Full Screen Weather Is a Giant, No-Frills Weather Map

We've always liked Weather Underground for its no-nonsense, real-time weather info. Today they've released a new service called Full Screen Weather that mashes up Google Maps with weather data for nothing but maps and up-to-the-minute weather info.

(Click the image above for a closer look.)

Just point your browser to fullscreenweather.com, enter your ZIP code, and get browsing. By default the map displays temperatures as measured from stations across Weather Underground's extensive reporting areas, but you can also switch to Precipitation and Cloud views (you can even play back cloud or precipitation movement over time). In the bottom-left of the window you get an overview of current conditions and a four-day forecast, with links to more extensive forecasts on Weather Underground proper.

The site is clean, simple, lightweight, and ad-free—which is to say, pretty great.

Panda USB Vaccine Protects Your PC from Autorun Viruses

Windows only: Panda USB Vaccine disables autorun on your PC to protect you from being infected, but also protects your USB drives from spreading viruses when you use them in another PC.

Using the tool is a simple matter of installing and then launching it, and clicking the Vaccinate computer button to disable autorun completely on your PC, which prevents malware from spreading to your PC through a flash drive. The interesting feature, however, is the ability to "vaccinate" your flash drive, which essentially just creates a hidden, protected autorun file on the drive so that viruses won't be able to easily infect it—though readers should note it's probably not fool-proof.

Panda USB Vaccine is a free download for Windows only. Readers should note that Windows 7 has removed the ability to auto-execute files from a USB flash drive, more or less preventing this problem from happening in the first place.

Panda USB Vaccine [Download.com via Guiding Tech]

Where Can I Watch the Olympics Online? [Ask Lifehacker]

Dear Lifehacker,

I'm a huge fan of the winter Olympics and I don't want to miss a minute of coverage. Where can I watch the games online?

Signed,

Curling Rocks My World

Photo by garrettbh.

Dear Curling,

We're big fans, too, and want to slurp up all the coverage we can find, so here's how we're planning to attack the games online this year.

Note: We'll update this post as the games begin (and continue) and we find more sources, better options, or more details about what is and isn't working out, so you may want to bookmark this one for later.

Figure Out When Your Must-Watch Events Are Happening

The first thing to check out is a schedule of events so you know exactly when your favorite events are taking place. The event's official website, Vancouver 2010, has the complete schedule of both the Olympic and Paralympic games, and will be continually updated with results as they come in.

Track Down the Games Online

Once you've figured out what you want to see, it's time to track it down online. Many live streams of the events can be accessed right from Vancouver 2010, which routes you into the nationally televised broadcasting stations of dozens of countries. Though we can't say for sure until the games start, this will probably be a great way to view coverage of specific teams and athletes since each nation will likely favor coverage of its stars. In other words, if you want to track every movement of the German bobsled team, streaming one of Germany's live broadcasts will probably serve you well.

Be aware that some websites will sniff out your location and block you from viewing if you're outside that particular country, so you may need to try several streams until you find one that works for you. Alternatively, you could try using a proxy service like xroxy or proxify, but make sure you're not violating the website's or your ISP's terms of service before you do. (Also, proxies significantly slow down your bandwidth, so don't expect great video.)

Watching the Olympics Online in the U.S.

Stateside viewers who mainly want to keep track of American athletes and teams will want to check out NBC's official 2010 Winter Olympics video page as well as their local listings advisor. From the listings advisor, enter your zip code and cable, satellite, or antennaed-television provider to call up a list of what channels in your area are televising the event. From there, you can hit up the individual local networks to see if they're offering live streaming on their web sites. Smaller stations may not be, but you might get lucky in some of the country's major metropolitan areas.



And Elsewhere...

If you want a little local Canadian flair added to your viewing, watch the Olympics via CTV's dedicated online channel. Check the interactive Viewer's Guide to find out which Canadian station will broadcast what event, including popular local channels like TSN and Sportsnet.


Our friends across the pond aren't left out, either. BBC Sport plans to offer four separate live streams, as well as cranking out some content for its mobile site.

Unofficial Olympics Streaming Sites to Check

A few independent websites plan to offer live video streaming of the Olympics but most are unclear about where they'll get their feeds. Most say they aggregate their videos 'from a variety of sources' so, in the end they might not be the most reliable option. If they're the only choice you've got, though, here are a couple of sites that look like they're worth checking out:


* Watch Vancouver Olympics

* Watch Olympics Online


If you're worried online video streams sagging under the weight of too many viewers, one other option you've got is to find a friend with a Slingbox and beg access to it during the games. The cool gadget connects to a television and broadcasts programs to computers that are connected to the local network. The catch is, the TV needs to stay on the channel you want to watch, so your friend is out of luck if they want to view another program while you get your fill of downhill skiing.

Hooking the Slingbox up to an unused television and stashing it in another room usually solves that problem, but if your buddy goes to all this trouble for you, a really nice thank-you gift is in order. Alternatively, you could always just build your own Slingbox with Windows Media Center and a $60 TV tuner card.









Share Your Best Methods

So, Curling, here's a few options to get you started on the road to 24/7 continuous Olympic viewing. We'll update this post as we come across more options. Of course, dear readers, if you know of other sites where we can get our snowboarding groove on during the Olympics, be sure to share in the comments.

Official AIM App Also Brings Facebook Chat to Android [Downloads]

Android: Got an Android phone? Got contacts on AOL Instant Messenger, or chatty friends on Facebook? AIM now has an official chat client in the Android Market, one that can run in the background and connect to Facebook and Twitter too.

There's not all that much more to say about AIM for Android—it asks for your login credentials, and if you head into the settings, you can feed it your Facebook login as well, and it will send and accept chats across both fronts. If you want, AIM can hit you with your friends' status updates, update your own at the same time as your AIM status message, and even post to Twitter, too—though there are certainly better dedicated clients for that purpose.

It's likely the most guaranteed means of keeping a connection across AIM's servers, and since AIM can run silently and ping you on new messages, it makes good sense as an Android app.

AIM for Android is a free download for Android phones only. AIM's product page hasn't updated to announce it yet, but should soon.

Bringing extensions to Google Chrome for Mac

Bringing extensions to Google Chrome for Mac: "As thousands of Mac fans and developers gather in San Francisco for this week's Macworld conference, we're particularly delighted to announce a new beta release of Chrome for Mac. Today's release includes some of our most requested features from the Mac community, including extensions and bookmark sync.

You can read more about these features on the Google Chrome blog, or you can try it out directly by downloading the Google Chrome Beta for Mac. If you're already using Chrome, you should be automatically updated to the new beta within the next day.

Downloading Google Chrome will give your mouse pointer a new reason to get excited:

Google acquires Aardvark

Google acquires Aardvark: "When you need an answer to a very specific question, sometimes the information just isn't online in one simple place. For example, let's say you want to know if there's snow on Skyline Boulevard on a given day or the best time of year to plant beans in the Bay Area. You might find weather reports and planting guides on many different sites, but for these kinds of questions, a person with the right expertise can be a lot more useful than a webpage.

That's why we're excited to announce that we've acquired Aardvark, a unique technology company that lets you quickly and easily tap into the knowledge and experience of your friends and extended network of contacts. Aardvark analyzes questions to determine what they're about and then matches each question to people with relevant knowledge and interests to give you an answer quickly.

We're very impressed with the Aardvark team and the technology they've worked hard to build, and we're looking forward to collaborating to see where we can take it. You can learn more about Aardvark's underlying technology and premise by reading this paper recently co-authored by founder Damon Horowitz.

In the meantime, Aardvark is available today in Google Labs, so give it try!

Apple to sell 99 cent TV shows at iPad launch?

"Today's 'people familiar with the discussions' prattle carried by both the Wall Street Journal and Financial Times has Apple reducing the price of some of its US television shows to 99 cents in time for the iPad launch. A quick search through the iTunes store makes it apparent that Apple has already been experimenting with the 99 cent rate (and a few freebies) on select iTunes episodes; shows that previously ran $1.99 for standard definition quality or $2.99 in HD. Of course, this could all change by the time the iPad launches since the talks are ongoing. Unfortunately, discussions between Apple and content providers to provide a monthly TV subscriptions have stalled according to sources at the Wall Street Journal, although Apple remains open to the idea.



It's worth remembering that prior to adding video support to its iPods, Steve Jobs regularly lambasted the idea of watching video on a tiny, handheld display. The iPad, with its big 9.7-inch 1,024 x 768 pixel IPS panel, is certainly better positioned for video consumption so it's no surprise to hear rumors that Apple's trying to jump start its video business by getting back to the magical 99 cent price point it so loves