Category Archives: Tech

Tech info

New Digital Camera

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A few weeks ago I bought a Canon PowerShot A590IS digital camera from Newegg.com to replace my aging HP Photosmart 720. The HP was only 3MP, which was fine since I didn’t print many of the pictures I took. The Canon is an 8MP camera so I have the flexibility to print any photo I take. I wish the camera had GPS built-in so when I upload pics to Flickr, it would already be geotagged. I was thinking about getting the Eye-Fi Explore but I’m not too sure how accurate it would be only using WAPs. I wonder how long it will be before all cameras come with GPS built-in. If my iPhone can have GPS built-in, I don’t understand why camera manufacturers can’t find the room to put it into their models.

 

Windows 7 Beta

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I downloaded the Windows 7 Beta on Monday after Microsoft fixed the bandwidth issues they were having when they originally attempted to release it on the 9th. When Microsoft released the Windows Vista Beta a couple of years ago, we downloaded it at work and installed it on one of machines to see how different it was than XP. Personally, I didn’t care for Vista when it came out. It looked nice but I didn’t care for having the ‘Programs’ menu from XP fill up the Start menu area in Vista. I also got a little tired of being asked if I wanted to allow something every time I went to try and do anything. I also had trouble finding all of common techy areas I knew how to get to in every other version of Windows since 95 (i.e. Show Hidden Files and Folders).
When I installed Win7, I was a little hesitant to using it. Supposedly, it boots faster than Vista but I don’t have any computers running Vista to compare it to. Microsoft fixed the UAC (User Access Control), which was the annoying little pop-up that would ask if you wanted to allow things to be done, in Vista SP1 but so it was nice to see it not show up every 5 seconds.
There was one change that I’ve noticed already in Windows 7 that I do like. Currently running programs, which in previous Windows would show up as buttons with both the program’s icon and some text, now show up as only the program’s associated icon. This neatens up the taskbar considerably. When you mouse over one of the buttons, it gives a preview of what is currently running in that program. One example would be Word. If you have MS Word running and minimized, you will see a preview of all of the Word documents currently open.
Windows 7 comes with Internet Explorer 8 Beta. This looks and acts just like IE7, except when you open links from one tab in a new tab. IE8 color codes that tab the same color so the user knows they’re connected. I haven’t poked around enough with it yet to see if this functionality can be turned off.
This beta is currently good through August of this year, so I have the next 7 months to play around with it and decide if I’ll give it a chance when it’s released or if I dump Windows all together and go to either Mac or Linux.

 

Twitterific

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In September of 2007, I signed up for Twitter but I hardly used it. In March of this year, I installed a plugin called Twitter Updater, in order to increase the number of tweets I made. This still didn’t get me into Twitter that much. I even signed up for a service called HelloTxt, which allowed me to update my status on multiple social networking sites at once. I hardly used this service too. After I got my iPhone, I installed an app called Twitterific which allows me to tweet using my iPhone and read tweets from the people I’m following. It wasn’t until about two weeks ago that I really got into Twitter. I used to block random people that were following me. Now, I’ll let anyone follow me, and if they seem to post interesting stuff, I’ll follow them in return.

 

Bose QC3 Headphones

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I just got a pair of QuietComfort3 noise canceling headphones made by Bose as a gift. I’ve been using them for the last few hours to listen to my iPod and I can barely hear anything else going on around me, which will be great when I’m sitting on a plane near the engines. The QC3s run off a proprietary battery that goes into the right headphone. It only took about an hour to charge the battery and it should run for 25 hours off of that charge.

 

Wii Fit

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I was lucky enough to purchase a Wii Fit from the Nintendo World store in NYC last week. They’re even harder to find than the Wii is (which I also got from the Nintendo World store). I tried it out and it’s a lot harder than I thought it would be. There are 4 categories; Yoga, Strength Training, Aerobics, and Balance Games. You get “Fit Credits” for every minute you spend using the Wii Fit. After you bank a certain number of “Fit Credits”, you’ll unlock additional exercises or have the ability to increase reps on certain exercises. Surprisingly, I actually like the yoga. One of the more fun games is the Super Hula Hoop. I have a hard time trying to go counter-clockwise though. I’m going to try and do 30 minutes every night like they suggest but I’ll be happy with 4+ days each week.

 

My New Crackberry

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I purchased a new Blackberry Curve 8330 from Verizon last Wednesday for work. They’re reimbursing me for the phone and any accessories (up to $200 total) and up to $110 per month for the phone bill. I went with Verizon because I have my iPhone 3G on AT&T. I figured if I didn’t have coverage with one, I’d have it with the other. I’m still getting used to the crackberry but I still like my iPhone better.

 

Limbo, Loopt & Whrrl

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Since I got my iPhone last week, I have signed up for 3 new social networking services. Limbo, Loopt, and Whrrl are mobile social networking services that use your current location to show you where your friends are.
Limbo describes their services as:

Limbo amplifies your social life – giving you quick and easy access to more activities, people and places.

Loopt goes a little more in depth when explained their service.

Loopt shows users where friends are located and what they are doing via detailed, interactive maps on their mobile phones. Loopt helps friends connect on the fly and navigate their social lives by orienting them to people, places and events. Users can also share location updates, geo-tagged photos and comments with friends in their mobile address book or on online social networks, communities and blogs.

Whrrl’s description is similar to Loopt’s.

Whrrl is a location-based social utility that helps you answer questions like, “Where should we go for dinner tonight?” or, “What fun stuff can I do around here?”, whether you are in your home town or traveling. Whrrl organizes everything you and your friends know about people, places, and events and puts that information at your fingertips. You can use Whrrl on a Web browser, via SMS, or as an application on your mobile phone.

I’m still figuring out if I’ll use all three or if one of them does everything I would need.

 

Free Push Email To My iPhone

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I came across a service called Mail2Web that is a free alternative to the MobileMe service that Apple is selling for $100. Mail2Web is a free personal Microsoft Exchange 2003 account, and since the iPhone can connect to Microsoft Exchange, this allows email to be received almost instantaneously. The instructions on how to set this up are available from Lifehacker.