CrunchGear

CrunchGear

Link to CrunchGear

Clifford Stoll on this whole Internet thing

Posted: 07 Jul 2010 04:24 AM PDT

Back in the olden days I read a paper book called The Cuckoo’s Egg by Clifford Stoll. That book was one of the best I had ever read about computer security. It told the tale of a kind of cool/kind of nerdy astronomer who caught someone rifling his networked computers. After months of investigation he discovered a hacker working for the Russkies who was after our precious bodily fluids and he defeated him by shaking his keys over the network switch. It was, in short, the first hacker sting tale and he was running the whole thing over what amounted to dial-up.

Cliff, who now makes these great Klein bottles, was, for a while, an Internet pundit. Luckily, it didn’t work out but a buddy pointed me to this great article from 1995 where Stoll derides the Internet and says it’s a dead end.

While many of his points are valid – essentially in a sea of cacophony you rarely get beauty – but I love this little paragraph:

Then there’s cyberbusiness. We’re promised instant catalog shopping—just point and click for great deals. We’ll order airline tickets over the network, make restaurant reservations and negotiate sales contracts. Stores will become obselete. So how come my local mall does more business in an afternoon than the entire Internet handles in a month?

Trust, me, Cliff, things have changed. Anyway, great read, great guy, and a fun look at the Internet of 15 years ago.

Future Robot is from the future

Posted: 07 Jul 2010 04:06 AM PDT

Next time you walk into a Starbucks, be ready to scream. Future Robot AKA Furo here is an order-taking robot from Korea with a woman’s “face” and a robot’s body designed to make you feel comfortable while shopping. Why the disjointed design? Because it makes you feel better to see an animated face, I guess.

Goofy stuff like this is all in good fun, but why not put a mannequin head on there instead of making Max Headroom? The old girl can apparently dance, as well, but little else.

via PlasticPals


Borders launches its own Kobo-powered e-book store

Posted: 07 Jul 2010 12:15 AM PDT

Borders has been rather marginalized in the e-book wars thus far, not having the primacy of Amazon nor the sexy Nookiness of B&N. I liked their official e-reader, the Kobo, but until my opinion counts for points in the market, that doesn’t really improve their position. As promised, Borders is at last rolling out their e-book store today; it’s “powered by Kobo,” which I believe translates to “is Kobo with a layer of paint on top.” The selection should be the same as the existing Kobobooks site, but Borders has their own look and is launching its own versions of the Kobo e-book app (now available for iPhone, Blackberry, and Android).

What will come of this? Well, competition is good, right? I say bring it on. John thinks the Kindle has already won, but Barnes & Noble is optimistic, and Borders isn’t looking for higher than 17% of the e-book market. Can’t they all just get along?

One thing to note: it’s Kobo-powered, but it’s not actually Kobo. If you have books you bought from Kobobooks, they won’t transfer to Borders. Query: if the selection is the same, and the apps are the same, why not just go to Kobo in the first place? I’m guessing Borders will have special pricing and promotions as well as some in-store promotions.

Here’s what it looks like — or you could just go to the site itself and see it live.

Here’s the full press release:

Borders Opens eBook Store with Goal to Secure 17
percent eBook Market Share
Company Also Introduces BlackBerry® and Android™ Applications Following Recent iPhone
and iPad Releases
ANN ARBOR, Mich., July 7, 2010—Borders Group, Inc. (NYSE: BGP) today announced
the launch of the Borders branded eBook store, powered by global eReading service Kobo™.
Borders' goal is to secure a 17 percent share of the eBook market by July 2011.
Borders' eBook store launches with more than 1.5 million titles, including thousands of free
titles, available in a variety of formats, including ePub, mobile and PDF. The store launch follows
the successful introduction of the Borders iPhone and iPad apps, powered by Kobo, as well as
the introduction of the Kobo eReader and Aluratek Libre eReader on Borders.com. Both devices,
which are value-priced at under $150, have surpassed sales expectations.
To provide additional value around its digital offerings, the retailer will offer its Borders
Rewards® loyalty program members benefits ranging from special gift cards and free shipping on
certain items, to exclusive offers on popular digital series, double Borders Bucks™ incentives on
the purchase of eReaders, as well as other valuable offers. More than 38 million members have
signed up for the Rewards program since it launched in 2006.
"The race to emerge as a retail leader within the digital category is just starting," said Mike
Edwards, Chief Executive Officer for Borders, Inc. "During the past several months, we've been
carefully crafting a digital strategy, one that has great content and a device neutral philosophy
backed by the Borders brand as its cornerstones. We believe we are very well positioned to come
out strong and to ultimately claim about a 17 percent eBook market share by this time next year."
Borders' Consumer Research
According to Borders' consumer research, convenience, choice, content and quality hardware
rank at the top of the attributes readers look for in an ideal digital bookstore experience. The
launch of the company's eBook store will be complemented by its strong in-store digital presence
through its upcoming Area-e sections, where customers will be able to try out a number of
eReading devices before making a purchase. Area-e sections, which will be in virtually all
Borders stores by early September, will be staffed by knowledgeable associates, who will demo
products and answer customers' questions.
Research further shows that eReaders priced below $200 are likely to be the most gifted items
this holiday season. The Kobo eReader ($149), which also comes with 100 free titles, and the
Libre eBook Reader Pro ($119), both of which are priced to fit most budgets, position Borders
for strong consumer adoption and market penetration. The Kobo eReader is currently available in
select Borders stores and can be ordered on Borders.com anytime. The Libre eBook Reader Pro
can also be ordered on Borders.com.
-more-
Borders Opens eBook Store with Goal to Secure 17% eBook Market Share — 2
Blackberry and Android Applications
The company also announced today it is making available to consumers Blackberry® and
Android™ eReading applications, also powered by Kobo. Now customers can enjoy the free,
easy-to-use eBook reading applications on the BlackBerry® Curve™, the new BlackBerry®
Tour™ 9630 and the Blackberry® Bold™, as well as Android devices. These apps enable users
to quickly and easily browse and buy eBooks; search by title, author, topic, or keyword; access
their eBook library; download eBooks for offline reading; and enjoy several enhanced reading
features that amplify the digital reading experience. Users can download the free BlackBerry and
Android apps in the Borders branded eBook store at www.borders.com. The launch of these apps
represents another pillar in Borders' digital rollout — an important part of its commitment to
enable customers to enjoy digital books on a wide variety of devices.
About "Powered by Kobo": Kobo, Inc.
"Powered by Kobo" is an eBook partner program from Kobo, a global eBook service
backed by Indigo Books & Music, Borders Group, REDgroup Retail, and Cheung Kong
Holdings. The ‘Powered by Kobo’ program provides a flexible solution for hardware
manufacturers and retailers worldwide to launch an eReader or eBook store. "Powered by Kobo"
partners have access to Kobo's catalogue of more than two million titles and applications for
smartphones, netbooks, laptops, tablets and dedicated eReaders. Kobo's vision is to deliver any
book on any device and is a strong voice in the eBook industry supporting open standards for
eBooks and eReaders. For more information, visit www.kobobooks.com.
About Borders Group, Inc.
Headquartered in Ann Arbor, Mich., through its subsidiaries, Borders Group, Inc. (NYSE: BGP)
is a leading specialty retailer of books as well as other educational and entertainment items.
The company employs approximately 19,500 throughout the U.S., primarily in its Borders(R)
and Waldenbooks(R) stores. Online shopping is offered through borders.com. Find author
interviews and vibrant discussions of the products we and our customers are passionate about
online at facebook.com/borders, twitter.com/borders and youtube.com/bordersmedia. For more
information about the company, visit borders.com/media.

Hands-on with the Hitachi Life Studio Mobile Plus

Posted: 07 Jul 2010 12:00 AM PDT

The Hitachi Life Studio is supposed to be the next generation of portable drives. Aside from the odd addition of a magnetic flash drive to the front of the case, this clever little drive includes media management software from Cooliris that essentially offers an “easier” way of browsing all the media on your computer.

The drive also includes Hitachi’s own back-up software, although you can simply format the drive and turn it into a Time Machine back-up volume.


What sticks in my craw, however, is the the Life Studio software. The software does two things specific to your life: it finds all of the images on your hard drive(s) and shows them to you using an odd spacial interface and it shows you all of your Facebook photos in one place. That’s basically it. The rest of the features are actually links out to web-based media services. It has some wonky music service feature as well as a direct line to Hulu. That’s right: Hitachi is basically flogging Hulu to “household memory managers” or whatever they’re calling soccer moms who are nominally in charge of going through all of the digital pictures of junior covered in chocolate pudding these days.

Generally, Life Studio is some sort of strange amalgam of media viewer and web services wrapper that is useful for only the most hopelessly bored Internet user. Considering the only time you would ever interact with the Life Studio software is after going through a bit of rigamarole to install it, I suspect it will reside, quietly, on thousands of hard drives, unused.


What’s the Music tab? Why that’s a collection of Michael Jackson videos. Glad you asked!

Generally, however, you’re dealing with an interesting hard drive product suffering from overreach. The detachable 2GB USB drive is a clever touch and the model we tested, a 500GB version, costs $139. A 1TB desktop versions cost $129 while the plus – including the little USB key – costs $20 more.

An added bonus? The Life Studio name reminds me of this song.


Hot Chip – I Feel Better

Hot Chip | MySpace Music Videos

These drives will be available mid-July.

Daily Crunch: Planes and Gundam Edition

Posted: 07 Jul 2010 12:00 AM PDT

The e-book reader price war continues, with Sony joining the fray

Posted: 06 Jul 2010 10:45 PM PDT

With the prices finally starting to drop on e-books, it’s not a surprise that Sony has decided to jump in as well. Recent changes to the Sony website show price changes across their product line. This fits in with Amazon’s dropping the price on the Kindle, and B&N dropping the price on the Nook.

The price drop is across the board, with Sony’s “Daily Reader” dropping from $349 to $299, the Touch dropped from $249 to $169, and the Pocket Edition dropped to $149 from $169. Of course, this whole thing started when the iPad came out and, let’s be honest, kind of shook things up from Amazon and B&N. Sony of course, was silent about the changes.

[via Reuters]

Gateway launches LT32 Netbook line

Posted: 06 Jul 2010 09:01 PM PDT


Gateway announced their latest line on netbook machines today, using AMD’s NEO processors and and ATI graphics. Gateway is looking to make netbooks capable of handling HD video, while maintaining the small size and weight of an ultra-portable system.

The new LT32 runs with an 11.6 inch screen, and enough power to run HD video, something that most netbooks are forced to struggle with. For full details and specifications check out the press release below, but expect the LT32 to retail for $450, and be available from your local retailer in the near future.

From the press release:

Improved Netbook Performance, Graphics Boost Enhanced by Large HD Display

The Gateway LT32 netbook line uses an AMD Athlon II Neo K125 processor backed by 2GB of DDR3 system memory for speedy web-browsing, music downloads, moving through applications, and handling multiple tasks. Plus, the ATI Radeon HD 4225 Graphics with 384MB of dedicated system memory provides superb graphics and visuals. The result is sharper high definition images, richer color, and smooth video and games.

Video and digital media look vibrant on the Gateway LT32's impressive Ultrabright high-definition 11.6″ LED-backlit display. The screen's 1366 x 768 resolution boosts the detail and clarity while the screen's 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio is great for enjoying Internet video including Flash video and watching movies. The large screen reduces customers' need to scroll right and left through applications and websites, while also making room for a full-size keyboard for comfortable typing.

Customers can take all the photos, video, music and documents they want on the go with a large 250GB(2) hard disk drive.

Ready to Stay in Touch with 3G, WiFi, One-Touch Social Networking

Staying in touch with the new Gateway LT32 netbooks is easy and fun. All models have Wi-Fi® b/g/n for connecting at wireless home networks and hotspots. The integrated HD webcam in the Gateway LT32 netbook line gives consumers an easy way to capture photos and video, record video emails and take part in video-conferencing. Plus, the built-in digital microphone conveys excellent voice quality, keeping background noise levels low and minimizing echoes.

The Gateway LT32 netbook easily connects to peripherals such as printers, displays and digital cameras. It has an impressive three USB 2.0 ports for connecting multiple devices simultaneously as well as Gigabit Ethernet and VGA ports. Plus, it features a multi-in-one digital card reader for accepting popular digital media cards.

Like the rest of Gateway's new notebook and netbook lines, the new Gateway LT32 Series features dedicated "social networking," accessed through a function key to launch today’s most popular social networking sites – Facebook, YouTube and Flickr. With it, customers have a constant connection that is easy to access and will help them stay up-to-date with contacts on news and the latest posts.

Enjoyable to Use, Stylish Designs

The Gateway LT32 netbook line gives customers a boost in productivity with the multi-gesture touchpad that lets customers intuitively move through their applications and digital media. For example, customers can make a pinching motion to zoom in and out on documents, photos and websites, and a flipping motion to move quickly through photos, web pages and PDF documents.

The LT32 netbook's look is sleek and modern, and features a matte chassis cover that resists fingerprints with a wave pattern that is subtle yet distinctive.

Pricing, Availability and Configurations

The new Gateway LT32 will be available at a starting manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP) of $449.99.

Yet another roundup shows that a good SSD is still hard to find (for cheap)

Posted: 06 Jul 2010 06:00 PM PDT

I keep looking at SSDs, and then I keep changing my mind. The right combination of price, performance, and storage capacity just hasn’t hit yet. Another roundup done by yet another technology blog reviewed the latest generation of SSD products, only to come to the same conclusion: the performance hit at the low end price point continues to make going to SSD too impractical for many users.

Sure, you can get a drive with great capacity, and high speed and reliability, but the cost per megabyte is quite high. At the lower end of the spectrum, you get smaller capacity, slower access speeds, and the potential for data loss. It’s still a crap shoot, so be careful what you pick up when you’re at looking at SSDs.

Read the whole roundup at The Tech Report. It’s pretty thorough and there are lots of graphs. You like graphs.

Magellan’s new iPhone car kit does pretty much everything you can think of

Posted: 06 Jul 2010 05:39 PM PDT


When I hear “car kit,” I usually think cigarette lighter adapter and a rickety dash mount. Magellan’s new Premium Car Kit (creative name, there) costs a bundle but it’s got a pretty complete set of features and is mercifully back-compatible. If you’re looking to adapt your iPhone to your car and don’t want to buy more than one package, this would be a good one to go for. (Banana man added for emphasis)

The key features are:

  • Back-compatible (iPhone 4, 3G, 3GS and iPod touch 2G)
  • Adjustable dash mount (portrait/landscape/etc)
  • GPS receiver for boosting phone’s signal
  • Built-in speaker and noise-canceling microphone (or connect to your stereo)
  • Works with “all iPhone/iPod GPS navigation applications” – certainly the major ones, anyway
  • Accommodates most cases

The whole kaboodle costs $130, and yeah, you can get a dash mount for $10, but it’s just a piece of plastic. This practically turns your car into KITT. Personally, I tend to just put my phone in my pocket and forget about it when I get in the car, but if you’re a car kit kind of person, this thing might be up your alley.

TF2’s Engineer update continues with something insane

Posted: 06 Jul 2010 05:03 PM PDT


I know not all of you out there are avid TF2 players, but this is too nutty not to post. The latest TF2 update reveals the Wrangler, a way for the Engineer to control his sentry, at the same time protecting it from damage and increasing its fire rate. The only downside (other than replacing your pistol) is that the sentry is inactive for three seconds afterwards. Overpowered much?!

New Effectology Episode: Turning a git-fiddle into a bass

Posted: 06 Jul 2010 04:38 PM PDT

Bill Ruppert is back with more cool EHX gear. This time he turns a guitar into a string bass using only pedals and he adds a slow snare drum by rubbing the strings with a warranty card.


“Major” update to Xbox Live Arcade next week

Posted: 06 Jul 2010 04:00 PM PDT

Get ready for Xbox Live Arcade to become a bit more useful. Microsoft’s Major Nelson announced today that there is a significant update to Xbox Live Arcade, including a new recommendation engine and visual browser system.

Major Nelson indicated that the update, due to launch next week, will also allow you to see what games your friends like, which games are the highest rated overall, and what games are similar to the ones that you enjoy. There’s also some visual changes, but the real story is the new usability features. Major Nelson posted some screen shots to his Flickr account, and it looks pretty good.

[via 1up]

Read any RSS feed on your Lexmark all-in-one printer

Posted: 06 Jul 2010 03:30 PM PDT


Remember that famous expression championed by Sun Microsystems, “the network is the computer”? As the Internet gets more and more pervasive, that expression is becoming more true than ever. Case in point, Lexmark all-in-one printers now allow you to read any RSS feed on their touchscreen interface. That’s right, you can keep up with global politics or the latest World Cup action right from your … printer.



If you have a Lexmark printer, just go to smartsolutions.lexmark.com to set up the news feeds you want delivered to your printer.

Here’s the full release:

Sports fans score with Lexmark's new News & Sports SmartSolution

WHAT: Lexmark International, Inc. (NYSE: LXK) announced today two new News & Sports SmartSolutions , ESPN and BBC, that ensure global sports fans and "news junkies" remain informed.

In anticipation of several major upcoming sporting events such as the World Cup finals, the Open Championship and the Major League Baseball All-Star game, people will be able to view the latest information from ESPN and BBC directly on their AIO printers' touch screen. For a brief demo, check out the video on the new SmartSolutions http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-po0Ofen78U

These two new SmartSolutions, along with existing solutions for MSNBC and Apple Hot News, enable one-touch access to news. Also, with Lexmark's RSS feed SmartSolution, users can choose their favorite Web site and turn it into an RSS feed that displays the real-time news they are most interested in, directly on their touch screen.

WHY: Office conversations that once happened around the water cooler are now happening around Lexmark's all-in-ones (AIOs), where users are fed up-to-the-moment news and sports scores from their touch screen.

"With the summer sports season upon us, we want our customers to have access to all of the latest news and scores accessible throughout their day,” said Paul Rooke, Lexmark executive vice president and president of its Imaging Solutions Division. “Being able to check the score while your document prints increases efficiency as many employees find a way to stay up to date either online or on their mobile devices throughout the day.”

WHEN: The ESPN and BBC SmartSolutions are available for free and immediate download at smartsolutions.lexmark.com for the Lexmark Platinum, Pinnacle, Prestige and Interact Web-connected touch screen AIOs.

For more information, see the “Lexmark” Facebook page and the “LexmarkNews” Twitter feed .


Amazon’s original Kindle patent could spell trouble for competitors

Posted: 06 Jul 2010 02:45 PM PDT

A patent applied for by Amazon in 2006 has been made public today as a consequence of its being granted, and its language is rather more wide-ranging (and forward-thinking) than we might have expected. Depending on the interpretation, Amazon’s patent may be broad enough to justify a lawsuit over devices like the Nook and Alex, both of which sport a design clearly claimed by Amazon.

The relevant language in the patent starts off thus:

5. A handheld electronic device comprising: a first display for presenting visible representations of content, the first display comprising an electronic paper display; and a second display positioned alongside the first display, wherein the second display includes a plurality of graphic elements that correspond to portions of the first display, and wherein the second display is responsive to user input to one of the graphic elements to perform at least one action on content shown in a portion of the first display that corresponds to the one graphic element.

That alone would be be sufficient to give pause to the designers of similar devices — and unfortunately for them, it gets worse. The real hit is this little series:

42. A handheld electronic device comprising: a housing; an electronic paper display disposed in the housing and having a first surface area; and a liquid crystal display (LCD) disposed in the housing proximate the electronic paper display, the LCD having a second surface area that is smaller than the first surface area of the electronic paper display.

43. The handheld electronic device of claim 42, wherein the LCD has a rate of refresh that is faster than a rate of refresh of the electronic paper display.

44. The handheld electronic device of claim 42, wherein the LCD is substantially rectangular and is disposed below the electronic paper display.

45. The handheld electronic device of claim 42, wherein the LCD is touch-sensitive and is responsive to touch input.

Subsequent points cover the placement of such display directly below the primary one. Does that sound like it is describing a Nook exactly? It sure does to me. Remember, this was filed in 2006. Having been awarded, it is now public, but due to the intricacies (and inefficiency) of the patent-granting process, Amazon has forborne from voluntarily revealing it or taking actions that would force it to do so. So they’ve got a patent with language clearly encompassing their biggest e-book competitor and a half-dozen other devices. But that’s not the whole story.

For one thing, Amazon has not followed up on this design. The LCD position indicator on the original Kindle wasn’t the best UX choice, as it turns out, and the Kindle 2 and all subsequent designs have lacked the feature. There’s an argument there that they have not actively used the patent they were awarded, or that they abandoned it when they made the claim 42 device without the features they mentioned. The patent does feature the industrial design of the first Kindle, but that’s because it was simultaneously being proposed as an exclusive hardware design as well as “one exemplary implementation” of the type of reader they were going for. The patent language does not appear to limit Amazon to that design.

Bearing in mind that I am not a lawyer, it seems to me that this approach folds pretty quickly. The design with the relevant element (Kindle 1) could easily have been scrapped in favor of one of the other forms specified by the patent, or for some transitional forms (current Kindles) while they get the implementation right on the claim 42/claim 51 device. Considering the length of time the Patent Office took in confirming this application, they can’t really take Amazon to task for not having this potential other device ready. But that’s just a layman’s objection (to a layman’s objection).

A second, and pehaps more compelling, argument against Amazon restricting other device by means of this patent, is that they said nothing when the Nook and others were released. There must have been a huge run-up to the release of the many dual-screen readers out there — and I’m sure some patents were filed. Is it for the USPTO to alert the unknowing parties, or must Amazon step forward? And if Amazon does not step forward, and the product makes it to market without any objection from the owner of the infringed-upon patent, is any punitive action justified? Or has Amazon missed its chance?

Once again, I am not a lawyer. The questions here are ones that just come naturally to a layperson’s mind, which means they are likely either provided for by law or completely unheard-of by the relevant organizations. The patent process is, after all, appallingly anachronistic when it comes to the high-turnover world of consumer electronics.

There’s really little to say until one of the companies involved comes forward with a statement. I’ve contacted Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Spring Design (which alleges that they had the dual-screen design first), but have yet to hear back from any of them. I’ll update this post as soon as that happens.

[via GoRumors]

Help Key: Replacing the Apple TV

Posted: 06 Jul 2010 02:41 PM PDT


I’d been living under Apple TV hegemony for about two years I bought an early 40GB model, upgraded it to 80GB, and then hacked it. When hacked, the Apple TV is actually useful. Hacked it was, in short, one of the easiest ways to get video on my NAS or networked Macs to my TV. Unhacked it’s sort of like a really nice guy who works in insurance sales: you want to like him but he keeps trying to sell you stuff and he’s really boring.

Slowly but surely, however, the ATV hit its limit. I ran out of disk space and didn’t want to upgrade and XBMC was choking on larger files. The device itself was as hot as a griddle most of the time and I worried that at some point I’d have a bricked device on my hands. I went on a quest for a networked device to do two things: stream audio from multiple sources, including my library of MP3s, and to play video from a NAS drive over the network. If it could play Netflix that would be gravy. I put a number of devices to the test and have come up with a real winner.

Device Price Storage Supports iTunes? LAN Support Netflix? Movie Selection Usability Formats USB Support Caveats?
Apple TV $229 160GB Yes iTunes only Yes Netflix/Internet A+ Apple-approved No Useful only if hacked
Western Digital TV Live Plus $149 N/A (optional) No UPnP/SMB Yes Netflix/Internet A Almost all including MKV Yes Excellent all-around streamer
Seagate GoFlex TV $129 N/A (optional) No UPnP/SMB Yes Netflix/Internet B- Almost all including MKV Yes Wonky UI
Roku HD XR $129 N/A No N/A Yes Netflix/Amazon/Internet B+ None No Limited to Netflix
Vudu XL $499 1TB No N/A No Vudu A+ N/A No Limited to Vudu
Popcorn Hour C-200 $299 N/A (optional) No UPnP/SMB No Internet and downloads B- Almost all including MKV and Blu-Ray Yes Hard for beginners
Neuros Link "Phantom" $449 2TB No UPnP/SMB No Internet and downloads B- Almost all including MKV Yes Doesn't include controller
TiVo Premiere XL $499 1TB No N/A Yes TV recordings and Internet, Netflix, Amazon, Blockbuster A+ None Yes It's a TiVo

I set out trying to replace a few basic functions on my Apple TV: audio streaming and movie watching off of network shares. I had already used a Roku Netflix box to view Netflix movies but was looking for something slightly more fully featured. A TiVo was out since I didn’t have cable and Neuros and Popcorn Hour were a bit of overkill for my purposes.

Seagate recently released their GoFlex TV, a media server that seemed to fulfill my needs. I could connect to SMB network shares (basically a large NAS up in my attic) and play Internet radio and music stored on my server. It also supported the GoFlex line of Seagate hard drives that I liked. It was sort of network device with lots of Sneaker Net features.

However, the UI was a little too wonky and the device was not able to share the storage attached to it, which meant I couldn’t drag files onto it. Instead, I could only stream files to it.

An Xbox 360 would work in this case – and for the most part it does – but I didn’t want my four-year-old son to see the Xbox 360 considering his current mania for the Wii. I’ll wait until he’s five to blow his mind with the 360. I also didn’t want to put a Mac Mini or a PC next to the TV for the same reason the Apple TV was failing. I was worried about heat and hardware management and whirring hard drives next to TVs aren’t a match made in heaven.

Winner: WD TV Live Plus

The next device I tried was the WD TV Live Plus from Western Digital. This is a box about the size of a Roku Netflix box but supports USB hard drives (it doesn’t have a dedicated slot for a hard drive so you can use any model) and allows your to mount NAS shares. It supports almost any codec and has a fairly mature and usable UI. It displays video at 1080p and can even traverse ISO files.

This tiny box does it all. It supports almost any codec, handles SMB and UPnP shares with aplomb, and supports Netflix as well as Internet streaming systems. In short, it does everything the hacked Apple TV does but without overheating. You can add on-board storage and devices connected to the WD TV Live Plus appear as network shares on your other computers. In short, for $149 you can’t go wrong.

There are lots of ways to skin a cat, obviously. The WD TV Live Plus seems to solve a number of problems with quite a bit of aplomb. As for the Apple TV, I may turn it into a dedicated SETI@Home system or just put it out to pasture where it can play with the old Compaq Digital Jukebox and the second gen TiVo in my basement.

Latest Peek firmware opens huge security hole and sends SMS, Twitter feeds to the wrong users UPDATE

Posted: 06 Jul 2010 01:17 PM PDT

Peek might have a serious problem on its hands. There are widespread reports of users not getting their messages either in a timely manner or at all. Even worse, there are more than a few users stating they are getting other people’s emails, Twitter feeds, and text messages.

Peek was originally supposed to be a dead simple email-only handheld device — a smartphone alternative, really. Over time the company started adding more and more functions to keep it not only relevant in the social networking world, but also to justify new models. But it seems to be going horribly wrong now.

It all started a few days ago when Peek added Google Voice SMS capabilities to the device for the first time — huge potential, but that’s another post — along with other early builds of apps, including a Twitter client. Those that jumped on the early adapter boat and linked in their Google Voice accounts seem to be the only ones with the issue so far. First users reported getting Twitter updates from people they weren’t following. Then suddenly misdelivered text messages via Google Voice started appearing.

Everything seems to be working peachy besides this little issue of users getting delayed or misdirected messages. We say little in jest, really. This is a huge issue and worse yet, the company hasn’t responded to the pleading users on the official forum site or to our emails. Hopefully they worked through the July 4th weekend to fix this gigantic security hole.

The issue seems widespread and not just limited to an early firmware build, but rather to people running the official 1.10+ firmware that rolled out last week. Some users have found disabling PeekSocial has solved some of the issues, but also strips away all the social networking functions from the device. Since the bug seems isolated to Google Voice right now, the best advice we can give Peek users is to both limit your GV usage and start a Tumblr blog to feature some of the more steamy texts you’re getting. Our tipster has a couple that would make the pages of Penthouse, too.

[Thanks for the tip, Johnathan!]

UPDATE: Peek issued a formal apology stating that they take the data of their users is extremely important to them. However one of our original tipsters is still getting rouge text messages so I’m not sure who to believe. Also, contrary to what’s said in their post, I did send them a very nice, open-ended email two hours before this was posted. I still haven’t gotten a response.

In-flight WiFi being used much less than expected

Posted: 06 Jul 2010 01:15 PM PDT

It took years for the technology to come out, but in-flight WiFi was supposed to be the next big thing. The problem is, no one really uses it. Is it still too expensive? Too much of a pain to pull out the laptop? Whatever the reason, less then 10% of people flying are using in-flight WiFi.

My opinion? It’s a combination of different factors. Cost is certainly important, but I think that it’s more about the fact that business travelers like to take a break from email and online functions. Not to mention, if your flight is only going to take an hour or two, why would you bother to get WiFi and more importantly, pay for it. Availability could also be part of the problem, since only 950 planes are equipped with WiFi service.

Whatever the reason, the business and public have been extremely slow to adapt the technology. Perhaps as it becomes more commonly available, and cheaper, more people will embrace it.

[via USA Today]

DIY USB-powering generator for your bike

Posted: 06 Jul 2010 12:30 PM PDT


Using a bike as a power source is nothing new, but the idea of providing your own power is getting more and more attractive as people find their lives full of energy-sucking devices. Nokia just a couple weeks ago started pushing a little phone charger for bikes, and if I ever bought another Nokia phone (unlikely) I’d definitely pick one of those up as well.

If you felt like building your own, though, there are also established recipes. This new one corrects a heat inefficiency in an older design by substituting a stepper motor, which is something I know nothing about.

There’s a lot of elementary electric engineering going on here (yes, and soldering), but other than knowing your polarities and such, I think this is a pretty straightforward project — as long as you can find a surplus stepper motor, and they don’t seem that rare. Total cost… I’m going to just ballpark at around $40-50 if you don’t have materials on-hand.

The only issue is that it provides just 5W, so the more power-hungry devices won’t get much of a charge out of that. Eh, what are you gonna do.

RetroN 3 Video Gaming System: Three of your favorite gaming systems in-one

Posted: 06 Jul 2010 12:16 PM PDT

Getting into retro gaming is often difficult. Trying to get a hold of antiquated game systems in good working order, much less three, can be tough. No longer, the RetroN 3 Video Gaming System has finally arrived.

This baby plays all the old games from the Nintendo, Super Nintendo and the Sega Genesis. Has three cartridge slots and two controller ports for each platform – so you can use your old controllers and included are two wireless controllers that resemble the old Genesis gamepads.  Connecting to your TV with either S-Video or composite means no more channel 3. And you can have it all for only $70.

[via TECHLAND via WIRED]

Want to QQ on Blizzard’s message board? Better get ready to use your real name!

Posted: 06 Jul 2010 12:00 PM PDT

Kudos to Blizzard for putting an end to Anonymous Cowards everywhere. Well, at least on their own official forums. Starting with the release of StarCraft II in a few weeks, Blizzard WILL DEMAND~! you use your real name to participate in the forums. Oh sure, you’ll also be able to have your in-game character’s name displayed alongside your real name, but don’t let that fool you: accountability has finally reached the world of message boards.

To be specific, you’ll have to use your Real ID, Blizzard’s new catch-all account management system. The idea is that you and your friends will be able to have one Real ID and be able to see each other across all of Blizzard’s game.

This also means that the next time you QQ on the World of Warcraft about a nerf or buff to another class, or that you’re beyond furious that the severs are down on Tuesday for one more hour than estimated, the whole world will know that it’s you.

You will no longer be able to hide behind your alter ego, Fernando Zorres.

Hopefully this ensures a little decorum when discussing incredibly important issues like hit caps and cooldown durations.
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)