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Filed under: Audio, Video, Microsoft

Zune Pass expanding to U.K. and Europe, more nations get movie rentals and purchases

Microsoft has announced a new expansion for Zune services. The news is a touch bittersweet for me, since it didn't involve the arrival of Zune Pass in Canada. Maybe next time...

Those of you who live in the U.K., France, Italy, and Spain, however, can now enjoy the Zune Pass music subscription service for £8.99 or 9.99 Euros per month. That's only a tad pricier than the $14.99 U.S. residents pay for all-you-can-eat music via Zune. The "keep 10 MP3s per month" option remains U.S. only, unfortunately.

Those four countries -- along with Germany -- can also now buy music via Zune, and movie rentals and purchases have been extended to even more countries. Here's how the video expansion breaks down:
  • Rentals: U.K., France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Ireland, Netherlands, Switzerland, Mexico, Canada, Australia and New Zealand

  • Purchase: U.K., France, Germany, Canada, Australia and New Zealand
This is great news for anyone who owns an Xbox 360 or plans on purchasing a Windows Phone 7 device -- but it's also good news for Windows users in general. There's plenty of good content to be had on Zune, and it never hurts to have one more option for purchasing downloadable music and video content.

Hit up the official Microsoft press release for full details.

Filed under: Developer

EtherCodes is an interesting code editor for real-time collaboration

ethercodes

Finally, someone has gone and done it: EtherCodes is a mashup of EtherPad and Skywriter (formerly known as Bespin). In simple terms, it's a collaborative, real-time, Web-based code editor, with syntax highlighting for C, C++, C#, Java, PHP, Python, JavaScript, Ruby (yay!), and HTML.

It's currently in alpha, but I've played around with it, and it feels quite solid. It really feels like a hybrid. The familiar EtherPad interface surrounds a text area that is actually Skywriter. And Skywriter has its own command line, which lets you do all sorts of things to your code (convert all tabs to spaces, for example).

You don't get code completion, though, which is a shame. Also, for some reason, EtherCodes won't play nice with Opera -- it wants you to use Firefox 3.5+, Chrome 2.0+, or Safari 4.0+. I'm not really sure why, because Opera has a blazing-fast JavaScript engine. But all in all, I really like this mashup. Instead of trying to reinvent the wheel, it takes two established technologies and pairs them elegantly.

The mind behind EtherCodes is Gary Yao, who co-authored CKEditor (a well-regarded Rich Text editor for Web applications). I can only hope that EtherCodes will have the same kind of success. It is a much needed product, indeed.

Filed under: iPhone, Mobile

Foursquare 2.0 for iPhone now available, emphasizes To-Dos and Tips

Foursquare has announced a 2.0 update for the iPhone version of the app, with Blackberry and Android versions soon to follow (the company doesn't make a webOS version, but I'm sure those devs will update soon). The first thing you'll likely notice is that Tips and To-Dos are now separate menu items. According to their blog, "When we started foursquare, we dreamed it would be much more than check-ins. We really wanted to build tools that would help people collect and share their real-world experiences." The tips and to-dos are also more integrated throughout the app, providing (we hope) a more useful experience than just "checking in."

Indeed, as Mashable reminds us, after Facebook unveiled Places, the CEO of foursquare promised a new version of the app would be like "Instapaper for the real world." So, Places is designed to be a location-aware scrapbook or memories, and I guess foursquare is going to do the same thing, except with more practical advice from your friends and with to-dos, which will be location-aware (as opposed to most to-do lists and apps which are not always given any context). Tips also sport a counter, so you can see how popular they are.

One huge new item: foursquare now allows websites to add a to-do directly on a web page. This Instapaper-like service shows up immediately on your mobile device and provides useful information for a location. I can see how this will add tremendous value for anyone who manages a physical location, let alone the review and discovery sites like Eater and Racked who have already added them. The foursquare blog mentions some heavy hitters who are adding these buttons in the near future.

Filed under: Text, Social Software, BlackBerry

Multi-network IM app Meebo now available for Blackberry

Popular IM client Meebo has finally arrived on Blackberry. The app supports both touchscreen devices (like the Storm and Storm 2) and trackball models (like the Curve and Tour).

The app ties in to your Meebo account, giving you in-app access to your buddy list, chat history, and even chats you had open before you stepped away from your desktop and signed in via your mobile. As CNet points out, the app currently lacks file and photo transfer options -- which would make it much more appealing.

Still, for chatting with friends on just about any instant messaging app, Meebo is a good option -- especially if you want to use the same app on all your devices.

Those of you who own a Blackberry, head on over to the Meebo site and email yourself a link to the beta installer.

Filed under: Office, Google

Google Docs editing coming soon to iPad, Android devices

Google Docs on Android, iPad
Sometimes, when companies blog about a big new feature, there's a juicy little tidbit of news just thrown in somewhere. That's the case with today's Google Apps two-factor authentication announcement from Google. Tucked in amongst the notes was an aside about Google Docs, and it's a zinger. As spotted by out pal Brad over at Mobiputing, Google Docs users with an Android device or iPad will soon be able to edit their documents.

Don't be deceived by the screenshot -- it's from the current iteration, which only allows for data to be entered in cells. It's safe to assume Google means that "mobile editing" on supported devices will be much more than that.

[via: Mobiputing]

VLC arrives on the iPad, iPhone version coming up!

VLC lovers, rejoice! Well, VLC lovers who own an iPad, anyway. Applidium has announced that VLC for iPad has been approved and is now available for download from the App Store. In case you were wondering about the open source implications of the release, good news on that front: Applidium states that the code will be released before the end of the day. The blog also states that they've begun ...

Firefox Home update adds more powerful search, private server support

Firefox Home has become one of my most-used iPhone apps, and the recent update has added a greatly-improved search function. Previously, FF Home could search your synced content. Now, however, it will actually search Google if no matches are found (check the official demo video after the fold to see it in action). Another welcome addition is support for private servers -- you're no longer ...

Piq is a fun way to create pixel-art and favicons

Once upon a time, creating pixel art was a completely manual process. You drew your base shape, and then if you wanted to add highlights, shadows, or blur, you had to draw them in, pixel by pixel. Piq is a Flash-based pixel art editor that lets you enjoy fine-grained manual control, while making it a bit easier to add those extra touches to your image. You first draw the image pixel by pixel. ...

Solve Media's CAPTCHA replacement might have ads, but they're still an improvement

At times, fighting with multiple CAPTCHA codes is more painful than having to hear "Party in the U.S.A." playing on the radio for the umpteenth time in a single day. I understand the point of a CAPTCHA, but there have just been too many times where the squashed, skewed letters are far too mangled to comprehend. Enter Solve Media, who think they've got a solution which is not only superior, but ...

Adobe acts quickly to patch latest Flash vulnerability

Thanks to F-Secure, we have just learned that Adobe has responded quickly to the most recent critical security flaw in Flash, which Lee reported on a week ago. According to Adobe: Chrome users are already protected! Versions above 6.0.472.62 are patched. This version number refers to the Stable channel, but the latest Beta channel update also has the same update (with a different version ...
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Give Up, Robot is an awesome platformer -- Time Waster

I literally had to tear myself away from this one just to write about it: Give Up, Robot is so much fun. It's a low-fi platformer with very engaging gameplay. You're a robot (I know, you never would've guessed that on your own) and you can run, jump, and hook onto things with your grapple (using Z to shoot it out). Once you've attached the grapple to anything, you can swing yourself using the left and right keys, and extend or shorten the rope using up/down. As soon as you let go of the Z key, the grapple ...

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