Thursday, October 30, 2008

Loving World at War MP Beta for PC. Awesome Graphics, fun gameplay and menus that don't need to be re-learned from previous Call of Duty players. Find it at http://ping.fm/foWar

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Walmart back in the music download groove; and with DRM FREE MP3's to boot!

Walmart announced yesterday that they are relaunching a "New and improved MP3 Music Download Store."
Heading to the music download site will net you MP3 tracks starting at just 74-cents,and according to Walmart officials, they will "...give customers greater value and an even bigger selection in digital music."

But the best news for most of our readers is that this will be DRM FREE music, and Walmart is offering a new social features to easily display albums on social networking sites and blogs, as well as enhanced search and refine features to make it easier to find favorite titles and discover new music.

Customers can visit the new and improved MP3 download store today at http://www.walmart.com/mp3.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

You can get your G1 AND save $$ starting tommorrow!


Several news agencies and multiple techie bloggers have been reporting rumors of the new Google G1 phone coming to Wal Mart stores soon...well, the wait is reportedly over.
Today the Dow-Jones newswire reported that Wal-Mart will indeed begin selling the Android based G1, available through T-Mobile, beginning tomorrow, Wednesday, October 29th...and at a discount!
"Wal-Mart will carry the Google Inc. (GOOG) G1 phone, sold through Deutsche Telekom AG's (DT) T-Mobile USA, in 550 Wal-Mart stores at the reduced price of $ 148.88 for new customers, or existing customers eligible for an upgrade, who sign up for a two-year agreement," Wal-Mart spokeswoman Melissa O'Brien reportedly told the newswire.

Monday, October 27, 2008

OCT. 28 ONLY, free software for Windows apps on Macs

On Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2008, any one visiting the CodeWeavers' Web site (www.codeweavers.com) will be given a deal code that will entitle them to one free copy of CodeWeavers' award-winning CrossOver software. Each copy comes complete with support.

CrossOver Mac allows you to install many popular Windows applications and games on your Intel OS X Mac...Just click and run your application directly from the OS X Finder. Clicking a Windows file or document — including email attachments — will launch the appropriate Windows program, allowing you to work on the files...without needing a Microsoft operating system license.

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Record - Map and Follow with the Trackstick

I've been testing some devices that allow you to track movements via satellites. They are called Tracksticks... Imagine being able to track your vehicle to make sure the person driving it wasnt breaking any laws or in a part of town, they shouldn't be in. There are a ton of applications for these devices, Check out my full review with a video from Trackstick at http://www.techtalkradio.com/reviews/trackstick.html

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Saturday, October 25, 2008

using 32-bit programs on 64-bit Windows

There have been some reports that some programs could not be installed on a 64-bit version of Windows...

Per Microsoft:
"Many programs designed for a computer running a 32-bit version of Windows will work on a computer running 64-bit versions of Windows without any changes. However, in some cases there might be differences in performance. If a 32-bit program uses embedded drivers, the drivers might not work in the 64-bit environment..."

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RAID

We had a short discussion about RAID and salvaging data...

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Using a Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks, or a Redundant Array of Independent Disks, involves two or more hard disk drives. By using a RAID configuration you can have your computing performance experienced enhanced, possibly salvage data, and/or store more data on larger volumes. It depends on the type of RAID you use...

There are various types of RAID to use to achieve different goals. Here are some of the descriptions of different types...

RAID 0 distributes data across several disks. It can improve speed, but all data on all disks will be lost if a disk fails. (I've found information that states Windows XP Professional, and Windows Vista Ultimate, support RAID 0.)

RAID 1 copies data to more than one hard disk so that if one drive fails, the data is available on another. It's referred to as "mirroring". Do not use RAID as a replacement for backing up: a system malfunction could overwrite data, a file could be damaged/deleted, and all could be lost if the computer is damaged (theft/flood/fire/etcetera).

RAID 5 uses at least three hard disks so that, if one drive fails, the data on the other two are available.

RAID can be accomplished by using operating systems that support RAID, and/or hardware controllers (supported by the motherboard, or by using an expansion card). Also, Network-attached storage (NAS) devices...disk drives on a network...could be used in an implemention of RAID.

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YouTube posting problems

Kelly called our radio show and said he is having problems uploading files to YouTube...

Here's some information I found that might help:

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You can no longer upload videos longer than ten minutes regardless of what type of account you have. Users who had previously been allowed to upload longer content still retain this ability, so you may occasionally see videos that are longer than ten minutes...

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If you don't think your current video file format is recognized by YouTube, you may get the best results from converting your file to MPEG4 video with MP3 audio.

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...YouTube accepts a wide range of video file formats such as .WMV, .AVI, .MOV, and .MPG. Here are a few things that may work well for you:
* MPEG4 (Divx, Xvid) format
* MP3 audio
* Frame Rate: 24fps or higher


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...We recommend the MPEG4 (Divx, Xvid, SVQ3) format at 640x480 resolution with MP3 audio. Resizing your video to these specifications before uploading will help your clips look better on YouTube.

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Friday, October 24, 2008

SpiralFrog

(I had written about them over a year ago, but recently there have been some updates to their service...)

SpiralFrog is a website that allows you to download video and music...for free! Legally. It's an ad-supported web site...

In the past, I needed to go to their website under 30 days to update my membership (by answering some survey questions). Now, it's every 60 days.

You can copy song to compatible portable players. To my surprise, my Palm LifeDrive and TX are on the list!

I've been very satisfied with their service. I haven't found every song I looked for, but it's not as if I have been paying for their service.

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Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Comcast internet service to get faster

According to DSLreports.com...

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Comcast will be shaking up their speed tiers as they deploy DOCSIS 3.0 upgrades...

..."Performance" 6Mbps/1Mbps subscribers will be upgraded to 12Mbps/2Mbps ($42.95). "Performance Plus" 8Mbps/2Mbps subscribers will be increased to Blast 16Mbps/2Mbps ($52.95). Both upgrades are at no cost. Comcast will continue to offer an "Economy" 768kbps/384kbps tier for $24.95, aimed primarily at light users and used as a retention tool.

...the company plans to offer a new "Ultra" 22Mbps/5Mbps tier for $62.95. Ultra should hit speeds of about 30Mbps when Comcast's Powerboost technology kicks in. The grand daddy of all Comcast tiers will be the "Extreme 50" 50Mbps/10Mbps tier, which some markets will see as low as $139.95. Both new tiers will obviously require new DOCSIS 3.0 modems that won't be available initially at retail, but can be rented for $3 a month.

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Friday, October 17, 2008

neat shirts and stuff

I was surfin' da 'net, and came across some items in the ThinkGeek T-Shirt section I thought to share. Since retailers are again coming after our holiday money early, you can begin your shopping for your favorite nerd and geek. (Hopefully, that would be me...)

A shirt with THE quote from "The Princess Bride":






















Zero Wing:
"Somebody set up us the bomb"
"You have no chance to survive make your time"
and...





















These would make neat nightshirts:































And, if your geek is a girl, HTTPanties that have (200/403/404/411) status codes on them.

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Wednesday, October 15, 2008

pic of ("new") Star Trek/Enterprise crew


From left to right: Anton Yelchin as Chekov, Chris Pine as James T. Kirk, Simon Pegg as Lt. Montgomery Scott, Karl Urban as Dr. McCoy, John Cho as Sulu, and Zoe Saldana as Uhura.

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Saturday, October 11, 2008

E for All(over?)

The Entertainment for All Expo (E for All) was held October 3rd through the 5th, at the Los Angeles Convention Center. How was it? This year, we were not able to make the trip. And from reports I've read, we weren't the only no-shows. (In general, it seems to me that overall comments this year about gaming conventions weren't good.) Here are some opinions about the latest E for All...

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From a press release:

"...approximately 15,000 hardcore and casual gamers, developers, retailers, students, media and other members of the game community were able to test-drive the latest video games and gadgets, and attend competitive video game tournaments and educational programs...including the 2008 World Cyber Games national finals which crowned 14 national champions who will go on to compete at the WCG 2008 Grand Final in Cologne, Germany, next month."

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Variety reported:

"Attendance at the second annual public videogame expo E for All fell 17% from last year's already weak numbers...only about 15,000 people came to the three-day show, held at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Last year's inaugural E for All drew approximately 18,000 attendees.

"IDG has yet to announce whether it will continue E for All next year and if it would make any changes.

"Though it was billed as a place to see the year's hottest new games, only a handful of major publishers -- including Microsoft and Ubisoft --were on hand to show off new or upcoming titles. Most of the exhibitors were gaming-related events like the World Cyber Games, retailers like Target, educational services for gamers, and broader cultural activities like the Los Angeles Intl. Children's Festival.

"Ticket sales and game-related exhibitors numbered significantly less than August's Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle, which drew nearly 60,000 people and featured most major videogame companies.

"Attendance is also expected to be higher at this coming weekend's BlizzCon in Anaheim, which is focused exclusively on games from developer Blizzard Entertainment, maker of the hugely popular 'World of Warcraft.'

"...E3...is reported to be considering opening up to the public next year after industryites complained about the lack of excitement at this year's confab back in July. In such a case it would likely merge with E for All since both events are organized by IDG."

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From The Jewish Journal:

"...noticeably absent at the Oct. 3-5 event were Nintendo, Sony, THQ, Activision Blizzard (which has BlizzCon next weekend), to name a few.

"...Samsung products, Intel computers, DeVry, Gamer Grub, energy drinks and Fatal1ty products are not why people paid $35 (or $60 for two days, or $75 for all three) to get in. They wanted to check out upcoming games.

"(Target)...gave short shrift to 'Star Wars' fans by setting up one perfunctory XBox to play 'The Force Unleashed'..most of the major games featured at the expo have already been released, leaving little for people to actually preview."

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And TG Daily said:

"Last year, we called E for All a 'ghost town' and it seems some of our friends at other publications think the same thing...

"...to be absolutely blunt, Friday was a disaster...several of the exhibitors – all of whom requested to be anonymous – told me...'We won’t be here next year'..."

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Tuesday, October 7, 2008

New Articles Posted

I've published a couple of stories on the TechtalkRadio website, One of them Highlights a New Racing Wheel Stand from Fanatec announced today, great idea! We also take a feature look at KGVY 1080 AM in Green Valley which not only plays familiar favorites for those in Green Valley and Tucson but across the Net over the Internet. The Station also features a Video Business Directory in Flash (I am the Host in the Travetti's Restaurant Video)

Check out the new entries at http://www.techtalkradio.com

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Thursday, October 2, 2008

Sprint brings WiMax to Baltimore: Will it be in YOUR neighborhood soon?

AFP reported in Google News that Sprint has stepped up and implemented its XOHM WiMax service in Boston...Will it come to YOUR neighborhood next? We'll have to wait and see!

Here's the complete article:

WASHINGTON (AFP) — The eastern port of Baltimore became the first major city in the United States on Monday to be blanketed with a wireless broadband network that uses next-generation mobile WiMAX technology.

US telecom provider Sprint Nextel Corp. announced the start of the WiMAX service, known as XOHM, which allows computers to access the Internet wirelessly at faster speeds and with a wider reach than Wi-Fi technology...

Complete story...http://snipr.com/40xuo