Decades Archive

  • Relax: President Obama will not flip an Internet kill switch

    Relax: President Obama will not flip an Internet kill switch

    Part of me wishes President Obama would flip that so-called “Internet kill switch.” Imagine: a world without the Internet! That would be grand, indeed. But let's not indulge in fantasies: there is no such kill switch. Well, there is, but it's not as if the president is going to say, “I disagree with Nicholas' opinion of anti-virus protection, I'm going to shut down CrunchGear.”

    Full Story

  • Kindle DX failing out of Darden Business School

    Kindle DX failing out of Darden Business School

    According to Ars Technica, Darden Business School students are unhappy with the Amazon Kindle DX in terms of academic usefulness. That's not to say that they're down on the DX in general: there's pretty high support amongst Darden students for the DX as a personal e-reader. It's just not quite the classroom supplement that Darden administration had hoped it would be.

    Full Story

  • Samsung releases Bada SDK to developers – will anyone care?

    Samsung releases Bada SDK to developers – will anyone care?

    And so it begins: Samsung has just released the first build of the SDK for Bada, their built-in-house Smartphone platform. The SDK comes complete with it’s own user interface creation tool, debugger, simulator, and API set. Alas, it’s currently Windows-only. Developers are one of the most key ingredients to whether or not a platform succeeds. Developers [...]

    Full Story

  • Happy birthday, NCSA Mosaic!

    Happy birthday, NCSA Mosaic!

    Good golly, was it really seventeen years ago that NCSA Mosaic 1.0 was released? How far we've come in the nearly two decades since images were first rendered inline with text. Now we take it for granted that we can watch movies in our browsers!

    Full Story

  • Stuart Hughes’ Privé Phone Proves Money Can’t Buy Taste

    Stuart Hughes’ Privé Phone Proves Money Can’t Buy Taste

    Is your StarTAC looking run down? Does it not draw the attention that it once did? It's time for an upgrade. Don't let the technology of the recent decades cloud your judgement when choosing your new phone. Think, and I mean seriously think, about the time when talking on a mobile phone was at its most impressive. That's right, all the way back to 1983. What better way to truly impress your board-room buddies than with a literal homage to the golden era of telecommunication?

    Full Story

  • Today in history: the flight data recorder

    Today in history: the flight data recorder

    It's not entirely clear to me that March 17 is the actual birthday of the so-called "Black Box", but who am I to argue with Wired's This Day in Tech? According to them, the idea for the flight data recorder was born in 1953 by an Australian named David Warren. The first prototype was complete in 1957, and within a couple of years became a standard feature on all commercial airplanes.

    Full Story

  • X-Tube: Hanwa’s USB dongle makes PCs DTS-compatible

    X-Tube: Hanwa’s USB dongle makes PCs DTS-compatible

    Vacuum tubes are usually used in tube or valve amplifiers (electronic amplifiers) to boost the power of a signal. The technology has been around for decades, and vacuum tubes seem to be pretty enough for Hanwa Japan to announce [JP] the X-Tube today, a USB dongle that looks like one of those tubes and allows you to upgrade your computer with DTS sound.

    Full Story

  • Why carriers didn’t want to allow 3G VoIP before. And why they’re now setting it free

    Why carriers didn’t want to allow 3G VoIP before. And why they’re now setting it free

    I've used VoIP apps on the past few iterations of of the iPhone as well as a number of other devices including some from Nokia, HTC, and Samsung. Those apps always only worked over WiFi and have mostly worked as advertised. Experience shows that if there's one thing cellular companies are good at it's ensuring a call can get from point A to point B (although AT&T has been sucking wind lately). It's what they've been doing for almost two decades. Now that Apple has lifted the ban VoIP over 3G - note it is Apple lifting these restrictions, not AT&T - you have to wonder what's going on. Won't 3G tear down the network around our ears? Won't dogs and cats start living together?

    Full Story

  • Tube amplifier-shaped USB speaker

    Tube amplifier-shaped USB speaker

    Tube or valve amplifiers are electronic amplifiers that make use of vacuum tubes to boost the power of a signal. They've been around for decades, and some audio freaks still love the sound they help to produce. And they look kind of pretty, too. Reason enough for Hanwha Japan to come up with the US-0498 [JP], a PC speaker that looks like a tube amplifier (but isn't one).

    Full Story

  • Free: TC Electronic M30 Reverb

    Free: TC Electronic M30 Reverb

    Did you know the TC Electronic is the maker of stunning reverbs? Well now you can have the M30 reverb plugin for free. All you need to do is fill out a form and TC Electronic will send you the link to download the plugin.

    Full Story

  • No Doubt sues Activision over inappropriate use of their avatars in Guitar Hero

    No Doubt sues Activision over inappropriate use of their avatars in Guitar Hero

    Famous rock band No Doubt has sued Activision over the use of its avatars in the game Guitar Hero 5. No Doubt says that the deal it signed with Activision only permitted the avatars to be used when playing No Doubt songs. The problem is that Activision has it set up that you can play any song in the game with the No Doubt avatars. That I'm even writing about this is rather depressing.

    Full Story

  • Scratch-n-Scroll mousepad

    Scratch-n-Scroll mousepad

    scratch-n-sniffWe've been hearing for what feels like decades about the "paperless" revolution, wherein everything will be written on computers. The problem is that computers -- even smartphones and tablet PCs -- still make it unnecessarily complicated to jot down a quick note. You know, the kind of thing that doesn't have any lasting permanence but something you're going to forget in the next five minutes before you need to use it. Sure, you could use a Post-It note, but that involves the killing of trees and who really needs that on their conscience? The quirky Scratch-n-Scroll mousepad may be worth your consideration.

    Full Story

  • The PS3 Slim vertical stand will cost $25

    The PS3 Slim vertical stand will cost $25

    Okay, who is surprised by this pricing? Anyone? Probably not. Official add-ons have been overpriced for decades and the vertical stand for the PS3 Slim is no different. All this means is that shortly after the launch, 3rd party companies will out their own version that will cost $10 to $15. Or you can just lay [...]

    Full Story

  • Yeah, RadioShack is turning into the Shack

    Yeah, RadioShack is turning into the Shack

    So RadioShack is now the Shack. They’re also going to put a huge laptop in New York and one in San Fran. You’ll be able to chat with people on these laptops. Homeless people will eventually pee on both. I personally think this is one of the stupidest ideas ever but hey, what do I know. [...]

    Full Story

  • Japanese researchers work on 1,000-year memory device

    Japanese researchers work on 1,000-year memory device

    Hard disks and recording media to store data are great and all, but especially for sensitive information (such as corporate data) longevity and reliability are major problems. The usual recording media existing on the market last for a few decades max, but now Japan tries to develop a device that stores data for a thousand years.

    Full Story