Thursday, July 26th, 2007
Pownce is amazing. It combines email, blogging, file sharing, calendar sharing, and the good parts of myspace or facebook. Pownce gives you the ability to send stuff to all your contacts, certain groups of contacts or individuals. To take full advantage of its coolness you should download the Adobe AIR based desktop software. It turns Pownce into a sleek, AIM-like console.
As fantastic as it is, the following features would make Pownce kick even more ass:
1. Embedded multimedia files. Sending files is great but imagine being able to view certain files directly in the Pownce console. A thumbnail of a received image file should be displayed. Or an integrated music player could be embedded when an audio file is sent. What if you could embed a youtube video? Awesomeness ensues. That’s what.
2. Choose which groups are displayed. There are always those people who feel compelled to send too much, too often. Maybe they’ll send out a new survey everyday, or post that picture of the kitten sniper. The Pownce console could have a drop down menu that allows you to choose which group of people could populate your console messages. Ah, catharsis.
3. Combine two or more accounts. Let’s say you don’t want all your friends to know about your blog and you don’t want your blog readers (reader) to know about your personal life. You want to keep in contact with both but you don’t want to log in and out of different Pownce accounts. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could manage multiple accounts in one console? Yes, it would.
4. Integrated, real-time chat. Sure, you could send private messages but it might be better if something like google talk was integrated into the console. Maybe.
5. iPhone support. If Apple and Adobe would get their act together and port the AIR platform over to the iPhone, Pownce would take over the world. Seriously.
You can download Adobe AIR and Pownce here.
You can add geekire.com here.
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Wednesday, July 11th, 2007
Every one likes to talk about the next “One more thing.”
“The next Mac will be stainless steel with a low profile keyboard! I know because my cousins ex-boyfriend’s roommate works for Apple.” Lately, rumors of a multi-touch mac are all the rage. But where is this speculation coming from? The iPhone? There’s much more to multi-touch than the iPhone.
First, check this out. If you haven’t seen Jeff Han’s multi-touch demo then you’re in for a treat. The technology is so advanced and so seamless that it actually boggles the mind. For the first time since the Apple II, or the rise of the internet, it feels like the computer world is going to change- big time.
Second, Microsoft pre-emptively announced it’s Surface technology in what was surely an attempt to say, “We did it first.”
Third, following Steve Jobs’ Macworld keynote where he demonstrated the iPhone interface, The New York Times’ David Pogue called Jeff Han “fully expecting to hear how angry he was that Apple had stolen his idea without permission or consultation (it’s happened before).
Instead, he knew all about Apple’s project. He didn’t say that Apple bought his technology, nor that Apple stole it- only that he’d known what had happened, and that there was a lot he wasn’t allowed to say.”
Additionally, Han’s own website states, “Yes, we saw the keynote too! We have some very, very exciting updates coming soon- stay tuned!”
If that’s not a conspicuous affirmation, well then…
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Tuesday, May 15th, 2007
It is getting easier and easier to spy on you. This is one of those issues that sounds like a fear-mongering email forward. It isn’t. Wired posted an informative reminder. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has more information on the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act.
From Wired:
May 14th is the official deadline for cable modem companies, DSL providers, broadband over powerline, satellite internet companies and some universities to finish wiring up their networks with FBI-friendly surveillance gear, to comply with the FCC’s expanded interpretation of the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act.
Congress passed CALEA in 1994 to help FBI eavesdroppers deal with digital telecom technology. The law required phone companies to make their networks easier to wiretap. The results: on mobile phone networks, where CALEA tech has 100% penetration, it’s credited with boosting the number of court-approved wiretaps a carrier can handle simultaneously, and greatly shortening the time it takes to get a wiretap going. Cops can now start listening in less than a day.”
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Sunday, May 6th, 2007
Digg is only as good as its members. While the great HD DVD controversy of 2007 was unfolding on digg.com, something more disturbing, more insipid occurred. Six thousand sixty five digg members raised their hands to be counted as some of the most gullible, ignorant and just plain stupid people in existence.
Over 6000 Digg members dugg an obviously false story. The story in question describes how an 11-year-old girl shot and killed two illegal immigrants who had broken into her home. The problem is that the story just isn’t true. It is a blatant attempt to incite a gut reaction against illegal immigration and gun control.
I was under the impression that digg users were internet savvy- well, at least savvy enough not to believe everything they read on the internet. I finally understand why the Nigerian 419 scammers are still in business.
One would think the title of the story would be enough to discourage diggs.
Yes, it says “illegle”instead of”illegal.”
If you actually read the story you’d notice the source (or the lack of a source).
Email? That means it was most likely forwarded by someone’s uncle.
There are more signs this story is fake but the most important one is that there is no time or place associated with the story. There is also no evidence of this story on Lexis/Nexis.
This isn’t about politics. This is about how we consume the news. The fact that so many people blindly accept a story as true is frightening. Just as these people voted on digg they could just as well vote in a presidential election. I hope these 6065 people are under 18 years old.
This isn’t the only example challenging the intelligence of the average digg user. Remember when wired.com bought half the diggs needed to get a fake story to the front page? Digg users provided the other half. Remember when digg users illustrated that they’re dumber than gold fish?
These examples prove that the problem with digg isn’t digg itself and it’s not Kevin Rose. It’s you.
Digg intelligently.
Update: Snopes has categorized the illegal aliens versus 11-year-old story as false.
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Thursday, April 5th, 2007
Eight cores, Apple? Sure, I’m impressed but I have a better idea: two cores. A dual core Mac Pro. Cut us wannabe Mac users a break by creating a usable, practical machine at a lower price point. What!?? Blasphemy, you say?
Most users don’t need four cores, let alone eight. They don’t need 16 gigs of RAM, either. What they want is flexibility and expandability.
What Apple is missing is a true mid-range computer. No, the iMac doesn’t count.
The iMac comes with an extremely unecessary, several-hundred-dollar option: the built-in monitor. Plus, the form factor limits the amount of memory that can be added, the number of hard drives that can be installed and the ability to change video cards.
The ability to upgrade a system at some point in the future is what makes PCs so practical.
The Mac Pro teases us PC tinkerers with gobs of space and the ability to do your own upgrades. You can easily add memory modules or hard drives. You can even swap out video cards.
The problem with the Mac Pro is the $2499 price tag. Take out one $600 woodcrest processor and one memory riser, charge $1899 and I’ll buy one right now.
Sure, you can’t call a crippled Mac Pro a “Mac Pro.” Call it a “Mac Duo.”
Better yet, get over the design fetish and put an 24″ iMac in a Mac Pro case. Remove the screen and $600. Sell it for $1399. Call it a “Mac.”
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Tuesday, March 27th, 2007
It’s Finally Here…
Pre-emptive Responses to Your Questions:
- Yes, this is one of the best films of all time.
- Yes, I have seen a lot of movies.
- No, I have not seen ALL movies.
- Yes, blog posts detailing the “unboxing” of perceived geeky items are ridiculous.
- Yes, I’m making fun of those posts.
- What? No DVD insert? Did you get one?
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