Software and Services

• TwitterBerry 0.6 launches - The TwitterBerry application for BlackBerry is built to send Tweets from BlackBerry devices.
• Pictomio is a software application for managing, categorizing, searching, and archiving photos and other media files, and allows you to generate animated 2D and 3D slideshows. The extensive capabilities of the latest programmable 3D graphic cards are utilized for image decoding and displaying slideshows

Information

• The RIAA Explains How It Catches Alleged Music Pirates - To catch college students trading copyrighted songs online, the Recording Industry Association of America uses the same file-sharing software that online pirates love, an RIAA representative told The Chronicle at the organization’s offices during a private demonstration of how it catches alleged music pirates. He also said the group does not single out specific colleges in its investigations.
• A Day Without Twitter - Chris Brogan tells about his day without Twitter.

Bargains

• Remember: Many of these bargains may be discontinued hours or less after they are announced, check the specified price to see if you arrived on time.
• SanDisk 4 GB Extreme III SDHC Card with Reader ($38.01).
• Samsung WEP410 Bluetooth Wireless headset ($37.99).
• Canon HV20 3MP High Definition MiniDV Camcorder ($956.44).
• Franklin SCD-1890 Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary, 11th Edition ($69.75).

By writing about and linking to the articles/products/software on this page I do not endorse or testify to the reliability of them in any way or form.

Tags: bargains, twitter, pictomio

Who Should you follow on Twitter? Send tweets by dialing a local number and speaking your message, get 6 Firefox extensions made to save you time, turn your point-and-shoot into a super-camera, find out how much Linden Lab is making from Second Life, find great bargains and much more in today’s edition of the Daily Friction.

Software and Services

• Who should I Follow? - Whether you’re new on Twitter or an early adopter, there are likely people you should be following, but aren’t. Which begs the question, “Who should I follow?”.
• TwitterFone - Send Tweets by dialing a local number and speaking your message to TwitterFone.
• 6 Excellent Firefox Extensions Made To Save You Time - If you are a die-hard Firefox user then I am sure you are always on the look-out for tips and tweaks to get more out of Firefox in less time and hence be more productive.

Hardware

• Turn Your Point-and-Shoot into a Super-Camera - If you’re using a consumer grade point-and-shoot Canon digital camera, you’ve got hardware in hand that can support advanced features way beyond what shipped in the box. With the help of a free, open source project called CHDK, you can get features like RAW shooting mode, live RGB histograms, motion-detection, time-lapse, and even games on your existing camera. Let’s transform your point-and-shoot into a super camera just by adding a little special sauce to its firmware.

Information

• How Much Is Linden Lab Making From Second Life, Anyway? For a rough guess, how’s somewhere in the range of $40-50 million this year sound?
• How Much File Sharing Traffic Travels the Net? - Everyone seems to agree it represents a lot of the traffic, but the truth is no one knows (with the possible exception of the ISPs and backbone providers in the middle, and they aren’t telling or sharing raw data).
• Microsoft resumes XP, Vista updates - Microsoft on Tuesday said it is resuming two major Windows updates that had been halted because of a conflict with one of its own software products.

Bargains

• Remember: Many of these bargains may be discontinued hours or less after they are announced, check the specified price to see if you arrived on time.
• Zune 30 GB Digital Media Player ($194.99).
• Atlantic 77305018 Satellite Speaker Stands ($21.08).
• Kenwood KCA-BT200 Bluetooth interface ($113.00).

By writing about and linking to the articles/products/software on this page I do not endorse or testify to the reliability of them in any way or form.

Tags: Twitter, Camera, Second+Life, Bargains

Hardware

• Sony Unveils Ultra-small Hybrid Fuel Cell - Sony Corp prototyped a fuel-cell system small enough to fit in one hand. The size of the system is about 50 × 30mm, which was realized by combining a fuel cell, Li-polymer secondary battery, control circuit and so forth.
• Dell’s new Vostro, crippled by monumental keyboard screw up.
• Scientists Create First Memristor: Missing Fourth Electronic Circuit Element - Researchers at HP Labs have built the first working prototypes of an important new electronic component that may lead to instant-on PCs as well as analog computers that process information the way the human brain does.

Information

• The “Hello World” Program, in 366 Programming Languages! - “Hello World” is the first program one usually writes when learning a new programming language. The first Hello World program appeared in chapter 1.1 of the first edition of Kernighan & Ritchie’s original book about C, “The C Programming Language”, in 1978.
• How can Microsoft overcome Vista’s lingering image problem? Microsoft and its hardware/software partners have done a lot in the past 16 months to make Windows Vista a better operating system. With Service Pack (SP) 1, Microsoft has addressed some of the performance and reliability problems that has made Vista the butt of so much bad press when it launched.
• BBC exposes Facebook flaw - The BBC’s technology programme Click has exposed a security flaw in the social networking site Facebook which could compromise privacy. (Video)

Wed Development

• XML in 10 points - XML, XLink, Namespace, DTD, Schema, CSS, XHTML … If you are new to XML, it may be hard to know where to begin. This summary in 10 points attempts to capture enough of the basic concepts to enable a beginner to see the forest through the trees. And if you are giving a presentation on XML, why not start with these 10 points?

Bargains

• Remember: Many of these bargains may be discontinued hours or less after they are announced, check the specified price to see if you arrived on time.
• SanDisk 4 GB Cruzer Titanium USB Flash Drive with U3 ($24.95).
• SanDisk 4 GB Cruzer Micro with U3 ($21.15).
• Nikon Coolpix S10 6MP Digital Camera ($322.22).
• Sony Alpha A100K 10.2MP Digital SLR Camera Kit with 18-70mm f3.5-5.6 Lens ($549.90).
• Panasonic DMC-FX50K 7.2MP Digital Camera ($299.22).
• Canon HV20 3MP High Definition MiniDV Camcorder ($829.99).

By writing about and linking to the articles/products/software on this page I do not endorse or testify to the reliability of them in any way or form.

Tags: Dell, Vista, Facebook+flaw, Bargains

Clean your registry with Eusing free registry cleaner 1.8, get a SPOT watch before they are gone, get a wind and solar portable charger, check out the worlds fastest consumer hard disk, remember everything you ever learn, browse through Crayon color names, codes and fun facts, get some great bargains and much more in today’s edition of the Daily Friction. Enjoy.

Software and Services

• Eusing Free Registry Cleaner 1.8 - Eusing Free Registry Cleaner is a free registry repair software that allows you to safely clean and repair registry problems with a few simple mouse clicks. The Windows Registry is a crucial part of your PC’s operation system.

Hardware

• Time runs out on Microsoft’s SPOT watches - It’s a sad day for fans of Smart Watches, which use Microsoft’s once-hyped SPOT technology. The Smart Watch, the epitome of nerd chic, is dead.
• wind and solar portable charger - HYmini is a handheld portable electronics charging unit that uses renewable wind and solar sources to top up its power. The device can recharge most 5V appliances, including mobile phones, MP3 players, iPods, PDAs, and digital cameras.
• The Fastest Hard Drive Ever - Western Digital’s Velociraptor is the beast to be feared. The new 300GB, 10,000-RPM device comes as a much-needed bolster to Western Digital’s high-performance storage line.

Information

• Want to Remember Everything You’ll Ever Learn? Surrender to This Algorithm - SuperMemo is based on the insight that there is an ideal moment to practice what you’ve learned. Practice too soon and you waste your time. Practice too late and you’ve forgotten the material and have to relearn it. The right time to practice is just at the moment you’re about to forget. Unfortunately, this moment is different for every person and each bit of information.

iBargains

• Remember: Many of these bargains may be discontinued hours or less after they are announced, check the specified price to see if you arrived on time.
• Oregon Scientific RM313PNA-B Self-Setting Projection Alarm Clock ($15.56).
• Canon VIXIA HF100 Flash Memory High Definition Camcorder ($732.00).
• Sony DVP-NS700H/B 1080p Upscaling DVD Player ($69.43).
• Canon PowerShot SD800 IS 7.1MP Digital Camera ($305.81).
• SIRIUS Sportster 4 Satellite Radio Receiver with Car Kit ($79.97).

Fun

• All 120 Crayon Names, Color Codes and Fun Facts - For the last 100 years or so kids have been exploring and creating worlds of color with Crayons. For a lot of us, our life long love affairs with color began with these wax sticks and a blank sheet of paper.

By writing about and linking to the articles/products/software on this page I do not endorse or testify to the reliability of them in any way or form.

Tags: crayon, Hard+Drive

Software and Services

• KeePass Password Safe 1.11 - KeePass is a free/open-source password manager or safe which helps you to manage your passwords in a secure way. You can put all your passwords in one database, which is locked with one master key or a key-disk. So you only have to remember one single master password or insert the key-disk to unlock the whole database.
• RegScrubVistaXP 1.6 - Designed not only for casual users to safely repair the registry, but allows advanced users and IT professionals to view various sections of the registry on a regular basis.

Hardware

• 5 reasons my Zune is dead to me - “I really wanted to love my 80GB Zune. I’d heard good things about its Wi-Fi and its FM radio, its software, the Zune Marketplace, its easy navigation, and its non-iPod-ness. But then I got it, and now I hate it. Here’s why, in ascending order of annoyance.”
• Intel cuts quad-core price by 50 percent - Intel posted price cuts on Sunday that included reductions of 50 percent on select quad-core processors. The chipmaker also introduced new Celeron and Core 2 Duo processor models.

Information

• BitTorrent Throttling ISPs Exposed by Azureus - Data collected by the BitTorrent client Azureus shows that Comcast might only be the tip of the iceberg when it comes to BitTorrent throttling ISPs. Early findings show that customers from quite a few other Internet service providers experience an unusually high amount of TCP-resets.

Wed Development

• 7 Incredibly Useful Tools for Evaluating a Web Design - An effective web design is one in which your users are able to find information quickly and in a logical fashion.

Bargains

• Remember: Many of these bargains may be discontinued hours or less after they are announced, check the specified price to see if you arrived on time.
• iRobot 530 Roomba Vacuuming Robot ($249.95).
• Panasonic DMP-BD30K 1080p Blu-Ray Disc Player ($499.99).

By writing about and linking to the articles/products/software on this page I do not endorse or testify to the reliability of them in any way or form.

Tags: Zune, Intel, BitTorrent

Software and Services

• Five Best DVD Ripping Tools - Whether you want to watch a movie on your iPod or back up your too-easily-scratched DVDs, DVD ripping is a mysterious realm for many. Even those in-the-know find it difficult to keep up with the best tools for the job, especially in the face of increased copy protection.

Hardware

• $549 Eee PC 900 to hit U.S. May 12 - Users who purchase an Eee PC 900 with Linux, however, receive a laptop that boasts 20GB of flash memory-based storage space. Customers who opt for Windows XP, meanwhile, end up with a machine equipped with only 12GB of solid-state storage.
• War for Visual Computing: Why AMD Could Have the Best Chance - In the world of the PC, you’d have to be both blind and deaf to miss last week’s riveting drama that became known instantly as the “NVIDIA and Intel Battle”. In nearly back to back swings, both Intel and NVIDIA executives landed metaphorical punches to the gut of one another in attempt to show analysts, stock holders and, we assume they still matter, PC users, why their companies are going to be the technology leaders for the future computing.

Information

• 20+ Windows Vista Features and Services Harvest User Data for Microsoft - Are you using Windows Vista? Then you might as well know that the licensed operating system installed on your machine is harvesting a healthy volume of information for Microsoft. In this context, a program such as the Windows Genuine Advantage is the last of your concerns. In fact, in excess of 20 Windows Vista features and services are hard at work collecting and transmitting your personal data to the Redmond company.
• The Six Dumbest Ideas in Computer Security - There’s lots of innovation going on in security - we’re inundated with a steady stream of new stuff and it all sounds like it works just great.

Bargains

• Remember: Many of these bargains may be discontinued hours or less after they are announced, check the specified price to see if you arrived on time.
• Brother FAX-575 Personal Fax, Phone and Copier ($37.49)
• Sony DAV-HDX500/i BRAVIA Home Theater System ($386.72).
• Nikon D40 6.1MP Digital SLR Camera with 2 Zoom-Nikkor Lens ($549.00).

By writing about and linking to the articles/products/software on this page I do not endorse or testify to the reliability of them in any way or form.

Software and Services

• Workstation 6.5 Beta 1 has been released - Among many other features, this version includes Unity, a feature that was introduced in the Fusion product (for MacOS X) which allows you to run your applications from your virtual machine on your desktop without needing to be confined to a big box representing the VM’s monitor.
• twhirl is a desktop twitter client, based on the Adobe AIR platform. It runs on both Windows (2000/XP/Vista) and Mac OSX, connects to multiple Twitter accounts, gives notifications on new tweets, shortens long URLs (using snurl or is.gd), make sit possible to cross-post updates to Pownce and Jaiku, can post images to TwitPic, search tweet and more.

Hardware

• Nokia readies iPhone respons - Nokia remains at work on its answer to the Apple iPhone, codenamed “Tube,” a company official said on Monday.

Information

• Windows 7 In 2010, Microsoft Says - The expected release date contradicts earlier statements by Bill Gates that his company might ship a new version of its Windows operating system as soon as 2009.
• Yahoo Answers Microsoft With Yet Another No - After their top executives traded recriminations in an exchange of letters, Microsoft and Yahoo continued their stalemate, with Yahoo shareholders expected to play an increasingly large role in the takeover battle.

Wed Development

• Firebug integrates with Firefox to put a wealth of web development tools at your fingertips while you browse. You can edit, debug, and monitor CSS, HTML, and JavaScript live in any web page.

Bargains

• Remember: Many of these bargains may be discontinued hours or less after they are announced, check the specified price to see if you arrived on time.
• Logitech Harmony 670 Universal Remote ($99.24).
• Philips SE7452B Enhanced High DefVoice Phone Answer Machine ($111.36).
• Atlantic 77305018 Satellite Speaker Stands ($29.00).

By writing about and linking to the articles/products/software on this page I do not endorse or testify to the reliability of them in any way or form.

Tags: Firebug, VMware, iPhone, Nokia, Windows7, Bargains

Software and Services

• Google Talk ‘Labs Edition’ Is Launched - Google has launched a new version of Google Talk, dubbed “Labs Edition“, but it’s not clear if it’s a successor to the original, or a new branch of development.

Information

• Windows 7 may come ‘in the next year’ - Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates on Friday indicated that Windows 7, the next major version of Windows, could come within the next year, far ahead of the development schedule previously indicated by the software maker.
• Companies struggle as Safari pops up on networks - Network administrators are complaining that Apple’s recent decision to offer users its Safari Web browser as part of an iTunes and QuickTime update has made their lives harder as they struggle to remove the software from PCs on their networks.
• NYC Not Entitled To An Apple, Apple Says - The ‘apple theory’ is the topic in the latest federal application against the GreenNYC campaign logo. Several newspapers reported that Apple Inc. doesn’t like the idea of New York City officials using an apple as a logo for their eco-friendly campaign due to a resemblance to the electronics and software producer’s own logo.
• Qualcomm Aims to Expand TV Service - Qualcomm will use the radio spectrum it won in a recent government auction to double the capacity of its mobile television service on swaths of both coasts. The spectrum will give its MediaFLO USA service the ability to double offerings from Orange County, Calif., to Northern California on the West coast and from New Hampshire to Maryland on the East coast.

Wed Development

• Drupal Backward compatibility (or lack there of - The issue of breaking backward compatibility comes up every once in a while, more and more in the form of a heated discussion.

Bargains

• Remember: Many of these bargains may be discontinued hours or less after they are announced, check the specified price to see if you arrived on time.
• Panasonic DMP-BD30K 1080p Blu-Ray Disc Player ($499.00).
• HP Pavilion Media Center M8100N Desktop PC ($899.99).
• Philips DVP5960 DVD Player with HDMI, 1080i, DivX ($50.00).
• Jabra SP5050 Bt Speakerphone ($63.59).
• Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker ($18.90).

By writing about and linking to the articles/products/software on this page I do not endorse or testify to the reliability of them in any way or form.

Tags: Google+Talk, windows7, Safari, Apple, Qualcomm, Bargains

Software and Services

• 4 Ways to Carry your PC on iPod or USB Thumbdrive - Do you want to take your favorite programs along with all of your bookmarks, settings, email and more wherever you go and use them on pretty much any computer ? If so here are four free tools that can help you with that.

Information

• Microsoft Announces Extended Availability of Windows XP Home for ULCPCs - Microsoft announced the worldwide extension of the availability of Windows XP Home for an emerging, new class of mobile personal computers commonly known as ultra-low-cost PCs, or ULCPCs. Windows XP Home for ULCPCs will be available until the later of June 30, 2010, or one year after general availability of the next version of Windows.
• How to deal with bully bosses - Do you have a bad manager? Someone who makes your life miserable all week by criticizing your every move? Experts offer their tips on handling bully and toxic bosses.
• Women’s attractiveness judged by software - An Israeli team of computer scientists has developed a software that ranks facial attractiveness of women. Instead of identifying basic facial characteristics, this software has been designed to make aesthetic judgments — after training.
• The Pirate Bay server are moving - We decided to move to the desert of Sinai in Egypt since we feel that we’ll be safe there. Tiamo has already got himself a permanent place to live and will reside in Sinai from now.
• Top 10 Harmless Geek Pranks - Since the dawn of time, geeks have been playing harmless pranks on their beloved (but unsuspecting) associates, and it’s up to all of us to carry the torch forward.

Bargains

• Remember: Many of these bargains may be discontinued hours or less after they are announced, check the specified price to see if you arrived on time.
• Optoma HD72 DLP Projector ($999.99) until 4.15.08.
• Toshiba Qosmio F45 Laptop ($949.99) until 4.15.08.

By writing about and linking to the articles/products/software on this page I do not endorse or testify to the reliability of them in any way or form.

Tags: windowsxp, pranks, Bargains

Software and Services

• Songbird 0.5 - Songbird is a desktop media player mashed-up with the Web. Songbird is committed to playing the music you want, from the sites you want, on the devices you want, challenging the conventions of discovery, purchase, consumption and organization of music on the Internet.
• KDE 4.0.3 Released - The KDE Community today announced the immediate availability of KDE 4.0.3, the third bugfix and maintenance release for the latest generation of the most advanced and powerful free desktop. KDE 4.0.3 is the third monthly update to KDE 4.0. It ships with a basic desktop and many other packages.
• Firefox 3 Beta 5 Released - Firefox 3 Beta 5 is a developer preview release of Mozilla’s next generation Firefox browser and is being made available for testing purposes. These beta releases are targeted to Web developers and our testing community to gain feedback before advancing to the next stage in the release process.

Information

• Microsoft’s Office Open XML now an official ISO standard - Microsoft’s embattled Office Open XML (OOXML) document format received ISO fast-track approval today after receiving support from approximately 86 percent of the national bodies that participated in the vote. ISO approval will be broadly perceived as a sign of validation for the document format which has received widespread criticism from technical experts and standards advocacy groups.
• Neighbors stealing your wi-fi? Have fun with them - starting by splitting the network into two parts, the trusted half and the untrusted half. The trusted half has one netblock, the untrusted a different netblock. We use the DHCP server to identify mac addresses to give out the relevant addresses.
• Trim Down Windows to the Bare Essentials - When you’re installing Windows in a virtual machine or on old, slow hardware, you want the leanest, meanest and fastest-running configuration possible.

Wed Development

• Serving JavaScript Fast - With our so-called “Web 2.0″ applications and their rich content and interaction, we expect our applications to increasingly make use of CSS and JavaScript. To make sure these applications are nice and snappy to use, we need to optimize the size and nature of content required to render the page, making sure we’re delivering the optimum experience.
• 10 things IT needs to know about Ajax - The introduction of any new Web technology will affect a network’s infrastructure in ways that range from inconsequential to earth shattering. Ajax is one of the more disruptive new Web technologies traveling across networks today. To help you minimize future surprises on your network, we’ve outlined the 10 things you should take to heart about Ajax.

Bargains

• Remember: Many of these bargains may be discontinued hours or less after they are announced, check the specified price to see if you arrived on time.
• Canon SELPHY DS810 Photo Printer. ($79.00).
• iHome iH6 Clock Radio for iPod (Black) ($79.98).
• Philips DVP5140 Multiformat DVD Player ($42.99).
• Canon PowerShot SD600 6MP Digital Elph Camera ($349.00).
• Sony Bravia KDL-32S3000 32-inch 720p LCD HDTV ($811.88).
• HP Officejet Pro L7680 Color All-in-One Printer/Fax/Scanner/Copier ($204.14).

By writing about and linking to the articles/products/software on this page I do not endorse or testify to the reliability of them in any way or form.

Tags: Firefox, KDE, Songbird, OOXML, wifi, JavaScript, AJAX

After a little hiccup in the WordPress code which caused a short down time during the day, I’m back in business with a new minimalistic edition of the Daily Friction. Should Apple care about a customer who pours water onto his MacBook? Can Swedish authorities force an ISP to block The Pirate Bay? Google forbids kids under 18 year old to use any of it’s services???? Some more laughs and good bargains in today’s edition of the Daily Friction. Enjoy!

Information

• Apple doesn’t care about it’s customers - Should they really care for a customer who pours water onto his laptop?
• Swedish ISP Refuses To Block The Pirate Bay - After forcing a single ISP in Denmark to block The Pirate Bay, it now appears that the IFPI has a plan to sue all of the major Swedish ISPs to force them to do the same. Telia Sonera, a large Swedish ISP is refusing to be bullied, stating that such blocking and filtering actions are illegal under EU law.
• Google: No kids allowed - Google’s terms of service, while ignored by the vast majority of users, contain a pretty shocking clause: Under 18’s are not permitted to use any of Google’s Web properties. That’s right, kids–no search, YouTube, Gmail, news, or images.

Bargains

• Remember: Many of these bargains may be discontinued hours or less after they are announced, check the specified price to see if you arrived on time.
• Sababa / Front Porch Dread Pirate Bookshelf Edition ($26.95).
• Typography ($55.44).
• The Guide to Dan Brown’s The Solomon Key ($11.21).
• Panasonic KX-TG5776S 5.8 GHz FHSS Cordless Phone ($59.95).

Fun

• The Circle of Life (Image).
• MacBook Air Parody - Dell’s response to the launch of Apple’s MacBook Air (Video).

By writing about and linking to the articles/products/software on this page I do not endorse or testify to the reliability of them in any way or form.

Tags: Apple, Google, The+Pirate+Bay

Hardware

• The fine lines between price and performance - Some lucky bastards have unlimited funds, while others have to pinch every penny, but it’s possible to put together a potent PC for just about any budget. The key is targeting different price/performance points.

Information

• Help Azureus to Fight BitTorrent Throttling ISPs - ISPs have been throttling BitTorrent traffic for years now, but only recently has this turned into a political issue. The BitTorrent client Azureus has now developed a plugin through which you can help distinguishing the good from the bad ISPs, data they will use to strengthen their argument in the ongoing Comcast debate.
• Turn Your PC into a DVD Ripping Monster - Commercial DVDs are far too expensive to let scratches turn your video into a glorified coaster, but most people still don’t back up their DVD collection. Once upon a time, the four to eight gigabyte footprint of a DVD on your hard drive was prohibitively large.
• Do you hear the difference between a 128 and 320 kbps mp3? Test yourself! Can you hear the difference?
• OpenOffice 3.0 Promises to Bash Office - Microsoft’s Office suite could have plausible challenger on the desktop for the first time since Lotus gave up trying to take on Redmond a decade ago. With developers struggling to get OpenOffice 2.4 out the door, details are emerging of the features users have to look forward to in the upcoming bullet point release, version 3.0.

Wed Development

• Remote MySQL management with phpMyAdmin - Odds are, if you design Web sites with a database back end, you’ve worked with MySQL. You can manage this database from the command line, but it’s not very user-friendly. Using the graphical tool phpMyAdmin helps, but not all Web hosting providers offer it or allow you to install it on the server. Fortunately, you can install it on your own box and manage several MySQL databases remotely at the same time, without having to install anything anywhere else.

Bargains

• Remember: Many of these bargains may be discontinued hours or less after they are announced, check the specified price to see if you arrived on time.
• SanDisk Sansa Express 1 GB MP3 Player ($29.99).
• Warhammer 40k: Squad Command ($17.99).
• Archos 704 80 GB WiFi Portable Digital Media Player ($241.58).
• HP TouchSmart Desktop + 19 Wide Touch Screen LCD ($1449.99).

Fun

• A system call that should never fail has failed - Picture.

By writing about and linking to the articles/products/software on this page I do not endorse or testify to the reliability of them in any way or form.

Tags: MySQL, mp3, Azureus, bargains