This article was written on July 20, 2007 by CyberNet.
I’m not sure if you’ve visited Yahoo! Answers before, but it is a very active community where everyone tries to help each other. They even have an area dedicated to just computer and Internet related questions for those of you who are having PC problems.
The newest addition to the Yahoo! Answers family is called Answers on the Street, and stars J. Keith van Straaten. It reminds me of Jay Leno’s Jay Walking where Jay walks around the street asking people questions that they aren’t able to answer. It’s quite a spectacle if you haven’t seen it before.
Answers on the Street is a little different in the sense that they actually try to provide useful information, rather than looking for opportunities to make fun of people. As of right now there are only three videos posted, but they are pretty useful:
I really like this series, and I hope they continue to make more of these videos. It’s also nice that you can embed them on your own site, which I have done here with the home theater system video:
This article was written on July 02, 2008 by CyberNet.
Web Browser Wednesday
Yesterday we announced the new Firefox extension that we launched called CyberSearch (our homepage for CyberSearch). It is based on the original version of AwesomeSearch (now called Searchery), and the reason I decided to create the extension was because I saw how it could make me more productive. Hopefully what I’ve come up with can be useful for you as well.
What is CyberSearch? It lets you perform various types of Google searches right from the address bar in Firefox 3. As you’re typing the extension will send your query to Google, grab the results, and then display them along side the history results that Firefox normally shows.
To make the extension even better we’ve supercharged it with a completely customizable keyword system. If you’re familiar with the built-in Firefox keywords understanding how to use these will be second nature for you. The video demonstration below will help put these in perspective, and show just how powerful they make the extension!
–Video Demonstration–
The best way to demonstrate how CyberSearch works is using a video, and so that’s what we’ve got for you. There are also a bunch of screenshots after the video.
–Features–
Supports Multiple Google Services You can perform searches and assign keywords to any of the following Google services: Web, Local, Videos, Blogs, News, Books, Images, and Patents.
Customizable Keywords Pick and choose the keywords that you can remember! You can have one keyword for doing a Google Web search, another for Google News search, and so on. The possibilities are endless!
Restrict Searches to a Site Using the keyword system you’ll be able to restrict a particular search to a certain site. For example, you can create one keyword that will only return results from Wikipedia while a different keyword will only show results from CyberNet News. Want results from multiple sites using just one keyword? No problem, just separate them by commas! Note: This feature is only available for Google Web, Blog, and Image searches.
Custom Icons Assign any icon to be shown next to the search results for a keyword.
Change the Appearance You can choose a customized background color for results that are retrieved from Google. That way you’ll know at a glance what’s coming from your history, and what’s coming from the extension.
Retrieve Multiple Pages of Results A customizable “keyword” is available so that you can even retrieve multiple pages of search results. Checkout the video for more information on how this works.
Hide Results when Using a Keyword You can optionally have Firefox hide the history results from the address bar when it recognizes that you’ve entered in a keyword. That way you see only the search results when using a keyword.
Doesn’t Interfere with Existing Firefox Keywords If you already have existing Firefox keywords setup this extension will not interfere with them. Our keyword system is completely separate from the one that is built-in to Firefox.
Here are some screenshots from the configuration section of the extension:
(Click to Enlarge)
One thing that we placed throughout the preferences are the small question marks, and you can hover over them at any point to have a feature explained to you.
–Supported Google Services–
Eight different Google services are supported in CyberSearch, and we’re sure you want to know what the results look like in the address bar for each of them. Here’s a screenshot for each of the different types of Google searches that we support:
Web Search – Your typical Google search. Opening a result will take you directly the site.
Local Search – Find the address and phone number for any business in seconds! Opening a result will take you to a Google Map that shows where the place is located.
Video Search – Search Google Video and Youtube. Opening a result will take you to that video.
Blog Search – Find blog articles that have been written. Opening a result will take you directly to the article.
News Search – Pull up news items. Opening a result will take you directly to the article.
Book Search – Find books. Opening a result will take you to the Google Book page for that particular selection.
Image Search – Searches for images, but isn’t all that useful since there is no image preview. Opening a result will take you directly to the image.
Patent Search – Search for patents. Opening a result will take you to the Google Patent page for that particular selection.
–Installing CyberSearch–
Like what you see? Then go ahead and download the CyberSearch extension from Mozilla. This extension is still experimental, which means you’ll need to login to the Mozilla site before being able to install it. If you don’t have a login you can use a generic one that I’ve created over at Mozilla:
Username: firefox@cybernetnews.com
Password: cybernetnews
Note: If someone decides to be funny and change the password just let us know. Since we have full control over the email address we can change the password back at anytime.
–Overview–
Hopefully this extension will be as useful to you as it has been for us over the last week. If you have any questions or recommendations feel free to drop them off in the comments, but as it stands right now this does just about everything we’d like it to. Our initial focus will be on fixing any bugs that people find.
Regarding CyberSearch for other countries: At this time CyberSearch only supports the use of Google.com. We are looking into expanding this extension to support Google services in other countries. We’ve researched this a little bit, and we don’t believe Google’s API permits the use of the varying country’s Google search engine (eg. google.co.uk).
This article was written on September 24, 2007 by CyberNet.
There’s a new way to express an idea to your readers, and it’s called Sketchcast. It’s essentially a YouTube for doodles or sketches, and you can draw with a mouse or a stylus (if your computer supports it). I’m not too sure what kind of real ideas can be conveyed using a mouse because it feels a lot like trying to draw things in Microsoft Paint, but if you have a Tablet PC I’m sure the results would be pretty awesome.
Creating a sketch is done completely in your browser, and there is a full screen mode available for easier drawing. Aside from that here are some of the other things I’ve noticed you can do:
Switch between a pen and an eraser
Insert a textbox
Adjust the color of the pen/textbox (wide array of colors available)
Choose from three different pen thicknesses
Record voice
Pause/Resume a recording
One thing that I would have liked to see incorporated into Sketchcast is the ability to add images. This might be fun for tracing photos, or simply for making some presentations a little bit easier. Of course there are plenty of talented artists out there that can create amazing drawings without tracing, but that’s definitely not me!
I don’t think that many bloggers are going to take the time to make sketches for their blogs, but I could be wrong. It just seems like a time consuming process to have to sit there and draw out the various points you’re trying to make. And did I mention that there are no video editing capabilities? If you make a mistake you’ll have to start over. *sigh*
The iPad has been selling for only a month, and there are already 5,000 iPad apps in the App Store. In this episode of the Gadget Lab video podcast, I highlight four apps I’ve become attached to since I bought my iPad.
The first is a game called Plants vs. Zombies HD. It’s a gorgeous 2-D tower-defense game that involves planting pea pods, potatoes and other bizarre flora to defend your lawn against a horde of invading zombies. If they reach your house, you lose. It’s a charmingly simple game, which makes it enjoyable for people of all ages. Plants vs. Zombies HD costs $10. Download Link
I also cover IM+, the first decent multiclient instant messaging app available for the iPad. It’s a little buggy, but the overall UI makes excellent use of the iPad’s touchscreen. In looks best in landscape mode, where it displays your buddy list alongside your chats. The app costs $10. Download Link
The third app I use more than anything else on my iPad: Comic Zeal, an open comic book reader. You can download any open comics you find on the web and easily load them into this app through iTunes. That’s very liberating compared to the Marvel app, which limits you to downloading only Marvel comics. Comic Zeal is eight bucks in the App Store. Download Link
Finally, I give a shoutout to the Dropbox iPad app. Dropbox is a popular storage service that gives you a folder that’s stored on the internet (aka the cloud). You can drop various types of media in your Dropbox and then access the folder on any device running a Dropbox app, including smartphones, computers and now the iPad. The iPad version is beautiful and extremely useful for carrying your life on the go. I use it a lot for work. The Dropbox service is free for 2 GB of storage per month. It costs $10 a month for 50 GB and $20 per month for 100 GB. The iPad app is free in the App Store. Download Link
This episode of the Gadget Lab podcast was produced by Annaliza Savage, with camerawork by Michael Lennon and editing by Fernando Cardoso. For more video from Wired.com, go to www.wired.com/video.
This article was written on December 10, 2007 by CyberNet.
Just last week we introduced you to BeeMP3, a search engine for music, and then a few weeks before that we showed you a RapidShare search engine. Now wouldn’t it be nice if there was a way to combine the features of both sites into one convenient search engine?
As it turns out there is such a site, and it’s called FilesTube. It scours the Internet looking for all different types of files, and even includes downloads from RapidShare.com, MegaUpload.com, YouSendIt.com, SaveFile.com, and FileFront.com. The site is definitely not limited to results from those sites alone though, and performing a search for a file will prove that since you can always see the direct URL from which the file is hosted.
If you’re searching for music you’ll even have the luxury of using a built-in music player that lets you listen to a song before you even download it:
You can register for an account if you would like to receive a few additional features, such as download history tracking and MP3 music playlists. You’ll also be able to embed a music player with songs on your own site, but have some consideration since other websites will be the ones hosting the files.
And be sure to take advantage of the built-in filetype search filter located next to the search box. If you’re trying to find a specific type of media, such as videos or music, it will greatly help filter through your results.
This article was written on January 05, 2008 by CyberNet.
There’s a new app on the block, and it looks as though it may have a very promising future. The open source Spicebird project has its first Alpha release coming up soon, and to tease us they’ve posted a video of what to expect. We’ve outlined all of the features demonstrated in the video below, and provided screenshots from each important aspect of the program.
They haven’t released Spicebird 0.3 Alpha yet, but you can plan on it having a customizable homepage, email, calendar, contacts, and instant messaging all rolled into the application. As time goes on they would like to integrate a way to blog from Spicebird as well as a task manager.
The great thing about Spicebird is that it seems really intuitive. They’ve laid out the various services (email, calendar, etc…) into an already familiar tabbed interface. Take a look for yourself at what Spicebird 0.3 Alpha will have to offer when it is released:
–Homepage–
This is one of the really unique aspects of the program. It’s a customizable homepage that has a handful of modules by default. There’s a module for your inbox, calendar, clocks, feeds, and agenda. You can add multiple copies of each module to your homepage if you would like, such as one for each inbox, and they can be arranged by dragging them around.
(Click to Enlarge)
–Email–
Email works just like it does in Mozilla Thunderbird. The nice thing is that it will detect when an event is mentioned in an email, and offer to schedule it for you. That’s a lot like what Gmail does with Google Calendar.
(Click to Enlarge)
–Calendar–
As expected the calendar will completely support the drag & drop creation/management of events. If you’ve used Mozilla Sunbird before you’ll already be pretty familiar with how this works.
(Click to Enlarge)
–Contacts–
There’s not a whole lot you can do with a contact list, but this one looks pretty nice.
(Click to Enlarge)
–Instant Messenger–
Chatting is rather straight forward, and it looks like for right now it will only work with Jabber accounts. I’m guessing that would mean Google Talk can easily be setup.
The latest YouTube star is Virginia Campbell, a 99-year-old Lake Oswego, Oregon resident who’s in love with her iPad.
Campbell suffers from glaucoma, which makes it difficult for her to read. Now, with the help of the iPad, she’s reading books and writing limericks.
“The thing that’s so neat is there’s nothing between you and the screen,” said Ginny Adelsheim, one of Campbell’s daughters, in an interview with Oregon Live. “You can enlarge the print, and it has a much brighter screen so you can read on it more easily than with a regular computer screen.”
What’s more, Campbell never owned a computer prior to the iPad, so it’s fascinating that she’s already become comfortable with the device.
Campbell’s incident highlights a lesser-seen facet of technology, in which data can be used to compensate for people’s handicaps. Wired.com last year reported on three blind photographers using technology to help them snap photos. The most interesting example was Alex Dejong, who uses assistive software on his Nokia N82 to translate sounds into visuals in his mind, as well as his iPhone to snap and edit photos.
Are you looking for yet another way to stream Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired? Netflix and iTunes not doing it for you? Apparently YouTube’s first, tentative step into on-demand rentals (some sort of Sundance Film Festival cross-promotion early this year) went well enough, and the company’s started offering an extended range of movie and TV episodes for your viewing pleasure. Depending on the flick, anywhere between $.99 and $3.99 will get you 48 hours access, paid through Google Check-Out. Not too many Hollywood blockbusters are on tap, but if you’re in the mood for a documentary, indie, or foreign film, hit up the source link to see for yourself. Personally, we’re holding out until Die Hard With A Vengeance becomes available.
The iPad hit the floor running with over 3,000 tablet apps available on launch day. Naturally, the iPad App Store is a cluttered mess, just like the iPhone’s. In this episode of the Gadget Lab video podcast, I handpick five iPad apps to get you started with your new life as a media-gorging hedonist.
A game I easily became obsessed with was Flight Control HD, a plane-landing simulator that involves drawing paths with your finger to land aircraft. The objective is simple: Land as many planes as you can while carefully avoiding collisions. (Then, brag to your friends about your high score and see if they can beat you.) The game costs $5 (download link).
I also highlighted an app called Beautiful Planet HD. Peter Guttman traveled the world and compiled his photos and writings into what he and software developer Phil Scales call a “reinvention of the travel book.” The app features over 500 beautiful, high-res photos, which can be viewed as a slideshow. I really love this idea of rethinking the idea of the book. The app costs $2 for a limited time (download link).
Third, I covered the Marvel Comics app, which enables you to download and view comic books with an awesome interface. Not only do comic pages look beautiful on the iPad screen; you can also double tap on a single panel to zoom into it and then swipe to the next panel. It’s a lot like viewing an interactive storyboard for a movie, and it’s a fresh new way to read comics. The app is free. Individual comics cost $2 per download, and there are some free comics as well (download link).
A quirky app I covered was Air Harp. As its name implies, it’s an app that allows you to play to a virtual harp. There’s an option to display sheet music and lyrics to learn to play the digiharp and, if you’re ballsy enough, sing along. Air Harp costs $2 in the App Store (download link).
I wrap up with a very simple app: Weather HD, which enables you to check the weather. Mind you, Apple doesn’t include a weather app on the iPad like it did with the iPhone, so I’m betting a lot of people will be downloading this. The $1 app displays high-quality 3-D animations of different weather conditions to complement a temperature reading. It’s extraneous, but what else would you do with all that screen (download link)?
This episode of the Gadget Lab podcast was produced by Annaliza Savage, with camerawork by John Ross and editing by Fernando Cardoso. For more video from Wired.com, go to www.wired.com/video.
The iPad is a solid video-playing machine. But you have a whole slew of choices when it comes to finding and watching videos on the new tablet. Which is right for you? Let’s explore your options. More »
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
I’m not sure if you’ve visited Yahoo! Answers before, but it is a very active community where everyone tries to help each other. They even have an area dedicated to just computer and Internet related questions for those of you who are having PC problems.
Yesterday we announced the new Firefox extension that we launched called 
Just last week we 
