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Vimeo Makes It To iPhone And Android

Mike — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:40:19 +0000

Vimeo, a web video site that’s often referred to as YouTube’s rival, has just launched support for Android and iPhone mobile devices, and that real live apps are coming up very soon. Should this be big news to you? It depends.

Viewing YouTube videos on the iPhone is easy enough. Vimeo, a flash streaming site, will now also work in iPhones and on the Google Android mobile OS platform. For now, only selected HD videos will be available for viewing, but Vimeo plans to open submissions to Vimeo Plus members — and uploaded videos will also be viewable on iPhone and Android setups.

Vimeo videos will now show in a special mobile-adapted page whenever you view them on your iPhone or Android mobile device, but eventually a few fully-dedicated apps should be available for purchase and download to further improve viewing experience in the near future.

So now if you can’t find it on YouTube, it might be on Vimeo.

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© Coated, 2009.
Coated brings you the coolest gadgets and best geek toys.
Vimeo Makes It To iPhone And Android | Internet Gadgets | Post tags: google, streaming video, Vimeo, YouTube

Chrome Mac Beta To Debut In December

Zack — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:33:53 +0000

One of the biggest criticisms about Google’s Chrome web browser was that until today, only the developer-preview version is available for Mac and Linux systems. But it looks like Google will have a Christmas present for Mac users — they have unveiled plans of releasing a Chrome Mac beta version early next month.

As it stands, Chrome is at version 4.0, but is only available for Windows platforms. The new version will have a new feature that’s long been in Firefox — customization by extensions. The new feature will be called “Browser Actions” in Chrome, and should make the browser a bit more interesting at the very least.

Unfortunately, Browser Actions only work on Windows and Linux versions right now. But when the Chrome Mac beta comes out next month, those building extensions for Mac Chrome should have a good measure of access to the new feature.

It’s been a long time coming, but I guess we could always count on Google to keep things moving forward.

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© Coated, 2009.
Coated brings you the coolest gadgets and best geek toys.
Chrome Mac Beta To Debut In December | Internet Gadgets | Post tags: browser, chrome, google, Mac

TomTom Coming Up With Improvements To iPhone App

Zack — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:24:09 +0000

TomTom has had their iPhone navigation app available for a while, but it’s not the most popular navigation tool out there owing to several user gripes. Thankfully the guys at TomTom are listening, and are planning to come up with an improved version of the app very soon.

The new navigation app will have the following upgrades:

Text-to-speech support, which should make it much more interesting and specific. The app will now recite street names instead of telling you to turn left, right, or any other generic command.
Lane guidance/reality view. This feature should make navigating complicated intersections and interchanges much easier, as it will tell you the best route to take to your destination.
Help menu. Now emergency numbers and routes to the nearest hospital or police station are readily available, which can make ANY navigation app much more useful.
More iPod controls. One major gripe about the TomTom navigation app was that you couldn’t control the volume or skip between tracks when navigation was in use. Now you can.
Warnings on speed limits and safety cameras. No more excuses — now you’ll have yet another thing reminding you to drive safely.

TomTom has already submitted the new App for Apple’s review, and the upgrade should be available to iPhone users soon after.

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© Coated, 2009.
Coated brings you the coolest gadgets and best geek toys.
TomTom Coming Up With Improvements To iPhone App | Phone Gadgets | Post tags: Apple, iphone, TomTom

Google Chromium Group’s SPDY Protocol To Make Web Faster

Zack — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:13:33 +0000

Up until now, the only way to enjoy faster Internet speeds was to upgrade ISP’s. If you’re still on Dial-up (yes, there are some of us still stuck in the 90’s), you can go up to Broadband, for instance. But the Google Chromium Group is developing a new application-layer protocol that could make the web faster for users — without necessitating an ISP upgrade.

The Google Chromium Group is currently developing SPDY, a new way of communication between servers and browsers. Currently we use HTTP, and it does a great job bringing the Internet to our fingertips. But lab tests of SPDY on 25 of the Internet’s top websites have yielded a consistent 55% speed boost. No coincidence that SPDY is pronounced “speedy!”

SPDY is still in its development stages, but the Google Chromium Group is already opening the project to the web community for support, feedback, and participation. If you’d like to pitch in on perhaps the biggest thing to happen to the Internet in the last decade, visit the Chromium team’s blog at blog.chromium.org.

© Coated, 2009.
Coated brings you the coolest gadgets and best geek toys.
Google Chromium Group’s SPDY Protocol To Make Web Faster | Online News | Post tags: internet, speed, web

Blockbuster Renting Out Movies On SD Cards

Zack — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:56:55 +0000

Blockbuster just made a strange attempt to get ahead in the movie rental industry — instead of renting out movies on DVD’s like RedBox, it now loads DRMed movies onto SD cards. They claim it’s an attempt to bring back users by offering movie quality that’s better than DVD or streaming. Oookay.

There’s just two problems with this move — first of all, not many TV’s, DVD players, and PMP’s that support SD. Most PC’s do, but I don’t think people are willing to rent a movie onto their SD then watch it on their PC’s when streaming is much easier to work with.

Secondly, not many people buy additional SD cards — most people are perfectly happy with the SD’s that come with their cameras. At only around 128 to 512MB, they don’t have enough capacity for a movie. Will they buy another SD card for their movies? Not if DVD’s and streaming movies are so easy to get.

Blockbuster would probably do better if they fired the guy who came up with the SD idea and simply add a USB port to their machines. Many people have USB drives just gathering dust in the pencil mug.

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© Coated, 2009.
Coated brings you the coolest gadgets and best geek toys.
Blockbuster Renting Out Movies On SD Cards | Entertainment Gadgets | Post tags: Blockbuster, movies, rental, SD Cards

Wi-Fi Scale Posts Your Weight Details On Twitter

Zack — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:48:18 +0000

Withings has just unveiled their latest product — a Wi-Fi-enabled scale. Aside from calculating your body weight, body mass index, and lean and fat mass, it’ll also Tweet the results for you.

Now why would you want to Tweet your weight details to the rest of the world? Well, research has proved that the more closely you keep track of your weight loss (or gain), the more likely you are to stick to the program and actually achieve your fitness goals. Sort of a Biggest Loser kind of psychology.

Of course, you can choose to have the Wi-Fi scale on its own without the Tweeting capability — it’s actually only an option you can enable to help you stay on track. When you have a permanent database of your progress that could stretch into years, it can be a powerful tool to motivate yourself — and your followers, if they’re on the same fitness boat as you.

But you might want to avoid the Tweeting aspect if you’re on your fitness regimen on your own — otherwise the number of your followers will drop with your pounds.

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© Coated, 2009.
Coated brings you the coolest gadgets and best geek toys.
Wi-Fi Scale Posts Your Weight Details On Twitter | Household Gadgets | Post tags: exercise, scale, tweet, Twitter, weight loss

Star Ship Chandelier Perfect For Interior Designing Star Trek Fans

Zack — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:40:11 +0000

Even geeks need a roof over their heads, so why not throw in a few interior design elements into the mix? Now Star Trek fans can show off more than just their scaled models of the USS Enterprise — they can actually hang it as a ceiling lighting fixture. Yup, the Star Ship chandelier looks just like the real thing.

For the rest of us, the darned thing looks a little too odd and much too geeky to hang in our living rooms. But if you’re a space sci-fi aficionado with a taste for minimalist design, then you might consider using such a centerpiece in your home — especially if you’re remodeling, painting everything white, and planning to use chrome accents.

So if you feel like saying something to Scotty every time you switch on the lights, get ready to shell out a cool $189 for the Star Ship chandelier.

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© Coated, 2009.
Coated brings you the coolest gadgets and best geek toys.
Star Ship Chandelier Perfect For Interior Designing Star Trek Fans | Household Gadgets | Post tags: decor, geeky, household, lighting

AT&T To Carry Lenovo Smartbook

Mike — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 20:28:14 +0000

Qualcomm, makers of the Snapdragon chipset, announced at an investor conference today that they will be designing a smartbook, which is a hybrid between a smartphone and netbook.

Although the Lenovo device is just slightly larger then the palm of one’s hand, Paul Jacobs, CEO of Qualcomm, indicated it will come with a full keyboard and display. Under the hood, the smartbook will be powered by a Snapdragon processor and will include integrated mobile broadband that will link into the AT&T 3G mobile network.

Not a lot of details were announced today, but it is suspected the unit will run on a custom Linux operating system rather then on Google Android. It was mentioned though that both pricing and the official name of this Smartbook will be announced in January 2010 when the unit is formally launched at Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2010.

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© Coated, 2009.
Coated brings you the coolest gadgets and best geek toys.
AT&T To Carry Lenovo Smartbook | Computer Gadgets | Post tags: AT&T, CES, Lenovo, smartbook, Snapdragon