At a press conference earlier today, Bill Gates announced he'll be stepping down from the Microsoft Chief Software Architect role in 2008. Whatever you may think of Gates, there's no question he has had a huge impact on computing and modern culture; now he can really settle down and enjoy his multibillions.
PC Magazine's columnists have a lot to say on Gates' departure. Read their commentaries:
It may a bit hard to fathom, but journalists who write about gift ideas for the December holiday (whichever you happen to celebrate!) are already on the case. It seems like companies start having their holiday line shows earlier every year... but luckily, they're fun to attend. You usually get food and a sample or two of the upcoming flood of present-worthy products to try out.
Earlier this week, Jen, Molly, and I visited Hasbro to see what kinds of tech toys the company will be offering this fall. We saw a slew of cool stuff, though much of it isn't finalized yet. (Full disclosure: Jen and I went girly for a minute, and had to tear ourselves away from My Little Pony.) Here's a sampling.
Last year Hasbro had the i-Dog Interactive Music Companion, an iPod accessory that moves to music and flashes multicolors; joining it is the i-Cat (left), which will do those things too. But it's a cat. So when you pet it, it purrs, meows, and makes "scratch sounds." (OK, I like puns as well as anyone, but ew!) The i-Cat will sell for the same price as its canine counterpart, $29.99.
Right is the ZoomBox Entertainment Projector; it has a built-in DVD player and can project the movie onto a screen or wall. The "tweens" to whom this is marketed will also be able to connect it up with most game consoles and beam the action wherever they want to. The picture isn't terribly crisp, but this does some cool stuff for $299. (Plays CDs, too.) And it's around the size of a boombox, with a handle; easy to carry around.
We all liked the Nerf Showtime Hoops "hiphop interactive basketball gaming system." It has built in speakers; you can hook up your music player and listen to your tunes while you slam those dunks. And emcee "Duke Tango" recorded some suitable color commentary to liven up the game. It has a spotlight in the base that will pinpoint where to shoot for the three-pointers. And an LCD scoreboard keeps track of your shots automatically. This will go for $249.99; it definitely needs to stay indoors!
In a word: pretty damn good. (OK, three words) Samsung kicks off the release of its BD-P1000 player tonight at the Samsung Experience in New York City. They player won't go on sale until June 25th, but I got an early look at it two days ago in the same spot. Jim Sanduski, Senior VP of marketing for Samsung A/V group walked me through the player's options and showed off the its high-def performance on a sweet 61-inch DLP TV. My first impression is it looked better than the output on the HD-A1, but it isn't an apples-to-apple comparison. The BD-P1000 supports 1080p, the HD-A1 doesn't. We should be getting a BD-P1000in next week for testing so we can do some more through analysis.
Sanduski says there will be 10 Blu-ray titles for sale at launch. Even now, Samsung doesn't have a ton of titles to show off, but Sanduski played me parts of Underworld: Evolution, Hitchand Memento(the stubble on Guy Pearce's face is epic.) He promised 200 titles by the end of the year and made the interesting claim that eighty-four percent of all the movies that came out last year were from studios that have announced support for Blu-ray. To be sure, some of those studios will release both Blu-ray and HD-DVD, but seems like Blu-ray has an advantage here.
My biggest problem with the player is the price: $1K! That is twice the price of the HD-A1! My bet is this will change when Sony (August) and Pioneer (September) come into the market. As Sanduski puts it:
"There are nine manufacturers building Blu-ray devices. There is only one company building HD-DVD drives: Toshiba."
In these days of downloading television shows to your iPod, watching streaming video on your laptop, and DVR-ing your favorite shows while you're away from home, the Nielsen television ratings aren't as accurate as they could be. But Nielsen Media Research is right on top of it with their announcement yesterday that they will begin to take into account in their rating system all the new ways we watch television.
The Anytime Anywhere Media Measurement (A2/M2) initiative will include traditional in-home viewing, online streaming video, "Out-of-Home" viewing, video viewed on portable media devices, new research for measuring a viewer's active engagement, and electronic measurements (targeted for 2011).
Beginning this year, Nielsen Media Research and NetRatings, which together provide the Nielsen/Netratings Internet media and market research service, will being devising a system for tracking and reporting online audio and video consumption. This summer, the companies will combine viewing results from their television and Internet panels to offer "fused" data to the public and to advertisers.
No, it's not the reverse of Boot Camp. Microsoft's peripherals division sent me the Wireless Laser Desktop for Mac, and so far it's not too bad. It's a lot bigger than the Apple Keyboard and Mighty Mouse combo, but it's wireless. Yeah, Apple has a Bluetooth wireless keyboard and mouse, but that mouse is only single button, and i've gotten used to having a scroll wheel and a 'back' button from various Logitech mice. I also hate the laggy nature of the Apple wireless mouse.
The Microsoft combo goes for between $78 and $99 (street), and is worth it. Though it took me a few hours to get used to the 'ergonomic' curvature of the keyboard, the mouse feels fine in the hand and is well weighted. The laser tracking is accurate, and the extra function buttons come in handy. I turned off the magnification feature, since I found it annoying having to get used to it. Anyone who's used to multimedia keyboards from Microsoft or Logitech will welcome the additional function buttons, especially the playback buttons that are pre-set to controlling iTunes.
If we had a 'gearlog approved' logo, I'd give it one, but regardless, the Microsoft Wireless Laser Desktop for Mac is a boon for my aching fingers.
UPDATED 6/16: The iCarta sells for a list price of $99.99, although the company is offering an introductory special of $79 plus shipping from now until the end of July. You can purchase the iCarta from major retailers, directly through Atech, or throughOldFashionedValues.com.
Everybody's been talking about the Atech iCarta: the Stereo Dock for the iPod with a Toilet Tissue Holder. What's funny is why it's popping up now, when several blogs spotted it back in January. Maybe it's just because many folks didn't know about it until now. Or perhaps us geeks just can't stop thinking about this toilet toy. Or maybe it's because Father's Day is this weekend, and we all know that dear old dad would love to listen to his tunes while on the john.
Whichever the case may be, here's a lowdown of the iCarta:
It features 4 moisture-free speakers (2 tweeters, 2 woofers) that can play any CD player, iPod (with a dock connector) or other MP3 player. It also charges your iPod. An AC adapter is included. Gee, there's nothing like wiping your butt to the sounds of Staind.
But if you're not one for listening to tunes while on the loo, simply fold in the toilet tissue holder's arms to play the iCarta anywhere in the house.
We're headed for a big problem: These entitlements accelerate the growth of the market for hybrid cars. That's no big deal when hybrids account for 1 percent of the car market, 206,000 out of 17 million vehicles sold in 2005. But the numbers are doubling every year, according to HybridCars.com.
What happens when hybrids are 10 percent of the market, and then 25 percent? The majority of cars may have some hybrid functionality in the next decade. Can all those cars fit in HOV lanes? Can city governments stand to lose the parking revenue?
When you get used to a perk, you start to think of it as your just due. Think of the auto workers who figured they were entitled to lifetime paid medical insurance even as U.S. automakers, crippled by high labor costs, struggled for survival. (The workers had a point, at least contractually, since nobody put a gun to the heads of the automakers who signed those sweetheart union deals a generation ago.)
My biggest concern is the free ticket into the HOV lanes in states such as California and Virginia. These lanes serve two purposes: easing highway congestion and saving fuel. A single-occupant hybrid doesn't do much for congestion, and it saves fuel only some of the time. Hybrids are less economical on the highway than in city driving, so two single-occupant, 40-mpg hybrids burn more fuel than a 30-mpg car with two people aboard.
Ralph Davis, Virginia's deputy secretary of transportation, told the Washington Post that in Virginia, hybrids in HOV lanes "are contributing to the eroding performance on I-95 and I-395." As a result of a backlash from owners of traditional cars, hybrids sold after July 1 won't be able to use HOV lanes on some of the state's most congested roadways. Older hybrids will be grandfathered in; new ones will have different-color license plates so the cops can spot HOV cheats. Similarly, California has a cap of 75,000 hybrid permits, of which 57,000 have been issued, with another 8,000 applications pending as of June 2006.
With hybrids, I suspect we've reached the point where buyers don't need much urging. Gasoline at $3 a gallon is a pretty good incentive.
Also, the government put a cap on the number of hybrid-incentive cars an automaker can sell. This will affect Toyota, which will likely sell 100,000 Priuses, while Ford and its sibling Lincoln-Mercury will sell about 20,000 hybrids altogether, and remain eligible to give incentives all year long. In theory, that gives Ford an incentive to work hard developing hybrid technology, but Ford actually is sourcing some of its hybrid technology through Toyota and Honda.
If the public wants perks for hybrid owners, so be it. I suspect most non-hybrid car owners don't mind some incentives. But they don't want the government giving away the candy store, either.
One thing in favor of hybrids clogging HOV lanes is that their mileage might actually improve. Hybrids that average 20 mph in congested, stop-and-go traffic get better mileage than hybrids traveling a steady 60 mph, as on the highway. But I'm not sure that's going to play well with motorists who are sandwiched between a hybrid Prius and a hybrid Ford Escape.
Thanks to PC Magazine's Lance Ulanoff for this story!
WowWee's robots are innovative, entertaining, and now, apparently, really pissed off. I spent the weekend with the company's latest creation, the $120 Roboreptile, and for the most part came away impressed and—to be honest—a little frightened. I mean, this little guy is always moving and hungry, almost always agitated, and leaves little room for casual interaction.
I should post video of me trying to put his plastic, calm-down cowl over his head. It's supposed to cover his sensors and transition the robot into a calmer, more manageable state. But, oh boy, it was hard to get it on and keep it on.
Maybe your company has a soft spot in its capitalist heart for hybrid cars. Several firms are offering rebates to employees who buy hybrids. According to 40mpg.org, Bank of America in Boston is offering employees $3,000 if they buy hybrid cars. Google also offers employees $3,000 for a new hybrid vehicle purchase and $2,500 for a leased hybrid.
Companies offer these incentives to hybrid owners because it's good for the environment, it's good for the company's image, and it may help companies balance out some of the federal mandates for car-pooling to cut energy consumption by commuters.
This is all on top of the government tax credits of $500 to $3,400 that are available for many hybrids this year. Combine those two incentives, and a preference for a hybrid is a no-brainer. Compared with the cost of a gas-engine car, the typical hybrid premium is roughly $3,000. And it takes (again, roughly) five to seven years to earn back the premium, with no incentives.
Governments are also providing other incentives for hybrid owners. In California, hybrids with just the driver inside can use HOV (high occupancy vehicle) lanes. And New Haven, Connecticut lets you park your hybrid free at municipal parking meters.
If your music collection is entirely on your MP3 player, then you don't want to leave the player near the pool, only to get wet. This water-resistant wireless outdoor speaker is an excellent alternative to listening to music, while keeping your player inside the house and safe.
Design: Made by Brookstone, this wireless speaker is 9.2" x 8.4" x 16.8" and can play at a frequency level of 50Hz to 20kHz.
Features: The transmitter broadcasts within a 150-foot range and can transmit through walls, floors, and ceilings. Speaker has a five-inch woofer and one-inch tweeter. Volume and bass control on speaker. Blue lights on speaker for night swimming. Requires 8 D batteries (not included) or you can use the included power adapter.
How It Works: Attach the transmitter to your stereo system or portable MP3 player. TUne in to channel 1, 2, or 3 on the transmitter. Press Power on the speaker and turn the channel to the same channel as on the transmitter. Adjust the volume and bass to your liking.
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