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ie8 fix

flip

Fun animation tool

Flip Boom Classic provides all the tools you need to make a very simple animated film. With its basic controls and excellent layout, it's a great program with only one tiny snag.

We found Flip Boom's interface to be a successful design from top to bottom. It maintains the layout of a children's drawing kit, but it offers a sophisticated set of tools for creating animated digital video. Flip Boom also saves animations that can be viewed with an iPod, with Windows Media Player, or online. Its online tutorial offers a step-by-step guide to the process that … Read more

Flippin' out at the 2009 AMP Energy 500

Yesterday Jamie McMurray pulled off a significant upset by winning NASCAR's AMP Energy 500 Sprint Cup race at Talladega Superspeedway. Not that we here at The Car Tech blog would promote gambling, but if you had bet on McMurray, then you would have made out like a bandit with his reported 25 to 1 odds of winning at Talladega. As much as this victory is a feather in McMurray's logo-ridden cap, it doesn't matter much, as it appears that based on points alone Jimmie Johnson is gonna take yet another Sprint Cup championship. Yawn.

But what seems … Read more

Flip Video introduces next-gen MinoHD

For those waiting to see what Flip Video will have for the holiday season, the company is about to ship an upgraded, "premium" version of its MinoHD pocket camcorder for $229.99.

In a nod to Apple, the new model is called the MinoHD, second-generation, and features a brushed metal body, double the internal memory (8GB vs. 4GB), a larger, 2-inch LCD, and an HDMI connection, though no cable is included.

Flip's designers have also rounded off the corners of the unit (it does look sleeker) and tweaked the FlipShare software package to include direct uploads to … Read more

The 404 426: Where we whisper sweet nothings

Nothing can compare to someone whispering sweet nothings in your ear...unless that person is Wilson Tang...in which case you should probably pick up the phone and quickly dial 911. The Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week is coming to a close in New York, but there's one more runway show that we don't think got the attention it deserved: the Snuggie! The blanket with sleeves somehow rose to ridiculous popularity and became an actual phenomenon, and the company is trying to continue its revenue stream by introducing a new "urban jungle" line of robes featuring zebra and leopard prints. I managed to get my hands on a a Snuggie of my own and we each take turns trying it on before brainstorming our own ideas for Snuggie customization.

We also lament the passing of 960 Blockbuster video rental stores, all sentenced to die by the end of 2010. The company obviously suffered at the hands of free, legit streaming-video sites like Hulu and even network homepages, but CNET's own Don Reisinger reports that over 18 percent of Blockbuster's stores aren't turning a profit, so the company is practically forced to cut back on locations. We can't say that we're surprised, especially since none of us has actually stepped foot in a Blockbuster in awhile, but there's still hope for the company in the form of small rental kiosks to be placed in stores throughout the country.

The final big news item today is the debut of Google's newest RSS reader ripoff, also known as Fast Flip. As Rafe Needleman reports, the service is essentially a digital version of the old microfilm readers in that the service presents screenshots of news articles in a horizontal landscape layout. Readers can preview the first page of news stories categorized by popularity, recent views, topics, etc... but the odd part is that none of the hyperlinks actually work. Instead, clicking anywhere on the page takes you to the original article landing page. Our initial reaction is wondering about this new relationship between Google Fast Flip and the actual Web publishers. We like the ability to read a quick snippet of news and quickly scroll through several news sites at once, but the horizontal scrolling is too limiting. Listen to the show to hear more complaints without solutions.

EPISODE 426 Subscribe in iTunes audio | Suscribe to iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

Google Fast Flip: The platypus of news readers

Google on Monday released an experimental new content browser called Fast Flip that makes it possible to see a curated set of content sites using a physical "turn the pages" metaphor. Fast Flip pages are cached by Google and load very quickly, which is cool. And if your brain is stuck in 1969 and you want to pretend that new-fangled computer in front of you is a microfilm reader, it'll feel natural to use.

Fast Flip is a good solution for putting a magazine or newspaper online, and it makes scanning even a more modern Web feed … Read more

Google testing Fast Flip for Google News

Google is testing a service that will let newshounds read Web pages of magazines and newspapers like they were flipping through an old-fashioned paper copy.

Marissa Mayer, vice president of search products and user experience, plans to demonstrate Google Fast Flip later on Monday at TechCrunch50. It's a Google Labs project that expands the presence of publishers on Google News, organizing and displaying authorized screen grabs of news stories--not snippets--within the Google News site.

For example, readers will be able to scroll through a series of screen grabs bearing the publisher's logo that display stories on the weekend's NFL games … Read more

Apple edges in on Flip Video's turf

One of the biggest revelations at Apple's music event Wednesday wasn't just that the iPod Nano now has a video camera, but that Apple has the popular Flip Video camera squarely in its sights.

With user-created video exploding, Apple CEO Steve Jobs uttered what is probably one of the more frightening things rival electronics industry execs can hear: "We want to get in on this."

Already having decimated the MP3 player market with the iPod, and putting pressure on fellow smartphone makers, Apple now hopes to take on the Flip in its own backyard: short, user-generated … Read more

Mediocre PDF reader

PokatReader is a basic PDF reader with a few extra features. Although the program works well, the interface could be better, and a lot of the features it seems to have are actually only available by upgrading.

The program's interface is a little too basic for our tastes. The first screen is cluttered with an ad for the Executive version of the software and several other options, making it not entirely obvious how a user should get started. Beyond that the interface isn't bad, and we definitely like being able to flip through the pages of PDF files. … Read more

Get a Kodak Zi6 HD camcorder for $69.99

It's rare enough to find a standard-definition pocket camcorder like the Creative Vado or Flip Video for under $100, but a high-def model? Schwing!

Geeks.com has a refurbished Kodak Zi6 HD camcorder for $69.99. Shipping will run you about $8.

Before I go any further, here's the catch: It's pink. Now, I'm secure enough in my manhood to bring a pink camcorder to my kid's soccer game, but you might--aw, who am I kidding, no I'm not!

The Zi6 is widely regarded as one of the top models in its pocket-cam class. … Read more