TechLore - News, Rumors, and Trends

A Mac Lover's Review of Windows 7

Peter Redmer — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 22:51:18 GMT

Many, if not most of my posts here, are infused with some Mac-ery goodness - no surprise to the rest of the blogging community, journalists, or social media freaks (whom many of which are Apple-heads.) What about pretty much everyone else, though? Doesn't it get old hearing everybody yap their traps about how awesome Apple is and constantly diss Windows like the family outcast? Well, be annoyed no more, as Redmond's latest creation, Windows 7 , is super-slick - and rights most of the wrongs perpetrated by the abomination typically known as Vista. Windows 7 Is Stable From my experience so far, I can declare that Windows 7 is pretty stable and doesn't crash (or otherwise get wonky) anywhere nearly as bad as Vista. Even on my Dell Mini 9 (my test machine so far) multiple applications open, run, close, and open again with no issues. I almost never require a reboot. It was also much easier to set everything up and the Control Panel feels much more stable and usable. Windows 7 Feels Faster Yes, you're hearing this right: it feels faster to me than XP. Applications open and run faster on my Dell Mini 9, which is pretty...

Review: Stargate 15th anniversary Blu-ray DVD

Gizmos For Geeks — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:00:00 GMT

It seems like the original Stargate movie was released more than 15 years, what with the 3 TV series, books and additional merchandising that have come since. However, it has been 15 years and to celebrate and commemorate it, Lionsgate has released a special Blu-ray version of the movie that includes over 4 additional hours of features. We had a chance to review the DVD recently. Apart from the original theatrical release, the DVD also includes an extended director’s cut that adds just under 10 minutes of additional footage. Top fans will appreciate this cut. What was more important to me was that the movies were remastered in 1080p Hi-Def widescreen with 7.1 DTS audio. The picture was stunning. Other features (or in some cases, named ‘featurettes’) included an interactive game, a gag reel, an audio commentary version of the movie narrated by the director/producer/writers Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin, and 5 short pieces that like the “Making of Stargate” documentary and “Is there a Stargate?” which explored whether aliens have visited Earth. I wouldn’t buy the DVD for the interactive game which I found to be way too slow, didn’t show the correct answers, and with very long gap...

Chestnut Hill iPod Speaker System $249

Gizmos For Geeks — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:49:04 GMT

Chestnut Hill has long put out their sound systems as a premium product. If you are in the market for a premium iPod player, then consider the George Audio Speaker System – CHS40001 . Currently it’s available for $249 and free shipping! All of GEORGEâs functions are controlled from the remote, meaning you can set an alarm, pick a song, or turn on the radio within a thirty-foot radius of the base unit. Great for desktop or bedside control, GEORGE fits anywhere. Show off your mixing skills using GEORGEâs Jukebox feature, take requests and build a playlist, without ever leaving the party. With 24 presets spread across four pages, you can mix your AM and FM presets and organize them by interest or genre. Every radio has presets, but who remembers which one is 101.7? GEORGEâs presets are self-labeling, meaning youâll never have to guess again. Most tabletop systems deliver audio through a single set of small-sized speakers, resulting in artificial high notes and muddy bass. GEORGE uses coaxial (2-way) speakers that outperform highly equalized single cone speaker designs, resulting in greater detail and accuracy. These stereo coaxial speakers are paired with a dedicated down-firing 4â subwoofer that is optimized...

Pizza Cutter in the shape of a Chainsaw!

Gizmos For Geeks — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 05:06:54 GMT

Hahaha. This cracks me up – it’s very simply a pizza cutter, but it looks like a little chainsaw. This is for those of you with a warped sense of humor, and $10 to spare Now what would be cool is if it was motorized! Oh yes, if you don’t care for these, how about the Pizza Cutter Scissors ? Buy now! Price: $9.86 (Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)

How spending more money can be worth it

Gizmos For Geeks — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 22:04:00 GMT

Here’s a powerful anecdote demonstrating how spending a bit more money up front can save you a lot (time, money, frustration, et al) down the road. Particularly apt if you’re buying or building a new computer.

Uh-oh - Even Microsoft's Windows 7 launch has bugs in it

Gizmos For Geeks — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 04:06:50 GMT

Oh Microsoft. It’s really not a good sign that your launch celebration of Windows 7 with cascading dominoes had ‘bugs’ in it! (If you don’t feel like watching the whole way through, I’ll give away the ‘bugs’ – there were sections where the dominoes didn’t fall and in one case, someone had to manually push them to finish the sequence.) via Jorymon

Mozilla Labs' Raindrop project aims to cut through e-mail clutter

Gizmos For Geeks — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 18:31:00 GMT

Do you get too much e-mail, whose volume has grown significantly in recent times due to social networking notifications from the likes of Facebook & Twitter? How do you sort it out and quickly? Filters? Folders? Those methods may be doing the trick right now, but Mozilla Labs is working on a different approach – creating views of your messages (not necessarily e-mail only) and letting you interact with those conversations without having to switch applications. The new project is called Raindrop and while it won’t necessarily replace your e-mail client, it could significantly complement it. Although still in its infancy, Raindrop has promise. Here is a screenshot of what one of its screens may eventually look like, although it’s in dynamic flux right now, and a video explaining the basic ideas in Raindrop. You can download the 0.1 release from the Raindrop home page . Raindrop UX Design and Demo from Mozilla Messaging on Vimeo .

Southwest shows off 'green' airplane that saves 9500 gallons of fuel per year

Gizmos For Geeks — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 19:07:00 GMT

Southwest has unveiled a ‘greener’ Boeing 733-700 airplane that will serve as a test for potentially fleet-wide changes. The plane uses: recyclable carpet, lighter seat covers, lighter life vest pouches and seat foam . The weight reduction is about 5lbs per seat and about 500lbs total for a savings of 9500 gallons of fuel per year. Well done Southwest.