C0rk.W0rd

Geek Squared

Just when I thought that the average level of geek-i-ness among the population was beginning to sag, I ran into this little article in The Register. It appears that some truely Uber-geeks in San Francisco have taken to playing Segway Polo... go check out this video (QuickTime Required)

FYI - Apparently these Segway things, which cost around $5,000.00 I might add, are supposed to avoid running people over, but I was run over by a Drexel Rent-A-Cop riding a Segway a few weeks ago.

4G iPod Released

Click for Link to The Triangle Article

The bank accounts of audiophiles and gadget geeks around the country are beginning to bottom out now that Apple, www.apple.com, has released the latest incarnation of its prized iPod, www.ipod.com, digital audio players. As competitive electronics from Dell, www.dell.com, and Sony, www.sony.com, are prepped for market introduction (iPod Killers), Apple has made some good moves with this latest device to combat the onslaught of alternative players.

The iPod currently claims a 50 percent market share in digital music players, and aims to retain as much of that market dominance through innovation and a dedication to product quality. The forth generation iPod (4G) introduced Monday, July 19th tackles some of the larger criticisms made of the device over the last year.

Apple has taken the most heat over the issue of battery life (the lack of it). iPod owners have complained that 8 hours is an optimistic figure, which can rarely be achieved through normal use, and that this limits extended listening. Competitors have been jumping on this weakness – Dell’s DJ claims 20 hours of battery life.

Other complaints stemmed from battery failure. Because the iPod features a non-removable rechargeable battery, there is very little facility for the customer to replace his or her iPod’s battery once it has lost its ability to hold a charge. Previously, Apple had told those inquiring about such problems to consider purchasing a new iPod which was a dissatisfying response to say the least. A few months ago a semi-reasonably priced battery replacement service was offered that seems to have cooled the fire.

Apple claims that the 4G iPods will provide around 12 hours of playback and will fully charge using FireWire, USB2.0 or a standard wall socket in just about 2 hours. The extended battery life is not achieved through the use of a higher capacity battery, but rather, the re-tuning of iPod functionality to maximize battery efficiency. I will be anxious to read the benchmarks.

iPods have always been considered the top of the line solution to the digital music age, and like with your top shelf vodka or whiskey selection, you’re going to pay a premium. Apple has done a smashing job of making sure that there are very few deals (sales/discounts/etc) to be had through rigorous distribution control. Drexel students can get a $30 discount through Apple higher Education purchasing.

To close the gap in terms of its competitors, the price on this latest iPod has been lowered. There had always been three price levels when it came to iPods. There used to be three models in the iPod line of varying capacity. They increased $100 with each step up in storage space starting at $299 for the low-end and ending at $499 for the high-end.

In the new line of iPod’s there are only two models, a 20GB model that can hold 5,000 tracks and a 40GB model that holds 10,000. Their prices are $299 and $399 respectively – both have been reduced by $100. Many are speculating that a 60GB model will be released in the near future, as Toshiba announced that it had received a number of orders from Apple for its 1.8” 60GB hard drives.

The new players will also be smaller than their predecessors. Some of the size reduction will come from a control redesign that was borrowed from the immensely popular line of iPod minis introduced earlier this year. The waiting list of minis is now about 2-4weeks depending on your color selection, and asking for one in an Apple store is usually met with laugh. iPod minis can be ordered for a slightly less $249 and can hold 4GB of music despite being significantly smaller (physically) than the standard iPod.

Dubbed the “click-wheel”, the new iPod’s central and circular control interface, praised for its simple yet useful design has been absorbed directly from its miniature sibling. The 3G iPod featured four touch sensitive play, menu, skip, etc touch buttons below its screen, and above the main touch sensitive control wheel. All of these functions have been incorporated into a single multi-function wheel that is both touch sensitive and mechanical, reducing the clutter and simplifying the entire use of the device.

Player software has also been updated to compliment this new control system. The menu system of the iPod has been copied by many manufacturers as it is both intuitive and quick. This menu structure has been revamped to put the music even closer to the users’ fingertips. Commonly accessed areas like music and playlists are now on the front menu, and the shuffle function previously hidden away in a settings menu is now 1-click away.

The 3G iPod software update included an On-The-Go playlist building feature that made is possible for users to build a playlist right from their player without having to plug into their computer. The limitation, however, was that you could only build one list after each computer sync, and could not delete tracks from your playlist once they were added. 4G software not only provides functionality to let users build a number of playlists, but adds additional control options including the elusive “delete” function.

Another software related enhancement pertains to audio books that are downloaded from Apple’s iTunes music store, www.itunes.com, and moved to the iPod. The speed of audio book tracks can now be sped up to turn a 6 hour audio into a 4 hour listen. Apparently it is able to do this without causing the narrators voice to sound like Alvin, Simon, or even Theodore.

Apple expects to move a large amount of these new units during the “back to school” quarter that is traditionally a high-performance quarter for iPods. Hewlett-Packerd in a partnership with Apple will start shipping their own version of the new iPod (licensed from Apple) in the fall. It will be interesting to see how the market responds and whether Apple can maintain its lead once Microsoft, Sony, and Dell have made their play in the digital music market.

Sony has introduced its own 20GB music player in Japan and has plans to bring the device to the US in late August, early Fall. The Vaio-Pocket VGF-AP1 may not have the catchy name, but does feature a 2.2” color display guaranteed to wow consumers used to the iPods less color-rich display. The Vaio-Pocket follows Dell’s lead by offering superior battery life, though neither company has been able to reduce player size down to that of the iPod. While the iPod has its own issues with interoperability advocates, Sony’s player forces users to convert their digital audio library to a proprietary format (ATRAC) before it can be used with the player. Sony plans other player models to work with its online music store, www.connect.com – I thought it was about time for another one of those.

There is no questioning the epidemic that is iPod culture. Next time you doubt this, go count all the white headphones you see each day you walk across campus. Duke University is experimenting with iPods in the classroom, and is giving 1,800 incoming freshman iPods loaded up with academic calendars and lecture audio. iPod sales have increased steadily since its introduction over 3 years ago, and as long as the iPod keeps reinventing itself, I do not foresee a slump in Apple’s market strength.

IE vs. FireFox

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water --- Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, also known as Internet Deplorer and Internet Exploder among the tech savvy, could be leaving your computer and personal privacy at great risk. As someone who keeps a close eye on the tech industry, I can tell you that not a week goes by without me hearing about yet another Microsoft related security flaw, many of which relate to perhaps the most widely used Microsoft (MS) product --- Internet Explorer (IE).

Microsoft may have won the browser war, but the price of that victory is beginning to materialize. The most recent IE security flaw allowed hackers to extract credit information from ecommerce sites --- EBay, PayPal, and the like. This is what all of those Citibank commercials are referring to when they talk about identity theft.

MS press releases insist that they are working as fast as possible to combat these security flaws as they become apparent. However, industry observers say that MS’s efforts are simply not enough to secure holes in time to prevent malicious hacking. MS is banking on the release of Service Pack 2 for Windows XP, which they claim will include a much improved and much more secure version of IE 6. Many consumers feel that these security updates cannot wait for a major release, and that these problem areas need to be patched as soon as possible in a damage control effort.

80% of all Internet browsing is done with IE v5 or v6 which is certainly one of the reasons for MS’s troubles. In this case IE’s market dominance has spawned its own set of problems. If an individual is going to write code to exploit someone’s browsing habits, they’re going to want to target the browser most commonly used. This is the same reason that so few viruses are written to attack OS X, UNIX, Linux, etcetera.

Security problems with IE have become so rampant that a division of the National Department for Homeland Security, the Computer Emergency Readiness Team (www.cert.gov) has recommended that Americans suspend their usage of IE and seek alternative browsing solutions. Even the Microsoft owned news agency Slate (www.slate.com) has published articles talking of IE’s security flaws and aimed at persuading readers to make the switch.

The problem goes beyond identity theft and viruses --- Pop-ups and Spyware (Adware) must also be taken into account. These two internet nuisances have been every system administrator’s nightmare for the last few years. Generally speaking, both pop-ups and Spyware work in concert or separately to present Internet users with advertising. They are similar to viruses but somehow claim to be legitimate software packages. Typically bundled with free downloads, Spyware can significantly slow down your computing experience while aggregating usage information to be used in marketing. Doesn’t legitimate software typically ask before installing itself on your system?

Spyware scanners and pop-up blockers aside, one of the first steps users can take to protect themselves from both infestation and identity theft is to heed the advice of CERT --- use an alternative browsing solution. While there are a number of browsers available (Opera, Safari, Netscape, Konqueror, etc) I have chosen to highlight my preferred browsing solution as it is not only free, but functional on a variety of platforms including MS Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, and to a certain extent Sun Solaris.

This feature rich browser comes from the open-source development community known as Mozilla (www.mozilla.org), and is called FireFox (www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/) --- formerly known as FireBird. Currently at v.0.9.1, FireFox has been in development for a little more than two years and is predicted to have a v1.0 release sometime this quarter.

Despite being a pre-1.0 release, FireFox includes a number of features absent from IE, and is billed as a more secure browser. I do not necessarily buy into FireFox being “code-wise,” any more or less secure than IE, but I do believe that its relative obscurity among the general Internet using population and its status as an OpenSource product, a sector not typically targeted by hackers, is a major factor when it comes to security and general peace of mind.

FireFox has received praise from industry analysts as well as general consumers and is the backbone of the latest Netscape Navigator releases. FireFox is, as the Mozilla team members refer to it, a “lean mean browsing machine.”

Featuring a built in pop-up blocker, FireFox has put a stop to pop-ups almost completely. I have been using FireFox for about a year, and in that time can recall only three pop-up ads. It’s always fun to show friends how you can check the weather (www.weather.com) without having to close 3-4 browser windows when you’re done. On occasion FireFox will alert you that a pop-up is attempting to execute, and ask you whether to allow this action. With FireFox, you’re in control.

Because FireFox is developed by a community of independent contributors with the users in mind, there are a slew of plug-ins and expansion options (called extensions) available for free download --- Dictionary/Bible search bars, Blogging tools, as well as appearance enhancements. You can also forget about having to download and install the Google toolbar (toolbar.google.com) because Google searching is integrated right into the FireFox interface and can be added/removed at your leisure.

For those of you who live to customize the look of WinAmp (www.winamp.com) and other skinable applications, FireFox has answered the call. Included is the ability to download any number of customized skins. The extent of the skin offering increases by the day, enabling you to choose the icon/color scheme that best suits your needs.

If you’re like me, the bells and whistles associated with a certain program are all good and swell, but it doesn’t always translate into a superior experience. For me, the advantage of FireFox can be summed up in two words --- tabbed browsing. Tabbed browsing is a means by which separate web pages that would typically be opened in additional browser windows are nested within a single window leaving only one instance of FireFox in your task bar. You can open new tabs from the toolbar, right-click on hyperlinks telling FireFox to “Open in a New Tab,” or select a set of links from your bookmarks to be opened in separate tabs. The economy afforded by this feature is reason enough to make the switch. Once you have used tabbed browsing, you’ll wonder how you ever browsed without it.

I would be doing all of you an injustice if I did not point out what you’ll be giving up by switching to FireFox, though luckily the answer is very little. FireFox will load almost any site you come across with the exception of a few MS specific sites like Windows/Office Update, and SharePoint Portal sites. You may also notice some prompts informing you that your browser is not officially supported by the site you are attempting to access. Such is the case with DrexelOne (one.drexel.edu), but if you click ‘continue’, the DrexelOne site loads up normally, and I have yet to discover a feature that doesn’t work with FireFox.

A handful of MS web technologies are intentionally blocked by FireFox. The most well known feature is MS ActiveX. The blocking of ActiveX was a security decision made by Mozilla, who knows of the numerous security hazards that ActiveX presents --- ActiveX blocking prevents the loading of Spyware and other malicious code. Mozilla has united with other Internet players (Apple, Opera, Macromedia, and Sun Microsystems) to formulate a new, more secure set of development standards for web applications for submission to the World Wide Web Consortium (www.w3.org).

The switch to FireFox is simple, and the automatic importing of IE favorites into the FireFox bookmarks list helps speed the process along. It’s up to you to decide if FireFox is the solution for you. There is little reason not to at least try it out --- it’s free, secure, and able to run on a variety of platforms alongside IE. Even if you don’t choose FireFox, do consider the features of alternative browsers, not to mention their security advantages (seeking safety in the ‘lack’ of numbers) and the abundance of usable design choices.

More Power Mr Scott!!!

James Doohan, 84, best known for playing Lt Cmdr Montgomery "Scotty" Scott on Star Trek has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. This comes in on top of his Parkinson’s disease, diabetes and fibrosis --- A sad day indeed. Anyone for some stem cells?

PSA

Hey you --- yea you... you should go here.

Oh yea, and here too.