Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Friday, June 12, 2009

The Kindle DX Disassembled [Kindle Dx]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/suYk4M1UoPE/the-kindle-dx-disassembled

In this five-step tutorial, RapidRepair shows you how to carefully disassemble—and reassemble—your Kindle DX to get a closer look at its innards.

When dismantled, you can see that even when the power is switched off, the text is still clearly displayed on the front LCD. And, we knew the Kindle DX was thin—full review right here—but when taken apart, it's simply amazing how much gadgetry is shoved into it—six memory chips and a processor. Head over to RapidRepair for instructions and more photos. [RapidRepair]

Gang Uses Stolen Credit Cards to Buy Own Music on iTunes, Collects Royalties, Still Not Famous [Crime]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/2pOn_ehTgeE/gang-uses-stolen-credit-cards-to-buy-own-music-on-itunes-collects-royalties-still-not-famous

In what probably seemed like a two-birds-with-one-stone situation (before the arrest, we mean), a 9-member British gang used stolen credit cards to purchase their own music on iTunes and Amazon, then collected the royalties—an estimated $300,000 total.

The gang, made up of six men and three women, included one DJ who created the music. They then listed it on iTunes and Amazon and negotiated a pretty plush 40% commission for themselves before using stolen credit cards to purchase $750,000 worth of their music.

British police stated, "We will not know why they did what they did until we have conducted all the interviews," which confirms my suspicion that there is no crime, and possibly not even formal currency, in England. The scheme managed to inflate their almost certainly fragile musical egos and net a pretty penny at the same time, and the British police won't know why they did it until they ask them?

Unfortunately, the artist name they used hasn't been released, so I can't make fun of whatever clanging noise they passed off as music. Apple and Amazon helped the police track down the culprits, who are currently being held in jail. [Times UK]

Archos announces Archos 9 Windows 7 tablet Update: hands-on pics

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/11/archos-announces-archos9-windows-7-tablet/

Archos is currently having an event in France, and while we're still expecting some sort of Android announcement, the company's leading off with the Archos 9, a nine-inch Windows 7 tablet. It's basically a netbook in tablet form, with an Atom Z515 processor, 80GB disk, Bluetooth, and dual DVB-T antennas -- yep, Archos has brought back the UMPC. No word on pricing or availability yet, we'll let you know.

Update: Sounds like a 1.2GHz processor -- not exactly a rocket, but probably adequate for a stripped-down Windows 7 build. We're also hearing September / October availability, in line with Windows 7, and a €450 ($633) pricetag.

Update 2: So much for our hopes -- the event is now over and no Android announcements were made. Charbax from techvideoblog (who is at the event) says we'll see more info on September 15.

Update 3: As you'd expect, ArchosLounge is on the scene and they've nabbed some hands-on pics. Check a couple after the break -- we think it looks sort of gigantic, but maybe that's what the world's been waiting for.

[Via UMPC Portal]

Continue reading Archos announces Archos 9 Windows 7 tablet Update: hands-on pics

Filed under: Handhelds, Tablet PCs

Archos announces Archos 9 Windows 7 tablet Update: hands-on pics originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Jun 2009 12:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Archos rolls out Archos 10s, Archos 13 laptops, Classmate-based student PC

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/11/archos-rolls-out-archos10s-archos13-laptops-classmate-based-st/

Archos's new Windows 7-based Archos 9 tablet may be the headliner at today's event in Paris, but the company's also taken advantage of the opportunity to expand its laptop / netbook offerings, which have so far been confined to one. Those include the previously announced Archos 10s "MiniPC," which hangs onto some mostly identical specs to the Archos 10 but packs 'em in a slimmer and lighter package, and the all new Archos 13 (pictured above), which is a full-fledged 13-inch ultraportable with a 1.2GHz Celeron ULV processor and some fairly standard specs across the board. As if that wasn't enough, Archos has also partnered with France's Ministry of Education to make a Classmate-based laptop available to students in the country, which will also include a one-year subscription to an online course service for about $400. Still no word on price for the Archos10s, unfortunately, but it'll apparently be available later this month in both three-cell and six-cell versions, while the Archos13 will run about $800 when it rolls out closer to the end of the summer.

Read - Archos 10s
Read - Archos 13
Read - Archos Press Release [Warning: PDF link]

[Thanks, @charbax]

Update: ArchosLounge has already made the rounds of the event and provided a few hands-on pics of all the goods. Head on past the break for a quic! k look a t the Archos 10s and Classmate PC, and hit up their site for some more shots and details.

Continue reading Archos rolls out Archos 10s, Archos 13 laptops, Classmate-based student PC

Filed under: Laptops

Archos rolls out Archos 10s, Archos 13 laptops, Classmate-based student PC originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Jun 2009 13:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Archos 3 8GB touchscreen PMP launched

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/11/archos3-8gb-touchscreen-pmp-launched/

Not much detail on this yet, but Archos just announced the Archos 3 touchscreen media player. The 8GB device has a three-inch touchscreen and will do 14 hours of audio playback, as well as photos and voice recording. We're waiting for pricing and availability, we'll let you know.

Filed under: Portable Audio

Archos 3 8GB touchscreen PMP launched originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Jun 2009 13:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Six-core Intel Nehalem processors in the works?

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/11/six-core-intel-nehalem-processors-in-the-works/

It's a bit of a whisper on the wind, but bit-tech says Intel's got six-core Nehalem processors in the works for later this year. The chips are said to be compatible with existing Nehalem mobos, so you crazy builders out there will be able to just drop it in and go. If you've got the scratch, of course -- pricing hasn't been revealed, but we'd expect the new part to be more expensive than the quad-core Core i7 975, which runs about a grand.

[Via TrustedReviews]

Filed under: Desktops

Six-core Intel Nehalem processors in the works? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Jun 2009 15:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Fujifilm debuts touchscreen-based FinePix Z300 camera

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/11/fujifilm-debuts-touchscreen-based-finepix-z300-camera/

Fujifilm has laid a little low since it stormed into CeBIT and PMA with its latest slate of cameras, but it looks like it's now back to slowly trotting out new models one at a time, like this just-announced FinePix Z300. As you can see above, this one stays fairly close to the previous Z200fd model in terms of design, with the notable exception of a touchscreen on the backside that seems to replace just about every button but the bare essentials. Otherwise, you can expect the same 10-megapixels and 5x optical zoom as before, along with image stabalization, an apparently improved macro mode, ISO settings up to 1600 and, of course, your choice of four different colors. No word on a release 'round here just yet, but folks in Japan will be able to pick this one up on June 20th for ¥40,000, or just about $400.

[Via Impress]

Filed under: Digital Cameras

Fujifilm debuts touchscreen-based FinePix Z300 camera originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Jun 2009 16:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Is this T-Mobile's Samsung Bigfoot with Android, AMOLED, and QWERTY?

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/11/is-this-t-mobiles-samsung-bigfoot-with-android-amoled-and-qwe/

So this really doesn't look anything like that Bigfoot we saw a little while ago, but we can sorta see the familial resemblance if we squint really (really, really) hard. According to Boy Genius Report, what we're looking at here is allegedly Samsung's Android-powered Bigfoot for T-Mobile, said to be attacking the high end of the carrier's smartphone line thanks to a 3-inch capacitive AMOLED display, full QWERTY, 3 megapixel camera, and naturally, HSDPA. If we had to guess, this is probably a newer version of the same product concept that we'd seen in that roadmap a few weeks back -- Sammy probably started with its Beat DJ (or an Ocean 2) and worked backwards from there to get to the retail version they wanted to launch. We're told it'll launch "like, really soon," so would-be G1 or myTouch 3G buyers might want to hold on for a hot second.

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Is this T-Mobile's Samsung Bigfoot with Android, AMOLED, and QWERTY? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Jun 2009 16:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mitsubishi's 3D-ready and Unisen HDTV lines in the flesh

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/11/mitsubishis-3d-ready-and-unisen-hdtv-lines-in-the-flesh/

Toshiba already showed us what its freshest line of HDTVs looks like, and now its Mitsubishi's turn. The outfit was on hand in NYC to showcase a few of its now-shipping sets, including the 3D-ready Home Theater line and its speaker-infused Unisen crew. We won't bore you with the specs (which can be found here and here, respectively), but we will confess that the 82-inch WD-82737 has us squirming uncontrollably. Have a peek yourself in the gallery below.

Gallery: Mitsubishi's 3D-ready and Unisen HDTV lines in the flesh

Filed under: Displays, HDTV, Home Entertainment

Mitsubishi's 3D-ready and Unisen HDTV lines in the flesh originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Jun 2009 17:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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AMD plans 'Congo' chipset for a future world of thin-and-lights, dodging netbooks for now

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/11/amd-plans-congo-chipset-for-a-future-world-of-thin-and-lights/

Just like your mom keeps telling you, AMD thinks netbooks are a bit of a fad, and is laying down a roadmap for thin-and-lights while keeping its distance from any sort of "Atom killer." The existing Yukon platform -- featured in HP's dv2 -- just got an upgrade in the form of a dual-core AMD Neo chip, but things will really start to get exciting later this year with the introduction of Congo, which will pair a dual-core Neo with much better graphics and a more modern chipset. Perks in Congo, which is based on the M780G chipset and sports ATI Radeon HD 3200 IGP graphics, include hardware decoding for HD formats, DirectX 10 gaming, love for DisplayPort, HDMI and eSATA, and Hybrid Graphics potential for pairing the integrated chipset with discrete graphics. The hope is to compete well against Intel's CULV and NVIDIA's 9400M in the low-cost thin-and-light space, and if the price stays down and performance pans out, Congo just might.

Filed under: Laptops

AMD plans 'Congo' chipset for a future world of thin-and-lights, dodging netbooks for now originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Jun 2009 18:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video: Archos 9 pctablet resistive touchscreen impresses

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/12/video-archos-9-pctablet-resisitive-touch-screen-impresses/

Archos attempt to resurrect the UMPC category of devices got off to a good start yesterday in Paris with the launch of its 16-mm thick Archos 9 pctablet -- a 8.9-inch 1024x600 pixel tablet riding an 800MHz or 1.2GHz Atom Z515 processor, 1GB of memory, up to 120GB disk, webcam, Bluetooth 2.1, 802.11b/g WiFi, and SIM card slot for WWAN connectivity. Archosfans just posted a video of the Archos 9 prototype in action and honestly, that resistive touch-screen looks pretty damn impressive to finger taps. However, since it's running Windows 7, a full-blown desktop OS, you'll still need to pull out the included stylus on occasion to interactive with the Windows 7 UI or applications designed for a mouse and keyboard. Fortunately, the Archos 9 offers an optical mouse on the right-side bezel and left and right mouse keys along the left. Other notable highlights include a removable battery of undetermined capacity, a docking port for added expansion (Ethernet, 2x USB, VGA output), stereo speakers, and an adjustable kickstand for viewing video or working on the Archos 9 with attached USB keyboard and mouse. The Archos rep says it'll be priced between €450 and €500 when it ships around the time Windows 7 launches at the end of October. What we're wondering is how much finger-friendly UI customization will be included by Archos and how they plan to market the device to consumers who already own smartphones, laptops, and even netbooks. Video after the break.

P.S. While Archosfans claims the Archos 9 is multi-touch, nothing that we've found supports that claim on the Archos site or in the video demonstrations. Nevertheless, multi-touch resistive touchscreen technology does exist as demonstrated to us by Stantum back in February. In fact, the ASUS Eee PC T91 also features an 8.9-inch resistive display that does support mult-touch.

Continue reading Video: Archos 9 pctablet resistive touchscreen impresses

Filed under: Handhelds, Tablet PCs

Video: Archos 9 pctablet resistive touchscreen impresses originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Jun 2009 04:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Intel's Braidwood looks to take another stab at Turbo Memory

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/12/intels-braidwood-looks-to-take-another-stab-at-turbo-memory/

Intel's jumped into familiar waters this month at Computex when it showed off Braidwood, a flash memory-based accelerator that works by caching I/O from the processor, reportedly enabling applications to launch much faster. Though not directly stated, for all intents and purposes it looks like this is a spiritual successor to Intel's Robson / Turbo Memory, a similar initiative from the company's past that didn't quite meet the commercial or critical success it had hoped. Whether we see better results this time is gonna be a story we revisit in the more distant future: Braidwood's coming as an option with the Nehalem-based Clarkdale processor, which isn't ramping up production until late this year.

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

Intel's Braidwood looks to take another stab at Turbo Memory originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Jun 2009 07:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Thursday, June 11, 2009

Archos announces Archos 9 Windows 7 tablet Update: hands-on pics

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/11/archos-announces-archos9-windows-7-tablet/

Archos is currently having an event in France, and while we're still expecting some sort of Android announcement, the company's leading off with the Archos 9, a nine-inch Windows 7 tablet. It's basically a netbook in tablet form, with an Atom Z515 processor, 80GB disk, Bluetooth, and dual DVB-T antennas -- yep, Archos has brought back the UMPC. No word on pricing or availability yet, we'll let you know.

Update: Sounds like a 1.2GHz processor -- not exactly a rocket, but probably adequate for a stripped-down Windows 7 build. We're also hearing September / October availability, in line with Windows 7, and a €450 ($633) pricetag.

Update 2: So much for our hopes -- the event is now over and no Android announcements were made. Charbax from techvideoblog (who is at the event) says we'll see more info on September 15.

Update 3: As you'd expect, ArchosLounge is on the scene and they've nabbed some hands-on pics. Check a couple after the break -- we think it looks sort of gigantic, but maybe that's what the world's been waiting for.

[Via UMPC Portal]

Continue reading Archos announces Archos 9 Windows 7 tablet Update: hands-on pics

Filed under: Handhelds, Tablet PCs

Archos announces Archos 9 Windows 7 tablet Update: hands-on pics originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Jun 2009 12:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Scientists Discover Superconducting Material That's Just Two Atoms Thick [Future Tech]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/-jvDoiuz-ag/scientists-discover-superconducting-material-thats-just-two-atoms-thick

University of Texas researchers stumbled upon a new superconducting metal that is the world's thinnest at a mere two atoms—slightly thicker than a marathon runner by comparison.

Superconducting material is valuable because it has zero electrical resistance and can maintain a current without a power source. So far, it's been used in a variety of high-tech equipment, including MRI machines, and the Large Hadron Collider.

Gizmag says this new metal opens up the possibility for new breakthroughs in these fields, as well as being able to use it to observe how superconductivity itself works. [University of Texas via Gizmag]

Researchers ditch DLP, develop OLED panel-based mini projector

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/11/researchers-ditch-dlp-develop-oled-panel-based-mini-projector/

Looking for a way to differentiate among the ever-expanding niche of pocket projectors, researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering (IOF) of Germany are working on an OLED panel-based mini projector, using static optical systems and not the usual reflective system à la DLP. Currently being shown at SID Display Week 2009, the decidedly green picture (seems to be the norm with OLED prototypes these days) forms via a 6-inch VGA screen from 30 to 50 centimeters away, and the machine itself takes up just about ten cubic centimeters of space. Despite all the faith, there's still the rather nasty problem of luminance, which the scientists estimate needs to be about four or five times as bright as current levels -- but hey, you gotta start somewhere, right?

Filed under: Displays, Portable Video

Researchers ditch DLP, develop OLED panel-based mini projector originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Jun 2009 02:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Casio's EXILIM EX-H10 ultra-compact gets 12.1 megapixels 10x closer

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/11/casios-exilim-ex-h10-ultra-compact-gets-12-1-megapixels-10x-clo/

Casio's just pushed another 10x zoom compact camera into the market with its EXILIM EX-H10. Here we've got a 24-mm wide-angle lens stabilized by a 12.1 megapixel 1/2.3-inch CCD-shift sensor with up to ISO 3200 sensitivity, a 3-inch LCD, and the ability to grab Motion-JPEG video at 720/24p. EXILIM 4.0 image processing and a 10 frames per second burst mode for 1,280 x 960 pixel images too in a point-and-shoot measuring just 102.5 x 24.3 x 62-mm. Watch for it to hit Japanese retailers first starting next month for ¥40,000 (about $400). Pink rear-end after the break.

Continue reading Casio's EXILIM EX-H10 ultra-compact gets 12.1 megapixels 10x closer

Filed under: Digital Cameras

Casio's EXILIM EX-H10 ultra-compact gets 12.1 megapixels 10x closer originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Jun 2009 04:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Epson's WUXGA HTPS-TFT Panel hints at ultra-bright, high-contrast PowerLite projectors in September

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/11/epsons-wuxga-htps-tft-panel-hints-at-ultra-bright-high-contras/

As a leader in home cinema systems, it's always a good idea to keep tabs on Epson's core technologies as a preview of what's coming up in next generation home theater projectors. Today Seiko-Epson announced the start of volume production for its 0.94-inch HTPS-TFT LCD capable of a WUXGA (1920 x 1200 pixel) resolution for 3LCD projectors pushing 1080p. The panel supports a brightness of 5000 lumens (or more!) using Epson's D7 process technology while achieving "higher than ever contrast" through its C2 Fine inorganic alignment layer tech. What this means is simple: expect to see a new brightness and contrast champion PowerLite Home Cinema projector announced at the end of Summer, as CEDIA tradition dictates, with product shipping by end of the year.

Filed under: Displays, Home Entertainment

Epson's WUXGA HTPS-TFT Panel hints at ultra-bright, high-contrast PowerLite projectors in September originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Jun 2009 04:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video: Samsung's 12 megapixel WB1000 rocks analog gauges, 3-inch OLED

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/11/video-samsungs-12-megapixel-wb1000-rocks-analog-gauges-3-inch/

While it's not the first name you think of in digital cameras, Samsung makes a decent piece of kit and its SL820 took the top prize in our recent summer shootout. So we figured you'd want to know that its WB1000 compact with those smokin' analog battery and capacity gauges is now on sale for KRW548,000 or about $418 closer to home. The 12.2 megapixel WB1000 features a 24-mm wide-angle 5x zoom Schneider-KREUZNACH lens and 1/2.33-inch CCD with 720p video record mode in H.264 format, max ISO 3200 sensitivity (at 3 megapixel resolution), and Samsung's Dual IS optical and digital image stabilization to compensate for hand jitter. The viewer won't disappoint either with a full 3-inch 480x260 AMOLED display rocking the backside. Why should you care? Check the video after the break to see how AMOLED compares to the TFT-LCD found on the Canon SD990 IS under different lighting and viewing angles. The winner is clear, no?

Gallery: Video: Samsung's 12 megapixel WB1000 rocks analog gauges, 3-inch OLED

Continue reading Video: Samsung's 12 megapixel WB1000 rocks analog gauges, 3-inch OLED

Filed under: Digital Cameras

Video: Samsung's 12 megapixel WB1000 rocks analog gauges, 3-inch OLED originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Jun 2009 05:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Compal tries harder with Intel-based KAX15 MID

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/11/compal-tries-harder-with-intel-based-kax15-mid/

We're not so sure that being the "world's smallest Windows-based MID" is really a benefit for those who appreciate keys that are large enough to mash and screens that are large enough to see, but whatever the case, Compal seems pretty proud of its accomplishments here. Shown off along with scores of other me-too MIDs at Computex, the KAX15 is based around Intel's existing Menlow platform and sports the polarizing tilt-and-slide mechanism for unmasking the QWERTY keyboard. As for specs, we're told that it packs an 800 x 480 display and an 800MHz processor, but further details have yet to flow. There's a hands-on vid just past the break if you're somehow intrigued with shoving Windows in your left cargo pocket.

Continue reading Compal tries harder with Intel-based KAX15 MID

Filed under: Handhelds

Compal tries harder with Intel-based KAX15 MID originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Jun 2009 08:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ClickZ: "When site visitors don't think of ads as advertising" by George John - http://ping.fm/q7Idz

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Walmart Drops Blu-ray Player Price to New Low of $128 [Dealzmodo]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/cHdSodgGL_4/walmart-drops-blu+ray-player-price-to-new-low-of-128

At what may soon become the norm price for entry-level Blu-ray players, Walmart is selling Magnavox's NB500MGX Blu-ray disc player/DVD upconverter for $128—but not online.

The Blu-ray player doesn't have Ethernet (so it's just Profile 1.1), but it'll play all the Blu-ray movies in full 1080p.

For Father's Day, Walmart is also featuring 2-for-$20 Blu-ray movie bundles and a Garmin nuvi 250—with a 3.5'' touch screen and voice guidance—for $128 too. Unfortunately, as I mentioned, these deals are not available online and can only be found in Walmart stores. [Thanks to Checkoutblog]

Note: Walmart refers to the player as both NB500MGX and NB530MGX. We are assured that this is a sales-reference difference, and not a spec or appearance difference.

I Love Trackpads! [Trackpads]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/RlqYcOA_WIs/i-love-trackpads

Somewhere, as I transitioned from being a proud desktop user with parts scattered around my room, to the being a dedicated laptop user, I forgot how to use a mouse. And today, I embrace the swiftness of the trackpad.

Is it a matter of preference and practice? Yes, but no.

Think about it. The distance it takes to move your hand from the QWERTY to the trackpad, usually below the spacebar, is much closer than the distance it takes to drop your hand on a mouse, reorientate your arm/wrist and fingers into place. And a trackpad's control scheme uses a finger, which has a lot more dexterity than an arm/wrist you use when handling a mouse. Also, the future is multitouch trackpads. No other control scheme can match the potential of pinching/scrolling with multiple fingers, zooming, etc.

The touchpad is also a really natural movement, practiced by everyone since childhood days of drawing in the sand on the beach, or fingerpainting. The only more natural movement is to trace movement on an actual screen, but any screen we use in a non mobile environment is too big and vertical to do this easily on, for extended periods of time. Besides, the touchpad itself would work great with a secondary LCD display under it, making it essentially, a touchpad.

So, here's to a future where the trackpad is everywhere. I look forward to it.

[SanwaNexus404, AdessoNexus404, Adesso2Nexus404, DinovoGiz, KeysonicKustomPC, SandbergTechhook, Adesso3Pcrush, MCEallproducts, McsaiteGeekalaert, TruFormProKeyboardco, ToshibaOverclockers, iKeyGadgetadvisor, iKey2Geekwithlaptop, FentexMiniGeekwithlaptop, EeeKeyboardDeviceDaily, LogitechHomeTheaterDialectical, special thanks to Quinton Ma for researching the models in this gallery.]

Bing Tips & Tricks

Source: http://www.labnol.org/internet/bing-tips/8931/

Now that Bing is available for use outside Microsoft, here are some quick tips and tricks that will help you do more with Bing.com.

1. Use the full version of Bing

If you are using Bing outside North America, chances are that you seeing a localized version of Bing that may be missing some features. For instance, the Indian version of Bing.com doesn’t have search history and the image on the Bing home page here is not interactive as in the US version.

To explore the full version of Bing, go to this page and set English - US as your default region. You can now enjoy all the Bing features from anywhere.

2. Track Companies from the IE Favorites Bar

If you search for a company stock (e.g. GOOG or MSFT), Bing will automatically create a web slice for that company which you may then add to IE 8 and track the performance directly from the favorites bar. You need Internet Explorer 8 to try this feature.

stock-slices

3. Watch Preview of Hulu Videos outside US

Hulu hosts some popular popular TV shows but the problem is that you can only watch these videos if your computer has US based IP address.

However, Bing lets you watch shot previews of Hulu video even outside US. Just search for any TV show episode on Bing Videos (see example) and hover the mouse over any of the video thumbnail to watch a short clip.

4. Save and Email search results

With Bing, you can save your search history on to a local folder inside Bing or to your Windows Skydrive account. Alternatively, you may send your search queries to a friend via email or publish them on your Facebook wall via Bing. You’ll need Silverlight to share queries in Bing.

save search in bing

5. RSS Feeds of Search Results

Unlike Google or Yahoo, Bing offers RSS feeds for their web search results that you can subscribe to inside any feed reader. Your browser should be able to auto-detect the RSS feed of Bing pages or you can append &format=rss to any Bing search URL and convert it into a feed.

This RSS feature is not available for Image or Video search in Bing.

6. Find Pages That Link to MP3 Files or Documents

Bing (and Live Search) supports a unique "contains" search operator that lets you find web pages that contain links to particular file types.

For instance, a search like susan boyle contains:mp3 will show pages that are about the British singer and that also link to MP3 files. Replace mp3 with doc to search pages that contain links to Word Documents.

For more tips on software and web apps, check our popular how-to guides.

Bing Tips & Tricks - Published at Digital Inspiration (RSS)

How to Publish Screenshot Images on Twitter

Source: http://www.labnol.org/software/publish-screenshots-on-twitter/8991/

Whether you need help with an error message or just want to show off your new desktop wallpaper, Twitter can be a good place to share all those screenshot images with the world.

Now capturing screenshots of anything on your desktop screen is easy but let’s explore a couple of ways that will enable you publish these screenshot images on to your Twitter account as a tweet quickly and effortlessly.

TechSmith Jing (Mac & Windows)

jing for screenshots

With TechSmith Jing, you can quickly grab a screenshot, add some text notes or annotate your image with arrows and basic shapes. Once you are done editing, the image gets uploaded to your free screencast.com account and the URL is automatically copied to the clipboard so you can easily paste that in your tweets.

That’s one way of doing things but let me share another Jing trick here.

Other than Screencast.com, Jing can also upload screenshot images to your Flickr account. Open Twittergram and associate your Flickr account with Twitter using the tag TechSmithJing. Now anything you upload on Flickr through Jing will automatically get pushed to your Twitter stream without you having to tweet about it. How cool.

Kwout (Web Based)

If you need to screen capture a web page for publishing on to Twitter, check out Kwout. You can either copy-paste the web page address that you want to screen capture or use a bookmarklet.

Kwout will help you capture as well host the screenshot image and you can post the link on Twitter directly from Kwout’s site. The very interesting part is that all hyperlinks in the screenshot remain clickable (see example) because Kwout uses an imagemap for screenshots.

ScreenTweetr (Mac, Windows, Linux)

screenshot adobe air

ScreenTweetr is another interesting Adobe AIR app developed by James Ford.

The app stays minimized in the system tray but automatically wakes up as soon you do a screen capture on Mac (Shift-Control-Command-3) or a Windows PC (Print Screen) . It will upload the screenshot image (or the contents of your clipboard) on to Twitpic from where you can tweet it.

Skitch (Email to Twitter)

skitch for twitter

Like Jing, Skitch is both a screen capture software and a screenshot hosting service. If you have a Mac, you can capture and upload screenshots to Skitch from the desktop itself but Windows users will have to send their screenshots to a secret email address for posting them on to Skitch (see example).

Skitch also provides an "email to twitter" option so you can send in screenshots from iPhone, BlackBerry or your mobile phone to Skitch and the images will then auto-appear in your Twitter timeline.

Related: List of Screen Capture + Hosting services

How to Publish Screenshot Images on Twitter - Published at Digital Inspiration (RSS)

Find Public Domain Content via Creative Commons

Source: http://www.labnol.org/internet/find-public-domain-content-with-creative-commons/8996/

cc0 public domain CC Zero is a new Creative Commons license to help content creators distribute their work on the Internet copyright-free. They can publish presentations, photographs, songs, web pages, screencast videos or any other form of content in the public domain via CC0.

When you apply a Creative Commons Zero (or "no rights reserved") license to your work, it means saying something like this to the world:

Here’s an article that I wrote for my blog but since I am distributing my content under Creative Commons Zero, feel free to copy this article or use it for any other purpose without asking for permission or attribution.

Almost all content (including blogs, images, etc.) will enter the public domain some day but with CC0, the author gets to push his work into the public domain during his lifetime.

As things stand, US copyright law prohibits reuse without explicit permission for creative works until they enter the public domain - 70 years after the death of the author or 120 years after publication date if the date of death of the author is unknown. These lengthy periods leave the public domain pretty anemic. CC Zero will let content creators uninterested in copyright claims push their work into the public domain immediately - ReadWriteWeb

How to find public domain content on the Internet (via Creative Commons Zero)

Yahoo, Flickr and Google do help you search for Creative Commons content on the web but the problem is that none of these search engines offer an option to restrict search results to content that’s available under "Creative Common Zero" or under "public domain".

creative commons search

There’s however an easy workaround.

When sites publish their content under Creative Commons, they are required to add some text (or a graphic image) in web pages so that human visitors can easily know the license under which that content has been made available on the Internet.

See the footer of Digg.com or Lifehacker.com to check their respective CC licenses - Digg uses a public domain CC0 license while Gawker Blogs allow non-commercial use of their content with attribution.

digg cc0

Now the trick. Yahoo! supports a linkdomain: command to help you discover other sites that are linking to a particular domain. For instance, linkdoman:cnn.com will show other domains on the web that link to the CNN website.

Since sites that are distributing content in public domain under Creative Commons will always link to CreativeCommons.org, you can easily find about some of these sites through the linkdomain command as in this example:

linkdomain:creativecommons.org "dedicated to the public domain" [your query here]

For instance, the query linkdomain:cc.org .. picasso will show pages related to Pablo Picasso that are in the public domains while the query linkdomain.. clipart will return sites that provide clipart images that are also in the public domain.

Give this a shot. You are free to use, share, or modify these works even for commercial reasons.

Related: Dummies Guide to Creative Commons

Find Public Domain Content via Creative Commons - Published at Digital Inspiration (RSS)

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