Nerd AlertNerd Alert Archive Pages
June 10, 2008
What did Steve Jobs really introduce today?
So I like the masses misinterpreted the news today. For the greater part of the day I was thinking, Steve Jobs has done it a gain. His holiness hath delivered the 3G iphone. And I thought wow look at all the new features. This is going to be great.
Then I had a sobering moment and analyzed what we're really getting:
A phone with:
An sdk and 3rd party application support
3g internet
GPS assisted google maps
Exchange support
all priced around 200 dollars
Having just bought a new windows mobile phone, when I thought about the last two features I realized we'd all been had. You've been able to buy a phone like this for a really long time now. Really, this should have been called the iPhone Apology instead of the iPhone 3G.
These are all features that have been implemented by the competition forever and are really features that should have been there in the first place. And still there are a boat load of other problems still remaining:
1. No user replaceable battery
2. No user upgradeable memory
3. No bluetooth audio
4. No MMS
5. No video
6. No copy and paste
7. No multi-tasking
8. No laptop tethering
9. Verizon has better coverage than at&t
Still I have no doubt that the phone will sell extremely well, but hopefully if you're reading this you'll stop to consider other options out there before drinking the kool-aid
Here are few reasons why I'll be keeping my HTC Touch:
1. Much better form factor. Try putting the htc touch right next to an iphone and see what you think.
2. It has the iphones missing features:
multi-tasking, copy and paste, video, mms, full blueooth stack, sdhc upgradeable to 16gb, stylus, user replaceable batteries which allow me to carry a spare, I did a speed test today. I got 1.5Mbps down and 250kbps up.
3. has all the iphones new features:
gps with google maps and windows live search, full exchange server support, tons of 3rd party development, "3.5G" speed internet with REV. A EVDO
4. Plus there are some additional cool features that the htc touch gives me:
- bluetooth keyboard support - I have the stowaway. You will never know that windows mobile 6 has alt-tab support until you get a bluetooth keyboard.
- winzip file support
unbelievably useful when your company's outlook is set up to automatically zip attachments
- Better versions of the iphone software suite
s2p
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=377627
s2u2
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=381588
s2v
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=358187
pcm keyboard
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=349647
- A better browser
Opera mobile mini loaded that demo page that took steve jobs 22 seconds in about 9.
Posted by Bryant at 12:41 AM | Comments (0)
December 18, 2007
Hi I'm a PC
What do you think of when you see this guy now? Windows Vista? PC's? Microsoft?
Is it just me or has this guy been more successful at representing PC's and Windows more than an intentional marketing scheme like the Dell guy?
Sure, I find a lot of the commercials a little annoying, and I don't know if Justin Long leaves as big an impact on consumers, but Hodgman seems to fit the part perfectly.
It would be one thing if Vista was doing well, but seeing Vista sort of flounder makes it all seem so fitting.
Posted by Bryant at 12:17 AM | Comments (0)
February 14, 2007
Stop asking
For whatever reason (probably because I'm the biggest nerd around), lots of people have been asking me if they should upgrade to Windows Vista.
Normally I size up the person and how they use a computer, but always the answer is no.
Here's a good checklist for those of you who might still consider asking me:
1. Do want less compatibility?
2. Do you want slower performance?
3. Does transparency make you ignore 1 and 2?
4. Are you a security nut?
5. If yes to 4, when was the last time your computer was hacked?
6. Do you have a bunch of time to kill?
7. If you saw something that wasn't broken, would you try to fix it?
I've tried Windows Vistanow for several months and have been completely underwhelmed. While if you do get it for free, I do encourage you to check it out, I would say spending any more than a dollar for the operating system and upgrading your existing system would be a waste of those 4 quarters.
In my experience with Windows Vista, I have not found anything in Vista that I haven't been able to do in XP. In fact, XP does everything its users and applications expect and want it to. So why switch?
When it comes to it, think about what most people do on their computers now:
1. Turn on / wake up computer
2. read email
3. check weather
4. read blogs / news sites
5. stalk people on myspace / facebook
6. watch stupid clip on youtube
7. go get lunch
8. start working
9. Work on Excel / Word document
10. goto #2
In none of these actions are you going to get your $379 dollars worth for Windows Vista.
Oh but what about hard core users?
Gamers:
Less compatibilty and slower performance for DirectX games
Developers:
Visual Studio still has bugs to work out in Windows Vista.
Instead of upgrading to Vista, in the past two weeks I have become a raving Apple fan. After having used PC's for over 20 years of my life. I have finally made the switch. And no, it isn't because of those stupid ads on TV. I hate those stupid ads. It's because now with Macs on an Intel Platform, you can do everything you love to do in OSX(see above) and stuff that you HAVE to do on a PC, you can either dual boot into XP or you can run a virtualization program like Parallells and do your dirty deeds. Plus, the Mac Book Pro is probably the best laptop I have ever owned: compaq < dell < (sony = ibm) < Apple.
Oh and of course a little video showing you Vista Speech Recognition:
Posted by Bryant at 09:12 PM | Comments (0)
December 05, 2006
Wii at Wal-mart December 6
Just an alert that Wal-marts around the country have been stacking up Wii's. The big release will be tomorrow at 8AM. So grab your hat and jacket and go line up already!
Also a site with estimates of how the PS3, Wii and 360 are doing so far
Posted by Bryant at 05:38 PM | Comments (3)
October 26, 2006
Hiro is my Hero
So I've been following Heroes on NBC this season. I feel the show is built on a great premise and has exceptional potential, but still has not been quite living up to it. The best part of the show thus far has been a Japanese man named Hiro Nakamura who can teleport.
Found out today not only is he my favorite cast member on Heroes but he is also a fellow programmer and fellow Brown Alumni.
Posted by Bryant at 01:23 PM | Comments (6)
October 17, 2006
Sony to Recall its own batteries
YES! finally!
For weeks I've been eharing news about Dells, Thinkpads, and just about every known computer maker recalling Sony made batteries because they had been exploding.
All the while, I kept a close eye on my own laptop which being a Sony, had a Sony battery, and as far as I knew, had a good chance of bursting into flames as well.
But as millions of other manufacturer's batteries were recalled, I never heard a mention from Sony that they were recalling their own.
Finally today I got the news I was waiting for. Sony is going to recall 300,000 of its batteries. Not only does this mean I can start worrying less about the ticking time bomb in my bag, but I can also replace a battery that only keeps about 60% of its charge now for free!
Score 1 for me, 0 for exploding battery manufacturers.
Posted by Bryant at 09:53 AM | Comments (0)
August 20, 2006
Software Engineering
A humorous depiction of software engineering represented by a tree swing.
Thanks Jason
Posted by Bryant at 12:19 AM | Comments (0)
July 21, 2006
Daily Show on Net Neutrality
You all know how much I love those Mac vs. PC Ads. Now watch as the PC explains Net Neutrality on the Daily show.
Posted by Bryant at 02:30 PM | Comments (0)
June 02, 2006
Motorola Q: I got it! It's good!
So I got my motorola Q yesterday. I dumped an initial reaction on smartphonesmarts.com last night. It's probably a disorganized mess, but I'll continue updating information about the phone.
It looks like this phone may be a big seller. It seems like a well made device and at 199 the price can't be beat.
Posted by Bryant at 10:15 AM | Comments (1)
May 31, 2006
How To Possibly Fix a Broken iPod
So I've had a 4th generation ipod for about 15 months now.
The Original iPod broke after about 11 months. The symptoms were a clicking hard drive and random freeze ups. The first time I took the iPod to the store, it fixed itself. It took a couple days for it to finally die.
After th first one, i purchased the applecare program for the ipod. This turned out to be a good idea. The replacement ipod only has a 90 day warranty. This second ipod died in teh same way in just over 90 days.
I'm on my third ipod now. I've been so annoyed with it I havent even loaded any music onto it yet.
According to this article, my problem may not have been a bad hard drive, but a loose cable.
After reading this article, I'm wondering two things. 1. Could I have fixed both of those previous ipods by myself. 2. Even if Apple has this problem, how stpid are they for not checking ipods with hard drive problems in the store for this cable issue before sending them off and giving the customer a new iPod?
Thanks Hux for the link.
Posted by Bryant at 08:44 PM | Comments (3)
May 12, 2006
Mac Ads are funny but are they correct?
So Apple has been running a new series of ads on TV where a middle aged "dorky" looking guy in a suit represents a "PC" and some hip young guy is supposed to represent a Mac.
Now while the ads are fresh, new and entertaining, I'm not sure if they are actually technically correct.
A few examples:
In "Network" the ad explains that PC's and Macs can network together. Then the introduce a new "camera" into the picture and show that the Mac can talk to the camera, but the PC can't. "Everything just kind of works with a mac," they say. As far as I know, PC's probably have more drivers written for them and are compatible with more models of cameras than Mac's.
In "Virus" the ad shows a PC with a virus and the Mac not being concerned about getting a virus. Not only can Mac's get viruses, it's also dangerous for Mac users to think that they're immune to viruses.
In "Better" and "iLife" the mac claims to be better at things like movies, music and pictures due to the fact that the software is bundled with the OS. While this may be true, this isn't to say that you can't do everything and maybe evern better than the bundled software on Mac's with Free and Retail PC programs. The other interesting fact is that if Microsoft did decide to bundle all of this software with Windows, I'm pretty sure we'd hear the pitter patter of lawyer footsteps and the shouting of anti-trust.
In "WSJ" it's amusing because they quote Mossberg as saying that the Mac is the "finest desktop PC on the market at any price." So is a mac a pc? anyways, they go on to ask if the PC guy has received any reviews, and the PC guy fumbles at the question and makes up a fake magazine name. To imply that PC's haven't received favorable reviews from the media is kind of ridiculous too.
While I am impressed by the Mac, and their ads have always been different and interesting, I'm not sure if they're always or ever based on fact.
Posted by Bryant at 03:58 PM | Comments (17)
January 23, 2006
Lovely hard Drive Crashing Sounds
Major Nerd Alert here. I've experienced several broken hard drives and one of the best indicators of a broken drive are the nasty sounds that they make
On their support site, Hitachi has listed several wav files of different hard drive failures. Some of them might make you cringe, some of them might make you laugh, some of them might make you cry. The sound files are at the bottom of the page.
As a joke, I could imagine assigning some of these wav files as system event sounds on somebody's pc.
Posted by Bryant at 12:58 PM | Comments (0)
January 21, 2006
Lost?
not to worry its probably cus you missed an episode somewhere along the way. this site has all the episodes ready to watch for free! enjoy.....
note: in order to watch them you need to register for their boards.
Posted by Jesse at 02:47 PM | Comments (0)
January 19, 2006
Why Zeke?
why did sawyer call mc gainy / mr. friendly : zeke is tonights episode of LOST? zeke was the shaggy muppet from back in the day. scroll half way down this page to see his pic. they look alike....
sorry i couldnt find a pic...
Posted by Jesse at 03:34 AM | Comments (0)
November 01, 2005
Robot Invasion Step 1
Imagine bringing in a machine into your home disguised as a friendly figure that knows all of your child's vital statistics.
Mattel is releasing a new Knows your name Elmo
After uploading these stats, the robot will address the child by name and try and gain their trust by reciting personal information about the child.
Combine this with Robot mind control devices, it's easy to see where this is going.
Posted by Bryant at 10:07 AM | Comments (1)
October 26, 2005
MMORPG PPC?
seems like you need an x50v or better... i cant seem to get the file to dl but if you can help me out!!!!! and if you got a ppc try it on that or the smart phone version too.... bet bryant has a phone it would run on....
Posted by Jesse at 07:02 PM | Comments (0)
October 24, 2005
Jealous Much?
So Al Gore may not have invented the internet, but US sure did. As such much of the infrastructure and the controlling bodies of the internet are in the US or directly controlled by the US government.
Now it looks like other countries who have suddenly realized that the internet is really cool and something they wished they had thought of and owned are now demanding that the US turn over control to everyone else.
Well as long as they're asking for our stuff, why don't we just start giving them control of our GPS Satellites and declassify all of our documents. That would help them right?
Or maybe we should teach them a lesson and turn off GPS and internet service for a couple of random days in a month. Maybe they'll quit their whining.
Posted by Bryant at 12:58 AM | Comments (0)
October 12, 2005
iPod Video Pre-review: Happy then sad
So today was an interesting day.
I'd been hearing speculation of the iPod Video for a while now. And all the speculation and the artists renditions made me all excited for it. And in the first few hours after it was announced I was all excited, but now that the dust has settle a bit, I'm dissappointed and worried.
I think this release may signal the beginning of the end for the iPod. The nano was the last greatest thing, now Apple has to watch where they're going otherwise owning an Apple is going to be as embarassing as owning a Palm PDA.
Why I was excited:
1. I like my iPod. I like the styling and the UI works fine for me.
2. I thought, if my iPod could do video as well, that would be just great.
Why I soon became un-excited:
1. Apple did a piss poor job of adding video to the iPod.
So why did Apple do such a poor job? Everything in this product from the name to the design says that its an iPod that can play some video. They basically designed a new iPod and decided to add in video playback as an extra instead of a core element.
What errors did this lead to?
1. Screen
The screen is 4:3 and is 320x240 and is a measly 2.5 inches. Anybody out there looking to buy a non widescreen standard definition TV nowadays? Walk into any electronics store, what do you see? High definition widescreen tvs and the bigger the better. What format is TV programming all converting to? Widescreen High Definition.
2. Content
Maybe they should have waited till they had better deals with movie companies, but at this point all they have are music videos, pixar shorts, and some ABC tv shows. Ask anybody who has seen MTV in the past 10 years, does anybody watch music videos any more? And do you think people will pay to have a collection of music videos? And sure pixar shorts are great, I'm a big fan, but there are only a handful of them. The TV shows are a good touch, but I wish they were higher resolution and that they were widescreen. And it would have been nice to have a wider variety of shows. But this lack of good content leads to number 3.
3. Battery
Why oh why would you make a video device that can only play 2 hours worth of video on a charge. Imagine how annoying it would be if you bought a DVD player that only played the first 2 hours of a movie. This pretty much makes this gadget useless for watching movies. Even if you do end up watching a shorter movie, the battery is pretty much hosed leaving it useless to do anything else with.
4. Controls
How do you have a player of any sorts these days without fast forward? This one is just sort of mind boggling, but it just goes back to show how poorly video was excuted on the iPod.
5. Design
Apple didnt bother redesigning the iPod. Instead they stretched it a little to add some features and now it looks really ugly. Sure they can try and give it a slimming color, but its still butt ugly. Even the mockups we've seen online are a lot better.
Apple needs to pray now that portable mp3 media players don't take off without them. Because while the iPod is a great mp3 player, the iPod video may just suck as a media player.
Posted by Bryant at 11:46 PM | Comments (10)
September 20, 2005
Google Wi-Fi
sounds like google is planning a wifi internet service
story here
sure bryant will know more than i will though...
Posted by Jesse at 01:52 PM | Comments (0)
September 09, 2005
Stonehenge Pocket Watch
It's basically a portable sundial that uses a miniature model of stonehenge and an included compass.
I can't wait till I see someone using one of these out in the "wild"
Posted by Bryant at 03:14 PM | Comments (1)
Its good to be stock-y
As a geek I spend time looking at computer books. Always trying to stay on the ball. So about a year ago I saw this book, by O'Riley, in the store:
It's a cutsy book about design patterns that looks like it atempts to make the Gang of Four accessible to Liberal Arts turned Senior Software Architects/IT Managers. Well it turns out the hipster chick on the cover also has an itch that just wont quit.
Don't ask how I found this, I just did. Anyways if you want to be hip and funky: DON'T USE STOCK PHOTOGRAPHY. That's all I have to say.
Posted by Hux at 10:34 AM | Comments (2)
Nano Nano
So you probably have seen the MotoRokr and the nano by now. The two latest releases by Apple this week. While the ROKR seems to be getting lackluster reviews, the nano seems to be doing quite well.
For those of you who can read japanese or who like looking at nerdy photo's, here's the most "in depth" review of the nano i've seen so far.
Upon breaking open the nano, they revealed that the nano is powered by 2GB Samsung Flash memory chips. This kind of makes it the result what you would get if the entire iPod family got together and had a baby.
Shuffle: Flash memory Long Battery Life
Mini: Screen and Click Wheel in small Form Factor Long Battery Life
iPod: Color Screen, White Translucent exterior.
Overall, I can't help thinking I want it although I know I don't need it.
Posted by Bryant at 10:09 AM | Comments (4)
September 07, 2005
Equalizer Wristwatch
Posted by Jesse at 03:49 AM | Comments (2)
August 25, 2005
Everything Looks Better with HD
Well, It's getting to that point where Korea is releasing so many new phones that well just about everybody must have their own phone.
This latest entry by Samsung has along with the usual laundry list of features, a widescreen swivel display that can receive HD feeds.
How many people in the states have never even seen HD in their house? Yet these techno gadget hungry and apparently innovative Koreans are putting Wireless HDTV's into everyone's pocket.
Posted by Bryant at 10:08 AM | Comments (0)
August 17, 2005
Triple Booting OsX, Windows XP and Fedora
Sorry. Major Major nerd alert here, but right now I'm in geek heaven. I'm posting from my Sony laptop thats running OsX.
As you might already know, Apple is switching over to Intel for their chips. In preparation for this massive switch, they have started distributing developer boxen with OsX compiled for x86 on them. Using some hackery, people have posted instructions on how to get an image of one of these machines running on your own PC.
What you'll need.
Supported Hardware
OsX disk image - check mininova
Linux Live Boot CD - ubuntu or knoppix work fine
6 gigs of HD space
What'll make your life easier
vmware
I'll post my screenshots tomorrow.
Ask any questions in the comments section.
Links:
Instructions for using VmWare to Multi-boot
Original Post that started it all
FAQ
Link to boot vid:
Boot vid
Some screen shots:
Posted by Bryant at 02:33 AM | Comments (0)
August 16, 2005
Cures for hard drive failure
Thanks to Rob for this
So a while back, I posted that I had run into several bad laptop Hard drives over the years.
One of the tricks that I gleaned from the Dell forums was to put the Hard disk in the freezer for a while. Actually this seemed to work. I think Bernie was able to recover his entire drive.
However, before blindly telling people to pop bad drives into the freezer, I guess you should qualify the statement with better instructions :
Posted by Bryant at 03:28 PM | Comments (1)
August 10, 2005
Death by Starcraft
sadly as an adolescent i spent many many hours playing starcraft insteading of developing the social skills necessary for scoring a girlfriend. Yet, as bad as i was it never got as bad as this: in South Korea a 28 year old played 49 hours straight of SC and died......
source
if you might like to follow in his footsteps may i reccomend dota maps for WCIII (warcraft III) enjoy...
oh and im back...
Posted by Jesse at 02:58 PM | Comments (1)
August 09, 2005
You can do what with the internet?
Thanks to Rob for this.
It seems like every day the internet lets you become more and more of a pirate. Free music, then free movies, and the long time favorite free software or warez.
For those of you who do these kind of illegal activities, apparently you should look into google china. The Chinese even with their censored internet seem to be a great source of information on free software.
Posted by Bryant at 10:25 AM | Comments (0)
August 02, 2005
Death of Google to Start.com?
Does this signal the end for google?
It looks like Microsoft is working on a very worthy competitor. The advantages of Google seem to dissappear with this new search portal.
Not only does it feature clean and simple design with advanced features. It uses javascipt and other web browsing hacks very well and it runs in *gasp* firefox and linux quite well. And where are all the crazy Microsoft logos and cheesy inspirational phrases?
Try it out here. I think I'm going to try this as my primary search engine for the next few weeks.
I like it. Makes up for my lackluster experience with windows vista.
Posted by Bryant at 11:45 PM | Comments (1)
The Apple Revolution
So it looks like apple is breaking ground and releasing a revolutionary new mouse. This new mouse supports 2 click buttons, scrolling, optical sensor... wait... this has all been done for years on PC's.
I guess this is about as revolutionary as a flash based mp3 player with no display.
I hate how people always say anything new that uses metal or plastic stole from Apple design. I wonder what those people will say now.
Posted by Bryant at 11:47 AM | Comments (2)
July 22, 2005
Longhorn != Vista
Windows Codename Longhorn has been revealed as Windows Vista.
Vista?
They had all this time to pick a name and they chose Vista? I frankly think Longhorn is better. I'm tempted not to get it just based on the lame name.
Either way , it looks like I'll be able to get it on August 3rd. We'll post reviews of the actual software then.
Posted by Bryant at 10:11 AM | Comments (0)
July 01, 2005
Windows Roullette
According to security Vendor Sophos, They claim that with all the viruses and attacks going on in the itnernet right now, there is a 50% chance that an unprotected windows PC will be compromised within 12 minutes. While it is true that unprotected windows PC's can be easy targets, I'm not too sure about their numbers here. And also remember that the person bringin you the news is a security vendor.
Posted by Bryant at 11:58 AM | Comments (0)
June 28, 2005
Undersea Cable in Pakistan Clipped?
I'm normally not a big conspiracy theorist, but I had an odd feeling when I came across this article.
According to CNN, the main undersea cable that supplies telecommunications to Pakistan has gone down. And seeing how we think Osama might be in that country. And seeing how we have submarines with undersea cable tapping capabilities.
I dunno, maybe I'm just crazy
Posted by Bryant at 12:32 PM | Comments (0)
June 14, 2005
South Carolina News Station Hacked
A South Carolina news station had the brilliant idea of allowing schools and other public places to post closings. The even more brilliant part was that this was done through the internet. This allowed a group of clever wordsmiths to take advantage. Hilarity ensues.
Posted by Bryant at 08:30 PM | Comments (0)
June 10, 2005
CaseFanCaseFanCase ...
This Case Mod blew in my direction and so I thought I'd breeze through it.
This Cool Mod is built entirely out of case fans. It has fans on every side of the case.
Not sure if I'm a fan of the way it looks.
Posted by Bryant at 10:42 AM | Comments (0)
June 09, 2005
An Incredibly Interesting Suggestion about Apple and Intel
Bob Cringley writes a very good article on his suspicion that Apple and Intel are going to announce a merger. That this union between the two is more a business decision than a technology decision.
Posted by Bryant at 11:00 PM | Comments (0)
IBM to make computer human brain, End of World Approaching
Well seriously,
We've covered all the robotic advances that have been coming up. We have embedded, bionic, autonomous, swarm networked, recently they have self replicating robots.
Now we're going to give em brains. IBM is now devoting a supercomputing cluster to simulate a human brain.
Is IBM basically trying to end the world? Has nobody at IBM ever watched any movies?
Time to buy robot insurance
Posted by Bryant at 12:55 AM | Comments (0)
June 05, 2005
Apple to switch to Intel?
This article says that Apple will Ditch their power pc chips and move to an intel platform.
Will this mean the ability to run apple os on your pentium? Who knows!
Posted by Bryant at 03:40 PM | Comments (0)