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Latest Gear Live Videos
How to access your iDisk after upgrading to iCloud
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Internet, Storage,
Today my brother asked me how he could access his MobileMe iDisk now that he had upgraded to iCloud. I told him that he should just look in this Finder, without realizing that iDisk is gone for many MobileMe users who've migrated over to iCloud. However, there's still a way to get to your iDisk (at least, until Apple pulls the plug on MobileMe for good next year!):
- Open Finder and press ⌘K (Command + K)
- Enter 'https://idisk.me.com/yourMobileMeName' as the Server Address (without the quotes)
- Click the Connect button
Your iDisk should mount in the Finder, although it may ask you for your MobileMe password first, if it isn't saved to your Keychain.
Gallery: How to access your iDisk after upgrading to iCloud
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Apple misses iTunes Match launch date - what happened?
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Internet, Software, Storage,
Apple has missed its own deadline to launch iTunes Match, a service that lets users store their entire music library in the cloud, or the iCloud, for access through any iOS device or computer.
Apple CEO Tim Cook announced the iPhone 4S (see our iPhone 4S review) in early October, and iOS 5 and iCloud went live several days later. The final piece of that puzzle, iTunes Match, was expected to launch at the end of October for $24.99 per year, but here we are on November 2 with no iTunes Match in sight.
With iTunes Match, users can store their entire music library in the cloud, or iCloud, for on-the-go access to your music from any iOS device or computer.
A portion of iTunes in the Cloud went live in June during Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC), while a developer version of iTunes Match was released in late August; Apple even reportedly wiped out developers' Match libraries, fueling speculation that a launch was imminent.
Click to continue reading Apple misses iTunes Match launch date - what happened?
Gallery: Apple misses iTunes Match launch date - what happened?
Check out TakeThisLollipop immediately for a creepy thrill
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Internet, Videos,
You know how they say that you shouldn't put all your business out there on the Internet, especially nothing that you wouldn't want to fall into the wrong hands? TakeThisLollipop grabs onto this concept and takes it to the next spooky level by connecting to your Facebook account and creating a short movie based on you. We won't ruin it, but it's definitely a cool trick, and we enjoyed viewing the results when we did it.
Gallery: Check out TakeThisLollipop immediately for a creepy thrill
Netflix kills plans to spin-off DVD rentals to Qwikster
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Home Entertainment, Internet, Movies,
This morning Netflix announced that, due to overwhelming feedback from its members, the company would no longer move forward with plans to separate and spin off the DVD business. Instead, it will stay as it has always been, as one service that offers both DVD rentals by mail and instant streaming of content as well. The DVD and streaming plans will still be billed separately, and there's not yet any word on if Netflix will still move forward with the planned video game rentals that would have been part of Qwikster.
Gallery: Netflix kills plans to spin-off DVD rentals to Qwikster
How Amazon’s new Silk browser makes browsing faster
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Corporate News, Internet, Software,
Alongside all the Kindle news this morning, Amazon also announced their own home-grown browser, Silk. Amazon Silk will be exclusive to the Kindle Fire for the time being, and it aims to speed up web browsing by a significant margin by offloading some of the heavy lifting to the Amazon EC2 cloud servers. Hit the video above to see how it all works, and why we're drooling with anticipation for Silk to hit the desktop.
Gallery: How Amazon’s new Silk browser makes browsing faster
Listen to music with friends on Facebook with Spotify, MOG, Rhapsody, Slacker, and more
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Internet, Music,
Facebook is good for discovering the latest news about your friends and family, but what about music? As part of its f8 developer conference yesterday, the site teamed up with a number of online music entities to bring music discovery to Facebook.
Music companies like Spotify, Rdio, Rhapsody, and Slacker will be offering their own apps, which will allow you to share what you're listening to with friends on Facebook. Their music choices will also show up on your news feed, and you can listen to the songs right inside Facebook.
"You'll now start seeing new music posts and play buttons all over your newsfeeds. Hit a play button and the music starts. Right there," Spotify said in a blog post. "Spotify fires up to give you a new soundtrack to your social life. Check out your new Music Dashboard and your real-time ticker to discover the music that's trending with your friends."
Gallery: Listen to music with friends on Facebook with Spotify, MOG, Rhapsody, Slacker, and more
How to enable Facebook Timeline on your profile, right now!
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Features, Internet,
So you saw the new Facebook Timeline feature that the company will be rolling out in the next few weeks, and don't feel like waiting? Well, you can make it happen right now just by following a few simple steps. Here's how to grab hold of that new hotness:
- First, head up to the search field of your Facebook page and search for "developer." Click on the first result, and allow the app to access your account. This is an official Facebook app.
- Go into the Developer app and create a new app. Call it anything you want, and agree to all the privacy agreements.
- Go into your app settings area, find the Open Graph area and click on "Get Started using open graph"
- Create any action for your app, again it can be anything you'd like. "Watch" a "movie" is nice and general.
- Submit and click through the confirmation pages at the bottom.
- After a minute, go back to the main Facebook.com page, and at the top you'll see an invite to try out Timeline
- Accept!
That's it - you'll now have access to the new profile page - make it pretty! You can also see the Timeline profiles of other users (here's mine - feel free to subscribe!)
Gallery: How to enable Facebook Timeline on your profile, right now!
Watch all of today’s Facebook announcements right here, live!
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Internet, Videos,
Facebook head Mark Zuckerberg is set to take the stage in just about 15 minutes to kick off Facebook's f8 Developers Conference. You can watch the event unfold live, right here--just hit the play button up top.
We're expecting a bunch of new hotness to be revealed, including the new Facebook music initiative, and a major expansion and re-thinking of the Like button. Also expect new features around news publications, video, and Facebook games as well. It'll be a full morning
Gallery: Watch all of today’s Facebook announcements right here, live!
Amazon Kindle eBooks now available to borrow from over 11,000 libraries
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Handhelds, Internet,
If you've got an Amazon account and use a Kindle (or a Kindle app,) you're gonna wanna go pick up a library card if you don't already have one, and it's now possible to check out Kindle eBooks from over 11,000 library Web sites. All you need is a valid library card, and you are good. eBooks work similar to library books--in other words, they are free to borrow, but they expire after a certain amount of time, and the libraries only have a limited number of each eBook available, so you may have to wait until it's "returned" by another user before you can check out that title. Once you decide what you want to borrow, you download the copies over Wi-Fi or USB.
When you borrow a Kindle public library book, you’ll have access to all the unique features of Kindle books, including real page numbers and Whispersync technology that synchronizes your notes, highlights, and last page read. After a public library book expires, if you check it out again or choose to purchase it from the Kindle store, all of your annotations and bookmarks will be preserved.
Once your expiration date hits, you can just borrow the book again, or purchase it from the Amazon Kindle store, and any notes, highlights, last pages read, etc. will all be saved and synched.
Read More 
| Amazon
Gallery: Amazon Kindle eBooks now available to borrow from over 11,000 libraries
Facebook Like button to expand to Read, Watch, Listen
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Corporate News, Internet,
Facebook's "Read, Watch, Listen" theme of its f8 developer event, happening tomorrow, apparently now involves altering the "Like" button to specific actions.
In other words, "read," "watch" and "listen" will be applied to the "Like" button. The result? Buttons that will allow you to indicated that you have "Read" books or articles, "Listened," to music, or "Watched" videos or other content.
So far, multiple reports have confirmed the "Read, Watch, Listen" theme, including TechCrunch, AllThingsD, and others. One industry source has also confirmed the theme to us, although the source said he wasn't sure if that was going to be an official motto, or just the substance of the talk.
Click to continue reading Facebook Like button to expand to Read, Watch, Listen
Gallery: Facebook Like button to expand to Read, Watch, Listen
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