Link: http://www.dirpy.com/

Very cool idea here -

Dirpy, which is currently in beta, is an advanced Internet Digital Video Recorder (DVR) service that lets you record and convert your favorite freely available online media. Dirpy offers many useful features like real-time conversions, ID3 metadata tags, offsets, support for high quality formats (including HD), and much more.

You can even make a mp3 out of a You Tube video ... bookmark this one, it'll come in handy.

Link: http://globalthoughtz.com/2010/08/diggs-loss-is-reddits-gain/

Have you seen the new Digg redesign? I mean it's a good site and all but it's a far cry from what it was. There's tons of people leaving the service for Reddit (which always was a better community imho)

To make matters worse there was a time when most of Diggs front page articles were from Reddit itself.

Oh, and the site's been down a heck of a lot too as overload and balancing problems persist.

Link: http://www.howtogeek.com/news/internet-explorer-will-finally-stop-drawing-a-pointless-2-pixel-border-around-web-sites/487/

Another really annoying IE trait is going away with version 9 - the 2 pixel border drawn by default around the body tag. While this is good news, it's tempered somewhat by the amount of people still using IE6.

Link: http://mashable.com/2010/08/22/chatroulette-down/

All sorts of speculation should be settled today as the new chatroulette version will become functional (I don't know what time).

How would the site’s algorithms decide who gets the interesting users and who gets the less interesting ones? Would the site be divided into ghettos of interesting and uninteresting people, kind of like the dating site OkCupid invisibly matches users by attractiveness? We might find out tomorrow when Chatroulette relaunches.

Up to this point, only very small updates have been made to the site as it originally appeared, including channels and local matching. That hasn’t stopped it from birthing numerous viral sensations like Merton the piano guy.

Link: http://www.makeuseof.com/tech-fun/google-product-graveyard/

While Google does a lot of things right, over the years a number of products just never took off - this pre-halloween like page take a look back at the flops.

Link: http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/facebook-launches-places-geo-location-service-thats-both-cool-and-creepy/38203

Well, as we were expecting the service launched with support for only iPhones and a site for phones that support HTML5 (I don't know too many phones that do). Apparently other platforms will be supported soon.

The usual privacy concerns followed....

There were a few instances when the execs on-hand today made this service sound creepier than it needed to be. The idea that guests at a party at my home could turn my home address into a public “place” on Facebook and my only recourse is to flag my address to have it removed.

Link: http://mashable.com/2010/08/16/facebook-location-august/

Word on the street is that Facebook will unveil a location aware service today allowing people to know where you are and rob your house and stuff with ease.

Kara Swisher at BoomTown says her sources “indicate that Facebook (Facebook) will finally be rolling out its own geo-location offering” on Wednesday.

If this is true, it would fulfill a promise made to developers months ago at Facebook’s f8 conference, when we first thought the feature would launch. Such an announcement would, moreover, substantiate the subsequent months of “coming soon” rumors and verified quotes we heard from Facebook execs and others.

Link: http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/1728056/google-adds-html5-rocks-site

For those of you wanting to be on the cutting edge with HTML 5 - you have a new resource.

Google has gotten around to adding some content to its HTML5 Rocks site.

The website, which was launched in June, was supposed to be packed with HTML5 resources, but was not getting updated.

Now there are numerous resources for reference, tools and tutorials. There is also a new component of the site called HTML5 Studio. This is a place where you can view demos of HTML5 and CSS3.

Link: http://torrentfreak.com/take-fm-pushes-movie-torrents-to-the-next-level-100810/

Well, if you're getting movie torrents already... might as well go here as the site is great.

Those browsing through the site will immediately notice that it’s unlike any other indexer. The site is developed by the owner of Coda.fm, a music site that launched last year. Similar to Coda.fm, the looks and unique features of Take.fm set the site apart from most of the competition, this time focusing on the movie niche.

Link: http://www.playaudiovideo.com/index.htm

The World's first Multimedia search engine

Music search, Video search and Image search in a single mouse click Or Search Music, Search Lyrics, Create Playlists

Link: http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2010/08/09/rumor-facebook-goes-on-lockdown-due-to-google

What with the failure of Wave recently you'd think Facebook wouldn't have much to worry about as it appears that Google does not have what it takes to compete in the social market (hint Buzz)

But the game may have changed as Google just bought out a social media network name of Slide.... so they have a step up already.

"[W]e've heard from a source close to Facebook's plans that the social network is working hard to fend off Google. Specifically, chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has declared that the company is on 'lockdown' for the next 60 days, with the office open on weekends as the company tries to revamp Photos, Groups, and Events in advance of the Google launch."

Either way it seems we all benefit - so look for Facebook improvements in the next few weeks.

Link: http://www.rounds.com/?icode=6br

Tired of Chatroulette? Maybe you just want to share some stuff with friends and family....

Rounds is a live meeting point. It's a truly unique, exciting and interactive online environment, offering users a variety of experiences that they enjoy together. Using a combination of webcams, real-time games, social activities and media engagements, we present a wide range of opportunities: from watching videos, playing real-time games, listening to music, facebooking and youtubing, to shopping together and beyond.

Rounds users meet their friends and friends to be, by inviting each other to 1 on 1 Rounds or by joining timed Rounds, where they are matched with other interesting new people based on common interests and share experiences together. Rounds is free for everyone to join and offers a safe place to have fun with friends and to meet new like-minded people.

Sounds pretty cool - Windows,Mac and Linux as it's all web based.

Link: http://blogs.alternet.org/oleoleolson/2010/08/05/massive-censorship-of-digg-uncovered/

In a headline titled "massive censorship of Digg uncovered" this article outlines some of the reasons why Diggs model does not work anymore.

One bury brigade in particular is a conservative group that has become so organized and influential that they are able to bury over 90% of the articles by certain users and websites submitted within 1-3 hours, regardless of subject material. Literally thousands of stories have already been artificially removed from Digg due to this group. When a story is buried, it is removed from the upcoming section (where it is usually at for ~24 hours) and cannot reach the front page, so by doing this, this one group is removing the ability of the community as a whole to judge the merits or interest of these stories on their own

Link: http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/100805-111014

Oh the irony - I remember dying to get an invite, then getting one - then not doing one single useful thing with Wave ever since. Apparently everyone else had the same impression.

Google Wave will cease to exist at the end of the year and the program/platform stopped further development yesterday, according to the Official Google Blog.

"Wave has not seen the user adoption we would have liked. We don't plan to continue developing Wave as a standalone product, but we will maintain the site at least through the end of the year and extend the technology for use in other Google projects,"

I'd miss it except I don't know what I'd miss.

Link: http://www.effectgames.com/effect/#Article/joe/Old_School_Color_Cycling_with_HTML5

Seeing these moving images using 8 bit color cycling will bring back memories of early games - and now you can do the same with html 5.

Demo and source code is available

Link: http://www.boingboing.net/2010/07/29/youtube-to-increase.html

For all you aspiring video sharers out there - the upload limit will soon let you share more.

Sources at YouTube tell us that online video giant will soon increase the maximum duration of uploaded video clips from 10 minutes to 15 minutes.

We're hearing something about a "15 minutes of fame" contest to celebrate the expanded video duration, in which winning uploads will be featured on the YouTube homepage in a future spotlight.

Link: http://www.itnews.com.au/News/221105,chatroulette-collecting-ip-addresses-screenshots.aspx

If you're one of the people that has been abusing Chatroulette, you've got bigger things to worry about now....

"We've started collecting information, such as IP addresses, logs and screen captures of offenders who actually break US/UN laws by broadcasting inappropriate content in a specific situations," he said.

"We've captured and saved thousands of IP addresses of alleged offenders, along with logs and screenshots which prove wrong behaviour.

"We are initiating a conversation with enforcement agencies and we are willing to provide all the information we have."

A good move but probably too late as the service has lost a good deal of the popularity it once had.

Link: http://www.betanews.com/article/Google-updates-image-search-to-eliminate-clutter-improve-results/1279661683

If you've done an image search today you'll notice something quite different in the results page, it's kinda hip and I like it so far.

"We hope [the changes] not only make it easier to search for images, but also contribute to a better aesthetic experience," product manager Nate Smith said. "We see images as a major source of inspiration, a way of connecting the world--and their growth is showing no signs of slowing down."

Such is the focus of the changes. The image page will take on a decidedly Bing-like look, where text in the results are eliminated, and image results are spaced more tightly together. Also "infinite scroll" has been introduced: more results would load as the user scrolls down, up to 1,000 images per page.

Link: http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2010/07/26/report-facebooks-account-deletion-process-simplified

A Slashdot post that more than a few Twitter users have echoed reported this morning, "Facebook have quietly added the ability to delete you account. 'Deactivate Account', under Account Setting, has become 'Deactivate or Delete Account', and when checked it purports to permanently delete your account and all information you have shared."

Unconfirmed at this point but if true it would be a wise move on Facebooks part.

Link: http://www.dailytech.com/Pirate+Bay+Hacked+4+Million+User+Records+Looted+Site+Is+Down/article18978.htm

The site was down yesterday (it's back now) after a hacker exploited an SQL vulnerability and got the userlist / passwords/ ip addys of the site.

Researcher involved said he briefly considered selling the data to the RIAA/MPAA but decided not to

In an interview with security blog Krebs on Security, Argentinian researcher Ch Russo revealed that he and two of his associates discovered multiple SQL injection vulnerabilities on the world's most popular torrent site, The Pirate Bay. They successfully exploited these vulnerabilities to gain 4 million users user names, e-mail, and internet addresses.

Question is will that list stay secret now - I'm sure the RIAA / MPAA will make offers - and they can spend.

Link: http://mashable.com/2010/07/07/youtube-mobile/

Making it easier than ever to kill time on your phone watching things like dogs on skateboards.

YouTube has launched an updated version of its mobile website, complete with a redesigned interface, better touchscreen features and, most importantly, high quality (HQ) video streams.

Link: http://mashable.com/2010/07/06/justin-bieber-north-korea/

In the contest, users were called to vote on which country Justin Bieber (justin bieber) should visit next. Currently, courtesy of the folks from 4chan, that country is North Korea.

Since most people in North Korea don’t even have unrestricted Internet (Internet) access, it’s obvious that the contest was hacked, but with only 21 hours left, it’s likely that North Korea will stay on top. Currently, North Korea has 552,000 votes, followed by Israel with 546,000 votes and Poland with 509,000 votes.

Sadly the moon was not an option

Link: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/4-best-sites-10gb-free-online-storage/

I suppose this might be good to back up some non personal stuff. I think I would encrypt anything that I sent to the cloud and certainly wouldn't use it as something to rely on... Great way to back up vacation pics while you're away though - or files that you might need access to while on the road.

Cloud storage services offer paid monthly subscriptions either for unlimited storage or for hundreds of gigabytes of data. Most of us do not have that much critical data to backup and therefore it would be a total waste of money. And for those of us who have data which cannot be stored using the 1 or 2GB free space offered, we have a list of four of the best free online storage services that offer free space of more than 10GB.

Link: http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/100701-093215

Google tries to make news all personal and shareable....

the Google News homepage has been revamped with several changes designed to highlight interesting stories I didn't know existed and to make it easier for me to share stories through social networks.

That meant I had to start my day by customizing my Google News experience by thinking about how often I would like to read news from each of the standard sections and adding topics that I follow.

Eh, I dunno if I particularly care ?

Link: http://idle.slashdot.org/story/10/06/30/1343209/David-After-Dentist-Made-150k-For-Family

Holy Christmas dinner, 150,000 dollars for a kids ramblings after the dentist... I'm in the wrong line of work.

Most of the money came from YouTube, but the family has made $50k from licensing and merchandise. From the article: "The one seemingly minor decision to make the video available all over the Internet set off a whirlwind of changes for the DeVore family. Within just four days, 'David After Dentist' received 3 million views on YouTube and the younger David quickly became an Internet celebrity. His father quit his job in residential real estate (did we mention they live in Florida?), and the family started selling T-shirts featuring cartoon drawings of their son post-dental surgery."

Link: http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/06/openness-would-decide-whether-google-me-is-genius-or-garbage/

I didn't want to post on this as it's status is still in rumor mode... but there is enough evidence today that I feel it's warranted....

former Facebook CTO Adam D’Angelo lent credence to the idea that Google Me is “not a rumor” but rather a high-priority project at Google, undertaken because “Buzz wasn’t enough,” and “they had assumed that Facebook’s growth would slow as it grew … now they are really scared.”

Google, scared of Facebook?

This may still turn out to be nothing, but seeing that buzz (Google twitter competitor) flopped hardcore - I'm curious to see how this turns out. I know Google has the money and knowledge to compete - can they make it happen?

Link: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-20009241-93.html

I noticed on Tuesday when I went to Amazon to look for SDHC cards that every product was unavailable and Amazon had no idea when they would become available again - it looks like some people saw far worse ...

Amazon.com experienced a widespread outage on Tuesday that lasted, at least for many customers, more than three hours and displayed blank or partial pages instead of product listings.

By mid-afternoon, Amazon's home page was devoid of any product photographs and showed only a list of categories on the left of the screen. Searching for items often didn't work, and customers' shopping carts and saved item lists were temporarily displayed as empty.

The problem is apparently fixed now.

Link: http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/view-doc-attachments-right-in-your.html

Furthering Googles plans to take over the world, you can now view MS Word docs right in your webmail.

If you receive Microsoft® Word files as attachments in Gmail, you can now view them with a single click — no need to download, save, and open files with a desktop application when you just want read them. The Google Docs viewer that allows you to view .pdf, .ppt, and .tiff files in your browser now supports .doc and .docx formats too.

Link: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2365790,00.asp

An analysis by StatCounter found Monday that that Google's Chrome browser has passed Apple's Safari as the third most popular browser within the United States.

In a survey of 874 million Web page views for June 21 to June 27 across three million Web sites, Chrome picked up 8.97 percent of the page views, versus Apple's Safari, with 8.88 percent. StatCounter said that Internet Explorer still remained the dominant browser with 52 percent, followed by Mozilla's Firefox with 28.5 percent.

Way to go - and this even with Apple forcing Safari on Windows users with iTunes.....

try this search inurl:"ViewerFrame?Mode=" -inurl –intitle

There's pages of cams that let you pan / tilt / scan / all sorts of fun - just in 5 minutes I found these interesting ones.

Some Beach Resort called the Cherry Tree INN

A Pub Somewhere

And a Factory

mind you - these might not be on all the time as they turn 'em off during the night... but if these aren't working just go and find some more ... sure to fill some bored time during the day.

Link: http://www.physorg.com/news196533069.html

I'm sure we will see a ton of alternatives coming out, Peer Books claim to fame is Privacy.

St Andrews University Computer Science student Benjamin Birt was so concerned about the way some sites collect and trade in personal data that he set about developing his own software which guarantees to protect users’ personal information.

Now Ben’s software - “PeerBook” - is one of a number of alternatives poised to mount a challenge to the global dominance of sites like Facebook.

there’s no central control of users’ data - personal information stays personal and is only shared with people whom the user wants to contact.

“Secondly, when personal information is sent from one friend to another, the data is encrypted using a complex set of encryption standards. It can only be read by PeerBook users.

“The aim of the PeerBook project has been to produce a piece of social networking software that demonstrates the functionality of sites like Facebook, whilst guaranteeing that no third-party may access, read or distribute any private user information to which they were not privy.

Admirable, but will people move to it? Not unless it has a killer app - Just think of how many people use Facebook for it's games alone and if you can't replace or reproduce that I don't think any alternatives have a chance.

Link: http://www.html5rocks.com/

Google's got an interactive code playground that will get you familiar with HTML 5 and all it's flashy goodness.

Link: http://www.geek.com/articles/news/google-introduces-command-line-tool-for-online-services-20100618/

A command line on the web you say ? Time for all you command line gear heads to go nuts.

The Google command line, called GoogleCL for short, gives advanced users the capability to streamline functions such as uploading a folder full of photos to Picasa, posting an entry to a Blogger blog, editing a document on Google Docs or adding events to your Google calendar. Google services supported through GoogleCL include Blogger, Calendar, Contacts, Docs, Picasa and even YouTube.

Link: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/19876/screenshot-tour-take-a-look-at-the-new-office-web-apps/

While they might be useful because of the Cloud storage, I don't think these apps have anything on Google Docs..... but take a look for yourself.

Link: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-20008223-36.html

Provided it even happens, I mean we've been waiting a year right? Something interesting is the total redesign of the way things work which will either help or finally bury Digg.

"With the new way that Digg Version 4 works, the new homepage, 'My News', when you log in is going to be the curated content of the publishers, tastemakers, and friends that you follow, and that's going to define your customized news feed," Matt Van Horn, the company's head of business development, explained to CNET. In other words, gone will be the singular focus on the top choices of the Digg community, a grassroots rabble that's managed to build up a finely honed pecking order of influence over the years. And, in turn, gone will be many media companies' attempts to harness the power of Digg's community by dealing with those select few.