Gerber Crucial Pocket Tool Multi-Plier Review

There are a couple of brands I think of when it comes to multi-tools. Leatherman, SOG and Gerber. Today I want to show you the Gerber Crucial pocket tool multi-plier that was sent to be from OutdoorPros. It has been given the name Crucial because instead of having a bazillion knife blades, screw drivers, files, [...]

Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2010/12/28/gerber-crucial-pocket-tool-multi-plier-review/

MICRON TECHNOLOGY MICROCHIP TECHNOLOGY METHODE ELECTRONICS MENTOR GRAPHICS IMS HEALTH

TinyOgg lets you quickly convert YouTube videos to Ogg format

It's fairly easy to download YouTube videos, but they usually come in FLV or MP4 format when you grab them right off YouTube. TinyOgg is a lightweight service that lets you grab those same videos, or just the audio, in the open source Ogg format.

It couldn't be simpler to use: you just feed it with a YouTube URL, and hit Convert. You then get a short URL; after a few minutes, this URL contains a link to an Ogg file you can download and watch at your leisure. By default, this link is made public and can be seen in the queue.

There's also a more detailed form that lets you keep the link private (so it doesn't show up in the public queue), download the file in the highest quality from YouTube (so the converter gets the best raw material to work with), and rip just the music, with no video content at all. That last one is somewhat dubious on the copyright side of things, but is very handy nonetheless.

TinyOgg lets you quickly convert YouTube videos to Ogg format originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 14 Dec 2010 03:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/12/14/tinyogg-lets-you-quickly-convert-youtube-videos-to-ogg-format/

ACER ADOBE SYSTEMS ADVANCED SEMICONDUCTOR ENGINEERING ALLIANCE DATA SYSTEMS ALLTEL

The Weirdest Indicators of Serious Medical Risks [Medicine]

Apparently things like finger length, grip strength, and height may be reliable predictors of cancer, longevity and heart disease. Don't believe it? Check this weird list of potential risk indicators out anyway. It'll terrify, amaze, and amuse you. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/bOg2QdF_rn0/the-weirdest-indicators-of-serious-medical-risks

INTEL INSIGHT ENTERPRISES INGRAM MICRO INFORMATICA INFOCUS

Hands-on: Pinboard is a great Delicious alternative

So, Yahoo! went ahead and announced it doesn't like Delicious anymore. This is pretty much the dumbest move I've seen Yahoo! do in recent memory, and Delicious is going to fight for its survival outside of Yahoo!.

I really hope Delicious is going to make it, and I have every reason to believe it will. It's an incredible service, and one of the cornerstones of the Internet. Still, since I rely so heavily on Delicious, as soon as word got out about Yahoo! trying to kill it, I started looking for alternatives.

One of the most-hyped alternatives is called Pinboard, a paid service with an interesting pricing model: you pay a one-time fee determined by the current number of users * $0.001. This means the more users sign on, the more expensive it becomes. When I signed on a couple of days ago, the price was around $7. Now it's $8.65, and will probably keep rising.

Still, it's not a lot of money to pay for a safe home for all of my bookmarks, away from a big company that may make questionable decisions about a service critical to so many users.

But what did I get for my $7? I made a comprehensive gallery that you can see after the jump, and I'm going to walk you through it. Read on for the details!

Continue reading Hands-on: Pinboard is a great Delicious alternative

Hands-on: Pinboard is a great Delicious alternative originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 20 Dec 2010 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/12/20/hands-on-pinboard-is-a-great-delicious-alternative/

TRIQUINT SEMICONDUCTOR TRIMBLE NAVIGATION LIMITED TRIDENT MICROSYSTEMS TRANSACTION SYSTEMS ARCHITECTS TOTAL SYSTEM SERVICES

SBN Tech to show off Android-based IP Video Phone at CES

Haven't heard of SBN Tech? You're not alone, but it looks like the company is now set to make the rather valiant attempt of trying to stand out from the pack of Android tablets at CES next week. Its hook, however, is that its tablet isn't actually a tablet, but an "IP Video Phone," which may or may not be similar to the device pictured above that the company's been showing off recently. Of course, while the company may be touting it as a "video phone" first and foremost, the device appears to be a fairly standard Android tablet underneath that guise -- it packs a 10.1-inch 1,024 x 600 screen, an SD card slot for expansion, and the company notes that you'll also be able to use it for email, Twitter, Facebook and all your usual Android apps. Still no word on pricing or availability, but those details should be making themselves known soon enough.

SBN Tech to show off Android-based IP Video Phone at CES originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Dec 2010 21:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  AVING, Android Community  | Email this | Comments

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/12/30/sbn-tech-to-show-off-android-based-ip-video-phone-at-ces/

YAHOO YAHOO XILINX WESTERN DIGITAL VOLT INFORMATION SCIENCES

HTC Media Link DLNA streamer review

Apple's AirPlay might be getting all the attention lately but it's hardly the first solution for wirelessly streaming media to the television. Far from it. In 2003, the Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) formed with its first set of interoperable products hitting the market in 2004. Since then, the alliance has certified thousands of products supported by more than 245 member companies, 29 of whom are listed as "promoter members" including such heavyweights as Sony, Nokia, Samsung, Toshiba, Verizon, AT&T Lab, LG, Qualcomm, Cisco, Microsoft, Panasonic, Intel, HP, and Motorola. Pretty much everyone but Apple. Recently, HTC joined the DLNA ranks with the introduction of two smartphones -- the Desire Z and Desire HD -- and a tiny media streamer known as the HTC Media Link, HTC's first attempt to gain a foothold in the living room. Over the last week we've been testing the Desire Z (a Eurofied T-Mobile G2) with the Media Link, lazily streaming video, music, and images around the house using a myriad of sources and controllers from Apple, Samsung, Microsoft, and Western Digital. How did it perform? Click through to find out.

Gallery: HTC Media Link

Continue reading HTC Media Link DLNA streamer review

HTC Media Link DLNA streamer review originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Dec 2010 11:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/20fl2d_TYLA/

HYNIX SEMICONDUCTOR INFOSYS TECHNOLOGIES INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES INVENTEC KDDI

Ask Engadget: best sound system / soundbar for around $100?

We know you've got questions, and if you're brave enough to ask the world for answers, here's the outlet to do so. This week's Ask Engadget question is coming to us from Colin, who needs his jams on the cheap. If you're looking to send in an inquiry of your own, drop us a line at ask [at] engadget [dawt] com.

"I have been looking for a decent set of speakers that can kick out fairly good sound. Ideally, I'd use these in a bedroom, mostly for television viewing and Xbox gaming. I don't need anything too powerful as I'm not filling a gigantic room with sound. I've heard good things about Logitech boxed kits, but have also heard that soundbars are great space-saving alternatives. I'm open to pretty much anything: HTIB, soundbars, etc, but am hoping to spend around $100 or less. Thank you!"

We know, you're looking to pinch pennies in order to take that special someone out on a fantastically fine date tomorrow. We get it. But these days, $100 can actually buy you quite a bit of sound. We'd echo those positive sentiments on Logitech's boxed kits, but if anyone has any other input, comments are open down below.

Ask Engadget: best sound system / soundbar for around $100? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Dec 2010 22:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/12/30/ask-engadget-best-sound-system-soundbar-for-around-100/

JDA SOFTWARE GROUP JACK HENRY and ASSOCIATES IXYS ITRON IRON MOUNTAIN INORATED

Skype?s New App Brings Video Chat To The iPhone, iPad And iPod Touch

We've been hearing reports that Skype is debuting a mobile video chat service and D-Day has arrived. The company is launching a brand new version of its iPhone app that includes the ability to turn on video in any Skype chat. The beauty of the app is that it brings free video calling to iPhone 3G devices, iPad and iPod Touch, all of which couldn't run Apple's video calling feature Facetime (the feature only works with iPhone 4 devices and Mac computers). Of course, iPad owners won't be able to initiate a video call, but these users can receive any video chats from contacts.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/Jrt6KjGJ220/

ELECTRONICS FOR IMAGING ELECTRONIC DATA SYSTEMS ELECTRONIC ARTS ECLIPSYS EASTMAN KODAK CO

Coby Kyros MID7015 7-Inch Android Internet Touchscreen Tablet

The Coby Kyros MID7015 tablet runs Android 2.1 and has a 7″ resistive screen. �It offers internet connectivity with WiFi 802.11b/g. �There’s 4GB of internal memory, and you can add up to a 16GB microSD card. �The Kyros tablet is preloaded with a variety of apps: alarm clock, calculator, mobile YouTube browser, and more like [...]

Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2010/12/27/coby-kyros-mid7015-7-inch-android-internet-touchscreen-tablet/

NETGEAR NCR NATIONAL SEMICONDUCTOR NATIONAL INSTRUMENTS MOTOROLA

AOL spent more than $300 million on distributing free sign-up CDs

AOL used to be king of the dial-up hill. At its peak, over 26.7 million households accessed the Internet via AOL, a figure that no American ISP has ever surpassed. That success came at a cost, though: those CDs (and floppy disks!) that arrived in your letterbox, often on a weekly basis, cost AOL over $300 million.

The data comes from Quora, a service that is fast becoming the go-to place for juicy, 'insider' information. Someone asked about AOL's distribution costs, and in mere moments, both the CEO-at-the-time, Steve Case, and the former Chief Marketing Officer, Jan Brandt, had chimed in with authoritative responses. Case recalls, that in the hay day of the mid-1990s, AOL was quite content to spend $35 on obtaining a new subscriber. Brandt, responding a little bit later, provided a total cost of "over $300 million," for the distribution of the CDs. She went on to provide a shocking statistic: "At one point, 50% of the CDs produced worldwide had an AOL logo on it." Shocking, but... sadly rather believable.

AOL spent more than $300 million on distributing free sign-up CDs originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 28 Dec 2010 06:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/12/28/aol-spent-more-than-300-million-on-distributing-free-sign-up-cd/

VIEWSONIC VERISIGN VERIFONE HOLDINGS VEECO INSTRUMENTS VARIAN SEMICONDUCTOR EQUIPMENT ASSOCIATES

Growing Up Geek: Vlad Savov

Welcome to Growing Up Geek, a new feature where we take a look back at our youth and tell stories of growing up to be the nerds that we are. This week we have our very own Associate Editor, Vlad Savov.

Yes, I grew up in the monochromatic nation of Bulgaria. As geek starts go, I doubt anyone could come up with a more unlikely one than being born in a village in the southwest corner of a country known more for its sporting and culinary exports than any sort of technical expertise. That's not to say that Bulgaria was a tech backwater, but it's the sort of place where you spent more time reading about gadgets than actually using them. Fortunately for me, my mother worked in a local computer club, where the bright youth of the day would gather to use Pravetz machines -- finely crafted Bulgarian Apple II KIRFs -- and it was a spot that I would inevitably retreat to after a thoroughly regimented school day. That's another thing about growing up in the former Communist bloc: education was intensive and rigorous, though you shouldn't let that rebelliously turned up collar in the image above fool you, I was madly in love with my studies (as any true nerd should be). Somewhere between that boy pushing buttons and tearing down floppy diskettes for fun and the current London-based cynic pumping out copy for Engadget during the American night shift, my life happened.

Continue reading Growing Up Geek: Vlad Savov

Growing Up Geek: Vlad Savov originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Dec 2010 13:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/z0lQBfu_4rY/

KEY JDS UNIPHASE JDA SOFTWARE GROUP JACK HENRY and ASSOCIATES IXYS

Daily Crunch: Occlusion Edition

Video: Super-Fast Industrial Robot Genkotsu Review: Trident Cyclops iPhone Case Your Pad Would Be So Much Cooler With These DIY Star Trek Sliding Doors Kinect Hacked To Support 3D Occlusions The Aepel: For Those Who Use Their Voices A Lot

Source: http://www.crunchgear.com/2010/12/08/daily-crunch-occlusion-edition/

ATandT AUTODESK AUTOMATIC DATA PROCESSING AVNET BHARTI AIRTEL

Microsoft nerd reverse engineers Christmas lights, uses them as IM indicators

Apparently, even domestic Christmas lights are controlled by computers nowadays, and hopefully, as you all know, that means they're hackable. Andrej Kyselica, a Microsoft employee, took some GE-35 Christmas lights, hooked them into a .NET Micro Framework embedded controller, took another developer's work, developed a driver -- and voila! PC-controlled Christmas lights (video after the break).

In the demo, Andrej uses Microsoft Lync (Office Communications Server) to connect his instant messenger contacts (presumably Live Messenger) to the Christmas lights. The lights then show each contact's current status -- green, yellow and red -- or he can manually set them as 'out of the office', which is a rather pretty purple color. If the light is off, nobody is home.

While this is a cool hack, it pales in comparison to another computer-controlled Christmas lights experiment, which has been going since 2002: Alek's Controllable Christmas Lights. Alek lets you control over 21,000 lights, and inflate or deflate Elmo, Santa and Homer Simpson.

Continue reading Microsoft nerd reverse engineers Christmas lights, uses them as IM indicators

Microsoft nerd reverse engineers Christmas lights, uses them as IM indicators originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 15 Dec 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/12/15/microsoft-nerd-reverse-engineers-christmas-lights-uses-them-as-im-indicators/

GOOGLE GOOGLE FORMFACTOR FISERV FIRST SOLAR

Sony files ITC complaint about LG, adds another patent infringement lawsuit to the stack

Did the world's tech giants just discover they have lawyers on retainer? That's certainly how it seems, as company after company has decided 'tis the season to target the competition with patent infringement allegations. Sony, the latest, is aiming squarely at LG, claiming that the Korean manufacturer's violating eight patents with its mobile devices -- including the LG Fathom, Xenon, Neon, Remarq, Rumor 2, Lotus Elite and VL600 LTE modem -- claiming that these devices transmit variable-bandwidth audio streams, live-preview camera snapshots, hand off cellular calls and more in ways that infringe Sony's intellectual property. Sony's now filed both an ITC complaint in an attempt to ban new product shipments from the US, and a lawsuit in federal court that will no doubt seek monetary damages. Now, if recent history is any indication, LG will turn around and smack Sony with a patent stack of its own, and we'll all go back to dreaming about LG devices we'd actually care to purchase.

Sony files ITC complaint about LG, adds another patent infringement lawsuit to the stack originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Dec 2010 22:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Bloomberg, AP  | Email this | Comments

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/12/29/sony-files-itc-complaint-about-lg-adds-another-patent-infringem/

ASUSTEK COMPUTER ATandT AUTODESK AUTOMATIC DATA PROCESSING AVNET

Daily Crunch: Anticipation Edition

Keeping Christmas Green With A Couple Eco-Friendly Wrapping Tips iFixit?s iPad App: A Nice Last-Minute Gift For The Tinkerer In The Family Review: Marshall Major Headphones Review: Roland R-05 DIY: ?Soft-touch? Your Cell Phone, Game Controller, Or Adult Toy

Source: http://www.crunchgear.com/2010/12/24/daily-crunch-anticipation/

HEWLETTPACKARD HIGH TECH COMPUTER HON HAI PRECISION IND HYNIX SEMICONDUCTOR INFOSYS TECHNOLOGIES

Skype for iPhone brings video calls over 3G

A little sooner than expected, Skype has just launched a new version of its iOS app [iTunes] that enables Skype-to-Skype video calls, via Wi-Fi or 3G.

Those lucky enough to have an iPhone 4 or 3GS, or 4th generation iPod touch, will be able to make two-way video calls with any other Skype user, including desktop and laptop PC users, and presumably other mobile Skype users on Android or BlackBerry.

This software update also affects the iPad and third-generation iPod touch, but they can only receive video, rather than send it.

The big news, of course, is that Skype is allowing video calls over 3G. It remains to be seen what the mobile operator's response will be, once people start making use of free, high-bandwidth video-to-video calls. We always figured that the Wi-Fi-only restriction of FaceTime was enforced by mobile operators, rather than Apple!

Gallery: Skype 3.0 for iPhone

Skype for iPhone brings video calls over 3G originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 30 Dec 2010 06:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/12/30/skype-for-iphone-updated-to-version-3-video-calls-over-3g-now-p/

KONINKLIJKE KPN LAM RESEARCH LIBERTY GLOBAL LM ERICSSON LOGITECH INTERNATIONAL

The Open Internet teaches net neutrality to everyone

I feel strongly about net neutrality -- and you may have some solid opinions about it, too. But what about your mother or your grandfather? Do they care enough about net neutrality to make a stand, or even understand what the fuss is all about?

The Open Internet is a nice little website that strives to explain the topic with very little text, and lovely vector graphics. It flows from top to bottom, with two main illustrations. The first illustration shows how things are today, with the ISP providing access to a raw "stream" of Internet goodness. The second one shows what things might be like if net neutrality is not guaranteed, with "special packages" offering "premium access" to email, Facebook, YouTube or other services many of us spend significant amounts of time browsing.

The site goes on to explain that ISPs would even be able to block access to certain services entirely so they could offer their own competing services -- a frightening scenario. All in all, it's a very quick and enlightening read and it sure beats having to explain the subject over and over again...

The Open Internet teaches net neutrality to everyone originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 23 Dec 2010 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/12/23/the-open-internet-teaches-net-neutrality-to-everyone/

LOGITECH INTERNATIONAL MCAFEE MAXIMUS MANTECH INTERNATIONAL MANHATTAN ASSOCIATES

Skype outage caused by server overload, bug in Windows client

Now that Skype has recovered from the serious worldwide outage on December 22nd, CIO Lars Rabbe has blogged about what went wrong behind the scenes. The problem began when a group servers that handle Skype's offline instant messaging became overloaded, in turn causing some Skype clients to receive delayed responses and crash.

The bug only affected users of version 5.0.0.152 on Windows -- unfortunately, almost 50% of Skype's users happened to be running that version. Included among those were more than a quarter of Skype's supernodes. As those supernodes failed, an increased load was placed on the remaining supernodes. The increased load coupled with a flood of users attempting to reconnect eventually caused Skype's network to collapse under the weight of traffic that was 100 times greater than normal.

In order to prevent future outages, Skype is looking closely at their process for testing and deploying new versions and Rabbe also promised increased investment to boost capacity and reliability.

Skype outage caused by server overload, bug in Windows client originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 29 Dec 2010 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/12/29/skype-outage-caused-windows-client-bug/

EARTHLINK DST SYSTEMS DISCOVER FINANCIAL SERVICES DIODES INORATED DIEBOLD