BETA CUBED - [B^3]

Don't Type ... Sketch Your Flickr Searches

2008-04-30T13:50:00.004-05:00

http://labs.systemone.at/retrievr/ - Usually, when you want to search for images in Flickr, you would type the word of what you want, right? Well, Retrievr is a cool Flickr search tool that lets you search for images by drawing. You can also upload an image and Retrievr will seach for photos according to the base photo you uploaded. It's pretty cool.

Via http://revision3.com/tzdaily/2008-04-30retrievr/

Facebook Chat

2008-04-23T10:32:00.002-05:00

http://www.facebook.com - So Facebook said that they will slowly be releasing and testing their new chat feature in different networks as a pre-launch beta. It seems that today, it's now in my networks.

Facebook chat allows you to start conversations with your Facebook friends that are online. In addition to that, the chat widget also diplays notificaions and lets you change your status. However, for those of you who don't want to be seen online or don't want to chat, there is an option to remain invisible.

Happy Earth Day! Why Not Go Green With Your Computer Today?

2008-04-22T10:31:00.001-05:00

via http://www.lifehacker.com - So what have you done today to save the environment? You don't have to get rid of your SUV right away, or start hammering solar panels to you roof this insant. For those of you who want to go green, why not start at your computer?

In honor of Earth Day, Lifehacker sported a feature post titled "Easy Ways to Go Green with Your Computer." In this article are several simple things you can do with your computer so that you can be closer to being more eco-friendy. Why not check out the link make the earth smile a bit more?

Also, you can check out my previous post about MakeMeSustainable.com, a great site that can help you take that step towards saving the enviroment.

Import Updates From Other Sites to Your Facebook Mini-Feed

2008-04-18T11:30:00.004-05:00

http://www.facebook.com - Ah yes, the infamous Facebook mini-feed. If a Facebook user doesn't know how to tweak their privacy settings, the mini-feed can be used as the ultimate internet stalker tool. Despite that, Facebook has included the option for you to import stories from other sites into your mini feed so that your stalker can spy ... er ... I mean your friends can see what you're doing on the internet outside of Facebook.

As of right now, you can import stories from Digg, del.icio.us, Flickr, Yelp, and Picasa. This means that your Facebook friends will be able to see what stories you Digg or when you upload new photos to Flickr account. I hope to see support for more sites in the future. Thanks Facebook!

Splashup: Edit Your Photos in a Browser

2008-04-17T00:10:00.000-05:00

http://www.splashup.com/ - Splashup is a webapp that allows for Photoshop-like functionality all from within your browser. With this application, you pretty much have the basic image editing tools at your disposal, including layer capabilities, brushes, blending modes, filters, and effects.

You can also edit multiple photos at once, and even upload them to and from your photo sharing sites such as Flickr, Facebook, and Picasa. This means that if you have your photos stored on any of these services, you can edit them from pretty much anywhere you have an internet connection.

The presentation is also really nice. Tools are easy to find and menus simple to navigate. The interface is undoubtedly inspired by Photoshop.

So, if you want a sufficiently versatle image manipulation on-the-go, then check out Splashup.

Map Your Family Tree at ItsOurTree.com

2008-04-15T14:56:00.002-05:00

Via http://www.lifehacker.com -

"Webapp ItsOurTree.com builds your family tree in a dynamic, drag and drop, zoom in and out interface. In what feels a little like Google Maps for your family, enter your name and email address, then add your parents, your kids, their parents, etc. Each person node expands to a full profile with fields for the birth date, a photo, maiden name, place of birth, current location, and an area to free-type notes and stories, too. The result is a good-looking visualization of your ancestry—in fact, filling in the blanks becomes addictive quickly. Looks like a great place to sit down with your grandparents online and save the stories, places, and names that you don't want to forget."

Make Me Sustainable Because Green Is In

2008-04-12T00:51:00.008-05:00

http://makemesustainable.com/ - Are you one of those people who wants to become more eco-friendy but doesn't really know how or where to start? Well, even if you aren't, you should be anyway.

Make Me Sustainable is a great website that tracks your environmental impact in the form of your carbon footprint, and also how much money you save due to your "green" actions. You can register as an individual, business, family, or student. Once you register, you then estimate your carbon footprint by putting in information on your housing, transportation, and lifestyle.

After, there is a tab that takes you to your actions. In this tab is a check-list of things you can do to reduce your carbon footprint. You can "pledge" to do these actions, click "already do" and place a date when you perform the action.

You manager tab will keep track of your carbon footprint, reductions, and money saved. It's very easy to use and really helps you visualize your accomplishments ... or how much more you still need to do. What's great about this site is that it also serves as a social networking site of sorts. You can add friends, join groups, and keep a journal of things that you have done, are doing, or plan to do. Get on it!

I haven't done much as of yet, but you can view my profile for this site at http://makemesustainable.com/users/davidjohannes.

Newer Isn't Always Better (apparently?)

2008-04-10T15:26:00.006-05:00

http://www.oldversion.com/ - Are you one of those software conservatives who thinks that older versions of software are better than their newer counterparts? Or, do you just have a really old computer where new application versions just won't run. Who knows where or how many there are, but some of you do exist out there.

OldVersion.com is a site that archives and makes available for download older versions of mostly internet freeware and sharware apps. I can't imagine what anyone would still want with Internet Explorer 3, or AIM 1.7, but they're available if you ever need them, along with a multitude of other older versions of programs.

Animoto - Add a Bit of Zest to Your Slideshows

2008-04-08T17:19:00.007-05:00

http://animoto.com/ - Animoto is a great web service that creates eye-catching audio-visual slideshows from your photos and music. You can upload your own photos or even fetch them from other services such as Facebook, Flickr, and Picasa. You can also upload your own music, or choose from Animoto's own diverse collection of genres and artists. Once your finished with that, Animoto will analyse your selection and create a great video slideshow. No two videos are ever going to be the same, and once you're done creating it, you can then view it, send it to friends, download it, upload directly to youtube, or embed it on a site of blog.

The service remains free only when you want to create 30 second videos. Any longer and you'll have to cough up some money. Full-length videos cost $3 each to make, or you can make an unlimited number of full-length videos for $30 a year. I was quite disappointed that the free video is only 30 seconds long, because it limits the number of pictures in your slideshow to about 20.

In all, I was quite happy with the production quality of the videos that Animoto creates. The service was created by tv and film producers, so, you can expect a certain level of quality from their presentation. Check out the video I made below from photos of a recent outing from last Saturday.

[B^3] is Now Mobile!

2008-04-07T23:11:00.004-05:00

We just launched the mobile version of the site, powered by MoFuse! Just direct your mobile device's web browser to m.beta-cubed.com. It's also formatted for easy viewing on the iPhone.

An Elephant's Dream

2008-04-07T01:02:00.006-05:00

http://www.elephantsdream.org/ - Who says open source applications can't stay competitive with their commercial counterparts? Anyone who does obviously hasn't seen Elephants Dream, the world's first 3D animated movie created using totally free and open software. The movie was made using programs such as Blender, CinePaint, Inkscape, all running in Ubuntu Linux. The production quality of the movie is quite stellar, comparable to the animated shorts by Dreamworks and Pixar. Check out the movie at the site. It's pretty cool.

Hate Seeing Ads on Sites? Get Adblock Plus

2008-04-06T15:53:00.008-05:00

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1865 - Adblock Plus is a Firefox add-on that claims to hide 99% of advertisements on websites. When you run this extension, you can right-click on a banner ad, image, ad module, etc., and opt for it to be blocked. When you do this, the add won't appear ever again. Better yet, Adblock Plus lets you subscribe to ad filters, which are databases that contain information on ad modules, so you don't even have to block the ads yourself. Everything will be done for you.

However, this extension has yet to find support in Firefox 3 Beta, so it will only work on version 2 at the moment.

New Google Talk Labs Editions Sports Group Chat and Notifications

2008-04-05T19:27:00.008-05:00

http://www.google.com/talk/labsedition/ - Google Talk Labs Edition is the new version of the Google Talk desktop client. However, while some of the new features may prove useful in the future, it's not a full fledged upgrade.

This version of the desktop client now supports emoticons and group chat. You can even get notifications from Gmail, Google Calendar, and Orkut. However, several features from the original Google Talk app went away, which include voice chat and file transfers. So, If you still need these I suggest you stay with the the original version for now, until Google descides to blend the best of the two.

Learn to do Just About Anything with WonderHowTo and VideoJug

2008-04-03T01:25:00.010-05:00

http://www.wonderhowto.com/ - Ever wondered how you can change the brakes on your Nissan Sentra? Or integrate database content with Flash, PHP, and MySQL? Or make a vegan pizza even? Now you can with this site ... right from the comfort of your computer.

Wonder How To pretty much as every how-to video you can hope for. Anytime you need to get something done or figure something out, try your luck at this site. The videos are organized into categories, and there's a search option if you're looking for something specific. You can even submit your own how-to videos to be included within their database. All videos that get submitted go through quality control. This means that the videos on this site stay instructional, on topic, and generally free of crappy, non-useful videos. Members of the site can also give a "grade" to the videos on the site (ranging from A+ to F) and post comments. This rating scheme really helps users distinguish quality videos to those that would otherwise just waste your time.

So, next time you're hosting a fancy dinner, just search for "fold napkins" for a step-by-step visual guide on how to impress your dinner guests with your decorative folded napkins. Or, just have fun and take a look that their "Hot," "Fresh," or "Gems" videos to take a look at popular or newly uploaded videos.

http://www.videojug.com/ - If you like this you can also check out VideoJug, a slightly older but similar and equally impressive site. In addition to how-to videos, VideoJug features an "Ask the Expert" section, which asks people who specialize in something common questions and concerns that you and I might have for them.

Skype 3.8 Beta For Windows: Get Rid of That Static

2008-04-02T12:10:00.002-05:00

http://www.skype.com - Skype released version 3.8 Beta for Windows today. The interface all still looks the same and the application has not really changed much. However, this beta version does focus on call and audio quality improvements. There will be fewer dropped calls, less delay, and less interference from background noise.

Additionally, in this new version, Skype uses their own UPnP (Universal Plug and Play) framework instead of Microsoft's. UPnP allows for automatic configuration with routers and firewalls so that the application can run as smoothly as possible. I'm pretty excited about this release. I regularly use Skype to call and video chat with my friends and family and since we're all often in different countries, it allows us to stay easily connected.

Webapps of the Future. Internet Claims Possibility of Time Travel

2008-04-01T00:01:00.005-05:00

This is why I'm skeptical of anything posted on the internet on April Fool's Day. You can't believe anything posted on the 1st of April because all the fake news gets mixed in with the real news. Oh well, here are three fun April Fool's jokes I found this day in 2008.

Google gDay with MATE

"Google Australia has introduced a new feature, enabling you to search content on the internet before it is created."

Gmail Custom Time

"Just click "Set custom time" from the Compose view. Any email you send to the past appears in the proper chronological order in your recipient's inbox. You can opt for it to show up read or unread by selecting the appropriate option."

Aviary Dodo: Web-based Time Machine

"We've been working feverishly around the clock on this new tool which will allow you to age and de-age people, places and things from any browser with Flash 9 enabled."

Remember: Be careful what you post to Digg or on your blog with the intention of it being real news today. You don't want to look like an idiot. Last year, a family member actually fell for Google's 2007 April Fool's announcement. I got an email with the subject "hey dave! check out this cool new service from google!" Believe me, the person that sent it (who will remain complety anonymous besides the fact that he/she was a family member) was totally serious.

Socialthing! Something Useful I Don't Use

2008-03-31T22:11:00.014-05:00

http://www.socialthing.com - So I had wanted to do a pretty thorough review of the Socialthing! private beta for a while (and by while I mean by forever ago), but I haven't really gotten around to it until now. Well, that's because I barely use it and today I saw that it was a pending post, which prompted me to fire up the url and finally take a good look at it.

Socialthing allows to manage several social networking sites, such as Facebook, Pownce, and Flickr, all from one place. With Socialthing, you can view your friends' updates and posts, and then quickly respond or reply to them. For example, you can post directly to Pownce or change your status on Facebook directly on Socialthing. Also, you can view the complete conversation and replies on a Pownce post. However, this functionality isn't featured on all the supported networks. For Facebook, you will have to open the actual Facebook url to comment on someones photo, but Socialthing does link you to it when you click on their photo update. Another problem I have with Socialthing is the limited number of supported networks. Where's Myspace and other popular netwoking sites? Hopefully these quirks will be solved for when it's released to the public.

Socialthing is a great aggregator to see updates and quickly post/reply on a site. However, since I have all those social networking sites as bookmarks, I usually just open them all in different tabs in Firefox anyway. So for me, Socialthing serves purely as a time-saver when I just want to look at people's updates. However, when posting, replying, or if I just want to read or look through someone's post/update, I prefer doing so on the actual site.

Adobe Air Comes to Linux

2008-03-31T10:42:00.001-05:00

http://www.adobe.com/products/air/ - Hooray for Adobe. They finally released to the public the alpha version of Adobe Air on Linux. Although the features are not yet complete in the Linux version, it is suitable enough to develop and run most Air applications.

What's great about Adobe Air is that it's a runtime designed to let you create and run rich internet applications that operate across operating systems. For example, once you develop an application, Adobe Air will let you deploy it in Windows, OS X ... and now Linux. You can download the Linux alpha here.

Filehippo.com and Filehippo.com Update Checker - Downloading and Updating Streamlined

2008-03-29T21:40:00.016-05:00

h ttp://www.filehippo.com

Although Filehippo is certainly nothing new (I have used it for years), I felt it was worth a mention.

Filehippo.com at first sounds like another one of those online file sharing programs, but it is actually a download service that aggregates different popular and commonly downloaded applications (such as Firefox, AVG, Pidgin, Open Office, just to name a few), and offers them all in one location. Other than the obvious convenience factor, the folks at Filehippo also do a stand up job of making sure that all of their files are up to date with the latest releases, further streamlining the experience. If you are the type to often reinstall your OS (*cough* me *cough cough*), Filehippo can make the hassle of downloading the installations of your favorite applications much easier. They also cater to you "bleeding edge" people out there by often carrying the beta versions of applications (however, they do provide a handy "off switch" if you don't want to risk it).

Another useful service Filehippo provides is the filehippo.com Update Checker, which has certainly came a long way since I last used it. It is now installable program (Unlike before, where it was simply an executable file that I found horrendously easy to misplace.) that hangs out in your taskbar and periodically checks for new versions of your installed applications. However, I found it a little discerning that the program used a little bit more memory (almost 8k) than Winamp in action, but I feel it is not too much of a hit on resources as long as you run it only every once in a while, and try to avoid leaving it on constantly. All in all, it is a definite improvement over previous versions, and it performs its purpose nicely.

Link

Search Better with Windows Desktop Search 4.0 Preview

2008-03-29T11:32:00.006-05:00

Via http://www.lifehacker.com -

"Microsoft has released a new version of their Windows Search tool out into the wild—an update to the desktop search tool that comes baked into Vista. Aside from promises of having squashed most reported bugs from the original and improving search times by about 33%, the Windows Search 4.0 Preview also includes support for XP. That's right, XP users, one of the best things that Microsoft did when they made Vista is now available for your XP desktop as well. Of course, if you haven't already found a competent desktop search app on XP (like Google Desktop, for example) while Microsoft has been taking its sweet time, chances are you may not really need one to begin with. On the other hand, if the promises of the 4.0 Preview sound worth a shot, head over to Microsoft and grab the free download." (Link)

Can't Get Enough South Park? Get Your Fill

2008-03-28T00:48:00.003-05:00

http://www.southparkstudios.com - Well well, it seems that South Park Studios has been relaunched. Fans of the show will no longer have to resort to torrenting or finding hosted flash videos of this popular Comedy Central series. South Park Studios features full episodes both and new. That's right people, all twelve seasons are freely and legally online for all your viewing pleasure. Who killed Kenny this time?

What's Going on Pownce? Lots of Errors Today

2008-03-28T00:26:00.004-05:00

http://www.pownce.com - I've been getting a lot of errors from the Pownce website this evening. Are they just having database and server issues or are they working on something big? Conversation tracking maybe? I can only hope.

See Who's Watching Your YouTube Videos

2008-03-28T00:20:00.003-05:00

http://www.youtube.com - Well, you can't find out exactly who's watching your videos, but at least you can see what country its coming from. YouTube now lets you see your video stats, and examine how many views you get over time and from which countries. It's pretty cool. Not as slick as Google Analytics, but hey, I'm not complaning.

Just click on 'Videos, Favourites, & Playlists' under "Manage My Channel" in your account settings. From there you can info about your videos.

Adobe Photoshop Express: Edit Your Photos For Free

2008-03-27T02:01:00.003-05:00

https://www.photoshop.com/express/ - Adobe Photoshop Express is online and running for your basic photo editing needs. It's not a full-fledged Photoshop webapp where you can play with layers and add smoke effects, but the included features should prove useful enough for the everyday user.

Photoshop Express pretty much gives you several photo editing tools, all in simple yet powerful Flash app. Because it runs of Flash, you can open it using any Flash supported browser in any operating system. This web app brings you basic editing tools, such as cropping, touch up, and colour correction. There are also several simple effects that you can add rangine from hue, distortion, and sketch tweaks. Even if you mess up, you can revert to the original photo or even go back to any previous change you had made.

When you sign up for the service, Adobe gives you 2Gb of online storage all for free. You can upload your photos, edit them, and then share them on Facebook, Flickr, and other social networks integrated within the web app. I'm sure a "pro" version is coming, with more space and added features ... for a fee. But for now, any typical user will be satisfied with the free version.

Adobe Photoshop Express isn't CS3 in a web app. However, it's powerful enough that anyone can take a photo and make it look better with ease. Think of it as Photoshop: non-fat and now made with Splenda. It's still sweet, just without the added calories.

Where Did All Your Gigabytes Go? Find Out With JDiskReport

2008-03-26T23:35:00.001-05:00

http://www.jgoodies.com/ - JDiskReport is a useful tool that lets you visualize how data is stored on your hard drive. Once you choose where you want the program to scan, it will go through the folders and bring up a pie chart showing the space distribution of those folders. This is very useful in seeing which folders are taking up the most space on your drive.

This was very useful to me because I saw that in my Program Files folder, andLinux was taking up 2Gb worth of space, even though I had uninstalled the program. I also saw that I had over 5Gb of video in my documents folder. These were raw files from a video editing project that I did over a year ago and no longer needed.

You can even organize the pie chart to desplay which file types are taking up the most space on your drive. JDiskReport is a very useful tool because vizualizing how data is stored on your hard drive really helps you to keep it organized and free from junk.