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Archive for March, 2009

Roland – CES 2009

Posted by fogview at 9:43 AM on March 10, 2009

Roland-logoAre you a drummer? If you are you will want to check out what the team from Roland have put together. Watch as team member Jeffrey Powers jams out on the main stage.Roland-drums

The TD20S Drum set which is the highest V-drums that Roland has to offer with new TDW20 expansion cards. With 50 new drum sets inside it provide different ambiances. The TD-20 sound module has improved mesh-head V-Pads™, highly acclaimed V-Cymbals™ and innovative new V-Hi-Hat for complete playability. The HD1 drum set is the entry level model called the V compact series and has ten drum sets and designed with five variation push buttons on the front. These are really amazing drums. Check out www.roland.com for more exciting products.

Zune – CES 2009

Posted by fogview at 9:22 AM on March 10, 2009

ZuneLogoA team member from Zune catches us up on what is happening with Zune and talks about some of the new great media players out there.Zune-player

Zune MP3 comes with new colors Black, Red and Blue. The 120GB hard drive can store up to 30,000 songs, 25,000 pictures, or 375 hours of video. They enabled the “buy from FM feature” so when you are in a wireless hot spot you can buy the song and instantly download it to your device. The biggest feature in Zune is when you have Zune pass subscription: dock your Zune and stream 3 million songs wirelessly. A Zune Pass subscription is a great deal for music lovers becaue you can download all the music you like and pick 10 MP3s to keep forever for only $14.99 a month. There’s also another feature that they enabled where you can subscribe in Zune Channels —  combining the best features of podcasts and playlists, subscribe to channels by Billboard, The FADER, and radio stations like KROQ and KEXP channels. Mixview is dynamic representations of your collection, as well as artist and song recommendations based on what you and other members of the Social are listening to. There are great reviews of the Zune software and its available to download for free at www.zune.net

The universe actually exists.

Posted by todd at 4:41 AM on March 10, 2009

I am sure that most of the GNC audience are familiar with the names Schrodinger, Bohr, Heisenberg, Young and potentially Hardy. All of these people have been instrumentally involved in quantum theory, and specifically for this article, in uncertainty theory. This is the paradox that the act of observation changes the observed. The classic example of this is a photon of light, where it is not possible to measure both its position and its momentum accurately. In fact the more accurately you determine position the less accurate your momentum observation can be and vice versa.

This goes beyond the observer effect, where the physical interaction of the observer directly changes what is measured. The paradox is that simply observing is enough to change the reality. While demonstratable in small particles the principle has been extended to larger objects like cats in boxes, trees in forests and even to ponder whether the physical properties of the universe we take for granted actually exist without our observation.

The Economist has reported on an experiment two groups of scientists have independantly taken to try and prove whether the universe actually exists when it isn’t observed. They have done this by performing experiments where they don’t actually collect all the data but using multiple experiments so that the aggregate parts were enough to draw conclusions.

The article is a little technical in that it uses casual throw-away lines like “photons are their own antiparticles, and are pure energy in any case”, but if your feeling really smart today here is a link to one of the actual papers. And just because I like it a link to an explanation of 10 dimensional space.

GNC-2009-03-10 #458 Great Show from Japan

Posted by geeknews at 2:20 AM on March 10, 2009

Last Show from Japan and then I will be back in Hawaii for a few weeks. Look forward to getting back to the regular studio and cranking out the shows from home. I am announcing a new segment in tonights podcast pretty excited about adding it to the line-up.

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Show Notes:
Safari Speed Good – Features Flop
Free Hosted Blog Publishing
Let’s Vote for Woz
VMWare vs Parallels
Philips Master LED
Music Add-Ons for Firefox
Security Metrics that Lie
Kepler Mission Launched
STS-119 Shuttle to Launch
Chevrolet Volt
Hulu/Boxee Battle Royale
Streaming is now at Fault
Verizon TOS Scary
Bloggers are Journalist?
Forgot how to make Nukes?
Encrypted hard-Drives
Fingerprint Paper
Anti-Virus Vendor Says 1% PC hacked
Google Docs Leaked
A New Way to Search?
Seagate 6gb/s
Cydia Opens Rouge App Store
Clear to launch in many Cities
Google – Blogger DMCA Policies
12 Megapixels is that it?
Norway Gets P2P
Running Wndows 7 beta on Macbook Info

Beamz – CES 2009

Posted by fogview at 3:19 PM on March 9, 2009

Beamz-logoBeamz probably captivated us the most of any product we saw at CES. A truly innovative device that will provide hours of creativity in creating music. Watch at team member Andy McCaskey is just about besides himself as he tries this device out.Beamz-shot

The beamz is a unique, first-of-its-kind product that allows anyone to create harmonious music regardless of musical talent or experience. The product has six laser beams. Breaking any one of the beams with your hand triggers the system to play streams of musical notes or sounds. Every performance is a success because whichever beam you break, the music will always be harmonious. Play it alone or with friends and family for a fun group experience. This is a USB device with an Intel dual core processor and sells for $300. Visit www.thebeamz.com

Gibson Self Tuning Guitar – CES 2009

Posted by fogview at 11:35 AM on March 7, 2009

GibsonProfessionals are giving Gibson major props for coming out with a Guitar that self tunes itself. Watch as team Jeffrey Powers from the Geekazine podcast jams out with this self tuning guitar

The Gibson guitar, Dark Fire, cost $3900 and comes with an analog-to-digital Firewire converter box and software. This is the answer to every guitar player’s nightmare.

Intel Advocates Overclocking – CES 2009

Posted by fogview at 10:52 AM on March 7, 2009

Intel_logoWatch as we meet with an Intel official advocating safely overclocking a notebook and in fact providing tools for overclocking with select Intel chipsets.

Each notebook manufacturer can choose which method they want to do to cool the CPU. What Intel provides is a safe way to unlock the chips to easy overclock and provide a software utility that allows them (OEMs) to overclock within the same parameter (and still keep it cool). For core 2 extreme quad-core processor each OEM is provided with the utility for this overclocking capability and its to them to decide whether they want to built it in to the BIOS or not. The overclocking utility is out now so check it out at www.intel.com.

LOK8U – CES 2009

Posted by fogview at 10:04 AM on March 7, 2009

Lok8u_logoMoms and Dads keep track of the kids by having them simply wear a watch. This new technology will allow you to track where your kids are with a tamper-proof device that if removed, will alert you that there is a issue. Lok8U uses GPS and Satellites to track where your kids are at all times and GSM technology to alert you via text/email.

This is the world’s first GPS locator device that has been specifically designed with children in mind. It will tell you exactly where your child is, whenever you feel you need to know – at home or even abroad. All you need is a mobile phone or a computer to find their precise location. And unlike similar locator products, num8 has been cleverly concealed in a child’s digital watch that is securely fastened to your child and cannot be removed or deactivated without your knowledge. Another great feature of num8 is the ability to set up a virtual fence as a ‘safe zone’. If your child steps outside this zone you’ll know it right away. It means total security, absolute peace of mind, all day long. num8 uses the same Pinpoint precise GPS technology used in SatNav systems and is accurate to within 3 meters. Just text WRU from your phone and within 30 seconds you get information back including street name, building number, zip code and linking to the Google maps. The battery standby times is 100 hours and 2 to 3 days of battery life in normal use of 8 to 10 interactions with the device a day. (If you are checking your kid every 2 or 3 minutes you will get 8 to 9 hours of the battery life.) The information is available on the website www.lok8u.com. The price point is $200 USD with a monthly subscription of $10 USD.

Obama’s New CIO

Posted by susabelle at 4:18 PM on March 6, 2009

Vivek Kundra. The CTO of the District of Columbia has been named the first US Chief Information Officer. Kundra has a proven track record and gets things implemented.

He wants to implement a “stock-market approach to IT project management”. He also looks for the “Adoption of consumer technologies in business”. This includes having a team that tracks IT so they can pownce on a trend.

This is the CIO role in the White house – NOT the CTO. That still is yet to be named. However, with Vivek Kundra working the internals of technology and the CTO working the Politics, this may be a great combination.

Vivek Kundra was a part of Obama’s transition team and designed Recovery.gov.

What to Do in This Tough Economy? Sell Used Video Games

Posted by susabelle at 3:53 PM on March 6, 2009

A few weeks ago, Toys R Us started a 3 month test to take your used games in trade. They saw that Game Stop had taken in 8.8 Billion in sales with projections of 10 billion by the end of 2009. Toys R Us wanted some of that action.

So do Best Buy and Amazon.com.

It’s interesting to see companies pile on the bandwagon like football teams jump on a Fumble. After all, you should take every angle you can. Otherwise, you will be the next Circuit City.

One question I pose is: Will this promote game theft? Unlike a TV or game system where you have a serial number or identifying marks, the games themselves won’t have many identifiers. The only thing that could stop a would-be theif is if they work a trend. After all – how many people buy 6 copies of “Grand Theft Auto”, then sell them to 5 different retailers?

I also wonder how game sales will go for 2009, with our current economy. You have that $400 PS3, but can’t afford the games. Can’t sell the ones you have, or else you’ll have nothing to play.

We’ll have to sit back and watch how this works – if this works. Toys R Us has an out in 2 months. It may not be worth the hassle to take back games.