Many of us work well under pressure. When I’m doing a long article I can often find myself procrastinating, staring into space and only working sporadically. Using a stopwatch is one of my favourite ways to boost my productivity and motivate myself to get the first draft done within a certain amount of time.
TimeMe is a huge online stopwatch which I have displayed on my second monitor as a constant reminder that the clock is ticking. It pretty much takes up the whole screen along with some basic settings. Users may also adjust timer display (size, colour, width) and sound alarm settings to fit their needs. Simple yet effective.
This is a similar tool to E.ggtimer and the likes.
However, they also offer a downloadable versions so you can run it on your desktop if you don’t like connecting to the web when working or studying. Check it out here.
We’ve been waiting for this now for quite a while for this day to arrive. Samsung have just started shipping the first of their HD 3D TVs in the US as the world gets ready for 3D content to start going live. This is a whopping 55 inch TV that is stunning to look at, even when it’s turned off. However, all 55 inches will set you back just under $3,300. Ouch!
Plus, those shutter glasses which we talked about earlier will set you back another few bucks (between $150 and $200 probably) if you ever want to activate the TV’s 3D mode which I assume everyone who just paid an arm and a leg for the thing will.
Both Amazon and Sears are now selling the product with free delivery. So if you fancy watching World Cup 2010 in 3D, order now while stocks last. There’s sure to be a rush for these babies. Last time I checked Amazon there was only two left!
Twitter is steadily climbing to reach the 50 million tweets per day mark. This huge social network now represents a large proportion of the information shared on the web. More and more people are discovering breaking news through its trending topics (millions found out about the Haitian earthquake via Twitter).
Now Yahoo! have just signed a deal to be put on what Twitter calls it’s Firehose. This means Tweets will now be continually indexed by Yahoo!.
“Similar to the partnerships we have made with other large internet companies, Yahoo! will receive what has been dubbed “Firehose”—a full feed of public tweets sent to Twitter and our partners every second of every day from all around the world.”
Through this arrangement, you’ll be able to find tweets through Yahoo! Search amongst other Yahoo! services Mail and Sport. It is also said that Yahoo! will be building unique Twitter clients to enable people to tweet from inside the Yahoo! network.
Twitter hit the nail on the head when they discussed how Tweets are vital to the social news scene and their inclusion in other big Internet services is vital:
“Tweets may be short, but they have proven over and over again to contain valuable information. As the Twitter information network grows and expands, it becomes more valuable for everyone who participates. Our open approach helps us get closer to providing universal connectivity to a global network of immediate information.”
Hi5 have just acquired the gaming company ‘Big Six’ in order to flesh out the gaming sector of their website, a popular social network. Hi5 has been up an running for quite a few years now. Although it has never really taken off in Europe it is big in the US and is following the lead of others such as Facebook in terms of integrating gaming into their network.
As of now, 15% of their revenue comes from gaming by its users so I guess it makes sense to buy up a popular games developer in order to give the feature a shot of adrenaline. But they’ll have some stiff competition as the likes of FarmVille on Facebook have millions of active players.
An emphasis will also be put on developing the social network’s currency further to encourage people to spend their money there rather than on other networks.
“We are excited to be joining a company that shares our philosophy and vision for how social gaming will evolve,” said Kevin Gliner, co-founder and CEO, Big Six. “This deal is a perfect match because it enables us to accelerate our go-to-market plans by leveraging hi5’s huge global audience.”
Evernote has been doing very well recently. It has been praised in the professional world for being the best way to make notes and store them. The iPhone and Android apps are some of the most popular downloads from their respective app stores and it appears the Evernote team knows no limits. Recently they’ve a new version (rebuilt from the ground up) and also surpassed two million users (it’s now creeping towards two and a half million).
Here’s what Evernote had to say about their new update:
“Evernote 3.5 for Windows is completely new. We rewrote it from the ground up to make it faster, more reliable, and just plain better than Evernote for Windows has ever been. Our goal was to use everything we’ve learned since our launch to make a great Evernote experience on Windows. ”
Evernote have also been busy making lots of new friends and partners in the tech world including players as big as Sony and Nokia. Every Sony laptop sold from now on will come with Evernote pre-installed and Evernote is now usable on the N900 because of a newly released plug-in! Other partnerships include:
- TimeBridge: This helps you organize better meetings. Now, you can save all your meeting notes into Evernote.
- Cliqset: Evernote and Cliqset create a permanent memory for your social streams and activity.
They ended their release on a very promising note about the iPad. Their apps have have already been a hit with iPhone users so everyone was anxious to know what they had in store for the upcoming iPad. Here’s what they said:
“We know you’re wondering. Rest assured, we have big plans for Apple’s amazing new device. Read our CEO’s blog post about Evernote’s history with tablets and plans for the iPad and other devices”
TypeFace allows you to make your very own font using your face. Basically, the program uses a camera as an input tool to scan your face. Then, your face is analysed for specific features, lines, curves and angles. This is all then computer and a font is designed specifically for you. Like your very own font fingerprint!
It has been made my Mary Huang and it has some cool features. For example, you can edit and distort your face to change up your font and select what area of your face you want to use if you don’t want to use all of it. You can also make TypeFace books like the one pictured above from all the different fonts of your friends and family.
I honestly don’t know who’s crazier, the school for implementing a policy like this or parents who just accepted it. Basically, Lower Merion School District in Pennsylvania installed a program on all of its laptops which could be used to spy on students.
The program is used to track and trace stolen laptops but could potentially be used to spy on students at home. Basically, if the principal decided to turn on the tracking for a specific laptop (only supposed to be done if the laptop is stolen) then the web cam begins taking pictures and screenshots are also taken. These are then sent back to the principal. What I’m wondering is how this is any different than hacking into someone’s computer, remotely turning on their web cam and spying on them?
The school policies are even more frightening:
- possession of a monitored MacBook was required for classes, and possession of an unmonitored personal computer was forbidden and would be confiscated.
- disabling the camera is impossible
The case is now on its way to court and I hope for the safety of the children, and just their own peace of mind that they can’t be tracked and spied on, this stupid program is abolished.
Internet Explorer 7 and now 8 have pretty much put IE6 to bed. It’s become useless with many sites killing off support or will be soon. YouTube is due to pull the plug on IE6 on March 13th. Many others are following suite. This is seen as the final blow to IE6, a once great browser that has been battered and bruised by allegations of security weakness and fierce competition from Google Chrome and Mozilla.
A Denver based design company are holding a funeral for the browser at their headquarters and they have built a website at IE6Funeral.com to mark the occasion. You can RSVP to the event on the site and those who are attending are encouraged to wear “funeral attire”.
“Internet Explorer Six, resident of the interwebs for over 8 years, died the morning of March 1, 2010 in Mountain View, California, as a result of a workplace injury sustained at the headquarters of Google, Inc. Internet Explorer Six, known to friends and family as “IE6,” is survived by son Internet Explorer Seven, and grand-daughter Internet Explorer Eight.”
We’re entering an age where robots are beginning to think and act for themselves. Many have even become celebrities such as ASIMO. Programming is no longer necessary for them to do every little task. They can learn. And now, apparently, they can teach.
The South Korean government has announced its plans for robots to being teaching in pre-school classed by 2012. They won’t be the sole teacher just yet. However, the robots will be responsible for things such as reciting stories and even acting as a portal into the class room so parents can check up on their kids.
This will start off as a trial and if it proves successful they will expand the program and bump it up to Kindergarten level also.
I think it will be many years until it advances further though. At the moment, robots can only act a a supplement or a teacher for the most basic and least interactive of tasks and need human guidance. Crucial tasks such as helping kids with their problems and teaching new material to children can only be done by trained professionals.
Today, LG have unveiled their first ever laptop which is also the first ever laptop to get the official Windows 7 touch screen seal-of-approval sticker from Micrsoft. This is different to other touch screen laptops out there which use primitive overlay touch screen technology found on many budget touch screen phones. By using an inbuilt screen technology which leaves the screen firm and doesn’t reduce picture quality and responsiveness, LG are sure to have success with this model.
Undoubtedly, Samsung will be unveiling a competitor to this new product in the coming weeks and months, perhaps a little disgruntled having been bet to the post. Perhaps these touch screen laptops will be the new ‘iPad’ seeing as that doesn’t have enough computing power for most of us.
The LG model will go into mass production in the second half of this year although I’m sure some review units will be floating around. For now, we have this video from LG.
Wal-Mart, in an effort to curb losses through falling DVD sales have decided to buy Vudu, the popular video streaming service which is installed as standard on many media devices and is used by millions of people.
The New York Times have reported that Wal-Mart have been informing various Hollywood institutions and production companies of the purchase and it will soon be in total control of the streaming service.
What little information there is about the deal seems promising. Wal-Mart will complete the deal once the creases are ironed out and Vudu will “continue developing entertainment and information delivery solutions such as Vudu Apps”.
This is quite promising an perhaps it’s just what the online entertainment industry needed. With another big player entering the field piracy is being dealt one last blow as customers demand more quality especially with the ever growing popularity of HDTV and now 3D. We’ll have more on this new takeover in the coming weeks.
Two universities, funded by the Chinese military to train computer scientists for use in their forces, have had their computers used on the recent cyber attacks on major companies such as Google. This news comes as Google contemplates its withdrawal from China following disagreement with the Chinese government over censorship.
Interestingly enough, the universities are also part of a network which is operated by Baidu who stands to gain millions of users upon Google’s departure.
The Chinese government has denied any involvement of sanctioning of these cyber attacks upon US-based web companies and stressed it has been the victim of many cyber attacks itself.
“Computers at Shanghai Jiaotong University and the Lanxiang Vocational School in China reportedly played a role in the attacks, according to unnamed sources cited in The New York Times.” reported Information Week.
Cyber attacks are on the increase and are frequently becoming a method for governments to send diplomatic messages to one another. When the US asked Twitter to keep the service up (as apposed to taking it down temporarily for maintenance) during the Iran elections, it became clear that social networks and internet giants are the key targets in all of this. But how long will it be until utility companies and government databases are targeted on a big scale?
