Fring Puts Video Calls on Your iPhone [Downloads]
Lifehacker • Tuesday December 1 (2009) @ 7:30 p.m.

iPhone only: Previously mentioned mobile VoIP and chat application Fring has updated their iPhone app with support for streaming video calls. It's a great feature, but it does have a catch.

If you're unfamiliar with Fring, it's a messaging application that integrates with everything from Skype and Google Talk to Facebook and AIM. For most, the VoIP feature comes via Skype. With the new update, iPhone and iPod touch users with a Wi-Fi connection can make and receive video calls via Fring or Skype and watch your contact from your phone. Unfortunately the video chat is only a one-way video thing for now, meaning either you can watch your friend talk or your friend can watch you talk. This is, of course, a limitation of the iPhone and its non-front-facing camera. The folks at Fring assure us that two-way video calls will be available as soon as the iPhone gets a front-facing camera.

Two-way video or not, it's great to see a first step in this direction for the iPhone. Video calling may not be an everyday sort of event (I do plenty of things while I'm on the phone that the person I'm talking to doesn't need or want to see), but it's certainly got its place, and it'll be nice to take video chat out of our computer monitors.

Fring is a free download.

Fring [iTunes App Store via Fring Blog]


 
Inbox2 Combines Email and Social Networking Into One Stream [Communication]
Lifehacker • Tuesday December 1 (2009) @ 7 p.m.

We may be eagerly awaiting Mozilla's previously mentioned Raindrop, but webapp Inbox2—already available in beta stage—looks to serve the same purpose: Pulling all your email and social networking communication in a single unified stream.

You can use Inbox2 as either a standalone webapp or a Facebook application, allowing you to choose the hub of your message stream. If you already spend tons of time on Facebook, for example, you can add your email, Twitter, and other updates to your Facebook notifications instead, as well as read and send messages from any of your non-Facebook accounts without leaving Facebook's site.

Inbox2 also integrates well with your existing system, allowng you to import your existing labels and stars from other services like Gmail. It also has support for Microsoft Exchange 2007, and is planning on releasing an iPhone app in the near future (followed by apps for other smartphones). Take a look at their demo video above for a closer look at how it all works.

Inbox2 is a free, web-based service.

Inbox2 [via TechCrunch]


 
Google's Always-Fascinating Year-End Zeitgeist Rounds Up 2009 in Search [Zeitgeist]
Lifehacker • Tuesday December 1 (2009) @ 6:30 p.m.

Web users perform billions of searches every year, leaving the folks at Google with a fount of interesting information. When the year ends, GOOG rounds it all up into their yearly zeitgeist. This year, Twitter and Michael Jackson lead the way.

A bit more about how Google puts their zeitgeist together:

To compile the 2009 Year-End Zeitgeist, we studied the aggregation of billions of queries people typed into Google search this year. We use data from multiple sources, including Insights for Search, Google Trends and internal data tools. We also filter out spam and repeat queries to build out lists that best reflect "the spirit of the times." All of the search queries we studied are anonymous-no personal information was used.

The Google Zeitgeist always provides an interesting overview of what was on our minds in any given year, so give it a look and share what interesting finds you can dig up in the comments.

Google Zeitgeist 2009 [Google]


 
Gadget and Gear Deals of the Day [Dealhacker]
Lifehacker • Tuesday December 1 (2009) @ 6 p.m.

You missed Black Friday, you skipped Cyber Monday, but you still want a good deal or two. No problem, we bring you deals all year long on gadgets, gear, and electronic goodies.


Computer Gear!

Not Computer Gear!

Free Stuff!

Thanks Dealzon, Slickdeals, Fatwallet, TechDealDigger, TechBargains, CheapStingyBargains, CheapCollegeGamers, and GamerHotline!



 
How HTML5 Will Change the Way You Use the Web [Web Browsing]
Lifehacker • Tuesday December 1 (2009) @ 5 p.m.

Firefox and Safari partially support it, Google's Wave and Chrome projects are banking on it, and most web developers are ecstatic about what it means. It's HTML5, and if you're not exactly sure what it is, here's an explainer.

Image taken from Bruce Lawson's fantastic HTML5 presentation.

What is HTML5? Some kind of really fancy link tag?

HTML5 is a specification for how the web's core language, HTML, should be formatted and utilized to deliver text, images, multimedia, web apps, search forms, and anything else you see in your browser. In some ways, it's mostly a core set of standards that only web developers really need to know. In other ways, it's a major revision to how the web is put together. Not every web site will use it, but those that do will have better support across modern desktop and mobile browsers (that is, everything except Internet Explorer).

What Awesomeness can I expect from HTML5?

The big, marquee changes in HTML5 have already made some headlines, thanks to browser makers like Google, Apple, Mozilla, and others picking them up and implementing them. The shortlist:

  • Offline storage: Kind of like "Super Cookies," but with much more space to store both one-time data and persistent app databases, like email. Actually, you can think of offline storage as something a lot like Google Gears—you just won't need to install a plug-in to reap the benefits.
  • Canvas drawing: Sites can mark off a space on a page where interactive pictures, charts and graphs, game components, and whatever else imagination allows can be drawn directly by programming code and user interaction—no Flash or other plug-ins required.
  • Native video and audio streaming support: It's in the very early stages and subject to format disruption, but sites like YouTube and Pandora could one day skip Flash entirely to bring you streaming audio and video, with timed playback and other neat features.
  • Geolocation: Just what it sounds like, but not limited to a single provider's API or browser tool. HTML5 can find your location and use it to tailor things like search results, tag your Twitter updates, and more. Location-aware devices are a big deal.
  • Smarter forms: Search boxes, text inputs, and other you-type-here fields get better controls for focusing, validating data, interacting with other page elements, sending through email, and more. It may not sound that sexy, but it could mean less annoyance as a user, and that's always a good thing.
  • Web application focus: Without breaking down the hundreds of nuts and bolts, it's fair to say that HTML5 is aimed at making it easier to build wikis, drag-and-drop tools, discussion boards, real-time chat, search front-ends, and other modern web elements into any site, and have them work the same across browsers.

Where can I see HTML5 in action?

Ooh, good question!

From this page right here, with a soon-to-be-optional-maybe-Flash, you can check out these video demonstrations:

Google I/O 2009 Keynote, pt. 1

Firefox 3.5 Treats Videos Like Web Pages:

If you're running an up-to-date version of Firefox, Safari, Chrome, or Opera—or, basically, any regularly updated browser besides Internet Explorer—give these links a shot.

HTML5 Demos: Huge list of capability demonstrations, gracefully compiled by Remy Sharp.

Welcome to Safari: Written entirely with HTML5 and CSS 3.

YouTube in HTML5: No Flash required at all (for Chrome and Safari only, at this point).

Canvas drawing and audio

Neat interactive site that shows tweets from folks who are digging on HTML5, with streaming background audio and interactive data pieces.

Why is it being pushed? Don't Flash and JavaScript already work?

Make no mistake, HTML5 has much love for JavaScript and its many relatives—in fact, the new markup standards make it easier for JavaScript-type code to point at, and pull from, pieces of each web page. As for Flash, and Silverlight, and other browser plug-ins, well, they are artificial solutions for a natural problem that HTML5 is trying to fix: Placing and managing interactive elements on a web page.

Besides being a major source of browser memory leaks and crashes, Flash and its brethren also doesn't work on every platform, and has to be re-written and adapted for every new one. If you're looking to make a clever application available to as many people as possible, a write once, use everywhere system is ideal. When more browsers and developers support HTML5's audio, video, and interaction standards, the idea of the web as the universal app store—for smartphones, for desktops and laptops, Windows, Mac, and Linux—gets closer to reality.

Apple tried to pitch this mentality to developers with their first iPhone release. That pronouncement was, to put it mildly, roundly mocked. Since then, webapps have become a lot more powerful and respectable as mainstays of productivity, and enthusiasm for the walled garden model of application markets has waned quite a bit in the minds of an increasing number of developers.

That's not to say that HTML5-powered web applications, with their lack of serious local storage, hardware access, and serious offline capabilities, are going to make the iPhone App Store, the Android Market, or the desktop software we're all used to obsolete. But look at how Chrome is positioning its Chrome OS for netbooks, which relies on HTML5 for offline storage: A secondary computer, in terms of hard-and-fast capabilities, but one you might use just as often, if not more, for the web-connected convenience.

How will HTML5 makes its way onto my web?

HTML5 isn't a software release, or a web development law. It's a voted-upon and group-edited standard, written in broad fashion to accommodate different styles of development and the different thinking among web browser makers.

Put more simply, it depends on what you're using to surf. And what standards your web makers are following.

Firefox, Safari, and Chrome on the desktop support a few of the styles and features outlined in HTML5's draft specifications, like offline storage, canvas drawing, and, most intriguingly, tags for audio and video that allow sites to stream multimedia files directly into a browser. Apple's Safari for iPhone and the Android browser also support elements of HTML5, as does Opera Mobile. Want to know the nitty-gritty of where your browser stands on HTML5? Web geeks have put in the time to put it all in a Wikipedia chart.

Those audio and video tags aren't quite as liberating as they may seem. The writers of the HTML5 standard—Ian Hickson of Google and Davd Hyatt of Apple—wanted to define a single, standardized format for video streaming, but while their employers favor the H.264/MPEG-4 standard, open-source firms like Mozilla can't abide by its patent "encumbrance," and Opera and other web firms don't particularly love the licensing costs. Their alternative is Theora, better known (relatively) as Ogg Theora. As it stands, HTML5 simply doesn't require or suggest a single container format or codec to use, which could mean browser-by-browser differences down the road. Ars Technica has a good explainer on the HTML5 video codec debate.

Further reading

If you're already savvy with HTML5, what differences or improvements would you point out that we left out? Tell us what HTML5 means to you, and your browser, in the comments.

 
Hulu Advanced Search Helps You Find Specific Episodes More Easily [Television]
Lifehacker • Tuesday December 1 (2009) @ 4:30 p.m.

Although online media giant Hulu has users all across the country saying no monthly cable bills, their site was still a little unruly when it came to its search function. They've listened to user feedback and implemented some really helpful new features. Next time you miss a specific episode of TV, try using Hulu's new search feature. Next to the search bar located at the bottom of the page, you'll find a button labeled Advanced Search. Simply click through and enter in specific episode information.

In our search above, we were able to find Season 3, Episode 4 of Doogie Howser with just a few keystrokes—and have been watching Vinny Delpino try to make it to second base with his girlfriend Janine ever since. Although their archives weren't actually difficult to navigate before, it's an addition that will make for smooth searching as they continue to add more and more videos to their catalog. As you can see in the screenshot, the advanced search also demonstrates what search operators one might use to perform episode-specific searches from the main search box (e.g., show:"Doogie Howser" season:3 episode:4). Hit up the Hulu blog for more tips on making the most of your searches within their online interface.

The Search Is On [Official Hulu Blog via CNET]


 
Use Basic Fat Math to Lose Extra Weight [Weight Loss]
Lifehacker • Tuesday December 1 (2009) @ 4 p.m.

Changing your diet entirely and signing up for a gym—starting tomorrow, you swear—probably won't work. Wired's How-To Wiki runs some math on what it really takes to lose permanent weight. The numbers are actually, well, encouraging.

Photo by bandita.

Nobody eats the same exact diet every day, but most days meet up with a fairly consistent average. Stick to that diet as closely as possible, and then use the math that The Hacker's Diet author John Walker suggests:

  1. Multiply the pounds you want to lose by the number of calories in a pound of fat: 10 x 3,500 = 35,000.
  2. Divide the total by the days you'll diet: 35,000 ÷ 60 = 583.
  3. Eat that many fewer calories each day.

The wiki post suggests other methods of using specific measures and time limits to drop pounds. The backbone to all the advice is fairly simple: find a way to gradually kill calories from your diet, and keep them out.

Done any helpful math on your own diet lately? Share your success in the comments.

Engineer Weight Loss [Wired How-To Wiki]


 
Microsoft Office 2010 Arriving in June 2010 [News]
Lifehacker • Tuesday December 1 (2009) @ 3 p.m.

A Microsoft representative confirmed a June 2010 ship date to BetaNews for its Office 2010 desktop suite and the free-for-all-but-probably-very-limited Office Web Apps. We've taken a screenshot tour of Office 2010, and ReadWriteWeb has a quick look at the Web Apps offerings so far, but BetaNews suggests the feature split between the web and desktop components remains murky. Where are you leaning on the upgrade/buy/skip spectrum for Office 2010 in June? [Betanews via Download Squad]



 
Recent Windows Patch Causes "Black Screen of Death" For Many Users [Windows]
Lifehacker • Tuesday December 1 (2009) @ 2:30 p.m.

Windows: The last updates from Microsoft have caused a headache for some users. A bug in the update causes certain programs to fail to render properly blacking out the whole screen. A third-party security company has released a fix.

The problem—according to Prevx, the security firm that released a patch to fix the issue—involves the Microsoft patches altering the way registry keys are accessed:

[...] the cause of this recent crop of Black Screen appears to be a change in the Windows Operating Systems lock down of registry keys. This change has the effect of invalidating several key registry entries if they are updated without consideration of the new ACL rules being applied. For reference the rule change does not appear to have been publicised adequately, if at all, with the recent Windows updates.

If your black screen woes started as a result of your last Windows update, the Prevx patch should have a high probability of fixing the issue. If you don't have automatic update enabled you'll want to skip doing any updates until the next patch release comes out and corrects the black-screen-of-death issue. Check out the link below to read more and grab the patch.

Black Screen Woes Could Affect Millions on Windows 7, Vista, and XP [via Mashable]


 
Mount Your Phone to Your Bike for $5 [DIY]
Lifehacker • Tuesday December 1 (2009) @ 2 p.m.

Avid bicyclist Ethan wanted to mount his GPS-enabled phone to his handlebars, but found the retail solutions both unstable and far too accommodating to opportunistic thieves. His $5 solution turns a flashlight mount into a sturdy and convenient smartphone dashboard.

The project might actually cost a bit more than $5, given that Ethan had a very cheap silicone phone case he was willing to sand down and attach part of the flashlight mount to. Still, it's fairly cheap ($2 or so, based on a link) to find a cellphone case you don't care too much about, and the flashlight mount is less than $3. The hardware hacking required is very minimal, and mostly consists of sanding things down to ensure a firm grip and smoothing over the finished product.

With his smartphone mount, Ethan can track his progress via GPS, get turn-by-turn directions in unfamiliar neighborhoods, and even take phone calls—audio or video—from his handlebars. If you had an Android phone, you could utilize the fitness data dream of My Tracks, or give RunKeeper and Fitnio a go on the iPhone.

Got your own bike-mounted phone solution? We're eager to see the evidence in the comments.

DIY: $5 bicycle dashboard and GPS [Angered Brackets]