Gmail As a Personal Nerve Center

I came across this at dig.com while scanning for possible blogging material. This was quite an article and I have been thinking along the lines as the writer. Making Gmail as the hotspot of your internet use that can range from a simple e-mail tool to a news update, blogging tool, Calendar, etc has been something that could always be a possibility but I have never delved into the thought until now. Gmail has so much potential aside from being an IM and e-mail tool with all that storage space that it can surely handle.

One of the possible outcomes that caught my interest was the Calendar, blogging and the real-time news update. He also mentioned something that I haven’t known before – Twitter. Looking at the site, it seems lively but the main reason for twitter is for consecutive updates to post on the main page of what people are currently doing right at that moment. I am positive, however, that there are other uses for Twitter as he says – he mentions that he uses it from time to time to check if anyone updates it for more informative uses such as current news.

Overall the innovative way that he uses his Gmail is what I find fascinating. I may actually try it out and, as such, I actually saved the article into my Google toolbar. It’s true that the new Google toolbar has a Gmail function that you can take advantage of. I’ve actually begun doing that as of this moment.

Hack Attack: Add music and movies...

The Hack Attack article is useful to some extent, but I found it lacking for some strange reason. Maybe it’s just me, maybe not – who knows?

Adam Pash’s article makes a few good points. iTunes is limiting with its “lock-in…to one music library” and there should be alternative methods that can be used so you don’t remain within that one, single music library.

Floola seems like an interesting alternative as is the Winamp iPod plugin that I have been hearing about. However, I doubt that I really will try it out – perhaps someday but so far I can’t be bothered to care. The interesting thing that I found about Floola is how you can add music from any computer and how you can manage your music. You can manage your music via iTunes, though it takes longer, but at least it can be done. Unfortunately, iTunes can’t add music from any computer – I found that out the hard way. Thank goodness I managed to fix that problem.

Everything else is only mildly interesting like how you can get a myPodder for downloaded podcasts and a Pod Player to play your music if you don’t have your iPod with you. It was nice enough to read, but nothing too exciting. I haven’t really use podcast via iTunes, although my boss frequently visits the site. I only visited the place once or twice but it was only amusing to watch the videos available to watch in there. As for Pod Player, I don’t see the need – I almost always have my iPod in hand so why would I need it? If I don’t, oh well.

Lastly, there is the CD to MP3s with CDex. I haven’t used it before; instead I chose to use Easy Ripper, another freeware that can also convert music CDs. There are other available softwares available, but I suppose the author simply mentioned one because it works for him.

What I found strange was how he mentions all these applications from all types yet he doesn’t mention one for videos, only music. With the current iPods available, it would be safe to assume that there are people with the video iPods. However, he hasn’t mentioned one and I wonder if it’s because he would be hesitant to suggest within the article.

Overall the article was informative and the suggestions welcome. But I have gotten used to iTunes, and I have found my own ways to make it work for me and my iPod. Floola and Pod Player sound interesting enough and may actually be better to use, but after months of using iTunes I have learned to live with it. Others, however, may find the article worth their while.

New Tiny MacBook

The new tiny MacBook is still in development but what is released so far is semi-interesting. The notebook is smaller, lighter, and I would think tougher in exterior to prevent most accidents – like spilling water, accidentally dropped, etc.

The ones familiar with the new MacBook mention the missing optical disc drive. This is something new and I am quite at a loss as to why. Are they planning something new, possibly revolutionary in placement for the missing disc drive? Or do they simply think that it is no longer needed? After all, more people are becoming increasingly aware of the flash drive and that is possibly what the ones in charge with the MacBook are going for.

It is mentioned that the new MacBook is expected to have an onboard NAND Flash. With this there is no longer needs for a USB interface and treats the flash memory as part of the system’s disk drive. Apparently this way you won’t have to go through all that trouble just to eject your flash drive from the system. Of course I was told by my brother that Ubuntu Linux works that way in their latest version, all you have to do is unplug your flash drive from the computer/laptop and your data is still safely stored into your USB device.

There will be some things that people will find odd like the fact that there isn’t an optical drive, but there are ways to get around that. With the new technologies available, there really isn’t a complete need for optical drives because of external hard drives, flash devices, and the internet. However, I am sure that people find something disconcerting about the new MacBook like the fact that without the optical drive, people will wonder just how exactly they can download their games – at least those unavailable for download online. The Mac is not the best system to use for gamers in general, because some gaming companies just don’t make it for their system.

I am not sure if Japan will be completely taken with the new MacBook, but at least it will be compact and holds something new for the consumers to enjoy.

The Pirate Bay, Featured in Vanity Fair

The article featuring the Pirate Bay is kind of interesting, but not as amusing as I thought it would be. It's interesting to note how they came into the business. To think that just because of a friend and some shows that were freely available via the internet, a mega-site as famous as the PirateBay came into existence.

It makes sense why I haven’t heard about Pirate Bay until just recently, seeing as they started off in 2003 and haven’t truly made any remarkable debut until 2004 – 2005. I think the only time I can remember where I have visited their site was not until… last year, in fact. Their site is now known to have one of the largest filesharers and users, their content filled to the brim with actual content that could be said to be a copyright infringement.

And it probably is true, at least most for most of them. As I recall, the files that they carry can be downloaded via bittorrent. Bittorrent is a peer to peer protocol that distributes large amounts of data (like music, games, movies, etc.). Though bittorrent is not new in the internet world, at least the program is now being well-used since suprnova.org has been closed as of December 2004. Moreover, what’s hilarious about the article and what is commonly known of the owners of Pirate Bay is their continuous run-in with the police.

I particularly enjoy what’s said in the link to Vanity Fair’s article. How the movie companies are finding it difficult to combat piracy, and then the mention of the electronic companies joining the piracy fleets. It made me come to the realization of how people manage to design the technology in order to play the files in their home computers.

These days file sharing is one of the most common things around – people all over the world are not only sharing music and movies, but TV shows as well. There is no need for packages, only an internet connection and something as handy as the bittorrents to get the latest files. I don’t believe there will be an end to this at all even if the police brings a site down, because another site will rise up.

Optical Chips Coming in 5 Years...

After reading this article, it seems promising but there are always complications in some form or another. Every new design and gadget will usually promise this or that and come off as being a huge let-down to the masses. But I’ll give this discovery the benefit of a doubt.

They do admit that so far, there are complications with microphotonic devices and will be trying their best to fix the flaws that they have found. A few things to look forward to once the technology hits the stores is that with the new optical components in the computers, the computers should be faster in receiving signals. It would open up a whole new field of possible technology that could be created and discovered. With faster processing, people will hardly have to wait for pages to load and downloading files and whatnot can be faster than ever. Sweet! Movies, games, music… just think about it!

However, I doubt that this will come out in the five years that they say it will. There’s too much research that needs to be involved, trying to contain and integrate polarized light sounds difficult. It will probably come out, perhaps 8-10 more years rather than the five.

But when it does come out, I hope that I have enough money saved up to get myself one…

The Meizu or the M8 as it is known around the internet is quite similar to the Apple iPhone. For one thing the M8 sports the same thinness as the iPhone, something that a lot of consumers usually look like, simply for the sake of managing to fit the phone in their purse, pocket, etc. Other features that make the M8 shine brighter than the iPhone is the fact that the M8 has a larger screen resolution than iPhone. Squinting has never been a problem, after all there are other phones out there with a smaller screen, but if you’re going on the internet, I would hate spending the time scrolling around just to read a simple sentence or finding that elusive link.

Yes, the iPhone is more well-known in the US. Yes, the iPhone has iTunes and a multi-touch screen. However, the M8 has a more common Operating System with its Win CE, and of course the fact that the M8 has TV-out functionality – recording capabilities, all right!

Prices have not yet been announced with the Meizu M8, but chances are it will be far cheaper than Apple’s iPhone. If I had the money right now, I would most likely be lining up for the M8 rather than the iPhone. But since I don’t, oh well.