Archive for: October 13, 2009
October 13, 2009
Google has followed through on its promise in July to enable Google Docs users to establish shared folders. Far and away the most requested Google Docs feature, shared folders promises to make it far easier for groups to collaborate on documents. Previously Google Docs users had to set the access permission status for documents, spreadsheets and presentations one at a time. But once Google has finished rolling out its latest round of Google Docs changes, all users will have to do to share items with others is to put them into a shared folder. “We’re rolling out these updates gradually, so they should be available to everyone soon,” said Google Docs product manager Vijay Bangaru. “As you’d expect, if you add an item to a shared folder, it will automatically be shared, and if you add someone to an existing shared folder, they will instantly get access to all of the folder’s content.” Multiple Item Uploads Google has also made it easier for users to upload multiple items to its Google Docs cloud-computing environment. “Instead of picking one file at a time, our new upload page lets you choose multiple files and upload them simultaneously, in just a couple of steps,” Bangaru said. During the upload process, files are automatically converted to the Google Docs format, with a status bar displaying a progress report on the transfers. Alternatively, multiple files can be uploaded through the Google Docs List Data API, which enables client applications to upload documents to Google Docs and list them in the form of Google Data API feeds. Additionally, Google has reintroduced a feature called “items not in folders,” which many Google Docs users have been employing as a work flow tool. “We’ve made one change to ensure the filter functions as expected in light of the ...
On Tuesday, Nokia introduced its Booklet 3G to U.S. consumers. Nokia has partnered with AT&T, Best Buy, and Microsoft to launch its first device that aims to breach the chasm between personal computer and mobile device. The Booklet 3G runs on Microsoft Windows 7 and is powered by an Intel Atom processor. Nokia promises the device will deliver up to 12 hours of battery life so users can leave their power cable behind and still stay connected and productive. “Our alliance with Nokia is advancing on multiple fronts and the Nokia Booklet 3G is an important step,” said Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. “We are excited with Nokia’s decision to launch its first PC with Windows 7. By combining the value and simplicity of the operating system with the all-day mobility of the Nokia Booklet 3G, we are bringing new and valuable experiences to consumers and businesses.” An Aluminum Mini-Laptop The Booklet 3G offers full-function PC features inside an ultra-portable aluminum chassis. Described as a mini-laptop, the device weighs less than 2.76 pounds and measures slightly more than two centimeters thin. Consumers can connect to the Internet at high speeds using embedded 3G/HSPA or Wi-Fi. Nokia President and CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo said the most powerful device is the one that doesn’t have you running for the power plug or network point. The Booklet 3G aims to answer that call. “By combining the Booklet’s sleek design, impressive features, and competitive price together with the new Windows 7 operating system from Microsoft, AT&T’s nationwide 3G coverage, and Best Buy’s unmatched national retail footprint, we believe we have a winning combination for U.S. consumers,” Kallasvuo said. The mini-laptop also comes with an HDMI port for HD video out, a front-facing camera for video calling, integrated Bluetooth, and an easily accessible SD card reader. Other ...
By Andrew Liszewski Created by Sean McNaughton and Samuel Velasco for National Geographic , this beautifully illustrated map includes the almost 200 missions to space from the past 50 years, showing which of our celestial neighbors we like to visit the most. The National Geographic website has an interactive version you can pan and zoom around on, but if you’d like to make yourself a nice little wallpaper you can find a full-sized version of it on Flickr . [ National Geographic - Fifty Years of Exploration ] VIA [ io9 ]
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50 Years Of Space Exploration In One Handy Graphic
Katy Leakey rises early in the morning, has breakfast with her husband, Philip, and heads to the 12-foot-by-12-foot office where she spends much of her workday. Like many other entrepreneurs, she keeps her jewelry and home accessories business running smoothly by checking in with customers and distributors through phone calls, e-mail and the VoIP service Skype. Unlike many entrepreneurs, she works out of a tent in Kenya. Katy and Philip Leakey, son of the famous archaeologists Louis and Mary Leakey, hire rural Kenyans to create the eco-friendly products that make up The Leakey Collection. The couple, who live among the Maasai people in the Kenyan bush, sell the goods online and in U.S. retail stores. They reinvest a portion of revenue on local projects such as building roads and schools. Kathy Levinson’s office environment is vastly different. The real estate agent works in a 10-foot-by-12-foot refurbished storage closet in the basement of her Port Washington, N.Y., home. She made the windowless office cozy by adding carpet, fresh paint and soft lighting. Leakey and Levinson are part of a surging group: business owners who work from home or in remote or mobile offices. Nearly 9 percent of all North American adults operate a business out of a home, according to Forrester Research. And the number of people who work remotely will continually increase worldwide, according to research firm IDC. Many factors will contribute to the continued growth of remote working. They include technological advances, workers’ urges for more life/work balance and the desires of retiring Baby Boomers and older adults to keep working for personal and financial reasons. Folks in their 60s, 70s and 80s “have 35 or more years (of life) to enjoy and pay for, but not everyone wants to be a greeter at Walmart,” says Joanne Pratt, a ...
Sexist comments. Bourbon at 10 a.m. Lighting up a Pall Mall whenever you want. No, this isn’t the Mets locker room. It’s the way of life on the TV show Mad Men, and boy, did those guys at Sterling Cooper (the show’s fictional advertising firm) have it made. No one cared about cancer. All the secretaries and stewardesses had hourglass figures. And if you were Senior Partner Roger Sterling, you could even pinch one of their tushes with impunity. How times change. The only tush I can pinch is my dog’s. And he’s not happy about it, either. I have to steal my drinks from a flask in the men’s room. And smoking those Pall Malls? I’ll leave that to the President. But most of us who work in an office have noticed something else on Mad Men: the technology shift. Gone are those big, black phones. Also those IBM typewriters. A copy machine was new technology then. If Don Draper, the firm’s creative director, was suddenly transported to today’s office, he would be shocked by how much of the technology that he used every day in 1963 is long gone. Would the same be true of a business owner from today hypothetically transported ahead 50 years? Try five years. Because in just that short amount of time, a lot of the technology we use now won’t be around, at least not as much. So if you’re thinking of investing in something new, you may want to consider a few technologies that are changing right before our eyes. Macs Invade the Office Let’s start with Macs. Apple technology is gaining traction in the workplace. There’s a whole new generation of workers weaned on Macbooks hitting the job market. In a recent survey of 750 businesses by research firm Information Technology ...
It’s never been easy making mobile-commerce predictions. Researchers who tried to forecast how much we would spend on goods and services via cell phone came up with all sorts of projections that were wide of the mark. Early in the decade, published reports cited forecasts that by 2006 more than one-quarter of U.S. cell-phone users would use the device to buy content and physical goods. Turns out that by the end of the second quarter, only about 7 percent of U.S. consumers bought goods or conducted financial transactions via cell phone, according to a Nielsen Mobile survey of more than 90,000 people. Yet, m-commerce may finally be hitting its stride. And some analysts who in recent years became more conservative in their forecasts are now having to make upward revisions. In January, consultant ABI Research projected North American sales of physical goods ordered via cell phone would reach $544 million this year, up from $346 million in 2008. Now, Mark Beccue, senior analyst at ABI, is considering updating his 2009 forecast to $800 million. “I thought hockey-stick growth was going to come in 2010, but it looks like it’s already a hockey stick,” Beccue says. “Next year, it will double again.” From Ringtones and Apps to Physical Items Beccue and other industry watchers are becoming more bullish on m-commerce thanks to the experience of companies such as Papa John’s International. In mid-2008, the pizza chain began letting customers order food and drinks on a Web site tailored to a cell phone’s small screen. By December, customers had used their cell phones to order $1 million in Papa John’s products. Papa John’s says mobile sales now are rising at an annual tenfold pace. “We continue to be amazed at the velocity of growth,” says Jim Ensign, a Papa John’s vice-president. Consumers ...
By Andrew Liszewski What started out as a boring Power Wheels 2001 G3740 Street Scene Silverado has ended up as an awesome miniature version of the Warthog from the Halo games, complete with a chain winch on the front and of course the triple-barreled machine gun mounted on the back. Surprisingly though it wasn’t created by Master Chief for his little Spartans, but by a modder known as flux83 who posted a ‘making of’ to the Modified Power Wheels forum. [ Modified Power Wheels - Halo Warthog a.k.a. Chupa Thingy ] VIA [ Kotaku ]
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Does Master Chief Have Kids? Because This Is What They’d Drive Into Battle
By Andrew Liszewski It might not be as comprehensive, nor is it narrated by Stephen Fry, but Openmoko’s WikiReader could be the closest thing we have to The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy right now. It’s a palm-sized encyclopedia that contains over 3 million English language articles from Wikipedia, available offline. Thanks to its monochrome touchscreen display that allows you to click on hyperlinks and scroll an article with a finger stroke, the WikiReader will run for months on a set of 2xAAA batteries. And since Wikipedia is constantly being updated, the WikiReader can also be kept up-to-date with quarterly updates that can be downloaded for free from their website , or there’s a $29 yearly subscription plan which provides the updates via microSD cards. $99 available from Amazon today. [ WikiReader ]
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WikiReader – A Portable Copy Of Wikipedia For Those Who Always Have To Be Right
It’s out! Although in beta. BlackBerry is sure stepping up, not to be left behind by Nokia and Apple. The BlackBerry Widget Packager 1.0 Beta allows developers to pack all their developing goodness into a little widget which they can export. There’s a conference for this — on November 9-12, RIM will be holding a session for developers who want to develop apps for the Blackberry platform. You can also proceed here for more details. The developer tool can be found here . Post from: Cellphone9
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Blackberry Widget SDK announced
By Chris Scott Barr Have you ever bought a lamp with an annoyingly short power cord? I’ve had a couple that required the use of an extension cord, which always made me wonder why they skimped out on the extra wire. Well here’s one that I can guarantee will require a really long extension cord. The coil lamp is nothing more than a pair of plastic shaping pieces and the piece that holds in your bulb. The rest of the lamp is composed entirely of an orange extension cord. The one supplied is 100 feet long, though they don’t say how much you’ll have left over to reach the wall. The lamp will set you back $150, or you can supply your own cord for $75, which sounds like a better deal. Then again, that’s still one expensive lamp. [ CraightonBerman ] VIA [ CoolestGadgets ]
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Coil Lamp Makes Creative Use Of Its Power Cord
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