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Filed under: Utilities, Blogging, Web services

Tabbloid makes printable PDFs from your RSS subscriptions

TabbloidIf you like following news from your favorite sites, but you don't currently have a smartphone or other mobile computing option, it can be difficult to stay on top of things. I know I tend to get more reading time away from the computer than when I'm actually sitting at it. There's an odd service from Hewlett Packard that might be able to help you, as long as you don't mind killing a few trees.

HP has a site called Tabbloid that will allow you to enter RSS feeds for sites you'd like to follow, and it will automatically format and send you PDF files on a schedule populated with the contents of the feeds you entered. The formatting is very readable, but I'm not sure they're making the best use of space; I'd rather see the pages formatted into more columns, and maybe using a landscape format to better replicate the feeling of reading a newspaper or magazine.

It seems pretty transparent that what HP is hoping for here is to encourage users to get into the habit of regularly printing off reading material. Of course, if they do that, they will quickly be finding themselves at their local computer store buying ink for their printer. Evil genius!

Filed under: News, Windows Mobile, Office, Microsoft

HP will no longer ship Outlook with Windows Mobile devices

OutlookHewlett Packard has made the puzzling decision to stop bundling Microsoft Outlook with its Ipaq line of Windows Mobile devices starting in April. Customers are instead told that they can purchase Outlook through Microsoft's website.

But here's the thing. A PDA or smartphone is of limited use if you can't synchronize it with your desktop. Try transferring hundreds or thousands of contacts from your old device to your new one without Outlook.

Sure, you could use BirdieSync or Finch Sync to synchronize your PDA with Thunderbird. But after dropping $300 to $600 on a new device from HP, it's a bit baffling that the company would tell you to cough up some more money to make it useful. We can only hope that this doesn't become a trend among PDA manufacturers.

[via Pocket PC Thoughts]

Filed under: Design, Utilities, News, Web services

HP buys online image editor Tabblo

TabbloHP has acquired online image editing site Tabblo for an undisclosed amount of money. Of course, HP already had an online image editor, Snapfish. But Tabblo has a few extra features and a slick interface.

As we pointed out a few months back, Tabblo lets you resize photos, make posters, print them as calendars, or share them with friends.

It looks like the plan is not to mush Tabblog and Snapfish together, but rather to make Tabblo's tools available on a variety of other websites. This makes good business sense for HP. Find a way to make printing photos more fun, and you get to sell more printers and ink.

[via
GigaOM]

Filed under: Security, News, Windows, Microsoft

Man sues Microsoft after FBI cracks security on his Windows PC

Windows XP Security CenterMichael Crooker goes and gets himself arrested in 2004 for selling an air rifle with a silencer. The ATF seizes his computer but can't access the files. So they turn it over to the FBI, who cracks the security.

What do they find? Video of the Crooker and his girlfriend having sex, medical records, evidence that he surfed pornographic web sites, family photos, and files that should have been protected under attorney-client privilege.

But here's the thing. Crooker's not taking this lying down. Instead, he's gone and sued Microsoft, saying he had set Internet Explorer to erase his search history every five days, and that he had loaded security software on his PC.

Crooker claims Hewlett-Packard and Circuit City, where he bought the computer, have already settled up. But he's seeking $200 thousand from Microsoft. Sure, he could have purchased more advanced security software, but he says he bought into claims that his computer was safe.

But really, does anyone advertise that their software is so secure that even the FBI can't break into it? Of course We're not saying that the FBI has the most advanced cracking software available. What I'm saying is that unless Microsoft advertised that Windows XP was so secure that even the government couldn't crack it, we don't think Microsoft is guilty of false advertising. And what product manufacturer is going to promote its product as being able to evade government detection? Well, aside from radar detector manufacturers, that is.

[via Techdirt]

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The World's Hardest Game 2.0 - Time Waster

So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do. Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game. The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...

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