Tuesday, November 16, 2004

Sorry Everybody
Mini Review: Firefox Damien Barrett, a Mac support technician who writes the popular Mr Barrett blog, switched from Safari to Firefox, and couldn't be happier:

"It's not that Safari is a bad browser. Safari is quite a good browser and I'll keep it in my dock. But Firefox is faster, cleaner, more extensible, and user-friendly than Safari. Perhaps Safari v2.0 will win me back with its RSS feeds and other features, but that's not until Tiger, which is still a good six months away."
Nullsoft, 1997-2004 - AOL kills off the last maverick tech company. By Paul Boutin
SimpleTech SimpleShare 250GB NAS drive - Engadget - www.engadget.com

Friday, November 12, 2004

PRETTY GIRLS DON’T RIDE THE SUBWAY They’re not sure whether it was an inside job or the work of some hacker who experienced a little rejection while riding the rails, but somebody hacked into the New York subway computer system and switched one of the electronic signs at the W. 4th Street station to read “PRETTY GIRLS DON’T RIDE THE SUBWAY”. Apparently it was up there for a few hours, too, before MTA workers finally just unplugged the damn thing. Could someone please get Jenny Holzer on the phone?
Gizmodo : AllOfMP3 Took My Money (And I'm Cool With That)

Wednesday, November 10, 2004

Gizmodo : Gmail Enables POP (For Some)
The Gmail Team is excited to announce that, over the next several weeks, we are introducing POP access to all of our users. To make sure the feature is fully stable, we're giving users access to POP in phases. Once POP access is available to you, a 'New Features!' link appears at the top of your account, along with a 'Forwarding and POP' tab on your 'Settings' page.

Our team is continually working to improve Gmail, and we look forward to offering you new features. Thank you for your patience.
Wired News: Halo 2 Rakes in $100 Million

Friday, October 29, 2004

SanDisk’s budget 2GB Secure Digital card Let’s ponder something for a minute here. When SanDisk rolled out their 1GB SD memory card at the beginning of the year, it was priced at a full $500. Now, not only are they introducing their new 2GB Ultra II SD card (which has faster than average read/write speeds) at the low cost of $240, they’re going to sell their regular speed 2GB SD memory card (which should be available next month) at the even cheaper price of just $200. And that $500 1GB SD card? You can now pick that up for around 65 bucks. Progress, etc.

Monday, October 25, 2004

Ecko Unltd.: Music: Rupee Rupee is one of the foremost artists in the intoxicating musical movement known as soca (soul + calypso) – the supercharged party music of the Caribbean. With his debut Atlantic album, “1 ON 1,” slated for release in the fall of 2004, Rupee is now poised to capture the global mainstream audience. Rupee’s soca sound is rhythmically complex yet instantly catchy, a non-stop blending of the flavorful, tuneful, and irresistibly danceable. With “1 ON 1,” he becomes a major force in the eruption of innovative urban-influenced Caribbean artists who are changing the face of music worldwide.

Wednesday, October 20, 2004

Bikes (Motorcycles) in the Fast Lane - A Motorcycle News Blog BMW Announce Motorcycle Helmet With BlueTooth
BMW’s System V Bluetooth motorcycle helmet BMW has themselves whipped up a Bluetooth motorcycle helmet called the System V. Though it’s a great dell less attractive than Moto-MOMO’s helmet (and its name is just a slight bit more intimidating than the freaking Fighter Helmet), it’s still pretty well equipped itself, with its fibre glass, carbon and Kevlar laminate shell, two array mics up near the forehead (not our first choice for location, but whatevs), a DSP to cut back on wind noise and interference, two speakers, integrated batteries, and, of course, the Bluetooth headset module.

Monday, October 11, 2004

Fast Company | Balance is Bunk! It's the central myth of the modern workplace: With a few compromises, you can have it all. But it's all wrong, and it's making us crazy. Here's how to have a life anyway.
Wired News: A MacGyver for the Third World Mechanical engineer Amy Smith, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology instructor, joined the MacArthur fellowship fold last week, receiving the so-called "genius award" and a colossal cash prize. Her award-winning feat? Using old technology in fresh ways to improve the lives of entire communities.
BBC NEWS | World | Americas | Second presidential debate: Key quotes
BBC NEWS | Technology | Web blunder boosts Bush bashers

Friday, October 01, 2004

Wired News: ID Rule Exists, But Can't Be Seen Internet entrepreneur Gilmore first challenged the constitutionality of requiring airlines to ask passengers to show identification in U.S. District Court in San Francisco in July 2002, but the government refused to tell that court whether the rule existed.

Gilmore argued that the rule is vague, since no one knows what kind of identification is adequate and the penalties are unknown. He said he opposes Americans being subjected to a secret law. The rule impinges upon the right to travel and leaves people open to unreasonable searches, he added.
BBC NEWS | UK | Magazine | Face of the future US scientists have already carried out face transplants on dead bodies donated for medical research. They are now awaiting approval to do the same on living people with disfigurements.
Gizmodo : Sidekick II Dissected

Wednesday, September 29, 2004

Access Gmail: "Welcome to AccessGmail. The purpose of this site is to allow Gmail users to check their email account through different interfaces and browsers than the traditional Gmail interf"
Sony Cineza LCD projector - Engadget - www.engadget.com Equipped with a 3LCD panel, the new VPL-HS51 is making home theater buffs around the world re-think their media rooms. The little projector features a 6000:1 contrast ratio, which is quite an accomplishment for a front projector. It’s optimized for HD signals with a 1024 x 720 resolution - this means it can do 720p native on screens anywhere from 40- to 200-inches.
The tricked-out toilet - Engadget - www.engadget.com That’s it. We’re done. We have reached tech nirvana, and there is nothing left to be designed, built, or even thought up. This high-tech throne of eternal happiness, first brought to us by the guys at Trick Anything, features drink holders, lumbar support, and a multi-positioned adjustable bowl (after all, some people are bigger than others).
BBC NEWS | Technology | Barcelona clubbers get chipped BBC Science producer Simon Morton goes clubbing in Barcelona with a microchip implanted in his arm to pay for drinks.

Tuesday, September 28, 2004

Alpine KCA-420i iPod Interface - Engadget - www.engadget.com Alpine is releasing the $100 KCA-420i iPod Interface for car stereos. Like the new BMW stereos, the Alpine system allows you to connect your iPod to your car stereo at line level and control it from the stereo head unit. This is great news, as the Alpine systems can be installed in virtually any vehicle, and the head units start at $200. There are some interface and usability issues (playlists are called files and song are called folders), but the sound quality is reported as being excellent.
Nintendo DS wireless hub trick up its sleeve? - Engadget - www.engadget.com The DS could act as both a wireless 802.11 device and as a repeater hub. In other words, you won’t need a wireless router nearby to get online with these things - you’ll just need someone close enough to connect to, and he’ll be able to connect you to someone just as close to him even if that person isn’t so near you, and so on. Potentially-huge networks of gamers could appear organically and play against one another regardless of pre-installed routers or proximity. While we worry a bit about the lone boy in the forest (should people know he’s out there alone, and should his DS be announcing as much? Go home, boy, go home!), the possibility of a spontaneous wireless gaming network of multiple hubs is straight up amazing. Or is it downright creepy?
People ditching landlines causing problems for pollsters? - Engadget - www.engadget.com: "Nearly seventy years ago Literary Digest conducted a poll of millions of voters that predicted that Republican Alf Landon would trounce Franklin Roosevelt in the 1936 president"
Yahoo! News - Vancouver hookers run book club, wonder why people think that's strange

Monday, September 27, 2004

Mozilla Firefox 1.0 Roadmap: "New Releases

Additional required work has necessitated the insertion of a new release for Windows, Linux and MacOS X (0.10 - called '1.0 Preview Release') and extra for MacOS X (0.11 - coincides with '1.0 Final'). The decision has been made to hold the 1.0 release on MacOS X until after 0.11 has been completed, basically ensuring that we do not ship a product that is not up to spec for that platform."
Firefox on Mac OS X Annoyances (Jeremy Zawodny's blog) Found one piece of potentially very good news:
"Just FYI, I was looking at the Firefox Roadmap (http://www.mozilla.org/projects/firefox/roadmap.html) the other day, and I noticed the following "Anticipated further Release Candidates" (after it hits 1.0 on the PC):

1.0PR2 (MacOS X) - Aquafication release. Focus on outstanding UI issues particular to MacOS X, redevelop UI to support cross platform nature, etc.

1.0 (PC) is actually listed as 1.0 alpha 2 for the Mac."

so hopefully Mac commands will work with Firefox next release, and perhaps some extensions that don't work on Mac will follow.

Tuesday, September 21, 2004

Wired News: Mac Games: (Not) Big in Japan
Gear Eye: T-Mobile Sidekick II - Engadget - www.engadget.com In every school there was a guy who was almost a year older than the rest of the class. He didn’t get held back or anything, he was just born a few days too late for his parents to register him the year before. In grade school no one noticed, but in jr. high he hit puberty before everyone else. When he was gangly and awkward, everyone else in his class made fun of him, but by high school he was one of the cool kids. He started growing bigger than the rest of the guys in his class. He wasn’t stupid, just bigger, so he he used his size and age to his advantage. He was probably the first guy you knew who could buy you some beer with a fake ID. Girls all wanted to date him, guys all wanted to be his pal, but somehow he was never a popular kid — just the cool guy.

The Sidekick II (SK2), well, it’s exactly like that guy. The first Sidekick was a bit awkward and gangly, but the SK2 has matured into a smooth operator that just happens to be a bit bigger than his classmates. It’s really not fair to just judge the SK2 as a phone, when it does and has so much more than your average phone. It’s really more of a laptop in your pocket. Because of this, we’re going to make a few exceptions on our ratings, but we will make them consistent across smartphones—promise.

The Sidekick II will be available exclusively through T-Mobile for a while. If you don’t score one in Santa Monica today, you should be to get one at your local T-Mobile store in the next day or two. Our man Jacks got us one a few weeks early so we could give you something to drool over while all the Paris Hilton wannabes are down in Santa Monica gettin’ their new SK2s blinged out.
History of the Transformers - Engadget - www.engadget.com
Really modded monster trucks - Engadget - www.engadget.com

Thursday, September 09, 2004

USATODAY.com - BlackBerry makes lovely companion, or Sidekick if you will
Sony’s DSC-M1 digital camera I swore off sony, but they are tempting me with interesting new cameras like this one. If they'd just ditch the memory stick.

We think the design is sorta fresh just on its own, but what Sony really hopes will impress us about the Cyber-shot DSC-M1, their new 5.1 megapixel digital camera, is that it can also pull double duty as a mini-camcorder. We’d be all dismissive and everything, since tons of digital cameras can record video clips, but it’s not exactly just a marketing gimmick. Yeah, its 2.5-inch LCD can swivel around and rotate 270 degrees, but the DSC-M1 also has this unusual hybrid recording mode where it can automatically record five seconds of video before and three seconds after every time you take a pic, the idea being that this way you won’t accidentally miss any of those future precious memories. They use an MPEG-4 video codec to keep the file size down, but either way you’re still going to need a mighty Memory Stick to store all those extra clips you’ll be recording. Anyway, the DSC-M1 should be out in December with a retail price of $600. (Click to see some more pics.)

Friday, September 03, 2004

weather.com - Tropical Details Frances with maps
BMW-Motorrad
BMW Textile Clothing
T-Mobile - Sidekick II, Register for Email Announcement @ TMobile Thank You Page
Wired News: Bold New World for Bald Mice
STAAR permanent contact lenses to supplement Lasik - Engadget - www.engadget.com To hear the commercials tell it Lasik surgery can work for anyone. Guess you can’t trust advertising, since those with severe myopia are out of luck as far as getting their eyes cut up with lasers is concerned. Now, with the invention of STAAR, a permanent contact lens implant, they too can join the party. The lenses are made of a collagen/polyhema blend and are currently in the last stages of FDA approval. Oh, and if something goes wrong; the lenses can be removed or changed. (Good call on that one.) The process is expected to cost about 20% more than Lasik.

Thursday, September 02, 2004

Element: strong like bull - Engadget - www.engadget.com It’s no Lady-Comp, but it does look a bit like a Cup-O-Noodles, (peel back cover, add ingredients and wait 10 minutes). Pria Diagnostics is producing the Element, a male fertility test, and you know you’re just a tad bit curious. Boxers or briefs—maybe this at home DIY experiment will finally convince you to ditch those tighty whities. We’re hoping Element parties will be next season’s big hit.
MSNBC - Florida told to expect storm worse than Andrew

Wednesday, September 01, 2004

The best iPod case. The iSkin eVo
Vice Magazine North America It’s got every DO & DON'T we ever ran, plus tons and tons and tons more. There’s all kinds of extra stuff too, including an interview with the author IN THE NUDE!!!
The Village Voice: Hot Girls, Frisky Delegates: RNC Diary of a Strip-Club Waitress
BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Star Trek Scotty receives honour Actor James Doohan, famous for playing Scotty in the original Star Trek series, has received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

The 84-year-old's attendance at the ceremony was expected to be his final public appearance.

He was recently diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and also suffers from Parkinson's disease and diabetes.

Doohan has spent the past few days meeting fans to say farewell and thanking them for their support.

Star Trek co-stars at the Walk of Fame ceremony included George Takei, who played Sulu, Nichelle Nichols, who was Uhura, and Walter Koenig, who played Chekov.
BBC NEWS | Health | Familiar faces seem more friendly Far from opposites attracting, people tend to choose friends who look like them, research suggests.

However, psychologist Dr Lisa DeBruine found a facial resemblance is not a turn-on when we are looking for a partner.

She believes we may have evolved to prefer the company of people who remind us of family - but have a biological block to prevent incest.