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Archive for the ‘Technology’ Category

iPad apps

Tuesday, June 1st, 2010

I have been looking at iPad apps for usability issues for the past few weeks. Here is a quick list of the good, the bad, and the ugly.

The good: IMDB, Scifi Wire, Adobe Touch

The bad: The buggy WordPress app

The Ugly: AP News

About the iPad itself, very slick, very cool/fun to use. On the down side, no SD slot, no USB, and Apple’s “walled garden.”

Originally posted at Urbin Technology

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HP buys Palm

Thursday, April 29th, 2010

HP has been on a buying spree.  They bought 3Com, and now they have just purchased a former 3Com company, Palm Corp. for $1.2 billion.

The article I linked talks about what HP could do with Palm’s webOS for mobile devices, including using it in netbooks and tablet devices.

What it doesn’t talk about is Palm’s patent portfolio, which could be worth the price of the sale alone.

Originally posted at Urbin Technology

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Film Camera spotted in the Wild

Thursday, April 22nd, 2010

An actual Film Camera spotted in the wild! The person with the camera was taking a photography class, and some of her assignments required an actual film camera to be used.

Originally posted at Slices of Life

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Quote of the Day

Wednesday, April 14th, 2010

“What did you do to the cat? It looks half-dead.” — Schroedinger’s wife

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iPads hitting the streets this week

Thursday, April 1st, 2010

It’s a nifty & shiny gadget and here is a post I made about it over at Urbin Technology.

I was discussing tech stuff with a buddy and made the following comment.

The Apple iPad really isn’t a new product trying to break into the market, it’s an expansion on an existing product line with a rabidly fanatical user base.

It’s not the magic device that many had hoped for, but it’s magic in a business sense that is pure Steve Jobs. It’s certainly good enough.

I used to carry a better phone than my iPhone, and a better PDA, and an MP3 player with more storage, and better camera. My iPhone does all those functions, not as well, but good enough, that I only carry one device all the time, instead of four.

Ya, the Kindle is probably a better e-text reader due it’s E-ink screen, but is it good enough to spend an additional $260 for when your $500 tablet, that does a bunch of other stuff as well, is a good enough e-text reader?

As for that “bunch of other stuff,” just look at the itunes store. Not just the apps, but the movies and TV shows. The iPad is handier than my notebook, has a better screen than my netbook, and with the rumored Hulu app, I’ll be able to stream Red Eye and watch TV shows as well as video bought or rented through iTunes. That isn’t even counting the apps being written now to take advantage of the new features of the bloody thing.

My prediction is that it’s going to sell and sell well. It’s popularity will drive sales for other tablet platforms, such as the Adam. The beauty of is that is a typical Apple product in that there is nothing really ground breaking about it. It’s a collection of well known and existing technology put together into a really well designed package.

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Black is back!

Saturday, March 20th, 2010

When the US Army adopted the ACU (Army Combat Uniform) with a new digital camouflage pattern, the color black was not to be found in the pattern. The argument was the the color black is not found in nature. I’ve talked with members of the military who were on exercises with people wearing both the ACU and the older BDU uniforms (the BDUs had the woodland pattern) and was told that it was much easier to spot the people in the ACU at night.

It has been announced that the US Army is now producing a variant of the ACU with the MultiCam camouflage pattern. If you look closely at the MultiCam pattern, you will see that it includes the color black.

For now, the MultiCam pattern is only being issued in Afghanistan, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see the more effective pattern make its way through the Army supply chain.

There are other changes being made to the ACU, based on feedback from soldiers in the field. One that caught my attention was replacing the Velcro ™ seals on the sleeve cargo pockets with buttons. Makes sense. Buttons are quiet.

Originally published at Urbin Technology

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Hulu app for the iPad?

Saturday, February 13th, 2010

By way of Apple Insider, is this TechCrunch post about Hulu getting around the lack of flash support on the iPad/iPhone/iTouch by creating a dedicated app.

One rumor I’ve heard from an industry insider is that Hulu is working on an iPad-friendly version of its site that should be ready by the time the iPad hits the market. Hulu itself is still vague about its plans.

Hulu is a major source of online videos direct from the content providers (i.e. quality streaming videos instead of hacked, malware ridden stuff), so having it on the iPad will provide a lot of added value. I still hold that the apps customized to take advantage of the iPad will be a major factor in driving sales.

HT to Vodkapundit.

Originally published at Urbin Technology.

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Just in case your nerd cred is running low

Tuesday, February 9th, 2010

Not a problem for me, but just in case your friends are getting a bit geekier than thou, I have the solution.

A Star Trek:TOS communicator that is a functional USB Microphone/Speaker device.

I kid you not nerdlings. You can plug this thing into your computer and use it with Skype and other VoIP apps, if you dare…

Ok, it would be cooler if it had a USB port instead of an attached cable. Perhaps in rev 2.0.

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iPad is bringing new life to the e-book debates

Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010

With Apple’s announcement of the iPad and the Apple iBook store, people have been noticing the ongoing debate about e-books, e-readers and the ugly concept of DRM, which assumes that paying customers are thieves.

Joining the fray, is is Stephen Green, also known as the Vodkapundit.

Of course, I had join in.

Originally published at Urbin Technology.

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Quote of the Day

Wednesday, January 27th, 2010

“I’m betting the Apple product announcement today will have a more positive effect on the economy than Obama’s attempt to rebrand himself on national TV tonight.”

Source: Me.

It’s called the iPad and Apple is announcing their own bookstore, in direct competition with Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Update: Here are some details on the iPad.  Pundits were wrong on the pricing. They were talking $1000.

The intro price is $499.  That’s for 16 Gig and WiFi. The iPad comes in two basic flavors: WiFi & WiFi+3G.

Both models comes in 16, 32 and 64 Gig models.  So here is the pricing

WiFi only: 16: $499  32: $599  64: $699

WiFi+3G: 16: $629 32: $729 64: $829

The announcement said that the iPad will run iPhone/iTouch apps, so you can load the Amazon Kindle app and read books from Amazon, as well as e-reader apps like Stanza and Bookshelf.

So it looks like that the tech rumor that there will be a lot of Kindles on e-Bay once these start shipping is probably on target.

The iPad won’t start shipping for 60 days, another 30 days after that for the 3G models.

More details at Urbin Technology.

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