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Facebook's new Recommendations Bar pops up, just wants to be liked
Facebook's Recommendations Box sits passively on many websites, allowing us to engage or ignore as we see fit. But too much of the latter option has led to something slightly different: the new Recommendations Bar -- a pop-up variant which, when integrated by your favorite page, plugs site-specific links based on your friends' thumbs and shares. The Bar is similar to the in-house recommendation pop-ups we're all familiar with, but adds a like button for posting the current page to your timeline. It shouts much louder than the Box, so it's no surprise that in early tests the new plug-in produced a three-fold increase in click-throughs. In this case, privacy wasn't an afterthought -- Bar integration, like the Box, is at the site's discretion and sharing pages is very much on your terms. Just try not to accidently hit that like button during your daily scan of Bieber's homepage.
Verizon's LTE-enabled Galaxy Nexus priced at $200?
We're still not sure when the Samsung Galaxy Nexus will arrive on Verizon, but a new flash ad may have just revealed its price. Spotted by Smart Keitai, the above ad has reportedly been making the rounds on sites like Android Police, Phandroid and Droid Forums, offering an LTE-enabled version of Sammy's new handset at a price of $200 on a two-year contract -- notably lower than previously rumored, and well below Verizon's price points for its other high-end devices. At the time of this writing, the page's "Learn More" link isn't activated, but its URL appears to include an inexplicable November 29th dateline, suggesting that the ad, if indeed legit, may have leaked earlier than intended. We'll obviously have to wait a bit longer before we know whether this rumored pricing holds up, but we'll be sure to keep you abreast of the latest. [Thanks, Eagon]
CD-shaped mouse is perfect for our physical media-free future
Unless you've got a penchant for going the ultralight route, chances are you've got a DVD or other optical drive in your laptop that you rarely, if ever, actually stick a disk in it. This concept, dubbed disk+Mouse plans to put that space to good use holding a pointer that stores flat, but pops up in a conical shape when needed. Of course, by this time next year we'll all probably be looking at physical media the same way we did floppies in the post iMac world and this will be nothing but a cutesy throwback with no place to go -- just like those cassette-shaped USB drives.
Warner pops extras into digital edition of Nancy Drew: Drew's Clues
One of the criticisms leveled at digital distribution over old fashioned discs is a lack of extras, but Warner Bros. has something for that with its latest release, Nancy Drew: Drew's Clues. Available digitally (VOD, Amazon Unbox, iTunes, Xbox Marketplace) from the same day as the DVD release, viewers can either get the regular movie, or the Drew's Clues edition with "Movies that Pop" pop ups for trivia facts, quizzes and behind the scenes info. This is aimed primarily at the teen-girl sleepover crowd, and while the regular flick is out in HD on all services, Drew's Clues is SD only, plus, to watch it both ways, you would have to rent (and pay for) both versions separately. Key advance that increases the appeal of downloads, or one more reason to take the remote when you leave your tween home alone, we can't decide. [Disclosure: Engadget is part of the Time Warner family][Via Variety]
"Destination Q" no longer a destination
Well, that was quick. Motorola's Destination Q, a "pop-up" store devoted to the Q on Chicago's Magnificent Mile, has slipped the surly bonds of this mortal plane, moving on to the great EV-DO network in the sky. Moto's calling Destination Q's run "successful," though we don't know exactly what parameters define success here -- yes, they managed to increase the Q's visibility to inescapable proportions in and around downtown Chicago, but as we found out in our visit, the store paled in comparison to Nokia's permanent location down the street. So what's next for Motorola's retail presence? They're not telling us much, but they say they're "actively evaluating and developing" the pop-up concept further; personally, we're hoping a Destination MAXX might lie in Chicago's future.[Thanks, zedwards]
Gmail Notifier does message tooltips
This is certainly a minor tip at best, but I thought it was handy enough for a mention: the official Gmail Notifier does message tooltips, as you can see in my screencap. Hold your mouse over a new message in the list and you'll receive a little tooltip containing the first line or two of the message. Nice.
