Category: Tech

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So after Amy’s very nice comment on how much she enjoys the posts posted by me… ok not a direct quote but that’s how I understood when she said it’s her one stop for the most important news… I thought I’d keep updating on the 700mhz auction. Verizon annouced it’s schedule for development. And amazingly they plan to do something within 3 years. Wow, I didn’t think 10 BILLION dollars would be spent and then wait 3 years to start a return on it… but then again I don’t have 10 billion dollars to think what I would do with it so. Oh so back to what they are doing: 2008 – Testing 2009 – Sales 2010 – ok now you can use the new network. Also, Verizon will be EVERYWHERE with the cell coverage, I MEAN EVERYWHERE! Hopefully some smaller networks will piggyback on verizon b/c I didn’t like their pricing at all. What are your thoughts?

An awesome side by side comparison has been posted on the AVforums comparing Comast HD to Fios(fiber optic delivered tv) HD. Thought you Comcast subscribers might not enjoy this, but would like to know, especially so you don’t go off the hook bragging. The discussion says comcast compresses the HD signals to make room for more channels over coaxil cable. The result mushy poo HD, yet still better than SD, hence why not as many people complain. Seeing as you don’t have much choice since Verizon’s FIOS or any other option typically don’t exsist, you main option is to complain to comcast and let them know you aren’t happy.

AVS Forum with multiple side by side pics

So remember that big deal about the frequency band that will be freed up due to the analog tv signal switch to digital? And how Google wanted to make sure the winner had to open the network to all devices (paving the way for their mobile operating system). Well that auction ended sometime around yesterday and Engadget reports that Verizon won the biggest chunk, with ATT (could their service actually get better now!?) pulling in the secondary smaller chunk.
That about sums it up, oh except for that whole Google stipulation that the C block (now Verizon’s) cannot be locked down to Verizon only devices… clever girl…. so hopefully next year when all the switches get flipped we’ll start seeing the first IP/Cell phones that will be able to call over the internet for free or maybe that ad based google phone that is free to call as long as you view the ads on your screen etc. What do you think the future holds in mobile?

-Source
An official news article for Tracy

From EngadgetHD:

We were already well aware that TSN and HD were like BFFs, but now hockey fans have yet another reason to tune in to NHL games aired on the network. Starting with tonight’s tilt between the New York Rangers and the New Jersey Devils, TSN viewers will get a look at the netminder’s territory like never before. Tonight marks the debut of Sharp’s AQUOS HD Netcam, which is being hailed as the first ever netcam to be used with high-def capabilities. Of course, the remainder of TSN’s regular season and playoff broadcasts will take advantage of said camera, and if you’re one to call goals into question due to SD replays of the puck crossing / not crossing the line, we suppose your skepticism is about to take a real hit.

Hopefully this will end some fighting in the stands, b/c who can argue with HD? Altough now people will be able to see that missing chunk out of the puck and complain about how it was off balance…

That’s right TV fans, Hulu.com is out of beta, anyone can set up an account and check out both short clips or full length episodes of many TV series and movies. Unfortunately the HD library is still limited to just movie trailers but while we wait for more 720p Adobe Flash content to hit the site, maybe the backing of FOX, NBC Universal, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., Sony Pictures Television will provide something interesting to watch, with even more content on the way from Warner Bros. Television Group, Lionsgate, NBA and the NHL. We’ll see how successful this experiment is, but go ahead and take a look, because we both know you don’t have anything better to do than watch 34 episodes of Airwolf in a browser window.

I haven’t checked this out yet, but it sounds promising for when I miss those NHL games or HD tv episodes

A new xbox live update is rolling out for Call of Duty 4 that will add kill cam to explosive deaths (yippie! NOT) and it adds the feature to allow game host to get rolled over, which means Darin, that no more closed game lobby alerts b/c the host status just gets bumped to someone else and play goes on… pretty slick. Can’t wait for my Xbox live bday present. Also I wanted to mention how lame the VOIP is on PS3 the only time it didn’t sound like a modem from the 90s was when people were yelling swear words. GO MICROSOFT!!

K so this is the new idea for India… but can you imagine if one of these things breaks and springs a leak!?!

(Fortune Magazine) — Sintex Industries, a plastics and textiles manufacturer in Gujarat, India, is betting it can find profit in human waste. Its new biogas digester turns human excrement, cow dung, or kitchen garbage into fuel that can be used for cooking or generating electricity, simultaneously addressing two of India’s major needs: energy and sanitation.

Sintex’s digester uses bacteria to break down waste into sludge, much like a septic tank. In the process, the bacteria emit gases, mostly methane. But instead of being vented into the air, they are piped into a storage canister.

A one-cubic-meter digester, primed with cow dung to provide bacteria, can convert the waste generated by a four-person family into enough gas to cook all its meals and provide sludge for fertilizer. A model this size costs about $425 but will pay for itself in energy savings in less than two years. That’s still a high price for most Indians, even though the government recently agreed to subsidize about a third of the cost for these family-sized units. “We want to create a new industry for portable sanitation in India that’s not available now,” says S.B. Dangayach, Sintex’s managing director.

Government officials plan to end open defecation by 2012 (hundreds of millions of Indians use railroad tracks or other outdoor locales instead of toilets) and say biogas plants are part of the solution. A.R. Shukla, a scientific advisor in the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, says India could support 12 million such plants, but only 3.9 million – mostly pricier models big enough to accommodate entire villages – have been installed to date. And last year the government fell far short of its target for new installations.

-Source

So I love this Xbox 360 I got for Christmas, except I was feeling angry whenever it would go to play a game. Here’s why, I would insert the disk and get an error saying that I should put this disk in a 360, and then while I was playing, I would get errors saying my disk was dirty or scratched even when it wasn’t. So I figured I got a bad 360 since I got it off ebay and saved a bunch of money. Here I am figuring I would have to ship it back and argue with the guy about sending me a broken one, or shipping it to Microsoft so they can fix it. Well, today I grabbed a laser lens cleaner from Gamestop (10 bucks). Now I’ve always thought these things were a joke, and just stupid people bought them, b/c how is this cd supposed to clean the laser lens? I’ll tell you how, on the cd there are lil fiber brushes melded in at certain spots. So I pop in this cd to the xbox, let it play for about 10 minutes, enough for track 2 to play a couple of times b/c that was when the brushes were hitting the laser lens. Then I pop in Halo 3 which wouldn’t load at all, and BAM I’m shooting aliens. I put in Ultimate Alliance which usually took 5 tries to get going, ran perfect the first time. Ahhh! Gamin heaven! Moral of the story: Even if something sounds stupid, just try it, especially if it is the cheapest and easiest option.

Also, we had a great time at the Dino museum with Brad, Tiff and Kyle, but I’ll let Joy talk about that.

Santa, I’d like a car that not only doesn’t make me pay for gas every two weeks, but actually makes me 4,000 a year. Oh here’s one!
My future car