Friday, April 04, 2008

New Google Docs Features - Offline Editing, YouTube Video Embeds

Source: http://www.labnol.org/internet/office/two-new-features-in-google-docs-offline-editing-youtube-video-embeds/2777/

google-docs-offlineGoogle add two new features in Google Docs today - offline support and video embeds - you can insert YouTube videos in Google Docs or upload video clips from the hard drive.

Using the Google Gears extension in Firefox or IE, you can now view or edit existing documents in Google Docs without requiring an always-on Internet connection - it is however not possible to create new word documents while you are offline in Google Docs.

And any changes that you make to the documents locally will automatically get synched to Google Docs the next time you connect to the Internet.

Details on Google Blog. Scoble at Fastcompany.tv has an interview with Ken Norton of the Google Docs team where they discuss issues like two people editing the same document concurrently but in offline mode. Some more thoughts:

Rafe - "Offline access for Google’s spreadsheet and presentation app will follow after the word processor rollout is complete."

Kevin - "While folks at the Google are messing with Google Gears: any chance for Safari or Opera support? There’s more to the web than IE and Firefox."

Mathew - "Zoho’s services are great, and I use Zoho Show in particular a fair bit, but when it comes to trusting a company with my data I would have to come down on the side of Google."

Josh - "So what has been taking Google so long? Why isn’t it eating its own dogfood and releasing more of its web apps with Gears support? What about Gmail? "

Zoho  already supports offline access via the same Google Gears plugin. See full list of Google Gears compatible web applications.


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Political Blogs Spread More Link Love Than Tech & Gadget Blogs

Source: http://www.labnol.org/internet/blogging/political-blogs-spread-more-link-love-than-tech-gadget-blogs/2807/

popular-bloggers technology-bloggers

These visuals represent the interactions among the blogging community.

The dense core at the center of the left figure represents those few thousand blogs that get the maximum link love. The visualization on the right is even more interesting.

You can divide that core into two regions - political blogs (in pink) and technology / gadget blogs. The pink lines represent reciprocal links or blogs linking to each each.

The researcher notes an apparent difference in culture between the tech and political blogs - the pink lines are much denser among the political blogs than they are among blogs focused on technology.

Credits: Technology Review, Matthew Hurst - Thanks Mrinal.

Related: Internet World Maps, Popular Social Networks


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Amazon Rolls M-Commerce via Text

Apr 4, 2008 6:05 AM, PROMO Xtra, By Brian Quinton

Brick-and-mortar retailers are already accustomed to being challenged by Amazon.com in cyberspace. Now they may find themselves squaring off against the online retail giant within those same brick walls—and in fact anywhere shoppers can get a few bars on their mobile phones.

Amazon.com has launched "Amazon TextBuyIt," a mobile-commerce platform that lets consumers buy from the Web merchant via text messaging. Users can text the name, search term, Universal Product Code (UPC) or ISBN number to "AMAZON" (262966). Within seconds, Amazon says, it will reply with the corresponding products and their prices through Amazon.com.

Customers can reply to this text by sending the unique digit code next to the exact item they want. In return, Amazon will send out a brief phone call relaying the order details and asking shoppers to confirm or cancel the purchase.

First-time customers using TextBuyIt will be asked for the e-mail address and shipping ZIP code already attached to their existing Amazon.com account. Amazon will then use that account's default settings for payment, shipping address and ship speed. That should reduce the difficulty and drudgery of inputting information on mobile handsets.

"Any Amazon.com customer can now use any mobile device to shop and buy from Amazon.com at any time, anywhere they are," said Howard Gefen, director of Amazon mobile payments, in a statement. "With TextBuyIt, if you're walking out of a concert and want to buy a CD from the artist you just saw, or if you're at dinner and a friend tells you about a great book you should read, all you have to do is get out your mobile device, send a text message to Amazon, reply to the response, confirm your order, and your item will be on its way."

The concert and dinner examples aside, text-shopping from Amazon might have more impact when customers are actually in stores and searching for products. In those situations, keying in a UPC code might become a popular way to do price comparison shopping or read customer product reviews from within a retailer's outlet.

Amazon has already made forays into m-commerce with two WAP sites for mobile users launched last fall: one for standard browsers and one tailored for iPhone users. Both mobile sites incorporate registered users' shipping preferences, allow the creation of wish lists, and offer recommendations based on past purchases. Amazon claims that customers have used those two mobile sites to buy everything from books and music to HDTV sets and $30,000 watches.


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More and more people discover Creative Commons

from Seth's Blog, he describes how to get and use incredible images for free from Flickr, under Creative Commons licenses. See the article here.

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2008/03/where-to-find-g.html

Another resource for searching Creative Commons photos on Flickr is http://picturesandbox.com .

A tool to make e-greetings using these Creative Commons photos is http://phreetings.com .

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Verizon Promises In-Home Cell Boosters This Year, But For How Much? [Cellphones]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/263350806/verizon-promises-in+home-cell-boosters-this-year-but-for-how-much

Airvana_Femtocells.jpgFemtocell, femtocell, femtocell. Get used to it, because it's a word you'll be hearing a lot of from now on. Yesterday, Verizon Wireless promised to offer broadband-connected mini cell towers (yep, femtocells) to customers in 2008. We're told that products such as the EV-Do model just introduced by Motorola and Airvana are intended for home use, not just in offices. There will be a cost of some kind for the hardware, possibly along the same lines as your monthly cable-box fee. The question is, how much more will you pay to get guaranteed cell voice and data reception in your home? [AP]


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Intel Working on Anti-Theft Tech for Laptops [Laptops]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/263599854/intel-working-on-anti+theft-tech-for-laptops

Intel is currently hard at work on its new Anti-Theft Technology (ATT), a relatively vague new project that would help prevent theft by making a computer inoperable without the owner's permission. It differs from disc encryption methods of protection by rendering the computer inoperable even if the drive has been swapped out. Intel's currently working with a number of other companies on the project, but don't expect to see the fruits of their labor until the fourth quarter of this year or later. [ArsTechnica]


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Video: Sony's $900 HDR-TG1 -- world's smallest 1080i camcorder

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/263112490/

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We'll go ahead and let those other guys battle it out for the "world's smallest" camcorder title -- meanwhile, Sony's just cranked out the one to really pay attention to. The HDR-TG1 Handycam checks in at just 1.3- x 4.7- x 2.5-inches and weighs ten ounces, all while boasting the ability to capture those oh-so-precious vacation moments and unannounced streaking episodes in 1080p 1080i. Aside from that, it'll snag stills at 4-megapixels and holds everything on MS Pro Duo / Pro Duo Mark2 cards, while the 2.7-inch touchscreen keeps your eyes glued to the action. Furthermore, you'll find a 10x Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar optical zoom lens, BIONZ processing engine, 5.1 Dolby Digital audio recording and a bundled 4GB Pro Duo Mark2 card for $900. Get ready -- this one's comin' at you next month. Video of Japanese model after the break.

Update: Will be called the HD TG3E in Europe.

[Via AkihabaraNews]


Continue reading Video: Sony's $900 HDR-TG1 -- world's smallest 1080i camcorder

 

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Intel's pre-production SSDs get pictured

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/263251192/

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We've been waiting so long for Intel to stop talking and start producing its own line of SSDs that it's actually kind of shocking to finally see some progress. Nevertheless, one Knut Grimsrud managed to spend some time with a pre-production unit and was noticeably satisfied with performance. 'Course, we all know the benefits of solid state discs by now -- we're ready to see those buggers snapped above available en masse. Any day now, Intel.

[Via CNET]

 

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And we're off: Twin Cities get first DOCSIS 3.0 deployment

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/263267090/

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Although we just heard that Comcast's DOCSIS 3.0 rollout was on track for 2009, folks in the Twin Cities region now have exclusive bragging rights for an undisclosed window of time. Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota have become the first markets to have access to an all new "extreme" broadband (or wideband, as it were) connection, which promises 50Mbps down / 5Mbps up. As expected, the carrier isn't being modest about the launch, claiming that users can suck down a 4GB HD movie "in about ten minutes," compared to "more than six hours" on a 1.5Mbps DSL connection. The newfound speed won't come cheap -- for residential users, look to lay down $149.95 per month for the privilege. Even if you aren't springing for the good stuff, current customers in the area will have their existing broadband connections hastened gratis, with 6Mbps / 384Kbps users moving up to 1Mbps uploads and 8Mbps / 768Kbps users seeing 2Mbps uploads. Kudos, Twin Cities -- you just made most of America sick with envy.

[Image courtesy of TheRedWoodMotel]

 

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Panasonic turning cellphone, gas pump into your next Plasma

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/263280045/

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We kid you not. Panasonic is working on a new low-voltage (1.5v) plasma technology which it says will rival OLED displays in brightness, thinness, and contrast. Better yet, Panasonic claims that its plasmas can be manufactured for "much less money" than OLEDs. Panny already has plans to include their new plasma displays in cellphones for use with AT&T's Mobile TV service, gas pumps, ATMs, and on HP printers under a new exclusive two-year deal. Color us impressed if the new displays look anything like the 3.5-inch, 854 x 480 pixel Viera phone instead of that anemic looking phone pictured above which accompanied the press release.

 

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Video: Intel reveals Moorestown PC motherboard, possibly world's smallest

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/263321055/

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It was brief but it sure was impressive. With all the hubbub surrounding Intel's launch of Atom, let's not forget what's coming: Moorestown. That fiberglass isn't yet populated with the CPU, chipset, WiFi, GPS, 3G cellular radio, or memory... but it will be if you can wait until 2010. See it revealed after the break.

Continue reading Video: Intel reveals Moorestown PC motherboard, possibly world's smallest

 

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Intel rep says people "probably won't" need discrete graphics in the future

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/263383915/

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Intel's already made some fairly bold promises at its Intel Developer Forum in Shanghai this week, and it now looks like it's getting into the prediction game as well, with one representative from the company telling TG Daily that people "probably won't" need discrete graphics cards in the future. That word comes from Intel Graphics and Gaming Technologist Ron Fosner, who was showing off a graphics demo running on a multi-core Nehelam system that, as you can see in the video at the link below, likely won't have NVIDIA or AMD rethinking their strategy just yet. Fosner also curiously looked to the past to back up his argument, saying that "if you look back into the mid 80's, there were no discreet graphics cards." Of course, all of this is all the more puzzling given that Intel is itself dabbling in discrete graphics with its Larrabee project, albeit under the guise of a CPU / GPU hybrid.

 

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