November 2009
42 posts
TunesArt: Display iTunes cover art on the Desktop →
TunesArt is a free Mac App that lets you display the cover art of the currently playing iTunes song on your desktop. You can customize the look with skins, search for songs, rate them, and even find lyrics.
1 tag
Bookmarklets for text manipulation
When I got an interview with Opera a year ago, I switched from Firefox 2 to Opera 9.5. Initially I thought that the “extensions withdrawal” was going to be hard but after a few days I realized that CoLT was the only one I really missed . Copy Link Text (CoLT) copies any text you select plus the URL where its located. This is great for blogging, saving links for research and answering...
The death of the printed book is closer than you...
Arvind Narayanan’s on why ebooks are going to take over soon:
The Kindle seems to be following roughly the same adoption curve as the iPod. Barely two years after it was first released, everyone my age has at least played with one or knows someone who has one.
While the Kindle’s brand awareness and mind-share seems be following the same path, it needs to deal with a significant...
Play classic Atari video games online →
Just wasted 15 minutes playing Battlezone. Amazing to think this was gaming 29 years ago.
Interact with Twitter during presentations
With Tweet Bubbles you can get floating notifications from a hashtag or user:
TweetBubbles is a tool which can make your presentation more exciting by live feeding Twitter during events or seminars.
Keynotetweet lets you post something when a slide comes up.
Simply add text inside the tags [twitter] and [/twitter] in the presenter notes section of a slide and when that slide comes up...
Sorry for the double posts on the feed
Hey, if you are one of the 20 subscribers to my RSS, I apologize for the some of the double posting. With the move to the new domain some of the old post are still in the feed.
Hopefully this will be sorted out in a few days. Thanks for reading!
Time Inc.'s Squires Assembles Team of Rivals to... →
Looks like they want to me a magazin Hulu:
The company will prepare magazines that can work across multiple digital platforms, whether the iPhone, the BlackBerry or countless other digital devices. The company will not develop an e-book, but create something that people familiar with the plans compare to iTunes—a store where you can buy new and distinct iterations of The New Yorker or Time.
...
Has Bell Invented a "Telegraph Killer"? →
Hudson Hongo in the always brilliant McSweeney’S, reviews the telephone from Bell:
We found the experience far more comfortable than the one we had with the Telegraph, though fatigue from magnetic waves is inevitable in the use of each. This is a minor complaint, however, as we could scarcely imagine using such a device for more than a few minutes a day.
Will books survive? A scorecard… →
David Weinberger on the future of books:
New media generally don’t replace old media, as Marshall McLuhan pointed out. After TV we still have radio. After telephones we had telegrams for a good long while. So what about books?
He actually calls them pbooks, after physical books. Hmmm, pbooks vs ebooks? I like it.
Quiet Read, save links for later on your Menu Bar →
From the site:
Sometimes, when I am browsing the web, I want to store a link for later. There are note taking applications and everything-buckets to do that, but I wanted something light and simple. Simple as dragging a link onto a menu bar item to store it.
Newest version works great with Opera, includes a bookmarklet and even syncs with MobileMe.
“It sounds corny, but we loved this magazine because its creators drank the same...”
– Fimoculous.com - Wired 1.1: An Archaeology (via Instapaper)
Shrinker, free URL shortener for Mac →
You can assign a global shortcut key so it shortens an URL in the clipboard from anywhere on the OS. Works with: is.gd, TinyURL, bit.ly and tr.im.
Depressed woman loses benefits over Facebook... →
Lazy or not, what worries me is this:
She also doesn’t understand how Manulife accessed her photos because her Facebook profile is locked and only people she approves can look at what she posts.
My girlfriend doesn’t post anything online. Nothing. She does not trust putting stuff outside her control. I laugh. I upload and share. Something tells me someday I’ll regret it.
"So I bought it, but I bought it, for the first...
From Paul Grahams Apple’s Mistake:
So I bought it, but I bought it, for the first time, with misgivings. I felt the way I’d feel buying something made in a country with a bad human rights record. That was new. In the past when I bought things from Apple it was an unalloyed pleasure. Oh boy! They make such great stuff. This time it felt like a Faustian bargain. They make such great...
Google Chrome OS info revealed →
From the Google blog:
it’s all about the web. All apps are web apps. The entire experience takes place within the browser and there are no conventional desktop applications. This means users do not have to deal with installing, managing and updating programs.
Whoa. Not a new idea, but first time it’s pushed by such a big company.
Condé Nast Prepares Tablet Magazines for Apple... →
Peter Kafka, from All Thing Digital:
Condé Nast says it will have a digital version of Wired magazine ready for the rumored gadget by the middle of next year and will eventually create similar versions for all of its 18 titles.
Why in the hell are you waiting for a device that you’re not even sure is going to exist, instead of doing it on the iPhone today? I mean, there are around 50...
Camino 2.0 web browser released →
Even though I’m a complete Opera user, it’s always useful to have a second browser around, just in case. For a while Safari was my backup browser, but with version 4 it started to feel a bit slow and eat a lot of memory.
I’ve been using Camino 2.0 since the betas, and it’s a no-frills, good and fast browser. The new Tab Overview feature is basically a Speed Dial view of...
Choosing the Small Screen of a Smartphone for... →
Motoko Rich and Brad Stone, in the NYTimes:
“These e-readers that cost a lot of money only do one thing,” said Keishon Tutt, a 37-year-old pharmacist in Texas who buys 10 to 12 books a month to read on her iPhone, from Apple. “I like to have a multifunctional device. I watch movies and listen to my songs.”
I can clearly see Steve Jobs devilish smile while reading this. The convenience of...
eReader for Android released →
Although they are now part of Barnes & Noble, which is supposed to ship the Nook soon, the eReader guys must struggle to remain relevant.
They just released an Android version that according to the FAQ, allows you to:
Connect to eReader.com or Fictionwise.com bookshelf for wireless download. Optional automatic download of new purchases.
Basic reading features: forward page, back...
OpenBeak twitter client for BlackBerry (formerly... →
When I use the Bold, TwitterBerry is my main twitter program. It’s very light and free.
Grackle68k: a twitter app for Classic Macintoshes →
Grackle68k is a twitter client for early Macintoshes running System 6 through OS9.
For perspective, System 6 came out in 1988 and Mac OS9 in 1999. All I need to see now is a twitter app for the Newton.
Magntize | Beautiful websites that introduce you... →
You’re Important and having a place on the web you can call home is too. We make it simple. Almost too simple.
A good solution to create a www.yourname.com website with links to content you’re likely already creating: twitter, tumblr, blog, etc. Designs are beautiful and site is easy to use. Price of Pro account at $9/mo is too high though.
Card.ly and Google profiles do...
The Pirate Bay is closing →
From their blog:
Now that the decentralized system for finding peers is so well developed, TPB has decided that there is no need to run a tracker anymore, so it will remain down! It’s the end of an era, but the era is no longer up2date. We have put a server in a museum already, and now the tracking can be put there as well.
Bold move. Will be interesting to see if it actually drives...
WhatsApp - iPhone-2-iPhone Messenger →
WhatsApp is a direct iPhone-2-iPhone messenger chat application. WhatsApp allows you to carry on a conversation in real time with your contacts without having to pay for SMS.
Think BlackBerry Messenger for the iPhone. I like the concept that your phone number is your PIN and the UI is not half-bad either.
Jailbreakers Battle Apple for Control of iPhone →
Brian X. Chen on Wired, talks jailbreaking and George Hotz (aka geohot):
Hotz, now 20, makes a living as a “hacker for hire” of sorts — getting paid to break into different types of gadgets. He gets to spend his free time unofficially attending a college, where he pretends to be a student just to socialize.
blacksn0w iPhone unlock →
blacksn0w is a free unlock for the latest iPhone 3G and 3GS
blackra1n is a super simple jailbreak used to install unlock.
Geohot’s jailbreak app for Mac and Windows is the fastest way to unlock the iPhone I’ve seen. Works with all iPhones and iPod Touch’s.
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Regarding eReaders and eBooks
ll the recent talk about the different new eReaders misses one crucial point: it is not about the devices, it is about the future of books.
Consider for a second that books haven’t basically changed in the last few hundred years. Even things we take for granted online, like hyperlinks or recommendations do not remotely exist on books today. We use this concepts up until we purchase a book,...
1080p HD Is Coming to YouTube →
From the YouTube blog:
Starting next week, YouTube’s HD mode will add support for viewing videos in 720p or 1080p, depending on the resolution of the original source, up from our maximum output of 720p today.
This looks great. Yet Flash, even at 720p, brings all my Mac’s to their knees. No wonder the iPhone doesn’t support it.
Notify – A Gmail Notifier for OS X →
Notify provides a simple and elegant way of keeping track of what’s in your Gmail inbox. With support for multiple accounts, and a beautiful tabbed user interface, you can’t go wrong with Notify.
Nice enough notifier, but version 2 will allow you to reply directly from the menu bar. Still not the new email killer app I’m wishing for, but still worth the try.
Steve Jobs’ Legacy Is Missing Clue to Apple Tablet →
This essay by John C Abe from Wired has the best argument I’ve heard on why Apple’s Tablet/Slate/iPad device is coming:
We think there’s one thing that makes an Apple Tablet inevitable: Jobs is considering his legacy, and he wants it to include saving the media, pulling it back from the brink at its darkest moment.
The Motorola Droid, Latest Entry in the ‘App... →
David Pogue, from NYTimes.com creates a whole new mobile phone category:
“Smartphone” is too limited. A smartphone is a cellphone with e-mail — an old BlackBerry, a Blackjack, maybe a Treo. This new category — somewhere between cellphones and laptops, or even beyond them — deserves a name of its own. I invited suggestions on Twitter. The best came from @mentalworkout: “app phone.” Bingo. Apps...
Spirited Away for Mac - Hides inactive... →
Spirited Away checks each running application’s activity, and if an application isn’t active for a certain fixed time, Spirited Away hides the application automatically.
Perfect app if you get overwhelmed by open windows on the Mac. Now Snow Leopard compatible.
AOL Radio for Mac 2.0 Beta →
I recently rediscovered the AOL radio app for Mac. The channels variety is truly amazing and it’s less of a resource hog than iTunes 9.
AOL® Radio 2.0 powered by CBS Radio features over 200 stations spanning more than 25 genres of music plus 150+ CBS Radio stations from across the U.S.
There is also an iPhone app which provides the same functionality.
Sync your bookmarks available on Google Chrome... →
You can keep your Google Chrome bookmarks synchronized on multiple computers, using your Google Account. This can be handy if you often need to use the same websites on different computers (say, your home computer as well as your work laptop).
You can also sync your bookmarks now with Link in Opera, Weave on Firefox and Xmarks for all but Opera.
You win some, you lose some: a review of Apple's... →
Eric Bangeman from Ars Technica reviews the Magic Mouse:
If you want to right-click, you’ll need to get used to lifting your left-most finger off of the mouse in order for it to register correctly.
Deal-breaker for me. This is what I hated about the Mighty Mouse.
Apple iTunes Pitch: TV for $30 Per Month →
Would you pay $30 a month to watch TV via iTunes?
Yes, yes and yes.
That’s the pitch Apple has been making to TV networks in recent weeks. The company is trying to round up support for a monthly subscription service that would deliver TV programs via its multimedia software, multiple sources tell me.
This comes from AllThingsD, a Wall Street Journal blog, so you can take with a bigger...
Fertility and living standards: Go forth and... →
Lower fertility is changing the world for the better
Fertility in the future looks a lot like Norway