Dolores Parker
Florida - http://
Filed under: Audio, Internet, Photo, Video, News, P2P, Social Software, iPhone, Mobile, Web
Now finally available - ubiquitous media sharing with Orb for Mac
It was pretty exciting news at Download Squad to hear Orb, the "sort of software version of Slingbox," was available for Mac. Orb allows you to broadcast your media to any device that has a web browser. After downloading Orb to your "always on" Mac with a high speed internet connection, you can access all your photos, songs, TV shows, and videos from any device with a browser and media player.
After downloading the app, Orb indexes your media and then prompts you to either log in to mycast.orb.com, or create a log in if you don't have an account. After you log in you can see your dashboard and all your media goodies.
Though my songs appeared immediately, my photos did not. There are various feed settings you can play with and channels to explore. Also, with a simple drag drop interface you can share your media with your friends via email, SMS, widget on your blog, or a public URL.
Checking it out from my home computer is one thing, but would it work on other devices? Success! I was able to access my media from my Dell PC.
A note for iPhone owners: The esteemed and indefatigable Jay Hathaway noted that he received errors when he tried to download the free version of OrbLive for the iPhone, which he tried from both his iPhone and his iTunes account on his Mac. There are 3 flavors of Orb available for the iPhone: OrbLive free, OrbMedia ($4.99) and OrbLive ($9.99)
Note to Orb: Please update your landing page to include PC and Mac, ok?
Filed under: Internet, News, Mozilla, Holiday Gift Guide, Search, Browsers, Web
Track Black Friday prices with Invisible Hand add on for Firefox
Now, you can get your price results in real time so you know you're getting the best deal. My test drive of the hand went smooth, the results loaded up within a second or two and updates were very discreet. This is a real time saver for getting price results.
The add on will be officially released to the Mozilla site within a few weeks, but the first 200 Download Squad readers can download the beta version. Just click on the link below and key in invisibleDLS for the access code.
http://preview.getinvisiblehand.com/
Filed under: Internet, Video, News, Windows, Macintosh, P2P, Social Software, Web
Share unlimited media files for free with Libox
by Dolores Parker Oct 29th 2009
Libox got my attention with free and unlimited - as in unlimited - media sharing. It's a new beta desktop application that allows you to share all your photos, videos and music with your friends and contacts. Unlike other social media sharing sites, whose free accounts are 1 GB or 100 photos/files, Libox is unlimited.
A colleague and I gave the app a trial run today and we liked it. After downloading and installing (7.9 MB Mac and Windows) the beta, Libox prompts you to import your files from your computer. The UI is clean, minimalist and intuitive. After importing your media files from your computer, you can share them by email with your friends and groups. Your friends will also have to install the app to open the files you send.
Libox allows you to sync your media files with all the computers in your house. There is also a web app where you can access your media in your browser, however, it is in alpha and can only be used on your local computer and if it is not behind a firewall.
To accomplish all this, Libox uses a combination of P2P networking, cloud and grid computing. It does not store your media or metadata on their servers and when you share media with your friends, Libox creates a "private secure network" on those specific files with those specific friends. The files are received in their original format, no compression, resizing or degradation.
Many questions abound, like how will this service make money? Once out of beta, will it be a paid service? What about the private secure networks? How private and how secure? The web access in alpha - how will that work? What are the compatible file formats? Any plans to add other file types like EPS or Docs? Does Libox work with Linux? Tell us more about the company and mission. Is their plan complete world domination? Is Libox too good to be true?
Stay tuned. Hopefully, we'll get these answers and more if you leave your questions in the comments.
Filed under: Design, Internet, News, Web
PDFAmigo - quick, fillable pdf creator in your browser
You don't have to sign in to get started, however you will need to if you want to save your work or upload images. If you don't mind the huge watermark across your file, the pdf you create is free. Naturally, that might be a problem, so you can buy the file for $1.00 using Paypal and the watermark will be erased. This fee does not include future changes to the form, so each change you make to the form would be an additional $1. Also, the first page is $1, and additional pages are 50 cents. (If you like to tweak your output this might get a bit expensive). Just sayin.
Another option that is completely free is PDFescape. It also runs in your browser and you can create fillable pdf forms, albeit with less font options and features. Any other faves? Let us know!
Filed under: Internet, News, Web
Amawaitin - Amazon bargain shopper's tool
You know how you feel when you miss a sale on an item you were definitely going to buy, but now the price has gone up and you feel like you've been robbed? Yeh, I hate it when that happens. Amawaitin is a shopping tool for Amazon that emails or tweets you when your preselected items hit your target price. This is convenient as it helps you from having to constantly check if the price has gone down on your favorite items.
The site is super easy to register for and navigate. You can search for an item and Amawaitin will provide a list for you to select. You put in your target price and then you - yeah you guessed right - you wait. I'm still waiting for the price alert on the 47 in HDTV for $599.
The key to Amawaitin is having the presence of mind to input your items and target price in advance. The other critical factor is to have patience and hope your target price will hit, and the last consideration is to brace yourself for Cyndi Lauper's Time After Time song, whose lyrics will invade your head just because the name of the site is asking for it. I will be waiting, time after time..
Shopping for Windows 7? Score it free or heavily discounted
by Dolores Parker Oct 22nd 2009 {5 comments}
So you got your party hat on and want to buy Windows 7 but don't feel like shelling out $119.99 - $319.99 for the various editions upgrade or full version? Well, we made life a little easier for you and your wallet. Below is a shopping site roundup of Win 7 deals and discounts. Check it out and see what deals you are eligible for.
Student - Microsoft is selling the student edition for $29.99 ...David Lynch's Interview Project blog launches Oct. 20
Interview Project by David Lynch is an online series of interviews with Americans from different walks of life, in various towns and cities all over America. Beginning October 20, the project will launch a community blog, incorporating Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, so fans will be able to upload their own original content.
Austin Lynch (David's son) and a friend set out on a roadtrip ...Invisible Hand - Firefox add on to help you find sweet deals
Trolling around on the web for the best deal is tedious and time consuming. Invisible Hand, an add on for Firefox notifies you of better prices on items you are searching on the web with a discreet interface. It's so discreet you have to search for it but if you see a green arrow in your status bar, you know it's there. When you start shopping on Amazon or Best Buy, Invisible Hand will pop up a ...Fast fix - block your *unwanted* contacts from Google Chat
If you're like me, there may be several contacts that appear in your Google chat that you probably would never dream of emailing again, let alone having a late night chat with. Well the good news is you don't have to live with their names staring at you taking up desirable real estate screen space on your Gmail page. Here's how you can get rid of them in the good, non literal way. Click on ...Carbonmade - free online portfolio for designers
Carbonmade is a online site where designers can show their work in a ready made online portfolio. The site is easy to get around and perfect for designers who don't care to manage their own domain and website. A free account will provide you with 5 projects to show and a total of 35 images. Their pro plan is $12 per month, gets you 50 projects, 500 hi-res image uploads and 12 videos. The site ...
With Halloween fast approaching, it's a great time to get in some practice defending your territory against zombies. In Graveyard Shift, you take aim at zombies and other creepy-crawlies, blasting them into splatters of cartoony green guts. It's a casual first-person shooter, and it's very easy to get the hang of - use the mouse to aim, click to fire. Graveyard Shift has at least 15 levels, and it might even have some secret stages I haven't unlocked yet.
They key to getting good at Graveyard Shift is learning to use ...
