You read that right: A new study is claiming that by banning personal Internet use in the office (including video games, social networking, dating, shopping, personal email, or other non-work-related activities), British businesses are losing 4 billion pounds every year due to decreased productivity.
The report, based on "psychometric trials" carried out by a doctor at Goldsmiths University, says that "e-breaks" don't distract employees from their work but rather help them reduce stress while sharpening and focusing their minds for another round of work.
The survey, which asked 1,700 employees about their break activities, found that companies had comparably little resistance to their employees taking cigarette and coffee/tea breaks, but that "wasting" time on the Internet was considerably more frowned upon.
The bottom line, says study mastermind Dr. Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic: "The report proves that a ten minute e-break a day can have significant benefits but, despite this, many bosses are banning them in the fear that they distract employees. By factoring in a dedicated slot for an e-break bosses are fostering a more trusting working environment, boosting productivity and ultimately increasing their profit which surely makes good business sense."
Sounds good to me. On the other hand, the study was commissioned by PopCap, a maker of just the casual games (including Bejeweled and other titles) that the study covers, so take the findings as you feel appropriate.
Report: Banning personal web use actually costs billions
When are Darth, Indy coming to Blu-ray?
Blu-ray may have won the HD format battle, but it won't have a prayer against DVD until some of the biggest movies debut on Blu-ray—and in the case of such blockbusters as "Star Wars," it's looking like a long wait. Find out when some of the biggest movie sagas of all time are going Blu.
Original "Star Wars" Trilogy
The greatest of all movie franchises (at the box office, at least) has always taken its sweet time to arrive on video, regardless of the format. The first Beta and VHS tapes of the original "Star Wars" weren't released until 1982, five years after Luke & company first blasted into theaters and two years after video rentals went (relatively) mainstream. George Lucas famously stalled on releasing the original trilogy on DVD until he felt the format had "matured"—which turned out to be 2004, a full seven years after the DVD format launched. (The dreadful "Phantom Menace" debuted on DVD in September 2001, but c'mon—that barely counts.)
So, what's the scoop for Blu-ray? Well, the last official word from Lucasfilm was way back in May 2007:
Lucasfilm Ltd. has no plans to release any of the "Star Wars" movies on Blu-ray or HD DVD. Listings on Amazon.com (which has placeholders up for "Star Wars" and other movies not yet on Blu-ray) or any other Web site are purely speculative and erroneous.
And that's been pretty much it, beyond the occasional unsubstantiated rumor. As Yoda might say: "Difficult to see, the future is."
My guess? Given how fussy Lucas is about new video formats, I'd say 2010, at the earliest—that is, if Blu-ray hasn't given way to HD downloads by then.
Original "Indiana Jones" trilogy
Probably the next biggest gotta-have series on home video (well, for my generation, at least), the Indiana Jones saga was another DVD holdout—although when it finally arrived as a four-disc set in 2003, it still beat the older "Star Wars" trilogy to DVD by a year.
Anyway, there's been no official word from Lucasfilm or Paramount about Indy on Blu-ray, although a pair of Spanish DVD Web sites (via The Digital Bits; scroll down to the 5/13/08 entry) claim that the Indiana Jones "Quadrilogy" will go Blu on October 29. Of course, that's purely a rumor, although October would be just about the right time frame for "Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull" to hit home video. No confirmation yet from Paramount (and we probably won't get one until "Skull" has played out in theaters).
It's also worth noting that the Steven Spielberg-directed "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" is already available on Blu-ray, leading many to believe that Spielberg is considerably more Blu-friendly than that old stick-in-the-mud, George Lucas (sorry, George).
My guess: If "Crystal Skull" weren't part of the equation, I'd have said that 2009 looked like a safe bet, but with "Skull" looking at a fall 2008 release on DVD and probably Blu-ray as well...who knows.
The "Lord of the Rings" trilogy
This massive fantasy epic would be a natural for Blu-ray—and indeed, if you ask me, the current DVD editions of LOTR don't have the best of transfers.
Anyway, here's the good news: Peter Jackson himself just confirmed that he's working on a Blu-ray version of the trilogy.
The bad news? Jackson says that Frodo, Gandalf, or Gollum probably won't go Blu until 2009, at the earliest.
The "Matrix" trilogy
When the Blu-ray/HD DVD battle was still raging, HD DVD fanboys delighted in taunting their Blu buddies with their HD DVD copies of the "Matrix" movies. "Matrix" studio Warner Brothers had promised that a Blu-ray version of the Matrix films would come eventually, but...it never quite happened, even after Warners stopped supporting HD DVD and went exclusively Blu.
Warners has since promised that Neo, Morpheus, and Trinity will jack in to Blu-ray sometime this year, although the studio has yet to nail down a specific date.
Transformers
Here's another "nyah, nyah!" title that HD DVD users lorded over the Blu-ray camp. And indeed, "Transformers" is a movie that begs to be watched in HD—in fact, there's little point in watching it at all unless it's in HD, if you ask me.
Anyway, Paramount has just confirmed that Optimus Prime, Megatron and the like will go Blu on September 2, for a whopping $39.98. Mark your calendars.
Lawrence of Arabia
Well, I'm dying for this one, at least—and word is that Lawrence and Sherif Ali might ride into the Blu desert sometime in 2009. Nothing official, however.
Titanic
Your heart will go on—on DVD, anyway. There's been almost no chatter about Titanic on Blu-ray, sad to say. Funny, given that the Titanic-on-DVD watch was a big deal back in 1998.
And here are some of the other big movies that I haven't heard a peep about, Blu-ray-wise: Citizen Kane, Vertigo (or any Hitchcock title, for that matter), Apocalypse Now, and Gone With the Wind.
I'm only scratching the surface, of course. What movies are you dying to see on Blu-ray? Put the titles in the comments below, and I'll do some digging for you.
Guitar Hero: World Tour more expensive than Rock Band?
Video game rockstars, save your dollars. As you already know, Guitar Hero: World Tour was made official last week, and gamers everywhere are stoked about the wireless instruments, the realistic drum kit, and the software that gives budding rockstars the ability to create their own music. What wasn't mentioned in the long press release, though, was pricing or the release date.
Turns out, the guys at Kotaku spotted the Band Kit (available for pre-order) over at Gamestop with a retail price of $190 making it more expensive than the competing Rock Band bundle. The Guitar Hero: World Tour Band Kit will be available at this price for the PS3, Wii, and Xbox 360, while the PS2 bundle is priced at $180. The kit that includes a game, guitar, drums, and a microphone are all shipping on October 27, just in time for that Halloween party.
Speaking of Gamestop, the site is also disclosing details about the upcoming Rock Band Stage Kit I told you about back in January. Apparently, the fog and lighting stage kit is available for pre-order with a price tag of $99, and a shipping date of August 15th. The Rock Band Stage Kit for the Xbox 360 is supposed to interact with the game and enhance your gaming experience, which ought to get the party started.
Both are totally unnecessary, but that won't matter to gamers who have the extra room and cash to add a few more instruments to their collection.
Sprint confirms 5GB data cap, offers details
The bad news: The rumors of Sprint imposing a 5GB monthly data limit on broadband users is, indeed, true. The good news: You won't get cut off at the knees the first time you breach the limit.
Kent German over at Crave got the full skinny from Sprint, which—until recently—had been the last of the big U.S. 3G carriers without a data usage cap. Word leaked out about the 5GB monthly cap (or 300MB when roaming) earlier this month, and now Sprint's coming clean with the details.
First of all: The cap (which goes into effect next month) applies only to broadband card and phone-as-modem users, not for those who have unlimited Power Vision plans on their phones.
Also: Sprint told Crave that it won't automatically disconnect broadband users the first time they bust over the 5GB monthly limit; instead, you'll only be in trouble if you exceed the cap in "two out of three consecutive months."
Sprint added that it'll contact offenders before disconnecting them and "give them a chance to change their usage, if they want to continue using the service."
All in all, Sprint's new policies seem reasonable enough (although I liked the idea of no-strings unlimited usage a lot better), and the carrier claims that "99.5 percent" of its broadband subscribers never approach the 5GB monthly limit anyway. Check out Crave for more details on the new data usage limits.
That said, as a Sprint broadband customer myself, I would have appreciated it if someone at Sprint had, you know, reached out to tell me this was happening. Maybe there will be a notice on my May bill, which is due in the mail any day now, but a little advance word would have been nice.
Tru2way cable TV standard cuts both ways
Sure, the new platform may spell the end of the hated cable TV set-top box, but it also gives cable carriers more control over the menus on upcoming HDTVs and DVRs.
Sony just announced that it's making a deal with the big six U.S. cable carriers to support Tru2way—a standard that promises to bring two-way control of cable TV services (such as video-on-demand and pay-per-view) to upcoming HDTVs and DVRs. Panasonic, Samsung, LG, Toshiba, and TiVo are already on board with Tru2way, which was announced with great fanfare at CES in January.
Formerly known as the OpenCable Application Platform (or OCAP), the Tru2way architecture will do what the one-way CableCARD standard couldn't—allow you to change channels, access your carrier's electronic programming grid, vote in interactive polls, and order on-demand programming, all from your Tru2way-enabled TV or DVR. No set-top box required.
Also, if you order phone service from your cable company, you'll get caller ID info displayed on your TV screen when a call comes in.
The first Tru2way devices are expected to hit stores before the year is out.
Great news, right? Here's the thing, though: Sony, along with such big names as Dell, Hitachi, Sharp, and Microsoft, had actually been backing a competing interactive TV standard, called DCR Plus (Digital Cable Ready Plus).
As the L.A. Times Bit Player blog explains, DCR Plus would have allowed TV and DVR makers more control over their user interfaces—for instance, they could have designed a unified programming guide including not only cable channels and PPV/VOD offerings, but also Internet-based and "non-cable" services such as Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Unbox.
With Tru2way, cable operators get the most say on what the programming guide will look like, and from the Tru2way demos we saw at CES, they're pretty much the same menus you'd find on a typical cable DVR. And of course, there's no integration with Net-based services, which would compete with your carrier's pay-per-view and video-on-demand offerings.
Now that Sony has acquiesced and gone with Tru2way, the DCR Plus movement is pretty much dead. That means if TV/DVR manufacturers want to give us access to Net-based movie download services, they'll have to build separate menus to do so.
Meanwhile, TiVo users who get upcoming Tru2way-enabled TiVo boxes will likely get two menu systems: The standard (and beloved) TiVo interface minus all interactive, two-way cable functionality (although you'd still be able to record), and a separate, non-TiVo "cable mode" that lets you order pay-per-view and video-on-demand shows. Ugh.
But as the L.A. Times points out, Tru2way has one big advantage over DCR Plus—the big cable carriers actually support it, which means the platform might actually gain the traction that the original CableCARD standard (which only got half-hearted support from the major cable players) never could.
And if that happens, the cable TV set-top box might—at last—go the way of the dodo.
Anyway, for more on the (essentially over) battle between Tru2way and DCR Plus, check out this informative L.A. Times blog post, along with this earlier background piece from Multichannel News
Web users losing patience with bloated websites
Do you want to take a survey? Would you like to see some related links? Would you care to engage in some social networking during your visit? According to veteran web usability expert Jakob Nielsen, Internet users are becoming increasingly tired of such distractions as they use search engines to find the specific page they want, then vanish from the site without additional time spent there.
Nielsen calls the new web paradigm a "hot potato" mentality: You start with a search engine, click directly on the page you're looking for, get what you need from it, and leave. Today, only about 25 percent of users start their journey on the home page of a website, according to Nielsen. The vast majority now drop in directly from a search link.
In referring to web users as "ruthless," Nielsen describes a growing concern with distractions and errors on web pages. Widgets and extras like chat features and social networks are more and more likely to frustrate and anger users, he says, rather than engage them into spending more time on a site. "People want sites to get to the point, they have very little patience," he says in the BBC story linked below. "[Site owners] still feel that their site is interesting and special and people will be happy about what they are throwing at them."
The message for website owners is clear: Make sure the information on your web pages is easy to read and uncluttered by lots of extra junk. Ensure you're doing everything possible to be visible to search engines. And if you've got pages that don't work, dead links, or 404 errors, be prepared to suffer the wrath of your users.
Windows 7: Same as the old boss
Sad to say it folks, but everyone holding out for an update to Windows Vista that will be worth buying is likely to be in for a world of frustration come January 2010, the newly-announced target date for its release. Why? Based on new demos and interviews with Microsoft brass, Windows 7 is starting to look awfully familiar. One might even say it looks like warmed-over Vista, a big bottle of ketchup for last year's OS. Nonetheless, Microsoft will surely attempt to gouge another $400 from you for the privilege of installing it.
The insight began with Cnet's lengthy yet information-free interview Microsoft's Steven Sinofsky, who provided precious little insight about what Windows 7 might include. Comments like "Look, we're working--the team is working super, super hard on this release of Windows" and "we're very excited about the release" are the kind of throwaway lines you'll find in the opus. (Not that I blame Cnet's Ina Fried, mind you. She did a great job at trying to get blood from the stone of Redmond.)
Why is Sinofsky so cagey? Many conjecture that Microsoft is press-shy after Vista got so much early hype and ended up being so awful. So after the epic interview, Fried went back and pulled out the few things that Sinofsky actually did say about Windows 7. Here's what we know: It will come out in early 2010. It will use Vista software and drivers. It will have 32-bit and 64-bit versions. It will "build on" Vista architecture and won't have the MinWin kernel that was previously displayed.
Soooooo how is all of this any different from Vista really?
As one of his final duties as Chairman of Microsoft, Bill Gates demonstrated an early beta of Windows 7 at this week's D6 tech conference, its first real public demo, to attempt to show us how it's different. His answer: A multi-touch screen inspired by the Surface table and, er, the iPhone. Neat demo, but will all Windows 7 computers have to have touch-sensitive screens to use these features? There's a mapping system that looks like Google Earth. And it's said there will be an OS X-like dock, though current demos have the usual taskbar as we've known it since Windows 95.
Honestly, in trotting out Surface again, I have no idea what Microsoft is hoping to accomplish except to disguise the fact that this is merely Vista given a little cosmetic pop (multi-touch piano, woo!). (Gizmodo editor Brian Lam puts things a little more succinctly.) Average users may find this stuff, like photo resizing and organization, kind of cool... if they have the right hardware (tablet PC and 4GB of RAM, anyone?), but I can already hear the reaction from corporate America starting to rumble.
Do parlor tricks and hocus pocus like this really impress anyone?
VCR turns your VHS tapes into digital files
We've told you how to convert VHS tapes to digital files before, but if you don't have a TV tuner card with RCA inputs, like Chris points out, then you'll have to resort to a few other methods described on his post.
I personally have had great results with my Sony DVDirect DVD recorder, but if you're looking for a simple solution for someone who's not very tech savvy, check out VCR2PC.
Wired says the VCR player converts movies into MPEG-4 files with the included software and uses a USB connection to store them on your computer. Once digitized, your movies can play on your iPod, PSP, laptop, and of course, they can be stored in a DVD.
The device has RCA video/audio inputs in the front, which come in handy if you still have an older 8MM or VHS camcorder. It can also be used as a regular VCR when it's not converting video. Wired s says VCR2PC retails for $250, which I find extremely expensive compared to the Sony DVDirect, but I'll let you be the judge of that.
Does anyone have any other suggestions? Do tell us what method works best for you.
Airport X-ray friendly laptop bags in the works
Taking your laptop out of the case when going through airport security may soon be a thing of the past. The Transportation Security Administration is introducing a new policy that would allow passengers to keep their laptops inside "checkpoint-friendly" cases when going through airport security, according to USA Today.
Details of what makes a case "checkpoint-friendly" haven't been disclosed to the public yet, but do expect a full TSA publicity campaign in the future with all of those details. What we do know is that guidelines given to manufacturers call for a case that provides them with a clear image of the laptop in the bin when it goes through an X-ray machine. This means the bag is likely to have little or no padding, no extra pockets for cords, and no straps to get in the way.
Hopefully this means those of you that have laptop sleeves with handles will be ok, but we'll have to wait for the guidelines. Targus and Scooba Design are currently working on a few prototypes, and if all goes well, these special cases will be available for sale by the holiday season.
Building a new computer requires 10 years worth of power
I slobber over new computers as much as anyone... but I've never really stopped to think about the environmental and energy impact that actually building that computer entails as an alternative to using my old computer for longer.
According to Ecogeek, the true cost of a new computer in energy terms is astounding: It takes as much energy to building one computer as it does to run one for 10 full years. That's a phenomenal figure, one which should give any would-be computer buyer pause.
One thing not mentioned, however, is that newer computers tend to use less power than older ones, so there are potential cost and energy savings to be found by upgrading (though perhaps not 10 years worth of savings). And while reinstalling your OS, adding RAM, and generally cleaning out your system can definitely reinvigorate an older computer, these tricks won't work 100 percent of the time. I'd be wiping the hard drive and reinstalling Windows on my current laptop right now if it wasn't about to literally fall apart due to a broken LCD bezel that prevents it from closing and a growing crack in the base that threatens to dump the computer's contents into my lap one of these days.
That said, with the 220 million tons of e-waste generated annually in the country (also per the story linked below), maybe a little duct tape and super glue would have been the more environmentally conscious choice.
Researchers looking for e-mail chain letters
Ever get an e-mail petition asking you to help save NPR or protest the (then-impending) Iraq war? If so, researchers at Cornell University want to know.
Bloggers at NewScientist found this fascinating study on how information—in this case, Internet-based chain letters—spreads from one person to another, and researchers are enlisting our help.
Just search your inboxes for one of two e-mail petitions that have been circulating for the past several years—chances are, you have either one or both of them somewhere.
One of the chain letters, which was first spotted as early as 1997, warns of cutbacks in NPR, PBS, NEA, and other government-funded arts programs, while the other, 2003-era letter seeks signatures to protest the Iraq war.
At first, I thought it was a stretch that I'd have either of these old e-mail petitions—that is, until I found a version of the NPR letter (which my wife, who got the message from her boss, had forwarded to me) in my archive folder, dated 2005. No sign of the Iraq chain letter, however.
Follow this link for details on the two chain letters (and the variants thereof), along with information on who to contact if you find them.
So, what exactly are the Cornell researchers trying to prove? Well, as they put it:
Although information, news, and opinions continuously circulate in the worldwide social network, the actual mechanics of how any single piece of information spreads on a global scale have been a mystery. Here, we trace such information-spreading processes at a person-by-person level using methods to reconstruct the propagation of massively circulated Internet chain letters. We find that rather than fanning out widely, reaching many people in very few steps according to "small-world" principles, the progress of these chain letters proceeds in a narrow but very deep tree-like pattern, continuing for several hundred steps.
So (if I'm following this right), unlike a computer virus, which tends to spread rapidly in a matter of days (or even hours), the flow of information from person to person is slow but steady—very steady, as it turns out, given that the NPR petition (in one form or another) has been floating around the Net for a good 11 years.
Will the study help staunch the flow of span to your inbox? Well, not really—after all, it's always your friends, family and co-workers who pass on chain letters anyway. That said, it's a nifty project, in a Folding@home kind of way.
And just in case you were wondering, check out this interesting story on Snopes (my favorite hoax-busting site) on why e-mail petitions just don't work.
Consumers still not sold on Blu-ray
By now we all know: Blu-ray was the big winner in the high-definition DVD wars. Sony must be sitting on its spoils like a victorious medieval king, just sitting back and counting the yen, right? The only problem is that, as the Washington Post notes, Blu-ray's victory hasn't translated to sales.
Things were supposed to pick up after HD DVD bowed out of the market. Many analysts looked at high-def's low sales numbers last year as a "wait it out" problem, as consumers were obviously reluctant to buy one format when one was certain soon to be discontinued.
And so when HD DVD left the market earlier this year, many expected to see a rapid rise in Blu-ray sales. But that hasn't happened. In fact, the opposite has: In February, Blu-ray player sales dropped 40 percent and rose a mere 2 percent in March.
The industry is crying foul, with Home Media Magazine publisher Thomas Arnold saying that the numbers reflect an availability issue, that there weren't enough players on the market to meet demand and that the first quarter is a bad time for electronics sales anyway. (Does anyone remember Blu-ray players being completely out of stock in February? Yeah, me neither.)
But additional figures tend to support the notion that Blu-ray isn't catching on. The most telling: Sales of Blu-ray movies, for which there's clearly no shortage issue. According to Home Media Magazine's own figures, in the optical video disc market, DVD still has a 95 percent share vs. Blu-ray's 5 percent (figures for week of 5/11/08). And Blu-ray sales are dropping, not rising. I'll add that the fact that Blu-ray player prices have gone up in a sad attempt to gouge consumers and Blu-ray movies cost an extra $5 or $10 over the price of a regular DVD has likely left a bad taste in consumers' mouths and isn't helping matters.
Still, Blu-ray title availability remains spotty, and there's a lot of upside remaining as bigger movies come out for the format. As well, the next version of Blu-ray's specs, BD Live, could generate more interest in the format.
But perhaps the simple explanation is the best one, as the Post quotes Jupiter's Michael Gartenberg: "During the course of the [HD] battle, consumers lost interest in both formats."
Note to Blu-ray: Your job is to get people to start caring again. Good luck.
Windows Vista? Businesses say "no thanks"
Don't care for Microsoft's bloated new operating system? You're not alone, and in fact, it's not just consumers who are giving Vista the cold shoulder. Large enterprises, including General Motors, are considering bypassing the operating system altogether and simply waiting for Windows 7, Microsoft's eventual successor to Vista.
GM, for now, says that bypassing Vista is still a "maybe." Its big complaint is that Vista's CPU and RAM requirements are just too crushing.
For a company that, by my reckoning, could have hundreds of thousands of desktops in operation, replacing everyone's computer just so they can run Vista is simply out of the question. With XP still working fine, there's really no way to justify the massive expense and general upheaval of such a move.
As BusinessWeek notes, Microsoft has more than just its own old OS to worry about, as budget-crunched IT managers look to web freebies (like OpenOffice.org) and even Macintosh PCs as alternatives to Vista. Macs may cost more, but they're probably not much more expensive or intrusive than switching from XP to Vista.
Resistance is likely to continue: Last quarter, 65 percent of Microsoft's OS sales were Vista. The other 35 percent were XP. Microsoft had hoped that would be an 80 percent/20 percent split instead, reflecting the fact that consumers and companies like GM are really digging in their heels.
Things should really get interesting after June 30, when XP officially goes off the market. Is resistance futile? We'll see.
Freedom Shaver: Cranking your whiskers away
I've seen crank-up flashlights, cell-phone chargers, and MP3 players, but this is a new one—a crank-powered electric shaver, for a close, close shave that'll shrink your carbon footprint in the process.
The Wind 'N Go Freedom Shaver ($46, discovered by Gearlog) comes with three "floating," rotating shaving heads that flex to the contours of your face—just like in those TV commercials. The $46 shaver comes with a 110-volt power adapter and a 12V car charger. But if you really want to stay green, you'll use the fold-out crank, which gives you two minutes of shaving for every minute of cranking.
A low-battery LED tells you when it's time to get cranking, and the package also comes with a case, a travel mirror, and a little cleaning brush. Missing in action: A kit that lets you make shaving cream out of compost.
Of course, an even greener alternative to the Freedom Shaver would be a straight razor—no power, no disposable razors to junk up landfills, no moving parts that'll eventually break down. Then again, it's also nice to get a close shave without slicing your face open.
American Airlines to charge $15 for first checked bag
American Airlines is so deeply troubled (compounded by the crushing effects of inflated oil prices) it's now come to this: You'll have to pay 15 bucks to check your first piece of baggage when you choose it to fly the increasingly hostile skies.
This week American said it would axe about 12 percent of its flight schedule, layoff an undetermined number of workers, and retire some 50 planes (which had already been grounded for faulty wiring). The $15 bag fee comes on top of all of that and appears to be the only change the airline is making to actually generate more revenue.
The move comes a mere matter of days after many airlines put into place their plans to charge extra (usually $25) for a second checked bag. United's plan, announced in February, went into effect on May 5. As expected, other airlines rapidly jumped on that bandwagon shortly thereafter.
As yet, no other major airline has followed American in its first-bag fee scheme. The rest of the industry is probably just waiting to see if travelers start rioting in the terminal. Naturally, many expect that flyers will simply resort to trying to jam more luggage into the overhead bins in order to try to beat the fee.
Maybe a spot of good news for travelers: These fees are getting high and pervasive enough that they've raised the interest of the government, which says it will soon begin requiring airlines to disclose bag check fees in advertising and during the ticket buying process.
Greenpeace: Game consoles are "toxic menace"
That PlayStation 3, Wii, or Xbox 360 in your living room contains a potpourri of dangerous chemicals and compounds—or so says Greenpeace, which is urging game manufacturers to learn from each other to build greener consoles.
Greenpeace says it conducted a tear-down survey of the PS3, the Wii, and the Xbox 360, and claims that researchers found unacceptably high levels of such toxic chemicals as polyvinyl chloride (PVC), phthalates, beryllium, and bromine.
In its report, Greenpeace points out that long-term exposure to bromine (a chemical used in fire retardants) could lead to "impaired learning and memory functions." Good luck remembering your way through Arcadia in BioShock.
Meanwhile, the phthalate known as DEHP may "interfere with sexual development in mammals, including humans, and especially males," the report says. I'm not sure I like the sound of that.
The news from Greenpeace isn't all bad. The group notes that it didn't find any beryllium in the Wii at all, and that its levels of PVC and phthalates were "limited." Researchers praised the PS3 for its "bromine-free" circuit boards, while the Xbox 360 had "fewer brominated materials" it its plastic housing.
"If manufacturers only looked at each other's products, they'd quickly see ways of replacing their own dirty components with toxic-free materials," the report concludes.
For their part, Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony all say that their consoles meet or exceed regional environmental regulations, according to Reuters.
Mysterious Flip Minos spotted
Inexpensive pocket video cameras have been such a hit that many companies, including Creative, have launched their own colorful pocket cams for the YouTube generation. Oprah even showcased the Ultra Flip Video camera on her program to show how easy it was to upload video to YouTube and to record behind-the-scenes footage for her YouTube channel.
In order to keep up with the competition, the Ultra Flip-Video camera is about to get a mini makeover. Crave recently spotted a thinner Flip camera called Minos in a B&H catalog after a reader tipped them off.
The camera will apparently be available in black and white and will cost $179.99, which leads us to believe it will be replacing the Ultra Flip-Video camera that currently sells for the same price. Flip's Minos will be in stores starting June 4, so we'll bring you more information regarding specifications as it becomes available. For now, we'll assume the camera will definitely be thinner, smaller, and will include better features than its predecessor.
Streaming Net radio for the iPhone, even over EDGE
No Wi-Fi? No problem. A new service makes it easy to tune in to Net radio—even over the iPhone's poky EDGE connection—although you shouldn't expect crystal-clear audio quality.
Discovered by the Macheads at the Unofficial Apple Weblog, FlyTunes lets you browse about 350 Net radio stations and podcasts; just navigate to FlyTunes.fm on your iPhone or iPod Touch to get started.
A series of drop-down menus lets you choose between high- and low-bandwidth Net radio stations (depending on whether you're using Wi-Fi or EDGE), as well as a directory of podcasts, videos, and AccuRadio stations.
I tried FlyTunes on my iPhone using both Wi-Fi and EDGE; naturally, high-bandwidth stations over Wi-Fi sounded much better than the muddier, mono sound I got over AT&T's 2.5G EDGE network, but at least I didn't run into any buffering problems—and hey, I'll take so-so Net radio over nothing at all.
I also wish there was a better selection of channels on FlyTunes (350 stations is a good start, although several thousand streaming Net radio sites are currently online), but the FlyTunes developers seem to be adding new stations at a decent clip (nearly 200 in the last month alone). That said, there's a solid selection of streaming podcasts, including offerings from the BBC, CBS News, CNN, ESPN, NPR, and the New York Times.
All in all, pretty nice—and the FlyTunes developers say they're considering a native iPhone/Touch app once the Apple AppStore goes live next month.
A word of warning, though: The iPhone's EDGE connection tends to drain the battery pretty fast, so keep an eye on the meter while you're cranking those streaming tunes.
IMAX going digital this summer
The large-format movie company is set to raise the curtains on its first all-digital screens in July—just in time for "The Dark Knight," which was partially shot in IMAX—with 130 IMAX Digital theaters slated to arrive in the coming months.
USA Today reports that AMC theaters in Baltimore and Washington, D.C. will be among the first to get commercial, DLP-powered IMAX Digital projectors. About 100 AMC screens in cities such as New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Miami will get the IMAX Digital treatment in the next several months, along with 31 Regal theaters, according to the USA Today story.
While thousands of standard movie screens are going digital (and even 3-D) this year, today's IMAX theaters still use good, old-fashioned film—albeit, "large-format" 70MM film that crams the equivalent of 70 megapixels into every frame.
The images produced by "traditional" IMAX projectors are certainly dazzling, but with IMAX reels weighing between 300 and 500 pounds each—and prints costing $22,000 and up, compared to $1,000 for a typical 35MM print, according to USA Today—the IMAX format was in danger of going the way of Cinerama, another eye-popping but prohibitively expensive big-screen format.
IMAX says its new digital projectors, capable of displaying both standard and 3-D IMAX movies, have passed the Pepsi challenge with test audiences—and I'd certainly hope so, given that we're expected to shell out $3 extra (or more) for the full-on "IMAX Experience."
Personally, I'm looking forward to checking out "The Dark Knight," which reportedly boasts four sequences shot with IMAX cameras—apparently a first for a full-length Hollywood film.
Unfortunately, besides "Dark Knight" (opening July 18) and the just-released bomb "Speed Racer," only one other big release is getting the IMAX treatment this summer: "Kung Fu Panda." Greaaaat.
So, what about you—would you be willing to cough up more cash to Batman in IMAX?
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Dell puts PCs on a power diet
Low-power is rapidly becoming the new "extreme" in the world of PCs. In response to rising energy costs and environmental concerns, Dell is putting its computers on a plan to consume less power, with the goal of cutting overall power consumption by 25 percent by 2010, according to Cnet.
The plan applies to both desktops and laptops.
One of the major undertakings is to build ultra-small desktops that require minimal energy. These PCs are even smaller than the "Small Form Factor" (SFF) machines the company currently sells (which are about the size of an unabridged dictionary). The new ultrasmall PCs take up a mere 20 percent of the room of a standard minitower, about half the size of a current-gen SFF.
The new PCs would use only about 30 percent of the power of a standard computer, too.
In the laptop world, power savings has long been a major focus, since battery life is directly correlated with energy consumption. The move to lower-power CPUs, LED screen backlighting, and turning off unused components has been a direct result of such research. Further gains may be harder to come by, with advances from here probably having to take the form of software and firmware enhancements.
In addition to cutting power use in its products, Dell noted that it plans to be carbon-neutral, operations-wise, by the end of the year. Good work, Dell!
FakeTV keeps burglars guessing
Here's a new twist on the old "lights on a timer" trick: A little, LED-flashing gadget that simulates the glow of a TV set while you're on vacation.About the size of a coffee cup, FakeTV ($49) comes equipped with a built-in processor and a dozen "super bright LEDs" that mimic the light patterns thrown off by your typical TV, including the effects created by pans, slow fades, scene cuts, and "swells" of lights.
Before you head off for vacation, you set the FakeTV's timer, put it in your living room or bedroom, and voilà —from the outside, it'll look like you're still at home, indulging in some late-night viewing (and hopefully, bad guys will pick another house to burgle).
And while it doesn't do 1080p or come with HDMI inputs (sorry, folks), the three-watt FakeTV won't put much of a dent in your power bill, and it'll save wear and tear on your LCD/plasma in the bargain.
Multi-instrument Guitar Hero World Tour official
The slap given to the Guitar Hero franchise by Rock Band seems to have left a mark... and it's serving as a wake-up call for the developers. Today, Activision has officially announced its fourth installment of the Guitar Hero saga, not only making the solo guitar a thing of the past but significantly upping the ante on the combo band gaming experience, too.
The list of enhancements in the upcoming Guitar Hero World Tour are extensive. As expected, it's a four-player game like Rock Band, including two guitars, drums, and vocals. But it sounds like the Rock Band instruments are about to look awfully dated in comparison to what GHWT is going to offer. For starters, the drum kit is "authentic," including three drum pads, bass pedal, and two real, raised cymbals. The drum pads can even detect how hard you hit the pads, letting you pound out a solo or softly roll while your singer croons. The guitar gets a redesign as well, and all instruments will be wireless (thank God).
Want to create your own music? GHWT will let you, with a feature called Music Studio. You can jam your own tracks, then share them with other Guitar Hero players via an online service.
The prerecorded track list hasn't been announced, but Activision promises the sets are "comprised entirely of master recordings from some of the greatest classic and modern rock bands of all-time including Van Halen, Linkin Park, The Eagles, Sublime, and many more," calling it the "largest on-disc set list in a music-rhythm game to-date."
Finally, the game will be available for all consoles: Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, and even the PS2. The game is slated for the fall, with an official release date coming soon. I'm already ready to rock!
Verizon tops in wireless survey, Sprint falls behind
Chatters are growing happier with their overall wireless service, according to a new survey, with Verizon Wireless taking top honors and Sprint slipping into last place among the four big carriers. That said, overall scores for customer satisfaction fell somewhat short of the stratosphere. The results come courtesy of the American Customer Satisfaction Index, which rates various industries and companies on a scale of 1 to 100 based on national phone surveys.
The scores? Overall wireless service garnered a 68, the highest score in the four years that the index has been tracking wireless satisfaction—not bad, but not exactly what I'd call an A+.
Verizon Wireless scored a 72 in the survey, giving it top marks among the four big wireless carriers. AT&T and T-Mobile both tied at 71, with AT&T gaining the most ground thanks to its four-percent spike since 2007 (thanks, in part, to the iPhone, according to ASCI researchers).
Meanwhile, Sprint's ASCI rating fell to just 56, an 8 percent drop from last year. What happened? Well, the struggling carrier's decision to slash 5,000 jobs last year—with another 4,000 to come—could have something to do with it, ASCI researchers said.
Just for comparison's sake, the spiraling airline industry got an ASCI score of 62 (tumbling almost 14 percent from 1994), the U.S. Postal Service got a 74 (up from a score of 61 in 1994), FedEx scored an 85, and both McDonald's and Microsoft made do with a middling 69.
How's your carrier been treating you lately? Care to grade 'em on your own scale of 1 to 100? Fire away!
Spy shots: Palm Treo 800, this time with Wi-Fi?
Remember the Treo? The venerable smartphone was a pulse-quikener in its day, but lately, it's been overshadowed by the likes of the iPhone, the latest BlackBerrys, and even its little brother, the $99 Palm Centro. But if the rumors are true, the Treo might be on the verge of a (minor) comeback.
Both the Boy Genius Report and Shadowmite (via Gizmodo) have fuzzy photos of what looks to be a new Treo—the Treo 800 (or 850, depending on who you talk to).
The rumored new Treo looks like a slightly larger, Windows Mobile version of the Palm Centro, complete with a curved, navy blue-shell, a pair of soft keys, a somewhat snazzier four-way navigational pad, and a cramped-looking QWERTY keypad.
And check this out—a couple of (again, rumored) features that Treo fans have been clamoring for since 2002: Wi-Fi and GPS. It's hard to believe that the 800 might be the first Treo with built-in Wi-Fi, but there it is.
Also on tap, according to the BGR/Shadowmite spies: a 400MHz processor, 100MB of on-board RAM, EV-DO Rev. A data access, and the latest version of Windows Mobile (6.1, to be exact).Good stuff—unfortunately, the apparent lack of a true touchscreen UI (not just the standard Palm/Windows Mobile touch interfaces, mind you) will keep any new Treo from achieving the "wow" factor of the upcoming 3G iPhone, the HTC Diamond, or the rumored BlackBerry Thunder.
No word on pricing, carriers (although the usual CDMA suspects—Sprint and Verizon Wireless—are safe bets), or release dates.So, what do you think—willing to cough up a few hundred bucks for a new Treo (whenever it comes out)? Or are you holding out for a new iPhone—or the Thunder, for that matter?
Hands on with Roku's Netflix Player
I love Netflix, but I really love Netflix's video streaming service. Wouldn't it be great if you could get those streaming vids on your big ol' flat panel TV?
Well, you can, thanks to the curiously-named The Netflix Player by Roku, which Ben wrote about when it was announced. I've been using the Player for several spins now and I have to say, I honestly love it to death.
The box is about the size of a stuffed ham-on-wheat sandwich, and it's a featureless box with only a Roku logo and a single white LED to indicate it's on. The LED blinks when it receives a command from the remote, otherwise you won't even know it's there.
Hooking it up is brain-dead simple. Just connect the box to your TV or receiver via any kind of connection (RCA, S-Video, component video, HDMI, and even optical audio). Plug it in via Ethernet or configure it for Wi-Fi, and power it up. You're pretty much done. Another 60 seconds of registering the device to work with your Netflix account (you must have at least the $9 a month DVD plan), and you're finished. Now you have unlimited streaming movies delivered right to your TV.
Playback is simple. The box retrieves the titles in your Netflix queue and shows you a poster for each one on your TV. Flip through them with the simple remote and click select when you find the one you want. In my case, playback started after about 15 seconds of buffering. I have yet to see any hiccups or stutters, and though there are no chapter breaks in streamed films, the fast-forward and rewind system works pretty well, showing you a series of still frames as you skip back and forth, letting you easily find where you want to jump.
If you've used Netflix's streaming service on your PC you know the main sore spot here is video quality. It isn't the best, by any stretch, and while some reviewers are claiming it's DVD quality, I'd call it on par with a good VHS tape. Quality can be inconsistent, though: A film may be blurry and grainy in spots but will be crystal clear in others. Selection is great but quirky: 10,000 titles are available, but those ready for streaming tend to be older ones. Nonetheless that's far better than any of the other streaming services out there, and far cheaper, too.
Considering the player is just 99 bucks, who's complaining? This little guy has already become a must-have addition to my home theater rig. If you're a Netflix fan, put one on your wish list immediately.
Hands on with Roku's Netflix Playe
I love Netflix, but I really love Netflix's video streaming service. Wouldn't it be great if you could get those streaming vids on your big ol' flat panel TV?
Well, you can, thanks to the curiously-named The Netflix Player by Roku, which Ben wrote about when it was announced. I've been using the Player for several spins now and I have to say, I honestly love it to death.
The box is about the size of a stuffed ham-on-wheat sandwich, and it's a featureless box with only a Roku logo and a single white LED to indicate it's on. The LED blinks when it receives a command from the remote, otherwise you won't even know it's there.
Hooking it up is brain-dead simple. Just connect the box to your TV or receiver via any kind of connection (RCA, S-Video, component video, HDMI, and even optical audio). Plug it in via Ethernet or configure it for Wi-Fi, and power it up. You're pretty much done. Another 60 seconds of registering the device to work with your Netflix account (you must have at least the $9 a month DVD plan), and you're finished. Now you have unlimited streaming movies delivered right to your TV.
Playback is simple. The box retrieves the titles in your Netflix queue and shows you a poster for each one on your TV. Flip through them with the simple remote and click select when you find the one you want. In my case, playback started after about 15 seconds of buffering. I have yet to see any hiccups or stutters, and though there are no chapter breaks in streamed films, the fast-forward and rewind system works pretty well, showing you a series of still frames as you skip back and forth, letting you easily find where you want to jump.
If you've used Netflix's streaming service on your PC you know the main sore spot here is video quality. It isn't the best, by any stretch, and while some reviewers are claiming it's DVD quality, I'd call it on par with a good VHS tape. Quality can be inconsistent, though: A film may be blurry and grainy in spots but will be crystal clear in others. Selection is great but quirky: 10,000 titles are available, but those ready for streaming tend to be older ones. Nonetheless that's far better than any of the other streaming services out there, and far cheaper, too.
Considering the player is just 99 bucks, who's complaining? This little guy has already become a must-have addition to my home theater rig. If you're a Netflix fan, put one on your wish list immediately.
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In a world of glossy magazines showing us rail thin models who subsist on a diet of lettuce and vodka, do we really need video games telling impressionable young children that they're fat?
Nintendo is being lambasted over its hot new Wii Fit "balance board," which has labeled a 10-year-old-girl as "fat" according to its expert analysis. The UK girl, reportedly 4 feet, 9 inches tall, weighs six stone, or about 84 pounds, according to her stepfather. If those figures are true, that would give her a Body Mass Index of a mere 18.2, which actually falls into the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute's "underweight" category (though I suspect the real figures are a little different). The worry isn't that she's unhealthy but rather that the device has given her an incorrect and damaging opinion of her health and self-image, one that her parents will now have to work double-time to correct.
At least one group, the UK's National Obesity Forum, is calling for the game to be banned from being marketed to children, saying that BMI "should simply not be used" for growing kids whose bodies are rapidly changing from day to day.
Nintendo has apologized, mainly for using the term "fat" in the game, but says it stands by the BMI measurement, saying only that it "may not be entirely accurate for younger age groups." The company says it will not add a warning of any kind to the device, however. Presumably, it's not going to come up with another word for "fat," either.
Wi-Fi universal remote returns, now with ESPN branding
Remember the tvCompass SR1500, that Windows CE-powered, Wi-Fi universal remote that controls all your A/V components and surfs the Web? Well, it's back, this time with an ESPN label slapped on it—along with a $300 price tag.Now called the ESPN Ultimate Remote (subtle, no?), the reincarnated SR1500 comes with most of the features we saw back in January, including a 2.2-inch QVGA display and the ability to download control codes for your components (up to 18 at a time) over Wi-Fi, no PC required.
The wand also downloads its own programming guide—no need to turn on the tube to see what's on—and boasts its own click365-branded xHTML Web browser, complete with links to news headlines, ABC News, WSJ.com, Amazon, Facebook, and the like. You can even send text messages via e-mail or SMS.
What's appears to be missing, however, is killer content from ESPN—which one might expect, given that this thing is called the ESPN Ultimate Remote.
Verizon Wireless subscribers, for example, can get a pretty sweet Mobile ESPN app on their handsets with a top-notch interface, real-time scores and stats, and videos.
Unfortunately, the screenshots of the ESPN widget on the Ultimate Remote look comparatively weak. The documentation promises scores, news, access to fantasy leagues, and Gamecast scoring, but the plain-text screens aren't all that inspiring, especially next to the cool animated interface on VZW's Mobile ESPN app. Maybe I'll be more impressed after some hands-on time, but from what I've seen…meh.
And $300 for a universal remote? Pretty steep, considering that the swankiest of A/V universal remotes (not the touch panels that control entire homes, mind you) top out at about $250. And no, those remotes don't come with their own Web browsers, but hey...I've got a phone for that.
Anyway, don't be surprised if you see the tvCompass SR1500 popping up elsewhere, with different branding.
iPhone forensics toolkit raises questions about privacy
You may have reason to worry about your personal data resurfacing if you've returned an iPhone back to the Apple Store or sold it on eBay. It appears one developer discovered a serious privacy issue with refurbished iPhones after creating a forensics toolkit that allowed him to recover deleted email, contact information, and other personal data previously stored on his iPhone.
On his website, Jonathan Zdziarski describes how this is possible. He says that when you do a restore through iTunes, you're basically performing a quick format of the flash drive that doesn't destroy the file system. Personal data is left untouched in the iPhone's NAND memory, and can be restored back to it's original form without any risk of being corrupted. This means that while the average Joe may not have the know-how to recover deleted files yet, someone who does can easily have access to any data you've ever stored on the phone.
Using Jonathan's toolkit, one "verified" detective from the Oregon State Police Department was able to recover sensitive data from an out-of-the-box refurbished iPhone he bought at the Apple store, and sent the developer screenshots of the compromised data. I guess what's alarming is how the detective was able to recover entire emails which contained online banking statements, receipts from online purchases, and possibly even login information to some of the user's accounts.
This is a very serious issue and I can't wait to hear what Apple has to say about it. If Apple doesn't figure out a way for users to safely remove all those undeleted files from the NAND memory before the new iPhone hits the streets, the company will have a mob of angry customers on its hands.
You can read all about Jonathan Zdziarski's findings here.
Review: Ad-Aware 2008 (available today)
Venerable anti-spyware tool Ad-Aware has launched today its latest edition: Ad-Aware 2008. As before, there are three versions of the software available: Free (which offers competent on-demand scanning), Plus ($27/year; adds real-time scanning and a host of extra features), and Pro ($40/year; adds network-protection features and some power-user options). I've been using the 2008 Pro version for a few days, and am happy to report things are going swimmingly (after powering through a few pre-launch hiccups, at least).
Ad-Aware 2008 looks a lot like the 2007 version of the program, but with a freshened-up interface and somewhat more intuitive controls in a few places. Most of the changes, however, are found under the hood, and they are significant.
First, for all versions, including Free, a 64-bit option is available if you're one of the few people running a 64-bit OS. Naturally there have been great strides in security, particularly with the detection and removal of rootkits. If you're using Plus or Pro, Ad-Aware now includes an antivirus tool in addition to its spyware killer. The company says over a million additional malware threats can be detected by the software in real-time, and all with a reduction in memory usage while it's running.
I can't vouch for how much more secure my system is running Ad-Aware 2008, but so far, so good: No infections. In running the real-time system, my computer seems plenty responsive. Things only bogged down when I ran a full scan of my hard drive. That scan took an hour and caused some slowness in other apps I was running, though none of them crashed. The software is also slow to launch when you first start it up, but after that all's well.
I can't immediately recommend replacing your existing antivirus security with Ad-Aware Plus or Pro (hopefully independent virus testing will let us know soon whether it's up to snuff), but if you've been using any Ad-Aware version to date, there's no reason not to upgrade to the 2008 edition immediately.
Sprint to adopt 5GB bandwidth cap?
Looks like the last big U.S. wireless carrier to offer truly unlimited bandwidth for PC card users is about to impose a 5GB monthly usage cap, at least according to a (purported) leaked memo.
According to the leaked e-mail, Sprint will "reserve the right" to suspend (or otherwise "alter") the accounts of users who burn through 5GB of monthly data on their broadband cards, with the change to take effect on July 31. The memo also dictates a 300MB monthly cap while roaming off Sprint's network.
Up to now, Sprint hasn't spelled out a bandwidth cap, although there's a clause in its broadband contracts that says it may disconnect "heavy" data users. AT&T and Verizon Wireless already have 5GB bandwidth caps for PC card users, and they've been known to charge subscribers extra (or even terminate their accounts) for going over the limit.
In any case, Sprint has yet to make any official announcement, and it's still not clear what "reserve the right" means—that is, whether the 5GB cap (if it is, indeed, happening) will be a hard-and-fast limit, or if the cap will only be enforced for serious bandwidth hogs.
Still, the leak doesn't bode well for those who've been using Sprint broadband cards to substitute for standard DSL and cable modems. After all, a single HD movie download is about 4-5GB, which would practically bust your monthly allowance right there.
Netflix, Roku unveil $99 TV set-top box
Nope, you're not seeing things. The long-awaited (and relatively cheap) set-top player for Netflix has finally arrived, allowing subscribers to watch thousands of movies instantly on their TVs—for free. No, we're not talking HD quality here, but the price sure is right.
Netflix has been teasing us with the possibility of a Net-connected set-top box for years, so it's something of a shock to see the thing finally materialize. And while the Netflix Player (built by streaming set-top box maker Roku) is, indeed, a few years late to the party—the Xbox Video Marketplace, Apple TV, and Vudu have all been with us for some time now—the movies-by-mail giant has taken a somewhat different tack, releasing an inexpensive, sub-$100 device that delivers movies free to subscribers.
CNET has a lengthy review of the player, which connects to your home network via Ethernet or Wi-Fi and includes HDMI, component, digital audio and analog stereo sound outputs.
The player itself is somewhat smaller than Apple TV and Vudu—it's about the size of a cable modem, according to CNET—and once connected, it lets you browse Netflix's collection of 10,000-odd "WatchNow" movies and TV shows. As CNET notes, the selection is something of a mixed bag: popular titles like "Blade Runner," "30 Rock," and "Heroes" are well-represented, along with such grade-Z movies as "Man with the Screaming Brain," so make sure to check out the selection before plunking down your $100.
Movies began playing within a minute or so of pressing play, according to CNET, although reviewers added that the box won't play HD movies—indeed, it only outputs a 480i signal that, while looking OK on a smallish TV set, doesn't look "terribly good" either, especially compared to a decently engineered DVD. (Apple TV, Xbox Live, and Vudu are all capable of playing HD video.)
Here's the thing, though—the Netflix Player is just $99, and if you're subscribed to the $8.99/month player or higher, all the movies are free. Now that's a pricing model that Netflix's competitors should take a cold, hard look at.
Also, keep in mind that more Netflix-enabled devices (from the likes of LG and others) are coming, so expect pricier—and higher-quality—options in the coming months.
So, what do you think? Interested in picking up a relatively cheap Netflix box, even if the video quality is only so-so?
Robotic suit give soldiers superhuman strength
Here's a suit that will make soldiers feel like Iron Man. CNN reports that Sarcos Inc is working with the U.S. Army in developing a robotic exoskeleton that would give soldiers superhuman strength and endurance when worn. So far, the robotic aluminum suit is not the most practical, but the Army hopes to start testing this suit in the field next year, and perhaps have some soldiers wear them in combat zones in the future.
The suit itself weighs 150 pounds, and features sensors all over that detect the body's movements then transmits data about them to the suit's internal computer. According to the report, the computer sends instructions to hydraulic valves, which then mimic tendons by driving the suit's mechanical limbs, replicating and amplifying the wearer's movements instantly.
The only problem with the existing prototype is its battery life. When the suit was recently demoed, it was tethered to power cords because the suit's battery only lasts about 30 minutes. Price will also be a problem unless it is mass produced, but even then the cost will be "within the range of the price of a small car" according to Stephen Jacobsen, chief designer of the Sarcos suit.
Designers hope the suit will someday help soldiers unload heavy boxes, carry gear over rough terrain, or even help them repair tanks that break down in inconvenient locations, but the technology could also prove beneficial to disabled people, factory workers, and even fire fighters. You can see the suit in action in this video. Pretty cool stuff.Apple perceived as gay-friendly, Samsung not so much
I'm still not entirely sure what makes a company gay-friendly, but a recent survey by Planet Out and Prime Access found that more than two-thirds of gays and lesbians are more likely to purchase from gay-friendly companies. According to the survey, companies perceived to be the most gay-friendly include Apple, Bravo, Levi's, Absolut, Starbucks, and American Express, while Samsung, Cracker Barrel, Exxon Mobil, and Wal-Mart were the least gay-friendly.
Confused about what makes a company gay-friendly? You're not alone. Sixty-four percent of the respondents didn't know how to determine if a company were gay-friendly either, but those who managed to discern the gay-friendly vibe said they did so from the company's advertising, the media, and their friends' input.
I can see how Bravo, American Express, and Apple can be perceived as gay-friendly, but American Airlines, Target and Saturn also ranked high on the list which adds to the confusion. Kevyn Aiken, Vice President of Marketing at PlanetOut, says gays and lesbians are powerful consumers, more so than straight consumers, so it would be in a company's best interest to be perceived as gay-friendly, but how do they do that?
One thing's for sure, the companies that ranked high do have sexier advertising campaigns and products than say Cracker Barrel, Dunkin' Donuts, or Exxon Mobil, so maybe that's the secret of their success among the gay community. What do you think?
Do you think it's fair to say one company is more gay-friendly than another based on marketing alone?
Saving Shows to DVD with Windows XP Media Center PC
One thing that Media Center is missing is a module that lets you create, or burn, your own DVDs. Why would you want to create your own DVDs? Well, here are a few reasons:
- You want to create archived copies of your recorded TV shows: Although MCE PCs have big hard drives, eventually they fill up, and you need to erase some recorded TV shows to make room for new ones. If you want to keep some of those older shows, why not record them to DVD?
- You want to create a DVD of a favorite series: Perhaps you want to make a SpongeBob SquarePants DVD for the kids to watch in the car on that long trip to Disney World. Until they make MCE PCs that will fit in the back of your car, a DVD is your best bet here. (But you know, that Toshiba MCE laptop would fit nicely under the back seat.)
Although Microsoft has not yet provided a way to make DVDs, there is a way to burn DVDs in Media Center: using Sonic PrimeTime software Roxio Consumer Products. PrimeTime is a DVD-burning application that plugs itself into your Media Center Start menu, so it's easy to access and use with the remote control. You can even find PrimeTime in the Media Center Online Spotlight. Just open Online Spotlight and navigate to the Downloads section to download a free trial version.
PrimeTime is designed to create DVDs of only your recorded TV content (from My TV). For an all-purpose DVD creation program, you can use Sonic's MYDVD program. Many MCE PC vendors include a version of MyDVD with their MCE PCs.
PrimeTime automatically searches your MCE PC for recorded TV shows and organizes them by name, date recorded, or category - just like My TV does. Using the remote control, you can select the shows you want to burn to DVD and then record them with a single press of a button.
PrimeTime even records video CDs, which are similar to DVDs but are on recordable CDs instead of DVD media. Video CDs hold a lot less video, but can be played back on most DVD players and are an option if your MCE PC doesn't have a DVD recorder.
Figure 1 shows the PrimeTime interface in MCE. To get to this interface, select Create DVD in the Media Center Start menu.
Figure 1: PrimeTime in action.
PrimeTime is a popular way of creating DVDs. It has a ton of great features, including the following:
- You can use DVDs created with PrimeTime in just about any DVD player.
- You can insert a rewritable DVD (marked RW) into your MCE PC and use PrimeTime to change its contents. You can remove all the programs you recorded and replace them with others, you can remove a few, or you can add more shows if you have room.
- PrimeTime uses Dolby Digital (AC-3 encoding) to record the audio portion of the DVD. Dolby Digital is a compressed audio system that uses about one-tenth the disc space of the uncompressed alternative, PCM. So with PrimeTime (and Dolby Digital), you use up less of the DVD's storage space with audio - leaving room for more TV shows per disc!
- PrimeTime has a handy "bit-budget" indicator. (See the disc on the left side of Figure 1.) As soon as you select a show, the indicator updates the amount of space left on the DVD.
PrimeTime works with all types of recordable DVDs (the blank discs themselves) and makes DVDs that can play in the vast majority of DVD players. You can be pretty darned confident that grandma will be able to play that disc you sent of the grandkids' latest school recital.
Adding a Second Internal Hard Drive to Your PC
For most current PC owners, the easiest method of adding more hard drive space is to add a second hard drive to your system. Here are three very good reasons for this:
- No backup is required. Adding a second drive eliminates the setup that you'd have to perform if you upgraded your current drive because you won't have to restore the current contents of your old drive to the new drive.
- Most PCs have at least one open drive bay. Unless your computer is already stuffed to the gills, you should have enough room to add a second hard drive. If it is stuffed to the gills, you'll either have to upgrade the current drive or add an external FireWire or USB 2.0 drive.
- It's like . . . more for less. Rather than replace your existing 40GB drive with a 80GB drive - and end up with only 40GB more room - leave the original drive as is and add that second drive, resulting in the full 80GB that you paid for. (Remember: You will eventually use that space.)
Follow this procedure to add a second internal EIDE hard drive to your current system:
1. Cover your work surface with several sheets of newspaper.
2. Unplug your PC and place it on top of the newspaper.
3. Remove the case screws and slide the case off, putting the screws aside in a bowl or cup.
If you're unsure how to remove your PC's case, check the manual that accompanied your computer.
4. Touch the metal chassis of the computer to dissipate any static electricity.
5. Verify the jumper settings on the back of your original drive, as shown in Figure 1. If necessary, change the existing drive to multiple drives, master unit (or just master) by moving the jumper to the indicated pins.
If you haven't encountered jumpers yet, they're the tiny plastic and metal shunts that you use to configure hard drives and CD/DVD drives.
Figure 1: Change jumper settings on an EIDE hard drive when installing a second drive.
Your jumper configuration will probably be different than Figure 1. Most hard drive manufacturers now print the jumper settings on the top of a hard drive. If the settings aren't printed on the drive, you can refer to the drive's manual or visit the manufacturer's Web site and look up the settings there. Master means primary (and if you have at least one drive, there must be a master device), and slave means secondary. Other than that, the devices are treated the same way by your PC.
6. Set the jumpers on the back of the new drive for multiple drives, slave unit (often listed as just slave unit).
7. If your new drive needs a drive cage to fit into the desired bay, use the screws supplied by the drive manufacturer to attach the cage rails onto both sides of your drive.
8. Slide the drive into the selected bay from the front of the case, making sure that the end with the connectors goes in first and that the exposed circuitry of the drive is on the bottom.
9. Slide the hard drive back and forth in the drive bay until the screw holes in the side of the bay are aligned with the screw holes on the side of the drive (or the drive cage rails).
10. Tighten the drive down to the side of the bay with the screws that came with the drive (or your cage kit), as illustrated in Figure 2.
Figure 2: Secure your new friend in place.
11. Choose an unused power connector and plug it in, making sure that the connector is firmly seated.
There's only one way to connect a power cable to a hard drive: the right way.
12. Plug the other connector from the hard drive cable into the back of the drive and make sure that the cable is firmly seated.
Note that both hard drives will use the same cable, so you might need to unplug the original drive from the cable and switch connectors. Don't worry: It doesn't matter which connector goes to which drive as long as the jumpers are correctly set.
Check for a blocked hole in the cable connector, which should align with a missing pin on the drive's connector. This alignment trick, called keying, helps ensure that you're installing the cable right-side up. However, don't panic if the cable isn't keyed: Remember that the wire with the red or black marking on the cable is always Wire 1 and that it should align with Pin 1 on the drive's connector (see Figure 3).
Figure 3: Connect the drive to the data cable.
13. Replace the cover on your PC and tighten its screws.
14. Plug your PC back in and turn it on.
15. Run the drive formatting utility that accompanied your new drive to prepare it for use.
Sharing a Hard Drive over a Home Network
Home networks commonly share all the folders and files on the hard drives of every computer, but you have to configure the hard drive for sharing. This works differently depending on the version of Windows running on the computer you're setting up for sharing.
Sharing a hard drive in Windows 98 and Windows Me
When you share a drive in Windows 98 or Windows Me, you also have the opportunity to create permissions for the share (and that's true for sharing folders, printers, and any other resources). To create a shared hard drive, follow these steps:
1. On the computer you're sharing, open My Computer.
2. Right-click the hard drive you want to share (usually drive C) and choose Sharing from the shortcut menu that appears.
3. Select the Shared As option.
The options in the dialog box are now available.
4. Type your own name for this share (Windows automatically calls it C) in the Share Name text box, choosing a name such as Den-C for the computer in the den.
5. Configure the Access Type and Passwords.
By default, Windows makes the access type Read-Only, but unless you have a good reason not to, change the access type to Full.
6. Click OK.
You are returned to the My Computer window, where a hand appears under your hard drive icon, indicating that the drive is a shared resource.
Controlling user actions in Windows 98 and Windows Me
Every time you create a share in Windows 98 and Windows Me, you have three choices of access types for that share. The following controls describe what you can do to limit the power of users on your network:
- Read-Only: Remote users can open and copy documents from the share but can't make changes to or delete the documents.
- Full: Remote users can manipulate and use folders and files on your hard drive as though they were working directly at your computer.
- Depends on Password: The passwords that you create contain one of the access rights. The actions that users can perform depend on the passwords they use. If you choose this option, you must create a password for each type of access.
Remember that if you want to work on your own files from another computer, you're a remote user just as any other remote user is. You have to know the password to get into your own files.
Sharing a hard drive in Windows 2000
If you're running Windows 2000, the basic steps for sharing a hard drive are the same as those for Windows 98 and Windows Me, but your options are different. Here's how to share a drive in Windows 2000:
1. On the computer you're sharing, open My Computer.
2. Right-click the hard drive you want to share and choose Sharing from the shortcut menu that appears.
3. Select the Share This Folder option.
4. Click the New Share button to create a new share for the drive.
The New Share dialog box opens.
5. Name the share, and optionally, enter a description in the Comment field.
Sharing a hard drive in Windows XP
Sharing a hard drive using Windows XP Home Edition is slightly more complicated than it is on other versions of Windows because Windows XP doesn't like the idea of sharing a drive. Use the following steps to share a drive:
1. On the computer you're sharing, open My Computer.
2. Right-click the hard drive you want to share and choose Sharing and Security from the shortcut menu that appears.
The Sharing tab appears, displaying a message that warns you that sharing a drive isn't a good idea. Beneath the message is a link that you can click to indicate that you understand the risk but want to share the drive. Then the Sharing tab changes to reveal the options that allow you to share the drive.
3. Select the Share This Folder on the Network option.
4. Enter a name for the share.
5. Select the Allow Network Users to Change My Files option.
If you don't select this option, network users can view files but can't create new files or modify existing files. Because you're a network user when you want to work on a file on this computer from a different computer, there's not much point in restricting what network users can do. However, the security in Windows XP is rather complicated, and it gets more complicated when you share folders.
6. Click OK.
Sharing removable drives
You use the same steps that you used to share a hard drive when you want to share a peripheral (removable) drive. Peripheral drives are considered external to your computer (your hard drive is internal), such as your disk drive, a CD-ROM drive, or a Zip drive.
Trying to set access controls for peripheral drives is foolish because you'd have to spend a lot of time changing the controls, depending on the disk that's inserted at any given time. The solution is to give full access to peripheral drives and then hide any disks in a locked drawer that you don't want other users to access.
