30 gb ipod: July 2008

Thursday, July 31, 2008

UFO-chaser extradited for mother of all military hacks

UFO-chaser extradited for mother of all military hacks
LONDON - Some call it the biggest hack of military computers; perhaps it was just a big embarrassment. Gary McKinnon - accused of breaking into military and Nasa computers in what he claims was a search for UFOs, allegedly...

GBTV #0316 (small) | GeekBrief.TV

I start with a review of the N-Gage gaming platform which is soon to be available on the following Nokia phones: N81, N82, N93, N93i, N95, N95 8GB, N96, N78, N95 NAM. I get the sense that N-Gage is about bringing a much richer gaming experience than we seen before on a phone. The graphics are impressive and the games I tried were challenging.

A new Palm Centro is available on the AT&T wireless network. Rather than review it, I'm giving one away to a Geek Brief viewer. The contest details are at www.BigTrip.tv.

Unfortunately Sharper Image filed for bankruptcy. Earth Class Mail is a service that let's you avoid dealing with paper mail if you'd rather go 100% digital. HP will soon have an Ultra Mobile PC that you can get with either Linux or Windows installed. Read more

Telefonica loses profits despite aid from iPhone

Spanish carrier Telefonica has reported a decline in its second-quarter profits despite the help of the iPhone, according to published results. Profits dropped 20 percent in Q2 over the same period a year ago, with net income sliding to $3.21 billion from $4.01 billion. This still beats the predictions of a Bloomberg survey however, which had sug...

Martian monkey lives in a jar

GEORGIA - Other museums might have more or flashier items to display. But only the mini-museum of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation can boast of possessing such an other-world oddity as the monkey from Mars. The bureau's... Read more

del.icio.us goes through overhaul, domain change

Social bookmarking site Delicious on Thursday announced it has refined its services greatly, while also adding a new domain name through which the site can be reached, Delicious.com. According to a post on Delicious' blog, the various refinements have allowed the company to enhance speed, search capability, and overall layout of the site. The domai...

Macnifying OS X: Introduction and working with NTFS Drives

Macnifying OS X: Introduction and working with NTFS Drives
Make Use Of’s Mac section has been growing steadily over the past couple of months and we’ve published a lot of articles about random topics i.e. productivity, music, plugins, etc. So I’ve decided to start a biweekly column dedicated to people who have just started using Macs, a.k.a “Switchers”, focusing on the issues they might [...]

Make Use Of’s Mac section has been growing steadily over the past couple of months and we’ve published a lot of articles about random topics i.e. productivity, music, plugins, etc. So I’ve decided to start a biweekly column dedicated to people who have just started using Macs, a.k.a “Switchers”, focusing on the issues they might face with the operating system during the early transition periods.

Hopefully this will ensure that your switch to Mac is a smooth process with minimal hiccups. So without further adieu, here is the first Make Use Of “Macnifying OS X” column.

NTFS Blues

When I first started using my Mac, the first problem I faced was NTFS drive compatibility issues. Macs run on a different file system called Hierarchical File System (HFS). Windows, on the other hand runs on a NT File System (NTFS). Because of this discrepancy, Macs can only read NTFS-formatted drives and are unable to write on them. This brought up a lot of fussing about when my friends had their portable hard disks over to copy stuff from my Mac, only to find that I can’t write (copy) files on it. They would throw up some unfriendly comments about Macs while I frantically looked for a spare USB thumb drive.

You would expect Apple to plug this miniscule problem by adding NTFS-write compatibility; that was what everyone hoped from OS X Leopard before it was launched. But they didn’t. This is one of Apple’s quirks. They seldom do what you’d expect them to.

Luckily, there were several groups of developers who got together and solved our simple but common problem. I’m going to write about two methods of solving it: one is free and the other isn’t.

How to write on NTFS drives with Mac (the free solution)

If you’ve ever done a search on Google on “How to write on NTFS with Mac”, you’d definitely come across NTFS-3G. NTFS-3G is a driver that is used with MacFUSE in order to create a fully-functional NT file system within OS X. Actually, NTFS-3G works on many other platforms as well but we shall focus on Mac for now.

NTFS-3G is an ongoing effort and its latest update was July 12 so that’s pretty recent. There are 2 versions of the driver:

I’ve tried using both and I can honestly tell you that the non-UBLIO one is truly, dreadfully slow. Also note that I’ve had some problems recognizing some particular unknown brands of hard disk enclosures. More reliable external hard disks like Maxtor and Western Digital read and write with no issues.

Installation is not very difficult. The first thing you need to do is install MacFUSE — get the latest version here (be aware that there are different versions for Tiger and Leopard). Then you’ll be asked to reboot your system. The next step would be to install NTFS-3G, reboot and you’re all set!

The paid solution

Although paying for software just in order to read and write on NTFS may sound grim, this piece of software might very well be worth your money. Paragon NTFS for Mac was very easy to install and use. It managed to detect and write to every NTFS-formatted hard disk I threw at it. If you would rather do away with the hassle of setting up MacFUSE and NTFS-3G, this is the next best thing. However, it comes with a price and $39.95 is hefty but arguably worth it. If you’re not convinced, try it for 10 days and see how it goes. You might find yourself missing it after that trial period is over.

The other solutions

If you still have external hard disks which you need to use back and forth between Windows and Mac systems, maybe you could consider formatting them in FAT32 instead. Macs write on FAT partitions just fine.

Another option is to install virtualization software which will enable you to run Windows on your Mac but you would have to deal with the reduced transfer speeds as the data passes through the USB interface into the virtualization program and back onto your Mac.

To sum up, NTFS-3G coupled with MacFUSE is a great and free way to write on NTFS-formatted hard disks. Paragon NTFS does the same thing, is more convenient but comes with a $40 price tag. These tools will help bring about the sorely-needed NTFS-write capability to your Mac.

(By) Jackson Chung is a full-time medical student attempting to perform a juggling act with relationship, studies and his future.

Game geek breaks the piggybank for space flight

Game geek breaks the piggybank for space flight
CAPE CANAVERAL - The world's next space tourist, a computer game wizard, said he's spending the bulk of his fortune on his $30 million adventure. Richard Garriott will make history as the first c

FeedLounge is Ajaxian answer to desktop RSS readers

I plopped down five bucks this week to try the beta of FeedLounge, an elegantly designed online alternative to such storied desktop RSS readers as FeedDemon and NetNewsWire. In fact, it's hard to tell the difference, at first glance, between FeedLounge and an offline reader like FeedDemon. (The three screenshots show the same feed using different views.)

Of course, the main problem for FeedLounge's developers is convincing folks that they need to pay $5 a month for what Bloglines and NewsGator are already providing on the Internet for mostly free (NewsGator does have some paid versions of its service). Still, it's an impressive feat and it was worth the Lincoln to see what Ajaxian technologies can do for the RSS-reading community.

My first task was inputting a list of about 900 feeds via an OPML import. Rather than handling it all it once, FeedLounge provides a notice that it will incorporate the feeds in batches until they're all there. This apparently keeps their servers from dogging everytime someone like myself comes along with a gigantic OPML file.

I can't tell if all my 900 feeds are in the system. And I'm not going to count them to find out. :) But it looks like they are, and they even maintained the folder structure I brought over with me when I exported the RSS feed list from FeedDemon. Still, FeedLounge isn't without its growing pains: the servers were down for four hours yesterday "due to the database server becoming non-responsive to write operations." Like any Web-based app, you're taking a crap shoot on whether the servers will be up when you need to access the service. And in this case, you're paying moola to use the service.

I felt the purveyors were a little grouchy with me on two occasions, but I can understand that with a new start-up that has has taken 12-hour days to complete. The first was my fault: I had a payment bounce back in PayPal and so I went in and paid them $5 for the first month. They returned my money and told me they could only accept money through their automated system. Fair enough, on hindsight. But it was a waste of my time to do this. The second issue was that I sent them a support request directly to their e-mail address and they didn't care for that, pointing me to the support forums. But he did answer some of my questions in the e-mail reply.

I haven't had a chance to try out the service enough on a daily basis to make an informed decision on whether it's better than other options. But I did find one extremely irritating action that the owners don't seem interested in changing. Whenever a RSS feed is malformed, a warning appears on each and every feed: "Invalid Feed! This item is from an invalid feed. You may want to contact the owner of the feed to let them know." This is extremely irritating and I haven't seen it elsewhere, except occasionally on FeedDemon when a RSS feed is poorly written that it can't be read.

Overall, I'd say it's worth the $5 to try the service for a month and see if it's for you. They also have a trial, but it's limited to 50 people at a time and may be hard to use. I think that FeedLounge is a good example of what we can expect from Web-based applications that closely imitate -- and possibly improve upon -- their desktop cousins. Still, I won't be uninstalling my FeedDemon, NetNewsWire and other RSS readers (yes, I have a lot) anytime soon.

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MacBreak 124: Macworld 2008: National Instruments

Dr. Kiki Sanford checks out data acquisition software and interfaces. Read more

GBTV #0343 (small) | GeekBrief.TV

Yahoo! is trying their best to avoid a Microsoft takeover. They're working on a deal to join with AOL and trying out an advertising partnership with Google. Microsoft doesn't like the possibility of any kind of Yahoogle happening, but the test is limited to a two week trial.

Yesterday was a BIG day for watch phones. The coolest one is the MW2 from VanDerled. The other one was oversized and odd-looking with no details about availability or price.

The Red Ferret Journal introduced us to a Web 2.0 copy editing service called Gramlee. You submit your written work to them, pay the a very nominal fee and a human editor cleans it up for you.

As far as I recall, we didn't bring up Zune Guy when he got his Zune logo tattoo, or when he announced he was changing his name to Microsoft Zune. We waited until now. He put the name-change plans on hold because someone told him it would cost $500. Now it turns out, it's only going to cost $150. He put a survey up asking people to vote on name alternatives. I want him to go with Mike Zune. Microsoft is notable in so many ways, but the name means tiny and soft. What guy wants to be identified THAT way?

My crisis of idealism blog post is at iCali.tv. Thanks for taking the time to read it and adding your feedback. Read more

ComChart debuts iPhone-ready medical app

ComChart has released v9.3g3 of EMR, its medical records software. The program is designed to reduce the amount of paper used in a clinic or hospital, providing access to patient information such as medications and test results. Users can additionally schedule future appointments and fax or print out prescription requests for pharmacies....

MacBreak 49 Macworld 2007: AppZapper, Pzziz and Cha-Ching

MacBreak 49 Macworld 2007: AppZapper, Pzziz and Cha-Ching
Leo and Merlin continue their tour of 'Tiny Town', visiting with the makers of Cha-Ching, Pzziz and AppZapper.

Two auto performance meters for iPhone

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Hardware, Software, Tips and tricks, Odds and ends, iPhone, App Store

I've seen a lot of fun accelerometer uses in the App Store so far, but this is probably the coolest -- Dynolicious will actually use your iPhone's accelerometer to determine all kinds of stuff about how awesome your '92 Subaru is, from 0-60 and 1/4 mile time up to lateral Gs and horsepower. Just throw your iPhone somewhere secure in the car, hit go, and Dynolicious will track all that hardware stuff for you (even over multiple runs). Very awesome -- it's in the App Store right now for $12.99, which is pricey, until you see what an actual GTech meter will set you back.

What? Gas is super expensive right now, and you want it even cheaper? Wish granted: our friends at Autoblog have also dug up an app called g-tac, which will track your times and even graph them out for you. Unfortunately, g-tac won't do the cool accelerometer stuff, measuring out your lateral gs and horsepower for you, but you know the old saying: you can have things fast, good, or cheap, and you only get to pick two.

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MacBreak 103: Macworld 2008: Joby Products

MacBreak 103: Macworld 2008: Joby Products
Justine Ezarik explores the Joby Products booth at Macworld.

MacBreak 139: NAB: Matrox MX02

Alex shows how the guys at Matrox are advancing mobile capture with the MX02. Read more

Heart Robot loves to be hugged, express emotions

Filed under: Robots

Here's your afternoon dose of cuteness, ready or not. David McGoran's Heart Robot has made its way into London's Science Museum, and for good reason. This intelligent robot not only possesses a face with moving eyes and an external heart that blinks depending on what's happening, but it actually encourages people to hug and cuddle it like a real human. Seen as being "among the first robots to signify a new era of emotional machines used for medical treatment and enjoyment," this creature could one day become a mainstay in nursing homes where the elderly could interact with it and hopefully benefit in some metaphysical manner. Check out the read link for a video oozing with adorableness.

[Via TimesOnline]

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MacBreak 51 Macworld 2007: The Omni Group

Merlin chats with Ken Case from the Omni Group about their products and the application development possibilities for the iPhone. Read more

MacBreak 74: Studio: Motion 3 in 3D

MacBreak 74: Studio: Motion 3 in 3D
Mark Spencer takes us on a tour of the 3D capabilities in Apple's new version of Motion.

Dell slots in 24-inch widescreen S2409W LCD monitor

Filed under: Displays

Just over a month after Dell added in a new 27-incher to its (admittedly unwieldy) LCD monitor family, along comes a sibling with a few less pixels and a much smaller price tag. The 24-inch widescreen S2409W checks in with a 1,920 x 1,080 panel, 300 cd/m2 brightness, 5-millisecond response time, 1,000:1 contrast ratio, VGA / DVI / HDMI sockets, and 160- / 170-degree viewing angles. The best part(s)? It's available for just $379, and it's shipping within one to two days. Hooray!

[Via Electronista]

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MacBreak 152: NAB: Elcipse

MacBreak 152: NAB: Elcipse
Alex drops by JLCooper Electronics to check out the Eclipse interface for Color.

MacBreak 36: Conversations With Other Women

Producer Kwesi Collisson visits to discuss the challenges of completing the visual effects in a scene from Conversations With Other Women. Read more

GBTV #0375 (small) | GeekBrief.TV

GBTV #0375 (small) | GeekBrief.TV
People have been asking for it, and now it's inevitable. Qik will be available for the iPhone.

HP released v2 of their TouchSmart all-in-one computer. Through their Voodoo line, they also announced the Envy, a MacBook Air competitor, and the ever-so-expensive and sexy Omen Gaming PC.

The Microsoft Surface has been installed at the iBar at the Rio in Vegas. I don't think I'm cool enough to really understand if this is going to work out for the club crowd, but I am interested in watching drunk people use it. It's very important for you to watch the HD version of the show if you want to read the closed captioning during the Surface video.

GBTV #381 (small) | GeekBrief.TV

Today's Brief comes to you from a hotel room that looks like a grandma's house. Tnkgrl solved the problem of why MacBook Air super drives only work with MBAs and she explains how to get one working with any Mac or PC on her blog, tankgrl.wordpress.com.

SmugMug has a new service for unlimited storage of any type of file. The service is called SmugVault and it's built on Amazon Web Services. Storage costs pennies per GB.

D-Link dropped an update for their DNS-323 NAS. The update turns it into a PC-free BitTorrent machine. They also released a new router, the DIR-628, that is dual-band. The 2.4GHz channel is for regular network traffic and the 5.4GHz channel is for media distribution.

The Boy Genius Report got a tip that the iPhone will go on sale at 8AM on July 11th.

SlashGear says JVC will release the world's thinnest 1080p LCD HDTV in July.

Tomorrow we're having a bus inspected. I'll be providing updates on Twitter and live video from Qik. Read more

Lenovo IdeaPad G Series gets official... in Malaysia

Filed under: Laptops

Well hey, there's Lenovo's rumored IdeaPad G Series on the company's Malaysian website as of this afternoon. It's not a netbook after all, but a cheap, nice-looking laptop. Specs for the G400 are slightly less great than what we've heard, but they're not bad: 1.86GHz T2390 Core 2 Duo with X3100 integrated graphics driving a 14.1-inch display, 160GB hard drive, 2GB of RAM, a dual-layer burner, and b/g WiFi -- no n, apparently. Pricing is listed at just RM1,999 ($631), so if this thing ever makes it to the States it'll probably make that Eee 1000 decision just a little harder, no?

[Thanks, Nick]

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VMware and Parallels for Virtual Machines

VMware and Parallels for Virtual Machines
It doesn't matter if you're running on Windows or Mac OS X - every power user needs either Parallels or VMware (or both). There's never been an easier way to test software without destroying your primary operating system's stability. Think of how many times you wish you could press a 'reverse' button on your computer. Plus, there's no easier way to try new Linux distributions - see what all the fuss is about. Run Windows in OS X, run Linux in Windows, but the best way to do either is with VMware and/or Parallels.

New Zealand's internet future and how to fix it

New Zealand's internet future and how to fix it
A group of experts has descended on Queenstown for a three-day Netsafe conference that aims to unlock the mysteries of our internet future. Cybercitizens: Risks, Rights and Responsibilities of Participation in the Information...

El Tunes gives Linux users iTMS playback capabilities

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Portable Audio

It has been a solid tick since we've seen a good FairPlay hack, so it's with great pleasure that we pass along El Tunes for Ubuntu 8.04 users everywhere. Tested to work on Hardy Heron using RhythmBox (but assumed to work on any modern Linux Distro with GStreamer and a media player that utilizes GStreamer), said plug-in enables open-source aficionados to play songs purchased from the iTunes Music Store. As for limitations, the current version has no Pause / Seek support and cannot de-authorize a machine for playback, but a future version should hopefully cure those two quirks and add support for purchased video content and audio streaming to an AirTunes device. Give it a shot and let us know how it treats ya.

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E-Lead's Noahpad UMPC gets trunk lid unboxing

Filed under: Laptops

We've been seeing in the wild shots of E-Lead's Noahpad for months on end, but on some fateful trunk lid likely to be halfway across the planet, this undeniably peculiar UMPC has finally arrived to an end user. Oddly enough, said user couldn't even wait to get the thing inside, and as you can clearly above, this unboxing took place entirely on the trunk of a car. We can't determine what's more interesting here -- the unit itself, or the totally cute Baby In Car sticker just up there on the right.

[Via Pocketables, thanks JB]

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Montreal Apple store grand opening today

Filed under: Retail, Apple

The rumored Apple Store, Sainte Catherine in Montréal is opening today, in grand style. If you're in the area of 1321 Ste-Catherine st west besides the Ogilvy Department Store at the corner De la Montagne st (which I totally just grabbed from the store's website, I have no idea where any of that is) you should stop on by.

It looks like the store will also have a number of musical guests for the next few days to keep interest up. Amongst the musical folks stopping by the store are: