internet, technology and more...

Friday, February 2, 2007

How the Iphone will affect the World

Posted by techboo at 10:47 AM | Link to this post | |

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Apple HDTV Coming to Your Living Room

Apple today premiered Apple TV, an easy to use and fun way to wirelessly play all your favorite iTunes content from your Mac or PC on your widescreen TV, including movies, TV shows, music, photos and podcasts. Using Apple TV's stunning new interface, anyone can quickly browse and view their entire collection of digital media from across the room using the simple and intuitive Apple Remote. Apple TV easily connects to almost all modern widescreen televisions, and will be shipping in February for just $299.

"Apple TV is like a DVD player for the 21st century - you connect it to your entertainment system just like a DVD player, but it plays digital content you get from the Internet rather than DVDs you get from a physical store," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "Apple TV plays the same iTunes content that users enjoy on their computers and iPods, so now they can even watch part of a movie in their living room, and watch the rest later on their iPod."

Apple TV has a 40GB hard drive to store up to 50 hours of video, 9,000 songs, 25,000 photos or a combination of each and is capable of delivering high-definition 720p output. Apple TV is easy to connect to a broad range of widescreen TVs and home theater systems and comes standard with HDMI, component video, analog and optical audio ports. Using high-speed AirPort 802.11 wireless networking, Apple TV can auto-sync content from one computer or stream content from up to five additional computers right to your TV without any wires.

The seamless integration of Apple TV and iTunes lets users choose from over 250 feature-length movies and 350 TV shows in near DVD quality; four million songs, 5,000 music videos, 100,000 podcasts and 20,000 audiobooks. Users can enjoy their favorite music on a home entertainment system and view slideshows of their photo albums on a widescreen TV. Apple TV makes it easy for users to explore their entire media collection with an easy to use and intuitive new interface. With the Apple Remote, consumers can easily browse through their favorite movies, TV shows, music and photos from up to 30 feet away.

Pricing & Availability

Apple TV, which includes the Apple Remote, will be shipping in February through the Apple Store, Apple's retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers for a suggested retail price of $299 (US).

source

Posted by techboo at 10:22 AM | Link to this post | |

XBox Live for Windows Vista

Now for a perfectly good reason to update to Windows Vista, at least if you're a 360 owner. Microsoft has just announced that by this summer, Xbox Live will be launching on Windows Vista.

"Windows Vista marks the biggest investment from Microsoft around Windows games since Windows 95, making games easier, safer and more fun to play on the PC," said Microsoft's Bill Gates as part of his key notes during the start of this week's CES. "For consumers, we believe gaming is one of the top reasons to upgrade to Windows Vista."

In line with this announcement, The Live for Windows will be hosting many similar features from Live service, like the Friends list feature. Given the stuff we've seen moving to Vista like Geometry Wars and XNA, we'll be waiting for more news to come our way as the CES warms up. And hopefully, we'll see Vista's yet to be conceived OS-tan make its debut.

source

Posted by techboo at 10:13 AM | Link to this post | |

Tuesday, January 9, 2007

Macworld Expo 2007: preview photos

Posted by techboo at 4:52 AM | Link to this post | |

Monday, January 8, 2007

McDonald's switches to fairtrade coffee

McDonald's is looking to improve its reputation and demonstrate its ethical side by signing a £1 million deal to buy fair trade coffee from South and Central American farm co-operatives certified by the Rainforest Alliance. The company will pay approximately £900,000 to more than 3,000 farmers across South and Central America for 800 tonnes of coffee.

For a company that sells 143,000 cups of coffee in its 1,200 British outlets daily, it is a move that could definitely have a positive impact on local communities and farmers. In fact, as McDonald's plans on rolling out the initiative across the rest of its European outlets, the move could in time be worth as much £50 million to coffee farmers.

Being in the fast food industry, companies such as McDonald's have had a tough time maintaining a positive reputation, leading many of them, including McDonald's to introduce more healthy lines of products.

source

Posted by techboo at 6:14 AM | Link to this post | |

Sunday, January 7, 2007

Can Diet Soda Make You Gain Weight?

(from CBS)
For many people there's only one real reason to drink diet soda.

"Because it's got no calories and, yeah, you try to watch your weight," says Raymond Tomczak.

But, as The Early Show medical correspondent Dr. Emily Senay reports, some experts are now saying diet soda may be doing the exact opposite: making them gain weight.

Epidemiologist Sharon Fowler, from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, presented research data on soda consumption to the American Diabetes Association.

"What we saw was that the more diet sodas a person drinks, the more weight they were likely to gain," she says.

That finding was a big surprise, but it reflected what nutritionist Melainie Rogers saw in her work with obese patients in New York.

"When we would switch them on to diet soda off regular soda, we weren't seeing weight loss necessarily, and that was confusing to us," Rogers says.

But why would diet soda make some people gain weight? There are only theories at this point but it may be as simple as people consciously eating more because they think they can.

Khristianne Corro says, "If I'm having one of those pig out days, then yeah, I figure maybe it'll balance it out a little bit."

And Tomczak says, "I'm drinking the diet soda and you know let me have that hamburger and fries, instead of just the hamburger alone."

Researchers say physiology may also play a role.

"When I put anything to my stomach that's not water then my stomach responds by increasing the gastric acid secretion," Fowler says. "Does that increase my sense of hunger and does that drive me to eat more?"

If diet soda really doesn't take the weight off, it wouldn't be the first time a diet product failed to perform as expected.

"You know, much the same as when we went through the fat free craze, people overate – not because there was anything wrong with the products, but they overate," says Rogers, the nutritionist. "So we're wondering are we seeing a similar phenomenon with the diet soda."

There are still plenty of questions that researchers need to answer. For instance, are these results associated with all artificial sweeteners? Or just certain ones?

And of course, it's all just a theory until larger controlled studies can be done, but the early findings are fascinating.

In the meantime, there are alternatives for people who are trying to lose weight.

There's juice and water or coffee and tea. Dr. Senay says the one thing to take away from this is moderation. Whatever you put in your mouth, don't overdo it. A diet product won't really help you lose weight if you're still getting too many calories from other foods.

source

Posted by techboo at 9:32 AM | Link to this post | |

Microsoft and Ford bringing "Sync" to cars this year

As expected, it's been announced today that the Blue&Me system originally debuted with Fiat in Europe is finally coming to the States by way of Ford, but not without a name change: "Sync." The setup offers integration with Bluetooth-enabled phones and music players via both A2DP / AVRCP and USB 2.0 connections - and yes, the iPod's and zune's right there at the top of the compatibility list, despite Microsoft's involvement. Other nifty (and potentially driver-distracting) features include the ability to have text messages read aloud, voice recognition for control of both phone and music functions, and phonebook transfer. Best of all, the system's upgradeable - primarily for compatibility with future players, but it also leaves the door open for additional functionality down the road. Look for the Sync to get synced on twelve model year 2008 Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury vehicles with availability starting later this year.

source

Posted by techboo at 9:24 AM | Link to this post | |