Gadzooki

Old Apple ads by Simpsons creator

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Check out this old Apple brochure apparently authored by the Simpsons creator Matt Groenig. The brochure, entitled “Who needs a computer anyway?” is basically targeted at students.

So who does need a computer?

  • The stressed
  • The clueless
  • The schizoid
  • The procrastinator
  • The imperfectionist
  • The overwhelmed
  • The unemployed
  • The starving student
  • The technoid

That means all of us, eh? At any rate, there seems to be a deluge of old Apple ads and brochures over at Digg, and we get along some pretty interesting ones every so often.

[via DIGG]

MatrixStream HD IPTV set-top box

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MatrixStream HD IPTV set-top boxOK, that didn’t sound like a name for the next pandemic scare, right? Of course, HD IPTV stands for High Definition Internet-Protocol Television. Check out the MatrixStream high-def IPTV set-top box:

MatrixStream Technologies, Inc., will soon be releasing the world’s first H.264 AVC (advance video codec) Video on Demand and IPTV Set Top Box (STB) and PC Player capable of the highest of high definition (HD) signal formats with 1080 vertical pixels by 1920 horizontal pixels.

The STB also allows users to view HDTV and DVD videos right from their IP network. Simply plug in the STB to the IP network and home theater system, and the full functionality of Video-On-Demand is ready to access.

MatrixStream was an exhibitor at CES 2006, where they said the set-top-boxes will be available for sale by end of first quarter 2006.

Does this spell the demise of TV and Cable as we know it? I mean it’s high-def and it’s on-demand!

Panasonic joins the DSLR game with the Lumix DMC-L1

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Panasonic Lumix DMC-L1Panasonic, which has long been into the digital camera market with its Lumix line, has come up a digital-SLR of its own, the Lunix DMC-L1. It’s touted to be more film/analogue-camera-like in operation, particularly with the shutter-speed dial enclosing the shutter button, and aperture-rings on the standard Leica D-VARIO ELMARIT lens. Serious photographers, especially those coming from film photography into the fold of digital, are going to love this cam!

The Leica lens also has Panasonic’s MEGA O.I.S. optical image stabilization–great for those high-zoom shots taken at longer exposure times. You’re sure to get clear images even with jittery hands. The DMC-L1 also conforms to the four-thirds standard introduced by Olympus and Kodak for DSLRs.

At any rate, you won’t go wrong with Leica optics. This new D-SLR might be a worthy competitor to the more popular Canons and Nikons out there. With the Lumix, it’s all about the shooting experience!

Read the press release here.

Sony upgrades W digicam line

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Sony cybershot W100Sony has announced upgrades to its W-series compact digital camera line at the Photo Marketing Association (PMA) 2006 trade show.

The Rangefinder-style W series gets a facelift as the lower end is now a continuation of the more compact P-series of the recent years, and is more akin to the Canon ixus line in size and feature set. The higher end models retain the old W size and form factor, but now sport higher resolution CCD sensors (7 and 8 megapixels!) and upgraded optics.

New models include the W30 (SRP: US$ 230) and W50 (SRP: US$ 250) on the lower-featured, more compact side, and the W70 (SRP: US$ 300) and W100 (SRP: US$ 350) on the larger, more feature-packed side.

Across the W series, common enhancements include the following:

  • Increased light sensitivity, up to 1000 ISO equivalent settings (up to 1250 ISO for the W100)
  • Intuitive helptext for menu system

Now what would I do with that fast a light sensitivity? I’m worried about noise and pixellation at those ISO levels, even if this was meant to enable faster shutter speeds at low-light operation! But the help system is cool, though, for novice photographers–it takes out the guesswork in photography (sometimes “Auto” mode isn’t enough, since there are a plethora of options one can explore even on a simple point-and-shoot digicam)

At any rate, the W series is worth looking at. It strikes good balance between price and funcitionality.

Gmail for domains

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Gmail logoGoogle has been hinting about this new feature for a month, and then finally made it public. Gmail for domains lets you use Gmail as your domain’s mailhosting solution. A pretty cool idea, especally given Gmail’s 2.6+ Gigabytes of storage and threaded and labelled views (IMHO, a great way of organizing email).

What I currently do is mailforward all my domain email (racoma.net) to my Gmail account and use the “Send From” feature so in effect, Gmail manages my racoma.net email. I no longer have to worry about running out of email hosting space or bandwidth.

But a dedicated solution that lets you point your mail-exchange records towards the Gmail server is better. Ryderross.com has a screenshot here, and promises to put out more. I just applied as a beta tester; I hope I get approved soon so I can check it out personally.

Canon announces EOS 30D

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Canon, my favorite camera manufacturer, announces yet another new digital SLR to add to its lineup. The EOS 30D replaces the EOS 20D popular among professional and higher-end amateur photographers. Featuring the DIGIC II image processor, image capture and processing is done at lightning speeds. The 30D houses an 8.2 Megapixel CMOS sensor in the APS-C size, meaning clearer images and none of the noise, aberrations, and other optical problems associated with small-size sensors.

Some differences from its predecessor, the 20D, include a larger LCD size, more rugged body design, a new spot-metering capability, and a larger, brighter LCD.

Some highlights:

  • 8.2 Megapixel APS-C size CMOS sensor
  • 5 fps and 30 large JPEG frame burst
  • 2.5�?, 230K pixel, 170º wide viewing angle LCD screen
  • Picture Style image processing parameters
  • Spot metering and High Precision 9-point AF system
  • DIGIC II image processor with 0.15 sec start-up time
  • Digital Photo Professional RAW processing software
  • 100,000 cycle shutter durability and rugged magnesium alloy body
  • Simultaneous RAW and JPEG recording
  • Wide 100-3200 ISO range
  • E-TTL II Flash
  • PictBridge compatibility
  • Complete compatibility with all Canon EF and EF-S lenses and EX-series Speedlites
  • USB 2.0 Hi-Speed and Video Out connectivity

Thinking of upgrading your Motherboard?

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Better think twice if you’re using Windows, because Microsoft wants you to get a new Windows license with every motherboard upgrade. This is one of the latest revisions to the Windows end-user license agreement (which nobody bothers to read, anyway): it says installing a new motherboard is tantamount to your getting a new computer, which means you have to purchase a new Windows license.

An upgrade of the motherboard is considered to result in a “new personal computer�? to which Microsoft® OEM operating system software cannot be transferred from another computer. If the motherboard is upgraded or replaced for reasons other than a defect, then a new computer has been created and the license of new operating system software is required.

According to Microsoft, the motherboard is the only base component that defines a PC. So you can change changing everything else on your system–your hard drive, optical drives, monitor, casing, power supply, RAM, input devices–and it’s still essentially the same machine for Microsoft.

I think this is ridiculous.

(via Aviran’s Place)

RIAA says it’s illegal to sell your iPod preloaded

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The RIAA gets weirder by the minute. Now the Recording Industry Association of America, the umbrella organization representing music record labels in the US, will sue you if you sell your iPod (or any other media player, I guess) pre-loaded with music.

Selling an iPod preloaded with music is no different than selling a DVD onto which you have burned your entire music collection.

Yes, this is straight from the people who had sued 83-year old grandmas and twelve-year olds for alleged music piracy.

My take on this issue can be summarized by one word: greed.

Nokia N91 gets FCC nod

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Nokia N91Expect to see another cool Nokia phone in the States in the next few weeks, as the N91 is approved for US release by the FCC. Not just another ordinary Finnish brick, the N91 is touted as a Motorola ROKR-killer, with its 4 Gigabyte hard drive and drag-and-drop / plug-and-play file management capability. No special sync software is necessary, as the phone will be detected by your OS as a mass-storage USB 2.0 device. The N91 can play MP3, WMA, AAC, and M4A, and a host of other media formats–so many that our alphabet soup ran out of letters (and numbers–is there alphabet soup with numbers?).

The N91 runs on the Symbian series 60 operating system, so you can expect the same flexibility as with most of Nokia’s other smartphones. Basic features include an XHTML web browser, email client, and advanced Personal Information Management.

A two-megapixel still and video camera is included, and there’s visualradio support, in case you run out of audio tracks to play.

The phone runs on EGSM/GPRS 1800 and 1900MHz plus WCDMA-type 3G. The N91 also supports WiFi, so you can probably make free VoIP calls via a wireless network if you feel like being cheap. But with a cool phone like the N91, you probably won’t (feel cheap, that is)!

Technical specs here.

Microsoft: Mobile phones more practical

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Microsoft chairman Bill Gates was cited to express preference for mobile phone technology over low-cost laptops to address the need for bringing computers closer to the lower market segments and developing economies.

This is in response to the plan by the MIT Media Lab to build a US$ 100 laptop, which shall then be sold to developing countries for use by students. Microsoft and MIT Media Lab were in talks for the possibile use of a Windows variant to run the laptop, but no consensus was reached (the laptop will be using an open-source operating system, as originally planned).

[Gates believes] … that turning a specially configured cell phone into a computer by connecting it to a TV and a keyboard is the best way to spread the power of computing.

$100 laptop from MIT Media LabTrue, in developing nations, even the lower market segments have access to mobile phones. Having a mobile has become more of a necessity rather than a luxury, in most societies. Hence, there may be merit in Microsoft’s focusing on mobile phones instead, in introducing computing to the masses.

But a US$ 100 laptop that doesn’t need plugging in to the mains sure is cool!