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Oct 11

CyberNotes: Ever Wonder What Happens to Your Computer at Night?

Posted in: CyberNotes, Humor, Today's Chili

This article was written on June 22, 2007 by CyberNet.

Funny Friday

Some of you may have seen this before because it’s been floating around the web for several years now, but it’s still funny to watch, even if you’ve seen it already. Have you ever wondered what happens to your computer at night? I guess now you have another reason to turn off your computer before bed, other than to save energy.

Note: For a bigger/better video, click here.

And along the same lines, just for fun:

Signs Your Computer Was Drinking Last Night (source)

Everything you saved the night before, your computer has forgotten.
It keeps hurling out every CD that you put into it.
The computer monitor dims a little every time you click the mouse.
You sound card plays everything at half the speed it should.
All error messages read: “A serious error has occurred. If you get me through this, I promise I’ll never do it again.”
Your computer automatically adds “I love you man” to your email signature.
When playing an MP3, you can hear someone in the background singing karaoke.
Whenever you start your computer, it comes up with a message saying, “Firewall? We don’t need no stinkin’ firewall.”
No matter how you position it, your computer slowly slides off your desk.
Your “Start” button changes to “Get ‘r Done”
You go in the next morning and there’s some strange modem lying by your computer.

Have a great weekend!

Your Week in Review with Sunday’s Summary

CyberNotes: Your Week in Review with Sunday’s Summary

Your Week in Review with Sunday’s Summary

CyberNotes: Week In Review With Sunday’s Summary!

Oct 11

The Engadget Show returns Friday, October 21st — win a ticket to the taping!

Posted in: engadget show, EngadgetShow, the engadget show, TheEngadgetShow, Today's Chili

Are you ready for this? We’re dropping another Engadget Show on your head next Friday, October 21st! This time out, we’ll be celebrating Halloween early, with a costume contest, a trip to New York Comic Con and all manner of additional surprises.

The Engadget Show is sponsored by Sprint and will take place in our intimate NYC studio, so if you want to get in, you’ll need to win a ticket in advance. If you are joining us in studio, make sure to come in costume if you want to be eligible to win some awesome giveaways, including a very special $900 complete costume package provided by HalloweenCostumes.com. But don’t worry, if you can’t get there in person we’ll have a download up soon after taping.

Sprint is also offering 60 guaranteed tickets to The Engadget Show taping to the first 60 entrants who text “ENGADGET” to 467467 or enter online! Standard text messaging rates apply. Click for the Official Rules and see how to enter online.

If you live outside of the tri-state area (NY, NJ, CT), you can enter online for a chance to win a trip for two to New York City to attend The Engadget Show. Standard text messaging rates apply. Click here to enter.

Here are the details if you win a ticket:

The event is all ages.
We’ll open doors and begin seating at 5:15pm on October 21st, and the taping begins at 6:00PM. We’ll be closing the doors at 5:50PM.
Winners must pick confirm and print tickets 24 hours before taping begins or risk forfeiting their seat.
Please bring a photo ID with you to the taping.
The show length is around an hour.

If you’re a member of the media who wishes to attend, please contact us at: engadgetshowmedia [at] engadget [dot] com, and we’ll try to accommodate you. All other non-media questions can be sent to: engadgetshow [at] engadget [dot] com.

Subscribe to the Show:

[iTunes] Subscribe to the Show directly in iTunes (M4V).
[Zune] Subscribe to the Show directly in the Zune Marketplace (M4V).
[RSS M4V] Add the Engadget Show feed (M4V) to your RSS aggregator and have it delivered automatically.

The Engadget Show returns Friday, October 21st — win a ticket to the taping! originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 11 Oct 2011 14:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oct 11

Some German iPhone 4S Pre-Orders Delivered Early

Posted in: Apple, ipad 2, iPhone, iphone 4s, Phones, Today's Chili

Some lucky customers who pre-ordered the iPhone 4S in Germany got their delivery a bit early. Image: MacRumors

A few lucky customers who pre-ordered Apple’s iPhone 4S in Germany got their delivery today — three full days early. And according to benchmarks that are beginning to pop up online, the phone looks to be wicked fast.

Readers sent in images of the new Apple device, its packaging and screenshots of Siri to German blog Macerkopf.de. Legitimate-looking benchmarks have also started appearing online, with the 4S clocking in at 68 percent faster than its predecessor, the iPhone 4. Tests also confirmed that the iPhone 4S’ graphics processor is seven times faster than the 4’s.

The new iPhone scored a 677 on Geekbench’s benchmarking test, almost double the 370 that the iPhone 4 scored, and not too far under the iPad 2’s score of 751. The iPhone 4S and iPad 2 share the same A5 dual-core chip, but the 4S’ likely runs at 800 MHz, as opposed to the iPad 2’s 1 GHz processor speed.

The iPhone 4S has already hit record pre-order numbers of over one million units. Its specs are comparable to those of other major smartphones on the market, like the Samsung Galaxy S II, such as a dual-core processor, 8-megapixel camera and a pixel-packed display (Retina Display in this case, like the iPhone 4). The handset, which was unveiled at a media event last week, will be available on the three largest U.S. carriers — AT&T, Verizon and Sprint. The 4S will run on AT&T’s HSPA+ network and also comes with GSM and CDMA antennas, making it a world phone.

The iPhone 4S will hit stores on Friday, Oct. 14. Pre-orders will also be delivered that day. It’s priced at $200, $300 and $400 on contract for 16-, 32- and 64-GB models. Pre-orders began last Friday, so if you missed out, you’re going to have to spend your morning waiting in line at your favorite Apple retailer this Friday. But don’t worry; that just means you have the opportunity to make some new iPhone-loving friends.

via MacRumors

What Is Scratching Your Xbox 360′s DVD’s?

Posted in: gaming, Today's Chili, xbox

This article was written on December 16, 2005 by CyberNet.

Unfortunately, it is true, the Xbox 360 reports of getting scratched disks are continuously rising. A solution for it is yet to be found but it has been determined what is causing the damage. The people over at Llamma.com decided they were going to figure out the cause of their frustration:

We started by disassembling of our one of our Hitachi-LG GDR-3120L DVD drives, which happens to be the only drive in any of our 360′s. Upon inspecting the laser assembly it was obvious there was only one small area that could have caused this. I applied some silver sharpie marker over the entire black laser assembly housing and reassembled the drive. I threw in the Quake 4 bonus disk and waited for the small jet to take off. After the disc spun up I went through the tilting motion a few times. Video(1.5MB): How to scratch a disc with an Xbox 360(mirrored courtesy of Xbox-Scene.com thanks!). We then disassembled the drive to find what was causing the scratches. The following photo shows exactly where the problem occurs. As you can see the black showing through the silver area that was painted.

News Source: Llamma

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Xbox 360 Heat Problem Now Has A Solution

Oct 11

Photoshop contest: send us your best / most terrifying Frankengadget

Posted in: contest, Today's Chili

Sure, you like playing with gadgets, but have you ever tried your hand at building one of your own? Well, here’s your chance! We’re going to clear some space in the lab and let you create your very own Frankengadget[TM] — think Zombie Keepon, iGalaxy Tab or even an iPhone with a — gasp — micro-USB port. Let your imagination run wild, then make some magic in the image editing app of your choice. Once you’re done, you can fire off a JPEG of your creation to our intern, Dr. Frankenstein (read: Jon), who will nominate ten creations for the grand prize: a congratulatory email from the team. Oh, and your very own copy of Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 Master Collection. But first, we’ll choose five of those ten submissions, then compile those contestants into a photo gallery, letting you select the winner. Looking for another chance to win? Hit up the coverage link below to enter Adobe’s Imagination Challenge. You can also visit the UK site, which is hosting a similar contest — the submission deadline has passed, though Adobe UK is giving away £50 per day (about $78) to one lucky voter. Jump past the break for our contest rules, and a link to download your very own free trial of Photoshop.

Continue reading Photoshop contest: send us your best / most terrifying Frankengadget

Photoshop contest: send us your best / most terrifying Frankengadget originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 11 Oct 2011 13:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oct 11

Buy from Amazon via Text Message

Posted in: amazon, mobile, Phones, Today's Chili, Web Sites

This article was written on April 02, 2008 by CyberNet.

Each year, communicating through text messages continues to grow and has now turned into an extremely popular communication medium. Millions upon millions of text messages are sent every single month and carriers only anticipate that the number of messages sent by their subscribers will continue to grow. Amazon knows this and obviously sees a tremendous value in it because they have just launched a new service called Amazon TextBuyIt.

TextBuyIt is a brand new service that will give shoppers the opportunity to find and purchase products sold on Amazon via a text message on their mobile phones. Here’s how it works. Say a customer is looking to buy an MP3 player. They would text the name of the product, a description, a UPC if they have it, or an ISBN number to Amazon. If Amazon carries it, they will return matching results via text to the customer, two at a time. If one of the two options is something they want to buy, they text back either a 1 or a 2, or ask for more results by texting M. If the customer made a purchase, they will enter in their email address that’s associated with their Amazon account and a shipping code, and then they’ll receive an automated call that will guide them through the checkout process.

textbuyit

It’s a very simple process and once everything is done and a purchase has been made, shoppers get a confirmation email and a text message. Given the number of people who obsessively text message, this could be dangerous, especially for shopaholics because the purchasing process can be done in a matter of a few minutes. For those who really get into it and use TextBuyIt as a regular shopping method, there are other commands that they could use. For example, you could text 2D after you’ve seen matching products and you’d get more details about the 2nd item that you saw.

Of course there’s good and bad to a service like this. The first good thing that came to mind was that this could be an awesome way to comparison shop. If you’re at the store and you see something you’d like to buy, you can use TextBuyIt to see if Amazon has it cheaper and save yourself some money. You’re not required to buy anything after texting a search, which is nice. The bad is that any item that is a “Deal of the Day” or a “Gold Box Discount” will not be discounted if bought through text messaging.

I never thought we’d see the day where you’d shop via a text message, but the day is here and other retailers are likely to follow if Amazon is successful with this new method.

Source: AP

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Oct 11

Apple releases iTunes 10.5 with iTunes in the Cloud

Posted in: Apple, ios, itunes, Today's Chili

As far as iTunes updates go this is a pretty big one — version 10.5 brings with it what Apple’s calling iTunes in the Cloud, which allows for automatic downloads of purchases to your Mac or Windows computers and all of your iOS devices, as well as the ability to download previous purchases on said devices as many times as you want. It’s not exactly a traditional cloud-based service, but you do always have access to all of your purchased media, regardless of the device (so long as it runs some form of iTunes). As expected, it also finally adds WiFi syncing for your iOS devices, although you’ll still have to wait a bit longer for the iTunes Match service — it’s slated to roll out closer to the end of the month. As usual, you can look for it in Apple’s Software Update, or you can hit the link below to download it directly.

Apple releases iTunes 10.5 with iTunes in the Cloud originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 11 Oct 2011 13:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | source Apple | Email this | Comments

Oct 11

Video Demonstration Of An Exploding Laptop

Posted in: Today's Chili

This article was written on November 13, 2006 by CyberNet.

Ever wonder what it would look like to have one of those exploding laptops that we have been hearing so much about? The curiosity has always been in my mind ever since batteries started getting recalled and PCPitStop put together a great video demonstration with a system that they created to purposely instigate a battery explosion.

The video is interesting to watch as each cell of the battery begins to explode and add more to the fire. About two-minutes into the video is when the third and fourth cells of the battery explode which really gets the party started. Temperatures of the fire reach more than 1000 degrees and my favorite part about the video is when the commentator feels the need to say “If this were a real life situation the best strategy would be to move away from the laptop quickly.“

Here’s the video:

News Source: Gizmodo

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Oct 11

CyberNotes: Share a Taxi with Hitchsters.com

Posted in: CyberNotes, Today's Chili, Web Sites

This article was written on August 25, 2007 by CyberNet.

Weekend Website

Today’s featured website isn’t one that is going to be useful to everybody, at least not yet. The site is Hitchsters and it was chosen because it’s a great idea that could end up saving travelers money should they expand. Currently it’s available in New York City, and starting August 27th it will be available in Brooklyn. Hopefully they’ll be adding the service to other cities soon, which they’ve promised.

Hitchsters

—What is Hitchsters.com?—

Hitchsters is a web-based system that will connect a traveler with another traveler on the same flight to share a taxi either to or from the airport to save money. In other words, it’s a matchmaker! If you’ve taken a taxi before, you know that it can get a little pricey. The whole idea of sharing a taxi with someone on the same flight is great because then you’ll never have to be waiting around for someone on another flight. And if there’s a delay, well, your co-traveler will be delayed too! They’re on the same flight.

Now, as mentioned, this service can be used either to or from the airport. When you’re going to the airport, if you live in the same area as another traveler and you’re taking the same flight, Hitchsters would match you together. They also offer the option to select a “gender preference.” If you’d only rather ride with a guy, they’ll do their best to meet that request. You can either select that it’s a preference and that if it doesn’t work, you’d be okay riding with either gender, or you can select that you “must” ride with a specific gender otherwise you’ll ride alone.

—How to use it—

Using Hitchsters is divided up into four simple steps.

Enter your flight time or the time you’ll be wanting to hail a cab
Hitchsters with find a match so that you’ll have a co-rider
Once you’ve been matched, you’ll receive an email or text message with the pertinent information of your co-rider. Only a first name is given for security purposes
Contact your co-rider so you can share the cab

Hitchsters2

—Hitchsters Etiquette—

As you can imagine, this service relies on people who follow through with their plans. If you back out at the last minute, this service is hardly useful. So, one of the first things to keep in mind is to not leave people hanging.

Another “rule” is that the first person who gets out of the cab will pay 60% of the fare. That means one of you will need to agree to get out first. They say that if you can’t figure out who should get out first, it’s a simple solution: rock/paper/scissors.

Hitchsters relies on the co-riders being able to communicate with each other, particularly for those using a taxi service when leaving the airport. That’s why it’ll be important to keep a cell-phone charged and ready to use so that once landed, you’ll be able to arrange to meet-up and get a cab.

—Wrapping it up—

If you’ve been to New York City, you know that taking a cab can run you as much as $100 depending on where you’re going. By the time you pay that fee to and from the airport, you’ve almost spent as much on the cab as you have for your airfare. Hitchsters is for smart people who just want to save some money. With little work involved to find a co-rider via Hitchsters, there’s no reason not to use it!

NEC Creates A Flexible Battery That Charges In 30 Seconds

CyberNotes: Your Week In Review With Sunday’s Summary

Your Week in Review with Sunday’s Summary

CyberNotes: Your Week In Review With Sunday’s Summary

Oct 11

CyberNotes: Vista’s Games Explorer and New Games

Posted in: CyberNotes, Software, Today's Chili, Windows, Windows Vista

This article was written on November 26, 2007 by CyberNet.

Microsoft Monday

By now you’re probably aware of some of the features that are new and specific only to Windows Vista like Aero or Sidebar Gadgets, but you may not be aware of changes that Microsoft has made when it comes to games. New with Windows Vista is a special Games Explorer (included with all versions of Vista), and three games which we’ll be talking about today.

What is Vista’s Game Explorer?

Vista’s Games Explorer is a special folder just for all of your games. It displays the games that a person has installed on their computer, and not just the ones that come with Windows by default. Anytime a user installs a compatible game, a shortcut will automatically be added to the Games Explorer. This can be seen in the image below. I just installed Peggle Deluxe and a shortcut automatically got added to the Games Explorer which also included the games that came with Vista by default.

To access the games explorer, just click the start menu and search for “Games Explorer.”

Information Provided by Games Explorer

Not only is a shortcut added to the Games Explorer, but Vista also goes and downloads the game’s box-art and the content rating information. For the game Peggle Deluxe, no rating was provided so you won’t see it pictured. Additionally, Vista now rates each computer, and that information is used to determine how a game will perform on your computer. My system’s rating is 3.6, and it tells me that the required rating is 1.0. The recommended rating is 2.0 for the game, but either way, I know that I’ll have no problem as far as performance goes.

If a game doesn’t appear automatically…

If by chance a game doesn’t appear automatically in the Games Explorer, you can manually add it by dragging a shortcut for the game to the explorer. The only thing you won’t have then is the box-art and the information for the rating.

Sorting and Grouping Games…

We’ve written about groups, stacks, and sorting in Vista before so you should be familiar with this. The Games Explorer has the same options and allows you to sort the games based upon different things like the game last played, publisher, developer, rating, or name. You can also group the games as well, and it works exactly the same as we have already explained. The image below shows what the Games Explorer looks like when I have the games grouped by name:

games 3

Also note that you can access parental controls from this screen.

Games New to Vista

While we’re on the subject of games, I thought now was the perfect time to introduce you to three games new to Vista. Chess Titans, Mahjohng Titans, and Purble Place have never been included with a version of Windows before. Screenshots for each will be included below.

Purble Place is an educational game geared for young children. It helps them to recognize patterns, shapes, and colors. Mahjong Titans is a form of solitaire that uses tiles instead of cards. The object of the game is to remove all of the tiles from the board by finding matches for each one. Once you clear the tiles, the game is over. Chess Titans is a game of chess that is designed for Windows Aero with a glass-like view. It takes complete advantage of the graphical user interface that Vista offers.

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Hasta La Gadget!

CyberNotes: Ever Wonder What Happens to Your Computer at Night?

The Engadget Show returns Friday, October 21st — win a ticket to the taping!

Some German iPhone 4S Pre-Orders Delivered Early

What Is Scratching Your Xbox 360′s DVD’s?

Photoshop contest: send us your best / most terrifying Frankengadget

Buy from Amazon via Text Message

Apple releases iTunes 10.5 with iTunes in the Cloud

Video Demonstration Of An Exploding Laptop

CyberNotes: Share a Taxi with Hitchsters.com