THE CONNECTED HOME TECH BLOG
YOUR DAILY DOSE OF HOME-TECHNOLOGY NEWS AND VIEWS PAUL THURROTT
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[4/4/2006]
Intel Ups the Ante with Next-Gen Graphics Chipset
- Posted by: Paul Thurrott
Itegrated graphics chipsets have never really gotten a lot of respect because they hog valuable system RAM and typically feature sub-par performance. However, Intel is seeking to change that with the G965 chipset due in mid-2006. The Intel G965 will offer significant advances in 3D gaming and multimedia performance when compared with today's integrated graphics chipsets and will natively support Windows Vista's advanced graphics. In fact, the G965 will be so powerful that Intel will certify the chipset for use in ViiV-compatible multimedia PCs. Now, if Intel could just attach some dedicated RAM to the thing, I'd be...
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[4/4/2006]
Average US Home Has 26 Tech Gadgets
- Posted by: Paul Thurrott
According to a study by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), which—let's face it—has a stake in this claim, the average US household has 26 consumer electronics gadgets floating around. (Presumably, none of them are Portable Media Centers.) The CEA also notes that the average household spent about $1200 acquiring this collection. CEA says that the most popular gadgets are TVs, VCRs, cordless phones, DVD players, and wireless phones, whereas MP3 players, digital cameras, car video entertainment systems, in-dash car CD players, and notebook computers represent the highest-growth items. As CEA CEO Gary Shapiro notes,...
LAST COMMENT
Here I am - behind again. Someone must be using about 10 of my family's allotment of gadgets....
Greg -April 05, 2006
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[3/29/2006]
Comcast Tries to Compete with Verizon FIOS
- Posted by: Paul Thurrott
Stung by the massive download speeds offered by Verizon's fiber optic-based FIOS service, cable giant Comcast has begun offering a similarly fast cable-based Internet access service in four US cities. Comcast is now offering 16Mbps downloads and 1Mbps uploads in Virginia; Sarasota, Florida; Fort Wayne, Indiana; and Howard County, Maryland, matching the speed of FIOS in those areas. Previously, Comcast's service topped out at 8Mbps. Obviously, this will be a bigger deal when these services are more widely available—FIOS is available only in select areas as well—but speed wars are great for consumers, especially when they come with...
LAST COMMENT
Something to remember is that FIOS is only $39.95 a month and that is for a 1 year contract. Cable ...
ccawvey -March 29, 2006
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[3/29/2006]
Man Behind OS X Leaves Apple Computer
- Posted by: Paul Thurrott
Maybe he's just tired of the Apple iPod getting all the press. Or maybe it's that his beloved Mac OS X has never really met with mainstream success. Whatever the reason, Apple CTO Avie Tevanian, widely heralded for his creation of the Mach microkernel that sits at the heart of OS X (and NeXTStep before that), has decided to leave the company to pursue other interests. Tevanian will leave Apple on March 31, leaving behind him a company that seems a lot more interested in digital music than computer...
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[3/29/2006]
Palm Celebrates 10th Anniversary of Palm Pilot
- Posted by: Paul Thurrott
Ten years ago this week, Palm unveiled its first Palm Pilot, setting off a decade-long obsession with personal digital assistants (PDAs). Technically speaking, the Pilot wasn't the first PDA per se, but it was certainly the first successful PDA, and the company has since sold more than 34 million of the cute little pocket-sized devices. The original Pilot sold for $299 and featured a horrid little green-screen LCD display. Over time, Palm's devices evolved to add numerous features, including multimedia functionality and Internet access, and then morphed into smart phone devices that more closely resembled PCs than the PDAs of old. Ah,...
LAST COMMENT
Actually, Palm didn't introduce the Palm Pilot 10 years ago. U.S. Robotics introduced the Pilot 100...
DG -March 29, 2006
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[3/29/2006]
Apple vs. Apple Court Case Starts
- Posted by: Paul Thurrott
This week, Apple Computer will face off against Apple Corps, the UK music company through which The Beatles' music is published. At odds is a 1989 agreement, before which Apple Computer lost a $26 million court case for reneging on its promise not to create any music-related products. Since then, of course, Apple Computer has gone after the music market in a huge way, selling 40 million iPods and selling billions of songs through its iTunes Music Store. Apple Corps, understandably, is upset about this development because Apple Computer, you know, lied. And methinks the record here is pretty clear, if you'll pardon the...
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[3/20/2006]
DRM-Encoded Songs Lower Battery Life
- Posted by: Paul Thurrott
As if we needed yet another reason to despise Digital Rights Management (DRM), reports are emerging that suggest the songs encoded with DRM technology—used by online music services such as iTunes and Napster—are more harmful to the battery life of portable MP3 players than are non-DRM-encoded songs. CNET did a debatable test of this theory, in which it compared DRM-encoded WMA files with plain-vanilla MP3 files. (A better test would have included all WMA files.) In the CNET test, a Creative Zen MP3 player achieved 16 hours of playback time using MP3 files, but could hit only 12 hours with DRM-backed WMA files, a 25 percent (and...
LAST COMMENT
Are they suggesting the processor has to work harder to decode the music? OK, so what? You should do...
Jay Ess -March 22, 2006
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[3/20/2006]
MacBook Pro Power Connector Bursts into Flames
- Posted by: Paul Thurrott
The only truly innovative new feature on the Apple MacBook Pro is its MagSafe connector, which uses a magnet to connect the power cord to the machine, ensuring that anyone who yanks the cable will simply unplug the device and not send the computer hurtling to the ground. But it turns out there's a dark side to this feature: It's a fire hazard. When a MacBook Pro customer posted pictures of his fried machine on the Web, Apple demanded that he remove them in order to avoid the inevitable media backlash, but the company did replace the customer's MacBook...
LAST COMMENT
I read somewhere else that Apple did not demand that the photos be removed. They asked politely. W...
Bill -March 22, 2006
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[3/20/2006]
Microsoft Leader Disses $100 Laptop Project
- Posted by: Paul Thurrott
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates last week made fun of a project that seeks to supply poor and developing nations with inexpensive $100 laptops, presumably because his company was shut out of the project because Windows is too expensive. "The last thing you want a shared-use computer to be is something without a disk ... and with a tiny little screen," Gates said, apparently missing the irony of the fact that Microsoft just announced its Ultra-mobile PC platform for devices that feature tiny screens. Those machines, however, will retail for $800 to $1000, a far cry from MIT's $100 laptop project. Gates continued, "If you're going have people...
LAST COMMENT
Isn't this is the same man that said 128k ought to be enough for anybody. Wish he'd keep his program...
Lee -March 22, 2006
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[3/20/2006]
PlayStation 3 Will Have 60GB Hard Drive, Online Service
- Posted by: Paul Thurrott
After months of silence, Sony is finally revealing details about its upcoming PlayStation 3 video game console, which was recently delayed until November 2006. First, the device will ship with an upgradeable 60GB hard drive, quelling rumors that the drive would be optional. The PlayStation 3 will also be backed by an Xbox Live-like service called PlayStation Network Platform (PSNP). Sexy name, eh? As with Xbox Live Silver, basic PSNP services will be free, although it will also let users play games online. The service will include video chat, messaging, matchmaking (gaming not dating), and game data upload and download functionality. It will...
LAST COMMENT
Catch up to Microsoft? It sounds like passing MS will be no problem- at least in the areas of retai...
JB -March 22, 2006
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