05. 1.2008
Posts on my hunt for a cool MP3 player-plus-Web-access that was also less expensive than the iPod Touch brought in comments suggesting other ways to shop. Knowing that the appetite for shopping tools is near-insatiable in these precincts, I have now gotten around to checking those suggestions out.
For my trial runs on all the sites I have searched the Archos 605, an MP3 (and video) player with Web access and a touch screen that has gotten splendid reviews but lists for $200 less than the comparable Touch. (It appears that I am getting one for my birthday because this morning my SO asked for the model number. Goody.)
John wanted me to try out the shopping site he co-founded, Bountii.com, which covers electronics and accessories for same. On the basis of my one tryout, this seems like quite a nice place to shop. It found all the retailers of the 605 that had turned up on Google and CNET, and then some.
I was devastated when I saw that one of them was selling the 605 for a dollar less than the best price I had found. But a lovely feature of Bountii.com is that it lets you compare taxes and shipping costs as well as the item's price. So it was easy to tell that, with taxes and shipping, the "low" price was actually several dollars more. Whew!
Bountii.com is a clean design, well-organized and intuitive to use. A big section of the site covers price drops, and you can track them easily by adding it to your feed reader. I am too ignorant to comment on what powers the searches, but - whatever it is - it's clearly excellent. Oh, and one last bit of praise: Bountii is very fast. I plan to come back.
Posted by Tam
Category:
deals
| on the web
Tags: shopping
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05. 1.2008
When I saw CNET's Natali del Conte (one of my top women in tech) recommending her favorite time-saving sites on the Today show recently, it tripped a memory switch and I realised there was something I should share with Popgadget readers.
That thing is a service called OpenTable, which I used when I visited New York last year.
OpenTable's website makes dining out a breeze by allowing you to make a reservation at any of 8,000 restaurants across the U.S. and Canada (from wherever you happen to be). Simply log on, select the restaurant plus the time and date of your choice, and you're good to go. On the day of your reservation, you'll receive a call to remind you of your dinner plans (at your hotel if you're on vacation - they'll even leave a message which there's no obligation to return). OpenTable basically makes it easy for anyone to reserve a seat - especially foreign travellers like myself.
Oh, and if you're wondering, the table I reserved was at the Marriott in Times Square, and it was one of the best meals of my life.
Thanks for the reminder, Natali!
Posted by diane
Category:
eat/drink
| entertainment
| on the web
Tags: dining
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04.30.2008
Tweet! Tweet! Tweet!
If you have an over-zealous Twitter pal or want to avoid a blast of tweets for a little while, Twitter snooze is a nice friendly solution.
Basically, it's an addition to Twitter ettiquette, so that you don't have follow and unfollow with the social implications of being a bit of an inconsistent jerk;)
When you "snooze" a pal, Twitter will send him/her an email alerting that person that you are now following them again (not unlike when you follow/unfollow). Hopefully, this will get improved over time. What's so amazing to me, though, is that we're developing a polite culture around our online behaviors - who knew that tweeting would require such trappings.
Grab your Twitter Snooze here.
Posted by chrissie
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on the web
Tags: social networking twitter
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04.25.2008
With half my family living halfway around the world, I quickly embraced Skype, the program (or if you want to get technical, Voice Over Internet Protocol) that allows you to talk to other Skype users over your computer, for free. In fact, I'm always amazed that more of my friends and family haven't signed up... it's almost like they don't want to chat to me for hours or something.
Anyway, despite Skype calls being free to other Skype users, if you wanted to use your account to call landlines or mobile phones in the past, you would still have to pay - and the cost would depend on the length of the call and where you were calling. But no more! Skype's new calling plan aims to encourage more people to pick up the service, and it sounds like a bargain to me.
Pay just $9.95 per month and you can make an unlimited number of calls to landlines in 34 countries, including the United States, Canada, most of Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, China, Singapore, Taiwan, Japan, Korea and Malaysia. Calls to cells in the US and Canada, China, Hong Kong and Singapore and also included.
With Skype phones now meaning you don't even need to be connected to your computer to make a call, I hope all you holdouts will be rushing to sign up when this new service is made available on Monday.
Via USA Today.
Posted by diane
Category:
cell phones
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Tags: skype voip
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04.21.2008
Do you know what "dark matter" is? I thought I knew what it was until I tried to explain it to myself and failed. But I no longer need to file away topics like this for later study (my ever-growing list of things I will learn someday in order to become a more cultured and informed human being) because I now know I can pick up knowledge about dark matter - enough to get by in a drunken conversation at a bar in any event - and other weighty scientific subjects in 60 seconds (or thereabouts).
As part of its 60-Second Science offerings, Scientific American has been running a video podcast series in which its editors explain big scientific topics of general interest, using common objects. I haven't timed the videos to see how close they come to just 60 seconds, but they are indeed short enough that I don't have time to get distracted like I did in high school science class. The editors at 60-Second Science know how to put together teaser headlines too, like "What can the Olsen twins tell us about telomeres?" You can subscribe to 60-Second Science on iTunes or in RSS. --- (continues)
Continue reading "Become an instant egghead with 60-Second Science"
Posted by Hoyun
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entertainment
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04.17.2008
It turns out that this mobile game, Silverbackers, has everything to do with gorilla conservation. Go to the site to download the game and learn about these awesome creatures living in the forests of Central Africa - their population totals just over 700. Here's the interesting part: these gorillas are endangered because they live in a habitat rich in Coltan, a mineral used for the production of cell phones. What better way to bring attention to this problem than through our cell phones?
Read more about the history of Silverbackers at textually.org.
Posted by Hoyun
Category:
cell phones
| current affairs
| eco
| gaming
| on the web
Tags: conservation
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04.14.2008
More and more, it seems that what comes up at the top in browser search results is determined by factors having little to do with what I'm really looking for. Google search results may be comprehensive, but what I'm looking for may be buried so deep that I'll never find the one thing I'm looking for. I might accidentally come across just the right keyword to bring up some relevant results, but it's often hit or miss. Human-powered search engines such as Mahalo and iRazoo aim to create and "curate" search results to get around this diving-in-a-garbage-can feel of the big search engines. But humans are flawed and prejudiced, so you're not going to get objectivity with this method, nor will the results always be current (how do a few humans keep up with the volume of new content that comes on daily?).
I've been trying out Surf Canyon, a browser extension that works with Google, Yahoo!, and MSN. This browser add-on (which currently works with Internet Explorer and Firefox) gives you the option to narrow your search results by clicking a bull's eye icon next to a relevant search result to get more link recommendations that you might otherwise not see until you've clicked many more pages into your search results (which, for me, is usally never, as I get impatient after 3 or 4 pages). Using "real time semantic personalization technology" (how's that for a mouthful?) Surf Canyon "sits atop" your search engine to help you hone in on what you're looking for.
Continue reading "Surf Canyon pulls up relevant results deep in your search"
Posted by Hoyun
Category:
on the web
| software
Tags: search engines
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04.11.2008
I'm not much of a photographer, so I'm not sure I'd want to use up/ruin a whole wall with any picture I've taken, but I can definitely see My Foto Wall doing well. This new site allows users to upload a favorite picture, which will then be turned into wallpaper. Not virtual wallpaper - the real thing.
A typical wall will cost £295 ($586) to decorate, so you may not be covering all your walls this way, but for a unique design, I can't think of better way to customise a room. You can crop and cut your your chosen photo to scale, and if you put in your wall/room measurements, you'll get an exact quote.
I think a nature shot would work best, but if you want that Demi Moore-inspired pregnant pose on your living room wall, go right ahead: it'll be a talking point, at least.
(Oh, and I feel I should apologise for the unnecessary apostrophe in the picture above: it makes my heart ache, but I'm trying to overlook it).
Via Geekbrief TV.
Posted by diane
Category:
home
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Tags: decor photos
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04.10.2008
We asked readers about "social network fatigue," which can mean either that you're getting tired of social networking sites or that you're simply exhausted from having too much of your time sucked up by online social networking (boredom, on the one hand, addiction on the other). And, indeed, it appears that, at least among those who participated in the poll, this phenomenon is real.
43% of participants said they're afflicted and have cut back since last year, which could mean the novelty has worn off for them and the experience is no longer so fascinating, or that they've stopped shopping around and have settled into one or two sites they use regularly (which is probably good news for established networks like facebook). For the 9% who said they're afflicted but haven't cut back (the addicts?), those who are still getting acquainted with the whole concept, and those who just don't care yet, new offerings may still appeal.
Posted by Hoyun
Category:
Popgadget
| on the web
| polls & surveys
Tags: facebook social networking
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