Google appears to have entered the personal portal space. Surf over to http://www.google.com/ig now and you can set up your personal preferences...

... and you'll end up with a personalized Google home search page:

You can set up Gmail, Google News, BBC News, driving directions from Google Maps, local weather, stock info and some online news sources. Word is that RSS support is in the cards for the future.

[via Slashdot, and others]

Because this is important:

The Wireless Foundation and the membership of CTIA-The Wireless Association™ have partnered with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children to deliver AMBER Alerts to wireless phones.

AMBER Alerts

Statistics show the first three hours after abduction are most critical to recovery efforts. Recognizing that wireless technology can help galvanize more than 182-million wireless consumers to assist law enforcement in the search for and return of a child, CTIA- The Wireless Association™, its members and The Wireless Foundation are proud to launch the Wireless AMBER Alerts™ Initiative.

The wireless industry has officially partnered with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) (NCMEC) to distribute AMBER Alerts to wireless consumers who opt in to receive geographically specified messages on their wireless devices through an AMBER Alert wireless messaging system.

Subscribers capable of receiving text messages, and whose wireless carrier participates in the Wireless AMBER Alerts Initiative, may opt in to receive alerts by registering at http://www.wirelessamberalerts.org or their wireless carrier's website. Users can designate up to five ZIP codes from which they'd like to be alerted in the case of an AMBER Alert activation.

[via Engadget]

There are plenty of opinions about placing ads in RSS and ATOM feeds, but regardless of the opinions, AdSense users can now apply to get AdSense for Feeds, which will allow them to place small ads in their RSS feeds.

• Information is here.
• Application is here.

I'll likely set it up to see how it works (I am kinda curious), and time will tell whether or not I'll want to keep it. Probably keep. We'll see.

Yesterday Nikon released Version 2.0 of their D70 digital SLR camera firmware.

Updates are available for Mac and Windows users. The Windows firmware update includes the following additions and refinements:

• Performance of the 5-area AF system has been improved (Dynamic area and Closest subject AF-area modes).
• Changes have been made to the design of menu displays.
• Page-size settings can now be applied from the camera with direct printing from a PictBridge-compatible printer.
• The number of exposures remaining, displayed in the control panel and viewfinder, when shooting at an image-quality setting of NEF (RAW) or NEF+JPEG Basic has been changed (the number is calculated based on the size of compressed RAW file).
• The default setting for camera clock has been changed from 2004.01.01 to 2005.01.01. Now you cannot set the clock back to a date before 2004.12.31.
• A problem that sometimes caused communication between the camera and computer to be unexpectedly terminated when using Nikon Capture Camera Control has been corrected. (Windows)

Complete step-by-step instructions for updating are included:

• D70 Firmware Update 2.0 - Windows
• D70 Firmware Update 2.0 - Macintosh

Ever have a hard time finding well-qualified software development staff? Looking for a different king of outsourcing firm?

Jeremy points to the solution to all your problems: Primate Programming, Inc.

An interesting approach to a common business model. Cool idea.

Looks like Chris has the news - his post says NewsGator is purchasing FeedDemon. Om Malik says the same. Cool. Interesting how new gets out these days.

So word is Nick Bradbury, author of FeedDemon and TopStyle (and all-around good guy), is joining the Newsgator team. UPDATE: Nick has written about the acquisition of Bradsoft on his weblog. And customers of both products will reap the benefits of the other. As a FeedDemon customer, I am a happy camper.

Cool news. Congrats to all involved! Look for an official announcement soon.

Track the news spread at Feedster.