• Entertainment & Gaming

    Apple & Google: Backlash Ahoy!

    By Posted on 7.28.2008 9 Comments

    If you subject yourself to as many RSS feeds as I do every morning, then you might be wise to the fact that there’s a bit of mutiny percolating in parts of the blogosphere—a mutiny against tech darlings Apple and Google. Yes, Microsoft is, has always been and will for the foreseeable future continue to be the big bad wolf of the tech world. But as each new version of Windows comes out antiquated or broken before it ever goes on sale, and the company comes up short in the search, advertising and online services sectors, it seems as though the wolf may be losing its bite.

    7.29.2008 at 07:15am - Comment by amybaby

    I agree totally with pdxwebdev's comparisons of XP to a toilet and Vista to a bidet. They were both outdone before they were released. If they are the end all and be all of desktop computer use, that's like having to take a dump outside. I'm sure that some thought/ think that MSDOS was the brave new world as well. Viva la C prompt!!!

  • DIY

    Build a Wireless Audio Streamer

    By Posted on 7.14.2008 15 Comments

    Here’s the scenario: You have a thousand MP3 music files sitting on your home computer—which is great when you’re actually sitting at your computer but a lot less useful when you’re in the kitchen or living room. What you need is a dedicated device in another room that can pull songs wirelessly from your PC’s music library and play them through its own speakers. Several off-the-shelf products can handle this task, such as Logitech’s Squeezebox; unfortunately, they start at around $300.

    7.28.2008 at 07:30am - Comment by amybaby

    Other than the tinkering aspect, I don't see what makes this such a neat project. Why not just install iTunes and pick up an Airport Express for $70 to beam your tunes to your speakers in another room. Or even cheaper, you could get the a/v sender from x10 for $50 and plug it into your computer's headphone jack to send the audio to another room/ s. And, yes, I know you wouldn't have your little ghetto green lcd showing you what songs are playing in miniscule letters unreadable from a distance of more than 2.8 feet away - oh, drat!

  • Entertainment & Gaming

    Gaming Improves Social Skills

    By Posted on 7.24.2008 2 Comments

    New research by Eryn Grant, a Ph.D. student at Queensland University, says the virtual reality game, Second Life, boosts people’s ability to socially interact. The game, according to Grant, improves social connections between complete strangers by making it easier for people to find common interests.

    7.25.2008 at 08:17am - Comment by amybaby

    The title of this article is hilarious. Think about the hard core gamers you know and their social skills. Love 'em, but they're not generally social butterflies.



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