Stars and Stripes. Peanut butter and jelly. Harley-Davidson and sidecars. Okay, fine – one of those pairings is not like the others, but H-D does have a long history of adding a third outrigger wheel to its line of heavyweight motorcycles, starting back in 1914. That’s over now.

Harley-Davidson just announced that 2011 will be the final year it offers sidecars as a factory option, and it will no longer accept new orders for them. The good news is that The Motor Company will continue to provide warranty service for current sidecar owners and will stock replacement parts at its dealerships.

We have an unhealthy affection for offbeat sidecar motorcycles, and if you also happen to fall into that category, Ural and Royal Enfield are ready to serve your needs. As for Harley, check out its official statement after the break.

[Source: Harley-Davidson | Image: AMCA Motorcycle Library]

Continue reading Harley-Davidson exits the sidecar business

Harley-Davidson exits the sidecar business originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 31 Jul 2010 13:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Such a marriage has created the Snowflake Speaker by Sylvian Gerber. As its name suggests, it’s inspired by a snowflake. It doesn’t come in white though, as shown by the promo pictures.

By utilizing flat membrane audio technology, most of the speaker’s parts are conveniently hidden at its base and all the user sees is a brilliant light display that glows along to the music. That’s an iPhone/iPod Touch port at the bottom, by the way.

Since this is still a product concept, don’t expect a Snowflake Speaker to debut in a retail outlet near you. When it does however, it would be cool to grab one for the sake of showing your friends your idea of great music isn’t confined to a stuffy square monstrosity that only comes in black (these would be your traditional speakers). Those lights… so hypnotic…

via CrunchGear

Surprise, surprise, the man’s got a mini-copter named after him and sporting his mug—yup, that’s his visor helmet for a cockpit. It doesn’t shoot missiles and have night vision though, but it can go places for sure.

Capable of 8 to 15 minutes of super-powered flight per charge, The Stig Copter is a marvel of miniaturized engineering that will soar to the heavens and basically reinforce the myth surrounding the character it is based on.

However, you shouldn’t fail to appreciate its innovative twin rotor design. Twin rotors on helicopters, as opposed to having a single tail rotor, allow for maneuverability most ‘copters don’t have.

In fact, a twin rotor heli can do spins, tricks and whatnot. Just be careful not to crash attempting to perform this stunt. Maybe remembering its $60 retail price will keep most would-be pilots on the safe side.

via CrunchGear

The iTunes App Store has given rise to a host of new companies all vying to create the next huge App Store success. One of the best is Readdle, the developer behind such apps as ReaddleDocs for iPad, OneDisk, Flash Drive and Take A Note.

As they explain-

In August 2007, Readdle was the first to provide iPhone users a document reader and attachment saver a full year before the official iTunes App Store had launched. In 2010, Readdle still continues to expand upon the iOS platform by releasing new products for Apple iPhone users and opening potential to a growing Apple iPad audience.

“Over the last three years, Readdle has grown strong notwithstanding the many challenges on this emerging platform,” said Igor Zhadanov, Readdle co-founder. “Our success is based on a single platform focus — enabling iPhone owners to be productive and efficient on the go — and a great mutual collaboration between the peers in our team with an individual approach to each user,” he explained. “This serves our company and our customers very well.”

Well Readdle turns three tomorrow and we’re the ones getting the cake. All their apps will be just $.99 for 48 hours and they’ll be giving away three iPads.

The fine print-

To participate in iPad giveaway, iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch users should:

- own any Readdle app

- follow Readdle on twiiter (@Readdle)

- tweet the message: “Readdle turns 3: RT to win an #iPad. $0.99 for any app (48 hours sale). http://readdle.com/3years”

They will randomly choose 3 lucky twitter users and will contact them via direct message.

You can check out the special page on the Readdle web-site here. The full Press Release follows…

Readdle Celebrates Third Anniversary

Readdle, a pioneer in iPhone and iPad application development since 2007, celebrates today its third anniversary. In August 2007, Readdle was the first to provide iPhone users a document reader and attachment saver a full year before the official iTunes App Store had launched. In 2010, Readdle still continues to expand upon the iOS platform by releasing new products for Apple iPhone users and opening potential to a growing Apple iPad audience.

“Over the last three years, Readdle has grown strong notwithstanding the many challenges on this emerging platform,” said Igor Zhadanov, Readdle co-founder. “Our success is based on a single platform focus — enabling iPhone owners to be productive and efficient on the go — and a great mutual collaboration between the peers in our team with an individual approach to each user,” he explained. “This serves our company and our customers very well.”

During these years, Readdle has achieved industry recognition as a strong developer of business applications for the iPhone and iPad owners. In celebration of its third anniversary, Readdle is offering a time-limited discount on all Readdle products. Price reductions will take effect for 48 hours since August 1st. Additionally, Readdle is giving away three iPads to its Twitter followers. Details are available at: http://readdle.com/3years

About
Founded in 2007, Readdle provides Apple iPhone and Apple iPod Touch users with high quality applications missing in a standard application set. The company flagship products are Scanner Pro, an application which transforms the iPhone into portable scanner, and ReaddleDocs, a revolutionary file manager, document reader and attachment viewer for iPhone /iPod touch and iPad.

©2007-2010 Readdle. All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, iPhone, iPod, iPad and iTunes are registered trademarks of Apple Computer in the U.S. and/or other countries.

Tags: Apple iPad Applications, Apple iPhone and Touch Applications

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Roughly the size of a 7”x5” paperback novel, the LPC 100 makes up in hardware what it lacks in actual heft. Speaking of heft there’s not much to speak of either as it only weighs a staggering 1.2 lbs.

Before purchasing, buyers will have a choice of either the Intel Dual Core Celeron T3100 processor or an Intel Core 2 Duo P8400. Additionally, the LPC100 packs up to 4GB of DDR3 memory and a—wait for it—500GB hard disk drive.

The official press release also mentions additional features like “I/O connectivity built directly into its impressively small design such as; Gigabit LAN, 3-USB, 2-Serial, 1-DVI-I Video, Audio In/Out and 2-PS/2 ports.”

All this breathtaking hardware comes encased in a tough aluminum chassis and currently retails at a whopping $995. Quite pricey but if you ever need a powerful carputer, this would be an excellent choice.

via Engadget

It’s basically a lighter, stripped down version of the better known Segway. The ewee-PT (for Personal Transporter) also runs using the same mechanism; leaning forward accelerates the vehicle to an impressive 16 km/h and putting your weight backwards slows it down.

“The capabilities of the ewee-PT are endless,” declares the official press release. It cites the home and various public places for ideal use, guaranteeing easy and comfortable riding throughout. Of course, it also mentions the obvious eco-sensitive appeal of enjoying “sight seeing tours and beach promenades much more without increasing air pollution.”

Its manufacturer also emphasizes its ease-of-use, noting that “Delivery will be pre-assembled… the ewee-PT can be used and otherwise can be folded easily for transportation.” The steering mechanism of the ewee-PT “feels like a game console,” they insist.

As of this writing distribution of the ewee-PT is limited to fun-componenet.com where it retails for a hefty $1,039.

via slashgear

But autoplay of videos can also be a problem if only one video is opened at the same time. Users with slow Internet connections for instance may experience buffering periods in which the video stops playing. Many like to overcome that problem by stopping the video once it starts loading, to restart it once it has been buffered completely. This ensures that the video can be watched without interruption.

Several add-ons have been developed that automate the process. The majority of add-ons stop the Youtube video once it starts playing without interruption of the video buffering.

Google Chrome

The Google Chrome extension Stop Autoplay for YouTube does everything a Chrome user would expect. It stops the auto-play of the video, and keeps the buffering link alive so that the video will buffer to 100%, even in a background tab.

Even better is the fact that the add-on supports both Flash and HTML5 video players on Youtube, ensuring that all videos are stopped from autoplaying. [download link]

Firefox

The Firefox add-on stops automatic video playback of embedded media. It works not only with Youtube videos but other embedded media as well. Media is blocked from autostarting in two ways. The first tries to stop the automatic playback, the second replaces the embedded media with a red frame.

youtube autoplay

The options offer detailed configuration settings. It is for instance possible to block Flash and Silverlight, or whitelist and blacklist sites. [download link]

Firefox alternatives:

Tubestop: Stops the autoplay of Youtube videos. [download link]

TweakTube – YouTube Enhancer / Video Downloader: Overkill if autoplay is the only issue. Users who want an all in one solution that offers much more than that can give the Firefox add-on a try. [download link]

Greasemonkey scripts

YouTube Auto Buffer & Auto HD & Remove Ads: Buffers Youtube videos completely while preventing autoplay. Offers some additional features like removing ads from Youtube pages. [download link]

YousableTubeFix: Customized versions available for Chrome, Opera and Firefox. Does a lot of things besides preventing autoplay on Youtube.

• Download the video as FLV or MP4 in many formats: use the download button
• Resize or expand the video automatically or manually, to any custom size.
• Remove ads and any unwanted YouTube section; like video annotations and captions, video information, header and footer, etc…
• Change the default video quality to any of the available ones (like 720p or 1080p). The video quality availability is autodetected and the script can change to the best available one automatically.
• Automatically expand the video description, category and tags.
• Prevent only video autoplay, or both video autoplay and autodownload.
• Change the Flash Player Quality attribute to a lower one to play the video with less CPU use.

Opera users can try the YousableTubefix userscript to stop autoplay. Anyone knows if there is a comparable solution for Internet Explorer users?

© Martin for gHacks Technology News, 2010. | Permalink | Add to del.icio.us, digg, facebook, reddit, twitter
Post tags: autoplay, firefox, google chrome, internet-explorer, opera, youtube, youtube autoplay

Show me a person who could watch the Pixar movie Wall-E without getting a little bit misty, and I’ll show you a person with a heart of stone. The premise was that Earth, long inhabited by wasteful humans was eventually rendered unusable, and there was a mass exodus to a fleet of spaceships provided for by the Buy N Large corporation, which the company that had sold the products which helped contribute to all of the waste on Earth in the first place. Are you with me? So Buy N Large tells the Earthlings that they will only be on the spaceships for as long as it takes to clean the Earth, a task performed by these cute robots named Wall-Es, but instead of a few years, it becomes 700 years. And of course there is a love story and all the typical Pixar cuteness. But I digress.

WowWee’s new Roboscooper isn’t Wall-E; it doesn’t look like Wall-E, it doesn’t operate quite like Wall-E did, and it isn’t built to last for 700 years … but it may survive some hard play by your favorite child. Roboscooper is WowWee’s new “fun, friendly robotic buddy who loves to pick up, dump and recycle! Have him carry or scoop your favorite things around the house. In Autonomous mode he’ll grab things he sees or use the remote controller to make him pick up lightweight objects! After a long day working, Roboscooper loves to whack things with his arms. With lots of funny comments, modes and full driving control, Roboscooper is always ready to have fun!”

Features

• Scoops objects up automatically when in autonomous mode, or when controlled by the included remote
• Nimble.  Has six wheels allowing it easy traversal over most terrain
• Multi-directional mobility
• Funny phrases and sound effects
• Sensors in his hands allow it to detect objects in front of it on the floor and pick them up, or knock them around
• Obstacle avoidance.

According to the Robots Rule site, Roboscooper is expected to ship this August, 2010.

Roboscooper isn’t available for order yet, nor do we have an MSRP, but Wal-Mart and Amazon are showing on the WowWee site as future venues.

Via Robert Ocshler

Tags: Robots, Toys (Any Age), WowWee

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Martin Magnusson, a self-professed “researcher and entrepreneur” sought to literally expand his horizons with the help of some tech lying around his house. The result: A wearable computer.

For portability, Magnusson is using a single Beagleboard computer packed inside a CD case where it shares space with a USB hub and an independent power supply—four 2700 mAh AA batteries. He is able to view his daily ‘to-do list’ thru an attractive pair of Myvu glasses that house a tiny video screen.

For additional input and all-important email, Magnusson uses a Nokia keyboard. Internet access is via Bluetooth attached to an iPhone in his pocket.

As a concept, Magnusson can pat himself on the back for contributing to that still farfetched goal of turning ourselves into robots. Unfortunately this PC isn’t too sleek design-wise, with poor ergonomics and haphazard wiring that could lead to a serious accident like tipping over a cup of boiling hot coffee onto your lap. But for effort’s sake, it’s certainly a laudable piece of work worthy of Blade Runner itself.

via Gizmodo

Audi, Mercedes, BMW and VW offer their premium SUVs in diesel flavors, and that’s got Porsche rethinking its stance re: the Cayenne. According to a Porsche PR rep in Canada, the American managers are thinking about bringing the oil-burner this way in order to fill that hole. Two years ago, Porsche tested and then confirmed a diesel Cayenne for the American market that would use Audi’s 3.0 TDI. It was supposed to arrive early last year; obviously, that never happened.

We drove the Euro-spec diesel Cayenne last year, and walked away thinking it’s a “no-brainer for the American market.” With the new Cayenne having lost all that weight and increased its performance, a diesel engine would pull even better. And if the numbers stand, with overall diesel-vehicle sales in North America predicted to hit around 250,000 units in 2014, it could be that Porsche thinks it’s a no-brainer as well.

[Source: Times Colonist]

Report: Porsche reconsidering diesel Cayenne for North America originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 31 Jul 2010 11:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Scosche’s flipSYNC Micro & Mini USB 2.0 Charge and Sync Cable is a super handy little gadget. It hangs out on your key ring until you need to charge something that takes a USB to mini or micro-USB. And when you do, you’ll be glad you have it with you. Yup, thanks to the flipSYNC you’ll never have to stress out because you need to charge something but can’t because you don’t have access to a cable.

It is small. It is handy. And one is going to our reader arvindr

The flipSYNC Micro & Mini USB 2.0 Charge and Sync Cable is available from Scosche for an MSRP of $19.99. The first time you find yourself needing a cable and suddenly realize you have one right there you’ll be happy to have one of these. Trust me, I’ve already been there… a few times!

Tags: USB Devices

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There’s a 30-page plus thread on the official PlayStation forums where folks are venting about issues upgrading their hard drive. They’ve been getting a “no applicable data” error after trying to install the update, which has left them with a non-working PS3 and, in some cases, a corrupted original drive.

Apparently the issue may have something to do with a newly discovered feature of the 3.41 update that allows for more incremental patches. That might explain why the problem only seems to be affecting PS3s where the firmware is stored on the hard drive instead of the system’s memory. Sony hasn’t chimed in yet, but hopefully they offer a fix soon.

[Engadget]

Bird lovers who carry Android handsets in their pockets can rejoice!  The famous Audubon Society has released through Green Mountain Digital an Android app that allows you to browse their nature guides on your phone.

Available in the Market for $19.99, you are basically buying an electronic book developed for viewing on the go.  If you decide that you want to download these bad boys, be aware that you should do it over a WiFi connection, as they are almost 21mb in size!  

Let us know if you are planning on getting and using this app, we are interested to hear about the quality.

There were no pictures of the Android App at press time, but you can get the idea from the iPhone version pictured to the left.

NOTE: Audubon Birds Comes to Android originally appeared on AndroidGuys.

Random Posts

It appears Motorola may have finally given us what we wanted: the open source software for the Droid X. That’s right, now developers can mess around with the 4.3-inch beast even more! This isn’t quite as exciting as the 1-Click Root that came to the Droid X just a few days ago, but it’s still news. And I’m sure some crazy dev will have Froyo up and running on the Droid X in no time.

NOTE: Motorola Open Sources Droid X originally appeared on AndroidGuys.

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What follows is a short summary of just a few presentations, panel discussions, and startup demos I witnessed at OpenWebAsia (those with a focus on Asia only). I will update this article with more material once it becomes available (find the agendas for day one and two here and here).

Growing Digital In Asia – An Overview (panel discussion)

The event kicked off with a panel discussion between Mohan Belani (Co-founder at mobile gaming company Mobret and former Director at startup community e27), Michael F. Smith Jr. (Director of Global Initiatives at Yahoo!), Googler and OpenWebAsia co-founder Chang Kim, and myself.

Moderator Preetam Rai had us cover a lot of ground during the 60 minutes, including how:

• Japan is obsessed with the mobile web (mailing, social networking, mobile gaming etc.)
• Japan’s mobile web is still growing
• Korea is starting to embrace web services from overseas
• Koreans love communicating in groups
• Smartphones conquer Korea, as opposed to Indonesia where feature phones still rule (and take two SIM cards)
• South East Asia is positioned in the global web market
• the region is seeing an explosion in cell phone usage
• most South East Asian startups are locked up in their home markets
• those startups can boost their chances of “going global” (use English, adopt UI/UX, focus on making money etc.)

Please click here to watch a video of the discussion, which is provided by Satoo.tv (embedding didn’t work, sorry).

What’s Happening In China? (presentation)

Shanghai-based entrepreneur and blogger Dr. Gang Lu shared some insights on what’s going on in one of the world’s “hottest” web markets right now, namely China (which now has over 420 million web users and 786 million mobile subscribers).

Lu’s presentation touches upon a range of peculiarities and current trends in China’s web and mobile market. It’s embedded below:

This Week In Asia (panel discussion)

Podcast series This Week In Asia (iTunes link) recorded its 58th episode live on stage at Open Web Asia. Guests included again Michael F. Smith Jr., Dr. Bernhard Leong (co-founder at mobile startup Chlkboard and This Week In Asia producer), Brian Wong (ex-Digg business development manager and founder at mobile ad startup Kiip), Daniel Cerventus (web producer and organizer of the event), and again myself (moderated by Kay Chew Lin).

Topics discussed include:

• India-based mobile ad network Inmobi‘s global landgrab
• mobile web usage in Japan
• Open Web Asia as a very early web industry event in the region
• pitching and delivery as still underdeveloped skills among South East Asian entrepreneurs

Again, please head over to Satoo.tv for a video of the discussion (but you can also listen to it over at This Week In Asia’s homepage in podcast format).

Current Challenges In South East Asia’s Tech Scene

It’s still very early in the game, it’s already a huge market, and there’s room for massive future growth in South East Asia’s web and mobile industry. But there are still some significant hurdles to overcome, especially if you regard South East Asia as one region.

Some hurdles I personally see in South East Asia’s web and mobile market (and on the way to a possible integration) are the:

• still relatively undeveloped tech ecosystem and its “chicken and egg” problem
  (depending on the country: big number of copycats, relatively low number of startups, few to almost no VCs firms/angel investors, low salaries for engineers, low propensity of skilled employees to work for startups, fewer people with an entrepreneurial mindset etc.)
• historically, culturally, and economically diverse markets
• much lower online spend than in North America or Europe
• weak exit environment (IPOs, trade sales)
• political and legal problems in some South East Asian countries
  (IP protection, bureaucracy for startups, general political instability)
• massive “brain drain”
• still low Internet penetration (examples: Indonesia has 12.5% Internet penetration, Vietnam has 25.7%, the Philippines just 24.5%)
• fragmented mobile landscape
• underdeveloped online and mobile payment infrastructure (if any)

Many of these problems, for example the low Internet penetration, will probably solve themselves in the future. And in fact, local startups, partly financed by local venture capital firms (which do exist), are starting to crop up all over the place.

Selection Of Malaysia-Based Web And Mobile Startups

Here are some startups that are based in Malaysia, mostly in Kuala Lumpur:

• Cravecast, an online music startup (their first product, Cravecharts, is a music streaming service)
• MobileApps.com, which is planned to become a “global cross-platform mobile app store” in fall this year
• Cikgu2U, an e-learning site that allows groups of students to study together online (in Malay)
• Guppers, a mobile business solution provider with offices in Kuala Lumpur and the US
• Offgamers, a game payment solution provider with over 300,000 customers worldwide
• Terato Tech, a mobile startup that develops for iPhone and Android
• LTT Global, which focuses on the mobile learning and edutainment fields

If you want to know more about Malaysia’s web scene, head over to the Entrepreneurs.my blog or follow the Twitter account of Kuala Lumpur-based mover and shaker Daniel Cerventus. For more South East Asia-related information, have a look at the e27 and SGentrepreneurs blogs or download the This Week In Asia tech podcasts.

Credit for the photo on top: Ben Israel

The practice day for the X Games 16 Rally competitors is in the books, and despite plenty of preparation the teams face some unexpected challenges at the new venue. The drivers first took to the makeshift dirt track at the L.A. Coliseum early yesterday afternoon and quickly found that the setup isn’t ideally suited to automobiles – or at least anything with bumpers. The course features two major elevation changes, going up and out of the stadium and then back in again, and nearly all of the drivers are having difficulty with the latter. The entrance back into the stadium is so steep that drivers are forced to either come in extremely slowly or catch air and plow the front end of the car into the dirt. To make matters worse, an uneven track surface at the bottom of the descent causes the cars to go airborne again. It may be fun to watch, but it’s undoubtedly frustrating for the drivers.

Interestingly, the one feature of the track that usually gives the drivers trouble – the jump – is no problem at all. Most drivers initially seemed cautious before making their practice runs, but they quickly realized that not too much speed is needed, and soon thereafter they were easily clearing the gap on every lap.

Overall, the current track layout at the new venue is disappointing. The course is essentially one large loop featuring all right turns, with the two elevation changes and the jump thrown in. Much of the course is fairly narrow as well, which will make the SuperRally either very boring (no passing) or very interesting (lots of bumping and crashing). We’ll reserve judgment until we actually see it happen, and we fully expect the addition of actual competition and tens of thousands of fans to make things more exciting. Stay tuned for more live X Games 16 rally coverage this weekend.

Photos copyright (C)2010 Drew Phillips / AOL

X Games 16: Rally practice day reveals new challenges originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 31 Jul 2010 10:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Surprise, surprise. The Garmin-Asus Garminfone has dropped in price. Again. But this time, it appears to apply only to existing T-Mobile customers. Tmo has sent out emails to existing customers, informing them that they can now pick up a Garminfone for only $99 (with 2-year contract & $50 mail-in rebate), meaning they get an instant $30 discount. This may be a special promotion or a last ditch attempt to sell as many Garminfones as possible, but it doesn’t look like we’ll be seeing this GPS-laden Android phone much longer.

This is somewhat startling, considering that we covered another price drop just 3 weeks ago. The navigation-savvy device is declining in popularity faster than expected. T-Mobile may not like it, but the Garminfone is going downhill. Fast.

Via DroidDog

NOTE: Garminfone Price Drops Again, but only for existing customers originally appeared on AndroidGuys.

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Yesterday’s Music Mania Giveaway was the iWave: Gravity Speaker System

The Gravity Speaker is a “Stylish portable plug-and-play speaker works with any audio device”. It features…

A unique aux input plays music from any audio device; works with all iPod models

A convenient design and handle allow for easy portability

It runs on 4 AA batteries or DC adapter (both not included)

Available in Silver, Blue, Pink, Purple, Red and Black, it has an MSRP of $24.99. It can be ordered from iWave’s web site but we had one to give away.

And it is going to our reader… John Carroz!

Congrats John.

And the next giveaway… coming up in a few…

Tags: Apple iPod and Touch Devices, Speaker Systems

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In Europe we also have online movie services. They are completely useless unless you are prepared to pay 3€ ($5) for a single movie for 24 hours. The content of these services is not very satisfying either. This is of course not an option for people who know that such things as Netflix exist. In Germany for example there are lawyers who make a living off scouting torrent trackers to see if you download a single MP3 or a movie. If they get you they will try to get your name and address from your ISP. First your ISP will refuse to hand your data to the rats. This leads to a pile up of legal costs. Finally 3-4 months later you will find a letter in the postbox saying that you have to pay a 1000€-5000€ + penalty because you downloaded something plus the legal fee that they spent on suing your ISP to give them your personal data. This has happened to many in Europe and while my solution is certainly not the best at least it’s not illegal (at least the swine will not come after you). So let’s get started.

Even to be able to open Netflix.com you need a decent VPN service. Fortunately you can give in any address in the U.S. and you don’t need a matching credit card. I pay $11.50 per month for the HydeMyAss pro VPN service and so far I’m satisfied with it. They have Linux/OSX/Win7 clients and they work pretty well. Now the trick is that if you want to have a decent picture quality you can’t use a VPN since it will slow down your connection pretty much.

Once you have a Netflix subscription and a VPN service subscription, do the following:

1. Connect to you VPN service to a server in the U.S.
2. Open your browser
3. Go to Netflix
4. Choose a movie and click Play Now
5. Wait until you see the “Downloading Movie Information” message in the movie player
6. Disconnect from the VPN service and you are now using your full bandwidth

Now I’m able to watch Netflix in HD from Germany (or from anywhere else). You can do the trick with WMC and this should even work with the Xbox 360 extender although I didn’t try. Also when you are watching series you can stay in the session; you don’t have to do the trick every time you want to watch the next episode. Just click play next.  Overall the whole thing costs $9 for the unlimited Netflix subscription and $11.50 for the VPN pro monthly. That’s just over $20. Cheaper than a 5000€ fishing expedition.

This way you can watch many other online services. For example Top Gear on BBC2 or Hulu. The speed trick, however, only works on Netflix. Be sure to experiment though.

But in order for you to use KDE you will in, in many cases, have to install it post-distribution install. Of course, if you’re not interested in installing KDE after you have installed the OS, you can always download the Fedora KDE spin. This will install, by default, the KDE desktop. If, however, you want the best of both worlds, you will need to install the KDE desktop manually…that’s where this article comes in play. In this article I will show you how to install the KDE desktop on Fedora 13 using both the command line and the Add/Remove Software tool.

Pre-installation

Before you run through the steps of install KDE manually, it would be a good idea to make sure your system is fully up to date. To do this click on System > Administration > Software Update. If the updater finds anything to update, go ahead and let that happen. Once the system is updated you are ready to go. NOTE: If your kernel is updated you might be required to do a system restart. Go ahead with that restart BEFORE you install KDE. NOTE 2: All of the below will need to have super user privileges. For the command you will need to first su to the root user.

Installing KDE using command line

Let’s start with the command line version first. You might think this is as simple as issuing the command yum install kde. It’s not. But it’s not as challenging as trying to figure out every software package to install and then list them all out via command line. For that yum has the groupinstall option, which will install an entire group of packages. If you are curious to see what groups are installed and available you can issue the command:
yum grouplist

This will first list all of the groups you have installed followed by a listing of all the groups available. In the list of groups available you will see “KDE Software Compilation” which is what you want to install. To do this issue the command:
yum groupinstall "KDE Software Comilation"
and hit Enter. This will download and install the entire KDE desktop for you.

Installing KDE using the GUI

Figure 1

This is equally as easy as the command line. To install KDE using the GUI click System > Administration > Add/Remove Software. In this GUI tool you will want to click Package Collections from the left pane (see Figure 1).

When you are in the Package Collections scroll down until you see KDE Software Compilation. Mark KDE Software Compilation for installation then click Apply to install. That’s it.

Final thoughts

KDE has come a long way and is certainly worth giving a go. If you use Fedora you are only moments away from the KDE desktop.

© Jack Wallen for gHacks Technology News, 2010. | Permalink | Add to del.icio.us, digg, facebook, reddit, twitter
Post tags: group installation, KDE, linux desktop, packagekit

The iPad is a runaway hit. We all know that. We use it at our desks. We use it in the kitchen. We use it in the living room. We use it everywhere. And it’s lack of a built-in stand is, at times, a pain. Let’s face it, you don’t want, or can’t, always hold the 1 1/2 pound device.

Fortunately there are a growing number of excellent options out there. And those ranks just grew by one with the announcement of the UpStand from Just Mobile.

As The Company Explains-

The UpStand™ will float your iPad at just the right height for desktop use – it’s perfect for working with a Bluetooth keyboard, watching movies or using the iPad as a digital picture frame. Add the right app, UpStandTM will even turn your iPad into a recipe book, alarm clock or TV. UpStand™ – standing up for the infinite possibilities of iPad.

The UpStand features-

Solid aluminum construction

Stylish and practical

Non-slip feet

The UpStand will work with most iPad cases and is available now from Macsense at an MSRP of $50. For more information visit JustMobile’s Web site.

Tags: Apple iPad Gear

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LauncherPro is a pretty popular home replacement. With its pinch-to-zoom, custom docks, and endless settings, it certainly packs a punch. You can even change icons on the homescreen. A new website called LauncherPro Icons has launched, and, as the name suggests, it’s devoted to custom icons for LauncherPro. They also have some snazzy docks for download on the site.

So why are you still here? Check it out for yourself and make your LauncherPro one-of-a-kind!

NOTE: LauncherPro Icons site goes live originally appeared on AndroidGuys.

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The only available option is counting the results manually, which can take some time depending on the number of results per page. The Google Chrome and Firefox add-on Google Ordered Lists has primarily been designed for search engine optimizers who want to assess a website’s ranking on first glance.

The extensions are compatible with all supported result page sizes, from the standard ten results to the maximum of one hundred results per page.

search results

Ordered lists are shown as decimal numbers by default. This can be changed in the extension’s options, so that Roman numerals are displayed instead.

Google Ordered Lists can be helpful for users who track search engine rankings manually in Google, especially those who display more than ten results per page. It may also be interesting for users who want some orientation, again more so if more than 10 entries are displayed in Google.

Firefox users can download Google Ordered Lists from the Mozilla Firefox add-on repository, Google Chrome users from the Google Chrome Extension Gallery.

© Martin for gHacks Technology News, 2010. | Permalink | Add to del.icio.us, digg, facebook, reddit, twitter
Post tags: firefox-add on, Google, google chrome extensions, google search, search engine optimization, seo

With the iPhone taking more flak than a world-war-one bomber we thought we would remind you why the iPhone is so great – the apps. That’s right the apps are the main reason why the iPhone has dominated the mobile phone world. We thought we give you the low-down on what you should spend your money on. Whether you’re looking to play some games, watch TV, increase your productivity or you just want to show off to your friends. This is what has kept us busy over the wet summer months.

1. Angry Birds

Angry Birds has taken over the world of life-style games recently – the premise is simple. Take 5 different angry birds and launch them into puzzle-based levels to progress to the next level – to say this game has taken over our live is understatement.

Angry Birds has been at the top of the iTunes store in almost every country and has been one biggest selling game’s in iTunes history. The game features challenging physics-based castle demolition, and with loads of replay value, and a 165 levels requiring logic, skill and brute force to crush the enemy. And at 59p it’s a steal.

2. Soundcloud

Soundcloud is another app that is worth picking up; it allows user to access their Soundcloud account on the move. It lets you seamlessly browse and listen to tracks from people you follow, sent to you from other people or sent directly to your drop box. It’s based on the twitter following system so you follow artists and you can listen to their music they have uploaded. And for only 59p it’s a steal.

3. Shazam

If you’re like me you hate it when you hear a song but just can’t remember what it’s called. Well Shazam looks to answer those questions with their nifty app. Shazam gives you instant satisfaction when you want to know what song is playing. Just point the phone towards the music source to identify and buy the track or share your discovery with friends and family. Yes, sometimes it doesn’t work on obscure tracks but it has worked for me a lot of the time. And it’s free!

4. Bloom

Bloom made quite a splash when it was released last year– Bloom explores unchartered territory in the realm of applications for the iPhone. Part instrument, part composition and part artwork. Bloom’s innovative controls allow anyone to create elaborate patterns and unique melodies by simply tapping the screen. Turn the lights off, plug in some headphones and start relaxing all for £2.39.

5. Air Video

Since every knows that the iPhone can only play quicktime files, it means that that many people think that they can’t watch their favourite files from the their PC or Mac. Well now that’s not the case with Air Video, it lets you get the most out of your video library on your iPhone, iPod and or iPad. Air Video is a great solution to watch your AVI, DivX, MKV’s and many other formats with no waiting and hardly any buffering.  And it is a breeze to setup and work amazingly well and for £1.79 is well worth a purchase.

6. Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is the latest installment of the wildly popular sandbox adventure series. In Chinatown Wars you play the role of Huang Lee, spoiled son of a recently murdered Triad boss who just got off the plane in Liberty City to deliver a family heirloom to your uncle “Kenny”.

From here you will embark on an epic tale of crime and corruption as you try to try to find your feet in the crime-ridden city and someday avenge your father’s death. This is arguably one of the best iPhone games there is, so just go and buy it right now. Or at least get the lite edition to give it a go.

7. Good Food Guide

If you’re a bit of foody you can’t go wrong with the Good Food Guide, which is Britain’s best-selling printed restaurant guide and now with this app you can access it right from your iPhone to find the finest hidden culinary delights throughout the UK. In addition to reading the entire guide with full reviews, you can use the GPS to find restaurants near you, visit a restaurant’s website directly from the app, write your own reviews and even tweet or email suggestions to your friends. This is really a must if your big foody as it allows to navigate that thousands of restaurants in your local area.  It does cost £4.99, but is certainly well regarded and sure to be a big help if you love finding new places to eat.

8. BBC NEWS

BBC NEWS app hit the store today and already causing quite a stir, as other corporate companies think it’s unfair that the licence fee is being used to make apps. But put this aside as this is one the finest news apps around. You can get the latest breaking news from the BBC and their global network of journalists. Stories are arranged in easy to use categories including; top stories, UK news, World news, Politics, Sport – just about every type of news you can think of and it’s free.

9. TV Catchup

TV Catchup – now I know what you are thinking TV Catchup is not a app ! We know but we love it so much we’re willing to let it go. And if you add to your homepage it’s sure looks like app. TV Catchup allows you to sign up to the service for free and turns your iPhone, iPad or any other salt-of–the-earth device into a freeview TV – allowing you access to all the channels of freeview over 3G or Wi-Fi. For free, now you can’t get better than that.

10. Flick Kick football

Flick Kick football has been doing the rounds at Gaj-it HQ and is every bit as addictive as our other number one game Angry Birds – this has collected accolades by the boot-load recently, and is all about scoring free-kicks using the accelerometer to place the ball into the goal – very addictive, and it worth every penny of the 59p asking price.

Want to buy an the latest iPhone handset, the iPhone 4?  Then check out this Apple iPhone 4 Review as well as the latest iPhone 4 Deals.

Top 10 Must Have iPhone Apps Recommended by Gaj-it is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site – Gaj-It.com

DroidGamers has announced the prizes for the winners of their Android Gaming Challenge. 1st place gets you a free Android phone from WireFly or a free dell streak from Scoreloop, along with a t-shirt, stickers, a load of free games, and a one-of-a-kind DroidGamers watch. 2nd place will land you whatever device the 1st place winner doesn’t choose, games, free apps, a t-shirt, themes, and much more!

The 3rd place winner will receive everything the 2nd place winner does, minus the device. 4th & 5th place winners will get their hands on a t-shirt, stickers, 3 free HeroCraft games, free copies of numerous other games, and a free theme from Extreme Themes. Last, but not least, the 6th place winner gets the same as 4th and 5th place, except the t-shirt, stickers, and theme. So get to playin’ and win you a free Android phone!

NOTE: Android Gaming Challenge Prizes Announced originally appeared on AndroidGuys.

Random Posts

Rumored Tablet next to a Galaxy S Phone

Speaking with Reuters, Samsung confirmed that they plan to release an Android based Tablet PC in Q3 this year. This places Samsung firmly in competition with LG, Acer, Dell, Toshiba and others that have announced Android based tablets. Samsung is the number 2 handset manufacturer worldwide second only to Nokia (who is struggling to gain a foothold in the smartphone market in the US). Though not many details are known regading the Samsung tablet device it is said to have a 7″ Super AMOLED screen according to Samsung. The device is also rumored to sport a 1.2Ghz CPU in the Hummingbird family (the same family used in Samsung’s Galaxy S phone series), Carry 16GB on internal storage with a microSDHC slot for external storage, A 4000 mHa battery and run Android 2.2.

NOTE: Samsung introducing Android Tablet in Q3 originally appeared on AndroidGuys.

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Speck’s PixelSkin for iPhone 4 may add a bit of bulk to the iPhone 4’s sleek thin design, but in the process it offers great protection to the back, sides, top and bottom of the phone. It offers such good protection that it is the case I am using when I do my C25K runs.

The PixelSkin for iPhone 4 is available in Black, Pink and Purple. It can be ordered directly from Speck’s website for an MSRP of $24.95.

We had one to give away and it will be going to our reader… Melanie Lopez.

Congrats Melanie and, as always, thanks to Speck for the giveaway item.

Tags: Apple iPhone and Touch Gear

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The popular social networking app, SCVNGR, has begun offering some real rewards for checking in.  Marketwire.com gives us a great synopsis of how both venues and customers can benefit from using SCVNGR every time we go out.
To quote marketwire:

Today, we’re launching a new feature on SCVNGR. It’s a game element called the reward. And it’s a thing (like free coffee, half off a sandwich, a discount on dry cleaning or two-for-one ice cream sundaes) that you unlock from your favorite businesses, or reward to your happy customers, by earning enough points.

The national rollout is going to start out in ten major cities over the next two months, and then will escalate to other cities.  Certain venues like Journeys has already started offering rewards in their 800+ locations.

You may remember earlier in July, we here at Androidguys did a review on SCVNGR.  The trend seems to be catching on.  We’re not saying you have to stop using GoWalla or Foursquare (We did a review on that one, too!) but we are saying that you can rake in some serious prizes by using this free app.

What do you guys think?  Are you already using this app?  Have you done the social check ins and played the challenges with your friends?  Let us know how it’s working out for you!

NOTE: SCVNGR Announces Rewards for Check-Ins originally appeared on AndroidGuys.

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The Blackpad is rumoured to be a tablet computer to rival the iPad (the image below is only an artists’ impression).  Not much is known about the specification but it’s rumoured to be similiar to the iPad with prices very close too.

The big question is how well their mobile operating system will lend itself to tablet computing.  This, after all, is what any tablet device will live or die on and it’s already why companies such as ExoPC are writing custom skins for Windows 7.

The other big question that needs to be asked is how the mobile networks will respond to another tablet so clearly aimed at getting online via a 3G connection.  In the last month we’ve already seen major networks around the world such as AT&T and O2 removing their “all you can eat” data packages for new customers.

Should this tablet see the light of day it’s expected to launch amongst a raft of other tablets at the end of 2010.

© Mike Halsey for gHacks Technology News, 2010. | Permalink | Add to del.icio.us, digg, facebook, reddit, twitter
Post tags: apple, blackberry, blackpad, blick, ipad, research in motion, rim

According to the product description, these phone cases are based on “some of the most popular Japanese food.” The bento rice and yaki soba seem like obvious choices, but at first I couldn’t figure out what that crumbly one was supposed to be -I thought it was a McDonald’s hash brown. In fact, it’s Tonkatsu – a Japanese fried pork cutlet. And I didn’t think bacon and eggs was traditional Japanese fare, but what to do I know?

Well, if you want to find out for yourself how realistic the inedible foods are, head on over to Strapya World, where you can get your hands on the iMeshi Food cases for the iPhone 3G(S) and iPhone 4 for $43.20 (USD) each. For that price, I’m pretty sure you could buy yourself a really nice meal.

I’m a push over for Gizmo, the lovable main character of the Gremlins movies. Especially when he wears the Rambo headband in the second movie. And now, an exclusive partnership between designers OVER THE STRiPES! and the TOKYO CULTUART by BEAMS gallery has resulted in a vinyl Gizmo toy wearing a cute little tshirt. Even better though, it comes packaged with the exact same tshirt in people size too!

Yes, it’s a girl squee post.

Gizmo is white and stands at 30 x 30 x 11 cm tall, so possibly coming close to life sized really. And the tshirt is available in sizes XS to L. Only 100 were, made most of which were released in Japan, and if you want one then Japan Trend Shop is the only place international customers can order it at a cost of $156 (so about £99). Pricey for a toy, but it’s just so CUTE!

Although I can see two problems with me getting one. Firstly, I’d want to break out the fabric paint on the black and white tshirt, and maybe even on Gizmo himself. And secondly, if you can get Gizmo wet without disastrous consequences, how will I wash the tshirt…?

Image source- Japan Trend Shop

Vinyl Gizmo Wears T-Shirt, so He’s Just Like You. is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site – Gaj-It.com

The interface displays the maintenance tasks on the left sidebar. Selecting an entry displays its contents in the main window, this are for instance all installed programs if the Programs task is selected, or all installed updates if Windows Updates is selected.

comodo program manager

The functionality in the programs group is a bit disappointing, as it is only possible to uninstall programs with the build in uninstaller. Users who are looking for leftover scans after uninstallation will not find that feature implemented in Comodo Programs Manager.

uninstall program

The drivers and services section lumps drivers and Windows Services together in one big list, and offers to uninstall ALL of them. Now, we are not entirely sure if it is indeed possible to remove essential Windows drivers and services with a click, but the uninstall button was active on every item. This could be potentially disastrous for the operating system.

Windows Features offers the exact same functionality as its Windows pendant. Features can be installed or uninstalled easily, a Windows DVD or CD may be required to do so.

Windows Updates finally lists all installed updates. Each maintenance group offers a search form to locate specific entries.

The backup functionality that is integrated in the program did not work on our Windows 7 Professional 64-bit system needs to be activated in the program’s settings before it can be used.

Comodo Programs Manager is an easy to use program, but that’s almost the only selling point. Specialized programs like Revo Uninstaller, and the standard Windows applications offer the same or a better functionality. They are also not putting the operating system at risk by offering to uninstall core components.

Users who still want to try the application can download it at the official Comodo website.

Update: We have apparently overlooked two additional features offered by the application. Comodo Programs Manager can create custom setups for applications so that those programs can be deployed on other systems. The software also monitors program installations and system changes, keeps track of them and offers complete uninstallation options. All setup files are automatically scanned with a cloud-based antivirus engine. Thanks Zachary for pointing that out.

© Martin for gHacks Technology News, 2010. | Permalink | Add to del.icio.us, digg, facebook, reddit, twitter
Post tags: comodo, comodo programs manager, uninstaller, windows features, windows software

Until now, only workarounds were available to protect Windows systems from those attacks. This included a Microsoft Fix-IT solution, third party software to detect and block malicious LNK files, and a Stuxnet Rootkit Remover to clean infected computer systems from common Stuxnet variants.

Security software, like Microsoft Security Essentials offer protection against known attack forms as well.

lnk stuxnet attacks

The increase in attacks however made it necessary to patch the security vulnerability, so that attacks and exploits of the vulnerability become useless on patched systems.

The security patch has “achieved the appropriate quality bar for broad distribution to customers”, according to a blog post at the Microsoft Security Response Center.

The attacks are currently spreading mainly in a handful of countries, including Brazil and the United States

stuxnet attacks

The out of band security patch will be released on Monday, August 2, 2010 at or around 10 AM PDT. Additional information about exploitation of the vulnerability is available at this Technet blog post.

Computer users should look out for the security patch on August 2. It will be distributed through Windows Update, Microsoft Download and other official channels.

© Martin for gHacks Technology News, 2010. | Permalink | Add to del.icio.us, digg, facebook, reddit, twitter
Post tags: lnk, microsoft, security patch, stuxnet, Windows, windows security

So now they have a new award, called the Bogan-Martin Award: “The Bogan-Martin Award is given yearly to the Flickr staff member who inadvertently generates the most spectacular media overreaction to a personal comment or inside joke.”

So who won? Daniel Bogan this year, who was also this year’s winner of the other award. And last year was Chris Martin. Both winners names link to previous posts we’ve done. Suggesting that we’re the media that is engaging in the spectacular overreaction.

Ok, Flickr. You won this round.

Hello Kitty, the mouthless cat turned global icon of cuteness, hasn’t left anything untouched, and the latest thing she has gone for is luxury water. We have earlier seen some nice examples of luxury water, including the Exousia Luxury Water, Bling H2O, the limited edition £1,000 Bling LOve H2O bottled water and luxury water from Osaka-based super-glam bottled water brand Fillico. This time, it’s the Hello Kitty luxury water available through Fillico, the Jewelry Water. The Hello Kitty Festooned with Swarovski crystals, luxury bottled water comes in five colors that represent different themes – Red (friendship), Pink (cute), yellow (heartful), green (wish) and lavender (sweet). A single bottle comes for $100 and the whole collection is priced at $500.

Via: KittyHell

Here comes the latest entrant into the family of high-tech luxury beds and they claim it to be the most expensive in the world. Parnian, the designer and retailer for the world’s most expensive executive desk, has now come up with a high-tech luxury bed in its Scottsdale showroom. Pricing for the bed starts at $38,000 and can go over a whopping $210,000, depending on the materials used. Originally, they had no plans to make an expensive bed. They just wanted to make something unusual and interesting that people would appreciate. Parnian’s president Abdolhay Parnian said that he has been working on the design for last two years and the craftsmen have put in more than 8 months of hard work to make this amazing piece.

The salient, luxurious features of the luxury bed include built-in iPad holders, charging stations, pop-up and swivel TV, computer monitors, hidden compartments, gold and stainless steel detailing and custom handmade mattress options with all natural materials that include wool, cotton, latex and horsehair.

The bed model pictured here is made with Ebony, Sapele and Curly Maple. It comes finished in a glossy lacquer finish. There are two LED touch light switches, one for backlight and one to light up the floating nightstands with drawers.

While the bed costs huge bucks, it’s not the world’s most expensive bed, as we have lately seen the Golden Bed from Jado Steel, which costs a whopping $676,550.

Via: PRLog

Via: Notcot/Uncrate

Quintessentially One, a luxury lifestyle membership club on a superyacht, is offering a one-of-a-kind experience aboard its 220-meter luxury superyacht that operates as a floating destination. Taking cruising to a whole new level, Quintessentially One is selling residences on the luxury vessel for between £8 million and £12 million. Designed for the Quintessentially One private members’ club, the floating destination has 12 triplex residential apartments on the top decks, a £750 per night boutique hotel, a restaurant run by Wolseley, a Quintessence spa and a shopping emporium. CampbellGray Hotels of London run the hotel on board, and the luxurious suites measure 40, 60 and 100 square meters. Other lavish amenities include a night bar, a range of water sport activities, high-tech business center, an onboard library, kids’ area and plenty of bespoke services.

Quintessentially One calls itself the world’s finest floating club, and it will travel to the most luxurious ports around the globe for leading international events, such as the Monaco Yacht Show in Monte Carlo, the Grand Prix in Abu Dhabi or the Barbados Garrison Savannah horse racing.

The membership to the exclusive club is by invitation only, and the membership to Quintessentially One will grant access to the luxury yacht and other onboard amenities. The Quintessentially One superyacht will set on its maiden voyage sometime in 2013.

Via: Daily Mail

Lovingly crafted by modder Daryl Brach, this Cray-1 mod is built primarily out of plywood. Daryl’s version measures in at just 25.6-inches tall, making it a 1/3rd scale model of the original 77-inch tall, 5.5 ton Cray-1. The mini version even has the padded seats around the outside of the computer like the original.

In place of the Cray-1’s 200,000 integrated circuits, 60 miles of wire, and prehistoric computing brains running at a whopping 80MHz, the new version sports a pair of modern PCs in the base, which certainly blow away the computing muscle of the original Cray-1.

Check out the full build log here.

[via bit-tech.net]