Remember that puzzle box from the 80’s that kept all of us guessing and some of us frustrated. No…not the one the one from Hellraiser, the other puzzle cube, the Rubik’s cube.
This color puzzle cube kept some of entertained for hours while for others it was a great projectile to throw at your siblings or at the wall, but in either case many of us have come in contact with one at some point in our lives.
Well the puzzle cube has updated itself for the 21st Century, and a whole new generation can become frustrated all over again. The new cube uses touch and sliding technology that most of us will be familiar with already or at least recognize in how we interact with Apple’s products or any other touch interface. the cube still has it’s colorful display but this time the cube is much more fragile.
Coming in at a whopping $150, I’m not quite sure if it’s something everyone will have, but for those of us into nostalgia and who want to pick one up, even if just for novelty purposes you can do so from Amazon.
The downside? Well you can’t take off the stickers and rearrange them to impress your friends. The upside? Well if you know programming, you just might be able to rearrange the colors to impress your friends.
In either case it’s a steep price to pay for frustration but for those of you that mastered the old, here’s a whole new way to master the new. If you’ve got one, seen one, or know someone who has one, I’d love to hear your thoughts on it and whether you find it as fun as the original.
PC users have been able to use the Google Chrome browser for some time now, however for everyone using Macs they have been waiting patiently for their own non-developer version. Chrome day for the Mac is coming very soon.
CNET is reporting that recent discussion in a Chrome mailing list points to an early December launch. We could be just weeks away from a beta version of Chrome for Mac.
The Google group update in question is light on details, but by requesting that developers update to support Browser Actions, it also suggests that a December launch date for a Mac version is fast approaching.
Google Chrome’s product manager, Nick Baum, writes:
“The extensions team has been working hard to get BrowserActions ready, and
they’re already working great on Windows and Linux. We’ve noticed that many
of you have updated your extensions to take advantage of the new UI. We’d
like to encourage the rest of you to do so as well!
You can find the latest docs here:
http://code.google.com/chrome/extensions/browserAction.html
Why make the switch now? The earlier you switch, the more time you will have
to polish your experience for our Beta launch in early December. We realize
this means dropping Mac support for a couple of weeks, but we already have
people working on that. If you prioritize the Windows and Linux versions,
we’ll bring you cross-platform parity as soon as we can!”
The post provides an interesting clue to the future of Google Chrome for Mac. We can only hope the early December beta launch date is accurate.
The other day here on Crenk with did a post about the major Internet giant Google buying AdMob - a mobile advertiser and we predicted that internet advertising was due to come up. Well it seems like it most definitely has – thanks to search.
Google reported the first rise in advertising revenue in over two quarters. The third quarter of 2009 stabilized the sector. However, as I mentioned above it was all due to the advertisements in the search results pages not so much the advertisements on websites.
While this is good news it’ll still be a while until the other advertisers such as AOL, Yahoo! and Microsoft recover from the recession – these being the weakest of the search engines.
So it appears that the advertisements on web pages still aren’t doing as good as what they used to simply because there are less ‘big’ companies using them. As such, people don’t want to click on them. Crenk’s advice for bloggers and webmasters? Use Google AdSence to put advertisements on your website’s search page!
Microsoft’s upcoming Project Natal add-on for the Xbox 360 is one of the most exciting and interesting new gaming peripherals to be announced in some time. Now it has been reported over at Wireninja that the new Project Natal will be coming in November 2010 and will ship 5 million units in its initial batch, which includes 14 games and a super-low price of £50.
One publishing source says Microsoft is “trying to get as close as possible to ‘impulse buy’”. Another even says the camera could even retail for just £30.
Activision, Bethesda, Capcom, Disney, EA, Konami, MTV, Namco Bandai, Sega, Square Enix, THQ and Ubisoft all committed to make games for the device in an announcement made at last month’s Tokyo Game Show.
The PS3 is an all round entertainment machine which in many regards it can act as a fully functioning PC for internet, movie and music usage. When it first came out all you could hear was how “it’s not just a console. It’s and entertainment centre” and all that lark. So now we’ve got our hands on an apparent screenshot of a Facebook client running on a PlayStation 3. interesting.
I mean all it is is a logo and a bit of detail which I guess could have been done by a skilled Photoshop user but here’s the interesting part:
TechCrunch claim that the image can be traced back to the official Sony website.
So was this an image uploaded too soon? A test gone wrong? Well we don’t really know for sure but I do have a gut feeling this is straight up. After all, the PS3 is essentially a computer in its own right so if anything, social networking is overdue.
Here is a screenshot of what it might be similar too. This is a screenshot of the Facebook client currently in testing for the XBOX 360 (we’re also waiting on Twitter for that console). It doesn’t look to bad indeed although a bit of cleaning up wouldn’t go amiss.
Spectrum is free Wordpress Theme designed and delivered to you by Ignacio Ricci. This theme looks very bright and colourful. You can also give this theme a whole new feeling simply by changing the background image. Take a look around to check out it’s features. Enjoy using this lovely theme in your blog.
FreeMoviesTheatre pretty much does what it says on the tin and that is provide some great movies users can watch right within their browser. The site itself provides a great list of genres from Animated to Bollywood and Sci-Fi. All the latest movies are there too, plus they have a simple option to download the movies. I would like to see the site have a easier download function instead of using a third party, however if they did this them I’m sure their site would be illegal.
Currently, FreeMoviesTheatre has over 4500 movies online and they are growing fast. Im not entirely too sure how legal this site is, but make use of it before they get taken down!
Tweetie is the most successful app for the iPhone when it comes to Twitter. Almost a quarter of the tweets I read say ‘from Tweetie’ underneath indicating that the tweeter is using the popular app.
A few months back, a new kid on the block called Birdfeed was released and it definitely made some waves. However I think user loyalty took precedence and people stayed with Tweetie. However, the other day an updated version of Birdfeed was submitted to the app store for approval.
This version aims to fight tooth and nail with Tweetie using Twitter’s upcoming geolocation feature as its main weapon. The geolocation feature will allow you to post your current location along with your regular Tweet. Although Tweetie will also have this integrated, Birdfeed is making it its headline feature but putting the Geolocation entry box along the top of the screen as opposed to Tweetie whereby one must go through a menu to bring it up.
There will also be mapping of the Tweet’s location so users can click on your Tweet and view your location.
There has been a lot of talk about Skype and now Gizmo5 this week, so we thought we would let everyone know about 5 new VOIP service that are on the rise.
Truphone (www.truphone.com), London, became the first true Internet calling application in Apple’s App Store when the company introduced Truphone for the iPhone a year ago; it’s now available for the iPod touch, BlackBerry, Nokia and Android devices. Truphone enables free to low-cost mobile calling over available Wi-Fi or local wireless networks for owners of iPhones and other smartphones who travel out of their home service areas. It’s especially advantageous for international travelers who want to make inexpensive calls from their mobile phones wherever in the world they may be. Further, Truphone eliminates the uncertainty of expensive roaming charges altogether, so people who call using Truphone know what they’re paying and what they’re getting. And calls between Truphone users are always free. The company’s Truphone Local Anywhere service, coming later this year, aims to eliminate the high cost of calling other countries by making all calls “local.” Truphone Local Anywhere will become the mobile service of choice — delivering cost savings and convenience — for anyone who travels, or lives abroad and needs to stay in touch with family, friends and business colleagues, wherever they may live.
ShoZu (www.shozu.com), London, is an intelligent social media hub currently used by people worldwide to enrich connections with the people in their lives by effortlessly exchanging video, pictures and commentary between mobile devices and favorite social networks, photo sharing sites and information resources. The company’s patented technology provides fast, easy, one-click uploads of photos and video clips from the mobile to the Web, full-resolution photo and video delivery without compression, an emerging suite of services that push content to the phone, the ability to work in the background even if a connection is dropped, and other unique features that simplify and enhance the user experience. The company was founded in 2000 and has formed partnerships with some of the leading players in the mobile ecosystem, including Motorola and Samsung.
Boingo Wireless (www.boingo.com), Los Angeles, is the global market leader in Wi-Fi. Boingo makes it easy for consumers to enjoy Wi-Fi access on their laptops or mobile devices at more than 100,000 hotspots worldwide — including airports, hotels, cafes and metropolitan hot zones — with a single account. Through its Concourse Communications Group, LLC subsidiary, Boingo operates wired and wireless networks at 20 of the top 100 North American airports.
Hi Def Conferencing (www.hidefconferencing.com), Hoboken, N.J., from Citrix Online is a multi-party communication service that delivers crystal-clear quality and realism in audio get-togethers. The service uses advanced audio processing of up to 5 times the bandwidth of legacy telephone systems, making it easy to hear the subtleties of participants’ speech, accents and inflection – dramatically improving comprehension. Hi Def Conferencing also brings clarity to what users pay. As a predictable, fixed-fee service, it eliminates the billing surprises typically associated with other conferencing services. For a flat monthly fee, high quality conferencing is within the reach of everyone – encouraging ad hoc group collaboration with family members around the world. Participants access Hi Def Conferencing easily over traditional landlines, mobile carriers or broadband VoIP services, such as Skype.
iotum (www.calliflower.com), Ottawa, is a Voice 2.0 company that aims to reinvent business conversations and shape a world of relevant communications where devices, social networks and Web services work seamlessly together to let people communicate with whom they want, when they want and on the device they want. iotum’s business is to design and provide a simple, supportive and intuitive environment to enrich business conversations. iotum’s products and services bring greater meaning and productivity to typically stale and static multiparty communications and meet the growing teleconferencing needs of a broad range of customers across many industries. Iotum’s flagship service, Calliflower, makes it easy for people to plan and participate in engaging and meaningful conference calls that bridge business and social networks.
I’m not quite sure when things in the office changed, and why all of a sudden there’s been such a rush to do online collaborative tools for offices. While for some it screams efficiency, for others it screams TRAINING!!! Sadly no matter how much you “train” people to learn the new ways, someone always fumbles and things fall apart.
Nevertheless, this drive for online tools has driven companies like Google, Zoho, Microsoft, and many others to create online office tools that go where you go, and are accessible from anywhere in the world…provided you have an internet connection. So heavily used are these tools that even while on the go, your mobile devices are capable of accessing these tools which allows you to never miss a step.
While the above mentioned are great, and provide a level of collaboration that standard desktop office software does not, there is one that offers an all inclusive internet office for online work, OfficeMedium.
Nope, I’m not talking the crazy office worker who claims to see dead people, not that type of medium. I’m talking about the actual suite of online collaborative office tools that give you more than the standard faire. Aside from the typical presentation, word, and spreadsheet portions, you’re also given access to content management tools, events/tasks/calendar tools, social networking tools for your intranet, file sharing and storage, along with enhanced security to keep what’s happening within the company private.
This online web application is not free, there are minimal costs attached, and from I see, the cost is extremely affordable. But it still begs the question, what companies truly need this type of depth? I think it will come down to the size of your company and the needs it needs to serve. Google and Zoho seem appropriate for what I do, but perhaps a more enterprise level company would turn to OfficeMedium to help keep communication a little tighter within a company.
I recently developed my own blog and it went live the other day following some trouble with the host. Following said trouble I decided to run a speed test for my site to make sure everything was performing as they promised it would. So after a little digging around I discovered webpagetest.org. This website gives you the chance to test you website for performance by entering the few details as seen below in the screenshot.
After hitting the submit button it takes a minute or two to finish testing your website. After this you get some great results such as showing you which type of content is causing delays (ie. Images, Java) so you can remove or compress them. And things like SEO and server response time.
This is a great websites for webmasters to make sure things are running as they should. Check it out at www.webpagetest.org .
Remember that movie from the late 80’s, early 90’s, Dick Tracy. Yeah the one with Madonna in it playing Breathless Mahoney. Okay so you remember right? Well now forget everything you remember about that movie, Dick Tracy is one of those movies you never admit you watch.
All forgotten?
Okay, now imagine how cool it would be to have a watch that served as your communication to the world, kinda like Dick Tracy, just not that movie that you are supposed to forget. Now imagine how much cooler it would be if it synced with your mobile device and gave you access to all the things you needed without ever having to take out your phone. I’m talking emails, files, and apps. Yeah Dick Tracy eat your heart out.
All of this is a reality with the Inpulse Blackberry Smartwatch ($150) by Allerta makes your mobile experience even more interesting. The device straps to your wrist and has all the functionality of a watch with the sleekness and functionality of your Blackberry. The watch connects wirelessly via bluetooth to sync with your phone with a vibrating motor to let you know you’ve got updates. It sports 1.3 inch full-color OLED screen. Good enough for messages, apps, and other quick thing, just don’t expect to watch any movies.
Amazingly as if that was not enough you can also receive SMS messages on there, view calendars, schedules, to-do lists, and so much more after customizing it, why not go out and solve mysteries, it worked for Dick Tray right?
Nevertheless it’s all an effort to make sure that you don’t miss any of your messages/phone calls. In my opinion it’s as cool as wearing one of those Casio calculator watches. Yep, if you think that’s still cool, you’re probably not a hit with the ladies…or guys.
I’m not quite sure when things in the office changed, and why all of a sudden there’s been such a rush to do online collaborative tools for offices. While for some it screams efficiency, for others it screams TRAINING!!! Sadly no matter how much you “train” people to learn the new ways, someone always fumbles and things fall apart.
![Cover of "Dick Tracy [Region 2]"](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51QX321EB9L._SL300_.jpg "Cover of \"Dick Tracy [Region 2]\"")
