scattered technology news

NeWs Up^2-DaTe (11) 0

1) Verizon opens 911 calls to all VOIP customers in the New York area by the end of this summer. Currently VOIP users either have to call a special number, speed dial, or dial 911 and be charged extra for some speciall forwarding service.
Link: C-NET News Related: Verizon Doubles DSL Speed

2) Skype Update v1.2.0.48. This update will fix the default windows size, toolbar key streching problem, API bug fix, and finally the quality feedback form function. This update dosen’t really do much for most people. You may update if you have time, but it is not really neccessary and most might as well wait for the next major update.
Link: Skype Main | Download Skype | ChangeLog

3) TextAmerica boosts video storage size to 25MB from 4MB. They also allow not only 3gp, but also mpeg, mp4, mov, avi, and asx. The service is getting better and better. They have even made a partnership with digg, so the latest news will be displayed on the main page. They have also added RSS feeds to every account so its easier to recieve my latest posts.
Link: TextAmerica | Digg | My TextAmerica | My Digg

4) WEB SEARCH HISTORY WARS begin. Google launched a new service, which logs every single search you make through their site after logging into their gmail or google accounts. Shortly after Yahoo launched their own BETA version that will work with any yahoo account. A9, Amazon’s search engine, has had this feature for a while. It never became popular or was something people really needed. I don’t like this feature because it seems pointless since most people have the history on their browser, but then again Google is aiming to users that use multiple computers.
Link: Google Search | Yahoo Search | A9 Search
Related: MSN Search | Clusty | Ask

5) Sony’s just released these network walkmans NW-E407, NW-E405, NW-E505, and NW-E507. The storage size ranges from 512MB to 1GB. They all have 50 hours of battery life, and it uses a new quick charge battery that allows you to get 3 hours of battery life by charging it for only 3 minutes. The price ranges from $129 to $200 depending on the storage size and whether it has an FM tuner or not. This is going to reduce the sales of Apple’s iPod for sure mainly because it has a 3-line display which shows the track name, number, album name, and artist name. It also shows the date and time and has a repeat and shuffle function. It works with Sony’s Connect Music store and plays mp3, atrac3, wav, and wma.
Link: Sony’s Mp3 Players | Apple iPod Shuffle

RSS Feeds w/ Ads 1

Most people use RSS feeds with a RSS client (ex: Thunderbird) to avoid needing go to webpages each time, and also to avoid popups and ads. Even people using Firefox were able to block ads by using Adblock, while viewing RSS feeds. But now Google has figured out a way to place ads into RSS feeds, and have given the option to blog publishers to add these feature into their feeds. As a result most of the feeds major websites have placed Google ads in the bottom of their articles. I just hope someone makes an adblock extension for Thunderbird. Click Here to see an example of ads placed into an RSS feed from Engadget. And Click Here to see some RSS ads from Slashdot.

Related: RSS/ATOM 4 This Site | TextAmerica Moblog RSS

xBox 360 Images Fake? 4

I have been searching the web for images of the new xBox 360 and I have to say I no longer can tell which ones are real and which ones are fake. Most of the images I found, from big websites are not exactly working out when you put them together. The the picture that I found that was the most displayed image everywhere was this one. I then started to compare it with this one, and I started to notice many differences. The first thing I saw was the eject button. It is facing up in one image and facing left in the other. Then I saw the shape of the hard drive on the left side. It was buldging out in one image and not in the other. Then there seemed to be some sort of status indicator on one image, which was not to be seen on the other one. I also looked at the curvature of the unit and it is curved a lot in the first image, but it’s barley curved in the second image. The last thing I noticed was the way “memory unit” was written on the xBox. In one image it is engraved it and Memory Unit is capitalized, while the second unit has it all lowercase in a different font and it was painted on. I don’t know which image is real, or if any of them are real if anyone know please post your comments below.

Related: xBox 360 Logo | xBox 64 MB Card

Update: (07/25/05) The xBox 360 is set to hit the market around December 2005! (PS3 around Spring 06) Some of the images above were fake, but now since Microsoft themselves released it, we know know which images are accurate! All the links provided below are 100% accurate because they have been published by Microsoft’s xBox 360 division!

Links: xBox 360 Specs Sheet | xBox Accessories Specs | xBox 360 Online Specs | xBox 360 (Offical Website)

NeWs Up^2-DaTe (10) 0

Yahoo | PSP | ScreenSavers | FTS | More…

1) Yahoo! is working on a new BETA News Site. One of the best features is the ability users will have the power to view news from categories such as Top Stories, World, National, Business, and Local from AP, Reuters, WashingtonPost, USAToday, and others in tabs. They have also added RSS feeds to just about everything, which makes it very easy to get the news you want from your My Yahoo! page. MSN is also working on a new news site called NewsBot. It looks amazingly bad at the moment, but everyone expects them to come out with something special.
Link: Yahoo! News BETA | MSNBC NewsBot
Related: Yahoo! Next | MSN Sandbox

2) PSP Icon Hack! I made an icon (.ico), which is assoicated with an .inf autoplay file that is only about 3kbs. This basically changes the default Removable Disk icon and replaces it with an icon of the PSP. All you need to do is drop 2 files into the main directory of your PSP and you will see a PSP with a blue screen the next time you plug in your PSP.
Link: PSP Icon Hack | +digg | digg story
Related: PSP WebBrowser Setup | MultiPlayer w/ One Game

3) The first release of The Revenge Of The Screen Savers started on monday. Leo Laporte, Kevin Rose, Patrick Norton, and Robert Heron spoke about the latest technology news. They spent most of the time letting everyone know where they are and what they have been doing since the original TSS was shutdown. The quality was not so great, but amazing good quality considering that they were using Skype. Kevin stated that The Broken is almost done and should be out very soon. He also said most of them including Dan Huard, are working on Systm.
Link: TROTSS (DL) | The Broken | Systm | ScopeTech
Related: SwitcherMan (Behind The Scenes Of Systm & Broken)

4) From The Shadows is a new technology show that you can watch only online. This is going to be very similar to TSS or the New Systm. The first episode they focused on testing the wifi capabilites of the Sony PSP and the Nintendo DS. The only way to download the video currently is through Bit-Torrent, but I was able to download hte 46MB within 25mins.
Link: From the Shadows | BitTorrent

*Note: This is my 10th NeWs Up^2-DaTe Article, I have had about 35,000 unique vistors so far this year. Most vistors are from the U.S., Canada comes in second second, and U.K. third. About 45% of my vistors are FireFox users, while the other 45% is Internet Explorer, and the last 10% is a mix of Safari/Netscape/Opera and other weird browsers. 80% of my vistors are usually using Windows XP, and the rest are using another version of Windows or MacOSX.
Link: See My Stats | 1and1 Hosting

Text America Moblog Update 0

TextAmerica has updated the features they provide to their free customers. One of the most popular features they are now providing for free is RSS feeds of the latest images you have posted. They have created many new themes, which support viewing full 640×480 images. TextAmerica has even formed a partnership with Digg, so all the moblog accounts will have the latest news on the main page. They have also removed all those awfull ads, and added only three small images that advertise their own service. The recent image code is now more powerfull than ever. The code allows placing 1-15 most recent images on your webpage, and they have a splash flash code which i am using in the right coulmn. TA also gives you the option to download videos and images. The videos can be up 4MB in size. I have also tried out Yahoo, Flickr, and Buzznet but I like TextAmerica the best.

Link: My Moblog | My Moblog RSS | TextAmerica | Flickr | Buzznet

PSP WiFi Finder 4

I wanted to find WiFi signals in my area, but it’s to hard to walk around with your laptop running NetStumbler. And the Kensington WiFi finder (~$40) is a waste of money if you have already have the Sony PSP, and you don’t get anywhere as much detail as the PSP provides. The new Kensington WiFi Finder “Plus edition” has a few nice features and supports 802.11b, 802.11g, Bluetooth. It has 5 LEDs which display the signal strength. Even though the PSP only supports 802.11b, it shows the signal strength on percentage scale (ex: 0%, 50%, or 100%). The PSP also tells you whether the signal is WEP encrypted or not, which is something that the Kensington WiFi Finder doesn’t. There are also many hacks on the web that show you how to add an external antenna to your PSP. To test this out do the following:

• Start up your PSP and go to Settings.
• Go all the way down to Network Settings.
• Choose the Infrastructure Mode.
• Create a New Connection named “Tracker” just so you dont mess up the settings you have set for your primary access point.
• Now go to the next step and allow it to scan.
• You will get a list of WiFi HotSpots close by.
• Press O to go back and scan once again.

The scan will also be much faster if you disable the WiFi power save mode, which you can disable it in the PowerSave Settings Menu. This is an easier way to find WiFi if you have a PSP and you don’t want to boot up your computer, but it’s very annoying to go through all the menu’s everytime.

Link: WiFi Finder/WiFi Finder Plus (PDF) | External Antenna (HowTo)
Related: PSP MultiPlayer With One UMD | The Broken on PSP

NeWs Up^2-DaTe (9) 1

1) Firefox 1.0.3 is out! They have updated a few security issues, and they have fixed the Add and Remove Programs list bug. This means that we no longer need to uninstall the old version to install the new one. They have fixed the update feature so it won’t take a long time to update your plugins. Make this update to stay safe.
Link: Download Firefox | ChangeLog | +digg | digg
Related: Download Thunderbird | Great Firefox Plugins

2) European PSP launch date is going to be released during E3 which is in MAY. Also Sony and GameIndustry said that the date for launch is either going to be in August or September. The new xBox 360 and the PS3 will be displayed in E3 next month as well.
Link: GameIndustry | +digg | digg

3) Leo Laporte said that he is starting a new Audio Podcast show on Monday called “The Revenge of the Screen Savers”. To get this Podcast either use Firefox or some Podcast program.
Link: LeoVille Blog | iPodderX (Program) | LaporteReportFeed
Related: Systm Preview

4) AOL Media Player BETA 3 is out for testing. I don’t know why anyone would want to use this unless they are forced to because they are an AOL subscriber. All Windows users have Windows Media Player and all Apple users have Quicktime. AOL also dosen’t state that they have any special or unique features that would convince people to switch to their program.
Link: BETA News | FileFourm
Related: VideoLan (best opensource media player)

5) Wireless USB features and standards will be finalized next month. The current settings for it will be up to 480Mbps within a 3M range and slower speeds within a 10M range. They are expecting Wireless USB 1.0 products to be on store shelves by mid-2006. They also are hoping for speeds up to 1GB, which even wired has not reached, to be in the market by 2010.
Link: MacWorld | +digg | digg

6) No word on this yet, but Gmail’s website looks like they just gave away free invites to all users with Google Accounts. This is probably just the next step towards going public. Also their inbox size is about 2097 GBs! Gmail is also working on adding RSS and ATOM feeds into their site and their calling it WebClippings. It’s currently only avaliable to some random users. Take a look at the right column on this blog to see places where you can get my site feed from.
Link: Gmail | Gmail Invites | WebClippings1 | WebClippings2
Related: Yahoo! 360 Invites

Audio Blogger 0

I was searching online, about how to set up a “Podcast” through my blogger site. I first thought about recording some audio, then uploading it and placing a link to it on a new post. But then if found AudioBlogger. It was created by Listenlab, who has formed a partnership with Blogger. This is a free service, and it comes with no catches whatsoever. All you do is visit their site through the link provided below and register. Then you will be given 1-661-716-BLOG. [P.S. (661) is the area code for Bakersfield, CA.] When you call this number, you enter the phone number you provided during registration and the 4-digit pin. You will be allowed to record a 5-min cast. Then the user will be able to post it from their phone, re-record, or cancel it. If you press post the file is instantly stored on AuidoBlogger’s site, and they will create a new post on your blog. The service is great the only drawback is the fact that you don’t have an option of entering in a title or the body until you get back to you computer. You will be able to delete the file from the settings in you Blogger account. Their website states that they are also working on Speech-2-Text, but they don’t say when that will be available.

Link: Audio Blogger | FAQs | +digg | digg story

EX:

NeWs Up^2-DaTe (8) 1

1) This week was huge for Google fans. Google released the latest version of Google Maps. And in this version they finaly showed off the reason they bought out Keyhole. Google Maps is now the first service to integrate search results, addresses, maps, and satellite images to form the best maping service. In the past when we wanted directions from, say the San Francisco Airport to the San Jose Airport. We would need to enter both addresses to get the directions. But with Google’s search technology “SFO Airport to SJC Airport” will do. And if your thinking whats the big deal with satellite images, because even Mapquest had it a while ago. These images from Keyhole are amazing, and they dont provide you, with just a start and end image like Mapquest, but an image of where you start, end, turn and a continous image of the entire way through. And they have even highlighted the path you will be taking on the images. But now i’m sorry to say this, but goodbye MapQuest (who killed Zip2 a while ago) and to the java based Map24.
Link: Google Maps | MapQuest | Map24 | SFO AirPort | SJC AirPort

2) The New Sony NW-HD5. Sony has been trying to kill Apple’s line of iPods for a while now. Their latest threat is a 20GB Walkman, that not only plays Atrac3, like the rest of their players. But also plays WMA, Mp3, Atrac(3), WAV, and even AAC support. They have also beat the iPod with a battery life of 40-Hours. The sceen also allows rotating so you can hold it upright like an iPod or sideways like Sony’s players.
Link: EnGadget | Sony UK | BETA News | Gizmodo

3) Sony PSP Movies are here !!! (SOON) People have been starting to wonder if Spiderman-2 is the only movie sony will ever release, and if they are releasing more, When? It’s offically set to April 19. SonyStyle has a list of all the movies and is already taking in pre-orders. Some of the movies are XXX, HellBoy, Charlie’s Angles, Punisher, Saw and many more. The prices range from $15 up to $30 (Plus Shipping). The prices should drop once they hit store shelves.

4) MSN Messenger 7.0. This new version has many new features. One of the main features is proabably the ability to have an integrated blog (MSN Spaces) and messenger client. The messenger client allows you to preview the latest posts, pictures, and music that a person has posted. 7.0 even allows you to display what music you are playing in Windows Media Player or even iTunes. But when a user clicks on the song your playing it opens the MSN Music Store, which allows you to either purchase or preview that song. They have also included a fun little free hand tool which allows you to write to the buddy. They have copied Yahoo!’s BUZZing idea and they call it Nudge. But with this comes Ads. MSN Messnger has made deals with many companies such as Addidas, Sprite, Volvo, and many more. The ads are much worst now, mainly because they are not only on your buddy list, but also on the windows your are chatting on. But overall I think it’s a good idea to update.
Link: MSN Messenger | BETA News | WebMessenger

5) This week was extremely big for my site. It all started when I figured out how to convert The Broken Videos to enable playback on the PSP. This resulted in about 1,000 vistors for my site in one day. Then a day later I placed the exitFrame videos, and once again for the PSP on my site, which also resulted in about 1,000 vistors. Then a few days later I was playing around with my PSP and I found out how to play multiplayer games with only one copy of the game. After I posted this article my site, I had about 2,000 vistors that day, and about 1,000 the following day. My article soon was on almost every tech news site, blog, and message board. And somewhere after that I started to offer invites to the BETA Yahoo! 360, and there were about 500 vistors looking at that.
Link: Broken/exitFrame 4 PSP | PSP Multiplayer | Yahoo! 360 Invites
Places where my article showed up: PSP411 | Kotaku | EnGadget | BoingBoing | IGNIQ | GameHype | GearLive

Yahoo! 360° Invites 39

I just got my own Yahoo! 360° account and it looks great. It is pretty much junk compared to Google Blogger, but is much more powerful than MSN Spaces. I got about 100 Yahoo! 360 invites and I have given most of them away. But I have saved about 50 Yahoo! 360° invites, which to give away on this blog. If anyone wants them please reply to the comments, with your name and email included. I will give the first 35 people who reply an instant invite, and then after that I will give you and invite if you decide give me something in return. Maybe complete an freeipodshuffle offer or a freepsp offer for me. (P.S. I don’t want any Gmail invites) If you decide to do one of the offers please say so in your comment and also include the email that you used.

Link: My MSN Spaces | My Yahoo! 360°