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Monday, 01 February 2010 00:00 |
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If you have seen any of tech buzz over the past week you would have heard about Apple's new product, the iPad. There are plenty of details about this new device on the web but I wanted to put in my take on it. Being a Star Trek fan I have seen many of the devices that were dreamed up in this scifi show come to life. And this is the latest. How I see the iPad fitting into our lives is as a shared household appliance. In the morning reading the news on it, then in the kitchen as an entertainment device while cooking from some recipe found on the web. Then later surfing the Internet while watching TV in the living room.
In the Star Trek universe padd's (as they are called in the show) are everywhere, sometimes you will see several being used at once, or strewn across a coffee table. They completely replace paper. From the earliest episodes in the 1960's to the most current series these padd's play a major part in the lives of the characters. This was Gene Rodenberry's vision and it is coming to life.
The iPad is destined to be remembered as the first real household device that took us down this path. It, and its successors, will become prevalent in every home as common as the PC or laptop is today. More manufacturers' will bring these devices to market and the price will drop. The iPad will be to the connected lifestyle what the iPod was to music. |
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Thursday, 24 December 2009 08:25 |
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Not exactly tech related but I just wanted to get on my soapbox for a minute. One of my pet peeves when driving is with those people that can't turn off their fog lamps when it isn't foggy. Yesterday I counted, on my short drive to work, 12 vehicles with them on even though it was a perfectly clear morning, dark but clear. One of them was right behind me and I had to adjust my mirrors because they were dazzling me. I see pretty well at night but I know of others that have issues. They have difficulty enough seeing with vehicles coming at them with normal headlights. So, with those normal headlights plus fog lamps it can be blinding.
In part I blame the car manufacturers. In my opinion, fog lamps should be automatically turned off when the ignition is turned off. You only turn them on when needed. COME ON PEOPLE! Turn them OFF when it isn't foggy!
End of rant.... thanks for reading ;) |
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Sunday, 07 June 2009 06:40 |
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I don't keep it on all the time but I now have an account on Skype. I know, a little late in the game on this as there are already millions of people using it but I don't use the phone much either. I'd really like to catch up with some of the folk I knew in Orkney and the UK so if they are reading this, give me a call. |
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Sunday, 03 January 2010 08:55 |
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I know many people that use free antivirus programs from the likes of Grisoft (AVG), Avast etc. but these offerings have to be in trouble now. One of the big stories to come along with Windows 7 is Microsoft's Security Essentials. Who better than Microsoft themselves to actually know what is going on in the Windows world. So it makes sense that they would bring out their own AntiVirus product. Some would say that it is something they should do as it is their Windows product that gets infected the most.
For a long time now I have recommended AVG's free, for home users, software as we use the paid network edition in our office. But now this has changed, my recommendation now is that you remove any other free AntiVirus program and just go to www.microsoft.com/security_essentials and download their system. However, remember that any AntiVirus program is just secondary protection. The first, and best, protection against getting infected is your own behavour online, if you go around doing stupid things like opening unknown email attachments, downloading files from unknown sources and clicking on those pop-ups that tell you crazy stuff like you suddenly have 50 infections then no AV program in the world is going to save you.
Microsoft's Security Essentials is good for any computer running a genuine copy of Windows XP, Vista or 7 (requires validation). Using this and making sure keep your Windows up to date will go a long way to keeping your system clean. |
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 03 January 2010 09:19 )
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Sunday, 30 August 2009 13:24 |
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I have had quite a few portable media devices, from off-brand to the iPod Touch and most recently my G1 Android phone. They all have one issue in common and that is how to convert your personally owned DVD's into a format that will play on the device. To accomplish this task usually requires two stages, ripping the DVD to your hard drive, then encoding the files into a format that your device can play. The trick is to be able to create the smallest file without losing quality.
There are a lot of products out there to do this; A-One DVD Ripper, Aplus Total DVD Ripper, DVD Ripper Ultimate, DVD Fab, FairUse Wizard, Handbrake, Wondershare..... etc. etc. Some of these are rippers, some converters and some try to do both. I have tried them all, some do better than others. But I am writing today because I found one I really like, WinX DVD Ripper. There is a free version so you can try it out but if you're like me you will end up paying for the Platinum edition which has more profiles. The advantage of this software is that it does everything in one go. Just point it at the DVD drive with the disc in it, make a couple of selections and hit Start. So far it has done a really good job of creating a quality file for both my G1 and main computer.
If you have a G1 here's a tip for you, always use H.264 over MPEG4. I noticed during my tests, and I did quite a few, that all the files encoded with the MPEG4 codec stuttered in playback. You can see it when the camera pans over a scene. Where as the H.264 encoded files were very smooth. Oh, and by the way, there isn't exactly a tab for the G1, I just use the iPhone profiles, they work just fine.
The default settings for AVI which come up upon starting the software are just fine for playback on your laptop or desktop computer. Just remember to turn off the subtitles if you don't want them. Personally I think they should be off by default but that's just my opinion.
For those interested I use Video-H264, 480:320, 512kbs, Audio-96kbps, 32000hz for my G1, works really well. |
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Thursday, 07 May 2009 07:57 |
My wife and I are back from Orlando, FL taking our main annual vacation. I have created a kind of blog with pictures during the down time at the villa. Check it out by clicking on the vacations link on the menu. I have also added a gallery section with pictures from the trip.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 03 June 2009 14:04 )
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