May 09, 2006, 10:44 PM PDT
YouTube goes mobile
Posted by: Rafe Needleman

Kevin Maney of USA Today broke the story of YouTube's new mobile video upload service. It lets you send videos you capture on your cell phone directly to YouTube.

This is a big deal. It means that "citizen journalists" who record an event with their mobiles will be able to share that video immediately with the world--no PC required. All of a sudden, we're all Christiane Amanpour.

I tried the service as soon as I heard about it. Setting up the account was a multistep process, but easy. Using my Treo 650, I took a few videos and uploaded them via the Treo's e-mail application. Here's my second video. Where's the first? Still on the Treo, unfortunately: Somewhere between the Treo, Cingular, and YouTube, I ran into a 300K upload cap, so video reporting from me is going to be brief. That's OK; I talk fast.

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• See product information for Palm Treo 650 (Cingular, GSM/GPRS)
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May 09, 2006, 5:18 PM PDT
MySpace launches IM client
Posted by: Rafe Needleman

MySpace just dropped its instant-messaging client [download] on the world, cleverly right after news of the AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) community site surfaced. It's like two lopsided crabs battling: AIM has one giant claw--an installed base of about 65 million IM users--and the tiny claw of its upcoming community site. And MySpace has 70 million personal pages on its community site and no IM audience. Yet.

Which crab will win? I suspect that more MySpace users will adopt MySpace IM than AIM users start AIM Pages, because it's much easier to install and run a small IM client than it is to start a community page from scratch.

The real bummer of this new IM client is that it is yet another system that doesn't interact with other similar networks, at least as far as I can tell. You can still use iMeem, Goowy, or Trillian [download] as a multi-IM client (hopefully they'll add MySpace support soon), but it's dumb that you have to. Imagine how much more useful the MySpace IM client--or any IM client--would be if all the buddies you already had could just pop right into it.

Found on: Mashable

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May 09, 2006, 4:31 PM PDT
Slvr in pink
Posted by: Kent German

Just in time for Mother's Day, Cingular is now carrying a pink version of the Motorola Slvr L7. Nearly identical to the original L7, this newest member of the Slvr family offers the same features, including support for iTunes and Bluetooth, as well as a speakerphone and a VGA camera. The standard price is $199, but you can get it free with service at the moment. It only goes to show that Moto is trying to paint the whole world pink.

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May 09, 2006, 2:59 PM PDT
GTA IV, Halo 3, HD-DVD, and a little Bill Gates
Posted by: Molly Wood

Microsoft wasn't supposed to have much to say today. So, it went ahead and pulled out the big guns at its E3 press conference. First, the newly tattooed (and surprisingly muscled) arm of entertainment boss Peter Moore--emblazoned with the shocking words, "Grand Theft Auto IV," which will now be available on Xbox 360, with exclusive online content for Xbox Live. Ouch, Sony. Upon his big reveal, Moore took a verbal swipe, too: "Some guys do rubber ducks. We do tattoos," and it looked like it hurt.

In other news, a slew of new games, mostly franchise sequels, and the widely expected Halo 2 Halo 3 trailer appeared at the end of the conference, tagged only "2007."

Microsoft also announced a stand-alone HD-DVD player accessory, in Xbox white, available "this holiday," plus a wireless steering wheel, a wireless headset, and a Webcam.

Then, after a lot of talk about Windows Vista, Bill Gates made an unexpected appearance--his first at E3--to announce Live Anywhere, an extension of both Xbox Live and Windows Live. The cross-platform initiative will let gamers be connected across Xbox, Windows (via MSN Messenger), and Windows Mobile phones, viewing their stats, customizing cars for later play, and inviting friends to cut out of work. Clever way to sell all Microsoft products? Yes. Cool anyway? Heck yes.

--posted from Hooters on Hollywood Blvd. via Tom Merritt. :)

Editors' note -- Tom Merritt messed up the Halo number, not Molly. He has been sorely beaten.

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May 09, 2006, 1:19 PM PDT
Faqqly, the social network that wants you to get off your butt
Posted by: Rafe Needleman

Another new social network/community site just launched: Faqqly. I like the philosophy behind this one. Founder (and yet-to-graduate UCLA senior) Dave Liu told me he's trying to create an "authentic community" with the service. He wants to make it possible to do "everything we do in real-live communities" on his site: getting to know people, sharing with them, helping them. He also has harsh words for existing social networks, saying that they're too me-centered: more about how you present yourself than actually getting to know others.

Here's how Faqqly wants to break the cycle of narcissism. The site right now is based on what you know, not on how you tart up your page. It's a community of information. In your network of Faqqly friends, you can ask questions (you can try me at my Faqqly page). Your friends see the questions on their pages (and maybe soon elsewhere, such as in their e-mail or IM) and can reply to them. Examples: Say I'm looking for a ride to the airport, a person who has clear notes from a class I go to, or advice on finding a rental or a job that my friends might be able to help me with. Faqqly is a medium for questions and answers (like Wondir, Yahoo Answers, and the new Microsoft QnA [closed beta, see TechCrunch link]), but within a social group. Questions that you answer get added to your personal FAQ, which your friends can see. Items also can be marked as "finished," so a dialog like "Q: Can you give me a ride to the airport? A: Yes" doesn't lead to confusion.

You can also add keywords under Ask Me About on your profile, to solicit requests. This feature could be used as a form of advertising for people who sell consulting or other services.

Faqqly will soon add a sharing function, Dave told me. You'll be able to list the things you have that you're willing to share with your friends (DVDs, books, coolers, old cribs, and so on), and Faqqly will let you check the items out and keep track of who's borrowed what. Dave's dream is that this will help people connect to each other in the real world, to do the actual borrowing and lending.

Faqqly looks like a community site, but its philosophy and features make it work more like Craigslist with a built-in social network. It's a good idea. Of course, it needs a critical mass of users (or at least the mass of users that you, personally, care about), and there are a ton of community sites popping up right now. So that's a challenge. Also, the site is very early stage, and Dave cautioned me that a lot of it is still in development, so I won't ding him on UI issues or missing features. But even at this early stage, this social experiment is worth experimenting with.

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May 09, 2006, 11:43 AM PDT
Two critical Microsoft security patches released
Posted by: Robert Vamosi

Microsoft released its May 2006 security bulletin, which includes three updates: two critical, and one moderate. All versions of Windows are affected by at least one of the critical update bulletins. This monthly update covers only Windows updates. None of the updates this month are specific to Microsoft Office. One bulletin includes updates to software not created by Microsoft but distributed within various versions of Windows. All the Microsoft security patches are available via Microsoft Update or via the individual bulletins detailed below.

MS06-018: Moderate

Entitled "Vulnerability in Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator Could Allow Denial of Service," this advisory affects Windows 2000 SP4, Windows XP (SP1 and SP2) and Windows 2003 Server. It does not affect Windows XP x64 edition, nor Windows versions Me, 98 SE, or 98. Exploitation of this flaw could allow a denial-of-service attack on a vulnerable PC.

MS06-019: Critical

Entitled "Vulnerability in Microsoft Exchange Could Allow Remote Code Execution," this bulletin affects Microsoft Exchange Server 2000 and 2003. This update will change some of the permissions allowed within Microsoft Exchange Server by limiting users who send "on behalf of" another user. Exploitation of this flaw could allow a remote attacker to run malicious code on a vulnerable PC.

MS06-020: Critical

Entitled "Vulnerabilities in Macromedia Flash Player from Adobe Could Allow Remote Code Execution," this bulletin affects all versions of Windows except Windows 2000 and Windows 2003 Server. Although Flash is a software product created by Adobe, versions of Flash have been distributed within versions of Windows 98, 98 SE, Me, and XP. If you are running Flash version 4.0.28, 5.0.44, or 6.0.79, you need to update with this patch. Adobe has an additional details in its own security bulletin. Exploitation of this flaw could allow a remote attacker to run malicious code on a vulnerable PC.

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May 09, 2006, 11:00 AM PDT
Nintendo is in the race
Posted by: Molly Wood

OK, first, the bad news: no launch date, no pricing for the Nintendo Wii. Nevertheless, Nintendo's E3 press conference this morning was a high-energy, high-drama demonstration of everything the Wii can do (and I admit it, the name is growing on me). Compared to Sony's demonstration of its motion-sensing controller, it's clear that Nintendo has been working on its version for much longer, and has plans for a much wider array of gameplay and shared experiences. Nintendo announced a Wii Sports pack that will be available at launch and will contain tennis, golf, and baseball games. Also announced were three new franchises for Wii, all obviously built around the new controller functions: Excite Truck, a driving game; Project H.A.M.M.E.R., which seems to consist of you swinging your controller to knock things over; and Disaster: Day of Crisis, which is apparently The Day After Tomorrow in game form (fun!). For Nintendo lovers (and there were many in the audience), they announced and showed a demo of a new version of Zelda, featuring controller-controlled (it makes sense, I swear) bow-and-arrow targeting and other features.

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May 09, 2006, 10:30 AM PDT
Synchronization is the new way to share and store
Posted by: Rafe Needleman

The new beta of Windows Live Messenger (get it at ideas.live.com) comes with a very interesting feature: shared folders. With this feature, you designate a folder on your hard disk as shared, and you tell it who you want to share it with. Then, anytime anybody makes a change to a file in that folder, everybody else who's sharing it gets the update on their system, too.

The technology is based on ByteTaxi's FolderShare [download], which Microsoft acquired last year. A synchronization tool like this is very useful. I use the original FolderShare to keep two of my own PCs in sync. I've never considered opening up a synced folder to another user, but I can see how it could be a big productivity and communications enhancer for teams working on projects. An advantage of the sync method is that as long as you are online, you can be guaranteed that you have the latest version of the file. Using a centralized shared directory is awkward (people always forget to update it), and e-mailing files back and forth is far too cumbersome.

The new LogMeIn Backup uses similar technology but allows you to use a portion of a friend's hard disk to store your own synchronized files, for offsite backup. (You can set up encryption so that your friend can't access your files.)

Also, BeInSync [download] just updated its file synchronization and sharing utility. I was not impressed with the previous version of the program, since it moved files from where I had them into its own directories (the files moved back when I uninstalled the product). Perhaps the new version is better.

Ultimately you won't care about where your files are located--on your local machine, a server at home or at work, on the Internet somewhere, and so on. There will be multiple copies of your files out there. Tools like FolderShare will make sure that you're always accessing the most up-to-date versions and will take care of updating the other copies when you're done. There are obviously enormous security and privacy issues with this scheme, but storage is clearly moving off the desktop.

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May 09, 2006, 9:35 AM PDT
MSN Messenger gets name change, new look
Posted by: Elsa Wenzel

Microsoft unwrapped its popular IM app for public testing late last night. We checked out the new features beforehand; read our first take of Windows Live Messenger beta here. The new Windows Live Messenger beta will replace MSN Messenger. Notable within this IM tool are its ability to let you share folders and files locally with your chat buddies, as well as its outbound Net phone capabilities.

Web giants and VoIP providers, including Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, and Skype, are battling to win your loyalty and serve you with a one-stop communications center. Nowhere are these efforts clearer than in the cornucopia of features found in the latest round of instant-messaging apps, designed to be be your chat client as well as your telephone, your videoconferencing tool, and your starting point for scheduling, blogging, social networking, and shopping.

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May 09, 2006, 9:16 AM PDT
HP gives Pavilion and Presario a makeover
Posted by: Justin Jaffe

In addition to a torrent of new and refreshed business laptops, HP has added two new models to its home and home-office lineup--the Presario V3000 and the Pavilion dv2000.

HP has upped the ante with the V3000's and the dv2000's processor options: you can configure each with an Intel Core Solo or Core Duo processor--or, when it debuts, AMD's dual-core processor. We're glad to see HP continuing to offer consumers a choice of processor, and we can't wait to get a version of each to pit head-to-head.

Having both undergone a significant redesign, the Presario V3000 and the Pavilion dv2000 look considerably different from their predecessors and much more similar to each other than previous Presarios and Pavilions. Gone are the familiar matte silver and black cases; instead you get "piano black" and gray, with subtle pin-striping or a "pattern inspired by a Japanese Zen garden." Both models feature a high-gloss finish that HP says is particularly scratch- resistant.

Looks aside, however, the both the Presario V3000 and the Pavilion dv2000 stick to the same basic script as previous HP home and home-office models. You get a strong set of components and most of the features that a basic home user will want, for a competitive price. And as before, the Pavilion is equipped with a few more multimedia features (Webcam, higher-end graphics cards) than the Presario.

The HP Compaq Presario V3000 starts at $999. Read our full review.

The HP Pavilion dv2000 starts at $1,150. We're still awaiting our test unit, but look for a full review soon.

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