Converting formats is a hassle. Not only is just about every conversion utility centered on a few formats, conversion is often one way. Fortunately there’s a new entry in the converter arena. Not only is the price right, Hamstersoft’s video converter makes quick work of converting the most complete list of codecs and formats from one to another than any other single app I’ve seen.
Converts any video to iPod, iPad, iPhone, PS3, PSP, Blackberry, xBox, Zune, Apple TV, iRiver, etc. More than 200+ devices
Converts to AVI, MPG, WMV, MPEG, FLV, HD, DVD, M2TS and others! Integrated video player!
Easy-to-use! Drag-n-Drop! It does not require special knowledge. There is Wizard for beginners.
Changes codec/System type/De-interlaces your video file
Seemingly the only major consumer tech company to not embrace ARM processors has been Microsoft. That was until now….
The new license greatly extends the technologies Microsoft can make use of from Arm Holdings. The companies have collaborated for years on software and devices mainly in mobile, consumer and embedded products.
“We have licensed our architecture and our instruction set to Microsoft,” said Ian Drew, executive vice president of marketing at Arm. “This type of license allows you to design your own microarchitecture.”
Only a select group of companies hold similar licenses to design their own Arm-based microarchitectures, including mobile phone chip giant Qualcomm, as well as Marvell Technology and Infineon Technologies. (Computerworld)
With ARM licensed CPU’s at the heart so many portable and consumer devices, licensing the technology could be necessary for survival if you’re Microsoft. If the company expects to compete in devices and OS, it needs ARM. With Microsoft’s deep pockets, the possibilities of how it might use customized CPU’s are endless. This can’t be good news for Intel.
Kodak’s little plastic quick shooters are highly under rated. They have a zero learning curve, and take nice colorful images. This offer gets you one of the Kodak’s better offerings for less than the cost of lunch and a matinee. The deal comes from Tightwad affiliate Geeks. Using our link to buy from Geeks helps support Tightwad Technica.
It’s a bit out of my budget today, but I remember paying the devoted tekkie this much for an “entry” desktop computer when it began to accumulate crucial mass.
The hexadecagon-shaped personal satellite, called TubeSat, weighs about 1.65 pounds and is a little larger than a rectangular Kleenex box. TubeSats will be placed in self-decaying orbits 192 miles above the earth’s surface. Once deployed, they can put out enough power to be picked up on the ground by a hand-held amateur radio receiver. After operating for a few months, TubeSat will re-enter the atmosphere and burn up.
“It is a pico satellite that can be a very low-cost space-based platform for experimentation or equipment testing,” says Randa Milliron, CEO and founder of Interorbital Systems.
About 20 kits have been sold and 14 more are in the process of being handed over to customers, says Milliron. (Wired)
Will we have the opportunity to own personal sats for a few hundred dollars in the future? I’m guessing not exactly. Never the less, $8 has lowered the bar to include just about anyone with an idea worth testing. I’m betting thrice will drop and the payload size will grow.
We covered OpenBTS here. That was an FOSS based cellular implementation. The only problem? You have to be in a cellular free area to use it. (licensing/piracy issues for most in the US.)
Well fear not. We bump up against something slightly different will some folks over at Village Telco. The Village folks have married FOSS mesh networking AP with telephony for a FOSS based wireless telephony solution. That solution they call the Mesh Potato. They also have another effort to write code that is loaded right into the cell phone so that every phone becomes a mesh router.
Between the two techniques they open up some real possibilities. This is yet again why we at Third Pipe/Tightway has been advocating open frequencies on some bands. The point is this type of technology has the ability to usher in autonomous selfrouting wireless data/voice transmissions. The People build the network by their mere participation in the network itself.
Do you have more than one car with wireless entry / alarm key fobs? It may be possible to re-program them so the a single fob will unlock / lock both cars.
As in recognition, be it facial, dataglyph, or as in the image to the left a QR code. We are reaching the point where the next time you see a hand post it might be one of those funky little squares. In the US this is catching on with industry and is now creeping into the general populace. On the enduser side all you need is a smartphone and the right reader software installed. In Japan they are way ahead of us in the use of the QR. —
Why are those little squares worth all the fuss? In and of themselves not much. We have had barcodes for years. But what sets QR and DM codes apart from barcodes is flexibility and and data density. Depending on formatting one can have up to 4k of data in that little set of squares.
Now couple that density with wireless technology and web based data mining technology. In a subway system using the cell phone to capture a QR and then find your location become a snape as your cell phone application pulls up a Google map of the subway system. Or a warehouse tracks inventory using QR codes on the boxes and shelving. Why not put QR codes on road signs? Fact why not make the information sign one large QR traget? Then have the cars mapping software display food, fuel and other data. (Course much of that is done today with GPS.) We start to see this technology today in security systems, public events. QRs are even on business cards.
The hold up? Well they are piddling. I generated the QR above using an online QR generator. There are both proprietary and open source code generators. There is even a open source QR reader now, written in Java. The fact is the tools are now out there to make the technology expand in a big way.
Some retailer is going to come along and realize the potential. With a QR code affixed to that wearable the customer can get the price, vendor and model. They can also get a visual demo presented right on their cellphone from the retailer or designer about the clothing. Click another button and a sales clerk could be summoned right to the spot for assistance. THAT is competitive advantage.
Even though US carriers have crippled the Andriod implementation in handsets offered here a number of “Frankenphones” have evolved in the hands of talented hackers. Now there’s a tool kit that helps non programmers to interface Andriod to the outside world. You can marry Andriod to the Arduino microcontroller with Amarino!
Normally smartphone events are tightly coupled to your phone device itself. When your cell phone is ringing, your phone speaker plays a ringtone. When you get a new text message, your phone displays it on its screen. Wouldn’t it be thrilling to make thoses phone events visible somewhere else, on your wearable, in your living room, on your robot, in your office or where ever you want it to occur? Or would you like to use your smartphone sensors, like the accelerometer, light sensor, compass or your touchscreen to control other devices? ‘android meets arduino’ is a toolkit, basically consisting of an Android application and an Arduino library which will help you to interface with your phone in a new dimension. You can build your own interfaces almost without any programming experience. (more info and free download)
Actually, in theory, any USB wireless adapter is Linux compatible. The big problem is finding drivers. Even manufacturers interested in supporting Linux do the drivers for it last. The short life cycle of new adapters makes can make things worse. If the product life cycle ends before the driver team gets to Linux no drivers ever get written. In fact, the top reason I hear for not considering Linux outside of a few applications is lack of drivers for wireless adapters. That’s too bad because there are quite a few adapters with Linux drivers available. Here’s a big list with direct links to download drivers. A big thanks to Vivek Gite for compiling and posting it.
Now this looks like a doable thing. By doable I mean it won’t take a EE degree to work it. Now before you get excited, be aware this is not going to be cheap. The R1900 printer, new runs 5 C notes. So you REALLY must WANT this considering the investment. Or you luck out and score one cheap somewhere. Yes, he stripped the shell. Rerouted a couple of buttons which means you have to get the soldering iron out. Then assemble a platform and platen for the fabric. But in all this looks to be more of a wood working project than anything else.
The question would be, is spending $500 plus your time worth the effort for what will be a single purpose device? Only you can be the judge of that.
Converting formats is a hassle. Not only is just about every conversion utility centered on a few formats, conversion is often one way. Fortunately there’s a new entry in the converter arena. Not only is the price right, Hamstersoft’s video converter makes quick work of converting the most complete list of codecs and formats from one to another than any other single app I’ve seen.
We covered OpenBTS 
As in recognition, be it facial, dataglyph, or as in the image to the left a QR code. We are reaching the point where the next time you see a hand post it might be one of those funky little squares. In the US this is catching on with industry and is now creeping into the general populace. On the enduser side all you need is a smartphone and the right reader software installed. In Japan they are way ahead of us in the use of the QR. — 
