Category Archives: technology news

design, gadgets, industrial design, technology, technology news

Engadget.com – Optimus Maximus keyboard

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Optimus Maximus Keyboard
If you have been looking for the holy grail of keyboards it seems you will have to wait. For now, the highly anticipated Optimus Maximus – is already shipping from artlebedev.com and Engadget.com got one for testing. Now, almost every gamer and designer out there is salivating to know if it is worth the almost 3 year wait and worth the “are you kidding me?” $462 price tag. Short story – it doesn’t seem worthy of either. Yes, that price is JUST for a keyboard.

Well according to the first impressions of Engadget.com the Optimus Maximus is a very nice keyboard that fails at the basic premise of being a keyboard. Confused? Well they say the keys are very hard to press and do not flow like a keyboard should, causing unnecessary strain and fatigue for your hands.

For those that never heard of this keyboard, the idea is having a keyboard that can display an image in real time on each separate key. This can offer incredible customization to your work flow. Imagine keys that change depending on which programs you are actually using, keys that display a status like something as simple as “new emails” or any other notification you usually need. But, that is not all we users wanted; we also wanted a usable keyboard.

It seemed to me like an epic fail ever since they announced the price. But there was always hope. If you consider that technology which succeeds is lowered in price as time goes by; this is the best idea for a keyboard in a long time. If it doesn’t sell well, there will always be someone else that takes the idea and perfects it, the Optimus Maximus “new and improved” 2.0 or the desinger’s latest Optimus Tactus.

gadgets, technology, technology news

only in Japan: the best tech you can’t buy

PC World has a very interesting article about technologies that we can’t buy, well at least not in the USA.

Imagine a cell phone that offers true TV capabilities, works as your bus/subway/train pass, it links sales to a credit card (wave your cell phone at the register), tells your car where to go, which route has less traffic and which gas station is cheaper, and can even warn you of an impeding disaster like an earthquake. And this is a phone we are talking about here, not a computer you have to carry on your back.

Sounds like science fiction but it is reality at the other side of the world, in Japan. Read the article for more info.

statistics, technology, technology news

we keep multiplying

WebsitesOnlineJan08A report by NetCraft.com for January 2008 reports that 155,583,825 websites responded to their tests. Although, compared to 5.4 million new websites in December 07 the increase of 354 thousand sites for January might not seem like much.

But when you think at the mass of the number, and let me spell this number, “one hundred fifty five million, five hundred eighty three thousand, eight hundred & twenty five” websites being currently online you just have to think how fast this business is multiplying, and has kept multiplying, for the last 13 years of it’s existence. It is great to be part of it all.

apple, design, gadgets, technology, technology news

Ars Technica – MacBook Air review

Apple MacBook AirHere is an actual review, not just first impressions, of the MacBook Air by Ars Technica. This review deals with only the standard 4200rpm hard drive version – they will do another review for the solid-state hard drive version of this laptop on February 5th.

Big points of the review are:

  • The small size is only based on how thin it is, since in terms of desktop space it only saves a bit compared to the regular MacBook.
  • It’s trackpad is bigger than MacBook and MacBook Pro, but the gestures use is still limited.
  • For audio it has one speaker (good bye stereo) and it is still louder than a MacBook – but then again what isn’t?
  • Lacking a regular CD/DVD drive can be a pain if you don’t plan ahead or don’t always take your installation disks with you
  • The weight is a huge attribute; makes it very comfortable
  • It’s performance “Achilles heel” is the slow hard drive
  • Some users are experiencing louder than normal fans on these, but not the reviewer
  • Don’t even try the remote Migration Assistant, just don’t
  • WiFi is ok, but not close to the MacBook sensitivity
  • Actual usage time on the battery was about 2 hours and 33 minutes. Ouch, that is not even half of the 6 hours advertised!

Read the full review to make your opinions… but seems quite a disappointment for some of us. I could have lived without the DVD drive. I could have lived with the slower performance (on the go only!!). But such a short battery life is really a disappointment; especially for a computer that is made to take with you everywhere you can take a manila folder.

music, technology, technology news

last.fm frees the music

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Last.fm logoFor those of us that can actually listen to music while we work, I highly recommend last.fm

This is more so now that since last week you can listen to full albums right from your browser. It has a bit of a long process to install, but it is simple. Just create the free account, download their software, integrate it with the music player of your choice and it will look for your favorite songs, genres and artists. All this happens in the installation program so it is not as complicated as it might sound.

After installation, the system on their website will automatically start creating a play list of songs that you should like based on your favorites from the media player you chose during installation. It might take a few hours to find the perfect songs for you but wait until the site is done and come back later.

Ok, you came back and now your last.fm account has your profile and play lists ready. Just hit the play button and start listening to their recommendations. Don’t like a song? Just use the skip button, or the BAN button, and the system will learn your music taste based on your decisions. Love the current song? Click the LOVE button and your play list will continue to be filtered by those choices. The more you train the system by letting it know which songs you like and which you don’t the better selections it will give you.

 And now you can select an artist and scroll down to the albums, now you can just select and play the full album. Not all of the albums for each artist are available but the collection is quite good. Enjoy!

events, gadgets, technology, technology news

Best of CES according to Gizmodo.com

Gizmodo CESEvery year the electronics community gathers to see what is the future of those lovable gadgets and plasma screens every technophile salivates for. This show is called the CES; the Consumer Electronics Show and this year it was celebrated January 7 to 10, 2008 in Las Vegas.

The lucky guys at Gizmodo where there and have created a list of what they think were the best offerings at the show. Everything from 150″ TVs (yep, that is right 150 inches of pure imagery), media players, geek appearances and weird gadgets you weren’t expecting. Like for example a leopard skin taser with built-in MP3 player – what? Don’t believe me? Just follow the link.

And that is why we love CES; a bunch of gadgets that we won’t get anytime soon, if at all, and a lot that are just fun reading about – because you don’t really want them.