Computer Software

UK court rules Modchips do not circumvent copyright protection

June 13, 2008

UK-based MrModchips was cleared of all 26 counts against him for his role in importing and selling gaming console modchips. You know, the kind that lets you play [cough] backup copies of your video games. The Court of Appeal Criminal Division ruled that modchips do not circumvent copyright protection.

The icing on the cake is that the defendant was "awarded full costs as a result of his successful appeal," Sweet! Can you imagine the look on high-priced lawyers faces representing the multi-billion dollar video gaming industry?

Posted in Computer Hardware, Computer Software, Gadgets, Home Entertainment, Microsoft, TMCnet, Video Games & Gaming, Video Hardware & Software

Is Virtual for You?

May 19, 2008

Posted in Computer Software

Can You Believe It? One Fifth of U.S. Households Have Never Used Email!

May 13, 2008

Because we are so, so connected, we think everybody else is too ... But a new survey finds a substantial number of households have not crossed the "Digital Divide."

According to National Technology Scan, a forthcoming study from Parks Associates (an annual phone survey of U.S. households) found 20 million households are without Internet access, representing approximately 18% of all U.S. households.

According to Parks Associates, nearly one out of three household heads has never used a computer to create a document, underscoring the significant digital divide between the connected majority and the homes in the unconnected minority that rarely, if ever, use a computer.

Age and education are factors in this divide -- 50% of those who have never used e-mail are over 65, and 56 percent had no schooling beyond high school.

National Technology Scan found just 7% seven percent of the 20 million âdisconnectedâ homes plan to subscribe to an Internet service within the next 12 months.

Posted in Computer Software

A New Way to Stargaze via the WorldWide Telescope

May 13, 2008

Maybe it's time to get a new telescope or upgrade for the future in another way?

According to a report in today's New York Times, the skies may be the next frontier in travel, but not even the wealthiest space tourist can zoom out to, say, the Crab Nebula, the Trapezium Cluster or Eta Carinae, a star 100 times more massive than the Sun and 7,500 light-years away.

But those far, far away places and thousands of others can now be toured and explored at the controls of a PC, with the constellations, stars and space dust displayed in vivid detail and animated imagery.

The project, the WorldWide Telescope, is the culmination of years of work by researchers at Microsoft, and the Web site and free downloadable software are available starting today, at www.WorldWideTelescope.org.

In case you wanted to know, the WorldWide Telescope is a Web 2.0 visualization software environment that enables your computer to function as a virtual telescope â bringing together imagery from the best ground and space-based telescopes in the world for a seamless exploration of the universe.

Here's CNET's take on it here. Happy trails to you ...

Posted in Computer Software

HP Goes Upline

May 8, 2008

Do we really need another online storage company?

Apparently, HP thinks so and has launched Upline, a data storage service that lets you put your data in a more secure, online headquarters location.

As we should have learned by now, automatic backup makes securing data simple, not just one time, but as often as you choose. And with any Internet connection you can easily access, share, manipulate and store your data from anywhere.

Posted in Computer Software

Taking a Slice Out of Apple's Time Machine

May 2, 2008

Posted in Computer Software

Skype and other VoIP Apps on Mobile Phones

April 1, 2008

It seems new software comes out daily that enables you to run a VoIP application, such as Skype, on your mobile phone natively, through a bridged gateway, or using the Skype API. While Skype is certainly the most popular VoIP application, other software solutions exist that use the SIP standard. Still others provide SIP-to-Skype bridging capabilities. I thought it would be useful to have a rundown of the various solutions out there.

Posted in Computer Software, Gadgets, ITEXPO, Mobile Phones, SIP, Skype, TMCnet, VoIP, Wireless

DVRMSToolbox For Vista 1.2.1.1 Released

February 9, 2008

DVRMSToolbox For Vista 1.2.1.1 was just released. DVRMSToolbox is a very cool video converter utility for converting TV programs (in Microsoft DVR-MS format) on your Vista PC to .wmv for playback on the Zune video player. Even cooler it can auto-detect and strip out the commercials. With the proper profile setting it converts to a .wmv file with the proper settings such that the Zune software doesn't need to transcode the .wmv video file again (time-consuming). There's also a Windows XP version available that runs on Windows MCE 2005, the first version of Windows with Media Center Edition (MCE) built-in for capturing & playing bck TV programs, but that version is a little older.

Posted in Computer Software, Home Entertainment, Microsoft, Video Hardware & Software

Streaming TV with Skype

January 2, 2008

How would you like to use your Slingbox with Skype or is it Skype with Slingbox? Anyway... For a few months now I've been playing with using Skype along with a Slingbox, a popular gadget that lets you stream your home TV content, enabling remote viewing of live and pre-recorded television over the Internet. I've been a huge advocate of streaming live TV across the Internet for years, so figured I'd post my tips on streaming TV utilizing Skype, Slingbox, and TV tuner cards.

Slingbox includes a software player for remote playback of your TV/video content, so you're probably wondering why anyone would want to use Skype instead.

Posted in Computer Hardware, Computer Software, Home Entertainment, Microsoft, Mobile Phones, Reviews, Skype, Video Hardware & Software, Wireless

More 3D Avatars

December 20, 2007

3D animated avatars using either "cartoonish" or even realistic photos are nothing new. Gizmoz was one of the first to allow you to animate avatars that were based on real photos of yourself. The software would automatically detect and add facial movement, mouth movement, eyebrow movement, etc. when you spoke or moves certain facial features.

Posted in Accessories, Computer Software, Home Entertainment, Technology and Science

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