gadget news and reviews

New Apple Ads During Emmys 1

On August 27, 2006, during the Emmys, Apple showed off three brand new “I’m a Mac and I’m a PC” advertisements. Steve Jobs had stated that he had over 20 more “in the can” during the WWDC, when he announced the new Mac Pro. These ads are a powerful marketing scheme for Apple and on a plus side many of these are quite true, but a few are just innacurate.

Apple Ads Summary:

• Accident – MagSafe power cords prevent Macs from being yanked
• Angel/Devil – Pre-Intalled iPhoto easily allows organizing photos
• Trust A Mac – Mac OSX can’t get a virus or any spyware or viruses

Taking a look at these three, to begin with the “Accident” ad is appropriate because the MacSafe power cord is a unique feature which is only offered on Macbooks and Macbook Pros, while no other equivalent feature is offered by other hardware manufactures. However the second Ad, about iPhoto, is a bit overdoing it since there are thousands of applications to manage photos for Windows. Although Macs may come ready with iPhoto software, plenty of free organization and editing tools are available for Windows. The third Ad claims that Macs don’t get viruses. Since Apple’s Mac OS only holds a few percent of the market share, most spyware apps and viruses are usually targeted at larger audiences. Although their claim may be true for the time-being, more Mac-targeted viruses will find their way as more users start using Macs.

Links: Apple ‘Get a Mac’ TV Ads
Related: Apple: ‘Most Powerful Mac Ever’ – Mac Pro

S2 Sports Walkman Kills Nike + iPod 2

Only a month after the launch of the all new thumbdrive-like ‘E’ Series, Sony plans to release the new tiny S2 Sports Walkman for consumers by Setepmber 15, 2006. The S2 walkman will be available in 1/2GB models, which both include a FM Tuner, 1-line OLED display, and ~18hrs of playback.

Sony “NW-S2″ Sport Walkman Breakdown:

• NW-S203F – 1GB – $119
• NW-S205F – 2GB – $149

Today a 2GB iPod Nano ($199) plus the Nike equipment ($29) will cost a whopping ~$230. However the 2GB S2 Walkman, with all necessary equipment, costs $150. The S2 includes the standard features offered by the Nike+iPod including the pedometer, stopwatch, and calorie counter, but for a bonus the S2 features a FM Tuner and auto Walking/Running Playlists. The S2 is also more compact, tops the nano’s battery life by 4hrs, and is water-resistant (not water-proof). Read More

Russell Peters: Outsourced 12

Russell Peters, an Canadian-Indian comedian who’s segments have circulated around the web for over a year, has finally landed himself a standup comedy “movie” on Comedy Central. Skatter Tech has been hosting both his Canadian “Comedy Now” show and his New York performance for over a year. Anyways his new movie will air on Comedy Central on August 26, 2006 at 11:00pm (pacific) check your local listings for the channel and exact timings. Also note that “Russell Peters: Outsourced” will be available on DVD and Audio CD on August 29, 2006. You can either pre-order it from Amazon or wait until it reaches stores.

Update: See Video ‘Outsourced’ Here!
Buy It Now: Outsourced DVD ($11.99)

Links: RussellPeters.com | Yahoo TV (info)
Related: Comedy Now Segment | New York Segment Read More

Master Lock Hack +

This tutorial will explain how to open up a master lock with out any additional equipment. All you need is the lock and your head! Also note that this should only be used in the case that you forget your own combination, do not use it for stealing or illegal activities.

Step 1: Get a regular Master Lock, which you already know the combination for. You can later use another lock, for which you don’t know the combo, to test your skills.

Step 2: First goal is the find the last number of the combination. To do this pull down the “U” latch away from the lock. It helps if it’s attached to something (a locker?) While pulling, start to rotate the dial from ‘0′? so you know where to end. You will immediately notice that the dial will stick on certain numbers. You may have to slightly loosen your grip on the “U”? each time it sticks so you can rotate.

Step 3: While proceeding with “step 2″? be sure to note down all the numbers where the dial got “stuck” at. When complete and if done correctly, you should have found 12 different spots.

Step 4: To begin eliminating items, go back and underline all the numbers where the dial stopped in between two numbers. If the dial moved to the left/right of a number, but the number was still in the center leave it in. However cross off all the numbers that were in between two numbers.

Step 5: You should have crossed off 7 numbers, meaning that 5 are left on your list. Now looking at the list you should notice that 4 of the 5 items have the same digit for the one’s place digit. (ex: 05, 15, 25, 35 or 03, 07, 13, 27) Cross off the four items who’s one’s place digit matches with at least one other number’s one’s place digit.

Step 6: The last number you have left should in fact be the last number of you 3-part combination. (ex ?? ?? 25) Now looking at the combinations you now only have 10 possibilities for the first slot and 10 for the second leaving you with a max of a 100 combos to try out. Don’t think that’s a lot because with out the last digit you would have 64,000 combos to deal with.

Please remember that this should only be used for opening up locks for which you have forgotten the password for. And also note that this only works for Master Lock brand locks and doesn’t work on others such as “American” locks because they have a different mechanism.

Here are some downloads to help narrow down the 100 combos:
Downloads: Masterlock.xls (Spread Sheet) | Masterlock.exe (Applications)

UPDATE (01/22/07): New Video Tutorial!

Writely: Now Open! +

Writely, an online word processor, was acquired by Google in January 2006. (more info here) Since then the service has been offered to the public, but on an invite-only basis. But last week Google finally finished moving servers and opened Writely up for the public. Unlike other Google Products, which require use or creation of a free Google Account, Writely is available for everyone. To register click here, enter your email address, pick a password, and done!

The “web word processor” is still in beta, therefore there are many changes that must be made. Google’s first step will probably be to transfer all user accounts onto the “Google Account” system. (Google is in the process of moving Blogger over) Another step would probably be to change the GUI to look more like Google Spreadsheets. Anyways give this service a try, its great way of accessing your documents when your away from your machine. Now all we need is Google Presentations (aka. PowerPoint).

Link: Writely | Sign Up Now
Realted: Google Acquires Writely

Use iPod For Password Recovery 56

Ever forget you password? Well luckily, we have a quick and easy solution for iPod owners. After completing the following, your iPod will become a password recovery disk, which will allow recovering your system password in case you get locked out. Note: This tutorial is only works for WinXP.

Required Items:

• Windows XP Home/Pro
• iPod Nano or iPod Video
• USB-iPod Connection Cable

Set Up Procedure:
1) Connect your iPod to your machine and verify that it appears as a standard drive in “My Computer”. (ex: “Joe’s iPod (G:)”)
Note: If it doesn’t appear and you have iTunes Installed, make sure “disk use” is enabled.
2) Go To Control Panel -> User Accounts -> Select Your Account -> Related Tasks – > “Prevent a forgotten password”. A Wizard should appear.
3) Select Your iPod’s Drive Name -> Enter Current Password -> Finish Read More

Mountain View Gets Google WiFi +

After setting up over 180 access points costing over $1 million, Google has finally unleashed free WiFi Internet Access for the residents of Mountain View, CA. Google claims that over 90% of their hometown now has coverage and that their free WiFi service will offer speeds of up to 1MB/s down/up. With the launch of this service, anyone in the area can access the internet at speeds reaching close to what most DSL providers offer in the area. Google hopes to gain revenue in return by driving users through their portal on launch and introducing users to other service. Google also boasted that they may even raise the bandwidth if there is enough demand, however denied any plans of launching free Nationwide WiFi.

“It has been has been tremendously rewarding to partner with the local government, the schools, the library, the neighborhood associations, and all of our trusted testers to introduce the power of free wireless Internet connectivity to the city.” Minnie Ingersoll

To utilize Google’s free WiFi you must be in Mountain View (signal map), have a 802.11b/g network card, and a free Google Account. After finding/connecting to a “GoogleWiFi” access point, open a browser and a Google WiFi page should appear. After logging in, you should have access to the internet. Since the traffic between you computer and the access point is unencrypted, we suggest using Google’s Secure Access software.

Links: Google WiFi FAQs | GoogleBlog Announcement
Related: Google Talk Gets Upgrades

Software Up-Dates (6) +

1) Apple iPod Updater (2006-06-28) was released a while ago. The update includes an optional volume limiter for the iPod Shuffle, support for the new Nike + iPod nano device and has some small bug fixes. You should upgrade if you have any ipod nano issues or if you plan to use iPod + Nike.
Links: iPod Update | Apple iPod Lineup

2) Mozilla Firefox v1.5.0.6 has been available for a few weeks and if you had upgraded to v1.5.0.5, you should upgrade. The previous update had patched over 13 security issues, but also created a new bug which had to do with Windows Media Content. To upgrade visit the link below or (Firefox v1.5 or above) select Check For Updates from the help menu.
Links: Mozilla Firefox | Change Log

3) Yahoo Messenger v8.0 was released a few weeks ago. This new client, which has left beta, supports chatting with people using MSN Messenger without any extra tools. Windows Live Messenger Is still in beta, but cross chatting should still work. The new version has many new features and works with over 180 free plugins. With new MSN + Yahoo! clients users are now connected to over 350 million members.
Links: Yahoo! Messenger | Windows Live Messenger Read More

Apple Unveils ‘Mac Pro’ 1

Today at the WWDC “06 Keynote, Apple announced the long awaited Mac Pro. The new Mac Pro, a G5 replacement, features a Intel Dual Core Xeon 3GHz Processor, 16GB RAM, NVIDIA 512MB Video Card, Up To 2TB (terabytes) of Storage, a 16x Dual Layer DVD SuperDrive, and PCI Express Expansion Slots. This new 64bit system is supposedly 2x the speed of the top of the line configuration of its predecessor. Also note that with the launch of this machine, Apple has finally fully transitioned over to Intel.

Apple Mac Pro Specs:

• Processor: Two 2/2.66/3GHz Dual Core Intel Xeon
• Memory: 2GB / 4GB / 8GB / 16GB Configurations
• Graphics: NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500 512MB w/ Dual-DVI
• Displays: Dual-Screen Support (8 displays max)
• Hard Drive: Max 2TB (w/ 4 bays 500GB in each)
• SuperDrive: 16x DVD+R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW (2 max)
• Wireless: Bluetooth 2.0 + AirPort Extreme 802.11b/g
• Wired Communication: Two 1GB Ethernet / Optional Modem
• Peripherals: 2 FireWire 800 / 2 FireWire 400 / 5 USB 2.0
• Audio: Analog In/Out + Optical Digital In/Out
• Software: Mac OS X v10.4 Tiger

As stated at the keynote, the Mac Pro will begin to ship today and pricing will start at $2,500 with the bare minimum configuration. Apple also released a new Mac OS Xserve Server and previewed the upcoming Mac OS X Leopard. Getting back on track, this is an extremely powerful machine and therefore is expensive. However if you are like most average consumers you probably can’t afford to spend that much. I wouldn’t worry because knowing Apple, they most likley release a new product called the “Mac” within a few months just as they did by launching a low-end “MacBook” after the launch of the pricey “MacBook Pro”.

Links: Apple Mac Pro | Mac Pro Specs
Related: Apple Press Release | Bluetooth Mighty Mouse

Sony ‘E’ Series Now Available +

Despite a later than expected launch, Sony Electronics has finally released the new “E” Series Network Walkman in the United States. The new and improved “E” Series is available in six colors and comes in capacities ranging from 512MB-2GB. All models have an embedded OEL 1-line display, a FM tuner, and an estimated 28 hours of battery life.

Sony ‘NW-E00′ Series Breakdown:

• NW-E002 – Blue – 512MB – $69
• NW-E003 – Silver – 1GB – $99
• NW-E003 – Pink – 1GB – $99
• NW-E005 – Green – 2GB – $129
• NW-E005 – Black – 2GB – $129
• NW-E005 – Violet – 2GB – $129

These new devices support playing not only MP3, but also WMA, AAC, and Sony’s ATRAC3. Unfortunately all of these must be DRM-Free, except of course for the music purchased from Sony’s Connect Music Store. Other than the fact that you must use SonicStage (aka. Connect Program) to transfer music back and forth, this device is a great bargain. A 1GB iPod Shuffle currently costs $99, but for only $30 more you can get an extra 1GB of storage, an OEL display, and built in FM tuner. Read More