Robo Eye

Stanford has made the first step towards a true humanbot. The eye implant can give someone with 20/400 vision (technically blind) as high as 20/80 vision. Now, this doesn't mean they are going to read one of the mini-bibles, but it is a huge improvement. It's a 3mm wide chip. Now I am not a rocket scientist, nor an eye scientist. So I can't say exactly how it works. But this New Scientist article might help. It sounds like goggles the subject wears send video images straight to the chip which is implanted near the retina. I wonder what would happen if you took the goggles and put them on the back of your head? Would you have eyes in the back of your head? Cliché I know, but I had to go there.

posted by: DigiDave

Starry Sidewalk Scrutiny

There’s some controversy about Mario getting a star on the famous Hollywood blvd walk of the stars. Usually living people get stars on the famous strip of tar and concrete, but the creators of Mario are looking for some gravel of their own. An electronic petition is going around with hopes that the mayor of Hollywood will give in and allow 4 square feet of sidewalk to the most famous video game character in the world.

My take on the situation: it’s a sidewalk. People will probably take pictures and point at Mario’s star just like Travolta, Maddona, and Sinatra’s stars. I’d like to see how big Mario’s shoes and hands are, and how does he sign his name in the concrete?

posted by: feeling entropy

Pads To Think For You

Trusted Reviews has taken a moment to check out the IBM ThinkPad T43. Before you check out the review, you should note, as Trusted Review does, that they are a bit bias. They call the computing experience "second to non," and while I don't doubt it's a great computer, I also have to admit that just like the ThinkPad T41p before it, this one looks boring. Where's the appeal? Carrie, from Sex in the City, would never curl up in her pajamas and write up an enticing story. I think this computer would dull her down to Doogie Howser's level.

posted by: DigiDave

Nano Pollution

For every technological breakthrough there are positive and negative side effects. With nuclear energy we got massive amounts of energy and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but we also got nuclear waste. Nano technology, the idea that we can build self sustaining micro robots, has the same potential.

A recent panel discussed possible pollutants caused by these little guys. It's hard to tell what's real and what's hyped up, but the idea that "Nanomaterials used as filters to remove selected impurities from fluids could result in many small but discrete concentrations of possibly toxic impurities," is a little scary. Living digitally can sometimes get messy.

posted by: DigiDave

Loss Of Words

Now I know why I’ve been feeling slower and dumber as each day passes, because I use email, instant messaging, and my mobile phone every day! According to a Reader’s Digest poll taken across 1000 U.S. adults, our youth is suffering from a limited vocabulary. The culprit in this plot is technology, of course. Children are spending too much time on their mobile phones and computers thus hindering their vocabularies. It’s easy to see that if the children were out in the street playing football or at the park flying a kite, their vocabularies would be gargantuan.

The mind rotting disease of my generation was console video games. Most of my friends who dedicated every afternoon to Sega or Nintendo now work for video game manufacturers and love what they do. I’m wondering if this poll was taken among U.S. senior citizen adults? My grandmother was always complaining about technology and us lazy whippersnappers, ‘she didn’t have a calculator when she did arithmetic’. I can’t wait till I’m old enough to call that generation whippersnappers and complain about the price of movies and gas.

posted by: feeling entropy

DVD Jon needs a new name!

I've been following the recent news about the norwegian hacker who created PyMusique, which allows you to download songs without the DRM stuff recording companies insert in every file. The only thing I have to say is I was disappointed to hear the guy referred to as DVD Jon. I like to think of hackers as the modern day equivalent of rogues and pirates. And when I think of rogues and pirates, I remember the legendary ones had cool, scary sounding names like Captain Blood or Captain Hook.

The name DVD Jon isn't exciting enough darn it! It yes, perhaps reminds me that at 15 the guy was brilliant enough to crack DVD encryptions. However, all I can think is, you've been cracking encryptions since you were 15, but you can't come up with even a slightly cooler nickname? That's like... well, it's like if Babe Ruth had decided to call himself 'guy who hits a lot of baseballs much farther than other people'. It would yes, remind me that Babe Ruth could hit a lot of home runs, but see how that nickname leaves something to be desired?

posted by: TechDiva

Time For Your MP3

The Hilton's are at it again. No, this post has nothing to do with Paris and everything to do with hotels. Although less appealing to look at, it still might be worth continuing to read about the Hilton's new Family Alarm Clock.

Now when you travel with your MP3 you can just plug it into the alarm clock, which also lets you listen to the radio too, if you want to be oldschool. It's available in all their hotels and is also up for grabs in a sweepstakes.

posted by: DigiDave

Can't Infect The Mac

DVForge canned its competition to write a virus that will infect an up-to-date PowerMac. The $25,000.00 prize money was offered to the virus writer who was able to bring the latest version of OS X to its knees without the PowerMac running virus protection or a firewall. I can see tons of angry apple lovers rioting and eventually burning down DVForge, much like the end scene in office space.

There were “legal issues” that pulled this contest under the water. I’m a huge Apple fan, and use an iBook notebook. I would have loved to see just how easy it was for someone to take down the Mac OS X Operating System. If a virus was written in 2 hrs, and that virus completely crippled the computer, I’d run out and buy me the best virus protection out there. I’m guessing that it’s a bit more difficult than that hence the $25K prize to anyone who could do so. Many Mac users contacted DVForge and shared a piece of their mind.

Symantec makes Norton Anti-Virus for OS X. Is it a waste of money? DVForge was on their way to finding out. I’m wondering just how much pressure was put on DVForge to cancel this competition by the anti-virus community?

posted by: feeling entropy

Blogs Are Bad

I went to public high school, I know that most of the teachers and administrators are there because teaching is a passion of theirs. Yet every school has your typical mad-at-the-world, power hungry, and downright mean staff member. If I were pulling your leg then where did movies like The Breakfast Club spawn from? Well we’re not in Kansas anymore toto, we’re in the real world. The world where blogs and ipods are outlawed from schools.

When I was in high school (class of ’97) everyone had dial up internet and AOL was the hipster way to go. Chatting online was new, and the grown ups deemed it as the new evil. This was, however, the means that taught me to type at 70wpm (opposed to the tedious type teach programs at school computer lab). Administrators feared “Predators” hiding out in chat rooms, and tricking young chatters into giving out personal information. Needless to say, online chatting is now an integral part of our wired society. We use it for communication across seas, within companies, and to keep up with our friends. I have AOL Instant Messaging on my mobile phone.

I personally feel that most of the young blogger’s content is a waste of my breathing time “bobby said that he likes kirstin, and I had a sandwich for lunch, like”. Yet I am impressed by their creative layouts and web design. Blogging was my avenue to learning the basic HTML and FTP information I rely on now. By taking blogging away from children is crippling them for their technological future. I encourage students to keep online journals and write for themselves. I remember a day when parents were happy that a child was home on a computer, opposed to hanging out in front of local liquor stores.

posted by: feeling entropy

Google for Bling

Blingo a new search engine has just launched. Now it's powered by Google. Yawn right. Why go to some other site if its just going to give you Google results. Well, this site also gives away prizes.
If you search at the right time you could win anything from Amazon gift certificates to an iPod. If it gets you the same results as Google, I see no reason not to change your home page.

posted by: DigiDave

Block-busted

Blockbuster was the king of the hill at one point, but anyone who’s played the childhood game knows that getting up top is the easy part. Staying at the top of the hill as king is the hardest, you can’t kick back when you’re up there. Blockbuster did, and now they’re trying to get up to the top again. In the corporate world there are rules, no cheating when playing king of the corporate hill. Blockbuster was called on their “No Late-Fees” campaign, and now owes bookoo buckaroos due to misleading advertisement. The excuse that Blockbuster used was a bit clever, however not clever enough to avoid this embarrassment. They charged “restock” fees and if the rented item was held for more than the grace period the renter was forced to purchase the item.

Nice try Blockbuster, but you knew better. You’re going to have to try a bit harder than that, or simply do as your slogan says and not charge late fees.

posted by: feeling entropy

Yellow Pages vs. Internet

I love graphs, especially when they are easy to read. The one below looks at sources of information. Lets put it this way, if the yellow pages and newspapers were stock, you'd start buying, cause they are low.

As FutureWire points out, the Internet is becoming the preferred choice of shoppers, collectors or just regular window gazers. Makes perfect sense to me. Think of all the yellow trees we will save.

posted by: DigiDave

Smaller, Stronger, Sleeker, Sexier

My 3G (third generation) iPod goes with me everywhere. I listen to her in the car, on the bus, while walking, while sitting. I also use it to store my most used documents, this way I don’t have duplicates between my desktop and laptop computers. Susan (my iPod’s name) is a bit on the heavy side, and it’s impossible for her to lose any weight without significant detrimental effects to her performance. Apple experts are aware of this and a brainstorm has been raining for some time. Pentagram has dreamed up the next generation of iPods: the iPod watch.

Seeing this watch gives me those tingles that run from the bottom of your spine to the top and cause you release a yelp similar to a scared rabbit. I love Susan (my 3G iPod) but I could woo one of these watch iPods into my arms, she'd have to share me or hit the road. Not only does this watch look uber-cool, they talk of Bluetooth headphones as well as connectivity for file transfer. The only Paris Hilton quote I know best describes this watch “That’s hot!”

posted by: feeling entropy

Living In A Digital World...

Back from a quick weekend side trip to Sin City. On the flight back home, I realized how much technology really does surround us.
I first researched for tickets to Celine Dion's show, "A New Day," which was great by the way, on Ticketmaster.com, bought a flight and hotel package online from Expedia after researching for a few days on which package I should hit SUBMIT to. Then I printed out all the tickets there were emailed to me.

Arrived at the airport, took the automated walkway from the parking lot to the terminal, skipped all the human interaction and went straight for the Kiosk to print out the boarding passes.
Inside the casinos, gambled with my "club" card that recognizes your gambling patterns, duration of stay at a table or slot machine.
After hitting the cash out button, instead of coins, you receive a ticket to redeem your money instead of hearing the classic clinging of coins on the dish below the machine that they simulate with a sound that doesn't quite do the trick.

Our room inside had wireless internet along with a flat panel screen and an internet ready station if you did not bring your laptop with you for $9.95 per day fee.

Although none of this is very new to us, its still quite amazing when you sit back and think about how much technology has affected our lives. Too bad the technology cannot get rid of turbulence.

posted by: Unjustjust

Bits On Wheels

Bits on Wheels is a Bittorent client only for Macs. It's freeware, but not open source. According to this blogger it's a bit faster than Azureus. What is really cool about Bits on Wheels is the new spin on graphics.

The wheel, shown above, displays the swarm your computer is a part of in in 3D. For Bits on Wheels you are always seen at the center of your swarm. Not only will this feed your ego, but it will make the sharing map that much easier to read. I hate to stop and ask for directions when I'm trying to share something on bittorent.

posted by: DigiDave

Electric Wood. That's Right, Wood

TransAlpin is a design company whose poject wood.e has been chosen as TransMaterial's "product of the week."

Why? It takes regular wood and gives it an electrical current of 12V. Well, the wood is technically not electrified and remains safe to sit, eat or dance on. But engrained in the wood are small metal sheets with safe openings at strategically placed spots in your furniture. This makes for some really cool designs. Lighting and sound can seamlessly blend into the furniture itself. Who wants a lava lamp, when you can have a lava desk.

posted by: DigiDave

Laptop Batteries Running Longer

I have an iBook 1.2 GHz G4 that boasts: "up to 6 hrs of use on a single charge". In reality I’ve run my laptop for about 4.5 continuous hours on one charge. Laptop companies are looking to extend this number to 8 hours. The current battery used is a Lithium-Ion battery, and it seems that we’ve percolated just about every last drop of energy out of these. New chemical mixes will hopefully produce more power. Forcing the laptop to use less power is also a means to create a longer lasting battery life.

I want to see batteries become much more powerful in the near future. Companies want to combine digital cameras, internet browsers, mobile phones, mp3 players, PDA’s and portable gaming consoles into one do-it-all device. Batteries are current technology’s Achilles heel, the coolest new device is only a paperweight if it has no battery charge left.

posted by: feeling entropy

Pez + Music = Digi-Licious

It’s been a while since I've seen or used a Pez candy dispenser. This may all change very soon thanks to The Pez Mp3 Project. That’s right ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, young and old, a Pez mp3 player is coming to an internet near you. The slogan is “a man, a plan, a candy company, and you”. With 512MB of expected storage, backwards compatibility with candy-only Pez heads, and an LCD screen, I just may find myself riding the bus listening to my favorite ninja turtle Pez Mp3 player. I don’t think that the mp3 version will hold candy, but as the saying now goes: “You can’t have your Pez, and eat it too”.

posted by: feeling entropy

Sony and Victorinox

Sony has taken multi-functional portable gadgets to the next level with the release of the PlayStation Portable (PSP). You can use your PSP to play games, watch movies, listen to music, view photos or surf the net using its wireless networking.

Many folks are saying Sony's new product gives them a huge headstart on the next big phase for portable gadgets. I'd be inclined to agree, and then suggest a strategic move Sony might consider. How about a partnership with Victorinox, the world famous maker of swiss army knives? Because I want a device that allows me to play games, listen to music AND open my beer. The one thing I can't decide, is if the knife features should be sub features on the PSP, or if the PSP should just be a fold out option on a high tech model of a swiss army knife. I have the strange feeling it's alright if I can't reach a final decision right now.

In the meantime, you can enjoy a wide variety of games on the PSP whenever and wherever you want.

posted by: TechDiva

Pixar Splitting!

I’m a big fan of cartoons. I grew up on the Disney Channel shorts with Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, the whole gang. Later on I got into the Japanese anime cartoons, with over proportioned girls, outrageous blood and guts, and super evil villains. I didn’t stray from the cute and fun cartoons as I still watched Tom and Jerry, Sponge Bob Square Pants, and my favorite Cartoon Network show by leaps and bounds: The Power Puff Girls. It’s taken me a bit of time to recognize and appreciate the art of digital animation. Pixar started out with the movie Toy Story and has since then made six total movies grossing more money than I could spend in four greedy lifetimes. This week Pixar announced that they’re stock spilt 1-2. For stock market dummies such as myself, this means they have 200 million shares now, before they had a mere 100 million shares. The share holders also have double the number of shares that they used to have.

It looks like we’ll be entertained by more digitally animated features from the innovative company in the near and far future. This is good news to an animation lover like me, bring on the toons!

posted by: feeling entropy

RFID It Yourself

I absolutely hate losing my keys, wallet, cell phone and other loose but necessary items. The worst part is when you initially realize you don't know where they are and the scramble begins. I tend to start under the couch and slowly make my way to the bed sheets.

For the incredibly anal or very forgetful there is now the Home RFID Starter Kit.

Here are just some of the things you can do with your own RFID Kit.

Control the lights, HVAC, garage door or security system when your car approaches or leaves your home.

Detect a person entering or leaving a room or area.

Arm or Disarm Security by individual tag.

Control, Lights, Music, and Temperature based upon the presence or absence of a tag - watch your friends be amazed at the total comfort you have in your home when your environment follows you from room to room!

Track the location of domestic help or children by logging in to your HomeSeer system from anywhere in the world.

Track physical assets and perform notification if one is "removed" from an area.
Get notified if pets wander outside of a given range.

And a lot more.

It seems like a long way to go just to find your coin collection, but then again, scrambling for lost things can really damage the knees.

posted by: DigiDave

I'll Take Nachos, A Slurpee, And The New Single From Clay Aiken

It’s common knowledge that the Apple iTunes music store has been making tons of cash every day with the simple idea of paying a bit of cash for a legally downloaded music file. Although there are plenty of existing legal digital music downloading portals, and there are even more underway. It feels that everyone wants to get in on the digital music downloading action since iTunes made a market out of pirates. Who’s next to announce that they are going to be offering this service, 7-Eleven?? (imagine my sarcastic tone if you will). If you gave me a sarcastic ‘yes’, then you’re right! Well 7-Eleven is the most popular convenience store. They allow people like me to stumble in at 3:46 am on virtually any day and purchase chips, gum, candy bars, and bad coffee all at the same time. In 7-Eleven’s vision, they would like to see me walk out with a CD of my favorite songs or even plug in my iPod to the kiosk and snag that song I just can’t wait to download when I get home.

Here’s something I never thought I’d say (type), “Welcome to the internet 7-Eleven, good luck”.

posted by: feeling entropy

Google News, Can't Hack It

As digital as our lifestyles get, there is just something about how we get our news that needs to remain quintessentially human. Google News, the beta system trying to challenge that hypothesis, took two hits this week.

Google News relies only on computers and algorithms to decide what headlines it will post up. The idea is that without any human intervention Google News will beat the media industry at their own wire service games. Earlier this week, however, Google has been forced to deal with a lawsuit from AFP, the French news distributor over copyright material. Google News also took some slack for posting news from National Vanguard, a publication that espouses white supremacy. Google has since removed the publication from their index.

So while Google News might be a good way to find out what the algorithms decide are the top stories of the day, there is still something to be said about the human run news industry.

posted by: DigiDave

Those Sexy Flat Screens!

Advertising in general for flat screens seems to involve lots of half dressed women. I'm ok with the idea of advertising that owning a flat screen will get you lots of women. What confuses me about ads and flat screen discussions lately, is that now the flat screen itself is supposed to somehow be sexy, as indicated here. Now don't get me wrong-- I'm not dissing the flat screen. I love flat screens. They're stylish, take up less space, and when I visit someone's house and they have a flat screen I'm jealous. However, I have never ever seen a flat screen and thought "now that's turning me on."


If flat screens themselves are so sexy, then how come I've never gone out and seen a geek guy desperately attempting to get the attention of a long, tall flat screen at the end of the bar that thinks its too good to let him buy it a drink? If flat screens are so hot, why don't they come out with a Playscreen magazine? Then everyone could buy it... but just for the articles next to the full length pictures of flat screens.

The bottom line for me regarding the flat screen is this: for once I wish they'd just go back to the tradition of scantily clad women standing around next to the product. I'm ok with the idea that a flat screen attracts women. In fact I can vouch for the flat screen's hypnotic power. The last time I was in Fry's, I found myself inexplicably drawn to the largest flat screen they had. It was like a black hole, I struggled to break free from its grasp so I could warn others of my kind before it was too late.




***Loved it? hated it? email your comments to TechDiva at thetechdiva @ gmail.com.

posted by: TechDiva

The Anti-Friendster

Social networking sites are popping up everywhere. Friendster was the first and today remains the Microsoft of social networking sites, with MySpace closing in as the cool Apple altnernative.

But for every person on Friendster there is another who hates social networking online. That's why there is Fiendster. A place where you can network with people you hate. Make enemies and then send them threats. It's a great mock of what is becoming an icon among younger people who live digitally.

These guys definitly have a few harsh words for Friendster.

Seems like they hired some ex whitehouse advisor to help them sort the problem of users wanting to have fun and upload some nice gfx.

posted by: DigiDave

Satellite Wars: The Alliance Of The Auto-makers

XM and SIRIUS satellite radio systems are taking it to the next level. Hyundai is coupling with XM and SIRIUS has been chosen by Land Rover, Mercedes-Benz, and Jaguar. That’s right, we’re not talking "satellite radio ready" anymore boys and girls, this is the real deal "satellite radio equipped!" Satellite radio allows the artist and song title to be displayed on screen. Music is provided with no commercials at a static free, high quality sound level.

XM radio is the leader in satellite radio, which makes me wonder why the higher end automotive manufacturers went with the less popular SIRIUS radio? Is there something coming that we don’t know about? I for one know that Howard Stern has moved to SIRIUS radio, could this be the clincher between your next purchase of a Mercedes-Benz v.s. a Hyundai?

posted by: feeling entropy

TV To Go

One great thing about living digitally, entertainment becomes portable. Ride a bus today and you will find people listening to MP3 players, playing video games, maybe even reading a book on their phone.

According to a story on PCWorld, TV will end up mobile too. I believe it. We've been dreaming about Dick Tracey watches since the 60's. Well reality is catching up with science fiction. Some mobile phone subscribers already have TV-2-Go service for only an extra $10 a month. Forget TiVo, just bring the show to you.

posted by: DigiDave

Watch Out!

Living in our ever-changing digital world is fun. At the same time, we can forget that the world is not always peas and carrots. As often as we post about the new greatest gadgets for connectivity and access, there are also downsides. Now I hate being the bearer of bad news, but also want to remind the users to still be careful out there.

Here are the TOP 5 Online Scams of 2004

1)Auction Fraud

2)Phishing Scams

3)Nigerian 419 Letter

4)Postal Forwarding/Reshipping Scams

5)Congratulations, You've Won _________

-Source (Yahoo!) A December 2004 report by the FBI (news - web sites) and the National White Collar Crime Center. Research firm Gartner estimates that nearly 10 million Americans were hit by online fraudsters last year--largely due to a wave of phishing e-mails seeking to steal users' identities.

Now, some of us would never fall for a trick that involves entering your social security number, giving out your bank card and PIN, or sending money to a fictitious cause, but some people just have a more optimistic view of honesty. This is just a friendly reminder to be careful out there.

posted by: Unjustjust

Easter Passion Calls

Bunnies, egg hunts, and of course Jesus come to mind with the sound of one word, 'Easter'. The three have one more common quality that they share besides the association with Easter, neither of them has anything to do with the digital lifestyle. That doesn’t stop us technosexuals from finding a way to integrate these into some digital form. The folks at AG Interactive have decided to release ring tones and wall papers from the Mel Gibson movie “The Passion Of Christ”. Why would AG announce the release of a movie that has been out for some time? Easter of course, the ring tones and wall papers are festive!

So I say take this any way you like: “Let’s have a festive phone call” or “"hey kids, want a wallpaper of the bloodiest religious movie ever made? click here!". Who am I to decide, try for yourself and let us know.

posted by: feeling entropy

What's The Deal With....

When I saw this post at TechNudge this morning, I just had to click it. There is a new product called Joke-e-oke, which is basically karaoke for stand-up comedy. While this is not so relevant for living digitally, I had to mention it because of a personal fascination with all things karaoke.

Let me put this in perspective of my digital life... My birthday present this year was a new Xbox, a lovely gift from my wife and family. But the reason I wanted the Xbox? Karaoke Revolution Vol 3 by Konami. This game is a blend of traditional karaoke with the Dance-Dance-Revolution engine. The game even "scores" accuracy based on your singing pitch, and its really a fun twist on the karaoke theme.

According to Wired News, Joke-e-oke will let me practice my favorite Seinfeld-ish observation, tired red neck joke, or maybe rehearse my favorite routine about hippies and NPR.

posted by: LD Editor

Wireless ipen

Whether you have musophobia or not, you'll love the wireless ipen. This product is marketed as both a writing implement and a mouse. From personal experience I have to say there is nothing better than an ipen in mouse mode. Except a fancier model of the ipen...also in mouse mode. You move it around as you would a regular pen and it offers more precision than your average mouse.

The first step in using a wireless ipen after hooking it up is figuring out what kind of surfaces you can use it on. I made a game of it. Can I use my knee as a mouse pad? How about this bottle of Jack Daniels? How about this geranium? Experimentation indicated that the best surfaces are dark and textured.

The ipen takes a little bit of getting used to in certain regards. For one thing, you press down on the pen to click, or twice for a double click. To right click, you squeeze a small button located on top of the pen. Once you get the hang of it, this device is a wonder. It moves around the screen with laser-like precision and saves your hand from many carpal tunnel symptoms a mouse would cause.

The pen mode on ipen is a different story. To be frank, pen mode on this tool implements your written work as well as a two year old would if you gave him a crayon and asked him to take dictation. The only real plus of this tool over the two year old, is that you don't have to give the ipen graham crackers and apple juice.

The website for this product also leaves something to be desired, with typos and awkward sentence constructions galore. I was able to write off the typo problem by assuming they used ipen to write the content, which describes the ipen as being "simly... impressive".

If you ignore the pen mode, ipen is a great tool and definitely worth the $70-99 bucks or so depending on where you buy it and what model you select. If you're looking for a writing implement replacement however, look elsewhere. Maybe you can borrow somebody's two year old.

posted by: TechDiva

Vlogging and Video Sharing

Blogs are in. They are a hit. No doubt about it. On the horizon, Vlogging, or video logging. Still for the more technically savvy, this addition to weblogging could become a new sensation. As blogs have changed news and politics, vlogging could change local news. Imagine turning to your local vlogger for the 6 o'clock news instead of NBC.

Just as bloggers have sites like Flickr to share photos, vloggers have sites like jusspress.com, to share moving vidoes with each other. One of the first sites to have video sharing with full motion and stereo sound, JussPress claims to be the easiest to use too. Here is part of my email conversation with one of the founders.

"You just drag and drop a video and we resize, transcode video to Flash video, upload, and host the video. People don't need to know how to encode video or even download video plugins since Flash is installed in about 98% of browsers. You can also post the video to a blog."

It seems like a good evolution in a fast changing medium, the question is when will it catch on?

posted by: DigiDave

Pillows That Sing

Toshiba has one-upped those alarm clocks that lullaby you to sleep with peaceful sounds of the ocean. Now you can lay your head on a pillow that plays music while you count sheep. The sound goes directly to your head, however, because the music doesn't travel via air, but bone.

Your partner won't hear a thing as long as their skull doesn't touch the pillow. If you read Japanese you can learn more about this pillow model RLX-P1 which I don't think is available in the U.S. yet.

Not that I see anyone ever using this feature, but btang notes that the pillow has stereo sound speakers and is compatible with your stereo and TV.

posted by: DigiDave

Graphics Cards Are Healthy

CeBIT, in Hanover, Germany, has had many different debuts: digital cameras, mobile phones, computer components, etc. Tom’s Hardware caught my eye with their graphics card scrutiny. The new graphics cards are ready to be over clocked, water cooled, and are equipped with the appeasing aesthetics suit for your modded case with a custom designed window. Some of these graphics cards look to have more RAM and faster processors than my home desktop computer. I especially enjoyed the “interesting graphics cards” page given by Tom’s synopsis of the CeBIT review.

posted by: feeling entropy

Who’s The King Of The Hill (Today)

Yahoo! announced that they are upping their email storage to 1 gigabyte. That’s a 400% increase from their current 250 megabyte capacity. My educated guess is that Google’s gmail email service which debuted with the 1 gigabyte offering caught Yahoo! with their pants down. There seems to be a never ending battle between Google, Yahoo!, and MSN. Google has become the champion as of late, but I see MSN and Yahoo! ready to put up their dukes and get this party rockin’. Does that mean that I project MSN Hotmail to up their email account capacity to the 1 gigabyte mark? Something must be done or else they’re going to be left in the dust.

posted by: feeling entropy

The Keyless Keyboard

If you have carpal tunnel or RSI you know that finding the perfect keyboard is a necessity. There are a number of really wacky alternative input contraptions, but very few grab your eye quite like the "Orbitouch" from Keybowl. The "Orbitouch" is unique in being one of the only keyless keyboards that allows you type without finger or wrist motion.

After using the "Orbitouch" I honestly think it's particularly appealing for your average geek guy. What guy doesn't want to spend the day typing by placing his hands on two domes and manipulating them to form letters? If they'd just make a silicon version, this keyboard might sell outside the carpal tunnel/RSI market.

Spending a day typing with an "Orbitouch" keyboard, I found it did help me avoid exacerbating some carpal tunnel symptoms. However, it's very slow to use to type anything. If keyboards were cars, then in terms of speed, the "Orbitouch" is a '72 Pinto. With no wheels.

Supposedly, you can get good enough with the "Orbitouch" to type at 40 words per minute. With a few hours of typing I was only able to get to 20 wpm, so I assume it just has a big learning curve. Overall, I like this product. It does get rid of some of the symptoms I experience from typing on a regular keyboard, and it's fun to practice typing with it. The price tag is a bit hefty, so I would only recommend it if you have carpal tunnel/RSI issues or a deep and profound love of big domes.

posted by: TechDiva

Joyful Joyful

The reviewers at Gamers Edge took a moment to look at Saitek X52. Consider this your warning, the Saitek is for serious gamers. More important than the look or price of this joyful stick, is the bottom line, "how does it handle?". To cut to the chase, the Saitek got a great review. Clean, efficient, user friendly and most important of all, it feels so natural you forget you are using a joystick at all. If you are into flight simulators or racing games you know how important that is.

posted by: DigiDave

Know Your History

Geeks like a lot of things besides technology. History, for example has always been a big favorite. But the history of technology, ahh now you're talking. Mobile PC has a great rundown of the history of laptop computers.

What makes this article great are unbelievably arcane pictures combined with behind the scenes breakdown of how laptops came to into being. It really is worth a read. And when you are done, check out our reviews of new products and get a sense of how far we have come.

posted by: DigiDave

Shake It Like A Polaroid Picture

The Apple Powerbook notebook computer has found yet another hack to increase the coolness factor up one more solid notch. There is an accelerometer inside the computer which is used for hard drive damage protection during a drop of some sort. This device lets OS X know just what angle the computer is being held at. Not new news. Well some people have decided that there can be more of a use for this accelerometer than boring hard drive protection. A few different hacks have been carried out, my favorite is the windows on the machine rotating in order to always be facing the correct way. With technology like this I can read LIVEdigitally while riding roller coasters, a dream come true! No really, this could yield some really cool things in the tech industry. I’m keeping an eye peeled and an ear to the streets.

posted by: feeling entropy

HP After Heartbreak

What does everyone do once they’ve lost their number 1 girl? Buy something! HP may be a company but they are human after all. After the loss of their CEO, Carly Fiorina, HP has been feeling a bit down about themselves. Sure they had some good times acquiring Compaq, but in this fast changing tech world you can’t sit on one thing for too long. So HP went out and decided to get back in the game, fall off the horse, get right back on. That’s what HP did, they bought the popular online digital photo service, Snapfish. HP hopes to boost sales of their printers and printer ink. What better start than owning an online digital photograph website that prints out pictures and mails them to your house? San Jose based HP has gone through some tough times in the past months, but they’re not dwelling in the drama they’ve been dealt.

posted by: feeling entropy

TV or PC? or Both?

Ok, I'm VERY guilty of this. In fact, I did this while watching the 'non-stop' season of FOX's 24.
Surfing the net and watching TV at the same time. The statistics have gone up dramatically from an average of 174 minutes per week in 2001 to 300 minutes per week in 2004, according to the latest "Media in Mind" survey by Universal McCann.

The 2004 Web/TV figure accounts for 20 percent of total weekly TV-viewing time for the average U.S. adult aged 18-49. In 2001, only 11 percent of total TV-viewing time for that age group was accompanied by Web use. The percentage of adult TV-viewing time that is potentially distracted or enhanced by Internet use has almost doubled in three years.

The main concern TV exec's and advertisers have are the effectivness of commercials on the viewers. The will need to gear advertisement to capture the attention of the viewers that are online by including TV related connections on to their websites and vice versa. You have probably already seen this with sites such as BMW that have the beginning of a commercial and the conclusion of it is online site. It's a good ploy to get you to visit their site, especially if you want to check out the rest of that commercial. Now they need to include a free chalupa for visiting.

posted by: Unjustjust

Japanese TiVo

So I tried to be clever. I guess since TiVo isn't a Japanese word just yet, but maybe it will be a household name soon. Tivo will be entering the Japanese market as early as 2006. The California-based company was one of the pioneers of the Digital TV recording industry, taking it mainstream to the public, but has had recent financial woes prior to Comcast buying the company.

Reuters also reports with over 3 million subscribers in the U S of A, TiVo will have its work cut out for them with other companies already in the market such as Panasonic. This could be a fantastic move for TiVo, because they will most likely need to form alliances with various Japanese companies for the parts and services that are needed to get the service running, cable TV, hard drives, and manufacturing.

posted by: Unjustjust

Laptop Or Tank? You Be The Judge

Today I've discovered the
"Rough Rider III", from Rugged Notebooks, which looks to me to be the Hummer of laptops. That's right, it's pricy and designed to deal with a lot of situations the average person wouldn't encounter but inexplicably causes you to want one anyway. This thing is absolutely amazing in terms of what it can handle. It's got a magnesium alloy chassis and it's water tight. It can withstand extreme heat, extreme cold, dust, rain, being run over by a car, being dropped up to 3 feet and it looks completely bad @$$. In terms of performance it's pretty average, nothing too exciting, but hey! YOU CAN OPERATE IT IN THE MIDDLE OF A FIRE.

If you're in a profession involving oil rigs or the military this may be the product for you. As a writer, my profession doesn't involve oil rigs or the military. So if I buy one of these things I will justify my purchase by insisting it will inspire me to lead a more active lifestyle. Maybe that's not true, but at the very least, I want to see the look on my friends' faces when I invite them for a rousing game of laptop catch. If I get the most rugged of the laptops offered, maybe we can play laptop baseball.

Even if you're not planning on buying one of these, at least check out the
Rugged Notebooks website. I can't explain it, but there is something fascinating about watching video of a guy bashing a laptop with a rock in order to prove you can't mess up the LCD screen because it's got a plexi-glass shield.

posted by: TechDiva

Religous iPods

I've decided to stick with my iPod theme today by taking a moment to appreciate a New York Times story on religious Jews using iPods to study the Talmud.

In many ways this makes perfect sense. Professors are using iPods to store audible lectures. Doctors are using the photo iPods to save patient x-rays, why can't orthodox Jews use the iPod for their religious studies?

The main reason the self described ShasPods are such a hit is that orthodox Jews are banned from using the Internet for anything outside of work, including religious studies. Now, however, the Talmud comes prepackaged Internet free and orthodox friendly. Just don't use it on the Sabbath.

posted by: DigiDave

IPod Camera

The first pictures of the iPod camera have been released. For $30 Apple's new iPod connection lets you easily transfer digital photos directly from your digital camera for instant viewing and slide show playback on an iPod photo. Instant gratification is improved yet again.

posted by: DigiDave

Gizmondo?

Portable is the way to go these days, who wants to be stuck at home with mom nagging you to clean your room? We want portable T.V., portable music, and of course portable video games. Sony and Nintendo seem to know this and continue to bring quality games and products to our portable loving hands and eyes. Gizmondo wants a piece of that scrumptious pie. The debut of this device, which contains a music player, picture and video messaging, and a GPS, took place in London last Saturday.

A few A-list celebrities showed, up and even performed, to welcome the new gadget into one of the most competitive markets on the planet. I personally am not running out the door to my nearest Gizmondo store for a quick purchase simply because of that. I foresee that the Gizmondo will have to flap its arm pretty hard in order to keep its head above water in this cut-throat digital world we’re in. Please Gizmondo prove me wrong, I'd love to integrate another electronic device into my digital lifestyle. But I'm a tough cookie to crumble, so until then let's see what you got.

posted by: feeling entropy

Cell Phone Novels

OUCH. Leave it to Japan to break technology barriers. Now they have full lengh novel's avaliable on cell phones. Can you even imagine? Reading The Lord of the Rings Trilogy and the Hobbit all on your cell phone? Or having a portable electronic bible? Those ideas might come into reality with the latest in mobile technology.

Down the line could be cliff notes to tests, SAT studying, manuals for electronics, you name it. The limits would have to be on the memory of the phone, but that is always going up. Japanese subscribers have access to 150 downloadable novels, with a current subscription base of 50,000 users. No, don't read too closely to the screen, maybe the affects of reading such small text on a 3" LCD will have long term affects on us readers, but nonetheless, it's an interesting concept in the evergrowing flexiblity in the Mobile phone craze.

-source http://www.canada.com/

posted by: Unjustjust

Mergers and Acquisitions

Over the weekend two big business deals have gone through in the search engine sector. First, Yahoo bought up Flickr, a popular photo sharing web site. Flickr is particluarly popular with bloggers as a way to share, upload and save photos.

A more unexpected development was announced this morning as InterActiveCorp, which owns web commodities like Expedia and Match.com, bought the search engine Ask Jeeves. These guys threw down 1.85 billion for what everyone knows is a third rate search engine. I'm sure they plan on revamping it, but who are we kidding? Aks Jeeves is a novelty search engine, not a Google or Yahoo competitor.

But that's exactly what all these different moves come down to. Competition is getting stiff in the search engine world because everyone has seen the joys of Google and wants in. Companies are expanding into areas, buying up other properties, anything to get ahead. What IAC and Yahoo are doing is just good strategy. A strong internet company now needs to tie its string around a few properties, get ready to be bashed by some hard rocks and still hang together.

posted by: DigiDave

Blogging For Business

Web Logging –a.k.a. Blogging, is a rather new phenomenon. According to this article, blogging is taking on new feats. Blogging for businesses. Who would have known! My initial impression of a blog reads basically: “and den yesterday I had a burger and friez for lunch, and the friez were really good, and bobby is cute lol”. Times are changing and blogging is too. Blogs are used enough that businesses are finding ways to implement them in a daily business routine. Internal and external blogs have been mentioned to have been used in a business environment. I’m not talking about posting to a personal blog from your desk during work hours either. Proof that blogs are here to stay, Google had to change its search engine to push back blogs from the top searches.

posted by: feeling entropy

Two Minute Television

The aptly named company, "Two Minute Television Network" has just produced the U.S.'s first successful two minute television program. The show, a reality program called "Genius" may soon be available on cellphones everywhere, along with other two-minute productions. The basic idea for the show is a girls against boys competition to see who can best market a selected product. The team that best impresses the judges gets ten seconds to plug a product or idea of their own.

Regarding this release, the artist in me says "Wow! A brand new art form, a brand new way to communicate, this is going to be great". The cynic in me says "Woohoo! Finally, they've come up with a medium that lets them get rid of all that annoying plot and dialogue, which ruins so much of television by frequently being of very low quality."

All in all, two minute television sounds like an excellent idea for cellphones-- anything longer would cause a lot of squinting and possibly eyestrain. I wonder what other impact this new technology will have on our society. For example, it seems very likely to me that in the future, I might hear the following spoken aloud "Dude, what happened in the last episode of 'Genius'? I sneezed and totally missed the whole thing."

posted by: TechDiva

TV For Your Pocket

If you’ve been looking for a portable media player stop everything right now! (*With exception of heart beating, breathing, and of course reading these life changing words) It’s always been a fancy idea to whip a little mini screen out of your pocket while sitting at the bus stop in order to catch 5 more minutes of your favorite episode of Three’s Company. The problem, how to do it? The choices, oh the choices, using a laptop could work -but that’s just not quite pocket sized enough for people wearing size 34” Levi’s. This article explains what’s going on with the different features and functions of the pocket sized portable video players available today. You may commence whatever it was you were doing prior to stumbling across this Imperative information.

*LIVEdigitally will not be responsible for any injury or death due to this post.

posted by: feeling entropy

Review: Samsung SyncMaster 710N

LCD's in 12ms pixel response are getting smaller and cheaper. The latest from Samsung, seen below, is just one more example. Check out a review of it from the Tech Zone. Now when I say "cheaper," that still includes a price tag averaging about $330. So don't think you are going to buy this thing on one night's worth of tips. But considering the review this screen got and the price of most of its competitors, it seems like a steal.

posted by: DigiDave

Dating Tech

This is a little something off the beaten track. Nature reported on utensils that measure how relaxed or stressed a person is. The idea is that you can go on a date and monitor how you are doing at making your partner feel comfortable. The technology is similar to a lie detector test, but you got to hand it to them for coming up with a practical and creative application. The technology isn't exactly covert right now. There are too many wires and your date has to hold both the fork and the knife for the electrical current in their body to register. Not to mention you'll have to stash a printer graphing the readouts under the table. Still, geeks in the future could benefit greatly from this technology and its advances.

posted by: DigiDave

I Want My...

I have a friend who would rip music videos to his computer, then burn them onto a VCD, for playback in his car’s DVD system. “it’s perfect because I listen to the music, and at a stop light I can watch the actual music video.” -anonymous friend Allow me to translate: my friend is a super geek (like myself) and this was his gimmick to get girls to ride in his car with him. I never followed his idea because waiting for MTV to play my favorite music video was just not feasible (does MTV even play music videos?) Launch.com and the iTunes music store have had streaming music for some time, but Cinema Now and MediaPass Network are joining forces to allow music video streaming for freee and downloading for a small price. I can just see my friend’s face illuminate with glee, while images of less time in front of MTV and more time driving around entertained girls. Some guys sure have all the fun.

posted by: feeling entropy

Help a Blogger Out

In a bold move a few weeks ago Jason Kottke, a well known blogger, quit his day job to blog full time. We've all heard about how blogging is changing journalism and yada yada, but until someone proves you can make a living with it, blogging will forever remain connotated with teenage girls writing bad poetry (go to LiveJournal, do a few random searches and you will see what I mean). So Kottke has asked for donations. He has been having a donation drive the last couple of weeks and it ends tomorrow. Don't donate if you think blogs are stupid or if you decide his blog isn't worthy of your money, but check it out and make up your own mind. This isn't the final battle for blogger's self respect, but it is a highly watched one.

posted by: DigiDave

What Do The IRS and Paris Hilton Have In Common?

100 IRS workers were called by undercover auditors. 35 of the unsuspecting IRS workers gave the sneaky auditors their username and passwords. The IRS workers were “socially engineered”. This reminds me of the big Paris Hilton social engineering event that happened not too long ago. The part that really gets me is that in 2001, the IRS did the same thing, and 71 of 100 were suckered into revealing passwords. Had I only known this a few months ago before I did my taxes, I would have socially engineered my tax return to be enough for me to retire on a beach in Hawaii. Come to think of it, Paris Hilton didn’t actually give out her password… her password reminder was guessed. What does this say about the IRS?

posted by: feeling entropy

PodShanking

No, the iPods in the picture below are not making sweet digital love. They are transferring songs from one iPod to another in what is being called PodShanking.

A big problem with the iPod is stealing (I mean barrowing) music from other people. If you try and plug your iPod into a friend's computer you have to register it to that computer, running the risk of losing all your old songs. Well now you can sidestep the whole computer and connect straight to a friend's iPod. The iPod to iPod transfer is in real time, which is slow, but in a comfortable mutual environment, who wants to rush things anyway? Connect your pods, have a lovely dinner and enjoy the sharing.

posted by: DigiDave

Connected Homes

A new Bluetooth toy from Siemens puts the power of your home in a button sized device you can wear like a badge. The wearer only has to speak commands to the button which are then implemented throughout various systems in the house. For example, I could speak through the intercom, unlock the door and let a guest in, even answer my phone calls, all with the touch of a button. Watch out, you will at one point sit in your lazy boy and pretend to be Captain Kirk. The device can't 'beam you up,' but there are plans in the future to check your email with it.

posted by: DigiDave

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Remember, friends don't let friends email drunk.

posted by: DigiDave

Digital TV Standard

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. House Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton said on Tuesday he plans in the coming weeks to introduce legislation to complete the transition to digital television by the end of 2006.

“Current law requires television broadcasters to give up their old analog airwaves by the end of 2006, or when 85 percent of the country can see the new, higher quality signals, whichever comes later. U.S. communications regulators expect it could take a decade for the transition to be completed under that scenario and they, along with some lawmakers, have been pushing to set a final deadline.”

That’s great news! But, I’m sure the light bulb in my projection TV will need to be replaced by then. Sounds like the technology might still be moving a lot faster than America’s standards. Why are we still on the metric system?





Knowing that Washington is still trying to push the digital standard is exciting, except for those less fortunate that cannot afford digital televisions and or the cable services that provide them. What this certainly means is cheaper prices for HDTV’s to adhere to that sector of the market. Which means more competition, and more choices for us consumers. Stay tuned, high definition bliss will be here before you know it.

posted by: Unjustjust

Shoes Thinking for Themselves...

Now, is technology getting the better of us? Welcome the "Smart Shoe." A nifty little creation by Adidas. Three years in the making in Germany, the shoe with a computer chip in the sole "adapts its cushioning level to a runner's size and stride," assuming that gives the optimal comfort and effectiveness.

Powered by a battery that only is used while pressure is being applied, the chip is 40 grams, and is attached at the arch by a tiny screw and cable system that connects to the heal, adjusting by sending electric signals and a magnet. - $250 buckaroos

It reminds me of Reeboks shoe, "the Pump."

With its magical little ball on the tongue where you can push to the desired pressure to supposedly give your shoe a tighter fit. Let's hope this one works much better.

posted by: Unjustjust

Less Is More

It seems that the overwhelming size of the instruction manuals that come with mobile phones these days has gotten to the Cingular and T-Mobile representatives. It’s about time. Heck, my 53 year old mother has trouble operating her basic-as-they-come LG mobile phone. Phones are incorporating everything these days. TV, Audio, Messaging, Web browsing, and I think I even saw one that made snow cones (on hot days this was the phone to have!). Where will it end?

I have a T-Mobile sidekick that basically does everything and more as a mobile phone, but once in a while I like to go back to my Nokia 3595 for a few days. All the older Nokia phone does is send and receive calls. Simple is nice.

As we progress and demand more from our phones, we have to realize they have limits. Manufacturers should know that most of the people who use their phones only utilize a small % of the phone’s capabilities. Maybe a ‘simple’ line of phones at a very cheap price would be a next move? Possibly this idea would be a huge hit? Of my immediate family my mom, dad, and brother would love something like that. The sister and I are tech nerd geek-a-zoides to the 15th power plus infinity, twice. Bring on the bells, whistles, and snow cone making phones! (But remember that we also want simple too)

posted by: feeling entropy

Bored at Work? Try a Scavenger Hunt

Nintendo has a new game, WarioWare, but before you play it on any console, maybe you can win it for free. Nintendo set up an old fashioned scavenger hunt. Well, old fashioned scavenger hunt on the Web. The home website will break down the rules, but the jest of it is that participants must find specific pictures located on different Nintendo sites. The winner gets a Nintendo DS game system (review here) and $300 in games. If you are paid minimum wage, this might be a better way to spend your time.

On a side note, Wario has been my favorite Nintendo character ever since the days of Mariokart. Who else can look evil and cuddly at the same time?

posted by: DigiDave

Trust Me, I’m Hotter In High Definition

Advances in technology usually yield good things for normal folk such as myself. Faster cooking microwaves, email checking mobile phones, the more gigahertz and megahertz the better. The celebrities however, are not in the same row boat as me. With HDTV, comes a much clearer picture, and with a clearer picture we are able to extract the utmost details of our favorite celebs. According to www.onhd.tv Anna Kournikova is hot and Britney Spears is not. It’s time for me to change my dreams of becoming a pop star and pick up a tennis racket. I have to say I was a bit disappointed when I saw Brad on the not-hot side of HDTV (did I say Brad), I meant Cameron Diaz! I guess there is something about Mary that we didn’t know, till HDTV.

posted by: feeling entropy

Imagine A Stream In Your Own House

Netgear has a new product that combines all of your digital music. This contraption will attach itself to your wired or wireless home network, and then access each computer’s song library. I’ve been thinking of a way to get the thousands of mp3 files I have stored on my hard drive to be played elsewhere, here’s my chance! Where would I personally utilize something like this? I’ve always wanted to have some tunes in the bathroom while I shower, brush my teeth, and well... read. With one of these hot little suckers in there, an amp, and some speakers I could really rock my socks. Too bad it doesn’t stream videos or pics. Maybe Netgear is saving those features for future models.

posted by: feeling entropy

Blogs, Social Networks and Yahoo Groups in One

Yahoo had a leak. Now that the cat is out of the bag, Yahoo spilled the beans on a new Web feature they have been testing for two years. It's called "Yahoo 360." They describe it as a combination of blogs, social networking sites like MySpace and Yahoo Groups.

From what I understand it is a blog with added features that let you strip stuff straight off of Yahoo Groups and reviews and, if you choose to make the blog public, lets you find other Yahoo 360ers who share your interests.

posted by: DigiDave

Check Out My Video Ring

Ring tones are more than just an alarm. They are a statement about your personality. You can stick with the packaged tones, but most people have a little fun and grab something new, whether its a new hip-hop song or, my personal favorite Kashmir by Led Zeppelin.

Ring tones are being swept aside by Sprint, which is now offering Video rings for those with multimedia phones such Sanyo's MM-5600. You can download the tones for $3 a piece.

We all know about camera phones you can set so that a picture of your friend comes up when they call. Hopefully with these new phones a video of your friend yelling "pick up the phone it's me a-hole" can be a future option.

posted by: DigiDave

Tough Computers for Tough Geeks

For a laptop to be deemed ‘tough’, it not only has to be difficult to break, but it also has to be difficult to hack. Tough hardware and tough software make the GETAC M220, (ahem) tough. The actual OS is still Windows XP, but the MobileForce M220 Enova's X-Wall Encrypted Technology keeps your unwanted people where you want them to be. The security is on a hardware level, basically a 5 digit password that must be entered pre-boot. Sounds secure, but what I really like is the fact that taking the hard drive out and connecting it to another computer isn’t your loophole, the other computer will read the drive as unformatted!! You can drop this laptop off the back end of a truck, use it in the rain, check email at 130 degree F conditions, and order it with a touch screen. But the single most important thing on my computers is the data, it’s the only thing that’s not replaceable. I sure would like to test this baby out in the rain though.

posted by: feeling entropy

Phone Games

Kyocera and Alienware have gotten together to work on a phone that plays games. I remember my first Nokia phone back in the late 90’s had a few games (snake was by far my favorite). We’ll we’ve come a bit further down the road from those days of long ago. Playing games on a phone isn’t so fun for me due to the number pad controls. They just aren't ergonomic for a game that requires precise timing. So the Kyocera Slider Remix KX5 comes with an attachment that resembles a real console controller, so playing games isn’t hindered by hitting the 5 button instead of the 2 on the number pad. More accessories include a music dock. Of course the phone comes with a 1.3MP camera and a nice big color screen. I have heard rumors of a refrigerator attachment to be released next quarter, but don’t quote me on that.

posted by: feeling entropy

TiVo is Saved!

If you have been following the news, or even just the LiveDigitally blog, you know TiVo has been in a lot of financial trouble lately. People have been doing a lot of talking. At Salon.com and other places there was even chatter that Apple was going to buy TiVo. I knew that wouldn't happen. The people at Apple might be innovators, but they aren't charity workers.

Today TiVo's prayers have been answered. They were picked up by Comcast in a deal that shot their stock up 54%. For those of us who care not for stocks, it's still a sweet deal because it means the technology TiVo pioneered is only going to become more mainstream through the country's number one digital cable provider.

posted by: DigiDave

Wireless Everywhere

Now that WiFi is available everywhere including your grandparents, coffee shops, airports and McDonalds, when does being connected mean over-connectivity? I went to the Golden State Warriors Game yesterday and they have an Internet Cafe. The San Francisco Giants have WiFi throughout the ball park and its permimeter.

“With 121 802.11b WiFi access points to provide continuous universal coverage to all concourses and seating areas, creating one of the largest public hotspots in the world.” Now, I don't know about you, but I go to the game to watch the game. I'm sure fantasy sports enthusiest like myself could drop and add players while watching the game live, but I'd prefer to just watch the game. Great idea if you need to connect and present to clients while at the ‘corporate function’ to generate sales.

posted by: Unjustjust

It Changes So You Don’t Have To

After reading a bit about the new iPod shuffle (actually I read quite a bit), I didn’t feel the need to go out and buy one. Most of my .mp3 files are encoded at 320kbps and that means that they are about twice the size of the standard 128kbps AAC files used for marketing numbers. Apple states that 240 songs will fit on the iPod Shuffle, but with my higher bit rate, we’re only talking around 120 songs. I just wasn’t satisfied. So Apple incorporated a converter in iTunes for the iPod Shuffle. That’s right, iTunes version 4.7.1 will convert the selected songs, while keeping your high bit rate songs on your computer, and plop the newly converted 128kbps AAC file on your little shuffler. Granted the 128kbps AAC files don’t have the quality of the 320kbps files, but this isn’t for home stereo use, more so along the lines of riding the bus or walking the puppies. It’s times like these that make me the happy boy I am today.

posted by: feeling entropy

New Shopping Search Engine

Once again John Battelle's blog has content that just screams the fact that he is an insider. Today he discussed Become.com, a month old shopping search engine still in Beta. No big deal right? Amazon isn't shaking yet but maybe the will. Because.com claims to have a shopping search engine that can out Google the best of them.

Just like John Batelle, I can't really say I understand what they are talking about, but here is what they have to say

AIR identifies exceptional web pages by understanding the level of interconnection between valuable sites from within specific fields of interest. AIR evaluates a web page based on what other “knowledgeable” sites in that specific field say about the page, and also evaluates the page based on what the page says about other “knowledgeable” sites in the specific field."

"Unlike Become.com’s AIR, Google’s PageRank estimates the popularity of a given web page by looking only at links into the page and doing so without any understanding of context. Become.com’s AIR, on the other hand, considers a site to be valuable if 1) it receives links from valuable sites within a similar topic of interest and 2) if it provides links to other valuable sites within a similar topic of interest (while minimizing links to off-topic sites)."

posted by: DigiDave

When Tech Kills

As I try to stress all the time in this blog, Living Digitally can mean a lot of things. It can include knowing which flash drive you want, but it can extend to how your garbage is picked up.

Well here is another example. At DefenseTech they study the ways technology is aiding and abating our means of security, war and weapons. I'm not really a killer myself, I'm a geek, but I always find the different ways geeks advance this part of the human condition (war) to be interesting. Here is the latest from DefensTech. It's about Robart III. Besides having a bad name, this robot is equipped with sensors and non-lethal dart guns and could be the future form of rent-a-cops. Mall security will never be the same again.

posted by: DigiDave

Blind Video Games

The title says it all. I recently finished a story about audio games for the blind. The games come in every genre to appease every kind of player. The visually impaired gamer will wear some headphones and sounds will let him know where the enemy is attacking him from, or where the next energy boost is waiting. It's a growing subsection of the gaming industry.

I'd be curious to see a battle between blind and sighted players in an audio game. My guess is the blind gamers, being more comfortable relying on their hearing for information about the world, would whoop on the sighted gamers.

posted by: DigiDave

Sony's PSP

The Sony PSP set to launch in 12 days.

Does that mean I'm counting down? Not necessarily, but from the looks and reviews of it, seems like it's a piece of gaming hardware worth checking out. With a slightly steep price of $249.00, it is a full $100.00 more than it's rival Nintendo's newest portable, the DS (Dual Screen), and may prevent the not so hard core gamer from picking one up right away.

According to CNET, the PSP value package at $249 includes a 32MB Memory Stick Duo card, headphones, an in-line remote, a slip-case, and a sampler disc (in the PSP's proprietary Universal Media Disc, or UMD, format) containing movie clips, music, and game demos. The first million units will also include the full Spider-Man 2 movie on a second disc.

Not bad for the standard price, at least they include a carrying case. One of the stand out features are the graphics, which to my suprise look a whole lot better than the Playstation 1.
With 20 games avaliable at launch, you will have your portable fill of racing, hoops and adventure.

posted by: Unjustjust

iTunes, Motorola: The MotoTunes Phone –Postponed?

“If any one can show just cause why they may not be lawfully joined together, let them speak now or forever hold their peace.” It looks as though they’re postponing the debut of the Motorola-iTunes capable phone. This past Thursday (03/10/2005) at CeBIT, Motorola was supposed to unveil their iTunes mobile handset. Apple and Motorola decided to delay the unveiling of this revolutionary phone due to causes that are not 100% known. Does this mean the end of the iPod? Personally I think not. I’m excited to see the phone but would be hesitant to invest in one. The issue I have with such mergers of technology is battery life, the ‘oh so essential’ aspect of all portable electronics that no manufacturer is able to avoid. I figure that my iPod lasts me a good 5-6 hours, and my Sidekick (mobile phone) lasts me approximately 15 hours. If these two were to share a battery, I’d probably have to feed my handset a proper charge 2 times a day as opposed my current nightly charge. In most day to day scenarios, that’s too much effort for me. However, I beg for Motorola and Apple to prove me wrong! Please!

posted by: feeling entropy

Interact With Your T.V.

Do you talk to your T.V.? Don’t be bashful, I’ve heard plenty screaming while walking through apartment complexes during game day to know that people do feel the need to express their feelings to those on the television. CBS and GoldPocket Interactive feel the same way, and they’re doing something about it. That’s right, ITV is in our near future and these two companies have plans to implement it in North America. Starting with the hit reality show ‘Survivor: Palau’, which currently has web interaction, viewers will be able to answer trivia questions, vote live, and chat. GoldPocket Interactive also brought CSI: Miami Interactive to viewers last year. I think I smell a trend cooking here. With hope, soon we’ll be able to yell “Pass!! Pass!!” and Kobe will actually hear us.

posted by: feeling entropy

Cell Safety

I read an interesting analysis today of the cell phone safety debate. The article compared the cell industry to the tobacco industry; more interested in making money and suppressing important information than public safety. Right now studies are inconclusive as to whether cell phones are dangerous or not. While our economy and lives are becoming dependent on them we may very well be in the 1940s era of smoking. During that time smoking was approved by doctors but that didn't make it any less damaging to our health. While I don't expect or think we should give up cell phones because of pre-emptive whistle blowing, if these accusations are true the future of living digitally will definitly change.

posted by: DigiDave

TiVo selling?

According to the numbers, TiVo just isn't pulling it's weight. Does that mean it's time for them to sell? Many different companies have expressed a bit of interest in the company but it looks to me as though those companies are after the rights and patents that TiVo has, and not the company and it's current path. Some cable companies are offering a DVR box set up for a few dollars extra on the monthly payment. A setup like that is much more feaseable for someone like me: no initial fee of $99.99 for the TiVo box, no TiVo membership hassle, and all the capabilities of TiVo! These companies may just want to buy TiVo so that they can go bury it out in the desert. Regardless, i'm not surprised that to date, TiVo has only lost money.

posted by: feeling entropy

3D T.V.

In Germany a research institute has developed a screen that lets you see an image in 3D without using those annoying red and green colored glasses. That's right, Back to the Future is becoming reality.

The screen, created by the Fraunhofer Institute for Telecommunications and displayed at the annual CeBIT technology fair in Hannover Germany, somehow is able to send one beam of light to one eye and another slightly different beam of light in the other. The coolest feature is that an infrared camera on top of the T.V. senses your movement, so no matter where you stand the image will remain in 3D. Unfortunately I was unable to provide a 3D image for you all from this screen. Give the technology at least three more years.

posted by: DigiDave

There's worms in here!

It's not surprising that those malicious email viruses that used to come into your inbox, access all of your contacts, and email themselves to each and every address you had listed, have now turned to the world of instant messaging. That’s right folks, over 30 new viruses reported have been transferred over instant messaging networks. MSN leads the pack in infections with Yahoo! trailing far behind and AIM left in the dust. The hot viruses today are the Bropia, Kelvir, and Bizex worms.

What does this mean for me? I've been using AIM on my phone, does that mean I should be worrying about a mobile phone virus in the near future? It’s impossible for me to go a 24 hr span without sending some sort of instant message. In fact I’ve been awake for 1 1/2 hours today and I’ve already had 4 separate IM conversations. I suppose it's like Biggie said (with a tech twist), "more technology, more problems"

posted by: feeling entropy

King of the Hill

There is a vast array of portable hard drive mp3 players (as opposed to flash drive) on the market. Coupled with these, there are also many options when it comes to digital music downloading. In the past few years, Apple has taken this market by storm. I could bore you with statistics, but it's already common knowledge that the iPod rules as king over all portable hard drive mp3 players. Could there be a weak point to this Apple Empire?

Yahoo! thinks that they just may be able to force Apple to share a piece of that digital music pie. Yahoo! has eager plans to launch an online music store in direct competition with the Apple iTunes Music store. How they plan to draw the masses of the Apple Cult away from iTunes, I am unsure. zdnetindia reports that Yahoo!'s Launch site will bear the new name "Yahoo! Music". Personally I feel that, if Yahoo! wants to create some converts they must offer the same ease, quality, and variety of iTunes, and cheaper. With a $.99/song price tag from iTunes, Yahoo! just may pull some of the music downloading market towards their side. As long as price is right.

posted by: feeling entropy

The SCH-V770

How many megapixels does it take to get to the tootsie center of a tootsie pop? The answer is simple, too many! Newer digital cameras boast 3.2, 4.0, and even 5.0 megapixels. Where does the madness stop? Obviously not with Samsung, who unveiled a mobile camera phone with an amazing 7.0 megapixel rating. The phone has a business card reader, as well as an mp3 player. According to WikiFAQ's, the number of megapixels needed to reproduce the quality of a 35mm camera is 8.0 megapixels. To me it looks as though we've still got some ground to cover until we talk the "That's just too many megapixels" talk. What's next? Adobe Photoshop integrated into a camera/phone/mp3 player for on-the-go photo editing? Where do I sign up!

posted by: feeling entropy

Cool Computers

Processors can get pretty hot, but not in a good way. The cooler your computer processor remain the better it will work. Luckily there are a host of products that claim to keep your computer cool and Trusted Reviews took a look at such a product earlier today. According to TR the VapoChill XE II from Asetek kept their computer at a chill -33 degrees during all tests. I wouldn't suggest dishing out over $500 dollars on this computer refrigerator to anybody, but if you are afraid your computer is going to start a fire on your desk, think of it as a good investment.

posted by: DigiDave

Gizoogle It My Homie

I forgizot how I came across this tizight sight, but it sure is informative. Gizoogle.com breaks things down to the core. Here is what they had to say about Live Digitally "Sign up ta LIVEdigitally Today! 24 hours of digital N-to-tha-izzews, delivered daily." I hear that, or I guess I should say: Word! All in all the site is pretty insizzile (insightful?). After a few searches here is my favorite for Amazon books: "A $5 Bonus Just fo` Pimpin' For a limited time, git a promotizzles certificate wiznorth $5 off a future Amazon.com poser W-H-to-tha-izzen if you subscribe." What?

The sight makes sure to give shouts to the man below.

posted by: DigiDave

Gaming Conference

I know there are some avid gamers out there who will find interest in Carol Chung's coverage of the Game Developers Conference. This is like the Consumer Electronics Show of the gaming world. It gives you a look at everything happening today and what to expect in the future. The biggest news Chung had to report. The million dollar industry is expected to be a billion dollar industry by 2008.

posted by: DigiDave

The sPod

Not to long ago I made a cheap crack about Sony and the Walkman era. Maybe they heard me, because today the brand that brought you the first hit mobile music device has joined the 21st century with their own mobile devices that play MP3s. Obviously Apple beat them to the punch, but I wouldn't be surprised if Sony comes in at a strong number 2 when all is said and done. They are the size of a cigarette lighter and have a longer battery life, but they are also a bit more expensive than their iPod counterparts.

posted by: DigiDave

Cellular TV

Nokia has launched TV for cell phones in Finland. The AP story is all over the place, so I won't go into details too much here. But I will say a few things. One: I hated this line from the story "Test users of the phone were most interested in watching news, weather, sports, current affairs and entertainment, according to the research." -- Doesn't that cover everything we tend to watch on TV? I'm also curious about the who, what, where and when of syndication and advertisements. Only time will tell just what kind of audience these phones produce. I can see either quick daily viewers, perhaps during the morning commute, or occasional but long viewers during those horrid 9 hour family car trips.

posted by: DigiDave

Computer Clothes

So it is a bit early for back to school shopping, but pretty soon we might start seeing clothes that are smarter than us. Below is a jacket developed at MIT that has conductive fibers, letting the wearer press different buttons to make different musical notes. But this is just the tip of the iceberg. Computer clothes will become functional and fun. Although right now some look like they will forever be doomed to end up in the janky file, others, like those covered here in today's BusinessWeek, show promise.

posted by: DigiDave

The NoPod, For Those With NoMoney

Just a quick little joke to pick you up if your Tuesday hasn't been treating you right. It's an iPod for those of us who have no money. It's constructed out of those old 80's mouse pads and even older headphones. Maybe I'm in a giggly mood, but this site just made me chuckle.

posted by: DigiDave

Three Headed Wireless Router

Trusted Reviews put up a little something on the Belkin Wireless Pre-N Router. This router deserves some extra attention because it uses its head, all three of them. Using a technology called MIMO (multiple input multiple output), the Pre-N is equipped with several aerials, increasing performance by using the same wireless channels to transmit more streams of data down to the router. As Trusted Reviews put it "a single 54Mbit/sec channel can have two streams running at this speed, but combined to produce 108Mbit/sec." Three antennas are better than one.

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posted by: DigiDave

Google on your Desktop

Google's beta version of a desktop search has been out for a bit, but as of today the cat is out of the bag and anyone can get their hands on it. John Battelle has some interesting remarks about what the formal release signifies. As computers become more and more a way to organize your personal life, music, communications etc, a desktop search engine is starting to sound pretty useful. You have to admit that once again Google is leading the pack with Yahoo and Microsoft figuring out how to follow the path they blazed.

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posted by: DigiDave

RFID Tags for your Luggage

Airlines spend 100-200 dollars on every bag they lose. While they only lose 5 out of every 1,000 bags, that can sure add up over a year. The New York Times had a good story today about future RFID tags for luggage (I hate linking to sites that require registration and try to avoid it normally). The technology is there and in the long term would save the airlines money and it would save passengers a lot of hair pulling. For right now, however, none of them want to make that initial investment. RFID technology is scary to some, and when the proposal is to put RFID tags on kids I can understand. But this is an application of RFID technology I think we can all get behind.

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posted by: DigiDave

Did Apple Steal?

Those interested in the business side of the technology industry will probably raise an eyebrow at the news surrounding Pat-rights, a Korean company that claims it has a patent on the DRM technology which drives Apple's iPod and iTunes sales. The company is asking for %12 of Apple's profits, which is nothing to turn your nose to. Say it ain't so Apple, say it ain't so.

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posted by: DigiDave

Intelligent Trash

An AP story today brought up a beta trash system in New York. The new cans are called Big Belly trash cans. So when did LiveDigitally start caring about waste management you ask? When the trash cans became equipped with sensor chips. The trash cans know when they are full and automatically compact their own trash. No need for power either, these guys come with solar panels giving them the juice to crush away. A big city like New York has a lot of trash and the company that makes these cans claim they can reduce a full trash can down to a quarter its size. Just one more example that living digitally doesn't only mean owning an iPod, but living in a world where public space is improved by technology.

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posted by: DigiDave

Tech Museum Wants You

The Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose is having their annual Tech Awards. It's similar to the Wired Raves that we covered recently but with categories and awards based on how the use of technology benefits humanity. The winner of a category gets $50,000 and anyone from around the world can be nominated.

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posted by: DigiDave

CD Carousel

One thing I've never learned the value of is organization. But with Imation's Disk Stakka I might never have to put effort into organizing my CDs again. This is an automated carousel that stores, protects and retrieves your CDs and DVDs. Each crate holds 100 disks and through a USB port connects to your computer, so you'll never have to even touch the CDs again after loading. Biosmagazine gave it a pretty good review, but had some critiques too. Mostly the price, $190 seems like an expensive merry-go-round for your new media.

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posted by: DigiDave

IP Summit: A Call To Arms

The Grokster case is starting to unfold and could have serious consequences for future IP law. It's the entertainment industries biggest stand against file sharing as we know it. On March 16th the Washington Convention Center will have conference to "examine the critical issues beyond the scope of this one case and to better understand the overall impact the current climate has on the advancement of creativity and innovation in the United States." You can register for the event here. This is a Supreme Court case, so like it or not it will affect us all.

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posted by: DigiDave

PDA's So Lame

It's slowly becoming a fact. PDA's, which are still useful today, are on their way out. We aren't there yet, but soon we will need an entire section for janky PDA's. Cell phones with PDA features will take over. Laptops will only get smaller and more portable making PDA's as we know them today pointless. Here is the latest evolution in our computers shrinking to hand size. It's the Twiddler," a mouse and keyboard that fits in one hand. Makes you rethink the notion of a joystick.

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posted by: DigiDave

I Shall Call It: Mini Mac

So the Mini Mac isn't new. In fact I was very hesitant to blog it simply because we started this blog well after its release. But if Trusted Reviews isn't too proud to post a review up this late in the game, then neither am I. While I've heard a fair amount of negative reviews about the iPod Shuffle that Mac released at the same time as the Mini Mac, I have yet to really hear too much negative feedback on the Mini Mac. Now it isn't as robust as a Mac, which is part of the allure of Macs in the first place, but it does offer a stripped down (and cheap) version of what makes the Mac loved by so many. The point of its release is to help users switch over to Mac. With the success of the iPod I wouldn't be surprised if there are a lot of people out there who want to make the switch and have been waiting for a cheap make to give them that extra push.

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posted by: DigiDave

T.V. Torture

A few months ago a new product came out called "T.V. Be-Gone." It was a hit with T.V. critics everywhere. Following in its footsteps is the "Couch Potato Tormentor," which gives you the power to drive any couch potato nuts. Channel surfing will halt because of infrared signals it emits that make the television go haywire.

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posted by: DigiDave

Walkman Phone

Or is it a phone walkman? Sony has unleashed the W800, the first walkman phone with 30 hours of battery life and a 2 megapixel camera. But, judging by the title you know there is more. They probably wanted to call it an iPhone, but were afraid of a lawsuite. The closest brand name Sony has in the portable music world is still the "Walkman," how 80's. Jack in some headphones and when you are not chatting you can be listening to your favorite songs. 512MB of storage makes room for a decent amount of songs, enough to keep you occupied when you are on hold anyway.

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posted by: DigiDave

Computer Mod

People who are into Harley's sometimes make original modifications to their bike. A custom job if you will. They even have a show about a family that does this on the discovery channel, American Chopper. So computer geeks might not have as many tattoos as bikers, but we can use our hands just as well. Computer Mods are the result of taking your computer and customizing the external casing only. The guts of the computer stay the same, but the look and feel become all yours. Now customizing the inside of your computer, that's a whole new ballgame, but I think it's important to appreciate the time and effort computer mod'ers put into their craft. Here are some pictures of models that won the Directron.com Mod contest.

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posted by: DigiDave

Knighthood and Toys

The funny news of the morning is the announcement that Bill Gates will receive honorary knighthood from Britain's Queen Elizabeth for his "outstanding contribution to enterprise." I think his being the richest man in the world might also help him out. This news is so silly to me that I had to include it in an entry about the latest tech toys for tweens.

It's a growing trend to have toys that look and act like cell phones. Hasbro, the number one toy maker, has lead the charge with everything from the "Cheerios Snacking Cell Phone," for really young ones to the chatnow two way radio for tweens. My first reaction is to be disgusted; do we really need to encourage cell phone addiction to children? But then I remember Powerwheels from my childhood and I figure everything is the same as it always has been.

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posted by: DigiDave