bitbucket.kylewelsh.com

TheTieGuy writes "HP recently released their TouchSmart Application Development Guidelines to third party developers, allowing anyone to port and create touch-friendly applications that integrate and run within the TouchSmart Software suite on their popular TouchSmart PC. As part of the release, HP has gotten behind Capable Networks' Touchsmart Community website and forum to distribute the guidelines to developers while providing an environment for TouchSmart developers to interact. Also on the site is a download hub that allows TouchSmart developers to upload and share their creations with TouchSmart owners in a central location. To kick off the new development initiative, the TouchSmart Community is running a promotion that will send one developer (travel expenses paid) to demo their software in the HP booth at the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, along with a free TouchSmart PC, HP MediaSmart Server, and a month of promotion in the community."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Technology slashdot, tech technology

daria42 writes "The leaders of three of Australia's largest internet service providers — Telstra Media's Justin Milne, iiNet's Michael Malone and Internode's Simon Hackett — have, in video interviews with ZDNet.com.au over the past few months, detailed technical, legal and ethical reasons why ISP-level filtering won't work. Critics of the policy also say that users will have no way to know what's being filtered."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Technology slashdot, tech technology

There are some legal decisions that just make no sense. Gunnar writes in to let us know of a story in Michigan, where a judge has ordered a furniture store to stop using a design that shows a couch being unwrapped from a candy bar. Hershey's sued the furniture company, claiming it violated their trademark on unwrapping chocolate bars: But here's the thing: even the judge admits that trademark law shouldn't apply here because it's a totally different business and there's little chance of customer confusion: "While both parties cater to the general public, there is no indication that their customers are predominantly the same. Even if their customer bases overlap to some extent ... the risk of consumers confusing a furniture outlet with a candy store, or vice versa, appears remote." Those are all things a judge says right before denying the trademark claim, but in this case, it went the other way. If a moron in a hurry isn't likely to be confused, then there's no trademark infringement. The furniture store wasn't even using the image yet -- but just had it in a contest for truck designs. At least the company hadn't spent too much money painting up all the trucks.

Permalink | Comments | Email This Story

Technology tech technology

Check out some of the latest makeuseof discoveries. All listed websites are FREE (or come with a decent free account option). No trials or buy-to-use craplets. For even more app reviews subscribe to makeuseof directory. Want to submit your application to MakeUseOf directory ? See how here.

(1) Address Finder - Find out the street address of any point on a map by clicking on the spot you’re interested in. Read more: Address Finder - Get The Address of Any Point on Google Maps.

(2) ConnectMe - Text messaging site from where you can send send free SMS messages to any mobile phone within US and Canada. Read more: ConnectMe - Free Text Messaging For US & Canada.

(3) Find A Grave - Search and locate the final resting place of your passed away relatives, ancestors, old friends and well-known individuals. Read more: Find A Grave - Search 27 Million Cemetery Records.

(4) ImageToVideo - Convert your images to video sideshows online. Upload photos you want to use in the slideshow to the site, choose a background audio track and click on “Create Video” button. Get back a .mpeg video file. Read more: ImageToVideo - Convert Images to Video.

(5) HohliCharts - Online chart generator. Quickly create bar graphs, pie charts, line charts, venn diagrams, scatter plots and even radar graphs online. Read more: HohliChart - Create Bar Graphs, Pie Charts and Venn Diagrams.

(6) MailChimp - Using MailChimp you can create simple text or RSS feed newsletter campaigns online and distribute it to subscrbers. Read more: MailChimp - Newsletter Sending Service.

(7) MovieShowTimeMap - Check movie showtimes at movie theaters in your area. First, enter your address to see all theaters located in that area. Then click on the movie hall of your choice to get movie times. Read more: MovieShowTimeMap - Find Out Movie Showtimes in Your Area.

(8) Superstickies - Create a sticky note and then turn it into a nice-looking image that you can display somewhere online or save to your computer. Read more: Superstickies - Create Stickynote Images.

(9) TurnYourNameIntoaFace - Online avatar generator. Quickly make little lego-style face avatars and then save them to your PC. Read more: TurnYourNameIntoaFace - Online Avatar Creator.

(10) WitGuides - Yet another site where you can download free ebooks. Search or browse books by category i.e. computers, health, business, etc. Read more: WitGuides - Find And Download Ebooks.

These are just half of the websites that we discovered in the last 3-4 days. If you want us to send you daily round-up of all cool websites we come across leave your email here. Or follow us via RSS feed.

.muo_af_style { background-color: #B4D0E1; border: 2px solid #4275B8; }

(By) Aibek, the guy behind MakeUseOf.com

Enjoyed the article? Please leave a comment and tell us what you think about it

New subscriber? Get your freebies at MakeUseOf Downloads. Enjoy!

Tags:Cool Websites

Related posts

• MUO Games - 5 Rhythmic Flash Games To Groove Up Your Day (12)
• makeuseof extra #27 (1)
• Fancast Mixes Local Listings with Free Streaming Video (2)
• Cool Websites and Tools (edition #192) (3)
• Cool Websites and Tools (edition #191) (4)

Technology tech technology

Verasun, an ethanol maker once cited by venture capitalist Vinod Khosla as one of the most innovative in the ethanol industry, appears to be disintegrating in what could become a case study of the dangers inherent in the biofuel industry.

The publicly-traded company’s troubles began last year as the price of corn began to drop, allowing its competitors to buy their raw material more cheaply — Verasun had made a bet locking itself into long-term agreements to buy the feedstock at a high price. However, skyrocketing oil prices looked like they might keep it afloat.

Enter a recession and oil back down near $60 a barrel, from highs near $150 earlier this year. Worse, the credit contraction prevented the company from taking on debt to continue operations past the tough spot. A search for potential buyers came up empty

Verasun has filed for a Chapter 11, which means it will have time to regroup and renegotiate its commitments. However, the future doesn’t look good for the company, and a sale under unfavorable terms seems likely.

Just a year ago, this looked like one of the strongest biofuel companies on the market. But, as the Financial Times puts it, this looks like one boom that has dried up.

Technology tech technology

As many of you probably know (especially if you live in the UK), you have to buy a license to have a TV (or even a TV tuner card for a computer). The license fees go to pay the BBC to operate. Apparently, the BBC has some secret "TV detector" vans that can sit outside your house and determine if you have an illegal TV (I only wish I were making this up). Someone filed a Freedom of Information request to find out how these supposed detector vans worked, but the request has been denied, and these magic detector vans shall remain a state secret. The BBC claimed that it could not reveal the details of the van "because if it did so it would damage the public's perception of the effectiveness of TV detector vans." I'm not sure, but I think that statement alone destroys the public's perception of the effectiveness of the TV detector vans. I'm guessing that the vans are totally empty but someone drives by your place at night and looks for the flickering glow.

Permalink | Comments | Email This Story

Technology tech technology

nerdyH writes "Motorola will ditch its MotoMAGX Linux stack and UIQ Symbian stack in favor of Google's Android Linux/Java stack and Windows Mobile 6.5 and 7, it announced today. The news comes after five years selling millions of Linux phones in Asia, and after a year during which many of Motorola's top US phones used the homegrown Linux stack. Motorola's current Linux phones in the US include the RAZR2 v8, E8, EM30, U9, ZN4, and ZN5." This also comes alongside news that Motorola's financial hardships are causing them to cut 3,000 jobs. It also puts into perspective their recent plans to hire hundreds of Android developers.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Technology slashdot, tech technology

Not far from a kick ass gadget that Batman would own, the Solar Com-Bat Spy Plane is a surveillance device which is powered by solar, wind and vibrations, making it seem like the perfect device to...

Technology tech technology

A few years back, in settling a civil lawsuit against Microsoft for its monopolistic practices, Microsoft agreed to pay out $250 million to California schools, in the form of vouchers. Now, there are some who might point out that this sort of "settlement" makes good business sense, in that many will use the vouchers on PCs with Microsoft software, thereby getting a new generation of kids hooked on Microsoft products (it's worth pointing out that the vouchers can be used on non-Microsoft software as well). However, that's hardly the biggest issue, apparently. Instead, people are realizing that the vast majority of the $250 million is not being used by the schools. Some are pointing out that their budgets are being slashed, and since they have to pay for the equipment upfront and then request money back later, it's just too much trouble. Others are saying it just hasn't been a priority, even though they know the money is available.

Permalink | Comments | Email This Story

Technology tech technology

This six-legged, pimp-headed robot dancing to Lou Bega's “Mambo No. 5” is all sorts of freaky. It's been on YouTube for a few weeks, but I thought it was perfect for Halloween, as evidenced by that...

Technology tech technology

In case you're looking for a recap of today's Halloween madness on Giz, all the ghoulishness and trickery you can handle is right here.

Technology tech technology

Yesterday Google guaranteed 99.9% reliability for Google Apps like Google Calendar, Google Docs, Google Sites, and Google Talk. This stemmed from a similar guarantee the company made for Gmail.

read more

Technology tech technology

I think it is safe to say that design student Kyle Buckner is more than just an iPhone user—he is an iPhone worshiper. After all, the iPhone sits atop his elaborate wood-carved pedestal like a...

Technology tech technology

Halloween is a scary day because you never know when some undead miscreant is going to try and harvest your brain. That's why, as Matt Cutts discovered, Google has ordered its robots to disallow any...

Technology tech technology

Scott Moritz / CNNMoney.com:
Verizon mulls heavily-discounted BlackBerry Storm  —  Free.  That's Vodafone's (VOD) recently-unveiled price for the hotly-anticipated touchscreen BlackBerry Storm from Research in Motion (RIM) in the United Kingdom.  —  In a sign of just how desperate phone companies are to lock customers …

Technology tech technology