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Sony's PRS-505 ebook reader leaks out
Given the many opportunities Sony's had to demo new gear in the past month, you'd think we'd have seen this earlier, but it looks like the company's latest ebook reader, the PRS-505, will be making its grand debut on the website of Chicago's own Abt Electronics. The update to the original Sony Reader will come in either silver or blue, feature a slightly redesigned layout, twice the internal memory, and may potentially rock what seems like an updated display. No word on any other changes, but it looks like the price is the same at $299.[Thanks, hamster]
Apple in the funny papers
It's a slow day around TUAW HQ this Labor Day (hope yours is going well!). Besides the occasional fake new iPod nano and the catfight between NBC and Apple there's not much going on. But here's two funny comics to get you through your day off.The first, sent to us by Bugg, pulls back the curtain on what NBC really wants from the iTS. Considering their "estimates" on iPod piracy, I wouldn't be surprised at all if that last suggestion was pretty close to their real ideal. That, or they actually want us to watch certain programs at certain times with ads placed at "commercial breaks" in between! Lunacy!And second, what's the one thing that could get me to read a Cathy comic (sent to us by Damon)? An iPhone reference. Unfortunately, it's not very nice (or funny, but this is Cathy we're talking about), but I suspect if Cathy actually tried that Google Maps multitouch interface, she'd be singing a different tune.
The most powerful character in Azeroth
Killah sent us a interesting question: who is the most powerful character in all of Azeroth? We've talked about this one before, but it's been a while, and considering that we've learned a lot since last December about Azeroth and what's happening in it, I'd say it's worth another look.So who's on top? Last time around, we said Sargeras or Elune, but let's refine things a bit-- those two may both be very powerful, but Sargeras is currently "ceased to be," and Elune, who supposedly created the world, doesn't actually use that power much, does she? If she was so peaceful and in charge, why's the world called Warcraft?Still, looking down the list, Elune does seem to top it-- if you're talking about potential power, she's it. Aman'thul and the Pantheon are up there-- they toppled Sargeras and have even killed the Old Gods. But the most powerful character that we know for certain is actually in Azeroth right now? Besides the winner of the our One Boss Leaves tournament, I'm not sure. Nozdormu? The Lich King?Unless by "most powerful character," Killah actually means player character. In that case, I have no idea. Awake? One of the guys from Team Pandemic?
WoW Insider RSS issues
A few readers have sent us tips already to let us know that there are issues with the RSS feed here on the site. We appreciate you all letting us know, and we are aware that some of the older articles are getting published on the RSS feed as new. We've also noticed that the RSS feed will sometimes publish new articles twice, leaving you with two copies of the same article in your reader.We're aware of both issues, and have forwarded information onto our tech guys about it-- they say a fix is coming. If you have any other issues or questions, feel free to post them in the comments below, or send us tips via our tips page. Thanks for reading, and for sticking with us through these issues-- we're hoping to get them worked out soon.
Polymer Vision's Readius rollable display gets face time
Talk about a long time coming, as what is now Polymer Vision has seemed to finally put all the pieces together and produce an actual working product from the idea envisioned by Philips around two years ago. We knew the spinoff was looking to commercialize the product later this year, but after nearly 24 months of coming up empty, a bit of understandable skepticism begins to seep through. Nevertheless, the firm's rollable, pocket-friendly "Cellular-Book" was out and showing its stuff at 3GSM, proving that there's at least something there to put on store shelves. Although the unit on display was indeed a standalone device -- sporting 16 shades of grey, USB, "10-days" of battery life, 4GB of internal storage, and GPRS, EDGE, and DVB-H connectivity just like we'd heard -- Polymer Vision is actually hoping to integrate its e-paper technology into mobile handset displays in the near future. Sadly, there still didn't seem to be any hints of a release date for the nifty pocket reader, but be sure to click on through for the very long awaited pictures of the Readius in action.[Via Slashdot]
Beta Beat: NetNewsWire 3.0 sneak peek
Brent Simmons has released the first public 'sneak peek' (note: it isn't even a beta) of NetNewsWire 3.0, a much-anticipated new version of his immensely popular RSS client which NewsGator acquired in 2005. Brent has made a brief announcement on his blog, reminding everyone that there's still a lot to do, but he also mentions he'll be writing more in-depth about what has changed in the coming days.Adventurous users - remember: this isn't even a beta - can check out the change notes for this public sneak peek, and head over to the download page to give it a go. For a tasty primer, a lot is new: Spotlight searching, a much-requested new Combined View, a Full Screen mode, a tab bar on the right with page thumbnails (which can be condensed to mere text titles), the ability to chose a folder when subscribing (a lá Safari bookmarking) and much, much more. As a personal side note, it's great to see even that FeedLight style Brent found recently to make its way onto the built-in styles list.A few words of caution from a blogger who's been testing this version for around a month (hint - that's me): back up your existing NNW support folder if testing software like this makes you queasy. NetNewsWire 3 makes significant changes to the way your data is stored, and you won't be able to run version 2.x without its old support folder after firing up v3. Surfing to ~/Library/Application Support, selecting the NetNewsWire folder and pressing cmd + d is a simple enough backup.With that said, go enjoy a sneak peek of NetNewsWire 3.
Pretec unveils "world's smallest" microSD reader: i-Disk Micro
Hmm, looks like we've got a bit of a conflict here, as we've now got two companies claiming that its microSD reader is indeed the world's smallest. Of course, Pretec doesn't bother giving us the dimensions, so its crown will have to remain in pending for the time being, but the i-Disk Micro Reader is ridiculously small nonetheless, Capable of holding microSD cards from 32MB all the way up to 2GB in capacity, this bantam device comes in a transparent case to give users easy access to the size of the microSD card within, sports a curvaceous design to purportedly prevent scratches when carried around with your mobile, includes a nifty keychain attachment, and connects via USB 2.0. There's no mention of pricing nor availability, but just in case this whole "world's smallest" claim doesn't pan out for ole Pretec, at least they're also releasing a SDHC-friendly 20-in-1 flash card reader which it can boast about while eating its words.[Via MobileWhack]
Poll: iPhone at Macworld?
So will there be an iPhone announcement at Macworld? Some speculate that yes, there will be. Others say no, at least not at this time. We here at TUAW are agnostic about the entire issue. We're happy to report rumors about the iPhone in its many possible incarnations--who might manufacture it, what it will be called, and who might buy it-- but we have no solid evidence one way or another as to when or if the beastie might appear. So what do you think, TUAW readers? Are you with the yays or the nays on this one? You must enable JavaScript to vote in this poll from <a href="http://www.pollverize.com/" title="Free remotely hosted polls">Pollverize</a>.
Reminder: send us your tips!
We TUAW bloggers use a variety of methods and resources to track down the news, tips, tricks and other forms of Mac interestingness we post, and among the most important of them are the tips from readers like you. However, we've noticed an increase in questions in post comments on how to send us tips, so we thought it might be a good time to post a reminder.Our tips form is linked at the bottom of our category list (pictured here, though yes: it's tiny and hard to find. Rest assured, we're working on it), and its URL is located in the same place as virtually any other blog in the Weblogs, Inc. network: tuaw.com/tips gets you to our tips form, while DVguru.com/tips will let you drop our sister blog on all things digital video a line as well.So if you've found a hot piece of news, a killer tip or someone who turned their PowerMac into a mailbox, be sure to send it our way, and your name just might get emblazoned in the TUAW archives with our post.
Switching from NetNewsWire to Google Reader
I'm not typically one for the web 2.0 movement. I'm a huge fan of the power and flexibility of Mac OS X, and I usually find most web services no match for their desktop counterparts with maybe a few syncing services thrown in to even the odds (.Mac, Google Browser Sync, etc.). This all changed, however, when Google dropped a quintessential upgrade bomb on Google Reader, their web-based RSS reader a la BlogLines and NewsGator. If you're curious as to what the new gReader is all about, I wrote up a walkthrough for Download Squad, but in a nutshell: it's awesome. So awesome, in fact, that after spending a serious week with it for all my personal and blogging needs, I feel confident in cutting my ties (yes, again) to NetNewsWire. Just like Gina over at Lifehacker, the plethora of new and well-polished features in this updated to Google Reader are an absolute dream in the category of web-based readers, and a number of factors clicked to make this my go-to reader of choice.PowerThe most appealing, of course, is the sheer power of the new Google Reader; it truly feels like an application. It's fast, responsive, and behaves like a desktop app. It features a typical expanded view, where all articles are listed in their full form on the right, but I prefer the List View which I have pictured here, with its unique way of expanding only the article you select in-line with the rest of the headlines. Another wonderful new addition to gReader's tool belt are lots and lots of new keyboard shortcuts; it is now possible to navigate everything in Google Reader - the feed list on the left (even expanding folders), headlines, articles, everything - from the keyboard. I'm not saying NetNewsWire can't do this - I'm simply impressed at how well gReader, a web app, pulls it off.OrganizationI have over 300 feeds covering topics for personal, freelancing and blogging purposes (yes, you guys), and Google Reader offers some great ways of bookmarking, sharing and tagging both feeds and individual headlines. The first and easiest method of saving important headlines is, of course, the typical Google UI of the 'star' - marking a star next to a headline, just like starring messages in Gmail, is just like flagging headlines in any other reader. Google Reader goes farther, however. Much farther. Headlines can also be individually tagged, and those tags can have their own RSS feeds, allowing me to easily tag and organize articles for TUAW and for my personal blog. At the tail end of organization, gReader also features a 'Share' button (and keyboard shortcut) for headlines, which creates an actual public webpage with a list of shared (and styled) headlines, that can also be inserted easily into something like a blog sidebar. You can think of it as a quickie-linked list. While certainly not all RSS users need all these fine-toothed filing and sharing features, they're a blessing for my various lines of work, and it's great to have all this under the umbrella of a powerful web app.PortabilityI get around. I bus it to downtown Denver for classes, and I'm constantly running around town doing a lot of errands my wife can't because she works 20 hours a day as a high school English teacher. Being able to fill those few minutes of waiting at the grocery store or the dentist's office by accessing my Google Reader feeds online with my mobile phone is a very handy thing. This feature didn't seem to receive any major upgrades with the new gReader (c'mon, it's mobile web - how great can it be?), but not having to sync my feeds or OPML files between a few newsreaders is a very nice burden to have off my back.No hard feelingsI'm not writing this post to bash NetNewsWire; while I have a few gripes with it, that app has served me well for years, and I'll still keep it around for emergency purposes, for sure. I also think Ranchero NewsGator still has one of the best darn readers on the market, even the free Lite version. On the flip side, Google Reader still isn't without its shortcomings; while it can handle tons of feeds and massive numbers of headlines with skill and grace, it still doesn't feature a search option (I know: a Google product lacking a search - what the?), and it can't handle authenticated feeds, which means I just have to give Mr. Gruber and The Deck a few more page hits a week (hey, it's a Labs product - not even beta. Give 'em some credit). Fortunately, those missing features weren't mortal for my needs, so I wanted to help get the word out on a great RSS reading product that might work as well for others as it does for me. If you haven't looked at Google Reader in a while, it's had a heckuva facelift and feature upgrade. Check out Google's announcement post of the update, or dive in and get your RSS on.
Top Mac feed readers face off
It's no exaggeration to say that the day I started using a feed reader, my internet life changed forever. Suddenly, instead of having to click through my regular cohort of a few dozen sites, I was able to scan hundreds of sites for the news I wanted. And while the debate over which feed reader is the best isn't as heated an affair as the whole Vi vs Emacs ruckus - Vi wins, of course - people are still pretty passionate about their chosen application.And so it was that I came across this post at Macintalk that compares my favourite reader, NetNewsWire, with that other darling, NewsFire.While NetNewsWire takes a few hits for its dull aesthetics, it makes up for it where it matters, offering more viewing options and a built-in browser. NewsFire has more than just good looks going for it, though, such as an in-line podcast player. In the end, as is so often the case, it comes down to what you want to use it for. I don't think I'll be changing just yet.What about you? What are you using to read TUAW's feed, or are you stuck browsing the site in Lynx? Not that there's anything wrong with that.
Delkin eFilm ExpressCard 34
Finally, something to do with the ExpressCard slot on your MBP. Storage and digital photo accessory supplier Delkin Devices today announced their eFilm ExpressCard 34 is available for pre-orders. To be officially unveiled at Photokina and shipping Oct. 16th, the EC-34 is the first Compact Falsh-to- ExpressCard converter. It is plug-and-play on both Macs and PCs in both 34mm and 54mm EC slots, and will allow photographers and others to transfer photos and other data directly between their CF cards and computers at 20MB/s without the need for external USB readers. All I can say is: Delkin, where were you when I came back from vacation this Summer?From the press images, it looks like there is also an eFilm EC-34/8GB CF Card combo pack in the works, but it's not listed in the store yet.
How do we level? Let us count the ways
From reader Luclan comes a very important question: what, in our experience, is the best or fastest way of levelling up quickly?First off, I believe levelling quickly in the "power-levelling" sense, and levelling well, are two different things. Getting a level 60 friend to run you through all the lower dungeons for loot won't help you learn how to play your class in groups; spending five levels grinding in one spot doesn't equip you to deal with a wide variety of situations. The journey through each level should, in my opinion, be savoured and learnt from -- after all, when you end up at level 60, knowing as much as possible about your class is a great start.
HistoryHound - full text search of browser histories, NetNewsWire, more
HistoryHound is a handy search utility for anyone who does a lot of surfing and RSS reading between multiple apps. It offers a full text search of most of the major Mac OS X browsers including Mozilla's, OmniWeb and even Opera, as well as two of the more popular RSS readers: Pulp Fiction and NetNewsWire 2. It can be called with a keyboard shortcut, or a small search panel can be left to float above other windows, always waiting to do your bidding.How HistoryHound searches is customizable, as is how far back into the history it shines its spotlight. If you don't like bouncing between applications HistoryHound also includes its own WebKit-based browser for previewing any of your search results.This swiss army knife of a history utility has also recently been updated to a Universal Binary, along with a few other minor but useful feature tweaks. A fully-functioning 30 day demo is available, while a full license is $19.95.
Sony's PRS-500 eBook reader subject to another delay
First off, contrary to the beliefs of certain commenters, we absolutely do not hate Sony -- we just think that after the infamous PS3 and BDP-S1 Blu-ray delays, the company would want to do everything possible to make sure that another highly-anticipated product doesn't fall into the same cycle. Yet that's exactly what we're seeing with the upcoming PRS-500 eBook reader first announced at CES -- originally scheduled for a spring release before slipping to a summer time frame -- whose launch has now been pushed back once again to sometime this fall. According to an email Sony sent out to potential customers -- wisely thanking them for their patience -- the e-ink-based Reader will now be shipping "in time for the holidays," which hopefully doesn't refer to December 24th. Sample launch titles include Freakanomics and The Da Vinci Code, although by the time you can actually get your hands on the hardware, you'll probably have already read those books along with many of the other initial offerings. As much as we'd like to own one of these handy ~$350 devices -- and despite having no need whatsoever for a bunch of aviation documents -- we're pretty close to just biting the bullet and shelling out $900 for the eFlyBook version of iRex's iLiad that went on sale yesterday.[Thanks, Curt C. and Riley P.]
Plusmo mobile RSS service
Another day, another mobile RSS reader, this one coming from San Jose-based startup Plusmo. To be fair, Plusmo does appear to offer a few more features than the average RSS reader, most notably what they call Plusmo Gadgets -- which is just a clever name for a whole raft of widget-like utilities including things like a Starbucks locator, a Flickr browser, a cheapest gas locator, as well as tools for MySpace, LiveJournal, and other sites. They also have something called Plusmo Channels, which basically just combines a bunch of related RSS feeds into one "channel" for easier browsing. Still, it's free, and it runs on just about anything, including Java MIDP 2.0 and MIDP 1.0 enabled cellphones, BlackBerrys, and Windows Mobile devices. Plusmo says a BREW version and a native Symbian version are also coming soon.
Screencast of endo's ability to handle event feeds
The endo blog today linked a well-produced screencast (.MOV link) of endo's ability to handle event feeds, an RSS microformat. The screencast walks through endo's feed discovery, pin-pointing a specific event feed from a blog, and then endo's ability to add these events to iCal, complete with a choice of which calendar receives the event.This is a really slick and powerful feature that I haven't seen in other newsreaders, not even the mammoth NetNewsWire. Kudos to Adriaan (endo and ecto's developer) for being on the cutting edge.
Hitachi introduces Albirey eBook in Japan
From what we can tell (machine translation often thwarts our best attempts at fact checking), Hitachi will be joining the likes of display manufacturers iRex and Sony when they release a commercial eBook reader in Japan tomorrow. The black-and-white e-ink model, supposedly called the "Albirey" and developed with technology from Bridgestone, seems to sport a WiFi connection with "the possibility to modify making use of radio communication," whatever that means, and comes in a package with standard A4 paper-size dimensions. The Albirey should be available tomorrow starting at what Nikkei Net is claiming to be 4,000,000 yen, which is probably the result of some Google Language shenanigans, 'cause that's like $36,000.Update: Once again, our readers have stepped in and succeeded where machine translation has failed: apparently the price quoted is for a batch of 10 units, which indicates that this unit probably intended for commercial displays and not consumer eBook consumption. Also, make sure to check out the comments for the full specs.
Cheaper PS3 loses HDMI, slots, Wi-Fi, 40GB
As you can see above, there are a few things different between the two PS3 SKUs planned. (Hint: the obvious alterations concern high-def output and wireless connectivity -- though Bluetooth controllers should work just fine with both, with or without any chrome case highlighting.)So what's HDMI, built-in multimedia card-reader slots, wireless internet connectivity, and an extra 40 gigabytes' hard disk space worth to you? $100? Now that Sony's gone with the 2-SKU approach with its next-gen hardware (a la the Xbox 360's premium and "Core" systems), we can expect some tough consumer choices after six months -- with console shortages possibly for another six months after that -- as $100 separates the base $499 and premium $599 versions of Sony's "Clear Black" hope.HDMI is important to those who want to take full advantage of Blu-ray high def and have the new screens to use it; MemoryStick, SD, and CompactFlash slots would be nice for the PS3 memory-card users and those will run multimedia on the system; Wi-Fi's the only way to avoid stringing ethernet cables for online access; and 360 owners might appreciate the full 60GB available to potential buyers of the premium PS3 model. Neither model comes with a second HDMI port; thankfully, one should hopefully be all most users need. The details are laid out in a feature-comparison table at the end of Sony's official PS3 hardware press release, available in both Adobe Reader and Microsoft Word formats. Determine what's most important to your PS3 ambitions there.[Image pieced together from the PlayStation.com forums; thanks, Guru]
Moving newspapers to e-ink has already begun
William Gibson was certainly right when he said "The future is here. It's just not widely distributed yet." But not for long. The New York Times has a very interesting piece on newspapers going e-paper -- and we aren't talking Internet editions. Besides the obvious discussion of dynamic ads, how much e-papers will cost, and the when, where, and how, we're presented with something interesting: De Tijd, a Belgian financial newspaper, has already put their paper on iLiad e-ink eBook readers; Les Echos in Paris, the IFRA group in Germany, The New York Times, as well as the International Herald Tribune are all in discussions to roll out e-newspaper subscriptions for devices like Sony's Reader later this year. Sure, for now it's still in monochrome, but that won't be for long; besides, it was Earth Day this weekend, people, time to make some sacrifices. Think of the trees, won't you?
