I’m not sure what the heck to think about this ad. It is very strange, the creatures look a bit like the creatures from the video game Spore. I’m not sure what they are trying to do with this commercial and they are obviously targeting at teenagers but I don’t know how this is going to appeal to them.
Apple’s New Welcome Image
Well Apple has a new welcome image up on its site, saying “The first 30 years were just the beginning. Welcome to 2007.” I’m kind of excited about this. It seems Apple has some fun stuff in store for us this year. I’m sure that they are hinting that MacWorld will be pretty gosh darn fun.
Happy New Year!
I hope 2007 brings you fun and happiness. Let’s all hope that 2007 brings cool tech news and gadgets!
I got a new article up, Web 2.0 Watch ’07. If you find any new Web 2.0 sites this year send them on over to comments@cybersurge.org so I can add them to the list.
New Apple Phone Rumors
Well there was a caller on Leo Laportes radio show. I haven’t heard the audio from the show because it is not up on the internet yet but from the show notes it mentions some interesting things and some angering things as well. First off the thing that makes me mad is that it will be CDMA not GSM. Well that means that I’m not going to be buying one because I hate Verizon and Sprint, mostly because I don’t like how they cripple their phones. I think it would be much better if they went GSM for the world market. They mentioned that the price will be $275 and $335 for the 4GB and 8GB respectively. It will use Bluetooth 2.0 and the casing will be made out of zirconium. Check out the rest of the info at the Show Notes.
Ms. Dewey
Ms. Dewey is a new search engine from Microsoft Live Labs and its a neat new way to search, well not really. Its just Live search with a face lift. The whole point of this search engine is that this women Ms. Dewey will talk to you while you are searching. If you wait to long before you type in a query she will start getting impatient with you. She will look at the words in your query and she will say things accordingly. Its an interesting idea but I’m not sure if it will amount to anything. I have a feeling that it will be another thing abandoned by Microsoft. It is probably just a little project as to how people will react to it.
Digg’s New Merchandise
Well we all love Digg and if you don’t well then you should because its a great place to go for news. Well recently when Digg had its update they also released some new merchandise on Jinx. They have new T-Shirts, Hoodies, Hats, etc. I actually ended up getting one of those for Chirstmas, I got a zip up hoodie and it is probably my favorite gift because its comfortable and I’ll probably where it this winter and the next too. Everyone should go out and buy one or two of these items here, because its a great way to support you favorite social news site.
Curious Which ISP’s Block Bittorrent?
On the AzureusWiki they have a list of ISP’s who have been thought to have blocked bittorrent. There are over 50 ISP’s on the list so if you are having problems with bittorrent you may want to check out the list to find out if you are using one of those ISP’s. Check out the list here.
Ten Questions Apple Must Answer in 2007
Wire Blogs “Cult of the Mac” has a great list of 10 questions Apple must answer in 2007. It has some great thoughts in it and I think that the list is pretty full. Just a taste of my favorites:
- Is Apple ready to compete in two new fields (Home Theater and Mobile Telephony)?
- What does Apple credit for soaring Mac sales?
- What more can Apple do with the iPod?
- Can Apple stay successful if Jobs steps down?
Check out the full list here.
New Mac Pros and Displays at January MacWorld
Well, the isight is now dead and Quad-Core processors have debuted. Is it time for a new Mac Pro, I believe so. Now this is just speculation but wouldn’t it make sense for Apple to come out with a second configuration that is more expensive than the current Mac Pro that features 8 Cores inside.
There are also some rumors out there that Apple will be revising and possibly dropping the price of its monitors. Adding an isight camera to the top of the display and since Apple has seemed to be starting to make things a little bit better bang for your buck then it has in the past with the drop in price of the iPod. I think it would just make sense for apple to drop the price of its displays.
Linux on a Zune
According to Zune-Online.com Someone has managed to put Linux on a Zune, well this is something I have been talking about and had mentioned on my old blog, I think it is one of the most interesting ideas ever. Just imagine the possibilities, I think that this is one step towards making the Zune a huge competitor especially for all of those Linux Hackers out there. If Linux on the Zune meets my expectations as I think it will, I will buy one and put Linux on it.
HD-DVD Encryption Cracked
Well not really but someone did get a hold of some of the decryption keys for a few of the movies and was able to write a command line application to decrypt the DVD. The video is here. The finder of these keys announced it on the Doom 9 forums. It seems that the user used a cracked player to obtain the keys but that won’t really help because if that is the case then the player could easily be updated when you put a new disc in it. I hope this is a real hack and is not going to be something that the movie studios can get around because I like to sometimes backup a DVD and throw it on my Laptop so that I can watch it on a trip and not have to bring along the disc.