News and Information Blog 01 2009

Surf the Earth with Google and Your Wii

Showing an example of how developers can do some really cool stuff with the Google Earth API, Google Earth iPhone Engineer David Phillip Oster has created a program that allows people to "surf" any region on the Earth's surface using the balance board for the Nintendo Wii.

Oster used the Google Earth Browser plug-in and a javascript API, and the board transmits the person's movements to the application using Bluetooth. See it in action:read more

Read more here

Banneker Industries CEO a business ‘Star’

WASHINGTON – Cheryl W. Snead, left, the founder, president and CEO of North Smithfield-based Banneker Industries Inc., will receive top honors from the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council. Linda Denny, the WBNEC’s president and CEO, cited Snead’s “strategic vision, business acumen and sheer talent.”

Read more here

Custom Alert Box

Create your own alert boxes, customized to match your site. Use this script to override the default window.alert method of a browser. Easy to implement and customize.

Read more here

Google Adding Geotagging to Blogger

Google's Blogger has addd a feature to the new post editor in Blogger in Draft. Blogger in Draft is a special version of Blogger where they try out new features before they release them to everyone. Kind of like Google Labs. With geotagging, you can add a location to your each of your blog posts, like with time stamps.read more

Read more here

Apple Kills iTunes DRM at Its Macworld Finale

Steve Jobs and several expected products didn't make an appearance. But one long-rumored development did grace the stage for Apple's last Macworld.

Read more here

Local aid, pensions key to Carcieri plan

PROVIDENCE - Gov. Donald L. Carcieri tonight unveiled a mid-year state budget package that calls for a $153.89 million cut in local aid, assumes $54 million in savings from pension reforms and eliminates more than 490 vacant jobs as part of an effort to close a projected $357.4 million shortfall.

Read more here

Monster Cable settles with mini-golf company

BRISBANE, Calif., and PROVIDENCE – Monster Entertainment LLC, parent of the Monster Mini-Golf franchise operation, has announced a settlement of its nearly two-year trademark battle with Monster Cable Products Inc.

Read more here

Apple Releases New iWork Suite and Online Version

Today Apple announced the newest version of its office productivity suite iWork, which includes:

- Pages '09
- Numbers'09, and
- Keynote '09read more

Read more here

New 2009 coupon

Baghaus.com - New 2009 Special Coupon Update January 5 - 12

This Week's deal as follows:

Baghaus Bringing in 2009 Deal:

Offer: 2009 Double Deal - Extra 20% Off + Free Shipping on Orders over $50.
Coupon Code: 2009SALE
Active: January 5th, 2009
Expires: January 12th, 2009
Link: http://www.shareasale.com/u.cfm?d=15117&m=11744&u=[YOURID] Note: In the above link please replace "[YOURID]" with your unique Shareasale tracking ID which can be found in any of your existing Shareasale links. This deal is active in the Shareasale Deals and Coupons database. Information about the program can be found on the Baghaus affiliate program page. Sign up for the affiliate program here.

MD5 Algorithm

The MD5 algorithm is a secure hash function. It takes a string input, and produces a fixed size number - 128 bits. This number is a hash of the input - a small change in the input results in a substantial change in the output. The functions are thought to be secure, in the sense that it would require an enormous amount of computing power to find a string which hashes to a chosen value. In others words, there's no way to decrypt a secure hash. The uses of secure hashes include digital signatures and challenge hash authentication.

Read more here

Final Week to Vote: Excellence in Technology Awards

Voting ends this Friday, January 9. Don't miss your chance to pick the best in small business hardware, software and services. The finalists are set. You decide the winners.

Read more here

E-commerce Silver Lining Despite Holiday Dip

While consumers bought less overall, some online areas experienced good growth.

Read more here

Taco buys electronic-control maker

CRANSTON – John Hazen White Jr., president and CEO of Taco Inc., today announced that his company has acquired the assets of Innovex Technologies LLC of Lewiston, Maine. Details of the transaction were not released.

Read more here

Google Sites Remain Top Video Property

U.S. Internet users watched 12.7 billion online videos during the month of November, representing an increase of 34 percent over a year ago, according to comScore Video Metrix.Google sites were again the top U.S. video property with nearly 5.1 billion videos viewed (representing a 40 percent share of all videos viewed), with YouTube accounting for more than 98 percent of all videos viewed at the property. read more

Read more here

Digg.com Suffers Under Regime Change

It seems all good things are corrupted or abused eventually. For Digg.com, habitually might be a better choice than eventually. SEOs, thanks to aggressive blackballing by the Digg “bury-brigade,” were perhaps the earliest and most blatantly ostracized group muscled out of the prevailing purist community there—no salesmen allowed. Marketers and PR flaks effectively excommunicated, internal drama is free is to ensue as “powerdiggers” are accused of setting up a Digg.com good ole boy network.
read more

Read more here

January Bonus for MyPypeline

Get a 10% commission bonus in January when you make 3 or more sales during the month. Once you hit the target, just drop us a line at affiliate +at+ mypypeline.com and we'll get the bonus credited to your Linkshare account. Check out all the details and sign up for this video fitness affiliate program.

The Year in Social Media: 2008

In what will likely be my final year-end list of 2008, I have compiled one more taking a look at the year in social media. This follows my articles looking at the year in online video and the year in online music. Like with those, I dug through our archives and picked out a number of highlights from the social media industry.read more

Read more here

Amazon Hangs Tough in Satisfaction Stats

Other major online retailers reported a decline in customer satisfaction. Could this mean more rough times ahead for the industry?

Read more here

Using getElementsByClassName to Obtain an Array

This discussion looks at how to construct a function to get an array of all the elements with a specified class. Very interesting, with many excellent points.

Read more here

Creating nursing homes worth living in

You can’t really understand nursing homes until you put yourself in the elders’ shoes.
The members of the Nursing Home of the Future team knew that going in, but spending whole days with residents of the Tockwotton Home, hearing their stories, watching them in their rooms, in the dining area, in exercise class, at the card table … that really opened their eyes.

Read more here