The Sixth Sense

You may have seen part of this technology before, where a projector is used to cast a working, digital keyboard onto a surface, so that one would no longer need a physical keyboard but just an image of one. This guy Pranav Mistry make his own version of this and shows you so many different applications for it that it could blow your mind away.

The Thrilling Potential of 'SixthSense' Technology

Still Need Cable TV?

Read this story about how this couple got rid of their cable service and aren't missing much:

Cable Freedom Is A Click Away

Useful jQuery Tips for Select Lists

If you are into using jQuery and need to manage select lists, here are some really useful tips.

http://www.myphpetc.com/2009/03/jquery-select-elements-tips-and-tricks.html

By the way, I wrote my own routine for using an array to save a select list and its selected index when the page loads:

//Save all initial options
    var saveselect = new Array();
    $('#myselect option').each(function() {
        saveselect[this.value] = this.text;
    });
    //Save inital selected index
    var saveindex = $("#myselect option").index($("#myselect option:selected"));

Voice to Text

I may have written about this before but since the blog search is not working on my blog, it would take me a long while to find that post. Nonetheless, it is worth repeating.

These services are apparently really good and perhaps cheap at converting voice calls into transcribed text. Read all about them here:

SpinVox.com
PhoneTag.com
DiTech's PhoneTag Now Works Behind Your Company's Firewall
SimulScribe Signs Exclusive $17 Million Partnership Agreement With Ditech Networks

Nice Facebook Shopping Cart

This is a very nice shopping cart meant to work with any site, but in particular Facebook. In fact, they are set to unveil a completely new platform of e-commerce for Facebook.

Payvment.com

TechCrunch's review

Video Sites for Kids

This NYT story mentions some very good sources of videos and other good stuff safe for kids.

How to Provide Parental Guidance on Web Video for Children

Some of the sites mentioned are:
Kabillion.com
Kidzui.com
Kideos.com
Totlol.com
Zuitube.com

Very Interesting: Buzzd

This is a very interesting service. It seems it is a step above iAte.com

Read the review here:
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/10/01/buzzd-is-an-iphone-app-built-for-party-crashing/

Buzzd.com

Note that Twitter has lots of interesting data available for "free". You just need to use their API to gather it, analyze it, and display it.

I think Twitter does have limitations on API requests per time period.

I wonder what we could do with Twitter data?

Artwiculate

Build up your vocabulary with this Twitter integrated service.

Artwiculate.com

TwitDraw

This service has lots of potential. It is a simple drawing program with which to draw and to easily send to your twitter wall. I especially like the concept of the Graffiti Chain.

TwitDraw.com

Electric Crafts

Good inspiration from a crafter who is using LEDs, motors, wires, batteries, etc. to create unique crafts.

Home Crafts Get Wired

FotoMoto

If  you have lots of photos on your website and need a quick way to add a shopping cart to sell your photos and have them delivered to your buyers, then use FotoMoto.com to get it done fast and easy.

3D Photo Prints

Your photo prints can now be in 3D.

Check out the awesome technology from Snapily.com
Great review at NTY's story entitled Your Photo Prints, Now in 3-D

Twitter-ify Your Biz

These days many mom and pop businesses are starting to use Twitter to alert their faithful customers about new deals, even the current location of those businesses on wheels, like street vendors. It is time your biz starts thinking about how to best use your Twitter account. Better yet, sign up for your own Twitter account soon.

NYT's article Mom-and-Pop Operators Turn to Social Media

Look at all the new ways others are using Twitter.
Springwise.com

Groovy: A Real-Time Database

It's a really inspiring concept, to have a real-time database which can accommodate millions of requests per second. That's what Groovy is aiming to do. Rather than to rely on querying a database, the database itself will push out any changes occurring in real-time. They call it the SQL Switch.

GroovyCorp.com
TechCrunch's review

iText: Generate Dynamic PDFs

I found out one of my favorite resource for developers, called Pragmatic Programmer, uses iText to add the dynamic footer at the bottom of each pdf. If you have ever bought a pdf book from them you will notice they add your name and address to every pdf you buy. iText is pretty cool.

The Twitter Guidebook

I recently started up again using Twitter because now I have a real business need for it. So I stumbled upon this resource of information about using Twitter. I will need to master some of the stuff talked about there.

Twitter Guide Book

Teenage Entrepreneurs Are Coming!

Here comes the mass of teenagers who want to do their work and get paid for doing their own thing. It's interesting to read about what they are doing or planning to do. Read NYT's story entitled Teenagers Are Building Their Own Job Engine.

One such venture mentioned is WorkInMyRoom.com

DoNanza: Multiple Freelance Searching

Donanza.com combines all search results from various gig sites all into one. In other words, when searching for a job, just use their service to search all other websites dealing with freelance work. The links point back to the originating website. You can also discover many more freelance sites by looking at the search results.

http://www.donanza.com

Two Appointment Schedulers

I found out about these two services that provide an online scheduling system for appointments, which could be used by massage therapists, dentists, doctors, hairstylists, etc. I have a friend who is a photographer who may be able to use this to book his appointments. One great feature is that BookFresh can integrate with Google Calendar and iCal.

BookFresh.com
Appointment-plus.com
TechCrunch's review

Voice Faster Than Texting?

We all know how long it takes to make a voice call. You have to wait for the tone for someone to pick up or wait for the prompt to leave a message. Texting is so much faster because you just pick up the phone and start texting. Then the receiving party could be busy so you leave a message. To play the message the receiving party needs to navigate through the menus to hear the message.

Enter RebelVox.com. You have to see the video to really get excited about all this. Soon you will be able to pick up the phone and start talking, regardless of whether or not the receiving party is available. To hear a message just pick up the phone and hit your contact. It starts playing instantly. If you notice someone is leaving you a message, you can answer the call and immediately get connected to carry on the conversation.

The Mobile Payments War

It looks like the battlefield is getting filled up quickly and the action is very brutal in the mobile payments world.

CNET covers this story quite well.

The NYT also does a good job.

Also read the NYT Bits blog

Some of the mentioned mobile payments services are:
Boku.com
BillingRevolution.com
Zong.com
Obopay.com

Boku Mobile Payments

It looks like Boku.com has a better worldwide coverage than Obopay.com for sending and accepting mobile payments.

Check out Boku's Coverage

Vumber: Virtual Phone Number

I need a virtual phone number because I often change my cell carrier and cell phone number. So whenever I get my business cards printed I want to be able to keep handing them out up to the last one, instead of throwing them away whenever my phone number changes.

Enter Vumber.com. It is the answer to my needs. I can sign up for a phone number in any area code and redirect this vumber to any of my real phone numbers and keep updating it whenever I need. I've been waiting for Google's Grand Central service, but I have never been able to get accepted into their beta program. So now I can try Vumber instead.


Here are some other players:

http://www.tollfreeforwarding.com

Virtual Numbers on About.com

WizeHive: Group Collaboration

This looks like a very promising service for managing a group effort of work. If you have heard of or used Basecamp, you might want to consider this one as well.

WizeHive.com

Wix: Stunning Flash Sites for Free

Create your own Flash-based websites for free using any of these templates. Everything is easy to do with lots of drag-n-drop. The results looking really good. They also have a Premium level for added services like hosting and ad-free.

Wix.com

DIY Sidebars For Firefox

Ever wanted to build your own browser plugins but did have the time to learn all the API? Now there's a much easier way to do this. Mozilla's Jetpack aims to revolutionize the way these things are built. There's some really cool stuff you can do, like loading videos into a sidebar to keep watching them as you continue surfing.

JetPack.MozillaLabs.com
Some cool video demos
TechCrunch's review

Wow! Man's Own Shopper

For those men who hate shopping for clothes for themselves, here is a radical new approach. Now you can have your own personal (female) shopper with which you communicate via Skype. She will take a look at you and listen to all your tastes and dislikes. Then she will send you a box of possible clothes you might like. Buy the ones you want, return the others.

TrunkClub.com
TechCrunch review

An iPhone App 4 Your Band

If you have a band, get your own iPhone app and have your users download it from the Apps Store. Your users will be able to browse and listen to clips of your music. They can also click on a song and go directly to iTunes to purchase it. Your app also integrates your social network so all your iPhone app users can share photos, videos, comments, etc.

So how do you get your own iPhone app for your band? That's where MobileRoadie comes in. Instead of having to hire programmers and telling them what you envision, and paying them by the hour, just let MobileRoadie set you up almost instantly. Pricing is USD 399 to set up the app and then USD 29 per month for up to 1,000 fans; each additional fan costs 1 cent per month.

MobileRoadie.com
Springwise's review

How Modern Students Study

It's so different since I went to college. Back then we didn't even have the internet. These days students have totally different options. Here are a few:

Cramster.com
Koofers.com
SparkNotes.com
CourseHero.com

These and others are names in NYT's article Psst! Need the Answer to No. 7? Click Here.

Also read WSJ's article Do Study Sites Make The Grade?

A Web That Speaks Your Language

This is an interesting article about machines and humans volunteering their time to translate online content for others to be able to read.

NYT's article A Web That Speaks Your Language

One mentioned organization doing this is GlobalVoices.org

DIY Mobile Ads

Are you introducing a new mobile app and want it to be ad-supported? Take a look at this new service with which you can easily integrate ads into your app. They have taken all the headaches out of doing this for you with a developer's toolkit. Now your real job switches to finding the businesses that would like to show their ads in your app. For that just hook up with an ad/marketing firm and let them do the hunting for you.

Medialets.com
Killer Startups review

Coupious - Mobile Coupons Come True

Check it out. This smart app uses your phone's GPS to lookup coupons in your location. Instantly receive them on your phone for redemption.

Coupious.com
Killer Startups review

NearbySocial: Other Facebook Users Near You

Look around you, or better yet let this new app do the looking for you. It will find all other Facebook friends near you at the moment or do a historical search to recall who was around you recently. Pretty cool.

NearbySocial.com
Killer Startup review

iPhone: Your New Price Scanner

Never mind hunting down the price scanners at Target or other store. Just whip out your iPhone loaded with the Red Laser app. Instantly do price comparisons and get all the details off the net.

Red Laser - The First Accurate iPhone Barcode Scanner - Hits The App Store

Build Mobile Apps with PhoneGap

Need to build a mobile application that needs to access GPS, vibration, accelorometer, photos, or contacts info, and you need it to work across phones, like the iPhone, Blackberry, and Android? Then you need to take a look at using PhoneGap.com

Reqall: Modern Sticky Notes

I think I will start using this new service for free and probably upgrade to the $25 per year version when I get hooked on it. To really understand its potential impact on your life, you need to see the demo videos about it.

 

Here is NYT's demo.

Reqall.com

Apple News Sources

I have been more curious about news concerning Apple lately because of all the rumors about the upcoming iPhone 3.0. There are some incredible rumors out there. I hope some of these come true. Here are some Apple news sources I found:

• Tuaw.com


• MacRumors.com


• AppleInsider.com


• MacCast.com

Regex For Dummies

I googled regex for dummies and got these really neat screencasts at a blog called In The Woods. One great reference mentioned there is a nifty regex engine with which to play.

Computational Photography

A new surveillance video camera uses 5 lenses to capture a 180 degree view. The separate images are stitched together by a computer. This is the power of computational photography.

Adobe is also experimenting with it. Here is a snippet from the NYT article "On the Lookout, With a Digital Security Camera."

Kevin Connor, vice president of product management for professional digital imaging at Adobe, says the company is experimenting with a combination of lenses and software to process enough data in one shot, for example, that the focus of the image can be changed after the shutter snaps, something that is now impossible.

"We can capture the light rays in a scene and then later calculate a photo at any focal length," he said. "You can refocus your shot after it is captured."

iPhoney: iPhone Simulator

See how your website and code will look like on an iPhone without owning an iPhone.

http://marketcircle.com/iphoney/

Free Is The New Biz Model

Read this articles about why a recent trend in business models is to offer your core services for free and then charge a premium for some add-on services.

Saying You Can't Compete With Free Is Saying You Can't Compete Period

Free! by Chris Anderson

MagCloud: DIY Magazines

Now you can have a do-it-yourself magazine, thanks to a new technology by Hewlett Packard that makes it cost effective to print just one color copy of a magazine. It will charge 20 cents per page. It is testing the market to see if there is enough demand for this service.

MagCloud.com
NYT review

China's YouTube Equivalent

China's government is blocking access to YouTube.com because it may contain some politically incorrect videos. So what do Chinese people use? Enter Tudou.com. Apparently the government has more control of this Chinese provider.

Academic Earth: Hulu for Higher Ed

The Hulu.com equivalent of videos of higher education lecturers is now available. It is called Academic Earth, and all its content is free.

Check out TechCrunch's review.

HTML Purifier

Do you need to allow your users to be able to embed youtube videos into their pages? Do you want to prevent users from entering in malicious code (such as cross-site scripting)?

HTML Purifier can help.

Kogi: New Use for Twitter

The Taco Trucks Are Coming !!!

What an ingenious use of Twitter. The new Korean taco trucks are roaming around Los Angeles and twittering their followers to let them know where they are stationed at the moment.

Springwise Review
KogiBBQ.com

20 FREE PHP Components & Tutorials

Tricks of the trade tools for PHP.

20 FREE PHP Components and Tutorials

Microsoft's Vision of the Future

Very good ideas for the future coming from Microsoft. Now it is up to them to implement them. They have a very good chance of accomplishing it.

This is the Microsoft I want to see.

ScreenDash: Share any Screen Capture

Pretty neat tool, although there various comments point to other similar services.

ScreenDash.com
Review

World's Biggest Social Network

QQ.com is a Chinese social network that may perhaps be the biggest in the world.

Read TechCrunch's story about it

Free Apps For Designers

If you hire or work with designers, you may want them to visit this site that covers a few free open-source alternatives to mainstream design software. There are some really good ones mentioned.

11 Free And Useful Open-Source Alternatives For Designers

Unmask Anonymous Caller IDs

Don't you hate those calls that show "Private" or  "Unavailable" in the caller ID. Now you can forward all these types of calls to a service that reveals the true caller IDs.

Give it a try at TrapCall.com
Here is a review

Online Watermark Services

I am interested in finding free services online that will take my uploaded images, add a watermark to them, and download them back to me. So I googled it with these terms: watermark services upload. Here is one I found that seems interesting:
PicMarkr.com

China's Hip Hop Movement

There is a huge, growing hip hop movement in China. Check out NYT's video story. Visit a popular hiphop website HipHop.cn. Now is the time to get your services or products ready for this.

Cleanvertising With MindTheCurb.com

MindTheCurb.com is an advertising agency that exclusively uses natural materials for hosting ads, like carvings on wood or imprints on snow.

With the popularity of the green movement, this type of advertising could get popular.

Read Springwise's review

magicJack & Ooma

Need an alternative landline phone system for your home or office? magicJack.com and Ooma.com are two slightly different services which replace your landline with a VOIP system and essentially reduce your phone bill to almost zero.

DOmedia: Alternative Ad Spaces

Have something to advertise and want to find new places to put your ads on? DOmedia is a new ad space clearinghouse. Your business can search for a variety of ad spaces in your market. You may find ad space on student notebooks, foreheads, etc.

On the flipside, if you have a unique ad space you wish to sell, then you can partner with DOmedia to have your ad space advertised to potential buyers.

DOmedia.com
Read Springwise's review

LaunchBox: Get Your App Ready!

A new seed funding service is not taking applications for new startups. Deadline is March 16. I am going to try to make it.

LaunchBoxDigitial.com

Read TechCrunch's review

CSS Frameworks

I'm with the crowd that didn't know there were any CSS frameworks and much less what they are used for. I can do lots of CSS coding and did not realize my job could get any easier if I used a framework. I will have to check these things out soon. I am now wondering which of these frameworks is the most popular and most versatile.

5 Popular CSS Frameworks

Website Updates with iPhone

If you need telnet access, ftp access, etc. and you are out and about, just whip out your iPhone to make all your updates.

Read about some nifty apps for the iPhone that any web developer could use.

iPhone: A web developer's new best friend

Photojojo: Fun Photo Tips

If u r an amateur photographer, like a kid, this site has some great tips for you.

Check out Photojojo.com
and read NYT's review.

Learn, learn, learn

So what are planning to learn this new year? Now there is a new tool you can use which may be able to divide your learning material into small chunks and periodically flash a piece at you every few minutes while you are busy doing something else on the computer. This way you may be learning in small chunks while you go about doing the normal things you already do on your computer. It sounds like a very interesting concept.

Popling.net
Read the review at Springwise

CraftMasterNews: Into Crafts?

Are you into crafts? Here's all the news concerning all things crafts happening all over the western U.S. They have been doing this for over 25 years.

Craftmasternews.com

Read KillerStartUps Review

RocketLawyer: Advice For All

Looking for affordable legal help? Look no further. Here is all the free or cheap legal help available. They also have many legal documents you can customize for your needs.

RocketLawyer.com

Read KillerStartUps Review

R - The Programming Language

If you live your daily life dealing with massive databases and data-mining, you may already have heard of the programming language called R. It apparently is empowering folks to do some amazing data-mining.

In a nutshell: What makes R so useful — and helps explain its quick acceptance — is that statisticians, engineers and scientists can improve the software's code or write variations for specific tasks. Packages written for R add advanced algorithms, colored and textured graphs and mining techniques to dig deeper into databases.

Read NYT's article Data Analysts Captivated by R's Power

MyHalo: Online POS

I just learned about this one, but already I can see how this service introduces many new add-on services not possible with a normal Point Of Sale (POS) system. By connecting a normal POS system to the net, one immediate benefit is accessibility from anywhere. So the restaurant manager can access it from his back office and the corporate office can access it from a remote location, while the waitress accesses it from her portal.

MyHalo.com

There are still many other types of systems out there just begging to get connect online. When this happens, many new add-on services can be imagined and implemented. What offline systems can you think of that can benefit from this?