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 moreThe Sonim XP1 has been lauded as a "tough and strong" phone. CreativeFeed, a digital marketing agency, has decided to put it to the test.
It's launched a Web site that features "The Destroyer"--a machine-operated hammer that will pummel the phone 24 hours a day live over the Intertubes until it breaks.
(Credit:
TestandDestroy.com)
Visitors to the Web site have a chance to win the Sonim XP1 handset if they can correctly guess how long it will take for the phone to break/crack/explode, and how many hits it will take before that happens. The site includes a hint line that you can call to get tips on how high you should place your bets.
While this is an interesting way to promote a phone, personally I would love to have seem them hire a body builder, give him a huge mallet, and let him go to town. I guess then the contest would be over in less than a minute. Imagine how fun that would be to watch though.
Google updated the iPhone version of its Reader product Monday. For the first time, mobile users will be able to star items for later and browse through items in a large list similar to the desktop version of the Web app. To view stories, users simply need to click on the headlines and the story will expand. In previous iterations, clicking a headline would take you to a new page, requiring users to click back before expanding another story.
One thing you can't do is expand several stories at once, meaning mobile users will need to have access to a data connection to continue to open up additional stories, something social news site Digg has managed to get around in its iPhone app by loading up the front page and its story briefs as a single page in Safari. It's a lifesaver if you're going through some dodgy reception areas or read stories on a commute that involves underground tunnels.
Users who navigate to Google Reader on their phones will still head to the older version, a move chosen by Google since the new version is still in "beta." To get there on your iPhone just head to http://www.google.com/reader/i/
Below are two screens showing Google's Reader. The one on the left is the old version, while the one on the right is the new version with in-line starring and story expansion.
The old version of Google Reader for iPhone (left) doesn't let you star items or open them in-line. The new version (right) lets you star and expand items without loading a new page. (Click to enlarge.)
(Credit: CNET Networks)
Nintendo Wii owners who have been enjoying their updated Web browser can now enjoy a special version of Google Reader designed exclusively for their Wii remotes and TV screens. Google has made the text a little bigger and changed the interface from a two-pane look to a simple feeds list.
One big change regular Google Reader users are bound to notice is the updated control scheme. To jump between feeds just hit the "1" button, which pulls up a slick looking pop-up with a listing of all your feeds. It's almost an easier system than the one Google currently uses. Also changed are keyboard shortcuts. Google Reader users on the PC are used to 24 shortcuts; Google has simplified things down to 8 to compliment the somewhat limited Wii remote.
To give the Wii version a spin on your computer's Web browser, click here.
[via ZDnet]
To pull up a listing of your feeds, just click the 1 button on your Wiimote.
(Credit: CNET Networks)
Companies have tinkered with the concept of wearable monitors for years. This summer, Santa Monica-based Headplay is going to see if the public wants to buy them.
In June, the company will begin to sell its Personal Cinema System (PCS), a portable movie viewer/PC monitor whose principal component is a sun visor that sports a TV monitor under the brim for close, personal viewing. The PCS also comes with a control unit with a memory card slot for playing recorded movies or videos; headphones' and a device for selecting and navigating through the possible content selections with your thumb.
(Credit:
Headplay)
The whole package will sell for $499. "It is something you have to try," said Jay Puryear, director of interactive marketing at Headplay.
The viewing experience is akin to watching a 52-inch TV from 6 feet away, after a user gets accustomed to it, according to Puryear. The actual monitor, which only measures about 4 inches across, beams images through a set of eyepieces. By looking through the eyepieces, the mind "sees" a largish, rectangular movie screen, or virtual monitor, on top of a black background.
During a few quick trials, I never got the full 52-inch experience. It reminded me more of watching a movie on a GAF View-Master.
The good news for Headplay is that the picture quality is a lot better than you might think. In one test, I watched the first few minutes of Saving Private Ryan, a frantic action sequence that includes lots of splashing water and quick edits.
Granted, it felt like watching TV through a scuba mask, but I could see getting acclimated to it. As the cheapest man in North America, I won't spring $499, but it comes down in price, who knows?
(Credit:
VTech Communications)
Home telephones are like TV sets of the '70s and '80s--except for the cordless breakthrough, technology has seen scant change compared with other consumer products. VTech wants to change that with its new "infoPhone" (not to be confused with the iPhone, thank you very much).
The landline handset is designed to handle many functions that most people reserve for the computer. As Gadgetell says, "The new ip8300 infoPhone uses the Internet to access information directly on the cordless handset's color LCD screen, including news headlines, weather reports, horoscopes, local directory searches and more"--all according to personalized feeds carried wirelessly through new DECT 6.0 technology (which, as every schoolboy knows, stands for Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications).
If it makes sense for any phone manufacturer to go in this direction, it would be VTech. The company has long tried to make technology friendly to the everyday consumer, starting with its extensive line of toys. But trying to turn the home phone into a household's main Internet conduit is a risky proposition: Other industries have made similar attempts with TV sets and game consoles, only to lose out to the computer. And if any phone is going to horn in on this turf, a mobile handset would seem to make more sense.
Then again, at least some companies seem to think that viable markets exist for such products as a computerless e-mail printer. And remember, some people out there are still using some variation of WebTV. Enough said.
- prev
- 1
- next
