel free to share…

Tip #1 – Automatically Create a Table of Contents

Did you know that you can automatically have Microsoft Word 2007 create a table of contents (TOC) for you? It’s actually very simple.  If you have written a paper and you’ll need a TOC, you’ll want to make sure that you are using Headings which are found under the Styles section on the “Home” tab. This helps Word distinguish what should be included in the TOC.

headings

Header 1 will be considered the highest level while Heading 2 will be the next highest level and Heading 3 is the following level in the TOC. Using these different headings will give you the hierarchical levels in your Table of Contents.

toc

Once your paper has been written and you’ve appropriately used the headings, just place your cursor where you’d like the TOC inserted. Then go up to the “References Tab” and under the “Table of Contents” section, select the design you’d like. Word will create a Table of Contents for you based upon the headings that you used, and will insert the proper page numbers. My example Table of Contents can be seen below.

table of contents

Tip #2 – Random Text Generator

If you’re ever in a situation where you need some random text, Microsoft Word will generate paragraphs for you. You can either choose to have the random text be paragraphs about Microsoft Office, or you can also have the Lorem Ipsum “dummy text” inserted. You are able to choose how many paragraphs and how many sentences in each paragraph you’d like.

To generate random text about Microsoft Office, do the following.

Type =rand(2,4) and then press enter. This will generate two paragraphs with four sentences in each paragraph. If you wanted 3 paragraphs with 6 sentences each it would be =rand(3,6) and then press enter.

random number generator

To generate Lorem Ipsum text, do the following:

Type =lorem(2,4) and then press enter. Like above, this will generate two paragraphs with four sentences of Lorem Ipsum text.

lorem

Tip #3 – Quickly Select a sentence or paragraph

Instead of using your mouse to select an entire sentence or paragraph, there’s a really simple way to do it in Microsoft Office.

Select a Sentence

To select a sentence, just hold down the Ctrl key and then click anywhere within the sentence and then it will be highlighted.

Select a Paragraph

Selecting a paragraph is just as easy. Hold down the Ctrl key and then click three times in rapid succession and the whole paragraph will be selected.

Tip #4 – Easily Single or Double-Space your Document

This is one of those tips that most people know by now, but if you don’t, here it is. By pressing ctrl+2, your document will be double-spaced. Pressing ctrl+1 will bring your document back to single-space. If you want your document spaced by 1.5, just press ctrl+5. Spacing your document is as simple as that!

Tip #5 – Use Word to Format and Correct Your Text

If there are certain words that you regularly type, you can use the AutoCorrect feature to let Word type the names or phrases that you use most. Click on the Office Button and then click “Word Options.” From there click on the Proofing tab in the left sidebar and then click “AutoCorrect Options…”

auto correct word options

If you end up typing your name quite a bit, for example, you could create an abbreviation for it. Then anytime you typed that abbreviation, Word would replace it with the text that you selected for it. My example is that I type my name quite a bit so I chose to have Word replace the abbreviation “aw” with Ashley Wagner anytime it’s typed.

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David Hockney paints with his iPhone, results not typical

Artist David Hockney isn’t afraid of picking up new media — over the years, he’s used Polaroids, photocollages, and even fax machines to create his art — in addition to regular, old-fashioned painting. Now, he’s taken to using his iPhone to create new works of art. The resultant “paintings” have been exhibited at the Tate Gallery and Royal Academy in London, as well as galleries in Los Angeles and Germany. Like artist Jorge Colombo (whose iPhone fingerpainting was featured on the cover of The New Yorker), Hockney uses the iPhone app Brushes to create his works. In an interview with the New York Review of Books, Hockney notes that he prefers and still uses the original version of the app, not the more recent updates. Hmm… maybe the reason our own Brushes paintings stink is because we’re using the update!

[Via All Things D]

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David Hockney paints with his iPhone, results not typical originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 11 Oct 2009 09:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Zoundry Raven: Free Blogging Software

This article was written on December 04, 2008 by CyberNet.

zoundry raven.jpg
(Click to Enlarge)

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My favorite blogging software has always been Windows Live Writer because of the tremendous job Microsoft has done maintaining and adding more and more useful features to it. The interface is nice, inline spell checking catches mistakes as I make them, and the overall experience is very positive.

I’ve tried out a lot of other blogging applications (both paid and free), and none have come close to all the features Windows Live Writer has to offer. There’s one alternative, however, that’s almost there: Zoundry Raven. It supports nearly all blogging platforms, will let you preview posts just as they would appear on your blog, and much more:

  • Tabbed WYSIWYG Editing

    • True WYSIWYG writing and XHTML source editing
    • Drag and drop images, video, and text from the Web
    • Unicode (UTF-8) support
    • Preview posts in your blog’s template
  • Improved content management

    • Built-in indexer allows you to see posts by blogs, links, tags, and images
    • View tag cloud and browse to posts containing specific tags
    • View posts independently of where they were published
  • Manage multiple media storage services

    • Set up different media services (Picasa, Image Shack, Ripway, custom FTP) for different blogs
    • Share single media service with multiple blogs
  • Manage multiple blogs offline

    • Publish and update the same post to multiple blogs
    • Manage multiple blogs within multiple accounts
    • Now supports extended entries
  • Raven2Go

    • Install Raven as a Portable Application on your flash/thumb drive
    • Raven will stay out of your Windows registry and let you take your blogging on the road
  • WordPress 2.2+ Page & Tag support

    • Use Raven to create and modify your WordPress Pages just like any other blog post
    • Set WordPress tags as well as import tags from all of your posts

I’d say that Zoundry Raven is almost on par with Windows Live Writer. It did have troubles importing the template for one of my blogs, and the spell checking is on-demand instead of inline, but overall I’d say this has a chance of becoming a popular blogging tool.

Get Zoundry Raven for Windows
Thanks Jason!

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Top 10 Worst Technology Achievements over the last 40 Years

This article was written on July 23, 2007 by CyberNet.

Technology is something that has greatly evolved over time, but in order to find the good stuff we had to go through the bad stuff first. Computer World put together a great article today that details what they believe are the 10 biggest technology flops of the past 40 years. So I thought I would take a look at their list and make my own comments…

  1. Apple Newton – This device was created in 1993 as a $700 PDA. The handwriting recognition was awful, and often the aspect of the Newton that people made fun of. One of these bad boys will still run you a few hundred dollars (used) on eBay.
    Apple Newton
  2. DIVXThis is different from "DivX" which many of you know to be the popular video codec. DIVX is an abbreviation for Digital Video Express, which was an attempt by Circuit City to start a new video rental system. Customers would "rent" DIVX discs which they could keep and watch for two days, or pay a continuation fee to keep it longer. After the time was up the customer would just throw the discs away, and as you can imagine this didn’t last long because customers needed "DIVX enhanced DVD players" to watch the movies. Here’s a Circuit City commercial promoting the service:

  3. Dot-bombs – The dot-com bubble could only last so long. One website after another launched in the late 90’s, and as the new millennium hit many of these sites came crashing down. It almost makes me wonder if we’re entering another one of these "bubbles" with all of the Web 2.0 services popping up.
  4. IBM PCjr – This was a personal computer sold between 1984 and 1985, but it had several downfalls. It costed almost $1300 without a monitor, had no hard drive (it used cartridges), and the keyboard was different from what people were used to.
    IBM PCjr
  5. Internet Currency – This was started by sites like Flooz and Beenz with hopes of creating a type of money that could be used only on the Internet (much like frequent flier miles or gift cards). Um, yeah, we can just use credit cards to buy things online.
    Flooz
  6. Iridium – Motorola provided the technology and financial backing to launch 66 satellites into space to be used for voice and data communications. To make a call you would have to fork out between $3 and $14 per minute on one of the brick-sized phones. Try putting one of these in your pocket: :)
    Iridium
  7. Microsoft Bob – This is often considered to be one of the worst products ever created, and all it was intended to do was add a familiar interface on top of Windows 3.11. The problem was that cartoonish rooms were created for users to group applications and tasks, and it essentially made you feel like you were a two-year old trying to learn how to use the computer. Microsoft Bob is still floating around the file sharing networks, and is even said to run on Windows XP, but this gallery should be enough to keep you satisfied.
    Microsoft Bob
  8. Net PC – CNet covered the original announcement on these computers back in 1997, and said "Net PCs typically will have no floppy disk drive or expansion slots. Promoted by Microsoft, Intel, and Compaq, among others, the systems are supposed to reduce ownership cost for companies that currently use networked PCs. They will purportedly allow IS staff to maintain and update desktops from the center of the corporate network, instead of visiting each PC."
  9. Paperless Office – The dream that everything we read, send, and share is done only in a digital format does not appear to be true quite yet. A study by MIT Press in 2002 even said that email causes a 40% increase in paper use for most organizations. Sure we keep putting more and more things in a digital format (especially books), but we’re not ditching the paper copies quite yet.
  10. Virtual Reality – Being able to throw yourself into a game, or visit a place that you’ve never been to all in the comfort of your own house is an appealing idea. For some reason it hasn’t really taken off, but maybe some day it will be as good as this demo:

So those are the top 10 technology achievements that Computer World says are the worst from the last 40-years. It took me awhile to find interesting videos or images for each one, but it was fun writing this and taking a look back at how far we have come.

Drop us a comment below saying what you think is the worst gadget or application ever developed. It can be one that is on this list, or it can be something that just popped into your head. I can’t wait to hear what everyone comes up with!

For another interesting list read about the top 10 most important laptops

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Intel Atom dev program launched, seeks to inspire netbook-centric applications

So, here’s the situation. The current fleet of netbooks would be rendered next to useless with Vista loaded on, but having Windows XP on there forces manufacturers to regurgitate specification lists. Rather than using the introduction of Windows 7 to fully pursue a world where netbooks can actually run around freely with 2GB (or even 3GB!) of RAM and chipsets powerful enough to open seven Excel sheets simultaneously, Intel is today sparking up its Atom Processor Developer Program. The reason? To “spur a new wave of applications for… netbooks, with support for handhelds and smartphones available in the future.” Call us calloused, but that sounds a lot like a company pushing for “lite” software that functions on sluggish hardware.

Granted, we know that’s not exactly the case here — after all, even we wouldn’t argue that some applications could benefit from being re-written to operate on a 10.1-inch display — but it still feels like Intel’s pushing software programmers to cater to underwhelming hardware rather than innovating its chips to work faster and more efficiently. There’s no doubt that this feeling is compounded by just how long we’ve been waiting for a new wave of Atom CPUs, but at long last, we digress. The program actually has quite a few positive merits, such as striving to “reduce overhead and streamline the creation of new applications” for smaller devices — something that would benefit every user regardless of processor. So far, both Acer and Dell have voiced their support for the program, giving us at least a modicum of reassurance that the Aspire One and Mini lines aren’t vanishing anytime soon. Hit the read link for the glorified details, if you’re into that type of thing.

[Via jkkmobile]

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Intel Atom dev program launched, seeks to inspire netbook-centric applications originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Sep 2009 15:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Popular developer’s stats suggest you can’t make a living off the Android Market — yet

For every rags-to-riches story in Apple’s App Store, every amazing tale of Joe Coder in his basement turning a dead-simple idea into a few thousand dollars a day, there are… well, zero in the Android Market. At least, that’s the impression we’re getting by digging into revenue stats published this week by mobile game house Larva Labs, lamenting the stark disparity in the economics between the two mobile distribution platforms. Despite having two apps prominently featured on the Market’s home screen and racking up sales rankings of 5 and 12 overall, Larva Labs’ $4.99 RetroDefense and Battle for Mars games are grossing between about $30 and $110 a day for the company — with a scant $62 average. As they wryly note, it’s “very difficult to buy the summer home at this rate.” Sure, granted, there’s plenty of garbage in the hopelessly overcrowded App Store — stuff that’ll never earn a dime — but what’s a little shocking here is that both of these apps are Android Market superstars and they’re still not able to cover the rent.

The problem is twofold: first, the target audience is smaller. Android simply hasn’t achieved the global market penetration that the iPhone has — at least, not yet. Globally, Android sales to consumers have totaled in the seven figures — 5 million might be a reasonable guess — whereas Apple’s pushed another order of magnitude worth of devices, something on the order of 25 million iPhones, and if you tack on the iPod touch (which you should for the purpose of running these numbers) you’re totaling over 30 million. Second, Larva Labs mentions a number of systematic problems with the Market — teething problems that Google’s yet to address — including a lack of screenshots in app descriptions, a dearth of payment methods, the seemingly preferential treatment free apps receive, and a litany of miscellaneous bugs and issues (Android owners will fondly recall the inability to find updated apps a couple months back, for instance).

And now the million-dollar question, if you’ll forgive our pun: will the Market get to the point where it’s a logical business proposition for devs? In all likelihood, yes — but it’s going to take plenty of additional commitment from manufacturers, carriers, and Google itself to make the place a friendly joint for buyers and sellers alike. In the meantime, thanks to the wonders of modern capitalism, Android’s app variety is fated to place a distant second, third, or fourth.

[Via Daring Fireball]

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Popular developer’s stats suggest you can’t make a living off the Android Market — yet originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Sep 2009 04:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Palm launches e-commerce beta for the App Catalog

Love the Pre? Love code? Love money? Well it’s your lucky day. Palm has just announced that it will begin accepting applications for developers interested in producing for-pay apps for the webOS App Catalog. The company says that requests taken now will make devs eligible for inclusion in the mid-September launch of its e-commerce program. Just like Apple and Google, Palm will be splitting profits of paid apps with developers 70 / 30 (the devs get 70 percent, don’t worry), and go figure — credit cards will be accepted. Of course we’re pumped about paying $.99 for a to-do app someday soon, but we’re hoping this will also herald in a new age of steady releases for the Catalog, which is still looking frighteningly bare to us. Hey, that’s what homebrew is for, right? Full PR after the break.

Continue reading Palm launches e-commerce beta for the App Catalog

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Palm launches e-commerce beta for the App Catalog originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 Aug 2009 09:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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