Vyew: Free Live Web Conferencing

from TechCrunch by Duncan Riley

Free online web conferencing service Vyew launched earlier this year. Today, they’ve launched a new version that allows users to create “VyewBooks” to share, present, and interact with other people around content such as Microsoft Office files, pictures, audio and video.

The new version includes tools to facilitate the creation of new presentations and also supports a desktop view for live sharing of files, images, and web sites.

A widget-style tool “Vyewlet generator” allows content to be embedded on any website, a screencast tool of sorts that records collaborative work for demonstration elsewhere.

Henry Hon, CEO of Vyew compares the new version directly with competitors: “Vyew isn’t just another WebEx or GotoMeeting where information is communicated in a canned one-to-many format. Vyew is an enterprise-class social computing platform where people can also create, share, and participate with rich content in a many-to-many relationship, both in real-time and asynchronously over time.”

There are a lot of alternatives in this space and competing with the likes of WebEx and GoToMeeting is a challenge in itself. Vyew offers something a different a little different at a competitive price.

Previous TechCrunch coverage here.

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Make your own air horn in 3 minutes

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Canon crams 50 megapixels into a CMOS prototype

from Engadget by Paul Miller

You won't be seeing one of these sensors in your fashioncam any time soon. Canon has built a 50 megapixel CMOS monstrosity, which is reportedly almost twice the resolution of its nearest competition, and is prepping it as a sort of large format surveillance camera for monitoring large, busy areas such as parking lots and theme parks, along with detailed work like factory part inspections. Despite the sensor's clear industrial-end aims, Canon has managed to build its prototype at 19 x 28mm in size, the same dimensions of the sensors in its DSLR cameras, so who knows where this tech could end up in the long run. So far Canon hasn't even announced release plans for this current incarnation, so we aren't going to go hawking our existing shooter just yet.

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More on Apple's new LED-backlit MacBook Pro

from Engadget by Ryan Block

Filed under: Displays

Apple left a little mystery in their MacBook Pro announcement today, and being that this marks their first official release of an LED-backlit laptop we had to take out the guesswork and get confirmation on a few of our more burning questions.

• All 15-inch MBPs now use LED-backlit displays standard; 17-inchers still use CCFL (cold cathode fluorescent)
• Apple claims users can see a battery-life benefit of between 30 mins - 1 hour (depending on use). They did not have stats on exact efficiencies between LED and CCFL backlit displays.
• The new LED backlight is the same brightness: 300 vs 300 nits of the previous gen's CCFL
• The viewing angle is also the same as before
• In other words, besides faster time from fully-off to full-brightness and an increase in battery life, Apple claims users should notice absolutely no perceivable difference between last-gen displays and the new LED-backlit ones.

Other bits

• To clarify, MacBook Pros are using Santa Rosa, but MacBooks are not yet using Santa Rosa
• Even though the MBP is 0.2 pounds lighter, we're still without an internal / integrated 3G option

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Asus' new Eee PC 701 joins the laptop-lite fray with a bang

from Engadget by Paul Miller

Asus and Intel seem to be bridging the gap between the fairly humanitarian efforts of the OLPC project and their own Classmate PC efforts, and the recent rash of mini-laptop attempts such as Palm's Foleo and VIA's NanoBook. Specs and launch plans aren't entirely nailed down, but this new Eee PC line has quite a bit going for it, even as crowded as this market is getting. The 7-inch ultraportable is based on an unnamed Intel chipset, and runs regular Windows XP or Linux without a problem, but really shines in its "easy" mode that strips things down to a barebones OS mainly for internet browsing (sound familiar, Foleo?). Asus didn't even leave Palm alone with its Wii comparisons either, stating that the Eee name, which stands for "easy to learn, easy to play, easy to work," also conveniently conjures images of the Wii game console, which is known for being novice-friendly. The Eee line will kick things off with the Eee PC 701, which will sport 802.11b/g WiFi, Ethernet and a modem for connectivity, along with a webcam, 512MB of RAM and a 4, 8 or 16GB flash drive for speedy, reliable storage. The real kicker is that prices for the 2 pound laptop are supposed to start as low as $200, and the Intel / Asus duo won't be aiming this at massive governmental purchases, but instead will be offering it to consumers through traditional retail channels. [Via HardwareZone]

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