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Calling this Rachael UI an Android “skin” is like calling Windows 95 a “DOS skin,” but that’s not to say there’s nothing to love about it. In fact, we’re rather relieved that Sony Ericsson seems to be addressing Android’s incredibly lackluster media playback interface, the SE “mediascape” version of which dominates this particular video — a sequel to the first Rachael UI tease we got back in July. You know what else is great? The video title name drops the same lucious screen resolution as the DROID, 480 x 854, which spells all sorts of good things for SE’s first Android entry. Video is after the break, and if that doesn’t do the trick for you, the Rachael hardware is being teased over on this end of the internet.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Continue reading New Sony Ericsson Rachael UI video hits, still looks nothing like Android

Filed under: Cellphones, Software

New Sony Ericsson Rachael UI video hits, still looks nothing like Android originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 31 Oct 2009 23:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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I like Android and all, but one thing the iPhone absolutely kicks every other smartphone’s ass at is media playback—until now. This video of Sony Ericsson’s “Rachael” Android UI shows its media capabilities, and it looks un-freaking-believable.

Looks like Sony Ericsson borrowed heavily from the Zune HD playbook for this one, but we’re not complaining—the Zune HD has the only media UI that’s capable of competing with the iPhone’s. Let’s count the influences: First is the homescreen, which has a layout very similar to the Zune HD’s QuickPlay menu. Instead of just giving you a boring list of Artists, Albums, and Snoooore, it shows Favorites (like the Zune HD’s Pins), Recently Added and Recently Played, not-so-coincidentally the exact same options in the Zune HD menu. Below that you get two options from PlayNow, a kind of Pandora-like Sony store, including Top 30 and Recommendations. This stuff is super useful for anyone with a large, frequently-updated media collection.

At the bottom of every screen is a crossbar much like the Zune HD’s, but that one’s legitimate Sony—they pioneered that UI with XMB on PS3 and PSP. It’s a great idea, so we’re glad it shows up here as well. Other Zune HD influences? How about the art on the artist and album pages? When selecting Kanye West from the artist list, a photo of his smug little chipmunk face shows up on the top of the list of albums, and when selecting his album The College Dropout, the album art pops up above the tracklist—just like on the Zune HD.

Of course, a warning before the video says that this is for conceptual and internal use only (whoops!) so for all we know, Rachael’s media playback won’t look anything like this. But we hope it does—Android’s music playback software is embarrassingly dated and this video shows a level of gloss that frankly blows me away. We could be seeing the first smartphone featuring Rachael very soon, too: Like, four days from now soon. We’ve got no idea on carrier, price, capacity, or any other hard details quite yet.

In case that was all too long for you? I want this thing. Right now. [SE-Blog via SE-Nse, thanks Scotsboyuk!]

October, you were one happening month. You brought us Windows 7, some serious Google Wave insights, and tasty media center upgrades. Here’s a quick look back at the most popular posts of October, 2009.

• Top 10 Windows 7 Booster Apps
  Windows 7 is a big improvement over Vista, and a pretty convenient OS in general-but it’s by no means perfect. These 10 downloads improve Windows 7’s looks, functions, and make it easier, safer, and more convenient to upgrade to.
• Lifehacker’s Complete Guide to Windows 7
  Windows 7 officially launches today, but we’ve been testing, tweaking, customizing, fixing, and writing about this OS for a year now. We present here a guide to everything we’ve learned about the OS, from first install to final settings change.
• Install Snow Leopard on Your Hackintosh PC, No Hacking Required
  Two weeks ago I detailed how to build a Hackintosh with Snow Leopard, start to finish, with a little Terminal work. If you’re not comfortable with command-line hacking, you can now install Snow Leopard on your Hackintosh with just a few point-and-clicks.
• Google Wave First Look
  If you’re not one of the 100,000 lucky users who gets an invitation to Google Wave today, don’t fret. You can check out Google Wave right here.But first, ground rules.
• Wallpaper Roundup: Color Splashes and Cooler Days
  Fall is a colorful time of year and the vibrant hues of fall foliage and holidays lend well to livening up your desktop. Take a stroll through our collection of fall-themed wallpaper to find a new look for your workstation.
• Google Wave’s Best Use Cases
  Last week we asked a simple question: How will you use Google Wave? Over 600 responses later, we’re sending Wave nominations to the people who had the best use cases.
• The Master List of New Windows 7 Shortcuts
  Windows 7 adds loads of great shortcuts for switching between apps, moving windows around your screen, moving them to another monitor altogether, and much more.
• First Look at Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala Beta
  The beta release of Karmic Koala, the next version of Ubuntu Linux, just arrived on the net. Wondering what’s new inside the open-source operating system?
• Build a Silent, Standalone XBMC Media Center On the Cheap
  You won’t find a better media center than the open-source XBMC, but most people don’t have the space or desire to plug a noisy PC into their TV. Instead, I converted a cheap nettop into a standalone XBMC set-top box. Here’s how.

If you’ve hopped over to Google.com this Halloween, you might have spotted the world’s favorite search engine has a special Halloween logo.

Actually, it’s not just one logo: clicking on the Google image delivers a series of images related to Halloween candy.

Another thing to notice from these shots: Google is trying a new layout with a subset of users that removes the “Search” button entirely, reminding visitors they can just hit Enter to search for something. That’s spookily simple, we think.

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Reviews: Google

TechCrunch editor Michael Arrington and Offerpal Media chief executive Anu Shukla got into a brouhaha over special offers, which are used to monetize social apps on social networks, at the close of the Virtual Goods Summit on Friday.

At the close of a panel where Shukla spoke, Arrington asked how Shukla could defend her business of making offers that were leading the social game industry “into hell.” Shukla responded with a long answer about why Arrington’s commentary was “shit, double shit and bullshit.” You can see Alexa Lee’s video on the whole 10-minute exchange below. I also interviewed Shukla about the issue before the panel.

The debate revolves around whether specials offers are unethical and a bad experience for both users and advertisers. Shukla defended the practice of monetizing games and other social apps through offers, which let users pay with their time, participation and attention, rather than actual money.

Users can play games from the likes of Zynga and Playdom for free. But when they want to buy something in the games, such as a better plow to farm the land in Zynga’s FarmVille game, they have to pay. As an alternative to shelling out cash, they can accept an offer from Offerpal, which gets the user to do something like fill out a survey or subscribe to Netflix.

Arrington alleged these offers are so much trash. The offers are “slimy” and users scam the advertisers by making up answers in surveys or signing up for services they plan to cancel. Arrington said that this means that advertisers like Netflix aren’t getting their money’s worth from the ads, but Facebook and others involved aren’t putting a stop to the practice because they all make money from it.

Shukla contended that those objections are “shit” because most of the offers are high-quality and are filtered. She said, as we wrote earlier, that more than 160 million consumers have participated in Offerpal’s offers over the past two years. The total reach of the whole offer industry is still small, with only 5 percent to 30 percent of all gamers participating in offers.

The vast majority of offers are working out well, because the advertisers keep coming back. Most of the business is on Facebook, though it moved to Open Social-based networks for a time and has now returned to Facebook, thanks to that network’s rapid growth to more than 300 million users.

“We see more users turning to offers as a way to pay,” Shukla said in our interview.

Shukla acknowledged there were some offers in the general industry that were “spoiling the experience.” That’s why Facebook issued new policies in July that put restrictions on the offer business, particularly on offers that had to do with the mobile phone business. Shukla said Offerpal spent a lot of time cleaning out marginal offers and had to take a revenue hit as well. All of the social app companies are taking a hit as a result. Shukla said that was good for the industry, since some offer companies were letting bad offers creep in to gain market share.

“Unfortunately, some of the offers that were considered poor quality actually perform well,” she said. “If we took them out, and our competitors didn’t, they would perform better than us. So I love the fact that Facebook forced everyone to take them out.”

Even so, Shukla struck back hard at Arrington, who promised to expose bad practices. Video and pictures by Alexa Lee.

Time for this week’s events guide. You can download the entire event calendar in iCal format or import it into your Google Calendar. You can also import individual events using the link beside each entry. This events guide is a weekly feature here on ReadWriteWeb. We publish it every weekend, as good a time as any to review your conference plans.

Know of an event taking place that should appear here? Let us know in the comments below or contact us.

Sponsor

2 – 5 November 2009: San Francisco

Enterprise 2.0 Conference

The Enterprise 2.0 Conference is the largest gathering for people ready to connect teams and harness collective intelligence with social tools and 2.0 technologies. Enterprise 2.0 includes visionary keynotes, informative sessions, case studies and an Expo Pavilion featuring the latest technologies. Register today and save 20% (code: CNGXES07) or get a free Pavilion Pass (code: CNGXES01).

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4 – 5 November 2009: Raleigh, North Carolina

Internet Summit 2009

Internet Summit ‘09 will feature over 75 speakers, including representatives of major Internet brands such as Twitter, Pandora, Google, Salesforce.com, Digg, Technorati, CBS Interactive, Huffington Post, Blogger, Tree.com, and many more.

Topics will include social media, blogging, real time, mobile, video, search, online advertising, e-commerce, analytics, the cloud, and more.

Join over 1200 entrepreneurs, senior marketers, and executives in the conversation about the future of the industry and how to capitalize on the shifting dynamics of the Internet and tap into its unlimited business potential.

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5 – 6 November 2009: Sydney

Media140 Sydney: Future of Journalism in the Social Media age

News broadcasting is evolving. Citizen journalists are coming to the fore, saving lives by tracking brush fires and changing the course of history at elections.

Media140 Sydney addresses the changing face of journalism. Partnered by ABC, we bring together Australia’s leading lights in journalism, broadcasting, blogging and citizen journalism. Are Twitter and the real-time Web truly shaking up traditional media?

Tickets from $165. Register at www.media140.com/sydney using promo code “readwrite” for a 20% discount.

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6 November 2009: New York City

TEDxEAST – Developing World Ideas

TEDxEast is the first TEDx conference in New York City. New York has long embodied the motivated, independent spirit of TED- and now we’re harnessing that spirit in a unique TEDx event. The inaugural TEDxEast event will bring together remarkable people and ideas from the NY metropolitan area and beyond. Our “Developing World Ideas” theme is an exploration of the people and processes that drive “world ideas” – as told through stories that resonate on a global stage.

The invite-only, half-day program will inspire and educate with a roster of today’s thought leaders and tomorrow’s innovators. Speakers include Dr. William Duggan, Wendy Kopp, Suzy Welch, Dr. Naif Al-Mutawa and John Wood (for bios click here). The program will also include music & dance, short talks and TEDTalks video screenings. The day is designed with breaks within the program for those attending to talk and connect surrounding these ideas. This event is being held on November 6, 2009 from 1:00 to 6:00 pm in New York City. Refreshments will be served during the event with a hosted wine-tasting afterward. Details surrounding location and logistics will be sent once the guest list is finalized.

To apply for this TEDxEast event, please click here.

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6 – 8 November 2009: Savannah, Georgia

Geekend 2009

Geekend 2009 is an interactive conference that brings together geeks from all walks of life for three days of cutting edge speakers, expert panels, afterparties, networking and mash-up opportunities. Speaker highlights include Major Nelson of Xbox Live, renowned designer David Carson, Eric Snowden of Atlantic Records, Joey Hasty of Disney, and Matias Corea of Behance, among many others. Get your geek on and enter “RWW” for $30 off the full price weekend badge.

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9 – 10 November 2009: Santa Clara, California

Social Networking World Forum — California

This event taking place at the Santa Clara Convention Center actually consists of three conferences: two days dedicated to social networking, one day dedicated to enterprise social media, and one day dedicated to social TV. Key speakers include social networking publishers, advertising agencies, industry analysts, software developers and equipment manufacturers, pay-TV and network service providers, mobile operators, and more.

• Joint exhibition combining social networking and enterprise social media formats
• Pre-show online meeting planner for delegates
• Discount for early booking (expires September 25th)
• Free pass for exhibition only

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10 – 13 November 2009: Las Vegas

PubCon Vegas

PubCon Las Vegas is a multi-track educational conference hosted by SearchEngineWorld & WebmasterWorld. PubCon events are for thought leaders and professionals in search engine and Internet marketing to gather and to share best practices in the design, development, promotion and marketing of their Internet businesses and brands. PubCon London 2009 is a social networking event.

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11 – 12 November 2009: Denver, Colorado

Defrag 2009 Conference

As online data is growing and fragmenting at an exponential pace, individuals, groups and organizations are struggling to discover, assemble, organize, act on and gather feedback from that data. In the largest sense, we’re all looking to augment the pace at which we achieve insights on raw data — to accelerate the “A-ha” moment.

Defrag explores the intersection of topics like:

• Business intelligence
• Business process management
• Social computing and analytics
• Next-level discovery
• Enterprise 2.0
• Next-gen email
• The semantic Web

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18 – 19 November 2009: San Francisco

GreenBeat 2009

VentureBeat, the leading innovation-focused business blog, will host the seminal conference on The Smart Grid, November 18-19 in San Francisco. GreenBeat 2009 brings together the nation’s 500 leading entrepreneurs, investors, utility and technology executives, policymakers and press to affect accelerated development of a leaner, more efficient electrical grid. With participation by Al Gore, former Vice President and Nobel Prize Winner; John Doerr of Kleiner Perkins; and industry leaders, including from Cisco, Tendril, PG&E, expect lively discussion and power networking. The program will highlight new technologies and explore the opportunities afforded by the stimulus package. For more, visit www.greenbeat2009.com.

ReadWriteWeb readers, save 20% on regular price tickets with discount code GREENRWW09 here.

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19 November 2009: Mountain View, California

Under the Radar

Featuring the most cutting-edge mobile startups from around the globe, Under the Radar will get you dialed in to what the 2010 mobile innovation marketplace will look like. It’s a must-attend event for dealmakers from global carriers, brands, media companies, and handset manufacturers responsible for helping their companies leverage new mobile technology and innovation in the fast-evolving digital landscape.

Save $200: book by 2 October 2009, and get the early-bird rate.

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30 November 2009

New Way to Work

Do you have a great story about your work environment? Job marketplace Elance and Vator.tv have partnered to host the “New Way to Work” competition, with a grand prize of $10,000 in cash or health insurance for the most compelling story. You can tell your story on Vator.tv, the premier platform for entrepreneurs to broadcast their voice, by uploading a video, posting an update, linking to a blog entry, or sharing a photo. Hurry, the competition ends on 30 November 2009.

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1 – 3 December 2009: London, England

Online Information & IMS 2009

Online Information and IMS together create the largest event dedicated to the information industry. Consisting of an exhibition delivering over 9,000 visitors from 70 countries, a conference and a show-floor seminar program, the event provides an annual meeting place for the global information industry.

Online Information is once again set to play host to thousands of information professionals, information end-users and publishers from around the globe, meeting suppliers of online content, e-publishing, and library management solutions. IMS provides a forum for IT, business, and information management professionals to find unlimited, relevant advice, educational content and compare solutions under one roof. Attend IMS and meet suppliers of content management, search solutions, and Web 2.0 technologies.

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1 – 3 December 2009: Boston, Massachusetts

Gilbane Conference Boston

Join us at the sixth annual “Gilbane Conference Boston: Content, Collaboration and Customers.”

Your content is your business, and you need to make your Web content part of an integrated platform for
customers. You need to know solutions and technologies that are ready to be implemented today. Gilbane Conference Boston is built around the four major areas of how enterprises use Web and content technologies:

• Web business and engagement;
• Managing collaboration and social media: internal and external;
• Enterprise content: searching, integrating and publishing;
• Content infrastructure.

Visit www.gilbaneboston.com for conference details. ReadWriteWeb readers, use the discount code “GILBANE” to save an additional $200. Register today!

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1 – 3 December 2009: San Francisco

Supernova

The Supernova Conference is the thought-leadership forum for the network age. It brings together over 500 business, government and technology influencers to understand how decentralization and pervasive connectivity are changing our world. It’s the only conference to focus on how networks have become the main instruments of change from both business and social perspectives.

An ever-evolving network itself, the conference has become the place for highly interactive and spirited debates, making significant business connections and revelations on new innovation.

ReadWriteWeb readers get a discount of $700 off the regular price when registering by 16 October 2009. Use code “RRW09″. After October 16th, the discount changes to $200 off the regular price. Register here.

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7 December 2009: San Francisco

SF MusicTech Summit

The SF MusicTech Summit brings together 600+ visionaries in the music/technology space, along with the best and brightest developers, entrepreneurs, investors, service providers, journalists, musicians and organizations who work with them at the convergence of culture and commerce. We meet to discuss the evolving music/business/technology eco-system in a proactive environment, highly conducive to deal making. Register with a great ReadWriteWeb 15% discount.

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7 – 11 December 2009: Chicago, Illinois

Search Engine Strategies 2009

From social media to local search to video SEO, Search Engine Strategies Chicago puts you in front of the experts who will help you sort which technologies and channel will take you to the next level and which are just hype.

Search Engine Strategies is the pioneer of educational conference series in search engine marketing. It’s the venue where the industry visionaries and thought leaders gather each year to discuss the newest trends, share insights and present the strategic action plans you need to grow your business. Sessions include:

• SEO Through Blogs and Feeds
• Duplicate Content and Multiple Site Issues
• What’s the Link Between Search and Social?
• Online PR: Where to Next?
• Search Analytics

See more at www.SearchEngineStrategies.com/chicago. ReadWriteWeb readers receive a 15% discount when registering here using RWW15 code.

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11 December 2009: Mountain View, California

Add-on-Con

Add-on-Con is a single-day conference focused on the future of the browser and its emergence as a platform.

Developer sessions will cover best practices, cross-browser development and mash-ups. Marketing sessions will focus on monetization opportunities, distribution strategies and stats. Join 200+ individuals involved in add-on development to help define an emerging new market in the Web’s eco-system.

ReadWriteWeb readers save $50 by using the discount code “addoncon09RRW.”

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27 – 28 January 2010: Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Enterprise Social 2.0: Rip or ROI?

This senior executive event will bring together decision makers from the Top Fortune companies to discuss innovative strategies on how to maximise business performance through social media engagement. The event will include keynote speeches, best-practice presentations as well as interactive discussion sessions.

The summit will provide excellent opportunities for you to hear international experts discuss best practices on how to drive business performance using Web 2.0 and social media. Key issues to be discussed include:

• How to integrate social media programs successfully into business strategies?
• Building business momentum, visibility and market growth through social media
• Measuring success and influence using metrics and analytics: what are the tools and techniques
• Integrating viral marketing and social media into traditional marketing mix
• Developing and activating audiences using social media channels such as Twitter, Facebook, blogs

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15 – 16 March 2010: London, England

2nd Annual Social Networking World Forum — London

The 2nd Annual Social Networking World Forum takes place at the Olympia Conference Centre in London. The two-day event features four dedicated conference streams:

1. Social Networking World Forum
2. Enterprise social media
3. Social TV World Forum
4. Mobile Social Networking Forum

The event features key speakers from global brands, organizations, social networking publishers and developers, pioneering social media leaders, top agencies, content producers, and more.

• Full workshop program within exhibition area
• Evening networking reception
• Pre-show online meeting planner for delegates
• Free pass for exhibition only

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Download this entire events calendar in iCal format.

Discuss

In case you didn’t yet realize it, tonight is Halloween. And if you didn’t yet realize it, maybe you don’t have plans yet. If not, as usual, the Internet comes to your rescue. If you’re stuck at home tonight for whatever reason, you’ll be able to load up Facebook and watch Heidi Klum’s Halloween party, streaming live.

Sure, it’s not as good as being there, but it beats doing nothing. And it’s being done with the help of Modelinia, a site devoted to capturing the lives of super models. Enticed yet?

You can find the live stream on Modelinia’s Facebook page starting at 9 PM PT tonight. The streaming itself is being handled by Livestream, who will run it through 11:30 PM, we’re told. Klum’s Facebook fan page along with Modelinia’s page have nearly 700,000 fans, so if you do watch this, you definitely won’t be alone. And there’s a chat widget running next to the stream to talk with others watching it.

Modelinia’s goal with this wasn’t solely to stream beautiful people at parties, they also ran a costume contest with Klum to allow the best costume designers to win tickets to the actual event. Modelinia’s founder and CEO is Desiree Gruber, a producer to the Emmy-winning show Project Runway.

I’ll go ahead and embed the live stream of Klum’s party here as well. Don’t say we never give you anything.

Crunch Network: MobileCrunch Mobile Gadgets and Applications, Delivered Daily.

Filed under: Aftermarket, Etc.

We generally don’t think of a hearse as a great platform for customizing, but then again, we’ve never known Galpin Auto Sports to shy away from messing with anything on four wheels. That’s why we weren’t surprised to see this specially-built conveyance of corpses constructed by the Southern California customizer. The hearse features a Halloween theme including dozens of hand-painted skulls on the front and side, as well as a spiderweb grille. It’s not all spooky, though, and Galpin has made the interior an inviting place to be, with a working barbeque, chilled cooler, and a flatscreen TV all in the coffin. Not a bad place to spend your last few hours above ground!

[Source: Galpin Auto Sports]

Tricked-Out Treat! Galpin Auto Sports builds Halloween-themed hearse originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 31 Oct 2009 19:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Why confine your nerdy sloth to your living room, where large robots mime fake guitar and serve you sloppy mixed drinks? Take that zest for the sedentary life with you on the road by having one of your robot ninjas steal this iPhone Rock Band robot from its ingenious creator, Joe Bowers. The Arduino-based device uses ambient light sensors to detect the falling notes and then taps out the music with some conductive foam attached to some squeaky fake fingers. Joe did a fairly detailed write-up, and even uploaded his code, so there’s presumably nothing stopping you from actually doing something with your life and building one of these with all that free time you’ve saved up by hacking your way through all the console-based guitar games. Video is after the break.

[Via Daily Mobile]

Continue reading Laziness on the move: robot plays Rock Band on the iPhone

Filed under: Cellphones, Robots

Laziness on the move: robot plays Rock Band on the iPhone originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 31 Oct 2009 19:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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