iPhone webapp - Send messages to your Nabaztag
January 22, 2008
If you have a Nabaztag and an iPhone/ipod touch this webapp allows you to search things on the web with Google and Google Map. It also allows you to send messages to your Nabaztag Like that even when you aren’t at home, you can send or preview a message to your rabbit using this webapp. You can get a preview of a message before you send it ! It includes a friend list that will allow you to send message to your friend from anywhere even if you don’t remember the SN and Token of your friends.
website url to point your iphone or ipod touch is here
Create your own iGoogle Themes
January 17, 2008
Google yesterday announced the release of the themes API, so now you can create your own iGoogle Theme
“Since we launched themes on iGoogle last March, we’ve enjoyed seeing how people have connected with them. For instance, we’ve gotten fan mail for the “fox in the teahouse” theme, and seen some great blog posts generated when folks discover the Easter egg for each theme.
Users and developers alike have been clamouring to know when they can develop themes for the iGoogle homepage, and we’re happy to say that today is the day! Whether you like outer space, cartoons, dogs, or anything else, you can now create your own theme and help personalise iGoogle for millions of people.
The Themes API lets you customise many portions of the iGoogle page. Your theme can also update the page’s design based on variables, such as the time of day or location. This makes it easy to create a narrative that unfolds throughout the day, a landscape that changes as the sun rises and sets, or an abstract image that becomes more complex.
Anyone who can build a website can create an iGoogle Theme. We worked with designers Yves Behar, Mark Frauenfelder, Troy Lee, and John Maeda to create some custom iGoogle designs to show some great examples of the types of themes you can create.”
Here are some examples
Earth-light by Yves Behar
Simplicity is Complex by John Maeda
Adventure in Lollipopland by Mark Frauenfelder
Supermoto Mayhem by Troy Lee
The theme directory can be found here
Yahoo! Announces Support for OpenID
January 17, 2008
Yahoo! today announced its support for the OpenID 2.0 digital identity framework for all 248 million active registered Yahoo! users worldwide. OpenID, an open framework based on proven Internet technologies, enables users to consolidate their Internet identity, eliminating the need to create separate IDs and logins at all of the various websites, blogs, and profile pages they may visit in the course of their online session. In addition to the many leading Yahoo! services users already enjoy, anyone with a Yahoo! ID will be able to use the same ID for easy access to any sites that support OpenID 2.0.
Yahoo!’s initial OpenID service, which will be available in public beta on January 30, enables a seamless and transparent web experience by allowing users to use their custom OpenID identifier on me.yahoo.com or to simply type in “www.yahoo.com” or “www.flickr.com” on any site that supports OpenID 2.0. Alternatively, web sites that accept OpenID 2.0 will be able to add a simple “Sign-in with Your Yahoo! ID” button to their login pages that will make it even easier for their users. Yahoo! is working with several partners, including Plaxo and JanRain, to make it possible for users to access these sites with their Yahoo! ID from the first day of the public beta.
“A Yahoo! ID is one of the most recognizable and useful accounts to have on the Internet and with our support of OpenID, it will become even more powerful,” said Ash Patel, executive vice president of platforms and infrastructure at Yahoo!. “Supporting OpenID gives our users the freedom to leverage their Yahoo! ID both on and off the Yahoo! network, reducing the number of usernames and passwords they need to remember and offering a single, trusted partner for managing their online identity.”
“Yahoo!’s commitment to an open web is a significant validation of the OpenID movement and Yahoo!’s adoption of the standard today immediately triples the total number of people able to use OpenID,” said Scott Kveton, chairman of the Board of Directors for the OpenID Foundation. “With Yahoo! actively engaged with the OpenID Foundation and its community to promote OpenID, Yahoo!’s users will be able to more easily access the many sites across the web that support the standard, and the potential for access to Yahoo!’s vast international user base will create an even more powerful incentive for additional websites to begin accepting OpenID users.”
Yahoo!’s implementation is based on the OpenID 2.0 specification, which Yahoo! worked closely with the OpenID foundation and community to finalize in December 2007, and includes new features that improve security and usability of OpenID, making it the most user-friendly single sign-on and online user-authentication standard. Yahoo! users who log in with their Yahoo! ID on OpenID sites will have the added protection of Yahoo!’s sign-in seal wherever they go on the web. In addition, no email or IM addresses are revealed or disclosed as part of the login process, which further helps protect users from phishing or other attacks.
“Plaxo believes that users should be able to carry their identity and personal information with them wherever they go across the social web,” said Joseph Smarr, chief platform architect of Plaxo. “Yahoo! is making that vision a reality by becoming an OpenID provider. Yahoo! users will be able to easily access Plaxo and other services without having to create and remember yet another password. This also paves the way for a secure approach to data portability between the various services people use across the web.”
“At JanRain, we believe the evolution of the Internet and the next generation of web applications hinges on universal adoption of a secure, portable digital identity,” said Larry Drebes, founder and vice president of engineering for JanRain. “JanRain is a leader in OpenID libraries, tools and applications, and has worked closely with Yahoo! to integrate its new OpenID offering into our services. The addition of 248 million Yahoo! users to the OpenID ecosystem will be a tremendous milestone in expanding the user base for OpenID.”
Yahoo! will continue to improve the OpenID user experience and to educating its users. In addition, Yahoo! intends to expand its support of OpenID by adopting other elements of the program as the service evolves. More information and updates can be found at http://openid.yahoo.com.
Apple Announcements from Macworld
January 15, 2008
Some of todays key announcements from Apple at the Macworld Expo
Apple introduces MacBook Air—the world’s thinnest notebook
Apple today introduced the world’s thinnest notebook: MacBook Air. It measures an unprecedented 0.16 inches at its thinnest point while its maximum height of 0.76 inches is less than the thinnest point on competing notebooks. In addition to a stunning 13.3-inch LED-backlit widescreen display, MacBook Air offers a full-size and backlit keyboard, a built-in iSight video camera for video conferencing, and a spacious trackpad with multi-touch gesture support, letting users pinch, rotate and swipe. The new notebook is powered by a 1.6 GHz or 1.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 4MB L2 cache, and it includes as standard features 2GB of memory, an 80GB 1.8-inch hard drive, and the latest 802.11n Wi-Fi technology and Bluetooth 2.1. Starting at just $1,799, MacBook Air begins shipping in two weeks. [Jan 15, 2008]
Introducing Time Capsule—wireless backup for all your Macs
A backup appliance that works seamlessly with Time Machine to automatically and wirelessly back up everything on one or more Macs running Mac OS X Leopard, Time Capsule combines an 802.11n base station with a server grade hard disk in one small package. “Bring Time Capsule home, plug it in, click a few buttons on your Macs and voilà—all the Macs in your house are being backed up automatically, every hour of every day,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. When it ships in February, Time Capsule will be available in models featuring 500GB and 1TB hard drives for $299 and $499, respectively. [Jan 15, 2008]
New software update enhances revolutionary iPhone
iPhone Software Update 1.1.3, a free software update available today via iTunes 7.5 or later, brings significant new features to iPhone. After installing the update, iPhone customers will be able to automatically find their location using the redesigned Maps application; text message multiple people in one message; create Web Clips for their favorite websites; customize their home screen; and watch movies rented from the new iTunes Movie Rentals right on their iPhone. [Jan 15, 2008]
Major software upgrade available for iPod touch
With the installation of this major software upgrade, the best iPod becomes even more: the world’s best Wi-Fi mobile device. The upgrade—available from iTunes for just $19.99 or £12.99 for us brits—adds five more great mobile applications to iPod touch: Mail, Maps, Stocks, Weather, and Notes. It also includes such new features as Web Clips, a customizable home screen, and the ability to watch iTunes Movie Rentals on iPod touch. [Jan 15, 2008]
Introducing iTunes Movie Rentals
Available today with the free download of iTunes 7.6, iTunes Movie Rentals allows customers to rent movies for as little as $2.99 and watch them on their Macs or PCs, all current generation iPods, iPhone and Apple TV. Featuring movies from all the major movie studios—20th Century Fox, The Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros., Paramount, Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Lionsgate and New Line Cinema—iTunes Movie Rentals is expected to offer more than 1,000 movie titles by the end of February, including over 100 titles featuring stunning high definition video with 5.1 Dolby Digital surround sound. Movies can be rented directly from a widescreen TV using Apple TV. [Jan 15, 2008]
Apple announces new software for Apple TV; lowers price to $229
Available as a free automatic download later this month, the new software announced today lets movie fans rent movies on the iTunes Store directly from their widescreen TV. With iTunes Movie Rentals and Apple TV—and with no computer required—customers can effortlessly rent movies just by clicking a button on their remote. By the end of February, they’ll be able to choose from a catalog of more than 1,000 titles, including over 100 titles in stunning high definition video with 5.1 Dolby Digital surround sound. DVD-quality iTunes Movie Rentals cost just $2.99 for library titles and $3.99 for new releases. High-definition versions are just one dollar more with library titles at $3.99 and new releases at $4.99. [Jan 15, 2008]
Introducing iTunes Digital Copy
Twentieth Century Fox and Apple today announced iTunes Digital Copy for iTunes, which provides customers who purchase a DVD of a Fox movie title with an additional Digital Copy of the movie. The iTunes Digital Copy can be transferred effortlessly to iTunes and then viewed on a PC or Mac, iPod with video, iPhone or on Apple TV—just like a movie purchased and downloaded from the iTunes Store. In fact, the first DVD to debut with iTunes Digital Copy is being released in stores today. It’s the Special Edition DVD premiere of the Family Guy “Star Wars” parody, “Family Guy Presents: Blue Harvest,” and the first of many more to come. [Jan 15, 2008]
photobucket goes mobile
January 15, 2008
Photobucket, the image sharing site has announced it’s own mobile site. You can access this by going to http://m.photobucket.com from your mobile device
With this service you will be able to;
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View photos in your album
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Upload photos and videos from your camera phone
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Share Photos and videos from your camera phone
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Search Photobuckets library for photos and graphics
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View tagged photos and find related images
For more information go here
MoFuse gets an update
January 15, 2008
Mofuse, the people who allow content publishers to create RSS driven mobile sites have announced some new updates designed to give the user more power and control.
Here’s the full list of new features now available taken from Mofuse
Automatic Image Resizing
If you have any images in your RSS feed or on your static pages that is greater than 150 pixels wide, MoFuse will automatically resize the image and make it smaller to be better viewed on a mobile screen!
Note: You can turn this feature off under the Settings tab on your mobile site dashboard
Mobile Site Homepage
Now all MoFuse users can edit their mobile site homepage and add text. MoFuse professional users can add images, text-styling and links to this page using our WYSIWYG page editor!
This can be used for a welcome message or you can just create a mobile site with just a homepage full of anything you want without making users click on a menu link! You can also set this to be displayed on every page if you wish.
Outbound Links
Before you could only add 2 things to your mobile site menu, a static page and an RSS feed. Now you can add any link to anywhere on the web!
If the site you’re linking to isn’t mobile-friendly – they have partnered with Mowser, a mobile transcoding company, to ensure that every link on every MoFuse mobile site is now mobile-friendly (more to come on this partnership later). So go ahead – link away! The entire web is now mobile-friendly and you can link to it all!
QR Codes
We’ve had a QR Code generator for a while now located at http://qrcode.mofuse.com/ but it was never actually integrated with MoFuse mobile sites, until now. Now every MoFuse mobile site is automatically given a QR Code that all of our users can access right from their mobile site dashboard!
Increased Branding – The SMS Widget (MoFuse Professional)
Professional users that make use of our SMS widget will notice that the MoFuse logo has been removed from the popup box and has been replaced with your mobile site’s logo! Now your users really won’t even know you’re using a third-party for your mobile site!
Full branding from start to finish for MoFuse Professional accounts!
Live Support
We’ve added a button to our Help and Support page for Live Support chat. If you got an urgent question, check our Help and Support page and see if a member of our support team is online and available to help you instantly!
MediaCart, Microsoft and Wakefern Create Digital Grocery Shopping
January 15, 2008
MediaCart, Microsoft and Wakefern Food Corporation announced today, at the National Retail Federations Annual Convention & Expo, that Wakefern plans to pilot MediaCart’s next-generation computerised shopping carts for potential rollout to all ShopRite stores. The early pilot, conducted with Wakefern in its ShopRite stores, The nine-month pilot with Wakefern began in the spring of 2007. Microsoft’s Atlas Division will provide video ad serving on the MediaCart grocery cart screen, providing advertisers with the opportunity to reach shoppers at the point of purchase, and providing ShopRite customers with a more personalised shopping experience.
“In working with companies like MediaCart, we’re continuing to push the envelope in the digital advertising realm to enable new and innovative ways for advertisers and agencies to create brand loyalty and engage with their target audiences in a highly relevant, measurable and targeted way,” said Scott Ferris, general manager of the Advertiser and Publisher Solutions Group at Microsoft. “Digital advertising opportunities are expanding rapidly into new areas, as many of consumers’ daily activities, such as shopping, become increasingly ‘connected,’ and Microsoft is committed to working with advertisers and agencies to take advantage of these opportunities as they unfold.”
By using Microsoft technologies, the MediaCart solution will enable anonymous ad targeting through data obtained through ShopRite’s customer loyalty card program. A shopper would scan his or her card at the MediaCart, and receive ads and promotional offers based on past purchases and/or saved shopping lists that could be uploaded from a home PC. No personally identifiable information will be shared with Microsoft, MediaCart or any advertiser as part of the ad serving process. The technology will also provide advertisers with reporting and analytics capabilities to assess performance of the ads in the stores.
In addition to the advertising shoppers will receive, they will also be able to save time and money with MediaCart-equipped shopping carts by obtaining electronic coupons, locating products in the store, performing comparative price checks, viewing store specials in aisle as they shop, viewing recipes and nutritional information, shopping using an electronic shopping list that is presented in aisle order, totaling the cost of the items in their baskets before checkout, and expediting the checkout using the cart-level checkout feature. This enhanced shopping experience helps differentiate ShopRite in the marketplace and drives brand and customer loyalty.
In addition to Microsoft’s Atlas technologies, the MediaCart solution is also built on Microsoft Windows CE and Microsoft SQL Server. Trials of the MediaCart solution are expected to begin in ShopRite stores in the second half of 2008.
Put Facebook Faces in Outlook
January 15, 2008
OutSync is a Windows application that lets you syncs photos of your Facebook friends with matching contacts in Microsoft Outlook. It allows you to select which contacts are updated. So you can update all contacts at once or just a few at a time.
The benefit of OutSync is for Windows Mobile users. Updated contacts are automatically synced with Windows Mobile devices by Exchange server or ActiveSync. Thus new and fun photos appear during calls and other places where contacts are used.
Here is the Channel 10 Video with a 10 min demo, note you will need silverlight to view it.
Sync your Facebook contacts with Outlook (and Windows Mobile)
Empressr released to the Public
January 11, 2008
Empressr, the web application that lets you create, share and store flash-based presentations online has been released to the public with some improvements
The biggest change in the new version is the all-inclusive media library, where users upload and manage different media assets, with search, filter and keyword support to locate files quickly, users can also drag and drop the assets.
More Features an Improvements
- Snap to grid, object and guides
- Customise grid spacing
- Zoom to align objects with greater accuracy
- Use a different background for each slide
- Select transitions between slides including 3D effects
- Layer objects on the slide using drag and drop
- Copy and paste objects from slide to slide
- Drag and drop images, videos and Flash assets from your library
- Robust text tables and charts
- Add transparency effects on all objects
- Upload or link to images
- Upload video files
- Upload or link to flash files
- Capture images from your webcam into the library
- Tag media assets
Any existing presentations that were done before these updates cannot be converted but will be available by clicking on presentations made before December 4th.
Miro gets an update
January 11, 2008
Miro, the Open Source application that turns your computer into an Internet video player have released a new version. Some of the new improvements includes a dramatic improvement performance wise for torrent down loading, and with the support of libtorrent more settings and controls will be available.
On the other side of the camera, Video Producers get more control when they publish the video content. They can now push video in a higher quality to more people, using less applications.
Another new feature is a combined search that lets you get results from all 5 search engines at once, although can still choose a specific site to search if you prefer.
Download Miro here
