We first reported on the coming San Dimas project, from eBay, back in April when it was announced at the Web 2.0 Conference. At then we told you about being able to buy the first invite to the beta test. Well we didn't buy the firs invite but we did get an invite to the beta from when we signed up back in April.
Over the weekend we got our invite to the beta testing of the San Dimas project. The application is designed to be a client side interface to eBay. The project is written using the new Adobe AIR platform. So when we went to the download page we were told that the installer would install Adobe AIR as well.
After a few restarts of the installer due to our firewall blocking the installer, we refreshed the page, and was able to start the install of the San Dimas project. When we did we were greeted by the not so comforting screen below saying the Publisher was UNVERIFIED and it was asking for UNRESTRICTED access to our system. We completed the install and you can see some shots from the application itself after the jump.
Having trouble keeping up with your blog? If it's not lack of time, it might be having your precious thoughts and diatribes locked away in some blog hosting service; the -- not so irrational -- fear of having your blog hosting company go belly up and leave you unable to get your data back. Wouldn't it be better if you could manage it all yourself on your server? Or, maybe you don't like the way the blog hosting company does what it does, and you would prefer modifying the system to work the way you want it to.
If a full featured open source Content Management System is overkill, and a streamlined blog engine is what you are looking for, the search may have ended. When blogengine.net was noticed by a fellow blogger here (thanks Grant), it seemed to have great blogging features. It's written in .net and you can get the source code if you're so inclined. So we decided to install it and give it a try.
If you use a web based mail service and are tired of all the clutter on the pages slowing load times and ads getting in your way of quickly reading, and writing email, then Litepost is a service you should keep an eye on.
Litepost is aiming to ease the job of reading and replying to email by decluttering the interface and focusing on the two main functions of email, writing and reading. The interface is designed to be streamlined for these two functions and nothing else. And if the interface they designed is not to your liking they also allow you to upload your own skin for use by you.
And they have taken the "free web-mail" a step farther and will be releasing Litepost mail server as an Open Source download so that it can be installed on your server and you don't need to rely on another company for your mail hosting. And being Web 2.0 savvy they know that users would not do anything anymore without tagging and ratings. That's right not only can you tag your messages for easier retrieval later, but you can rate emails to find the important ones first.
They are currently working on finishing up their initial beta release, and will be coming out soon with the web mail service, followed by the server component after that. You can go to their site and sign up to be notified when these events happen. They are also developing an API for the service, as well as having the source code repository link posted publicly so that all those open source loving developers out there can make use of the service.
We talked about the San Dimas project before, and we just got an update from Alan Lewis, San Dimas product manager. He says the beta is feature complete and they are working hard to get rid of bugs while also making minor changes. Response to the project has been greater than expected and beta invites, which will be starting soon, may flow forth slower than they hoped. They have also a project FAQ, for which you can submit questions, at the San Dimas blog
But for the l33t who want in on the beta, you can bid on the first invite with proceeds going to charity. At the auction they give all the details on what the winner will get. This includes the very first beta email, and it will be sent 6 hours prior to any other invites. The winner will also get a certificate to prove to your friends and family you were there first... which we're sure they'll be impressed with, just as soon as they're done asking, "What the heck is San Dimas?" The final kicker -- a "Preston / Logan '08" T-shirt -- which reminds us to remind you, "Be excellent to each other."
No this is not a post on the hot TV show Heroes but is about a FREE site that allows you to search for your Social Security Number or credit card number in their database they build from scouring the web. It is what it sounds like, no fancy Ajaxy Web 2.0 junk, just enter your numbers and click the button, get the results. I can't tell you what the information looks like if it finds your information, because mine was not found.
So where did they get their data from? Well from the FAQ on their site, here is their response. "The information that powers StolenID Search is found online, by looking in places where fraudsters typically trade or store this kind of information. All information behind StolenID search is publicly available, but not in places where search engines such as Yahoo and Google would look. TrustedID abides by all state and federal laws in the collection and provision of this compromised information. The information behind StolenID Search comes from collection efforts led by TrustedID directly and also from other reputable companies that assist us in finding this information on our behalf. One of those companies is Cyvellience."
Of course after your search they offer up information about subscribing to their Monitoring product offering. But it is not that should detract you from searching for your information.
This morning I saw a blog post on the CodeJam blog about a new update to MemoriesOnTV, but the big item in the post was that they were bringing back MemoriesOnWeb, a freeware slideshow creator application.
The application uses the same engine as MemoriesOnTV so you have lots of features and control. In the slideshow you can mix multiple audio tracks and sync up your photos to the audio. And with the pan/zoom effects on pictures you can give movement to still photos.
They do have some tips on their site for running it, which lists some codecs you should have for best user experience. And the projects created in this and MemoriesOnTV are compatible and can be loaded in each. Check out some screens after the jump.
Seems an astute reader over at Engadget tipped them off that Apple slipped out a minor revision update to iTunes today. We will have to see if it fixes my biggest annoyance with iTunes 7. That "undocumented feature" is when you have a play list that contains audio and video, it no longer closes the viewer window after a video file. Currently 7.0 keeps it open and displays the album art (if any), while the old version would close it.
Back on August 30 CodeJam released version 3.1 of their MemoriesOnTV software. And they have just released another bug fix update on the 20th of this month. I have been using this software since it was called "PictureToTV", and they have really added to the power and ease of this software over the years.
To see all the features in a nice side by side of the two versions available of the software you can check out the features page over at the CodeJam site.
Some screen shots from the CodeJam site after the jump.
The newest version of the Leonard Maltin Movie Guide has been released by LandWare. If you are ever in the video store and want some guidance to pick out something good you can use this guide. This new version has the complete listings of both of the 2007 Movie Guide and the Classic Movie Guide by Leonard Maltin.
LandWare makes this product not just for the Smartphone platform, but also the Pocket PC, as well as their original platform of the Palm OS. This year's update now includes support for the Motorola Q, which is why this caught my eye. Just the other day I was watching "The Great Escape" and had a question about one of the actors in the film and my old "Video Hound" book never made it out of a box (or was lost tossed) during move back early this year. As I was watching the baby, I could not leave the room to use the other computer, so if I had this on my Q it would have been great. I just downloaded the trial version and will be checking it out this weekend.
While doing some poking around the traffic stats here I stumbled upon a domain I had not heard of but sounded interesting. It was StumbleUpon.com so I went over to check out what the site is.
What StumbleUpon is, is an interesting new way of "stumbling upon" new sites. Once you register for free you can download a tool bar for Internet Explorer (they also have a FireFox extension available). Using the tool bar you give sites "Thumbs Up" or "Thumbs Down" ratings which the system uses to match up sites from people who has the same ratings of sites.
You can view a demo at the site. Check out screen shots after the jump.
If you are a Mac user and want your Motorola Q to look like a Mac powered device instead of the Windows Mobile that it is, check out the home screens designed by Ray at KoolDezine.com. He has several Mac ones to choose from. In addition to the Mac one he has a fairly large selection of general ones to choose from. I downloaded several of them.
The best part is that they are free, but he does ask for donations if you like them and use them, which I am going to do since I am using one his cool looking Yankees one, which is in his fairly extensive "Sports" section. And most of them also use only standard plugins so you do not need any additional software for them. They are a cinch to install, just unzip them and copy the XML and JPG file to the 'Application Data/Home' directory through ActiveSync. Once the files are copied just go into "Settings" and the "Home Screen" option. You also need the "Color Scheme" and "Background Image" to be set to "Default" so the settings in the XML file are used.
Pocket Podcasts is an open source podcatcher application for Windows Mobile powered Pocket PC and Smart Phones. Being a member of Podcast Listener Anonymous (as well as Downloaders Anonymous) when I heard of this application today I went and downloaded it straight away. I may not be able to fully review this for a few days until my 2gb MiniSD card I purchased this morning arrives. Well I could not wait and decided to start playing with the application now and hope I have enough room to test it out.
cWell this morning while browsing the forums at QUsers.com I saw a posting on a product called Live Baseball Browser and that it would be released for the Motorola Q soon. I checked out the site for the application and they already had it listed for the Q. I downloaded the Smart Phone version from the site and during the install reading the license agreement, I noticed that the registration fee is for the calendar year and that a new registration will have to be bought each year. I went on installing the trial version anyways to test it out.
After install I ran the application, and after another agreeing to terms confirmation screen, you get a screen with options to choose the date, and the games on that day. In addition to the date and game you can also choose whether to play radio or TV, and what team's broadcasts you want to listen to (if available). On the Q, the interface is a little different than the one shown to the right, from the ivanx.com site, which must be showing the Pocket PC interface.
After making your selections it asks if you have a streaming media subscription at the MLB.com website, which you need to fully use the application. If you click "no" it then asks if you want to try a free sample game. It asks if you want a radio stream or a TV stream. I selected a radio stream, and the audio stream in the built in window media player was not too bad.
After my brief review it seems to be a fairly streamlined interface to get to what you want. I don't know if I would actually stream audio or video of games unless I was sitting with my phone plugged in so I didn't drain the battery quickly. And if that was the case, where I was somewhere I could plugin the phone to charge I would probably be somewhere where I could watch or listen another way. But if you already have the MLB streaming subscription and think you might stream the games I would say this would be a great way to get to the streams quicker than navigating the regular website from whatever mobile device you are using.
Thanks to a commenter (Thanks, Hoby!) on my Downloaders Anonymous introduction, who pointed me in the direction of QUsers.com I noticed that the application I reported about a couple days ago has been officially released.
It is priced right for the small single purpose application that it is. The price for the registration of the application is just $4.95 and if you check out the QUsers.com site you can get a special code for a discount off that already low price. I will be registering as I have already used the application in actual use to find something after the wife was already asleep. It came in handy, and since I have done the same with the backlight of my iPod already, the brighter, more focused light of the flash of the camera on the phone will be handy.
Well talk about perfect timing-today I was browsing jkontherun.com and saw Kevin C. Tofel's entry on an interesting little application called Pocket Light designed for the Motorla Q (which I just got over the weekend). Having been known to use the backlight on my iPod to get around the dog on the bed when going to bed after the wife is already asleep, I thought it would be interesting.
Kevin's post indicated the current beta expires on July 27 so get it quick. I did and went right to the site and downloaded it. In addition to the "Flashlight" mode that uses the light of the flash for the camera, there is a "Screen Light" mode that turns off the time out on the backlight and displays a blank white screen to get the brightest light from the screen.
There is also a time waster mode that allows you to send morse code signals using the light of the flash unit. And the message S.O.S. is a built in one, but you can set your own custom message as well. There is also a morse code table for you to decode messages from friends who also have this application.
Seems an astute reader over at 
The newest version of the Leonard Maltin Movie Guide has been released by LandWare. If you are ever in the video store and want some guidance to pick out something good you can use this guide. This new version has the complete listings of both of the 2007 Movie Guide and the Classic Movie Guide by Leonard Maltin.
Pocket Podcasts
Thanks to a commenter (Thanks, Hoby!) on my Downloaders Anonymous 
