SanDisk’s web page on its Wi-Fi SD card now says that a Palm OS 5 driver will be released in the second quarter of this year. Previously, the company had said this would be available in the first quarter. [Brighthand]
Foldable Screens for E-Newspapers
Electronics giant Philips has just announced that it would be mass-producing a thin display panel that could be used to display e-newspapers and magazines downloaded from a fixed or mobile Internet link… and then rolled up or folded away…. [GearBits]
Monster plans fee-based job networking site
Monster Worldwide next month plans to launch an online community for users of its popular jobs listing site for a fee, but critics question whether the move will be successful. [CNET News.com]
I guess we’ll see how it goes… In my limited experience so far, Monster is a tough one from the job seeker end. Sure they have a crapload of jobs, but many continually resurface as “fresh” and there are just too many multi-level schemers floating around. It would be nice to get some filters going to make it more efficient.
Pepsi iTunes ad to feature teens sued by RIAA
Pepsi’s iTunes Super Bowl ad will feature about 20 teens sued by the Recording Industry Association … [MacNN]
RumorMill™: palmOne Preparing Treo 610
If true, it will finally have it all…
The first rumors of a successor to the Treo 600 smart phone have started to circulate. Supposedly, the new model will offer many of the features the current model lacks. [Brighthand]
T-Mobile Quietly Launches EDGE
Howard Forums has a thread about T-Mobile having EDGE available in at least one market…[MobileWhack]
Wireless ISPs Make Preemptive Spam Strike
Wireless operators are forming an ISP Messaging Anti-abuse Working Group to develop methods to shut down spammers before they appear on the networks, reports InfoWorld. The group plans to build a so-called “neighborhood watch” which will gather information about spammers,… [textually.org]
Home Media Madness…
I can’t stop thinking about some technological additions to our setup at home. I guess the idle time not working is starting to work on me…anyway here’s what I am thinking…
I’d like to get a used G4 tower to run as a server/media box under our desk. This would become the hub for quite a few things. First it would house the direct firewire connections to some external drives we use for music, video and backups. Second it would also run our SliMP3 server software and another server I use for a private share with friends. But last and most important it would serve as the base for a computer based DVR. I’ve been looking at both the Eyehome as well as the Formac which seems like the leader in my review so far. I found a nice comparison on the Formac site after coming to my own conclusion, but it serves as a nice competitive overview even if it is from one of the companies on the list. Seems that the products listed are not totally current or accurate, but still a good overview.
This would take a nice load off the iMac, which will be nice, but not necessary. I think it will be good to have a dedicated box for the DVR stuff so it does not get in the way of the everyday computing we do. Mostly this is to avoid any conflicts with my wife over why the computer is acting slowly…
My main issue (money aside) is that I will have to add a monitor to my setup in order to support the additional computer. The obvious choice is a flat panel, but they are more expensive than I would want to spend. I have seen some good systems which include 15 or even 17 inch flat panels on craigslist, so I’ll just need to keep on looking as I get closer to thinking about a purchase.
In addition to the capture device, I will also want to add some new cables to enable additional recording from the Time Warner DVR connected to our TV. This is across the room and will require about a 6 meter S-Video Cable (no digital out) and a similar length RCA set-up to get the audio. I’ll probably record different things on them as the TV will still be the main place we watch. It will be nice to edit commercials and digitally archive shows and movies.
I’d love to hear what other people do like this or even just think about this stuff…
Currency Detector Easy to Defeat
Photoshop CS contains a system designed to deter counterfeiting, but users find it’s a cinch to work around it. [Wired News]
Full Mars panorama snap released
The Mars rover Spirit returns the first full 360-degree colour panorama of its landing site on the Red Planet. [BBC News]
FCC Approves Sony Clie TH55
Coming soon from Sony…
An upcoming Sony model will offer a hi-res+ screen in a tablet design, a camera, and both Wi-fi and Bluetooth wireless networking. [Brighthand]
This is a tough time to be releasing an OS 5 palm device as smart users are expecting OS 6 devices this spring…at least I sure am. I like the look of this unit and appreciate what Sony seems to have done with it though I have to say I really like the slider in the T3. This allows the unit to be much more compact that it would otherwise be and allows it to easily fit in any pocket. I also don’t know that I am ready to give up my 400Mhz processor just to get wifi and a camera. I would like wifi on some level, but don’t miss it since making the move from my TC. The camera is something I can live without for now. I’ve got a lower resolution unit on my phone (SE T-610) and will bring my real digital camera when I know I’ll be taking picture ahead of time.
Home Media Server done right!
TechTV picked Denon’s NS-S100 multimedia server as its pick for the Best of CES 2004. Surprised? We sure were, but TechTV explains that they picked… [Gizmodo]
This sounds like a winner!! I love the idea of starting a movie in one room and finishing it in another. The addition of a removable drive bay is also very slick. Wonder how these will sell when released this spring/summer.
VOD over Broadband…
Well – not exactly, but pretty damn close. With the help of a high speed connection and some handy applications it is very possible to download tv programs and movies. Sure this is not new news to many technical users, but in the past week or so, I’ve been experimenting and the results are quite excellent.
I use Poisoned, which beats the pants off most P2P apps I’ve tried as it lets you use giftd, FastTrack, Gnutella and OpenFT all at the same time. I have not heard of a few of these but searching them all at once in one app is great. I’ve grabbed episodes of The Simpsons, South Park and Larry David, Curb your Enthusiasm and am pulling down a bunch of the more recent episodes of Alias as well. I actually forgot to record last nights key episode and am currently searching it out…
I’ve been trying to use Bit Torrent now as another source which is great if you can figure it out. Bit Torrent seems to be intentionally complex which makes it less desirable to use, though the content that seems to be available is amazing. The way it works is you search on google for Torrents – there are sites with trackers for these as well as single files. These are like bookmarks to the real files on the network. By opening them with Bit Torrent, you then connect to a few sources like in a usual P2P manner and download the file or files.
While Quicktime can handle the usual .Mov or .Mpg files I highly recommend VLC which will more easily play .Avi files encoded in Divx which many of these files are. VLC works like more like the Apple DVD Player than Quicktime, with a floating controller and a playlist manager. You can easily load up a few episodes in succession and watch them all in a sitting. VLC is a very slick free piece of software…
The more I’ve used this system, if you can call it that, the more I’ve realized how much a video iPod would be a killer unit. Sure, you don’t get the instant gratification like you on iTunes since the files usually take a fair bit of time to download, the end result is the same.
I should add, that what I am doing is a bit gray legally speaking. In my mind, however, I could capture the video myself with a DVR or a VCR and transfer things to my computer. I could even use a computer based DVR top make the transfer process much faster. The point is that I don’t need to since many others have already taken the steps for me. I can focus my time on searching for the files instead, which suits me just fine.
OQO – Ultra Personal Computing
Last night I caught a quick video of the OQO on TechTV and today through this article at the Register I found that the site has finally been updated with photos and a nice video overview.
While I totally respect the engineering here – size is small enough for an inside jacket pocket, includes a slide-out keyboard with mouse control, wifi, bluetooth, firewire and usb. There is also a 5 inch transflective (800×480) screen, a 20GB hard drive and a nice Transmeta processor so all this good stuff should drain the battery too quickly.
The team is comprised of former Apple Powerbook designers, the very group that gave us the TiBook, which makes the decision to run Windows XP on this thing unfortunate. The ideal OS for me would have been some form of OS X — assuming of course that Apple had something like that! Which is why I am sure that we are seeing XP. Microsoft has worked hard to get XP into a variety of flavors which makes things like this possible.
Speaking of possible… The OQO was announced 2 years ago and is still NOT out. The latest is that we will see it in late Q3 2004. I guess we’ll just have to see. I love the concept – one machine, all your stuff always accessible.
Microsoft: iPod, iTunes limit choice, harm consumers
Personally I find this press from Redmond to be hilarious…
A Microsoft executive said Thursday that the HP and Apple iPod/iTunes agreement would limit choice and harm consumers on the Windows platform… [MacMinute]
High-Tech Caretaker
Sensors, cameras and two-way audio devices are being hooked into traditional alarm systems, providing owners of second homes peace-of-mind from afar. [New York Times: Technology]
Sony Ericsson announces black T630
Looks awesome in black…
Sony Ericsson announced that its T610 replacement will come in black (pictured at right) and will be sold by T-Mobile. The T630 has all the features of the T610, an improved screen and a few more items including a redesigned case. [MobileTracker]
Ecto
Ecto is the newly revised Blog Editor formerly known as Kung Log. I’ve been beta testing it and think it is very nice. The main issue any editor will have getting me out of NetNewsWire is the RSS NewsReader integration. Many of my posts initiate from something I’ve just read in my newsreader.
Motorola debuts new bluetooth speaker
Motorola has unveiled the latest addition to its Bluetooth portfolio: the new HF800 Portable Wireless Speaker. The Motorola HF800 Portable Wireless Speaker is a compact accessory that can act as a hands-free speakerphone or wireless headset jack when connected to any compatible Bluetooth enabled device up to a 10-meter range. [infoSync]
Perhaps wireless headphones are not too far off…
SpamSieve 2.1.1 released
Upgraded mine earlier today…
SpamSieve 2.1.1 offers faster message processing, improved accuracy with the Panther version of Apple’s Mail.app, better interaction with Eudora and Entourage, and a statistics window that show percentages instead of ratios, among other fixes. [Mac Net Journal]