Hasta La Gadget!

This article was written on January 15, 2008 by CyberNet.

Now that people have had time to settle down from the MacWorld event this morning we thought we would take a look at some of the buzz from around the Internet. We’ll checkout the new iPhone firmware, show a video of the new MacBook Air, and give our opinion on the video rentals.

Overall, I would have to say that the keynote was rather disappointing. There was no “one more thing” this time around, and a majority of what was announced had already been leaked by this point. All we really found out was the finer details.

For full information, specs, and features read our full review of the MacWorld 2008 Keynote.

–iPhone 1.1.3 Firmware–

Luckily we managed to update our iPhones with the new 1.1.3 firmware before the service went down this afternoon. I did it using the new iTunes 7.6 and Ashley did it using iTunes 7.5, so some of the other sites are wrong when they say you need the new version of iTunes in order to get the new firmware. If you are experiencing issues connecting to Apple’s servers for the firmware update head on over to Engadget who has posted some direct download links.

As far as the features go I would say that Apple did a wonderful job making this a worthwhile update. It would have been nice to have copy and paste functionality, but the advanced home screen customization and pseudo-GPS for the maps really make the update shine. Being able to have up to 9 home screens is more than what I would ever need…that comes out to 144 icons!

The only thing I’m not all that fond of with the new firmware is how the iPhone comes up with an icon for websites you bookmark on your home screen. It snaps a screenshot of the upper-left corner of the screen, scales it down, and adds some polish to it. The problem is that a lot of my “made for iPhone” sites all look the same, and I wish there was a way to assign a specific image to be used for the icon.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the Software Development Kit (SDK) will really be ready next month. Then we’ll see true third-party apps breathe new life into the iPhone.

P.S. I do feel sorry for the existing iPod Touch users out there who have to fork out $20 for the update, but I guess Apple isn’t getting any kickbacks from those owners via AT&T.

Here’s a movie posted by Apple demonstrating the new iPhone 1.1.3 firmware:

–Movie Rentals–

I was pretty excited about the movie rental system ever since news of it had been leaked. I thought that Apple would surely do this the right way, but I think they came up short in some aspects. The fact that you get 30 days to start watching the movie after purchasing it is nice. Then after you hit the play button you have 24 hours to finish it, which also isn’t that bad. The thing that really gets me is that the videos won’t be available until 30 days after they are on DVD. That probably just ruined any chance of me actually using the service.

I’m with CrunchGear on this one:

Here’s my line of thinking: If the movies were on iTunes one month after hitting the theaters, which you know I hate going to, I’d have no reason to pirate them. What’s the point in downloading a crappy CAM or Telesync if I can get a DVD quality version in one month?

–MacBook Air–

Apple’s new MacBook Air prances in at $1799 for a starting price, and if you want the 64GB Solid State Drive that will run an additional $1300! It’s sleek, small, and functional all rolled into one package, but Apple forgot to mention one thing. While the battery life is a touted 5 hours, the question of how to replace the battery was never brought up…and for a good reason. It turns out that the MacBook Air will have to be shipped back to Apple to get the battery replaced! Some things are just too good to be true.

I do have to say that the multi-touch trackpad looks rather sweet. You can checkout everything the MacBook Air can do in this video:

So there’s our MacWorld followup. In all it was a disappointing show, but Steve Jobs did say that there are still 50 weeks left in the year. The real question is whether they are going to produce something worthwhile in that timeframe.

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This article was written on July 14, 2006 by CyberNet.

Everyone has seen the classic globe that can be found in nearly all classrooms around the World. One thing is for sure and it’s that you haven’t seen one of these in a standard classroom! This 4D globe is the most unique way to view the World that I have ever seen.

It may look like your standard globe because you can put your hands on it and spin it around until your heart is content. However, it utilizes a projection system to display the images on the otherwise blank sphere. It will then recognize your hand movements to simulate a spinning motion.

And that isn’t all! About 2 minutes into the video above you will see why this is a 4D globe! You can rotate the outer ring and it will start to take you back in time. You will see how the Earth has evolved and if you really want to you can peal the crust off of the Earth and go all the way to the core! If you are into weather tracking then you will particularly find the 4D globe quite amazing with its abilities to project live satellite imagery onto the sphere.

Since it does use projection based images you can also view other planets, moons, or even the Sun. Now think back to history class in elementary school…how cool would it have been to have one of these!

News Source: Information Aesthetics

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This article was written on February 02, 2006 by CyberNet.

We have already seen red laser pointers, and the green laser pointers are gaining in popularity. Now we have another color to add to the laser rainbow: yellow! Laserglow has created a yellow laser which is currently one of a kind. The price is also one of a kind since it will run you almost $300! This isn’t for the penny pincher’s out there.

Buy It From Laserglow
News Source: Real Tech News

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This article was written on June 30, 2006 by CyberNet.

PocketNow has a great review on the Navman iCN 750 with photo capturing capabilities. That’s right, it can snap photos while you drive and it records where you were when it took the picture! Navman has plans on developing their own pictures for cities so that when you are driving through you can get a “tour”. Pretty clever, huh?

Despite it having a large set of features and a nice touch screen the battey life is only 120 minutes. It does come with a car charger but don’t plan on removing it from the car because 2 hours probably won’t get you very far. If you want more information go ahead and hop over to PocketNow to read their review.

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This article was written on July 30, 2008 by CyberNet.

Some of you may remember when Dell attempted make a name for themselves in the digital music player market by launching a couple of different music players in 2003. And you may remember that in 2006 they decided to end production of both their hard drive and flash-based players because they simply could not compete with Apple and the iPod. Knowing they had a hard time back in 2006 competing with Apple, we were shocked to see that they have decided to re-enter the digital music player market once again.

The Wall Street Journal was the first to report this, and they say that several Dell officials have confirmed that they are once again working on a digital music device to compete with the iPod. It is rumored to launch as early as September this year and would feature:

• Wi-Fi connectivity so users connect to online music service
• Small navigation screen
• Basic buttons for controls for scrolling
• Likely priced under $100

According to Reuters, Dell would be taking a completely different route with this player than they did their previous players. They say, “Instead of simply selling a piece of hardware tied to someone else’s music service, as it did in 2003, Dell is working on software for a range of portable PCs that will let users download and organize music and movies from various online sources.”

Our only question for Dell is, what makes them think they can come back again now and take on Apple? Knowing Microsoft has put all of their effort into the Zune and they haven’t been able to do it, is this a waste of time and effort for Dell? Hopefully they have several million set aside for a good marketing effort, because they’ll need it!

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