It is a global village. With Avian flu it has become a global barnyard. But with Sony’s rootkit, well, it’s a less friendly place to compute.
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Category Archives: General
USB Key: Phone Home
As USB flash drives are designed to fit anywhere, the real concern about losing such a diminutive device is certainly a concern. Who wants to lose their drive with all that precious data? With the large capacities, it’s like carrying around a filing cabinet with you. LG has come up with a way that their drive can email you if an unauthorized user plugs it into a computer hooked into the ‘net. This is a great feature whose time has come.
“No longer you need to panic in an even of a stolen thumbdrive. If you’ve a LG trackable flash drive, sooner or later you’ll get an email informing your precious data whereabouts. And that’s all thanks to the embedded Inspice Trace – the privacy-safe tracking software.
During initial registration, you are supposed to file with Inspice Trace your drive serial number, model and your email address. Then if someone else tries to access the drive’s data, the embedded program will send out a homing beacon (IP address, host name, etc), helping you to trace the data. For all these to work, we bet the bad guys need to decrypt your data using a Internet-enabled Windows. We weren’t so sure if the program would work on a Mac.”
Winamp Remote
If you’ve got some extra time this weekend, and a free serial port (remember those?), this is a project to consider. Sure, there are many more elegant solutions for controlling your music player. My personal favorite is the Logitech diNovo Bluetooth Media Commander which has the added benefit of being wireless. However, for a home brew solution, this project looks pretty good.
“Nowadays, Winamp has full support to keyboard shortcuts. But some time ago, when Winamp didn’t have this feature, I was thinking in some way to make a easy way to change music by simply pressing one button, it would make things faster and would help me to change music during games. So I decided to make a external control panel, to make it easier to change musics, volume up or down, toggle shuffle and many other features by pressing just one button. I found one winamp plugin that shows how to configure a external control using the Serial Port, being able to make 4 or 15 buttons control. I decided to make this, step-by-step, how to do it, hope you enjoy.”
Disguised well, this could be the center piece of a “computer jukebox.” Who says that geeks can’t rock?
Ready to go? Here’s the link.
Is Your iPod Making You Sick?
New technology often creates new problems. When Apple introduced the iPod, their scroll wheel was praised for its ease of use. Now music fans could scroll away to find just the tune they were looking for. Users loved it, and sales skyrocketed, and the rest is history.
However, folks may have scrolled too much. In what one site is dubbing “ipoditis,” doctors are seeing an increase in repetitive motion injuries involving the thumb.
“Music fans may enjoy the ability to spool through 10,000 songs on their iPods, but medical experts warn that jumping from tune to tune has its risks.
Carl Irwin, from the British Chiropractic Association, said: “This is a really serious problem. The action needed to move the wheel on an iPod is totally unnatural and effectively separates the joint in the thumb every time you use it.
“This causes inflammation in the thumb or fingers and can be very painful. We have also seen cases of iPod users where the problem has spread to their elbow and neck.”
Does this make an argument for just shuffling your tunes? I’m not sure, but this repetitive motion injury is on the rise. We’ve explored this before, here at LD, with our look at the Vertical Mouse.
New Media Player
Here, in a Live Digitally exclusive, we’re getting a first look at the latest Video iPod fighter. Ritek is planning on introducing their new OLE 8100 at the upcoming CES this January with availability for early 2006. The unit is to be flash based, with a capacity of 1 or 2 GB. The OLE 8100 will support audio, photo, and video files.
“The addition of the OLE 8100 MP4 player to our RIDATA family is
further evidence of our commitment to provide our customers with the
latest in portable digital-oriented products,” stated Harvey Liu,
Advanced Media Inc. president. “With audio, video, and photo-viewing
capabilities, it offers users phenomenal flexibility in when and where
they enjoy their media of choice.”MP4 is the latest compression standard developed by the Moving Picture
Experts Group (MPEG). Formally known as MPEG-4, it was designed to
store and deliver both professional-grade audio and video streams.The RIDATA OLE 8100 supports the following formats – music: MP3,
WMA, OGG, AC3; video: AVI, MPEG-1,2, and 4, VOB, DAT; and photo: JPG,
YUV (up to 4800 x 3600), support picture preview/slide function. Video
and photos are displayed on an energy-efficient 2″ LTPS LCD panel.It features five-mode equalization (normal, rock, jazz, classical, and
pop), three playing modes (normal, repeat one, and repeat all), and
both digital voice and line-in recording capability.With its embedded solid-state NAND flash memory, the OLE 8100 can
perform up to one-million erase/rewrite operations. 1GB and 2GB
capacities are available. The 2GB model provides up to 3.5 hours of
video play time and over 3 hours worth of audio.The unit supports WIN98SE/ME, WIN2000, and WINXP operating systems.
Video output to NTSC or PAL standards is by the included A/V cable.
Video output ports are RCA and S-tunnel. A/V input/output ports include
MIC in, line-in in, earphone out, and A/V out. A USB 2.0 PC interface
is also included.The RIDATA OLE 8100 MP4 player is packaged with an earphone, USB cable,
audio output cable,
S-terminal/RCA video cable, installation CD, audio line-in cable, AC/DC
universal charger, and a user’s manual.The compact, pocket-size unit is 2.6″ x 2.6″ x 0.75″ and weighs less
than 3 ounces. It comes with Advanced Media’s quality promise and
one-year warranty
For users (such as me) that don’t have an iPod, and have some music as WMA files, this could be a great music player. I’m also particularly intrigued by the MP4 support for video files. Maybe we don’t have to jump on the Apple bandwagon after all. One suggestion to Ritek though: they need a more memorable and enticing name for this thing!
Email Me Pictures
“Hey, take a picture with my camera!”
“Oh, take a picture with my camera too!”
“Eh, just email me the pictures”
“Yea right, who actually emails the pictures?”
This is where Kodak swoops in with a red cape and a flashy camera, with a flash. The Kodak Easyshare camera solves your group photo problemos. That’s right kids, a camera that emails photos via WiFi.
Kodak assumes that the need for a camera that emails pictures fills a wide gap in the American lifestyle. I’m a bit skeptical. This could be a neat marriage of digital cameras and WiFi. But I’d like to see a three way melt of high quality digital cameras, mobile phones, and wireless data networks provided by the mobile phone carriers. Am I victim of wishful thinking? I already snap, send, and receive pictures with my phone, better quality is all I really need.
Better WiFi Antenna
WiFi antenna have always been a bit of a home brew affair. First there was the cantenna, which was made from a Pringle’s can. This got one upped by the coffee can antenna. Over the summer, Popular Science published plans for a parabolic antenna.
Now the folks are getting serious. Engadget is showing the plans for an antenna made from a mini satellite dish. There are material lists, and photos of each step. This thing is quite strong. We’re talking 18 networks at once, from up to 8 miles away! Remind me to turn on the WEP on my router.
Just how hard is your drive?
Ahh, the age-old profession of man-whoring. It’s pleasantly surprising to find out that it’s made its way into IT, thanks to “Ray Digerati,” who had the cohones to place an ad on Craigslist that included the words “Will Fix Computers for Sexual Favors.” Sync Magazine has a very brief Q&A with this the IT playa (it seems like an oxymoron, I know), where we find out about his quickest, erm, “payment,” as well as some revealing details about his pay scale.
See people? Today’s news moves seamlessly from Google Base to Craigslist to man whoring. Am I good or what? I think it’s time to find out how I’m connected to Kevin Bacon…
Google Base goes live
Man, sometimes it seems like Google is releasing a new beta service each week – late last night they unveiled Google Base, a service allowing users to upload/post material from job listings and volunteer opportunities to recipes, items for sale and school course descriptions (Yes, I know…Craigslist). The material is then searchable via Google Base and potentially Google.com, Froogle and Google Local. The site does require a Google login and then presents users with the option to either post an item in one of the preset categories (at right), add one in a category you create, or search for an item using a field at the top.
CNET reports that Google execs deny that the service is a direct assault on Craigslist, but the similarities are too many to let such claims be swept under the rug. My initial reaction is that the single search field at the top of Google Base does a poor job of allowing you to narrow your search right out of the chute. In contrast to Craigslist’s preliminary filtering, Google Base makes you type in your search string and then subsequently click links on following pages to narrow the search. There are advantages, however – job searches lead to listings displayed next to their location on a Google map, and like meta job search site Indeed.com, includes listings from other sites (right now I see postings from CareerBuilder and Idealist.org).
Obviously the Google Base team believes that their interface is a great way to navigate through the site. Access to Google’s ginormous search index is a great feature, but I’m frustrated by the fact that, in the case of jobs, a lot of spam listings are showing up. Those interested in earning $6k/month by shopping and eating in their home cities should head on over.
Google Goes To Print
That’s right, yet another interesting Beta from the company that just won’t quit. We all know about their plan to scan libraries into their database. Some of us even watch the new T.V. show “Google Current” (even though it sucks). But Google just won’t stop stretching. Now it wants to take its adsense program and apply it to print magazines. Can the model that now defines Internet advertising be exported?
I love hearing crazy future Google talk. You know what I mean. People pontificate on the idea that Google will merge with Wal-Mart or buy-out Time Warner. Truth is, it’ll never happen. But it is interesting to see the ways that Google is stretching itself out. Perhaps like the Roman army it will go too far. I mean, it’s one thing to dominate Internet searches and advertising, but to now go to print?
Google print ads seems simple enough. Just find the magazine (or price) that fits what you are looking for, click in your design and poof…..you’re in the paper. Let’s wait and see if it takes off.
Just A Little Faster
Optical drive enthusiasts are definitely impatient people. Why else would they constantly remove a perfectly functional piece of computer hardware (namely their optical drive) to swap in one that is just a little faster? First it was CDR speeds, then DVDR speeds, and lately DVDR dual layer speeds. DVDR disc writing speeds maxed out at 16x a year ago. A full DVDR disc could be cooked in 6 minutes, and no one expected any faster as rotational speeds maxed out.
Well, counting on the fact that we always want things one notch faster, Plextor is planning on introducing a DVD writer that can write DVD+R discs at the breakneck speed of 18x! Personally, I think this is very fast, will probably put the hit on write quality, and can’t wait to try it.
Audible.com to quantify podcast popularity, help podcasters sell their souls
People! Let’s find a way to measure exactly how many people are listening to podcasts so that we can set up ways to mine this nascent market! Nobody puts out content and misses out on an opportunity to make money!
Audible.com, purveyor of fine audio content (listen to an NPR program and you’ll likely hear their ads at the end, in case you want a copy of the show) announced on Friday that they have developed a system for cashing in on all of those still-ad-free potential revenue streams. Dubbed Wordcast, the software can be installed on iPods and other digital audio players (or DAPs, for the geeks), in Audible’s .AA file format. Still in beta, it appears to be able to provide podcast producers with the ability to more accurately determine the size of their listening audience, as the embedded software will monitor the number of times files are e-mailed and how far into each podcast listeners progress.
As soon as we can get our act together we’ll get all y’all a podcast. I’m a fool for ignoring the market until now, I tell you!
[Via Red Herring]