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Some social media junkies might find this one akin to the Web 2.0 equivalent of a flying pig, whereas others see it as a logical move for LinkedIn in a social media market that's increasingly competitive. The business networking site just announced that it now allows its members to upload a photograph to accompany their profiles.

To the outsider, it sounds trivial. But the lack of photos was one way that the strictly-business LinkedIn differentiated itself from more casual social networking brethren like Facebook and MySpace, which permit their users to create extensive picture galleries. With the lack … Read more

Networking companies are beginning to deliver the new Vista-friendly Media Center Extenders that Microsoft outlined earlier this month. D-Link's entry in the race is the DSM-750. Like competing models, the DSM-750 attaches to a TV (standard or high-def) and streams live and recorded TV, video, music, and photos from networked Media Center PCs located elsewhere in the home. An update of the older DSM-520, the 2007 model adds dual-band 802.11n wireless (which has the speed and bandwidth for optimal streaming of HD video) as well as compatibility with the popular DivX and XviD video file formats. Unlike similarly … Read more

It is an under-reported fact, but the majority of desktop systems sold today come with only a single display port--usually VGA or DVI. If your system falls into this camp and you want your system to use multiple, simultaneous displays, you might think you are out of luck. If the folks at DisplayLink have their way, however, connecting a second display might suddenly become ridiculously easy.

DisplayLink is proselytizing a technology that allows displays to connect to computers via a regular USB 2.0 connection. While not every computer has a second video port, most have multiple USB ports (although, … Read more

Despite financial woes, EarthLink is kicking butt in the broadband market, according to a J.D. Power and Associates customer satisfaction survey published Wednesday.

EarthLink, which said last month that it would lay off nearly half its staff, got the highest customer satisfaction ranking for delivering broadband services in the East and South regions of the United States. It also ranked second in the North Central region of the country.

Frank Perazzini, director of telecommunications at J.D. Power and Associates, said that what's impressive about EarthLink's performance in the survey is that it bucks conventional wisdom.

"… Read more

Docstoc is a document browsing and searching tool for "professional documents." Unlike Scribd, which has been casually called a "YouTube for documents," Docstoc is going for a more business-oriented crowd. At least that's their pitch. The features are very similar, with a communal sense of document sharing and live-viewer for MS Office documents, PDF files, and other popular file types.

One thing that does set it apart is its user profiles and document request system. Each user gets their own profile, complete with as much personal information as their willing to share, along with a link to their LinkedIn profile (if they have one). Underneath that is a full listing of their documents, which can be searched along with everyone else's shared content.

The document request system is a little more interesting. It lets you request a document you're looking for by setting tags or keywords. This basically sets up an alert that will keep an eye on other Docstoc user submissions. When someone uploads a document that matches your criteria, you'll receive an alert. Whether or not it really matches what you were looking for is anyone's guess, but the idea is that there's hope instead of dead ends when it comes to tracking down files.

The service demoed at today's TechCrunch40 conference, although is still in private beta. To get access, you can sign up on their front page. There's also a 6-month old pre-beta walkthrough on YouTube, which I've embedded after the break.… Read more

Mash, Yahoo's way of quietly saying farewell to Yahoo 360, is at first glance a somewhat uninspired attempt to catch up with Facebook. Even the name is boring--Mash. Don't mix it up, by the way, with Mosh, Nokia's mobile networking site (currently in beta) and Mashable, the social-networking blog. Mash (invite-only as of now) looks like a cross between Facebook, MySpace and Netvibes--and it also has a bit of wiki DNA: Anyone you grant permissions to can edit your profile or add modules they think are relevant to your profile. Besides that, nothing new.

To be … Read more

Most of the time here on The Digital Home, I talk about products that may seem more consumer-focused than a NAS soluion. And while this D-Link SATA RAID Gigabit NAS may seem like a more business-use device, think again. For a nicely affordable price and fantastic performance, the DNS-323 is a great addition to any home.

Design

The DNS-323 is small enough to fit on a bookshelf and its black coloring helps it easily become part of any home setup. The front faceplate on the device comes off and reveals two drive bays that allow you to insert any SATA … Read more

If you want instant messaging without an extra app, there's always Meebo. For those missing out on the desktop experience, however, there's a new solution called AirTalkr that does multiclient IM sans a full installation using Adobe's Integrated Runtime (AIR). The service works with five of the major clients, along with several Web services including YouTube, Flickr, along with Twitter and MySpace. In addition to its AIR namesake, there's also a Web version that has identical functionality sans the install, if you're willing to relegate yourself to the Windows Vista-style virtual desktop it creates in your browser.

The app breaks up IM, photos and videos into three different tabs. The IM is multitabbed and supports something called AirCards, which pull up your buddy's MySpace and Friendster profile, along with Flickr shots, Twitter updates, blog, and profile on LinkedIn from their e-mail address. If it can't find it, there are links to ask your buddy (which will start a conversation) or add it yourself using another e-mail address or a URL.

The photos tab links up with Flickr, and if you're a Flickr user you can authorize your the app to browse your photos, which can be opened up and viewed on your desktop. The Video feature is a little more basic, with four pages full of popular and featured videos from YouTube that play in a small window, along with a search tool. The video player is small and cannot be resized, which is where the illusion of a real app begins to break down.

All in all, Air Talkr is off to a good start, although it's in a very competitive field. Competitors like Meebo have things like buddy list pop-out, file transfer, and public rooms. AIR is also a bit young, and still very much in beta. Keep an eye on this one, though, the AirCard concept is a second layer of convergence on top of multiclients that might make this one stand out.

To see a video of Air Talkr in action, click the read more link below. On a related note, if you're a developer working on a hands-on video with your service, Kelly Clarkson is not the way to go.

[via Mashable] … Read more

Plenty of coverage has been devoted to national politicians' widespread adoption of MySpace and Facebook as campaign tools--it's a popular strategic move to ride the wave of viral buzz and simultaneously cater to the elusive youth vote. Democratic candidate John Edwards was even a Twitter early adopter.

Business-oriented social-networking site LinkedIn, meanwhile, has stayed out of the political fray. And indeed, LinkedIn hasn't started any formal campaign tie-ins the way MySpace has. But that hasn't stopped presidential hopeful Barack Obama from creating a profile on the site; if you want to "add him as a connection,&… Read more