Download Squad http://downloadsquad.switched.com Download Squad. http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/downloadsquad.switched.com/media/feedlogo.gif Download Squad http://downloadsquad.switched.com prods@weblogsinc.com (Weblogs, Inc. Producers) support@weblogsinc.com (Weblogs, Inc. Web Support) en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. View our terms of service here: http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/ Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/ <![CDATA[iPhone App Review: Pandora for iPhone and iPod touch]]> http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/07/12/iphone-app-review-pandora-for-iphone-and-ipod-touch/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/07/12/iphone-app-review-pandora-for-iphone-and-ipod-touch/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/07/12/iphone-app-review-pandora-for-iphone-and-ipod-touch/#comments Friday amidst the fury new iPhone application releases, Pandora released an application for iPhone and iPod touch that allows users to take their personalized radio stations with them. Existing Pandora users can download the free app and instantly have access to all their current radio stations as well as add new ones. If you're not already a Pandora user then the process is slightly more difficult to get started and involves authorizing your mobile device on Pandora's web page.

Pandora for the iPhone offers the same features as traditional Pandora for your PC. Stations can be easily created around a particular artist or song that you enjoy. As you're listening to a song you can give it a thumbs up or a thumbs down to help customize the station to your preferences. Songs can be skipped if you really don't like them, bookmarked if you do, or immediately purchased through the iTunes store if you can't live without them a moment longer. The app also has an information button where you can read about why a particular song was selected to play on your radio station.

We gave the app a little test drive last night. We were really impressed with the app's interface and love that looks a lot like traditional Iphone music player, complete with full screen cover art. If you're still rocking a first gen iPhone and live somewhere where your EDGE data tends to be a little hit or miss, then so is your Pandora. We drove around town and had a few instances where the music would skip, or in some cases stop entirely which is no fun when you're trying to rock out. Most of the issues seemed to happen in-between songs so the app may be designed to work a little ahead of itself to compensate for passing through areas that aren't EDGE friendly.

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iPhone App Review: Pandora for iPhone and iPod touch originally appeared on Download Squad on Sat, 12 Jul 2008 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> internetradioiphoneiphone 3giphone3gpandora Emily Price Sat, 12 Jul 2008 17:00:00 EST Download Squad <![CDATA[Memeo makes it easy to send photos to grandma]]> http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/07/03/memeo-makes-it-easy-to-send-photos-to-grandma/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/07/03/memeo-makes-it-easy-to-send-photos-to-grandma/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/07/03/memeo-makes-it-easy-to-send-photos-to-grandma/#comments Memeo's new Share application is designed to make the process of sending high-resolution photos a little easier, by sending them directly to another users desktop or putting them in an RSS feed they can look at in iPhoto.

The application, which is currently in beta, isn't meant to be a substitute for any photo sharing application you might currently be using, although photos shared using Memeo Share can also automatically upload photos to your Facebook account. Share is instead designed for sharing high-resolution photos and video with small groups or family and friends without having to send individual emails containing each item due to their size. Those who receive your photos can then decide what photos they want, and print out pictures they like at a quality resolution.

Memeo Share is offering a free lifetime use for the first 1,000 people to sign up for the beta with the public preview limited to 10,000 total sign ups. Get yours here.

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Memeo makes it easy to send photos to grandma originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 03 Jul 2008 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> photo sharingPhotoSharingpictures Emily Price Thu, 03 Jul 2008 10:30:00 EST Download Squad <![CDATA[Let TripIt help plan your next adventure]]> http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/06/25/let-tripit-help-plan-your-next-adventure/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/06/25/let-tripit-help-plan-your-next-adventure/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/06/25/let-tripit-help-plan-your-next-adventure/#comments TripItAll of us could use a personal assistant every now and then, especially when it comes to planning your itinerary for a trip where you have to put together reservations for restaurants, entertainment, and rental cars into something you can follow once you reach your destination.

TripIt is a site designed to take confusion out of trying to organize all your reservations by doing it for you. The service takes all the plans you've made for your trip such as plane reservations, rental cars, and restaurant reservations and organizes them, adding important things like directions to get to where you're going and a projected weather forecast for your trip. Your TripIt itinerary can then be printed out and taken with you as well as forwarded to friends in email, synced with your personal calender, or viewed on your mobile device.

TripIt allows you to add information to your trips manually or if you schedule events with one of TripIts supported websites you can just forward your reservations to the site via email and have them added to your itinerary for you. Currently TripIt supports a slew of airline websites, restaurant reservations through OpenTable.com, and they just added support for a variety of event sites such as Ticketmaster.

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Let TripIt help plan your next adventure originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 25 Jun 2008 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> itineraryscheduleschedulingtrip planningTripPlanning Emily Price Wed, 25 Jun 2008 16:00:00 EST Download Squad <![CDATA[Showcase your stuff with meOwns]]> http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/06/25/showcase-your-stuff-with-meowns/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/06/25/showcase-your-stuff-with-meowns/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/06/25/showcase-your-stuff-with-meowns/#comments meOwns is a site designed to allow you to showcase the stuff you own. You can list items that you actually own, or items that you would like to own on the site and add photos to those lists so people can see what you're talking about. The lists you create on meOwns can then be put into a widget that you can embed on your website or MySpace profile, or you can add a Facebook widget to display your items for your Facebook friends.

According to the site, the idea is is to bring people together through "the one thing that connects us all - the yearn to own!" While we're not so sure any normal person anyone would want to upload all the stuff they own to the site, the site could have some use in getting rid of the stuff you already own and don't want anymore. The widget could be an easy way to showcase your old movies, CDs, computer monitors, clothing, etc. for your friends, and mention things that they might own you'd be interested in taking off their hands in exchange.

One huge downside is that right now the site requires you to upload photos from your computer for each item you add. It would be nice to see them add automatic photos for things like DVDs and CDs that are going to always look the same so you don't have to upload a new picture for each individual item which gets annoying pretty quickly particularly if you have that crazy "yearn to own" they were talking about.

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Showcase your stuff with meOwns originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 25 Jun 2008 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> online shoppingOnlineShoppingownership Emily Price Wed, 25 Jun 2008 14:30:00 EST Download Squad <![CDATA[Get a little help from your friends with GigPark]]> http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/06/17/get-a-little-help-from-your-friends-with-gigpark/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/06/17/get-a-little-help-from-your-friends-with-gigpark/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/06/17/get-a-little-help-from-your-friends-with-gigpark/#comments A few years ago a ton of sites started popping up for you to review local businesses and services in your area. The idea behind the sites such as JudysBook was that reviews were written by average everyday people like you, therefore they could be trusted more than a review you read on another site. Sites allowed you to create a profile, upload a picture, and invite all your friends to join as well so you can share information.

GigPark works under the same principle, except the company assumes to some extent that the people you're friends with on the site are your actual friends, not just people who happened to find you on the site. You can import addresses from your yahoo, hotmail, or gmail account onto the site to find people you know who are already using the service, and invite those who are not.

GigPark also has a Facebook application, so you could pose questions like "Who know a great eye doctor" on facebook and solicit responses from your friends directly on Facebook. Of course your friends would also have to add the application in order for all this magic to happen, which given the multitude of annoying facebook applications kicking around these days, is probably unlikely. You can make your recommendations public however, so even without adding the application your friends can read how excited you are about your new plumber.

What do you think about sites like this? Would you use it to solicit recommendations, or would you rather just call a friend and ask?

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Get a little help from your friends with GigPark originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 17 Jun 2008 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> facebookgig parkGigParkrecommendations Emily Price Tue, 17 Jun 2008 18:00:00 EST Download Squad <![CDATA[Time Waster: Music Catch]]> http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/06/11/time-waster-music-catch/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/06/11/time-waster-music-catch/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/06/11/time-waster-music-catch/#comments If you need a minute to relax from some stress at work, Music Catch is the game for you. The idea behind the game is pretty simple: catch the flying shapes while some relaxing piano music plays.

Most of the shapes in the game are blue and teal in color. In addition to the blue and teal shapes there are yellow shapes that you can collect that make your man larger and multiply your score, red shapes that take away the bonus you earned with the yellow, and purple shapes that give you "Purple Power" which sucks in everything around you.

The whole thing is pretty simple. There's only one level that takes about 5 minutes to play. With top scores over a million point however, it can be just as addictive as it is relaxing.

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Time Waster: Music Catch originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 11 Jun 2008 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> flash gamesFlashGamesmusic catchMusicCatchtimewasters Emily Price Wed, 11 Jun 2008 11:00:00 EST Download Squad <![CDATA[Color coordinate your garden with Plantwire]]> http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/05/25/color-coordinate-your-garden-with-plantwire/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/05/25/color-coordinate-your-garden-with-plantwire/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/05/25/color-coordinate-your-garden-with-plantwire/#comments If you're looking to work on your garden this weekend but don't really know where to start, then Plantwire may be the site for you.

Plantwire allows you to search for plants by their name, by tag, or by a particular color you're interested in. Once you find a particular plant in their database you're then given some information of where the plant will probably grow best, as well as some basic instructions on how to successfully grow the plant at home. Each plants page also includes pictures of the plant taken from Flickr (that have been licensed for use under Creative Commons) so you can get a good look at what the plant will look like.

Most of the tag searches we did on the site were pretty much a bust, and chances are if you knew the plant name of what you were looking for then you wouldn't have much use for Plantwire. The color search on the site however is very functional and could be extremely useful if you're looking to color coordinate your garden and need "the perfect red plant" to compliment what you already have. Searches by color bring up a page full of thumbnails of plants matching that color with their names that you can quickly look through to find the perfect one.

The site is currently in public beta, so their data base of plants is limited right now to around 300 with more plants expected to be added soon.

[via EmilyChang]

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Color coordinate your garden with Plantwire originally appeared on Download Squad on Sun, 25 May 2008 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> flowergardengardeningplants Emily Price Sun, 25 May 2008 16:00:00 EST Download Squad <![CDATA[Decide where to eat tonight with BooRah]]> http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/05/07/decide-where-to-eat-tonight-with-boorah/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/05/07/decide-where-to-eat-tonight-with-boorah/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/05/07/decide-where-to-eat-tonight-with-boorah/#comments BooRah searches the web for mentions of restaurants in blogs and websites and analyzes the languages in the post to determine whether the reviewer was giving the restaurant a thumbs down (boo) or a thumbs up (Rah). The amount of Boo's and Rah's a restaurant gets are tallied up on the site and then the restaurant is given an overall score. BooRah users can add their own tags to a particular restaurants page, and can weigh in by giving a particular place a Boo or Rah directly on the site.

Currently the service is limited to just 20 large metro areas, with more expected to be rolled out later on. If you're fortunate enough to live in one of those areas you can search for restaurants by your particular neighborhood, and sign up for an RSS feed for your area so you always know about the latest place in town.

[via EmilyChang]

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Decide where to eat tonight with BooRah originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 07 May 2008 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> eatingfoodfood reviewsFoodReviewsreviews Emily Price Wed, 07 May 2008 16:30:00 EST Download Squad <![CDATA[Dinglepop- Today's Time Waster]]> http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/04/17/dinglepop-todays-time-waster/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/04/17/dinglepop-todays-time-waster/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/04/17/dinglepop-todays-time-waster/#comments For those of us who have just managed to get over our Blockles obsession, the guys over at iminlikewithyou have another game to soak up hours upon hours of the day: Dinglepop. The principle behind the game is pretty simple. Use the canon to shoot a colored ball at the other colored balls already on the screen. Whenever three or more balls of the same color come together they'll drop. The goal of the game is to keep the dingles from reaching the bottom the screen.

The fun in this game really comes in the fact that you're playing it against anywhere from two and seven other people. As you're shooting "dingles" you can collect different items that you can use to hurt your opponents, or help improve your game. Some of the items will lower or raise the top wall on a board, others will scramble all the dingles on a board, or help colorize it. All of the items you collect are stored on the right hand side of your board and you can either decide to use them on yourself or select what opponent you want to attack with them.

Iminlikewithyou has also added a leaderboard to Dinglepop (and to Blockles) that allows you to collect medals for your wins and see where you rank against other users on the site. There's also a widget on the homescreen that lets you see exactly how much times you've wasted on the game over time and a leaderboard for the biggest time wasters.

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Dinglepop- Today's Time Waster originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 17 Apr 2008 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> dinglepopgamemultiplayer gameMultiplayerGametime wasterTimeWaster Emily Price Thu, 17 Apr 2008 11:00:00 EST Download Squad <![CDATA[Bloons - Today's Time-Waster]]> http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/02/14/bloons-todays-time-waster/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/02/14/bloons-todays-time-waster/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/02/14/bloons-todays-time-waster/#comments
In the game Bloons, your goal is to pop all of the balloons on the screen by throwing darts at them. In each of the games 50 levels the balloons are arranged in a different order. With each level you are given a specific amount of darts to throw at the balloons (sometimes just one) and a target number of balloons you'll have to pop to move on to the next level.

Levels get progressively harder as you go on and start adding things like a bouncing wall, and walls you have to break through to get to the balloons. You also encounter "special balloons" which start effects such as giving you a boomerang rater than a dart to throw, or giving you the ability to throw three darts at once.

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Bloons - Today's Time-Waster originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 14 Feb 2008 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> addictive gamesAddictiveGamesbloonsflash gamesFlashGames Emily Price Thu, 14 Feb 2008 11:00:00 EST Download Squad <![CDATA[Create your family tree online with Kindo]]> http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/02/08/create-your-family-tree-online-with-kindo/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/02/08/create-your-family-tree-online-with-kindo/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/02/08/create-your-family-tree-online-with-kindo/#comments Kindo is a site that allows you to create your family tree online. Adding members to the tree is fairly simple, and you can invite family members to Kindo to fill in people in your tree you might have missed. Kindo also allows you to create a pretty detailed profiles for members of you tree that include a picture, as well as their email address, regular address, phone number, birthday, website, and AIM information.

Assuming everyone in your family makes it onto the tree it could be a great way to keep up with contact information and keep in touch with family members. Trees are only accessible to members of your family to view and have the potential to get quite large if everyone in your family participates.

Another similar site is One Family.

[via Digital Inspiration]

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Create your family tree online with Kindo originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 08 Feb 2008 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> family treeFamilyTreekindo Emily Price Fri, 08 Feb 2008 17:00:00 EST Download Squad <![CDATA[Share your collection with Kollecta]]> http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/02/08/share-your-collection-with-kollecta/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/02/08/share-your-collection-with-kollecta/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/02/08/share-your-collection-with-kollecta/#comments Kollecta is a social networking site designed for collectors of all shapes and sizes. The site is currently in beta and has a database of "over a million collectible items" and allows you to check off what you currently have in your collection, what you'd like to add, and what you're willing to sell to someone else.

Once you've created a profile with all of your stuff you can join a group and share that list with other collectors on the site. Users in the group can talk about their passion for coins, stamps, smurfs, or whatever else it is you're collecting, rate items value, share collecting tips, and arrange to buy, sell, or trade items with others.

Providing what you collect is in Kollecta's database, the site could be a good place to keep track of your collection and connect with people who can help you add to it. If what you collect isn't in their database, or there isn't a group for it yet Kollecta provides you tools to add them.

Kollecta is currently free, with mention on the site of a potential cost later down the road. A similar site for collectors is iTaggit.

[via EmilyChang]

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Share your collection with Kollecta originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 08 Feb 2008 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> collectingcollectionshobbiestrading Emily Price Fri, 08 Feb 2008 16:00:00 EST Download Squad <![CDATA[Amazon sends shoppers away with Product Ads]]> http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/02/08/amazon-sends-shoppers-away-with-product-ads/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/02/08/amazon-sends-shoppers-away-with-product-ads/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/02/08/amazon-sends-shoppers-away-with-product-ads/#comments Amazon has launched a trial of a new program called Product Ads. The program allows retailers to purchase ad space on Amazon without selling their products on the site. When a user clicks on the ad rather than being taken to a product within Amazon, the customer will instead be sent to the companies 3rd party site to make a purchase.

Product Ads will show a 3rd party competitor, along with the price they're offering an item at right on the same page as the Amazon item. Reminiscent of PriceGrabber, different sites and their price for a particular item are listed below the item and description on Amazon. Users can see all the prices at the same time and make a decision whether to continue with their purchase on Amazon, or click over to the 3rd party website to make a purchase.

Much like other advertising programs advertisers only pay for their ad when a user clicks on an ad and is taken to the advertisers site. Both Google Product Search and Shopping.com run similar programs, but neither is the selling powerhouse that Amazon is. By combining advertising along with their extensive product catalog Amazon is setting themselves up to be even more of a leader in the online shopping arena.

The new program also forces Amazon to stay extremely competitive in its pricing in order to make users want to purchase items from them, however it also gives them the ability to make money off users who do choose to shop somewhere else. It will be interesting to see if the program survives. No doubt the program is great for shoppers, but how do you think Amazon will do with Product Ads? Do you think it will make it through the trial?

[via VentureBeat]

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Amazon sends shoppers away with Product Ads originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 08 Feb 2008 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> adsamazonnewsonline advertsiingonline shoppingOnlineAdvertsiingOnlineShopping Emily Price Fri, 08 Feb 2008 15:00:00 EST Download Squad <![CDATA[SuperCook helps you with tonight's dinner]]> http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/02/08/supercook-helps-you-with-tonights-dinner/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/02/08/supercook-helps-you-with-tonights-dinner/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/02/08/supercook-helps-you-with-tonights-dinner/#comments Having trouble coming up with what to cook for dinner tonight? Maybe SuperCook can help.

SuperCook is a search engine designed to find recipes based on the ingredients you have in your kitchen. On the site you enter what you have, and then SuperCook will tell you what you can make. Recipes are divided by Starters, Entrees, and Desserts and list any additional items you might need beside their name so you don't waste time reading an entire recipe only to find you're missing a key ingredient. As you enter items the site starts to list "Recommended items" that will open the doors to more dishes. if you're headed out to the store anyway, SuperCook can also give you a recommended shopping list of items that will work well with what you have at home.

We tried the site out, and were a little let down. We put in two ingredients: cheddar cheese, and green beans. The site immediately returned 2000 recipes we could make with those two ingredients but most of them called for BLACK beans rather than green ones which isn't exactly the same thing. Somehow we think nachos with green beans wouldn't be all that tasty.

The site did come back with some good results for other searches, and if we had those black beans we were given tons of recipes that we might have otherwise not thought of. It's definitely not perfect, but it could be a good place to start if you're looking to be adventurous in the kitchen.

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SuperCook helps you with tonight's dinner originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 08 Feb 2008 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> cookingrecipierecipiessearch enginesearch enginesSearchEngineSearchEngines Emily Price Fri, 08 Feb 2008 14:00:00 EST Download Squad <![CDATA[Send unique video e-cards with Carded]]> http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/02/05/send-unique-video-e-cards-with-carded/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/02/05/send-unique-video-e-cards-with-carded/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/02/05/send-unique-video-e-cards-with-carded/#comments Recently launched e-card site Carded allows you to send personalized video e-cards to your friends and family. Unlike your traditional e-cards that are sent for things like Birthdays, Holidays and special events Carded aims to focus on "life's other occasions." The site has cards for things like birthdays and Valentines Day, but also has cards wishing you well in your extramarital affair, and wishing you well on your MySpace date.

All of the cards feature a short video clip and can be personalized with a voice saying both your and your recipients name. Carded has a pretty substantial database of names built into the system. If your name isn't available you can send them a note and they promise to add it. Currently all the video cards on Carded feature the same four characters. Users are also invited to submit their own video cards to Carded and have them added to the site.

For more e-cards check out this list of best non-annoying e-card sites.

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Send unique video e-cards with Carded originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 05 Feb 2008 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> birthday cardsBirthdayCardse-cardsvalentines cardsValentinesCardsvideo cardsVideoCards Emily Price Tue, 05 Feb 2008 14:00:00 EST Download Squad <![CDATA[Give your URLs meaning with Meaningful URL]]> http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/02/05/give-your-urls-meaning-with-meaningful-url/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/02/05/give-your-urls-meaning-with-meaningful-url/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/02/05/give-your-urls-meaning-with-meaningful-url/#comments Meaningful URL is a website designed under the same general principle of popular website Tiny URL. While Tiny URL just allows you to take a long URL and turn it into a short one, Meaningful URL takes the idea one step further and allows you to turn any URL into a short AND meaningful one.

Meaningful URL has a variety of tags to choose from for your URL with options ranging from "say.iloveyou.to" to "vote.to." After your tag selection you can put your recipients name or any other text you choose to personalize and finish your URL. Free Meaningful URLs expire 5 days after they are created with premium URLs available for $2-$3 a month.

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Give your URLs meaning with Meaningful URL originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 05 Feb 2008 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> small urlSmallUrltiny urlTinyUrl Emily Price Tue, 05 Feb 2008 09:30:00 EST Download Squad <![CDATA[Share snippits of YouTube videos with SceneMaker]]> http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/01/30/share-snippits-of-youtube-videos-with-scenemaker/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/01/30/share-snippits-of-youtube-videos-with-scenemaker/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/01/30/share-snippits-of-youtube-videos-with-scenemaker/#comments Have you ever wanted to show someone 5 seconds of a video off YouTube, but have had to make them watch the entire 3 minute video clip to get to that important 5 seconds?

SceneMaker is designed to allow you to select a portion of a video off of YouTube, Metacafe, Google, or DailyMotion and share just that portion of the video with your friends without having to show them to the entire original video.

Creating your own scenes is fairly easy. You upload a video to the site using the original videos URL, and then select an in ands out point for your scene by pressing a start and stop button within SceneMaker while the video is playing. Once a video clip is created you are prompted to name the clip, and add tags and a description of the video. You can create multiple clips from one piece of video and you can email a link to those clips to friends or embed them on your website.

SceneMaker could be great for those funny video clips that you have to sit through 2 and a half minutes of un-funny to get to, or for sharing a small part of an interview or speech with a friend without making them sit through the entire thing.

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Share snippits of YouTube videos with SceneMaker originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 30 Jan 2008 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> DailyMotionmetacafescenemakershare videoShareVideovideo editorVideoEditorviral videoViralVideoyoutube Emily Price Wed, 30 Jan 2008 18:30:00 EST Download Squad <![CDATA[Kung-Fu Election - Today's Time Waster]]> http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/01/30/kung-fu-election-todays-time-waster/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/01/30/kung-fu-election-todays-time-waster/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/01/30/kung-fu-election-todays-time-waster/#comments
Are you tired of watching all the election coverage on the news? Do you wish the candidates would just fight it out old school style in a no holds bar fight to the death rather than drop out entirely ? Your dreams can come true (sort-of) with the game Kung-Fu Election.

In the game you get to select your favorite candidate, and then put them head to head in a Kung-Fu fight for the presidency. Choices of characters include Clinton, Obama, Edwards, Richardson, Giuliani, Huckabee, Romney, and McCain. All come equipped with their own weapons, and there's a training mode so you can get acquainted with your candidate before making a run for the white house.

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Kung-Fu Election - Today's Time Waster originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 30 Jan 2008 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> election 08Election08flash gamesFlashGameskung fu electionKungFuElectionpresidency Emily Price Wed, 30 Jan 2008 11:00:00 EST Download Squad <![CDATA[Twitter100 - 100 tweets on one page]]> http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/01/29/twitter100-100-tweets-on-one-page/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/01/29/twitter100-100-tweets-on-one-page/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/01/29/twitter100-100-tweets-on-one-page/#comments Twitter100
The Twitter 100 is an easy way to keep track of all the people you're following on twitter (or 100 of them at least) at once. To use Twitter 100 you just enter your Twitter user ID and are then taken to a page with 100 of the people you're following and their most recent tweet. You can set the refresh rate at every 3 minutes, 10 minutes, or every half hour.

Twitter 100 would be a lot better if you were able to update your own Twitter page from the Twitter 100 page. As it stands you'll still have to do your own tweeting from another source. If you're away from Twitter for a while (you know for that sleeping thing) it can however be an excellent way to quickly catch up on everything you've missed while you were away.

For more great Twitter tools check out Twitter tips-tools for your tweets.

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Twitter100 - 100 tweets on one page originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 29 Jan 2008 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> tweet-thistwittertwitter 100twitter followersTwitter100TwitterFollowers Emily Price Tue, 29 Jan 2008 12:00:00 EST Download Squad <![CDATA[Destroy the web with NetDisaster - Today's Time Waster]]> http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/01/29/destroy-the-web-with-netdisaster-todays-time-waster/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/01/29/destroy-the-web-with-netdisaster-todays-time-waster/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/01/29/destroy-the-web-with-netdisaster-todays-time-waster/#comments Have you ever wished a particular website would be attacked by ailens? Cut in half by a chainsaw? NetDisaster is a site deisgned to allow you to wreak havoc on your favorite (or least favorite) website in a variety of different ways.

You can choose from natural disasters like floods and meteors to attacks by dinosaurs or even Led Zeppelin. There's close to fifty different attacks to choose from and you can decide whether you want to control them yourself or have the attacks take place all on their own. The site allows you let the site repair itself, or you can go for massive destruction mode where a site can't come back from oblivion.

If you select a particular mode of destruction and are let down by your choice you can also select a new one from a in browser tool bar rather than go back to the site and re-enter all the website info. If you're really proud of your attack, finished disasters can be shared via email or a link on your website.

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Destroy the web with NetDisaster - Today's Time Waster originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 29 Jan 2008 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> destroy websitesDestroyWebsitesnet diasterNetDiastertimewasters Emily Price Tue, 29 Jan 2008 11:00:00 EST Download Squad <![CDATA[Filler - Today's Time Waster]]> http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/01/28/filler-todays-time-waster/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/01/28/filler-todays-time-waster/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/01/28/filler-todays-time-waster/#comments In Filler your goal is to fill 2/3 of the game board with "filler balls." Balls can be created by clicking anywhere on the board and their size is determined by how long you hold down the button on your mouse. The longer the you hold down the button, the bigger the filler ball.

The game has other balls bouncing around the screen which for the purpose of this explanation we'll call "bouncing balls." If one of those balls hits your filler ball while you're still creating it, then your ball pops and you lose a life. As you progress in the game there are more bouncing balls which make it more and more difficult to grow your filler balls without them being popped. Each level gives you a certain amount of lives, a certain amount of balls you can create, and a time limit.

Some tips we picked up when playing:

  • You can move your filler ball around while you're growing it to avoid being popped.
  • The filler balls react to each other, and to being hit by bouncing balls...so where they fall isn't necessarily where they'll stay.
  • You can grow balls specifically to move others and create "safe areas" for you to grow bigger ones.
  • If you completely squish a bouncing ball with filler balls it's not gone forever...they reappear in the top right corner.

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Filler - Today's Time Waster originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 28 Jan 2008 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> fillerflash gameFlashGametime wasterTimeWastertimewasters Emily Price Mon, 28 Jan 2008 13:00:00 EST Download Squad <![CDATA[Upload your video to several sites at once with Hey!Spread]]> http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/01/28/upload-your-video-to-several-sites-at-once-with-hey-spread/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/01/28/upload-your-video-to-several-sites-at-once-with-hey-spread/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/01/28/upload-your-video-to-several-sites-at-once-with-hey-spread/#comments If you want to get your video seen, really seen, then chances are you upload it to a couple of different video sharing sites. But who has the time to do that?

We wrote about TubeMogul in July, a site that allows you to upload your video to a bunch of sites at once, and now we've come across Hey!Spread another site that will do all your dirty work for you.

Hey!Spread is from the same company that created the Hey!Watch file converter. Hey!Spread can upload video to Sclipo, Sumo, Sevenload, YouTube, Google, Dailymotion, Blip, Metacafe, Yahoo, Facebook, Myspace, Vimeno, Revver, Veoh, Vsocial, Photobucket, and Putfile. You give the site your log-in creds for the sites you're interesting in uploading your video to, upload a video file, press start and then Hey!Spread will convert your video appropriately for each site you specified and upload it, sending you an email when the job is done.

Besides being able to upload your video to tons of places at once Hey!Spread can also watermark your videos for you and can take a video you already have on YouTube and distribute it to other sites using the videos YouTube URL.

Hey!Spread was free until January of this year and is now charging users $.05 per video site it uploads your video to. Depending on your video needs, it's ability watermark, pull from YouTube, and upload to twenty sites instead of TubeMoguls 13 may make it worth the expense. TubeMogul is currently free.

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Upload your video to several sites at once with Hey!Spread originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 28 Jan 2008 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> google videoGoogleVideoheyspreadheywatchmetacaferevvervideo sharingvideo uploadVideoSharingVideoUploadyoutube Emily Price Mon, 28 Jan 2008 12:00:00 EST Download Squad <![CDATA[Create MP3's from text with vozMe]]> http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/01/27/create-mp3s-from-text-with-vozme/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/01/27/create-mp3s-from-text-with-vozme/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/01/27/create-mp3s-from-text-with-vozme/#comments Who wants to read all their email when they can listen to it instead?

vozMe is web tool that turns text into an mp3 file that you can listen to immediately online or download onto your hard drive to listen to later. The tool works for English, as well as Spanish and Italian text and the interface is simple in design with just a box to type or paste text, and a button to create an mp3. vozMe also has tools available for webmasters who want to offer audio versions of posts directly on their websites.

We're never really impressed with text to speech websites. The voice that reads your text to you is your standard "Computer Voice A" which gets pretty annoying to listen to. The simple idiot proof interface of vozMe however makes it a rather attractive tool to bookmark for non-Tech savvy family members who have failing eyesight. With no registration and only two steps to success it's not one of those services you're going to have to explain too many times to grandma.

For other text to speech options check out VocalFruits, Pediaphon, and SpokenText.

[via Digital Inspiration]

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Create MP3's from text with vozMe originally appeared on Download Squad on Sun, 27 Jan 2008 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> read emailReadEmailtext to mp3text to sppechTextToMp3TextToSppech Emily Price Sun, 27 Jan 2008 16:00:00 EST Download Squad <![CDATA[Give your favorite places a shout out with PlaceShout]]> http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/01/27/give-your-favorite-places-a-shout-out-with-placeshout/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/01/27/give-your-favorite-places-a-shout-out-with-placeshout/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/01/27/give-your-favorite-places-a-shout-out-with-placeshout/#comments Have you ever been so impressed with the coffee/beer/waitstaff somewhere that you wanted to tell the world? PlaceShout is a website designed to allow you to give your favorite places a little Internet shout out and help you find new places in your area that are worth a visit.

Traditional review sites that have lengthy reviews of establishments. But PlaceShout is all about brevity, with a maximum review length of 100 characters. You can navigate the site by searching for a particular item: For instance: "Coffee in San Francisco" or you can view areas by map and look for reputable establishments near you.

When you pull up a particular location's rap sheet you can see everything that has ever been said about them. Much like comments on Digg, comments on the site can be given a thumbs up or a thumbs down. A particular comments amount of votes determines what order it is seen on a places review sheet. For instance if someone says the grilled cheese at Earls Sandwich shop is the bomb, and you think its the worst thing to ever be put on sliced bread you can give their comment a thumbs down and move it down on the list.

PlaceShout is a relatively new kid on the block, so there's not an overwhelming amount of reviews out there to peruse for a lot of cities, you can currently add reviews however for anywhere. The cities with the most reviews are Ann Arbor, MI at 260 and San Francisco with 234.

If you want to check out reviews of places in your area some good similar sites to check out are JudysBook, InsiderPages, and Yelp.

[via EmilyChang]

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Give your favorite places a shout out with PlaceShout originally appeared on Download Squad on Sun, 27 Jan 2008 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> local reviewslocal searchLocalReviewsLocalSearchreviews Emily Price Sun, 27 Jan 2008 12:00:00 EST Download Squad <![CDATA[Use SpyPig to know when your email has been read]]> http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/01/26/use-spypig-to-know-when-your-email-has-been-read/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/01/26/use-spypig-to-know-when-your-email-has-been-read/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/01/26/use-spypig-to-know-when-your-email-has-been-read/#comments When you're using an email program like Outlook its easy to request a read receipt from your recipient so you know when they've gotten your message. With web based email programs like Yahoo! Mail and Gmail however it can be a little harder to know when someone has read your email.

SpyPig is a free email tracking system that is designed to let you know when your friends have read your email, and continues to send an email every time your message is opened by the recipient (up to 5 times). In addition to telling you that your email has been read, SpyPig also tells you the IP address of the recipient. We tested it out on two email addresses on the same computer and SpyPig even let us know we might have opened our own email.

Using SpyPig is as simple giving the site your email address and a title for the email and then selecting your pig of choice to copy and paste into your email message. Using SpyPig requires that both you and your recipient are using HTML-formatted email rather than plan-text or rich-text formatting email so they will download the pig image when they open the email. SpyPig is not recipient specific, so if you send out a mass email then you'll get a notification the first five times the email is opened, but you won't know who specifically opened it.

SpyPig could be great for responding to things like Craigslist ads when you want to know if someone has received your email. SpyPig does pose a bit of a privacy issue. While some of the pigs do indicate they're "spying" others just look like a cartoon pig and don't disclose their spying abilities to the email recipient and either way recipients wouldn't know they were being spied on until they had already read the email.

[via DigitalInspiration]

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Use SpyPig to know when your email has been read originally appeared on Download Squad on Sat, 26 Jan 2008 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> emailemail trackingEmailTracking Emily Price Sat, 26 Jan 2008 17:00:00 EST Download Squad <![CDATA[Ignore all your unwanted Facebook invites with one click]]> http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/01/26/ignore-all-your-unwanted-facebook-invites-with-one-click/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/01/26/ignore-all-your-unwanted-facebook-invites-with-one-click/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/01/26/ignore-all-your-unwanted-facebook-invites-with-one-click/#comments Would you like to be in a wagon on the Oregon Trail? What about sending all of your friends virtual cupcakes? Maybe pretend you're a pirate or a Jedi? No? How do you feel about comparing all your movie and music tastes? All of your friends to determine who is in fact the "#1 Best Shopping Companion?" Still no? Don't worry you can say no today and we'll make sure someone asks you again tomorrow.

If your popularity has earned you not only a good amount of Facebook friends, but also a good amount of unwanted invites to Facebook applications you have no interest in using then we have something for you. Ignore All is a bookmark you can add to your browser that makes it easy to say no to all your unwanted Facebook invites.

The idea is pretty simple, when you have your applications request page open click on the bookmark and it will automatically click the "Ignore" buttons on all your application requests while keeping your friends requests, event invites, and group invitations. Pretty simple in design and execution, but if you get as many application requests as we do on a regular basis then it can be a huge time saver. Check out a video of IgnoreAll in action here.

[via ReadWriteWeb]

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Ignore all your unwanted Facebook invites with one click originally appeared on Download Squad on Sat, 26 Jan 2008 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> facebookfacebook applicationsFacebookApplications Emily Price Sat, 26 Jan 2008 15:30:00 EST Download Squad <![CDATA[Watermark your photos for free with PicMarkr]]> http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/01/25/watermark-your-photos-for-free-with-picmarkr/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/01/25/watermark-your-photos-for-free-with-picmarkr/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/01/25/watermark-your-photos-for-free-with-picmarkr/#comments Whenever you upload a photo to the web you run the risk that someone will download your photo and decide use it themselves. PicMarkr makes uploading your photos to the web a little safer by allowing you to add a custom watermark to your photos. The whole watermarking process takes less than a minute and watermarks can be added to up to five photos at a time. Photos can either be uploaded directly to the site to be watermarked or pulled from your Flickr account.

PicMarkr offers three different types of watermarking options: Text watermark, Image watermark, and Tiled watermark. Once an image is watermarked it can be downloaded directly to your computer or uploaded to your Flickr account.

Check out examples of all three watermarking options after the jump.

Continue reading Watermark your photos for free with PicMarkr

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Watermark your photos for free with PicMarkr originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 25 Jan 2008 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> imagesphotophoto securityPhotoSecuritywatermarkwatermarking Emily Price Fri, 25 Jan 2008 08:00:00 EST Download Squad <![CDATA[Engineering Game - Today's Time Waster]]> http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/01/23/engineering-game-todays-time-waster/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/01/23/engineering-game-todays-time-waster/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/01/23/engineering-game-todays-time-waster/#comments We played this engineering game for the first time almost a week ago, and have yet to make it past level one. Now we've decided to ask our dear readers to help us out on beating this thing so we can get back to more important things like blogging.

The idea behind the game is fairly simple. You're given a little island. There are eight different types of engineering you can bring to the island and you decide which order to activate them in. Each development will affect the others you've already activated in allowing the island to grow so it's important to pick the right order. The ultimate goal is to get each advancement level maxed out (developments max out at 9 or 10 levels), and then you proceed to the next level...a level which we have never seen.

The Choices are Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Civil Engineering, Applied Chemistry, Aeronautic, Marine and automotive engineering, Architecture, Environmental Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering. We've managed to get pretty far: our island dwellers have fell in love and had children, built rocket ships that travel to the moon, and created robots that build tunnels and bridges. Right before we select our last thing to add however an alien like creature always comes out of the volcano on the island and drips some sort of hyperactive sludge on our community. Our final numbers usually include maxing out 3 or 4 sections but then being at level one or two on others.

Some things we've learned: If you have people living in your house and don't activate "Environmental Engineering" then your little man walks outside, doesn't have anywhere to throw away his trash and in retaliation goes on a tree cutting down spree that seems to end in his death as well. If you activate "Applied Chemistry" too early then the volcano trembles and breaks your beaker before you can do anything with it...maybe there's a way to stop the volcano?

So we beg you: help us. If you figure it out tell us how you did it.

[Thanks (we think) Jay]

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Engineering Game - Today's Time Waster originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 23 Jan 2008 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> flash gameFlashGameonline gameOnlineGametime wasterTimeWastertimewasters Emily Price Wed, 23 Jan 2008 12:00:00 EST Download Squad <![CDATA[Toonlet - Create a comic strip starring you]]> http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/01/21/toonlet-create-a-comic-strip-starring-you/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/01/21/toonlet-create-a-comic-strip-starring-you/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/01/21/toonlet-create-a-comic-strip-starring-you/#comments
Toonlet is a free web based comic strip creator that allows you to create a comic strip starring a cartoon person or persons that you design yourself and then send your finished strip to friends.

In order to create your own strip you have to first create characters. The character builder on the site has a massive amount of body parts, hair, and clothing to choose from and unlike other similar character builders all of the parts can be adjusted in size as well as moved around. You're probably not going to make a character that looks exactly like you, but you can probably get pretty close.

Once you create an original version of your character you have the option to create additional version of the same character experiencing different emotions. For instance after we created "normal" Emily we went ahead and created a "surprised" Emily as well by changing the eyes and mouth on the current creation.

Continue reading Toonlet - Create a comic strip starring you

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Toonlet - Create a comic strip starring you originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 21 Jan 2008 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> cartooncomic bookcomic creatorcomic stripComicBookComicCreatorComicStripillustrationtoon Emily Price Mon, 21 Jan 2008 10:00:00 EST Download Squad <![CDATA[Keep your wellness goals with Wellsphere]]> http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/01/21/keep-your-wellness-goals-with-wellsphere/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/01/21/keep-your-wellness-goals-with-wellsphere/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/01/21/keep-your-wellness-goals-with-wellsphere/#comments We're three weeks into the new year, and chances are many people's New Years resolutions have already fallen by the wayside, if not been completely given up on. If your New Years resolution involved eating better and being more active, then the site Wellsphere may be able to get you back on track.

Wellsphere is a website designed to connect users with the desire to improve their health with other people with similar wellness goals. It can also help you get connected to local resources in your area that can help them meet their goals. The website also creates groups for large organizations that want to improve the overall wellness of those involved in their program, for instance BeWell@Stanford for Stanford students. Companies can start their own similar company wellness program under Wellspheres iBeWell.

Continue reading Keep your wellness goals with Wellsphere

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Keep your wellness goals with Wellsphere originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 21 Jan 2008 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> dietingexercisehealthworkout Emily Price Mon, 21 Jan 2008 09:00:00 EST Download Squad <![CDATA[CuePrompter - Your Online Teleprompter]]> http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/01/20/cueprompter-your-online-teleprompter/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/01/20/cueprompter-your-online-teleprompter/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/01/20/cueprompter-your-online-teleprompter/#comments Whether you're recording a podcast, a Squadcast, or anything in between it can sometimes be difficult to remember what you were trying to say once a video camera starts rolling. CuePrompter is free online teleprompter service that allows you to turn your computers web browser into a teleprompter of sorts and keep yourself on track while you're recording your next masterpiece.

Using CuePrompter is pretty easy: all you need to do is copy and paste your script in a box on the site and then "Start Prompter." CuePrompter then launches in a new window with you text and you're a play button away from teleprompter bliss. You can customize CuePrompter for your needs by choosing between a small screen size (good if you're using your computers webcam) or a big screen size (good if you've got a camcorder set up across the room) as well as a small or big font size depending on your situation and eyesight capabilities. The prompter has nine different speeds, can be made full-screen, viewed in normal or mirrored mode, and can be played backwards.

Each prompter session is limited to 2000 characters and requires you to be running MS Internet Explorer 5.0 or above and MS Windows XP, 2000, or 2003 to work properly. We tested it out using Firefox on a Mac and only ran into problems using the mirror and full-screen mode. CuePrompter also seemed to have some minor issue translating apostrophes. One thing that definitely makes CuePrompter different than regular prompters however is you have no way to really control the prompter once its started beyond simple starting and stopping, so once you start CuePrompter you better be ready to go.

[via EmilyChang]

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CuePrompter - Your Online Teleprompter originally appeared on Download Squad on Sun, 20 Jan 2008 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> freewarepodcastprompterscriptstelepromptervideo Emily Price Sun, 20 Jan 2008 15:00:00 EST Download Squad <![CDATA[Shake up your style with Style Shake]]> http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2007/12/13/shake-up-your-style-with-style-shake/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2007/12/13/shake-up-your-style-with-style-shake/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2007/12/13/shake-up-your-style-with-style-shake/#comments Who wants to show up at an event wearing the same dress as someone else? Now you can ensure your dress is one of a kind with Style Shake. The London based company allows you to custom design your own dress from start to finish, then custom makes it and sends it to you.

The site starts by asking you to select a fabric. Fabric choices range from the simple such as black 100% cotton to dressier 100% organic silks. Once you've selected a fabric you create your dress by selecting an upper bodice, neckline, sleeve, waist panel, lower bodice, and trimmings from Style Shake's pre-designed options. You can add belts and bows to your design and the site ensures your design is a success by eliminating choices that don't jive with your current selections.

As you build your dream dress a virtual mannequin sports your style so you can get a feel for what the finished product will look like. Once your creation is complete you can save it within Style Shake, share it with friends, and order it so you can wear it yourself. Finished style prices are based on what you put into them. A 100% cotton dress is obviously going to be less expensive than one made of 100% silk.

The site claims to deliver a finished dress to you in 10 days. One drawback to the service is that you can't actually try a dress on to see how it fits, but the site offers free alterations so if you do get something that isn't just right you can send it back and get it fixed for free. The site currently only offers dresses, it would be nice to see them expand into other clothing pieces and offer some mens options as well.

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Shake up your style with Style Shake originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 13 Dec 2007 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> clothesclothing designClothingDesign Emily Price Thu, 13 Dec 2007 13:00:00 EST Download Squad <![CDATA[Quickvite lets you organize your next party on the go]]> http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2007/12/13/quickvite-lets-you-organize-your-next-party-on-the-go/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2007/12/13/quickvite-lets-you-organize-your-next-party-on-the-go/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2007/12/13/quickvite-lets-you-organize-your-next-party-on-the-go/#comments All of us at one point or another has gotten an Evite to a function. Everything from holiday parties to all-night benders are often organized on the site. Invitees are typically sent an email letting them know they've been invited to a particular shindig, and can respond with a yes, no, or maybe as well as leave a comment as to why or why not they're going to attend for the host and other potential guests to check out.

So, what do you do if you want to organize one of those all night benders tonight and you're not sure if everyone is going to check their email in time to get the word?

Evite launched a new service this week designed to make planning an event on the fly. The service Quickvite allows users to create a plan on the web or their mobile phone and then send it out to their guests via email and text message simultaneously. Invitees can respond in the traditional Evite way via the web, or they can text message back their RSVP for the potential throw down, making it possibly for you to organize your bar crawl when you're already at the bar.

Evite simultaneously launched a mobile WAP site which is designed for users to access their social calendar through their mobile phone, it's also where users will create and send their invitations through QuickVite. All of this is part of phase two of "Evite Mobile." The first phase being the Evite send-to-phone function launched in September that allows users to send event details from the site to their phone so they can reference them later on. In the next few weeks Evite plans on making another addition, rolling out a Facebook app for QuickVite allowing users to invite both Facebook and non-Facebook users to the same party from one place. They also have a downloadable application for mobile phones in the works, so your phone can always be where the party's at...or at least planned anyway.

[via MobilitySite]

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Quickvite lets you organize your next party on the go originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 13 Dec 2007 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> eviteinviatationsmobile applicationsMobileApplicationsparty invitationsPartyInvitations Emily Price Thu, 13 Dec 2007 12:00:00 EST Download Squad <![CDATA[Put hyperlinks over your YouTube video with Asterpix]]> http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2007/12/11/put-hyperlinks-over-your-youtube-video-with-asterpix/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2007/12/11/put-hyperlinks-over-your-youtube-video-with-asterpix/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2007/12/11/put-hyperlinks-over-your-youtube-video-with-asterpix/#comments

Asterpix is a free video service that allows you to take your regular run of the mill YouTube video and add notes and hyperlinks to it that are then clickable by your viewers. Adding links to video is as easy as clicking on your video where you want to add a note or link and then typing it in. Once you've added a link a box will show up in the video to let your viewers know the link is there and viewers can mouse over the box to get more information or click on your link. Your finished video is then hosted on Asterpix's website and can be embedded on your own person blog or website.

Asterpix also recently launched the Facebook app Hypervideo which does roughly the same thing and also allows your friends to comment directly on your profile embedded video.

The service has a lot of potential for monetizing online video, and making it easier for viewers who want more information to get it. You could user Asterpix for giving more information about a person your interviewing in a video, or even where you purchased the shirt you're wearing in your podcast.

One definite drawback to the service right now is that those little squares. While they're trying to be unobtrusive they're still pretty obtrusive and can be pretty annoying to watch. It would be great to see Asterpix work the hyperlinks like subtitles where viewers would have the option to turn them on if they wanted extra information, and off if they wanted to enjoy a video square free.

There's also no real way to control how long a square stays on your video. The links seem to be depended on the movement of what you put them on, so some squares will stay up for seconds and others minutes. For instance in the Squadcast video the link on Christina goes away pretty quickly but the one on Grant holds on for dear life until the credits start. Some of the links on the video later on barely stay up long enough for you to see them.

It'll be interesting to see how Asterpix changes over time, and what types of things people start to use Asterpix for.

Update: The folks over at Asterpix pointed out that they do offer an invisible mode for the squares or "Beacons." if you want to watch an Asterpix video "beacon free" you can change the beacon style to "No Marker" under the style menu. there are also some other style options on the menu where you can change the traditional rectangle to a "Fading Rectangle," "Flashing Circles," or "Closed Caption." When we tried the closed caption option we saw the contents of the links as closed captions, but the beacons were also there...so it looks like there's some kinks in the process still be ironed out.

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Put hyperlinks over your YouTube video with Asterpix originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 11 Dec 2007 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> online videoOnlineVideoproduct placementProductPlacementvideoyoutube Emily Price Tue, 11 Dec 2007 13:00:00 EST Download Squad <![CDATA[iPhone Addict for October 12th 2007]]> http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2007/10/12/iphone-addict-for-october-12th-2007/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2007/10/12/iphone-addict-for-october-12th-2007/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2007/10/12/iphone-addict-for-october-12th-2007/#comments
  • iPhone Dev team offers 1.1.1 Jailbreak
  • iPhoneSimFree offers 1.1.1 unlock
  • iPhone v1.1.1 baseband downgrade released
  • iToner puts ringtones on a 1.1.1 iPhone
  • iPhone web apps directory live

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    iPhone Addict for October 12th 2007 originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 12 Oct 2007 18:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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    ]]>     ibrickiphoneiphone newsiphone ringtonesiphone updateIphoneNewsIphoneRingtonesIphoneUpdate Emily Price Fri, 12 Oct 2007 18:01:00 EST Download Squad     <![CDATA[Dibs: Sell and Buy stuff easier]]> http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2007/10/09/dibs-sell-and-buy-stuff-easier/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2007/10/09/dibs-sell-and-buy-stuff-easier/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2007/10/09/dibs-sell-and-buy-stuff-easier/#comments Dibs is a website designed to help you buys and sell stuff in your local area. The site works as an online bulletin board similar to Craigslist. The difference between Craigslist and Dibs however is that items you put up for sale are ONLY available for people registered in your area to purchase rather than people around the country. That way you don't end up with some guy 3,000 miles away trying to get you to ship your coffee table to him.

    If you've ever tried to sell something on Craiglist you've probably gotten a bunch of emails with different offers for your items. Dibs keeps all of the contact about the sale of your item on the site itself so you're inbox doesn't get flooded with emails. Users can ask questions about an item, and make an offer on the site. You can look at all of the offers that have been made for your item and accept the best one as well as make arrangements to hand off the item on Dibs without ever giving out your personal information. Once your item is sold Dibs takes care of taking the item off the web and making sure you don't get questions about things you've already gotten rid of.

    Once neat thing about Dibs is that every seller gets their own unique URL, that way if you're selling a crapload of stuff at once you can advertise elsewhere and point users to a single domain that will list all of your items, and only the items you're selling.

    Dibs launched in July of this year. The site is free to use but doesn't have very many items up for sale yet even in larger cities, a definite drawback if you're looking to shop.

    [via EmilyChang]

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    Dibs: Sell and Buy stuff easier originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 09 Oct 2007 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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    ]]>     buying onlineBuyingOnlineselling onlineSellingOnline Emily Price Tue, 09 Oct 2007 11:00:00 EST Download Squad     <![CDATA[iPhone Addict for October 5th, 2007]]> http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2007/10/05/iphone-addict-for-october-5th-2007/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2007/10/05/iphone-addict-for-october-5th-2007/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2007/10/05/iphone-addict-for-october-5th-2007/#comments This week on iPhone Addict:
    • iPhone does video out
    • Woman sues Apple for price cut
    • iPhone users call for class action suit
    • Firmware downgrade instructions released

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    iPhone Addict for October 5th, 2007 originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 05 Oct 2007 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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    ]]>     appleiphoneiphone newsiphone updateiphone video outIphoneNewsIphoneUpdateIphoneVideoOut Emily Price Fri, 05 Oct 2007 11:00:00 EST Download Squad     <![CDATA[Yuuguu: Your computer anywhere]]> http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2007/10/03/yuuguu-your-computer-anywhere/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2007/10/03/yuuguu-your-computer-anywhere/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2007/10/03/yuuguu-your-computer-anywhere/#comments Many of us work with people who aren't in the same area code, or even the same country. YuuGuu is a program designed to keep you connected and make sure you and your coworkers on the same page.

    On the surface the program looks like your basic messaging client. Users all have to be registered with YuuGuu (there are plans to allow people who haven't downloaded the program), and you can send messages back in forth just as you would on AIM. YuuGuu takes being together a step further however by allowing you to instantly share what's on your desktop with users on your buddy list. You can also set up online meetings with your coworkers where you can all look at and interact with the same documents or applications at the same time. So you can show a client how a new program you're working on is going, or get a friend to check out some photo editing you're doing in PhotoShop.

    If you need help with something you're working on you can give others control of your mouse and keyboard so they can work on your PC from wherever they are as if you were sitting beside each other. You can also use YuuGuu to remotely access your own computer, or any computer you've been given permission to access. Priceless for those late night "How do I send email" phone calls from mom.

    YuuGuu is free, and is currently in beta.

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    Yuuguu: Your computer anywhere originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 03 Oct 2007 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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    ]]>     messaging clientMessagingClientonline chatOnlineChatremote desktopRemoteDesktopweb conferenceWebConference Emily Price Wed, 03 Oct 2007 08:00:00 EST Download Squad     <![CDATA[iPhone Addict for September 28th 2007]]> http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2007/09/28/iphone-addict-for-september-28th-2007/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2007/09/28/iphone-addict-for-september-28th-2007/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2007/09/28/iphone-addict-for-september-28th-2007/#comments
  • iPhone firmware 1.1.1 update released
  • TruPhone demonstrates VoIP-over-WiFi on iPhone
  • Google launched GMail Mobile
  • Free iTunes downloads at Starbucks announced
  • Apple warns against unlocking your iPhone

    • Continue reading iPhone Addict for September 28th 2007

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    iPhone Addict for September 28th 2007 originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 28 Sep 2007 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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    ]]>     iphoneiphone applicationsiphone newsiphone unlockingIphoneApplicationsIphoneNewsIphoneUnlockingnewstruphone Emily Price Fri, 28 Sep 2007 12:00:00 EST Download Squad     <![CDATA[IBM workers strike in Second Life]]> http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2007/09/27/ibm-workers-strike-in-second-life/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2007/09/27/ibm-workers-strike-in-second-life/ http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2007/09/27/ibm-workers-strike-in-second-life/#comments IBM workers went on strike this morning in Second Life marking perhaps the biggest (if not the first) virtual strike in history. Italian workers are upset over a new contract deal that canceled their performance bonus costing them each 1000 Euros (close to$1400) a year. The pay cut came at a time of big profits for IBM, and right after the workers asked for a small pay increase.

    Workers took their strike to the IBM islands of Second Life this morning carrying virtual picket signs. The employees online protest coincides with a real-life picket line outside of the IBM offices in Italy also taking place today. 900 avatars have signed on to protest in Second Life, representing more 18 different countries.

    If you're not on Second Life but still want to get in on the action you can sign the petition to IBM and follow the protest today online.

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    IBM workers strike in Second Life originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 27 Sep 2007 12:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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    ]]>     IBMibm protestIbmProtestsecond lifeSecondLife Emily Price Thu, 27 Sep 2007 12:34:00 EST Download Squad