Surflizard » Joe

CherryPal Sips Power But Specs Are Weak

Posted by Joe on July 21, 2008 · Comments Off

The CherryPal “cloud computer” was announced today. The $249 pc uses only 2 watts of power at maximum usage, but the specs seem to be on the lower end of usability. Priced at US$249, the system includes a Freescale processor running at 400MHz, 256M bytes of RAM and 4G bytes of internal flash storage. It comes with the OpenOffice suite and the Firefox Web browser. By comparison, Asus Eee PC mini-notebooks have at least an 800GHz Intel Celeron processor, 512M bytes of RAM and 2G bytes of flash storage for about $300. Users have the option to store data online, a concept known as [...]

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Smaller PC Trend Worrying Manufacturers

Posted by Joe on July 21, 2008 · Comments Off

Can PC manufacturers make money on ultra-light ultra-cheap laptops? That’s the question: The personal computer industry is poised to sell tens of millions of small, energy-efficient Internet-centric devices. Curiously, some of the biggest companies in the business consider this bad news. “We’re sitting on the sidelines not because we’re lazy. We’re sitting on the sidelines because even if this category takes off, and we get our piece of the pie, it doesn’t add up,” said Paul Moore, senior director of mobile product management for Fujitsu. “It’s a product that essentially [...]

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Daughter Trades Broken RAZR For Working Smartphone

Posted by Joe on July 20, 2008 · Comments Off

When my daughter’s pretty pink RAZR took a four story fall at the St. Louis City Museum (see picture below) and ended up in peices, I loaned her my old T-Mobile SDA Windows Mobile smartphone. She likes it a lot, especially the ability to read ebooks on it. The phone has WiFi, but with no touch screen or qwerty keyboard, it isn’t much fun to use as a web browser. She just turned 13, and I’m anxious too see how much she explores the phone’s capabilities. Phone Drop Point

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Another WordPress Upgrade

Posted by Joe on July 20, 2008 · Comments Off

We upgraded our WordPress software from version 2.5 to 2.6. The new version came out 1 day after our major 2.5 upgrade. There shouldn’t be any issues, but let us know if you encounter any wonky behavior. If you’re interested in WordPress, here’s news about the latest release.

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Opera Mobile 9.5 Beta Browser Released

Posted by Joe on July 20, 2008 · Comments Off

CNet has a full review of the Opera Mobile 9.5 beta browser, released a few days ago. It looks like Opera may be the browser to beat for Windows Mobile devices — not a high target given the state of mobile IE. And Andrew Smith, blogging for the Dallas Morning News Techblog, has this to say: It’s only in beta, but based upon three days of testing I’m already willing to declare Opera Mobile 9.5 the best browser available for Windows Mobile phones.

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Insider Offers Insight On Rouge Network Admin

Posted by Joe on July 19, 2008 · Comments Off

InfoWorld’s Paul Venezia has much more on the rogue SF network admin currently sitting in jail, via an anonymous insider.

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Site Pays Up To $300 For 1st Generation iPhone

Posted by Joe on July 19, 2008 · Comments Off

With the new lower pricing on the 3G iPhone, I was hoping some truly cheap ($100 or so) used 1st generation iPhones would start showing up. Not likely, as long as these guys are paying $300 for used 16gb iPhones, and $200 for the 8gb model. I assume these used iPhones are getting unlocked and sent overseas. www.freeiphoneswap.com

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Final Act Of Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog Now Online

Posted by Joe on July 19, 2008 · Comments Off

Joss Whedon’s supervillain musical starring Neil Patrick Harris, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, is available for free online viewing through midnight tomorrow night (the final act was posted today). It’s a great straight-to-web motion picture, with good production values and excellent writing. View all three acts at www.DrHorrible.com.

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Tor.com Hopes To Be SciFi / Fantasy Community Destination

Posted by Joe on July 19, 2008 · Comments Off

SciFi publisher site Tor.com has their grand opening tomorrow (July 20 2008), promising: Original fiction from star authors. Galleries of images from the field’s best artists. News and commentary about not just Tor books, but the SF world overall. Topical coverage of major events like San Diego Comic Con (July 23-27) and the World Science Fiction Convention (August 6-10). Weblog posts and guest appearances by some of the most interesting personalities and thinkers around. And your own feedback and discussions, plus tools to enable you to track the subjects and conversations you care about the [...]

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Wall-E Is Great Family Fun

Posted by Joe on July 19, 2008 · Comments Off

Wall-E is a definite must-see. The digital animation is stunning and the story is engrossing. This isn’t a review, just a recommendation — go see Wall-E, an instant classic.

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iPhone eReader Will Soon Support Loading Books From PC

Posted by Joe on July 19, 2008 · Comments Off

In my post on the eReader.com software for the iPhone and iPod Touch, I wondered how to get 3rd party content (books on my computer or another ‘unofficial’ site) onto the device. Turns out this basic feature isn’t possible at this time but the next version of eReader will support it: How can I get my own personally created eReader format content onto eReader for iPhone or iPod touch? This is not possible in the current 1.0 release of eReader for iPhone and iPod touch; however, this feature will be included in the version 1.1 of eReader for iPhone and iPod touch that will be released [...]

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Hulu Content Gets More Impressive Daily

Posted by Joe on July 19, 2008 · Comments Off

Hulu continues to add quality content at a impressive rate. The catalog of old and new tv shows is very cool, and movies are being added at a fast pace, including fairly recent blockbusters like Underworld Evolution and Fever Pitch. There are advertisements, but they are short and infrequent. And issues with streaming quality (inturruptions, glitches, etc.) seem to have been fixed. Netflix Play Now video quality is better and more reliable, but then the content is much different and a subscription is required. Hulu is probably the best service of its type, and is getting better all the [...]

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Making Wikipedia Smarter

Posted by Joe on July 18, 2008 · Comments Off

Wikipedia is considering implementing an approval process that will keep changes from appearing until a designated individual has verified that the changes are not vandalism, reports Noam Cohen. Wikipedia content is surprisingly good given the nature of the current contribution and revision process, which allows anyone to write anything and have it appear on the site instantly — at least temporarily until someone decides to fix it. However, a change like this would potentially improve the content drastically. But Wikipedia contributors aren’t known for embracing change in “their” [...]

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Synchronicity

Posted by Joe on July 17, 2008 · Comments Off

I’ve been looking for a good solution for synchronizing files across multiple computers, and just today Lifehacker looks at 5 popular options. I’ll be trying some of these out to see if they meet my needs.

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Sony BDP-S350 Blu-Ray Player Shipping

Posted by Joe on July 16, 2008 · Comments Off

The new Sony BDP-S350 1080p Blu-Ray Disc Player is now available at retail. From Amazon, it’s $391.92 with free shipping (a few dollars below list price). Features: True 1080p Output Dolby TrueHD compatible Ethernet connection for BD-Live Compatibility and firmware updates USB Port Allows More Storage for Access to More Special Features, Like Bonus View Higher Bit Rates mean less video compression Emmy-Award Winning Xross Media Bar Interface Bravia Sync for Easy Connectivity

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Google Wants You To Digg Their Search Results

Posted by Joe on July 16, 2008 · Comments Off

I actually don’t want to help Google improve its search results…I want the results to already be good when I perform a search. Google is testing digg-like voting on search results, a system that seems ripe for gaming by l33t haxors. Then again, it may be a brilliant idea that improves Google’s already amazing search results. If Google adopts the new ranking system, time will tell.

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Google Docs Rocks Template Gallery

Posted by Joe on July 16, 2008 · Comments Off

Google Docs has launched a template gallery, including useful templates for documents, spreadsheets and presentations. Google Docs is an impressive suite of apps, and it keeps getting better (slowly but surely). The template gallery adds a lot of functionality.

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7 wannabe iPhone killers

Posted by Joe on July 16, 2008 · Comments Off

Fortune Magazine takes a look at 7 very iPhone-ish handsets: These copycats also have touchscreens, built-in music players, a high-speed 3G network and, unfortunately, power-hungry batteries. Can they dent iPhonemania? The Samsung Omnia is the phone that caught my eye (too bad it’s currently only available in Asia):

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