automating the world, one script at a time
Archive for October, 2009
Kindle vs Nook (vs iSlate)
Oct 29th
A few lucky early adopters have already received the Kindles down here in deepest darkest Africa, but as much as I want to get my hands on an ebook reader immediately, I’m going to try to fight the urge until there a few more killer devices available locally. The Barnes & Noble Nook was recently announced and will be available soon in the USA, but no word yet on availability internationally. I’m pretty sure that they will want to distribute the device as far and wide as possible, especially if they want to compete with Amazon.
If a had to choose a device today, I’d snap up a Nook in a second. It has features that the Kindle doesn’t have and just looks like a much better device. I haven’t used either device yet, but when it comes to the actual reading of books, I suspect they will be pretty much on par as they share the same size screen powered by the same E Ink technology.
One thing I don’t really like about either device is that the content you purchase from the respective online stores isn’t portable. It’s the whole DRM saga all over again. We’ve been through this with the purchasing of online music already. It doesn’t work. That’s why you can now buy your music DRM free from iTunes. I know it just comes down the publishers being a little nervous having their content out there in the wild west, but in the end I want to be able to take my ebook content from device to device without being locked into a specific technology platform.
So there is a lot of buzz about the Apple iSlate/iTablet at the moment as well. A few media slips over the last few days seem to confirm that we should see something early next year and that there will definitely be some reader functionality built into the device. If Apple continue the trend of providing DRM free content from the iTunes store maybe this will be the first platform where I will be able to purchase an ebook and transfer the content from my iSlate to whatever my new ebook reader of the future will be.
I’m gonna hang on a bit longer before I make the leap.
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Device |
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Screen Size |
6 inch E Ink |
6 inch E Ink / 3.5 colour TFT |
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Touch Screen |
No |
Yes (Colour) |
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Storage |
2GB not expandable |
2GB Expandable up to |
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Wireless |
AT&T |
AT&T 3G and |
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Bookstore |
Amazon |
Barnes & Noble |
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Natively |
Kindle (AZW), TXT, |
ePub, “multiple DRM |
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Formats |
PDF, HTML, DOC,JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP |
Word, more to come |
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Web Browser |
Yes |
No |
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Sync with
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iPhone, iPod Touch |
iPhone, iPod Touch, Blackberry, PC, Mac OS |
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Available |
Now |
Nov 30 ‘09 |
Top 5 (almost) local tech podcasts
Oct 27th
OK, so only two out of the five are local.
Over the past few weeks I’ve been searching for the best local and international technology podcasts. I’m tired of listening to the same fools drone on on our local radio stations. Cape Talk isn’t bad and some of the presenters are pretty sharp, but they hardly cover technology at all. Their 3 minute “Hard Drive” slot every afternoon is pretty useless, but I understand that it may appeal to their less tech savvy listeners.
For my trip into work and home each day I wanted to find a few podcasts that could keep me up to date with the stuff I care about. At first I tried to limit my selection to local content only, but there simply isn’t much out there. Unless I’m missing it.
My search has by no stretch of the imagination been extensive, but the list below is what I’ve settled on for the time being. If anyone has any suggestions on other podcasts I should listen to, especially if they are local, please leave comments below.
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1 – ZA Tech Show. Currently my favorite weekly podcast.It’s local and covers a wide range of technology and technology news. Hosted by Simon Dingle and a few other local journalists and tech junkies it provides a good laugh and even some great insights. As long as there is beer… Subscribe here. Or here with the direct iTunes link. |
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2 – Buzz Out Loud. CNET’s Buzz out load has been around for a long time. They have done more than 1000 episodes to date and as long as you can surive the American accents you’ll love the show. Subscribe here. Or here with the direct iTunes link. |
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3 – The Engadget Show. They have recently relaunched this podcast in a new live format. The first one featured a long interview with Steve Ballmer on the day of the Windows 7 launch. I hope they keep the quality of the show and caliber of the guests this high. Subscribe here. Or here with the direct iTunes link. |
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4 – Major Nelson Radio. A little niche, but since I do all my gaming on the platform I find it very informative. He runs a good show and often has exciting guests. He actually works for Microsoft, so although he doesn’t provide you with the inside track, he usually has has facts straight. Subscribe here. Or here with the direct iTunes link. |
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5 – mac:about. The only other local show my list. They have only done one episode so far, so it remains to be seen how long the show will last and how it progresses and matures. It’s Apple centric, but that’s a good thing. Subscribe here. Or here with the direct iTunes link. |
QOTD: Muhammad Ali
Oct 27th
How to clean your Apple Mighty Mouse
Oct 27th
The little scroll wheel/ball on my Mighty Mouse gets lazy every few weeks and only lets me scroll in one direction. Sometimes only up, sometimes only down. Side to side never seems to be a problem.
A simple fix I learned about to solve this problem meant I didn’t have to keep phoning Digicape to complain about repeatedly being sold bad mice…
Simply turn your Mighty Mouse off (by sliding the cover at the bottom closed), turn the mouse upside down onto a piece of paper and move the mouse around putting pressure on the scroll wheel so that it makes solid contact with the paper.
As you move it around you should see it leave a gorgeous trail of finger dirt and residue. Depending on how bad it is, you may even be able to spell your name before it’s clean.
The video below demonstrates the process:
Apologies for the poor quality. I whipped this up quickly on my iPhone 3GS.
Geotagging for everyone
Oct 26th
For people like myself that are stuck with a digital camera that was built before anyone had even thought up the term “geotagging”, there is finally a solution that will enable you to have location information for all your snaps.
There are a number of original manufacturer and 3rd party solutions available for a handful of the higher end cameras, but most of them are quite expensive and are most certainly not readily available locally.
This device requires you to sync your computers time with it and to take it with you on your shoot. When you get back you need to download the photo’s into the PhotoTrackr software which will add all the relevant location information to the EXIF data before you import it into your favorite photo organising/editing software.
At $69 we can expect to see it at around R700 locally. I doubt you’ll find them at your local electronics store, but the specialist photo stores should be carrying them later this year.
Looking for a geotagging solution that doesn’t discriminate based on what kind of camera you have? Looking for one that can fit snugly into your Fifth Pocket? The PhotoTrackr Mini looks to be that very device, boasting a diminutive thumb drive-esque appearance and the same geotagging technology as found in the original. Put simply, the device works by syncing the time of your camera with bundled software; when you’re back from a shoot (a shoot where your device also was), you just allow the application to figure out where a given shot was snapped at what time. There’s also Mac and RAW file format support on this model, neither of which were compatible with the prior version. Pre-orders are being accepted now at $69, and the first shipments are expected to go out next month.Continue reading PhotoTrackr Mini geotagging device shrinks down, adds Mac and RAW support
(Via Engadget.)
QOTD: Fran Lebowitz
Oct 23rd
Fran Lebowitz: “‘All God’s children are not beautiful. Most of God’s children are, in fact, barely presentable.’”
(Via Quotes of the Day.)
O’Reilly continues awesomeness
Oct 23rd
I have a number of O’Reilly books myself and I must admit, when their spines are all nicely lined up, they look awesome on my bookshelf.
They are now running a promotion that allows you to download an electronic version of any of the paper books that you own for only $4.99 each.
I will almost always want to own the paper version of these books, but having a portable version that is searchable makes access to the information I need extremely convenient.
Promotion ends at the end of October, so hurry along.
As one of the programmers here at Unclutterer, I spend quite a bit of time educating myself on new technologies. My bookshelf is pretty crowded, mostly with books that I’ve already read, and now only need to refer to once in awhile.
I’ve been looking for a good way to unclutter my programming bookshelf, so I was excited to find out that O’Reilly, one of the foremost publishers of technology books, is currently running a promotion to allow owners of paper versions of their books to buy ebook versions at a substantial discount of only $4.99 per book.
While many people prefer paper versions of books for readability, ebook versions have a few notable advantages that make them particularly useful when it comes to technology books.
- Tech books are typically big and take up a lot of shelf space. Ebook versions are quite a bit smaller, and take up approximately zero shelf space.
- Code samples cannot be cut and pasted from paper books. Some books include an additional DVD, or link to a website, that contains sample code. This is unnecessary with an ebook, and can save a lot of time when trying to learn new concepts quickly.
- Ebook text can be searched much more easily than paper text. Especially across multiple books at once.
- Ebooks make it possible to take your bookshelf with you on the road, and nobody wants to be anchored to an office just because that’s where his books are.
To take advantage of this offer:
- Visit oreilly.com and log in to your account, or create a new one.
- Register each book you own using its 13 digit ISBN number.
- Find one of your registered books in the O’Reilly store and add the ebook version to your shopping cart.
- Enter the discount code 499UP during checkout.
The promotion runs through the month of October.
(Via Unclutterer.)
Windows 7 looks expensive and confusing
Oct 22nd
I just finished reading an article on MyBroadband where they have listed local pricing for the different Windows 7 options from a variety of brick and mortar and e-tailers.
We will rob you.
Firstly, I had no idea that there were so many options to choose from, again. Did M$ learn nothing with Vista ? There is no way the man in the street is going to have any idea what the difference between the different options are. You’ll realise that you are getting more when you buy the “Ultimate” version, but without doing some research you’ll be nicely in the dark.
Secondly if you want all the bells and whistles you will be forking out between R2337.00 (e-tailers) and R3199.95 (from Incredible Connection) for the Ultimate version. That’s a lot of money. I mean, you can pretty much buy a PC for R3000, probably not one that can run Windows 7 though…
I’m sure lots of people are going to buy Windows 7, but I think most of them just want to upgrade from their 8 year old XP installations.
Toshiba Dynario fuel-cell: the battery revolution
Oct 22nd
I must have missed the initial announcement of this technology so I actually did a bit of a double take and few searches to make sure that someone wasn’t trying to pull a fast one.
It’s legit. Basically you can recharge any device that makes use of USB for that function. I guess you could power it directly as well.
When your cell (we call them batteries) starts running low, just whip out a little bottle of concentrated methanol and fill the 14ml fuel tank to keep on going. Basically like refueling your car, just a little smaller.
This is first generation stuff, just imagine what this technology will be like in a few years ! Assuming anyone actually buys it.
Never again will you need to search for an electrical socket when you are out in the wilderness trying to be one with nature…
We can hardly believe it but the day has finally arrived: Toshiba just launched the first Dynario fuel-cell for portable consumer electronics. That’s right, the long promised and highly anticipated direct methanol fuel-cell (DMFC) with dedicated fuel cartridge for on-the-go refueling will go on sale October 29th in Japan for ¥29,800 (about $328) plus another ¥3,150 (about $34) for a set of five, 50ml fuel cartridges. Dynario takes about 20 seconds to fill its 14ml fuel tank with an injection of a concentrated methanol solution at which point its ready to charge USB-connected devices. Dynarios hybrid structure uses a lithium-ion battery to store enough electricity to charge two typical cellphones, according to Tosh. That works out to be about $1 per recharge, if our calculations are correct, based on the fuel costs alone. We assume the battery can be charged via wall socket power too but this isnt explicitly stated in the press release. The first run consists of only 3,000 units after which Toshiba will gauge consumer reaction before extending the launch outside of Japan. Boy oh boy, a new age in portability has begun.
(Via Engadget.)
QOTD: Steve Ballmer (Microsoft) <- this ones a doozy
Oct 22nd
Steve Ballmer: “Let’s face it, the Internet was designed for the PC. The Internet is not designed for the iPhone. That’s why they’ve got 75,000 applications – they’re all trying to make the Internet look decent on the iPhone.”
Wow ! Let’s not even begin to discuss IE6 and the fact that without ActiveX and Silverlight I doubt a single website would look half decent in any version of IE.
Any website that conforms to HTML and CSS standards looks just find uncle Ballmer. Idiot.
[techjunkie] to get a new look
Oct 22nd
Later today [techjunkie] will start making using of a new theme. As much as I enjoy the current theme, I’m running into a few limitations that appear to be taken care of automatically in other themes.
Please let me know if you don’t like the new theme once it’s up. If you love it, feel free to let me know as well.
So don’t be surprised the next time you visit the site.
Google maps now has SA direction information
Oct 21st
Anyone that regularly uses Google Maps or Google Earth would have noticed that the level of detail and the correctness of the detail for South Africa has been improving significantly over the past few months.
The first thing I noticed in Google Earth was the addition of some 3D buildings to the Cape Town CBD area. Shortly afterwards there was a marked improvement on the amount of street level data that was available.
I’ve also seen the Google Streetview car driving around Cape Town a number of times. I assume all the fuss is to provide tourists with decent mapping information when they arrive in their droves for the World Cup next year.
Today I caught a tweet (thanks @kishyr) saying that direction information is also working in Google maps. I quickly tried it out myself and I’m happy to announce that it is working and appears to work pretty darn well. It even sensibly calculates different directions based on whether you are in a motor vehicle or on foot. The transit direction information doesn’t work yet, but then again neither does our public transport system.
Above are screenshots from my iPhone 3GS detailing directions from the Cape Town CBD (my current location) to Hout Bay for a motor vehicle. When I change to “on foot”, it redirects you along Victoria road all along the coast.
Good work Google ! But remember, don’t be evil.
Enabling click-to-dial on Snow Leopard
Oct 21st
As a follow up on my Dialectic article, I thought it may be necessary to post some information on how to enable click-to-dial in Snow Leopard.
The problem is that Mac OS X 10.6 no longer supports contextual menu plug-ins, so any plug-ins that you had will stop working after you upgrade to Snow Leopard.
Replacing this functionality is a much improved Services support and this can be used to dial selected phone numbers from most applications.
After installing Dialectic you can do the following to enable it:
- From the System Preferences application, select the Keyboard preference pane.
- In the Keyboard preference pane, select the “Keyboard Shortcuts” tab and scroll down to the “Services” item from the list box on the left side of the window.
- After selecting “Services”, scroll down to the “Text” Services group on the right and enable the “Dial Selection” Services item (see the screenshot below).
Works like a charm.
QOTD: Jean Cocteau
Oct 21st
Jean Cocteau: “‘We must believe in luck. For how else can we explain the success of those we don’t like?’”
(Via Quotes of the Day.)
Barnes & Noble Nook aims right between the eyes
Oct 20th
Talk about blowing the competition out of the water !
Looks like the Nook has all the features we’ve been begging for in the Kindle. I won’t go into detail about the features, Engadget sums it all up very nicely below.
My only questions are how large the book selection will be, what will the books cost and will it be available in South Africa ?
Barnes & Noble Nook e-reader leaks a bit early: $259, pre-orders are live (video): “
Looks like all those whispers were true — the ‘Android-based’ nook is alive and well, and it’s calling itself the planet’s ‘most advanced e-book reader.’ Measuring 7.7- x 4.9- x 0.5-inches and weighing 11.2 ounces, the device includes a top e-ink display from Vizplex and a color touchscreen (3.5-inches) below, which supports one-touch control and swipe-to-browse books with full-color covers. The rechargeable battery takes 3.5 hours to go from zero to full if using a wall outlet, and B&N claims that itll last for up to ten days if you flick the wireless to ‘off.’ Speaking of which, inbuilt WiFi (802.11b/g) and AT&T 3G is included, not to mention 2GB of internal storage, a microSD expansion slot, MP3 player, built-in mono speaker, 3.5 millimeter headphone jack, a micro USB port and support for EPUB, PDF and MP3. The nook also supports bookmarking, making notes, and highlighting passages, and the LendMe feature allows users to lend books for up to a fortnight at a time to other e-readers, cellphones or computers.
B&N also tells us that you can pick up where you left off (with markings and highlights in tact) on your iPhone or BlackBerry using its free eReader software, which just so happens to be the same app that allows sharing to iPhone, iPod touch, BlackBerry, PC or Mac. As expected, the company will also let you sample ebooks before you buy, and youll enjoy free WiFi each and every time you sashay into a Barnes & Noble retail location. Its available to pre-order as we speak for $259, with initial shipments expected to happen at the end of November. Introductory video is after the break, along with a few highlights about accessories and features.
Update: Aw snap, B&N just yanked everything related to nook from its website. Thankfully for you, everything youd ever need to know is right here.
Update 2: Looks like it’s back! Though, the landing page itself still seems down. Hurray for backdoors!
(Via Engadget.)
