ipod shuffle: August 2008

Friday, August 29, 2008

Toshiba expands the Regza family with RV, XV series 1080p LCDs

IFA's apparently given Toshiba just the opportunity necessary to refresh its line of Regza LCDs, for those without the Resolution+ itch with a few new sizes and features. The existing entry-level XV line of 1080p LCDs gets 46- and 52-inch models, plus a gloss black design that helps it fit in at the Regza family reunion. The brand new RV line of 1080p LCDs bring similar features to the ZF Series, sans Resolution+ technology and one HDMI port, but with Active Vision M100 HD 100/120Hz 5:5 pulldown image processing intact. 37-, 42- and 46-inch sizes are confirmed for the October Euro launch, prices and U.S. availability for both TBD.

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Sony debuts Bravia BDV-IT1000 Blu-ray home theater system

Filed under: Home Entertainment

Still not satisfied by any of the Blu-ray home theater in a box systems out there? Then perhaps Sony's just announced Bravia BDV-IT1000 unit will be more to your liking. This one boasts 700W of total power, and includes some wireless rear speakers for added convenience, and slim speakers all around that Sony says are made possible thanks to its brand new finger-sized full-range speaker drive units. The Blu-ray player / receiver at the heart of the unit also looks to be capable enough, with it sporting BD-Live readiness, a pair of HDMI inputs, optical digital and analog stereo audio inputs, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD support, and Sony's trademark Digital Media Port to accommodate a range of add-on devices. No word on a price or release just yet, but we're guessing there's at least a decent chance that'll slip out before Sony packs up and leaves the IFA stage.

[Via Sony Insider]

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The results of our poll on how many RSS feeds you follow are in and they suggest that most people read more than 100 feeds. A total of 40 percent follow up to 100 feeds, while 8 percent read 120 to 129 feeds and 7 percent read 210 to 229 feeds. The largest group by far, comprising 12 percent of votes, reads 390 or more feeds! (There were more than 159 potential voters,but we had a technical problem that prevented many readers from voting in the poll. You can read about many of their RSS habits in the comments section of the original post.)

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Blog feeds may carry security risk

Even our friend RSS, is not without it’s challenges, folks. Security people, nothing is immune.
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Monday, August 25, 2008

The Engadget Podcast now supports AAC and Ogg feeds!

Well now, it appears that the Engadget Podcast has been given its own version of 2.o0 status in a sense. Take a look for yourself…
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LG's N4B1 NAS auto-archives your junk to Blu-ray

Filed under: Storage

When we're thinking NAS, we're thinking Terabytes of network attached storage. Fortunately, while LG's N4B1 might be the world's first NAS with integrated Blu-ray recorder, it also supports up to 4TB of disk... with room to grow thanks to 3x USB and 1x e-SATA jacks. LG puts that 50GB of dual-layer, Blu-ray storage to good use by automatically archiving your old data for off-site storage. You do store your data off-site, right?

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14 Simple Things to Boost Your Online Productivity

There are dozens of ways to boost your productivity, and we tell you plenty. But have you ever just looked at that and said “Gee, I just don’t have time to do that” or you just don’t want to use some new alpha beta whatchamacallit. Lucky for you, there are some simple everyday things you [...]

1. Sort Bookmarks - This might take a little time if you already have a lot of bookmarks, but it will help you find the site you want faster.

2. Save Passwords - If you have your own computer (not shared) then tell your browser to remember your passwords. Not typing in your username and password can save you a lot of time.

3. Use a RSS Reader - Stop visiting 20 different sites just to read your favorite blogs and the news. Use something like Google Reader (online) or a NewsGator product (iPhone, Mac, PC, Online.) Check out MakeUseOf Poll asking readers for their favorite RSS Reader.

4. Backup / Sync Your Bookmarks - If you have any more than one computer (work and home) then you know it’s hard to keep the bookmarks on both the same (find a site, copy the address, and send yourself an e-mail). An easy way around this is to simply sync your bookmarks with an add-on for your browser. For Firefox, there’s Foxmarks and Weave, and for IE users there’s Chipmarks.

5. Use GreaseMonkey - GreaseMonkey (What is Greasemonkey?) is a small Firefox add-on that lets you run userscripts that do various things on various sites, many of which can help a lot. OK, I’ll admit this makes you reboot your browser and you install a Firefox extension, but all of the userscripts don’t restart your browser.

6. Stealth Kiwi - If you’re not big on self control, let Stealth Kiwi do it for you. It blocks all “recreational” websites, but allows you to take a 10 minute break every hour. (GreaseMonkey)

7. Google Inline MP3 Player - So you found the MP3 of what you need (lecture, song, speech, etc.) but you don’t need to download it or you just want to make sure it is what you think it is. Google Inline MP3 Player automatically uses Google’s flash player to play the MP3 file inline. (GreaseMonkey)

8. AutoPagerize - Search. Scroll to the bottom. Click next. Repeat. Wouldn’t it be much faster to just have all of your search results on one auto expanding page? Luckily there’s AutoPagerize which does just that. (GreaseMonkey)

9. Organize Your Desktop - Alphabetize, or sort manually, but put your desktop icons in some order so you can find your application without looking all over the screen.

10. Keep Your Start Menu Organized - Keep your start menu organized (Linux does this for you, and Macs have the dock) by manually making folders and moving files to fit your needs or just use Tidy Start Menu or SMOz (both for windows). MakeUseOf also has a nice piece on Start Menu Alternatives for Windows.

11. Use An Application Launcher - Application launchers make launching applications a lot faster and easier than hunting down that elusive icon. Simply type fir hit enter and poof! You have opened Firefox. If you have a Mac the best option is QuickSilver, for Linux users there is the excellent Do, and for Windows users there is Launchy and Enso. Yes, I know you have to download and install something, but trust me it is well worth it.

12. Be Able to Manage All Open Windows - If you have open 15 different windows and your task bar / dock is overflowing, don’t be afraid to extend it a bit (as in pulling your task bar up for a second row or shirking the dock) to see all of your open windows.

13. Use an Online Calendar - Services like Google Calendar and localendar are great not only for keeping you organized, but sharing your schedule and collaborating. They can be used for a public calendar or collaborating with co-workers or family members.

14. Use an E-Mail Client - If you have any more than one e-mail address, use an e-mail client to keep everything together. There are dozens, including Mozilla Thunderbird (incl. lots of excellent addons) or the online Zenbe. Both keep your address book and e-mail in one place.

These are just a few of the many methods to boost your productivity without installing a bunch of software and using 42 different websites to check your email. How about you? How do you boost your online productivity? Can you add anything to this list?

(By) Check out Ben’s blog at www.tic-tech-toe.com

IE8 beta adds 'porn mode'

IE8 beta adds 'porn mode'
Internet Explorer will get more privacy powers when the beta version of IE8 is released later this year. The official Microsoft IEBlog has outlined a number of c

Start to publish RSS feeds smarter

Are we need of smarter RSS publishing? According to this, I might seem that it would be a good idea…
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BloxOr Web-based RSS Reader Emulates Desktop

This is sweet. BloxOr is a Web-based RSS aggregator whose Ajaxy underpinning makes it very much like a desktop newsreader. Three viewing panes reveal the user's list of feeds, the list of items within any single feed, and the content of the feed item. This arrangement, standard on many desktop programs, eliminates the two-pane system common in Web aggregators which requires a click to see the feed item's content. BloxOr works beautifully, and registration requires only a username and password; no email address.

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MacBreak 75: Studio: Motion 3 Time Remapping

MacBreak 75: Studio: Motion 3 Time Remapping
Mark Spencer returns to show us the new time remapping features in Motion 3.

China blocks iTunes access, Tibet album suspected

Filed under: iTS

The government of China has blocked access to the entirety of the iTunes store, and the publishers of a single new Tibet-themed album are claiming responsibility.

The album, Songs for Tibet [iTunes link], is a compilation of music by Sting, Alanis Morissette, Garbage and others, plus a 15-minute lecture by the Dalai Lama. The album is being released by the New York City-based Art of Peace Foundation, whose spokesman Michael Wohl said he believed the album was responsible for the outage, but couldn't prove it.

Wohl said the foundation issued a press release claiming 40 Olympic athletes downloaded the album as a display of solidarity, which he suspects triggered the shutdown.

Apple acknowledged that they are "aware of the log-on problems," but wouldn't say how many customers were affected nor comment further. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, which regulates Internet use in China, did not comment either.

[Via the Associated Press.]

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Monitor your FriendFeed efficiently with Feedalizr

There are quite a few Adobe AIR applications on the Web right now that allow you to monitor your FriendFeed. The most commons ones that you may know about are Alert Thingy, Twhirl, Posty, and bTT by Sobees but now we have Feedalizr to add to the list. Among all of the FriendFeed applications I have [...]

Among all of the FriendFeed applications I have tested out, Feedalizr is definitely one of the coolest and most unique. It allows you to post updates to Twitter, FriendFeed, and Jaiku and you can even share pictures and videos. You can also use your webcam to snap a picture or record a video right through the Feedalizr application, which you can then share as well by clicking on “start camera”.

Feedalizr pic sharing.

The one thing I don’t like though is that you can only post updates to one service at a time, as opposed to posting to all of them at the same time like Posty. I’m hoping that’s something that will be integrated in the near future.

Of course you an also reply to messages, leave a comment, watch videos and “like” posts just like on the actual FriendFeed website. Feedalizr will auto-update whenever there is a new post but you can also manually refresh it as well.

Unfortunately, you can’t set a certain time for it to check for updates though. Personally, I’d much rather prefer being able to set a certain amount of minutes to check for updates because the constant auto-updating can be too much at times.

Feedalizr toasters. Feedalizr does support popup notifications, which are called “toasters”. These notifications can be disabled if you’d rather not receive them. As you can see in the left screenshot, if there is more then one new post then they will all be shown on the screen together, instead of each being shown separately.

Right now Feedalizr only brings FriendFeed to your desktop, but I have a feeling that they will be adding more in the future. Feedalizr supports FriendFeed rooms as well so you will receive messages that have been sent to a room directly in Feedalizr and you can post directly to any room that you’re a member of.

One of the most unique things about Feedalizr is the tab support. For instance, if you only want to see your Twitter messages in a tab or, if you want to see all messages from a certain user in a tab, you can. Plus, you can have as many tabs open as you want. If you’re wondering if each tab will auto-update with new posts related to that tab, the answer is yes.

The filter system on Feedalizr is pretty extensive as well. As you can see in the next screenshot, you can filter by all of your FriendFeed services and you can even filter by users you’re subscribed to. This is a feature that FriendFeed doesn’t even include without the use of a Greasemonkey script.

Feedalizr tabs.

So even though Feedalizr is not a Twitter app, you can still use it as such by monitoring your tweets in a separate tab. As far as Twitter is concerned, Feedalizr allows you to reply to a tweet by simply clicking the “reply” link below the post. You can also send a direct message to any user by clicking the “direct” link below one of their posts. Whether you send a reply or direct message, you can rest assure that it will be posted directly to Twitter. If you want to leave a reply on FriendFeed, there’s a separate reply box for that as well.

Feedalizr Twitter tweet.

With all of the features that Feedalizr provides so far, I definitely see it as a better alternative to Twhirl. Besides, who wants to have two separate windows open (for Twitter and FriendFeed) rather than just one window with two tabs? Feedalizr is definitely the better choice if you’re looking to optimize your desktop space.

What do you guys think? Is Feedalizr giving Twhirl a run for their money? Would you consider switching from Twhirl (or any other app you may use) to Feedalizr? Please let us know in the comments.

Charnita is a social media addict & Internet junkie. She blogs about internet & blog tools, website & blog promotion, web 2.0 & social media at her Social Web Tools blog.