The decision to allow the practice commonly known as “jailbreaking” is one of a handful of new exemptions from a 1998 federal law that prohibits people from bypassing technical measures that companies put on their products to prevent unauthorized use of copyright-protected material. The Library of Congress, which oversees the Copyright Office, reviews and authorizes exemptions every three years to ensure that the law does not prevent certain non-infringing uses of copyright-protected works.

For iPhone jailbreakers, the new rules effectively legitimize a practice that has been operating in a legal gray area by exempting it from liability. Apple claims that jailbreaking is an unauthorized modification of its software.

Mario Ciabarra, founder of Rock Your Phone, which calls itself an “independent iPhone application store,” said the rules mark the first step toward opening the iPhone app market to competition and removing the “handcuffs” that Apple imposes on developers that want to reach users of the wildly popular device.

Unless users unlock their handsets, they can only download apps from Apple’s iTunes store. Software developers must get such apps pre-approved by Apple, which sometimes demands changes or rejects programs for what developers say are vague reasons.

Ciabarra noted that Google Inc. has taken a different approach with its Android operating system, which is emerging as the biggest competitor to the iPhone. Google allows users of Android phones to download applications from outside the Android Market. Although Apple has never prosecuted anyone for jailbreaking, it does use software upgrades to disable jailbroken phones, and the new government rules won’t put a stop to that. That means owners of such phones might not be able to take advantage of software improvements, and they still run the risk of voiding their warranty.

Apple spokesman Natalie Kerris said Monday that the company is concerned about jailbreaking because the practice can make an iPhone unstable and unreliable.

“Apple’s goal has always been to ensure that our customers have a great experience with their iPhone, and we know that jailbreaking can severely degrade the experience,” she said.

In addition to jailbreaking, other exemptions announced Monday would:

- allow owners of used cell phones to break access controls on their phones in order to switch wireless carriers.

- allow people to break technical protections on video games to investigate or correct security flaws.

- allow college professors, film students, documentary filmmakers and producers of noncommercial videos to break copy-protection measures on DVDs so they can embed clips for educational purposes, criticism or commentary.

- allow computer owners to bypass the need for external security devices called dongles if the dongle no longer works and cannot be replaced.

- allow blind people to break locks on electronic books so that they can use them with read-aloud software and similar aides.

Although the jailbreaking exemption is new, all the others are similar to the last set of exemptions, which were announced in November 2006. The new rules take effect Tuesday and are expected to last a few years.

The exceptions are a big victory for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which had urged the Library of Congress to legalize several of them, including the two regarding cell phones.

Jennifer Stisa Granick, EFF’s civil liberties director, said the rules are based on an important principle: Consumers should be allowed to use and modify the devices that they purchase the way they want. “If you bought it, you own it,” she said.

Source

A N.Y. based Web designer uses Apple’s wildly popular smartphone for personal and business calls, Web research and e-mail. So when he lost a design project because his iPhone never rang, he was understandably irked. Calls about the project repeatedly went to voicemail, leading the prospective client to believe that this user was too busy or, worse, unreliable. And it wasn’t the first time AT&T dropped the ball — er, call.

“I’ve dropped countless calls while talking to clients,” says this individual, who admits — for better or worse — he’s an Apple junkie and has no plans to abandon his trusty, if sometimes unreliable, iPhone.

Then there’s a CEO and of a Public Relations firm in Los Angeles. She regularly uses her iPhone to call national television producers, new business prospects and retail clients. One recent call with an important client was dropped — at a very inopportune time. “Fortunately, the company still placed the order… but it didn’t look good dropping the call in the middle of contract negotiations”.

Poor reception and dropped calls have become a way of life for many AT&T Wireless customers since the iPhone was first introduced in 2007, and the new iPhone 4 — which, by Apple’s own admission, may drop calls if users hold the phone a certain way — has sparked a litany of complaints online. AT&T and Apple were dealt another public relations blow recently, after revealing that a software glitch has misrepresented the phone’s actual signal strength for years.

Sure, it’s annoying when calls get dropped, and it’s a reality for almost every cell phone and carrier at some point. But with millions of power users who live their digital lives on Apple’s superphone, and in part because it does so many other things so well, poor call quality has become a well-known Achilles’ Heel of the iPhone — especially frustrating for entrepreneurs and other business types who use it as their mobile offices.

A managing partner at Public Relations firm in Philadelphia, says AT&T’s dropped calls are a frequent frustration and make it difficult to develop “a new client relationship based on reliability.”
An expert in technology product management at a well known marketing firm, tries not to get worked up when his calls fail. “The client dropped the call, we all sighed heavily, he called me back, we concluded our business,” he says. This sequence has become somewhat of a tradition for this individual and his colleagues, who have experienced many dropped calls over the years.

Instead of shouting expletives at AT&T, an “insider” in Oregon (he asked to remain anonymous) is making light of the reception issues. On the heels of the viral success of @BPGlobalPR — a fake Twitter feed purporting to be from BP’s public relations department — the longtime iPhone user set off to create a snarky AT&T analog while he was on hold to pre-order an iPhone 4.
This insider says, “While AT&T’s servers were crashing left and right, I thought, ‘Huh, I’ve got a few minutes. Now would be a good time to “join” AT&T’s PR team.’ @ATT_Wireless_PR went live that afternoon in an attempt to give humorous voice to the frustrations that iPhone, and AT&T users in general, have felt for years,”.
But the mystery Twitterer insists he’s not trying to take down the company.

“The point is that in this brave new age of social media, even giant multinational telecoms like AT&T can be given a successful nipple-tweaking by one guy with a computer and too much free time,” he says. “Will this change the way AT&T does business? Almost certainly not. Will a few people have a laugh at AT&T’s expense? They already have.”

But these gripes aren’t limited to reception issues, nor are those of other AT&T users. A founder of an athletic footwear maker has jumbled contacts on his shiny new iPhone 4. For example, when his mom calls, it shows up as a different name and number. This user thinks it might be a “linking” problem that is mixing up his e-mail and telephone contacts. He hasn’t called AT&T to discuss the problem or find out how widespread it is, because he fears he’ll be put on hold for 30 minutes — and he has a business to run.

In fact, based on his own experience, this individual says it’s probably not a good decision for people to invest in AT&T’s iPhone 4 for business use, because first-generation models tend to have bugs, whether with reception, a wonky camera or a yellow bar on the LCD screen. “For the true mavens, get it,” he says. “For everyone else, wait it out.”
On Friday, Apple fessed up to the signal-bar glitch.

“Upon investigation, we were stunned to find that the formula we use to calculate how many bars of signal strength to display is totally wrong,” Apple said in a statement. How wrong? For many users, the iPhone adds two more signal bars than it should.

The statement went on to say that Apple is adopting an AT&T formula for calculating signal bars to accurately display signal strength in a given area — which, of course, doesn’t exactly solve the problem of poor reception, just how that poor reception is displayed. Apple will also issue a free software update in the coming weeks to distribute the correct formula to the millions of iPhone 4s that have been purchased since its release on June 24. Owners of iPhone 3GS and 3G will also get the update, since the erroneous formula is present in those versions as well.

Spokespeople for AT&T declined to comment on the issue and deferred to Apple representatives, who did not respond to questions via phone or e-mail. But the companies appear to be working together to address the reception issue.

And that’s good news for many businesses that have made — or want to make — the switch from BlackBerry to iPhone. AT&T says 40 percent of its sales this year have been to business customers, suggesting that iPhones are encroaching on corporate territory once owned by Research In Motion’s BlackBerry.

 Since its debut in 2007, the iPhone typically has not been supported in corporate environments. IT departments had been reluctant to fix the expensive device, which was seen more as a toy than a business tool and didn’t offer much privacy protection. BlackBerries, although not as consumer-friendly, have always been durable, reliable and efficient — if not a little less fun and glamorous. But in January, Apple announced that 70 percent of Fortune 100 companies were testing or deploying iPhones. And the Cupertino, Calif.-based company is improving its privacy, devising new business-friendly apps, and offers more than just e-mail. Apple will likely welcome even more fans — business and otherwise — once it teams up with Verizon, a long-anticipated partnership expected to debut in 2011.

In the meantime, most iPhone users appear to be standing by their devices, albeit sometimes begrudgingly. A loyal iPhone user says, “That’s what we do, we sigh and accept it and move on.”

Top 5 iPhone Apps

Find My iPhone The free app is designed for both iPhone and iPad. All you have to do is just install this app on any of your Apple device mentioned earlier to locate it. Features of the app includes it will locate your iPhone or iPad on a map, remotely set a passcode lock on your device as well as remotely wipe your device to permanently erase all of your personal data.

Apple Store Buy Apple products and accessories, read customer reviews, find an Apple Retail Store, stay up to date with in-store events, and make Personal Shopping, Genius Bar, or One to One appointments with the free Apple Store app.

Also check out this Apple products link: http://www.apple.com/iphone/apps-for-iphone/

G4

Get all the awesome gaming news, reviews, previews, trailers, tips, tricks and cheats from G4TV.com right on your iPhone using the free G4 app.

Toy Story 3

The Toy Story 3 app allows you to download a toy box full of free and premium games, pins, and greetings. You can also launch the official Toy Story 3 mobile website from inside the app and get the latest movie info, watch trailers, check local show times, and much more.

Banzai Rabbit

Banzai Rabbit tells the story of what can go wrong when a rabbit, a flea and two scientists – one good and one evil – all find themselves involved in a terrible cloning accident. This game leaves you to save the world from certain destruction by an evil flea genius while avoiding getting squished by traffic, all so you can get your dream girl back!

You might have heard of some of these sites, but we’ll bet you haven’t heard of all them. Read on and find out. You won’t be disappointed.

Demoscene.tv

See What Can Be Done with 4 Kilobytes

If you’re any kind of nerd at all, you probably know about the demoscene, where talented programmers create complex videos rendered in real-time, stored in incredibly small files. If you’re not familiar, you should make yourself acquainted with the scene, and all of the trippy, procedurally-generated content it has to offer. And hey, it’s not like you’re going to hit your bandwidth cap watching demos.

But what if you just want to see what all the fuss is about without actually downloading and running an executable? That’s where demoscene.tv comes in. Think of it as YouTube for the scene, letting you watch demos in HD on the web. And if you like what you see, the full demo executable is just a click away.

lite.Facebook.com

Clutter-Free Social Networking

You can admit it. Along with Twitter, Facebook is one of the sites that you absolutely feel compelled to check every day to keep track of your friends’ activities and latest funny links. But while we’re all for friend-stalking, we could definitely do without the AJAX-heavy sidebars and interface modules that clutter up the Facebook homepage. Try using Facebook Lite, which gives you lean views of friend feeds and your user profile. You get access to essential image and update posting functionality without being bothered by the newest Facebook game apps.

Letsplayarchive.com

Let other people play games for you

The Let’s Play Archive maintains a list of hundreds of “Let’s Play” games, where somebody plays through a video game while maintaining a journal using text, screenshots and videos. Some are funny, while other’s just give you a whirlwind tour of a game you’ve never played before. Sounds dumb? Give it a try, you might just find it more engrossing than you’d imagined.

Soyouwanna.com

What They Didn’t Teach You in School If you’ve ever needed some advice on how to do go about doing the most obscure, but didn’t really know who to turn to without receiving some sort of critical feedback, So You Wanna is a great resource for inquiring minds that think alike. So you wanna…audition for American Idol? Bottle your home-made beer? Get a travel visa to a foreign country? So You Wanna tells you all about it and assists you in your quest to become the all-knowing. Note that there is some NSFW content floating around the site.

Google Building Maker

Crowd Sourcing the 3D World

14th Century cartographers would be right about Google Earth – its world is pretty flat. Despite high-resolution satellite imagery that lets you zoom in on your neighbor’s skylight, buildings are still part of one big flat surface. That’s where you come in. Google’s Building Maker is a website that lets you help design and create buildings for Google Earth. Using a plug-in based version of their Sketch-up modeling program, you can easily create a textured 3D model of your neighborhood or local landmarks and submit them to be included in the Google Earth database. The process is surprisingly simple and really fun to use. Google has rolled out the service to 50 cities so far, but plans on expanding its reach in the future.

Ikeahacker.blogspot.com

Outsmart the Swedes at their Own Game

If you’ve been a college student or 20-something living on a budget in the last couple decades, chances are good that there are a couple of bits of Ikea furniture gracing your living quarters. The Ikeahacker blog shows you how other people have transformed their old Swedish furniture into something awesome.

Fatburgr.com

Count your Calories

Also a popular iPhone app, Fatburgr helps you count calories and make healthier decisions when eating out at various popular dine-in and fast food restaurants. Simply pick your poison (ours is Panera Bread) and Fatburgr will present you with an alphabetical list of the restaurant’s entire food inventory with the number of calories, grams of fat, carbohydrates, and fiber in each serving. If you take a look, you might be surprised at the lack of nutrition surrounding some of your favorite dishes.

Ffffound.com

Get Inspired

Ffffound (yes, four F’s) is an image bookmarking web service that allows users to post and share their favorite images they find on the web and recommends similar images according to the user’s taste. This is a great resource if you’re looking for some inspiration, or need an image that matches your tastes. Fffound displays graphic designer’s works, typography, advertisement design, animations, and sometimes, even the latest meme. There is some NSFW content floating around the site.

Newseum.org

Keep Up with the Local News

Curious about what’s on the front page of newspapers elsewhere in the world? Look no further than the Newseum, which offers downloadable PDFs fof more than 80 major international and domestic newspapers. These informative gems are brought to you by the interactive museum of news and journalism and is located by Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.

Strangemaps.wordpress.com

Strange Maps are Strange

If you’ve got a fascination with maps, or an affinity for world history, Strange Maps posts interesting maps several times a week, complete with interesting facts and statistics following suit in blog form.

Wunderground.com

The Most Accurate Weather Reports

We know, your gut instinct tells you to go to Weather.com to check for local weather conditions or the weekend forecast. But Weather Underground provides better local reporting by tapping into a network of 10,000 local weather stations in all major cities across the United States. A community-powered reporting system provides detailed hourly updates, which are especially useful when planning your commute during the rainy season.

Whatshouldireadnext.com

Take a Look, Read a Book

If you’re looking for a good book that’s out of your realm, try your hand at What Should I Read Next. WSIRN displays recommendations based on your favorites list. Conversely, if you just want a quick recommendation, simply enter in one item and WSIRN will offer titles that may appeal to your interests based on genre and author title.

Rulesformyunbornson.tumblr.com

There’s more to Life than the Internet

A recent issue of Wired listed rules for the modern Pointdexter – proper etiquette for techies in the 21st century. But while you may know the difference between a good and bad post on Twitter, how about ten hours of the day when you’re not on the internet? That’s where Rules for My Unborn Son comes in; this blog regularly posts the important lessons that’ll really help you get by in life. Rules like “Never eat lunch at your desk” and “Compliment your mom’s cooking” may be common sense for most of the world, but it’s sage advice for the unwashed masses of geeks.

Prezi.com

Pitch a Meeting

Microsoft’s Powerpoint is truly a hassle to use when you’ve only got a few hours to put together a full blown presentation. Thankfully, free web services like Prezi offer procrastinating professionals a better way to put together some pretty creative presentations. Prezi takes about five minutes to learn and the slide show is really just one big easel. And, if you want to get super creative, there are numerous tutorials that teach you how to jazz up your presentation with animated segues and mindmapping techniques that will inspire your audience to think outside of the box. Best of all, it’s all hosted online, so you don’t have to worry about anything happening to your expense report.

Tvtropes.org

Must-Read before Engaging in Mature Internet Discourse

This wiki is a comprehensive catalog of literary devices used in popular fiction, including tropes (different for clichés) used in most television shows today. Be wary, the site is a deep dive into the craft of story writing, and will change the way you enjoy books, television, and movies forever.

Knowyourmeme.com

Stay Up to Date with the Internet

Pardon us for considering our readers to be out of touch with the latest Internet memes, but you’d be surprised to see the statistics on how many average Internet users aren’t in touch with the latest Internet fads. For this reason, Know Your Meme exists to give your friends and family all an equal chance to laugh at, or with, the Internet.

Kongregate.com

Play Flash Games in Style

What do you get when you combine time-wasting flash games, an Xbox-like achievement system, a social network and a collectable card game? You get Kongregate; the best flash game hub on the ‘net.

Howcast.com

Instructional Videos that are Actually Coherent

From mundane tasks like washing your hair to complicated ventures like how to finance a home, Howcast hosts instructional videos that can help you get by in life. User-shared videos are well produced and get straight to the point, unlike the junk you’ll find on YouTube.

Interfacelift.com

Find the Perfect Wallpaper

Interfacelift may not be the biggest desktop wallpaper site on the internet, but it is one of the best organized, with easy sorting by resolution, rating, or tag. With thousands of gorgeous photos and illustrations, available in tons of resolutions (including dual- and triple-monitor resolutions), Interfacelift is definitely worth a look next time you want to refresh your PC’s wallpaper.

Investopedia.com

Demystify Your Investments

If you’re new to investing, the stock market and other financial institutions can seem like black magic—you put some money in, some charts go up and down, and hopefully you end up richer than you started. Enter Investopedia, Forbes’ collection of definitions and articles about all things financial. Written accessibly but not condescendingly, Investopedia will leave you feeling more confident about investing in no time at all.

Good-Tutorials.com

Paint a Pretty Picture

You don’t have to be a designer to learn how to touch up photos, create your own graphics, or conjure up fancy web buttons. Good Tutorials is one of our favorite resources for making the most out of our entire Adobe Creative Suite. Additionally, if you’ve got a knack for web design, this site can also help with CSS, Flash, Java and PHP.

Drinkhacker.com

Learn How to Drink in Style

Nothing says “sophistication” and/or “problem drinker” like leaving Drinkhacker open in your browser. With well-written spirits reviews and intriguing cocktail recipes, Drinkhacker’s got something to offer even the most casual drinkers.

io9.com

Be a Sci-Fi Superfan

Ok, ok, so io9 is a Gawker blog, and therefore not exactly “under the radar.” Nonetheless, it’s one of the blog mega-network’s lesser known sites, and an absolute must-read for any science fiction fan (we know you’re out there). All mediums get covered — television shows, movies, books, and even comics. The editors know their Cylons from their Cardassians, and the editorials give you more to stretch your mind than typical geek debates.

Customize.org

Spruce Up Your Desktop

Customize.org is the biggest and best resource for pretty much any aspect of the desktop customization scene. On it, people post screenshots of their desktops, tricked out with popular apps like Litestep, Samurize and Rainlender, and share how they’re made. The site also hosts themes and skins for those apps and others, along with helpful how-to guides.

Mentalfloss.com

Learn a New Interesting Fact Every Day

Did you know that giraffes have the highest blood pressure of any mammal? Or that Pope John Paul II was made an honorary member of the Harlem Globetrotters? No? Well, if you visited the Mental_Floss blog regularly, you would. With informative posts, infuriating quizzes and an “Amazing Fact Generator,” the blog is recquired reading for wannabe smart-alecs.

Musicovery.com

Find new music, the colorful way

Musicovery is a music-finding service that’s a little different than the rest. To get music recommendations, you just specify a list of genres that you like, a timeframe, and whether you want your music calm or energetic, dark or positive. Musicovery searches up matching songs, and displays them in a color-coded map. Its library isn’t as big as some others, but the colorful visuals and unusual song selection make it worth a visit.

Yankodesign.com

Glimpse into the Possible Future

Do high-concept gadgets like the Optimus Keyboard tickle your fancy? Yanko Design is a blog that focuses entirely on futuristic design concepts from studios like Art. Lebedev. The products showcased are mostly conceptual renders and may never see production, but occasionally, you’ll find a forward-thinking idea that perfectly combines form and function.

Gethuman.com

Skip the Robot, Talk to a Person

These days, calling technical support can be a real nightmare for a number of reasons: long hold times, unintelligible outsourced operators, and “Tier 1” technicians who almost inevitably know less about the product in question than you do. But the worst of all tech-support injustices is the automated frustration dispensers that companies sometime employ to put you through a labyrinth of touch-tone menus before you can talk to a real person.

But you don’t have to put up with all of that, thanks to Gethuman.com, which tells you—on a company by company basis—exactly what number to call and what buttons to press to get through to a real, human operator.

Cookingforengineers.com

Learn to Cook like a Nerd

If you’re the type that thinks of cooking as more of a science than an art, then Cooking For Engineers is the site for you. With lots of recipes written out and photographed in excruciating detail, and interesting cooking “experiments,” this site will help you make the transition from computer nerd to kitchen nerd.

Newsmap.jp

See the World’s News at a Glance

As Google News has become the single largest aggregation of local and global news, there have been several attempts to rearrange all that data into a more readable form. Newsmap.jp is one such effort, which organizes stories into a big, colorful treemap, based on category (business, technology, sport, etc) and importance, measured by the number of outlets reporting on a story.

Give it a try; it’s a surprisingly intuitive and addicting way to browse the news.

Magnatune.com

Listen to Free, Licensable Music

These days there are so many sites offering free music download (legally or illegally), that to stand out from the crowd, you need to do something unique. Magnatune is a site that does several unique things. For one: they only offer music from independent artists. Another, you can listen to any album in its entirety. Finally, Magnatune lets you license any song they offer, making an excellent resource for producers of podcasts and indie films.

Kayak.com

Plan Your Next Trip

If you’re looking for a quick weekend getaway, Kayak can help you find the best deals on any trip around the world, whether it’s by plane, ship, or automobile. Kayak is a search engine that pulls information from hundreds of travel sites based on your query; you can then refine your search and choose the result that is right for you. You can also sign up for their newsletter and receive daily deals based on your airport location setting . We should mention, however, that domestic flights within the continental United States or Europe do not show up economy airliners, such as Southwest and EasyJet.

Eeggs.com

Find Out Things You Never Knew about Your Favorite Games and Movies

Eeggs.com is a directory of user-submitted easter eggs for games, movies, and TV shows. You can browse the “Eeggs” by category, date added, or by rank. There are about 4,000 Easter eggs for video games alone, so head on over and find out what you’ve been missing.

Widgetbox.com

Put Some Flair on Your Blog

Alright, so we’re aware that this is no longer the nineties, and websites are still taboo and less traffic worthy when covered in Javascript widgets, but if you’re fairly active on a number of social networking sites, or would like to create a landing page out of your blog, Widget Box is the perfect resource. Some of our favorite widgets include: the Twitter feed box, the Flickr slideshow, and the Social Networking badge.

IFarchive.org

Play Thousands of Free, Awesome Games

“Interactive fiction” is a term used to refer to text-based adventure games which rely on clever writing and imagination, rather than fancy graphics. Although you’re probably more familiar with the classic interactive fiction games that were popular around the dawn of PC gaming, such as Zork and Adventure, there are plenty of enthusiasts still hard at work turning out new and innovative works in the genre. Ifarchive.org is the place to go to find pretty much an interactive fiction game, new or old, as well as emulators and other software needed to play them.

TheSixtyOne.com

Listen to Music, Level Up

Tired of music sites that just let you listen to music? Wish more stuff in your life had RPG elements? Then you should definitely give TheSixtyOne.com a look. A music site with a decidedly indie slant, songs on TheSixtyOne are uploaded by artists themselves, and voted on by users. The gimmick? Whenever a song that you’ve voted for goes on to be voted for by others, you gain experience and levels. There are also achievements (such as listen to 1000 songs) and quests (for example: listen to 7 recently posted songs), so you’ll always have something to work toward.

Vuvox.com

Make Slick-Looking Web Photo Collages

Vuvox is a web app which lets you take a collection of images, videos, and song files, and turn them into a rich, scrolling web collage. A set of simple photo editing tools lets you show only the best parts of your photos, and you can add info boxes that expand when moused over. When you’ve created the perfect collage, you can embed it on your blog or other website, or pass a link around on Twitter.

Openwith.org

Decode the Language of File Extensions

This essential website is a comprehensive database of file extensions for whenever you come across an unknown file type. The site is frequently updated, easy to browse, and even links you to freeware applications to open your cryptic files. In fact, the advocacy of free software to open documents is paramount in the site’s mission statement.

Crackle.com

Watch TV Shows and Movies You Can’t Find on Hulu

NBC’s Hulu may be the dominant video-streaming service for legally watching TV shows and movies, but its catalogue isn’t nearly comprehensive. Rival service Crackle fills in missing shows and films owned by Sony Pictures, in case you want to watch movies like Ghostbusters or Groundhog Day. Cracke’s collection isn’t as big as Hulu’s, but there are plenty of hidden gems here (Karate Kid II, anyone?).

Offworld.com

Insightful Gaming News without the Kotaku Crowd

Boingboing’s gaming spinoff cherry picks only the most interesting gaming links and industry news for its blog, adding insightful commentary with a little nostalgic bent to each post. It has since been put on hiatus, and former editor Brandon Boyer has deposited most of his eclectic links in a Tumblr blog. Still, Offworld’s archives are a delightful read, and it is still currently updated by the editors of Boingboing.

Also worth checking out: Rockpapershotgun.com, featuring frequent Offworld and PC Gamer UK contributors.

Vimeo.com

The Best Place to Upload Your Videos

We’ve given up all hope for Youtube. Vimeo – founded by the creators of CollegeHumor – is the premium cable equivalent of internet video. The simple upload interface, relatively quick processing times, and elegant video interface make this our preferred video hosting site. The moderated channels have high-quality content (there’s even a channel for anaglyph 3D video!), and the community has more than a single-digit lexicon.

Craiglook.com

Craiglist Gets Unstuck from 1995

Craigslist is undoubtedly the best place online marketplace to barter or trade goods, but its interface and navigation system leaves much to be desired. But since all of its content can be read through RSS feeds, you’re not forced to actually use the Craigslist site. Craiglook is a mash-up of Craiglist feeds (read through Yahoo Pipes) and Google Maps. Its location radius-based search is the site’s most useful feature, and its content is always up to date with the main Craigslist directory.

Drop.io

Collaborate in Real-Time without the Wave

Yes, we know everyone is excited about the potential of Google Wave as an end-all solution for real-time project collaboration. But in its Beta state, Wave is too buggy and slow to earn our recommendation. Drop.io takes a simpler approach to real-time collaboration: users share online “drop” repositories which host documents and images. We dig that Drop.io doesn’t require complicated user accounts or unnecessary social networking elements. Yahoo apparently feels the same way, and has pre-installed Drop.io’s Attach Large Files feature into every Yahoo mail account.

Spotify.com

A Social Music Platform to Replace iTunes

Spotify is a new music service that hopes to streamline the way we both stream and purchase new music. The company was launched with the blessing of several major labels, in a refreshingly forward-thinking move on the part of the music industry. Because of this, Spotify is able to stream full, high-quality tracks from these labels without fear of retribution. Our favorite feature is the ability to create and save playlists for later. This really adds to the illusion that you now have an unlimited music library on your computer. While Spotify is not yet available for US residents, we await its stateside debut with bated breath.

Obsoletethebook.tumblr.com

Respect Your Gadget’s Ancestors

This darling Tumblr blog preaches the kind of nostalgia that techies can really appreciate. Author Anna Jane Grossman recounts the simpler days of pay phones, Polaroid photos, and pocket calculators. If you’re ever suffering from shiny gadget overload, take a breath and calm yourself in the Obsolete blog’s welcoming analog arms.

Wired.co.uk

Tech News from a Different Perspective

Wired UK’s website is a great example of an international publication that puts out fine content that’s distinct from its US counterpart. Sure, some news and blog posts cover the same topics as the stateside edition, but the perspective is just as elucidating and fresh. Plus, it’s the only place you’ll find the musings of acclaimed futurist and comic book writer Warren Ellis.

Blog.makezine.com

Advanced Crafting for Hobbyists

Like to get your hands dirty? Makezine’s blog is a treasure trove of links to geeky craft projects found all over the web. From circuit bending tutorials to D-I-Y robots, you’ll find all sorts of nifty projects that’ll get your inner inventor stirring. And even if you’re not the hacking type, the linked projects are a joy to read.

Pdfgeni.com

Find any PDF Reference Manual

This search engine is dedicated to indexing PDF files scattered all over the web. It’s extremely useful for finding technical manuals that you might have thrown away without having to dig through the original manufacturer’s website. It’s also great for finding ebooks and obscure academic documents.

What the Font

Because Not Everyone Uses Helvetica

In the days of yore, font-recognition software was expensive and didn’t work particularly well. Lucky for us, what once cost a lot of money is now available free on the web. Point your browser to WhatTheFont, upload an image featuring the font in question, and the service will give you a list of matching fonts, usually including some free options. For bonus points, font nerds can test their knowledge by trying to identify the difference between Arial and Helvetica in common logos.

Tor.com

Get Your Sci-Fi Short Story Fix

If you’re a science fiction and fantasy aficionado, this site is for you. A free membership to this publisher’s site gets you access to exclusive ebooks, and casual browsers can still dive into a wealth of short stories, comics, art, and its delightful blog.

Your iPhone provides access to email, Visual Voicemail, Web browsing and other applications that can use a significant amount of data. It’s no surprise that you might find yourself using more data than you thought.

The good news is that now, when you’re traveling outside the U.S., you can save money on your international data usage by signing up for one of AT&T’s newly created Data Global Plans with low rates in more than 90 countries.

Turn Data Roaming “OFF”:
By default the setting for international data roaming will be in the “OFF” position.
To turn data roaming “ON/OFF” tap on Settings>General>Network>Data Roaming

- Turning “OFF” data roaming blocks email, browsing, visual voicemail and downloads, but it will not block text or picture/video messages.

- When abroad, international roaming rates apply when you send text or picture/video messages.

- To access audible voicemail when data roaming is “OFF”, tap on Phone > Voicemail.
International roaming voice rates apply. 

Utilize WiFi Instead of 3G/GPRS/EDGE:
WiFi is available in many international airports, hotels and restaurants to browse the Web or check email.

Turn Fetch New Data “Off”:
Check email and sync contacts and calendars manually instead of having the data pushed to your iPhone automatically. This way you can control the flow of data coming to your iPhone.

 - To turn off the Auto-Check functionality tap on
Settings>Mail, Contacts, Calendars>Fetch New Data.

Change Push to “OFF”   and Select Fetch Manually.

Consider Purchasing an International Data Package:
If you are traveling outside the U.S., purchasing a Data Global Plan will significantly reduce the cost of using data abroad. To add an international data package call 1-877-707-9208.

Reset the Usage Tracker to Zero:
When you arrive overseas access the usage tracker in the general settings menu and select reset statistics. This will enable you to track your estimated data usage while abroad.

-To reset Usage Tracker to Zero tap on
Settings>General>Usage>Reset Statistics

Learn more or call 1-866-MOBILITY

Get everything you wanted to know about the best-selling 2010 & 2011 Toyota Prius hybrid in the palm of your hand.  Toyota has just launched a mobile phone website for your  iPhone, BlackBerry, Palm, or other mobile phone device and browser.

The new Toyota mobile phone website app is not limited to the Prius, the best-selling hybrid on the planet.  If you want information on the Camry hybrid sedan, it’s there.  Ditto, the Highlander hybrid SUV.  And so is information about all the other Toyota models, from the compact Yaris to the hunky FJ Cruiser.

When I say information, I mean lots and lots of information.  Photos, so you can compare and choose colors, even see how the dashboard navigation system looks.  Trim versions, so you can compare prices and option packages.  Punch in your zipcode, and up pops a list of dealers near you.

iPhone and iPod Touch users can see videos, including a 360-degree colorizer of the Prius.  Within the next couple of months, Toyota will extend this rich media feature to other models – and also to other mobile phone models.  Right now, the videos are limited to the Prius, iPhone and iPod Touch.

Promise me that if you go car shopping on our mobile phone that you’ll also stay in touch with the latest news about hybrid cars, electric cars, hydrogen and fuel cell cars, and other alternative fuel vehicles, right here, from your Green Car Examiner.

The Toyota mobile phone website app was created by iCrossing, a digital marketing company.

Toyota Mobile Website link: http://m.toyota.com/index.html

Photos: http://m.toyota.com/prius/photo-gallery.html

Make Inexpensive High Definition International Calls from iPhone Using Call Global!

• Crystal Clear Call Quality, this is not a VOIP iphone app… It’s Better!!!!
• Pay as You Go, No contracts or commitments
• Easiest Way to Call International
• Free $2.00 Balance with Free App Download

Call Global is not a VOIP iphone app; all calls are place over phone lines, just like your normal phone calls. So unlike applications like Skype or truphone or any other voip apps, Call Global can be used absolutely anywhere and all the phone calls are crystal clear.

Users will receive a free $2.00 balance with the free download! So not only are you getting the app for free, your first few international phone calls are free too!

Call Global Features:

Direct Call

Direct call allows users to make crystal clear calls to anywhere in the world. Users simply dial the international number into the keypad, or select one form their contacts, and are instantly connected anywhere in the world.

There are a few countries where direct call cannot be used. For a full list of these countries please check our website. If you live in one of these countries do not worry, because our other calling feature, World Call, can be used from any country in the world.

World Call

World Call is our calling feature that can be used from anywhere in the world. With World Call you simply enter in the phone number you are calling and then World Call calls both you and the person you are trying to call at the same time! So no one actually made the international call. No VOiP apps in the app store has any feature like this.

Call History

Call History tells users exactly how much each call cost, so they can easily track how much they are spending.

Create Virtual Numbers

Do you have a family member in Argentina or a business colleague in England? With the virtual number feature you can create a local phone number in countries all across the world that will ring directly to your phone.

So now your family in Argentina can dial a local Argentina phone number and connect directly to your cell phone anywhere in the world. And your family in Argentina will only pay for a local phone call.

Rate Finder

Are you unsure how much it will cost you to call your brother in France? Simply go to the rate finder and quickly the look up the cost.

Recharge Notification

Lets you know when your balance is low. So your balance never runs out during the middle of a call.