Wired @ Home

Want to win a contest just for writing a How-To Post? Well Geeks Are Sexy: Technology News is running a contest with 6 prizes that are listed in more detail on their website all totalling $1300. They are celebrating their 3rd anniversary and they thought it'd be great to run a fantastic contest. The best thing about it is, is that a professional model, Teresa Noreen, will be picking and announcing the winners. The second best thing is that you will get a link back to your site which is amazing as Geeks Are Sexy gets read by 1000's of readers a day. This is only for a short time but it will get your blog noticed. So go to GAS and read the rules and submit today, but please don't make an amazing post as I'd like to win with my absolutely amazing post.

Your iPod is probably getting old with that boring interface. Too bad you can't upgrade it with a Mac OS or Windows OS. Luckily though Rockbox has come onto the scene with a free open source upgrade for digital music players such as the iPod. I say iPod because the Apple iPod is such a huge seller that I am most likely to attract more visitors. Rockbox was made popular due in part to the fact that it supports FLAC, an open standard like MP3. It has much better quality and is therefore a joy to listen to. The iPod doesn't support FLAC. That's where Rockbox comes in. Download Rockbox and open your music player to a much better world. Since Rockbox is updated almost daily, the stability might not be the best but there are many other features that make it plenty attractive. There are hundreds of user submitted themes for your build (i.e. most updated software for your mp3) but since builds are updated constantly, some themes might not work well. If you do love a theme, you might need to tweak it a bit to make it work better. It can be some fun if you know what you're doing but HTML-defficient people like me it might not be as easy. Obviously if it doesn't work just uninstall it and you're back to normal. A quick note when installing Rockbox on your mp3; connect it right to your computer as opposed to a hub connected to your computer as it may cause write problems.

2010 is a year Microsoft is looking forward to as it is the proposed release date of its new OS. With Vista failing expectations, Microsoft needs to put all its effort into creating an amazingly great OS that has great security, speed, and performance and from the word go. Already leaks have been sited on the new OS but none to specific. One feature is it will not include if any groud breaking software and features like Vista did, but improve on Vista's flaws and make them superior. For example, the difficult to use, Bitlocker for all those technical readers out there. Even though the userface has gone a modern look, Microsoft is hinting the new OS wil undergo a major revamp called a really thin OS that manages virtual machines. Finally, a touch screen interface will maybe makes it way into the next-gen OS, many people are waiting for, and analysts putting heavy weight on.

You never thought it was Microsoft and Adobe competing for customers. PC vs Mac is now old and Microsoft needs to pick on somebody else which happens to be another heavyweight and they are butting heads in Adobe's territory. Adobe Flash has long been the choice for websites when playing videos. Now Microsoft comes onto the scene with Silverlight, a movie streamer for high quality videos. FOX, Netflix, and MLB.com are among the big companies prepping to use Silverlight for there heavy-video services. You can already download a release candidate at PC World. With no buffering delays, at least on MLB, Silverlight is poised to make a huge splash when it's finally released and should move and shake platforms for many websites. Netflix and FOX Movies are using similar movie players that are interactive with DVD clone controls and use Silverlight with very clear and great quality picture. Check out a trailer at Silverlight.
A no-name site called Skinkers, a London based technology group that's has a beta of a peer to peer live video streaming platform by the name of LiveStation where the basis of it is...Silverlight. The great thing about this service is that it cuts down the buffer time on online video and since it's P2P it cuts bandwidth. LiveStation opens in a new window outside of your browser which makes it easier to surf and you are able to switch stations like live TV. Adobe is coming back at Microsoft with it's own version of Windows Media Player with Adobe Media Player which will be available for download by the end of this year. It will let you play flash movies outside your browser and manage a library of your favourites much like iTunes. It was developed using Apollo, an application that lets web developers build media rich internet software. Adobe Media Player features full screen playback, a favourites utility that will automatically download new episodes of your favourite podcasts or TV shows, and a one click viewer rating. Adobe and Microsoft should each challenge the other making for healthy competition and a much easier and better life for the consumer. Note:If you have a LiveStation invitation, please contact me as that would be much appreciated.

Ever bought a major product and never took advantage of the 14 day price guarantee? I sure have and now there is a free web service that will help you look for a better price from the product you just bought within a scheduled amount of time. Some retailers guarantee that there price will be better than other retailers to. So all you do is go to Price Protectr, enter the url of the product(s) you just bought from that retailer and click 'look it up'. That's it, your done! Price Protectr will then remind you via email if the price has changed. You though have to enter other retailers that sell that product if the place you bought it from offers a price guarantee for all retailers selling that product. Overall it's a great service and you should check it out when you next buy a product over $100.

Youtube has long been the king of online video sharing which is why Google bought it this year but that's becauase most of the other video sharing sites have never gotten enough publicity. There are 8 different sites that are competing with Youtube and most of them have been rated better when it comes to performance, features, and specifications. Blip.tv was the best because the audio quality is great and the video is pretty good, but much better than Youtube. The reason why this site has such good video quality is that it lets users upload the original high-quality file as well as Divx Stage 6. Youtube uses the old Flash 7. Many of these sites that I will tell you about share the revenue of the advertising to it's uploaders and people who link videos to there blogs. Check out Rocket Boom news. It adds spice and comdey to the news. Blip.tv also allows you to download videos on the site for ideal playback on an iPod or cellphone. This is not a huge site yet, as in it doesn't get much viewers so stick to Youtube if you want to get a huge audience for now.
Blip.tv, Brightcove, Metacafe, Revver, and Veoh will all split advertising revenue with you right down the middle. Youtube does none of these. Revver has an extra feature that will make non-video uploaders smile. They let you earn 20% of the revenue from videos you've decided to share on the Revver page or your blog/website. The remaining 80% is split between Revver and the uploader.

For Sprint and AT&T users there is a great service available to you and I am green with envy because of it. The service is called TellMe. You now have three choices to recieve various pieces of information from them. You can text, 83556, call, 800 555 8355, or once finished downloading the required application you will be able use voice. They provide weather updates, sports, news, taxi, airlines, or driving directions.

If you want to send a text message to a whole bunch of friends but don't have the time then call up Jott at 877 568 8486 and say what you want to say to them and then they convert your voice to text and sends it to all the email addresses and mobile phones that you've selected. They even save that message for future reference.

I know my mom would definitly love this and so I believe any woman would also love this service. Have you ever been in somewhere and didn't find a good washroom, or you just couldn't find one? We'll this service, MizPee, is here to help. First text where you are (city and state, possible province) to 415/3502290 or the hard and more expenisve way by accessing your browser and heading to www.mizpee.com.

This new DVD player can be taken into the bathroom with no worries. I am not totally sure though if it is soakproof but my highly educated guess is that it isn't. Splash proof is fine for today because why would you want to watch a movie underwater when it could be played much clearer above. For me it's the fact for security and safety. What happens if you do accidently drop it in the water while playing a movie? Would it explode or electrute you? The statistics though is it can play from an SD card or a DVD and can support mp3 and mpeg4 formats. It has an LCD monitor, weighs only 1.3kg, and has a screeen size of 290x180x62mm. Don't even try going to Twinbirds website because it doesn't even list this product on it. I just thought I'd mention it because it is pretty cool and doesn't look plasticy, bulky, or splashproof for that matter.

Wi-Fi is in the future for an American airliner called Alaska Airlines. Honestly it's the least expected airline to be associated with a term like Wi-Fi. But they are and are planning to use Westlake Village's technology on one of it's Boeing 737 jet this spring. If the experiment works, and we all hope it does, they will put it on the rest of there 114 aircraft. Obviously you know what WiFi is but how will it work on a fast moving jet? There will be a dome-shaped objecet on top of the plane will house a powerful antenna that will receive and transmit satellite signals. Currently they are looking over different price ranges and I'm scared to think about the cost considering that a cookie costs over $2 on a flight. There is a general guideline though. A year ago, Boeing pulled it's program after not enough carriers would sign on. Connexion was planned to cost $10 an hour or $27 for 24 hours with a satellite connection. Started in 2000, prices should be a little bit cheaper because as technology gets more used it gets cheaper. But then 9/11 happened and that made everything more expenisve. Hopefully this new Wi-Fi service will lift off the ground on top of each aircraft.

I am getting a Sony Ericsson W610i which has web access but it hasn't arrived yet so I'm stuck with an Audiovox 8615 from Virgin Mobile. Luckily if you are in the same situation or you don't have a PDA or Smart Phone all you need for this next site is web browsing or text messaging capabilities. Now if you don't have text messaging I'm going to have to ask you to get up and leave.

For the people who have a decent phone then this website is for you. SoonR will transform your tiny cell phone screen into an email inbox and in some instances a PC. Once signed up for the free site, SoonR will install a desktop manager that will let you pick which files to share for the future. You can even access un-shared content with the password you preset in Security after right-clicking the icon and hitting settings. They will then send an activation email and an SMS activation. They seem to be compatible with most phones and countries but it's been about 15min and no SMS. I'll rewrite this tomorrow or sooner for an update. When you want to use it on your phone, find the file or email and it will be displayed. Because of the small screen size it won't be the best but at least it's something. You can also choose to email your content to another one. Standard charges do apply as always.

Developed and tested by Seimens AG, is polymer optical fiber cable. It has been used to transmit data at a speed of about 1 gigabit per second compared to the average 1-8megabits per second in North America. Even though glass optical fiber is able to transmit at higher speeds, it is much thicker, easier to break, and can only be cut cleanly with a diamond blade. Polymer optical fiber however can be cut with a razpr blade, is 1mm thick, and doesn't break easily. Details aren't clear about the projected cost and when it would be released but my guess and many others would say the costs are high and the release date will be in a year. But's it's only a guess and not a well thought out one. Look out for the new technology to start hitting the airwaves sometime soon though.

This device is a simple solution to powering your gadgets on the go without a power supply. It's a crank basically so all you have to do is pull on the handle. It was tested and for 5 minutes and it was able to power 6-8 hours on the iPod shuffle. To show it's credibility it's included in the $100 laptop that is currently being distributed across Asia and Africa. That's exactly how easy and powerful it is to use. It's supposed to generate 5 times as much energy as the conventional pull cord generator and take 5 times longer for the user to become fatigued. It's a cute, simple, yet effective device and is worth considering when it comes out onto the North American market later this year. The company sees huge potential and so do I.

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Kitchen/ Dining Room
The kitchen will be a marvelous thing once you own a smart house. I think the most exciting thing is the storage system. There will be no cupboards at all, except for your fridge, all your food related products you bought will be in a separate storage space. Once your computer knows what you eat everyday, it'll bring out that product with everything else you need to prepare it. For a teenager, they usually eat cereal, so once the computer learns that in less than a week, it will bring up the cereal to the special area where it brings the products up. If the computer gets it wrong you just push it back and ask for something else.
The computer tracks all your items with tags. These tags will be able to let computers know the price and what it is. No more cashiers, but that means your shopping experience is much faster. When you get home and load it in your fridge or send it to your storage space, the computers wil be able to recognize each and every one. This comes in handy when you're at the store and you forget how many eggs or milk you have. All you do is call or text your computer and ask. Your answer comes back instantly. Another great thing about this system is that when you are ready to prepare a meal, bring out some of the items and the counter will be able to suggest some meals. Select one and it will give you the instructions. The dining room will be capable of changing the design of the tabletop which can also be applied to any other table. The example that Microsoft used is for a children's party. There can be planes and they will be able to fly them around the table. The same technology is used for the Microsoft Surface. There is a promotional video at Youtube. This technology is right now only going to be sold to companies for there own use. By the time smart houses are common, the technology will be cheap enough to incorporate throughout the house. The drawback to this system is that it is designed my Microsoft, but hopefully they will make it compatible with other parts like the fridge, counter, and storage centre. If not, competition and the court will take care of that.
Bedroom
Microsoft has developed technology that will be able to display images along the walls of rooms. This technology was made for bedrooms, but mostly for children who like changes often, and the images depicted on the walls can be changed with the touch of a button. In the bedroom, as the computer learns your usual wakeup time, it will start opening the curtains at a certain time to let in the light acting as a natural alarm clock. While you are sleeping in the bedroom, the computer will check out vital stats of your health much like the system used in The Island except there will be no need for urine samples and you won't be cloned. Great movie if you're interested.

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Living/Family Room
In the future a family room which contains a 30-46inch TV nowadays, will soon have an extremely large TV that is integrated within the wall of one side of the family room, interchangeable at any time. Speakers will be all over the room so you'll always have a theatre experience at home. You'll have a remote that can do everything like change the lighting to preset degrees as well as control all the electronics such as the TV, DVD player, and speakers. This remote will be used to adjust any other electronics within the house and will change the different options on the remote to whichever room you're currently in. To make changing the volume of the TV in the family room, say in the kitchen, you'd be able to change to the remote buttons to a different room. The remote changes rooms automatically just to simplify things. I mention this remote in this section because most of us would keep this remote in one of these two rooms as it is a room shared by the whole family.
Office
We have a room in our house that has a computer and whatnot and acts as an office at home. I believe most other people have a room like this. Now what I've discovered is that many different companies have different views on what the computer will be in the future. Some say that it definitly won't look like a computer we see today. Some say it will be integrated into walls or part of something, in other words being disguised. I personally am not looking forward to that as I am completely in love with the modern day computer except for the security issues and the speed. If the future can solve those two then there is no point in scraping the beautiful laptop.

Smart houses are the future of where we live and how we live. They will change our work habits and make our lives easier while in the background making it more complicated as the computer did. Smart houses as we refer to them now, will not only be single family homes that we regularly see in the suburbs but that same technology we associate with smart houses will also be in smaller homes like townhouses and condominiums. We are already seeing it take shape right now as companies are testing them with families.
We as human beings, feel it is on our future to move in with technology and make it one with us. Therefore converting the places we live into a piece of technology rather than brick and wood is the perfect way to do it. That being said, let's take look at the different parts of the typical
General
At birth from a time in the future, parents will have the opportunity to implant a chip within their childs' forearms for a small fee yet to be determined. Parents and other adults who didn't have this opportunity at birth will be able to buy this technology as well with people already using it today. What this chip does is: lets other electronics, like computers and smart house computers, know your there and it will be able to track your movements and anything that needs to be done. It is really useful because it replaces keys, brain space for passwords and usernames, and critical certificates like passports and ID. As I mentioned before, the whole house acts like a human, equipped with a brain (computer) and nervous system (appliances and electronics). As the computer gets used to what you do everyday, like brew coffee at 6am and take a bath at 9pm every weekday, it remembers it and stores it as your daily routine. This makes your day faster because it starts to brew coffee before you get there and draws your bath just as you arrive home. You ask, what if traffic is slow? The computer will be working online so it will be able to monitor this and act accordingly. This is all scary to people because computers will have more control and smart house viruses will become a huge threat. All Smart Houses will come equipped with backup power just in case of a major storm or brownout.
Bathroom
Panasonics parent company has developed a toilet that has the industry's lowest water and electricity usage per flush and it requires no tank and no cleaning for 3 months making it the most eco-friendly toilet in the world. (Only available in Japan) It is a glimpse into what we will be seeing in the smart houses in the next decade. In the next century there will be no need for toilet as "it" all evaporates (just wishing). On a cleaner note, a company has developed a multi-colour grout that can be used in tile joints between 1-5mm where the ultra-white is used for indoor bathrooms with tile joints between 1-3mm. This grout will be able to eliminate bacteria growth, mould, and mildew for a lifetime.How about those times when you're shaving or doing your hair, and you want to see the sports highlights or a cooking show? Well, somebody has invented and produced a mirror that can act as a high quality LCD TV. Press the Power button on the remote and the TV comes to life, replacing the mirror image. Turn it off, and the mirror returns to its normal classy self. Obviously this mirror is not just for the bathroom, but it is designed to withstand the heat, wetness, and sweaty conditions of a bathroom. The crazy thing I find with this system is that it comes with hidden speakers behind the mirror! Next is dedicated music for when you're in the shower. Since it's all wirelessly connected, all you need is speakers in your shower or anywhere else and you can access your music anywhere there are speakers, not just in the bathroom. For bathroom speakers though, specially coated speakers will be used so humidity and the steam of the bathroom will not effect its system.

I've heard of concept cars but I've never come across a concept phone until today. No word on what is going to go into the S-Series developed by a student, Simon Enever. Form over function was the main objective of this cell phone as the designer thought that too many phones were made with functions packed into a box. This phone was made for style but still pocessed function being that all major applications (i.e. email, camera, etc) were accessible easily without pushing down the numpad. The different thing about this phone is the wood panelling along the keypad and sides. It still doesn't stand out for me though. It reminds me of the Sony Ericsson W580i and S500 but it would be cool to see Sony Ericsson or Nokia pick up this design and add features to the gleaming package. So if you want to make a statement and stick it to the average cell phone user then advocate to a cell phone maker to produce this phone because even though it's not that different it still deserves a shot at stardom.

Originally developed for the hotel industry, GreenSwitch, has just hit the residential market with force. Ed Begley has stamped it with his approval showcasing it on his show, Living With Ed. Retrofit the system to all the electronics including lights that are on standby or are only used when you are home. With the flick of a switch when you leave home, all those electronics will be switched off. Instead of running around the home and turn off the phone charger, the laptop, TV, lights, and many more, you can just flick the switch. It claims to save around 25%-45% in energy costs and the costs will be recouped in 10months-2 years.

Let me explain how the system works. First you buy the wall plugs that you will use to plug all the electronics you want to be on the GreenSwitch program. You install them and if for example you have an alarm clock and a light on the same plug but you only want the light to be on the system, you buy a split receptacle. As well if you want to turn on an individual light on you can and you can also reprogram the thermostat. There is one central switch which looks like the picture at the bottom. When you turn it off, it doesn't immediately go off. It allows the user 30s to leave the house, get into bed, etc, before turning off. GreenSwitch will help save you time and energy and all you have to do is flick a switch.

I've been looking at phones lately and this phone caught my eye but was high on price so I can't even consider it. We can all dream right. First off if you wear tight jeans don't consider this phone as if you can see in the picture, the butt end of the phone sticks out which might get painful after awhile. The W850 is a medium sized phone with dimensions of 10cm by 5cm by 1.5cm with a weight of 94g. The screen resolution is great at 240x320 pixels considering the battery time is amazing with 370 hours of standby time and 9 hours of talk time. The joystick is an important part of the phone and it lives up to it's standards being just firm enough to not be flimsy. It also doubles as not only a 5-way joystick but also as walkman controls.

Ever wanted to know how it felt to live, sleep, and play underwater? We'll new hotels across the world are planning to open underwater. Places like, Fiji, Florida, Shanghai, Ontario, Macau (the new capital for gambling), and Dubai. The first one to come and probably the most publicized about is the Poseidon Undersea Resort on the edge of a South Pacific Coral cliff in Fiji which is scheduled to open in 2009. The resort was originally planned to open in the Bahamas but because of demand and cost issues, was shifted to Fiji. How does this all relate to technology? Well technology is a part of these projects including the pressurized cabins needed to sustain life, as well as the air cleansing technologies needed to make sure the air is up to par with that of the air on land.

Many believe that space is the next frontier and I was one of them too, until I learned about underwater hotels and condos. I changed my mind because the next step to moon colonies is underwater colonies. Humans can't breate in space and underwater without the aid of technology, but lakes, oceans, and seas are closer testing ground to where we live.

The Poseidon Undersea Resort will be built on land and then transported to Fiji and placed in a deep lagoon. 12 metres below the surface will be 24 hotel suites and apartments with sizes of around 170 square feet each. These don't come cheap with prices rumoured to be $15 000 per person per week but luckily the building has an elevator going to the surface so you don't have to get your feet wet plus a fleet of submarines.

An Australian scientest has already made a 'hotel' and submerged it in a gravel pit with the backing of Australian Geographic. It was the worlds first self-sufficient, self-sustaining underwater habitat. To produce electricity he used solar sensors on the surface plus a stationary bike. Electricity was needed for lights, a computer, and a phone. The amazing this was, was that the air he breathed was purified and recycled by algae soaked in his own urine. Basically, the algae took in the carbon dioxide and released oxygen. He did at first need scuba air tanks to supplement his air supply.

To learn more about the hotel go to Poseidon Undersea Resort.

Ever wonder why your network is slow? Well, could somebody else be using it and not telling you? Well if so or if not, then I have a tip and/or trick to help you figure that question out. Ethereal will help you find out who is using your network that you are paying for.

I have to give credit to Apple for doing so much in so little time. As my previous post mentioned, Apple has just introduced a new line of iPod products. The Nano, Classic, and Touch all along with the Shuffle and iPhone. Now they've decided to revamp there all-in-one desktop called the iMac. It now has an even sleeker design with a newly redesigned keyboard that comes equipped with two USB 2.0 ports; one on each side at the rear. The problem with this is that most USB drives will mess up the balance of the keyboard since it is so low. Some of the improvements are a better screen quality which is thinner and all around nice. I learned also that the quality of the package is better using anodized aluminum chassis instead of the old polycarbonate plastic.

Now some Apple followers might not even know about this product yet but I'm guessing most of you do so in essence I'm just covering a mundane topic no one is interested in except me. I just heard about this new product and supposed new category of product. I am not an Apple supporter, especially the iPod, but Apples new wave of products including the iPhone and this, the iPod Touch have got me thinking about purchasing one. When looking for the iPod Touch it was hard to know which picture was correct as I had never seen it so, I had to go to the source, the Apple Store.

The Apple iPod Touch looks much like an Apple iPhone plus the new earbuds. It comes in 8GB and 16GB each priced at $329 and $449 respectively. Both of them ship by September 28 2007 and both come equipped with the same things except the hard drive space. This includes: a 3.5inch widescreen multi-touch display(which I will touch on later in the article), Wi-Fi, Safari, YouTube, WiFi Music Store, and with an 8mm thin casing. The WiFi Music Store is Apple's new music store to support the Apple iPod Touch. As well that music store will be able to work with the Apple iPhone by letting owners of the supposed revolutionary phone create there own ringtones using songs bought from the store, although there is one catch. The songs cost an extra 99 cents for the service.

Apple has not only introduced a new category into the digital device market but it also has revamped its line-up of products. The iPod Nano is now in my opinion, an ugly looking player. I'd easily rather buy a Creative Zen V. As well, the iPod Video has become the iPod classic and has retained most of its shape but has added an 80GB version and a whopping 160GB version and to make things better, they slashed there prices. A little touch they added is you can now laser engrave your iPod to make it more personal.

The multi-touch screen is an exact replica of the iPhone multi-touch screen. I learned so many new features of the screen when looking at the iPod Touch Guided Tour such as "pinching" which lets you resize an image and when you rotate the Touch, the screen rotates too. As well it lets you glide through album covers and tap the one of your choosing. It does all this by recognizing your finger movements using electrical fields on the screen.

Sorry for no new articles in the past couple weeks but I've been on the go and fritz in England and France so I haven't had much time to write about articles. I saw the Louvre, Eiffel Tower, and some local sites. Now enough about me, it's now about you. I too am looking for an unlocked phone as I can get a middle of the pack price and a great phone I never would have considered with Pay As You Go. I am currently looking at 5 websites. First off is:
Overstock - This website is American but has great shipping rates and has mediocre deals on phones. They aren't a full cell phone website, they do have other products including furniture. I probably won't be buying any phone from here because there prices are more on the expensive side compared to my other two recommendations
Cellular Blowout - This is another American website and it has much better prices and slightly better phones but I'd rate the quality and integrity of the website below Overstock. They do have better descriptions of the phones they sell which is a great plus to me. There selection is a little bit lacking although I can't complain.
PureMobile- This website is Canadian and this one is my favourite because they have tons of amazing phones at great prices. The problem though is that they show phones that haven't been released and some of those unreleased phones are actually released and are shown on the website. As well they show many versions of each phone for particular phones like the Motorola L7. They do have the Apple iPhone for Canadian buyers at a measly price of $1 149.00.
Kijiji CA, Kijiji US, & Craigslist - All these sites are like ebay but local. They are great in my opinion but my own beef with it is the warranty issue. I can never be sure whether the product is going to be reliable. These websites replace eBay's customer complaint with you going over to the persons house and demanding your money back as all dealings are local.
My personal opinion is I want to buy from the online marketplaces but I'm too worried about the phone breaking down even though I can get a better phone for the price. So my other choices in Cellular Blowout with a RIZR or L7 for $130 and $180 respectively. I will update this article by September 13th on what I chose if anything.