Archive for February, 2007

iPhone vs Smartphone comic inspired from Mac vs PC ads

Wednesday, February 28th, 2007

Unless you have been wandering around with a bucket on your head, you have probably seen that Apple launched a heavily debated campaign last Christmas, trying to prove you once more the multitude of reasons why you’d need a Mac. However, the PC fought back, and the battle continues. This is overall a quite interesting concept and many people have tried to follow.

I have found this funny comic strip that is trying to represent the differences between an iPhone and a Smartphone and which I will be reproducing further. I’m looking forward to hear your comments.
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Uber-geek’s dream PC

Wednesday, February 28th, 2007

We all strive to own the coolest PC configuration. The coolest mouse, the coolest keyboard, a sound system to envy and so on. Well I was wondering what’s the dream machine for a computer addict and I’ve thought at something like this:

The main unit

We’ll start with the beginning, the case is supposed to be one of the main attractions of your system. There was a trend of highly sophisticated cases with neons and glowing fans, but that’s all over now. The new hype consists in components showing as much as possible, preferably mounted on a wall or floating in thin air as shown here.

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The Keyboard

Now that we’ve got over that we should cover the basic input, like a keyboard. But classic keyboards have many a problem, such as dirt getting between the keys, you have to bother your fingers with pushing buttons all day, not cool at all. What you really need is a small, compact, easy to use and to carry, Bluetooth Laser Virtual Keyboard. It uses rechargeable batteries that last for 120 min, and it has a height of only 3.5 inches.

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The mouse

The mouse is not just a pointing tool, it’s the extension of your mind within the computer. Hence it must be perfectly adapted to your needs. Such mouse must be ergonomic, precise, and smart. The Logitech MX Revolution does all that and a lot more. It senses what application you are using and switches the scrolling mode concordantly, you can turn the wheel ‘click’ on and off and it has a neat Li-Ion battery.

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The monitor

A monitor must be large. This is the rule when talking about monitors now-days, large, slim and bright. Well the Athens Flat-Panel Monitor sure is large measuring 5 meters in width (that’s 5 ‘normal’ monitors) and it supports resolutions of 19200×2400 pixel. That’s HD and pure visual enjoyment. On the other hand it seems that it’s not the best commercial product as the company making them went out of business, nevertheless this is a must for your supersystem.

athens_monitor.jpg

The Sound System

Last but not least the sound system is crucial for the ultimate PC. The sound must not be a addon, it has to be am integrated part of your system. It has to be all around you and it has to provide the clearest sound for you to enjoy. Such immersion can be obtained only with a machine as the one showed below, that’s capable of putting you in the middle of the audio storm. Grace to Alpine.

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There you have it, the base for the ideal PC, I’m sure that you can find better examples for each category, but the main idea is the same. Watch out for the supercomputer!

Firefox CAN be faster – 4 easy tricks

Tuesday, February 6th, 2007
firefoxlogoa

Now that we all know the hidden pages in Firefox, it’s time to go a bit deeper into tweaking your browser for optimal use. All of the operations will be made in the about:config page, so save your important stuff, open up a new tab, write about:config in the address bar and be prepared. I have gathered four tricks that will improve your Firefox experience, and here they are.

1. Fetch only pages that you click
Firefox mostly resembles to Google from this point of view. It has a built-in feature (enabled by default) that will pre-download the pages behind the links it thinks you MIGHT click. Google anticipates you might click the first result from the page, but how in the world can Firefox anticipate the link you’re going to click? Anyway, in my opinion this is just useless bandwidth usage, CPU power and HDD space. You’re practically downloading and storing pages you are not viewing. Here’s how you stop that in three simple steps.


In the about:config list, filter up your search after ‘network’ so it would be easier for you. Then, find through the remaining list options the key that says network.prefetch-next. It should be set to TRUE. Double click it, and it will turn to false. There we go, now Firefox will stop acting creepy and will only fetch what you click ;)
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Tips and tricks: Convert anything to just about anything

Monday, February 5th, 2007
convertor

Converting files from one format to another is a necessity and you don’t need me to tell you that. A few years ago, software programs that were converting WAVs to MP3s, AVIs to MPEGs,were pretty much popular, although their abilities were limited to just a few features and not to mention the low format support.

Today, they do have some serious competition, and I am going to present you the most reliable options. The main advantage of what I’m going to present is that you do not need to download nor buy any software. They’re mostly free and accessible via your web browser. Some projects may be still in the beta stage of development, but I can assure you that everything goes safe and sound. Try them out yourself, and feel free to share opinions.
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The PC vs Mac ads return – now from the PC’s perspective!

Monday, February 5th, 2007

We’ve all seen the PC vs Mac ads by Apple, there are plenty of them. But now it’s time for the PC to counterattack, with the help of director Laurie McGuinness, who created four small hilarious clips, with the same character personalities (the PC being older, “boring”, and the Mac being younger and cooler), but this time the Mac doesn’t get the spotlight. What I liked about the clips is that they’re not made in order to harm the Mac, and they don’t deny the qualities portraied in the Mac ads, but they observe the PC’s own qualities, without denying the Mac’s. So, without more description, here are the clips:

At work

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Meet the phone that’s as good looking as the iPhone, but impossible to manufacture.

Sunday, February 4th, 2007
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My first impression was “Wow.”. Some time ago I’ve shown you some pics of Rune Larsen’s two concept phones, and I mentioned that the smaller one would be close to impossible to manufacture, with today’s technology. Well, Rune didn’t give up and he continued his designing, and now he released the “Crystal Phone”, which is amazing, but I don’t see any way it could be fabricated. On your right is a new picture of the Tiny Phone, all white and better designed than the first black pics. And below you can watch the Crystal Phone. As slim as a credit card, this is an awesome concept, but, unfortunately, it’s close to impossible to fabricate.

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I’m officially a fan of Rune’s work, and hopefully his designs will get more and more “doable” as time passes. Here are more pics of the Crystal Phone, this time in colour:

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World’s smallest printers

Friday, February 2nd, 2007

They’re powerful, they’re cool and they are the smallest printers ever made. The perfect choice for traveling, these little gadgets are not expensive as it may seem. In fact, they’re quite affordable, and they will definitely match your portable notebook. They’re all developed by PrintDreams along with their patented technologies, RMPT lite and RMPT full.
Feel free to check them out. I can fully guarantee they’ll make great presents.


printer3

The Xyron Design Runner is probably world’s coolest creative tool. The first printer from the series, running their RMPT lite technology, the little printer is is a cordless, battery operated, handheld device that allows creative users to print a large variety of letters, shapes, icons, WordArt, borders and phrases directly into their projects. Creative users appreciate the fact that it is possible to print directly in media types that would never fit into a conventional printer device, thus allowing exceptional flexibility. There’s no need of a computer, wires or complicated download processes. The Xyron Design Runner retails somewhere around $160.


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The Whooosh is scheduled for release in the second quarter of 2007 and it’s expected to be the coolest printer device. Using PrintDreams’ RMPT full technology, this will be the ideal tool to complement common drawing activities and make them even more fun and creative than ever. Users will be able to print out their favorite movie characters, figures, animals and much more directly in drawing books or other surfaces no matter format or size. Kids can also create their own art and uploaded to empty memory cards through an optional USB memory card burner accessory. The expected price will be around $150.


printer1

The PrintBrush is the smallest printer ever made that can print full size format (A4 or letter size). Featuring the RMPT full technology, this gadget is expected to launch within one year from now. It will retail around $200 and in many ways, it will be even better than stationary printers or other so called “mobile” printers. For example, it will be possible to print directly in notebooks or other media that would never fit into a conventional printer device. It will also be completely silent allowing you to print during ongoing meetings, etc. On top of all that, no wires, no cables, no mess.

I’m looking forward to try and closely review at least one of these little gadgets.