Attempts Archive

  • Pay what you want for Kiddix OS

    Pay what you want for Kiddix OS

    Posted on June 17, 2010 | No Comments
    From Microsoft Bob to Edubuntu there have been a number of attempts at making computers of various sorts easier and more useful for young people. Another participant in this space is Kiddix, “a complete operating system and software environment for children, built from the ground up with your family’s needs and safety in mind.” Kiddix [...]

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  • Review: Psyopper Netbook Sleeve

    Review: Psyopper Netbook Sleeve

    Posted on March 30, 2010 | No Comments
    There's lots of mass produced, low quality, netbook sleeves and bags out there. Generally speaking, you get what you pay for. But what about something made by one guy, his sewing machine, and a dream? Can a home made product sold on the internet hold up to the same standards as products made by Crumpler, or Timbuk2? Can the little guy be competitive in the market with companies that spend more on staples then what he spends on materials a year? I say: yes.

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  • Review: Case-mate Hug Wireless Charging Pad and Case for iPhone 3G/3GS

    Review: Case-mate Hug Wireless Charging Pad and Case for iPhone 3G/3GS

    Posted on March 8, 2010 | No Comments
    Short Version: A bit of a twist on traditional induction chargers, Case-mate’s “Hug Wireless Charging Pad and Case” attempts to offset its $100 price tag by adhering to the Wireless Power Consortium’s universal charging standard, which promises interoperability with other charging pads and devices that are developed using the same technology.

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  • Mobile companies band together and rise against Apple

    Mobile companies band together and rise against Apple

    Posted on February 15, 2010 | No Comments
    When one thinks of mobile apps, it’s tough to think of anything other than the ones for the iPhone. There’s an app for that rings through our heads as TV commercials and websites reveal to us that the iPhone is the platform of choice when businesses want to develop mobile apps. Apple now has a [...]

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  • iHandstick snap-on dresses your iPhone / iPod Touch up as a Playstation controller

    iHandstick snap-on dresses your iPhone / iPod Touch up as a Playstation controller

    Posted on December 10, 2009 | No Comments
    The iPod touch (and technically the iPhone as well) may well be "the funnest iPod ever," but it can also be the most awkward device to hold for prolonged gaming sessions, nor have previous attempts made things any better. The iHandstick might just do the job -- while we can't credit them for originality, this hollow cousin of the Playstation controller may satisfy owners of iPod touch 2G / 3G and iPhone 3G / 3GS. Remember, it should give a similar grip enjoyed by millions of Playstation gamers over the last 15 years. The only doubt left is whether our thumbs can easily reach the virtual buttons on the screen. Wanna give this a shot? $16.99 plus shipping and it's all yours.

    iHandstick snap-on dresses your iPhone / iPod Touch up as a Playstation controller originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 10 Dec 2009 01:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • Everything old is new again: Microsoft MinWin attempts to modularize Windows

    Everything old is new again: Microsoft MinWin attempts to modularize Windows

    Posted on November 18, 2009 | No Comments
    There have, historically, been two competing models of operating systems development. There's the UNIX mentality, of small pieces loosely joined. That is, you have a whole bunch of little, stand-alone applications that all work together to accomplish more complex tasks running atop a svelte kernel that doesn't know -- or need to know -- about the pieces its running. Then you have the "everything and the kitchen sink" mentality, used by Microsoft. All versions of Microsoft Windows have huge dependency chains, and what is rightly called "Windows" is a dizzying amalgamation of interdependent pieces of software, none of which can do much on their own. If you've ever wondered why your Windows-powered web server included Windows Media Player, or Solitaire, that's the reason: the "stuff" that makes up Windows is highly interdependent. Read on for some interesting changes underway.

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  • iPhone calculator app takes steps to save the children

    iPhone calculator app takes steps to save the children

    Posted on October 1, 2009 | No Comments
    Oh, TLA Systems, you clever, clever bastards. As we all learned from that one awkwardly-mature kid in our first grade class, there is a glaring fault in nearly every calculator ever made: they double as a means of smuggling smut into the classroom. In an otherwise sterile and pure environment, these tools allow for children (CHILDREN!) [...]

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  • It shouldn’t be this difficult to upgrade a hard drive

    It shouldn’t be this difficult to upgrade a hard drive

    Posted on September 14, 2009 | No Comments
    You know what's a little more difficult than I first imagined? Upgrading the hard drive in my late 2006 iMac. I had initially wanted to upgrade the hard drive so I could finally dual boot between Mac OS X and Windows 7, since the old drive, a 250GB model, was pretty much filled to capacity. (Trying to run Mac OS X with only ~5GB of free space isn't ideal.) And even though the iMac user manual clearly states that the only user-replacabable parts are the RAM, I figured, “Bah! I think I can handle a simple hard drive replacement.” I did, but not before wishing I had never so much had broken out a screwdriver.

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  • Beware the fake WoW beta invite emails

    Beware the fake WoW beta invite emails

    Posted on September 7, 2009 | No Comments
    Despite the fact that Blizzard has warned us, there have been some fake beta invite emails starting to go out for the upcoming World of Warcraft expansion, Cataclysm. In fact, they tried to catch the CrunchGear crew this morning with their little fake email and site.

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  • Two-factor authentication now available for Amazon Web Services

    Two-factor authentication now available for Amazon Web Services

    Posted on September 1, 2009 | No Comments
    gemalto tokenPasswords suck. A good password is hard to remember, and a weak password is easy to guess. There are lots of attempts at finding ways to solve the problems of passwords, like one-time passwords, biometric authentication, and more. One of the most attractive solutions is two-factor authentication, which requires that you know something (a short passphrase, usually), and that you have something. The thing that you have is most often a little token generator: every 30 or 60 seconds a new set of digits is displayed on a screen. To successfully log in, you need to supply the passphrase that you know along with the digits displayed on the token. Big businesses have been using two-factor authentication for some time. Now it's being made available for anyone with an Amazon Web Services account.

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  • PS3 Slim 250GB version revealed

    PS3 Slim 250GB version revealed

    Posted on August 18, 2009 | No Comments
    In spite of Sony's best attempts to conceal it, evidence of a PS3 Slim 250GB version has been uncovered at the FCC's website. This larger capacity version will most likely be released this fall, after the buzz has died down around the recently announced 120GB version. Sony went so far as to set up a fake company through which to submit the hardware. That's dedication.

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  • Sony PSP, PSN has nothing to do with Google Chrome OS

    Sony PSP, PSN has nothing to do with Google Chrome OS

    Posted on July 8, 2009 | No Comments
    While we're all thrilled to see Google throw a new coat of paint onto the Linux kernel, there are, in fact, other things going on Out There, like, say, the quickly evolving PSP. Yesterday's exotic rumor suggested that Sony is working on a full-fledged PSP2, a system with Xbox1-level graphics. Today I spy an interview with a Sony so-and-so that attempts to explain the company's rationale for the PSP Go, how PSN compares to XBL these days, and so forth.

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  • Let’s guess each other’s Social Security Numbers, for fun

    Let’s guess each other’s Social Security Numbers, for fun

    Posted on July 7, 2009 | No Comments
    True story: I didn't even know my Social Security Number until my freshman year of college, when it was used as my dorm building's PIN. Type in the PIN, and the little gate would open. It seemed a little odd at the time, yes, and today's news that, with a little elbow grease, someone can guess a person's Social Security Number quite easily, well, that doesn't exactly fill me with confidence vis-à-vis “the system.”

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  • Gadget translates baby’s cries into various moods

    Gadget translates baby’s cries into various moods

    Posted on July 4, 2009 | No Comments
    bea5_why_cry_baby_analyzerTaking a page from the Baby Translator invented by Homer Simpson's half-brother Herb Powell, the $100 "Why Cry Baby Analyzer" attempts to help parents figure out what their wailing bundle of joy is so upset about. While not as accurate as the Baby Translator from the Simpsons ("I have soiled myself... how embarrassing") the WCBA can apparently detect the following dispositions: hungry, bored, annoyed, sleepy, and stressed.

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  • Sprint Ad Attempts to Bait iPhone Owners

    Sprint Ad Attempts to Bait iPhone Owners

    Posted on June 26, 2009 | No Comments
    Talk about targeted marketing. A new ad published by Sprint (right) is forward enough to include the word “iPhone” in big, bold letters. Similar to Microsoft’s Laptop Hunter ads, which bash Apple for its premium computer prices, the Sprint ad plays up the Palm Pre smartphone by stressing how much money iPhone customers can save by [...]

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