Google is making it harder for google apps and accounts by adding a security code for a smart phone. It's a two step verification feature will be available to Google Apps premier, education, and government customers on Monday.
Is Zynga's head count higher than Facebook's?
Zynga, the social-gaming company responsible for sensations like FarmVille, Mafia Wars, and Pet Society, owes a big chunk of its runaway success to Facebook and the network of social connections that its developer platform opened up. Bret Taylor, Facebook's chief technology officer, said in an onstage interview at this week's Web 2.0 Expo in New York that he believed Zynga now had more employees than Facebook. Conveniently, the CEOs of both Zynga and Facebook have gone on the record in the past two weeks with regard to how many people work for them. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently said that there are 1,600 Facebook employees. Zyngas new San Francisco headquarters, announced by Pincus and mayor Gavin Newsom and slated to open in the spring, occupies 270,000 square feet of office space and will include a company gym.
This time, Motorola sues Apple for patent infringement
In an announcement on Motorola's site
, the company said that Apple incorporated in the iPad, iPhone
, iPod Touch
, and certain Mac
computers, or in associated services, technology that was developed by Motorola. The technologies that Motorola execs say are theirs involve "wireless communication technologies, such as WCDMA (3G), GPRS, 802.11 and antenna design, and key smartphone technologies including wireless email, proximity sensing, software application management, location-based services and multi-device synchronization." Motorola said that it has asked the U.S. International Trade Commission to investigate Apple and wants Apple to stop selling the allegedly infringing products. Lawsuits were filed in the Northern District of Illinois and the Southern District of Florida.
Can tech make us healthier?
There are plenty of services aimed at creating online communities for dieters or for people to post their workout successes online.
Cryptozoo could have been made even more fun by tapping social media and technology to bring the program's characters to life.
Too much screen time bad for kids' behavior
As kids in the '80s, my twin brother and I were allowed to watch about an hour of TV a week, which we typically used up on Saturday morning cartoons and which resulted in near total pop culture illiteracy.
Some are turning iPhone 4's glass back into metal
Earlier this month, CNET editor Josh Lowensohn posted about how Apple was reportedly having some issues with the glass back on the iPhone 4, which was proving to be less durable than some had hoped. Now several sites are detailing how you can replace the glass back of your iPhone 4 with a metal one.
Removing the back--or "rear panel" as Apple calls it--is pretty simple (see ifixit.com's tutorial). And in just a few minutes you can swap in an inexpensive metal back for $12.99 from Hong Kong. Other backs are available, but Unpluggd says this is one of the few flat backs that's nicely beveled. (In the future, we expect to see many more backs hit the market).
Of course, Apple does have some strict rules about messing with your iPhone and voiding the warranty, so you may want to think twice about changing the rear panel and just get a case. We also don't know how a metal back would impact reception, so let us know if you've had any experience with one of these guys.
Microsoft Office 365 bets on the cloud
SAN FRANCISCO--Aiming to bolster its hosted software for businesses, Microsoft announced today that it is adding Web-based versions of Office to its collection of hosted software for business. The company will also offer traditional Office as a subscription-based service. As expected, the company also rebranded the product. What once went by the mouthful Business Productivity Online Suite will now be known as Office 365, Microsoft announced at an event at the St. Regis Hotel here. The St. Regis is owned by Starwood hotel chain, one of Microsoft's early customers for its hosted online services. The move is a huge bet for Microsoft. Office, along with Windows, is one of the two big profit centers for the company. Offering it as a subscription has the potential to make the company's total sales larger and more predictable, but also runs the risk of cutting into profits.
The Thrilling Potential of Sixth Sence Technology TED
-$300
-make a new tab
-garageband
-Itunes
-ever note
-chess
Wi-Fi, meet the TV antenna
Google News spammer has new site, same trick
Last week, after CNET pointed out that a company called 70 Holdings Inc. was spamming Google News under the moniker of Red Label News, Google pulled that content from its site. However, over the weekend 70 Holdings popped back up using one of the 44 domains it owns to once again flood Google News with the same type of nearly empty stories tied to search-friendly keywords and advertising.
Goodnewsforeveryone.com, according to WHOIS records, was registered by 70 Holdings and lists the same Maine prepaid mobile phone number found on redlabelnews.com's WHOIS record, which was either turned off or set to automatic voice-mail forwarding after CNET called the number on Thursday. Nonprofitnewsgroup.com, on the other hand, lists Lucid Public Relations as the registrant, with Marc Sevigny named as the contact and the Maine phone number.
Google turns its local eyes to Groupon
According to multiple sources close to the situation, Google is in discussions with local-deals powerhouse Groupon about buying it. And it is currently under fire from numerous critics for its proposed purchase of huge flight data firm ITA Software for $700 million. If Google were to complete a deal to buy Groupon, it would have echoes of its purchase of YouTube in 2006 for $1.6 billion. Google had looked at social reviews site Yelp for purchase previously, but that deal fell apart. In an e-mail, a Google spokesperson said with some style: "Per usual, we don't comment on rumor or speculation. If we did we'd be busy 24/7!" "Google Turns Its Local Eyes to Groupon | Digital Media - CNET News." Technology News - CNET News. Web. 19 Nov. 2010. <http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-20023353-93.html?tag=topTechContentWrap;editorPicks>.
Teardowns of Apple's Verizon iPhone 4 reveal a Qualcomm "world mode" chip and redesigned antenna, among other modifications to the heretofore AT&T-only phone. Battery: the battery can be removed "fairly easily once you circumvent Apple's pesky Pentalobe screws," iFixit said. Antenna: an additional notch in the antenna enclosure on the right side of the phone is a result of the switch from GSM to CDMA. "Only time will tell if this new antenna design helps combat the reception problems plaguing the GSM iPhone 4," iFixit said. Display: the display assembly is different from the GSM iPhone 4. The mounting tabs are in different locations for the two display assemblies. Upshot: the two assemblies are not interchangeable. Rubber pads: Apple used custom-molded rubber pads between the chips and the EMI shields. "Presumably to conduct heat and quell any interference between analog and digital circuitry." Chips: Other high-profile silicon, in addition to the Qualcomm MDM6600, include Apple's A4 chip (of course) and Texas Instruments touchscreen controller (343S0499). Verizon Iphone Packs
Wal-Mart to sell Verizon iPhone starting tomorrow
Wal-Mart announced today that it will be carrying the Verizon iPhone in approximately 600 of its stores starting tomorrow. By bringing the Verizon iPhone to its stores, Wal-Mart will round out a selection of smartphones it currently sells. The Verizon iPhone was unveiled last month at a special event. Verizon allowed existing customers to preorder the device last week, but suspended preorders after supplies were exhausted. Customers who pre-ordered the iPhone before the cut-off started receiving the smartphone earlier this week, ahead of its official February 10 release date.
Busting wireless bottlenecks with Wi-Fi
Last month at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, I sat in press conference after press conference wanting to pull my hair out in utter frustration, because even though I had 100 percent signal strength on my wireless air card, I could barely load a Web page. My 3G Sprint air card, which under normal circumstances provides me with a very reliable, stable, and usable Internet connection, slowed to a crawl when I needed it the most. I've had similar experiences at other venues using other wireless networks. At the U.S. Open in New York City this summer, I could barely make a phone call on my AT&T iPhone. And sending or receiving e-mails on my iPhone was unthinkable at peak times of the day during the tournament. Last spring, while attending a Pearl Jam concert in Madison Square Garden, I was also unable to post pictures to Facebook via a Verizon Wireless Motorola Droid.
Will Facebook replace company Web sites?
That was the startling if self-promotional possibility sketched out by Stephen Haines, commercial director of Facebook's U.K. operation, while speaking today at the Technology for Marketing and Advertising conference here. Essentially, Haines argued, companies' interactions with their customers could take place so often on Facebook that company Web sites would fall by the wayside. To bolster his argument, Haines showed statistics comparing how many times Facebook users have clicked a company's "like" button with how many times per month people visited that company's Web site. For Starbucks, a top Facebook advertiser, the ratio was 21.1 million likes to 1.8 million site visitors. For Coca-Cola, it's 20.5 million compared with 270,000; for Oreo, 10.1 million compared with 290,000; and for Dr. Pepper, it's 4.1 million compared with 325,000.
MacBook Pro vs. MacBook Air vs. white MacBook: Which 13-inch Apple laptop should you buy?
That's five 13-inchers, for those keeping count at home. Their starting prices range from $999 up to $1,499. So, which one is best for you?
The white MacBook is the oldest laptop in Apple's line; its current version was released in the spring of 2010, and some might say it's desperately due for a refresh. The second-generation MacBook Airs are more recent, having come out in October 2010. But the freshest models are the new MacBook Pros, with Intel's second-gen Core i-series processors, released just a few weeks ago (late February). If you're interested in having a 13-inch laptop that won't be updated soon, go with the Pro. Battery life: This favors the more powerful MacBook Pros. They approached 7 hours of battery life, compared with a little under 5 hours from the Air. Sure, the Air is thinner and lighter, but 100-plus minutes of extra time away from an outlet is a big difference. Intel would claim this is because of the efficiency of its new Sandy Bridge processor platform, and so far that seems to be the case.
Site-loading speed battle 2: Motorola Xoom vs. Apple iPad 2
A couple of weeks back we put the original iPad up against the Xoom in a site-loading speed battle. Site-loading speed is one of the simplest things to test, and it's a test many users can immediately relate to. As I said in the previous post, I'm a greater fan of real-world tests like going to actual, real sites, than of synthetic benchmarks. Although in the video you'll only see one iteration for each test, we actually ran each test several times; over those runs we got results consistent with what you'll see here. Also, we cleared each tablet's browser cache before each iteration of the tests was run. link
Piknik
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Use advanced controls to fine-tune your results
Crop, resize, and rotate in real-time
Tons of special effects, from artsy to fun
Astoundingly fast, right in your browser
Awesome fonts and top-quality type tool
Basketfuls of shapes from hand-picked designers
Works on Mac, Windows, and Linux
No download required, nothing to install
All this for free! Want more? Upgrade to
Picnik Premium for only $24.95 a year
On your command, Snagit captures any image from your computer screen – just like your print screen key…even long web pages! Then it pulls that screenshot into the image editor - where you can add text, arrows, and effects to turn it into a fun or professional image that tells a story. Just copy and paste your completed Snagit image into emails, documents, and presentations – or upload it to your website.
linkMobile codes to boost Google account security
LinkGoogle is making it harder for google apps and accounts by adding a security code for a smart phone. It's a two step verification feature will be available to Google Apps premier, education, and government customers on Monday.
Is Zynga's head count higher than Facebook's?
Zynga, the social-gaming company responsible for sensations like FarmVille, Mafia Wars, and Pet Society, owes a big chunk of its runaway success to Facebook and the network of social connections that its developer platform opened up. Bret Taylor, Facebook's chief technology officer, said in an onstage interview at this week's Web 2.0 Expo in New York that he believed Zynga now had more employees than Facebook. Conveniently, the CEOs of both Zynga and Facebook have gone on the record in the past two weeks with regard to how many people work for them. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently said that there are 1,600 Facebook employees. Zyngas new San Francisco headquarters, announced by Pincus and mayor Gavin Newsom and slated to open in the spring, occupies 270,000 square feet of office space and will include a company gym.
This time, Motorola sues Apple for patent infringement
In an
announcement on Motorola's site
, the company said that Apple incorporated in the iPad,
iPhone
,
iPod Touch
, and certain
Mac
computers, or in associated services, technology that was developed by Motorola.
The technologies that Motorola execs say are theirs involve "wireless communication technologies, such as WCDMA (3G), GPRS, 802.11 and antenna design, and key smartphone technologies including wireless email, proximity sensing, software application management, location-based services and multi-device synchronization."
Motorola said that it has asked the U.S. International Trade Commission to investigate Apple and wants Apple to stop selling the allegedly infringing products. Lawsuits were filed in the Northern District of Illinois and the Southern District of Florida.
Can tech make us healthier?
Too much screen time bad for kids' behavior
As kids in the '80s, my twin brother and I were allowed to watch about an hour of TV a week, which we typically used up on Saturday morning cartoons and which resulted in near total pop culture illiteracy.
Some are turning iPhone 4's glass back into metal
Earlier this month, CNET editor Josh Lowensohn posted about how Apple was reportedly having some issues with the glass back on the iPhone 4, which was proving to be less durable than some had hoped. Now several sites are detailing how you can replace the glass back of your iPhone 4 with a metal one.
Removing the back--or "rear panel" as Apple calls it--is pretty simple (see ifixit.com's tutorial). And in just a few minutes you can swap in an inexpensive metal back for $12.99 from Hong Kong. Other backs are available, but Unpluggd says this is one of the few flat backs that's nicely beveled. (In the future, we expect to see many more backs hit the market).
Of course, Apple does have some strict rules about messing with your iPhone and voiding the warranty, so you may want to think twice about changing the rear panel and just get a case. We also don't know how a metal back would impact reception, so let us know if you've had any experience with one of these guys.
Microsoft Office 365 bets on the cloud
SAN FRANCISCO--Aiming to bolster its hosted software for businesses, Microsoft announced today that it is adding Web-based versions of Office to its collection of hosted software for business. The company will also offer traditional Office as a subscription-based service. As expected, the company also rebranded the product. What once went by the mouthful Business Productivity Online Suite will now be known as Office 365, Microsoft announced at an event at the St. Regis Hotel here. The St. Regis is owned by Starwood hotel chain, one of Microsoft's early customers for its hosted online services. The move is a huge bet for Microsoft. Office, along with Windows, is one of the two big profit centers for the company. Offering it as a subscription has the potential to make the company's total sales larger and more predictable, but also runs the risk of cutting into profits.
The Thrilling Potential of Sixth Sence Technology TED
-$300
-make a new tab
-garageband
-Itunes
-ever note
-chess
Wi-Fi, meet the TV antenna
Google News spammer has new site, same trick
Last week, after CNET pointed out that a company called 70 Holdings Inc. was spamming Google News under the moniker of Red Label News, Google pulled that content from its site. However, over the weekend 70 Holdings popped back up using one of the 44 domains it owns to once again flood Google News with the same type of nearly empty stories tied to search-friendly keywords and advertising.
Goodnewsforeveryone.com, according to WHOIS records, was registered by 70 Holdings and lists the same Maine prepaid mobile phone number found on redlabelnews.com's WHOIS record, which was either turned off or set to automatic voice-mail forwarding after CNET called the number on Thursday. Nonprofitnewsgroup.com, on the other hand, lists Lucid Public Relations as the registrant, with Marc Sevigny named as the contact and the Maine phone number.
Google turns its local eyes to Groupon
According to multiple sources close to the situation, Google is in discussions with local-deals powerhouse Groupon about buying it. And it is currently under fire from numerous critics for its proposed purchase of huge flight data firm ITA Software for $700 million. If Google were to complete a deal to buy Groupon, it would have echoes of its purchase of YouTube in 2006 for $1.6 billion. Google had looked at social reviews site Yelp for purchase previously, but that deal fell apart. In an e-mail, a Google spokesperson said with some style: "Per usual, we don't comment on rumor or speculation. If we did we'd be busy 24/7!"
"Google Turns Its Local Eyes to Groupon | Digital Media - CNET News." Technology News - CNET News. Web. 19 Nov. 2010. <http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-20023353-93.html?tag=topTechContentWrap;editorPicks>.
Verizon iPhone packs 'world mode' chip, revamped antenna
Teardowns of Apple's Verizon iPhone 4 reveal a Qualcomm "world mode" chip and redesigned antenna, among other modifications to the heretofore AT&T-only phone. Battery: the battery can be removed "fairly easily once you circumvent Apple's pesky Pentalobe screws," iFixit said. Antenna: an additional notch in the antenna enclosure on the right side of the phone is a result of the switch from GSM to CDMA. "Only time will tell if this new antenna design helps combat the reception problems plaguing the GSM iPhone 4," iFixit said. Display: the display assembly is different from the GSM iPhone 4. The mounting tabs are in different locations for the two display assemblies. Upshot: the two assemblies are not interchangeable. Rubber pads: Apple used custom-molded rubber pads between the chips and the EMI shields. "Presumably to conduct heat and quell any interference between analog and digital circuitry." Chips: Other high-profile silicon, in addition to the Qualcomm MDM6600, include Apple's A4 chip (of course) and Texas Instruments touchscreen controller (343S0499).
Verizon Iphone Packs
Wal-Mart to sell Verizon iPhone starting tomorrow
Wal-Mart announced today that it will be carrying the Verizon iPhone in approximately 600 of its stores starting tomorrow. By bringing the Verizon iPhone to its stores, Wal-Mart will round out a selection of smartphones it currently sells. The Verizon iPhone was unveiled last month at a special event. Verizon allowed existing customers to preorder the device last week, but suspended preorders after supplies were exhausted. Customers who pre-ordered the iPhone before the cut-off started receiving the smartphone earlier this week, ahead of its official February 10 release date.
Busting wireless bottlenecks with Wi-Fi
Last month at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, I sat in press conference after press conference wanting to pull my hair out in utter frustration, because even though I had 100 percent signal strength on my wireless air card, I could barely load a Web page. My 3G Sprint air card, which under normal circumstances provides me with a very reliable, stable, and usable Internet connection, slowed to a crawl when I needed it the most. I've had similar experiences at other venues using other wireless networks. At the U.S. Open in New York City this summer, I could barely make a phone call on my AT&T iPhone. And sending or receiving e-mails on my iPhone was unthinkable at peak times of the day during the tournament. Last spring, while attending a Pearl Jam concert in Madison Square Garden, I was also unable to post pictures to Facebook via a Verizon Wireless Motorola Droid.
Will Facebook replace company Web sites?
That was the startling if self-promotional possibility sketched out by Stephen Haines, commercial director of Facebook's U.K. operation, while speaking today at the Technology for Marketing and Advertising conference here. Essentially, Haines argued, companies' interactions with their customers could take place so often on Facebook that company Web sites would fall by the wayside.
To bolster his argument, Haines showed statistics comparing how many times Facebook users have clicked a company's "like" button with how many times per month people visited that company's Web site. For Starbucks, a top Facebook advertiser, the ratio was 21.1 million likes to 1.8 million site visitors. For Coca-Cola, it's 20.5 million compared with 270,000; for Oreo, 10.1 million compared with 290,000; and for Dr. Pepper, it's 4.1 million compared with 325,000.
MacBook Pro vs. MacBook Air vs. white MacBook: Which 13-inch Apple laptop should you buy?
That's five 13-inchers, for those keeping count at home. Their starting prices range from $999 up to $1,499. So, which one is best for you?
The white MacBook is the oldest laptop in Apple's line; its current version was released in the spring of 2010, and some might say it's desperately due for a refresh. The second-generation MacBook Airs are more recent, having come out in October 2010. But the freshest models are the new MacBook Pros, with Intel's second-gen Core i-series processors, released just a few weeks ago (late February). If you're interested in having a 13-inch laptop that won't be updated soon, go with the Pro. Battery life: This favors the more powerful MacBook Pros. They approached 7 hours of battery life, compared with a little under 5 hours from the Air. Sure, the Air is thinner and lighter, but 100-plus minutes of extra time away from an outlet is a big difference. Intel would claim this is because of the efficiency of its new Sandy Bridge processor platform, and so far that seems to be the case.
Site-loading speed battle 2: Motorola Xoom vs. Apple iPad 2
A couple of weeks back we put the original iPad up against the Xoom in a site-loading speed battle. Site-loading speed is one of the simplest things to test, and it's a test many users can immediately relate to. As I said in the previous post, I'm a greater fan of real-world tests like going to actual, real sites, than of synthetic benchmarks. Although in the video you'll only see one iteration for each test, we actually ran each test several times; over those runs we got results consistent with what you'll see here. Also, we cleared each tablet's browser cache before each iteration of the tests was run.
link
Piknik
Fix your photos in just one clickUse advanced controls to fine-tune your results
Crop, resize, and rotate in real-time
Tons of special effects, from artsy to fun
Astoundingly fast, right in your browser
Awesome fonts and top-quality type tool
Basketfuls of shapes from hand-picked designers
Works on Mac, Windows, and Linux
No download required, nothing to install
All this for free! Want more? Upgrade to
Picnik Premium for only $24.95 a year
piknik
Snag-it
On your command, Snagit captures any image from your computer screen – just like your print screen key…even long web pages! Then it pulls that screenshot into the image editor - where you can add text, arrows, and effects to turn it into a fun or professional image that tells a story. Just copy and paste your completed Snagit image into emails, documents, and presentations – or upload it to your website.
snag it