Super Charge Your Address Bar with Autocomplete Manager

Paul

Windows/Mac/Linux (Firefox): Open common URLs, bookmarks, and history pages by title from your address bar with the Autocomplete Manager Firefox extension. Yesterday we showed you how to enable Firefox address bar auto-completion, and while Autocomplete Manager does not perform the same sort of inline autofilling of text, what it does do is allow you to find and visit URLs based on page titles and bookmark names, any part of a URL, and lots of other useful options. It won’t be for everyone (I still prefer keyword bookmarks to all of the alternatives), but if you want to be able to perform history and bookmark searches from the same place you type URLs, it’s a handy extension to have in your toolbox. Thanks Alcyone!

Autocomplete Manager [Firefox Add-ons]

Thought people would like this little extra!

Hulu Set to Launch on Monday

Paul

After gearing up all summer, Hulu (the NBC-Fox joint venture that is going up against YouTube) was supposed to launch in private beta yesterday, says a source. That is why NBC pulled its videos from YouTube last week. (This, after NBC abandoned iTunes for Amazon, and already started offering free downloads of its shows on the Web).

But launching a video Website can be hard—even if it is just a private beta. Now, says our source, Hulu is gunning for a private beta launch next Monday, so that it can still meet CEO Jason Kilar’s self-imposed October deadline. That date could slip until the following Wednesday and technically be considered on-time, of course, but Kilar probably wants to avoid the trick-or-treat jokes. We’re still waiting for our invites.

I thought it would launch soon. I’ve been getting hints that they started dropping other services. I figure Techcrunch is right!!

Xbox 360 Arcade is Official

Paul

Microsoft’s long rumored Xbox 360 Arcade is now official. It’s everything we knew before: $279, wireless controller, HDMI, and five arcade games (Pac-Man Championship Edition, Uno, Luxor 2, Boom Boom Rocket and Feeding Frenzy). No hard drive, but there’s an included a flash memory storage unit to save your arcade games on. It’s a logical system that we predicted was true since almost a third of Xbox 360 owners don’t know about the Arcade portion of Live. With this new SKU, even if people don’t buy it, they’ll at least know what the Xbox Live Arcade is.

REDMOND, Wash. — Oct. 22, 2007 — Just in time for holiday, Microsoft Corp. today released a new Xbox 360® console that delivers games and content to everyone in the family for an incredible value of $279.99 (U.S. estimated retail price)*. Available in stores beginning today, Xbox 360 Arcade console is the first Xbox 360 console to include five family-friendly games, a wireless controller, a high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI) connection to enable high-definition output if desired and 256 MB of memory useful for storing games and entertainment content. At $279.99, the Xbox 360 Arcade console will include five best-selling games: “PAC-MAN Championship Edition” (NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc.), “Uno” (Carbonated Games), “Luxor 2” (MumboJumbo), “Boom Boom Rocket” (Electronic Arts Inc.) and “Feeding Frenzy” (Sprout Games).
“As families gather together this holiday, it’s the perfect time to launch a new low-priced, high-value Xbox 360 that plays games, TV shows and music for everyone to enjoy,” said Jeff Bell, corporate vice president of global marketing, Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft. “In addition to offering an incredible all-in-one package for families to get right into the fun, the Xbox 360 Arcade system features the industry-leading Family Settings, which allow parents to control what their kids are watching and playing — and we know how important that control is to families around the world.”
Karen Dodge, senior vice president and chief merchandising officer at Toys “R” Us, added, “We are excited to offer this new gaming experience to our customers — children and families — who can now enjoy the fun of Xbox 360 together. Many of this holiday season’s hottest items provide Internet connectivity, and with the online entertainment options available through Xbox LIVE®, Xbox 360 Arcade offers families a great mix of online content and traditional gaming in one console.”
The news of Xbox 360 Arcade comes as part of a broader initiative by Microsoft to bring the Xbox 360 experience to families everywhere. Microsoft also announced today that it is significantly expanding its catalog of high- and standard-definition family fun content that is available on demand direct to the consumer’s living room. This includes the addition of everyone’s favorite characters such as “Bugs Bunny” and “Daffy Duck” from Warner Bros., which will be delivering the first ever “Looney Tunes” cartoons for download on Xbox 360, starting today. In addition, Nickelodeon is adding three new shows to its already large library of more than 300 episodes of TV shows on Xbox LIVE, Microsoft’s premier online gaming and entertainment service, with the inclusion of “Blue’s Clues,” “The Backyardigans” and “iCarly.” “SpongeBob SquarePants Underpants Slam™” (THQ Inc.) and “SHREK-N-ROLL™” (Activision) games will also be available exclusively on Xbox LIVE Arcade, the place to download games for Xbox 360 over Xbox LIVE, adding more fun for everyone in the family.

279$ isn’t bad for a system like that. I would get one now!! 🙂 I will wait to see if anyone offers any price cuts first for the Holidays, I’m sure it will be on sale somewhere!!

Samsung reveals first 30-nm 64Gb NAND chip — and a bit of skin

Paul

We’re not sure what’s more impressive here: the fact that Samsung has produced the world’s first 30nm-class 64Gb (bit, not byte!) NAND chip or that they’re now roping defenseless product waifs into hawking their silicon wafers. Nevertheless, we’re looking at a serious jump in density in just 10 months. A maximum of 16 of the new chips can be combined for cost-effective 128GB (byte, not bit!) MLC NAND-based flash cards used primarily for data storage. Sammy’s faster SLC based flash cards will still be the preferred choice when speed is of the utmost priority and cost isn’t an issue. As such, Samsung also announced a 32Gb SLC NAND chip based on the same SaDPT (Self-aligned double patterning technology) manufacturing process. Sadly, we’ll have to wait until 2009 for production to begin. Still, he looks happy dontchathink?

We will have to wait until 2009 but I bet we will start seeing these installed laptops!! I wonder if you could daisy chain them to make a big hard drive?

Dell Products Headed For Staples Retail Stores

Paul

In a break from Dell’s traditional mail order biz, an agreement reached today with the Staples retail chain will bring Dell brand notebooks, desktops, monitors, printers, and ink to over 1400 Staples stores across the U.S. Initially Staples will carry Inspiron 1721 and 1521 notebooks, Inspiron 530 desktops, 948 and 926 All-in-one printers, the 1320c laser printer, the Dell SE198WFP 19-inch LCD, E228WFP 22-inch LCD, and most types of Dell brand ink and toner with more products to be added over time. A similar agreement was signed with Wal-Mart earlier this year, making this the second time Dell has partnered with a major US retailer and the first time it has scored a 3-way.[Staples via i4u]

I guess now I can go to Staples and buy a Dell if I wanted to!! I wonder if they are also going to be a support center for Dell?