[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Filed under: Cellphones

Microsoft My Phone now live, in screenshots originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 17 Feb 2009 12:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

View Original Article

Last month, we took a tour of Microsoft’s “fake” retail store. Meant to show what it would look like “if” Microsoft ever decided to open a dedicated store. Like the ones they’re now actually opening.

The company have announced that, yes, they’re going to follow Apple into the dedicated retail space, and will be opening an undisclosed number of stores across the US. The chain will be overseen by David Porter, formerly of Dreamworks Animation, who was hired by Microsoft this week to act as vice president of retail stores.

No word yet on what the stores will actually sell, but since the concept store was full of Xbox and Games for Windows stuff, we’d be expecting the actual stores to follow suit.

Microsoft to open own stores [Reuters]

Firefox’s mobile browser, Fennec, is available in “milestone” (read: very alpha) downloads for HTC Touch Pro phones, but also most any Windows Mobile phone running at VGA (480×640). Early reports say it’s working, if slow.

As the Mozilla team itself notes, this release has plug-ins disabled, features no soft keyboard input, doesn’t allow for program or add-on updating, and a few other “punts” made to get a working release out. Still, if you want to test out Fennec’s unique navigation and mobile browsing helpers and you’ve got a Windows Mobile phone, it could be worth a try—even if web site loading is not exactly snappy at this point.

Fennec is a free download, built for the HTC Touch Pro but capable of running on Windows Mobile phones. A direct CAB link can be found right under the “Installation” heading in the link below.

This beautiful concept, inspired by the curves and tapering of the Macbook Air coupled with the touch’s back, is even better than the cool Macbook-inspired iPhone 4G we featured at the beginning of the month.

The thing that excites me most about these concepts, however, is not the aesthetic aspect of it. It’s the the front camera and the fact that people seem to be excited about getting videoconferencing on the iPhone. Specially about the idea of interacting with desktop videoconferencing software on both the PC and the Mac. This is a must for the videochat feature to be really useful, and personally I think it’s one of the reasons it hasn’t been done by Apple before.

My hope is that they are working to make it crossplatform, either with Apple releasing iChat for the PC at one point or, ideally, working on the connection with existing PC videoconferencing software like MSN and Skype…

Google just announced a new service for pushing Gmail contacts and Google Calendar updates to mobile devices. For iPhone and Windows Mobile devices Google is using Exchange ActiveSync with some limitations due to the beta nature of the service, but it’ll also work on many other devices that support SyncML (a vendor list is here). Google Sync works automatically, and replaces all existing contact and calendar information on the device, so sync-er beware — we wouldn’t let Google get close to our contacts without some serious preflight cleanup and maintenance. Google Apps users can enable the service per domain. There’s an explanatory video after the break.

Bungie’s cleared up “an oft-asked, but pertinent question” regarding multiplayer content on Halo 3: ODST. Specifically, yes, it will have all 24 Halo 3 maps.

Quoth Bungie:

Just some minor housekeeping this week. We wanted to address an oft-asked, but pertinent question about the Halo 3 Multiplayer content that will ship with Halo 3: ODST this Fall. All twenty-four Halo 3 Multiplayer maps will be in the box. All shipping maps: The Heroic Map Pack, The Legendary Map Pack, Cold Storage, The Mythic Map Pack, and three brand new exclusive maps are included.

So, if you don’t want to buy the DLC maps or if you, like me, sold Halo 3 in a recession-induced fit of panic, you can climb back aboard when ODST drops in the fall.

Putting aside all discussion regarding the direction Resident Evil 5 has taken with its control mechanics, the video will evoke deep rooted nostalgic feelings and renew your phobia of human-sized arachnids. It did for us. Once comfortable — and with an ample supply of herbs by your side — find the 17+ minute video after the break.

Continue reading A violent look at Resident Evil’s survival horror past

Much to my surprise, shoved in between games like House of the Dead: Overkill, Mad World, and The Conduit, was another Sonic game. I decided to take a (very) quick look at it.

What Is It
Sonic and the Black Knight is a fast-action Wii game that mixes going really really fast with some action mixed in. It’s basically an on-rails shooter where you have to mix acceleration with dodging and attacking. The story picks up after Sonic and the Secret Rings.

What We Saw
I played the first level of the game on the show floor of the New York Comic Con. The demo was from the final build and the total time to complete the stage was around 5 minutes.

How Far Along Is it?
The game is done. Gold, actually, and comes out this March….

This post is going to be hard to read, but I suggest that you read it all the way till the end. I’ll put some of the key points in bold so that you can pick some of the more important information up, but for now force yourself to get through this post. I’m not picking another Muslim’s blog to point out as the blog with the worst blog post ever. I won’t be talking about the grammar or the flow or how original the content is. Rather I wanted just to talk about the overall structure of the post. I wanted to give you just one example of a mistake a lot of bloggers make (Muslim or not). Instead of telling you what you should avoid doing, I thought I would just show you instead. It can be quite irritating when your blog post goes on and on and on and on and on. No one wants to read it…….

(Photo: buggolo)

Amazon’s VP for Kindle, Ian Freed, just confirmed to us the little nugget Jeff Bezos mentioned in the Kindle 2 keynote about WhisperSync: Kindle content is coming to cellphones.

They’re not ready to say which cellphones—or even when they’re going to announce them—but they want them on them cellphones, plural. Pretty exciting! Hopefully, we’ll know more soon.

We also talked a bit about Kindle perpetual out-of-stock problem. Two bits of good news: If you ordered a Kindle as far back as “late 2008,” but didn’t get it yet, your order is now magically for a Kindle 2. There’s also way more stock to go around at launch than there was of the original Kindle, though Ian wouldn’t commit to specific numbers.

Here’s the deal if you’re a current Kindle owner and order before midnight. Jeff Bezos said you’re first in line, but according to Ian, they’re in the same “first in line” queue as the people who ordered a Kindle way back in December (who now have Kindle 2s coming to them). So, as simply as possible, you need to already have a Kindle or have ordered one to get one anytime soon.

By Steven Snell

Use of texture in Web design is extremely common. Part of the reason textures are so useful to designers is the relative ease of the integrating one into a design if a high-quality textured image already exists, not to mention the endless possibilities. Fortunately, plenty of photographers and designers are willing to share their work with the rest of us so that we can use them in a number of different ways.

In this post, we’ll look at 100 different textures in a wide variety of different categories. Of course, each image is linked to the source where it can be downloaded. As with any type of freebie, be sure to read the terms and conditions or stipulations by the owner before using it in your work.

For more on textures see:

• Textures in Modern Web Design
• Textures and Patterns Design Showcase
• Smashing Texture Contest

1. Wool Textures…

…

At the beginning stage of our blogs, we tend to post updates very often. Not only are the posts that we put up at the beginning full of content and energy, but we ourselves feel great when we write them. Soon enough though, we lose that initial rush and we begin to do two things: write posts that are of lesser of quality and sometimes we even have to force ourselves to write anything at all.

I myself fell victim to this and eventually burned out. That doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing though. As a matter of fact, I learned a great deal from it. Today, I want to share with you what I’ve learned when it comes to how how often we should be updating our blogs.

There is no universal blogging standard as to how often you should update your blog. Let’s go through a couple of pointers that can help your blog grow - even if you just started:

There is no standard

Different blogs will update at different intervals. This point actually requires that you do some basic research. Look at some other blogs in your niche to discover how often they are updating. Remember, you are not basing your decision purely on how often other blogs post - but it is part of it.

For example, if you love technology and decide you want to enter some niche in that area, you’ll soon find out that you have to update often a lot. Technology-related blogs require up-to-date information and succeed usually on how fast information gets out. Consider blogs like Engadget or Gizmodo that do live-blogging of events like at MacWorld. Those blogs don’t just release information when it gets leaked to the press, they are also at the events writing about it as it happens.

Recently, I covered the question of how often you should update your blog. That post didn’t come from some idea that I had floating in my head.  It was written based on my own personal failure to really think about and look into the topic.

In this post I want to cover 6 more points that we all need to be aware, and stay aware, of.

_________________________________________

1. The Title - Crafting a title is more difficult than I imagined it would be. But know this my fellow bloggers - the title is one of the most important factors in determining the success of a particular post. Usually, I come up with 3-5 titles before publishing and even then I may not be fully satisfied.  The changes won’t necessarily be major ones.  For this post, I made 3 minor changes to the title.  I’ve included them here for you to take a look at.  The changes made in each are in red.

2. The Intro - The first sentence, maybe first paragraph, of your blog should almost always be deleted when you’re finished. Rarely is the sentence you started with in sync with the rest of the post. As a matter of fact, I ended up deleting the first

Make sure you check out the other 15 High Quality Premium-Like Free WordPress Themes post.

_____________________

The Muslim Blogger brings to you yet another set of free wordpress themes/templates that you need to be checking out.   Please note that while the developers have published these themes for free, you are responsible to look into the copyright issues.  Usually, the only requirement is that you leave the note in the footer that gives credit to the developer(s).

Best of 2008: Top 5 Wii Games

Wii has had what you might call a dubious year.

Nintendo’s little console that could is shattering sales records left and right, and might just move more units in 2008 than any game system in history. Casual hits Wii Play, Mario Kart, and Wii Fit continue to captivate new players. But meanwhile, Nintendo’s loyal fans, the ones who stuck with the company through the lean years, are feeling a bit like when you go to high school and your former best geeky friend is suddenly all hot and popular and doesn’t talk to you anymore.

But Wired.com’s writers have still found some Wii games that made this year a little more bearable.

5. De Blob

The jumping mechanic that requires you to swing the Wiimote wildly is a little imprecise. But this is still exactly the sort of third-party title the Wii needs more of. The simple premise — a cute globule bounces around a sanitary white city, soaking it with color — is supplemented by great character and art design, challenging levels, and a terrific musical score that responds to your every action. — Chris Baker

Last year we showed you a new, lightweight Linux-based operating system called gOS (aka Good OS) with an emphasis on integrating web-based applications with your desktop. gOS first gained notoriety as the operating system on Walmart’s $199 PC, and now the good folks at gOS have put together a new, super-lightweight operating system for netbooks called gOS Cloud that runs entirely inside a web browser (which looks like it’s probably a tweaked version of Google Chrome). Details are scant, and there doesn’t seem to be an available download yet, but gOS Cloud looks like it could be the perfect OS for your netbook or aging computer. Until then, the original version of gOS is already available for download and works great.

Filed under: News, Windows, Macintosh, Linux

If you gauged the market share of various operating systems by counting the number of Macs vs PCs you see in the typical urban coffee shop, you’d probably believe that Apple and Microsoft were duking it out like Republicans and Democrats in a close US presidential election.

But the truth of the matter is that Microsoft is the dominant company when it comes to consumer oriented computers. In fact, according to Net Applications, a company that tracks these things, Microsoft had more than 90% of the market share. Until last month, anyway.

In November, 2008, Microsoft’s market share dipped to 89.62%. Which is to say, Microsoft’s Windows operating systems still dwarf the nearest competitors, Mac OS X and Linux. But a slightly smaller percentage of people who visited web sites tracked by Net Applications in November were using the operating system.

Net Applications reports that OS X has also seen a slight jump in usage, and that Windows Vista use is up while Windows XP use is down. More than 20% of computer users were running Windows Vista for the first time in November.

[via Computer World and Slashdot]

While us normal folk were gorging on turkey and fixings, the tireless US Patent Office was busy filing an interesting Apple patent detailing a mobile liquid cooling system—something that looks like it could be used in a future portable device.

Initially filed in May of 2007 (it’s government, people!), the patent app describes a two-part cooling system for small form factors. In the first part a liquid coolant is used to transfer heat away from components (such as a quad-core mobile processor, perhaps?). In the second phase, the heat is transferred from the liquids onto a large aluminum plate which would then pass it off into the environment just as most laptop temperature management systems work today.

Whether this is just another defensive or out-there research patent, or an actually useful new way to cram more power into a smaller space via liquid cooling remains to be seen. Let’s hope Apple’s next patent is for a brand new battery juicy enough to power the whole system for more than 20 minutes. [US Patents Office via CrunchGear]

Today we are glad to release Innocent Invaders Photoshop Brushes Set, a set that features a curious cast of characters who are ready to infiltrate your creative projects. Inspired by designer vinyl toys, this high resolution set includes a collection of 15 different creatures accompanied by 10 background illustrations.

These brushes are designed by Katie Canada and Jason Gaylor of Mediaslap. This set was designed exclusively for Smashing Magazine and its readers.

Download the sets for free!

You can use the set for all of your projects for free. You can freely use it for both your private and commercial projects, including software, online services, templates and themes. The set may not be resold, sublicensed, rented, transferred or otherwise made available for use. You may not use these brushes on designs for sale on stock photography sites. You’ll find installation instructions in the package. Please link to this article if you would like to spread the word.

• large preview
• download (.zip, 2.8 Mb)

Last But Not Least

We are constantly looking for creative designers and artists. You may not know it yet, but we may feature you in one of our upcoming posts.

If you would like to release a free high-quality font, a Wordpress theme, Photoshop brushes, a Drupal theme, some wallpapers, an icon set or something else, please contact us. We would like to support you (both financially and with the broad readership of Smashing Magazine).

There was nothing wrong with the Eee Box, a PC not so dissimilar to the Wii, except that it lacked any real reason for existence with processing no more powerful than a netbook.

The new Eee Box B204 and B206 look to beef up the line’s capabilities into something worthy of HTPC application. While still running light 1.6GHz Atom processors with 1GB of RAM, the systems now feature ATI Radeon HD 3400 series discrete graphics with 256MB of DDR2 memory along with HDMI output to play back high def video on an HDTV. And when you account for the Wireless-N networking and 160GB SATA hard drive, you realize that the the Eee Box could be a contender in the low end home theater PC market.

No word yet on pricing or availability, but the original Eee Box ran a palatable $300. [Asus]

Note: Image is of the original Eee Box.

Tomorrow, Amazon’s launching an iPhone app that’ll exist solely to make buying crap easier. Its killer, buy-more-crap feature? Take a picture of anything, and Amazon’ll shoot you the product page to waste money on it.

So how does this economy-stoking magic app work? A complex, supremely intelligent algorithm that can analyze pixels and determine just what it is you want to buy? Gremlins? Google? Actually, if you guessed gremlins, you almost on the money.

When you upload a photo, Amazon’s living, breathing Mechanical Turk workers (so-named for one of the first “robots”) try to match the photo up to products for sale on Amazon.com. You’ll get results back in 5 minutes to 24 hours. The giant kink, obviously, is the potential for human error—how will they tell one giant black HDTV from another, for instance, especially with the iPhone’s crappy camera?

Normally, it’d be the perfect time to launch this kind of app—the holiday season—but with the financiapocalypse, I sorta wonder how many George Bush bobbleheads this thing is gonna sell. [Bits]

Filed under: Internet, Blogging

It’s a bit behind schedule, but WordPress 2.7 is due out tomorrow evening. Automattic, the company behind the popular blogging platform put out the first release candidate version of WordPress 2.7 just a few days ago, but a beta version has been available for the last few months.

WordPress 2.7 represents a huge shift away from earlier versions of WordPress - at least in the administration area. Most of the changes will be visible to bloggers, but not blog readers. But the changes in the admin area are huge. First, the navigation menus have all been moved to the left side of the screen, giving you more room at the top of the page. The submenus are all also collapsible, which allows you to navigate the administration interface without reloading the page as often.

You can also customize the admin area by dragging, dropping, adding, or deleting widgets like the Right Now screen which gives you an overview of your blog stats or the QuickPress widget which lets you create a post using a stripped down WYSIWYG editor right from the start page.

WordPress 2.7 also lets you search for and install plugins without leaving the admin area. And for the first time, an automatig upgrade tool is included in WordPress so you can upgrade to WordPress 2.7.1 or 2.8 or whatever new versions are on the horizon without having to fire up an FTP client.

The upgrade tool also means that if you just can’t wait until tomorrow to try out the new version of WordPress you can install the release candidate today and initiate an automatic upgrade tomorrow. For some reason WordPress still does not provide a simple way to backup your database before upgrading though, so you may want to install a third party plugin to backup your data before upgrading just in case something goes wrong.

When I set TwiTip up look after itself over the weekend (I set up a few posts to go live at specific times) I wasn’t expecting it to be a huge weekend of traffic. The posts were good - but there were less than during the week and past history shows weekends are quiet (particularly those after big holidays like Thanksgiving).

On Sunday night I logged into the blog to moderate comments and was surprised to see that on Saturday the blog had had it’s highest day of traffic since it was launched a few weeks back and Sunday was looking good to be a pretty decent day too.

What happened?

As I reflect upon the reasons for this traffic - it all comes down to content. Over the weekend I had two particular posts that drove the vast majority of traffic to the blog.

In this post I want to take a look at these two posts and reflect upon some of their characteristics that I think were responsible for the traffic.

1. Ten People All Twitter Beginners Should Be Following - this is the post that started it all. It was a guest post by Mark Hayward that I really should have known had the potential to go viral (I guess when I posted it on the Friday I was a little tired after a big week).

Why did the post draw in a lot of traffic? A number of reasons come to mind:

• Controversy - while I don’t believe Mark intended it to be controversial - it was. There was quite a bit of talk around Twitter about those included in this list of Twitter users and whether they should have been included, who was missed out, whether the list should have been written…. etc. Of course every time it was discussed the link was passed on which of course drew people to have a look.
• List - the ‘list’ format of post is a classic way of getting a post to go viral. Find out why in my post - 8 Reasons Why Lists are Good for Getting Traffic to Your Blog.
• People Focus - there’s something about writing about other people that seems to draw a crowd. I’m not sure why it is - but I can think of numerous occasions that I’ve published posts about ‘people’ where the posts went viral. One of the reasons for this is that the people being written about (and their fans) often pass on these lists to others (a few retweeted it themselves).
• Fulfilled a Need - whether you agree with the list or not - it actually seemed to connect with a lot of readers simply because they were beginner users of Twitter and didn’t know who to follow. This post gave people with this need an answer to this problem and a practical way to fix it.
• Social Media - of course one of the advantages that a blog about Twitter has is that it tends to be read by fairly active Twitter users who are used to spreading links around as part of their normal web surfing. This post (and the next one) got linked to quite a bit on Twitter.
• Repeat Tweets - one of the weaknesses with Twitter as a way of spreading news of a post on your blog is that when you tweet your links the impact of those tweets can be quite temporary because they tend to only be seen by people for a short period of time before your tweet is pushed down the list of tweets that they are following. I find that reweeting your own tweets every now and again can give fresh momentum to those who didnt’ see your first one (I only do it on my best posts and a maximum of 2-3 times a day.

2. Construct your own ‘Top 10 Must Follow’ List as it Relates to Your Own Niche - this next post was not planned and was written on the fly on Sunday morning after I logged in and saw some of the buzz around the first post above.

As I began to read some of the comments on the first post (both those that didn’t like the list and those that did) I realized that there was an opportunity to take the ‘buzz’ further.

Actually - if I am honest, the idea the idea actually came to me as I did damage control and as I wrote a comment on the first post answering some of the concerns that readers had with it. I didn’t really want things to blow up and was trying to find a way to turn some of the negativity into something more positive.

One of the recurring comments about the first post was that it was too narrow - that the list just focused upon those into social media as a topic. It struck me that while this was a valid critique that on another level it actually made the list more valuable to those with that interest.

A light bulb went on and in the comment I suggested people create more lists that focused upon specific niches/topics/industries. Within 20 minutes of making that suggestion people began to take up my idea and post comments. I quickly realized that the idea had energy and decided to make the idea into an actual post.

Once I did this - the post really took off. A number of reasons come to mind as to why it did:

• Momentum - the first post fed the second (and the second fed the first). I find that when I write posts one after the other that build upon each other that it can have a powerful impact upon a blog’s traffic. This is a perfect example of what I talk about in a previous post - How to Keep Momentum Going by Building on Previous Posts. One of the take home lessons from this is that it’s important to monitor how people are responding to your posts because in those responses could be a seed for future ones.
• Reader participation - this post gave readers a specific invitation to do something very practical and relevant to their own interests. People respond well to invitations to answer questions or do little challenges (as long as they are not too hard) and that is part of the reason for the success of this post. Interestingly, many of the people who constructed lists then went on to tweet links to their comments because they were proud of their submissions and they were relevant to what they used Twitter for.
• Positive/Constructive Focus - while there was a slight negativity about some of the comments in the first post’s ‘controversy’ - there was a very different vibe in the comments on the second. People seemed to appreciate and respond well to the positive and constructive challenge.
• Invitation to Blog about it - in this post I gave people the opportunity to leave their lists either in comments or on their own blogs. Most left comments but a number blogged about it - most of those that did linked back to my post to give their list context (even though I didn’t require or even ask for this).

Concluding Remarks

The lists of characteristics in these posts above are things that I think are some great starting points for writing popular posts. They don’t guarantee them - and you certainly couldn’t use them all in every post that you write - but as I look over them I see that many of them have worked for me in previous posts.

It also strikes me as I read through them that while I was quite strategic about my second post - that the first one was a little more accidental (at least from my perspective). Sometimes posts have a life of their own take off for reasons you didn’t anticipate. The key in these times is to be watching out for opportunities to extend the life of these traffic events.

PS: to further build the momentum on these two posts I’m going to take some of the reader submitted lists and turn them into posts themselves (see the update on the second post).

by Steven Snell

If you haven’t taken a look at the (X)HTML/CSS templates that are available for free from a variety of sources, you may be surprised by the quality you can find. WordPress themes tend to get a lot of exposure and attention in the design community right now, but there is also a wide variety of high-quality (X)HTML/CSS templates that are free of charge.

In this post, we’ll showcase 100 free high-quality templates. Hopefully some of them will save you some time in your design and development. While they are generally free for personal or commercial use, always remember to check the license first for any restrictions or guidelines.

You may want to take a look at other collections as well (some are from Smashing Magazine, some are not):

• Free Design Templates
• Free CSS Layouts and Templates
• 100 Excellent Free WordPress Themes
• 25 Sites to download Free Web Templates

100 Free High-Quality XHTML/CSS Templates

Package | Registration is necessary.

Consultant | Download Consultant

Environmental Brand | Download Environmental Brand

Internet Jobs | Download Internet Jobs

Internet Music | Download Internet Music

Greefies | Download Greefies

Squick Design | Download Squick Design

Harvest | Download Harvest

Blackberry | Download Blackberry

Flower Shop | Download Flower Shop

Lingerie Store | Download Lingerie Store

Web Application | Download Web Application

Internet Studio | Download Internet Studio

Puzzled | Download Puzzled

Journey of Love | Must register with Registration is necessary.

Strockes | Must register with Registration is necessary.

EC Mania | Must register with Registration is necessary.

Cluster | Must register with Registration is necessary to download.

Temper | Download Temper

Jet 30 | Download Jet 30

Green Web | Download Green Web

Flash Web | Download Flash Web

AppleWeb | Download Apple Web

Trial Impact | Download Trial Impact

Aquatic | Download Aquatic

Business Events | Download Business Events

Cool Web | Download Cool Web

Genious Web | Download Genious Web

Expert Vision | Download Expert Vision

Intercraft | Download Intercraft

Clean Design | Download Clean Design

Business Design | Download Business Design

Delicious Fruit | Download Delicious Fruit

MultiFlex 3 | Download MultiFlex 3

Simple Life | Download Simple Life

Street Style | Download Street Style

Miss Understood | Download Miss Understood

Street Life | Download Street Life

skuteczni | Download skuteczni

Clarity | Download Clarity

The Old Forest | Download The Old Forest

Typography Paramount | Download Typography Paramount

Subordinate | Download Subordinate

Nature’s Charm II | Download Nature’s Charm II

Zenlike | Download Zenlike

Clicker | Download Clicker

Biz Company | Download Biz Company

Attractive Business Temp | Download Attractive Business Template

Happy Template | Download Happy Template

Internet Encyclopedia | Download Internet Encyclopedia

Concept Nova | Download Concept Nova

Free CSS Full Site Template | Download Free CSS Full Site Template

Black Eyed Susan | Download Black Eyed Susan

Reference | Download Reference

Interlude | Download Interlude

Printing | Download Printing

Numerology | Download Numerology

Greeny Grass | Download Greeny Grass

Collaboration | Download Collaboration

Breakfast | Download Breakfast

News Flash | Download News Flash

Discovery | Download Discovery

Adios | Download Adios

Old Architecture | Download Old Architecture

Beauty Co. | Download Beauty Co.

Jewelry Shop | Download Jewelry Shop

Book Store | Download Book Store

Real Estate | Download Real Estate

Business Company Dark Blue | Download Business Company Dark Blue

Electronix | Download Electronix

Photo Gallery Green | Download Photo Gallery Green

Quartz Storage | Download Quartz Storage

Aero Solutions | Download Aero Solutions

Unnamed | Download Unnamed

Imagination | Download Imagination

Corporate | Download Corporate

Urban Artist | Download Urban Artist

VectorLover | Download VectorLover

Keep it Simple | Download Keep it Simple

FreshMedia | Download FreshMedia

EliteCircle | Download EliteCircle

Nature Theme | Download Nature Theme

Mint Idea | Download Mint Idea

Metplate | Download Metplate

Decent Photo Gallery | Download Decent Photo Gallery

Consulting Services | Download Consulting Services

Flare | Download Flare

Water Spill | Download Water Spill

Inverted Headline | Download Inverted Headline

Choice | Download Choice

Purple | Download Purple

Business Elegance | Download Business Elegance

Symisun | Download Symisun

Ad Agency | Download Ad Agency

GUITARhero | Download GUITARhero

Pixel Green | Download Pixel Green

Subdued | Download Subdued

The Big Leaf | Download the Big Leaf

GreenWay | Download GreenWay

BWDEC2007 | Download BWDEC2007

Other collections:

• Free Design Templates
• Free CSS Layouts and Templates
• 100 Excellent Free WordPress Themes
• 25 Sites to download Free Web Templates

About the Author

Steven Snell is a Web designer and freelance blogger who can be found on his own blogs: Vandelay Website Design and DesignM.ag. (al)

By Jean-Baptiste Jung

RSS is one of those technologies that are extremely simple yet extremely powerful. Currently, RSS is the de facto standard for blog syndication, and it is used widely in both personal and corporate settings; for example, in blogs. And because a large percentage of these blogs run on WordPress, we’ll cover in this post some (hopefully) relatively unknown but useful RSS-related tricks and hacks that will help you use RSS in a more effective way — and without unnecessary and chunky WordPress plug-ins.

Let’s take a look at 10 useful, yet rather unknown RSS-tricks for WordPress. Each section of the article presents a problem, suggests a solution and provides you with an explanation of the solution, so that you can not just solve some of your RSS-related problems but also understand what you are actually doing. Thus, you can make sure your WordPress theme remains under your control and is not bloated with some obscure source code.

1. Control When Your Posts are Available via RSS

The problem. Have you ever published an article and then immediately noticed an error? Sure, you can edit it, but there’s another problem: the article has already been published in your RSS feed. To avoid this kind of problem, use this recipe to create a delay between the publication of a post and its availability in your RSS feed.

The solution. To apply this hack, simply paste the following code into your theme’s function.php file. If your theme doesn’t have this file, just create it.

function publish_later_on_feed($where) {
	global $wpdb;

	if ( is_feed() ) {
		// timestamp in WP-format
		$now = gmdate('Y-m-d H:i:s');

		// value for wait; + device
		$wait = '5'; // integer

		// http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/date-and-time-functions.html#function_timestampdiff
		$device = 'MINUTE'; //MINUTE, HOUR, DAY, WEEK, MONTH, YEAR

		// add SQL-sytax to default $where
		$where .= " AND TIMESTAMPDIFF($device, $wpdb->posts.post_date_gmt, '$now') > $wait ";
	}
	return $where;
}

add_filter('posts_where', 'publish_later_on_feed');

Code explanation. The above code will add a 5-minute delay to the time between when your post is published on your blog and when it appears in your RSS feed. To change the length of the delay, change the value of the $wait variable on line 9.

Sources

• Publish your feed later

2. Redirecting WordPress Feeds to FeedBurner Feeds

The problem. Beginner bloggers usually start to use FeedBurner only after they have seen it used on many other blogs and realize how useful and cool this tool is. They sign up and start to use it, but their early readers are already subscribed to their default WordPress feed.

Another problem: do you often change your theme? If so, you must be bored having to edit each call to bloginfo(’rss2_url’) and replace it with your FeedBurner feed’s URL.

The solution. The solution to both problems described above is simple: use server redirections.

1. Create a backup of your .htaccess file, located in the root of your Web server.
2. Edit the .htaccess file and add the following code. Don’t forget to modify the feed’s URL with your own feed’s URL.

   # temp redirect wordpress content feeds to feedburner
   <IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
    RewriteEngine on
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} !FeedBurner    [NC]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} !FeedValidator [NC]
    RewriteRule ^feed/?([_0-9a-z-]+)?/?$ http://feeds.feedburner.com/wprecipes [R=302,NC,L]
   </IfModule>

3. Save the file. You’re done!

Code explanation. Each time someone clicks on a link to http://www.yourblog.com/feed, he or she will be redirected to http://feeds.feedburner.com/yourblog. This way, you will have never lost an RSS subscriber, and even if you change your theme twice a day, you’ll never have to manually edit your RSS feed links again.

Sources

• Redirect WordPress feeds to FeedBurner via htaccess (Redux)
• How to: redirect WordPress RSS feeds to FeedBurner with .htaccess

3. Insert Ads (or Anything Else) in Your RSS Feed

The problem. Monetizing RSS feeds is currently becoming a common practice, and many blog owners do it to maximize their income. FeedBurner can insert AdSense ads into your feed items, but you need at least 500 subscribers to qualify, and you can’t use any ads other than the AdSense ads provided by FeedBurner.

The solution. It is possible, though, to insert other kinds of ads into your RSS feed. You can, for example, use a link to a free WordPress theme only for your RSS subscribers.

Follow these simple steps to perform this hack:

1. Edit the functions.php file of your theme. If your theme doesn’t have a functions.php file, simply create one.
2. Paste the following code into your functions.php file:

   <?php
   function insertAds($content) {
       $content = $content.'<hr /><a href="http://www.wprecipes.com">Have you visited WpRecipes today?</a><hr />';
       return $content;
   }
   add_filter('the_excerpt_rss', 'insertAds');
   add_filter('the_content_rss', 'insertAds');
   ?>

3. Save the file. You’re now displaying your ads in your RSS feed!

Code explanation. I have seen many similar hacks on the Web, but all of them require you to edit WordPress core files to achieve the same result. Of course, editing WordPress core files is a very bad idea because then you would have to re-edit the files each time you upgrade your blog. Instead, this hack uses the add_filter() WordPress function to insert content into your RSS feed without editing any core files.

Sources

• How to: insert ads in your RSS feed
• WordPress, ajouter du contenu dans son flux RSS !

4. Format Your Images for Feed Readers

The problem. You took a lot of time to write and format your post and add beautiful screenshots. It looks so good on your blog. Sadly, when the post is displayed in Google Reader or any other RSS reader, it doesn’t look so great.

The solution. This is due to the fact that most feed readers display images inline with text:

To avoid this problem, add a CSS class to display the image as a block. WordPress provides the built-in class “center“:

<img src="http://78.46.108.98/images/wordpress-rss-hacks/myimage.jpg" alt="This is my image" class="center"/>

Sources

• How to format images for feed readers

5. Provide Your Readers with a Feed for Each Post

The problem. When a post has lots and lots of comments, it can be hard for readers to follow the conversation. Most WordPress users don’t know this, but our favorite blogging engine has a built-in function for providing an RSS feed for the comments in each post.

The solution. Well, this recipe isn’t really a hack or anything: to provide an RSS feed for the comments in a particular post, just call the comment_rss_link() function:

<?php comments_rss_link('&raquo; Comments RSS Feed'); ?>

Sources

• WordPress how to: provide an RSS feed for the comments in each post

6. Exclude Categories from Your RSS Feed

The problem. Do you use one of your blog categories to let readers know about your website’s news, or does your blog feature a category that has nothing to do with the rest of your content? If so, it is generally not a good idea to include it in your RSS feed.

The solution. Here’s how to get rid of one of the categories in your RSS feed:

1. First, get the numeric ID of the category you want to exclude. If you don’t know how to get the ID of a particular category, you can learn how here.
2. Once you have the ID of the category you want to exclude from your RSS feed, edit the functions.php file in your theme. Create the file if it doesn’t exist.
3. Paste the following code in it:

   function myFilter($query) {
       if ($query->is_feed) {
           $query->set('cat','-5'); //Don't forget to change the category ID =^o^=
       }
   return $query;
   }
   
   add_filter('pre_get_posts','myFilter');

4. Save the file, and you’re done!

Code explanation. This hack works exactly the same way as the previous one: create a custom function to exclude the category that you don’t want to appear in your RSS feed, and then use the super-useful add_filter() function to apply it to the pre_get_posts() WordPress core function.

Sources

• Excluding posts from your WordPress feed
• How to: exclude categories from your RSS feed

7. Display Any RSS Feed on Your WordPress Blog

The problem. Do you have more than one blog, or do you manage a forum? If so, you may want to be able to display any RSS feed on your WordPress blog.

The solution. Many plug-ins can do the job, but they’re not necessary at all. WordPress has a built-in RSS reader that is used, for example, to display news on your dashboard. All you have to do is use it in your theme.

1. Paste the following code anywhere in your theme (personally, I’d put it in the sidebar, the footer or, even better, the page template):

   <?php include_once(ABSPATH.WPINC.'/rss.php');
   wp_rss('http://feeds.feedburner.com/wprecipes', 3); ?>

2. Save it and you’re done. It’s as easy as that!

Code explanation. The first thing we have done is include the rss.php file from WordPress core. This file allows us to use the wp_rss() function, which takes two parameters: the first is the RSS feed’s URL, and the second is the number of RSS entries to be displayed.

Sources

• How to: Display any RSS feed on your WordPress blog

8. Use Category-Specific RSS Feeds

The problem. Many blogs talk about a lot of different topics: design, programming, blogging tips, etc. Have you ever come across a blog in which you have enjoyed only one category of posts? If so, you should definitely consider offering one feed per category to your own readers.

The solution. Let’s say you’d like to be able to subscribe only to TheGridSystem’s tools section. The category URL is:

http://www.thegridsystem.org/categories/tools/

To get an RSS feed for this category, you simply have to add /feed to the end of the URL:

http://www.thegridsystem.org/categories/tools/feed

Pretty easy, isn’t it? But pretty useful, too, in my opinion.

9. List RSS Feeds by Category

The problem. If you like the previous hack, you will probably also want to be able to display the names of all your category feeds in a list to your readers.

The solution.

1. Edit any of your theme files, where you want to list your categories and their accompanying feeds.
2. Paste the following code:

   <?php wp_list_categories('feed_image=http://www.myblog.com/image.gif&feed=XML Feed&optioncount=1&children=0'); ?>

3. Save the file. You categories will now be displayed, along with their RSS feeds!

Code explanation. This hack uses only the good old wp_list_categories() function, with two parameters. The first is feed_image, which allows us to specify the URL to be displayed as a feed image. The second parameter is feed, which is used to specify the feed format.

10. Get Rid of RSS Feeds the Clean Way

The problem. Let’s say you’re using WordPress as a CMS to manage your online portfolio or your company’s website. In such cases, the RSS feed isn’t that useful, and some people would probably want to remove it.

The solution. I have seen many “hacks” on the Web where people say you just have to remove the include on the wp-settings.php core file. I don’t think you should ever edit a core file. Instead, the following hack will do the job. Simply paste this code in the functions.php file of your theme:

function fb_disable_feed() {
	wp_die( __('No feed available,please visit our <a href="'. get_bloginfo('url') .'">homepage</a>!') );
}

add_action('do_feed', 'fb_disable_feed', 1);
add_action('do_feed_rdf', 'fb_disable_feed', 1);
add_action('do_feed_rss', 'fb_disable_feed', 1);
add_action('do_feed_rss2', 'fb_disable_feed', 1);
add_action('do_feed_atom', 'fb_disable_feed', 1);

Sources

• Disable WordPress feed

About the author

This guest post was written by Jean-Baptiste Jung, a 26-year-old blogger from Belgium, who blogs about WordPress at WpRecipes and about everything related to blogging and programming at Cats Who Code. You can stay in touch with Jean by following him on Twitter. (al)

Filed under: Driving, RPGs

Infogrames President Phil Harrison announced today at a publisher event that the company plans to revisit Baldur’s Gate, Dungeons & Dragons, Neverwinter Nights and Test Drive Unlimited — but not until after 2009 (via Eurogamer). Three of those franchises have had recent releases (NWN2: Storm of the Zehir last month, TDU and D&D Tactics in February 2007).

As for Baldur’s Gate, a follow-up to BG2: Throne of Bhaal has been rumored since 2001 from now-defunct Black Isle Studios. It was reportedly mentioned again by a PC Gamer UK editor as recently as January 2008.

Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, Fighting

Tekken 6, the latest in Namco Bandai’s seminal fighting series, will be delivering a body blow to consoles next fall. Oh wait, you say, we already knew that. True, Microsoft confirmed last October that in Fall 2009 Feng Wei, Devil Jin and the rest would strike the Xbox 360 across the face. In addition, CVG reports that the game will get an equal bout on the PlayStation 3 at the same time.

The announcement was made during a recent event put on by Atari, which will publish the title in Europe on both platforms, adding yet another marquee feather in the once-struggling company’s hat. Next year is shaping up to be a memorable one for fighting game fans with Street Fighter IV and Tekken 6 going toe-to-toe. So tell us, where do you place your bets?

Tekken 6 punching PS3, Xbox 360 in Fall ‘09 originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 03 Dec 2008 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

As anyone who tried to play Magic Carpet in its ludicrous/innovative Magic Eye mode will tell you, niche 3D display technology can be more trouble than its worth.

BlitzTech, however, are pretty confident that their new 3D Engine - unveiled today at the 3D Entertainment Summit in Los Angeles - will definitely be a winner, despite requiring displays that follow the 3DTV standard. BlitzTech claim the engine will allow current-gen consoles to display IMAX-quality 3D imagery.

“Our BlitzTech technology will prove beyond all doubt that we are already doing what some industry experts have said is impossible on today’s game consoles,” said Blitz CEO Andrew Oliver, in a manner not unlike a soliloquising supervillain, “Our highly tuned engine is capable of producing real-time interactive graphics that are close to offline rendered CG movie quality.”

Also, his army of robot water voles is invincible and cannot be stopped.

What came out between now and the last time we checked the PC charts? Oh yeah. Lich King. If ever there was a week we’d have loved to have seen actual, hard sales figures, November 16-22 would be it.

If only so we could see the looks on the other game’s faces.

NPD Sales Charts November 16-22 [via Shacknews]

1. World Of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King
2. Left 4 Dead
3. Call Of Duty: World At War
4. The Sims 2 Mansion & Garden Stuff
5. EverQuest II: The Shadow Odyssey
6. Spore
7. Fallout 3
8. The Sims 2 Double Deluxe
9. World Of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Collectors Ed
10. The Sims 2 Apartment Life

Steam Charts As Of December 2

1. Left 4 Dead
2. Call of Duty: World at War
3. Fallout 3
4. Counter-Strike Source
5. Football Manager 2009
6. Orange Box
7. Counter-Strike
8. Titan Quest Gold
9. Team Fortress 2
10. Far Cry 2

Direct2Drive Charts As Of December 2

1. Grand Theft Auto IV
2. Call of Duty: World at War
3. Fallout 3
4. Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir
5. Red Alert 3
6. Mass Effect
7. Final Fantasy XI Vanadiel Collection
8. World in Conflict
9. Civilization IV
10. Sims 2 Double Deluxe

To acknowledge hit PlayStation platform games, Sony has the “PlayStation Awards.” These are given to PlayStation titles that are “hits” in Japan. There are two categories: Gold Prize and Double Platinum Prize.

Gold Prize Awards (which were ¥500,000, or US$5,362, from Sony to the publisher) were given to games that shipped between 500,000 and a million copies. Double Platinum Awards (which were ¥2,000,000, or 21,449, from Sony to the publisher) were given to games that shipped between 2 million and 3 million copies. No titles were award the Platinum Award — for games that ship between one and two million copies.

This year’s Gold Prize winners are:
Metal Gear Solid 4 PS3
Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- PSP
Phantasy Star Portable PSP
Winning Eleven 2008 PS2
Super Robot Taisen Z PS2

This year’s sole Double Platinum Winner is:
Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G PSP

Congrats to all!

…But were afraid to ask. This is the title of this very interesting 34-slide presentation on Google prepared by FaberNovel, a french consulting firm. It is hard to realize the real nature of this just 10 years old giant given the number of services it has continuously released, updated (and sometimes shut down) or acquired.

This presentation gives a great overview of the company’s overall strategy and the reasons it has become what it is today.

It addresses some key questions about the company’s future, presented in the slide above: how Google won’t be affected by the crisis (not so sure about that if you consider their own stock update: the WSJ has a good article about the upcoming downturn), its relation with Microsoft and its advantages on Facebook, its footprint in the infrastructure and mobile world…

There is an interesting slide about how Google buys traffic through key partnership deals with software or hardware companies (slide 14) Many tend to think Google has free traffic or zero marketing costs which is a wrong assumption since it affects directly its P&L

If at first you don’t succeed. Send free stuff to video game journalists and try again.

Just last summer Microsoft tried to jump start PC gaming with an ad-heavy, pr-pushed launch of Games for Windows Live. The PC-clone of the popular Xbox 360 online service was meant to bring the some respect, popularity and profitability that console games have been seeing of late.

But the thing is, it didn’t really take.

First you had the problems with telling PC gamers they needed to pay for something they’ve always gotten for free. So Microsoft did away with that, then you had competing services that were, frankly, about a gajillionbillion times better. (cough)Steam(cough). So now, not daunted by facts, or figures, or reality, Microsoft is relaunching Games For Windows Live with another PR push, this one containing a free Sidewinder keyboard, mouse, a mouse pad, headphones and copies of James Bond Quantum of Solace and Fallout 3.

Why don’t they just look into handing Valve the keys to the dwindling PC kingdom and get on with making some kick ass software, like Gears of War 3?

More and more blogs seem to be transitioning to multi-author set ups and as they do I’ve been asked increasingly for information on how to manage these types of blogs.

If you have a multi-author WordPress blog then you’ll want to check out a great post at Hongkiat - 35 Tips Tricks To Manage and Handle Multi-Author Blogs.

The post is packed full of useful tools and plugins that will help make the task of managing more than one author on a blog a lot easier - enjoy.

WordPress 2.7 is already released in beta and will go live shortly for all. I was lucky enough to get a demo of it at BlogWorldExpo a couple of months back and I have to say that I’m quite excited by what I saw. It is very different to look at and will take some getting used to but having had the changes explained to me I think there’s a lot to like about WordPress 2.7 (particularly some of the configurable options of layout in the back end, comment moderation and plugin management).

If you’re going to be upgrading and want a little tour of the new features check out Aaron Brazell’s great post 10 Things You Need to Know about WordPress 2.7 which will run you through some of the new features, design and usability.

By Andrew Gibson and Smashing Magazine Editorial

As winter approaches in the northern hemisphere and the nights draw in, our thoughts turn to the beauty of ice and snow. Winter photography, especially in the colder parts of the world, is a specialized niche. Photographers have to take care of their cameras and guard against frostbite and hypothermia. They often venture into remote wilderness searching for the perfect winter landscape. Their reward is stunning imagery.

As a tribute to these hardy men and women, we bring you 50 beautiful winter wonderland photos. We included both colorful photos (especially the colors of sunrise and sunset bring out the beauty of the winter landscape) and black-and-white photos (they bring out the contrast in tones between snow and the landscape). We’ve linked the photographers’ names to their portfolios or websites, so that you can explore their work. We’ve also listed some informative articles about cold-weather photography at the bottom of the post.

You may also want to take a look at the following related posts:

• 35 Beautiful Examples of Rain Photography
• 60 Beautiful Examples Of Night Photography
• 50 Stunning Underwater Photos
• 25 Beautiful Macro Photography Shots

50 Beautiful Winter Wonderland Photos

Peter Bowers

Sesjusz

gnato

Leif Westling

Joe Nicora

Janina Kulcsar

Lao.coon

The Children

anders r. naesset

Guido

*joffo1

Unknown

Sandra Rugina

Paivi Valkonen

Art by Bia

Av Clara Lidström

~Latimeria

Marc Adamus

anders r. naesset

Marc Adamus

RamonaG

Nate Zeman

Hristina Topalska

Unknown

Andreas Manessinger

Marc Shandro

Shir Goldberg

Floyd K. Hopper

Jacek Stefan

Tristan Shu

Eleanor Rigby

*gjoa

Stephen Sellman

Gary Minish

Saul Santos Diaz

Michael Anderson

Zeb Andrews

Adrienn Józan

Unknown

Dave Steers

Unknown

~voorikvergeet

aniabeta

kkart

doberman4ik

Herman Cater

Peter Unterweger

Renata Lehmann

Avishek Anand

Last Click

Michael Anderson

Resources

• 10 Amazing HDR Photos Of Winter
• Winter Landscapes
• ePHOTOzine - Severe cold-weather photography
  Interview with cold-weather photographer Jack Jackson.
• Surviving cold-weather photography
  Learn how to look after your camera gear.
• Tips for cold-weather photography
• How to use your camera in cold weather
• Ice safety

Related Posts

You may also want to take a look at the following related posts:

• 35 Beautiful Examples of Rain Photography
• 60 Beautiful Examples Of Night Photography
• 50 Stunning Underwater Photos
• 25 Beautiful Macro Photography Shots

Filed under: Nintendo DS, RPGs, Metareviews

Between traveling and “quality family time,” many Americans are being torn away from their beloved consoles due to the Thanksgiving holiday. So, before hitting the road, it might be worth picking up the well-reviewed DS remake of Chrono Trigger, one of the best RPGs of the 16-bit era (or ever, according to what company you keep). Although the reviews are clearly written from the standpoint of a 20- or 30-something with memories of playing the original on the SNES or PlayStation, they seem to agree that the game has held up over time.

• GamesRadar (100/100) “If you’ve never played Chrono Trigger, you owe it to yourself to finally give this gaming touchstone a whirl. And if you have played it before, you can play it again, for no other reason than to see how new it all still feels. We would normally hesitate to give any rerelease such a high score, but this is the ultimate edition of a true classic.”
• 1UP (95/100): “For fans, the reason to pick up Chrono Trigger is simply because it’s available, intact, and enhanced. For newcomers, it’s because the game has easily withstood the test of time.”
• Game Informer (95/100): “It’s a true classic, and playing it should be a government-mandated rite of passage for any role-playing fan.”
• IGN (88/100): “If you’ve never played Chrono Trigger before, buy this game. If you’re a die-hard fan and want to support one of the greatest games of all time, buy this game. If you’re having trouble validating a $40 purchase for what is ultimately the same game, it’s the wrong choice for you, and your cash is better spent elsewhere.”
• GameSpot (85/100): “Chrono Trigger is a fantastic synthesis of excellent storytelling, game design, music, and gameplay that has withstood the test of time and should be considered required playing for any fan of role-playing games. Though its extra content is hit or miss and it’s essentially a direct port of a game released 13 years ago, the DS version is easily the definitive edition of this masterpiece,”

3D Typographic design is now more popular and we can notice a surge for 3D Type work on portfolio sites, DzineBlog has collected 45 Beautiful 3D Typography Deisgns For Inspiration, these designs are really inspiring, and I love them a lot.

Source: 45 Beautiful 3D Typography Designs For Inspiration

Filed under: Internet, Security, Web services, Lists

If you’re looking for a little anonymity and security when signing up for download links or invite codes, a disposable email service is a good option. Instead of providing one of your working email addresses, just grab a meaningless temporary one from any of these sites and keep your identity hidden.

These five sites all provide RSS feeds for your address, which is handy. No need to return to the site after registration, just subcribe with your favorite newsreader.

MailCatch - Choose your own address or roll the dice. MailCatch also provides an iGoogle gadget and creates a subdomain (using your address) for quick access to your web inbox. MailCatch also provides temporary forwards, and they’ve got an FAQ and forums.

MyTrashMail - Offers password protected temporary accounts in addition to the traditional public variety. Note that the Firefox “toolbar” they offer requires you have the Google toolbar installed first. FAQ and about links are prominently displayed.

Continue reading 5 disposable email services with RSS support

Update on the Kindle 2: It was scheduled to be released in October in time for this holiday season, but Bezos himself reportedly pulled the plug for last minute changes to the software. Our sources now say it’s tentatively scheduled to go on sale in “early next quarter.”

The images that surfaced of the new Kindle in October are real - it’s a longer device but not as thick as the original Kindle, and fixes some of the button issues that plague users (like accidental page turns). A larger-screen student version is still scheduled for the first half of 2009.

Amazon is slow to turn new versions of the Kindle, which isn’t surprising given that this is their first foray into actual devices. I still think they’d be better off licensing the platform and letting the factories in China iterate more often on the Kindle - from what we hear a bunch of new ebook products are about to hit the market, and some of them may be real competition to Amazon.

Filed under: Software Update, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch

As you’ve probably heard by now, Apple released the much awaited 2.2 firmware update for both the iPhone and iPod touch. This new firmware brings several impressive new features.

Downloading and Installing the new Firmware
First, you’ll need to get the new version of iTunes that was released last night. Next, launch iTunes, and connect your iPhone or iPod touch. Click on your device and select the “Summary” tab and then click “Update.” The update will then take a few minutes to download and install.

Maps
If you’ve ever used the maps application before, then you know how useful it can be. Apple has added cool new features with this update, including Google’s Street View service. Street View provides a full 360º view of some streets in the US (this isn’t available for every street). To try it out, enter an address in the search field. When it’s found, click the head icon in the bubble that appears above the pinpoint. The Maps application has a very cool transition from the 2D map to street view.

Gallery: Maps.app in iPhone 2.2

In addition to Street View, Maps also includes public transit and walking directions. When you drop a pin to remember a location, Maps can tell you which address it is near. When you drop new pins, you will also have the option to add the address as a contact (a very nice touch, literally). When you view details for a location, or pin, you can now share this location via email. When you click “Share Location,” a new email will be generated with a maps.google.com link.

Read on to learn about Safari, iTunes Store, and additional notes.

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, Apple, Developer, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch

Marco over on the Instapaper blog (which, of course, is the blog of the app Instapaper), posted a really interesting commentary recently on a subject we’ve been following since the beginning: App Store pricing. As we’ve said before, it’s a strange thing — developers want higher prices so that they can put more effort into making iPhone apps better. But customers have a perception already that anything above $5 in the App Store just isn’t worth it.

So Marco offers his take: he’s been selling an app in the store for $9.99, and it’s going just fine. He has tips for how developers can sell their own apps for a higher price, and he settles on some good compromises for everybody: deliver a real value with your app (as economists know, an app is worth what people are wiling to pay for it, so if you produce an app that is worth $10, people will happily spend that much). Respect yourself as a developer, and don’t cower to cheapskates (some people won’t be happy with anything, even when it’s free). And perhaps most importantly: offer a free version.

That last one may be the key — our own Michael Rose was sold on Instapaper only when he tried it out. More and more, I’m thinking that it was a major mistake on Apple’s part not to allow developers to easily offer demos and upgrades in the same app — people are willing to spend money on an app that’s worth it, but not if they aren’t sure, and trying it goes a long way to making sure. I’m not in favor of app store developers banding together to raise prices, but Marco is right: if you make an app that’s worth $10 and put it on the App Store for $9.99 (with an easy way to demo it out), people will come and buy it.

Filed under: Apple Corporate, Apple, Macbook Pro, MacBook

Apple aired a new television ad here in the US earlier tonight. It touts the MacBook’s low power consumption, recyclable enclosure and lack of some of the toxins present in other computers.

Activist group Greenpeace has been pressuring Apple to adopt more environmentally-friendly production methods and materials over the last couple of years, and last month responded favorably to Apple’s efforts to go green.

Additionally, Apple has posted a page to their website describing not only their efforts toward environmental responsibility with the MacBook, but their overall efforts as a company. At the risk of sounding like a tree-hugging hippie, let me say, well done Apple!

Filed under: Retail, Apple, Holidays

Today, visitors to Apple’s online store were greeted with an interesting teaser. “Lots of gifts, 1 day not to miss,” Apple boasts on their page regarding the after-Thanksgiving sale. According to the details Apple posted, they will not be revealing their deals until Black Friday, so it looks like we’ll have to wait just a little longer. Apple posted the following information regarding the sale:

Come back to the Apple Online Store the day after Thanksgiving for a special one-day-only holiday shopping event. You’ll find dozens of great iPod, iPhone, and Mac gift ideas.

Mark your calendars. And start your research now by browsing the Apple Online Store to find iPod, iPhone, and Mac gifts for everyone on your list.

So, if you’re looking to buy an Apple product, it would probably be wise to wait.

Filed under: Fun, Games, Windows, Commercial, Holiday Gift Guide

If you’re a gamer, chances are good you’ve bought something from Steam - Valve’s “Nexus of PC Gaming.” If not, it’s a great place to purchase some inexpensive and extremely fun games. Steam, of course, offers a gift purchase option, making it an ideal spot to find a nice, cheap gift for that special someone on your list.

Steam has tons of casual, fun games in its library - here’s my list of five titles under $20 that are sure to provide some maddeningly addictive fun. Hardware requirements for these are fairly light, so they should run on just about anyone’s desktop or laptop (provided they’re running Windows).

Continue reading 5 Fun, casual Steam games you can give for under $20

Lunascape is a new web browser that handles all three major web rendering engines — Firefox’s Gecko, Internet Explorer’s Trident and WebKit (which is used by Safari and Chrome). Lunascape Corp., a Tokyo-based web software company, offers the browser as a free download. Lunascape 5 Alpha is Windows-only and the first English version of the browser (a Japanese version dates back to 2001).

Lunascape 5 is an interesting alternative for people (like me) who primarily use Firefox but keep Internet Explorer as a second browser when they encounter rendering problems (i. e. on some of the few IE-only and IE-optimized web pages out there).

This is how Lunascape works: Users can toggle between rendering engines by either right-clicking tabs or by clicking on the engine switcher button on the bottom left of the screen. If you have figured out which engine works best for a page, Lunascape lets you force the page to use that engine for future visits via a pull down menu (Lunascape CEO Hidekazu Kondo calls this “semi-automatic” engine switching).