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There's not exactly much more details than the headline on this one, but China's official
Xinhua news agency is reporting that the country is delaying its plans that would require that the so-called "Green Dam Youth Escort" internet filtering software be installed on all PCs sold in China. That requirement was set to go into effect on Wednesday but, as we have seen, it's caused
no shortage of
controversy during the lead up -- both because of the general nature of the software, and because of some piracy and security issues that could leave PCs with the software vulnerable to an attack. No word on a new date just yet, but it seems unlikely that the delay will be an indefinite one.
[Thanks, James]
Filed under: Desktops, Laptops
China delays plan for mandatory "Green Dam" internet filter originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Jun 2009 18:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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SkyGrid, the nifty, free financial news aggregator, is now publishing a stream of news on Twitter, letting users follow breaking business news headlines via the microblogging network.
The news aggregator, which only features stories about publicly traded companies, not only has an comprehensive Twitter feed for news stories, but the site also has Twitter feeds that are broken down by sector. So users can follow SkyGridHealth or SkyGridEnergy for sector-related news. SkyGrid currently has separate Twitter feeds for 8 different industries. SkyGrid says that the Twitter feed may be especially useful to users who want to access SkyGrid on their mobile devices.
Similar to TechMeme and Google News, SkyGrid clusters related news stories based on keyword analysis, what they’re linking to, etc. SkyGrid also tries to determine the sentiment of each article - red for negative, green for positive.
As we wrote in our earlier review of the services, SkyGrid is an incredibly useful tool, especially now that it is free. But the one element that is missing from SkyGrid is coverage of larger private companies, like Facebook. In order to become a serious competitor to popular aggregators like Techmeme (which also has a Twitter firehose), the site will need to expand its range of coverage. But especially for people in the financial services industries who use Twitter as a news source, SkyGrid is on the right track to providing users with real-time valuable financial news.
Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.
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30 Jun 2009 Com:
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It looks like Apple has already started sending out the beta version and SDK for the next iteration of the iPhone OS, 3.1, to developers.
The iPhone 3.0 software was released just about two weeks ago, ahead of the iPhone 3GS launch. By most accounts it’s pretty stable, though some users have been having battery issues. That’s why it’s a bit odd that Apple would iterate up to version 3.1 already, instead of something like 3.0.1, which it tends to do for minor updates and bug fixes. Could we be seeing a larger update to the OS already?
I’m told that there’s nothing much of interest in the release notes to indicate anything major that is new or changed.
Here’s the text of the email being sent from Apple:
iPhone SDK 3.1 beta and iPhone OS 3.1 beta are now posted to the iPhone Dev Center. These versions are for development and testing only and should be installed on devices dedicated to iPhone OS 3.1 beta software development. Please read the iPhone OS Pre-Install Advisory and the iPhone SDK 3.1 beta release notes before downloading and installing.
Update: I’m hearing a few reports that one change is that MMS is turned on by default. Perhaps AT&T is getting closer to turning it on as well in the U.S.
[thanks Michael]
Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.
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30 Jun 2009 Com:
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The N97
might not be everyone's cup of tea, but if you're still tempted to pay the $700 entry fee, you could sweeten the deal by throwing in a free-ish laptop -- Dell's currently bundling the
Vostro A860 with Nokia's latest for $730 after a discount coupon. Flip that sucker on eBay for anywhere close to its $379 list price plus some "handling fees" and you might just come close to paying a reasonable price for the N97. Well, sort of reasonable. Those still interested should hurry past the read link, as the full discount will only be available through tomorrow or until stocks last.
Filed under: Cellphones, Laptops
Nokia N97 and Dell Vostro bundled for $730: make one mistake, get one free originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Jun 2009 18:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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How do you advertise on a Web-based instant messaging service without interrupting conversations and annoying the hell out of users? Meebo CEO Seth Sternberg thinks he has the answer: “There is a moment of boredom while they are waiting for a response, that is when they click on ads.” He’s observed this based on how people interact with the ads which began appearing on Meebo.com last March. Today, Meebo is creating an ad network across partner sites which use its new Community IM service, which ads a Meebo IM bar at the bottom of participating sites.
Visitors to one of the 85 partner sites which have implemented the Community IM product (including Current TV, DailyStrength, Flixster, and Webs.com) can chat with their IM buddies without leaving the sites. Today, Meebo is introducing new ad units which pop up along the bottom left of the browser, beginning with ads for the Toyota Piou and AT&Ts. For the Toyota ad, a little car icon pops up on the left of the Meebo IM bar, away from all of the chat activity on the bottom right. If you click on the car, a larger ad 900X400 pixel rich ad overlay opens up which can show a video or any number of interactive ads. “When they click we do not take them away from the conversation,” says Sternberg. During the whole time people is watching the ads, they can still chat with their friends through the Meebo IM column on the right.
These ads are similar to VideoEgg’s Twig Ad bar, except they are integrated directly into each site rather than use a frame overlay. But the opt-in nature of both types of ads are part of a general trend of giving consumers control over when and how marketing messages are presented to them.
Meebo says its IM service reaches 50 million people a month and can target ads on age, gender, or location. Sternberg says Meebo is seeing 1 percent clickthrough rates on the ads. But he is not without competitors. AOL is planning to offer its own IM bar to external sites through its Socialthing for Websites service, which presumably will also be connected to its ad network. The exchange with sites is that they get social IM features without having to reinvent the wheel, and they get a share of any IM-based ad revenue as well.
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Twitter has just quietly rolled out a set of changes to its user interface on the “Following” and “Followers” sections of its website. These changes will clearly make it easier to manage who you follow as well as take actions, such as @replying someone or direct messaging them, directly from the page.
There are two new views for looking at these areas. “List” is a compact list of the followers, while “Expanded” offers more details including that user’s last tweet and their real name and location. On the Followers page, there is also a button that allows for one-click following of users who already follow you.
What’s interesting about these icons is that they appear to look exactly like icons that Apple uses for OS X — including some of the ones on the iPhone. Could this mean that we’re about to see a revamped mobile version of the Twitter site? Who knows, but it could sure use an overhaul.
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Well, we can think of at least one
13-year-old kid who'll welcome this next bit of gadget news: it looks like Sony's OLED Walkman is now on sale over at the Sony Style site. As
previously guesstimated, the 16GB model is moving for a cool $299.99, and the 32GB model is priced at $399.99. Order today from Sony and it ships tomorrow, or order from Amazon and it ships on July 3rd. Either way, it's time to start counting out your pennies.
Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video
Sony OLED Walkman on sale now originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Electronic musicians are always looking for new ways to do the same old things. Case in point: OTTO, developed by Luca De Rosso at the IUAV University of Venice for a master's thesis. Based on an Arduino and Cycling '74's Max / MSP software, you can drop an audio loop in it (via USB) and manipulate it in real time by moving your hands around the touch surface. Sure we've heard these kind of edits before, but never on a device that somewhat resembles the old Simon memory game. That has to count for something, right? Suffice it to say: we want one. Be sure to check it in action after the break.
Continue reading OTTO slices beats, has no effect on tin cans
OTTO slices beats, has no effect on tin cans originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Jun 2009 16:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Admit it: you've been sitting around all day waiting to hear tell of the latest
Joybook offering from
BenQ, right? Well, have we got the story for you! BenQ's just dropped word of its newest -- the Joybook Lite U102. While we don't have full specs, we do know that this 10.1-inch baby boasts a 16:9 WSVGA backlit LED, an Intel Atom CPU, and a 250GB HDD, with a 90 percent-sized keyboard. Pretty generic
netbook specs, but its super-shiny black shell also makes it decently attractive. The BenQ Joybook Lite U102 will be available any day now in Taiwan, Thailand, and China.
[Via
FarEast Gizmos]
Filed under: Laptops
BenQ shocker! Joybook Lite U102 outed originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Jun 2009 16:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Over the last six months Google has been ramping up Friend Connect, its social online identity platform that’s a direct rival of Facebook Connect (both products opened up to the public last December). Since then Google and third party developers have released a slew of gadgets and features, including the Social Bar, Recommendations, and Comment Translation. One of the latest to join the fray is ClackPoint, a powerful new gadget that integrates realtime text chat, voice conferencing and basic document sharing with Friend Connect.
The gadget works as you’d expect. Clicking on the ‘Call’ button will activate your microphone, and your voice can then be heard by anyone else in your chat room. Alternatively, you can dial in from a phone to one of the site’s dedicated lines (hit the button in the upper right hand corner for a list of numbers). There’s also a standard text-based group chat.
As far as sharing goes, you can participate in a group-edited notepad, import PDF slides that can be viewed by other chat members, and quickly send out a poll to everyone else in the chat room. You can try out the gadget for yourself here.
While the gadget could probably be used in a business setting, I suspect most businesses will stick with products like WebEx for their serious calls. That said, this would be perfect for more casual group meetings where real identities are still important (for example, a meeting discussing plans for your childs’ soccer team). For more, check out the Google blog post introducing the gadget. You can also find a full directory of gadgets available here.
Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.
