October 11, 2006, 5:58 PM PDT
Ford makes MP3 jack standard
Posted by: Wayne Cunningham

Taking a cue from a J.D. Power and Associates study that found more than half of today's drivers want MP3 player integration in their cars, Ford announced today that it would make auxiliary audio input jacks standard on its 2007 Edge, Explorer, Expedition, Mustang, Fusion, Sport Trac, Ranger, and F-150. The auxiliary jacks will also be standard on the 2007 Mercury Milan and Mountaineer, along with the 2007 Lincoln MKX, MKZ, Navigator, and Mark LT.

iPod users can opt for a dealer-installed kit from Ford called TripTunes, which offers real integration between iPods and the car's stereo. TripTunes keeps the iPod charged and lets the driver select songs from the car stereo interface. TripTunes will be available early next year.

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October 11, 2006, 5:20 PM PDT
Ride-along with the Pioneer AVIC Z-1
Posted by: Kevin Massy

The nice people at Pioneer just took us out for a spin on wild streets of San Francisco to try to generate some more buzz around their now 10-month-old AVIC Z-1 navigation unit. While this kind of hands-on demo would have been more useful prior to our test-bench review of the unit earlier in the year, the chance to see the touch-screen double-DIN nav system working in a real-world situation was worth the ride. Aside from its plentiful entertainment and communications functions (10GB of hard drive media storage, Bluetooth interface, iPod adapter, MP3 and WMA playback, XM and Sirius Satellite Radio prewiring), the AVIC Z-1 does have a couple of advanced navigation features that we haven't seen anywhere else.

Most impressive was its level of map detail, which not only showed streets, points of interest (11 million in total), and real-time traffic information, but also the individual outlines of the buildings and landmarks that we were driving past. This feature is available for only 50 downtown metro areas nationwide, but it hints at the shape of the next generation of GPS maps. Also built into the base AVIC Z-1 hard drive database are 7,000 unique pictograms of freeway on and off ramps to help drivers to make the right choice from multiple options in close proximity. The Pioneer rep did reveal that it costs a hefty $200 annually to keep the navigation database up-to-date (in addition to the $1,600 or so that you'll drop on the unit itself), but for those who want a slice of Google Earth in their dashboard, it may be worth the cost.

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October 11, 2006, 4:44 PM PDT
The Flickr MiniCard pickup
Posted by: Michelle Thatcher

Imagine yourself chatting up a stunningly attractive member of the opposite sex at a house party. You're getting along beautifully, until the newfound object of your desire says, "Give me your card and I'll call you." You shrivel in humiliation as you fumble for the proper words to explain that your employer doesn't issue business cards for mail clerks.

Now imagine that scene with the addition of Moo.com's Flickr MiniCards: your voice has a tinge of James Bond as you say "Of course" and hand over a calling card with one of your own Flickr photos printed on the back.

Sure, you could have ordered cards from one of the many online print shops out there, but what other cards would be so personal? And because Moo.com taps into Flickr's API, ordering the little 1.1-inch-by-2.8-inch buggers couldn't be easier. Just log into your Flickr account and start dragging and dropping photos you want to use or have Moo choose images at random. Crop your images just so with the click-and-drag interface (the most time-consuming step, especially if you choose a different image for every card), then add up to six lines of contact information, and you're done. Your options for the text are limited to just three fonts and three color choices; the flip side of that limitation is that it keeps the ordering process relatively quick and painless. It took me about 10 minutes to order up 100 cards ($20).

The process is a bit more encumbered if you aren't already a Flickr user. You'll have to sign up for a Yahoo ID (Yahoo owns Flickr) and upload the photos you want to use on your cards, keeping in mind that free Flickr accounts allow only 20MB of photo uploads per month. The good news is that you can choose any number of images to make up your 100-card set; if you upload only four photos, you'll get 25 cards of each image. Still, the service works best for those who already have a large catalog of photos on Flickr.

In addition to serving as social grease, the Flickr MiniCards could be used to promote club events, photographers, and--oh yeah--as business cards.

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October 11, 2006, 1:44 PM PDT
First dual-layer Blu-ray movie clicks
Posted by: David Carnoy

We just received the Blu-ray version of the Adam Sandler, Sony Pictures movie Click, which is the first Blu-ray movie to actually take advantage of the full storage capacity of the format. Yes, this is the first movie to be released on a dual-layer 50GB Blu-ray disc, also known as the BD-50. So what's the verdict?

Well, using our Samsung BD-P1000 Blu-ray review unit, we watched the first 15 minutes of the film on a couple of different 1080p-capable LCD TVs, and the long and short of it is Click looks better than most Blu-ray movies currently on the market. Twice as good, no, but it's a welcome improvement, and it's good to finally see that the extra featurettes were actually shot in high-def video. (The movie itself was also shot in high-def video and this is a MPEG-2 transfer for those interested in video-compression formats.)

High-def Digest has posted a full review of the disc, but suffice it to say, before you start loading up on Blu-ray discs (come on, you know you're champing at the bit), it's probably a good idea to hold out for some BD-50 action.

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October 11, 2006, 1:42 PM PDT
Smilart Fan Studio: edit your images online
Posted by: Will Greenwald

Note: Despite the picture and byline, the opinions expressed below are that of Senior Editor Lori Grunin.

Smilart Fan Studio isn't the first fix-your-photos-online service, and I'm sure it won't be the last. And really, it should have a big old BETA logo splashed across it, because it surely isn't fully baked--it's free, though, so I suppose polished code is optional. I couldn't get it to run in Firefox; it ran inconsistently in IE 6; and after downloading and installing IE 7 RC1, it still wouldn't operate properly. It turns out that the English version has no Javascript code in it! Ooops. The Russian version worked, however, as well as many automatic algorithms work--that is to say, OK, but not great.

Frankly, I tend to find stand-alone sites like this kind of pointless. It makes sense as part of photo-sharing/printing/whatever, but having to upload a photo, retouch it, download it to your hard disk, then reupload it to your sharing site strikes me as hopelessly slow, tedious, and inefficient. If you have more than a couple of images per month to retouch, you're better off downloading free software and working locally.

The site strikes me more as a proof-of-concept in search of a buyer, and from that perspective, it has some merit. The interface is one of the nicest I've seen for this type of application. A photo-sharing company or a photo-printing service could slap some color management under the hood, polish the interface (and perhaps add batch operations), and integrate it into the service for some nice value added. Consumers should just pop over to download.com and download The GIMP.

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October 11, 2006, 12:22 PM PDT
Office 2.slow
Posted by: Rafe Needleman

Here's where the posturing meets reality. Almost. I just saw four demos at the Office 2.0 conference, showing how new online products can enhance the way we really work. The upshot: It's all good, baby...if you have a lot of time to wait for your apps and data to come over the network.

First up, Sharemethods, showing a "multiway mashup," combining several online tools, including Google, Salesforce.com, iNetWord, and Thumstacks. It was an impressive display of how you can mush different online applications together--a word processor, a presentation tool, sales management, and other tools. This demo reminded me of a Microsoft pitch: a made-up company doing tasks that were invented to show off technology. Realistically, most companies will start with smaller projects.

Still, the demo shattered one of my big misconceptions: That it is nearly impossible to get online productivity tools from different vendors to work together. Enterprises, it turns out, can make mashups, too.

Up next: iNetOffice, which makes an online word processor, iNetWord, designed to be mashed into other applications. It's a great pitch for business technologists wondering how they're going to apply Web 2.0 technologies to their careers.

T.J. Kang took over to show us ThinkFree, which I've referenced quite a bit in the past few posts. The company makes an impressive online office suite. At the conference, T.J. started by showing a request he received in Gmail...but wait! Gmail is down for him. So much for online productivity.

Gmail came back in a minute and T.J. proceeded with his demo. I really like ThinkFree, but network slowness really made the demo drag. T.J.'s request to the audience, "It would probably help if you all stopped using the network," points out one of the biggest weaknesses with Office 2.0.

Next up: Zoho's Sridhar Vembu. Zoho also makes online productivity suites and today is announcing Zoho Virtual Office. "Our servers are swamped," Sridhar says. Uh-oh. And like ThinkFree, Zoho was taking too much time to load demo pages, like a spreadsheet of an employee appraisal. Nonetheless, the demo did show some cool capabilities, like how one spreadsheet can update another.

And here's gOffice, which is--surprise--another online suite. gOffice is "just me," presenter Kevin Warnock said. It's a very impressive effort for a one-man show, but it doesn't have the features or integration of the other apps. It's not even full WYSIWYG. Warnock focused his efforts on output. Basically, gOffice is the front end to the LaTeX typesetting tool. If you need professional typesetting, check it out. Otherwise, as Kevin says, the other apps offer users much more. Kevin is, in fact, trying to figure out what to do with his company. If you have ideas, look him up.

Last up, Joyent's David Young. Joyent offers not just online apps, but an XDrive-like online storage system. See my previous coverage of this suite. Announced at the conference, a new program called Jill's Team that places an assistant--an actual person, starting at $450 a month--on your team. This person will work with your team over the phone and the Web and do assistant-like things, such as ordering lunch and looking into travel options. Because, you know, Office 2.0 goes only so far.

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October 11, 2006, 11:55 AM PDT
Back onstage: Belkin busts out the TuneStage II
Posted by: David Rudden

Following up on its well-received TuneStage and TuneCommand AV iPod accessories, Belkin has announced the TuneStage II, which should address most of the shortcomings of its predecessor when it's released in November for $150.

Like the earlier TuneStage, the TuneStage II lets you wirelessly transmit your music from your iPod to your home stereo, utilizing a snap-on transmitter and a small base station. But the newer model offers two key improvements: it's compatible with the newly released iPod Nano and 5G models (as well as pretty much every other dock-enabled iPod), and it utilizes Bluetooth 2.0 (rather than the 1.2 version found on the original TuneStage), which offers the potential for better sound quality.

While the original TuneStage performed adequately, the product was limited by the fact that the snap-on dongle interfaced only with older iPod models. We'll have a full hands-on review of the TuneStage II as soon as it becomes available.

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October 11, 2006, 11:21 AM PDT
Logitech announces yet another Harmony remote
Posted by: John P. Falcone

Logitech yesterday announced the Harmony 670, the company's latest Web-programmable universal remote. According to the company's press release, it's available now for $150. But the bigger question is: is this just one too many Harmony remotes?

Don't get me wrong: we love the Harmony line, and we've recommended just about every recent model they've released. But it's becoming harder and harder to distinguish among them, especially because many of the years-old models are still available for sale. Moreover, the street prices of Logitech products tend to be below--often far below--the suggested retail price, so many mid- and high-end Harmony models can be had for about the same price, if not less. For instance, the three 500-series Harmony models can all be purchased for less than $150 (and even less than $100), and the Harmony 720 and Harman Kardon TC 30--which is essentially a Harmony clone--are available for under $200. (And we're not even mentioning the higher-end 880, 890, and 1000 models.)

For what it's worth, the 670 is a throwback to the peanut-style design found on earlier 600-series Harmony models--all of which remain available online for $80 to $150. That said, the 670 looks to have a sleeker appearance than those older models. For instance, Logitech is touting its DVR-optimized button layout and improved directional pad.

We haven't reviewed the 670 yet, but the odds are that comparing it to its siblings will be an exercise in personal ergonomic preference. If you prefer the TiVo-style peanut design, the 670 may be right up your alley. Personally, I'd splurge for the Harmony 720 or Harman Kardon TC 30. Aside from their flatter design (which I like), both of them have color screens and recharging docks--two features that are well worth the extra $50.

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October 11, 2006, 10:50 AM PDT
Qualcomm Eudora to be free, open source in 2007
Posted by: Robert Vamosi

According to Qualcomm, the popular Eudora e-mail client will be available for free starting in the first half of 2007. The new version will be designed in collaboration with Mozilla and will take on some of the features of Mozilla's open-source e-mail client Thunderbird. For more, see this News.com article.

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October 11, 2006, 10:36 AM PDT
Belkin's new universal laptop dock
Posted by: Dan Ackerman

More popular in ye olden days when laptops didn't have all the ports and connections found on newer systems, the lowly laptop dock has largely been relegated to users who just need a mechanical interface for connecting to a full-size desktop monitor, keyboard, and mouse.

Belkin aims to make the laptop dock useful again, with its universal ExpressCard Notebook Expansion Dock. With a router-like form factor, the dock uses your laptop's ExpressCard slot (which, honestly, probably wasn't being used anyway) to connect, providing much more bandwidth than a standard USB 2.0 connection, particularly useful for playing back high-res video.

Key features include:

High-resolution, DVD-quality video output through VGA or DVI ports (up to 1,600x1,200)

5.1 surround sound support through optical or 3.5mm outputs

Five USB 2.0 ports, including two top-load USB ports for easy access by thumbdrives

10/100Mbps Ethernet access for instant connection to multiple external devices.

It's compatible with Windows XP and Vista (sorry, Mac fans) and should be shipping in North America in late November for $199.

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