That means in our trivial world that it’s time for new gadgets and the Internet rumor mill is lining up quite a big show from Apple. It’s always this way. The rumors state Apple will do no less than reverse the rotation of the Earth and then Steve Jobs simply introduces a new high-speed interface. But let’s dance anyway.

A few rumors broke weeks back concerning new Mac Pros and Mac Minis. They stated that Apple was going to release new desktops powered by Intel’s latest CPUs of the Sandy Bridge variety. 9to5mac sort of confirmed that at least new Mac Pros are on their way and posted what they claim to be the SKUs. Unsurprisingly after the Xserver’s retirement, the new SKUs talk of a Mac Pro Server, which will likely feature a rack mountable case.

9to5mac also posted SKUs for what are supposed to be new 11- and 13-inch MacBook Airs. These models, if they really do exist, are likely also powered by Sandy Bridge architecture, which mean second generation Core CPUs and probably even Thunderbolt connectivity. Then just today, a new rumor hit that places a backlit keyboard in the MacBook Air. [image via zanoii]

Of course the new Mac Pros and MacBook Airs will rock the latest OS X release. Lion is set to debut this month although Apple has yet to announce the exact date. We’re expecting July 14, but what do we know?

There’s no word on a refreshed Mac Mini but the time frame is right for a new model. The current model debuted last June with a Core 2 Duo CPU; Apple still sells the year-old model. (Fun fact: Search for Core 2 Duo on BestBuy.com and seven out of the nine computers still using the Core 2 Duo are from Apple) Apple will likely bring its whole desktop line to the latest architecture relatively soon and that includes the low-cost Mac Mini.

The Back To School releases might also include a 3G-enabled iPod touch. A rumor broke last week that stated the fifth generation touch will feature a swapable SIM card for data services — like an iPad. The thought is that users will be able to use the iPod with VoIP and streaming services. The same rumor stated that the new model was going to drop this September, but it might come sooner. [Mock-up via iPhoneDownloadBlog]

This time of year is big for computer makers and even more so for slow but steady companies like Apple. The computers released in the second and third quarter are the systems that will carry them through the lucrative fourth quarter. Expect big things.

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So, it should really please you to find out that there is something that will pull you right into the 80s again. Remember the cassette? Yup, that plastic thing with those nerdy stickers on them on which you could write what was on the cassette. Cassettes were also used as data savers for the Commodore 64, and that’s where all my retro feel lies when it comes to Cassettes, but the main use of them was of course for music.

Now check this out! There is actually a really cool cassette imitation that will store your MP3 files and will serve as an MP3 player. Its features are totally awesome, and if it is a true gadget, this whole thing is definitely something you would want to pull out on the train or bus to work on. The geek factor of it is just off the scale, and what I like the most is the way you rewind and fast forward the songs. Just reach inside the “wheels” and turn it, just like you did with the original cassettes. It just doesn’t get more retro than that! Designers: Stefano Pertegato, Massimiliano Rampoldi, Eloisa Tolu, Francesco Schiraldi and Giovanni Mendini.

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So, it should really please you to find out that there is something that will pull you right into the 80s again. Remember the cassette? Yup, that plastic thing with those nerdy stickers on them on which you could write what was on the cassette. Cassettes were also used as data savers for the Commodore 64, and that’s where all my retro feel lies when it comes to Cassettes, but the main use of them was of course for music.

Now check this out! There is actually a really cool cassette imitation that will store your MP3 files and will serve as an MP3 player. Its features are totally awesome, and if it is a true gadget, this whole thing is definitely something you would want to pull out on the train or bus to work on. The geek factor of it is just off the scale, and what I like the most is the way you rewind and fast forward the songs. Just reach inside the “wheels” and turn it, just like you did with the original cassettes. It just doesn’t get more retro than that! Designers: Stefano Pertegato, Massimiliano Rampoldi, Eloisa Tolu, Francesco Schiraldi and Giovanni Mendini.

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The most obvious winner among suppliers of chips for the Xoom was already expected to be Nvidia, the longtime graphics specialist from the PC world that is starting to make waves in mobile. The Silicon Valley company, now deeply committed to combining ARM Holdings microprocessor designs with its own graphics, supplied the dual-processor Tegra 2 chip that does most computing chores in the device.

As noted by UBM TechInsights, one of the so-called teardown specialists that analyzed the Xoom, the two calculating engines give the new device a leg up on the single-processor chips in Apple’s iPad and the Samsung Galaxy S. The firm notes, however, that rivals such as Texas Instruments have competing dual-processor chips that might have done the trick. “Our speculation is that Nvidia comes out ahead because of the ‘softer’ factors – price, availability and support,” UBM writes.

Another rival, Qualcomm, was also passed over for the Xoom’s main processor. But the San Diego company supplied the key communications chipset, which supports several forms of cellular communications.

A more singular feature of Xoom is the fact that Motorola and carrier Verizon Wireless are offering a free upgrade from 3G to 4G communications. But users have to mail their device back to Motorola to make the change, a process expected to take six business days (and comes with advice to back up any personal data on the Xoom before mailing).

Wayne Lam, an engineer at iSuppli, says its preliminary analysis of the Xoom reveals some hows and whys of that process. Motorola built in extra antennas that can work with the 4G as well as 3G. But there are no actual 4G radio components in the device–just a slot with a dummy card in it that could accommodate an upgrade add-on for the Verizon’s LTE 4G network.

IFixit, another teardown specialist that advocates do-it-yourself upgrades and repairs, questioned the rigmarole. “A seasoned technician can perform this swap in less than 10 minutes,” wrote Miroslav Djuric, the firm’s director of technical communications. “Heck, a donkey could probably pull it off in less than two hours. We have no idea why a customer couldn’t just go to a Verizon store and have on-site representatives enable 4G on the spot, just like they’re able to transfer mobile contacts and perform other activation procedures.”

A Motorola spokeswoman responded with a statement that hinted the process might be changed. “At present the plan is to send the device to Motorola for the update,” she said. “Other options are still being discussed and will be announced closer to the availability of the update.”

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Not reading this in a feedreader? If so this has been taken from the original post as seen here: Thanko Announces Super Slim Video Pen 2 [Spy-Friendly Thanko Super Slim Video Pen 2 Shoots HD Video On The Sly].

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We all love desktop wallpapers as they always come in handy and you will always find a wallpaper to express your feelings or mood. I know some of my friends who keep changing their desktop background almost on a daily basis. Unless like me, who rarely change their desktop wallpaper. So, How about you? When was the last time you changed desktop background?

No matter you are into technology or not, we all love new gadgets. iPad is one of the amazing and creative creations form apple so far and it’s getting popular rapidly among all ages. In this post we present amazing collection of Apple iPad wallpapers related to nature, tech, abstract, and characters. Hopefully, everybody will find something interesting to spice up their iPad desktop. All wallpapers can be downloaded for free from their original source.

It’s not a secret that for years, Apple has had a huge impact on designers across the globe. Apple has always able to found an extremely effective way to deliver its message via web to a wide audience and their design is often a key source of inspiration for everyone who is related to design field. You can clearly see the effective use of essential key aspects of product design which are simplicity, readability, presentation and accessibility in their every design. So no wonder that no other company has managed to come up with such a brilliant product appearance like Apple and iPad is one of the latest example of same.

You may be interested in the following related articles as well.

• 121 Amazing Triple Monitor Wallpapers To Spice Up Your Desktop
• 99 Amazing Widescreen Wallpapers To Spice Up Your Desktop
• 115 Amazing Dual Screen Wallpapers To Spice Up Your Desktop
• 35+ New Year Wallpapers to Celebrate The MMX or 2010
• 99 Beautiful Christmas Wallpapers to Spice Up Your Desktop
• 55+ Amazing Halloween Wallpapers to Charm Up Your Desktop

Please feel free to join us and you are always welcome to share your thoughts even if you have more reference links related to other Valentine wallpapers that our readers may like.

Don’t forget to subscribe to our RSS-feed and follow us on Twitter — for recent updates.

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Apple may be selling three iPads a second, but consumer electronics shopping site Retrevo is reporting that 53% of all respondents surveyed in their Pulse Report are not interested in buying any type of tablet at all.

The ongoing study queried more than 1,000 respondents about their attitudes on the iPad, iPhone, Android-based tablets and e-readers.

What’s especially interesting is the somewhat conflicting desires of consumers when it comes to gadgets. More than 20% of those surveyed — or one in five — said they plan to buy an iPhone this year. When it comes to the iPad, however, 52% of those who have yet to purchase one say that they don’t one, and 38% find it to be too pricey. Only 10% indicated that they are waiting for a good excuse before they buy one.

But in a separate question, 40% of consumers who own or plan to own an e-reader indicate that they will buy an iPad this year.

Also, more than half (53%) of the 47% of the respondent pool who are interested in buying a tablet say they would buy an Android-based tablet over an iPad if it was less an expensive. 33% would ditch the iPad if Verizon was the carrier — a somewhat perplexing stat given that the iPad is not a phone, but perhaps data plans are just as important to technology consumers these days. In contrast, 16% of this respondent pool said that nothing would influence them to buy an Android-based tablet over an iPad.

What seems to be happening here is that the consumer population is split down the middle in their attitudes towards tablet devices — technophiles who want new gadgets and everyone else. One point of proof: those with a propensity towards gadgets — ie. they already own an iPhone or Android device — were much less likely to say they didn’t need an iPad. We can also walkaway with the notion that if Android tablets are priced to sell, they will.

[img credits: kbaird, retrevo]

Tags: android, Apple iPad, study, Tablet

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That’s because hardware makers must submit new gadgets for review by the Federal Communications Commission, which worries about things like electromagnetic interference that products might generate. Some Web sites, including Engadget, got their hands on pictures of disassembled iPads that were posted on the FCC Web site as part of the certification process. After those images started popping up on Friday, hardware fans began analyzing them eagerly.

Names of chip suppliers may be treated as proprietary information, and the pictures on the FCC Web site masked images of the components so their suppliers’ name was not visible. But not too well, it seems. Folks at iFixit, a company that does teardowns, managed to exploit their understanding of how documents are handled in Adobe’s PDF format to produce some unredacted pictures.

Not that there are many startling surprises. Apple, as it had foretold, is for the first time providing an internally designed application processor–the main electronic brain for the iPad. Toshiba flash memory chips can be seen; they store data in the iPad. Broadcom appears to be providing a chip for some of the device’s wireless communications, iFixit says. While the initial iPad will only offer Wi-Fi, iFixit also claims to have unearthed a module for 3G communications that, among other things, indicates that Infineon will supply the key baseband chip to tap into cellular networks. All three companies have supplied components for Apple devices in the past.

Keep in mind that this is an iPad that Apple submitted for testing. The company could switch suppliers for some components on the production model that will arrive Saturday. Besides cracking open the cases on the final units, teardown specialists will be stripping the plastic off the chips to reveal other details about that technology and working out estimates of hardware production costs. So stay tuned.

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When I was a young kid, I would watch science fiction movies and always wonder what if they were real.  And they are real now, well most of them at least, like flying space ships and going to a different planets.. they were just in the movies back then but a reality now.  I think we can expect creative people in the science world to develop products that are not only amazing to look at but useful too.

I found some cool gadgets  that we might see in the future.  One is a mirror that can tell us what’s wrong with us just by looking at our reflection.  There is a gadget that helps us dream better dreams (sleep inducer), a traffic ticket that is so techie and a bluetooth device that you can implant on a person’s tooth. My favorite is a computer that allows you to build on the spot whatever you design on it.

You can check out more of the gadgets at Futurist Vision.

Main Image Source

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Google has fronted the cash so that YouTube director Patrick Bolvin could make a viral unboxing video for the Nexus One smartphone.

Gadget geeks on the Internet relish making and watching unboxing videos, gushing over new gadgets like a child who’s just unwrapped a Nintendo Wii on Christmas morning. However, these unboxings are rarely executed by squads of miniature, stop-motion ninjas. This video is a notable exception.

The video is also available in HD, but you’ll have to go all the way to YouTube for that. As we’re writing this, it has more than 1,000 ratings with an average of five stars. Let’s call it a hit.

[via Engadget]

Tags: android, Google, nexus one, ninjas, video, viral video, youtube

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Read the rest of Sling Touch Control 100 Remote Revealed [TV Remote Features 4-inch Screen, Unverisal Connectivity]

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During the CES in Las Vegas Sony presented an update of their camera “Bloggie” which seems to be quite a nifty little piece of hardware. They have managed to squeeze in video, pictures, USB, memory cards, changeable batteries and software into a tiny, quite handy, little gadget that looks as it’s really easy to carry around. Sony focuses their upgraded gadget at the average blogger that wants to be able to do it all and then, as easy as it can get, be able to upload it all to your blog.

There is a cool little feature if you go with the most expensive option that for around $200 will enable you to record 360 degree angle video which you can then rotate and do all kinds of things. Pretty cool, but necessary? Well, I think that one is left for the individual to decide.

But, there is however one significant flaw in the whole system there in my opinion. With a wide market of cell phones available to pretty much rich as poor then why would you go and buy this gadget. Does it even have WiFi? I mean, with a regular cell phone you can even upload and update your blog on the run. So why would this be such a huge addition to your blog? And besides, pretty much every cell phone today has both a video camera along with a static camera…except the iPhone 3G that is. LOL (Even though there is a new iPhone with video I still can’t drop the fact that they didn’t incorporate it into the first edition…lame). Well, I really don’t see the future of this little gadget from Sony. But, then again maybe I am not the average customer they have in mind…but wait, I am a blogger right? Hmm…

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Christmas is here, and the wife has ordered me to take the next three or four days off. I haven’t had more than two days off at any given time in the past year, so perhaps she is right. I have handed over my laptop, handed over the power lead to the desktop and at this moment she is trying to pry my mobile phone out of my hands. I will fight this one, I love my mobile!
Truth is, I love everything about Christmas. The family is all together, lots of food, loads of drink, (hopefully) new gadgets and gaming devices, playing with the kids and there new toys and to top it all off there is lots of snow outside. It could just be the perfect white Christmas.

I will be back next Monday and as most people will still be on holiday I will keep the posts light, with some roundups and showcases.
As time is limited today, I have put together an article on the best of and the most popular Web Design related articles from Speckyboy that have been published in the past year.

I would just like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Season Greetings, from Speckyboy (Paul Andrew) from the Highlands in Scotland!

16 Usable CSS Graph and Bar Chart Tutorials and Techniques

Have you ever even tried to create your own CSS graph? If you have, you will know how difficulty involved. Using Flash is one way to go, but you just can’t beat a beautifully crafted CSS Graph.

32 Indispensable Bookmarklets for Web Developers and Designers

A Bookmarklet or Favelet is a small application tool, stored as the URL of a bookmark in a web browser or as a hyperlink on a web page.
To use these bookmarklets you simply drag links to your Bookmark Toolbar or right click and save link as, this way you will always have quick access to these great and useful tools.

30 Essential Free Portable Web Design and Development Applications

All of the freeware applications, in this post, have been in some cases, modified and trimmed down in size to allow them to fit on to a portable device like a USB drive or a portable hard drive. Rather than carrying a bulky laptop, you can carry all your applications and programs, your bookmarks, local servers, emails, passwords, graphic editors and favorite browsers with you anywhere in your pocket.

34 Amazing Tumblr Themes, Twitter could never look this good!!!

Twitter is the number 1 in the war of the microblogging apps, does it deserve its place there? Maybe. What about the others? Do you remember Tumblr?
A down side of Twitter is the inability to Customize your Twitter homepage, changing the background and styling the links is about all you will get. With Tumblr, there is a lot more, you can create a sophisticated unique theme very easily, all you need is a basic knowledge of CSS, and you are good to go…or you can download a theme.

25 Powerful and Useful jQuery Tutorials for Developers and Designers

jQuery is everywhere, its fast and versatile, and is rapidly becoming as common on websites as CSS. The only small problem you may have is keeping up with its speedy development. This article aims to do just that, it attempts to bring you up to speed with latest developments with these fresh jQuery plugins and tutorial

40 Stylish, Minimal and Clean Free WordPress Themes

What has happened to blogging, minimal design seems to be a forgotten style within blogging, everywhere you look the themes are graphically heavy and the basic premise of blogging is missing, which is a simple online diary.
Minimalism as a term is used to describe a design style that has been reduced to its bare elements, were only the content and navigation are evident and with limited graphics. In this post we have 40 Minimal WordPress Themes, so, lets make blogging look like its suppose to!

22 Versatile Adobe Flash Menu and Navigation Tutorials

Flash design is being used less and less within web design nowadays, ads and games aside. We all know how about its down sides, and everyone certainly hates the “Click here to open in Full Screen” links that are, fortunately, not being used as much as in years gone by. There is no denying it though, visually Flash is beautiful. In this post we have 22 Flash Menu and Navigation Tutorials.

22 CSS Button Styling Tutorials and Techniques

CSS button styling can be tricky and sometimes tedious. If you are looking for a simple and effective way of creating dynamic CSS buttons with cross browser compatibility, these tutorials are for you.

15 Amazing jQuery Image Gallery/Slideshow Plugins and Tutorials

Image galleries, sliders and slideshows have become increasingly popular within webpages over the last year or so, and with jQuery becoming ever more popular, more and more developers have been creating these amazing powerful, versatile and sleek galleries. In this article you will the most powerful, the most creative and most versatile of jQuery plugins and tutorials built using jQuery.

24 CSS (in some cases with jQuery) Navigation and Menu Tutorials

The most important part of designing a new site is the planning and design of the navigation or menu system. But this can be tricky, time consuming and often frustrating. You need something that will fit into your design and most importantly, allow your readers to navigate with ease. In this post you will find 24 CSS (in some cases with a little jQuery) Navigation and Menu Tutorials to help you on your way.

14 Essential WordPress Development and Design Cheat Sheets

It amazes me how, sometimes, the simplest of posts can become one of the most popular. I remember I had chicken pox when I put this together, I was feeling awful, and just wanted something quick and painless to publish… and it became popular.

20+ Resources and Tutorials for Creative Forms using CSS

Forms do not have to be boring and ugly, they too can be beautiful. With the proper understanding of each element (radio buttons, checkboxes, textareas..), CSS know-how, a little patience and some creativity you can make your forms beautiful. Throw in, the always important, semantics and accessibilty and things can get tricky.

40 Free and Essential Web Design and Development Books from Google

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Google Books is perhaps one of the most untapped design and development resources…time to change all that. In this post there are over 40 web design and development books available from Google, they range from CSS, HTML, XHTML, DHTML, Actioscript, Javascript, Ajax, Perl, Ruby, MooTools, jQuery, Firefox and evem iPhone development. Not all books are complete, but offer plenty of information to help with your development.

50 Useful Tools and Generators for Easy CSS Development

All of these CSS tools have been sorted into the following categories: Grid and Layout, CSS Optimisers, CSS Menus Tools, CSS Buttons, CSS Rounded Corners, CSS Frames, CSS Sprites, CSS Tables, CSS Typography and CSS Forms.

30 Tutorials Combining Both WordPress and jQuery

Take the most popular CMS, WordPress, and then take the easiest and most versatile of Javscript libraries, jQuery, and you have a match made in heaven. Implementing jQuery within WordPress is a lot easier than you would think, all you need is a little support from the huge WP community and a little patience, and you are good to go. In this post you will find 30 Tutorials Combining both WordPress and jQuery.

20+ Free and Stylish Typography WordPress Themes

Stylish typography in web design gives your site or blog an added air of quality and sophistication, it demonstrates that mere text can transform a dull and bland design into an eye catching collage of visual architecture. In this article you will find 20 of the best Stylish Typography WordPress Themes.

50 Surprisingly Amazing Themes for Blogger

Blogger may not be the first blogging platform you would choose, it does have a reputation of being lacklustre, featureless and the bog standard skins have the look of a site that was designed five years ago. The reputation is maybe a little bit exaggerated, but really, when was the last time you had a look at Blogger?

The Blueprint CSS Framework – Tutorials, How-to Guides and Tools

CSS frameworks are a Gods send. They speed up development, ensure usability, meet all W3C standards, compatabile across most browsers and a hell of a lot more. Sounds marvelous doesn’t it. Why doesn’t everybody use them? Well, for the novice developer, frameworks, may be a little bit tricky to get there head around? That is were this article comes in, to hopefully give everybody a better understanding of what a framework is and how to use it effectively.

40 Awesome and Fresh WordPress Themes

Think back to three years ago and to the standards of blogging platforms and to the power of the then themes. WordPress and its community changed all that, the blogging platform has evolved into an industry standard power house CMS, yet it is still easy to use and build upon. That is why it is so popular.

10 Online Tools and Apps to Help Optimize and Format CSS

Why would you ever need to optimize (or optimise, which ever spelling you prefer) or reFormat your CSS? Optimizing your CSS will not only allow your web page to load quicker, it also increases the durability and resilience of your site when there is a spike in visitors (i.e. the Digg effect) and, for me, the most important part is that it gives you more readable code.

A Collection of Useful Web Design Wireframing Resources

Wireframing is one of the best parts of starting a new web design project. You have a blank canvas and for that short period you are allowed to let your creativity rein free. OK, your design may eventually be spoiled by the clients input… but for that short time it was perfect …
Anyway, today’s post is a collection of useful resources for web design wireframing, prototyping and mockups. There are templates for, possibly every browser in every size, there are form and button templates for all browsers and a hell of a lot more.

An Introduction to Understanding and Implementing Web Usability

The main reason web sites are built is so that they are functional to be USED. It’s a simple as that. They are tools, references and resources, nothing more. And as web designers, we need to always remember that.
Designing a web site needs to be about the user and only for the user and every possible need of said user has to have been foreseen and catered for. Only then can a web site be usable. That is what USABILITY is.

25 Graph and Chart Solutions for Web Developers

Creating an accessible data chart or graph in HTML is very tricky to achieve, especially with some elements, such as images, that allow only the most basic features that give textual information to non-visual users. What are the solutions?
PHP, Flash, Javscript (jQuery, MooTools, Prototype) and CSS can all be utilized successfully to implement interactive visualizations, and there are many techniques and solutions from each that will allow you to display them on web pages and apps.

A Collection of HTML5 Resources and Tutorials

By now everyone has heard of HTML 5 and its new functionalities. Pretty exciting isn't it… also a little daunting.
Of course, there are two sides to the excitement, most developers love it, others feel it has come to soon and we are not ready for it. What ever your feelings are on this issue, it doesn't matter, it is here, so lets work with it.

8 Free Pictogram Icon Libraries and Collections

A pictogram is a graphical symbol that can represent a sign, simple instructions or even an idea.In essence, pictograms area concept that has been stripped down to its bare essentials, yet still recognizable as the original idea.
Pictograms can be of help with usability and accessibility on your web site. It is a universal language, everyone understands and can read the icons.

40 Fresh and Free Icon Sets for Web Designers and Bloggers

One of the most sought after elements of any web design are icons. If you are creative enough to design your own icon set and tailor make them for your sites design, you are very lucky, and I am envious. For the rest of us, we have to settle for the work of the many talented graphic designers who release there icon designs freely, and to them we are grateful.
In this post we have collected 40 recently released free icon-sets for web designers, developers and bloggers.

35 Original and Creative Free Twitter Icon Sets

Most Twitter “Follow Me” buttons and icons are boring (look at mine, very dull),souless and cliched. How about something with some creativity, originality and a little bit of charcter. In this post that is exactly what you will find, 35 Original and Creative Twitter Icon Sets.

50 High Quality Free Icon Sets in PSD Format

When a designer releases a free high quality icon set, we are all delighted and grateful. And when a designer releases an icon set accompanied by the .psd files we are ecstatic. An icon set may at times be limited to your requirements, but with .psd you now have the chance to extend the set and ctreate something original.

50 Social Service and Bookmarking Icon Sets for Bloggers

There are many elements of blogging that are essential, on of the the most important is giving readers the chance to share your posts and information with a wider audience, and we accomplish this via the many social bookmarking services (digg, delicious, twitter…) that are available. Finding a bookmarking iconset that fits into your theme can be difficult or maybe you simply want something that is not boring or the bland.

50 of the Best Ever Web Development, Design and Application Icon Sets

This was our most popular post of the year, so, if you are looking for that perfect icon for your web site, blog, web app or application, you will find them here.

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I guess Christmas comes early this year to those who patiently wait. And in case you love leaked shots of brand new gadgets then you’re just about to get your fix. It looks like that bada OS from Samsung has been leaked. All over the Internet screenshots of the new OS have been made public and naturally, TFTS couldn’t miss any of them.
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Read the rest of Samsung bada OS Screenshots Get Leaked [Samsung bada OS User Interface Available for the Human Eye]

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The Google Wave invite rollout extravaganza started more than a month ago. While in some respects the buzz around Google Wave has started to subside, the term is still constantly one of the top trending topics on Twitter, and new gadgets, extensions, and applications are now starting to appear on a daily basis.

Each day more and more people are opening up their email inbox to find an invite to Google Wave. With that shiny new invite comes the inevitable quest for ideas about to how to put the medium to good use.

Should you happen to be one of those people, we’ve got a number of different resources that you can use to get up to speed with Google Wave. This time around, however, we wanted to look at how people are actually using it now. From process modelling and customer service, to project collaboration, annotation, and gaming, the examples listed here highlight the power of the newborn medium, and in part, showcase what we can expect as the platform matures.

1. SAP Gravity: Modeling within Google Wave

Understanding the power of real-time collaboration and its relevance to clients, SAP Research in Australia has developed a business process modeling tool called Gravity that works within Google Wave.

The sophisticated tool, which can be embedded within a Wave as a gadget, allows for team members to remotely build complex models in unison, or after catching up via playback, without having to leave Google Wave.

Gravity and Google Wave work together harmoniously to create a modeling environment that appears to be just as robust as, if not more flexible than, expensive desktop software built for the same purpose.

We think SAP is certainly on to something here, and we encourage you to watch the video demonstration of Gravity in Google Wave in action.

2. Salesforce: Google Wave for Customer Service

Salesforce, like SAP, has figured out that they can use the Google Wave platform to support client needs and tackle real-life problems. As such, Salesforce has created a Google Wave extension that clients can use to help automate, and even personalize, the customer service experience.

Watch the demonstration video to see how the Salesforce extension gives customers the ability to use Google Wave to interact with an automated support robot. Of course, customers can request assistance from a human within the Wave as well.

What makes this example stand out is the fact that not only is the Google Wave dialogue being stored as a case record within Salesforce, but, because the robot is connected to the Salesforce Service Cloud, the robot can access previously stored customer data for tailored service. Ultimately, Salesforce has found a way to potentially save clients money on customer service efforts, all the while maintaining active records, with the assistance of Google Wave.

3. Mingle: Integrated Project Collaboration

Mingle is a project management and team collaboration tool developed by ThoughtWorks Studios, who realized that they could add Mingle’s project management metadata to conversations in Google Wave.

The integration is still a work in progress, but a demonstration of the concept was highlighted at Enterprise 2.0, and the basic idea is to give Google Wave users/Mingle clients the ability to bring their Mingle task data, which takes the form of cards, into Google Wave. Existing Mingle cards can be embedded into Wave conversation threads, and new Mingle cards/tasks can be created within Google Wave.

This particular use case highlights how Google Wave can work with existing project management systems for more streamlined and cohesive communication, creating parity regardless of where the user is accessing project data.

4. Ecomm Conference: Annotating a Live Event

Just last week our CEO, Pete Cashmore, wrote about how the savvy people behind the Ecomm conference doled out Wave accounts to attendees so that they could collaborate, in real-time, to annotate presentation content. The result was arguably a much better way to consume conference content than attempting to follow hashtag tweets on Twitter.

You can read the full account, which was documented by Charlie Osmond, on the FreshWords blog, but here’s an excerpt that we think drives home the utility of the use case.

“Here’s what happened: an audience member would create a Google Wave and others in the audience would edit the wave during the presentation. The result would be a crowd-sourced write-up of the presentation: a transcript of key points and a record of audience comments.”

We happen to think this particular use case is genius, especially for content-rich seminars and events where attendees are typically taking their own individual notes. With the shared Google Wave experience they can combine forces to create a more meaningful and accurate recounting of information shared in conference sessions.

5. Gamers: Google Wave RPGs

A very detailed Ars Technica post highlights that there’s a growing collection of Google Wave users who are using the medium to play wave-borne RPGs (role playing games). As mentioned in the post, there’s a even a Wave dedicated to serving as an index for all the Wave RPGs currently in existence, and the last time we counted it included upwards of 300 contributing members, and a combination of 30 different ideas or full-fledged games.

According to Jon Stokes, the author of the post, Google Wave is adequate for some RPGs, but it could certainly be improved to allow for a more enjoyable experience. In the excerpt below, Stokes describes the current RPG experience within Google Wave:

“The few games I’m following typically have at least three waves: one for recruiting and general discussion, another for out-of-character interactions (”table talk”), and the main wave where the actual in-character gaming takes place. Individual players are also encouraged to start waves between themselves for any conversations that the GM shouldn’t be privy to. Character sheets can be posted in a private wave between a player and the GM, and character biographies can go anywhere where the other players can get access to them.

The waves are persistent, accessible to anyone who’s added to them, and include the ability to track changes, so they ultimately work quite well as a medium for the non-tactical parts of an RPG. A newcomer can jump right in and get up-to-speed on past interactions, and a GM or industrious player can constantly maintain the official record of play by going back and fixing errors, formatting text, adding and deleting material, and reorganizing posts. Character generation seems to work quite well in Wave, since players can develop the shared character sheet at their own pace with periodic feedback from the GM.”

Image from watch4u on Flickr

Tags: Google Wave, mingle, rpg, Salesforce, SAP

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Earlier this year, we wrote about Dictionary.com’s nifty iPhone app. Since April, the app has seen 3 million downloads and is steadily growing in popularity. Today, Dictionary.com (which as part of the Ask.com network that also includes Thesaurus.com) is launching a similar application for BlackBerry smartphones, which has a few key differentiating factors from its sister iPhone app.

In addition to providing users with more than 500,000 words, definitions and synonyms, the app also features audio pronunciations, spelling suggestions, a “Word of the Day” for both English and Spanish and the ability to view a recently searched terms list. One of the features that is exclusively available on the Blackberry app is the ability to access a definition or synonym while reading or drafting an email. The app lets you highlight the word and you’ll be given an option to find a synonym or definition. The app also has a native feature that lets you email or SMS text any word and its definition to yourself or a contact.

Doug Leeds, president of Dictionary.com, says that the features included in the Dictionary.com app were designed to meet the specific professional needs of BlackBerry users. For example, definitions have been condensed to be more functional on a Blackberry screen. Leeds also tells us that they are releasing their API to partners to incorporate into various applications. While Dictionary.com is still finalizing partners, Leeds says that the API will be incorporated on e-books, letting users (but wouldn’t say which one).

While Dictionary.com’s BlackBerry app is free, the Oxford American Dictionary is $19.99 on Blackberry’s App world. Dictionary.com was bought by IAC-run Ask.com in July of 2008 when the conglomerate bought Lexico, the operator of Dictionary.com, Thesaurus.com and Reference.com.

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