Category Archives: General

So Gizmodo and Gadgetizer already hit this up, but I couldn’t resist mentioning it. While I’m not completely certain of the LD policy on writing about inventive ways of getting your drink on, the simple fact that a company designed a cellphone-shaped flask deserves some props. With a 4 0z. capacity, consumption is achieved, according to Gadgetizer, via “pretending to chew” on the antenna-shaped nozzle.

I guess nobody seems to notice (or care) that the “screen” is white and the “buttons” don’t even have any numbers. But it has a case, man! A genuine leather case! Yeesh. Come on, now – who are you fooling?

Creative is updating their MP3 line up in a really big way. Thirty gigabytes in their small Zen, with a large photo screen as an added bonus. This should be a popular player if it works as well as it looks. In the specs, it reportedly supports several video formats. All for a “mere” $400.

According to this BBC article, Indian company HCL Infosystems has launched its first low-close personal computer. A mere 9,990 ruppes (~$225), the machine’s specifications include a VIA or Intel Celeron processor running at 1 GHz, 128 MB DDRAM, a 40 GB hard drive, 15″ monitor and Linux as its OS.

Reading this, I can’t help but think about MIT Medica Lab cofounder Nicholas Negroponte’s $100 laptop project, which strives to provide cheap computers for those in developing countries. As prices for mass-produced computers continues to fall and projects like Negroponte’s continue to push manufacturers to go cheaper and simpler, the potential for rapid growth of the non-wealthy user base is undeniable. According to HCL’s CEO and Chairman, within 15 months of launching a computer priced below 15,000 rupees (~$340), the company’s market share grew more than 10 percent. Granted, the ability of the extreme poor to even afford a machine costing a few hundred dollars is suspect, but lower cost computers will increase access for millions (even billions).

Take a look at these numbers (from 2002, courtesy the CIA World Factbook):

Of a population of nearly 296 million, the US has an estimated 159 million internet users (53.7%).

Of a population of more than 1 billion, India has an estimated 18 million internet users (1.8%).

Look out, world.

I love blogs. Blogs for breakfast, blogs for lunch, and maybe a vlog for dinner, I say. Finding an interesting blog is like those old 49ers finding a 1oz nugget of pure gold. Blogs take on many forms, shapes, sizes, and functions. According to BBC News and Technorati, a new blog is created every second. Bam, blog. Bam, blog. Bam, blog. That’s just mind boggling.

There’s some cool stats about blogs in this article, as well as some common blog knowledge for those 5 people in the world who still have to set up a blog. I’m so blog crazy that when I write on somebody else’s computer I automatically add the world ‘blog’ to their spell check dictionary! Is that rude?

I just want to take a second to introduce myself as the newest member of the LD team. While Boston is more than a few miles away from the sun-drenched beaches of the west coast, Silicon Valley, Rice-a-Roni and, most importantly, good weather, I assure you my location makes me no less interested in the machinations of the tech industry and the wondrous products that emerge from its doors. Feel free to send comments, suggestions (and compliments, most importantly) my way – I’m looking forward to serving all of you as best I can!

I remember spending more than a few hours with Nintendo’s Mario, and his brother Luigi. Their 20th birthday is coming up, and Nintendo plans on celebrating- with a new product launch.

RUMOURS ARE running rife that Nintendo is to release their Game Boy Micro in Japan on the 20th birthday of their iconic poster boy Mario, September 13th. Nintendo has thus far denied all the rumours though we wouldn’t put it past them.

I’m a Mac user. I’m a PC user. I’m not a Linux user, but I aspire to be so one day. Linux is an ‘open source’ software. This means that the public has access to the linux code, enabling those savvy enough to modify, add, or subtract to the operating system.

The term freeware comes in to play when talking about linux. Freeware is a term that contains two entities: free as in no monetary cost (usually described as ‘free as in free beer’) and free as in there are no restrictions for the software’s use.

This idea is great, and many computer geeks like me hope that someday all software will be freeware. But freeware doesn’t have to stop at software. Free as in ‘free beer’ could mean just that.

Carlsberg beer, a Danish brewer, has decided to make its beer recipe ‘open source’. This means that they’ll just give away the recipe. People can make, modify, and resell the beer. As long as the original recipe is credited, then everything is all-to-the-good. More things should be open source, and that’s where the Technology University in Copenhagen and Carlsberg are trying to go with this joint beer venture. Something about software and alcohol get me excited that tomorrow is the weekend!

I’m using a Nokia 3595 phone, with a very colorful fish theme case. But, before I got my hands on this $5.99 prize of technology, I had the T-Mobile Sidekick II. Email, instant messenging, games, web browsing, camera, you name it, and this phone had it. The Sidekick II isn’t even the most full featured phone either.

Phones are on the road to more and more features, and CamReader is ready to be a part of these new multi-purpose devices. CamReader is a technology that makes our sci-fi dreams become reality. Imagine scanning a document with your phone, or a barcode. Facial recognition would be great!

(fuzzy daydream effect with me staring into space) I just picture my sister picking up my phone, the facial recognition software identifies her, and then displays a message: “hey there brat, leave my phone alone!” Technology is great!

When you’re at work, staring at an excel spreadsheet, you should be focused on work. But we know the truth. Your fingers are typing, the mouse is moving, and the excel spreadsheet that you’ve been staring at for the past week is growing slowly. In the back of your mind, you’re wondering if gizmodo has posted any new content. You’re hoping that the cute girl you went out with last week has updated her blog (yes cute girls have blogs!) and if she mentions you in it.

You’re not allowed to surf the net at work (too much), so checking your favorite gadget weblog each hour just isn’t acceptable in today’s cut throat, slave driving corporate world. There’s ways around this problem, and those ways begin with the letters RSS. Really Simple Syndication (RSS) is the technology that we’ve all been waiting for. Imagine, everytime Rocketboom updates their vlog, you receive a notice –just as you would receive a notice when a new email arrives- and can view that new entry in your email client, or RSS reader.

I use Mozilla’s Thunderbird email client for my RSS reader. There are fancy readers, but I’m not a fancy guy. When surfing the web, and you see these () little buttons, this means the site is ready to be RSS’d by you. Some apps let you drag and drop, some require a copy paste, be either way it’s super duper easy to “subscribe” to your favorite blog, news site, podcast or, other online syndication.

So why is RSS so unpopular? 1% of the internet population uses RSS. The 12-21 male demographic is the leading RSS group at a whopping 5% of the polled use RSS. Is it because we like looking at every page in our bookmarks, each time we get a chance to hit the internet? Do people just not understand RSS? Is there a need for a LIVEdigitally how-to-RSS article in the near future? I’m baffled? I’ve been using RSS for some time, and tons of sites offer simple syndication, so what’s the hold up? Let’s get RSS off the bench and on the court!

Microsoft is making waves with it’s new Vista operating system. The current Microsoft standard is Windows XP, but not so far on the horizon is XP’s replacement and people can’t stop buzzing about it. Vista will be even more secure than XP is now. I think that’s great, but it also means that less apps will be compatible with Vista, not sounding good for something that hasn’t even come out yet.

We’ll see what happens with Vista and XP, as of now I think I’ll stick to my Windows 95 computer, which I just upgraded from Windows 3.1.1