May 10, 2006, 5:12 PM PDT
Google Desktop 4: you can take it with you
Posted by: Elsa Wenzel

Google announced an update to its controversial Desktop app today, along with several new online services. The latest beta download, Google Desktop 4, offers shortcuts to the sites and tools you use the most based on its interpretation of your online habits and hard drive contents. You can use your personalized Google Desktop on multiple PCs and also now synchronize Google Gadgets with more than computer.

Privacy critics worry that Google Desktop gets too personal. To use the most advanced features, you must permit Google to track every step you take on your computer. And users slammed the earlier Google Desktop 3 because it crashed so much. I, for one, uninstalled that version after two months of tinkering, because my work PC had become sluggish and froze daily. Sans Google Desktop, my machine was back to normal. We're curious to explore how the version 4 beta will behave; despite the frustrations, we found its predecessor handy at times.

Today, Mountain View also unwrapped Google Trends, which lets you see what's hot on the Web at a given moment. As with tools like BlogPulse, Trends charts the popularity of your search term among other Google users. It also lists regions where people sought the same query.

Due for public consumption next week, Google Notebook is designed to let you save snippets of search results. The new Google Co-Op enables people to tag, share, and customize their searches.

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May 10, 2006, 4:14 PM PDT
Atlas: Now that's a mashup
Posted by: Rafe Needleman

You want to see what a good mashup really looks like? Check out Atlas, from Fresh Logic Studios. It's a mapping tool that uses the Microsoft engine behind Windows Live Local, but the Atlas team has layered in data from elsewhere: traffic, from Yahoo; blogs, from Feedmap.net; events, from Eventful; Wi-Fi hot spots, from HotSpotHaven; and more.

The beauty of Atlas is that the data from external sources is all presented in a consistent and beautiful user interface. It's not perfect (two gripes: first, the transition between map and bird's-eye view is awkward; and second, why do I have to put in a zip code each time I want to look for local data, when clearly what I want is data from the map area that's already displayed?), but the core of the design is solid and flexible. I would not be surprised to see the interface refined and the number of data sources expanded; the UI could handle it.

With its slick user experience, Atlas competes with the new Yahoo Maps beta, but Atlas offers more data. Both of these products (Yahoo and Atlas) are getting curiously close to the downloadable app Google Earth [download] in power and capability. All the online maps really need right now is a 3D engine. I don't think it will be long before we see that. The Flash-based shooter game Phosphor [blog post] shows us that you can do almost anything--even display moving 3D graphics--in a Web browser.

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May 10, 2006, 3:35 PM PDT
2006 Honda Civic Si: First Take
Posted by: Kevin Massy

The Honda Civic is the sensible workhorse of American middle-market autos. With its low price tag, high safety ratings, and reliable engine, it's the car you buy for your kids, the dependable and familiar--if rather dull--favorite auntie of the road. Well, imagine that auntie decked out with makeup, dressed up to the nines, and dancing on the tables in a downtown bar.

That's what it's like to drive the 2006 Honda Civic Si.

We just got back from thrashing this latest souped-up iteration of America's most popular car around some of San Francisco's most winding roads, and we have to admit: on first impressions, we're impressed. The Si's zippy two-liter iVTEC in-line four, which redlines at 8,000rpm, delivered more than adequate acceleration off the line and was responsive right through the manual six-speed box, although the car felt happiest when driven above 3,000 revs.

Adding to the driving experience was a small, chrome-topped, leather-wrapped shifter, which allowed us to blaze up through the gears with the minimum of wrist movement. A matching leather-wrapped three-spoke steering wheel, Si-branded bucket seats, and chrome pedals completed the sporty interior ensemble. Outside, a tastefully integrated rear spoiler told the rest of the world that this was no ordinary Civic, while air conditioning and a power moonroof kept us feeling--as well as looking--cool.

Handling and suspension on the Si were solid and well calibrated to our enthusiastic driving style, despite a touch of oversteer and a suggestion of torque steer at takeoff. After a turn behind the wheel, Senior Editor Wayne Cunningham said that this car was even more fun to drive than the 2006 Mini Cooper S--high praise indeed.

If the open road is not entertainment enough, the Si delivers admirably in terms of interior technology features. Its 350-watt Premium Audio System handles CD, WMA and MP3 audio formats, providing detailed ID3 (artist, track, and album) information for the latter. An auxiliary input gives drivers the option to play music directly from a portable MP3 player, and to complete the comprehensive audio lineup, the Si offers XM Satellite Radio as an option. On a first listen, we found the seven-speaker system put out solid bass but let itself down with tinny treble when turned up loud.

Also optional is the same satellite navigation unit that we recently saw in the 2006 Honda Civic Hybrid, although our $20,000 Si test model was not so equipped. Our token gripe is that there is not much room in the backseat.

The 2006 Honda Civic Si has won a raft of awards, including Motor Trend Car of the Year and Kelly Blue Book's Best Redesigned Vehicle of 2006. We can see why.

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May 10, 2006, 2:35 PM PDT
Samsung SGH-X820
Posted by: Kent German

Samsung again claims the title of world's thinnest cell phone with its new SGH-X820. Though we just reviewed T-Mobile's Samsung SGH-T509, a.k.a. the slimmest candy bar phone in the United States, Samsung pushes the envelope even further with the X820. Though it's just 0.27 inch (6.9mm) wide, the candy bar handset manages to offer a 2-megapixel camera, Bluetooth, and an MP3 player. Released for the European market this week (with China to follow in June), the phone doesn't have pricing yet. There's also no word on when we'll see it stateside.

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May 10, 2006, 1:20 PM PDT
Treo 700p date?
Posted by: Tom Merritt

The editor of GadgetsOnTheGo.net tipped us off to a purported screenshot from a Sprint retail sales calendar, which shows the Palm-based Treo 700p set for release on May 28. Very exciting news if it turns out to be true.

More disturbing to Buzz was the entry on May 21 noting that planograms must be submitted. What are Sprint's planograms, and what do they mean for planet Earth?! We must be on guard!

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May 10, 2006, 12:17 PM PDT
Get out from under it, dot-com
Posted by: Rafe Needleman

During the last Web boom, several start-ups launched with the aim of helping people escape from whatever financial commitments they were locked into. There were exchanges for car leases (see SwapaLease, LeaseTrader), stock options, even stakes in venture capital investments. Today we hear (via eHub) of CellSwapper, a new exchange for cellular phones that are still under contract. It competes with CellTradeUSA, which Kent German covered a month ago.

The idea is simple: If you want out of a cellular contract (and who doesn't?) but don't want to pay the early termination fee, CellSwapper will help you find somebody who wants a short-term contract and will take over your plan for the duration.

Downside: It looks like the assignee of your contract gets your phone number, which could be awkward (you can ask the carrier for a new number). On the upside, this is a legal transfer of the contract and the carriers recognize it, so once you sell your cell, you're no longer responsible for the bill at all.

Fees are $14.95 to sell a plan on consignment (you're not charged unless you make the sale) or $9.95 if you pay up front. There is no fee to buy a contract.

This post has been corrected from the original

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May 10, 2006, 10:58 AM PDT
Alpine adds traffic info to GPS
Posted by: Wayne Cunningham

The clinically named HCE-100XM module receives XM satellite traffic data and integrates it with Alpine's NVE-N872A navigation module. Maps and data from the navigation and traffic modules display on most Alpine in-dash monitors. The traffic information you get is similar to that shown on the navigation system for the 2006 Acura RL: traffic flow and icons for accidents, road construction, or really bad congestion. The navigation system can also route around incidents, which demonstrates really good integration between these two separate components. The system doesn't come cheap, however. The HCE-100XM traffic module runs $300, plus an XM subscription of $9.95 a month for traffic only or $16.94 for traffic plus XM radio. The NVE-N872A navigation unit costs $1,700, while an Alpine monitor will run about $1,000. XM covers traffic in 31 metropolitan areas, which covers most of the seriously built-up areas in the country, but only 21 of those areas have traffic-flow information available.

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May 10, 2006, 10:38 AM PDT
Shutterfly targets your desktop
Posted by: Lori Grunin

The hardest part about growing an online service is getting people to use it. And with photo sites--many of which count on revenue from prints, photo books, and other photo-tchotchkes to stay afloat--you've got to get people to use it a lot. And the best way to do that is to build a toll-free yellow brick road leading from the user's PC to the site.

Shutterfly Studio is the latest freeware designed to encourage you to send your photos skipping Shutterfly-ward. It's basically an organizer, which it does pretty well, with barely-there editing capabilities, that provides an easier entrée to the site.

On the upside, Studio's organizer doesn't import or duplicate your files, just maintains a separate list of pointers to them. You can nest keywords and assign them via drag and drop. And it implements a very interesting search interface from its automatically generated lists of searches to an innovative and easy-to-use Boolean (and/or) technique.

Unfortunately, the potentially value-added part of the package, the editing tools, need a lot more work. For example, we've come to think of Auto Fix as, well, a feature that corrects a host of photo problems--exposure, white balance, sharpness, and so on. Studio's only corrects white balance. I suppose that's for the best, because its brightness correction seems to be linear; in other words, it simply brightens the whole image rather than retaining the dark and light portions and brightening only the midtones, which is what you really want it to do.

So why waste so many words on the software? Because it's part of a cautionary tale that I'll probably repeat over and over. It goes like this: as we become increasingly dependent on Web services, we allow ourselves to become increasingly locked into particular solutions. This is especially true of photo-sharing sites. After you've invested so much time organizing, uploading, and keywording your photos, how motivated will you be to switch to another service if you're unhappy or a better option rolls around? There are no migration tools to move all that keyword data from service A to service B.

To bring it back around to Studio: if you're looking for a cute little photo organizer, Studio is as good as any of the other freeware around, and you don't have to use Shutterfly to take advantage of it. And I don't have anything against Shutterfly or its competitors--clearly, they fill a need. But with any software like this, just think before you succumb to the allure of the easy free trial, which is its real purpose.

Paranoid, much?

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May 10, 2006, 8:02 AM PDT
E3 roundup (Day -1): Nintendo and Microsoft
Posted by: David Katzmaier

The massive gaming convention begins in earnest a few hours from now, but yesterday saw two important press conferences from the two other game console manufacturers (Sony went Monday). Nintendo chose to demonstrate its Wii with the next Legend of Zelda game, including an in-depth demo of the controller, while Microsoft trotted out Bill Gates to discuss how Xbox Live will interact with Vista. But the biggest news of the day was a coup of sorts for Gates's side: When Grand Theft Auto IV arrives in 2007, it will appear on the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 simultaneously. Check out the highlights below, including a couple of videos from Monday's Sony event. And for our latest coverage, turn to e3.cnet.com.

Blog: Nintendo is in the race

Video: Nintendo Wii in action

Blog: Microsoft's Grand Theft

Blog: GTA IV, Halo 3, HD-DVD, and a little Bill Gates

Blog: Microsoft shows off second wave of next-gen

Video: Bill Gates announces Xbox Live Anywhere

Video: Microsoft's Xbox 360 HD-DVD player and Grand Theft Auto IV

Video: PS3's motion-sensitive controller demo

Video: Sony president Kaz Hirai anounces the PS3

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