Friday, May 28, 2010

The Sound ID 510 Blutooth Headset

The Sound ID 510 Blutooth Headset
A reviewer at CNET calls the Sound ID 510 Blutooth Headset a "truly excellent Bluetooth headset for iPhone owners." So, what makes it so great? For starters, the headset comes with its own customized iPhone app, which allows you to adjust the quality of your sound among other cool features. As for the headset, itself, it has three microphones, which is great for canceling out noise, it's got a green mode for those who are looking to be environmentally-friendly, and it even offers multiple ear fittings so that you can find the right one for your personal comfort. These features, alone, make this $130 headset one of the best you can buy for your iPhone.

Size-wise, it's small and light-weight. The headset is 2.1 inches long, 0.6 inches wide, and 0.3 inches thick. The reviewer at CNET compares it to a stick of gum. You can purchase either a black or white model and it comes in a hard plastic cover. It's very plain, according to CNET, but appealing all the same. The tiny multifunction button is easy to reach by feeling for it, and it's located on the front surface. Use the rest of the front surface as a touch sensor volume control.

The left side features the power toggle, which makes power conservation a breeze, and on top, you'll find the charger jack. The back has the earpiece, inside a Sound ID Real comfort ear loop, which, according to CNET fits snugly on your ear. Despite the fact that it comes with optional ear hook, wearing it is not necessary. It's said to be comfortable and even offers three different sizes so you may choose which one is the most comfortable.

The accompanying app is called EarPrint. it's free at the iTunes store but it only works this version of the headset. So, what does the app do? It allows you to measure how loud your surrounding sound is by decibels. It also acts as a personal audio equalizers in Personal Sound Mode. Personal Sound is a grid interface that lets you tap your finger to adjust the volume and ton of the audio. The Tools section lets you go back and forth between the in-call status indicator, a noise reduction demo, and Environmental mode, which lets you listen to surrounding noise. And even that can be set on Surround Sound or Focused Sound. Another tool, called Find My Headset, allows you to do just what the name says. Simply tap the locator button and a lost or misplaced headset will sound an alarm to help you find it. You can also check the headset's battery life via the app.

The headset's other features are pretty generic: ending, answering, rejecting, last-number redial, and transferring call capabilities. According to CNET's reviewer, the Sound ID 510's outgoing call quality is excellent and callers could hear the speakers clearly. Battery life for the headset is 5 hours of talk time or 5.62 days.







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Thursday, May 20, 2010

New Google Chrome Web App Store

New Google Chrome Web App Store Earlier this week, Google announced the Chrome Store at the I/O conference, and shared some details about what to expect. The app store will be Google's own place for you to buy web applications or just download free ones.

According to PC World, the Chrome Web Store will open later this year (before the Chrome operating system ships) and will only sever users of Google Chrome (about 70 million), at first. Developers must follow the developer's guide and only use technology that will work with Chromium Apps.

A few of the apps were unveiled at the I/O conference. According to PC World, these included Google's own Docs, Calendar, Mail, News, Maps, Picasa and Wave. Insiders assume those types of apps will be free, while apps from magazines, games, news and other utilities will have to be paid for (supposedly about $3 or $4). The free apps will appear when you open a new tab in Chrome, as well as a link to the app store.

Gizmodo has some pictures of what is currently being offered. This includes: Pandora, Lego Star Wars, Plants vs. Zombies, Digg, Sports Illustrated, Who has the Biggest Brian, Tweetdeck, NPR, Zoho, LinkedIn, Bejeweled 2, Scrabble, FIFA World Cup 2010, Darkroom, and Poker Rivals. The apps are said to be impressive and high-quality. As a matter of fact, Engadget describes the apps as better than "most anything we've seen on the iPad thus far."

The Chrome apps will be developed with existing open source coding such as native HTML code C and C++, and in the future with coding such as WebM. It is also expected to be a lot less restrictive than the Apple App Store. Some say the future may hold Android apps which can be synced between computers and mobile phones and the store may even cause people to abandoned other browsers, in favor of Chrome.

But some don't see such a bright future. CNET has questioned whether or not there is a difference between visiting a website and having an app for that website. Others feel that Chrome as a whole will essentially be a big flop. Even so Steve Jobs and Apple are feeling the threat and are already on defense. Jobs has been taking shots at Google's products lately (most recently, Android) and will probably do the same with Chrome.



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The Official iPhone Twitter App

The Official iPhone Twitter App

If you noticed Tweetie 2 missing from the Apple App store yesterday, you weren't just seeing things. The app has been replaced by the new, official iPhone app for Twitter. The uniquely named app is called, well, "Twitter." Twitter actually bought Tweetie about a month ago, from creator Loren Brichter, and it looks like they basically added their own brand to it. The new app is being called "version 3.0."

According to CNN, aside from being absolutely free, the new app is basically the same as the old version of Tweetie, with no "big update" or "iPad support." Tweetie has been a popular app for iPhone users but if you were looking for big improvements, you might want to stick with what you have.

New features include viewing people's Twitter pages without having your own account, as well as signing up for a new account with the app. Once you do sign up, the app generates a suggested user list for you. "Top Tweets" have been added to search results and the "More" tab is a little different, with more popular options being moved to the main bar.

According to CNN, many developers worried about the future of their own applications when Twitter purchased Tweetie. Twitter, in turn, said they needed to have an official client. The company has been increasing its presence in the mobile world, in an effort to improve the user experience. The company's user-base has grown overwhelmingly lately and third party apps can often be confusing.

Twitter for Android was released in early May, as was the Twitter app for Blackberry, released by Research in Motion. iPhone, Android, and Blackberry make up the majority of the smartphone market, so now, no one has an excuse not to use Twitter...on the go!!



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Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Microsoft Office 2010 Launches Tomorrow

Microsoft Office 2010 Launches Tomorrow The long-anticipated Microsoft 2010 will launch tomorrow, May 12, for corporate users who can download a 60-day free trial. The boxed version will be on store shelves in June. According to PC Mag, if you have Office 2007, you probably don't need the new version, but there are some differences that will make you want it. But that's just for the average user. If you're one who creates a lot of graphics-heavy documents or presentations, someone who buys software for an entire corporation, or you are in need of 64-bit compatibility to create worksheets larger than Excel's 2GB limit, then you might want to look into getting a copy for yourself.

So how much will the new version of Office cost you? Well, the Professional edition will be about $499.99. It includes Word, Outlook, PowerPoint, Excel, Publisher, Access, and OneNote. If you're looking for something a little more low-key, the Home and Business edition of the program will set you back about $279.99, and includes everything except for Publisher and Access. Finally, the Home and Student version will cost you about $149.99 and excludes Publisher, Access, and Outlook. There are other versions that run higher and include more tools but those are the three that will be the most mainstream.

If you bought Microsoft's Office 2007 on or after March 5 of this year, you'll qualify for a free upgrade to 2010, but otherwise, there will be no upgrades. You must buy the full copy of the product or a Product Key Card that will allow you to unlock the trail version. And of course, if you don't want to pay a dime, you can always try OpenOffice.org. It's not as pretty as Office, but you can pretty much do the same things with it, or Google Docs which is free for personal use and inexpensive for businesses.

Keep in mind that Office 2010 is just an enhanced version of Office, not a completely new version like Office 2007 was. You can create custom tabs with the tools you use most often. The program also has keyboard shortcuts, taking over for tasks that required a mouse in Office 2007.




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Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Google to Sell eBooks This Summer

Google to Sell eBooks This Summer

Google is going to be throwing its hat into yet another race this summer: the eBook market. Google's new eBook store, called "Editions," is expected to be open in June or July and the company hopes it will become a big competitor for Apple and Amazon.

Apple, of course, sells digital books for its new iPad device and Amazon for the device synonymous with eBooks, the Kindle. Amazon has sold over three million Kindles while the iPad, which has only been on the market for a month, has sold over a million.

Editions will sell over 12 million books, which will be available to read from any computer or mobile gadget, or anywhere you can access a full web browser. Publishers will be allowed to set the prices for their books and the eBooks will also be available for bookstores to sell. The stores will keep a majority of the revenue.

Google is also working on Google Book Search, which allows authors and publishers to sell "orphan books," which would allow people to search for those books and pay to use them. Authors and publishers who scan and sell the books would make 63% of the profit, while Google makes the remaining 37%. That effort is currently in limbo, due to legal opposition encouraged by the United States Department of Justice.



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