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The Wii used inaccurate software emulation

How do you know Nintendo's forthcoming $60 console doesn't also "use inaccurate software emulation"? Until it ships, nobody will have opened it up to look (except for parties to Nintendo's non-disclosure agreement).

and allow people to buy games for a $1 or $2

and didn't have access to the entire NES library.

Not all third-party publishers of NES games are willing to "allow people to buy games for a $1 or $2". When Nintendo announced Virtual Console for the first time, it mentioned Tetris as one of the games it probably wouldn't be able to license at fair market value.* Or for those third-party games whose copyright owner is unwilling, are you recommending that Nintendo lobby national governments to just take a license under eminent domain?

The Wii did not have a NES controller.

The controller bundled with Nintendo's forthcoming $60 console is compatible with Wii.

* Not counting Tetris Party on WiiWare, which was years later, twice as expensive as NES VC games, and broken in the same way as most other Tetris games since 2001.

IMO, the keyboard cover is just what is needed in the tablet space. It is the number 1 selling accessory for the iPad.

For me personally; as a person who still reads my mail over SSH; I agree. but..

But I can't shake the feeling that we're gradually building a laptop yet again.

This is right 100%. It's a design disaster. The thing about not having the keyboard as standard is that the application designer can never even begin to think he can rely on it being there. This means that all iPad apps work perfectly without keyboards. Even if you have an Android "Transformer" tablet, the fact that most Android tablets don't have keyboards means that all your applications work with or without the keyboard. With the Microsoft tablet the app makers will lose that fear. It's a perfect example where adding more makes things worse. My recent post about Microsoft's social ineptitude just begins to feel so prescient.

Microsoft has killed their partners chances in the market by making it clear that there's a "real" device and the "clone" devices. Now they killed their own device by providing the most terrible screen layout and adding a completely stupid keyboard to it. It's not as if Swype hadn't already solv ed the problem of typing fast on touch screens. Surely Microsoft could have afforded to use that.

According to at least some of the press coverage the keyboard cover is an accessory just as it is on iPad. If that is the case, it would render most of your criticism moot, then they are doing exactly what you say they should be doing.

But, regarding Swype, I have tried it, and don't agree it match an external keyboard at all, which also avoids obscuring half the screen real estate. I guess it depends on how much you use keyboard, if you type touch or not, etc. I'm a fast touch typist, and one of the interesting things from the MS keyboard was that it was pressure sensitive in a way that let you rest all your fingers on the keyboard in the touch position, without the keyboard registering false keypresses, and only when further pressing keys would it capture the letters. Did they solve the problem of the on-screen keyboard obscuring half the screen too?

The one that got banned in Germany is the Galaxy Tab 10.1. Box art: http://assets.gearlive.com/blogimages/gallery/galaxy-tab-10/01-galaxy-tab-10_medium.jpg Power adapter: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3647/5719189901_a2ca040d3d.jpg Connector: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3637/5719194513_b5ef1f5fc0.jpg Case: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0PXJvJEfdU

One button mouse, almost destroying Apple, delaying the move to Intel because he wanted to use chips that were not used by "real" computer makers, Apple 3 firestarter meant business still cannot take them seriously.

Let's take these in order:

One button mouse: First off, remember, this was 1981-83, when these decisions were made. Nearly no one in the regular population (and even most computer "experts") even knows what a computer "mouse" is at that time. Jef Raskin wanted a multi-button (up to FIVE) mouse. SJ did not. And at the time, Xerox PARC (I think), or maybe it was M.I.T., had conducted "usability" studies that showed, hands down (or mouse-buttons-down) that a one-button mouse was far easier for MOST people to learn. So, the one-button mouse was decided upon on the LISA, and then adopted on the Mac. See this article for some mouse history. However, that was then. So, that's why, ever since MacOS 8.6 (1999) Macs have directly supported two button (and now more-button) mice, and MacOS has actually supported "contextual menus" with a Ctrl-Click since MacOS 8.0 (1997). This very informed article might clear up any misconceptions about the advisability (still!) of a one-button mouse, and the Mac's support of same. That's why Apple's OWN multi-button mice (I think up to 5 buttons are definable) still default to acting like a one-button mouse. Because, for MOST people, it IS the better choice. Even now. But, this is one tired meme. Stop it. You're embarrassing yourself. Oh, and BTW, according to the Wikipedia article cited above, Microsoft really didn't start supporting a second mouse button until the release of WIndows '95. So, considering that Apple added contextual menus only two years later, and full two-button support two years after that, Apple wasn't nearly as late to the "right-click" party as the haters make them out to be.

Now, shall we start naming the Apple "industry FIRSTS"??? Of course not; the list is far too long...

Almost Destroying Apple: Um, I think you have Jobs confused with Sculley, who nearly killed Apple by LICENSING MacOS to third parties (at the urging of BILL GATES!), and signing a technology agreement with Microsoft to allow them to basically steal Apple's superior GUI code (and even THEN, WIndows 95 SUUUCKED compared to MacOS). See here, and here. However, thanks for trying. And I don't think anyone who is not purely delusional would characterize Apple's performance since Jobs' return as anything other than "phenomenal".

Delaying the move to Intel: Hmmm, I wonder who's decision it was to keep an INTEL version of OS X (and all the core "iLife" apps, etc.) up-to-date from 1999 (going back to Rhapsody/NeXTStep/Mac OS X Server 1.0) to 2005 (when the move to Intel was announced). Jobs had been REPEATEDLY promised two things from IBM: The first one was a G5 CPU running at 3.0GHz "real soon now"; and the second was a low-power G5 to put in a laptop. But IBM let him down. Repeatedly. And so, after it was patently obvious that IBM wasn't coming through (because they were too busy chasing the Cell CPU), Jobs (along with the Board of Directors!) made a pretty painful decision to make a HUGE platform change. And, BTW, they pulled it off REALLY seamlessly, too. Oh, and if your definition of "real computer makers" is limited to only those who use X86 architecture, then you are, by definition calling Sun, IBM, SGi (when there was an SGi), DEC (when there was a DEC) and others NOT "real" computer makers. Now do you see how stupid your statement sounds? BTW, you do realize, of course, that the PowerPC architecture is the little brother of IBM's "Power" architecture, which of cour

The Xbox 360 has had iPod support available since nearly the beginning, released just days after the console's launch: http://games.gearlive.com/playfeed/article/xbox-360-ipod-connectivity-11280321/

It's not installed nativity, but it's a free download provided by Microsoft themselves.

Are you kidding? He must have been a ladykiller back in the day.

I'm waiting for the first review of using VNC on this thing. I see it as the perfect remote console for all my "real" systems.

If at least some of those "real" systems are Macs, you may want to take a look at wormhole remote. (Complete with cheesy introduction video that parodies the one that Apple made for the iPad starring several top executives.)

For all your other systems there are also good (though not perfect) VNC and RDP clients, of course.

You sir, are just plain wrong.

Wikipedia: Enhanced_Data_Rates_for_GSM_Evolution

Evolved EDGE improves on EDGE in a number of ways. Latencies are reduced by lowering the Transmission Time Interval by half (from 20 ms to 10 ms). Bit rates are increased up to 1 MBit/s peak bandwidth and latencies down to 800 ms using dual carriers, higher symbol rate and higher-order modulation (32QAM and 16QAM instead of 8-PSK), and turbo codes to improve error correction.

Wikipedia: Evolution-Data_Optimized

These changes included the introduction of several new forward link data rates that increase the maximum burst rate from 2.45 Mbit/s to 3.1 Mbit/s. Also included were protocols that would decrease connection establishment time (called enhanced access channel MAC), the ability for more than one mobile to share the same timeslot (multi-user packets) and the introduction of QoS flags. All of these were put in place to allow for low latency, low bit rate communications such as VoIP. In the United States, Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel have migrated 100% of their EV-DO Rev.0 networks to EV-DO Rev. A.

In a survey (Gearlive) Verizon's 3G had an average download speed of 1,940 Kbits/sec (about 2Mbps/sec). Compare that to AT&T edge speed tests (Engadget) where AT&T's edge network ran 264Kbits/sec.

Thus, as far as I can tell from a theoretical perspective (based on the technology) Verizon's 3G is three times faster (3Mbps compared to 1Mbps) than AT&T's EDGE. In the real world the difference is worse though, with Verizon showing over 7 times faster performance (1940 Kbits compared to 264 Kbits). As someone who has used both, let me say that matches with my own personal experience.

WHY DOES AN OS have to be written for fucking morons? Why cant the advanced features be displayed by DE-FUCKING-FAULT?!?!?!

Just ask Apple, it's been working for them. Or GNOME.

/me ducks.

With a bluethooth keyboard, I could use my iphone to take notes in class, and minutes at meetings. This feature is long overdue.

I bought an iphone after I learnt that compatible bluetooth keyboards were available for pre-order. Yes it's true, I'm admitting that I've been done.

Check these:

NV-U2
NV-U3 / NV-U3V
NV-U94T / NV-U84 / NV-U74T

http://assets.gearlive.com/blogimages/nuvos.JPG

It was better 6 months ago, when it was called SplashPad.

Oh, you do realize you can buy a replacement battery from Apple right?

Ordering a battery from Apple means nothing. Oh yeah, you need to actually crack open the iPhone to get at the battery - it's not exactly friendly towards user-replacement, with "green opener tools" required and what-not. Want to sit through this 15-minute how-to video (the first how-to hit on a Google for "iPhone battery replacement") for details? I'm sure this situation will end up a cash cow once batteries start failing (either money via their replacement program or through people saying "screw it, I'll just buy the newest generation iPhone").

how about the user interface

Oh, you've done it now. *rant on* I've used my mother's iPhone, and to me, the UI feels like a bad knockoff of Vanilla Sky's fictional UI. My mother struggles with text input. Reading is strenuous too. Why can't you zoom into text? Where is cut/copy and paste? (since you don't have an iPhone, you should realize that they don't have cut/copy/paste at all) I can see how the gestures for text selection and zoom could conflict, but at least have one of the two? I really noticed that there were far too many silly sliders for binary on-off values instead of simpler toggles (worried about accidental presses? perhaps have vibration with a slow highlight-flip-dehighlight animation). I also think the UI isn't very consistent or intuitive, like: Why are settings hidden under tiny little "i" circles, which almost look like a (c), and when "i" usually means "info" or "about" and not "settings"? Why can't I get any details about the battery's capacity by pressing the little battery icon? *rant off*

I can't understand how people play with that damn "dualshlock" thing at all.

* Weird shape makes it uncomfortable to hold.
* Analog sticks placed so that you have to stretch your thumbs.
* Split d-pad makes it too hard to hit diagonals.
* Geometric symbols rather than letters for the buttons.
* 2 pairs of trigger buttons... fgsfds.

Other than the Nintendo DS, it is the only controller that ever made my hand cramp! I'm not just saying that other pads are better; as far as I'm concerned, without a third-party controller with a radically different shape (like this one ), the PS2 is pretty much unusable.

>>No out of the box remote management capability
Actually, it's right under your nose. System Prefs -> Sharing -> Services.
>>no thought to hardware maintenance
Included with each purchase is an AHT, a bootable disc to run automated diagnostics, aka Apple Hardware Test.
>>you're supposed to go to an Apple store to get that maintenance done?
Well you could go to one of the 160+ Apple Retail stores, order certain parts online, or get work done (in and out of warranty) at one of the numerous Authorized Service Providers.
>>I know that there are people in Apple defending the lack of remote management capability as a security feature
Again, if you actually knew what you were talking about, you'd know that the service is included (see refutation #1) but shockingly OFF until you need it. Just click "start".
>>they're a remarkably stubborn company (witness the one-mouse-button...)
Oh, damn, now I see you're trolling (or just horribly misinformed). See here for a brief overview explaining why you're wrong and just mindless repeating FUD.
I'll leave it to someone else with more patience to deal with the faulty logic of your parenthetical coda.

Yes, yes, I know the Optimus Keyboard by the Lebedev studio from Russia : here , it's just that it is not small enough to carry around and I am not sure if it can store keymapping and switch them externally without having a specialized driver for it....

We also have received a fully loaded Media Center PC from Microsoft as part of this campaign. People need to stop complaining - in reality, it really seems that those complaining are those who weren't chosen. It is COMMON PRACTICE from companies to get their products into the hands of those who review said products, prior to a launch. How else are you supposed to review them before they are available to the general public? This isn't just for the tech industry - Ebert and Roeper see movies - for free - before they are available to the public. Any problem there? Probably not. Plus this is a part of something bigger that Microsoft is doing - the Vanishing Point game, where Loki is the one "planning" these giveaways.

We also have received a fully loaded Media Center PC from Microsoft as part of this campaign. People need to stop complaining - in reality, it really seems that those complaining are those who weren't chosen. It is COMMON PRACTICE from companies to get their products into the hands of those who review said products, prior to a launch. How else are you supposed to review them before they are available to the general public? This isn't just for the tech industry - Ebert and Roeper see movies - for free - before they are available to the public. Any problem there? Probably not. Plus this is a part of something bigger that Microsoft is doing - the Vanishing Point game, where Loki is the one "planning" these giveaways.

We also have received a fully loaded Media Center PC from Microsoft as part of this campaign. People need to stop complaining - in reality, it really seems that those complaining are those who weren't chosen. It is COMMON PRACTICE from companies to get their products into the hands of those who review said products, prior to a launch. How else are you supposed to review them before they are available to the general public? This isn't just for the tech industry - Ebert and Roeper see movies - for free - before they are available to the public. Any problem there? Probably not. Plus this is a part of something bigger that Microsoft is doing - the Vanishing Point game, where Loki is the one "planning" these giveaways.

Perhaps you should read this article before investing your money.

To quote Luke Skywalker, "Look at the size of that thing."

If you're serious, travel to Hong Kong, Bangkok, or any other major Asian city with a lax view of copyrights.

You'll be able to start a large collection of many different styles for not very much money. And on top of that you will have traveled around and have a story for all of your watches. The story really makes the watch.

Other than that, try a
Casio Waveceptor (note, doesn't work in New England)
Fossil PDA Watch
USB Watch
YES watch
MP3 watch
Sleep Tracker Watch (too bad it is so ugly)

Tokyo Flash
Nike Watches (always something interesting)

Also, consider pocketwatches. They're rare enough that you get immediate oddball points for using one, but they're common enough that you can find interesting ones.

For much more information on the series 3 TiVo, with demos and all, check out this video interview.

I was at Fry's yesterday and saw a Sony media center system that allows you to load up 200 discs in it's CD changer and have them all ripped to your PC automatically.

I googled it and apparently it's the "Sony XL 1" media center, runs Windows Media Center (and is pretty expensive). I guess if you were in the market for a high end media center system then this would be a good route.

On the other hand, if you thought video tombstones were cool, just wait 'til you see what the Optical Society cooks up for this guy's grave!

Over at Gearlive.com they have a photo of someone duct-taping a RAZR and iPod Nano together overcoming the ROKR's 100 song limitation and still ending up with a smaller overall package than the ROKR.

Yes, it's a gag, but still relative proof that Apple is placing the 100 song limitation on Motorola for competition reasons.

I always wanted a fu-fme, but sadly they aren't OS X compatible. :(

On a more serious note, I'm considering one of these to help convert the mounds and mounds of greek cassette tapes my parents have from the 60's. If only something like that existed for 8-tracks..

I haven't heard any arguments supporting the one-button mouse.

The reason Apple uses a one button mouse was posted earlier this year. However, the reason I heard (and I believe it's correct) is that Steve Jobs wanted people to be able to learn from someone while they were using the machine. That is, with a one button mouse, you could see exactly what the user was doing with that mouse; getting a menu required an easily visible depression of the control button along with the mouse button.

they claimed that the PowerPC architecture was superior to x86, and now they have changed their mind

Now they have gone from always claiming the simplicity of a one button mouse was better

I hate to tell you guys, but its been done.

Get them for free:

Here
Here

and last but not least

Here

That this site is indeed a farce. http://www.gearlive.com/index.php/news/article/for get_me_not_panties_05260101/

And I thought all my Christmases had come at once when i got this poster stuck up on my wall!

You mean I could actually meet him?!

Seriously, what kind of a prize is "HEY YOU CAN SAY HELLO TO ME!"

There's some reason to link OurColony to the Xbox 360. It might not be true, but if it is, it's astro-turfing.

Perhaps the OP made up his mind on whether or not it was, which is definitely his right.

Gear Live posted a very favorable review of the SleepTracker watch.

Here's a new one which sounds very promising.
https://wx15.registeredsite.com/user1041215/defaul t.aspx/. It monitors your sleep patterns and wakes up up at the right time.
There's a review at
http://www.gearlive.com/index.php/news/article/sle eptracker_watch_review_03221147// which gives it 10/10. I am waiting for more reviews!

Apparently a company just released a watch that monitors your sleep cycles and wakes you up when you're at the lightest point in your sleep cycle.

Does anyone know if there are other implementations of this? Devices which are designed to wake you up when you hit the lightest part of your cycle?

I heard about something similar years ago. Instead of roaming around, it had this key part which was also a bouncing ball. It would eject the ball and you needed to find and replace said ball to turn off the alarm. Now, if such a device were, say, built into the wall behind a polycarbonate guard (to prevent hammer smashing) it would be more reasonable. Need to make sure you add the functionality of this watch, which detects when the "best" time to awaken you would be. Yeah, then you'd be really damn close to ideal...

They had a good enough reason for that... Why Apple Uses One Buttoned Mice

Today Apple Computer again revolutionizes the computer industry again by unveiling the no-button mouse! This amazing breakthrough once again affirms apples commitment to simple computing interfaces "for the rest of us".

Where have you been? Apple has had the "no-button" mouse for five years now! However what a lot of /. users tend to forget time and time again is that most computer users are not tech savvy. This article best explains why Apple sticks to a one-button mouse, but also points out that its OS has supported the use of a two-button mouse since MacOS 8.6.

What's with all the open-sourcing of Microsoft stuff lately?

Aren't these the guys who said open source harms innovation and damages the economy? Can't have it both ways, guys.

Here's proof. Free 27" flatscreen TVs, 17" monitors.

Okay, this makes Lucas look like an enormous ass. But, oh, wait, that's long since been established. We already know that Lucas likes to tell Star Wars fans where they can shove their opinions, so he's not really losing anyone's respect here. If Episode II didn't piss you off, Episode I did... if it wasn't the prequels, it was the remastering or the remastering of the remastering...

But I digress.

This brings up the question are parodies fair use? And if so, should copyright holders be allowed to order people not to parody their work?

No--this brings up the question, "What constitutes a parody?"

There's a lot of precedent for parodies being protected under fair use. And certainly, copyright holders should not be allowed to order people around with regard to parodies.

I think the real issue here is, the parody in question employs a public screening of Lucas' films. It would clearly be a protected parody if the movie were re-shot or acted out live. But actually putting on a public screening of the film--even with sound replaced--is not quite so clear cut a situation.

Maybe we'll get lucky and this will go to court and we'll get a favorable ruling. But it probably won't make it so far.

Here's proof. Free 27" flatscreen TVs.

I, for one, would like to welcome our new oven-roasted overlords...

Here's the proof. Free 27" flatscreen TV.

This is OT, so I'm doing the AC thing.

Yah, it's for real, otherwise I wouldn't be wasting my time. A friend of mine got his TV 2 weeks ago.

Gratis Internet (the company behind the promotion) seems to be behind in shipping the ipods due to a general shortage of them through ecost.com.

Here is one success story

My friend hangs out on the same site. Here are pictures of his TV. There are some ipod success pictures there too.

If you want to talk to some people on IRC that got their free ipods/flatscreens, go here:
irc.chatchannel.org
#freeipods

This is OT, so I'm doing the AC thing.

Yah, it's for real, otherwise I wouldn't be wasting my time. A friend of mine got his TV 2 weeks ago.

Gratis Internet (the company behind the promotion) seems to be behind in shipping the ipods due to a general shortage of them through ecost.com.

Here is one success story

My friend hangs out on the same site. Here are pictures of his TV. There are some ipod success pictures there too.

If you want to talk to some people on IRC that got their free ipods/flatscreens, go here:
irc.chatchannel.org
#freeipods