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Filed under: Features, sxsw
 The Interactive portion of SXSW is March 12-16, and Download Squad will be covering the event a little differently this year. We’ll still have videos from developers, designers and business leaders, but in addition, we’ll be harnessing the power of the crowd via Seed to cover the core takeaway from as many panels and conversations as possible.
If you’re interested in covering SXSW Interactive for Download Squad, you too can join the fun. Just head over to Seed and set up an account. Then email us at sxsw (make the at sign here) downloadsquad dawt com to let us know who you are and what panels you’d like to cover. We’ll be meeting and greeting Download Squad fans and Seed writers at the Seed booth right there in the Austin Convention Center, so don’t be a stranger.
Also, you can jump straight into the action by giving us a short, punchy “takeaway” from any panels that you attend (or conversations both in and out of the convention center). Once you have a Seed account, you can accept this assignment here. If we publish your work, you get paid!
Starting tomorrow, I’ll check in with daily updates and I’ll be appropriating our Twitter feed with regular happenings. I’ll use the #sxsw hashtag, of course. Meanwhile, keep an eye on our special hub page for SXSW as we build out coverage through next week.
Download Squad at SXSW Interactive originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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SXSW Interactive - Twitter - Download Squad - Business - Austin Convention Center
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Filed under: Mozilla, Beta, Browsers
 Mozilla’s developers are busily crafting all kinds of features for future versions of Firefox — Jetpack’s no-restart add-on functionality,out of process plugins, a bigger, badder JavaScript engine. They’re also taking a look at how we log in and out of websites and trying to standardize that process.
To that end, Mozilla has put together a draft spec (which you can view at Google Docs) which would add new extensions to the HTTP client/server communication process for authentication. They’ve also released an experimental add-on for Firefox called Account Manager which you can use to demo proposed system on a handful of sites. Right now, Facebook, Google, Yahoo! and three Mozilla sites (Addons, Personas, and Bugzilla) should work — Mozilla has hard-coded support for them into the addon itself.
Facebook worked nicely. After logging in, the key icon in my toolbar illuminated and clicking it revealed that, yes, I was logged in to Facebook as myself. I didn’t have the same luck with Google, but that’s to be expected at this point.
Anyone who wants to code in support for the spec on his can check out the draft doc and implement support on their sites and the code for the Account Manager addon is available as well. Mozilla begins testing Account Manager for Firefox to simplify web logins originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 17:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Firefox - Add-on - Google Docs - Mozilla Firefox - Mozilla Foundation
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Filed under: Features, Web services, Social Software, iPhone
In this corner, with a big head start, a huge userbase, and tons of features, it’s … Foursquare! In this corner, with millions of dollars in funding and a great-looking new design … Gowalla!
By now, most people know that Gowalla and Foursquare have been going blow-for-blow in the location-based social gaming fight. Despite entries from Google, Yelp, and (soon) Facebook, these two services have the strongest iPhone apps out there right now. But if you’re only going to sign up for one, which one should you pick?
Both Gowalla and Foursquare have their plusses and minuses, so read on for a comparison of their new iPhone apps (which both updated on Tuesday … ooh, drama!) and decide for yourself.
In this corner, with a big head start, a huge userbase, and tons of features, it’s … Foursquare! In this corner, with millions of dollars in funding and a great-looking new design … Gowalla!
By now, most people know that Gowalla and Foursquare have been going blow-for-blow in the location-based social gaming fight. Despite entries from Google, Yelp, and (soon) Facebook, these two services have the strongest iPhone apps out there right now. But if you’re only going to sign up for one, which one should you pick?
Both Gowalla and Foursquare have their plusses and minuses, so read on for a comparison of their new iPhone apps (which both updated on Tuesday … ooh, drama!) and decide for yourself.
Location Battle, Round 2: Foursquare and Gowalla both update iPhone apps! originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Facebook - Gowalla - Foursquare - Download Squad - Google
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Filed under: Developer
Rejex is a very handy little site for building and testing regular expressions on the fly. It’s composed of four simple text boxes and a very informative cheat sheet (not shown above, but after the jump). You feed your text into the “Test String” box (the middle one), and then your expression into the top box, and immediately see the matches in the bottom box. Here I am searching for instances of the letter “o” which are either at the beginning or the end of a word, so I got a match for “over” but not for “fox”.
Half the tool’s value lies with the informative cheat sheet, showing you exactly what each regex character does. I would have been happy for some “popular regexes” such as “matching an email address” and “matching a US phone number” etc, but even so, this is definitely a tool I am going to bookmark for future use.
The regex cheat sheet:
Rejex lets you craft regular expressions on-the-fly originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 14:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Regular expression - Programming - Languages - Download Squad - Perl
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Filed under: Business, Google, Ask DLS
I had gotten some very well-informed and interesting replies when I asked you guys about the stock market, so I figured I would try my luck again with something at least as shady, scammy and rife with get-rick-quick artists: Google AdWords affiliate marketing.
The basic idea, to those of you unfamiliar with the concept: Company A offers its product for sale (say, an anti-virus). If I get them a paying customer, they give me a cut of the deal (percent or a set cash amount). In this setup, I’m called an affiliate, and It’s up to me to drive them traffic. One of the most common ways for an affiliate to get traffic is by using AdWords: I pay Google, and if enough people buy the product, company A pays me back and I cash in. This is in theory.
In looking into the subject recently, I was unsurprised to find that it is full of some of the most shoddy and untrustworthy materials. In fact, it is so full of crap, I had a hard time finding anything valuable. So I ask you: are there any valuable resources here? Or is it totally “trial and error”? Do you know anyone who actually made money with this, or is it mainly a losing proposition?
NOTE: Needless to say, any affiliate links in the comments (even valuable comments) will get the comments deleted, and if severe, may get you banned. This is a strictly non-commercial avenue. If you reply, reply because you want to help the other readers, not because you’re trying to market something. I will be checking every link.
Ask DLS: Is affiliate marketing via Google AdWords a scam? originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Google - Business - Google AdWords - Affiliate marketing - Download Squad
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Filed under: Developer, Browsers
So e-books are all the rage these days. It’s the wave of the future! Apart from dedicated devices such as the Nook or Kindle, there are various cross-platform software implementations, such as the Kindle App for Windows and iPhone, etc.
One of the most interesting attempts is the Ibis reader, which is actually an HTML5-driven website, which is almost as cross-platform as you can get.
I say almost as cross-platform as you can get because it does have a couple of drawbacks: HTML5 is not widespread yet, and Ibis itself is not open-source. It’s more of a platform than a tool — you read Ibis books on the Ibis site itself.
This is why I find Monocle interesting. It is far less visually impressive than Ibis, but it’s based on Javascript — a well-established technology, already available just about anywhere. It’s also open-source, and you can use it to embed an e-book on any webpage. It’s designed to work with the ePub book format (same as everyone else), but it claims to be able to process other formats as well.
I think the major issue with providing e-books is the content rather than the medium, so it remains to be seen who will be using Monocle. Still, choice is a good thing!
Monocle is a JavaScript e-book reader originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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iPhone - Open source - Download Squad - E-book - EPUB
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Filed under: Browsers, Mobile
 Opera has just released the second beta of its Mini 5 browser. Amongst other changes and fixes, Android is now supported.
Until now, Android users have been stuck with Opera Mini 4.2, a thoroughly lackluster browser that really doesn’t compete with either the stock WebKit browser or Dolphin. With Mini 5, Opera becomes a serious contender for the growing Android device market. Initial reviews suggest that Opera Mini 5 is quick and handy, but doesn’t seem to render either JavaScript or Flash content — I doubt it’s going to replace your default browser for the time being. But give it time, it’s just a beta!
If you want more details, PCMag has a hands-on review with the new browser, but it’s probably easier to just install Mini 5 and give it a go yourself. If you’re reading this on your Android phone, just visit m.opera.com/next!
Opera Mini 5 now available for Android devices originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Opera - Android - Opera Mini - Download Squad - Mobile Opera
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Filed under: Internet, Google, web 2.0
In a move that is surely reminiscent of Microsoft and Bing’s emphasis on VISUAL RESULTS (did you see Pivot?!), Google has just launched a new feature for its Reader. It’s called Reader Play, and it lets you click through all of the goodies that the Internet has to offer (or at least the bits of the Internet that Google has deemed ‘cool’) in a sharp, fast, and minimalist black interface. Yes, this might just be Google’s first non-white-background interface.
It seemingly has nothing to do with your own RSS feeds, either. In fact, other than the ability to ’share’ or ‘like’ items, it really doesn’t resemble Google Reader at all. Presumably, Google Reader Play builds upon the ‘magic’ sorting and ‘exploration’ that the Google Reader team implemented back in October 2009; it’s probably just a new UI over the same functionality.
The UI is nice though, and I have to admit that the ‘exploration’ feature in Google Reader is something I often use. If you’re really lazy, or if you just want to watch something hands-free while you eat your breakfast cereal, there’s even an option for an automatic slideshow. Give Reader Play a go, or go read the official announcement if you want more info.
[via Lifehacker]
Google super-charges Reader and turns it into an Interwebs slideshow originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Google Reader - Google - Google Reader Play - Microsoft - Bing
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Filed under: Games
Unlimited Detail is definitely the most interesting technology demo I stumbled on today. In a nutshell: current 3D technology is based on polygons. Each 3D shape you see on the screen is made out of multiple straight facets (polygons). The more polygons (or facets), the rounder and more natural it seems. The current battle is all about polygon counts — how many polygons can a certain graphics card render per unit of time. This metric has been rising 20% per year on average, for the past few years.
But polygons aren’t the only way to display 3D information. Unlimited Detail works with dots, rather than polygons. The thinking is that if we use 3D “pixels” instead of flat shapes, objects can be far more realistic and lifelike because you don’t have as many straight surfaces. Each object is composed of a mass of “dots” virtually positioned in 3D space.
This, in itself, is not a novel idea. A very similar principle exists in voxel technology. What is different about Unlimited Detail is the way they select what pixels to present. And this is where the “snake oil” bit comes in, because there is absolutely no hard proof for this one. They say they’re applying “search technologies” to figure out exactly what pixels to show. In other words, while an entire 3D scene may contain billions of “points”, you may only have 1024×768 (786,432) pixels on your monitor. So if there’s a very fast way to figure out which of these points must be shown on each of the pixels, you get very fast 3D technology.
And this is what Unlimited Detail say they can do. There’s an impressive (if quite smug) screencast after the jump, with a good explanation for novices (and potential investors, I’m guessing — the site seems quite shoddy at the moment). Graphics experts in the audience, help me out here: Is this snake oil, or is it really the next big thing?
Unlimited Detail claims to leave current 3D technologies in the dust originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Technology - Download Squad - Polygon - Video card - Pixel
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