News Corp Strategy with Rupert Murdoch on Paid Content Online, Google, BBC and More.
Great interview with Rupert Murdoch on the paid content, BBC, YouTube and more.
BlockPosters: Make Huge Posters for your Wall
This is without a doubt the best art website I’ve seen in ages. What you can create with just an hours work (most of which is you betting up close and personal with some double-sided tape)is fantastic. Take a look at the image below. Cool right?
To make one of your own follow these steps.
- Go to blockposters.com
- Upload and image that you ant as a poster (1Mb max)
- Download the resulting file
- Print it out
- Get sticking
There are slight gaps at the edges of the page which could be sliced off to provide an uninterrupted image but I think the gaps add a certain charm.
New Open Office Mega Mouse
Gaming, especially with MMOs of fast paced shooters is difficult with the PC because of the limitations of the keyboard. Obviously one could go for a better mouse with more buttons – openoffice.org though so too.
They have just released a new mouse with 18 buttons including a thumb controlled joystick. It’s fully compatible with games such as WoW and browsers such as Firefox. And yes, obviously it works with the original Open Office software.
From looking at the picture you can probably tell it’s not the most attractive piece of software. I don’t quite get why they chose those colours and the material looks cheap and very 90s-ish. But hey, I’m sure gamers and power users the world over will love this thing.
OpenOffice 3 with Over 100 Millions Downloads
For over several years now, the OpenOffice.org Project has been increasing significantly. And on October 28th they’ve reached the 100 million download with their 3.0 version.
Open Office 3, released a year ago, included several improvements:
- Enhanced compatibility with Microsoft Office 2007
- Added edition capabilities for PDF
- Included Open Office extensions (quite similar like you have in Firefox add-ons)
- Various improvements with Writer (Word), Calc (Excel) and Impress (PowerPoint).
The latest and stable build is the 3.1.1 but there is already a Beta available for the 3.2 version, you can check it here.
Open Office originally appeared as StarOffice, owned by Sun Microsystems (back in the year 2000). The first original version of Open Office, 1.0 obviously, showed up in 2002. And for those that worked with it, knew that it had a lot to improve.
Even though all that, this project was the only one that maintains certain stability over the years with an “attempt” to use it as a free possibility working with Office standards. Personally I’ve never got used to it to use it, but continue to be as the main possibility for several governmental and educational entities, related to costs of course.
Top 3 Netbooks for Home, School and Work
Netbooks are becoming more popular because they’re more portable than the very portable laptop and have all the working power into the bargain. Plus they pack more punch than even the best of smart phones. Here we have what I think are the best three netbooks for their tasks.
Home
Dell Inspiron Mini 10v Netbook
This is a great little curvy computer running the most popular of OS among netbooks – Windows XP. It has 1GB of RAM which is into laptop territory and is great 
for surfing the internet and taking care of all those tasks. The reason why this is the best netbook for the home is because of the price. At just $299 it’s a fine purchase to make to fill the gap when someone else is using the family PC or you just want to relax in bed and check you e-mail or RSS. It also doesn’t look and feel cheap like other netbooks for the same price. It can run for over five hours playing video and using software so it’s ideal for entertainment and heavy usage.
School
Asus Eee PC
This one is slightly more bulky than the one mentioned above but it packs more of a punch and it has an extended battery life for those long cramming sessions. The keyboard is also much better for typing on than the DELL.
It has 1GB of RAM but a 1.66GHz processor while running XP.
It weighs 3.4 pounds which isn’t too bad when you compare it to the laptop you could have been lugging around between classes. It looks good and ticks all the right boxes for students. The price tag of $400 isn’t to bad either.
Work
HP Mini 5101
This small netbook is definitely the way to go for work and business. It stylish and discreet with a minimalistic design and has sharper angles than th
e other too. Again, it has 1GB of RAM and a 1.66GHx processor doing all the work for you. It’s really sturdy and solidly built however I don’t like how it lost its Express Card slot which was on the previous model.
Nonetheless, the 160Gb hard drive is more than enough to hold any projects (no matter how big) until you make it back to the office and the 10” display is the perfect screen for working on them along with the comfortable keyboard and track pad.
For ultimate gaming laptops, click here.
Virtual Radio: Internet Radio On Your Cell Phone
Even listened to the radio on your phone while you’re on the bus or just relaxing in the park – sometime it can get a bit boring. Especially for us geeky types who love to know what going on all over the world in the tech biz.
Well I found a cool app for your cell phone that may fix the problem.
Virtual Radio is a cool Java app for you Java enabled cell phone that allows you to listen to Internet radio stations in crisp high quality sound. The have lowered the frequency to 32kbps for the Java version so your GPRS connection can keep up with the content.
There are loads of different channels to choose from depending on where you’re located. You can also reprogram the tuner to play your favourite channels or simply find new ones.
The best this is that it’s completely free to download and use. One piece of advice that I’ll give you is to watch out for the GPRS costs. However, nowadays most network have deals on GPRS internet such 99c per day for unlimited usage or a set fee every month.
Download Virtual Radio here.
Feedly: The Best Browser RSS Reader
I though I’d share with you guys an RSS reader that I started using recently called Feedly. Basically it’s and add-on for most browsers including Chrome and Firefox which combines all your RSS feeds into one incredible place that by far surpasses generic readers such as Google.
Here is a screenshot:
What I like most about is that it also combines other services such as GMail and Twitter into the same package so you’re getting all of your information in the one place instead of having several tabs open.
It’s free and its easy to set up once you have installed it as an add-on. Click here to download Feedly.
Google Open Sources Its Own Development Programs
It’s a great day when Internet giant Google open sources the programs it uses to build well-known favourites such as GMail, Docs and Google Maps. It announced on its blog that it will be making a lot of it’s own development software available to developers all over the world. This release comes as Google are undoubtedly upgrading their own tools especially with the upcoming launch of Google Wave.
The first of the three tools they released is called Closure Compiler which helps developers trim down code and optimize it for better performance. There is also a plug-in for Firefox released alongside this so they can view heir Java Script code in the browser.
The second one is called Library which is a tool to help build Java Script Apps. Here is what Google said on their official blog about the program:
The Closure Library is a JavaScript library that provides many features that are useful for building web applications across browsers. It helps to abstract browser differences and provides clean class and function interfaces for common tasks. Besides DOM interaction and UI tools, the library includes tools for arrays, objects, string manipulation and much more. The library also implements a name spacing and import standard, which helps keep scripts small and load fast when used with the Closure Compiler.
The third and final release until further notice was Templates. This is an app that is for creating HTML elements that can be used within Java Script.
Closure Templates simplify the task of dynamically creating HTML and have an easy-to-read syntax. They allow you to write templates for reusable HTML and UI elements that can be used within JavaScript or on the server side in Java. They also have excellent run-time performance because they are never parsed on the client side.
Over the next month or so there is undoubtedly going to be a big rush of new Java apps and programs onto the market thanks to the Google outsourcing. Be sure to stay in touch with Crenk to stay informed!
Dual Monitors: Why You Should Set Them Up
The vast majority of people have a single monitor. Even suggesting adding a second would baffle them.
‘Eh, why?’ they might ask while staring at you as though you just landed in a spinning saucer.
Here’s my answer.
‘Because productivity is increased, desktop size doubled and it looks AWSOME’.
For those of you who follow me on Twitter you’ll have noticed that I spent an hour last night hooking up a second 19” monitor in my office. As I write this post I currently have Microsoft Outlook and Trillian Astra running on the spare screen with my whole laptop screen available for work. If I want to check my e-mails I just move my cursor to the second screen and use it as though it was a different computer. Then just move it back to the left until it reappears on my laptop – then back to work!
Seriously, for anyone who is even a semi-hardcore computer user I would definitely suggest this quick tip. It’s as easy as plugging in the new monitor, going to display settings and setting the resolution of monitor number 2. Easy.
Facebook and Twitter to Fight SPAM… again
SPAM is one of my pet hates. In fact I think that everyone reading this hates those annoying e-mails, comments left on our pages, tweets and clearly misleading advertisements that promise you a months salary in a few hours. I really, really hate SPAM. It’s useless and in this day and age it achieves nothing with its instantly recognisable language format, strange links and oh yeah, the promise of a few million bucks for transferring money.
Twitter and Facebook hate SPAM too. At the same time, both of them published posts to their blog that clearly announce plans to go 
on the offensive against spammers on their networks.
Twitter is due to start crating tweets and organising the trending topics section. This could mean one of two things:
- Either they’ll simply remove an entire trending topic if it becomes too spammed.
- Or they’ll painstakingly monitor tweets in trending topics with the first filter being a computer and the last a human.
They told us that the changes may not be apparent immediately – but I can assure you, it’s happening as you read this post.
Meanwhile, Facebook are targeting SPAM and scam ads on their network. This is a really big problem for two reasons. Firstly it lets users make their own ads and publish them – with so many it’s hard to catch all the scams. And secondly, they’ve gotten into bed with some shady advertising networks recently and are having a spot of bother breaking the relationships. Although they have assured us they’re in the process of ending two of them.
Let’s all pray for a SPAM free Internet in the mean time.
Twitter Peek Offers Lackluster Appeal
Back in the early 90’s there was this song, “Things That Make You Go Hmmm…”. It’s this song that I sadly have to reference when mentioning the Twitter Peek. Unlike the song that had some redeeming qualities this doorstopper is the clunkiest piece of technology I’ve seen yet (a disclaimer, I do not own one).
This product is made by Peek. The same company brought you the horrors that were the Pronto Peek and the Meet Peek. I’m not sure why I would want any of these devices since my smartphone does it all, and when I’m not at my mobile, I’m at my desk.
Perhaps therein lies the truth. It’s not geared towards me, the tech savvy geek, but rather the Twitter uninitiated.Despite the millions of users, there are still many demographics who have not embraced it. What a simple bridge to get them to join.
Clever plan or failure upward? Too early to tell, but one thing is for sure, based on their past successes, the Twitter Peek might make a small splash.
The Twitter Peek can be purchased on their website or via Amazon.
Web App Buffers Timely Online Communication
Heard of Twitter? Sure the whole world has by now. Lone tribes on far islands have heard about Twitter. This massively immersive and widely used micro-blogging network has become a staple for both our personal and professional lives. The world seems to still be feeling the “Twitter effect” as industries adapt their existing messages to fit the fast paced world of this social network.
But do you ever feel like you’re being left behind? Perhaps not enough time to get the right message in a timely fashion? Now there’s a solution to that.
Twuffer presents itself as the buffer between you and your timed messages. By using the web application, you are able to preset messages on a timed schedule to be released on your network at the times you think most important. The possibilities of this type of functionality are as endless as your creativity.
The web app is easy to use and can serve you to better time your announcements, set reminders for yourself or others, engage in timed online activities, or, as the site suggests, make it appear as if you never sleep. The practicality of this app seems pretty straightforward.
The application is currently in beta, but your able to explore what it has to offer pretty seamlessly. I suggest you give it a try to announce regular days when your podcast or blog post will go live, or perhaps some other similar campaign to see if Twuffer is right for you!
