Archive for February, 2008
iPhone: Quick iPod Shortcut/Music Controls
by TheBlooger on Feb.24, 2008, under Miscellaneous
I have configured my home button to go to Contacts tab whenever I am in in another application. Interestingly enough, however, if I double hit Home when I am at the Home screen, while there is music playing in the background, you’ll get a little window with Previous/Pause/Next buttons.
Even better, the same little window with music controls appears also when double hitting Home while at the Lock screen! That’s big.. at least for me.. because it means i don’t have to slide and unlock and change to iPod in order to control the music (for when you are in the car for example and need to keep your eyes on the road
).Now, if music is not playing and music (iPod) application is closed and you are at the lock screen, you can still double hit Home and get access to music controls and start playing the music! That again is big
.To illustrate everything, here are some screenshots of what I’ve been describing:
At the lock screen with music application not running
At the Home screen with music playing
At the Lock screen with music playing and iPhone charging
At the Lock screen with music playing and iPhone not charging
Wow! Wanna have a 3D VR monitor?
by TheBlooger on Feb.22, 2008, under Miscellaneous
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ZDNet: A dozen free & essential apps for Windows
by TheBlooger on Feb.22, 2008, under Miscellaneous
Read on at ZDNet…
Massive "laptops"
by TheBlooger on Feb.21, 2008, under Miscellaneous
HP has refined their original 20″ HDX laptop, which was much more of an actual laptop than Dell’s M2010 (since the M2010 is heavier, thicker and meant more for desk use than lap use). The new HDX has a 1080p screen ( which is a nice + ), offers a fast cpu which seems to actually not offer as much performance as one would think, and choice of blu-ray and hd-dvd drives. Despite all, the screen does not offer the same flexibility as Dell’s M2010 sleek silver hinges, it does not have a wireless keyboard and mouse or a wowy pop-up slot dvd drive .
I wonder how much of these HP will sell especially since HP’s HDX page doesn’t even come close to Dell’s M2010 product information page.
Got a desktop? Got a laptop? Use Google Browser Sync
by TheBlooger on Feb.21, 2008, under Miscellaneous
Google has a few more extensions for Firefox that you may find useful.
Quickie: What is an exabyte?
by TheBlooger on Feb.21, 2008, under Miscellaneous
Lunar eclipse pictures
by TheBlooger on Feb.21, 2008, under Miscellaneous
Here are some pictures taken earlier this evening by yours truly. The lunar eclipse took place today, February 20 2008, between roughly 9PM and 10PM EST. For those interested, the shots were taken with a Nikon D50 with a 70-300mm VR lens, in shutter priority mode. Images were cropped and resized, slight sharpening applied, however colors, brightness and contrast were left as taken. This was my first time photographing a lunar eclipse (on a very cold winter night).
I thought a little description from NASA may come in handy:
A total eclipse of the Moon occurs during the night of Wednesday, February 20/21, 2008. The entire event is visible from South America and most of North America (on Feb. 20) as well as Western Europe, Africa, and western Asia (on Feb. 21). During a total lunar eclipse, the Moon’s disk can take on a dramatically colorful appearance from bright orange to blood red to dark brown and (rarely) very dark gray.
An eclipse of the Moon can only take place at Full Moon, and only if the Moon passes through some portion of Earth’s shadow. The shadow is actually composed of two cone-shaped parts, one nested inside the other. The outer shadow or penumbra is a zone where Earth blocks some (but not all) of the Sun’s rays. In contrast, the inner shadow or umbra is a region where Earth blocks all direct sunlight from reaching the Moon.
This page at NASA discusses this year’s lunar eclipse in more detail. For more general info on lunar eclipses, read the Lunar Eclipse for Beginners.
Royalties: What the war was all about
by TheBlooger on Feb.19, 2008, under Miscellaneous
As always as far as business goes, it all boils down to money… lots of money. Read this article to see why Blu-ray put up such a big game and for some insight into how the industry works.
Forget about customer satisfaction or superiority of image quality. The real issue in the war between Blu-ray and HD DVD was about royalties.
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Royalties were one of the primary reasons that it took so long to get manufacturers to come out with players that could handle both HD DVD and Blu-ray discs. Manufacturers with dual-format players have to license technology from both camps, which boosts costs.
Comparison: Get In Sync with Syncing Software
by TheBlooger on Feb.17, 2008, under Miscellaneous
Get In Sync with Syncing Software
A great comparison from Tom’s Hardware of different file syncing software; something I have particularly long awaited. Having used SyncToy until now, for fairly simple file syncing tasks between my desktop and an external hard drive, at times I have found myself needing more advanced features than what SyncToy current offers.
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NEW! Added twitter feed to post area as well as a widget below. Another reason to come back more often.
Inspiration: Los Cabos – Through the Lens
