Archive for March, 2008

Arkansas school has an 11-year-old IT department — no, really, an 11-year-old

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Seeing as our high school network hijinks pretty much led to semi-permanent suspension, our barren hearts were actually warmed by the story of 11-year-old Jon Penn, who has been in charge of his elementary school’s 60-machine network since last year. The previous network administrator at the Arkansas school simply up and left, leaving the IT systems in shambles — and in the hands of Jon’s mom, the school librarian. Jon’s since scrubbed the aging Windows 98 machines of their accumulated viruses and spyware, and he’s installed a firewall and virus / spam filter to keep things clean while he works out a plan to move to Windows 2000 and centralized system management. Right now though, Jon’s got his hands busy doing everything from fixing everything from paper jams to revising server configurations, and it sounds like he’s having a ball — he says he’s been testing out virtualization products lately, and he’s studying up for A+ technician certification this summer. Looks like school’s a lot more fun when you’re running the show, no?

[Via Switched]

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Deutsche Telekom / T-Mobile demands Engadget Mobile discontinue using the color magenta

Filed under: Cellphones

digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/tech_news/T_Mobil_Tells_Engadget_Mobile_Stop_using_the_color_Magenta’;So last week Deutsche Telekom, owners of the global T-Mobile brand, sent Engadget a late birthday present: a hand-delivered letter direct from their German legal department requesting the prompt discontinuation of the use of the color magenta on Engadget Mobile. Yep, seriously.

Granted, we get nastygrams from angry tech companies practically every day, but rarely regarding anything that’s not some piece of news we published that they’re livid about having out in the open. And irony of ironies, this whole use-of-magenta thing is precisely the topic we took up last year on behalf of DT.

We spoke with David Beigie, vice president of corporate communications for T-Mobile US, who offered: “As a trademark owner, from time to time Deutsche Telekom looks at usage that could lead to confusion in the marketplace. The letter sent by DT merely outlines these perspectives and is meant to simply open a dialogue. Engadget continues to pioneer forums for discussion of wireless industry developments and innovation. T-Mobile respects the role Engadget and its readers play in advancing dialog on these important topics.”

So in the interest of that open dialog we’ve posted Deutsche Telekom’s letter below (typo in the first word of the first sentence and all), as well as a handy guide to allay any confusion should you suddenly find yourself disoriented and trying to buy your next SideKick or MDA from Engadget Mobile.

P.S. -Not an early April Fool’s joke.

#comparechart { border: 2px solid #333; border-collapse: collapse; } #comparechart td { padding: 3px; border: 1px solid #ccc; vertical-align: top; margin: 0; line-height: 1.3em; } #comparechart th { font-weight: bold; text-align: left; padding: 4px; background: #eee; } #comparechart th.mainth { border-bottom: 1px solid #333; font-size: 1.2em; } #comparechart td.red { background-color: #f08c85; } #comparechart td.green { background-color: #b3e2c4;

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Cybook Gen3 e-book reader gets reviewed

Filed under: Handhelds

Bookeen’s Cybook Gen3 e-book reader has been a long time coming, but now that it’s out in the wild we’re finally starting to get some reviews of the device, including this fairly thorough one from the folks at The Future of Things. Unfortunately for those looking forward to the reader, they found it to be quite a mixed bag. On the upside, they found the device to be thin, light, small and fast, with it also boasting solid battery life and, most importantly, a screen that’s “very comfortable” to read, even outdoors. They were also impressed with the Cybook’s RSS support, and the Mobipocket format used for e-books. On the downside, the page flip mechanism proved to be “cumbersome,” and they found that the current firmware left a lot to be desired, with them even going so far as to say that it felt like it was “rushed to the market too soon.” They were also somewhat disappointed by the lack of SDHC support, and a lack of wireless connectivity (be it 3G or WiFi). They also point out, however, that none of the e-book readers out there are perfect, so if you’re in the market for one you’ll just have to pick the trade-offs you’re willing to live with.

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PS3 homebrew hack found, Hello World!

Filed under: Gaming

We haven’t heard much out of the PS3 homebrew scene so far, which could be due to the console’s delayed popularity, or perhaps because Sony did users a solid out of the gate and included Linux. That said, there’s no stopping these hardcore homebrew types when they put their minds to something, and now Dragula96, a well known PSP hacker, has supposedly found an exploit on the PS3 that let him get a little Hello World proof of concept up and running. At the moment he’s not saying how he did it, but he does say the hack is working on 60GB and 40GB PS3s, running the current 2.20 firmware. Next on the agenda? Pong. Video is after the break.

[Thanks, Craig]

Continue reading PS3 homebrew hack found, Hello World!

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Okoro’s OMS-ZX100 Media PC does Blu-ray, HD DVD and SSD

Filed under: HDTV, Media PCs, Storage

Okoro Media Systems has been offering up well-spec’d HTPCs for quite some time, but it has finally seen fit to jump on the flash-based storage bandwagon. The firm’s new ZX series of Extreme Digital Entertainment Systems gets going with the OMS-ZX100, which comes standard with a 32GB SSD (for the OS and such) and a 1TB HDD for media storage. Moreover, you’ll find a 3.0GHz Core 2 Extreme QX6850 processor, 3GB of DDR2 RAM, NVIDIA’s 256MB GeForce 8600 GT graphics card, Blu-ray / HD DVD playback and your choice of “any automotive color” on the chassis. ‘Tis a shame it costs $5,995 to even join the ZX100 club, but look to spend even more if you’re hankering for a built-in CableCARD tuner and WiFi adapter.

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Lime green Motorola Q9c headed to Alltel, US Cellular

Filed under: Cellphones

Don’t you dare say green wasn’t already in style, as in all actuality, it’s US Cellular and Alltel following the crowd yet again. As the run-up to CTIA 2008 continues, the aforesaid outfits have both announced that a lime green variant of the Motorola Q9c will soon be on their shelves. Aside from that, prospective customers can also snap up the WinMo 6-powered Q9c in licorice, and of course, they’ll find a 1.3-megapixel camera, 2.4-inch display and 128MB of onboard memory. As for pricing, you can call Alltel’s version your own for $99.99 on contract, and while US Cellular is being mum on the subject, both providers will have ‘em available “this summer.”

[Via CNET]

Read - Alltel’s announcement
Read - US Cellular’s announcement

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Sony’s PIX brings full-length films to AT&T Mobile TV

Filed under: Cellphones, Portable Video

Sony just revealed a bit more about AT&T’s Mobile TV service launching in May. We now know that one of the two exclusive AT&T channels will be called PIX, Sony’s new feature film channel for cellphones. The service is a first of its kind in the US… for good reason. Oh, it’s not that we have anything against the roster of films including “Ghostbusters,” “Philadelphia” and “Karate Kid.” It’s more the prospect of sitting in front of that tiny mobile screen to watch a full-length film without the ability to pause, fast forward or rewind. This is live broadcast folks. Nevertheless, Sony Pictures claims to understand the risk. According to Eric Berger, VP Mobile Entertainment at Sony Pictures Televsion, “We recognize that people are on the go with their mobile phone and coming and going. This isn’t for people looking to view a movie for the first time. It’s OK to miss the beginning.” Films will run on PIX for a month with new additions added weakly weekly.

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Researchers develop human prosthesis for balance, unfortunately it’s not a tail

There’s hope for those of us suffering from chronic imbalance as a result of staring too long at periodic tables and 20-sided dice. It’s an implant developed by neuroscientists at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. The implant looks to off-set balance irregularities in the human vestibular system caused by trauma or disease affecting the gyroscopic function of the inner ear. A microprocessor converts signals received from a motion sensor worn on the head into electrical impulses. These are then sent to an electrode implanted into the inner ear. The first test will begin next week on a rhesus monkey. A move which evokes cries of “unfair” from us — unlike nerds, monkeys already have excellent balance.

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Sony Rolly busts a color move

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Portable Audio, Robots

Sony just turned out the Rolly music player in black. A surprise blown by the FCC just last week. At least we can wonder at the colorful end-caps at a cost of ¥1,500 (about $15) per. Of course, if you scoffed at the original Rolly, then the April 19th, Japanese release of the new ¥40,000 (about $400) dancing-speaker bot won’t likely tug at your pawnshopped heartstrings either.

[Via Impress]

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PSP slim modded for dual analog sticks

Filed under: Gaming

Been longing for a second analog stick on your PSP? Modder LordNico’s got you covered with the Razor X (seriously, where do these guys come up with their names?), a user-installable analog stick that appears to mimic the functions of your standard four button pad. (In other words, getting the games to take advantage of the controls is another matter entirely.) Apparently details of the mod will be released soon enough for those brave enough to consider relocating their power switch to the start button — yikes.

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