tech - hawg

getting back to my tech roots

2008-07-21T00:46:00.001-07:00

So I've missed tech blogging. Blogging about tech was how I got my start in this crazy, mixed up tech world. I've seen highs and lows and it's been a blast the while through. Now I'd like to official mark my return to the tech blog'o'sphere. It's not a return in the traditional blog sense.

You see, why I loved blogging about tech, keeping up with all the news and all of the blogs was very draining. So I took the easy way out and built some bots to do my job for me! That's right, your NEW source for update to date gadget and tech news should now be tech fantastic! It's been fun building it and I'm excited for the what we have planned for it. Enjoy!

Goodbye Apple HiFi

2007-09-07T07:12:00.000-07:00

We never really knew ye and it sounds like no one else really did either. Apple never publicly released any sales figures for the device but honestly, do you know anyone who's bought one or even thought about buying one recently? Exactly.

source: Engadget

The iPod Touch does not have bluetooth

2007-09-06T16:29:00.001-07:00

Despite what the vast internets may claim, an Apple spokesperson confirmed today that the iPod touch will not come packing any kind of Bluetooth compatibility.

No Bluetooth means no wireless Bluetooth earphones, headsets, microphones or any of that tomfoolery. Bummer.

source: boingboing gadgets

Steve Jobs to whiny first adapters "Fine, we'll give you a $100 credit"

2007-09-06T16:02:00.000-07:00

So Steve Jobs and his band of merry men dropped $200 off of the retail price of 8GB iPhone. Early adopters everywhere bitched and moaned about how they felt betrayed. Jobs and co. felt enough of the heat to announce today that they will be giving people an $100 of Apple or At&t store credit to ease the burden of upgrading. Yeah, because the people who could afford to plop $600 on a cell phone could really use the break.

source: Apple

Sony's α700 exposed

2007-09-06T15:45:00.000-07:00

AkihabaraNews was at Sony's press conference for their new α700 DLSR camera and they took a whole load of pictures. It's basically the perfect and somewhat pricey camera for the photography hobbyist or enthusiast or anyone who has a soft spot for a serious camera. From the presser

Like Sony’s mainstream DSLR-A100 model, the new A700 unit incorporates Super SteadyShot® Inside image stabilization in the camera body and is compatible with most Minolta Maxxum® mount lenses in addition to Sony lenses.

“Discerning photo enthusiasts will be impressed with the rugged construction and outstanding performance of the A700, said Phil Lubell, director of marketing for digital cameras at Sony Electronics. “We also expect that this new camera will re-define the post-capture experience with HDMI™ output for high-quality playback of images on high-definition televisions.”

Woah. It even comes with an HDMI output port fer cryin out loud! As for prices...

The DSLR-A700 camera body, DT 16 – 105 mm lens, and DT 18-250 mm lens will be available for about $1,400, $580 and $550, respectively. The DSLR-A700K kit with an 18-70 mm lens will be available for about $1,500, and the DSLR-A700P kit with the 16-105 mm lens will be available for about $1,900. The camera body and DSLR-A700K kit will ship in October and the DSLR-A700P kit in November.

source: AkihabaraNews

The Alienware HD Media Server

2007-09-06T11:57:00.000-07:00

At the CEDIA EXPO 2007 today in Denver, Alienware officially unleashed the specs on their first ever media server. Officially titled "The Alienware HD Media Server",the box itself gives us, the oh so needy consumer, not only the ability to store tons of high def content, but also the ability to output that content in a pretty decent resolution.

The ultimate media server for the digital home of tomorrow, Alienware's new HD Media Server comes loaded with up to four terabytes of hot-swappable hard drive storage. The system enables the recording and playing back of high definition content at up to 1080p via an HDMI output, supports internal cable card (OCUR), and features a Dolby Digital 7.1 preamp output.

I likes.

Little Penguin portable USB drives

2007-09-06T02:58:00.000-07:00

These 1GB USB Flash Drives would make perfect gifts for those out there who are into devices that are almost too cute. The USB penguins will cost you around $34 a pop and will come in the colors shown.

source tfts

HP's serious smart phones

2007-09-06T02:52:00.000-07:00

Serious smart phones for serious people right? The new Windows Mobile 6 Sporting HP iPaq 610 Business Navigator and push e-mailing HP iPaq 910 Business Manager look pretty heavy duty to me. Maybe it's the rough edges or something but for some reason, looking at these makes me want to go climb rocks.

source: cnet

Microsoft's Lifetouch Project

2007-09-06T02:46:00.000-07:00

A few of the Ars Technica ilk had a chance to recently chat with Mitsubishi Electric Research Labs researcher Daniel Wigdor about the Microsoft, Mitsubishi and Unv of Toronto's LifeTouch project.

Not only is it another attempt to create an awesome multi-touch user interface, it's also semi-transparent.

source: ArsTechnica

Ducati Extreme Memory Cards and USB Drives

2007-09-06T01:22:00.000-07:00

Apparently these Ducati Extreme Flash Memory devices recently unveiled by SanDisk can withstand the harsh climates of the North and South Poles, just in case you either ever need to use a digital camera there and/or have a real and immediate urge to store some data on a portable USB drive.

The compact flash memory card will come in 4GB and 8GB sizes and the USB Flash Memory drive will come packing 4GB of space...I think. I'm just going off of Google's translation of the source site. Check it out for yourself.

source: Watch Impress

Apple launches new iPods, Toshiba announces new hard drives

2007-09-06T01:14:00.000-07:00

Hmm, the same day (give or take) that Apple announces the new and improved iPod Classics with the relatively monstrous hard disks, Toshiba announces new, iPod Classic-sized (1.8 inches) hard disks that just happen to be 80GB and 160GB. The same sizes the new iPod Classics will come in. Coincidence? I think not!

source: Watch Impress via Engadget

A good look at the new iPod Nano

2007-09-05T23:07:00.000-07:00

Here's an email I just got from Apple that does a pretty good job of showing off the new iPod Nano. It's so chubby!

Rahul Sood unveils the Blackbird 002

2007-09-05T22:59:00.000-07:00

Voodoo PC co-founder Rahul Sood showed off his and HP's new soon-to-be-heavily-lusted-after Blackbird 002 uber PC rig tonight in New York. Gizmodo has the video up and it's a bit long, but filled with awesome metal/PC pr0n. I wants it. All that metal and power and I'll be damned if the case door doesn't just pop right off. Brilliant!

source: Gizmodo

Microsoft unleashes new extenders for Vista

2007-09-05T22:06:00.000-07:00

Microsoft announced the new version 2 Windows Media Center extenders today, that basically give hardware vendors the ability to provide the Windows Media Center experience on non-PC devices. Kind of like the AppleTv, only not. Will anyone go for it? I'd say probably around the same number of folks who went for the version 1 extenders. Wha? You didn't either? Exactly.

source: Cnet
pic: engadget

iPhones selling like hot cakes at Apple Stores

2007-09-05T21:53:00.001-07:00

Not that this is any kind of surprising but it's still an interesting note. Apple stores are selling more iPhones than AT&T stores at a factor of 7 to 1. Ouch. This just goes to prove that know matter what they're selling, AT&T stores can never be cool.

source: TUAW

new iTunes lets you create custom ringtones, for a price

2007-09-05T21:31:00.000-07:00

Jobs also announced a new version of iTunes at the Apple event today. This new version will let you create custom ringtones out of the music you bought via iTunes and for only $0.99 at that! There's nothing better than paying to be able to use the music I have already paid for. Laim.

The ringtones can last anywhere from 12 to 21 seconds and will sync automatically with your iPhone.

new iPod, cheaper iPhone and all sorts of other madness

2007-09-05T20:58:00.000-07:00

Today Steve Jobs unveiled a host of new Apple hawtness at their "And the Beat Goes On" special event. I've decided to break it down into some simple, easy to digest bits because that's how I like it. Let's git'er dun

The 8GB iPhone is now $399 - I know what you're saying and/or feverishly thinking, "Now I can actually get one!". That's right, the top of the line 8GB iPhone saw a $200 drop in price while the 4GB model is going the way of the dodo. Don't cry for 4gig though, no one was buying him one anyway. (psst! want to get that extra $200 you just dropped on your 8gig iPhone a few days, no more than 14, ago?. Om knows how, it's nothing special, just take advantage of the 14 day warranty window)

New iPods! - Hooray for new form factors! The iPod Nano is getting fatter and shorter (aren't we all) while the new "gotta keep at least one iPod that looks like the old ones around" iPod Classic will retain a similar iPod-ish look, but will be getting a serious hard drive upgrade. The iPod classic will come in two flavors, big (80GB model that sports 30 hours of audio and 5 hours of video), will cost $249, and friggin huge (160GB hard drive with a thicker body, the ability to pump 40 hours of audio and 7 hours of video), which will run only $349.

the iPod touch - say hello to the phone-less iPhone, aka, the iPod touch. Just don't ask me to use them both at the same time because I probably won't be able to tell them apart. It will initially come in 2 flavors, 8GB ($299) and 16GB ($399) and the ability to browse the web via it's built in WiFi adapter. That's hot.

the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store - The new iTunes Wi-Fi music store will be accessible for free from Starbucks the nation over and will automagically sync any tunes you buy via the store to your desktop iTunes.

to hell with this, this is getting way too long, i'll just do up some smaller posts

Oh tech hawg, what am I to do with you now?

2007-08-25T11:18:00.000-07:00

Hmm, now that I have the Gamer Collective, I wonder, should I just build tech-hawg as an extension off of the gaming blog at the Collective and start a small blog network? Or should i keep this seperate?

Decisions Decisions

Get your free wireless La Fonera Router

2006-11-23T18:03:00.000-08:00

No idea if there's anyway you can get one for free otherwise but I just received an e-mail from aspiring wireless revolutionaries Fon stating that they're running a promotion in which you can receive their wireless La Fonera router for free! It normally costs $29.95, which is pretty cheap in of itself but free sounds so much better. So if you've signed up for a FON account, check your e-mail and pick up their free wireless router.

Why should you use it instead of your current wireless router? Because you can get paid for every person who pays to use your connection and you get free wireless access whenever you're near another Fon wireless hotspot. Fore more information, hit up their site.

Link: Fon

Flicker add Blogger Beta support

2006-09-15T16:01:00.000-07:00

Looks like Flickr has integrated support for the new Blogger Beta accounts. I would love to give this a whirl, but my blogs have not yet made it over to blogger beta land. I continue to wait and hope that tomorrow will be the day that i move to the new blogger system. A young tech blogger can only hope...hope and dream.

The Apple branded mobile phone is still coming...honestly

2006-09-15T12:39:00.000-07:00

According to Think Secret, Apple is still planning on releasing an Apple branded cellular phone. I don't yet believe it. True, the mobile market could use some of Apple's innovation to breathe some life and to provide some alternative's to the glut of uninspired mobile phones that are currently available. I want to believe this, but after having so many people say Apple was going to announce their phone at the recent press conference they had, in which they announced iTV and iTunes movies instead, I'm just burntout on these Apple cell phone rumors for now.

Is the Palm Treo 750v worth buying?

2006-09-14T13:06:00.000-07:00

Sounds like it acutally may be. The Palm Treo 750v will be shipping with Windows Mobile 5.0 but will apparently contain some software enhancements that could make it a more stable product than other Windows Mobile 5 devices. It looks a touch sleeker, which is nice, but the fact that it lacks WiFi support is a bit disheartening. Not necessarily a deal break though.

[newmobile]

Custom Google Home page adds tabs...

2006-09-14T13:00:00.000-07:00

Wha, wha? Did I miss something? this didn't always used to be here did it? I noticed on my Google custom homepage today that apparently I can add tabs for different views to it. It makes perfect sense to me and I plan on using the heck out of it. Thank you Google for giving me functionality that I will probably use the heck out of but I didn't know well enough to think to ask for it. Gotta love it.

UPDATE: Maybe I wasn't supposed to see this tab feature just yet. It's buggy as all hell and it keeps disappearing on me. Just refreshing the page makes it disappear. Good intentions though.

New Yahoo Mail client gets released

2006-09-14T12:51:00.000-07:00

However, when I logged in to my Yahoo Mail account, is was still the same old mail client. I'll check back again later. This makes the Yahoo Mail's e-mail client largest "Ajax'd" mail client implementation, due to the fact that Yahoo Mail has over 250 million users. I hope it goes well, I've been looking forward to this day ever since Oddpost was acquired by Yahoo a few years back.

[readwriteweb]

Dogster raises $1 million to go bigger

2006-09-14T12:29:00.000-07:00

When I saw this, I had visions of bubbles bursting in my head and thoughts of how everything is all downhill from here. Then I read the article, Dogster is actually making money! Odd but not all that far fetched. The artcile goes on to describe how these pet owners may be willing to post more details about themselves on their pets web site rather than on their own, personal web site. I get that and it's cool to see a little niche site make an actual market out of it.

So what exactly does Dogster plan to do with the loot? Branch out into other pet industries of course. I think that's a good idea. I can see it now, Snakster, Hamster (that one's easy!), mousester etc...

Microsoft officially announces the Zune brand

2006-09-14T12:16:00.000-07:00

Microsoft has officially thrown their hat into the iPod-dominated digital music player arena but officially announcing the Zune brand. The Zune will be a 30GB digital media player that will not only play your music, but will let you wirelessly share your tunes. The Zune will also come in three colors, black, brown and white. I like how Microsoft threw Brown in there as a zune color. You don't see too many companies going for the brown look but it works for me here. Maybe it's just my mood. The wireless sharing sounds good but I'm a little suspicious of this line:

Listen to the full track of any song you receive up to three times over three days.

So you can only listen to a song you've been sent three times? While I may not need to listent to it more than once to determine whether I like it or not, it's a restriciton none the less. I'm interested in how the device handles though. Sounds interesting. Here's the release:

Microsoft’s Zune Delivers Connected Music and Entertainment Experience
Built-in wireless technology lets consumers share experiences device to device.

REDMOND, Wash. — Sept. 14, 2006 — Marking the next big milestone for its Connected Entertainment vision, Microsoft Corp. today unveiled details of the first products to be released under its Zune™ brand. Designed around the principles of sharing, discovery and community, Zune will create new ways for consumers to connect and share entertainment experiences. The Zune experience centers around connection — connection to your library, connection to friends, connection to community and connection to other devices.

“The digital music entertainment revolution is just beginning,” said J Allard, vice president, design and development, at Microsoft, who is leading the charge for building the family of Zune products. “With Zune, we are not simply delivering a portable device, we are introducing a new platform that helps bring artists closer to their audiences and helps people find new music and develop new social connections.”

The Zune Experience

Available this holiday season in the United States, Zune includes a 30GB digital media player, the Zune Marketplace music service and a foundation for an online community that will enable music fans to discover new music. The Zune device features wireless technology, a built-in FM tuner and a bright, 3-inch screen that allows users to not only show off music, pictures and video, but also to customize the experience with personal pictures or themes to truly make the device their own. Zune comes in three colors: black, brown and white.

Every Zune device creates an opportunity for connection. Wireless Zune-to-Zune sharing lets consumers spontaneously share full-length sample tracks of select songs, homemade recordings, playlists or pictures with friends between Zune devices. Listen to the full track of any song you receive up to three times over three days. If you like a song you hear and want to buy it, you can flag it right on your device and easily purchase it from the Zune Marketplace.

Zune makes it easy to find music you love — whether it’s songs in your existing library or new music from the Zune Marketplace. Easily import your existing music, pictures and videos in many popular formats and browse millions of songs on Zune Marketplace, where you can choose to purchase tracks individually or to buy a Zune Pass subscription to download as many songs as you want for a flat fee.

To get started with great music and videos out of the box, every Zune device is preloaded with content from record labels such as DTS, EMI Music’s Astralwerks Records and Virgin Records, Ninja Tune, Playlouderecordings, Quango Music Group, Sub Pop Records, and V2/Artemis Records.

Zune Accessories

To enhance the Zune experience, three accessory packs help Zune users enjoy their music where they want to, at home or on the road. The packs and the individual accessories, all designed exclusively for Zune, will be available at launch:

• The Zune Car Pack includes everything needed to hit the road with a Zune device, such as the built-in FM tuner with AutoSeek and the Zune Car Charger.

• The Zune Home A/V Pack enhances your experience in the home through five products that integrate Zune with the TV and music speakers: Zune AV Output Cable, Zune Dock, Zune Sync Cable, Zune AC Adapter and the Zune Wireless Remote for Zune Dock.

• Zune Travel Pack is a set of five products designed to keep friends and family entertained on the road: Zune Premium Earphones, Zune Dual Connect Remote, Zune Gear Bag, Zune Sync Cable and the Zune AC Adapter.

Providing consumers with additional options to customize and personalize their Zune experience, Microsoft is also working with leading accessory manufacturers Altec Lansing, Belkin Corp., Digital Lifestyle Outfitters (DLO), Dual Electronics, Griffin Technology, Harman Kardon and JBL, Integrated Mobile Electronics, Jamo International, Klipsch Audio Technologies, Logitech, Monster Cable Products Inc., Speck, Targus Group International Inc. and VAF Research

The Future is Bright

In addition to the features available at launch, built-in wireless technology and powerful software provide a strong foundation to continue to build new shared experiences around music and video. As Zune evolves, the device can be easily updated. The Zune software on your PC will let you know when these updates are available for download.

Google's Featured Content for Google Earth

2006-09-13T10:51:00.000-07:00

Google has now implemented special "Feature Content" areas in Google area. Basically, in certain spots on the globe you can see certain overlays which will let you click through to learn more about that certain location. Right now they have a number of spots setup to better educate people about these areas. In the future though, I can imagine this being expand to include businesses as well as other geographic information. Cool. If I can get it working properly on my machine, I'll throw up some screenshots. Here are the currently available content areas:

Initial Featured Content for Google Earth partners include:

Â· United Nations Environmental Program - The UNEP overlay for
Google Earth includes successive time-stamped images illustrating 100
areas of extreme environmental degradation around the world. From the
deforestation of the Amazon to the fallout of raging forest fires in
Sub-Sahara Africa and the decline of the Aral Sea in Central Asia, this
before-and-after imagery spanning the past 30 years offers users an
online resource for learning about the environmental crisis zones
around the world.

Â· Discovery Networks World Tour - The Discovery overlay enables
travel enthusiasts and armchair tourists alike the opportunity to
virtually visit major world attractions, cities, and natural wonders
through Google Earth. Featuring streaming Discovery video segments,
users can learn about the history and significance of various world
landmarks, national parks, American and European cities, and African
locations. These multimedia vignettes introduce users to the wonders of
King Tut's tomb in the Valley of Kings to the history of the gate of
the Itsukushima Shrine in Japan.

Â· National Park Service - The National Park Service overlay enables
users to learn more about the natural recreation opportunities in their
own backyard. This includes detailed park descriptions, information on
visitor facilities, and more than 10,000 miles of trails within all 58
US National Parks.

Â· Jane Goodall Institute - With the Jane Goodall Institute overlay
users can visit Fifi and the other Gombe preserve chimpanzees and
follow their daily exploits with the Institute's "geo-blog" in Google
Earth. Updated daily, this geo-blog captures the work of the Jane
Goodall Institute, illustrating the Institute's research on
chimpanzees and the effects of deforestation in Africa.

Â· Turn Here - This overlay features free city video guides for
travel, restaurants, hotels, local events and music around the globe.
Told from an insider's perspective, these short films connect users
to information about the best pizza shop in New York's Little Italy
to Pablo Picasso's favorite hang-out in Halmstad, Sweden.

[google earth]

iRiver's S10

2006-09-13T08:47:00.000-07:00

The 2GB iRiver S10 looks to be a winner. I wonder how the D-click navigation they talk about works. It sounds pretty intuitive.

Good times for tech valley

2006-09-13T08:00:00.000-07:00

USA Today has an article up detailing how life is going well for some tech heavyweights and a few upstarts in the Silicon Valley tech industry. The article is an interesting read if for nothing else, to see how well things are in the valley compared to everything else...

The largesse is starting to spill into the local economy. "We see a whole lot of money flowing out here right now," says Ginny Cain McMurtrie, a vice president at Saratoga, Calif.-based Alain Pinel Realtors.

In the first quarter of 2006, 82 homes were sold for more than $2.5 million in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties, the real estate firm says.

"I hear the agents talking about the Googlers and eBayers looking at $3 million houses," Cain McMurtrie says. A home in the tech-executive hamlet of Woodside recently sold for $10.3 million.

That's a striking contrast to the rest of the country, where a softening market has caused the median home price to nearly flatten at about $230,000, says the National Association of Realtors.

Dang, I am living in the wrong city.

[usa today]

It's the Barbie Volkswagon Beetle!

2006-09-13T06:48:00.000-07:00

For everyone who has or has ever had a teenage daughter comes the Barbie branded Volkswagon Beetle. They won't be easy to get though, only 13 are being made and they'll be released to the Mexican market only.

[autoblog]

The morning-message pillow

2006-09-13T06:39:00.000-07:00

Don't you hate it when you lay on a pillow with an odd embroidered design on it and you wake up with that design on your face? No you don't have to, wake up with a message on your face instead. I know this isn't really tech-related but the morning message pillow is a pretty good gift idea. If you're a skilled embroider, you can probably do this on your own pillow yourself.

[coolhunting]

Free PVR MythTV gets an upgrade

2006-09-13T06:22:00.000-07:00

To balance out that previous $$$ heavy TiVo post, I figured I would also note that free feature-rich Personal Video Record software MythTV got a hefty upgrade the other day. If you don't know too much about MythTV, it's a neat piece of software you can use with your own hardware to basically have your own, personally created digital video recorder. If you like free, this is for you.

[screenshots]
[ehomeupgrade]

TiVo Series 3 now available

2006-09-13T06:15:00.000-07:00

You can now buy the HD compatible, CableCard ready TiVo Series 3 DVR model. While you can pick up the device for $799 (ouch), the service plan will run you $12.95 a month. If you love TiVo and know you'll be keeping it around for at least the next three years, you can get a year for free if you pre-pay for those three years up front for $299 (which works out to be a little over $8 a month). You can get more pricing details here if you have either the money to burn or an understanding significant other (or both, but I doubt it).

[seen at pvrblog]

Sony Vaios get dual cor'd and Blu-ray drives

2006-09-13T06:04:00.000-07:00

Sony updated their higher end Vaio laptops recently, giving them Intel Core Duo 2 processors, a Blu-ray disc drive as well as 2gb of RAM. The 15.4 inch, 1280 x 800 screen will make watching those ultra hi-def Blu-ray movies that much more sweeter...for the two of you out there who actually own Blu-ray movies that is.

More Apple coverage

2006-09-12T11:37:00.000-07:00

The happenings from the just ended Apple Conference are all over TechMeme. Check it out to see if I missed anything worth noting :)

Why Apple just won the digital content battle for your living room with the iTV

2006-09-12T11:11:00.000-07:00

This is good. Real good. Gizmodo leaked it this morning and it turns out their source was right. Apple plans on releasing a device that will basically allow your computer (Jobs is hoping it's a Mac but it sounds like PCs will work as well) to talk to your TV. Apple has dubbed the device the iTV for now but Jobs mentioned that as being a codeword for the device and that it's likely to change. The kicker is, no cables, not even for power. With this device you can beam high quality movies you buy from iTunes to your TV with ease. Some specifics:

The device connects to your PC via a USB 2 or Ethernet port.

No power cord.

You get an HDMI connector.

You also get component video cables.

you get to use a little white remote to control it.

Let me go back a bit. I said above you get to beam high quality movies from your Mac (or PC, I've been converted!) and while that's true that's not the whole picture.

This box gives you access to all of your iTunes content. Music, movies, movie trailers, pictures and so on and so on. I wonder how long it'll be until someone cracks it so you can stream whatever you want to your TV. All this functionality and ease of use for $299 early next year. Apple just blew by all competitors with this one. I think this picture sums it up quite nicely:

Would you want it any other way? ;)

I seriously think Apple is continuing to BLOW past all competition on this one. Microsoft's still trying to battle the iPod while Apple is thrusting forward into new markets and creating new spaces. Why couldn't anyone else come out with the iTV? Why couldn't Microsoft? The closest they got was Windows Media Center which is nice software but that's it. Just software. Apple is killing them on this. I wonder how the world will respond?

[photos and info from engadget]

iTunes movies

2006-09-12T10:55:00.000-07:00

Films from Disney, Pixar, Touchstone, and Miramax are now going to be purchasable via iTunes. Awsome. What I like is the pricing scheme. Here are the details:

Brand new movies will only be $12.99 for the first week and if you pre-order them

Other movies will go for $9.99

Movies will be available the day they are available on DVD

You get near DVD quality at 640x480 resolution

Dolby quality sound (hmm, how do i play it on my tv?)

You can also set parental controls which can adhere to the MPAA ratings of the movies themselves

You'll be able to get International movies through iTunes in 2007

Those are the details on iTunes Movies. But as Steve said...

But there is one last thing ....

The iPod Nano gets updated

2006-09-12T10:41:00.000-07:00

The iPod Nano got some upgrades today too. Here's the lowdown:

The aluminum case is thinner,
The 4gb iPod Nano now comes in 5 colors

The Nano display is 40% brighter

Battery life is now 24 hours.

The prices are $149, $199 and $249 for the 2gb, 4gb and 8gb models respectively.

Apple's Latest: Make way for more iPods!

2006-09-12T10:32:00.000-07:00

Apple's iPods recieved a lot of love from Apple today. Apple made their iPod more accessible (pricewise), more useable and overall, a tad bit sexier. Here are some of the major improvements:

The iPod screens are goign to be %60 brighter

iPod battery life is now up to 6.5 hours from 4 hours

You can now get Spotlight-like search capability on the iPod.

You can even play games on your iPod now. The games can be bought from the iTunes (time for a name change?) store for $4.99 a game.

Better iPod earphones now come standard

30gb iPod only costs $249 while the 80gb(!) iPod costs $349

Whew! I love the costs and the new functionality (games and searching). Up next, the iPod Nano!

It's time for Apple's "Showtime"!

2006-09-12T10:27:00.000-07:00

My gawd I wish I was there. Right now Steve Jobs is unveiling the latest Apple coolnes. I love these types of press conferences. The build-up is so huge and everyone is always hoping that it lives up to the hype. I'd recommend you keep checking Engadget since Gizmodo apparently buckled under the pressure.

Apple's TubePort

2006-09-12T09:13:00.000-07:00

Looks like there's a (slight) chance that someone leaked what Apple's planning on unvieling today and if it's true, consider me excited. Apple could be releasing a device you would attach to your TV and a device that you would attach to you computer so that you can stream the movies you download from iTunes right over to your TV. By passing the need to burn them to a DVD or worry about messing with DRM. I'm sure there will be some kind of drm involved but if I don't have to hack it to play it on my tv (I'm looking at you Amazon Unbox), I'll be ok with it. I'll still be looking for more details on this so stay tuned.

[gizmodo]

hmm, the iTunes Store is down

2006-09-12T07:48:00.000-07:00

Interesting ain't it? I think it's safe to say that movies downloads via iTunes are just a few hours away.

Today is Apple's big announcement

2006-09-12T06:41:00.000-07:00

Today Apple unleashes something. Most people think it'll be their video downloading service (i do too!) but only time will tell. I'll keep you all up to date through out the day.

Awsome music playing site (not service...yet)

2006-09-09T10:47:00.000-07:00

Saw this cool little site, BlogMusik.net, mentioned on techcrunch and being the lover of music that I am, I had to check it out. It so dern quick! Right on the first page, you can search for your deisred artist and almost instantly a playlist comes up with that artist's songs. Sounds quality was good enough for me. Will this last long? Probably not so enjoy it ASAP! Now all they need to do is widgetize it so I can embed it into one of my sites :)

Amazon, Unboxed

2006-09-08T05:41:00.000-07:00

Amazon quietly launched their video service "Unbox" recently and it's not that different from the other video download services out there. I'm thinking that due to it's somewhat quiet launch, they wanted to just get it out the door asap before Apple's alleged iTunes Movie downloads service was available. You can rent or flat out buy the movies but it was unclear to me whether all movies gave you that choice. To either rent them or download them. Unsurprisingly, the downloaded videos come "protected" with DRM so you can't burn these videos to a DVD and watch them on a TV. You can burn them to a DVD but only for backup purposes since they won't play in any DVD player. Amazon does have an unintentionally hilarious "how to" explaining how to watch these Amazon videos on your TV by connecting your PC to your TV. Hilarious in a "I-gotta-do-all-that-to-watch-a-video-I-purchased-on-my-TV?" kind of way. To watch these video, you'll also have to be using a PC and you'll need to install their video player software.

UPDATE: looks like you can crack Amazon's Unbox drm with FairUse4WM. There's been some recent drama in regards to this tool which you can read about here.

Creative Zen Sleek 9 months later

2006-09-08T05:36:00.000-07:00

I've been using the Creative Zen Sleek since around Christmas time last year and it has been very good to me. However, lately it's been acting a bit strange. I frquently get playback errors and often, the system will just freeze. The only way I know of to get it unfrozen is to let it just die out. It's disappointing really since I don't use it all too often, to have it start acting up like this. In the past, it was extremely convinient to be able to use it as a removable hard drive as well as digital music player. It's been a fun ride but I think that ride is about to come to an end.

How Facebook can do right...

2006-09-07T06:31:00.000-07:00

After my post this morning about the recent Facebook debacle, I started to think about why these Facebookers are so upset. Did they not know how to properly use Facebook? Don't they know they can opt to not share certain information? But wait, does it matter what I think since I'm not an active user? I realized that it doesn't. I can sit back and alayze all I want, the reality is, there's a subset of Facebook users that are pissed off. I think started to think about what Facebook should do. "I've been Tuesday morning quaterbacking all morning, why stop now?" I thought. First off, Facebook needs to engage these ticked off users. Go to them and tell the users how Facebook cares and listen to why they're upset about these new features. Next, make it easy to learn how to use these feeds properly and address the users security concerns. Maybe a few screencasts showcasing how your information isn't readily available for everyone. Lastly, keep the community engaged. Inform them of every change Facebook is making in relation to these features. I like what Scoble suggested about not only catering to the big bloggers but to anyone who has recently said anything about Facebook. I don't agree that Facebook should turn off these new features since this seems to be a big miscommunication between Facebook and their userbase. I think Facebook just needs to communicate better on how these feeds can be used and how they are governed by your privacy settings. Get some dialog going is all I'm saying, and educate.

T-Mobile's Blackberry Pearl

2006-09-07T06:26:00.000-07:00

T-Mobile recently announced the first Blackberry to sport a camera (and 1.3 mega pixels at that), the RIM Blackberry Pearl. Also new to Blackberries is the trackball on the front of the phone. The Pearl can play your mp3s, is Bluetooth 2.0 compatible and even comes with a MicroSD slot if you need to add to the included 64mb of memory. That screen looks beautiful too. Hmmm, should I switch to T-Mobile?

Is eBay the web 2.0 clearing house?

2006-09-07T06:19:00.000-07:00

Yet another "web 2.0" start up is being auctioned off on eBay. The site is Huckabuck which considers itself a web 2.0 search engine. The bidding is up to $9,100 so far but the reserve has not yet been met. If this auction can get some press and earn a decent price for the Huckabuck team, eBay could gain some more credibility as a venue in which to sell your fledgling company after you've lost interest or want to move on. It'll be interesting to see how this auction ends and what the bidder ends up paying.

Windows Vista RC1

2006-09-07T06:15:00.000-07:00

The Microsoft Windows Vista Release Canidate 1 is now available for public consumption. If you have the need, feel free to download it and tinker. Good luck.

Korean Air bans Dell and Apple laptops

2006-09-07T06:04:00.000-07:00

Due to the two pc heavies put out a recall on certain notebook models that used certain batteries, Korean Air has banned any laptops from Dell or Apple from being on board their flights. Ouch.

Apple event scheduled for Septembet 12th

2006-09-07T05:58:00.000-07:00

Apple will be holding a special event on September 12 and on their invites, they dubbed the event "It's Showtime". Interesting choice of words since the rampant speculation has suggested that they will be unvieling iTunes movie downloading service. The crazier reports suggest that Apple will be releasing an Apple branded cell phone. The cell phone rumors are what I'm most hopeful for. There probably won't be any Apple branded cell phones anytime soon but I can still dream. I think I'll hold off making my switch from Verizon until September 13th, just in case.

SpiralFrog convinces EMI

2006-09-07T05:50:00.000-07:00

SpiralFrog has announced that it has also signed an agreement with EMI to distribute their music catalog via the SpiralFrog service for free. This comes shortly after their deal with Universal was announced. Could this change the game of downloading music online? It sounds promising and I am very intrugued but we still have to wait a few more months. SpiralFrog doesn't plan on releasing their service until late December.

The rise of Ubuntu

2006-09-07T05:26:00.000-07:00

I really didn't know too much about the history of Ubuntu until I read this Forbes article about Mark Shuttleworth. Mark is a very rich man, due to selling one of his companies to VeriSign for $700 million in stock in 2000, but not a man who wants to hoard his money. He used his expansive bank account to create and launch a flavor of Linux dubbed Ubuntu. I've been hearing about Ubuntu and I've checked it out once acutally. I like the fact that they are more than happy to ship you out a free cd no matter where you live.

Six apart buys Rojo

2006-09-07T05:18:00.000-07:00

Six Apart has acquired Rojo Networks but not for Rojo the service. Since Six Apart plans on possibly selling off Rojo the service at a later date, this is more of an acquistion of talent. Put simply, Six apart wanted Rojo CEO Chris Alden and they bought his company to get him.

Facebook users freak out

2006-09-07T05:03:00.000-07:00

Apparently, the recent features Facebook added angered a percentage of their user base. The reason? It seems to me to be a misunderstanding. According to the "a day without facebook" protest site, the new feeds that Facebook added make it eaiser to "stalk" your friends. From the site:

There is one major reason there is a sense of anger over the Feeds feature.

It damages what privacy was left on Facebook. Before Feeds, it was already easy enough to stalk anyone at your school, and everyone on your friends list; but with the advent of Feeds, it is now nearly impossible not to be “stalked” or to “stalk”

Without even trying an individual now knows the changing relationship status of individuals on their friends list, the new “friendships” added by users, and the photos tagged by either a user or a user’s friends.

It is almost impossible now to keep your information to yourself. In the last year this has become incredibly important as we have seen judicial actions brought against students based solely on photos posted on facebook, we have heard of cases concerning actual stalking where Facebook was the accused main form of information, and we have seen employers who have begun using Facebook to check on potential employees.

Before Feeds there were steps that could be taken to prevent your information becoming everyone’s property; now there is literally no option to prevent your information from going completely public.

This feature was not requested by the users, and the users are not given a chance to opt out of it.

There are other reasons users are complaining, ranging from the fact it takes away the time-wasting aspect of Facebook to aesthetic complaints about the new look.

Clearly there is a desire to not have Feeds be the Facebook standard.

What these Facebook protesters seem to be misunderstanding is that you CAN decide what your friends do or don't see. On the other side, these feeds also make it easier to keep up with what's going on with your friends. In short, Facebook users can decide what they want to share. Their information is shared out to everyone at all times without giving the user the ability to change it. Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg even weighed in on the official Facebook blog:

We didn’t take away any privacy options. [Your privacy options remain the same.] The privacy rules haven’t changed. None of your information is visible to anyone who couldn’t see it before the changes. If you turned off your wall to non-friends, no one who is not your friend will be able to see a post on your wall. Your friends can still see it; it hasn’t changed. Secret groups and secret events remain secret from other people. Pokes and messages remain as private interactions. Nothing you do is being broadcast; rather, it is being shared with people who care about what you do—your friends.

You crazy kids are so dramatic, sheesh.

[more info at techcrunch]

Tucows bought Kiko!

2006-09-05T19:54:00.000-07:00

Tucows CEO Elliot Noss revealed that his company is the one that won the Kiko auction. Their reason? It made sense for them to at that time. Interesting read.

I'm leaving Verizon

2006-09-05T14:41:00.000-07:00

So my two year stint with Verizon is up and I don't know who to go to next. What I need is a phone (and service provider) that will let me upload my own ringtones, that's something my wife and I both want. Any ideas which phone or service I should look in to?

Apple to hold a special event on September 12th

2006-09-05T13:26:00.000-07:00

My bet is that Apple will unveil movie downloading via iTunes but since you never can be absolutely sure with Apple events, I'm not holding my breath.

[via ilounge]

Woah, sofa that converts to a bunk bed...

2006-09-05T13:20:00.000-07:00

Man, I should get this for my kids, or even myself. If I get too tired one night I could just crash on the sofa, but if I feel the need to sleep a little higher off the ground, I'll just pop the bunk bed out and have at. Perfect way to save space.

TiVo came from aliens!

2006-09-05T13:14:00.000-07:00

This is a pretty funny (not true) video on where TiVo technology came from (from the stars!).

[via zatz]

The digital divide still dividing students

2006-09-05T12:59:00.000-07:00

Looks like the digital divide is still prevalent amongst students with the latest surveys breaking down internet usage:
-67 percent of white students
-44 percent of of hispanic students
-47 percent of black students
So basically two thirds of white students use the internet while less than half of the black and hispanic students do. Ouch. Why is this the case? I'm not sure but I could speculate all day. Could it be a lack of interest among the aforementioned minority students or more of a cultural problem? I'm sure it's most likely a combination of factors but one thing I do know is that as pc hardware gets cheaper and more ubiquitous, these numbers should (and hopefully will) increase.

[via yahoo]

New Apple vs PC ads featuring Giselle Bundchen

2006-09-05T12:45:00.000-07:00

The gist from these picutres for these new Apple "Get a Mac" ads seem to be that pcs with Windows is akin to an ugly cross dressing girlfriend while Macs are akin to the young, hip model type. They look to be pretty funny. I'm sure we'll all be seeing the actual video sooner rather than later.

[via nick starr's blog and flickr set]

The Nokia 8800 Sirocco Edition, a phone I won't be getting soon

2006-09-05T12:33:00.000-07:00

Sure the Nokia 8800 Sirocco Edition looks purty and even sports sounds and 'sonic textures' from Brian Eno, the price is just a bit out of my price range.

The Nokia 8800 Sirocco Edition is now available in select markets, with an estimated retail price of EUR 1000, before taxes or subsidies.

Despite the price it does sound like a nice phone, from the stainless steel case to the hidden ergonomic keypad.

The stainless steel case of the Sirocco Edition is treated in such a way as to give the device a unique sensual feel, which humanizes this natural masterpiece. Impeccable functionality is created through superlative craftsmanship, using techniques drawn from master watchmakers and jewellers. From the sapphire coating of the 262,000 colour display to the distinctive slide mechanism which reveals its 2 mega-pixel camera, or even its extended battery life, every seemingly minor detail of the Nokia 8800 Sirocco Edition is honed to perfection. The ergonomic keypad undulates like the glimmering dunes of the night desert, whilst the jewel-like navigation key shines like the brightest star in the darkest night. The Nokia 8800 Sirocco Edition truly is unique, created out of the inherent beauty and chaos of nature and distilled into a modern form that is graceful, sympathetic and spare.

Who writes these descriptions? Who ever it is, the next time I need to sell I house, I'm giving them a call.

LG's latest mobile, the LG-LB1700

2006-09-05T06:00:00.000-07:00

I'm such a sucker for sliders. The type of mobile phone that usually hides away the keypad behind the screen via a small track that allows you to slide the keypad out and in. They can save some space but they just look cool to me and LG's LG-LB1700 is no exception. It's a nice sleek black with a seemingly large screen. Unfortunately, this slider goodness is only going to be released in Korea.

HP's iPAQ rx4000 Mobile Media Companion

2006-09-05T05:51:00.000-07:00

HP's iPaq rx4000 Mobile Media Companion sounds like a sooper dooper PDA. Basically allowing you to do all kinds of things from this handheld device. As intriguing as those first two sentences are, I only want to know two things...does it fit in my pocket and can it flip from landscape view to portrait view by just rotating the device? If so, I'd be happy. 'Yes!' could be the answers to those two questions but from what I've read here, it's not too clear. By using the earphones in the picture for scale, the device seems small enough to fit in my pocket and from the aforementioned web site you can...

Choose to view digital content in either landscape or portrait mode to maximize the viewing pleasure of videos, photos and games.

So my prospects look good but this doesn't clarify how you swtich between modes. I guess I'll have to wait. Here are the other mentioned features:

Key features of the smart design include:

Choose to view digital content in either landscape or portrait mode to maximize the viewing pleasure of videos, photos and games.
A scroll wheel for a single, smooth, one-handed operation for access and navigation of digital content.
A large 2.8-inch-wide anti-glare touch screen to quickly launch media applications for entertainment gratification.
The HP iPAQ rx4000 Mobile Media Companion series, which is built on Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 Software for Pocket PC, also includes a suite of connectivity options, such as integrated Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, enabling consumers to stay connected on the go.
Built with integrated Wi-Fi, consumers can connect to their email and the Internet to get real-time information and download music or movies. Consumers can also download VoIP software to make free PC-to-PC calls and fee-based calls to landlines and mobile phones, staying connected to loved.
Bluetooth technology enables consumers to connect to other Bluetooth devices, such as wireless stereo headphones, mobile phones and wireless printers.
Built on Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 Software for Pocket PC, consumers can synchronize their calendar and contacts with ease, while getting work done on the go with popular Microsoft applications, such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

Facebook adds new features and a new look

2006-09-05T05:42:00.000-07:00

While the asthetic changes don't seem to be anything too crazy, what I dig is the implementation of their News Feed and Mini-Feed features. These new features are basically ways to keep track of and to view/show the most recent changes for any given Facebooker. What I like about it is that this makes the service a little bit easier for users to consume the data they're most likely interested in. Instead of trying to track down what's new about a certain user or if a user made a change to a certain aspect of their profile, you can now view this data in one of these feeds. From the Facebook blog:

News Feed highlights what's happening in your social circles on Facebook. It updates a personalized list of news stories throughout the day, so you'll know when Mark adds Britney Spears to his Favorites or when your crush is single again. Now, whenever you log in, you'll get the latest headlines generated by the activity of your friends and social groups.

Mini-Feed is a new part of the profile that shows all the latest stuff someone has added on Facebook.Mini-Feed is similar, except that it centers around one person. Each person's Mini-Feed shows what has changed recently in their profile and what content (notes, photos, etc.) they've added. Check out your own Mini-Feed; if there are any stories you don't like, you can remove them from your profile.

I know of a lot of sites that could benefit from features similar to these and I expect we'll see more of this kind of innovation as more people and services begin to understand how to capture and keep people's attention (give them what they're looking for or make it easier to get that data).

Sirius moving to the internet?

2006-09-05T05:34:00.000-07:00

In what I think is the right move, satellite radio publisher Sirius recently announced a portable satellite reciever (and mp3 player of course), dubbed the Stiletto, that can connect via Wi-Fi to Sirius. They even have an online only subscription ($12.99 for the first user, $6.99 for additional listeners) which allows consumers to get Sirius without having to connect to their satellites. I think this is an awsome idea since wireless networks will only be more common in the future, why maintain your own expensive satellites when you do need to?

Blogger beta for some bloggers....not for me :(

2006-09-01T19:47:00.000-07:00

I know Blogger launched a new version of Blogger under the name "Blogger in Beta" and the new features look to be the bees kness but how long do I have to wait to partake of some of the new beta goodness? I just wanna rock and roll all night, and party everyday. I'm so looking forward to moving my blogs over to the new blogger system. I.can't.wait.

Google's image labeler launches

2006-09-01T19:19:00.000-07:00

This is a pretty creative way to help improve a search index. In this case, Google is aiming to improve the relevance of their image search index by basically using their fans. Here's their description:

How does it work?
You'll be randomly paired with a partner who's online and using the feature. Over a 90-second period, you and your partner will be shown the same set of images and asked to provide as many labels as possible to describe each image you see. When your label matches your partner's label, you'll earn some points and move on to the next image until time runs out. After time expires, you can explore the images you've seen and the websites where those images were found. And we'll show you the points you've earned throughout the session.

I tried it and it's pretty fun. The random partner I got match up on my fifth go roung or so was right there with me. We matched 4 labels, giving me 400 points. Boo ya.

Slower blogging this weekend

2006-09-01T13:51:00.000-07:00

Due to the holiday, the blog post may not be coming as hot and heavy as they have been for the past few days. I'll still attempt to through up a few posts though. We have a tradition of sorts of helping out with the balloon festival that happens here in the Springs every Labor day weekend. So the family and I will be helping out with that. Have a safe weekend!

A robot on wheels for you iPod

2006-09-01T06:46:00.000-07:00

The Japanese music robot Miuro (short for "music innovation based on utility robot technology") has got to be the best iPod accessory out there right now. I love the thought of plugging in my portable music player (for $$930, it better work on more than just an iPod) and have it follow me around playing my music. That way I don't have to keep going back to it to make adjustments or worry about being in a different room than my boom box and having the volumne way too loud just so I can hear it from a couple of rooms away. This is just so cool. For some reason it reminds me of teddy from the Speilberg movie A.I.

Apple to offer movies downloads by mid-September

2006-09-01T06:24:00.000-07:00

Apple may begin to give iTuners the ability to download full length feature films around mid-September. The trick is, it looks like they may be able to get a pretty nice discount on the wholesale price of these movies. A pretty nice discount meaning $14.99 for a brand new movie in this case. This currently undercuts the discount that WalMart gets and for this, they aren't happy. How are the studios going to play this though? If they give WalMart a similar discount, there goes hundreds of millions of dollars in lost revenue. But if they don't appease WalMart, will WalMart have the cajones to apply some sort of pressure on the movie industry? Maybe by possibly not releasing certain titles or by delaying the release of others on their shelves? Who knows. I think Business Week is making too big of a deal out of this. Sure iTunes will be selling movies at a cheaper price than WalMart but not everyone has made the full transition into the digital age just yet. I don't think that people will all of a sudden stop buying DVDs from Walmart and to just start downloading them and burning them to a DVD. Not everyone has a video iPod yet so WalMart still has time. On the other side of that coin though is the fact that a lot of people will be making the move to downloading their movies over the net over the next few years and when they do, who's going to be the flagship property that has a rep for letting their customers download awesome quality movies at affordable prices? If Apple gets it's way, that property could be iTunes and that is what WalMart shouldn't want. Either way, I still want to be able to download a new release the day it comes out in theaters. I won't get my wish anytime in the foreseeable future but I know that day is coming. Sooner or later.

What makes Google

2006-08-31T14:17:00.000-07:00

I came across (via joel.reddit.com) a fascinating article about Google today. It's basically an inside look at how Google in many cases has built their own technology in order to best fir their needs. From the article, you get a sense of just how important open source technology has been for Google and how it's beneiftted them. We also get a sneak peek (pictured) at that huge globe they have on display that shows queries being ran thru Google in real-time. What I would give to see this in person. Everytime I hear it, it just sounds so wickedly cool. Anyway, what I dug was how the article touched upon what Google has built and how they use it. Like their custom web server:

Google created its own Web server instead of using the open source Apache Web server, which underpins more than 60% of Web sites. Google's Web server can run on more machines and balance workloads among servers more effectively than Apache for Google's large code base, which contains lots of dependencies among programs, DiBona says. The company's approach to software like the Common Gateway Interface standard for linking databases to dynamic Web pages may be harder to use than with Apache, but it runs faster. "If we can eke out 10% to 20% better performance, we can save a lot of power, AC, and people," DiBona says.

Or thier application that tracks job applicants:

A tracking system automatically pulls information on job applicants, gives a hiring manager a job candidate's resumé, offers questions to ask, and sends the manager an e-mail after the interview asking what he or she thought of the candidate. Job interviews can involve logic questions, writing code, talking about software architecture, and generally proving to Google's brain trust that the applicant is a fast learner, since the company doesn't keep people working on the same problems for very long.

Overall, it just sounds like an awsome place to work if you're techinically minded. Good read.

Firefox 2 beta 2 now available

2006-08-31T14:07:00.000-07:00

Want to experience how Firefox 2 web browsing will work? Head on over and check out the Firefox 2 beta that was recently released. Being beta, if it breaks, don't come complaing to us :)

Faces.com

2006-08-31T07:14:00.000-07:00

Austrailian-born social networking site Faces.com seems to be positioning itself as a more colorful, multimedia-friendly site than the many other SoNet (short for social networking) sites out there (ie Myspace). While the site itself isn't new (you can view previous versions here), it's currently relaunching it's brand so to speak.

Now, you can easily share your photos and music or enable others to use widgets of your data on their sites. The business model is similar to the flickr business model. You can upload whatever you want but with a free account, you have limits on storage space and bandwidth. For $25.00 you can upgrade to a pro account which gives you unlimited space and bandwidth.

What's also notable about this SoNet site is it's music sharing capability. You can basically create your own playlist of your favorite songs and you can take that playlist and throw it up on your site. The MySpace crowd would dig this but this could also be of use on blogs. They also plan on building a music store service, so, I'm assuming, a person can purchase a song they may be listening to on the playlist you have playing on your site. Very cool. They're also supposed to be adding photo editing and the ability to upload from your mobile.

[noticed on mashable]

Wall mounted aquarium..

2006-08-31T07:08:00.000-07:00

I wish I had one of these in my cube right now. I almost feel calmer just looking at it.

The iCarta, iPod on your toilet roll

2006-08-31T06:59:00.000-07:00

For a device that sits on your roll of toilet, it sure does sound noble doesn't it? I mean, the iCarta? Sounds like something you should use on your next expedition...expedition to the toilet! This is too funny, the one product description that seemed a little "ick" to me was this one:

4 Integrated high performance moisture-free speakers deliver exceptional clarity and high quality sound

Moisture-free! I don't even want to know. I guess it doesn't hurt to be safe. That's better than them not being moisture free and blowing up right next to you while you're on the can.

[from fosfor]

Light up your faucet

2006-08-31T06:50:00.000-07:00

If your bathroom needs a little sprucing up, check out these Blue LED Faucet lights from the geek heaven known as ThinkGeek. This picutre just looks soo cool. Check out images of the lit up faucet in use and there's even some video . I would love to install this without telling my wife and just watch her use it for the first time at 2 in the morning when she has to go to the bathroom. Priceless.

[by way of fosfor]

High capacity USB flash drives coming from Toshiba

2006-08-31T06:02:00.000-07:00

Toshiba is set to launch four new models for their TransMemory line of USB drives. There are a few features that makes this drives stand out. First of all, these drives hold osme serious stoage, we're talking mulitple gigabytes here. The largest drive capacity-wise will be the 16 gigabyte drive that is set to be available around the end of December. The size of these drives makes it eaiser to make use of another interesting TransMemory U3 feature, the ability to store your desktop preferences and some programs on these drives so that they load up when you plug the drive into any USB friendly pc. That's only half of the coolness though, when you're done with your pgrograms and you go to remove the USB drive, the drives takes your programs and preferences with it, leaving nothing from the USB drive (neither your programs or preferences) behind on the pc you were just on. If I were a hacker, I would be all over this.

Guba to pay users

2006-08-31T05:54:00.000-07:00

Video sharing site and YouTube competitor Guba aims to pay users who send new users their way. For every person that signs up through your link (which could be from a Guba video you posted somewhere or a link to the site you used in a post somewhere) Guba will pay you $0.25. Will it work? They're getting good blogsphere coverage for this so if anything, they're getting some free press. As far as the long term sustainability I'm not so sure. Sooner or later people are going to try and game the site and trick Guba but siging up a whole bunch of fake accounts. Also, if it does take off, is it really a good idea to pay your users when the only way you make money is from contextual text ads? I guess we'll find out.

Motion DSP makes your video look better

2006-08-31T05:43:00.000-07:00

Beginning as a project funded by the military, Motion DSP is hoping to bring their video service to the masses. Motion DSP has developed technology that improves the quality of low-quality video. Frame by frame, it compares and looks for lost pixels and fills them in if possible. Thus, making the video look a lot sharper but not changing the overall filesize by much. It supposedly doesn't work as well with jerky video or action packed, fast paced video but I would imagine that you would still get some benefit from it. They have raised $500,000 so far and the company is actively trying to score a Series A round of financing.

Apple to merge with Sun?

2006-08-31T05:35:00.000-07:00

Is that the real reason Google's CEO, Eric Schmidt, joined Apple's board? The speculation is that because of Schmidt's Sun connections, he may be the one to bring together the two companies, acting as the middle man who keeps it all together. Another reason would be that Apple is looking to get into the enterprise server side of the hardware business but they don't really have the credibility in that market to make much of a difference yet. That is where Sun would come in. Would come in if this were to ever happen. For now it remains just a rumor.

Trolltech's Linux loving Qtopia Greenphone

2006-08-30T06:32:00.000-07:00

I noticed that this as yet unreleased, interesting phone from Trolltech was announced recently and it piqued my interest so I figured I should post about it. The Qtopia Greenphone seems to be a phone that linux application developers can use to basically test out their applications on. For example, you decide you want your Linux app to work on cell phones so you go out and pick up one of these to install your beta app on.

While the Greenphone isn't intended to be a full on consumer-ready typical mobile phone, if you use a sim card, you should be able to get away with plugging your sim card into a Qtopia Greenphone and have it work. Giving you the basic phone functionlity and access to your open source beta Linux apps. For some reason I just think that is pretty cool.

Motorola to develop WiMax chipsets

2006-08-30T06:05:00.000-07:00

Motorola announced their initiative for building WiMax chipsets to include in future mobile Motorola devices:

Motorola's initial chipset will focus on core 802.16e mobile WiMAX functionality supporting voice, video, and data for low power mobile applications in handsets and modules. These first chipsets are scheduled to support commercial Motorola WiMAX devices in 2008 for carriers in North America, Japan and around the world including Sprint and others. Motorola is working with its silicon vendors on the overall fabrication of the new chipsets.

So could we be getting some WiMax goodness no earlier than 2008? Do we really have to wait that long?

Flickr's geotagging, 24 hrs later

2006-08-30T05:45:00.000-07:00

Just 24 hours after Flickr unleashed their Geotagging feature set upon the world users geotagged 1,600,000(and counting) photos. That's in just 24 hours. I think that shows that users love this feature and Flickr did right by integrating it they way they did into their site. The only real complaint seems to come from the international users, or users who are geotagging their foriegn country travelling photos. The maps in some of these out of the way places aren't as complete or dependable as the more popular locations. Flickr knows this but it's up to the Yahoo Maps team to flesh these maps out, something that Flickr reassures us that they're doing.

Flickr also added some API features to enable the pulling and adding of geo information and searching by location. There's also some new integration with the Yahoo owned Upcoming.org too. Too cool, Flickr continues to lead and innovate and just kick @ss.

Microsoft launches adCenter beta

2006-08-30T05:08:00.000-07:00

Micrisoft has invited a select few to join their just launched ContentAds beta program. For now, the ContentAds would be showing mostly on MSN owned properties which is a good way for Microsoft to sort of ease into this space and make sure they get all the kinks out first, before rolling it out to the whole world. I said mostly MSN properties because that's the kind of verbage they used so the ContentAds have a chance of showing up on a non-MSN site. I hope it goes well for them, Google is so far adhead in this space it's not even funny.

Download ebooks free, courtesy of Google

2006-08-30T04:57:00.000-07:00

Google will begin to let users download and/or print classic novels and other public domain books. Users will not be able to download any sort of copyrighted materials so there shouldn't be too big of a stink made about this from the book makers themselves. At least not on the same level as when they started indexing books for their book service. I did a quick search and found one title to download as a pdf, "The Inroduction to Dante's Inferno". Nice. Could this be the beginnings of something much larger that is to come later? I can't wait until I can download any book I want in either text or audio format. That would be ideal.

Google CEO joins the Apple board

2006-08-30T04:53:00.000-07:00

Google's CEO Eric Schmidt joins Apple's board of directors and everyone freaks out. I don't think this will lead to any big product changes or strategy shifts for either of the two companies, but they now have an obvious bond of sorts which could help them take on Microsoft.

Universal to give their music away for FREE!

2006-08-29T09:19:00.000-07:00

Upcoming music service SpiralFrog (so new they don't even have a "coming soon" site yet) has apparently got Universal to hop onboard their free music train. This is big news because Universal has the largest catalog of music and they're partnering up with this music startup that is offering FREE music downloads. That's right, free as in beer. How is SprialFrog going to stay in business? Well, the service itself is going to be ad supported. Apparently, they did some reseach on this and found that users wouldn't mind watching some ads in order to get some free content.

I'm intested to see exactly how they're going to structure this. Will it be a video or flash advert that you have to watch before you get into the site or will it be specialized to the point that before you can get to a certain artist's page, you have to watch an ad for their upcoming concert or an ad to buy some of this artist's merchandise. I think the more specialized system would be the way to go but I'm just throwing out guesses at this point. With that being said, a lot of people are going to be watching SpiralFrog closely to see how their business progresses. Me included.

Podango puts a spin on podcasts

2006-08-29T09:03:00.000-07:00

Podango is going to make listening to podcasts a little more like listening to the radio. Although in this case it would be more like a station personalized to your tastes that only includes what you want to hear. From techcrunch:

Podango will recruit station directors, who in turn will recruit podcasters for their channels, manage the channel using an Ajax drag and drop admin interface, and help recruit advertisers. The hope is that listeners will gain from having a person select the best podcasts for a given category as well as avoid dead air time since shows will be queued one-after-another. Podcasters will gain an audience. Station Directors will have a chance to make Â$25K to $250K a year or more.

Once they launch, their service could pick up pretty quickly, I can already think of a few channels I would subscribe to. This could also make it easier for advertisers to sneak ads inbetween shows. This is good for the podcasters themselves, which will open up a revenue stream for them and make it easier to monitize their content. That's always good. As long as the ads don't get to current radio level proportions, I'll be happy :)

A new way to look at Google'sonline Office suite

2006-08-29T07:21:00.000-07:00

Here's another way to look at why Google could be trying to achieve with their whole online suite of office like products, and it makes pretty good sense. Basically, Google isn't trying to replace Microsoft's Word of Excel with their Google Spreadsheet and Writely (and other office-type web apps), but they're aiming to make it easier to embed data from these apps into other applications. Similar to how basically everyone now an days is embedding YouTbe videos into their MySpace sites and/or blog posts. I never really thought of these Google apps in this context but it does make sense. Wouldn't it be great to pull some data out of a Google Spreadsheet and embed it into a blog post or someother site? Giving you that basic spreadsheet functionality in your site? You can kind of already see that this is the direction Google is heading towards with Writely and how you can integrate it into your blog. These type of paste-it functionality you can't really get from desktop apps. Each desktop app isn't it's own server that has it's own API that it could use to do this. Could a desktop app communicate back to a main server and provide this functionality? Perhaps, and maybe that's where Ray Ozzie is going to take Microsoft. Who knows but this age of easy embedability is going to create all kinds of interesting solutions.

Ebay partners with Google

2006-08-29T05:56:00.000-07:00

Ebay has choosen Google to help it sell international advertising that non-US users would see. While that's a big deal in itself (it kind of makes Microsoft's Facebook deal seem puny), it may also be a way for eBay to hopefully jumpstart Skype's earnings potential. You see, what Google will also be doing is giving these users who see these ads the oppotunity to call the advertisers directly through their pc via Skype, as opposed to having the users just click-through and vist that advertiser's website. The problem is, not everyone wants to make calls through their pc just yet:

But most of these tests so far, including those by Google, are focused on calling using regular phones, rather than calling by PC using services like Skype. Indeed, eStara, a company that provides pay-per-call advertising technology to companies including Verizon’s SuperPages.com unit, offers both telephone and PC calling options. It has found that only 10 to 15 percent of people choose to talk using their computers, and that this proportion is not increasing.

Ouch. Hopefully the way Google integrates these ads in eBay will give eBay some hope that Skype can generate the big bucks they bought it for.

The Nokia N93 camcorder phone gets reviewed

2006-08-29T05:46:00.000-07:00

The way out of my price range Nokia N93 (£545) gets reviewed here. The phone has some nice features and the video stablization works pretty well, but when you go to snap a picutre, there's still that pause from the time you click the button till the time the phone actually snaps the picutre. I hate that. Other than that the phone looks like it's a pretty good little mobile. The 640 x 480, 30 fps video quality is pretty good. It looks a bit too bulky for my tastes since I sometimes like to just toss my mobile in my pocket. I don't think I would look right walking aroud with this bulky device bulging out from my pants pocket.

Store your iPod earbuds with the earBuddy

2006-08-29T05:39:00.000-07:00

This stylish keychain earbud holder comes to you from sendstation for only $14.95. It comes in the orange/siler pictured here and black. Although they say the earbuds are for the iPod earbuds, I doubt they'll hunt you down if you use them for some other ear phones.

Pre-Order Microsoft Windows Vista right this second

2006-08-29T05:36:00.000-07:00

If you are such a Microsoft fanatic that you've been anixously awaiting the moment you could purchase Microsoft's next offering, Windows Vista, fret no more. You can now pre-order the Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate DVD-Rom on Amazon for $399 ($259 for the upgrade). There, they have the shipping date listed January 30th, 2007.

ATI recalls the ATI TV Wonder 650 graphic card

2006-08-29T05:23:00.000-07:00

Apparently, ATI has recalled the just released ATI TV Wonder 650 graphic cards due to an unknown problem. Unknown just because ATI hasn't officially said anything yet. Rumor has it, that the cards just didn't work as expected:

The majority of the recall seems to affect Best Buy stores, where an ATI insider has noted that there is a problem with the boards. An ATI insider told DailyTech "the TV Wonder 650's have been removed and were mostly in Best Buy chains. They claimed to have 40 channels, but only about 30% to 50% of them worked."

The similar 200 models do not seem to be affected because, well, they're still in stores.

Logitec's Skype-enabled phone

2006-08-29T05:18:00.000-07:00

Just released in Japan is the new WiFi enabled Skype-ready LAN WSPH01WH phone from Logitech. It uses a b or g wireless modes and does not require you to be hooked up to a pc to use it. If I could still read some Japanese, I might be able to tell you some more information. But I can't so I won't :)

Flickr releases geotagging

2006-08-29T05:09:00.000-07:00

Now you can easily geotag your photos in flickr as easy as a dragging your photos and dropping them on your desired location. The accuracy of where you drop them depends on how zoomed in you are or not. Flickr is also goign to clean up the tags for the photos that were previously geotagged via third party tools. To geotag your photos, head into flickr's Organizr and you'll see the new map section. I f you just want to check out what's been geotagged, head on over to the new flickr map page and browse away.

KidSmart smoke detector's for cheap!

2006-08-29T05:05:00.000-07:00

Being that I just blogged about these KidSmart vocal smoke detectors recently, I figured I should also post that a pack of two of these smoke detectors are on sale for today only on Woot for $14.99...