Seagate just updated their BlackArmor line with three units, a 220 NAS that holds up to 4TB, a WS 100 external drive with eSATA and USB 2.0, and a PS 110 portable drive that holds up to 500GB.
• Available now, Seagate BlackArmor WS 110—$159.99 for 1TB and $309.99 for 2TB
• Available now, Seagate BlackArmor PS 110—$159.99 for 500GB
The BlackArmor NAS seems interesting to me, just because I'm a big fan of network storage that your entire house can access. Is that $450 and $700 price going to be affordable when you can get simiarly-sized NASes (and Windows Home Servers) for cheaper? It depends on what kind of security/backup/restore software Seagate bundles in.
The Find My iPhone feature? It works, as evidenced by Kevin and his two friends, who went an adventure that involved Lego, a dive bar and some fast urban walking. Read on to see how everything played out. – JC
Myself and two compadres, Ryan and Mark, are in Chicago (each of us for the first time) to attend Brickworld, the world's largest Lego convention. Yes we're a bunch of dorks. Yes you totally wish you were here too.
Last night, after seeing Second City improv, we ate at a pleasantly sketchy dive bar in uptown Chicago, where the food was mediocre and the characters were questionable. I definitely had my iPhone while at our table, and I definitely did NOT have it (whoops!) when we were 100 feet down the street.
I raced back into the bar, not even particularly concerned, but it was gone like baby. In less than five minutes, with very few people in the small place, my beloved JesusPhone had managed to vanish into a black hole. Our waitress was sympathetic, and I left a number, but I was immediately glum about my prospects of seeing it again.
So I felt like about zero cents, but then we giddily realized that I had *just* activated the brand-new Find My iPhone service. Even better, Mark had a Sprint (yes, Sprint) USB dongle giving him Internet access over 3G on his MacBook Pro. Excited to try it out, we hopped onto me.com and clicked the Find My iPhone link.
"Your iPhone is not connected to a data network or does not have Find My iPhone enabled."
Well, crap. I guess all bets are off if the thieving person has the bright idea to turn the iPhone off. Oddly the phone still rang when we called it, suggesting it wasn't off; but, one way or the other, it was unable to broadcast itself to Apple so I could track it down. We sent a message to the phone - "CALL 512-796-xxxx" - but no luck. The MobileMe website said it would send me an email when the message had been displayed, but no email arrived.
Dejected, we prowled the bar one more time, but it wasn't that big a place and there weren't any places for the phone to be hiding. Game over. We went back to the hotel and I was disconsolate. This morning we checked again with no additional luck, and when Mark tried dialing the phone around noon, it *did* go straight to voicemail. The odds of ever seeing the phone again were slim to say the least.
After lunch, while at the Lego convention, I checked my email...
Holy crap! I jumped back to me.com and clicked Find My iPhone again, and to my absolute shock and amazement, it displayed Google Maps and drew a circle around Medill St.:
The block was about four or five miles west of the bar. It was too perfect to be a random glitch.
I sent a second message to the phone, slightly more to the point: "This phone is missing. Please call 512-796-xxxx to return it. $50 reward." Almost immediately I received a second confirmation email that it had been displayed on the phone. And yet, the minutes ticked by and no call was coming. I kept refreshing the location, and though the circle varied in size, it kept floating around that same block, five miles west of the bar.
The Lego convention was drawing to a close and it was time for the closing ceremony. But I wasn't about to spend an hour sitting through awards and Lego-themed thank-you speeches while my poor lost iPhone sat in some random Chicago neighborhood. So we packed my Lego creations, tossed them in the rental car, and drove from Wheeling back into town. Mark reestablished his trusty Sprint connection and as we drove, every five minutes, he refreshed the location. The phone wasn't moving. It appeared to be in a row of buildings on the north side of Medill St.
We parked along Medill and hopped out. It was a Puerto Rican neighborhood. On the south side of the street, an outdoor birthday fiesta was convening, and some of the participants eyed us three honkeys questioningly. Now at this point I had no fricking clue how we would find the phone; did I think I'd find it under a bush? I certainly didn't plan to go door-to-door, nor did I expect the cops to regard a blue circle around the entire block as sufficient cause for a search warrant. I sent a third message to the phone that I'd been formulating in my head: "We have tracked the phone to Medill St. and are locating it. Please call 512-796-xxxx to help us and claim a reward." Short version: WE KNOW WHERE YOU ARE.
In a burst of inspiration, I took Mark's computer with me as we walked down the block, figuring the recipient of the message might see us prowling the area with an open laptop and realize we meant business. I kept refreshing; the circle kept hovering; but it still stretched across the entire block, and worse, this included a big apartment building.
Suddenly Mark called my number - the umpteenth time he'd tried - and to our shock, somebody answered! He immediately passed the phone to me, but by the time I could say hello, the person on the other side had hung up. DAMMIT! I knew we were on the trail, but as we walked up and down that block of Medill for the third time, I had no idea how we'd get any closer. I pictured the possibility of driving away from the neighborhood knowing my iPhone was around. It was more frustrating than having had no idea where it was. I pulled up Google Translate, and sent a 4th message to the phone: "Por favor, devuelva el tel
The Find My iPhone feature? It works, as evidenced by Kevin and his two friends, who went an adventure that involved Lego, a dive bar and some fast urban walking. Read on to see how everything played out. – JC
Myself and two compadres, Ryan and Mark, are in Chicago (each of us for the first time) to attend Brickworld, the world's largest Lego convention. Yes we're a bunch of dorks. Yes you totally wish you were here too.
Last night, after seeing Second City improv, we ate at a pleasantly sketchy dive bar in uptown Chicago, where the food was mediocre and the characters were questionable. I definitely had my iPhone while at our table, and I definitely did NOT have it (whoops!) when we were 100 feet down the street.
I raced back into the bar, not even particularly concerned, but it was gone like baby. In less than five minutes, with very few people in the small place, my beloved JesusPhone had managed to vanish into a black hole. Our waitress was sympathetic, and I left a number, but I was immediately glum about my prospects of seeing it again.
So I felt like about zero cents, but then we giddily realized that I had *just* activated the brand-new Find My iPhone service. Even better, Mark had a Sprint (yes, Sprint) USB dongle giving him Internet access over 3G on his MacBook Pro. Excited to try it out, we hopped onto me.com and clicked the Find My iPhone link.
"Your iPhone is not connected to a data network or does not have Find My iPhone enabled."
Well, crap. I guess all bets are off if the thieving person has the bright idea to turn the iPhone off. Oddly the phone still rang when we called it, suggesting it wasn't off; but, one way or the other, it was unable to broadcast itself to Apple so I could track it down. We sent a message to the phone - "CALL 512-796-xxxx" - but no luck. The MobileMe website said it would send me an email when the message had been displayed, but no email arrived.
Dejected, we prowled the bar one more time, but it wasn't that big a place and there weren't any places for the phone to be hiding. Game over. We went back to the hotel and I was disconsolate. This morning we checked again with no additional luck, and when Mark tried dialing the phone around noon, it *did* go straight to voicemail. The odds of ever seeing the phone again were slim to say the least.
After lunch, while at the Lego convention, I checked my email...
Holy crap! I jumped back to me.com and clicked Find My iPhone again, and to my absolute shock and amazement, it displayed Google Maps and drew a circle around Medill St.:
The block was about four or five miles west of the bar. It was too perfect to be a random glitch.
I sent a second message to the phone, slightly more to the point: "This phone is missing. Please call 512-796-xxxx to return it. $50 reward." Almost immediately I received a second confirmation email that it had been displayed on the phone. And yet, the minutes ticked by and no call was coming. I kept refreshing the location, and though the circle varied in size, it kept floating around that same block, five miles west of the bar.
The Lego convention was drawing to a close and it was time for the closing ceremony. But I wasn't about to spend an hour sitting through awards and Lego-themed thank-you speeches while my poor lost iPhone sat in some random Chicago neighborhood. So we packed my Lego creations, tossed them in the rental car, and drove from Wheeling back into town. Mark reestablished his trusty Sprint connection and as we drove, every five minutes, he refreshed the location. The phone wasn't moving. It appeared to be in a row of buildings on the north side of Medill St.
We parked along Medill and hopped out. It was a Puerto Rican neighborhood. On the south side of the street, an outdoor birthday fiesta was convening, and some of the participants eyed us three honkeys questioningly. Now at this point I had no fricking clue how we would find the phone; did I think I'd find it under a bush? I certainly didn't plan to go door-to-door, nor did I expect the cops to regard a blue circle around the entire block as sufficient cause for a search warrant. I sent a third message to the phone that I'd been formulating in my head: "We have tracked the phone to Medill St. and are locating it. Please call 512-796-xxxx to help us and claim a reward." Short version: WE KNOW WHERE YOU ARE.
In a burst of inspiration, I took Mark's computer with me as we walked down the block, figuring the recipient of the message might see us prowling the area with an open laptop and realize we meant business. I kept refreshing; the circle kept hovering; but it still stretched across the entire block, and worse, this included a big apartment building.
Suddenly Mark called my number - the umpteenth time he'd tried - and to our shock, somebody answered! He immediately passed the phone to me, but by the time I could say hello, the person on the other side had hung up. DAMMIT! I knew we were on the trail, but as we walked up and down that block of Medill for the third time, I had no idea how we'd get any closer. I pictured the possibility of driving away from the neighborhood knowing my iPhone was around. It was more frustrating than having had no idea where it was. I pulled up Google Translate, and sent a 4th message to the phone: "Por favor, devuelva el tel
According to our recent poll, over 1/3 of you have your HDTV cords hidden behind a wall. This may be a big violation of the National Electric Code that could void your insurance coverage.
The National Electric Code (NEC) states:
NEC ARTICLE 400 Flexible Cords and Cables General 400.1 Scope. This article covers general requirements, applications, and construction specifications for flexible cords and flexible cables. 400.8 Uses Not Permitted. Flexible cords and cables shall not be used for the following: (1) As a substitute for the fixed wiring of a structure (2) Where run through holes in walls, structural ceilings, suspended ceilings, dropped ceilings, or floors (3) Where run through doorways, windows, or similar openings (4) Where attached to building surfaces Exception: Flexible cord and cable shall be permitted to be attached to building surfaces in accordance with the provisions of 368.8. (5) Where concealed by walls, floors, or ceilings or located above suspended or dropped ceilings
In other words, running power cords through the walls is not a substitute for permanent wiring. You're supposed to have a new electric socket installed directly behind the TV, where you can plug in the power cord and coil up the slack to tuck underneath. If you drilled some holes and ran cable yourself all willy nilly, in and back out to a power socket, chances are you are in violation of these codes. Should a fire result, your insurance may find reason to get out of covering your losses. Naturally, it is in your best interests to hire a professional to check out your setup and make sure everything is as it should be. That having been said, let's clarify the original poll and focus on how many of you might be on the wrong side of the NEC.
Your MacBook Air or whatever is a sharp machine, sure. But it's not timeless, handcrafted Italian leather that's transformable into one of eight different styles.
The 2UNFOLD laptop works as an urban briefcase, shoulder bag, safecase, rucksack, leather courier, canvas courier (it's reversible!), leather clutch or canvas clutch. No, I don't know what all those variations mean either, but the link at the end of this post contains handy photographs.
In vertical modes, the 2UNFOLD holds laptops up to 17 inches. In horizontal modes, it's suited for 13-inch notebooks. But either way, it makes for a zippy, pockety, and stylish bag that's a bit too beautiful for us to toss haphazardly onto the airport floor. $483.
(Sorry if that price part stings a bit.) [2UNFOLD via bbGadgets]
The Canon 5D Mark II can shoot jaw-dropping 1080P video, but nothing about the interface makes it easy. So one video guru wrote his own firmware for the device to bring camcorder luxuries to the dSLR.
Dubbed Magic Lantern, the new firmware improves audio recording by adding onscreen level meters, disabling automatic gain control, and adding manual gain control—combined improvements that make for the excellent audio you hear in this clip.
On the video end, the firmware enables zebra stripes (they mark the portions of your image that are overexposed) and the various crop marks for 16:9, 2.35:1 and 4:3—the most common aspect ratios that you'll want to shoot.
It's beta firmware, so there is a level of risk to installing it on your fancy camera. But these are the kinds of steps that the market will need to take if shooting HD video on dSLR is to become more than a novelty, and it's good to have someone cracking the whip. [Magic Lantern via boingboing]
If you're looking for a new desktop or television, today's deals should be right up your alley. And just case you've started to run out of steam, there's free coffee too.
We knew that iPhone OS 3.0 would bring navi apps, and that they'd cost plenty. Navigon just popped MobileNavigator Europe—no support for US roads, and a $95 pricetag that will soon go up.
Even though it only has European maps, Americans can still buy it in the app store. But you should only buy it if you live in Europe, or are going to spend a while traveling there. Navigon's PNDs were pretty decent (except for their POI search interface), so there's reason to believe the iPhone app will be decent. It's just that ominously, the iTunes promo says that $95 is a "special introduction price" that will only be around until June 30th.
I may have defended higher pricing in navi apps, but to tease us with an already high price is a little frustrating and God knows what it will jump up to after that. The real question remains: How much is Navigon gonna charge for MobileNavigator North America? [iTunes Store Link via FastCompany]
Today, Acer announced their updated line of Aspire laptops. But the most interesting has to be the Aspire AS5739G, a no-compromises performance machine with a tempting price of $750.
The system features a 15.6-inch LED LCD (1366x768), 2.1Ghz Core2 Duo processor, 4GB of DDR3 RAM and a GeForce GT130 graphics card packing an extra 1GB of memory. (That card can't run Crysis in high settings, but it can run something lighter weight like Left4Dead, according to Notebookcheck.)
There's also an 8X Blu-ray drive, 250GB hard drive, Dolby 5.1 output, fingerprint recognition and multitouch support. Oh, and it's not even ugly (though it's quite likely heavy as all hell). The Aspire AS5739G is available now.
Acer® Aspire AS5739G, Mobile Multimedia Powerhouse
Taking mainstream entertainment performance another step up, the Aspire AS5739G offers even more power and extras. It's fueled by the power of Intel Core 2 Duo processing for experiencing the ultimate in digital media.
Increasing dynamic visual quality, a 15.6-inch HD CineCrystal display delivers lifelike images in a high 1366 x 768 pixel resolution. Dedicated NVIDIA GeForce® GT130M graphics provide crystal-clear images with brilliant color, making games and digital media appear incredibly crisp and realistic.
The system also comes outfitted with a Dolby Home Theater surround sound system, two built-in stereo speakers, an Acer Tuba CineBass booster and 5.1-channel output. Combined these high-fidelity features liberate the senses with vibrant audio that brings movies and music to life.
Security features include an Acer PowerSmart Key that backs up data without a hassle by duplicating files to another location with just a push of a button. An Acer Bio-Protection fingerprint reader for securing and privatizing personal information is also incorporated.
The Acer Aspire AS5739G notebook will be available end of June for U.S. customers at leading retailers. Specifications and pricing follow.
Acer® Aspire AS5739G Notebook PC – Prices Begin at $749.99 15.6-Inch HD Acer CineCrystal™ LED-Backlit Display (16:9 Aspect Ratio) Intel® Core2™ Duo Mobile Processor T6500 (2.1GHz, 2MB L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB) 4GB DDR3 1066MHz Memory NVIDIA® GeForce® GT130M Graphics with 1GB Memory 250GB SATA Hard Drive(2) 8X Blu-ray Disc/DVD-Super Multi Double-Layer Drive Acer Bio-Protection Fingerprint Solution Acer PowerSmart Tech/Key Intel® WiFi Link 5100 802.11 a/b/g/Draft-N Wi-Fi CERTIFIED® Multi-Gesture Touchpad
After playing around with HP's new web-enabled printer, it's clear they didn't take any shortcuts with the hardware, equipping it with a responsive, capacitive touch panel. But besides the same types who buy digital photo frames, will anyone use this?
The software is all very much still in development, but the home screen and surface level feature of many of the widgets were polished enough to get an idea of how this thing will work. And it's nice. The screen responds to your finger about as well as any capacitive-touch smartphone.
Google Maps is still really early in development, so panning and zooming is still unpolished, but it pretty much looks and functions like it would in your browser. You can enter addresses and locations using the spacious, on-screen keyboard. There was even a brief mention about possible multitouch functionality, though that was entirely unconfirmed.
If you're one of the stubborn ones who still likes to read the news on actual paper, USA Today lets you print news stories out direct from the TouchSmart Web UI. This works fine, but the font used on paper looks like it's straight out of the DOS era (gross). I'd like to see publications like the New Yorker create widgets to print out some of their longer stories.
The Fandango widget lets you scroll through movie poster thumbnails, or search for the title you want, then you can look up movie times, watch trailers, and purchase/print tickets—all from the printer. Having access to coupons is great I suppose (RECESSION!), but I'm not sure I've used a coupon. Ever.
As far as photos go, HP has their Snapfish app among the initial widgets, but that is it so far. This seems like a niche where this platform could really take off. Provided they get support from the Flickr/Picasa/Photobucket lot, being able to login to your account, highlight a handful of photos, and properly arrange themselves on the page would be amazing.
It's convenient to be able to walk up to your printer and order movie tickets, or print maps/coupons/photos. But if you spend alot of time in front of a computer, it's also just as easy to do it from there. So for now, at least, it seems like the HP PhotoSmart Premium with TouchSmart Web will be a neat—but not entirely essential—product.
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According to our 
Your MacBook Air or whatever is a sharp machine, sure. But it's not timeless, handcrafted Italian leather that's transformable into one of eight different styles.
If you're looking for a new desktop or television, today's deals should be right up your alley. And just case you've started to run out of steam, there's free coffee too.
We knew that iPhone OS 3.0 would bring navi apps, and 
Today, Acer announced their updated line of Aspire laptops. But the most interesting has to be the Aspire AS5739G, a no-compromises performance machine with a tempting price of $750.
After playing around with 
