The Life Rocks blog recently uncovered a Windows Explorer extension that integrates Flickr right into Explorer. Called Flickr Drive, the program creates a drive icon representing the popular photo-sharing website under “Computer” in Windows Vista or Windows 7. Once installed, you must first [...]
Playfire, a social network for gamers, lets you track your scores and rankings on services like Xbox 360, Playstation 3, PSP, and others while also engaging in discussions with fellow gamers, viewing game-related content like photos and videos, building your own virtual game collection, and more. Originally launched early last year, the company is now boasting [...]
You wouldn’t think that a Microsoft search engine would offer a feature that supports one of the company’s competitors, but as it turns out, Bing is doing just that with its recently launched visual search interface and a query for top iPhone apps.Using www.bing.com/visualsearch, you can perform web searches and see the results in a 3D-like grid of images. With the [...]
You probably know this image as the default Windows 7 background, to Denise Trabona it is the Windows 7 Iconic Background. She joins us to walk us through the progression from concept to finished product. See what might have been a very different looking background and get a feel for what designers consider when looking for a graphical representation of Windows 7. [...]
By Joe Wilcox, BetanewsI've got a new spelling for "Scrooge." M-i-c-r-o-s-o-f-t. The company has ended the Windows 7 Family Pack promotion, which is a nice Ba Humbug to you and yours for the holidays. Sure, it could be good for Microsoft's bottom line and perhaps partners' PC sales. But for the masses considering upgrading existing Windows XP/Vista PCs to 7, a good [...]
By Jacqueline Emigh, BetanewsWith iPhone and Android picking up more popularity every day, it's urgent for rival smartphones to enhance their mobile software environments, some analysts say. But while Microsoft, RIM, and Nokia are working on better user experiences, phones outfitted with new features aren't likely to show up until way after CES 2010.Microsoft has the [...]
By Joe Wilcox, BetanewsAs the holidays approach and New Years not long beyond, analysts turn ESPers as they try to predict the future. Sometimes, the predictions are so crazed, they're somewhere between alcoholically induced and reaching into an alternative universe where reality beats to other drums. The best measure of accuracy for the future is the past - what [...]
Along with the numerous announcements about the new Bing features revealed this week, the team also launched an updated web browser toolbar called the “Bing Bar.” Designed to replace the older MSN toolbar, this browser add-on built with Silverlight technology works in both Internet Explorer and Firefox. As with the MSN toolbar, the new Bing Bar features a web search [...]
One of the great features of Microsoft’s new search engine Bing.com are the gorgeous background images that rotate out on a daily basis. Already we’ve come across a number of ways to turn these photos into desktop wallpaper, and now there’s a way to port these images to your iPhone, too. Although obviously not created by Microsoft, this handy tool points to the [...]
Microsoft has teamed up with concert promoter Live Nation to launch Sections 7, a website for finding discount concert tickets, select artist merchandise, and other offers. New users are prompted to register upon their first visit to the site in order to gain access to exclusively offered discounts, daily music deals, and even sweepstakes. Every day the site features [...]
By Joe Wilcox, BetanewsSome Betanews readers made such excellent comments to yesterday's post, "Can there be a free Web if no one makes money?," I will respond to some of them with another post rather than piecemeal in comments. The current advertising model isn't sufficient to handle all the online content out there - and there will be more of it.Yesterday, [...]
By Scott M. Fulton, III, BetanewsThe New York Times has cited an unidentified source said to have knowledge of Microsoft's ongoing negotiations with the European Commission, as saying that the company will comply with a suggestion made by three of its chief rivals in the Web browser business - Mozilla, Google, and Opera. Specifically, the report says, future editions [...]
By Tim Conneally, BetanewsThe world of mobile communications has changed considerably since Nokia reached market dominance in the late '90s, and the Finnish telecommunications leader is shifting its strategies to keep ahead as mobile behavior continues to change. This week, the company revealed some of its plans for the next couple of years, which could amount to [...]
By Scott M. Fulton, III, BetanewsFor about 40 minutes starting at approximately 9:30 pm EST Thursday evening, by Betanews estimates, the main page of Microsoft's Bing Web site was inaccessible to users. In its place was a message filled with hexadecimal code, leading off with the message, "This isn't the page you wanted!"No kidding. But was Bing being hijacked? As [...]
By Denis Pombriant, CRM BuyerThis just in: Females outnumber males on social networking sites. The site Pingdom did a survey, and concluded that 16 out of 19 (84%) of the most popular social sites have more women populating them than men. The super geek sites Digg, Reddit, and Slashdot have more men on them, but the more popular sites including Facebook, LinkedIn, [...]
By Scott M. Fulton, III, BetanewsAt the rate at which Acer (which now also includes Gateway, Packard Bell, and e-Machines) was catching up with Dell, analysts predicted at this time last year that it could conceivably top Dell in units shipped worldwide by the third quarter of 2009. For once in this wacky economy, the analysts' predictions turned out to be correct: [...]
On December 2nd Dogbert stepped down as CEO of Dilbert's company and was replaced by a dried-up corpse. At about the same time, GM was announcing that CEO Fritz Henderson was stepping down and being replaced by 68-year old Ed Whitacker. Here's my comic to refresh your memory:http://dilbert.com/2009-12-02/And here's a picture of Ed [...]
By Joe Wilcox, BetanewsIt hasn't been a good day for anyone working on Microsoft's Windows Phone team. This morning, IDC made the ridiculous prediction that the number of iPhone/iPod touch applications would triple to 300,000 by end of 2010. Later, here at Betanews, Carmi Levy slammed Microsoft's Windows mobile strategy.Yes, Windows Mobile is down - really low - but [...]
By Joe Wilcox, BetanewsPaywall is suddenly a hot topic as free content turns many longstanding businesses - news among - to apparent ruin. News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch is mad as hell, and he's not going to take this anymore. This week Murdoch repeated his call for paid services during a U.S. Federal Trade Commission public workshop. "We need to do a better job [...]
By Tim Conneally, BetanewsPart of the allure of Motorola's Droid smartphone is that it's the first, and currently only, device built upon Android 2.0 ("Eclair"). While Droid users are treated to a new Web browser, new personal navigation features, and new contact list structure, the rest of the Android devices on the market run Android 1.6, also known as "Donut," [...]
By Carmi Levy, BetanewsThere are lots of winners in the wireless wars. Microsoft, unfortunately, isn't one of them. Thirteen years after it first introduced Windows CE, its homegrown OS for small devices finds itself perilously close to oblivion. With market share for Windows Mobile OS in freefall, vendors fleeing and its mindshare in meltdown, now is as good a time [...]
By Scott M. Fulton, III, BetanewsWas the "Black Screen of Death" issue (KSoD) covered by Betanews earlier this week a real story? This is a serious question, especially in the wake of security firm Prevx's admission that it was very premature in its conclusions that KSoD incidents had been triggered by last month's round of Patch Tuesday updates.Let's discuss this [...]
As you look at things like Bing's Streetside, you might be thinking it would be great for something like real time driving directions. Billy Chen, a research in MSN's Advanced Engineering team, has been thinking about this from the ground up. The result is this interesting way of connecting the visual memory humans have from having driven to a location before with a [...]
By Joe Wilcox, BetanewsI despise browser toolbars. They're ugly, clutter up the browser and reduce viewable content space. But unexpectedly, I've found a better toolbar. This old crankypuss might soon be spending time at the new Bing Bar, which is a helluva good name, by the way.There's much to like about Bing: The advertising, the name and most importantly the [...]
Due to the great response of the first Bing Homepage Photo Contest, the Bing Search Team has announced they’re doing it again – this time with the theme of “hometown pride.” According to a recent blog post, Kristin Meldahl from Bing revealed that the first contest had over 10,000 entries and over half a million votes. The winning entry by Jeremy J Somers of Australia [...]
In addition to the slew of updates now available on the Bing Maps beta service, the Bing Team also just launched an updated application for Windows Mobile devices. Designed specifically for Windows phones, this version of Bing’s mobile app provides maps, driving directions, traffic information, voice search capabilities, local search, instant answers, and more. You [...]
Bing just unveiled a number of updates now available in the Bing Maps service. At Microsoft’s San Francisco campus, select journalists and other attendees were given a first look at the new Bing Maps Beta on Wednesday. Included in the update were a number of new features including streetside views, Photosynth integration, and “mapplications,” aka “Bing Map Apps” [...]
There are a number of ways to use Bing.com’s background images for wallpaper: you can use a utility like the Bing Downloader, access stored images via online archives like the Bing Image Archive, or you can even grab an official Microsoft Windows 7 theme pack of Bing’s Best. Now there’s a new tool you can add to the list: Bing4Free. Uncovered by the Life Rocks 2.0 [...]
By Dan Neumann, MacNewsWorldDigital advertising is evolving beyond the desktop computer, leaving companies relying solely on Web sites and display advertising woefully behind the eight ball. More and more, brands are relying on software development to create engaging consumer experiences that span multiple open platforms. Branded mobile applications are fast becoming [...]
By Scott M. Fulton, III, BetanewsAfter this morning, there should be no question in anyone's minds whatsoever as to what Comcast's deal with General Electric for control of NBC Universal is about: NBCU is a huge producer of cable TV content, and Comcast would like to be the parent company of that producer. The deal isn't so much about Hulu, or new media, or creating [...]
Amazon in secret plan to open high street shops (Jenny Davey/Times of London) http://bit.ly/4T2AZB
This Week’s Headlines on Inside Social Games http://bit.ly/6GvDFM
Why Net Neutrality Is Important for Startups, Innovation http://bit.ly/6F556d
Video Professor To Leverage “Strong Brand Equity” To Raise $10 Million http://bit.ly/6ubeEY
10 iPhone Apps to Help You Survive the Holidays - http://bit.ly/8UWwmN
I heart Google Voice, even more so now that I'm using #droid. Seamless integration. #droidreport
Thunderbird 3, Raindrop and the Future of Mozilla Messaging http://bit.ly/3xNkpY
The Scorecard: Who Wins & Loses With EA’s $400M Playfish Buy http://bit.ly/LvF8v
Slide Gets Into the Virtual Aquarium Business with Top Fish http://bit.ly/4p0WiN
Business use of Twitter, Facebook exploding http://tinyurl.com/yfo3h7h
Hello London. Touchdown in Gatwick. Local time 10:35am http://pic.gd/74da94
I just conquered "Swarm-a-licious" in geoDefense Swarm! http://bit.ly/6aUB6
Windows 7 Officially Released Today - http://bit.ly/2R7Rr6
Emerging Internet Trends: An Analysis of Mary Meeker's Web 2.0 Summit … http://bit.ly/48iUnM #twine
Au revoir, mon pays. http://pic.gd/9d7537
Google's New Social Search Is A Big Chess Move Against Facebook http://bit.ly/1DLWbU #twine
Web 2.0 Panel: Humans as Sensors http://bit.ly/2rgre4 #twine
Top 5 Twitter Trends to Watch Right Now - http://bit.ly/25ufvg
NASA's Big Bang on the moon stirred up some stuff. http://bit.ly/2V83Mp
Bieijing air quality is improving by some measurement approaches. http://bit.ly/4tZLOT
Reuters gives major press award to Iranian street journalist. http://bit.ly/Mcdrk
not long to go in the #beatcancer 24 hour challenge #bwe09
New to Twitter? Check out http://www.makeuseof.com/short/manuals/twitter Very helpful manual!
NYT profiles Jay Feely, the Jets kicker, and how he tweets - http://bit.ly/oZoJD
Listening to Underworld on iTunes - F****** great stuff
LET ME SUGGEST THIS: You compound your inauthenticity by apologizing for NOT feeling something.
writing about what a difference business can make for society. Example: http://bit.ly/Iqktm
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