05 August 08 - 11:38Solar Powered MP4 Players?

I saw this review at Uber Review:

"When you really think about it, MP4 players are just begging to be solar powered. They don’t use a whole lot of power, so you can get away with a reasonably small solar panel. The PowerPlus Toucan is a pretty good idea, if you are the sort of person that spends extended periods of time in the outdoors, watching movies on a 2-inch screen.

The other trouble with the PowerPlus Toucan is that it is more than a little lacking in the looks department; at approximately $180, it is up against some pretty stiff competition. Media players, for better or worse, are pretty much a fashion accessory these days and there are plenty on the market, in the price range of the PowerPlus Toucan that look a lot better."

If it means you won't have to worry about having your batteries charged, I'm all for it. Besides, batteries cannot be good for the environment.

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05 August 08 - 11:34Comcast Loses Net Neutrality Case

"Interfering with high-bandwidth peer-to-peer traffic is unlawful, concluded the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in a precedent-setting case against Comcast.

The internet provider has been "systematically throttling" (that is, slowing) traffic to specific types of sites — particularly peer-to-peer destinations — a discriminatory action unearthed after some subscribers reported they were having trouble uploading files. Subsequent testing by the AP and the Electronic Frontier Foundation showed that Comcast was indeed obstructing traffic for some types of internet use and not others, an issue 'net neutrality advocates took seriously." Full Article

I am personally surprised by the findings here, especially considering how successful organizations like the RIAA have been at strong arming universities and other institutions into blocking this type of access. While it might be too soon to declare this a victory for internet users, I'm glad that it's being taken so seriously. After all, who wants to be in a position where your ISP can decide which sites you can access.

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05 August 08 - 11:28Real Camera Mobile the Sony Ericsson C905

Sony Ericsson will very shortly be dropping an absolute monster of a camera phone on us all - the Sony Ericsson C905, complete with an 8 megapixel camera. Currently codenamed the Sony Ericsson Shiho, the C905 is set to blow all other camera phones out of the water. Firstly, the camera. 8.1 megapixels in size, and with such a huge range of photo-enhancing features that come with it, it’s set to be the best camera phone one the market bar none. (more)

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05 August 08 - 11:25Tips and Tricks for Your iPhone

All of us folks who are lucky enough to already have an iPhone know how much fun they can be just to play around with. Playing with my iPhone a lot myself, I have discovered some cool tips and tricks that you may find useful.

1. If you tap once at the very top of the screen when you are on the internet, it will take you back to the top of the window rather than having to scroll all the way back up. A nice time saving feature.

2. If you set the font to the smallest size, you can read more in the internet window. An advantage of this is that when you want to click a link, you can pinch (expand) that area and the link will come up very large, making it much easier to click.

3. Rather than posting the full address of internet sites in bookmarks, you can post the equivalent RSS address instead into Apple’s RSS reader and save that as your bookmark. This way you can quickly see if there’s anything interesting on your favorite site rather than downloading the whole homepage.

4. If you are writing something and the iPhone flags a word as misspelled that you know is not misspelled, cancel the correction 3 times and the word will be put into the dictionary. If you write a lot, this feature is quite useful! (more)

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24 July 08 - 10:56Blockbuster Total Access

Companies like Netflix who have revolutionized the way we rent DVDs and online video streaming have definitely forced traditional video companies to re-invent themselves. While the traditional brick and mortar stores are going to have a tough time competing, I think that Blockbuster has actually done a decent job so far with their Total Access package.

The program is simple, it combines the easy of use of being able to rent movies online and have them delivered (like Netflix), but they also let you exchange movies at a retail store. I'm a loyal Netflix user, but I still find myself occasionally going to Blockbuster because I either forgot to mail my movies back, or I don't feel like watching the ones that I received. I haven't tried the service yet from Blockbuster, but they were promoting it the last time I went there to rent a movie.

For more information, you can also sign up online for their free trial at Blockbuster.com
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07 July 08 - 09:47Roku Netflix Box Opens to New Content Providers

Roku's set-top box definitely hit a sweet spot with consumers, at no additional fee to Netflix Ultimate subscribers other than the $99 cost of the hardware, Roku reportedly sold out of its initial shipment of devices in just three weeks. Though the Roku box delivers sub-DVD picture quality, and only 10% of the Netflix catalog is available for streaming, its popularity appears to follow a common theme in consumer electronics: If a device is cheap enough, people will be willing to sacrifice quality.

Full Story at Beta News

I think Netflix has done a good job so far with providing streaming content. Granted, the quality is not the same as a DVD, but if you're not using a high def tv, odds are that you won't notice. This new move by Roku is interesting and could be a major blow to the competition considering that the Roku is onl y $99.

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20 February 08 - 14:12Free Your Media With DoubleTwist

There are a lot of applications out there for downloading and managing your music and media. Some are hard to use or only for advanced users, but DoubleTwist is something that everyone can use. Check out the write up in Wired Magazine

"There has long been a variety of ways to strip DRM from your files, but most of them require some degree of computer savvy. However, that’s about to change thanks to DoubleTwist, a new application from DVD Jon, the man notorious for cracking the DVD code and reverse-engineering Apple’s FairPlay DRM.

DoubleTwist’s main goal is to make stripping DRM so easy even your grandparents can do it, and judging by this early release, it’s going to succeed."

Let's hope they do succeed!

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19 February 08 - 14:28Sony Video Walkman 8 GB

Rock with your favorite music, watch crystal clear full-motion video and enjoy your photos on a beautiful color-rich screen with the NWZ-A818SLV Walkman Video MP3 player. The slim-line player lets you see it all on its high-resolution 2" QVGA LCD screen. Small enough to slip into a bag or pocket, the 8GB NWZ-A818SLV Walkman Video MP3 player can store up to 5,050 songs, up to 30 hours of video or hundreds of photographs, giving you the delight of multimedia entertainment anytime, anyplace. Also available in black. MP3 & Portable Electronics Walkman Video MP3 Players NWZ-A818SLV

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