Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Photos: Putting Kindle 2 and Kindle 3 Head-to-Head
Most user reviews of the new Kindle 3, especially those with photo spreads, have focused on the newly-available graphite model, but if you really want to see the differences in the hardware, screen quality, and web capabilities in the new model, it may be more useful to put the two white models head-to-head.
That’s just what Andrys Basten did at her blog A Kindle World. They might be the first user photos of the white Kindle 3 online (I haven’t been able to find any earlier ones).
Also, if you pay close attention, there are terrific user tips for Kindle 3 users embodied in these photos. I’ve been really impressed by the new WebKit browser, but found full-sized web sites harder to navigate than their mobile versions. When I saw Basten’s pictures, I said, “Oh, put the NYT in landscape, not portrait! That’s genius!”
There are a few dumb things the Kindle’s web browser can’t do. Clicking on a link that tries to force you to open a new window just gets you a “this web browser does not support multiple windows” message. You can easily edit titles of bookmarks but not URLs. Drop-down menus sometimes just fool the browser altogether.
And to get to the web browser at all, you’ve got to go to the “Experimental” section of the menu, then tinker around in there for a while. (Would you guess to change the orientation from portrait to landscape, you should click the font-size button? I wouldn’t.)
Amazon’s packed plenty of smart features into its web browser, but mostly failed to acknowledge them, Basten told Wired.com. “Amazon’s paying for the Kindle’s 3G access,” she says. They “will be conflicted about [heavy internet use], and it shows.”
But once you get the hang of these little tricks — use mobile URLs in portrait, full URLs in landscape, use the built-in article mode (just like Safari’s Reader/Readability/Instapaper) whenever you can, and start building up your own workarounds — the web browsing capability on the Kindle 3 is really tremendous. Newspapers, blogs, Twitter, Google Reader — it does them all well. It’s not just an e-book reader; it’s an honest-to-goodness reading machine.
All images courtesy of Andrys Basten and A Kindle World.
See Also:
- Amazon Strikes Back at the iPad With New, $140 Kindle
- The Best Gadget Is the One That Gets To Your House
- Why Does the New Kindle Have A Microphone?
- Safari 5’s ‘Reader’ Nudges Web Publishers to App Store
- Amazon Kindle 3 May Be On Its Way
- New, Improved Instapaper for Kindle
Full story at http://feeds.wired.com/~r/GearFactor/~3/lzfLreAJcws/
USB Typewriter Replaces the Keyboard in Your PC
The clickety-clack of manual typewriters have long been replaced by PC keyboards and even that is now disappearing with touchscreens. But for those nostalgic about old-school manual typewriters, a hack lets you update and make them compatible with PCs.
Jack Zylkin worked for nine months to create the design and schematics for a USB-based typewriter that can replace the keyboard on your PC.
“Typewriters are a�lasting marvel of classic�engineering and design,�which are now a casualty of our disposable whiz-bang techno-culture,” says Zylkin who created this project at Hive 76, a hackerspace in Philadelphia. “I wanted to do something to make these beautiful machines relevant and useful again. I have seen machines that are 100 years old and still functional as the day they were made, why should I let them go to waste?”
Zylkin estimates it can take five to 10 hours to mod a manual typewriter, if users follow his instructions. But it seems pretty easy to do.
“Its a weekend project for when you are snowed in with no TV,” he says.
Zylkin posted the step-by-step guide to creating the USB typewriter on Instructables.com and his post is now featured as part of the site’s ongoing back to school contest.
Others have attempted the USB-typewriter hack before, says Zylkin, but those projects “involved endless jumbles of wires, a disemboweled keyboard circuit and a phalanx of momentary switches.”
The USB-typewriter hack isn’t an expensive project.
“On eBay, you can get a quality machine for anywhere between $30 and $60,” says Zylkin. “Sadly,the people who trade typewriters on ebay only want to saw the keys off and make jewelry out of them! What a waste! ”
So Zylkin suggests asking friends and family to get an old typewriter from the attic. He is offering $50 DIY conversion kits that include the printed circuit boards for the project.
But if all that’s too much work for you, Zylkin has some USB typewriters available on Etsy priced at $350 to $500.
See the short clip showing the USB typewriter at work:
Photo: Jack Zylkin
[via Hack a day]
Full story at http://feeds.wired.com/~r/GearFactor/~3/qnmNRC2LKhA/
Cost of Windows 7 migration will rise due to lack of skilled staff
Dawinderpal Sahota, Computing, Friday 27 August 2010 at 16:47:00
As the deadline for moving to Windows 7 approaches, businesses will have to
dig deep to keep their operating systems up-to-date
Demand for qualified Windows 7 migration IT staff is expected to far exceed This excess in demand will lead to personnel charging higher service rates, Microsoft will stop supporting the XP and 2000 operating systems (OS) in According to Steve Kleynhans, research vice president at Gartner, businesses ?The vast majority of companies have always wanted to do OS migrations as ?The problem with the attrition model for Windows 7 is that businesses don?t He added that this is a problem that is worldwide because very few businesses There are three ways that business can migrate to Windows 7. The first is by replacing all PCs in the business with new PCs with the new The second option is to migrate each PC to Windows 7, which will cost between However, this third option is only viable if the business has already planned Moving to an open source operating system or shifting to using Apple Macs
supply in 2011 and 2012, as companies move from Windows XP and Windows 2000 to
Windows 7.
according to analyst firm Gartner.
2013. Other vendors will stop supporting them even earlier. This means
businesses will have no choice but to plan their migration to Windows 7 over
the next two years.
tend to migrate to new operating systems by using what is known as attrition.
That is, replacing PCs over the course of their normal life cycles and bringing
new machines in fully equipped with the new OS.
slowly as possible. OS migrations are disruptive, costly and they don?t always
matter that much to the user,? he explained.
have enough time. CIOs have to plan it so that they?ve finished migrating
systems by sometime in 2013.?
have migrated to Windows Vista, and the fact that they will all need to migrate
to Windows 7 quickly will put a huge burden on qualified migration workers.
OS which, according to Gartner estimates, will cost between $1,205 (�779) and
$1,999 (�1,292) per PC, depending on how well-managed the environment is, for a
10,000 PC environment.
$1,274 and $2,069 per PC. The third option is to migrate to a hosted virtual
desktop environment (HVD) instead of PC migration.
to move to a hosted environment. This is because there are incremental costs
involved in the additional datacentre and network infrastructure needed to run a
HVD. HVD also carries an additional IT support staff overhead.
will not be cheaper than migrating to Windows 7, according to Kleynhans, but he
said that there are tools available to help businesses automate the migration,
which could help bring down costs.
Full story at http://www.computing.co.uk/computing/news/2268880/windows-migration-won-come
Slideshow: Great views from outer space
Full story at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38820790/displaymode/1247/beginSlide/1/beginChapter/1/beginTab/1/
Cosmic Log: Prehistoric feasting hall found
Full story at http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/08/30/5001904-prehistoric-feasting-hall-found
4 American Troops Killed By Bomb In Afghanistan
A roadside bomb attack killed four U.S. troops in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday, the latest deaths in a particularly bloody spell that has left 18 service members dead since Saturday.
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Full story at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129546357&ft=1&f=1001
Monday, August 30, 2010
Designer Creates Dress With Recycled Wires
Electronic waste can sometimes find a surprising second lease on life, as designer Tina Sparkles has proved by making a dress using recycled wires.
“I read how e-waste is being shipped to developing countries and how people are melting it at homes there,” says Sparkles. “I was inspired to make this dress to address the issue of e-waste in the form of an art project, not to make a dress that was literally meant to be purchased and worn.”
The dress called ‘Systems Supernova’ was shown earlier this month at the Austin Fashion Week.
Sparkles used a curtain from a thrift store as the base of the dress and then stitched the wires on it. She got the wires from an electronic recycle store in Austin, Texas.
Overall, the piece weighs 30 lbs. But it looks pretty stylish and will make for a stunning entrance at any event.
See more photos of the dress:
The base material for the dress is a curtain from a thrift store. Photo: Cameron Russell
Tina Sparkles is enveloped by the wires she used to create the dress.
See Also:
- Smart Textiles Blend LEDs, Circuits and Sensors
- Designer Duo Create Dress With 24000 LEDs
- Meet the Dress Fashioned Out of OLED Displays
- Geeks Who Dress Like Dorks on Screen, but Still Look Cool …
- Pardon, Your Dress Is Singing
Photo: Andrew Sterling
[via Make]
Full story at http://feeds.wired.com/~r/GearFactor/~3/022IQaSPAqQ/
DIY Friday: Charge Your iPhone With AAs or Solar Power
Limor Fried’s MintyBoost project is a great example of DIY and commercial tech working together. Take an Altoids tin, a couple of AA batteries, and some very smart hackery, and you’ve got a lightweight USB charger that you can use to charge/run your handheld iWhatever, or almost any other phone, camera, or small device that can take a charge off USB power. About a month ago, she released this video outlining the Apple hackery needed to make this work.
Reverse engineering Apple’s secret charging methods from adafruit industries on Vimeo.
Clive Thompson profiled Fried and her company Adafruit Industries as part of a 2008 feature in Wired on “open source hardware.” The idea is that hackers like Fried can use what they find out about consumer devices to make and sell their own products, but also to produce DIY kits and share information with others who then build their own projects.
As a case study in the value of sharing this information, consider Rob Scott. Before he took his son on a week-long bike trip this summer, he used Fried’s schematic to hack together what turns out to be a really striking-looking solar charger for his son’s iPod.
It’s always nice to see what the maker community is doing to accessorize their retail gadgets; the results aren’t always super-polished, but they generally solve real problems in important use cases that don’t get addressed by manufacturers, either because they’re too unusual or they can’t be easily solved by more plugs, more peripherals, more complex devices that cost a lot of money. And in turn, we all find out a little bit more about how these magical devices get put together and how they work.
See Also:
- DIY Graphing Calculator Is Built From Open Source Hardware
- Beautifully Hypnotic Video Details Canon Macro Lens Hack
- Hacker Stuffs MiFi Inside iPad, Ruins it in the Process
Full story at http://feeds.wired.com/~r/GearFactor/~3/zlxjLo0a5Fw/
Cost of Windows 7 migration will rise due to lack of skilled staff
Dawinderpal Sahota, Computing, Friday 27 August 2010 at 16:47:00
As the deadline for moving to Windows 7 approaches, businesses will have to
dig deep to keep their operating systems up-to-date
Demand for qualified Windows 7 migration IT staff is expected to far exceed This excess in demand will lead to personnel charging higher service rates, Microsoft will stop supporting the XP and 2000 operating systems (OS) in According to Steve Kleynhans, research vice president at Gartner, businesses ?The vast majority of companies have always wanted to do OS migrations as ?The problem with the attrition model for Windows 7 is that businesses don?t He added that this is a problem that is worldwide because very few businesses There are three ways that business can migrate to Windows 7. The first is by replacing all PCs in the business with new PCs with the new The second option is to migrate each PC to Windows 7, which will cost between However, this third option is only viable if the business has already planned Moving to an open source operating system or shifting to using Apple Macs
supply in 2011 and 2012, as companies move from Windows XP and Windows 2000 to
Windows 7.
according to analyst firm Gartner.
2013. Other vendors will stop supporting them even earlier. This means
businesses will have no choice but to plan their migration to Windows 7 over
the next two years.
tend to migrate to new operating systems by using what is known as attrition.
That is, replacing PCs over the course of their normal life cycles and bringing
new machines in fully equipped with the new OS.
slowly as possible. OS migrations are disruptive, costly and they don?t always
matter that much to the user,? he explained.
have enough time. CIOs have to plan it so that they?ve finished migrating
systems by sometime in 2013.?
have migrated to Windows Vista, and the fact that they will all need to migrate
to Windows 7 quickly will put a huge burden on qualified migration workers.
OS which, according to Gartner estimates, will cost between $1,205 (�779) and
$1,999 (�1,292) per PC, depending on how well-managed the environment is, for a
10,000 PC environment.
$1,274 and $2,069 per PC. The third option is to migrate to a hosted virtual
desktop environment (HVD) instead of PC migration.
to move to a hosted environment. This is because there are incremental costs
involved in the additional datacentre and network infrastructure needed to run a
HVD. HVD also carries an additional IT support staff overhead.
will not be cheaper than migrating to Windows 7, according to Kleynhans, but he
said that there are tools available to help businesses automate the migration,
which could help bring down costs.
Full story at http://www.computing.co.uk/computing/news/2268880/windows-migration-won-come
Internet wiping out printed Oxford Dictionary
Full story at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38903663/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/
Slideshow: Great views from outer space
Full story at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38820790/displaymode/1247/beginSlide/1/beginChapter/1/beginTab/1/
Growing Hurricane Earl Threatens North Caribbean
Hurricane Earl lashed northern Leeward Islands with heavy rain and strong winds Monday after strengthening into a Category 2 storm. Hotels were shut tightly overnight as tourists sought shelter inside their rooms.
» E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us
Full story at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129521862&ft=1&f=1001
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Designer Creates Dress With Recycled Wires
Electronic waste can sometimes find a surprising second lease on life, as designer Tina Sparkles has proved by making a dress using recycled wires.
“I read how e-waste is being shipped to developing countries and how people are melting it at homes there,” says Sparkles. “I was inspired to make this dress to address the issue of e-waste in the form of an art project, not to make a dress that was literally meant to be purchased and worn.”
The dress called ‘Systems Supernova’ was shown earlier this month at the Austin Fashion Week.
Sparkles used a curtain from a thrift store as the base of the dress and then stitched the wires on it. She got the wires from an electronic recycle store in Austin, Texas.
Overall, the piece weighs 30 lbs. But it looks pretty stylish and will make for a stunning entrance at any event.
See more photos of the dress:
The base material for the dress is a curtain from a thrift store. Photo: Cameron Russell
Tina Sparkles is enveloped by the wires she used to create the dress.
See Also:
- Smart Textiles Blend LEDs, Circuits and Sensors
- Designer Duo Create Dress With 24000 LEDs
- Meet the Dress Fashioned Out of OLED Displays
- Geeks Who Dress Like Dorks on Screen, but Still Look Cool …
- Pardon, Your Dress Is Singing
Photo: Andrew Sterling
[via Make]
Full story at http://feeds.wired.com/~r/GearFactor/~3/022IQaSPAqQ/
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