Via: Online Schools

Firefox’s creative lead Aza Raskin presented today a cool new concept which could revolutionize the way we browse.The early project called Tab Candy makes tabbed browsing less cluttered and more organized by grouping tabs together.

If you’re one of those people who works with a dozen of tabs open yet finds it a quite a hassle to manage them,this new project might be a life saver for you.Just push a button and an overview of all tabs will show up just like expose in Mac.Then you can group your tabs to organize your work-flow.The tabs could also be categorized according to their context to simplify browsing experience which is explained at great length in the video below.

An Introduction to Firefox’s Tab Candy from Aza Raskin on Vimeo.

Firefox tab candy is not an extension,it will be a built in feature in future Firefox builds.To try out this great new concept head over to this link and download an early build of Firefox with Tab Candy built in.

Via: Medical Coding Certification

1. YoGen Charger [Available Now | $40]

Many companies have tried to sell solar chargers that do not require electricity for powering up a cell phone, but not very many people have ten hours of sunshine to sit around and wait while their phone bakes in the heat. For this, there is the magic of the YoGen Charger, which needs a few minutes of string pulling (think See ‘n’ Say) to power up before users take it with them on the road. However, it does not have a pleasant casing, and if you lose it, it will be an expensive replacement.

2. Sony Vaio W Series 212AX Eco-Friendly Edition [Available Now | $480+]

Sony has, for a long time now, dedicated itself with a new goal: ensuring all of their products from now on are energy efficient and environmentally friendly in some way. This new pact has been present in their other products, such as their Bravia line of televisions. Now it comes present in their computers. New evolutions in technology, including Bluetooth, flash drives and Wi-Fi, have made it possible to easily and more conveniently transfer files between different computers, so there is much less need to keep using compact discs. Instead, these discs can be crunched together and transformed to create recycled laptops at a low price. Just do not expect it to be a powerful machine for multitasking. As an added bonus, the company that has vowed to always remain green friendly has decided to turn their manuals digital.

3. Oregon Scientific Wireless Advanced Appliance Manager [Available late 2010 | $80]

This is a very handy device that will keep track of all of the electric outlets scattered across the household, effectively determining which one is spilling out the most energy at once, which should help determine which outlet to avoid due to wasted energy. It can track up to eight different outlets at a time, and a not-much-cheaper version will be available upon release, which only tracks a single outlet as necessary.

4. Tenrehte PICOwatt Smart Plug [Available Now | $80]

Anybody who has ever wanted to flip off the power to a device, such as the radio, by way of pressing a single button on the phone can now have that particularly lazy dream fulfilled. The high amount of convenience comes at a price, however, with each unit costing $80, and it does come with installation inconvenience since users will require several units for several devices.

5. Toshiba E Core Light Bulbs [Available late 2010 | $TBA]

It goes without saying that regular light bulbs take up plenty of heat and use up plenty of energy; it is not exactly the most environmentally friendly invention ever thought up before. Toshiba has talked about plans to manufacture LED light bulbs, which should fit where an otherwise incandescent filament bulb would fit, which would take up significantly less energy and create a substantially lessened amount of heat. This product is even much more efficient than that which have been made into compact fluorescent bulbs. However, you might expect these to be expensive, as well.

These five gadgets are only a small taste of the vast amount of different gadgets available, or soon to be available, in the open market. This should offer a handy preview with regards to the future way of life, in which everyone is concerned about saving the environment and remaining dedicated to the huge cause of going green.

This was a Guest Post by James Adams who is a in-house technology analyst and prolific writer who works with an online supplier of ink cartridges. You can read more of his writing on their blog.

We’ll be having a liveblog event up tomorrow at 10 am PDT. Better be there if you don’t want to Miss the news!

Here We Go!

First off, the packaging is beautiful, modern, and eye catching.  After gazing for a second your attention is grabbed by the seemed-to-be floating headset in the top of the box.  A quick slide of the bottom of the packaging reveals a whole slew of accessories, from ear hooks to ear buds.  Included are an array of sizes of soft ear buds to be used with the provided ear hook, or one could choose the specialized Jawbone ear buds that can be maneuvered to fit in your ear without the hook, giving everything a more sophisticated feel.  I personally could not get used to this feel and opted for the ear hook instead but I believe this is more of a personal preference and not a flaw of the product.

Initial Power Up and Pair

The initial power up and pair of the ICON was unarguably one of the easiest I’ve ever done.  Basically, even a user with basic tech knowledge could read the clear, short instruction cheat sheet provided and successfully pair it with their phone.  After completing the set-up I realized I needed to put the device on the charger.  This was odd because the box said it should be partially charged although it only turned on for 5-10 minutes.  This was not a hassle though, as the Jawbone ICON can fully charge in just 90 minutes.  Thats a full charge people!

Personalization

One thing I absolutely loved about the Jawbone ICON was that it could be easily personalized unlike any other bluetooth out there.  With a quick visit to this site I found out some of the amazing things you can do with this headset, such as viewing the battery of the headset on my iPhone’s status bar straight out of the box.  One other I tried was free 411.  After setting up I can confirm that they do in fact offer free 411, although it is ad supported and not very enjoyable to use.  Still useful nonetheless.  The website also allows you to personalize the voice of your bluetooth, who reads you your estimated battery life and alerts you of a caller.  This was easy to do also and only required about 10 minutes of syncing, plugging the headset into the PC with the provided USB cable, and visiting a webpage to preform the update.  I was very impressed with these features because I have yet to see them on any other bluetooth headset available on the market today.

Sound Quality

After using the JAwbone ICON for a couple of long conversations I was able to easily form my opinion regarding my experiences of the sound quality.  On my end the call was amazing, better than using just my cellphone.  I enjoyed a noticeable difference in peoples voices, background noise and overall quality.  When speaking to my grandfather he said he could hear me good but couldn’t tell a drastic difference from the other times I have spoken to him without the device.  Others basically reported the same thing, really good quality but no huge noticeable difference from other calls.  I believe me listening for the changes and being able to distinguish good quality sounds made my judgement a little better than most who were taken back when told they were being spoken to on a bluetooth.  Overall the sound was good, utilizing the dual microphones built in for wind reduction and noise, and made hard conversations that much easier.

Continued Use and Impressions

After using the device for a few more days I realized I have become dependent on it for most long or even brief conversations.  Something about the freedom of being able to do things while having a conversation with someone makes me very happy.  Since the battery life on my iPhone is less than perfect, I opted to turn the headset off when it wasn’t being directly used to conserve juice.  Surprisingly even after turning it off, which causes the two to unpair, the second the switch is turned back on the two are reconnected like nothing ever happened.  I found this to be a huge time saver because every bluetooth I’ve ever used required a repair after the device was shut off, which is usually about a 10 minute job.  In the end, I would most definitely recommend the Jawbone ICON to anyone who plans on getting use out of their device and needs something of great quality.  The MSRP is only $99.99 and can be purchased at here or at your local electronics store.

A special thanks to Jawbone for allowing us such an awesome review unit.  Stay tuned for future comparison reviews with some other leading bluetooth headsets!  Comments are appreciated, especially if you’ve used a Jawbone ICON before.

Un-boxing

Twelve South is known for their awesome packaging and how they’ve designed it to be reusable in a number of ways.  Included are 12 ways you could reuse the packaging although there are countless ideas listed on their site.  For now our box is resting on a shelf but we’re determined to find  a use for it that helps us and is good for the environment.

Uses

The BookArc for iPad can be used for a number of things.  Your iPad can dock in portrait or landscape mode and be connected to the charger in both positions also.  This stand is perfect for watching movies, listening to music, having a streaming email screen on your desk or just about anything.  Other than being a means of adding more productivity to your iPad it also protects it.   Scratching your aluminum back on your table, denting it with a corner or damaging it with a spilled drink can all be avoided when using the BookArc for iPad.

What it does best

The BookArc for iPad has proven to be a lifesaver when we’ve had to type long documents using Pages for iPad.  Apple’s bluetooth keyboard or a generic one paired  with the BookArc for iPad gives you the functionality of a desktop when needed and can make your iPad experience that much more pleasurable.

Overall we feel the BookArc for iPad is a must-have accessory and is very reasonably priced for what it does.  It’s also made out of heavy gauge steel so you know it will last forever.  If your impressed run out to your local Apple store with two crisp Jackson’s or order one via Twelve South’s site here.

The contest will run for the remaining of the week and end at midnight on Sunday (Eastern Standard Time).  The 5 lucky winners will be chosen at random on Monday and notified. Contest is open to all residents of Earth*.

To Enter, You must tweet this article or share this article via Facebook. An example tweet could be,

Count me in for the Fabulous iPad Decals Contest! http://hop.im/cYD #ipdc

Remember, the tag for our contest is #ipdc so use it wherever you share it along with a link to the post!  Well, here they are.  Amazing and creative huh?

Apple Maze from MacSlaps via Etsy.com.

Twitter Bird from MacSlaps via Etsy.com.  

Mr. Potato Head from MacSlaps via Etsy.com.

Snow White from CraftyGalDecals via Etsy.com.

LegoMan from CraftyGalDecals via Etsy.com.

Some other really cool decals we though we’d share follows.  They are not included in the contest and will not be given away but are still available via the sellers site.

Abbey Road from CraftyGalDecals via Etsy.com.  

Coffee Rings from MacSlaps via Etsy.com.

As you can see the creativity never ends when new devices like this are released.  Feel free to check out these sellers shops where you can purchase these decals and so many more.  Also, don’t forget to enter the contest and spread the word!

*Winner will be responsible for pick-up or shipping fees.

Anyways, we here at Etiole.com are expecting WWDC to highlight the new iPhone 4G, the finishing touches of iPhone OS 4.0, a possible addition of a new iPhone supported wireless carrier, Verizon Wireless, and a slim chance of a Macbook Air refresh.  Despite rumors of AT&T’s exclusivity being good until next summer we believe there is a small chance Apple may pull a bunny out of a hat and surprise everyone, something Steve has been known to do.

With positive reviews of the iPhone OS 4.0 Beta pouring in we are predicting a fast release of the iPhone 4G and hopefully a closer date for the iPad software update.  Well, thats it.  I hope Apple will focus on the iPhone 4G and really create a hype, one even better than the original iPhone created back in ’07.

If they succeed I may just have to reward myself with the shiny new device people are betting their farms on to be released.  What are some rumors you’d love to see a reality and what do you expect to go down at WWDC 2010?  Answer in the comments section!