Category: Tech

If you are looking for a great deal on a tv, get up tom morning. Walmart is having a secret sale tom at 8am. You can pick up a Vizio 50 in for $998. Source

This morning, I saw the single coolest feature of any operating system ever. I went to see if any designers wanted to get breakfast with me. Tyler wanted to show me something he was doing on his G5 mac with the newest Leopard. He was in iChat, talking with his wife who was at his house also on a G5 with Leopard. He clicked a button and his desktop switched over to hers.
As in, just with that click (I’m sure he had setup stuff before) he was working on his computer at home, with access to his files at home and his processor. While his wife sat and watched him work. It was a lil laggy, and we have a T1 connection here at work.

BUT the point is, gone are the days of hours on hours trying to explain to your parents what they need to click on, just zap yourself over to there computer and do it for them while they watch. Course you will need high speed internet, and two brand new macs to get it done… or you could wait till Microsoft steals the idea and implements it into MSN messenger. Just thought I’d let you know that Apple redeemed themselves with me today with this single feature.

Share and share alike.

Thanks to iChat screen sharing, you and your buddy can observe and control a single desktop with iChat, making it a cinch to collaborate with a colleague, browse the web with a friend, or pick plane seats with your spouse. Share your own desktop or your buddy’s — you both have control at all times. And iChat automatically initiates an audio chat when you start a screen sharing session, so you can talk things through while you’re at it.

Lets say you are in the market for a new laptop in the next 3 months. You have about 1500 bucks to spend. Lets discuss the options: PC or Mac, Dual Core Processor or single, RAM, Hard Drive, Wireless, Optical drive, and connectivity. So don’t waste your time looking at walmart. I’ve already narrowed the search down to the most popular & reliable laptops based on media hype.

It’s going to be Dell vs HP vs Apple

When comparing computer builds you want to try and get the apples as close to the apples as possible b/c some things can be named the same but have different speeds. For this test I will be detailed and put a star by something if it is faster than others or needs a comment.
All these computers have 160 gig hard drives, 2 gigs of RAM, Windows Vista 32 bit/Latest Mac OS, and have built in webcams at the top of the screen. The apple has a 13 screen while the other two have 15 in screens.

Dell XPS M1530

• Colors:Black, white or red
• Processor: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7250 (2MB cache/2.0GHz/800Mhz FSB*) (note the 800Mhz FSB)
• Hard Drive: 160GB 7200rpm* SATA Hard Drive
• RAM: DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz
• Video Card: 256MB* NVIDIA® GeForce® 8600M GT
• Optical Drive: SuperMulti DVD+/-R/RW
• Wireless: 802.11a/g Mini Card
• Battery: Long lasting 85 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion
• Other notes: built in webcam, fingerprint scanner, 8-1 card reader, s video + HDMI out
•  
• PRICE: 1,524

HP dv6500t Special Edition

• Colors:Silver/Black
• Processor: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7250 (2.20 GHz, 4 MB L2 Cache*, 800MHz FSB*) (note the 800Mhz FSB, and 4MB of L2 Cache)
• Hard Drive: 160GB 5400rpm SATA Hard Drive
• RAM: DDR2 SDRAM speed not noted
• Video Card: 128MB NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS
• Optical Drive: HD DVD ROM* with SuperMulti DVD+/-R/RW (note can play HD DVDs)
• Wireless: 802.11a/g/n* + Bluetooth (note N speed support)
• Battery: Long lasting 12 Cell Lithium Ion
• Other notes: built in webcam, fingerprint scanner, HDMI port
•  
• PRICE: 1,408.99

Apple Macbook

• Colors:white
• Processor: 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo (speed not disclosed)
• Hard Drive: 160GB 5400rpm ATA Hard Drive
• RAM: DDR2 SDRAM 667Mhz
• Video Card: Not disclosed
• Optical Drive: SuperMulti DVD+/-R/RW
• Wireless: AirPort Extreme Card (I think that’s a/g) + Bluetooth
• Battery: Not disclosed
• Other notes: built in webcam
•  
• PRICE: 1,524

So there you have it, who wins? Has Apple purchased your soul? Does HD DVD lure you? What would you do with your 1500?

I downloaded the demo for Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare yesterday. I have to say it is amazing. I had a ton of fun playing the first level. I didn’t play the multiplayer but if they did half the job of the single player this will be the Battlefield killer. So if you have a PS3, Xbox360, or PC, put this one on the list. Sorry Wii owners, maybe Mario will join the special ops team some day in the future. Also the Unreal III demo is now available. It’s the same old URT.

I will be needing 10,000 of these for Christmas.

Surfing my sites today, I ran across this announcement. Telling me that I can download this plugin for Windows Media Center, and I or anyone I give access, can watch my tv, recorded tv, listen to my music, look at my pictures, schedule new tv recordings, etc. How sweet is that!? Oh and there is a Vista sidebar gadget that pulls your tv RSS feed for easy access to the recently recorded programs! So now I can catch up on my Star Trek during my lunch hour. So now not only does Apple need to bring a media controller to market, they have to make it accessible remotely off the get go. SO far behind… hey anyone want to split my cable bill? You can record and watch any tv you want! 🙂 I’m gonna need a bigger hard drive for Christmas…

Remember the cocooned batmobile from the 90’s Batman (why can’t I find a picture!?) that was so cool. Now we know where he got the idea, from his mom! Who implemented the same idea in his baby stroller…

Somehow I don’t think this video is real…

Unlike the big yawn of an event Steve had a bit ago, today’s event brought us what will changed the gadget world. A wi-fi enabled, touchscreen iPod. Very cool. It’s an iPhone without the phone, and Att contract. Oh and that cool iPhone only comes in a 8 GB model now. And it’s 400 bones instead of 600… that really stinks for those of you who recently forked out 600 for one. Anyway the iPod touch seems pretty cool. Besides the usual it has a browser! So it’s like a lil bitty computer. The iPod nano got turn into a fat pumpkin I guess it was out past midnight or something… but Gino likes it. What do you think of the new line up?

Weird, yet promising to tempt us geeks to buying an Apple and not running boot camp. EA released six games to Mac this month. The most notable to me is Battlefield 2142. Read all about it. Lets hope all new EA games will be dual platform, then maybe Cotton can start playing something besides tank wars 🙂

In other news, Joy and Chase took off about 15 mins ago to head to Cali. I am now a lone man in Utah. I plan on watching lots of Sci-fi movies and playing Monopoly and RISK, give me a call if you want to join in the fun.