Jolicloud: the ultimate operating system for netbooks and cloud computing

If you translate Joli from French to English, you get the following definition:

joli - pretty, nice, lovely, nice-looking, fine-looking, good, bonny, precious, tidy

This is a perfect description for this extremely promising new OS for netbooks. From founder of Netvibes Tariq Krim, Jolicloud is a new operating system that focus on improving the experince of using web applications.

Based on Ubuntu Remix, Jolicloud has a "virtual OS" (see screenshot above) where you can look for new applications (both client softwares or web applications), update your system or, like in Twitter, follow other Jolicloud users.

The installation process couldn't be easier. You simply chose the software, click on install, wait a few seconds... and done! The same process apply for uninstalling and updating each software. Once your software is installed, you need to access the launcher from Remix and locate it under the correspondent category. I don't have any inside information, but it would make sense that the OS will evolve to a point where Ubuntu's interface will be totally replaced by the Jolicloud Dashboard.

To create the installable web applications, Jolicloud uses Mozilla Prizm to trigger streamlined Firefox windows that run without any superflual browser menubars, just the thin funtional black bar at the top. Another nice touch is the usage of small icons to show the apps/windows that are running, maximizing the usage of tiny screens.

As for the ability to follow other users, I believe this would be a much usefull feature if it were integrate to Twitter and Facebook, similar to what Moblin offers. Maybe that's another feature that might be under development. By the way, it is important to say that Jolicloud is currently at Alpha stage, despite the fact that it already has a lot to offer.

The installation was almost seamless using a pen drive. In my first attempt, I tried to install it directly without booting the system. For some reason, the process got stuck at 99% and I had to re-start the whole process. I tried, then, to boot the OS and start the installation from within. That worked perfectly.

As for hardware integration, almost everything worked out of the box on my Eee PC 901. Wi-fi connection works perfectly, volume and brightness funtions integrated nicely, and battery life seems to be very in line with the one provided by the original Xandros distribution.

The only tweaks I had to make were accessing the BIOS to enable Bluetooth and the integrated Webcam, which could be done very easily. I also disabled the defauld passwords required by Ubuntu when connecting through Wi-Fi or getting back from Suspend mode.

Overall, the experience have been great. Boot time is very short, navigating through different windows is done very easily and, as I said earlier, it just looks nice. Icons, colors, fonts, everything renders very smoothly and show a well-thought yet simple interface.

If you are half as excited about Jolicloud as I got when I first read about it, I need to warn you that you'll not be able to install it right away. You'll have to access jolicloud.com, provide your e-mail address and wait until you get your invitation. It might take a few weeks, but it's certainly worth the wait.

One thing I have decided: I will not get back to my Xandros Linux distribution. Jolicloud is now my preferred OS and I'm looking forward to the enhancements that are certainly on the way.

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Pixton: Collaborative Web Comics creator

Pixton is a new web application that allows you to create, publish and share comic strips online. According to the description on the site:

With our click-and-drag comic creator you can easily customize characters, move them into any pose, and compose up to 12 rows of scenes right on the page. Embed them in your blog or social network and get your friends to remix them. Make friends and fans around the world and connect through automatic translation.

The automatic translations are available in 40+ languages.

Pixton is free, and a Pro account is being planned to be released soon (for an annual fee), including the ability to animate the stories.

Try Pixton here.

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Automatic currency converter in Google Spreadsheets

For those who need to convert currencies on spreadsheets, Google Docs offers a very handy feature that will prevent you to copy-and-paste updated conversion rates moving forward.

The process is very simple, and all you need to do is:

  1. Paste the following formula on the desired cell: =GoogleFinance("CURRENCY:EURUSD")
  2. Replace EUR and USD with the currencies you want to convert. Check here for a list with all currency symbols.

Done. The next time you open your spreadsheet, it will automatically pull the latest rate from Google Finance.

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Firefox 3.5 is way much faster and can know where you are

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5Zbc-Rg6e8&hl=en&fs=1&]

I'm writing this post using the recently released Firefox 3.5 RC1, and I tell you one can really feel how faster it is. It feels like now its performance is at the same levels of Chrome 2.0 and Safari 4.

There are a lot of improvements on this version, but the most noticeable are:

  • Faster navigation
  • Embeded video and audio management
  • Enhaced privacy controls and history management, including a quick link to recently closed tabs
  • Location aware browsing: by allowing Firefox to know where you are, you can do different things like: geo-targeted blog posts, be able to do local searches faster, etc..
  • Downloadable fonts: site developers will finally be able to use creative fonts that will work (well, at least for Firefox users, for now)
  • + icon to open a new tab (finally!)
  • Use the URL box to type your search queries, just like in Chrome

See the complete list of new features here.

Download Firefox 3.5 RC. Please remember that this is a release candidate version, so you may experience some glitches.

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HiPhone iLaptop: Thin 12-inches netbook, not another iPhone clone [liliputing]

One more device following the larger-screen-netbooks trend, the HiPhone iLaptop increases competition on the 12.1-inches netbook market. Despite the larger display and keyboard, more of the same usual specs for netbooks:

Processor: Intel N270 1.6GHz CPU

Display terminal: 12.1 Inch 1280*800 high resolution TFT-LCD digital screen, True color image display.

Dimensions: 302mm* 215mm* 22mm

Weight: 1383g (include battery)

Input: Standard 82key keyboard and Mouse.

Sound card: AC97 voice card

Communication: Broadband internet access, 10/100MB Ethernet port, Build in Wireless LAN adapter, WiFi IEEE 802.11G/B/A

USB flash disk and MMC/SD CARD PORTS

USB keyboard and mouse ports

It is available for USD $499.99 at China Grabber. For this price, I'd probably look for a brand that inspire more trust, but for the adventurous geeks looking for a larger cool white netbook, it might be worth the risk.

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Layar: Augmented Reality browser for Android

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b64_16K2e08&hl=en&fs=1&]

Layar is an application (Android only, for now) that adds a virtual web browser on top of images acquired by your phone's camera in real time. According to the company:

Layar is derived from location based services and works on mobile phones that include a camera, GPS and a compass. Layar is first avaliable for handsets with the Android operating system (the G1 and HTC Magic). It works as follows: Starting up the Layar application automatically activates the camera. The embedded GPS automatically knows the location of the phone and the compass determines in which direction the phone is facing. Each partner provides a set of location coordinates with relevant information which forms a digital layer. By tapping the side of the screen the user easily switches between layers. This makes Layar a new type of browser which combines digital and reality, which offers an augmented view of the world.

With Layar you can find ATMs, bars, hotels, houses for sale (doesn't sound very useful) and more.

The service is available only in Netherlands for now, but it is a great step towards a new way of mixing reality and the web on a 3D visual browser.

Dutch Android users, download Layar for free here.

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xpPhone: first mobile phone to run Windows XP [Pocket-lint]

Altough I'm not a fan of Windows XP, I must admit that the idea of having full computing capabilities on a mobile phone sounds very compelling.

According to Pocket-lint, a Chinese company called "In Technology" will unveil a device in China in September that will run Microsoft's outdated OS. No word on pricing yet, but some hints on specs:

Believed to be the first XP-packing handset in the world, the xpPhone has a 4.8-inch LCD touchscreen with an 800 x 400 resolution. It's packing a 120GB hard drive, and slide-out QWERTY keyboard.

Optional modules that the phone will support include Wi-Fi, WiMax, GPS, and "next-generation mobile". It can wake up Windows from standby mode to receive texts and calls, and has a battery life of about 7 hours.

Based on the picture above, the device looks crapy to me, but it might be the case that this is just an initial prototype. We'll stay tuned for further news about it.

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Streamy: all your social streams and IM on a single online app

If you are reading this blog, you probably have several accounts for your many social streams: Twitter, Facebook, Digg, Friendfeed, and the list keeps growing. Let's not forget about your RSS feeds as well!

To facilitate the process of accessing all my information, I recently started playing with EventBox, an excellent software for Mac OS that does a great job in aggregating and displaying the streams from these services. As a cloud computing addict, I soon realized I needed something that I could setup once and than access it not only from my iMac, but also from my eee PC and my office Vista machine.

After some research, the best option I found was Streamy. It is a very well designed aggregator that allows you to setup all your services and RSS feeds, and than customize it as you would on Netvibes or iGoogle. It also allows you to setup your Google Talk, MSN Live and AOL accounts, so you don't need to have Meebo running on a separate tab.

The interface is very sleek, and most actions are done through intuitive drag-and-drop operations. You can choose from 3 beautiful skins: Aqua, Onyx (similar to Twitter Deck) or Alum (to integrate well with Safari).

Try Streamy here.

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Me-trics: track and analyse anything in your life

If you are the type of Internet user that is worried about the information you provide to web sites and is constantly concerned that Google will dominate the world by using your personal data, this web application is probably not for you.

Me-trics is a tool that allows you to log different aspects of your life. It can serve the purpose of just keeping you motivated by forcing yourself to be disciplined about a specific task, or it can also provide analysis and correlations between different activities.

The default areas for entering data are: Health Items, Exercise and Consumption. However, you can create new sets if you want. Inside these categories, you can track the most diverse things, including the amount of beer consumed, # of push-ups. Twitter followers, mood and much more. The service also provides automatic integration with Flickr and Last.fm, in case you want to track the # of photos posted or music listened to.

Once you enter the data (from the web site only for now - an iPhone app is currently under development), you can create reports or set-up RSS feeds. You might want to check how the progression was overtime or check correlations for the different metrics you track.

Me-trics is free and you can sign-up using your Google account here.

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Curious about the web browsing experience on the Palm Pre? Check these screenshots [TechRadar]

If you didn't have the chance to put your hands on a Palm Pre yet, you are probably curious to learn about how the experience looks like.

TechRadar.com offered what they called "The ultimate Palm Pre screenshot gallery", and I selected the specific page that shows the experience with browsing the web and managing your bookmarks.

Like the iPhone, the Pre also uses webkit and reportedly render pages very quickly. Apparently, the zooming experience is also similar to its main competitor.

These are the 2 evident differences compared to the iPhone:

MULTI-APPS: You can run multiple apps (using the card paradigm) and switch between them easy with just a flick of your finger

BROWSER CARDS: The browser uses cards as well – shown here in the main view when you start the browser. Just press the card for the site you want to visit

Check the web browsing gallery from TechRadar.com here or see the complete post here.

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