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Litl Easel Webbook gets the extensive hands-on treatment (video)

linkdor — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 19:19:00 +0000

Wait a minute -- you say you've been longing to get your hands on an overpriced netbook that you can use upside-down? Well, kids, the time is drawing nigh. Mere days after the Litl Easel Webbook went official we've become privy to a lengthy video of the bad boy in action. Indeed, things are as you expected: a 1.6GHz Atom-based machine running a proprietary web-optimized OS, this guy has been specially designed, in the words of the company's CEO, to do away with "the computery stuff." To that end, users will see no icons or folders in the desktop. Such tried-and-true stalwarts of computer interface design have been eschewed for "web cards." Indeed, you won't be able to overlap or resize windows at all, at all: unless you're in easel mode, in which case you scroll through cards one at a time with a wheel. But there's more! Users may "liberate the photo" in a manner not unlike a digiframe the fraction of the cost, thanks to the device's integration with several photo-sharing services (including Shutterfly and Flickr). Still curious? I bet you are. Hit up the video after the break and prepare to have all of your dreams fulfilled (well, maybe not).

Continue reading Litl Easel Webbook gets the extensive hands-on treatment (video)

Filed under: Laptops

Litl Easel Webbook gets the extensive hands-on treatment (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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How to Secure Your New WordPress Installation

linkdor — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 19:07:30 +0000

One of the best ways to ensure strong security for your WordPress-powered site is to secure its foundations during the installation process. Of course these techniques can be implemented at any point during the life of your site, but stetting them before the game starts prevents headaches and saves time. We’ll start with the WordPress [...]

Dulin’s Books rolls out PocketBook 360, 301+ ereaders in the US

linkdor — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:56:00 +0000

Upstart company you've never heard of suddenly selling not one but two ebook readers in the US? Yeah, these are rebadge jobs, but at least one of 'em -- the PocketBook 360 -- is a slightly new variation on a theme. From the looks of it, this one is a new / different version of an ereader most recently seen under the Mentor brand, and packs a 5-inch Vizplex display, 512MB of internal memory, a microSD card slot for expansion, a Linux-based OS, your choice of black or white color options and, of course, support for a full range of ebook formats (including EPUB). The company's PocketBook 301+, on the other hand, is seemingly the same model seen as the Foxit eSlick and Hyper Gear ereader, and includes the same EPUB support, along with a slightly larger 6-inch Vizplex display, and some expanded media playback and game options. Look for it to set you back $275, while the PocketBook 360 runs $240. If neither of those suit you, an additional, stylus-equipped Boox model is also promised "soon" -- and, of course, is mighty familiar.

Filed under: Handhelds

Dulin's Books rolls out PocketBook 360, 301+ ereaders in the US originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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New DROID ads show off Android, will make a man out of you

linkdor — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:23:00 +0000

"A robot is a thing that does..." Verizon / Google / Motorola are taking their ad onslaught to new heights and in a new direction, with three new ads (which will hit "soon," according to our tipster), two of which actually show off Android functionality. It's a bold new vision for a hyperbole-filled, guytastic campaign which shows no sign of letting up, and seems more than anything to be the complete antithesis to Palm's coma-inducing spots instead of an antidote for Apple's everyhipster sensibilities. Check out the three new DROID ads after the break.

[Thanks, DroidDoesItAll]

Continue reading New DROID ads show off Android, will make a man out of you

Filed under: Cellphones

New DROID ads show off Android, will make a man out of you originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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AT&T intros USBConnect Lightning for 7.2Mbps service

linkdor — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:54:00 +0000

When you're rolling out a new 7.2Mbps upgrade to your network, it naturally helps if you've got some compliant hardware in the stable -- so to that end, AT&T has announced its USBConnect Lightning from Sierra Wireless today. Apart from 7.2Mbps downlink capability, the new model's little more than a run-of-the-mill USB stick so there's not a lot to say about it, though it features a trick swiveling USB connector that should make the thing more likely to work with unusual (and unusually tight) port configurations. It'll be available on November 22 for free after rebate on contract, just in time for service launches in Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles and Miami expected by the end of the year.

Filed under: Wireless

AT&T intros USBConnect Lightning for 7.2Mbps service originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 09 Nov 2009 12:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Gigaware adapter brings HD Radio to iPod touch and iPhone for $80

linkdor — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:29:00 +0000

Up until now, there have been just two ways to get HD Radio in a portable, handheld solution: buy a Zune HD, or opt for Insignia's NS-HD01. As of today, Gigaware is changing all that, and it's hoping to give HD Radio a kick in the pants by opening it up to every single iPod touch and iPhone user in the US. iBiquity's own HD Radio module has been tucked neatly inside the clickwheel in-line adapter you see above, giving any iPhone / iPod touch with iPhone OS 3.0 (or greater) the ability to listen to HD Radio and FM stations in their area. The (now available) adapter itself sells for $79.99 exclusively at RadioShack, while the accompanying app -- which sports a manual tune wheel or auto-seek option, social network integration, bookmarks and iTunes Tagging -- is available to download free of charge. It's a novel idea, sure, but something tells us the limited availability and lofty price tag will keep it from selling like gangbusters.

Gallery: Gigaware dongle brings HD Radio to iPod touch and iPhone for $80

Continue reading Gigaware adapter brings HD Radio to iPod touch and iPhone for $80

Filed under: Portable Audio

Gigaware adapter brings HD Radio to iPod touch and iPhone for $80 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 09 Nov 2009 12:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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What Are Your Favorite Photos and Videos of 2009? #openwebawards

linkdor — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:01:28 +0000

Open Web Awards Nominations will remain open until 11:59 pm ET on Sunday, November 15th. Submit your nominations here.

The growth of multimedia content continues apace on the web, and 2009 is a year in which we saw Flickr’s 4 billionth photo and YouTube reach an astonishing 1 billion video views per day. The combined number of views for September’s top 10 most watched web series topped 93 million — and that’s just 10 of the thousands of web series from amateur and increasingly professional sources alike.

From dancing babies to fails to Facebook songs, YouTube keeps us entertained. It’s also an agent for social change, a great tool for business, for journalists, and even for the U.S. President.

This year saw the Google-owned video site pass the 120 million viewer mark in the U.S., play a role in documenting the Iran election crisis, and increasingly court professional content from television shows to movies to major label music artists. It’s been working on better monetizing its videos and giving back to video publishers, with revenue sharing and exposure boosts for Promoted Videos. And it shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon.

In the realm of photos, Flickr still reigns as one of the most popular social destinations for sharing images online. This year it added Twitter integration, launched a great iPhone app, added people tagging and launched a cool new galleries feature. We’re glad to see one of the classic pioneer services that ushered in the age of the social web still growing and innovating. And there’s easily room enough for its deep data and tagging photo storage model alongside popular Twitter photo-sharing site Twitpic’s more quick and on-the-fly approach to image sharing on the web.

The continued growth of web series this year has also been remarkable. From shows like The Guild going into their third season and continuing a major sponsorship deal with Microsoft and Sprint, to amateur DIY phenomenons like Auto-Tune the News debuting to viral popularity, to major media outlets jumping into the game with their own original series, it’s never been a better time to be an online video producer — or audience!

Vote for your favorites

We’d like to know your choices for Best Flickr Photographer, Best YouTube Channel or Personality, Funniest YouTube Channel, YouTube Video of the Year, Best Online Video Web Series, Flickr Photo of the Year, and TwitPic of the Year in this year’s Open Web Awards.

The nominating process is simple, just visit the Open Web Awards site, sign in with Twitter or Facebook, and tell us your favorites. Nominations will remain open until 11:59 PM, ET on Sunday, November 15th.

Some of the leaders in the Photo & Video categories so far are (in no particular order):

Best YouTube Channel or Personality

- Sxephil

Funniest YouTube Channel

- Smosh

- Friday Night Cranks

- Community Channel

- CardGamesFTW

- Internet Killed Television

- YTwatchdog

YouTube Video of the Year

- Iran, Tehran: wounded girl dying in front of camera, Her name was Neda (Warning: very graphic)

- The Secret of the Sauce

- A Very Potter Musical

- The Guild – Do You Want to Date My Avatar?

- Carl Sagan – ‘A Glorious Dawn’ ft Stephen Hawking (Cosmos Remixed)

- The Bag Heads: Quest for the Milk

- Knees Up Mother Brown

- CTFxC: Surprise Marriage Proposal In Spain! (10.4.09 – Day 157)

- Behind the Scenes: Mid-Autumn Romance @ Chelsea Mansion

- Bounce

Best Online Video Web Series

- Internet Killed Television

- Nostalgia Critic

- The Guild

- YTwatchdog

- The Philip DeFranco Show

- SHAYTARDS

- Totally Rad Show

- Angry Video Game Nerd

- The Joker Blogs

- Anyone But Me

Best Flickr Photographer

- Shadi Eideh

- Heychrissmith

- Chanelle Richardson

- Khosey1

Flickr Photo of the Year

- Mesmerized

- Highspeed Water

- The Canine of Rhodes

- One Sad Puppy

- Limitado

- President Barack Obama speaks with a foreign leader in the Oval Office on his first day in office 1/21/09

- Men Repairing Fishing Boat, Zanzibar

- Trent Reznor

- Kevin Pollak challenging Darth Vader to Space Invaders

- Masificación (01) por Rodrigo de Oliveira

TwitPic of the Year

- Plane in the Hudson

- Beautiful little girl in Railton Township, SA

- Social Tattoo

- #cozytweetup

- Pepe. The mouth that swallowed the south

- Go-karting

- RnR Hall of Fame

- Puppets

- at teh cdd reelase parrty *hic*

[Image courtesy of tick followed tock on Flickr]

Tags: flickr, open web awards, owa, Photos, twitpic, video, web series, youtube

RIM unveils tighter Adobe partnership, new app payment platform, OpenGL ES support, more

linkdor — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:00:00 +0000

There aren't any new devices in the mix, but RIM has unleashed a torrent of BlackBerry OS-related news today at its BlackBerry Developer Conference in San Francisco that's sure to make devs happy in the short term -- and you know how that goes: when devs are happy, it doesn't take long before end users reap the benefits. Here are the highlights:

BlackBerry devices running OS 5.0 and higher will be able to benefit from OpenGL ES support, the 3D platform used by many of the world's high-power smartphones for delivering killer games. There's a beta of the SDK already, so let's get cracking, everyone -- we need some first-person shooters that totally negate BlackBerry's ultra-productive image.
A new plugin for the Eclipse development environment should make building BlackBerry app GUIs easier than ever, which should hopefully lead to prettier apps; it'll be available in mid-2010.
BlackBerry Theme Studio is now available, simplifying theme creation with support for changing the home screen layout, fonts, icons, colors, cursors, and more; it supports BlackBerry OS 4.2.2 and higher, which means that virtually every BlackBerry in a pocket (or holster) today should be able to take advantage. The timing's perfect on this one, because RIM has also announced that themes can now be submitted to App World.
BlackBerry Payment Service has been announced for mid-2010 availability, bringing in-app payments, subscription support, and a variety of billing options, which all sounds far more robust than the PayPal-only setup they've got going today.
The Push Service made available to Alliance Program members earlier this year will be made available to all comers in "early 2010," making it easy to push bite-sized chunks of "time-sensitive alerts" to phones quickly and easily.
BlackBerry Advertising Service has been announced for 1H 2010 availability, bringing a unified ad platform for developers with a variety of existing ad networks on board. If this means more free apps in App World, we're all for it.
Expanding on the Flash partnership previously announced, RIM has teamed up with Adobe yet again to unveil tight integration with Creative Suite 5 with direct file exports for BlackBerry-optimized formats and the creation BlackBerry-specific web layouts. End users will also be able to pull files directly off their BlackBerrys into consumer offerings like Photoshop Elements. This particular news seems pretty fluffy since Adobe products are already capable of opening and saving media formats that the phones can use -- but as with many of the other announcements here, we're on board as long as it means better-looking apps.

Sure, we wouldn't have complained if some crazy Storm2 with a QWERTY slide had unexpectedly shown up, but all things considered, BlackBerry software shops have to be salivating at the bounty here.

Filed under: Cellphones

RIM unveils tighter Adobe partnership, new app payment platform, OpenGL ES support, more originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 09 Nov 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nokia’s X6 to ship next week, maybe sooner if you’re lucky

linkdor — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:41:00 +0000

It's been a few months since Nokia's X6 hit the scene, but the touchscreen-based, S60-lovin' smartphone is just about ready to ship out to those who've managed to avoid all of the other stellar options that have launched since early September. It seems as if Nokia is gearing up to ship the phone in at least some parts of the world exactly a week from today in concert with a Rihanna release party. And if Expansys is correct, folks in the UK will see their orders ship out on November 12th. Too bad that £529.99 ($891) price tag is darn near debilitating, but hey, awesomeness has its price.

[Via Brighthand]

Read - Rihanna / Nokia shindig
Read - Expansys order page

Filed under: Cellphones

Nokia's X6 to ship next week, maybe sooner if you're lucky originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 09 Nov 2009 11:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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TWITTER SACKED: Larry Johnson Released by Chiefs After Inflammatory Tweets

linkdor — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:28:33 +0000

Although we expected Larry Johnson to be disciplined for his inflammatory comments on Twitter several weeks ago (which he was), we can’t say we saw this twist coming: the Kansas City Chiefs have released the former Pro Bowl running back.

The move comes after a petition of fans asking for the Chiefs to release Johnson before he broke the team’s rushing record swelled to more than 32,000 signatures as of this morning.

Although the Chiefs don’t officially cite the petition or Johnson’s tweets, which included derogatory remarks about his coach and a gay slur directed at a fan, it’s hard to believe they didn’t play a role in the dismissal of a marquee player. Johnson does have a history of off-the-field issues, however, so the tweets may have just provided an opportune time to part ways.

Johnson isn’t the first person to lose a job over his actions on social media sites, but he would certainly seem to be the most prominent. Hopefully, the news doesn’t lead other players who are using the medium in effective ways to reconsider.

Do you think dismissing Johnson was appropriate, or is this an overreaction on Kansas City’s part? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, lisafx.

Reviews: iStockphoto

Tags: larry johnson, social media, sports, twitter