ForcaTech Blog

In a demo by Craig Mundie–Microsoft’s top research and strategy officer showed how computers in the future will have multiple touch screens as well as voice and gesture controls.

From Cnet UK:

“His demo included hologram-like videoconferencing, a virtual digital assistant, and multiple surface computers, along with voice-, touch- and gesture-recognition technology. The desk in the demo was a multitouch surface computer, and the office’s walls were also a display that could easily switch from being a virtual window or collection of digital photos to a corkboard of sticky notes or various workspaces. In one case, Mundie also used Project Natal-like depth cameras to put himself in the middle of an architectural demo, essentially putting himself inside a building that was not yet built.”

This has the potential to change everything. Productivity would sky rocket–as well as entertainment. Imagine when Google Real Estate comes out and you are able to do a virtual tour and walk through a house as if you were there.

The possibilities are endless when you think of what could be done with a workstation like this–especially if teamed up with The Emperor. For instance you could video conference with several people and all of you could be sitting in a virtual room where you could look around the room and see each other and see where the other was looking. With the Natal technology it could even sound like you were in the room with each other.

Unfortunately when if a computer comes out like this many people will probably have to choose between buying a house or buying this… We know what we would choose.

With USB 3.0 on the way I don’t know who would want to buy a 256GB USB thumb drive. On Kingston’s website it doesn’t specifically say that it is going to be USB 2.0 but I would assume since it is currently on their site that it is.

On the site it boasts the ability to store 10 Blu-ray discs, 54 DVDs or 365 CDs. With USB 2.0 it would almost not even be worth it. Yes right now there are external USB hard drives that are larger than that and there are many uses for them but with USB 3.0 right around the corner I think it would have been smart for Kingston to wait to release this then.

One way or another having 256 GB of storage on your key ring is still pretty awesome but if the rumors of the price being around $900 I think I may hold off.

From the Kingston website:

Features/Specifications:

• Capacity — 256 GB
• Speed — Data transfer rates of up to 20MB/sec. read and 10MB/sec. write
• Safeguarded — includes Password Traveler security software for Windows
• Convenient — does not require Administrator rights to access the Privacy Zone
• Dimensions — 2.78″ x 0.88″ x 0.65″ (70.68 mm x 22.37 mm x 16.45 mm)
• Operating Temperature — 32° to 140° F (0° to 60° C)
• Storage Temperature — -4° to 185° F (-20° to 85° C)
• Simple — just plug into a any 1.1 or 2.0 USB port
• Practical — durable, capless design
• Guaranteed — five-year warranty
• Enhanced — for Windows ReadyBoost™ on Vista-based systems
  

This morning we got our invites to the Google Wave Developer Preview so that we could begin to work on some apps for Joomla and WP. Nearly boiling over with excitement I got to my computer where I could get to my email and login. I pulled up firefox and boom. There I was in the Google Wave Developer Preview. After staring at it for a minute I moved my mouse and clicked on one of the open developer waves(threads). BAM. Error, Error, Error.

What can you expect right? It is the developer preview and this early in developement. This is more than acceptable right now. I spoke with some of the other developers and was told I would have better luck in Chrome. After pulling up Wave in Chrome the experience was much more enjoyable.

Currently Wave only supports the following browsers:

You have the option of using IE if you want but our experience with Wave and IE was terrible. Personally I wouldn’t mind if it stayed that way. I have never been a fan of IE and now that Microsoft is openly trying to make advances over google with Bing and now partnering with Yahoo to “create the future of search” I think it would be just fine if Google decided to say “hey, Wave works great in our browser! If you want our users to be able to use your browser then make it work with our program.”

Now on to Wave itself. The default layout when you open Wave has your Navigation menu on the left with Inbox, Trash, By Me, Spam, etc. Below that are your contacts. In the middle area you have a list of any Google waves that you have started or have been invited to by order of most recently commented on in real time. From here you can see which ones have been commented on since you left, how many responses there have been that you haven’t looked at yet, other people that are part of the wave and even see what text people are typing in as they type.

When you clikc on a wave it will open to the right and you can scroll through all of the text that has been entered. You can even see text from everyone else that is commenting at the moment in real time.

One cool part of the interface that makes it very intuitive is the ability to minimize any and all of the windows or move them around. You can even click on the minimize button on the navigation and contact menus. Everything that you minimize will appear at the top of the window. While they are there you can click on one to see a mini view of the wave to check on the updates or you can move it back down to the main window.

Here is something else that caught our attention when we first began using our Wave mail:

With standard gMail accounts you are currently given 7352 MB–and counting! With our Google Wave email account we had 25,600 MB. This could just be a perk to being in the developer preview so don’t get too excited just yet however there probably will be a need for more space when using Wave and so I wouldn’t be entirely surprised if all Wave accounts started with 25 GB of space.

We will update when we begin to develop apps.

This morning Microsoft and Yahoo announced that they will be merging in order to acquire the “resources to create the future of search”, says Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.

This seems strange since Microsoft just came out with their search enging which they are spending $100 million dollars. Possibly this was to scare Yahoo! into merging with Microsoft or to show Y! that they could pull off a search engine.

I will be interested to see how this turns out since we don’t have many details at the moment. What we do know is that Microsoft and Yahoo! are making it very clear that they are only partnering up in the search and releated ads area of their business. [CNET]

This morning just a few minutes ago I just received an email confirming that I was still interesetd in participating in the Google Wave sandbox. The email said that if I was to fill out a form and I would receive my account details within the next few days.

Whoo hoo! For those of you behind and not familiar with Google Wave watch this hour and 20 minute long video.

Go ahead that to do list can wait.

The Google Wave beta–which is sure to be in beta for 15+ years since gmail took 5–will be released to 100,000 individuals on September 30th. If you are interested in getting access to the beta you need to “let Google know where to contact you”–as if they don’t already know!

This time straight from the horses mouth, Windows 7 is now RTM and being installed on machines.

From Microsofts email to us:

AppleInsider–who over 2 years ago–exclusively announced that Apple would soon release a new jumbo 3G iTouch-esque touch screen device.

“AppleInsider has observed silently as the project was reset at least a half-dozen times over the past 24 months” which makes us wonder why we haven’t heard any updates about the status of this project. Now it sounds like they once again they information that–would lead them to believ–that the Apple tablet will be released early next year.

Hopefully this time the information is legit. Thousands of At least 3 people out there are still staying faithful to Apple when it comes to their touch screen devices and are in desperate need of an upgrade from their Apple Newton Messagepad:

Gizmodo has supposedly gotten their grubby hands on a power point presentation with what the Microsoft Stores may look like. Skip on over to Gizmodo to view the full presentation and read the details. Some of the highlights are a Digital Media Wall that will be a massive screen that wraps around the walls of the entire store, Microsoft Surface and Natal demos. It will also have the Apple Genius Bar creatively named Answer Bar.

The iPhone has been around for several years now but there are still many people who have not made the plunge. Some have been held back due to bad experiences with Cingular–which for the most part was a horrible carrier when the iPhone first came out. Some people have held off because of the high price tag on the phone or because they were afraid of making the move to 100% touch screen.

Whatever the reason the time has never been better to give the iPhone a try. The 3GS is out now which you can get for $199(8GB). You can pick up the 8Gb 3G iPhone for $99 or the refurb 3G for $79. These are the prices on the website. I am not sure if they are more expensive in the store but if they are it may be worth it to have the phone now now NOW!

As for the carrier. Since the switch to ATT and receiving exclusive rights to the iPhone the service has been much better. When speaking with friends pre-iPhone who were on the Cingular network it was a horrible experience. Constant dropped calls and poor quality. Today speaking with friends who have iPhones my Verizon cell phone is to blame more often than theirs for poor quality.

Many people are waiting for the iPhone to come to their provider. I say its not worth the wait. The CEO of ATT has admitted that the iPhone will not be exclusive forever but if a Verizon iPhone is in the works it is at least a year and a half out. At that point it will give Verizon 6 months to work out the kinks before your contract runs out and you can come running back should the service with ATT be less than to be desired.

Moving on. Here is the list of my Top 100 reasons to buy an iPhone today! Feel free to comment and let us know what you would add.

1. You can send emails with ‘Sent from my iPhone.’ in the footer.
2. Always have your ipod with you.
3. Is friendly with PCs and even more so with MACs.
4. The App Store–If you wish your iPhone could do something it doesn’t there is probably an application to do it already.
5. It is beautiful.
6. You will never have to worry about Apple blocking your ability to sync with iTunes
7. You can have it in any color you want as long as its white or black.
8. 3G browsing speed.
9. Stock application.
10. International support
11. They are very affordable now–less than some inferior smartphones with other providers.
12. The data plan has been reduced by $10.
13. Touch screen.
14. Unmatched fluid interface.
15. Enhanced conctact functions.
16. PUSH email.
17. PUSH calendar.
18. PUSH contacts.
19. Email management–mass move and delete.
20. Email attachments.
21. GPS.
22. Maps and directions.
23. Some third-party support without the need to jailbreak.
24. MobileMe support.
25. Track your iPhone online through MobileMe.
26. Push messages, alerts and lock down your iPhone from your MobileMe account if phone is lost or stolen.
27. Additional languages.
28. Scientific calculator.
29. Password protection.
30. YouTube channel.
31. WiFi (802.11b/g)
32. Cut, Copy and paste.
33. You will have more friends and be able to influence people.
34. iPhone instantly grants you +20 cool points.
35. …and +10 to your tech points.
36. Speaker phone.
37. Blue tooth 2.0 + EDR
38. 3.5-inch widescreen.
39. Multi-touch display.
40. Accelerometer.
41. 2 megapixel camera.
42. Photo geotagging.
43. 8,16 or 32GB Flash memory.
44. Proximity sensor.
45. AAC, Proteced AAC, MP3, MP3 VBR, Audible formats 2,3 and 4, Apple lossless, AIFF and WAV audio support.
46. Convenient volume controls on side of phone.
47. Ambient light sensor.
48. Sleep/wake hard button.
49. Ring/Silent side switch.
50. USB 2.0.
51. Speaker phone usable as a built in speaker for use without headphones.
52. 3.5-mm stereo headphone jack.
53. Quad-band GSM/EDGE.
54. 0.48 inches thick.
55. Weighs only 4.7 ounces.
56. It isn’t this
57. Lightsaber application.
58. Scare intruders with the gun cocking sound.
59. Fully sync’s with iTunes.
60. You can’t cut the cheese with it. (having the iPhone does not mean that you can’t cut the cheese)
61. You will have an iPhone.
62. Best/easiest to use touchscreen keyboard.
63. You can ask the question “will this work with my iPhone?” about any piece of technology.
64. Remotely monitor your webcam at home over 3G using third-party app.
65. It can be used to make phone calls.
66. Visual voicemail.
67. Motion sensing games.
68. Find new restaurants by shaking your iPhone using Urbanspoon.
69. Voice memos.
70. Spotlight search.
71. Tether your laptop and use your iPhones 3G internet.(coming soon)
72. Under $100 for the 3G 8GB iPhone.
73. Picture, video messages.(coming soon)
74. Stereo bluetooth–play music from your iPhone wirelessly to your bluetooth stereo speakers.
75. Parental controls.
76. Sync notes.
77. Login to your YouTube account to sync bookmarks and favorites.
78. Automatic Wi-Fi login.
79. Buy and download Movies.
80. Buy and download TV Shows.
81. Buy and download Audio Books.
82. Enhanced calendar.
83. Landscape keyboard.
84. Up to 30 hours of audio play back.
85. Up to 5 hours talk time on 3G.
86. Feature rich internet browsing.
87. Multi-touch screen resizing.
88. Made out of environmentally friendly materials.
89. Reliable.
90. Durable.
    iPhone 3GS specific:
91. 3 megapixel camera.
92. Auto focus.
93. Tap screen to change camera focus point.
94. Record video up to 30fps with audio.
95. Edit video right on your iPhone and upload to share with friends.
96. Voice controls.
97. Compass for improved navigation and applications.
98. Nike + iPod.
99. Accessibility options.
100. Up to 2X’s faster than iPhone 3G.

When the hype was building up before the release of the Pre one of the big things that people were excited about was the ability to sync the palm with iTunes.

iTunes threatened casually mentioned in a press conference that in future updates iTunes  “may no longer provide syncing functionality with unsupported digital media players” [Businessweek].

In the first half of this month iTunes 8.2.1 was released which broke syncing with the Pre. Since there were no exceptional features in 8.2.1–other than blocking Pre syncing–most users just dealt with it by not upgrading.

Now Palm has struck back with WebOS update 1.1 which once again allows you to sync the Pre. There are some other nice features like being able to set ‘person reminders’ for each individual person in your contacts but the iTunes syncing is the big news this update. From the Palm Blog:

“That’s right — you once again can have
seamless access to your music,
photos and videos from the current
version of iTunes (8.2.1).”

I am not going to comment one way or another.

I am trying to keep this blog strictly tech related but we here at Forca may have enjoyed this video a little too much not to share.

Watch the video. While awesome I see this potentially causing head aches at our favorite–greasy–fast food joint. Coca-Colas idea is awesome: one dispenser that is easy to refill, easy to monitor and remotely manage. The machine will send info to let Coca-Cola monitor different trends, see when a certain drink is selling well, see if they need to recall another or see if something needs to be repaired. This will also make it easier for the owner of the machine to see when something is about to run out, etc.

The bad? Two things. The first–most concerning–problem from this is Coca-Cola’s ability to remotely manage the machine and release some kind of widespread liquid based epidemic. Lets face it this is bound to happen sooner or later will probably never happen but still–scary.

Seriously though. Here is the real issue.

Making something more complex than it needs to be.

Renting a movie at RedBox could not be simpler–easier than going to another store, walking through to find the movie you want then standing in line to pay for it–however those who are technologically challenged still take 10 times longer than it should to rent a movie. During my time in retail I saw that the majority of people would rather stand in a line of 5 to 10 people than use self checkout.

Now Coca-Cola is hoping to have standard fountain machines in restaurants replaced with these “Freestyle” drink machines. What do most of us think? Awesome! With the ability to choose from over 100 drinks on a touch screen that all come out of the same place we all feel a little bit closer to the Jetsons. But techy people aren’t the only only people who go to Mcdonalds. So, when we begin to see the “Freestyle” in our fast food restaurants expect to stand in line behind a few tech illiterate people who are starring at the screen confused and slightly scared.

Help them figure it out. You may be their only hope.

First, here is one of the videos introducing the super fast Samsung Jet.

Pretty cool–yet gimmicky–way to introduce a phone. In order for Samsung to pull off this flashy display they used a combination of motion sensing–much like Microsofts Natal–and 3D imagery. It is still a little gimmicky and not as fluid as Natal but for being designed for a phone presentation I say well done.

Life being on Mars now or at some time in the future has become a definite possibility with he discovery of water–and evidence of water–as well as methane on Mars. Now biologists have discovered microbes that can withstand extreme heat, cold and other harsh environments with little to no moisture–conditions much like Mars.

Methanosarcina barkeri is the most versatile survivor. It isn’t picky about where it lives and can even create its own organic molecules from scratch using phosphate, sulfur and some other minerals found in soil and nitrogen from the atmosphere. M. barkeri can even create its own energy solely from hydrogen and carbon dioxide–both of which are believed to be on Mars.

Biologists are to begin rigorous testing on the microbe to see just how much it could handle and see if it could truly survive on the red planent. I for one can see this going horribly wrong if the microbe is modified by a shaky hand or too close to a giant laser.

One day biologist hope to do a real world test with the microbe on Mars.

Google has hopped on the bandwagon celebrating the Moon landing anniversary by adding the Moon to its list of planets.

You can now visit the Earth, Mars, Moon and view the sky using the now inaccurately titled Google Earth desktop application or browser plugin. With most of the Moon you can zoom in uneccessarily close allowing you to see a bunch of grey. You can, however, zoom in to places of importance and see information about the landmark, see a 360 degree view or see replicas of the equipment that was/is there.

Below is a screenshot of the Apollo 16 site that I took zoomed at 6 different levels. Google adding the Moon to Google Earth is–I am sure–them preparing for us to begin populating it in the next year or two. But are location based services up and running for the Moon?

USB 3.0 was announced around a year ago. We were told it would be late 2009 before we actually saw ‘SuperSpeed’ USB 3.0 on the market and it looks like that estimate was pretty accurate. The Asus P6X58 motherboard boasts 3 USB 2.0 ports and 2 USB 3.0 ports. What is the difference? USB 3.0 ports are blue.

Pretty earthshattering huh? Well there–fortunately–is much more to it than that. Current USB 2.0 is rated at speeds of as high as 480Mbps. Real world you will see speeds as high as about 320Mbps. USB 3.0 is rated at 4.8Gbps! We will have to see how much of that we are actually able to utilize. To put this in perspective right now the fastest consumer level hard drive is rated at 3.0Gbps but most you see in retail stores are still 1.5Gbps.

What does this mean to you? Currently to drag over a 27GB HD movie via USB 2.0 you are looking at 15-20 minutes at least. With USB 3.0 you are going to be able to do that in less than 70 seconds. Can’t beat that. This opens up a whole new world of opportunities. For instance Red Box could just give everyone a USB drive instead of a DVD. You go to the Red Box, make your selection, plug in your thumb drive and boom in 10 seconds you have the 4GB DVD on your thumb drive with a 24 hour self destruct.

Or instead of buying PCs with hard drives everyone will just have a portable hard drive that is on their key chain or is simply their smartphone. When you go to work you just dock your thumb drive or iPhone and boot up. You leave for the day and go home and dock again and you can pick up where you left off.

This would not only be convenient but safe. You wouldn’t have to worry about someone getting onto your computer when you weren’t around because you would have all of the data with you. If we see this manifest itself in the future I want my commission.

It is true. Gregory McKenna has filed suit against Apple claiming that they are in cahoots with the Mafia in an effort to force him to return to a New York based modeling agency that he left in 2000.

In his 124-page claim he tries to help us see how the iPod shuffle he bought on ebay in 2005 and an ipod mini he bought in an Apple store in 2006 have receivers in them that allow the Mafia to play audio death threats in sync with his music.

Of course this lawsuit–seeking $14.3 million–that incriminates a local mechanic, a private investigator, the St. Louis Police Department, the FBI, and the US Department of Justice is sure to never go through. Even as I am writing this the Mafia has probably already pumping audio files out to Gregory’s iPods telling him that if he doesn’t retract the lawsuit he will be “dealt with”.

Microsoft has decided to let a select few into the new LIVE update early just like they did with the NXE. Follow the instructions on MajorNelson.com to request access to the update early. You will be asked some questions about how you use your xbox. Last year I was one of the lucky ones who got in to the NXE early. None of my friends did. The only difference between us when filling out the survey was I said that I had a Netflix account. None of my friends did and so we think that for them to be able to fully test all the features they only accepted those who would be able to utilize them all. Good luck!

As strange as it may seem for Verizon to do something like this as of the 16th they have started pushing out a new update for the Samsung Omnia i910 over the air.

The update has unblocked the GPS capabilities from the phone allowing 3rd party programs to utilize it. Hopefully this is opening the door for future devices to come unblocked from initial release and maybe–big MAYBE–one day we will get to see a phone come to Verizon with its own spiffy interface.

I would love to see the Omnia HD come to Verizon with the Symbian OS with TouchWiz 3D interface instead of Windows Mobile but I am probably asking too much.

For those unfamiliar with the Omnia HD click the link and watch the video. Briefly, it has a 360×640 pixel resolution screen with 16 million colors. The 8-megapixel camera that records 720p HD video is unheard of for a cell phone. Comes with 8 or 16GB built-in memory with an expansion slot that can take up to an additional 32GB. Features also include Wi-Fi, 7.2Mb HSDPA, GPS, HDMI, 8mpx camera, front facing camera for video conferencing and accelerometer. Record your HD home video and then instantly watch it on your HD TV via the HDMI port.

This is already out there and available in the UK but we have yet to see it in the US. When we do we will never have need of another cell phone.

Starting at $629 the business class Vostro All In One computer may look overly classy for your cubicle but is just a front. When you turn this puppy around you will still find often rejected serial and com ports. In addition there are also 4+ USB ports, 2 PS/2 ports for keyboard and mouse and an optical drive that we can only hope is a CD/DVD burner.