Tech Focus

Is my phone smarter than me???

lnichols — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 14:49:30 +0000

The Rise of the Super Smartphone - Better processors, software and screens due on devices that mimic PCs

Samsung

Samsung’s Wave is the company’s first smartphone using Samung’s new operating system, called “bada.” The Wave, announced in February, also has an FM radio, as well as “virtual 5.1 surround sound” and can record high-definition video. Oh, yeah — you can use it to make calls, too.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35911724/ns/technology_and_science-wireless/

The Best Travel Gadgets of 2009

lnichols — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 20:37:14 +0000

Next time you hit the road, stay connected, be mobile and look drop-dead cool with 25 of the world’s BEST tech gadgets!!

Slingbox Pro-HD

By PETER HA

It’s one thing to DVR your favorite show or the big game when you’re stuck late at work, but what if you won’t be going home later that night, or even that week? When travel takes you far, whether for work or pleasure, you still need to see your local teams or that award-winning home video sitting in your DVD player.

The Slingbox Pro-HD allows you to control and watch video from a gaggle of high-definition* and standard-definition sources, including your cable box, DVR or DVD (Blu-ray too!) player, all through the magic of the Internet. You can tune in from your laptop or mobile device and even access couch-potato features like the SlingRemote, which looks and works exactly like the remote control you have at home, and the Live Video Buffer*, which allows up to 60 minutes of DVR-like program-editing.

Using a Slingbox, you can watch TV through your Windows Mobile device, BlackBerry, Palm, Symbian or iPhone using the SlingPlayer Mobile application (sold separately). Fret not, Android users: Sling is hard at work on an application for you too.

*Some features, including HD viewing and the Live Video Buffer, are supported only on Windows machines, though Mac support is reportedly on the way.

Slingbox Pro-HD/App: $299.99 / $29.99

View the full list for “The Best Travel Gadgets of 2009″

Have you seen these? Time Magazine’s 50 best websites for 2009…

lnichols — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 23:21:25 +0000

Clear out your bookmarks. You’re going to need the space for 50 offerings that are indispensable to navigating, enjoying yourself, shopping or just killing time on the Web.

Computers don’t handle visual imagery with the same native ease with which they parse text or crunch numbers. Flickr was the first site to solve this problem with something called collaborative tagging. The idea is that if everyone is allowed to tag everyone else’s uploaded photos, then a rough-and-ready categorization will naturally emerge from the wisdom of the crowd. It works because it has to — there aren’t enough librarians in the world to look after Flickr’s archive of 3 billion photos, much less file them away for future reference. But it also works because the many really is smarter than the sum of its parts. The Library of Congress has even started to poll the Flickr hive mind when cataloging its own photos.

View the full list for “50 Best Websites 2009″

HAVE YOURSELF A NERDY LITTLE X-MAS!

lnichols — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 19:30:54 +0000

Last-Minute Holiday Guide: Gifts For Nerds

By Allie Townsend on December 17, 2009

Getty Images

FULL LIST: Techland’s Holiday Gift Guide

The countdown is almost among us. Friday marks one week until we get all holly and jolly for a day, and if you’re anything like us, you’re not anywhere close to being done buying gifts. (Note: This is where we come in.) If you’re in search of a gift for your geek, (young and old, guys and gals) we’ve got a few ideas. We even found the perfect nerd wrapping paper (Robots! Zombies!) to boot.

And if you need even more assistance, we put together a list of the best apps to get you through the rest of the holiday shopping season.

FULL LIST: Techland’s Holiday Gift Guide
Read more: http://techland.com/2009/12/17/last-minute-holiday-guide-gifts-for-nerds/#ixzz0aLxIokE9

The Rolltop Computer

lnichols — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 21:27:42 +0000

After the laptop, the rolltop - Worth a look!

Turn on your speakers and click on the link:

http://manneli.com/movies/Laptop.html

Can Apple Out-Innovate Microsoft?

lnichols — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:52:04 +0000

Apple is innovating like its old self once again. But can the company avoid repeating the mistakes that forced it to play catch-up in the ’90s?

http://www.newsweek.com/id/222141/page/1

Chrome OS Video

lnichols — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:19:49 +0000

This is an extremely clever way to explain the new Chrome (and virtualization) to those among us who are non-techie users:

http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/19/googles-chrome-os-revealed/ Check it out!!

Tech Buyer’s Guide 2009

lnichols — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 19:52:59 +0000

From the new BlackBerry Bold 9700 to monitor-friendly optical lenses, here are 20 new techie gadgets not to be missed

Fun Gadgets

iPhone 3.0 firmware in a nutshell

dbenedic — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 18:30:03 +0000

Lots of hubbabaloo is going on right now at Apple’s iPhone 3.0 event in CA. Here’s what stands out, to me, at least:

Support for Cut, Copy, and Paste!
Multi-application search via Spotlight.
Landscape keyboard in more apps.
Peer-to-peer capabilities between iPhones.
Tethering baked in, but capabilities to be determined by carrier.
MMS
Voice Memos
Free for all iPhone users, $9.95 for iPod Touch users
Coming Summer of 2009

Checkout Engadget for up-to-the-minute info: http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/17/live-from-apples-iphone-os-3-0-preview-event/

Google updates Google Sync - Now sync your calendar and contacts wirelessly!

dbenedic — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 20:36:44 +0000

Google has updated their Google Sync app to give iPhone and Windows Mobile users the ability to push-sync their Google Calendar and Contacts wirelessly, just like Microsoft’s Exchange OTA push feature.

Check out this article from Ars Technica for details.