Half Byte

PSYSTAR

Psystar, the little company that could, or not, has ‘emerged’ from chapter 11 bankruptcy.  Well, that was fast, eh?  So, they are back with new hardware and a new resolve to ‘again battle Goliath.’  The company has introduced its ‘Open(7)’ hardware, which runs  the Intel Nehalem Xeon processor.  They also announced that they are going to be using a new boot loader called Darwin Universal Boot Loader.  Funny how some just don’t learn.  Part of me wants to root for them and part of me thinks they are just wasting time and money. 

 iPHONE

A security expert revealed a nasty hole in SMS on the iPhone.  Apparently, crafty attackers could implant code on the phone via an SMS message over an operator’s network in order to monitor the location of the phone via GPS, listen to the users conversation by turning on the microphone or have the phone join a distributed denial of service attack or a botnet.  Apple is supposed to have it patched by the end of the month.

iPhone OS 3.1 beta update was seeded to developers on Thursday.  Apparently, the update include:

• Voice Controls over Bluetooth
• AT&T profile update to support MMS
• OpenGL and Quartz improvements
• Better video editing (so you can edit your clips non-destructively…progress is everywhere on this phone)
• Video API’s
• Vibration effect when moving icons

Wow!  that last one makes me want to give up my Pre.  Along with the beta OS update, Apple also released, to developers, the 3.1 beta SDK.  Hopefully, it will allow developers to really take advantage of that vibration effect.

WWNC 2009

Saw this on TUAW:  the WWNC 2009 conference starts July 31.  The WWNC is the World Wide Newton Conference.  The Newton, if you don’t know, was Apple’s first foray into handheld computing.  Bigger than than the iPhone (it dwarfs the iPhone) and about the same size of today’s mini-tablets (MID’s) the Newton sported a beautiful green screen and handwriting recognition.  It was widely derided for its poor recognition in early editions, but the later iterations of the device sported very accurate recognition.  Sadly, two things conspired to kill Newton:  the Palm Pilot and Steve Jobs.  One of Jobs’ first acts when he returned to the helm was to kill Newton. 

Anyway, there is still a vibrant Newton community and they will hold their conference in Vancouver, B.C. starting July 31 and ending on August 2.  Among the topics are:

• discussions on improving the OS X connectivity application
• development of a PDF viewer
• Newton development for beginners
• Newton networking

So, if you are a Newtonian, this may be just the ticket for you, and at $55(US) it is a bargain.

Microsoft announced special promotional pricing for Windows 7.  The promotion ends July 11, 2009.

• Windows Home Premium Upgrade from XP or Vista is $49.95

• Windows Professional Upgrade from XP or Vista is $99.95.

• Upgrade pricing good through July 11, 2009.

In-place upgrades from XP to Windows 7 are NOT supported, however, you can do a clean install of Windows 7.  Backup your XP data and format your drive, then perform the install.  You may be prompted for the XP disc during installation.  There are other ways to perform a clean install of Windows 7.  Bing and Google may help out.

Regular pricing for Windows 7 is:

• Windows 7 Home Premium, Full: $199
• Windows 7 Home Premium, Upgrade from XP or Vista: $119
• Windows 7 Professional, Full: $299
• Windows 7 Professional, Upgrade from XP or Vista: $199
• Windows 7 Ultimate, Full: $319
• Windows 7 Ultimate, Upgrade from XP or Vista: $399

If you buy a new computer with Vista pre-installed, depending on the manufacturer, you may get a free upgrade to the same version for Windows 7.  That is, if you buy a new computer with Vista 32 Home Premium, you may get a free upgrade to Windows 7 Home Premium 32 bit. 

If you purchase a copy of Vista, upgrade or full, after June 26, you can upgrade it to Windows 7 for $9.99.

You can purchase Windows 7 from Amazon, Best Buy, Microsoft’s Online Store or any number of retail outlets beginning October 28, 2009.

Note: clicking the links at the top of the page, as well as the Amazon link above, will take you to Amazon.  If you pre order from one of the links, a percentage of the sale comes back to me.

Over the last week or so, it was discovered that ‘homebrewed’ Palm Pre apps could be installed on the devices without having to hack them.  You simply emailed yourself a link to the install package and, viola! You had a shiny new application installed on your shiny new Pre.  Alas, the fun was not to last.  Today, Palm closed up that hole with a webOS update. 1.0.4 closes a number of undisclosed ‘security holes’, including said link install method. 

Also, over the past few days, an older version of the Pre SDK was found and made available.  The SDK, at least this version, seemed incomplete.  There was zero documentation and no ‘readme’ file to tell you how to install or what you needed in order to use the emulator and the API’s.  Fortunately, the Pre community is pretty smart and have figured most of this out on their own.  Go here for more on the SDK.

No discussion of the Pre-or any other smartphone-is complete without some comment on the iPhone.  So, read on for a couple of iPhone tidbits.

iPhone OS 3.0 has a nasty little bug:  It likes to not only rearrange your icons, but also re-assign them to other apps.  This story over on TUAW details the issue.  Resetting the device does not fix the problem.  The workaround was confusing and not without side effects. 

Apparently, the white iPhone 3GS is turning brown as it heats up.  A ‘small number’ of the devices are getting very hot and cause the white plastic to discolor.  Faulty batteries are said to be the blame.  Well, I suppose if that is all that it is, then you simply replace the batter…er, oh yeah, you can’t do that.  Huh.  Well, Apple will certainly fix the problem.  Maybe they will give another $30 credit in the Apple store. 

Auto racing coverage, sports coverage in general, has blossomed over the last ten years.  Indeed, advances in video and computer technology have enabled all kinds of innovation in all areas of sports television coverage.  Football coverage has had several major innovations, most notably, the yellow line.  Auto racing, however, has made several huge leaps to enable viewers keep better track of the action on the track.  Most of this increased coverage was spurred by the NASCAR television package deals that began in 2001.

In conjunction with the NASCAR web site as well as network television innovations, the coverage exploded.  FOX Television introduced the race bubble, which could follow the cars around the track and display the driver name, number and speed or position.  The technology involved in this alone was incredible, auto racing anyway.  It involved transponders, computer representations of each track, in car telemetry and other geeky fun stuff.  Since NASCAR had mandated the in-car telemetry, viewers were treated to all sorts of information such as speed, RPM, when the drivers were braking and how often, fuel, etc.  This information was not restricted to just television either.

NASCAR made available, for a fee, of course, the same information that the networks had.  You could visit the NASCAR site and follow your driver as they raced around the track.  You could see an at a glance view of the whole field, follow just a few drivers, see the dashboard, view a graphical representation of the track and the drivers position on the track.  Of course, there was a cost involved.  You could subscribe to a partial or complete season.

ABC and ESPN, when they took over for NBC, introduced several innovations of their own.  The first gimmick-which did not survive, thankfully-was supposed to ‘show’ the draft.  Unfortunately, the process was flawed and never really fully baked.  One of the better things that ABC/ESPN did was hire Tim Brewer to explain the race car and problems the drivers would encounter thru out the broadcast.  Among Mr. Brewer’s arsenal of tools is a cool touchscreen based computer, complete with animations showing just about every facet of the car.  The two channels also had a fresh graphics package and clean presentation.

All of the broadcast partners made one very important leap over the coverage of previous years:  live scoring.  Until the very late 1990’s, scoring was always laps behind and only given every so many laps. Since then, however, viewers get live, updated scoring.  At worst, it might be a half a lap old.  At best, it is real time.

The high tech coverage is not limited to just NASCAR events.  The Indy Racing League has also enjoyed it’s own high tech coverage.  Unlike NASCAR, it’s online offerings are free.  I was able to enjoy the Richmond race both on television and on the web.  The IRL site had a video feed and you could select several drivers to follow.  Some of the drivers also had an on board camera which you can also see in the drivers info box.  Unlike NASCAR, IRL cars have always provided telemetry, which you can also see in on the web.  In many ways, I like the IRL web site better, not only because it is free, but because it seems to be far less intensive and does not rely on JAVA to work.

During TNT’s coverage, not only do they have an hour and a half of pre-race coverage, but they also offer free video on the NASCAR page.  Called RaceBuddy, the video is available as one screen that you can choose from five different streams or one video wall that shows four of the streams. You also get TNT audio and the bottom of the page is full of live data feeds.

Today’s auto race coverage is far above anything that came in the years prior to the NASCAR TV package.  Because of the innovations in the NASCAR coverage, other series have also benefitted from those same innovations.  The coverage has come so far from the days of filmed or tape delayed broadcasts and, what looked like, hand typed scoring cards held in front of the camera.  Quite a leap indeed.

• Windows 7 is now available for pre-order for $49 from Best Buy, Amazon and Microsoft’s online store.  The upgrade is $49 for the Home Premium, $99 for Business.  The low upgrade price is only good for the next two weeks, so place that order while you can.

• Speaking of Windows 7, the beta is about to expire.  The release candidate is still available for download, so if you are running the beta, you should probably install the release candidate or revert back to Vista.

• Microsoft may be distributing Windows 7 on thumb drives in a move to allow netbook users to move to the new operating system if those machines do not have optical drives.  Sounds like a smart move to me.

• Apple’s $29 upgrade price for ‘snow leopard’ is a bit on the misleading side.  According to a posting on ZDNET, the fine print for Apple’s service pack reads something like this:  if you bought an Intel powered Mac between January 2006 and September 2007, you will pay about $169.  If it was between October 2001 and January 2006, you cannot even use the service pack because is it only supported on Intel powered Macs.  Basically, only Macs purchased after October 1, 2007 and run Intel processors and have Leopard installed, are eligible for the $29 upgrade pricing.  Sneaky devils, those Apple marketing people.

• For a time, Google perceived the Michael Jackson inquiries as an attack on Google.  As rumors of Jackson’s death made the rounds, an error message saying ‘We’re sorry, but your query looks similar to automated requests from a computer virus or spyware application.’ was returned instead of results to inquiries about the singer.  It took Google nearly 25 minutes to realize the traffic spike was real.

• The Zune HD is rumored to be launching in 16gb and 32gb models with a starting price of around $249.

• Sprint published a nice little ad taking aim at Apple and the iPhone.  It says ‘Your iPhone contract is up.  Perfect timing.’ and then goes on to espouse the goodness that is Palm Pre’s multitasking and of iPhones unitasking ability.  The photo in the ad shows a mostly eaten apple propping up a Palm Pre.  Classic.

This has been a sad week in the world of entertainment.  The loss of Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson is tremendous-as is the loss of any one soul.  These three people, especially Jackson, were a part of my life as well.  Each of them played a different role in my more youthful days.

Ed McMahon, being the sidekick of Johnny Carson, had such a powerful and booming voice.  I can remember staying awake long enough to hear ‘Heeeeeeere’s Johnny!’ and then listening to Johnny’s monologue and opening banter with Ed.  I’d usually turn it off and go to sleep.  Often times, my Mom had no idea, or, at least, she never let on, that I did this.  His Publisher’s House contest was always unforgettable and his guest appearances on other programs I always managed to catch.  I tuned in the Tonight Show for Ed just as much as Johnny.

Like most teen age boys from 1976 to around 1980 or so, I had one of the iconic posters that Farrah made famous.  Other than being the wife of the Bionic Man, I had no clue who this beautiful woman was.  Of course, after Charlie’s Angels got popular, I knew.  But, the problem was, I never watched that show until its later run with Tanya Roberts (another very pretty lady.)  I only caught Farrah in repeats of the show and, I think, an occasional guest appearance on that show and others.  But it was that poster that that I will always remember.  It was everywhere.  For a time, it was just as popular as Pac Man.  Imagine that.

Michael Jackson.  That is all you really need to say.  I don’t care to relive the ‘wacko jacko’ days, you can read about that pretty much everywhere else.  No, I want to remember the better times from the mid 1970’s to the late 1980’s.  The Jackson Five was a favorite of my family, especially my Mother.  Mind you, she was country music fanatic.  To her, Marty Robins was a god.  Conway Twitty was THE man.  Loretta Lynn?  Why she was the Queen.  The Jackson Five?  Well, they were just a great group.  I remember we had to watch every television appearance they had.  I can remember, very vividly, staying up really late (well, for me, at the time, anyway) to watch ‘Soul Train’ on our local station.  I think it came on Sundays at 12:30 AM.  The Jacksons were coming on.  It was an event.  And when Michael went solo, oh man.  That Motown 25th Anniversary Special, on NBC, was HUGE.  We watched it, specifically, for Michael.  That his brothers would also be there was just icing on the cake.  When he did Billie Jean and the moonwalk, it was gold.  My sister went bananas. It was truly spectacular.  For then, anyway.  I find it amazing how one man and a dance could stir such emotion.  But, he did.  I suppose that was akin to Elvis or the Beatles appearing on Ed Sullivan’s show, which the Jackson’s also made an appearance in 1969.  

These three people were all a part of my youth and their loss, coupled with the recent passing of my Mother, make me feel like a part of me is gone as well.  Maybe it is a reminder that I am getting older.  Maybe it reminds me that our time on the planet is relatively short.  I am not sure what it is.  I will remember them all with fond memories:  the joy of a booming laugh, the beautiful woman in the poster and trying to dance to a best selling record.  Good times indeed.

The IRL is in Richmond this weekend.  It is always a blast to watch this series at Richmond International Raceway.  Any race at RIR is exciting, but watching Indy Cars race around that track is even more exciting.  These cars go much faster than the stock cars of NASCAR and those are pretty fast.  Its pretty cool watching such talents as Helio Castroneves, Danica Patrick and Scott Sharp race around this wonderful track.  I am a HUGE NASCAR fan, but the IRL is pretty darn exciting as well and does not get the attention it deserves.  While having Helio or Danica race in NASCAR would be pretty cool, it would be a real shame for the IRL to lose them.  If you are in the Richmond area this weekend, come on out to RIR and catch this cool race.  The SunTrust Indy Challenge is June 27 at RIR.

There are days where I feel more like Oscar the Grouch than, say, Elmo.  Most days, I’m probably more Archie Bunker like, without the bigotry.  At any rate, I’m Oscar today and there are a few thing I want to get off my chest.

First, online petitions.  What the hell good are these things?  How many of them have actually persuaded anyone or anything?  My guess is zero.  Just today, I saw an online petition for Palm because someone thought the Pre should do something differently.  I have, recently, seen an online petition to Apple because of AT&T.  You know what? If you don’t like AT&T then don’t get an iPhone or buy one and jailbreak the damned thing.  As for the Pre, buy a different phone. Online petitions are just dumb and only work to sooth the people who ‘sign’ them.

Second, Steve Jobs health.  The dude was sick.  He’s a cancer survivor.  He had a liver transplant.  He and Apple chose not to make his problems public, and that is their choice.  Apple and Jobs have good lawyers and I am sure that they have done everything they were supposed to do as far as disclosure.  He took a leave from the company, which was the right thing for him to do.  Apple survived.  Get over it people.

Third, people who buy something and then endlessly complain about it.  Just looking over the Pre forums, I see people who are just bitching up a storm because of some perceived flaw in the device.  Some people have returned the device five times!  I have seen similar stories for the iPhone, Blackberry and, especially, Windows Mobile phones.  The problem extends to just about anything, really.  Look, if the damn thing is that bad, then take it back, get a freaking refund and move on with your life.  Sadly, I realized I do just the same thing with something called Evernote.  I deride this turkey every chance I get.  I am sure it is just as annoying to others as these forum posts have been to me.  I hereby cease this product.  Evernote is actually a fine tool, even in its crippled version three product.  If you want a low cost decent organizer, Evernote is just fine.  That’s all I have to say about that.

Lastly, netbooks.  I’ve written about these before, and I will again.  And that really bugs me.  A ‘netbook’ is a low cost, stripped down, crippled laptop.  They are usually under three hundred dollars and have tiny screens and cramped keyboards.  People are going nuts over this crap.  I just don’t get it.  Yeah, you can get one that runs an antiquated version of Windows for under two hundred bucks.  These things are probably just fine for throwing in your bag and going to Starbucks for a cup of java and checking your mail or doing some quick web browsing.  You could probably even do some light text editing.  You won’t write your next novel on these things, those.  Funny thing is, though, most people who buy them don’t really understand what they bought other than it was a cheap laptop that runs Windows XP.  A survey that was recently released, revealed that most netbook buyers do not know what a netbook really is.  The real question here is why bother with these barely usable devices when, for about fifty dollars more, you can get a real laptop that runs Vista just fine?  There are many good laptops available between three hundred and four hundred dollars.  Why would you buy one of these tiny little computers, that might do what you need, just to save a few dollars?  I just don’t understand. 

OK, I’m done with the mini-rants for today.  I think I’ll go shoot some alien invaders now. 

One of the things I sometimes need to do is create catchy images with reflections, curvatures, borders, or other arty effects. I do this sometimes for this blog, mostly for work related items.  With the various image editors I have access to, I can usually whip up something, but I often spend quite a bit of time getting ‘just right.’  Well, there is a tool that makes this a breeze. 

The product is called 3D Image Commander and it works great.  The product allows you to place the image at almost any angle, various borders including curved, angled or none.  Reflection effects can be controlled and the curvature can be set.  You have a few options for saving the image as well.  You can save the whole thing, or crop just the image itself, with out a background.  You can also make the background transparent.

3D Image Commander is a nice little tool that has helped me out tremendously.  It was recently part of the Give Away of the Day promotion and is also available from the developer’s website for $39.95.  I think it is worth every penny.  There isn’t anything that this application does that cannot be done with other packages like Adobe, the difference is that this application was designed, specifically, for a small set of functions and, because of that, it does them very well.

3D Image Commander is available from Binerus.com.  It is compatible with Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7 and OS X10.4 and up. 

For sometime now, I’ve heard various people talk about Pandora.  Pandora is an internet based ‘radio’ service.  You can personalize it so it only plays music that interests you.  I’ve heard podcasters like Leo Laporte and others talk about how they have replaced the radio with Pandora using an iPhone.  Well, having XM/Sirius for several years, I just could not for the life of me understand what the appeal for an internet based ‘radio’ station would be, especially in your car.

Fast forward to today.  I had downloaded the app for my Palm Pre.  Gave a quick whirl at home and dismissed it as ‘nice’, but why?  So, while in my car, I wanted to see how good the Pre’s audio out really was.  I quickly unplugged the audio cable from my satellite radio and plugged into the Pre (glad the Pre has a normal audio out jack) and started the Pandora app.

I was pleasantly surprised.  Audio quality was great and, surprisingly, most of the songs I heard were songs that I liked and I had only set up a Queen channel.  The ‘channel’ played Queen songs AND songs that were similar to they style of music that Queen played.  Very nice indeed.

I can see the appeal of something like Pandora, but I don’t think it will replace my Sirius or XM radios anytime soon.  I will use it from time to time to listen to specific things in my car, but, most likely, I would use it more at work or somewhere that I could not use the satellite radio.  One thing that Pandora cannot offer that satellite does are the specialized channels like NASCAR, IRL, Howard Stern and other such stations.  I’m a NASCAR/IRL fan and these are the big reasons I have satellite radio.  

The Pandora application for Pre is nicely done.  The interface is clean and simple with nice cover art.  The application is kind of slow to start, you get the Pandora splash screen almost right away, but it is slow to start playing.  I suspect it is buffering the stream first.  Once it starts, you can give a thumbs up or down to the currently playing song, you can pause the song or skip to the next song.  The skipping feature is nice, if it plays a song that you do not like.  Thumbs up or down seems to ‘teach’ the application more about your likes or dislikes.  Best of all, Pandora is free.

Oh, other nice thing…if you get a call, your song pauses.  When the call is complete, the music starts up again.