300 million pellets eaten 3.3 million ghosts eaten 13,000 mazes all linked together. An Australian agency called Soap Creative has assembled the largest time-suck you’ll encounter at work. Using HTML5, the company has devised a massive game of Pac-Man. Visitors to the site can create their own Pac-Man mazes to add to the chaos. The best part? All 13,000+...
Read MoreI still don’t understand why Cisco killed the Flip camcorder
“Cisco kills Flip Camcorder” I read that headline Tuesday and wondered who forgot April Fool’s Day was long over. Flip is a huge brand for consumer camcorders and by some estimations was kicking the crap out of Sony and Kodak. But there it was, clear as day. Last holiday’s top selling camcorder would be dissolved in the next few months in a reorganization....
Read MoreNew Zealand lawmakers hit a new low
There’s low, there’s lower and then there’s what New Zealand did. Lawmakers took advantage of provisions under an emergency order after February’s massive earthquake in Christchurch to ram through controversial three strikes legislation. It’s not the fun kind of three strikes that California has, which puts repeat felons in prison for life. No, this one...
Read MoreMicrosoft getting Angry Birds while Angry birds gets unity
Microsoft announced part of its next mobile operating system called Mango. It’s promising a few things that have been in other operating systems, like background processing where apps can run simultaneously. Of course the biggest news for Microsoft on the mobile front is Angry Birds is finally coming to the operating system. Why is this big news? It’s the...
Read MoreI hope Final Cut Pro X lets me keep my razor blades
Just in time for me to dust of Final Cut Express and get familiar with it again, Apple announces at the National Association of Broadcasters trade show a new version of Final Cut Pro where it promises to revamp the interface. Part of me is hoping for a more user-friendly experience, but part of me would be disappointed in big changes now that I’ve mastered...
Read MoreFull-size, fully functioning AT-AT — this needs to happen
A Star Wars fan is trying to get support to build a full-size, fully-functioning AT-AT in Oklahoma City. I loved the idea of a Robocop statue for Detroit, but I love this even more. I worry though that once Oklahoma gets the AT-AT, it will roll through football rivals Texas and Nebraska, leaving Kansas as an unfortunate victim as the giant mechanical beast...
Read MoreHulu may be ad king, but I’ll be using Netflix
Hulu is the ad king of March. Naw really? You mean the company who charges a monthly fee to watch most of its library and still crams ads into it is getting the most eyeballs on its ads? I’ll still stick with...
Read MoreHow to remove Facebook apps you don’t use anymore
I spend so much time banning random Facebook applications from my news feed that I forget how many there are. I’m not kidding. This is my current block list: There/Their/They’re Test, (Lil) Green Patch, Fish Isle, Café World, FarmVille, My Christmas Tree, Fish Life, Birthday Cards, Kidnap!, iHearts, Happy Pets, Holiday Drinks, Hallmark Social Calendar,...
Read More$40 PS3 orders canceled, no charges
As could have been predicted, I won’t be getting a PlayStation 3 for $40. Per an e-mail from Amazon I just received: We are contacting you regarding your order #002-0251899-0886633 from the Target store at Amazon.com. We recently became aware of mismatched price and product information which resulted in the discontinued Sony PS3 Hardware System and the...
Read MoreHow you could have found a PS3 for $40
I read the results of a reader survey for the Appeal-Democrat last week and noticed a few people pointed out our need for more proofreaders because of typos, etc. I can safely say the Appeal-Democrat hasn’t screwed up as badly as Target did Sunday. On both its website and its store on Amazon.com, Target listed a PlayStation 3 for $39.99. That’s not a typo...
Read MorePokemon Black and White: If you’re trying to catch them all, sucks to be you
While Nintendo is panicking a little about the 3DS and its effects on small children’s eyes, there is some good news. By March, the latest incarnations of the wildly popular Pokemon series will hit the U.S. Pokemon Black and Pokemon White offer another 150 new creatures solely to piss off those who thought they already caught them all. I believe off the...
Read MoreNintendo is rightfully freaking out over kids’ eyes and the 3DS
Shock of all shocks, Nintendo is freaking out too much about the 3-D display for its 3DS, which launches this Spring. In case you missed it, just before New Year’s Nintendo echoed its previous warnings about kids under the age of 6 using the 3DS. The company is concerned about it affecting the development of children’s eyes. The New York Times relayed the...
Read MoreComcast spreading the love with iPad, Android apps
If you picked up today’s Appeal-Democrat, you might have noticed our CES coverage has begun in earnest. Well, actually it began Tuesday-ish, but the actual expo begins today. One of the stories we highlighted was the fight between pay-TV companies and tech companies providing competition such as Boxee and Roku. Comcast is part of that fight and they’re...
Read MoreHandbrake releases first update since 2009
Handbrake, my beloved choice for DVD ripping, has released its first update in more than a year. This update pushes the software to version 0.9.5. Highlights include updated presets for video encoding and a variety of things that would probably mean more to videophiles than to me. Those changes I’ll include at the bottom with a link to the official post....
Read MoreGoodbye Hulu Plus. Sorry your creators killed you
Hulu Plus isn’t going away. Yet. But I know I’ve decided to toss my subscription. Part of it is because of redundancy with Netflix, which now has its own iPhone app. But mostly it’s the same thing that’s plagued Hulu since its inception – a lack of consistent content that’s consistently available. Rather than rehash what I went through last night, here’s...
Read MoreGeorge Lucas gives OK to not care about Star Wars on Blu-Ray
With vacation season finally coming to a close, I’m able to get back to writing more. Hooray. In my searches through the tech news I’ve missed out on, I’ve decided I’m going to skip out on Star Wars on Blu-Ray. Granted I don’t own either trilogy (sexology?) on DVD, but George Lucas has deemed converting the originals as too expensive to move to Blu-Ray. Or...
Read MoreWhy is audio of one Yuba City Unified meeting a 1.06 GB file?
Do you want to listen to the latest Yuba City Unified School District meeting? I hope you have a good internet connection. The Aug. 24 meeting audio, linked to in the left column of the page, weighs in at a whopping 1.06 gigabytes. In other words, over 1,000 megabytes. By the way, because I know most people hate thinking about numbers, I’ve bolded each one...
Read MoreI beat @leolaporte in a game of War
Here’s an interesting contest I stumbled on today. Unfortunately you’re too late to enter unless you can write an incredible application in under 10 kilobytes in less than a day. The 10K Apart contest challenges developers to write a web app in less than 10 kilobytes. The apps consist of a slew of the usual suspects — A Minsweeper, a to-do list manager,...
Read MoreOpen Range brings wireless Internet and jobs to Yuba-Sutter area
With as much as I’ve griped about the lack of Internet service providers in this area, it shouldn’t come as a shock that I leaped on the chance to find out more about another option for the Yuba-Sutter area. As an added bonus for reading this, I’ll even point out a few job openings created by Open Range. Last week, the Appeal-Democrat reported about...
Read MoreYou can’t trust anyone on the Internet
By now you’ve heard about the online document repository WikiLeaks leaking thousands of pages of documents related to the war in Afghanistan. And I say good on them. It’s about time the federal government learned what we should all know by now: Privacy is dead. There is no such thing as a private thought or a private photo if it gets within 10 feet of the...
Read MoreWant to go to Macworld for free next year?
Macworld 2011 registration is open now and if you hit the site today, you can register for a free expo pass. The offer is only good through July 26.
Read MoreTV news has too much time on its hands
Your children may be doing drugs in their ears and you don’t even know it. Yeah I can’t seem to muster the proper level of feigned outrage over iDosing. The concept is you listen to sounds or music and they’re supposed to duplicate the effects of drugs. As usual, to 11 o’clock news will play it’s “ARE YOUR CHILDREN DOING THINGS YOU DON’T KNOW ABOUT THAT...
Read MoreATT leeches off your home connection with femtocells
There are times when I wonder if I’m cut out for the business world. Not because I lack the skill, resolve or majestically good looks, but because I don’t think I sling crap as well as some of these things I read. I’ve avoided the AT&T microcell/femtocell story for a few months just because it felt like something that was going to fade away. The...
Read MoreSTOP USING IE6: A public service announcement
While many businesses were happy to hear that Windows XP recently got a reprieve from Microsoft, I was less than thrilled. It means that Internet Explorer 6 – the default browser with XP – is still alive. And not only is it alive, it’s growing according to research firm Net Applications. While I don’t agree with the way that Net Applications tallies its...
Read MoreChina’s Green Dam software ready to burst
As you could probably tell from the majority of my posts, I’m a fan of an open and free Internet. Not just because it theoretically puts me on equal footing with larger businesses and publications, but because it brings a wealth of information to people who may not have found it otherwise. That’s why I’m thrilled to see that China’s experiment in Internet...
Read MoreiCan haz iPhone? Yep
A funny thing happens when you wait in line forever and eventually get your phone. You end up too tired to remember to write about it. So what you missed at the end of Thursday’s drama was me finally getting my phone after 16 hours. Waaaaay too long to wait for anything. And as my girlfriend pointed out the next day, her brother-in-law got his phone in 20...
Read MoreiStill don’t have an iPhone
Well I thought I had the right idea when I started my search for an iPhone. I got word late Wednesday night that the Walmart in Marysville would have iPhones in stock starting at 8 am. After waiting around until 3 am, I found out from one of the managers that even though I was fourth in line, they only had two phones in stock. The three guys that were...
Read MoreiDon’t have an iPhone 4
Well I thought I was going to have a scoop today on Walmart having the iPhone at midnight tonight, but I just called and found out it won’t be in until at least June 29. I also called the Best Buy in Chico and was told if you didnt preorder between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. tomorrow that it would be a 2-month wait. Which tells me what’s a place not to get an...
Read MoreApple releases iOS 4.0
Just a heads-up in case you haven’t checked already: Apple has released iOS 4.0 for the iPhone and iPod Touch. The download is free for iPhone and iPod Touch users, since Apple changed its accounting practices last year. As much fun as slogging through the financial minutia of Sarbanes-Oxley is, I’m going to wait for another day to explain that. Simply...
Read MoreIf a fire breaks out in the woods, how is your data?
It’s summertime in the Mid-Valley and that means one thing: It’s only a matter of time before a massive fire breaks out. Granted 2010 probably won’t be the same smoke monster 2008 was, but the danger is still there. Now, you might be asking yourself, why am I reading about fire season in a freaking technology blog. One word: Backup. It’s the thing nobody...
Read MoreApple moves 10.6.4 update and iTunes 9.2
In advance of the iPhone 4 release next Thursday and iOS 4.0’s coming out party this Friday, Apple’s moved two important updates. On my machine the combined size weighs in at 437MB. It’s important to note that the 10.6.4 update includes Safari 5, so be aware of this if you’re thinking about updating. I haven’t run into any issues with Safari 5 yet, but you...
Read MoreDon’t lose track of reality in Gizmodo-iPhone-Apple mess
The first thing you’ll notice in this post is this is going to be one of the rare ones where I don’t link to anything. There’s been a lot of shadiness as far as the way this story has progressed to the point where I’m not going to risk giving page views to Gizmodo. That said, here are my thoughts on the iPhone story as it stands. I don’t believe a lot of...
Read MoreGAO: The RIAA and MPAA are full of crap
The non-partisan Government Accountability Office took a look at the RIAA’s and MPAA’s claims about the toll piracy is taking on the business and said the numbers often used by the groups is crap: Three commonly cited estimates of U.S. industry losses due to counterfeiting have been sourced to U.S. agencies, but cannot be substantiated or traced back to an...
Read MoreCarve up Comcast’s monopoly for the Internet’s sake
We could be in big trouble soon. The Federal Communications Commission’s attempt to regulate the Internet was shot down by a federal appeals court on Tuesday. The court ruled that the FCC couldn’t levy a fine against Comcast for its packet-shaping efforts in 2008 since the commission lacked the power under the law. This is a massive blow at the potential...
Read MoreCases and skins with a hint of creativity
As is the case with any trade show, there were a plethora of cases and skins for the iPhone available. Personally the case I have from Casecrown works great for me and I’ve never felt the need to put a skin on anything, but some of the offerings this year from Uncommon caught my eye (above). One company snagged my attention with the sheer unique nature and...
Read MoreHey Mikey, I like it, but not at that price
Blue Microphones, maker of the same Snowball USB microphone we use at the Appeal-Democrat, has released a new microphone for the iPhone and iPod Touch called Mikey. It’s a strong, professional sounding microphone that is a great addition for a mobile recording setup. The microphone features a 1/8″ line-in jack to plug in a different microphone. My only...
Read MoreU-Socket brings simple idea to life
U-Socket was a Best of Show winner at Macworld for good reason. It’s a simple idea that I’m surprised hadn’t been developed before and at a great price. It’s an outlet that has the standard two plugs, plus two more for USB charging. It’s expected to ship in the first quarter of this year for $29.95, though is available now for preorder at...
Read MoreMacworld news: Kevin Smith booted from flight
I was bummed out when I missed Kevin Smith’s presentation at Macworld because I got the days confused, but at least I was able to make it home. Granted, I was driving and not flying like Smith did. Southwest Airlines booted him from a flight because they said he didn’t properly fit in the seat. Silent Bob was returning from Macworld on a flight from...
Read MoreIt’s all about the apps this year
Quick thought after running through the Moscone Center today: It’s smaller in here, just like the products making up a boatload of the booths at Macworld 2010. I did stumble into a sign that at least says they’re planning on having it again next year, but I wonder if they’ll be at Moscone next year. As it stands now, the North hall is probably about half...
Read MoreMacworld: WE AREN’T OPEN YET!
It’s another quiet day today at Macworld as I type this on a wide-open Moscone Center floor. Well, on a couch, not the floor. But it’s still empty. That is of course because No. 1 I’m in the conference hall where only conference training is going on and No. 2, the actual expo hasn’t started yet. I just got done talking with a spokesperson for Macworld who...
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