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PDC 2009: What have we learned this week?
There was the freebie that no one will forget, the heebie-jeebies courtesy of Scott Guthrie, and a teensy bit clearer picture of how this cloud thingie should work.
Live report: Will Google Chrome OS change Linux?
The mysteries of just what Chrome OS is, and how much of an operating system it truly is, may be resolved today.
PDC 2009: Microsoft cares about Web browser performance
The effort to give users of the world's dominant Web browser the impression of quality, is a personal one for the man who leads that battle.
Nokia re-affirms its commitment to Symbian, sort of
Maemo won't necessarily be replacing Symbian in the Nokia N-Series, but that's definitely a place where it will be found.
E-book readers will be in short supply this holiday season
E-readers are hot this year, and a lot of compelling new products have been released, but are there enough electrophoretic displays to go around?
Sony looks to finally open a single storefront for downloads
Sony has had many different download portals for movies, music, e-books, and games, and now it's looking to make a single shop for all of it.
Tuning out the tablet: Time to give the endless speculation a rest
Wide Angle Zoom: Wishing and hoping and thinking and praying....won't put an iTablet on the market.
Five improvements for IT managers in 2010
If businesses are to improve their efficiency for next year, they need to stop and reassess the basic tenets of their job.
AOL's spinoff from Time Warner to shed 2,500 jobs
As AOL moves toward become an independent company again, it will cut nearly a third of its workforce.
Gartner: SMS-based money transfer will be bigger than mobile browsing, search
Gartner issues its predictions for the 10 things our phones will be doing in 2012.
Don't forget to upgrade to Firefox 3.6 beta 3 today
Mozilla has released the latest beta its Firefox 3.6 browser software, just over one week after beta 2.
Comparing cameras: iPhone 3G and iPhone 3G S
By Eric Steil on June 19, 2009, 4:50 PM
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Avoiding the lines of dozens upon dozens who showed up at Apple Stores early this morning, our server engineer Eric Steil pre-ordered his new iPhone 3G S. It arrived at 9:54 am EDT -- early enough today for Eric to catch a few rays of fleeting sunlight on this otherwise dreadfully wet day in the northeast, and capture some test images from the backyard and around the house at just before noon.
Click the cat for more iPhone 3G vs 3G S comparison shots.
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TiVo Users Love Funny Super Bowl Ads
By Eric Steil on February 6, 2006, 11:32 AM
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TiVo's yearly analysis of the top Super Bowl commercials revealed that Ameriquest's ads "Friendly Skies" and "That Killed Him" were the most commonly replayed ads in TiVo households Sunday. TiVo said that its analysis showed that humorous ads seem to garner the most attention by its customers, with nearly every commercial in the top ten using some kind of humor to deliver the message.
However, in an exception from past years, a play on the field nearly eclipsed replay and rewind activity for the most popular commercials. Two plays earned that distinction -- a controversial second quarter touchdown by Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger and the score that clinched the Steelers victory. An analysis of usage showed TiVo users hit replay, pause, or rewind an average of 100 times during the game, and the replay button alone 30 times.
New iMac Makes Paris Debut
By Eric Steil and Nate Mook on August 31, 2004, 4:26 PM
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After months of speculation and rumor, Apple officially unveiled the iMac G5 at Apple Expo in Paris. Designed by the iPod team, the new iMac integrates an entire computer into a single flat-panel display, which Apple touts as the world's thinnest desktop computer.
The iMac G5 is two inches thick, with a 17- or 20-inch widescreen LCD. "Just like the iPod redefined portable digital music players, the new iMac G5 redefines what users expect from a consumer desktop," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. "A lot of people will be wondering 'where did the computer go?'"
HP Unveils Branded iPod, Skins
By Eric Steil on August 27, 2004, 3:24 PM
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Friday, HP introduced its branded iPod, along with customizable skins for the audio player called HP Printable Tattoos. Originally announced in January, the "Apple iPod from HP," has identical specs and design as the Apple version, unlike the blue-colored prototype shown in January.
The Apple iPod from HP is available in a 20GB model for $299 USD and a 40GB model for $399 USD - mirroring Apple's own pricing. They will be available at major retailers as well as online.
Microsoft Releases Visual Studio 2005 Express Beta
By Eric Steil on June 30, 2004, 1:12 AM
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Apple Unveils Tiger, Displays
By Eric Steil on June 28, 2004, 5:06 PM
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During his keynote address Monday at Apple's World Wide Developers Conference, Apple CEO Steve Jobs introduced Tiger, the next version of Mac OS X, as well as a new lineup of displays. He previewed a handful of the new features in Tiger, including the Spotlight search technology and updates to iChat. The displays were updated with a new enclosure and a 30-inch model.
The new Cinema Displays range in size from 20 to 30 inches and feature an aluminum enclosure with a thin bezel, dual USB 2.0 and FireWire 400 ports on the display, and use a DVI connection instead of the previous ADC connection. The 20 and 23-inch models may be used on both Mac and Windows systems, while the 30-inch model requires a new graphics card that supports DVI Dual Link and its 2560-by-1600 resolution. All three models have a 16:10 widescreen aspect ratio.
Apple Unveils 20-inch iMac, Dual Power Mac
By Eric Steil on November 18, 2003, 7:05 PM
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Apple has announced a new revision of its iMac consumer desktop system, as well as a new dual Power Mac.
The updated iMac features a whopping 20-inch flat-panel LCD display with a resolution of 1680x1050. It contains a 1.25G Hz PowerPC G4 processor and NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 graphics chip.
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iBook Brought Up to Speed with G4
By Eric Steil and Nate Mook on October 22, 2003, 5:26 PM
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Apple has finally put to rest the sluggish PowerPC G3 processor, introducing new iBooks featuring the same G4 brain found in the PowerBook. The iBook line was also anointed with USB 2.0, and support for Airport Extreme and Bluetooth.
The iBook with G4 processor is pegged as a low-cost portable for the consumer market, offering advanced functionality at a price point 30 percent less than its PowerBook relatives.
Apple Seeds New 'Panther' Beta
By Eric Steil on August 4, 2003, 5:29 PM
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Apple on Saturday released a new beta of Panther, the next version of the company's Mac OS X operating system. The build, labeled 7B21, shows the progress made since the Worldwide Developers Conference in June, and is the first release available to developers who did not attend.
Build 7B21 includes extensive bug fixes along with new features and updated versions of bundled applications. The Address Book now allows contacts to be synced with Microsoft Exchange, and Finder now allows the creation of ZIP archives from files and folders.
Red Hat Releases 'Severn' Beta
By Eric Steil on July 24, 2003, 12:14 AM
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On Monday, Red Hat released the first beta of the next version of its Red Hat Linux distribution. Codenamed "Severn," it represents not just a new version but also a major change in the way the distribution is developed.
The beta release includes changes to the installation procedure, as well as enhanced security and notebook support. The kernel includes Exec-shield, which helps limit the severity of buffer overflow exploits, and the ability to prevent loading kernel modules. Along with ACPI support, Severn includes a laptop mode, which allows the hard drive to become idle, increasing battery life.
Linux 2.6 Kernel Test Version Released
By Eric Steil on July 14, 2003, 11:23 PM
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Two weeks after taking leave from chipmaker Transmeta, Linus Torvalds has announced version 2.6.0-test1, a preliminary test of the 2.6 kernel for the Linux operating system.
The test series of kernels allows more widespread testing of the new version. In his release announcement, Torvalds wrote that "the point of the test versions is to make more people realize that they need testing and get some straggling developers realizing that it's too late to worry about the next big feature."
Sony Announces 'PSP' Entertainment Platform
By Eric Steil on May 13, 2003, 11:29 PM
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As E3 gets underway in Los Angeles, Sony has unveiled a new platform for portable gaming and beyond. The device, dubbed "PSP," represents Sony's first foray into a market currently dominated by Nintendo. But Sony's continued lead in the console gaming space and vast reach within home electronics could give the company a distinct advantage over its competitors.
PSP will feature a 480x272 pixel TFT LCD display and utilize a Sony-developed storage format called Universal Media Disc. UMD is comprised of a 60mm optical disc that can hold 1.8GB of data. Akin to Sony's MiniDisc platform, each optical disc will be contained within a cartridge. Sony also plans to support the latest copyright protection to ensure publishers a secure environment for their content.
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