Howtos, Rants, and Reviews

Apple Unveils iOS 4.1 - Game Center, Bug Fixes, and HDR Photos
Thursday, September 02, 2010 12:37 PM

Yesterday Apple revealed the next major update to the iOS, iOS version 4.1. 4.1 comes with some very important bug fixes, including problems with Bluetooth and the proximity sensor. The iOS update also delivers a well needed performance boost for iPhone 3G users.

The new OS also has two pretty cool new features, Game Center and HDR photos. Game Center is a centralized multi-player gaming app that integrates with all compatible iPhone games. It lets you play and challenge your friends as well as track stats and unlock achievements. Many of the larger games for the iPhone have created their own version of Game Center already, but I'm sure they will make their games compatible to both when the update hits next week.

The other major feature is HDR photos, which stands for high dynamic range photo. It's a process of taking three images in quick succession with different exposures. You then combine the images to create a perfectly exposed image. The feature on the iPhone does all the work for you with just a touch of a button. The images displayed in Apple's presentation was pretty impressive to say the least.

The update of iOS 4.1 hits next week

by willburns1 | with no comments

Apple Gets 99-Cent TV Show Rentals So Does Amazon
Thursday, September 02, 2010 11:54 AM

Apple announced yesterday that along with their new Apple TV product they will be allowing users to rent and stream ABC and FOX TV shows for just $.99. It seems Amazon won't be out done in the streaming front, they to have a deal with FOX and ABC for $.99 TV show renting.

I guess Apple isn't the only one trying to break into this market of renting and streaming TV shows and movies. Amazon has been slowly building a music, movie, and now TV show streaming network for some time now. You can purchase music and rent movies and TV shows just like the iTunes store. Amazon has also found it's way to streaming devices so it's only a matter of time before we see who presents themselves as the internet video streaming and video on-demand leader.

Amazon $.99 Streaming

by willburns1 | with no comments

New Apple TV - YEA or NEY
Wednesday, September 01, 2010 2:17 PM

Apple unveiled the new Apple TV today at the Special Apple music event. I am on the fence on how I feel about it. It's smaller and cheaper but it comes at a price. There is always a positive and negative to devices, but here are the positive and negatives of the new Apple TV the way I see it.

Negatives
The new Apple TV no longer allows you to purchase movies and tv shows you can now only rent and stream them to your Apple TV, because it no longer has storage built in. You also can't sync media from your computer to the Apple TV it must be streamed from the computer. This means to play anything on your Apple TV your computer must be on and iTunes must be open.

Positives
The new device is a quarter of the size of the previous model and only costs $99. It's also silent and doesn't get hot like the current version does. You can now stream Netflix on the device as well as Youtube and others which were already integrated. You can now rent TV shows from ABC and FOX for only $.99 a show. The new AirPlay feature of iOS 4.2 allows you to stream video, music, and photos directly to your Apple TV from your idevices.

Not having local storage on the new Apple TV means that you have to stream everything. So your computer must be on and iTunes has to be open when you want to play your own music on your Apple TV. Some people will hate this because they don't have their computer up and running all the time, but still want their music at their fingertips. I on the other hand do and end up streaming almost everything to my Apple TV because I have way too much media to sync. So not having local storage isn't a big deal to me.

I really like the Netflix integration and for $99 it's a good deal for someone looking to buy a device to stream Netflix among other content. I love the new size and that it doesn't get super hot like the current version. The price point is just right, I feel, and should be a pretty good buy for someone wanting a device to stream media to their TV from their computer, as well as rent movies.

I still wouldn't rent movies from iTunes because I feel spending $5 to rent a movie is just way too much. I would rather wait to get it on Netflix or just purchase the movie for $10 and call it a day. The new Apple TV will not give you that option, but I imagine you could just purchase it on your desktop and then stream it from there. The new Apple TV is currently in the Apple Store so for more information go there and check it out.

New Apple TV

by willburns1 | with no comments

Rounds - Facebook Video Chat
Wednesday, September 01, 2010 12:03 PM

Well if you're looking to do just one more thing on Facebook then the new application Rounds just might be your next great Facebook application. Rounds is a video chat application for Facebook that lets you invite your friends to a video chat session. It's all flash based so as long as your friends has Flash and a webcam it should work just fine.

Rounds is a little bit different than other web based video chat applications. It allows you to apply effects to your video and place other effects and cartoon like elements on the other person's screen. So the interaction is a little bit my playful than just a normal boring video chat session.

You can also browse websites together, sharing a window and mouse control, you can browse website like flickr, Youtube, Facebook, and others. You can also play games with your chat partner like checkers and a cool shooting range game. You can even play a spin the bottle game if you want to relive the 8th grade.

I think Rounds is a pretty cool Facebook application, but I still prefer other chat options like tinychat, Skype, and iChat. However it's always nice to be able to communicate on a medium that the other person is comfortable with. If they don't have ichat or skype then you can't use them. Tinychat is much like Rounds but without the game like features and playful elements. Tinychat does however allow several people to chat at once which is a nice feature. Rounds will be great for video chatting with your friends on Facebook that you might not be able to get on a different service. It's worth the time to check it out.

Rounds Video Chat on Facebook

by willburns1 | with no comments

Gmail's New Priority Inbox - Pretty Cool
Tuesday, August 31, 2010 11:53 AM

Everyone knows that Gmail is one of the best email providers around. Their spam filter is one of the best in the business and they have features that are bigger and better than all the rest. Google has just rolled out a new feature called Priority Inbox, which automatically learns what messages are important to you and separates them from all the rest.

This is a very interesting feature and is sure to make Gmail a lot easier to use. Everyone gets garbage in their inbox that's not necessarily spam, but isn't something you need to read or respond to right away. Gmail's Priority Inbox is designed to learn what messages are important by looking at what messages you read and respond to. The more messages from a sender you read and respond to the higher the priority the messages from that user becomes. You can even promote or demote a message with special plus and minus buttons to help Gmail know what's important.

The longer you use the new Priority Inbox the smarter it becomes, and the better it will be at separating your important messages from the unimportant ones. This new feature, is like most of Gmail's new features it, will be rolling out gradually. So if you don't have it yet don't worry, just wait a day or two and it's sure to come your way.

Gmail Blog Priority Inbox

by willburns1 | with no comments

Pantalaine - America's finest Plural Clothing
Monday, August 30, 2010 2:26 PM

A friend of mine sent me this site pantalaine.com and i had to write a post about it. Pantalaine is a clothing store that sells plural clothing, meaning clothing for more than one person. At first glance you think might think conjoined twins right? No, some of their clothing could be worn by conjoined twins but the majority is simply clothing that can be worn with more than one person.

I have to say my favorite is the couch dress. According to the site you can have them customize the dress for any size loveseat or sofa in your home. It also comes with to flower broaches which you can choose from several different designs. Apparently they have new dress styles on the floor every season!

I also have to give a shout out to the "Baby on Board" pant. This is a pretty Awesome pant except you would probably give your baby brain damage if you ever tried to walk around with he or she in there. It's a funny idea other than the possible baby damage.

You might be asking yourself is this site real and do they really sell these products? Well I don't know. The location on Google maps looks like it's in the woods which doesn't make sense, and the address is in a residential neighborhood which according to Google Street View has no signs for the business. So it's not looking good. I sent an email to the managment of Pantalaine store, but I'm not holding my breath for a response. They also don't have a phone number on their website which they most likely would have if it was a real store. So I am going to go with it's fake, but it's funny all the same.

Pantalaine Store

by willburns1 | with no comments

Xbox Live Gold Membership Price Increase Set for November
Monday, August 30, 2010 1:33 PM

For the last 8 years a Xbox Live membership has been $50 for 12 months. All that is going to change on November 1st when Xbox live gets it's first price hike. Microsoft has decided to increase the Xbox gold membership to $59.99 instead of the $49.99, according to a blog post by Major Nelson. A one month membership will jump to $7.99 to $9.99 and a 3 month membership will jump from $19.99 to $24.99.

However Microsoft is currently running a deal right now where you can get $20 off your membership for the next year. For more information go here.

I still think that $60 a year for xbox live is still a great value. I think over the years the value added to Xbox live has been sufficient to warrant a price increase. You can do so much more with Xbox Live now than you could when it started and they continue to add great features.

If you are upset about the price increase you can always purchase a Xbox Live membership online and from places like Amazon and get it cheaper than just renewing online. You can usually find a 12 month membership for $10 less than the traditional renewal fee.

by willburns1 | with no comments

Filed under: Microsoft, live, xbox, price, increase

Find Royalty Free Music to Prevent YouTube Filters from Removing your Videos
Friday, August 27, 2010 12:58 PM

One of the most annoying things about uploading videos to YouTube and even Facebook is that their content filters can find copyrighted songs and will then remove your video video because of them. Yes of course they have the right to do that, because you're not supposed to use then in the first place. It's not like your making money off the video by posting it to YouTube, but I guess they don't care.

Well if you want music in your YouTube videos without running the risk of it being pulled try adding music from incompetech, a site that provides great Royalty-free Music. There are a lot of sites that offer royalty free music but must of them only have a limited amount and try and sell you the majority of their stock.

Incompetech has a pretty good selection and you can preview the songs before downloading. The website does not make you create an account to access the music which allows you to simply browse and download.

If you don't find anything you like at Incompetech try Free Music Archive. They have some really interesting stuff and have thousands of songs to choose from.

Incompetech

by willburns1 | with no comments

YouTube Releases 400 Free Full Length Movies
Friday, August 27, 2010 11:52 AM

YouTube has just added over 400 full length movies to their website. YouTube has already offered movies for rent and sporting events and now they are offering a section of free full length movies kind of like Netflix instant watch. They are of course not newer movies and most of them are kind of crappy, but hey they are free right. They are also interrupted every 10 - 15 minute by commercials that are twice as loud as the movie.

There are some great older movies including the three stooges, old horror movies, Jackie Chan, Bruce Lee, Hitchcock, and a nice selection of Bollywood titles and documentaries. It's not anywhere near as may titles as Netflix Instant Watch, but YouTube is free.

Checkout YouTube's Movies

by willburns1 | with no comments

Get Free Craigslist Email Alerts
Thursday, August 26, 2010 11:40 AM

Have you ever wondered why 9 times out of 10 someone beats you to the punch on a Craigslist listing. This happens most likely because people are addicted to the site and check it several times a day. Do you want the advantage of knowing about a listing before other people without having to checking it 20 times a day? Well perhaps you should use notifinder.com.

notifinder lets you setup email alerts for Craigslist listing. It's simple to setup and doesn't require an account. All you have to do is select your city and state, fill in what your looking for, what section of Craigslist it would be under, and how often you want to get the notification. Enter your email address and hit the Add button. Notifinder sends you a confirmation email that also lets you cancel the notifications at any time. I would suggest selecting a lower frequency if several items are posted every day under your search to prevent your email from exploding.

It's a pretty handy why of staying on top of cool listing and getting to the free ones first. I can't tell you how many times I have been beaten in a listing and it drives me mad. I hope that with the help of notifinder I'll be the one beating everyone to the punch.

Notifinder.com

by willburns1 | with no comments

Netflix comes to iPhone Finally
Thursday, August 26, 2010 10:52 AM

It's about time that a Netflix instant watch app makes its way to the iPhone. I have been waiting and waiting for Netflix to add their app to the iPhone App Store and now it's here. It has been availible for the iPad since it's launch, but for some reason they waited till now to release an iPhone version.

As far as the functionality of the app it kind of sucks. It doesn't do much other than let you add movies to your instant watch queue and watch them. You can't add movies to your disk queue or even view it. You can't change the order in your instant queue and categories like new releases and Popular Movies are no where to be found.

It does however do one thing well, and that's let you watch your instant watch movies. You can watch your movies over WiFi and 3G networks which is nice. If you want an application that has a more well rounded set of features, other than actually watching movies, I would try Phoneflicks which is free.

Netflix App

by willburns1 | with no comments

Make Free Phone Calls From Gmail
Wednesday, August 25, 2010 2:32 PM

Gmail has added the capability to make free phone calls right from Gmail. Over the next couple of days Google will start to roll out this feature that allows you to place free outgoing calls to the US and Canada. According to Google this service will remain free at least until the end of the year.

The service is a lot like Google Voice but doesn't require a Google Voice account to use. You can place free outgoing calls, but if you want to receive calls to Gmail you will of course have to obtain a Google Voice account and it requires a little setup to make it work.

It's basically like a free version of Skype when you pair your Google Voice with Gmail. If you left your Gmail window open all the time you could make and receive calls for free using your computer and your own phone number. Since there isn't an Google Voice Application yet you could use Fluid or Prism to make your Own SSB, Site Specific Browser, for gmail turning it into a Google Voice Application.

It's a pretty cool feature login to your Gmail account and give it a try.

by willburns1 | with no comments

Lady Caught Putting a Cat in a Trash Can Now in Protective Custody
Wednesday, August 25, 2010 12:26 PM

You may or may not be aware that a recent YouTube video that is causing quite a stir. The video comes from a closed circuit surveillance camera in England that shows a lady throwing the owner of the camera's cat into a close by garbage can. The cat was trapped in the garbage can for over 15 hours and luckily the owners found it and the cat seems to be just fine.

The owners were, understandably, very upset and posted the video of the incident on YouTube. They then started a Facebook page entitled "Help Find the Woman Who Put My Cat in the Bin." After hundreds of thousands of views on the Youtube video and the Facebook page receiving over ten thousand likes someone identified the lady in the video.

Turns out her name is Mary Bale, and fearing for her safety the police have put her in protective custody. The RSPCA is doing an investigating the incident, but it seems there is any crime to convict Mary Bale of.

I wonder what possesses someone to do something like this? I could understand is it was a child or a teenager because they do stupid things all the time, but an older woman who acts like this is just unacceptable. The fact that the owners of the cat didn't recognize her means that she isn't a neighbor and would have no reason to hate the cat. She must just hate the cats and gets joy out of torturing them. I don't care how much you hate cats you simply can't so that to someone's pet.

by willburns1 | with no comments

Filed under: facebook, cat, trash, lady, bin, garbage can

Sad Steve – Simple Music Search Engine
Friday, August 20, 2010 12:10 PM

Looking to listen or download a single song but don't want to just through all the hoops to get it for free. Sad Steve is a simple music search engine that lets you search of an artist or song and spits out a simple list of songs that you can play and download for free. It's that simple.

There are no ads flashing about and no popups. As far as I can tell the people running the site don't make any money off it at all. The goal of the site according to Joe Huttner, the creator, is to “prove that building a popular music distribution network need not be difficult. The popularity of this site is a testament to its simplicity. If I can do it, why can't the labels? There is no need for Apple, Amazon, or any third party to create a successful music distribution channel; just connect with fans directly.” Joe is fighting the system created by Apple, Amazon, and others that have begun to effecting marketing decisions of music labels based on their rankings in the popular music stores.

This explains the name of the site “Sad Steve” as in lets make a music distribution network that makes their's less important, which would make Steve Jobs very sad and maybe even angry. I think its a great idea and you can't beat the simple idea and layout. It works well, it's simple and it's a great tool so go and check it out.

Sad Steve

by willburns1 | with no comments

Why Foursquare has nothing to worry about concerning Facebook Places
Friday, August 20, 2010 10:05 AM

Facebook announced and rolled out a new feature on Wednesday called Facebook Places. It's a location based check-in system that works just like foursquare, google buzz, Yelp, and others. People are of course freaking out about this for several reasons.

First of all people are freaking out because once again it's a default feature and forces you to opt out rather than opt in. People are also freaking out because Facebook places lets you checkin your friends as well, which seems a bit odd and an invasion of their privacy.

On the complete other side you have the people who are so excited they can hardly contain themselves. They are claiming it's a Foursquare killer already and that Facebook Places is going to destroy Foursquare. I don't think this is going to be the case at all and I'll tell you why.

I have never really gotten into location based check-ins, but I have used Foursquare a little. The best part about Foursquare, and what got me excited about it, was the reasons to check-in. Why is it fun to check-in? Not because your friends can see the places you like or potentially meet up with you but because with Foursquare is a game.

Foursquare allows you to unlock badges for accomplishing certain tasks and you can be crowned mayor if you check-in at a particular place the most. In fact local restaurants have began to offer special deals and discounts to mayors of their establishments to get people to patron their establishment more often. You get points for checking in and it keeps track of your of stats. You can use it to find great places and events in your local area as well as leave tips for other people to read when they are close by.

It's so much more than just a message that says “Will is Here at some Bar!” For people who love games and competition Facebook's Places will never be as fun as Foursquare. The only thing that Facebook has on Foursquare is that it already has all your friends. I don't play Foursquare that much because I don't have friends on Foursquare. It's seems kind of pointless to check-in if no one is there to comment or say anything. I don't think Foursquare is going anywhere, unless Facebook adds fun features to Places like a point system and something similar to badges and Mayorship.

Oh and just a little tip for using the Bing map on Facebook Places, if you want to view the map in Aerial, Birds Eye, or go back to Road view, just hit A , B , or R and the Map will switch views. They disabled the menu but the shortcuts still work.

by willburns1 | 1 comment(s)

Filed under: facebook, places

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