40Tech

The Livescribe Echo is gadget that I’ve had my eye for some time now. I’ve watched it more as a device that intrigued me, rather than something that screamed out that I needed it. A few weeks ago, though, I was contacted by a representive from Staples, the office supply store. Staples wanted to get the word out that it sells gadgets, and was offering to provide me with a product that it sells, for me to review and keep. After considering a few items, such as a scanner, printer, DSLR lens, or even a Synology NAS, I settled on the Livescribe Echo. I picked it because it was an item I might not have otherwise purchased for myself. Was it a good choice? Read on for my impressions.

I love being from Canada — but due to licensing issues and the imaginary line I live on the wrong side of, I’m blocked from or limited in using streaming media services that my global neighbours rave about. Fortunately for those of us so geographically challenged (or those of you travelling outside the US or UK and missing your favourite music and video streams), there are services out there that try to solve this problem.

The best one I’ve come across so far, in terms of ease of use and quality of delivery, is UnoDNS.

Turntable.fm and Blip.fm are both social music web apps. They allow you to listen to music online, and turn that listening into a social experience. They have some notable differences, though. Which is right for you? This comparison might help you to decide.

Today, 40Tech is pleased to present a guest post by Karma.

You suave and debonaire 40Tech readers likely know all about microblogging. If you like the ease of sharing things through Facebook and Twitter but wish you could post longer entries with more formatting, Tumblr or Posterous might be what you need. Alternatively, if you want to start a blog but have been overwhelmed by Wordpress, Movable Type, or Blogger – Tumblr and Posterous are a dream come true. Posting to both sites allows all the standard features of a blog post: you can toggle between rich text and HTML, customize your theme, split your entries into multiple pages and alter the formatting. However, these sites are taking the lead over traditional blogging platforms because it is much easier to get up and running. They also have some features that leave those other blogging sites in the dust.

Every once in a while, we get the opportunity to offer you guys something for free. We don’t always do it, mind you — we get a lot of solicitations, and only care to post about the products we think will be most useful to you. Well, a few weeks ago I was contacted by a representative of Digital Innovations. They make products for cleaning LCD screens, repairing discs, that sort of thing. I’ve seen their products before, or others like them, but honestly never considered buying them. I tend to roll on the cheap, as you know, and didn’t want to spend money on things that I wasn’t sure would even work.

The email came at a good time, though. I happened to be in the middle of transferring my CD and movie collection to digital, and there were a few discs that I couldn’t even put into my machine without the read-difficulty locking everything up. So when he offered to send me a few of their products to test in return for a fair review, and maybe a giveaway for our readers, I said “Sure. But you realize I’m in Canada, right?” A few weeks of shipping and customs errors later, the box arrived.

Here’s what I found:

Reading about how our readers approach their tech/workflow combinations has been both enlightening and a pleasure. You guys are smart — and we appreciate you taking the time to articulate your personal systems with us. Nina Kefer has already shown us two GTD setups in applications she has experimented with. Her Beauty and Brains: Getting Things Done™ In Style series has put an emphasis on mobility (from the iPhone), a beautiful user interface, and above all, functionality. She wraps up her series today with her own take on and review of GTD in Springpad (Bobby put together aslightly different approach here), and a final conclusion as to which GTD setup ultimately works the best for her – and might for you, too…

If you’ve ever thought that you had the perfect idea for an app, but just didn’t have the time, the means, or the skills to build and launch your gift to the mobile world (and your wallet), well guess what: there’s an app for that. Now before you begin mentally slaying me for my use of Apple’s now cliche slogan, read on — I’m actually not joking. The app is calledFundedApps, and its entire purpose is for you to send in your idea so that they can make it happen for you. If they like your idea, you get £250 upfront, plus 25% of the net profit that the app makes.

So what’s the catch?

If you’re an aspiring children’s author, a teacher, or just looking for something fun to do with a kid in your life, Storyjumper is something you’ll want to take a look at. I came across the web app randomly and was amazed by how easy it was to jump in and start creating. In fact, me and my two year old made a book just tonight — and she wrote it.

I admit it: I’m a productivity junkie. I am ever on the search for that elusive application that brings me just one step closer to organizational nirvana. Currently, I’m loving Producteev — but you’re never to tied down too look… right? As debatable as that may be to some, when a business acquaintance introduced me to Glasscubes, I was wowed enough to dig in and give it a try. Glasscubes is pretty, smart and extremely well rounded! If you are looking for a really slick and functional service that allows you to collaborate on documents, share files, manage tasks, projects, and calendars — and even use as a CRM and teleconferencing tool — then you’ll want to check out Glasscubes.

A few weeks back we announced a writers’ contest. The folks at GTDagenda, a Getting Things Done app, offered us two free-for-life premium subscriptions to their task (and life) management service ($69.95/year value, each), and we decided to give one of those subscriptions away to the winning writer of an impartial review of the app. The winner of this phase of the contest is Josh, for his exuberant and well rounded take on GTDagenda as a service (congrats Josh!). Check out his review — and how you can win the second part of the giveaway — after the jump!