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Thursday, December 23, 2010

Does This Mean My Xbox Will Finally Know How I Feel?

Insiders are saying that an update to Kinect will allow it to recognize finger gestures. So that means I can really let it know how I feel when I get frustrated after the 100th time trying to get past that pesky boss fight? Will it shut down if I flip it off? I look forward to grabbing my crotch and yelling "F#@* you!" at my Xbox and it replying: "Well f#@* you too. No more games for you!" and then shutting down. You can find an article with more detail about this update on CNet's UK site by clicking here.

Come With Me If You Want to Live...

DARPA has come out with yet another freakishly futuristic technology for our troops. To put it simply, the pictured device (presumably being modeled by one of the scientists. At least I hope), will give a soldier super vision. Among some of its features are a 360-degree 1-kilometer wide view of their surroundings rendered real time in 3D in the soldier's eyepiece. It can also detect things like muzzle flash, helping them locate enemy fire. You can read the full article on Gizmodo here

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

We Must Act Now to Preserve Net Neutrality: Opinion

We are getting closer and closer to losing the freedom that the Internet gives all of us on a daily basis. For those of you who are still a little unfamiliar with what net neutrality is and how is affects you, there's a great article here from wisegeek.com that explains this topic very well. Basically, if the Internet were open and neutral, ISP's, serarch providers (like Google or Yahoo) and telecommunications companies (like Time Warner, Verizon, AT&T, etc.) would not be allowed to restrict or filter a user's access to specific sites. This will make it possible for, let's say, a small online auction company to have the same access to customers as Ebay. Also, it won't let the same companies to unfairly restrict access to rival companies, like AOL not letting you subscribe to Yahoo mail because you have an account with AOL.

Monday, December 20, 2010

AT&T: Supporting Our Troops...for $16k Each!

I grew sick to my stomach as I read this. I won't go into detail (you can read the entire article at CNET's website by clicking here ), but just know that AT&T is charging a soldier in Afghanistan a $16,000 cell phone bill. AT&T claims they are going to credit his entire bill, so we'll see what happens, stay tuned...

What Else Will We Be Able to Google?

Google adds yet another cool search: Google Body Browser. With this interactive tool, you can search for anything in the human body and it gives you an interactive view of the term you search. Think Google Earth for the human body. What's next for Google? How about Google Genome: an interactive tour of the human (or other animal) genome. Want to know which genes cause birth defects? Google it. Maybe even link it to your own personal genome map so you can quickly search for your genetic predispositions. You can read the article from Engadget by clicking here. 

Google PowerMeter Tracks Your Electricity Usage

As you may have noticed by now, I'm a big fan of Google. Their constant  user-suggestion-oriented approach to product development and open source nature I think is a huge part of their success. A new product, called PowerMeter, lets consumers monitor the electricity usage of their home via a broadband connection. It comes with a variety of tools to help you track, modify and predict your electricity usage. This can be very useful for parents who are constantly having to turn off lights behind their kids or for the environmentally conscious person who wants to do their part to reduce their carbon footprint. Microsoft is coming out with a competing product called Hohm, so maybe I can bring you a comparison review in the future on these products. To read the full article from CNET News, click here. Enjoy! 

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Google Maps 5.0: Augmented Reality on Steroids

This video blew me away. When it comes to Augmented Reality (AR), the new Google Maps takes the cake. It won't be long until we will all be able to view the world this way via some type of HUD or maybe even an artificial modification to our eyes. We can all see like Arnold in The Terminator. Very cool.



You can visit the Google's official blog to read more.

Worst Case Scenario for Net Neutrality Advocates


I couldn't believe my eyes when I read this article. For those of us who believe net neutrality is important for a slew of reasons, this is maddening. It pictures a slide from a marketing webinar put on by Allot Communications and Openet and describes how companies (like AT&T and Verizon, who are both on their client rosters) can charge users different rates for visiting different sites. They can even scan encrypted packets to determine which sites you are using! I there is something that is the exact opposite of net neutrality, this is it. If this is allowed, what's stopping the same companies from forcing (or persuading by slow or unreliable connections, for instance) customers to use the sites carriers want you to use?


If you want to do something about the issue of net neutrality, you can go to Commoncause.org and do something about it. We must make sure practices like this are not allowed to go on!


Click here to visit Engadget's website and read the article. 

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Welcome all!

This is the first post to my new blog, thanks for reading! If you are an amateur techie like me, then you enjoy finding out about new and cool things. I scour the web constantly and bring you all the best in tech news, advice, gadgets and I even share my own personal experiences with you. I also welcome anyone else to share their experiences on this blog for the benefit of all. Anyone is welcome to share, post, comment anything they want! I look forward to bringing you all the most Wicked Tech out there today!