Tech Stuff 4 You

PC World has published an article with it’s version of the top 101 freebies found on the internet. They have applications in a lot of different categories like System utilities, Communication and file sharing etc. Google’s Gmail is the #1 web-based email, Winamp the best media player, Google desktop the winner in Desktop Search.

More free applications at PCWorld.

Thank god they didn’t call it iComplete.

Cupertino (CA) - Apple announced today that it will begin lowering prices of complete albums by 99 cents for each song that users have already downloaded.

Individual music tracks are priced at 99 cents, though users can also purchase complete albums, sometimes at discounted rates. The new "Complete My Album" service will mark off 99 cents from an album's price for every track that the user has previously purchased from iTunes.

Users will have 180 days from the purchase of a song to get 99 cents off any album that includes that song. The discount from an individual track can only be applied to one album.

"With Complete My Album, iTunes is giving music fans the best of both worlds -- the ability to discover great new music by buying just the single and a credit toward the purchase of the complete album," said Sony BMG president Thomas Hesse.

After about a week of rumors and speculation, here it is. The Xbox 360 Elite live on video on on10.net.

While everyone else is talking about it and showing grainy camera phone pictures from undisclosed bunkers, we thought we’d go right to the source and get you an exclusive video. You think you need it, you know you want it, and we have it – the Xbox 360 Elite. I sat down with Albert Penello to get some of your questions answered. Yes, it has HDMI & 120GB hard drive. No, it doesn’t have an HD-DVD player. Yes you can still pull audio separate from the HDMI. No, it isn’t going to be a limited edition. Yes, it’s awesome! Watch the video for more, including what comes in the L337 box.

Check out the video after the jump.

EXCLUSIVE VIDEO! First look at the Xbox 360 Elite

Are you waiting for the iPhone to come out? Cell phone makers are preparing to compete with the iPhone by introducing their own ultra-geeky phones. Samsung Upstage($150 w/contract from Sprint) is one of these new phones.

It has :

• a 64 MB microSD memory card to store music, which can be upgraded to 2GB.


• bluetooth stereo to listen to music without wires.


• 1.3 megapixel camera


• Sprint TV

More on Sprint’s Samsung Upstage website.

Did you go get an Apple TV as soon as it was released? Pre-ordered maybe? Are you the kind that can’t let things be and like to ‘improve’ your electronics by applying ‘hacks’ to them? Gizmodo has the top 5 hacks for your Apple TV hacking pleasure.

1. Boot Apple TV from an External USB Drive

2. Get Apple TV to Run XviD files

3. Bump up Apple TV’s Hard Drive

4. Make Front Row look like Apple TV

5. Get Apple TV to Work on Your Old Boob Tube

Read more at Gizmodo's Top 5 Apple TV Hacks

AppleInsider.com is reporting that all Nike shoes will be iPod compatible by the end of 2007. I guess it is helping their sales, although there are a bunch of hacks on the web to use Nike+ technology with any pair of shoes.

Nike Inc. said last week that it plans to make its entire line of running shoes compatible with Apple Inc.'s iPod nano line by the end of this year.

The comment was made Nike president and chief executive Mark Parker on Thursday as the shoe maker released its third-quarter results, saying it had a soft year with some specialty mall retailers.

More at appleinsider.com

The Halo 3 Legendary Edition ($130) is already making its way onto the Amazon Bestseller list, taking third place. Seeing as these are only pre-orders and the game still has a few months before it hits retail, it is on track to be the best selling game of all time.

Lifehacker has a nice list of the top 10 extensions for Firefox. You do use Firefox, don’t you? These will make the browsing experience a lot smoother.

10. AutoCopy (clipboard helper)

9. CustomizeGoogle (Google enhancer)

8. Firebug (Web development helper)

7. FireFTP (FTP Client)

6. Greasemonkey (site-specific script manager)

5. ScrapBook (web clippings library)

4. Tab Mix Plus (tab manager)

3. DownThemAll (download manager)

2. Adblock (advertisement blocker)

1. Foxmarks (bookmarks synchronizer)

Lifehacker’s top 10 extensions

A nice list of iTunes Add-Ons for PC and Mac users on Helpero.com

Some of the plug-ins listed:For Mac users:

For Mac users:

Synergy
Synergy is a tiny little app that puts basic iTunes controls in the menu bar, for playing, rewinding, fast-forwarding audio tracks and displays real-time track information in a small floating window. You also can assign system-wide hot keys for controlling iTunes without the mouse. You can find settings for configuring the spacing, visibility, and style of the control buttons, as well as for configuring what track information Synergy will display.

Fetch Art for iTunes
This small program works by grabbing the cover art from Amazon's music listings so you don't have to search for it manually. It allows you to preview the art that was found and add the art you want to iTunes.

iTunes Monitor
One of iTunes's greatest features is its ability to share music across a local-area network. iTunes doesn't provide much information about who is connected or what is being shared.
This utility monitors iTunes to provide a solution for this inconvenient.

iPodRip
iPodRip allows you to get the most out of your iPod. You can transfer music from your iPod back to your iTunes Library, listen to music directly on your iPod -saving valuable disk space, plus much more. iPodRip gives you flexibility importing songs of any file type including MP3, AAC, Audible.com, and Protected AAC. It is available not only for MAC, so if you want you can download a PC version from here.

RadioLover
With RadioLover you can: record internet radio streams as individual MP3 songs, schedule recordings of your favorite daily or weekly shows, record multiple radio streams at the same time, split and organize recordings by song, time or size.

>>>For PC users:

Volume Logic
Volume Logic is a sound enhancer that improves the sound quality of your iTunes music playback. Volume Logic offers a range of presets for different types of music, as well as a bass boost adjustment.

EvilLyrics
EvilLyrics is a very useful application that will find lyrics to the currently played song and displays it in tiny window.

G-Force
“G-Force is the most dynamic and sophisticated, yet entirely artistic, music visualization available - and it keeps getting better.”
Some of the features include Advanced mathematical engine with millions of visual effects and and that you can add your own visuals.

EyeJamz
“EyeJamz for iTunes adds an exciting visual dimension that greatly enhances the enjoyment and the usefulness of your iPod and iTunes.”
You can easily download free Album cover art, load Album Cover Art to your iPod and then display them while your iPod plays your favorite music.

FoxyTunes
This application simply places a small audio control panel at the bottom of your Firefox browser, letting you perform actions such as playing a song, rewinding, and adjusting the volume without accessing the iTunes.

Top 10 iTunes plug-ins.

IPTV may be a ways off for the Xbox 360, but that doesn't mean you can't have a little internet TV fun right now. Introducing Orb, a media streaming solution for the Xbox 360, Wii, and PS3. Orb allows users to stream video, photos, and music to selected devices, including our beloved Xbox 360. Of course, the Xbox handles streaming all by its lonesome, but Orb adds the option of streaming content from internet sources as well. While we've seen similar functionality in programs like TVersity, we've actually managed to get Orb up and running with minimal hassle. So far we've watched a little BBC and a Japanese rock concert with little trouble (over a wireless connection no less). The program takes some time to buffer (over a minute in our case) but the ease of use is appreciated. To give it a shot yourself, head over to Orb.com, read the Xbox 360 guide, download the software, and get cracking.

Keep in mind you will have to create an Orb account, but it's free (for now at least). Also, we have no knowledge of how reliable Orb is, so use it at your own risk. Give it a whirl and tell us what you think.

Via Xbox360fanboy Via Teamxbox

Engadget has the first nice collection of pics I have seen of the Apple TV being un-boxed. Did you get one? What do you think of it?

Apple TV un-boxing.

There are a lot of different options to make your PC look and feel like a Mac, like Windowblinds and such. FlyakiteOSX is a free transformation pack which will do this for you. It is pretty slick and they even let you test drive it in your browser. Here is a screenshot.

FlyakiteOSX is a transformation pack. It will transform the look of an ordinary Windows XP+ system to resemble the look of Mac OS X. The installer simply automates the process of replacing critical system files, setting registry tweaks, and installing extras such as cursors, sounds, visual styles, etc. FlyakiteOSX DOES NOT contain any spyware or ad-ware of any kind. All files needed for FlyakiteOSX are stored in the Windows directory in a folder named 'FlyakiteOSX' that is hidden by default. All registry values for FlyakiteOSX are written to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\FlyakiteOSX.

FlyakiteOSX

Gizmodo is reporting that T-Mobile will be launching the MOTORIZR Z3 today, March 21.

The pricing is going to be $99 with a two-year contract ($249.99 if you buy it outright), and the phone comes with myFaves, a 2.0-megapixel camera, 8x digital zoom, flash, stereo Bluetooth, microSD slot, quad-band GSM, voice dialing, and a 1.9-inch screen.

Gizmodo

EDIT: T-Mobile has a page up with the details now.

Just downloaded this nifty little add-on to Firefox which lets you save a lot more bookmarks on your bookmark toolbar than you would normally be able to. It displays only the site icon on the toolbar without any text, enabling you to save almost 50 bookmarks on the toolbar. When you roll over the icon, it displays the text underneath. Nice!

Smart Bookmarks Bar

I know it looks like a space age pepper mill, but it is actually a high-end DVD, CD Storage Tower. You can enter all the information about your discs which is displayed in a panel on the top.

$489 USD

So I open up Firefox to my homepage, which is my personalized Google homepage http://www.Google.com/ig, and I see “New: Select Theme”. Right now they offer 7 themes to choose from:

• Classic


• Beach


• Bus Stop


• City Scape


• Sweet Dreams


• Tea House


• Seasonal Scape

I picked Sweet Dreams for now. The themes self-adjust based on your locale and time of day. It is a nice change from the age-old Google classic theme.

The first time you boot up Windows Vista, you notice the differences between it and XP. The visual differences, that is. But there is a lot more under the hood that is different as well. Ars Technica has a detailed review of the new features in Vista here.

After months of pre-orders and waiting, Apple is finally shipping Apple TVs. According to the Apple online store, new orders will ship in 3–5 days.

If you are new to Linux and are having trouble with the command line, tutorial5.com lists 30 commands to make life a little bit easier for you.

Link.

PMPtoday.com has a nice video tour of Sandisk’s Video player, Sansa View, the 8GB PMP with a 4&Prime screen.

Shuttle is making a PC for your car. It will be powered by your car’s battery and will gracefully shutdown when you turn the car’s ignition off. Very interesting!

The "CarPC", an integrated device with a special designed power supply and thermo technology, features Shuttle's cross field design. Using car power supply, the system will auto shutdown after turning off the ignition key without losing data or system crash. Also, Shuttle's exclusive "fin flake chassis" radiate heat effectively. CarPC is not only for car use but also for difficult environments.

Read more.

There was a time when Linux and Unix were the ‘ugly’ operating systems. Not so much anymore. Beryl adds beauty to Linux which rivals, in my opinion, Vista and even MacOS.

A nice hands-on review here.

Just starting out here.  I will be posting regularly about the latest in technology news, gadgets, and all other geeky stuff that I think is cool.