Archive for the ‘Technology’ Category
Saturday, January 9th, 2010
AT&T is finally carrying an Android based phone, this one is made by Dell, and called the Mini 3. This phone has been selling overseas already, so the specs are pretty well known. 3.5-inch 640×360 display, Bluetooth, 3 megapixel auto-focus camera with flash, microSD, and GPS. Two things catch my eye, no WiFi and and microSD support. So that is the bad and good points right off the bat. No WiFi was one of the major complaints about the Crackberry Storm.
The inclusion of a microSD slot is a big, big plus. The lack of an additional memory source is the biggest strike against the iPhone hardware, IMNSHO.
The other new Android phone is Google’s own Nexus 1. We’ll see how long that name lasts. The estate of Philip K. Dick is already taking legal action against the name. Otherwise, this is an impressive bit of hardware. It sports a one-gigahertz processor, a 3.7-inch display, a five-megapixel camera, light and proximity sensors, and dual microphones that allow for noise cancellation. Woot! This phone also has a removable battery! The serious road warrior can pack a spare for emergencies. The phone itself only has 512 Meg of flash memory, but it comes with a 4 Gig microSD card. The phone will support up to 32 Gig in that slot, so expansion is available.
You can buy an unlocked phone direct from Google fro $529.
Originally posted at Urbin Technology.
Tags: Android, Google, Smart Phone, Technology
Posted in Gear, SmartPhones & PDAs, Technology | No Comments »
Wednesday, December 9th, 2009
Power outlets with two USB power points. There are couple of spots in the house were this would be really useful, especially for charging iPhones. What is nice about this model is that the adapters don’t draw power when nothing is plugged in, unlike a wall wart.
The rumor is that these will run for $10 and be available in early 2010.
Originally posted at Urbin Technology.
Tags: gadget, Technology, USB
Posted in Gear, Technology | No Comments »
Tuesday, October 27th, 2009
I found this interesting post on cleaning your coffee grinder.
If you aren’t drinking freshly ground coffee, you should be.
Ok, here is the tip from weeklyroast.com’s coffee blog, uncooked white rice.
A really great way to clean out your grinder is to use uncooked, white rice. If you use a blade grinder (and we highly recommend upgrading to a burr grinder!), fill it with white rice up to the blades. If you use a burr grinder, put about 2-3 teaspoons worth of white rice and set the burr grinder to a fine grind (espresso) setting and start grinding.
After you’ve finished grinding, you’ll notice immediately that large clumps of previously ground coffee are now clinging to the powdered, ground white rice and after dumping the grounds out, you should see spots you could never clean before coffee-ground free. The inside of the grinder should also be a lot cleaner than before as most of the old, rancid coffee oils also attached themselves to the white rice (they’re attracted to the starch in the rice – that’s why this technique works so well).
Repeat this process until the ground rice no longer has any black particles in it.
I was cleaning out my grinder fairly regularly, but this clearly did pick up some coffee particles that my regular cleaning didn’t get.
Tags: Coffee, gadget, Gear
Posted in Coffee, Gear | 3 Comments »
Friday, October 23rd, 2009
Barnes and Noble has announced the Nook, their e-book reader.
This is in direct competition to Amazon’s Kindle. It’s a very similar bit of technology, the major difference being that the B&N Nook will allow users to “share” e-books with other Nook users. It works this way. You purchase an ebook from B&N on your Nook. You like it. You think your buddy, who also has a Nook, would like it. So you can “loan” that book to said buddy. It will be available to be read on his Nook for two weeks. My bet is that this will generate a lot a ebook sales.
Now, some may argue that Amazon already owns the mind share for e-book readers, having crushed the Sony E-Reader in the market. The Kindle took off because Amazon was already seen as a major e-retailer of books and they had the ability to buy books immediately on the Kindle using mobile Internet technology. Sony wasn’t known as a book seller and they had no such “instant buy” option. The Nook has a similar broadband connection to the Kindle and B&N is seen as a major retailer of books by the public. The fact that B&N has a much larger ebook library than Amazon doesn’t hurt either.
There are two major flaws I can see with the Nook. First, the whole DRM thing. Second is that it only supports three formats, EPUB, eReader and PDF. A few more, including unencrypted Mobipocket, would be nice.
Amazon has responded, quietly, with the announcement that they will release free “Kindle software” for the PC platform, so people can read Amazon’s DRM crippled ebooks on their desktop or notebook computers. MAC and LINUX users are not supported in this release. Amazon is also selling refurbish (i.e. used) first gen Kindles for $150.
Originally published at Urbin Technology.
Tags: Amazon, book, ebook, ebook reader, gadget, Kindle, Nook
Posted in Technology | No Comments »
Friday, September 25th, 2009
I’m not a big user, but I’d have to say the worst thing about Facebook is all the damn “Mafia Wars” spam that floods your newsfeed.
Now the crap is starting to invade Twitter too.
Tags: Facebook, Internet, Mafia Wars, spam, Twitter
Posted in Internet | No Comments »
Wednesday, September 9th, 2009
As part of our Dear Leader’s porkulus plan, the criminal thugs at ACORN are getting $5 Billion in taxpayer funds.
How many real jobs will that create? I’m pretty confident that number is right around zero.
Now it is reported that NASA won’t be sending anybody to the moon anytime soon, that would require an additional $3 billion dollars a year. Taxpayer money which Team Lightbringer would rather spend on a criminal enterprise.
One thing that is clear from the American space program is that it created high paying, high tech jobs that contributed to the health of the American economy and spin off technology that has not just benefited America, but humanity as a whole. I’m not talking just Tang and Velcro here folks. The GPS system and satellite TV just two examples of space program spin off technologies that are still driving growth industries today. The weather satellite system that makes it possible to produce enough food to make famine obsolete is also a product of the US space program.
Ya, I said enough food to make famine obsolete. Let’s be honest here people, any wide spread famine on this planet in the last couple of decades has been the result of politics and not the lack of ability to produce or deliver the food.
To recap, an additional $3 billion a year to NASA would once again put Americans on the Moon. It would also be highly beneficial to the US economy by fueling the high tech industry, putting skilled American engineers back to work and producing a very noticable “trickle down” (more like a monsoon) effect on the industries that support that high tech economy. It would also spark an renewed interest in the sciences in American schools and universities, and promote a sense of adventure in America in a positive and constructive endevor.
Instead, our Dear Leader and the s0-called democrat “leadership” in Congress would rather pour that tax payer money down the drain by giving it to their political allies who are under investigation for massive vote fraud in multiple states.
Is this the “Hope and Change” you were expecting?
Tags: ACORN, Barack Obama, democrat, economy, incompetent, Politics, Science, Space, Worst President Ever
Posted in Culture of Corruption, economy, Our Dear Leader, Politics, Technology | 2 Comments »
Sunday, August 30th, 2009
My brother liked my iPhone more than his smartphone, so he bought himself one yesterday.
More details over at Urbin Technology.
Tags: Apple, iPhone, Smart Phone, Technology, Urbin Technology
Posted in SmartPhones & PDAs, Technology | No Comments »
Friday, August 21st, 2009
As my gentle readers may have noticed, I am a big fan of gadgets, from simple to bright & shiny electronics. This gadget falls under the simple, yet useful and cool category.
It’s a six in one multitool shaped like a key, and this fits very nicely on your key ring.
The small blade is very handy, and the design keeps it safe when it is on your keyring. This is one of my favorite multitools. It’s handy, I typically have it with me (the massive Swiss Army Multitool my brother gave me years ago did a lot of stuff, but it was too damn big to carry around. A tool you don’t have is of no use), and the tools on it (screwdrivers, small knife) are useful in everyday life.
Originly posted at Urbin Technology.
Tags: gadget, multitool, Urbin Technology
Posted in Technology | No Comments »
Friday, August 14th, 2009
There has been a fair amount of whining over this Wall Street Journal story about coffee houses rousing deadbeats taking up space that paying customers could be in.
What started as a good practice to bring in customers, providing free WiFi access to the Internet, has been abused by freeloaders and deadbeats, causing coffeeshops to start denying power for laptops and declaring laptop free hours.
Thanks for ruining it for the rest of us you deadbeats. If you are going to take up space in a place of business, like a coffee shop, how about patronizing the business? One cup of drip coffee, which you leave untouched as you sit for hours on end, taking advantage of the free WiFi, does not count as patronizing the business. Buy a couple of bagels at least!
Here is something these so called “freelancers” (i.e. deadbeats) can do instead of whining about their “careers” are coming to an end, visit your local public library. Odds are that there is free Internet access there. It may not be as “hip” as freeloading at the local coffeeshop, but are you interested in getting your work done, or merely projecting the image of being productive when you are actually just hanging out?
Tags: Coffee Shop, deadbeats, Internet, WiFi
Posted in Internet, Technology | No Comments »
Monday, August 10th, 2009
Mad Science by Theodore Gray
Mad fun science experiments that hark back to the day when Chemistry sets had real chemicals in them! Great fun in here, and ya, more than a wee bit dangerous at times.
Monday Book Pick Archive.
Tags: book, Monday Book Pick, Science, Technology
Posted in Monday Book Pick, Technology | No Comments »