Moblin OS for netbooks: a new generation of operating systems has arrived

There are good attempts in the market to adapt Linux distributions to netbooks. Ubuntu Remix and the eee PC built-in Xandros are good examples. However, untill now, all of them were focused on performance (specially boot time) and optimizing the experience with tiny screens by using large icons for launchers and tweaking some menu bars.

Moblin is taking a step further. This new Linux distribution, besides the aspects above, is also focused on getting the most out the main purpose behind netbooks: using the Internet for media consumption, productivity and social interactions. I pasted below the main benefits from the recently released v2.0 beta:

  • New, visually rich user experience, optimized for netbook and nettops, building on the latest open source graphics technology, such as Clutter, DRI2, and KMS. The user experience is provided mainly through the toolbar and panels, available at the top of the screen.
  • The myzone, acting as the 'home screen' panel. It provides instant access to your synchronized calendar, tasks, appointments, recently used files, and real-time updates from your friends on social networking sites.
  • Aggregation of your social networking content. This provides you with the ability to see your social networking activities on one screen, easily interact with your friends, and update your status and site information. Twitter and Last.fm are the currently supported social networking sites, with more to come.
  • A web browser optimized for the Moblin 2.0 netbook user interface. Based on the latest Mozilla browser technology revised into a Clutter shell, the browser gives you access to the whole internet, as well as advanced features, such as video embedding and the latest Flash plug-in, while integrating seamlessly into the user interface. 
  • A 'Zoomable' media player. This player brings your media collection to life as you zoom from viewing all media down to focusing on an individual picture, movie, or audio track. The media player can detect and index media on external USB devices, as well as UPnP devices on your network. 
  • A user interface for connection management and an updated connection manager (ConnMan).
  • And, of course, support for Linux desktop applications. Moblin is built using GNOME Mobile Technologies and supports existing Linux desktop applications.

This is still a beta version, so deppending on your hardware, not all functionalities will be working out of the box. If you want to give it a try, download it or see more screenshots here.

P.S.: On the same wave of revolutionary OS distributions, I am waiting to put my hands on another very promising software called Jolicloud. As soon as I get the invitation, I'll install it on my eee PC and write a review about it. Stay tuned.

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Zap Reader: Web application that allows you to read any text faster

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With today's overload of information, I'm almost positive that you don't have enough time to read everything you would like to. Zap Reader is a web application that tries to help you in this herculeous task.

Here's how it works: you access ZAP Reader from your web browser, paste the text you want to read into a box and click "Zap it!". The application will be launched, and after you hit play you will start seeing a word-by-word flow into your screen that is supposed to help you go through the content faster.

If you go to settings, you can define the number of simultaneous words you see, the speed, font size and color. To facilitate the copy/paste process, you can add a Bookmarklet to your favorites, so whenever you are reading an article, you just select the text and hit this button. The company also offers integration with different blogging tools and is currently deveolping plug-ins for MS Word and Outlook.

On my personal experience, I didn't find it helped much. Perhaps my ability to concentrate is not good enough for this tool. However, I did find the idea very interesting and will probably try again later with a more interesting article and some tweaked settings.

Zap Reader is free and you can access it here.

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MSI X320: serious MacBook Air competitor for only $599

If your interest on the MacBook air is based on its computer power and the Apple logo, this computer is not for you. However, if you always wanted an ultraportable full laptop with a beautiful design that is thin enough to fit a manila envelope but didn't want to pay a premium price for it, the MSI X320 might be the perfect purchase.

The X320 weighs less than 3 pounds, has a 13.4-inches display and measures only 0.7 inches thick. It comes with 3 USB ports (the Air offers only 1), 2-in-1 memory card reader, a generous 320 Gb HD and a VGA port. The 4-cell battery is supposed to deliver 4 hours of regular usage.

You may be aware, though, that this is not the best computer to edit videos or run other more complex tasks. With the new Intel® Atom® Z530 1.6GHz processor, you should expect the performance of a netbook, which might be more than ideal for most users.

It is available in Silver, White and a stylish Black at an affordable USD $599,00 price tag. You can buy yours from Amazon here, but apparently at this time only black is available and you'll have to wait for 2 to 5 weeks to put your hands on it. It seems to be worth it.

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SurplusMeter: control your Internet bandwidth usage (Mac only)

With the unpleasant trend of many ISPs creating caps for data usage, we need to be more and more aware of how we consume our data. Though in theory these reports should be provided by ISPs, most of them don't bother to create such tools, leaving the responsibility to consumers.

By having more control over your consumption, you'll be able to realize that perhaps you don't need to have iTunes automatically downloading that large video podcast that you don't watch anymore every day.

SurplusMeter is a simple free (open source, donationware) software that can do this work for you. It monitors your bandwidth consumption so you are not caught by surprise when reaching a cap.

All you have to do is set the day of the month when your ISP resets your monthly tracking, define the type of connection, specify if the cap also apply to uploads and input what is your monthly cap in Gb. After that, SurplusMeter will take care of providing you graphs and numbers for your control.

If you are a Mac user, get and install SurplusMeter here.

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DragonFly foldable netbook concept

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Planning the purchase of your next portable Internet device? Wondering if you should buy a smartphone or a netbook? Why not both on the same package?

That's the idea behind this neat concept (for now) from a company called CrossFold.

According to liliputing.com:

Here’s how it works. You start with a small box that slides fits in your pocket or a small bag. If you unfold it, you get a cellphone-style device with a touchscreen display and keypad. But then you can also lift up the screen to reveal a second display and a full keyboard underneath.

Apparently there are no plans for now for turning this idea into reality. Check the original post from liliputing here.

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Viliv X70 MID available in the US, starting at $599 [Engadget]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OwMlGf8lhc&hl=pt-br&fs=1&]

Engadget reported that the new Viliv X70 MID (Media Internet Device) will soon be sold in the US. According to the article, the specs on this gadget are:

[...] sporting the usual Atom processor, Windows XP for an OS, built-in GPS, optional 3G, and 1GB of RAM. The X70 also mixes things up a bit with your choice of 32GB or 64GB SSD drives [...]

The X7 comes with a 7-inches screen, and it caught my attention the promise saying that "Wake up to XP in 5 sec", as stated below (extracted from jkOnTheRun):

The speed of the X70 is very fast, as I would expect from the SSD. Opening programs and folders is nearly instantaneous and it’s a great computer on which to do even serious work. Rebooting the system is quick (I haven’t timed it) and sleep/resume is just a few seconds. It’s a very full computing environment with the keyboard and mouse, as evidenced by writing this right now. I don’t feel I’m sacrificing anything — the mark of a very good device.

Read the post from Engadget. Check pictures and the jkOnTheRun hands on here.

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Dropmind: free online mind mapping with advanced features

Dropmind is a new mind mapping solution that is hard to believe it is free. It is very well made, has import/export features available and provides many advanced features for your to customize your maps. You can insert notes, links, icons and edit shapes and colors easily. The toolbar is similar to the one used on the latest Microsoft Office suite and is intuitive to use.

You can share your maps with other people, and Google Chat integration is available to enhance real time collaboration. Another handy feature available is the ability to define different parts of your map to be exported and shown as a presentation.

Although Dropmind is an online application (based on MS Silverlight), you can download the desktop software (Windows, Mac and Linux - Ubuntu) and sync your work with your online account, if you don´t want to rely on your connection or will use it on your next flight.

Try Dropmind here.

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Cooliris: a different angle on online photo and video browsing

I have been using Cooliris for some weeks now and was considering this blog post for a while. I just found the perfect timing for that: I am sitting on a Starbucks in Palo Alto, across the street from their office.

Since FLYABYTE is all about cloud computing, I am at this moment using my Eee PC 901, edited the screenshot on Pixlr, and am writing this post on Squarespace. By the way, I´m listening to music from Pandora.

Getting back to Cooliris, it is a software that provides a totally new and breathtaking way of browsing photos and videos. There are two ways you can use it. The first, what they call the Discovery mode, allows you to start your navigation by chosing from different categories (such as news, sports, shopping, TV episodes, seaching Google Images, etc..). The second way allows you to start Cooliris from within different sites, such as YouTube or Facebook, so you can use it to browse related videos or photo albums.

Once you pick what you want to see, just fly around a fullscreen wall with images that can be easily zoomed in and out at your will. It´s that simple, yet very powerfull.

It is available for different platforms. I have it installed in all my computers (both in Firefox and Safari) and I also have the free iPhone app on my iPod Touch.

Learn more about Cooliris by watching this video, or click here to get the Firefox add-on.

P.S.: I can tell you their employees work hard to develop this wonderfull product. It is 9:15 PM now and there are 2 people still working on their office. ;-)

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Meet the Eee PC T-91, the new touchscreen tablet netbook from ASUS

Asus officially launched the new Eee PC T-91, the model that generated a lot of buzz when announced in January at CES. It has a swivelable 8.9-screen and comes loaded with a proprietary touch interface that currently runs on top of Windows XP (it might get some improvements when Windows 7 comes out).

As for the other specs, it doesn't differ much from other latest netbooks, running on an Intel Atom Z520 processor (1.33 MHZ), 1 Gb of RAM and 16 Gb of solid state drive. According to ASUS, its battery can run for up to 5 hours. All this inside a sleek package that weighs only 0.96kg.

It comes in Black or White and supposedly will start selling in the UK in a few days from now. I couldn't find any word on pricing at this point.

See the touchscreen functionalities in action on the video below.

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0lTsYFOLkk&hl=pt-br&fs=1]

 

Manage your files online in 3D with Ricoh's quanp.on

With so many different entrants on the Online Storage market, Ricoh is trying to differentiate its service with an exclusive software (Windows only) that allows one to manage files remotely through a visual 3D browser. According to Ricoh:

Easy to use, quanp enables consumers to upload, store and access online a variety of
data including digital photos and a variety of computer file formats. Users can access files
through quanp.on, a dedicated client software for 3D view and intuitive operation as well as
quanp.net accessible through web browsers. Since its Japan launch in May 2008, quanp
has expanded its offerings including quanp photo print for online orders of photo printing,
and quanp drop enabling customers to drag and drop files into a desktop widget for upload.
quanp will add new dimensions to file usage by providing customers with the capabilities to
share their photo memories with their friends, safely share files with business partners, or
order photo printing online.

Sign up for the private beta here.

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