Hasta La Gadget!

Once upon a time, when handheld game systems were thicker and Nintendo was entirely without peer, the company deigned to allow us to import games without fear. On Game Boy of all shapes and sizes, as well as the Nintendo DS, a Japanese cartridge would let you experience portable wonders years before they hit Europe and the US. Starting in 2008, however, Nintendo made DSi-specific titles region-locked — and that’s the same fate that will likely befall games on Nintendo’s new 3D handheld as well. “There is the possibility that Nintendo 3DS software sold in one region will not function properly when running on Nintendo 3DS hardware sold in another,” a company statement reads, though it’s important to note that region locks are typically a two-party affair — if game publishers choose to make their stereoscopic software region-free, it might work on your handheld anyhow. So yes, you might still have a chance to get your date sim on.

Nintendo 3DS may have region-locked software, continue an unfortunate trend originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 Jan 2011 20:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This article was written on November 08, 2006 by CyberNet.

Web Browser Wednesday

I am a huge fan of the services that Google offers even though I have found myself switching to other alternatives lately. Mostly because I have found other companies, such as Netvibes for my personalized homepage, that offer better features for what I would like to do.

One thing that has always upset me is that most of Google’s services don’t work properly in Opera. It is a really great browser and many of Opera’s users would probably use Google’s services if they actually worked. The Opera team is dedicated to making their users happy and one thing that they try to do is make sure Gmail is always working, since that is probably the most popular Google service. However, it shouldn’t be up to them to fix the issues.

So here are a list of Google’s services and how well they work in Opera 9.02:

• Google AdWords – Duh! Of course it works…think profit!
• Google Classic Homepage – there is a little bit of JavaScript on the page but it works fine in Opera.
• Google Analytics – works great but it is Flash based so I didn’t expect to have any problems.
• Google Calendar – works but you are prompted with a “not compatible” message every time you try and load Google Calendar. If you press “Cancel” at that prompt it will load and function fine. Masking the browser as Mozilla or Internet Explorer prevents the popup but the calendar does not work properly. Google should remove the popup window.
  
• Google Docs & Spreadsheets – You can’t even try to use the services unless you mask Opera as Mozilla. Once I did that the Google Docs seemed to work great from what I tried but the Google Spreadsheets was virtually unusable. When Writely (the name before Google bought them and called them Google Docs) was being developed they were working on getting support for Opera and actually contacted the Opera team to discuss issues. They resolved many of them but I’m not sure if they ever got to the point of officially supporting Opera. If they didn’t I’m sure that it is no longer a concern.
• Froogle – works great but why wouldn’t it? I mean they have a large sidebar with advertisements so they can make some money!
• Gmail – works very well thanks to the Opera team. They are constantly patching problems that Google creates when changing things in Gmail. However, the Gmail Chat will only work if you mask the browser as Mozilla and after doing so you should be able to chat with people just like in Firefox or Internet Explorer.
• Google Notebook – for starters there is no extension available to use the Notebook inside the browser, but that isn’t really Google’s fault because Opera only supports widgets. The actual Google Notebook page, however, appears to be halfway functional at first but trying to edit a note is impossible.
• Google Page Creator – it prompts you with a message saying that the browser isn’t compatible but masking Opera as another browser quickly bypasses the check. That doesn’t do you much good because none of the links work on the site so you can’t even create a new page.
  
• Google Personalized Homepage – surprisingly works perfectly. It does seem to load a little slow compared to other browsers though.
• Google Reader – This one absolutely boggles my mind. It is loaded with AJAX and yet it works flawlessly with Opera! There isn’t even a warning saying that the browser is incompatible…it just works! How come the Google Reader team can get things done right?
• Google Video – no problems that I have noticed. Looks like you can even use the web-based uploader!

I was pleasantly surprised at how many Google services do actually work with Opera but there are several popular ones that don’t. I give a lot of credit to the Google Reader team for developing such a powerful web application that works with more than just Firefox and Internet Explorer. Maybe they will spill some of their knowledge over to the other teams.

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This article was written on February 14, 2008 by CyberNet.

A few different people have posted screenshots of Windows 7 Milestone 1, which is a very early look at what’s supposed to be released in 2009 or 2010. The last time we saw screenshots of Windows 7 Milestone 1 there wasn’t really anything that exciting, but a Russian site (English translation by Google) has really busted the lid off of any mysteries.

Aside from the article that was written there are also two screenshot galleries that accompany it (here and here). From the article and the two galleries here are the things that we found interesting:

• After you first setup the computer with Windows 7 you’ll be able to establish a “HomeGroup.” Sounds similar to a Workgroup, but I guess this is yet another step that Microsoft is taking in making networking an easy process for anyone that uses a computer.

  (Click to Enlarge)
   

• The Status Bar, as we already knew, expands hidden icons in a popup window to conserve the precious Taskbar space.
   
• The search box in Windows Explorer is now resizable, which I’m surprised to see.
  
• The Start Menu now makes it a bit easier to pin items that you use the most:

  (Click to Enlarge)
  

• The size of the Control Panel icons can be adjusted for those that like things a bit smaller:
  
• In just a few clicks you’ll be able to restore Windows back to the original state. It would be cool if this feature didn’t include the bloated software that the manufacturers typically bundle with Windows, but that’s doubtful.
  
• One of the features that I want right now in Vista is the full-width Start Menu searching (I trimmed out the middle of the screenshot to eliminate the abundance of whitespace). Super sweet!
   

After looking at the screenshots in the article and the gallery I have to say that there is a lot more new stuff in Windows 7 Milestone 1 than I had expected. Microsoft still has about a year to develop new features and improve usability before they need to start focusing on polishing the operating system and squashing bugs. Well, that’s if they want to make the projected release date of 2009.

We’ll keep you informed when more Windows 7 news becomes available, but I have a feeling that the first milestone has been milked for everything it’s worth.

[via istartedsomething]

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This article was written on June 05, 2008 by CyberNet.

Technology is really amazing, isn’t it? Most of us are able to freely use it on a regular basis without the wink of an eye because it’s just second nature. Unfortunately, the same technology the majority of us are able to use freely, often times isn’t created with people that have disabilities like deafness or blindness in mind. Over the years things have slowly gotten more accessible for them thanks to assistive technology but there are still some people who are “left out.”

One man, John LeSieur felt as though his six year old grandson wasn’t able to take advantage of computers because he is autistic. Without going into too much detail, Autism is a brain development disorder that impairs communication, social interactions with others, and more. it’s considered a spectrum disorder meaning that there’s a range of impairments and some people are considered low-functioning while others are high-functioning. No one person with autism is going to function exactly the same as another which can make things tricky. LeSieur set-out to simplify the experience of using a computer for his grandson and felt one way he could do this was to create a web browser.

This new browser is called “The Zac Browser” in honor of his grandson and it’s free to anybody. Because as we mentioned, not all Autistic children are the same, not everybody will benefit, but a lot will. Here’s what he did with the browser:

• Hand-picked sites that could be visited and enjoyed by autistic children and included some that were educational, others that were visually stimulating, and some that had appropriate music and videos
• To keep children from getting overwhelmed with multiple buttons and keys to press, keys that wouldn’t be necessary to a child like “print Screen” are disabled, the right-click mouse button is also disabled he says doing this “eliminates commands most children don’t need anyway, and it reduces the chance an autistic child will lose confidence after making a counterproductive click
• Icons are much larger than normal and large symbols are used like a soccer ball to signify games or books to signify stories
• No advertisements or flashing distractions appear which could cause the child to lose focus

Essentially what LeSieur did was limit the distractions an autistic child will come across as much as possible so that they won’t get frustrated, and it gives them the opportunity to be independent. As we mentioned, it’s not going to be the perfect solution for every autistic child out there, but it will probably help many.

The Zac Browser is an interesting concept, isn’t it? Assistive technology is so expensive and in some situations, simply creating a customized web browser could be of tremendous help to those with disabilities. Perhaps this will be the start of a new trend and we’ll see more customized browsers out there that cater to different groups of people?

Source: AP via Yahoo

Checkout the Zac Browser – it’s free!

Thanks for the tip Kiltboy!

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This article was written on April 23, 2008 by CyberNet.

Any time that Vista Ultimate Extras were brought up last year (here, here and here), it was usually to talk about how disappointing that they were. Even though Vista launched in January, it took too long and too much silence from the Ultimate Extras team before they got anything pushed out the door. The most anticipated extra, DreamScene took forever to be launched into it’s final form, and language packs were promised by the end of the Summer but didn’t come until mid-Fall. The team is known for going quite some time without saying a word which has left many Vista Ultimate users wondering if the “extras” have been abandoned all-together.

At one point they said they weren’t going to make any promises or release any details of what would come next but they did say, “Please rest assured that our team is working hard to deliver on our promise to Ultimate Customers.” If they’re working hard and trying to impress, you might expect something a little more than what they just launched. Once again, it’s rather disappointing to say that the only two Ultimate Extras Microsoft could come up with are a pack of 2 Windows sound schemes and a Windows DreamScene Content Pack #3 (photo is of new DreamScene image).

We’re sure that the sound schemes probably are cool, and we hate to discount the work that the team did put into these extras as insignificant, but it’s hard not to when Ultimate Extras in general have been so disappointing and far and few in-between. When it’s been so long since they’ve delivered something, you’d just expect more than sounds and an update to DreamScene for Ultimate users who did pay extra to receive the extras.

When it’s time for Windows 7 to come out, we’re thinking that Microsoft isn’t going to try and sell an “Ultimate” version at a premium price with a promise that extras will be delivered in the future. We’ve seen that they haven’t been able to deliver (heck, it took them a whole month after SP1 launched before they could update the Language packs!) like everybody thought they would which is ultimately disappointing and doesn’t help their reputation any. Unfortunately for Microsoft, Vista Ultimate is not living up to its name.

If you’re running Vista Ultimate and the sound schemes and an update to DreamScene interest you, look for the extras on Windows Update…

Source: Windows Vista Blog

Thanks to all who sent this in as a tip!

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