iFixit Helps You Fixit

iFixit, best known as a teardown king, is relaunching iFixit.com as a repair community–a repository of repair guides, troubleshooting tips, teardowns, and other useful information supplied by readers, plus actual parts that the company will be happy to sell you. I didn’t find anything for an actual repair I’ve been contemplating–replacing a balky MacBook Pro touchpad–but it looks like a cool resource for brave do-it-yourselfers.

Cooliris Gets Cooler (and Easier)

I’ve written before about Cooliris, a cool piece of software that lets you browse images and videos by zooming past a 3D Wall of thumbnails. It’s certainly more entertaining than standard methods for browsing media, and arguably more efficient as well–the wall lets you scan massive quantities of items without having to click a “Next Page” link over and over again.

Cooliris started out as an alternative to more mundane methods of browsing, but the company has lately been working on injecting its Walls into the Web as we kow it. Earlier this week, it updated me on embeddable walls and Cooliris Express, two features that let anybody easily create walls and bring them into sites of all sorts–no Cooliris plug-in required. (These Walls are Flash-based.)

As their name suggests, embdeddable walls sit inside other Web pages; Cooliris Express is a tool for specifying what media is featured in a Wall. You can use items from Flickr, Picasa, YouTube, or Facebook, or tap a MediaRSS feed to insert content from any source. Items in the walls you create now have quick links for sharing via Facebook or Twitter, and the company says it’s speeded up the performance of walls as you swoop around. And the Walls you embed are ad-free (unless you want to participate in a program that lets you display ads and get a cut of the profits).

All this is easier to show than explain. Here’s a silly little Wall that displays a feed of YouTube videos with the keyword “TRS-80.” I created it in about 30 seconds.

Hey, My TV Just Crashed!

There’s a little-known fact: you don’t need to buy set-top boxes or gaming consoles to enjoy digital media on your TV. Unfortunately, buying more hardware is oftentimes the easier–although more limited–option at the moment.

I just got a great deal on a nicely equipped Samsung LCD television. It comes equipped with DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) client software. DLNA is an industry specification that allows devices to share content over a home network.

DLNA servers share content that is played and viewed on clients like televisions. Samsung provides free software to turn your PC into a home media server.

Easy, you might think. Wrong. Samsung’s DLNA server software only works on Windows, and the application’s interface is hardly intuitive. Weaker yet, the client can only play a limited volume of codecs, and has no support for copy-protected media. The average non-geek would be in over his or her head.

Continue reading this story…

Social Settings Are Halo: Reach’s Coolest New Feature

My level of excitement for new Halo games has dropped off over the years, as the series’ refinements stopped adding up to anything radically different. But a new feature in the upcoming Halo: Reach sounds like a game-changer, and it has nothing to do with shooting.

I’ll just quote Ars Technica’s Ben Kuchera, who got to sample the game’s multiplayer ahead of next month’s public beta:

You also have social settings to choose from, to make sure you play with people who match your style. Do you talk? Are you quiet? Do you play competitively, or simply to enjoy yourself? Do you go Rambo, or enjoy teamwork? Do you like a polite game, or are you a trash talker? By adjusting all these options you’ll be able to filter out people whose play styles may be distasteful, allowing you a better play experience.

The idea is so simple, yet so smart, that I wonder why no one’s thought of it before. Essentially, you’ll be able to play with like-minded people without manually cultivating lists of online friends. Given how obnoxious some online gamers can be, this could breathe new life into Xbox Live.

I’m reminded of when Halo 2 introduced matchmaking more than five years ago. The game automatically found players, created teams and chose maps to play on. At the time, online console games made you manually select from a list of open matches, and if you weren’t quick to join one, they’d fill up and you’d have to refresh the list. This system became unpopular as other games mimicked what Halo 2 pioneered.

The same thing ought to happen with Halo: Reach’s social settings, provided the developer, Bungie, can properly execute the concept.

FriendFeed Is Not Going Anywhere, Says Co-Founder

VentureBeat’s Anthony Ha reports from the Facebook f8 developer conference that FriendFeed co-founder Bret Taylor is in attendance, and says that the site will not be shutting down. Facebook acquired the site in August of last year, and FriendFeed developers were re-tasked to responsibilities within Facebook. Taylor now works as Director of Product for the social networking giant.

Taylor confirmed that Facebook still has no plans to develop anything for the service, however as of yet it still remains alive and well. “For all two of you out there, thank you, FriendFeed users,” he joked.

An iPhone External Battery Without the Bulk?

I’ll admit that I have lusted after Mophie’s Juice Pack Air, especially considering I can somehow go through my battery power on my iPhone 3GS in a matter of a half a day or so. The only problem I’ve had is the bulk: it ads about 3 ounces of weight, and another half inch or so of bulk, bringing it up to a somewhat chunky 3/4″ in height.

Enter Mili and its recently released Power Skin. While its power ratings (at least advertised) are slightly less than the Mophie, the case measures in at 18 millimeters, a hair smaller than its competitor at about .7 inches. Like its competitor, the skin comes in different color combinations: black or white on the outside, and either white, silver, black, orange, blue, or green on the inside.

Mili says it has gotten the product Apple certified to work with either the 3G or 3GS. At a price of $69.95, it’s also $10 cheaper than the Mophie.

Is such a small difference in bulk going to be noticeable? Until I get one in my hands, I won’t be able to say. But it is nice to see manufacturers attempting to deal with the greatest drawbacks of these cases.

Microsoft Melds Office With Facebook

Facebook’s F8 developer conference kicked off today, so the Web is rife with Facebook-related news. One interesting tidbit: Microsoft is launching a beta version of something called Docs, which lets Facebook users collaborate on documents with their Facebook pals, in the browser or in the desktop versions of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. (The name “Docs” may prompt confusion with Google’s Office rival Google Docs, but Microsoft apparently owns Docs.com–and if I owned it, I’d want to use it for something like this, too.)

The beta as it’s been rolled out is semi-open: Anyone can view documents. But uploading, editing, and creating new ones requires an invite code. I’m don’t have full acess, so I can’t explore all of Docs’ features, but the idea doesn’t look so complicated: Basically, it’s a version of Office 2010′s workgroup features and Web-based apps that makes your Facebook friends your workgroup.

It’s tough to judge Docs until I get get full access to it, but it looks like it could be handy. One major question I still have: Even though this is clearly built on some of the Office 2010 Web technology, is it an entirely separate world–or can I create a document in an Office 2010 Web app and share it via Docs, and vice versa?

Google Working With Adobe on Android Flash and AIR

The saga of Flash on the iPhone may be ending–at least for now–but Google is announcing that it’s collaborating with Adobe on the Android versions of Flash and AIR. It’s not clear what that means, exactly (details are to come at next month’s Google developer conference). But if there’s one prominent phone OS with no Adobe stuff, and one with the best possible Adobe stuff, consumers will get to decide just how big a selling point Flash and AIR are. And that’s good news.

Google Buys Secretive Chipmaker Agnilux

Google has confirmed that it has purchased chipmaker Agnilux, a little known company comprised of former PA Semi employees who left that company following its acquisition by Apple in 2008. The company would only confirm the acquisition but declined to give any more details.

What exactly Agnilux does is unknown. A February investigation by the New York Times’ Ashlee Vance came up with little answers, only finding out through a former PA Semi employee that the company could be working on “some kind of server.”

Many of the PA Semi expatriates now working for Agnilux are responsible for the innards some of Apple’s most recent and upcoming products, including the chip in the iPad and the processor in the iPhone 4G as well. No one really knows what else the company may be doing.

That said, what does Google want with Agnilux? Could be a few things. First, if the tiny company is working on some type of server chip, of course Google would be interested. The company operates hundreds of servers to power its searches, and anything to give a competitive edge is obviously a bonus.

Another possibility is it may tap the group to provide it with chips for its Android devices to put them on equal footing with Apple in terms of mobile computing power. Whatever it is, we probably won’t be finding out for awhile.

“We want to make a splash. We don’t want our manufacturer to take our intellectual property before we’re ready,” Agnilux’s chief operating officer Mark Hayter told the NYT.

Adobe Abandoning iPhone Flash App Plans

The white flag is being raised by Adobe in its latest battle with Apple, which could spell the end of the companies attempts to bring Flash to the iPhone overall. The company said that it will no longer persue the ability to allow developers to create Flash apps intended for the iPhone/iPad, pointing to Apple’s chokehold over development for the platform.

“As developers for the iPhone have learned, if you want to develop for the iPhone you have to be prepared for Apple to reject or restrict your development at anytime, and for seemingly any reason,” Flash product manager Mike Chambers wrote on his blog Tuesday.

Chambers continued by all but saying Adobe’s efforts had caught Apple in a lie, proving that Flash could work on the iPhone. He also said the company would now focus its efforts on competing operating systems like Android.

Working with Google could also get Apple’s goat considering the two companies’ relationship has soured considerably over the past year. Android is an open platform, and Google has not done much (if anything) to exert control over who is developing for it.

“We are at the beginning of a significant change in the industry, and I believe that ultimately open platforms will win out over the type of closed, locked down platform that Apple is trying to create,” he wrote.

I’d now venture to guess that we’ve come to the end of the line when it comes to Flash on the iPhone period. It may not matter much now however, considering the dramatic uptick in use of HTML 5. That said, many major websites still do not support HTML 5 fully, so iPhone and iPad users will contine to have a broken experience when it comes to the Web.

Who does that benefit — Apple’s own interests, or the interests of its growing customer base? Neither, I’d say.

The iPad on a Plane: Success!

This morning, I got on a plane to head for a conference in Alicante, Spain. Once we were in the air, I got online (via Gogo inflight Wi-Fi) with my iPad and checked my e-mail–and discovered that the event had just been canceled. So I headed home on the next available flight. (No, I didn’t get all the way to Spain–just to Dallas, which is where I was going to catch a connecting flight.)

The one positive thing about the experience is that it was my first time using an iPad on an airplane–and as I’d hoped, this gadget was born for air travel. I was in the back of coach on a crowded American flight; I also had a 13″ Asus laptop with me, but I had to angle the screen at a bizarre angle and it was impossible to type without elbowing the guy next to me.

My iPad, however, is so small and sits so low that it worked just fine–even when the lady in front of me reclined without warning. I browsed the Web, did instant messaging, tweeted, and caught up on e-mail, and was almost as productive as I would have been with a full-blown computer in less tight quarters. And the battery had almost 80 percent of its charge left after two and a half hours of work.

The on-screen keyboard turned out to be less of an obstacle than having to I hop back and forth between multiple full-screen apps. (I’m really looking forward to trying out multitasking in the iPad version of iPhone OS 4.)

I’m not quite ready to go on major trips sans laptop. (One of my major apps–Photoshop–still has no workable iPad equivalent that I know about.) But the iPad was so much better suited to the unique challenges of coach air travel that taking both a laptop and an iPad feels less silly and redundant than it should in theory. In fact, the iPad was so unobtrusive that I thought for a moment I’d lost it–when it was merely hidden behind a copy of The New Yorker in my briefcase…

The High Court’s Lack of Tech Knowlege is Troubling

Remember that sexting story I shared with you Monday? Well, our nation’s highest court heard those arguments Tuesday. What we learned from their performance on the bench is that a significant number of them have a very rudimentary understanding–if any at all–of technology.

If this is the case, we should be quite concerned that this court just doesn’t have the knowleddge to accurately rule on what is likely to become an ever-increasingly tech-heavy caseload as high-tech works even further into the fabric of our lives.

Here’s just some of the surprisingly basic questions asked by justices, according to DC Dicta:

Chief Justice John Roberts, who has written out his opinions with pen and paper: “What is the difference between e-mail and a pager?”

Justice Anthony Kennedy, failing to understand the basic concept of a text message: “[If messages are sent simultaneously], does it say: ‘Your call is important to us, and we will get back to you?’”

Justice Antonin Scalia, asking about those sexts: “Could Quon print these spicy little conversations and send them to his buddies?”

If our highest court cannot grasp the most basic concepts of technology, I highly question how they could provide fair judgments on any matter involving tech. This makes me very nervous.

We cannot completely blame the Court for its failings. Most of the justices are over the age of 70. However, at the same time, you need to stay current when you’re in a position to make decisions that affect the entire country.

President Obama is going to have to select a new justice very soon. Let’s hope the one he picks at least knows what e-mail is.

A Tweet’s More Than Just 140 Characters

Sarah Perez over at ReadWriteWeb has a interesting piece on what exactly compromises a tweet from the backend. While it looks complicated already, it will get even moreso when Twitter debuts “annotations” later this year. That’s because for the first time a tweet will be able to contain even more data than just your standard 140 characters of text.

Now you know how much coding it takes for someone to tweet what they had for lunch this afternoon…

Ten Countries Tell Google to Get Serious On Privacy

In an open letter to Google CEO Eric Schmidt, eight countries including Canada, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain and the United Kingdom took the search provider to task over its recently released Google Buzz product. At issue was the way the feature automatically added people as “followers” without any consent.

Critics immediately slammed the company for the move, something the privacy officials signing the letter said ran afoul of privacy laws of many countries. “This was not the first time you have failed to take adequate account of privacy considerations when launching new services,” the letter reads.

These officials say the company completely ignored privacy issues that should have been “readily apparent.” Indeed, the method which the company launched the service seemed a tad bit underhanded, and forced the company to have its users reconfirm their privacy status.

Also mentioned in the letter was Google Street View — which especially in the EU stirred concerns that it was not taking enough into account for the privacy and safety of those photographed.

Google’s response? That they have discussed these issues repeatedly “and have no further comment on the matter.”

How Apple Screwed Up With the iPhone 4G

No doubt, Gizmodo has turned the tech news cycle on its head this week with its exclusive on the iPhone 4G. Everybody from MSNBC to Good Morning America, and even the ladies on The View are talking about what is arguably the biggest leak in consumer technology history.

What has ensued beyond just the basic story of 27-year-old Apple developer Gray Powell’s now infamous drunken night now has turned to Gizmodo’s culpability in the morass. Some bloggers have gone as far as to publicly call for Apple to sue the publication, but doesn’t Cupertino share some of the blame for this mess?

In the simplest terms, yes. As a journalist who has covered Apple for much of the last half-decade, I have to say I am absolutely shocked that this would have even happened. For a company that prides itself on its secrecy — writing on Apple can be much like walking blindfolded into a maze — this is a stunning lapse in judgement.

Continue reading this story…

Teens Texting More Than Ever

Texting has now become the primary means of communication between teenagers according to a new study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project. The average teen will send and receive some 1,500 text messages per month, although many will surpass that. A third send some 3,000 texts per month, and 15 percent 6,000 or more.

Girls by far are the more prolific messagers, as they send some 80 texts per day on average. Boys send much less, about 30.

“The widespread availability of unlimited texting plans has transformed communication patterns of American teens, many of whom now conduct substantial portions of their daily conversations with their friends via texting,” senior researcher Amanda Lenhart said.

Some have bypassed the texting craze, however: Pew found that 22 percent send and receive less than 10 text messages per day.

Pew found that 75% of teens now have cell phones, up from 45% in 2004.