internet posts

Filed under: Internet, iPhone, iPod touch

Google revamps mobile Google News format

by Chris Rawson (RSS feed) on Nov 19th, 2009

Like most "mobile versions" of websites, Google News was simplified for use on devices featuring what Steve Jobs once called "the baby Internet." Sadly, this simplified version also showed up by default on the iPhone, leading to an experience that was, to put it charitably, subpar.

That's all changed now that Google has redesigned the mobile version of Google News for iPhone, Android, and Palm Pre users. The new mobile version is far more feature-rich than the old one and is more consistent in its appearance (i.e., it's almost indistinguishable from the desktop version) compared to the old "mobile-optimized" Google News.

It also includes a handy "Jump to" link which brings up a window that allows you to skip to the news section of your choice, saving your thumbs from severe scroll fatigue.

There's no need to download anything. Simply go to Google News on your iPhone and check out the changes.

[Via MacRumors]

Tags: Google, Google News, GoogleNews, Internet, iPhone, iPod touch, IpodTouch

Filed under: Software, Internet, Internet Tools

Save URLs for later with Quiet Read

by Dave Caolo (RSS feed) on Nov 7th, 2009

Bambooapps has released a simple and useful utility called Quiet Read that has earned a spot on my Mac's menubar. With a simple drag-and-drop, it lets you save a web page for later review.

Of course, there are many apps that do this, including Instapaper and Evernote. Instapaper gets the job done via a bookmarklet; just give it a click while at the desired URL and it's saved. Evernote does pretty much the same thing, thought their bookmarklet behaves differently between Safari and Firefox. In addition, they have the Mac application for tagging and organizing.

I spent the day using Quiet Read instead of the other two. Here's what I liked and disliked. First, adding a URL is as easy as possible. Simply drag it out of your browser's address bar and drop it onto the menu bar icon. The display keeps track of how many you've collected. A tidy drop-down lets your browse the saved articles for easy selection.

What I disliked is that once an app is gone, it's gone. Instapaper saves read articles.

But Quiet Read isn't Instapaper. If you're looking for a free, simple way to save articles for later reading (and you're running 10.6 or later), Quiet Read could be the solution.

Tags: bambooapps, instapaper, internet, quiet read, QuietRead, utilities

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, Internet

Worldwide Mac: getting online in New Zealand

by Chris Rawson (RSS feed) on Jun 13th, 2009

Last year, after years of planning, my wife and I left the United States and moved to New Zealand. Moving to the other side of the world has meant adjusting to an entirely different geography and culture. Driving on the left, the "reversed" seasons, the completely unfamiliar constellations and upside-down face of the moon, and having everything expressed in metric are ever-present reminders of just how much life has changed for us since leaving the U.S.

Another thing that's changed is our internet situation, and some of the changes have been big enough that it's profoundly affected our computing habits.

In the U.S. we had a fairly decent internet connection, especially for the Cleveland market: a 5 Mbps download speed, 768 Kbps upload, all delivered over the same cable line that delivered our television service. That internet connection, plus basic cable and a DVR, cost us a little over US$100 per month.

In New Zealand, the broadband landscape is completely different, and it's forced us to completely adjust our usage patterns.

According to a recent Norton Online Living Report (links to NZ Herald) commissioned by Symantec, New Zealanders spend an average of only 12.7 hours online per week, compared to a global average of 23.6 hours. Analysts are unsure why New Zealand lags so much in internet usage compared to the rest of the developed world, but after nearly a year of sampling the best they have to offer down here, I'm not at all surprised.

Continue reading “Worldwide Mac: getting online in New Zealand”

Tags: data caps, internet, ISPs, New Zealand

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, Internet, iPhone, iPod touch

iPhone nabs 59% of smartphone 'net traffic, 43% of mobile web traffic

by Mike Schramm (RSS feed) on May 29th, 2009

Fortune has the results of an AdMob survey up, and they're pretty surprising -- Apple has apparently taken over 59% of smartphone traffic on the Internet, and in the mobile category in general, they've got a giant 43% of 'net traffic surveyed. But there's another side here: the report doesn't just point out that Apple accounts for the lion's share of mobile 'net traffic, but it states that smartphone traffic, and specifically the iPhone in general, hugely overshadows the actual sales numbers. The iPhone has 8% global market share, but accounts for 65% of HTML traffic. And smartphones in general overshadow their sales to a lesser degree: smartphones represent about 12% of mobile device sales, but AdMob calculates them at around 35% of their traffic last month.

What does this mean? AdMob suggests it's a phase -- right now, because we're so early in the development stages of this platform, mobile web makes up the main chunk of traffic. But in the future, we may go through applications to get data, or use push notifications, and/or come up with other, more streamlined ways to get information out to mobile devices. But for now, iPhone and iPod touch users are still browsing the web, and as a result, they are accounting for way more traffic than their sales hint at.

Tags: admob, html, internet, iphone, ipod-touch, overshadow, results, smartphones, survey, traffic

Filed under: Software, Internet, Internet Tools

Google Chrome for Mac: Don't hold your breath

by Dave Caolo (RSS feed) on Feb 13th, 2009

Gather around, Apple fans. I have good news and bad news for you. The good news is that there is a preliminary version of Google Chrome up and running. Sort of. Google's Mike Pinkerton has posted a couple of screenshots of Chrome for Mac on his blog, including the very first time he used it to load a webpage. It's coming, folks.

Now the bad news from Mike himself, "We've got a very very long way to go." He says that the WebKit that ships with Mac OS X doesn't do what they developers need right out of the box, and it took a lot of cajoling to get it to comply. If it's anything like the acrobatics I must perform each weekday morning to get my kids out the door in time to catch the school bus, Google's Mac devs will be busy indeed.

Tags: browsers, chrome, google, internet, web

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Internet

Mac internet share hits record 8.87%

by Robert Palmer (RSS feed) on Dec 1st, 2008

Apple 2.0's Philip Elmer-DeWitt notes some new Net Applications statistics that suggest 8.87 percent of all Internet users use a Mac: a new record.

Add to that the iPhone platform's 0.37 percent, and over one in eleven use an Apple product to browse the web. The iPhone gained 12 percent more users compared to the month before.

Also notable is that Windows users accounted for less than 90 percent of Internet users for the first time in recent memory. Also, market share for Internet Explorer dropped below 70 percent for the first time since its popularity surged in the late 90s.

Linux also gained ground, increasing almost 17 percent to 0.83 percent of all Internet users.

Net Applications tracks statistics from over 160 million visits to websites it monitors. The full report is here.

Tags: browser, internet, market, marketshare, net applications, NetApplications, share

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Software, Cool tools, Odds and ends, Internet, Internet Tools, App Store

Vote Report helps poll the polls on Election Day

by Mike Schramm (RSS feed) on Oct 30th, 2008

I love this idea -- if there's one thing our voting system here in the US could use, it's a little more transparency, both in how the votes are counted and weighed, and in how the polling itself takes place. And now there's an iPhone app aimed at making sure that on next month's Election Day, we get exactly that.

Vote Report is currently submitted to the App Store -- all you do is download the app, punch in your Twitter information (although the site says you don't have to, but I'm not sure how it makes the report otherwise), and then when you're done voting, you can fill out a quick form that will send information on how it went straight to Twitter itself (you can see all the reports collected on this page as well).

Of course, the Internet (including Twitter) will be awash with reports from polling places on November 4th, but if you're bringing your iPhone along, this will be a quick and easy way to get the word out if something went right or wrong. And Vote Report has teamed up with Election Protection, so if something does go really wrong at the polls, they'll hopefully be standing by to get the word out.

If you are in the US, no matter what your political leaning or affiliation, do make sure to vote on November 4th -- the wheels of democracy only turn when we all get out and push. Let's exercise those rights while we've got them.

Tags: app-store, democracy, election-day, internet, iphone, november-4th, politics, twitter, us, vote-report

Filed under: Software

Net Nanny for the Mac released

by Steven Sande (RSS feed) on Aug 11th, 2008

Are you concerned about the youngsters in your household being exposed to inappropriate content on the Web?

ContentWatch today announced the release of Net Nanny for the Mac, the first Mac version of their popular Internet filtering and parental control software.

With Net Nanny, you can block access to gambling and pornography sites, and specify what games or sites (enabled with parental ratings) your kids can visit. NetNanny does this by integrating with Safe Search options on most major search engines, including Google, MSN, AllTheWeb, Yahoo, Dogpile, Lycos, and AltaVista.

NetNanny provides usage reports so parents can see what each user has been viewing on the Internet, browser alerts when access to an inappropriate or blocked page is attempted, time restrictions for users, and a Content Assistant feature to define the right level of protection for each user.

Although ContentWatch's Web site hasn't yet been updated with news about the Mac release, their press release announcing the new software states that the Mac product info will be listed at http://netnanny.com/mac/.

NetNanny is available for US$39.99 for the first license, with each additional computer in the house costing just $19.99. The application is available in English, German, French, Japanese, Spanish, and Italian.

Tags: gambling, internet, parental controls, ParentalControls, porn, software

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Internet, Apple, Security

Apple pulls out of proposed Black Hat talk

by Mike Schramm (RSS feed) on Aug 5th, 2008

Though I'm far too dumb to understand what they're talking about, I like the Black Hat hacker guys. Most of the Internet is all "New Vegas" now; all (supposedly) family friendly and glamorous and glitzy. But those guys are back on Fremont Street, gambling with everything they've got and shoulder to shoulder with the dregs of society.

Unfortunately, Apple's marketing department doesn't share my feelings. Computerworld says they've put the kibosh on a speaking engagement they were supposed to have at the conference next week in Sin City. In fact, they can't even say they were asked to pass -- everyone involved in organizing the panel, which was set up early last month and "abruptly canceled" late last month, spoke on condition of anonymity.

Which is a shame -- organizers of the conference say the panel was supposed to be all about how serious security is at Apple and how they're committed to keeping users secure. And it wasn't even supposed to be a Q&A, which is why the organizers thought it would easily be approved by marketing.

That, however, wasn't the case -- while the panel wasn't yet approved by the conference folks, the request to have the panel was pulled. We're sure the Black Hat guys will still have fun (it is Vegas, after all), but it's a shame we couldn't get that look inside Apple's security team.

Tags: black-hat, computerworld, conference, internet, news, panel, security, vegas

Filed under: iPod Family, Internet, iPhone, App Store

First Look: Facebook

by Cory Bohon (RSS feed) on Jul 11th, 2008

Facebook always seems to be on the forefront of iPhone development. They were one of the first social networking websites to have a good web application specifically designed for iPhone, and now they are one of the first big-name social networking sites to have a decent native application on the iPhone.

The native application looks very similar to the web-based version, but with a few minor "upgrades." You get photo taking/uploading support, iPhone-esqe photo galleries, and Facebook chat. Facebook chat really works wonders, especially if you have been using the web-only client.

The Facebook iPhone/iPod touch application is available right now for free from the AppStore.

Gallery: FaceBook.app

Tags: Facebook, first look, FirstLook, internet, iPhone, iPhone 3G, Iphone3g, iPod touch, IpodTouch, web app, WebApp

Filed under: Software, Freeware

Beta Beat: Freedom leaves you internet-less

by Cory Bohon (RSS feed) on Jul 7th, 2008

Are you tired of being distracted by the internet? Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, and Google Earth could all be considered "distractions" or "time wasters." So, if you're looking to get some work done without physically un-pluging from the internet then Freedom might be what you need.

Freedom allows you to set a time limit for internet access. For instance, if I need to set aside 30 minutes for a project that doesn't require internet access, I could tell Freedom to block internet access for those 30 minutes, Freedom will then disable WiFi and ethernet access for 30 minutes. After the 30 minutes are over your WiFi and ethernet access will be restored.

You can download Freedom for free (donations accepted) from the developers website or from MacUpdate.

Tags: ethernet, Flickr, Freedom, Google Earth, GoogleEarth, internet, Twitter, YouTube

Filed under: Internet, Internet Tools, Mac 101

Mac 101: Safari tabs

by Dave Caolo (RSS feed) on Jun 27th, 2008

Here's a quick tip for Safari users. As you know, tabbed browsing is best thing to happen to the 'net since The Tron Guy. Keyboard jockeys create new tabs by pressing Command-T. But there are a few of you who dislike releasing the mouse, even for a second.

You folks can simply double-click the grey area next to a tab to create a new one. Everybody wins!

[Via Geek&Mild]

Tags: browser, internet, mac 101, Mac101, safari

Filed under: iPhone

AT&T to limit iPhone 3G speeds to 1.4 Mbps?

by Cory Bohon (RSS feed) on Jun 16th, 2008

MacNN noted in a recent post that AT&T is listing the iPhone as having a 1.4 Mbps connection (down-stream) while other 3G phones such as the Motorola Q have upwards of 3.6 Mbps connections. If you are thinking that this is a typo on AT&T's website, think again, because it was also mentioned in their press release about the iPhone (PDF link).

The mobile phones, of course, have a slower connection compared to the 3G cards that AT&T offers. Some of the 3G cards can connect as fast as 7.2 Mbps down. So while Apple is touting their "3G speeds approaching WiFi speeds" you have to wonder why is AT&T limiting the bandwidth on the iPhone 3G so much.

Update: MacNN updated their post shortly after this posting. MacNN's sources are saying that the 1.4 Mbps speed is "observed" speed over the network.

Tags: 3G, at and t, AtAndT, att, HSDPA, internet, iPhone 3G, Iphone3g, speed, tweet-this

Filed under: Internet, Internet Tools, .Mac

.Mac mail down, speculations abound

by Cory Bohon (RSS feed) on Jun 2nd, 2008

If you're a .Mac mail user, then you probably know that .Mac's mail system has been down for almost 6 hours. According to the .Mac system status, 100% of users are experiencing the problems. Here's what Apple says:

100% of members might experience slower than normal response when using IMAP mail. Mail can be sent and received using .Mac webmail. Normal service will be restored ASAP.

This comes after .Mac has been rumored to undergo re-branding around the time of WWDC (which is next Monday).

Update (8:38p EST): Apple just updated the system status to report that some may not be able to access the .Mac welcome page. Stay tuned to TUAW for updates on the .Mac outage.

Update (9:37p EST): Apple is telling users that they can access the .Mac mail by using the webmail system; however, most users cannot access the entire .Mac website. We're currently experiencing a "504 Gateway Timeout" error when trying to load both the homepage and webmail. Looks as though the same services are down.

Update (10:40p EST): Some commenters are noting that they are now able to retrieve their .Mac mail. Apple has yet to update the .Mac system status.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in!

Tags: .Mac, e-mail, internet, tweet-this, webmail

Filed under: Deals, iPhone

AT&T offers free WiFi for iPhone users

by Cory Bohon (RSS feed) on May 1st, 2008

A MacRumors tipster has discovered a treat for iPhone users from AT&T. It would seem that AT&T is offering free wireless internet access via an iPhone in Starbucks (we posted about the Starbucks-AT&T deal a little while ago) as well as in Barnes and Nobles and 71,000 other locations.

MacRumors notes that you must enter your mobile iPhone number as a means of verification. A picture of the portal home page is available on MacRumors.

Tags: ATT, internet, iPhone, wifi, wireless

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