Dropbox: New beta site offers free online file storage
A friend of mine sent me an invitation to Dropbox today, which is basically a site where you can store your digital files online for the convenience of accessing them from any computer in the world. I’d heard a little about the site but hadn’t been actively seeking an invite like many seem to be on various message boards I frequent. Still, free is free, so I gladly used my beta code to try out the service today.
It takes about a minute to fill out the form to sign up for an account and maybe another 30 seconds (depending on the speed of your Internet connection and PC) to install the Dropbox software. Once installed, a Dropbox icon is added to your System Tray at the bottom of your screen, as well as a folder located in your Windows Documents. Drag and drop any file into the Dropbox and it will be quickly uploaded to your online account, accessible by logging into the website or installing the shortcut application on another PC.
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400GB Blu-ray disc?
Long ago, before the HD-DVD and Blu-ray formats were even on the market, I predicted Blu-ray would be the eventual format winner. It seemed like a no-brainer as the Playstation 3 was going to ship with a Blu-ray drive. Those with long memories may recall that the Playstation 2 helped launch another disc format, the DVD. In fact, when DVDs first came out, rental chains such as Blockbuster stocked them in the video game aisle, as very few people had stand-alone players yet.
Now that Blu-ray is the clear format winner, there are still several hurdles before the format is actually profitable for Sony and their partners. For one thing, you need a high-definition TV to see any benefits from Blu-ray and not everyone has upgraded yet. Secondly, not everyone feels there’s enough improvement from DVDs to Blu-rays to justify the cost of upgrading their players and movie libraries. Third, Blu-ray is still competing with another high-def format that I think will eventually win in this new format war: high-def digital downloads.
With cable providers and video game consoles both offering on-demands high-def movies purchases and rentals at the click of a button, is the attraction of owning a physical disc enough to make Blu-ray a success? Will a generation trained on buying constant downloads such as ringtones and games for cell phones and other devices have a problem doing the same for their living room television?
I think in the short term, there is still a place for Blu-ray as a storage media if nothing else. 50 gigs of space on a single-layer disc and 100 gigs on a double-layer is nothing to sneeze at. Until 100 gig flash drives are $10 a pop, Blu-ray is a much cheaper format for storing massive amounts of data. Pioneer’s claim that they’ve created a 400GB, 16-layer, possibly Blu-ray compatible disc is even more promising. Downloads are great but people will always want to make backups of their data, and we seem to have more and more personal data every year as cameras, camcorders, and other digital devices become more and more affordable.
I have a Playstation 3 and so far I think I’ve spent more money downloading content from the PS3 store than on actual discs, although I have rented several Blu-rays from Blockbuster. As an old school video game collector, I never though I’d latch onto the download concept, as I love buying and trading actual physical games, and yet I’ve spent $100+ on game downloads for my Wii at $5-10 a pop. If a child of 80′s console gaming and colleting like myself can learn to appreciate game downloads, anyone can.
UK file pirates to face the music
It was announced today that British ISPs will begin sending out warning letters to their customers who share copyrighted files on the Internet. Besides the privacy concerns with this, it’s doubtful that it will stem the tide of online piracy. Pirates have always been about ten steps ahead of media companies when it comes to sharing copyrighted files.
Also, I believe the media companies are missing out on a huge opportunity when it comes to online file sharing. Most of what people trade online these days are TV shows, the most popular of which are recent (aired within the last 24 hours) shows. The networks would be better off creating their own torrents of these shows complete with commercials and seeding the episodes themselves. I think if there was a legal alternative for downloading a TV show you’ve missed for free, most bit torrent users would take advantage of it.
The other option would be streaming the shows with commercials as Hulu does. While many people prefer downloads at the moment, I think streaming on-demand content may actually be the future. I’d like to see a day when I can watch any TV show ever made, streaming over my cable or Internet connection onto my television on demand. Whether this will cost a flat monthly rate, a per download fee, or be free and advertiser supported is up to the market to decide.
Hopefully, the TV networks won’t make the same mistake the music industry made and go after their core demographic with lawsuits and alienate them. There will always be pirates. You don’t eliminate piracy through lawsuits. You make it less attractive by providing easily attainable legal alternatives.
Jul 24 – Britain’s six biggest Internet providers have agreed a plan to send warning letters to those suspected of illegal file-sharing.
ISPs had previously argued they were mere conduits and not responsible for content.
But they agreed to the deal after the British government said it would impose legislation if they did not work to curb illegal file-sharing.
Reuters Technology Correspondent Matt Cowan reports.
Roadside America
Roadside America is a guide to offbeat tourist attractions, which you can search by attraction name, town, or state. Visitors to the site can add their own info and photos about local oddities. I was a bit disappointed to find that there are very few listings for the Indianapolis area and many of those are duplicates. We have a lot of weird and wacky places, people and things in Indiana, so if you know of some, please visit this site and add them.
SNIFF your Facebook friends
Fortunately, this has nothing to do with smelling your friends over the Internet, as many of my friends tend to be unwashed computer geeks. No, SNIFF stands for Social Network Integrated Friend Finder, which is a service that allows you to use your cell phone or other portable devices equipped with GPS to track your friends’ locations in the real world (with their permission). The idea is that your cell phone would alert you when one of your friends was nearby, so that you could meet up with them. You wouldn’t even need to call them to ask them where they are, as you’d have a map directly to their location. While the concept is interesting, I have to wonder if people would really want their friends tracking their movements or knowing where they are at all times. One application I could see this being used for, however, is by parents wanting to keep tabs on their children.
Jun. 3 – The Social Network Integrated Friend Finder is a permission-based service that allows friends to find each other in the real world.
The service is billed as a safe and convenient way to connect with online friends in the offline world. But do people really want their friends to SNIFF them?
Nintendo DS goes to school
Japanese schools have the right idea. Rather than punish our children for their interest in handheld video games, why not take advantage of their interest and produce games that are fun and educational? I’m sure many adults from my generation have fond memories of learning geography and history from the Carmen Sandiego series of PC games. There’s no reason why that concept wouldn’t be valid today. The games should be tested by parents first, however, because if parents find them boring, their children will find them intolerable. We shouldn’t force children to endure anything we wouldn’t inflict on ourselves. The whole idea is to make learning fun. Cable networks like Animal Planet and The Discovery Channel have mastered this but educational video games are much more hit and miss in the entertainment department.
June 27 – Nintendo games are banned in most Japanese schools, but its DS console is becoming the latest Japanese teaching tool.
Teacher Motoko Okubo uses the handheld DS and textbook software and says after years of Super Mario Bros. and other games on the prohibited list, students weren’t expecting Nintendo in class.
Japan robot scales Grand Canyon
The machines continued their slow climb to total world domination and human annihilation last week when one of their own managed to scale the Grand Canyon in 7 hours powered by two AA batteries. Meanwhile, work continues on the robot-proof bomb shelter under my house.
June 2 – It may be a Great Wonder of the World, but the Grand Canyon could not stop a determined 17-cm robot and a pair of AA batteries.
After a few returns to base camp, a carbon-plastic robot powered by Panasonic’s Evolta batteries made the 530-m rope climb in under seven hours.
Incredible Hulk is sort of a sequel to Iron Man
On Monday, I saw an advanced screening of The Incredible Hulk. As a long-time Hulk fan who was disappointed by the 2003 film, I figured this one could only be better than that Crouching Hulk, Hidden Plotline disaster from Ang Lee. The previews looked promising, so I was even starting to look forward to this one.
Fortunately, I was not disappointed. The film is definitely superior to the last movie, with better acting, a better script, an actual villain for the Hulk to fight, and even better CGI and special effects. Yes, the CGI Hulk still looks a little cartoony, but he’s definitely an improvement over the Hulk of 5 years ago, with more texture to his skin and muscles. It should be easy for fans to suspend belief and enjoy the movie.
Without giving too much away, I would recommend watching Iron Man first, as in some ways this film is actually a sequel to Iron Man. Stark Industries military technology is used to fight the Hulk, among other references, and as all Marvel fans know, these films are dropping hints left and right about Marvel’s upcoming Avengers film.
There was also a reference in Hulk to Captain America that not everyone might catch. The Abomination, the villain that the Hulk eventually fights, was originally given his powers using a form of the Super Soldier Serum, which was developed back in World War II to give Captain America his powers. Since there’s a Captain America film on the way and he’ll also appear in Avengers, this was just one more way to tie all the films together.
I think it’s nice to finally see super hero films that cross-over and reference each other, which Marvel could never do when they were licensing their properties to multiple studios. You’d think there’d be more cross-overs from their main competitor, DC Comics, as all of their films are produced by parent company Warner Bros. Yet, Warner can’t even get their Justice League film together or even the long-planned Superman/Batman team-up flick.
Anyway, if you’re a fan of the Hulk or super hero films in general, you should enjoy this film. If you thought Iron Man was great, I doubt you’ll be disappointed in the latest film starring his fellow Avenger.
The Incredible Hulk – Exclusive PremiereTrailer
Monkey controlled robots to take over world
It was reported yesterday that scientists have developed tiny microelectrodes that can be implanted in the brain in order to control robotic limbs. The long-term practical application of this technology would, of course, be to provide artificial replacement limbs to humans that function as normal limbs would.
One impractical application would be to give perfectly healthy humans extremely strong cyborg limbs for combat or industrial purposes. You could even combine lab animals and robotic limbs to create deadly (and cute) cyborgs with robotic strength and animal reflexes ala the comic book series WE3 (soon to be a major motion picture). Personally, I welcome our new monkey cyborg overlords and plan on buying up stock in Chiquita just in case.
May 28 – A monkey has been able to control a robotic arm using brainpower.
With tiny microelectrodes implanted in its brain, the monkey could direct a robotic arm to pluck a marshmallow from a skewer and feed itself.
Are jet packs a reality?
Well, the year 2000 has come and went and still I have no flying car or jet pack to use to get to the office every morning. I had almost given up hope of this happening in my lifetime until I stumbled upon a video of a Swiss man demonstrating a prototype jet wing that he flew for 10 minutes at speeds up to 186 mph. One of those bad boys could really shave some time off my daily commute.
May 14 – Known as ‘Fusion Man’, a former pilot has stunned crowds by flying a jet-propelled wing for nearly ten minutes at a peak speed of 300 km/h (186 mph).
Yves Rossy, a Swiss former military pilot and Airbus commander for Swiss airlines completed an official demonstration on Wednesday (May 14, 2008) in the Swiss Chablais region, where he was released from a plane at 2438 metres (8000 feet) with his wing folded.
He deployed his craft after a short free-fall and began his flight. After a flight of almost ten minutes, he deployed his parachute, folded the wing and landed at the Bex airdrome.