FUNNY! Click to Enlarge
Google unveiled its latest lab today, Google Play (http://www.google.com/reader/play/), a magazine-style RSS reader. It shows thumbnails along the bottom edge and the viewing window enlarges images and makes them more prominent. A slideshow mode also makes Play dissimilar from Google Reader. Play includes the ability to “like” an item, share an item and star an item for later viewing.
The recipe for Play seems to be two parts Google Reader, one part Google Fast Flip and one part StumbleUpon.
A touchscreen device would be the ideal platform for Play; readers could simply flick ahead to the next snippet. Perhaps this product was developed primarily for the upcoming touchscreen tablets.
I found the funny image [points up and to the right] using Play. One of the people I follow on Google Buzz shared it.
Not much to say about this other than BlackBerryRocks.Com just posted the links. See the post here: http://bit.ly/9pGQjl. Use the Desktop Manager install.
P.S. Can’t handle multiple accounts. P.P.S. WTF? RIM’s finally getting around to releasing a Twitter app when Twitter is about to be owned by Google Buzz? 9 million buzzes in 2 days.
Get ready to see your Facebook stream flooded with Sid Meier’s Civilization Network, a sequel to his popular Civilization franchise. It will begin beta testing in June. Sid has hinted at what players can expect in the game:
The Eagle has landed. The much anticipated UberTwitter Beta-6 has arrived. UberTwitter was voted 2009 Blackberry App of the Year by Crackberry users. Beta-6 is packed full of new features, including:
- Comprehensive Twitter list support. Lists are probably the best thing that has happened to Twitter since the advent of the URL shortener. With UberTwitter, you can create new lists, delete existing lists, subscribe to lists by SMS, add members and remove members.
- Find people. You can search Twitter for users just like you can from the web interface.
- The Uber-bar has tabs for easy navigation between @ replies, DMs and timelines. Apparently, you can also customize the bar to include a list but I was unable to add a tab when I tested UberTwitter Beta-6. Update: Got it now. You have to add them from the “Lists” option and then you can arrange them using the “Uber-bar Maintenance” feature.
- Better Geo-Tagging (using Twitter’s integrating Geo-Tagging or myloc.me).
- And, many more enhancements.
The Sony XPERIA X10 could be the premiere Android mobile phone in 2010. The phone has ridiculous specs: 4 inch capacitive touchscreen, 1 Ghz processor, 8 megapixel camera and all the other bells and whistles found on Motorola’s Droid. It also features a custom user-interface that looks slick. This phone will be very expensive compared to current Android devices. The expected unsubsidized retail price of the XPERIA X10 is $880. Contrast that with the Droid’s unsubsidized retail price of $660. Note that the delta could buy a low end netbook. Nonetheless, this is one killer phone. Below is a video that was released today that shows off the XPERIA X10 running Google Visual Search (beta I wrote about here and here) with some dance music in the background:
The Sony XPERIA X10 will definitely put Sony on the map for high-end mobile phones. Google Visual Search, which runs on all Android phones, will help Google to rule the digital world.
[via Will Park @ IntoMobile]
[Considering I started a Facebook fan page today for Tech Bottle, I thought it appropriate to write something about Facebook. It's been awhile.]
Don’t let the name mislead you, TweetDeck is a terrific program for Facebook. It is written in Adobe Air so it installs on PC Windows, Macs and even Linux. Here’s how it works and a list of some of the helpful features:
Although some other apps allow Blackberry users to purchase movie tickets, the new Fandango beta app (oddly given a version number 1.0.1) perfects the art. The app is available for download from getjar.com and it is available for touchscreen and traditional Blackberries. Some features include:
UberTwitter is adding two new terrific features and making changes that don’t affect the interface that will improve the app’s performance. The two noticeable changes, as shown in the pictures below of the .941 test release, are auto-complete of usernames and customizable tabs with color icons.
Janus Friis and Niklas Zennstrom, founders of Kazaa and Skype, are privately beta testing their new streaming music venture, Rdio (with the eponymous ULR http://rd.io). Apparently, Rdio will offer unlimited, commercial-free streaming music on a subscription basis which is expected to be a few dollars per month. Many of the primary tech blogs are predicting the service to be dead-on-arrival but I’m not counting them out. They’ve made something out of nothing… twice.
The Apple App Store has approved the Rdio app but it is non-functional unless you have been invited to the private beta. Head over to Wired to see the app in action and some additional commentary.
FourSquare is already gaining steam amongst geeks and non-geeks alike. It’s a located-based service that allows users to check in at various locations using their cellphones, earn points and even become the “Mayor” of some locations. Back in July, Jennifer Van Grove at Mashable.com suggested that FourSquare could become the next Twitter and earlier this month Pete Cashmore said on CNN.com that located-based apps will rule 2010. FourSquare apps are already available for Android and iPhone. A Blackberry app is in the works. Rumor has it that SocialScope’s alpha now supports FourSquare. While it certainly looks promising for FourSquare…
I recently purchased a pre-Black Friday sale cheapy netbook from NewEgg for $199. It’s a Gateway LT2022u, the same hardware as the low-end Acer Aspire Ones. This first thing I did with the netbook was install Windows 7. (I did some reading and apparently Windows 7 performs similar to XP on a netbook with only a negligible degradation in battery performance.) In any event, I was happy as a clam. Windows 7 performed well but I had to turn off certain features, many of which were meaningless (like Aero Peek), to really multi-task well. So… did some reading and decided to try out Linux operating systems just for giggles. I’m not an Ubuntu novice but I heard good things about both Jolicloud (Pre-Beta) and Ubuntu Netbook Remix (Karmic Koala). This is my assessment of the two head-to-head. Continue reading »
Jolicloud, a linux-based netbook OS, is now available for download. Netbooks can dual boot Jolicloud and other OSs. The download is about 600 MB and apparently runs smooth. Head over to Engadget to read more about Jolicloud and see a video of it in action.
SocialScope is the combined Facebook and Twitter App for the Blackberry smartphone that is under development. It is currently in invitation-only beta testing. I wrote about it a last month. The @SocialScope Twitter account was silent for about a month but just tweeted this evening that the release version will support FourSquare, the location-based networking/game of sorts.
Today Linux and Mac lovers can begin using beta versions of the Google Chrome web browser. Chrome has a great UI and its much faster than other browsers. I recommend taking it for a spin. To download, visit http://www.google.com/chrome .
Google unveiled its Google Visual Search product (formerly Google Goggles) on CNBC last night during a special entitled “Inside the Mind of Google” hosted by Maria Bartiromo. Continue reading »
