Bush signs tougher anti-piracy law

Bush signs tougher anti-piracy law
US President George Bush on Monday signed the PRO-IP Act into law, increasing the federal government's attempts to crack down on copyright violations and other intellectual property infringement in the country. The Act will bring in a cabinet member dedicated to improving copyright protection and also increases punishments for both basic copyright violations as well as physical counterfeits....

GBTV #441 (small) | GeekBrief.TV

GBTV #441 (small) | GeekBrief.TV
In an interview with CIO Magazine, Steve Balmer said they're working on porting the Zune software to Windows Mobile.

Sony's eBook reader, the PRS-700, was announced today. It'll have a touch screen, allowing you to "flip" pages with the swipe of a finger. It'll be available at the end of October.

Wii Speak is a new channel on the Wii. With a Wii mic, and you and three other people can voice chat.

The Nerd Girls are a group of women with the goal of encouraging girls to embrace science, technology, engineering and math. You can join their community at www.nerdgirls.com.

PrintWhatYouLike.com lets you print exactly what you want from a webpage, minus all the ads and extras that take up so much paper.

Don't forget about the State Fair of Texas meetup on Sunday, October 5th!

You can save money on domain name registrations and renewals from GoDaddy.com with discount codes GB1, GB2 and GB3. For an explanation of each code, click here. **Editors note: We were supposed to put a list of domains names that were registered with my promo codes, but we kind of forgot, so that segment is there for your comedic pleasure. :)

MacBreak 05: There is a Need for Panic

Leo and Emery show you how to use Transmit, the award-winning FTP software from Panic Software. Read More

GBTV #0385 (small) | GeekBrief.TV

Drobo released an SDK today. Developers can build apps to make Drobo do more after joining the Drobo Developer Community.

Fontstruct is a free, Web-based app for future typography rock stars. I want the creator of the next Helvetica to be a GeekBrief.TV viewer.

GoLive2 is releasing a Wiimote inspired series of controllers for PC gaming and they're calling them Stix.

Philippe Starck designed a small wind turbine that might generate 20% to 60% of the energy needed to power a home. I skeptical, but definitely interested.

149 Series Mitsubishi HDTVs will include 16-point speaker systems that simulate 5.1 surround sound. Read More

Billings 3 prices reduced until November 30th

Billings 3 prices reduced until November 30th

Filed under: Software

Marketcircle, the company behind Billings (which I mentioned in some depth recently), knows that a freelancer (or small business) needs every advantage they can get to survive in this economy. Sympathetic to the plight of the individuals on "Main Street," they're offering Billings 3 for $20 off the usual price, and upgrades for $10 off until November 30th. If you'd benefit from time tracking and high-quality invoices but weren't ready to drop $59.95 to get there, see if $39.95USD sounds a little better.

If you've already purchased or upgraded to Billings 3, you're not excluded from the party. Emailing a proof of purchase to Marketcircle will get you a voucher for the difference, redeemable for anything else in their store. See AJ's blog post for directions. Prices have also been reduced in the U.K., Canada, Europe and Australia with slightly modified numbers based on exchange rates. Stop by the Marketcircle store for details.

Continue reading Billings 3 prices reduced until November 30th

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MacBreak 158: MacBreak WWDC: Savant

Alex shows us what Savant is doing to automate our home entertainment systems. Read More

Study shows 43% of college women prefer Macs

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Cult of Mac, Apple Financial

"Hi, I'm a Mac. And I'm a PC." -- You've probably heard those words more than a few times. Apple has been airing the "Get a Mac" commercials for a few years, and from the looks of it, the ads have been fairly successful. But has it really helped spread the word that Mac is better?

iPhone Savior recently surveyed seven college women at a school in British Columbia (Canada) and found that almost half of them said they preferred a Mac over a PC. They note that their research on the subject was ended early due to "several unfriendly encounters with campus security."

Numbers don't lie ... and Apple has the numbers (quite literally) on their side. Recently, Apple's market share jumped to almost 8.2% for notebook users. That's just amazing (especially for such difficult economical times).

Please note: The iPhone Savior survey is very limited in statistical terms of population, and because of this, the data is probably skewed slightly. We should also note that before you take a poll on a college campus, make sure you're a student or have clearance from the proper school officials. That being said, feel free to take part in our own poll on this issue.

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GBTV #0371 (small) | GeekBrief.TV

GBTV #0371 (small) | GeekBrief.TV
QIK.com, the camera streaming service announce support for two Windows Mobile phones.

Sanyo upgraded the Xacti to include a 300fps Slow-motion feature.

The HDD Stage Rack now supports two SATA drives and connects via eSATA or USB 2.0.

LocatePC phones home when a PC is stolen.

Superlame is a free Web app that lets you add cartoon balloons to your photos.

I'll be live with Woopra President, John P. Saturday, June 7th at 12 PM Pacific time on CaliLIVE.tv.

Microsoft sues DHL over Xbox train derailment

Filed under: Gaming, Transportation

You know who Microsoft hates? No, not Apple. It really hates DHL. Apparently, the delivery service has hit the folks in Redmond where it hurts: in the Xbox. It seems that 21,600 consoles were totally messed over by "impact damage, wetting, pilfering and shortage" when one of the company's freight trains derailed en route to Long Beach, California. The big M claims that DHL refuses to compensate for the lost goods, and has filed a complaint at a US District Court in Seattle, calling for $2 million in damages and stating that the shipper "negligently breached its duties as a common carrier, handler, bailee, warehouseman, agent, or in other capabilities." Harsh words, but really, who's to blame for this mess? Next time we suggest going with G.O.D.

[Thanks, Andrew S.]

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GBTV #0386 (small) | GeekBrief.TV

GBTV #0386 (small) | GeekBrief.TV
We're giving up DV tapes in our production flow with the Firestore FS5 release.

Matt, or Multiple Account Twitter Tweeting, is the first service I think I might continue to use to post my tweets to multiple accounts. The only downside that I've found is that posting isn't immediate.

AT&T is working to make purchasing the iPhone 3G seem as complicated and unpleasant as possible.

My t-shirt was provided by Allmightys.com.

MacBreak 154: MacBreak Studio: The Job Chain

Alex brings back Brian Gary to show us how we can save time by linking jobs in Compressor. Read More

American Airlines to block airbourne porn

TEXAS - American Airlines says it will filter an in-flight internet service to block pornography sites, reversing course after complaints from flight attendants and passengers. American said it was working with technology provider... Read More

Fujifilm FinePix S2000HD gets reviewed, all 15x of it

Filed under: Digital Cameras

With a zoom this long, it has to be good, right? Evidently that's absolutely correct, as the critics over at PhotographyBLOG adored what the FinePix S2000HD was packin'. The camera wasn't the sharpest nor most evenly exposed megazoom they'd ever seen, but given the respectable asking price ($269), it was still deemed a winner. More specifically, reviewers found the image quality to be "perfectly acceptable given the build and asking price," and while the video wasn't true HD, it still trumped that of most rivals. In the end, the relatively compact 10-megapixel cam was seen as a perfect option for those not ready to splurge on a DSLR and a decent zoom lens, notching a very admirable 4 out of 5 overall rating.

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GBTV #0415 (small) | GeekBrief.TV

GBTV #0415 (small) | GeekBrief.TV
IFA 2008 is taking place in Germany and Philips Electronics announced enough beautifully designed products to fill a weeks worth of briefs. I picked my top three favorites:

Cinema Ones an all-in-one home theater system that includes an upscalling DVD player, CD player, an iPod dock, a five channel amplifier, six speakers and a subwoofer.

The Phillips DVD Home Theater System provides 9.1 surround from four towers, a dedicated center speaker and a subwoofer.

The NP2900 Network Music Player streams music from a PC or Internet radio stations over your home's wireless netork.

Sony's DSC-T500 (I always like to imagine the DSC stands for Daily Source Code) Cyber-Shot point and shoots 720p video.

Amit Goffer, an Israeli engineer created ReWalk. ReWalk is a robotic exoskeleton that makes it possible for paraplegics to walk.

GBTV #358 (small) | GeekBrief.TV

I've been a little bus obsessed for the last couple of days. Our lease is up on May 21st. Our plan has been to downsize and move into a small apartment for the summer while we finish planning The Big Trip. Even though we won't be ready to hit the road, we're really anxious to get the bus and start geeking it out for the trip.

Times is an RSS feed reader for Mac that is beautiful. It creates a Newspaper-like context for news delivered via RSS. It isn't a static experience though. Times takes advantage of Core Animation to make reading the news an enchanting experience. When you click on a headline, the page folds down to reveal the text of the story. A featured called Shelf lets you organized stories into stacks. You can download it from here and try it for 14 days. It's the one newsreader I've found that's worth paying for.

The PC Decrapifier is a freeware application that removes all the trialware nonsense that comes pre-installed on a new PC.

Evernote is an extension of your brain. Clips from Web pages or photographs you take with your phone camera can be sent to your Evernote database where the information is searchable. It's very cool. Lycos Cinema is a social video viewing experience. You pick the video, invite up to 10 friends and the video is synced to everyone watching at almost the exact same time. A chatroom gives viewers a way to talk about what they're watching. The big downside, though is the very limited supply of interesting content.

The conversation about prerolls and Beck's Beer is on my blog, iCali.tv. Read More

Boris FX releases Continuum Lens Flare Unit

Boris FX releases Continuum Lens Flare Unit
Boris FX has released the Continuum Lens Flare Unit, a new plug-in for Adobe CS3 and CS4, as well as Apple's Final Cut Studio 2. The program simulates the streaks and spots of light that end up on film due to reflections inside of a camera lens. Flares can be added either to a source image, or else a completely synthetic creation. Special filters are provided, meanwhile, which allow users to creat...

Over half of 2009 cars will offer iPod connectivity

Over half of 2009 cars will offer iPod connectivity
For customers wanting a car that communicates with their iPod, 2009 is going to be a good year to shop for a new car. Over half of the 2009 model-year cars sold in the US will offer at least optional support for Apple's iPod, according to research by iSuppli. The trend reflects automakers� desire to increase sales by offering popular technological features. iSuppli notes that American consumers ha...

Protopage: Ajax-Driven Personal Pages

Ajaxy personal pages with newsreaders are gaining traction and usability. Protopage is a free service that is astonishing easy to use and doesn't even require registration. (If you create a page and wish to make it persist at an easy-to-remember URL, you must register. But it's still free.) Floating information panels can be dragged around the screen, and there are three basic types: RSS reader; sticky note; and link panel. As far as I can tell there is no way to add a photo to a page, which is a shame. Protopage also provides a default search panel with keyword boxes for Google, Yahoo!, Dictionary.com, and Wikipedia.

Overall a simple product, but the RSS panel does allow OPML uploads, and you can fashion more than one panel for extra sorting power. All colors and backgrounds are customizable with sliders and drop-down menus. You can add pages to your Protopage space, and make those pages public or private individually. A mechanism for inviting friends is furnished, but there's no integrated social action here. You share you page by giving someone the URL, and, of course, friends can build link panels with each other's addresses.

Perhaps the funnest application of Protopage would be to share a password, and get a group together to build a space. Protopage would be an entertaining environment in which to assemble news, links, and notes. Conversations could transpire on the sticky notes. More widgets are needed to bring this thing to life, though. Give it a calendar and photo uploading, and Protopage would start to rock.

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MacBreak 11: Nicecast

Alex Lindsay and guest Kenji Kato show you how to broadcast audio from your Mac using Nicecast.
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GBTV #0413 (small) | GeekBrief.TV

GBTV #0413 (small) | GeekBrief.TV
Shelfari is a social network and virtual bookshelf for book lovers. The Josh and Shelfari announced today that the site was acquired by Amazon.com.

Canon announced several new cameras a two new all-in-one printers today.

InsideTrip.com is a travel site that finds flights based on price and then uses a slider to adjust the price based on flight quality preferences you might have.

Panasonic has three new Plasma displays with 1TB DVRs built in.

The Navigon 7200T is the next GPS system I want to try. It looks like it has some really nice graphics.

First Blackberry Storm commericals air on CBS

First Blackberry Storm commericals air on CBS

Filed under: Cellphones

Get ready, Blackberry fans. After weeks of leaks and goofy internal videos, it looks like the Storm's finally a-comin' -- the first ads for the RIM's touchscreen wonder aired on CBS tonight. We're on the lookout for a better video, but even at this low res we can't help but notice how chunky this thing looks -- but we're totally willing to trade some heft for some sweet, sweet copy / paste action. Video after the break.

[Thanks, Jerry]

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Apple introducing new manufacturing process, MacBook 'Brick'?

Filed under: Laptops

The Apple rumor mill has really cooked up a doozy this time. According to 9to5mac -- a site with a fairly good track record -- Apple's next big thing isn't just a laptop or an iPod... it's an entirely new manufacturing process. If you believe the site's sources, an as-yet-unannounced event on October 14th will herald in a new iteration of the MacBook dubbed the "Brick," but the big news won't actually be about the laptop. Apparently, Apple has created a brand-new process to sculpt casings for products out of aircraft-grade aluminum, using a system that carves the pieces out of a single block of metal using "3D lasers" and water-jet cutting. The new technique will supposedly allow for seamless components which require no bending or folding, won't use screws to join together, are ultra-light but also "super strong," and will enable the company to rapidly prototype and produce new designs. Of course, not a single word of this is confirmed or even acknowledged by Apple, though we have been hearing whispers of the "Brick" for a few weeks now. Ultimately, everyone should approach this news with extreme skepticism, but if these rumors get magically transmuted into reality, there's no telling what kind of new gear Apple might have up its sleeve.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

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Sanyo's laser could bring 12x Blu-ray burners and 100GB discs

Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment, Storage

While Sony and others compete with Blu-ray burners of a paltry 8x, Sanyo's looking ahead with a new laser that could enable write speeds of up to 12x. More impressively, the 450 milliwatt diode (twice that of current burners) could read and write through four 25GB layers. If you're not so good at math (it's okay, we had to break out the calculator) that means discs of up to 100GB burned in 10 minutes or less! But don't go running down to your local Blu-ray emporium looking for double-digit speed drives just yet; new standards will be needed for discs that big and drives that fast, which could mean a year or two before production begins. If speculation of Blu-ray's impending demise is to be believed, that may be cutting things a bit close.

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GBTV #0394 (small) | GeekBrief.TV

I noticed I was bending to the will of some iPhone critics and restraining myself from talking much about iPhone 3G. Since GeekBrief.TV is primarily about what excites me in the world of technology, I realized why I was so willing to hold back on the show. I'm not exactly excited about the iPhone 3G. I like it. There isn't really anything I don't like about it other than it's tied to AT&T. The thing that excites me most about iPhone is the 2.0 software and the App Store. I've been doing mini reviews and tips on my blog at www.iCali.tv all week.

I mentioned the Voodoo Envy a few shows back. LaptopMag.com showed off an awesome feature of the Envy. It's called IOS, or Instant On Operating System. It's powered by Splashtop and it gives users instant access to important applications while the full OS boots up in the background.

Code Tech is a WYSIWYG editor browser-based code editor by Zachary Carter that comes in the form of a Firefox plug-in. I'll definitely be using it.

A couple weeks ago my obsession was camera switching for live streaming video. Mike Versteeg is meeting that need with VidBlaster. Now my obsession is home automation and a number of GBTV viewers pointed me toward Savant Systems. It's unique in the world of Home automation because it's built largely on Mac hardware. I'm going to work on getting a Savant guy on Geek Brief Radio to talk about what they're doing. Alex Lindsay featured the system On MacBreak #158. Read More

Royalty rate stays the same, iTunes Store still open

Royalty rate stays the same, iTunes Store still open

Filed under: Apple Corporate, iTS

The U.S. Copyright Royalty Board decided today to keep rates the same for digital music stores, kneecapping Apple's threat to shut down the iTunes Store rather than operate at a loss.

The three-member board kept the royalty rate at 9.1 cents, and mandated a 24-cent rate for ringtones. The board has never before established mechanical rates for digital files.

"We're pleased with the CRB's decision to keep royalty rates stable," said an unnamed Apple spokesman.

The popularity of Eddy Cue's statement that Apple would shutter the iTunes Store apparently had an effect on the board. "Sure it was posturing," said a music industry source, according to CNET. "I don't think Apple would have gone out of business but a statement like that from the biggest music retailer is going to carry some weight."

[Via CNET.]

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GBTV #0402 (small) | GeekBrief.TV

GBTV #0402 (small) | GeekBrief.TV
I asked for video of Microsoft's Sphere at the Research Faculty Summit. Todd Bishop provided it.

Dell's Studio Hybrid Desktop PCs provide a design alternative to the Mac Mini. You get your choice of 6 color sleeves or a bamboo sleeve.

Brando released the SATA HDD Multimedia Dock, which lets you connect it to a TV. It's a great price for a media center, even if it is a little unattractive.

Slydial gives you the option of calling someone and going straight to their voicemail so you don't have to talk to them. People like Louise and Neal are going to love this!

I keep talking about Bacon Tech, and now we have some real bacon tech. The Wake 'n' Bake Alarm Clock will actually cook your bacon in the morning and wake you up happy. Cali's Shirt Courtesy of Brew City Online
Cali's Necklace is a NeoCube

MacBreak 140: NAB 2008: Plug-in Pavilion

MacBreak 140: NAB 2008: Plug-in Pavilion
Alex checks out what's going on at NAB's Plug-in Pavilion this year.

GBTV #353 (small) | GeekBrief.TV

GBTV #353 (small) | GeekBrief.TV
Despite the fact that I introduced the show as Brief #352, it's actually #353.

Microsoft's attempt to acquire Yahoo reminds me of something that would happen in sixth grade, except instead of passing notes, the two companies keep passing Press Releases. Yahoo didn't respond to Microsoft's deadline for an answer and Mark Andreessen >analyzed the situation

Apple upgraded the specs on the iMac, but everyone is really just waiting for the announcement of a 3G iPhone. The expectations are reaching frenzy status.

Geoff Smith launched a new Web service called RingtoneFeeder.com. It's a subscription service that automatically installs a new original ringtone on the iPhone via iTunes every week. Each ringtone is an original Geoff Smith production. Subscriptions are $1.98 a month or $19.98 a year. There is a free sample feed available at Ringtonefeeder.com for anyone who would like to see how it works.

Festo created a giant indoor flying object that floats through the air like a jelly fish in water. I cant tell what AirJelly's ultimate purpose could be, but it's beautiful to watch. It uses a combination of helium and an electric motor powered by lithium-ion polymer batteries.

Nokia sets Comes With Music price, signs EMI

As a companion to news of the 5800 XpressMusic touchscreen phone, Nokia today also kicked off the formal launch details of its Comes With Music service. The company now plans to ship the inaugural, modified 5310 XpressMusic on October 16th and will sell it exclusively through Carphone Warehouse for 130 pounds ($230). As promised, the handset will come with one year of unlimited access to music a...

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Pimp your Pod

Pimp your Pod
My ancient, formerly shiny 20Gb iPod might be a little scuffed and is not as swish as a new iPod Touch - but thanks to a bunch of free applications and utilities, I've managed to resuscitate it, giving it functionality I never knew...

MacBreak 164: macbreak: True 3D in Motion

MacBreak 164: macbreak: True 3D in Motion
Alex brings in Mark Spencer to demonstrate how you can make a true 3D object in Motion.

Not quite 'The Brick,' but fun anyway

Filed under: Video, Mods

It's many bricks, technically: Lego Bricks. Students at the San Francisco Art Institute used 2,588 bricks to build an enormous Mac Pro case.

The design wasn't without its problems -- partway through the movie, three "Lego engineering catastrophes" forced the addition of a support beam under the middle of the case, presumably to support the weight of the hardware inside.

The exterior design isn't the only thing impressive about it: On the inside, it's a Mac Mini that's FireWire-linked to a PC Hackintosh. Nice.

The case was submitted for the 2008 MacMod Challenge.

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