Free WiFi? Been there. Unlimited WiFi subscription? Done that! The tech scene has been abuzz time and again in the past few months or so about companies and organizations that envision to set up free city- or municipal-wide WiFi hotspots. This is in addition to the existing slew of service providers offering public-access wireless networks either for free or under subscription. And then you can add to this the independent shop/cafe/establishment owners who run their own WiFi hotspots–again, either for free or for pay. With everyone wanting mobility these days (whether at work or play), WiFi has been the marketing push of choice for many businesses, from those that manufacture Read more »

Byd:Sign, an apparently crazy company has decided to release a huge LCD tv for a ridiculously low price. They offer a 1000:1 contrast ratio, a 550cd/m2 brightness value, HDMI for 700 EUR (37″) and 560 EUR (32″). There’s no word about how reliable these screens, or how good the quality is compared to other screens, but still, it’s the only big 3-digit-priced HD LCD I’ve ever seen. Read more »

Amazon has just started taking orders for Apple’s recently announced 17″ MacBookPro with a $150 rebate. Amazon has lots of Apple products. Read more »

Doug Bowman of Stop Design fame was part of the team that worked on Google Calendar (although he has never really said what his role was). Needless to say, he has been using it for a few months. He has a great write up over on his blog with lots of tips for making your GCal experience the best it can be. Some tips may seem obvious, other tips may be completely new to you. Specifically, I’ve noticed hesitation by Mac users in trying Google Calendar, which I’ll address in a few Mac-only tips sprinkled in with the rest. The list covers keyboard shortcuts, custom displays and Gmail integration, among Read more »

There are some cameras being released with WiFi capabilities, like the Nikon P2, Coolpix S6 and Canon Powershot SD430, among others. But what about all of the other cameras already out there that still have to transfer images via USB? Say hello to Eye-Fi. This company is developing flash storage with WiFi built in. Their first product is going to be a 1GB SD card and will retail for about the same price as current non-wifi SD cards. Read more »

Pete at Mashable.com takes a look into the branding strategy of Ask a Ninja, that set of usually-useful, always funny videos by creators Kent Nichols and Douglas Sarine where this amusing character known only as “the Ninja” (because he’s dressed as a ninja?) responds to reader-submitted questions. It is, first and foremost, truly great content – consistently funny and perfectly timed. What’s more, the interactive nature is a perfect fit for the read-write web. But what’s most is impressive is how the Ask a Ninja team has reached out to viewers by leveraging virtually every social tool out there. Ask a Ninja has grown quite popular with the geek community–or Read more »

The folks over at the Google System Blog have written up steps to run the Internet Explorer 7 Beta 2 without having to actually install it on your system. You basically extract the contents of the Beta 2 package to a folder and then create a .bat file that executes it. Read more »

And… what more can I say about it, other than that it will be bashed more than Sony’s PS3 boomerang controller was by online comics everywhere. Up until now, everyone from this side of the ocean, and the other, were excited about it. However, ever since the name was announced, I’ve started to see many comments on people having second thoughts about buying, only due to it’s name: Perhaps people are mistaken about Nintendo and their “kiddyish” image and they are hoping to mature their audience with their release. Think about it, right now people are playing with their GameCubes and Gameboys, a few months from now (possibly a year) Read more »

Microsoft’s CEO made a nice “campaign” comment on software piracy, perhaps to try and encourage people to legally purchase their software. Here is the comment itself: “With less piracy, with more proper use, it certainly creates an opportunity for us and for other software companies to take a look at also reducing the cost, not just improving the benefits and the value of the software,” Is it just me, or can anyone else detect the faint smell of horse dung that emanates from that quote? Even if there was less piracy, prices wouldn’t be lower, the prices would continue to be whatever people find affordable. If people find 800$ affordable Read more »