Get Camtasia and SnagIt - FREE

TechSmith is currently offering Camtasia and SnagIt for free. These two softwares are a bloggers friend so if you don’t already have them, go ahead and secure them right away. These are full versions and not just trial copies, so rush to the scene.

The usual price for camtasia is $299.00 and SnagIt $29.00. Read

Open Source Softwares to look at

For some reason, few (great) open source softwares have missed my eye. I'm greatful to my friend who pointed me to these products - JScience, icu4j and Joda Time. How much time I spent grappling with the currency conversions, i18n, l10n and dealing with the date/timestamp issues. I should have known these libraries earlier.Tch! Read

Photographer Holger Pooten is well known in Europe for his work with Nike, but as you can see here, he knows how to shoot gadgets, too. Here he's frozen an exploded view of a fax machine, right in front of our eyes. Take a look at how he eviscerates a robot cat, and then does his magic on a vase full of orchids Read

New Gadgets

Wirelessly download books

With Amazon's Kindle device, you can wirelessly download books, magazines, newspapers and blogs, and then read the information on an electronic display that's designed to read like real paper, even in sunlight. Better yet, there's no need to connect to the Internet because the data is transferred to the portable reader via a high-speed cellular network. It costs $400. Downloaded books, including best-sellers and new releases, generally cost about $10 each. Newspaper subscriptions are $6 to $15 monthly, and magazine subscriptions range from about $1.25 to $3.50 monthly.

www.amazon.com/kindle



DVDs, iPod on new radio

You can tune into the radio, play DVDs and listen to your iPod with the SoundWorks i765 radio. Designed to work with a variety of Apple iPods, the compact system has a built-in powered subwoofer, a DVD/CD player, a digital AM/FM tuner, a dual-alarm clock, an iPod charging dock and an LCD. When connected to a TV, the radio can display iPod videos and DVD movies through your TV. The radio ships with a wireless remote that controls its functions as well as a docked iPod. Cost: $500.

www.cambridgesoundworks.com

Play music with Mix Max

The Disney Mix Max Media Player lets you have it both ways. You can download and play music and video from DisneyMixCentral.com, or you can take the easy way out and insert and play a preloaded media card. Weighing 2.3 ounces, the player has a 2.2-inch color screen, 512MB of memory, a slot for an SD memory card and a rechargeable battery that delivers eight hours of playing time. Available in a variety of Disney-themed frame designs, it costs $100. Preloaded media cards, or Disney Mix Clips, are $15 each. Read

$7500 Dollar Toilet

Read

Google gadgets hit Mac Dashboard

oogle Desktop 1.4.0 comes in the business of software that extends the collection of Mac OS X’s Dashboard element to consist of Google gadgets as well as local widgets.

Hundreds of Gadgets before now exist, and “the greater part of gadgets just effort if they’re on paper correctly,” according to Google software engineer Mike Pinkerton.

Detailed issues consist of gadgets that were on paper in JScript rather than JavaScript, that use Windows-specific APIs, or that also rely on outstanding visible and active or need access to the file system.

Google is cheering developers to make sure their gadgets work on both platforms. If there is some elementary explanation why a gadget can only run on one platform (eg, file system access is important to its purpose), it can be tagged to specify which version of Google Desktop is compulsory. Read

Garmin Street Pilot c340 Portable GPS Navigator

I bought my second c340 this month (November '07) as a Christms present for my often traveling son. In order to test and charge the unit, I took it to a known destination out of state (MA to NH). Flawless directions until I arrived at my destination. When I got where I was going, the voice prompt advised that I had arrived at my destination "on the right." The location was actually on the left. Same thing happened on the way home. I know this is a minor irritation to many, but I wonder if this is a glich I can do something about. Anything you can tell me would be greatly appreciated. I love the c340, except for this little blip in accuracy. Thank you in advance for your response. Discount Garmin GPS

The new Garmin StreetPilot c340 provides in-car navigation that's simple to use and offers use-friendly options and control. The c340 gives you turn-by-turn directions and turns text into speech -- and if you miss a turn, it will automatically calculate a new route. Follow directions with a color-coded map and 6 million different points of interest. 3.5 LCD display with backlit touch screen Offers 3D mapping or 2D overhead view Built-in 12V power adapter/speaker for external power in your vehicle Integrated suction cup mounting system, for easy adjustment & quick release Lithium-ion battery for trip planning - approx. 4-8 hours battery life USB interface Dimensions(WxHxD) - 4.4 x 3.2 x 2.8 Weight - 9.4 oz.

-3.5-inch diagonal display with touch-screen makes navigating a breeze
-Dual integrated speakers for high-quality voice prompts
-Choose between a three-dimensional mapping perspective or 2D overhead view
-Comes preloaded with Garmin City Select NT Version 8 street data of the entire United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico
-Optional real-time traffic information capability. Read

U.S. mobile phone sales revenue rose 47 percent year-over-year in third quarter 2007, says The NPD Group

According to The NPD Group, a leading consumer and retail information company, mobile phone sales to consumers in the U.S. reached 38 million units in the third quarter of 2007. This number represents an increase of nearly 16 percent compared to unit sales figures from the previous quarter; however, the second quarter is traditionally a slow sales quarter for mobile phone retailers.

NPD estimates total third quarter 2007 consumer sales of $3.2 billion, which is a 47% increase since the same period one year ago. The percentage of smartphones sold during the third quarter increased from 4% of all phone sales in the third quarter of 2006 to 11 percent during the same timeframe in 2007 -- an increase of 163% year over year.

“The mobile phone market is not only growing, it is growing smarter,” said Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis for NPD. “The nearly threefold increase in smartphones shows that this once negligible niche is becoming a more influential force in the consumer market -- attracting entrants such as Apple and the Open Handset Alliance.”

Following is the breakdown of the top five handset manufacturers’ third quarter 2007 share of units sold:

Motorola: 31%
LG: 17%
Samsung: 16%
Nokia: 11%
Sanyo: 4%

Many of the most popular handset features also became more common in new phones sold. In the third quarter, 72% of phones were sold with Bluetooth capability, which is an increase of 44% since the third quarter of 2006. Fifty percent of new phones were able to play music in the third quarter of 2007 (double the prior year) and 11% were smartphones. Read

China mobile phone user base at over 531 million in October 2007

There were 531.45 million subscribers of mobile communication services in China as of the end of October 2007, growing by 1.55% on month and by 18.36% on year, according to statistics published by China's Ministry of Information Industry (MII) on its Chinese-language website on November 27.

The number of subscribers at the end of October accounted for 39.9% of the country's population (user density), according to the the MII.

Also at the end of last month were there 370.68 million subscribers of fixed telecommunication networks in China, translating into a user density of 28.3%.

In October of this year, mobile phone subscribers in China sent 52.61 billion short messages, averaging 3.22 short messages per phone number a day.

China's Internet-access user base

Internet-access mode
Number of subscribers at end of October 2007

Dial-up (narrow band)
20.28 million

Dedicated lines
68,396

Broadband
xDSL
49.91 million (Y/Y 39.61%)

Aggregate
64.42 million (Y/Y 29.43%) Read

24-hour Apple news video network launches

The Digital Lifestyle today launched a new 24-hour online network dedicated to Apple followers. The site mixes original programs with popular Apple/tech-related podcasts and YouTube material, as well as daily news updates and live coverage of breaking tech news events. Using live video technology from Mogulus, viewers can watch live broadcasts and participate by submitting their own video segments. Original shows include "Root Access," a weekly live tech help show with a former Apple "Mac Genius" and "Gary's Garage," offering a look at Apple and other company's products of the past.

"Imagine if you could watch a 24-hour TV network dedicated to Apple news, rumors, and lifestyle. We've created that experience online," network founder Ryan Ritchey said. Podcasts expected to join the network include "CommandN" with Amber Mac, as well as Mogan Webb's "Webb Alert." Read