I'm Delta Taph (Real Name: David Wilkinson), and this is my mini-blog! I'm a 12-year old ProBlogger from Manchester, in England.
23rd December 2006
I've been busying myself getting ready for Christmas! Not long left now. I've also written a few posts for Profy which I'll post about here.
14th December 2006
Today I was on BBC Radio Manchester and the BBC website. That was really cool! I may also be doing a feature on sometime around Christmas. No word on timings or anything yet, but it sounds great! I felt it was easier to do than the Five Live interview last week, despite this one actually being live! It was great when the weather lady off TV came in. Kind of a shock too! But she's very nice, just like on TV. She told me I was 'brilliant'. Not complaining! =D
13th December 2006
I've just been busy gearing up for tomorrow morning's interview. I've got my notes and all written. I've been listening to Eamonn's shows, and he's really quite funny.
Just moments ago, Google bought Jot.com. Now, Wired have bought Reddit. Read the extended article here, or the shorter one below.
Condé Nast, the owner of popular online website Wired News, has purchased Reddit in a shock takeover. Reddit, the online bookmarking rival of Digg and such has always been one of the main contender in the war for social bookmarking domination. The takeover could very well be a strategic move on Condé Nast’s part of an expansion further into the Web 2.0 market. Boston based Reddit employees (all four of them) will become part of Wired Digital. With this news coming to me just seconds ago, I’m hoping that Profy will be one of the very first to report this. Reddit, unlike Digg, has a very quick loading time. It’s usability is classed as higher than that of Diggs, and a partnership with Wired would make it top choice for even more techies than ever before. Wired will be leaving Reddit as a separate site though will be gradualy intertwining the two to become more effeicient than ever before. Reddit.com - Social News Bookmarking made easier. Hopefully all will be well, and Reddit will continue to make excellent progress, but with Web 2.0, you can never be sure. Ever changing, it never rests.
Don’t worry, no-one knew that talks were even taking place between Nast and Reddit, it wasn’t just you. This is as shocking new to me, as it is to you. Leave your feedback and comments here and let us know what you think. Reddit is a major factor here at Profy, as a portion of our visitors come via it. Anything that could change that will be bad news for us. via me on Profy.com.
Google has bought JotSpot, and apparently, I'm the only one who really cares. Check my extended article here, or read the shorter version right below.
This is an unusual turn of events to make even the most experienced marketing analyst turn round and stare. Google, (no need for an intro into who they are!) have bought the highly popular, online wiki creation service, JotSpot. Recently, it seems, Google have been buying out all of its competitors and expanding it's company into the next gen Web 2.0 media frontier dramatically, with this acquisition being only the next step in their roadmap to total domination. JotSpot, used by millions of people around the world to created free, online wikis has been operating for a while now. The site, in the run-up to the buy-out gave no hint of a possible takeover, but simply put up a message this morning, stating quite boldly that 'We have been purchased by Google.' Short and straight to the point, I think you'll agree. So, Google has grasped Jot.com and we're all left standing here, wondering what we missed. Hopefully, more details will be released soon, but in the current situation, that's not seeming likely. Registrations have been closed so that 'Google Account Integration' can take place so that current Google users can directly start using the new services right from their accounts. The Jot.com blog isn't providing the wealth of information expected either, with it simply stating that 'We are Googlers now!', presumably for the benefit of those who haven't already seen the bright purple decleration flaming on the homepage. Jot.com - Free Wikis all round. via me on Profy.com.
What does this mean though? A great service ruined? A great new lease of life? You tell us... Leave a comment with your thoughts.
The guide to getting a gazillion hits to your website everyday... Kinda.
If you’re the owner of a Web 2.0 just like Profy.com or my own Tech.co.nr, then you’ll know that even if you have the best content out there, it’s no good if people don’t read it. I’m just going to give you the top few tips I use to drive people to my blog. There’s no point in me writing a really long winded explanation of possible eBooks that might help you that cost $100, because in my opinion, the best things are always free.
Tip One - The Slashdot Style Effect There’s really no point in me calling it ‘The Slashdot Effect’ because Slashdot.com isn’t the only great way yo drive visitors to your blog. Places like Digg, Reddit, Del.icio.us, Furl etc are great places to give your site exposure. You can either submit your own posts or let someone else do it for you, but with the second, you can never be sure if someone will.
Tip Two - Create an RSS feed New research suggests that ‘tech users’, aka. frequent computer users are more than 50% likely to return to a site they come across if the site has a couple of visible RSS chicklets above the fold line. An RSS feed means that people will see the latest articles of yours show up in their feed reader, and if it has a catchy title such as ‘The surefire way to get a gazillion hits… Kind of.’ then you can rest assured that chances are they’ll give it a look.
Tip Three - Professionalism Do you think that visitors will return to a site with shoddy navigation and glittery adverts strung all over the place? No. No one will when there are so many brilliant alternatives out there. People don’t mind contextual, targeted ads on a page, but blinding your visitors with flashing downloads, blazing pop-ups and spam e-mail lists is not the way to go about things. The whole point of Web 2.0 (if there is one) is about you, the customer. It doesn’t matter if you make money, your readers are your customers. Your aim is to get them to stay at your site for as long as possible. Profy demonstrates this magnificently with its outstanding Alexa page average of 10 per user! You can get free domains to make your site look much more professional at many places. Biz.ly being a great free domain site. You can have NAME.biz.ly for free, and they offer full DNS support. Perfect for your home hosted server, your home-brew game server, or whatever you’ll be using it for. Co.nr, the service I use also offer a similar, reliable service but without the DNS support.
Tip Four - Be yourself There’s absolutely no point writing about something that you’re not passionate about. I write for Profy, because I love technology, the internet and all things gadgety. Profy, to me, symbolized everything I enjoy doing and seems like the perfect opportunity to earn some extra money whilst having a great time. Write about something you enjoy, that you’re experienced in, or simply write a blog about setting on a quest to find out about something new. There are plenty of successful blogs out there that simply started as someone on a mission to discover new things, but then quickly went on to become massive, worldwide popular blogs.
Tip Five - Writing No matter how much you try to prevent it, your writing will greatly mature with time, as will your visitors. Read through feedback left on your blog and give a quick, easy and hassle-free way for people to contact you. Don’t ask for too much information, just name and e-mail address. You can then find out what others think of your writing. I was greatly shocked today, when I received a comment on my blog, Tech.co.nr, from Vlad, of international blogging site TheBlogJoint.com. He’d simply wanted to tell me that he read my site and had particularly liked one of my articles! Aside from making me more confident, it also gave me an insight into what kind of people read my blog, so I could target it better at them.
Tip Six - Telling People Most bloggers blog in privacy, using an alibi instead of a real name. For those of you who don’t know, Delta is not my real name, but it is what you shall know me as till my dying day. That’s not stopped me telling my closest friends (those whom I can trust not to share my real name) about my blog. They in turn have told their friends and family and they have told others. Word of mouth can go a long way. Try adding your website as your signature in forums you belong too, people often will click on the websites belonging to prominent members of a forum. Being as helpful as possible will often lead to clicks out of gratitude, and occasionally dedicated members.
I hope this has been a help to all of you! I know that those of you starting up websites, or thinking about it, that implementing and following these simple guidelines will greatly increase your visitors and productivity. Good luck in the future and all the best! This great was made possible by me... On Profy.com. Check it out... The extended guide I mean, here.
The Jamendo homepage bravely states 'Jamendo - Open Your Ears'. Unfortunately, there's no jazzy music on the homepage for me to bop to, so the whole thing seemed flawed from the start. Thankfully, after testing the service myself, I found that it's a case of not judging a book by it's cover, or in this case, it's rather weird slogan. Basicly, what Jamendo is, is a highly sophisticated Web 2.0 music tagging, music sharing online application/website. You pick a nickname, a password, confirm it, and then state your e-mail address. Within next to no time, you should have your bibbity-bopping hip music tagging account online. You can listen to music others have composed then give your opinions on it. Jamendo is 100% legal, free and safe with 16818 already uploaded to get you started on your musical adventure. Good luck, and have fun! Jamendo.com - Open Your Ears to the sound of a silence. via me on Profy.com.
Forget all of those over hyped 'get rich quick online' scams, now all you need (or so it appears!) is a $1 bill with some fancy numbers on the back. The fact that when a $1 note bearing the number '68611989' flipped around still reads '68611989' is worth $12 to some nutters on eBay, does make you wonder what the world will be like in 50 years time. Will we simply walk round burning our money and wearing shoes woven from gold thread? Who knows... But $12 could have been better spent on a whole lot of things... People these days. Sheesh!
We all love our quiet, snazzy little MacBook Pros, but don't you hate the phenomenal amount of heat they produce? I for one, do. Mac OS X Hints are reporting that in the latest SMC Firmware update, you can now, thankfully adjust the speed at which those mainly unused fans spin at. smcFanControl, written by Hendrik Holtmann manipulates the cooling fan control code in the Intel based MacMinis and MacBooks allowing you to set the minimum and maximum rotation speeds to your own needs. It's a pity that Apple leave it up to third-party scripters like Hendrik to do the hard work though. The standard 1000 rotates per minute, when upped to 2000, reduces the internal temperature of MacBooks by roughly 5 celcius without making much of a noticable difference to our highly tuned ears. In testing, the sound difference was so minimal that we found a 5 celcius temperature drop much more of an advantage than having a plain old, quiet, hot MacBook. Well worth it!
Well, some of you may have noticed that recently, we've had a heck of a lot of downtime and alot less posts than usual. This is partly due to the fact that this week, Blogger has had about 9 separate unexpected outages coupled with the fact that I'm still trying to organize a private server move and that the transition to Wordpress is meaning that alot of behind the scenes work is being done to secure that the site stays up and running in the long term. Thanks for your continued patience and support,
In the first 24 hours of Firefox 2's lifespan, it has been downloaded over 2 million times. This sets in well on course to beating Microsoft IE7's 3 million in 96 hours. At the browsers peak download times, 30 people were downloading the software every single second. That's a pretty amazing figure and it's only taking into account downloads via GetFirefox.com!
It had to sometime soon didn't it. Mission Impossible 3 is now availible on MiniSD (alongside the DVD) to watch on the N93. However this starts a few questions going, such as : What exactly does "copy it off to your PC" imply? and That there's no DRM on the file? There Must be as Nokia have pointed out that you can't watch on your PC and cannot copy it to another memory card. What movie format is used? One might also ask "Why not just buy the DVD and convert it to MiniSD yourself?" Read more at Nokia.com.
In a hostile takeover, Microsoft have purchased Mozilla and all of it's software rights. With this, Microsoft have announced that they will be retailing (Nope, not freely giving, but retailing) Firefox and Thunderbird under the following names. 'Microsoft Firefox Professional 2007' and 'Microsoft Thunderbird Professional 2007'. There are plenty of disadvantages and, well, not much else. I quote... 'Firefox 2007's new TakeOver Technology promises to protect your Windows Kernel by recognizing Symantec and McAfee as viruses!' There are other snags...
System Requirements
A Credit Card.
Microsoft(R) Windows(TM)/Vista Operating System.
Microsoft(R) Mouse & Keyboard (Hyperlinks will NOT work without these).
Live(TM) Messenger (Required API to maintain dangerous CPU temperatures).
Microsoft(R) Office 2007 (Provides the ability to scroll webpages).
Quad Core Processor (For loading Hotmail.com).
Any SLI Configured Graphics Card > 512mb (To Display High Definition GIF Images).
1024 MB of RAM (Compensation for Frequent Memory Leaks).
483MB Disk Space.
Monthly Subscription to Windows Live OneCare
New Security Update. Using the following websites will cause MSFF07 to shut down unexpectedly.
www.google.com
www.gmail.com
www.apple.com
www.itunes.com
www.yahoo.com
Any sites with the phrase: microsoft/windows/explorer/vista/bill sucks
Product Page. (Yes, I know it's a joke... Just thought it was funny!)
CNN recently published an article, emblazened with the title, 'The 10 dirtiest jobs in science.' and to tell you the truth, it's pretty horrific what they come back with. Surely each and every one of these jobs breaches every health and safety code in the book, but to hell with all of that! Here's the list!
1. Manure Inspector
What they do: Wade through farming manure, inspecting different kinds of animal waste to make sure it is free from contaminants. By checking the manure, these scientists make sure that the harmful materials do not spread to infect vegetation, animals or consumers.
2. Orangutan-Pee Collector
What they do: Collect and analyze ape urine to study factors that effect their reproduction. The work involves tracking down apes and laying down large plastic sheets or attaching plastic bags to poles in hopes of catching adequate samples to analyze.
3. Hot-zone Superintendent
What they do: Perform maintenance work for bio-safety labs that study lethal airborne pathogens, for which there is no known cure. Their work enables scientists to study the nature of disease-causing organisms, such as anthrax.
4. Extremophile Excavator
What they do: Sift through the smelly fumes of arsenic-saturated mud areas in blistering heat in order to gather samples containing arsenic-eating extremophiles. The purpose is to find microbes that could possibly assist in the decontamination of the nation's freshwater sources.
5. Dysentery Stool Sample Analyzer
What they do: Study stool samples from diseased humans who have experienced diarrhea from a disease-causing microbe. The analysis allows these scientists to develop intestinal diagnostics to ease those suffering from the disease.
6. Semen Washer
What they do: Take semen samples under microscopic observation to study their sperm count, then spin, separate, add preservatives and freeze the samples for in vitro fertilization.
7. Volcanologist
What they do: Monitor volcanic regions to determine when they'll erupt next. In addition to dodging hot magma, these scientists mountain climb their way through the heat and fight their way through fogs of sulfur dioxide gas, ash, rocks and debris.
8. Carcass Cleaner
What they do: Clean corpses for display using one of a variety of cleaning methods. This may include immersing the body in boiling chemicals, placing maggots or beetles on the carcass, or picking off the leftover flesh.
9. Fistula Feeder
What they do: Study how the insides of cattle work. To do this, they deplug the fistula, an opening to the bovine intestinal system, and take samples from the forestomach to test their digestion and reaction to food additives.
10. Corpse-Flower Grower
What they do: Grow and tend to a towering, foul-smelling plant called the corpse flower. Similar to the way pleasant-smelling flowers attract honeybees, the corpse flower attracts its own bugs, Sumatran carrion beetles and flesh flies. These scientists are competing to grow the largest blooming plant in cultivation.
Bla.st is a new form of advertising using new concepts created by leading experts . Already used by some of the biggest names around. Take Google, Digg, Skype, Mozilla, Flock and 9rules as some great examples. Bla.st lets you upload your own 'cards' for free. What are cards? Well, each card comes in a 270px X 175px size and can contain whatever you want. An image, with your company logo on the front, some plain old text, whatever. Your imagination is the only boundary in this revolutionary new way to promote your site. The effectiveness of 'cards' has not yet been proved, but as Mozilla have already joined, it can't be all that bad. There are free cards and paid cards. Obviously, the paid cards are always listed first on the front page of Bla.st and will naturally receive other benefits.
The ease of use of the cards means that even the internet's amateurs can set-up their own card quickly and easily. Check out Bla.st now! To see my own card, click here. Yes, yes, I know... It's not very fancy, but it gets the point across.
Days after the last bug was found in IE7, another one has been uncovered by a team of experts. This time the bug gives identity thieves (Known as ' Spoofing') the chance to post a fraudulent but seemingly legal URL in the Address Bar, encouraging the users to enter there critical personal information. 'Although the bug is not considered to be highly threatening', Secunia said, 'you should wait till a stable release of the browser is out to stay as safe as possible.' Or even better, use Firefox and be uber safe! (Download it via the button in the right-hand toolbar.) The discovery of this makes it a bad week for Microsoft since the same company warned users of a cross-domain bug in the browser just hours after its release. Microsoft decided to blame the first bug on a flaw in Outlook, but Secunia's Chief Technical Officer, Thomas Kristensen argued that the firm was not treating the discovery with adequate seriousness.
Perhaps one of the best, if not the best free ajax powered shoutboxes out there, Planet MiniBox looks the part with it's streamlined CSS design and plays it well. The most exciting feature that sets MiniBox apart though is not it's excellent chat, but it's tabbed private messaging service. You can have a confidential chat with anyone online in the shoutbox at any time by simply clicking on that persons name. A mini-tab will appear in the shoutbox. Once clicked on, you and that person will be talking away from the prying eyes of others. Best of all, there's absolutely no limit to the number of people you can be privately talking to! MiniBoxes are ridiculously easy to put on your website. Simply copy and paste some code generated and off you go! Using a point-and-click interface you can easily re-skin your box to fit in with a new layout or design. Two version are available. The free version contains a link-back to Planet MiniBox (afterall, it's only fair!) whereas the premium version, costing $20 a year has no-link back, allows you to have pictures or images as backgrounds, avatars for users, register user option, moderation option, increased speed and a whole lot more. Generally, like all good things, if you pay, you'll find it's better. It still doesn't stop Planet MiniBox from being one of the best services around though!
The lucky folks over at IGN have grabbed themselves a PS3 a tad earlier than expected. You can see that some rather nifty wrapping paper has been used to avoid any oily smudges or smears on the PS3's gleaming case when it's being unpacked. By the looks of the pictures, it works aswell. At least this time Sony aren't treating us to the whole shirade of the whole 'Let's see how long it takes to rip open these plastic bags' and, I for one feel that we owe them some credit. They listened to us and they adapted. They went that little bit further to give us a better time. But should that be expected with a console that costs this much? Well, quite frankly, it should be.
If you're interested, there are a tonne of pictures just begging to be seen. Click here to head right over and take a peak around.
Seemingly aimed at no-body in particular, this rather amusing JibJab style advert has hit the golden shores of YouTube. Starring Michael Dell, EMC's Joe Trucci, Oracle's very own Larry Ellison, AMD's Hector Ruiz and Intel's Paul Otellini making this cast one for the history books. Even the poor little penguin is drunk. Seriously, someone is gonna get fired.
Hia, My Name is Timothy Williams and I'm the 'Guest Blogger' (Nice Name Delta :D ). I'm a very enthusiastic IT person which should hopefully work out really well if I go along the right tracks in a career when I'm older. My hobbies are IT, cycling and playing with multi-colored Blu-Tack (not really!). Feel free to ask me any questions by emailing me using the following email address : timothyw9@googlemail.com or by clicking here. I hope my stay here will be most profitable and enjoyable. I'm dedicated to providing you with anthinng that is technology or gadgety related.
Timmy, one of my close friends (and keeping in line with the whole being a kid thing) has agreed to help me with the upkeep of the blog. Timothy Williams from Rhyl in Wales is 11, lives with his annoying older brother and has an interest in different colours of blu-tack. He'll let you know when he arrives here by making his opening post. It shouldn't be long now. I just thought I'd let you know though.
Just five years ago, Steve Jobs stood up in front of a small bunch of journalists 5 years ago and made his speech. 'The iPod is tiny. Just 4" tall and 2.5" wide. And only just over three quaters of an inch thick.' By our standards today, this would be considered huge! But it just goes to show how much consumer electronics have advanced in the past five years. He also went on to say that it weighed only '6.5 ounces. Now this is lighter than most cell phones.' Woah dude! Slow down! Lighter than most cell phones in today's market? Anything but so... And he called this thing 'ultra-portable'! Happy birthday to the iPod! But good grief... How much you've changed!
World renowned failure, George Bush has admitted to using 'The Google'. In an interview, live on CNCB, Bush was recorded saying that 'I Occasionally use the Google. One of the things I’ve used on the Google is to pull up maps. It’s very interesting to see - I’ve forgot the name of the program - but you get the satellite, and you can - like, I kinda like to look at the ranch. It remind me of where I wanna be sometimes. '
I think by 'the program', he means Google Earth. That funky planet you live on? Come on George... You know this one! At least he know how to use a computer. Relatively speaking.
If you are planning to purchase a new computer anytime starting tomorrow, you will probably qualify for the Express Upgrade to Windows Vista program which is sort of a free Vista coupon from Microsoft that lets you upgrade your Windows XP OS to Vista when it gets available in January 2007. Microsoft will however ask you to pay the Shipping & Handling charges for mailing you the Vista Upgrade DVD.To qualify for the Vista upgrade coupons plan, you are required to purchase a Windows XP computer between October 26 and March 15, 2007. Most of the major computer vendors are covered in the plan including Dell, Sony, Toshiba, HP, Gateway and Fujitsu.While the coupons will be available at no cost to Windows XP Professional customers, XP home customers will receive a 50% discount for upgrading to equivalent Vista Home editions.Similarly, Microsoft also announced free Office 2007 coupons which lets you upgrade your Office 2003 edition to an equivalent version of Office 2007 which will be released at the same time as Vista.It is probably the best time to buy a Windows XP computer preloaded with Office 2003.
In this article, I'll be giving you a step-by-step walkthrough on how to install your new version of Firefox, and what to do with it when you have it... If you're interested, read on.
Firefox 2.0 Download Guide & What To Do When You'veGot It. Step One: Download the new Firefox browser from Mozilla or alternatively, if you feel like helping me out, you can download it via my website, using the button on the right, also for free. Done? Well let's move on.
Step Two: Open up the file, Firefox_Setup_2.0.exe and run it. It should take a moment to extract itself, then the process should continue, bringing you onto the screen that you see below.
Step Three: Click the 'Next' button and accept all of the terms and conditions (aka. legal gibberish). Select either custom, or standard installation. I'll be choosing custom (which requires a few extra steps), but if you're gonna go ahead with the standard, then just skip this next step. (Picture Below)
Step Four: Simply select whether or not you wish to have Mozzila's DOM Inspector and Quality Feedback Agent monitor your browser contents (in my case, I have need for the DOM, but not for the QFA, hence the need for a custom installation.) Next, choose where to install Firefox. The standard XP location is C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\ and I'll be leaving it like that. Feel free to change it if you want though. Now finally, choose whether or not you would like to create icons on your desktop or not.
Step Five: Those of you who chose to do the standard install will now find that your Firefox 2 installation is complete (after pressing the 'Next' button. Those of you who chose the Custom Install can now press the install button aswell. FF2 should take no longer than 15 seconds on an average PC to install, but those of you running older OSs may find that time is greatly delayed, even if the latest components are used. (Picture Below)
Step Six: If you left the check box as it was and hit 'Done', FF2 should launch. Voila! Admire the design! As I write this now, I'm using this spiffy new version of Firefox!
Great! What now? Well, browse away! See if any of your favourite plug-ins are FF2 compaitble and have fun exploring some of the new features! The anti-phising filter is working great! Most of the new developments aren't very noticeable though. Slight speed increases, etc, but there are some things you'd like. The new, more streamlined interface being my favourite!
There are some rather interesting pictures ciculating the net at the moment about the upcoming Target Illuminating Next-Generation Console Gift-Cards. Apparently, when you buy three games at Target, you'll get on of the cards which when activated will provide you with '$20 of exclusive content'. Bargain. Buy a $3000 console & 3 $100 games and get a $20 rebate. Just perfect!
Not much of the information released about the Fiat Adventure Crossover Concept Car was in English, but what was can be read here. The car was first seen at the Sao Paolo Automobile Show in celebration of Fiat's 30th birthday in Brazil. The car, by Centro Estilo Fiat Do Brasil, is powered by a 167 bhp five-cylinder 2.4 litre engine all the way from the Fiat Stilo Abarth. The two-seater concept is painted in color-changing paint which changes from yellow to red and back again. Reportedly, the car could be hitting our roads within three years. Say goodbye to old style two-tone paint and hello to the future. Sourced from Gizmag.
Without a shadow of a doubt, I'm guessing that most of you guys use Digg, Del.icio.us or Slashdot, or in some of our cases, all of them. So wouldn't it be great to get the best of each of them delivered straight to one page? Well, with Diggdot.us, now you can! Customize which sites articles you'd like to have displayed. Whether it be Reddit, Digg, Slashdot or Del.icio.us, there's sure to be a combination that will feed you technology hungry minds. To customize the site further, you need to sign up for an account. Signup is easy and unlike many services, you just have to give your e-mail and pick a username and password. Voila! You have your account! It's definitely worth a look, so don't hesitate. Visit today! Diggdot.us - Combining the best of four worlds. via me on Profy.com.
With Firefox 2 not even out yet, Mozilla have already got a team of experts working on the next Firefox, version 3. Currently, version three is no more than a jumble of high-tech files that baffle me (I’m sure the experts amongst you will understand better), but at least it appears to work. No big noticable differences from version 1.5 or 2.0 in it, but there are a few niggly, minor things that don’t make much of a difference. Enhanced error message (perhaps they could have just fixed them though!) and a seemingly more in-depth search and anti-phishing filter mean that the current Firefox 3 is really nothing more than an update to the currently un-released Firefox. Just don’t tell the Firefox team it was us who told you! I’m not sure if their FTP servers were meant to be snooped on… Oh well! Click here to get Firefox 3!
Askeet! is an old rival to Yahoo's incredibly popular Answers Service. Askeet! has far fewer users and is relatively a lot more quiet than their competitor, Yahoo. Nevertheless, Askeet! is still going strong, proven by a PageRank of 6. To give an overview, that compares to Profy's rank of 1. Obviously PageRank isn't everything, but it is a relatively good indicator of if people find a site interesting or not.
Some people go on the site to ask rather meaningless questions, others have genuine problems. One person says that 'Somebody keeps stealing my Plants from my front garden!' Some replies were very useful, 'I coated my pots in vasaline, to surprise those who try to take your plants! It works really well!' and other people were clearly just there for a laugh, 'Pour concrete over your garden and spray grafitti all over it to make people think it's a rough neighborhood and scare them off!' Obviously, if the person had followed that piece of advice, they wouldn't even have a garden any more.
What sets Askeet! apart? Well, for starters, you don't have to be a member to answer a question. Many people post anonymously. Although this means that there's not much ofa a community feeling at Askeet! it does mean that you'll get an answer relatively quickly.
As I reported yesterday, the interview with Richard Hammond is indeed out. This is from The Guardian, me not being able to get hold of a copy of the mirror.
'The Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond today described how he had "flatlined" and had a 50/50 chance of surviving after suffering a 288mph jet car crash last month. In his first interview since the accident, which happened as he filmed for the BBC motoring show on September 20, Hammond told the Mirror that he did not know what went wrong but had suddenly found himself "upside down and inhaling a field". The presenter is recovering from a brain injury that caused short-term memory loss and, in the early stages of his recovery, caused him to regress to a childlike state in which he became obsessed with Lego and the card game Top Trumps. "I felt mad as a bag of snakes," he said. "My mind was like a foreign place, nothing in it but blankness." He spoke of suffering "sharp, jagged, pointy pain", for which he was given morphine. The Vampire jet car crash happened on Hammond's final run of a day of filming at Elvington airfield, near York. He was airlifted to Leeds General Infirmary, where it was found he had suffered a significant brain injury. He told the Mirror surgeons had considered drilling a "bore hole" to drain the blood from his brain and relieve the swelling, but it had ultimately been decided that the operation would not be necessary. "It was 50/50 what was going to happen. I may have been dead, I may not have woken up," he said. "Doctors use a points system. Fifteen is normal, three is a flatline. I was a three. I was that close to being dead." He added he was amazed that he had not needed brain surgery. Today's Mirror publishes new pictures of a remarkably well-looking Hammond with his wife, Mindy, and daughters, Izzy and Willow.'
Pretty much as I said. My sources were actually right for once. I suppose as they came from inside The Daily Mirror, they were slightly more credible though.
EDIT: The Mirror have posted their own, official version here.
As a privelidged beta tester of Scrybe, I’ve had the chance to see what all the fuss is about with this fancy new Web 2.0 application. Basically, Scrybe is an online organizer which manages to pack in a hell of a lot more. For example, without even having access to the internet, Scrybe works like a dream, without even having software installed on your PC! It’s a fairly long process, but I won’t go into it now. I’ll just say that it is very, very clever the way the whole application works. Considering the app has only just been released into beta, its speed is amazing and the design could pass off as that of a paid piece of software. It has some clever tools built in that let you organize your images, thoughts, bookmarks, web sites and files in ample time within a simple layout. With built in to-do lists, printing ability, multiple-time-zone facilities and the great advantage of being able to import/export data to or from other apps, Scrybe is a must-have.
Firefox 2.0 is due to debut worldwide tomorrow, Tuesday 24th October. This would follow the delayed launch of Internet Explorer 7. IE7 has only just caught up with Firefox 1.5, but now Firefox plan to turn round and slap Microsoft accross the face with a wet fish, bringing in new, advanced features previously unseen. The Windows, Mac and Linux compatible Firefox release will support 39 different languages fully. It’s expected to way in at a tiny 5MB. Considering what it packs in, combined with it’s speed and power, it’s a wonder it’s not 10 times larger. An intergrated in-line spell checker will mean that my blog posts will no longer be ridden with gramatical errors and that generally, you will have a more pleasant experience. You’ll be able to download the final version of Firefox tomorrow at my blog, Globa-Tech Today the very second it’s launched by clicking on the ‘Get Firefox’ button on my toolbar. If you do this, I’ll receive a dollar, you’ll get a great browser, and Bill Gates will start crying. Everybody is happy! (But as Timmy pointed out in the comments, Bill might not be!)
After Richard Hammond's horrifying rocket powered dragster crash, news has just been released that the full story will be revealed in Monday 23 October's 'The Daily Mirror'. The full story will be the headline article, with Richard's face on the right-hand side, a black cover and the title 'RICHARD HAMMOND - THE DAY I DIED' in big white lettering. It's expected that previously unreleased photos be included with the advert and that new pictures of the man himself be inlcuded. A photo that I can confirm, is one of Hammond sat with his head in his hands and watery eyes. My contact has also informed me that the marketing slogan to get people to buy the day's paper will be 'Richard Hammond - Back from the dead in this exclusive interview.' Corny I know, but this is the Daily Mirror we're talking about.
Most of you have seenn Wikipedia, and I'm sure that alot of you use it on a day-to-day basis. I for one, couldn't live without it! I'm constantly surfing random articles, finding out new and useful things. But one thing that might not have occured to you... Have you ever thought about starting up your own Wiki? This is where OttoWiki comes in. Now there are plenty of free wiki sites out there, but without a doubt, for creating your own, Otto rules the bunch. You start by simply picking a name for your Wiki. At this point, you can choose if you would like to password protect the Wiki, or keep it as it is. Once this first step is complete (it takes roughly 10 seconds), you have the choice of adding a comment. The comment script uses Ajax, and is rather similar to the one used on Profy. Now you've got your wiki (ottowiki.com/WIKINAME) you'll be able to add content. The fun starts here. I'll leave the rest up to you! Just make sure that you tell your friends. Otto is a very small site and has few users, it's a great service though. That's why I'm writing about it, to tell you.
I'm not a big fan of booze and drinks, but if I was (like my Dad!), then certainly I'd love Extratasty.com. Extratasty is a place where you can share your recipies with other drinks enthusiasts and see what they think. People then give ratings to the best and the worst, and the communtity goes on. There's a great atmosphere about the site. People comment on drinks, let others know what they're like, and generally, the site users know each other. They're always glad to welcome a newbie, and there are a variety of recipies to tingle even the most resistant taste buds. The sheer Web 2.0ness of the design makes it much more appealing.
Extratasty is frequently updated by it's users, all of whom desire to reach the 'Drink Of The Day' hotspot. Only the best drinks make it and the site offers an RSS feed to keep even the laziest of you updated with the latest drinks to hit the site. The site is kind of a social networking place aswell, with the ability to add friends. Obviously, this isn't the main focus of the site and therefore hasn't had much work done on it, but still, it's a worthy addition that makes it worth anybody's time.
With site getting more visitors than ever (an Alexa rank this week of 247,862 with a reach of 15 million today!), I thought I'd just write a post to keep you updated on the situation. I've had loads of positive comments fired my way at Profy, '12 years olds. Huh… Amazing!', 'Boy... you rock. Welcome to the club.', 'Why ahould a person not write if they have something interesting to say? Is the age really such a big deal?' and 'You will eventually become one of our best authors.' being just some of my favourites. I'm now thankfully making a decent income (even if it's not spectacular) of $300 a month. Still, not bad for a 12-year old! If anyone knows anyone else who is looking for a professional technology blogger, just e-mail me and let me know. I'd be more than happy to have a look around and see what you're offering.
Old news now, I know. But this is just great! A bunch of highschool kids like myself, pulling off the Halo Theme Tune at a talent competition. The violinist is really good!
A German driver, following his trusty Sat Navs directions, found himself on the middle of a German railway track with a high-speed comuter train heading straight at him. The BMW and the driver were both uninjured, but Speigel reports that the man had been 'So busy paying attention to his portable navigation device, that he had not kept his eyes on the road, therefore finding himself on a railway track.'
A novel little tool that I discovered yesterday whilst having some fun, browsing through some Web 2.0 Applications. Most of you probably know about Phrasr, but this is just a quick review of the fun little tool. The flash app let’s you create short picture messages, getting across your point succesfully. All you have to do, is just type in a short phrase on which to base your picture presentation and off the software goes! It averages roughly a second a word, making it a pretty speedy job, with highly satisfying results. Kudos to Pimpampum, the creators of the application. Phrasr - Enabling Pictoral Communications via me on Profy.com.
What is it? Well, in short, it’s a brilliant site that lets you create and share your own sourcelists. You sign-up, create a category and start your spree! It’s a great way to let others see what kind of stuff you’re into and gives them a taster of what you enjoy. When you sign up, the Fluctu8 homepage displays the latest users who’ve signed up and the sources they’ve added. As of writing this, the top post is a rather boring ‘Pediatric Podcast For Parents’, but further down are some more appealing casts, radios and audio shows. The Fluctu8 team have a ‘Featured Sources’ section and a ‘Favourite Few’. The great thing is though, that Fluctu8 is a muli language community, with the website being available in nine languages, courtesey of Babblefish of course! I hope you guys find this as useful as I! It’s great to see more and more Web 2.0 sites hitting the headlines.
You may be able to tell, that Globa-Tech Today is not a very snazzy Web 2.0 blog name. Infact, it just about breaks every Web 2.0 naming guideline there is. If you’ve ever been tempted by the eternal riches that the Internet beholds, then perhaps you’ve thought about starting up your own Web 2.0 business? If you have, then I’m sure you’ll soon come to realise that the hardest thing about setting up your own business is not the page design, the graphics, or the content, but actually the name. I can't be bothered changing the blog name, again, but let's just call it Globa-Tech... Okay?
Click here to read how to name your website correctly (not like this blog). Via me on Profy.com.
It was bound to happen sometime. I knew I was brilliant (hardly)! Profy.com have snapped me up to their blog and have offered me a pay-per-post contract. Don't think I'm ditching you guys for hard cash though! You're one of the best audiences for a website I've ever seen! A constant never ending community with a great forum. I'll still be updating the website as much as ever, but now with help of sources inside Profy too!
For those of you who don't know, Profy.com is a non-profit orginization amied at bringing you the latest Internet, Blogging and Web 2.0 news. Seriously, Profy looks like a winner. Owned by Svetlana Gladkova, Profy.com is set to become one of the best new sources for news around. Stay tuned! Globa-Tech has a sister site!
IE7 is out, and hell, it's good. After downloading RC1, I saw that it was still a far way off Firefox, but now, Microsoft has really pulled out all the stops, lathering in extra features, securing the browser still further, added extra support for JS and is the hard work of 5 beta versions + a release candidate plus thosands of feedback forms. The tabbed browsing is a godsend, so is the incorporation of an RSS reader. The search is nice, the print-preview actually works (Gasp!) and the anti-phising filter seems to do the job nicely too. All that said, I'm still typing this on Firefox. IE needed something new, not just playing a catchup game with Firefox, and unfortunately, they've failed to deliver in that sector. Still, IE can now regain back some of the marketshare it's lost to Firefox. I noticed though that still, IE doesn't show Globa-Tech Today as it should. If you want to download the new browser and see for yourself (before it becomes an automatic, must-have update), then head over to the Microsoft IE Center.
Microsoft has come upfront at X06 Korea and announced to the world that a 100GB Xbox 360 HDD will be hitting the shelves in March 2007. Hopefully the launch will have a worldwide date and a price soon, but the fact is, it's official. Now you can store 5x the demos, 5x the music and 5x the add-ons. A much appreciated upgrade for any full up HDD. I was hoping just the other day that someone would write a hack to let you replace thew standard 20GB HDD, but now no need! The Official Xbox 360 100GB HDD is on it's way! Ownage in a plastic cover! Read more (if you know Korean anyway) here.
When an Apple product ships with a Windows Virus intended to attack Microsoft's OS, it's not surprising that people get suspicious. But it was good ol' Apple who ended up admitting to the inadvertant sabotauge. It was just the other day that we heard of trojans being distributed via MP3s, and now this? Is this the dawn of a new cyber era? Will we all eventually become victims of the same, horrible fate? Who knows, but Apple have fixed the problem. All iPods now ship Virus free! In a statement, Apple said they, '...recently discovered that a small number - less than 1% - of the Video iPods available for purchase after September 12, 2006, left our contract manufacturer carrying the Windows RavMonE.exe virus. This known virus affects only Windows computers, and up to date anti-virus software which is included with most Windows computers should detect and remove it. So far we have seen less than 25 reports concerning this problem. The iPod nano, iPod shuffle and Mac OS X are not affected, and all Video iPods now shipping are virus free. As you might imagine, we are upset at Windows for not being more hardy against such viruses, and even more upset with ourselves for not catching it.' Apple, being the good souls they are have posted full details on how to remove the virus here.
Yet another incredibly believable rumour. One word, 'ThinkSecret'. Two words, 'Think Again'. I'm not terribly convinced by this poster that claims to show the iPhone in all of it's short and stocky glory. This time however, ThinkSecret is changing their story. Now, for the first time, we are hearing reports that there will be two different iPhones. One smartphone, one standard. The smartphone would incorporate a fancy QWERTY keyboard, Wi-Fi, email capabilities, web browsing, acamera, and music playback. Sounding like a blackberry? Yeah, well the list goes on. The standard handset on the other-hand is suposedly a candy bar phone which packs in a 3-megapixel camera, a 2.2-inch display, and some standard iPod/iTunes connectivity. Apparently Cingular will providing the initial phones at launch, January 2007. If the iWide rumours are true, you'll be getting a widescreen, touchscreen iPod in December aswell. A field day for us techies! Again, this is a rumour. The poster shown could easily have been a Photoshop creation. Afterall, it didn't take me long to prove the MacTower hoax, to be indeed, a hoax.
The Nintendo Wii was caught on camera to be 'frozen' after all the rumours it would run cooler than the PS3 and the Xbox 360. The screeching is terrible! If anything, now your eternal 20 hours of unsaved game missery will only be accompanied by an annoying sound. Great. Just great.
A robber found a novel way to hack an ATM machine. Obviously with inside help, the robber made thousands of dollars using this method and it has taken American Police days to track down the man. Watch the CNN report below.
Disclaimer: We do not reccomend hacking your local ATM, but if you have to, we understand.
Serious Disclaimer: No... Really. Don't. I don't want to get sued against. I can confirm now that companies really hate it when you rob their profits. Coca-cola were not very happy after my posting on the coke machine hack.
We knew that the new Sony Bravia lineup of TVs were impressive, but we were even more impressed when we watched their advert! Having previously been far from amused by their adverts, we can see that Sony have now got their act together and started to shoot some really good quality stuff. The music goes great! What a sense of occasion!
ColourLikeNoOther.com and Bravia-Advert.com have also released some behind the scenes footage of Sony shooting the masterpiece. No CGI here folks, just the real stuff! 70,000 liters of multi-coloured, enviromentaly paint exploding around Glaswegian apartment blocks. Quality!
Pageflakes, my favourite online RSS reader has just given their whole site a brand new spanking re-launch. 'Pageflakes 2.0' promises faster RSS loading speeds, practical new widgets and an even easier to use graphical interface. Perhaps the most exciting new feature of them all is the ability to have multiple Pageflakes pages. This allows for greater flexibility and will turn Pageflakes from just your 'homepage' and into your 'homesite'. The new Pageflakes look that has been created makes the whole site much more Web 2.0 friendly. The new design is much more favourable than Google's own 'homepage service' which cannot offer the new features that Pageflakes has produced. The revamp seems to have gone down particularly well in the blogosphere with more than a few sites writing raving reviews about the re-design. Shows just how much difference Web 2.0 is making.
If you are above all us normal people and are determined to have an entirely automated kitchen, then you'll be in love with the new 'Garlic It' from Tichkum. I have no need for the snazzy machine, but it can successfuly peel onions, raddishes, peanuts (what the?) and peppers. The Tichkum website also suggests that you try crushing ice in the machine. I can't imagine what garlic tasting ice would be like, but I'm perfectly fine with getting it via my £10,000 refridgerator. I wish... As I was saying. The compact, table-top device can be seen over at the official media release.
Yes, Blogger have finally got round to re-enabling image posting. And about time too! I've been wanting to show you thesupposed new 'Red Macs' that Cono and Jobs are due to release this coming week. They would be a welcome addition to the Red iPod 2G Nano of which $10 is going to help fight AIDS and if Apple were to launch a whole range of AIDS products, I really think that we could see this take off. Unfortunately, this rumour come from the source of all dodgy Apple rumours, with only 2% 56% of their claims ending up true. (Figures via Gawker). If this does take off, consumers would end up getting fancy pink breast cancer laptops (or whatever the case may be) and people in thrid world countries would see medical facilities in their countries improve in quality and more widespread cures becoming available for diseases. Everyone is a winner, except whoever ends up paying the extra $10. Big whoop! $10... £5. Whatever your currency, it's not going to change the world. Get a red iPod and change the world.
With all the hype over North Korea, the rest of the world appears to have forgotten about the devastating wars that are taking place elsewhere. Click here to check out an awesome battle between a desktop. I'm surprised IE stayed on it's feet. DiabloII appears to own, but where's Firefox? Perhaps that's the UN, keeping it's nose out of trouble and trying to sort out it's own safety rather than worrying about that of Microsoft.
It's very likely that all of you already knew about this site, but I still thought I'd share it with you as it offers some novel things to do with your beloved iPod. Whether it be a bulky original, a mini or an old Nano, iAttire.net has a hell of alot of costumes for all occasions. Whether you want a new iPod Halloween costume for 2006, a mini-beret or some boxer shorts, you'll find that iAttire caters for all your needs. I thought that with halloween coming up and all, this could be of some interest to those of you who haven't heard about it before. Even better, iAttire claims that their whole range is 'hand-made'. If it is, great! But we've heard this marketing ploy a hundred times before. I've already ordered my iPod pirate costume. Very good looking costumes. Perfect for that extra special occasion when you want to dress up your iPod a little.
NOTE: I had some great pictures to show you... Unfortunately, the picture upload system has conked out on me. Again. Yet another great reason to move to Wordpress. Adios amigos!
The annual 'How scary can you be?' halloween contest has an undisputed winner. This year, shocking both the petrified judges, horrified contestants and the embarassed winner, the Child Toilet Constume manages to shame all others. Never again will your poor child get a date to a prom or go out with friends. Surely this is the new definition of 'child abuse'. Maybe not the best costume for trick 'n' treating and not even a nice design. Don't ask me why I posted about it. Colbert was the one who told me about it anyway... blame him! Doesn't that kid remind you of the young Willy Wonka from the films remake? As if he didn't have enough problems already!
Minor sideaffects include lifelong depression and anxiety problems.
Sony has managed to do it again. 'Do what?' you say. Make no sense when it comes to marketing. I was left feeling utterly confused over this one. I can see where Sony are going with this new PS3 TV advert, but will anybody particularly want to buy a PS3 after watching this? No. Some gameplay would have been nice Sony. Still, rather spooky. Reminds me of an alien invasion.
And that was the one, the only, the boy. We don't know his name, but it's a pitty Sony couldn't afford some decent actors.
You may already know about the Sapphire X1900XTX Toxic GPU. It's an ordinary Radeon X1900XTX, but with one major difference. No fan. 'WHAT?' you say, no fan? No. Just in-built watercooling, which is one of the reasons that to many lazy enthusiasts, the Toxic is the best card available. To all you lazies out there that I'm reffering to (I admit, I am one of you!), then you'll be pleased to hear that Sapphire have just taken the wrapping of their latest additions to the Toxic family. The Sapphire X1950XTX Toxic & Sapphire X1950XTX Toxic Crossfire (Oh yeah! Get in there!) are overclocked, watercooled versions of the normal X1950XTX series. The 1900XTX was very overclockable if you did it right, and to take laziness one step further, Sapphire has obliged to do it for you on the X1950XTX Toxics. The 'fastest add-in board on the planet runs at 695Mhz as opposed to the stock speed of 650Mhz. Apparently, this isn't as far as the Toxic can go, but Sapphire declined to say quite how far it could go. Phase-Changed case cooling and a few extra fans blowing onto it can't go wrong though! With 512MB of GDDR4 cooling, 48 pixel shaders and 16 pixel processing pipelines, the new Toxics race through any and every game that challenges them. So far, 3DMark06 has been obliterated by the cards, and that in itself, is quite something.
The cards are set to ship next week for round abouts £380/$550.
McDonalds has an appauling reputation as it is in the UK and have tried to change their image drastically over here. Giving away free MP3 players that come pre-loaded with malware, doesn't seem to be a good marketing technique. The MP3 players thoughtfully had QQpass installed, free of charge. Now usernames, passwords and bank details are free for use to the writer. In response to the 'possible problem' (WHAT DO YOU MEAN? POSSIBLE!?!?!?!?!), McDonalds have set up a 24-hour hotline. According to Gizmodo, most conversations are going somewhat like this.
JFOP (Junk-Food-Obbsessed-Person): My identity has been stolen thanks to your ****ty MP3 player. SIT (Spotty-Ignorant-Teenager): Okay Sir. Is our food unsafe for consumption? JFOP: Well... uhh... yeah. I guess. SIT: But that's why it's so tasty, no? JFOP: I guess... How is this related though? SIT: McDonalds also thought that unsafe music could be extra good, too...but if you're watching your credit line... JFOP: No, no I'm not. SIT: Then perhaps you'd like to try our new McSledgehammer? It's really cad for your computer. JFOP: Sounds delicious!
Sony have launched a new, rather insipred PS3 marketing campaign. Somewhat reminiscent of the Microsoft Zune marketing website, PlayB3yond.com promises a fun little way to find out a bit more about the PS3. The random symbols on the wall are actually a code. Check out the solution right at the bottom of this post. Going to PlayB3yond and completing the following codes lets you get the following.
factorfive - all new 2 min Lair trailer
fire - Lair footage (shows Tauros? New monster)
fangs - Lair combat montage
king - Heavenly Sword wallpaper
nariko - Heavenly Sword wallpaper
andyserkis - Heavenly Sword TGS trailer
mayday - Warhawk wallpaper
dogfight - Warhawk video
machone - Warhawk music
tedprice - Resistance behind the scenes - MUSIC
chimera - Resistance wallpaper
nathanhale - Resistance behind the scenes - TECHNOLOGY
music - Genji soundtrack
heishi - Genji 2 wallpaper
evolutionstudios - Motorstorm trailer with commentary
dust - Motorstorm wallpaper
monumentvalley - Motorstorm wallpaper
And that's that. NOTE: You have to be 18+ to view this site. Sony says, not me.
For a massive company like Blizzard, when something on this scale happens, it means massive distibutions of 'free month vouchers' and a tonne of 'appology e-mails' being sent out to the affected users. For those of you who play World Of Warcraft, you'll know that your character is on a particular server. If your mate is on another, you have to pay a small fee and then your character is moved over to that server and you can meet up online. The prolem all blew up however, when a Kotaku writer tried to move over his player and was told to wait '12-hours for succesful change-over of account'. 2 days passed, his bank account had been charged for the 'change-over', but his account was unplayable. Since the incident 8 days ago now, thousands of people flocking on the WoW Forums complaining the exact same thing. Many people have lost money through subscription fees on top of the charges for server switch-over. Blizzard have only just pulled the server change-over page and are yet to issue a statement regarding what went wrong, possible compensation and support details. Although the offending problems only affect debit cards (not credit cards), it gets a hell of a lot worse. Their banks haven't just been charged for the cost of the server change, but drained completely. Their banks have frozen their accounts and they have become broke. Blizzard is going to court, and someone is going to have to cough up.
I've been holding off posting about the new 2G Red iPod Nano until it hits the shelves, which is exactly what has happened. For those of you who didn't follow the story, Bono and Oprah announced the news at the Chicago North Michigan Ave Apple Store just the other day. Why were Bono and Oprah making a fuss about it? Becuase $10 from each Red Nano sold goes to combatting AIDS in Africa. Join the cause, get an iPod! What a great tagline! I can see that selling millions on valentines day. As you can see, the product page is now up. Head over there now.
Daewoo have been very busy expanding their line of high-end microwave recently, and it wasn't that many days ago that we introduced you to their voice activated microwave. Now, Daewoo have come up with a new, brilliant idea. I'm not quite sure how you'd possibly use this. Perhaps on a kitchen island or in a bar type area? At least hen it would save you the terrible toil and strife of walking from the dining room into the kitchen. The dual-door microwave is scheduled to become available sometime in 2007.
CDW has launched their Buslink Pro 2 USB Drive. Packing in a whopping 64GB of storage, you can get a fully kitted out, modded gaming PC for exactly the same price. $5740 (£2890) can go a long way in today's world like I said. Looking somewhat similar to a cigarette lighter (or if you can afford this, a posh cuban cigar lighter), the Buslink Pro 2 fits snugly into your pocker or can be attached onto a keyring (as pictured). If you can't quite afford the all at once full out payment, you can get a 32-month $180 loan. I make that out to cost around $5760 (£2900).
With the new James Bond film, Casino Royale just around corner, maufacturers are cashing in on the craze in the ususal way in the hope to make flog a few extra models. Sony Ericsson is no different having announced their new 'Limited Edition James Bond Phones'. Basicly, they're identical to the old K800 and K790 phones, but just come in a new sivler colour. James doesn't like orange it seems. No extra gadgets on the phone, just some pretty lame wallpapers and movie trailers which won't be anything at all once the film has come out. not exacvtly the nicest 'Special Edition' phone ever, but the silver sheen is a nice touch to make the phone interegrate nicely with a businessman's atire.
If you were planning on getting either the K800 or the K790 phones anyway, then you may appreciate the new colour option available. Still, as a die hard James Bond fan, I won't deny that I'm a little dissapointed that a special gadget, a secret agent USB drive or a cool game (or something of that sorts) wasn't included with the phone. Any old sucker can download wallpapers and trailers from the net. Alas. This is not the day we've all been waiting for. That said, I can see myself getting this silvery phone sometime in the near future.
The PS3 was overpriced. But some people still can't get enough of it. A quick search on eBay shows that people who guarantee 'free, launch-day shipping' on PS3s can make themselves $3000 per console. Somewhat reminiscent of the scramble for Xbox 360s, if not worse, there are almsot tripple the amount of people worldwide claiming first-day shipping than PS3s that are to be released on launch-day. Do the maths, it's not that hard. 500,000 units. An estimated 1.4million claims for 'launch-day shipping' on the internet and in high-street stores combined. Something is wrong here.
Browsing through eBay also reveals how sad some people really are. For example, '*BUY*RARE*LIMITED EDITION*ONE OF A KIND*PS3 EMAIL ACCOUNT!*ps3-sellpoint-reatiler@hotmail.co.uk*'. The list goes on of about 1000 corny e-mails claming to be associated with hotmai/yahoo/gmail. None of them are good. None of them. They all sell for about $5 too, so stear clear.
Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster claimed earlier this week that, 'Two major motion picture companies have indicated that they plan to join Disney in the selling of movies via iTunes within six months from now.' It came as a shock a few weeks back when Disney announced that in the first few days of selling on iTunes, they'd turned over an extra $1,000,000 in revenue! Muster elaborated on the subject and claimed that there were 'three key reasons why other studios are taking their time in opening up film libraries to iTunes. Mainly retaliation concerns on the part of retailers, copy protection issues, and a desire to have a more flexible pricing model.'
I'd hate to make it look like I'm being uncaring towards other religions today, but really! This is going far too far. Muslims have been in uproar on the CNet site today after someone brought up the similarities between the 5th Ave Apple Store and some 'Ka'ba' in Mecca. Big whoop. Similar architecture. Does that mean I can sue the house next door for looking like mine? Nope. Didn't think so. Muslims are claiming that the 5th Avenue Bar is serving alcholic beverages and is disrespecting there holy beliefs. Yatar-yatar-bloody-schmuk. The only bar I could find in the 5th Ave store last time I went, was the Genius Bar (much to my disgust). All that the Apple Genius Bar serves is douses of knowledge which help you mend your broken iPod Nano. Apple has never sold alcohol in it's stores and probably never will. Drunk people tinkering with expensive equipment? Apple aint diggin' that. Story via CG.
Seriously. If people are getting in a tizz about this, then you wonder what will happen when something offensive actually happens. Hope you guys didn't find this too controversial. At least I won't be set upon by angry Sony fanboys on this post though. Just random peoples who hate me.
Sony seem determined to put all of us gamers down. MeriStation has been reported saying that Ken Kutaragi 'recently admitted that supply problems for Japan and North America could force the European PS3 launch to be delayed until May — which would mean that Japanese and American consumers might have their systems nearly six months before the rest of the world.' Clearly, this includes Europe, meaning that even the Sony fanboys will now be stopping in their tracks and questioning their loyalty to Sony.
This is rather serious news, so listen carefully. Today whilst travelling around Manchester, I was on my usual 41-bus route home. I pressed the bell like usual and walked down the steps. We stopped at some traffic lights. In the mean-time, I was listening to the bus radio as I usually do, and I heard the voice of a Stagecoach bus driver, followed by that of another bus drivers voice. Both were reporting that suspicious baggage had been left un-attended on the upper floors of two different busses (the numbers I could not hear) and that they were turning back into their depos. The bus driver on my bus immediately looked at me as if to say 'You better not tell anyone... please!' Obviously Stagecoach didn't want this to get out. This being the exact reason I'm posting it on a world-wide blog. You guys need to know. Not Tech news, but serious, potentially life-threatning news. This whole thing might turn out to be nothing... nothing at all, but I found it interesting.
Alot of people are unhappy with this video. It's not just Sony fanboys for once either. People all over forums have been calling Microsoft 'racist' making it out that black people are better than whites. Completely ridiculous of course... BILL GATES IS WHITE! For goodness sake. You wonder how thick-skulled these people are.
And that was the offending video. Nice end, I think you'll agree. Expect TV screens near you to be flashing adverts like this every single commercial. MS likes to do things big, not in the same style as Sony though.
If you're a geek like me, then you'll know that when things come out shaped like a wookie's head, it's something you have to own. Made by your favourite specialised USB pen drivve company, Mimoco. We've already seen their flying fish/cat design, a devil, three gangsters, a few rich freaks, some indescribably pink monsters and that evil blood thirsty yellow dragon. Those Mimobot designers have been busy. It's official of course, all made in accordance with Lucasfilm Ltd. Available in 1GB, 2GB and 4GB models, each comes with it's own pre-loaded special content. This might be anything from trailers, avatars, wallpapers or soundbites. It's completely random. Currently, the only officialy announced Mimbot has been the Darth Vader Bot pictured. Mimoco promise us that three additional pen drives are on their way though. In the mean time however, Mimoco have launched a guessing game. Guess all three upcoming USB drives correctly and you could win all of them in 4GB capacities. How cool is that?
This desk is quite claerly aimed at the enthusiast gaming market. However, Roccaforte appeals to people of all interests based on one sole thing. They use their computer enough to warrant it. Costing $500, Roccaforte roughly translates into 'fortress' from Itallian. Of course the desk would be an ideal space saving solution in any home, but we're sure it will appeal to the evil geniuses amongst you more than others. You can either have 3 monitors placed side-to-side on the desk or one big (I mean really big!) monitor in the middle. Perfect for pro-bloggers and gamers. Made by Japanese firm M-S-Y. Don't ask why they chose to spell it in Itallian though. That my friends, is beyond me. If you can face the Japanese product page, go here. Like I said, not English. Don't you love having translators?
For the past week I've been very busy completely redoing the site. I've so far made arrangements for a '.com' domain, started to switch over to a dedicated server, begun to swap the site over to wordpress, tagged all of the site's content with relevant tags, created a specialised article search feature and have been busy building new scripts to enhance usability, loading times and overall looks of the webpage.
Not an easy job. I'm at a very delicate part of the switch over at the moment, so don't be surprised if I don't get chance to post today. The end result will be better, much better! Honest! Stay tuned for updates. Don't expect the new site to come out of beta testing anytime soon however, and until then, the URL will remain private. Thanks for your continued support and patience.
Apple has taken the cake... Again. But this time they mean it literally. If you couldn't get enough of the Super Mario cake we showed you then head right over and take a look at this cake! Nice lined icing effects. Still, it doesn't beat my cake island I made last year. I'll have to post some piccys of that sometime. Maybe next time someone creates a Tech themed cake. You may think that it never happens, but it's becoming increasingly popular! I'm getting a Master Chief cake made! Pure ownage.
Is Google preparing a takeover bid of Facebook? They're pockets still are stretchy, so it's possible. Kudos to the rumour mill on this one. Threadwatch reckons that a 'YouTube Insider claims that' Google are about to place an offer in for Facebook for $2.3 billion! Even more than it cost for GooTube. Will GooBook join the ranks? If it does, tell your friends you found out here! If not, this post will cease to exist... You get the drill.
According to a reliable source, a widescreen, wireless video iPod is on it's way. It's not just us reporting this. Engadget have also been tipped off multiple times about this in days gone by. According to the tipster who alerted us, the iPod should be announced in the near future. Great for all you Apple fanboys out there who haven't yet spent your money on one of new iPods. But can you really see Apple saying 'Sorry guys. We just wanted a bit of extra cash!' to those people who've bought the new 80GB iPods? That would be rather reminiscent of the old Radeon X1800 problem where the X1900, massively better, was introduced the following month.
If you find these number plates even the slightest bit funny, it's time to lock yourself away and admit that 'Yes, you're a geek!'. Read the full, amusing article over at Geek24. I like the binary number plate the best! 'MR GEEK' isn't all that bad either!
NOTE: Seems that we're having picture trouble... AGAIN! I'm really sorry about this. I've got my best man (me) working on it this very moment. It's all bloggers fault though, so go and slay them! Stop with all the comments! I'm spending more time moderating them than I am writing articles.
You've probably all heard stories of people making a living by blogging from the comfort of their bed, wearing nothing more than underwear. Well get ready for round 2! Thanks to Kueco and Visiomatic, you can now get waterproof LCDs that range in size from 10 inches to 37 inches. Bathtub blogging is now a reality. Either fit it into your wall or buy a freestanding unit. The waterproof LCDs can access the internet, play DVDs, write text messages, listen to the radio, playback your entire MP3 collection, etc. No pricing has been announced yet, but if it doesn't hit too high, the Mediastation Multimedia System might find itself making appearences in many peoples homes. If you do plan on putting it in your bathroom. Don't attach a webcam. Trust me.
Click on the image for a bigger picture. The Audio S8 features an in-built iPod screen.
The Audio S8 sports a rather impressive iPod docking system & display along with alot more, but still fails to match up to the design and features of the Chrysler Sebring 2007. An in-built iPod display in a car is something we've not seen before if I'm not very much mistaken. We've seen radios with iPod displays, but generally the technology is considered unneeded. There's no questioning the fact that it adds a gadgety flare to any device it's put in and that gamble is undoubtedly what Audi is hoping when they start selling the S8. Of course impressive docking isn't the only thing the Audio has. It has a v10 Mill engine based on the Lamborghini Gallardo's own. The iPod docking screen is admittedly, very beautiful and has lush colours that blend in well with the car's interior. The car retails at $100,000 so have your cheque book handy.
Rozetkus have launched a very modern, well designed powerstrip designed to offer you maximum connectivity for all your lighting/charging needs. The sleek black box with well placed blue LEDs perfect for late night plugging/unplugging of devices. The Rozetkus Powerstrip doesn't support appliances that require 4.8mm sockets, (for security reasons), instead only 4mm devices. This is covers most chargers/external HDDs/lamps/clocks and the high voltage fuse offers good protection against un-forseen power surges. Make a mental note that the board doesn't work diagonally as the space between the sockets is wider (Duh!). Click on the picture to enlarge it.
Mad Catz have launched their long anticipated Xbox 360 Arcade Joystick. Although made by my least favourite games accessories developer, I'll do my best to write an honest review, one not swayed by personal feelings. The previously slated price of $50 has been ripped off GameStop's website and is now set firmly at a hefty $60. Still, if you're looking for an old time classic to play Frogger, Pacman, Street Fighter, or whatever it may be, then this is, without a doubt, the controller for you. Most Xbox 360 controllers from third party companies have previously looked tacky and cheap. The Retro Controller from Mad Catz makes a better job, but still fails to match up to the shere elegance of the Official Controller. Click here for the product page.
After days of tormenting rumours about Google's possible acquisition of YouTube, Google have gone ahead and bought all of YouTube's shares. It was only $1.65 billion dollars afterall, making it Google's most expensive takeover yet. Will this lead to unrivalled competition between Google and Yahoo? Or will both companies simply settle down and learn to live in harmony together? I don't think so. After all, Google provides me with money, e-mail, callendar, search and now entertainment too! Or will this simply turn YouTube into a wanna be service, as so happens when one big company buys another. Some interesting pictures showed up around the net about new logos, but we're sure they'll stick with the old 'YouTube' name. Seems like Google is one step closer to global domination.
The Xbox 360 didn't go down well in Japan, that's fact. RPGs by the makers of Final Fantasy are just about the only thing that does excite the manga-frenzied people over there. No! They're not after poo this time, but Microsoft in Japan is retailing the Xbox 360 Core System with a copy of Blue Dragon (the RPG in question), a special edition faceplate (sounding like the Core World Cup Bundel to you too?) and 5 Blue Dragon figurines (Presumably in replacement of a green football). The faceplate is very nice, I'm sure you'll agree. Product Page. (NOTE: The site seems to be experiencing issues at the moment.) Picture credit goes to Gizmodo.
After all of Microsoft's promises about Internet Explorer 7 offering you a safe browsing experience, screenshots have got out about just how 'safe' it really is. Click here for the full report. I'm just going to stick with Firefox for now. Globa-Tech shows up better with Firefox anyway! Admittedly, it is alot harder for unwanted stuff to find it's way onto your PC with IE7 and Microsoft certainly deserves some karma points for that.
I've just come across Google Dilbert. It's a rather funny page about Google by Scott Adams, the creator of Dilbert. We all know how great Dilbert is. It's in pretty much every computer magazine under the sun. I get 'Computing' delivered to me every Friday because as a 'Professional Blogger' I apparently qualify to receive it for free. Wonder if they know I'm 12? That even has Dilbert in. Anyway... Here's the link. It's great. Seriously.
There would be one spork to rule them all. And the new Titanium Spork from ThinkGeek blatently shouts 'THAT'S ME! OOOH! PICK ME!' The Spork Of Gods is the ultimate pokey thing for any self-respecting spork obsessed geek. I though, however much I try, hate the name. Therefore, I have resulted to the awful, horrific last measure of them all. I've renamed the spork. As I was saying. THE UBER SPORK OF DOOM is the ultimate new pokey thing for any self-respecting spork obsessed geek. (That being all of us then!) Made out of titanium, the spork owns. Or as those Zero Wing guys prefer, 'All your spork belong to us!' Measuring 6.25 inches in length and 1.5 inches at it's widest point, the spork should fit in with most standard cutlery. A bargain at only $9 (£5). Oh come on... it's titanium!
Most of you guys read Original Signal in your every day lives, or at home to catch up with your tech savvy colleagues. If you don't know what I'm on about, click here to find out for yourself. Some of you might not just use the basic signal, but also the gadget and technology ones. Well, GREAT NEWS! Tako Steinz over at OS has said that he is considering adding us to their Technology Signal during their upcoming revamp! Obviously, for a little blog like ours, this will be great news and we could see our ratings soar dramatically! OS sees themselves getting thousands of hits each day and Alexa ranks them 22,462! Okay, not the highest, but to be contacted by the owner of one of favourite websites on the internet is quite something! Seems Tako really likes our blog! He actually went as far as to call it 'Great!' I've been sworn in secrecy not to give his email away though! Understandable though as he seems to have gone to great lengths as it is to keep it off the internet. I respect his privacy and have given him my 'Hoo-Har Secrecy Handshake'.
If you couldn't get enough free coke out of the last video, why not try this even clearer video of how to steal coke from your local dispenser? Featuring two mischeivous youthes, this video is alot clearer, providing you with an in-depth guide on how to steal an extra coke.
Hmmm... Free coke. An appealing prospect, I'm sure you'll agree. Luckily, some bright person from somewhere or other has a nifty hack which works on some types of cola dispensers. You'll be getting two cokes for the price of one!
DISCLAIMER: Globa-Tech Today will not be held liable to side-effects of this caffeinated suggary drink. This includes, but is not limited to headaches, nauseia, hyperness, etc. Oh... And don't blame us if you get arrested.
Well well well! This is a surprise. This is hardly tech news, I'll admit it, but it's rather funny. Go to Google. In the search box, type 'search', and hit the 'I'm Feeling Lucky' button. For those of you who don't know, the button automatically sends you to the top result or whatever you requested to be searched. Well that's funny. Windows Live. I would have thought that in the short time it's been around, it wouldn't have got quite as many hits as Yahoo or Google. But that's PageRank for you. Funnily enough, if you go to Windows Live and type in 'search', what do you think is first in the list? Google.
Sony doesn't do things by halves as this great picture from Gizmodo shows. There has been lots of speculation about why the console is hovering in mid-air. My favourite answer being that 'Those loud, powerful fans in the PS3 are causing it to float!' What a shame that the apartment block probably costs less than the PS3. It's an Ad for the PS3 in the NYC, incase you still don't know what I'm on about.
Despite being anything but exciting, these tech-related fridges keep showing up on the scene whilst I'm trying to give you a decent overview of technology. But recently, these stupid fridges have actually been interesting. WE saw a diamond studded one not that long ago, and it seems that LG have launched a TV-Fridge with a 15" monitor. With the short name of GR-G227TVS, the fridege would compliment most modern designs and provide the ideal solution for snacking. Never again will you have to move long distance between the TV set and kitchen. Now you can watch you football game all the way through, uninterupted. Retailing in Australia for $7500. Of course, it would be alot cheaper to buy 10 flip-down counter TVs and a fancy fridge, but we love the idea.
Two posts in one here really. The Golden Poop. Japan's best selling mobile-phone accessory. If you're slightly surprised and wondering if you're imagining all this, well slap yourself back into reality. This is the real thing. With over 2.7 million shiny turds sold in Japan alone, the Golden Poop is showing it's worth. Not that much actually. Why make a golden poop? Well, it seems that turd is an item to be worshipped in Japan. I'm serious! Check it out here!
Other piece of news and a big sorry for the lack of updates yesterday, I was competing in a big Halo 2 tournament, HFest, I just so happened to win. Done in Slayer mode with 16 people playing at once. 320 contestants. One winner. I am that winner! Muhahahaha! I came on top of everyone else (total kills from all rounds) with 398 kills. I broke the previous HFest record by 63 (Wow!). Second place was Martin with 287 kills and third place Sammy, a new contestant, with 284 kills (3-off second place! If he'd got them, he would have won £50 more!). So, I walked away with my bank account considerably higher and watched the other contestants gaping open mouthed at a video play-back of my best moments. I'd been tipped to win after coming second last year, and Jaikudo had come along to record my games. Thanks for the great camera work Jai!
Scientists in Copenhagen have managed to create a... TELEPORTER! What the hell? Yep. They've so far only managed to transport anthing 18 inches, but that's quite a feat, I think you'll agree! "Creating entanglement is a very important step, but there are two more steps at least to perform teleportation. We have succeeded in making all three steps -- that is entanglement, quantum measurement and quantum feedback." That's what the scientists say anyway. The scientists managed to figure out how to teleport groups of billions of atoms from on place to another. I won't go into details, but let's just say it involves using light, quantum mechanics, magnetism and a new fangled concept that they call "entanglement." All sounds pretty fancy. WIll this change the world forever? Is this just the next step in a lazy-world? Or is this really all a hoax. You decide over at CNN. Once voted the 'World's most unlikely invention ties 1st place with time machine', the teleporter won't be ready for mass-use for decades to come, even if this has happened.
If you remember the days when people with Rubix Cubes were the 'in' people, then these speakers are for you. Sounding a bit mad? That's the effect that the makers of illuminatecube wanted to get accross, or at least, I think. Not so much the idea of the colour changing speakers that strikes me, but the possible future Rubix Cube possibilities. With Chinese schoolkids being able to solve the original in under 11 seconds, a colour changing cube could turn up the heat and add some real competition. Perhaps they could make one that changes colour everytime you're a single twist away from the finish. That would make a brilliant practical joke. Nice product, but can we really be bothered with psychadelic lights on top of our illuminated orange keyboards? What size do you think this Rubix Cube is. 10cm? 20? 30? 100? Nope... It's 110cm tall and standing proud. Plug it into your iPod or simply watch the show, the lights are nice even when there is no music.
No offence to Renault or anything, but they definitely don't feature on my 'Top 10 Car Manufacturers Of All Time'. But with their new 'Twingo' concept car, they stand a good chance of getting up there with the likes of Ferrari. The picture below speaks for itself. Just look, high-tech gadgets everywhere you look. And what's that in the middle? An iPod dock. Two of them. At the front, that hansome 15" touchscreen monitor is an internet connected computer Yay for blog updating on the go! And there's an eight-can chiller in the back. Why eight? I don't know. Maybe in the US you guys buy cans packs of eight, but here in the UK, they come in packs of six. On the outside, it looks nothing more than your average modded, souped-up Renault. Take a peak through the lightly tinted sports windows and see the gizmo collection for yourself!
The PS3 faced fresh critiscism after reports got out about playability problems concerning the PS3s at The Tokyo Gameshow. It was reported that users of the machines 'were kept busy, constantly restarting the machines in order to keep them on for more than a few minutes before problems such as overheating kicked in'. Sony's shareprice consequently fell 58 pence to £20.67. With only a month away from a Japanese launch now, Sony should be getting worried. More delays? We're not sure. But what is certain, is that if mass-scale production of these PS3s is underway, then some serious problems will be pre-packaged with the £600 console. Come on! You pay that much and get something rubbish anyway. Well, you Sony fanboys might disagree.
The iLive Home Docking System is an attempt at a multi-function iPod/CD Player/Radio and it works. Unlike many previous incarnations of the multi-function iPod dock, the iLive system seems to actually work. Although the sound quality isn't half as good as the Apple Hi-Fi system, it still works and isn't bad. The docking system looks fairly stylish too, and if you're looking for a dock, you may be interested. The system has AV outputs too, meaning that you can hook up your iPod to your TV, or any external screen that you want. Costing only £80 ($160), if you're budget can't stetch to the Apple system, but you want more than your friend's bog-standard average dock, then this will put you on the right track. Product Page at iLive.net.
The Creative Xmod promises many things. One of which being the ability to increase your MP3s sound quality to 'Beyond that of the original CD's quality. We're so confident that it will even be more effective than studio quality.' Sounds great. We'll believe it when we see it. Although we're a big fan of Creative, especially their X-Fi equipment, they have been know to over-market things and make extortionate claims. The X-Ram incident on their X-Fi Fatal1ty (Yes, him again!) Sound Card and their X-Fi Pro cards has not been proven to help in games performance at all, even if it does provide great bragging rights. The Xmod, even if it turns out not to work all that well, still looks fancy and all you have to do is place it in-between your MP3 and your speakers. The size of a candy bar, the Xmod is emblazened with three nice blue LEDs that display various things. In the box, you'll receive the standard manual, the Xmod itself, earphones and a USB cable, via which the Xmod draws it's power. Compatible with both Apple and Windows, not matter which OS you use your MP3s won't suffer. The central dial controls most of the functions, colume mainly, and on the side a Crystalizer switch can be found. On the bottom of the Xmod there are two standard 3.5mm jacks, one for headphones (as you'd expect) so that you can have 'Better than Studio Content direct in your ears.' I think that the general assumption here is that if you ask Crative no questions, they won't be forced to lie. Still, I'm looking forward to a hands-on experience with the Xmod, because if it's as great as it sounds, we're in for a treat.
The PS3's controller dinally breaks away from the 'Dualshock' tradition that Sony has used for so many years. SIXAXIS (no, Im not having a caps-lock fit, that's actually it's name) is, according to Kotaku, the new name for the controller, which will be set to do it's best against the two Nintendo remotes, including Nunchuck. The SIXAXIS name presumably means six-directions, the six sensory angles that the PS3 controller will, if rumours are to go by include. Bluetooth connectivity or wired USB means that if your battery runs out of charge unexpectedly, you can quickly plug it in. Sony have kept the wraps pretty tight on this one, and all we know is that the control retails in the US on November 11 (How could you forget? It's rememberance day. Also the PS3 launch date.) and will cost $48. Alot cheaper than rumours had suggested.
I always love when one of my favourite computing brands go and give their gizmos a remake. I was especially pleased today to learn of the new news that the diNovo Edge will be debuting worldwide very, very soon. Featuring a Windows Vista style key layout (namely the inclusion of the fancy new windows key) and orange and green backlit symbols surrounding keys, the diNovo Edge is well suited for the modern office. Costing $200 some would argue that the Edge is over-priced. But if you look at the features it packs in, bluetooth, in-built volume sensor, trackpad scrolling etc. on top of the fact that the keyboard is rechargable, you start to see the appeal in shelling out so much on a keyboard. Not to mention the beauty of the design itself of course. If your budget can stretch this far, then stretch out the hand of retribution and pick up the diNovo Edge today (or when a release date becomes available).
Click on the picture for a bigger, even more beautiful picture.
If someone said the word 'Fatality' to you, whtat would be the first thing you think of? Iraq? Afghanistan? Or just some computer gamer with a bunch of overpriced harware named after him? Zalman is clearly hoping that you're thinking of a varitation of the third one with the launch of their Zalman ZM-FC-ZE1 Fatal1ty Champ1on Series computer cases. That's a mouthful, I know, but wait until you hear the rest of it! Priced at $370, it's about $170 above what high-end cases usually cost. Antec make some great cases on the cheap, and there's really no reason to get this case unless you want it to match your Fatal1ty keychain, Fatal1ty hat, Fatal1ty hoody, Fatal1ty motherboard, Fatal1ty fan, Fatal1ty sound card, Fatal1ty coffee mat or your Fatal1ty whatever! He obviously is enjoying the Fame-al1ty of the situation and getting all the contracts he can while milking us all dry.
• Dimensions: 480mm x 220mm x 430mm (L x W x H) • Weight: 12.5 kg (27.5 lb) • Material:Pure Aluminum • Motherboard: ATX, Micro ATX • 5.25" Drive Bay: 4 Exposed • 3.5" Drive Bay: 1 Exposed, 3 Hidden • Cooling Fan: 1 x 120mm Rear, 2 x 92mm Front RED LED • Expansion Slot: 7 • Front I/O Port: 2 x USB2.0, 1 x IEEE 1394a Firewire, 1 x Mic, 1 x Headphone • Colour: Anodized Black
So all-in-all, not a bad PC case, but you can get this tonnes cheaper. The only PC cases I've seen more expensive than this have been pre-fitted watercooling cases, cases with custom laser etches done on them or a lovely 24kt gold plated Voodoo PC case. That was sweet!
This is a list of thirty or so possible iPhone concepts pushed forward by the Apple community in recent months gone by. We're tipping numbers 1, 9, 28 or 29 to be the closest to whatever the iPhone ends up looking like. The iPhone you see up above is my favourite, number 1. I really don't know why I like it. It's just simple, white and slidy. All of these put together equals something very good. Then again, if Blogger is still having this image trouble business, then maybe you can't see it. Sorry if that's the case! Just visit this site anyway.
If you're anything like those crazy guys from the Hades Factor, or you're simply just a sufferer from asthma, this new gadget could be a life-saver. This new concept phone from Gentag highlights all possible traces of potentially harful substances or unusal levels of substances in the air and reports it directly to you. Just select what you'd like to be warned about (starting at Hey Fever and ranging to the OMG!!!!!111!!1! W07 15 H4PN1N LYK!?!?!?!!!!!11//??) Still only a concept, but if the Gentag Bio Phone ever makes it to the shelves, expect it to be a fairly standard clamshell phone with a few unusual features you don't usually get. No word on possible pricing or release dates.
Companies are always coming up with new, interesting, ever-changing ideas when it comes to combining products with one another. For example, a few weeks back we told you about the Coffee Brewer/Weather Machine. This is a perfect example of two products merged seamlessly into one another. Unfortunately, Skygenie couldn't quite pull it off with their mouse/phone. It has style, I'll grant it that, but it lacks maneuverability and that mousey feel that you come to associate with those lovely Logitech mice. The ASG-142 MouseFone comes with a flipping clamshell design that has a 1.3" LCD on the back of it (which works fine for Caller ID). When the flipped open, the MouseFone could actually pass off as a chunky mobile and when the lid is shut, the MouseFone works as a normal 800dpi mouse would. Keep in mind this is no 2000dpi mostrosity. A big downside to the phone and the reason for a light lag in the response time, is dut to the fact that the MouseFone is stuck with dated USB1.1 technology. Come on guys! USB2 has been around for ages! Do us all a favour and get with the times. The product page can be found here.
Set all your friends and family as once colour, business contacts as another, other random people you know as a third colour and then everyone else (aka. probably salesmen) as a fourth colour, then you know when and when not to answer your phone. The Color-Call Caller ID System from Brookstone.com is a bargain at only £15 ($30) and does it's job brilliantly. If the nice little LCD screen gets to much for you, there's a dimmer to stop the blindness being quite so devastating. The system has a built-in caller log for the past 30 numbers that have rang you and the address book holds a stable 100 numbers. Packed with features, the system is a great little gadget id you want to check who you'll be talking to, before you actually pick the phone up. Click here to visit the Brookstone shop.
If you thought that some of those Xbox 360 pre-launch kiosks were overblown, check out this! Click on the picture to enlarge it! I've got no idea how tall this is, but it's bigger than me, that's for sure. Why on earth is the thing that big though? Maybe so it catches people's attention, or maybe what's really being displayed is some super-computer running games well, and some stinking fake PS3s sitting there for us to gawgle at. Apparently this isn't the first kiosk to turn up in Japan, but it's the first to have it's big shiny picture taken. We're totally unimpressed. Nice try though Sony, but take care not to slag off us Europeans next time.
Microsoft has already started advertising their Zune Music Player in New York. This picture clearly shows a big advert, stating the Zune release date, and that cheesy slogan that we all love to hate. As you can see, black background, coloured logo and white writing.
Sounds mad, doesn't it? Well my friends, yes, yes it is. Duck Fadar is an utterly senseless rubber duck, stuffed full with brightly coloured LEDs. The Darth Vader duck is hardly menacing, but still is a great addition to any bath tub. Duck Fadar is rather clever though. When out of water, his LEDs don't light. But when submerged in water, his circuit is completed and the LEDs look lovely, gently changing from one sinister colour to the next. Pink is hardly sinister, but the red looks great! See the picture for yourself! Duck Fadar is a great by-product of an intergalactic supervillain and a rubber toy. Get it from Firebox before it's gone!
NOTE: Some of you are reporting that the picture isn't showing up. It's stopped working for me on IE, but seems fine in FF. Some of you with FF though are complaining too. Seems to be a Blogger bug. Sorry about that!
These aren't just any old dominoes, these are Maxtor HDDs being used as dominoes. No, it's not an M&S advert, but actually just a video for 'Better uses for Maxtor Hard-Drives 2'. Check it out below...
How cool is that? And if you still want more, check out an old advert of iPods being used as dominoes, also below. Not half as cool as the HDDs, I'm sure you'll agree. Afterall, how often do you see 22 terabytes toppling to their doom?
So... All in all, two very nice videos of expensive pieces of equipment esentially being used for no good reason what-so-ever. That's what I like to see!
Anti-Gravity is something that many products have tried to create, using everything from magnets to air blowers. But for the first time ever, you can have full control over gravity. Thanks to our favourite stockists, IWantOneOfThose.com. Using magnets, but ones that actually work (I mean work well), you can have full control over one of three objects. A globe, a mini-photo frame or a glow-in the dark green ball. Sounds great you say, but what else can it do? So much. You can rotate the object you're using either way at the nudge of a switch, or you can have it stationary. With new accessories becoming available to use with the Anti-Grav machine, you're in for a treat. Only £70 ($140) for the machine and the globe, then £15 ($30) for the photoframe and ball. It works very well, looks great on any desk and people walking past almost always stare at it in bewilderment.
Suissa Computers have launched their own super-new range of stylish, wooden PC cases. The case is more of a cross between a table-top stand and a PC, and is sure to compliment any room nicely. Presumably designed as a compact media-centre PC for a living room, the case is not one just to be shoved in a corner like most. If you think that you couldn't get something good in this aswell, then think again! Up to 6 HDDs, a chrome plated power supply, liquid cooling and 4GB DDR2 RAM, make this PC one not to be trifled with. Check out the full range here.
The Zune has now got a new big brother. Say hello to the Zuninator6000. Something this size and costing this much at least deserves some accessories with it, but unfortunately Microsoft have denied us this privelidge. Not yet available, but rumour has it that it will be priced at 432,000,070 microsoft points. If you can afford this, then you can presumably get the accessories. Check out Madison & Pine for more information.
A very cool new technology has just emerged from deep inside the Nissan labs. Their 'Carwings System', a model on high-end cars in the Nissan range, is a multi-function GPS, It can also play you songs from it's built-in 30GB HDD, and at the moment is looking alot better than Chrysler's wannabe MyGIG system. What's new to Carwings you say? Well, now it has an RSS reader. No, not just an RSS reader, but what I mean to say, is that it does actually read your RSS feed aloud to you. Unfortunately the RSS reader is still under works, and at the moment, only Yahoo Japan, Nissan's own travel blog and Sony's 'Life-style' blog are available. The system will hopefully be showcased at the Comined Exhibition of Advanced Technologies, starting on the 3rd of October and ending on the 7th of October.
This great, budget HDMI DivX converter from Toshiba costs only £60 ($118), but it actually very good! Admittedly, the SD-580J lacks some features that high-end players have, but like I said, if you're on a tight budget, you might consider this fairly good player from Toshiba. If this seems too cheap to you though, I'm sure you could bump up the price quite quickly by adding in extra features then and there, such as Optical Sound, Composite Video and S-Video, which are all optional. So, if you're into all that DivX archiving stuff, then this is the budget converter for you. Get it while it's still hot.
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We all love our quiet, snazzy little MacBook Pros, but don't you hate the phenomenal amount of heat they produce? I for one, do. Mac OS X Hints are reporting that in the latest SMC Firmware update, you can now, thankfully adjust the speed at which those mainly unused fans spin at. smcFanControl, written by Hendrik Holtmann manipulates the cooling fan control code in the Intel based MacMinis and MacBooks allowing you to set the minimum and maximum rotation speeds to your own needs. It's a pity that Apple leave it up to third-party scripters like Hendrik to do the hard work though. The standard 1000 rotates per minute, when upped to 2000, reduces the internal temperature of MacBooks by roughly 5 celcius without making much of a noticable difference to our highly tuned ears. In testing, the sound difference was so minimal that we found a 5 celcius temperature drop much more of an advantage than having a plain old, quiet, hot MacBook. Well worth it!
The lucky folks over at IGN have grabbed themselves a PS3 a tad earlier than expected. You can see that some rather nifty wrapping paper has been used to avoid any oily smudges or smears on the PS3's gleaming case when it's being unpacked. By the looks of the pictures, it works aswell. At least this time Sony aren't treating us to the whole shirade of the whole 'Let's see how long it takes to rip open these plastic bags' and, I for one feel that we owe them some credit. They listened to us and they adapted. They went that little bit further to give us a better time. But should that be expected with a console that costs this much? Well, quite frankly, it should be.
There are some rather interesting pictures ciculating the net at the moment about the upcoming Target Illuminating Next-Generation Console Gift-Cards. Apparently, when you buy three games at Target, you'll get on of the cards which when activated will provide you with '$20 of exclusive content'. Bargain. Buy a $3000 console & 3 $100 games and get a $20 rebate. Just perfect!
Not much of the information released about the Fiat Adventure Crossover Concept Car was in English, but what was can be read here. The car was first seen at the Sao Paolo Automobile Show in celebration of Fiat's 30th birthday in Brazil. The car, by Centro Estilo Fiat Do Brasil, is powered by a 167 bhp five-cylinder 2.4 litre engine all the way from the Fiat Stilo Abarth. The two-seater concept is painted in color-changing paint which changes from yellow to red and back again. Reportedly, the car could be hitting our roads within three years. Say goodbye to old style two-tone paint and hello to the future. Sourced from Gizmag.
IE7 is out, and hell, it's good. After downloading RC1, I saw that it was still a far way off Firefox, but now, Microsoft has really pulled out all the stops, lathering in extra features, securing the browser still further, added extra support for JS and is the hard work of 5 beta versions + a release candidate plus thosands of feedback forms. The tabbed browsing is a godsend, so is the incorporation of an RSS reader. The search is nice, the print-preview actually works (Gasp!) and the anti-phising filter seems to do the job nicely too. All that said, I'm still typing this on Firefox. IE needed something new, not just playing a catchup game with Firefox, and unfortunately, they've failed to deliver in that sector. Still, IE can now regain back some of the marketshare it's lost to Firefox. I noticed though that still, IE doesn't show Globa-Tech Today as it should. If you want to download the new browser and see for yourself (before it becomes an automatic, must-have update), then head over to the Microsoft IE Center.
Microsoft has come upfront at X06 Korea and announced to the world that a 100GB Xbox 360 HDD will be hitting the shelves in March 2007. Hopefully the launch will have a worldwide date and a price soon, but the fact is, it's official. Now you can store 5x the demos, 5x the music and 5x the add-ons. A much appreciated upgrade for any full up HDD. I was hoping just the other day that someone would write a hack to let you replace thew standard 20GB HDD, but now no need! The Official Xbox 360 100GB HDD is on it's way! Ownage in a plastic cover! Read more (if you know Korean anyway) here.
When an Apple product ships with a Windows Virus intended to attack Microsoft's OS, it's not surprising that people get suspicious. But it was good ol' Apple who ended up admitting to the inadvertant sabotauge. It was just the other day that we heard of trojans being distributed via MP3s, and now this? Is this the dawn of a new cyber era? Will we all eventually become victims of the same, horrible fate? Who knows, but Apple have fixed the problem. All iPods now ship Virus free! In a statement, Apple said they, '...recently discovered that a small number - less than 1% - of the Video iPods available for purchase after September 12, 2006, left our contract manufacturer carrying the Windows RavMonE.exe virus. This known virus affects only Windows computers, and up to date anti-virus software which is included with most Windows computers should detect and remove it. So far we have seen less than 25 reports concerning this problem. The iPod nano, iPod shuffle and Mac OS X are not affected, and all Video iPods now shipping are virus free. As you might imagine, we are upset at Windows for not being more hardy against such viruses, and even more upset with ourselves for not catching it.' Apple, being the good souls they are have posted full details on how to remove the virus here.
Pageflakes, my favourite online RSS reader has just given their whole site a brand new spanking re-launch. 'Pageflakes 2.0' promises faster RSS loading speeds, practical new widgets and an even easier to use graphical interface. Perhaps the most exciting new feature of them all is the ability to have multiple Pageflakes pages. This allows for greater flexibility and will turn Pageflakes from just your 'homepage' and into your 'homesite'. The new Pageflakes look that has been created makes the whole site much more Web 2.0 friendly. The new design is much more favourable than Google's own 'homepage service' which cannot offer the new features that Pageflakes has produced. The revamp seems to have gone down particularly well in the blogosphere with more than a few sites writing raving reviews about the re-design. Shows just how much difference Web 2.0 is making.
If you are above all us normal people and are determined to have an entirely automated kitchen, then you'll be in love with the new 'Garlic It' from Tichkum. I have no need for the snazzy machine, but it can successfuly peel onions, raddishes, peanuts (what the?) and peppers. The Tichkum website also suggests that you try crushing ice in the machine. I can't imagine what garlic tasting ice would be like, but I'm perfectly fine with getting it via my £10,000 refridgerator. I wish... As I was saying. The compact, table-top device can be seen over at the official media release.
supposed new 'Red Macs' that Cono and Jobs are due to release this coming week. They would be a welcome addition to the Red iPod 2G Nano of which $10 is going to help fight AIDS and if Apple were to launch a whole range of AIDS products, I really think that we could see this take off. Unfortunately, this rumour come from the source of all dodgy Apple rumours, with only 
McDonalds has an appauling reputation as it is in the UK and have tried to change their image drastically over here. Giving away free MP3
For a massive company like Blizzard, when something on this scale happens, it means massive distibutions of 'free month vouchers' and a tonne of 'appology e-mails' being sent out to the affected users. For those of you who play World Of Warcraft, you'll know that your character is on a particular server. If your mate is on another, you have to pay a small fee and then your character is moved over to that server and you can meet up online. The prolem all blew up however, when a Kotaku writer tried to move over his player and was told to wait '12-hours for succesful change-over of account'. 2 days passed, his bank account had been charged for the 'change-over', but his account was unplayable. Since the incident 8 days ago now, thousands of people flocking on the WoW Forums complaining the exact same thing. Many people have lost money through subscription fees on top of the charges for server switch-over. Blizzard have only just pulled the server change-over page and are yet to issue a statement regarding what went wrong, possible compensation and support details. Although the offending problems only affect debit cards (not credit cards), it gets a hell of a lot worse. Their banks haven't just been charged for the cost of the server change, but drained completely. Their banks have frozen their accounts and they have become broke. Blizzard is going to court, and someone is going to have to cough up.
Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster claimed earlier this week that, 'Two major motion picture companies have indicated that they plan to join Disney in the selling of movies via iTunes within six months from now.' It came as a shock a few weeks back when Disney announced that in the first few days of selling on iTunes, they'd turned over an extra $1,000,000 in revenue! Muster elaborated on the subject and claimed that there were 'three key reasons why other studios are taking their time in opening up film libraries to iTunes. Mainly retaliation concerns on the part of retailers, copy protection issues, and a desire to have a more flexible pricing model.'
Most of you guys read Original Signal in your every day lives, or at home to catch up with your tech savvy colleagues. If you don't know what I'm on about, click here to find out for yourself. Some of you might not just use the basic signal, but also the gadget and technology ones. Well, GREAT NEWS! Tako Steinz over at OS has said that he is considering adding us to their Technology Signal during their upcoming revamp! Obviously, for a little blog like ours, this will be great news and we could see our ratings soar dramatically! OS sees themselves getting thousands of hits each day and Alexa ranks them 22,462! Okay, not the highest, but to be contacted by the owner of one of favourite websites on the internet is quite something! Seems Tako really likes our blog! He actually went as far as to call it 'Great!' I've been sworn in secrecy not to give his email away though! Understandable though as he seems to have gone to great lengths as it is to keep it off the internet. I respect his privacy and have given him my 'Hoo-Har Secrecy Handshake'.
Two posts in one here really. The Golden Poop. Japan's best selling mobile-phone accessory. If you're slightly surprised and wondering if you're imagining all this, well slap yourself back into reality. This is the real thing. With over 2.7 million shiny turds sold in Japan alone, the Golden Poop is showing it's worth. Not that much actually. Why make a golden poop? Well, it seems that turd is an item to be worshipped in Japan. I'm serious! Check it out here!
SD-580J lacks some features that high-end players have, but like I said, if you're on a tight budget, you might consider this fairly good player from Toshiba. If this seems too cheap to you though, I'm sure you could bump up the price quite quickly by adding in extra features then and there, such as Optical Sound, Composite Video and S-Video, which are all optional. So, if you're into all that DivX archiving stuff, then this is the budget converter for you. Get it while it's still hot.
