Simple Drops - Part 2

links for 2008-09-03

Posted by Karim Baz

at September 3, 2008

Legal Issues, Flickr, and What You NEED to Know

Almost all bloggers depend on Flickr for their pictures. It’s only a few clicks to find the picture we want, but in reality it’s not that simple. There are some legal issues that all of us need to be aware of.
8 Types of Blog Posts That Guarantee Traffic
3 Easy Ways to Get More Traffic to Your Blog

Popularity: 21% [?]

Uncategorized

links for 2008-08-29

Posted by Karim Baz

at August 29, 2008

Popularity: 25% [?]

Uncategorized

Android Developer Challenge winners announced

Posted by Karim Baz

at August 29, 2008

Google has wrapped up judging on its very first Android Developer Challenge, and some twenty dev shops (or in some cases, individual developers) are finding themselves considerably richer as a result. Of the fifty apps to make it through to the final round, ten have been awarded $275,000 each and another ten have made off with a cool hundred grand — good coin for some really good ideas. As you might expect of anything being backed by Google and the Android platform, a good number of the finalists made location-based services an integral theme; take grand prize winner Locale, for example, which automatically switches device settings based on your current location (if that’s not a “why didn’t we think of that?” kind of product, we don’t know what is). The more we scan it, the more we realize that the list of winners reads like a who’s-who catalog of apps we know we want installed on our Dreams out of the gate — and more importantly, it looks like Google has a great way here to encourage best-of-breed Android development over the long run.

[From Android Developer Challenge winners announced]

Popularity: 28% [?]

Gadgets & Technology, Google

NextWorth Swaps Your Old iPhone With Someone In Need, Gives You Cash For a Shiny New 3G [Dealzmodo]

Posted by Karim Baz

at August 29, 2008

Original EDGE iPhones are still going for pretty serious dough on eBay like they were back in June, but if the market is anything like it was around the time of the first launch, you’re likely to go through tons of fraudulent winners before you finally get connected with someone who’ll actually pay. Saving you that hassle, but at a significant premium, is NextWorth, a service that will take your Jesus Phone (now Peter Phone? Hmm) and send you a cash voucher or Circuit City gift card for your trade-in, before probably selling it on eBay themselves. But is it worth it?

A quick search of recently completed auctions shows 8GB Peter Phones still fetching anything from $250 to a crazy-high $575. 16GB models are grabbing even more, seeing a range of the same $250 to $700+ (for new in-box, unlocked phones). Over at NextWorth (which will also take iPods), a 16GB with all the accessories and with “light wear” (as opposed to the “normal wear” which is the next highest option) will net you an even $300, just enough for a 16GB 3G. My 8GB, which is soundly in the “normal wear” category after a few drops and a broken headset, will only fetch me $180, which has me thinking eBay is the answer. NextWorth does not pay a premium for unlocked phones as many will on eBay, and if you read Giz, you should be able to unlock your phone and load it with whichever firmware seems most valuable before putting it up for auction, no sweat.

Anybody sold their iPhone EDGE on eBay recently? How’s the market out there? Let me know. [NextWorth via Gadget Lab]

[From NextWorth Swaps Your Old iPhone With Someone In Need, Gives You Cash For a Shiny New 3G [Dealzmodo]]

Popularity: 22% [?]

Apple

The PlayStation 3 in a Handy Model Comparison Chart [Playstation 3]

Posted by Karim Baz

at August 29, 2008

While to the naked eye most PS3s look pretty much alike, Sony will soon have released six separate SKUs for the console. Mostly the results of cost cutting, this chart by Joystiq can guide the more resourceful bargain hunter to find the precise PS3 of their choice. Everything from the amount of USB slots to PS2 backwards compatibility is listed. And even if it burns through a few more trees to operate with its larger 90nm processor, we’re still pegging the original 60GB model as the best PS3 to date. [joystiq]

[From The PlayStation 3 in a Handy Model Comparison Chart [Playstation 3]]

Popularity: 20% [?]

Video Games

Adobe strategy: Mobile app meets Photoshop Elements, Express updates

Posted by Karim Baz

at August 29, 2008

Adobe Systems on Monday let loose its plan to reinvent its image-editing software: the convergence of desktop, Webware, and mobile photo applications.

In late September, Adobe will update both Adobe’s Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements with version 7, rebrand Photoshop Express as Photoshop.com, and debut a mobile Photoshop (of sorts) for Windows Mobile.

Syncing with the new Photoshop.com

Whereas Photoshop Express (review) began life as an experimental, Web-based offshoot of the Photoshop brand, Adobe’s new strategy to automatically sync photos from desktop to Web to phone and back again now gives Photoshop Express a starring role on the Photoshop playbill, albeit using a different alias. Don’t let that fool you–although the product will now be Photoshop.com, it will retain its editing features and the ability to post photos to Facebook, Flickr, Photobucket, and Picasa. The bigger difference is that the new Photoshop.com will sync with the two Photoshop Elements applications and the new mobile software.

A sneak peek at Adobe Premiere Elements 7……..

Popularity: 21% [?]

Adobe

Xbox 360 Fall Dashboard Update Comes in November [Xbox 360]

Posted by Karim Baz

at August 29, 2008

Microsoft’s just gone on the record with RPG-TV and said the Fall Xbox 360 Dashboard Update will be hitting in November, which technically is still a part of Fall. Previous updates have also been released in late November (as close to Winter as you could push it while still being Fall), but all those new features coming this time might be cause for delay, even though they skipped the Spring update for this reason. Seriously Microsoft, will we have to wait another three months to get the ability to make a little avatar that looks like ourselves? You’re forcing us to turn on our Wiis? [RPG TV via Kotaku]

Popularity: 27% [?]

Microsoft, Video Games

iPhone Game Pads Are Coming To Enhance Gameplay Tenfold [Gaming]

Posted by Karim Baz

at August 29, 2008

TouchArcade has found evidence of two upcoming iPhone control pads that add, at the very least, an SNES amount of buttons to the iPhone. iControl pad is the first, and has four face buttons, a D pad, Start/Select and an LED to show when it’s in use. It may be ugly now, but it’s just a prototype.

Another game pad design (below) was received anonymously and looks like a patent application. It has an analog stick instead of a D pad, and places the Start/Select buttons over on the left. Both seem incredibly useful for games that require precise control—something the tilt sensor is not good for. The upside is that these control pads can serve as a slightly large protective case as well. I, for one, can’t wait to actually play NES and SNES games the way they were supposed to be played. [Touch Arcade - Thanks Arn!]