Facebook gives users a channel to grieve

Having a friend or loved one pass away is never a fun thing to go through. With a society so entrenched in social networking, the accounts and services that are left behind when the original owner passes often get forgotten and left in a state of “always on”. In the case of Facebook profiles, once a person had passed, unless someone else knew the password that was it. There was nothing anyone could do. The page was there forever, ingrained in the digital world. Realizing this extreme oversight, Facebook has finally rolled out a new “memorial” type service for such accounts.

When a an individual passes, anyone (friend or family) can notify Facebook. A family member would probably be more appropriate in this case as additional information and some proof of death is required. You wouldn’t want false “deceased” profiles popping up all over now would you? Once all of the official hoops have been hopped through, the deceased user’s Facebook page goes through a memorial transformation. No there aren’t any stupid, tacky banners or other gimmicky fluff. This memorization process follows the “less is more” philosophy. This newer stripped down page has certain personal information removed though much of the original material is still left for those wanting to leave a heartfelt comment. Also worth noting, once memorialized, only friends can leave comments and other wall posts.

While we never want to experience this, it is inevitable and does happen. Thankfully Facebook has made the whole process a tiny bit easier.

Gizmodo

iPhone/iPod Touch iTunes syncing unofficially officially coming to Linux

Before we really get your hopes up, we need to stress that this process isn’t exactly “download – click to install – enjoy”. But if you’re running any distro of Linux, I’m assuming your at least a fairly versed in getting down and dirty behind the scenes of the pretty UI into the heart of your machine. And that’s a good thing because that is exactly what it’s going to take to get this unholy union to kiss and make up. The image above is a nice graphical representation of what the installed software stack is going to look like when everything is firing on all cylinders. A rainbow for nerds! A quick highlight of what everything does:

• libusb-1.0: provides an advanced API to access USB devices under Linux, replacing the old libusb-0.1 API

• usbmuxd: coordinates application access to the device and talks the specific iPhone/iTouch USB protocol

• libiphone: implements the Apple-specific protocols that are tunneled through usbmuxd: it can launch services through lockdown, retrieve device info, send notifications, and access the filesystem via AFC.

• iFuse and gvfs-backend-afc: both provide access to AFC to regular Linux apps. iFuse does this by mounting via FUSE, while gvfs-backend-afc is obviously a backend for gVFS.

• libgpod: (the library that traditionally has managed music databases for iPods) is being extended to support the new SQLite format, the new hash, and also to talk to libiphone to properly put the device in to and out of sync mode.

• **Theoretically, actual music players such as Amarok and Rhythmbox will need none or very few modifications to work.

Still not sure what to do? If so, this may not be the thing for you to try as the full gist over at Marcansoft doesn’t get any easier. Still, if you’re a Linux user and an iPhone/iPod user looking for some iTunes sync love, you may just want to seclude yourself in a dark corner for an entire weekend and figure this grand hoop jumping thing out.

TiPB > Marcansoft

Geolife and PosiMotion announce first turn-by-turn app for iPod Touch

Want to get in on the turn-by-turn hot action but have a lowly iPod Touch? Such issues, you know, not having a device with access to a mobile network were a problem. I mean, a simple media player has only been able to harness GPS via WiFi locations — something that won’t be very helpful if you’re traveling further than 200 feet from a router. Looking to further expand the iPod Touches potential, Geolife and PosiMotion have teamed up to announce that the first true turn-by-turn GPS app for the iPod Touch as been submitted to the App Store. In order to turn your normal iPod Touch into an iPhone-esque wireless clone, the end user will need two things. First, you’ll need the Geolife Navmii software. Second, some external hardware will be need to turn that iPod Touch into a road warrior. For that task, PosiMotion’s G-Fi mobile network/GPS router works just fine.

The launch of the app/router has spurred quite a bit of excitement from both companies involved. So much so that PosiMotion’s G-FI router is going to be on sale for $99 “while supplies last”. The Navmii apps on the other hand will cost £29.99 for UK maps and $39.99 for US maps. Once the app gets the stamp of approval from Cupertino, interested users can look forward to software/router bundles streamlining the entire process. This might be something I’d love try out. I mean, I already know how the GPS works on my iPhone. It would be interesting to see how performance is with an external accessory set up. Anyone looking to outfit their iPod Touch with one come release?

[Press Release]

City of L.A. joins list of largest U.S. companies to embrace Google Apps

In a move that is sure to spur countless ramblings, clown faces, and repetitive though baseless comments from The Balms himself, the L.A. City Council voted an astonishing 12 – 0 on a $7.25 million contract to move all 30,000 of the cities’ employees over to Gmail and other Google related apps. Not a small move by any stretch. In fact, after the move is complete, the city of L.A. will be one of the largest municipal users of Google apps. Pretty cool huh? In an effort to prevent mass chaos, the city isn’t going all in from the get go. Initially a small test group of city employees will put the new system through it’s paces to ensure it can stand up to rigorous demand before all 30,000 are cut loose. A wise move I say. I guess that added corporate acknowledgement Google was looking for is finally starting to materialize eh? Now the only question is if they’ll really save all $7.25 million of those dollars…

Erictric > LA Times

Movie labels pushing “no rental period”

They’ll never learn…

The entire world is running towards digital, yet the few greedy suits who control major movie labels as well as their bass akwards business models refuse to die. The movie labels are toying with a “no rental” plan that would prevent new movie releases from being rentable for up to a month after a purchase only release. Fine, be that way. I’ll torrent it for the pain in the ass you caused me. Or I’ll *gasp* wait an extra month, rent it, and then copy it. Such reactions aren’t solely my own. I know many will be fed up with increasing stupidity that oozes from such organizations.

Faced with declining physical DVD sales, movie execs are looking for ways to continue their old, monopolistic, price gouging tactics they’ve enjoyed for decades. This new fangled digital revolution has slashed manufacturing and distribution costs which leads to lower retail prices and ultimately lower profits. So far, only an intelligent few have begun experimenting with various digital and paid – free pricing schemes to get the most of this new medium — again, something labels are highly resisting.

When will they realize they will never be able to charge the same for a digital product (with much lower production/distrobution costs) as they do for physical media (higher production/distribution costs)?

The business plan of such labels in the future will consist of much smaller, leaner, and more technically savvy individuals who actually have a clue about the market they cater to, their audience, and the wants of that audience. For now, were stuck watching old business die. It’s for the better. They’re holding back innovation and technological progress.

**Note to labels: Accept digital already. Regardless if you do or not, it will win. We will get along just fine without you. Do you want to be on the winning side? Or are you going to slowly kill yourself ultimately ending on the losing side?

Slashdot > LA Times

Image Source

Google launching their own, free, mobile map app?

You don’t say? Ridiculously overpriced map apps *cough*…TomTom…*cough*…navigon may soon be getting some competition from the multi-purpose likes of Google. Pointing out that Google already has Google Maps as their own is a rookie mistake. Understandable, though still very rookie. You see, they still license international map data from TeleAtlas while U.S. maps are now handled by Google’s own accrued map data. Which by the isn’t hard to believe seeing as the last several years have seen Google hoarding vast amounts of satellite imagery as well as rolling out new crowd sourcing services such as the data collecting service Google introduced just earlier this month. (extremely brief example: This service uses a phone’s GPS to track position and map the roads accordingly.)

Google’s contract with TeleAtlas doesn’t expire at the earliest until 2013 meaning until then, international map options are locked. In the meantime, Google may have something else planned as they rumored to be working on their own mobile map app that would be distributed for free with ads providing the necessary inward monetary flow. Can you imagine the impact that would have? As long as Google’s free map app is half decent, expensive options such as TelaNav, TomTom, and Navigon won’t even be a consideration. A massive influx of users to Google’s free service and boom — huge ad revenue.

Many higher ups from the other mobile map app providers above have already voiced their opinions on the matter and don’t seem too worried, but they should be. A spokeswoman for TeleNav (currently providing map data for AT&T, Sprint Nextel, and T-Mobile USA) who goes by the name of Mary Beth Lowell was quoted saying:

There’s a lot of content included in our applications that gets updated on an ongoing basis–and that costs money

Personal opinions aside, if Google does in fact release such an app, the market is in for quite a ride and will certainly undergo some form of change. I can certainly tell you that even a decent app will keep my hard earned dollars going towards other things instead of pricey monthly GPS subscriptions. Likewise for you?

Engadget > Forbes

Image Source

Ceiling mounted water faucet turns heads, drops water.

Upon first look, this metal shaft descending from the ceiling may may seem like the perfect accessory to a night full of fun at “the bachelor pad”. Capped off with pizza, beer, and a few female companions, who would say no? But this isn’t any normal female companion pole. (Plus, I cringe at the thought of some woman jumping all over this thing only to have it rip from the ceiling, showing the spectators in vast amounts of plaster, drywall, paint dust, plumbing, water — pretty much everything but the kitchen sink…hah, that’s because it’s on the floor. It wouldn’t fall on you. You would fall in it…)

No sir. It’s a sink faucet. A clever one at that. Your bathroom/kitchen faucet will be the talk of the town when they all know instead of building on the floor like everyone else, you’re movin’ on up.

Such a chic design isn’t without faults though. A pipe right in front of your face, depending on the size, is a minor problem when trying to adjust your face early in the morning. Plus, pipes jutting from the ceiling aren’t exactly the pinnacle of home decor. I wouldn’t really give the last “problem” too much concern though. If you’re installing a ceiling mounted faucet, I would highly assume some form of barrier or designer sheath will encase the bare water pipe. Wouldn’t you? Shoot. I wouldn’t mind outfitting my house with a few…

• [Product Site]

CraziestGadgets > OhGizmo > DigsDigs