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Inbox Influence Gmail plug-in outs the closet lobbyists in your life
Our parents always told us there were two topics we should never discuss in polite company: money and politics. Lucky for us, a new Gmail plug-in, called Inbox Influence, has made it so we don't have to do any talking to find out who pledges allegiance to the ass or the elephant -- and how much they're willing to spend to support those affiliations. The add-on is available for Firefox, Chrome, Safari, and IE9, and offers information about the political leanings and contributions made by the entities and individuals that appear in your inbox. C'mon, you know you're dying to find out which of your tennis-mates has a stake in Palin.
All 2014 Prius hybrids to roll with plug-in and 2011 pricing, Hoitz and Gamble rejoice (update: not true)
Hybrid cars are sleek, efficient, and even occasionally sexy. Cheap they are not, however, though Toyota hopes to stir up the market in 2014, with affordable plug-in models that also boast much-improved mileage ratings. That year's Prii will ship standard with plug-in, and will quietly conquer at least 90 highway miles per gallon (compared to about 50 mpg for current models), according to Autoblog. The 2014 Prius will also be priced comparably to current non-plug-in models -- around $25,000 -- assuming Toyota can successfully reduce the cost of batteries and other key components. We can only hope that fuel prices aren't any higher three years from now, but even if they are, at least you'll still be able to afford to commute in something larger than a Vespa. Update: Oops! Toyota responded to this report saying "there is no formal plan to make all Priuses [sic] plug-in by 2014." Not even a possibility, Autoblog was told. Ah well.
SecondRun.tv v2.5 Media Center plugin arrives with upgraded integration of locally stored files, Netflix, Crackle
While most of our focus on Windows Media Center is working with cable or OTA sources, the SecondRun.tv plugin is all about tying in strictly internet distributed video by building a TV guide full of streams from Hulu, the websites of the major networks and more. It's upgraded to version 2.5 recently and according to the changelog will let users bring in movies from their local folders (with automatic meta data lookup), Netflix and web based RSS feeds like Crackle.com. There's also a new extender optomized UI for viewing your local files and more. It will set you back an entire $3.99 for the pleasure, check out the website for more info on the features and a link to purchase.
Hertz launches hourly EV rentals in London, self-satisfaction comes free
Contract-free cellphones, declining marriage rates and car-sharing services all tell us you're a bunch of commitmentphobes. Lucky for you the world is willing to oblige your wishy-washy ways, and for those who also happen to have a bit of a green streak, Connect by Hertz offers hourly rentals on electric cars. After launching its EV rental program here in New York last year, Hertz promised to expand to several other cities and countries by the end of 2011, with London being the next to go online this Friday. British urbanites averse to car ownership will be able to pick from a fleet of vehicles including the iMieV, Nissan LEAF and Renault Kangoo, range anxiety diminished thanks to the city's 16 charging stations. It's not exactly the Jetsons, but if this is the future of transportation, we're ok with that -- we're thinking Mother Earth is too.
Perian QuickTime plug-in updated; A must-have for every Mac
Yesterday Perian updated its QuickTime plug-in for the Mac. For those of you who don't know about it, Perian is a plug-in allowing Mac users to view a virtually unlimited number of video codecs in QuickTime Player. Among the codecs are AVI, DIVX, FLV, MKV, GVI, VP6 and VFW, just to name a few. The 1.2.2 update adds compatibility with WebM/VP8, compressed MKV files and FFv1 lossless video formats. Perian 1.2.2 requires Mac OS X 10.4.7 or later. But users of older Mac OS versions are forewarned -- this is the last version of Perian that will support PowerPC Macs or any Mac running Mac OS X 10.5 and below. Going forward, future releases of Perian will only support Intel Macs running Mac OS X 10.6 or higher. Perian is a free download.
BYD Motors sneaks on to American market, could make US debut official by year's end
We've heard rumblings of BYD coming to America before, but it seems it won't be making a big deal of its Stateside entrée -- at least not yet. According to the Los Angeles Times, China's sixth-largest car maker is quietly making its presence known in the US, occupying the offices of Cars 911 -- a dealership in Glendale, CA -- and solidifying plans to open 10 American dealerships by the end of 2011. BYD is also in the process of building its US headquarters in downtown LA, and has been servicing a fleet of its F3DM hybrids, leased to the city's housing authority, from the Cars 911 lot. BYD's e6, which is slated as a Leaf competitor, is suspected to appear on the American market, alongside the F3DM, by year's end. Considering the Leaf's recent woes, this might be just the right time for BYD to strike.
Internet Explorer 9 gets WebM support with 'preview' plug-in from Google, internet video gets more friendly
Google has released an early WebM plug-in for Microsoft's latest and greatest browser, IE9 -- stepping in to fill a gap that Microsoft itself refused to fill. You may remember the firm's decision to not build in support for the new standard natively, but that it was "all in" with HTML5, WebM's close cousin. Billed as a "technology preview" at this stage of the game, the add-on will enable users to play all WebM video content just like the good Internet overlords intended them to, despite the fact that an additional download is needed. Microsoft said that it would allow for support and it appears to be following up on its word, regardless of other harsher comments made separately. Isn't it good to see big companies getting along? Now if only these same niceties played out in the mobile landscape, then we'd really be getting somewhere. [Thanks, ChrisSsk]
Kickstarter-sponsored WALdok is a speaker dock that plugs into your wall
It takes quite a bit for me to be impressed with yet another speaker dock. I run my music through some pretty good PC speakers, so I don't really have a need for a separate speaker to play music directly from my iPhone. But something about the WALdok appeals to me. It's a tiny dock that plugs into the wall and gives you what sounds like a surprisingly powerful speaker anywhere you have an outlet. Combine it with the nano, as you can see above, and I think I might be sold on a tiny and simple solution for something like a workspace or a hobby room. The whole project is being funded through Kickstarter, which means it's just an idea that someone had and ran with. For pledging US$59 or more, you get access to one of the first units off the assembly line, and you get to read about the product as it's made and designed on the process blog. This definitely doesn't seem like just another dock. The project is aiming for $30,000; it's nailed down just over half of that so far, but I don't think they'll have a problem getting a few units out there to start.
My Movies plugin for Media Center will add support for TV shows in March
Brian Binnerup, developer of the long running My Movies plugin for Media Center, has announced plans to test support for TV series beginning in March for "select users" with more than 2,500 points accumulated. Users who have been looking to slot DVD/Blu-ray series boxed sets next to their movie cousins will finally be able to do so, with the cover art and metadata delivered via the web. An official 4.0 release will come afterward, possibly by the end of March.
Hertz plug-in rental program to boast 1,000 vehicles, including the Tesla Roadster
Hertz is getting serious about its about-to-launch, by-the-hour plug in car rental service Connect by Hertz. Set to launch on December 15th in New York City, the company has plans to extend the service into San Francisco, Washington D.C, Texas and London by the end of 2011. The list of cars in the fleet which will be available to rent now includes the previously announced Nissan Leaf, the Volt, the Mitsubishi i-MiEV, the Tesla Roadster, the Smart ED, and the Coda Sedan. The program will start extremely small, with only 20 total vehicles available to rent to begin with, but with a plan for between 500 and 1,000 by the end of 2011. The Hertz EV rental program has a fee to join up, and the cars will be rented on a first come, first served basis, but you can sign up now if you're ready to get behind the wheel of one of the aforementioned silent bad boys.
FlickrExport for iPhoto and Aperture updated to version 4
FlickrExport, Connected Flow's popular photo management plug-in, has been upgraded to version 4 for both iPhoto and Aperture. Full of new features like video uploading, support for multiple Flickr accounts, the ability to add photos to multiple photosets during uploading and metadata-only uploads in Aperture, FlickrExport is a must for anyone serious about sharing their photos via the popular online photo sharing site. It's an easy way to quickly upload a lot of pictures, something you might want to do if you plan on using Flickr HD as a digital picture frame on your iOS device this holiday season. Sure, you can use the Flickr export tools already built into iPhoto '11, but FlickrExport offers you so many more options that it's definitely worth the price of admission. Available in a feature-limited version that's free for 30 days, licensed versions are available for iPhoto at £12 (about US$19) and Aperture at £14 (about US$22). FlickrExport requires OS X 10.5.8 and either iPhoto '08 or Aperture 1.5.1 and up. Click Read More to check out video demos of FlickrExport in action. [via MacWorld]
Mailplane 2.2 adds several key features
Mailplane, the native Mac app for Gmail and Google Apps email, has been updated to version 2.2, adding several new features and improving on others. Leading the charge is support for the recently-released "Priority Inbox." You can now tell Mailplane to open either your regular inbox, Priority Inbox, or a custom label. My favorite new feature is the ability to drag a Mailplane URL directly from the title bar. I use this with BusyCal's URL field if I need to connect an email with a meeting. It works for conversations or searches. TrueNew support has also been added. I hadn't heard of TrueNew before, but it's pretty nifty if you're in the habit of leaving unread messages in your inbox. TrueNew shows you your total unread count plus what is truly new since the last time you took any action on your inbox so that you can see what is truly new (hence the name). There's more, including another plug-in, which you should know about even if you don't use Gmail or Mailplane.
The Road to Mordor: Pippin's top five plugins
This past week in LotRO's been a bit like riding river rapids: There's been a lot of rapid ups-and-downs, violent lurches to avoid dangerous objects, and a whole lot of noise that's drowning out the calmer waters ahead. For every piece of good news and positive word-of-mouth, there's been a lot of unfortunate bumps, such as server queues, dynamic layers, mouthy trolls and Codemaster's launch delay. However, I believe it's all going to settle down in a couple more weeks, and LotRO will emerge the better for it. So if this is your first week in Lord of the Rings Online, welcome! Find a great kinship, take time to smell the flowers, and hunt some orc for me. Today I'd like to take a look at one of the unsung heroes of the recent content patch -- the ability to create and use plugins (also called mods and addons) to enhance your user interface. While the system is still in beta and has a rough-around-the-edges feel to it, it's already shown great potential, particularly though the creativity that mod designers are pouring into it. While there are only a small number of plugins available as of right now and Turbine has yet to expand the scope of these Lua scripts beyond constrained limits, it's not too early to beef up your UI with these spiffy additions. Read on, free peoples of Middle-internet!
Honda will bring plug-in hybrids, full EVs to United States in 2012
Though they probably won't look anything like Honda's adorable EV-N, the Japanese automaker's got some new technological vehicles up its sleeves -- in a speech today, Honda CEO Takanobu Ito formally announced plans to produce a plug-in hybrid competitor for Toyota's flashy new PHEV Prius by 2012, which rumor has it will sport an estimated fuel economy (when it's using fuel, we assume) of roughly around 140 miles per gallon. Better still, a completely battery-powered electrical vehicle will also go on sale by 2012, and you won't have to fly to Japan to try them out, as they're slated for the States as well. Hydrogen fuel cells are apparently still Honda's long-term solution, though the FCX Clarity received only a passing mention. In the short term, Honda's still circling the wagons around part-gasoline systems like the Civic (which will receive a Li-ion battery pack) and the Fit Hybrid, destined for Japan this fall.
Windows Media Center Netflix plugin updated for Watch Instantly in HD
We already knew Windows Media Center users could stream Netflix Watch Instantly in HD now, but after an update it is able to note which titles support HD streaming to the PC. The next time you pull it up, expect to download the app like it was the first time and sign in all over again, otherwise things are pretty much the same. We poked around a bit and didn't see any other UI tweaks beyond that "HD" tag below the supported movies and TV shows, but it's still one of the slickest Netflix frontends around -- at least until Roku gets its update. Want to see if you're actually getting the 720p feeds? Hold down ALT + SHIFT and left click to bring up the stream manager, speeds of 2600kbps or 3800 kbps mean you're there. [Thanks, George]
Firefox Lorentz beta doesn't crash entirely when plug-ins get fussy
Admit it, your love for Firefox is tempered by sometimes sluggish performance and a penchant for perennial plugin crashes. Google did what it could with Chrome to isolate such issues by ensuring the entire browser didn't crash when Flash (or any other add-on, for that matter) went belly up. Now it looks like the gang at Mozilla are adopting a similar tactic, and if you want to try it out for yourself, the Lorentz beta is now available for download. So sayeth the site, "If a plugin crashes or freezes, it will not affect the rest of Firefox. You will be able to reload the page to restart the plugin and try again." Whodathunk we'd ever feel actual elation at such a proclamation?
Chrome brings Flash Player into the fold, trains it to kill iPads?
If Apple had its way, we expect that the iPad would go down in history as the device that nearly single-handedly destroyed Adobe's empire of Flash. While HTML5 has been in development for years, content providers like the Wall Street Journal, NPR, CBS and more have only begun transitioning video services to the new standard (and subsequently, away from Flash) now that it's time for Cupertino's big release. But this week, Adobe has found an ally in Google, which has just announced that the Chrome browser -- and more importantly, Chrome OS -- will not merely support but natively integrate the technology. In the short run, what this means is that the Chrome browser won't require you to download Adobe Flash Player or spend time updating it before back-to-back YouTube viewings and marathon Newgrounds sessions. In the long run, Google explains that it intends Flash to become an integral, seamless part of web design up there with HTML and Javascript -- and if we extrapolate, an integral part of its new Chrome OS as well. Pardon us for thinking out loud, but it sounds like Google's found an exclusive feature to highly tout, when it inevitably brings a Chrome OS tablet to market. [Thanks, Adam]
Lotus outs wild Evora 414E Hybrid plug-in concept car
Concept cars are like unicorns -- they're so prevalent and vaporous, they're hardly worth remarking upon. Every so often, though, one pops out into the ether that's really worth a second look. Lotus' Evora 414E Hybrid concept certainly fits into that category.This plug-in car boasts (or would boast, should it come into existence), 1.2 liter, three-cylinder engine, independent electric motors for the rear wheels, with a range of about 300 miles. The glass engine cover pictured above, however, is just one of the features we find ourselves double-taking here. The Evora 414E would also pack some 'vroom vroom' noises by way of its audio system to take care of the ever-pressing danger of silent auto engines. The engine can operate on alcohol-based fuels or regular old gasoline, and the battery-only range is in the neighborhood of 35 miles. The Lotus Evora 414E hybrid will be unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show.
Mail.app plugin WideMail makes a comeback in Snow Leopard
Since upgrading, Snow Leopard users with widescreen displays may have been missing WideMail, the plugin for Mail.app that gives you a 3-column display of your messages. We mentioned it some time ago, and you may recall it being one of the casualties of my Snow Leopard upgrade. Letterbox, an alternative plugin, has been mostly functional in Snow Leopard for a while now, but I've personally been waiting for WideMail. Well, it's back, and available as a public beta at developer Dane Harnett's site. For users with widescreen displays, the standard Mail display panels -- stacked vertically -- don't really maximize the usage of the window space. WideMail takes advantage of the screen width of most modern displays, and positions the list of mails and the preview horizontally, allowing each to take up the full height of the window while still providing the necessary viewing area. It also provides a new column in the email listing called the "WideMail column," which has two rows and is configurable in the preferences to display any of the necessary information for each email in an optimized width. As I mentioned, WideMail 2.0 is beta (prerelease 1 right now), but I've been using it for most of the day without any problems. I'm very glad to see it back, and despite trying to keep my Mail plugin list as trim as possible, this is one I consider worth running. If you try it and love it, be sure to donate a few bucks for its continued development!
Toyota's plug-in hybrids getting companion charging stations next year in Japan
What's the best complement to a trial run of plug-in hybrids? Why, matching solar stations, of course! Toyota Industries Corp has announced that it's been developing solar charging stations for its new Prius models. The first place to test out the chargers is unsurprisingly Toyota City in Aichi Prefecture, Japan, where 21 stations will be built across 11 locales including government offices and train depots. Probably not worth planning a trip around, but if you want to be that extra special sort of tourist, schedule your vacation for sometime after April 2010.
