Archive for July, 2007

Try out the OS X user interface on the web. This is more about clever web programming than demoing OS X, but it’s still cool. [Via LH]

TechCrunch is reporting that popular super-cheap music download site AllOfMP3.com is down, possibly for good. But a new site operated by the same owners is up and running: MP3Sparks.com The business model and pricing seems to be the same.

The Independent Gaming Freeware Database lists hundreds of free games, with descriptions and screenshots. It’s like GameTap for free (sort of).

The fastest bullet train in the world entered service in Japan on Sunday: JR officials are touting the Type N700 as the fastest bullet train ever. It will travel between Tokyo and Shin-Osaka stations in two hours and 25 minutes — five minutes less than before. It will barrel between Tokyo and Hakata in four hours and 50 minutes, saving about 10 minutes. According to Wikipedia, the train tops out at 300 km an hour, and can maintain very high speeds even in turns: Full-production N700 trains have a maximum speed of 300 km/h, and tilting of up to one degree will allow the trains to maintain [...]

From Wired: on this day in 1928, “W3XK, the first American TV station, begins broadcasting from suburban Washington, D.C.”

HotHardware has a hands on look at the $200 ASUS Eee PC, including a glimpse (with pictures) of the device’s Linux OS. This is definitely on my Christmas list. And if it’s available next month as expected, Christmas is coming early this year. My kids both want one, too. Of course, they’ll have to wait for December 25th for theirs.

One blogger may have found a way around AT&T’s bizarre 2-year iPhone service contract. Just enter 999-99-9999 for your SSN when activating via iTunes. The credit check will fail, and you’ll be offered prepaid plans that start at $49.98 a month and include unlimited data services.

How small can full-featured PCs get? Via will be bringing out a credit-card sized motherboard next year capable of running Windows XP while consuming very little power. The prototype system uses a 1GHz C7-M ULV (ultra low-voltage) processor and a CX700 chipset, but Holthaus said running a 2GHz processor with the board is no problem. The board can hold either 256M bytes or 512M bytes of DDR2 memory, but those numbers will rise as memory makers increase the capacity of their chips. Measuring 7.5 centimeters by 4.5 cm, the Mobile ITX motherboard is smaller than a credit card and is designed for [...]

The history of text-based adventure game Zork, which consumed many hours of my life back when I was rockin’ an Apple IIc.

Universal Music Group, the world’s largest music company, has said no thanks to a 2 year music deal renewal with Apple’s iTunes. Via CNBC: Universal, which produces one in three albums sold in the United States, will continue to sell music via iTunes on a month-to-month basis, rather than be locked in to a two-year agreement Apple had proposed, the source said. The music company could now agree to offer significant portions of its repertoire exclusively to new partners, potentially weakening Apple’s dominant hold on digital music retail. The two sides had extended a previous [...]

The Red Ferret Journal finds 101 Groovy & Cool Gadget Sites.

Mashable looks at 14 different personalized start pages. Some of these are fun to play with. I usually have Yahoo! set up as the home page in most of my browsers, but I’ve been using iGoogle lately, and it’s very useful. I also like MyWay, which wasn’t included in the Mashable review. It’s a customizable and fast-loading site with no pop-ups or banner ads.

Apparently, something called an “iPhone” went on sale a few days ago. I haven’t heard much about it, but it’s supposed to be pretty cool. This phone is pretty cool, too: the OpenMoko Neo 1973. Here’s what the company says: OpenMoko — together with all of you in the community — will design, from the ground up, open devices and write the free software platform that powers them. FIC will build the hardware and help us set phones free around the world. The operating system is open source, the phone’s development will be open and transparent, and [...]