James Carey's Link Blog on NewsGator Online

Repel Flies with a Bag of Water [Summer]

Rosa Golijan — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 16:30:00 GMT

We've featured many, many, many different ways to deal with mosquitoes using DIY solutions. But what about the even more common household fly? Turns out all you need to deal with that is a plastic bag or two.

Photo by brookage.

RickyC wrote in to tell us that he recently visited a lakeside restaurant and noticed some clear plastic bags filled with water hanging from the railings. When he inquired about the bags, a waiter explained that they were used to repel flies.

Question-and-answer web site The Straight Dope gives more detail on why this trick works:

Evidently, houseflies, being highly edible and defenseless, are nervous types, and don't like to sit still when they see something moving nearby, because it could be a predator. The water bag acts a bit like a lens—try it some time—in which the movements of people in the area are reflected. Even if the fly is too far from the action to see it directly, it can see a shifting of light and dark in the water bag, which it interprets as nearby movement, and it will fly away from the bag.

So, next time you have a fly problem, grab a few plastic bags, fill 'em up, and let us know how this trick works for you. Likewise, share how you keep unwanted insects out of your backyard—including whether or not you've tried this method before—in the comments.

Bing to lose beta tag in Australia, Canada, China, Japan, UK

emil.protalinski@arstechnica.com (Emil Protalinski) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 17:00:00 GMT

In the next few weeks, the full version of Bing that US citizens currently see will arrive in Australia, Canada, China, Japan, and the UK (which will likely see changes first). For whatever reason, Microsoft decided that Canadians should get a form of Bing close to the US version (categorizations work for Canada but not for the other four countries), though it is still missing numerous features like hotspots on the homepage. All of these countries, apart from Canada, sport a "Beta" tag under the Bing logo, and none of them are as feature-complete as the US version.

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Goodbye, CompuServe! (We thought you already died)

jacqui@arstechnica.com (Jacqui Cheng) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 20:30:00 GMT

A little piece of Internet history has now been laid to rest, as CompuServe was shut down for good just before this Fourth of July weekend. After some 30 years of service, CompuServe's new owner has finally pulled the plug, leaving us to reminisce about the days when the Internet was young and we were still using modems whose speed was measured in baud.

Most of us remember CompuServe fondly as one of the main Internet services from the 80s and 90s, and associate it with some of our first dabblings in the online world. Along with Prodigy, CompuServe offered a data connection to people across the globe, a connection that few had previously had at home. It set an early example for companies like AOL and even Apple's eWorld that launched in the early-to-mid 90s.

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[info] We like cats!

AAISP (noreply@blogger.com) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 12:58:00 GMT

We just had a call claiming to be from the cat protection league concerned over "Max" the cat in this picture as shown on our web site. Apparently concerned that making him wear a bow tie was cruel...

It is not a bow tie, it is a red cat collar. A perfectly normal and not at all cruel cat collar... Max was not posed for the picture for the web site - we simply took pictures of him when he was messing about (trying to kill the camera) as a family cat, and later thought they would be nice on the web site.

No animals were harmed in the making of our web site!

BBC iPlayer now lets you link directly to your favourite scene in TV programmes

Anthony Rose — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 18:18:27 GMT

You know how you're watching a programme on TV and there's a moment that's absolutely hilarious - so funny that you just have to tell your friends about it. But how would you point them to the exact moment in the programme? You could call them and say "You just have to see the kosher chicken scene in The Apprentice - it's about, oh, um, around 25 minutes into the programme. Somewhere around there - you can't miss it!". Not exactly practical.

If only you could send them a link that took them directly to the exact moment in the programme...

Well, now you can, thanks to a BBC iPlayer feature we recently introduced which allows you to create links that jump directly to any time within a programme.

For example, I loved Steve Hughes in Michael McIntyre's brilliant Comedy Roadshow - see him here: http://bbc.co.uk/i/lbtbg/?t=16m51s

You'll notice that the above link is nice and short, making it perfect for Twitter posts or pasting into an email. We created our own "short URL" system to save you the trouble of having to use a 3rd-party service, and also to ensure that your users see a trusted bbc.co.uk link instead of one of those obfuscated short URLs that could take you anywhere.

To use this new functionality, just click the Programme Information link below the video playback window in iPlayer to reveal the new Send to a Friend options:

The new direct link functionality is available at the moment for iPlayer TV programmes. We hope to add support for radio as soon as we can.

PS: Remember Mr Collins from the BBC's Pride and Prejudice all those years ago? Well, while watching our new Psychoville production I was amazed to see David Bamber reprising his Mr Collins role - see for yourself: http://bbc.co.uk/i/l9n18/?t=21m29s

Anthony Rose is Controller, Online Media Group and Vision, BBC FM&T

Cutting Edge

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Left 4 Dead DLC News Coming Soon

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 18:13:00 GMT

Left 4 Dead (X360)
Valve promises new downloadable details shortly.

Snowfall on Mars? NASA's Phoenix Lander recorded it

jtimmer@arstechnica.com (John Timmer) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 14:00:00 GMT

NASA's Mars Phoenix Lander, which spent the summer in Mars' northern polar regions performing a variety of science experiments, caused quite a stir when rumors circulated that it had discovered signs of life on the Red Planet. NASA eventually held a press conference to dispel the rumors, promising that more details would eventually be revealed when scientists got around to publishing papers that would describe the experiments in detail. That day has finally arrived; today's issue of Science contains four papers that describe various findings from the mission. There's no sign of alien life, but the studies do reveal an active water cycle on Mars—including night-time snowfall.

The papers rely on evidence from a variety of the instruments on the lander, and the description of the data provides an impressive catalog of the various ways that Phoenix could prod and query the Martian pole. In the months before Martian winter shut the lander down, it managed to dig a dozen trenches, taking soil samples from each. These samples went into wet and dry chemistry labs, had their conductivity tested, and were even examined using an atomic force microscope. Meanwhile, cameras and a LIDAR system (a laser-based range detector) scanned the surroundings.

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Valve Explains Lack of PlayStation 3 Support

Andy Chalk — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 19:43:00 GMT

Valve marketing director Doug Lombardi says the studio's lack of interest in the PlayStation 3 is primarily a matter of choice and that it won't actively support the console until it can assemble a dedicated PS3 team.

Battlefield 1943 Release Dates Announced!

efliv — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:52:00 GMT

Mark your calendars, 1943 fans!

The best deal of the summer just got official drop dates for the Xbox 360 and Playstation3.

The Xbox version hits the Live Arcade on July 8th, with the PS3 version coming a day later on July 9th.

Everyone here at EA DICE can't wait to see you on the Battlefield!

FEZ IS COMING TO XBOX LIVE ARCADE EARLY 2010

Fish — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 22:14:32 GMT

YouTube Uploads Doubled to 2GB, HD Embeds and Linking Added [YouTube]

Azadeh Ensha — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:35:00 GMT

If you upload videos to YouTube and feel restricted by the 1GB limit, YouTube now offers 2GB of wiggle room as well as the ability to directly link to and embed high definition video.

To share a link that points directly to the HD version of a video, tack on "&hd=1" to the end of the URL. To embed a high-def video on a website or blog, click the 'customize' button (located to the right of the embed box), then check 'play in HD'. YouTube recommends embedding HD videos at 853x505 for "maximum enjoyment". My customize field had yet to show the "play in HD" option, but the feature should roll out to all users soon.

And while you're YouTubing, be sure to browse our top 10 YouTube hacks for other ways to enhance your streaming experience.

Links for 2009-07-01 [del.icio.us]

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:00:00 PDT

gdgt

Bing Adds Twitter Smart Answers

Barry Schwartz — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 22:21:18 GMT

Bing has announced they are now displaying Twitter results for a few thousand “prominent and prolific” Twitterers in their search results. The Twitter results show the person’s latest Tweets and a link to “see more tweets” from that user. For example, if you search for [Danny Sullivan Twitter] or [Danny Sullivan Tweets or [@dannysullivan] in Bing, [...]

....

Killing Floor Update Released

Valve — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 20:21:18 GMT

Updates to Killing Floor have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The specific changes include:

Fixes

Fixed a memory leak causing performance to degrade the longer you played when in multiplayer (resulting in very low framerate sometimes in the final waves)
Improved texture and file precaching to reduce issues with hitching
Voice Over IP is now usable in the Lobby Menu while waiting for everyone to ready up
Cash amount in the Trader Menu updates when someone gives you money while trading
Improved the readability of chat fonts
All melee weapons now have an alt-fire, which is a "power strike"
Fixed the timing for when damage occurs from melee weapons
Added a Map White List which will now only allow perks to be earned on official and approved custom maps (Makes maps such as KF-Leveling worthless)
Fixed "Connection Failed" endless loop when failing to connect to a server and clicking the Back button in the Server Browser
Fixed Zeds sliding instead of animating online at particular times
Fixed blowing off the limbs of live Zeds, such as the Bloat's legs
Added random moving attacks for specimens that would always just stop and attack before (Bloat, Gorefast, Scrake). This makes the attacks less predictable, and players can no longer just backpedel to escape any attack from these Zeds
New Scrake behavior - the Scrake will now rage sooner, and will now keep moving toward its target when attacking. Additionally, it will randomly charge at its target when attacking, making the Scrake more effective
Added improved behavior for FleshPound to prevent "kiting". The Fleshpound will now get frustrated and charge players regardless of if it is shot if players keep moving away from it
Fixed Joining as Spectator not allowing you to View players
Fixed Spectators needing to "Ready" before game will start
Improved some of the fonts for in-game messages and interface text
Interface tweaks

Perk Tweaks

Decreased Shotgun Penetration power of the Support Perk
Increased Ammo Capacity of Bullpup for Commando Perk
Increased the Reload speed bonus of the Commando Perk
Decreased the Stalker Kills requirement of the Commando Perk
Decreased Lever Action Rifle cocking time for the Sharpshooter Perk
Assigned 9mm to Sharpshooter Perk(9mm headshots count toward Perk and all bonuses now apply to 9mm as well)
Reduced movement speed for Medic Perk to deter "kiting"
Increased Reload Speed for Firebug Perk
Increased Ammo Capacity of FlameThrower for Firebug Perk

Battlefield 1943 Dated, New Trailer Released

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:22:57 GMT

Battlefield 1943 is an allnew downloadonly action game that brings DICEs firstclass vehicular warfare to gamers for just 1,200 Microsoft Points.

Weekend Deal - Save 50% on Fallout 3

Valve — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:55:06 GMT

PC Gamer's Game of the Year, Fallout 3, is 50% off this weekend on Steam.

New Details of Last.fm for Xbox 360 Emerge

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 19:31:40 GMT

Microsoft's partnership with Last.fm will bring personalized streaming radio stations right to your Xbox 360. Find out what you'll get depending on which type of Xbox Live account you have.

Peter Rojas and Ryan Block launch gdgt -- the Swiss Army knife of tech sites

Joshua Topolsky — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 19:00:00 GMT

When Ryan Block (our former Editor-in-chief) and Peter Rojas (founder of Engadget, Gizmodo, and RCRD LBL) announced last year that they were embarking on a new project together, alarm bells went off across the interblogs. Following nearly 12 months of rampant speculation, the duo's hard work is finally revealed. Combining the best of social networking, forums, news aggregation, and wiki-based sites, gdgt presents a fairly awe-inspiring range of tools for the hardcore gadget lover.

Imagine if Facebook, Wikipedia, your favorite forum, and Google Reader all got mashed into one gigantic, delicious smoothie, and you might begin to get the idea of gdgt. Instead of retreading territory in which they've already blazed a path, Ryan and Peter present a logical step forward for the gadget community -- a place where you can discuss, dissect, and grow your passion with other like minded individuals. It's an ambitious project with lots of really cool stuff to discover, like product comparison tools, the ability to track gadgets you own (or used to own, or want), news from top gadget sites (wink wink), and embeddable widgets.

Look, we've found the best way in life to learn about something is to scuttle the user manual and dive right in -- we highly suggest you do the same and take gdgt out for a spin. We think you'll like what you find.

Congrats Peter and Ryan!

Filed under: Meta

Peter Rojas and Ryan Block launch gdgt -- the Swiss Army knife of tech sites originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Jul 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft adjusts Windows7E pricing for limited time

Andrew Lyle — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:28:13 GMT

After reporting that Microsoft will be charging up to twice as much for the full version of Windows 7E in Europe compared to Windows 7 in the United States, Microsoft has responded by adjusting their pricing. Consumers can purchase an upgrade for as little as $199 in the U.S. while Europe will pay 309 or $433.99 (US) for the full version. Microsoft states the reason for the missing upgrade for Windows 7, that allows you to upgrade a valid Windows licensed copy of Vista for example to Windows 7 is that Vista came with Internet Explorer 8 pre-installed, while Windows 7E will not.

Read full story...

Links for 2009-06-26 [del.icio.us]

Sat, 27 Jun 2009 00:00:00 PDT

Battlefield Heroes

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Thu, 18 Jun 2009 00:00:00 PDT

Computer Supplies and PC Components from Novatech

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Mon, 01 Jun 2009 00:00:00 PDT

WordPress.tv

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Fri, 29 May 2009 00:00:00 PDT

NopCommerce. Home. Open source ASP.NET Shopping cart.

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4oD Catch-Up - Channel 4

Chris Redfield figurine 2 [Flickr]

Zufoo — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 03:30:20 PDT

Zufoo posted a photo:

Chris Redfield figurine 1 [Flickr]

Zufoo — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 03:29:34 PDT

Zufoo posted a photo:

DSCF0298 [Flickr]

Zufoo — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 00:12:14 PST

Zufoo posted a photo:

DSCF0295 [Flickr]

Zufoo — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 00:11:41 PST

Zufoo posted a photo:

DSCF0291 [Flickr]

Zufoo — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 00:10:20 PST

Zufoo posted a photo: