Geeky Drunk

In this corner, weighing in at 3 pounds, hailing from Cupertino, California….

It’s thin, it’s light and it packs a pretty good wallop. The new MacBook Air notebook is probably the hottest announcement at Macworld 2008. How thin is thin? Well, Steve Jobs likes to say it fits into a manilla envelope. The thickness ranges from 0.10″ to 0.76″ and the MacBook Air is touted as “the world’s thinnest notebook.”

It doesn’t have a touch screen as many Tablet PC enthusiasts were hoping for, but it does have a multi-touch trackpad. What the heck is a multi-touch track pad? Think about having the touch capabilities of the iPhone on the trackpad of your notebook. You can pinch the trackpad to resize a picture or zoom in and out, rotate your index finger around your thumb on the trackpad to automatically rotate an image, and double-tab to drag a window.

The cool features:

• LED backlit 13.3″ widescreen display w/ 1280 x 800 - no touch
• 12.8″ x 8.94″ x 0.16″ - 0.76″ (that’s only 3/4″ thick!)
• 1.6 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor w/ 4MB cache & 800 MHz bus as standard
• 1.8 GHz processor optional
• 2 GB Ram standard
• 5 hours of battery life
• Multi-Touch Trackpad
• Magnetic Latch
• Ambient Light Sensor for Backlit Keyboard
• Micro-DVI out, USB 2.0 and Audio Out
• 802.11n wireless and Bluetooth 2.1
• 45 Watt MagSafe power adapter
• 64GB SSD hard drive $1,000 option! (80GB 4200 RPM 1.8″ PATA hard drive as standard)
• Optional external USB MacBook Air SuperDrive

And there was some garbage about being made out of 100% aluminum, mercury-free, and a bunch of other environmental junk. The MacBook Air is available for pre-order today starting at $1,799 and is shipping in the beginning of February.

Dumbest Move by Apple: Battery is not replaceable! 
Apple, when are you going to learn?

What’s the Geekiest Drunkiest Coolest thing that we like about the MacBook Air? They asked Intel to shrink the Core 2 Duo processor, and Intel shrunk the processor by 60%! It will be interesting to see how this affects speed, battery life and heat; not only for the MacBook, but for future PCs that may use this same mini processor that is as thick as a nickel and wide as a dime. Amazing!

Filed under: Apple, Notebooks | No Comments »

Geeze, it seems like we just recovered from the late nights of watching streaming live video of CES 2008….and here we go again. Mogulus has five channels covering the Macworld Expo.

The Steve Jobs Keynote addressbegins shortly, and then you can enjoy three more days of Apple goodness with live streaming video at Macworld in San Francisco. The Macworld live video stream ends on Friday 01/18, so take your naps now!

The Digital Lifestyle, Theorycast, Cunning TV, Steve Note Live and Daily Tech Talk’s Macworld2008 will be delivering exclusive information and insights on the new technologies, tools and people from the Mac industry.

For each channel’s schedule visit:
The Digital Lifestyle: http://www.mogulus.com/tdl
Theorycast: http://www.mogulus.com/theorycast
Cunning TV: http://www.mogulus.com/cunningtv
Steve Note Live: http://www.mogulus.com/stevenotelive
Macworld2008: http://www.mogulus.com/macworld2008 and http://dailytechtalk.com/

For more information on the Macworld Expo: http://www.macworldexpo.com

UPDATE 12:28 Eastern:
Macworld is bringing down the Internet! Twitter is down, macworldexpo.com is down, and all of the above video channels are full and/or having streaming problems.

Here is live blogging of Macworld 2008

Filed under: Apple | No Comments »

Sorry about your luck Sony, because Samsung completely outdid you this year at CES 2008. Although there are no plans yet to take these units into production like Sony’s smaller OLED TV, the Samsung CES booth had 14-inch and 31-inch OLEDs. They recently stated they do not believe Sony will be able to deliver on its promise to begin consumer sales of OLED screens this year. So either Samsung knows something about the current supply of new OLED technology, or they’re mad that they can’t introduce the first OLED TV to market.

Samsung introduced the thinnest non OLED monitor available, well not commercially available yet. The 52-inch LCD HDTV is only 1-inch thick, which is still 4 times as thick as the Pioneer 9mm thick Kuro we featured.  The Samsung picture quality is amazing, as it is on the 31-inch and 14-inch OLED TVs they also announced. Samsung also had a cool boxing game you could play with just your bare hands, so they were obviously using some type of camera possibly built into the screen.

Samsung also has a new feature called INFOLINK which they will add to all of their higher end TVs and will include an integrated Ethernet port. It is basically a menu overlay (so you can still watch TV) and it shows you rss feeds and other types of widgets. You can browse through the rss feeds during commercials, select a certain news story, and see a nearly full screen view of the complete feed in the transparent menu while the commercial is in the background.  Widgets for your TV! It sure didn’t take them long.

The new Samsung HT-X810 Soundbar has a touch screen interface, integrated DVD player that scales up to 1080p via HDMI, wireless Bluetooth / 5.8 ghz subwoofer for streaming audio, a USB port for external drives and simulated Dolby 5.1 surround sound. It is an all-in-one speaker boasting 300 watts of power that you mount on the wall, and will probably cost a pretty penny.

To top it off, Samsung also announced the new 3D ready plasma TV which requires geeky looking glasses, but gamers would probably love it. Them Samsung folks sure were busy, and this is only a sample of what they announced at CES 2008. More to come…

Filed under: CES, Home Theater | No Comments »

‘Twas the Night Before CES and all through the CEA,
Not a computer was crashing, not even a PDA;
The displays were set up in Sands Expo with care,
In hopes that media and bloggers soon would be there;

The bloggers were busy with laptops in their beds,
While visions of new gadgets danced in their heads;
And with wifey already asleep, and me with notebook on lap,
I had just settled down for a final night cap;

When out on the interweb there arose such a clatter,
I put down my drink to see what was the matter;
Away to Windows Vista I flew like a flash,
Tore open the browsers and threw out the cache;

The alerts on Google Reader of the new-fallen gadgets,
Gave sudden resistance to my tech-buying habits;
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But miniature computers and wireless gear;

With little skinny LCDs, MIDS and UMPCs,
I knew in a moment it must be a good year for geeks;
More rapid than pop-ups the reports they came,
And they had pictures, and videos and more of the same;

From Engadget, to Switched, to SlashGear, to Slashdot,
And Gotta Be Mobile, Gizmodo, Digital Trends, and Tablet Blog;
The vast amount of sites reporting! The bloggers must be having a ball!
How jealous I am! Jealous I am! Jealous of them all!

Read more…

Filed under: CES, Geeky Drunkness | No Comments »

Arkados technology is taking the HomePlug power line network technology one step further. They are introducing devices that stream audio through the power lines in your home. The power wire adapter plugs into your stereo receiver, iPod or computer. Then you connect the receiver to any electrical outlet in your home – instant wireless audio! Well, it’s using wires but you didn’t have to crawl through insulation to make it happen.

The first device featured at CES 2008 was the IOGEAR iPod Dock using Arkados technology. The IOGEAR Arkados iPod dock allows you to dock your iPod and stream the audio into another room. You plug the speaker into the wall and you have magical audio for $299. Tantung is coming out with an Arkados iPod boom box dock that can both transmit and receive audio through powerline.

The Arkados audio technology gives you four channels of audio in your entire house (but only comes with one receiver in the package.) I’ve always wanted to run wire and install speakers to have audio throughout the house, and listen to different audio in different rooms, and now I don’t have to run the wires!

Filed under: CES, Home Theater | No Comments »

Now, I think this might work better than the cell phone antenna booster stickers you are supposed to stick on your cell phone to get better reception.  The UbiCell that Samsung displayed at CES 2008 will improve the cell phone reception in your house – guaranteed. And this isn’t a guarantee from a truck stop off the interstate, or an infomercial you watched while staying up too late – this is Samsung. Call me drunk and too geeky, but I believe them.

You plug the “home cell phone tower” into an existing broadband connection, which is very interesting and has the brain cells slowly trying to come back alive in my head. It can cover up to 500 feet, so it would be perfect for my basement (where I get one bar on my cell phone) and my wireless router which is located up two floors. I am constantly running upstairs from the basement so I can hear the caller and make sure my connection doesn’t end.

With full cell phone reception all across your home, you could really get rid of you regular old-school (non-geeky) phone line. It’s not on their site (or anywhere on the Internet), but Sprint is supposedly selling this now, which is funny because it’s due to Sprint’s sucky connection that I have poor reception anywhere in my house except in front of a window!

Filed under: CES, Cell Phones | No Comments »

I finally tried to get organized one night and figure out how to make all my folders have a default “list view.” If I have a lot of files in one directory, I usually prefer the list view versus icons, details or tile views. This was easy to do in Windows XP, but with the new ribbon bar and fancy menus in Windows Vista it was a little hard to figure out.

If you want all of your folders to have the same view, check out these ten easy steps.

1. Open a folder
2. Click the View tab
3. Select the type of view you want (large icons, details, list, etc.)
4. You can also sort your files at this point (they are sorted by name as default)
5. Click the Organize tab
6. Select Folder and Search Options
7. Click the View menu
8. Click Apply to Folders button (located at top as seen in the picture above)
9. Click Yes to the “Do you want all folders of this type to match this folder’s view settings?” question.
10. Click OK

Have a beer and enjoy your organized folders!

UPDATE! 8/13/08

After several comments recently that this doesn’t completely work, I looked into it. I guess I never realized that some of the main subdirectories in Documents were not the default view I chose. So here is hopefully the fix . . . 

Windows Vista has this stupid new feature called folder types. So the steps above basically just applied to the folder type you had open when you tried them. To fix this, follow the steps above until Step #8. Instead of clicking on “Apply to Folders” click “Reset Folders” and then click “Yes.” Then try the steps above again and it should work!

The only folders which didn’t for me was the main folder (with my name) that has the Music, Pictures, etc subdirectories. And a Contacts folder which I think uses the contacts in Outlook 2007, which I have none of but there is a default icon. 

However, therefore, please do note . . .  come on now sally boys, you can change the view of two measley folders can’t you? (holding my beer breath hoping this works for you and yours….)

Filed under: Computer Tips, Microsoft | 34 Comments »

With all the new gadgets and devices being introduced at CES 2008, it’s time to take a brief moment of silence…for beer. Cold Beer.

Silence please.

Now that your focus is on beer, check out this new device coming to the U.S. The BeerTender is a mini keg / fridge for a 5-liter Heineken keg. It keeps the beer inside tasting Heineky for 30 days at the correct temperature.
It stores! It pours! And those buzzards in Europe have already had this for a little while now.

The BeerTender even has an LCD display which shows the current temperature of your beer, and lets you know when your beer level is getting low. The Krups BeerTender Keg will be available nationwide April 1st. Suggested retail price is a whopping 400 bucks.

Now if that isn’t a Geeky Drunk Device, I don’t know what is!

Filed under: Geeky Drunkness | No Comments »

If you haven’t seen it yet, the “Bill Gates Last Day of Work” video is pretty funny. Quite a number of cameos by celebrities, Bill rocking out on Guitar Hero, and Slash comes out at the end and wails on his guitar. Kind of strange, but in the same way, fitting for the Big G’s last time at CES as the CEO of Microsoft.

[break NDI5NDIw]

Filed under: CES, Microsoft | No Comments »

If you are as geeky about CES 2008 as me, you wish you were there and now in great despair, you’re scouring the web to find anything and everything being announced. The Consumer Electronics Show should be the family vacation for all geeks! Alas, few brave soles can talk their better halves into going to a computer convention in Las Vegas.

That’s why I’m up drinking and writing this post. I wasn’t sure about it at first, but it is real. This is real live coverage on the floors of CES 2008 - just like you were there. You really need to check out this link:

LIVE VIDEO OF CES 2008

PodTech.net is streaming live video, interviews and features of products you will not see or hear about from other sources. You are missing out on some great videos and product reviews!!! The video is also featured in the sidebar to the right which you can stream from this site. I’m watching Bill Watkins, the CEO of Seagate, talking about hard cord hard drive stuff right now.

The “crazy drunk guy” we were watching last night at 1:00 am is actually Robert Scoble who seems to be the star of the show. At least he’s got the personality and endurance for it. You can also keep up with Scoble on his cell phone video feed.

Thanks to all of the interviewers, camera guys, computer geeks and others who are making this live video coverage of CES 2008 possible.

Filed under: CES | No Comments »