martedì 30 novembre 2010

SVG-edit is a surprisingly powerful in-browser vector image editor

svg-edit

Watch out, Inkscape! As Web browsers become increasingly powerful, it is only a matter of time until a free browser-based vector graphics editor pops up that is powerful enough to compete with a desktop application -- and SVG-edit may well become that editor. Currently in version 2.5, this open-source project was surprisingly responsive and powerful on my aging Firefox 3.6.8.

The one thing I couldn't get it to do was curves. The feature list does say that it supports "curved paths," but I couldn't figure it out, despite previously having worked with Inkscape, CorelDRAW, and Illustrator. Other than that, SVG-Edit gracefully handled just about anything that I could come up with. You can change opacity, set the fill or the outline to any solid color or gradient, align items on the canvas, shift Z-order (bring items to the foreground or send them to the background), and lots of other functions. In case you're wondering, that screenshot isn't blurry -- it's showcasing SVG-edit's built-in Gaussian blur functionality.

SVG-edit also supports layers and imports SVG files that were created in other applications. The whole thing is powered by HTML5, JavaScript, CSS, and your compatible browser's SVG functionality. It all runs in the browser itself, too - there's no server-side component.

One neat thing that you can do with SVG-edit that you can't do with other apps is resize the UI. When you use your browser's zoom functionality, the whole thing grows, including the buttons. And it all stays crisp, because the buttons use SVG icons. It's beautiful work.

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SVG-edit is a surprisingly powerful in-browser vector image editor originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 15 Nov 2010 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Cowon 3D is the 1080p-playing, 4.8-inch PMP that just jumps out at you

As far as 3D goes, we can still take it or leave it, but what's really got us intrigued about Cowon's latest effort is the promise of full 1080p video playback. Ally that to a HDMI output and up to 64GB of flash storage and you've got yourself a pretty potent portable media station. The Cowon 3D PMP offers an 800 x 480 resolution on its own 4.8-inch display -- which is touted as the world's first 3D visualizer on a PMP that doesn't require glasses -- plus a battery rated to last for 10 hours of video, 45 hours of audio and up to 300 hours on standby. And, in an upgrade from the recent X7, this new device also has WiFi connectivity! Launch is scheduled for December 10th in Cowon's backyard of South Korea, with prices coming in at KRW499,000 ($431) for the 32GB-equipped 3D PMP and KRW589,000 ($509) for the 64GB version.

[Thanks, Kunal]

Cowon 3D is the 1080p-playing, 4.8-inch PMP that just jumps out at you originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Nov 2010 03:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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me & goji Custom Artisanal Cereal Review

I found out that I was a diabetic back in December of 2004. As soon as I received that diagnosis, I immediately began working out regularly and stopped drinking regular sodas and eating candy bars for lunch.� Within a year, blood tests no longer indicated that I was diabetic. But I grew up watching my [...]

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Google shows us how to hotpot [video]

How to hotpot

We've talked about Google's hotpot before, it's the new feature from Google Maps and places for Android.  And, to be honest, it's pretty cool having ratings from people you know and trust built right in to the Maps app.  Now Google Product Manager Mat Balez has a short video explaining how using hotpot can help you find the places you love, as well as find new places to love.  Give it a look, after the break. [Google Lat Long Blog]

Google shows us how to hotpot [video] posted originally by Android Central

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Copy Fixer for Firefox and Chrome lets you easily copy the URL and page title

copyfixer

Here's an operation I need to do quite often: copy both the page title and its URL. For some reason, neither Firefox nor Chrome provides a way to do this in one fell swoop. I need to activate the address bar in order to copy the URL, and I'm not even sure there's a way to copy the page title (I usually just type it out manually).

Copy Fixer is an add-on for Firefox and Chrome that provides a simple and elegant solution. With Copy Fixer, if you hit Ctrl+C when nothing is selected, your clipboard is populated with something like this:

Download Squad
http://downloadsquad.switched.com/

That's it. It's just the page title and the URL and nothing more. I tried out the Chrome version, and it worked perfectly. It did require a restart to begin working, though, but maybe that's due to the Canary build I'm using.

The add-on is very minimalistic. There's no UI to speak of, and there are no preferences. One option that I wish the developer would add is a way to wrap the title and the URL with arbitrary strings and lose the line break. This way, the add-on could be used to produce Markdown-friendly links - page title surrounded by brackets, followed by the URL surrounded by parentheses. Maybe that will come in the future!

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Copy Fixer for Firefox and Chrome lets you easily copy the URL and page title originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 16 Nov 2010 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Callet combines an iPhone case and a wallet

The Callet case allows you to combine a protector for your iPhone 3G, Blackberry Curve, Bold and Tour smartphones, with a wallet. The case is made of a flexible, high quality gel?polymer and comes in White, Black, Blue and Pink. The back of the case has 2 slots for holding credit card and paper currency. [...]

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CCleaner 3.01 update makes it faster, nixes reboots, adds Adobe Reader X support

CCleaner just hit version 3.0 recently, but Piriform has already pushed an incremental update to the popular clean-up app. What's new in CCleaner 3.01? For starters, there's support for Adobe Reader X and Acronis True Image, better cookie detection for users of Firefox 4 beta 7, and improved handling of 7-zip, Chromium-based browsers like SRWare Iron, MMC, Silverlight local storage, and Adobe Reader 9. You also no longer need to reboot after CCleaner finishes cleaning up your Internet Explorer index.dat files (huzzah!).

CCleaner 3.01 isn't all about app support, however. It also starts up and scans faster, and both the uninstall tool and drive wiper have been improved. If you've got CCleaner set to check for updates, just fire it up and follow the prompts. Otherwise, you can download CCleaner 3.01 from the builds page.

CCleaner 3.01 update makes it faster, nixes reboots, adds Adobe Reader X support originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 26 Nov 2010 07:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Daily Crunch: Squid and the Purple Kinect Edition

Oh My God, There Are Muji iPad Apps Professional Analysts Say Sony Move & Microsoft Kinect Will Do Just Fine (At Least Initially) New Japanese Piggy Bank: Rubik?s Cube Bank Requires Brain Power Supreme Court Makes A Mockery Of California?s Violent Game Ban Eight Reasons To Get a Google TV and Four Reasons Not To

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Steve Ballmer looking into removal of Drive Extender from Windows Home Server

Steve Ballmer looking into removal of Drive Extender from Windows Home Server
Windows Home Server hasn't exactly taken the consumer market by storm, showing yet again that people are more interested in shiny new toys than protecting their precious data. Still, there's been a huge amount of negative backlash from Microsoft's recent decision to drop Drive Extender from the next release of WHS, currently codenamed Vail. Drive Extender is the tech that enables multiple physical disks to act as a single logical volume, making it easy for even non-techy folks to add more and enable data replication. Terry Walsh over at We Got Served was similarly taken aback by the decision and took the opportunity to drop a note to Big Poppa Steve Ballmer. He got a response:
From: Steve Ballmer
Sent: 26 November 2010 05:30
To: Terry Walsh
Subject: RE: MVP Feedback - Windows Home Server "Vail" Crisis
Let's look into it
Yes, it's a short response, and it course could mean anything or, indeed, nothing, but it is at least a response and a positive sign that the huge outcry among fans of Windows Home Server can indeed make its way to the top of the executive chain. Now we just wait to see what comes rolling back down...

Steve Ballmer looking into removal of Drive Extender from Windows Home Server originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 29 Nov 2010 09:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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TFT Accoustics TFTA-1101-V1 Earbuds Review

The audiophiles in the audience will probably pop a vein when they read that I don’t mind using the stock earbuds that come with the iPhone and iPods. For me, they sound just fine and are way more comfortable than in-ear style earphones that a lot of folks like to use. I can’t do the [...]

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Publisher: Apple Banned My Android Mag App

Apple banned an iPhone magazine app because it contained content related to using Android phones, according to the app’s creator.
Apple refused to approve the magazine Android Magasinet, a publication about Google’s Android OS, according to Brian Dixen, managing editor of Danish magazine publisher Mediaprovider.
Dixen said when he asked why, an Apple executive replied, “You know… [...]

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Humans Can Only Walk In Circles and We Don't Know Why [Video]

Humans can't walk in straight lines. If there's no fixed point of reference, we just walk in circles and inevitably get lost. Nobody knows why, but researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics have confirmed it in several experiments. More »


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lunedì 29 novembre 2010

Google Earth 6 Brings Integrated Street View And 3D Trees. Yes, Trees. 80 Million Of Them!

There's an easy way to tell that Google Earth is getting so advanced that it's getting dangerously close to looking like actual Earth: touted new features are kind of humorous. While version 4 brought the sky, and version 5 brought the oceans, now version 6 is bringing trees. Yes, trees. I fully expect version 7 to highlight the addition of dirt. Kidding aside, the latest version is obviously the best one yet. And trees are obviously a hugely important part of the Earth. To get them into Google Earth, the search giant has made 3D models of over 50 different species of trees. And they've included over 80 million of them in various places around the world including Athens, Berlin, Chicago, New York City, San Francisco, and Tokyo. They're also working with some conservation organizations to model threatened forests around the world.

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Google Wave looks set to be rescued by Apache

Google Wave ApacheThe Apache Software Foundation, that is, not an ominously portentous, Wagner-blaring helicopter.

The beleaguered Wave project, which Google has ceased developing, will soon shut down. Last week, Google gave us the ability to export our existing waves as Zip files, and now, thanks to Apache and the Wave in a Box off-shoot, you may soon have somewhere to import them to. It won't be exactly the same as Google Wave, but it could be pretty damn close.

The Register is reporting that the Apache Software Group is looking to roll Wave in a Box into its current management and build systems. It's currently only in the incubator phase, but the the full proposal for Apache Wave reads like a serious, concerted effort. There are a ton of Googlers on the list of code committers, at any rate.

If all goes to plan, you may soon be able to easily set up your very own Wave server, for internal collaboration efforts. Who knows, maybe big-name email and instant messaging providers like Microsoft, Yahoo and Google will one day provide an end point for our waves!

Google Wave looks set to be rescued by Apache originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 24 Nov 2010 07:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Watch This Steam-Powered Vinyl Play Doubly Retro Rock and Roll [Video]

It doesn't get much more raw than the Sex Pistols. Unless it's the Sex Pistols on vinyl. Or rather, the Sex Pistols on a record player powered by a homemade steam engine. Yeah, that's raw. And surprisingly squeaky! More »


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TeamViewer 6 for Android now available

Just last week, the Teamviewer 6 beta arrived for Windows users. With the arrival of my first Android device in the mail, I had hoped it wouldn't be too long before the crew released a beta for Android -- and today my waiting as at an end. Teamviewer is now available for installation on your Android device, and it's a welcome addition to my remote support arsenal.

Functionality is every bit as good as the iOS version I looked at a while back -- in fact, I even wrote part of this post on my Windows 7 laptop via my Droid using TeamViewer. Mouse control is smooth, zooming and changing the remote desktop's screen resolution is a breeze, and the UI includes buttons for sending specials keys like Windows, control, and alt. It's much easier to manage a 23" inch desktop via a 4" mobile screen than you would think using TeamViewer for Android.

We'll have a full review once TeamViewer 6 becomes available in the Market. Check out additional images of the beta in action after the break!

Thanks to Sebastian for the screenshots -- apparently I need to go have a quick shower.

Download TeamViewer 6 Beta for Android

Continue reading TeamViewer 6 for Android now available

TeamViewer 6 for Android now available originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 24 Nov 2010 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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FeedStore for Chrome lets you catch up on Google Reader news while offline

Back in May, Google axed the offline mode in Google Reader. I didn't use it that often, but it was a nice way to catch up on tech news while I made the 6-hour trek to Winnipeg from my home in the North. Thankfully, there's a new Google Chrome extension called FeedStore which brings back offline reading.

Just install the extension and you're ready to go. FeedStore adds an icon to your browser actions area and notifies you when new unread items arrive -- and stashes a copy you can read later. The reading interface is somewhat customizable, allowing you to choose a font and change the type size and line spacing. There's a dropdown for custom styles, though only the default shows for now (which is nice and clean) -- hopefully we'll see additional options added.

The downside, of course, is that a lot of sites offer truncated feeds. It would be nice if future FeedStore versions could pull the full post from source websites.

Install FeedStore for Google Chrome

FeedStore for Chrome lets you catch up on Google Reader news while offline originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 23 Nov 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google Apps accounts finally get full range of Google services

googleapps

As a long-time Google Apps user, I was overjoyed when I could finally start using Google Reader with my Apps account a few months ago. And now, Google has announced that all Google services are to become available for Google Apps users over the coming months.

After the jump you can watch a beautiful video explaining the change, but in a nutshell, you will now be able to access over 60 Google services via your Apps account, including Blogger, Picasa Web Albums, and more.

The change will be rolling out over the next few months, and administrators would be able to control which of their users could access what services.

Continue reading Google Apps accounts finally get full range of Google services

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Google Apps accounts finally get full range of Google services originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 19 Nov 2010 06:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Trying to be Mario Using Kinect Is Just Ridiculous [Video]

This guy thought it would be a good idea to hack Kinect to play Super Mario Bros. You know, actually run to make Mario run. Jump to make him jump. Duck to get into pipes. Bad move. More »


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The top Windows Phone 7 app -- YouTube -- is just a website shortcut

Sitting at the top of the Windows Phone 7 Marketplace is the most anticlimactic app of all time: YouTube.

After installing and eagerly clicking the icon I was greeted with... m.youtube.com. Yes, the YouTube app is a shortcut to the built-in Web browser. No more, no less... just a shortcut.

I suppose you could say that this is the first smartphone Web app -- but really, it's just laziness. Incidentally, did you know that Windows Phone 7 also lacks a Windows Live Messenger app? Maybe there's a Web-based client that I can use instead..

[via @ryan, and others]

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The top Windows Phone 7 app -- YouTube -- is just a website shortcut originally appeared on Download Squad on Sat, 13 Nov 2010 20:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jing, the all-in-one screen capture and recording tool from TechSmith, reviewed

TechSmith, with the launch of Snagit more than 20 years ago, is the definitive veteran of screen capture technology. Camtasia Studio, launched almost 10 years later, is now at version 7.1 and remains the best screen recording and video editing suite out there. TechSmith's latest tool, however, is an interesting mix of both Snagit and Camtasia. It's called Jing, and it makes sharing screenshots and screen recordings a total breeze.

Jing, at its most basic, lets you take perfect screenshots. You can drag a selection box around the target area, or let it snap to the current window. It's not as customizable as Snagit or Screenpresso, but it's definitely good enough.

When you probe a little deeper, however, Jing becomes a lot more interesting. Instead of taking a screenshot of a selected area or window, you can hit the 'Capture video' button and immediately start recording.

But it gets even better! Jing can automatically upload your screenshots and videos to TechSmith's Screencast.com site.

Continue reading Jing, the all-in-one screen capture and recording tool from TechSmith, reviewed

Jing, the all-in-one screen capture and recording tool from TechSmith, reviewed originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 23 Nov 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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