That’s right Microsoft will attempt to compete with Apple’s iPod. It’s hard to believe that Microsoft is tying to make a portable music device that will be cooler than the iPod.
To giver you an idea of how well Apple is doing with the iPod…..Since Apple has released the iPod in October of 2001 they’ve sold more than 50.8 million players. In the US that’s about 77% of the market share. Also, that Apple music store is used for 72% of music downloads.
According to the Taipei Times the digital player will have a wireless Internet connection, enabling users to download music without being linked to a computer, a feature the iPod doesn’t offer, according to people briefed on Microsoft’s plans.
I’m anxious to see what Microsoft will come up with? Hopefully their MP3 or should I say WMA player won’t be susceptible to viruses, spyware and blue screens of death like many of their other products. That’s one more thing that I don’t want to have to worry about, what service pack my portable media player is at.
Apple, Gadgets, Technology, Useless
Well yesterday I bought an Xbox (just the regular one). You might ask why I would do such thing because I sold my old Xbox since I never used it. Well the reason why I bought it was because I can use it to access music, videos, pictures, and recorded tv from my Media Center PC. I was going to buy the Linksys Media Extender ($300) but instead I got an Xbox ($200) and the Media Extender for Xbox ($65) and it does the same thing, and I get an Xbox out of the deal! So yesterday we got carried away and bought some games for it as well. The best one is Sonic the Hedgehog!! It has all of the Sonic games from Sega. I remember playing that in the 90’s on my brothers Sega Genisis! It was awesome! Another game that I bought was Torino 2006 and it super sucks. I played it for 5 mins and turned it off! That one was a waste of money.
Gadgets, Geek, Technology, Unclassified
Warning: The following post includes material that some people might classify as “geeky”.
Here is one reason why I don’t think I could totally get rid of my PC and get a Mac, Windows Media Center Edition.
I was at my cousins last week and he’s got digital cable. His receiver for his digital cable is also a PVR (Personal Video Recorder). I didn’t realize how awesome that feature was until we started watching TV. I’m not one to stay home and watch TV, so I usually end up missing anything that is good on TV. With a PVR or Media Center Edition you can schedule them to record automatically. So that got me thinking…. I could do that with my computer. One thing I was missing was an IR blaster to control my satellite receiver. Microsoft had the perfect thing for that. The Microsoft Media Center remote control. The remote control comes with 2 IR emitters to control pretty any type of set-top box (receivers). So I ordered it from NCIX.com on Tuesday night. Friday afternoon the remote control came in. It took a little playing around and configuration but I finally have everything setup. I’ve been recording all kinds of crap, it’s great. The best part is you can schedule something to record through http://tv.msn.com even if your not at home.
Windows Media Center Edition’s best features include, cheaper than buying a PVR, pause live tv, schedule recordings through the internet, delete when you’re done watching it, and you get to fast forward through commercials of previously recorded shows.
Gadgets, Geek, Technology
Apple released the new Intel based iMac and MacBook Pro today.
This is the first Mac notebook built upon the revolutionary new Intel Core Duo — which is actually two processors (up to 1.83GHz) engineered onto a single chip. It provides 2MB of Smart Cache, L2 cache that can be shared between both cores as needed. It delivers higher performance in 2D and 3D graphics, video editing, and music encoding. And the new engine is only part of the story. MacBook Pro has a frontside bus and memory that, at 667MHz, runs faster than any previous Mac notebook. It’s the first Mac notebook with PCI Express, a Serial ATA hard drive and the ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 for superfast graphics performance.
The new MacBook Pro has the iSight built in, which is kind of cool. It also has a new power connection called MagSafe, which is magnetic so when you get the wire caught on something it doesn’t break. The Intel iMac is pretty much the same as the G5 iMac except you will find it bundled with iLife 06 which was also released today. The new iLife 06 includes a new addition called iWeb which allows you to create a blog or webpage and upload it to .mac. The new iLife allows you to make updates to your blog with ease. I guess this is extremely helpful for the newbie blogger that wants something simple.
Myself, I think I would wait to purchase the new Intel Apple since it’s new. Wait until the second generation so they can get the bugs out of it. They will only get better and faster.
Gadgets, Geek, Technology
On Thurdsay I bought myself a new little gadget. It’s a Sirius satellite radio. It’s not available in Canada yet but a friend of mine told me where I could get one. The model that I bought was the Brix Sirius Streamer and it was on special for $179CA. It came with the car kit which included the satellite antenna, windshield mount, cigarette adapter and the cradle with built in FM modulator. So once everything is installed you just have to tune your radio to 88.1 and your listening to satellite radio. You can also get the optional home kit or the boombox and you just slide the radio into the cradle. I will be getting the boombox when the store has it in stock. It will be good for out at the camp. Don’t forget that with satellite radio, you have to pay for your subscription. The cost is $12.95US /month. They give you a month free if you sign up for a year. The catch here is you need a US address to activate the subscription. The store that I bought the radio from tells me that you can use the US mailing address of the manufacturer that makes the radio without any problems. I decided to take an alternate route and use Jenn’s grandparents address in Florida. I signed up for 6 months and with the initial activation and taxes it came up to about $100US. They keep saying that we should be getting Canadian service by christmas so that’s why I only signed up for 6 months. So far reception has been pretty good. I have the antenna sitting on my dash and I only lost reception a few times when I was driving in the campground by some big trees. The best thing about satellite radio is that you never have to change the station because you are out of the area. Oh and it’s commercial free!
Gadgets, Technology
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