Best computer news

A year has passed since Apple unveiled the 2G iPod nano, and as many have come to expect from the leaked shots, the Cupertino designers have finally added support for video support as well as iTunes store games in the third generation nano. As the screen from 2G isn’t exactly ideal for watching video, Apple went back to the drawing board and came up with this new ‘fatty’ iPod chassis – now equipped with a very bright 2″ LCD. Read on for the full review to find out how the first video-capable iPod nano performs.
Permanent Link

One of the original engineers that helped Intel develop the USB specification, Brad Hosler, has passed away after a long fight against cancer. Hosler was a core contributor to the USB 1.0 initiative where he led the host controller specification and implemented USB logo compliance program.

Hosler is survived by his wife Marjanna, daughters Amanda, Elizabeth, MaryPat, and Karen, his parents and siblings. To honor Brad’s memory his family has sat up a scholarship fund in his name, which will provide financial support to promising engineering students. In lieu of flowers, the family is asking for monetary contributions to be made to the scholarship fund.
Permanent Link

Yamaha has introduced a new USB powered speaker that gets all the juice it needs directly from the USB port of your computer. Inside the single speaker enclosure are two speakers allowing stereo sound from one speaker. Yamaha uses a PowerStorage circuit that allows for 20W (2 x 10W) of power from a USB speaker.

Yamaha claims that power rating is about 20x greater than your typical USB powered speakers can achieve. The NX-U02 also incorporates Yamaha’s exclusive SR-Bass technology that uses tuning of the dual 4.5cm titanium cones and speaker units for rich bass. Three colors are available for the speaker including black, white, and red. The digital USB output for sound provides clear, low noise sound with a spacious feel. The speaker will be available in October at an undisclosed price.
Permanent Link

Open Mobile Terminal Platform announced that after an industry consultation a recommendation paper has been released to help make the change to one uniform cross manufacturer USB cable connector. This is in an attempt to standardize the connectors to allow for easier charging of portable devices.

The OMTP paper recommends that the Micro USB standard be used across mobile devices. According to Wiki, OMTP is technology neutral, with its recommendations intended for deployment across the range of technology platforms, operating systems (OS) and middleware layers.

Nokia is said to have played a pivotal role in pursuing the agreement to standardize according to the OMTP. This is very interesting to me; I thought mobile phone makers would see standardization as taking money out of their pockets by not allowing the sell of brand specific accessories for their handsets. There is no word on when this standardization will begin. Nokia says the reduction of cables needed they can improve user experiences.
Permanent Link

If you run a server room, you know that heat can be a great killer of servers leading to down time for system users and excess uptime for system admin’s as they try to fix the problem. A key to keeping things working smoothly is monitoring temperatures in the server room. We have talked about USB Thermometers before here at Everything USB and recently over at DragonSteelMods they reviewed one.

The TEMPer USB Thermometer checks temperatures and logs them to software for you to track. DSM said the device worked great, was easy to install, seemed accurate and had good data logging capabilities. The bad parts were the lack of instructions and the software wasn’t ideal. In the end, it was scored 4.5 out of 5.
Permanent Link

If golf is your game and you are into Tiger Woods PGA tour video games, Costco has one heck of a set-up to improve your virtual game. The Golf Launchpad is a USB device that connects to PC, Mac and PS2. Once connected it allows you to actually hit the ball and have the ball in the video game react.

The system even has an online swing analyzer to help improve your real game. The ball is a tethered actual regulation golf ball for ultimate realism. The Launchpad measures your golf swing with your own clubs, a thousand times per second and translates that movement to the game. The design of the system allows left and right-handed players to play at the same time. The system includes an 8-foot USB cable, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2005 for Windows and a PS2 adapter.
Permanent Link

Estes model rocket kits have been around for a long time and are powered by tiny little solid fuel rocket motors. Over the years many geeks, myself included, have built and flown these model rockets. Estes has a new rocket fit for the digital age called simply the Digital Video Rocket.

This rocket has a built-in video camera that can shoot 640 x 480 resolution video for a maximum of 12 seconds. If video isn’t your thing you can have the camera take up to three images per flight and there is enough memory to store up to 15 shots. Power comes from Estes C6-5 engines and the camera is powered by L1154 button cell batteries. The rocket also includes the launch pad and controller. The rocket is 16-inches tall and 3-inches in diameter and retails for $59.95. Video and still images are transferred to your PC via USB.
Permanent Link

Fiat, the automaker, has a new product designed to help drivers reduce their impact on the environment by providing real time information on emission levels. The system is called EcoDrive and connects to the USB port of the Blue&Me system on specially equipped Fiat vehicles.

When connected the EcoDrive displays CO₂ emissions statistics from the vehicle to encourage drivers to modify their driving style to reduce CO₂ output from their car. EcoDrive will be available in certain Fiat cars equipped with the Blue&Me system starting in 2008. Fiat says it hopes the system will encourage drivers to set goals for emission reduction and allows the display of CO₂ emissions for each trip. A community website will also encourage other drivers to pool their CO₂ savings to help the environment.
Permanent Link

If you are trying to get healthy by watching what you eat and being sure you are active enough, you may want to consider a pedometer to count the steps you take during the day. If you are the geeky type, naturally, a normal pedometer won’t cut it, you need a USB based one.

Looking more like a target at the carnival than a health device the USB Pedometer counts steps taken to 999,999. The data stays in the memory of the pedometer for up to three days and you can view calories burned with charts generated by software included with the device. The battery is rechargeable and charging is via USB. The device is compatible with Windows 2000, XP and Vista. It will be available in November for $17.99. Think of it as the poor man’s Nike + iPod device.
Permanent Link

Microsoft announced a new notebook mouse today called the Microsoft Mobile Memory Mouse 8000. Microsoft is calling the mouse the industry’s first rechargeable notebook mouse with 1GB of flash memory built-in. The flash storage is contained inside the USB wireless adapter and you can use the mouse and the flash memory at the same time.

The mouse uses a magnetic charging system that sounds a lot like what Apple does on their MacBooks. The magnetic charger connects to the underside of the mouse and the other side connects to the tip of the receiver. That also means that you can charge the mouse and use it at the same time. The mouse uses Bluetooth technology and features a button on the mouse that allows you to connect using your notebooks internal Bluetooth, bypassing the USB dongle. Microsoft also built-in shortcut buttons for Vista. Personally, I like the looks of the VX Nano better than this mouse.
Permanent Link