One of the roadblocks you may have run into when trying to use your PC as a DVR (Digital Video Recorder) has been getting digital content directly into your PC without having to use external digital convertor devices. Prior to this new product from Ceton you had to purchase four single tuner cards and rent r separate CableCARDS from your local cable provider. This could easily cost upwards of $1000 to purchase the tuner cards and an additonal cost of $96 - $288/year for the CableCARD rental.
With the Ceton InfiniTV 4 tuner card you pay $399 for the tuner and $2-$6/month for the CableCARD rental.
Ceton states that it will work with any US Cable System to receive all SD and HD digital cable channels without needing a separate set-top box. So with all that said, this product looks like a great addition to your Media Center to take it up another notch. More on this product once it is released.
The iPad will have its own built-in application for access to books purchased from the ibookstore and in the interface four actions to your library is interesting as well as you can see with the image displayed at the right. You will have the basic features that you find in the Kindle in the nook, and you get the added bonus of being able to use the iPhone applications that give you access to these two sites as well as other epub applications that are available. No other device at this moment other than your computer has this capability. So if you are really looking for a new eBook reader the iPad is giving you a reason to take a much closer look at what it can offer you.
Well not quite true, you must have Windows 7 professional, Ultimate or Enterprise, but the requirement that you have hardware Virtualization Technology built into your computer is not necessary anymore. Microsoft announced on Thursday that it is updating XP Mode in Windows 7 to no longer require the use of hardware virtualization technology. If your PC does have hardware virtualization technology, such as Intel VT or AMD-V, XP Mode will still use it, and you won't need the update.
You can download the updated version of the software from Microsoft's Web site—the 32-bit version is here, the 64-bit version is here. You must pass windows validation for this update to work on your machine.
If you were looking for in these simple and quick method of creating posts on the fly, Posterous could be a great program for you to use. You have the ability to connect multiple accounts to this site so that your posts or automatically shared with other online sources. In this test, I have linked twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube and my BobsTechTalk Blog. Will these sites get updated automatically as on a post new entries into the Posterous blog site. Now here is the interesting part. You are able to easily add entries by either emailing your message to the site, Texting to this site, or making a web entry to the site itself.
The site is very simplistic, so don't expect a lot of extra capabilities. I have not tried live writer as of yet to see whether it could post directly to this site, so that will be something that I will try as time permits. If you send a video or attach photos to your e-mail when sending it to the site, it will be posted with the pictures, and will update the picture galleries and the sites that can accept pictures from you. You have the ability to add connections too many different sites and I am sure they will be continuing to add more as time goes on. So if you want a quick way to post a single entry two multiple sites in one fell swoop, this might be one quick and easy method of doing so.
But me know what you think of this program. I'd be interested in how many if you are using it or if you find it useful.
You were also able to post messages through a web form from the Posterous website. It makes it very easy to post a message correctly without having to worry about what e-mail you're sending the message from. It has a simple airfare use without a lot of extra capabilities, and if you are only needing to send a simple message then this should work just fine.
What I don't see, is the ability to insert images easily or videos. I do put a lot of rich information into my posts so this will probably not work for me in a day and day out usage. However, if you need quick documentation of things that you were doing, or status updates that misapplication should work just fine.
Gary Flake discusses a new way of looking at data patterns gleaned from Web Content. The video shows a “new” innovative way of interacting with information. This appears to be the next step in the way we can interact with information, deciphering it’s content and coming up with new ideas based on the patterns and data connectivity that you might be able to find. Take it for what it is worth, if I had this available to me now, I would definitely be using it for many of my projects. A lot of the comments on this site discussed the problems in creating the data subsets that this type of program would need to use to produce the effects that you see in the video, and also the prior work done by others in the semantic web functions.
This week we're posting three of the most-talked-about talks from TED2007 -- Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, John Doerr and Blaise Aguera y Arcas' remarkable demo of Seadragon/Microsoft Photosynth. http://blog.ted.com/2007/05/three_powerful.php
Friday was a very interesting day because of Microsoft Courier Tablet leak that occurred simultaneously with Apple’s announcement of the iPad’s release date. There has been a lot of hype surrounding iPad and how it is going to be super hit for Apple like the iPhone and iPod products have been for them. But if even half of what the new video that is being presented by engadget is true, this product blows the socks off of the iPad as a useful Professional’s tool.
endgadget’s article describes this device as:
“We're told Courier will function as a "digital journal," and it's designed to be seriously portable: it's under an inch thick, weighs a little over a pound, and isn't much bigger than a 5x7 photo when closed. That's a lot smaller than we expected -- this new picture really puts it into perspective -- and the internals apparently reflect that emphasis on mobility: rather than Windows 7, we're told the Courier is built on Tegra 2 and runs on the same OS as the Zune HD, Pink, and Windows Mobile 7 Series, which we're taking to mean Windows CE 6.”
“… the interface appears to be pen-based and centered around drawing and writing, with built-in handwriting recognition and a corresponding web site that allows access to everything entered into the device in a blog-like format complete with comments.”
“,,,there will be a built-in camera, and there's a headphone jack for media playback. Most interestingly, it looks like the Courier will also serve as Microsoft's e-book device, with a dedicated ecosystem centered around reading.”
The ‘Digital Journal’ Tablet term is a perfect description of the proposed Microsoft Courier Tablet device. Seldom does my partner get so excited about a device but this one Jude said to me that he “would buy this in minute when it becomes available.” This device was initially introduced as a future device last December and has been hinted about at different Microsoft announcement events. With the release of this new video we get a better sense of the capabilities of the device and how it will fit into a busy professional’s lifestyle. So what is so special about it?
The first thing you notice is its dual screen display. This doubles your workspace and the ability to interact between applications and information. When reading a book the experience will be more “book like”. The device is designed around the concept of being used as a journal. It will allow you to compile information from different sources onto pages that can be shared with other members of your team. It will allow you to take pictures with the built-in camera and include those images in your journal pages. The concept of journals is very interesting because you can use it to separate different projects so that you can publish them as separate entities to the group you need to share them with. If you use OneNote or EverNote compare this to the notebook theme in these applications.
I do have some questions about this product that the answers will be very interesting to know. First is battery life. To make this truly useful it will need to be at least 10 hours of continuous use but even longer would be beneficial. Storage is another consideration. If it has an SD card slot, or a USB port that you can plug a USB Flash Drive into, then you have a method of giving yourself unlimited storage and an easy way to back up your data. Either way, this would be truly useful to have available and would give you almost unlimited storage. Another thought would be that it would be highly integrated into a cloud based site, for storage, sharing information and application access. With so much emphasis being placed on web based applications, it makes sense that it will have a tight integration with cloud based applications.
In reading all the information that is coming out about this proposed product, I felt that everything that I wanted out this type of device was being answered. One of my major complaints with the iPad is its lack of a stylus. Granted, Apple’s focus with their device is primarily entertainment Microsoft’s focus is on productivity. The stylus is important in this function. It looks like there will handwriting recognition built-in so the need for a keyboard will be minimal but if you were to turn the unit on its side the one screen could be turned into a keyboard with the second screen being the word processing page. Of course there is no hint of a keyboard so this is all speculation. Being that the unit is only 5x7 this keyboard would be very small indeed.
I made a mockup of what a 5x7 device would look like and I found a couple of things out. First, it is small enough to be easily transportable. It is light. And, for us guys that don’t want to have to start carrying a Man Purse around, it fits easily in the front pocket of my khakis. When you fold it open, you have two of these surfaces to work with. The central area between the screens is used as a docking area that holds information like a visual clipboard, so that you can easily move information and images between applications. Cutting and pasting is done very easily with a combination of both stylus and fingers. Flipping pages is very intuitive using your finger to scroll either horizontally or vertically through the user interface and the different applications. All in all, it blows the iPad out of the water with a much more useful device to the professional worker whether they are a salesperson, designer, serviceman, physician, lawyer or anyone that is an Information Worker.
So, if you can’t tell, I’ll spell it out. I’m very excited about this device concept and hope that the proposed release of it for the Q3/Q4 timeframe is true. This is one of the few new products that I would get in a long line for. I just wish that its release was sooner that what is being proposed. So the question arises, do I go out and get an iPad when it becomes available next month, or do I hold out for the Microsoft Courier. I don’t think that it is that hard of a decision, I really didn’t want the first generation iPad anyway, too many limitations. So if the Microsoft Courier does become a real, available device later this year, I think that in the long run I will much happier with it than the iPad. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens!
Original September leaked video, which was pretty cool in its own right:
Microsoft has announced a scripting vulnerability affecting Windows 2000, XP, and Server 2003 users using Internet Explorer. A dialog pop-up that convinces the user to hit F1, the commonly known "Help" button, could then run code on the machine, which would lead to, well, all kinds of unfortunate things. A patch will arrive, but in the meantime, let no web site direct you to call for help. Original image via Tom's Guide. [Microsoft TechNet via Gizmodo, Lifehacker]
Support for Windows XP with service pack 2 and Vista will be discontinued after July 13 this year. See the complete article at: http://oem.microsoft.com/downloads/ADD54268-AC45-4158-A87E-6C8166D1123E/worldwide/windowsxp/windowsxp_sp2_windowsvista_rtm_eos.pdf
Be sure to take a look at this important deadline that is coming up in a few months.
Lexmark has just made it easier to purchase their T652n Monochrome Laser Printer. This printer is normally $1,299 but this month they have lowered the price to just $899!
What a deal. So if you were thinking of getting a solid printer for your office this is a great product at a great price.
A little more about the Lexmark T652n Laser Printer…
High-Endurance Printing at Its Best: Simplify high-volume jobs with a fast-thinking powerhouse featuring robust monthly duty cycle, up to 50 ppm print speed, and generous input capacity (650 sheets standard, up to 4,300 sheets with options). Plus diverse media support and a rich selection of paper handling options to choose from.
Let It Decide the Best Speed: Identifies the size and complexity of your job and automatically calculates the optimal speed—quicker time-to-first-page for short jobs and more pages per minute for longer jobs.
Intelligent Job Waiting: No more letting missing media derail hours of print time. The innovative Job Waiting feature will simply hold that job aside, letting others go on working without interruption (requires the hard disk option).
Outstanding Print Quality: Combines true 1200 x 1200 dpi with automatic darkness adjustment and pixel-boosting technology to ensure high-quality, professional documents every time.
Cutting-Edge Security: From network security to user-access restrictions, you’ll be fully equipped to keep valuable data safe and sound. In addition to IPSec, SNMPv3 and 802.1x network security, the Lexmark T652dn offers an alphanumeric pad for easy PIN authentication, plus encryption and disk wiping to secure the optional hard disk.
Less Work for IT: Network-ready and very easy to set up, plus Universal Driver support for simple deployment. Includes Lexmark MarkVision™ Professional software for time-saving remote management and automated tools.
I love my Camtasia Studio. If you have visited my Blog before you will have noticed some of the videos that I have posted to support my How To Video submissions. This is a great application for creating support videos for your organization as well as educational materials for employee’s or if you are an Educational Organization this is a great teaching aid for that as well. The retail cost of this product is $299.00, educational and volume discounts are available as well. It is available for both Windows and Mac. If you want to try it out you can download a trial version here.
Here are the recommended set of system specifications to get the most out of the product. Any current computer that is essentially purchased to work with graphics should be adequate but you will want to have a system with at least these specs to work with your development projects, especially if you are planning this system to be a production machine.
Minimum Requirements:
Microsoft Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7
Microsoft DirectX 9 or later version
1.0 GHz processor minimum ~ Recommended: 2.0 GHz (for PowerPoint and camera recordings.)
500 MB RAM minimum ~ Recommended: 2.0 GB
115 MB of hard-disk space for program installation
Optional Requirements:
Camtasia Studio Add-in for PowerPoint requires PowerPoint 2000, 2002, 2003, or 2007
Production to the Apple iPod/iPod Touch/iPhone format requires Apple QuickTime 7.2 or later
Dedicated Windows-compatible sound card, microphone and speakers (recommended)
Camera video recording requires a USB Camera. Digital video (DV) cameras are not supported. USB Web camera
The Nitty Gritty
Camtasia has three major functions that allow you to produce a video. Included is programming to capture image that is on your screen as well as PIP function to include a web camera recording as well. If you only need audio capture you also have that function as well. You can also do an onscreen capture of a PowerPoint presentation so that you can distribute a slide presentation as a video.
Camtasia Studio includes a simple video editing application that allows you to edit the recorded images, add additional video or still images, add new audio overlays and music, you can pan and zoom into areas of your screen capture to ensure that your audience is focusing on the information that is important.
Once you have your edited video production completed you are ready to produce it in a format that you can deliver to your audience. You have a wide choice of formats as well as some quick post functions to Internet like TechSmith’s Screencast, or YouTube. Then it is easy to incorporate the video once it is on the web into your web pages.
My Impressions
What I like is using this program for all of my video productions, whether it is something I capture with Jing (another TechSmith product) or video that I take with my new Flip Camera, I can create and edit and produce video for almost any kind of venue, quickly and easily. So if you have been thinking about putting together a library of videos showing the proper procedures for different company functions, needing to put together video promotional material for your customers or wanting to get your most current family outing edited a posted to YouTube for the family to see, this could very well be the product for you.
New TeraStation WSS (Press Release to Buffalo Partners)
Buffalo Releases TeraStation Windows Storage Server Buffalo's new TeraStation Windows Storage Server offers dependability, seamless integration, and one of the best values in networked storage. Windows Storage Server provides businesses a solution that offers no compromise integration into Windows workgroup or domain environments.
The TeraStation WSS features Windows Storage Server 2003 R2 Express Edition and helps businesses store and protect their digital assets. The TeraStation WSS is easy to install and manage, and offers the power of a Windows server operating system to provide a feature rich environment and easy to set up file sharing. With seamless support for protocols such as SMB, NFS, AppleTalk, and Netware, The TeraStation WSS allows data to be shared among different platforms. In addition, native integration with the Active Directory service provides simplified management for customers operating in a Windows domain environment. Available in the following skus: 2.0TB WS-Q2.0TL/R5 4.0TB WS-Q4.0TL/R5
As soon as I found them I couldn't keep myself from downloading these two new applications from NBC. The first one, NBC Olympics, gives you breaking news, video, photos and Facebook and Twitter feeds. On the social front, you can join or create your own groups, look at popular groups and different categories. You have a tab to look at individual sports coverage, favorites and the all important schedule which shows what is going on in when during the day. With the weather not qte porting as well as desired we're already seeing some of events being postponed until conditions get better. The schedule allows you to see what is on TV, what is online, which events are scheduled, when countries are scheduled for different events, and to setup alerts for the events when the metals are presented.
So if you work into the whole Olympic experience and you have an iPhone this is a great application to add to your phone.
The NBC cheer app gives you many options to use your are phone to make noise while you were cheering on your favorite Olympic sports. It is cute but can become quite irritating especially to those around you if they don't have a similar capability. So, if you need a little extra something to route along your favorite event you definitely have to get this app added to your phone. Have fun! Go USA!
Lenovo like most computer manufacturers, offer several model levels to their consumers to choose from. Typically these vary in price, capability and their construction. Lenovo has three product lines to choose from, they are Essential Series, ideapad series and the ThinkPad series notebooks.
The Essential Business line of notebooks are built to be affordable, well equipped, with a simple design for your business, home or home office.
The IdeaPad notebooks are built around supporting any kind of lifestyle to provide after hour, time for fun entertainment laptops, netbooks and many tablet PCs. They include systems with optional touch screens, that are good for school and simple use around the house. They include web cams and build and microphones their perfect for communication is in programs like Skype. The systems have better built and screen graphics in high-speed wireless connectivity to help with sound and video playback.
While in many cases different models in each category offer different options, he and result is that you can get a notebook that meets many of your requirements depending on the prayers that you are willing to pay. I really like the overall quality of the Lenovo product line and the company support that we have seen over the years that we've been selling their product line. Be sure to come into the store to see some of the models that we carry on hand at Havas help you find the perfect configuration for your needs.
I have fallen in love with my Logitech MK700 wireless mouse and keyboard and new with the introduction of the replacement in this series I am excited about this new product. I know, excited might be too strong a term but I really like two major improvements to the MK7XX design, Logitech has bundled their tiny proprietary USB receiver which limits the limits the possibility of damage that can occur to your computer or the dongle by inadvertently knocking into and and either destroying the dongle or the USB connection itself. The new design is very low profile as shown in the image to the right.
Code named Westmere, the Core i3 and Core i5 6xx processors are built on top of Intel’s Nehalem architecture. Westmere’s built on the newest 32nm manufacturer process with the expected result in lower power consumption and this is indeed true. Also built into the new chip are SSE instructions aimed at accelerating encryption and decryption with the AES algorithm, a benefit for those that use data and drive encryption to protect their mobile systems.
Both chips support hyper-threading, the Core i3 processor does not support Turbo Boost which means that they do not automatically clock themselves higher when the workloads allow it. The low-end Core i5 processors can only overclock themselves by a maximum of 266Mhz with their Turbo functionality so this is not as big a difference as you might have thought at first.
The most exciting new addition to these processors though is the addition of an integrated graphics processor on the same die is the CPU. They are still separate entities, but they are kept on the same piece of hardware.
In summary, what this really means is that the Core i3 is the processor of choice if you're on a budget. It only loses Turbo Boost, which in the low-end Core i5 processors is not an impressive feature. The Core i5 processors are faster, however, so if you're not constrained by budget they are also a good choice.
If you are into numbers… Michael J. Miller from PCMAG.COM compared two units from Lenovo, one an i3-330 2.13GHz Core against a 2.2GHz Core 2 Duo T6600. The prices are very similar so this was a great place to start. In the graph below the lower the number the better. The dramatic differences were seen when using graphics applications and applications that could make good use of hyper-threading.
I need to apologize for the resolution of the video but it will give you an idea of how to run through the stitching of your iPhone pictures. I am still working on coming up with a good video capture routine for the times that I want to capture things I am doing with my hands in close quarters. I had hoped that the Flip had better macro focus then it does. It could have been a problem with light levels as well. I’ll keep playing and we will see what happens. I wanted the HD capabilities of the Flip but if I need to drop back to my Canon then I will. We have some new Canon Video Cameras at the store that I will probably try out as well. Again. it is the macro capability that I need to work with.
I threw this image up on our family site and I thought once I started looking at it that this application might be of general interest to those who happen to have an iPhone and also enjoy using your iPhone to capture special events. I find myself at times, being in a situation that presents an image of something I would like to share that is panoramic and nature. If I were to take only one shot it would not capture the total experience that I am viewing. Here is a great example of a scene that if I had taken just one image would not have portrayed what I was seeing. There are not a lot of controls that you can use when taking a picture with your iPhone. With this tool in your bag you can take multiple images and then stitch them back together as a single image. AutoStitch is the application I use to accomplish this on my iPhone. The image below is made up of 31 separate pictures. I missed a few snaps in the lower left but the rest of the images turned out really well. So, if you have an iPhone and you find yourself in a situation where you want to be able to capture a panoramic view, think about downloading this application. It’s a whopping $2.99 to buy and I think it is well worth it.
All I can think of many reasons why I want the Apple iPad including a sleek profile, the beautiful large screen display, but many applications that are just waiting to be installed on your unit and the list goes on and on. But, the list is just as long that steers me into wanting one of the new slick devices that were presented at CES. Now for someone that uses their technology for everything that it can possibly do for them the thought of having something that provides more than just a static entertainment device is very appealing. So when you see a product like Lenovo's U1 hybrid notebook, it makes me more willing to spend the extra money for product that has much more function than what the iPad brings to the table. So, while I'd like the look of the Apple iPad, Mrs. One product that I would hope would wait four the second or third generation to come out when all the masses have made their voices heard and Apple bends to market pressure to provide a truly remarkable system with greater functionality.
Wish list:
At least one USB Port to access flash media
SD card slot
Support for flash to give you the rest of the Internet experience
A webcam-will turn this into a great communications device as well
Larger storage would be nice as well but having either a USB Port or an SD slot would help to alleviate that issue
These simple additions to the product would give the Apple iPad that extra something to make it a truly "must have" device. Adding these things should not cost more than $100 which most of us would gladly pay I'm sure.
The first hurdle that we have to consider is whether or not we can justify spending this much money on the solely entertainment device. I know I would desperately and like to try it out before purchasing but I don't believe that is an option. I love the way of the e-mail and calendar apps are setup, with that much screen real estate they are really making good use of it. The fact that it has access to all of your bike touch and I phoned applications and will run them, and if you'd like will run them at a larger size. What I am really waiting to see is what apps developers will do with the extra screen size, and Processing Power that is in this unit.
Another drawback that I see is that what still don't have flash support in the browser. With so much of the web content now being served up using Adobe's flash drivers, we are still going to miss the correct experience of many web sites. Since Apple is promoting this as a system that provides the best web experience that you have ever seen, not having this as part of the basic functions of the unit is a large shortcoming. But all in all, this new device by Apple has grabbed my eye and is definitely on my gadget wish list. So, luckily its not available today which prevents me from making an impulse buy and will let me watch how this product evolves over the next six months. Hopefully, we'll see it come down in price because I'd really like to buy in at the 64 GB and the 3G data plan. If you're going to get that device you want to be able to work with it in as many places as possible.
Sunday, March 21, 2010 at 10:09AM 
Microsoft has announced a 
Buffalo's new 
