LaTeSt TeChnOloGy

2009-05-22T08:46:00.000-07:00

It�s Fun@Work for techies in Satyam

2008-07-05T22:02:00.000-07:00

Hyderabad: IT services provider Satyam Computer on Thursday announced the launch of SatyamStarPower.com, a web portal designed to showcase the creative talent of its globally dispersed workforce.

Referred to as Fun@Work, the corporate-wide initiative seeks to engage all its employees allowing them to express their creative talent be it in the form of writing, singing, dancing or even painting.

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The interactive portal allows other Satyamites, irrespective of their location, to be part of the fun and entertainment taking place in any part of the world within the company.

The Chief Executive Officer of Satyam, B. Rama Raju, after the launch of the initiative, in a statement said, being a global company, this initiative connects everyone irrespective of their location, and has a huge communication potential going forward.

The portal powered by iTalent brings reality-contest-like experience for the company associates. iTalent is a voice and visual-enabled Internet programme that enables users to participate in online contests. iTalent is powered by Hyderabad based start-up and product company NowPos.

The Head of Fun@Work, Associates Relationship at Satyam, Pradeep Kondiparthi, said this will initially connect Satyam�s 51,000-plus associates. The project highlights work is no longer a one dimensional activity. The events hosted here serve as stress busters which help achieve higher objectives.

NowPos technology

The Chief Executive Officer of NowPos (for now possible), Ayyappa Nagabandi, told Business Line that this project is built on the company platform that brings interactivity over the Internet.

Having successfully deployed for Satyam, NowPos is in the process of implementing and negotiating with 15 more enterprises, which includes good number of IT firms.

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Last year, the company had launched a reality show �India Ka Hero,� a contest aimed at spotting talent. The idea came out of the fact that given the large population in India, all the TV reality shows would not be sufficient to host all participants.

IBM Ind develops advanced data masking technology

2008-07-05T22:01:00.000-07:00

BANGALORE: Researchers at IBM's India Research Laboratory have developed an advanced data masking technology that the company said helps call centres protect critical data without disrupting customer service or business operations.

The company intends to utilise this capability in its own call centre operations to further protect information for its services clients around the world. "The technology, helps call centers and Information Technology Enabled Services (ITES) organisations by providing effective security and privacy of data which helps in managing customer trust and protecting the brand, which is critical for the call center industry", IBM said in a statement.

The technology is a speech analytics tool that helps in complying with security and privacy legislation and compliance standards, which in turn enhances customer satisfaction, according to the company.

Designed to help "dramatically" improve call centres, this technology detects and masks private and sensitive information collected from audio recordings of conversations between call centre agents and customers. Previously, there was no known technology which provided this functionality, IBM said.

Nokia E71 and E66 Business Phones Launched in India

2008-07-05T21:59:00.000-07:00

Nokia is all set to grab Indian businessmen’s attention with its two new business phones namely E71 and E66 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E_66 . Both the phones are equipped with business features such as Microsoft Exchange, the world’s most widely adopted corporate email solution.

The Nokia E71 phone incorporates QWERTY keyboard http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QWERTY . Besides, the slide phone allows users to access easy-to-install and easy-to-use professional and personal email. They can also download e-mail attachments such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_PowerPoint or PDF files. Functions like calendar, contacts and tasks are some of the features that make E71, a complete business dedicated phone.

The E71 phone as well as E66, both the phones feature next generation features including HSDPA http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-Speed_Downlink_Packet_Access , wireless LAN and 3G connectivity. Up to 8 GB external memory, a 3.2 megapixel Zoom-is-the-New-Megapixel May-07 auto-focus camera, assisted GPS Global Positioning System (A-GPS), Nokia Maps for navigation, integrated encryption functionality are some of the other attributes of the newly launched phones.

“The newly launched Nokia E71 and E66 are designed to enhance the way we work and increase productivity in our daily lives. They are meant for people who lead a mobile lifestyle and want quick and easy access to their personal and work email. With both of these devices, we have responded to consumer feedback by making calendar and contacts available at the touch of a button,” said Devinder Kishore, Director-Marketing of Nokia.

The Nokia E71 phone is available in India at an estimated price of Rs. 22,949 while the Nokia E66 phone will be sold for Rs. 23,689, approximately.

Report: Banning personal web use actually costs billions

2008-05-28T20:47:00.001-07:00

You read that right: A new study is claiming that by banning personal Internet use in the office (including video games, social networking, dating, shopping, personal email, or other non-work-related activities), British businesses are losing 4 billion pounds every year due to decreased productivity.

The report, based on "psychometric trials" carried out by a doctor at Goldsmiths University, says that "e-breaks" don't distract employees from their work but rather help them reduce stress while sharpening and focusing their minds for another round of work.

The survey, which asked 1,700 employees about their break activities, found that companies had comparably little resistance to their employees taking cigarette and coffee/tea breaks, but that "wasting" time on the Internet was considerably more frowned upon.

The bottom line, says study mastermind Dr. Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic: "The report proves that a ten minute e-break a day can have significant benefits but, despite this, many bosses are banning them in the fear that they distract employees. By factoring in a dedicated slot for an e-break bosses are fostering a more trusting working environment, boosting productivity and ultimately increasing their profit which surely makes good business sense."

Sounds good to me. On the other hand, the study was commissioned by PopCap, a maker of just the casual games (including Bejeweled and other titles) that the study covers, so take the findings as you feel appropriate.

When are Darth, Indy coming to Blu-ray?

2008-05-28T20:46:00.000-07:00

Blu-ray may have won the HD format battle, but it won't have a prayer against DVD until some of the biggest movies debut on Blu-ray—and in the case of such blockbusters as "Star Wars," it's looking like a long wait. Find out when some of the biggest movie sagas of all time are going Blu.

Original "Star Wars" Trilogy
The greatest of all movie franchises (at the box office, at least) has always taken its sweet time to arrive on video, regardless of the format. The first Beta and VHS tapes of the original "Star Wars" weren't released until 1982, five years after Luke & company first blasted into theaters and two years after video rentals went (relatively) mainstream. George Lucas famously stalled on releasing the original trilogy on DVD until he felt the format had "matured"—which turned out to be 2004, a full seven years after the DVD format launched. (The dreadful "Phantom Menace" debuted on DVD in September 2001, but c'mon—that barely counts.)

So, what's the scoop for Blu-ray? Well, the last official word from Lucasfilm was way back in May 2007:

Lucasfilm Ltd. has no plans to release any of the "Star Wars" movies on Blu-ray or HD DVD. Listings on Amazon.com (which has placeholders up for "Star Wars" and other movies not yet on Blu-ray) or any other Web site are purely speculative and erroneous.

And that's been pretty much it, beyond the occasional unsubstantiated rumor. As Yoda might say: "Difficult to see, the future is."

My guess? Given how fussy Lucas is about new video formats, I'd say 2010, at the earliest—that is, if Blu-ray hasn't given way to HD downloads by then.

Original "Indiana Jones" trilogy
Probably the next biggest gotta-have series on home video (well, for my generation, at least), the Indiana Jones saga was another DVD holdout—although when it finally arrived as a four-disc set in 2003, it still beat the older "Star Wars" trilogy to DVD by a year.

Anyway, there's been no official word from Lucasfilm or Paramount about Indy on Blu-ray, although a pair of Spanish DVD Web sites (via The Digital Bits; scroll down to the 5/13/08 entry) claim that the Indiana Jones "Quadrilogy" will go Blu on October 29. Of course, that's purely a rumor, although October would be just about the right time frame for "Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull" to hit home video. No confirmation yet from Paramount (and we probably won't get one until "Skull" has played out in theaters).

It's also worth noting that the Steven Spielberg-directed "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" is already available on Blu-ray, leading many to believe that Spielberg is considerably more Blu-friendly than that old stick-in-the-mud, George Lucas (sorry, George).

My guess: If "Crystal Skull" weren't part of the equation, I'd have said that 2009 looked like a safe bet, but with "Skull" looking at a fall 2008 release on DVD and probably Blu-ray as well...who knows.

The "Lord of the Rings" trilogy
This massive fantasy epic would be a natural for Blu-ray—and indeed, if you ask me, the current DVD editions of LOTR don't have the best of transfers.

Anyway, here's the good news: Peter Jackson himself just confirmed that he's working on a Blu-ray version of the trilogy.

The bad news? Jackson says that Frodo, Gandalf, or Gollum probably won't go Blu until 2009, at the earliest.

The "Matrix" trilogy
When the Blu-ray/HD DVD battle was still raging, HD DVD fanboys delighted in taunting their Blu buddies with their HD DVD copies of the "Matrix" movies. "Matrix" studio Warner Brothers had promised that a Blu-ray version of the Matrix films would come eventually, but...it never quite happened, even after Warners stopped supporting HD DVD and went exclusively Blu.

Warners has since promised that Neo, Morpheus, and Trinity will jack in to Blu-ray sometime this year, although the studio has yet to nail down a specific date.

Transformers
Here's another "nyah, nyah!" title that HD DVD users lorded over the Blu-ray camp. And indeed, "Transformers" is a movie that begs to be watched in HD—in fact, there's little point in watching it at all unless it's in HD, if you ask me.

Anyway, Paramount has just confirmed that Optimus Prime, Megatron and the like will go Blu on September 2, for a whopping $39.98. Mark your calendars.

Lawrence of Arabia
Well, I'm dying for this one, at least—and word is that Lawrence and Sherif Ali might ride into the Blu desert sometime in 2009. Nothing official, however.

Titanic
Your heart will go on—on DVD, anyway. There's been almost no chatter about Titanic on Blu-ray, sad to say. Funny, given that the Titanic-on-DVD watch was a big deal back in 1998.

And here are some of the other big movies that I haven't heard a peep about, Blu-ray-wise: Citizen Kane, Vertigo (or any Hitchcock title, for that matter), Apocalypse Now, and Gone With the Wind.

I'm only scratching the surface, of course. What movies are you dying to see on Blu-ray? Put the titles in the comments below, and I'll do some digging for you.

Guitar Hero: World Tour more expensive than Rock Band?

2008-05-28T20:45:00.000-07:00

Video game rockstars, save your dollars. As you already know, Guitar Hero: World Tour was made official last week, and gamers everywhere are stoked about the wireless instruments, the realistic drum kit, and the software that gives budding rockstars the ability to create their own music. What wasn't mentioned in the long press release, though, was pricing or the release date.

Turns out, the guys at Kotaku spotted the Band Kit (available for pre-order) over at Gamestop with a retail price of $190 making it more expensive than the competing Rock Band bundle. The Guitar Hero: World Tour Band Kit will be available at this price for the PS3, Wii, and Xbox 360, while the PS2 bundle is priced at $180. The kit that includes a game, guitar, drums, and a microphone are all shipping on October 27, just in time for that Halloween party.

Speaking of Gamestop, the site is also disclosing details about the upcoming Rock Band Stage Kit I told you about back in January. Apparently, the fog and lighting stage kit is available for pre-order with a price tag of $99, and a shipping date of August 15th. The Rock Band Stage Kit for the Xbox 360 is supposed to interact with the game and enhance your gaming experience, which ought to get the party started.

Both are totally unnecessary, but that won't matter to gamers who have the extra room and cash to add a few more instruments to their collection.

Sprint confirms 5GB data cap, offers details

2008-05-28T20:44:00.002-07:00

The bad news: The rumors of Sprint imposing a 5GB monthly data limit on broadband users is, indeed, true. The good news: You won't get cut off at the knees the first time you breach the limit.

Kent German over at Crave got the full skinny from Sprint, which—until recently—had been the last of the big U.S. 3G carriers without a data usage cap. Word leaked out about the 5GB monthly cap (or 300MB when roaming) earlier this month, and now Sprint's coming clean with the details.

First of all: The cap (which goes into effect next month) applies only to broadband card and phone-as-modem users, not for those who have unlimited Power Vision plans on their phones.

Also: Sprint told Crave that it won't automatically disconnect broadband users the first time they bust over the 5GB monthly limit; instead, you'll only be in trouble if you exceed the cap in "two out of three consecutive months."

Sprint added that it'll contact offenders before disconnecting them and "give them a chance to change their usage, if they want to continue using the service."

All in all, Sprint's new policies seem reasonable enough (although I liked the idea of no-strings unlimited usage a lot better), and the carrier claims that "99.5 percent" of its broadband subscribers never approach the 5GB monthly limit anyway. Check out Crave for more details on the new data usage limits.

That said, as a Sprint broadband customer myself, I would have appreciated it if someone at Sprint had, you know, reached out to tell me this was happening. Maybe there will be a notice on my May bill, which is due in the mail any day now, but a little advance word would have been nice.

Tru2way cable TV standard cuts both ways

2008-05-28T20:44:00.001-07:00

Sure, the new platform may spell the end of the hated cable TV set-top box, but it also gives cable carriers more control over the menus on upcoming HDTVs and DVRs.

Sony just announced that it's making a deal with the big six U.S. cable carriers to support Tru2way—a standard that promises to bring two-way control of cable TV services (such as video-on-demand and pay-per-view) to upcoming HDTVs and DVRs. Panasonic, Samsung, LG, Toshiba, and TiVo are already on board with Tru2way, which was announced with great fanfare at CES in January.

Formerly known as the OpenCable Application Platform (or OCAP), the Tru2way architecture will do what the one-way CableCARD standard couldn't—allow you to change channels, access your carrier's electronic programming grid, vote in interactive polls, and order on-demand programming, all from your Tru2way-enabled TV or DVR. No set-top box required.

Also, if you order phone service from your cable company, you'll get caller ID info displayed on your TV screen when a call comes in.

The first Tru2way devices are expected to hit stores before the year is out.

Great news, right? Here's the thing, though: Sony, along with such big names as Dell, Hitachi, Sharp, and Microsoft, had actually been backing a competing interactive TV standard, called DCR Plus (Digital Cable Ready Plus).

As the L.A. Times Bit Player blog explains, DCR Plus would have allowed TV and DVR makers more control over their user interfaces—for instance, they could have designed a unified programming guide including not only cable channels and PPV/VOD offerings, but also Internet-based and "non-cable" services such as Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Unbox.

With Tru2way, cable operators get the most say on what the programming guide will look like, and from the Tru2way demos we saw at CES, they're pretty much the same menus you'd find on a typical cable DVR. And of course, there's no integration with Net-based services, which would compete with your carrier's pay-per-view and video-on-demand offerings.

Now that Sony has acquiesced and gone with Tru2way, the DCR Plus movement is pretty much dead. That means if TV/DVR manufacturers want to give us access to Net-based movie download services, they'll have to build separate menus to do so.

Meanwhile, TiVo users who get upcoming Tru2way-enabled TiVo boxes will likely get two menu systems: The standard (and beloved) TiVo interface minus all interactive, two-way cable functionality (although you'd still be able to record), and a separate, non-TiVo "cable mode" that lets you order pay-per-view and video-on-demand shows. Ugh.

But as the L.A. Times points out, Tru2way has one big advantage over DCR Plus—the big cable carriers actually support it, which means the platform might actually gain the traction that the original CableCARD standard (which only got half-hearted support from the major cable players) never could.

And if that happens, the cable TV set-top box might—at last—go the way of the dodo.

Anyway, for more on the (essentially over) battle between Tru2way and DCR Plus, check out this informative L.A. Times blog post, along with this earlier background piece from Multichannel News

Web users losing patience with bloated websites

2008-05-28T20:43:00.001-07:00

Do you want to take a survey? Would you like to see some related links? Would you care to engage in some social networking during your visit? According to veteran web usability expert Jakob Nielsen, Internet users are becoming increasingly tired of such distractions as they use search engines to find the specific page they want, then vanish from the site without additional time spent there.

Nielsen calls the new web paradigm a "hot potato" mentality: You start with a search engine, click directly on the page you're looking for, get what you need from it, and leave. Today, only about 25 percent of users start their journey on the home page of a website, according to Nielsen. The vast majority now drop in directly from a search link.

In referring to web users as "ruthless," Nielsen describes a growing concern with distractions and errors on web pages. Widgets and extras like chat features and social networks are more and more likely to frustrate and anger users, he says, rather than engage them into spending more time on a site. "People want sites to get to the point, they have very little patience," he says in the BBC story linked below. "[Site owners] still feel that their site is interesting and special and people will be happy about what they are throwing at them."

The message for website owners is clear: Make sure the information on your web pages is easy to read and uncluttered by lots of extra junk. Ensure you're doing everything possible to be visible to search engines. And if you've got pages that don't work, dead links, or 404 errors, be prepared to suffer the wrath of your users.

Windows 7: Same as the old boss

2008-05-28T20:41:00.000-07:00

Sad to say it folks, but everyone holding out for an update to Windows Vista that will be worth buying is likely to be in for a world of frustration come January 2010, the newly-announced target date for its release. Why? Based on new demos and interviews with Microsoft brass, Windows 7 is starting to look awfully familiar. One might even say it looks like warmed-over Vista, a big bottle of ketchup for last year's OS. Nonetheless, Microsoft will surely attempt to gouge another $400 from you for the privilege of installing it.

The insight began with Cnet's lengthy yet information-free interview Microsoft's Steven Sinofsky, who provided precious little insight about what Windows 7 might include. Comments like "Look, we're working--the team is working super, super hard on this release of Windows" and "we're very excited about the release" are the kind of throwaway lines you'll find in the opus. (Not that I blame Cnet's Ina Fried, mind you. She did a great job at trying to get blood from the stone of Redmond.)

Why is Sinofsky so cagey? Many conjecture that Microsoft is press-shy after Vista got so much early hype and ended up being so awful. So after the epic interview, Fried went back and pulled out the few things that Sinofsky actually did say about Windows 7. Here's what we know: It will come out in early 2010. It will use Vista software and drivers. It will have 32-bit and 64-bit versions. It will "build on" Vista architecture and won't have the MinWin kernel that was previously displayed.

Soooooo how is all of this any different from Vista really?

As one of his final duties as Chairman of Microsoft, Bill Gates demonstrated an early beta of Windows 7 at this week's D6 tech conference, its first real public demo, to attempt to show us how it's different. His answer: A multi-touch screen inspired by the Surface table and, er, the iPhone. Neat demo, but will all Windows 7 computers have to have touch-sensitive screens to use these features? There's a mapping system that looks like Google Earth. And it's said there will be an OS X-like dock, though current demos have the usual taskbar as we've known it since Windows 95.

Honestly, in trotting out Surface again, I have no idea what Microsoft is hoping to accomplish except to disguise the fact that this is merely Vista given a little cosmetic pop (multi-touch piano, woo!). (Gizmodo editor Brian Lam puts things a little more succinctly.) Average users may find this stuff, like photo resizing and organization, kind of cool... if they have the right hardware (tablet PC and 4GB of RAM, anyone?), but I can already hear the reaction from corporate America starting to rumble.

Do parlor tricks and hocus pocus like this really impress anyone?

VCR turns your VHS tapes into digital files

2008-05-28T20:40:00.000-07:00

We've told you how to convert VHS tapes to digital files before, but if you don't have a TV tuner card with RCA inputs, like Chris points out, then you'll have to resort to a few other methods described on his post.

I personally have had great results with my Sony DVDirect DVD recorder, but if you're looking for a simple solution for someone who's not very tech savvy, check out VCR2PC.

Wired says the VCR player converts movies into MPEG-4 files with the included software and uses a USB connection to store them on your computer. Once digitized, your movies can play on your iPod, PSP, laptop, and of course, they can be stored in a DVD.

The device has RCA video/audio inputs in the front, which come in handy if you still have an older 8MM or VHS camcorder. It can also be used as a regular VCR when it's not converting video. Wired s says VCR2PC retails for $250, which I find extremely expensive compared to the Sony DVDirect, but I'll let you be the judge of that.

Does anyone have any other suggestions? Do tell us what method works best for you.

Airport X-ray friendly laptop bags in the works

2008-05-28T20:39:00.000-07:00

Taking your laptop out of the case when going through airport security may soon be a thing of the past. The Transportation Security Administration is introducing a new policy that would allow passengers to keep their laptops inside "checkpoint-friendly" cases when going through airport security, according to USA Today.

Details of what makes a case "checkpoint-friendly" haven't been disclosed to the public yet, but do expect a full TSA publicity campaign in the future with all of those details. What we do know is that guidelines given to manufacturers call for a case that provides them with a clear image of the laptop in the bin when it goes through an X-ray machine. This means the bag is likely to have little or no padding, no extra pockets for cords, and no straps to get in the way.

Hopefully this means those of you that have laptop sleeves with handles will be ok, but we'll have to wait for the guidelines. Targus and Scooba Design are currently working on a few prototypes, and if all goes well, these special cases will be available for sale by the holiday season.

Building a new computer requires 10 years worth of power

2008-05-28T20:38:00.000-07:00

I slobber over new computers as much as anyone... but I've never really stopped to think about the environmental and energy impact that actually building that computer entails as an alternative to using my old computer for longer.

According to Ecogeek, the true cost of a new computer in energy terms is astounding: It takes as much energy to building one computer as it does to run one for 10 full years. That's a phenomenal figure, one which should give any would-be computer buyer pause.

One thing not mentioned, however, is that newer computers tend to use less power than older ones, so there are potential cost and energy savings to be found by upgrading (though perhaps not 10 years worth of savings). And while reinstalling your OS, adding RAM, and generally cleaning out your system can definitely reinvigorate an older computer, these tricks won't work 100 percent of the time. I'd be wiping the hard drive and reinstalling Windows on my current laptop right now if it wasn't about to literally fall apart due to a broken LCD bezel that prevents it from closing and a growing crack in the base that threatens to dump the computer's contents into my lap one of these days.

That said, with the 220 million tons of e-waste generated annually in the country (also per the story linked below), maybe a little duct tape and super glue would have been the more environmentally conscious choice.

Researchers looking for e-mail chain letters

2008-05-27T10:52:00.000-07:00

Ever get an e-mail petition asking you to help save NPR or protest the (then-impending) Iraq war? If so, researchers at Cornell University want to know.

Bloggers at NewScientist found this fascinating study on how information—in this case, Internet-based chain letters—spreads from one person to another, and researchers are enlisting our help.

Just search your inboxes for one of two e-mail petitions that have been circulating for the past several years—chances are, you have either one or both of them somewhere.

One of the chain letters, which was first spotted as early as 1997, warns of cutbacks in NPR, PBS, NEA, and other government-funded arts programs, while the other, 2003-era letter seeks signatures to protest the Iraq war.

At first, I thought it was a stretch that I'd have either of these old e-mail petitions—that is, until I found a version of the NPR letter (which my wife, who got the message from her boss, had forwarded to me) in my archive folder, dated 2005. No sign of the Iraq chain letter, however.

Follow this link for details on the two chain letters (and the variants thereof), along with information on who to contact if you find them.

So, what exactly are the Cornell researchers trying to prove? Well, as they put it:

Although information, news, and opinions continuously circulate in the worldwide social network, the actual mechanics of how any single piece of information spreads on a global scale have been a mystery. Here, we trace such information-spreading processes at a person-by-person level using methods to reconstruct the propagation of massively circulated Internet chain letters. We find that rather than fanning out widely, reaching many people in very few steps according to "small-world" principles, the progress of these chain letters proceeds in a narrow but very deep tree-like pattern, continuing for several hundred steps.

So (if I'm following this right), unlike a computer virus, which tends to spread rapidly in a matter of days (or even hours), the flow of information from person to person is slow but steady—very steady, as it turns out, given that the NPR petition (in one form or another) has been floating around the Net for a good 11 years.

Will the study help staunch the flow of span to your inbox? Well, not really—after all, it's always your friends, family and co-workers who pass on chain letters anyway. That said, it's a nifty project, in a Folding@home kind of way.

And just in case you were wondering, check out this interesting story on Snopes (my favorite hoax-busting site) on why e-mail petitions just don't work.

Consumers still not sold on Blu-ray

2008-05-27T10:51:00.001-07:00

By now we all know: Blu-ray was the big winner in the high-definition DVD wars. Sony must be sitting on its spoils like a victorious medieval king, just sitting back and counting the yen, right? The only problem is that, as the Washington Post notes, Blu-ray's victory hasn't translated to sales.

Things were supposed to pick up after HD DVD bowed out of the market. Many analysts looked at high-def's low sales numbers last year as a "wait it out" problem, as consumers were obviously reluctant to buy one format when one was certain soon to be discontinued.

And so when HD DVD left the market earlier this year, many expected to see a rapid rise in Blu-ray sales. But that hasn't happened. In fact, the opposite has: In February, Blu-ray player sales dropped 40 percent and rose a mere 2 percent in March.

The industry is crying foul, with Home Media Magazine publisher Thomas Arnold saying that the numbers reflect an availability issue, that there weren't enough players on the market to meet demand and that the first quarter is a bad time for electronics sales anyway. (Does anyone remember Blu-ray players being completely out of stock in February? Yeah, me neither.)

But additional figures tend to support the notion that Blu-ray isn't catching on. The most telling: Sales of Blu-ray movies, for which there's clearly no shortage issue. According to Home Media Magazine's own figures, in the optical video disc market, DVD still has a 95 percent share vs. Blu-ray's 5 percent (figures for week of 5/11/08). And Blu-ray sales are dropping, not rising. I'll add that the fact that Blu-ray player prices have gone up in a sad attempt to gouge consumers and Blu-ray movies cost an extra $5 or $10 over the price of a regular DVD has likely left a bad taste in consumers' mouths and isn't helping matters.

Still, Blu-ray title availability remains spotty, and there's a lot of upside remaining as bigger movies come out for the format. As well, the next version of Blu-ray's specs, BD Live, could generate more interest in the format.

But perhaps the simple explanation is the best one, as the Post quotes Jupiter's Michael Gartenberg: "During the course of the [HD] battle, consumers lost interest in both formats."

Note to Blu-ray: Your job is to get people to start caring again. Good luck.

Windows Vista? Businesses say "no thanks"

2008-05-24T09:37:00.000-07:00

Don't care for Microsoft's bloated new operating system? You're not alone, and in fact, it's not just consumers who are giving Vista the cold shoulder. Large enterprises, including General Motors, are considering bypassing the operating system altogether and simply waiting for Windows 7, Microsoft's eventual successor to Vista.

GM, for now, says that bypassing Vista is still a "maybe." Its big complaint is that Vista's CPU and RAM requirements are just too crushing.

For a company that, by my reckoning, could have hundreds of thousands of desktops in operation, replacing everyone's computer just so they can run Vista is simply out of the question. With XP still working fine, there's really no way to justify the massive expense and general upheaval of such a move.

As BusinessWeek notes, Microsoft has more than just its own old OS to worry about, as budget-crunched IT managers look to web freebies (like OpenOffice.org) and even Macintosh PCs as alternatives to Vista. Macs may cost more, but they're probably not much more expensive or intrusive than switching from XP to Vista.

Resistance is likely to continue: Last quarter, 65 percent of Microsoft's OS sales were Vista. The other 35 percent were XP. Microsoft had hoped that would be an 80 percent/20 percent split instead, reflecting the fact that consumers and companies like GM are really digging in their heels.

Things should really get interesting after June 30, when XP officially goes off the market. Is resistance futile? We'll see.

Freedom Shaver: Cranking your whiskers away

2008-05-24T09:36:00.000-07:00

I've seen crank-up flashlights, cell-phone chargers, and MP3 players, but this is a new one—a crank-powered electric shaver, for a close, close shave that'll shrink your carbon footprint in the process.

The Wind 'N Go Freedom Shaver ($46, discovered by Gearlog) comes with three "floating," rotating shaving heads that flex to the contours of your face—just like in those TV commercials. The $46 shaver comes with a 110-volt power adapter and a 12V car charger. But if you really want to stay green, you'll use the fold-out crank, which gives you two minutes of shaving for every minute of cranking.

A low-battery LED tells you when it's time to get cranking, and the package also comes with a case, a travel mirror, and a little cleaning brush. Missing in action: A kit that lets you make shaving cream out of compost.

Of course, an even greener alternative to the Freedom Shaver would be a straight razor—no power, no disposable razors to junk up landfills, no moving parts that'll eventually break down. Then again, it's also nice to get a close shave without slicing your face open.

American Airlines to charge $15 for first checked bag

2008-05-24T09:35:00.000-07:00

American Airlines is so deeply troubled (compounded by the crushing effects of inflated oil prices) it's now come to this: You'll have to pay 15 bucks to check your first piece of baggage when you choose it to fly the increasingly hostile skies.

This week American said it would axe about 12 percent of its flight schedule, layoff an undetermined number of workers, and retire some 50 planes (which had already been grounded for faulty wiring). The $15 bag fee comes on top of all of that and appears to be the only change the airline is making to actually generate more revenue.

The move comes a mere matter of days after many airlines put into place their plans to charge extra (usually $25) for a second checked bag. United's plan, announced in February, went into effect on May 5. As expected, other airlines rapidly jumped on that bandwagon shortly thereafter.

As yet, no other major airline has followed American in its first-bag fee scheme. The rest of the industry is probably just waiting to see if travelers start rioting in the terminal. Naturally, many expect that flyers will simply resort to trying to jam more luggage into the overhead bins in order to try to beat the fee.

Maybe a spot of good news for travelers: These fees are getting high and pervasive enough that they've raised the interest of the government, which says it will soon begin requiring airlines to disclose bag check fees in advertising and during the ticket buying process.

Greenpeace: Game consoles are "toxic menace"

2008-05-24T09:34:00.000-07:00

That PlayStation 3, Wii, or Xbox 360 in your living room contains a potpourri of dangerous chemicals and compounds—or so says Greenpeace, which is urging game manufacturers to learn from each other to build greener consoles.

Greenpeace says it conducted a tear-down survey of the PS3, the Wii, and the Xbox 360, and claims that researchers found unacceptably high levels of such toxic chemicals as polyvinyl chloride (PVC), phthalates, beryllium, and bromine.

In its report, Greenpeace points out that long-term exposure to bromine (a chemical used in fire retardants) could lead to "impaired learning and memory functions." Good luck remembering your way through Arcadia in BioShock.

Meanwhile, the phthalate known as DEHP may "interfere with sexual development in mammals, including humans, and especially males," the report says. I'm not sure I like the sound of that.

The news from Greenpeace isn't all bad. The group notes that it didn't find any beryllium in the Wii at all, and that its levels of PVC and phthalates were "limited." Researchers praised the PS3 for its "bromine-free" circuit boards, while the Xbox 360 had "fewer brominated materials" it its plastic housing.

"If manufacturers only looked at each other's products, they'd quickly see ways of replacing their own dirty components with toxic-free materials," the report concludes.

For their part, Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony all say that their consoles meet or exceed regional environmental regulations, according to Reuters.

Mysterious Flip Minos spotted

2008-05-24T09:33:00.000-07:00

Inexpensive pocket video cameras have been such a hit that many companies, including Creative, have launched their own colorful pocket cams for the YouTube generation. Oprah even showcased the Ultra Flip Video camera on her program to show how easy it was to upload video to YouTube and to record behind-the-scenes footage for her YouTube channel.

In order to keep up with the competition, the Ultra Flip-Video camera is about to get a mini makeover. Crave recently spotted a thinner Flip camera called Minos in a B&H catalog after a reader tipped them off.

The camera will apparently be available in black and white and will cost $179.99, which leads us to believe it will be replacing the Ultra Flip-Video camera that currently sells for the same price. Flip's Minos will be in stores starting June 4, so we'll bring you more information regarding specifications as it becomes available. For now, we'll assume the camera will definitely be thinner, smaller, and will include better features than its predecessor.

Streaming Net radio for the iPhone, even over EDGE

2008-05-24T09:32:00.001-07:00

No Wi-Fi? No problem. A new service makes it easy to tune in to Net radio—even over the iPhone's poky EDGE connection—although you shouldn't expect crystal-clear audio quality.

Discovered by the Macheads at the Unofficial Apple Weblog, FlyTunes lets you browse about 350 Net radio stations and podcasts; just navigate to FlyTunes.fm on your iPhone or iPod Touch to get started.

A series of drop-down menus lets you choose between high- and low-bandwidth Net radio stations (depending on whether you're using Wi-Fi or EDGE), as well as a directory of podcasts, videos, and AccuRadio stations.

I tried FlyTunes on my iPhone using both Wi-Fi and EDGE; naturally, high-bandwidth stations over Wi-Fi sounded much better than the muddier, mono sound I got over AT&T's 2.5G EDGE network, but at least I didn't run into any buffering problems—and hey, I'll take so-so Net radio over nothing at all.

I also wish there was a better selection of channels on FlyTunes (350 stations is a good start, although several thousand streaming Net radio sites are currently online), but the FlyTunes developers seem to be adding new stations at a decent clip (nearly 200 in the last month alone). That said, there's a solid selection of streaming podcasts, including offerings from the BBC, CBS News, CNN, ESPN, NPR, and the New York Times.

All in all, pretty nice—and the FlyTunes developers say they're considering a native iPhone/Touch app once the Apple AppStore goes live next month.

A word of warning, though: The iPhone's EDGE connection tends to drain the battery pretty fast, so keep an eye on the meter while you're cranking those streaming tunes.

IMAX going digital this summer

2008-05-24T09:30:00.000-07:00

The large-format movie company is set to raise the curtains on its first all-digital screens in July—just in time for "The Dark Knight," which was partially shot in IMAX—with 130 IMAX Digital theaters slated to arrive in the coming months.
USA Today reports that AMC theaters in Baltimore and Washington, D.C. will be among the first to get commercial, DLP-powered IMAX Digital projectors. About 100 AMC screens in cities such as New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Miami will get the IMAX Digital treatment in the next several months, along with 31 Regal theaters, according to the USA Today story.

While thousands of standard movie screens are going digital (and even 3-D) this year, today's IMAX theaters still use good, old-fashioned film—albeit, "large-format" 70MM film that crams the equivalent of 70 megapixels into every frame.

The images produced by "traditional" IMAX projectors are certainly dazzling, but with IMAX reels weighing between 300 and 500 pounds each—and prints costing $22,000 and up, compared to $1,000 for a typical 35MM print, according to USA Today—the IMAX format was in danger of going the way of Cinerama, another eye-popping but prohibitively expensive big-screen format.

IMAX says its new digital projectors, capable of displaying both standard and 3-D IMAX movies, have passed the Pepsi challenge with test audiences—and I'd certainly hope so, given that we're expected to shell out $3 extra (or more) for the full-on "IMAX Experience."

Personally, I'm looking forward to checking out "The Dark Knight," which reportedly boasts four sequences shot with IMAX cameras—apparently a first for a full-length Hollywood film.

Unfortunately, besides "Dark Knight" (opening July 18) and the just-released bomb "Speed Racer," only one other big release is getting the IMAX treatment this summer: "Kung Fu Panda." Greaaaat.

So, what about you—would you be willing to cough up more cash to Batman in IMAX?

2008-05-23T01:18:00.000-07:00

this post is made taking in consideration that videos helps us certainly in increasing our knowledge.
so the whole post is dedicated to videos relating to technology

and i also have to fulfill my promise that i post videos in this blog

SO ENJOY AND POST COMMENTS TOO!

Dell puts PCs on a power diet

2008-05-23T01:14:00.001-07:00

Low-power is rapidly becoming the new "extreme" in the world of PCs. In response to rising energy costs and environmental concerns, Dell is putting its computers on a plan to consume less power, with the goal of cutting overall power consumption by 25 percent by 2010, according to Cnet.

The plan applies to both desktops and laptops.

One of the major undertakings is to build ultra-small desktops that require minimal energy. These PCs are even smaller than the "Small Form Factor" (SFF) machines the company currently sells (which are about the size of an unabridged dictionary). The new ultrasmall PCs take up a mere 20 percent of the room of a standard minitower, about half the size of a current-gen SFF.

The new PCs would use only about 30 percent of the power of a standard computer, too.

In the laptop world, power savings has long been a major focus, since battery life is directly correlated with energy consumption. The move to lower-power CPUs, LED screen backlighting, and turning off unused components has been a direct result of such research. Further gains may be harder to come by, with advances from here probably having to take the form of software and firmware enhancements.

In addition to cutting power use in its products, Dell noted that it plans to be carbon-neutral, operations-wise, by the end of the year. Good work, Dell!

FakeTV keeps burglars guessing

2008-05-23T01:13:00.001-07:00

Here's a new twist on the old "lights on a timer" trick: A little, LED-flashing gadget that simulates the glow of a TV set while you're on vacation.About the size of a coffee cup, FakeTV ($49) comes equipped with a built-in processor and a dozen "super bright LEDs" that mimic the light patterns thrown off by your typical TV, including the effects created by pans, slow fades, scene cuts, and "swells" of lights.

Before you head off for vacation, you set the FakeTV's timer, put it in your living room or bedroom, and voilà—from the outside, it'll look like you're still at home, indulging in some late-night viewing (and hopefully, bad guys will pick another house to burgle).

And while it doesn't do 1080p or come with HDMI inputs (sorry, folks), the three-watt FakeTV won't put much of a dent in your power bill, and it'll save wear and tear on your LCD/plasma in the bargain.

Multi-instrument Guitar Hero World Tour official

2008-05-23T01:11:00.001-07:00

The slap given to the Guitar Hero franchise by Rock Band seems to have left a mark... and it's serving as a wake-up call for the developers. Today, Activision has officially announced its fourth installment of the Guitar Hero saga, not only making the solo guitar a thing of the past but significantly upping the ante on the combo band gaming experience, too.

The list of enhancements in the upcoming Guitar Hero World Tour are extensive. As expected, it's a four-player game like Rock Band, including two guitars, drums, and vocals. But it sounds like the Rock Band instruments are about to look awfully dated in comparison to what GHWT is going to offer. For starters, the drum kit is "authentic," including three drum pads, bass pedal, and two real, raised cymbals. The drum pads can even detect how hard you hit the pads, letting you pound out a solo or softly roll while your singer croons. The guitar gets a redesign as well, and all instruments will be wireless (thank God).

Want to create your own music? GHWT will let you, with a feature called Music Studio. You can jam your own tracks, then share them with other Guitar Hero players via an online service.

The prerecorded track list hasn't been announced, but Activision promises the sets are "comprised entirely of master recordings from some of the greatest classic and modern rock bands of all-time including Van Halen, Linkin Park, The Eagles, Sublime, and many more," calling it the "largest on-disc set list in a music-rhythm game to-date."

Finally, the game will be available for all consoles: Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, and even the PS2. The game is slated for the fall, with an official release date coming soon. I'm already ready to rock!

Verizon tops in wireless survey, Sprint falls behind

2008-05-21T23:28:00.001-07:00

Chatters are growing happier with their overall wireless service, according to a new survey, with Verizon Wireless taking top honors and Sprint slipping into last place among the four big carriers. That said, overall scores for customer satisfaction fell somewhat short of the stratosphere. The results come courtesy of the American Customer Satisfaction Index, which rates various industries and companies on a scale of 1 to 100 based on national phone surveys.

The scores? Overall wireless service garnered a 68, the highest score in the four years that the index has been tracking wireless satisfaction—not bad, but not exactly what I'd call an A+.

Verizon Wireless scored a 72 in the survey, giving it top marks among the four big wireless carriers. AT&T and T-Mobile both tied at 71, with AT&T gaining the most ground thanks to its four-percent spike since 2007 (thanks, in part, to the iPhone, according to ASCI researchers).

Meanwhile, Sprint's ASCI rating fell to just 56, an 8 percent drop from last year. What happened? Well, the struggling carrier's decision to slash 5,000 jobs last year—with another 4,000 to come—could have something to do with it, ASCI researchers said.

Just for comparison's sake, the spiraling airline industry got an ASCI score of 62 (tumbling almost 14 percent from 1994), the U.S. Postal Service got a 74 (up from a score of 61 in 1994), FedEx scored an 85, and both McDonald's and Microsoft made do with a middling 69.

How's your carrier been treating you lately? Care to grade 'em on your own scale of 1 to 100? Fire away!

Spy shots: Palm Treo 800, this time with Wi-Fi?

2008-05-21T23:26:00.000-07:00

Remember the Treo? The venerable smartphone was a pulse-quikener in its day, but lately, it's been overshadowed by the likes of the iPhone, the latest BlackBerrys, and even its little brother, the $99 Palm Centro. But if the rumors are true, the Treo might be on the verge of a (minor) comeback.

Both the Boy Genius Report and Shadowmite (via Gizmodo) have fuzzy photos of what looks to be a new Treo—the Treo 800 (or 850, depending on who you talk to).

The rumored new Treo looks like a slightly larger, Windows Mobile version of the Palm Centro, complete with a curved, navy blue-shell, a pair of soft keys, a somewhat snazzier four-way navigational pad, and a cramped-looking QWERTY keypad.

And check this out—a couple of (again, rumored) features that Treo fans have been clamoring for since 2002: Wi-Fi and GPS. It's hard to believe that the 800 might be the first Treo with built-in Wi-Fi, but there it is.

Also on tap, according to the BGR/Shadowmite spies: a 400MHz processor, 100MB of on-board RAM, EV-DO Rev. A data access, and the latest version of Windows Mobile (6.1, to be exact).

Good stuff—unfortunately, the apparent lack of a true touchscreen UI (not just the standard Palm/Windows Mobile touch interfaces, mind you) will keep any new Treo from achieving the "wow" factor of the upcoming 3G iPhone, the HTC Diamond, or the rumored BlackBerry Thunder.

No word on pricing, carriers (although the usual CDMA suspects—Sprint and Verizon Wireless—are safe bets), or release dates.
So, what do you think—willing to cough up a few hundred bucks for a new Treo (whenever it comes out)? Or are you holding out for a new iPhone—or the Thunder, for that matter?

Hands on with Roku's Netflix Player

2008-05-21T23:25:00.000-07:00

I love Netflix, but I really love Netflix's video streaming service. Wouldn't it be great if you could get those streaming vids on your big ol' flat panel TV?

Well, you can, thanks to the curiously-named The Netflix Player by Roku, which Ben wrote about when it was announced. I've been using the Player for several spins now and I have to say, I honestly love it to death.

The box is about the size of a stuffed ham-on-wheat sandwich, and it's a featureless box with only a Roku logo and a single white LED to indicate it's on. The LED blinks when it receives a command from the remote, otherwise you won't even know it's there.

Hooking it up is brain-dead simple. Just connect the box to your TV or receiver via any kind of connection (RCA, S-Video, component video, HDMI, and even optical audio). Plug it in via Ethernet or configure it for Wi-Fi, and power it up. You're pretty much done. Another 60 seconds of registering the device to work with your Netflix account (you must have at least the $9 a month DVD plan), and you're finished. Now you have unlimited streaming movies delivered right to your TV.

Playback is simple. The box retrieves the titles in your Netflix queue and shows you a poster for each one on your TV. Flip through them with the simple remote and click select when you find the one you want. In my case, playback started after about 15 seconds of buffering. I have yet to see any hiccups or stutters, and though there are no chapter breaks in streamed films, the fast-forward and rewind system works pretty well, showing you a series of still frames as you skip back and forth, letting you easily find where you want to jump.

If you've used Netflix's streaming service on your PC you know the main sore spot here is video quality. It isn't the best, by any stretch, and while some reviewers are claiming it's DVD quality, I'd call it on par with a good VHS tape. Quality can be inconsistent, though: A film may be blurry and grainy in spots but will be crystal clear in others. Selection is great but quirky: 10,000 titles are available, but those ready for streaming tend to be older ones. Nonetheless that's far better than any of the other streaming services out there, and far cheaper, too.

Considering the player is just 99 bucks, who's complaining? This little guy has already become a must-have addition to my home theater rig. If you're a Netflix fan, put one on your wish list immediately.

Hands on with Roku's Netflix Playe

2008-05-21T11:35:00.000-07:00

I love Netflix, but I really love Netflix's video streaming service. Wouldn't it be great if you could get those streaming vids on your big ol' flat panel TV?

HYDROGEN TECHNOLOGY

2008-05-21T09:13:00.000-07:00

A new, practical hydrogen science for clean and less expensive energy solutions: HyTech's Aquygen gas!...water

2008-05-21T09:11:00.000-07:00

In a world of glossy magazines showing us rail thin models who subsist on a diet of lettuce and vodka, do we really need video games telling impressionable young children that they're fat?

Nintendo is being lambasted over its hot new Wii Fit "balance board," which has labeled a 10-year-old-girl as "fat" according to its expert analysis. The UK girl, reportedly 4 feet, 9 inches tall, weighs six stone, or about 84 pounds, according to her stepfather. If those figures are true, that would give her a Body Mass Index of a mere 18.2, which actually falls into the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute's "underweight" category (though I suspect the real figures are a little different). The worry isn't that she's unhealthy but rather that the device has given her an incorrect and damaging opinion of her health and self-image, one that her parents will now have to work double-time to correct.

At least one group, the UK's National Obesity Forum, is calling for the game to be banned from being marketed to children, saying that BMI "should simply not be used" for growing kids whose bodies are rapidly changing from day to day.

Nintendo has apologized, mainly for using the term "fat" in the game, but says it stands by the BMI measurement, saying only that it "may not be entirely accurate for younger age groups." The company says it will not add a warning of any kind to the device, however. Presumably, it's not going to come up with another word for "fat," either.

Wi-Fi universal remote returns, now with ESPN branding

2008-05-21T09:10:00.001-07:00

Remember the tvCompass SR1500, that Windows CE-powered, Wi-Fi universal remote that controls all your A/V components and surfs the Web? Well, it's back, this time with an ESPN label slapped on it—along with a $300 price tag.Now called the ESPN Ultimate Remote (subtle, no?), the reincarnated SR1500 comes with most of the features we saw back in January, including a 2.2-inch QVGA display and the ability to download control codes for your components (up to 18 at a time) over Wi-Fi, no PC required.

The wand also downloads its own programming guide—no need to turn on the tube to see what's on—and boasts its own click365-branded xHTML Web browser, complete with links to news headlines, ABC News, WSJ.com, Amazon, Facebook, and the like. You can even send text messages via e-mail or SMS.

What's appears to be missing, however, is killer content from ESPN—which one might expect, given that this thing is called the ESPN Ultimate Remote.

Verizon Wireless subscribers, for example, can get a pretty sweet Mobile ESPN app on their handsets with a top-notch interface, real-time scores and stats, and videos.

Unfortunately, the screenshots of the ESPN widget on the Ultimate Remote look comparatively weak. The documentation promises scores, news, access to fantasy leagues, and Gamecast scoring, but the plain-text screens aren't all that inspiring, especially next to the cool animated interface on VZW's Mobile ESPN app. Maybe I'll be more impressed after some hands-on time, but from what I've seen…meh.

And $300 for a universal remote? Pretty steep, considering that the swankiest of A/V universal remotes (not the touch panels that control entire homes, mind you) top out at about $250. And no, those remotes don't come with their own Web browsers, but hey...I've got a phone for that.

Anyway, don't be surprised if you see the tvCompass SR1500 popping up elsewhere, with different branding.

iPhone forensics toolkit raises questions about privacy

2008-05-21T09:09:00.001-07:00

You may have reason to worry about your personal data resurfacing if you've returned an iPhone back to the Apple Store or sold it on eBay. It appears one developer discovered a serious privacy issue with refurbished iPhones after creating a forensics toolkit that allowed him to recover deleted email, contact information, and other personal data previously stored on his iPhone.

On his website, Jonathan Zdziarski describes how this is possible. He says that when you do a restore through iTunes, you're basically performing a quick format of the flash drive that doesn't destroy the file system. Personal data is left untouched in the iPhone's NAND memory, and can be restored back to it's original form without any risk of being corrupted. This means that while the average Joe may not have the know-how to recover deleted files yet, someone who does can easily have access to any data you've ever stored on the phone.

Using Jonathan's toolkit, one "verified" detective from the Oregon State Police Department was able to recover sensitive data from an out-of-the-box refurbished iPhone he bought at the Apple store, and sent the developer screenshots of the compromised data. I guess what's alarming is how the detective was able to recover entire emails which contained online banking statements, receipts from online purchases, and possibly even login information to some of the user's accounts.

This is a very serious issue and I can't wait to hear what Apple has to say about it. If Apple doesn't figure out a way for users to safely remove all those undeleted files from the NAND memory before the new iPhone hits the streets, the company will have a mob of angry customers on its hands.

You can read all about Jonathan Zdziarski's findings here.

Review: Ad-Aware 2008 (available today)

2008-05-21T03:21:00.001-07:00

Venerable anti-spyware tool Ad-Aware has launched today its latest edition: Ad-Aware 2008. As before, there are three versions of the software available: Free (which offers competent on-demand scanning), Plus ($27/year; adds real-time scanning and a host of extra features), and Pro ($40/year; adds network-protection features and some power-user options). I've been using the 2008 Pro version for a few days, and am happy to report things are going swimmingly (after powering through a few pre-launch hiccups, at least).

Ad-Aware 2008 looks a lot like the 2007 version of the program, but with a freshened-up interface and somewhat more intuitive controls in a few places. Most of the changes, however, are found under the hood, and they are significant.

First, for all versions, including Free, a 64-bit option is available if you're one of the few people running a 64-bit OS. Naturally there have been great strides in security, particularly with the detection and removal of rootkits. If you're using Plus or Pro, Ad-Aware now includes an antivirus tool in addition to its spyware killer. The company says over a million additional malware threats can be detected by the software in real-time, and all with a reduction in memory usage while it's running.

I can't vouch for how much more secure my system is running Ad-Aware 2008, but so far, so good: No infections. In running the real-time system, my computer seems plenty responsive. Things only bogged down when I ran a full scan of my hard drive. That scan took an hour and caused some slowness in other apps I was running, though none of them crashed. The software is also slow to launch when you first start it up, but after that all's well.

I can't immediately recommend replacing your existing antivirus security with Ad-Aware Plus or Pro (hopefully independent virus testing will let us know soon whether it's up to snuff), but if you've been using any Ad-Aware version to date, there's no reason not to upgrade to the 2008 edition immediately.

Sprint to adopt 5GB bandwidth cap?

2008-05-20T23:00:00.001-07:00

Looks like the last big U.S. wireless carrier to offer truly unlimited bandwidth for PC card users is about to impose a 5GB monthly usage cap, at least according to a (purported) leaked memo.

According to the leaked e-mail, Sprint will "reserve the right" to suspend (or otherwise "alter") the accounts of users who burn through 5GB of monthly data on their broadband cards, with the change to take effect on July 31. The memo also dictates a 300MB monthly cap while roaming off Sprint's network.

Up to now, Sprint hasn't spelled out a bandwidth cap, although there's a clause in its broadband contracts that says it may disconnect "heavy" data users. AT&T and Verizon Wireless already have 5GB bandwidth caps for PC card users, and they've been known to charge subscribers extra (or even terminate their accounts) for going over the limit.

In any case, Sprint has yet to make any official announcement, and it's still not clear what "reserve the right" means—that is, whether the 5GB cap (if it is, indeed, happening) will be a hard-and-fast limit, or if the cap will only be enforced for serious bandwidth hogs.

Still, the leak doesn't bode well for those who've been using Sprint broadband cards to substitute for standard DSL and cable modems. After all, a single HD movie download is about 4-5GB, which would practically bust your monthly allowance right there.

There is one possible silver lining to the story, however—you might be able to get out of your Sprint broadband contract without penalties thanks to the terms-of-service change. Stay tuned.

Netflix, Roku unveil $99 TV set-top box

2008-05-20T22:59:00.000-07:00

Nope, you're not seeing things. The long-awaited (and relatively cheap) set-top player for Netflix has finally arrived, allowing subscribers to watch thousands of movies instantly on their TVs—for free. No, we're not talking HD quality here, but the price sure is right.

Netflix has been teasing us with the possibility of a Net-connected set-top box for years, so it's something of a shock to see the thing finally materialize. And while the Netflix Player (built by streaming set-top box maker Roku) is, indeed, a few years late to the party—the Xbox Video Marketplace, Apple TV, and Vudu have all been with us for some time now—the movies-by-mail giant has taken a somewhat different tack, releasing an inexpensive, sub-$100 device that delivers movies free to subscribers.

CNET has a lengthy review of the player, which connects to your home network via Ethernet or Wi-Fi and includes HDMI, component, digital audio and analog stereo sound outputs.

The player itself is somewhat smaller than Apple TV and Vudu—it's about the size of a cable modem, according to CNET—and once connected, it lets you browse Netflix's collection of 10,000-odd "WatchNow" movies and TV shows. As CNET notes, the selection is something of a mixed bag: popular titles like "Blade Runner," "30 Rock," and "Heroes" are well-represented, along with such grade-Z movies as "Man with the Screaming Brain," so make sure to check out the selection before plunking down your $100.

Movies began playing within a minute or so of pressing play, according to CNET, although reviewers added that the box won't play HD movies—indeed, it only outputs a 480i signal that, while looking OK on a smallish TV set, doesn't look "terribly good" either, especially compared to a decently engineered DVD. (Apple TV, Xbox Live, and Vudu are all capable of playing HD video.)

The review also complained that some widescreen movies are only presented in the boxy 4:3 aspect ratio, something I've noticed when viewing Netflix movies on my PC. That might not make much of a difference when watching dramas like "Dangerous Beauty," but the 2.35:1 "2010: The Year We Make Contact" looked pretty bad in the 4:3 ratio.

Here's the thing, though—the Netflix Player is just $99, and if you're subscribed to the $8.99/month player or higher, all the movies are free. Now that's a pricing model that Netflix's competitors should take a cold, hard look at.

Also, keep in mind that more Netflix-enabled devices (from the likes of LG and others) are coming, so expect pricier—and higher-quality—options in the coming months.

So, what do you think? Interested in picking up a relatively cheap Netflix box, even if the video quality is only so-so?

Robotic suit give soldiers superhuman strength

2008-05-20T22:58:00.000-07:00

Here's a suit that will make soldiers feel like Iron Man. CNN reports that Sarcos Inc is working with the U.S. Army in developing a robotic exoskeleton that would give soldiers superhuman strength and endurance when worn. So far, the robotic aluminum suit is not the most practical, but the Army hopes to start testing this suit in the field next year, and perhaps have some soldiers wear them in combat zones in the future.

The suit itself weighs 150 pounds, and features sensors all over that detect the body's movements then transmits data about them to the suit's internal computer. According to the report, the computer sends instructions to hydraulic valves, which then mimic tendons by driving the suit's mechanical limbs, replicating and amplifying the wearer's movements instantly.

The only problem with the existing prototype is its battery life. When the suit was recently demoed, it was tethered to power cords because the suit's battery only lasts about 30 minutes. Price will also be a problem unless it is mass produced, but even then the cost will be "within the range of the price of a small car" according to Stephen Jacobsen, chief designer of the Sarcos suit.

Designers hope the suit will someday help soldiers unload heavy boxes, carry gear over rough terrain, or even help them repair tanks that break down in inconvenient locations, but the technology could also prove beneficial to disabled people, factory workers, and even fire fighters. You can see the suit in action in this video. Pretty cool stuff.

Apple perceived as gay-friendly, Samsung not so much

2008-05-20T22:57:00.000-07:00

I'm still not entirely sure what makes a company gay-friendly, but a recent survey by Planet Out and Prime Access found that more than two-thirds of gays and lesbians are more likely to purchase from gay-friendly companies. According to the survey, companies perceived to be the most gay-friendly include Apple, Bravo, Levi's, Absolut, Starbucks, and American Express, while Samsung, Cracker Barrel, Exxon Mobil, and Wal-Mart were the least gay-friendly.

Confused about what makes a company gay-friendly? You're not alone. Sixty-four percent of the respondents didn't know how to determine if a company were gay-friendly either, but those who managed to discern the gay-friendly vibe said they did so from the company's advertising, the media, and their friends' input.

I can see how Bravo, American Express, and Apple can be perceived as gay-friendly, but American Airlines, Target and Saturn also ranked high on the list which adds to the confusion. Kevyn Aiken, Vice President of Marketing at PlanetOut, says gays and lesbians are powerful consumers, more so than straight consumers, so it would be in a company's best interest to be perceived as gay-friendly, but how do they do that?

One thing's for sure, the companies that ranked high do have sexier advertising campaigns and products than say Cracker Barrel, Dunkin' Donuts, or Exxon Mobil, so maybe that's the secret of their success among the gay community. What do you think?

Do you think it's fair to say one company is more gay-friendly than another based on marketing alone?

Saving Shows to DVD with Windows XP Media Center PC

2008-05-20T01:04:00.000-07:00

One thing that Media Center is missing is a module that lets you create, or burn, your own DVDs. Why would you want to create your own DVDs? Well, here are a few reasons:

You want to create archived copies of your recorded TV shows: Although MCE PCs have big hard drives, eventually they fill up, and you need to erase some recorded TV shows to make room for new ones. If you want to keep some of those older shows, why not record them to DVD?

You want to create a DVD of a favorite series: Perhaps you want to make a SpongeBob SquarePants DVD for the kids to watch in the car on that long trip to Disney World. Until they make MCE PCs that will fit in the back of your car, a DVD is your best bet here. (But you know, that Toshiba MCE laptop would fit nicely under the back seat.)

Although Microsoft has not yet provided a way to make DVDs, there is a way to burn DVDs in Media Center: using Sonic PrimeTime software Roxio Consumer Products. PrimeTime is a DVD-burning application that plugs itself into your Media Center Start menu, so it's easy to access and use with the remote control. You can even find PrimeTime in the Media Center Online Spotlight. Just open Online Spotlight and navigate to the Downloads section to download a free trial version.

PrimeTime is designed to create DVDs of only your recorded TV content (from My TV). For an all-purpose DVD creation program, you can use Sonic's MYDVD program. Many MCE PC vendors include a version of MyDVD with their MCE PCs.

PrimeTime automatically searches your MCE PC for recorded TV shows and organizes them by name, date recorded, or category - just like My TV does. Using the remote control, you can select the shows you want to burn to DVD and then record them with a single press of a button.

PrimeTime even records video CDs, which are similar to DVDs but are on recordable CDs instead of DVD media. Video CDs hold a lot less video, but can be played back on most DVD players and are an option if your MCE PC doesn't have a DVD recorder.

Figure 1 shows the PrimeTime interface in MCE. To get to this interface, select Create DVD in the Media Center Start menu.

: Figure 1: PrimeTime in action.

PrimeTime is a popular way of creating DVDs. It has a ton of great features, including the following:

You can use DVDs created with PrimeTime in just about any DVD player.

PrimeTime is also one of the only programs that can convert the files that Media Center uses to record TV (called DVR-MS) to standard MPEG files that a DVD player can display. This is a BIG DEAL!

You can insert a rewritable DVD (marked RW) into your MCE PC and use PrimeTime to change its contents. You can remove all the programs you recorded and replace them with others, you can remove a few, or you can add more shows if you have room.

PrimeTime uses Dolby Digital (AC-3 encoding) to record the audio portion of the DVD. Dolby Digital is a compressed audio system that uses about one-tenth the disc space of the uncompressed alternative, PCM. So with PrimeTime (and Dolby Digital), you use up less of the DVD's storage space with audio - leaving room for more TV shows per disc!

Media Center does not support Dolby Digital 5.1 for My TV, so you get only two-channel (stereo) sound from any recorded TV programs.

PrimeTime has a handy "bit-budget" indicator. (See the disc on the left side of Figure 1.) As soon as you select a show, the indicator updates the amount of space left on the DVD.

PrimeTime works with all types of recordable DVDs (the blank discs themselves) and makes DVDs that can play in the vast majority of DVD players. You can be pretty darned confident that grandma will be able to play that disc you sent of the grandkids' latest school recital.

Adding a Second Internal Hard Drive to Your PC

2008-05-20T01:03:00.000-07:00

For most current PC owners, the easiest method of adding more hard drive space is to add a second hard drive to your system. Here are three very good reasons for this:

No backup is required. Adding a second drive eliminates the setup that you'd have to perform if you upgraded your current drive because you won't have to restore the current contents of your old drive to the new drive.

Most PCs have at least one open drive bay. Unless your computer is already stuffed to the gills, you should have enough room to add a second hard drive. If it is stuffed to the gills, you'll either have to upgrade the current drive or add an external FireWire or USB 2.0 drive.

It's like . . . more for less. Rather than replace your existing 40GB drive with a 80GB drive - and end up with only 40GB more room - leave the original drive as is and add that second drive, resulting in the full 80GB that you paid for. (Remember: You will eventually use that space.)

Follow this procedure to add a second internal EIDE hard drive to your current system:

1. Cover your work surface with several sheets of newspaper.

2. Unplug your PC and place it on top of the newspaper.

3. Remove the case screws and slide the case off, putting the screws aside in a bowl or cup.

If you're unsure how to remove your PC's case, check the manual that accompanied your computer.

4. Touch the metal chassis of the computer to dissipate any static electricity.

5. Verify the jumper settings on the back of your original drive, as shown in Figure 1. If necessary, change the existing drive to multiple drives, master unit (or just master) by moving the jumper to the indicated pins.

If you haven't encountered jumpers yet, they're the tiny plastic and metal shunts that you use to configure hard drives and CD/DVD drives.

: Figure 1: Change jumper settings on an EIDE hard drive when installing a second drive.

Your jumper configuration will probably be different than Figure 1. Most hard drive manufacturers now print the jumper settings on the top of a hard drive. If the settings aren't printed on the drive, you can refer to the drive's manual or visit the manufacturer's Web site and look up the settings there. Master means primary (and if you have at least one drive, there must be a master device), and slave means secondary. Other than that, the devices are treated the same way by your PC.

6. Set the jumpers on the back of the new drive for multiple drives, slave unit (often listed as just slave unit).

7. If your new drive needs a drive cage to fit into the desired bay, use the screws supplied by the drive manufacturer to attach the cage rails onto both sides of your drive.

8. Slide the drive into the selected bay from the front of the case, making sure that the end with the connectors goes in first and that the exposed circuitry of the drive is on the bottom.

9. Slide the hard drive back and forth in the drive bay until the screw holes in the side of the bay are aligned with the screw holes on the side of the drive (or the drive cage rails).

10. Tighten the drive down to the side of the bay with the screws that came with the drive (or your cage kit), as illustrated in Figure 2.

: Figure 2: Secure your new friend in place.

11. Choose an unused power connector and plug it in, making sure that the connector is firmly seated.

There's only one way to connect a power cable to a hard drive: the right way.

12. Plug the other connector from the hard drive cable into the back of the drive and make sure that the cable is firmly seated.

Note that both hard drives will use the same cable, so you might need to unplug the original drive from the cable and switch connectors. Don't worry: It doesn't matter which connector goes to which drive as long as the jumpers are correctly set.

Check for a blocked hole in the cable connector, which should align with a missing pin on the drive's connector. This alignment trick, called keying, helps ensure that you're installing the cable right-side up. However, don't panic if the cable isn't keyed: Remember that the wire with the red or black marking on the cable is always Wire 1 and that it should align with Pin 1 on the drive's connector (see Figure 3).

: Figure 3: Connect the drive to the data cable.

13. Replace the cover on your PC and tighten its screws.

14. Plug your PC back in and turn it on.

15. Run the drive formatting utility that accompanied your new drive to prepare it for use.

Sharing a Hard Drive over a Home Network

2008-05-20T01:02:00.000-07:00

Home networks commonly share all the folders and files on the hard drives of every computer, but you have to configure the hard drive for sharing. This works differently depending on the version of Windows running on the computer you're setting up for sharing.

Sharing a hard drive in Windows 98 and Windows Me

When you share a drive in Windows 98 or Windows Me, you also have the opportunity to create permissions for the share (and that's true for sharing folders, printers, and any other resources). To create a shared hard drive, follow these steps:

1. On the computer you're sharing, open My Computer.

2. Right-click the hard drive you want to share (usually drive C) and choose Sharing from the shortcut menu that appears.

3. Select the Shared As option.

The options in the dialog box are now available.

4. Type your own name for this share (Windows automatically calls it C) in the Share Name text box, choosing a name such as Den-C for the computer in the den.

5. Configure the Access Type and Passwords.

By default, Windows makes the access type Read-Only, but unless you have a good reason not to, change the access type to Full.

6. Click OK.

You are returned to the My Computer window, where a hand appears under your hard drive icon, indicating that the drive is a shared resource.

Controlling user actions in Windows 98 and Windows Me

Every time you create a share in Windows 98 and Windows Me, you have three choices of access types for that share. The following controls describe what you can do to limit the power of users on your network:

Read-Only: Remote users can open and copy documents from the share but can't make changes to or delete the documents.

Full: Remote users can manipulate and use folders and files on your hard drive as though they were working directly at your computer.

Depends on Password: The passwords that you create contain one of the access rights. The actions that users can perform depend on the passwords they use. If you choose this option, you must create a password for each type of access.

Remember that if you want to work on your own files from another computer, you're a remote user just as any other remote user is. You have to know the password to get into your own files.

Sharing a hard drive in Windows 2000

If you're running Windows 2000, the basic steps for sharing a hard drive are the same as those for Windows 98 and Windows Me, but your options are different. Here's how to share a drive in Windows 2000:

1. On the computer you're sharing, open My Computer.

2. Right-click the hard drive you want to share and choose Sharing from the shortcut menu that appears.

3. Select the Share This Folder option.

4. Click the New Share button to create a new share for the drive.

The New Share dialog box opens.

5. Name the share, and optionally, enter a description in the Comment field.

Sharing a hard drive in Windows XP

Sharing a hard drive using Windows XP Home Edition is slightly more complicated than it is on other versions of Windows because Windows XP doesn't like the idea of sharing a drive. Use the following steps to share a drive:

1. On the computer you're sharing, open My Computer.

2. Right-click the hard drive you want to share and choose Sharing and Security from the shortcut menu that appears.

The Sharing tab appears, displaying a message that warns you that sharing a drive isn't a good idea. Beneath the message is a link that you can click to indicate that you understand the risk but want to share the drive. Then the Sharing tab changes to reveal the options that allow you to share the drive.

3. Select the Share This Folder on the Network option.

4. Enter a name for the share.

5. Select the Allow Network Users to Change My Files option.

If you don't select this option, network users can view files but can't create new files or modify existing files. Because you're a network user when you want to work on a file on this computer from a different computer, there's not much point in restricting what network users can do. However, the security in Windows XP is rather complicated, and it gets more complicated when you share folders.

6. Click OK.

Sharing removable drives

You use the same steps that you used to share a hard drive when you want to share a peripheral (removable) drive. Peripheral drives are considered external to your computer (your hard drive is internal), such as your disk drive, a CD-ROM drive, or a Zip drive.

Trying to set access controls for peripheral drives is foolish because you'd have to spend a lot of time changing the controls, depending on the disk that's inserted at any given time. The solution is to give full access to peripheral drives and then hide any disks in a locked drawer that you don't want other users to access.

Burn any kind of disc with Windows XP, for free

2008-05-20T01:01:00.001-07:00

I've used XP for seven years now and I'm still learning things I didn't know before. This week I discovered that, while XP's built-in CD burning system works well enough, it doesn't support DVDs or any kind of high-definition media. Faced with getting 1.5 gigs of photos from a memory card to a disc, I found myself facing a sudden dilemma.

On my desktop I could have turned to Nero or any other commercial burning application, but I was on the road at the time and didn't have access to the software. Not to mention, should I really have to spend $80 for Nero Ultimate Edition just to burn the occasional DVD? I love Nero, don't get me wrong, but for casual burning needs it's way overkill.

A little Web hunting turned me on to this alternative: CDBurnerXP, a totally free application that will burn data to any kind of optical disc. Not just CDs, but DVDs, Blu-ray, and HD DVD discs, too.

It's less than a 3MB download, installs in seconds, and it's super fast to run. It took six minutes to burn the aforementioned DVD, and the entire process should be completely intuitive to anyone who knows how to copy a file in Windows. I haven't tried all the advanced features, but CDBurnerXP can also create ISO files (commonly known as disc images, which can be used to archive a copy of a disc on your hard drive), burn audio CDs, and create bootable discs, too.

Oh, and it also runs on OSes from Windows 2000 to Vista, not just XP.

Did I mention it's free?

Study says mobile phones may harm a baby

2008-05-20T00:58:00.000-07:00

Last year, I wrote about a strange product called MummyWraps created for pregnant women who wanted to protected their unborn child from electro-smog, and while that seemed a little paranoid at the time, a recent study found that pregnant women who use mobile phones are likely to give birth to children with behavioral problems.

According to the the study led by the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) and Aarhus, Denmark pregnant women using mobile phones two or three times a day increased their chances of having babies with hyperactivity and behavioral problems that would affect their conduct, emotions, and relationships by the time they reached school age. Those odds increased even more if the children themselves used a phone before reaching the age of seven.

The study which surveyed the mothers of 13,159 children born in Denmark, took scientists by surprise, especially UCLA's Professor Leeka Kheifets who just three years ago wrote there was no evidence that casual cell phone use had any adverse health effects on humans.

Of course, there are many other factors that could've cause behavioral problems in these children so this is one topic we're sure to hear more about. In the meantime, if you're pregnant you might want to take some precautions and limit your cell phone use. And those wondering about getting a cell phone for their six year old, may want to wait a bit longer, just to be safe.

Six awesome high-tech gift ideas for grads

2008-05-19T23:00:00.000-07:00

Ah, graduation. Your ungrateful children probably don't feel that shelling out tens of thousands of dollars for four-plus years of higher education will be reward enough for actually making it through the rigors of high school. Like it or not, you'll need to pony up for a graduation present. Got a tech fan in the household? Consider one of these snazzy gift ideas.

Sony Vaio FZ Series

Still the reigning king of everyday laptops, the FZ is as powerful as anything in its class, doesn't break the bank, and looks pretty good, too. Campus will be crawling with kids and their MacBooks. Junior can make a real statement by proudly booting up his Sony instead.

Canon PowerShot A570 IS

Why worry about higher education when YouTube promises immediate stardom for anyone with only the barest of talents? If your kid can rock 100% on an expert-level song on Rock Band or simply knows how to fall down in epic style, he'll need a nice camera to record it all. This Canon's stills look great thanks to image stabilization, and it shoots movies in glorious widescreen.

GoldLantern VisorTalk

Hands-free is already the law in many states and it's about to become so in California, where the crackdown on talking on your cell phone while driving begins on July 1. If Junior's going to spend a lot of time driving to and from college this fall, best get him legal. The VisorTalk works reasonably well and simply clips to your visor, working as a Bluetooth speakerphone for his cell. It's super affordable, and it has the great advantage of ensuring your grad doesn't look like the campus idiot wandering around the quad with a headset attached to his ear.

Apple iPhone

Wait a month or two on this one. The current iPhone is set to be replaced next month by the next generation, which reportedly will offer 3G speed and real GPS. Send your kid off to college with the next-gen iPhone and he'll instantly outshine his dorm-mates who foolishly bought the first, pokey-slow version.

Solo Urban at Ease Laptop Messenger Bag

Give your grad a stylish way to carry all this gear instead of forcing him into another nylon backpack. The canvas SOLO fits in stylishly in any academic or even neo-professional environment, and can be found for a mere 50 bucks.

Grand Theft Auto IV

Seriously, what else is he going to do all summer?

Samsung debuts pebble sized media player

2008-05-19T12:34:00.000-07:00

don't know what it is about pebbles, but gadget designers are fascinated with them. I mean, just look at Bang & Olufsen's Serenata phone, Creative's ZEN Stone and of course, Motorola's PEBL phone, which is still a very popular choice out there. Samsung is now joining the pebble-shaped gadget club with its upcoming S2 'Pebble' MP3 player.

Maybe it's the smoothness of the rocks or the perhaps the size that has inspired yet another tiny media player that fits in your hand or your back pocket. The ultra-compact S2 will soon be available with a 1GB storage capacity able to store up to 16 hours of your favorite MP3s or WMAs. As you can see from the pictures, the S2 will be available in black, red, green, purple and white.

The front of the player is smooth as expected, while the back has all the controls including play/pause, volume, playback options, and DNSe 2.0 audio enhancements. To add some funk, the bottom of the player flashes in different colors and patterns based on EQ settings and playback mode. What's also really cool is that the player has an FM tuner, and lanyard earphones so you can hang it around your neck. Pricing will be under $40, and Samsung has said the player will be in stores come June. Engadget has an extensive gallery of the S2 player here, if you want to check it out.

Sprint: WiMax coming to Baltimore-D.C. area this year

2008-05-19T11:42:00.000-07:00

It's full speed ahead for Sprint's revitalized Xohm network, as the carrier announces that at least one major U.S. market will get commercial WiMax service before the year is out.Sprint execs just announced that wireless users in the Baltimore-Washington D.C. area will get first dibs on the carrier's planned WiMax network, which could eventually deliver ubiquitous wireless broadband from coast to coast.

BetaNews reports that Sprint just finished commercial testing for its Xohm network in the Baltimore-D.C. region, clearing the way (at last) for an actual commercial launch.

Don't expect WiMax-packing phones this year, however; instead, we'll probably see WiMax-enabled broadband cards and ultraportables, along with Nokia's recently-launched N810 Internet tablet.

We're still waiting on a WiMax timeline for the rest of the country, but it's looking like Sprint will indeed beat AT&T and Verizon Wireless—which are planning their own LTE broadband networks to compete with WiMax—to the 4G punch. LTE networks here in the U.S. aren't expected to see the light of day until 2009, at the earliest.

Sprint's shaky WiMax plans got a major boost earlier this month when it finally closed a deal with on-again, off-again wireless partner Clearwire, along with new partners Intel, Google, Comcast, and Time Warner, among others.

The deal gave Clearwire and the cash-strapped Sprint a much-needed $3.2-billion infusion for WiMax. Experts believe a nationwide WiMax network will cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $5 billion.

Security software vendor: Vista less secure than Windows 2000

2008-05-19T11:41:00.000-07:00

In stark contrast to previous research commissioned by Microsoft, security software company PC Tools (which develops the exceptional Spyware Doctor, a tool I commonly recommend) has blasted Vista in a series of reports saying that Vista is hardly as secure as Microsoft claims it to be.

After analyzing 1.4 million computers it says it's found that computers running Vista contain 639 infections per 1,000 machines running the OS. That's worse than the ancient Windows 2000, where 586 infections impact every 1,000 computers. The bright spot: It's better than Windows XP, which features 1,021 infections per 1,000 computers.

There are some obvious reasons behind Windows 2000's good showing, of course: As an old operating system with only a tiny market share, malware developers aren't likely to be actively targeting Windows 2000 any more, instead setting their eyes on Vista, the up and coming prize for those looking to compromise PCs. But the numbers are nonetheless troubling, considering Microsoft's claims about Vista's rock-solid security.

One Microsoft evangelist's response to PC Tools' claim was a baffling post implying that users are probably at fault for going to "probably dodgy" websites and allowing spyware to be installed on their machines, but that Vista was nonetheless more secure than Windows 2000. The official response from Microsoft points to the "success" of Microsoft's near-worthless Malicious Software Removal Tool (MSRT) as evidence of Vista's superior security while pointing to some other, genuine improvements in Vista's architecture.

On Friday, PC Tools released additional data backing up its claims and slamming the MSRT as "not a comprehensive anti-virus scanner," and it's right. In fact, all PCs in the PC Tools test were running security software already.

The fight is likely to continue, but whether or not Vista is "less secure" than Windows 2000 is not really of much importance in the end. The bottom line is that no matter what version of Windows you're running, you have to protect yourself with up-to-date antivirus and anti-spyware software, period.

Quick Guide to Buying an HDTV

2008-05-19T03:16:00.000-07:00

HDTVs offer far better picture quality than older TVs through dramatically increased resolution.

Learn the Lingo

The Basics

There are four main types of HDTVs :

Plasma

Pros: Very large screens available; vibrant color quality can't be beat

Cons: Screen brightness can dim over time; fragile; expensive
LCD

Pros: Thinnest and lightest of all TVs

Cons: Max size is limited for now; very expensive; can create ghosting in action scenes
Projection

Pros: Cheaper than comparably sized flat-panels

Cons: Thicker than flat panels; lamps burn out and are pricey
CRT

Pros: Bargain-basement prices; best overall picture

Cons: Enormous at large sizes; limited maximum screen size; hogs power; yesterday's technology

What Matters Most

Screen Size
You won't see the benefits of HDTV if you sit too far away; at 10 feet you need at least a 35-inch set.
Read More Search : under 27" / 27' to 42" / Over 42"
Inputs
HDMI offers a simple, all-digital connection for both video and audio in a single cable.
Read More
Resolution
720p and 1080i are the two major HD standards; but the high-end 1080p is even better.
Read More Search : 720p / 1080i / 1080p
Installation
Bring a friend; CRTs and larger projection TVs are huge and can weigh hundreds of pounds. Fancy wall-mount kits for LCDs and plasmas usually cost extra.
Read More

Dig Deeper

Quick Guide to Buying an MP3 Player

2008-05-19T03:15:00.000-07:00

MP3 players play digital music — anytime, anywhere. Find your perfect match here.

Learn the Lingo

The Basics

There are 2 main types of MP3 players :

Flash Players

Pros: Very portable and light; less susceptible to damage from drops

Cons: More expensive on a per-gigabyte basis; limited capacity
Hard Drive Players

Pros: Very large capacity; large screens for video playback

Cons: Internal hard drive makes them fragile

What Matters Most

Capacity
True storage space is about 7 percent less than stated after formatting, and the average 128Kbps MP3 file is about 4MB in size; plan to fit about 225 songs per gigabyte after formatting.
Read More Find a Player : up to 8GB / 9GB to 30GB / over 30GB
Video Features
For video players, screen size is critical for a quality viewing experience, though you can output video to a larger screen with the right accessories.
Read More Search : Find Video Players
Formats Supported
All players support MP3, but fewer play back AAC, OGG, WMA, and other formats. Moreover, many DRM-protected files can only be transferred to certified compatible players.
Read More Search : AAC / OGG / WMA
Extra Features
Many players feature FM radios and voice recorders for taking down quick voice memos, and Most MP3 players can be used as an external hard drive.
Read More Search : Find Players with FM

Dig Deeper

Quick Guide to Buying a Laptop

2008-05-17T23:19:00.000-07:00

Laptops come in a variety of sizes and capabilities — learn how to pick the perfect one.

Learn the Lingo

The Basics

There are 4 main types of laptops :

Ultralight

Pros: Extreme portability

Cons: Minimal power, very expensive
Tablet

Pros: Swiveling touch screen, good for note-taking; compact

Cons: Limited power, small screen, generally expensive
Budget/Mainstream

Pros: Best prices, good power, lots of features

Cons: Less portable
Desktop Replacement

Pros: Extreme power, biggest screen

Cons: Terrible battery life, very heavy, expensive

What Matters Most

Screen Size
The bigger the screen, the heavier the laptop; the biggest and smallest screens (and laptops) are the priciest.
Read More Search : 12.1- to 13-inch / 14.1-inch / 15.4-inch / 17-inch and larger
CPU and RAM
Get a multicore CPU, but avoid the very fastest and you'll save a lot of cash. Also, install as much RAM as you can afford.
Read More
Extra Features
An optical drive for burning CDs or watching DVDs, media card reader to access camera storage cards, a good video card for games.
Read More
Battery Life
Most vendors sell larger, secondary batteries for extra power, but you can also tweak your system to extend battery life.
Read More Search : Laptop Batteries

Dig Deeper

Shopping for a Monster Graphics Card

2008-05-17T23:18:00.001-07:00

Having a terrific graphics card isn't all about blasting aliens to kingdom come. A fast 3-D video card can speed up the display of digital video and even Windows.

What slot do you need?

Although today's video cards look like any other typical adapter cards, they actually fit in either of two types of motherboard slots:

Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP): AGP cards for today's Athlon and Pentium computers use a dedicated AGP slot; no other adapter cards will fit into this slot. (Refer to your motherboard or PC manual to make sure that you have an AGP slot before you buy an AGP video card.) AGP video cards provide excellent performance, but they're slowly being replaced in the marketplace by PCI-Express cards.

PCI-Express: PCI-Express video cards can fit only into a dedicated PCI-Express video card slot, so check your motherboard or PC manual to make sure that your machine will accept a PCI-Express video card. However, once you install a PCI-Express video card, you'll enjoy the fastest possible video performance.

Rate the performance of a particular card while you're shopping by checking on the box or the manufacturer's Web site for benchmark results that you can use to compare with other cards. Try the popular benchmark program 3DMark06. You can also find up-to-date reviews of the latest cards and video chipsets at Tom's Hardware .

Exploring the differences between chipsets

There really aren't any differences among chipsets, which are the separate Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) "brain" that powers today's top 3-D video cards. The two major players in the PC video card chipset battle are

NVIDIA: The cutting-edge crew at NVIDIA has produced some of the fastest video cards for the PC in recent years, including the classics RIVA TNT and TNT2 as well as the GeForce series. The latest NVIDIA chipset, the NVIDIA GeForce 7, is awesome. In fact, very few games or 3-D applications on today's software market can actually push a GeForce 7 series card to its limit.

ATI: ATI Technologies has been producing popular video chipsets for a decade now, including its Rage line. Typically, ATI video cards are somewhat cheaper than NVIDIA cards, and many motherboard manufacturers build ATI video hardware directly onto their products. ATI's Radeon X850-series chipset is a big winner with performance that even tops the latest GeForce 7 cards.

Dollar-a-day pre-paid plans explained

2008-05-17T23:15:00.001-07:00

Boost and T-Mobile are touting their new dollar-a-day pre-paid plans, but the practice of charging daily access fees for cheaper pre-paid minutes has been around for years—and it's not for everyone.

Both Boost and T-Mobile made their own respective splashes this month with their new buck-a-day pre-paid plans: Basically, you get daytime minutes for 10 cents each, unlimited nights and unlimited mobile-to-mobile (or in-network) calls—but you also pay a $1 daily access fee. (Boost also offers unlimited weekends and text messages in its pay-by-the-day plan.)

Other major U.S. carriers already offer similar buck-a-day plans. For example, AT&T has Pay As You Go Unlimited Talk, while Verizon Wireless offers INpulse Core—both charge 10 cents a minute and give you unlimited in-network calling, but no unlimited nights or weekends. (You can get unlimited nights from Verizon for $2 a day, plus unlimited weekends for $3/day.)

Meanwhile, regional carrier Alltel has a 75-cents/day access plan that includes 10-cent daytime minutes, plus you can choose and two of the following features: unlimited in-network calls, unlimited nights and weekends, unlimited "favorite number" calling, or unlimited text messages. (You can also pay more per day for more features.)

And here's another variable: Some pre-paid carriers make you pay the access fee every day, not just on the days you use your phone. Both Boost and Alltel ring up the access fee each day, while AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon Wireless only charge the fee on days you use your phone.

In any case, think carefully about your phone usage before picking a plan. If you're a heavy—and daily—phone user, the pay-every-day Alltel plan (with its cheap access fees) or the Boost plan (with unlimited weekends and free text messaging) might end up saving you the most money. If you're a moderate chatter and free weekends/texting aren't must-haves, try a daily pre-paid plan that only charges you on days you use your phone. And for those who rarely use their phones, consider the traditional buckets of minutes—you'll pay 25 cents a minute or more, but you won't have to pay daily access fees at all.

For the big picture on pre-paid plans, check out this feature (written by yours truly) over at CNET; the plan breakdowns are a bit out of date (the carriers change their plans on a near-daily basis), but it still gives you a good overview of how the various plans work and which phones are available on a pre-paid basis.

Sidekick Slide Scarlet is out

2008-05-17T03:16:00.001-07:00

Ben wrote about the Sidekick Slide back when it was released in September, and it hasn't changed a whole lot until now. If you weren't crazy about the purple keyboard accents (you know because they're purple) then you'll be happy to know a new Slide is out featuring a red keyboard. Yay!

If you already own a Sidekick Slide, then there's really no reason to get this one since it's essentially the same phone in a different color. Features still include a 1.3 megapixel camera, music player, slide-up QVGA display, microSD slot, and Sidekick apps like MyFaves and a MySpace Mobile application. The new Sidekick Slide Scarlet is available through T-Mobile for $199 with a two-year contract.

Solar underwear promotes eco-awareness

2008-05-17T03:15:00.000-07:00

We've seen some pretty ridiculous underwear like the iPod friendly, iGroove panties and iBoxers, or the solar powered bikini, and one-piece, but the following two-piece takes the cake for being the most outrageous undergarment worn by a woman—or any human for that matter.

Pink Tentacle came across the Japanese eco-friendly "Solar Power Bra" which aims to promote clean energy and raise eco-awareness. The cotton bra itself features a waist-mounted solar panel that can recharge your gear or power a small electronic LED display if you feel like conveying a message. Since this is a bra after all, and not the Victoria Secret kind, the bust has been fitted with reusable bra "cups" that can hold drinks as well as increase bust size. These cups are also there to reduce the use of aluminum cans and plastic bottles.

The concept design is not really something you'll ever see beyond this post, but it sure has caught the attention of many bloggers, therefore doing its job of getting people to think about the environment perhaps with the hope that underwear is never reduced to something like this again

A sling backpack for Lifecasters

2008-05-17T03:14:00.000-07:00

Lifecasting is nothing new. People do it all the time on places like Yahoo! Live, Mogulus, and Ustream, and if they really want to take it to the streets, they can use their mobile phone, provided they have an unlimited data plan.

Of course, broadcasting your life 24-7 comes with a price just ask Justin and iJustine from Justin TV who wore a ridiculous hat mounted camera for days in order to go mobile. Lucky for them, a more elegant solution is in the works according to Crave.

The Porta2030 is a backpack equipped with lots of gizmos inside to help you stream images and video to a website. Inside the yellow sling backpack rests a battery pack, a 1GB flash card, a hard drive, USB speaker, an LCD display unit, and a webcam that makes this the ideal mobile streaming unit in existence.

The pack has actually been tested by porta-porters in London and worked flawlessly, so it's really just a matter time before something like this hits the market especially now that Lifecasting is all the rage. Lucky for the rest of us, this is still in concept mode so we don't have to pull out our Censor Bar Specs just yet.

Step by step: How to protect your Wi-Fi network

2008-05-17T03:13:00.001-07:00

Reader Joshua writes: I have searched all over the net for detailed instructions on how to protect my Wi-Fi network, and I just can't seem to find them. I would appreciate some help.

Most vendors provide an installation CD with their routers, and if you use this CD (you never have to, by the way), you'll be walked through setting up security on your router, step by step.

Personally I find these programs cumbersome, and since I tend to swap out routers every couple of months, I never install them to avoid having multiple management applications which correspond to nothing on my network.

So, without further ado, here's how to set up security on your router without using a custom application.

1) Type in the IP address of the router in your browser. This is how you get to the management system. You will need to check your router's manual for the IP address (it's probably 192.168.0.1 or something close to that) and the default password for the router. Now every router's management interface is different, and I don't have every brand here to work with, so I'm just going to point you toward the areas you need to tweak. This isn't complicated, but it might take a little trial and error on your part. Just poke around until you find the appropriate section to manage. It's usually quite simple.

2) Set a new administrator password. Always a good first step so you don't forget it later. This is often not under the Security section, so don't forget to look under the Utilities or System Settings area. Once you find it, change the password here like you would with any user account.

3) Turn on encryption. Look under Wireless Security or a similarly tagged section. You want to turn on encryption here: Use WPA (or WPA-PSK) if all devices on your network support it. Otherwise use 128-bit WEP. Type in the key you'd like (or use a passphrase to generate the key if you're using WEP). Note the passphrase you're using so you can type that password into your client machines.

4) Change the SSID. Nothing says "hack me" like a default SSID (essentially, the name of your router) like "linksys" or "belkin." Change it to something menacing, not "janesrouter." One router I can see from my office is named "virustrap." I can't imagine anyone willingly trying to hack into that network. Remember you'll need this SSID when you browse available wireless networks from your client machines. You'll find this setting under a menu called Channel or SSID, something like that.

After that, you've covered the basics of security. You'll probably have to reboot your router multiple times during this procedure (so it's best to use a cable to do the configuration), and don't forget to hit "Apply Changes" or "Save Changes" after every tweak you make.

You can continue to make more advanced wireless security changes if you'd like, but I think they're overkill. Still, if you're paranoid, you can turn off SSID broadcasting (so you have to type in the network name manually; it doesn't show up in the Windows scan). You can also turn on MAC address filtering, which limits access to your network to a list of clients that you specifically approve. If anyone really wants information about how to configure MAC filtering, email me or post a comment below and I'll whip up a blog post down the road.

Christian Dior mobile to debut next week in Paris

2008-05-17T03:12:00.001-07:00

Dolce & Gabbana, Armani, and Prada have teamed with mobile phone manufacturers to produce stunning luxury handsets, and now Dior appears to be the latest fashion house to enter the world of high-tech fashion. According to Reuters, Christian Dior teamed up with Modelabs for the conception, manufacturing, and distribution of the Christian Dior mobile phone which is officially launching on May 21st in Paris.

Earlier this week, Engadget Mobile published the image of what appears to be the Dior phone all covered in either Swarovski crystals or diamonds. I'm going with diamonds here, since they happen to be really small, and embedded on the phone's hinge and circular dial inside. There's also a mention of a remote control that accompanies the phone, although it's not clear what it's supposed to do. Pricing hasn't been revealed, but we'll soon find out when the black, diamond covered Dior handset hits boutiques across Paris next week.

Easy YouTube uploads on tap for PS3 games

2008-05-16T10:28:00.000-07:00

Uploading in-game videos to YouTube is about to get a lot easier—if you're a PlayStation 3 gamer, that is.

YouTube just announced that Sony has adopted the site's APIs and programming tools for the PS3, which will let game developers add video uploading features to existing and upcoming PlayStation 3 games.

That'll make life a lot easier for those of us who want to show off our racing, sniping, and fragging skills online. For the most part, PS3, Xbox 360, and other console gamers have been using video capture cards or simply training camcorders on their screens to record in-game videos for sharing on the Web—a do-able, if somewhat cumbersome, process.

Some games, such as "Halo 3," already let you record your in-game action, but you can't just upload said videos to the Web; instead, would-be viewers must download and watch the clips on their consoles.

The first title to get the YouTube uploading feature is Japanese PS3 game "Mainichi Issho"; no word on other upcoming YouTube-enabled games just yet.

So, Microsoft...how about some YouTube love for the Xbox 360, eh?

"Rasberry" ants invade Houston – and they love electronics

2008-05-16T10:26:00.000-07:00

Talk about a nightmare: An army of tiny, hairy insects, seemingly impervious to pesticides, who love to bite humans and have the strange desire to nest in electronics—especially computers.The AP reports that the busy little invaders—dubbed "crazy rasberry ants" (yep, it's "rasberry," not raspberry) after one Tom Rasberry, a Pearland, Texas exterminator and sworn enemy of the pesky buggers—were first spotted in 2002, and have since fanned out across five counties in the Houston area.

Not only do the ants—billions of them—enjoy biting humans, ruining plants, and chomping on native fire ants and ladybugs, but they also slurp up store-bought bug killers (think Raid) like soda pop, then ask for seconds.

Even worse, they love nothing better than to crawl into computers and wreck the circuitry inside. Computerworld reports that the rasberry ants have taken down a number of home and office computers, while three colonies of the ants were discovered at NASA's Johnson Space Center.

Also falling victim to the ants: sewage pumps, radios, fire alarms, and gas meters, the AP says.

And get this—when IT workers open infested computers, they find thousands of ant bodies inside, according to Computerworld. Nasty.

I have to say, I've seen gadgets wrecked by coffee spills, too much sun, water, gravity, sand...but bug infestations? That's a new one for me. And while sealing your PC in a plastic bag might (might) save it from critters, you'd probably overheat your system in the process.

So, any Texans out there with rasberry horror stories to share?

Will Family Trainer compete with Wii Fit?

2008-05-16T03:29:00.000-07:00

As you know, the Wii Fit is a balancing board that comes with "games" geared towards athletic types, and I only say that because I don't' know many people who will run to the store to buy a "game" that revolves around yoga, aerobics, and strength training exercises. While all those things are good for you, and maybe even fun, I prefer going to the gym to get my exercise, which is why I can't say I'm excited about the Wii Fit's upcoming release. Besides, I prefer games that give you a good workout without making you acutely aware that you're getting one.

Wii Sports is a great way to get a workout, and those who like it will soon have an alternative called Family Trainer for Wii. IGN says the game includes a mat controller (similar to DDR) that combined with the Wii Remote gives gamers a full body workout that involves both your feet and hands.

Games include single and multiplayer challenges in log jumping, rope skipping, river rafting, and mine karting which sounds a lot more like Wii Sports than Wii Fit, although the game is already being called a Wii Fit competitor by bloggers. Atari's Family Trainer is schedule to be released in Europe around September 2008, and though nothing has been mentioned about a U.S. release, my guess is it will eventually make its way here hopefully around the holidays.

Five FM transmitters for your iPod reviewed

2008-05-16T03:28:00.000-07:00

Getting music from your iPod to your car stereo is no easy feat if you don't have an Aux input, which is only now becoming a standard feature. The rest of us are pretty much stuck with FM transmitters, which take your music and rebroadcast it on an unused FM frequency of your choice.

While FM transmitters have never been all that great, new models promise interesting features like automatic discovery of open FM bands, designed to take the chore out of finding an open station.

But how well do they work? I tested five transmitters in San Francisco, where interference is rampant and empty radio channels are scarce. Here are my picks in rough order of best to worst.

Griffin RoadTrip - My definitive favorite, featuring a flexible neck that holds your iPod upright instead of taking up one of the cup holders or dangling loose in your car. Audio quality was easily the best of the bunch, and the tuning controls double as controls for your iPod (not that you really need them). The large, clear display is easy to read, letting you know at a glance what station you're on. My only complaint: Auto-tune, as with all of these devices, doesn't work well, and the collection of plastic sleeves (six of 'em), designed to more firmly attach your iPod to the RoadTrip's neck, didn't include one that fit my old 20GB iPod. Fortunately, the RoadTrip works well enough without that sleeve, and this transmitter was the easiest to use and offered the best quality, too. $100

Kensington LiquidFM Deluxe - This is a compact device with the controls all attached to the 12V adapter. Just run the connector to your iPod and put it anywhere. A big, bright display is another bonus. Alas, auto-tune picked terrible stations, and even lots of tinkering didn't help find a good channel to use. Lots of static, but if your stereo includes RDS it will display song info on your stereo while it plays. While this was a distant second-best pick, I oddly found that my older model Kensington FM transmitter worked much better. Strange. $50

Belkin Tunecast Auto - The Tunecast puts its controls on a breakout box along the cable, midway between the 12V adapter and the iPod. But this means the transmitter dips down low in the car, often slipping between the seats and making it tough to fish out when you need it and making for a terrible signal. Auto-tune predictably didn't work, but the display, when you can see it, is nice and big. $60

Griffin iTrip AutoPilot - The iTrip is a lot like the RoadTrip but with the controls broken out, much like they are on the Belkin Tunecast. One cool feature: There is an additional set of controls on the 12V adapter portion, letting you play/pause and skip forward/back, which means you can put your iPod out of sight and still be able to control the music. Good idea, but the radio is underpowered: Lots and lots of static. $100 (not yet released)

Cygnett GrooveSafari - The smallest transmitter of the bunch, this one features all its controls in the piece that hooks to your iPod instead of on the 12V adapter or along the cable. Unfortunately, controls are super touchy (all you can do is change the station up and down) and audio quality is awful, likely due to the tiny size of the unit having room for only a minuscule radio. $50

Bottom line: Only one of these transmitters made the grade for me (the Belkin RoadTrip), and even then I still experience a lot of static when climbing hills and rolling through open areas where ambient FM signals are strongest. I never found an auto-tune system that worked at all, either, but with no other good way to get music to my car stereo, the RoadTrip was at least good enough.

Some advice: No matter what product you pick, try to keep the transmitter as high up in the car as you can, if possible. That's one reason why the RoadTrip works as well as it does, as it eliminates some of the interference between base station and your radio. Happy motoring.

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One iPhone per customer, says AT&T

2008-05-16T03:26:00.002-07:00

Last year, Apple restricted the number of iPhones a customer could buy to ensure plenty of iPhones were in stock over the holiday season—at least that's what the company told us. But despite the company's expressed concern over possible shortages, many speculated Apple set this limit in order to prevent reselling.

In October 2007, credit card paying customers could purchase two iPhones per person, and that number was later raised to five after sales overseas were slow. I'm not sure why there would be a shortage of iPhones, when rumors of a 3G iPhone only seem to intensify, but AT&T's latest buying restriction only give credence to the rumor that just won't die.

According to Apple Insider, the company dispatched an internal memo alerting retail staff of its new one unit per customer iPhone limitation effective May 14, 2008. Apparently, anyone who wants to purchase more than one iPhone has to be approved by a director or general manager.

I'm not buying the iPhone shortage story. Honestly, I think a new iPhone will be released sometime this summer, so if you're thinking about buying an iPhone, I suggest you wait at least until after June 9th, just to be safe.

Chat with Yves Behar and the design of the new Jawbone

2008-05-16T03:26:00.001-07:00

I caught up with Yves Behar, designer of the Jawbone and the One Laptop per Child, last night at a private event here in San Francisco where I got a sneak peek of the new Jawbone before its release. Watch the video if you want to get a better look at the new Jawbone, and find out what inspired the new design.

Personally, I love both designs, but the original headset was too big for me. It almost feels like new design is the more feminine version of the Jawbone, as it's 50 percent smaller than its predecessor. The difference between the two is clear when you place them next to each other, but some of the design elements remain the same. For example, the new headset still features a textured metal faceplate on the outside and medical grade plastic on the inside. The ear loops are, thinner, smaller, and covered in leather, but additional earloops without the leather are included for eyeglass wearers.

The new Jawbone does incorporate a new feature called Noise Assassin, which the company claims is better at eliminating background noise. It also has a Voice Activity Sensor to distinguish your voice from noise around you. The new Jawbone is currently available for $129 only in black, but a gold rose and silver pair will

Japan eying age ID system for cigarette vending machines

2008-05-16T03:24:00.000-07:00

I haven't seen cigarette vending machines in a while, but in Japan, there are over 570,000 of them all over the country and according to Reuters, the unsupervised machines are about to get a minor makeover this summer. To ensure underage smokers aren't buying cigarettes through vending machines, the country will be issuing its smoking citizens age-identifying smart cards and equipping vending machines with a system that scans a person's driver's license, specifically focusing on age requirements.

Japan's finance ministry is also looking at an age identifying system developed by Fujitaka Co that can compare facial characteristics such as wrinkles around the eyes, bone structure, and skin sags to facial data of over 100,000 people. If the system is implemented, smokers will have to look into a digital camera mounted on the machines and wait for the system to determine if they are of age.

Unfortunately, Japan is concerned about the system's accuracy since Fujitaka's device can only identify 90 percent of the users, meaning there's a chance older looking minors could potentially fool the system.

I'm not sure why Japan is going through all the trouble retrofitting cigarette vending machines, when getting rid of them completely would be a better idea. Besides, teens will be teens and they'll find other ways to buy cigarettes illegally.

IRS bungles stimulus rebate payments

2008-05-15T12:37:00.000-07:00

If you have your hopes set on a big "economic stimulus" payment arriving in your bank account any day now, you might have to wait a bit longer. The IRS has announced that a subset of taxpayers are affected by a glitch that is delaying rebates sent to them.

The issue affects people who used a service or software program to do their 2007 taxes and opted to have the fee for those services deducted from the stimulus payment and sent via direct deposit. A bug (which the IRS has not elaborated upon) means those payments will now have to be made via a check sent via postal mail.

In addition to this bug, the IRS has confessed that 15,000 checks or direct payments were sent to the wrong taxpayers. While some reports blame this problem on a computer glitch, the IRS says that it can't necessarily pin the issue on a computer problem. Check any payments received carefully to make sure they're actually yours.

If you have received a check or inaccurate (or duplicate) direct deposit, you are required by law to mail the check back to the IRS and/or report the issue to your bank. If you spent the money, you'll have to pay it back as well.

This isn't the first time the IRS has screwed up rebate payments. In 2001 it sent half a million taxpayers notices of impending rebates (in a similar stimulus/tax relief scheme to what we have this year) that they would never be receiving.

Still haven't gotten your payment? Best not to try calling the IRS, which is now dealing with a reported 2 million incoming phone calls a day. Instead, check the IRS.gov website and consult the payment schedule on this page. And be patient.

Dollar-a-day pre-paid plans explained

2008-05-15T12:35:00.000-07:00

AT&T to boost 3G speeds to 20Mbps next year

2008-05-15T12:34:00.001-07:00

In 2009, AT&T says it plans to dramatically boost its 3G speeds by moving its full network to HSPA (High Speed Packet Access), a slower version of which is already up and running in limited areas. At 20Mbps, HSPA could be huge: That's considerably faster than almost any wired broadband technology in use today.

AT&T hasn't announced a roadmap for the release other than to say "sometime in 2009," nor has a city-by-city plan been announced. (It's normal for rollouts like this to proceed in stages from one municipality to another.)

Even better: HSPA isn't even considered a 4G technology. For that, AT&T is looking to LTE (Long Term Evolution) for 2010, which could offer 100Mbps throughput when it's finally rolled out. Now we're talking!

Incidentally, end-user equipment using HSPA technology is already hitting the market. Fujitsu recently sent me its LifeBook T2010 (the U810 also has HSPA available) with integrated HSPA, and I got to see what HSPA can do in the real world today.

So far it's promising but not out of the park. Results varied widely depending on where I did my testing, ranging from 1Mbps to 2Mbps downstream and anywhere from 60kbps to 1.2Mbps upstream. Signal quality varies widely, of course, and you'll get far better results outdoors than inside. Of course, when the network is upgraded these figures should rise dramatically.

So, good news for wireless junkies, and curious timing considering the almost-certain announcement of the 3G iPhone on June 9. Will Steve Jobs announce more than just a 3G iPhone, one that incorporates HSPA technology as well, finally bringing the iPhone into the modern era of wireless? I wouldn't be surprised, but I would be impressed.

More TV stations set to try analog shutoff drills

2008-05-15T12:31:00.000-07:00

Just a couple of weeks ago, a Las Vegas TV station ran static on its broadcast feed to simulate the impending analog-to-digital transition. Now comes word that more stations are planning their own tests, while a handful of North Carolina stations have agreed to go digital-only six months early to work out any kinks.

USA Today (via Engadget HD) reports that four Wilmington, North Carolina TV stations will shut off their analog TV broadcasts on September 8, about six months before the national switchover to digital-only TV broadcasts, slated for February 17, 2009.

The early trial in Wilmington will proceed under the watchful eye of the FCC, and will be accompanied by a flurry of publicity to make sure local TV viewers are ready for the September shutoff. The FCC says it's hoping to learn from any foul-ups during the trial and apply them to February's national DTV transition.

Meanwhile, 11 TV stations in the Orlando, Florida area are planning brief analog shutoff dry runs this summer, similar to the trials conducted by Las Vegas station KVBC earlier this month.

As with the Vegas test, the Orlando stations plan on sending out brief snippets of simulated static to their analog broadcast feeds, followed by phone numbers and URLs for information about the coming DTV transition (888-DTV-2009, or DTVanswers.com).

Those watching the cable/satellite feeds of the participating Orlando channels—who won't be affected by the analog shutoff anyway—won't see the brief bursts of static.

Kudos to the various TV stations—and the FCC, for that matter—for getting the jump on the looming analog-to-digital broadcast TV transition.

Despite the gloomy surveys showing that many viewers still don't know that over-the-air analog broadcasts are coming to an end, the Vegas test went off without a hitch, and with any luck, the upcoming dry runs will go smoothly as well.

Bluetooth adapter brings digital music, calls to cassette decks

2008-05-15T07:47:00.000-07:00

Got an older set of wheels with a cassette deck instead of a CD player? Here's a clever gadget that'll bring Bluetooth to your vintage dashboard with a minimum of fuss.First spotted by Crave, the Flexii Bluetooth Cassette Adapter ($40) is just that—a cassette tape-shaped module with a built-in Bluetooth receiver and rechargeable lithium battery. Just charge up the Flexii, pair it with your cell phone or a Bluetooth-enabled music player (like the Samsung YP-P2), slide it into your car's cassette deck, and you're good to go.

The makers of the Flexii say that the adapter's battery is good for five hours of talk time or 120 hours of stand-by time, and you control the volume on your car stereo or your MP3 player/cell phone. From the looks of the device, it appears that it works more like a remote Bluetooth speaker than a listen/talk receiver, so you're probably better off using it for playing music than taking calls.

Overall, pretty cool—and if you're looking for an even cheaper way to play digital music through an old-style cassette deck, don't forget that plenty of wired cassette adapters with 3.5mm jacks are available, some as cheap as $5. I used one for years with my Rio 500 (talk about vintage audio gear) in my old Saturn, and the sound was excellent—much better than you'll get from an FM transmitter.

Free copy of Laplink PC Mover ($50 value!) today

2008-05-15T07:46:00.000-07:00

To celebrate its 25th birthday, the good folks at Laplink are offering PC Mover for free, for today and today only.

Valued at $50, PC Mover is one of the most useful utilities
I've encountered in recent years. PC Mover is file transfer software unlike any you've likely seen before. It doesn't just move your data files and your program settings from one computer to another, it moves all your applications, too, which means no reinstalling Office, transferring your email software, or even reloading Photoshop. You can move from XP to XP, Vista to Vista, or even XP to Vista. In fact, it supports operating systems all the way back to Windows 95.

In my testing (see full review here), PC Mover worked flawlessly. While some commenters suggested using free cloning software when I wrote my review, that's missing the idea behind PC Mover: Cloning software creates an identical copy of your hard drive, while PC Mover takes everything and puts it on a new PC while leaving what's already on that PC intact. That's a blessing if you have a different operating system on the new computer, and it's critical if, say, you're jumping from a Dell laptop to an HP. Overwriting all the drivers on your new computer (as you'd do with a clone) is a surefire way to make it stop working. PC Mover, however, keeps all those system files intact.

The deal is good only for Thursday, May 15, midnight to midnight, Eastern Daylight Time. Even if you don't need PC Mover right now, it's a great idea to download a copy and keep it handy for when you do jump to a new PC. I know I'm grabbing a copy!

P.S. Laplink also promises other product giveaways today, including free laptops, so check it out at laplink.com!

What's on your (hypothetical) Xbox 540 wish list?

2008-05-14T11:52:00.000-07:00

Microsoft has already quashed rumors of a redesigned, slimmer Xbox 360 for this fall, but not before gamers—myself included—began dreaming up wish lists for the non-existent (for now, at least) new console.Rumors of an Xbox "520"—basically a half-step between the Xbox 360 and, say, the next-next gen console, the 720—have been circulating for...well, just about as long as the 360's been out.

This time around, TG Daily reported that it heard whispers of a "mid-cycle" refresh of the Xbox 360—which might include a slimmer design, a la the slim PlayStation 2—set for fall 2009. The rumors coincide with word that new, 65-nanometer graphics chips for the Xbox (smaller and cooler than the current 90nm 360 GPUs) are rolling off assembly lines.

Microsoft quickly denied the "Xbox 540" rumors, saying it has "no plans" for a new console this year.

But we can dream, can't we? Indeed, the Xbox 360 in particular is in sore need of a hardware redesign, given its sky-high failure rate, noisy cooling fans, and the like. Here's what would make me cough up the cash for a hypothetical Xbox 540 (these are all hardware changes, mind you, not software updates):

Better cooling system: Overheating seems to be the main bringer of the Red Ring of Death—the dreaded ring of red light that signals a major hardware failure. The upcoming 65nm graphics chips for the 360 should go a long way toward keeping new consoles cool, but a top-to-bottom redesign of the entire cooling system is also in order. Which brings us to...

Quieter cooling fans and optical drives: The Xbox 360 must be one of the loudest gadgets I've ever owned (well, the 20-pound, 4MB hard drive my dad bought in the mid-80s might take the cake). After spending some time with my relatively whisper-quiet PS3, I'd gladly fork over more cash for an Xbox that doesn't roar like a jet engine, especially when the DVD drive is spinning. And that reminds me...

A slot-loading optical drive: Again, I've been pretty happy with the slot-loading drive on the PS3—why not one for the Xbox 360 (er, 540)? It would definitely be a step up from the flimsy DVD tray in the current model, which tends to get jammed in the closed position. And speaking of optical drives...

A built-in Blu-ray drive: This one will probably have to wait for the Xbox 720, circa 2012 or so, but still, it would be a nice touch.

Built-in Wi-Fi: From the start, Microsoft's $100, snap-on wireless adapter seemed like a rip-off. Just build Wi-Fi into the console and be done with it.

Slimmer design...maybe: I guess it would be nice, but frankly, I'd happily trade a slimmer console for all the points I just mentioned, especially since overheating has been such a thorn in the 360's side.

So that's my "top 5" in the Xbox hardware wish-list department. What about you—what new hardware features would you like to see in an Xbox 540?

Steve Jobs keynote set for June 9; 3G iPhone on tap?

2008-05-14T11:50:00.000-07:00

Dying to know once and for all when we'll get a new iPhone? We'll probably know come June 9, when Steve Jobs takes center stage at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco—at 10 a.m. PST, to be exact.

Apple just announced the date for Jobs' keynote, and that's as close as Apple's gotten to acknowledging the immanent release of a new iPhone—or of anything at all, for that matter.

Indeed, through all the rumors and speculation, Apple has remained tight lipped as ever about its iPhone plans, stating only that Jobs will cover the latest developments of OS X "Leopard" and the still-in-beta iPhone SDK, which promises a bounty of new iPhone games and applications from third-party developers next month.

Of course, everyone expects Jobs to finally unveil a 3G version of the iPhone, which (if the rumors are right) could include everything from speedy HSDPA access and built-in GPS to a thinner (or thicker) profile, more memory, and a new, glossy back panel.

That said, the bloggers at Moconews say they're more excited about what third-party software developers have in store than in any new hardware, especially now that the iPhone SDK beta has been in the wild since February—and I've gotta say, I'm with Moconews on this one.

Personally, I'm so-so on a 3G iPhone if it means a thicker device that eats up more battery life. Maybe I'll eat my words once I see the thing, but if 3G and GPS means a thicker, heavier iPhone that dies after a few hours...well, I might just stick with EDGE and Wi-Fi. (Then again, if over-the-air podcast downloading is part of the deal, that's another story.)

But I can't wait to see what third-party iPhone developers have been up to. We've already seen some games, IM apps, and even a program that turns your iPhone into a Blu-ray remote. I'd be the first in line to download an offline RSS reader, or a mobile office suite. The possibilities are endless, and when the promised iPhone app store is unveiled next month, I'll be like a kid in a candy store.

And don't forget the planned Exchange features coming in the new iPhone firmware, also due in June, along with rumors of wireless syncing for .Mac events and contacts.

So while I was absolutely planning on buying the iPhone 1.0, I'm actually on the fence about iPhone 2.0—well, for now, at least. Feel free to cackle if I change my tune come June 9.

RIAA employee outlines pirate-hunting tactics

2008-05-14T11:48:00.000-07:00

Ever wonder how the RIAA decides who to sue when it comes to its tens of thousands of music-sharing lawsuits? The Chronicle of Higher Education has discussed the matter in depth with an RIAA employee, who remains anonymous in this story, to outline exactly how it hunts down the people it eventually sues.

Those of us who live down the rabbit hole of tech know most of these details already, but if you're a casual technology user and have ever used a peer-to-peer app, you'll probably find this fascinating. That said, it's also interesting to hear directly from the RIAA confirming what we, for the most part, already knew.

Here's the digested version of the process: The RIAA uses MediaSentry, an independent company, to search LimeWire for a list of songs the RIAA's members own. MediaSentry just goes down the list, and when it finds a match, the IP address of the file sharer is recorded. There's no word on whether newer songs get more attention, but that seems probable.

MediaSentry matches the IP address to the ISP that owns it, and then the subpoenas kick in: Once the RIAA is given an IP address and the name of the ISP, it can subpoena that ISP for the identity of the subscriber that was using the IP address at that particular time. Then the lawsuits and DMCA notices fly, especially with regard to universities, where the bulk of infringement is said to take place and where results (that is, music being taken offline) are often swift.

Some important points: The RIAA doesn't, and can't, track who's downloading music, only who's sharing it on their hard drive. Though reports have surfaced in recent months that the RIAA might be running its own "honey pot" servers designed to trap people looking for illegal music, and that it seeds P2P networks with fake versions of popular songs, these activities don't appear to be the focus of the group. Nor should they, really: It is considerably easier to just search P2P networks for contraband rather than running your own in the hopes that a pirate will wander by.

Another interesting point: LimeWire is the only P2P network mentioned by name in the story. While other services, including eDonkey and BitTorrent, offer just as much (or more) copyrighted material, it's interesting to see that LimeWire may be a focus. MediaSentry may indeed search these other networks for contraband, but it's curious that LimeWire seems to be the focus.

"Centennial Bulb" still burning after 107 years

2008-05-14T11:47:00.001-07:00

Hanging about 18 feet high in the engine bay of a Livermore, California firehouse, a humble, low-watt light bulb has been burning almost continuously since 1901. Take that, halogen!

The Los Angeles Times (via Boing Boing) recently ran a story on the remarkably resilient Centennial Bulb—a four-watt, curlicue carbon-filament lightbulb that, give or take a few brief interludes, has been burning for 24 hours a day, seven days a week for more than a century.

The bulb has become something of a lucky charm for Livermore firefighters, who (according to the LA Times story) won't even dust off the bulb for fear of damaging it.

Indeed, when the department moved to a new fire station in 1976, firefighters decided to cut the power cord rather than unscrew the fragile bulb from its socket. A motorcade of fire trucks then accompanied the Centennial Bulb (which, according to Wikipedia, was only off for about 10 minutes during the short journey) to its new home, where it's been burning continuously ever since.

What's the secret to the Centennial Bulb's longevity? As the LA Times story notes, there are many theories. One former firefighter thinks it's because the bulb, made by the long-defunct Shelby Electric Co., shines in a cool-burning vacuum thanks to a perfect seal. Others chalk it up to the fact that the bulb has almost never been turned off.

In any case, the Centennial Bulb has been drawing curiosity-seekers and news stories (including, of course, this one) since 1972, and the bulb even has its own Web site—which, unfortunately, appears to be down for now (probably due to a burst of traffic).

Check out the LA Times Web site for the full story, including many more details on the bulb's storied history.

So, any theories on why the Centennial Bulb has been burning for so long?

Three provocative phone concepts of the future

2008-05-14T03:28:00.000-07:00

Ever wonder what features phones will have four years from now? Lucky for you, if you live in New York, you could head over to the HARDCORE New Finish Design exhibition between May 17-19 to see three fully functional mobile phone prototypes by Provoke Design.

Express, Share, and Feel are three types of phones that incorporate robotics, sensors, and illumination to radically enhance the user's experience.

If Provoke Design gets this right, you won't need Swarovski crystals to bling your phone in the future. Its "Express" phone concept helps users personalize their phone with illumination they can manipulate to enhance their mood. The phone's lighting system can change colors, and intensity as often as the user wants to suit their mood.

The touchy-feely "Feel" phone concept was designed with couples in mind, so it incorporates a specialized user interface and touch simulation feature that enables deep communication—whatever that means.

And last but not least, the "Share" phone was designed for social butterflies who want to connect outside their virtual worlds. This phone apparently shares information among groups through personalized codes and by tagging content to locations so groups can challenge each other.

These are just three concepts based on one company's vision of what they think consumers will want in the year 2012. What do you think? You think these designers are on to something?

Bet on a Computerlicious laptop

2008-05-14T00:30:00.000-07:00

PC Magazine is celebrating its 25th anniversary by auctioning nine artsy laptops to benefit the National Cristina Foundation (NCF). A total of nine artists including Paul Frank, Coltrane Curtis, Shepard Fairey, and DDC Lab took part in the Computerlicious Design Experience sponsored by HP and PC Magazine, which tasked each artist with the modification of one of four HP laptop models that included the HP Pavilion tx1000z, HP Pavilion dv6500t, HP Pavilion dv9500z or HP Pavilion HDX 9000 (Dragon)

These artists were free to use any materials they wanted to make the final design their own. Some kept it simple like Paul Frank who simply covered the laptop with its signature Julius character, while others like Peter Harper used beads to create a red dragon on top of HP's Dragon PC. There's no doubt all nine designs are very unique and different from each other, so head over to the auction page to check them out, maybe even bet on one.

The eBay auction started on May 12 and will continue through May 19th with 100 percent of the proceeds going to the NCF who donates used computer equipment to non-profits and schools for the training of people in need.

Digitize your membership cards

2008-05-14T00:29:00.000-07:00

Here's a good tip from the 't Is Goud blog via Lifehacker. Remember how I shared with you a tip on how to create to-do lists with your camera phone? Well, you can do something similar to slim down your wallet. Blogger Albert Alberts realized he had way to many membership and reward cards in his wallet, so he scanned them all and put the images in his iPhone.

He says most stores only want the number on the card, and most don't even use the magnetic stripe on the back of the card, so his solution would be ideal for any iPhone carrying consumer. To test his theory, he asked the cashier at his local hardware store to scan the barcode straight from the phone which worked fine much to his surprise.

Of course, this is just an idea that really depends on whether or not cashiers or door monitors will accept your digitized membership cards, but I definitely think it's an idea worth trying out. I tried taking a picture of each card, but the numbers were a bit blurry so I really hope stores move towards digitizing memberships cards in the very near future.

Creative launches Flip competitor

2008-05-14T00:27:00.000-07:00

Looks like the popular Flip Video camera has some competition from Creative's new pocket video camera. Vado resembles an MP3 player, but this tiny pocket camera is good for capturing video to share on sites like YouTube and Photobucket. For $99, you basically get a camera with 2GB storage, a two-inch LCD screen, VGA resolution, and software to help you post your videos online.

Vado has a built-in USB connector so you can plug it straight into your computer. It records MPEG-4 AVI at 30 frames per second and works with both Mac and PC. The super slim Vado is available in pink and silver, and you can find it at retail stores such as Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy, and Circuit City among others.

Archos 605 Wi-Fi gets GPS, TVPortation, and more

2008-05-13T12:07:00.000-07:00

Compared to the iPod Touch, the Archos 605 Wi-Fi is not as striking or sexy, but the widescreen media player has a lot going for it starting with its 4.3-inch touchscreen. Having the bigger screen is great for surfing the Web, watching movies, TV shows, streaming video, slideshows, and browsing your music collection—all possible while you're on-the-go.

The 605 multimedia heavyweight already packs plenty of features including Wi-Fi capabilities, music/video playback, PDF viewer, Bluetooth, FM radio, FM recording, and voice recording, but who said more couldn't be added? Last month the company introduced a few more add-ons to give this player even more functionality.

Current Archos 605 Wi-Fi owners will be happy to know the company is introducing the Archos GPS In-Car Holder which turns the Archos 605 WiFi media player into a full-fledge navigation system. Basically, instead of buying a stand-alone GPS system, those who already have a 605 will be able to buy a car mount that holds a GPS receiver and connects to the player via a line out.

The mount also acts as a holder for the Archos media player so the driver can punch in an address, and view the turn-by-turn directions on the device. The navigation system has full voice and video navigation supported by Tele Atlas able to simulate position changes if the signal is ever lost. The mount alone can be purchased for $130, which is probably a lot cheaper than buying a GPS system.

Another add-on everyone is buzzing about is the TVPortation feature for the Archos TV+ device that allows consumers to stream live TV from their home to wireless devices. If you're familiar with Slingbox, then you get the idea of how this works. Those who have an Archos TV+ device can add the TVPortation to their 605 and 705 Wi-Fi PMPs, smartphones, and laptops and watch their TV anywhere. This plug-in is free if you registered your TV+ box with Archos, or you can purchase it for $50.

Content is important for a multimedia device like this one, so Archos teamed with Paramount making more than 300 Paramount movies available for immediate playback on TV—with no downloading required. As if that wasn't enough, the company also announced a Web TV and Radio plug-in that lets users access over 9,000 Web radio stations, and 600 Web TV stations from anywhere in the world. You do have to pay extra for all this functionality, but at least you have the option.

I think consumers are ready for an all-in-one device, and that GPS feature, just put the Archos 605 ahead of the competition.

Five scams you may not know about

2008-05-13T12:04:00.000-07:00

Identity theft has become a huge problem in the United States. The FTC recently reported that identity theft was the number one complaint again last year for the eighth consecutive year! There are literally thousands of scams out there, and you're probably familiar with most of them, but new scams are getting more sophisticated as people get savvier. For this reason, I thought I'd highlight some of the newest scams making the headlines.

Here are the top five scams you may not know about:

Tax and Rebate Scams

The Scam: Consumers get a call or e-mail claiming to be from a government agency, such as the IRS or Social Security Administration, that asks for personal information to process a rebate check. These crooks ask consumers to provide personal information like their social security number, bank account number, or other details they can use to commit identity theft. If they resist giving out information, they're told they cannot receive the rebate unless the information is provided.

The Don'ts: Never give sensitive information to anyone over the phone or email. If you get a suspicious email, delete it immediately. Don't click on any links either, for they might take you to a phishing site or install spyware on your computer. Keep in mind that most government agencies don't collect information by phone or email. The FTC recommends you contact the IRS or SSA directly if you have any questions or concerns. To learn more about other tax scams check out the IRS Top 2008 "Dirty Dozen" Tax Scams.

Cheap Electronics Scam

The Scam: Shopping website that appears legit sells electronic products at extremely low prices. The site is so sophisticated, even the most savvy consumer will have a hard time telling it's a fake. One recent article on PCMag, mentions these scamming sites may be part of a bigger network, since they all have a $500 minimum purchase requirement, and may ask for payment in the form of a Western Union money order to be mailed to a foreign address.

The Signs: Things a like a foreign address, a $500 minimum purchase, or the lack of a secure payment transaction form should raise red flags. A site may appear legitimate, but if you have a hard time recognizing the validity of the website, watch out for things like a new domain registration, questionable contact information, grammatical and spelling errors, a no return policy, and untraceable payment methods. Do do some research online because chances are others may already be expressing their concerns on forums or blogs.

Chatroom Scams

The Scam: Russian cyber-crooks have developed a software robot that poses as a human in chatrooms. These bots can chat with up to 10 people simultaneously, and easily persuade them to hand over phone numbers, photographs, birthday, address, and other personal information. The site claims "Not a single girl has yet realized that she was communicating with a program!" Information harvested by these bots can be used by fraudsters to carry out various forms of fraud. Unsuspecting victims may also be tricked into visiting a 'personal site' that could load malware onto their computers. Sergei Shevchenko, Senior Malware Analyst at PC Tools said CyberLover, "employs highly intelligent and customized dialogue to target users of social networking systems. It can monitor Internet browser activity, automatically recognize and fill in the fields in the web pages, generate keystrokes and mouse clicks, and post messages, URLs, files and photos."

The Dont's: Common sense says never, ever give out personal information to anyone you just met online.

Local Charity Scams

The Scam: Fraudsters claiming to be from the local police department or DARE program are calling or approaching private citizens and businesses soliciting donations purporting to benefit police officers. What's convincing some people into handing over personal and financial information to these imposters is the spoofed number that pops up in the caller ID. Police say many victims have reported a phone number that appears to be from the local police department, so don't be fooled.

The Do's: If you want to support the local police or fire department, find out when they hold their annual fund drives. Most departments don't solicit donations via telephone, so it's best to check out their site to find out when and how they seek donations.

Cancer Cure Scam

The Scam: As more people turn to the web for medical advice, they're encountering websites that advertise natural products they claim will prevent or cure everything from cancer to diabetes. Scammers know people are searching for natural remedies online, so they exaggerate the language on their site, and even add a few medical terms to sound legitimate. Oftentimes, they'll claim their supplies are not sold anywhere else, and sell them at a high price. Unfortunately, there is no such thing as a miracle cure for cancer, but these scammers will have you believe there is, and will even discourage you from taking real medicine. The reality is many of these products are not proven, effective, or safe, and the sites are full of false testimonials.

The Do's: Canada has already started to crack down on such sites, demanding they remove any false claims quickly. Andrea Rosen, Acting Deputy Commissioner of Canada's Competition Bureau, says consumers should be skeptical of health-related products or services that look too good to be true. People should talk to their doctor before trying any new treatment. Check out the Anatomy of an Online Health Scam before you buy medicine online.

There are plenty of other scams out there, so the Federal Trade Commission has put together a nice list of Dot Cons to help you spot a scam. Do you have any other suggestions or advice you'd like to share? Leave us a comment.

Microsoft to bring back Visual Basic in Office for Mac (Macworld.com)

2008-05-13T12:01:00.000-07:00

- Microsoft on Tuesday announced it would restore support for Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) to Microsoft Office for Mac, a direct result of complaints from users about the removal of the suite's cross-platform automation functionality.

Microsoft will return VBA to the next full upgrade to the Mac version of Office, the company said. While Office 2008, which was sharply criticized for omitting VBA, will receive bug-fix updates (such as Service Pack 1, also announced Tuesday), it will not be updated to add VBA support.

"We know [VBA] is important to a section of our user base who needs cross platform compatibility," said Kurt Schmucker, Mac Business Unit group product manager and lead evangelist. "And we're bringing that back."

VBA is a programming language used with Microsoft Office applications, making it relatively easy to add automation (macros) and customization (menus, dialogs, and so on) to Office documents.

VBA was part of Office 2004, but Microsoft announced in August 2006 that Office 2008 would not have VBA support. Schmucker explained that VBA on the Mac was "uniquely designed for PPC architecture" and thus difficult to carry over to the Intel-native Office 2008. Diverting resources to do so, he said, would have required delaying Office's 2008 release even longer, or significantly cutting back on the product's features. Microsoft has since added resources to work on getting VBA support ready for the next major version of Office for Mac.

Schmucker said that VBA support will have at least the same functionality of Office 2004, and probably some additional features from the Windows version of Office.

Although Microsoft offered no specific date when users could expect the next version of Office for Mac, the company said the product is typically revised every two to three years. Office 2008 was released on January 15, 2008, a little more than three-and-a-half years after the May 2004 release of Office 2004.

Mmedia Center plug-in streams Netflix movies to Xbox 360

2008-05-13T11:59:00.000-07:00

Tired of waiting for Netflix to officially allow movie streaming on the 360? Try this on for size: A still-in-beta plug-in that lets you stream those Netflix "WatchNow" movies to Microsoft's gaming console via Windows Media Center.Credit Hacking Netflix for spotting vmcNetFlix, which—once installed on your Vista machine—lets you browse all the movies on Netflix, manage your queue, or watch any of the 9,000-odd "WatchNow" movies, all over your Xbox 360 (or any device that acts as a Media Center Extender, for that matter).

I haven't had a chance to try the plug-in yet—I need to get my Vista machine and my 360 in the same ZIP code first—but Hacking Netflix has a video that shows vmcNetFlix in action.

As the editors point out, performance is somewhat sluggish, and you'll have to put up with bugs and rapid-fire updates to the vmcNetFlix software, which is still in beta. That said, browsing and watching Netflix videos seems to work just fine, and you can even download videos to your console—although the Netflix legal team would probably have something to say about that, so be warned.

If nothing else, vmcNetFlix is a great example of how streaming Netflix movies over the Xbox 360 and/or the PS3 might work. Now if Netflix, Microsoft, and Sony could just make it happen officially, we'd really have something.

2008-05-13T09:29:00.001-07:00

Ever try to trash a file on your Windows computer, only to get a message from the OS that "the file is in use" or "the file is locked" or some other excuse why it can't be removed from your hard drive?

You can try Safe Mode, process killing, and other time-consuming tricks to try to delete the thing, but these tactics take considerable knowhow. And whether they actually work is far from guaranteed.

This is a perennial issue in Windows, but it became a personal grudge match for me yesterday. Cleaning up a hard drive this weekend, I found two ancient, complete backups of that same hard drive tucked away inside a folder on the machine. (Both folders had been created by Gateway's system recovery software when I'd reformatted the computer in the past.)

That was convenient at the time, but the backups are useless to me now, and for some reason Windows had the folders locked. Since we're talking about two folders each with about 40GB of material in them, that's significant. And with hundreds of thousands of files in each one, scouring through the folders to find which file or files were "locked" just wasn't going to happen.

Unlocker to the rescue! Unlocker is a dead-simple application that can delete anything, locked or no.

The easiest way to use it is, after installing the app, simply right-click on the file or folder in Windows Explorer that you want to be rid of and select the "Unlocker" option that appears. Unlocker will check out the file and either unlock it or (as in my case) inaccurately claim there's no lock on the file.

Don't fret: Just select "Delete" from the drop-down box and let Unlocker do it's thing.

In some cases, this will take several minutes as it cranks through a large number of files. A reboot may be required (an alert will tell you if that's the case) for some files when Unlocker discovers they really are locked, but after your system comes back up. And that's it!

Unlocker is a very small and unobtrusive app, always there when you need it. My only annoyance: It puts an eBay icon on your desktop and quick launch bar, but that's a small price to pay since, otherwise, the app is totally free.

"Sopranos," other HBO shows on iTunes for $2.99/episode

2008-05-13T09:27:00.001-07:00

Just a day after reports that HBO was talking to Apple about adding its shows to iTunes, six of the premium networks' most popular shows—yes, "The Sopranos" included—are now for sale on iTunes. But you can kiss the days of the fixed $1.99-per-episode pricing goodbye.

Here are the HBO shows available from iTunes at the old $1.99/episode pricing scheme: "Flight of the Conchords" (season one), "Sex and the City" (all seasons), and "The Wire" (season one).

Then we have the big guns: "Deadwood" (season one), "Rome" (season one), and "The Sopranos" (seasons one and six, both parts)—all for $2.99 an episode.

Of course, the move is a major break from Apple's old policy of fixed pricing for its music and TV offerings. Until now, all the TV shows on iTunes—including those from Showtime, HBO's premium-channel rival—have sold for $1.99 each.

This development leads to a few key questions.

Number one: Could it mean that NBC, which yanked its shows off iTunes last year in a dispute over pricing and anti-piracy measures, is poised to kiss and make up with Apple? I've grown tired of the Apple-NBC guessing game, but Apple's apparent decision to go with flexible pricing is a huge, and potentially game-changing, concession.

The second question: Will other networks now selling their shows on iTunes follow suit and raise prices? Frankly, I don't see why not. From everything I've heard, networks execs don't feel like they're making much money from iTunes anyway, so they might be willing to lose a few customers if it means more overall cash. Look for pay-network Showtime to be the first network to boost prices for series such as, say, "The Tudors" and "Weeds."

And the third: Will viewers pay $2.99 for TV episodes?

Personally, I've been happy to pay $1.99 for a TV episode—at that price, I barely even think about it. But for $2.99, well... that's a movie rental on Apple TV. If we're talking an episode of "The Sopranos" from HBO—a for-pay network—then $2.99 might be worth it. But "The Office"? I don't think I'd cough up $2.99 for a half-hour comedy, especially one I can record on my DVR—in HD—for free.

What do you think—will you pay $2.99 for HBO shows on iTunes? What about for shows on other networks, like NBC (if its shows return to iTunes, that is)?

Ballmer hints at extension for XP

2008-05-13T09:25:00.000-07:00

With concern over the end of the road for Windows XP reaches feverish levels, Microsoft appears to be altering yet again its timeline for killing off the popular operating system, which would ultimately force people into upgrading to Vista.

The latest news comes from Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, reacting to criticism at a recent news conference, who said "XP will hit an end-of-life. We have announced one. If customer feedback varies, we can always wake up smarter, but right now, we have a plan for end-of-life for new XP shipments."

As now the June 30 deadline stands, but PC makers may be encouraging Microsoft to get "smarter" by taking the rare step of openly combating Microsoft's direction that vendors move from XP to Vista. HP, Dell, and Lenovo have all said they will downgrade operating systems on new machines from Vista to XP at customer request and will continue to do so until 2009 (specific ending dates vary).

Note that no one's breaking the law here. Legally, anyone with a volume license or an OEM license for Vista can downgrade to XP without having to pay extra for the OS. The only exception is for those who purchased "full packaged product (FPP)" editions, which do not include downgrade rights. Whether XP drivers are available is another issue.

If asked, many companies will include an XP disc with your order, but Dell is installing XP at the factory as well. Cnet also offers some additional helpful advice on obtaining XP if you're buying a Vista machine.

My best advice is that if you're buying a new machine and want XP, get on the phone instead of using the company's website to configure the product. Salespeople can make options available, like downgrades, that you won't get online.

Of course, all of this could be moot in the next month or so if Microsoft bows to pressure from users to continue to sell XP. Stay tuned to see if Microsoft has a change of heart before the end of June.

Rumorville: Touchscreen BlackBerry coming this fall?

2008-05-13T09:24:00.001-07:00

The bloggers who brought us early word of the now-unveiled BlackBerry Bold and the still-in-the-shadows Kickstart flip phone have a new rumor for us to ponder: a full-on touchscreen BlackBerry, code-named "Thunder." The Boy Genius Report has an impressive track record when it comes to BlackBerry rumors—for example, the site accurately predicted the HSDPA, half-VGA screen-packing Bold, which was announced only Monday. So when the BGR gang says it has the scoop on a touchscreen BlackBerry, it's worth listening.

Anyway, the rumored Thunder may, according to Boy Genius Report, arrive this fall, with dual-mode CDMA/GSM capabilities (good for world travelers), 3G data support (at a minimum), and just four keys: Send, End, Back, and the BlackBerry key.

The BGR editors also report that the Thunder (or whatever RIM ultimately decides to name it) could be a Verizon Wireless exclusive here in the U.S., and a Vodafone exclusive in Europe.

This isn't the first time touchscreen BlackBerry rumors have surfaced—whispers have been circulating since last fall, at least—but these are among the most specific details we've heard so far.

A touchscreen version of the BlackBerry makes a lot of sense strategically for RIM, but I can see plenty of practical hurdles—especially when it comes to navigating the arcane BlackBerry OS, a bare-bones thicket of contextual menus that depends on either the side clickwheel or (in the case of the Pearl, the Curve, and the upcoming Bold) the new clickable trackball. Would you, say, tap and hold the touchscreen to access the BlackBerry submenus? Or will RIM have something new in store?

And then there's the keypad—or in this case, the virtual QWERTY keypad, which would be a huge change for long-time BlackBerry users. While gadget hounds like me get a kick out of anything touchscreen, I can imagine plenty of execs who'd rather stick with a tried-and-true physical keypad.

Of course, RIM itself hasn't said anything official about the rumors—and indeed, I don't even have any spy shots to show you (BGR has a mockup on its site, but that's about it). But given the steady hum of the grapevine, I'd be surprised if we didn't see a touchscreen BlackBerry before the year is out.

So, your thoughts: Would you go for a touchscreen BlackBerry? Or should RIM think twice before fixing what ain't broke?

World's first "mobile" phone celebrates 100th birthday

2008-05-13T09:21:00.000-07:00

History has forgotten Nathan Stubblefield, but thanks to the arrival of the 100th anniversary of his then-pioneering invention, the man finally is receiving his due.

In 1908, Stubblefield had the idea to use a complicated rig of wire and large poles set up around a train track, road, or river. When a train, vehicle, or boat traveled past the wires, a transmitting device on the vehicle would send an audio signal to a receiving device in the distance using magnetic waves.

A patent was granted for the device on May 9 of that year, which some are now crediting as the first wireless communications device ever. To wit, Virgin Mobile is honoring Stubblefield on the centennial of the patent with a set of web pages about the man. (Click through the photo gallery to get a better idea of how such a device worked. It's really pretty fascinating.)

Unfortunately, Stubblefield's invention wasn't entirely practical. The transmitter and receiver were enormous and far from portable (see picture), and they required so much wire that it would have been considerably more efficient to simply run the wire between the two transmitters instead of using wireless communications.

Still, it's nice to remember Stubblefield as a pioneer in a field that, at the time, few felt would have much of a future. History has of course shown of course that Stubblefield was on to something bigger than he knew: Harris Interactive's latest poll shows that 14 percent of adults use a cell phone exclusively at home now, sans land line.

Here's to Mr. Stubblefield!

Play Golf with the Champs

2008-05-11T06:19:00.000-07:00

Fore! Anyone who's ever wanted to play along with the greats should not miss Golf Launchpad Tour's debut at Yahoo!'s Last Gadget Standing here at CES 2008. They don't get more realistic than this golf simulation from Electric~Spin. Not only does it let you play a realistic 18 holes at your favorite course, it allows you to play along with your favorite pro golfers, too. And you can do it right from your own home with—get this—your very own clubs. That's sure to improve your handicap!

The kit contains a USB plug-in golf mat with a golf ball tethered to it. You simply hold your club over the mat, wait for the green light, and take your swing. The game offers realistic feedback that lets you feel the results of your swing thanks to a fast processor and a "real physics"-based interface. But the big news is the addition of a technology from NDS called XTV that allows for new 3D virtual interactive experiences.

The combination of Electric~Spin's ultrarealistic golf simulation technology and NDS's XTV Ready interactive TV technology is about to create a virtual golf experience like no other. While watching a PGA tour event on television, viewers can use the Golf Launchpad/XTV Experience to virtually play and compete with their own clubs, on the same course, at the same time—and all from the comfort of their own home. XTV Ready experience works with the PlayStation 3 and a number of set-top boxes. It's available this spring for $199.

CES 2008 Frees Your Photos from the Camera

2008-05-11T06:17:00.000-07:00

We just concluded the Last Gadget Standing competition, and it was a hoot.

Ten finalists competed to see which gadget could stand the test of time, while the audience voted for their favorite. Though all of the finalists were winners in their own right, there could be only one champ. And the winner is...

The Eye-Fi Card. Startup company Eye-Fi, which makes an SD card with a wireless chip on it, is offically The Last Gadget Standing. Jef Holove, CEO of Eye-Fi, demonstrated to a packed house.

Holove had a colleague shooting photos of The Last Gadget audience while he made introductory comments. By the time Holove was finished saying a few words, the photos were snapped, transferred wirelessly, and displayed on his PC. No one had to touch a button, link a cable, or set up a cradle. All you need to do is turn on your camera and the pictures are automatically sent through your PC's Wi-Fi connection to any of the popular photo hangouts: Facebook, Flickr, Snapfish and more. The product costs $99 and is available now.

Toshiba's Growth Plans Hinge on Cell TVs, Fuel Cells

2008-05-11T06:14:00.000-07:00

- Reeling from the aftermath of its HD DVD debacle, Toshiba laid out a plan for growth that leans heavily on its other strengths, namely its Cell processor and improvements in notebook technologies.

If all goes as planned, Toshiba should recognize an operating profit of 500 billion yen ($4.92 billion) by its fiscal year 2010, on revenues of 10 trillion yen ($98.36 billion), the company predicted. Toshiba said earlier that it expected a net profit of just 130 billion yen ($1.28 billion) this year, half that expected by analysts.

Cost cuts throughout its operations, which range from refrigerators to MRI machines, will be key to raising profitability, Toshiba President Atsutoshi Nishida said on Thursday, according to Reuters.

"Our businesses have become commoditized," Nishida said at a meeting with analysts and reporters. "It's getting increasingly tough to differentiate our products from other brands, and we need to treat our products as such."

"It means Toshiba is acknowledging that it needs to tighten its belt and fight like other global players," said Mitsushige Akino, chief fund manager at Ichiyoshi Investment Management Co. "That means trimming costs at underperforming operations, or trimming the businesses altogether if they don't pay."

The keys? A strategy of "surprise and sensation," Nishid said, focusing on a solid-state drive containing multi-level NAND flash that will begin shipping in June 2008. Toshiba also announced plans to begin shipping a television with an integrated Cell processor, the chip that drives the PlayStation 3. Those TVs, which will include the ability to support multiple simultaneous recordings of Tv programs, will ship in the fall of 2009, executives said. Finally, Toshiba showed off a Qosmio G40 notebook with an integrated SpursEngine SE1000 chip, designed to upscale standard-definition content into high-def quality. The SpursEngine is a media coprocessor, built on the Cell architecture, but with an emphasis on lower power.

Notebook PCs will emphasize spill-resistant, shock-resistant designs, along with easy-to-clean thermal fins and even "health monitoring" of the PC. Mercury-free backlights are also planned.

Televisions that automatically upscale SD content to HD resolutions are also on the company's roadmap, executives said.

Flash memory, which is a mainstay of MP3 players and other devices, is planned to increase 2.5 times in terms of bits produced in fiscal year 2010, versus the first half of fiscal 2007, Toshiba said. Three-bits-per-cell flash entered production in March.

Toshiba also indicated that it would begin pushing a biomethanol fuel-cell solution for mobile phones. Whether it would develop such a cell itself was not known, and the company gave no timetable for shipping products.

In 2008, however, Toshiba plans sales of WQVGA (400x240) OLED displays for cell phones, with a third of the power consumption of LCDs, the company said.

By 2010, Toshiba will cease making normal filament lamps, the company said.

PC gamers shun Vista, sticking with XP

2008-05-11T04:52:00.000-07:00

One of Windows Vista's biggest selling points was that it was the only way you could DirectX 10, the software component that would be required to play the very latest video games in their full glory. Sure, you could still play games in DirectX 9, but the differences with DirectX 10, Microsoft promised, would be striking. (Check out this video showing the same scene under both systems and you'll see what Microsoft was talking about. You can find loads of similar comparisons online.)

Games like Crysis benefit clearly from the DX 10 upgrade, but that benefit hasn't been enough to push gamers into upgrading to Vista. Historically, those are the very first computer users, living on the bleeding edge, to upgrade to new hardware and operating systems. The statistics from Valve, whose Steam system lets gamers download titles from the web and which collects system information in return, shows that Vista still has less than a 15 percent market share among these users.

That's roughly in line with the total consumer market, but it's a real surprise considering the advantages Vista's DirectX 10 offers gamers. There's no way to run DirectX 10 on XP, so the only way to get the very best PC gaming experience is to run Vista. They should theoretically be lining up to buy Vista in droves.

As well, if any computers are powerful enough to run Vista, it's gamers' rigs. Stocked with the latest CPUs, tons of RAM, and the latest video cards, few gamers would encounter the upgrade headaches that have frustrated the rest of the market due to not having the power to handle it.

Of course, that hasn't happened. The figures imply that gamers may simply feel the advantages of a modest graphics upgrade just don't outweigh the other headaches of Vista.

Will gamers eventually come to love Vista? Maybe it will take a truly killer game to finally get folks to upgrade. Of course, everyone thought that Crysis was going to be that title, so we'll have to wait and see.

TeChnOloGicaL DeVeloPmeNt hAs rEducEd nuMbEr Of MaNufActuRing JoBs

2008-05-09T10:46:00.000-07:00

Sophisticated equipment and modern-day processes have definitely increased productivity, but the belief that they have eliminated jobs in the manufacturing sector is a myth. Today's automated systems do away with a lot of traditional manual operations, which require skills that are now more difficult to find in the U.S. workforce. Companies searched for an alternative to this once very important workforce and hit upon technological innovations or automation. The U.S. workforce is progressing in the fields of software and programming, and the nation is building a base for a more competitive infrastructure. This promises to keep domestic manufacturing booming. Thus, it would be short-sighted to state that modern automation is stealing manufacturing jobs.

Staying Competitive in the Global Marketplace

Advancing technology has helped the U.S. economy compete with the rest of the world and provide a lot of opportunities. Modern-day machinery is 20% to 25% more productive than that in use five years ago. To compete with nations using cost-effective labor, the U.S. manufacturing industry has resorted to using enhanced machines and tools. By utilizing automation and CNC machines, businesses are able to reduce the number of manual tasks during production. Technology has made businesses more profitable and has reduced costs pertaining to work in process. Modern methods move raw materials off the floor faster and get jobs done more smoothly and swiftly than in the past. Even imports of equipment are beneficial to the U.S. economy as they help keep production costs as low as possible.

Modern Technology Creates New Jobs

Innovation always creates new jobs. With the reduction in manual labor, a need for new types of workers has emerged, particularly in more strategic manager-level positions. Because traditional manual tasks are now automated, today's manufacturing employee can focus on workflow analysis, control engineering, and software. Technological advancement also helps create jobs in other areas, such as tooling, chip conveying, and fixturing. Technologies that may impact the future of manufacturing include molecular and nanomanufacturing, microelectromechanical systems, biomaterials and bioprocessing, and freeform fabrication. Niche areas such as the medical devices industry offer higher wages. They recruit skilled workers who can handle sophisticated equipment to maintain stringent quality control standards. Interestingly, today's medical device companies are using traditional metalworking techniques and skills as alternatives to additive manufacturing technologies that rely on rapid prototyping and stereolithography to make highly customized products. The future of manufacturing depends on the creation of high-value niche areas.

WeApoNs wiTh AdvAncEd tEchnOlOgY

2008-05-09T07:59:00.000-07:00

Advanced Technology, Inc. (ATI) is the premier manufacturer of cutting-edge rifle stocks, shotgun stocks, and gun accessories for a wide variety of firearms. Well-known to collectors, hunting enthusiasts, and members of the Military and Law Enforcement communities, ATI has a long and proud tradition of total commitment to top quality, excellent customer-care, and affordable prices. Rifle stocks offered by ATI include AK, Enfield, Hi-Point, Marlin, Mauser, Mosin Nagant, Ruger, and SKS. Shotgun gunstocks produced by ATI include Harrington and Richardson (H&R), Mossberg, New England Firearms (NEF), Norinco, Remington 870, Remington 1100/11-87, Rossi, Winchester, and more. ATI high-tech products are on the cutting edge of modern design, utilizing the latest advancements in synthetic polymer resin engineering.

Advanced Technology, Inc. is involved with most areas of the gun and firearms industry, including: OEM gunstocks, replacement gun stocks, synthetic gun stocks, and more. ATI makes firearm accessories for various rifle calibers including: .22 LR, .223 (5.56mm), .303, .308 (7.62 x 51), 7.62 x 39, 7 mm, 8 mm, 30/06, 7.62 x54R, 9 mm, including bolt action, single shot, and semi-automatic versions. Stock gun parts cover weapons of 12 gauge, 16 gauge, 20 gauge, and .410 gauge, in pump and semi-auto configurations. ATI also offers camouflage products featuring Mossy Oak® New Break-Up Camouflage, ACU Digital, Desert Digital, and other patterns. ATI products are designed for a variety of markets including hunting, sport shooting, target shooting, trap shooting, skeet shooting (trap & skeet shooting), marksmanship, military service, police and law enforcement, tactical training, antique firearms, historical collectors (including WWI and WWII weapons), GSA, and military surplus. With components for M16, AR15, and M14 rifles, as well as AK47, and SKS, ATI covers the top combat weapons, both imported and American made. ATI parts fit long guns and carbines including H&R Topper, H&R Ultra, Hi-Point 9 mm carbine, M38, M44, NEF Handi Rifle, NEF Huntsman, Ruger Mini-14, Ruger Mini-14 Ranch and Mini-30. ATI offerings also include the most popular shotguns such as the Mossberg 500, Mossberg 590, Mossberg 835, Remington 870, Remington 7600, Winchester 1200, and Winchester 1300 in 12ga or 20ga. Styles include Monte Carlo, Dragunov, Fiberforce, Collapsible, Side Folding, Left-Side Folding, Top Folding, Compact, Thumbhole, with some in the latest Camouflage (camo) patterns. All of ATI's synthetic gunstocks are manufactured from modern polymers such as glass-filled nylon for the ultimate combination of light weight, high strength, corrosion resistance, and dimensional stability. These attributes make ATI products weatherproof, rust proof, and virtually indestructible, ideal for the most demanding environments such as combat and breaching, as well as more common uses such as home defense, farming, boating, and recreational shooting. Accessories sold by ATI cover guns from butt to muzzle and include Feather Weight Bipods, Cheek Rests, Hand Guards, Speed Loaders and Stripper Clips, Laser Sights, Lights, Retrofit Kits, and more. ATI products are produced in careful compliance with all Federal gun control laws, and many are California compliant. Advanced Technology, Inc. is an American company and its gunstocks are Made in USA and feature a Lifetime Warranty for most applications.

TRraNspOrt AfFecTed bY advAnCe TeChnOlogY

2008-05-09T07:56:00.000-07:00

Transportation’s effect on the Environment
Methods of transportation have always occupied a certain niche in society. Beyond their obvious practical use, transports from horses to speed boats to sports cars embody the romance and intrigue of travel. However, beyond the obvious effect low fuel-efficiency standards have had on pollution in the United States and elsewhere, the environmental impacts of transportation are rarely taken into account. Advances in transportation have had two main effects on the environment. Technological advances in transportation are some of the direct reasons behind particulate emissions, global warming and other pollution problems of the industrial age. In addition, transportation has neutralized barriers to diffusion across the world, ensuring the spread of innovation, technology and disease around the world.
As transportation has become more mechanized, and as we have increased our use of fossil fuels to support that mechanization, its effects on the environment have become clear. As Al Gore pointed out, and as George W. harped on, he believes that the internal combustion engine was the worst invention humans ever made. From an environmental standpoint, he has something of a point, albeit a rather misguided one. As of yet advances of transportation have had the side effect of large amounts of pollution. I say side effects not to degrade the seriousness of the pollution that we spew out daily, but simply because I doubt very seriously whether engineers planned or were in any way aware of the possible implications their inventions would have. However that does not mitigate the damage their creations have caused. Shipbuilding in the middle ages led to the deforestation of massive amounts of Europe, Britain, and parts of the U.S. Cars, trucks and even jet skis inject massive amounts of pollution into our atmosphere. Although I admit the possibilities of this are no doubt astronomically slim, depending on the number of James Bond movies one watches, nuclear powered military transportation carries along with it the potential for not only mass destruction but mass degradation of humans and their environments as well. I point these examples out not too suggest backtracking in our methods of transportation. Reverting to less advanced methods of transportation cannot and will not solve our problems, nor is it even a viable option. Increases in efficient, reusable energy sources and methods of transportation is the key to a step forward where we can mitigate the damage our own expansion has caused.
Expansion in pollution is only the most direct environmental effect of transportation. It also has had a very strong influence on the diffusion of political power, technology and disease. As Carlo Cipolla points out in his work Guns, Sails, and Empires: Technological Innovation and the Early Phases of European Expansion, 1400-1700, European colonizers relied very heavily on their advantage in sea transportation to propagate their empires. Whereas they had little military or transportation advantage on land, the sea allowed for quick transportation of goods and cannons to any position that necessitated them. This advantage of transportation technology allowed the Europeans to expand beyond the limits of their land-based transportation, mainly that both they and their enemies on the continent could use horses, and that transporting cannons across continents to bring it bear on their enemies in the Turkish vicinity was neither practical nor useful. Although European transportation gave them the advantage in expansion, it also had other advantageous effects. As Jared Diamond points out in his book Guns, Germs and Steel, isolation is the main factor behind the ability nations such as Japan and China had in terms of ignoring technological advancement. Both Japan and China are noted for the early advances they invented, such as printing, gunpowder, advanced guns and many others, and just as summarily abandoned. Their remote geographic location, with reference to Europe, and the barriers lying between them and the countries that might attempt trade, such as the Gobi Desert, Himalayas, and Indian Ocean, prevented their conservatism from harming them. However, that was before advances in transportation rendered their opinions rather moot. Matthew Perry’s forced opening of Japan to foreign trade, and the technology that Japan acquired and expanded on as a result, demonstrates both the effect advantages in transportation can have, as well as the uselessness of isolation in an age where any point on the Earth can be reached with a minimum of fuss. Perry’s fleet allowed him not only to reach Japan, but the technology his advantage in transportation allowed him to bring with him, I.E. overwhelming military force, ensured Japan could not willfully ignore the advancement of the rest of the world. Another example of transportation advantage leading to conquest or assimilation that pops to mind is the battle between the Incan emperor Atahuallpa and the conquistador Pizzaro in 1532. Pizzaro’s advantage in transportation, in horses as well as ships, allowed him to transport the technology necessary for conquest to South America. His advantage in ships shaped the future of Latin America.
Global transportation opens the door to more than technology. The diffusion of disease has also depended on the advantages transportation provides. As Europeans expanded beyond their cold dreary continent, they unfortunately brought their disease with them. Smallpox, measles, influenza, typhus, and the bubonic plague were all introduced from Europe to the Americas, leading to massive deaths in the native population. Even today, as the threat of Sars (severe acute respiratory syndrome) spreads rapidly from Hong Kong, it is clear that transportation has more effects beyond merely moving from place to place. Considering the effects it has had in the past and continues to have today, its importance and the emphasis we place on its efficiency and pollution can have global consequences.

ChaNgiNg cOmPuTer FeAtUreS

2008-05-09T03:19:00.000-07:00

Hafnium-based Intel® 45nm Process Technology

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With this breakthrough transistor technology, Intel is manufacturing serious advantage into every hafnium-based Intel 45nm Hi-k chip.

These revolutionary new processors empower a more enjoyable computing experience for your gaming, multimedia and multitasking, at work, at home, and at play.

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Discover innovation that enables breakthrough levels of energy efficiency with the world’s first hafnium-based 45nm processor on the market.		Maximize your competitive advantage with workstations and servers based on the 45nm Hi-k Intel® Xeon® processor.		Watch movies, play games, jam to your symphony of tunes with the 45nm Hi-k Intel® Core™2 Extreme quad-core processor QX9650, you can do more at once with zero lags.

computer t

nEw stOraGe tEchnOloGy In a maRkeT

2008-05-07T09:59:00.000-07:00

They've been talked about and written about for years. Standards groups have fussed over every last detail, industry associations have sponsored endless interoperability demos, and vendors have jockeyed for position with competing prototype announcements.

Now the products are actually starting to hit the market.

We're talking about new storage technologies such as 4 gigabit per second Fibre Channel, serial attached SCSI (SAS) and continuous data protection (CDP). Vendors have been rolling out products based on those technologies in recent weeks, and they really picked up the pace this week.

EMC and SGI got the ball rolling a couple of weeks ago with 4-gig Fibre Channel announcements. This week, products based on the new technologies began to appear en masse. Among the announcements:

Adaptec announced that IBM's recently launched X3 architecture and eServer xSeries 366 solution will incorporate Adaptec's Zero Channel SAS RAID controller, making Big Blue the first major vendor to ship a high-performance server built on SAS technology and RAID 6 data protection from Adaptec.

PMC-Sierra, LSI Logic and Hitachi Global Storage Technologies announced plans to demonstrate production-ready SAS products at next week's Intel Developers Forum.

Agilent Technologies, LSI Logic, ARIO Data Networks and Aristos Logic all made 4-gig Fibre Channel product announcements.

And the Storage Networking Industry Association's (SNIA) Data Management Forum (DMF) announced the formation of a continuous data protection (CDP) special interest group. Founding members include Alacritus, EMC, Hitachi Data Systems, InMage, Mendocino, Mimosa Systems, NetApp, TimeSpring, Revivio, Scentric, Storactive, Sun Microsystems, Veritas and XOsoft. Among the group's charges is to develop the technical requirements for a CDP data services interface standard within the Storage Management Initiative Specification (SMI-S).

Nancy Hurley, senior analyst at the Enterprise Strategy Group, also lists SATA II, the next-generation serial ATA standard, and wide area file services (WAFS) as other important new technologies hitting the market this year.

So what's behind all these technologies reaching market at the same time?

"I wouldn't say there is anything special going on, just typical evolution of technology," Hurley told Enterprise Storage Forum. "Maybe as we analysts get briefed on this so far in advance, it just seems like these things have been around for a while."

Hurley expects SAS and SATA II to be adopted faster than 4-gig Fibre Channel "just due to the ease of implementation of those technologies versus having to change out infrastructure to upgrade to 4G. We expect 4G will be adopted in some new installations, but the reality is a number of organization only recently finished upgrading to 2G FC, so don't expect adoption of 4G en masse this year."

Hurley also expects CDP and WAFS products to create a stir this year.

Vendors in the CDP space include Topio, Mendocino, FilesX, XOsoft, Alactritus, FalconStor and Revivio, and Hurley says to "expect all of the current backup vendors to have CDP offerings soon, including Veritas, Legato, HP and CA."

WAFS vendors include Cisco, Tacit Networks, XOsoft, Riverbed, Signiant, Constant Data and DiskSites.

wAt iS tecHnoLoGy?

2008-04-26T10:30:00.000-07:00

Technology is a broad concept that deals with the usage and knowledge of tools and crafts, and how it affects the ability to control and adapt to the environment. In human society, it is a consequence of science and engineering, although several technological advances predate the two concepts. Technology is a term with origins in the Greek "technologia", "τεχνολογία" — "techne", "τέχνη" ("craft") and "logia", "λογία" ("saying").^[1] However, a strict definition is elusive; "technology" can refer to material objects of use to humanity, such as machines, hardware or utensils, but can also encompass broader themes, including systems, methods of organization, and techniques. The term can either be applied generally or to specific areas: examples include "construction technology", "medical technology", or "state-of-the-art technology". Other species have also been observed to have created and used technology, including non-human primates, dolphins, and crows.

People's use of technology began with the conversion of natural resources into simple tools. The prehistorical discovery of the ability to control fire increased the available sources of food and the invention of the wheel helped humans in travelling in and controlling their environment. Recent technological developments, including the printing press, the telephone, and the Internet, have lessened physical barriers to communication and allowed humans to interact on a global scale. However, not all technology has been used for peaceful purposes; the development of weapons of ever-increasing destructive power has progressed throughout history, from clubs to nuclear weapons.

Technology has affected society and its surroundings in a number of ways. In many societies, technology has helped develop more advanced economies (including today's global economy) and has allowed the rise of a leisure class. Many technological processes produce unwanted by-products, known as pollution, and deplete natural resources, to the detriment of the Earth and its environment. Various implementations of technology influence the values of a society and new technology often raises new ethical questions. Examples include the rise of the notion of efficiency in terms of human productivity, a term originally applied only to machines, and the challenge of traditional norms.

Philosophical debates have arisen over the present and future use of technology in society, with disagreements over whether technology improves the human condition or worsens it. Neo-Luddism, anarcho-primitivism, and similar movements criticise the pervasiveness of technology in the modern world, claiming that it harms the environment and alienates people; proponents of ideologies such as transhumanism and techno-progressivism view continued technological progress as beneficial to society and the human condition. Indeed, until recently, it was believed that the development of technology was restricted only to human beings, but recent scientific studies indicate that other primates and certain dolphin communities have developed simple tools and learned to pass their knowledge to other generations.

LaTeSt TeChnOloGy

It�s Fun@Work for techies in Satyam

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HYDROGEN TECHNOLOGY

Wi-Fi universal remote returns, now with ESPN branding

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