The new version of eBay Motors Mobile App just added two new great features for automobile enthusiasts: Taking a picture of a vehicle to instantly search for it on eBay, and streaming live, exclusive content.

The previous version of eBay Motors iPhone app already enables users to shop for vehicles and the parts that go with them anytime, anywhere on its auction site – the update enables auto fans to further simplify their shopping experience, make sharing with their friends more seamless, and access entertaining and informative original content, right from their smartphones.

Car enthusiasts can watch live broadcasts exclusive to eBay Motors from auto events and races directly from their iPhone or iPod Touch.

The coolest feature is the new search with photo. When you see a car a car you like on the street, use Vehicle Finder to take a picture of the car and find it on eBay – no typing required. And of course this gives you an idea about the pricing as well.

The app is available in iTunes App store.

As anticipated, Google has been working on its Chrome browser Android edition and today the search giant just released the Beta version for Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0 users.

Google carries forward the simplicity in user interface and the browsing speed that many users enjoy on desktop side

With Chrome mobile, Google insists that you can scroll through web pages as quickly as you can flick your finger. When searching, your top search results are loaded in the background as you type so pages appear instantly. And of course, both search and navigation can all be done quickly from the Chromeomnibox.

Tabs are unlimited and come with some cool animation using the device built-in accelerometer. Links are optimized with smaller screen by enlarging automatically and the bookmarks, Web pages opened are sync’ed with your desktop. The new browser does not support Flash video, since Adobe has stopped the development on its mobile Flash player.  

If you are ICS users, you can download Chrome Beta HERE. 

Corning, the glass manufacturer specialized in flexible, touch-sensitive, glass materials has just released the sequel its popular video “A Day Made of Glass.”  The video is to project the vision of future technologies, using glass , will help shape our everyday lives.

From Corning: “Set on the same day, “A Day Made of Glass 2” follows the same futuristic family as they journey through day, but instead focuses on the father and two daughters. As the characters work, learn, and play, the applications for specialty glass extend into the classroom, hospital, and home of the near future. Glass is the essential material enabling this new world. The displays and touch surfaces of the future will require materials that are tough, yet thin and lightweight; that can enable complex electronic circuits and nano functionality; that can scale for very large applications, and that also have a cool, touch-friendly aesthetic.”

Watch this inspiring video and pray that we will live it sometime our lifetime.

The free video discovery app (Android & iOS) just got a new revamped version. Remixation, the developer of the popular video app, has released Showyou 3.0 with more selections added along with video filtered by your friends from Facebook & Twitter, The additional features only available on iOS for now.

At  first glance, version 3.0 of the app shows a grid with videos similar to its previous release, Videos displayed which different sizes relevant by popularity. A quick swipe toward the right reveals a navigation pane to further discover videos by category, Social Network, Twitter hash tags, etc,…Once in the main grid, you will also notice the top bar showing the category you are watching, taping on the bar to conveniently switch to other categories. 

User can select and watch video right on the main screen. Many sharing options are also available while watching the video you have selected.

The video search also got huge improvements to tap in to 30 million video available in Showyou database.

Gadgets such as smart phones, laptops and tablets have made it easy to communicate on the go and to work wherever we are in the world. However, in blurring the boundaries between work and play, these devices often reduce productivity at work as well as disrupting our relaxation time. The diminishing distinction between professional and social communication can lead to stress and depression as well as impacting negatively on the quality of our work. Let’s take a look at ways to get the best from our favorite gadgets, while reducing the distraction they cause in our everyday life.

Mobile Phones
Mobile phones and smart phones are lifelines for many people. Many well-known mobile-phone companies have teamed up with high speed internet providers to offer us web and phone packages at prices too good to resist. With always-on web access, smart phones make it almost impossible to escape the lure of the internet. The ability to make important calls and emails wherever you are cuts down on time wasted in the office. However, these devices also have made us more available than ever before, seriously reducing our personal free time. It is hard to relax when you are always contactable by phone, text and email, not to mention through social-networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook and MySpace.
To avoid being distracted by your mobile phone, turn it off if you are busy doing other things. If you can’t bear to switch it off completely, put it on silent mode so that you are safe in the knowledge that you can return the call later. You’ll be surprised how much more relaxed you’ll feel if you take time away from your mobile phone.

Computers
The internet is, without a doubt, one of the greatest technological achievements of the last century. Affordable ADSL packages, offered by all high speed internet providers, mean that the world is at our fingertips, wherever we are. From streaming TV shows and movies to video-conferencing facilities, the internet has revolutionised our personal and professional lives. However, the internet can also be a major distraction, affecting our concentration and impacting upon productivity. In order to combat internet-based procrastination, disable your modem if you are working on a presentation or block sites that you know will tempt you away from your work.
Overuse of computers can have negative effects on our interpersonal relationships, as face-to-face communication is replaced by email and social networking. However, simple changes in your use of gadgets can have great benefits on your physical and emotional well-being. Try to cut down on your use of technology to get in touch with those who live close by. Why not pop round to visit your friend instead of writing on her wall, or meet your partner for lunch instead of emailing him or her over a sandwich at your desk? Real-life human interaction is so much more satisfying than quick-fire technological exchanges.

Top Tips
There are plenty of things you can do to stop technology distracting you from work and interrupting your relaxation time. Coming up with a simple set of rules regarding the use of electronic equipment in the home can be helpful if you find gadgets particularly distracting. Computers, televisions and mobile phones should be banned from the bedroom, as they can disturb sleep and increase stress levels. Turning off mobile phones and avoiding checking emails outside of working hours will help you rediscover your work-life balance. Finally, try to limit your use of gadgets to one at a time to increase productivity and raise concentration levels.

About the Author:
Shannen D. is a Freelance and Staff writer who writes informative & creative articles on Technology for various technology company. Her expertise are in writing articles related to internet providers, internet service providers in my area related articles, Mobile Technology etc.

Yahoo just launched IntoNow service, an iOS and Android app that is capable of recognizing the TV show you’re watching through an audio fingerprint that it matches to its database. The app then provides related additional information about the show on your tablet screen and allows frictionless sharing to your social networks.

Yahoo is responding to an increasingly habit of viewers using a second screen to watch TV show to make TV watching a more social experience. The app is the result of Yahoo’s acquisition of  IntoNow company earlier this year for an amount of $20 million reportedly.

To date, the solution is considered the most innovative idea from the ailing Internet company to recapture its users, by tapping in to mainstream medias and the vast audience of Facebook, Twitter alike instead of creating its own.

IntoNow also offers its social network if you don’t belong to the Twitter or Facebook, should you want to participate to real-time discussion with other viewers.

Adam Cahan, the founder of IntoNow and now a vice president at Yahoo, explains how it works. If you’re watching a game, for example, the app can serve up stats for the particular teams who are playing, or even for individual players, he says. If you’re watching the news, the app will dig into the Yahoo network’s vast database of content–both original Yahoo content as well as that from its many partners–and serve up related stories to the stories being broadcast. If you’re watching a scripted show, the app can surface the most relevant tweets, including, for example, those from the show’s actors.

"What we’re looking at is: How do you take it to the next level?" Cahan says. "We have all of these devices. They have amazing capabilities and entirely new set of inputs (for us, it’s about audio inputs). So how do we use that signal to bring you more and more relevant experiences that are relevant to the context of what you’re doing."

[Via FastCompany]

The flatscreen TV low-cost champion Vizio is Introducing CinemaWide HDTV, the company flagship 58” model called CinemaWide, equipped a display that supports 21:9 image ratio, which is closed to the ration found in your movie theater.

Most widescreen TV broadcasting today are based on the standard 16:9 high-definition resolution of 1,920 x 1,080 pixels, the CinemaWide TV will feature 21:9  high-definition at 2,560 x 1,080 pixel resolution. Vizio new device is capable of up-scaling your current broadcast filling the full width or optionally, viewer can   use the extra screen real-estate with the companion VIA apps, such as Facebook and Twitter, etc.. Yes, the set is Internet-connected.

The CinemaWide is 3-D capable, the set will be available starting March 2012 at a price of $3,499. Vizio will throw in four pairs of passive glasses thrown in at no added cost.

Internet free services such Google or Facebook use their consumers as marketing product is nothing new, whether with personal information mining or eyeball for advertisement targeting. In the other hand, product-based companies such Microsoft, Adobe, etc. base their business model on product sales. Both models are obviously very different in their go-to-market, but the free service in exchange of privacy seems to spread much quicker among consumers.   

Faced with the popularity adoption of Google Gmail worldwide, Microsoft has started using one of its competitor viral weapon, YouTube to convey its marketing campaign about email privacy. The campaign is crafted in timely fashion with Google’s recent privacy change announcement.    The message just tries to contrast Google Gmail, Docs to Microsoft 365, a Redmond’s Cloud based productivity suite.

The video shows a "GMailman" sneaks through people emails to find keywords and create personalized and "unsolicited" ads.

The popular VoIP (Voice over IP) service Skype just released an update to Skype for Windows (version 5.8) OS. The most notable features are the full HD video calling support and Facebook video chat and push-to-talk that you can find more explanation below:

Feature highlights:

• Full HD video-calling
• Support for Facebook audio and video-calling (beta)
• Group screen sharing
• Hide offline Facebook contacts
• Push to Talk
• Skype updater service
• Bing Toolbar integration

Full HD video-calling
Now you can make crystal clear video-calls with your loved ones or business contacts by utilizing the latest technology for Skype and Logitech, which is incorporated into the latest update to Skype for Windows and the Logitech C920 webcam.
With Logitech c920 the video encoding is done inside the camera which enables full HD or HD video quality with older computers. To enjoy full HD quality at its best, you will need at least a 2 Mbps upload/download speed.

Group screen share
Group screen sharing allows users to share their entire screen or a single application window with other participants on a conference call while continuing to stream video. To start a group screen share, choose the + menu during a call and select "share my screen." Group screen sharing is available with Skype Premium, which also includes Group video calling and live chat customer support.

Video calling to Facebook users
Now you can make video calls with all of your friends on Facebook, even if they aren’t Skype users. To start a video call with a Facebook friend, select the person in your list and click "video call."

Push to Talk
We have introduced a "Push to Talk" feature in Skype. Many people who are playing multiplayer games have requested this feature, which allows users to set a hotkey to toggle microphone muting on a Skype call. You can set the "Push to Talk" up on the hotkey’s selection under tools > options > advanced > hotkeys.

You can download this latest 5.8 version HERE!

Facebook kindly offers to its adopters of Profile Timeline a sleek app to automatically and easily create a 60 second video with photos, video, post taken from your profile. The app Timeline Movie Maker is totally free to play with here!

The video creation takes few seconds to finish with complete animation, some of which have been seen on Facebook Timeline video promotion. The app gives you possibility to change photos and music upon completion to your likings .

For this version, there is no way to save the finished product. The share option, basically only post a link to the site for others to make their own.

Panasonic has joint the WiGig alliance to create a new wireless standard that can send and receive data wirelessly at several Gigabit speed using the readily available, unlicensed 60 GHz spectrum. Bandwidth hungry HD video streaming would be a perfect candidate for the new standard.

Panasonic is showing off its new application packed in an SD card that can push HD video from a tablet to a monitor located near by. The transfer of a full DVD to another device takes 1 minute at 7Gbps. Unfortunately the distance between the sender and receiver is still limited from 1 to 3 meters. The giant Japanese electronic manufacturer is promising the commercialization of this product in some specific areas such in-car entertainment, as soon as next year. The company is also known for its on-air entertainment system equipped on commercial jetliners, but no word on whether or not WiGig is sky friendly. 

Nuance Communications, the provider of voice recognition engine for many iOS apps including Siri, has released a free iPad notes app called PaperPort Notes. A handy tool for everybody who want to carry just the iPad around to take notes.

The just provides a stack of papers that you create as you go. At anytime, you can rearrange, delete or bookmark as you go.

Once you create a new page, many options are offered using tools on the top:

The capital letter T indicates that you can drag a box to insert a photo, a frame, a sticky note and or text. This area subsequently, can be resized, moved or deleted .

You can use the pen function to jot annotation with color and pen thickness options. The two other tools are highlight and eraser, which are self-explanatory.

But since it came from Nuance, you should expect dictation capability. When In the” T” mode, after you drag a box, the keyboard pops up to reveal the Tap and Speak function that allow you to just dictate. The app will convert speech to text and insert to the box. Do not confuse with the mic icon on top that allows to attach an audio to the page.

Once done, use the left panel to re-arrange, select pages to copy to clipboard or to share as PDF.  

Motorola just made available its new Android tablets XYBOARD 10.1 and XYBOARD 8.2 available for purchase. The WiFi –only duo have a starting price at $500 and $400 respectively. The 10.1” and 8.2” tablets offer 16GB, 32GB and 64GB.   At later date, the XYBOARD will join Verizon Wireless line-up with with a 3G/4G capability and they earn the DROID brand.

Beside the screen size (10.2” vs 8.2”)  and battery sizes (7000mAh vs. 3960mAh), both tablets carry similar specs including dual core 1.2GHz processor; 1GB RAM; 5MP rear camera and 1.3MP front camera packed in 8.9mm thickness. The display features IPS technology at 1280×800 resolution; Both tablets are equipped with an integrated IR blaster, which boosts universal remote functions when combined with  Dijit app.

On the software side, strangely both tablets are using Android Honeycomb 3.2 OS instead of the latest Android Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, (Motorola promises upgradability).

Until we have a comprehensive and smart home theater navigation interface, the insightful remote controls are still the devices that we can’t live without. Components such TV, Blu-Ray, Cable box, set-top box, game consoles, receiver, etc.. have their own tiny button-filed remote control and they have to be set in specific configurations to accomplish what you want to do.

Some device makers offer universal remote control functions built-in to their remotes, but they might not support all your devices. My cable provider offers a remote control that support the TV, cable box, but it has challenges with my Blu-Ray and my receiver. Logitech offers expansive Harmony universal remote controls, but the set-up and the cost are often intimidating for casual consumers.

Recently with the proliferation of smartphone and tablet, the focus has shifted to those devices. Vizio started the revolution with their Android tablet that can is equipped with an Infrared beam that can talk to your entertainment system.

Griffin, the accessory company specialized in iOS devices released a small battery powered receiver called Beacon. Since the current dialog between the remote control and various entertainment units are carried via Infrared. Griffin’s Beacon sitting on your coffee table can take commands via Bluetooth from smartphone or tablet and emit infrared beam to your media devices. The beauty of using your smartphone or tablet is you can use app to easily configure what you need and admit it, you rarely lose your phone compared to your existing remotes and chances are, everybody in your household can have their own smartphone so no fighting needed.

The $45 Beacon pairs with your iOS device via Bluetooth and works with Dijit’s Universal Remote App to put complete control of your home entertainment center in the palm of your hand. There are no bulky cases or dongles, no wires or cables. Control your home entertainment system using the Universal Remote App on your Multi-Touch display.

Setup is quick and easy. The Dijit app uses a library of constantly updated device codes to simplify setup for your TV, set-top box, sound system, media players and more. There’s even an integrated learning feature for components not yet included in Dijit’s library.

Bluetooth pairing is simple and puts you just a few taps away from using Dijit’s intuitive Program Guide and your touchscreen-based device to change channels, volumes, input, set your DVR, and more.

Features

• Wireless universal audio/video controller for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad
• Low-profile component designed to blend unobtrusively with any decor
• Use your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad as a powerful universal remote control without dongles or cases
• Connects to your iOS device via Bluetooth and gives you control of your TV, stereo, and other home entertainment components
• For use with Dijit’s Universal Remote app, a free download from the App Store. A version for iPad is available
• The Universal Remote app uses a constantly updated device code library and integrated learning feature to make setup simple and intuitive
• No wires or power cables; runs up to two months on 4 AA batteries

Last year Facebook introduced a new format for user profile, called Timeline. The new format highlights user statuses, photos, etc.. in 2 column format, along with a photo cover on top of the page. Timeline comes with strong emphasis on chronological order of your life with ease of navigation by month or even year.. Until now, the giant social network lets users opt in to try Timeline format, but that opt-in period will be soon over. All Facebook members will be forced to use the new format. Users will receive a notification 7 days before the switch over takes place.

Since the Timeline format lets members, friends and possible public browse easily over a long period of time, if you have posts you don’t want people to see, the grace period will allow you to do some clean-up ahead.  Once switched, users can delete, change the date of old post or insert new posts to the timeline.  If you opted in Timeline, the Web site and Facebook mobile format should reflect  the new design. (Facebook iPad app will also get updated shortly).

On Tuesday, Paul McDonald, a Timeline engineering manager, said on Facebook’s blog:

“Last year we introduced timeline, a new kind of profile that lets you highlight the photos, posts e ofand life events that help you tell your story. Over the next few weeks, everyone will get timeline. When you get timeline, you’ll have 7 days to preview what’s there now. This gives you a chance to add or hide whatever you want before anyone else sees it.”

Paul points out that users can learn more about the new features "by taking the quick tour available at the top of your timeline. If you want to get timeline now, go to the Introducing Timeline page and click "Get Timeline." Or you can wait until you see an announcement at the top of your home page."

The video below explains how to use and manage your Timeline.