Tech News Tuesday June 2, 2009

Get your daily fix of news, gadgets, new websites, blog watch, video picks and cheap (under $1.00) tech products available via Amazon.

Tweet Follow

“Weird Al” Yankovic :: Alfred Matthew Yankovic is an American singer-songwriter, rapper, music producer, actor, comedian, and satirist. Yankovic is known in particular for his humorous songs that make light of popular culture and that often parody specific songs by contemporary musical acts. (Follow Here . . .)

Best Tweets : @oprah Hey, I met you on some TV show back in 1984. What you been doing since then?

Tech News

Life Wiki
Help wanted to write book of life. (BBC . . .)

We Knew This Would Happen
Publishers wondering how much longer newspapers and magazines can afford to keep giving away their stories on the Internet. Ironic this link is to AP content, for free. (AP . . .)

Wifi Done Right
San Fran with bus stops with wifi, nice. I can use my Skype anywhere. (dvice . . .)

Think Tank Fail
One of Canada’s research had to withdraw 3 reports on copyright and intellectual property. Why? the reports contained plagiarized information from a study by a U.S. lobby group for the entertainment industry. (Globe and Mail . . .)

Twitter Phone
Twitter phone just in time for the Christmas sales season. (Washington Post . . .)

You Ought to be in Pictures
DNA Art. (NPR Science Friday . . .)

Not What Was Expected
New York City was going to make Times Square and Herald Square more pedestrian-friendly, lawn chair heaven. (Tree Hugger . . .)

We Are Not So Original Thinking, As We Hoped
After using Facebook for a while, you notice that people tend to say the same things over and over in their status updates. (PC World . . .)

What I Always Wanted
A round waterproof floating thingy that plays sound. (Chinavasion . . .)

Blog Bounce

Chicken Feeds :: Staff of Canada’s chicken farmers’ organization have started a new blog, called Chicken Feeds. CFC said its goal with the blog is “to create a dialogue between the organization and consumers, and to discuss important issues such as animal care and to debunk some of the urban legends, myths and general misunderstandings about chicken.”

For example, one question posted to the blog asks, “Does any of the chicken sold in Canada come from China?” CFC replied that Canada, which supplies most of the domestic chicken market through supply management, does not import any chicken meat from China and in 2007, imported just from the U.S., Brazil, Thailand (cooked only) and Chile.(Chicken Feeds. . .)

Website Watch

Television Without Pity :: TWoP is a website that provides detailed recaps of select television dramas, situation comedies and reality TV shows – often by mocking them. There are also forums in which members can discuss myriad television related topics as long as their posts fall within the narrow, always changing, arbitrary whims of the moderators.

The site began by recapping the television show Dawson’s Creek and was originally called Dawson’s Wrap; later it broadened its scope and changed names to Mighty Big TV before settling on the current moniker. The site is notable for its wide usage of the word “snark” to describe its typical style of sarcastic review. Their official motto is “Spare the snark, spoil the networks,” a takeoff on “spare the rod, spoil the child.”

The site’s mascot is Tubeelzebub (a portmanteau of tube and Beelzebub – “Tubey” for short), a demonic television set replete with horns and a pointed tail.((Television Without Pity. . .)

Tech Quote

“Pretty much, Apple and Dell are the only ones in this industry making money. They make it by being Wal-Mart. We make it by innovation. ”
~ Steve Jobs

Get that Gadget

Nokia N810 NSeries Internet Tablet

The Nokia N810 Internet Tablet is an Internet appliance for browsing the Web, or accessing online applications and information on the go! The N810 is not a phone, but instead allows you to browse the Internet and communicate using Wi-Fi networks or with a mobile phone via Bluetooth. But you can make calls using Skype, or similar services.

I have a Nokia N810, and I could not imagine my tech world without this gadget. Read more about my shopping around for my N810 and why I consider it an alternative to the Kindle.

Price : $229.99 Originally Priced : $349.99

Cheap Amazon

Weekly Free iTunes

Weekly Contest

Comic Book Pick

BSpider-Man Noir

Written by DAVID HINE and FABRICE SAPOLSKY
Art by CARMINE DI GIANDOMENICO
Cover by DENNIS CALERO.

With great power, there must also come great responsibility – and when those in power abuse it, it’s the people’s responsibility to remove them.

The year is 1933, and New York City is not-so-secretly run by corrupt politicians, crooked cops, big businesses and suave gangland bosses like New York’s worst, the Goblin. But when a fateful spider-bite gives the young rabble-rouser Peter Parker the power to fight the mobster who killed his Uncle Ben, will even that be enough?

It’s a tangled web of Great Depression pulp, with familiar faces like you’ve never seen them before!

By “Hardboiled” David Hine, Fabrice “The Spider” Sapolsky and Carmine “Carbine” Di Giandomenico!

Video Picks

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDgEdcFTquM

Freeware Find

Scribus :: a desktop publishing (DTP) application; released under the GNU General Public License, it is free software. Native versions are available for Linux, Unix, Mac OS X, OS/2, and Microsoft Windows. It is known for its broad feature set of page layout features comparable to leading non-free applications such as Adobe PageMaker, PagePlus, QuarkXPress and Adobe InDesign.
Scribus is designed for flexible layout and typesetting, and the ability to prepare files for professional quality image setting equipment. It can also create animated and interactive PDF presentations and forms. Example uses include writing small newspapers, brochures, newsletters, posters and books.

Scribus is powerful software that helps you create great looking documents of all kinds. It also comes with a lot of support options to help you achieve the best result. There is an enthusiastic and friendly community around Scribus that assists beginner and pro alike through the mailing list, IRC channel, wiki, contracted support, and the bugtracker.

Available for all Operating Systems (Apple, Windows and Linux) (Get it Here . . .)

Tags: cheap, Comic Books, freebie, freebies, freeware, frugal, gadgets, iTunes, Magazines, news, Tags: Blog, tech, technology, website, Youtube