LinkedIn has announced it is testing a new "site navigation experience" that will show up for certain users.

The new design sees a "global navigation bar" at the top of the page that provides what's said to be convenient access to all LinkedIn services while overall there's said to be a cleaner, less-cluttered look.

The revamp also intros more simplified local navigation within each of the LinkedIn areas (Profile, Contacts, Groups, etc.) meaning more room available for page content.

"One of the key features of the new design is that it allows much more space for page content - information about you and your professional network", says LinkedIn.

The site is currently asking for feedback about the new design for those that can see it, as well as from those using the older format.

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Tags: Software Online Websites LinkedIn Social networking Biz

LinkedIn testing a new site design originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:04:44 +0000

Could all of Google's web applications be getting an interface refresh that would make them more like Google Wave? Screenshots published by Engadget appear to suggest that may be that case, though it's not clear how far the changes are away.

In Wave, it's possible to collapse and expand modules like the navigation bar, contacts window, inbox or individual Waves, as well as minimizing them to the top of the screen to appear as a drop-down menu. ?The screenshots appear to depict the same setup applied to Gmail, and Google News.

Apparently "the goal is to provide a consistent experience throughout all Google Apps and blur the line between the browser and the website (e.g. drag and drop, right-click, etc)". That could imply a similar interface for Chrome OS too, as well as future Google products.

We'll bring you more on this when we hear it.

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Tags: Software Online Google Gmail Google Wave Rumours

Google apps getting more Wave-y interface? originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Mon, 09 Nov 2009 09:49:14 +0000

If you’re a footy fan, then it’s fair to say you might have spent a fair amount of time this weekend shouting at a TV screen somewhere, am I right?

Let’s face it: the refs don’t know what they’re doing, the players are overpaid and pampered, so there’s a lot to shout about.

Now though, you can make your shouting count. This site is all bout voice controlled football.

No, I didn’t believe it either…?

www.speechsoccer.com

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If you have a website that you want to tell us about email us via the feedback form.

Tags: WebsiteOfTheDay Websites Software Online

WEBSITE OF THE DAY ? Speech Soccer originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Boxee?has confirmed that is will be coming out of Alpha and going into Beta on 7 December before a full launch in January at CES.

Boxee, who describes themselves as the "first social media centre playing media from your computer and other devices in your home network, as well as connect you to various Internet sources, allows you to stream or download movies, tv shows, music and photos.

"The date is set for the release of the Boxee Beta. On December 7th at 7pm we are going to have an unveiling event at the Music Hall of Williamsburg," the company said in a statement on their website before confirming a public beta would be live at the start of?CES 2010?on the 7 January.

According to the company, the "Boxee Beta will look, feel and behave differently from the Alpha."

New features promised include a new user interface, improved navigation, the ability to search for TV shows and movies as well as a user controlled queue and more.

We will bring you more on the new features presumably for the?Windows?and Mac versions in December.

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Tags: Home Cinema Software Boxee CES2010

Boxee sets date for beta, promises new features originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 06 Nov 2009 22:39:54 +0000

Fancy being apart of one of the leading global gadget news and reviews sites in the world? Thought you did.?Pocket-lint is looking for positions to fill in?New York and?San Francisco.

We are looking for roving reporters to join the team based in New York and San Francisco to replace Stuart who is heading back to the UK.

Ideally you will be well connected within the gadget scene and be available to chase down briefings, meetings and attend events when needed.

You will have to be able to get into either New York city or San Francisco for meetings, come with your own computer and digital camera and of course be able to access the internet without excuses.

Work amount and schedule is based on your ability to generate original stories and we are looking for you to take the lead rather than be spoonfed ideas.

Salary etc will depends on work and experience.?

The ability to file quickly at events is also a must.

To apply email us via the feedback form with links to two examples of your work and the answer to the following two questions:

1. Why should we hire you?

2. If you were a product on a supermarket shelf what would you be and why?

Tags: Audio Car And GPS Dad Gadgets Gaming Hardware Home And Kitchen Home Cinema Phones Cameras Software Sports Fitness

Pocket-lint is hiring in US originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 06 Nov 2009 21:04:10 +0000

eBay's Skype has reached a settlement with Joltid over a breach of license that will now see the sale of the VoIP firm go through without litigation hassles.

Joltid Ltd, a Swedish firm owned by Skype founders Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, had claimed peer-to-peer technology owned by Joltid, and not eBay, was being used in a breach of license with every download of the Skype software.

It's now been announced that the investor group led by Silver Lake, which is to acquire a majority stake in Skype, has reached a settlement agreement with Joltid and Joost that gives Skype ownership over all software previously licensed from Joltid.

As part of the settlement, Zennstrom and Friis will join the investor group and the Skype board with a 14% share in exchange for providing Joltid software and a significant capital investment.

This now ends all litigation currently pending against the investor group and eBay.

"We'll be free to concentrate all of our efforts on building the world’s greatest communications software", says Skype in a blog post.

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Tags: Software Biz Skype Lawsuits eBay Joltid

Skype and Joltid settle originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:11:46 +0000

First off congratulations to Paul Story who won last month's comments comp for his comment on the story "Amazon Kindle UK import orders begin". For those who didn't win, don't fret, because the kind folk at TomTom have sent a TomTom XL Live IQ Routes Europe unit for us to dish out for our November comments competition.

The rules of the competition are simple, you can enter as many times as you like by simply commenting on any story. It doesn't have to be in depth, detailed or technical, but it does have to be useful, helpful or funny.

You don't have to sign up to comment on the stories, we just ask for your name, location and email address - that does not show up online and is not passed on.

The TomTom device measures 123 x 80 x 18mm and features 4.3-inch touch display, the screen being bright and a convenient size enabling ease of use whilst driving.

Along with Live HD Traffic, now with added support for Europe, the TomTom XL Live has excellent route guidance and with the added MapShare feature, it allows for easy updating of maps within the TomTom community.

To be in with a chance of winning this top-notch effort just comment on any story during the month of November. At the end of November the Pocket-lint team will take a look and choose what we believe is the best one.

Make sure you take a look at Pocket-lint's full review where it received a 9/10 score.

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Tags: Audio accessories Biz Car And GPS Dad Gadgets Gaming Hardware Home And Kitchen Home Cinema Phones Cameras Software Sports Fitness TomTom GPS Competitions

Win a TomTom XL Live IQ Routes Europe originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:42:25 +0000

The Royal British Legion's Poppy Appeal has called for the annual 2-minute silence to extend online this year.

The organisation has asked Twitter users to observe the 2-minutes' silence on Remembrance Day by sending no tweets during this period via its Twitter account.

The tweet "2 minute silence on Twitter 11:00am GMT on 11 November #2minutesilence RT plz" has been retweeted widely, suggesting the Twitterverse is happy to get behind the idea.

The 2009 Poppy Appeal - that helps fund the Royal British Legion's charity work with servicemen and their families - currently stands at ?1,266,920.

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Tags: Software Websites Online Twitter Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal

Poppy Appeal calls for Twitter silence on Remembrance Day originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:54:07 +0000

A 23-year-old Minnesota woman has declared that she'll be streaming a live video of the birth of her first child on the Web, allowing anyone to watch.

Lynsee, who's refusing to share her second name, had just moved to the Twin Cities of Minneaspolis-St. Paul when she found out she was pregnant. She signed up to a social network - MomsLikeMe - and created a group called Watch Lynsee Grow after she answered an email from the site administrator looking for contributors.

The birth will be shot from two cameras - one in the hospital room with a cameraman, and one mounted in the corner. Lynsee will also have access to a computer answering questions from anyone registered on her group on MomsLikeMe.

"We wanted to share this experience, said Lynsee, adding: "If I were in a classroom, I'd be teaching about development. It was a way for me to teach... A way for me to use myself as a textbook".

Opinions on the Web range as to whether this is a publicity stunt for MomsLikeMe, a sign of a technologically enlightened younger generation comfortable with an erosion of privacy, or an "overshare" from the family. How do you feel about it? Let us know in the comments.

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Tags: Software Online MomsLikeMe

Woman broadcasts birth on the Web originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:26:42 +0000

As The Flickr Collection by Getty Images has hit over 60,000 images, the site has announced a "formal Call for Artists".

This means that any of the 40 million-plus Flickr members can submit their work to be considered for the collection through the Call for Artists group on Flickr, rather than wait to have their image spotted by the Flickr team.
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There's detailed guidelines over on the group page, but basically all Flickr users can now submit 10 images "that represent what you consider to be the best of your work".

The Getty Images creative team will then evaluate submissions based on style, subject matter and technical skill and let sucessful members know if their images will get into the group for possible licensing.

Tags: Software Online Websites Flickr Getty Cameras

"Call for Artists" from The Flickr Collection by Getty Images originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:31:16 +0000

It's being reported that a street has been named after a Twitter username in the Palestinian West Bank. In the Askar refugee camp, close to the city of Nablus, a road has been named "@ arjanelfassed tweetstreet", after the user @arjanelfassed.

A Dutch charity, Jouw Eigen Straatnam, charges 100 euros for each of the street names in the camp, and all the proceeds go to the Palestinian Child Care Society, which funds "cultural and expressive after-school activities", according to El Fassad.

El Fassad says: "Since a refugee camp by definition should not remain permanent, selling street names of the camp is a creative way to connect people and support these children after school. Naming the street to?my Twitter account?is a symbolic way to connect both online and offline with the children of Askar".

Perhaps we need an @stephenfry street in the UK?

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Tags: Software Online Twitter

Palestinian street named after Twitter account originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:04:02 +0000

It’s Friday (thank goodness) and the end of another hard week.

Here’s a little musical treat for those of you who really appreciate that middle of the day feeling, which, on a Friday, always seems that little bit better.

We love lunch too. Dinner’s not too bad either….

If you've seen a video online that you want to tell us about email us via the feedback form.

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Tags: Video Websites Software Online

VIDEO OF THE DAY ? I Love Lunch originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:00:00 +0000

Retail sales of Windows 7 were well over 200% higher than Vista's in the two operating system's first days of being on sale in the States, the NPD Group has revealed.

But although Windows 7 software unit sales were 234% higher than Vista's, it seems revenue growth wasn't as strong, said to be due primarily to discounts.

"Microsoft's program of early low-cost pre-sales, high visibility marketing, and aggressive deals helped make the Windows 7 software launch successful", said Stephen Baker, vice president of industry analysis at NPD.

"In a slow environment for packaged software Windows 7 brought a large number of customers into the software aisles".

Perhaps a result of the different economic climate as Microsoft has launched this latest OS, compared to when Vista was launched, it seems PC hardware sales were down.

Windows PC sales were down 6% compared to PC sales during the Vista launch week.

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Tags: Software Windows 7 Microsoft Vista Statistics NPD Biz

Windows 7 retail sales up 234% on Vista originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:29:50 +0000

Twitter has announced on its blog that it's beginning the rollout of its promised retweets feature. The company said: "We've just activated a feature called retweet on a very small percentage of accounts in order to see how it works in the wild".

Retweets originally developed inside the Twitter community, rather than with the company. They indicate when a person wants to quote another person verbatim - usually sharing news or a link. ?The syntax is: "RT @username message". It has led to people often shortening their tweets even more to allow for space for a retweet.

The new feature would integrate the functionality in the API and web interface. While many third party Twitter clients already support retweets, there's still a substantial percentage of users who don't understand the functionality. We'll let you know when that "small percentage" begins to increase.

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Tags: Software Online Twitter

Twitter rolls out retweet feature, slowly originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 06 Nov 2009 09:48:52 +0000

There is, apparently, a whole bunch of people out there who've never heard of eBay.

At least that’s what eBay themselves think, so they’ve set up this fashion trend spotting site in an attempt to attract style-conscious shoppers with money to burn.

Admittedly not the best timing, credit crunch and all that, but it’s a good place to pick up tips on what’s hot for the season, if nothing else.

www.theinsidesource.com

If you have a website that you want to tell us about email us via the feedback form.

Tags: WebsiteOfTheDay Websites Software Online

WEBSITE OF THE DAY ? Inside Source originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0000

It's been a bumper year in 2009 for software, services and apps as the overarching trend of tech creeps glacially away from its hardware focus and more towards what the Internet and its friends can do for us. So, before you shout out in the comments who you think should be nominated for the Vodafone Pocket-lint Gadget Awards 2009 Best Software/Service/App - and we hope you do - here's a little reminder of how the year panned out.

The Big Players

It was something of a solar eclipse moment in 2009 with both Apple and Microsoft releasing completely new versions of their desktop operating systems. Although Snow Leopard only claimed to be a relatively small upgrade there was still plenty to get excited about with the arrival of 64-bit computing and addition of Grand Central Station, as well as all the other speed, efficiency and power boosts under the hood of the new caged cat. Microsoft, on the other hand, was a lot more overt about the scale of Windows 7 - partially because of the disappointment over Vista and also, with good reason, because of the success with which the product has launched. Like Snow Leopard, it boasts speed and efficiency but, more importantly, the coming of age of the new AERO look and feel which its predecessor introduced.

Naturally, a new version of iTunes came with the OS for Apple with more playlists and more album art as well as offering a block to the Palm Pre's compatibility feature. Aside that, it was really just the next release in the hugely popular video editing Final Cut series with the launch of Final Cut Studio. It seems the Cupertino company was keeping itself busy on mobile matters but more on that in a minute.

The 'Soft, though, hasn't been so content to leave things as thin. 2009 has seen Gates, Ballmer & Sons embrace the cloud with their re-offensive on Google. First there was the highly successful revamp of the MSN Live search into the colourful Bing, and later the launch of Office 2010 web apps to try to take something back from Google Docs. Beyond that, the company has had another go at both the MSN music download store and the free offering of Microsoft Security Essentials, plus there's been some mobile movements with Microsoft too but, again, more of that later.

The real powerhouse this year though has undoubtedly been Google. The company has spread its arms even wider round the globe with its fingers now in the telephone industry with Google Voice, social location software with Google Latitude, the encyclopeadia business with Sidewiki, the energy saving push with Power Meter and, of course, the what-the-hell-is-it business with Google Wave. More recently the company has announced the smack down on TomTom and friends with the arrival of Google Maps for Navigation for Android 2.0, which may or may not make it out in time for a nomination.

Of course, Android itself has been a very big deal but leaving its mobile impact alone for now, let's not forget the OS's arrival as desktop software on products like the Archo 9 and more recently the dual booting Acer Aspire One D250. It hasn't had the traction to make any significant in-roads this year but it's certainly a space to watch for 2010.

Desktop Software

As the cloud rolls in there's a storm slowly gathering for desktop software. By no means will it ever disappear, but what we're certainly seeing is a lot less diversity in this sector. 2009 has largely been left to improvements from the old guard. Avid has put a smile on the faces of both video and music editing enthusiasts with the launch just last month of the Pinnacle and ProTools suites, Adobe has done the same for the imaging community with the more basic Photoshop Elements 8 and the photographer's friend in the free beta of Lightroom 3.0, and Roxio has thrown in a bit of everything with the company's annual release. This season's colour is Roxio Creator 10.

Antivirus has been as strong an area as ever with malware, phishing and scareware on the rise and a tonne of Christmas shopping round the corner. Symantec's new Norton 2010 product managed to block 100% of threats in independent testing - making it the first time ever for any such software but, of course, if you'd still rather not pay, then at least AVG are still helping out on that front.

Last, and more certainly not least, a certain Swedish company also happened to a make a certain popular social music streaming application that rather set the world on fire. Technically, Spotify was released in private beta in November last year, just before our 2009 awards cut off limit, but it has since gone public within the required time frame. Just to confuse matters it's in private beta once more, so I'll leave it to the judges to sort that one out.

Web Services

During the current aftermath of the eighth renaissance of the bursting of the dot com bubble, new sites have been thin on the ground - certainly ones worth mentioning anyway. The majority of developers and start ups have moved to mobile apps in search of the gold, but there have still been one or two notables over the year - all heavily on the quirky side. Wolfram Alpha provided an alternative, well-meaning but rather leftfield form of internet search; Hunch added a layer of advice to the conundrum and Invisible Hand has begun in its quest to help us find cheaper prices on the Web automatically. As with most of these things, it'll take a while for them to catch on. Twitter wasn't built in a day.

Finally here, the latest craze could be on its way with FourSquare. Like Twitter it was released at the general and social media liquorice allsort that is SXSW and it's been going great guns in the States. Now on UK shores, has it left it too late to win our coveted award or have we assessed its potential already?

Mobile Sofware

From apps to OSes it's all about mobile phones these days. We know this. Smartphones have become our windows on the world. If there's a great service on the Internet, then we want it as an app, and most of all, we want it to run like clockwork.

We've seen four significant mobile operating systems launched this year with the rebranded, reskinned and user-friendlified Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.5 now known as Windows Phone. We've also seen the coming of age of Android - or at least its growth into adolescence - and the launch of the superb iPhone 3.0 software with its 100 or so features. Finally, we saw a rather specific piece of software from Palm with webOS at January's Las Vegas annual tech binge, but that didn't stop it making an enormous splash and perhaps inspiring a few ideas in other mobile software developers.

On the next tier down are those that have deemed their handsets too special to run the common-or-garden versions of Android and Windows Phone and have come up with their own Custom UIs. Probably the two of most note, and certainly the ones who qualify for this year's awards would be HTC Sense as seen on the Hero with its social contacts integration and Motoblur on the Dext.

Any phone can of course have its OS customised by the addition of an alternative browser. Opera has been going strong for years and supplying those on the Symbian platform with a very strong option. 2009 has brought Opera Mini 10 and for the first time, Firefox has gone to the small screen too with the currently underused Mozilla Fennec. Still both certainly well worth a shout though.

At the bottom of it all, though, and yet king of the mountain for many consumers are apps. We saw the little devils explode in 2008 with the launch of the iTunes App Store and this year has taken the trend to a sickening extreme. The world and its wife now has some kind of platform where they can pedal often highly novelty and often profitable software along with a good chunk that are seriously useful too.

It's the latter group which we'd rather you considered for this year's award but if the Mr T Soundboard ends up being the most popular, then so be it. The apps of major note in 2009 have been largely for the iPhone with the arrival of Tweetdeck, Google Lattitude and TomTom. Spotify has offered its premium service for music streaming on the move to both the Apple phone and Android and finally Facebook has got round to supporting Google's mobile OS too. But the big question is which is your favourite? Which is the app you simply can't do without? Let us know at the bottom.

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What do you think?

But these are just some of the fantastic choices our readers have had in 2009. What would you like to see held aloft as the winner of Pocket-lint Best Software/Service/App 2009? Who have we missed out? Which are your unsung heroes and of those we've already mentioned, which would get your vote? Let us know in the comments below and you can help our panel decide which make the shortlist of nominees to be announced here on Pocket-lint on 16 November. We'll have all out coverage of the Vodafone Pocket-lint awards 2009 right here. Don't miss a minute of it.

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Related links:

• Feature - Vodafone Pocket-lint Gadget Awards 2009 - laptops
• Feature - Vodafone Pocket-lint Gadget Awards 2009 - digital cameras
• Feature - Vodafone Pocket-lint Gadget Awards 2009 - car gadgets

Tags: Software Pocket-lint Gadget Awards 2009 Pocket-lint Awards Features Apple Microsoft Google Android Mobile phone applications Operating Systems Windows 7 Spotify Symantec iPhone 3GS

Vodafone Pocket-lint Gadget Awards 2009 - software, services, apps originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:23:29 +0000

The Nokia Foundation has announced that it has granted its 10,000 euro 2009 award to Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia.

Nokia says Wales was awarded "for his contributions to the evolution of the World Wide Web as a participatory and truly democratic platform".
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"It's a great honor to present this award on behalf of the Board of the Nokia Foundation to an individual who we believe has made a unique contribution to accelerating online collaboration and interaction for millions of people around the world, and effectively democratizing information sharing", said Henry Tirri, head of Nokia Research Center and chairman of the Nokia Foundation.
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Wikipedia was created in 2001, gets more than 330 million monthly visitors and boasts 14,000,000 articles in more than 260 languages.

Tags: Software Wikipedia Nokia Phones Biz Jimmy Wales The Nokia Foundation

The Nokia Foundation award goes to Jimmy Wales originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:48:26 +0000

Yesterday we showed you the epic new ad from Guinness, but they're not the only people who know how to shoot spectacular ads.

We love this.

The Lying, the Witch and the Wardrobe maybe...?

If you've seen a video online that you want to tell us about email us via the feed back form.

Tags: Video Websites Software Online

VIDEO OF THE DAY - Wardrobe originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 05 Nov 2009 12:00:00 +0000

The Moblin Linux project, which aims to create a user-friendly, lightweight and media-rich interface for mobile devices, has announced the release of version 2.1 for Intel Atom-based devices. A video overview of version 2.0 is on Youtube, and there's a pile of screenshots of 2.1 available too.

The team behind the release states that this includes the "broadest feature additions, customer requested improvements, and overall polish to date". It includes a better browser, 3G support, Bluetooth support, an integrated app installer, localization improvements, a nicer UI and several bug fixes and performance upgrades over 2.0.

The release is 754MB, and can be installed using either a CD or a 1GB (or greater) USB stick. You'll need a netbook or nettop with an Intel Atom or Intel Core 2 CPU, but it's not compatible with the GMA-500, Nvidia or ATI graphics chipsets at the moment. A full list of compatible devices can be found on the team's website.

If you've got a netbook lying around that you don't use much, then give Moblin a try, and let us know what you reckon in the comments.

Tags: Software Operating Systems Netbooks Nettops Moblin Linux Software updates

Moblin 2.1 released for netbooks originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 05 Nov 2009 11:57:15 +0000

AVG has been one of the most popular free antivirus tools for many a year, and updates its software for 2010 with the new AVG 9. We’ll kick off by summarising the different versions of the software, which still includes a free version for those who already have a firewall or other security on their system. This includes all the basic tools you need but omits a web shield, anti-rootkit protection, a game mode and technical support, which is all found on the ?27.99 standard edition. This version is also available with a firewall for ?35.99, though stepping up to the most comprehensive "Internet Security" option would be sensible at this stage, as for ?39.99 you get system tune-up tools, anti-spam and identity protection thrown in.

The first thing users of previous versions will notice is that there aren’t a lot of obvious changes here, and though the interface is slightly cleaner, it retains the multi-component layout and stripped down menus that has become synonymous with the software. Most improvements have come in the form of tweaks and enhancements, improving the firewall, phishing protection, anti-spam and in speeding up scans.

This area has seen a distinct improvement in recent times, but it’s worth highlighting that AVG has never been the quickest so it still lags quite seriously behind some of the competition. During our tests it achieved a standard scan time of around 4 minutes, and this doesn’t speed up much during subsequent repeats. By contrast, the excellent Norton AntiVirus 2010 initially took 1 minute to scan the same test system, with subsequent scans dropping to just 10 seconds.

AVG is fairly light on resources and a straightforward approach does make it easy to get to grips with, which should appeal to less experienced users. The firewall has also been improved to allow the software to better make decisions automatically, so you’re not often bugged for confirmation of actions during operation.

AVG has also done pretty well in terms of independent certification recently and though the results aren’t in yet on version 9, we’re confident it is capable of maintaining this standard.

Official Windows 7 compatibility just about rounds off the improvements here, so it seem as though AVG is happy to offer some fairly standard tweaks and enhancements to placate existing users and upgraders rather than attempt to drag in any new business. The free version still has obvious appeal and it’s still one of the best around in this light, but none of "pay" packages are cheap or revolutionary enough to compete against faster, sleeker and more comprehensive software from rivals such as Norton and BitDefender.

Verdict:

AVG has tweaked its software to bring it in line with new threats and improve efficiency, but it still lags behind many rivals in terms of scan times and doesn’t really bring enough to the table to encourage new users to ditch their existing internet security in its favour.?

Tags: Software Security software Viruses And Malware AVG AVG9

AVG 9.0 security software originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 05 Nov 2009 10:21:03 +0000

Google, perhaps reacting to criticism that it's keeping a whole load of your data in disparate places, has launched a "dashboard" that displays all the info that the search giant is keeping on you, and allowing you to modify that data.

The service, which can be found at google.com/dashboard, covers your account, alerts, Blogger, calendar, contacts, custom search engines, docs, finance, friend connect, Gmail, iGoogle, health, Latitude, mobile sync, Orkut, Picasa, your public profile, reader, shopping list, talk, tasks, voice, web history, and YouTube. There's also a few other products that aren't available yet on the dashboard.

Google says, at the bottom of the page, "This page represents the data associated with this Google account. All data is private unless indicated with (an) icon?as visible to others". Next to every entry in the list is an option to manage that information and modify it.

There's a video that explains the system in more detail, which we're currently trying to track down (Google's removed it from YouTube) but probably a better way to understand it is to go visit Google Dashboard yourself, and see exactly what the big G knows about you. You might find it scary.

UPDATE: We found the video. It's embedded at the top, there.

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Tags: Software Online Google YouTube Blogger Video

Google launches data Dashboard originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 05 Nov 2009 10:17:29 +0000

Google has put up another "Doodle" on its homepage above the iconic search box, depicting both Cookie Monster and Big Bird - depending on where in the world you're located.

Clicking the image links through to a search for Sesame Street, marking the 40th anniversary of the popular kids TV show. It follows another doodle recently celebrating Wallace and Gromit's 20th birthday.

Sesame Street debuted in November 1969 and still continues to this day, now in its 41st season. Celebrities regularly appear on the show, and Michelle Obama, the first lady of the United States, will be appearing at some point in the next year.

Tags: Software Websites Online Search engines Google Sesame Street

Google honours Sesame Street with doodle originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 05 Nov 2009 09:41:06 +0000

Microsoft has revealed it is cutting an additional 800 jobs across its global operations, further to the previous cuts announced in January.

Reuters quotes a spokesperson for Microsoft stating these latest job cuts are spread out across the company's global operations, but with around 200 positions to go from its headquarters in Redmond, Washington.

Back in January Microsoft said it would be slashing 5000 staff from its workforce as it revealed a sharp drop in profits.

At the time the layoffs were reported as a first for Microsoft since it was founded in 1975, apart from staff cuts made from reorganisation after company acquisitions.

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Tags: Software Microsoft Biz

Microsoft cuts another 800 jobs originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 05 Nov 2009 09:19:18 +0000

Twitter has dropped a message onto its status blog to say that it's testing a new set of notifications for those who use Twitter.com to interact with the service. If you see a yellow bar at the top of your Twitter stream on the site, then don't be alarmed.

It'll say something like "3 new tweets", and clicking the bar will expand the page to show those tweets. Similar functionality has appeared in Twitter's search results for some time. The idea behind the move is to keep people staring at the Twitter site, "maximising engagement" as some marketer would probably put it.

The feature is being rolled out slowly, initially to a "limited" set of users. Twitter says that it "hopes to roll it out to everyone as soon as we can". For many hardcore Twitter users the feature won't be that useful - it'll rise too fast - but for more casual fans, who follow fewer people, this could prove a handy tool.

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Tags: Software Online Twitter Social networking

Twitter testing new tweet notifictions originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 05 Nov 2009 09:17:03 +0000

Back in August, we told you about InvisibleHand, a Firefox add-on which spends most of its time hidden but pops up if it discovers that you're looking at a product you can get cheaper somewhere else.

Commenters on our post loved it, and now you can try out the latest version of the add-on before anyone else. The company behind InvisibleHand has offered 200 Pocket-lint readers access to the new version, which adds Google search integration, a "more refined" notifications experience and support for German retailers.

?You can grab it right now by being one of the first 200 readers to head over to? ?http://preview.getinvisiblehand.com/ and use the code: "invisiblePL" without quote marks. When you've downloaded it, head on back here and let us know what you think in the comments section.

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Tags: Software Firefox Beta InvisibleHand Software updates

Invisible Hand 1.8 beta invites available originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:42:44 +0000

Whether you're a Mac or a PC (or a bit of both) this witty concept design has something for all-comers, with the clever design idea to create real-world versions of the calculators found in operating systems.

Just a concept at this stage, although we reckon with real product potential, the Mintpass designer has managed to capture the individual characteristics of the XP calculator and Apple's more metallic option perfectly.

Of course, if they were real world products the Mac version would be over-priced - and likely boast a non-replaceable battery - while the Windows version would crash often and may well come with an over-friendly paperclip as a free gift.

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Tags: Software Calculators Microsoft Apple Concepts Operating Systems

Clever concept sees OS calculators created in real life originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:44:52 +0000

Google has posted another of its infamous homepage "doodles" today celebrating the birthday of Wallace and Gromit.

Created by Nick Park, it seems the plasticine pair debuted on this day back in 1989 at an animation festival in Bristol.

20 years on and the pair are as popular as ever - and clearly popular in the Google offices too.

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Tags: Software Websites Online Search engines Google Wallace and Gromit

Google doodle celebrates Wallace & Gromit's birthday originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:01:17 +0000

Guinness ads are, quite simply, iconic.
They have created some of the most memorable, innovative and entertaining commercials, year after year for as long as this reporter has been able to legally enjoy their product.

This new ad, is described, by Guinness, as the most challenging they've ever done.

I think we can all see why.

It's breathtaking.

If you've seen a video online that you want to tell us about email us via the feed back form.

Tags: Video Websites Software Online

VIDEO OF THE DAY - Guinness ad originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:00:00 +0000

Microsoft has relaunched its previously-shuttered MSN Music download store in the UK, which offers album and single-track downloads from all four major labels. Microsoft says the store is "large and competitively priced".

As well as purchasable tracks, Microsoft hopes to differentiate its service by offering playlist creation, artist bios and discographies, and editorial content from the MSN Music channel. All tracks downloaded will be free of DRM, and users can choose between getting an MP3 or a WMA file.

To use the store, customers will need a Windows Live ID to log in. From there, you have to buy credits - 10 will cost you ?8. A "standard" single (again, unclear if this includes B-sides, or just refers to single tracks) will cost 1 credit, and a "standard" album will cost 10.

In the same release, Microsoft says: "As part of the service, free music streaming will be tested on a limited basis". It's not clear what that means - whether there'll be Spotify- and We7-style adverts supporting the content, and whether the streamable tracks will be just previews or queueable in the interface.

We're trying to find out more about this one, but for now the FAQ suggests that it's a very limited offering that employs Windows Media Player to deliver 30-second previews of tracks before you download them. That's not exactly revolutionary, and the press release seems to suggest more, so we're digging deeper into this one. Stay tuned.

UPDATE: The streaming service is confirmed to be more than just a 30-second set of previews, for some users, anyway. It's a full-on competitor to Spotify and We7, but employs display ads, rather than audio ads - which could be very attractive to those who want to leave it on in the background.

It supports playlists, though you can't share those lists with other users like you can on other services. For now, though, it's a closed beta that only a few thousand users will have access to. We're in the process of gaining access right now and will give you the lowdown as soon as we're in on it.

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Tags: Software Online Music Microsoft MSN

Microsoft relaunches music download store originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 04 Nov 2009 11:02:44 +0000

TalkTalk is launching what it calls a new "high performance" broadband package called TalkTalk Pro. Available this month, it costs ?14.99 a month, plus ?11.25 line rental and requires an 18-month tie in.

The package offers download speeds of up to 24MB, unlimited downloads and a free "N" wireless router. There's also free anytime UK calls to 01, 02, 03, 0845 and 0870 numbers.

TalkTalk says the Pro package offers "huge savings" compared to its competitors equivalent packages, claiming for example, it's ?202.96 cheaper than BT Unlimited Option 3 plus Anytime phone plan and mobile add-on.

Tags: Software Broadband TalkTalk Tariffs

TalkTalk Pro broadband package announced originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 04 Nov 2009 10:05:23 +0000

Parallels has launched a new version of its operating system virtualization software. Parallels 5 allows you to run Windows, Linux, OS/2 Warp, or whatever other operating system takes your fancy from the comfort of your Mac desktop.

The company reckons that there are plenty of enhancements. Aero is now available on Windows 7 and Vista, and the software is claimed to feature seven to eight times better graphics performance than its previous version. There's also improved USB functionality and speed, and the latest VT-x2 virtualization technologies.

Another intriguing new feature is "Crystal mode", which allows you to make Windows invisible so that you can only see the program. You can now copy/paste formatted text between operating systems too, and there's multi-touch support for gestures in Windows. The Apple remote can now control Windows apps too.

There's a "Safe Mode", for privacy and security, as well as DirectX 9Ex and Shader Model 3 support. If you prefer, you can turn off the Mac/Windows integration, giving a completely isolated virtual machine, if you're running insecure code.?Lastly, a feature called?Mac Look will allow you to skin Windows... er... windows so that they look like Apple ones, instead of the default XP, Vista or 7 skin.

Parallels 5 will be available shortly for ?60.

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Tags: Software Mac software Windows Linux Software updates Gaming Mac games Operating Systems

Parallels Desktop 5 software arrives originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000

Ever fancied a peek behind the scenes at Intel?

Sky have pulled it off and sent a roving reporter to San Fran to see what he can find out. These webisodes take a look at the next generation of Intel products.

And if this is what they’re happy to show us, imagine what the secret stuff is like…

intel.sky.com

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If you have a website that you want to tell us about email us via the feedback form.

Tags: WebsiteOfTheDay Websites Software Online

WEBSITE OF THE DAY ? Intel Sky originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Opera has released the beta of Opera Mobile 10 for Nokia and other Symbian S60 handsets.

With a revamped look and feel, the browser works with touchscreen phones and boasts a host of improvements with the video above giving a brief overview.

Opera Mobile 10 beta is available for Nokia, Sony Ericsson and Samsung smartphones running Symbian S60, 3rd and 5th editions.

The beta is free to download from http://www.opera.com/mobile/next/ or directly to a mobile phone from http://m.opera.com/mobile.

Tags: Phones Mobile phone apps Browsers Opera Symbian Video Software

VIDEO: Opera Mobile 10 beta available for Symbian S60 phones originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:21:53 +0000

That's a headline you could read in the not too distant future thanks to a new technology that?is hoping to change the way we listen to music forever.

The concept, created by Zenph Studios and called "Re-Performance", works not by re-mastering music in the traditional sense but by capturing an artist's or instrument's musical essence or DNA and allowing it to be controlled and re-performed.

"It will be a sea change", claimed Jeff McIntyre, director, sales and marketing worldwide of Zenph Studios, when Pocket-lint sat down to experience the technology. "Everything you've known to be frozen will be free".

The best way to get your head around the new technology is to think of the movie "Jurassic Park". In the film Richard Attenborough's character extracts DNA from an insect trapped inside a piece of amber to re-create living dinosaurs.

The key here, is that Attenborough's character doesn't just re-master the dinosaurs, he re-creates them.

Instead of dinosaurs now think musicians.

Studying how artists like Rachmaninoff and jazz pianist Art Tatum performed, the company has created a software algorithm that allows them to re-perform, not just their original performances, but anything they want.

"We know what makes an artist sound like them", says McIntyre.

The company describes itself as a "software company that specialises in the algorithms and processes for understanding - and re-creating - precisely how musicians perform".

What that means in reality is that where currently producers can create remastered tracks by taking the original and doing their best to enhance, clean and improve the track they are still having to work with the original recording, which could be poor, based on when that track was originally recorded.

Zenph Studio's approach is to work out how the musician and the instrument acts and responds, then get a computer to play that track again as a real-time, real-life performance, which in turn can be recorded using modern techniques. The new track isn't a re-mastering, but a re-performance, as if the musician was actually playing it even though the artist may or may not be dead.

The technology works by ascertaining how an artist strikes a note and then recreating that note again. For the piano, the company takes into account everything from how an artist strikes a note to their hand movement, how they play when tired (yes, it can recreate fatigue) and even, as for the case of Jerry Lee Lewis, how they play with their feet. For the guitar there is even more to take into account, like pad placement, fingernails, and bending of the strings, the list goes on.

The result is that songs recorded 100 years ago can and will be able to be re-recorded with modern recording equipment, allowing old songs to be revitalised and enjoyed once more?"in surround sound or headphone listening".

An example:

These two files were made in 1926 and 2005: "before" and "after" recordings by legendary pianist Alfred Cortot. He's playing Chopin's third prelude, lasting 55 seconds. The recordings offer a glimpse into what is possible when a performance can be separated from its original acoustical setting.

The concept that Zenph Studios is pitching is a simple one.

"If we can recreate music rather than just re-master it, then music can be truly interactive", says McIntyre. "Who buys a paper map? The map is dead".

McIntyre believes that offering a more interactive music experience, just as consumers can with Google Maps over a paper map, will be the key to the success of music in a world that is quickly moving away from the "frozen" media we once knew.

"You will be able to change key, tone, make it sadder, happier as well as change the point of view or the location, making it sound like it is being played anywhere in the world".

In a move that will no doubt offer mind-boggling opportunities, the technology allows an array of options including the ability to record the music with different points of view as if you were in the audience, or even actually playing the instrument.

"Imagine if you wanted to hear the songs Norah Jones plays as if you were Norah Jones", says McIntyre. "We could re-record her performance with the microphone where her head is as she doesn't have to be sitting at the piano. Or how about if you want to hear what the song would sound like in the audience at a certain concert hall or venue. All is possible".

However, the one that is likely to really garner interest will be the ability to play "fantasy band".

"Re-performing artists that have been dead for years is one thing, but what about the ability for John Lennon to play in the Rolling Stones?"

According to MyIntyre the software Zenph has created will allow them not only to capture that musical essence, but also allow you to inject it into new tracks, which that artist has never played before.

"We've already proved it can be done. Earlier in the year violinist Joshua Bell played a duet with pianist Rachmaninoff. Working with Joshua we were able to produce a piece that was if the two artists had worked on the piece together. It was a completely new piece created by a living artist and one who had been dead for over 60 years".

But it's not just about bringing back the dead for wishful duet albums, (could you imagine Clapton and Hendrix, or Johnny Cash and Lennon?), but also re-creating music for video games.

"Beatles Rock Band was a defining moment in the music industry", claims McIntyre. "For the first time you could see execs acknowledging that music wasn't just for listening".

He is right, Rock Band: The Beatles and the Guitar Hero series have both enjoyed success in the video games charts as gamers clambered to play "musical instruments" in their living room.

But imagine if when you played the game you could sound like you were in the Cavern in Liverpool playing as one of the Beatles, in a recording that sounded like it was real thanks to point of view and location, rather than just a track being re-played.

McIntyre confirmed that Activision has already expressed an interest in the capabilities of the technology, hoping it will allow it to offer a product that has an edge over Harmonic's Rock Band offering.

"They want the technology like yesterday, unfortunately we just can't work that fast".

Zenph believes that there are so many uses for the technology that the possibilities are endless. How about repeat performances of an orchestra at a ballet or opera with the individual musicians captured so they play once and then get paid without having to turn up (the unions supposedly back the move, but it will be interesting to see it happening), or for teaching you how to play an instrument (why have Mrs Fairbottom from down the road when you can have Art Tatum?).

While Apple already offers the ability to download a select handful of music lesson videos given by artists such as Sting and Norah Jones via its GarageBand software package, McIntyre believes that a re-performance would allow the user to select hundreds of songs all at the press of a button.

So how far off is this technology?

It's here right now. There are already a couple of re-performance CDs available to listen to and we are currently touring with "Rachmaninoff Plays Rachmaninoff". The dead composer will be playing at Carnegie Hall on 6 November, 100 years after he first played in the US.

As for the "fantasy band" element, McIntyre believes it will take around 3 to 5 years before it hits the home, with consumers able to mix and match artists to create new bands, music and experiences.

The reason for the delay isn't the technology, it's there now, however it takes time to capture that "essence". So far Zenph Studios has captured just four artists; Glenn Gould, Rachmaninoff, Art Tatum and Oscar Peterson, all of whom are dead.

On the instrument side of things the company has done piano, with the bass guitar around 90% done with plans to capture all the instruments eventually.

"When we started it would cost us $14 a note to capture the musical DNA, now we are down to $2".

The biggest hurdle, however, is going to be legislation:

"We are breaking new ground here", states McIntyre. "There is nothing in the law about bringing back artists from the dead to play to a concert hall or stadium full of fans".

The concept is a licensing nightmare, who gets what, how is the pie divided, what happens about dead artists, is copyright re-enabled when it runs out? None as yet is accounted for.

With the music industry still reeling over the digital march and consumers wanting more interactivity and an enhanced experience, Zenph hopes that it can be the answer to their prayers allowing us a new array of options when it comes to listening to music in the future.

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Tags: Audio Software Zenph Interviews Features iTunes Music games Beatles

Beatles live performance coming to venue near you originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:45:02 +0000

What do you make of this?

If you're dodging UK taxes by squireling away untold millions in offshore slush finds, are you really going to worry too much about the tax man posting clips on YouTube in an effort to scare you into paying?

What next?

Tweets from the DVLA when you're caught speeding: "Ian's a naughty boy doing 31 in a 30 zone…"?

Pokes from the town hall when your council tax is due: "Yoo-hoo! Forgotten something?! LOL".

As for my untold millions, I'm still checking those Lotto numbers every week...

If you've seen a video online that you want to tell us about email us via the feed back form.

Tags: Video Websites Software Online

VIDEO OF THE DAY - Tax man originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:00:00 +0000

Apple appears to be removing support for Intel Atom processors in the forthcoming 10.6.2 patch for Snow Leopard. OS X Daily is reporting that the update kills support for the processor, which is primarily found in netbook and nettop computers.

Apple doesn't sell any machines that have Atom-based processors, and the licensing agreement explicitly says that OS X is not permitted on hardware that's not sold by Apple. Despite that, there's a large and growing community of modders that build "hackintoshes" that run the OS.

The tech company has a reputation for heavy-handed comedowns on these groups, including a whole pile of legal threats to Psystar - a company that sells custom-made Apple machines. This move is regarded by many to be an attempt to shut down the hackintosh community in the same way.

However, groups of modders invariably move faster than big tech companies, so it's unlikely that it'll be long before a version of the 10.6.2 patch that works absolutely fine on Atom processors is found in the wild.

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Tags: Software Operating Systems Apple Snow Leopard Hacking Netbooks Intel

Snow Leopard update removes Intel Atom support originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Tue, 03 Nov 2009 11:37:45 +0000

A survey from London-based think-tank Demos has added weight to the position held by many that file sharers are the biggest music fans, revealing that those who admit downloading music illegally spend an average of ?77 per year on music, compared to ?44 for people who claim that they never download dishonestly.

The poll spoke to 1000, 16 to 50-year-olds with web access. One in ten admitted to downloading music illegally, though the real figure is suspected by many to be considerably higher. However, 61% of those downloaders said they would be put off downloading illegally if their connection was in jeopardy.

The government, led by Peter Mandelson, is trying very hard to push through plans to set up a ?"three-strikes" system that would disconnect file sharers from the Web. However, there's fierce opposition to the proposals from everyone from artists, to ISPs, to even MI5 and the police.

The report's authors say that the results of this survey suggest that Mandelson's plans could actually harm the music industry more than helping it, especially as there are other sources of entertainment - like video games - that are fighting for consumer attention. Will file sharers stop spending their cash on music entirely, if disconnected from their sources of content?

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Tags: Software Online Broadband Filesharing P2P Statistics Surveys Music downloads Music Audio

Survey claims illegal downloaders spend most on music originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Tue, 03 Nov 2009 10:32:13 +0000

Twitter has released a new "goodie" that allows users to display lists on their site as they update.

Called Twitter widgets, the new feature "lets you display Twitter updates on your website or social network page" according to the blurb on the new widgets page.

Users can opt for four different types of widget; Profile, Search, Faves and List with the tool auto generating the code so you can paste it on your website, facebook or MySpace page.

Users will be able to set a number of preferences for the widget such as update speed and behaviour, as well as which information to show.? Users will also be able to change the size and appearance of the widget to make it fit in with their page (see below).

Once created, users can opt to have the site spit out the code for them to cut and paste anywhere on the Web.

With the results pumped out in real time rather than delayed, it seems Twitter is happy to empower people to drive traffic to their own site rather than pushing people back to Twitter to see the results.

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Tags: Software Online Twitter Social networking

Twitter widgets brings Twitter to the rest of the Web originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Tue, 03 Nov 2009 04:14:35 +0000

The Beatles' entire back catalogue has found itself online for streaming and downloads semi-legally thanks to music service BlueBeat Music.

The site, which will no doubt be pulled within hours is currently offering Beatles fans the chance to own songs for just a quarter (15p) as well as the chance to stream the tracks for free.

Although many expected Apple to be the first to offer the Beatles back catalogue digitally online, BlueBeat Music's approach has been to hope that rights holder EMI won't complain.

Buried deep in terms and conditions is the following:

"If you believe in good faith that materials hosted by BlueBeat infringe your copyright (for example, materials posted by BlueBeat on one of our Forums), you (or your agent) may send us a notice requesting that the material be removed, or access to it blocked".

According to The Telegraph, EMI told the newspaper that "the company had not given its permission for the tracks to be sold and was "looking into the situation".

EMI has been rumoured to be waiting for the right time to offer the songs digitally, with many speculating, wrongly, that it would have happened in September, the same days as Rock Band: The Beatles launched.

In 2014, the copyright for the first Beatles tracks begin to expire, suggesting an ever looming window for EMI and Apple Corps to maximise on sales is drawing closer.

UPDATE: EMI has confirmed that it's sueing BlueBeat over these tracks.

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Related links:

• Via - telegraph.co.uk

Tags: Audio Software Online Music downloads BlueBeat Beatles

Beatles go on sale online originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Tue, 03 Nov 2009 02:20:43 +0000

You’d like to think that the CWU and Royal Mail workers who are currently on strike might have a sense of humour about things.

Apparently not. They’re not too keen on this spoof game, according to some reports we’ve read. To them it's about as funny as, let's say, not getting your important mail, or your poor old Granny not getting her birthday card on time. Not funny at all, then.

But as they’re making our lives, and those of millions of other disgruntled (and post-less) Brits, a misery, we though we’d share it.

TNT and DHL will enjoy at least.

www.theroyalfail.com

If you have a website that you want to tell us about email us via the feedback form.

Tags: WebsiteOfTheDay Websites Software Online

WEBSITE OF THE DAY ? Royal Fail originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0000

A new version of the Bittorrent protocol is about to launch. Bittorrent is a distribution technique for online content that's used heavily by both legitimate software publishers (like Activision Blizzard) and illicit file sharing sites (like the Pirate Bay).

The update focuses around the problem of connection throttling. When the protocol was developed, broadband wasn't as widespread. ISPs were able to satisfy the majority of people's usage of their connection. Now, however, most customers don't use the majority of their connection speeds, so ISPs have built their networks slightly smaller than they need to be to serve everyone.

Bittorrent, however, uses every bit of a connection to operate efficiently, so it's very taxing on the ISP's networks. As a result, most major ISPs will artificially "throttle" connections where Bittorrent is being used, reducing download speeds to a crawl.

The new version of the protocol aims to avoid this by becoming "network aware". If the connection detects congestion, then it'll automatically slow down, so that other applications can operate at full efficiency. Network usage expands when there's space, like the original version of the protocol, but unlike the original, it'll contract when there's congestion.

The improvement is called uTP, and could represent multi-billion dollar savings for ISPs, according to BitTorrent's VP of Product Management, Simon Morris. He told TorrentFreak: "uTP measures the time a packet takes to get sent from peer A to peer B, so in theory uTP will detect congestion anywhere on that path, although in practice the congestion most often happens somewhere on the first-mile uplink connection".

As a result, you'll perhaps get your files a smidge slower than before, but there'll be negligible effect on the network as a result. It's an altogether more sustainable solution, benefiting both users (who get more reliable downloads) and ISPs (who get reduced network traffic).

uTP is currently only available in the newest beta (2.0) of the uTorrent client. Older versions of uTorrent will accept uTP connections, but they won't start them, so it's worth upgrading as soon as possible.

The effects should be noticeable by both ISPs and users relatively quickly once uTorrent's beta gets a full release, as uTorrent and the Mainline client are, between them, used by two thirds of all BitTorrent users.

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Tags: Software Online Broadband P2P BitTorrent

Bittorrent protocol gets anti-throttling update originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:12:02 +0000

Due to server maintenance Pocket-lint will be taken offline for a short period tomorrow, 3 November 2009, from approximately 8am GMT.

With the work due to take around 20 minutes, we should be back up and running in plenty of time for the site to be available for a quick browse with your morning cuppa.

We are sorry for any inconvenience this causes.

The Pocket-lint team.

Tags: Software Online Pocket-lint Site news

Pocket-lint: Scheduled maintenance originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:06:45 +0000

The presence of a mysterious town on Google Maps has stumped locals, the online giant and its mapping data provider.

It seems no-one can explain why "Argleton" in Lancashire, a town that does not exist, appears in the L39 postcode area just south of Ormskirk.

According to locals, where Argleton should be is just "acres of green, empty fields".

Exciting conspiracy theorists, Argleton is an anagram of "Not Real G". As an aside, it's also an anagram of "toe gnarl", "rant ogle", "oral gent" and "lot anger".

"While the vast majority of this information is correct there are occasional errors", Google told The Telegraph, on Hallowe'en.

A spokesperson for Tele Atlas, the company behind Google Map's data said: "Mistakes like this are not common, and I really can't explain why these anomalies get into our database".

Mapping companies do add errors to their maps for copyright protection reasons, but it's said to be unusual for such an error to be the creation of an entire town.

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Tags: Software Google Google Maps Online GPS software Tele Atlas

Phantom town appears on Google Maps originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Mon, 02 Nov 2009 12:28:41 +0000

Putting the words "Lego" and "Rock Band" was always sure to grab our attention.

Here's the Final Countdown trailer in glorious HD.

Little plastic people really know how to rock out.

If you've seen a video online that you want to tell us about email us via the feed back form.

Tags: Video Websites Software Online

VIDEO OF THE DAY - Lego Rock Band originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Mon, 02 Nov 2009 12:00:00 +0000

RIM is advertising for a Canadian-based WebKit developer, following its acquisition of Torch Mobile (a company that developed the WebKit-based Iris Browser). Both bits of evidence irrefutably point to the fact that RIM knows the BlackBerry browser is a bit rubbish and is trying to fix it.

WebKit is a rendering engine that's used, most notably, in Apple's Safari (both on desktop and in the iPhone) and Google's Chrome browsers. It's also used in Symbian's S60 browser which can be found on Nokia, Samsung and LG handsets. Android's browser is based on WebKit, too, as is the Palm Pre's.

It's essentially the industry standard, and should help to make the BlackBerry browser more of a joy to use than its predecessor. For now, though, there's no official acknowledgement of the switch, let alone any kind of release date for a newer version of the browser, so sit tight for now and we'll let you know when we hear anything more concrete.

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Tags: Phones Software BlackBerry RIM Webkit Browsers Safari Chrome Symbian Palm Pre

RIM advertises for "WebKit Developer" originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Mon, 02 Nov 2009 11:24:36 +0000

It's no secret that Google Wave is a little tricky to get your head around. When confronted with the Wave dashboard for the first time, many people scratch their heads and ask "uhh... what now?". Well, Gina Trapani and Adam Pash from productivity blog Lifehacker have put together a user manual.

Titled The Complete Guide to Google Wave, the guide covers getting started, managing contacts, waves, gadgets and bots. It also discusses what Wave can't do yet, and - most importantly - what on earth it actually is. It's a bit like a much longer version of our own Five things that Google Wave can do for you post.

The manual is built on MediaWiki software, meaning that it's possible to contribute your own suggestions to improve it. However, most of the pages are currently locked from editing to prevent vandalism while the website launches. It's available free on the Web at the link above, and will be showing up as a PDF soon, and as a book in January.

Do you have any questions about Wave that neither our extensive coverage, or this user manual, can answer? Post a comment below and we'll do our best to answer.

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Tags: Software Online Google Google Wave Books

Google Wave gets crowd-sourced user manual originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Mon, 02 Nov 2009 09:56:53 +0000

Movember is upon us once more and that means plenty of talk about moustaches, moustache gadgets and of course not forgetting the main reason for the facial hair growth - helping raise awareness for?prostate Cancer.

Over the next 30 days the Pocket-lint team and others will be growing a moustache for charity. It's a tough job that from experience means we will be ridiculed, stared at, and worse still not get many kisses.

But fear not my hairless friends (that's you), it is not too late to join our hairy(ish) team.

We will be keeping a mo diary on the site so you can see our progress and expect plenty of related features exploring everything "Mo".

Men of tech! (that's you) join our brethren.

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Tags: Gadgets Bathroom gadgets Movember Comment Audio Car And GPS Dad Gaming Hardware Home And Kitchen Home Cinema Phones Cameras Software Sports Fitness

Gentlemen start your Mo originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Mon, 02 Nov 2009 01:35:49 +0000

If there’s a worse job than having to iron a shirt on a Sunday night, I don’t know what it is. It’s that awful realisation that the weekend is over and you’re back to the daily grind.

The task is made more bearable if the shirt you’re ironing is a good one. Good shirts look, wear and, most importantly, press better than cheap ones.

If a good shirt is what you’re after, this is where you can look. You can make the shirt just as you like it and the materials and tailoring are top notch. Worth every penny.

Still a bugger to get the sleeves just right though…

www.shirtsmyway.com

If you have a website that you want to tell us about email us via the feedback form.

Tags: WebsiteOfTheDay Websites Software Online

WEBSITE OF THE DAY ? Shirts My Way originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Mon, 02 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0000

YouTube is littered with ghostly clips and some of them really are scary. Once you've trawled through the hoaxes and clearly doctored clips, there a few that stand out as being genuinely creepy.

I don't know what this shows, but it made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.

If you've seen a video online that you want to tell us about email us via the feed back form.

Tags: Video Websites Software Online

VIDEO OF THE DAY - Ghosts originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:00:00 +0000

Google Wave may be about to open up its servers for federation, if reports from TheNextWeb are correct. If true, it would mean that businesses and corporations will imminently be able to download everything they need to run their own Google Wave server.

If that's a little confusing, then think about how companies generally run their own email servers to make in-house communication more efficient. An email server in-house (rather than on the Web) means that business will spend less on data costs and talking to people, using the same server will be lightning-fast.

Those servers can also talk to the outside world, though, like email. In that case, the communication would run at normal speed. Wave has been designed from the ground up to incorporate this "federated" nature. Lars Rasmussen, one of the inventors of the service, told TheNextWeb that the sandbox infrastructure currently available to developers will be opened up very soon.

The team has also demoed a terminal-based Wave client, and published a Wave Federation Protocol and Conversation Model. That'll allow company tech departments to begin to get their heads around what this could entail for intra-office communication.

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Tags: Software Online Google Google Wave Rumours

Google about to allow private Wave servers? originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 30 Oct 2009 11:33:21 +0000

The identities of the four dead celebrities a tabloid pyschic will try and contact in the world's first Twitter seance have been revealed.

The "Tweance", a paranormal publicity stunt for Hallowe'en, will see Jayne Wallace attempt to get in touch with pop star Michael Jackson, former Nirvana front man Kurt Cobain, playwright William Shakespeare and actor River Phoenix.

As voted for by over four thousand Twitter users, the dead celebs will be asked questions posed in tweets by the public, asked in a seance session by Wallace, who will then tweet the "answers".

Twitter users can follow the Tweance in real time today, Friday 30 October, until midnight.

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Tags: Software Websites Twitter Online Tweance

Hallowe'en Twitter Tweance celebs named originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 30 Oct 2009 11:16:25 +0000

It's been revealed how much money Facebook has been awarded in damages over a recent anti-spam case against internet "marketer" Sanford - or as he's known Spamford - Wallace.

Facebook filed the anti-spamming case in February after Wallace accessed people's Facebook accounts and sent phony mail and posts.

The Californian court awarded the social networking website $711.2 million in damages. This follows an $870 million award Facebook won in November 2008 against a different spammer.

It seems Wallace has not learnt from past mistakes - Wallace was ordered to pay MySpace $230 million in damages back in May 2008.

"While we don't expect to receive the vast majority of the award, we hope that this will act as a continued deterrent", Facebook said.

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Tags: Software Online Facebook Lawsuits Spam

Facebook awarded $711 million from spammer originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 30 Oct 2009 10:53:41 +0000

There are people who like movies and then there are movie fans.

This site is definitely aimed at the latter.

It's an interactive map of where the spectres and apparitions were seen in the classic ghoulish comedy Ghostbusters.

Go figure.

www.ironicsans.com/2006/04/the_ultimate_interactive_googl_1.html

If you have a website that you want to tell us about email us via the feedback form.

Tags: WebsiteOfTheDay Websites Software Online

WEBSITE OF THE DAY - Ghostbusters map originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 30 Oct 2009 10:45:00 +0000

Across the Web, it's becoming common knowledge that it's technically possible to buy an upgrade edition of Windows 7 (which is considerably cheaper) and install a full version of the operating system from it. Microsoft has got wind of the hack, and has issued a stark warning that such practices are illegal.

Eric Ligman, Global Partner Experience Lead at Microsoft, has written a blog post that points out: "Technically possible does not always mean legal". He goes on to explain the differences between the EULA agreements of the two. The upgrade version very clearly states: "To use upgrade software, you must first be licensed for the software that is eligible for the upgrade".

He also clarifies the situation when it comes to OEM licenses - copies of Windows that came pre-installed on your machine. While boxed copies of Windows can be transferred between machines, OEM copies can't. That means that you can't pull out an ancient laptop with XP on and say "this is the one I'm upgrading" when you install Windows 7 on your netbook that shipped with Linux.

The beta or RC installs don't count either. Ligman says: "Those who don’t own a full previous version Windows license, and just downloaded the Windows 7 Beta, RC, or RTM code during the trial phases, the Windows 7 Beta, RC, and RTM trials are not qualifying licenses for the upgrade since they are just trial software, not fully licensed software".

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Tags: Software Microsoft Windows 7 Software updates

Microsoft addresses Win 7 upgrade hack legalities originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 30 Oct 2009 09:44:19 +0000

Twitter Lists has now come to the masses?and with it a host of new questions on what they do, how you can benefit from them, and more importantly how they work.

Let Pocket-lint guide you through the new features whether it's creating, managing, deleting or just following them. Here is our quick guide to the new offering.

What are Lists

Twitter Lists are basically a list of users grouped around a central theme. They could be people that work for Pocket-lint, they could be a group of actors, or maybe people in your local bowling club. The idea is that you can then follow the list and get all the messages of the people on the list filtering out the noise of twitter.

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Creating a Twitter List

Simple. Login to your Twitter account and if you have Lists enabled then you'll see a new Lists element in your right hand nav column. Click on New List and a pop-up window appears.

Here you get to name your list and choose whether or not you make that list Public or Private.

Now you've got to populate your list with Twitter folk. You'll be able to search the twittersphere for people to follow or add them from your following page or anyone's profile page.

Once you've found who you were looking for you can then add them to the relevant list and your done.

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Editing your Twitter List

So you've started a list, bully for you, but what if you want to add more people to it? Easy, you can edit your list by clicking on the "Edit List" button on the list page. The button isn't in the nav bar - that would be too easy - instead it can be found at the top right of the page. However, not that the Edit List button is any help, all it will do is let you change the name of your list and opt to make it Public or Private.

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Editing other people's Twitter List

Blocking a Twitter user will remove you from inclusion on any lists the blocked person has created. Handy in the fight against spammers or people that have created a "These people suck" list.

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Adding more people to your Twitter List

That's easy to, all you have to do is find them and then click on the list icon that appears next to their name. A drop down appears and you just check the box next to the list that you want them to appear in.

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Removing people from your Twitter List

Yeah we all hate to admit it but people can get boring after a while. Luckily you can remove people just as quickly as you can add them. It's the same icon and drop down menu. All you've got to do is bring yourself to uncheck the box.

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Deleting a Twitter List

So you've created a list of your local club and then promptly left the club. Luckily you can delete the list you've created. Found in the same location as the edit list button you can hit the delete link. Twitter will fire up a "Are you sure" message at which point you say yes and then it's gone. There is no going back.

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Viewing your Twitter Lists

With the ability to create an almost infinite number of lists you get a dedicated page to see what lists you've created and more interestingly what lists you feature on. If people have added you to a private list you won't see it. To get to this page type

twitter.com/username/lists and twitter.com/username/lists/memberships

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Following a Twitter List

Following a list is easy, find the list you want to follow and then click on the "Follow this list" icon at the top of the stream.

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Tags: Software Online Twitter Quick Guide

Quick guide to Twitter Lists originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 30 Oct 2009 05:42:35 +0000

Millions of Twitter users awoke on Friday morning to be welcomed with a new feature on their twitter homepage - Lists.

Although the new feature was formally announced earlier in the month, Twitter has to date been keeping the use of the list feature, that allows anyone to create a list of key people to follow, amongst a few close beta testers.

Not any more.

Now most Twitter users are free to create their own Lists like members of your company to inform other users or simply follow them, however with Twitter users on the list not gaining follower count, has Twitter created a system that will ultimately end one of the more ego-centric element of the service??How many people are following you.

Time will tell.

Let us know in the comments the Lists you are following or have created.

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Related links:

• Feature - Quick guide to Twitter Lists

Tags: Software Online Twitter

Twitter brings Lists to the masses originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 30 Oct 2009 03:22:59 +0000

Not content with crashing down hard on the satnav industry yesterday, today Google put the willies up the music industry too with the launch of a Google music search feature. Just before you go diving off to try it, it's only available in the US at the moment, but so far it's not that extensive anyway. Currently, you can enter a song, a band, a lyric or anything that pertains to music and the engine will come up with a section of music results at the top as it might do with images or videos. The links include streamed previews, music discovery services and, indirectly, mp3 sales too. So, in its current form and even looking to the future, just whose toes are getting trodden and which sites and services will manage to come out okay?
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imeem

As one of the music discovery services that Google promotes in the music links, imeem should receive a boost when the service goes global. It's already a popular site but being thrust to the top of the rankings will certainly do it the power of good. There's always new users waiting to be signed up. Even this development from Google is a long way off the kind of niche that imeem occupies, so the company should be pretty pleased about it all.
Verdict - Winner

iTunes

Plenty of music purchases start with an internet search to find out what an artist, album or song is called and if there's a link to buy the track straight away, this being the case it could take some business away fro Apple. At the moment, the links to buy are only there on certain tracks and only once the user has already clicked through to one of Google's partner sites. The other issue is that the Google offering could develop into a streaming service and prove a threat to iTunes on that front. Whatever it means, it's not good news for Apple but you'd think that Jobs Inc has something clever up their sleeves what with the wind of change in the music industry anyway. Apple ditched DRM when it realised it had to and doubtless the company will look to streaming or another change in model soon anyway.
Verdict - Short term loser

Pandora

As one of Google's partners for this venture it's generally quids in for Pandora. A link straight to the top of the rankings without having to battle the SEO gods saves a lot of time, stress and effort and should win the service even more users than it already has. Opening out beyond the US would probably do them more favours though.
Verdict - Winner

MySpace

The vintage social network already does surprisingly well out of Google's ventures with the odd music video popping up far higher in search results than the site's waning popularity would suggest. Hard to tell whether the service is on an endless slope to destruction or if it'll reach an eventual plateau of loyal users, but the music feature from Google will certainly provide a brief stay of execution. In the long run though, it could just keep actual traffic away from the MySpace site with just its content being streamed to Google's pages. No ad impressions for them there.
Verdict - Short term winner

iLike

On the other hand, MySpace's recent acquisition of the ex-Facebook app iLike could prove to help a whole lot more. Firstly, the site has a far more modern offering than its buyer, and more importantly, it's one of the click throughs for Google where you can buy the track you've just searched for. Nice business unless, of course, Google decides to sell the tracks itself.?
Verdict - Winner

Spotify

No real problems at present. Yes, there's a degree of streaming you can do with the Google music feature but it doesn't compare to the entire Spotify platform and its tidal wave of good will support. If Google really wanted to, there's no doubt the engineers could build themselves an equally impressive model with even further reach. Daniel Ek won't be losing any sleep over this one but it might sit at the back of the Spotify supremos mind
Verdict - Long term niggle

Record shops

The damage was done here a long time ago. As Pocket-lint's resident expert on digital music put only too succinctly, "went into Fopp the other day. Made a mental note to check out a few things on Spotify. Bought nothing". Most high street retailers will be too busy looking across at the empty Zavi stores to have noticed what Google has just announced.
Verdict - Already lost

Wikipedia

Wikipedia has done a fantastic job of romping its way up the searching rankings for absolutely everything, including music. Having Google plonk its music feature at the top of the list along with links to the companies partners with all the information you could possibly want on a band or a song is something of a party pooper. Naturally, this isn't Wikipedia's sole business but what happens when Google has a feature of its own for just about everything?
Verdict - Loser

Amazon mp3

Like Wikipedia, Amazon has enjoyed top billing on the Google rankings and having its mp3 downloads service trumped by something of Google's very own is both frustrating and simply insurmountable. As it stands, it's an irritant, but if Google takes the time to put a Buy Now button next to their results that go straight to Google check, then there's a problem. Fortunately, mp3 sales aren't the core of Amazon's business, the company will still do fine with them all the same through deferred sales within their own network and as much consumer trust as any e-tailer can have.
Verdict - Loser

YouTube

Bit of a strange one seeing as it belongs to Google anyway but the music results will not only cannibalise some of YouTube's traffic but also divert it elsewhere too. Listening to tracks on the world's favourite video service is big business for the Tube and if you can do that straight from search, then they could lose out quite a lot. Again, it's not the only thing on YouTube but what with the public tiring somewhat of sneezing pandas, it's probably a bigger issue than you'd think.
Verdict - Loser

Last.fm

Like Pandora, it's the excellent nature of Last.fm's music recommendation system that sets it above all the rest and, at present, that's not something that Google has on the roadmap. Naturally, if the search giant wanted to, it could put the resources into making something similar. What it does have to its advantage is the enormous database on the subject but it doesn't seem like a logical step for the company. What is a slight concern for Last.fm is that Pandora has been chosen as a partner, but, seeing as that service only works in the US, it's not such a problem at the moment.
Verdict - No bother

Related links:

• Feature - 29th August 2012: the date Google becomes "aware"
• News - VIDEO: Google demos Music Search
• Feature - Six serious reasons why Google Maps Navigation is pure win...

Tags: Software Online Google Search engines MySpace Pandora iTunes Amazon MP3 Wikipedia imeem iLike

Who'll be the casualties of Google Music? originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:32:59 +0000

Apple is set to unveil a software update for Apple TV that brings the version up to 3.0 and includes recent iTunes additions like iTunes LP and iTunes Extras. The news emerged after iTunes users were asked to agree to a new set of iTunes Store T&Cs.

A paragraph has been added to those T&Cs that reads: "iTunes LP and iTunes Extras Products are usable only on computers with iTunes 9 or higher and Apple TV with software version 3.0 or higher.

iTunes LP refers to the bonus content recently unveiled for certain major label albums. That content can include lyrics, liner notes, photos, videos and other bonus material. iTunes extras refers to a similar sort of thing but for video content, like DVD extras.

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Tags: Software Software updates Apple Apple TV

Apple TV update imminent originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:34:16 +0000

Another day, another industry in trouble, all because the company that promises to "do no evil" has entered its market.

The latest victims that are likely to fall foul of the search giant are the dedicated GPS makers. TomTom and Garmin both saw big drops in share prices on Wednesday (no doubt for TomTom on the back of poor Q3 results as well), however when someone with the cash of Google steps on your turf offering a product for free when you charge a premium, with no need to turn a profit in that division, surely its time to start panicking.

Google's presence in our lives is more prevalent that ever. Destroyer of industries, has Google become Skynet?

In the present

Searching

While companies like Alta Vista and Yahoo believed that search was just the start of a bigger media portal to entrap internet users, Google's clean "just search" mantra allowed it to steal the market, completely. Google is now the biggest search engine on the block and uses the cash it gets from placing ads next to those results to leapfrog into other sectors as well as fund the majority of its ventures.

Sending email

Why charge when you can give it away? Google's Gmail and subsequent Google Apps is slowly taking over the email space. Its free product here has signaled the death knell to email hosting companies across the world. In the Nineties, companies charged $1 for an email address, then they charged for storage. Now if you're paying for either you're considered behind the curve.

Watching video

Google bought its way into the online video market after its attempts with Google Video failed to gain traction against YouTube. A prime example of the need to control the space rather than actually making a profit, Google paid a $1 billion premium to claim the site as its own. In October it signed a landmark deal with Channel 4 in the UK to start screening on-demand TV shows. If the idea catches on and other TV stations sign up, could this signal the end of traditional television broadcasting?

Storing and selling photos

While Picasa doesn't have the clout of Flickr, it still allows you to manage your photos online. Add in the ability to sell those images, combine it with Google Images and you've got a competitor to services like Corbis, Getty and iStockPhoto. Google could theoretically then move to supply newspapers and magazines with the images it scours from its users and the Web - rewarding those users individually for their contributions.

Getting from A to B

It's already killed the online mapping industry (Multimap, Streetmap, et al) and now it's after the GPS sector with the launch of Google Maps Navigation. The new software app will be available on its mobile phone platform Android 2.0, and is likely to completely turn the GPS market on its head. Constantly up to date maps, live traffic, points of interest pulled from its search database and the usual Google price (free) means TomTom, Garmin, Navman, et al, are going to struggle to justify the premium price.

Reading news

Google's news service, be it via the Google News pages or Google Reader product, has had two effects. It has allowed many websites to gain exposure to a host of new readers, but it's also caused concern with old school media barons, like Rupert Murdoch, for destroying their readership and making people promiscuous readers. No longer does the Old Media have the power over the newsstand that they once had. With the flick of a switch Google has the power to stop the traffic dead, or allow it to flow.

Buying books

Google has digitised hundreds of thousands of books already and now the company is launching its own eBook store to challenge the booksellers of this world, like Barnes & Noble. Why would you pay for a book if you could get a digital copy for free on the proviso that you had to look at a couple of ads every 20 pages?

Buying physical music

Who needs to go into a HMV or Best Buy to buy your CD when you'll be able to search for the music and buy at the click of a button instead? iTunes might have empowered us to embrace digital music downloads, but the world moves fast. Why offer a dedicated piece of software you've got to open when clicking directly at the moment you search for it would be a more gratifying experience? The idea of buying a CD on the high street and then taking it home will be dead in 5 years.

Writing letters

Microsoft has already seen its Office market affected by the launch of Google Docs, Google's cloud based office suite. Those needing to write a letter to the bank manager no longer need to buy expensive software. They can just point their browser in the right direction, create a document and then promptly offer to share it with the bank manager instead. If he's your Google contact, anyway.

Making a call

Google Voice is Google's Skype, except that it's not content with you just chatting in a desktop client. It wants your voice calls and voice mail as well. While only available in the US at the moment, the system allows you to port your voicemail from the operators to their service. Add that to the ability to make free national calls and international calls for as little as 2 cents a minute and it's likely to be a blow to phone companies who are already suffering from mobile operators stealing their customers. When was the last time you made a call from your landline?

Tracking news

Once upon a time PR agencies used to hire tracking companies to monitor how they performed in the media. Google alerts and RSS feeds soon put an end to that. With the introduction of Twitter into the search stream, companies will soon be able to monitor the coverage they get even as they are making the announcement.

Making an appointment

When was the last time you wrote on or in a paper calendar? Aside from offerings with cute pictures of cats and puppies, naked firemen, or your favourite pop star, the paper calendar has been relegated to the cheap Christmas gift. Google's shareable electronic calendar means greater connectivity for all, but it's another industry on its way out thanks to the Goog.

Reading magazines

The decline of the magazine industry isn't entirely Google's to claim, but the power of products like Blogger that empowered a generation to write their own content has helped to slowly eat away at the power of the media. Now you don't have to wait a month to get the latest news and opinion - you can create it on your phone and let the world know there and then.

Stock prices

Remember when you used to get the share prices in the newspaper and that those pages dominated the business section? The prices are still there in some pages, but the news is out of date before you can even find what you are looking for. How long before that data is gone completely?

How do you spell...

Dictionaries are the lifeblood of our language, as are translators. Both of which are likely to be ditched, and out of work. Google's "Did you mean...?" search means you can guess at the word you don't know, while its translate service, while still rough around the edges, saves the need for you to learn another language. You speak English right?

Mobile operating systems

It's already taken Motorola's internal OS and it could soon take Symbian - the Open Source OS. That's right, Google's Android mobile phone operating system is, and will most likely over time destroy Nokia's OS. Android 2.0, due out on 6 November in the US, is light years ahead of anything coming out of other manufacturers (except perhaps Apple) at the moment. Will handset manufacturers have to embrace Google to succeed?

Desktop operating systems

Not content with the mobile space, Google is planning a desktop OS that will eradicate the need to pay for an operating system. Apple has already seen the price it charges for its OS cut down to $25, but how long will it be before the company has to give it away to entice consumers to stay with it rather than move to the Chrome OS? When consumers do flock to the new OS, Microsoft will have lost its foothold on the boot-up. It might control 90% of the market now, but what about in 10 years time?

Surfing the web

The company that exists only on the Web needs to make sure it has a route to entry and that's Chrome. Currently only taking around 6% of the browser market, it's one of the only areas in Google portfolio that is not about to destroy an industry, but Chome has won praise for its speed, functionality, and how it just gets out of the way of your web browsing experience.

Brainstorming meetings

MSN, Yahoo, iChat - you remember those don't you? Google has two products here that are hoping to destroy all others in their path. Google Talk is a straight up IM client, but the company's Google Wave product is something different. In the future, the chance to grab a meeting room and a company paid-for Danish will disappear thanks to the ability to follow the conversation online as it happens. Heck, why would you even need an office?

Taking a pill

Google Health is likely to swarm in and within a couple of years dominate the medical industry. Once it has enough data, imagine what it could tell you about pandemics, medicine and more importantly how that data could be sold and monetised. Google insurance anyone?

Saving you energy

Google PowerMeter smart metering system has launched in the US and will soon be arriving in the UK. It should allow users to monitor their power consumption and bring down electricity prices while saving the planet. In turn, that will cause chaos in the industry as the market is forced to offer lower and lower prices.

Posting a comment to a blog

Earlier in the year Google bought ReCaptcha, the way that virtually all comment systems on the internet clarify that you are a human rather than a robot trying to spam. What they plan to use this for isn't yet clear, but it wouldn't be hard to use the system to see who comments on what and whether they are a threat to the system. Google Wave could also hook into blog comment systems, providing real-time comments on articles.

The daily commute and the office

Using all of the above you won't need to venture into the office to work in the same building as your work mates. You can already see it happening now. I write this based in New York, before it goes to the rest of the team to read dotted around the UK and the world. Even better, some of the people who've read this before it's gone live I've never even met in person.

Who's next?

With Google in virtually every facet or your data life, there are still plenty of areas Google can go.

Education

Google has yet to tap up the education sector as well as it could. What about exam marking services, school report card systems so it can track your details from an early age and then Alumni services. It's a market ripe for the picking.

In-car entertainment

Google isn't, yet, fussed about hardware, but with a move into navigation, it could easily start offering music, radio and other information services like weather into the car. Or perhaps it'll access the car through its mobile OS. Either could prove fruitful.

Writing a note

Goodbye Mont Blanc, goodbye Biro. The more people that use Google Voice and its voice control offerings on Android the better - Google's computers will get more of an understanding of what we say and how we say it. Do you really think you'll be writing with a pen in 20 years time?

Watching television

We've already seen that Google's YouTube is stealing TV hours, but what if it launched a free EPG service that offered more social interaction with your TV as well as web access as standard? Goodbye EPG software makers. Android for the TV it is then.

When will Skynet, we mean Google, become aware?

Think about all the above examples and now think about all the data. Google is very quickly amassing a massive amount of data on its users, everything from what you read, what you email, what you search for, what you listen to, what you watch, where you go, who you call, what messages you've left for them, what pictures you store, what pills you are taking and even what you can't spell. Add that to the possibility of school records, job history, and for the first time in history a single company will be able to build a digital profile of you better than one that you probably could, given the same tools.

The question is, is that okay? For many it's not an issue. Google empowers its users to mine for data better than any other company on the planet, but when it becomes aware, what happens then?

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Tags: Comment Software Online Google Features

29th August 2012: the date Google becomes "aware" originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 29 Oct 2009 15:14:26 +0000

Amazon has announced a new initiative that aims to make it easier to pay for things on the Web. The online retail giant is launching "PayPhrase", which is a service that lets you replace usernames, passwords, etc with a simple, but unique, catchphrase.

Customers on Amazon can create up to 20 of these phrases, and associate them with a pin number, shipping address and credit card. Then, when you want to buy something, you can just enter the phrase for a quick checkout experience. You don't have to share any info with the third party site.

The difficulty comes when all the good phrases are snapped up. You can bet "this one goes up to 11" will be taken pretty quick. As might "You are not prepared!". You'll have to start making up random statements that might prove tricky to remember.

While this isn't going to destroy PayPal, or Google Checkout, overnight, it'll be interesting to see what happens in the longer term - will consumers prefer this approach over having to maintain endless site logins? Time will tell.

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Tags: Software Online Amazon

Amazon PayPhrase announced originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 29 Oct 2009 12:58:47 +0000

Peter Mandelson has, as expected, delivered an assault on filesharers at the C&binet Forum. He has laid out his intentions to submit legislation to parliament that would cut persistent file sharers off the web entirely, after a couple of warnings.

The process is known as "three strikes", and has recently been enacted in the face of extreme opposition in France. Following an accusation of piracy from a monitoring company, a user would be sent a warning letter.

Another warning letter would be sent if the user doesn't stop, and then after a third "strike" the internet connection being used would be disconnected from the Web permanently.

The legislation is intended to come into force by April 2010, with disconnections occurring in the spring of 2011. Mandelson says there could be an appeals process for those who believe they haven't shared the content they've been accused of. False positives have been revealed by a study at Washington University to be common among the companies that track P2P.

Mandelson began to draft laws on the subject, which he'd previously shown little interest in, just days after having a private dinner with David Geffen - a Hollywood producer and outspoken critic of file sharing. Mandelson says that downloading is "economically unsustainable", which flies in the face of recent studies and press releases from within the industry that say that UK Music is very healthy indeed.

There's fierce opposition to the proposals. ISP TalkTalk, which has long jousted with rights-holders on this issue has said that it's prepared to challenge the laws "in the courts". It's been suggested that the proposals, which would cut off an entire family if one individual was suspected of sharing, could be illegal under international law preventing groups being punished for the actions of an individual.

Mandelsons claims of just one in 20 web downloads being legal have also been picked apart by Ben Goldacre, who writes the Guardian's "Bad Science" column. He discovered that the figure originates from an "industry estimate" in a press release put out by a?private legal firm called Rouse who specialise in intellectual property law.

Meanwhile, the original producers of the content are vehemently opposed to the moves. Graham Linehan, creator of Father Ted, Black Books and the IT Crowd, has blogged about the proposals, calling them "bullshit". The Featured Artists Coalition, which comprises of musicians, has long opposed three-strikes, though softened its stance recently following a confrontation with Lily Allen.

Legal music sites aren't in favour of the proposals, either. We7's CEO Steve Purdham told Pocket-lint that " File-sharing sites have risen in the gulf between what consumers wanted and what has been available". "Creating a variety of reasonable and sustainable models for providing music to consumers is key to ending rampant piracy. This is the approach that should be taken by the government rather than criminalising consumers and driving pirates further into the undergrowth".

Even MI5 has weighed in against Mandelson, saying that such laws would drive pirates underground and encrypted. Both the security services and the police claim that it'll make prosecution harder, "because it increases the workload significantly". They protested that the government's Mandelson-led U-turn on the issue, since the Digital Britain report was published, has left them little time to prepare a response.

And finally there's the UK Pirate Party, which formed earlier this year and has skyrocketed in membership following the government's announced plans. The party proposes a revamp of copyright law to allow for non-commercial sharing, as well as net neutrality laws and greater privacy and freedom of expression for individuals.

In the face of all that, it seems that Mandelson will have a tough time pushing through the content industry's proposals, especially with a general election looming. It remains to be seen how successful he'll be, but we'll keep you posted of the progress of the proposals.

In the meantime, let us know what you think of Mandelson's suggested laws in the comments. The biggest question for us, as pointed out by TechDirt, remains: "How will kicking people off the internet get them to buy more product?"

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Tags: Software Online Broadband P2P Peter Mandelson

Mandelson delivers on three-strikes warning originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 29 Oct 2009 12:07:03 +0000

Maybe it's not something to be proud of, but we love these Periodic Table of Videos clips.

This Halloween special shows you how to do something a little different - if you're that way inclined.
But, we wouldn't recommend trying any of these at home.

Our favourite line has to be: "liquid nitrogen is quite cold".

Quite cold?

Thanks for the tip!

If you've seen a video online that you want to tell us about email us via the feed back form.

Tags: Video Websites Software Online

VIDEO OF THE DAY - Hallowe'en science originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 29 Oct 2009 12:00:00 +0000

TalkTalk's Tiscali.co.uk has joined the ranks of UK ISPs providing music services with the launch of "Music for Life", said to be a "new" music download offering available to all Tiscali users.

www.tiscali.co.uk/downloads offers access to a catalogue of over 6.5 million MP3s in a service powered by eMusic.

The offering is the same as eMusic's standalone subscription models and can be seen as follows:

• eMusic Basic - 24 downloads for ?9.99 per month - then ?0.42 per song
• eMusic Plus - 35 downloads for ?13.99 per month - the ?0.40 per song
• eMusic Premium - 50 downloads for ?17.99 per month - then ?0.36 per song
• eMusic Connoisseur - 75 downloads for ?24.99 per month - then ?0.33 per song

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To promote the launch, Tiscali.co.uk will be giving users 50 free tracks when they sign up for a 14-day free trial of Music for Life.

Downloads are DRM-free, so compatible with all portable music players and can be burned to an unlimited number of CDs.

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Tags: Audio Software Online Music downloads Tiscali TalkTalk eMusic Music for Life ISPs

Tiscali offers "Music for Life" originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 29 Oct 2009 11:36:13 +0000

In response to the millions of search queries about music that Google gets every day it has beefed up its music search service.

Users can now use Google to find tracks by searching artist, song title and even lyrics with links to online retailers to buy.

While the industry waits to see what this might mean long term, Google has now posted a demo vid showing how it will work - hit play now to see the official demo.

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Tags: Audio Software Online Google Search engines Video

VIDEO: Google demos Music Search originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 29 Oct 2009 11:29:59 +0000

Google's PowerMeter product is to debut in the UK from first:utility, a small, independent electricity and gas supplier, based in Warwick.

Google PowerMeter is a software tool that allows users to see a near-real-time display of their energy usage through their iGoogle account on their computer or mobile phone.

Enabled by first:utility's policy to supply smart meters to 30,000 of its customers the PowerMeter service is free to Smart Tariff customers, and is due to go live in early November.

"We share a vision with first:utility of providing consumers with access to information about their own home electricity use that will help them save energy and money", Ed Lu, Google PowerMeter's lead engineer, says.

"We need the help of innovative utility companies like first:utility to get Google PowerMeter into the hands of consumers, and we are delighted about this very first UK utility partnership".

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Tags: Home And Kitchen Google Software Online Eco First Utility Google PowerMeter

Google PowerMeter to debut in the UK from first:utility originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 29 Oct 2009 09:52:47 +0000

Google has added music search to its growing search offering as it attempts to help people find what they are looking for quicker.

"Every day we get millions of search queries about music. You want to know more about your favorite artists, find that new album or iconic song or figure out the name of that tune stuck in your head", says Google on its official blog.

Google searchers looking for a particular song, artist, or album can now do so by typing that information into the search box.

Results are then produced to match the query, if available, and users will be offered a preview of the song thanks to a deal with MySpace.

Taking the search one step further Google has said that it will also allow forgetful users to punch in a chorus or words from the song as well.

If that wasn't enough? Google has said that it has teamed up with Pandora, imeem and Rhapsody to include links to their sites where you can discover music related to your queries as well.

So far there is no word as to whether Google will implement a buy button via its Google Checkout service offering users a "buy at search" offering.

Google has promised the new feature to its US based searchers in the next couple of days. No word on when the service will get global support.

We will keep you posted.

UPDATE: The service is live in the US at google.com/music. No sign of it in the UK.

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Tags: Software Online Google Search engines MySpace Pandora

Google adds music search; foretells the death of another industry originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 29 Oct 2009 02:18:25 +0000

I had a horrible experience the other day. I was at a mate's house and enough, ahem, "refreshment" had been consumed that we thought it would be good idea to get the Wii Fit out of the cupboard.

On I stepped and it went through the measurement process before I could start. I won't share the numbers, but when a video game tells you you're not as light as you used to be, it's time to do something about it.

That's why this is great for me. I can download fitness videos and sweat, wheeze, grunt and groan my way through them in the privacy of my own home. It's not a pretty sight - even the dog leaves the room…

But no pain, no gain, right?

www.thinqfitness.com

If you have a website that you want to tell us about email us via the feedback form.

Tags: WebsiteOfTheDay Websites Software Online

WEBSITE OF THE DAY - ThinQ Fitness originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 29 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Google Maps Navigation for Android 2.0 will not just be setting the cat amongst the pigeons but is probably more akin to handing a rocket launcher to our feline friend as well. From demonstration, the turn by turn satnav system has got several advantages over traditional PND devices from the off but if you need convincing, hereare five reasons why you might want to try it and a few just to make you think again.

More accurate maps

One of the problems with satnav devices is that they often rely on outmoded maps usually either supplied by Tele Atlas or Navteq. The trouble is that, not only are these maps slightly inaccurate on purpose, but roads change quite frequently and theses companies can only send round cars to check once every 18 months or so. Recently Google started crowd sourcing corrections much as the OpenStreepMap project does, which means that the internet giant's atlas is going to be more accurate than on any other navigational device. Perhaps it's only a relatively small amount, but take into consideration the updates to way points and business addresses too and it becomes more important. Nothing more frustrating than to drive all the way to a museum to find it's closed or not even there any more.

Superior search

You don't have to just search for a destination or address but you've got the whole of Google's database to rely on for finding a place you want, and you're not going to find one on any PND as good as that. It's up to date and comprehensive and it'll even search specifically places along the corridor of your route. While most satnavs have a set number of way-points, this system will find you just about anything. If you're looking for a spanner on the way to fix your girlfriend's car, then it'll take you via the appropriate hardware store with just the one you need. Scarily, it's probably the ultimate on the move tool for stalkers for the same reasons too.

Voice Control

This is one of those areas that you really need to have tried out before we know whether it's a boon or not but, potentially, a voice activated satnav is a lot easier and a lot safer while drivers are supposed to be keeping their eyes on the road. You can use it just as you would a Google search and demand the same parameters, even if they're fairly vague - eg: cinema in East London that shows art house films. It'll then direct you to Rich Mix or Rio or any suggestion for the theatre you're after. Naturally, traffic noises, the radio, kids in the back or a poor mic on your handset could completely scupper this one but it's a nice idea. It did also seem to take the phone a little while to register in the demo video but at least it cuts down on finger work for long search enquiries.

More views

While traditional hardware satnavs recently added 3D views to their maps and a few landmarks too, these have only ever been in place for a limited number of roads and cities. GMN can offer a complete set of satellite maps with which you can zoom in to road level detail plus there's also Street View for a few parts of the world to offer drivers an exact picture of what the upcoming junction may look like. You might not use it all the time but that's one feature you just can't compete with.

Live traffic integration

We were calling for this one for years before the satnav companies finally linked up the traffic reports with route guidance to give us now, not only the shortest journey from A to B but also the fastest as well. The trick here for Google is the way they've shown it on the UI and the fact that it comes at no extra cost as well. The traffic view mode highlights sections of your route in either green, yellow or red depending on how heavy going the conditions are. If you're not happy with what you see, you can get the software to re-route for you.

It's free!

There's probably quite a bit of egg being wiped off TomTom's faces right now and, if there isn't, it's because the company must be too busy worrying just how it's going to convince consumers to pay the ?59 for the mobile app when it launches on Android. It might also tempt a few potential iPhone users away from the platform, but then we all know that that Apple logo doesn't come cheap. The fact is that whatever satnav hardware or other navigation mobile software manufacturers can offer - which is probably going to be a lot less than this Google package anyway - it's going to be next to impossible to beat them on price, and, as a race of thoroughbred cheapskates, that means a lot.

So, Google seems to be right on the money with this but it's not all roses. There could be a few problems with the software's implementation and practical use in the field. Most of them are centred around the age old issue of the software they can account for, but over the hardware that runs it, Google has a lot less control.

Sucks up battery

If you're using GMN on your Android phone then it's going to tear through the battery, which is massive issue as smartphones get smarter anyway. You'll have to find an adaptor for your 12V car socket or you can kiss goodbye to complete route guidance, let alone a day of actual phone use. This, of course, isn't so much of a problem with a traditional satnav. You're not going to need one of them to make a phone call after you get out of the car.

Small Screen

The very smallest satnavs have got 3-inch displays and many people prefer something around 5 inches for a decent route guider. There's not a lot of phones out there with that kind of pixel power and it's really a tablet that you're going to need to offer that kind of size.

Touchscreen trouble

The whole system is going to rely on a decent interface. Google can take care of one end but there's nothing more frustrating than a satnav with a dead touchscreen. This is not the kind of thing that'll make the GMN experience a joy. Pick the wrong phone and you might never use the service again. The same is true of the microphoneto to a lesser extent, but that would only affect the voice control feature.

Less of a navigational pedigree

Now, it might be that Google gets it bang on but TomTom, Navman and co have been practicing with their market for many years. There are touches in their systems like fuel counting and economy settings that don't appear to be part of GMN as it stands. Until we get a good look at the system, we're not going to know what else might have been missed out. Also, as far as commercial organisations go, it's a lot cheaper to buy their drivers PNDs than it is to fork out for Android handsets and educate their employees on how to use them.

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Related links:

• News - Google to add free turn-by-turn navigation functionality to Maps on Android 2.0 phones

Tags: Phones Android Google Google Maps GPS software GPS Software Android 2.0 Street View Video Google Maps Navigation

Six serious reasons why Google Maps Navigation is pure win... originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 28 Oct 2009 17:54:47 +0000

Blinkx has launched a dedicated music area to its video search service. The section, called Blinkx Music, allows users to search through a 33,000 hours-strong catalogue of digital music from 10,000 artists.

Some of the content (about 20-25%, says the company) is hosted on Blinkx itself, through deals with SonyBMG, Universal, MTV and the Ministry of Sound. If the song you're after isn't there, though, then it'll redirect you to other sites like Yahoo Music.

Users who regularly publish video content can submit it to Blinkx via an rss feed, but there's no option to download the videos to your portable devices.?CEO and founder of Blinkx, Suranga Candratillake, said: "There are hundreds of thousands of music videos available on the Web today which makes it nearly impossible to navigate and find what you are looking for".

"Based on the success of blinkx Remote, our online TV guide, we recognized there was a need to help organize music videos and make them easily searchable on the Web. By leveraging our award-winning video search index, we built blinkx Music to help our users find their favourite music videos quickly, easily and in one place".

The service is live now at music.blinkx.com.

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Tags: Software Online Websites Blinkx Music

Blinkx launches music video jukebox originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:36:16 +0000

Google has just thrown somewhat of a spanner in the works for satnav hardware and software companies as it has revealed it is to offer free turn-by-turn navigation functionality to its Maps product that will be offered in Android 2.0 devices.

"Maps Navigation" will debut in beta by default on all Android 2.0 devices and appears to offer a comprehensive satnav service that integrates Google's two very popular products, satellite and Street View, which could be used for the likes of lane guidance.

Hit play on the video above from Engadget that sees a Google product manager giving an overview of the potentially disruptive new service and we'll bring you more on this breaking news as we have it.

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Related links:

• Feature - Six serious reasons why Google Maps Navigation is pure win...

Tags: Phones Android Google Google Maps GPS software GPS Software Android 2.0 Street View Video

Google to add free turn-by-turn navigation functionality to Maps on Android 2.0 phones originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:35:06 +0000

Google has announced that its Similar Images feature "is graduating from Google Labs" and becoming a permanent feature in Google Images.

Designed to help narrow down image search results for more successful searches, one example given for how Similar Images can be useful is that searching for "jaguar" will bring users results of both the cat and the car.

Clicking the "similar images" option under either the cat or the car will re-jig the results to display only what the searcher was seeking.

Google had also introduced "Product Ideas for Google Images" stating: "With product ideas, you can post comments that will be seen directly by members of the Images team, as well as vote on ideas that others have submitted".

Tags: Software Online Google Search engines

Google "Similar Images" becomes permanent feature originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 28 Oct 2009 12:28:32 +0000

We like the new PS3 ads. They're short, to the point, slightly irreverent and a great showcase for the product itself.

We particularly like this one. It's a bit edgier and we like edgy.

If you've seen a video online that you want to tell us about email us via the feed back form.

Tags: Video Websites Software Online

VIDEO OF THE DAY - PS3 ad originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 28 Oct 2009 12:00:00 +0000

It looks like Google is rolling out a second set of invites to Google Wave users. When logging in, users that have burnt through their initial five invites are finding that they've now been granted an additional twelve to dole out to whoever they like.

The invites for the service are in hot demand. The first lot were issued at the end of September, and many people quickly exhausted them. A new set will be welcomed by those who didn't manage to get in on the action then. What's not clear is if the new invites are part of the original 100,000 promised, or an expansion of that number.

Since Wave launched it's appeared on mobile devices, had movies retold inside it, and been granted a Mac-based desktop client. The service has been labelled as difficult to grasp, but the other day we discussed five useful things that you can do with Google Wave right now.

Have you got an invite? What do you think of Wave? Let us know in the comments.

Tags: Software Online Google Google Wave

Google Wave users get more invites originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 28 Oct 2009 11:08:21 +0000

Spotify, following a good deal of public experimentation with price points, has decided to lower the price of its premium subscriptions in a sponsorship deal with insurance company Swiftcover.

Billboard is reporting that until 2 November, you'll be able to get a Premium subscription for ?6.49 per month for 6 months. There's no minimum term, so you're free to cancel after that time if you want to. The company had also experimented with deals at ?5, ?8 and ?9 price points.

The move is clearly in response to the launch of Napster and Sky Songs' offerings, which cost ?5 and ?6.50 respectively, and bundle in MP3 downloads. They don't, however, include mobile access, higher bitrates or exclusive content, unlike Spotify. The main attraction of Spotify Premium for many people, though, is the removal of ads from the content.

The reduced rate offer is only available to new subscribers, though it's not clear if you can cancel your subscription and re-sign-up at the lower rate. Many people have said that the ?10 price point is too high, so does this make you want to sign up to the service? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

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Tags: Audio Software Music Online Spotify Swiftcover Media streaming

Spotify expands Premium discount programme originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 28 Oct 2009 10:43:20 +0000

Four in ten UK internet users would hand over their TV if they had to choose between that and their internet connection, in what's being said is a sign that the Internet has become "an integral part of life today".

The stats, from research agency, GfK NOP's "Connected Life" study, also show 53% would "find it hard to function" without their internet connection while 38% are using their PC to watch TV and video content online.

"The results of our survey give a remarkable indication of how embedded the internet has become in our daily lives, particularly considering the television's long established place in UK leisure time", Babita Earle at GfK Technology comments.

"There’s a clear shift in usage of the internet for doing more than just daily tasks - it's becoming the key entertainment and communications platform, and will only continue to do so as new and old media continue to converge".

Tags: Software Online Statistics GfK Home Cinema

Four in ten choose internet over television originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 28 Oct 2009 10:17:57 +0000

Samsung and Handmark, a mobile apps and service company, have announced the launch of a new Global Venture Fund to invest in companies or individuals with "innovative, market-changing game ideas for next generation Samsung mobile phones".

Unlike rival manufacturer's similar schemes, this time round it's just about gaming. The companies say they are "searching for games that best showcase Samsung mobile phones and the advanced features they offer".

The fund is considerable - companies or individuals selected will receive up to $250,000 each to fund the development of winning ideas.

"We know there’s a wealth of great ideas out there waiting to be discovered", said Chris Barnett, senior vice president of global sales and strategic partnerships for Handmark.

"This is a fantastic opportunity for anyone, including big brands, mobile developers or any individual with a unique, creative idea to make it a reality".

To submit a proposal or for more information, visit www.handmark.com/company/samsungfund. The deadline for entries is 20 November, 2009.

Tags: Phones Mobile phone games Samsung Handmark Gaming Software Biz

Samsung and Handmark offer $250k for games for next-gen phones originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 28 Oct 2009 09:53:08 +0000

Free movies? Whole, completely free movies? Movies you've actually heard of, too?

Seems so, and if you like your flicks to be vintage, this is definitely for you. Classic movies streamed for nothing.

They don’t make ‘em like this any more?

www.classiccinemaonline.com

If you have a website that you want to tell us about email us via the feedback form.

Tags: WebsiteOfTheDay Websites Software Online

WEBSITE OF THE DAY ? Classic Cinema originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 28 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Tags: Audio Car And GPS Dad Gadgets Gaming Hardware Home And Kitchen Home Cinema Phones Cameras Software Sports Fitness Vodafone Pocket-lint Gadget Awards 2009 Pocket-lint Awards

Vodafone Pocket-lint Gadget Awards date confirmed and tickets on sale originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Tue, 27 Oct 2009 18:03:36 +0000

Facebook has quietly launched a new feature that allows users to mark profiles of dead users as being a "memorial". Friends and family will be able to report to Facebook the fact that a user has passed away, offering "proof" via an obituary or news article.

The move comes after a few awkward cases where users were receiving updates from their dead friends. If a profile is "memorialized" then status updates and contacts will be removed from the page and will no longer be available. Special privacy settings will also be applied, where only friends will be able to view the profile.

Max Kelly, Facebook's privacy boss, wrote on the company's blog: "When someone leaves us, they don't leave our memories or our social network.?To reflect that reality, we created the idea of 'memorialised' profiles as a place where people can save and share their memories of those who've passed".

The company asks anyone who wants to submit a profile as deceased to fill out a webform.

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Tags: Software Online Website Facebook

Facebook offers memorial option for profiles originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Tue, 27 Oct 2009 16:35:33 +0000

It certainly can't have escaped you that Google Wave has arrived but, whether you've managed to get an invite or not, what you might have missed is the point of the whole exercise. Yes, it's a new way of communicating, mixing e-mail, IM, extensions, gadgets and all sorts of other things and, yes, you can embed them but how does this help your everyday day life?

The recently announced app store will certainly help get a few ideas flowing but here are a few suggestions on how you can actually make Google Wave work for you right now.

Creative Collaboration

This is probably the most obvious category of use for Google Wave. It's all very well if you're working on a project by yourself but if you're writing music, a script, a speech, designing a poster or website or any kind of creative collaboration, then a Wave is an excellent way to do it. It adds the real time element so that you can bounce ideas off your partners just as you would face to face. It records all your suggestions whether or not you think they'll make the final cut at the time and, in larger groups with more specialised individuals, it allows each person to see what everyone else is working on. That way, you won't get so many terrible clashes of concept where people have got the wrong idea. For example, the person writing the music for a film will be able to see the footage as it is created from when it's first shot through editing and post production and will have a better idea of the tone for their work. In large groups, the wave can act like a central hub where all the work is not only collated but also focused.
EXAMPLES - Script writing, music writing, speech writing, web design, filmmaking, project management

Event Planning

Probably the most exciting and accessible use for Google Wave, as it stands, is in event planning from road trips to weddings. Rather than knocking e-mails back and fourth between unwieldy address lists, instead all of the ideas can be stored and the communication held on the wave without having to worry about people missing the message or contacting people on the wrong phone or e-mail. It also provides a single location where the complete information of the event can be accessed. You could plan a holiday with a group of friends and include details of flights, accommodation, maps, opening hours of tourist attractions and images of places you'd like to visit as well as perhaps the sharing of photos afterwards. You could even embed the whole thing into your blog afterwards to show people what your vacation was like.
EXAMPLES - Stag & hen Dos, holidays, road trips, weddings, business events

Modelling

No, not the fashion industry but the kind of extensive planning with plenty of variables and too much information for a single piece of paper. One of the great things about Wave is the space for Extensions which come as either Robots or Gadgets. These can alter both themselves and the entire wave with live information pulled in from the outside world. One good use for these would be to keep the content of a wave up to date - whether that be football scores or the price of oil. If a collaborative, multimedia document then has the ability to update itself, you can use it to model or plan any complex situation. Through that, you can know how you wish to respond to the real-life situation. Simple examples might be household finances. You could have a robot set to bring in the effect changing interest rates might have on your monthly household expenditure and show you where to best spend or save the money. It would adjust the plan according to your preset parameters. This way you don't have to keep writing new models but just develop the same one as your venture grows.
EXAMPLES - Business plans, household budgets, statistical analysis, gambling patterns

Education

There's no substitute for actually being there when it comes to teaching but Google Wave is as good as you can get if not. Whether we're taking about a teacher holding a class to an entire group of students with diagrams, written words and active participation or, for our practical purpose, something as simple as helping your parents fix their PC, it's an excellent way to do so. Best of all, these classes will remain online for them to access any time they need rather than have to rely on memory or bother you again while you're busy doing something else.
EXAMPLES - Remote learning, helping some fix their computer, giving accurate directions to a location, writing a shopping list for someone else

Commenting

From the set up point of view, it's probably more a suggestion for a business or a web enthusiast but very soon we might find ourselves using Google Wave as a commenting system on sites and forums. The point here is that it allows users to watch conversations happen while being part of them. So, rather than make a comment and refresh the page for the next five minutes to see if anyone else replies before forgetting about it and never returning to that page again, you'll be able to see people typing as you are doing so too. Doubtless it will help fuel internet rage but at least we should get through these issues a little faster - say over just 10 minutes of your lunch break rather than the whole hour.
EXAMPLES - live forums and web article commenting

As it stands, there's still no absolute dead cert use that'll see Google Wave shoot through the roof as Twitter did last year but that doesn't mean there isn't still plenty you can get out of it if you have a go. The point is to try.? At the least, when it does take off, you'll be able to say that you were there in 2009.

Related links:

• Review - Google Wave - First Look review
• Video - Pulp Fiction retold in Google Wave
• Video - First Google Wave desktop client arrives
• News - WEBSITE OF THE DAY - Easiertounderstandthanwave
• News - Google Wave working on iPhone and Android?

Tags: Software Online Google Google Wave Features

Five things that Google Wave can do for you originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Tue, 27 Oct 2009 16:10:59 +0000

If you're a disorganised photographer then chances are you store your digital photos on your computer, back them up and then forget about them until someone says:

"Do you have a picture of a women on a bus in London eating a sandwich?"

Of course you do, but how the devil do you find it. In steps Adobe's Lightroom package that allows you to catalogue your photo collection and edit your photos without getting too "Photoshopy" and then print them or publish them to the Web.

Lightroom has been around for sometime, but with a new version, Lightroom 3, entering public beta, what can we look forward to in the new model, and should you start using it from today.

The first thing you should note is that this is very much a beta and Adobe is keen to express that. What that means is that there is no official support for the software and there are a number of features Adobe says are yet to come. It also means that you can't import your current Lightroom 2 catalogue into the software package just yet and that's probably not that much of a bad thing - you don't want all your metadata corrupting do you?

So for the purpose of our review we imported a number of images into the catalogue and ran the software side by side measuring the performance and keeping a close eye on the differences.

So what's new? Well one of the main things that isn't is the interface. While there were fairly large changes from Lightroom to Lightroom 2 in the look and feel of the package, here, the transition to Lightroom 3 is going to be minimal. For us that's a good thing. While not everything is perfect, we are happy with the structure of Lightroom and find it fairly easy to navigate around the package. The same can be said for Lightroom 3. The panels are all in the same place and apart from the odd new button or panel, everything is how you know it.

The main focus therefore has been on how the program works with your images and how you get them in.

The import window sees the biggest overhaul with a completely redesigned interface that is not only more in keeping with the design style of Lightroom, but also in functionality.

Split into three panels, you can select the source from the left, the target on the right and see the images you're importing in the middle, whether it's from a disk, drive or memory card. You now also get "Loupe" ie single image view and can choose to add, copy or move them into the catalogue. There is also the option to add metadata or keywords as before and save all those options so it's just a press of a single button the next time. If you aren't interested in any of that you can compact the import view to a single bar, which gets to work straight away. Overall it's a massive improvement and makes getting your images into the system quick and simple, especially in comparison to Lightroom 2.

Those familiar with Lightroom know that the package is split up into different zones; Library, Develop, Slideshow, Print, and Web.?

Library

New features to the Library include adding photo uploading services support so you can now upload images directly to flickr and the like. Within the beta you can only upload to flickr, although Adobe says that other galleries, presumably like their own Photoshop online service will be added.

The system works as a gateway to the service rather than just an uploader and that means you have control over what is online, what isn't and the ability to sync it with comments for example.

Interestingly you can also create a synced folder that doesn't have to be online but on a network drive or even your iPhone. With the system you can then sync photos to and from that device. It's easy and if you are transferring images on an external hard drive it's a good way to "check-in" and "check out" images from your catalogue.

Elsewhere multiple info views have been added to the Loupe view, there is the ability to auto sync in library mode (something that was only available in develop previously) and greater import control into specific folders. A small detail, but nonetheless one we've found helpful is the ability to see within sub-folders. And lock filters from folder to folder.

Develop

Develop has seen the most "under the hood" development, after all Adobe has got to justify the upgrade from 2 to 3 somewhere. Here you get improvements to the processing options for RAW and jpeg.

The imaging improvements are there but for the most part subtle. Zoom in 1:1 and you'll see the changes, work from afar and you'll be wondering whether it's done anything, but they are there.

New tools and sliders to master include sharpening, colour noise reduction, a re-structuring of the vignette tool for a more natural effect as well as the ability to control the colour and highlighting vignette to boot.

You can also add a grain effect for those looking for more of a "film" look, although we personally haven't found a reason to use this yet.

There is also a camera calibration mode now that allows you to try and correct chromatic abrasion, however this isn't an automated process like some software packages, which would be a really nice addition.

Finally Brushes has had a good overhaul and its now a lot easier to use on your photos.

When the package is finally ready you'll also be able to choose whether or not to reimport your Lightroom 2 images in with the new settings or leave them as they were - either way doing so will change the look of the image.

The good news is that in the beta the processing and general performance of the software was good, nippier in most cases than Lightroom 2, although we aren't ruling out the possibility that it's because our Lightroom 2 catalogue has over 16,000 (yes 16,000) photos in it.

Slideshow, Print, and Web

Slideshow gets a brief look in via the ability to add music from your music folder to your images. A nice touch is that the software will automatically change the length the photos are shown so it fits the music to save you having to try and work it out. You can then dump the slideshow into H.264 to do as you will.

Likewise Print gets more "interactive" templates that make it easier to create printouts for your clients all at the drag of a mouse, rather than having to actually really understand anything.

As for web support? Easier watermarking and that's about it for the moment.

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Verdict:

Lightroom 3 looks to be taking the software in the right direction, although for beta users you will be mainly seeing under the hood changes rather than anything that will visually knock your socks off from the get go.

Adobe is clearly following Microsoft and the Windows 7 route here by allowing its user base to get to grips with the software in order to hear how they use it so the package can be improved. It's a new way of developing software but one that is worth the input.

I think the biggest disappointment is the inability to upgrade my current catalogue - doing so would allow people to give it a good run for its money rather than treating it like a sandbox. If this was the case it would allow you to really get to grips with what does and doesn't work by the time the software eventually comes out.

Promising, but without the ability to import your own catalogue you'll find this is a weekend intrigue rather than your new favourite software package until the final version is released.

Tags: Software Mac software PC software Photo editing software Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 Cameras

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 beta originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Tue, 27 Oct 2009 16:00:00 +0000

When Spotify launched its API back in April with a great song and dance, much was made of the possibilities it could bring. Except that when it finally emerged, it turns out that you couldn't do very much with it. Many were disappointed, and Spotify's attentions turned to its mobile clients instead.

Now that the iPhone and Android apps are out in the wild, Spotify seems to have begun work on its APIs again. It's just released a Metadata API that'll allow programmers to query Spotify's vast library of music - just like searching in the client - but returning XML data that can then be output into a program or website.

It could be used for all kinds of applications, including a web interface for playing Spotify like the one run by We7, where you could search for artists or songs on a site and then get a Spotify link back. You could also build a script that automatically turns Spotify links on websites into artist and track titles.

There's a couple of limits, though - you can't query the API more than ten times per second, per IP address. And the terms and conditions have some pretty harsh language about what you call the tool you develop - it can't have the word "Spotify" in it, for starters.

You can grab the Metadata API from Spotify and start tinkering today. Let us know what you come up with.

Tags: Audio Spotify API Music Software Websites

Spotify launches Metadata API originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Tue, 27 Oct 2009 15:55:06 +0000

Last.fm is reportedly preparing a push into video content, and the site is expanding into television, according to a report in Music Week. The online radio service, which was bought by US media giant CBS in 2007, is attempting to expand its brand globally.

The report claims that the initial offering is expected to launch in January and will be based around European music festival content. That could include partnering with existing festivals, or building bespoke events. We'd presume music videos would likely be involved somewhere along the line too, but it's not clear where.

Adding video to Last.fm's offering will both elevate it above its music-focused contemporaries, but also place it in competition with giants like YouTube and MySpace. However, whereas YouTube has often endured a rocky ride with the major labels, Last.fm has kept them onside so it remains to be seen whether the company can keep that special relationship intact once video content is in place too.

This is a breaking story, and we've asked Last.fm for comment and more detail. We'll update this post when we hear back.

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Tags: Home Cinema Audio Software Websites Online Lastfm Lasttv

Last.fm launches Last.tv originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Tue, 27 Oct 2009 14:53:43 +0000

Imagine the Kinkaku-ji temple in Kyoto made out of Lego. Imagine the time and patience it would take.

Now imagine the Kinkaku-ji as a folding book. Made out of Lego.

My head throbs just thinking about it.

Awesome brickwork.

If you've seen a video online that you want to tell us about email us via the feed back form.

Tags: Video Websites Software Online Lego

VIDEO OF THE DAY - Lego Kinkaku-ji originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Tue, 27 Oct 2009 12:00:00 +0000

Stuart Miles brings us his customary comment from NYC with a look at the talking points from this week in tech.

Under the spotlight in this instalment is Apple's Magic Mouse and whether this is the beginning of the end for the button and the launch of Microsoft's Windows 7 operating system.

Miles also muses the rise of real-time search with the news that Google and Bing are due to integrate Twitter content into their search results as well as offering thoughts on Google's Social Search.

The fact that Nokia is suing Apple for patent infringement is the final topic under consideration - is the Finnish giant protecting its patents or looking for a quick cash injection? Hit play for more...

Tags: Audio Car And GPS Dad Gadgets Gaming Hardware Home And Kitchen Home Cinema Phones Cameras Software Sports Fitness Comment Video

VIDEO: Tech Week in View: Magic Mouse, Social Search and Nokia sues Apple originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Tue, 27 Oct 2009 10:05:00 +0000

Google's new "Social Search" Labs feature that looks to your contacts for relevant results during searches is being rolled out now. You'll find a neat demo video above that does a good job of explaining the changes, while Google says:

"Your friends and contacts are a key part of your life online. Most people on the web today make social connections and publish web content in many different ways, including blogs, status updates and tweets. This translates to a public social web of content that has special relevance to each person. Unfortunately, that information isn't always very easy to find in one simple place. That's why today we're rolling out a new experiment on Google Labs called Google Social Search that helps you find more relevant public content from your broader social circle".

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Tags: Software Online Google Search engines Social networking Social Search Video

VIDEO: Google demos Social Search originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Tue, 27 Oct 2009 09:30:12 +0000

Guitar Hero is the first console game franchise to surpass 1 million Facebook fans, says developer Activision.

As the number one best-selling third party video game franchise in America and Europe this year to date, since its release, more than 38 million games have been sold worldwide.

The most recent release "Guitar Hero 5" launched in September and is said to be the "most social and interactive Guitar Hero game ever".

The million-strong Facebook fans can get the latest info on Guitar Hero games and the artists in the games, as well as share their favourite artists, songs, and Guitar Hero experiences.

Tags: Gaming Guitar Hero Music games Facebook Statistics Activision Software Audio

Guitar Hero rocks 1 million Facebook fans originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Tue, 27 Oct 2009 09:16:17 +0000

The world is full of talented people and the Internet has made it much easier for you to show the world what you've got. But, these days, that means there's a lot more competition for anything creative that people might want done.

That's what makes Talenthouse so special. It's a new place where you can browse through various projects and chip in with your particular creative input.

Whether it's film, fashion, photography, music, whatever, there's an outlet here if you've got what it takes.


www.talenthouse.com

If you have a website that you want to tell us about email us via the feedback form.

Tags: WebsiteOfTheDay Websites Software Online

WEBSITE OF THE DAY - Talenthouse originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Tue, 27 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Facebook is a funny old creature and it does like to throw changes at its users faster than most. Well, good on Zuckerberg Inc for doing its best to keep up with the times - it's just a shame that for many it can cause a little confusion as to where to find all the bits and pieces that we've only just got used to. So, with today's little switch-aroo on the world's favourite social network, here's the Pocket-lint guide to News Feed and Live Feed, which to use and just where everything else has gone anyway.

News Feed

When you log in to Facebook and navigate to the home page, you'll find the real-time feed - the central column - looking a little different. It now comes in two different formats according to which words are highlighted at the top of the feed. The default setting will be News Feed and what company has done here is to bring back a couple of features that were lost last time around and make this into more of an overview of the activity in your social network

Instead of offering a chronological view of what's been going on, it presents users with what it thinks are the most interesting updates at the top of the list moving down to the least important ones at the bottom - if you really want to go back through that many years worth of notifications that is. That idea is that it offers a better overview of what's been going on and it works it all out with an algorithm which factors in how recent the update has been made, how many friends have liked it, how many have commented on it and how likely you are personally to interact with the news at all.

What's it best for?
Don't use the news feed option if you're the kind of person who sits on Facebook 24 hours a day. This isn't a blow-by-blow account of what's going on. The News Feed works best as a quick catch up tool. If you've either been away from the internet for a few days - heaven forbid - or perhaps for your first check of the day, or if you're not someone who uses Facebook on a daily basis, then this is the one for you. It's an excellent way of catching up on the important stuff quickly.

The downside is that the algorithm used to work out what should be at the top of the list is only as good as you are. If you never comment on other people's updates, then the system won't have a very good idea of what and who you like most, so the updates will pretty much come in the order of the time they came anyway. Otherwise, it works well.

Live Feed

Your other option is the Live Feed which is much more like the real-time stream used to be. Without ever having to manually refresh the page, the Live Feed offers all the updates of everyone in your network - no matter how large or small - with the latest appearing at the top of the list as it happens.

If you hit the options next to the updates on either feed, you can customise your streams to edit out and block anyone who you don't want to listen to. They won't be notified of the fact and you can always reinstate them in the Edit Options section any time you like.

What's it best for?
The Live Feed is the much more Twitter-like approach from Facebook. All the really big notifications will get lost of the pages just as quickly as the small stuff, so this is the option that's more for people who monitor their stream on a regular basis. If you just dip in and out once a day, then stick to the News Feed, but if you want a real-time chat-type minute-by-minute interaction, then the Live Feed is the one to use.

Are there any other changes?

Apart from these major shifts, the birthday notifications box is more in-depth than before and in a better place - not lost quite so far down the screen. Then other change is that the highlights box has been axed with the idea that its function is mostly served by the News Feed option. Coincidentally, it also frees up a nice bit of real estate above the fold in the top right corner where the company can render the sponsored ads.

Related links:

• News - Facebook makes more homepage changes
• News - Facebook touchscreen homepage launches
• News - Facebook has added music to its gift store
• Link - Pocket-lint Facebook page

Tags: Software Facebook Social networking Websites Online Features

The new Facebook feeds and which to use originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Mon, 26 Oct 2009 16:07:11 +0000

Microsoft has quietly issued a variant of its brand new Windows 7 operating system that can be copied to a USB stick and used to install the OS on computers that don't have a CD drive, which includes many netbooks available today.

In our review of Windows 7, we found that the software performs admirably well on even relatively low-spec hardware, so putting it on a netbook is being actively encouraged by Microsoft, especially as most of those netbooks are running 2001's Windows XP.

All you've got to do is buy "Windows 7 For Netbooks" from Microsoft's online store, then download an ISO file. Make that drive bootable, then reboot your netbook with it plugged in and you should be away. We'd like to hear your experiences of Windows 7 on your netbook - share it in the comments below.

UPDATE: Seems like the USB stick edition is US-only for the time being. PC Pro quotes a Microsoft spokesperson saying:?"This option is available in the US, but we have nothing to officially announce in the UK at this stage". We'll let you know if the situation changes on that front.

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Tags: Software Windows 7 Microsoft Operating Systems USB drives USB

Windows 7 available in USB stick edition originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Mon, 26 Oct 2009 15:18:20 +0000

While PC-owning book worms wait for Amazon's release of its new "Kindle for PC" software, it seems Mac users have not been forgotten, confirming to the Fast Company magazine's blog that it will be offering a similar software solution for Macs.

With the short but sweet "Yes, we are working on a Kindle app for Mac" statement, an Amazon spokesperson has revealed Mac users won't be left out in the cold - just as well considering Amazon boss Jeff Bezos' plans to make the Kindle "the iPod of reading".

The Kindle for PC software is due next month as a free download for those with Windows-based PCs. It will mean Amazon customers without a Kindle device will be able to buy Kindle ebooks to read via their computers.

The move will mean Kindle books will soon be able to be read on the Kindle and the larger Kindle DX, on the iPhone and iPod touch, on PCs and laptops and (hopefully) soon - on Macs too.

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Tags: Software Mac software Kindle Amazon Amazon Kindle ebooks eBook readers

Amazon to offer Mac version of "Kindle for PC" software originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Mon, 26 Oct 2009 15:00:40 +0000

Spotify, the streaming music service which has captured plenty of users in the year it's been around, has launched its first "reklam", or TV advert, albeit in Swedish. You can see it above.?

Many have suggested that despite doing well with web users, Spotify is stuck in that "early adopter" market and is having trouble expanding out to the general public. This ad should, in theory, help with that.

We wonder if an English version will be rolled out to the UK, or even the US once the service launches in the States - as it's scheduled to - in 2010.

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Tags: Audio Software Online Music Spotify Advertising Adverts Video

VIDEO: Spotify launches first TV advert originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:38:32 +0000

Today marks a sad and entirely sentimental moment for the internet as the DIY website builder GeoCities disappears from the severs of the world. In the early days of the web they were an excellent way to make a corner of the virtual world your very own - no matter how bizarre and niche your passions were - in the mid days they became a frustration when searching with Google results bringing them up as largely useless sources of hard fact and now, they're just quite funny to look at because they're so very basic and remind us all how far we've come.

While you may not like GeoCities any more, while it may no longer have any purpose whatsoever, its removal from our screens is somewhat of a tragedy because were it a building or something of the real world rather than the virtual, it would be taken up and looked after by the National Trust or put in a museum where its cultural significance could be preserved. So, on the one hand this day is a mark of how far the internet has come and on the other of how far it has yet to go, and while we lack an international online body to look after this kind of virtual heritage, at least there are a few good, honest heavy geek fans out there and their tribute pages to this trailblazer that's beaten its last path. All tributes are, of course, under construction.

Homestar Runner Tribute

A little on the merciless side with the "You're the 16th biggest moron ever" visitor counter is this tribute page from those of the Flash animated cartoon persuasion that are Homestar Runner and their GeoCities-style take on a tribute to The Cheat. (A tribute within a tribute; see what they did there?). There's an excellent use of poor quality photos; really bad, pointless and highly teen copy and the odd spelling mistake for good measure too. Very strong overuse of meaningless GIFs and a good few graphical errors for good measure. Also heart-warming to see the use of the "edgey" black background although points have to be deducted for the lack of a pattern on top. Overall, very good though. 4/5

xkcd tribute

The most publicised and, sadly, short-lived on the web is the reskin of the xkcd website probably just for the day. It may not have quite as much content as the other tributes but some very good work here with pretty much all of the bases covered. Fantastic black starred background with some nicely ill chosen areas of black text on top of it; really good scolling and blinking text and lots of visible html tags. What's most impressive here is the ease of which the GeoCities style has been incorporated with the day to day functional running of the xkcd site. Not sure what that says about their site normall then. 4/5

Andy's virtual GeoCities eTribute

The others were ace but the real heavyweight GeoCities tribute champion of the day has to be this one from FlashPoint Social Media. It represents just about everything that's wonderful and terrible with the 90s web builder in one go while representing just about every single internet meme from the era too. Some of the highlights include the Gangster's Paradise midi track on autoplay, the really big button that doesn't do anything and the fact that the "most awesome site in the world is best viewed with IE 4 at a minimum of 800 x 600 resolution set". Perhaps a slight loss of points for the whole thing being too perfect without any exposed code at all but it's still a seriously impressive piece of work. 5/5

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Related links:

• News - GeoCities to shut down on 26 October
• Link - The Cheat web page
• Link - xkcd
• Link - Andy's virtual GeoCities tribute

Tags: Software Online Websites GeoCities Yahoo Features

The best of the GeoCities tributes originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Mon, 26 Oct 2009 12:53:49 +0000

TalkTalk has announced the launch of "Magic Desktop" offered free exclusively to TalkTalk customers. ?

"The service allows parents to introduce young children to a computer in a child-friendly environment and encourages families to use the internet safely", says TalkTalk, aiming the service at 2- to 10-year-olds.

Magic Desktop is said to feature a range of child-friendly, or perhaps more accurately parent-friendly, applications that let parents manage the sites their kids can visit and create a list of approved email contacts in "Magic mail".

There's also learning exercises rewarded by a point system that can be extended into the real world for the likes of homework or chores.

TalkTalk customers with Windows-based PCs can download the Magic Desktop application free of charge at www.talktalk.co.uk/magic-desktop.?

Tags: Software TalkTalk Dad Online ISPs Kids games

TalkTalk offers "Magic Desktop" software for kids originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Mon, 26 Oct 2009 12:51:31 +0000

The Internet for the non-western world could be set for a major upheaval next week as ICANN - the?Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers - meets in Seoul to discuss the possibility of allowing non-Latin characters to be used in web addresses.

The non-profit organization, which oversees the domain name system that underpins the Web, is expected to approve the move, which would allow web addresses in?Arabic, Korean, Japanese, Greek, Hindi and Cyrillic, as well as a whole host of other scripts.?

"This is the biggest change technically to the internet since it was invented 40 years ago", said?Dengate Thrush, chairman of the ICANN board. If the proposal is approved, then the organization would begin accepting applications for domains early in 2010, with the first websites coming online later in the year.

Thrush added:?"We're confident that it works because we've been testing it now for a couple of years," he said. "And so we're really ready to start rolling it out".

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Tags: Software Online ICANN

Non-English domain names approaching originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Mon, 26 Oct 2009 12:08:44 +0000

11 years is a long time for any business. But this little clip from Google shows just how far they've come.

From small-time, self-confessed internet pattern obsessives to multi-billion dollar media empire.

Not bad, eh?

If you've seen a video online that you want to tell us about email us via the feed back form.

Tags: Video Websites Software Online

VIDEO OF THE DAY - Google story originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Mon, 26 Oct 2009 12:00:00 +0000

The profile of the hacker has changed dramatically since their first appearance on the consumer internet radar 20 or so years ago and, with it, so has the nature of their crime. Whereas online attacks were anarchic attempts to undermine the system, what we've seen these days is that now cyber crime is about ID theft, fraud and trying to take as much money from users as possible. The only real difference between virtual attacks now is the tools of the trade - a mouse instead of a gun. So, for a quick tour of what else has changed and exactly how it works, here's the Pocket-lint A to Z of cyber crime.

A - Albert Gonzales

Gonzales is an American born hacker of Cuban parents currently awaiting sentences for his crimes of credit card theft and subsequent resale of over 170 million card and ATM numbers from 2005 through 2007. He was busted by the US Secret Service as part of a cyber crime forum called the ShadowCrew - a 4000 strong community of online hackers, thieves and fraudsters. Albert agreed to cooperate with authorities to avoid jail but at the same time started up his old ways again by getting a list of the Fortune 500 retail companies and hacking into their systems for their customer databases. He was eventually caught for a second time and arrested at his Miami condo along with $1.6m million, a blue 2006 BMW, his laptop and a Glock 27 pistol.

B - Botnet

A botnet is a network of what are often referred to as zombie computers which have been compromised by malicious code and are used to hack other systems on the Internet. They provide both anonymity to the cyber criminals operating them, known as the bot-herder or bot-master, and huge amounts of resources sometimes with around 10,000 nodes or machines each. Typically, computers become part of them through phishing schemes after which the code will run as quietly as possible to avoid detection. It's been estimated that up to 25% of the world's computers are part of one.

C - CVV2

CVV2 is hacker code for credit cards as named after the security code by the magnetic strip. They're a sought after commodity in the cyber criminal world but sold in batches of around 10 for $10, they're still relatively cheap as many are inactive and it's also quite hard to extract money from them without setting off all sorts of fraud systems unless you happen to be in the same country as the victim.

D - Denial of Service

A DoS is designed to stop websites or computer systems from functioning properly by overloading them with requests to either slow them down or forcing them to be reset. Typically, a botnet will be used to bombard the victim server from all angles simultaneously. The technique is most often employed for reasons of anarchy but it's also common for blackmailing and extorting money from banks and credit companies.

E - Ehud Tennenbaum

Nicknamed The Analyzer, Ehud Tennenbaum is an Israeli hacker known for his technical skill. In 1998, at just 19, he was caught by the FBI after a series of hacks in NASA, the Pentagon and the Knesset in what the then-US Deputy defence secretary, John Hamre, called "the most organized and systematic attack on US military defence to date". Initially, the attack was thought to be the Iraqi government in an act of war and after permission from the US president, Operation Solar Sunrise was kicked into action which sent the full weight of all the US agencies after the perpetrators. The attack was eventually traced back to Tennebaum and two California teenagers.

Rather than agree extradition, the Israeli government insisted they would punish Tennebaum. He received 6 months community service and a well paid job in the Israeli Secret Service. Sadly, Tennebaum slipped back into his old ways and was arrested in 2008 by Canadian police for credit card fraud. He'd been pulling entire bank databases from their websites using sql injection for years and was only caught after getting complacent and withdrawing the money himself from ATM machines with video cameras and operating from a hotmail account that was registered to his real name.

F - Full

A Full is the hacker term for a complete identity or full personal profile. These are prized very highly as unlike CVV2s they cannot be cancelled and can be used for multiple fraudulent purposes, including opening accounts to launder money through. A full consists of full name, date of birth, home address, e-mail, mother's maiden name, phone numbers and government ID.

G - Guzman

Onel de Guzman is the man who admitted to the unleashing of the infamous ILOVEYOU virus of May 2000. He has never claimed to be the architect but has said that he unwittingly released it by creating the backdoor trojan to the worm that allowed it to work. The code itself was a worm sent as a LOVE-LETTER-FOR-YOU.TXT.vbs attachment to an e-mail with the subject line ILOVEYOU. Once opened, the attachment replaced all multimedia files with copies of itself and sent out the ILOVEYOU mail to everyone on the infected user's address book. The malware propagated incredibly quickly because of both its clever and social engineering. It came from a trusted source and was about a subject which everyone wanted to read.

After bringing down thousands of system all over the world - including the British Parliament's network, the CIA and the Pentagon - the worm was finally brought to a halt when a 25-year-old Thai software engineer by the name of Narinnat Suksawat wrote a program called "Rational Killer" which deleted the malware and undid all its work. Suksawat was given a job by Sun Microsystems 2 months later as a senior consultant.

H - Hackers

Although traditionally associated with techie malcontents sticking two fingers up at the world from their basement, hackers have very much changed profile. Organised gangs and traditional criminals are at the heart of cyber attacks and although the tools of the trade have changed the game and the attitudes of the players are very much the same. The motives behind the attacks are almost entirely financial with the aims to defraud and steal identifications. The authorities have suggested that much of the money is to fund drug dealing although in practice it's very hard to tell. If there was any doubt about the serious nature of this underworld business, then a string of kidnappings of the relatives of hacking informants made it very clear when they started a few years back.

I - IRC

IRC channels are an old and empirical form of online instant message chat most often used in internet forums. Many IM clients these days can also support IRC. Among other uses, IRC is a common way of communication for hacker forums such as the ShadowCrew and is the main form of interaction for the cyber criminal underworld of highly specialised operatives. It is often also used as a way for the hackers to communicate with nodes on botnets.

J - Justice

Because of both its international nature and its lack of precedents, the law and those who enforce it have had a serious battle in successfully prosecuting cyber criminals. It's very difficult for some countries to agree extradition and sentencing has been hard to judge. Hidden funds and wild guesses about the damage caused by a malware attack have made this even more difficult. Many of international laws on the matter are finally being homogenised but two of the first reasons a hacker will give for committing their crimes is that it's hard to get caught and the sentencing is light.

K - Key stroke logging

This is a classic way to get information from an infected computer. Certain pieces of malicious code installed on your computer will send back real time .txt files of every key that you press on your keyboard. They can also provide screen grabs too. Much of the data is, of course, nonsense but it's not difficult to extract personal and financial details every time you make a purchase online or access your bank accounts.

L - Laundering

Money laundering is probably the toughest problem facing cyber criminals. With so many automatic fraud systems, it's very hard to use stolen credit or account information to actually get the money out of the system. Mules are needed for the practice in the country from where the stolen information originates. Most mules have enough knowledge of what's going on with the proviso that they can keep a certain percentage of the money on the understanding that they'll take the full wrap if caught. Some are also tricked into it with too good to be true type job advertisements you'll see in the papers and online.

M - McColo

McColo was a San Jose based web hosting company until it was closed down in 2008. It offered substantial protection to its clients and was responsible for huge amounts of the world's spam as a haven for hackers and botnets. When it was finally forced to close, there was an overnight 7% drop in spam world wide.

N - Norton

Like it or not, Symantech provides what is currently the top internet security suite available. In independent testing it dealt with 100% of the threats thrown at it where all of its rivals let some slip through the net. There are also good free anti-virus options but at the time of writing, Norton is the top with claims from Symantech that it is also one of the lightest solutions out there too.

O - Operation Phish Fry

In a recent effort to shut down a particularly prevalent spamming network the Secret Service, FBI and Egyptian local forces worked together in what was nicely called Operation Phish Fry. Over 100 people were arrested with half of them sending out the attacks from Egypt and the other half in California both trying to draw money from the harvested account information.

P - Phishing

Fishing is one type of cyber crime attack rather than straight malware. It's most usually done via e-mail often pretending to be your bank or any other kind of online service to trick you into clicking onto a bogus link and take you to a site that spoofs the bona fide version to the one you're used to. The person is then tricked into entering their account details which are then registered remotely by the hacker. There's also a very good chance that you'll have downloaded some malware, typically a key stroke logger, from visiting the site in the first place. An easy way to avoid these is by carefully reading the URL before you click on it. Many look very like the ones they are supposed to be except with a small spelling difference.

Q - Quorum

Quorum is the reputation system used specifically by Symantech in the anti-virus products. Reputation profiling exists in all good security products and is a way to predict whether an application attempting to run on your machine is malicious or not. It looks at features of how old it is, its prevalence across the Internet and other metadata to detect its true motive without having to have seen it before. It's the only current way of recognising brand new attacks before the malware is black-listed and all the software can be patched and updated.

R - Rogue anti-virus

The biggest new vector in cyber crime attacks is the rogue AV. They started coming to the forefront in 2006 and are fake anti-virus and security programs that people actually buy and install themselves. They are often reskins of real AV programs done incredibly convincingly. Unwitting users pay for them online, thus giving money up front as well as their credit card and personal information, the program will almost certainly also install all sorts of malicious code and will be impossible to remove. It may also ask for money for updates and subscriptions. It's the gift that keeps on giving.

S - SQL Injection

This is a more complex method for the more technical hacker and is a way of probing for weaknesses in a website. Skilled operatives can test the front end of an online service until they find the way into the back and the information behind it. Once inside, the hacker can pull the entire database in one go. Fantastic if it happens to be a bank or popular online retailer.

T - Toolkits

You really don't have to know much to be a hacker any more and there are even a whole bunch of toolkits you can buy from specialist developers that will do all the work for you. Software with names like Icepack, Firepack and Neosplit will cycle through thousands of different attacks so that when a user is tricked into navigating to your site where the program is hosted, it can eventually find a weakness. Naturally, software piracy is as big an issue in the underworld as it is everywhere, so these days the packs are free but with money charged for premium support and services.

U - Ukraine

Many of the cyber criminal underworld and particularly the organised crime section of it have originated in Eastern Europe. It's slowly becoming less difficult to gain extradition orders for hackers over there, but in the Ukraine there's actually a law saying that MPs and anyone who has ever been one is immune from extradition. One particularly enterprising hacker has managed to get himself elected and is now entirely bullet proof.

V - Virus

This is the old word for computer attacks until they became more sophisticated. A virus is something that doesn't require any human help to work apart from unwrapping them in the first place. They are executable files that will arrive on your machine often via e-mail or by navigating to a certain website. They can still be stopped by you AV system when they try to execute and will often cause serious damage to your system if they manage to attack. Worms, trojans and all the traditional types of malware are computer viruses.

W - War Drive

A war drive is the method non-technical hackers like Albert Gonzales can use to break into computer systems. In Gonzales' case, it was simply a question of getting his laptop within range of wireless networks until he'd find what was unsecure. Naturally, they're relatively few and far between, but once inside the hacker has complete and easy access to all the information they need.

X - XXX websites

5 or 10 years ago, one easy way to greatly reduce your chances of picking up any malicious codes was to avoid porn websites. They often contained adware and were merely just fronts for uploading as much nonsense to your machines as possible while also delivering very little of what the user actually came there for. These days it's not much more the case than any other kind of site. All sorts of websites are compromised these days and, in fact, the more reputable the page, the better the chance of passing on malicious code.

Y - You

Cyber crime and malware isn't about attacking computers any more. It's about attacking you. The aim is to take your credentials and your identification so that they can extract your money and open accounts under your name. Ultimately, it doesn't matter how good an internet security suite you have running on your machine. If you habitually make bad choices online and start filling in your details where you shouldn't, then you will become a victim.

Z - Zango

Zango was a software company that provided users access to its partners' videos, games, tools and utilities in exchange for viewing targeted advertising placed on their computers. Much of this advertising contained malicious code for attacking the user and thus Zango was known to be an adware downloader. Its installation was complex in that the larger part of it was easy to remove but there were diffuse elements in other applications, such as the Zango Hotbar that became integrated into the web browser, that could not. These continued to supply Zango's shady affiliates the real estate to attack users. After years of litigation, the site was finally closed down in early 2009 apparently several million dollars in debt.

Related links:

• News - Malware writers take advantage of financial fears
• News - Symantec launches Norton 2010 products

Tags: Software Phishing Malware Online Features Viruses And Malware Cybercrime Symantec Norton AntiVirus 2010

The A to Z of cyber crime originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Mon, 26 Oct 2009 09:51:21 +0000

Facebook has made more changes to its homepage that go some way to undo recent tweaks by offering a more tailored version of the stream of info that users see.

The social networking site is now offering two views of News Feed: a summary view of the "most interesting" activity that's happened in the last day and a real-time view that shows what is happening right now.

"You will be able to catch up on what you may have missed while you were away from Facebook and then easily switch to the real-time stream when you want to see posts as soon as they're shared", says Facebook.

The "most interesting" things that happened in the last day are chosen on a variety of factors including how many friends have liked and commented on it and how likely you are to interact with that story.

As it suggests "Live Feed" lets users see what's happening right now, offering a more Twitter-esque view of happenings.

"Some of you may ask why we are changing the home page again. Like you, we know it can be disruptive when things are moved around, but we hope that these changes make Facebook a more valuable experience for you", says Facebook.

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Tags: Software Facebook Social networking Websites Online

Facebook makes more homepage changes originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Mon, 26 Oct 2009 09:17:05 +0000

Most Monday mornings are a bit tough. You’ve had a couple of days to unwind and let your hair down when all of a sudden, it's over and you’re back to the grindstone.

How on earth are you supposed to be able to remember who has what in their morning brew?

Skinny decaff soya with a twist?

Long white Americano?

Earl Grey?

Builders' tea?

Just in time, this site pops up to help us all out.

Make mine a mocha. Large. No cream.

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www.officecuppa.co.uk

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If you have a website that you want to tell us about email us via the feedback form.

Tags: WebsiteOfTheDay Websites Software Online

WEBSITE OF THE DAY ? Office Cuppa originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Mon, 26 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0000

So here we are at the end of the week, having covered all the latest and greatest news and launches with the highest profile debut of the week undoubtedly Windows 7.

With the general release of the OS, Pocket-lint has offered a whole host of special Windows 7 related articles.

These features should help you by not only giving you an idea of which version to buy - or for that matter whether to buy it at all - but ease you into its use, allowing you to get the most out of Microsoft's latest OS.

So here in no particular order is the run down of the useful features, articles and guides Pocket-lint has dished out throughout this week.

Find out whether Windows 7 is actually right for you with Pocket-lint's Seven reasons to buy Windows 7. How much faster is it? Are the new multimedia elements any good? Is it any easier to use than previous efforts? It's all here so just click through.

With the new OS being touchscreen-compatible you might find this Five touchscreen Windows 7 PCs useful. Products covered include the HP Touch Smart, Asus Eee Top ET2203 and Dell Studio One 19.

You've decided to make the break with your old OS but which version of Windows 7 should you go for? You'll be like a kid in a sweet shop with our feature Windows 7: Which version should you get.

If you have a little uncertainty as to how to install/upgrade then this next feature is just what you need. Follow the step by step instructions for a stress-free experience in How to upgrade to Windows 7.

If time is of the essence then you need Pocket-lint's Windows 7 Quick Guide, which gives a smart little run down of the OS, telling you all you need to know. What's new? What's not?

Finally, for those of you who need that little bit extra clarification of what the OS is like to use, then our Windows 7 full review is a must, was it really worth the wait after all?

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Tags: Software Windows 7 Operating Systems Microsoft

Pocket-lint's complete coverage of Windows 7 originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 23 Oct 2009 18:32:47 +0100