Archive for Technology
02.08.07
Posted in Technology, Web Design, Programming at 2:33 am by stark
I know personally, I’m not one of those people that can remember every detail of every language and never look anything up. It’s nice to have a cheat sheet with a quick summary of some of the most commonly used procedures, tags, tools, syntax, etc, saving time that would have been used to look it up on Google or dig through documentation either online or in printed text. The following is a list of links to several different cheat sheets on a wide variety of tasks and tools. You can print them out and hang them on your wall (my personal choice) or simply bookmark them for easy access down the road. If you have any additional suggestions or see something I’ve missed, let me know…
Read the rest of this entry »
Permalink
02.07.07
Posted in Technology, Entertainment, Movies at 2:13 pm by stark
Hot on the tail of Walmart’s entry into the movie download business, Amazon.com and TiVo Inc. have announced a partnership to do the same. Their solution is slightly different though, in that the movies themselves will be beamed directly to your TV (assuming you have TiVo). This new service will be known as Amazon Unbox on TiVo and will begin offering a test service as early as Wednesday to existing TiVo customers with the full service debuting later in the year. While a great idea in principle, it is unclear how successful this project will be considering TiVo is primarily available to only US customers (it’s available here in Canada only if I import it and follow “special” instructions). Competition is never bad though, so here’s hoping one of these services rises to the top before customers become too frustrated. 
Permalink
Posted in Technology at 1:15 pm by bobbyjoe
The blissful ignorance we all enjoy in our iPods and cell phones may cost you $100 if used while crossing the street. “This electronic gadgetry is reaching the point where it’s becoming not only endemic but it’s creating an atmosphere where we have a major public safety crisis at hand.”
New York State Sen. Carl Kruger says three pedestrians in his Brooklyn district have been killed since September upon stepping into traffic while distracted by an electronic device. In one case bystanders screamed “watch out” to no avail.
Permalink
02.06.07
Posted in Technology, Apple, Entertainment, Music at 7:16 pm by stark
Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple, Inc. and never one to back down from a challenge, has written an open letter to the music industry on issues of Digital Rights Management (DRM). While Apple’s current model for distributing music is a DRM solution written in house, known as FairPlay, in the letter, Jobs goes into detail of how this was mostly a solution to ease the minds of worried record labels at the time and ultimately may not be the best solution for the future.
In fact, Job’s goes on to offer several solutions, but one of which is the idea of distributing DRM free music (similar to what is done with iTunes competitors such as Emusic and Amie Street). He explains that only 3% of music in use today is DRM’d music and that the remaining 97% comes from both downloading (illegal and from DRM free resources) and from legal CD purchases that are later ripped to digital music players.
I know many of us out there despise DRM music and a lot of times it is an obstacle that is not worth having to overcome with an HMV just down the block. I personally stopped using iTunes Music Store as soon as I bought a new music player, that was not an ipod, and none of my songs could easily transfer over. Hopefully those behind the recording industry will begin to see the light and soon enough, DRM may be a thing of the past.
Permalink
Posted in Technology, Gadgets at 1:02 pm by bobbyjoe
Sony Ericsson announced today the release of the new Walkman® phones; the W880/W888 and W610. “The W880/W888 and W610 prove how the Walkman® phone can appeal to different lifestyles – the W880/W888 is a hi-specification device that looks every bit as good as it sounds. And the W610 Walkman® phone combines the best in both music player & digital camera, whilst first & foremost remaining a phone that’s intuitive and pleasurable to use.” says Steve Walker, Head of Product Marketing at Sony Ericsson.
At just 9.4mm thin, the W880/W888 is the slimmest Sony Ericsson phone yet and combines the full Walkman® phone experience with a device that fits easily into your pocket. The 1GB Memory Stick Micro™ (M2™) provided in-box gives you room to store up to 900 full length tracks*, whilst the host of innovative music applications (such as Walkman® Player 2.0 & Disc2Phone) make it easy to get music onto your phone in the first place & search through play lists once its there. All of this, plus a 2.0 megapixel camera, is packed into a UMTS phone that’s as slim as a standard CD case.
The W610 Walkman® phone is all about the detail, whether this is detail in design that builds on the look of earlier Walkman® phones or the detailed combination of mobile music with a credible digital camera. The W610 stores up to 470 full-length music tracks* on the 512MB Memory Stick Micro™ (M2) provided, and offers the inventive TrackID™ music recognition application; a feature that lets the user record a clip of an unknown music track onto their phone and immediately receive a notification of the track name, artist and album. Add to this a 2.0 megapixel camera with auto focus and the W610 is a credible fusion of phone, music player & digital camera.
Permalink
Posted in Technology, Entertainment, Movies, Television at 12:57 pm by stark
After their initial tests were a success, Walmart has decided it’s finally time to throw their hat in the ring of the battle royale that is the digital movie download business. Later today, Walmart will officially launch a new site at walmart.com/videodownloads that will allow customers to download both film and television content directly to their home computers.
Although the market is already packed with competition from the likes of Amazon.com, iTunes, NetFlix, and CinemaNow, Walmart has the advantage of already having made a deal with the Big 6 movie studios (Universal, Sony, Paramount, Warner Brothers, 20th Century Fox, and Disney) and several television studios ( including Fox, MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, CW, FX , and VH1). Prices for all film downloads will be in the range of $12.88-$19.88 US when a DVD is first released and older films will be set at $7.50. Television shows will be $1.96 per episode. With ranges like that, It’s easy to see why many of these companies were willing to work with Walmart and not Apple.
While Walmart is definitely a company NO ONE should take lightly, as they have the money and resources to make this a successful venture, they have a lot of work to do in convincing customers that their option is superior to others. To be considered a success, Walmart will not only have to co-exist with its competition, but will have to make some serious in-roads into the overall market share, which is currently dominated by iTunes in both movies and television. What Walmart really wants is to bring in more customers to its 4,000 stores around the world, and only time will tell if this venture will help them accomplish that goal.
One thing’s for sure, the Digital Movie download space just got a lot more interesting…
Permalink
02.05.07
Posted in Technology, Programming, Software, Windows, Microsoft at 2:26 pm by bobbyjoe
On January 30, 2007, Microsoft Vista was released worldwide to the general public. There are many reasons to upgrade to Windows Vista and there are just as many reasons not to. The bottom line is if you are happy with XP then you should at least wait a couple months until software and hardware vendors work out any compatibility issues. Many people recommend waiting till Windows Vista Service Pack 1 is released. Don’t expect this any time soon, remember that Windows XP Service Pack 1 came out 11 months after XP was released.
Microsoft has spent $500-million on its marketing campaign to push both Windows Vista and Office 2007 so it is easy to get caught up in the hype. Just remember that Windows XP is not going away anytime soon! As long as there is no further adjustments to its policy mainstream support for all versions of Windows XP will continue at least until April 2009.
Microsoft Vista: Home Page
Permalink
02.03.07
Posted in Technology, Programming at 2:16 pm by stark
While not exactly a comprehensive guide to Ruby on Rails, this tutorial introduces some of the basics of the language. So, if you’re at all interested in learning to program Ruby, or you just want to know what features it has to offer, this could be the guide you need.
Ruby Official Website
Permalink
Next entries » · « Previous entries
