Month: December 2010

Categories
Software and Apps

DroidStreamer Android App To Stream Videos On Android Phones Released

A new application on the Android market makes it pretty simple to search and stream video content from across the web from one place. Called DroidStreamer, the application gathers content from a number of legitimate sources including YouTube and presents them from one place so that users need not scour the internet to catch their favorite videos.

Do note that the content aggregation does not seem to be automatic and the developers are expected to manually update new content. This can cause delay as the application gathers more content. Anyway, for now the Droid Streamer Pro app is still in beta and hence you can excuse the bugs.

TV Shows currently accessible over Droid Streamer include The Simpsons, Family Guy, South Park and Scrubs while movies in the collection include Avatar, Terminator 1,2,3 and Iron Man 1,2.

You can download the app by searching for ‘Droid Streamer‘ on the Android market or use the QR code below. Do note that this is a free to download app.

Droid Streamer Pro

Categories
HTC Mobile

HTC Thunderbolt Features And Specs Revealed?

A German retailer has published the tech specs and features of the much anticipated HTC Thunderbolt. But before you go ahead and read them, do take this rumor with a pinch of salt. The features look too good and we are not sure if HTC can manage to put all of this together and sell for a price that is on par with the other offerings currently in the market.

So what are we expecting from the Thunderbolt? The device is expected to come with a 4.3″ display, a 1.2 GHz Qualcomm dual-core processor, an 8-Megapixel camera, a 5-Megapixel secondary camera, 1080p Full HD video recording and playback, 16GB internal memory that is expandable up to 128 GB and a 1800mAh battery. The device can supposedly run on GSM, LTE, 3G and EDGE networks and supports both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. And one more thing – this Gingerbread running device will also have a kickstand.

If this rumor is true and assuming the device will launch very soon, this can be one real top-notch phone for 2011. Anyway, for the moment, we will just wait and watch for some official word.

Categories
Miscellaneous Web

Freelancer.com Acquires Webmaster Talk Forums

Freelancer.com, one of the biggest online platforms that lets developers connect with companies to build web based projects has announced that they are acquiring Webmaster Talk, a popular discussion board for webmasters.

In an email sent to Webmaster Talk members, Matt Barie, the founder and CEO of Freelancer has said,

“It’s never been an easier time to start a business. We want this to be the
go-to site for people looking to build successful things on the Internet, with
an active community of experts and seasoned entrepreneurs.

To reflect this, we are renaming Webmaster-talk to Tycoon Talk.

Above all, this is your community and we’re honored to be a part of it.
Most, if not all, of the existing forums will continue, albeit with some
rearrangement. We will also be extending the focus with some new
cutting-edge boards.”

The past year and a half has been pretty eventful year for Freelancer.com as the company rebranded itself from GetAFreelancer to Freelancer. The company recently announced the acquisition of LimeExchange that saw its overall membership grow to 2 million users.

It will be interesting to see how this new acquisition shapes the freelancer community that Matt Barie has built with his website.

Categories
Gadgets

NOOKcolor Is Barnes & Noble Best-Selling Product In Forty Years

Barnes & Noble has announced that it has sold a record number of NOOKcolor eReader devices during the Christmas shopping season that has taken the device to become the hottest selling product on Barnes & Noble in its four decade history. While the media statement did not disclose the exact number of NOOKcolor units sold, it does note that “millions of NOOK eReading devices” have been sold.

Another interesting revelation from the company’s press statement is the fact that digital sales have overtaken sales of physical books on BN.com which is apparently the second largest online bookstore in the world.

Barnes & Noble launched the new NOOKcolor eReader back in November this year. The popularity of the device soon surged following a successful rooting of the device that brought Android market to NOOKcolor. Rooted NOOKcolor devices are now also capable to handling Kindle compatible ebooks which enhances the value of this eReader even further.

Categories
Amazon Gadgets

Amazon Kindle Book Lending Now Available – A Social Network Of Book Readers In The Offing?

Amazon has announced a new feature to Kindle that will let users “lend” ebooks to their friends. The feature is not universal and it is upon the publisher to decide whether or not to allow lending for any particular book. Books that are lending-compatible will now display a new ‘Loan Book‘ that users can click to lend the books to their friends – by entering their name and email address.

The recipient need not be a Kindle owner and can access the loaned book on any Kindle compatible device or application. However, books can only be loaned once and for a period of 14 days – possibly a move to encourage users to purchase their favorite books.

While it is too early to judge the future of this service, there is a good chance that Amazon may be looking at building a “network of book readers” using this feature. By letting book lovers lend/borrow books, Amazon can be mining data of the users’ book-loving friends and this could eventually bring about a social network for book readers.

Would you like to see such a network?

Categories
Gadgets HTC

HTC Scribe Tablet To Take On Apple iPad

The beginning of 2010 saw people questioning the utility of a computer with a form factor like the iPad. Curiously despite a large number of people seeing no value in such a device, sales did pick up and today we have almost all the major tech giants building their own tablets to make their foray into this new space.

Now, according to a report on Bloomberg, Taiwanese company HTC has filed a trademark for a product called HTC Scribe which it explains is a “handheld wireless device, namely a tablet computer“. We do not have more information about this in terms of what this device could come with (specs) or the price and launch details.

However, with the Consumer Electronics Show scheduled for next week, we wonder if HTC would take the opportunity to unveil this new device to consumers. We will have to wait and see.

Categories
iOS Jailbreak Software and Apps

New RedSn0w Untethered Jailbreak Version Released – Windows Version Imminent

The iPhone Dev Team has just released a new version of their RedSn0w untethered jailbreak software. Like the earlier versions, this one too is a beta software and is only advised for testers. If you have already jailbroken your iPhone using one of the earlier test softwares, the Dev Team has advised users to restore before trying this jailbreak.

So what’s new on the latest beta version? Nothing much except that the new v4 incorporates usbmux software natively which means users no longer have to separately install and run this program. Also, the new version should fix a few bugs that were detected with the earlier version. You can download this version by clicking here. Do remember that this one is not for novice users and only attempt a jailbreak if you think you can handle any issues that may arise.

An interesting last line from the iPhone Dev team. They have noted,

“We believe this is the last big code change.  If beta4 goes smoothly, we can move on to opening up to Windows testers, the remaining devices, and fixing the Bluetooth and Skype issues.”

If you are a Windows user, stay right here. A Windows version should be available for testing soon.

Categories
Web

Wikipedia Fundraiser To End Today?

As you know, Wikipedia has been asking its readers for donations to cover the operating costs of their not-for-profit Wikimedia foundation. From the looks of it, the fundraising program has been a success with close to $14.8 million raised as of date. The stated goal was to raise $16 million that could cover the organization’s costs for most of 2011.

Wikipedia has now posted a message on their website seeking for minimal donations from readers that could help the organization wind up their fundraiser. A new banner on the Wikipedia website reads,

Wikipedia Donations

The latest fundraising efforts are quite phenomenal considering that similar efforts last year had only helped the organization raise close to $10 million. Jimmy Wales had earlier noted that his organization would need at least $20 million to cover costs for 2011 and that close to $16 million of this would be raised from the visitors to the Wikimedia websites.

Categories
Gadgets Samsung

Samsung Galaxy Player Launch In April 2011?

We have been hearing a fair bit of rumors about the upcoming iPod Touch rival from Samsung. Yesterday, the South Korean tech giant had confirmed speculations that they shall be unveiling the new music player during the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The device is expected to work like a Galaxy S but without the phone part. In addition to this, the Galaxy Player shall also come without a Super AMOLED screen and will measure slightly smaller than a Galaxy S.

While all of this has got users excited, here’s some bad news. The Samsung Galaxy Player is not expected to launch internationally until April or May of next year. According to these reports, Samsung is expected to launch the device in Korea next month although international roll out is expected to be phased between April and June.

In any case, these are still speculations. So hold on until Samsung opens up officially about these launch details next week during CES.

Categories
Microsoft Web

Download Free Music On Bing With Holiday Song Giveaway

Looking for some free giveaway this new year? Bing is now offering a free music download to every user who will enter their email address on their new Holiday Season Giveaway page. The offer is restricted to the first 500,000 users who will enter the program and every signed in user will be eligible to download one music from Amazon (at a maximum price of $1.29). Of course, you will need an Amazon account to redeem your gift coupon.

The offer is expected to expire by December 31 and winners are expected to redeem their gifts by the 24th of next month. Do note that the offer is only available to American users.

In case you are wondering if there is a catch in this entire offer, well there is. The giveaway page notes,

“By providing your email address you agree to receive future communications about Bing, including the Bing newsletter. The newsletter gives you tips & tricks plus news about all the great features and programs Bing has to offer. You can unsubscribe at any time.”

So there you go. In case you are someone who doesn’t like receiving newsletters, this offer may not be for you.