Looks like we'll be meeting on Wednesday at 10 a.m.
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Doodle is a brilliantly simple polling system that helps people coordinate times when they all can meet. There's no fancy Web 2.0 code. Just a simple grid with red and green squares that looks exactly like the spreadsheet my poker buddies and I use to find days to play. The link to a poll is just sent via e-mail; no sign-up is required.

Missing features? Yes, buckets of them: time-zone coordination, Outlook synchronization, privacy, you name it. And although replying to a Doodle poll is clarity itself, the interface for the meeting organizer isn't very pretty. But I don't care, and if you use it, you won't either, because it just works.

First spotted on 43 Folders.

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The Pure Digital camcorder plugs directly into your PC
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Once plugged in, utility software launches automatically
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Pure Digital has upgraded the el cheapo flash memory camcorder it's been selling since May through retail stores, such as Target. See our previous blog post and review. The new version, which sells for the same price ($129 for a unit that will record 30 minutes; a 60-minute version is also available), has improved audio and video quality and longer battery life, company reps told me. The external hardware is the same: a generic-looking white case with one very interesting feature: a USB port that swings out to transfer data.

The real news is the improved software. Once you plug the device into your PC, it will automatically launch software that's stored on the camcorder to upload your videos directly to Grouper. Here's my first video made with the product.

There is no easier way to shoot and post a video. You can also take the device into a store (such as Target) and have a DVD of your videos pressed in about an hour.

There are downsides, though. The product is supposed to make it easy to upload to Google Video as well as Grouper, but for Google, all it does is put your videos on your desktop and open the upload page on the Google Video site. And it doesn't do anything at all for YouTube, although given the Google acquisition of YouTube, that may change. The software does make it easy to get videos off the device so that you can upload them wherever your want, but the lack of interactivity with other services is bothersome.

More snags: The software crashes if the unit powers down while it's plugged in, which it does automatically after a few minutes, and you will probably need to buy a USB extender cable, since when the device is connected, it is likely to interfere with cables or the table your computer is sitting on. And despite the cult-of-Mac glossy white case, its software doesn't automatically launch when you plug it into a Macintosh. Finally, the camcorder will not recharge when plugged in; even the lowliest $79 iPod Shuffle recharges when docked.

Power users and those who are bothered by products that seem to be not quite done will be better off shooting video with a real camcorder or with any modern point-and-shoot digital camera. But Pure Digital's device is still about the simplest tapeless video camcorder you can get by a wide margin, and it gets big points in my book for that. I also really like that the device contains its own software and can run it automatically when it's plugged in.

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LinkedIn's new directory finds service people your friends like
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Like other good social network tools, LinkedIn succeeded by finding a niche. While MySpace became the network for teens and Facebook did the same for college students, LinkedIn has become a robust networking site for businesspeople, with a special focus on helping people network to find jobs.

But there's more to a professional life than finding a job or hiring people for your business. LinkedIn today is rolling out its new service for personal service providers ("PSPs"), the people we hire outside of our work life. LinkedIn now allows its members to recommend and endorse people--dentists, mechanics, nannies, and so on--who are not LinkedIn members. The new directory makes it easy to narrow down the listings--for example, to display only dentists in your area that have been recommended by people you know directly. If you want to contact somebody, you don't have to request that their endorsers make the connection. However, you can't simply send them an e-mail, either--you must use LinkedIn's own e-mail forwarding system, or if the PSP is signed up for the $60 Personal Plus account, you can call them on a toll-free number provided by LinkedIn.

The only way PSPs can get into the new LinkedIn service provider directory is to be recommended by a LinkedIn member. This is a change from the old LinkedIn model, where all providers were listed regardless of recommendation.

As a concept, I think this is great. There are dozens of useful service provider and consumer review directories out there, but this system makes it easier than any I've used to find recommendations for services I need from people I trust. In practice, the directory is new and sparsely populated (I found only one recommended real estate professional in my first-degree network), but it has potential. It will grow if PSPs learn to ask their customers for LinkedIn endorsements.

Ultimately, I'd like to see a combination of this personal referral system with a bid management system, such as the one in ServiceMagic. But this is a great start.

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A new kind of battery made primarily from carbon and plastic could extend the range of electric cars, increase the mileage of hybrid cars, and make plug-in hybrids more prevalent. Technology Research Laboratories (TRL) announced the new battery technology, claiming that it has been tested beyond 100,000 cycles and handles full discharge without damage. TRL also claims less than 1,000 pounds of the new batteries will power an electric car for 75 to 100 miles. Nickel-metal-hydride battery packs in the current generation of Toyota Priuses weigh well under 200 pounds, so the TRL technology would need refinement to be a practical competitor. TRL is seeking manufacturing partners to produce the new batteries.

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