Archive for Computers
October 9, 2008 at 5:36 pm · Filed under Computers, Technology, VOIP, Electronics, Gadgets, Geek Tech, Miscellaneous
Are you old enough to remember when video phones were the “wave of the future”. For decades video phones popped up everywhere from Sci-Fi movies to cartoons. Some of you may remember George Jetson talking to Jane via his ultra futuristic video phone. Remarkably, the first video phone was actually invented in 1955 and was known as the “Photo Phone” however it was extremely slow as you can imagine and very expensive thus was never rolled out. And even before the “Photo Phone” AT&T back in 1927 demonstrated a one way picture phone.
In 1970 AT&T rolled out the “Picture Phone” which was the first video phone offered to consumers however it was again very expensive and with very few customers it fizzled out around 1974. They took another stab in the early 90’s but as was the case with their previous two attempts the cost kept consumers away.
A myriad of other companies including Panasonic have made attempts at tackling the consumer video phone market to no avail.
Commercially, Intel was the industry leader with their Intel ProShare Conferencing Video System 500 launched in 1995. Two years later they only had 50,000 users and today theyno longer support the product.
Finally, someone MAY have gotten it right! Read the rest of this entry »
October 22, 2006 at 4:03 pm · Filed under Computers, Technology, Microsoft, Firefox 2, RSS, Firefox, Browsers, Plugins, Miscellaneous
I love Laptop Magazine. I read their feeds and find tons of good info over there. With that being said, I’m scratching my head trying to figure out what they were thinking when they posted this.
Here are the parts that get me.
For example, IE7 detects the presence of RSS links and adds them to a Favorites Center that puts Favorites, Feeds, and History in a single, navigable window. Within the RSS reader itself, you can search and reorganize items by date, author, and title.
Ummm… Firefox invented this long ago did it not?
Tabbed browsing in IE7 gets supercharged with a Quick Tabs preview page of visual thumbnails that lets you view each open tab on a single screen. The group-tab feature turns the current cluster of open pages into a Favorite that reopens all of these tabs with a single click.
Poor Microsoft. This feature sounds excellent, but we all know we’re getting it with Firefox 2.
Microsoft has also taken a cue from the open-source browsers and has enhanced its add-ons. A launch catalog displays Microsoft and third-party toolbars, form fillers, and other extensions that you can plug in and manage easily. Here’s hoping that developers get as creative with IE7 plug-ins as they have with Firefox’.
Too little, too late.
In the grand battle between Firefox and IE, we think that IE has a bit of an edge in this release, although the Firefox 2 betas we have seen will catch it up a bit. Many of the things we like about Firefox have been implemented in IE7 and have been polished to be more streamlined and useful. For those of us who spend a lot of time researching and working on the Web, IE7 represents the best and most aggressive IE upgrade we’ve seen in a while.
How so? I still have seen NOT A SINGLE strain of evidence that suggests IE7 has an edge of Firefox. None.
Call me a FF fanboy if you wish, but IE7 is going to have to create something completely different, unique and original for me to throw out my plugins, browser skins, solid security (I have suffered zero attacks since I started using Firefox), fast surfing, RSS readers and all the rest of the jazz.
Sorry to say this LAPTOP Magazine, but I think you’re trying to be a little too friendly here. While IE7 may be a step up from EI6, we have to remember that IE6 set the standard bar just a few inches above the ground. With standards that low, it isn’t difficult to exceed them.
October 20, 2006 at 8:58 pm · Filed under Computers, Technology, Electronics, Browsers, Gadgets, Geek Tech, Miscellaneous
Coolest Gadgets got it right with their assesment on this nifty gadget. The stealthswitch is a USB device that can sit on the floor beneath your desk for stealthy use. When someone approaches your computer and you wish for them not to see what you’re looking at you simply tp the switch and the window will instantly drop. There are several settings for the switch that allow you to choose what is hidden and what will remain viewable.
If you’re one of those peeps who like to play games when the boss isn’t looking this might be your desktop radar detector.
October 20, 2006 at 11:33 am · Filed under Technology, Computers, Geek Tech, Miscellaneous
The online sitebuilder giant Homestead.com seems to be experiencing a brutal headache in the form of crashed systems and downed servers. The company that boasts more than 12 million users in it’s time online lost a good chunk of its systems sometime yesterday morning and almost 48 hours later there is still no sign of life.
The front end of the site is running on backup, but all account access has completely failed. The backend of Homestead is fried.
Homestead users began commenting on a forum dedicated to the “big red house” on the crash almost as soon as it happened.
One comment said:
Greetings from England
Well I finally gave up tring to get into homestead at about Midnight last night.
It’s now about 06.35 am here, still no homestead, and still no replies to my email to homestead support (or should that be homestead lack of support?)
Giving speech at conference later today - and the files that should have been uploaded to homestead for the deligates are still sitting on my hardrive.
Wouldn’t be so bad if we knew what they are up to, a simple explanation would be better than their continuing to hide behind a wall of silence
Other users are claiming that Homestead is Read the rest of this entry »
October 11, 2006 at 10:36 am · Filed under Computers, Technology, Electronics, Geek Tech, Gadgets, Miscellaneous
I had the pleasure of seeing some of these at a friend of mine’s place not too long back. I was hooked from first site and I still drool over these to this very day.
The Stardom ST3620 is a removable drive solution that allows you to pull your drives out for easy transport or to give yourself infinite storage space.
The Stardom ST3620-B2 (B2 is the USB2.0 version) is a fantastic product for the professional power user who needs masses of storage. With capacities of 1 TeraBytes (TB) or 1.5TB’s (this is a 1.5TB Model), the stylish ST3620 range is suitable for just about any data storage requirement; data backup, video storage, audio production and editing, music, file or photo storage etc.
Hat-Tip: Uber
October 9, 2006 at 2:07 pm · Filed under Computers, Technology, RSS, Blogging, Google, Geek Tech, Miscellaneous
Mac fans get a new RSS feed to watch thanks to the release of the new Google Mac Blog. The first blog post also directs you to the Google Mac downloads page where Mac users will find an excellent list of goodies.
Read the rest of this entry »
October 6, 2006 at 7:30 pm · Filed under Electronics, Computers, Displays, Geek Tech, Gadgets, Miscellaneous
CruchGear gave us a heads up on a crunchy little PC today. The Psile Media Center Silent PC is a machine that should turn some heads over the next few weeks.
The Psile is compact, sexy, and fast. Too bad it’s price doesn’t match its size…
