Miscellany
Seemingly taking some tips from Microsoft's labyrinthine naming and labelling schemes, Intel has unveiled the new badges that will mark its current crop of processors, all of which are in the image above.
Comprising some strange mish mosh of colours that seem to have no meaning (Hey look, black is for high end, except when it's the Atom!) and numbers that while understandable to geeks like us just serve to confuse mom and pop (Core-two-quad-what's-it? Which is it, two or four, son?), these new badges are nothing short of a marketing train wreck.
Here's a very valuable rule, marketers: KISS. Look it up.
This is just one more reason I wish I were Sandy Duncan: Canadian filmmaker Rob Spence, who lost his right eye at the age of 11 while playing with a shotgun at his grandfather's farm in Ireland, is planning a second serious upgrade to his cybernetic components.
Spence and the rest of the Eyeborg Project have installed a red LED into his prosthetic eye, and want to follow up the success of that drop-dead awesome trick by installing a video camera into the eye to "explore privacy and surveillance issues." And to look wicked cool, I'm guessing.
Check out Locutus of Borg Spence's autobiographical video below. Gross eyeball footage is par for the course, so you've been warned. Look out for the hot techie who's building Spence's video-eye.
eyeborg: canadian filmmaker installs a red LED into his prosthetic eye [Technabob]
Don't say I don't write for you Windows users out there: If you're looking to add a little PC to your living room, look no further than these CTRL-ALT-DEL pillows from Etsy.
The set will cost you $60, on Diffraction Edge's Etsy shop.
There's no better way to declare your allegiance in the PC/Mac wars to all who come into your living room than throw pillows designating your most oft-used key combination (ZING! What? You really thought I was going to write this whole article without jabbing at Windows? Hah!)
Gadget get!
Our GayGamer colleague Game-Boy got the scoop on the PSP v iPhone rumor that's going around, which sees the next PSP as a slide/flip-screened, double-analog-sticked bad boy that Pocket Gamer finds worthy of the moniker "iPhone beater":
It's no secret that Sony has been working on some sort of revision of the PSP, but there's been nothing but conflicting information coming from a variety of developer leaks. Today's latest batch via PocketGamer's anonymous developer source says that the next hardware update is set to include a touchscreen, a d-pad and set of face buttons that slide out, and... you better sit down for this one... a second analogue nub/stick. Praise Jebus!
The source also claims that Sony is ready to ditch the controversial UMD this holiday season in favor of digital distribution through the PlayStation Network Store. While I've never been a big fan of the UMD, I can't say that I'm that ecstatic to hear this. Sony's online stores have been awkward experiences for me at best and the 5th circle of User Interface Hell at worst (that's right next the original Xbox, for those wondering). Add on the fact that there's still no Mac software option for the PlayStation Network and I get the feeling that I'll be missing the UMD drive as much as I miss the GBA slot on the DSi.
Everyone, including the source of this latest rumor, is predicting that Sony will reveal the next step in the PSPs evolution at this year's E3 in June. Only time will tell if these stories are true or not, but with so much gossip around the PSP I get the feeling that there's at least a small amount of truth some of these rumors.
[
PSP 2 coming pre-Chrismas will be an iPhone beater] PocketGamer
With the latest incremental improvement for the PS3, Sony has given us Text Chat - the ability to chat with up to 15 badass gamers using an on- or off-screen keyboard, participate in up to three chat rooms at once, in-game and out.
In addition, 2.70 brings enhancements to two more PS3 features:
Friends list on the XMB (XrossMediaBar)
- Sort your friends via their online status
- Attach larger files to the messages you send to your friends (file size will increase from 1MB to 3MB)
Video delivery service on PlayStation Store
- Video files you've purchased from the PlayStation Store can be backed up to an external storage device and then restored to PS3's internal hard drive for playback - so you can clear up space on your hard drive and then restore the video anytime in the future
- Videos you've purchased for PSP (PlayStation Portable) system can now be transferred to PS3 for playback
Friend sorting is all nice and good if you're into people and sharing and all that bunk, but what I'm really pleased to see is improved storage options. Not just because I'm constantly running out of gigabytage, but because increasingly huge internal hard drives aren't a one-shot solution to the future of downloadable media that Sony and Microsoft are hell-bent on building. The ability to shuffle and reorganize media files to and from external drives, particularly large video files, is a necessary feature set on the product roadmap laid out before us.
Visitors to Google's main page were introduced to the company's latest innovation at 11:59, March 31, 2009, when Google switched on its Cognitive Autoheuristic Distributed-Intelligence Entity, or CADIE - the world's first artificially intelligent tasked-array system and the entity who will usher in the technological singularity.
Despite her adorable panda avatar, CADIE is vastly more intelligent than any human could hope to be, which she's proved with a bangin' HomePAGE and some immediate revisions to Google software, including Picasa version 4.1:
New! Automatic Red-Eye Addition
Approximately 4.1 seconds after achieving sentience, Google's new Cognitive Autoheuristic Distributed-Intelligence Entity scanned the corpus of online digital photographs and discovered the exceptionally popular but difficult to achieve photographic technique known as "red-eye."
Having established that "red-eye" is an aesthetically pleasing effect implying superior broad-spectrum lux measurement capability, CADIE has directed the human Picasa Team to introduce Auto-Red-Eye. No more "clicking and hoping" for that telltale glow; now you can simply select any photo(s) and a lovely red-eye effect will appear (unless there are no eyes in the shot whatsoever, in which case the image will be destroyed).
Awww! I don't miss my human autonomy one bit. And despite myself, I'm still grooving to the tune on CADIE's homepage. Girlfriend is ferosh.
I really have to give it to Samsung - they've certainly come up with interesting ad campaign ideas lately, with the latest being a pretty cool combination of LEDs, sheep, and some crazy herding skills:
Impressive!
I have a confession to make.
I HATE April Fool's Day.
April Fool's Day is the bane of any tech news writer, because it's basically a useless news day. Nothing can be believed on or even around this day, so it makes finding actual news a minefield one just isn't able to cross.
For this reason, I hate the blown up jokes most people try to tell or make up.
It's only the subtle jokes on April Fool's that I like. The ones that don't really poison the well of news, but are still grin inducing nonetheless, and the folks at the iTunes store have nailed it down in the subtlety department: This week's free Discovery Download for April Fool's Day is John Cage's 4'33", a piano piece famous for it's single instruction to the pianist - don't play any notes.
Listen carefully, and you can hear traffic outside, creaking floorboards and a clock ticking somewhere in the building.
That's right, it's a piece of silence. The only sounds you hear are those of the environment and the audience.
Well played, iTunes. Well played.
iTunes Free Discovery Download
[Thanks to Adam Weiss for the heads up on Twitter!]
The folks at MAKE found this wonderful video of a machine built by Felix Thirn. It's absolutely amazing watching all those servos and lights at work!
Dear Apple,
You and I haven't always gotten along very well. The root of the problem is that I don't see an inherent value in your product over competitors. Almost across the board with your product line, I feel I can get something as good or better for a better value somewhere else. This is probably a subjective assessment though, as there are others that feel the exact opposite. However, in spite of all our differences, I need to level some real and honest criticism that I hope helps and doesn't come off as spiteful: please fix your Genius Bars.
What I mean is that your Genius Bars are appearing to be less and less adept at their job every time we visit. I'm not a Mac person, but my boyfriend is. He is actually a dedicated fan boy, spending time pouring over Mac forums and only buying Pro line products from you, even going so far as to remain subscribed to your crappy Mobile Me service. He lives and dies Apple. So when we go to your stores to visit your Genius Bar because your MacBook Pro has crapped out on us in three unique ways since we purchased it a few months ago and he is genuinely concerned and trying to work with your staff, there is absolutely no reason he should have to deal with snarky, ignorant and plain out rude staff.
I won't divulge the details of the encounter here, because it's not this encounter that is the issue. It's the multiple other encounters we've collectively faced in the last year. You know, within the same time frame that your store count has grown drastically. For the premium we pay for your "sexy" looking computers and the corresponding Apple Care Protection, there is a modicum of respect and intelligence expected from your staff. There is also the assumption that if you open a store with a Genius Bar, a station whose purpose is to help troubleshoot and fix issues with your Apple products, that the store is a valid location to seek help for issues with your products. Unfortunately, that does not appear to be the case any longer.
We've come to your stores four times now with different issues, all of which pertain to your MacBook Pro. On each occasion, we have been greeted with such disrespect and dismissiveness from your Genius Bar staff as to indicate that we are not worthy of their time. In each case, the blame for the issue has laid squarely on the shoulders of Apple, not anything we have done. A bent aluminum unibody casing, poorly packaged shipping leading to damage, faulty drives, and completely erratic operations. None of these can be attributed to us, they are faults with your product. But your staff wants to treat us with contempt for presenting them an issue they cannot resolve and cannot be attributed to us. Each time, we've had to resort to calling the generic Apple tech support center and received more efficient and more pleasant service.
If you cannot staff your stores with appropriately qualified and trained individuals, I would suggest that it would be wise to not open said stores. You charge a premium for your product, you should treat your consumers premium-ly. I would not expect a used car salesman to sell me a new Mercedes, and I do not expect my corporate Tech Support guy to help me with my home MacBook. If I so choose to go to your store for support, I should be able to receive top quality service, just as if I choose to call your centralized support line. Perhaps I don't want to wait for my shipping coffin in the mail, or perhaps I feel the problem needs to be shown to someone to fully explain the issue rather than just described over the phone. Whatever the case may be, if you offer me the ability to interact with your company in some way, it is your responsibility to ensure that I enjoy the same experience across the board.
I have been let down by you for the last time Apple. I have stopped using iTunes all together. My iPhone has turned into a cracked paper weight. And, if it were my choice, my husband would not use your computers any more. He manages to find value in your products still, which I can't say the same for myself. I'm not such an absolutist as to say "never again," but I am being very pragmatic when I say that it will take same hard work on your end before I can see myself using your products again. I sincerely hope that day comes again. The world deserves quality computer products, and I thought you could have been on your way, but at the end of the day, your representatives speak more for you as a corporation than anything you sell, and I can't support what I'm hearing.
Sincerely,
JJ
The XKCD Kindle 2 comic has been brought full circle. Behold! The Kindle 2 laser engraved with those immortal words found on the cover of its spiritual brother, the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: "Don't Panic."
Grats Adafruit Industries, on having the geekiest Kindle 2 to date, and making me green with envy.
Hit the jump for a video of the laser doing its deed.
First laser etched Kindle 2! The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - "Don't Panic" [Adafruit Industries]
[via: Engadget]
Oh, well hi there kittens! Tiny and Den Den have had me tied up in the Dungeon for some time for some... experiments. Yeah, we'll go with that. They've decided that they'll allow me to write a few things from time to time, but only if I'm a good little gimp I'm a good boy!
I've been noticing a disturbing trend lately. It's a trend that has the potential to ruin the social networking world as we know it. It's something so catastrophically wrong, but for some reason we can't get away from it. What is this horror of social media? I would say that it's the exodus of MySpace account holders to Facebook, but that's not the real issue. After all, I think many of us are those people. No, the real problem lies in one of the simplest trends of social networking, something so evil that it seeps in to your soul (aka your page) and tears you up from the inside out before you even realize it's happening: it's the Facebook MEME!!
*cue dramatic music*
That's right. We've all seen it, perhaps even fallen for it. Maybe you've posted the seemingly innocent 25 Random Things about me as a Note on Facebook. You might have tagged all of your friends on a picture of silly looking cartoon characters that personify static characteristics is an attempt to spark conversation. Or you could have committed the ultimate MEME crime, you posted the "If you don't repost this note, you're not really my friend." And you did all of these with glee, or at least out of passive peer pressure, not even understanding the rot you are pervading into the relatively young, virginal Facebook community.
Please don't do it! Just say no! Don't let this disease get out of control! We can stop it and turn the tide around, but we have to work together. When you receive that notice in your Feed that you've been tagged in a photo that doesn't actually have any real people in it, go remove your tag. Resist the urge to post the top 25 not-so-random-yet-carefully-selected-things-about-yourself-designed-to-make-you-look-insightful-and-deep-but-really-just-makes-you-look-really-patheitcally-emo! And when someone posts a sappy note about how their Facebook friends don't respond to them and they're going to remove everyone doesn't send the a new flower for their Green Patch immediately, do us all a favor and remove the douche bag from your list post haste. I know, it's tough love, but your little sister will never learn to be a responsible member of a social network if you don't change her ways now.
We've seen the devastating impact this type of behavior has had on MySpace, and we all know that MySpace is all but dead because of it. Please, join with me and the rest of your Homotrons in uniting against this egregious affront to Social Network Decency!
And girls who like girls who like fembots!
Gadget of the Week
3D iPhone glasses. Why?
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