After months of speculation, Apple confirmed today that they are in a partnership with Motorola to produce an iPod-compatible phone. Forbes.com is reporting that the phone should be available early in 2005. All the buzz is short on specifics, but expect at the very least a phone with a strong sense of Apple’s navigational and design usability. Apple announced back in July that they were creating a mobile version of iTunes for Motorola – hopefully this new announcement will mean more. Jobs cautions that this won’t be an iPod replacement – but a way to take your iTunes with you. Hmmm. That still sounds like an iPod with a phone. Anyway, too bad it’s not an iTreo….
Category Archives: technology
Windows Media Center Extender
I installed the new-fangled Windows Media Extender for Xbox today. Very simple. Drop the ‘Media Center for Xbox Disc’ (DVD) into the Xbox, connected to the same network subnet as your MCE 2005. Why should you care? Well, if you don’t have a Media Center PC, no biggie. But the promise here is pretty cool. You can have your home PC hidden in your office, or in a closet somewhere, but access the PC’s recorded TV, live TV, pictures, mp3s, and other applications on your living room PC with no wires. NICE!
Box Contents:
So, get your Xbox connected to your TV, and then on the same wireless or wired network subnet. Plug the infrared receiver into an unused controller port on the front of the Xbox (it’s just like the DVD kit sold by MSFT), and drop the DVD into the tray and boot the Xbox.
After a few prompts, the Xbox reports a startup code you will need to enter back on your MCE 2005 box. Then fire up the Setup CD in your Media Center, mine being a Qosmio laptop across the room. After a typical Windows application install process of just a few minutes, several EULAs (who reads these?), and numerous progress bars, the installer asks first for the lengthy product key, then the startup code. Reboot the Xbox, and you should be up and running.
It seems to work quite well – although some buttons and interface elements gracefully degrade to have less animation, etc. to optimize performance over the terminal services connection being used. I found television to look quite good, most third-party apps to function just fine as well. More reports to follow!
Qosmio
Yesterday I recieved a new laptop – the Toshiba Qosmio F15 Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 multimedia machine. Amazing little laptop, that – integrated TV tuner, PVR functionality, 80GB drive, Pentium M 745/1.8ghz, NVIDIA GeForce FXGo5700/128MB, etc. Early reactions are that it’s fairly HUGE (14.7″x11.2″x1.7″) and HEAVY (8.6 lbs, plus adapter). So it’s not quite the svelte machine that my TiBook is. But then again, this machine is much faster, has better video, and can watch/record tv. The Media Center apps are an interesting acoutrement, too. Got it up and running pretty easily, but was confounded by *two* audio streams from my DirecTV box. Turned out that you have to mute the line-in audio signal, otherwise you get audio piped directly through to the speakers *and* the encoded audio from the MCE video recorder. Was proud that I figured that out. And what is the deal with user manuals only on the HD for $2500 pieces of gear? That’s B.S., thank you very much. More detailed review soon.
Boston’s Other Big Dig
Look at what’s happening inside Fenway Park! After 86 years, we take the pennant – and the entire outfield is stripped down to dirt. I, for one, would like to own a patch of that grass! Anyway, this work is all part of the park expansions announced earlier this year. Click the image to see an up-to-date view of the activity at America’s best ball park.
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