Starbucks Wi-Fi to go free starting July 1

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Corporate News, Internet, Wireless / WiFi,

Starbucks just announced that they are dropping their Wi-Fi fee starting on July 1. That’s right, Wi-Fi at all Starbucks locations will be free from July 1 on. In fact, as you can see in the tweeted announcement, it will be 1-click to log on, no registration required. Starbucks Wi-Fi is currently powered by AT&T, but going forward, the company will be partnering with Yahoo! to provide the free service to customers. This is a big move, since Starbucks is pretty much, well, everywhere.

Read More | Starbucks Twitter

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Safari 5: Extensions, Reader, HTML5, Bing. Oh, and it’s fast.

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Internet, Software,

Apparently, the release of Safari 5 wasn’t big enough to be mentioned in the WWDC 2010 keynote this morning, but nevertheless, the company has launched a fully-updated version of its browser. So, what’s new? Quite a bit, actually. First, Safari 5 is much faster—it runs Javascript 25% faster than Safari 4, is twice as fast as Firefox on the Mac, and is even 3% faster than Chrome. So yeah, it’s fast. There’s also a new feature called Safari Reader. If you hit a web page that has an article on it, you can hit the Reader icon, and the article will be overlaid over the site in a very readable fashion. Another biggie is the addition of a bunch of extra HTML5 features. As we know, Apple is all about supporting HTML5 as a platform, and they are putting their money where their mouth is by having Safari 5 be the browser with the most HTML5 support at the moment. Oh, and for those of you who want more choice in your search bar, Safari 5 offers Bing as a search option, built-in, alongside Google and Yahoo! Search.

You can download Safari 5 now.

Read More | Safari 5

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Facebook video chat to be integrated into iPhone OS 4.0?

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Smartphones, Handhelds, Internet, Rumors,

Looks like Facebook will be readying video chat on their service, similar to what Google has done with Google Chat within Gmail. Even cooler, though, is that an eagle-eyed developer just sent us information saying that he found code within the latest iPhone OS 4.0 beta that suggests that this video chat service will be embedded into the iPhone software, ready for use by the next iPhone (iPhone HD? iPhone Pro?) Of course, take this info with a grain of salt. As we all know by now, the upcoming iPhone will have a front-facing camera, which is perfect for video chatting with others who also have the device. Even more interesting, though, is that since it is tied to Facebook, you should—in theory-be able to video chat with users of other phones that have front-facing cameras (like the Sprint EVO 4G) if they also build in the Facebook video chat service.

Now this all sounds great - but we seriously hope that video chatting isn’t limited to Facebook contacts. Let’s bring iChat to the iPhone, finally.

[Thanks, Jason!]

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Google doodle celebrates Pac-Man 30th anniversary

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Google, Internet, Video Games,

Google does a great job paying homage to holidays and other special events with their Google doodles, but this one may take the cake. In celebration of the 30th anniversay of Pac-Man, the Google logo has been transformed into a fully-playable game of Pac-Man. Seriously, just hit up the main Google Search page and wait for it to load up!

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What is Google TV? Straight from Google

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Corporate News, Google, HDTV, Home Entertainment, Internet,

Earlier this morning at the Google I/O event, a major portion was dedicated to the announcement of Google TV. Google TV is basically a software layer that lets you find content to watch on your television. It’s build on Android, Chrome, and Flash, and lets you control things like live TV, as well as giving you the full power of the Internet. You can throw TV into a picture-in-picture box to fire up a web browser, search YouTube, pull up Hulu, or really just about anything else that you can do in a browser. Google Search sits on top of everything, and can be pulled up at any time. When you do a search, it will pull results from the web, as well as from TV listings, giving you the ability to find whatever you want to watch. If you like a show, channel, or search, you can save that as a bookmark for easy access later.

The interesting thing here is the integration with Android. Bluetooth and Wi-Fi are mandatory in the Google TV hardware, which will be built by partners. That means that you can use an Android handheld device, pull up a website, and just beam it right over to Google TV. You can also perform a voice search on the device, and have that search carried out on the TV. Eliminating the frustrating tap-typing that we are all so tired of when it comes to searching on a big screen like a television? That is fairly awesome. Oh, and since Google TV runs Android, that also means that it runs apps as well. You get complete access to the Android market.

Take a look at the video above for a simple explanation of what Google TV is all about. You can expect to see devices shipping, like a Logitech set-top box, that will give you Google TV capabilities, later this year in the fall.

Read More | Google TV

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Netflix begins streaming HD content to PC and Mac users

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: HDTV, Internet, Movies,

Well, hey, it looks like Netflix has quietly started rolling out HD streaming to PC and Mac clients! If you’ve been streaming Netflix to a Roku, Xbox 360, Wii, PS3, or any other number of Netflix-connected devices, you’ve already had the pleasure of watching the higher quality HD feeds. Pc and Mac users, however, had been left out in the cold all this time, being relegated to standard definition viewing. More than half of HD-enabled streaming titles will stream in HD to a computer. To check and see if a title is available in HD, just hover the mouse over the movie art, and look for “HD available” in the Format area.

Read More | Hacking Netflix

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Eye-Fi Connect X2 review

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Accessories, Cameras, Internet, Product Reviews, Wireless / WiFi,

We’ve talked about our love of the Eye-Fi line of flash memory cards in the past, and their latest X2 line has just recently hit stores with a bunch of new features. We were able to spend a bit of time with their entry-level device, the Connect X2, to get a look at what their most basic X2 branded model can do. As it turns out, it’s a great card that can do a heck of a lot. Read on to find out how a memory card with built-in WI-Fi can change the way take and share your digital photos.

First, let’s cover the basics. The Eye-Fi Connect X2 is a 4GB SDHC Class 6 flash memory card with Wi-Fi built-in. If you are unfamiliar with Eye-Fi, the whole magic here is in the Wi-Fi, as it opens up possibilities that you just don’t get with other SD cards. The Connect X2 can automatically upload your images and videos to your computer, either to a folder or directly into your image storage program like iPhoto and Picasa. In addition, it can also upload that content to one of more than 25 sites online—places like Flickr, Facebook, YouTube, Picasa, MySpace, and the like.

Click to continue reading Eye-Fi Connect X2 review

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Tired of Farmville? Strike back in tasteless style with FarmVillain

Posted by Finnian Durkan Categories: Internet,

Tired of constant Facebook Farmville updates from “friends”—yes, I just used air-quotes—that you haven’t talked to since pre-school?  Well now you can strike back in classless style—yes, I also understand what an oxymoron is—with FarmVillain.  There is no game to play here, just spiteful Facebook-bombing at its sarcastic best.  Bury a dead hooker in your least-favorite friend’s lawn.  Claim 10 illegal-immigrants on your neighbor’s wall.  You can even choose to “add a whole lot more cowbell to your farm”.  I don’t even know what that means and I want to do it.  Fight back with FarmVillain.

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Google Editions eBookstore to Launch by Summer - Let the ebook wars begin

Posted by Finnian Durkan Categories: Corporate News, Google, Internet, Rumors,

According to an article in today’s Wall Street Journal Google Editions—Google’s attempt to elbow its way into the ebook market—will launch sometime this summer.  When it does become available, Google Editions will launch with some 400,000 to 600,000 titles available.  When you compare this to the 330,000 titles available on Amazon.com for Kindle supporting devices, it is clear that Google means to be a major player in the ebook market right from jumpstreet.  With Google Editions, not only will people be able to buy books via multiple devices—including the iPad—using Google’s book search service, but independent shops will also be able to sell Google Editions copies of books via their own personal websites.  With the availability of titles coming directly from their search engine, and not from a typical store-based website, Google is betting heavily on its massive web-presence to make Google Editions the standard of the ebook market. Cry ‘havoc’ and let slip the (ebook) dogs of war!

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TiVo Wireless-N Network Adapter available now

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Accessories, USB, Home Entertainment, Internet, Wireless / WiFi,

We’re not sure what type of games TiVo thinks they are trying to play here, but the company has finally gotten around to getting their AN0100 802.11n wireless adapter to retail, and they’ve decided it best to charge more than just about any other wireless device of this kind on the market. That’s right, the TiVo Wireless N Network Adapter can be yours for a shocking $89.99. yeah, you get better range and throughput than you would on the Wireless G model, but, man, that price has us seriously considering the costs of just running an ethernet cable across the house.

Read More | TiVo Wireless N Adapter

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