I’ve spent a few weeks now with the new Xserves (I’m going to put them physically into the data center tomorrow BTW).
For the most part, Mac OS X Server 10.3 is a very nice server platform (especially when you are using Xserves). But maybe someone at Apple will read my little wish list, so […]

Today at the SES show, Yahoo announced they are following Google’s lead and allowing people to utilize an API for making automated queries without violating their terms of service.
In some ways it’s better than the Google API because it allows you to do more than just web search (you can search images, local, news, video […]

For all the super dorks out there that have a modded Xbox, now you can get a front panel replacement, which gives it a cleaner look. It gives you your mod chip bios control buttons built-in, an IR port, 2 USB ports and an LCD panel.
If you want to check it out, then click […]

Okay, so I have two new loaded (each has dual 2.3Ghz G5s, 8GB RAM, hardware RAID-5 w/ 1.2TB drive space, dual gigabit ethernet, etc.) Xserves thanks to those that donated, and I’ve been mucking around with them for a few days now.
One is going to be primarily a web server, and the other will be […]

Today Bill Gates announced that they are going to have a beta version of IE7 available by the summer. As an end-user, I could care less. IE sucks and probably will always suck from a security standpoint.
What I *do* like about this, is *maybe*, just MAYBE they will bring it into the realm […]

I’ve been predicting it for over a year now… and today Google finally has released (at least in beta form) Google Maps. It’s a pretty awesome implementation too. It uses vector graphics for one… but a really neat thing is you can drag the map around to where ever you want rather than […]

A high-level manager at Microsoft anonymously disclosed that 80% of Microsoft employees that have portable music players have iPods (which works out to about 20,000 iPods at Microsoft’s headquarters). Microsoft executives have gone as far as to issue memos “frowning” on the usage by Microsoft employees.
Dave Fester, general manager of Microsoft’s Windows Digial Media […]

This news is 2 months old, but it’s the first I heard about it. SBC Communications (my local provider here in San Diego), decided to ramp up ADSL2+ deployment, and are going to deploy about 50,000 miles of fiber to everyone’s CO. Then use ADSL2+ technology to bring 25Mbit connectivity to the home […]

Apple put out a minor speed-bump on their G5 Xserve machines (they went from 2.0 Ghz to 2.3 Ghz and nothing else in the system or architecture changed).
The dual 2.0 Xserve could yield 9 gigaflops of raw processing power (which is really fast to begin with). The dual 2.3 Ghz Xserve yields 35 gigaflops […]

I was waiting for this year’s CES show to see what is available for a car stereo/navigation system for my new car.
It looks like there are some cool new things this year…
Realtime Traffic Map
Alpine and Pioneer have navigation systems that overlay realtime traffic data on your navigation map (data includes traffic speeds, accidents, etc.) and […]

Okay, I take back my one complaint about the RAZR from this post. The contact manager does not require an entry for every phone number, it just works like that by default. You can change the settings to display by Primary Contact instead.
I also noticed something else cool… when I’m using the phone […]

I just noticed that my iPod Photo shows the CD cover art for MP3 files that contain the info. That’s pretty cool if you ask me.

I picked up a new cell phone that I had a little blurb about over here. It’s a pretty awesome phone from a design standpoint, in fact my only complaint with anything about it is the address book, which requires a new entry for each phone number they have.
The day after I got it, […]

I get way too much spam. To the tune of 2,000+ each day. It’s always fun to wake up and sift through 800 emails to find 3 that aren’t spam. I do some client-side spam filtering, but it’s still annoying to have to actually download the emails (especially when traveling and you […]

You know what I wish someone would do? Come out with a way to control a Bluetooth phone hands free while in your car. The 2004 Acura TL can do it right out the factory. Seems strange that after-market manufacturers like Alpine wouldn’t jump on the opportunity. Not only would it […]

Had a little longer to play with the Xbox Media Center from my previous post, and this thing just gets cooler and cooler the more I dive into it.

It has Mplayer built into it so it basically can play any audio/video format without problems including streaming content
Audio visualization (like WinAMP)
Organizes music, pictures, video, programs, etc.
Shows […]

I was checking out some of the TiVo stuff, and me first thought is why do these things have phone jacks to dial out instead of Ethernet ports? Phone lines are so “old school”.
I hear everyone talk about TiVo competitors, but I don’t know of any specifically. If someone knows […]

This is one cool cell phone. It’s a flip phone that when closed is less than 1/2″ thick.
As far as I can tell, it’s only going to work with Cingular service though, and I don’t like Cingular, so I won’t be getting one. But either way, it’s amazing what they can pack into […]

Rumors are running rampant these days about a new 60GB iPod that Apple will be releasing in the next 30-60 days (it’s claimed to already be in production).
New things it has/can do:

60GB hard drive (40GB was the previous largest)

Higher resolution color LCD screen

iPhoto synchronization for storing photos (I wonder if this means there is a […]

I have an Xbox that I bought 3 years ago (pretty much when they first came out), that I use about once every 6 months. While at a friends house, he showed me his Xbox that was modded so he could copy games and stuff.
While I wasn’t really interested in the copying of games, […]

While sitting in the airport yesterday, I wanted to transfer a 800MB file from my laptop (a Titanium Powerbook) to my girlfriend’s iBook. Her computer is newer than mine, so she was running 54Mbit wireless, while mine was 11Mbit. So I setup a private computer-to-computer network (no biggie).
But here’s the part I thought […]

It looks like Pioneer might be following Alpine’s lead and making an iPod adapter for their car stereos. I couldn’t find any info about it anywhere, but if you look close at the AVIC-N1 specs on Pioneer’s website, it has a little note saying it’s “iPod Adapter Ready”. Hmmm… interesting.

Since I’m going to be on an 18 hour trip (3 flights) to Moscow next week, I checked to see if there was an off chance that the airline had power plugs in their seats (most airlines do in first class, but I’m not flying first class). And guess what? They DO! […]

I knew about this some years ago, but I forgot until today (Yelena is going to Russia today). Right now, she is on her first flight, traveling at 550 mph at an altitude of 37,000 feet just past Phoenix, Arizona.
If you happen to see this today, you can watch her flights…
First flight […]

The image functions aren’t really anything new for me, I’ve done some things (like graphing functions) with the PHP image functions, but I mucked around with some advanced functions (alpha blending of multiple layers and scaling the output). And all I have to say is the PHP imaging functions are awesome (of course most […]

My perfect system would be this:
Double DIN touch-screen controller
Video out (to drive monitors in rear headrests)
Navigation system that can be controlled from the touch-screenIt doesn’t seem like a terribly tall order, but I don’t think I have any options. Some stuff is close, but nothing is “complete”.

Alpine System
Pluses

Touch screen is cool because it gives […]

I did a little research about Europe’s ability for vehicles to see traffic and accident conditions in their car automatically (for example overlaid on a GPS map), and I’m a little more educated about it now. It’s called TMC (Traffic Message Channel), and most European countries support it now. It transmits info to […]

There are websites that can show live freeway speeds, accidents, etc. for US cities.
While doing some investigating into different navigation systems for a vehicle, I noticed something really neat that only European models have. They are able to display traffic and accidents on the navigation map magically (and reroute you to your destination to […]

While it would be for no real reason, other than just to see if it could be done, I think I ruled out putting an Xbox in a Hummer 2. There just isn’t enough room to put it anywhere without loosing functional space.
Actually, now that I think about it, I guess it could serve […]

I poked around a little bit, and found out Alpine has a touch-screen compatible navigation system after all (NVE-N099P), which is the one piece missing from the setup I want. The only problem is that it’s only available in Europe and comes with road maps of Europe. I can’t find any dimension specs […]

The issues I have with the factory stereo in the 2005 H2 really bothers me enough that the the first thing I would do with the truck (assuming I get one) will be replace the factory stereo.
I did a little research, and so far, the best option I can find is an Alpine based system, […]

Did a little research on the stereo options for the Hummer 2 today. New for 2005 is the option for a touch-screen navigation system. Sounds cool, but check this out…

If you get the navigation system, you can’t have the CD changer.

The DVD that holds the maps goes in the normal CD/DVD slot on […]