October 12, 2006, 4:28 PM PDT
Kodak adds cards, collages, calendars to kiosks
Posted by: Philip Ryan

Even though most people who print photos at an in-store kiosk don't pay any attention to the company that makes it, Kodak is pretty proud of theirs, which can be found in Wal-Mart, CVS, Target, Ritz Camera, and Rite-Aid stores, to name a few. In fact, it likes them so much that it's recently upgraded the software that runs the kiosks to add new greeting cards, collages, and monthly calendars to the types of prints that customers can print from them. Apparently, there have been a lot of requests for these types of things from the clientele of these touch-screen-operated units. Those of you who have used Kodak kiosks in the past might remember their calendars, though you could get only yearly calendars; the monthly calendars are new.

All the new offerings let you select images from almost any memory card, as well as CDs or DVDs, and allow you to edit the photo to remove red-eye or fix things such as brightness or saturation; preview your images in the cards, collages, or calendars; and you can even zoom in or out or change the picture's border separating the photo from the rest of the theme. The kiosks print onto the same type of paper used in Kodak's printer docks, which means that the kiosks print using dye-sublimation technology and yield tough water-resistant images. In the case of the calendars, you'll likely want to use a sharpie or other permanent marker to write on them, though when I tried a ballpoint pen on a sample I saw at the Digital Life trade show in New York today, it wrote fine and smudged only slightly when I slid my thumb over it.

According to Kodak, the greeting cards will start out with themes based around the year-end holidays, though other holidays and themes will roll out during the coming year. Of course, each retailer can choose what they want to offer to their customers, so the selection of themes and print sizes available in each store may vary. Retailers can choose from cards in sizes of 5x7 or 6x8 inches, collages in 5x7, 6x8, or 8x10 inches, and monthly calendars in 6x8 or 8x10 inches.

Wal-Mart stores are the first to get the new software, and many of their locations have already been upgraded. Kodak expects to complete the new software rollout over the next two months.

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October 12, 2006, 4:22 PM PDT
Red iPod Nano to benefit HIV/AIDS charity?
Posted by: Jasmine France

Apple Insider is reporting that U2 frontman Bono is pairing up with Oprah (and other celebs) to unveil a new red version of the iPod Nano. Purportedly, the special 4GB player will sell for $199, with $10 of every sale going to the Global Fund, which helps women and children affected by HIV and AIDS in Africa. The Chicago Tribune snapped a shot of the two celebs listening to the red Nano in Chicago's Apple store, and it's looking pretty legit. They are apparently filming a promotional segment that will air on tomorrow's The Oprah Winfrey Show.

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October 12, 2006, 4:00 PM PDT
SimpleCenter: iTunes for the rest of us?
Posted by: John P. Falcone

If you have a hard drive full of digital media--photos, videos, and music--and you have the need to sync to a portable device, Universal Electronics' updated SimpleCenter may be right up your alley. The software, which has just been updated to version 4.1, boasts a variety of new and updated features that digital media mavens will appreciate.

SimpleCenter is a Windows software package that works with a variety of devices, including the Sony PSP, the Nokia N80 and N93 smart phones, and most USB mass storage and Plays For Sure devices. In addition to being able to sync your media to those devices, SimpleCenter can also transcode files to compatible formats (particularly useful for getting video files onto the PSP and the iPod, for instance). The software can also act as a UPnP server and stream media to other devices on your home network (it's compliant with version 1.5 of the working draft DLNA standard). There's an option to access and share your photos and movies online via the Web.

For those keeping score, quite a few of those features are not available on iTunes and Windows Media Player. There's a catch, of course: most of the good stuff is available only if you pay $30 to upgrade to SimpleCenter Premium. But Universal Electronics offers the Premium version as a free 30-day trial, and the basic media management and playback functions remain enabled even if you choose not to upgrade. In other words, if any of those features pique your interest, you should download SimpleCenter and kick in the tires to see if it's the right media manager for you.

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October 12, 2006, 3:51 PM PDT
Instant gratification: fast pitches and same-day shipping
Posted by: Rafe Needleman

I had the pleasure of moderating the presenters at the Stirr mixer last night (see also ValleyWag coverage). I like these gatherings, mostly because the pitches are very brief: entrepreneurs get 60 seconds to make their case. Also, Stirr events are at bars. Can't beat that. (By the way, the 60-second pitch is not the briefest pitch format. At the upcoming SF Beta event, the presenters will have to cram their pitches into haiku.)

Of the four companies that pitched at Stirr, there were two I've covered previously (vFlyer and PrefPass). One was an enterprise hardware vendor (Vyatta), which was interesting but not a consumer play. The fourth was LicketyShip, a service that will let you order consumer goods from its Web site and that will deliver them to you within four hours.

Of course, the local delivery battle has been fought before. And lost. Badly. Kozmo and Webvan both had legions of happy customers before they folded up during the dot-com bust. LicketyShip has a safer business model: the service finds the product you want at a store near you, buys it, and orders up a local courier service to pick up the product and deliver it to your door. LicketyShip has no inventory of its own nor does it have couriers on staff. It's just a middleman.

You pay $19.99 for the service (on top of the item's retail price). The LicketyShip fee can actually be much less than expedited delivery from a standard shipping company, such as Fedex or UPS. One of the interesting twists in the model is that LicketyShip doesn't tell you where your product is coming from, and it won't always find you the absolute lowest retail price in town; it balances delivery distance (which is the basis on which LicketyShip itself pays couriers) with retail price, to keep its own profit margins reasonable.

LicketyShip handles only electronics products right now, but we're not just talking iPods and cameras--you can order whatever a courier company will handle, which is generally anything less than 150 pounds.

I was very tempted to try out LicketyShip, except I don't really need any more gadgets in my life today, and the company's return policy is not forgiving: you have seven days to return items, and LicketyShip "may" charge a 20 percent restocking fee.

Twenty dollars for instant gratification sounds like a decent deal, but CEO Robert Pazornik told me at the Stirr event that he's seriously considering lowering the price of his service. He'll also be rolling out more cities soon; right now LicketyShip is available only in the San Francisco Bay Area.

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October 12, 2006, 2:56 PM PDT
A public service announcement: avoid miracle cameras
Posted by: Will Greenwald

We review a lot of cameras at CNET, but we don't review all of them. Odds are good that, at some point during your travels on the Internet, you'll come across a camera that's too good to be true. It'll make outrageous claims such as 12 megapixels! Video! Webcam! MP3 player! And it'll have a temptingly low price tag of around $300. At such a low price, a high-resolution camera that can do almost anything sounds great!

Unfortunately, that little gadget that sounds too good to be true almost certainly is. When an unfamiliar company claims that their magical camera is more than 10 megapixels, that's because they're probably using a 3- or 4-megapixel sensor and interpolating the image. Interpolation is a fancy technical term for "making it bigger and uglier." The image you eventually get might technically be 12 megapixels, but it will look like absolute garbage.

Similarly, don't expect your video to look very pretty, either. At most you're going to get a 30fps VGA video, about the same as you'll find on almost any digital camera.

Finally, when they say their product is an MP3 player, they want you to think you're getting an iPod. In reality, you're getting a memory card reader with a headphone jack. Once again, it's a device that would otherwise cost maybe $100.

If you haven't heard of it, if we haven't reviewed it, and if it promises amazing features at a discount price, you're buying digital snake oil. Steer clear, and remember to do your research with us before you drop the cash.

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October 12, 2006, 2:51 PM PDT
Next-gen gaming at Digital Life; minimal for the masses
Posted by: David Rudden

With just more than a month until the Sony PlayStation 3 and the Nintendo Wii release, your average, everyday, nonjournalist gamer still hasn't had the opportunity to try out the upcoming consoles. The burgeoning Digital Life show, open to press and public alike, would have been a great chance for folks to get some hands-on time with the consoles, but both console manufacturer and game developers conspired to deliver few opportunities to do just that. The PS3 had a dedicated area in Sony's booth, but only two demo units and two playable titles--NBA Live 2007 and Resistance: Fall of Man. Additionaly, Sega had the PS3 version of Sonic the Hedgehog in playable form, though its presence was largely negated by the similar-looking Xbox 360 version just feet away. The Nintendo Wii was even more scarce. Nintendo had no presence at the show--no big surprise--but Konami did have a playable demo of Elebits. which was surprisingly fun.

While Digital Life may have been lacking in next-gen goodness--wait a few weeks for retail kiosks to start popping up--it's still well worth the trek for any gamers in the Metro area, with the aforementioned companies as well as UbiSoft, EA, Microsoft, GameTap, and various others showing off some sweet upcoming titles such as Guitar Hero II, Splinter Cell Double Agent, Contra for Xbox Live Arcade, and Sam & Max Freelance Police. If you have a couple of bucks and a few hours to wait in line, hit up the Jacob Javits Convention Center--or, as I call it, the Dub-J--and get your game geek on.

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October 12, 2006, 2:45 PM PDT
Digital Life: Xploder HDTV player aims to blow up the PS2's resolution
Posted by: David Rudden

While the Xbox 360 and the upcoming PlayStation 3 are excellent HDTV companions, finding high-def love on older consoles is a bit more difficult. Unlike the somewhat HD-friendly Xbox1, the PlayStation 2 has only had a small fraction of its library available in 16:9 aspect ratio and resolutions of 480p or higher. U.K. gaming accessory company Blaze Games has developed an upconverting solution for folks who want to game in high-def without the high cost with the Xploder HDTV player for the PS2. The Xploder will be brought to the States next month by Mad Catz and should retail for $50.

The Xploder HDTV Player runs on PS2 via a bootup disc that allows you to toggle between various VGA and component resolutions (a component cable is included in the package). The company boasts compatibility with roughly 95 percent of the PS2's library, though I detected a hint of regret when a company rep informed me that Wallace & Gromit did not make the cut--apparently they still really like those movies across the pond. The title on display at Digital Life, Burnout Revenge, was running much cleaner when the Xploder was in play, but you can never really be sure what kind of cable chicanery is in play at trade shows. We'll take the player through its paces soon and give you a final verdict when it releases.

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October 12, 2006, 2:07 PM PDT
Sony's noise-canceling MP3 player
Posted by: Jasmine France

Early this morning, Sony announced its latest digital audio player, the NW-S700, and dubbed it the best-sounding Walkman yet. This is apparently thanks to the device's built-in noise-canceling technology. Noise-canceling headphones are nothing new, but a noise-canceling MP3 player is not something I've had the chance to meet...and I thought I might not still: most reports cite only the Japanese release of the NW-S700. However, the press release I received clearly lists U.S. pricing ($169 for the 1GB version, $199 for 2GB) and availability (November).

The player looks like the love child of the NW-E000 and the NW-E500: it has the thumbdrive look (though not the built-in USB interface) of the former and the multifunctional control knob of the latter. It also comes in an three shimmery colors: violet and pink for the 1GB version, and black for the 2GB. And I'm happy to report that the special-edition brown model appears to be a Japan-only release. (What is it with brown gadgets lately? Ick--not for me, thanks.) I'm also pleased to note that Sony is straying from its monochrome displays in favor of a full-color OLED display that supports album art, though from the looks of it, the teeny tiny square isn't much to look at. But hey, at least it's something. The NW-S700 will also feature a built-in FM tuner for radio fans, and it boasts a marathon-esque 50-hour rated battery life. I can dream that a SonicStage update is in the works for this release, but I doubt that's very likely.

As for the sound quality, Sony's general manager for personal audio Koba Kobayashi "is confident that even audiophiles will be pleased with this Walkman digital music player." Well, I don't know about that. Noise-canceling technology by nature processes the sound even more than it has been already, and audiophiles already have gripes with digital music. But it's a forward-thinking feature, and I appreciate Sony's putting it out there--we don't see many new MP3 features nowadays.

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October 12, 2006, 12:33 PM PDT
Complete Office 2.0 demo rundown
Posted by: Rafe Needleman

My favorite part of any tech conference is the new product demos. At the Office 2.0 Conference, a parade of execs came to the stage to show off their Web-based business tools.

My top picks

Wufoo makes it easy to create online forms. Want to put a survey on your site? Collect e-mail addresses? Poll your users? Check out this tool; it looks fantastic. Pricing is based on the number of records collected.

Smartsheet is a "team task manager." It works a lot like a group spreadsheet, but there's more here. This tool lets you roll subprojects into bigger projects and makes it easy to request status updates from team members, including recurring updates (it will bug a person once a week, for example). The e-mail that users get is a form, and when they fill it out, it updates the Smartsheet project list. Looks like a very clean and useful tool.

Trovix is a recruiting and hiring tool. For each job opening, the user puts in some text in various fields (education, experience, and so on), and the system analyzes resumes and puts the most promising candidates at the top of the stack. The matching system does some language analysis; it doesn't just match keywords. Trovix reads PDF and Word files, so applicants don't have to submit their resumes into a Web form.

FreshBooks is an online invoicing service. It will also send invoices by snail mail if you want. New features include the capability for users to benchmark their collections performance (average revenue, time to get paid, and so on) against others' in their particular industry. I like this tool a lot; I covered it for the first time in August.

The rest

Approver helps you manage the approval cycle for work documents. Very simple (which is good). I covered it earlier this week.

Vyew makes very cool--and free--collaboration and conference software. It makes it easy to share a presentation or a screen with others. New features to come include the capability to save presentations locally, for later offline editing, or as PowerPoint presentations. See my previous coverage.

Caspio makes site-building tools for the enterprise and small business. There are a lot of tools in this space (see recent coverage of SiteKreator and CogHead), but it's a big market: Every business needs a Web site. Caspio's database control looks an awful lot like Microsoft Access, but it runs completely over the Web. It looks like a very capable service.

Enterprise software giant BEA is showing a prealpha version of a tool to "collaboratively build business applications." Looks like a nice tool to build new apps on top of existing BEA installations. There's a blogging tool on this application, too, although how that integrates in with the application builder wasn't completely clear.

Synthasite is also a site builder. There are several prebuilt templates to get you started, but there's also the capability to let you build a site from scratch. It looks like a credible competitor to FrontPage and Dreamweaver.

SiteKreator. Oh look, another site-building tool. This one is also good. The Office 2.0 Conference site was built on it. I've covered the tool before.

Preezo is an online presentation tool--a Web-based PowerPoint competitor. The Demo looked great, but this is going to be a very crowded market. Preezo should launch in two weeks.

Koral is a content management system. Business users drop files into a Koral dropbox, and the system then suggests tags for them. To see files, users can use a Netvibes-like front page or search for tags, authors, or full text. Users can subscribe to tags or authors, too, which is interesting for businesses. Enterprise document management is a big market--and a big problem in most companies--and this looks like a fresh solution.

TechDirt is launching its Insight Community. It's an ad-hoc analyst network, where enterprises can reach out to blogger experts to get their opinions. Bloggers get paid for their private opinions, and TechDirt takes a cut of the action. Not a bad idea, especially considering the number of really smart bloggers out there who are not making a dime for their efforts.

Etelos is building a "store" where businesses can select various online applications, but it doesn't actually host them. Customers can select a third-party host on the Etelos service or host the apps on their own servers. Sounds like SalesForce.com's AppExchange, with a similar push to get third-party developers to build apps on the platform. The company's aversion to hosting applications itself is a little odd.

System One is a business wiki platform. The cool thing about it is that it collates related data and files (blogs, Web pages, e-mails) for each page and lists them at the bottom of every page.

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October 12, 2006, 11:32 AM PDT
iPod beauty school
Posted by: James Kim

iPod accessories magnate DLO has just premiered its Care Kit for iPod, a "three-step scratch and cleaning solution" for the world's most popular player. Packaged like a product you'd find in Sephora, the $30 Care Kit includes a daily cleaner, a fine scratch remover, and a heavy scratch remover. Additionally, you get a few cleaning cloths, including one with microfibers). The kit claims to get most scratches out of worn and torn iPods (but not their metallic backside) and preserve the pure complexions of new iPods-- after all, these are chemicals we're talking about here. This stuff has "iPod infomercial" all over it.

We just got some; we'll test it out and let you know how well it works.

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