Entries by Dustin

As featured in this PCWorld article, YubNub is a very intriguing website that combines what is modern, the Internet, with the not-so-modern, the command line. Sure, the command line is very powerful and we wouldn't have gotten to where we are with computers without it. However, many nowadays simply don't have the time to remember all the commands and such to use the command line efficently.

Even with that said, Yubnub has created the first "social command line" for the Internet. You can type such commands as "gim" and put a term after it in the text box, and that will perform a Google Image Search on whichever term you listed after that.

For example, "gim paris hilton" will bring up a Google Image Search for Paris Hilton. There are so many commands you can use with this website, and I liked it quite a bit.

I even bookmarked it.

Give it a try.

http://www.yubnub.org

Although the laptop may look like a joke, it is a serious computer. It is not intended for business use or any type of use in the United States. It's meant for people who could not otherwise afford a computer, let alone used on in their lifetime.

The XO laptop is a revolutionary step towards making computers available to the world, especially underdeveloped countries. The entire laptop costs $188, and isn't a bad deal.

It features a 433 MHz AMD Geode processor and 256 megabytes of 166 MHz DDR333 SDRAM.

The hard drive? One gigabyte of flash storage.

There are some surprising details about this computer that might spark your interest. It has a built-in webcam and microphone, and has an SD card slot behind the display. It also has wireless networking built into it, supporting both 802.11b and 802.11g standards.

However, the operating system might set many users back (if they've used a computer before). The XO laptop runs a Fedora Linux Core, modified to fit the interface and specifications of the OLPC's desires. Applications are called "Activities", and many of the "activities" are based off of actual Linux programs. However, as mentioned before, they're modified to create a unified UI.

The web browser is loosely based on Mozilla's Firefox browser, and as PC World put it "doesn't function very well, and they need to work on the program."

All around, however, OLPC's XO Laptop is a super good choice for those who need a computer and have never been exposed to one. It's not meant to be a beast. It's meant to be used in minimal ways, exploring what a computer is, and exploring the internet.

It's revolutionary, to say the least.

PC World [[article]]

Kingston, one of the largest memory-related products manufacturer in the world, has released a flash drive that has a built-in microSD card reader inside of it.

These flash drives aren't limited because of the integrated card reader. They still come in very nice sizes of 1, 2, or 4 gigabytes, but will be a little more in price than their flash drive-only counterparts.



USA Today [[article]]

The world's leaders in wireless technology are meeting this week in Barcelona, Spain, to show off new ideas for the wireless market, and are trying to get the opinions of consumers on what they really want to be the "future."

Could it be wireless broadband anywhere in the world? Could it be some new fangled technology that was once just a science fiction story?

We'll find out.

In the areas of mobile broadband, many players are already being involved. Nokia, Samsung, and LG are all trying to get into the mainstream mobile broadband race. Microsoft, Yahoo, and Google are all trying to work with those manufacturers to get their sponsored operating systems on those phones.

Microsoft will of course be advocating its Windows Mobile OS, which has most of the marketshare of smartphones in the world. Google, which created the Open Handset Alliance early last year, will be promoting its future Android platform, which is set to become a reality later this year. This will happen when manufacturer HTC releases a phone that will feature the first Android OS on it.

As the developments occur, keep checking up on IV to see what transpires at the Mobile World Congress this week. We'll keep you updated.

Yahoo! is once again rejecting a Microsoft takeover that could mean the end of the 14 year old search engine provider.

Microsoft (MSFT) made a public bid of $31 per share on February 1st, making the total bid to be up around $44.6 billion. Yahoo! has long since been a company Microsoft wanted to take over. It's just one less competitor they have to deal with, and one less search provider taking business away from Microsoft's Live Search (formally MSN Search).

Yahoo! Inc's stock, which currently is valued at around $29 a share, rose after the public bid was made by Microsoft.

Yahoo! Inc has been very reluctant of Microsoft's offer so far. Yahoo's board met late last night to discuss whether this buyout would even be a good option, and this afternoon, they've said that they are rejecting the offer.

According to a person knowledgeable about the discussions between the Yahoo board members, they won't even consider an offer below $40 a share. If Microsoft were to match that, it would raise their overall bid by about $12 billion.

What does this mean to you? Most likely, you won't be affected by any of this. Let's say Yahoo! accepts the buyout, and Microsoft takes over Yahoo! Inc. If you have a Yahoo! ID, your e-mail and all of the other uses you have for Yahoo! won't be affected.

Your e-mail will still be going to your Yahoo! e-mail account.

The most notable change that would occur is the change from Yahoo!'s Search Engine to the Windows Live Search, obviously to promote Microsoft's own technology. Similarly, when Google bought YouTube in 2006, the default search engine for YouTube was switched to that of Google's.

Even if Microsoft did indeed succeed in buying out Yahoo!, they would have to fight the Justice Department again on anti-trust issues. This buyout would be a large cut in the amount of competition going on in the search engine provider sector, which concerns the Justice Department.

The Federal Communications Commission, on January 3rd, said that it will indeed allow broadcasters to "suspend analog broadcasting only if it is necessary to achieve their transition."

For those who may not know, the FCC has set a deadline, currently set for February 17, 2009, that will end analog television broadcasting for good. It's all in an effort to promote the digital age, and also to use radio frequencies much more efficiently. The radio frequencies currently being occupied by analog television signals are in the prime spot where wireless internet providers want to be located. They pushed the FCC years ago to get digital broadcasting in order, simply because digital television stations take up much less bandwidth than their analog counterparts.

Unless your television set was manufactured less than 2 years ago, then you will need to do one of the following to receive broadcasts "over-the-air" in 2009:

+ Buy a new digital TV.
+ Get a converter box.
+ Subscribe to satellite or digital cable.

It's quite a bind for many rural families, because many cable companies don't offer services in their area. Satellite only works when there's a clear view to the southern sky, so when you need to know what's going on, it may not work.

This only affects around 15 percent of the population, as around 84 to 85 percent of the population have subscriptions to either cable or satellite providers. If you are subscribed to a cable or satellite provider, you need not worry about the switch from analog to digital. Your cable or satellite service won't be interrupted or discontinued simply because you don't have a digital TV.

However, if you rely on over-the-air television signals for your entertainment purposes, you are in for a change. The federal government is offering people who will be affected by this change a coupon to get a converter box for their old televisions. The link at the bottom of this article will take you to get that coupon. It will also give you a lot of detailed information about what you will need to do to continue receiving over-the-air broadcasts. We here at Indirect Vision recommend you check this out if you are in any way affected by the switch.

TV Converter Program Website is where you need to go to get the information you need.