Yahoo plans to begin a beta test of a major overhaul of its online calendar Wednesday, a redesign that brings new advertising and social-networking possibilities.
The new site brings a more polished Web 2.0 interface, with drag-and-drop abilities, color-coded entries, Flickr image backdrops, and a slick "zoom" feature that expands a single day's schedule to a usefully large size when browsing in the monthly view. And picking up an ability from No. 2 rival Google Calendar, the new design finally moves beyond the narrow single-user calendar idea of the earlier design.
For example, people can subscribe to others' calendars, such as schedules for sports teams or college courses, and to share calendars publicly or with others who've been invited, said Scott Dietzen, who took over Yahoo's mail and communications business in June.
And through a later upgrade, Yahoo will build in access to the company's Upcoming service to share and find events, he added. This sidebar will show popular local events and--through the "vitality" information Yahoo users can share as part of the Yahoo Open Strategy--the events on the calendars of a person's top social contacts, Dietzen said.
Yahoo Mail is used by about 278 million people each month, but Yahoo Calendar is relatively unknown with 8 million users, according to ComScore's August statistics. If the company is successful with its calendar push, the calendar will narrow that usage gap, making scheduling a more active and useful part of people's online lives.
Usage has been "relatively flat," he said, but "We think we're going to see some very nice growth...I think it's poised to go mainstream. It's the combination of mobile devices and collaborative authoring in terms of publish and subscribe."
The new Yahoo calendar site lets users zoom into a day's events from the monthly view. (Click to enlarge.)
Of course, Yahoo doesn't just want to be useful to people: it's under financial pressure, and calendars provide at least in theory a better way to make money. Today's calendar shows ordinary banner advertisements, but the new design offers space on the lower left for advertising promotions. Clicking the link can add an event to the user's calendar, and the advertiser will be able to gauge more precisely how successful the ad campaign is.
"With sponsored events in the calendar, you can do very, very narrow targeting," Dietzen said. "We're trying to strive for ways that help Yahoo monetize, but that enhance the user experience as opposed to detract."
The new beta will be available to a gradually larger subset of subscribers in the United States, United Kingdom, India, Taiwan, and Brazil, though users can sign up at the Yahoo Calendar switch site. The company plans to have the beta version in use globally by the end of the year, but Dietzen wouldn't share when it expects to release the final version.
The new Yahoo Calendar is based on the calendar technology of Zimbra, the open-source e-mail, contacts, and calendar start-up Yahoo acquired in 2007. "This is the first wide-scale deployment of Zimbra technology for Yahoo consumer technology. It won't be the last," Dietzen said.
One benefit of the Zimbra technology is the ability to synchronize with calendars stored with Microsoft's Outlook software, though that won't come until a future version, he added. Also coming is iPhone synchronization, he said.
The new Yahoo Calendar can show Flickr images as a background, though not yet a user's own shots. That's planned for a future version. (Click to enlarge.)
My first full day with the iPhone 3G turned out to be too full. At least as far as the iPhone was concerned. It was just two in the afternoon when the screen displayed the most unwelcome dialog box in mobile computing: low battery: 20% of battery remaining. In my experience, that message's real meaning is make your last call NOW, because the lights are going out soon. Though it didn't happen instantly, within a few minutes that gorgeous screen looked like the closing shot of the The Sopranos finale.
I had been enjoying the iPhone 3G. The out-of-the-box price was right — as low as $200, with a two-year contract — if you qualify for the subsidy from AT&T. It was slimmer and sleeker than its predecessor. It had real GPS. And, addressing my biggest problem with the original iPhone, data loaded much faster when a 3G network was available. Most of all, I was itching to try out loads of the intriguing applications from the iTunes App Store, about a dozen of which I'd already downloaded. But there's no joy in a juiceless phone.
How bad is the problem? No way around it — 3G cellular chips eat energy. But Apple's Bob Borchers contends that the iPhone team succeeded in extending battery life to an acceptable level. There's evidence to back this up: The iPhone does best its 3G rivals when it comes to run time.
Nonetheless, battery life is more of a challenge for the iPhone than for its competitors, because Apple's multitouch darling entices you to actually...
Wired.com
Uncle Woz is stirring things up today in an interview with The Telegraph, saying that he thinks "the iPod has sort of lived a long life at number one, things like, if you look back to transistor radios and Walkmans, they kind of die out after a while... they get real cheap and then they are not selling as much." That's certainly an interesting parallel to draw, since the iPod is unquestionably the market leader and the recent updates to the nano and classic weren't particularly overwhelming -- but we've got to disagree here and say that the metaphor doesn't quite work. Walkmans and radios were standalone products that didn't really change over time, while the iPod is clearly evolving into a compelling standalone computing platform -- and it's tied to iTunes, which, hate it or love it, is the most popular content store out there. Sure, things could change dramatically -- competitors like the Zune are getting way better, subscription music could finally take off, and DRM is slowly going away (at least for music) -- but it's hard to see Apple getting baited into a brand-tarnishing price war or simply letting the iPod fade away without putting up a fight. We'll see, we suppose -- any of you willing to throw down some bold predictions?[Via Wired]Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
The European Union already initiated a Battery Directive in 2006 that aimed to make it easier to dispose of and recycle old batteries, but it looks like it's now taking things one big step further with its "New Battery Directive," which proposes that batteries in all electronic devices should be able to be "readily removed" for replacement or disposal. New Electronics' Gary Nevison further adds that "the requirement is clearly intended to ensure that users can remove batteries by opening a cover by hand or after removal of one or two screws," which would obviously pose a bit of a problem for the iPhone, not to mention every iPod and even a few non-Apple devices. Then again, this wouldn't be the first time that Apple has tangled with the EU, and we have a sneaking suspicion that it won't be the last.
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For the iPhone app addicts out there: 148Apps not only reviews and offers up lists of the (top 148) free apps, free games, and other categories, but offers an feed-friendly list of apps that have dropped in price, sometimes all the way to free. Got a better source for app news and deals? Tell us in the comments. [via]
On my Windows Mobile Dash I used to keep track of television listings with Handmark's free TV Guide Mobile app which is also supported on BlackBerry devices. It works well and kept me up to date on what I might be missing if I hadn't set the DVR to record...
Hanging out at sites like Giz may have instilled in you an insatiable, pocket-emptying gadget habit. But now we're entering a new era—the old guys on the TV are saying that soon we may not even have pockets, let alone money for them. Don't panic though: You've probably got a wealth of gadgetry sitting underutilized in your living rooms, closets and basements, just waiting to be given powerful new (not exactly authorized) features. For free.
I've collected the best firmware replacements, software mods and homebrew hacks from the DMCA-flouting, EULA-hating frontiers of gadgetland that'll breathe new life into your stable of hardware and maybe—just maybe—let you feel that lusty new-gadget rush again.
Turn Your Xbox, Old PC or Apple TV into a Genuine Media Center Xbox Media Center is about as refined as an unauthorized hack can get, playing back virtually any audio and video format, running a bevy of console emulators and still playing your Xbox games. To be honest, this should almost be viewed as a natural update for every Xbox, which at its core is a slow but functional PC with an easy TV connection. (Any actual PCs you have lying around can run a PC-ported version of XBMC.)
Boxee is a very slick fork of the XBMC project for Mac, and it's available for Apple TV. As shipped, the Apple TV works fine within the closed iTunes ecosystem, but Boxee's support for virtually every video codec and free online video like YouTube, CNN, BBC, and Revision3 will suit your new, more destitute lifestyle a bit better.
Difficulty: Easy to Moderate. Installation is pretty straightforward in most cases, with simple Boxee and XBMC setup programs available for Windows, Mac and Linux. Before you load XBMC, though, you have to mod your Xbox with one of these methods, many of which require a specific game. After that it's all install wizards and lollipops.
Installing anything on the locked-down Apple TV used to take some serious finagling, but there are now tools that will create an automated Boxee installer on a flash drive. Just plug the drive in, restart and you're good to go. XBMC Online ManualBoxee
Make Over Your iPod, Archos, iRiver or Sandisk with Rockbox It's hard to look at the current generation of media players and not admire their diverse capabilities and extensible software platforms. That's not to say that your 5th-gen iPod doesn't play back music perfectly well, or that your iRiver H10 still isn't a kickass media player, but they do feel a bit dated. Rockbox replaces your MP3 player's operating system with something more substantial, effectively making it a completely new device. You get endless codec support, advanced audio options, dozens of games, useful apps like a calculator and a text editor, plus you can choose from tons of different interface skins for a unique look and feel. Rockbox's tweaking possibilities mean you will earn admiring "what is that?" questions from friends, and it won't cost you a thing. If your player isn't supported yet just hold on—everything from the Zen Vision:M to the Toshiba Gigabeat S has a fairly active dev team.
Difficulty: Easy. Rockbox has an automated tool called the Rockbox Utility available for Windows, Mac and Linux. It does the work for you. Even better, it often automatically configures your player to dual boot with its original OS. Rockbox Official Site
Convert Your PC or Notebook Into A Much More Expensive Mac It's undeniable that Macs are too expensive. For many, they are considered a luxury item whose added cost doesn't justify the benefit. Luckily Apple's switch to an Intel platform opened up a world of unauthorized OS X installations which can turn your existing PC into a powerhouse Mac Pro workstation, or morph your MSI Wind or Asus EeePC into the Mac netbook that should be in their goddamn product line anyway. Check the hardware compatibility list to see if your PC is eligible for the upgrade.
Difficulty: Moderate to Hard. If you're not morally opposed to downloading iATKOS and Kalyway, which are pre-patched Leopard install DVDs (this is bit torrent territory), then the process is much like installing any other OS. If you insist on building your own patched install from a DVD you own, then, well, good luck. Always check hardware lists first, though, because driver support is everything. OSX86 Project Page
Flash Your Crappy Router Into a Top-Line Piece of Hardware The DD-WRT project exists for a simple reason: Most routers are physically very similar, but are priced differently because of functionality derived from software. The DD-WRT firmware unlocks the potential of the most basic routers out there—too many to name but damn if yours isn't on the list. As it turns out, your budget model is kind of impressive: Program-specific traffic throttling, professional level wireless security and radical signal boosting are just a few of the dozens of new features that can be enabled.
Difficulty: Easy. If you can't manage this one, then you don't deserve a router—installation just takes a few clicks on the device's default configuration pages. A word of caution, though: Make sure your router configuration page is totally compatible with your browser before the operation, as some choke on Firefox and can botch firmware upgrades. Stick to IE if you have the choice. DD-WRT Project Page
Download Updated Maps For Your Old GPS I'm referring of course to capital 'D' downloading here, mainly because at the moment GPS map updates are a racket. You could spend hundreds of dollars on map data that is freely available on Google Maps, Microsoft Live and MapQuest, among others, or you can just, you know, not. Map packs for Garmin, TomTom and Magellan units are floating around torrent sites and usually don't require much more than a simple CD image mount and run routine to set up. (Guilty conscience sold separately.)
Difficulty: Easy to Moderate. If you're just running a copy of a CD, then you'll be able to use the installation wizards. Some more involved methods for Windows CE-based devices require some SSH file transfers, but these are relatively rare.
Jailbreak Your iPhone for Wi-Fi Internet Tethering Two internet plans are enough, but to sign on to a mobile internet contract when you've already got unlimited iPhone data feels kind of stupid. Jailbreaking your iPhone is now about as easy as performing a firmware upgrade, and there are actually multiple tethering apps. PDANet and iPhoneModem both work a treat, but keep in mind that excessive usage could draw AT&T's attention and ire: Tethering is not allowed on the data plan, even though it works fine. Both apps are available in Cydia, where you can also find a limited assortment of other apps that don't have a place in the app store.
Difficulty: Moderate. Jailbreaking can be managed through the Dev Team's fantastic Quickpwn tool, but it does take a few minutes and can go wrong if instructions aren't followed closely. After jailbreak, Cydia and Installer fill the role of the gray-market app store, functioning as simple package managers that are arguably as polished as their more legitimate younger brother.
PDANet and iPhoneModem take different approaches to tethering, but neither requires more networking expertise than it would take to, say, set up a router. iPhone JailbreakPDANetiPhoneModem
Turn Your Wii Into a Free Emulation Machine It's more than a little infuriating to have to repurchase your childhood library of console games from the Virtual Console, especially when free PC emulators and accompanying ROMs abound on the old intertubes. All you need is a copy of Legend of Zelda: The Twilight Princess, an SD card and an SD reader and you're ready to install A Boy and His Blob: Trouble on Blobolonia, which is pretty much all anyone has ever really needed since this whole "Video Gaming Television Machine" thing got under way in the first place. Throw in extended media playback and some helpful widgets for an extra value-add.
Difficulty: Moderate. This is one of the only hacks here that needs additional hardware to work, even if it's basic. The good news is that once you find a copy of Zelda and load up your SD card, the process pretty much takes care of itself. Further app installs are taken care of through a intuitive dedicated channel. WiiBrew WIki
A great resource for similar projects is our industrious sister site Lifehacker, where you can find a veritable treasure trove of tutorials and tricks. Have you postponed any gadget purchases until you're sure your bank is solvent? Have any other budget hardware resurrection techniques that we missed? Let us know in the comments.
Need more evidence that Democrats are more grassroots tech savvy than their elephantine counterparts? At a Sarah Palin rally in LA on Saturday, the California Democratic party rented a digital billboard across the street which displayed questions for the veep candiate sent by text message. Granted, even if Palin did read them, she wouldn't be able to recall which ones she read specifically. But still, quite awesome—I hope both parties get creative with tech like this, it's a fantastic way to reach voters. [CA Dems via Online Video Watch via Textually]
The iPhone doesn't seem to be the ideal platform for a First-Person Shooter - graphically it is more than up to the job, but the controls would seem to be a problem.
Taking a tip from the port of Quake 3 to the Jailbroken iPhone/Touch, Source IT software are working on a new game, Zombie Mansion, that uses the accelerometer to control movement, with screen taps firing weapons.
According to Source IT the game will be finished "When it's ready", which bodes well we hope.
NewsFactor - Apple may not have reached its goal of selling 10 million iPhone 3Gs yet, but the company has spurred a large number of consumers to abandon their carriers and flock to AT&T, the exclusive mobile carrier for the iPhone in the U.S.
Apple recently announced that in order to submit a product review of any app in the iPhone App Store, the reviewer must own the app in question, whether through free download or purchase. When you attempt to write a review for a particular product, iTunes searches your Applications folder for the app in question. If found, iTunes opens the review form for that product, and you can enter your review. If iTunes can't find the app, a dialog informs you, "You must own this item to write a Customer Review" and refuses to let you review the app.
Prior to this change, many developers felt their products were being unfairly rated and reviewed by people who hadn't even tried them. Numerous reviews (often highly negative ones) were based on price, screenshots, or product descriptions alone. Since the App Store is the only place to acquire apps for the iPhone/iPod touch, it seems more than reasonable that you would be allowed to review only those apps you actually own.
While the new policy may not actually improve the depth or quality of reviews - people who have downloaded apps may still glibly trash them - it will at least assure readers that the opinions are in fact based on firsthand user experience.
Unfortunately, the new limitation may eliminate a small portion of credible opinions. For example, if I try out an app on a friend's iPhone, I can't share my thoughts on it through the App Store - despite my opinion being based on firsthand experience. Yet such cases are certainly in the minority, and owning the product would definitely give you a better sense of it than briefly tinkering with it on someone else's phone. The tradeoff seems entirely worthy.
How does Apple's new policy situate the App Store reviews in comparison to customer reviews on other sites, like Amazon.com? (Amazon is the gold standard for customer reviews - even people who don't end up buying at Amazon use their customer reviews when evaluating possible purchases).
Apple's ownership requirement would seem to raise the bar of review quality, since sites like Amazon and VersionTracker have no way of determining whether or not a reviewer owns the product in question. However, in practice, the App Store is likely just attaining equal footing. While few sites restrict reviewing to people who have purchased or downloaded through the site, the assumption is that anyone reviewing the products has some experience with them. For instance, books, DVDs, home goods, and other items sold through Amazon are also widely available through many other retailers, so reviews can reflect firsthand experiences no matter where the product was purchased.
Requiring commentators to own the apps being reviewed is just one more thing the App Store does to improve the quality of reviews. Most importantly, potential buyers can say whether or not a particular review is helpful, and sort reviews by those that received the most helpful votes. It's also possible to sort by the reviews with the highest ratings, and to see which other products a reviewer has evaluated (since someone who writes one good review is likely to write others).
Perhaps the main thing that's missing is the way Amazon shows the most helpful reviews with low ratings; that feature makes it easy to find well-received - and likely legitimate - criticism for a generally liked product, something that's tricky on the App Store now. Amazon's bar chart showing the distribution of different ratings is also especially welcome.
All in all, Apple's new ownership requirement is a wise move, and one that marks a subtle but important difference in the way the App Store does business.
Alex Sokirynsky, whose Podcaster app for the iPhone was rejected by Apple, is now selling the app to iPhone owners who have hacked the devices to accept unauthorized third-party programs.
The EU is readying a new set of directives that could spell trouble for Apple's iPhone and any other gadget that lacks an easily removable power pack.…
Less than a month after Apple initiated the recall process for its USB iPhone power adapters, customers are reporting that their replacements have been received. The original adapters had metal prongs that could break off and remain in a power outlet, which carried an electric shock risk. The new one looks exactly the same as its predecessor, except it's bedaubed with an extra green dot. [TUAW]
Just when you think you've escaped the darkened woods of firmware 2.0.2 and previous ilk, along comes 2.1, wrapped in faster-loading-contacts-finery to convince you all is well in the iPhone world. That isn't entirely the case, it seems, if you're user of POP or IMAP mail accounts which are set to fetch messages. Apparently, a maddening bug exists in the new software which -- in the interest of battery power conservation, we assume -- stops the device from pulling down new emails while sleeping... unless the phone happens to be plugged in and charging. An ever-growing thread on Apple's support forums has been barraged with reports of the problem, and editors here at Engadget have certainly felt the burn. So we're putting the question to you, dear readers (and hoping the folks in Cupertino are paying attention). Are you noticing email issues with firmware 2.1? Let us know in the poll below![Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
For the iPhone app addicts out there: 
Xbox Media Center is about as refined as an unauthorized hack can get, playing back virtually any audio and video format, running a bevy of console emulators and still playing your 
Boxee is a very slick fork of the XBMC project for Mac, and it's available for 
Make Over Your 
Convert Your PC or Notebook Into A Much More Expensive Mac It's undeniable that Macs are too expensive. For many, they are considered a luxury item whose added cost doesn't justify the benefit. Luckily 
Flash Your Crappy Router Into a Top-Line Piece of Hardware The DD-WRT project exists for a simple reason: Most routers are physically very similar, but are priced differently because of functionality derived from software. The DD-WRT firmware unlocks the potential of the most basic routers out there—too many to name but damn if yours isn't on the 
Download Updated Maps For Your Old GPS I'm referring of course to capital 'D' downloading here, mainly because at the moment GPS map updates are a racket. You could spend hundreds of dollars on map data that is freely available on 
Jailbreak Your iPhone for Wi-Fi Internet Tethering Two internet plans are enough, but to sign on to a mobile internet contract when you've already got unlimited iPhone data feels kind of stupid. Jailbreaking your iPhone is now about as easy as performing a firmware upgrade, and there are actually multiple tethering apps. PDANet and iPhoneModem both work a treat, but keep in mind that excessive usage could draw AT&T's attention and ire: Tethering is not allowed on the data plan, even though it works fine. Both apps are available in Cydia, where you can also find a limited assortment of other apps that don't have a place in 
Turn Your 
The iPhone doesn't seem to be the ideal platform for a First-Person Shooter - graphically it is more than up to the job, but the controls would seem to be a problem.
Less than a month after 
