I recently decided to make the jump from using Windows Media Center to XBMC as the primary way we watch media on our TVs. The nice thing with Windows Media Center is that you can use the Xbox 360 as an extender making it a no-brainer to access the content anywhere you have an Xbox in your house, but the lack of customizability was really starting to get to me.
A few months ago I started shopping around for a NAS that I knew would be reliable, but at the same time I wanted it to be affordable since it was just going to be used at home. The reason I wanted it was because I needed a central unit in my house that all my computers could use to back up to and for general file storage.
It's not often that I write about my personal experiences with customer service, but this is one that I thought was worth sharing. I've owned a MacBook Pro for about a year and a half now (it was my first Mac), and the computer has held up amazingly well.
It was a tough decision, but I decided to upgrade my iPhone 3G to the iPhone 3GS. I wasn't sure if the new features would be enough to justify the purchase, but I figured I should be able to sell my iPhone 3G on eBay and recoup a good chunk of the cost. So I pre-ordered the phone, and got it delivered to me last Friday morning.
Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) kicked off yesterday and missing from the event, of course, was Steve Jobs. In his place was Phil Schiller to give the keynote filled with some major announcements. While Schiller did a decent job, he is certainly no Steve Jobs.
"Switching operating systems is just like moving to a new city. If you've moved, you know there's some fun and excitement to exploring new places but there's some discomfort because it is unfamiliar and it might take you longer to get to where you need to go or you might get lost on occasion.
Back in October of 2007, we took a look at the Most Popular Cameras on Flickr. It's been well over a year, and a lot happens in a year's time, so we thought we'd take a look at the current most popular cameras on Flickr. This list gives some interesting insight as to which cameras are popular, at least among the Flickr crowd of photographers.
It sounds almost surreal to actually happen, but many Zune owners are waking up this morning to find that their 30 GB Zunes aren't working. Upon first reading the headline over at Gizmodo, we were thinking that it was just a few isolated cases, but after further investigation, it's happening to many, many people.
Important Note : This giveaway is only available for residents of the United States.
If you find yourself sitting in front of the computer for hours on end during a days time, a nice LCD monitor can really make a difference. Compared to conventional CRT monitors, flat screens are sharper, and thus a little easier on the eyes. Over the last several years, the prices have come down as well which means it doesn't take long to save up for one.
April was a big month for us. Some of you may recall that it was then that we took the plunge and bought MacBook Pros. Thinking back, our first week was a bit painful. It took time to "re-train" our brains to think differently.
Over the last several weeks, you may have heard people talking about "supposed" changes Apple was going to make to their MacBook laptops. Some of what we heard turned out to be just rumors, but much turned out to be true.
Computers are continuing to get more and more powerful, but a lot of people don't need that extra computing power that the advances in technology bring to the table. At home most people only do things like check their email, chat with friends, and other basic tasks. Dell has recognized this, and the new Dell Inspiron Mini 9 will fill that need.
It was only about 6-weeks ago that TechCrunch decided they wanted to build a $200 web tablet, and they were trying to recruit all of the talent they could to get the job done. The image above is showing off the first prototype that has been assembled, but it won't be nearly as thick as what you see:
Last week Intel unveiled USB 3.0 specs that demonstrates how the next generation USB is going to work. USB 3.0, also known as SuperSpeed USB, is due out in 2009 or 2010. Intel was even kind enough to make the new specification royalty free so that developers don't have to fork out money just to make devices that utilize the new technology.
Over a month ago NVIDIA came forward and announced that they had shipped some faulty graphical processing units (GPU's), and that it would cost them between $150-$200 million to cover the damages done. They didn't announce specifically what cards were affected, but the cause of the issue was a weak die/packaging material that could fail because of temperature fluctuations.
The Wall Street Journal recently sat down with Steve Jobs to see how things are going with the newly released App Store. As expected, things are going really well. In the past month that the App Store has been available to iPhone and iPod Touch users, more than 60 million applications have been downloaded.
Back in April, Microsoft's Surface Computer began appearing in select AT&T stores across the country but they still weren't available to the general population. That apparently has changed. A "Microsoft Surface Order Form" is now available as well as "Marketing Guidelines" and nowhere in those documents does it say that the general population can't buy one.
I'm sure some of you have been using a 64-bit version of Windows for a few years now, but have experienced frustrations when coming across problems such as driver incompatibility. That might become a thing of the past as 64-bit Windows PC's become more prevalent.
It's hard to believe that Microsoft is still working on XP so many years after it originally launched. Their latest work with the operating system involved making a version that worked well with the XO Laptop (One Laptop Per Child project).