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July 31, 2005
EverythingDigital Podcast 2005-07-30
The beta 1 release of Windows Vista, new iBooks and Mac minis, HP's discontinuation of iPod sales, the standardization of digital projection in theaters, and a little music from the great podsafe musician Jonathan Coulton.
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DOWNLOAD THE MP3 | 38:14 | 17.6 MB |
Posted by Alan Joyce at 12:19 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
July 28, 2005
Extending the iTrip's Range (Round 2)
A long time ago, I took up the task of extending the abysmal range of my iTrip FM transmitter for the iPod. It worked well, but not as well as I know it can.
Recently I sat down and put in a good bit of work with the hopes of finally getting my iTrip's range up to par with my expectations of it.
With the application of a knife along the seam on the side and top of the device, the use of tweezers to hold the newly-formed gap open, the use of another pair of tweezers to reach in and grab the antenna, and the replacing of the rubber insulating plug on the side of the iTrip to seal the casing back up, I was able to fully extend the antenna out the side of the iTrip at a healthy 90ยบ angle with almost no scarring of the case.
Now I have full access to the antenna, so I am able to not only adjust it to better transmit the signal, but I also have the option of amplifying the transmission via an external method.
Click on for some Flickr'd pictures of the final product.
Posted by Alan Joyce at 09:28 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
July 26, 2005
The REAL New iBooks
In addition to giving the Mac mini built-in wireless and 512 MB RAM, Apple has released new iBooks in accordance with the rumors. The new models were not, however, widescreen like the moderately convincing photoshop job we saw yesterday. Here is the new banner, which can also, of course, be found on the Apple website.
Posted by Alan Joyce at 09:39 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 25, 2005
Back in San Diego
I'm back before you even noticed I was gone. I was able to keep up with my email, but didn't take along my RSS reader on my iBook. I returned home to find at least 100 unread news items which I just finished sorting through.
Some interesting stuff popped up in the last couple days including this alleged (read "photoshopped") screenshot of the Apple homepage displaying new 12" and widescreen 14" iBooks.
Posted by Alan Joyce at 10:46 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 24, 2005
EverythingDigital Podcast 2005-07-23
Rumors (some of them confirmed) about a video iPod coming in September, the internal testing of Skype Video, an increase in legal music downloads, AMD's Solar Challenge, some Sony PS3 and PSP developments, and the new Google Moon service.
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DOWNLOAD THE MP3 | 27:53 | 12.8 MB |
Posted by Alan Joyce at 12:20 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
July 22, 2005
Slow News Week
Sorry for the lack of proper posts and a podcast, but you've probably noticed it has been a notably slow news week. I am working to gather enough information for a nice weekend EDP, so I should have that up fairly soon. I'm also going out of town for a couple days starting at the end of this weekend, so I will do my best to get some articles up through that period as well, but I can't guarantee anything. Well, I'm off to see what I can find out about the rumored video iPod which is supposedly on its way, look for details in the next EDP.
Posted by Alan Joyce at 06:05 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 20, 2005
Google Moon
An interesting, yet useful nevertheless, addition to the lineup of Google services, Google Moon was introduced today in commemoration to the moon landing which took place on July 20, 1969. Google Moon allows access to an interactive map of the lunar surface complete with marked points where each of the lunar landings took place. Check it out, and try zooming all the way in for a nice surprise.
Posted by Alan Joyce at 07:51 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 14, 2005
EverythingDigital Podcast 2005-07-14
IBM's dual-core and low-power PowerPC chips, the recent free Skype Out day, Blu-ray's dominance over HD DVD, a couple pieces of iTunes-related discussion, and a review of the Panasonic DMR-ES10.
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DOWNLOAD THE MP3 | 26:21 | 12.1 MB |
Posted by Alan Joyce at 11:59 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
July 13, 2005
SanDisk Announces New microSD Developments
Although it may make many people groan to know that yes another flash card format is elbowing its way into the marketplace, SanDisk has announced that its new flash specification, the microSD, has been officially adopted by the SD Card Association.
The new specification is geared towards mobile devices and is especially intended for cellular phones. Along with this announcement, SanDisk introduced a 512MB version of the microSD card which will be the largest-capacity microSD card commercially available. The company also said that it expects to make a 1GB microSD card by the end of the year, and a 2GB card sometime in 2006.
The 512MB model will retail for $69.99 and be available in August, while SanDisk's 256MB model is available now for $44.99. Both cards are sold with an adapter allowing them to be used in devices with standard SD slots.
Even considering the problems that have already surfaced because of the vast amounts of flash card formats currently available, it may be beneficial to have cards that are designed to work more specifically with mobile phones and that have accordingly small form factors.
Posted by Alan Joyce at 10:16 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 10, 2005
Dual-Core PowerPC Chips
As if to show Apple the PowerPC chip still has potential, IBM recently described two additions to its PowerPC chip lineup.
The first chip is a dual-core version of the PowerPC 970FX, which is currently used in PowerMac G5 computers. The new dual-core version will be called the PowerPC 970MP, and will be released along with the second chip, a low-power variant of the PowerPC 970FX that runs at 2.7GHz, but requires less than 20 watts.
The possibility of dual-core, dual-processor G5 desktops, and lower-power G5 laptops is certainly enough to leave any Mac fan questioning Apple's decision to switch to Intel. An Apple representative chose not to comment on the new chips, and it is unclear whether Apple is even considering using them in its new computers.
Posted by Alan Joyce at 02:58 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 08, 2005
Source Code Mini Appearance
I just guest-hosted the Source Code Mini, another podcast that talks a lot of tech. We discussed the iTunes Music Store, bittorrent, and Google Earth among other topics.
Posted by Alan Joyce at 12:18 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 06, 2005
EverythingDigital Podcast 2005-07-06
Google Earth, the merging of the iPod and iPod Photo lines, pics of the iTunes Phone revealed, the Deep Impact mission, a flaw in Adobe Reader, and LG's plans to use Palm OS.
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DOWNLOAD THE MP3 | 24:38 | 11.3 MB |
Posted by Alan Joyce at 10:55 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 05, 2005
4th of July Photos
I've just uploaded the photos I took of the 4th of July fireworks to my flickr page. They are, of course, geotagged so you will also be able to see them on Mappr as soon as it makes another sweep of the latest Flickr photos.
Posted by Alan Joyce at 07:20 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 03, 2005
First Deep Impact Pictures
Live from Tempel 1, here are the first images of the impact.
Posted by Alan Joyce at 11:42 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Deep Impact A Success!
Judging by the wild cheering and debris-obstructed pictures just moments ago on the NASA TV webcast, the Deep Impact mission was a complete success. NASA is still collecting data, but already has enough to provide significant new information about the nature of comets and the universe itself. The impact itself was quite impressive, with an even larger explosion than originally predicted.
Posted by Alan Joyce at 11:19 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Tagging Photos With GPS Coordinates...The Easy Way
I always thought it was hopeless to even try attaching lat/lon coordinates to photos without a proper digital camera gps attachment, but thankfully Phillip Torrone of Make: Magazine has proved me wrong and successfully used Google Maps to do the exact same thing. Check it out:
Here's the simple, non-techy way of tagging photos with the location of where you took them on planet Earth. There are lots of ways to do this, and I'll write about those later- but this is a fun thing to do over the holiday weekend. As an added bonus, I'll show you how to see your photos on a cool Mapping application called Mappr, as well as Google Earth...
Posted by Alan Joyce at 08:55 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack