Another day, another set of giveaways in honor of our Gift Guide. Today we have a Samson Go Mic – you know, for podcasting – and a pair of mittens with thumbs that pop off that the manufacturer is calling Mittenberrys but we’re calling a cute idea.
To enter, just pop over to the contest pages on our Gift Guide.
We recently wrote about Sidebar, an app that wants to help smartphone users with the process of finding the perfect apps for their phones. Sidebar is debuting its first app and guess what? It’s not an iPhone app-it’s an Android app! While Sidebar’s Android app is built for all Google-powered Android phones, the app has been configured specially for the newly released Verizon Droid. Android users can download the app here.
Sidebar will ask you a series of demographic questions (gender, age, location) and a series of questions to determine your interests and content preferences (i.e. what type of news do you prefer, do you play online games, what types of outdoor activities are you interested in). Once Sidebar figures out a rough sketch of who you are, the app will begin to recommend mobile content to you. Content consists of videos, games, music, apps, ringtones, podcasts, promotions, news articles. The app will load no more than 12 content recommendations per day, which will last for 24 hours until the next batch of recs are sent to you. Recommendations include a short synopsis of the app or content and a screenshot or image. If you like the rec, you can save it and and download or access it later.
We recently wrote about Sidebar, an app that wants to help smartphone users with the process of finding the perfect apps for their phones. Sidebar is debuting its first app and guess what? It’s not an iPhone app-it’s an Android app! While Sidebar’s Android app is built for all Google-powered Android phones, the app has been configured specially for the newly released Verizon Droid. Android users can download the app here.
Sidebar will ask you a series of demographic questions (gender, age, location) and a series of questions to determine your interests and content preferences (i.e. what type of news do you prefer, do you play online games, what types of outdoor activities are you interested in). Once Sidebar figures out a rough sketch of who you are, the app will begin to recommend mobile content to you. Content consists of videos, games, music, apps, ringtones, podcasts, promotions, news articles. The app will load no more than 12 content recommendations per day, which will last for 24 hours until the next batch of recs are sent to you. Recommendations include a short synopsis of the app or content and a screenshot or image. If you like the rec, you can save it and and download or access it later.
It’s been a crazy weekend, and we’ll have the latest episode of The Engadget Show up to prove it soon enough, but for now we thought you might still be interested in the podcast we did live on Friday from within the hazy mist of show prep and Chrome OS assessment. Sure, you might not be used to getting a new podcast on a Monday morning, but we’ve heard that a technology podcast replete with bizarre exchanges with live audience members via chat and many vitamins and minerals can be a vital part of a healthy, well-balanced breakfast.
Hosts: Joshua Topolsky, Nilay Patel, Paul Miller
Despite some security-conscious enterprise experts pointing accusatory fingers at the rather bleak encryption story and only-recently fixed ActiveSync policy compliance on the iPhone platform, there’s no doubt that IT and network professionals are grooving on the iPhone — there are many apps designed for administrators to take control of their operations with a touch of a finger, and now Cisco has stepped in with an informational and alert resource that fits in your pocket.
The Cisco SIO (Security Intelligence Operations) to Go free app [iTunes link], requiring iPhone OS 3.0 or later, lets the paranoid properly alert and aware security professional keep tabs on the global threat landscape with Cisco’s Cyber Risk Reports, Threat Outbreaks and Mitigation Bulletins, along with podcasts, blog posts and a slew of other branded content. There’s also an IronPort-driven IP and email domain scanner, which will grab WHOIS data along with a brief reputation score for your hosts.
Here it is, T-7 days until Black Friday, and you don’t have any gift ideas?
I joined MacJury podcaster Chuck Joiner earlier this week to provide my ideas for gifting. This was part two of a holiday gift ideas episode on the popular podcast.
Since iWeb comes with just about every Mac, it’s surprising that it isn’t used by more Mac users. For some people, coughing up US$99 a year for MobileMe hosting is the barrier, but there are other ways to get your iWeb pages out where the world can see them.
Last night, while participating in a recording of the MacJury podcast, one of my gift ideas was to sign somebody up for a free trial of Dropbox and show them how to use it for syncing all sorts of things. While I was touting all of the things that Dropbox can be used for, I pulled up the Dropbox wiki for reference, and I noticed a link for Tips and Tricks. One of the tips was “Use Dropbox to host a website.”
For security nuts and enterprise clients, Cisco is launching an iPhone app, called Cisco SIO, to put Cisco Security Intelligence Operations in users? hands. The app gives giving users real-time access to security information and also lets users create personalized alerts to show security threats that could impact their network.
Powered by the Cisco’s Security IntelliShield Alert Manager Service, the app informs, protects and enables IT staff to respond in real time to alerts and threats to the network. The application will deliver data on early warning intelligence, threat vulnerabilities and sill suggest solutions to any problems that take place. It also provides unique IP and URL address e-mail and Web reputation look-up powered by the Cisco’s IronPort SenderBase Security Network. Via the app, you’ll also be able to access Cisco security news and information from the company’s blog, Twitter feed, podcasts and press releases, which Cisco hopes to use to engage with the greater security technology community.
This story just screams amateur hour, although I can’t figure out exactly who’s the amateur. Maybe everyone. A CEO says too much in an interview and gets fired. Lawyers go after the blogger to get content removed. And a partner is pissed off. Not bad for a day’s work.
It involves TweetPhoto, a service we’ve been writing about since last April. The company has had their rite-of-passage fight with Apple over an iPhone app, and they’ve done a deal with Kodak that got them some additional press. But until now, no serious drama.
Ready for yet another way to watch TV? Sezmi has just gone on the air in Los Angeles, offering its unique blend of premium OTA and internet delivered video to a few limited trial users. $5 a month brings whatever local networks you can pull in, basic IPTV (YouTube, OnNetworks, podcasts) and internet VOD (CinemaNow) access, while throwing an Andrew Jackson on top of that adds “more than 100 cable TV networks,” delivered via antenna. According to the L.A. Times that doesn’t include any channels from the Disney or Fox family like ESPN, regional sports networks or premium movie channels, but if those are already stations you’re avoiding, it’s a cheaper option than most cable TV plans. Other than the allure of sticking it to the current distribution model, the 1TB DVR package includes a rather unique UI to aggregate and even seek out new shows for you from those varied sources, while maintaining individual profiles for different users. The three month trial has just the right price — free — so even with little info on how much high definition Sezmi’s network can handle or what areas or channels will be added next, it’s at least worth a look.
[Via Zatz Not Funny]