Tech

Find The Best Airline Seats

Posted in Tech, Website on April 15th, 2010 by J – Be the first to comment

Going on a trip? Want to find the best seat on the plane for the cash you are about to spend? Visit seatguru.com and hover over your potential seat with your mouse. It tells you the specifics on leg room, noise, smell, etc.

Pretty good idea.

Make Windows XP look and feel like Windows 7

Posted in Software, Tech on March 30th, 2010 by J – Be the first to comment

I try not to republish the billions of articles you can find on other sites but I just couldn’t keep quiet about this.  Seven XP (http://sevenxp.niwradsoft.com/) changes your windows xp icons, wallpaper, login, boot screen, taskbar, etc to look exactly like WIN7. It’s one of the coolest themes I’ve seen for XP in a while and unlike windows blinds you don’t need to install some complicated framwork because it’s an all inclusive installer. Check out the screenshots!

Note: At work we’re still on XP, so I was looking for something to class-up the interface.

The 3D TV in 2010?

Posted in Hardware, Media, TV, Tech on March 10th, 2010 by Jahos – Be the first to comment

Since Avatar, 3d technology has been at the forefront of most tech news in the first quarter of 2010. Now Bestbuy, Panasonic, Samsung and others are all producing sets that handle 3d. Years ago they tried this and it failed, what has changed? 3d Technology or just our need to be more emerged in entertainment.. who knows. One thing is clear tech companies think it’s the next boom, I however am skeptical.

Sorry no matter how many “cool” 133$ Sony 3d glasses come out, I don’t think I’ll be wearing them in my own home.  What do you think?

Will 3D TVs Be A Hit or Miss?

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iPad Real Cost

Posted in Hardware, Tech on February 11th, 2010 by J – Be the first to comment

We’ve seen the news and I am still looking at the published iSuppli cost of the ipad. I added some difference calculations, and it just doesn’t make sense. Now let me preface that by saying I understand there is marketing, r&d, etc to create a product but when you break it down how does it make sense to add a 25 dollar part then charge 150% over what it costs and pass it to the consumer? I’m sure other products are the same even most blackberry models do this with their combinations of GPS, WIFI, etc.  Check out the updated chart below.

iPad Cost by iSuppli

iPad vs iPod

Posted in Breaking News, Hardware, Tech on January 28th, 2010 by J – Be the first to comment

OK great the iPAD has been announced. Now lets compare it to its close relative the iPod touch and iPhone. Let me start by saying I’m a PC, but prior to the announcement of the iPad I was thinking this might be a nice device to have as a spare.

iPod Touch iPad iPhone
Storage: 8gb, 32gb, 64gb 16gb, 32gb, 64gb 16gb, 32gb
Video Playback: Yes Yes Yes
Camera: No No Yes
Screen Size: 3.5 9.7 3.5
Battery Life Avg: ~20 ~10 hours ~10 hours
Wifi: Yes Yes Yes
App Store: Yes Yes Yes
Bluetooth: Yes Yes Yes
Starting Price: 199 499 199 + Plan

What are the problems with the iPad in my opinion?

  1. iPad Doesn’t Support Flash. Not sure what is taking so long on this front.
  2. It doesn’t have a webcam? Think about it, what about Video Conferencing?
  3. OSX is half installed on this device. The iPad is meant to work like a peripheral where you need to dock it and sync it to a main station. They really want to make it a giant iPod Touch!
  4. No Support for installing your own non-apple approved applications. This means no Microsoft Office! they did say you can install iWork though. But there are many compatibility issues with that.
  5. This one is very important. NO MULTITASKING, seriously in 2010? OK so if I want to open a spreadhseet and run itunes I can’t? Or if I have a document open and a spreadsheet i can’t do that… hmm maybe there’s an app for that?

So it this the end all “netbook killer”? No, not by a long shot. It is a cool device and “revolutionary”? No, but it is pretty neat. More to come later.

Links to Apple Site for Specs
www.apple.com/ipad/specs/
www.apple.com/ipodtouch/specs.html
www.apple.com/iphone/specs.html

China tells Hillary Clinton to Butt Out, ummm duh?

Posted in General News, Tech on January 22nd, 2010 by J – Be the first to comment

So Hillary gets all high and mighty about internet freedoms and tells China how it should be done. Forgetting the obvious hypocrisy why would she waste her breath here? It’s my understanding that the US while powerful, isn’t as powerful as we once were. Sure I’m all for nationalism and I love the USA but seriously I wish we would step back and take care of our own before butting into others affairs. China is right here and we shouldn’t tell them how to run their “internet”. Did she honestly think that they would say, “Ohh you know what? You’re right lets open the net to every Chinese citizen and let them see the horrors of the world and our own country.” pretty stupid Hillary, pretty stupid.

Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8474011.stm

NYTimes.com To Make You Pay For Content

Posted in General News, Media, Website on January 20th, 2010 by J – Be the first to comment

Yup it’s all over the net in 2011 they plan to make you pay for access to their site. It’s a growing trend to those newspapers searching for revenue and dealing with the new tech age. It make sense for them but these days the minute an article is posted or what might be termed an “exclusive”, can’t you find it in 5 minutes on any bloggers site? The answer is yes, the net is a vast regurgitation of  junk including this post you just read! hah… anyway good luck New York Times Online.

Links to regurgitation:
http://www.neowin.net/news/2011-to-spell-the-end-of-free-new-york-times-online-access?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+neowin-main+%28Neowin.net+Main+News%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

Google Docs giving new competition to Dropbox

Posted in Tech, Website on January 12th, 2010 by J – Be the first to comment

If you know what dropbox is and you use google docs then you’re going to have a problem. Like dropbox, Google plans to let you upload whatever file type you want to your own space on their servers, so you can keep backups, photos, documents, etc online and always available.

See below

Over the next few weeks, we’re rolling out the ability to upload all file types to the cloud through Google Docs, giving you one place where you can upload and access your key files online. Because Google Docs now supports files up to 250 MB in size, which is larger than the attachment limit on most email applications, you’ll be able to backup large graphics files, RAW photos, ZIP archives and much more to the cloud. More importantly, instead of carrying a USB drive, you can now use Google Docs as a more convenient option for accessing your files on different computers…

Upload You Files and Access Them via Google Blog

Why do IT guys hate Best Buy?

Posted in General News, Tech on January 8th, 2010 by J – 1 Comment

Best Buy’s December sales top expectations! states Market Watch owned by the Journal (wsj)

You might know a few IT guys, nearly every company has them. Next time you pass by your tech guru ask them if they like Best Buy, I’ll bet my yearly income that 90% of them hate it. Why you ask? Purely ripping off consumers! I’ve been in IT for nearly 10 years working at small and major companies and one thing is apparent in tech, if you aren’t in the know you’ll end up paying for it.

Let me share an experience with you. This week I bought a used Canon 40d camera off craigslist it didn’t come with a compact flash card and I was so excited to start snapping away I went to my local Best Buy. They quoted a price of 169 dollars for a 16gb CF card (x133 speed for you techs). I simply looked at the teen quoting me the price and said “are you serious? wow…” She looked at me dazed and confused. After this I left (duh!), got home, and logged into newegg.com ordered the same brand and size and got it for 54 dollars shipped + tax.

I understand the convenience price hike for some items (returns), but give me a break. I think I would willing to pay an extra 20 bucks for the CF card I wanted, but 100 dollars over the price! you have to be kidding me. It’s really sad, and when I see a report of how their sales top expectations it pisses me off.  Maybe some of the price hikes are due to Circuit City being shut down and having no 1 on 1 competitors, who knows.

Now don’t turn on me and get it wrong Best Buy does occasionally have sales on some of their Items, black friday, etc. But overall Bestbuy is a complete rip.

What do you think?

Besy Buy - A Complete Rip Off

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2010 Tech Predictions

Posted in Hardware, News, Software, Tech on December 30th, 2009 by J – Be the first to comment
  1. Tablet from Apple
  2. The “Google” Branded Phone
    1. http://www.google.com/phone
  3. Google OS for Netbooks
  4. More cloud based services  (although I never expect all data to be in a cloud.)
  5. Increased amount of integrated Video / CPU chips on the market
  6. A complete revamp on Google’s 2009 bomb known as Google Wave
  7. Announcement of Windows 8 or next gen windows
  8. Smart home appliances that connect to the net. Give power output / updates on the fly.
  9. Green tech boom for the home, solar panels galore!
  10. Chrome to continue to chip away at Firefox and IE
    1. Chrome passes Safari usage!