I’m on my way to another Microsoft-sponsored Mobius Session this morning, this time in Seattle Washington. There won’t be much for me to post about today, but on Tuesday and Wednesday I’ll share info from sessions attended as I am able. As usual, I’ll be updating on Twitter regularly, so if you haven’t already, then you might want to follow me. đŸ™‚
In this, the second edition of “Look Ma No Hands, Voice Recognition Technology Today” we’ll take a look at getting started with Dragon NaturallySpeaking Version 10 Professional. Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 Standard has an MSRP of $99. Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 Preferred has an MSRP of $199.
A few week ago, I received a copy of this book to review. I’ll admit it, I’m primarily a Mac user, but I use Windows XP at work, and I run it on my Mac in a VMWare session so I can support my Windows Mobile devices and do those things that are available only for Windows. And yeah, I’m one of the many, many, people who played with the Windows 7 betas – and I like it. Not enough to give up my Mac, but it’s nice to see what Vista should have been finally come to fruition. It’s…
Last weekend I had the opportunity to be part of a small group of tech bloggers invited to attend several Windows 7 launch events in New York and Washington DC. I wasn’t totally clear on exactly what we would be doing on this trip before going, but I figured no matter what, it would be fun, and the food would be good. I was right… Thursday Tripit is my Friend Travel is almost always an adventure when flying out of San Angelo Regional Airport, and this time was no exception. My 9:05 a.m. flight was delayed, but at least I…
, I’m a big fan of getting outside and walking. I find that listening to music or podcasts helps to pass the time, so like most people with MP3 players I always take my iPhone or Zune HD with me. I have recently started carrying my Zune HD because I love Zune Pass, which provides for nearly unlimited music downloads and automatically creates artist mixes – even from music I don’t own. WaterField’s new suede jacket is the perfect fit for my Zune HD. It’s thin enough to act as a shield and fits inside other WaterField cases.
As I’ve tossed out before while talking about the Wolfenstein iPhone releases, my history with Wolfenstein is nearly 30 years old. I’m not sure how I initially found out about it – it could have been an impulse buy at the local computer center – but from the moment I started playing Castle Wolfenstein on my Apple ][+ I was hooked. Locks that told you they would take 75 seconds to pick – and that was *real time*! During which you were vulnerable to the ever-roaming guard patrols. By the time Wolfenstein 3D came out in 1992 the gaming press…
I am used to getting random spam instant messages through my Live Messenger account, but today has been a banner day, and I say that with total sarcasm. Today I have received at least five random IMs from a different address (which I immediately block after the message arrives), and each one has been completely trashy. I’m posting the least offensive here, and the truly offensive ones after the break. Bear in mind that I have my Live account set so that I am not supposed to get any messages from people who aren’t contacts, and yet…they keep coming, and…
If you use a Sidekick. DO NOT TURN OFF YOUR PHONE OR LET THE BATTERY DIE!!! That’s the message from T-Mobile and Danger/Microsoft. Apparently that data outage last week did more than just knock everyone offline…it also hosed their servers, which means everything stored there (calendar, contacts, pictures, emails, etc) is most likely gone. This is just a terrible situation, and it doesn’t look like there’s an offline backup solution. Hopefully, T-Mobile, Danger, and Microsoft can come up with a better answer than “Oops…all gone!”, but in the meantime make sure you don’t turn your phone off! And if you…
This is one of those bits of news that bears repeating, particularly if you use online banking. CNET is reporting about a new type of Trojan horse, known as URLZone, that is designed not to steal your login information for online banking sites, but rather to actually steal your money while you’re on the bank’s website. URLZone is sophisticated enough that it calculates how much money to steal based on how much is in your account, then displays a false balance to the user so as not to arouse suspicion. The Trojan is being distributed through emails, infected sites that…
Last week Wayne and I had the opportunity to sit in on an NDA workshop discussing the new and updated features of Windows Mobile 6.5. Wayne got hung up and couldn’t attend (pesky day job getting in the way, again!), but I was able to sit in an hear a bit about 6.5 and Marketplace, Microsoft’s new software store for Windows Phones. Those of you who read our GearChat back in February will recognize many of the new 6.5 screens, and yes – the Zune-like interface is still present.
The single biggest problem my wife and other family members have is making sure that their data is backed up. The HP Mediasmart LX195 will help you make sure that data is safe and a while lot more. This server is based on Microsoft’s Windows Home Server. It’s not my normal operating system of choice, but I think that Microsoft and HP have done a good thing here. They have done something that is difficult with Linux. They have made it extremely easy to setup a media server and a backup server all in the same tidy package. Try as…
Last month while searching for some media player software for Linux, I came across a program called Elisa.  Elisa was a full screen media player similar to Apple’s Front Row. It had an interface that looked a lot like Apple’s Front Row, with a twist. I installed it on both my Eee PC 701 and initially on my 1000HE and would use it whenever I wanted some music playing in the background. Flash forward to today. The Elisa project has revamped itself and renamed itself into the media center called Moovida. It is available for both Linux and WindowsXP/Vista with…
When Sony told me they had a VAIO P ready to send out to me, I was more excited about it than any other device I’ve tested in a while. Having converted to the netbook faithful with an HP Mini 1000 a few months ago, I was looking forward to trying out Sony’s attempt. The design really does trump every other netbook on the market and is extremely reminiscent of their PictureBook series of ultra ultraportables from a few years ago. It is thinner than my Mini 1000, not to mention less wide and deep. It doesn’t even make it…
My friend Mark contacted me via GTalk video chat three days ago to test out his new Acer Aspire One that he purchased for $349 at Costco. I was so impressed that he was able to connect and video chat without difficulty on a Netbook that cost so little that I immediately ordered one for myself on Amazon. Last night I put Windows 7 Release Candidate on the machine by creating a bootable USB drive (I used a 16GB drive – instructions here – that I bought for $35 from Staples). The USB thumb drive was the easiest way for…
Blue has been making microphones for a while now but this is their first adapter. This adapter takes any microphone with an XLR connector and converts it to a USB connector making it possible to record high quality audio through your computer.
My entire philosophy when it comes to computers pretty much revolves around a single incident which occurred when I was in ninth grade. We were studying Romeo and Juliet in English class, my first exposure to Shakespeare. At the beginning of the unit, we were given a worksheet with dozens of short essay questions. The idea was, as we read the play, we completed the essays relating to the portion we studied in class. Being the diligent student that I was back then, I worked on that worksheet every day, sitting in the basement tapping away with Bank Street Writer…
There have been two activities that have become the norm across the world of technology blogging in the last couple of years: unboxing, and loading Mac OS X onto netbooks. As a person who is lucky enough to have the opportunity to play with lots of phones, notebooks and other “unboxable” items, I’ve done the former a fair bit, and as an owner of a MacBook Pro for the past few years, I can understand peoples need to load OS X onto any device with an x86 processor. Another trend that’s come up in the last month or so is…
I have been a fan of the ever shrinking computer since I was in college. Laptops, netbooks, PDAs, my motto these days is small, compact, and light. The whole time, however, there has been one thing the gnawed at the back of my brain…probably due to the numerous hand cramps I have gotten over the years. There is just no good way to control the mouse. This started with the eraser tip controller, which worked well enough, if you don’t mind rubbing against a tiny rubber nub in the middle of your keyboard (which was also prone to accidental swipes). …
Not being the type that can leave well enough alone, I installed Windows 7 to my Wind as planned on 1/18/09. Windows 7 is interesting. I’m still exploring… However, after I installed 7, I really wanted to see if I could put OSX back on. Having the dual boot is really cool; and the dual boot with Windows 7..? Oh yeah. I’d be the king of my local Geekdom. I had to try… The following is not sanctioned by Gear Diary, and is an advanced piece of hackery.  However, once you master dual booting XP and OSX, I found this…
This is just a short note, kids to let you know where I am with my Wind after this weekend’s article. I’ve completely blown the box, so XP is OFF the Wind. I took a couple of hours and put Windows 7 on it, and find it very interesting. I’m not completely sold on it yet, as its very Vista like, and I’ve really just got Vista Ultimate working the way I want it to on my MBP. However, I’m playing with it; and yes, there is indeed a great deal to like about Win7 that you’re going to hear…
Over the past few months, I’ve seen a lot of people talk about netbook computers and how hackable they are. Sites like JKontheRun, The Gadgeteer, and even Gear Diary have all posted articles on hacking this particular netbook. While none of these sites recommends hacking ANY device, it does go a long way to showing everyone just how versatile this device truly, truly is. Honestly, I wasn’t really interested in any kind of netbook computer until Dan posted his article on the creation of a “hackintosh,” or non-Apple PC running OSX. Before then, I really didn’t seen any real value…