We’re here at Gnomedex at Chris Pirillo just pointed out on his blog that it looks like TechMeme has been hacked?
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Month: June 2006
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Thursday Links
ReplayTV resurrected?
looks like my old pal ReplayTV is back from the dead in the form of PC software. But for $100 and a $20 yearly guide fee, uh-uh. Replay, you were my first and my favorite, why did you have to piss off the TV industry so? See Dave Zatz for more commentary.
Yahoo! Messenger for Mac 3.0 in beta
I gave up on you so long ago, Yahoo! Messenger. Check out what your friends in at AdiumX are doing. [Via Jeremy Zawodny]
IDEA Design Awards on Businessweek.com
Always very shiny, very pretty.
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Google Checkout
Google Checkout launched today and is Google’s attempt at the universal wallet. The idea is that you sign up with Google and you don’t have to enter in your credit card and personal information at every website that you purchase from. Google also provides fraud protection against shady merchants, so theoretically, you will feel safer purchasing from merchants you may not recognize.
While this is an interesting proposition, this is a path well worn path by Google’s competitors. Both Yahoo! and Microsoft have wallet products that have been moderately successful, but there are no grand slams here.
Google has made Checkout more consumer friendly than it’s competitors. First, it doesn’t transmit your credit card number to the merchant. Second, if you select the option, Google won’t send your email address to the merchant either. While these features are consumer friendly, this program is not friendly to merchants.
Google’s biggest challenge here will be acquiring merchants who are willing to accept not owning (or even knowing) their customers. Merchants view advertising on Google (and Shopping.com, Yahoo! Shopping, etc) as a necessary evil to acquire new customers, but ideally they would like to convert customers from these aggregators as customers of their own.
Google has one thing going for it: size. Since the vast majority of web merchants derive their customers from search engines and Google is the most used search engine, merchants may have a hard time saying no, especially if Google skewed results in favor of merchants that offered Checkout.
One thing is for sure, the web shopping landscape just got a little more interesting.
Google Checkout
Participating merchants
[UPDATE: Om Malik has an interesting take on what Checkout means about the CPC business]
OS X 10.4.7 released
and hasn’t destroyed my machine yet.
Apple swapping out dirty MacBooks?
Warning: Don’t let PigPen use your MacBook [Via Engadget]
Gizmodo Sidekick 3 hands-on
Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the technology. We have the capability to build the world’s smallest Sidekick. Sidekick 3 will be that Sidekick. Better than it was before. Better, smaller, faster.
Chris Pirillo coins “freedbacking”
and Google listens.
NBC sells 6 million videos on iTunes
Turns out, Hasselhoff is popular in the US as well.
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Gnomedex Speakers and their blogs
I’m heading to Gnomedex this weekend as it is hosted in Seattle, my current backyard. Gnomedex is a blogger conference held annually Chris Pirillo, blogger and tech geek extraordinaire.
So, I’m a little new to the whole Gnomedex thing… I’m no insider, mega blogger, or Chris Pirillo, but I did want the 411 on who would be speaking. The Gnomedex Wiki seemed to be down, so I created a quick and dirty schedule with links to all the speakers for this weekend.
Click through for the schedule.
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TEDTalks Video Podcasts
The TED Conference (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is held every year in Monterey and attracts bigwigs from the various industries they represent. Occasionally, you’ll hear about what these luminaries talk about and present, but by and large, what’s talked about in Monterey, stays in Monterey.
Until now, that is. TEDTalks is a series of presentations from this year’s conference including Al Gore, David Pogue and (shudder) Tony Robbins. TEDTalks will be releasing a new video each week.
I’ve watched the Al Gore video this morning at the gym and it is amazing how Gore can connect with the audience on both an emotional and intellectual level. Where the hell was this guy in the 2000 election?
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WSJ – NBC, YouTube in promo deal
This deal is pretty big for YouTube, who just months ago was being sued by NBC:
NBC plans to announce that it will make available on YouTube promotional video clips for some of its popular shows, such as “The Office,” “Saturday Night Live” and “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.” NBC plans to market its new fall lineup using clips on YouTube, and is holding a contest for consumers to submit their own promotional videos for “The Office.” It will also buy ads on the site and promote YouTube with mentions on television.
The article goes on to do a profile of the YouTube founders and their meteoric rise.
Read [subscription site]
Toshiba wants unified DVD format
god, as much as I want a single HD disc format, this smells like fear.
Farecast launches public beta today I’ve been using this for a few weeks to book flights to various places. If you are in Seattle or Boston, or just a flight pricing nerd, check it out. [Via CNET]
I ditched iCal
Making the switch to Google’s online calendar.
Usenet and illegal video fans should be weeping today, GUBA has signed a deal with Warner Movies to distribute Warner’s videos day and date as the DVD releases. Rentals are available for $1.99 and purchases are 9.99 for catalog titles and 19.99 for new releases(that sounds really familiar). You gotta have a Windows XP or 2000 box and Windows Media Player. No Macs need apply.
I haven’t been a customer of GUBA in the past, but originally, the site made its money selling subscriptions to Usenet groups that had illegal videos and porn. I’m assuming that all illegal video has been removed (and if you look around you are hard pressed to find Usenet at all) as a result of this deal.
GUBA, in their former life, even transcoded video from Usenet groups into an iPod compatible format. That appears to be gone as well.
I suspect that with it’s new “official” catalog, GUBA will lose more customers than it gains. Although, it might not get sued out of existence.
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Monday links
Digg goes to 3.0
Third time’s the charm. Digg has updated their UI and added other categories including Science, Business, Entertainment, and Gaming. What, no Home and Garden?
10 Reasons High Definition DVD Formats Have Already Failed
AKA why consumers hate format wars.
Sofa Control and Remote Buddy
Two apps for the Apple remote control. [via Daring Fireball]
MacOSXhints unveils rating system
making a useful site even more useful. [via TUAW]
The short version – DO NOT USE PLAXO ON YOUR MAC!
The long version – Ok, I know that Plaxo is evil, but I really wanted another way than .Mac (which isn’t evil, merely incompetent) to backup my address book online.
I had never tried Plaxo when I was in the Windows world (like I needed one more thing to slow that lovely ThinkPad down) as I had heard the tales of spam that Plaxo had generated. It seemed that Plaxo had mended their evil ways and were not going to spam people any more. Apparently, now they just eat your data.
This morning I woke up to 99% of my entire address book gone.
Obliterated. Kaput. Tot. Dead.
This wasn’t the first time that there was a little problem with my address book and syncing, but I didn’t know the culprit before. I’m one of those neurotic folks that likes to have his data in many places, so the thought of something like Plaxo (or .Mac) backing up my data is very enticing, but after today I’m going to shut Plaxo down and cancel my account.
I’ve sent Plaxo two emails in the last month and even paid for the upgraded service to make sure that I would get help if I needed it. This morning, I chatted with a CSR from Plaxo and they informed me that my data would return within one hour.
Well, folks, it’s been a 3 hours… and I still have just 3 addresses in my address book.
[UPDATE: Looks like my post did some good. My address book is back (albeit with dupes, but hey, it’s back). Thanks Mark Jen and for Plaxo customer support for fixing this.
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Free on iTunes
If you like free TV for your iPod, you’re in luck. This week (to kick off their undoubtedly slow summer), iTunes is giving away 4 TV shows, plus a bonus Superman preview. Download away.
TV Shows
Kyle XY
– new supernatural drama from ABC Family
Bono in Africa with Brian Williams – NBC News specials
Invader Zim – Season 1, Episode 1
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia – 3 free episodes of the FX summer comedy
Bonus Video
Superman Returns Preview – 2 minute scene preview of next week’s movie.
Music Video
Rolling with Bob Saget – Jamie Kennedy and Stu Stone – from Mtv’s Blowing Up show.
Single of the Week
Landon Pigg – Sailed On
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MacBook video review
Still debating about getting a MacBook (I know I am)? Check out this video review from YouTube. Sometimes a video speaks louder than specs and test reports.
[via Digg]
- Initial Blu-Ray impressions – Yippee! Let’s see who wins the race to be the Betamax of the new millennium.
- Netflix Box coming soon – Netflix VP announced that they were planning a network box to download movies from your queue, rather than US mail. Hopefully, this will suck less than MovieBeam. [via Gizmodo]
- TextMate’s new blogging bundle screencast – Mac text editor adds a blogging add-on. [via MacDevCenter]
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Monday links
- Music Gremlin Review – Addicted to Digital Media – Verdict: Not ready for prime time.
- DirecTV Titanium – everything that DirecTV offers for a mere $7,500 a year [via HDBeat]
- XM Passport ship date pushed back – Twice – this tiny XM enabler was a highlight of CES this year [via Orbitcast]
- Why Apple won’t open source its apps – Daring Fireball – Conclusion: they make money from their software.
The rumor du jour is that Apple will announce movie downloads from the iTunes Music Store by year’s end. The rumor that won’t die was substantiated by Variety today with quotes from unnamed sources within the movie industry.
The article also talks about movie studios balking at the single $9.99 price point that Jobs has proposed, getting Apple to relent to a two-tiered pricing system of $19.99 for new releases and $9.99 for catalog titles.
While I have no doubt that this rumor is true, two other products must be released to make this happen. First, a new widescreen iPod must be released and more importantly, a device for the living room needs to be released as well. Why? Movie downloads are great, but the screen on the current iPod is too small for movie viewing and more importantly, the market for video at home (vs. on the go) is much, much larger.
What is the living room device? I’m not sure what form it will take, but I’m pretty sure it’s not a Mac Mini, as it is too expensive and might scare Windows users (the larger market) away.
Read [via AppleInsider]