Smartphone Kombat: Pre vs. Iphone

May 21, 2009 | 6 |

Now, unless you have been completely devoid of any social contact to the modern technological world in the past two years, the new bustling device to sweep everyone’s pokcet market is the Iphone. The Iphone, made by Apple, has sold considerably well during the recent recession; and that’s under AT&T. During the last year, the T-Mobile G1 was released, to rival the popular Iphone. Sadly, T-Mobile’s limited network has not reached to more of the mainstream phone users. Now, however, there is a new kid on the block, the Palm Pre.  The race is close between the two, as seen in the image below. As you can see, the two phones are very similar, but have major defining differences. The Pre’s carrier, Sprint, will be supporting 4G network connectivity with the phone on it’s June 6 launch. This achievement towers over the iphone, which will not support 4G until next year. On the flip side, the iPhone has a popular app store. The Pre’s store, which will open at launch, will not have the same popularity initially, nor will it have the same recognition. This, so far, is the iPhone’s only real defense against the Pre, which improves off the iPhone. For starters, the Pre has a keyboard. No longer will you need to constantly clean your glossy, smudge-beaten touch screen. Now, it is a convenient slide down keyboard,...

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Apple warns of static shock from iPhone and iPod

May 19, 2009 | 9 |

iPhone and iPod users may experience a “small and quick” shock via their earbuds due to a buildup of static electricity, Apple warned Monday. People listening to one of the devices in extremely dry air are most at risk of receiving a static electricity shock through the ear buds.  In a posting on Apple’s site,   the company stated that the problem was not limited to their hardware: The static can potentially build up on almost any hardwareand could be discharged using any brand of earbuds. This condition is very similar to dragging your feet across a carpet and receiving a static shock by touching a door knob. However, instead of the static charge building up on your body, the charge builds up on the device that the earbuds are connected to. Likewise, instead of the static buildup discharging through your finger when you touch a door knob, it discharges through the earbuds. Static buildup on your electronic device is largely due to the environment that it is used in. Certain environments and actions can encourage static electricity buildup. Very low humidity (dry) environments are conducive for static buildup. Very windy environments are conducive for static buildup. Taking your device in and out of your pocket can create a static charge. Jogging or exercising with your device can cause a static charge. Clothes made with synthetic fibers (like nylon) can...

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Starbucks Tweets So People Will Buy their Coffee

May 19, 2009 | 2 |

Well it looks as if the move to Tweeting for advertisements is underway. Starbucks plans on creating a new advertising campaing in order to increase its sales, which, due to the recession and McDonalds McCafe, have slowly dwindled. But hey, Isn’t that what they get for charging five bucks for a chocolate bar in a cup? Over the past year, Starbuck has slipped as more and more have been avoiding overpriced coffee and poured more from home. The problem, with advertising through tweets, is that no one wants ads! The same sort of spam-attacks have plagued facebook and myspace for the past year, and does anyone really want more of that? I sure don’t. Point is, any way we look at it, Web 2.0 is beggining to be conquered by social networking and advertisement wars. Starbucks is just one of the few who has not yet taken advantage of the...

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NPR: Facebook Scam Steals Passwords

May 19, 2009 | 0 |

There is a new scam directed at Facebook users. The perpetrators send you a link in facebok that appears to be from one of your friends. When you click on the link it asks you to retype your password and BAM! POW KAZAAM! -they have you and your friends as well. You see, it then sends the same link to your friends and they are also “owned”. To read the full wrap up on NPR’s All Tech Considered go to...

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Amazon's big-screen Kindle DX released

May 10, 2009 | 5 |

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos unveiled the much-anticipated large-screen Kindle e-reader Wednesday at the downtown Pace University. Called the Kindle DX, the new device is geared toward readers of personal and professional documents, newspapers, and magazines–and textbooks, a potentially huge target market.   The debut of the bigger Kindle wasn’t exactly a secret: rumors of a larger-screen Kindle had been around for quite some time, and concrete reports began to surface earlier this week. According to Amazon’s Kindle DX page, the device has the following: • A 9.7-inch display with 16 shades of gray. (The standard Kindle has a 6-inch display.) • Capacity to hold up to 3,500 books, periodicals, and documents. • An auto-rotating screen to show either portrait or landscape views. • A built-in PDF reader. • 3G wireless network support with no monthly fees or annual contracts. • Battery capacity to “read for days without charging.” • Text-to-speech abilities to read publications aloud. Several of those features are shared with the current Kindle 2, but several are unique to the Kindle DX: the native PDF reader that doesn’t require the files to be converted, the rotating display, the 3,500-publication capacity compared to 1,500 for the Kindle 2, and of course the larger screen. “You never have to pan, you never have to zoom, you never have to scroll, you just see the documents,” Bezos said. The Kindle...

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G.E.’s Breakthrough Can Put 100 DVDs on a Disc – NYTimes.com

May 8, 2009 | 1 |

General Electric says it has achieved a breakthrough in digital storage technology that will allow standard-size discs to hold the equivalent of 100 DVDs. G.E. plans to announce this on Monday. Although it is just in the lab phase, the major breakthrough  is the ability  G.E. claims to be able to mass produce these  storage discs at an “affordable” price. Holographic dis storage  technology has been explored by many entities over a long period of time now.  G.E. however has developed what they call  microholographic storage which they say would enable up to 500 Gb of information on a disc the size of a DVD and could hold holograms of DVD, CD and Blu-ray and it’s player could read all of these formats. G.E. predicts that their new technology could be released as early as 2011 at a cost of 10 cents per GB or less. Read more at the NY Times: http://go.cosmicthings.com/24936/ Shorty – Beta (8 May 2009) http://go.cosmicthings.com/...

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Windows 7 Release Candidate Released

May 5, 2009 | 2 |

It’s Finally Here! Earlier today, Microsoft made the first release candidate officially available to the general public.  They have said that the RC (Release Candiadate) will be available at least through July 2009 and they’re not limiting the number of product keys, so you have plenty of time.  As long as you have a microsoft Live ID, you will be all set to download this free copy of the RC. The RC will expire on June 1, 2010. Starting on March 1, 2010, your PC will begin shutting down every two hours. Windows will notify you two weeks before the bi-hourly shutdowns start. To avoid interruption, you’ll need to install a non-expired version of Windows before March 1, 2010. You’ll also need to install the programs and data that you want to use.  They include some installation guidelines: You can install the Windows 7 RC on a PC running Windows Vista without backing up the PC—but we encourage you to make a backup for safe keeping. If you’re running Windows XP or the Windows 7 Beta, you’ll need to backup your data, then do a clean installation of the RC, then reinstall your applications and restore your data. If you need to do a backup, please see How to back up your PC for more details and a suggestion for how to backup a PC running Windows 7 Beta...

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How Many People Actually Use Twitter?

Apr 28, 2009 | 0 |

Can we really tell? Does the amount of people who check out twitter after hearing about it from some celeb on the tv actually compare to the number who actually sign up and use the service? Does it matter?  Read Mashable-The Social Media Guide’s take on this....

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Firefox 3.5 beta4 released

Apr 28, 2009 | 1 |

Firefox 3.5 beta4 has just been released with great new features. I would suggest any average person to a least try it out. The add-on’s that are compatible with previous versions will not necessarily work with the new 3.5 version. For mac there is a DMG you are able to download. I would recommend not overwriting your current version of Firefox in case you run into any bugs. Simply just keep the new version on your desktop and not in your application folder (for Mac).The windows version seems to be preforming well too. The experience for Firefox users are about to be rocked once it goes out of beta and is a full release. -Kevin Clayland (PS: I’m actually using it as we...

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