Hardware

The Wii Really Is an Updated GameCube

Technology Monster — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 20:34:30 +0000

We?ve upgraded our development tools to new versions but, you can still use GC programs as they are. With that in mind, I thought we could remake GC titles for the Wii and modify them to work with the Wii remote so that they?re more fun to play." The motion-sensing Wii Remote controller is definitely something new in the world of gaming (and a lot better than the lame, at least as used in the games I've seen so farm PS3 Sixaxis.) Of course, the Wii could still be more fun.

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$100 Computer Supporters May Want To Look At The History Of The Simputer

Technology Monster — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 20:34:25 +0000

For all the hype and buzz over the $100 computer project, it seems that many of the programs supporters forget that this is hardly the first time such a project has been tried. It's been nearly five years since the Simputer first hit the market, with a very similar story to the $100 computer. Over the years, many people have tried to come up with similar offerings.

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Will iPhone Mess Up Cell Phones Upgrade Cycle?

Technology Monster — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 20:34:24 +0000

Sure, for decades now, people have been replacing their mobile phones more and more frequently -- most recently, every 18 months. That means that if cell phone makers or carriers decide to add new functionalities to these phone when they are already in use, they could, potentially, do that over the air. If consumers are able to get new applications this way, I think some of them will stick with their phones longer. So, why splurge on a new phone?

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Mac Users' Security Smugness Set To Roll On For A While Yet

Technology Monster — Sat, 21 Oct 2006 20:59:19 +0000

But hey, a little Mac smack talk always makes for good headlines, as bloggers around the world have figured out, and there's no better way to rile up the fanboys (and generate some traffic) than to suggest that maybe the Mac isn't quite as secure as the legion of smug Mac users would like to think. The tipping point where Mac market share makes it fruitful for virus writers to target Macs remains quite a ways off -- and ultimately, it's probably out of Apple's reach.

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1.2 Million Libyan Kids With Laptops

Technology Monster — Fri, 13 Oct 2006 20:33:22 +0000

(via David Weinberger) Libya has become the fourth country to make a sizeable order of the $100 laptop to the tune of $250 million. Interesting vision here: It is possible that Libya will be the first nation in the world to connect all of its children to the Web via computers provided by schools, Negroponte said, according to the Times. Second, I would ask what does it say about our commitment to our children in this country if we are not the first to connect all of its children to the Internet?

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Falsely Accusing Your Customers Of Software Piracy Is Not A Victimless Crime

Technology Monster — Fri, 06 Oct 2006 22:11:05 +0000

For much of its lifetime, Microsoft has figured out that it can build an incredibly profitable business on software sales without being too stringent on copy protection techniques. It's nice to think that you can boost your bottom line by turning pirated copies into sales -- but if it also means making life difficult for many legitimate users and weakening your ability to be the defacto platform, it seems like there may be some additional costs that Microsoft hasn't yet factored in.

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One Way To Get Past Slow WiFi Standards Processes: Guarantee You'll Upgrade Hardware

Technology Monster — Wed, 04 Oct 2006 21:53:08 +0000

Glenn Fleishman is pointing out that vendor ASUS has announced today a way around this stalemate: a promise to upgrade any equipment bought this year to the final standard. Historically, companies often say that they'll upgrade the firmware, but they can't guarantee the hardware will be compatible with the final standard (though, it may well be). However, by guaranteeing that they'll upgrade the hardware as well, it takes most of the worries out of the upgrade issue.

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In A Twist, Now DVD Jon Wants To Give You More DRM

Technology Monster — Tue, 03 Oct 2006 23:58:07 +0000

Apple's famously refused to let anybody else put their DRM'ed content on iPods outside a very small circle -- leading some companies like RealNetworks to try and reverse-engineer FairPlay on their own to make iPods compatible with their music services -- while it also refuses to license the technology to hardware manufacturers so it can control what devices consumers use to play back media it sells.

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Good Goes Global?

Technology Monster — Sat, 15 Jul 2006 21:22:00 +0000

It's hard to say anyone's putting a dent in RIM's gi-normous Blackberry mobile email business, but rival Good Technology appears intent to give the company a run for the money. Good announced today it had signed deals with Telstra's, Australia's largest wireless carrier, and Bell Mobility of Canada to offer its service to denizens of those countries. We're not talking huge business here, since Canada and Australia have relatively sparse populations.

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ABC Says People Wouldn't Mind If TiVos Can No Longer Fast Forward

Technology Monster — Sat, 08 Jul 2006 18:50:10 +0000

Slashdot points out that ABC TV execs have been talking about ways to ban people from using their DVRs to skip commercials. In fact, ABC's head of ad sales actually claimed that consumers don't really care about the commercial skip feature: I'm not sure that the driving reason to get a DVR in the first place is just to skip commercials. People can understand in order to have convenience and on-demand (options), that you can't skip commercials."

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Not Your Dad's Mainframe: Little Iron

Technology Monster — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 22:59:06 +0000

Now, though, the mainframe is heading towards a much larger potential market.In IBM's latest effort to keep Big Iron relevant in a fast-changing computing world, it's retooling the technology for small- and medium-size businesses. They met up with some IBM technical wizards and talked over their dreams and were stunned to hear that the mainframe might be the best computing choice for a small company with a massive project like they had in mind.

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Hey YouOS!

Technology Monster — Tue, 18 Apr 2006 17:12:07 +0000

YouOS , a four-person startup in Silicon Valley, has just debuted a beta of their technology, which they call a ?Web operating system? and which they conceive as the online counterpart to Microsoft?s Windows. They?re just four fun-loving techies who like to invent stuff and think they have come up with a better way to do things on the Web. ?People will use it when they want to collaborate or they want to access data when they?re away from their computer. They work out of their homes.

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