40Tech

Music is dead. That’s how I feel when I listen to the radio these days, or when I flip to a music video channel and find myself assaulted by the latest, greatest “reality” television series. Do people actually like Jersey Shore — or is it just some kind of morbid fascination? In any case, when it comes to music, I find myself searching for… something more. That’s how I came across ExtensionFM.

The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is a treaty being negotiated among several countries in secret, in order to bring copyright rules to the world.  The scary part about this treaty is that we’re only learning about the specifics of it through leaks, yet it will influence copyright law greatly throughout the world.  While some treaties certainly require secrecy, a treaty like this reeks of our government doing the bidding of corporate interests (specifically, Hollywood and the recording industry).  Do you trust government and corporate American to do the right thing behind closed doors?

You may have assumed that the iPad was pretty much identical to the iPhone, but bigger.  The form factor alone opens up some new possibilities on the iPad, but there are other differences aside from size.  Here are five differences that, while obvious, might be news to you if you’re thinking about purchasing an iPad.

Last week, Pingdom parsed the data on iPhone and Android apps, revealing an interesting difference.  Specifically, roughly 70% of the apps in Apple’s App Store are paid apps, while 64% of the apps in the Android Market are free.  Why the difference?  Are there more junk Android apps?  Or does Android foster a different culture, due to its open nature?  What do you think the reason is for this difference?

Whether you travel once a week or once a decade, you need to have a Tripit account.  There aren’t many programs that we feel that strongly about — we’re willing to concede that some people may prefer alternatives to Gmail and maybe even Evernote — but Tripit is one of the few applications that has no true competitor.  Let’s take a more in-depth look at what it offers, why you need it, and talk about how you can win a free upgrade for a year of Tripit Pro.

If you have read 40Tech over the past year, you may have discovered my minor obsession with productivity apps and methods. It’s a journey that began with my first post here: GTD in Evernote with Only One Notebook (posted a year and a week ago ), and continued through reviews of Action Method Online and on into my latest experiment, Producteev 2. I have really been enjoying Producteev, and have been using it exclusively for some time now — so I decided it was time to attempt a full GTD implementation, and see how it would work. After some trial and error, I’m satisfied. Check out a walkthrough of my method for GTD in Producteev, below.

There are many, many, great resources on the web, especially in the area of education. There are thousands of sites dedicated just to teaching languages, for example.  My Life Scoop recently listed a few of the best sites for education, and there are more created every day.  Another startup recently received $1 million in seed funding to “democratize learning on the web.”  Do you think the internet will ever truly replace the classroom, or will it always be a supplement to improve the classroom experience?

One way to switch audio output between a USB headset and your external speakers is to plug or unplug your USB headset.  In Windows 7, that will automatically switch sound between the devices.  You may not have easy access to your USB ports, though, or you may want to keep your headset plugged in all the time.  Soundswitch is a free program that allows you to set a hotkey to switch between audio output devices.

Google is thought to be preparing its own social network, called “Google Me” by some.  Smarterware recently published a slideshow from a senior research at Google, that might give us a glimpse at what to expect from Google Me.  The slideshow focuses on how our social networking needs differ among different groups of friends.

You can dutifully sync and backup your files and still not be able to edit your documents when needed, if you are using a computer that doesn’t have the necessary software installed.  Online word processors can help you get around this problem.  Here’s a comparison of four such choices, Microsoft SkyDrive, Google Docs, Zoho Documents, and Box.net.  We’ll tell you the pros and cons of each, and see how they stack up.