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More tech on radio
If you thought one hour per week on Nightline with James Piecowye wasn’t enough, you should be happy to find out that starting tomorrow I’ll do a weekly spot on Siobhan Leyden’s show as well.
Catch me at 1-1:30pm tomorrow Wednesday.
We’re working on web site, Twitter and all that and will announce as soon as something’s decided. For now, follow me for news and updates.
Although both sets will focus on technology they will be different. Exactly how we’re also still working on but tune in to find out.
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Moving KT articles and radio
Over the next few days I’ll be moving my Khaleej Times articles as well as the radio shows to EmiratesMac.com. This is just to consolidate what I do a bit and keep all my personal tech stuff in one place.
New homes:
Khaleej Times articles: http://www.emiratesmac.com/forums/blogs/magnus/kt-articles/
Radio show: http://www.dxbtech.com (will take you to EmiratesMac.com in another day or two)
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Radio 2010-09-21
- Check this video out. The cool part is what they did it with and it all comes up in the credits!
- Will Nokia dump the old for Android?
- Twitter quickly fixes potentially dangerous links on their web site
- Sony has issued Blu-ray 3D update for PlayStation 3
- I want one!
- iPhone 4 coming to UAE Sept 25 (Qatar, Egypt, Saudi Arabia “soon”)
- VLC now available for iPad
- Is Apple not supporting FaceTime in ME?
- HTC Desire HD and Desire Z launched
- Geneva Sound System Model S, AED 1,800
- Canon Legria HFR18 camcorder, AED 1,999
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Radio 2010-09-14
- We’ve launched our new web sites: http://www.macworldme.net, http://www.pcworldme.net
- iPad coming to China Sept 17
- Nokia N8 coming to ME next week
- Don’t search for “free”
- Games 10 this weekend
- Three Nokia execs have resigned, new CEO hired
- Nokia today announced three new Symbian^3 smartphones at its Nokia World event
- Symbian^3 adds much needed functionality to the mobile OS like: multi touch, personalized home screens (with widgets), play media to HDTV via HDMI, turbo charged graphics, real multitasking, and intelligent networking.
- Sony PlayStation 15 years old
- Google Street View stopped in Czech Republic
- Microsoft to Issue Blanket License to NGOs
- New artificial “skin” fashioned out of flexible semiconductor materials can sense touch
- DropBox online file storage/sync
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Radio 2010-09-07
First, some miscellaneous items:
- I announced that I’m joining CPI and we’re starting up Macworld, PCWorld and GameWorld Middle East.
- The Buffalo NAS drive from last week, if you use it as iTunes server, don’t upgrade to iTunes 10.
- Sony has announced the release of up coming gadgets, including the VPL-VW90ES, a 3D projector.
- Developer of Hand Gesture Interface solutions for consumer devices eyeSight Mobile Technologies has announced the launch of the world’s first app that allows users to control a mobile phone MP3 player with hand gestures.
Belkin Move TopLoader
- Full of pockets and little storage compartments
- Not terribly stylish
- Has rubber bottom so you can safely set it down
- Non slip shoulder strap
- Models for 13 and 15-inch models
- Final price not set, expected around AED 300
Panasonic HDC-TM700
- Full HD 1920 x 1080
- 60p, full 60 frames per second
- Full manual controls
- External mic input (3.5mm)
- Small and easy to operate
- Accessory shoe requires adapter, sits on the side
- To get to battery you have to flip open the display
- AED5199
Canon PowerShot SX210IS
- 14x optical zoom (equivalent to a 28mm to 392mm range on a 35mm)
- 14.1-megapixel
- ISO 80 to 1,600
- Fish-eye, Miniature, Face Detection self-timer, Smile and Wink modes
- 720p HD movie recording
- Mini-HDMI port (but no cable included)
- On the previous model (SX200), the flash wouldn’t close, now it does
- You can zoom while shooting video
- A big sluggish (starting up, between shots)
- AED 1,399
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Radio 2010-08-31
- HTC’s version of Google Nexus One (HTC manufactured Nexus One for Google)
- 3.7-inch 480 x 800 pixel display, very bright, clear
- 1GHz processor, fast
- 512MB RAM
- micro-SD card slot (up to 32GB)
- Feels high-quality (only exception is the back, which you have to take off with a small measure of violence)
- Android 2.1 (update to 2.2 OTA, Over The Air)
- No Android Market in UAE
- 5MP camera, good quality, face detection
- Would have liked camera button on outside
- 1280x720 HD video recording
- FM radio
- Portable Wi-Fi access point
- Fast web browser, easy to zoom in/out, scroll around
- HTC Sense, proprietary UI, I wish this could be disabled. User should have a choice.
- Adobe Flash 10.1 is avaialble for 2.2 but I’ve not managed to get it installed yet.
- “Broadly available by the end of August 2010”
- AED 2,299
- Network Attached Storage (NAS))
- Room for 2 x 3.5-inch hard drives
- Lockable compartment
- Easy to swap drives
- Display with status, IP, etc.
- Admin via web browser
- FTP, Torrent, iTunes, DLNA.
- Buffalo has service which lets you connect to the TeraStation from over the Internet.
- Price: 1TB AED 2,299 ($609.99), 2TB AED 2,899 ($759.99), 4TB AED 4,599 ($1,199.99)
- Battery-operated printer
- 5-color ink system let you print at 9600 x 2400 dpi
- Speed according to Canon: black up to 20 ppm, color up to 14 ppm
- Print 1 color page, high photo quality, 1min 52sec
- Connect with USB cable
- IrDA (infrared)
- Optional Bluetooth interface
- PictBridge compatible (connect directly to camera to print)
- There is no case for it
- No card slot (SD card, CF card)
- No display
- AED 1,239 with battery
Some Eid gift ideas:
- MP3 player: New iPod nano (if rumors are true)
- Smartphone: Samsung Galaxy S, HTC Desire
- Notebook: Apple MacBook, Sony Vaio Z
- Desktop: Apple iMac, Asus EeeTop PC ET2010PNT (all-in-one with touchscreen)
- Accessory for Mac users: anything from Just Mobile or Twelve South, or Apple’s Magic TrackPad
- Hard drive: G-Technology G-Drive, Buffalo
- For PC gamers: Belkin Nostromo N52te control pad
- PC/Mac game: StarCraft 2
- Console game: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
- Digital camera: Sony CyberShot NEX-3/5
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Radio 2010-06-01
- 18MP
- HD video 1080 29.97fps
- Switch for video and still modes, seems to take video more seriously
- 3-inch LCD
- 1.6x crop factor (50mm becomes 80mm)
- 19-point AF with “color metering”
- 3.5mm jack for external mic
- Up to ISO 6400 (12800 if you push it)
- Video sample, photo sample
- Amazon.com: $1576 (body)
- 7D body AED 7,000. With 18-135mm lens AED 8,400.
- 12.3MP
- HD video 720 24fps
- 3-inch LCD
- Complicated video recording controls (enabled Live View, then press OK, press a third button to focus)
- Up to 8fps shooting
- 51-point AF with “3D matrix metering”
- Crop factor 1.5x (50mm becomes 75mm)
- Dual card slots (CF and SD)
- Up to ISO 3200 (6400 if you push it)
- 3.5mm jack for external mic
- Amazon.com: $1521 (body)
- D300s Body AED 6,999 (just reduced from 7,999). The l8-200mm VR II lens is priced at AED 4,499 if bought with the body.
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Radio 2010-04-20
- Same physical design as first EyeBall
- “Super HD”, up to 1600 x 1200 pixels, 30 fps
- 44.1khz, 16-bit sound recording
- No drivers, no software for adjusting settings
- QuickTime player Mac OS X 1038 x 778 pixels
- Disappointing speed, lags behind when you pan, for example
- In video, high frame rate is often better than high resolution
- AED 499
- For Xbox 360
- Two mics, sing along to music, lyrics scroll by on screen
- You have to hit the tone and beat of the song and score points depending on how well you do
- You can sing together or against another singer
- Not many songs included (about 40 I think), you can buy more
- You can also play your own songs but then lyrics don’t show up
- AED 269
- You can star in your own movie
- Uses green screen technology
- Includes camera
- Includes template movies
- You follow the instructions, like position yourself in a particular way, camera takes shots, puts together the movie
- Pretty fun but not fun that lasts very long
- For Xbox 360
- AED249
- For PS3
- Interact with virtual pet on your TV
- Camera (included) reads your movements
- AED 169
- For Xbox 360
- Includes four wireless remote answer “paddles”
- Different kinds of questions and puzzles about movies
- After you play a while questions start repeating themselves
- You can buy more questions online (Xbox Live) (800 questions is 560 points, 400 points to buy is $5)
- AED 229
- Long ago, two clans — the Lumen Sages and Umbran Witches — maintained the balance between the opposing forces.
- The Lumen, the good guys, controlled the power of light, while the Umbra, the bad guys, watched over the darkness.
- Both clans had deep respect for each other, but a tragic event caused the two clans to enter into a terrible war.
- At the end, only one Umbra Witch remained: Bayonetta
- This is a fighting game with some puzzle solving, you fight your way through a level to a “boss battle”
- You punch, kick, fire, jump, dodge
- Timing is very critical, dodge at the right moment and it’s like everything goes into slow motion while you move fast
- As you fight you gain experience points, collect halos
- Halos you can spend on weapons, upgrades
- Price AED 269
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Radio 2010-04-13
- Lens: LEICA DC VARIO ELMAR 25mm ultra-wide-angle lens with a 16x optical zoom (25-300mm)
- Zoom can extend up to 586mm but that’s optical zoom and picture is 3 megapixel
- 12.1 megapixel
- 3 inch LCD
- Samples: wide angle, full optical zoom, full optical+digital zoom
- iA mode (intelligent auto), figures everything out for you
- Full manual exposure control if you like
- Sonic Speed AF for quick focusing on moving subjects
- O.I.S. Optical Image Stabilization, gain perhaps two steps shutter speed
- AVCHD (Advanced Video Coding High Definition) Lite HD video recording (720p, 30fps), format created by Sony and Pansonic
- GPS to geo tag photos
- Around $350
- Small shelf that goes on the back of Cinema Display or iMac
- Place hard drive, router, USB hub and other gear on it
- Height-adjustable so you can place several basically on top of each other
- AED 179
Asus EeeTop ET2010PNT All-in-one PC
- NVIDIA ION 2 chip set, Intel Atom Processor 1.66 GHz
- 20 inch 16:9 widescreen (1600 x 900 pixels) touchscreen with multitouch support
- 2GB DDR2 RAM
- 500GB hard drive
- 1.3 megapixel webcam
- SRS Premium Sound
- Windows 7 Home Premium
- DVD writer
- Wi-Fi (802.11n), Bluetooth
- Six USB 2.0 ports and 5-in-1 card reader. HDMI input (yes, input, not output)
- AED 2899
- 1GHz processor
- 4 inch screen, 480 x 854 pixels (65,536 colors)
- On-screen virtual keyboard
- 8.1 megapixel camera (records video 800 x 480)
- Android 1.6
- Includes great Bluetooth headset (SE MW600)
- Timescape (your social media contacts in one stream) and Mediascape (all your media in one place)
- No Arabic, that’s coming with a 2.1 update says Sony Ericsson but no date announced
- No Android market installed, SE says that’s because Google
- Includes 8GB Micro SD card
- AED 2,999 (available with Elite Plan from du)
- Slide-out keyboard design
- 600MHz processor
- 3.7 inch, 480 x 854 pixels display (16 million colors)
- Android 2.1 (better web browser, multi touch)
- Arabic input and Arabic interface
- 5 megapixel camera, records 720x480 “D1” video
- Includes 8GB Micro SD card (supports 32GB)
- Price TBA, expected around AED 2,500
- Sample video (straight out of the camera)
Game: Bayonetta
- Long ago, two clans — the Lumen Sages and Umbran Witches — maintained the balance between the opposing forces.
- The Lumen, the good guys, controlled the power of light, while the Umbra, the bad guys, watched over the darkness.
- Both clans had deep respect for each other, but a tragic event caused the two clans to enter into a terrible war.
- At the end, only one Umbra Witch remained: Bayonetta
- This is a fighting game with some puzzle solving, you fight your way through a level to a “boss battle”
- You punch, kick, fire, jump, dodge
- Timing is very critical, dodge at the right moment and it’s like everything goes into slow motion while you move fast
- As you fight you gain experience points, collect halos
- Halos you can spend on weapons, upgrades
- If you evade an attack at the last moment you enter Witch Time, basically slow motion
- Very lame mini games in between the levels
- Action is good, some interesting twists on an established genre
- Visuals are great, storyline a bit convoluted but works with this game
- Lots of cut scenes, many that you want to skip to move ahead with the action
- This is a game squarely for mature players
- PS3 and Xbox 360 (I’ve tested the PS3 version)
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Radio 2010-03-23
- Works also with Mac
- Very good quality
- 1280x800 HD recording (720p)
- 16:9 widescreen
- “TrueColor” technology
- Auto focus
- There’s also HD-6000 for notebooks
- $40
- 3 inch touchscreen
- Creative says up to 25 hours of audio playback and 5 hours of video
- X-Fi technology supposedly “restores” files after digital compression
- Audio codec support: FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec), MP3, WMA (DRM9), WAV, Audible 4, AAC
- Video codec support: MJPEG, WMV9, MPEG4, DivX, XviD, JPEG
- 8GB/16GB/32GB models, expandable up to 16GB more with Micro SD card
- FM radio
- Voice Recorder
- RSS reader
- Stylish, clearly looked at Apple’s iPhone for the design
- AED 499 (8GB) and AED 599 (16GB)
- G-rated (basically suited to anyone)
- Xbox 360 game
- You play a small tornado, Zephyr, the wind warrior, and you destroy things on the ground you grow bigger to take on challenges
- As you progress you get more abilities to destroy bigger and tougher things
- “Battle the forces of evil in an effort to save the world”
- Time-based trials
- Collect certain things
- Graphics are pretty basic for today’s standards
- Story is almost nonexistent and irrelevant for the game
- Dock, USB adapter, composite cables, remote control
- Quick and easy way to connect iPhone to TV to show movies, pictures
- Listen to music you have to plug in audio separately (bummer!)
- iPhone 3G, 3GS and iPod touch
- Apple’s alternative: dock (with remote), cables and charger (3 items, total almost three times the price)
- AED 195
