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What's next for e-readers: a Mirasol in the making?

At last year's CES, the e-reader product a lot of people were talking about didn't exist. It was a concept from Mirasol, a Qualcomm-backed company that was showing off its screen technology in a prototype unit.

Mirasol's screen caught people's attention for a few reasons. For starters, it was color. Secondly, its high-tech reflective display technology was not only energy-efficient but readable in direct sunlight. And finally, it was capable of displaying full-motion video. Marrying the best of what e-ink had to offer with some of the strengths of LCD, it looked a lot like the … Read more

iTunes rolls out 90-second song previews

iTunes is finally letting its song previews play just a little bit longer.

Apple has, as promised, begun extending the length of song samples from 30 seconds to 90 seconds at the iTunes Store in the U.S. Many samples of the site's top-selling singles, such as The Black Eyed Peas' "The Time (Dirty Bit)" and Coldplay's "Christmas Lights," were available tonight in the longer format.

The length of song samples has been found to be key to a consumer's decision to purchase music online. Researchers at Robert Morris University reported last year … Read more

MacFixIt Answers

MacFixIt Answers is a feature in which we answer questions e-mailed from our readers. This week we have questions on how to turn off previews in Safari, the best format option to use when setting up a hard drive for OS X, and problems with updating Boot Camp drivers. We continually answer e-mail questions, and though we present a few here, we certainly welcome alternative approaches and views from readers and encourage you to post your suggestions in the comments.

Question: Disabling Safari previews

MacFixIt reader "P. Calderon" asks:

How do I [turn off Safari previews]?

Answer:

If … Read more

Coming attractions: Preview search now in Google

Google is ready to unveil a feature that lets you check out a site on its search-results page before clicking through.

Search previews are scheduled to go live later today around the world, although it may take some time to roll out on a computer screen near you. Google tipped its hand a few weeks ago when it started testing the feature, but enough testing has taken place for it to formally go live, said Jeremy Silber, tech lead and manager of Web search features.

Google is calling this instant preview, Silber said. At some point today, Google searchers will … Read more

Priority Inbox sorts Gmail

Links from Tuesday's episode of Loaded: Priority Inbox sorts Gmail MySpace gives into Facebook iTunes song previews double NASA signs up for Flickr 10-inch Android tablet arrives

iOS 4 troubleshooting: Unable to view e-mail previews, receiving blank messages

One of the oddest things I have encountered while using my new iPhone 4 running iOS 4 is the occasional blank e-mail message or lack of message preview in Mail. A few simple steps can help alleviate the issue and have you back to your normal message-reading sanity.

After setting up a new account on your iOS 4 device, you may find that the Mail App will not load message previews or show that you have a message from "(No Sender)."

First, be sure message previews are enabled for each of your Mail accounts. Navigate to Settings > … Read more

Mac quick tip: Change file associations across the board

One of the more frustrating things I experience in daily usage of my Mac is opening a file that launches an unexpected application, which can sometimes result in a failure to open the file. One of the primary examples is when a PDF is created using an Adobe product, associating it with Adobe Reader instead of Mac OS X's built-in PDF reader, Preview.

Luckily if you find that Finder is not opening a particular file type in the proper application, you can change the file associations for all files of the same type. The process is quick and easy … Read more

preGAME 17: E3 2010 preview

This week on preGAME, we gear up for gaming's biggest show of the year, E3. On today's episode we'll run down every last prediction and anticipated game we're looking forward to at E3 2010, from each of the three major press conferences to the individual titles themselves.

First up for debate is Microsoft. It sounds like we'll finally get an official name for Project Natal, as well as some game announcements made for the motion-capturing hardware. We also think we'll see an Xbox 360 Slim announced at the company's press conference; maybe there'… Read more

preGAME 14: Alan Wake

This week on preGAME, we shine a light through the creepy forest to bring you a live demo of Alan Wake a week before it hits stores. The game tells the story of an author who travels to a small mountain town on vacation only to be confronted by a terrifying dark force.

But before we venture into the depths with Alan Wake, we'll bring you three brand-new trailers for a trio of games we're really excited for. Tune in and watch as we screen new videos for Enslaved, Singularity, and LittleBigPlanet 2.

Then, it's onto this … Read more

Preview Tip: Making a linked Table of Contents

Preview is an excellent utility for viewing and making small edits and adjustments to pictures and PDF documents. While for the most part the program is used for its basic viewing features, some of the ways it handles PDF documents can be quite useful. One of these is the ability to easily add links to PDF pages, which can be used to create clickable indexes and tables of contents.… Read more