instant

A worldwide zombie invasion is the perfect hypothetical setting for survivalist tips, and Jeff and I can't help but explore a few of them after watching this week's episode of "The Walking Dead."

After we get that out our system, the rest of today's rundown consists of AOL laying off the majority of its AIM unit, waving goodbye to the printed Encyclopedia Britannica, and a city in the U.K. shaming away loitering youth with pink lighting that exposes acne.… Read more

Amazon's Prime Instant Videos has added 3,000 new titles from Discovery Communications, bringing the total number of videos available to subscribers to 17,000.

The new programs, announced today, include series and specials from Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet, among other Discovery networks, as well as shows from its 25-year programming library. Among the new titles available to Prime members: "Deadliest Catch," "Mythbusters," "Man vs. Wild," "Dirty Jobs," "Shark Week," "Cake Boss," and "Whale Wars."

In a note on Amazon's home page today, … Read more

It looks like AOL has stuck a fork in AOL Instant Messenger.

The Internet pioneer effectively gutted the unit Friday when it sent layoff notices to 40 employees in the company's West Coast offices, The New York Times reported today, confirming earlier rumors. A former AOL employee told the newspaper that the IM unit was "eviscerated and now only consists of support staff."

Eric van Miltenburg, senior vice president of operations, and Jason Shellen, who was overseeing AIM, are leaving the company as well, as AllThingsD reported a few days ago.

AOL reportedly rakes in $50 million … Read more

With the announcement of the iPad 3 right around the corner, a lot of people are going to be getting rid of their ancient iPad 2 to help fund their purchase of a pristine iPad 3. Rick Broida already told us how to get top dollar for the iPad 2 and Dan Ackerman filled us in on how to get the most for an iPad trade-in. (Remember to delete your personal data before selling an iPad.) But, what about those used electronics you have lying around that haven't been touched in days?

I rounded up five sites … Read more

With the anticipation of a new iPad being just around the corner, more people have been trading in their first- and second-generation Apple tablets, eBay says.

This afternoon, the company said it's generated more than 125,000 tablet trade-in offers this month, with 97.6 percent of those consisting of Apple iPad models. That number is up tenfold from the number of offers during the same month last year, eBay said.

Those offers are for the online commerce site's Instant Sale program, which differs from its auction services by giving gadget owners a way to trade in items … Read more

It's no secret SMS is wildly popular, but according to a new report from research firm Ovum, carriers around the world lost quite a bit of revenue last year after mobile phone owners turned to other services to chat with friends.

The research firm revealed yesterday that carriers lost $13.9 billion in SMS revenue in 2011 because of consumers chatting with friends on social-messaging applications. Those applications range from everything from Facebook's mobile app, which features chatting, to instant-messaging apps. Apple's iMessage is also included in that list.

It was a similarly disappointing year for carriers … Read more

Google+ for iOS has just been updated, and fortunately it's now a bit more like its Android cousin.

The biggest part of the update? Instant Upload. Long a favorite feature of many Google+ for Android (download) users, Instant Upload has finally made its way to the iOS app.

When enabled, it automatically backs up photos to a private album on your Google+ account in the cloud. It's convenient, and makes it easy to share multiple photos with your Circles later. Unfortunately, unlike the feature on the Android platform, Instant Upload for iOS only works "while the Google+ … Read more

Just over a week ago, industry sources revealed that Amazon might expand its current member-based instant video plan and launch a standalone, subscription-based video streaming service, much like Netflix's.

Today, Reuters reports that Amazon has moved one step closer toward launching this service and is on the verge of announcing a Web video deal with Viacom. The deal could be revealed this week, according to Reuters.

If the deal goes through, the partnership could stiffen competition with Netflix, which is being hit from all sides. Just this week, news broke that HBO is investing $10 million in Australia's Quickflix, … Read more

We previously told you about IfThisThenThat (ifttt) when it was in a closed beta, and had a limited selection of channels and triggers.

Fortunately, the list of channels and triggers is growing by the day.

Using an RSS feed, you can bring in a lot of other sites and services that aren't currently available as a channel on ifttt. One example of a service you can bring into ifttt via RSS is Netflix.

Before we begin, sign up for an ifttt account if you don't already have one. After you have an account, sign in and follow the … Read more