ex

Remember ooVoo, that iChat-like video conferencing and chat tool we took a look at back in June? Today they've launched a new version that has got a handful of useful, powerful tools that make it a viable alternative for small workgroups using conference calls and screen-sharing applications, such as WebEx.

First up is a new recording feature that lets users tape video chats with other participants. Since the video and audio are being recorded to the hard drive, the only time limit is how much free space the computer has. In testing, I managed to get a nearly 15 minute, four-way video conversation down to 95 MB file. The application took about 10 minutes to convert my conversation into workable FLV file that was at a full 1MB/S quality. It can also step it down to 256kb/s or 512kb/s if the file needs to be smaller.

The other really useful feature is a new conference calling tool that gives host and participants a landline number to call. Other ooVoo users who call this conference line get plugged right into the audio that's a part of the video chat, and just like the video recordings, this audio gets archived too. The new call in lines support up to six people, meaning users can have up to a dozen participants--including those on the video side. The call in service is free this month, but it is moving to a by-the-minute model in March.

Besides the video recording, the other new feature that I think people are going to like is an optional piece of software that's a companion for ooVoo's video player. The companion has two main uses. The first is a screen sharing application that lets users show off an entire screen, or certain zoom levels, to other video chat participants. Users can also drop media files, such as music, pictures, or video into the stream for other users to view. Secondly, it's got a built-in facial overlay tool, like Fix8, that applies digital overlays either to users faces or to replace backgrounds. It's great fun.… Read more

Paying users of WebEx's remote desktop service now have the added bonus of Mac support. The service has been upgraded to be cross-platform in time for next week's Macworld Expo and throws in a couple other goodies like a remote Webcam viewer (so you can spy on your home computer from the office and visa versa), and a guest pass system that lets you send someone a one-time coupon to use your computer from wherever they are.

It's kind of surprising it's taken WebEx this long to get a Mac version of its remote client service … Read more

I am in the middle of a week of meetings and presentations and I am getting borked by WebEx no matter what browser I use. My machine at home is running Tiger and WebEx seems to work OK but I am getting killed here with Leopard. Anybody seen this problem?

On the positive side, Parallels is making it happen for me despite the fact that I have to reboot after a few hours. Stephen O'Grady at Red Monk told me that Connect rules and even runs on Linux but I haven't tried it yet.

Off to install Parallels … Read more

If you want access to your iPod tunes while on the road but don't necessarily want to rip your dashboard apart to install an aftermarket stereo, then the Alpine eX-10 is probably a good bet. Like the Harman Kardon Drive + Play 2 that we saw last year, the eX-10--which is powered by a car's 12-volt cigarette lighter adapter--makes use of a full-color LCD display and a wireless control module to let drivers browse their iPod libraries, select tunes, and even view album art. With music selected, the audio output is either streamed to the car's stereo via … Read more

I'm a little late to the party with this unboxing of my new OLPC XO-1 laptop, but the machine arrived while I was out of town visiting my family for Christmas. In fact, there's a story there.

Before I left, I started hearing that people were receiving their XO-1's, and I realized that if mine didn't show up before I left, it would almost certainly arrive while I was gone. The OLPC people sent out no shipment notifications and didn't reply to several emails, so I had no way to delay the shipment or contact … Read more

FedEx Europe subsidiary FedEx Express plans to add 10 diesel-electric hybrid vans to its fleet, the company announced Monday.

The vehicles, made by Fiat Group company Iveco, will be used in routes around Turin, Italy, where the company has a manufacturing plant.

"FedEx is making smart strategic investments in projects that will help drive the commercial development of new technologies for industry. We expect these hybrid-electric vehicles to perform with increased fuel efficiency and decreased emissions, making them ideal for city and urban environments," Robert W. Elliott, president of FedEx Express, said in a statement.

A sample van … Read more

Japanese car makers continue to keep us in work here at CNET car tech. Just when you thought that today's models had as much gadgetry onboard as possible, along comes Infiniti with its 2008 EX35, a model that introduces two brand new car technology features. The EX35 is the first production car to come with Around View Monitor, a camera-based parking aid that gives drivers a top-down surround view of the car and any obstacles in its vicinity. It is also the first car in the United States to come with a nonemergency active safety feature in the form … Read more

You've got to feel for Adobe Systems. It added what it thought was a feature to some of its products and instead discovered it added a land mine. As reported in today's Wall Street Journal, Adobe added a new button to some of its software that lets customers transfer their documents to a FedEx Kinko's for printing. Sounds good, right?… Read more

South Korea will soon be seeing BTO's latest audio-ripping powerhouse, the Plusdeck EX. The bread-loaf-size box allows users to encode virtually any audio source (cassette, turntable, radio, even your mobile phone) into an MP3 or uncompressed WAV file. This is the same company that created the Plusdeck 2c, a dedicated cassette player that fits into a 5.25-inch computer drive bay. The 2c, however looks like a case study in '90s tech design, while the EX looks pretty stylish despite its girth.

The Plusdeck EX also comes with a remote, radio antennas, power supply and a USB cable. It … Read more