Looking like the lovechild of a Tribble and an iPod Touch, the Chumby is an adaptable little do-anything box that can stream internet radio, browse YouTube videos, serve up newsfeeds, wake you up in the morning, and generally distract you from doing anything productive with your life. In short: the Chumby is a blast.
Want the full low-down? We've got our own Chumby photo gallery, along with the official CNET review.
Better GReader is a young, but not exactly robust, Firefox extension. However, like its sibling Better Gmail, it has a lot of potential. Designed to improve the look, as well as the functionality, of Google Reader, GReader has four skins and four features to get your RSS going.
The Open Television Network launched today. Don't let the name fool you: If you go to the site you won't see a competitor to YouTube, Hulu, Joost, or the like. OTN is a behind-the-scenes platform that lets small-fry media publishers sell content that's distributed through RSS.
This is a neat trick. OTN lets you subscribe to an RSS feed with audio or video content so you can see the headlines of new articles in a media player like iTunes or Miro (see story, Miro Leaves Beta) or the Zune player. When you click on a particular item … Read more
A lot of folks have discovered the wonders of going over their monthly SMS allotments because of the alert systems built into popular Web apps like Twitter. But what about getting SMS alerts for other sites, too? A service called Pingie is doing just that, letting you plug in whatever RSS feeds you'd like to keep an eye on (like ours), and sending you a portion of the latest post as an SMS message. The service notes its usefulness for sites like Slickdeals and Woot (two of my personal favorites) as well as news sites for getting the most … Read more
A lot of folks would like a memetracker for Google Reader (myself included), and if the big G's not going to provide one, it's up to third-party developers to attempt to build their own. One of the results has been ReadBurner, a service that tries to determine what items (not just feeds) are gaining in popularity at any given time based on the number of people sharing them on Google Reader.
Think of it like Del.icio.us, but instead of browser plug-ins or voting from the content originator's site, the system picks up on items automatically--that … Read more
The open-source, DRM-free video platform called Miro (download for Windows and Mac) has just released an upgrade with two small but useful improvements. A new search feature lets you search all available sites simultaneously, and torrent support has been greatly improved.
The standard support model goes something like this: customer calls support, gets a low-level support person who proceeds to read through a manual trying to answer the question. Unable to do so, he or she calls for reinforcements who work on the problem under a veil of secrecy in which the customer never knows what is happening with her issue until it is finally resolved (if it's ever resolved). Throughout it all, the customer is in the dark.
I'm not sure that open-source support is much different, but in talking with my company's head of support today, I'm wondering if there's a better way. We try to be more permeable in how we conduct support, but perhaps open source has something radically different to offer. It would look something like this:… Read more
Checking Web sites by typing in the URL feels like firing up a rickety 56k baud modem and logging on to CompuServe. It gets the job done, but really should only be used under extreme duress or nostalgia. Syndicated feeds bring the Web site to you, and when NewsGator made all its RSS clients free on Wednesday, they suddenly made a top-notch suite with tools for Windows, Mac, mobile, the Web, a podcast manager, and a Microsoft Outlook extension incredibly appealing. And by appealing, I mean you might not be able to imagine feeds the same way afterwards. It's that good.
NewsGator is making its latest consumer news readers available for free.
The updated products are FeedDemon 2.6, NetNewsWire 3.1 for the Mac, NewsGator InBox 3.0 beta, NewsGator Online, and NewsGator Go for mobile gadgets. Premium subscriptions formerly cost $19.95 or $29.95 per product.
The tools synchronize content fed to the Web, as well as to desktop and handheld devices including the iPhone, BlackBerrys, and those running Windows Mobile.
Each account will include features that were formerly offered only in premium editions. Users who have paid for NewsGator products on or after December 9 can request … Read more
Google's RSS reader (newbie's guide here) got some handy updates last night. The most interesting of the bunch is a new recommendations system that will suggest feeds you might enjoy based on two things:
1. Feeds you're already subscribed to in Google Reader 2. Your Google Web history, including things you've searched for or sites you've visited from any Google search.
The recommendations show up on Reader's home page, and let you know how many subscribers each feed has to help gauge its popularity. You can also preview the feed before having to subscribe … Read more
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