Today, Google and Plaxo released a hybrid protocol that combines OpenID, the open online identity standard, with OAuth, the secure data portability standard. Too often, when a Website wants to import your contacts from another Web service, it asks for your login and pasowrd credentials. OAuth gets around that by sending you back to the original site where you login and authorize the one-time transfer of data. It is much more secure. And now it works with OpenID.
So far, this is just a test between Plaxo and Google, where a Plaxo member can invite someone via Gmail. Plaxo marketing VP John McCrea argues that this approach is: → Read More
Frickin’ bodies as shields! All right, that’s getting old, even for me. This week, Zero Punctuation rips into Gears of War 2 and concludes what we’ve all known for months. But he’s so much more eloquent about it then the rest of us. → Read More
CES 2009 is long since over, but details of the Palm Pre are still trickling out. Take this latest video from MobileDivide, for example – it’s largely a recap of stuff we’ve known for a while, but it packs in two little morsels that had previously gone unnoticed: Drag-to-unlock: Similar to the iPhone’s “Slide to unlock” mechanism, except optimized for one-handed, ambidextrous unlocking. Simply drag the unlock object out of the circle, and the Pre wakes up. Spacebar triggered camera shutter: Rather than forcing you to capture that once-in-a-lifetime shot with a easily missed touchscreen button or making you reach for a dedicated Camera button, the spacebar is repurposed as the photo snap button when in camera mode. Every detail that comes out about the Pre indicates that they’ve put a fairly absurd amount of thought into every granule of the user experience. We can’t wait. [via Precentral] → Read More
Fancy listening to Backspin on your iPhone? Or maybe you’d like to hear the comedy stylings of Christian Jimmy on The Virus? Soon, friends. Soon. Supposedly. On the way to the App Store, the uSirius StarPlayr, an iPhone app that lets you listen to Sirius XM on your iPhone. Fancy that. → Read More
Looks like there’s a “best of” Halo Xbox 360 bundle on the way, which coincides with the upcoming Halo Wars. Too bad that it looks to be Europe-only. (It was first found on a Swedish Web site.) That’s how it looks right now, that is. → Read More
We’ve heard about the fabled Pandora handheld emulation device for a while now and maybe, just maybe, it will hit the market before we lose interest. This prototype looks similar to the early renderings which is great cause it seems like the perfect, pocketable size. All the specs are reportable the same too, but now we can see the little guy in action with the video after the break. → Read More
Oh, North Carolina. The state, which is home to Ric Flair (pictured here), is now considering a tax on downloadable items. This, in a time when people are losing their jobs left and right. Download an eBook, get taxed. Download a song, get taxed. Download a movie, get taxed. Download a game, get taxed. You get the idea. → Read More
This is a scanner. It may not look like one, and, technically, it’s not even real, but it’s a scanner. Promise. → Read More
Take seven strategically-placed speakers and cover them in soft foam and Italian leather and you’ve got yourself the BodySound Recliner, starting at $5,995. According to the company, the chair “eliminates the need for in-room loudspeakers” by addressing “the need for full impact, large scale sound in a smaller space.” → Read More
This isn’t a real product but wouldn’t it be great if it were? I’d be able to hear a delightful cuckoo sound emanating from my girlish wrists, every hour spent along staring at my computer screen noted and categorized by that infernal bird, a raven to my mad-eyed wastage on the Internet, a reminder that I am soon to be gone, soon to be dust and dirt and worm food and each tick of this jolly pastel clock will offer only the sweet solace in the thought that soon, this too will pass, death will roll his jaundiced hand over my eyes and close them forever and all I will hear as I pass into the ether is the infernal cuckoo, that maddening Tyrolean bird that wishes us nothing but ill, it’s burning red eye watching us gravely as we sleep. → Read More
Despite our attempts to inform everyone that the Circuit City liquidation deals are scams, apparently some people are still spending their money at the dead retailer. In fact, there the liquidator overlords might start another round of markdowns starting today because the sales are going so well. The distribution centers are almost cleared out and it seems Circuit City’s days are coming to a close. → Read More
With Valentine’s Day approaching and the economy being the way it is, it doesn’t hurt to save where and when you can. Today’s Woot is far from stellar, but the Flip is a popular camcorder despite its shortcomings. Those shortcomings only apply to us nerds it seems and the general consumer – think soccer mom – aren’t worried about the things we bitch about. So why not grab one for the lil lady or lad for $80. Sure, it’s refurbished, but they’ll never know. → Read More
Fancy listening to Backspin on your iPhone? Or maybe you’d like to hear the comedy stylings of Christian Jimmy on The Virus? Soon, friends. Soon. Supposedly. On the way to the App Store, the uSirius StarPlayr, an iPhone app that lets you listen to Sirius XM on your iPhone. Fancy that. The application has been in development for some time, and the word over at Orbitcast is that it will be submitted to Apple for approval by January 31. Considering there’s no “boobs and booty” here, I can’t see the approval process lasting too long. It’s up to Apple. → Read More
Anyone who has turned digital photos into a printed photo book via Apple iPhoto or any of a variety of competitors knows how great they are. They make a perfect gift, if you can afford the $20 – $30 they generally cost to create, plus shipping.
Enter UK-based HotPrints, which I was introduced to at the DLD conference in Munich earlier this week. The company is using new printing technology from an undisclosed partner to create high quality photo books on the cheap – just $2.99 plus shipping to the U.S. of $0.75. That’s significantly less than any of the competing products.
And they’re focusing on Facebook, which has a rich collection of already-tagged photos just waiting to be turned into printed books. A quiet beta test of the application has shown that users love it, the company says, and once a user tries it once they average more than three purchases for themselves or as gifts.
Here’s what you get: a printed 25cm x 20 cm color photo book with 8 sheets and 16 total printed pages. You can comfortable fit six photos on a page, although some of the example books they’ve given me has as many as eight photos on a page. The paper is thick, high quality glossy stock. → Read More
Thomas Edison patented the “long lasting filament” in 1880. In 2009, it’s fashionable to pretend to care about the environment. Are these two facts unrelated? Not really, no, because researchers at Cambridge University have developed a light bulb that uses light emitting diodes. These LED-based light bulbs not only, you know, brighten your day, but they’re also environmentally friendly. Everybody wins. → Read More
After months of rumors and undercover imagery, the Virgin Mobile Helio Ocean 2 is finally just weeks away from hitting the shelves. Don’t want to wait to experience the rush of cracking open the box? Fear not, my friends – we’ve got what you’re looking for. We’ve peeled it apart, piece by piece, and snapped images all along the way. Ready for the unboxing of the Helio Ocean 2? Click on for the gallery. → Read More
After word got out that Britney Spears’ next tour would be sponsored by Virgin Mobile and the Helio Ocean 2, the estimated Ocean 2 launch date finally found it’s first deadline: March 3rd, the first day of the tour. We can now confirm that the Helio Ocean 2 will be coming over 3 weeks earlier, launching on Helio.com on February 12. → Read More
The online advertising business is in for a rough patch, especially for display advertising. The signs are everywhere. Yahoo, the biggest publisher of display ads on the Web, reported a 2 percent decline in display ad revenues in the fourth quarter, and the New York Times is seeing even steeper declines.
There is just way too much advertising inventory out there, and Websites are actually trying to show less ads per page to reduce ad clutter and keep advertising rates from cratering. The chart above from comScore’s 2008 Digital Year in Review shows that the number of display ads served in the U.S. is actually slightly down from a year ago. Even so, comScore estimates that 4.5 trillion ads were served to U.S. consumers last year. That comes to 2,000 ads per month per person.
As a consequence of the declining display ad revenues and the over-saturation of ads, there is simply no need for the 300-plus ad networks out there. And what we are seeing now is the stronger ad networks are picking up funding to shore up their positions and the weaker ones are getting bought. → Read More
Nokia made a name for itself with candybar style phones and the firm’s latest handsets follow that tradition. Expect two of these phones to hit carriers with low – or free – price tags while one, the 6700, will try to be sold with a price tag north of $300 → Read More
Tokyo-based electronics company Lancerlink [JP] and GRANDTEC ELECTRONIC from Taiwan have jointly developed the Grand HD Cinema, a USB to HDMI converter. According to GRANDTEC, it’s the world’s first device of its kind. → Read More
