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Companies are racing to get their Google Reader replacements out before the plug gets pulled on July 1, with the latest announcement coming from Digg, which plans to unveil its solution next week. Will Digg’s service rise to be the cream of the crop, or will the RSS landscape simply become a fragmented mess in the wake of Google abandoning its service? Time will tell…
Skype Video Messaging Now Out of Preview
The Skype Big Blog announced Monday that the company’s video messaging service is finally out of preview and now available as a free feature for all Skype users. Well, almost: Although the feature now works with Skype for Windows, Mac, iPhone, iPad, Android and BlackBerry, Microsoft’s own Windows Phone platform is curiously absent from the list for now. For those who do have it, sending a video message is as simple as recording a video up to three minutes in length, then click or tap on the envelope icon and select a recipient. And did we mention it’s completely free for an unlimited number of video messages?
Digg Previews New RSS Reader, Coming Next Week
The folks at Digg served up an update to their previously-announced RSS reader announcement, which the company plans to roll out next week as a first version. “We’re doing the launch in phases because, as you might have guessed, RSS aggregation is a hard thing to do at scale, and we want to make sure the experience is as fast and reliable as possible,” the blog post explains, noting that all users will have access by June 26. The beta release will provide easy migration from Google Reader (and just in the nick of time!) with “a clean reading experience” and mobile companion apps as well as “key actions like subscribing, sharing, saving and organizing.” There’s even more on deck for the 60 days after launch, so hit the link and see what’s coming!
Steve Jobs Bio Hits Paperback on Sept. 10 with New Cover
AllThingsD reported Monday that Walter Isaacson’s official Steve Jobs biography will finally arrive in paperback form on September 10, according to publisher Simon & Schuster. While a hardcover book hitting paperback isn’t particularly newsworthy, the softcover edition will feature a new afterword as well as a new cover, this time of a younger Jobs in a similar “thumb-on-chin” pose, taken in 1984. After a nearly two-year wait, that alone might be enough to get die-hard Apple fans to buy a second time…
Google Expands Chromebook Distribution at Retail
The Google Official Blog announced Monday that the search giant is far from giving up on its Chromebook initiative — in fact, it’s expanding the retail reach for the little notebooks that could from Best Buy and Amazon.com all the way to Walmart, Staples and other retailers in the 10 international markets currently being served. U.S. retailers such as Office Depot, OfficeMax, Fry’s and TigerDirect are also on deck to start selling the Chromebooks in the months ahead, but if you want one right away, Staples appears to be your best bet: Walmart won’t have ’em until later this summer.
iStoryTime’s 4-in-1 Storybook App Now Free
The folks at zuuka pinged us Monday to give readers a heads up that its iStoryTime Library app is now available absolutely free. Originally $2.99, the universal storybook app includes four free Read Aloud titles: The Giant Smurf, Madagascar, Ice Age and Robin Hood, and more than 20 additional titles are available from the parent’s section for in-app purchase. Each title includes professional narration, licensed character audio and an interactive story experience, with the ability to preview each title before buying. iStoryTime Library consolidates all of the company’s slick apps into one place, and now that’s it free, parents can keep those little ones busy in the back seat during summer road trips.
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