Computer Information - myOddPc
HTC Shift hands-on
Filed under: Features, Handhelds, Tablet PCs
HTC's Shift finally
launched in the US this week, and what do you know, we landed one to check out. Sure as hell ain't too shabby for a UMPC, but while it's got a number of things working in its favor (versatile form factor, solid hardware, lots of niceties like a fingerprint reader, 3G, Windows Mobile, etc.), it's got a number of bits working pretty hard against it. Some thoughts:
- The screen hinge is significantly improved and feels really solid. Without putting it through 20,000 open / close cycles, we think it's fairly trustworthy, definitely good HTC gear.
- The microscopic keyboard keys are an absolute nightmare to type on with two hands if you've got normal human mitts. Unfortunately, it's just too small to use regularly, and too large to use with your thumbs; with that kind of real estate we'd have preferred a proper split thumb-board with a nice big track pad in the middle. Major bummer.
- The trackpad is pretty sensitive, but a little difficult to control. The machine itself is certainly snappy enough, though, even running Vista with Aero.
- Hitting SnapVUE / Windows Mobile-mode is instantaneous, albeit a little jarring -- especially since the screen is so huge and WinMo is so clearly not intended for it -- but it's nice to have a lighter weight interface than full-on Windows.
- Try though we might, we simply could not find a way to disengage the unit from its leather-bound case. Maybe this was outlined in the Shift's documentation, of which we received none. Quite annoying.
- HTC kindly bundles a screen protector, a spare clicky stylus, external USB hub with Ethernet (ahem, Air), and headphones with mic.
All in all not bad, but it's going to take a hell of a lot more than what the Shift's offering up to get us to drop $1,500 on a UMPC of any kind. And it isn't winning it any further points considering that one of the device's main draws -- the keyboard -- may as well not even exist for us fat-fingered fools. Check out the extensive unboxing and hands-on gallery below.
Update: Apparently the case is permanently bolted to the unit and can't be removed, part of some weird FCC requirement regarding antenna distance / SAR. At very least they HTC could have used Philips head screws (and not Torx) to facilitate ease of removal.
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Movie Gadget Friday: 2010: The Year We Make Contact
Filed under: Features, Misc. Gadgets, Robots
Ariel Waldman contributes Movie Gadget Friday, where she highlights the lovable and lame gadgets from the world of cinema.Last week on Movie Gadget Friday we kicked off our two-part series in honor of the late
Arthur C. Clarke with
2001: A Space Odyssey. This week continues our tribute as we look into some of the support systems on board Discovery 1 and the Leonov in 2010: The Year We Make Contact. While we hear Dave Bowman proclaim "My God, it's full of stars", we can't help but dig through this film full of gadgets.
HAL 9000 and SAL 9000Designed as an artificial emotional intelligence machine, the HAL 9000 and SAL 9000 require human interaction for enhanced performance. Represented by a blue camera eye and female voice, SAL 9000 served as a guide to monitoring potential reactions by the previously disabled HAL 9000. Both machines incorporate keyboard and audio input to communicate with intelligent carbon-based lifeforms (read: us). The HAL 9000 is adept at facial, vocal, and vital sign recognition and makes decisions based on a strict understanding of logic. HAL maintains numerous responsibilities while acting as the brain and central nervous system of Discovery 1. Though HAL appears to be programmed to protect the crew, there are obvious and inherent flaws in his logic programming, resulting in -- spoiler alert -- in committing homicide to resolve conflicting commands. More after the jump.
Continue reading Movie Gadget Friday: 2010: The Year We Make Contact
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Former Xbox Europe VP says consoles will be dead in 5-10 years
Filed under: Gaming
The last time we heard someone proclaim the death of the game console, it was EA's head of international distribution saying that an open gaming platform distributed within cable and satellite set-top boxes would
take over within 15 years -- a prediction at which we laughed pretty heartily, given that most cable companies can't even manage to get a functional DVR out the door. So it's fairly surprising to hear the former VP of Xbox Europe make the exact same prediction, and bump up the timeline pretty dramatically: Sandy Duncan, who was with MS for 15 years, recently said that dedicated game devices "will die in the next five to 10 years," and that "most of this stuff will be 'virtualized' as web services by your content provider." Of course, Duncan's now with YoYo Games, which is a web-based gaming company, so he might be a little biased, but there's truth in his statement that the console gaming market is risky and that launch costs of new hardware are incredibly high. Still, as Duncan should know first-hand, it's an investment that can
definitely pay off, and we think consumers are always going to demand choice and quality -- two things that aren't exactly synonymous with cable and satellite hardware.
[Via
GameDaily]
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D-Link DSM-750 wireless Media Center Extender finally shipping
Filed under: Home Entertainment
We first saw D-Link's DSM-750 MediaLounge Wireless Media Player at CES
way back in 2007, and the company
"officially" launched the 802.11n unit in September of that year -- but the scheduled November 2007 retail date came and went, and the four of you queuing up to drop $349 on an unheralded Media Center extender were left to sadly contemplate the crushing banality of your existence. Well, buck up, boy-o, because it looks like D-Link's realized that it's actually supposed to
sell the DSM-750, and it's also gone and dropped the price down a whole $20, to $329. Sure, you can operate the thing in either MCE or MediaLounge mode, but you're still limited to 1080i output (even over HDMI), and at that price, it's pretty hard to see why you wouldn't just nab an Xbox 360 Arcade to do the same thing -- you're getting far more functionality for the money, even if you have to spring for wireless and the remote. Still, we're glad this thing is finally here -- those four dudes were getting awfully weepy.
[Via
eHomeUpgrade]
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HD DVD Promotion Group officially dissolves in a high-res burst of tears
Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment
Well, it's no surprise that it was going to happen, but the HD DVD Promotion Group officially dissolved today, leaving behind nothing but this terse message directing us to individual "selling agencies." And so, with literally nothing left of HD DVD, we formally close the sad chapter of consumer electronics history known as the HD Format War, remembering those times
when HD DVD rode high, with low prices, more features and less restrictive rights management as its rallying cries, and the
rantings of Michael Bay still only the delusional fantasies of a fool. May the resistance live on, and our PS3s always be reminded of a time when their ascension was not guaranteed. Red's dead, baby.
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How would you change Apple's Time Capsule?
Filed under: Features, Wireless, Storage
Now that Time Machine's all
buddy-buddy with AirPort Extreme's AirDisk feature, we can see the demand for
Time Capsule sinking considerably. Still, Apple's own NAS drive / WLAN router combo has likely found its way into quite a few households, and now that you've had a chance to back up your life a couple times over, we're interested to see how you'd tweak things. Are you
really pleased with the interface? Are transfers snappy enough? Want a little more freedom with how you're able to configure things? Would you rather it not function as a substitute for a portable stove? Let's be honest -- Time Capsule's a pricey piece of kit for what you get, so feel free to let Cupertino know exactly what's keeping you from being absolutely satisfied in every respect.
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Apple looking to put handwriting recognition into the iPhone?
Filed under: Cellphones, Tablet PCs
We know Apple's had its Inkwell handwriting recognition software in OS X for years now, so we might have otherwise just totally glossed over this Handwriting Recognition Engineer job listing on Apple's site. Except for the part that reads: "The recognition technology you create may extend beyond Mac OS X to other applications and the iPhone." They always love to throw those little tidbits in there, don't they?
[Via
Macrumors]
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Firefox 4 Will Push Edges of Browser Definition
Chris Blanc writes "Mozilla Lab's push is to blur the edges of the browser, to make it both more tightly integrated with the computer it's running on, and also more hooked into Web services. So extended, the browser becomes an even more powerful and pervasive platform for all kinds of applications. 'Beard wants the new online/offline, browser/service to be more intelligent on behalf of its users. Early examples of this intelligence include the "awesome bar," which is what Mozilla calls the new smart address bar in Firefox 3. It offers users smart URL suggestions as they type based on Web searches and their prior Web browsing history. He's looking to extend on this with a "linguistic user interface" that lets users type plain English commands into the browser bar. Beard pointed me towards Quicksilver and Enso as products he's cribbing from.'"
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Report Suggests That Nanny State Might Actually Not Be For the Best
tonyreadsnews writes "Usually, 'thinking of the children' is a starting point to impose limitations on video games and internet in general. For once, a study requested by UK's Prime Minister seems to be a bit more objective then most. In the Executive Summary (PDF) 'Children and young people need to be empowered to keep themselves safe — this isn't just about a top-down approach. Children will be children — pushing boundaries and taking risks. At a public swimming pool we have gates, put up signs, have lifeguards and shallow ends, but we also teach children how to swim.' I think that is an important point that most studies miss, that just 'thinking of the children' and locking the bad stuff away is actually setting them up for failure later in life. A direct link to the full PDF is also available."
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Geist Creates His Own Do-Not-Call List
average_cdn writes "Canadians looking to put a stop to pesky telemarketing calls before the federal government's do-not-call registry takes effect this summer have a new tool at their disposal. At IOptOut.ca, Canadians can enter their phone number and e-mail address and simply choose the organizations they would prefer not to hear from while the website generates a mass request that the user be added to those companies' do-not-call lists. The site, a beta version of which was launched yesterday, is the brainchild of University of Ottawa law professor Michael Geist and features information on how to avoid telemarketing calls from more than 140 different companies and organizations. Mr. Geist said that iOptOut helps Canadians finish the job that the do-not-call registry failed to complete."
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