flow

The 404 252: Where there's no place like home

Happy New Year! Today we sit with down with Caroline McCarthy and K-Flow from Heavy & Flow to talk about our winter break shenanigans. Justin Yu joins us over the phone from beautiful San Fransisco to remind us how clean the show was the week he wasn't around.

We want to thank all of our listeners for the tons of mail we received over the break, it really means a lot. Here's to making 2009 the year of The 404!

So sit back, relax, and enjoy our first episode back. There won't be a show tomorrow, but we'll be broadcasting live everyday from CES 2009 beginning this Wednesday at 8pm eastern.

EPISODE 252 Download today's podcast … Read more

TextFlow makes multiple author edits less painful

TextFlow, a new way to collaboratively edit documents, is opening up to everyone Monday morning. Instead of going the real-time route like Zoho and Google Docs, the service opts to let a master editor corral multiple versions of the same Microsoft Word document inside of one file.

Each editor sends in a copy of the file (presumably via e-mail), and the master editor drags and drops all of them into a single bucket. The application then divides the edits into sections, letting the master editor pick whichever revisions make the most sense. When finished, he or she can convert it … Read more

New review: OmniGraffle (Mac)

Need to make a flow chart, a family tree, a diagram, or just plan the layout of your new apartment? Check out OmniGraffle, from the folks who make the classy OmniWeb browser. OmniGraffle offers all the tools you need to make professional-looking diagrams for any presentation you might have. Whether you're just sketching out ideas for a business plan or even planning an elaborate presentation, OmniGraffle helps you create a nice-looking diagram everyone will appreciate.

Still not sure if OmniGraffle is right for you? Download OmniGraffle and read our review.

CarbonFlow nets funding for carbon software

Will money start to flow to carbon software?

CarbonFlow has raised $2.9 million in its first round of venture funding from Clean Pacific Ventures, OVP Venture Partners, and Meridian Energy Limited, a New Zealand renewable energy supplier, which is a strategic partner.

The San Francisco-based company's founders are carbon emissions trading expert Karla Bell and Neal Dikeman, founder of merchant bank Jane Capital Partner and a contributor to CNET's Green Tech blog.

CarbonFlow's software, which is still under development, is being designed for managers of carbon emissions-reduction projects that want to monetize their carbon credits.

For … Read more

FriendFeed solves privacy issues for casual users with private rooms

FriendFeed, the aggregation service we've written about several times in the past, has just released a new feature called Rooms. It's basically a mini version of the service, letting you pick which people you want to let join a special FriendFeed information stream.

Users can make rooms public or private, and casually share links amongst each other. It's a little different from the information overflow of the main service. A good use of this would be a work group who shares bookmarks. Each one could share links they're bookmarking on Delicious and keep tabs on the … Read more

Make flawless screencasts on your Mac

Have you ever made a screencast? A screencast is when you capture and record all the action that takes place on your desktop so you can view it as a movie. Many people use screencasts for presentations and instructional videos for software, though there are many other uses. Sometimes you probably wish you could make a screen recording for less computer-savvy friends and family so you wouldn't have to have those exhaustive phone calls: "No grandpa, I said Save the file...no...SAVE it."

I found a program for Mac today that makes creating screencasts easy. It'… Read more

Browse Muxtape mixes with Cover Flow

Got a Mac and a Muxtape account? You've got to check out this mashup that uses the free Mac application Fluid to let you browse an entire group of people's Muxtapes without having to click on each one. Once you've linked up Fluid to Muxtape.com's front page, you'll see the track listings of each album in the Cover Flow area below the site. Clicking the thumbnail will take you right to the mix, which is far easier than simply clicking on people's mixes from Muxtape's front page and directory.

Setting up Fluid … Read more

Flow battery maker gets $15 million

Deeya Energy, which makes large flow batteries to provide backup power to industrial plants, raised $15 million in a second round of financing, according to Venture Wire.

The company earlier raised $7.5 million and is building manufacturing facilities in India.

What is a flow battery? It's a battery with tanks of electrolytes that effectively let the battery store more energy than normal batteries. The electrolytes flow or circulate through the system. The larger the tanks, the more electricity it can store.

Flow batteries won't appear in watches or MP3 players any day soon. They are too big, … Read more

A shield for journalists worth supporting?

I've been tracking the progress of the Free Flow of Information Act of 2007 for months. Having spent time in a federal prison for protecting my source material, it's natural that I would be interested in a law that would prevent others from enduring this same fate.

The last time I wrote about the bill's status was in August, after it cleared the House Judiciary Committee. Last week, the Senate Judiciary Committee followed suit, and both houses of Congress are now ready to vote on the law.

While this is very exciting news for many journalists, I'm less than ecstatic, given that neither the version of the bill is ideal, and there is no telling how the two bills will be combined, should it pass both houses.

While the amended version of the House bill seeks to tie journalism to an economic exchange, the Senate's definition is broader in scope and would not only protect professionals but would likely apply to students and many bloggers as well.… Read more