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Archive for May, 2009

May 31 2009

bing

Published by japadamus under tech

This week Microsoft announced its latest attempt to grab some market share in the search market. The search engine, called Bing, will be unveiled to the public on June 3rd.

It’s no secret that Microsoft has dragged it’s feet in the search market. They stuck with the outdated MSN for waaaay too long, and they have only lost market share with their next offering, Live.com.

Bing aims to do more than just provide search results. Unlike Google, which delivers relevant search results ranked in order, Bing will return results that are organized into categories. The service will also crawl through data to display things like reviews and ratings.

All of these features sound intriguing, if not entirely original. It seems that Microsoft has combined many ad hoc web search services into a single search engine – a great idea that does deliver significantly more value than a straightforward search engine.

If it works.

Bing relies heavily on accurate web crawling in addition to core search. That’s not a easy feat, however Microsoft has been testing the service internally under the codename ‘Kumo,’ giving the company an opportunity to hone search results.

Initial reviews to Bing have been mixed. In some cases, reviewers have noted that Bing doesn’t always provide accurate results. Many other reviews, however, give Bing a decent chance to win Microsoft a significantly larger share of the search market.

I think the main question here is are Internet users are ready to transition away from the basic, yet efficient and highly accurate design of Google? From the start, one of Google’s core strengths has been the simple, single search field and page after page of results.

I expect that Microsoft will be moderately successful with Bing, due in large part to a marketing campaign that will reportedly spend $100 to $200 million. I’d also guess that there are may users that are looking for more than just straight Google results, and Bing will be a good solution for these folks.

Still, it’ll be hard to match Google’s near-universal appeal. I’d also have to say that the name ‘Bing’ isn’t ideal. I mean, who’s gonna ‘bing’ something?

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May 28 2009

Rematch

Published by japadamus under hockey

The 2009 Stanley Cup finals are set. My beloved Detroit Red Wings finished off the Chicago (sorry TJFKAK) Blackhawks in game 5 tonight, winning the series 4 games to 1. Last night, the Pittsburgh Penguins completed their sweep of the Carolina Hurricanes.

Yup, that’s right, we have a rematch of last year’s Stanley Cup Finals, which, we all remember, Detroit won in six games.

Who has the edge?

Well, Pittsburgh has some incredible firepower with Malkin and Crosby, the number 1 and number 3 scorers in the regular season, and the top two scorers in this year’s playoffs. That gives the Pens two lines that will be very tough to stop.

The Red Wings on the other hand have only gotten one goal from their leading scorer during the regular season, Pavel Datsyuk. Not only that, but they’ve been hit hard with injuries…Datsyuk sat out the last three games and their captain, Nick Lidstrom, has missed the past two games.

Still, the Red Wings have gotten help from their role players like Franzen and Dan Cleary. Goalie Chris Osgood has also been quite good, only allowing an average of 2.14 goals per game.

I think the biggest question for Detroit will be who is actually on the ice. They have until Saturday, May 30th to recover. That much-needed break will hopefully be long enough to get some of their stars back on the ice.

Another twist in this year’s Stanley Cup finals will be winger Marian Hossa. Last year Hossa was the second leading scorer for the Pens in the playoffs. However, after the Pens lost Hossa became a free agent and defected to Detroit in order to win a cup.

The irony, of course, is that the Pens got to the finals without him anyway, and now he will face his former team who may actually win the cup. I’m hoping that this will be a huge motivator for Hossa – although he will be sure to face tons of boos and some hard hitting from his former team.

So who has the edge here? I’m guessing that the Pens will be favored. They had a rough road to the finals, going through favorite Washington and 1st seed-killer Carolina. There will also be no first-finals jitters that the Pens’ younger players faced last year.

However, Detroit has been very good, even with injuries and limited goal scoring from Datsyuk. They also have home ice advantage, which will be very important in this series since I’m betting it will go seven games. Detroit is probably the only team that can match up against the Pen’s top two lines…at least assuming Detroit is healthy. They have some veteran defensemen with Lidstrom, Rafalski and Stewart, and some great young talent with Kronwall and Ericsson.

So my pick? Wings in seven. And dear lord it’s gonna be a great series.

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May 27 2009

Zune HD Unveiled

Published by japadamus under tech

So that Zune HD art that was ‘leaked’ in April? Well, it turns out it was legit after all.

Microsoft today confirmed that the Zune HD is real, and it’s coming in fall of this year.

The leaked pics were dead on too. And that means the Zune HD looks wonderful. It has a 3.3 inch touch screen that consumes most of the front, with an industrial aluminum back. It’s thin too – no official measurements were released but it looks about as thick as a pen.

Microsoft released a few specs, including a 480 by 272 OLED capacitive touch screen, WiFi, HD video out, and get this…an HD radio tuner. Sounds good, right?

The device will also have a browser so you can use it to surf the web. The touch screen will also allow you to zoon in and out in an iPod Touch-like manner.

Questions still abound. Like how much will the device cost, and how much storage will it have?

The HD tuner is also a strange addition. I don’t know how many stations actually broadcast in HD, but there are not a lot of them.

Another downside is that the Zune HD will require a dock to output HD video. That’s a bummer for users that want to take their device on the road.

Still though, the Zune HD looks incredible and the specs so far sound good. You can take a look at Microsoft’s official Zune HD site here. Engadget also has some good coverage of the device here.

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May 25 2009

Susan Boyle Returns

Published by japadamus under best of the internet

Susan Boyle returned to Britain’s got Talent this week in what was probably the show’s most highly anticipated performance. If you remember, a dumpy, disheveled looking Boyle stunned judges in her debut with am amazing performance of ‘I dreamed a dream’ from Les Mis. Her voice was incredible and the whole performance was very touching.

Boyle returned with Memory from Cats…a great song that has a bunch of tough highs and lows. The song highlighted Boyle’s control well…plus, you have the big money shot 3 minutes and 38 seconds in, which is a great payoff, but one that seems really tough to hit.

In any case, although Boyle started off kind of off pitch she did a great job overall. It also seemed like she had timing problems, but I don’t think she’s getting any feedback from the track so it’s probably just really hard for her to keep time.

All in all, she did a good enough job to show that the first performance wasn’t just a fluke. Still, it is different watching Boyle when you know what’s coming up. But it’s still impressive to hear that voice coming out of…well…her body.

The video is below:

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May 23 2009

Emails from Cyberdyne’s new tech guy

Published by japadamus under Bob Loblaw, best of the internet

Cracked has a hilarious post that looks at the robot Armageddon from a tech guy at Cyberdyne’s perspective. Check it out here.

One good question is why do the terminators have teeth? They don’t need to consume food, I’ve never seen a terminator bite someone to protect itself, and they don’t talk (at least the robot-looking ones). So why do they need teeth? Or a nose hole, for that matter?

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May 22 2009

More lost playoffs for the NHL

Published by japadamus under hockey

This has been one of the better playoffs for the NHL. In the conference semifinals three of the four series went to 7 games. In the conference finals, we are seeing the emergence of new stars like Crosby and Malkin, and what seems to be of the more impressive sports dynasties with the Red Wings.

But who’s watching? Not many. The NHL playoffs are going up against a couple of great NBA playoff series with the Lakers and Nuggets, and Cavs and Magic. Now I love hockey, but lets be realistic, Kobe and LeBron will get the bulk of media attention no matter what.

The result? The NHL playoffs are relegated to the channels in the high two digits like Versus, while the NBA playoffs get great cable coverage, including ESPN. Plus, guess what games get more highlight coverage? I was watching coverage of the Redwings/Blackhawks game and they didn’t even show all of the goals.

I don’t know why the NHL has failed to change its schedule, but they really can’t go up against the NBA. They will lose every time, and this will mean their up-and-coming stars won’t get the coverage that they deserve.

It’s a real pity that the NHL isn’t making any progress here – and it’s something that confounds me every year. I know hockey is a winter sport, but with teams in Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Arizona and California lets face it, we can break tradition just a bit.

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May 22 2009

Frank Lloyd Wright Legos

Published by japadamus under Bob Loblaw

Legos meet real architecture. Lego is releasing a series of Lego sets that portray buildings designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. I think this is an awesome idea that really takes legos beyond just kids. And from the pictures below, they look great!

No pricing yet, but you can check the link here for future updates.

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May 20 2009

Netflix comes to Windows

Published by japadamus under tech

One of Vista’s most impressive, but most overlooked features is Windows Media Center. WMC is actually incredibly comprehensive – it lets you record video, manage your media, and even access online media content. And it’s a free feature that’s included with Windows Vista Home Premium and up.

And now WMC has gotten even better with access to the Netflix online movie library. Over the next 48 hours or so, WMC will roll out access to Netflix ‘Watch it Now’ movies from the WMC interface. That means you get access to over 12,000 streaming movies for free, assuming you have a Netflix account. You can also do things like manage your Netflix DVD queue from the WMC interface as well.

With Netflix access, WMC has really become one of the premiere DVR software packages on the market today. It’s great for those of you who watch movies or TV on your computer. And if you have your comp connected to a TV, well, even better.

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May 19 2009

Will Vick ever play again?

Published by japadamus under Football

Michael Vick will be released from prison tomorrow. And then the drama will start. You think the annual off-season Favre-retiring-not-retiring controversies were good…this is gonna be great.

Vick will need to be confined to his home for a couple months, and he will not be able to own a dog again…ever. He’ll also have to report to a probation officer and will work as a construction worker for $10 an hour during the day.

But the bigger question, of course, is whether Vick will every plan football again.

Vick will need to get a lot of support in order to play. Commish Roger Goodell will first need to approve his reinstatement to the league. I’d guess that this is pretty much a done deal, although it will require some major ass-kissing on Vick’s part.

The bigger challenge, however, will be to get an owner on Vick’s side. Sure, he has the ability to improve a ton of teams, but he will face a bunch of critics…most notably groups like Peta who will probably bitch and moan at his every move.

And it’s not like Vick can just be fit into a team’s lineup…his style of play requires somewhat of a custom offensive to be effective. That will also make it difficult for him to just be a backup. Still, he ran for over a thousand yards in 2006, while throwing for a respectable 20 TDs. Those are pretty juicy stats, assuming that Vick can even get somewhere close to his prior form.

My guess is that Vick will make it back into the league next year. But I’d imagine that he will struggle. Who knows what kind of condition he’s in…and any team that’s likely to take a chance on him will probably not have very strong offensive prospects otherwise.

Plus, he’ll have to go to a market that is…well…going to let him get back in the game and not just bitch about the dog fighting thing the whole time. I’d think that the Raiders and Falcons would be the best teams for him in terms of support, but both teams already have franchise QBs on the roster.

Either way, there’s no guarantees for Vick. But that doesn’t mean he’s worth a late season pickup in your keeper leagues.

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May 19 2009

Palm Pre announced!

Published by japadamus under tech

The pending announcement of the Palm Pre has been the source of much anxiousness over the past month. Palm had already committed to a 1H 2009 release, and it would be disastrous for the company if it missed the deadline on the Pre.

Well, no worries, Palm today announced that the Pre will be released on June 6…just 2 and a half weeks from now. Better yet, the Pre will be only $200 after contract and rebates. A pretty reasonable price that puts it in line with the 8GB iPhone.

You can get the device at Sprint stores, or WalMart, Best Buy and Radio Shack. Tempting.

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May 16 2009

Canon’s cameras are racist

Published by japadamus under Bob Loblaw

Cameras have gotten smarter and smarter. They can recognize faces, focus on multiple points at once, eliminate red eye, and now, with technology from Canon they can recognize when someone blinks.

The problem? Asians have slanty eyes.

In what is probably a marketing department’s worst nightmare, Canon’s blink recognition technology has been outed on the web for…well…racism. The picture from some random asian’s flickr account shows the camera asking if someone blinked, when in reality the girl has slanty asian eyes.

It’s more funny than racist, I think. I mean, let’s be honest here…Asians have slanty eyes. That’s not a stereotype…it’s fact. Saying blacks are good at basketball and are criminals is a stereotype. But look, all asians do have slanty eyes.

With that in mind I’m not really that offended by the Miley Cyrus slanty eye’s photo or the many other similar photos that get the racist tag. I mean look, it’s a joke…not a great joke, but a joke nonetheless.

And let’s be honest here…the slanty eyes joke only works because it’s so easy. Like, try posing in a picture as a black criminal or a mexican with 12 kids or a greasy wop…that just takes too much work. With the slanty eyes all you need to do is take a couple of fingers and stretch. These photos don’t exhibit racism…they exhibit laziness.

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May 14 2009

Woot! Off is On!

Published by japadamus under Pakedamus

I’m a little late on this one. Here’s the list of Woot!s so far – nothing that great, but a few oddities like drumsticks, portable charades game (isn’t charades the only game where you don’t really need anything?) and electronic craps…not to be confused with a bag of crap:
iRobot Roomba 530 Robotic Vacuum with Virtual Wall
Tornado USB Data Transfer with PC Eraser
BBQ Corn Grilling Basket
Garrity 8 LED Touch ?N Lite ? 2 Pack
Razer Lycosa Back Lit Gaming Keyboard
Dane-Elec 8GB SDHC Card
Polaroid i1035 10MP Digital Camera with 3? LCD
Breville Ikon Removable Plate Grill & Panini
Pocket Shock-It
Ion Audio USB Turntable with Dust Cover
Philips 1600dpi USB Mouse
Easy Park Garage Parking Sensor
HAVA Titanium HD TV Streamer with Wi-Fi
HP Advanced Photo Paper 4×6 Glossy ? 200 Pack
Klipsch RF-25 Floorstanding Loudspeaker - Pair
Plenio 4.3? Widescreen Portable GPS with DIVX Play
MiJam Drummer Drumsticks
BBQ Grill Light
Philips GoGear 4GB Media Player with 1.8? LCD
GE 5.8Ghz 2 Handset Phone with Answering System
Deluxe Charades Game
Forever Flashlight III
Apple 8GB 4th Generation iPod Nano
Electronic Craps
Garrity Rechargeable LED Flashlight with Nitelite
Funko Star Wars Bobble Heads ? 6 Pack
Sony VAIO 15.4? 1.6Ghz Notebook
USB Disco Mouse
Sandisk 512MB MP3 Player with FM Tuner

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May 13 2009

Zune hoax, followed by leaked specs

Published by japadamus under tech

So the twitter account that hinted at a Zune phone launch turned out to be fake. Makes sense – there is no way the Microsoft Office team would announce the Zune phone, and there is no reason why they’d do it on twitter.

But, as soon as that rumor was quashed the rumor mill started turning again, this time from highly credible source Mary Jo Foley. Foley released some specs for the Windows Mobile 7 Chassis 1 that sound pretty juicy – 3.5 inch display, ARM processor, 256 MB of RAM, 1 GB of storage, GPS, WiFi, bluetooth, compass and accelerometer.

What does this mean? Well, it’s hard to tell. Most likely Microsoft will not release a Zune phone…they have too many partners for Windows Mobile that will be pissed if the big M comes out with their own device. But, it does look like the next gen WinMo platform will be pretty solid and feature rich. The specs also hint at some combination of Zune and WinMo – although at this point who knows. All I know is that Microsoft better make an announcement before the Pre and iPhone 4G come out…otherwise lots of folks will be locked in for another two year contract.

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May 12 2009

New Terminator Trailer

Published by japadamus under media

Here’s a long, 4 minute trailer for the upcoming Terminator Salvation movie. It looks like a mix between Battlestar Galactica and The Matrix – you get the robot Armageddon on earth thing, along with the robots creating human-like robots. Both very good plotlines.

Check out the trailer below.

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May 12 2009

The Zune Phone announced?

Published by japadamus under tech

From Gizmodo.

An interesting Tweet popped up on the Microsoft Office 2010 twitter account today. It suggests that a new product that competes with the iPhone and Palm Pre will be launched.

What could this be?

The Internets is speculating that this will be a Zune phone. Although that would be an awesome development, I don’t get why the Office team is the one announcing the device.

But this does take me back to the supposed Zune HD pics that were released in April. There does look like there is space for a slide out keypad on the device…and the longish form factor does lend itself well to hold-against-the-ear talking.

I’d suspect that we are going to hear A LOT in June – this will be when the Pre is released and Apple and apparently Microsoft will announce their competing devices.

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