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Archive for June, 2011

TGP-2011-06-30 #14 AUDIO UNLIMITED WIRELESS SPEAKERS

Posted by Gadget at 9:15 PM on June 30, 2011

The Gadget Professor Welcome to The Gadget Professor’s podcast, show #14. Today”s show features a review of the Audio Unlimited Wireless Speakers. Sit back and relax while you watch The Gadget Professor.

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Posted in tech podcast, Technical, Technology, tgp

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Force the New Facebook Interface onto Android

Posted by Alan Buckingham at 3:35 PM on June 30, 2011

Most people don’t know it, but there is a slightly modified interface for Facebook for Android floating around.  You could wait for it to reach and Android Market, but, thanks to the folks over at Android Central, there is a hack to get it on your device right now.  This may go down as one of the strangest work-arounds that I have ever come across, but it actually worked so I will let it slide.

To get started make sure you have the latest Facebook app installed (version 1.6) and launch it.  Once it is open, begin clicking buttons and then quickly clicking the “Back” button until the app crashes.

Go ahead and click “Force Close” and then reopen the Facebook app.

Once open you should have a slightly different Facebook app.  It still shows as version 1.6, but the look has changed somewhat.  I didn’t take a screenshot of the original, but there was one in the Android market.  Take a look below at the top menu from the “News Feed” page.

 

Now, check out the “News Feed” top menu of this newer version that is from a screenshot that I just took off of my device.

When you press the item on the right of the top menu (Top News in the above shot) you will receive a new pop-up menu that you can scroll through.

There is no word about when this will be legitimately available, but if you can’t wait, then this strange hack does seem to work.  Let us know if it works for you, and what you think of the new UI.

 

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Posted in Android, Facebook, mobile

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Competition Time – Freecom Mobile Drive CLS

Posted by Andrew at 3:09 PM on June 30, 2011

Congratulations to Rich Costin for winning last week’s competition for G Data AntiVirus 2012 – his prize will be on its way to him shortly.

Disappointingly, the number of responses to the competition was a bit low, though the quality of the response was high, so we’re going to try to attract a few more UK GNC readers and listeners to respond. This week the competition is to win the Freecom Mobile Drive CLS and Dock that I originally reviewed back in December. It’s an interesting take on removable storage for multiple 2.5″ drives.

Again,  simply leave a comment below saying how you think GNC could be more relevant to a British audience, and I’ll draw at random from the responses in a week.

Thanks to Freecom for the prize and remember, postage to UK addresses only. Good luck.

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Posted in storage

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Hindenburg Field Recorder Lite Review

Posted by KL Tech Muse at 7:31 PM on June 29, 2011

Hindenburg Field RecorderI have been messing around doing some field recordings with my iPhone lately. I was using iTalk, which works fine as a recorder, but in order to do any editing you have to transfer to your computer. I was looking for something that would allow me to record and edit on the iPhone. Today I have been trying out the Hindenburg Field Recorder Lite.  It allows you not only to record but also edit right on the iPhone. The Hindenburg Field recorder Lite has the following editing capabilities:

  1. Set, rename and edit within markers
  2. Cut, copy, paste and insert
  3. Scrub within a recording
  4. Play specific selections
  5. Move sections around
  6. Trim and fade sections in and out
  7. You can also do so basic Gain adjustment .

It real easy to edit on once you get the hang of it which didn’t take me that long. You can set markers by tapping on the time line as you are recording. Tap on the bottom time line to set in and out markers, which you can pull to their proper locations. If you want to cut, copy or clear a section just tap the middle of it. If you tap on the middle of a section that you have not marked it will turn yellow and you can adjust the volume for that section and also fade it in and out. I have only just started to play with it and I am already starting to love it. I think if my fingers were larger that might be a problem. I am not sure if I would depend on it for precise editing, but I suspect some people get really good at it. The biggest negative I have on it so far are the sharing options, which are email, FTP and the desktop client the Hindenburg Journalist, which is $66.95.  On the test recording I used FTP and it worked fine, I just wished it was linked to Dropbox.  The full version which is $29.95 does everything the lite version does plus you can save sections as favorites and import and export those as needed. The full version also does auto leveling and exports in both ACC and AIFF. The lite version also stops after a minute and you have to hit the record button again. So the lite version maybe good for trying out the Hindenburg Field Recorder, but if you are serious you need to get the full version. If you get the field recorder and the desk top application together you are looking at almost a $100.00 which to some people may seem like a lot of money for a couple of applications. Of course if you brought a separate field recorder you would probably be talking a couple of hundred dollars. Which makes the Hindenburg Field Recorder a bit of a bargain in my eyes.

Have you used the Hindenburg Recorder before. What did you think of it. Did you love it or hate it. Please let me know, I am considering buying the full version and want to know any problems I might run into.

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Posted in Apple, application, Information

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“Mobile Phone” First Used In 1947? No…

Posted by Andrew at 3:59 PM on June 28, 2011

According to a tweet today from @oedonline and subsequently retweeted by British author and actor @stephenfry, the first use of the term “mobile phone” was in Yank, The Army Weekly back in 1947. The context was, “They say the mobile phone will enable Doc Jones to start out on his rounds and keep in touch with his nurse back in the office.” Very prophetic.

Except that it seems to be wrong…it was 1945. Firstly, Yank ceased publication in December 1945 and secondly, one of the OED’s own quizzes has the question, “When did the mobile phone first enter the English language?” and then helpfully provides the answer of 1945. March issue apparently.

Given that Stephen Fry has over 2.7 million followers, this small error has propagated enormously, especially as the OED only has 8,000-odd followers. If you now do a search in Google, most of the hits reference Stephen Fry’s tweets. Only one entry in the whole ream of results actually is correct.

The Internet is a powerful tool for spreading information…and misinformation.

PS I’d like to emphasise that this post is in no way a criticism of Stephen Fry, of whom I’m a great fan.

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Posted in Information, mobile, Phone

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CyanogenMod 7 On The Nook Color

Posted by tomwiles at 1:25 PM on June 28, 2011

CyanogenMod 7I’ve had my Nook Color for about a month at this point, long enough to develop a real feel for how it integrates into my life.

Keep in mind, the Nook Color is not an iPad and sells for half the price of the cheapest Apple jewell. I’ve already got the latest iPod Touch with dual cameras, so I don’t need or currently want cameras in a tablet device.

The Nook Color shines best as a word-centric consumption device. It takes the Internet and turns it into a very portable book.

To be perfectly honest, the stock Nook Color version of Android is very locked down. Besides being a good reader platform for books and magazines, you can browse the web, do email, do social networking, and run a limited but growing number of apps (mostly paid but a few for free) from the Barnes & Noble Nook Color App Store. The Nook Color stock software experience is nice for what it does, but still rather limited overall. The included stock Android browser does include the ability to run Adobe Flash. The Nook Color has a bright and very clear 7 inch widescreen capacitive glass touch screen along with about 10 hours’ worth of battery life.

What makes the Nook Color a great value at $249 dollars is its ability to boot into other versions of Android FROM the built-in internal Micro-SD chip reader without affecting the built-in Nook Color’s Android operating system.

After experimenting with different bootable Micro-SD card arrangements, the best pre-built Android solution I’ve found so far comes from http://www.rootnookcolor.com, a website that is selling pre-configured versions of Android to give a good overall tablet touch screen experience starting at $39.99 for a pre-configured 4 gigabyte Micro-SD card.

Cutting to the chase, the best version I’ve gotten so far from Root Nook Color.Com is called CyanogenMod 7, also know as Gingerbread. This version offers great battery life (almost as good as the stock Nook Color Andriod at about 7 hours) and even enables undocumented Nook Color features such as its built-in Bluetooth radio. It also comes installed with the full Android Marketplace, enabling the ability to browse, download and install most of the available Android apps, now numbering in the hundreds of thousands. As mentioned above, since it’s running entirely from the Micro-SD card slot, the stock Nook Color Android operating system remains entirely untouched and completely intact. It’s not even necessary to remove the Micro-SD card to boot back into the stock Nook Color operating system since it comes pre-configured with a dual-boot loader.

While it’s possible to play YouTube and other videos along with apps such as Pandora, by far the most use I find myself making of CyanogenMod 7 is as a highly portable news feed consumption device. I am currently compiling a list of Android apps that take the best advantage of the Nook’s 7” display and will report on these apps in future posts.

Overall, the Nook Color opertated with the CyanogenMod 7 version of Android from Root Nook Color.Com offers a genuine Android tablet experience at a bargain basement price with very good overall performance.

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Posted in Android, Apple, application, Bargain, Barnes & Noble, book, browsers, content, ebook, google, IPAD, ipod, Nook, Operating Systems, Social Media, tablet

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GNC #683 Congrats Angelo

Posted by geeknews at 12:58 AM on June 28, 2011

Getting back into the groove here in Hawaii, body is adapting back to HST which will take a few days. Your continued support of all our shows is greatly appreciated. Family Update: Shoko made it to Japan without her father passing, situation remains touch and go info on show.

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Posted in Podcast

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Is Google Stealing Our History from the British Library?

Posted by Andrew at 12:02 AM on June 28, 2011

The British Library and Google have partnered to digitise 250 000 books from the period of 1700 to 1870, an era of political change starting with the French Revolution and ending with the abolition of slavery. The press release from the British Library explains the project well but some are critical that the digital versions of these out-of-copyright books will not themselves be public domain.

Consequently, I approached the British Library’s press office to get an their view on the project and the issue of copyright. Here’s what I found.

First of all, the status of the original public domain books is as it was. They’re still public domain and can be viewed at the British Library: nothing has changed there. Second, the deal with Google is non-exclusive so if another organisation or individual wishes to produce a digital version, there’s nothing in the arrangement with Google that would prevent that from happening.

The non-commerical use wording in the original press release was the source of some concern. To clarify, the digital versions of the books will be subject to a non-commercial-use-only restriction for a period of fifteen years; this is much shorter that the normal copyright period. However, the exact copyright status of the digital version wasn’t made completely clear, but providing the fifteen year period is adhered to, it doesn’t appear if the detail of the copyright ownership will be problem.

The digital versions of the books will be available from Google, the British Library and some other European archives to which the British Library contributes. Broadly-speaking this means that the content will be free (at no cost) to any individual who wishes to gain access to the material from anywhere in the world via the Internet for research purposes.

So let’s get this straight…the public domain status of the original books is unchanged. Google bears the cost of digitising the works in exchange for fifteen years of (potentially non-exclusive) commercial use on books that are of limited interest and are a minimum of 140 years old. Anyone in the world with Internet access can look at the digital books for non-commercial use, instead of only those who could get to the British Library.

Overall, I can’t see that this is anything but a fair deal which balances the cost of the digitisation with commercial rights, while allowing access to those who are likely to actually benefit the most, mainly academics. There’s no doubt that we have to be vigilant for those instances where big business tries to take something to which it is not entitled, but I can’t see that this is one of them.

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Posted in drm, google

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Are You Ready For OS X Lion

Posted by KL Tech Muse at 8:38 PM on June 27, 2011

Are you ready for Lion OS X coming in July, if not there are a couple of things you can do to get ready.

  • First check to make sure your computer support Lion. You need to have at least a Core 2 Duo Processor and 2 GB or more of memory and be on Snow Leopard. You can find all this information by click on About this Mac under the Apple icon in the top left corner.
  • Are any of your must have applications legacy Power PC apps. If you don’t know, you can find out by clicking on the Apple icon, then About this Mac, then more information. Scroll down to where you see Applications under Software. If they say Intel or Universal you are fine. If the say Power PC, you need to find a replacement, not up grade or set your computer to dual-boot.
  • If you have printer drivers, video card driver or any other peripherals that don’t use OS X provided drivers, you will want to check with the manufacture’s website to make sure that they will run on Lion.
  • Do a full backup. You can do this using Time Machine or a program like Super Duper or Carbon Copy Cloner. This is also a great time to remove any apps you don’t use and clean out caches, logs, unnecessary files and folders. Think of it as moving to a new house, you don’t take junk when you move to a new home, so why take junk to a new OS.
  • If you have a desk top mac, this might be a good time to look into getting a Magic Trackpad, so you can take advantage of all the multi-gesture features that OS X Lions will offer. If you rather stick with a mouse and keyboard, that’s fine also.
  • Finally, there is no need to rush into Lion OS X. It is ok to wait and let other people be the pioneers.

While going over this list I have decided its time to do some memory upgrade. I have 2 GB of memory, which is the minimum for Lion OS X, but it will probably run better with more memory. Do you have anything that you need upgrade or change before going to Lion OS X. Do you plan to go to Lion as soon as its available or do you plan to wait?

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Posted in Apple, Information

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The Archos 35 Home Connect Could Be Your Next Nightstand Device

Posted by Alan Buckingham at 7:00 PM on June 27, 2011

Recently Archos announced a new type of clock-radio, much like the Chumby.  It’s called the 35 Home Connect, and will be available in September at an MSRP of $149.  Archos is bringing Android to the nightstand.

With the 35 Home Connect you will get a slick looking device running Android, although the version is not listed and will likely depend on where Android is at closer to the release.  It has a small 3.5 inch screen with a speaker on each side, touch-screen, access to over 50,000 internet radio stations, and an alarm clock that “brings users weather, traffic, and news from the moment they wake up and features multiple alarms.”  Users will also have access to all of the vast Android Market of apps.

At only $149 (possibly cheaper with a good Amazon deal) this looks like a pretty cool device to put on the nightstand.  Pre-orders are not yet available, but I when they are I may take the plunge on this.  You can see details over at Archos.

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Posted in Android

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