Hasta La Gadget!

This article was written on May 19, 2008 by CyberNet.

Did ya miss us? We’ve been out of town since last Thursday, and since then there were some pretty big announcements that we wanted to be sure to cover. It appears as though the last few days before last weekend was the prime time for acquisitions.

–Firefox 3 RC1–

Mozilla released Firefox 3.0 RC1, which indicates that they are on the home stretch before releasing the final version. The Release Candidate doesn’t have many changes over the previous Beta, but as expected it’s a bit more polished:

• Improvements to the user interface based on user feedback, including changes to the look and feel on Windows Vista, Windows XP, Mac OS X and Linux.
• Changes and fixes for new features such as the location bar autocomplete, bookmark backup and restore, full page zoom, and others, based on feedback from our community.
• Fixes and improvements to platform features to improve security, web compatibility and stability.
• Continued performance improvements: changes to our JavaScript engine as well as profile guided optimization continues to improve performance over previous releases as measured by the popular SunSpider test from Apple, and in the speed of web applications like Google Mail and Zoho Office.

Thanks to “C” and “Cory” for the tips!

–Condé Nast/Wired Acquires Ars Technica–

Ars Technica has joined the likes of Wired and Reddit! That’s right, Condé Nast has acquired the news site that most geeks have come to love. They won’t disclose what was paid for the site, but TechCrunch says is in the $25 million range.

What I’m interested to see is whether the Digg button on Ars Technica will remain considering that their parent company are also the proud owners of Reddit. Ars Technica’s articles are constantly plastered all over the front page of Digg, and removing the button could cause them to drop in traffic. Maybe they’ll just add a Reddit button alongside it?

–Ask.com Acquires Dictionary.com–

When you need to lookup a meaning of a word there is a very good chance that you head straight to Dictionary.com. I know I do. That site has now been acquired by Ask.com, and they also get Thesaurus.com and Reference.com as part of the deal. By purchasing the rights to these sites Ask.com is looking to return to its roots a bit by being able to quickly answer basic questions.

Thanks for the tip Omar!

–CBS Acquires CNET–

CNET has got to be one of the top technology sites on the web, and they sure showed it with their price tag. CBS acquired them last Thursday for $1.8 billion, which includes all of the properties owned by CNET. Here’s a quick list of CNET’s more popular assets: ZDNet, GameSpot.com, TV.com, MP3.com, UrbanBaby, CHOW, Search.com, BNET, MySimon, Download.com, and TechRepublic.

–Digg Launches New Comment System–

Digg has finally decided to revise their comment system, and I think it’s much better than before. There’s just one problem… they didn’t test it in Opera. A formatting glitch would be one thing, but the new Digg comment system crashes the Opera browser anytime you try to visit an article. They admitted that they didn’t test the system in Opera, and tried to justify the glitch by saying that Opera users account for less than 1% of the visits to Digg. *sigh*

–Windows will be Available on the OLPC–

Looks like Windows is coming to the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) after all. These budget machines will run a $3 version of Windows XP and Office called the Student Innovation Suite. I have a feeling that these laptops will now be even more appealing to developing countries.

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

Related Posts:

No related posts

This article was written on December 10, 2009 by CyberNet.

Click to Enlarge

Windows; Mac; Linux
Twitter is taking the world by storm, and because of that we’re seeing a flood of third-party apps becoming available. One that recently caught my eye was the Adobe Air-powered TweetBubbles, which isn’t designed to be your typical Twitter client. In fact, you can’t even post to Twitter with it. How’s it useful then?

During presentations or events people tend to have a projector set up that will be used to go through some slides. Before the presentation starts the screen normally just sits there blank or maybe on the first slide, and the same thing happens again for intermissions. With TweetBubbles you can capture your audience’s attention by pulling in related Twitter posts by filtering according to keyword. When a match is found a chat-like bubble will appear around the edge of your desktop showing off the tweet that was recently posted.

There are some obvious flaws to this. The big one is probably that you don’t have much control over the contents of the tweets that show up. Once people at the conference see the keyword filter you’re using they could instantly post something that is inappropriate. The good thing is that you’d know who posted it… unless they prepared ahead of time by creating a Twitter account that doesn’t personally identify them.

As far as settings go you can only configure a handful of things like the keyword/hash you want to filter by, how transparent you want the bubbles to appear, and whether you want them to appear on the left, right, or both sides of the screen. That’s pretty much it.

So I’m not sure how many people will actually use an app like this, but I think the concept is awesome. It would surely keep your audience engaged even during “down time” in your presentation, which is something that could otherwise be difficult to do.

TweetBubbles Homepage (Freeware)
[via Technix]

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

Related Posts:

Is Twitter Becoming a News-Wire?Bubbl.us: Online Mind-Mapping FunFollow CyberNet on TwitterTwhirl: Twitter Client with Pownce & Jaiku SupportPost to Evernote via Twitter

This article was written on August 28, 2008 by CyberNet.

Tutorial Thursday

Windows only
File sharing is becoming more and more important these days, and that’s one reason why I’m always looking for easy ways to upload images and files. A recent program I came across called Rightload looks to remove the hassle of uploading files to common sites, or even to your own FTP.

With it you can right-click on a file or folder, and then have it upload the selected files to a service or FTP server of your choice. Before you can do any of that you’ll need to set up the program to work with those services.

The screenshot above shows what Rightload looks like after starting it up for the first time. Below you’ll find instructions needed to set up an FTP account or a few select web services (Imageshack, TinyPic, Rapidshare, etc…), and then also a brief tutorial on how the program works.

–Set up Your Accounts–

To set up one of your own FTP servers you’ll want to go to Tools -> Manage Servers, and press the New Server button. Now all you have left to do is enter in the details for your FTP account, including the default directory you want the files uploaded into.

You can select the Synchronize Directories option at the bottom of the screen to have it fetch all of the folders already created on the FTP server. That will make it possible to do one-click uploads to certain directories on your server, and in the next section you’ll see why that would be useful.

One of the other really nice things about Rightload is that it supports popular hosting sites like Imageshack, TinyPic, and Rapidshare. To sweeten the feature even more there’s absolutely nothing you need to configure. Instead you just have to import an XML file into the program.

The full list of XML files for the supported services can be found here. I’ve taken what will likely be the four most popular ones, and listed them below. What you’ll need to do is right-click on the one(s) you want, and save them somewhere on your computer.

• Imageshack
• Rapidshare.com
• Rapidshare.de
• TinyPic

After you have the XML files on your computer you’ll want to import them into Rightload. In the app go to Tools -> Import servers, and then browse for the XML file you want to import. You should receive a message saying that the import process was successful:

–Using Rightload–

Now that you have all of the accounts set up you can start using Rightload. Just right-click on a file or folder, move your mouse over the Upload with Rightload menu, and select the service/location where you want the files uploaded. If you’ve created/synchronized any directories in your FTP account they will also show up in the menu:

It’s important to note that uploading an entire folder will only work with FTP locations. That’s because it replicates the folder structure on the server, and it obviously can’t create folders on sites like TinyPic.

After an upload has been completed you’ll be presented with a list of URL’s that can be formatted in either HTML or BBCode (for forums). Here’s what it looked like when I uploaded two images to the TinyPic service, and applied a BBCode formatting to them:

Notice how I can copy all of the links in a single click? That makes it a lot easier to post images or files in bulk to a site or forum.

–Overview–

This type of program can end up being a huge time saver since it is capable of uploading and providing links to files you have sitting on your desktop. There’s nothing hard to configure, you can just right-click on files or folders to initiate an upload, and it’s free. It’s an all-around winner in my book.

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

Related Posts:

CyberNotes: Free RapidShare Premium AccountsRapidShare.de Now Owns RapidShare.comUnofficial Rapidshare Search EngineRapidShare Redesign Cleans Up the SiteCyberNotes: Week In Review With Sunday’s Summary!

This article was written on July 13, 2007 by CyberNet.

Microsoft sent out an email the other day that outlined some of the most requested Windows features according to real users. These responses were taken from the "Windows Early Feedback Program" that started back in November 2006 as a way for Microsoft to find out where their shortcomings are.

The email, which I have posted below, has just under 70 suggestions from the 1700+ submissions. You had to be invited to take the survey, and unfortunately I was never given that opportunity. Even though I wasn’t selected to give my feedback, I was still able to get my hands on the email that was sent out by someone who did take the survey. I don’t believe that the results were supposed to be posted like this, but that’s what they get for not including me in the program and making me agree to some sort confidentiality clause. Isn’t the Internet wonderful?

In the email below you will find a decently long list of features that the Windows Beta team has "recommended" to be incorporated or fixed in future versions of Windows. The bold text was done by me to indicate the features that I would personally like to see, and some are a little unrealistic (come on, like Microsoft would be able to incorporate antivirus protection without security-related companies raking them over the coals).

Without further ado I present the email…

Since November of 2006 we have received 782 New Feature Suggestions, 562 Change Feature Suggestions, and 384 Defect Reports from members of the Windows Early Feedback Program. During periodic reviews we look at those issues that have acquired the highest number of your votes. Although the total number of votes is the most important it isn’t the sole determinant of whether or not an issue is recommended for consideration. We also contemplate other factors such as business, technology inputs, and our ability to reproduce reported issues.

So far the Windows Beta team has recommended that the below issues be incorporated, or a fix made, into future versions of Windows operating systems.

This is not a complete list and it will be updated periodically as we receive more votes and suggestions. As always our recommendations do not assure that the listed issues will be addressed in the future versions of Windows. You can, however, rest assured that the Windows Beta team is doing its best to make sure your voices are being heard and acted upon. There is an excellent chance that you will see some of your suggestions addressed in the Beta1 of the next version of Windows!

Your feedback is extremely important to us so we encourage you to keep up the great work! We would also like to encourage you to review existing feedback generated by your fellow participants in the Windows Early Feedback program and vote on issues that are important to you. Lastly it has been wonderful to see so much activity in the microsoft.beta.windows.earlyfeedback.customer_discussion newsgroup. We look forward in continuing to share your vision, thoughts, and passion for the Windows operating system. See you there!

The Windows Beta Team

[FEATURES]
246472 Basic download manager for Internet Explorer
246644 Image (ISO, BIN) support in Windows
248426 Family license
246465 Multi-session Remote Desktop
246493 IE7 should include a session restore feature
247399 Allow other Windows PCs to act as Media Center Extenders
246638 Allow Reordering Taskbar (Application) Buttons
246650 Extended Windows Update to cover 3rd party application updates and 3rd party driver updates
246656 Virtual Desktop Feature
246703 No dialog should take keyboard focus away from what you are doing
249765 Freely Open-Up UXTheme.dll allowing users to apply their own Visual Styles to Windows
247679 Windows should allow deactivation on non OEM machines
244352 Record live tv when you rewind
247237 Built-in Codec Manager
246702 Multiple taskbars for mult-monitor
276001 Include Pinball into next version of Windows
247201 Need Tweak-UI power tool for next version of Windows
246494 Implement Vector GUI in the next version of Windows
247209 Patch operating system without having to reboot
246508 Add Folder Size to data displayed in Windows Explorer
247021 Live CD or DVD to boot from to recover from a crash or virus that would allow to transfer files
244119 Allow users to customize indexing more effectively
246502 Disallow removable (usb/firewire) drives to default to next available drive letter when the letter is already used by other network drives
246777 Windows Mail should be minimizable to the system tray
247215 User needs simple way to indentify and obtain driver for UNKNOWN devices displayed in device manager
263788 Windows Internet Explorer: Add "Undo close tab" option (as in Firefox)
246515 Windows Backup should have more file choice options and should allow user to back-up specific files he selects
247584 Command Prompt should be improved
246674 Integrated Anti-Virus
246575 Built-in spell checker for Internet Explorer
246534 More desktop themes should be offered in the default installation of the next version of Windows
246591 IE direct file download – do not download to temp folder
246706 Allow different background pictures per monitor
247380 Apply the Aero UX guidelines consistently throughout Windows
267872 Allow windows user to submit feedback on installations from Windows Update
270404 Internet Explorer MUST have inline find
247161 Add a feature to parental control letting you choose how much time children can connect, not only when.
270643 Updated, powerful Partition Manager built into Windows
246790 Low Disk Space Warning should have individual settings for each partition
247130 Create a new user type for Child with a protected desktop controlled by parent.
246752 Windows Media Extenders should be able to play DivX and Xvid files
246496 Add a message to the "Computer Locked" screen
244127 UAC Badge on all icons that will require UAC prompt
246844 Support Boot from EFI ( Extended Firmware Interface ) or UEFI
246920 Screen resolution saved in profile
247239 Replace error ID number with plain language explanation
248520 Add An Icon To Programs Running With Elevated Rights

[BUGS]
252302 Calculating time remaining takes forever before files are actually copied
247025 OS needs enforced Tabbed Browsing Settings in IE7 Vista
246570 Explorer unable to remember views for folders
251427 Calendar Crash on Startup and crash each time have to remember an appointment
246556 USB devices are not active when returning from S3 or S4 sleep
253896 DVD/CD drive tray should not open automatically
246959 Vista: Regedit: Open Folder and Close Folder have the same icon
277724 Address bar or search box becomes unfocussed during loading a page
246564 Windows Activation does not always work through proxy servers
246580 no way to stop windows defender form showing msconfig as an unwanted startup item
271026 Disk Cleanup can not delete shadow copies and restore points in x64 because of an incorrect shortcut in the Start Menu
245720 Setup changes Time when changeing TimeZone when eg living in The Netherlands
252381 Sidebar gadget creep on desktop
251119 Disk manager displays drive letters as "available" when already assigned to drives
252163 UAC requirement not shown on network connection context menu
246992 Change menu color doesn’t work; it only append a line of the choosed color to the end of the menu
246964 Wizards should not have fixed size backgrounds
276363 Update KB931768 breaks IE 32 and 64 on Vista 64
272357 high cpu useage with animated dreamscenes
245946 twice asked for kind of network environment to be used
246705 MCE: Rapid REW and FWD causes TV playback to loose frames
277089 USB drive with corrupted filesystem and ReadyBoost gives stop error 0×00000023 after inserting

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

Related Posts:

Free Vista and Office "Giveaways"eBay Sellers Can’t Leave Negative FeedbackSellers Can’t Leave Negative Feedback on eBayHow much is Free Software Worth on eBay?Windows Live Messenger Release Date Incorrect

It hasn’t been all that long since France’s Evigroup upgraded its “Paddle” tablet the Paddle Pro, but it’s now already back with another model: the SmartPaddle. This one packs the same Atom N450 processor as before, along with an 11.6-inch capacitive screen, 2GB of RAM, a 64GB SSD, WiFI and 3G connectivity, and Windows 7 for an OS — plus a Microsoft Arc keyboard, apparently. You’ll also get the same head-tracking capabilities seen on the Paddle Pro, as well as a new 3D interface for Windows dubbed “Scale,” which promises to make things a bit more tablet-friendly. Head on past the break for a video, and look for the tablet itself to set you back a hefty €1,290 (or about $1,820).

[Thanks, WMax]

Continue reading Evigroup debuts Windows-based SmartPaddle tablet

Evigroup debuts Windows-based SmartPaddle tablet originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 Mar 2011 23:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Evigroup  | Email this | Comments