SPHERES

AOL launches myAOL: Web 2.0 for the masses

This morning AOL launched myAOL, a group of three services wrapped up into one customizable page. MyAOL is made up of three services: myPage, a customizable start page akin to Pageflakes or Netvibes; Mgnet--an audiovisual mashup of news; and Favorites--which for all intents and purposes is a Web-based RSS reader. All three offer various ways of browsing, reading, and discovering news and Web content.

Since most users are already familiar with the concepts of myPage and Favorites, the real surprise here is Mgnet. This is one of the cooler things I've seen lately, and somewhat similar to Google's recently released Google News image browser. Users can pick out topics they like or are interested in, and Mgnet will pull up a small array of images linked up with story headlines. Clicking one brings up the story description in a separate pane, and users are able to vote it up or down (a la Reddit) as well as see related news stories (which are powered by Sphere).

In addition to providing stories it thinks you'll be interested in, Mgnet also keeps track of "what's hot," a small list of the most-clicked and voted-on stories. I found this more interesting than the actual AOL front page, since it's a little more visually stimulating. The one missing piece in this system is a way to see how user voting is affecting each story, something AOL will likely add later down the line.

Favorites is also impressive. As an RSS reader it's well-equipped. There's a fairly extensive listing of prepicked feeds from a variety of Web sites. There's also the option to add your own feeds, either with a straight RSS address, or by searching by URL. To keep track of your various feeds, you can set up folders, a little bit like Google Reader. You can also go in and reorder feeds with simple dragging and dropping. The one missing piece is a trashcan to delete feeds you don't want anymore, which instead is handled in a separate feeds manager.

AOL's got a pretty solid lineup of Web apps in one spot with myAOL. What it lacks in true originality, it makes up for in execution, as all three services are simple to use and feature-rich.

See more screens below.… Read more

Welcome To Media Sphere

After Matt Smith at the SF Weeklyfirst reported on this project last week, a broad swath of engaging questions about this endeavor began to spring up. While I don?t have all the answers quite just yet, I think this would be a good opportunity to disavow those merit-less suspicions that festered after I tried to talk about this blog without revealing anything prematurely. So here goes:

… Read more

Bargain speakers for $24,400 (each)

Even luxury media equipment makers know that people have budgets, including Cabasse. The French speaker specialist has been the subject of some mockery (we can't imagine why) for such offerings as its $150,000 "La Sphere" line, so it's apparently decided to come up with some products that are a little closer to Earth.

The "Karissima" full-range speaker, for example, is priced at a mere $24,400. Each.

These are no ordinary tweeters and woofers, of course. They come in your choice of "Wild Cherry, Santos or Wenge finishes," according to Electronic … Read more

A kitchen for the space station

We really can't think of any practical use for a kitchen contained in a sphere, but that would never stop us from writing about it here at Crave (if anything, it would encourage us). Besides, this isn't just one of those gee-whiz gadgets that hides a fridge in a kitchen table.

We're talking the full deal, according to Uncrate, where "the bottom half is made of carbon fiber and sports a double sink, four burners, three bottle coolers, a retractable table and trolleys." All it needs is a bot to do the dishes.

The top … Read more

Have a ball with your PC

While so many other computer companies are trying to hide their CPUs, a handful of brave mavericks are actually trying to draw more attention to them. But that doesn't mean they're building the standard and deadly boring old gray boxes.

Directron, for example, is selling one that looks more like a rubber ball than a PC--hence its name, the "Ball PC System." Not much is offered in the way of specs, pricing or availability, but SCI FI Tech says the shiny sphere splits open, spaceship-style, to reveal a 40GB hard drive between its hemispheres.

That means … Read more

LED lamp looks like alien vehicle

This designer LED lamp isn't quite egg-shaped enough to qualify for the evil ovum empire, but it's close enough. Just look at this thing--it's like a spherical spaceship opening up to reveal its alien passengers or a battery of death rays (most likely both).

The "Barry" fixture from Sweden's Flux has a mirrored upper interior that reflects about 70 white LEDs from the bottom half, according to OhGizmo. But the real offense here isn't alien domination of Earth; it's the price--$1,100.

If that's not enough to start a War of the Worlds, … Read more

'Bus Ball'--not ready for rush hour

We assumed this was a Photoshop job when we first saw it on Spluch, but now we're not so sure. This "Bus Ball," credited to an artist and musician named Billy Gibbons, apparently morphs the remains of classic VW bus into a spherical objet d'art. We assume it's non-functional, though we suppose it can roll around on its own somehow. But then you'd probably have to repaint it after every outing.

$150,000 speaker to watch over you

No, it's not another eyeball Webcam, though we'd certainly understand the confusion. Despite the similar orb shape, this is a speaker of much larger proportions with a price to match: $150,000.

Back on your chair yet? We have no idea what could possibly justify such an expense, but the "La Sphere" from Cabasse claims to be worth it, naturally. Luxist says the spherical design "eliminates standing waves" and creates "a more rounded sound." Right.

We have the perfect turntable for it too: the "Transrotor Artus," which coincidentally also costs $… Read more

Take your favorite blogs for a walk with Stickis

Stickis is a new service that lets you attach little sticky-type notes to Web pages you visit and lets you view the notes other people have left on pages.

There was a service like this during the last Internet bubble. The product, ThirdVoice, was criticized as allowing "graffiti" on Web pages, since anyone's markups would be visible to any other ThirdVoice user. Stickis is different. The idea with this service is that you intentionally subscribe to various commentators (such as bloggers), then when you visit a site that one of these writers has a note on, it … Read more