A major step toward the creation of portable electronic newspapers. Imagine a future where everyone carries around single-sheet electronic newspapers that automatically update wirelessly as news breaks.
USATomorrow.
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Category Archives: Gadgets & Apps
Radio TiVo
“…the Radio YourWay might be the first one that actually functions like a TiVo. It’s an MP3 player with a built-in AM/FM radio recorder that can be set to record at specific times, and can save up to four hours of programming as MP3 files which can then be transferred to a PC when you run out of space.” I don’t listen to all that much (non-XM) radio these days but this is pretty damned cool. By way of evhead.
XMPCR.
Satellite Radio for your computer. Attaches to your computer via the USB. Access to all 100 channels. You can save song titles and artist names to an “alert” list and get a pop-up message when a favorite song or artist is playing on a different channel. Click and you’re there. XM says “it’s not Internet radio (since the signals are still delivered via satellite), so users will experience no buffering or stalls, no slow channel changes, and the program won’t affect the PC’s performance.” The product is scheduled to begin shipping May 2nd for $69.95. I’ve never been one to listen to the radio at work but this could change that. Tell me again why this will have no impact on “traditional” radio.
Windows Media Encoder Series 9
Discovering the power of Windows Media Encoder Series 9. I’m really poor with math and have to believe I’ve made some kind of error but it appears that Media Encoder crunched a 780 meg avi file down to a 9 meg wmv file. And it still looks pretty good. I don’t see how that can be. Feeling my way along with new tools and you can check out a couple of early projects. The first is a 5 minute montage of pix from many moons ago. The second is a sixty second trailer for an 18 minute piece I did on The Derry Brownfield Show (did I post this already?).
Till now, I’ve really tried to make everything work for folks still on dial-ups but I think I gotta let that go. Life is just shitty at anything less than broadband. I know, I was there for many years. It just sucks and I’m sorry about it. So get cable if you can or DSL. If not, just check your email and forget the web. It really isn’t there for a dial-up.
Scary Google Trick.
In the December 20, 2002 edition of JOHO (Journal of the Hyperlinked Organization) David Weinberger shares a “Scary Google Trick”: 1) Go to google.com 2) Type in your phone number, in quotation marks 3) When it finds your name and address, click on
“Maps” 4) You are here. I’m not sure why that’s scary but it is. A little.
Disposable Mobile Phone.
I’m a two-time loser with mobile phones. I’m not safe when driving and talking and never seem to use the minutes. But it would be nice have one if I needed it. The Hop-on cell phone might be what I’m after.
“This unique cell phone comes with 60 minutes of prepaid calling time, with no contracts, long-distance charges or other fees. It’s easy to use, and when the minutes are used up, you can add more minutes, return the phone to Hop-on for a $5 rebate certificate, or simply discard it.” I’m there.
360 months
Have we talked about Carol yet? Some years ago Carol started greeting friends she had not seen in a while with the number of months (actuarially speaking) they could expect to live. “Steve, how have you been? You’ve got more than 300 months left, that’s great!” According to the IRS Life Expectancy Table , I have 29.5 years left but that sounds much longer than 360 months. You’d think Carol would have few visitors but she shares her macabre calculations with such warmth and enthusiasm, it’s not as depressing as you’d think. I think it’s because she never expected any of us to get this far.
If you’d rather not travel to Kennett, Missouri, to find out how much time you have left, you can find what you need online. The Life Expectancy Calculator will “calculate your future life expectancy based on a mortality table for retired individuals.” Less, I would think. The Living to 100 Life Expectancy Calculator was designed to “translate what we have learned from studies of centenarians and other longevity research into a practical and empowering tool for individuals to estimate their longevity potential.” Roy said it best in Blade Runner. I need more.