rss

The 404 426: Where we whisper sweet nothings

Nothing can compare to someone whispering sweet nothings in your ear...unless that person is Wilson Tang...in which case you should probably pick up the phone and quickly dial 911. The Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week is coming to a close in New York, but there's one more runway show that we don't think got the attention it deserved: the Snuggie! The blanket with sleeves somehow rose to ridiculous popularity and became an actual phenomenon, and the company is trying to continue its revenue stream by introducing a new "urban jungle" line of robes featuring zebra and leopard prints. I managed to get my hands on a a Snuggie of my own and we each take turns trying it on before brainstorming our own ideas for Snuggie customization.

We also lament the passing of 960 Blockbuster video rental stores, all sentenced to die by the end of 2010. The company obviously suffered at the hands of free, legit streaming-video sites like Hulu and even network homepages, but CNET's own Don Reisinger reports that over 18 percent of Blockbuster's stores aren't turning a profit, so the company is practically forced to cut back on locations. We can't say that we're surprised, especially since none of us has actually stepped foot in a Blockbuster in awhile, but there's still hope for the company in the form of small rental kiosks to be placed in stores throughout the country.

The final big news item today is the debut of Google's newest RSS reader ripoff, also known as Fast Flip. As Rafe Needleman reports, the service is essentially a digital version of the old microfilm readers in that the service presents screenshots of news articles in a horizontal landscape layout. Readers can preview the first page of news stories categorized by popularity, recent views, topics, etc... but the odd part is that none of the hyperlinks actually work. Instead, clicking anywhere on the page takes you to the original article landing page. Our initial reaction is wondering about this new relationship between Google Fast Flip and the actual Web publishers. We like the ability to read a quick snippet of news and quickly scroll through several news sites at once, but the horizontal scrolling is too limiting. Listen to the show to hear more complaints without solutions.

EPISODE 426 Subscribe in iTunes audio | Suscribe to iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

Really simple reader

Bells and whistles it has not. RSS Runner is your regular freeware RSS Reader that delivers news headlines and images from your subscription Web sites, with duty, but not an overabundance of panache. Don't get us wrong: the reader is pleasant-looking, recording the number of stories within each feed within a puffy, light blue cloud. The effect, however, is somewhat marred by the disjointed text formatting on the reading screen.

In terms of practicality, RSS Runner has the basics covered, with syncing support for Google Reader and OMPL files (via a URL). You can also search or add a … Read more

Beyond RSS basics

This RSS reader may not have it all, but it gets pretty close. Newsstand lets you add new feeds at any time, but to make life easier, it also bidirectionally syncs with Google Reader, so you can almost immediately populate Newsstand with Google feeds. You can also import feeds by entering a URL, browsing the feed directory, or importing an OLMP file of feed from a different RSS reader. Thanks to some Twitter and Delicious integration, you can also subscribe to your Twitter timeline or other terms, and to your Delicious bookmarks, network, or in-box.

Feeds show in a linear, … Read more

Personalized Halo 3 screensaver

Halo 3 Screensaver (GloryShotSS) allows users to relive their favorite Halo 3 moments over and over again on their desktop. Although we think this is a pretty cool idea, the program's interface leaves a lot to be desired.

Each time we started the screensaver from our computer's Display Properties, a screen popped up asking us to register the program and showing us how many uses we had left. We'd click Continue, then adjust the settings, and then the same box would pop up again, showing one less trial use left, even though we hadn't run the … Read more

iPhone app hunts down Web's best blog posts

So many blogs, so little time. If you feel like the blogosphere is passing you by, check out Regator, a new app that culls the Web's best posts.

An offshoot of the eponymous Web service, Regator (agg-regator, get it?) differs from traditional RSS feed readers in that it doesn't rely on you to choose the blogs you want to follow.

Instead, the app employs "qualified human editors" to bring you "topical, well-written, frequently updated, and relevant" posts. In other words, the cream of the blogosphere crop, at least according to these guys.

You can browse the posts any number of ways, starting with "popular" items from the Web at large or looking within a couple dozen specific topics (from Academics to "What the?").

Regator also provides a full directory of more than 500 topics, so you can really drill into the areas that interest you most. (Beekeeping? Check. Museums? Check.)… Read more

Browse through a wall of images and videos

The Cooliris Firefox plug-in (Mac or Windows) is one of the most popular extensions in our library. Fire it up once, and you'll see why: Cooliris turns your image or movie searches into a 3D wall that is easy to navigate and just plain cool looking. When they came out with an app for iPhone some time ago, it didn't have enough of the cool features to make it worthwhile. But they've just released version 1.5 for iPhone and after giving it a test drive, I think it might be worthy of another look.

Cooliris for iPhone … Read more

TiVo adds new Web videos, option to watch niche content

TiVo announced Wednesday that it has added hundreds of free Web videos to TiVo Series3, TiVo HD, and TiVo HD XL DVRs. Also, subscribers who are interested in watching video podcasts that they can't find through TiVo's listing can enter RSS feeds manually to watch the show on their TiVo box.

Starting Wednesday, subscribers will be able to watch free video podcasts from several providers, including CBS, Fox, Oprah, and more. (CNET News is published by CBS Interactive, a unit of CBS.) They can watch a single episode or subscribe to all the podcast's shows by opting … Read more

Newsgator goes all in with Google Reader

The publisher of popular RSS readers FeedDemon and NetNewsWire is ditching its proprietary online RSS synchronization in favor of Google Reader. Newsgator's eponymous online service will cease on August 31..

When the beta version of FeedDemon updated earlier this year with the ability to synchronize to either Newsgator or Google Reader, fans of the program rejoiced. Google Reader synchronization, the company says, was one of the most requested features for the Newsgator desktop clients. They have instructions for users who need to move their feeds to Google.

Google Reader may frustrate some, but it has far more users than … Read more

My6Sense puts smart RSS reading in your pocket

Editor's note: This post was amended to reflect a later release date for this app. My6Sense for the iPhone was originally expected to be on the app store Thursday morning, although it remains in Apple's approval process. For the purpose of this review I was using the same version which was installed using a testing provision.

My6Sense, a company that previewed its RSS recommendation technology at the Under the Radar Mobility conference back in late November, is finally ready to get its tools into the hands of users. The company soon plans to release its first native application for mobile phones (currently for the iPhone only), which pulls in RSS feeds and adjusts what it presents based on your reading habits.

To make those adjustments, the product revolves around a machine learning algorithm called "digital intuition." As you read, it slowly builds a profile for recommendations on other items you should check out, and ranks them accordingly.

There are six levels of digital intuition in all. Any time you check for recommendations it updates a small bar that tells you how far along its cold, robot brain is to knowing your deepest reading desires. In the hour or two I spent with the app, I nearly got to level three. Apparently it takes much more browsing than I was willing to give it before it could offer expert recommendations. Nonetheless, after just that short amount of time it was doing a pretty good job pointing me toward articles I did, in fact, want to read.

Feeding frenzy Finding feeds to begin with is quite easy. You can enter URLs manually, download packs of RSS links that have been curated by My6Sense, or import the news feed from places like Twitter, Facebook, FriendFeed, and Flickr. It's also got a tool for grabbing your feed collection from other RSS services like Google Reader, My Yahoo, NewsGator, and Netvibes. I just used my feed collection from Google Reader, which was as simple as plugging in the credentials for my Google account. My6Sense was even nice enough to keep all my folders and meticulous feed organization intact.

Now the real heart of the app is feed reading. My6Sense wants you to give up using any other readers, and do everything inside of its app, since that's what makes its recommendation engine tick. This would be fine, except for the fact that the app can get intolerably slow when it comes to loading headlines.

Over a healthy 3G connection it took around 12 seconds to load up a list of just 10 stories. It took even longer to pull in an additional 10 results. And this was just the text--images don't load until you open up a story to read. In comparison, Google Reader in Safari is not… Read more

BOL 1029: Microhoo: Friends with benefits

The Microsoft Yahoo hookup finally happened and now all their friends are glad the drama's over. But they're not getting hitched. Microsoft's shelling out some dough for Yahoo to use Bing and Yahoo's going to sell the crap out of it. In other news, we will all die from automatic drones programmed to make their own decisions about who to kill.

Subscribe now: iTunes (audio) | iTunes (video) | RSS (audio) | RSS (video) EPISODE 1029

Yahoo, Microsoft reach search, ad deal http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10298303-56.html http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10298334-2.html http://paidcontent.org/article/419-yahoo-to-keep-almost-all-revenues-for-first-three-years-with-msft-deal/ http://www.choicevalueinnovation.com/thedeal/Default.aspx http://calacanis.com/2009/07/29/yahoo-committed-seppuku-today/

How to hijack ‘every iPhone in the world’ http://www.forbes.com/2009/07/28/hackers-iphone-apple-technology-security-hackers.html

Samsung’s debut e-book reader arrives http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10296228-1.html

AT&T suffers massive mobile data outage in Northeast, Midwest http://www.businessinsider.com/att-suffers-massive-mobile-data-outage-in-northeast-2009-7

AT&T social network http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=4800&cdvn=news&newsarticleid=26976

U.S. movie studios ask judge to board, scuttle Pirate Bay http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/07/us-movie-studios-ask-judge-to-board-scuttle-pirate-bay.ars

Pirate Bay co-founder denies MPAA allegations http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10298254-93.html

Pirate Bay sale dead in the water http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-sale-dead-in-the-water-090728/

VoloMedia awarded the "Patent for Podcasting" http://newteevee.com/2009/07/29/volomedia-awarded-the-patent-for-podcasting/

Barnes & Noble switches to free Wi-Fi, just the thing for your e-book reader http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/28/barnes-and-noble-switches-to-free-wifi-just-the-thing-for-your-e/

U.S. Air Force says decision-making attack drones will be here by 2047 http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/28/us-air-force-says-decision-making-attack-drones-will-be-here-by/