The Gadgets Page

The Worldwide Developers Conference 2007 starts today. What is it and why do they expect people to pay so much money to attend?!

The WWDC is a conference for people who write software and manufacture accessories for Apple computers, but it also tends to be the place where important Apple products are announced.

• Worldwide Developers Conference 2007

All the Apple Addicts will be watching WWDC this year for tidbits of information about the iPhone. There were rumors that an announcement of the availability of the iPhone would be announced at WWDC (hopefully the day of the event), but the Apple commercials announcing a June 29th release date have put those rumors to rest.

Is it worth 16 hundred clams to attend WWDC if you’re just an Apple fan? Probably not. I suspect the cost for attending WWDC is artificially high to convince people to attend MacWorld instead.

Fortunately, the keynotes are usually available online, so if anything interesting happens, you don’t have to be in attendance to see it.

For more information about the WWDC and other trade shows:

• Worldwide Developers Conference – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

• Macworld Conference & Expo – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

• Consumer Electronics Show – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A couple of days ago, I noticed that YouTube got a new video interface. After the video plays, or even in the middle of a video, you can move the mouse over the screen and see other videos to watch. The old interface gave us a couple of choices after the video and then moved on to a couple more. I REALLY hated that interface, but I’m LOVIN’ this one. I think the reason that I love it is because the video choices stay in order.

Unfortunately, I can’t right click on them and open them in another window or tab. I would really like that choice because usually I’m pretty happy with the current video and want to email it to my friends. When I click on a new one, the old one is lost. With the new interface, however, the old one is still there at the beginning of the list if I want to go back to it, so I am pleased with that as well.

No one seems to be noticing the new YouTube interface, but I think their design team really deserves props. Good job guys! You’re making all the videobloggers jealous again!

With only 8GB and no 3G capabilities, I’m trying to convince myself that it’s worth it to buy an iPhone. These ads go a long way, but I am still wary.

This is the newest iPhone ad, called “Watered Down.” I can get the “watered down” version of the Internet on my Treo, but it’s slow and a bloody pain in the rear. However, with the iPhone running on the EDGE network will it be any faster?

I can put music, videos and photos on my Treo. It’s amazingly difficult and the video conversion makes me want to kill kittens, but it is possible. However, with only 8GB of memory, how much music, video and photos will I be able to fit on the iPhone?

My Treo can’t do this. No way, no how. They’ve disabled any cell phone tower tracking and it has no GPS capabilities. Of course, could you really fit the entire movie of Pirates of the Caribbean on an iPhone? Is there room for anything else?

Update 06-10-07: I was totally wrong on this one. My Treo CAN do this exactly the same way the iPhone does this. I downloaded Google Maps for my Treo 650 and it works just like the commercial.

Honestly, I’m supposed to be able to get my email on my Treo, but I have never used it except for outgoing messages. I find it interesting that it doesn’t show me how my text messaging is going to work. I can crank out a good 20-30 wpm on that “plasticy keyboard” on my Treo. Will I be able to do that with the iPhone?

There are so many questions. Will it work with my Nike+? Will I be able to get my computer online with it? I have been saving for an iPhone since its announcement in January. Now, I’m wondering if it’s worth my hard earned money I’ve stashed away. I LOVE the interface. I have a tremendous faith in Apple, but I can’t help remembering my first generation iPod sitting in the closet with a Firewire port. Will the first generation iPhone be like that or will it be insanely great? Am I willing to bet my twenties and tens hidden in my mattress on insanely great? Am I willing to bet two years of my cell phone life on AT&T? I have 21 days to decide.

MyVu is a strange pair of glasses that allow you watch your video iPod in a different way. Instead of trying to hold up your iPod to your face, you can see the show on the two tiny screens in the glasses. You can see a closeup of the screens here:

When we saw them at CES, the girls at the desk were pretty unwilling to talk to us. While they flirted with the guys who walked past their booth, we played with the demonstration model. It was great to see the video full screen, but it was even better that I could see Mike and the hallway around me. MyVu allows you to watch your video, but it also allows you to monitor what’s going on around you.

When Mike started clicking pictures of me wearing the My Vu and they noticed that we were press, the girls finally deigned to talk to us. Sadly, it was obvious that they couldn’t answer any technical questions.

What I want to know:

• Will they work with the iPhone?
• If they do work with the iPhone, can I read my email and browse the web with them or will they only work with videos?
• Right now, they cost 300 bucks. That pushes them over my peripheral price limit. Is there going to be a cheaper one?

I see so much at CES, that I can’t possibly report it all, especially products that aren’t available yet. I love it when they finally become available because then I can tell you what it was like to use them!

MyVu Website: myvu: Award-winning video eyewear for virtual big screen viewing

Update 08-03-07: The MyVu does not work with the iPhone because the iPhone doesn’t have a video output. Sadly, it doesn’t work with the videos or the web browsing. It does, however, work with the Video iPod and is great for working out at the gym. You don’t need a television in front of your treadmill or weight machine when it’s in front of your face.

Type class was my first introduction to ASCII art. After hours of “Type X 15, O 2, X 15…” I would end up with a Christmas Tree on my sheet of paper. There was no backspace on my mom’s old typewriter. If I screwed up, I had to start all over and the teacher could tell at a glance if I had done everything correctly.

Now, all you have to do is upload your photo to Photo2Text and they’ll do all the work for you.

• Photo2Text.com – Convert an image to Ascii Art

This is really cool, but I have yet to upload a photo yet. Maybe I’m worried that some poor school girl in India will have to do the conversion on an old IBM Selectric.

Via: Photojojo » Turn Your Photos into Gibberish — How to Convert Photos into ASCII Art

Finally, a DATE that we can see the iPhone. Apple just released three commercials for the iPhone that don’t tell us anything new about it except WHEN we can get one. All the speculation is over.

• Apple – iPhone – TV Ads

You have to watch through the whole ad to find out what you really want to know, “When can I get one?” The answer is June 29th. You have 25 days to countdown.

Via: Apple has released three new iPhone ads in advance of… (kottke.org)

It’s summer and it’s time to pull out your bike and get the gears running again. Half the fun of owning a bicycle is fixing it up, right?

Uhh, no…

If you are dreading getting your bike back in racing condition, here is a website that will help you. Sheldon Brown has an entire encyclopedia of bicycle information.

• Sheldon Brown-Bicycle Technical Information

I found this article particularly helpful:

• How To Shift Your Bicycle’s Gears

I have used the number of gears as a bragging point: “It has 21 gears!” but mostly I just use the big three with little variation on the smaller gears. I shift into low on hills and high going down hills. Other than that, I’ve left them alone. This article gives you an actual reason for the gears and how to use them to your advantage.

Just peruse the website and you’ll learn more about your bicycle than you ever thought!

Via: Cool Tool: Sheldon Brown’s Online Cycling Encyclopedia

This is an edited video of Bill Gates and Steve Jobs together on stage at D5 on Wednesday.

You can read a review of the encounter on CNET:

• Gates and Jobs share stage, friendly banter at D5 | Tech news blog – CNET News.com

I wonder why Bill agrees to this sort of thing when it’s obvious he’s so uncomfortable in these situations. I would have preferred to see a Steve Jobs and Steve Ballmer meetup: more sparks and teeth, I think. Maybe a little like this:

Old skool smackdown from the Commodore 64!

Via: Nicolelee on Twitter

Palm made an announcement yesterday introducing the Foleo. It is billed as a smartphone companion, but it borders on the size of a notebook computer. It costs $499 (after $100 rebate), making it a hilariously expensive accessory or an amazingly inexpensive laptop.

• Palm, Inc. – Products – Foleo

Sadly, it looks like the Foleo is merely a hilariously expensive Treo accessory. It is a machine that runs the Linux operating system, not Windows, and connects to the Internet through your phone to bring the web and your email to full size. Unless there are some amazing features that they are hiding up their sleeves, it looks like they expect you to pay 600 bucks for a wireless keyboard.

Are they daft or do they not realize that I can already get online with my laptop and my Treo? Their crippled Bluetooth implementation doesn’t let it be wireless, but I have no problem pulling out a cord to connect my phone to my computer. With the Foleo, I can’t edit video, retouch photos or play Second Life, but with my tiny Acer notebook, I can do all that plus email for only 500 bucks. They brag about only weighing 2.5 pounds, but my Acer weighs a mere 5.3 pounds. The Foleo is too big for your pocket and most purses, so you’re going to need to carry it around in a bag anyway. Might as well carry around a REAL computer and not this crippled monstrosity they are trying to pass off on you.

Palm keeps dropping the ball. The iPhone comes out next month and they are going to have serious competition from a company that understands how people use their phones. This latest move just makes it easier and easier for people to give up their Treos and choose the iPhone.

Via: Foleo | Palm’s New Smartphone Companion | Treonauts

The sun is beating down on us every day. Why aren’t we all taking advantage of that wasted energy by installing solar cells on the top of our houses or buildings? Bob Boehm from The University of Nevada’s Center for Energy Research explains why:

• Ryan Is Hungry – Solar Las Vegas: Center for Energy Research – 03.07.2007

If you’re tempted to stop watching, fast forward to 4:36 minutes into the video. He talks about a really cool way to light your home or office using fiber optics and concentrated light from the sun. It’s far better than a skylight because it redirects the light to where you need it. Why doesn’t every office have this? I want to know specifics. How much would it cost to include this into my home?

This video is from Ryan Is Hungry, a weblog that brings green-friendly ideas to you on a regular basis. If you are interested in finding more efficient ways to live on this planet, they have enough ideas to fill your mind.