How many of you have created your iTunes playlists and feel like your list is never complete unless you’ve got everything you need for every song including album art? If you’re one of those types, then I’m right there with you. Nothing frustrates me more than playing music on my MP3 player and seeing no album art with a song. Perhaps I’m OCD, perhaps it’s just the huge music fan in me, but Album Art Search has been a holy land of sorts for all the album art I need.
The site offers up the album art of some of the most sought after albums, straight from the homepage, but digging deeper you’re able to find what you’re missing after a search for a specific album. The categories give you a broad based idea of what you’ll find, and by clicking on the image you can go to Amazon if you’d like to buy the physical media. You can also bookmark and save the images for your own use.
So now there’s no reason for any of your playlists to be without album art. Dig in, find what you need and let us know what you think. There are other competitors out that I think do it better, but I like the ease of finding what I need on this platform.
There’s been several mobile comic readers, some proprietary to particular publishers, others open to various to publishers, but limited in their selections. Recently a new application has been released that might be the comic book application that we’ve been waiting for, Panelfly.
Panelfly is a free comic reading app that will download to your iPhone and iTouch. Is there a possibility of it being on the new iPad? Perhaps. Already hundreds of titles are available including a vast library from Marvel and a bevy of independent publishers that might turn you into a fan of some pretty interesting comics. Exploring the library I’ve already been introduced to some great comics just from the free offerings alone.
Panelfly is has a very fluid design that allows you to read panels close up as individual pages. With a swipe of your finger you change pages. Inside the application you can bookmark where you left off so that you can pick up when it’s time to jump back into the action. You’ve got an entire store to browse, the news blog to stay up to date with updates and new offerings, as well as having a list of comics added to your library as they download on the fly.
If your a comic lover, this is an app you’ve got to check out. If you’re using another comic reader let us know which one and how it stacks up to Panelfly.
YouTube has been the dominant social space for videos around the world. The most highly searched video site has everything from
entertainment, DIY videos, music, clips, and more residing on the Google servers and made accessible to all of us with a simple search. With over 1 million searches a day, they are doing something right.
Most recently YouTube made big news with the release of their Univision channel for the growing Spanish speaking market. This brings into the fold a whole demographic that may have been apprehensive to use Google due to language barriers, but now content in their native language will be something that they can adapt to, and YouTube will surely reap the benefits. This is the fruits of a deal that was agreed upon and announced to the press back in November. With Univision providing full content, whether it be clips or entires shows, the video are now searchable from within YouTube giving exposure to both brands in an amazing way.
This is a huge move for Univision, as this is the first time their content has been made available on the internet outside of their own proprietary websites. Combining content from Univisions major networks, Univision, TeleFutura, and Galavision, the network plans to expand its content, seek original programming for the internet, and have notable celebrities share weekly wrap-ups of shows to keep users caught up on everything happening at the station.
Handsets are hot, the Nexus One, iPhones, and more to come that are sure to burn a hole in our pockets as we look for the best form and function phones we can use. Most recently Android has become the new mobile OS that is driving the market crazy, perhaps even surpassing the usability of the iPhone OS. There seems to be little room for the Windows OS on mobile platform, but they still power some pretty nice handsets, and the new upcoming Sony Ericsson Aspen is just one of them.
Planned for a Quarter 2 release with no price tag attached, the Sony Ericsson Aspen is part of the company’s GreenHeart line. This means you’re going to find a much more eco-friendly handset then in previous models. To set this handset apart the site states that the Aspen will “offer eco-friendly features like a power saving mode, eco mate application, electronic manuals, waterbourne painting, and a body made form recyclable materials.”
While a Windows OS phone may not seem attractive, the Aspen is, and with new developments to the OS, it’s sure to go hand in hand very well. The device will offer a full QWERTY-keyboard for quick messaging, microSD storage, a 2.4in QVGA screen, 3.5mm head phone jack, FM radio, GPS, WIFI, Google Maps and so much more.
We love our audio, there’s no doubt about that. Whether it’s music or a DVD we pop into our system, we love adding external speakers to heighten the experience. Now unless we’ve been able to find a portable sound system for our mobile devices, finding good portable speakers can be tough. There’s a lot of brands out there, but how do we know it’s going to give us what we’re looking for? It was not that look ago that we reviewed a product on here called Kerchoonz that basically turned surfaces into speakers for your sound. Now another product has entered the market that is much more aesthetically pleasing than the design of the Kerchoonz, and that’s the new Tunebug.
The new Tunebug uses Surface Sound Technology to give your audio that heightened sound you’re looking for by turning any surface into a speaker, but hollow surfaces work better. Retailing for $70, the Tunebug features a small triangular body of polished metal with an illuminated power button in the center. It comes with a standard 3.5mm input, but the real magic is the NXT-powered Surface Sound Speaker.
For use on your laptop, desktop, mp3 player, or mobile device it works to turn your environment into the speaker that you don’t have to carry with you. How’s that for a flat panel speaker?
It’s important to carry around protection. We’ve heard this time and time again. Carrying around protection gives you the edge you need to ensure you keep yourself safe from the varying harmful effects that can overcome a person without it. If you’re thinking of radiation, then you’re right. Radiation from our mobile devices seems to be a hot topic for those looking for ways to protect themselves. Just like they tell you not to stand in front of a microwave, it’s harder not to put a mobile phone to your ear to hear.
The new Pong Anti-Radiation iPhone Case will keep the radiation from your day to day calls from melting your face….okay, perhaps not that severe, but tests have proven that the amount of radiation emanating from your device is greatly reduced by carrying around this handy protective case. It’s currently designed for the iPhone 3G and 3GS models and “features an integrated Pong-developed Gold PCB module to redirect cellular radiation away from your head, while the silicone case protects your phone and ensures maximum signal strength thanks to its special silicone blend.”
The site is pretty extensive with tests and sample videos of how the radiation is redirected and sent out, away from your head. While that may be how the protective case works, I’m not so sure about maximizing signal strength. If it can do that, I’m sure a great number of iPhone users will run out and get it only because of how many dropped calls they are experiencing on the network.
Got one? We’d love to hear your experiences.
I’ve discovered, and not surprising, that video is the most highly interacted with form of content out there. Sure people still read blogs, and people love podcasts, but more than anything else, they love video. It’s visual, it’s interactive, and sometimes we just gel with the personality on screen more than anything else. So taking that same concept, Vidinotes has created a way to manage notes and presentations with videos.
The technology is not new, I’m sure other video apps can stop video and screen capture content. But the ease of use and the functionality of it all is too easy not to pass up. You’re given the ability to upload a video up to 25MB. Once uploaded you can then capture up to a maximum of 30 photos and provide titles and descriptions for the Vidinote. Once you’ve reached your max and you’re ready to go, you can simply print straight to your printer or to a PDF document.
Lots of uses for this! The site suggests some to include quick handy summaries of how-to videos, descriptions and notes for exercise videos, a big help for cooking vids, dance vids and even useful for students who are presenting to a classroom using video; now the rest of your class can follow along with your Vidinote handout.
The app is free, I suggest you try it out and see if perhaps you can’t find a way to use that matches your industry or content creation task.
If you’re a PC gamer, chances are you play a variety of games that require different keystrokes, different set ups, and each one can be difficult to remember if you’re bouncing around from game to game. Still, it’s a passion that does not go away easily so Microsoft has created a keyboard with the gamer in mind.
The new SideWinder X4 Keyboard is a sleek addition to your tech collection for those games where your fingers are moving furiously across the board. The keyboard comes with anti-ghosting technology that ensures every keystroke is made, so you never miss your clicks – up to 26 strokes at once. Other features included are macro recording, instant profile switching capabilities, and adjustable backlighting for those late night gaming sessions.
So imagine yourself moving from application to application and the keyboard instantly recognizing and applying the custom profile you’ve set up for that application. It’s one of the few smart keyboards that is sure to make your experiences better, if not more productive. The SideWinder X4 Keyboard will retail for approximately $60 and is scheduled to be released soon.
The iPhone has lended itself to be a device with so much opportunity. In the past we’ve seen the iPhone do a number of things to include starting your car. Still, there is some functionality that seems like it should have been a natural, but when it’s never done, leave it to a third party to make that wish a reality.
The L5 iPhone Remote, turns your standard iPhone into a full fledged entertainment system remote. Many wished that the iPhone would eventually come out with an IR port, and when it didn’t that’s when L5 stepped in. The tiny doc connecting device allows users to use the accompanying application to set a number of buttons to work different functions. There is a vast library of options giving users the ability to customize as much as they need. Once set, you can use the on screen remote to work any device in the house you’re set it to.
The device, retailing at $50 not only works iPhones, but also with the 1st and 2nd Generation iPod Touches. You’re capable of combining all of your coffee table remotes into one device with simple drag and drop on screen process. Ultimately there are over 100,000 button designs with the ability to store up to 1000 remotes.
Most of us remember that day where the USB ports on our computers just wasn’t enough. Some computer came with a couple, others with as many six, but we still ended up buying devices offering extra USB ports to connect all of our technology. There are a variety of USB Hubs out there, offering a bevy of port connections. But all of those selections are nothing thanks to the new USB device created by Thanko.
Imagine a board of 80 USB ports to connect your digital life. Let that sink in. That’s right 80 whole ports to connect cameras, mp3 players, mug warmers, fans, aromatics, printers, microphones, you name it. The board looks like an electrical grid and feels like you’d need a some sort of engineering certificate to work. It’s definitely not pushing for aesthetics but more for functionality.
Is this your ultimate fantasy or a nightmare of cord confusion?
But here’s the catch with the device. There is no data transfer, it only serves as a powering and charging station. So put those USB thumb drives away and don’t expect to get any data from here because charging is the only service this $165 device will do. Do you really have 80 items that need charging all at once? Maybe you do, but then the real question is why?
On Thursday Skype users experienced error messages when attempting to sign into their accounts. For many users it was initially thought that there must be a mishap with their password, and many of us were even double checking our screen names, but it was not long until many us took to Twitter and the Skype forums complaining that Skype was having issues. It’s been reported that users who were already logged in did not experience the problems, but those that attempted to sign on during the 3.5 hours it was down were being rejected.
The problems disrupted communications world wide, though it appears North America was the hardest hit. Users were forced to find alternative means to communicate, which was not so much the issue, but at the time Skype’s Twitter messages and website was offering up little more than what we already knew, that the service was experiencing problems.
If you go to both Skype’s blog and their Twitter page, there is never a definite answer as to what the issue was. There’s a lot of “standby” and “we’ll be up and running soon,” but no tangible explanation as to what happened. Kudos to Skype for keeping us informed and even redirecting people to follow their Twitter account due to the heavy load on their site, specifically in the forums, but what happened with sharing what caused down downtime in the beginning?
It’s something most of us don’t get enough of, sleep. Sleep is one of those things that when we do it we love it, when we don’t we miss it and crave the opportunity to sleep in, or relish a night when we actually get to crawl into bed early and get the rest we need. But are we really doing ourselves in service, or do we know if we are even getting exactly what we need? I’d like to say, “there’s an app for that,” but alas, it’s not an app, but an actual product.
The Zeo Personal Sleep Coach ($400) helps to track your sleeping habits to provide you statistics on just what you’re getting when you shut your eyes at night. The sleep coach comes with a headband for personal use that will track how long it took you to get to sleep, what hours you were in your deepest sleep, all the patterns of your sleep phase, and how long you were actually asleep. All interesting information for sure, and tracked through the head band and displayed on the sleep coach device for you to review.
If you’re looking at going more in depth, pop the SD card out, this is where all your information is stored. Plug it into your computer, enter Zeo’s site and get a full report with more explanation of how you can adjust your patterns and suggestions to make the next night your best night ever.
Zeo Personal Sleeping Coach tracks your sleep habits to help you get the best night ever.
