Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Sunday, April 06, 2008

Adobe Relinquishes Ownership of Photos Uploaded to Photoshop Express [Photoshop]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/264245106/adobe-relinquishes-ownership-of-photos-uploaded-to-photoshop-express

So, one of the big sniggles about Photoshop Express, Adobe's free online photo tweaker and sorta-kinda Flickr clone, is that using the service basically gave full control of your photos to Adobe. No more! They just emailed us that as of April 10, they're only claiming "those limited rights that allow us to operate the service" and they don't "claim ownership of your content and won't sell your images." Score one for internet rights and your mom's Photoshop dalliances. [PS Express Terms of Use]

Smart Green Cell Station Makes Africa a Cleaner Place To Ask "Can You Hear Me Now?" [Green]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/264651617/smart-green-cell-station-makes-africa-a-cleaner-place-to-ask-can-you-hear-me-now

In an effort to clean up Africa's dirty and diesel-reliant mobile network, Swedish start up Flexenclosure has designed a green version of a cellular base station. Called the E-site, it runs primarily on wind and solar power and utilizes an intelligent operating system that adapts to local conditions.

The new design comes at the request of Ericsson, which wanted an alternative to a purely diesel-run base station. Those consume roughly 20,000 liters (5,283 gallons) of diesel per year - an increasingly costly expense with rising world energy prices.

The E-Site draws its power from a wind turbine in the network tower and solar panels on the roof. Clean energy sources charge a battery that then powers the base station at night. The E-site also has a small diesel generator, just in case the batteries run out.

What's even more amazing is the E-site's operating system, which can learn to adapt its power-generating techniques to different situations. For instance, if the batteries are running low at night, but the system knows the sun will rise soon, it can decide to wait it out until morning rather than head straight towards the diesel. Good thinking, E-site! [Cnet]

Toshiba IK-HD1 is World's Smallest HDTV Camera [Camcorders]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/264957048/toshiba-ik+hd1-is-worlds-smallest-hdtv-camera

With vital measurements of 1-6-inches cubed and 2.3-ounces in weight, Toshiba's IK-HD1 waltzes in to easily steal the "Smallest HDTV Camera, Ever" title. Packed to the miniature eyeballs with three CCD chips, the 1K-HD1 can capture video at broadcast-quality at 1080i, but it won't be making its way to your camcorder anytime soon. The tiny marvel is actually intended for professional broadcasting, and needs to be hooked up to a rather sizable control unit, which can be placed up to 90-feet away. It appears Mr Professional Broadcasting wins again. Dammit. [DVice]

Fraunhofer's Kolibri Cordless sensor snaps 3D images on the go

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/263978833/

Filed under: Digital Cameras

Sure, it might look like a Viewmaster 3D from your childhood, but this here stripe projection 3D sensor from Fraunhofer IOF is so much less exciting. The concept is simple enough: the Kolibri projects a stripe pattern onto the subject, and then the two "eyes" capture slightly distinct angles of the image to compose a 3D model of the object based on the deducted geometry. The technology has been available for a while, but this is apparently the first device to cram it into such a small and portable form factor. Yeah... we'll stick with the Viewmaster.

[Via About Projectors]

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Quake 3 hits the iPod touch, makes for portable LAN party

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/264742890/

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

Future generations will most likely divide the timeline of history at this point: when Quake 3 achieved motion-sensing, wireless network play on two iPod touches. Just think, less than a year ago we were salivating (or at least mildly enthused) at the prospect of rocking Doom on this thing, and now Quake 3 Arena is yours for the taking -- or at least will be once we get any sort of hard info on this app.

[Via PMP Today]

Continue reading Quake 3 hits the iPod touch, makes for portable LAN party

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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-offline Google 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.

New Google Docs Features - Offline Editing, YouTube Video Embeds - Digital Inspiration | FAQ | RSS

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/

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.

Political Blogs Spread More Link Love Than Tech & Gadget Blogs - Digital Inspiration | FAQ | RSS

Amazon Rolls M-Commerce via Text

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

Source: http://promomagazine.com/interactivemarketing/news/amazon_rolls_mcommerce_text_0404/

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.

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 .

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

Femtocell, 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]

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]