Happy New Year everybody with lots of tech, travel and family satisfaction! I cannot think of any better way to celebrate than watching the Muppets sing the brilliant “Bohemian Rhapsody” from Queen. Enjoy in HD! And if you haven’t seen Kermit anywhere, you have to watch till the end :-):-):-):-)
[YouTube]
Chrome OS is a hotly anticipated product by Google, many believe it is a Windows killer. Today’s initial presentations gave me the impression of a glorified browser which is all that runs on a certain piece of hardware. I fact, Chrome OS could hardly be classified as a computer OS…
There is hardly any accessory support, there is SSD support without classical hard disc support, and storage of everything in the cloud. Google believes that people prefer to just use the Internet and not store anything locally. This might be true in some cases, but then again that is what I can do with a decent smartphone without carrying around a larger device. The startup time is 7 seconds but again a smartphone is always on! So this argument is completely irrelevant for light applications. And what if I want a custom look for my machine? Nothing has been mentioned. Continue Reading »
Google says so, maybe it’s right. For me newspapers are already finished, last time I bought one was about ten months ago. I still stick to magazines and find that the web has to go some way to match the feel. Are you still buying papers where you live? If yes, do you think you will continue indefinitely?
With Vista and all the relative negative publicity I played it real safe and only got a new laptop when Vista SP1 was around. But after having successfully tried Windows 7 RC, I have to admit that I never looked back and went ahead with a new desktop PC purchase.
I cannot argue that I know Windows 7 as well as XP or Vista, however I can say with fair certainty that there are good reasons to not hesitate to buy it with a new machine or to upgrade from the now old Vista:
I classify this under the “business” category, because it has to do with bad sales, in other words bad business. It can also be taken as a funny little story or a continuation of a very recent post on Greece’s digital crawl.
The place is a local, central, well established, official Vodafone shop. The time is yesterday evening. The conversation goes like this:
Customer (me): I would like to have a look at flash cards for my mobile telephone.
Salesgirl: For which model?
Customer: It is the LG KM900 Arena.
[she takes me to the flash card shelf] Continue Reading »
My last blog post here was back in April. In the meantime, I have never stopped being interested in tech, however among all the amazing devices and news coming out in recent months it is quite disappointing that I am urged to write again by things that annoy me locally in Greece.
I admit that without Internet life for many of us would be unbearable. The Internet is like a big bridge between technologically developed, lagging and backwards places. Well, where I live I would say belongs to the “lagging” category. It is the kind of place where you have access to new things product-wise because the market develops and older stuff is not produced any more, but tech innovation does not exist. So here is my complain list with things that annoy me in Greece most, in both personal and business tech activities: Continue Reading »
Terminator movies have always struck this sensitive human chord. We are the creators and masters of machines, so what would happen if machines one day became intelligent enough and rebelled against us? It is a scary scenario but I am not a pessimist and believe that such a day is still a long way ahead of us. As usual, things are usually in that grey area where we cannot tell exactly how things will develop.
As robotics are slowly creeping into children’s toys, a similar (but faster) trend is happening in military equipment. Air, land and sea vehicles that are controlled from a distance or are completely independent are starting to appear at an alarming rate. All recent attacks on Pakistan soil are from unmanned US drones, the results are so accurate that there is now enthusiastic plans for the multiplication of robotic projects. Recently in Iraq we saw the first successful attacked from an unmanned Reaper drone that was not piloted by a human but by its own (target preprogrammed) software. Continue Reading »
If you have been wondering all these years where all your money went, telecoms should be at the top of your list. I do not want to think of the unavoidably huge amounts that went to calls for family and friends… It is with great happiness and a feeling of sweet revenge that I read that Skype is now the number one international call provider with approximately 33 billion minutes in 2008, an increase of 40% over 2007. And there is more coming for cash strapped 2009…
All this traffic is mainly Skype-to-Skype calls (about 25 billion minutes) that are 100% IP based (and free), the remaining is Skypeout calls from a PC to a normal land-line or mobile telephone. All these billions of minutes are a good explanation of the turnover stalemate of telecoms, a fact about which I am more than happy. All these years I have seen pricing lowered at a crawling rate and in many cases implemented after pressure by regulatory bodies (see what is happening now in the EU with mobile operators). Continue Reading »
The newly announced Olympus E-450 comes to replace the existing E-420 that we covered in 2008. This is indeed a quick replacement. The competition in the entry DSLR segment is fierce, with competitors like the Canon 1000D, the Pentax K-m, or even from inside the 4/3 universe via the Micro 4/3 Panasonic DMC-G1 and its newer video capable version. Continue Reading »
Finally the Tesla Model S is here! It is sleek, but somehow it is heavily inspired from Maserati designs and has an Alfaesque or Mazdaesque butt. I much prefer the initial proposal with the massive low air intake and the gorgeous wide rear. Huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh, why do designs always get fiddled and overcooked? I am sure reviews will rave over this design but i still believe it could be much much better. Let’s hope things are going to be good under the skin [Engadget]
Having previously written about the insane Japanese Super Hi-Vision plans and how hardware manufacturers like JVC strive to match them, I have decided to come back to this subject. In a way, I have come back to reconsider. The transition to Full HD (1080p) is yet not complete, we are not even halfway there. Terrestrial TV has not yet switched to digital in most countries and production in 16:9 is only starting.
So how come we consider going higher than what we call today 1080p or full HD? Well, I do not know if you have noticed. Full HD panels are now everywhere, typically down to 32 inches. And this is for TV screens, go to computer panels and these resolutions existed before even 1080p was a standard. Soon, even netbooks are going to be able to handle the most demanding 1080p content because that is what consumers want. Digital cameras have started to integrate 720p and soon 1080p is going to be a given even for hardcore DSLR cameras. In two or three years, 1080p is going to be the de facto standard whether we want it or not. Continue Reading »
In Photokina 2008 Canon was busy launching its 50D and 5D Mk II DSLR models. The 5D Mk II has caused a stir in the DSLR world. Demand is steadily as high as its supply and clearly video is the new much sought feature to add to new DSLR models.
So now that Canon has taken care of the high end, it comes back to replace its successful 450D with the new 500D/T1i model (how the hell do they arrive at those stupid names for the US market?). The 500D is no longer the entry Canon DSLR body (a role taken by the 1000D) but Canon has traditionally introduced new features via its widely appreciated 300D/350D/400D/450D product line. Here is the features that I find important in the new release: Continue Reading »
It’s the white chocolate keyboard! Readyyyyyyyy, type, Eaaaaaaaat! [via Crave]
Digital photography is slowly crawling out of the spotlight as everybody seems to have at least one camera in the form of a compact, mobile telephone, DSLR or videocamera. Megapixels have not stopped creeping up, now at a slower pace than previous years of the decade. Many are happy with what they got, others will move on to newer stuff. And even though the megapixel count is not as important as it used to, it still plays a role in our buying choices. Amid all this, Akira Watanabe of Olympus states that 12 megapixels is enough for most applications and most customers. It is an ambiguous argument but for many reasons it is not true:
