p666james :: blog

Links for 2010-03-01 [del.icio.us]

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 00:00:00 PST

take up beekeeping
The Coop Bee Plan - http://j.mp/bpQZVf & http://j.mp/aE0B9u

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Fri, 19 Feb 2010 00:00:00 PST

Gately complaint is rejected by PCC | Mail Online
"Gately complaint is rejected by PCC | Mail Online" http://j.mp/bMJaiu - Pah!

Links for 2010-01-05 [del.icio.us]

Wed, 06 Jan 2010 00:00:00 PST

Google Nexus One: The TechCrunch Review

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Wed, 30 Dec 2009 00:00:00 PST

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Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:00:00 PDT

House Removals Manchester/House Clearance Stockport/Waste Clearance Manchester

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Mon, 26 Oct 2009 00:00:00 PDT

Links for 2009-09-19 [del.icio.us]

Sun, 20 Sep 2009 00:00:00 PDT

Barclays Pensions

Stephen Fry...

Paul James — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 14:50:00 -0700

Stephen Fry in America, is one of the best programs on TV.

That is all.

Daddy or Chips? I-Phone or Smartphone?

Paul James — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 08:52:00 -0700

My T-Mobile contract is up for renewal, which currently costs be about £45- a month.

Should I get £10- off my current subscription or upgrade?

Or I could switch to o2 and get a sexy iPhone, or stick T-Mobile and get the T-Mobile Touch with Windows Mobile 6?

Comments Please

How to play .OGG Vorbis files in iTunes (Windows and OS X)

Paul James — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 09:10:00 -0700

Play .ogg files in iTunes by downloading and installing the free Xiph QuickTime Components.

Requirements: Mac OS X (PowerPC and Intel):

version 10.3.9 or 10.4 and later;
QuickTime for Mac OS X - version 7 or later;

Windows:

QuickTime for Windows - version 7 or later.

Computer Problems

Paul James — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 10:18:00 -0800

I'm currently experiencing hardware issues with my computer, and i'll be out of action briefly.

Best P2P Software

Paul James — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 06:26:00 -0800

Among my group of friends, I often get asked what is the best P2P software.

Now I have used a variety of software from Kazaa, to Napster, however I now only have three installed on my computer, I am prepared to test other software, if anyone wants to recommend something for me to test, let me know in the comments and I will update the post.

Azureus

I feel I should love this software, however I don't.

Azureus is a bit torrent download manager, that now comes packaged with content provided by vuse.

As I said, I feel I should love this software, its made by the community at large, is open source... However as I said, I don't like it.

Downloads are slow and sluggish with speeds not able to reach my bandwidth download limit, files often don't start, and I know this can be put down to the file being downloaded as it is a torrent, however I have tested the same torrent files in Limewire Pro, and Limewire always give the better results 35 files after nearly half an hour, .

My rating would be a low 2 out of 10.

Limewire

I've always had a negative view of Limewire, I view it as a modern day Kazaa, full of dummy and fake files, however on a recommendation I gave it a try.

I installed Limewire Pro, which can manage magnet files, and torrent files.

I was very impressed with the download speeds on Limewire. It took total use of my bandwidth, overall very impressed. My only critism with this software, is that the included search is not brilliant, in fact most searches included a lot of spam files, or very low quality. There was also movies recorded in the cinema which I wasn't too impressed with. Further, there was not many results returned, for example I ran a search for Elton John which only resulted in 35 results.

Its hard to rate this software, if I rate the software without the search I would probably be giving it a 10/10, however the search results as so bad, I feel it is only deserving on 4/10.

Another concern I have with this software, is privacy. Your IP address is on view for all to see, you could possibly use a proxy, however I would be dubious of the quality of downloads using such a method, and it would mean ensuing your proxy servers are valid, and should anything happen to the proxy during a nights download, it could literally bring it to a standstill.

WinMX

Good Old WinMX, most people I mention this little gem to, still believe it to be closed down.

However this is the network, that will not die, and I still think is the best!

WinMX was launched in 2000, and to look at the interface, nothing much has changed since then.

But WinMX worked well from the start, fair enough fake files were a problem, however there are methods for ensuring your not downloading a fake. Que's were also criticised on WinMX, however if you leave the software running, you soon get up them ques.

However, on September 13, 2005, FrontCode Technologies the company behind WinMX was the recipient of a cease and desist letter from the RIAA. The RIAA letter demanded that FrontCode immediately stop the encouragement of copyright infringement on its network. Several days later on September 21, 2005, shocked members, including myself, found ourselves unable to connect. FrontCode complied by taking the WinMX domain down, along with the critical host cache server that was in effect the end of WinMX.

However, as testament to the amazing cultural influence of this network, as well as the strength and ingenuity of its community, the network was resurrected two days later. Primitive host cache servers were established allowing the WinMX client to connect the restored network.

Going forward, the WinMX Group that restored the network, decided to stop work on the network, but the network persists... Its now back, with a new installer that makes it work on Vista, along with a network that protects your privacy infringement as no data is stored on any server, attempts to block fake files by having the IP address, of fake file hosts blocked, as well as a new network structure that aims to ensure WinMX is around, at least for the moment!

Obviously the software doesn't have a support team, however there are extensive forums on the WinMX World website to provide support.

WinMX can be downloaded freely, from patch.winmxconex.com.

If I get the chance, I will publish a guide on how to get the best from WinMX, as I admit it is confusing!

Overall Rating for WinMX has to be 10/10

iPlayer, 4od, Sky Anytime and the Kontiki Download Manager

Paul James — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 05:45:00 -0800

Our sister blog, Mary B get some information on what I think is something anyone in the UK installing the iPlayer, 4oD or Sky Anytime need to know, head over to... this post to find out more.

Drugs.. Legal in 10 Years

Paul James — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 12:26:00 -0800

The Chief Constable of North Wales, Richard Brunstrom has claimed that all drugs such as cocaine will be made legal, and decriminalised within 10 years.

I can't say I agree that it will be decriminalised in 10 years, given the narrow minded people we have running this country, but I do believe it should be decriminalised, a lot of crime and poverty is caused through illegal drugs, and if control of these substances was under some form of control, all the better I say!

New Year

Paul James — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 08:40:00 -0800

For the first time in years, I wont be going out this New Year's Eve - thank god!

I am not a misery, please dont get me wrong, but the though of being out in a pub/club spending the night there with a couple of hundred other people does not appeal.

Instead, Chrissy and I will be sat watching TV in the comfort of our living room.

Heroes Season 2:

Paul James — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 04:41:00 -0800

I found over on the Mary Blighthouse Blog links to all the current episodes of Heroes, season 2.

Mary Blighthouse

Fine wine and food

Paul James — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 02:44:00 -0800

Last night Chris and I, had Caz and George over for dinner.

It was a really nice night, far better than we could have hoped for.

On Saturday we will be hosting a mini party, well I say party it will be for me, Chris, Dylan, Kath and Caz... Or any number below that.

We are not the greatest of fans of big party's, they become anti-social as appose to being a friendly atmosphere due to the noise levels etc. I don't think I could bare a party with loads of guests, for a start it means you have to talk to everyone.

Our idea is far better, a group of close friends, lots of drink and frivolity.

Ps. You can also smoke in your own home, just.

Low Energy God Damn Lightbulbs

Paul James — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 06:10:00 -0800

I have to take my hat off to people in power who try to make us save energy.

After various issues with our electricity supply (where E.On can not read the correct meter) we have had to take to keeping a daily log on all the electricity units that we use.

Me and my partner live in a 1 bedroom apartment in the city of Manchester. Its a new build, less than 2 years old.

I would assume that energy conservation was given little or no thought when the property was designed.

At the moment, it is bitterly cold outside, however trying to heat a room with an electric heater is no easy task, as it doesn't warm up and it is currently costing us about £10 per day in electricity costs.

So its costs us £10 per day to keep the flat and water warm.

But hang on a minute, are we not suppose to use less energy, and use all these energy saving gadgets that are on the market...

Well, the simple answer is that we use as many Low Energy light bulbs that we can which are going to save the planet, however what else is being done?

Why do we not have a new design for an electric heater that can heat a room efficiently and with lower energy costs?

I thought when I realised the above, that I must be wrong, surely someone has invented a new heater that can heat a room efficiently..

...Well I tried a google search... here it is my only concern is that only one result is for low energy heating, and then this isn't really an option (It is using tubes which are situated at floor level, however will they be able to warm a large room?) all other results are for low energy light bulbs... Oh and "switch and save" energy suppliers.

It is time for everyone to think about how we use our energy, and what it is being used on. Technologies of old, can no longer be used, and must be adopted to meet the new demands of today.

Hollywood, UK

Paul James — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 12:47:00 -0800

The proposed expansion of Pinewood Studios, apart from being being big news for British and worldwide filmmakers, will include residential space, as well. The Independent claims as many as 2,250 new homes are included in the plan to expand the historic site. And when I say included...

The new development would double the size of the existing studio. It also calls for living and working spaces to overlap so that residents would, for example, live in a building with the facade of a Venetian palazzo that could be used for filming.

Zoho Writer Adds Full Offline Access with Gears

Paul James — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 12:42:00 -0800

Zoho, the company responsible for a suite of office products has taken the final steps toward full offline access by allowing users to both read and edit Zoho Writer documents from your desktop - offline, add a simple sync using the power of Google Gears and your documents are back in your Zoho account online.

Zoho in my humble opinion is one of the best online office suits available at the moment, and far surpasses the work of Google.

4 More Street View Cities added to Google Maps

Paul James — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 18:03:00 -0700

Left: Darth Vader & Storm Trooper outside the Kodak Theatre.

The Google LatLong Blog has announced that 4 more citys are avalible in google maps.

San Diego
Los Angeles
Houston
Orlando

This is in addition to San Francisco, New York, Las Vegas, Miami and Denver that was there when Street View initially launched.

ITV fury as Cory Stars show put online

Paul James — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 07:07:00 -0700

ITV Chiefs are furious after Coronation Streets so called star, Anthony Cottons new chat show has leaked online... I suppose it wouldn't have been too bad, had it not got slated by viewers.

Unfortunately the clip was quickly removed from Youtube where it was showing, so I cant show you it... However if you know where it is, let me know and I'll post it here.

It's The "Torchwood" Life for Richard

Paul James — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 07:07:00 -0700

Richard Briers, a fave of mine from the Goodlife is to guest star in Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood...

Fopp Manchester to make its return!

Paul James — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 05:29:00 -0700

It appears that my much loved cheap DVD, CD, and book store is to make its return! HMV has struck a deal to buy the fopp brand, reopening several stores, including the store here is wee Manchester.

Source BBC

Talk about 12 inch pianist...

Paul James — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 03:58:00 -0700

Bravo recently featured a show where a kinda cute fella shows how to play the piano with his penis!

Stills from show below, and video below (if it doesnt get removed)

The full 27 second clip can be seen here...

$100 Laptop Porn

Paul James — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 00:24:00 -0700

Nigerian users of the OLPC (One Laptop Per Child initiative) have been using the US charity donations to explore porographic sites on the interet.

According to a Reuters report last Thursday, laptops in a primary school in Abuja "have gone awry as the pupils freely browse adult sites with explicit sexual materials."

Nigerian Reporters have reported finding porographic images on computers they had seen.

A representative of the One Laptop Per Child aid group was quoted as saying that the computers, part of a pilot scheme, would now be fitted with filters

Posh Spice Takes a Beating

Paul James — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 00:24:00 -0700

The much-hyped Victoria Beckham TV show was beaten in the ratings by a repeat of BBC crime drama Waking The Dead.

Only 3.5 million tuned in to ITV1's one-hour special following Posh Spice's move to Los Angeles.

The show itself, was a complete work of fiction from the company owned by Simon Cowell. It even carried a disclaimer at the beginning of the show stating that "some scenes" were faked, and that the role of Victoria's assistant was played by an actor.

New York property listing - did I mention the sex parties?

Paul James — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 19:36:00 -0700

New York's property blog Curbed, finds a catch in an otherwise attractive Craigslist flatshare ad:

"I host one to two male sex parties a week. One after work (usually 6:30pm-11pm) and one on the weekend (usually 8pm-2am). The parties are on the second floor (my room) as well as on the first floor EXCEPT your room. You room is off limits to my guests. The parties are not very noisy except for the guys talking in the kitchen. The parties are very social as we play movies and socialize in the kitchen.
Also, I have a maid that cleans up immediately after the parties - so you don't have to worry about that. If you are cool with all this, let's talk!"

[via Curbed]

Spink's out-of-town splurge

Paul James — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 19:36:00 -0700

The Times a while ago, carried a fascinating story of developer Mike Spink's huge £42m deal which leaves him the proud owner of a run down 30,000 sq ft mansion called Park Place, in Remenham, Henley-on-Thames.

This is the most ever spent on a property outside London (to date)... but then it's an utterly unique proposition, packed with history, from countless links with royalty to a recent spell as a boarding school. By any standards this one hell of a massive project!

Nestoria adds clever parking feature to maps

Paul James — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 19:36:00 -0700

Nestoria, one of my favorite property websites, have added a clever new feature. Partnering up with ParkAtMyHouse, they now offer information about local parking opportunities - not just conventional carparks but privately rented parking spaces - with each and every property search.

World's most amazing houses

Paul James — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 19:36:00 -0700

Architectural amazement all gathered and bundled over at the Amazing Things blog.

Harry Potter Finally Leaked Online...

Paul James — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 06:48:00 -0700

The new Harry Potter book has been leaked online in its entirety, only a mere four days before it goes on sale!

I wont post the link to it, however I am sure a determined Potter fan can find it.

I'm sure Miss Rowling is wishing she could cast a spell to make it go away.

chuckmore:(via vache)

(author unknown) — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 09:19:35 -0800

Android Growing RIDICULOUSLY Faster Than All Other Mobile Platforms (In the US)

Rob Jackson — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 12:19:01 -0800

Comscore has just published their smartphone reports detailing statistics from October 2009 through January 2010 and although we knew Android grew incredibly – the actual statistics are quite staggering. Take a look at this chart which shows market share from RIM, Apple, Microsoft, Google and Palm:

Second to last place with hardly more market share than Palm? How is that staggering? Well… as Kevin Tofel explains it is all a matter of how you look at the numbers. What we SHOULD be looking at is growth rate – that is – percentage growth from October through January:

That is HUGELY indicative of the momentum Android has and the deceleration of other platforms. Looking just at market share gain/growth you might not realize how poorly Microsoft is performing, how Palm is slowing more than any other platform, and how little RIM and Apple are improving. And for that matter, how ridiculously quickly Android is growing.

The numbers are looking good my friends and I would fully expect these various momentums (momentii?) to continue. Apple always gets a huge uptick with a new iPhone, and WebOS should perform better when they finally offer some new devices (if they’re unique), but I don’t see Android slowing down much over the next 10 months – at all. Not domestically or globally.

Inventor of the cell phone gave up his iPhone for a Motorola Droid [update]

Phil Nickinson — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 14:55:21 -0800

REVERSE GRAFFITI: South African Artists Tag Walls By Scrubbing Them Clean

Yuka Yoneda — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 10:24:24 -0800

Graffiti is one of the most controversial art forms out there since it defaces public property – but what if graffiti artists actually cleaned up the walls they tagged up by etching their sketches into the grime that already exists on them? The delightful process, called reverse graffiti or “scrubbing” isn’t new – we’ve written about it here and here before – but awesome examples of it keep popping up. Case in point: one band of students in Durban, South Africa who’ve been gracing spaces with works of the subversive street art form in their area.

Read the rest of REVERSE GRAFFITI: South African Artists Tag Walls By Scrubbing Them Clean

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Post tags: clean graffiti, durban, eco design, eco street art, green art eco art, green design, green graffiti, green street art, reverse graffiti, scrubbing, Street art, sustainable design

And The World Keeps Moving.

(author unknown) — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:58:58 -0800

Plastic Wrap Door Trick

nimaco05 — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 13:29:59 -0800

Horsetail Firefall

pieter | today and tomorrow — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 10:16:04 -0800

This photo was made by Rob Kroenert on February 18th 2010 in the Yosemite National Park. Every year during the month of February, the Horsetall Falls turn golden around sunset. Amazing.

Express yourself with the Blogger Template Designer

Siobhan Quinn — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 09:57:00 -0800

by Siobhan Quinn, Blogger Product Manager

We’re thrilled to announce that the Blogger Template Designer has launched to Blogger in Draft, our experimental playground where users can try out Blogger’s latest features. The Template Designer brings a new level of customization to your blog. Take a look:

In the Template Designer, you’ll find:

15 new professional templates to start from (and more on their way)
Custom blog layouts with one, two and three columns
Hundreds of professional background images from iStockphoto
Customizable colors, fonts, and more!

We have more details and tips in our Blogger Template Designer post on the Blogger in Draft blog.

We worked with iStockphoto, the leading microstock image marketplace, to put together a great collection of beautiful images and patterns to use as backgrounds on your blogs. The photos are stunning, and are free to use on your Blogger blog.

That being said, today’s launch is just the beginning. We’ll add more of our own designs over the coming weeks and months and, through the new Template Design Group, we’ll be working with members of the Blogger design community to bring their templates into the new Template Designer.

Help test drive the Blogger Template Designer by logging into Blogger In Draft, and learn more about the new features in more detail on the Blogger In Draft blog.

How To Use Video SEO To Jump To The Top Of Google Search Results

Guest Author — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 15:29:40 -0800

Editor’s note: In the following guest post, Fliqz CEO Benjamin Wayne reveals some of the secrets of using video to help boost the search results rankings of your website. Fliqz is an online video platform.

As most search engine optimization (SEO) experts are aware, getting a first-page Google result is harder than ever. Not only do Google’s search and indexing algorithms continue to evolve in complexity, but Google has given over more and more of its search results real estate to “blended” search results, displaying videos and images towards the top of the first page, and pushing down—and sometimes off the page—traditional web results that would have otherwise competed for top rankings.

But where problems arise, so do opportunities. Although Google’s newfound enthusiasm for video has created more competition for fewer traditional search results, it has enabled sites with video assets—even sites that would otherwise score poorly in the Google index—to successfully achieve first-page rankings. In fact, Forrester Research found that videos were 53 times more likely than traditional web pages to receive an organic first-page ranking.

Here’s what a blended search result looks like for the search query “777 built in 4 minutes“:

Those images at the top of the search results are video thumbnails, and today, there’s only two ways to get there:

1. Upload your video to YouTube.

The advantage of this is that you are 100% certain to be indexed into Google’s search engine. This does not guarantee you’ll get a first-page result, but at least it ensures that Google knows your content exists.

The drawback, of course, is that anyone who clicks on a YouTube result will be taken to YouTube, which may be fine if your goal is branding (i.e., you only care that people watch your video). If your goal is driving traffic, as is typically the case with SEO, this won’t be a successful strategy.

Your other alternative is:

2. Video SEO

Video SEO is a set of techniques designed to make sure that:

Google finds your video content
Google successfully indexes your video content
Google will display your video content when specific keywords are entered as search terms

Here’s how to make it work:

You Need Video Content

Google is fairly flexible in what it considers to be video content. You can use actual video footage, but screen captures, slide shows, animated PowerPoint slides, and other content will work just as well. Google can’t actually “see” what’s inside the video content, so it relies on title and other meta-data to determine what content your video actually contains.

Submission, Not Discovery

With traditional web pages, Google utilizes crawlers to discover and index web content. Unfortunately, Google can’t read Flash very well (although it is trying), and as a result, most video content is invisible to Google’s search crawlers. Therefore, the best way to appear in Google’s blended search results is to submit your video to Google using a Video Sitemap. This is similar to an XML sitemap, but is formatted specifically for video, and only contains information about your video content. It is submitted using Google’s Webmaster Tools.

The most common error in Video SEO is to assume that because you have submitted the web page on which a video resides, that the video content itself is being indexed.

You’ll also need to make sure that you have a robots.txt file on all video pages, to ensure that Google can easily verify that the locations on the Web you’ve submitted do in fact exist, and that they contain embed codes which indicate the presence of a video.

Title and Title Tags

When ranking videos, Google primarily considers the match between search keywords and the video title. Although Google allows you to submit other meta-data such as description and keywords, these currently don’t have much influence on your search ranking. Google likes it when the title tag of the page matches the title of the video, and will give a higher weighting for results where this is the case.

Video SEO is Long Tail

Like traditional SEO, you’re much more likely to see results with Video SEO if you target more specific, or longer tail, search terms. A video titled “Dog” is unlikely to produce a first-page ranking, while a video titled “German Shepherd Police Dog” will be more likely to score well in Google’s algorithm. Since Google can’t determine the actual content of the video, you might consider submitting the same video multiple times with different titles that match potential search terms.

New and Small Don’t Matter

With traditional SEO, the age of a website is an important consideration for Google in deciding its ranking. Google also considers things like the number of pages on the site, and the number of links to the site, along with the importance of the places those links originate.

In Video SEO, none of this matters. This means that even new sites and small sites can compete on equal footing with larger and more established players. Publishers who are too small or too new to even consider traditional SEO can still be taking advantage of Video SEO opportunities.

For the Foreseeable Future, Video SEO is a Winning Strategy

As time goes by, Google’s discovery and indexing of video content will no doubt become more sophisticated, and as competition for video results increases, it will become harder for sites to achieve these first-page rankings. However, the number of web pages still massively outnumbers indexed video assets, and for as long as that continues, publishers will have an opportunity to jump to the top of Google’s search results through Video SEO.

CrunchBase Information

Google

Fliqz

Information provided by CrunchBase

Brizzly’s Been Busy — Buying Apps, Creating Guides, And Going On Picnics.

MG Siegler — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:55:40 -0800

Since it launched last July at our Realtime Stream CrunchUp, Brizzly has been one of the best web-based Twitter apps. It offers support for viewing pictures inline, shortened link expansion, multiple Twitter accounts, and even some Facebook support. But they’ve been quiet in recent months. Now we know why.

The Brizzly team went into hibernation because they made a couple of acquisitions, and have been working on a new feature. First, they bought one of my favorite Twitter iPhone apps, Birdfeed. One of the earliest apps to gain Twitter geolocation support, I had been worrying that Birdfeed would go extinct because developer Buzz Andersen recently joined Jack Dorsey’s mobile payment startup, Square. But since the acquisition (which actually occurred in the November/December timeframe), Andersen has been working closely with the Brizzly team to wrap the app in its new skin.

And it’s more than just a new skin, as Brizzly for the iPhone, the app gained support for posting pictures to the service (or using Flickr), Twitter Lists, and tab editing to better customize the app. Also, if you are on a tweet page that has a photo link attached, you’ll be able to see a preview of that photo. It’s a robust client that stands among the best for the iPhone. And it has a bonus feature: News.

The News tab on the iPhone app actually ties in to the big new feature for Brizzly itself: Brizzly Guide. Previously, Brizzly’s website had an area on the side where users could explain the current trending topics on Twitter. Now, that area is a larger site, Brizzly Guide, which gives you more detail about the trending topics. This is actually quite useful as a source of news information because it can tell you both quickly and rather throughly why something is trending. For example, this page for Chuck Norris shows his name is trending because today is his 70th birthday. The page includes images (in this case, of Norris), and links to other relevant information about him. It also has an except from Wikipedia to tell you more.

These Brizzly Guides are all community-built, like Wikipedia. Anyone (with a Brizzly account) can edit them at anytime. Top contributors are displayed at the bottom of the Guide site, as are top trends this week. You can also search these guides, to look up previously hot topics.

The other acquisition Brizzly made could potentially be very interesting in the long run: Wikirank. Though the service was shut down a little while ago so that the team behind Small Batch Inc. (its parent) could focus on their new project, Typekit (which aims to better fonts to the web), it remained an interesting one. As a visualization and analytics tool for Wikipedia, Wikirank showed data in interesting ways that offered insight not seen on the face of Wikipedia itself. Though Brizzly co-founder Jason Shellen isn’t yet sure what they’re going to do with Wikirank, the idea will probably be along the lines of visualization and analytics of this Brizzly Guide information.

Shellen also notes that Brizzly signed an enterprise agreement for Typekit so that they can use it on Brizzly Guide.

Something else Brizzly has been working on: a new idea called “Picnics” (here’s an example). Basically, this allows someone to pick out tweets from the public Twitter stream and respond to them in a different, but still public, environment. Brizzly tested out the idea the other night during the hit Fox show House (frequent House director Greg Yaitanes is an investor in Brizzly parent Thing Labs), and Fox even promoted it. Actor Jesse Spencer (who plays Dr. Robert Chase on the show) responded to tweets directed at him as they came in.

While Picnic isn’t ready for a full-scale roll-out just yet, Shellen notes that it “should prove to really transformative for us in the near future – expect to see more picnics in the future.”

And if all that wasn’t enough, something else Brizzly has been working on recently: a new round of funding. Stay tuned.

Find the free Brizzly iPhone app in the App Store here.

CrunchBase Information

Brizzly

Thing Labs

Birdfeed

Information provided by CrunchBase

doubleTwist’s iTunes Alternative (That Works With Android) Adds Podcast Support

Jason Kincaid — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:15:05 -0800

Over the last six months, doubleTwist, the iTunes alternative that lets you manage your music, videos, and photos, has really been stepping up its game. In October the company integrated an Amazon-powered MP3 store, allowing users to download and sync their music directly with any of hundreds of compatible devices, much as they would with the iTunes/iPod combo. And today it’s adding a new feature that makes it an even more viable iTunes competitor: support for podcasts.

Co-founder Monique Farantzos says that doubleTwist has built and integrated a podcast search engine with 20 times as many podcasts as iTunes offers. Rankings are based on popularity (as opposed to a simple listing that would grow unmanageable with that much content). The new feature is launching on Windows now, with Mac support for podcasts coming next month. Later this year, doubleTwist will offer an API allowing other applications to tap into the podcast search engine. The company is also planning to launch a client for Android (which would presumably allow users to stream content) over the summer.

Farantzos says that doubleTwist is also going to start offering more cloud-based services. In May, users will be able to store the podcasts they’re subscribed to server-side, so they’ll be able to use the same subscriptions on their desktop and mobile clients without having to dock them together.

While it supports many devices, doubleTwist is becoming increasingly popular as an ‘iTunes for Android’. In January, it forged a partnership with T-Mobile, which promotes doubleTwist and has pre-installed it on some devices. Now, 53% of doubleTwist users are using it to sync with Android phones. The application also supports syncing with many other devices, including WebOS, BlackBerry, Sony PSP, and digital cameras.

doubleTwist is still missing some of the functionality that iTunes has, like the ability to download TV shows and movies. But the podcast functionality will add some video content, and 1 in 5 users are using it to manage video content they already have. And some people may even appreciate the added simplicity if they’re just interested in music. In any case, it probably isn’t worth holding your breath for doubleTwist to add movies and TV downloads any time soon — content owners are still set on wrapping that content in DRM.

Also see Songbird, another iTunes alternative (you can see our past coverage here).

CrunchBase Information

doubleTwist

Information provided by CrunchBase

OMG, Someone Threw a Cat at Vivienne Westwood

(author unknown) — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 06:30:34 -0800

Google Reader Play

Alex Chitu — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 14:59:00 -0800

Google Reader Play is a new way to read popular articles and an interesting interface for browsing web pages.

"In Google Reader Play, items are presented one at a time, and each item is big and full-screen. After you've read an item, just click the next arrow to move to the next one, or click any item on the filmstrip below to fast-forward. Of course, you can click the title or image of any item to go to the original version. And since so much of the good stuff online is visual, we automatically enlarge images and auto-play videos full-screen," explains Google.

The interface is optimized for posts that include images and for short blog posts. You can use keyboard shortcuts to navigate to the next post or you can start the slideshow view to only look at the images and headlines.

I was disappointed to see that Google Reader Play doesn't show your subscriptions. It only shows a list of recommended pages and Google uses your actions (starring, liking or sharing items) to improve the recommendations. If you want to read your subscriptions in Google Reader Play, use this URL:

http://www.google.com/reader/play/#stream

Reader Play, Google's Slideshow of Interesting Stuff

Philipp Lenssen — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 15:13:59 -0800

OK, I can see myself waste some time with this. Google Reader Play is a casual, push style way to feed yourself distracting/ enlightening/ inspiring snippets, imagery and videos. You can star a specific page, Like it or share it, but just jumping from page to page using the bottom navigation works too.

Note Reader Play is personalized. Google writes, “We use the technology behind Recommended Items in Reader to populate Reader Play with the most interesting content on the web. While you don’t need a Google account to use Reader Play, your experience will be personalized if you sign in.” Google says that “Reader Play adapts to your tastes” (click Like, and more stuff like that should appear, Google suggests).

You can also set this app to auto-play, which sort of clashes with specific YouTube videos though... it would have been smarter to wait until a video ended playing before moving to the next bit. Now, I noticed that the actual source or author of a particular piece ends up as a kind of by-the-way footnote in this stream of stuff – even clicking on the “from” link will merely load that blog into Reader Play, and not open the source site – but I guess that might be the way of RSS and/ or the future.

[Thanks MZaza!]

[By Philipp Lenssen | Origin: Reader Play, Google's Slideshow of Interestin ... | Comments]

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Macros for Google Spreadsheets

Alex Chitu — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 15:55:00 -0800

If you wanted to use macros in Google Spreadsheets, there's a good news: Google Apps Script is now available for all Google Docs users. That means you can write scripts for performing repetitive actions, creating custom functions or even adding advanced features to Google Spreadsheets.

You can try one of the featured scripts by opening a spreadsheet, clicking on the "Insert" menu and selecting "Script". Unfortunately, Google's sample scripts aren't very useful: you can play Hangman, draw a fractal, convert a named range to a CSV file or translate the text from a cell into 10 other languages.

After installing a script, you need to reload the spreadsheet to be able to use it. Then you have to find the UI element that triggers the script: usually it's a new menu. Clicking on the menu entry doesn't run the script: you first need to authorize the script and then you have to click on the menu entry one more time. It's not user friendly.

To write your own scripts, read these tutorials. You'll have to type some JavaScript code, so you should be familiar with this scripting language.

NOW LIVE: Street View update covers 96% of UK roads

Alex Turnbull — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:02:59 -0800

In an absolutely enormous update, Google have in the last few minutes launched brand new Street View images for the whole of the UK – bringing the total coverage to a reported 96% of all UK roads.

The images cover roads from Land’s End to John o’ Groats, and actually extend all the way beyond, right up into Shetland.

Google have recorded images of a further 210,000 miles of roads, bringing the total to approximately 246,985 miles of coverage.

We expect lots of new fascinating and probably scandalous sights to be discovered in the next couple of days, so be sure to leave a comment with a link to anything you find!

Update: This update also provided imagery for Hong Kong and Macau.

For all the very latest funny and shocking Street View sightings, you should follow us on Twitter!

Locations: England, Scotland / Categories: Site News, Street Views

View in Google Earth

Google Street View Hong Kong

Philipp Lenssen — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 02:03:32 -0800

Google released Street View imagery for Hong Kong. Hong Kong is a fun and busy place where it’s easy to get lost, perhaps less so with these photo maps. [Thanks Keith!]

If you’re looking for a Leberwurstbrot in Hong Kong...

[By Philipp Lenssen | Origin: Google Street View Hong Kong | Comments]

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Now playing: Apps Script for Google Docs

A Googler — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 14:20:00 -0800

The Google Apps team here in New York City is a hotbed of movie fanatics. But while planning a recent movie night, we realized we spend too much time organizing our events and not enough time discussing, debating and watching movies.

To take the hard work out of planning, we turned to Google Apps Script, which lets you write short programs that automatically perform simple actions within a spreadsheet. For example, our Movie Night script figures out which movies are playing close by and invites everyone to vote on what they’d most like to see.

Google Apps Script has been available to Google Apps customers since January, and today we’re excited to bring it to everyone who uses Google spreadsheets. Apps Script can be helpful for all kinds of things, from customized party invites to sending out holiday letters — in fact Apps Script can be especially helpful for those repetitive, time consuming tasks.

To help you find useful scripts, we’ve also launched a public gallery where you can check out our Movie Night script and browse other available scripts. If you’re feeling adventurous, try your hand at writing your own script and submit it to the gallery for others to use. To see the gallery or install a script in your spreadsheet, click on “Insert” and select “Script.”

Check out the Google Docs blog for more information about Apps Script, and to learn about writing your own scripts, visit the Google Apps Developer Blog.

Posted by Evin Levey, Product Manager, Google Apps

Google Reader Makes A More Visual Play

Erick Schonfeld — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 14:08:58 -0800

Google launched a new service today in from its Labs called Google Reader Play. It is a more visual way to browse through the most popular items being saved and shared on Google Reader. When you launch it, you are presented with a large photo, video, or text excerpt on the main part of the screen, and can flip through by clicking on arrows or selecting an item from the filmstrip at the bottom of the screen.

Google Reader Play doesn’t require you to sign in, but if you do then you can star, share, and like items, and it starts to recommend things to you based on what your friends share, star, and like in Google Reader. The user interface seems to borrow a lot from StumbleUpon, with its concept of randomly flicking through the best stuff on the Web. In particular, it’s very similar to StumbleVideo, except it includes more than just videos. It is very image-heavy. The user interface reminds me of some elements of enjosythin.gs as well in the way that it presents images and text excerpts in a blown-up manner. The arrows are very Fast Flip, another Labs experiment for the Google News in making magazine and newspaper articles more visually browsable.

Like many of its other recent efforts, especially with Buzz, Google Reader Play is an attempt to encourage more direct sharing and to capture that sharing data. More and more Website referral traffic is coming from sharing service such as Twitter and Facebook. Google wants to be in the sharing game as well.

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Google Reader

StumbleUpon

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Life Expectancy at Retirement

Greg Mankiw — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 13:44:00 -0800

Source: The Economist. Click on graphic to enlarge.

Americans, as well as citizens of many other advanced nations, now spend about twice as many years in retirement as they did a generation or two ago. During that time, they expect the government to provide them with income support and healthcare. Is it any wonder that we face serious fiscal problems?

I hope the president's fiscal commission makes raising the age of eligibility for these programs one of its main recommendations.