Editorials

Web 2.0 Coming to Your Workplace?

More and more companies are using tools that utilize Web services, peer-to-peer networking, blogs, podcasts, and online social networks to help users connect and collaborate. While many companies allow unsanctioned use of instant messaging or departmental wikis to improve employees ability to share ideas, some companies are taking things a step further and rolling out these tools enterprise wide.

Consider Yammer, a Twitter-esque micro blogging application for the enterprise. The tools allows users to exchange short messages which are shared in a searchable knowledgebase. On the first day of launch, some 2000 organizations signed up for its service. Additional tools for the paid version even allows a company to have...

Editorials

Black Friday Deals

Having trouble on where to shop and what to shop for this coming Friday? I compiled a short list of gadget friendly stores that may have what you're looking for.

Circuit City

HP Pavilion 15.4" Dual-Core Laptop w/ 2GB, 160GB, Vista Premium - $399.99

Samsung 42" 720p Plasma HDTV - $699.99

Samsung 46" 1080p LCD HDTV - $1099.99

World of Warcraft Battlechest - $14.99

Toshiba 32" 720p LCD HDTV - $449.99

Sears

Samsung BD-P1500 Blu-ray Disc Player - $199.99

Samsung 50" Widescreen Plasma HDTV - $899.99

TomTom 125 GPS Navigation System - $99.99

Walmart

50" Samsung plasma HDTV - $798

Magnavox Blu-ray player - $128.00

Xbox 360 Arcade Bundle w/ Guitar Hero III and wireless guitar - $199

HP...

Software

Did You Know You Are In the Cloud?

A recent Pew Internet study details Americans use of Software as a Service(SAAS) offerings. Almost 70% use some form of cloud computing and more than half of all online users in the US have a webmail service or store video, photos or other data with service providers.

Should you care? As more and more services are delivered in the cloud, issues like security, privacy and availability should be top of mind. Consider Google and Amazon's outages earlier this year (Google Gmail and Google Apps went down for 15 hours Aug. 6 and 7; on Aug. 11, Gmail went down for 2 hours and Amazon's S3 service went down for 2 hours in February) and the fact that most people fail to read the terms of use agreements that detail how a site can use the data they are putting in. If the data you are...

Software

It Really is a Good OS

Good OS, already known for the gOS Linux distribution and a $199 Walmart computer, is releasing a new operating system called Cloud.

The operating system integrates a web browser with a compressed Linux operating system kernel so that the computer has immediate access to the internet and full control of the computer through the browser. For users that need the power of a full fledged OS, Cloud can also boot into Windows or Linux. Cloud would seem to be a great fit for diminutive netbooks and this is confirmed by the Good OS's announcement that Cloud will be installed side by side with Windows XP in GIGABYTE machines early in 2009.

The Cloud OS takes us one step closer to a software world where most if not all our work is done on mobile devices or light weight machines...

Software

Google’s Breakin’ Da Law! (Well, the Apple Law)

Google admitted to breaking the rules of Apple's iPhone software development kit when creating the newest version of the Google Mobile application (which features a verbal search prompt). Google confirmed on Tuesday that Google Mobile uses undocumented APIs (application programming interfaces). They did so to be able to use the iPhone's proximity sensor for their verbal search prompt.

However, Google has denied a much more serious charge of linking to private or dynamic frameworks in said application. This is about the biggest rule one can break in developing an application for the iPhone. Doing so could break the application when Apple makes updates to its software in the future.

Apple has been known for not approving any application that has broken or even bent (or...

Software

Konami changes it all: iPhone a REAL Gaming Platform!

When Apple announced that the iPhone/iPod Touch would support games, most of us were pretty shocked. Steve Jobs had previously stated that he "didn't care about games" so having them on the iPhone always seemed like sort of a pipe-dream. But, like with anything, once it's clear you can make some money from something, people suddenly get excited. So on came the games, and they looked good, were interesting and a great distraction - not deep - but an adequate distraction. Now, that's all changed. Konami, one of the largest game developers in the world, has announced support for the iPhone. Not only that, but apparently the iPhone will be getting its very own installment of the ridiculously popular Metal Gear series: Metal Gear Solid - Touch.

There aren't a lot of details out there...

Software

Microsoft Has ESP 2.0

Formerly the domain of flight simulators and military training programs, Microsoft has visions of using its ESP platform to revolutionize the way businesses train workers or plan and test products.

ESP is a virtual reality platform that allows companies build in-house simulation tools far cheaper than the $500,000 plus that is commonly charged by boutique studios for custom training simulators.

While version 2.0 of the ESP platform will not be released for a few years yet, Microsoft is already planning to soon release simulation platforms for trains, automobiles and underwater movement.

If you are extremely gung-ho, you can download the developer's kit at (...

Software

eBuddy Booms With 10M Users

Amsterdam based eBuddy released figures showing hit 10 million users.

What's been helpful in getting those numbers is their J2ME eBuddy client as it's supported by most basic phones, most people use. eBuddy has seen the application get downloaded 5 million downloads since July. This is about double the amount since coming out in summer of 2007, averaging out to download rates of about a million per month.

Pretty awesome for the instant messaging startup that has a global reach of 195 countries, 37 languages and is enjoyed by 3 million users.

Software

iPhone App Lets You Join The AT&T WiFi Party

There are few simple things that people come to want 'now'. Namely, coffee and WiFi.

These two things will come easily to iPhone users with the new Devicescape Easy WiFi app. Once you are in a AT&T WiFi spot, all that’s needed is to enter your phone number.

Starting today, the app goes from free to $1.99. Not a bad price for giving you another reason to extend your Starbucks run.

Hardware

The Champ Returns

Palm, the prize fighting handheld of days gone by, has reentered the fray with its Pre smart phone. Coupled with Palm's new webOS platform, the device will enter the smart phone melee sometime early 2009.

The Pre has all the expected stuff...camera, GPS, WiFi plus a full Qwerty keyboard and touch screen. Two especially cool features for the phone are the ability to synch contacts from a variety of sources including Gmail, Facebook, etc. and a wireless charger.

The phone will launch exclusively with Sprint (I guess I won't get one...at least not yet). So with all the competition out there (the iPhone, the Blackberry Storm, etc. etc.) can the Pre be a contender?