Find Our Latest Video Reviews on YouTube!
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!
People having a tough time getting a Google+ invite
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Google, Internet,
When Google announced its "field trial" of Google+ this week, many wondered if the search giant had finally crafted a successful social tool or whether it would fizzle like Buzz and Wave. That remains to be seen, but at this point, it appears that many tech-savvy early adopters are at least eager to try it out: invites are now closed.
"We've shut down invite mechanism for the night. Insane demand. We need to do this carefully, and in a controlled way. Thank you all for your interest!" Vic Gundotra, Google's senior vice president of engineering, wrote in Wednesday night post.
Google+ made its debut on Tuesday and aims to connect people via specific friendship circles, interests, location, and more. Those visiting the plus.google.com Web site are currently met with a notice that says Google is "testing with a small number of people," but those who want access can sign up to get an email when it opens to a larger group.
Even those who have been invited, however, are having trouble getting access. "Already invited? We've temporarily exceeded our capacity. Please try again soon," reads a note on the site.
Click to continue reading People having a tough time getting a Google+ invite
Advertisement
Google Calendar picks up new Google+ inspired minimalist design
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Design, Google, Internet,
Looks like Google Calendar is also getting a new redesign to put it in line with Google+, similar to the redesign that Gmail is getting. You should be seeing the new design live in Google Calendar now, but know that there aren't any new features to go along with it. It's purely cosmetic. Do you like it?
Get a preview of the new Gmail design right now
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Google, Internet,
Gmail is set to get a redesign that brings it in line with the the visual UI of Google+. While the final redesign hasn't been pushed out yet, you can still apply it to your current Gmail setup using a theme that Google has made available. Simply log in to Gmail and go into your theme settings and choose either "Preview" or "Preview (Dense)" to apply the new hotness. What do you think of the new layout?
Oh, and it looks like Google Calendar picks up the redesign as well.
Latest Gear Live Videos
HTC Status Facebook phone launches on AT&T
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Smartphones, Handhelds, Internet,
The Facebook phones are finally here. Today AT&T and HTC announced the Status, the first U.S. phone with a dedicated Facebook button.
The Status is a small Android 2.3-based smartphone with a horizontal 480-by-320, 2.6-inch touch screen and a keyboard on the front. Its most important feature, though, is the dedicated Facebook logo button near the bottom of the phone. You can press the button to immediately share what you're doing or where you are, whether you're sharing a photo you just took, an interesting Web page, or a status update.
Facebook chat, which is missing from many phone versions of Facebook, is plumbed in here, and a home-screen widget shows if your friends are available. When you get a call, the caller's Facebook status pops up on the screen.
This is also a full-fledged Android phone, of course, with the latest version of HTC's Sense UI, which is widely considered to be the most thoughtful of the manufacturer Android software extensions. For example, you can jump immediately to popular apps from the lock screen by dragging a ring over the app's icon, an HTC-exclusive feature.
Click to continue reading HTC Status Facebook phone launches on AT&T
Hands-on with Google’s Google+ social network
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Google, Internet, Product Reviews,
Google's new Google+ social network, currently in a "field trial," can't quite avoid the stereotype that the company's products sacrifice usability for new features. Put simply, Google+ is a social network for geeks.
Unfortunately, Google can't help exposing numerous options to share, hide, protect, and discover photos, friends, videos, posts, and all of the other minutiae that make up today's online social interactions.
Underneath, however, there are some rather elegant features, including a lovely "Circles" interface to add friends, and a "Hangout" group video chat feature that holds promise.
But users used to Facebook's minimalist interface may find Google+ jarring. And, sad to say, Google's "field trial" suffered from overcapacity, an issue which may or may not have rippled into our evaluation on Tuesday afternoon. I and other staffers experienced numerous annoyances, which resulted from either poor design decisions, alpha glitches, or the overcapacity issue - I don't know which. Read on for our full hands-on with Google+.
Click to continue reading Hands-on with Google’s Google+ social network
Turntable.fm is the hottest music service that you aren’t using
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Internet, Music,
Turntable.fm is climbing the charts. According to a story from Betabeat, the Facebook phenom has hit 140,000 active users after just one month. Not a bad showing for a semi-closed beta with a spotty security record.
The popular service effectively combines (free) music-streaming, chat rooms, and voting, all through a Facebook portal. It's similar to Web apps such as Pandora. Turntable.fm allows you to discover new music and create your own custom playlists, only that playlist isn't just for you—you'll share it with other Facebook users in real time.
Add to the exchange a note of gameplay. After you create your DJ avatar, you can create your own room or enter someone else's (if you get overwhelmed there's a randomizer) and interact with other avatars through a chat feature. Each room supports up to five DJs. Take a seat on the stage to share your playlist, created from your own uploads or from the Turntable.fm library.
Click to continue reading Turntable.fm is the hottest music service that you aren’t using
We’re giving away 10 Slacker Premium Radio 1-year subscriptions!
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Announcements, Features, Internet, Music,
.jpg)
Here at Gear Live, we love us some Slacker. If you don’t know, Slacker is a fantastic streaming music service. It has millions of songs in its catalogue, and real DJs actually control their channels, which means you get a great mix of songs that go well together, rather than something put together by an algorithm. While Slacker is free, they also have a couple of upgraded services - Slacker Radio Plus, and the newly released Slacker Premium Radio. This typically costs $10 a month:
- Play songs, artists, albums on-demand
- Custom playlists
- Unlimited Skips
- Unlimited Song Requests
- No Audio or Banner Ads
- Complete Lyrics
- Over 2 Million Songs
- Cache stations to smartphones for offline listening
- ABC News and headline news updates for any station
- "Peek Ahead" artist and album previews
We said this would be big, so here’s what we're gonna do - we are going to give away 10 one-year subscriptions to Slacker Premium Radio. How do you enter? Easy:
- Follow the Gear Live Twitter account
- On Twitter, post this tweet about our contest: “Hey @gearlive hook me up with @SlackerRadio Premium! http://gear.lv/slackerpremium” (Click here to tweet this now)
Want a bonus entry? Subscribe to Gear Live on YouTube! We will select ten random entrants on July 1 - good luck!
Here’s what happens when you use up your iCloud storage
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Internet, Storage,
When Apple introduced iCloud at WWDC 2011, the big news was that the service would be free. Of course, Steve Jobs did make sure to mention that the 5 GB of storage included with iCloud would be more than enough "for most users," and we believe him. However, there are others out there (like us) who fall outside of that category. For example, I am only currently able to have iCloud back up just my iPhone 4. When I try to also add my iPad 2 to the backup, it errors out, telling me that I don't have enough space available, and that I need to buy ore storage space. Of course, since iCloud is still in beta, I'm unable to do that. Another iCloud user has come very close to hitting his 5 GB quota, and received the email above from Apple. Surprisingly to us, it says that once he reaches 5 GB stored, he won't even be able to receive any new email messages. Sounds like people are gonna have to really keep an eye on how much storage they are using, especially if they have more than one iOS device backing up to the cloud.
Read More 
| MacRumors
Comcast demos new 1 gigabit per second broadband and Xcalibur DVR interface
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Broadband, Corporate News, HDTV, Home Entertainment, Internet,
Comcast chief executive Brian Roberts showed off a demonstration of a 1-Gbit/s broadband connection Thursday, as well as the company's next-generation DVR interface.
At the NCTA Conference in Chicago, Roberts characterized the demonstration as the next generation of Xfinity, the company's hybrid cable-based video/phone/data service. The company launched it two years ago as "Project Infinity".
First, however, Roberts showed off the future of the Comcast interface.
"What I want to show you today is not the future, but right here, right now," Roberts said, showing off the "Xcalibur" interface that is currently in trials in Augusta, Georgia.
Xcalibur is based on cloud computing - not clpoud storage, but cloud-computing. The guide actually resides in the cloud, Roberts said. Users can see a traditional channel view, or view programs by genre or for different users. An On Demand view also uses a similar format. The Xcalibur's new remote also uses RF technology, which is not limited by line of sight. Users can also type in "HBO" using numbers - like a phone number - and pulls in additional information via the cloud.
Comcast to bring Skype video calls to Xfinity
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Home Entertainment, Internet,
Today, Comcast and Skype announced a partnership that will let Comcast customers make and accept wide-screen, high-definition video calls (as well as communicate via instant messages) through their television sets.
Skype on Comcast will let users identify incoming Skype calls via caller ID, accept incoming calls while watching TV, and import friends and colleagues' contacts from Facebook, Outlook, Gmail, and smartphone address books.
The Skype service will be delivered to Comcast customers via a combination of an adapter box, video camera, and a special remote that will let them input text as well as control their televisions. The other party does not need any special equipment beyond what is normally needed to use Skype.
Click to continue reading Comcast to bring Skype video calls to Xfinity
Advertisement
© Gear Live Inc. {year} – User-posted content, unless source is quoted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Public Domain License. Gear Live graphics, logos, designs, page headers, button icons, videos, articles, blogs, forums, scripts and other service names are the trademarks of Gear Live Inc.