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Archive for the 'Technology' Category

Walt Disney — the geek?

July 1st, 2009, 12:06 am by Jayson Peters
Associated Press file

Associated Press file

The LA Times notes that Walt Disney was as much a techno-geek as he was an imagineer or businessman:

The geeky side of Disney is one of the elements that will be on display at the Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco when it opens in October.

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Avast! Pirate Bay bought out, plans to go legit

June 30th, 2009, 4:40 pm by Chris "KeL" Adams

To the disappointment of many, the biggest Internet piracy site, The Pirate Bay, has been purchased by software company Global Gaming Firm X.  GGF paid out 7.8 million dollars for the torrent tracking hub, which will now become a publicly traded company. The Pirate Bay has recently been fighting a copyright infringement conviction in Sweden. The future direction of TPB remains uncertain, but GGF CEO Hans Pandeya said “We would like to introduce models which entail that content providers and copyright owners get paid for content that is downloaded via the site.”

So it seems the days of free illicit movies, games, television and software are running out. At least via TPB, there are still numerous other web sites which are havens for pirates. Will one of those rivals step up to fill the void or will a legal version of TPB be able to stay on top? It’s certain to be an uphill battle for TPB given the history of other piracy sites, such as Napster, that have gone legitimate.

ASU sued by blind groups over use of Amazon’s e-book device

June 30th, 2009, 2:15 pm by Jayson Peters
amazonkindledx

Amazon Kindle DX

Arizona State University is being sued by advocates for the blind, who say the school is discriminating against vision-impaired students by offering textbooks via Amazon’s Kindle DX electronic reading device, according to a story by Courthouse News Service.

Darrell Shandrow, an ASU journalism student who is listed as a plaintiff along with the National Federation of the Blind and the American Council of the Blind, tells ASU’s State Press that the Kindle DX’s lack of audio menusfeatures locks the blind out of the new technology and puts them at a competitive disadavantage.

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Rebranding ain’t pretty business, folks

June 23rd, 2009, 5:08 pm by Jayson Peters

jabbathehuttrotjDid you hear the one about how Pizza Hut is going to change its name to simply “The Hut?”

Well, it isn’t true. At least, it isn’t the whole truth: The company has been test-marketing a secondary brand, dropping the word “Pizza” from its logo in some cases as it expands its menu and tries to appeal to a younger, more mobile generation. Mobile as in mobile phones. As in texting.

When will executives be able to embrace technology without being so totally in awe of it that it must define everything they do? Read the rest of this entry »

At least one D&D piracy case headed to mediation

June 19th, 2009, 11:33 pm by Jayson Peters

An Associated Press story reveals more details about the recent Dungeons & Dragons lawsuits than you can shake a Rod of Lordly Might at.

One of the defendants is bravely questing forth to represent himself in a copyright infringement suit filed by Wizards of the Coast, which is basically Hasbro — one of the largest toymakers in the world. His case appears to be headed for mediation, so he may yet make his saving throw vs. scary corporate lawyers.

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Some details about new Apple Store — and free T-shirts!

June 12th, 2009, 10:01 am by Jayson Peters

Apple Store Scottsdale QuarterEarlier this week I wrote a bit about the new Apple Store opening today at Scottsdale Quarter. Here is some more information, courtesy of Apple:

The grand opening is at 6 p.m. The first 1,000 customers to visit the store will get a free, limited-edition souvenir T-shirt.

The store, at 15279 N. Scottsdale Road just north of Greenway Parkway, will be Apple’s largest store in Arizona, and features a new design with more than double the dedicated service area of a standard location. This includes 50 feet of Genius Bar for personal tech support and advice.

This will be the first Arizona Apple Store to feature the Pro Labs program, which offers free training on the company’s professional creative software for digital photography, music production and video editing.

Vanity thy name is Facebook.

June 11th, 2009, 6:44 pm by Chris "KeL" Adams

fb1Just a reminder, this Friday night at 9:01 p.m. (12 EST) Facebook will allow users to register vanity URLs for their pages at facebook.com/username. So instead of the current random string of numbers, you’ll be able to have www.facebook.com/yourname or whatever else you’d like as the address to your page. It will be first come, first served, so I’m sure all the good addresses will go quick. Luckily, I’m a geek so my Friday nights are wide open to spend on the computer. Make sure you come up with a good one though, as once you pick a name, you’ll be stuck with it.

Apple Store opening Friday in Scottsdale

June 10th, 2009, 10:31 am by Jayson Peters

Apple iPhone 3G SIt’s been a banner week for Apple, with a new iPhone and faster Macbooks, and new price points for both product lines, announced Monday at its annual conference for software developers.

Here in the Valley, Apple fanatics will have another place to geek out come Friday, June 12, when a new Apple Store location will open at the Scottsdale Quarter shopping center at 15279 N. Scottsdale Road. It’s just north of Greenway Parkway and across from the Kierland Commons Shops.

The store’s Web site says the new iPhone 3G S will be available in-store on June 19. Reservations, of course, are highly recommended.

E3 2009: The future in pictures

June 5th, 2009, 12:01 am by Jayson Peters

tease478by266

E3 Media and Business Summit (formerly known as Electronic Entertainment Expo)E3 2009 has come and gone, but it’s left us much to digest and drool over. Click on the photo above to see a slideshow of Associated Press images from the expo, and explore the highlights of the major presentations at the links below:

Microsoft at E3: Xbox 360 gets motion

June 1st, 2009, 1:10 pm by Jayson Peters

E3 Media and Business Summit (formerly known as Electronic Entertainment Expo)Steven Spielberg took top billing at Microsoft’s Electronic Entertainment Expo press conference today in Los Angeles, introducing a prototype camera that can be used as a controller for the Xbox 360.

The Associated Press reported that the accessory, codenamed “Project Natal,” can track a player’s full body movement while responding to commands, directions and a shift of emotion in voice without the need for a controller.

You can head on over to the Gawker gaming blog Kotaku for a picture of the device. Read the rest of this entry »

Danger Mouse relies on piracy for new album

May 18th, 2009, 6:14 pm by Chris "KeL" Adams

dm-textsizedProducer, DJ and half of the duo known as Gnarls Barkley, Danger Mouse continues to show that he’s just a bit more ahead of the times than the recording industry would like. DM (and collaborator Sparklehorse)’s new album, Dark Night of the Soul, is finished, but is unable to be released due to legal wrangling with music giant EMI.

So he has decided to release a book of photographs which serve as visual accompaniment to the songs and a blank recordable CD labeled “‘For Legal Reasons, enclosed CD-R contains no music. Use it as you will.’” Since all of the songs on the album are already available on the Internet, if one were so inclined, a do-it-yourself version could be easily made. The album can be listened to for free  in its entirety on NPR’s web site.

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PC specs for Windows ‘Street Fighter IV’ port

May 15th, 2009, 12:53 pm by Jayson Peters

Street Fighter IV by CapcomCapcom has released the PC system requirements for the upcoming Windows version of Street Fighter IV.

Minimum
OS: Windows XP
CPU: Intel Pentium4 2.0GHz or higher
RAM: 1GB or higher
HDD: 10GB of free space or more
Video card: DirectX 9.0c/Shader3.0 or higher compatible, NVIDIA GeForce6600 series, ATI Radeon X1600 or higher or higher, VRAM 256MB or higher
Sound: DirectSound compatible, DirectX 9.0c (or higher) compatible
Input devices: Mouse, Keyboard

Maximum
OS: Windows Vista
CPU: Intel Core2Duo 2.0GHz or higher
RAM: 2GB or higher
HDD: 10GB of free space or more
Video card: DirectX 9.0c/Shader3.0 or higher compatible, NVIDIA GeForce8600 series or higher, ATI Radeon X 1900 or higher, VRAM 512MB or higher
Sound: DirectSound compatible, DirectX 9.0c (or higher) compatible
Input devices: Gamepad Xbox360 Controller for Windows

The game will be available June 30.

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