We are all feeling the financial pinch!  Blue Plate Special is a weekly review of bargain apps for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Nothing over $.99.

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Yahoo! released a new dedicated mobile application for both the iPhone and BlackBerry platform. The new application allows you to view your Yahoo! Finance information on the go. The native application has a nicer look and provides easier access to information than the mobile web site version. Yahoo! Finance is available in the App Store for iPhone and iPod Touch users and as an Over-the-Air (OTA) download for BlackBerry Bold, Tour, and 8900 series users. More info and screenshots after the jump. Continue Reading

I came across this website this morning and thought it would make a fun experiment. In the spirit of blind taste tests like Coke vs Pepsi, one website has set up a Bing vs. Google vs. Yahoo. In this blind test, is your favorite search engine the one that reigns supreme? I tested it with 10 random searches I’ve done lately and listed next to it the website that won each blind test. Read on for the results…

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As has been widely reported Microsoft and Yahoo are combining their search technologies in the hope of making one unified search tool that finally can put some hurt into Google’s dominance. Under a just announced deal Microsoft will get a 10 year license for Yahoo’s core search technologies and Microsoft’s Bing will be the exclusive algorithmic search for both companies. This new collaboration is intended to combine the forces of Microsoft and Yahoo to create a more potent challenge to Google’s search dynasty. I predict the one thing that it will create is one big project to integrate these two search also rans. Anyone want to bet how long it lasts? I say 3 years.

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Yahoo! has done a nice job of optimizing its mobile website and products for use on an iPhone, but until now hasn’t released a more robust application to compete with Google’s iPhone app.  That changed this past week with the introduction of Yahoo! for iPhone.

Previous Yahoo! iPhone applications focused on specific functions such as social networking (OneConnect) or web searches (Inquisitor).  The new application – simply titled “Yahoo!” – is an attempt to pull together several of Yahoo!’s standard website products into one mobile software package, simulating some of the website’s primary features on your iPhone.

It’s a nice app, fairly intuitive and well designed.  The application menu lists five primary components: “Featured,” “Y!News,” “My Interests,” “Connect,” and “Yahoo! Everything” (listed as “More” on the application home screen).  Each of the first four menu items checks for updates since the last time you visited, and gives you the option to update your content if there is more recent information available.

“Featured” lists synopses of the current featured news items on Yahoo!’s site.  If you want to read the full story, Yahoo! will launch Safari on your iPhone.  Hitting the “back” button in Safari will re-launch the Yahoo! application and take you back to where you were when you left.

Featured stories on Yahoo!

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With a plethora of media and Internet services demanding our attention, whether via mobile devices, computers or televisions, Samsung and Yahoo! may have created the solution for blending a rich media and interactive experience on one convenient viewing platform.

 At CES 2009, Samsung and Yahoo! have announced a new Internet-based service - Internet@TV – Content Service - that 
will be available this spring of 2009. The Yahoo! Widget Engine on certain models of new Samsung flat-panel HDTVs promises to “Open a Whole New World of TV Interactivity for Consumers.“

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Looks as if Yahoo! Music may be having a change of heart with respect to how they treat customers who purchased DRM protected music. The Yahoo! Music store is slated to close on September 30, 2008. After that time owners of digitally protected (DRM) music purchased from Yahoo! will be unable to transfer their songs to other computers or renew DRM licenses because the Yahoo! licensing system will be off-line. Previously Yahoo! had suggested subscribers copy songs to CD then rip them back to their computer – effectively removing the copy protection on the songs. Now InformationWeek in a July 25, 2008 story is quoting Yahoo! spokeswoman Carrie Davis as saying “You’ll be compensated for whatever you paid for the music…we haven’t said exactly what we will do, but we will take care of our customers”. My translation? Raise a big enough stink and you’ll be offered some type of Yahoo! service credit. Complain more and you’ll maybe get a refund.

Informationweek

You’re cinematic razor sharp,
A welcome arrow through the heart,
Under your skin feels like home,
Electric shocks on aching bones,

Give me a chance to hold on,
Give me a chance to hold on,
Give me a chance to hold on,
Just give me something to hold on, to…
- “You’re All I Have”, by Snow Patrol

I told you all about my experiences with eHarmony and Yahoo in the last installment, and now it’s time to share some pearls of wisdom and experiences from some of Gear Diary’s brave readers regarding their own online dating processes. These are folks who have boldly gone through the same basic experience, and good or bad – they have lived to tell about it…

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In the car I just can’t wait,
to pick you up on our very first date
Is it cool if I hold your hand?
Is it wrong if I think it’s lame to dance?
Do you like my stupid hair?
Would you guess that I didn’t know what to wear?
I’m too scared of what you think
You make me nervous so I really can’t eat
- “First Date”, by Blink 182

So you’ve picked the online dating site or sites that you would like to join, you’ve created what you think is a fabulous profile, you’re getting “winks”, “nudges”, communication requests or emails from potential matches; you might have even shared a phone call with one or two of them, and you’re starting to think that maybe someone long-term could possibly be just around the corner. Maybe you are right, but then…maybe you shouldn’t be too hasty about pinning your hopes on the first potential who crafts a good email or talks a good game.

This portion of my online dating series is about setting expectations somewhere in the realistic realm and avoiding some of the pitfalls that can be encountered during the early days of online dating. All of this is, of course, assuming that you are serious about meeting someone “serious”, and assuming that you don’t luck into Prince (or Princess) Charming immediately.

I was given quite a bit of advice from Wayne when I started this Online Dating Site experiment, and I also received some good tips from eHarmony and tech guru Jon Westfall; I’ll pepper those nuggets throughout this writeup, and let you know about all the different ways that I either did or didn’t follow their wisdom.

Here are a few common overall rules for successful online dating. These rules aren’t absolute, people who break them can find success. Following the rules generally helps to stack the odds in your favor.

The whole purpose of online dating is to evaluate someone for a potential relationship (usually long term). This is done via meeting face to face. Until you meet someone you have no idea whether you’d be compatible for a long term relationship. Extended email, instant messenger and phone relationships – without meeting in person – don’t fall under the typical definition of online dating. A good rule of thumb is 3 to 6 email exchanges followed by one or two phone conversations – then meet face to face.

That’s right – you must get yourself out from behind the keyboard and in front of the person you are considering dating. And the sooner the better. – Wayne

It’s interesting to note that I was in absolutely no hurry to follow Wayne’s rules about spending time with anyone when I started this experiment, and make no mistake about it – it was just an experiment. I was gung-ho about email exchange, maybe even participating in a phone call or two, but I wanted to keep the actual meeting somewhere in the far-off and murky future. That’s probably because, if the truth be told, I wasn’t really interested in dating anyone just yet. There; I said it.

But it would seem that things never work out the way you plan, and it would also seem that when you aren’t really looking for something, you are more likely than ever to find it.

But I digress…

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All the lonely people
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people
Where do they all belong?

- “Eleanor Rigby”, by Paul McCartney

I don’t think that anyone necessarily plans to be alone and lonely; sometimes it just happens. Perhaps it’s because they got caught up in a career race, or they live somewhere with a limited dating pool. Maybe they’ve been dating the wrong person, they’re divorced, or perhaps it’s because they have simply postponed couplehood until nearly everyone they know is paired up, and the ones who aren’t simply don’t look appealing. However it happens, there comes a day when as satisfying as being a singleton may have been, they suddenly realize that they…are lonely.

Now let’s personalize the experience.

So here is how it often happens: you are sitting at home watching the television, alone of course, and a commercial comes on. Smiling, happy, loving couples flounce across the screen, and an announcer starts talking about how you don’t have to be alone anymore. That there is someone out there that is just like you, someone that will “get” you, someone that will understand why somebody as wonderful as you is still single, because that person is still single too – and they are just as wonderful.

The logical part of your brain will kick in at first. “Give me a break, the only people who would ever join an online dating service are losers; people who are socially inept or who are looking for a hook-up.”

But still, those couples taunt you…and you wonder.

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I’ve received several requests recently about doing article on the ins and outs of online dating, and after a bit of thought, I decided to do it. So in order to give as broad a spectrum of how right or how wrong things can go when you are putting yourself “out there”, I’ve decided that I’ll need help…which is where you all come in.

I am collecting firsthand stories from friends and readers about their online dating service experiences, and I would love to hear yours if you have one. If you have a friend who has tried an online dating service, please pass my request on to them.

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In a move sure to get people excited about their Advance 08 conference slated to start on Tuesday of next week, Microsoft issued a vague and ambiguous press release that contains 292 words – and spends 112 of them saying essentially – “oh well, life goes on” pointing out “…that it is continuing to explore and pursue its alternatives to improve and expand its online services and advertising business. “.

“In light of developments since the withdrawal of the Microsoft
proposal to acquire Yahoo! Inc., Microsoft announced that it is continuing
to explore and pursue its alternatives to improve and expand its online
services and advertising business. Microsoft is considering and has raised
with Yahoo! an alternative that would involve a transaction with Yahoo! but
not an acquisition of all of Yahoo! Microsoft is not proposing to make a
new bid to acquire all of Yahoo! at this time, but reserves the right to
reconsider that alternative depending on future developments and
discussions that may take place with Yahoo! or discussions with
shareholders of Yahoo! or Microsoft or with other third parties.

“There of course can be no assurance that any transaction will result
from these discussions.

Like two forever flirting romantic characters on a TV series, I wish they’d just go and do it already instead of dragging this out forever.

Link: Microsoft’s Press Release – About Nothing

Many of you by now will recognize the name HTC as the abbreviation for the Taiwanese based company High Tech Computer. They are the world’s largest manufacturer of Pocket PC and Smartphone OS based PDAs, and as such they are responsible for many of the more recognizable devices which are rebranded by companies including Hewlett Packard, i-mate, Audiovox, and Dopod – to name a few.

The device we’ll be looking at today is known by several names including the O2 XDA Trion, the MDA Vario II, Orange SPV M3100, and the Dopod 838Pro. This review will specifically cover the HTC Hermes branded as the Dopod 838Pro; while some of its included software may differ from other branded versions, the general hardware specifications should be about the same.

Similar to the HTC Apache / Sprint PPC-6700 which I reviewed last year, the Hermes features a compact touch-screen PDA form factor with a left-sliding keyboard which only appears when needed. The Hermes is intended to function not only as the user’s mobile phone, but also as a fully functional PDA, an email and text messaging center, and a compact means to wirelessly surf the internet.

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The HTC Excalibur, AKA T-Mobile Dash�has been�announced today;�Engadget already has a review.�

Photo from Engadget

Pricing will be set at $199.99 with a two-year contract, $249.99 with a one year contract, and $349 with no contract – quite reasonable!

If any of you pick one up – be sure to post your impressions.

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