PawEng » Technology

Google Wave

PawEng — Sat, 30 May 2009 01:02:04 +0000

The web is buzzing with the news that Google is coming out with Google Wave:

Google Wave: A Complete Guide by Mashable
Google Wave “Is What Email Would Look Like If It Were Invented Today” by Lifehacker
Could Google Wave Redefine Email and Web Communication? by Mashable
Google Wave: Google Tries to Reinvent Email by Read Write Web
Google Waves Goodbye to E-Mail, Welcomes Real-Time Communication by WebMonkey

Google Wave promises to revolutionize the way we communicate and collaborate online. It works in real-time. If someone else writes something, you see it immediately. Anything can be edited much like a wiki, and you can share files via waves. At any point you can play back the wave to see who did what. Finally, waves can be extended by third-party applications.

Google Wave will be available later this year.

Watching Podcasts on a Windows Mobile Cellphone

PawEng — Sun, 24 May 2009 19:51:02 +0000

I have an old Samsung i730 cellphone running Windows Mobile 2005. I have long wanted to watch podcasts on it, but I have never really found a good way of doing so. But now I finally have something that seems to work.

I have downloaded Apple’s iTunes software for my Windows XP PC. In iTunes I have subscribed to a series of podcasts, and iTunes automatically downloads new episodes for me.

I also tried the Juice podcast receiver. It lets you download podcasts automatically from rss feeds.

I use MobSync to copy the podcasts to my cellphone. It detects when I connect my cellphone to the computer, and then it automatically uploads the podcasts. The current version of MobSync is 2.0.3, and it has a 30 day trial period. I found an old version (MobSync 0.94) on the web, and it looks like it is freeware. It works fine for me.

On the cellphone, I use TCPMP to play the podcasts. I downloaded version 0.72RC1 and installed it. I also needed to install a few plugins. I downloaded and installed the ffmpeg plugin. It is available from the download page of TCPMP. In order to play AAC files, I needed the AAC plugin for TCPMP. It is unfortunately not available from the TCPMP page, but I found it at RareWares.org. (Yes, it says it is for version 0.66, but it works fine in version 0.72RC1.)

I added a 4GB memory card to my cellphone, and now I have plenty of space to store podcasts.

Amazon’s Kindle 2 Released

PawEng — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 12:11:59 +0000

Today Amazon has released version 2 of its ebook reader Kindle. The reviews are already coming in — for example, Wired and New York Times. The reviews seem to agree: The Kindle 2 is the best ebook reader around.

Amazon Introduces Kindle Version 2

PawEng — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 15:23:39 +0000

Amazon has introduced version 2 of their popular wireless reading device Kindle. They release it on February 24, 2009, and you can pre-order it now.

I have never been a fan of ebooks, but Amazon’s Kindle has made me change my mind. I have played round with version 1, and it looks like version 2 will be even better. My favorite part is that Amazon has a huge selection of over 230,000 books plus U.S. and international newspapers, magazines, and blogs that can be delivered directly to your Kindle via the cell phone network. You don’t pay for the wireless transfer, and most books are priced at a reasonable $9.99.

You can, of course, only get the Kindle from Amazon.

Circuit City Closing All U.S. Stores

PawEng — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 19:45:08 +0000

Electronic retailer Circuit City is closing its doors after 60 years in the business. All 567 U.S. stores are closing, but Canadian stores are not affected. There will be liquidation sales starting immediately and lasting until all merchandise have been sold.

Circuit City [Via Wired]

Palm Pre: An iPhone Killer?

PawEng — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 15:13:01 +0000

Palm has introduced the Palm Pre cell phone. It looks ready to take up the battle with Apple’s iPhone. Take a look a the many photos on Palm’s own website to see for yourself.

The Pam Pre uses Palm’s new webOS operating system. It has an 3.1 inch, 24 bit, 320×480 pixel screen. It has a physical slide-out QWERTY keyboard as opposed to the current trend of virtual keyboards, and it has removable batteries. The Palm Pre has GPS, Wi-Fi 802.11b/g, and Bluetooth support.

The past few days, the tech media have been all over the announcement. Wired has a good story about it. And Computer World has an excellent summary of what the media are saying.

There is no word yet on the price of the Palm Pre.

Update 1/25/2009: See the Palm’s presentation of the Pre at CES. It is fairly long, but includes a very good demonstration of the Pre and its capabilities.

Online Tech Help

PawEng — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 03:45:45 +0000

New York Times has an interesting article about where to go for tech help online. The article mentions a lot of good websites. Personally, I normally rely on Google to find solutions for me, but targeted websites like FixYa and TechIMO can be very useful. We have earlier covered Nodevice.com, which lets you search for manuals online.

From New York Times [via Lifehacker]

Wired’s Top 10 Technology Breakthroughs of 2008

PawEng — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 13:35:29 +0000

Seems like everyone is doing top 10 lists here at the end of 2008. Wired has a list of the 10 Top Technology Breakthroughs of 2008. The breakthroughs range from GPS to edible computer chips.

See Wired’s list of Top Technology Breakthroughs of 2008 here.