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If you want to stay on top of all of our video reviews of the latest tech, be sure to check out and subscribe to the Gear Live YouTube channel, hosted by Andru Edwards! It’s free!
Academic Earth is a new site dedicated to offering free learning with online video lectures and courses. There are thousands of them from 6 universities and dozens of instructors. Subjects include astronomy, computer science, chemistry, economics, mathematics and physics. Their goal, they say, is “giving everyone on earth access to a world class education.” We find this to be a noble plan and applaud the site in its efforts. They also welcome input to help improve it.
Read More 
| Academic Earth
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Microsoft Adds Partners to Windows Marketplace
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Corporate News, Internet, Microsoft,
At the CTIA wireless show in Las Vegas this week, Microsoft announced new software partners for its Windows Marketplace. Pandora, Electronic Arts and Facebook have joined the team that already includes Gameloft, Accuweather.com and MySpace. All told, the company expects more of its 20,000 mobile partners to offer software when it launches later this year. Apps will work on phones with Windows Mobile 6.5, also due out towards the end of the year.
Read More | eWeek
Skype on iPhone and Blackberry
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Smartphones, Handhelds, Internet,
You can now receive Skype on your iPhone/touch, and Blackberry owners can look forward to the service in May. COO Scott Durchslag claims that it has been the #1 request from its current customers. More than 400 million already use the service with their PC, so that is a pretty good target area. One of its pluses is that subscribers can use the phone numbers in their existing iPhone address book. There is no charge for the download and calls between Skype users are free.
Read More | Wired
Latest Gear Live Videos
A 16 year-old private school student wanted to play online casino games, so he opened an account under an adult’s name. According to police records, the Japanese boy bought an ID and password of a Web bank account for ¥17,000 from a housewife after soliciting on an Internet bulletin board. In July, the student had registered to play with his mom’s credit card but ended up with about ¥1.3 million in debts. What’s scary here is not only did he manage to amass the debt, but that he could steal both his mom’s ID and acquire a Web bank account as a minor.
Read More | Mainichi Daily News
If you don’t have access to software that can convert documents to PDFs and you do have IE and Windows XP SP2/Vista, then Softland’s doPDF converter is for you. There are simple step-by-step instructions to install it as a printer driver. After selecting “print,” you can convert Word documents, PowerPoint presentations, Excel sheets, company reports, AutoCad drawings and many other documents. Best of all, it is free to download.
Read More | doPDF
Exclusive: Twitter integration coming to OnStar
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Features, Internet, Transportation,
OnStar users, look out—Twitter is about to become a part of your experience. How so? Well, being an owner of a couple of Cadillacs with OnStar built-in, we sometimes receive surveys or phone calls asking us how we are liking things. Nothing out of the ordinary. However, in today’s survey, I found a portion that was particularly interesting:
“While in your vehicle, you can use OnStar to submit and retrieve tweets (messages) via your Twitter account. Using OnStar’s Voice-Activated Hands-Free Calling system, and having your voice converted into text, you can provide updates which would appear in the “What are you doing?” section of your Twitter homepage. It is also possible to listen to a tweet that was sent to you by someone else after it has been converted into voice. You can send and receive tweets without having to type or read anything.”
Did you get that? Voice to text conversion using your in-car hands-free system so that you can both post to Twitter, and hear what is going on with your friends. Kind of crazy when you first think about it, but after a few minutes, you can start to imagine some cool uses. You can voice-tweet something like “I’m headed to downtown Seattle, where can I find the best slice of pizza?” You can then listen for responses, and when you hear one, have OnStar direct you to that location. Or you can just, you know, mess around on Twitter while driving without trying to juggle your iPhone and the steering wheel.
No word on when exactly the service will go live. Oh, and you can follow Gear Live on Twitter.
We have mentioned Conficker before and how Microsoft is seeking help to find the source. Apparently, it is still unaccounted for and there may be a serious problem as of April 1. The program turns off security settings in Microsoft Windows and the fear is that infected computers may contact a control system on that date. Dan Kaminsky, a consultant for IOActive, says that it might go after corporate networks, especially if they run older Window versions.
Read More | ABC News
Share Your Netflix Data With Facebook Connect
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Internet, Movies,
Recently launched, Facebook Connect allows users to share Netflix movie selections and ratings by clicking stars that will appear on their wall and friends’ News Feeds. Your friends can comment, add the movie to their queue or connect to Netflix to learn more about the movie. Of course you can configure the amount of titles and ratings shown by the privacy settings. To enroll, head over to Netflix via the link and click the button there.
Read More | Netflix Facebook Connect
YouTube spokesperson Scott Rubin claims that the site is currently blocked in China and has been since Monday. It has not been formally determined whether it was purposeful or a technical glitch. This is not the first time this has happened, as earlier this month access was denied because of the 1 year anniversary of protests by Tibetans. Since January, the government has closed several sites that were popular with Tibet. Not the first to censor the site, China joins Turkey and Thailand’s previous blockages.
Read More | Reuters
Skype Mobile 3.0 Beta for Windows
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Smartphones, Internet, Wireless / WiFi,
Skype 3.0 Beta for Windows Mobile is now available. You can download it on your phone or PC and transfer it later to your Windows Mobile Professional or Standard phone version 5, 6 or 6.1. After download, you can call, IM and send files with its new user interface. Compatible with Pocket PC, Classic or Professional, Smartphone and standard devices, you will need a minimum of 12MB memory on your device or 6MB on a card. A WiFi connection is recommended for best quality.
Read More | Skype
