The next version of the BlackBerry OS (expected later this month) will deliver video and voice recording features, according to a piece in APC mag. The updates affect the 8100 Pearl and the 8300 Curve.
“OS 4.3.1 update lets the Curve record video onto a MiniSD card, with the Curve’s digital camera flash toggled on to act as a bright light during the video recording session. The device’s multimedia menu option also gains a new Voice Notes feature for recording random (or highly organised) thoughts.
Writer David Flynn says the Pearl misses out on video recording but gets voice recording.
BlackBerry OS update to deliver video and voice recording [APC]
Looking for a good read? Provide web site What Should I Read Next with your reading list—particularly books you’ve enjoyed—and receive recommendations for other, similar books you might enjoy. To get started, just give the site your email address and start building your booklist, which consists of both a favourites list and an exclude list (for books you read but didn’t really enjoy). Once you find a recommendation that sounds interesting, head over to a book exchange site like previously mentioned BookMooch and grab a few new books on-the-cheap.
What Should I Read Next [via UneasySilence]The Simple Dollar weblog details the process and financial, health and taste benefits of baking your own bread from scratch. What I’ve found is that many people are simply intimidated by the seemingly complex and work-intensive process of making bread. It seems difficult and loaded with steps and significant work. In fact, bread is quite easy to make at home, and you only need a few staple ingredients to make a simple loaf.
The post points out that not only can making your own bread be quick and simple, but it’s also likely to be considerably more healthy and tasty than your traditional store-bought industrial bread. If you’re an old hand at homemade bread, let’s hear your thoughts in the comments.
Homemade Bread: Cheap, Delicious, Healthy, and Easier Than You Think [The Simple Dollar]Keep track of your car’s maintenance schedule and history with web site ServiceBeacon. After you register, just provide the site with your vehicle information (make, model, mileage), and service station. At this point, creating a service schedule and maintaining your car’s service history is a breeze. ServiceBeacon will even alert you of any recalls for your make and model should any come up. Whether you have no idea when your oil was last changed or you already keep detailed records of all of your scheduled auto maintenance, ServiceBeacon intends to streamline the process.
ServiceBeacon [via Dumb Little Man]Web site Visuwords defines and displays relationships between words in a fast and effective graphical map of meaning. When you first search for a word with Visuwords, you’ll see the word pop up in the centre and nodes pop out from there for each meaning of the word. Each of those nodes will spawn their own relational nodes, connected by lines that indicate meaning (for example, a red diamond indicates an antonym), and double-clicking any of those nodes will expand your tree of meaning from that point. Visuwords is a quick visual dictionary-and-thesaurus-in-one tool that offers a fresh and useful way to look at words, understand meanings, and find new ways of saying what you’re looking to say.
Visuwords [via MakeUseOf]Windows/Mac/Linux (Firefox): The Fancy Numbered Tabs Firefox extension replaces the traditional close box on every tab with that tab’s sequential number so you can take fuller advantage of Firefox’s Ctrl+Number keyboard shortcut to quickly jump to any tab from the comfort of your keyboard (e.g., Ctrl-3 will jump to the third tab). The extension works like a gem, but similar to how the tab-by-number keyboard shortcut only works with tabs one through nine, the extension only numbers tabs one through eight (not sure why nine is missing). This is one of those very simple extensions that makes just one simple tweak, but if you’re a keyboard navigation lover it’s a worthwhile adjustment. Fancy Numbered Tabs is free, works wherever the ‘fox runs.
Fancy Numbered Tabs [Firefox Add-ons]Critics say that users don’t read online services’ privacy policies because companies make them incomprehensible and inaccessible. (Amen!) A better system is needed, and Web sites need to give more detailed information about the personal data they collect, said Jeffrey Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy and a critic of targeted advertising practices. “There has to be a simple, unified way to tell the individual exactly what is going on,” he said. “Why can’t you say you’re collecting and targeting and profiling this information? Why can’t you say [to users]what you tell your clients?”
One privacy policy researcher asked if we need nutrition labels—quick, at a glance answers to “what the heck is going on here”—on our software. Have you read your favourite webapps’ privacy policies? If not, what would turn that around? Talk amongst yourselves in the comments.
Online Privacy Policies Don’t Do Their Job, Critics Say [PC World]Search for and find episodes of your favourite missed television shows or web-based video content with web site Find Internet TV. In essence, the site is a search portal that knows where to look for current shows and can quickly tell you where to find what you’re looking for. Find Internet TV is a barebones version of previously mentioned Tape It Off the Internet (lacking the design sheen and BitTorrent integration). If nothing else, though, its directory listing of full episodes available online is a nice starting point if you’ve missed an episode of a show and want to quickly find where the network makes their episodes available. Of course, if you’re serious about watching TV without the cable bill, here’s six ways to catch your favourite TV shows online.
Find Internet TV [via eHub]Google has announced their open mobile phone platform Android (which was fueling all those gPhone rumours), but don’t expect to buy a phone running Android until the second half of next year.
If you’ve got gigabytes of music you want to play from a central server in your living room—without keeping a big ugly PC there—the Squeezebox network music player’s for you. A Squeezebox is a shiny black box that plays the digital music saved in virtually any format on your computer over your home wireless network, plus thousands of internet radio stations.
