Posts Tagged ‘tech’

2002 – Mozilla releases Phoenix 0.1, the first release of what will become Firefox. The browser will change names because of trademark issues with Phoenix technologies. The initial first release of Firefox, though will be released on Nov. 9, 2004

Other items in Your Day in Tech History:

• Yahoo Instant Messanger 9.0
• Morse Code alphabet is invented
• Nintendo Koppai is founded (later renamed to Nintendo)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 5:42 — 2.6MB)

You might remember the products. You might remember the hype. Then, you are tooling down highway 41 years later and all of a sudden you think to yourself – “Hey, whatever happened to…”

Failed ideas. Maybe it was a great idea, but wasn’t made right, or design errors brought it down. Maybe it was just a bad product. Well, let’s take a stroll down memory lane and see if we cannot repeat these errors again.

Oh yeah, why 16? Well because we could.

The Computer Watch: Whether it was the Ruputer, the MSN Direct ‘Smart’ Watches, the Timex Data Link Watch or another gadget watch – BTW – I remember having a “Transformers watch”. It was awesome!

Still, the Dick Tracey style communication watches, the “Computer on a wrist”, never really hit it off. I even remember a watch that gave you directions. You would put in the paper tape and turn a little dial to indicate where you are and where you are going.

Read the rest of this entry »

Day Off - Sort of
A late Ramblings this week as I decided to stay offline last week. It was a long week and I was playing all weekend. It has been a while since I last took more than 24 hours off a computer, so that is a big feat for me.

HP Tech Forum

I had a fun time talking and working with Andy McCaskey and Kara Karsten with SDRNews. We had such a blast. We also put forward the mobile interview booth rig. We call it the “MacGyver” rig. Nonetheless, it was connected to uStream and we were able to conduct a few interviews for the event. Check out all the info on the Twitter log at #HPTF.

Great to meet some new bloggers: Shane Pitman of Neowin, John Obeto of AbsoluteWindows. We had a great week along with Halley, Tom, Calvin and Rebecca from HP and Buzzcorps.

Fryes at Vegas

Also got to go to Vegas again. While we didn’t run around town as much as with CES (everything was contained in Mandalay Bay), we did venture out to go to Fryes. It’s actually my first time at Fryes and I was pretty impressed. Of course, it was Vegas, so the store has a big slot machine up in it’s store front and stacks of coins as barrier posts. The inside was very big and complete. Andy had to get a new scratch drive since the one he brought died. We got what we needed and headed back to the safe Mandalay Bay

Mandalay Bay

Wow. This is a city contained in a building. That is, if you have the money for it. My room – which I call the “Bob Newhart” room – was decked with all the amenities. TV in the bedroom and the bathroom. You can connect an external device easily and be watching a movie while soaking in the tub.

The casino area was always hoppin. There were bands both on the “Sushi Pop” and “House of Blues” stages. Restaurants all over the building. A small walk and you are at “theHotel”. They even have their own beach – where we watched the Beach Boys play a set. Well, it was a short set for me, since I had a flight to catch.

Podcast on the show floor

I had the unique opportunity to record the show from the HPTF Expo floor. It was great because I didn’t have to set up a rig, do a show, rip it down and go to another area to post. I would also like to thank Simon Calder for helping out with the show notes so I could focus on other things.

What I got out of the show

Of course, there were a lot of things I have learned from this event. I have run server rooms before, but I was a little out of touch with the current technologies. FCoE was the big one I learned about. Also building a server is a lot different than before. Greener, more powerful and reliability were the best parts.

The Keynotes were just amazing. Learning about how these big companies are working on green technologies is amazing. Dr. Michio Kaku and his views for the future were amazing. A “Smart toilet” is definitely something to get excited about.

The Weekend

I got back to Madison at 8 AM on Friday. It was a long trip (5 hours, turned into 7 due to timezone changes). What was worse was on the trip back, I was not really impressed with the airline I flew. The one thing I noticed is they were not really friendly.

An example: We flew through a couple storm fronts during the trip. Most airlines would say “This is the Captain. We are seeing some turbulance, so please remain in your seats and buckle your belts. Thank you.”

The airline I was on? Well: “Please buckle your seatbelts”.

The airline also had screens drop from above. While I would normally invite this, I was in a evening flight. I had difficulties sleeping when something like a video monitor is playing. Of course, I didn’t pack my sleeping mask. Therefore, I was stuck watching “Confessions of a Shopoholic”. While other people loved this movie, I didn’t find it as interesting.

I got home around 9 AM, in which I proceeded to collapse on the bed for a couple hours. Woke up, caught up on some work I missed during the week, then headed off to play a show. Since it was out of town, I had to pack for another night away from home.

Band Gigs

Saturday was a day of playing. We played a friends graduation, then it was up to the Dells for our regular show at the Baja bar. There were 4 different Bachelorette parties that night and they were not in the Baja at the same time. As one party left, the next one showed up. Crazy.

New Guitar

While we were in transit to the Graduation party, we stopped at a local music store. There, I found a used Acoustic / Electric guitar. I picked it up as a spare for future shows. It needs some work to it, but not much to make it ready to play out.

Lazy Sunday? Not.

Of course, the day started out with this post. A quick breakfast, then it’s getting things ready for the week. Have to work on “Week in Tech History”, then I have to figure out how to put together the new video studio. Lots of soundproofing to do.

I suppose I should get to it. Thanks again to everyone for a great week. How do you top that?

Contest has closed. Thanks to all participants.

This month we are giving away an Epson Artisan 700 printer. This is a wireless printer /scanner with CD/DVD printing capability. Here are all the options:

• 4 in 1 Print / Copy / Scan / Ultra Hi-Def Photo
• Up to 38 ppm, photos in as fast as 10 sec1
• Auto Photo Correction; preview on LCD
• Professional quality CD/DVD printing
• Wi-Fi and Ethernet networking
• Scan and restore faded photos
• Ultra Hi-Definition photos last 4x longer than photo lab prints
• Print personal note paper & greeting cards

There are three parts to this contest.

• Follow on Twitter – @geekazine
• Comment below with your twitter name
• In the next few weeks, during the Quickcast – Week in Tech History podcast (published on Mondays), I will announce the third requirement.
  • Check out the latest quickcast on this – we give you the 3rd step – a codeword to enter in twitter. #geekazine rocks.

On June 30th, we will draw a winner from all the names recieved (randomizer on the comment list). We will have other prizes as well, to be announced later.

Good Luck!

Video explaination:

Press release here: http://www.free-press-release.com/news/200905/1243448369.html

Guy Browning in the Guardian. Read the whole thing here. It’s a hoot.

An excerpt:

I’m told that the new Jaguar has an electronic lady on board who will introduce herself when she thinks you might be running low on petrol. She has a seductive throaty note (much like the new diesel Jaguar XF) so male drivers may not notice for a while that they are actually being nagged by their own car. In truth, she is mild mannered compared with the harridan in the satnav (that’s Brit for GPS–Frank). It’s a pretty sad fact that almost half the drivers on our roads are now being continually bullied by an electronic tapeworm with a spatial superiority complex.

…For 2008 that is…

Finally feeling Normal – Las Vegas – New Years – More Panelists on the LIVE Show

Try GoToMeeting free for 30 days – No CC needed: GoToMeeting.com/techpodcasts.
Get IT Certified – Careersaver.com – 25% off with Code “Geek08″ 877-654-2265

All Show Notes are also on Delicious

Read the rest of this entry »

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (29.7MB)

Brought to you by Gotomeeting. Go to Gotomeeting.com/techpodcasts for an Unlimited free trial.

We are back on the wagon, it was a tough WITH to produce because of this cough.Nonetheless, we found some great history and are reporting to you.

December 16th 1988, Kevin Mitnick is charged for breaking into and stealing software from DEC. He also gained control of MCI codes in England and LA. Mitnick became a martr for some computer geeks as he bucked the system in ways people were unsuseptable to .  My personal favorite is how he got free pizza.

Other events that happened this week – Suspenders were patented by Mark Twain. Microsoft stops supporting IE for the Mac. The Altair 8800 kit is first released, Symantec and Veritas merge and a lot more. Of course to get all the events, you’ll have to listen to the podcast.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (9.4MB)

Brought to you by Gotomeeting. Go to Gotomeeting.com/techpodcasts for an Unlimited free trial.

Last year we had one of the weirdest news stories come out. A man was thought to be killed by his LG phone battery when it exploded in his shirt pocket. There was a lot of controversy over this issue at the time – whether an item that is pretty volitile should be regulated and monitored more closely. It was then discovered…. well, you’ll have to listen to the Quickcast to find out what happened next.

Also, Microsoft is first spoken of, Fortran 2003 is released, Ken Jennings looses, Roxio buys Napster and so much more on the Quickcast.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (6.8MB)

Brought to you by Gotomeeting. Go to Gotomeeting.com/techpodcasts for an Unlimited free trial.

*NOTE* We’re running from the new media location. Please let me know if you cannot get to the Quickcast – 608-205-4378, Thanks.

“Make Money Fast” was uttered for the first time on a Usenet in 1989. The message had the name “Dave Rhodes” attached, but it was suspected to be a pseudonym. The words “Make Money Fast” and “Scam” become synonymous.

This week we also talk about the Windows/IBM announcements, the first use of the WWW, Atari STacy and so much more.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (8.2MB)

In the first hour I join onto another uStream cast of GSPN.tv and we talk about Apple. The main subject was iPhone. We talked about applications and how you can use the phone.

Hour 2 was back at the desk talking tech. We discussed the Circuit City closings, Video displays and so much more.

Hour 1
Read the rest of this entry »

Brought to you by Gotomeeting. Go to Gotomeeting.com/techpodcasts for an Unlimited free trial.

Nov. 4trh, 1984, with only $1000 start up Capitol, Michael Dell creates Dell Computers. Dell pioneered the “Sell direct to customers” approach and a new company was born. All in 1984.

3dfx, Godzilla, the Morris Worm, UMAX and UNIVAC 1 predicting the Presidential election are all discussed in the Week in Tech History.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (6.5MB)