WebOS 3.0.4 Update released

Ari Jaaksi, the head of webOS & services and HP announced on his blog here that they are releasing a new software update (3.0.4 - 77) for the HO TouchPad. It is an OTA update and has lots of perforamce improvements, better support for camera, UI updates & tweaks, and more apps!

So go ahead and update your TPs, but if you have HomeBrew and custom kernel & patches, then worry not. According to this forum post and this one, and this wiki page, updating your home-brewed TP is harmless and you do not need to do anything special. The patches may just stop working for some time till the latest updates of those patches are available and get updated. Also, some of the issues being addressed by the patches may also be taken care of by the new update.

So, as Ari says - enjoy the new update - no strings attached  ;)

Google gets a Patent for Doodles

Was checking out today's Google Home Page Doodle "Gumby" and stumbled upon the fact that Google's Sergey Brin got a Patent (7,912,915) for it! The application was filed more than 10 years ago on April 30, 2001 and is described as "Systems and methods for enticing users to access a web site"
To quote the text of the Patent:
[Quote]
A system provides a periodically changing story line and/or a special event company logo to entice users to access a web page. For the story line, the system may receive objects that tell a story according to the story line and successively provide the objects on the web page for predetermined or random amounts of time. For the special event company logo, the system may modify a standard company logo for a special event to create a special event logo, associate one or more search terms with the special event logo, and upload the special event logo to the web page. The system may then receive a user selection of the special event logo and provide search results relating to the special event.
[/Quote]

Use FoxIt for filling in forms in PDFs

Needed to fill in a form in a PDF which had not been made originally in such a way that Adobe Reader could understand there were fields in it. Most probably it was a scan & print to pdf of a word document.

In such a scenario, FoxIt Reader came to the rescue! It has a tool called the Typewriter which allows you to click anywhere on the PDF and type in text in desired font, size & color - viola! Used that to fill in the form and print it out. Only problem is if you save this PDF, free version of FoxIt reader adds a watermark so better print it before saving the changes.

You can get the portable version of FoxIt Reader from here or if you prefer the full version, you can get it from here.

Entrepreneurship is the "in thing" in India

The Entrepreneurial spirit is very high in India these days with tons of very good companies and products coming jostling for attention. Many of the ideas are adaptations / localization of successful ones across other parts of the globe and some are very unique to the unique needs/demographics of the country. Here are a few that I cam across - not necessarily listed in any order of relevance or importance but more for my own future reference.

• Revu - a twitter style instant review from via SMS
• Paytm - instant recharge of your phone, data or tv card and get free coupons
• freecharge.in - instant recharge of your phone, data or tv card and get free coupons
• roopit - localized craigslist / sulekha for Bangalore only
• mobisy - consulting to create apps for mobile platforms
• Kreeo - platform to manage content, knowledge and social networking inside enterprises
• CraftsVilla - online market for Indian handicrafts (on the lines of Etsy except that artisan cannot interact directly?)
• Craftila - another online market for Indian handicrafts (on the lines of Etsy except that artisan cannot interact directly?)
• goibibo - domestic flight, hotel, holiday & travel booking
• kidloo - online toy store carrying all major brands
• firstcry - online store for branded infant and baby products
• timtara - fast growing online store
• buyTHEprice - online electronics store
• pluggd.in - Indian version of TechCrunch?
• flipkart - India's very own version of Amazon?
• mime360 - secure digital media distribution platform
• mYusic - streaming legal bollywood music

Let me know if you see any more sites....