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Thursday, 9 Nov 2006

ViaTalk Says "Take A Test-Drive!"

If you're sick of your current phone company, or maybe even your current Broadband VoIP telephone company, it's time to give ViaTalk Broadband Phone Service a look-see!

ViaTalk is a newer debt-free company from New York (that's in the USA, by the way), that is currently offering VoIP service in over 2200 metro markets in all of these United States.

They have a full featured telephone service including all of the goodies that we've come to know and love. For just $16 a month, you can get their VT_UNLIMITED plan, which includes e911, voicemail, Caller ID, Call Waiting, Call Forwarding, Call Return (*69), and free "in-network" calling.

They're currently running a special for 6 free months, with no initial equipment fees, and fast and easy installation. ...and if you're a little skeptical, they're BBBonline certified - for your protection.

They are a USA based company focused on delivering broadband telephone service to those of us in the US, but who knows, maybe they'll expand to the Eurpoean market, soon.

Their website is easy to navigate and get things started, so you should take a look. I, myself, love VoIP, so I'm interested in their offering to see what might be for me. Since my wife and I both work at home, the more solutions the better!


ViaTalk


[Sponsored Post - Disclaimer]

| Comments [0] | #Technology

LifeSize Brings Larger Than Life Video Conferencing

Video conferencing is something that many companies have been doing for years. I've been in the IT industry for many years and have found my way to many conferences both in the office on TV screens, as well as with little tiny web-cams between collegues. The biggest problem, for me, at least has been the quality of the conference. Sometimes the picture is good, sometimes it isn't. Sometimes the sound is just a mess. Often times, forget trying to read those slides they transmit!

The company, LifeSize, has an interesting Video Conferencing System out there for you corporate warriors who would much rather not travel and still have efficient meetings. LifeSize Room is a HDTV for your video communications needs. It combines quality and user simplicity to make remote communications a more productive, and realistic, experience. The fully integrated system connects to most displays in any size conference room and provides crystal clear video clarity, along with high fidelity audio - which, I think I already mentioned, is key!




LifeSize Room includes embedded 4-way HD multipoint capabilities to connect several participants. The HD video communications run at 1280 x 720 res, with 30 frames per second. Along with the HD PTZ camera, you can use the solution in single or dual monitor display modes. It comes integrated with a "super wide-band speakerphone" so you can acually hear everyone in the room (gone are those awful conference room phones!)!

It works with today's (and some of the recent yesterday's) standards-based support for H.264, H.263 and H.239, along with embedded 4-way multipoint with continuous presence. It uses IP to ISDN and V.35 connectivity with the LifeSize Networker enhanced gateway agent.

You can top this all off with a simplistic user interface and dual-stream support for sharing PC and multimedia content. You can even manage everything through LifeSize Control software interface, including interfaces with products like Microsoft Outlook scheduling; which I basically live out of, these days.

So, if you're ready to check out a real corporate communications video conferencing platform, take a look at LifeSize.

[Sponsored Post - Disclaimer]

| Comments [0] | #Technology

Pictures Are Worth Lots Of Tags

Jia Li, a mathematician at Pennsylvania State University, in State College, who created a piece of software with colleague James Wang, a member of the College of Information Sciences and Technology, have started to find a way for pictures to be tagged by computers.

The new software, called ALIPR (Automatic Linguistic Indexing of Pictures), uses a combination of statistical techniques to process an image and assign it a batch of 15 words, arranged in order of perceived relevance. These words may refer to a specific object within the picture, such as a "person" or "car," or to a more general theme, such as "outdoors" or "manmade."

"Recognizing what an image is about semantically is one of the most difficult problems in AI," says Jia Li. "Objects in the real world are 3-D," Li explains. "When showing up in an image, they can vary vastly in color, shape, gesture, size, and position, and a computer usually has no prior knowledge about the variations."

ALIPR analyses an image pixel by pixel and applies a novel statistical method to calculate the probability that a particular word may describe its content. This involves examining the distribution of color and texture within the image and comparing these features with a stored database of words and images. Li and Wang trained their program using a commercial database containing around 50,000 images that had already been tagged.

Recently, they tested ALIPR on 5,411 previously unseen images available on the popular picture-sharing site Flickr. For 51 percent of these images, the first word generated by ALIPR appeared in users' tags. The program also produced at least one accurate word 98 percent of the time. The researchers employed images made publicly accessible by Flickr users, which were also openly accessible through Flickr's own Application Programming Interface.

[Via: Technology Review]

| Comments [5] | #Software

Get Me A Watch, LIKE Paris'

The people at Like.com (Riya) have come up with a really cool idea. You know how many times you look at a picture and you say to your significant other "I wish I had [some item in the picture] like that! Buy me that!" Well, now it's so much easier to get some help finding what you wanted, or they wanted.





Enter Like.com. Like can do things such as take a segment of a picture of say Paris Hilton's watch and give you a better idea of what it is by using some version of their recognition engine (which they used to use for facial recognition) to create a shopping search engine. The service is pretty cool, really. It lets you find a product that looks similar to something you’ve seen or can describe. It doesn't stop there, though. You can further customize the search and ranking by playing with sliders. For example, if you liked Tom Cruise's shoes, you can do a Like search on the picture, it finds a simliar pair of shoes and then says, "OK, what is most important to you about what you like about the shoes: Color? Shape? Size?" Now, that's something cool.

Like.com is the first true visual search engine, where the contents of photos are used to search and retrieve similar items.

Maybe this technology isn't much more than some silliness and fun at the moment, but in the future, this might have some great capabilities for helping us figure out crimes (with more facial recognition), when someone can only say "It was a large blue truck." The possibilities could be remarkable!

[Via: Red Ferret Journal]

| Comments [1] | #Websites

Metalosis Maligna: A Documentary

Metalosis Maligna is a fictitious documentary, by Floris Kaayk. It's a story about an amazingly "disabling disease which affects patients who have been fittedwith medical implants. Sourcing from such implants a wild metal growth ultimately transforms human patients into mechanical looking constructions."





Whoa! Did anyone see that coming? Is the Matrix really so far away? I think you should decide.

Watch the video.

This stuff is just so cool when you're a geek, isn't it?

[Via: WMMNA]

| Comments [1] | #Movies

BBC Reports: Copying Own CDs should be legal

In a report by the BBC (way back around the first of November - I haven't gotten out site reviewing much), there is news about how "a think-tank has called for outdated copyright laws to be rewritten to take account of new ways people listen to music, watch films and read books."

The article (BBC Report) discusses how the digital age may now have us re-thinking the way we regard copyright laws. It's true that things have definitely changed since the early days of copyright when "all rights reserved" had made perfect sense. In those early days, you had more print material than anything, and digitally retrieving anything was not even quite a dream as of yet.

It's good to see there are "thinkers" out there whom actually agree with the technologically advanced folks, as well as the teenagers (Sometimes, one in the same).

[Via: My Buddies At MobileRead]

| Comments [1] | #Business

Tuesday, 7 Nov 2006

XBOX Live: We're As Good As Apple!

Some time last night, the story broke that Microsoft will add downloadable movies and TV shows to the Xbox Live marketplace. Mr. Xbox 360 himself, Peter Moore, delivered the news that will make XBOX360ers all happy.

From Microsoft:

Movies and TV on your Xbox

Microsoft Corp. November 6 announced agreements with CBS, MTV Networks, Paramount Pictures, Turner Broadcasting System Inc. (TBS Inc.), Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment to bring an initial lineup of over 1,000 hours of hit TV shows and movies to Xbox 360™ gamers in the U.S. by the end of the year. Furthermore, Xbox 360 will be the first gaming console to bring standard and high-definition TV shows and movies via digital distribution over the Internet directly to the consumer.

Beginning Nov. 22, on its first anniversary, Xbox 360 will be the first gaming console in history to provide high-definition TV shows and movies directly to gamers in their living rooms. Xbox 360 gamers will have access to the full-length TV shows as downloads to own and movies to rent via download from the Xbox Live® network, the worldwide leader in online distribution of high-definition gaming and entertainment content. This announcement also brings with it several additional "firsts":

* For the first time, consumers will get an integrated gaming and entertainment experience on a gaming console that includes downloadable high-definition TV shows and movies. This new full-length content adds to the ever-expanding number of choices gamers have on their Xbox 360, whether they want to play games or play a movie on a disc or as a download in high definition or standard definition.
* For the first time CBS will deliver high-definition download-to-own TV shows including "CSI," "Jericho," "Numb3rs" and remastered "Star Trek" episodes; gamers can buy them and watch them repeatedly.
* For the first time on any platform, NASCAR.COM will deliver download-to-own condensed versions of select NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series races from "Race Rewind."
* For the first time, the Ultimate Fighting Championship will make 50 of its most intense fights available for download as well as select episodes from the original season of "The Ultimate Fighter" reality series.


The curiousity I have is how much content will their partners be delivering from the start? I'll assume that many companies will want to tap both markets of iTunes and Xbox Live to make sure people can buy their wares for iPods as well as Xboxes and the upcoming Zune. It will be an interesting business model, going forward. I'm sure I can find some stats and create a humble view of the world, here. Hmmm... I wonder who might find this interesting, other than me?

| Comments [1] | #Technology

Saturday, 4 Nov 2006

Wal-Mart's Smiley May Frown

The days of the Wal-Mart Roll-back smiley may be numbered. It seems that the branding efforts of Wal-Mart, using the Smiley Face, may have gone over like a lead balloon with their new ad agency.

Mr. Smiley has already been torn from the uniforms of employee vests and Walmart.com. It's kind of interesting that Wal-Mart is planning to drop Smiley, based on it's advertising agency. Wasn't Wal-Mart in a big shake-up with a French company over the rights to use the smiley? I think they should use Mickey Mouse, instead. ;)




| Comments [29] | #Business

Friday, 3 Nov 2006

nVidia GeForce 8800: Godzilla Card!

So far gone are the days of those cheesy video cards with 3 "colors" and low res visuals. The demand for more and more speed, shades of color, sharpness, and screen real-estate have brought the fantastic world of video adapters to some amazing heights. Now, here's the thing: with great speed, comes great space.

Check out the latest GeForce 8800 graphics adapter. It's got 768MB of GDDR3 memory clocked at 900MHz (at least the one that Daily Tech tested) on board, packing quite a punch! They tested it against the Radeon X1950 XTX and it beat it in all gaming benchmarks. With all of that horsepower, it's suggested that one be using at least a 450 Watt power supply on their gamer box.





It's a beast, though, taking up two PCI Express power connectors and two expansion slots. The card also has two SLI bridge connectors which would allow you to set up a three-card system.

[Via:Daily Tech]

| Comments [6] | #Hardware

Zune.NET Goes Live!




I'm sure you're all excited to hear that the ZUNE.NET website is live. Yes, that's right, it's official, Microsoft has opened it up, and now you can "see it loud and clear" while they "welcome [you] to the social."

On top of the good news that Zune now has an officially opened website, there's cool new Zune-Gear showing up, already! Check out the latest "Zune AV" stuff - very similiar to the current offerings for Apple iPods, fo sho!





There's all kinds of new stuff for the Zune, including Zune Car Pack ($80) and Zune Travel Pack ($100), as well as the Zune Home A/V Pack (pictured).

Looks like Microsoft is definitely ready to deliver on this one!

| Comments [0] | #Hardware

Wednesday, 1 Nov 2006

Turntable Review: Been There Before

So, I'm reading one of my favorite blogs (Gizmodo), and there's a really cheeky article about this Firebox turntable. Some friends of mine, and I, were talking about these things a long time ago. In fact, I pointed this thing out when I saw it on the Target Website in EARLY Spring! So, I figured I'd rant about the blog post, because it was a little annoying to someone my age.

See, the device is actually pretty cool. You can rip your old Vinyl via this USB connected belt-drive turntable and free "open source" Audacity software.





Now, the article has all of these silly comments about us old people trying to find our 18-year-old past via old vinyl. I think what some "youngsters" don't understand is that this isn't just a way to reminisce about our past, but it's a way to preserve those grooves of music and voice that aren't available in the latest forms of playback. Some people might even remember the ability to cut your own records in little booths at places like the Empire State Building in New York. Imagine having the ability to listen to - or preserve - the voice of your long-since-gone family members and friends?

Sure, sometimes it's about listening to your high-school jazz band playing on that old scratchy record, but sometimes it's more than that. It's preservation of memories, or irreplaceable content, and it's not all silly.

| Comments [1] | #Technology

MCETunes: MCE iTunes DRM Playback

If you have Windows Media Center Edition, and you still have an iTunes library 'cause you like your iPod, and don't have one of those fancy PlaysForSure devices, wouldn't you like to be able to hear your DRM'd material through WMCE? Of course you would! Enter MCETunes!

So, what is this MCE Tunes, of which you speak? Well, MCE Tunes is a special plug-in developed exclusively for Microsoft Windows Media center which enables it to play iTunes music (m4a and m4p) files right from the easy-to-use Media Center music navigation interface. Now you're asking: is this legal? Absolutely! MCE Tunes does not "decrypt" any iTunes music and is 100% legal. Your PC must be authorized to play all protected music before you can use MCE Tunes.





So, how does this bad-boy work? It's pretty simple, really. You install MCE Tunes (though, I know). After the installation has completed, there will be a playlist sharing utility which will appear while you're in WMCE. You then select how you want your iTunes music shared with your Media Center music library. After you click 'Share' your music will appear in Media Ceter. If you constantly add a lot of new iTunes music, an automatic sharing option is also provided.

Guess what, you can't use the currentversion of MCE Tunes to fedd your Media Center Extenders; like that beautiful XBox 360 (Sorry, Kevin!) But, the company does expect to let their registered users know first, when it does, and give them a free update to an extender-enabled version automatically.

Just another cool way to get it all in one 10-foot place!

[Via: Automated Home]

| Comments [0] | #Software

Blockbuster: Now With More Choices

Today, Blockbuster Inc. announced that it is giving online renters unprecedented access to movies through the introduction of BLOCKBUSTER Total Access.™ This is Blockbuster's movie rental program that gives its active online customers the option of returning their DVDs through the mail OR exchanging them at one of their more than 5,000 participating BLOCKBUSTER® stores for free in-store movie rentals.





This new program, which only available from Blockbuster and not it competitors , means Total Access subscribers don't need to wait to get DVDs through the mail. So, if you've burned your way through the first disc of "Lost: Season Two" and want to get to the next disc before you forget everything (like me!), you can run out to your local participating Blockbuster and grab the next Disc in line! You may, in fact, double the number of movies you can access each month. Especially since their recent upgrade to the online site has gone through some very rough starts, but seems to be stablized. ... Though, it's a little slow... then again, I shouldn't talk.

[Via: eHomeUpgrade]

| Comments [1] | #Business

Tapping Rhythms Just Got Fun

Given that I'm drummer, I love things connected to drums and drumming; technology is no exception. So, when I saw this coolness from Hammacher Schlemmer, I thought... Neat!!





Hammacher Schlemmer has a 'finger drum mouse pad' that can produce 8 kinds of percussion instruments including bass, snare, two rack toms, a floor tom, hi-hat, crash, and ride cymbals using only your fingers. In demonstration mode, you can accompany six cool pre-set patterns. You can even have some more customized fun by recording up to 30 of your own rhythms. Included are volume and tempo controls. It measures 9" L x 8" W x 21/2" H. (1/2 lb.) and runs on four AAA batteries.

Now I'll never stop making noise at my desk! Thank goodness for headphones!

| Comments [0] | #Hardware

Tuesday, 31 Oct 2006

Jot Got Googled!

If you were planning on creating a Jot account today, don't bother! It appears our buds over at Google have been in M & A mode and have picked up the service for themselves!





It appears that there must be a lot of great ideas embedded in the throws of Jot and YouTube. So why not scoop them up quick, before it's too late, right?

You can check out the FAQ on the site to get a better idea of what's going on, if you're interested.

By the way, I've been trying to blog this article for the past three hours and have had terrible performance issues with my host. If this doesn't get resolved soon, Paul's Blog is moving!

| Comments [1] | #Business

HomeSeer's New Pro-100 Series 2 Controller

My buddies over at HomeSeer have been making great products from the time they started. Rich has always had a great architectural design to his code, and his latest incarnation of his early dream has just seen an upgrade. The new Pro-100 Series 2 Home Controller.

Don't be fooled by the simplistic exterior, this box packs a punch! Included inside the small footprint (11”wide x 7” deep x 2” high) unit (which and can installed or mounted in a variety of locations) is

• Processor: 1 GHZ
• Fans: None
• Flash: 1152 MB; Memory: 512 MB DDR
• OS: Embedded (Windows XP Optional)
• Serial Ports: 2
• USB Ports: 2
• IEEE 1394 Ports: 2
• Video Out: VGA, S video, composite
• Video In: S video, composite
• Network: 10/100 Ethernet
• Audio In/Out
• SPF Out
• PS/2 Keyboard & Mouse ports





A nice little device that's able to communicate with many automation tools such as the older X-10 and the newer ZWave products. It works with many of the communications devices to those systems, too, like the Ocelot, JDS Stargate, and the much used CM controllers from X-10.

I wonder if I can get my pal Mark Colgrove to give me a loaner unit so I can do a review? I had, a while ago, promised I would do a write up of their Homeseer 2.0 product just after they released it and I interviewed Mark. I never wrote up the article because my ability to write the comparative article never surfaced (the company I'd planned to talk about never got back to me).

So, maybe I'll talk to Mark again and get the scoop and do a nice little review of their latest product. I love the HomeSeer stuff and have been using it for years. It's well architected and communicates with so many pieces of software and automation tools. A nice 10-foot interface via Windows Media Center doesn't hurt, either!

The device is available December 2006.

[Via: eHomeUpgrade and Homeseer]

| Comments [0] | #Hardware

Say Your Prayers, and Listen To God(smack)

So, you think you're Holier than Thou, huh? Well, now you can prove it, and listen to your favorite tunes in a Flava-Flav-esque DAP that shows your Christianity! ... even if you didn't want it to.





Man Works Design studio of Russia has created a DAP called the 'Saint B.' It features an OLED display, playback in the usual mp3 and WMA formats, and a USB port on the bottom for that quick-connect, copy/sync and pray design. The designer at the company said that "...the product design was inspired from a cross necklace." Hmmm... Ya think?

[Via: AVing]

| Comments [0] | #Hardware

Vista Packaging: New Look, What About What's Inside?





The new Microsoft: Cool packaging. So, what about what's inside the box? Inside these boxes are some pretty cool products from Microsoft, I think. I've had a chance to play with Office 2007, and Vista, and find them both to be quite nice, really. I think they've done a nice job on the packaging, as well. Though, I'm hoping we're not paying through the nose for the late delivery and cool boxes.

Quote from Microsoft: "Designed to be user-friendly, the new packaging is a small, hard, plastic container that's designed to protect the software inside for life-long use. It provides a convenient and attractive place for you to permanently store both discs and documentation. The new design will provide the strength, dimensional stability and impact resistance required when packaging software today. Our plan is to extend this packaging style to other Microsoft products after the launch of Windows Vista and 2007 Office system."

Hmmm... OK. So, we're concerned about the packing that most of us would, otherwise, prefer to dispense? My thoughts are, why not just work on making the product its best, and deliver it CHEAP! I usually pack my discs into one of those DVD/CD sleeve pouch things, so I can store more and carry them around. Documentation? Who reads documentation? ...and if you do, why are you using the awesome search capabilities of MSN Desktop Search, or something?

Anyway... it's nice to see how pretty and inviting this stuff will look on the shelves, right?

| Comments [0] | #Software

Maxian's Sleek PMP

If you haven't gotten your hands on a video iPod, or aren't pining for the love of the Zune, then maybe you'll be interested in this very sleek looking PMP from Maxian.

The Maxian D900 "Neo" is a nice looking PMP, but has that one flaw I can't stand with most of these devices: SD cards! I'm sure I've said this before. Over, and over. HARD DISKS, PEOPLE! With that rant aside, the player has a beautiful 4.3-inch screen and a clever shiny black body design sporting 800 x 480 pixel resolution, 400:1 contrast ratio, and 200 cd/m² brightness. Nice.





Built-in speakers, DMB tuner, Burr Brown DAC, and a tilt-stand. The device also has WinCE 5.0 under the hood, so and features an 802.11b/g radio (which the Zune will have and we know Apple is eyeing that up for their next release). I wonder if you'll be doing email or web browsing like on the PSP?

Format support is WMV, DivX, XviD, MPEG-2, and H.264 video. Audio channel gives you MP3, OGG, FLAC, and APE playback.

[Via: Engadget]

| Comments [0] | #Hardware

Special Edition Zune

My friends over at Gizmodo found some cool intel on the new special limited edition Microsoft Zune. Based on pricey West Coast fashionista only designs, you'll beg like a dog for this device. It looks like MS made some kind of deal with Union, UNDFTD and Stüssy, that will be branding these new colors of Zune with logos from the fashion gods. Online only, though, and through an auction.






These Zunes are shipped with a pair of Shure E5c headphones, JBL On Tour portable speakers and a Zero Halliburton case. Yes, a Halliburton. Indestructible beauty! But if you want one, you'll have to have lots of money to burn, because only TWO special Zunes are being made available to each store.

Just to quote Gizmodo: "Oh, and just in case you're wondering, I've been informed that the proceeds for the auction goes straight to the store's coffers, so don't think you're helping out Dust Bowl victims or anything."

That's pretty sad, really. I mean, yeah, we live in the land of opportunity and no-one is in business to not make money, but, c'mon, they could have done SOMETHING useful with the ridiculous cash they're going to make from these coveted pieces of tech.

[Via: Gizmodo]

| Comments [0] | #Hardware

USB AA-Cell Batteries

A couple of months ago, my friend pointed me to this UK website that had these neat USB rechargable batteries. Yes, that's right, you heard me correctly. Well, I was poking around, today, and found that Engadget had a "review" of the Batteries from TrustedReviews. So, I thought I'd nick the post and share it with anyone who finds my blog more readable than Engadget! Ha!

The USB AA-Cell batteries were reviewed by over at TrustedReviews. Apparently, they've recently checked out these bad-boys and have given them a "positive side" review (that's battery humor for you electronics geeks out there). After charging a set of them for use with their Fuji FinePix cam, TrustedReviews found that it took over 500 snapshots for the batteries to give up. By comparison, a set of Duracell Alkaline batteries only lasted for "a few pictures." Now, I'd be curious what "a few pictures" really is, but...





The review concludes: "For a combination of convenience and eco-friendliness then the USB Cells get the thumbs up. Once a wider range becomes available and if the price [$24 for a pair] can drop a little, then they'll could well do for batteries what USB memory sticks did for floppy discs and virtually kill them off."

My friend and I thought they were pretty slick, when we read about them. The issue we had with them was sort of the same as the folks at TrustedReviews: $24 a battery! Of course, if they LAST a really long time (not just that first 500 pictures) and don't pick up too much "battery memory" and suddenly can only "take a few pictures" like the alkalines do, then these are my new favorite thing! ... now if all batteries could just get lighter!

[Via: Engadget]

| Comments [3] | #Hardware

Monday, 30 Oct 2006

The Pen Is Techy-er Than The Sword

Crazy About Gadgets is selling this nifty novelty pen, just in time for the holidays! If you know me, you know I'm totally into pens and watches, so this bad boy is just fun for me. The LED Pen can scoll message across its side on its 118 character screen. Now you can say "I Love You" to your favorite sweetie from across the cubical or classroom. At $39USD, it might be a little steep for just some fun, but at least you still have a pen for when the batteries run down and you have to resort to passing notes in class, again.





Messages can scroll quickly, or (as they put it) "tortoise slow." There are also brightness controls on the barrel of the pen. Comes with black ink.

Some Specs:
• 1 Scrolling LED Message Pen
• Aluminium black ballpoint pen (replaceable cartridge)
• 3 buttons
• On/off button
• Page up
• Page down
• Adjustable scrolling speed, speeds range from 1-9
• LED brightness from 1-9
• Requires 2 AG13 batteries (included)
• Includes 2 sets of spare batteries

Hey, at worst, you can remind yourself that you forgot to send your wife flowers for your anniversary.

[ Via: The Red Ferret]

| Comments [2] | #Accessories

PS3 Is A PowerSucker!

Sony's new PS/3 is due out in a couple of short weeks, and we're learning some interesting things pretty late in the game. From what the folks over at Gizmodo have to report (from other sources), the PS/3 bleeds your power plug a whopping 380 watts of power! Maybe this doesn't mean a whole lot to you, but when you put things into perspective, you'll notice that the XBOX 360 consumes half of that, and the PS/2 pulled a mere 45 watts.

I don't know about you, but when it comes to my computers and gaming consoles, they shouldn't be sucking down more power than my microwave! I was truly hoping that the new PS/3 would be even more power-efficient than the previous model. I realize there's a whole lot more stuff going on under the hood, but hardware manufacturers should be keeping a close eye on energy savings.






According to Kou Shiota, a key member of the Wii design team, the Wii will have outstanding power efficiency: "With a smaller chip and minimised power consumption, Wii can be left on 24 hours a day." Note that Shiota didn't indicate the exact wattage used by the Wii. What should be noted is that Nintendo's Wiiconnect24 service requires the Wii to be left running 24 hours a day. Hmmm, looks like there goes your power-saving advantage with the Wii.

Oh what a tangled web the entertainment console weaves!

[Via: Gizmodo]

| Comments [0] | #Hardware

YouTube Get Legal-er

It was bound to happen, wasn't it? Once Google (who I thought was cool) got a hold of YouTube, suddenly a whole bunch of content disappears. 30,000 clips, to be close-enough to exact.

The BBC reported that YouTube cut 30,000 illegal clips from its online inventory on or around October 20th. To take a short quote: "YouTube cuts 30,000 illegal clips (Fri, 20 Oct 2006 11:43:25 GMT) Web service YouTube removes nearly 30,000 files after Japanese complaints of copyright infringement."

The Japanese? Isn't most of Asia where all of the illegal copies of software, movies, music, and applications? I'm willing to be a big man and actually take my lumps for the comment, when I have some stats (other than the general media) to prove me wrong. So, if I'm wrong, let me know. I'll be happy to retract my comment.

Oh, well... so much for having fun on the web with YouTube! I guess I'll have to find some way to get my hands on that "Weird Al" video that doesn't exist in digital form that's purchasable!

| Comments [1] | #Technology

Tech Takes The Slow Road

In 2004, I wrote this in an article:

"The Register has an article about a new 80GB drive from Toshiba. Toshiba says it will ship an 80GB 1.8in hard drive in Q3 2005 - a year after it introduced the 60GB version that can currently to be found inside the iPod Photo."

That was a quote derived from someone on The Register.

I was just realizing how amazingly slow some technology has been to reach consumers. If we, in December of 2004, were talking about Toshiba delivering an 80G drive for iPods (and reducing this size - which it has!), then what took it two years to show up in the device? I mean, honestly, the tech was there, so obviously, there was some kind of silly hold-up (or hold-out) by Apple and/or Toshiba in the process.

This type of thing further proves what my father always said to me when I was a boy: "You can never satisfy the manufacturers. They've got technology available and developed for the next 30 years. It will take that long for many of the current things on their plate to show up."

No truer words could be said! With Dad's great wisdom, I can see how this plays out in business more and more, especially in the tech field. So, is it that they're trying to recoup the costs of development on the earlier incarnations, or is it that they just want to tease us year after year with mild updates to technology so that they stay far ahead of the curve? Is it just to keep us wide-eyed when something "seemingly new" comes along?

To me, it's interesting how tech and business operate. I wonder what's still waiting in the wings? That full-wide-screen, 200GB, touch-screen, Wi-Fi, Cell-phone/PDA that fits in your pocket and weighs .001 grams?

| Comments [0] | #Hardware

Friday, 27 Oct 2006

Apple's 6G iPod? Maybe 5.7G?

Anyone remember Engadget uncovering that Apple patent in the earlier part of September? No? Well, it was the one that talked about merging some stuff together, though different patents. Well, it's back again. It's back as an updated version of the U.S. patent application Serial No. 11/367,749, and is titled "Multi-Functional Hand-Held Device."

So, what's different, you say? Maybe you don't, but humor me... Well, it isn't really that different, but they've updated some information and provide more detail and it has a picture of "the new interface," which may include various "buttons" along the edge of the bezel: "By way of example, the visual guides 180 in FIG. 4 include 'Menu,' 'Power,' 'Left,' 'Select,' 'Right,' etc. It will be appreciated that the visual guides 180 and their arrangement depicted in FIG. 4 are only exemplary.





More or fewer visual guides 180 may be provided, and the size of the visual guides 180 can be larger or smaller than the scale depicted in FIG. 4."

There's also a new portrait and landscape option described. It will get a bit of a makeover (Do-over, is more like it), coming in with an on-screen time slider, volume control, and other options that seem to be user-definable.

Interesting stuff, but I want to see and know more. Based on the minor improvements (technology teases, I call them) that Apple has been giving us with the iPod, over the years, I'm guessing that nothing Earth-shattering will happen with this new device. Granted, there'll be some design changes, but the core functionality will remain the same as the current models, I'll bet. Disk size and higher resolution (HD?!) playback would be a plus, in my opinion. ... Or maybe a version of Girus to play on it!

[Via: Engadget]

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Mediabolic "Pushes" More Out the Door!

Just released from Mediabolic is Mediabolic's Software Update Services program. It lets their customers (companies that produce devices which can install Mediabolic's code) "push" updated firmware out to their products, either with or without end-user intervention. With Software Update Services, a manufacturer can fix problems before the consumer experiences them. They can also do remote diagnostics, update DRM keys, and add new, revenue- generating applications to their installed base. In addition, Mediabolic also announced Buffalo, Inc. as the first customer to sign up for their new service. They're using it today to keep their deployed LinkTheater PC-P4 network media players up-to-date.

It's obvious that Buffalo and Mediabolic have a very close relationship, and it can be seen by the quick adaptation of Mediabolic's software updates into Buffalo's products.

Now, if I could just get my Roku Soundbridge to update and work with iTunes 7! ... I guess Roku isn't using Mediabolic's new updater... ;)

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Friday, 29 Sep 2006

I See My iTV in 2007

Apple gave us a little bit of a surprise earlier this month. They showed off a little prototype of a device they're calling the "iTV." Now, this isn't a new device idea. There have been many successful renditions of this very technology by companies like DLink, Buffalo, LinkSys, and even Microsoft. The up-side is what you can do with it that you can't do with the others: view your content from your iTunes library.

I keep an extensive collection of photos, music, and movies on my PC and network. I do this because I want it to be convenient, and I want it available in different rooms of my house, as well as on devices like my iPod. It's simple to download videos to an iPod, and I can use my Roku soundbridge to listen to my iTunes library (well, not any more... since Version 7 of iTunes, and you can't listen to your DRM'd material ... grr!), or watch stuff through my DLink DSM-320. So, why not be able to stream "high quality" (read: TV resolution) images to your 60" Plasma TV from your iTunes Library?

I think Apple made a great move here, slow as it was, so that people would actually WANT to own one of these devices and it would give people more reasons to purchase TV and Movies from iTunes. I mean, honestly, you're able to look at the materials on a device like a TV, in another room, you don't even need an iPod (just your iTV). So now there's a whole new group of people that can get in on Apple's game.

I love my iPod, I love streaming material to other rooms and through my whole-house audio system, but I'm also a fan of "Freedom" when it comes to my entertainment. Though I have purchased a number of tracks from iTunes, I have yet to do this with video materials such as TV or Movies. Granted, this is convenient. But, once it's DRM'd, I can't do anything with it, anywhere, but in iTunes. Of course, now Apple has "solved" this problem, too, haven't they?

The one issue I see is the thing that turns me off with many devices like this: you have to have your TV on to listen to music. I mean, sure, those visualizations are nice, and sure the song and artist titles are cool to see, but... sometimes, I'm out in my yard just listening and why should my TV have to be on for me to listen to music? Well, OK, so the way *I* have things, it works without the TV screen actually being on, but that may not be an option for everyone else.

It's time to sit back and wait for the early part of 2007 and see what (and how well) the iTV brings to the table.

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Monday, 25 Sep 2006

Zune or 5.5G?

Now we have some choices on either side of the fence. The two giants have "released" their latest products for the coming holiday season. It looks like Microsoft is really climbing the ranks of actually usable and supportable technology. You look at Microsoft's vision of it's operating system, office suite, and it's amazing gaming industry leader, the Xbox 360. Now there's the Zune. The Zune comes it 3 colors, white, black and brown. Sharing music wirelessly seems like a great option, but it's not without a price. You only get three listens to any song that you receive, for up to three days. After that you have the option to buy the song, unless you are on Microsoft's unlimited plan for it's media store.

Apple, on the other hand, has released a few new goodies in the iPod space. Some of the most notable differences in their latest incarnation of the full-sized iPod. The latest and greatest shows off some better screen resolution by doubling what was there before - something I've been waiting for this past year. It also boosts the brightness of the device, in addition to delivering an 80GB version. The beauty is that they've decided to lower the overall pricing by $50; which is a bonus. Let alone the upgrades to iTunes via version 7, as well as about the smallest MP3 player (the new iPod shuffle), and some funky colors and sizes for the iPod Nano/Mini.

So, what do you pick when you buy one of these things? Me, I'm partial to the iPod only because I really like the look, the technology architecture behind it, and also the fact that I have invested dollars and a zillion hours importing my library into iTunes. Now, if there wasn't anything called DRM, it would be an easy switch to something like the Zune. But, unless I want to do something illegal or just give up on the quality of the playback of some of my tracks, I can't easily give up my iTunes library for the Windows Media library. Here's where I get annoyed...

I have devices in my home that support streaming of content. Some work with iTunes, some don't. Actually, NONE of them work with iTunes 7, right now... which is annoying. Windows Media works out well if I set up a Windows Media Center Edition PC. But, I'd need hardware, time, and an OEM copy of the software. That kind of stuff takes no less than $600-$800 to do right; even with reuse of some of my hardware. So, why can't I make all of this stuff work with my NSLU2 NAS running TwonkyVision's Media Server, and make use of storage on my Red Hat box?

As you can understand, this goes in circles when you're trying to integrate your whole house into a singular interface. In the meantime, I'm going to wait and see what the Zune looks like up close, and also wait to see what the new iTV brings to the table for streaming of content to my Entertainment Center.

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