Tips for Gmail Priority Inbox

GMail launches Priority Inbox, a radical new way to sort mail, Google has hugely changed the way you can process and manage email. As Gmail Product Director Keith Coleman says, “Once you go priority, you never go back.”

The set-it-and-forget-it solution has actually existed in various states of completion for years, dating all the way back to pre-release versions of Gmail (Gmail). The feature was picked up again 18 months ago, and today we can finally experience it for ourselves.

Priority Inbox is an algorithmic solution to email overload. Gmail attempts to automatically process your email by factoring in variable such as who the email was sent by, how many people it was sent to and the keywords included in the subject and body of the message.

You can use Priority Inbox with its out-of-the-box default settings, or you can tweak it to your liking by using the plus and minus symbols atop the inbox to “teach” Gmail which emails are important.

We’ve also identified a few more complex tips for those of you looking to maximize productivity and use some of the less obvious features of Priority Inbox.

Source : GMail Blog

Miniature Wireless Keyboard rom KeySonic

KeySonic has announced their latest super-mini wireless multimedia keyboard for the mass market. Measuring 226.18mm x 24.23mm x 127.1mm and weighing only 202 grams, the KSK-3201 will fix nicely in your laptop backpack.


The KSK-3201 utilizes a 2.4GHz radio frequency which will work up to 10 meters. It comes with 12 multimedia keys, a built-in 7mm optical trackball and two mouse buttons. Absolutely suitable for HTPC systems. The body comes in brushed metal finish. The KeySonic KSK-3201 RF is currently available in Europe for a retail price of 37 Euro (about $47).
Source

New 120-Megapixel CMOS sensor from Canon

Canon has developed a new 120-Megapixel CMOS sensor that is capable of shooting at 9.5fps, besides recording Full HD movies.

That’s about 7.5 times larger and 2.4t times improvement in resolution when compared to Canon’s existing highest-resolution commercial CMOS sensor of the same size. The 120-Megapixel APS-H-size sensor has 13,280 x 9,184 pixels, while the imaging area of the newly developed sensor measures approximately 29.2mm x 20.2mm. Thus far, Canon has yet to comment on the implementation of this huge-ass sensor on their upcoming products.

The new CMOS sensor makes possible a maximum output speed of approximately 9.5 frames per second, supporting the continuous shooting of ultra-high-resolution images.

Canon’s newly developed CMOS sensor also incorporates a Full HD (1,920 x 1,080 pixels) video output capability. The sensor can output Full HD video from any approximately one-sixtieth-sized section of its total surface area.

Images captured with Canon’s newly developed approximately 120-megapixel CMOS image sensor, even when cropped or digitally magnified, maintain higher levels of definition and clarity than ever before. Additionally, the sensor enables image confirmation across a wide image area, with Full HD video viewing of a select portion of the overall frame.

NOTE: Canon’s current highest-resolution commercial CMOS sensor is employed in the company’s EOS-1Ds Mark III and EOS 5D Mark II digital SLR cameras, is equivalent to the full-frame size of the 35 mm film format and incorporates approximately 21.1 million pixels. In 2007, the company successfully developed an APS-H-size sensor with approximately 50 million pixels.

windows 7 enhancements

The Task bar

You can now "pin" your favorite programs anywhere on the taskbar for easy access. You can also rearrange them by clicking and dragging. The ‘show desktop’ button at the extreme right of the bar is also very useful, with options to view or access the desktop instantly.

Shake files!

If you have many windows open and want all but the one you are working on minimized, you simply need to grab the top of the window and shake it about! Also, thanks to Aero Peek technology, you can view thumbnails of open applications by mousing over its application button. If you mouse the thumbnail, the full corresponding window will come to the forefront, and all other windows will turn into transparent ‘glass sheets.’

Jumplists

This new feature gives you an application-wise view of a list of files you have recently accessed. You just need to right click the application icon on the task bar to view this list. Alternatively, drag the application button toward the desktop. This feature is also integrated into the Start Menu.

Snap to half

If you need to work on two documents simultaneously, simply drag your window to the left or right edge of the screen. The window will resize and snap to occupy one half of the screen. Repeat with the other window and they are locked next to each other. To maximize it again, drag the window to the top of the screen. The same effect can be achieved through keyboard shortcuts (Win + respective arrow keys).

Enable virtual wi-fi

Windows 7 includes a little-known new feature called Virtual Wi-Fi, which effectively turns your PC or laptop into a software-based router. Any other Wi-Fi-enabled devices within range - a desktop, laptop, an iPod perhaps - will "see" you as a new network and, once logged on, immediately be able to share your internet connection. This will only work if your wireless adapter driver supports it, though.

Homegroup networking

It is now a lot easier to share documents – you just need to use the ‘Homegroup’ wizard, and check the default folders you would like to share. You will be given a passcode that needs to be entered on other computers on the same network to share the files. Also, Windows Media Player allows you to stream music directly to another computer on the network. The only catch is that only computers running Windows 7 can join a Homegroup.  

Finally, here are some quick keyboard shortcuts to help you along with your transition to Windows 7:

• Alt+P
  Display/ hide the Explorer preview pane
• Windows Logo+G
  Display gadgets in front of other windows
• Windows Logo++ (plus key)
  Zoom in, where appropriate
• Windows Logo+- (minus key)
  Zoom out, where appropriate
• Windows Logo+Up
  Maximise the current window
• Windows Logo+Left
  Snap to the left hand side of the screen
• Windows Logo+Right
  Snap to the right hand side of the screen
• Windows Logo+Home
  Minimise/ restore everything except the current window

Google Launches Real-Time Search Page

Google launched a new search page Thursday that displays real-time results, making reports from Twitter and other sites searchable within seconds of being posted.

Google's effort underscores the importance of real-time data on social media, in an increasingly competitive Internet search arena which it dominates. Microsoft in October also announced partnerships with Twitter and Facebook to provide real-time search results.

The idea is to give people one place to find timely information about an earthquake or other major event that just happened, said Dylan Casey, a product manager at Google.

Google has added a location tool that can zero in on a specific geographic area so you can see tweets near you. Google also gives the option of a conversation view so that you can follow the responses to tweets without having to click through a bunch of links. The tweets are organized from oldest to newest.

You can also create a news alert that will update you when the topic pops up on Twitter or other services.

“We are focused on making it even easier to get access to real-time search results,” Casey said. “Real-time search is still a core feature of Google search and we will continue to focus on delivering the best search results. We just understand sometimes people want to go directly to real-time search.”

Casey said he has already found the product very useful: He has been using the real-time search page to get instant feedback on the rollout.

Learn more about google Realtime Search.
Demo video

Call phones from Gmail

Google introduced a new feature that allows you to make telephone calls from Gmail

For years, Gmail users have been able to talk over their computers or video chat. But they could not call a mobile phone or landline.
Now they can click “call phone,” in the chat tab on Gmail and then dial the number on a telephone keypad.
Calls to the U.S. and Canada will be free of charge for the first year. Calls to other countries will be as low as 2 cents a minute. The rates are similar to Skype, which is owned by private equity firms and auction giant EBay. It is looking to raise as much as $100 million in an initial public offering.
The service works with Google Voice, the company’s phone and voicemail service. Users of that service can now choose “computer” as one way to receive calls.Google is rolling out the new feature over the next few days.For more information, visit gmail.com/call

Clicker launches iPhone app

Clicker.com, a programming guide for online video and television, has come to the smaller screen

The app is a companion to the website. Users can search the database for all shows or just the iPhone-friendly ones, see what their friends are watching or what everyone on Clicker.com is watching, rate or share shows, manage their playlist remotely and check in or earn rewards.

Clicker.com, which is on track to serve 1.5 million users in August, plans to launch an iPad app in October.

Source

my6sense - your digital intuition

My6Sense, a well-designed, company that uses implicit behavioral data from users to recommend the most relevant content in your personal river of news.
How it works. Sync your Google Reader, Twitter, Facebook or other account, or add default recommended streams. Click through and read, share or delete the stories you do or don't like. It's a well designed feed reader. Then, the service will learn what you like and offer two views: most recent and most relevant news for you.
My6Sense is the one most closely aligned with your existing streams of content.
If you access your Twitter, Facebook and RSS content through the app, it uses algorithms to learn about you from the way you behave as you go through your streams. It observes, for instance, which links you click, how long you look at something, and whether you share the content with others.
Website

Few Facts about web browsers

A Website browser is a software application for retrieving, presenting, and traversing information resources on the internet.

WorldWideWeb was the world’s first web browser and was introduced on February 26, 1991, by British scientist Sir Tim Berners-Lee, and ran on the NeXTSTEP platform. It was later renamed Nexus to avoid confusion with the World Wide Web.

The World’s First Graphical Browser was Erwise and it was developed by four Finnish college students in 1991.
Mosaic was developed at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) beginning in late 1992. NCSA released the browser in 1993, and officially discontinued development and support on January 7, 1997.

The major web browsers are Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Google Chrome, Netscape Navigator 9, and Opera for Windows and Apple Safari, Mozilla Firefox, Netscape Navigator 9, and Opera for Macintosh.


The Lunascape Web Browser from Tokyo is the world’s fast hybrid browser. Lunascape is the first multilingual, triple engine browser developed in Japan. It combines the four main web browsers – Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, and Safari. This mean that it supports the three layout engines, or rendering engines, that are used to create the four browsers listed above: Trident (Internet Explorer), Gecko (Firefox), and WebKit (Chrome/Safari).
Currently, it only works on Windows.

Internet explorer is still the world’s most used desktop browser.

Opera is the most popular web mobile browser.

Firefox is the most downloaded popular and stable Web Browser of the world.


Safari is not an Apple exclusive anymore; the top-notch browser is now available for PCs as well. Safari provides the Mac look and feel in Internet browsing.

Netscape Browser is the name of a Windows web browser published by AOL, but was developed by Mercurial Communications. On December 28, 2007, Netscape developers announced that AOL would discontinue the web browser on February 1, 2008.

Google Chrome was first released as a beta version for Microsoft Windows on 2 September 2008, and the public stable release was on 11 December 2008. Chrome runs web pages and applications with lightning speed. The name is derived from the graphical user interface frame, or “chrome”, of web browsers. As of December 2009, Chrome was the third most widely used browser, with 4.4% of worldwide usage share of web browsers.

A film on Google

A film on search engine 'Google' and its founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin is in the making.

Groundswell Productions, who made the Sean Penn starrer 'Milk', has acquired the rights to Ken Auletta's book 'Googled: The End Of The World As We Know It', which will be the basis for the screenplay, Deadline reported online.
The film will look at the ethos of the two men on how money can be made 'without doing evil'.
"It's about these two young guys who created a company that changed the world, and how the world in turn changed them.
Sergey and Larry, often dubbed the 'Google Guys', founded the company while attending Stanford University as Ph.D candidates.
From a search engine, it now hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products with over one million servers in data centers around the world and processing over one billion search requests every day.

"The intention is to be sympathetic to Sergey and Larry, and hopefully the film will be as interesting as the company they created," London said.


Source

HP WebOS Tablet, from early 2011

Hewlett-Packard has been eager to get into the tablet game for quite some time and, though it met a few hurdles in its Windows 7 slate PC development, it seems to be making progress in not just this area, but also that of webOS-running slates, the first of which will supposedly debut in early 2011.
Though a number of special purpose tablet PCs have been in existence for years, media slates have only this year become popular, after Apple unveiled the iPad, to be exact.
HP will try to offer a wider variety of tablets, which is why it is working on not just slates running a version of Windows or another, but also one powered by the webOS platform that it acquired when it bought Palm.
The slate in question is, currently, codenamed Hurricane and will likely become the flagship non-Windows tablet.
Source

Facebook places basics

Places Basics

At launch, Places will be available to U.S. users only. You can check into a location in two ways: through the Facebook iPhone application or by pointing your mobile browser to touch.facebook.com. The browser-based version of Places will work only if your device supports HTML5 and geolocation.

Just tap the Places icon and you'll see a list of nearby Places. Tap on your location from the list, and you can check in, tag any friends who are with you, and add a status update. When you tag a friend, you will be checking them in if they allow third party check-ins. If your friend doesn't allow third party check-ins, then tagging them will be just like tagging them in a status update. No actual check-in will happen.

You can only check in people who are on your Facebook friends list and only when you first check into a location yourself. You can see who else is at your location under the "People Here Now" section for that place.

Facebook says all Places check-ins are visible only to friends by default unless your master privacy control is set to "Everyone."

For more detailed information about Places, consult PC World's report from Facebook's Places launch event. You can also find more information in this Facebook blog post and the Places information page.

Plays Nice With Others

Facebook has decided not to wipe other location-based services off the face of the Earth. Instead these services can use Places to enhance their own offerings.

It's not entirely clear how this will work, but Gowalla Chief Technical Officer Scott Raymond said in an interview with VentureBeat that Gowalla's plan was to allow users to push their check-ins from Gowalla into Facebook's Places feature. It appears you will also be able to import your check-in badges, pins, and Gowalla passport stamps into Facebook.

Bing Maps

It should come as no surprise that Facebook is using Microsoft's Bing Maps to pinpoint locations in Places.

Microsoft made a considerable investment in Facebook several years ago, and other Microsoft services such as Bing search and Microsoft Docs are already integrated with Facebook.


Not Yet Fully Functional

Some have reported seeing messages that Places is not yet available in their area, while others say they can activate Places but the check-in function is not operational.
If you're experiencing similar problems, hold tight the functionality is coming soon. Facebook is slowly rolling out the service and will make it available across the U.S. over the next few days, according to TechCrunch.

Privacy Concerns
The first criticisms over Places and privacy appear to be from the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California. The civil rights group doesn't like the fact that there isn't a flat out "No" option to stop friends from checking you in.

If someone checks you in at a location, you receive a mobile notification that a friend has checked you in. Then you must decide to either permanently authorize third-party check-ins or deny them by selecting "not now," according to the ACLUNC. The concern is that by selecting "not now," the request to authorize third-party check-ins may come up again and again until you finally say yes. Also, if you use Places to check yourself in, then third-party check-ins are turned on automatically unless you adjust your privacy settings, according to the ACLUNC.
The ACLUNC also says that the "People Here Now" feature doesn't have enough granular control. The feature only has an option to be turned on (everyone can see your check-in) or turned off (no one can see your check-in). The ACLUNC would prefer to see an option that allows only your friends to see you under the " People Here Now" feature. It also appears that "People Here Now" is turned on by default "if you have previously selected that "Everyone" can see even a single piece of your information," according to the ACLUNC.
Source

Facebook launches Places location based service

Social networking website Facebook has added a feature that allows members to share where they are while on the move.
Places, as it is known, marks the company's first foray into the "location-based services" space, which has become popular with users who want to share where they shop, eat or play
Places will initially only be available in the US through Facebook's iPhone app or by logging onto its smartphone site.
The company plans to extend the feature to all its 500 million members as soon as it can.
The product, which uses the GPS on smartphones, works by getting users to tap a "check-in" button to see a list of places near where they are. From there they can choose the place that matches their location and "create a story" in their friends' News Feeds on the site.
Users can also let people know who they are with by "tagging" any Facebook friends, but only as long as they check-in to the location as well.
The networking site has given users controls over what and how much information they share on the service. Facebook said Places is about "broadcasting to your friends, not the whole world".
Users can remove themselves if someone tags them. They can also disable the feature if they are not interested.
Source

Tips on how to use foursquare

If you want to become mayor, check in to places that you know that you’ll be able to check in to frequently, as many times as  pos­si­ble. Didn’t find your place on Foursquare already? Add it. Don’t  forget and don’t neglect  someone else may steal your mayorship from you.


Foursquare resets its leaderboard on Sunday nights. To maximize your weekly tallies, make sure you start early in the week.

Check in to new places every time you do so, these grant you 5 extra points, and these can add up quickly.


Get familiar with how to unlock your special badges and work on unlock­ing them. Here are two great badges lists: TonyFelice.WordPress.com and TheKruser.com.


Don’t cheat. For the sake of the community, don’t check in to  places if you’re not really there. This only hurts the whole user  experience on Foursquare.

Asus to launch Android tablet in 2011

Asus plans to launch a Google Android-powered tablet in March 2011. The 10-inch tablet will sell below $399 said CEO Jerry Shen.
The Android model is among the several tablet devices to be launched by the computer maker in the coming several months.
Another tablet device that will have a 12-inch touchscreen and cost around $1,000 will reportedly launch in December or January, CEO said.
Termed Eee Pad EP121, this tablet will be more expensive because it will be able to turn into a laptop computer when hooked up to a docking station that will come with the tablet, according to Shen when asked about the expensive pricing.
Eee Pad EP121 will run Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium operating system with an Intel Core 2 Duo processor.
Asus is also launching another Microsoft-powered tablet EP101TC. The 10-inch tablet will run on Windows Embedded Compact 7 operating system with an ARM CPU processor and 64 GB of storage. It will be priced between $399 and $499.
The company will also be launching a Linux-based e-reader priced at $300 in October.
Source:

Netflix to stream Paramount, Lionsgate, MGM movies

Netflix Inc. will pay nearly $1 billion during the next five years for the online streaming rights to movies from Paramount, Lionsgate and MGM in a deal that could help convert even more people to the idea of getting their entertainment piped over high-speed Internet connections.
 The agreement announced Tuesday marks another breakthrough in Netflix's bid to stock its online streaming library with more compelling material, so it can keep its subscription service relevant as on-demand video systems supplant its core business of renting DVDs through the mail. The online streaming push also helps the company reduce its postage bill for mailing DVDs.The deal also makes the three studios' joint pay TV venture, Epix, immediately profitable.
 Streaming movies provide more instant gratification than renting DVDs through the mail or from a store because the video can be delivered within 30 seconds over a high-speed connection. The video isn't stored on the computer hard drives owned by subscribers; it's just shown on a connected device, such as video game consoles. The concept has become more popular as more households have gotten high-speed Internet access and Netflix has obtained the streaming rights to more recent movies and TV shows.Read more

Apple releases iOS 4.0.2 and 3.2.2 update to fix PDF security flaw

Apple has quickly patched the recently uncovered security flaw with how PDF files are handled in Safari in iOS 4.0.1 and earlier for the iPod Touch and iPhone, and iOS 3.2.1 and earlier for the iPad.


The problem was originally uncovered with the release of jailbreaking software by the iPhone Dev Team, which took advantage of the flaw by loading the software when visiting the jailbreak website.

The updates to fix this problem should now be available via iTunes, and it is highly recommended that you install it; however, be sure to back up your iOS devices before applying the updates.

How To Remove Twitter’s “Who to Follow” Feature

For Internet Explorer Users

    * Install IE7Pro add-on and run Internet Explorer
    * Goto Tools > IE7 Pro Preferences
    * Select AdBlock under Modules and click on Ok.
    * Restart the Internet Explorer and select IE7 Pro Preferences from the Tools menu.
    * Go to AdBlocker from the list menu on the left
    * In the Filter Type dropdown list, select Div Filter and click Add Filter.
    * Paste “recommended_users” (no quotes) in the Rule line. Click Add
    * Once again click on Add Filter.
    * Paste “recommended-similar-users” (no quotes) in the Rule line. Click Add.
    * Click Ok and refresh your Twitter page.
    * No more “who to follow” suggestions!
For FireFox Users

    * Install AdBlock Plus and open your Twitter page.
    * Click on the arrow on the right of the AdBlock Icon and select Preferences from the dropdown list.
    * Click Add Filter and paste this string: ##*#recommended-similar-users
    * Once again click on Add Filter and paste this string: ##*#recommended_users
    * Click OK and refresh your Twitter!
For Chromium (Linux) or Chrome (Windows) Users

    * Install AdBlock
    * Goto Extensions from the Tools menu
    * Select AdBlock and goto its Options
    * Goto Blacklist tab and edit it and add the 2 lines as below
    * In Blacklist box, Add: twitter.com##div[id="recommended_users"]
    * In Blacklist box, Add: twitter.com##div[id="recommended-similar-users"]
    * Click on Save and you’re done!

Google acquires social games maker Slide

Google made another play for the social networking space Friday with its acquisition of Slide, which makes games, applications and widgets for websites such as Facebook and MySpace.

The San Francisco developer provides free apps that Facebook users can install on their profiles in order to play simple games with friends or to arrange photo slide shows.
Slide's SuperPoke application and its animal-centric variations, for example, are a family of popular social games with which players can virtually hug friends or raise a pet pig. A feature similar to Slide's Top Friends was eventually implemented by Facebook into every profile, allowing users to rank online buddies.
Faced with the skyrocketing popularity of Facebook, Google has been searching for ways to make products that are more fun and collaborative.

AOL SafeSocial service for parents

AOL quietly launched a new subscription service that gives parents a way to keep track of their kids' activities online -- with their consent. The service analyzes posts and tweets for potentially inappropriate discussions, makes sure kids aren't becoming online friends with anyone suspicious, and collects relevant pictures posted online for parents' review, among other things.
Although many online sites and services offer parental controls for their own Internet properties, this appears to be a move by AOL to expand that approach beyond its own walls. SafeSocial cites Twitter, Facebook and MySpace among the social networks on which it can track activity.
The site, dubbed SafeSocial, hasn't been publicly announced or acknowledged, that we can find, but it's currently available at safesocial.com. After a free trial period, the service costs $9.99 a month, or $14.99 a month for up to four kids, according to an FAQ.

NewsBasis to Connect Reporters and Publicists

NewsBasis, a start-up,with an online marketplace to match businesses and organizations that want to broadcast their messages with journalists working on topical articles. It also has a tool for sources to footnote articles across the Web with their points of view

Journalists post questions or search for sources with a particular expertise or point of view. Reporters can ask questions anonymously to avoid tipping off competitors. They can set an expiration date for their question and remove it when it has been answered to avoid getting bombarded with pitches.


Companies, public relations agencies and academics search for questions or, if they choose, get notification by e-mail whenever someone posts a relevant query

On NewsBasis, sources can also add a footnote to articles across the Web, so when reporters are doing research using their Web browser, a tab will appear indicating that a NewsBasis source has offered a different point of view or corrected a fact.

Seagate Momentus XT drive

Seagate has announced it is now shipping ‘Momentus', “the world's fastest 2.5-inch laptop PC hard drive. “The Momentus XT drive combines a 7200RPM spin speed, 4GB of solid state memory and Seagate's Adaptive Memory technology to deliver unprecedented hard drive performance,” says the company. It installs as easily as a traditional 9.5mm-high notebook drive for new systems or laptop upgrades and, unlike early hybrid drives, operates independently of the operating system and the motherboard chipset

Microsoft to sell Arc Touch Mouse for just $70

Microsoft will be unleashing their Magic Mouse competitor mouse very soon.

The mouse is the result of a Microsoft Research program dubbed "Mouse 2.0". The project detailed different designs for a prototype multi-touch mouse and one of the prototypes looks similar to the current Microsoft Arc Mouse. Microsoft officials published a research PDF paper in October 2009 which contained pictures of a possible multi touch mouse. Microsoft's hardware twitter account tweeted two different pictures over the past week (see below).

According to an online price listing, the mouse which will do multi-touch will cost you $69.95. Yes, you are right, this price matches to the price tags found on Apple’s Magic Mouse and Magic Trackpad. It remains to be seen how exactly will it look like and how smoothly will it perform.

New online Rdio

Rdio, the latest creation from Kazaa and Skype founders Janus Friis with Niklas Zennström. Its offering is closest to MOG's -- both incorporate elements of social media to yield better music discovery and a more entertaining service. It also offers a $5-a-month web-only service and a $10-a-month mobile version

Both services allow you to search for tracks or artists, browse new releases (although only MOG makes this easy on a mobile device) and play an unlimited number of songs on demand for a flat fee. Rdio also enables you to virtualize the digital tracks you have on your PC -- the "match collection" function on the downloadable Rdio desktop player looks at your iTunes or Windows Media Player library and adds those titles to your collection in Rdio (just the titles, not the tracks themselves).

While Spotify struggles to bring its free music-on-demand service to the U.S., a growing number of companies are filling the gap -- although not on the same terms. For example, Guvera offers a limited number of free downloads on demand to those who'll tolerate some targeted advertising (and who don't mind a less than comprehensive selection of tracks). MOG and Napster offer unlimited on-demand streams for $5 a month. Rhapsody does the same for $10 a month, with the added bonus of mobile streaming to smartphones (MOG does the same for $10 too, and Napster's mobile version is on its way).

Another subscription service joined the fray Tuesday: Rdio, the latest creation from Kazaa and Skype founders Janus Friis with Niklas Zennström. Its offering is closest to MOG's -- both incorporate elements of social media to yield better music discovery and a more entertaining service. It also offers a $5-a-month web-only service and a $10-a-month mobile version. I've played with and enjoyed Rdio and MOG, although they have different strengths and weaknesses.

Both services allow you to search for tracks or artists, browse new releases (although only MOG makes this easy on a mobile device) and play an unlimited number of songs on demand for a flat fee. Rdio also enables you to virtualize the digital tracks you have on your PC -- the "match collection" function on the downloadable Rdio desktop player looks at your iTunes or Windows Media Player library and adds those titles to your collection in Rdio (just the titles, not the tracks themselves). That's a great feature in concept...

...but I didn't have any luck when I tried it on my work PC. My guess is that the software was stumped by the PC's small library of obscure MP3s (more on that later).

MOG doesn't try to replicate your collection; instead, it automatically catalogs the tracks in your library that you play most often and adds those titles to your online profile. That's a particularly useful feature for the mobile version of MOG, although for some reason the favorites in my online profile didn't find their way onto my smartphone. I'll take it on faith that the feature actually works for other MOG users.

The more compelling features of Rdio and MOG are the ones that let you follow in the footsteps of other users whose tastes you admire. Rdio aggregates onto a single page the activities of your network (i.e., the people you're following) -- the albums they've been playing most often, the records they've added to their Rdio collections, the people they've started following and the playlists they've created. All of these are jumping-off points for sampling and discovering new music.

You can also drill down deeper, going to any Rdio user's profile page to see and play what they've been listening to and read any reviews they've written. You can also collaborate with friends on joint playlists. Rdio helps you find people to follow by making recommendations based on what you've been playing. It also recommends music based on your listening habits.

MOG doesn't combine friends into a browsable network the way Rdio does. Instead, it acts more like one giant web of people interconnected by the artists and bands they like. From a band's MOG page you can jump to the profile pages of the MOG users who play that group's songs most often, which leads you to the other bands and songs they like.

You can follow the MOG users whose tastes are most appealing, but that just means you'll be notified in a Facebook-like news feed when they contribute something to MOG (e.g., a review or a blog post). MOG began as a platform for blogging, and it offers a rich array of content from users and music bloggers from around the net. In fact, it has the richest collection of music news, reviews and features of any of the subscription services; by comparison, Rdio is quite thin.

The same is true for their mobile applications. MOG's app offers far more functionality such as the ability to browse MOG's charts, recommended tracks and user playlists, without being harder to use. Rdio's sole advantage is that its app is available for the Blackberry as well as the iPhone and Android phones. MOG is just on the latter two, at least for now. Both also have the ability to cache songs on the phone so you can listen to them even when you're offline -- a nice feature for people with iffy connectivity or non-unlimited data plans.

Rdio Website
source

RIM launches BlackBerry Torch

The BlackBerry Torch with RIM's thumb-loving keyboards with a 3.2-inch touch screen -- smaller than the iPhone's 3.5-inch and the Droid Incredible's 3.7-inch displays.
It's the first BlackBerry with both a touch screen and a keyboard. With a slide-out keyboard, the hardware looks (and, according to some earlier testimonies, feels) like Palm's Pre, the portable hardware veteran's own touch-screen-driven reinvention.

During RIM's announcement Tuesday, the Canadian phone maker left no ambiguity about the Torch's importance to its product lineup -- "It is the best BlackBerry, ever," RIM says in its marketing materials.

Convincing the self-proclaimed "CrackBerry" addicts to leap into the world of touch screens won't be easy, especially after a few missteps with RIM's prior attempts at touch-screen phones. A combination of weak hardware and feeble software plagued the BlackBerry Storm, initially touted as Verizon Wireless' answer to Apple's and AT&T's iPhone.

Like the iPhone, the BlackBerry Torch 9800 will be available exclusively on the second-largest wireless network. AT&T stores will begin selling the Torch on Aug. 12 for $199 with a two-year contract, and the shops will have demo units available starting Tuesday afternoon for customers looking to try one out.

The Torch is the first phone to include BlackBerry 6, an overhauled version of RIM's mobile operating system.

Adding to the stellar BlackBerry e-mail and messaging client, this software adds a Web browser based on the same technology that powers Apple's Safari and Google's Android mobile browsers. With tap- and pinch-to-zoom features, the Torch looks to be a fully capable Web surfing device, unlike some of its BlackBerry brethren.

The Torch's software also includes Visual Voicemail for quickly scanning messages, integration with social networks and downloadable apps. Of course, the BlackBerry App World is noticeably more barren than the Apple and Android stores, which have garnered greater interest from third-party developers.

The device has a track pad for scanning e-mails, 8 gigabytes of storage (expandable up to 32 gigabytes), a 5-megapixel camera with a flash, headphone jack, Wi-Fi, BlueTooth and GPS. The internal processor is slower than many competing smart phones.

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Deposit checks with the iPhone

For Chase bank customers on the go, there’s one less reason to stop by an ATM.

Chase last month added a feature to its banking iPhone application enabling customers to virtually deposit a check using the smart phone’s built-in camera.

Called Quick Deposit, it requires a snapped picture of the front and back of an endorsed check, which is then submitted to Chase via the app. The amount is deposited directly into your account; Chase encourages customers to destroy the physical check as soon as it clears.

Chase isn’t the first American bank to offer mobile check deposit services, but it is the biggest thus far. Last August, USAA, a privately held bank and insurance company, added a feature on its iPhone application that works much the same way as the Chase version.

The app requires an iPhone 3 or higher and is free for customers enrolled in online banking, with no cap on the number of deposits made with the feature. Customers can deposit up to $1,000 in an account in a single day, with a $3,000 monthly limit per account for deposits made using Quick Deposit.
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Apple investigating iOS 4 complaints

Apple Inc. said it's investigating complaints by some iPhone 3G users of bogged down speed, drained battery life and excessive heat when their device is updated to the new iOS 4 software.

The operating system, which debuted in June, boasts more than 100 new features for the new iPhone 4 and the prior model iPhone 3GS, but some of the features are not compatible with the iPhone 3G.

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