Download Squad

Download Squad job boards, whether you're hiring or looking for work

Victor Agreda, Jr. — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:30:00 EST

Need a sysadmin, coder, designer or other web working new hire? Virtual, on-location or whatever, the Download Squad job boards have you covered. Post your resume using emurse, or (better yet) post a job position in no time and immediately get an engaged, targeted audience of job seekers. We'll also start showing some search-powered job results on posts, like what you see here, but with a relevant job find:

Still not convinced? Did I mention that those looking for hires will see their jobs on our boards, on the boards at TUAW, plus those jobs are sent over to Juju, Simply Hired, Indeed and other job aggregation services. TUAW and Download Squad together serve up over ten million views a month, and serve over a million visitors each month. If you don't think your job posting will get seen, think again. We'll also write up interesting and amazing people and positions right here on the main page of Download Squad from time to time, further extending your hiring reach.

Try it and let us know what you think!

Download Squad job boards, whether you're hiring or looking for work originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Win one of three Halloween treat bags from Download Squad

Victor Agreda, Jr. — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 23:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fun, Features

Have you ever wanted your own bag of leftover schwag from SXSW Interactive? Or how about a new laptop bag? Would an AOL USB LED flexible light help you in any way? Check out each of the treat bags below, leave a comment on the pages that describe the treat bags to enter, and in a week we'll randomly choose our winners.

Sorry, limited to US and Canda, restrictions apply, read the rules, etc. and so on below. Happy Halloween from your friends at Download Squad! Each winner also gets a t-shirt or two from LogMeIn, since they sent us a giant bag of shirts.

Treat bag One: the musical coder.

Treat bag Two: the collector.

Treat bag three: the mobile warrior.

NOTE: Do not leave comments on this post -- you can't. You must leave a comment on the post describing the treat bag you wish to enter to win.

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Win one of three Halloween treat bags from Download Squad originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 30 Oct 2009 23:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Treat bag one - The Musical Developer

Victor Agreda, Jr. — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 23:00:00 EST

The musical developer. Featuring some CD's from SXSW, a soma fm sticker, an old copy of Microsoft Expression, a "Games and Puzzles" book from O'Reilly, an AOL USB light and a bottle opener from Sapient.

Open to legal US residents of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia and Canada (excluding Quebec) who are 18 and older.
To enter leave a comment on this post to win this prize package.
The comment must be left before Friday, November 6, 2009, 11:59PM Eastern Time.
You may enter only once.
One winner will be selected in a random drawing.
Prizes: One Soma FM stick, one "Games and Puzzles" book, 2 promotional music CD's, one Xiine disc and one version 1.0 copy of Microsoft Expression, plus one USB LED light and one aluminum bottle opener. Estimated value: no more than $100.
Click Here for complete Official Rules.

Treat bag one - The Musical Developer originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 30 Oct 2009 23:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Treat bag three - the Mobile Warrior

Victor Agreda, Jr. — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 23:00:00 EST

In treat bag three we find some gear for the mobile guy. LogMeIn pen and shirt remind you of a good service for remote workers, the gel pad keeps your phone on your dash, the Brenthaven bag (15") cradles your laptop and the HeatShift Cooling Pad keeps it cool when gaming.

Open to legal US residents of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia and Canada (excluding Quebec) who are 18 and older.
To enter leave a comment on this post to win this prize package.
The comment must be left before Friday, November 6, 2009, 11:59PM Eastern Time.
You may enter only once.
One winner will be selected in a random drawing.
Prizes: One HeatShift cooling pad ($50) one Brenthaven laptop bag ($50). One LogMeIn shirt, one pen and one gel pad, all valued less than $100 total.
Click Here for complete Official Rules.

Treat bag three - the Mobile Warrior originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 30 Oct 2009 23:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Treat bag two - The Collector

Victor Agreda, Jr. — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 23:00:00 EST

In this bag we find a collector of small gems from SXSW, including Internet All Star cards, a Firefox button and an iPod sock. Or something. Flash doesn't run on iPods, but OK Adobe.

Open to legal US residents of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia and Canada (excluding Quebec) who are 18 and older.
To enter leave a comment on this post to win this prize package.
The comment must be left before Friday, November 6, 2009, 11:59PM Eastern Time.
You may enter only once.
One winner will be selected in a random drawing.
Prizes: One promotional light-up pin, two stickers, one gadget sock, three buttons, three collector cards. Estimated value: no more than $100.
Click Here for complete Official Rules.

Treat bag two - The Collector originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 30 Oct 2009 23:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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UI Nerdgasm Alert: 10/GUI is sweeping us off our fingers

Victor Agreda, Jr. — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 16:00:00 EST

Filed under: Video, Beta

10/GUI from C. Miller on Vimeo.

Kitschy soundtrack, good voiceover and an intensely thorough demo add up to one cool re-imagining of our conventional human/computer interaction. In other words: this looks as close to the UI in Minority Report as I've ever seen. The key seems to be rewarding the user for having 10 fingers, and using all 10 to do a high number of operations in clever ways. This is really, really clever, too, just check out the name: 10/GUI. Check it out, you won't be disappointed. Well, if you hate using your fingers you might.

UI Nerdgasm Alert: 10/GUI is sweeping us off our fingers originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 15 Oct 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Weird Wednesday - Virtual Mr. Toad's Wild Ride

Victor Agreda, Jr. — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:00:00 EST

Filed under: Weird Wednesday

You thought the music to "It's a Small World" would drive you crazy? Try the careening refrains of Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, a blacklight-ridden motorized kiddie ride at Disney World in Orlando, Florida. At least, you could try it until 1998, when the Mouse saw fit to toss the toad and replace him with a cute, cuddly, one-crayon-short-of-a-sharpener bear named Pooh.

Enter obsessive compulsive behavior, computers and nostalgia wrapped in the tasty HTML and QTVR layers over on the shrine to Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, aka Virtual Toad. Do not lick Virtual Toad, but do be patient as you wait for the actually quite awesome QTVR walkthrough of the doomed ride. Was Mr. Toad scary? Nah, I remember riding it as a kid and being more concerned with the smell of 20,000 Leagues, which was directly across from Mr. Toad and is now a playground.

Is it weird? Well, if you consider fans of "dark rides" weird, then yeah. It's weird and wonderful, really. And how can you not call a mix of QuickTime VR, Walt Disney, an oddball British story and a website/museum/protest weird?

If you're looking for more info on the retired 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea ride in Orlando, this list of links is pretty complete. On the topic of toads, I would be remiss if I did not mention the all-glorious Hypnotoad.

Weird Wednesday - Virtual Mr. Toad's Wild Ride originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Kanye interrupts Arrington at TechCrunch50

Victor Agreda, Jr. — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 12:30:00 EST

Filed under: Internet, Humor

We simply couldn't resist.

(In case you didn't catch Kanye West's antics at the Video Music Awards this weekend, here's some context.)

Kanye interrupts Arrington at TechCrunch50 originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 14 Sep 2009 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Fugly Friday: Cybertown

Victor Agreda, Jr. — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 17:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fugly Friday

Do you tire of your humdrum, meatspace world? Does Sony's PlayStation Home look too real? Are there too many flying penises in Second Life for your taste? Well, strap on your hippie goggles and head over to Cybertown, where VRML never really went out of style, it just got better textures.

I remember stumbling into Cybertown around the turn of this century and being plenty impressed. Back then, before Shockwave got all 3D and around the time of RealPlayer G2's enhanced multimedia capabilities, this was neat stuff. Now, sadly, CyberTown is pretty much a Cyber-GhostTown.

No one but the resident chat bot appeared while I was online, and the markets, parks and cities were devoid of anything but a futuristic, bleak landscape. Pretty much what Caprica looked like after the Cylons were done bombing it to oblivion. Except with references to RealPlayer G2 (I kid you not).

Now, of course, even without any human meatbags occupying the place, it is rather sad. The graphics haven't improved in years, despite the new owners' insistence upon pending upgrades. The Blaxxun plug-in (not Mac or Linux compatible) is an older version as well, which doesn't say much for those upgrades. Adding insult to injury, the site owners now charge $5 a month for the privilege of walking through this virtual ghost town. Does it get sadder? Yeah, it kind of does. Check the gallery.

Gallery: Cybertown

Fugly Friday: Cybertown originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 11 Sep 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mobile Minute: A peek at the new Android Market

Victor Agreda, Jr. — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 12:00:00 EST

Filed under: Developer, Google, Mobile Minute, Android

Yesterday Android devs got a little treat in the form of a video demonstrating some new features in the upcoming Android Market, for version 1.6 of the Android platform. Hey, and guess what? It looks shockingly similar to the iTunes App Store as seen on your iPhone or iPod touch.

Similar as in it now has reviews and product shots IN the market ON your phone.

Oh, and subcategories and shiny big buttons to buy things and so on. Given the App Store's straightforward and logical design, it's only natural that the Android Market would end up looking pretty similar, isn't it? Check out the video for more.

Mobile Minute: A peek at the new Android Market originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 04 Sep 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Choosing the right tools for your process

Victor Agreda, Jr. — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 17:00:00 EST

Filed under: Utilities, Web services, GTD Me

As I mentioned last time, don't choose a tool that doesn't fit your flow. What does that mean? Here's an example: I thought I'd be clever and create a separate flow for home and work. Since I work at home, the thinking was that I'd further separate my two worlds with two systems. In one corner I had The Hit List syncing to iCal which in turn was syncing with Todo on my iPhone. In the other corner: Toodledoo in my browser (or standalone in Fluid) and on my iPhone. Guess what happened?

I wound up preferring one system over another. In this case, Toodledo (a service I'll dissect in a later post). Todo and The Hit List and even lowly iCal are great, but since the majority of my inbox items fly at me in a work context, I simply wound up using Toodledo more often. That simple cognitive shift of changing to another system wound up enough of a barrier to me to discontinue my hacked-together system. Oh, and it didn't help that my hacked system didn't work right.

The Hit List is a very powerful tool, and iCal works great with my MobileMe account. The hack to sync the two with Todo, also a terrific piece of software, only works so well. My second piece of advice this week: avoid hacked solutions unless you can fix them easily. This goes back to truly learning your system. If you can code your own apps and craft your own workflow, more power to you. If you can't, admit that you won't be able to fix things and look for a total solution elsewhere.

Case in point: so-called Kinkless GTD. Remember this one? I loved it. Add items via QuickSilver into a special, fragile OmniOutliner Pro document and all sorts of magical things happened. Unfortunately, the system was fragile as a glass kitten. Once it blew up on me once, I never got it working again, and had to unlearn a number of methods for capturing and completing tasks. That is not the way to get things done. But the toolset was beyond my capacity to fix it. So take a lesson from Star Trek and don't become dependent upon a tool you can't fathom. Or, at the least, find something with support documentation.

Next I'll show you some questions to ask when evaluating tools.

Continue reading Choosing the right tools for your process

Choosing the right tools for your process originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 07 Aug 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Twitter down, Facebook funky, where's your ego-massaging messiah now?

Victor Agreda, Jr. — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 11:10:00 EST

Filed under: Internet, Microblogging

Millions of people awoke today to find they couldn't tweet about their poops or post-party shenanigans. As the web cried a collective "oh noes," the alternatives started hiccuping as well. Yep, Facebook began having fits and spurts as it felt the collective sag of all those un-tweeting masses rush to the "next best thing."

So what? Well, I'm sure it'll all work itself out somehow. But centralized, walled systems (Facebook, I'm looking at your wall there) are bound to outage whereas distributed, open systems are less likely to suffer a similar fate. As usual, Dave Winer was right. (Note: Dave's not always right, but here I agree with him)

As TechCrunch points out, these things happen. Even the mothership at AOL suffered a massive AIM outage the day Michael Jackson died, and the NOC in Virginia is one serious monster of a server farm. But it's interesting to see the ebb and flow of the social masses as they move from one felled site to another, sometimes breaking branches as they go. Looks like Bebo and MySpace are unaffected. Ahem.

Update: Uh oh, did Kim Jong Il get upset about not being a trending topic? Ev says Twitter was and is fending off a denial-of-service attack.

Twitter down, Facebook funky, where's your ego-massaging messiah now? originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 06 Aug 2009 11:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Weird Wednesday: Internet advertising

Victor Agreda, Jr. — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 17:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fun, Internet, Weird Wednesday

Remember back in the early days of the web when all you had to do was punch a monkey to win? Millions of pummeled simians later the online ad industry had to evolve... And evolve it has, with two distinct paths for display advertising:

1. In-your-face gigantic ads or ads that "do something" significant to distract you. Common examples include full-page "interstitial" ads that interrupt your browsing, anything that flies around the screen or busts out of its little box or anything that expands when you hover over it.

2. Creative, "viral" ads that are so clever, weird, gross or unusual that they are passed around despite their more than obvious marketing nature. Let's look at some of these, shall we?

Perhaps unsurprisingly, I prefer the latter. Unfortunately tracking down "weird" ads isn't easy. Ad campaigns, by their nature, are dynamic and ephemeral. The Internet Archive doesn't cache dynamic ads, either, so some of those golden oldies may be lost forever. If you snag a pic, please let us know in the comments.

A few of the more clever online ads are presented for your consumption on the next page.

Continue reading Weird Wednesday: Internet advertising

Weird Wednesday: Internet advertising originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 05 Aug 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Pet Peeve: web service "welcome" lessons that disappear forever

Victor Agreda, Jr. — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 15:00:00 EST

Filed under: Web services, web 2.0

We've all signed up for a service in haste only to realize our 15-minute lunch period is about to begin. You activate your account, you open it up, and there's this clever little intro presentation that begins... only you don't have time for that right now. So you close out the window and go away. Hours later, you return to learn. But the intro is gone, and like Homer missing Mr. T at the mall, your life is missing something that no help file can return.

Or can it? I've been poking around the excellent WizeHive (which we've mentioned before) and noticed this, which set me upon the above mini-rant. I dig it when services bother with an intro at all, be it video, Flash or some AJAX business. But please put that somewhere easy to find should we need to bail upon logging in.

If you ever have this happen to you, I've added the intro screens for WizeHive in the gallery below. I did speak to the folks at WizeHive and suggested they put a link to these basic screens in their help pages.

Gallery: WizeHive intro screens

Pet Peeve: web service "welcome" lessons that disappear forever originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 05 Aug 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mobile Minute: WinMo 6.5 caught on tape

Victor Agreda, Jr. — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 23:45:00 EST

Filed under: Windows Mobile

Lucky Rob Kerr got a little face time with Windows Mobile 6.5 running on a HTC Touch Diamond2. During the demo you'll thrill to the very Zune-y interface, marvel at the nascent Market Place and plotz when you see the My Phone sync. Yep, My Phone backs up your phone's data to your Windows Live account. The iPhone can't do that, can it? More hot icon and web page rendering action over on the Inquirer.

While we're looking forward to 6.5, we hear WinMo 7's premium hotness will be all multi-touch-y feely and totally awesome. Either way, this whole "competition breeds innovation" thing seems to be working.

Mobile Minute: WinMo 6.5 caught on tape originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 03 Aug 2009 23:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Happy SysAdmin Day!

Victor Agreda, Jr. — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 12:00:00 EST

Filed under: Internet, Web services

As we all marvel at the miracle of modern technology today (you're soaking in it right now), let's raise a glass to your local System Administrator: the guy or gal or team who keep the servers humming and the network intact and safe. Have a happy SysAdmin day today, the 10th anniversary of the "event," and take your IT crew out to lunch or something.

Here's a gallery of sysadmin pics we found on the internet, but feel free to share your own in the comments or tag a Flickr photo "downloadsquad" and it'll appear in our tag pool.

Gallery: Happy Sysadmin Day!

Happy SysAdmin Day! originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 31 Jul 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mobile Minute: SugarSync now available for Android

Victor Agreda, Jr. — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 14:30:00 EST

Filed under: Windows, Macintosh, Windows Mobile, Commercial, BlackBerry, Mobile Minute, iPhone, Mobile, Android

Need to sync files across machines? Need to access those files on your mobile devices? SugarSync to the rescue. There are currently SugarSync clients for WinMo, BlackBerry, iPhone, Mac and Windows, and starting today, Android phones (Android netbooks too, if they ever appear).

The apps are free, but you pay for storage, starting at $4.99 a month. You can try it free for 30 days, or keep it free with a mere 2GB of storage. You get 30GB for the $4.99 price. SugarSync hasn't yet replaced my current favorite, DropBox, but in light of Apple's iDisk app release, it seems there are more options for syncing files than ever. Here's to choice!

Mobile Minute: SugarSync now available for Android originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 29 Jul 2009 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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On choosing a GTD workflow... and sticking with it

Victor Agreda, Jr. — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 15:00:00 EST

Filed under: GTD Me

Let me be totally honest here: I am not the world's leading expert on GTD. Nor have I completely settled on a true, universal solution -- because I don't think one really exists. Like most complex problems, there are many approaches, and very few true solutions. Plus, everyone has a different workflow and circumstance, so there's no way to prescribe something for everyone. That said, you will find patterns in GTD implementations (which is kind of the point, especially if you're adhering to a particular type of system -- Behance's Action Method or Zen to Done or whatever).

The point of GTD is pretty simple: get things accomplished effectively and efficiently. How you do that is by 1) making sure you are collecting everything you need to do, 2) managing the lists of to-do's and supporting materials, 3) acting upon the items on the lists in an efficient way. Simple in concept, and devilishly complex in action. It's that big, gray fuzzy area people have so much trouble with, since GTD is a process with a set of tools, not a paint-by-numbers exercise. Over the coming months I'll keep tweaking my workflow and reporting what I've found. We'll take a look at some popular systems, and ways to craft your own in different configurations.

As I said, everyone works a certain way, and there's no one-size-fits-all approach. I'll try to take into account the various approaches to GTD. Contexts, for example, are a variable for many people. Contexts in GTD refer to the "where" you're likely to do something. You don't need to see your "buy milk" to do at work, do you? Contexts help keep lists separate. Some people like a broad set of contexts, like @work and @home and perhaps a couple more. Other folks are meticulous with contexts and creating numerous sub-tasks with proper tags within each.

This week I'll lay out some ground rules for those of you looking to get started with GTD quickly, and what you can expect when choosing a set of tools. But most importantly, what are the things you need to do to ensure you'll actually use whatever system you choose?

Continue reading On choosing a GTD workflow... and sticking with it

On choosing a GTD workflow... and sticking with it originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 28 Jul 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Fugly Friday - Twitter design disasters

Victor Agreda, Jr. — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 18:30:00 EST

Filed under: Humor, Fugly Friday

Nowadays, what with the internet and all, you can pretty much pick up "good" (read: adequate) design for free and all over the place. There are templates for EZ, no-bake websites to beat the band. But Twitter's oddball format doesn't lend itself to much more than a blurb in terms of customization. That doesn't mean people won't maximize that space.

There are also folks butchering the design, but maybe it's not their fault. Twitter isn't really designed to be designed -- the profiles are mere vanity. You're looking at them when you tweet, and relying on people to visit them and give you a 3 second verdict to follow or unfollow (coming to NBC this Fall).

Here's a few interesting specimens we found:

HotTweeps - Nothing says quality like improper use of Photoshop's magic wand.
shawnshewchuk - Whoa dude, your logo is like, totally huge.
DavidLetterman - Even if Dave approved of Twitter, he'd disapprove of the animated GIF in the profile pic. Careful he doesn't sue the Worldwide Pants off of you.
Now here's YGrab, who AAAAH, my eyes! Who says you can't mix orange and blue? Over and over. No repeating backgrounds, ever!
Here's one of zillions of those "gonna put all my info in the rail" designs. Be selective, people.
Maybe this isn't a design thing, maybe it's just a thing where we haven't been typing in all caps on the internet for about a decade, but this guy needs to cut it out.
If it's self-indulgence you wish to see, but you're burnt on celeb tweets, may we suggest Twouchebags? Aside from being a great name for a band or bar, it's a good resource for, well, people whose behaviors might make cause them to be labeled something rhyming with Twouchebags.

Finally there's the leeches and remoras of the Twitter landscape, all those "get a zillion followers and die rich!" sites. Funny this is, most of them don't show their Twitter account names ON their site. Inspired Magazine has a pretty funny roundup of these jokers.

Fugly Friday - Twitter design disasters originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 24 Jul 2009 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mobile Minute: Palm Pre syncs with iTunes again... for now

Victor Agreda, Jr. — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 22:30:00 EST

Filed under: Palm, Mobile Minute

In what will no doubt become another game of device authentication tennis, Palm webOS 1.1 fixes what iTunes 8.2.1 tore asunder: sync with the Pre. Yep, 1.1 is hot off the networks and ready for a hefty 87MB download. I like how Palm's notification states "We'll download it over the next couple of days when your device is idle and a high speed network is available." There's that background magic at work! Your move, Apple.

Oh, apparently there are bugfixes and fancy things like remote wipe and auto-lock added in this update. Like you care while syncing all those torrented episodes of The Office, right?

[via PreCentral and Engadget]

Mobile Minute: Palm Pre syncs with iTunes again... for now originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 23 Jul 2009 22:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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