Category: Technology

Posted on

The Bill Gates bomb just went off

Suddenly the richest man in the world wants to step down from his throne at Microsoft and the world erupts in a gasp. That might be overkill to say, but checking my RSS feeds yesterday and today, news of Bill Gates departure[googlenews] by 2008 was the headline all over the place.

Taking billions from his empire and applying his efforts towards his foundation is a very respectable move. I could say something about this being good for his company, but I won’t. It’s about time some one with influential power did something good for the world, and PC operating systems won’t solve those problems.

Posted on

Weird Al says he gets less when you go digital

I caught wind of this from Slashdot[article] and navigated back to the horse’s mouth, aka Weird Al Yankovic. According to the “Ask Al” section of his website, he claims that he’s actually losing money when you buy his music digitally from sources such as iTunes.

Tim Sloane of Ijamsville, MD asks: Al, which of these purchasing methods should I use in order to make sure the most profit gets to you: Buying one of your albums on CD, or buying one of your albums on iTunes?

I am extremely grateful for your support, no matter which format you choose to legally obtain my music in, so you should do whatever makes the most sense for you personally. But since you ASKED… I actually do get significantly more money from CD sales, as opposed to downloads. This is the one thing about my renegotiated record contract that never made much sense to me. It costs the label NOTHING for somebody to download an album (no manufacturing costs, shipping, or really any overhead of any kind) and yet the artist (me) winds up making less from it. Go figure. [weirdal]

I’m sure this can’t be said for all recording artists out there as this comes from his renegotiated contract. I wouldn’t put it past record companies to snag artists in situations like this, so it is something to really consider when signing with a label.

When it comes down to it, staying independent is a plausable way to go if you can handle the work. If you are working for yourself instead of a label, you might be able to support yourself better rather than having profits like this being plucked away from you, while being legally binded, I might add.

Additionally, Weird Al fans might be interested to know, if you don’t already, that you can expect a new album from him soon.  Apparently the album was slated to come out this month, but, you guessed it, problems with his record company has delayed the release.  In situations such as these, I should say that you shouldn’t expect the new album soon but instead that you can hope to see it be released by the end of the year.  The music industry can be kind of crappy like that.

Posted on

Flock to a new web browser

I’m using Flock to make this post as an experiment. I recall hearing a little about this web browser during its initial phase of development, but the beta 1 of the program was released today.

What’s the big deal? Well, users of FireFox would be interested to know that it is based on your beloved browser. Flock goes a little bit further to integrate many of the web tools that are quite popular these days, especially bloggers.

Flock is a free web browser that makes it easier than ever to share photos, stay up-to-date with news from your favorite sites, and search the Web. [flock]

That doesn’t sound overly impressive, but there’s more.

Some of the features include drag-and-drop photo uploading for Flickr and Photobucket, an in-built RSS aggregator, direct blogging tool(Blogger, Drupal, LiveJournal, MoveableType, Typepad and WordPress), and shared favorites/bookmarks. [slashdot]

The current release is available for Mac, Windows, and Linux, but remember that this is a beta. There are still bugs to work out of the browser, but my initial look at it is positive. Flickr support is pretty cool, but I haven’t really tried doing too much with uploading anything new. I have a handy widget for doing that.

We’ll see how this posts as my final test with it for today.

Blogged with Flock

Posted on

Wireless is a big deal to baseball, Cubs

A major milestone for baseball, the Chicago Cubs, and folks like me that dig it.

The Chicago Cubs and Motorola, Inc. will unveil the League’s first wireless bullpen communication system on June 13, 2006 at historic Wrigley Field, Major League Baseball’s second-oldest ballpark. Motorola developed the MOTOTALK(TM) system in cooperation with the Chicago Cubs, ushering in a new era for bullpen phone communication.  [tmcnet]

I’m all for new technology doing cool things, but this is a tad nutty for a new way to talk to the bullpen, not to mention that you could almost yell down to it from the dugout if you wanted to.

Installation of the new phone system is being treated as history-in-the-making. Major League Baseball and the Hall of Fame will be in attendance to witness the first wireless call to the bullpen by Cubs Manager Dusty Baker or Houston Astros’ Manager Phil Garner, according to the press release. And following the game, the Motorola i580 phone will be taken to Cooperstown, home of baseball’s Hall of Fame, and placed on display.  [cnet]

Posted on

Coming flat-panel technology

Over on CNet, I found an article about a new flat-panel product being developed by Toronto-based iFire.  It’s lighter, thinner, and consists of less materials than plasma.  Their displays also boasts no backlight, unlike LCD’s.  It’s the technology that’s really interesting.

Their Color by Blue display system uses energy from a blue light source (in this case, a sheet of blue phosphor), which energizes florescent pigments that emit green or red light. By combining the blue with the green and red light, the full color of an RGB (red green blue) video is displayed.

“We feel we need to make this quite compelling to compete with the LCD,” said Don Carkner, iFire vice president of product planning. He said that with modules costing less than $300 per unit, iFire has one of the most cost-effective modules on the market.  [cnet]

Seeing is believing, and the first products with this TDEL technology are to begin some time in 2007.  Give me a good picture with no screen burn-in and I’ll consider it.  We need something to decorate the walls in our apartment.

Posted on

Now that I live in Canada, I care about these things

It’d be even better if some one was uber super awesome cool and scored us both some of these sweet things.

Apple has cut the prices of the fifth-generation iPod sold in Canada. The 30GB iPod video, which was CAD$379, is now $30 less at $349, while the 60GB iPod video model is now $459, a $40 cut from the original $499 price tag. The newly updated special edition U2 iPod, also based on the fifth-generation design, sells for $379. According to iLounge, the price drop is an apparent response to changes in international currency exchange rates. The report notes that the iPod nano and iPod shuffle pricing remain unchanged.  [macnn]

Posted on

The numbers have me

I have to give more credit to The Reverend for telling me about numbers stations[wiki] some months ago, but recently they have been moving from the airwaves to VoIP telephone numbers.

For decades, intelligence agencies have been sending secret messages to their agents in the field using shortwave numbers stations broadcasting encrypted messages for all to hear and puzzle over. Now someone is putting numbers stations on VoIP telephone numbers for anyone to call, and posting messages to Craigslist to alert the recipients to the existence of their messages. One of them went up last month and now a second one has appeared. Will there be a third? Who’s behind them? And can you crack the code? [slashdot]

They’re very strange to listen to, and this method of sending secret messages is as old as wireless communication has been in existance. I plan on using this as a topic in an upcoming episode of the podcast. You’ll be able to hear examples of numbers stations there.

Posted on

Vancouver Apple Store Rumor

A friend of ours just purchased a MacBook Pro from a retailer here in Vancouver, and during one of his visits, an employee told him that Apple wants to open a store in the downtown area.  The rumor, as it was conveyed to me, was that this Apple Store would probably open some time next year.

In true Apple fashion, they are reportedly searching for a location that is big and really visible.  Anyone in Vancouver can tell you that real estate is tight in the downtown area, not to mention expensive, but a very likely location would be Robson Street[wiki].  That’s not to say that it could be located anywhere.  It does seem that stores kind of come and go up and down Robson, so it would be a matter of timing for a location that is suitable to Apple’s taste.

Of course, this is just a friend relaying something that he heard to me, so who knows what the legitimacy of the rumor is.  The other thing to consider is that it took Tiffany & Co.[wiki] a number of years until they found the perfect location to open a store in Vancouver.

Posted on

Nike+iPod=Neat

I’m liking the Nike+iPod concept, even though there might be a better name for it, a lot. The more I hear about it, the more I find myself thinking how cool it would be to own such a device. Sure, it’s uber geeky overkill, but that makes me want it even more.

With a sensor in your shoe and a receiver on your iPod nano, your run takes on a whole new dimension. See the minutes tick by. Watch the miles unfold. Hear real-time feedback. All to your favorite music — including the one song that always gets you through the home stretch. [apple.com/ipod/nike]

The patent[hrmpf] for the product is pretty interesting. Essentially, the little thing you clip on your shoe not only updates information about how far or fast you are running, but your nano will play songs that match tempo to your running pace. I like this concept as sometimes when I’m heading into a burst of speed, something a little more kick ass is nice to have pumping through your ears, even when Bjork mysteriously pops up on the playlist you made for when you go running.

I do love my mini, and it does brilliantly when I go running around Vancouver. However, this would make me think about getting a nano, easy to scratch screen or not.

Posted on

Yes, I Love Technology

My laptop via my new cell phoneWe got new cell phones! And they’re neat and cool and lots of fun to play with. Rebecca hooked us up through Rogers with a couple of sweet Motorolas, obviously with cameras. Click on the picture to see my evidence of completely geeking out with these lovely new toys for pretty much all of today.

The even better deal is that they came with bluetooth. And even better, they work with my Powerbook. I can upload and download movies, pictures, audio, ringtones, and so on. This made me get all excited and I spent most of today sampling various things, applying different effects, and making my own ringtones.

I spit out about ten different rings. And they’re rings. Not samples or clips of songs. Straight up rings that alert you that a phone call is coming in. All done in mp3, so I’m debating about keeping them for ourselves or perhaps posting them for all to download. Curious? Let me know.