Facebook, being the biggest of social networking sites, has decided to get on board with Safer Internet Day, which was on the 9th of February. The day, which is promoted across the EU, is aimed at keeping Internet users safe online – in particular, children. They opened their official company blog to Will Gardner who is CEO of Safety Advisory Board at Facebook and also to Childnet International.
“Safer Internet Day is an important event in the Internet safety calendar and provides a great opportunity to showcase some of the key messages about staying safe online. Held for the past four years on the second Tuesday of the second month, Safer Internet Day has grown beyond its origins in the EU and is now celebrated in countries across the world. The theme this year is “Think Before You Post,” a vital message not only for children and young people but, let’s be honest, adults as well.” said Will in the blog post.
The entire initiative is aimed at educating children about what is and what isn’t sensitive information about themselves and why they shouldn’t give it out. They also instruct kids about who they should and shouldn’t ‘friend’ on social networking sites.
The main points made in the post are as follows
Using privacy setting provided by the network (a bit ironic given Facebook’s recent privacy ‘updates’)
Choosing friends carefully and knowing who sees your content
Thinking about the consequences of uploading photos and videos
Asking permission of friends to publish photographs of them.
Good to see that the industries leading site is promoting security for kids online.
There’s nothing more depressing for a gadget guru than to pick up favourite camera or media player etc… and have it lay dead in the palm of his hand. Diagnosis? A dead battery. Bummer.
It’s really been a given for the past century. Batteries waste. Sure the Duracell bunnies would have us believe otherwise but they do. Even rechargeable batteries which can be found in everything from cameras to electric scooters can die due to being worn out. However, that’s all about to change. A new type of lithium-ion rechargeable battery has been introduced which is said to last over twenty years (around 10,000 charges). Now that’s value for money.
A Japanese company by the name of Eamex have cured the cause (<– link requires a subscription to read) of batteries burning out. With normal rechargeable batteries, the negative electrode deteriorates over use. This new design aims to coat the negative terminal in a special protective film (tin coated resin) which will protect it. This will last a regular user over twenty years.
So in theory, you could have five or six digital cameras but only one pair of batteries! Pretty cool. Expect to see these new batteries later this year.
Last year, I reported that the 3D home entertainment trend was on the up. Recession or no recession, it’s coming. The latest development in this tantalising three dimensional tale is the release of HDMI 3D glasses for use at home with a 3D TV.
Whether you’re a fan of wearing weird glasses while watching TV or not, you’re going to be happy with this next piece of new: there isn’t going to be much bickering between the companies about format issues. When almost any new development is made in the tech industry, each company almost always seems to choose its own format. That way, they hop to gain loyalty and crush the others. One wins, a lot loose. And of course eventually we’re left with one format. This time though, they;re doing things differently. They’ll all be going with the active shutter glasses which you can see in the picture.
The ones above are geared up for HDMI 1.4 and will be compatible with future updates to HDMI technology. So 3D is coming, prepare to be either dazzled or extremely annoyed.
I know, I thought it was weird when I first read it but the story checks out. Last year, fashion designers who participated in a designer program in partnership with big industry publications and organisations such as Vogue were asked to design scarves which were inspired by the massive internet giant Google. Well, the results are in and the top three scarves have gone on sale, amongst other items.
To me, they look like a badly stitched, rushed attempt at making some sort of double-ended sock. But then I don’t know fashion. I mean, they must look good if they’re selling for $300!
Flora Gill designed an oversize, multi-yarn, intarsia hand-knit scarf incorporating silk bias trim with wool and nylon yarn. Inspired by Google’s multi-functionality and diversity, the scarf features Google’s signature colors and is designed to be worn in several ways.
Even more bizarrely, Google are also pedalling things like a ‘Vintage T-Shirt’ which is inspired by Google Maps and an old fashioned magnifying glass which will cost you $200. Well, I guess every company has to diversify their income stream.
I’ve actually been keeping my eye on this one for a few weeks now. It’s the up and coming Sony Ericsson Aspen. The reason it caught me eye is threefold. Firstly, it has a touch screen. Secondly, it has a Blackberry-style keypad. And lastly, it’s running WinMob 6.5.3. Oh, and it looks great too!
Now, a video has emerged which shows a Russian or Eastern European guy reviewing the phone. Unfortunately, it’s all in a foreign language but you can still make out some of the great features of the phone. He first shows you the exterior casing and build quality. Then he powers up the phone and takes you through some of the very impressive 6.5.3 menus and functions. The media player and messaging options are displayed in great detail.
Lastly, he compares the device alongside devices from other popular Smartphone manufacturers such as Apple and RIM. Check out the new Sony Ericsson Aspen below.
Over the past few months Twitter has made several changes such as the introduction of Lists which means that we see tweets from people we don’t directly follow. This annoyed me for quite some time as I was never really bothered to see who the person was, but still had them congesting my Twitter page. Now, Twitter aims to solve that problem by introducing ‘Hovercards’.
This means, that when you hover your cursor over someone username or avatar, information will be displayed about them as well as other options such as Reply, DM or Retweet. All of which don’t load another page, it’s done there and then.
“On any timeline, as its namesake suggests, Hovercards are cards which appear when you hover over a username or avatar. The cards display additional information about the person and allow you to interact with them while staying within the context of your page.” say Twitter on their blog. ”
“One way we’ve found these cards to be useful is to find out more about retweeted people and follow them right there. You can also see more information with an expanded view of the card. Sending direct messages to people you follow will also be possible with Hovercards so you can interact with tweeters without having to move off the page.”
This feature is currently in the process of being rolled out so we won’t all have it right away. However, within the coming days and weeks it will be the standard for all Twitter users.
Living in Ireland has its pros and cons. One of those cons which I share with many Europeans is that often, the US shows which I love aren’t shown on TV here until a few months has passed since their US debut. Gets kind of annoying when I have to read tweets and blog posts about shows I can’t watch until Summer. TV Gorge though, is most definitely the best service I’ve come across to get around this problem.
Basically, it acts as a big search engine to trawl the internet for shows which are location restricted. So shows which as available on the US-only Hulu and other such services are viewable on TV Gorge. Nice.
Best of all this is free. They have squeezed into a small gap in the market for users in Europe and Australia and are expanding quickly. Life Hacker recently did a profile of them for users who want to watch the new season of Lost, and were amazed at the amount of popular TV shows which they could easily watch. This included Dexter, Archer, Dollhouse, Entourage along with over 125 others, and growing.
Yesterday, I did my first screencast for my personal blog. Prior to making it, I had to choose a screencasting program. I wasn’t to fussed about paying a few bucks for something that’s good, but would have liked to get a free program too. That’s when myself and Jing crossed paths. Without a doubt this is the best screen casting program I have used. What’s more there is both a free version and a pro version.
The download is quick and simple. As is the program. Here’s how it works. There will be a small ‘sun’ around the edge of your screen while the program is running. Once you have clicked on this sun you then have to drag your mouse and select what portion of the screen you want to record. You can either select it all or any specific area. Then you have to choose whether you want a screenshot or a video. I selected video. Then, the program locates a microphone connected to your system and does a countdown to the beginning of recording. And just like that you can record a screencast for up to five minutes.
You then sign into your account at Screencast.com (owned by Jing) and upload the video. From here you can share and embed it
But that’s just the free version.
The pro-version offers:
Unlimited recording time
The ability to record from your webcam and switch back and forth
Receive the video in .MP4 format
Instant upload to YouTube
Only 13 Euro per year
Overall, I found this to be an amazing product which is well worth the 13 euro price tag. It’s easy, quick, simple and very good at capturing high resolution video on the fly. A must for any tech podcaster.
Yesterday, we posted the advertisement which Google aired during the 3rd Quarter of the Super Bowl. Since then, it has become a hit. And when anything becomes a hit on the Internet you’ll have the obligatory knock-off videos.
This one comes from UCB Comedy. Some of the clip is just recycled from the original, but rest assured, they’ve put their own little spin on things. They’ve named the video “Parisian Oops” and given it the tagline “Romance, Consequences, Awkwardness. Search On.” All will become clear when you watch the video. Check it out below.
Motorola Droid is definitely one of the most understated smart phones. Well, perhaps not understated, just over-shadowed by the likes of the iPhone and more popular Android devices from HTC. However, it would seem as though Motorola are keeping their hopes up for the OS by releasing a new update for all Droid devices. I don’t think anybody expected it to come this soon.
The announced the impending update, which will ‘start to roll out this week’ on their official Facebook page. Besides from announcing the new update, they go on to tease us anxious fan-boys by saying that they “will have more information to share on other device upgrades later”. So maybe some of Moto’s other devices are due for a service check.
Let’s hope that the new update fixes the known Droid bugs and maybe even gives the OS a slight facelift.
Facebook, being the biggest of social networking sites, has decided to get on board with Safer Internet Day, which was on the 9th of February. The day, which is promoted across the EU, is aimed at keeping Internet users safe online – in particular, children. They opened their official company blog to Will Gardner who is CEO of Safety Advisory Board at Facebook and also to Childnet International.
