i.Meshed.Up

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Google has wrapped up judging on its very first Android Developer Challenge, and some twenty dev shops (or in some cases, individual developers) are finding themselves considerably richer as a result. Of the fifty apps to make it through to the final round, ten have been awarded $275,000 each and another ten have made off with a cool hundred grand -- good coin for some really good ideas. As you might expect of anything being backed by Google and the Android platform, a good number of the finalists made location-based services an integral theme; take grand prize winner Locale, for example, which automatically switches device settings based on your current location (if that's not a "why didn't we think of that?" kind of product, we don't know what is). The more we scan it, the more we realize that the list of winners reads like a who's-who catalog of apps we know we want installed on our Dreams out of the gate -- and more importantly, it looks like Google has a great way here to encourage best-of-breed Android development over the long run.

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Last week, we wrote about LinkedIn’s recent issues with its Groups - as part of a new platform rollout, a number of management features were apparently buggy, while others had been removed entirely.

Tonight sees the release of a number of new features on the platform that should quell some of these concerns. Among the new features are a centralized hub page for every group, where group members can come together and converse with each other in one place. The release also introduces enhanced group and user management features, including a searchable roster.

While it’s nice to see LinkedIn enhancing its groups functionality, its surprising to see that the company has taken this long to introduce them - most of them seem to be fairly basic. That said, the added community features should be a boon to the site’s professional user base as they look to enhance their connections with their peers.

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Scribd, the popular document sharing hub, has finally rolled out a much-needed redesign. The site has long been hampered by a messy homepage that wasn’t attractive for first-time visitors, displaying a list of its top features in lieu of a YouTube-esque stream of featured documents. The old design made it clear that Scribd worked well as a utility, but didn’t make it attractive as a destination site. Now, the new site highlights a sampling of its top documents and includes a number of UX changes that Scribd hopes will remedy this issue.

One of the major changes in the design is a new emphasis on search. Scribd has seen impressive growth since its launch in Spring 2007, and now claims more than 20 million unique visitors monthly. But more than half of that traffic comes from search engines - something that the site would like to change. The new design is intended to make the search function more prominent, encouraging users to turn to Scribd instead of Google or Yahoo when they’d like to find a document. And CEO Trip Adler says that it’s working: while A/B bucket testing the new design, Scribd has seen the number of searches double (the number of uploads increased by 70% as well).

Finally, in conjunction with the redesign, Scribd has ditched its yellow generic “document” logo in favor of something that reminds me of colored pencils.

Scribd’s biggest competitor is DocStoc, a document sharing portal that offers a similar Flash-based viewer.

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One of my fondest memories as a kid was saving up my money and making trip to the record store where I would spend what seemed like hours going through the LP bins. Finally I would narrow down my selection to what money I had in my pocket. Sometimes I would be able to get only one album, maybe two or on those rare occasions when there was a sale going on I’d get more. I can still remember the very first album that I bought was YesSongs by Yes which was followed a couple weeks later by a purchase of Brain Salad Surgery by Emerson, Lake and Palmer.

Even though the 45 singles market was the most popular way to get the current hits albums were the my personal preference and over the years amassed quite the collection; especially of specialty coloured vinyl pressings. Sure albums where more expensive but at that time the quality of the music being produced generally meant the the majority of the album would be stuff that you liked. In the majority of cases there might one or two songs on the album that you might not like so the price we paid seemed to be a fair exchange.

As the years passed and vinyl changed to cassettes which then changed to CDs that fair exchange of money for quality music began to shift. Eventually it got to the point that you were lucky if there were two or three songs on that CD that you just paid $20.00 bucks for were any good. During this time along comes the Internet and ways to convert those CDs into single files that could be played on any computer. People began to discover that no longer were they having to buy a whole CD to have only the good songs from it. They also found ways to be able to share all those songs with people around the world.

It didn’t matter if it was legal or not to a great many of these people because they felt; right or wrong, that the record companies had been stealing from them for years. After all weren’t the musicians themselves saying that they made next to no money from CD sales – it was their record  companies who were really making all the money. Into this fray then came Apple and their iTunes  store with the radical idea of selling single songs for .99¢ and in short order it became almost the defacto standard for buying legal music on the Internet.

Music distribution had changed and for a change the people had the ability to buy exactly what they wanted for a fair prices without being forced to pay extra for garbage tracks. The album concept was slowing losing ground and once more the single track; the modern day equivalent of the 45, was the most popular way of buying your music.

For some musicians though this isn’t what they wanted and while some quite justly felt it ruined the musical experience they were trying to provide throughout the CD as a whole for others it was all about the money. Or is really the musicians that are concerned about this in the end after all aren’t they ones trying to tell us all that they don’t make any money from CD sales.

While some big bands have shown that it is still possible to produce quality CDs that is meant to be listened to as a whole and  that people will buy them the majority of musicians still only produce one or two good songs per CD. It is case like this where in my opinion the album CD concept is just a con job from the record companies to make us spend more money for less quality. This is why some record companies are pulling songs from iTunes under the pretense of artistic merit so that they can return to the album CD model and the larger dollar figures they make from it.

Unfortunately thought those same record companies risk further damaging both theirs and the artists incomes by forcing this issue the way they are. The single track genie is out of the bottle and there is no way that it is going to go back in. People are getting use to being the ones finally in control of how they buy and listen to their music and the simple fact is that they aren’t going to pay for  garbage tunes anymore. If the record companies push hard for a return to the album CD with only one, two or maybe three songs worth paying for people will give them the middle finger and return to the P2P networks in droves.

Using the argument that artists deserved to be paid for their work is partially correct. What is correct is that the artist – not the record label – is the one who deserves the lion’s share of the income. That comes with a caveat though – they only deserve the money if the product is worth what you are being charging for it.

At one time the album model worked giving you the best value for your money but that is no longer true in the vast majority of cases. As with the 45 the single tracks today is the customers best value and if the musicians want to make more money then start producing better music and less garbage.

The day of the album is gone unless the musician provides enough value for the fan so that they are willing to pay for an album format. If not the single track is what we will be buying for a very long time to come. It’s up to the musician.

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Filed under: Ask Engadget, Gaming, Laptops

Although netbooks seem to be all the rage right now, there's still a lot of demand out there for laptops that are only able to be labeled as such due to their design. Take a look at Paul's question as he attempts to locate the best desktop replacement on the market today.

"I am currently looking to replace my desktop PC with a high spec laptop. Portability isn't a concern as it will spend most of its life on a desk. Here are a couple of things I am looking for: biggest screen possible, plenty of HDD space, plenty of RAM, and plenty of GHzs. Cheaper is better, but my budget is up to around $3,000."

This fellow didn't specifically mention gaming as a concern, but we'll go ahead and assume he's not buying a 9+ pound laptop to tinker on Minesweeper all day. So, what's the preferred laptop that weighs more than some mini-towers? And what's a question that's been on your mind? Send it in to ask at engadget dawt com.

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The Dad's Cab Meter is a fake taxi fare counter for parental chauffers, made so they can guilt/embarrass their ingrate children into doing chores for them. The meter incrementally increases the pretend fare and comes with a stack of fare receipts that have chores the kids can do as payment (har har har). It's kinda like those redonkulous moments on The Cosby Show where the the entire family would participate in a role play with some sort of real world moral to it, except not anywhere as funny. Dad's Cab is $18, but in the grand scheme of things, mortifying your children is priceless. [Gizoo via Coolest Gadgets via Dvice]

This lovely retro watch, "Farmer," is engraved on the rear with a Duran Duran quote. Though a pleasingly reasonable $25, the sellers caution that "a couple of people have reported their watches running a bit quick over a week or so, if this happens to yours let us know and we can organize a replacement."

Alas, I doubt it will arrive before Labor Day.

Product Page [Furni]

Last May, Google announced the first set of winners in its two-part contest called Android Challenge. The challenge is meant to kick-start the creation of 3rd-party applications for its nascent mobile platform by enticing developers with a total of $10 million in awards.

Today, Google is releasing the names of its second set of winners, 10 of which receive $275,000 and 10 of which receive $100,000.

The full list of winners can be found here.

The winners were picked from a pool of 50 finalists and include TuneWiki, a mobile media player we’ve raved about in the past, and Locale, a “dynamic settings manager” developed at MIT.

Other winners of $275,000 in this second round include:

• cab4me: “cab4me enables you to easily call a cab to any location worldwide. You do not need to know the number of the local cab company. You do not need to enter or even know the address you want to be picked up at. You do not need to place a call. With cab4me you can order a cab to your current location with a single click.”
• Compare Everywhere: “Scan a barcode to instantly check if that “sale price” really is a good deal. Read reviews to find out if those hiking boots will last a lifetime, or fall apart next month. Keep track of shopping lists, wish lists, and more.”
• Ecorio: “Ecorio allows the user to accurately calculate their travel carbon footprint. Given awareness of their travel carbon footprint, the user can take action in three ways: Reduce, Inspire, and Offset.”
• GoCart: “GoCart informs the shopper. It bridges the gap that exists between shopping online and shopping at the store. GoCart is your shopping cart on-the-go.”
• Life360: “Life360 uses a multi-channel messaging system and neighborhood-centric social network to keep you up-to-date and in contact with your family and local community.”
• Locale: “Locale allows you to create Situations, which specify Conditions under which your Settings should change.”
• PicSay: “PicSay allows you to quickly add word balloons, titles, and props to the pictures you have taken with your mobile phone camera.”
• Softrace: “With Softrace people around the world meet online to compete against each other in different physical activities. Races can take place in real time, just like traditional races.”
• Wertago: “Wertago is the mobile application nightlifers have been waiting for—a single application that shows you up-to-the-second information about what venues are hot, helps you coordinate plans with all your friends, lets you share content and influence the social scene, and enables you to connect with socialites all across the city.”

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In a presentation made at Nvidia's NVISION show this week, Adam and Jamie unveiled a 2100 barrel paintball gun and—in an instant—painted a pretty convincing (if not slightly drippy) Mona Lisa. In typical MythBusters fashion, the incredibly elaborate experiment was only tenuously linked to their hypothesis. The presentation was intended to represent the difference in operation between single and multicore processors, referring to current gen CPUs versus GPUs, respectively.

Of course, the reality of parallel computing is much more complex than the MythBusters are making it seem here, but as with many of the experiments on their TV show, the sheer ridiculousness of this demonstration makes its questionable veracity completely, totally, seriously excusable. Now that they've built this thing, the MythBusters have a clear and undeniable responsibility to turn it on a human and put the results on TV. Thanks in advance, guys. [TGDaily via CrunchGear

TechCrunch50 is just a week and a half away. The list of presenting companies is kept strictly confidential until the day of the event to ensure maximum audience attention. But we’re making one exception this year. Ashton Kutcher and Jason Goldberg’s Katalyst Media will be launching Blah Girls, one of his new interactive online video products, at TechCrunch50.

Like all products launching at the event, TechCrunch50 will be the first time the public or press has seen it. We got a look at it a couple of months ago and think it’s going to be a hit. Look for a lot more activity from Katalyst Media over the coming months.

I asked Ashton to do a quick intro video saying how excited he is about TechCrunch50. He sent the video below. You have to read between the lines, but I think he’s pretty jazzed about all of the strict confidentiality requirements and the need to meet with us twice before the event to rehearse his presentation. Warning: There’s some strong language.

Next up: A Scoble video where he promises not to embarrass himself by chasing down Ashton for an autograph and a 45 minute exclusive video interview.

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And I heard, as it were, the noise of thunder: One of the four beasts saying: "Come and see." And I saw. And behold, there was the other Jesus, the Bible character, calling me from a big screen saying "Jesus is the Reason for The—V-Sign this program-and will be shu-whaaa?" Clearly, Jesus is good with all this saving Humanity and making water into wine tricks, but I'm afraid he's no match for Windows errors. [Fail]

We are in the midst of a sink design Renaissance folks—crazy new designs seem to pop up all the time. The latest comes to us via Graff in a form that bears more than a passing resemblance to a samurai sword. Plus, the faucet itself is 3 feet tall, so I wouldn't be surprised if visitors to your bathroom linger a bit admiring this masterpiece of plumbing. You even have the option of wall mounting the handles depending on which style you prefer. [Graff via HDF]

The designers at Volkswagen brought out the big guns for an upcoming recreational vehicle show in Düsseldorf, Germany by crossing one of their small commercial Caddy vans with a sailboat. While the Caddy Topos Sail design is not capable of traveling on water, it does feature a sailboat style deck on the roof that can be modified for relaxation and sunbathing. It even features a wooden ladder built into the glass to grant easy access to the roof. I suppose that it is clever in a stupid sort of way, but no matter how you feel about the quirky design, it is only a concept.

[Jalopnik]

From the team behind DealQUE, we have a new service called Pikchur, a startup that posts your photos to a myriad of social media sites where you have residing accounts. What you can do is upload an image directly through Pikchur or send one to your assigned Pikchur email address via MMS or email from your phone or computer.

In concept, Pikchur is similar to TwitPic in that you can upload a photo and it will appear in your Twitter stream. A caption can be manually added for direct and MMS uploads, and your subject line will be the caption for photos sent via email. Pikchur moves beyond Twitter, however, and sends your images to a handful of other services like Tumblr, Pownce, Facebook (via the Pikchur Facebook application), FriendFeed and Jaiku. The result is a broad distribution for your photo within the micro-blogosphere, giving you a one-stop shop for immediate photo sharing.

There aren’t any import options for automatically bringing in photos from other photo-sharing sites for redistribution purposes, but a little bird has told me that Pikchur is working on some upcoming Flickr integration, so perhaps such import options will be added in the near future. Given the lack of photo importing for redistribution purposes, Pikchur really caters to mobile users that would like a quick and easy way to send out photos while on the go, so its updating capabilities sent out to microblogging platforms is appealing in its simplicity for this purpose.

Nevertheless, Pikchur is a handy service that makes photo distribution a brainless task, especially from an operational standpoint around your email. As services like Xoopit better turn your email into a searchable media database, microblogging and other auto-distribution methods can become very useful as media-sharing tools for a wide range of users.

See this tablet? It's new from NEC and features the same monotonous specs (1.6GHz Atom, 512MB-1GB RAM and 80GB HD) that we see in those cheapie mini-notebooks like the Asus Eee. Running XP or Vista and loaded with a 12 or 15-inch touchscreen, it's by no means beautiful, but this NEC could be the forebear of a new netbook-tablet market. We don't have pricing or release details at this time, but we'll keep a lookout, just for you. [Akihabara News]