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If you don’t have enough money for a decent gift, do something nice for the spouse/partner in your life. Send an electronic greeting card, clean her/his monitor and keyboard, toss a few rose petals on the desk, and grab some new wallpaper. There are many links to sites for you to explore and download to your desktop. We particularly admired this simple rabbit and Chinese Summer. Select from calendar art, Apple, Microsoft, and Firefox themes, cartoons, minimalist art, and illustrations.
Read More 
| Smashing Magazine
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AT&T and Starbucks to Share America
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Corporate News, Internet, PC / Laptop, Wireless / WiFi,
It seems that coffee isn’t compatible with T-Mobile USA. AT&T will begin to distribute WiFi to 7,000 Starbucks in the U.S. Beginning sometime this spring, if you are an AT&T U-verse customer, you can get unlimited access. Starbucks Card holders get 2 hours a day free of charge. There are subscription and other deals available to allow access to its other 70,000 global “hot spots.” They will also be upgrading Starbucks’ network with a more extensive bandwidth.
Read More | mocoNews
When a song gets stuck in your head and won’t go away, try Songerize, a search for audio tracks. Powered by SeePod, you simply supply the title and artist, and your tune plays in a matter of seconds. We tried a few and found that it really helps to include the artist’s name, just in case. We also discovered that if you can’t spell it, it won’t show up. And if you are into cheesy old show tunes, forget it (although it did come up with “People” when we typed Barbra’s name correctly.)
Read More | Songerize
Latest Gear Live Videos
Share Your Videos on uvLayer
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Internet, Movies, Music, Software,
Want an easier answer to forwarding YouTube and other sites’ clips by e-mail? uvLayer claims that with its new application you can “reveal your inner media potential.” Search for your favorite videos to make a collection, put them on a playlist, drag and drop to create your own designer page, then share the sights and sounds with your buds. They can do the same and all of you can leave comments for each other. You have to first download Adobe AIR, but the application works on either Windows XP or Vista or Mac OS X 10.4 or later.
Read More | uvLayer
The latest 1.5 version of ooVoo in beta offers its users the ability to record chats. The free software also offers visual effects, two free hours of call time, and importing of contacts from e-mail. Have video parties with up to six of your friends or conferences with business buddies. You can add it to your blog or MySpace page and view its tasks on a sidebar. The price is right, but be careful that you don’t say anything you don’t want to be used against you. Sign up at the ooVoo Website.
Read More | ooVoo
Purple Magic is Affordable
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Smartphones, Corporate News, Internet, Music,
Purple Labs has teamed with Philip’s NXP to create a low cost Linux-powered mobile phone. Somewhat appropriately named Purple Magic (although it is white,) it is based on their Cellular System Solution 7210 technology. The 3G phone offers video streaming, music play back, high-speed Internet browsing with 64 MB RAM and 128 MB Flash in its clamshell at a price of less than $100.00. The companies are hoping that mobile operators will jump on their design, especially in Southeast Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe.
Read More | IntoMobile
Follow Up: Verizon makes good on our FiOS privacy woes
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Broadband, Editorial, Features, Internet,
A little under two weeks ago, we made a long-standing issue that we had with Verizon public. The fact that they had ignored our request to fix a huge oversight that resulted in our private FiOS account info to fall into the wrong hands for over 8 months was starting to upset us just a tad. We knew that if we shared it with you, our readers, that Verizon would have no choice but to respond quickly. At least, that was the hope.
Well, sure enough, after the story was picked up on The Consumerist as well as made it to the front page of Digg, we received a phone call. Then an email. Then another phone call. Then a couple more emails. Verizon Damage Control had stepped in.
Click to continue reading Follow Up: Verizon makes good on our FiOS privacy woes
Headstrong is now in beta testing and is allowing its brain training software free of charge. Take their “fitness” test which then creates a custom program for you and suggests exercises to help thwart Alzheimer’s or what we simply refer to CRS disease. Developed by clinical neuropsychologist Nicola Gates, one of their claims is that you never have to worry about memory lapses again. We were a bit hesitant to take the test, but figured we would take a shot at it. It seems that they have forgotten us as they haven’t sent the results. Patience is not one of our virtues.
Read More | Download Squad
Hundreds of thousands of citizens protested against the Marxist Farcs in Colombia yesterday. What is most remarkable about this is the fact that it was started on Facebook by 33 year-old Oscar Morales Guevara from his home in Barranquilla, Colombia. Over 250,00 Facebook users joined the application to support the message and soon other media joined in. Protesting also occurred in other countries. Many organizations, such as the Wisconsin-based Columbia Support Network, have been protesting for decades in an effort to reach a negotiated solution and fear that it may backfire on the captives that still remain with them, but we think that the best way to fight injustice is any way you can these days.
(Thanks, Cecilia)
Read More | BBC
If you ever wanted to purchase something from the north side of Korea, now is your chance. The DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) has an electronic shopping mall with SUVs, bikes, roller skates, and other goodies. Available in 4 languages, Chollima, named after a mythical winged horse pictured here, has been open since December. Unfortunately, it is not always reliable as we found out when we tried this weekend when we tried to access it. Still and all, we think its a good thing when other countries participate in capitalism and hope the site doesn’t stay mythical.
Read More | Post-Bulletin
