Firefox 2.0 Beta Set to Launch This Week

Samir Bhavnani, director of research at Current Analysis, downplayed the new features in Firefox 2.0, saying users might not see a whole lot of difference between 2.0 and earlier versions of the browser. "A lot of changes are background changes, which are security in nature," he said.

How Google Works


Google is more than just a leading search firm. It's a pioneer that may be definining information management for the next generation of Web-centric businesses.

YahooLocal adopts microformats

Upcoming.org's Andy Baio discusses a better way of browsing.

More about microformats.

Netvibes - Personal Homepage


Netvibes, a project started in France by Florant Fremont, is the latest web-app based on the idea of personalized homepages and like some others (like Start and Google’s personal homepage), it is powered by some nicely developed Ajax. Their goal: The aim of it is to provide a place on the internet where you can set just the content you like, a super easy way of building your personnalized homepage, available anywhere, anytime. No registration is needed, however if you want to access your page from another computer you’ll be able to do it by registering with your email address and a password.

Addtional links:
Netvibes development blog
Netvibes API documentation
Netvibes Ecosystem (official list of modules, feeds, iCal files, and tabs)

Yahoo gives One.org a Web 2.0 upgrade.

As part of an employee volunteer program, Yahoo has upgraded the Web site of a prominent charity. Read here.

eBay dives into Web 2.0

eBay, arguably the original Web 2.0 company, is latching onto the newfangled 2.0 stuff. It has announced eBay Wiki, with service hosted by JotSpot. It's intended to allow members to offer their own expertise on any eBay topic they know about, and for people to find answers to questions that eBay itself may not have anticipated. That's on top of eBay Blogs, also announced today, that let members create their own blogs to promote their business or indulge their collectible passion. They're both naturals for a site that has rightly prided itself on enabling a community to be formed around commerce.

Riya supersizes plan: will become a "visual" search engine

Riya, the Silicon Valley photo recognition start-up, is expanding its ambition: It wants to become a full-fledged "visual" search engine.

The move was signaled today by chief executive Munjal Shah, who told us in a phone call that he has radically transformed the company in recent days to go after this new goal. It will take about three months to crawl the entire Web, collect images and then process them to identify their various qualities so that they are searchable, he said.

More here.

Video start-up One True Media lands $5 million from Kleiner Perkins

One True Media is a new Silicon Valley start-up (Redwood City) that is offering video creation tools, and wants to be the next video-sharing company. There are dozens of competitors, so this is a long shot.

Yahoo Hack Day

Yahoo has had a a couple of regional “Hack Days”, which are day long events where engineers stop everything they are doing and just build stuff that they think is cool. The idea was first popularized by Jot last year, and a number of companies have picked up on the idea as a great way to stoke innovation and creativity in a semi-organized way. The goal? Take something from idea to prototype in 24 hours.

Today at noon, however, Yahoo got serious about Hack Days by making it Yahoo-wide. Every Yahoo engineer is invited to participate, and other employees are joining in as well. Anyone with an idea is encouraged to gather a team up and spend a day coding. Tomorrow (Friday) at noon, the hacking stops and everyone will get together to review what’s been built.

The effort is being led out of Bradley Horowitz’s product strategy group, with Chad Dickerson and Caterina Fake organizing the event.

(Article from TechCrunch)

Where 2.0 Conference: June 13-14

Everything Happens Somewhere. Be there when it happens here. The Where 2.0 Conference brings together the people, projects, and issues leading the charge into the location based technological frontier.

Vidblogs

A video blog is the new hot way for people to stick their personal lives on the internet!

See some people's lives, and consider joining in on the fun here at vidblogs.com.

AOL Music

Looking for a new channel to listen and see your favorite music artist? Check out AOL Music's website. Checkout their Top 11.

Two Giants Connect



Yahoo and eBay are gunning for Google, whether they'll admit to it or not.

Nike + iPod

Nike and Apple today announced a partnership bringing the worlds of sports and music together like never before with the launch of innovative Nike+iPod products.

Visit nikeplus.com where you can maximize the Nike+iPod experience.

Why VOIP is headed for your cell phone

For millions of users, voice over Internet protocol, or VOIP, is lowering phone bills for calls they make from their PC or land-line phone. But soon VOIP could cut cell-phone bills, too - most of all for international users.

Tools for the net

Zoho offers up new methods by which to do work over the Internet.

The Next Net 25

A new Web revolution is picking up steam, and the next Google or Microsoft could emerge from the companies that are in the vanguard.

Details Unfolding on Microsoft's Origami

As rumors unfurl about a new gadget upcoming from Microsoft, the company's Origami Project is starting to take shape as a very small tablet computer, one perhaps affordable enough to appeal to mainstream consumers.

Geekcorps: A Peace Corps for techies

How do you bring the Internet to countries like Mali, where more than 70 percent of the population is illiterate and the telecommunications infrastructure barely exists?

Navigating the aftermath of the customer revolution

"Tiering doesn't work anymore!" a friend and Chief Marketing Officer for a cell phone manufacturer told me the other day, summing up what he experienced in the market.

Uberfuze...Email Profiles

Uberfuze is a free service that lets you and your friends keep in touch better, through personalized buddy profiles in email, private buddy lists, and more!

Update on MashupCamp

Here's additional information on MashupCamp and a link to it's web site.

Techies converge to talk mashups

Hundreds of technologists, reporters and investors are expected Monday morning in Mountain View, Calif., for MashupCamp, the first conference devoted to discussions about the custom programs that come from merging multiple application program interfaces.

Additional Mashup informatin:

Google Maps Mania
Mashup (web apllication hybrid)

The Population Hourglass

Your future is older, browner, and more feminine than you might have realized. That will make for some major lifestyle changes ("Welcome home, Mom!") and lots of huge opportunities for business.

Wondering about upcoming trends. Check out this community website. Treadwatch, focused on Internet marketing and related technologies.

PSP Audio Roundup


Extremetech is featuring a rundown of the PSP and all of its audio capabilities. If you have a PSP and use it for music listening, this is definitely worth a read. They discuss all of the firmware changes, optimizing sound, transferring music and even a little bit of hacking. Check it out, yo.

Apple Drops Hints of iPod Phone

Four trademark applications submitted earlier this month by Apple are adding grist to the rumor mill concerning the launch of an iPod phone, which has been the subject of speculation almost since the launch of the company's popular digital-music player.

The Farkirk Wheel

The Falkirk Wheel is a boat lift designed to connect the Union Canal with the Forth and Clyde Canal 25 m below.

Surveillance Cameras for Dummies

WiLife has developed a new security product called LukWerks.

CES 2006

CNET editors cover the Best of CES 2006.

Yahoo! Widgets
Bring some fun to your desktop with stylish and useful Yahoo! Widget Engine.

Google Goes for Web Video

Google is upping the ante in the online video gold rush, allowing content owners to set their own prices in a bid to create a more flexible alternative to Apple Computer's pioneering iTunes store.

It's Time for 2006 International CES

Check out what new gadgets will be coming out this year!

Nokia 770 Internet Tablet

For such a small device, the 770 is loaded with features. In the original release, its system software packaged with items such as a web browser, an e-mail manager, a news reader.

It Had to Happen

The CellFlix Film Festival is a film contest for movies made with cellular phone cameras.

All the World's A Podcast

Michael Calore of Webmonkey has posted a thoroughgoing tutorial on making podcasts. He explains what they are and then describes each step of the making and publishing of the hot new medium. Calore also reminds us of the power the medium gives us:

The beauty of the new technologies being born on the web — podcasts, blogs, video blogs, social networking sites — is that they put us in charge. The gap between the creator and the consumer is shrinking as we generate our own content and trade ideas between ourselves more freely. Not only to we have more control over what we're listening to and reading, but it's up to us to create it as well.

Who's afraid of Google?

It seems no one is safe: Google is doing Wi-Fi; Google is searching inside books; Google has a plan for ecommerce.

Googling for Gold

With a market cap in orbit and more cash than a small nation, Google's heft is altering the tech industry's behavior. But when does its long-awaited shopping spree begin?

Futurists Pick Top Tech Trends

Taking a long-term view isn't easy nowadays.

Even the recent past seems blurry at times. Google's just seven years old, but it's hard to imagine life before instant search. Broadband has been widely available for only a few years, but already dialup internet seems to high-speed users like a throwback to the Neanderthal era.

Taking Back the Web



How wikis are changing our view of the world.

Numb Thumbs?

Tapping away at tiny keyboards takes its toll on some users.

Web Titans Rake it In

Record sales at Google and Yahoo! are likely to keep improving as the Net draws a bigger share of add dollars.

New browser in town

A small team of developers in California on Friday launched a cutting-edge Firefox-based Web browser dubbed Flock, which integrates next-generation Web technologies such as RSS content feeds, blogs and bookmark and photo sharing.

Additonal info here:

• Flog Photos
• Flock Radio
• Flock Buzz
• Flock Home Page
  

The Clicker: Apple’s real plan for iPod video?

You’ve got to love Apple. Crazy like a fox they are. Oh sure – some of their decisions regarding the new iPod might seem a little odd to the gadget-lovers among us. “No DivX???” is the phrase most often muttered when Engageteers start reading of the new iPod’s video functions. Read more here.

A living roon on four wheels


The Chrysler Akino concept has two doors on the passenger side (with only one on the driver's side) to allow for a booth-like rear seat.

Robot Cars to Do Battle in Desert Race

When 15 competitors lined up in Nevada last year for the U.S. Defense Department's first million-dollar robot race, hopes were high. The challenge: to drive a vehicle without a human driver or remote control some 150 miles (241 kilometers) through the Mojave Desert.

Hackers Shift Focus to Financial Gain

Internet criminals want your computer, your money and your identity. And their tactics are becoming increasingly refined and organized, according to security experts.

Sun and Google: Publicity Ploy or Power Grab?

A small strategic partnership may set off a seismic shift in the software industry's competitive landscape.

The Mind of an Inventor

He built his first computer as a child. In his 20s, he had moved on to supercomputers. Now Danny Hillis is thinking of bigger things.

Electronic Arts unveils games for Xbox 360 launch
Reuters - Mon Oct 3,12:58 PM ET
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Electronic Arts Inc. on Monday announced five video game titles that will be available for Microsoft Corp's Xbox 360 console when it launches next month.

William Bright displays his iPod with a subway map display outside the Prince Street subway...

Palm and Verizon to unveil Treo 700w

Palm, Verizon, and Microsoft will be holding a joint press conference on Monday, Sept. 26th; to launch the newest Treo line.

Sun president: PCs are so yesterday | CNET News.com

So asserted Jonathan Schwartz, president of server and software maker Sun Microsystems. Instead, what has become important are Web services on the Internet and the mobile phones most will use to access them.

Why Podcasting Took Off

Posted by James Archer, he talks about the technology that is taking the market by storm.

With Nano and Rokr, Apple makes itself heard


The iPod keeps getting smaller, even as it stays the big kid on the music player block. Also: iTunes in a phone.

Sayonara, spark plug?

Never mind hydrogen. In a few years, the power under your hood may come from a new spin on diesel.

Popular Browser Secrets

Web browser add-ons, tips, and a preview of IE 7.

Apple Computer is preparing a major announcement next week

Dropping hints of something as critical to the company's future as the release of the original iPod in 2001.

Search Engines Future: Personalized Collaborative Shareable Search

Prompted by the business prospect of a coming search market valued at $ 18 billion in the next five years (source: Safa Rashtcy - Piper Jaffray) and following the recent technology announcements in personalized collaborative search made by Yahoo (My Web 2.0) and Google (My Search History) a whole new type of search engine makes its debut today. Like its more famous siblings this new technology focuses on the development...

Article courtesy of Robin Good.

Here Comes Google Voice



Lots of talk about Google introducing an instant messaging client, using the Jabber technology. I think this will be a voice enabled IM product, which will be released in order to match the “talk” features of Yahoo and MSN. Google Rumors reports that the talk.google.com domain has become active, and sends you to google.com/talk which shows a 404 message. There is already news that Google is running a Jabber server. Jabber already has a deal with AOL, and from the looks of it, is fast becoming a platform of choice for voice-over-IM.

Article courtesy of Om Malik's Broadband Blog

UPDATE: Download Google TALK Beta here.

Window worms knocing our computers [CNET]

Network worms that shut down computers running Microsoft's Windows 2000 operating system on Tuesday, Aug. 15th, may be linked to competition between rival hackers, security experts said.

Yahoo Buys Into Chinese Online Company

Yahoo Inc. is paying $1 billion in cash for a 40 percent stake in China's biggest online commerce firm, Alibaba.com, strengthening the ties that international companies are forging in the world's second-largest Internet market. Read story here.

RFID's Second Wave: BusinessWeek Article

As prices fall and systems improve rapidly, manufacturers are finally starting to embrace the electronic tagging technology

Preview of Windows Vista

Known for years by the code name "Longhorn," the successor to Microsoft's Windows XP has been dubbed "Longwait" for its numerous delays. As features have been announced, it's also been accused of copying Apple Computer Inc.'s Mac OS X.

Apple Introduces Mighty Mouse

Apple Computer Inc.'s neglect of the humble mouse is over. It now offers a model that's nimble.

More here at Apple about the Might Mouse.

• 
  Yahoo website to provide news videos from CNN, ABC AFP - 42 minutes ago

  SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - US Internet giant Yahoo is to offer Internauts free daily news clips from the American CNN and ABC television networks starting in September, the company announced.

A portal for the blogosphere

News.com debuts Blogma, a special portal designed to highlight the hottest topics in the blogging universe.

AirClick
Remote Control for Mac, PC, iPod and iPod mini.

The Motorola Q Smartphone

Posted Jul 25, 2005, 8:05 PM ET by Ryan Block
Related entries: Cellphones, Digital Cameras

We’re not sure about how this thing be lookin’ versus that early render we had before, but news just finally freaking broke on the Motorola Q, what we once knew as the RAZRberry and Franklin. What’s it got? 4.6 x 2.5 x 0.45-inches in your pocket for one, a QVGA (320 x 240) wide-format display, QWERTY keyboard (duh), Windows Mobile 5.0, thumbwheel, d-pad, 1.3 megapixel camera, MiniSD, and Bluetooth. Expect it in Q1 2006 for probably more money at launch than we’re ready to hear about yet.

Courtesy of engadget

Podcasting Nonstar System

How many podcasting microstars has Apple minted? Find out here.

Here comes the iTunes of news

Publishers are hooking up with the Web's search giants to give surfers access to individual articles for a small fee. BusinessWeek

Do More With Your iPod

Here are three tips to get more out of your iPod.

Wine Scanner Has Perfect Palette

Collectors need never drink vinegar again, thanks to a new device that can detect bad vino without popping the cork. By David Cohn.

Will That Be Cash, Credit, or Cell?

For years, techies and wireless phone companies have coveted a dream: turning the ubiquitous cell phone into a virtual wallet.

Cool Stuff, Made in Taiwan

Twenty years ago, the exhibition hall of the Computex computer trade show here overlooked fields of cabbages, onions and yams. Since then, a new crop has sprouted: ultra-modern shopping malls and the world's tallest building.

Lookout PayPal

Online search-engine leader Google Inc. is preparing to introduce an electronic payment system later this year.

What is the Googlebar?


The Googlebar project was initially created to address the widespread desire in the mozilla community for the Google toolbar to support the Netscape 7, Mozilla, and Firefox web browsers.

PodCast 101

What is a Podcast? A podcast is audio you can download and listen to wherever and whenever you want. You can hear news as well as traditional radio. Here are some links to help you get started with podcasting:

Listening to Podcasts

1. Getting Started
2. How-to: Podcasting
3. How to listen to Podcasts on your Pocket PC
   

Making Podcasts

1. Podcasting 101: Illustrated Tips for Newbie Podcasters
   
2. Podcast using just Blogger.com
   
   
   

Boards Get Brains, Chalk Vanishes

The familiar sight of seeing the instructor with chalk all over their shirt is disappearing for a new technology.

IM on your free phone

Talk with colleagues around the world, share files, and save a fortune on phone bills. Read more

Google, Yahoo seen boosted by Ad Surge.

Seattle ops List for Wireless Web Access

Seattle and San Francisco are the most "unwired cities" in America — top spots for computer junkies who send e-mail and surf the Web at restaurants, libraries or public plazas.

Apple Launches IPod Recyling Program

Apple Computer Inc. launched a recycling program for its popular iPod, encouraging owners to bring their digital music players to Apple retail stores for free, environmentally friendly disposal.

• 
  Apple may use Intel chips for Macs

  Apple Computer Inc. has been in talks that could lead to it using Intel Corp. chips in its Macintosh computers, The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, reigniting decade-old speculation and sparking a 5 percent rise in Apple's stock price.

ID, Please A national card is coming.

Nokia Unveils Handheld Internet Table

NEW YORK - Nokia Corp. is straying from its core cellular business with its first non-phone mobile device, a handheld Internet tablet for accessing the Web around the home over a wireless broadband connection.

A Buyer's Guide to the New Gameboxes
The Wall Street Journal Online
The big videogame hardware makers – Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo – have weighed in with plans for their next-generation of consoles. Now the question for consumers is which one to buy. More.

German -language spam

E-mail users perplexed by the barrage of German-language spam waiting in their inboxes Monday morning can point the finger of blame at the latest version of the Sober mass mailing worm which began rapidly spreading over the weekend.

EPIC

By the year 2014, what I call newsmasters will be the most sought-after and highly rewarded professional media creators the world has ever seen. View it here.

Summary of this new world.

Major Solaris features slip to 2006

Sun Microsystems has delayed the release of two major features the company has trumpeted as reasons to try its new Solaris operating system.

Future of Pro Digital Photography

Film is portable, durable, versatile. But its arcane chemistry is going out of style.

Yahoo hires legendary Larry Tesler

Tesler, 60, was part of the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center from 1973 to 1980 where he helped develop techniques such as "cut and paste" that are now standard in computer graphical user interfaces.

PalmOne Call LifeDrive 'Mobile Manager'

PalmOne has finally acknowledged the LifeDrive, calling it the first in a series of ‘Mobile Manager’ devices that will sit alongside the Zire, Tungsten, and Treo units. The Register quotes a PalmOne spokesperson describing the Mobile Manager series as something “designed for customers who are eager to take full advantage of the trend toward ‘digital everything’ - from documents and email to music, images and video, as standalone files or in organised folders.” That sounds perfectly pedestrian.

Hard drives in PDAs are a good thing, and we applaud PalmOne for being the first major vendor to do so (Sharp’s Japan-only Zaurus SL-C3000 beat them to the punch by a few months), but like other hardware vendors out there looking for a problem for which to sell a solution—we’re looking at you, Nokia—the ‘manage your lifestyle’ crap just sounds like the same thing we’ve been hearing for the last few years. That said, we’ll give them a chance—maybe they’ve got some fancy, streamlined interface that’s going to change the way we manage our multimedia.

Cnet story on LifeDrive Mobile Manager

In the New Game of Tag, All of Us Are It

Will free-style information tagging lead to anarchy? Early results are showing quite the opposite.

The Man Who Brewed Up Java
James Gosling sees new uses for the programming language he created 10 years ago, such as making his home-entertainment system work right.

U.S. Cities Set Up Wireless Networks

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (Reuters) -- A number of U.S. cities are becoming giant wireless "hot spots," where Internet users will be able to log on from the beach or a bus stop, a trend that's triggering a fierce backlash from telecom and cable giants.

'Tagging' helps unclutter data

Here's how we tend to organize our digital photos: We stick them into a folder on our computer and label it "Hawaii trip," or whatever. Here's a new way: Forget folders or albums. Just "tag" the photos based on what's actually in each frame.

No training wheels needed

Three Purdue University industrial designers tapped into memories of their own childhood cycling misadventures to build a bike that ditches the training wheels but keeps rookie riders stable.

For one Silicon Valley company, hiring Indian programmers wasn't about greed, it was about survival. Read the report by Katherine Mieszkowski.

The Mozilla Foundation's Firefox Web browser passed a significant milestone in adoption on Friday, with more than 50 million copies of the program downloaded, according to its distributors.

Related stories 1 and 2