Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Friday, November 30, 2007

A TV Style Video Player for Watching Your Favorite Web Videos

from Digital Inspiration by Amit

If you love watching videos on the web, World TV is one service that you should bookmark.

Contrary to the name, World TV it is not about watching TV channels online, rather it lets you play your favorite web videos in a proper TV kind of environment.

You also get a full screen video player and can easily flip through videos using the onscreen controls.

watch videos online

You begin by creating a playlist of your favorite web videos that could be residing on any video sharing websites like YouTube, Blip, Daily Motion and more.

If a site is not supported, just type the direct URL of the FLV video file in the World TV editor.

Each of your web TV channel gets a unique URL that can also be changed if you like. Plus you can brand the video player with a custom background and your logo that will link to your own blog or website. Brilliant.

worldtv.com | My Channel | Thanks Scoble

world tv channel

Related: Watch YouTube in Full Browser Window

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Play Nearly Any Media File with MPlayer for Windows Mobile

from Lifehacker by Kevin Purdy

Windows Mobile 5 & 6 only: Free open source media player MPlayer, long known to Linux fans for its format friendliness and streamlined operation, has been ported in somewhat rough fashion to Windows Mobile-powered smartphones. While that means formats like RealAudio/Video, Ogg, M4A and others are playable, users are reporting that the program is a monster when it comes to processor use (which also makes it a battery killer) and has only the most basic "open file" functionality. But if you've got a low-quality file or a powerful phone, it could make for a nifty toy to play with until it gets fixed. MPlayer is a free download for Windows Mobile 5 and 6 phones only.

Mplayer port for Windows Mobile [via Download Squad]

Golden Triangle Suggests How People Scan Google Search Pages

from Digital Inspiration by Amit

This visual heat map suggests how web searchers ~~navigate~~ scan the search results shown on Google pages and which areas on the Google web page tend to get the maximum attention.

The areas highlighted in red are noticed by almost Google user but the visibility decreases drastically for search results that show up below the fold (i.e., search results at position 5 or below).

Like the letter “F”, human eyes read the content at the top in a horizontal manner and then travel vertically along the left side of the results.

Most of the Google ads in the right sidebar largely go unnoticed (compared to the top organic search results) while the reverse is true for the horizontal Google ad unit placed at the top of search results - it probably offers the highest conversion rate for advertisers.

Full details of this Google Eyetracking study is available on Eyetools.

Related: How to Draw Heat Maps

Live Documents To Take on Google Docs and Microsoft Office

from Digital Inspiration by Amit

Sabeer Bhatia Hotmail Sabeer Bhatia, who sold Hotmail to Microsoft in 1997 for around $400 million, has now challenged the cash cow (read Office Suite) of the same company that made him a millionaire.

Sabeer has launched Office Live Documents - an online+offline Office suite of programs similar to Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

live documents screenshot Like Zoho Office or Google Docs, Live Documents lets you create, edit and share Office documents in the web browser.

All your edits are automatically synchronized with all other copies of the documents.

And if you own a copy of Microsoft Office, you can download a Live Documents ~~toolbar~~ desktop client that makes it easy to upload documents from your Office programs to the Live Documents cloud (very similar to Office Live Workspace).

Other than uploading documents online, this Live Docs desktop client will also synchronizes all changes made to a document - either on the browser or on the desktop within Microsoft Office - to ensure that the most up-to-date document is available on both platforms.

Live Documents is done in Flex so should work on any system that has the Flash plug-in. Overall, Live Docs sounds like a good concept but they are definitely up against some heavyweights notably Google and Microsoft.

Request invite for Live Documents here. Official site: live-documents.com

Jajah, Jaxtr, Jangl - How Are These Skype Alternatives Different ?

from Digital Inspiration by Amit

cheap internet phone calls Jajah, Jangl and Jaxtr have very similar-sounding names and what further adds to the confusion is that all of them are in the web-calling (VoIP) space each trying to make their presence strong on online social networks and at the same time, grab a piece of pie from big daddy Skype.

Jajah, Jaxtr and Jangle make it possible for you to receive calls without revealing your phone number. They all work with regular phones without the computer. They provide widgets allowing readers and friends to connect with you without leaving your website. And none of them will require you to download or install any software on your computer or phone.

So what are some unique features that makes each of these "Ja.." (fill in the blanks) service different? Let's take a look:

jajah voip JAJAH - Jajah lets you make phone calls over the internet but using regular telephone lines. Type in your phone number on the Jajah website and also the phone number of the person you wish to reach – Jajah will then connect the two numbers seamlessly.

Jajah will also let you send SMS text messages to any mobile phone in the world. And they have just introduced a new service called Jajah Direct which lets you make Internet calls even without a computer or an Internet connection.

You can add Jajah call buttons to your website, social networks or email signatures and receive calls without giving away your phone number. The call charges in this case will be paid by the person who is receiving calls through Jajah (i.e., you).

Jajah supports voice conference calls and call scheduling so you will never forget calling your aunt on her birthday as Jajah will automatically make the call for you.

jaxtr phone JAXTR - Jaxtr provides a simple click-to-call widget that you can embed in your social web profiles or blogs.

Anyone on the web can can type his phone number inside this widget on your web page and Jaxtr will then connect his phone to your phone almost immediately.

When you register with Jaxtr, you also get a local phone number and any calls made to this number are automatically redirected to your main phone number.

The best part about Jaxtr is the simplicity - it doesn't require the caller to register before placing a call - they can just key in their own phone number and wait for Jaxtr to connect.

jangl phone JANGL - Like Jajah and Jaxtr, Jangl also allows anyone to call you without knowing your phone number but there's a difference in approach - when you have to make a phone call through Jangl, you first have to provide Jangl an email address of the person you wish to reach.

Jangl will then give you a local phone number, you call that and leave a voice mail message that will be delivered to the recipient over email. Once they agree to connect with you, the recipient receives instructions to get a number – local to them – to call you back. (read that line again, it may take a while for you to understand the Jangle concept but its actually quite simple)

The interesting feature here is that all phone numbers assigned by Jangl are always different - so if you have five friends who you have allowed to connect through Jangl, they will all be assigned unique phone numbers .

Jangl is quite popular on dating websites but unfortunately, India in not in their list of supported countries yet.

Blogs Can Download and Use Copyrighted Images from Corbis Legally

from Digital Inspiration by Amit

corbis picture Stock photography website Corbis is allowing bloggers to download their pictures on blogs for free without having to worry about "copyright infringement" - in return Corbis will embed a banner ad beneath the photograph or image.

There exists dozens of stock photography websites offering royalty free pictures at no cost but the Corbis advantage is that they have tie ups with big news agencies like Reuters so you could gain "legal access" to photographs that are otherwise extremely expensive.

According to Reuters, you can download Corbis pictures from PicApp website (currently in private beta) and they will be tracked automatically. The photos will either include an ad overlay on part of the image, or embedded advertising that pops up when you move the cursor over the picture.

PicApp follows a CPC based model and shares revenue based on the number of clicks made my visitors on the image but it is not clear if Corbis has any plans to share advertising revenue with publishing sites.

Corbis is privately owned by the same person who started Microsoft - Bill Gates.

Universal Music CEO: Record industry can't tell when geeks are lying to us about technology

from Boing Boing by Cory Doctorow

Universal Music's CEO Doug Morris did a Wired interview in which the 68-year-old man said that he didn't really understand technology, that the record industry couldn't respond to Napster in 1999 because it didn't even have the in-house expertise to figure out whether a technologist was lying or not -- also, he compares his industry to a character from the comic strip Li'l Abner (which, New York magazine reminds us, stopped running in 1977).

"There's no one in the record industry that's a technologist," Morris explains. "That's a misconception writers make all the time, that the record industry missed this. They didn't. They just didn't know what to do. It's like if you were suddenly asked to operate on your dog to remove his kidney. What would you do?"
Personally, I would hire a vet. But to Morris, even that wasn't an option. "We didn't know who to hire," he says, becoming more agitated. "I wouldn't be able to recognize a good technology person — anyone with a good bullshit story would have gotten past me."

Link (via Michael Geist)

CASH music, a platform for Radiohead-style digital distribution that makes fans into stake-holders

from Boing Boing by Cory Doctorow

Chris sez, "One of my favorite songwriters, Kristin Hersh (Throwing Muses, 50FOOTWAVE, and solo) has founded the Coalition for Artists and Stake Holders, on the assumption that both artists and fans are stakeholders in the production of music. She's built a framework to distribute music on the internet while taking donations (sort of Radiohead-style: pay what you want) and taking full advantage of the medium -- including offering ProTools tem files via BitTorrent so you can remix her song!" Link (Thanks, Chris!)

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Six-Person Video Conferencing with Meebo/TokBox [Video Conferencing]

from Lifehacker by Kevin Purdy

Web-based chat application Meebo now lets you video conference with up to five other contacts from any instant messaging service through a team-up with TokBox. As with their regular video chat, you log in, open a chat window, hit the "rocket ship" icon and choose the "Group Video Chat" option. There's simultaneous text chatting in the same window, and the video quality looks to be about the same as the one-on-one setup. Not too shabby for a free, no-installation service.

600% More TokBox at Meebo.com [via TechCrunch]

Samsung's Thin 3-Megapixel SCH-u900 FlipShot Camera Phone Hits Verizon

from Gizmodo by Wilson Rothman

Last time you saw the SCH-u900, it was fugly. Now, gussied up and ready for the holidays, the u900 makes its Verizon Wireless debut in red and black with a new nickname, the FlipShot. The 3.0-megapixel camphone replaces the now defunct a990 with a thinner body and a new rounded-edge look. It's got what you'd expect from a high-end feature phone: EV-DO, GPS with VZ Navigator, and Bluetooth—stereo audio, dial-up networking, serial port and object push for vCard, plus basic print and image profiles. The black version starts selling on Verizon's website today, while the seductive red model will only be available at Best Buy, beginning 11/26. Total cost for this baby will be $200, after you sign your life away for one-fifth of a decade, of course. [Verizon Wireless]

Compact Florescent Light Bulbs, Gone Crazy [Art Bulbs]

from Gizmodo by Charlie White

Compact fluorescent bulbs get more popular every day because of their energy-saving characteristics, but their conventional corkscrew/spring design leaves something to be desired. Enter Hulger, a bunch of British designers with a bent for the unusual, who have bent those tubes around into crazy configurations, making something that once appeared rather prosaic into an artform. You're looking at a prototype of the spaghetti-like bulb, and we're all hoping to see a shipping version before too long. Now if they can just make them instant-on and light 'em up with a warm color temperature of 2700 Kelvin, they'll really be onto something. [Core 77]

GPS Letterlogger to Solve the Problem of Missing Snail Mail [Mail Tracker]

from Gizmodo by Addy Dugdale

TrackingTheWorld has come up with a potential solution to the problem of letters that go missing in action. Letter Logger is a quarter-inch-thick device that fits into a standard number 10 business envelope and allows the US Postal Service to track its progress throughout the system alongside Google Earth. Here's how it works.

Letter Logger consists of a powerful microprocessor developed by Texas Instruments, and a low-power consumption uBlox ANTARIS 4 GPS module, and is powered by a slim 1100mAh battery. It can be deployed in two different ways. Users can choose to receive reports every two, five or ten minutes (which would, I think, drive you nuts) if Letter Logger is in Constant mode, or they can go for Tilt mode, which notifies you only when the envelope is tilted. Constant mode gives you 20 hours' battery life, while Tilt mode will keep tabs for two weeks.

The service starts up on January 2 next year and it won't be available to the general public. It's a shame the British Government's Customs and Revenue department didn't have access to this when the CD-Rs containing 25 million people's bank details got lost in transit earlier this month. [Tracking the World via Engadget]

First Supersonic Private Jet Sold to Obviously-Very-Rich Guy [Supersonic Private Jet]

from Gizmodo by Jesus Diaz

This is the Aerion Supersonic Business Jet, the first private plane that will fly at 1.6 Mach. The first unit has just been purchased by Sheikh Rashid, the ruler of Dubai. This bird will be able to fly the Ellisons, Jobs and Gores of this world from Paris to New York in just over 4 hours, so even while it has a $80,000,000 price tag, there will be no demand problems for it. The aircraft specs are amazing:

Thanks to its design, the Aerion Supersonic Business Jet will be able to cruise at 1.15 Mach over land without producing any boom on the ground. The plane can also keep a 0.98 Mach speed offering a similar cost-per-mile than competing subsonic private jets and complying with US regulations. Over water, however, you will be free to speed it up and sustain 1.5 Mach with ease. To give you an idea, at this speed the Aerion can cross the Atlantic in two hours (it has a 4,600 miles range over 45,400 pounds of fuel) thanks to its Pratt & Whitney JT8D-219 engines.

Unlike the Concorde, which could only fly to certain airports through the world because of its operative requirements, this supersonic jet is designed to comply with environmental, sound and airport regulations everywhere. For example, the Aerion can land in just 3,460 feet, which makes it usable in most airports and a prime candidate to be Larry Ellison's next private plane.

Design-wise, the Aerion looks even better than the fastest turboprop private plane . At least, it looks stunning except for the color. But hey, for $80,000,000 I'm sure they will be able to deliver it in secret-plane black with alien markings.

The Aerion Supersonic Business Jet will be delivered in 2014, so you only need to decide if you want to spend $250,000 now for one of the forty "early delivery positions" or wait a couple more years to get it on a Black Friday, just like the rest of us. [Aerion]

Lifefast Transparent 360º Ad Display is LED Craziness in a (Big) Can [Led Display]

from Gizmodo by Addy Dugdale

Technohouse showed off the Lifefast, a radical transparent, 360º LED display unit at the Inter BEE 2007 fair in Japan. Placed at right angles to each other in the Lifefast's cylindrical design are four bars, each fitted with 600 three-color LEDs, which revolve between 12 and 13 times per second, flashing up images. More info and pics below.

The unit, which supports VGA, DVI and video signals, can display three 600 x 800-dot images, two 600 x 1,200-dot images, or one 600 x 2,400-dot image, and the size varies between 75 cm and 150cm tall. The unit, which is manufactured by German firm Kinoton GMBH, costs from around $6,450. New Launches

Lotus and Hot Wheels Create Badass Concept [Cars]

from Gizmodo by Mark Wilson

Lotus makes a sexy car on their own, but teaming up with die-cast maker Hot Wheels they've really outdone themselves. A 1:5 scale model created for SEMA, one of its most distinctive characteristics is the exposed center spine which incorporates switches and gear linkages while supporting that massive wing you see sticking out the back. Mostly men want nice cars to attract women and get them sex. This car is so hot it can skip the finding a woman part. Hit the jump for a mega sized pic. [jalopnik and motorauthority]

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