Posted Mar 30th 2008 5:31PM by Ryan BlockFiled under: cellphones Looks like Apple’s been passing around a new working version of the iPhone 2.0 beta firmware — not too many changes since the last release we saw, though. So far, from what we can tell the build is now officially 2.0 (before it was registered as 1.2), the Cisco VPN settings got some tweaks, and the root-level mail / ActiveSync settings have been reshuffled a bit. (Read the full post about ‘Apple seeds updated iPhone 2.0 beta, not many changes’…)
To get the most out of podcasting, I needed to replace the over-sensitive, low-quality mic built-in to my computer. I asked some friends, conducted a little research, knocked up a list of acceptable models, then hit town. It took a while find somewhere which sold anything good: Guitar Center, in Robinson, a suburb of Pittsburgh. When I walked in, it was nice to finally see some options, unlike the garbage at Best Buy and Circuit City. But it was not nice to be bamboozled by the staffer there, who told me three fibs. 1. That all the mics on my list were dynamic microphones, not condenser models. This was the opening gambit, but I was sure my list included condenser mics. (Read the full post about ‘3 Lies Guitar Center Told Me Today About Microphones’…)
The Dsus DS-400GB rear view camera is truly a thing of wonder - it looks like a standard rear view camera, but offers way much more functionality compared to the standard rear view mirror you get in your vehicle. Hailing all the way from the East (China), don’t be misled by the Dsus DS-400GB name given to the device. It is not an offshoot of Asus, and neither does it feature 400GB worth of storage space. The Dsus DS-400GB itself comes with a video input that allows you to hook up a rear-mounted camera. This camera will kick in the moment the vehicle is put into reverse, switching from whatever current GPS information display to a live view of whatever’s located right behind your car. (Read the full post about ‘Dsus DS-400GB rear view camera’…)
Adobe’s highly buzzed launch of Photoshop Express has been well-received, for the most part. However, some users have been appalled by a discovered clause in Adobe’s full terms of service for Photoshop Express, which reads: “8. Use of Your Content. Adobe does not claim ownership of Your Content. However, with respect to Your Content that you submit or make available for inclusion on publicly accessible areas of the Services, you grant Adobe a worldwide, royalty-free, nonexclusive, perpetual, irrevocable, and fully sublicensable license to use, distribute, derive revenue or other remuneration from, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, publicly perform and publicly display such Content (in whole or in part) and to incorporate such Content into other Materials or works in any format or medium now known or later developed.” The paragraph practically grants Adobe full rights to do whatever they wish with your photos (including monetary gain), which I admit, is quite ridiculous. (Read the full post about ‘Adobe’s Photoshop Express ‘terms of service’ sparks complaints’…)
Walter L. Wagner and Luis Sancho of Hawaii seem to have been smoking too much stuff lately. I’m saying this because on March 21, they filed a lawsuit in a district court in Honolulu, Hawaii against the European Center for Nuclear Research or CERN. This lawsuit seeks to place a temporary restraining order on CERN’s latest and greatest project ever: the Large Hadron Collider. And what is it that the L. H. C. does, you ask? Oh, nothing. It just recreates the Big Bang. You know, that awesome explosion that started the Universe? (Read the full post about ‘Two “concerned citizens” hamper recreation of Big Bang’…)
You got to give credit to these guys who have such sharp eyes that they can see even the smallest details of approval documents coming to the FCC. These guys must have really sharp eyes or the FCC is intentionally disregarding confidentiality of information with regards to documents submitted to them by manufacturers seeking their approval. Thus, we keep on discovering information about new devices even before they are released for official announcement by their manufacturers. The latest of these FCC sightings is an entry bearing the mark OZ2, and the manufacturer happens to be Pantech, who is the maker of the Helio Ocean. The Ocean had the same mark when it its prototype was submitted before the FCC prior to its release as Helio Ocean. (Read the full post about ‘Helio Ocean 2 up for FCC approval’…)
Posted Mar 30th 2008 9:00AM by Darren MurphFiled under: Gaming, HandheldsThere’s depressing gaming stories, and then there are outright travesties. Unfortunately, this case falls squarely into the latter category, as a 7-year old cancer patient had his beloved playstation Portable swiped — right along with his medical records, a backpack full of medication, his games and even his homework — while en route to a chemotherapy treatment for a tumor in his brain. Apparently the boy’s family had stopped at a restaurant while traveling from Oklahoma to Texas, and while inside, thieves had their way with what was left inside the vehicle. Thankfully, authorities from the Dallas police department came to the rescue by purchasing a brand (Read the full post about ‘Cancer patient has PSP stolen en route to chemotherapy treatment’…)
How long does it take you to earn $10,000? For Charlie Miller, of Independent Security Evaluators and former NSA employee, it takes him about two minutes. Last Thursday, Miller won the PWN 2 OWN competition at the 2008 CanSecWest security conference in Vancouver, by successfully hacking a macbook air. In fact, Miller isn’t a newcomer. He is well-known as the first to successfully hack the iphone back a year ago. The PWN 2 OWN contest involved a Sony Vaio, Fujitsu U810, and a MacBook Air that were up for grabs to the first person able to hack into one of the machines and read the contents of a file. (Read the full post about ‘Gone in 2 Minutes: Mac gets hacked first in contest’…)
Posted Mar 30th 2008 12:31PM by Ryan BlockFiled under: Laptops Sounds like we’ve finally got a price and a date for the XP powered Eee PC: $400, and April 9th. The hardware’s identical to current-gen Eee PCs, though, so if you’re happy with your little white lappy and are itching for XP you might try to pick up a license on eBay. Still, if all goes well for ASUS, they’ll be selling 4x what they did the first time around, innit?P.S. -If you are, for whatever reason, itching to read more about current hardware running the 7 year old OS, Laptop’s got a hands-on. (Read the full post about ‘Windows XP-powered Eee PC laptop: $400, April 9th’…)
Binary Clock The Binary Clock, the ultimate gizmo for people who laugh in the face of time, play tiddlywinks on the lap of destiny, and boil bratwurst in the kitchen of fate. You can have this for £29.95 Tags: dap, wireless, gadgets, DAB (Read the full post about ‘Binary Clock’…)
