Titan West Blog

JooJoo Is Released – CrunchPad Is Not

admin — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 18:13:59 +0000

If can't come up with a good idea, steal one.

When Arrington posted that the Crunchpad is dead, there was mention of upcoming legal action against once partner Chandra Rathakrishnan and Fusion Garage.

On Monday Fusion Garage released the tablet now known as the JooJoo in San Francisco. How they rubbed off the CruchPad logo so fast, I’m not sure. The touch screen device is priced at $499.

Arrington announced TechCrunch filed a lawsuit Thursday against Fusion Garage, siting “Fraud and Deceit, Misappropriation of Business Ideas, Breach of Fiduciary Duty, Unfair Competition, and Violations of the Lanham Act.”.

The JooJoo ‘Web slate’ is based around a 12.1-inch diagonal 720p capacitive touch screen.
The specs include: 1366×768-pixel resolution, a built-in camera, mic, and speakers, one USB port, and a card slot. There’s 4GB of cache memory. Rathakrishnan wouldn’t say what the processor?. He also won’t say who makes the touch screen.

The JooJoo runs a proprietary Linux-based operating system whose only purpose is to run the device’s browser, based on Webkit but again a custom job by the developer. The browser supports Flash and other standard HTML extensions.

The $499 price point is too high. Arrington has previously shot for closer to $200 – $300.

Google Chrome for Mac

admin — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 19:29:26 +0000

I already run Chrome on my Macbook, but it was fun to get this in my email box

It’s finally here: Google Chrome for Mac. Available today in beta!

Hi there,

Thanks for signing up to hear from us regarding Google Chrome for Mac! We’re excited to let you know that Google Chrome is now available in beta for Mac OS X.

Here are a few fun facts from us on the Google Chrome for Mac team:

* 73,804 lines of Mac-specific code written
* 29 developer builds
* 1,177 Mac-specific bugs fixed
* 12 external committers and bug editors to the Google Chrome for Mac code base, 48 external code contributors
* 64 Mac Minis doing continuous builds and tests
* 8,760 cups of soft drinks and coffee consumed
* 4,380 frosted mini-wheats eaten

Thanks for waiting and we hope you’ll give Google Chrome for Mac a whirl.

Google Chrome Team
www.google.com/chrome

Just installed it. It seems very snappy.

Gmail Keyboard Short Cuts

admin — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 16:16:25 +0000

Yesterday, I commented on the Gboard gadget thing for Gmail keyboard short cuts, costing $20 and an USB port that I don’t have to spare… but I did learn something important Gmail has keyboard short cuts.

These could be handy. Lifted straight from Google.

To turn these case-sensitive shortcuts on or off, click Settings, and then pick an option next to Keyboard
shortcuts.

Shortcut Key	Definition	Action
c	Compose	Allows you to compose a new message. + c allows you to compose a message in a new window.
/	Search	Puts your cursor in the search box.
k	Move to newer conversation	Opens or moves your cursor to a more recent conversation. You can hit to expand a conversation.
j	Move to older conversation	Opens or moves your cursor to the next oldest conversation. You can hit to expand a conversation.
n	Next message	Moves your cursor to the next message. You can hit to expand or collapse a message. (Only applicable in ‘Conversation View.’)
p	Previous message	Moves your cursor to the previous message. You can hit to expand or collapse a message. (Only applicable in ‘Conversation View.’)
o or	Open	Opens your conversation. Also expands or collapses a message if you are in ‘Conversation View.’
u	Return to conversation list	Refreshes your page and returns you to the inbox, or list of conversations.
e	Archive	Archive your conversation from any view.
m	Mute	Archives the conversation, and all future messages skip the Inbox unless sent or cc’d directly to you. Learn more.
x	Select conversation	Automatically checks and selects a conversation so that you can archive, apply a label, or choose an action from the drop-down menu to apply to that conversation.
s	Star a message or conversation	Adds or removes a star to a message or conversation. Stars allow you to give a message or conversation a special status.
!	Report spam	Marks a message as spam and removes it from your conversation list.
r	Reply	Replies to the message sender. + r allows you to reply to a message in a new window. (Only applicable in ‘Conversation View.’)
a	Reply all	Replies to all message recipients. +a allows you to reply to all message recipients in a new window. (Only applicable in ‘Conversation View.’)
f	Forward	Forwards a message. + f allows you to forward a message in a new window. (Only applicable in ‘Conversation View.’)
	Escape from input field	Removes the cursor from your current input field.
+ s	Save draft	Saves the current text as a draft when composing a message. Hold the key while pressing s and make sure your cursor is in one of the text fields — either the composition pane, or any of the To, CC, BCC, or Subject fields — when using this shortcut.
#	Delete	Moves the conversation to Trash.
l	Label	Opens the Labels menu to label a conversation.
v	Move to	Moves the conversation from the inbox to a different label, Spam or Trash.
+ i	Mark as read	Marks your message as ‘read’ and skip to the next message.
+ u	Mark as unread	Marks your message as ‘unread’ so you can go back to it later.
[	Archive and previous	Archives your conversation and moves to the previous one.
]	Archive and next	Archives your conversation and moves to the next one.
z	Undo	Undoes your previous action, if possible (works for actions with an ‘undo’ link).
+ n	Update current conversation	Updates your current conversation when there are new messages.
q	Move cursor to chat search	Moves your cursor directly to the chat search box.
y	Remove from Current View*	Automatically removes the message or conversation from your current view. From ‘Inbox,’ ‘y’ means Archive From ‘Starred,’ ‘y’ means Unstar From ‘Trash,’ ‘y’ means Move to inbox From any label, ‘y’ means Remove the label * ‘y’ has no effect if you’re in ‘Spam,’ ‘Sent,’ or ‘All Mail.’
.	Show more actions	Displays the ‘More Actions’ drop-down menu.
?	Show keyboard shortcuts help	Displays the keyboard shortcuts help menu within any page you’re on.

Combo-keys – Use the
following combinations of keys to navigate through Gmail.

Shortcut Key	Definition	Action
then	Send message	After composing your message, use this combination to send it automatically. (Supported in Internet Explorer and Firefox, on Windows.)
y then o	Archive and next	Archives your conversation and moves to the next one.
g then a	Go to ‘All Mail’	Takes you to ‘All Mail,’ the storage site for all mail you’ve ever sent or received (and have not deleted).
g then s	Go to ‘Starred’	Takes you to all conversations you have starred.
g then c	Go to ‘Contacts’	Takes you to your Contacts list.
g then d	Go to ‘Drafts’	Takes you to all drafts you have saved.
g then i	Go to ‘Inbox’	Returns you to the inbox.
g then t	Go to ‘Sent Mail’	Takes you to all mail you’ve sent.
* then a	Select all	Selects all mail.
* then n	Select none	Deselects all mail.
* then r	Select read	Selects all mail you’ve read.
* then u	Select unread	Selects all unread mail.
* then s	Select starred	Selects all starred mail.
* then t	Select unstarred	Selects all unstarred mail.

Gboard – $19.99

admin — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 18:05:21 +0000

Have an extra $20 sitting around?
Use Gmail?
Can’t remember all those pesky Gmail keyboard short cuts?
I present… the Gboard

This little gadget looks useless.

It plugs into your computer, using up one of your USB ports and gives you a little pad with 19 buttons that trigger some of the more common of Gmail’s keyboard short cuts. Since there are 69 Gmail shortcuts in all, it barely scratches the surface, but a 69 key keyboard with all of them would be ridiculous right?

But then again, its Christmas and under $20 gifts can be hard to come by. This might be just the trick for the geek in your life.

I am now going to go learn some of the Gmail keyboard shortcuts because before this post, I didn’t know they existed.

$999.98 For An Apple iPhone 3GS 32GB

admin — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 18:13:48 +0000

Damn.

Buy.com currently has a never-been-locked 3Gs 32gb Iphone for two cents under a $1000.

That seems like a lot of money for a phone.

For $1000 you could buy a 2.26GHz Intel Core 2 Duo MacBook.

For $1000 you could buy a Golden Opulence Sundae.

For $1000 you could buy a 1998 Kia Sportage

You might even be able to buy a house in Cleveland.

Death Of MiniNova

admin — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 19:56:03 +0000

It seems mininova.org has purged all user-contributed torrents in an attempt to comply with an August order by a Dutch judge, removing all the indexed torrents with questionable content and become an index of Content Distribution torrents only.

Posted on the MiniNova Blog (which is now unavailable)

Hi all,

Today is an important day in the history of Mininova. From now on, we are limiting Mininova.org to our Content Distribution service. By doing so, we comply with the ruling of the Court of Utrecht of last August.

Unfortunately the court ruling leaves us no other option than to take our platform offline, except for the Content Distribution service. According to the verdict (Dutch link) we have to prevent uploads of torrents to Mininova that refer to certain titles or to similar-looking titles. We’ve been testing some filtering systems the last couple of months, but we found that it’s neither technically nor operationally possible to implement a 100% working filter system. Therefore, we decided that the only option is to limit Mininova to Content Distribution torrents from now on. We are still considering an appeal at this moment.

We launched our Content Distribution service in 2007. This service allows producers and artists to easily publish and distribute their content for free through Mininova. The launch of Content Distribution has proven to be a success. Countless content owners have used Content Distribution to distribute their content (e.g. albums and documentaries) for free to millions of users. For example, the Dutch band Silence is Sexy released their complete album on Mininova and received the Interactive Award 2009 for doing so. The Dutch television broadcaster VPRO decided to start using Content Distribution in 2009 in order to distribute documentaries.

We would like to thank you for your support. Especially everyone that contributed to Mininova receives a big “thank you!” for the effort! We hope to keep welcoming you on Mininova and our other projects (e.g. Snotr, Dispostable).

Thanks! The Mininova staff

www.zeropaid.com was quick to post five alternatives, but I doubt any will be as good and ‘clean’ as mininova was.

Honestly, this ranks up there with the collapse of Napster in ending an era on the internet.

Death Of The CrunchPad

admin — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 19:15:27 +0000

OK, this was one tablet that I actually was looking forward to.

Michael Arrington has posted that the Crunchpad is dead.

The plan was to debut the CrunchPad on stage at the Real-Time Crunchup event on November 20. 1,000 of the devices would be available pre-sale and they would start taking orders immediately. Larger scale production would begin early in 2010.

Arrington then goes on to tell a bizarre tale of getting an email from Chandra Rathakrishnan, their partner on the project, telling them that based on pressure from his shareholders he had decided to move forward and sell the device directly through Fusion Garage, without our involvement.

“We still acknowledge that Arrington and TechCrunch bring some value to your business endeavor…If he agrees to our terms, we would have Arrington assume the role of visionary/evangelist/marketing head and Fusion Garage would acquire the rights to use the Crunchpad brand and name. Personally, I don’t think the name is all that important but you seem to be somewhat attached to the name.”

Arrington compares it to Foxconn, who build the iPhone, notifiying Apple a couple of days before launch that they’d be moving ahead and selling the iPhone directly without any involvement from Apple.

But was it ever real?

I guess we may never know.

WebStudio Website Builder From Netidnow.com

admin — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:56:55 +0000

WebStudio Website Builder From Netidnow.com allows a user to create a website or to build an online store by just using a internet browser, allowing you to choose between a host of professionally designed templates. While most of the standard templates have that standard ‘template’ look (well so do 75% Word Press sites) the ease of set up and affordable pricing should tempt a small to mid-sized business.

In my experience, you can never replace good web development and web smarts with an off the shelf software, but often a tool like this can speed up design and development and replace a lot of actions that are repeated with every website.

The offer a free trial, a shopping cart, and hosting is included with the package.

The online cart supports many payment methods and gateways, including Authorize.net, Network Merchants, PayPal Payments Pro and Standard, Verisign Payflow Pro, Virtual Merchant, and more. They help with the merchant account as well through Total Merchant Services.

Prices start at $19.95 per month for their Basic and go up to $99.95 per month with their Platinum Professional Store. All plans have no set up fee and POP email accounts and webmail.

If you are looking for a quick off the shelf full package website or online store service, check out WebStudio Website Builder From Netidnow.com

Newer Technology USB 2.0 Universal Drive Adapter

admin — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 19:44:22 +0000

The “Swiss Army Knife” of Disk Connectivity…Turns Any Bare Drive Into An External Storage Solution!!

I just ordered one of these for only $30. I have a small army of older hard drives that probably have stuff on them I’ll want, this seemed like a good way to access the data.

It allows any 2.5″, 3.5″, or 5.25″ hard drive or optical drive* with any standard IDE/ATA/ATAPI 40 pin or SATA interface to be connected via USB to any USB equipped computer for file transfer, backing-up and storing file archives, and accessing data on stored backup drives with Plug & Play ease.

SWEET!

Since I suggested it to someone on Yahoo Answers, I should probably own one.

AdvancePro Inventory Management Software

admin — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:20:00 +0000

AdvancePro Inventory Management Software

AdvanceWare Technologies’ inventory management software offers an impressive inventory management system that is both flexible and scaleable to meet small to medium business needs. With over 3000 total users and 8 years of experience, they would be an excellent choice for a small to medium sized distributors, wholesalers, resellers, and web retailers who need to automate their supply chain transactions, improve workflow and maximize their profits. Their Technology Partners include Intuit, Microsoft (Net ‘Gold Certified’ and AdvancePro uses Microsoft’s SQL database), Crystal Reports (Crystal Reports for Visual Studio .NET), Thawte (128-bit browser independent encryption), Authorizenet and VeriSign (for automated payment processing).

With a free trial and a 30 day money back guarantee, they seem willing to bet you will like their product.

The pricing is scaled depending on the number of users, starting with their AdvancePro Lite product with one user for $499. With the AdvancePro, you can add modules ala carte for $499 per module with a single user price of $999 scaling up to $17,999.00 for 25 users. The AdvancePro all Inclusive option starts at $1,749.00 and includes unlimited add-ons (with several exceptions). Features such as warehouse management software, order management, and the Quickbooks integration are all built in with additional modules including UPS/FedEx/USPS Integration, Order matrix for items with multiple sizes, colors or other options and other features. They also provide two levels of support, payable by an annual fee. Email support as well as live telephone support, from 9am EST- 5:00pm EST US (weekdays). All the product descriptions and support details are covered on their websites product page. It is also possible to upgrade between products and product levels seamlessly.

AdvanceWare Technologies also provides One to One Demonstration on request.

Even with all these features and affordable pricing, is AdvancePro the right choice for your business? Pam Newman, columnist for Entrepreneur.com, outlines Tips for choosing an accounting software. Using Newman’s suggestions for qualifying accounting and inventory management systems, check if AdvanceWare Technologies’ AdvancePro fits your business needs. Their website should have answers to any questions and if you need more information, their customer service can help.