Although not very surprising, NewsFactor is reporting that PDA sales are continue to shrink. The main reason for the continued decline in sales is that more and more handheld vendors are dropping out of the scene (mainly Sony and Toshiba), and one of the major reasons for the increased pullout is the growing smartphone (such the recently released Treo 650) market.
Study: PDA Market in Decline [Via Yahoo]
With the recent announcement of the new iPod Photo, Apple has also released an updated version of iTunes, bringing the snazzy MP3 play'in software up to version 4.7.
According to iTunes' help files, the following features are new in 4.7:
What's new in iTunes 4.7
Using iTunes 4.7 you can:
- View photos on your iPod photo
If you have an iPod photo, you can transfer photos on your computer to your iPod photo using the iPod pane in iTunes preferences.
- Easily spot duplicate songs in your library or playlists
Choose Edit > Show Duplicate Songs to see only songs with the same title and artist.
- Float the Mini Player window in front of all other windows
Make the iTunes Mini Player window float in front of all other windows using the new preference in the Advanced pane of iTunes preferences. You can also minimize the Mini Player to the task bar or system tray.
Finally! Two of the features I've been complaining about for a while; easy detection/removal of duplicate songs and an "Always on top" feature [which is pretty much mandatory in any MP3 application in the past X years].
Enabling the "always on top" feature is pretty straight forward:
Switching to "mini-mode" is as simple as right clicking the iTunes icon in your system tray (Windows) and selecting Switch to Mini Player from the contextual menu.
As always, iTunes can be downloaded from http://www.apple.com/itunes/.
Similar to my NewsGator post of last week, Stardock (makers of WindowBlinds) has announced their blog reader, Blog Navigator.
Blog Navigator offers the following features:
And the best part? It's free (although they do also have a Pro version with a few extra features).
Stardock's Blog Navigator launches [via Six Apart]
And the million dollar question, what are the features (shared by both the Free and Pro versions):
Pre-Fetching
Blog Navigator will automatically download all the articles on a particular blog for faster reading.Off-Line Reading
Articles can be set to be pinned for off-line reading.Blogsphere Searching
Users can create automated searches using Feedstar and other search engines and put together the results as if they were a blog themselves.Blog Grouping
Users can organize various blogs together into groups and have the group header be the sum of all the blogs in that group.Tabbed Browsing
Blog Navigator can open up multiple blog windows in its own Internet Explorer compatible browser. Alternatively, different blogs can be displayed as tiled windows.Blog Baskets
Users can drag and drop articles of interest into blog baskets for safe keeping to reference later.Export articles
Users can export articles or entire blogs to disk at web archives (standard .mht files) to read later or send to others.Auto RSS feed detection
Most RSS readers require users to explicitly type in the RSS feed URL. Blog Navigator can detect the RSS feed from the actual blog site that has properly supported the RSS protocol (i.e. http://www.joeuser.com) so that you don't have to hunt around for the RSS feed.Import RSS feeds
Blog Navigator can import OPML files along with most other common (and uncommon) RSS feed formats so that you can migrate to Blog Navigator quickly and easily.
The Pro version ($20) offers the following additional features:
Manage blog accounts
Blog Navigator supports a host of different blog creation protocols ranging from Moveable Type, Blogger, Metaweblog, JoeUser, and more and has the settings already set up for most of the popular blog sites.Write blogs
Writing a blog with Blog Navigator pro is as easy as writing an email. A built in rich text editor with categorization features are included.Edit blogs
Go back to one of your blogs and change it.
Whoa! In what will probably be my only political post, I just saw a most amusing "bit" on the local news channel. As I'm sure most readers are aware, the US Presidential elections are happening this Tuesday. The news channel (the sports reporter of all people) went on to say that the best method of predicting the presidential winner is to follow the outcome of the Washington Redskins football (NFL) game this week. Hhhmmm... It seems that the Redskins winning record has correctly determined the winner of the Presidential election for the past however many years. If the Washington Redskins win the incumbent party will remain in office, conversely, if the Redskins lose than the game then incumbent has lost the White House.
This year the Redskins are playing the Green Bay Packers in Washington at 1:00pm Eastern time, and apparently Green Bay is the favorite.
I also managed to dig up some more information on the Washington Redskins' amazing Presidential feats over on snopes.com, who offers this quote:
The Washington Redskins have proved to be a time-tested election predictor. In the previous 15 elections, if the Washington Redskins have lost their last home game prior to the election, the incumbent party has lost the White House. When they have won, the incumbent has stayed in power.
OK, I didn't see this one coming, but here goes. Apparently action movie director John Woo (Mission Impossible II, FaceOff, Broken Arrow, etc) and Terence Chang's Lion Rock Productions has reached a deal with Wiley that will allow them to create an action commedy entitled "Espionage for Dummies."
Apparently the script was written by the same guy behind the recent Starsky & Hutch movie. The Hollywood Reporter offers the following quote:
...original script about a high school vice principal who is forced to rely on the "Espionage for Dummies" manual when his identity becomes crossed with that of a U.S. superspy. Armed only with the superspy version of the manual, he must try to save the world.
Wiley and Lion Rock Prods. plan on releasing the project in fall 2005.
Woo, Chang spy deal for 'Dummies' [via The Hollywood Reporter.com]
John Woo Studies Espionage for Dummies [via ComingSoon.net]
While the movie seems to be an original script and not based on an actual Wiley book, personally I think it would be a nice target. Why stop there? How about releasing "Flash MX 2004: Training From The Source -- The Musical", or "Flash MX on Ice".
Yesterday Apple announced two new iPods; iPod Photo and a special black iPod featuring U2.
I've compiled a list of sites featuring news, press releases or just some sites' opinions of the new models.
The pricing of the new models has also been announced, with models supposedly ready to ship today:
The iPod Photo is available in both a 60GB version for $600 and a 40GB for $500. The iPod U2 Special Edition sells for $350 (but isn't color - just a black version of their 20GB 4th generation iPod).
Update: Pricing for the OLD 4th generation iPods are still $300 for 20GB, and $400 for the 40GB version. So, it looks like getting the iPod in black costs an extra $50 (although does come with exclusive posters, laser etched autographs on the back and a $50 iTunes coupon. Also, I currently can't tell whether the black iPod will ship with some U2 music pre-installed, as previously speculated. Also, judging by the number, it looks like the color screen on the 40GB iPod Photo increases the cost by $100 over the 4th gen click wheel version).
Below are a list of sites with a bit more information:
The U2 iPod [Apple]
iPod Photo [Apple]
iPod photo [Boing Boing]
Apple unveils color iPod, U2 edition [CNET News.com]
iPod Photo, doesn't rock? [Digital Photography Review]
The iPod photo is here and The iPod Photo [Engadget]
U2-themed iPod now available [Engadget]
New iPods Finally Announced [Gadgetopia]
iPod Photo Dock Has S-Video Out and iPod Photo: First Details and Black iPod U2 Edition [Gizmodo]
iPod Photo: Apple releases iPod with Color Display and Black iPod: iPod U2 Special Edition officially released [I4U Future Technology News]
Apple debuts iPod Photo and U2 iPod and Analyst: Photo iPod yes, Video no, Wireless no [iPodlounge]
Dvorak weighs in on new U2 iPod and its implications and Apple introduces iPod Photo and Apple unveils U2 iPod [MacMinute]
Apple Unveils New iPod That Displays Photos and U2 Fans Furious at iPod Deal [MacNewsWorld]
U2 iPod, Photo iPod and Additional iTMS Localizations Released [MacRumors]
Socks, Photos, and Rock ’n’ Roll [Macworld Editors' Notes Weblog]
Apple Announces iPod Photo [PhotographyBLOG]
Apple Rolls Out IPod Photo, Rocks with U2 [Reuters: Technology]
Apple's IPod Features U2 Collaboration (AP) [via Yahoo! News: Technology]
On the off chance somebody out there still wants/needs a Gmail invite, I have a few that I haven't used, and hate to see sitting idle.
Therefore, you can try clicking on the links in the comments below and see if any of the invites are still available/free/unclaimed. I'll delete/modify the comments if I notice they no longer work.
Enjoy.
Six Apart announced their latest version of Movable Type 3 (up to version 3.12 now). Among the improvements are (and I quote):
Faster rebuilds, automatic generation of .htaccess files for dynamic pages, better support for running under mod_perl or on old versions of perl, and a few other little tweaks and fixes make for a useful new version. It's a free update for all licensed users, and should be fairly straightforward to upload on top of your current Movable Type installation.
So for anybody out there using MT3, it is probably a good upgrade to grab. For those of you still hanging on to MT2.6, I'm not sure if this is enough to prompt you to upgrade (although Six Apart does offer a couple different free versions of MT3).
[Source: Movable Type]
Although I'm a big FeedDemon fan myself, SixApart (the makers of Movable Type) is reporting that NewsGator is offering a free online version of their product that allows you to read, rank, and manage various XML/RDF feeds.
Want to know more? Check out NewsGator's site at http://www.newsgator.com/ngs/default.aspx.
NewsGator also has some cool looking Premium (paid) services which include the ability to display news feeds on your mobile devices, or even have the news emailed directly to your inbox.
[Source: NewsGator Online via SixApart]
Not Flash related at all, but I watched a lot of Superman movies growing up. Christopher Reeve (best known as the star of the Superman movies), passed away at the age of 52 due to heart failure. Nine years after being left paralyzed during a horse riding incident, Christopher had become a worldwide advocate for spinal cord research.
[Source: CNN]
OK, this sounds pretty cool actually. Google is apparently getting into the cellphone/SMS business and offering their unique services. I spotted this today on the google blog:
What is Google SMS? Google SMS (Short Message Service) enables you to easily get precise answers to specialized queries from your mobile phone or device. Send your query as a text message and get phone book listings, dictionary definitions, product prices and more. Just text. No links. No web pages. Simply the answers you're looking to find.
[Source: Google SMS]
Something that no doubt hasn't been blogged about a billion times before, but Apple's next iPod will apparently use Toshiba's 60gb hard drives and Think Secret is reporting (speculating?) that it will have photo viewing capabilities.
The new iPod, which will sit at the top of Apple's fourth-generation line-up, will pack Toshiba's new 60GB 1.8-inch hard drive, a 2-inch color liquid crystal display, iPhoto synchronization, audio/video-out capabilities, and will sell for $499. ... The 2-inch color screen is identical in size to other iPods, but will sport a higher resolution for photo viewing. However, the new device's real shining feature will be its video-out port, which will enable users to tote their photo galleries with them, ready to be plugged into any television for big-screen viewing.
[Source: Think Secret]