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How to get a Google Wave invite

admin — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 19:51:10 +0000

There Are Four Ways to Get an Invite

1. You signed up early for a Google Wave account with this request form. If you didn't fill it out, we recommend you do it now for the next wave of invites. (see what we did there?)

2. You have an account on the Developer Preview of Wave.

3. Some paying users of Google apps will get accounts

4. You are invited by someone currently using wave.

“We’ll ask some of these early users to nominate people they know also to receive early invitations — Google Wave is a lot more useful if your friends, family and colleagues have it too. This, of course, will just be the beginning. If all goes well we will soon be inviting many more to try out Google Wave.”

Since a majority of the invites have been sent out, your best bet is to see if any family or friends got invites, and to ask them to send you one.

10 minute Google Wave Overview

admin — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 22:19:22 +0000

The Google Wave team put out this 10 minute (more like 7-8) overview of Wave, to give people a quick and compressed description and showcase of the product.

Microsoft Barrelfish: Not your average OS

admin — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 03:08:38 +0000

Microsoft Research just announced their experimental OS, Barrelfish. The project is aimed straight at making Operating Systems take advantage of newer multi-core processors, instead of letting their power go to waste.Microsoft is implementing a kind of database that shuffles information between the cores, allowing the cores to communicate much more efficiently.

The new OS is being created by ETH Zurich, a technology university, and Microsoft Research.

[Via DailyTech]

100,000 Google Wave invites going out tomorrow

admin — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 18:30:12 +0000

Back in July Google said they would send out 100,000 invitations to Google Wave in September, and that day is finally just around the corner. Google has confirmed on their blog that 100,000 Google Wave invites will be sent out tomorrow, September 30th.We contacted Google and they have assured us that the only official invitations won't go out until tomorrow. For those of you who do not get an invite in the first round, Google has says to "ask some of these early users to nominate people they know also to receive early invitations."

For more information on Google Wave, check out the Developer Preview video below:

Microsoft Security Essentials goes non-beta, free for all

admin — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 18:10:49 +0000

Microsoft has officially made the full version of its Security Essentials software available to the public, for absolutely free.For those that did not use the software in its beta stages, Security Essentials promises to cover all the security basics, and protect you from viruses, spyware, and other malicious software. The software will also come with free updates on a regular basis and will run just fine on Windows XP, Vista, or 7. If you're interested, the download link is below:

Download - Microsoft Security Essentials

HP leaks the Pavilion dv3, dm1, and Core i7 dv8

admin — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 04:06:11 +0000

Through a rough draft of HP's Winter 2009/2010 consumer catalog comes word of three, previously unannounced machines: the touchscreen dv3, ultaportable dm1, and the Pavilion dv8 with the Core i7.

The Pavilion dv3 with TouchSmart comes with a 13.3-inch touchscreen, while the dm1 comes with a 11.6-inch screen.

AT&T releases Real Time IM Relay for hearing impaired

admin — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 03:39:04 +0000

AT&T has been offering IM Relay since the earlier this year, allowing users to communicate through an operator over the phone. But the company is ready to one-up themselves, announcing an upgrade to the service that will allow real-time communication between callers.

Users now receive messages word by word, as they are typed, as opposed to waiting till the message is complete.

"To hearing users, this may sound like a trivial enhancement," said Claude Stout, Executive Director of TDI. "But for many callers with hearing or speech disabilities, this creates a wireless and online communications experience that is much closer to what hearing people encounter when talking with others on the phone."

Official Press Release:

AT&T Premieres Real Time IM Relay for Customers With Hearing and Speech Loss

As Part of its Commitment to Serving Customers with Disabilities, AT&T Is First Provider to Enhance IM Relay Services

DALLAS, Sept. 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- For people with hearing and speech loss, communicating with callers who can speak and hear just went real time, thanks to AT&T* and AOL's AIM® instant messaging service. Customers using AT&T IM Relay services now have a new, faster feature at their fingertips: AT&T Real Time IM. AT&T is the first and only provider to offer the new real time feature -- offering more than 31 million people with hearing and speech loss, nationwide, a more immediate way to communicate with standard telephone users.

Users log in to a specialized AIM interface that works with an Internet connection on a PC and on many wireless devices. A specially-trained relay operator reads IMs to hearing callers and types IMs which are displayed -- in real time -- to the end user. The new service is offered at no additional charge to customers who register with AT&T Relay Services.

With the new real time IM feature, instead of waiting for the relay operator to type a full phrase or sentence, IM users can see the text messages they are receiving, word-by-word as they are typed -- making conversations feel more like calls experienced by hearing customers.

"To hearing users, this may sound like a trivial enhancement," said Claude Stout, Executive Director, TDI. "But for many callers with hearing or speech disabilities, this creates a wireless and online communications experience that is much closer to what hearing people encounter when talking with others on the phone. TDI applauds such collaboration between industry players that results in greater functional equivalency for deaf and hard of hearing consumers."

TDI recently honored AT&T with the 2009 James C. Marsters Promotion Award for providing innovative products and services that address the needs of people who are deaf or hard of hearing.

To access the service, using an Internet connection and an AIM account, AT&T IM Relay users can IM the phone number they're calling to the screen name "attrelay." AT&T IM Relay customers are assigned a typical 10-digit phone number, like any other wireless or landline customer, that others can use to contact them.

"It's great to see AT&T leading the way as the first IM Relay provider to offer real time services," said Senior Vice President, Global Messaging, David Liu, AOL. "This generates added value for customers who rely on the service to keep them connected with friends, family, and business contacts. And, it means that conversations flow more naturally, and move more quickly for the parties on both sides of the conversation."

Calling Services for People with Hearing and Speech Loss

Launched in early 2009, AT&T IM Relay is one of three calling services offered to customers who are deaf, hard of hearing or have a speech disability.

AT&T Video Relay Service (VRS), offered since 2003, uses a high speed Internet connection and a web camera or video phone to connect users via a Video Interpreter. This allows users to experience facial expressions and gestures on both ends of the conversation and provides a natural fit for the use of sign language.
AT&T TTY Relay Service, offered since 1987, uses a special device that connects to a standard phone line and includes a keyboard and screen to display messages. It relies on a Communication Assistant to connect calls to standard voice users.

"At AT&T, we know that people with disabilities rely on our services to empower them and help them live independently," said Susan A. Johnson, senior vice president, customer information services, AT&T. "Going back as far as Alexander Graham Bell, we have focused on this, and we continue to innovate these specialized services as part of that vast legacy. We care about providing a valuable customer experience, and we hope that the customers using this new service -- and the many others we offer -- know that it's a big part of who we are and what we do as a communications provider."

AT&T's Continued Commitment: Accessible Service to All

The new real time feature is one of a number of AT&T initiatives that address making services available to people with disabilities and senior citizens, for example:

AT&T offers wireless solutions for customers with vision disabilities, such as Mobile Speak and Mobile Magnifier, Braille and large print billing, and free voice dial using 8*.
AT&T offers data-only plans for customers who don't need voice services. For qualifying customers calling via landlines, AT&T offers free local directory assistance (dialing 411)*.
AT&T operates dedicated customer care centers to assist people with disabilities such as the National Center for Customers with Disabilities for AT&T Mobility and the AT&T Sales and Service Centers for Disability and Aging for AT&T's landline customers. These centers can arrange for an alternate billing format such as Braille or large print and can advise customers with hearing, vision, mobility and/or speech disabilities about equipment, accessories, features and calling plans.
AT&T has launched a comprehensive training program to help employees interact more effectively with customers in these communities. More than 183,000 technicians, retail store and customer care representatives will be trained this year.
AT&T has activated the AT&T Advisory Panel on Access and Aging (AAPAA), a panel that works to help AT&T better understand the needs of customers. The panel provides advice and counsel to AT&T's subsidiaries, affiliates, leadership, and external industry leaders and advocacy groups regarding the products AT&T offers.

For more information on AT&T Real Time IM Relay, go to www.att.com/relay, or visit http://relayservices.att.com for information on any of AT&T's calling services for customers with disabilities.

For more information on AT&T's commitment to people with disabilities and seniors at our Disability Resources website.

webOS 1.2 now available

admin — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 00:40:21 +0000

webOS 1.2.0 has just been released today. The big new features for the update include support for app purchases in the Catalog in addition to a ton of little fixes and improvements.

Here's a list of the changes from Palm:

Search is now available in the email app, allowing you to find by subject, from, to, or CC fields (no message search yet).
The web browser now supports cut, copy, and paste within a webpage (text only).
Music purchases via Amazon can now be done over EV-DO. It's not clear if they mean that you can download the tracks, or just queue them (that would be lame, however). Anyone test this yet?
A new gesture has been added which allows you to swipe down from the top of the screen to open the application or connection menu -- which should be a huge help to everyone missing those small targets!
You can now download files from within the browser, and Palm has created an easy method to open a link in a new card.

Sadly though, those of you expecting this update to fix the iTunes syncing should brace for dissappointment.

New Windows 7 ads

admin — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 04:28:08 +0000

Microsoft has just unveiled some new ads for Windows 7, and they are surprisingly good.

The ads focus on the new UI elements, which really help define the visual differences between 7 and Vista.

[Via CNET]

Lenovo IdeaCenter Q110 on sale now

admin — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 03:48:18 +0000

As the wave of NVIDIA Ion-based machines continue to be released, we now have the Lenovo IdeaCenter Q110 nettop. You can grab it now preloaded with Vista for $399, with 2GB of RAM and a 160GB HDD.