Logitech announces Pure-Fi Dream and Anywhere iPod speakers

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We're still not sure why people are willing to pay hundreds of dollars for an alarm clock when a $5 model from the pharmacy works just as well, but in all fairness to Logitech, the new $250 Pure-Fi Dream (pictured above and in the gallery below) does a lot more than just annoy the hell out of you every morning. Yessir, what you're getting here is a "premium bedroom audio system" featuring 3/4-inch tweeters and 3-inch woofers, along with dual alarms, motion sensitive controls (no more banging around for the snooze button), and a "one-of-a-kind" LCD screen that dupes all the vital info from a docked iPod. And to make sure that you don't become a homebody sitting in your room listening to your Dream, Logitech is also launching another speaker system designed to maximize your iPod experience on the go, the Pure Fi Anywhere (pictured in the gallery below). This followup to the company's mm50 promises longer battery life, a smaller form factor, and better remote than its predecessor, all for the same $150 price tag. You should be able to start traveling in style next month with the release of the Anywhere, but your whole morning routine won't get that much needed boost until November, when the Dream is scheduled to ship.



Read - Pure Fi Dream
Read - Pure Fi Anywhere

(Via Engadget.)

Why Full Text Feeds Actually Increase Page Views (The Freakonomics Explanation)

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Last week, the Freakonomics blog got some extra attention by moving the blog to the NY Times. Of course, the blog had been in support of the immensely popular Freakonomics book, but the blog has taken on a life of its own. What was interesting was how people reacted to the news. While there were a few congratulations thrown in, the vast majority of the comments on the blog when the news broke was to complain about the NY Times' decision to switch the RSS feed from full text to partial text, where anyone who wanted to read the whole thing would have to click through. This has kicked off yet another round in the debate with some thoughtful discussions about full vs. partial feeds. Techdirt, of course, offers full feeds and always has. This means that plenty of people who read this site absolutely never visit the site. We're fine with that for a variety of reasons (one of which being that our business model isn't dependent on page views or ad impressions).

However, in our experience, full text feeds actually does lead to more page views, though understanding why is a little more involved. Full text feeds makes the reading process much easier. It means it's that much more likely that someone reads the full piece and actually understands what's being said -- which makes it much, much, much more likely that they'll then forward it on to someone else, or blog about it themselves, or post it to Digg or Reddit or Slashdot or Fark or any other such thing -- and that generates more traffic and interest and page views from new readers, who we hope subscribe to the RSS feed and become regular readers as well. The whole idea is that by making it easier and easier for anyone to read and fully grasp our content, the more likely they are to spread it via word of mouth, and that tends to lead to much greater adoption than by limiting what we give to our readers and begging them to come to our site if they want to read more than a sentence or two. So, while many people claim that partial feeds are needed to increase page views where ads are hosted, our experience has shown that full text feeds actually do a great deal to increase actual page views on the site by encouraging more usage. It's the same thing that we've talked about in other areas of the content industry. Taking value away from users to try to force a specific action is almost always going to be less desirable than providing people what they want. So while Dubner and Levitt may have to argue with the NYTimes beancounters who will claim that partial feeds will increase revenue, they may want to use the lessons they learned from their own book to recognize that the opposite may be true. Full feeds can actually drive more traffic overall.

(Via Techdirt.)

Power Adapter With Embedded LED Patented, Apple Sued For Infringement

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Would you believe that the Patent Office granted a patent on the idea of embedding an LED light in a power adapter? It turns out that they did, and that's not good for Apple, who sells just such a device and is now facing patent infringement charges, in Texas, of course. While yet another patent infringement suit isn't all that interesting, what's amusing is the patent attorney's statements on the lawsuit. First, he insists the patent is valid, as if he weren't a biased source. He then suggests that we shouldn't question the validity of the patent because it's not a business model patent. While it's true that business model patents are questionable, that doesn't let other types of patents off the hook. Then, to get past the charges of being a patent troll, he insists that the holder of the patent used to have a company that made these types of chargers, though it's no longer in business and he can't remember the name of it. As for what are the next steps, the lawyer has it all worked out: "They [Apple] pay us millions of dollars, that's the next step." Apparently due process and all that sorta stuff really doesn't matter when it comes to a failed business man with a simple idea trying to squeeze millions from a company who actually has a product people want to buy.

(Via Techdirt.)

PDF: Five Smashing Wisdom Treasures

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Views: 6622 by 5529 users

In our recent posts we’ve promised to publish the .pdf-versions of the articles you’ve considered useful and important. We’ve received many e-mails in which you supported us and asked us for print-friendly versions of five of our articles. Thanks for all the tremendous support we apparently have. It’s important to know that what we do is useful. But it is also important to state, how important you are for us.


So now it’s time to keep the promise we’ve given. Below you’ll find the .pdf-versions of five of our recent articles.


The .pdf-files of our previous posts included some mistakes - for instance, you couldn’t click on the links provided in the article. Besides, the .pdf was presented in the landscape format instead of portrait format. Both issues are fixed in these version. If you find any inconsistencies, please let us know.


You can download five wisdom treasures - print-friendly-versions of our recent articles from the following URLs:



  • What Do We Really Know About Google PageRank (1 Mb)
    How does Google PageRank work, which factors do have an impact on it and which don’t? And what do we really know about PageRank? In this article we put the facts straight.

  • Copyright Explained: I May Copy It, Right? (0.5 Mb)

    Copyright in Web is often considered as the grey area; as such it’s often misunderstood and violated - mostly simply because bloggers don’t know, what laws they have to abide and what issues they have to consider. We’ve collected the most important facts, articles and resources related to copyright issues, law and blogging. We’ve also put together most useful tools and references you can use dealing with plagiarism.

  • 200+ Hotkeys To Boost Your Productivity (0.9 Mb)

    This post covers the most useful keyboard shortcuts for essential software applications users and web-developers can/should use on a daily basis - OS, Browsers, Music Players, Communication Tools, File Management and Coding. You will also find references to related resources - there you’ll find more specific shortcuts for your needs.

  • Outstanding Startpages (3.4 Mb)
    Between standards and creativity there is a lot of room for design experiments. We observe these experiments. We explore new approaches. And we collect them, so you don’t have to. Unusual, remarkable and outstanding start pages - in a brief overview.

  • Golden Rules Of Linkbaiting (0.8 Mb)
    Linkbaiting is about gaining reputation, finding your niche, writing useful and creative content. Let’s take a look at non-trivial and most effective rules, principles, techniques, strategies, methods, examples and resources related to link building.

(Via Smashing Magazine.)

How To: Determine a wine’s age or quality by color

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wine-by-color.png

The Colour Lovers weblog explains how to determine the quality and age of a wine by its color:

Pouring a small amount of wine and tilting the glass at (approx.) 45º will spread the wine enough for us to observe a span of its color... and to determine the quality of a wine in the white, blush, or red families... where trees have rings, wines have color.


The post contains an exaggerated palette of wine colors and their associated meanings. It looks like wines on the darker end of the spectrum are older and/or may have oxidized and are therefore not in their prime, while the lightest wines are generally very young and a bit immature. Wine aficionados, give us your take in the comments.



Wine Color Guide for Quality and Age [ColourLovers]

(Via Lifehacker.)