Monday, August 31, 2009

Pingdom Uptime-Monitoring Service Now Offering Free Accounts [Site Tools]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/EQKKLCx4tAI/pingdom-uptime+monitoring-service-now-offering-free-accounts

The popular web site uptime-monitoring service Pingdom is now offering free accounts.

The free account provides monitoring for a single web site, 20 SMS alerts—you can purchase more if you need them—and unlimited email alerts. If you want to monitor multiple sites and have access to the advanced features you'll still need a premium account.

Check out the Pingdom site for additional information on free and premium accounts.



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Moonbell Creates "Beautiful" "Music" From the Lunar Surface [Music]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/GSYuL7OU4tk/moonbell-creates-beautiful-music-from-the-lunar-surface

Moonbell, a surprisingly complex MIDI composer and visualizer that draws inspiration from lunar topographical data, poses a pressing question: Are there songs hidden in the moon's jagged geography? The answer depends heavily on your definition of the word "songs."

Created in part by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, this animated web toy might not render the most appealing soundscapes straight away, but it gives you plenty of tools to at least try to coax notes out of two years of topographical data collected by the Kaguya moon orbiter. There are two playback modes: Orbit, which translates the altitudes along a fixed rotational path into sounds, sort of like a phonograph needle; and Free Scratch, which lets you plot a listening path along the moon's surface with your cursor. Both modes have a slew of MIDI instrument options, as well as adjustable speed.

Fiddle as I may, I couldn't really create anything that most people wold consider listenable—the only consistent aesthetic I could achieve was "Childhood Clown Nightmare"—but that's not the point: For a certain class of aspirational armchair astronauts, anything that brings us even a micrometer closer to experiencing space, the moon, or really, anything that isn't earth in a new way, is an unqualified, unconditional Good Thing. [Moonbell via Pink Tentacle]




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Casio's Budget EXILIM Zoom ZZ-280 Records in 720p, EX-Z33 For $120 [Point-and-shoots]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/C2j0ufDRTnM/casios-budget-exilim-zoom-zz+280-records-in-720p-ex+z33-for-120

Casio released two budget EXILIM point-and-shoots this morning. The new $180 Zoom EX-Z280 packs a few higher end features, including 720p recording, while the $120 EX-Z33 is your basic shooter.

The 12.1 megapixel EXILIM Zoom EX-Z280, likes its name leads, has a wide-angle 26 mm 4X optical zoom lens. From the pictures it looks to have a nice compact body and comes with standard features including a CCD-shift image stabilization mechanism and face detection function. Casio is also touting its high-speed image processing CPU, which allows it to run its EXILIM Engine 4.0 on the camera itself (that includes editing abilities, etc.). It can also shoot 720p. All in all, not too bad for under $200.

A bit more basic, the 10.1 megapixel EXILIM EX-Z33 has a 3X optical zoom lens. Meant for the beginner, it features an easy mode and though it won't shoot 720p you can record some YouTube friendly 640 x 480 resolution video. You can snatch this guy up in the colors of the rainbow, including black, light pink, darker pink, silver and blue. [Casio]




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HTC Touch Pro2 Launching On Sprint September 8th For $350 [Sprint]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/Q5lQ8fqeda0/htc-touch-pro2-launching-on-sprint-september-8th-for-350

Sprint customers that were riding high on the possibility that the HTC Touch Pro2 would arrive on their network were shot back down to earth today as the official word reveals a September 8th release date for $350.

Don't worry guys, you are not alone. T-Mobile received the same abusive price treatment. Oh, and did I mention that this price was on a 2-year contract after a $100 mail in rebate? Even the earliest of adopters are likely to be put off on this one. [BusinessWire via BGR]




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ASUS' Future Netbooks (Including Nvidia Ion and Multitouch Models) Forget XP, Run Windows 7 [NetBooks]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/WG3wKjEO4Po/asus-future-netbooks-including-nvidia-ion-and-multitouch-models-forget-xp-run-windows-7

Arrivederci Windows XP on netbooks? If you believe leaked road maps, ASUS will release a handful of new netbooks in the U.S. running Windows 7 (Starter and Home Premium editions) and a 12-inch Eee PC with Nvidia's Ion.

There was speculation that many netbook vendors wouldn't choose Windows 7 Starter because of its limitations, including the inability to change the wallpaper and run Areo, and opt to go with the similarly priced, yet outdated Windows XP. However it appears that ASUS is betting on Win 7.

According to the road map most of its upcoming 10-inch netbook line, which includes its 1005HA and 1008HA series will run Windows 7 Starter (which IMHO kinda sucks).

We have heard from a source that ASUS will focus on Windows 7 on netbooks and has been working with Microsoft to tweak the BIOS of the Eee PCs. That still won't fix Starter's limitations, however.

The roadmap also reveals that a $499 12-inch ASUS 1201N which will pack Nvidia's Ion solution (Intel's Atom N270 and GeForce 9400M graphics) and run Windows 7 Home Premium is set to release sometime in October. It will have a six-cell battery and a 250GB hard drive.

It also looks like ASUS will slap some multitouch on top of the Eee PC T91 and put on Windows 7 Home Premium.[Eee User Forum via NetbookNews]




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