The Net
Apple iPad, no thanks!
Jan 27th
From looking on Gizmodo, Engadget and other sites, mostly Twit Live, I came to the final conclusion. You let me down Apple. You have fun with that device. Thats just gonna be another thing I will never own unless you can impress me with the developed apps that are coming, but honestly. I don’t want this at all, let me count the ways!
- Big, Ugly Bezel
Have you seen the bezel on this thing?! It’s huge! I know you don’t want to accidentally input a command when your thumb is holding it, but come on.
- No Multitasking
This is a backbreaker. If this is supposed to be a replacement for netbooks, how can it possibly not have multitasking? Are you saying I can’t listen to Pandora while writing a document? I can’t have my Twitter app open at the same time as my browser? I can’t have AIM open at the same time as my email? Are you kidding me? This alone guarantees that I will not buy this product.
- No Cameras
No front facing camera is one thing. But no back facing camera either? Why the hell not? I can’t imagine what the downside was for including at least one camera. Could this thing not handle video iChat?
- Touch Keyboard
So much for Apple revolutionizing tablet inputs; this is the same big, ugly touchscreen keyboard we’ve seen on other tablets, and unless you’re lying on the couch with your knees propping it up, it’ll be awkward to use.
- No HDMI/HD Video Out
Want to watch those nice HD videos you downloaded from iTunes on your TV? Too damned bad! If you were truly loyal, you’d just buy an AppleTV already.
- The Name iPad
Get ready for Maxi pad jokes, and lots of ‘em!
- No Flash
No Flash is annoying but not a dealbreaker on the iPhone and iPod Touch. On something that’s supposed to be closer to a netbook or laptop? It will leave huge, gaping holes in websites. I hope you don’t care about streaming video! God knows not many casual internet users do. Oh wait, nevermind, they all do.
- Adapters, Adapters, Adapters
So much for those smooth lines. If you want to plug anything into this, such as a digital camera, you need all sorts of ugly adapters. You need an adapter for USB for god’s sake.
Google Chrome OS (w/ video)
Nov 20th
So Google finally let loose with a real glimpse at Chrome OS today, unveiling it at an event in Mountain View today. It’s pretty much what we’ve thought all along: a bootable browser with an affinity for web apps – especially Google’s.As you’d expect from a “browser OS,” Google pretty much admits that Chrome OS isn’t really intended for offline use. They see devices running Chrome as a compliment to the existing systems in your home or office. Local storage? That’s not really part of the big picture either. Everything you save heads straight for the cloud.
It has a few good features from MAC a few from PC and obviously Google’s spin on things with features like the notification panel and such. Check out Google’s first produced video telling you exactly why they made this thing.
New Website: Paper Your Screen .com
Oct 9th
Though at the time of this post we only have iPhone wallpapers, I am working on adding wallpapers for any screen size and type, hence the name paper your screen! So please go check out the webpage and start rating and commenting the images in there so far. The design of the site will be changing alot so please come back if not to see the wonderfully designed new wallpapers from various artists but also for the new layout changes we will be adding as we go.
Garageband tools in your web browser
Sep 17th
I’ve always been opposed to using online audio editing tools, because I haven’t found them to be robust or fast enough to be compelling to use. Myna just might change that, because think about how convenient it could be to start a project on one computer and pick it up some place else.
Aviary is already well-established as an online image editing suite, but today the company is expanding its creative reach and bringing multi-track audio editing to the cloud.
The service, called Myna, is sort of like Garage Band in your web browser. You can import audio directly into it, record a track into the application, or use clips from one of Aviary’s provided clip libraries.
All audio effects are non-destructive and you can automate fades and pans, modify gain over time, loop, stretch and reverse audio clips and more. Once you’ve got your track just the way you want it, you can mixdown to your desktop or publish directly to your Aviary account.
The entire process takes place inside your web browser (Adobe Flash is required) and the interface is both robust and easy to use. Anyone familiar with multi-track audio apps will be familiar with Myna’s layout, and I was impressed with the speed of the app. You can playback clips before dragging them to the time line, which is really nice.
Check out this video demonstration:
How do you edit your audio? What do you think about using online editing tools?
Google Wave; Prepare for your Invite!
Jul 23rd
Less than two months ago, Google dropped a spectacular surprise upon the world: Google Wave. The communication tool aspires to redefine not only email, but the entire web. And from our very first test of Google Wave to our complete Google Wave Guide, we have to say that it’s a game changer.
Well, in the last two months, Google and third-party developers have been hard at work testing out the system, fixing the kinks, and building some amazing extensions (which we discussed in-depth previously). Still, only a handful of people, almost all developers, have access. That’s about to change soon though: on September 30th, Google will start sending out about 100,000 invites for the next version of Google Wave.
Google Wave’s Rollout
Google made the big revelation in a blog post on the Google Wave developer’s blog. The post is part of an update on the Google Wave Hackathon, which allows developers to come to the Googleplex and work with the Google Wave API to build extensions such as Wave in Wordpress, a bot that allows you to easily place Waves in WordPress posts.
It looks as if the testing in the Google Wave sandbox is going well though – it opened up the sandbox to 6,000 new developers and up to 20,000 more will get access before the end of August. But this pales in comparison to the 100,000 users that will get access on starting September 30th.
According to Google, at that point Google Wave will appear on Wave.Google.com, instead of the Wave Sandbox. They will help further test for bugs, provide feedback, and play with apps. Google intends to invite groups of users, so the invites may not come out all at once.
If you want to be part of the next wave of testing (haha, get it?!), you can sign up for updates here. Until the invites go out though, you’re going to have to get your Google Wave fix from our extensive Wave
Posterous – The new quick BLOG!
Jul 20th
New Y Combinator startup Posterous
launches today with what might be the simplest blogging platform to date. Yes, it’s even easier to use than Tumblr, which has a cult-following of users who like to post lots of pictures and short messages.
Here’s how you create a blog on Posterous – email something to post@posterous.com. You’re done.
Here’s how you post something new on Posterous – see paragraph above. The subject line of the email is the post title, the text area is the content. You can also email photos, videos and sounds files, which will be displayed in a custom Flash player on the site. My new Posterous blog, for example, is here.
Is this a lot like Tumblr? Yes, although account creation by a single message to a generic email is a great way to help this spread via mobile devices (you have to create an account on Tumblr’s website first, then you can start emailing to a unique email id). Posterous also has comments on posts, something Tumblr is just starting to roll out to some users.
Another great thing about Posterous – you can choose to have comments emailed to you, and you can reply to the comment by simply responding back to the email (I wish Wordpress had that feature). If you choose to register your account at Posterous (which means creating a password), you can also follow other Posterous bloggers.
The services are otherwise somewhat similar. Both are excellent for simply emailing in vacation photos and videos.
One problem Posterous may have is fake posts via masked emails (it’s relatively easy to mask emails so that they appear to be sent from anyone you like). Posterous says they’ll watch header information like IP address, email client and other data points to sniff out fakes, and users can also request a unique email. We’ll see how they do with that – and we’ll give a free TechCrunch Tshirt to the first person who manages to do a fake post on our Posterous blog (but it can’t be off color, disgusting, or NSFW in any way) (Update: ok, we have a winner).
Tumblr is a lot more feature rich than Posterous, which make sense since Posterous is only two months old and has two employees. But Posterous is dead simple to use and does the mobile blogging thing very well. New features will be launched over the summer, says co-founderSachin Agarwal, including customized CSS and the ability to cross post to other blogging platforms.
Both Posterous and Tumblr compete with services like Twitter, Friendfeed and a slew of mobile/photo blogging platforms like Mobog and others mentioned here.
Mario Marathon for Charity
Jul 11th
Last year, a group of Super Mario Brother’s fanatics got together and played variations of the video game 55 hours straight for charity, raising better than $11,000 in total. This year,Mario Marathon is back, and once again the gamers are broadcasting live on Ustream, intent to complete all of the games by the end of the weekend (or however long it takes).
The event seems to be off to a good start. There are currently almost 1,000 people watching the group sit on a couch and play their way through the games, while Ustream’s integration with Twitter has lots of users chatting and using the hashtag #mariomarathon. And so far, more than $4,000 has been raised for Child’s Play, a charity that gives games, toys, and books to sick children.
Mario Marathon has some other cool tie-ins to keep followers interested. Fans can submit artwork for inclusion on their site, and both donors and those using the #mariomarathon hashtag will be eligible for prizes that will be held throughout the marathon. You can also keep up with the gamer’s progress in completing the challenge on their homepage.
We’ve embedded the stream below if you’d like to check it out:
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