To display the most relevant entries to you in priority,
vote for the stories you are interested in
()
and reject those that you are not interested in
()
pimg alt="YouTube Search" src="http://www.readwriteweb.com/imgYouTubeSearch.jpg" width="150"
height="132" /If you were anywhere in the vicinity of an online video enthusiast who had embedded a
a href="http://youtube.com"YouTube/a video, yesterday, you were likely greeted with a cacophony of
profanities. Why? Many users found their embedded videos were now marred by a large gray search bar
plastered across the top of their embeds. Functional though it may have been, it wasn't pretty. And
a
href="http://search.twitter.com/search?q=ands=youtube+search+barphrase=ors=nots=tag=lang=allfrom=to=ref=near=within=15units=misince=until=2008-12-04rpp=50"people
weren't happy/a./p p align="right"emSponsor/embr /a
href='http://d.openx.org/ck.php?n=12829amp;cb=12829' target='_blank'img
src='http://d.openx.org/avw.php?zoneid=861amp;cb=12829amp;n=12829' border='0' alt='' align="right"
//a/p pThe search bar was part of the YouTube skin, so a
href="http://lifehacker.com/5101887/get-rid-of-youtubes-embedded-search-bar"users could remove it
programmatically/a. But for people with multiple embedded YouTube videos, that meant a lot of
editing./p pWell, apparently, YouTube was listening. And they've quickly rectified the problem. The
search bar is still there, but now with a much more graceful implementation. /p pAs you'll see from
the embedded video below, on some of the embedded videos the search bar is now triggered by a
mouseover. Move your mouse onto the embedded video and it slides into view. Move it off the video
and the search bar disappears./p centerobject width="425" height="344"param name="movie"
value="http://www.youtube.com/v/FNXe_3gVz6Icolor1=0xb1b1b1color2=0xcfcfcfhl=enfeature=player_embeddedfs=1"/paramparam
name="allowFullScreen" value="true"/paramembed
src="http://www.youtube.com/v/FNXe_3gVz6Icolor1=0xb1b1b1color2=0xcfcfcfhl=enfeature=player_embeddedfs=1"
type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425"
height="344"/embed/object/center pBetter? Not so fast. Or more accurately: you better be fast. Why?
There's still a little hiccup when you're trying to grab the embed code on an embedded video. Click
on additional information icon to get to the embed code. Search bar slides into place. Now try to
grab the embed code to copy it. If you wait too long, the search bar times out and puts everything
away. You've got to be pretty quick on the draw to grab the embed code./p pSo the search box is
still flawed, but much less obtrusive./p pOne has to wonder - if it only took a few hours to
correct this problem - why did YouTube choose to roll out the first version? Were they hoping users
would take kindly to the missing chunk of real estate? Were they assuming the ease of searching
would outweigh any aesthetic impact? /p pIt's hard to say. But hopefully, YouTube enthusiasts and
Google have found a happy middle ground with this implementation. Once some of the kinks are worked
out./p pemYouTube search bar image courtesy of a
href="http://lifehacker.com/5101887/get-rid-of-youtubes-embedded-search-bar"Lifehacker/a/em/p
stronga
href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/youtube_search_bar_more_graceful.php#comments-open"Discuss/a/strong
pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/cQ_yEjfWBV3rbziEhwxoHpu-emU/a"img
src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/cQ_yEjfWBV3rbziEhwxoHpu-emU/i" border="0"
ismap="true"/img/a/pdiv class="feedflare" a
href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/readwriteweb?a=D0DEBE3e"img
src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/readwriteweb?d=1035" border="0"/img/a a
href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/readwriteweb?a=5cr4gbnI"img
src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/readwriteweb?d=41" border="0"/img/a a
href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/readwriteweb?a=OZgLYer3"img
src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/readwriteweb?i=OZgLYer3" border="0"/img/a a
href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/readwriteweb?a=HTGwsBtV"img
src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/readwriteweb?i=HTGwsBtV" border="0"/img/a a
href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/readwriteweb?a=uLSjjRmQ"img
src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/readwriteweb?i=uLSjjRmQ" border="0"/img/a a
href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/readwriteweb?a=PlUAtjBY"img
src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/readwriteweb?d=52" border="0"/img/a a
href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/readwriteweb?a=KfbuTqam"img
src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/readwriteweb?d=1034" border="0"/img/a /divimg
src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/readwriteweb/~4/4QqZALd92Vs" height="1" width="1"/
img src='http://www.wired.com/images/slideshow/2008/12/gallery_gizmodo/gizmodo_t.jpg'/img: Photo:
Eliot Van Buskirk/Wired.compNEW YORK – Popular technology blog Gizmodo has set
up shop in a Manhattan art gallery to showcase some of the rarest and most intriguing gadgets from
the past hundred years or so, including never-released Apple prototypes, the first Sony Walkman, a
flying aerial surveillance camera and more./pp The Gizmodo Gallery opened Thursday at the Reed
Annex (151 Orchard St.), but we snuck in Wednesday night to photograph the most fascinating stuff
on display here. The show runs through Sunday afternoon, giving New Yorkers, tourists and gadget
freaks a chance to gaze upon important pieces of our technological history, and interact with some
more recent gadgets. /p img
src='http://www.wired.com/images/slideshow/2008/12/gallery_gizmodo/dragan_t.jpg'/img: Photo: Eliot
Van Buskirk/Wired.compNico Reyes of the Reed Annex sits blissfully unaware of the Draganflyer X6, a
flying surveillance device that "makes crane shots obsolete," according to its creators. That may
be the case, but we can't fight off our initial impression that this could be the last thing we
will ever see. /pp With an expert at the remote control, the aerial carbon-fiber shutterbug
navigates tight indoor spaces with ease according to Gizmodo editorial director Brian Lam, who said
the beast is capable of holding steady in winds of up to 18 mph. A "failed motor logic" system
keeps the system in operation even if two of the motors crap out. /pp Lam said the Draganflyer X6
accepts a night-vision camera or HD camera in addition to the vanilla flavor, and communicates its
location to the remote using a GPS. As great as this gadget is for filmmakers and photographers,
its potential application as a weapon is a bit worrying in a Terminator sort of way. /p img
src='http://www.wired.com/images/slideshow/2008/12/gallery_gizmodo/sony_walkman_t.jpg'/img: Photo:
Eliot Van Buskirk/Wired.compHere's the portable audio player that started it all: the original Sony
Walkman, on loan from Sony's archives in Tokyo. Initially panned by critics, the Walkman became a
worldwide sensation, eventually selling 340 million units. /pp Oddly, the device that kicked off
the portable-audio revolution includes two headphone jacks for sharing music mdash; surely,
unintentional prescience on the part of Sony, which could never have predicted the later connection
between portable music formats and music sharing. /pp Model Alyssa Miller holds the original-model
Walkman./p img
src='http://www.wired.com/images/slideshow/2008/12/gallery_gizmodo/apple_tablet_t.jpg'/img: Photo:
Eliot Van Buskirk/Wired.compLegendary Silicon Valley design firm Frog Design lent Gizmodo a couple
of Apple prototypes to display, including this MacBook Tablet mock-up, modeled here by Paulo. /pp
Apple and Frog Design conceived this prototype using their Snow White design language, according to
Gizmodo's Brian Lam. Although this portable tablet computer never saw the light of day, echoes of
its design can be seen in the Apple IIc. /p img
src='http://www.wired.com/images/slideshow/2008/12/gallery_gizmodo/atari_t.jpg'/img: Photo: Eliot
Van Buskirk/Wired.compAtari never released a portable version of the Atari 2600 game console, but
if it did, it may have ended up looking a lot like this Atari 2600 VCSp, seen here in the hands of
writer Lisa Katayama. /pp The Atari 2600 VCSp is the work of hacker extraordinaire Benjamin
Heckendorn (better known online as Ben Heck). This model is the first Heck ever made; he went on to
build scores of vintage gaming mods that earned him a following among geeks and fans of vintage
gaming. /p img
src='http://www.wired.com/images/slideshow/2008/12/gallery_gizmodo/tenori_t.jpg'/img: Photo: Eliot
Van Buskirk/Wired.compThis double-sided MIDI controller allows musicians to build loops of sound by
pressing LED buttons arranged in a 16-by-16 grid. /pp This a href="
http://blog.wired.com/music/2007/10/tenori-on-lite-.html "video/a explains how it works, but the
gist is that you control which loops play, and when they start and stop, by activating and
deactivating the lights. /pp Unlike some of the other gear on display, the Tenori-On will be
playable by gallery-goers who can listen to their own performances through a pair of headphones. /p
img src='http://www.wired.com/images/slideshow/2008/12/gallery_gizmodo/dyson_level_t.jpg'/img:
Photo: Eliot Van Buskirk/Wired.compGizmodo’s Brian Lam told us that the original Dyson vacuum
cleaner was initially crippled in the U.S. market because manufacturers were worried it would
cannibalize the multimillion-dollar market for replacement vacuum bags. /pp Luckily for inventor
James Dyson, this version of his design was manufactured in Japan starting in 1983, giving Dyson
the financial wherewithal to start making them himself. Twenty five years later, the descendents of
the original Dyson are probably the world's most coveted model mdash; itself something of an
accomplishment. Who would have predicted that vacuum cleaners could become such a hot topic? /pp
Gizmodo's Matt Buchanan wields this original Dyson./p img
src='http://www.wired.com/images/slideshow/2008/12/gallery_gizmodo/death_star_t.jpg'/img: Photo:
Eliot Van Buskirk/Wired.compOne of the largest Lego sets ever released, this Death Star was
destroyed on its way from Lego to the Gizmodo expo. Luckily, the company introduced Gizmodo to Lego
enthusiast Jonathan Lopes of Brooklyn. /pp The self-described "Lego nerd" arrived on the scene to
perform a reverse Luke Skywalker on the Death Star, rebuilding it in time for it to be displayed
Thursday morning mdash; no small feat, considering that it's made from 3,800 pieces and that he
worked only from a picture of the fully assembled version. /p img
src='http://www.wired.com/images/slideshow/2008/12/gallery_gizmodo/apple_phone_t.jpg'/img: Photo:
Eliot Van Buskirk/Wired.compAnother Apple prototype loaned to Gizmodo by Frog Design, this early
'80s conception of an Apple phone featured a handset and a monochromatic screen and stylus,
allowing the device's potential owner to sign checks electronically over phone lines. /pp When
Apple finally released its first phone in 2007, it didn't even come with a stylus, and the screen
was much smaller. /pp Gizmodo's Matt Buchanan picks up the handset. /p img
src='http://www.wired.com/images/slideshow/2008/12/gallery_gizmodo/thanko_t.jpg'/img: Photo: Eliot
Van Buskirk/Wired.compOne of the most useless pieces of electronics we have ever laid eyes on,
Thanko's USB tie and gloves provide you with heat or cool when they're connected to your computer's
USB port mdash; perfect for commuting and outdoor sports, assuming your USB cable is long enough.
/pp The gloves heat up, while a compact fan located in the necktie's knot generates a gentle breeze
mdash; worthwhile in theory, if not in practice. As Gizmodo's Matt Buchanan points out, "All USB
gadgets are awesome in some way." /p img
src='http://www.wired.com/images/slideshow/2008/12/gallery_gizmodo/picturephone_t.jpg'/img: Photo:
Eliot Van Buskirk/Wired.compWhen this Bell Labs Picturephone debuted at the 1964 World's Fair, many
of those who saw it in action, paired to an identical model in Disneyland, probably thought that
every phone would feature video by the year 2000. They were close; instead, nearly every modern
computer is capable of live videoconferencing, while home phones still largely resemble the models
of the past. /pp A 1956 version of the Picturephone was capable of transmitting one picture every
two seconds. This one apparently improved on that frame-rate by adding another two lines to the
connection. This (nonfunctional) unit was borrowed from the ATT Archives and History Center. /pp
Adam Lam uses the Picturephone pictured here to attempt contact with gadget freaks of the past, or
so we imagine. /p img
src='http://www.wired.com/images/slideshow/2008/12/gallery_gizmodo/zeiss_t.jpg'/img: Photo: Eliot
Van Buskirk/Wired.compGoggles that let you watch video on a little virtual screen have been around
for years, but many of them are plagued by poor image quality, low resolution and headache-inducing
optics. /pp This pair, from the widely respected camera-lens manufacturer Zeiss, is an exception,
with 640x480 resolution and an individual diopter for each eye that allows eyeglass-wearers to use
the goggles. Battery life is four hours mdash; enough for all but the longest films. /pp In this
shot, Gizmodo's Matt Buchanan watches a video stored on a video-capable iPod Nano. /p img
src='http://www.wired.com/images/slideshow/2008/12/gallery_gizmodo/brian_lam_stomping_clear_t.jpg'/img:
Photo: Eliot Van Buskirk/Wired.compWe wondered why two hunks of red foam and metal were included in
the gallery, until Gizmodo editorial director Brian Lam took a break from overseeing the
construction of displays to demonstrate them. /pp With each step, a thunderous, robot-stomp sound
emanated from his slippers, and by the end of his demonstration, we were convinced that they did in
fact belong in the gallery. Sometimes, technology is as much about whimsy as it is about scientific
progress. /pbr style="clear: both;"/ a style='font-size: 10px; color: maroon;'
href='http://www.pheedo.com/hostedMorselClick.php?hfmm=v3:6b9e18984a73592ea4d308fe6242b56b:bTtmJVCxJ9lGNc4OZMi7nnDNfdRSNp7qHeDFRgF27EMqaT5ihPZywp9fWgh8%2BBsCPALBu3%2BCpZUBKQ%3D%3D'img
border='0' title='Add to Facebook' alt='Add to Facebook'
src='http://www.pheedo.com/images/mm/facebook.gif'//a a style='font-size: 10px; color: maroon;'
href='http://www.pheedo.com/hostedMorselClick.php?hfmm=v3:59d2ed89e629e65ca1b7133c227d957d:IIEgq%2F2BEVxp47B87r28xAHNpCMX3nYRI%2BWU5Zja287G4fyYuK6VZaeP0PySF1r79pXUPNmU5sPf'img
border='0' title='Add to Reddit' alt='Add to Reddit'
src='http://www.pheedo.com/images/mm/reddit.png'//a a style='font-size: 10px; color: maroon;'
href='http://www.pheedo.com/hostedMorselClick.php?hfmm=v3:60e104de3882cacf238e898f5c7dab09:U4zOXtQdArUrg9rZLrAT8dcdMMU0kDA%2B231aA85E7Pc3biZ%2F%2FZlJrq9MNCMt9ygVKjf%2B8IaYqUx3'img
border='0' title='Add to digg' alt='Add to digg' src='http://www.pheedo.com/images/mm/digg.gif'//a
a style='font-size: 10px; color: maroon;'
href='http://www.pheedo.com/hostedMorselClick.php?hfmm=v3:10e8898809c081d1154ac9c9c2c43b99:7RQ1Hv22YI2WI24avRIuzZH7U1S3pwjVIXJqPmDTufk5ODGH2h1wn9YAn0Ehb1kMJZefKc9vNwMA'img
border='0' title='Add to Google' alt='Add to Google'
src='http://www.pheedo.com/images/mm/google.png'//a br style="clear: both;"/ a
href="http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?s=7b501d3d90521f2989f5f32410ca9edap=1"img alt=""
style="border: 0;" border="0"
src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?s=7b501d3d90521f2989f5f32410ca9edap=1"//a img
src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=7b501d3d90521f2989f5f32410ca9eda" style="display:
none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/ pa
href="http://feeds.wired.com/~a/wired/index?a=JhSVew"img
src="http://feeds.wired.com/~a/wired/index?i=JhSVew" border="0"/img/a/pimg
src="http://feeds.wired.com/~r/wired/index/~4/475367649" height="1" width="1"/
"That's some beefy phone Motorola's got there. Assuming, of course, we're not looking at a
KIRF which is entirely possible in the three months since the initial leaked Attila (or is it
Atila?) image -- that iPhone looking UI / theme pictured after the break doesn't help with the
legitimacy either. Regardless, it's not like you're holding out for this 320 x 240 pixel WinMo
6.1 candybar anyway, right? No matter how many HSPA frequencies (three, ok) it supports.
Embarrassing Moto, embarrassing. One more shot after the break just to rub it in."
Perhaps it's a good thing the Attila's shipment has been pushed
back from Q4 2008 into the next quarter, as some specs posted in a Hong Kong
enthusiast site don't seem to be that impressive. It's not that it seems to be a bad
phone...just not an especially good one either. Maybe it's a form of mobile oatmeal: it tastes OK
and seems to get the job done; that or it's an engadget KIRF.
An interview with a Dev team member has been released a hungarian website and I managed to find an
english version of it.
Its not planetbeing or any other main ones but its still cool to get an insight of what these guys
are doing cos they normally never do interviews.
Anyways, here is it,
First of all congrats for the job you did so far, but I think you already know that half of the
world is supporting you!
Thanks! Me and my wife read your blog, and after you wrote about the Dev Team, we thought it would
be a good idea to find you. Your blog is the first hungarian language blog or newsportal we
communicate to directly.
Special thanks for that. Let’s start with who the members of the Dev Team (no names of
course) are, and how you organize your work since you are living in different countries,
continents.
Members of the Dev Team are software, electronics and cryptographics professionals from all over
the world. The members of the team - or much more, the core - are from Hungary, France, Belgium,
England, Russia, Israel, Ukraine and the USA. We work in a way, that we distribute our work files
among us, and with team work, we put the ideas together. The average age is about 30 years old.
Most of us don’t know each others name and never met each other.
How many are you?
Everyone has a full time job - and of course this has influence on the Dev Team’s work, but
usually there are 15 active members working on the job at the same time.
How do you organize, where does the idea come from to hack the iPhone, and why did you set it
up?
We are high tech enthusiasts and hackers… hackers in a good way. We
like to crack things and see how they work. Most of us have worked with UNIX and OS X for a long
time. Few of us knew the others from there, and other professionals have joined later, those whose
work we appreciate a lot.
Do you get any threats or ”feedback” from Apple? Did you have any
contact with the company?
Apple never made contact with us. We make sure we never break the law when we release a new
software. PwnageTool and QuickPwn are very complicated, because these softwares remove the
necessary parts from Apple’s firmware. We NEVER release pirated softwares.
How much time do you spend on the crack, and other iPhone-related works?
We are working on it 24 hours a day. While one of us are working on it, others are sleeping, and we
continually switch. IRC is running in the background all the time, even when we are working onour
private jobs, so we have worked on the iPhone thousands of hours. I have to mention, that we spend
a lot of money on special hardware and reverse engineering softwares, also from our own money.
Do you get any donation, do you make any profit out of the huge work you made anyway?
We finance everything with our own money. Most of the team has a good job that pays good money in
the IT field. The Dev Team is our hobby and although it is very time consuming, yet it still is a
hobby. We didn’t take money from anyone!
How many people cracked their iPhones with your program? Do you have any idea how much iPhone users
freed their phones?
We have more than hundred thousand recurrent PwnageTool and QuickPwn users. It is hard to estimate
how many exactly, but a lot.
Why it is so hard to unlock the iPhone 3G? What is the main difference between 2G and 3G that has
prevented the unlock so far?
Apple and Infineon made a very serious work and made almost impossible to unlock the iPhone 3G.
They learned from what we did with 2G and made the 3G much more safer.
How far are you from suceeding with the unlock?
This is secret of course.
How deep was the 2.2 baseband update? If you want to make a sim-unlock on this as well, do you have
to start the job from scratch? So, if someone accidently updated the baseband, does he have to give
up, or does he still have a chance to unlock his phone?
At the moment the exploits we used to run our codes on 2.1 and older basebands has been removed
from 2.2. 2.2 closed the security breach we used to control the baseband as we wanted and at the
moment 2.2 baseband is bad.
What do you mean ”bad”?
In 2.2 baseband there is no such an exploit we can use, so it is bad :-).
What do you think about the sofware and hardware of the iPhone 3G compared to other
smartphones?
The iPhone OS is very advanced technology. It is years ahead of everything you can buy on the
market at the moment. And yes, I am an Apple fan, but nobody can deny that iPhone is almost
futuristic. T-Mobile’s G1 is the second best device after iPhone, but it is still behind 18
months at least I think.
Why do these two devices have advantage over others?
The iPhone OS is based on UNIX/Mach operating system, and both UNIX and Mach is a result of many
years of developement. G1 is using Linux, which has a similar story. Fortunately nowadays mobile
processors are powerful enough to use UNIX.
What kind of deficiency does the iPhone OS have, and in which direction would you develop it, if it
depended on you?
It would need to be more open.
Why and for who do you do your work?
First of all for myself, for us, and for the people who prefer an unlocked phone. We bought a flat
in Budapest with my wife, and the agent does not come to our home every week to check if we had
painted the walls red, does he? The situation is similar with the IPhone and other devices we buy
as well.
What do you do on week days?
We work and play. We have a very special Hungarian Vizsla (deerhound), he keeps us busy all the
time.
Why did you choose a pineapple as your logo?
Apple/Pinapple, Pwn/Own, PwnApple (Pwning Apple)
Jennifer Van Grove is a Social Media Strategist. She authors a blog about San Diego,
technology, startups and social media at JenniferVanGrove.com.
Google Maps has become the standard mapping
utility for everything from getting directions and finding nearby food options to viewing the
surface of the moon. Are you getting the most out of your Google Maps experience? Keep reading to
get some helpful hints on how to maximize (or minimize) all your mapping desires.
Make sure to leave us a comment and let us know about the Google Maps mashups, tips, and
tweaks you love.
The Basics Search
Be specific. You’ll find what you’re looking for if you type exactly what it is you
want to map. If you’re looking for gas stations, which is especially handy when using the
mobile version on the road, just type “gas.” Based on your present view (city, state,
zip etc), you’ll see gas stations pop up in the same vicinity. Once you’ve clicked on
a specific location you can get directions, search nearby, save for later, or edit the location
by either flagging it as inappropriate, moving it, or claiming it as your own business.
Don’t forget to drag the little man icon onto the map for street view (where available), or
select “More” to view photos and/or wikipedia entries associated with your search.
Keyboard Shortcuts
You can use your keyboard’s arrow keys to move your view slightly North (up arrow), South
(down arrow), East (right arrow), or West (left arrow).
For a bigger jump, use the page up and page down keys to dramatically move North and South. The
home key will jump West and the end key will help you navigate further East.
Likewise, the + key will zoom in and the - key will zoom out. You can also zoom in and out with a
mouse or the two finger touch (up and down) on a Mac. Simple right?
Advanced Tricks Map an Exact Intersection
Should you choose to map a specific intersection without street numbers, simply type
“STREET1 at STREET2, CITY, STATE” for a map of that intersection.
I personally prefer Ubiquity
for my mapping shortcuts. You can select an address on any page, initiate the Ubiquity command
screen, qualify your query with “map,” adjust the map to your liking, and insert it
in an email. Love it!
Reference API Tutorials
Should you choose to leverage the API to create your own concoctions, you might want to reference both the Google Maps API Tutorial, and Google Map Parameters mapki to
the get the most out of your mashup.
More Advanced Tricks
The PCMechanic video below has a few handy tips for using Google Maps, including configuring
Firefox for quick access to google maps (:30), using saved locations (1:12), and finding
latitude/longitude coordinates (1:55).
Maptastic Mashups
One of the coolest things about Google Maps is that users can create and submit their own custom
maps, which means you can have immediate access to these super cool mashups simply by clicking
“My Maps” (it’s right next to “Get Directions”). Think of this area
as your own online map community. It’s where you can find your saved places, search
in-between destinations, and browse pretty useful utilities from weather information to
disaster-related maps.
Search in-between
Search in-between is so simple, but so incredibly useful. Just add it your
maps, select it, type in exactly what you want (like “gas”), add the two location end
points, and you’ll get a map of all the gas stations on your route. This is an especially
convenient app for road trips (I used the search in-between feature on my two cross-country
drives, it really comes in handy when navigating unfamiliar territories).
Plus, if you have an iPhone you can utilize the iPhoneSender Safari bookmarklet or Firefox extension to save all your fabulous
search queries and send them via email, with a phone-friendly link, for safe keeping and easy
access on the go.
GasBuddy
GasBuddy, from GasBuddy.com, is a featured mashup that lets you type in the city, state, or zip
where you want to search for gas prices and locations. It’s another standby for me. Cheap
gas is a godsend in this economy, and GasBuddy is my little angel.
Places of Interest
Places of Interest is another nifty little tool that maps pretty much
anything of interest including bars, ATMs, food (by food type), and even places of worship. This
custom map supports viewing of up to 5 different options at one time.
The action-sports enthusiast may enjoy Outdoor tracks by GPSies.com, which includes custom maps for a variety of
activities including hiking and jogging trails, geocaching locales, and maps for more intense
adventure seekers interested in climbing, mountain biking, and winter sports.
Google Moon
For the moon walker in you, there’s always Google Moon. With geologic and topographic charts, and elevation options,
you’ll feel like a real universe aficionado.
Mashups You Love
I always poll my smart and savvy Twitter network when I need to find the best in web-related
goodies. They recommend:
HousingMaps.com
A clever little mashup, HousingMaps.com
shows Craigslist listings across the country. Users can filter by city, price, housing type,
listings with pictures, and any additional keywords. The end result is a detailed map with
housing options side-by-side with a color coded text list. (Recommended by @searchguru)
Gmaps Pedometer
Gmaps Pedometer is a simple site
that lets you calculate the distance between specific points you plot on the map. You can turn
mile markers, elevation, and the calorie counter on or off based on your personal needs. In
addition, you can save your favorite routes for future reference. (Recommended by @shanehale7 & @CatherineLarsen)
Robocall Tracker
The Twitter Robocall Tracker: Map of
Robocalls is a mashup of a variety of open APIs with the purpose of plotting reported
robocalls (you know those annoying prerecorded calls you can’t avoid). Users can report a
call, view other reported calls by locale, and listen to the actual audio from a handful of
reported calls. All reported incidents are screened and associated with the name of the Twitter
user who submitted the original report. (Created by @EndTheRoboCalls)
Mobile Map Goodness
The beauty of Google Maps is that you’re not restricted to browsing at home. Google Maps for mobile works
on a wide variety of phones including the iPhone, and all phones with Windows Mobile and Android
operating systems. The mobile version supports a majority of the standard Google Maps
functionality including My Location (regardless of whether or not your phone has GPS), Street
View, Directions (public transit), walking, or driving, Business Listings, and Traffic
information.
Wikitude AR Travel Guide for Android
G1 owners (and future Android users) have the added bonus of being able to play with Wikitude AR Travel Guide, an augmented
reality app with location-based Wikipedia content. I haven’t had the opportunity to test
it, but according to their website, one bonus is that “users may hold the phone’s
camera against a spectacular mountain range and see the names and heights displayed as overlay
mapped with the mountains in the camera.” Check out the video below for a really neat peek
at what this app can do. Um yeah, can I get that on my iPhone please?!?
Now It’s Your Turn…
Tell us about the mashups you use, the tricks you live by, and the tweaks that make you weak in
the knees.
---
Related Articles at Mashable | All That's New on the Web:
Lumenary7204 writes "According to the Register, Apple recently received US Patent Application No.
20080291629 for a 'liquid-cooled portable computer.' The filing describes a system where a 'pump
... coupled to the heat pipe is configured to circulate the liquid coolant through the heat pipe.'
All claims of obviousness aside (after all, PC enthusiasts have been using liquid and phase-change
cooling for years), the existence of the patent application seems to indicate that laptop
manufacturers are in agreement with physicists and engineers who say we are running up against the
practical limits of air-cooling such compact pieces of equipment."
Lumenary7204 writes "According to the Register, Apple recently received US Patent Application No.
20080291629 for a "liquid-cooled portable computer." The filing describes a system where a "pump
... coupled to the heat pipe is configured to circulate the liquid coolant through the heat pipe."
All claims of obviousness aside (after all, PC enthusiasts have been using liquid and phase-change
cooling for years), the existence of the patent application seems to indicate that laptop
manufacturers are in agreement with physicists and engineers who say we are running up against the
practical limits of air-cooling such compact pieces of equipment."
Lumenary7204 writes According to the Register, Apple recently received US Patent Application No.
20080291629 for a liquid-cooled portable computer. The filing describes a system where a pump ...
coupled to the heat pipe is configured to circulate the liquid coolant through the heat pipe. All
claims of obviousness aside (after all, PC enthusiasts have been using liquid and phase-change
cooling for years), the existence of the patent application seems to indicate that laptop
manufacturers are in agreement with physicists and engineers who say we are running up against the
practical limits of air-cooling such compact pieces of equipment.pa
href=http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/12/04/0438232amp;from=rssimg
src=http://slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rssamp;op=imageamp;style=h0amp;sid=08/12/04/0438232
//a/ppa href=http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/12/04/0438232amp;from=rssRead more of this
story/a at Slashdot./p pa
href=http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/BKgmY9wXTPkpIiw5tVIKksz8HTY/aimg
src=http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/BKgmY9wXTPkpIiw5tVIKksz8HTY/i border=0 ismap=true
//a/pimg src=http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~4/NEISeOKkV-A height=1 width=1 /
Lumenary7204 writes "According to the Register, Apple recently received US Patent Application No.
20080291629 for a "liquid-cooled portable computer." The filing describes a system where a "pump
... coupled to the heat pipe is configured to circulate the liquid coolant through the heat pipe."
All claims of obviousness aside (after all, PC enthusiasts have been using liquid and phase-change
cooling for years), the existence of the patent application seems to indicate that laptop
manufacturers are in agreement with physicists and engineers who say we are running up against the
practical limits of air-cooling such compact pieces of equipment."pa
href="http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/12/04/0438232amp;from=rss"img
src="http://hardware.slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rssamp;op=imageamp;style=h0amp;sid=08/12/04/0438232"/a/ppa
href="http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/12/04/0438232amp;from=rss"Read more of this
story/a at Slashdot./p pa
href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/PXVDMJIBS6ZI9CPvYCxOQU3FVy4/a"img
src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/PXVDMJIBS6ZI9CPvYCxOQU3FVy4/i" border="0"
ismap="true"/img/a/pimg
src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotHardware/~4/NEISeOKkV-A" height="1" width="1"/
Some remake announcements I just shrug off, some I get excited for, and then some just plain get
under my skin. While I am a remake enthusiast, there are some films I consider untouchable, and if
a studio is going to remake a film all I ask is that it's different. Universal did throw
us a pretty damn good remake of DAWN OF THE DEAD, so maybe a remake of John Carpenter's
They Live won't be all
that bad? Besides, Zack Snyder's Strike Entertainment is getting involved, which can only mean good
things (right?). The story also confirms that Strike is also still planning on remaking THE THING
(1982), which is a remake of THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD (1951). Read on for the story and chime
in on your thoughts below.
http://theultimatecatalog.com/wine-enthusiast/wine-openers/nickel-plated-champion-wine-opener-with-hardwood-handle-and-table-stand.htmlThe
Champion is a recreation of the original Champion first produced in 1897. Even the original
artwork featuring a Jacobean vine and flower design has been duplicated, and it features a
medallion that celebrates the 100th anniversary. Die cast zinc metal is used for the base of the
Champion series of wine openers, and each opener can uncork or recork a wine bottle in less than
one second. The opener can be detached from the stand in order to mount to a bar, shelf, or table
at home to cork and recork with style and ease. Proudly crafted in the USA.
This first bit might be
a bit off the cinematic path, but it's something strange enough to rival those stories of a frozen
Walt Disney. You might have heard that David Tennant (our latest
Doctor Who) is starring in a stage version of Hamlet over in the UK. Well, it seems that
he wasn't using a fake skull -- in fact, it was the skull of a Shakespeare enthusiast, concert
pianist and Holocaust survivor Andrew Tchaikowsky. Tennant leaked the information, and now the
BBC reports that it will no
longer be used so that the audience wouldn't be distracted. Bummer for Tchaikowsky's dying wish,
but imagine the possibilities. Is bone donation the next wave in creative appreciation?
In other dark news, Variety
reports that the classically creepy Michael Wincott (Top Dollar
from The Crow) is teaming up with Swedish actor/director Rafael Edholm for an untitled Sweden-set drama. According
to Wincott: "Three people meet, something may have happened in their teenage years, and this will
now result ín one death. It is drama, thriller and dark comedy." Unfortunately, we won't
learn what that all means for a while -- production isn't slated to start until February 2010.
Finally, we've got a scribe for the upcoming remake of Captain Blood. The Hollywood Reporter posts that John
Brownlow, writer of 2003's Sylvia, has grabbed the gig. If you're not familiar with
the Oscar-nominated original, Errol Flynn starred as a doctor convicted of treason who is sold into
slavery only to escape and become a pirate. This whole thing makes me itch for Cary Elwes to return
to his escaped prisoner-turned-pirate roots. Who's with me?
Monday's post about a propellor-driven wind cart designed to travel directly downwind faster than
the wind (DWFTTW) has generated an emotionally-charged discussion about the feasibility of such a
vehicle. There are three camps -- the people who think it's possible, the people who think it
isn't, and the people who don't know. All three camps have members claiming to have degrees in
physics, engineering, and aeronautics, and members from each camp are guilty of name-calling,
insults, and cheerleading for their "side." One fellow, a proponent of the idea that DWFTTW is
possible, even told me that I should "prepare to be disappointed" because I have my doubts about
DWFTTW! I would actually be delighted to learn the truth about this, whatever it is. In MAKE Vol.
11, Charles Platt made a miniature model of the vehicle and came to the conclusion that there is no
such thing as a wind-powered vehicle that can travel downwind faster than the speed of the wind.
Last year, while Charles was working on the MAKE piece, he emailed me this charming sketch and
description: Lack of imagination among wind-cart enthusiasts has prevented them from realizing that
a simple modern invention can solve the problem of net forward air flow trying to stop the cart.
That invention is--the air duct! A swivelling duct would be able to take advantage of wind coming
from any direction. A vane at the rear of the duct would automatically turn it into the wind. Even
on a windless day, the lucky owner of this windmobile would only have to give it a push before
leaping aboard, to create some relative air flow that would power up the fan and accelerate the
cart. Who could have imagined that the answer to the problem of non-renewable resources could be so
simple? Of course, he is being facetious. This morning, Charles emailed me the following, along
with permission to post it: I have browsed the huge discussion in response to your cart posting.
Amazingly, so far as I can see, no one has addressed the fundamental problem that if the cart
transitions from moving slower than the wind to faster than the wind, the reversal of air flow will
try to turn the propeller backward, thus tending to stop the cart. It bothers me that so many
people are conned by this idea (or con themselves). -- Three questions for cart enthusiasts: 1.
When the cart begins running slower than a tail wind, does the air move through the propeller from
the back toward the front? 2. If the cart can somehow accelerate faster than the tail wind (as its
proponents claim), does this means that air will now move through the propeller from the front
toward the back? 3. If the flow of air through the propeller reverses in this way, will it tend to
reverse the rotation of the propeller? Answers to (1) and (2) are clearly "yes." Answer to (3) can
be determined empirically by blowing air at a small fan, first from the front, then from the back,
and watching which way it turns. Answer to (3) will also be "yes." Therefore, the reversed air flow
will retard forward motion, the speed of the cart is self-limiting, and the claim is false. If you
have something to contribute in the discussion boards about this, please refrain from insults and
name-calling. Side note: I emailed Adam Savage about this, and he said it's "in the hopper" for a
Mythbuster's experiment! Im considering running another article about this in a future issue of
MAKE, as well. Previously: Video: can a vehicle move downwind faster than the wind? - Boing Boing
Downwind faster than the wind, part 2 - Boing Boing...br style="clear: both;"/ a
href="http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?s=29383e592c5465902331a3e4fb847b4cp=1"img alt=""
style="border: 0;" border="0"
src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?s=29383e592c5465902331a3e4fb847b4cp=1"//a img
src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=29383e592c5465902331a3e4fb847b4c" style="display:
none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/
img src="http://www.go2web20.net/data/uploads/logos/blip.fm.gif"/br/ bGlobal Music Radar/bbr /With
Blip.fm ayou can get an access to millions of streaming songs, create your own music station, a
station programmed by your friends, an audience of music enthusiasts.br/br/ a
href="http://blip.fm"http://blip.fm/anbsp;nbsp;|nbsp;nbsp; a href="http://www.go2web20.net"More on
Go2Web20.net/aimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Go2web20net/~4/oC2b0-xYzOI" height="1"
width="1"/
Instructables has announced an amazing contest they're running with Sears. Called "The Craftsman
Workshop of the Future Contest," all you have to do to be eligible is post an Instructable that
uses tools! The grand prize winner will get a $20,000 Sears gift card (no, that's not a typo).
Ten runners up will each get a $500 gift card. Here are the basics of what they're looking for in
the entries:
Show us your skills and your passion for building in an amazing Instructable and be sure to
provide plenty of details and tips to help others out. We want to see what tools you use and how
you use them. We also want to see enough instruction that others can follow in your footsteps to
make it themselves.
There's also an additional "Show Your Space" sub-contest:
You can enter a slideshow or a video of your current workshop to show off what you've got OR
you can put together a rendering or a drawing of the workshop you wish you had! Be specific and
show us what you would want and where you would put it so that you could easily knock out all those
projects you've been dying to work on!
This sub-contest will be running for four weeks, and at the end of each week, they'll randomly
choose a winner from all entries. Winners can choose either a C3 Craftsman remote control car,
the Auto hammer, the Nextec Drill, or the C3 19.2 volt powered caulk gun.
We hope our faithful MAKE readers will go for the gold (and if you do, share some of the booty
with us!). The deadline for the main contest is Jan 4, so fire up those tools and get crackin'!
Instructables.com has become one of the most popular magnets for makers and DIY enthusiasts of
all stripes. Now, with more than 10,000 projects to choose from, the Instructables staff, the
editors of MAKE magazine, and the Instructables community itself have put together a collection
of home, craft, food and technology how-to's from the site. The Best of Instructables Volume 1
includes plenty of clear, full-color photographs, complete step-by-step instructions, and tips,
tricks, and new build techniques you won't find anywhere else.
Highlights from the book:
* 336 pages, 6-5/8 x 9-3/8, same dimensions as The Best of
MAKE and MAKE magazine.
* Over 120 projects!
* Projects cover everything from food hacking and making home furnishings from junk to building
robots and CNC milling machines. And in-between you'll find projects on arts, crafts,
costume-making, tool tips, themed photo galleries, and tons more.
* There are also the results of the Community Choice contest winners (the best of Instructables
as voted by its members) and links to their projects.
* There are key user comments from the site throughout, called User Notes, and even a section in
the back for you to keep your own User Notes as you build the projects.
We tried to involve the Instructables community as much as possible in the creation of the book
(we were in direct communication with several hundred authors!). We hope the results do this
maker community proud. It was a thrill ride to be sure.
a
href="http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2008/12/incredible_instructablesc.html?CMP=OTC-0D6B48984890"
/Read more/a | a
href="http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2008/12/incredible_instructablesc.html?CMP=OTC-0D6B48984890"
/ Permalink/a | a
href="http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2008/12/incredible_instructablesc.html?CMP=OTC-0D6B48984890#comments"
/Comments/a | a href="http://blog.makezine.com/archive/instructables/?CMP=OTC-0D6B48984890" /Read
more articles in Instructables/a | a
href="http://digg.com/submit?url=blog.makezine.com%2Farchive%2F2008%2F12%2Fincredible_instructablesc.htmltitle=Instructables%2FCraftsman%20contestbodytext=%20Instructables%20has%20announced%20an%20amazing%20contest%20
)
and reject those that you are not interested in
(
)
Jennifer Van Grove is a Social Media Strategist. She authors a blog about San Diego,
technology, startups and social media at 
UltimateCatalog
This first bit might be
a bit off the cinematic path, but it's something strange enough to rival those stories of a frozen
Walt Disney. You might have heard that 
