Tom Gromak
Category: Retro-tech
Posted by Tom Gromak on Mon, Jul 7, 2008 at 10:47 AMOn this day in history: Some very old tech that's still everywhere
It was 72 years ago today that Henry F. Phillips received a patent for something that we take for granted today: The Phillips screw and screwdriver.
Today, they're everywhere. That PC you're sitting in front of probably contains hundreds of them. What was Phillips thinking? That the little cross-shaped bits and grooves would be faster and easier to drive for machines assembling cars, other machines and the tools of war.
He was right. Ever tried driving a flat-head screw with a power screwdriver? Chances are good that it slid out of the slot and danced across the surface of whatever you were fastening. Sure, they occasionally strip out and make you insane, but they're awfully darned handy.
Tom Gromak
Category: Broadband
Posted by Tom Gromak on Tue, Jun 24, 2008 at 10:29 PMLook before you leap. That 'other' broadband may not be better
After grumbling about Comcast for weeks, I was easily enticed by WOW's door-to-door pitchman's promise of blazing fast speeds. A day after WOW installation, all I can say is 'WOW! That's slow.'
To be fair, WOW's installers were thorough and courteous, even if they were nearly 45 minutes late for my install time. And I've been around the block long enough to know that often it's the Internet that's slow, not necessarily my broadband connection. But the one key stat -- the web site from which I do the most downloading -- has been slashed in half.
A 700MB CD-sized file typically downloaded in 14 to 16 minutes with Comcast. Four tries with WOW -- all from the same site I used with Comcast -- have struggled to finish in under 30 minutes. The Bandwidth Test extension for Firefox routinely reported 750- to 850-KB/s download speeds on Comcast. One test with WOW matched that. Four other tries topped out at just over 500.
I get the same speed downloading movie trailers from Apple's site, according to my monitoring tool. And an effort to grab a Ubuntu Linux disk image from a mirror across the state and Western Michigan University yielded a an average speed of just under 500KB/s.
With Comcast, I now know by looking back at my Speed Download logs, I was getting about 6.25 megs down. With WOW, I appear to be getting 4.5 at best.
Then there's the upload speed. I'm paying extra for a feature that's supposed to deliver megabit uploads, but I'd wager that I'm not getting half that.
All in all, I'm 24 hours in, and already have buyer's remorse. That's too bad. I had visions of rocket-fast performance after hearing about fiber upgrades and better quality cabling and such.
Instead, I'm thinking about cracking open that new plastic box on the back of the house and jacking my still-active Comcast wiring back in before it's too late.
Anybody else have such an experience to share?
K.J. Hardy
OLPC 2.0 wows
No doubt a noble cause, the One Laptop per Child project has had its share of challenges, but the recent unveiling of its next-gen model is simply too ambitious to go unnoticed.
For those of you not in the know about OLPC, here's the company press lingo: One Laptop per Child (OLPC)is a non-profit organization focused on providing educational tools to help children in developing countries.
Basically, they want all children to have access to their own laptops. The current model (the XO; $188) went into production in November.
Their second attempt, expected as early as 2010 with the target price point of $75 (good luck) features dual touch screens. Drool over the pic and think of the possibilities.
Tom Gromak
It's time for a new power plug standard in cars; I vote for USB
Here's a question: With all the advances in technology that have been integrated into the automobile, why are we still using huge, inconvenient cigarette lighter plugs to power our devices?
I pondered this question over the weekend as I struggled to figure out how to get a mini-usb connection to a GPS unit hanging from the windshield of my newly leased Honda Civic. The dashboard on this car is enormous, so an ordinary spring-coiled wire attached to a cigarette lighter plug/power adaptor would leave me with an unsightly mess. Aside from that, I had already used the dash-mounted lighter socket for my Sirius satellite radio.
Sure. Sure. I know the solution: I could have ordered a car with built-in GPS and satellite. But then I'm stuck with those GPS and satellite devices -- and I prefer Sirius to XM anyway. Or I could have purchased a car with something like Ford's Sync technology. But there wasn't anything there that I wanted, either.
No, I think it's time that car manufacturers come up with another way of doing this universally for us. There's no technical need for the big, honkin' cigarette lighter plug. So why not just put a couple USB ports -- for power only -- in the dash, near the radio, and maybe a couple more on the dash? Now, instead of ruining my car's aesthetics with knobby adaptors and a web of wires, I can just plug into a socket right up top with a nice, short usb cable.
If my car wasn't a lease, I might just drill some holes, solder some wires and do it myself. Maybe someone can explain why they won't do it for me.
K.J. Hardy
Category: Video Games
Posted by K.J. Hardy on Fri, May 16, 2008 at 4:37 PMWe're checking out new Wii Fit
Headband. Check. Laced-up sneakers. Check. "Wii Fit." Check. That's right, boys and girls. We snagged a "Wii Fit," Nintendo's upcoming offering in the world exercise gaming. We'll review it in Tuesday's paper as well as in the Health section of this site.
Initial thoughts after 23 minutes of game play? I usually beat every game I play. This might be the first to beat me every time I play. See you Tuesday ... if I survive.
Tom Gromak
Support a hometown doodler
Nine-year-old Connor Pogue of South Lyon needs your votes. The 4th-grader is one of 40 finalists -- out of 16,000 -- in this year's 'Doodle for Google' contest.
Doodle 4 Google is a competition in which K-12 students from across the country are invited to reinvent Google's homepage logo. This year, the web-search giant asked U.S. kids to doodle around the theme "What if...?"
Connor's design won for grades 4-6 in a six-state Midwest region. If his design earns the most online votes after the judging closes on Sunday, he could earn a computer lab for Sayre Elementary in South Lyon, where he attends school.
Connor's drawing is on the tab labeled grades 4-6. It's also pictured here. Go to the Doodle for Google site to vote. Select the "vote" link, then the "Grades 4-6" tab to find it.
K.J. Hardy
Category: mobile telephones
Posted by K.J. Hardy on Wed, May 7, 2008 at 12:16 PMPressing my buttons
There has been one major causality in the iPhone era that seems to be apparent now more than ever: Buttons. With the popularity of touch-screen cell phones flooding the market, mobile phone makers seem set on eliminating buttons from their devices.
While I never expected a rotary dial gizmo to go cellular, I never thought the button would be an endangered species. I mean touch screens make sense as phones are now expected to serve as cameras, camcorders, music and video players, gaming devices, GPS navigators, voice recorders, calculators, alarm clocks, watches, Internet surfers and, believe it or not, still make telephone calls.
But there's something about losing buttons off the phone that I find problematic. It's too hard to use a touch screen without looking at -- cough, while driving. And don't suggest Bluetooth headsets ... they don't fit everyone comfortably (I've tried using five kinds). You have to watch yourself type -- a ninth-grade typing class no-no. And there's something personal about pressing a button and feeling response in the movement of the key. I can only imagine what touchscreen keyboards will be like in mainstream application.
All of this leads me to supporting Verizon's just-released enV2 - a mobile device covered in glorious buttons. Its full QWERTY keyboard snuck in-between its clamshell design is truly a comfort in the world of the iPhone. It's only slightly larger than a credit card, thick as a candy bar and still has all the versatility you need to do dozens of functions.
Tom Gromak
WSU students take top prize in Microsoft Imagine Cup
What can you do with a digital camera? A lot, if you're Melissa and Jennifer Hui, two Wayne State sisters and students who took the top prize in the photography competition at the 2008 Microsoft Cup in Los Angeles.
Their photo essay project transported viewers to the cradle of the world's ecosystem -- rain forests -- and depicted how technology is being applied there to try to slow global warming and deforestation. As winners, they have advanced to the Imagine Cup World Finals in Paris from July 3 to
8, and will receive $5,000, a two-page color spread in American Photography magazine and a display of pictures on the Imagine Cup micro site of PopPhoto.com.
Melissa is a junior in the Biological Sciences program and Jennifer is a freshman in the Biological Science program and is working towards a minor in Economics at WSU. Melissa is a graduate of Stoney Creek High School in Rochester Hills, Mich. and Jennifer is a graduate of the International Academy in Bloomfield Hills, Mich. Both competed together in last year's Imagine Cup and finished as World Top 20 Semi-Finalists in another digital media invitational.
"This year, with our respective majors focused in life sciences and biology, we were motivated to tackle the topic of environmental sustainability with a perspective in tropical rain forest conservation by use of monitoring technologies," said Melissa. "I personally wanted to reach the roots of an on-going global environment crisis."
Microsoft's Imagine Cup encourages young people to apply their imagination, their passion and their creativity to technology innovations that can make a difference in the world - today. Now in its sixth year, the Imagine Cup has grown to be a global competition focused on finding solutions to real world issues.
"The Microsoft Imagine Cup is a wonderful learning opportunity for our students, and we are proud that the Hui sister team were invited to compete, and even more proud of their ultimate win," said Dr. Robert Thomas, dean of WSU's College of Liberal Arts and Science.
Read more about the students' win at Wayne State's web site. Or learn more about the Microsoft Imagine Cup.
Tom Gromak
Get a bundle of Mac software and help a bundle of good causes
Mac users can get a steal on a dozen pieces of software and help ten charities at the same time by taking advantage of the latest MacHeist bundle.
The $49 package -- representing more than an 80% discount from normal prices -- features twelve top pieces of Mac shareware: iClip, CoverSutra, Cha-Ching, Overflow, Awaken, Xslimmer, DEVONthink Personal, WriteRoom, Wallet and three Pangea games: Enigmo, Bugdom 2, Nanosaur 2.
MacHeist will be donating 25% of net sales to ten participating charities, including Action Against Hunger, AIDS Research Alliance, Alliance for Climate Protection, Direct Relief International, Humane Society International, The Nature Conservancy, Save the Children, Save Darfur, Prevent Cancer Foundation, and World Wildlife Fund. Previous MacHeists have raised $700,000 for charity.
The current deal runs for 30 days, ending at midnight on May 12. Find more at MacHeist.com.
Tom Gromak
And the battle over piracy rages on
Tech blog tweaktown.com has received word from one of its readers that a recent Windows Vista update takes out an exploit hackers have used to 'activate' pirated copies of the Microsoft operating system.
This just a week or so after word of the Paradox OEM BIOS Emulator spread across the net like wildfire. That hack worked its magic by allowing your computer to essentially pretend it was made by one of several vendors who had struck deals with Microsoft that kept the annoying activation 'feature' at bay. Other hacks may also be affected.
Read more at TweakTown. Then ponder whether Microsoft's efforts are worth it.
I'm still convinced that Microsoft owes the widespread adoption of Windows to two factors: IBM's early dominance as the computing platform of choice, and the ease with which one could acquire and install Windows on those products -- even if one chose to do it illegally.
I know more than a few folks who have, since Vista, jumped ship to Apple, either by buying a Mac or installing an OS X hack on compatible, off-the-shelf Intel hardware.
