The new advanced search interface allows you to filter images in five different ways

1. not filtered by license
2. free to use or share
3. free to use or share even commercially
4. free to use share or modify
5. free to use, share or modify, even commercially

What that means is as a content creator you can now easily find images that you can use, as well as images that you can legally use in advertising for your business or modify to better meet your own personal needs. As a blogger I obviously tend to need quite a few images over the course of a day, so this is an amazing new tool. For people like resturant and small business owners this will make it easier to find images that they can use in menus, posters, billboards and other commercial work.

Hopefully another effect of the advanced search will be that people will start to cut back on using images that are not for commercial purposes. I’ve encoutered quite a few blogs and websites that appear to just do a Google search for iamges they’re looking for and take what they want.  Now that there’s an easy option for doing it legally hopefully more people will take advantage and do things the legal way.

Do any of you use Google Image Search for your business? What do you think about the new options? Can you see yourself using them?

Hulu

Hulu is an excellent place to catch televisions shows the day after they air. The site works in conjunction with several major networks to make video available on the site. Most programs can be streamed directly to your PC without any downloads required and are available relatively ad-free.

Network Webpages

Television networks aren’t stupid, and many have realized that there is a huge part of their audience that would much rather catch their favorite programs on the web than watching them on a television. Check the webpage for your favorite network to see if they offer any of their programming directly on their website. In most cases programs will be available the day after the air, and many sites will offfer special “Behind the scenes” content that can be streamed as well. Many local television stations have also started streaming their newscasts live on their webpages as well as offering them for viewing later on.

iTunes

iTunes offers downloads of many popular televisions programs directly from their store. The store charges a fee per episode and offers discounts for purchasing a “Season Pass” for a particular television show that gets you every single episode of the program. Television shows can be traansferred once downloaded to your Apple TV, as well as your iPod or iPhone to be watched making it an excellent choice for any programs you might want to take with you while you’re out and about.

The netbook/notebook line has been getting blurrier over the past few years as netbooks have started to become more”small computers” than notebooks designed just for use on the interwebs. Microsoft has even gone as far as to suggest the devices should be called “low cost small notebook PCs” since they now do so much more than surf the web.

HPs new HP Mini 5105 is the definition of “low cost notebook PC” with a standard 7200RPM hard drive, anodized aluminum display, magnesium alloy frame, and QWERTY keyboard 95-percent the traditional size.

Putting it in the netbook categories is the 5105’s size. the computer weights in at just 2.6 pounds and has a 10-inch LED display tat is available in both WSVGA and high-definition resolutions. the computer is also relatively inexpensive, with prices starting at around $450.

“HP Mini PCs have no equal when it comes to industrial design, use of innovative materials and overall feature sets,” said Ted Clark, senior vice president and general manager, Notebook Global Business Unit, Personal Systems Group, HP. “The HP Mini 5101 is truly a work of art, a sophisticated companion PC crafted for the trend-savvy mobile professional who needs functionally, durability and style.”

I actually own an HP Mini 1000 and have been really impressed with the quailty of the device. I tend to travel to quite a few trade shows, and the computer is small enough that it doesn’t weigh me down or take up a lot of space when I’m on a show floor.  I’ve actually found myself just shoving it in my purse (I carry big purses) when I’m headed to a coffee shop or to meet friends. They’re exceptionally convenient to have.

The HP Mini 5105 is expected to be available starting next month.

Starting later on this summer each Wikipedia page will be outfitted with anew “Add Media” button. the button will launch a new interface that allows users to search through three different databases of copyright-free material and then select appropriate clips to be added to the Wikipedia page in an embeddable player directly on the page.

Originally the new tool is expected to use videos found in the Internet Archive, an archive that currently has close to 200,000 different copyright-free videos including interviews, documentaries, and educational videos that are currently in the public domain. Wikipedia will also use video clips from Wikimedia Commons which is maintained by the Wikimedia Foundation and by Metavid a site that primarily houses congressional videos.

In an interview with Technology Review Peter Kaufman, executive producer ay Intelligent Television, a documentary production company said “To have people be able to go in and annotate your video, edit your video, and improve upon it–in the same way people have been doing to your text posts–is pretty outstanding, and will create an audio-visual representation of our world that will rapidly become as definitive and collaborative as Wikipedia is in the textual world,” says  that works with cultural and educational institutions, helping them bring their works online…That may just be the holy grail.”

I’m personally prettty excited about the idea of bringing videos to Wikipedia. As the world becomes more and more web centered I think having videos on the site will greatly enhance its functionality to people worldwide. What do you think?

One of the owners of Activision, Bobby Kotick said in an interview with Times Online “They have to cut the price, because if they don’t, the attach rates [the number of games each console owner buys] are likely to slow. If we are being realistic, we might have to stop supporting Sony…When we look at 2010 and 2011, we might want to consider if we support the console — and the PSP [portable] too.”

With the worldwide economy declining in the manner that it is many businesses are starting to look more closely at how they’re doing business and where they’re losing money. Kotick said:”“I’m getting concerned about Sony; the PlayStation 3 is losing a bit of momentum and they don’t make it easy for me to support the platform. It’s expensive to develop for the console, and the Wii and the Xbox are just selling better. Games generate a better return on invested capital on the Xbox than on the PlayStation”

Activision is currently the world’s biggest independent computer games company, if they stopped making games for the Playstation they could do some serious damage to Sony’s sales. With a company that large threatening to drop their systems, Sony has to seriously look at the cost of the Playstaion and PSP and at least think about dropping the price. If the company doesn’t make the consoles more affordable they’ll need to do something else to entice people to start picking up more games and boost Activision (along with other game manufacturers) sales.

What video game consoles do you own? How do you feel about the pricing of the Playstation and PSP against other systems?

The Kindle DX offers one main advantage over its predecessors: size. The DX sports a 9.7-inch screen, almost four inches larger than the traditional kindles 6-inch screen. The larger screen can allow you to have more lines on the screen at once, or if you want let you read books in larger print.

The device is about the same thickness as the traditional Kindle, so theoretically it won’t feel more bulky (except for that whole ten-inch screen thing). The keyboard on the device is actually a little smaller than the keyboard on the regular version in order to leave more space for the device’s massive screen. The Kindle DX also has a built-in PDF reader, a feature left off the smaller version which allows you to download books in the public domain and email them directly to your Kindle to read.

With the announcement of the DX a few months ago, Amazon indicated they expected the Kindle DX to be more a solution for students who want to use the device to read textbooks and business professionals than those of us who just want to sit and bed and catch up on the latest romance novels. I could see myself however picking up one of these over the 6-inch version. I’m a space girl, and a 10-inch display just seems like it would be much more user-friendly for me personally than the smaller 6-inch version.

Honestly, I’m still even more a paper girl than an e-book reader. There’s just something about holding a book in your hand that still appeals to me, even though I have to admit the tech nerd in me really wants to buy a Kindle.

Do any of you own a Kindle? Anyone thinking about buying a Kindle DX?

Mashable got an on-site demo of the service last week and was pretty impressed with the new interface. YouTube XL is essentially the same YouTube you’ve come to know and love, just with a new and different skin.Menu’s for the XL version of the site look more like a traditional DVD menu than YouTube’s website, and are very easy to navigate through.

Videos on the XL version are able to be expanded to full screen while still looking good, Mashable even went as far as to say that the quality of some of the HD video “stands up to its cable and satellite counterparts.” What you lose are some of the additional things like commenting and other community features you’ve come to expect to be commonplace with YouTube videos.

The site is controlled by an application for Google Android phones, although another version for iPhone and other smartphones may be on the way soon. YouTube XL support is being built into several television, and support is also expected to come soon for the PS3 and Wii.

The idea of watching YouTube on television is a relatively new one, although it’s catching on pretty quickly. For me personally, I don’t know that I would really want to watch that many videos on my regular television. YouTube videos are typically pretty short in nature, and I tend to want to watch long-winded entertainment (for lack of a better term, when sitting in front of my television.

What do you think about YouTube XL? Would you use it?

According to a report in Digitimes, Microsoft wants netbooks to now be referred to as “low cost small notebook PCs.” The idea behind the name change is that netbooks are now capable of doing much more than simply surfing the web, and that web surfing was where the term “netbook” came from in the first place.

Many industry professionals think the reasoning behind the name change is so that Microsoft can offer several different versions of Windows 7 without facing scrutiny from consumers. According to Digitimes: ” Some market watchers speculated that the renaming strategy will help Microsoft separate the mini-notebooks with regular notebook capabilities from netbooks, so that it can reduce the number of its low-end Windows shipments. The new definition will require mid-range to high-end mini-notebooks, which may fall into the netbook category because of their size, to adopt higher-end versions of Windows 7, added the market watchers.”

More details are expected to come out in a keynote speech from the company later today at Computex.

What do you think about the name change? While it is true that netbooks do a lot more than simply surf the web now, the consumer market has just become accustomed to knowing what a netbook even is-changing the name seems somewhat ridiculous, and will inevitably confuse the consumer market more than it will help.

What would you rather buy: A netbook, or a low cost small notebook PC?

Main improvements over the current iPhone interface include a compass capable of determining the direction you’re facing, an auto-focus option for the camera, video recording, and the ability to send multimedia messages. The top of the screen also shows a new battery gauge that indicates exactly how much battery power you might have left available in a percentage rather than in just a picture.

The compass and auto focus are not currently expected to be added to the new iPhone, indicating that the pictures could potentially be a fake- or maybe Apple has a little extra in store for us.

Apple held a press conference in March to talk about the new iPhone 3.0 software. At the press conference it gave us some ideas on what to look for with the new iPhone 3.0 this summer. Current things we know will be included are:

Copy/Paste: Double tapping on text will give you the option to cut, copy, or paste the text into a new window. That way if you want to save a text to your notes, or send part of a website in an email, you can easily copy and paste text just like you can on your computer.

Spotlight: Spotlight will allow you to search through the entire contents of your iPhone much like you can search the contents of your computer using Spotlight on your desktop.

3G Tethering: The new iPhone software will give the phone the ability to tether with a laptop and be used as a modem. Cell phone carriers will have to sign off on the service before it can be enabled on the phone, which will probably mean either more fees, or the phone just not working tethered for some customers.

Multimedia Messaging: Users will be able to send pictures and sound through the phone.

Shake to shuffle music:You will be able to simply shake your iPhone to change the song playing.

Stereo Bluetooth: The new software will enable you to connect a stereo headset to rock out to your favorite tunes wirelessly.

What do you think about these pictures? Are they real?

The new version of Wii Fit, appropriately titled “Wii Fit Plus” will allow users to compete with friends and family members on their Wii to lose weight or to complete against each other in other activities within the game.

Adding the competition element to a video game certainly isn’t new. Almost every video game in the world is in some way a competition. Adding the competition element to a fitness game though is a bit of a new frontier. It will be interesting to see how Nintendo creates the fitness element of the game.

Nike currently has a competition element to it’s Nike + program. The Nike + program allows users to track runs they take using a pair of specialized shoes and upload each run to Nike’s website. Users can challenge each other to runs, and fight to see who can run a distance the fastest or run those longest distance over a period of time.

Since Wii Fit measures a players weight, it will be interesting to see if Nintendo decides to incorporate that into the game. While I personally use Wii Fit in the privacy of my own home, I don’t know tat I would want to play a game where my weight (or my weight loss or gain) was displayed for all my friends to see.

What do you think about the idea of competing against your friends using Wii Fit? Would you do it? Do you think the competition element would make you lose more weight?