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iLounge just got an advance copy of iH5’s iPod alarm clock and gave it an impressive A- rating. They really like the industrial design, and thought that for a $100 clock/radio it had impressive sound. They did find some of the radio features lacking, but if you are looking for an easy way to wake up or fall asleep to music while ensuring your iPod is charged and ready for your day it looks like the iH5 is the way to go. This one seems like a no brainer for listening to the Gear Live podcast first thing in the morning for that fresh burst of technology to start your day!
Read More 
| iLounge
On July 21st, Edwin was on The David Lawrence Show, a radio show that is centered around pop-culture. The topic at hand was Google Maps effect on my traffic ticket and the story behind it. You can read a small overview and listen to the one-hour segment for a whopping twenty-five cents, or you can check out the 10 minute podcast for free. Thanks David, I had a great time.
Read More | The David Lawrence Show
Listen |The David Lawrence Personal Netcast
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Appleinsider is suggesting that that Apple will be introducing a flash memory based iPod mini possibly as soon as October. This would make the flash-based mini a stout competitor for the exercise market - and probably make the unit slimmer while increasing battery life. I’m guessing a 2gb version would come first, although with flash memory technology and prices changing so fast I can see their low end models all becoming flash - within a few years a 10gb iPod Flash will not be unreasonable. The rumor mill is also grinding away that the iPod mini will also be getting a color screen at the same time - only time will tell, but an update to the mini line seems eminent at this point.
Read More | AppleInsider via TUAW
Latest Gear Live Videos
Sony begins its experiment in providing movie and television downloads to PSP owners in Japan tomorrow, July 27th. The service, dubbed “Portable TV,” will feature free downloads of select movie trailers, TV shows, and independent films. A fee-based premium service for more extensive and better known movies and content will be released later. The content will be divided up into 256MB chunks and play at a resolution of 320x240 pixels. There has been no announcement of a similar service in the United States, but since success might lead to expansion, all US PSP owners should start praying now that things go well in Japan.
Read More | Gamespot
Microsoft Hopes To Reduce Piracy With Windows Genuine Advantage
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Corporate News, Software,
Yesterday, Microsoft launched Windows Genuine Advantage, a worldwide program it hopes will combat software piracy. During a customers first visit to Microsoft Download Center, Windows Update or Microsoft Update they will be asked to download an ActiveX control which checks your Windows to see if it is authentic and, if it is, stores a special download key on your computer for future reference. If your software turns out to be pirated, Microsoft gives you two options. The first allows you to submit a piracy report, provide proof of purchase, and mail in your counterfeit discs, and in turn they will send you a genuine copy of the software absolutely free. The second option, for those who only submit a piracy report, but provide no proof of purchase or counterfeit discs, allows the user to purchase a genuine copy of XP Home Edition for $99, or XP Professional for $149 with their choice of receiving it online, or in the mail on a CD.
“Microsoft has created a program that is fair to customers and reseller partners,” said Michael Cherry, lead analyst, Windows and Mobile, at Directions on Microsoft. “While Microsoft is requiring customers to validate, they’re putting their best foot forward to help customers out, in terms of simplifying the process, creating software incentives and offering to help customers replace counterfeit software they acquired unwittingly.”
Read More | Tech News World
As speculated before, Apple has added a more powerful version of the Mac mini to its product line – a SuperDrive enhanced $699 model. The SuperDrive Mac Mini carries all the same features as the lower-end $599 model, plus the SuperDrive. Across the board the Mac mini receives an upgrade to a standard minimum of 512 MB RAM. The $599 and $699 models now come standard with AirPort Extreme and internal Bluetooth. With all these updates, the Mac Mini is looking more like a powerful desktop right out of the box.
Read More | Mac Mini Product page
Linksys introduced a travel sized router today aimed at business travelers looking to broadcast an in room Internet connection to their laptop. The WTR54GS features a compact size, built in A/C adapter, a 10/100 port for wired computers, and of course 802.11g networking technologies. The WTR54GS also features a convenient setup button that can enable secure setup of the router without having to utilize a password that can be forgotten. While this router lacks the Airport Express music streaming functionality it does provide a smaller size and $100 price tag as well as a wired port for connecting older laptops.
Read More | Linksys WTR54GS via Daily Wireless
New Scientist points out that modern chips are so complex that some chaos creeps into their workings. The study ran a set of test instructions on a Pentium 4 chip many times and noticed that each time the test was run it took a different amount of time to run the test. This deterministic chaos could help them discover the causes behind some kinds of computer glitches. It’s interesting to think that this kind of organic chaos in computer systems could one day produce interesting side effects in human created artificial intelligence.
Read More | Chip Chaos via Geekpress
Phil Zimmermann, creator of the the popular Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) email encryption program is hard at work to bring secure communications to the masses via VOIP. He is currently working on an improvement of his PGPfone voice encryption software that was used with modems to create secure VOIP applications. It is conceivable that the company he is currently trying to fund would be able to develop plugins for popular networks like Skype and Gizmo. Because PGP uses a PKI infrastructure it becomes easy to trade public keys with the people you wish to communicate with while keeping your private keys secure - thus making eavesdropping on your conversation virtually impossible.
Read More | Secure Communications
Hop-On - a virtually unknown cellphone manufacturer - launched the biggest iPod phone rip off ever. The Hop-On features a touch sensitive screen, and click wheel control device. The phone is aimed at the MP3 phone market, yet fails to list internal memory to story MP3’s on. The Hop-On does manage to have a Mini-SD slot, so at least 1GB of storage will be able to be bought for the phone. Dan Gannon, the CEO of Hop-On, is quoted as saying “Our market research studies showed that this design will be extremely successful” - I wonder if their market research studies also indicated that the design had been patented by Apple computer as well?
Read More | SlashPhone
