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iPhone Gloves: Would You Buy Them?
Is Apple getting into the glove making business? A patent filed by the tech company proposes special gloves for iPhone users that have an extra inner layer which would enable the screen to recognize the touch of a gloved finger. Finally, our frost bitten fingers will find respite within the warmth of these gloves while we text or Tweet away.According to the patent:
“the glove system may include an inner liner and an outer shell. The liner may be formed from any suitable material, including a material that is thin, electrically conductive, has low thermal conductivity, and/or has an “anti-sticky” finish. The outer shell may include at least one aperture through which the inner liner may extend to operate the input mechanism of an electronic device (e.g., on at least one finger tip). In some embodiments, the aperture may be at a finger tip of the outer shell. In some embodiments, a closing mechanism may be used to maintain the aperture closed when the user is not operating the electronic device. For example, an elastic ring may surround the aperture such that, in its non-deformed state, the aperture is substantially closed. The user may elastically deform the ring to allow the liner to pass through the outer shell.”
Companies file numerous patents of course, and few ever make it to production. Would you buy iGloves if they were available in an Apple Store near you?
[Via Engadget]
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3 Jan 2009, 9:49 pm
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Bail Out of Your Cellphone Contract by Trading It [Cellphones]
Buried in the fine print of many cellphone contracts is a bit about how you can transfer your plan to someone else—and you can find that someone online.The NY Times reports on Celltradeusa.com and Cellswapper.com, two web services who match up people who want out of their contracts with folks who want in.
Why exactly would you want someone else’s cellphone contract? Simple: you can get fairly new devices and accessories, often free, without having to swallow a two-year commitment or pay an activation fee of $35. This is especially useful to those who are waiting for a new device to hit the market but do not want to spring for a new phone in the meantime.
The two sites charge a service fee, but one that's a lot less than the penalty for ending your contract prematurely. Anyone use either swap site to get out or into a cellphone contract? Let us know in the comments.
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2 Jan 2009, 3:00 pm
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30+ Great Adobe AIR Apps for Designers and Developers
Many people think of Twitter apps when they think of Adobe AIR, but there is a whole other world of useful applications out there beyond microblogging. Designers and developers in particular get a lot of love from the AIR community with tools to help them with just about every aspect of their jobs. Here are over 30 great Adobe AIR apps for designers and developers that can help you do everything from tracking your time to measuring pixels, and more.
What are some of your favorite AIR applications as a designer or developer? Tell us in the comments!
Billing & Invoicing Tools
Klok - Klok allows you to not only track time by clients and projects, but what kind of work you do for each. You can also manage contact information for clients, edit time spent and a slew of other features.
Ora Time and Expense - Ora will help you generate timesheets, expense reports and invoices.
Timeloc - Does everything you could ask of a time keeper such as manage multiple clients and jobs, edit the billing so you see a running tally of how much a job has earned you, add notes to a billing period and a whole lot more.
Vertabase Timer - Allows you to track time by clients or by project.
Color & Pattern Tools
Color Browser - Allows you to import color palettes you have created elsewhere, create new ones locally, and put as many colors as you like into any you create.
COLOURlovers Desktop Color Finder - This app will let you search the COLOURlovers database for an astonishing 1 million named colors and more than 300,000 user created color palettes.
Kuler Desktop - This app allows you to browse and choose color palettes for any project you’re working on. When you’ve picked one you like, you can then import it to Creative Suite 3 Illustrator, InDesign, and Photoshop.
Random Patter - Allows you to render patterns based on set parameters and then save as an XML document, and images can be saved as an SVG document.
Design Tools
Alcon - A debugging tool for users of ActionScript 2 and ActionScript 3.
BetaDesigns Caliper - This tool floats above your other applications so that you can measure any item on your screen.
designview - Gives you the ability to use Flex Builder Design View.
Dojo Toolbox - A toolbox to work along with the open source Dojo JavaScript tools. Allows you to view your work, cross-reference, use the build tool and a whole lot more.
e2vector illustration app. - Allows you to create new images and export them to SVG, or you can import existing ones to work on.
htmlText Editor - A WYSIWYG editor for htmlText that allows you to design visually for Flex.
Icon Generator - Allows you to generate icons in three steps for CS3 or Web 2.0 style. All icons are generated as 128×128, 48×48, 32×32 and 16×16.
pixDIF - Allows you to measure pixel differences easily between comps and design implementations.
Pixus - Allows you to easily measure the size of a screen object, set size presets, preview your design and more.
Shrink O’ Matic - Drag your JPGs, GIFs and PNGs into the app and then resize them as one batch.
Miscellaneous Tools
.merlin - A manager for fonts that will make sure they are named correctly, sort them into folders by letter, allow you to delete duplicates and more.
Balsamiq Mockups For Desktop Demo - An application for designing mockups of software before going to coding. Teams can work in real time on a project and it also integrates with Atlassian Confluence, Atlassian JIRA and XWiki.
ConceptShare Desktop Companion - A web tool that allows you to create workspaces for a project and then share it with others so you can collaborate on the project.
LibraryManager - Allows you to dump SWF files, see the class information, create information and compare versions.
QR Code generator for mobile tagging - Helps you generate QR codes for your sites and projects.
QuickLoader - Allows for quick uploading and downloading of files from any PHP enabled server. You can define multiple users with different folders, as well as browse & modify files on your server. Has several other features such as an image editor.
Simple Flash Filter Generator - Allows you to generate flashfilters and code in real time.
SlideRocket Player - Allows you to make offline presentations of your work and set up a marketplace to sell more services. Also will allow you to sync with your desktop to make offline presentations, but this requires a paid account.
Snippely - Allows you to store, label and organize various snippets of code in one centralized location on your system.
SQLFury - Aids you in testing an SQL database for possible injection vulnerabilities.
Screencapture Tools
Snapshooter - Enter a valid URL and this app will take a snapshot of the web page to save to your system locally.
SWFShot - Allows you to capture Flash images as JPGs or PNGs in huge screen sizes.
WebKut - A website screen capture tool that allows you to capture the entire page, the viewable area or just a selection.
Websnapshot - Simply enter or drag the URL of that page you want to snapshot from your browser. Select thumbnail, browser size or full page, and it is saved to your gallery.
Interested in more resources? Check these out:
- “Web Design Toolbox: 130+ New Tools to Make You a Better and Faster Designer”
- “10 Video Tutorials for Learning Basic Web Design Skills”
- “20 Free eBooks and Whitepapers for Better Web Design”
- “Web Development Toolbox: 120+ Tools for Web Development“
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Adobe Illustrator Integrated with Del.icio.us
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Adobe Warns Facebook App Devs Of Possible Flash IncompatibilitiesRead More
26 Dec 2008, 12:06 pm
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Ask George: How do foods affect our sleep?
Ask George: How do foods affect our sleep? Read More7 Dec 2008, 7:51 pm
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Web Development Toolbox: 120+ New Tools for Web Development
Last year we did a post on Web development tools. A lot has changed in the past year, and there are tons of new tools available to developers. Options include drag-and-drop application builders, code repositories, project management and testing apps, and frameworks for working with a variety of coding languages, from Ajax to Ruby to Python.
Which do you use? Tell us more about your experiences in the comments.
Application Builders
DreamFace - Framework for creating personalized Web apps.
Organic Incentive - Tools for creating viral widgets with a drag-and-drop interface.
dbFLEX - On-demand business application development platform.
app2you - Online tool for creating custom Web applications.
Qrimp - An affordable database platform that builds applications around your data (which you can upload in an Excel spreadsheet).
Lightspoke - Application builder with drag-and-drop application design, dynamic filtering and sorting, and a true relational database backend.
Tersus - Visual application creator with no coding or scripting required.
Qt - Cross-platform application framework that lets you develop applications and user interfaces simultaneously.
Code Snippets, Search Engines and Repositories
byteMyCode - Code snippet search engine.
Snipplr - A code repository where you can store and organize all of your code snippets.
ErrorKey - Error code search engine.
findJAR.com - JAR file search engine.
github - Code repository that includes both public and private repositories (the private repositories are only accessibly through SSH and SSL, providing extra security for your code).
merobase - Search engine to find components for your development projects.
Codebase - Code repository, ticketing support and deployment tracking app.
CONFiles - Online storage and sharing for your configuration files.
CodeSnippets - Public source code repository that also allows users to keep private repositories.
GWT-Ext - Free, downloadable widget library.
Development Environments, Platforms and Frameworks
SocialGO - A social networking hosting platform that includes messaging, video chat, custom member profiles, photo sharing, blogging and more.
Pringo - Social networking platform with a variety of features, including video and MP3 support, galleries, groups, podcasting, and more.
slinkset - Hosted platform for creating custom social news sites.
iWidgets - A turnkey “Social Syndication Platform” that allows you to syndicate your content to social networks and portals.
WackWall - A hosted social networking platform.
WhiteLabelDating.com - Platform for creating your own branded dating, social networking or community site.
ONEsite - Social networking platform and hosting that includes blogging, photo & video galleries, rating & tagging, message boards, private messages and more.
jinity - Free social networking platform and hosting that includes message boards, chat, groups, journals, polls, news, and more.
Magnify.net - Website video platform with a full suite of media tools.
ShoutEm - Microblogging social networking platform and hosting.
Soceeo - Social networking platform and hosting that includes file sharing, news, polls and more.
Swift - A mobile website creator that includes multiple design options, RSS feed support, multimedia support and more.
SnappVille - Social networking platform that includes groups, blogging tools, instant messaging, and more.
Ning - Social networking platform and hosting that includes custom branding, member profiles, event listings, and even Facebook integration.
mixxt - Social networking platform that includes events, forums and more.
zembly - A platform for creating social apps. Currently in private beta.
Yuku - Community platform and hosting solution that is customizable and has powerful administration tools.
SocialEngine - PHP-based social networking platform that features multi-part profiles, subnetworks, search-friendly URLs, blogs, groups, and more.
Cappuccino - Open source framework for creating desktop-quality Web apps.
Jaws - A user-friendly framework and CMS for dynamic Web sites.
General Development Tools
Tabifier - A tool that automatically puts the proper indents in your source code.
Sms2do - A free tool to demonstrate and evaluate SMS applications.
Pretty Printer - A source code formatter that works with PHP, JavaScript, CSS and more.
Jitterbit - Open source integration solution that improves scalability and performance.
Bitizer - Conversion tool for Binary, Decimal, Hex, Base 36 and ASCII.
thmbnl - Show thumbnail images of pages being linked to from your site.
ID Selector - OpenID utility that helps increase logins by helping your users memorize their OpenID.
consoleFISH - Free Web-based SSH server access.
form site - Web form builder and hosting that offers free and paid plans.
99Polls - Create custom surveys and polls to get feedback on your site.
Warehouse - Subversion browser with multiple repository support and fine grain permissions settings.
rendur 2.1 - Sandbox app that renders your page as you code.
Languify - Translation management system for dealing with multiple language support in agile software projects.
ROR Sitemap Generator - As the name says, this site creates a ROR format sitemap with up to 1,000 URLs for your website.
MicroMaps - Create interactive maps (geographic, facility, or others) to put on your websites.
Newsfeed Maker - Create a custom newsfeed to include on your blog or website.
WriteMaps - Online sitemap builder.
Project Kenai - Free hosting of open source projects and code that includes collaboration and issue tracking.
Launch Splash - Free tool to create a pre-launch page to put on your website.
Browser Shell - Browser-based SSH tool.
foigo - Create customizable forms, surveys and databases.
AggData - Premade lists for your development projects.
SnapCasa - Free, easy to implement website thumbnail provider.
Versionshelf - Secure subversion repository that includes one-click backups.
Mashups and APIs
The Echo Nest - APIs for a host of different music-related development services (including in-depth artist information and music recommendations).
Zeep Mobile - An API to add text messaging to your site.
Clickatell - An SMS gateway that lets your website send messages worldwide through a number of different connection options.
Nonoba - A multiplayer API for online game developers.
Zong - Mobile payment platform with a developer API.
Web Shots Pro - API for developers to add website screenshots to their apps.
Pushpin - Easy to use online mapping API that allows for thousands of markers (pushpins) and other advanced features.
Datamash - Create widgets and mashups for your site with information anywhere on the Web.
Spicy Pipes - Mashup builder.
Reference and General Resources
COfundOS - Platform for discussing open-source software ideas and finding funding.
Mac Yenta - Social network for independent Mac developers.
CorkDump - An online cork board for keeping commonly used resources (code snippets, CSS, Flash, etc.) handy.
All Developers Network - Social news network for developers.
CodePlex - Open source project hosting site from Microsoft.
UnmatchList - A resource directory for developers and designers.
developerAnalytics - Social media ratings and report services that help you find the hottest up and coming social media applications before they get big, find out who’s making the most money, how your competition is doing and more.
CollabFinder - A place for designers and developers to collaborate.
Testing, Monitoring, Bug Tracking and Project Management
CloudStatus - Independent monitoring of some of the Web’s most popular cloud services.
BetaBitz - A site that helps you solicit beta testers and increase the visibility of your site.
observu - Free website and server monitoring service.
UserFix - Report bugs or request features for any website.
OctaGate SiteTimer - A tool to see how long it takes your site to load.
Cuzillion - Simple page testing and checking app.
Mob4Hire - Crowdsource your mobile application testing.
Beanstalk - Hosted system that makes it easy to setup, browse, and track Subversion, including built-in integration with sites like Basecamp and Campfire.
BUGtrack - Project management and bug tracking.
UserZoom - User experience testing platform.
devunity - This used to be betabug, but has undergone a facelift and is now a social development platform.
BuiltWith - Technical analysis and SEO information for any website.
fixx - Issue and bug tracking software that includes filtering, a mobile interface, and collaboration.
BugWiki - Simplified bug tracking application.
litmus - Web-based testing app for checking your designs across different browsers.
Bugtagger - Bug tracking with tagging capabilities for reviewing how your bugs are related (even between projects).
FEED Validator - Validate your Atom, RSS and KML feeds.
pastebin - Debugging tool that allows you to work collaboratively on solving issues.
JUnit.org - A testing framework for writing and performing automated testing programs.
Ruby & Ruby on Rails Resources & Tools
Open Source Rails - A showcase of open source Ruby on Rails sites.
Exceptional - Exceptional tracking and management utility for Rails apps.
TuneUp - Check the performance of your applications using this Rails plugin.
heroku - Ruby on Rails platform that requires no setup or configuration, allows coding right in your browser, and has elastic scaling.
RSpec 1.1.8 - Development framework for Ruby that includes a Scenario Framework and a Code Example Framework.
Lovd By Less - An open-source, Ruby on Rails social networking platform.
Merb - A Ruby framework that includes comprehensive features.
Camping - A Ruby on Rails microframework.
Ajax, Java & JavaScript Resources & Tools
Javxs - Online tool for converting HTML to JavaScript.
frevvo - Ajax form creator that includes full XML support and drag and drop controls.
AjaxDaddy - Ajax application demo showcase.
WaveMaker - A visual, open-source Ajax WYSIWYG editor.
AppJet - JavaScript app programming platform.
SproutCore - JavaScript framework for creating desktop-quality Web apps.
Bungee Connect - Ajax Web app platform that is cross-browser compatible and instantly scalable.
Spring - Enterprise Java application framework that aims to increase development productivity and application quality.
jQuery - JavaScript library for rapid Web development with Ajax.
KSS - Develop your UI without writing any JavaScript with this framework.
PHP Resources & Tools
Flow3 - A PHP framework initially developed as the foundation for TYPO3 5.0, but that can be used independently.
Prado - A component-based programming framework for PHP 5 that is object-oriented and event-driven.
Perl Resources & Tools
Mason - A Web site development engine that’s Perl-based and includes tools to handle debugging, templating, and more.
Flash Resources & Tools
OpenLaszlo - A rich Internet platform that lets you compile to both Flash and DHTML while only writing once.
Python Resources & Tools
GTK+ - A toolkit for creating GUIs that works with Python among others.
Wing IDE - A professional Python development environment that offers a free 30-day trial.
Cheetah - An open source, Python-based template engine and code generation tool.
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1 Nov 2008, 10:50 am
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Sync an iPhone with Multiple Computers [How To]
Plug your iPhone into a variety of computers, yours or other people's, and you'll find that your phone and iTunes want to wipe everything clean and start over, every single time. Andrew Grant at the Shiny Things blog shows how to edit your iTunes Music Library XML file to sync your phone (or iPod touch) with different systems. That means you can, say, auto-grab just your music from your Mac at home, but grab Contacts and Calendars from your work PC. The guide requires very little hacking, and Grant provides links to simple text and hex editors to get the job done. Got a non-edit solution to multi-syncing your iPhone? Tell us in the comments. How to sync an iPhone with two (or more) Computers [Shiny Things via Hackszine]
Read More
17 Oct 2008, 8:00 am
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Six Ways to Improve Facebook Search
Facebook rolled out Microsoft Live Search today as an integrated part of its search. It gives the exact same results as you would get on Live.com, but in generic Facebook layout.Sorry Facebook, that’s not really all that exciting. Especially for the innovators of the Internet, we know you can do better. So in that spirit, here are a few quick suggestions for Facebook to make its newly upgraded search features more interesting and a hell of a lot more useful:
1) Show your friends’ searches in News Feed
Come on, who doesn’t want to know who their girlfriend or boyfriend has been searching for? There would be hours of entertainment just watching your news feed fill up with searches. Find out who has been searching for you or announce to the world that you’ve been searching that one girl you work with ten times a day.
Maybe on second thought…
2) Live search cashback for Facebookers
What college kid doesn’t need a little more cash on the side for…uh, books? For those who don’t already know, Microsoft offers a cashback program for searching and shopping through Live.com. It only amounts to a few bucks here and there, but to a cash-strapped college student? That’s a case of Bud Light, baby!So come on Facebook, help out the poor college student. Give them a financial reason to justify their 4-hour-a-day Facebook usage.
3) Add Live Image and Video search
Facebook Live search functionality is very basic. Search for a term, come up with some website results. But often times we are not just searching for Web sites, but images, videos, and other dynamic media. Live search, just like the other major search engines, has the functionality to search for images, videos, news, and more. Why not extend this to Facebook? Facebook, as one of the largest photo libraries in the world, is a natural place for image searching. I’m hoping that Facebook will eventually offer it as well, because when someone updates their status about their new car, I’d like to quickly search for a picture of it.
4) Some space-themed search backgrounds, anyone?
I’m sorry, but I’m simply a fan of space, space exploration, the stars, you name it. I’m attracted to the very cool layout that Live.com uses as its homepage theme. Hover around the page and you’ll find information on NASA projects and more.
Now, I’m not saying Facebook needs to go all out, but some Moon action would be great to look at while I search. It will give Facebook Search some… unique flavor.
5) Suggest searches based on my friends and related searches
Facebook’s core asset and one of its best value propositions is its social graph. Knowing what your friends are doing and who they are connected to are invaluable pieces of information. Using this information to help suggest searches, just as Live.com does with related searches, would help people discover new and relevant content based on their social circles. Plus you can insert suggested searches into the news feed.
Funny. That sort of sounds like Facebook Beacon…
6) Allow users to comment and vote on search results
I couldn’t finish this list off without tipping my hat to one of our commenters. Oliver suggests that Facebook should allow users to comment and vote on search results. It’s an interesting suggestion that I actually envision happening in the future.
The reason this is possible is because Facebook already allows you to do this for your news feed and for ads you see. You can vote ads down and you can comment on any news feed item. It’s a little more complicated of a proposition to do it for search, but it is done by sites such as scour.com. The extra benefit to Microsoft is that it will have a mountain of user-generated data on their preferences in search. This can only help to improve their results.
Regardless of whether or not Facebook takes my suggestions and uses them, you can expect a lot more features to come out of Facebook’s new integration with Live search. And you can expect people using Facebook even more than they already do.
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7 Oct 2008, 6:04 pm
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25 Amazing Photoshop 3D Text Effect Tutorials
3D Typographic design is now more popular and we can notice a surge for 3D Type work on portfolio sites. Here we have collected 25 of the cool 3D typographic Text effect tutorialsRead More
7 Oct 2008, 1:55 am
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30 Beautifully Blue Web Designs
Blue is one of the most used colors in web design, therefore it's hard to stand out from the sea of competition out there. This collection showcases some of the best, unique, creative designs that utilize shades of blue as a primary color and theme.Read More
6 Oct 2008, 8:49 pm
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SGN Launches Wii-like iGolf For iPhone.
Once you’re done turning your iPhone photos into works of art that Monet would be envious of, check out iGolf, a minutes-old app created by Palo Alto-based Social Gaming Network.The application uses the iPhone’s accelerometer to detect a golf-swing like motion with the phone. Choose a club and swing the iPhone just like a golf club. Save your high scores and challenge your friends to beat your distance. Our best score with the driver so far is 406 yards.
The app is free, which will be appreciated by those of us who’ve spent untold numbers of quarters playing Golden Tee at the local bar. TechCrunch writer Jason Kincaid tests the app - see the video below.
Try not to throw your iPhone through the window while playing. But if you do throw your iPhone through a window, please send us a video of you doing it.
Update: We just got screenshots of the unreleased next version of iGolf, which lets users play simulated games in addition to the driving range app:
Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.
Read More
17 Sep 2008, 9:56 pm
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