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12/28/2005iPods with Sirius Satellite Radio According to AppleInsider.com, Apple has a new line of iPod products that may be announced at MacWorld in January. These products are more than "accessories" and are being called iPod Companions.One of the rumored iPod companion products is a Apple Boombox with a hard drive, streaming capabilities and Sirius Satellite radio. AppleInsider isn't the only website predicting this major deal. Sirius already has Howard Stern coming in 2006. If Sirius makes a deal with Apple to bring their satellite radio programming to the iPod, their satellite competitor, XM, might as well pack it in. "[A Sirius iPod] doesn't seem too far fetched considering that there have been negotiations between Apple and Sirius Satellite Radio over the past year." Post a Comment12/26/2005Rip DVDs for Your iPod Video Need something to watch on your iPod Video? Here's a tutorial that explains how to use a program called Handbrake to rip DVD's into iPod compatible MPEG-4 video files.Requirements:
Post a Comment12/25/2005Free Battlestar Galactica Video on iTunes This is a first. A free video download is now available on iTunes and it's from the Sci-Fi channel.Take a behind the scenes look at life onboard the Battlestar Galactica. Watch exclusive interviews with the people at the heart of one of television's most acclaimed shows. Get up to speed with the crew's adventures so far, and get a sneak peek at some of the upcoming action in the new season. Download: Battlestar Galactica Sci-Fi Inside Post a Comment12/24/2005Gift Idea 24: Amazon.com Gift Certificate December 24thHoliday Gift Idea #24: Amazon.com Gift Certificate Only 1 day left until Christmas! If you were planning on getting a gift and mailing to someone for Chritmas, it's too late. Your only option now is an email gift certificate. Recipients who are unable to receive e-mail in HTML will receive a text-only version of the e-mail gift certificate. $5.00-$5,000 from Amazon.com
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12/22/2005Apple OS Market Share Breaks 4% Has the popularity of the iPod had a halo effect on Mac computer sales? Are people switiching to Mac from PC? According to Internet traffic statistic company, HitsLink, in November 2005 the Apple OS market share broke 4%.Apple market share has been constant to slowly growing the past 12 months, but November showed a nice gain from 3.87% to 4.11%. December's early numbers show Apple OS making another large jump in market share this month as well. The chart also shows Microsoft XP steadily gaining market share. However, these gains are coming at the expense of older Windows platforms as people continue to upgrade computers and operating systems.  Note that this data is based on computers browsing the internet, and does not attempt to reflect server operating system usage. Post a Comment12/21/2005Roomba Hacking Kit Our friends at ZeroSign have stumbled upon some interesting Roomba news. iRobot just released a Roomba hacking kit that will allow hackers to directly access the internal controls of their product. Just so we're all on the same page here, it's highly unusual for a company to encourage the hacking of their products. Just imagine if Microsoft encouraged people to hack Windows.iRobot is releasing the "Roomba OSMO//hacker" kit complete with a serial control interface allowing users to connect to and program their Roomba robots. Is this hacking kit an improvement to the average Roomba? No, according to iRobot. "This update is not a necessary enhancement for Roomba owners, rather it is intended for software programmers and roboticists to create their own enhancements to Roomba." So what results can we expect from the release of this hacking kit? This is what ZeroSign.net speculated in their blog: "This hacking kit and serial interface will totally open the Roomba to homebrew apps! The mind quickly becomes dizzy with the possibilities available with this. Could I really have the robot servant that I have always dreamed of? applaudde iRobot for their bold move. If more companies released interfacing kits I have no doubt that this world would be a better place for it."  For those of you unfamiliar with the Roomba, it's a robot vacuum created by the iRobot corporation. They make a variety of robots include military grade machines that defuse bombs in Iraq or for SWAT teams.My Roomba is currently cleaning my kitchen floor while I'm typing this blog post. Related Links: [Thanks ZeroSign.net] Post a Comment12/20/2005Blog Web Server Monitor
As you are reading this, your blog or website might be down. I've never met a Webmaster who hasn't had their site go down for some reason or another.
 Staff or friends usually catch it right away but it would be nice to have someone keeping a close eye on your server's uptime all the time.What if I told you there was a way to watch your site all the time for free? WatchMouse Site Monitor is a Mac OS X Dashboard Widget that checks your company site or personal blog every 1, 5, 15, 30 or 60 minutes and alerts you in case of problems. It will also show the hourly availability of your website over the last 72 hours. And the best part? WatchMouse Site Monitor is free. Download Link: WatchMouse Site Monitor Post a Comment12/19/2005Microsoft Adopts Firefox Icon
It may be a minor victory, but any victory against Microsoft can seem pretty big for a small software company like Mozilla, the makers of the Firefox web browser.
On December 14th, an Internet Explorer team member announced in their blog that Microsoft will adopt the orange RSS icon  that Firefox has popularized across the web. Orange is the official color of Firefox.If you are unfamiliar with RSS (Rich Site Summary, Really Simple Syndication), it is an information syndication technology used to send "feeds" to RSS readers and compatible applications.  According to market research firm Ipsos Insight, over 30% of web users have used RSS whether they realize it or not. According to a research document prepared for Yahoo! by Ipsos Insight, "the use of RSS in websites is becoming more common, but very few Internet users are actually aware of it... many Americans use RSS unknowingly via personalized start pages and browser-based experiences."RSS was first developed by Netscape programmer, Dan Libby, in 1999 as a way to customize the My Netscape portal hompages. AOL lost interest in RSS after purchasing Netscape in 2001. RSS then became an open-source project and was integrated into the Firefox browser and most blogging software. "We all agreed that it's in the user's best interest to have one common icon to represent RSS and RSS-related features in a browser," the Microsoft team wrote in their blog. Several months ago, the IE team blog said they would design an original Microsoft RSS icon. If you haven't switched from Internet Explorer yet, consider Firefox 1.5 your invitation to do so. Firefox has taken the web by storm and according to the Wikipedia Firefox page, received over "25 million downloads in the 99 days after the initial 1.0 release." Getting Microsoft to adopt a standard they didn't invent is like a mouse moving a mountain. Congratulations to Mozilla and the Firefox development team. Related Links: Post a Comment12/17/2005Install Homebrew PSP Games Think Sony PSP games are overpriced? Us too. Here's a tutorial on how to download free homebrew games off the Internet and install them on your PSP.In this tutorial we will be installing a homebrew game called SmashGpsp. If you are unfamiliar with this game, SmashGpsp is a PSP version of the popular Nintendo 64 game Super Smash Brothers. In other words, it's a lose PSP recreation of the Nintendo game Super Smash Brothers by a very talented programmer, mATkEUpON. Tutorial: Install Homebrew Games on Your Sony PSP Post a Comment12/16/2005Yahoo Webcasting Howard Stern Today
Yahoo plans to webcast the celebration following the airing of shock jock Howard Stern's last show on traditional FM radio.The "exclusive" live video will show the party at the Hard Rock Cafe in New York
read more | digg story Post a CommentHBO Shows Ready for iTunes
Time Warner's HBO is interested in making a deal with Apple to offer programing for the video iPod, the cable network's chief executive said on Thursday.
read more | digg story Post a Comment12/14/2005Digital Day iPod PSP Trailer Last Saturday morning, everyone in the blogosphere woke up to the news that MSNBC had purchased advertising on 800 blogs. This was the largest single blogad buy in history. The promotion is for a special day of TV programming taking place on Wednesday, December 14th. The day is unofficially called "Digital Day" and will feature special Internet related TV programming, a live blogger, and interaction with bloggers throughout the day.Although MSNBC's intent in purchasing the blogads was to gain TV viewers, most of the press around Digital Day has been about the massive blogad buy and not about the content of the shows. To help raise awareness of the topics being covered on December 14th, MSNBC has put together a special video teaser tape for Digital Day in iPod and Sony PSP video formats. The subjects being covered on Digital Day range from Oddball Videos and the Porn Industry to more serious topics like Internet Addiction (chat rooms, online gambling, shopping, gaming, etc). Many of the clips being covered in the Oddball Video segment have probably been in your inbox before. My favorites are the fishing monkey, Pope drinking beer, Elvis impersonator pumping gas and the singing Swedish kid. Rita Cosby's coverage of the Porn Industry and Internet Addiction will probably strike a chord with a more sophisticated audience. Call me simple, but I just want to see the funny clips. You can download the MSNBC "Digital Day" Teaser Tape here:
If you don't know how to copy videos onto your PSP, then check out this MethodShop.com tutorial: How to Copy Videos onto Your Sony PSP  Program your TiVo's now. Here are the MSNBC shows to checkout on 12.14.05:
Related Links: Post a Comment12/12/2005Gift Idea 12: He-Man Xmas Special December 12thHoliday Gift Idea #12: The He-Man Christmas Special (DVD) Have someone on your gift list who already has it all? Trust us, they don't have this one yet. In this special Christmas episode of the He-Man and She-Ra cartoons, their sidekick Orko accidentally gets beamed to Earth during a test of a new spy satellite. Orko manages to get back Planet Eternia, but brings along two Earth children, Alisha and Manuel, with him. Since it's Christmastime on Earth, the kids are naturally filled with the holiday spirit, but this overflowing goodwill attracts the unwelcome attention of the Horde Prime and Skeletor. Will the combined power of He-Man, She-Ra and the spirit of Christmas be enough to stop Skeletor? Or will you pass out from Grandpa's "special" egg nogg before you can find out? $13.99 from Amazon.com Post a Comment12/09/2005Gift Idea 9: iZ
December 9th
Holiday Gift Idea #9: iZ  You are probably asking yourself, what iZ it? Basically iZ is a musical toy.You can have iZ make his own music by twisting and turning his ears and pressing his belly or you can plug your iPod or any music source into iZ and let him play your songs his way. Don't have an iPod? No problem. You can plug iZ into any audio or music device that uses a standard headset cable. Once iZ is activated, his eyes bounce to the rhythm and his horn pulses in rainbow colors to the beat. Trippy. $37.99 from Amazon.com Buy It Now methodshop.com Post a Comment12/08/2005Gift Idea 8: Dean Martin December 8thHoliday Gift Idea #8: The Essential Dean Martin (CD) From Mom and Dad to Metrosexual or Urban Sophisticate, you can't go wrong with the gift of Dean. This album has 30 tracks by a master song stylist that is sure to get the whole room singing along. Dean Martin, shines in this collection of recordings which were released from 1949 ''Powder Your Face With Sunshine'' to ''Gentle on My Mind'' in 1968. $13.49 from Amazon.com Post a Comment12/07/2005Gift Idea 7: TomTom Go GPS Unit
Sick of getting lost when Dad is driving? Maybe it's time the family chipped in and got him a GPS system for the car. Just plug in your TomTom Go 700, switch it on and go. There's no need for any special installation or activation. A set of clear, accurate, turn-by-turn voice instructions and crystal-clear 3D graphics will help you to get where you need to go. The unit's simple design allows you to take the TomTom Go 700 with you from car to car quickly and easily. All the newest maps come installed on a 2.5 GB hard drive as one seamless map, allowing you to find your way to any address across all of the United States and Canada. Want to use the TomTom out of the car? No problem. The TomTom Go 700 built in battery so you can take it out of the car, change the route preferences to "walking" ( this way it ingnores one way streets) and navigate on foot to that resturant you have heard about but could not find while fighting traffic. It allows you to create custom points of interest categories and add sites to these categories with your own names. The TomTom Plus feature uses your Bluetooth enabled cellphone to give you real-time information like traffic and weather conditions, plus extra downloads such as detailed city maps, additional voices, points of interest, and more. The Tom Tom company donated 300 units for use in recovery after Hurricane Katrina. They were mounted in Blackhawk helicopters and used on rescue boats. There are higher-end and lower-end GPS navigation systmes on the market, but overall, the TomTom Go 700 has the best combination of data and interface and at a decent price. Buy It Now Post a Comment12/06/2005NBC Adds TV Shows to iTunes NBC began selling television shows in the iTunes Store today. Shows from NBC, USA Network, and the Sci-Fi channel are available for download to your iPod Video.Just some of the shows include:
Shows will be made available for purchase the following morning after they originally air. They will be available for $1.99 / episode. NBC is the second major network to join forces with Apple and release television shows in the iTunes Store. ABC was the first major network to make a deal with Apple. Source: http://www.gadgetreview.com/ Post a CommentGift Idea 6: Catcher in the Rye |
In a few years, when the current maps loaded on the TomTom Go 700 need updating, just plug it into your Mac or PC using its USB 2.0 cable.