iampowered: November 2005 Archives

Laptop Storage Shoot-out

This entry was posted in the following categories: Home / Office, Reviews

The last thing associated with a laptop is performance. With the powerful Pentium-m chips, PCI E graphics and next gen.

RAM commonly available often the performance bottle-neck isn't a low power chip any longer, it's the hard drive.

Storagereview.com has just tested the performance of seven mid to high end laptop hard drives.

It's important to note that SATA drives were not tested which already dates this review.

Windows OneCare Beta Now Available

This entry was posted in the following categories: Home / Office, News

Microsoft is getting ready to give a serious hit to Symantec and McAfee. On Tuesday, the company launched its Windows OneCare Live beta, a PC protection and maintenance service that offers and antivirus and firewall, along with tune-up and backup functionality.

Any Windows XP SP2 user can now register to download the latest beta release.

Microsoft said, "Windows OneCare is built on the goal that protecting your PC should be easy and intuitive. The interface and workflow have been designed around one simple concept: get green and stay green. Your Windows OneCare status can be green, yellow, or red."

The public beta release could be an ominous sign for security vendors such as Symantec, McAfee and Trend Micro. Windows OneCare Live is not compatible with other antivirus software and requires it be removed. In addition, OneCare will not work with Windows Vista, raising questions about what security features the OS will natively include.

"With Microsoft's big emphasis on security in Windows Vista, OneCare incompatibility is tough to rationalize. One plausible explanation: That Microsoft will bundle similar capabilities with Windows Vista," remarked Jupiter Research senior analyst Joe Wilcox. "I wouldn't be shocked to see same kind of features found in Windows OneCare, including antivirus, as part of Vista."

Have you tried OneCare? What you think about it? Do you believe this new service from MS means the end of major Antivirus vendors? Share your thoughts with us!

Preparing for the Day the Music CD Dies - Alternatives Abound

This entry was posted in the following categories: Entertainment, Guides

A long, long time ago...
I can still remember
How that music used to make me smile...

On Monday, the San Francisco Chronicle ran a story in their Datebook section about music alternatives to CDs. When you think of it, with all the music options that are becoming available, it is quite possible that CDs will go by way of 8-track tapes.

The article explains the 10 best ways to get the most out of what they are referring to as “the next musical revolution.” Those 10 ways are:

1. MP3 blogs:
2. Online radio:
3. Digital music services:
4. MySpace music:
5. Satellite radio:
6. iTunes Music Store:
7. Hit the clubs:
8. BitTorrent:
9. Amazon.com free music downloads:
10. Rock it old school:

Of these categories, numbers 1 and 9 were of interest to me.

For MP3 blogs, the article highlights a number of Sites. For no-nonsense links to free music online, it suggested The Hype Machine (hype.non-standard.net) and Largehearted Boy (blog.largeheartedboy.com).

It also noted some personal blogs worth checking out: Stereogum (www.stereogum.com) and Sixeyes (sixeyes.blogspot.com).

Another Site, Said the Gramophone (www.saidthegramophone.com) is a daily sampler of what they say are “really good songs.”

As for number 9, I was not aware that Amazon offered free downloads to entice people to buy new music. I guess this is sort of like when I used to “test drive” CDs first at Tower Record’s listening station before buying. The article states that Amazon has “an incredible free music downloads page loaded with MP3s from new and old releases spanning practically every genre imaginable.”

I have one to add to the list (AKA number 11). I’ve been listening to Music Choice which comes as part ofComcast’s digital cable package. What I like about it is (a) no commercials; (b) they offer a nice variety of genres; and (c) I get to see the name of the artist, album and song title on my television screen.

Most of the time I know I like a song but don’t know the name or title. This makes it easier for me to search iTunes for additions to my Nano.

Do you have a recommendation? Please let us know.

Sprint PPC 6700 - First Windows Mobile 5 Smartphone

This entry was posted in the following categories: Mobility, News

Microsoft and Sprint recently launched the PPC 6700 Windows Mobile 5 powered smartphone.

The most original hardware feature of the PPC 6700 is the slick, slide-out QWERTY keyboard.

The keyboard slides to the side, which leaves the device feeling more balanced than a device with a keyboard that slides out the bottom.

When you slide out the keyboard, the screen automatically displays in landscape mode.

The keyboard is big enough for even the large thumbed among us.

On ths software side, the new smartphone sports the Windows Mobile 5.0 operating system, which brings in features such as:

A built-in PowerPoint viewer
Charts in Mobile Excel
Pictures with your contacts
Customized ringtones for contacts
Persistent storage (no lost data)
Bluetooth
Wi-fi
MiniSD card storage
1.3 megapixel camera
Can be used as a modem
Pocket MSN
EVDO

If you like to browse the Internet on your device you'll like the speed of EVDO. Where available, you can receive speeds up to 400-700 kbps, and peak speeds up to 2.0 Mbps when downloading content.

The camera allows to zoom, take a picture to add to contacts, and add a theme. It also has panorama, video, and MMS Video modes. The camcorder supports MPEG4, H.263, WMV, and ASF formats.

Though you can already purchase Pocket MSN to access your Hotmail, as well as maps, weather, news, and other MSN content services on any Windows Mobile-based device, the Sprint PPC 6700 comes loaded with Pocket MSN.

This device uses mini SD storage cards, which has the downisde of requiring yet another memory card adapter.

Good thing is that Windows Mobile 5.0 finally supports persistent storage. This means that personal data and the third-party software are stored in non-volatile flash ROM memory. The big advantage is that in case battery runs out of power, the data is preserved.

Spot fraudulent eBay auctions with Gumshoo

This entry was posted in the following categories: News, Web services

Here at iampowered we tend to do quite some buying & selling on eBay, and while we've never had the misfortune of being scammed, we have heard quite a few horror stories.

eBay doesn’t offer a way to filter out fraudulent auctions, but you can spot them with a service called Gumshoo.

With Gumshoo, you can avoid yourself a lot of trouble, and even find some good deals since the service also searches for misspelled auctions which generally lead to lower priced items.

The service is completely free, and a must check research tool for eBay fans.

New Del.icio.us extension for Firefox

This entry was posted in the following categories: News, Web services

Tagging and Social Bookmarking are constantly on the news lately. Yesterday del.icio.us released a new extension for Firefox.

Included in it are:

del.icio.us buttons - To Easily access your bookmarks and post new bookmarks.
Popup post window - So you can post a bookmark without leaving the page.
Right-click post - Bring up the post popup from any mouse position.
del.icio.us menu - Quick access via keyboard shortcuts.
del.icio.us search - Quickly search for your bookmarks or others.

For more screenshots and to download the new extension visit Del.icio.us Firefox extension

Linksys WRT54GX4 and WPC54GX4 new MIMO router and PC card

This entry was posted in the following categories: Home / Office, News

Linksys is introducing a pair of new MIMO products, which the company says can offer double the speed and triple the range of traditional wireless networks.

Like other MIMO routers, the WRT54GX4, which will retail for $150, uses more than one 802.11g radio to improve throughput when coupled with a compatible wireless card, such as the $100 WPC54GX4.

Sounds definitely interesting. Now it's a matter to see how long until we'll be able to customize its firmware to make it do even more interesting things.

How-To: Stream anything using VLC

This entry was posted in the following categories: Guides, Home / Office

The VLC media player is an amazing piece of software. In its most basic form it is a lightweight media player that can play almost any audio or video format you throw at it.

VLC is also multiplatform in the most extreme sense of the word; it can run on Windows, OSX, Linux and PocketPC / WinCE handhelds along with other systems. VLC works great as a streaming server and video transcoder too.

We are going to show you how to stream any type of media file from your computer to another device on your network.

We will also demonstrate how to remotely control VLC using any web browser. Using these techniques you could stream video from your office computer to a laptop plugged into the living room TV and control the playlist with your PDA.

The first thing you need to do is grab a copy of VLC media player for your platform. We are going to be streaming from a Windows machine to a Linux machine, but the interface is almost identical no matter what you are using.

Once you install VLC and start the program you will be greeted by this lightweight frontend.

vlc1

Click “File > Open File…” to bring up the “Open…” dialog box.

vlc2

Click on the “Browse” button to bring up a standard Windows file selection box. Select the file you want to play. Then click “Open”. We’ve selected multiple files so VLC will build a playlist.

vlc3

Your selection should appear in the text box next to the “Browse…” button. Click the checkbox for “Stream Output” and then click the button “Settings.”

vlc4

Check the box next to “Play Locally” under “Output Methods.” When streaming to another system you don’t have to play the file on the server, but we will use this option to visually confirm that our video is playing properly before trying to access the stream from another computer.

Check the box marked “UDP” and type in the IP address of the computer you want to stream the file to. Then click “OK”. The file is ready to play so click “OK” in the “Open…” dialog box too.

vlc5

The video or audio file should begin playing on the computer. The last thing to do before switching to your second computer is to turn on VLC’s web interface by clicking “Settings > Add Interface > Web Interface”.

vlc6

Open VLC on your second machine. We are using a Linux machine.

vlc7

Click on “File > Open Network Stream”. UDP is already selected so you just need to click the “OK” button and VLC will start playing your stream.

vlc8

Now that the stream is successfully playing on your computer you can open up a web browser to control VLC remotely. Type “http://<IP_of_your_server>:8080/” into the address bar. The web browser will present you with all of the controls you need to manage playlists and playback remotely.

vlc9

[via Engadget]

Mac mini set to take over the living room?

This entry was posted in the following categories: Entertainment, News

When the Mac Mini was launched back in January, Steve Jobs heralded it as the ideal jumping on point for PC users who were considering switching to Apple -- all you needed to do was add in a keyboard, mouse and monitor.

A few reviewers spotted the potential for the budget-priced desktop as a media hub -- in particular, as a networked PVR.

Today Think Secret reports that the new Mini is set for roll-out at Macworld Expo San Francisco and will sport a built-in iPod dock, an Intel processor and include both Front Row 2.0 and TiVo-like DVR functionality.

Details are sketchy on the DVR application, but Think Secret's sources claim it has been dubbed a "TiVo-killer."

RSS now integrated into Yahoo Mail and Alerts

This entry was posted in the following categories: News, Web services

Yahoo gathered yesterday a small group of bloggers, press and others at Sauce in San Francisco to announce the launch of two new RSS products.

They have integrated an RSS reader directly into Yahoo Mail Beta, and are expanding Alerts to include RSS feeds.

These are significant new products, aimed squarely at new and mainstream RSS users.

Yahoo has deeply integrated RSS into the Yahoo Mail beta experience. Directly below the email folders are “RSS folders”. Clicking on the top folder show all posts in a “river of news” format, meaning all posts for all subscribed feeds are listed in the order they have appeared in feeds.

A post from any feed is treated like an email - any post can be forwarded as an email or dragged into a folder and saved. Adding feeds is straightforward - include the feed URL or choose from a number of popular feeds.

Microsoft to challenge Google Base with 'Freemont'

This entry was posted in the following categories: News, Web services

Microsoft has plans to launch an online marketplace similar to Google Base, according to statements made by the company on Tuesday.

Codenamed "Fremont", the service will allow users to post listings akin to the way the popular Craigslist classifieds site operates.

Fremont will also be tied into the company's new Live.com, where users will be able to view local listings from their personalized pages. Microsoft has begun testing the service from fremont.live.com, however access has been to @microsoft.com employees.

According to TechCrunch, which first reported the project, the final name for the service has not been decided. While Microsoft is not providing a sneak peek of Freemont to the press, Michael Arrington saw a demo of the product. "It's very cool and will definitely shake things up," he wrote on Monday.

RadioTime sends broadcasts to your iPod

This entry was posted in the following categories: News, Web services

RadioTime is a service that works with PCs or Macs and provides time-shifted access to over 37,000 terrestrial broadcast, streaming music and talk stations from around the globe.

For an annual fee of $39, you can record programs, essentially turning your iPod into a radio TiVo.

RadioTime offers a list of news, sports and other radio programming. Its search capabilities are very sophisticated. Simply enter your zip code and you can see what's available in your area.

A free seven-day trial is available on the Web site.

5 Great Firefox Extensions

This entry was posted in the following categories: News, Productivity

Firefox

As many of you know, Firefox is an open source web browser developed by the Mozilla Foundation (with the help of 100's of volunteers). The Firefox web browser actually has a pretty interesting history, and traces its origins back to the once dominant Netscape web browser. When Netscape released their source code (under an open source license) this allowed the Mozilla Foundation to start the development of a new browser using much of that same code. This is where the tale takes an even more interesting twist, the browser first conceived by the Mozilla foundation was the Mozilla web browser, not the Firefox browser that we know today. Firefox came along much more recently when some started to think that Mozilla was becoming (as more features were added) as bloated as the browser it was meant to replace (Internet Explorer).

The question then arises, how was Mozilla to give users the features they wanted, without all the bloat that came along with it? The simple answer is that Firefox uses what are called "extensions" to give users the features they want, without making them add others they can do without.

According to many users (and I count myself among them), the ability to tweak Firebox by adding just the particular extensions you want, is largely responsible for the browser's popularity. In fact, recently (after reinstalling Windows) I found that I actually had a hard time being productive with Internet Explorer, largely because I missed the extensions that I had grown so used to having with Firefox.

I have more than 5 extensions installed on the 3-4 computers I tend to use, but here are 5 of my favorite FF extensions:

TinyURL Creator This is a truly awesome extension that allows you to get a much shorter url for any website that you wish to link to or send to your colleges.

Add Bookmark Here This extension is simple but really effective, it allows you much better management of where you want your added bookmarks to be placed.

Plain Text Links A really helpful extension that allows you to treat any text as a url, which you can then select and open in another tab.

BugMeNot A lot of websites require you to fill in a name/password, even if you are only visiting them once to read an article etc, this extension helps to bypass this obstacle.

Tab Preview If you have Firefox 1.5, this extension allows you to quickly see what pages are opened, when you move your mouse over a background tab.

Firefox Extension Homepage

Firefox 1.5 releases today

This entry was posted in the following categories: News, Web services

Update: It hasn't quite made it to their front page yet, but you can find the official Firefox 1.5 release at this Mozilla FTP link.

After three release candidates, Firefox 1.5 is scheduled to be released this afternoon, according to the Mozilla group.

The long-awaited official release will feature a number of enhancements, including more responsive back and forward buttons, better support for web standards, and a redesigned preferences window.

Many of these features have been available for sometime in the release candidates, but if you've been holding out for the official launch, now's your chance to go for it.

And if you enjoy to live at the cutting edge, you can already download Firefox 1.6, now in alpha.

Sony PSP Now Supports RSS

This entry was posted in the following categories: Mobility, News

Macworld reports that Sony has added RSS support to the Playstation Portable.

The new software update is available for download for North American users of the PSP by using the built-in Network Update feature, or by downloading and installing the software through Sony's Web site.

You can demo the RSS capabilities here.