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Back to the WordPress.com Server

For one shimmering moment we had moved the site to a new server. Unfortunately, some last minute glitches arose, and now we are back at our old location with our old look and feel for a little longer. I have submitted a few support claims and I will hopefully be back in business soon on the the new server. Sorry for the lack of posts today due to this under the hood work going on.

AT&T Will Have the First Iteration of its 3G Network Done in June

From GIZMODO:

AT&T is aiming to have the first round of their HSPA 3G network complete by the end of June. The company is addressing their network’s upload speed, bringing High Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA) in to complement the existing High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) in their last six markets.

Their HSPA network will then be finalized, bringing 1.4 Mbps (Down) and 800 Kbps (Up) to all users in its range. AT&T’s next move will be offering HSPA in more markets. By the end of June, HSPA will be in 275 US markets. But by the end of the year, AT&T plans for that number to grow to 350.

So what happens when the 3G iPhone comes out at the beginning of June and the 3G network isn’t ready until the end of June. Is this a sign that the iPhone maybe announced as expected at WWDC, but then not actually released until the beginning of July so AT&T can finish their 3G network? This is of course just speculation, but it makes sense that the 3G phone may have to be held until the network is completed. It is probably more likely that the iPhone will run on the current network’s capabilities, and we will simply see speed upgrades throughout the early months of the phone’s life.

AT&T Will Have the First Iteration of its 3G Network Done in June

From GIZMODO:

AT&T is aiming to have the first round of their HSPA 3G network complete by the end of June. The company is addressing their network’s upload speed, bringing High Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA) in to complement the existing High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) in their last six markets.

Their HSPA network will then be finalized, bringing 1.4 Mbps (Down) and 800 Kbps (Up) to all users in its range. AT&T’s next move will be offering HSPA in more markets. By the end of June, HSPA will be in 275 US markets. But by the end of the year, AT&T plans for that number to grow to 350.

So what happens when the 3G iPhone comes out at the beginning of June and the 3G network isn’t ready until the end of June. Is this a sign that the iPhone maybe announced as expected at WWDC, but then not actually released until the beginning of July so AT&T can finish their 3G network? This is of course just speculation, but it makes sense that the 3G phone may have to be held until the network is completed. It is probably more likely that the iPhone will run on the current network’s capabilities, and we will simply see speed upgrades throughout the early months of the phone’s life.

Acer Predator Hunts the Hardcore Gamer in You

Acer is attempting to enter into the gaming PC market with its new Predator machine. This thing looks pretty impressive and it has descent specs to boot:

Dimensions
490 x 430 x 190 mm

Hardware
Intel Core 2 Extreme or Quad processor
Nvidia nForce 780i SLI chipset
8GB memory
1TB SATA hard disk
4 x 3.5-inch Easy-swap HDD drive bays with either:
BD+ SuperMulti burner
BD/HD DVD reader
Supermulti
Multi-in-one card reader
TV tuner card
Dolby Home Theater audio enhancement
Gigabit Ethernet
56K modem
Front ports:
4 x USB 2.0 ports
Headphone and microphone jacks
Rear ports:
4 x USB 2.0 ports
IEEE 1394 port
PS72 keyboard and mouse ports
2 x Ethernet ports
2 x eSATA ports
6 x audio jacks
S/PDIF jack
Clear CMOS button
TV-out port
2 x DVI-D ports

Software
Windows Vista
Acer Empowering Technology software
Acer eRecovery Management
Acer Arcade Live
McAfee Internet Security Suite 2008
Adobe Reader
eSobi
NTI MediaMaker

There are no specifics out yet in the way of prices or availability so stay tuned for those details.

Software Pick of the Week: iSquint

There are many options out there for converting video to iPod compatible formats, both for Windows and or the Mac. Today I would like to cover the best Mac specific application for this purpose: iSquint. This is a free Application that can be found at iSquint.com. For the best free Windows Alternative, visit Free iPod Video Converter. For a more robust video converter, check out Visual Hub from the makers of iSquint. Watch the video for more information on the features of iSquint.

New OLPC Design to Have Dual Touch Screens

This looks amazing. I love the whole One Laptop Per Child initiative, but the original hardware was just so-so. If they released something like this, a dual touch screen XO, I would be all over that thing. Here is what Gizmodo had to say:

At OLPC’s Global Country workshop today, founder Nick Negroponte unveiled the next-gen XO Laptop, and it totally blows the original away. Smaller and more like a foldable book, it does away with the keyboard and trackpad to go totally touchscreen—that’s right, dual touchscreens, straight out of the future, like a kid’s book in Minority Report. Like XO 1.0, the display will look fine indoors or in bright sunlight. Unfortunately, these are the only facts he let out, except for the worst one: It really is from the future, ’cause it’s not coming out till 2010. On bright side, Give 1, Get 1 will start back up in August or September.

So there you have it. The new OLPC will hit the market in around two years. The only problem I see here is that with the rate at which these touch screen devices are taking over the electronics market, will something as cool and futuristic as this new XO looks be outdates in two years? I mean with the success of gadgets like the iPhone, it seems like we are going to see a lot of things like this here in the near future, and two years is a long time to wait.

Is Napster now the King of Digital Music Downloads?

Napster, the pioneer of digital music, today announced the launch of the world’s largest and most comprehensive MP3 store at www.napster.com/store.

Napster’s download store is more than 50 percent larger than any other MP3 store and boasts not only the largest major label MP3 catalog in the industry, but also the largest library of independent music available anywhere. All Napster download sales in the US will now be in the user-friendly, DRM-free MP3 format, which is compatible with virtually any MP3 player or music phone including the iPod and the iPhone. Napster is the first music subscription service featuring major label content to offer 100 percent of its catalog in the MP3 format for download sales.

Pricing for download sales will remain at 99 cents for single MP3 tracks and $9.95 for most MP3 albums, Napster confirmed. The vast majority of the MP3 catalog, including all major label content, is available at a high-quality 256kbps bitrate, and downloaded tracks include high-resolution album art. Consumers can visit and browse the download store with no obligation or commitment, and can also choose to subscribe to Napster’s on-demand streaming service, which is web-based and can be accessed from any Internet-connected computer without downloading software.

That is an impressive number of songs, and it does make Napster the new largest Mp3 store out there. However, the real question is does it make a difference. Personally, I doubt it. Firstly, Napster has been a failing business for many years now, and I don’t think this can change that. They are entering into a market dominated by iTunes, with the rest of the slack being picked up by the huge name of Amazon. Not only that, but the business of paying for digital downloads is going away soon, so Napster is trying to get into a dying yet highly competitive market.

Napster is also know, and disliked, for their awful user interface, so if they are bringing that to the table as well, things don’t look good for the music giant.

3G iPhone Confirmed for WWDC (June 9th)

Not that this is a huge suprise, heck, its no suprise at all, but someone extremely close to the iPhone launch has confirmed to GIZMODO that the new versio of Apple’s hot selling device will be announced at WWDC this year, and will be available immediately after the announcement, worldwide. I guess this means the countdown can officially begin. 20 days to go…

“Apple 3D?” Will Apple Try to Apple-ize the Gaming Industry?

There have been many resent speculative stories out there concerning Apple attempting to enter the 3D gaming industry at some point in the future. However, details on when, how, and why are scarce. Here are few words from Apple Insider concerning recent patent filings by Apple involving research into 3D motion control.

Apple in a new patent filing reveals that it is conducting research on a 3D remote control system for its Apple TV set-top box that would mimic the functionality of the Nintendo Wii controller and also deliver some features akin to its multi-touch technology.

In the November 2006 filing, published for the first time this week, the Cupertino-based electronics maker notes that the three-dimensional remote control systems can detect an absolute location to which a remote control is pointing in first and second orthogonal axes (e.g., the x- and y-axes) and an absolute position of the remote control in a third orthogonal axis (e.g., the z-axis).

It adds that, “the absolute x- and y-positions of [the] remote control can be used, for example, in video games to position a user’s character or to otherwise track the movement of the remote control in a user’s environment.”

In addition, Apple notes, the remote control can also “zoom into and out of an image or a portion thereof based on the absolute position of the remote control in the third axis.” Such functionality would appear to go hand in hand with the photo and video browser components of Apple TV, mimicking one aspect of its multi-touch present on the iPhone, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro.

All of these thoughts together make for a very interesting scenario. You could possibly have a single remote that would control many accessories with motion control and multi-touch-like gestures. The aspects of control would seemingly vary depending on what kind of device you were operating. Control slideshows, and or play video games if you are using the Apple TV. Maybe browse the internet or playback video by controlling your MacBook. How about playing games on a nice 24″ iMac all using the same remote control?

While Apple is known for basically patenting any descent idea that comes out of Cupertino, this sort of gaming/motion control thing has been floating around for a while now. There is definitely some sort of R&D going on, but it is still very unclear what we would be dealing with. Using the Apple TV as a gaming platform doesn’t seem very likely because of the limited horsepower of the device, but if there was a way, that would be very very interesting new feature for Apple TV 3.0 perhaps.