Google recently added a new feature into their mapping service, Google Maps, which now allows creating multiple destinations. Previously, the service only allowed use of “point A to point B” directions, however today users may create as many points as they want. Although this feature is new for Google Map users, services such as Yahoo! Maps has already had this feature for several months.

When using Google Maps, destinations can easily be reorganized by simply dragging them to a different point on the time line. One thing we found to be quite annoying is the fact that the entire page must be reloaded before a destination can be added. Therefore the page must be refreshed 5 times before your final map is ready if you plan to add 5 locations. I would expect Google to add the ability to enter multiple points at once in the future before asking your browser to refresh. Overall, the new feature makes Google Maps a more powerful tool. We suggest checking out both Google Maps and Yahoo! Maps. (Please let us know which one you prefer!)

Links: Google Maps | Multipoint Example
Related: Yahoo! Maps | Live Local

Skatter Tech recently run into problems with our hosting provider 1and1, who decided it, would cost them too much to host us. The had pulled the site from their hosting server and decided to hold it until we upgraded our hosting plan. Anyways we decided to leave and after going through another hosting provide Yahoo, where we once again ran into some technical issues, we wound up with Media Temple. Media Temple seems to be working out for the time being. With this being said, Skatter Tech has been restored and we’ll be getting back on track right away. Definitely expect more posts, new authors, and better content soon!

Links: Skatter Tech | SahasKatta.com

1) Apple iPod Updater (2006-06-28) was released a while ago. The update includes an optional volume limiter for the iPod Shuffle, support for the new Nike + iPod nano device and has some small bug fixes. You should upgrade if you have any ipod nano issues or if you plan to use iPod + Nike.
Links: iPod Update | Apple iPod Lineup

2) Mozilla Firefox v1.5.0.6 has been available for a few weeks and if you had upgraded to v1.5.0.5, you should upgrade. The previous update had patched over 13 security issues, but also created a new bug which had to do with Windows Media Content. To upgrade visit the link below or (Firefox v1.5 or above) select Check For Updates from the help menu.
Links: Mozilla Firefox | Change Log

3) Yahoo Messenger v8.0 was released a few weeks ago. This new client, which has left beta, supports chatting with people using MSN Messenger without any extra tools. Windows Live Messenger Is still in beta, but cross chatting should still work. The new version has many new features and works with over 180 free plugins. With new MSN + Yahoo! clients users are now connected to over 350 million members.
Links: Yahoo! Messenger | Windows Live Messenger

4) Apple Boot Camp v1.1 is now available and has new windows drivers to support hardware such as the iSight, built-in mic, and making it possible for a right-click. Also included is support for using standard windows keys and XP install on internal disks. The download is available from Apple’s website. Note: Software is still in beta and only for Intel Macs.
Links: Apple – Boot Camp | Boot Camp Info

5) Google Talk finally got a major update after being available for over 1 year. The new update gives Google Talk the ability to perform File Transfers, leave Voicemail, and display your “Music Status”. None of these features are unique when compared to other clients, but the entire application is 1.23MB. Get the update from the link below.
Links: Google Talk | What’s New and More Info

On June 6, 2006, the long awaited Digg v3 went live. Along with this update came a brand new theme, new sets of feeds, and plenty of new features. To maximize compatibility we have released the Digg Search Widget v2.0, which has been rebuilt from scratch. Although the widget may look similar to the previous edition at first glance, this new widget incorporates tons of new features. v2.0 includes features such as an Advance Search, Digg v3 Themes, RSS Reader, Text To Speech, and Story Alerts. To get the Digg Search Widget you will need the Yahoo! Widget Engine installed (available for Windows & Macintosh). Please give this a try and let us know what you think. Suggestions and comments are welcome.

Digg Search Widget v2.00 Features:

Search Features:

• Area: All Stories, Front Page, or Upcoming
• Age: From Anytime or Last 7/30/365 days
• Type: Within Title, Body, or Both
• Sort: Newest, Oldest, or Most Dugg First
• Buried: On or Off to Include Buried Stories

Theme Features:

• Widget Colors: Digg V3 Blue (plus Green & Grey)
• Info Slide: Display Description, Diggs, Category, etc.
• View Preference: Numbered Stories And Scrolling Items
• Timestamp: Add Time/Date To End Of Description
• Usericons: Get Submitter Username and the Usericon

Feeds Features:

• Optional: Collapse Feed Reader (search only)
• Main Feeds: Popular, Upcoming, Username, Friends, etc.
• Main Categories and subCategories: 37 available
• Headline Count: View 1-15 Headlines On Any Feed
• Update Interval: Check For New Stories Every 5-60mins
• Update On Demand: Right-Click and “Refresh Feed”

Speech:

• Computer Text To Speech With SlideShow
• Choose What To Read: Title, Diggs, Description, etc.
• Number Of Items To Read: All Items Or Choose 1-15

Others:

• Digg Logo Link: Homepage, Upcoming, Spy, And More…
• New Story Alert: Chime When New Stories Are Available
• Optional: Multiple Monitor Support To Allow Functionality
• Restore All Defaults: Incase Widget Becomes Damaged
• Software Updater: Notifies And Assists Updating Widget

Download: Digg Search Widget (win or mac)
Links: Widget Gallery – Digg Search Widget
Required Software: Yahoo! Widget Engine (aka. Konfabulator)

1) As of 04/26/06 Google Maps now has BETA maps for France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. Google Maps satellite imagery has also been updated with new higher resolution images. Google stated that they plan to continue to expand their coverage to many new areas. A new “Google Maps 2 API” should be available for developers soon.
Links: Google Maps | GoogleBlog Announcement

2) On 04/25/06, Yahoo! released a new free PC “Software DVR” called Yahoo Go TV. This program was re-created based off Meedio TV, a company which Yahoo acquired a week earlier. This product is intended to compete with Windows XP Media Center, TiVo, and even Apple Front Row. Yahoo Go can not only record shows, but can be used to easily access music, photos, videos, and online media. However, the DVR function will only work if you have already purchased a TV Tuner card for your machine.
Links: Yahoo Go TV | Features | Yahoo TV

3) ABC has launched a free online streaming service to watch full episodes of shows such as Desperate Housewives, Lost, Alias, and Commander In Chief. The video is played using Macromedia Flash technology and the live streaming quality is pretty impressive. Unfortunately you will need to sit through 30-second commercials and there’s no way of skipping them. This service is not permanent and is only up for BETA testing. Go ahead and try it out when it’s still free.
Links: ABC Episode Streaming | ABC Home

4) Napster’s Music Store now offers “unlimited” free music. Once registered for a free account, you can listen to any of the 2 million songs in the Napster Music Store for free. The only catch is that you can listen to each song only 5 times and you will be required to purchase the track to save, burn, transfer to portable devices, or listen to it in the future.
Links: Napster | Napster FAQs

5) On May 2, 2006, Mozilla released Firefox v1.5.0.3. The new update includes some major security fixes and a some minor bug fixes. I recommend updating your program as soon as possible. If you already have Firefox v1.5 or above, just go to [Help] -> [Check for Updates] and Firefox will automatically update itself. If you have older versions of Firefox visit Mozilla.org and download the latest version for your machine.
Links: Mozilla Firefox | Release Notes 1.5.0.3

Other News:
New Apple TV Ads Released
Yahoo! Tech Reviews Launched
TiVo Desktop For MacOSX Available
VideoLan v0.8.5 Released

Note: Sorry for the delay in new content, we have been very busy recently and are undergoing many changes. However, expect to see even more quality content from this point forward!

The Digg Search Widget (DSW) v1.0, was originally released on March 6th, 2006. About a month after the launch successful of DSW v1.0, I am pleased to announce The Digg Search Widget v1.70! DSW now includes such features as Advance Search, Themes, RSS Reader, and Alerts. (see details below) As you must already know, the DSW runs off the Yahoo! Widget Engine (aka. Konfabulator) and now functions properly on both Windows and Macintosh computers. The main goal of the DSW is to help Digg.com users easily access a large variety of Digg content right from their desktop. Please download the widget and try it out. I guarantee you’ll like it.

Digg Search Widget v1.70 Features:

Search Features:

• Area – All Stories, Front Page, or Queue
• Type – Title, Body, or Title/Body
• Age – All, 30 Days, or 60 Days
• Buried – On or Off

Theme Features:

• Widget Colors – Blue, Green, or Grey
• Tooltips – show digg story description on hover
• Scrolling Text – marquee long headlines
• Numbered Items – shows number of each item

Feed Features:

• Collapsible Feed Reader: On or Off
• Feed Selection: Home Page, Digg Queue, or Top Stories
• Category Feed: Apple, Deals, Design, etc. (16 total)
• Username Feed: Dugg, Submitted, Home Page, or Comment
• View Headlines: Display 1-15 Items from Any Feed
• Update Interval: Auto Update every 5-60mins
• On Demand Update: Right-Click then press “Refresh Feed”

Other Features:

• Logo Link: Digg Home, Queue, Search, Submit, Spy, and more…
• Beep on Update: Plays a Sound When There Are New Stories
• Software Update: Checks the Widget Gallery for Newer Version

For our next goal we will need your help! While keeping the file size under a 1mb (currently ~375kb) and making sure this widget stays simple and clean, we hope to add many new features to make the Digg Search Widget an even better tool. To help us out, please report any bugs, give suggestions, make comments, or request features in the comments.

Download: Digg Search Widget (win or mac)
More Info: Widget Gallery – Digg Search Widget
Required: Yahoo Widget Engine (v3.1.1)
Related: Digg Search Widget v1.0 – v1.68 Info

Update: Digg Search Widget v2.00 Released

On Wednesday (04/13/06) Google unveiled their latest product, Google Calendar. The new web-based application is open to the public, but is expected to remain in beta temporarily. Google Calendar, code-name CL2, helps track events, schedule appointments, and share them with others. This new service is completely intergraded with Gmail, allowing users to add events mentioned in messages to their calendar or emailing scheduled events to contacts. Google Calendar will also notify the user by email and/or SMS notifications if requested. Since Google Calendar supports iCal standards, it can import content from applications such as MS Outlook.

Main Features:

• Gmail Intergration – send events to contacts or save mentioned events
• Calendar Sharing – create public calendars or grant users permission
• Data Importing – import data from other applications (Outlook, etc.)
• Multi-Calendars – manage seperate calendars for work, home, etc.

Any calendar can be easily shared among others by either giving specific users access or by making it open to the public. The application will even schedule appointments with others not using Google Calendar through email. This new service is amazingly better and faster than both MSN’s and Yahoo’s services, which have existed for many years. Google Calendar will work in both Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox, but not in Safari. I suggest trying or at least testing this new service, as it is completely free.

Links: Google Calendar | Press Release
Related: MSN Calendar | Yahoo Calendar
Coverage: BetaNews | Weblogs Inc | TechCrunch

“Yahoo! has acquired global map data and medium resolution images, which lets users find and see cities, towns, and major land feature in the world, [...] It’s a logical extension of Yahoo!’s recent product enhancements that included multi-point driving directions and improved zooming technology.” – Yahoo Spokesman.

Although they may lag behind in imagery, one feature Yahoo offers that others do not is multi-point directions. With multi-point directions a user can set not only point A and B, a start and end, but instead as many destinations as they’d like (C, D, E, etc.). Yahoo also offers a feature called “round-trip,” which is quiet different from reverse directions. With reverse directions, if the user has set the first, second and third locations, the standard application will only flip the exact same directions. However, the new innovative “round-trip” feature, Yahoo Maps will find new and closer directions if possible to get the driver back to the origin from their final destination without needing to go through mid-destinations again.

Links: Yahoo Maps Beta | Yahoo Maps
Related: Google Maps | MSN Maps

Google Finance, which started up as a small project in Bangalore, India, and is still a BETA project has finally been introduced to the public today (March 03, 2006). Google Finance helps people find North American stocks, mutual funds, public/private company profiles, financial news, and more data results. Google Finance is very similar to Yahoo! Finance, except that Google offers more content and new ways to present it. For example, the service automatically pulls stories from Google News, which already accesses over 4,500 reliable news sources. Google Finance no longer requires remembering company stock symbols, but automatically forwards searches to the appropriate page. (a search for Microsoft goes to MSFT)

“We hope Google Finance lives up to that aim by offering a fresh perspective on company-related searches” – Google Finance Team

Instead of using pre-generated images to display stock price timelines, Google Finance uses interactive flash powered charts which are fast and easy to use. The charts can be set to display different time periods and will also displays links press releases from that time. Using many algorithms and ratings, the service displays links to blogs about the company. The product also automatically creates profiles from private companies, which competitors such as Market Watch and The Street don’t offer. If logged into a “Google Account”, a portfolio can be created for favorite stocks.

Links: Google Finance | Google Press Release
Recent: Google Mars Lanuched

On Tuesday (03/06/06), TiVo announced that they will soon start to offer their subscribers the ability to access all their recorded shows from Verizon cell phones. TiVo has made plans with Verizon Wireless and together they plan to offer streaming content probably through VCast technology. VCast currently offers subscribers a large collection of music and video clips which are streamed directly to their phones. TiVo stated that they plan to call the service TiVo Mobile. The full contract between TiVo and Verizon was not publicized, but at the momment Verizon will be the only provider offering this. (TiVo also plans to provide content to PSPs and iPods soon.)

“TiVo isn’t just about a great way to watch television but it’s also about a great way to manage your TV life, and to do that, we realize TiVo can’t be isolated. It has to be integrated with all these other digital devices in people’s lives,” Tom Rogers, TiVo CEO

TiVo previously made deals with Yahoo!, which allows scheduling shows right from Yahoo TV (tv.yahoo.com). With TiVo Mobile, members can schedule shows on-the-go right from their cell phones and even watch them once they have been recorded. Verizon customers can begin to download the program in early summer through Verizon’s “Get It Now”. Pricing has not been announced, but should be soon.

Link: TiVo | Verizon Wireless | Yahoo TV
Media: Yahoo News | USA Today | TiVo Press
Related: TiVo 2 PSP & iPod | TiVo & Yahoo Team

The Skatter Tech Team has created a “Digg Search Widget” for all Digg users. The Widget runs on the Yahoo! Widgets Engine (aka. Konfabulator) and will function on both Windows and Macintosh machines. The widget can be used to search all of Digg’s archives simply by entering text into the highlighted field and pressing enter. Pressing on the digg logo will launch Digg’s homepage (digg.com) in the default browser. The best feature this widget has allows the user to set Advance Search preferences, which are available on Digg’s Advance Search page. (digg.com/search) To set the preferences you like right-click on the widget and press on Widget Preferences. If you have any questions, suggestions, or other remarks please reply in the comments below! (See Change Log)

Update: v1.60-1.68 now includes multiple themes, more search preferences, a slightly re-done interface, a collapsible rss reader, custom feeds, user set update intevals, update on demand, alerts, and more!

Update: Digg Search Widget v1.70 Released
Update: Digg Search Widget v2.00 Released

Download: Digg Search Widget
Links: Get Yahoo! Widgets
Related: Skatter Tech Widget

Skatter Tech has just created a “Widget” for all our readers. To use this widget you must have Konfabulator installed. Konfabulator is a free tool that allows placing widgets on your desktop on either a Windows or a Mac machine. These widgets can display any type of information such as news, weather, time, stock quotes, and much more. This specific widget will show the latest five stories posted on this site. As soon as a new story is posted the widget will automatically update itself with the newest items. Clicking on the title of any item will directly open the story in your default browser. The arrow mark will take you to our homepage www.skattertech.com. This widget works on both operating systems, but is currently still in BETA. Please install and tryout our widget, it is available in Konfabulator’s Widget Gallery. Note: Konfabulator was recently purchased by Yahoo and their product is now called Yahoo Widgets. The service still offers the exact same features and has not been compromised with ads or anything else.

Link: Get The Skatter Tech Widget | Get Konfabulator
Related: Yahoo Widgets | Widget Gallery
Recent Posts: TiVo 2 Go 2 PSP + iPod | Top 10 Majors

TiVo and Yahoo announced partnership on Monday that would allow all TiVo Series 2 owners to schedule shows onto their unit through “Yahoo TV” (tv.yahoo.com). In the past TiVo customers had to visit TiVo’s website to schedule shows, but this can now be accomplished easily through your Yahoo! Account. Yahoo TV is much more interactive with webpage, with plenty of reviews, ratings, guides, program information and more, unlike TiVo’s current web interface.

“Working with Yahoo is another way for us to deliver the best way to watch television and give viewers control of the television experience,” Tom Rogers – TiVo CEO.

When a TiVo customer, who is hooked up to either DSL or Cable, schedules a show it will be entered into your TiVo’s “ToDo List,” within 2 hours. (unfortunately ~36hrs if on dial up) The reasons for creating this new service include getting TiVo customers to use Yahoo’s free services as well as to get Yahoo’s customers to purchase TiVo units. Yahoo also announced that TiVo customers should start to see Yahoo content such as traffic, weather, music, photos, possibly email and more soon. They also said they are working technologies to search for and download videos directly from Yahoo for local playback.

To get started make sure you have a working Yahoo Account (if not create one). The first time you set this service up, you will need to enter your TiVo.com username and password to get access to your TiVo. In the future just logging into you Yahoo account will get you access to you TiVo’s online scheduling capabilities.

Link: Yahoo TV Sign Up Page | TiVo Central Online
Coverage: BetaNews | NewsCom | Gizmodo
Recent Posts: iPod Icon Mod | Free iPod Nanos