Jay Niemann

Check out some of the latest MakeUseOf discoveries. All listed websites are FREE (or come with a decent free account option). No trials or buy-to-use craplets. For more cool websites and web app reviews subscribe to MakeUseOf Directory. (1) EmailMeForm – Free service for those who need custom contact form for their website(s). The site is [...] - Jay Niemann

Filed under: Google iGoogle, Google's customizable homepage, has some pretty sweet-looking themes. In fact, I rounded up the 10 best on Download Squad not too long ago. Google keeps adding themes faster than I can change my homepage, though. The latest fresh batch of themes is food-related, and a bunch of food-themed homepage gadgets have come out at the same time. While this news probably isn't going to rock your world unless you've always wanted some beautifully-shot food porn on your home page, some of these food widgets are pretty useful. Sites like Urbanspoon, Epicurious and Food Network can now deliver recipes and reviews to your homepage. Aside from making us salivate, this addition has got us wondering: what's Google's plan for this continuing expansion of iGoogle? Social gadgets, video chat, food themes? What's next? iGoogle keeps on growing with some yummy new food themes originally appeared on Download Squad on Sat, 21 Nov 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of... - Jay Niemann

The Windows Registry is the root ball of the operating system. Every little bit of system information is rooted in the registry, be it software, drivers, user information or registration data. Over the lifetime of a computer, numerous tools are installed, updated, moved or removed. Even if done thoroughly, this can create a mess in the [...] - Jay Niemann

The finals of our annual Open Web Awards are hotly contested, with 170,000+ votes cast since Wednesday. Among the most active categories: the top videos and channels on YouTube. Popular YouTube channel CardGamesFTW has a strategy to help it beat out the competition: turtles. At least, a humorous clip linking turtles, Facebook and people called “Steve” aspires to drive more votes for the channel in the “Funniest YouTube Channel” category. The competition is tough, however: competitors include top YouTubers ShaneDawsonTV, Smosh, loadingreadyrun and RayWilliamJohnson. If you’d like to vote for or against CardGamesFTW this year, head over to the Open Web Awards site, and remember you can vote once per category per day. Cast your votes in Mashable’s Open Web Awards 2009 >> Reviews: Facebook Tags: turtles, youtube - Jay Niemann

Filed under: News, Apple, iPhone, Mobile, Lists On 12/28 I am eligible to switch phones and am rationalizing an iPhone purchase, which is all the more difficult as I just read David Ramsey's Total Money Makeover. The book advocates saving money and paring down expenses, so the $30 monthly data plan would definitely be in the con column. However, after reading 33 things you don't need if you buy an iPhone, I'm thinking I'll definitely come out ahead in the long run. Below are some of my favorite excuses reasons to purchase. GPS- rather than purchasing a stand alone unit, like Tom Tom, there's several apps in the App Store that will help with turn by turn navigation. Camera - since my husband borrowed and never returned my Canon PowerShot, I definitely "need" a good camera. And while the iPhone's camera is not like my SD850IS, it's a decent enough point and shoot. Plus, I'll be "saving" money and don't even get me started on the convenience of not having to carry multiple devices.... - Jay Niemann

Anyone in the IT industry has been asked to covertly record or recover a user’s browsing history. It comes with the job and no one likes it. We like it even less when you have to take screenshots over and over again of long lists of URL’s. Internet Explorer and Firefox both do not have [...] - Jay Niemann

The New York Times’ Nicholas Kristof is controversially asking web users to “Boycott Bing“, claiming that Bing is censoring Simplified Chinese queries even outside the People’s Republic of China. Last night, Bing responded to Kristof’s Friday afternoon posting, citing a programming bug but failing to deny the censorship claims. To us, both sides of the argument seem lacking. Boycott Bing? Kristof’s complaint is part of an ongoing debate: should US companies censor their search results to appease Chinese authorities? Those in favor say it’s simply good business sense to be present in China, and censored results are better than no results at all. Others see search engines compromising their values. But that debate concerns search results within Chinese borders: Kristof says Simplified Chinese results are censored wherever you search from: …conduct the search with the simplified characters used in mainland China, then you get sanitized pro-Communist results. This is especially true of... - Jay Niemann

Filed under: Utilities, Microsoft By now a lot of you will have experienced the 'All-in-One Omnipotent Start Menu' thing that was first introduced with Windows Vista and can now be found in Windows 7. It combines My Computer, My Documents and your installed programs into one big, gribbly menu. Some people love it. Some hate it. Personally, I like the all-in-one search/run input box... but that's about it. I much prefer the old drop-out menu, even if it is a bit stupid when you've got 500 programs installed. I still use icons on my desktop, rather than getting at everything through my Start Menu. There have been a few tools that replicate the old Start Menu, but this one(aptly called 'Classic Windows Start Menu'), unlike the others, also works with the Windows Aero theme. Sadly, as you can see in the screenshot below, there still seem to be some bugs with the display (ironically, probably when you have a lot of stuff installed), but otherwise it all seems to work as intended! So if,... - Jay Niemann

Have you ever wanted to live like a real spy, even for just a little while? You know what I mean – traveling to exotic destinations using a handheld navigator, remotely bugging conversations or escaping peril by the skin of your teeth thanks to your trusty motion sensor gadgets. You may go to work everyday [...] - Jay Niemann

Google has already transitioned GrandCentral users over to Google Voice, and now comes the final step in that move: Google is shuttering the GrandCentral website and telling users to download any old messages and contacts they have on that site. The GrandCentral site will be closed on the last day of the year – December 31st – and a further reminder will be sent before that date. In a mail to users today, the company advised: The GrandCentral website is shutting down – GrandCentral is now Google Voice. Dear GrandCentral User: We’re writing to let you know that we will be closing down the GrandCentral website as of December 31, 2009. All GrandCentral accounts were upgraded to Google Voice earlier this year, but since that time, you’ve still been able to log-in to your GrandCentral account and listen to old messages there. You will no longer be able to log-in to your GrandCentral account after December 31. Because of this, we strongly suggest downloading any messages or contacts that... - Jay Niemann

As the owner of a new internet-enabled phone, I have been looking at various ways I can update my favourite online services using the phone’s built-in email function.   If I am out and about, and I want to update something, the easiest way to do it would be to send an email with any images [...] - Jay Niemann

Filed under: Internet, OS Updates, Google, Open Source Google's co-founder, Sergey Brin, spoke to some reporters yesterday, after the Chrome OS presentation. Citing the common WebKit and Linux code found in both operating systems, he said "Android and Chrome are likely to converge over time." "We're reaching a perfect storm of converging trends where computers are behaving more like mobile devices, and phones are behaving more like small computers," Google said in a statement responding to questions on if and when the two operating systems would converge. Sergey's frankness on the matter is a little odd and must be part of a very recent internal about-face, considering Google CEO Eric Schmidt said only a few days ago that there was space for both operating systems and no need for conflict between them. It would make sense though. Mobile devices are becoming more PC-like. PCs are certainly becoming more mobile (excluding the brick-like gaming laptops of course). With mobile data... - Jay Niemann

Hardcore work on the computer requires a serious dedicated setup. You can of course run your programming stack on your gaming machine, but that hardcore gaming or hardcore development would suffer. You need a dedicated setup for thorough work of any kind. Usually such situations involve setting up a server or using virtualization. Both of these [...] - Jay Niemann

Colorado marmots “remember” a long-gone foe. - Jay Niemann

In this edition of the Weekly Wrapup - our newsletter summarizing the top stories of the week - we report on President Obama's (non)-use of Twitter, take a look at the past decade in the media industry, review the latest statistics about blogging, question if Oxford Dictionary should've chosen "unfriend" as its word of the year, and more. We also check in on our two main channels: ReadWriteEnterprise (devoted to 'enterprise 2.0' trends and products) and ReadWriteStart (dedicated to profiling startups and entrepreneurs). Sponsor Subscribe to Weekly Wrapup You can subscribe to the Weekly Wrapup by RSS or by email (form below). RWW Weekly Wrap-up Email Subscription form: Web Trends Obama: "I Have Never Used Twitter" Barack Obama spoke to a group of Chinese students this week at a town hall in Shanghai. The meeting was streamed live, worldwide on the Whitehouse website and on the Whitehouse's Facebook page. He was asked a limited number of questions by the audience and one was about... - Jay Niemann

Sometimes we can wonder why Windows doesn’t make things a bit easier. For instance, launching applications should be an area for cutting some time. Windows 7 of course, has made it slightly easier with a re-working of the Quick Launch but it’s still not as fast as the speed of thought. It will be in [...] - Jay Niemann

Social media is a double-edged sword. Due to its unfiltered nature, it can be a powerful promotional tool. However, it can also publicly expose our problems. Former reality TV star Tila Tequila is an unfortunate but prime example. Some backstory: Tila Tequila is one of the most popular artists on MySpace, was the subject of an MTV reality show, and most recently filed assault charges against San Diego Chargers linebacker Shawne Merriman, which were subsequently dropped. Fastforward to Wednesday, November 18th. That night, Tila had a very public meltdown on her Ustream page. She waved around a gun, played around with a knife, ranted about Shawne Merriman, and stripped naked, all live for thousands of people to say (the video was immediately taken down). Despite claiming that she would never use her Ustream ever again, Tila is back on live video, and this time it’s even more bizzare. She is streaming as “Jane Cordovez,” which seem to be her alter ego for the evening. She is not only... - Jay Niemann

Hi Everyone, I am new here and Forum discussion is one of my hobbies.I think It's great to discuss about the topics which people like.I am learning much more things from forum discussion - Jay Niemann

We’ve been matching up popular web services, applications and mobile apps against each other in heated one-on-one battles here in our weekly Faceoff Series. Last week Microsoft Office bested Google Docs in a head to head race for the title of office suite champion. This week we turned our attention to a rather timely battle being waged on the mobile front, between Apple’s still wildly-selling iPhone platform and Google’s slower to boil Android mobile operating system. Apparently the latter has been gaining some ground, resulting in our first unexpected upset victory in the Faceoff series. … Google Android is the winning platform by a more than 2:1 margin. Out of 5045 total votes, Android walked away with 3323 of them or 66%, while the iPhone platform only netted 1494 or 30%. The tie vote included 228 or 5% who just couldn’t choose between them. Many people cited the openness of the platform and third-party development process as well as Android’s versatility, being able to be put to... - Jay Niemann

This post is part of Mashable’s Spark of Genius series, which highlights a unique feature of startups. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here. The series is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark. Name: Fido Factor Quick Pitch: Fido Factor is a dog-specific local search and review site and iPhone app built for dog owners. It’s a “Yelp for dogs.” Genius Idea: We dog owners love our canines: it’s really that simple. We raise them, feed them, play with them, sleep with them, and fall in love with them. We want to take them almost everywhere we go too, but that’s where you start running into problems. The problem is also simple: there aren’t a lot of places where you can take your dog. It’s only appropriate to bring your pup to certain restaurants, parks, and hotels, but it’s practically impossible to know which places are OK for your loyal companion. That’s where Fido Factor comes in. The site calls itself “the ultimate guide to... - Jay Niemann

Google demonstrated Google Chrome OS for the first time on Thursday in Mountain View. Google Chrome OS is an open source, lightweight operating system that will initially be targeted at netbooks. Later this year we will open-source its code, and netbooks running Google Chrome OS will be available for consumers in the second half of 2010. [...] - Jay Niemann

Check out some of the latest MakeUseOf discoveries. All listed websites are FREE (or come with a decent free account option). No trials or buy-to-use craplets. For more cool websites and web app reviews subscribe to MakeUseOf Directory.   (1) The Inflation Calculator – Nowadays, the dollar don’t have the same buying power as it did, say [...] - Jay Niemann

Filed under: Audio, Utilities Believe it or not, almost 7 years after its initial release, the Foobar2000 v1.0 Beta is finally out, and with it comes a large list of changes. Most of them are much-needed interface fixes, but there is the welcome addition of built-in support for the streaming of Windows Media formats (ASX/MMS/RTSP). Other than that, it's much of the same. Foobar2000, if you were wondering, is a very light-weight music player. It's incredibly flexible thanks to its modular design and fully-featured developer kit. There are mods and plug-ins for Foobar that make it one of the most useful music players: if you're the kind of music buff that likes downloading 'quadrophonic gold remastered' albums in AC3 format from Torrent sites, then Foobar is the music player for you. If you have a large MP3 (or FLAC, AAC, MP4...) music collection and simply want to listen to it, Foobar is also the one for you. There's all the usual functionality there too, like ripping CDs or fixing ID3... - Jay Niemann

Each Friday we choose a Lunchtime Poll topic to get a sense of how Mashable readers feel about the chosen topic of the week. Below are the results from last Friday’s poll, where we asked for your favorite news reader. Is your favorite app or service not represented in the list? Let us know in the comments! And to make sure your vote counts next time, be sure to vote in this week’s Lunchtime Poll, where we want to know your favorite video-sharing service. A surprising number of readers in the top 10 were Mac apps, and enough of you said you’d switched to using Twitter as your primary news source to propel it to #5. Google Reader was far and away the winner though, with over three times the number of votes for the 2nd place finisher Feedly. Top 10 Mashable Reader News Readers 10. Reeder (iPhone) [warning: iTunes link] 9. Times (Mac) 8. Klipfolio 7. Shrook (Mac) 6. NetNewsWire (Mac) 5. Twitter 4. FeedDemon (Windows) 3. NetVibes 2. Feedly 1. Google Reader Image courtesy of iStockphoto,... - Jay Niemann

When it was released earlier this month, the retail price for the Motorola Droid was $200 for new activations on Verizon. Although Verizon is staying firm with that price point for now, it appears that some of its retailers are not. Specifically, Amazon and Dell have both cut prices on the smartphone to $150 and $120, respectively. The news comes just one day after news broke of price cuts by online retailers on other devices not named iPhone: the Palm Pre and Pixi. Of course, the device cost shouldn’t really play a huge role in consumer’s decision given the total costs of ownership for all of them are well into the thousands of dollars over the life of the wireless contract. Nonetheless, if retailers are slashing prices, meaning they’re making less on each sale, it could be a sign that these iPhone alternatives aren’t selling as well as anticipated. So far, it’s been estimated that the Droid sold about 100,000 handsets in its first weekend and 250,000 in its first week on the market.... - Jay Niemann

Roambi announced a pro version of its iPhone application this week that syncs with Salesforce.com and other cloud-based services or on-premsie sales environments. It's a visualization application, providing mobile workers with a pretty cool way to see sales information. Integration is by far one of the most significant trends we are seeing in the enterprise space. It's a wave, really, marked this week by Salesforce.com and its move to turn the Force.com development platform into a service that makes all of its applications social. Sponsor A good example of this trend are small companies like Roambi that can now reach into the enterprise by integrating with Salesforce.com and other cloud platforms like Google Apps. We caught up with the founders of Roambi for a quick demo of their new pro product and how it syncs with both on-premse applications and SaaS services. Discuss - Jay Niemann

Once the service for those serious enough to pay for the privilege to post, TypePad recently released a free "Micro" service. The company made the decision to offer a free product realizing the demand for a platform more formal than Twitter and less formal than Wordpress or Typepad's original product. ReadWriteWeb compared TypePad's Micro against 2 other leading light blogging tools. Below are our thoughts: Sponsor TypePad Micro: In addition to being able to blog via email, iPhone app, "Blog It" bookmarklet and the general WYSIWYG dashboard, this tool also allows users to cross post to Twitter, Friendfeed and Facebook. My only complaint with TypePad is that there are only 2 design themes to choose from. For someone like me with very little design sense, it's a long process to find something right. As well, if you'd like to add another blog or add new design themes you are required to pay for a monthly subscription service. Tumblr: This service offers users publishing via iPhone app,... - Jay Niemann

A couple of months ago, Varun wrote about a very interesting yet controversial application. Since then, a lot has been learnt and the app has come quite a long way. I’ll attempt to review the app again but this time, I’m testing the Mac version and I’ll try to look to it from a totally [...] - Jay Niemann

Filed under: Photo, Web services, Social Software Facebook is the most popular photo sharing site in the world, but its photo upload tool has always been clunky and frustrating to use. No longer, thanks to a prototype New Photo Uploader that will hopefully displace the current upload tool very, very soon. Instead of the slow, tough-to-navigate system that loads up thumbnails of every. photo. in. your. pictures. folder. by default (ugh!), this new version has navigation that looks a lot more like what you're used to in Windows Explorer or the OS X Finder. Facebook ditched the old-school Java uploader they'd been using since 1995, and built a plug-in from scratch with newer tools. Aside from looking better and running a lot more smoothly, the new uploader can also run in the background, so you don't have to stop browsing while you wait for your pics to upload. The first you try to upload photos after turning on the prototype, you'll be prompted to install the Facebook plugin. It doesn't... - Jay Niemann