Contently Raises Seed Capital To Give Writers And Publishers An Alternative To Content Farms

Contently, a platform that connects brands with quality content and gives freelance writers the shot at a regular paycheck, announced today that it has closed a $335K debt round from Founder Collective. This comes on the heels of the news that TechStars had chosen Contently to be one of the 12 startups to take part in its New York City summer program, which began last week. The startup is keying into the idea that content farms have become the bane of content production, spamming search engines with low-quality, SEO-optimized content that takes up space rather than inform. Contently hopes to fight this trend by building a business around real engaging, sharable content, rather than an anonymous, outsourced engine intended to game search algorithms.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/TysLMBVzmb8/

Jacqueline Kiesel Michel Rohr Hilde Baaden Hartmut Theobald

Poll: Spotify is finally available in the US. Now what?

We waited and we waited and we waited some more, and now Spotify has finally arrived in the US. As announced earlier, the popular European music streaming service will offer up the free version that helped make it such a hit in Europe, as well as two pricing plans at $4.99 and $9.99, the latter of which will let users stream music to Android and iOS devices. The question then, is how many will opt to pay a monthly fee in order to rid themselves of ads. Let us know your plan in the poll below, and tell us why in the comments.

Oh, and did we mention that we got our hands on 500 or so invites to the free version of the service? If you've been aching to try it out, shoot an email over to engadgetspotify [at] gmail [dot] com. We're going to be staggering the invites out over the next few days, so don't be too distraught if you don't get one right away.

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Poll: Spotify is finally available in the US. Now what? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 18 Jul 2011 13:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/JQCKm3i3RAE/

Marion Dallmeyer Hanna Wohlrab Henrik Brenner Karla Reusch

Ask DLS: What's your primary Web browser?

Competition is a good thing, and the browser arena has been a fierce arena for years now. There are at least four "major" browsers each vying for your attention, along with lots of smaller spin-offs (SRWare Iron or Flock, anyone?).

While the browser usage charts we share from time to time show overall browser usage amongst the Web at large, Download Squad readers are not exactly the average bunch in terms of browser use. So today we have one simple question for you:

What's your primary Web browser?

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Ask DLS: What's your primary Web browser? originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 16 Feb 2011 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/02/16/ask-dls-whats-your-primary-browser/

Fiona Henschel Joshua Heinlein Markus Wigger Alexander Berner

Linux in Cars, or Why Toyota Chose Freedom

It's hard to keep up with all the companies joining The Linux Foundation these days, but recently one jumped on board whose name threw a collective hush over the Linux blogosphere. Toyota, that is -- none other than the planet's largest automobile manufacturer in terms of both sales and production. Is there really anything else to say? Linux, you're on top of the world.

Source: http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/72867.html

Jörn Domenighini Marion Dallmeyer Hanna Wohlrab Henrik Brenner

Corel releases VideoStudio Pro X4, we go hands on (video)

videostudioprox4
Corel seems to be on a roll lately; after releasing WinZip System Utilities just last week, this morning the company announced VideoStudio Pro X4.

VideoStudio Pro is aimed at home users and small business professionals who want to create professional-looking videos, but without the hassle, steep learning curve and price of Adobe Premiere Pro and the likes.

This new version introduces several features:

  • Stop motion animation: You can now capture still frames using a webcam, camcorder or DSLR and use them to produce an animation. Tools such as "onion skin view" let you compare the previous image in the sequence with the current one and make the animation as smooth as possible.
  • Processor optimization: Corel says the app is optimized for Intel's new Sandy Bridge systems, and have shown us some graphs with very impressive numbers. We've been unable to test this particular point, but if you have a recent-generation Intel or AMD Fusion system, VideoStudio performance should be blazing. Even on our older test system performance was quite impressive.
  • Customizable workspace: You can drag the video preview window to your secondary monitor (if you have one) and tweak just about any other element in the window layout. Once done, you can save your ideal workspace in one of three slots.
  • Share-to-Web: VideoStudio Pro X4 hooks directly into YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook and Flickr, so you don't even have to launch a browser to upload your final product. Edit, produce and share from within the app itself.
  • Smart Package: Video projects typically consist of many files; Smart Package lets you bundle all video assets for a given project into one ZIP file which you can password-protect and keep in a safe place once you're done editing.
I've had a chance to play around with a pre-release version for a few days, and have put it through its paces editing a short video for my day job. Overall, I've been impressed with how easy it was to create pro-looking results. If you do any sort of video editing but are leery of the investment other apps require (both in dollars and effort), VideoStudio Pro is well worth checking out. To see a bit of the interface itself and what the app can do, watch the video after the jump.

Note: We'll be running a give-away of ten VideoStudio Pro X4 licenses later today, each worth $100 USD. Keep your eyes peeled for the giveaway post!

Continue reading Corel releases VideoStudio Pro X4, we go hands on (video)

Corel releases VideoStudio Pro X4, we go hands on (video) originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 22 Feb 2011 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/02/22/corel-releases-videostudio-pro-x4-we-go-hands-on/

Annette Lechner Margarethe Lachner Lutz Yalcin Birte Höß

Forget Slates: Sony?s Android Tablets Come in Funky Shapes

Sony is betting you’ll buy one of its upcoming tablets for one big reason: They look like nothing you’ve seen before. Codenamed the “S1″ and “S2″ for now, Sony’s two unreleased Android tablets depart from the usual square, flat slabs we’ve seen so far in 2011. Instead, the S2 design comes as a dual-screen, clamshell device, [...]

Source: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2011/07/sony-android-tablets-2/

Sylvia Lösche Steven Walnsch Lennart Tonn Simone Temme

The Engadget Show returns next Monday, July 25th -- win a ticket to the taping!

After a month-long slumber, the Engadget Show is back! We're taping in just over a week, on Monday, July 25th at 6:00pm! Tim Stevens and Brian Heater will be your guides through the world of all things audible. First up, our own Darren Murph will have a tour of Westone's facilities, showing us how their astonishing buds get made. Next is an Engadget Labs segment, where Brian and Terrence O'Brien put a plethora of cheap and not-so-cheap earbuds to the test, to see how they compare. All cumulating in a roundtable discussion on the state of streaming music. And it wouldn't be an Engadget Show without music, giveaways, and maybe a few surprises.

The Engadget Show is sponsored by Sprint and will take place in our intimate NYC studio, so if you want to get in, you'll need to win a ticket in advance. But don't worry, if you can't get there in person we'll have a download up soon after taping.

Sprint is also offering guaranteed tickets to The Engadget Show taping to the first 60 entrants who text "ENGADGET" to 467467 or enter online! Standard text messaging rates apply. Click for the Official Rules and see how to enter online.

If you live outside of the tri-state area (NY, NJ, CT), you can enter online for a chance to win a trip for two to New York City to attend The Engadget Show. Standard text messaging rates apply. Click here to enter.

Here are the details if you win a ticket:

  • The event is all ages.
  • We'll open doors and begin seating at 5:15pm on July 25th, and the taping begins at 6:00PM. We'll be closing the doors at 5:50PM.
  • Winners must pick confirm and print tickets 24 hours before taping begins or risk forfeiting their seat.
  • Please bring a photo ID with you to the taping.
  • The show length is around an hour.
If you're a member of the media who wishes to attend, please contact us at: engadgetshowmedia [at] engadget [dot] com, and we'll try to accommodate you. All other non-media questions can be sent to: engadgetshow [at] engadget [dot] com.

Subscribe to the Show:

[iTunes] Subscribe to the Show directly in iTunes (M4V).
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[RSS M4V] Add the Engadget Show feed (M4V) to your RSS aggregator and have it delivered automatically.

The Engadget Show returns next Monday, July 25th -- win a ticket to the taping! originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 18 Jul 2011 10:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/g5K20CgXf4g/

Ulrike Kellner Nicola Kohnen Laura Ungricht Edith Berner

Vitamin Water bus-stop ad lets devices juice-up before the commute

Battery running low during the rush-hour commute? Glacéau's Vitamin Water Energy Bus Shelter by Crispin Porter & Bogusky wants to help you get charged while you're waiting to board. The new billboards feature a bottle of the vitamin / caffeine-packing drink, sporting a triple-USB port, which you can plug your devices into for some extra juice. Apparently, you'll be seeing these if your daily public-transit hustle takes you through the fine cities of Boston, New York, Chicago or Los Angeles -- we'd imagine owners of HTC's Thunderbolt will find them very useful.

Vitamin Water bus-stop ad lets devices juice-up before the commute originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 17 Jul 2011 03:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/FEPKUJqTXsE/

Vivien Strupp Elena Lasch Hans-Jürgen Haake Arno Zimmerling

ZENandTECH 8: The perfect plague

Our podcast feed Download Directly Subscribe via iTunes The plague of perfectionism — when what you do is never good enough for yourself or for someone around you. Does Apple suffer from it? Do you? Georgia and Rene discuss what it is, why it can negatively people, and tools to help you identify and deal [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/R6vZMslUXDU/

Maurice Giese Frederik Faulhaber Svenja Hoferichter Carola Auer