cooling

CoolIris for iPhone has just received a hot update...and we do mean hot. New on the list of features is the capability to turn Google's SafeSearch on or off, which according to the company was one of the most requested features. The app remembers your preferences between sessions, giving you a wider gamut of results that can be, well, NSFW.

Why is this so important? If you're familiar with Apple's app store reviews process and guidelines you'll know the company has been rather stringent. So much so, it won't even let you view the … Read more

Ah, the sun. Warm, friendly, and inviting; when a sunny day beams down upon us, we celebrate by flocking in droves to parks and beaches. No matter if you gravitate toward green grass or sandy shores, warm days always go better with food. Consider a picnic spread: fried chicken, salads, maybe some grill action going on. And then there is dessert. A nice big piece of cake...with melted icing. No longer must this scenario unfold in parks and coastlines across the land. If you're out enjoying the sun and need to keep your consumables cold, check out the … Read more

Photo and video enhancer Cooliris (download) has launched an updated version of its browser add-on that brings new features including support for viewing local media, file specific metadata, and a Facebook photo viewer that shows user name tags. It's also available--for the first time, to Linux users.

A few weeks ago I met with Shashi Seth, Cooliris' chief revenue officer, and Austin Shoemaker who is the company's CTO to talk about the release, which they say has addressed some of the top requests from their users. The biggest being the capability to view local photos and videos from their computer's hard drive inside of Cooliris' 3D media wall, which users on all three platforms can now do.

This basically turns your browser into an ad-hoc media center, something Shoemaker says has been created to be a unified experience across multiple platforms. For instance, if you're on a Mac, it links up with iPhoto, and if you're on a PC, it organizes your "my pictures" folder by album. Either way, you see your stuff without telling the service where to go to find it.

But what about Web content you ask? It's also been given a boost--literally. The new version has a visual effects engine that take better advantage of users' graphics hardware. For Mac users the tool is using OpenGL, and on Windows it's Direct 3D. Seth says it runs lean enough that most hardware from the last five years or so should have no problems with it. In my brief testing I ran it on a 3- year-old PC with barely a hiccup, however it's noticeably smoother on my other machine with a beefier graphics card.

Additionally, the tool now displays a much broader selection of metadata from selected sites. When viewing photos from Picasa Web Albums and Google Image search, or videos from YouTube, it now shows things like view count, user ratings, exposure, aperture, and resolution. This unfortunately… Read more

You're so funny, Japan. When I said someone should come up with a mouse that addresses the worldwide hyperhidrosis epidemic, I was joking. I didn't mean you should actually make one with a built-in fan.

Aside from the weird fan inside that keeps your hand cool, this Japan-only mouse, sold by the folks at eSupply for approximately $21, also comes with a remote to type in messages that blink to life underneath the vents while you're not using it. Because that's exactly what Japan needs: more blinking lights.

The mouse is pretty small, so it can … Read more

Laptop cooling devices generally fall into two categories -- plastic stands with little fans inside and plastic stands without little fans inside (we checked out several examples in our laptop cooling device roundup).

Logitech has managed to hit both categories with its announcement of two new laptop coolers on March 18.

The Logitech Cooling Pad N100 is a gently waving riser, with a fan pointed up through its slotted top. The air intake is from the rear edge, to reduce the chance of blocked airflow, and it can draw power from your laptop via a USB cord.

The Logitech Notebook … Read more

If you're a hard-core gamer who hates monster computer boxes, Shuttle, the maker of custom built small form-factor PCs, now offers another choice.

The company unveiled on Friday its newest liquid-cooled SDXi Carbon Extreme gaming solution.

The SDXi Carbon features a cream-of-the-crop quad-core Intel Core2 Extreme QX9770 processor, dual-slot Nvidia GeForce GTX 280 graphics card, and up to 16GB of high-speed DDR2 memory.

With these specifications, the box is designed to deliver the best possible experience for the most demanding applications and games.

Normally, this kind of powerhouse will generate a ton of heat and noise. This is why … Read more

With Valentines day just a couple of days away, why not get in to the spirit? We put together a collection of screensavers and Valentine's Day themed downloads to get you in the mood for the most romantic of holidays. Hopefully, it will also act as a reminder to those who might forget. Ahem.

Some of these downloads are paid and others are free, but any one you choose will certainly put you in the spirit of Valentine's Day.

Cool EasyCard lets you create Valentine's cards (or any type of greeting) with your own photos and the … Read more

Microsoft, for all its billions of dollars of profits each quarter, is not very cool. The company has become the cardigan-wearing frumpy uncle that dozes in an overstuffed leather armchair. He has nothing to prove. He's made it.

CIO.com probes Microsoft's latest attempt at coolness - a Softswear-created clothing campaign in partnership with rapper Common - and finds it wanting.

Microsoft is often its own worst enemy when trying to snag the attention of young people. The most recent example is Softwear by Microsoft. These are '80s retro t-shirts that say "DOS" or have a … Read more

Cool Earth Solar has one of those radical green-tech ideas that may actually make a real commercial impact.

In the next two weeks, the company plans to start testing a prototype solar plant built around rows of reflective balloons hung on poles. The solar balloons, which are eight feet in diameter, look something like a tube for sledding or laying around the pool, but each one can generate 1 kilowatt of electricity.

It's a design that combines cheap building materials, notably plastics, with expensive high-efficiency solar cells. Light goes through the side of the balloon facing the sun, is … Read more