Just came across this handy extension for Firefox and Google Chrome. It takes the advertisements next to your gmail messages and replaces them with any info (social network accounts, location, and job) it can find about the email address your message is from.
It does a good job in the tests I put it through… It’s just a quick install, then you give Rapportive access to your gmail account and it’s off and running indexing content on your contacts. Surely you wouldn’t need this for your most frequent contacts, but when you get other emails from people you’re no so “in touch” with, it helps you become more in touch with them, by listing social networks and other information about them.
At the very LEAST, it’s much more pleasing to the eyes than the gaudy ads that Google serves up, but at the best, it could be an extremely useful communication tool. I can see this being an essential addon for people who do business with others over email. It will allow you to get a quick “at-a-glance” perspective of people, and allow you to quickly and easily check out their social networking accounts.
Pros:
Quick Install and Authentication.
Extremely useful information for business partners.
Cons:
Only supports Chrome/Firefox
Slow in finding information on a new contact
Other Thoughts:
It’s in it’s early stages, and already a GREAT addon, keep an eye on this, and install it you like the idea at all, you wont regret it.
I’ve recently gotten into HD Streaming using an Intensity Pro Capture Unit by Blackmagic-Design. I ran into a problem as most people do with these types of things, portability. I want to be able to take my streaming/capturing abilities with me on the go if needed. How to solve this dilemma? Well building a MicroATX rig is the way I planned on doing it. Until I saw Will Urbina’s Xbox modification where he practically shoved a whole Mac Pro into a regular Xbox. I’m going to attempt to do the same thing but… With differences. I don’t need this to be a full fledged computer capable of editing what I capture/stream or have an over abundance of power. Thus I’m stripping it down to the bare essentials of what I find necessary to have this rig operate normally. So what will this rig consist of? I’m opting out for a Mini ITX Motherboard it’s going to save me 3 inches (6.7” x 6.7” opposed to 9.6” x 9.6”) and has the x4500HD onboard video chipset.
Intel BOXDG45FC LGA 775 Intel G45 Mini ITX Motherboard
Athena Power AP-MP4ATX55FEP8 550W MicroATX Power Supply
Western Digital Scorpio Black 320GB 7200 RPM 2.5” SATA HDD
MASSCOOL 80mm Case Fan
Intensity Pro Capture Unit
Modding this case is going to require one major detail; the ability to easily remove the capturing unit when necessary is a must. Unfortunately right now I don’t have the funds necessary to purchase a SECOND Intensity Pro, so until I do I’m going to have to give myself the option of removing it so I can swap between computers. What will save me a ton in terms of necessary power is the fact I’m going to use Windows XP 64-Bit. This will ensure none of my resources will go to waste. Stay tuned for more info, pictures, and even a time lapse as this project unfolds and takes shape.
Update edit: I decided to drop the DVD ROM and just install my OS once I have the components in hand and remove it, seeing as I have no use for it. Also I updated to a 320 GB HDD as it was only 5 dollars more than the 250 GB. I ran into a dilemma with the height of the card exceeding the height of the XBox casing. Thankfully due to my half brained idea and Corey’s ability to find what I’m talking about, we found a PCI-E x1 extender which will allow me to put the card in horizontally and thus leave the box (for the most part) unmodded. The parts should arrive mid week where I can map my process on how to set this up in a more proficient manner.
Tech Jawa is trying to expand, by adding new authors for articles, as well as trying to set up a fully functional live stream of (starting with) video gaming. The issue we face now is how cheap we want to do this, and if it’s even possible.
We are going to make an attempt to get console games streaming for roughly $50, but it’s really a 50/50 chance if it will work or not. Regardless of if it works or not, we need something called an “Intensity Pro” from Blackmagic Design. It’s an HD capture card that will allow us to feed an HDMI signal straight into my PC, to allow high quality, HD streams over the internet.
We all need your help though. Donations are key in this matter, because the Intensity Pro is $200!
Let me just say that the Intensity Pro would be a WORLD of a difference in terms of quality, and viewer satisfaction.
Right now this is the current setup I have PLANNED (the cheap one)… Which will take my HDMI sources, and hopefully downsample them enough to work with cheap hardware. I have my doubts that this process will be enough though, generally you need a very expensive downscaling box that converts the digital HDMI signal to the analog composite signals.
The converter is simply a cable, and is likely our failing point.
There is another option we will try as well, which is using the AV out on the back of my TV, however I’m not sure that the TV will downscale and convert from digital to analog like that. We may have no choice but to go for the Intensity Pro after this.
I also want to point out that Jacob Wolfrum was nice enough to buy us the equipment we will try to start with before the Intensity Pro, but we need everybody’s help to get us the real professional equipment we need to complete this task.
Tech Jawa is a blog founded by Corey DeGrandchamp, and loosely based on technology, tutorials, and video games. Please feel free to browse the site using the "Category" list on the left sidebar, and be sure to check out our live stream!
