Alberto Escarlate

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Stories By Alberto Escarlate

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    Buying Guides
    Buying Guides By Alberto Escarlate

    My Favorite iPhone Apps: Erica's Take

    When it comes to the iPhone, it's really really difficult to narrow my app love down to just three picks. So with apologies in advance for all those amazing applications that didn't make this cut, let me jump in with three choices that I simply do not live without on my (jailbroken) iPhone: Cydia. When Jay Freeman's Cydia first debuted, I was hesitant to use it. It sucked up the root partition space like a sponge and its interface was, at best, preliminary. And now, in 2.0, Cydia owns me. It's simply fabulous. From its command-line Unix support to its fully overhauled interface to its extremely workable update system, Cydia provides a powerful software distribution system, perfect for modern smartphones and a great competitor to AppStore. Boss Prefs. Boss Prefs offers a wonderful services application. It lets me enable and disable services such as EDGE, Bluetooth and SSH from a central application. Because I only intermittently subscribe to data plans, Boss Prefs ensures that I won't accidentally start downloading a la carte data that starts at about $500 million (or so) per kilobyte. It also lets me enable and disable my mail accounts, so the iPhone works perfectly for whichever mode I'm in: intrepid TUAW blogger at large or private Soccer Mom on the go. Othello. Othello is my current fidget-game-on-the-go. When I'm stuck waiting somewhere for a few minutes, I pull out Hongtao Guo's perfect take on Othello. With three playing levels, optional sound and a really nicely designed interface, Othello provides the perfect time waster. There are other free versions of Othello under various names on AppStore but I particularly like this implementation. Although I wish it would put me directly into the game board rather than the welcome screen, that's my only criticism of a lovely, free application that's a great deal of fun.

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    Buying Guides
    Buying Guides By Alberto Escarlate

    My Favorite Mac Apps: Erica's Take

    So Victor comes to us and says, "Quick, what are your favorite apps?" Without pausing to breathe or think, the words "OfficeCreativeSuiteQuickeys" tumble out of my mouth. That's because these are the three software packages for Mac that I cannot live without. These three apps are where I spend 80-odd percent of my working life. By the time I can pause and reflect, I realize that I have picked three apps that provide the least Mac-like user experience. With all the rich and beautiful OS X software landscape out there, I've picked the plain but reliable dinosaurs. They're ugly. They're ported (at least Photoshop and Office are). They work. This isn't to say that I'd change my list upon further thought. Between Word, Excel, Illustrator, Acrobat, Photoshop, and Quickey's Macros (so I rarely have to actually touch a mouse, eek), these packages get the job done. Throw in the equally ugly Eudora mail program (the original, not the almost unusable open source update that's floating around) plus Apple's cadre of less beautiful utilities, namely Terminal, Safari and TextEdit, and we're talking maybe 90% of my work time. Sure, I've used Apple's Mail, Preview, iPhoto, iWork, Pages and so forth but I always end up going back to the more capable name-brand power-houses. The user experience might not match the slick Apple software but my efficiency goes way way up. As for the built-in Keyboard prefs or QuickSilver, QuicKeys gives me all the programming control I need for creating and executing my macros. If I'm going to do a job more than once, I'm probably going to write a macro, whether it's sorting my mail or writing my TUAW posts. In the end, I'm really happy with my paleo-software. One of the big reasons that I'm still (still!) using my 733 G4 Mac as my primary computing machine is that I know I'll have to re-buy these programs should I switch fully to Intel-based computing. Instead, I'll hang with my favorite dinosaurs and keep getting the job done.

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    Space
    Space By Alberto Escarlate

    iPods rock the Space Shuttle

    Update 11/16/2008: Welcome Digg visitors. While there may be iPods on the current STS-126 mission, these photos & the blog post are actually from the March 2008 mission.Eagle-eyed reader Walker was perusing hi-res photos of the Space Shuttle Endeavour (which is circling the planet at this moment, docked to the International Space Station in low-earth orbit) when he spotted an iPod through the crew cabin window. It's a massively cool find and we thought you'd like to know it's not the first time an iPod has braved the 3G hurtle into space. When the unmanned Jules Verne spacecraft launched earlier this month for its historic docking with the ISS, it took along several commemorative items, including an iPod containing a special list of songs chosen by the winner of a 2007 contest. STS crew member Leland Melvin went to the ISS last month aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis, and he took along an iPod pre-loaded with his favorite Christina McBride album and a few songs he'd composed on the piano. For Charlie Hobaugh's flight last year, he let his kids load his iPod for him. (Wow, that's trusting -- he could have spent the 13-day mission listening to Alvin & the Chipmunks). Getting an iPod into space isn't easy. The lithium batteries have to be replaced with specially certified alkaline batteries. Once docked, crew members can't bring them on board the Space Station, however, since they haven't been certified as safe in that environment. Your iPod may never make it to outer space, but if you want to protect it on your daily land-based EVAs, why not wrap it in a piece of history? Get a case from everQuest Design that's made from a piece of the Soyuz parachute. From one space geek to another, I ask you: how cool is that?Thanks Walker!%Gallery-18395%

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    Smartphones
    Smartphones By Alberto Escarlate

    Bill Clinton: iPhone User

    You're standing in line when Bill Clinton, former US President, walks by with his Secret Service escort. Quick! What do you do? (1) Shake his hand. (2) Share a quick joke about Arkansas's night life. (3) Ask him to sign your iPhone. If you're B. Ioffe, the answer is 3. He writes that President Clinton shared that he is an iPhone owner; Steve Jobs fixed him up with an iPhone for his personal use. This of course demands the question: If ex-Veep Al Gore is on Apple's Board of Directors, why didn't he snag his old buddy an iPhone himself? Or, as Ioffe writes, at least a prerelease 3G version.

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    News
    News By Alberto Escarlate

    Who Is Hubert?

    Strange things have been afoot in the Mac shareware community over the past few days; manifested by the cute-as-a-button icon you see to the right popping up on multiple different sites. All we know about this cute lil' guy so far is that his name is Hubert.Oh, and he doesn't want us to talk about him.It's probably safe to say that Hubert is the brainchild of Mac Marketing guru Phill Ryu, and developer Austin Sarner of Disco and AppZapper fame is probably involved as well. If I had to hazard a based on what information we have, I'd say Austin is working on a new application, and a fun one at that. Maybe the OS X equivalent of BonziBUDDY? At this point, we can't do much more than speculate, but perhaps you readers will do some digging and find some info that I might have missed. Good luck!UPDATE: Changed the link in the middle of the post because apparently it now links to a porn site. Gotta love the internet. Link now goes to something a little more apropos.

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    Computing
    Computing By Alberto Escarlate

    Cook breakfast with your MacBook (just kidding)

    [11/09/2011: Source link removed, as the site is no longer online.] Everyone knows that Apple's Intel powered portable lineup gets hot, but this is insane! An enterprising fellow figured out that it would be possible to actually fry an egg on the bottom of his black MacBook. Granted, it probably took something like 3 times as long than if he had used a stove, but that's obviously not the point. For bonus points, keep your coffee warm by placing it on top of your MacBook power adapter. While obviously a stab at Apple for releasing such hot machines, I think its important to understand the fact that Apple has no control over how hot or cold Intel's processors run. I'm sure the engineers in Cupertino do their best to make the machines run as cool as possible, but there are some things that even the Mac hardware team can't do. Just as a bit of an update, since this piece has been picked up all over the net: This isn't really serious. Although it is theoretically possible to get egg proteins to congeal from the heat of a MacBook, the guy posted the story as a joke. That is all. [via UneasySilence]

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    Apps
    Apps By Alberto Escarlate

    MacDrive 6 - read/write Mac-formatted drives and discs on Windows

    If, for one reason or another, you just can't get around having to work on a PC either at school, in the office or elsewhere, MacDrive for Windows 98 - XP might alleviate some of those daily headaches you've been having. Recently updated to version 6, MacDrive enables Windows to open, read from, write to and even format Mac OS-formatted discs and drives (HFS/HFS ). While this includes hard drives, CDs, DVDs, floppies (uh, what's a flop-y?), Zip, Jaz, SyQuest and more, CD and DVD burning is only available for Win 2K, 2K3 and XP. The beauty of MacDrive, or so Mediafour's website boasts, is that working with HFS/HFS drives is completely seamless once the software is installed - no learning curve, no extra steps. While I (fortunately) don't have a Windows machine to test this, Mediafour offers a free trial (form link). MacDrive costs $50, and Mediafour offers a 30-day "Love it or Return it" money-back guarantee.

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    Computing
    Computing By Alberto Escarlate

    Chord Media Engine: 2.4 terabytes for $28k

    If you're looking to buy a Chord Media Engine, you're rich. Simple as that. We don't wanna hear about that upper-middle class business or whatever—this monster entertainment unit goes for around $28,000 (€26,303), and comes equipped with 2.4 terabytes of storage in a 6 x 400 GB RAID system. Yes, with that much room you can also back up 600 hours of your favorite DVDs. The box also supports output for video via DVI-I (x 2), Component, Composite, SVHS and audio via S/PDIF single RCA, balanced XLR and single-ended RCAs. In other words, watch out Kaleidescape, there's a new game in town, and they comin' atcha. [Thanks, Einar] [Original at spanish.engadget.com]

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    PlayStation
    PlayStation By Alberto Escarlate

    The transparent PSP optical illusion

    Unbelievable the things we find on Flickr just by typing some random tags. This series of photos uses the same trick as the one we posted yesterday, this time using a Sony PSP. We've tried to do this ourselves with different gadgets, but it's really difficult to make it as a self-portrait. 

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    Apps
    Apps By Alberto Escarlate

    Make Skype calls using your regular phone

    Sometimes when Skype rings we scramble to find the headset in time to answer the call. This wouldn't happen with Actiontec's Internet Phone Wizard. It connects a regular phone to a computer for making, and receiving calls using Skype. The box channels the sound through the phone instead of the computer speakers and mic. There's also some echo-cancellation technology that enhances the quality of the call. [Via eHomeUpgrade]

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    News
    News By Alberto Escarlate

    Yahoo and Musicmatch: Matchoo!

    The deal between Yahoo and Musicmatch has generated lots of reports today. This one from MP3.com has a pretty funny brand for the service: Matchoo

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    Apple
    Apple By Alberto Escarlate

    REM’s Peter Buck gave away iPods full of downloaded songs

    In an article about REM, The Guardian reports that guitarist Peter Buck filled up the iPods of everyone who worked in the recording of their latest album—Around the Sun (Dig)—with songs that he thought they might like. Personalized 10,000 songs mix! He recently filled up the iPods of everyone who worked on REM's new album with songs that he thought they might like - and considering iPods can take up to 10,000 songs, this was a Herculean feat of downloading. "He's become obsessed with it," says Stipe. "He has done this for everyone who worked on our new record, including the engineers, who he had only known for a couple of weeks. What's interesting is to discover what he thinks we should be listening to. Mike got entire albums by Miles Davis, for example, while I only got the greatest hits. [Via BoingBoing <- Thomas Hawk's Digital Connection]

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    Apps
    Apps By Alberto Escarlate

    My gripe with the hype around Skype and five good reasons why you shouldn't cancel your other phone services just yet

    I've been giving a lot of thought to all the hype that Skype has been getting as of late. So much has been said about the great aspects of Skype, of which there are a few, that in the interest of balancing this with a bit of perspective on the downsides, I thought I'd throw a few of my own opinions into the ring for you all to chew on. Before we can really talk about what Skype is, and why it's good and cool and innovative (oh...wait, it's not really innovative), we need to be clear about what Skype is not. Skype is not a new concept and Skype is not a replacement for your other phones. It may be good for calling your other geek friends (I do) and it may be good for calling your possibly tech savvy parents in Florida, but don't try calling grandma or grandpa. I'm not trying to bash Skype here. I think it's an interesting and innovative solution in the sense that, well, it's free, but it's not the first of its kind. Ever heard of Net2Phone or the more or less defunctNetMeetingwhich also added video conferencing but never got around to allowing you to call peoples land lines? There are others as well. Not to mention the recent offering from BT / Yahoo.

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    Tomorrow
    Tomorrow By Alberto Escarlate

    Deconstructing the telephone: Lego Phone

    As one of our readers has predicted: after the Dellphone came the Lego phone. We are assuming that you can't transform it on a mobile phone but think of the possibilities—what would you build on top of it with extra Lego pieces? [Via BoingBoing]

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    Buying Guides
    Buying Guides By Alberto Escarlate

    HUGE deal—better than free iPods

    No need to comment about this huge deal: "Florida State finalizing huge deal with Apple to provide free copies of iTunes and 99 cent songs for students." A As Jason Kottke said: Wow! How will they keep everyone else from taking advantage of this great deal? [Thanks Andrew!]

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    Apple
    Apple By Alberto Escarlate

    The “French-born” iMac G5

    Peter Rojas from Engadget gave us the scoop about the new iMac G5 unveiled at the Paris Apple Expo 2004. Here's the scoop: it comes in both 17-inch and 20-inch widescreen versions, and it's an all-in-one with everything built-into the monitor. The 17-inch model comes with either a 1.6GHz or a 1.8GHz PowerPC G5 processor, and the 20-inch only comes with a 1.8GHz chip. All come standard with 256MB of RAM (which is expandable up to 2GB), and the 17-inch model comes with an 80GB hard drive and a DVD/CD-RW combination drive, while the 20-inch model comes with a 160GB hard drive and a DVD-R/CD-RW SuperDrive. Click to see some more pics.

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    News
    News By Alberto Escarlate

    Do you know the way to Mecca?

    Want to find the direction to Mecca? Need to convert a Gregorian date into the Hijri calendar? Feel like reading the complete Holy Koran in English or Uthmanic? No problem. The Ilkone i800 is a GSM mobile phone created specially for Muslims by a Dubai-based company, Ilkone Mobile Communications. The handsets will be available before the end of the year in Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia and India. [Via AdMblog]

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    News
    News By Alberto Escarlate

    Take a nap in the city that never sleeps

    The post-modern meets the art-nouveau. Metronaps is a futuristic rest pod available for 20-minute naps at the Empire State Building. Walk-in rates begin at $14.00 and if you're a serial-napper you can buy a membership starting at $65 per month. It includes lotion, facial spritz and lemon-scented hand towels.   [Via Mindjack]

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    News
    News By Alberto Escarlate

    iMixes used as protest against lack of indenpedent artists

    We had mentioned during iTunes UK launch that users were upset because most independent artists wouldn't be included in the catalog. Now some users are using the playlist-sharing feature to protest against the lack of indies by creating iMixes with titles like "iTunes needs indies!". As you would guess these protest lists are climbing up the iMix charts (in the pic above the IMix got 4½ stars.) I'm sure it will be a matter of time until Apple brings the indies in. I mean, if Steve Jobs really want to get serious in the European market.

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    Apple
    Apple By Alberto Escarlate

    iTunes already sold 800,000 songs in Europe

    European users have bought over 800,000—16 times as many as its closest competitor, OD2— songs on the newly launched iTunes stores in UK, France and Germany. 56% of the total (or 450,000) was downloaded by British music fans. Top selling artists were Pixies, Alicia Keys, Anastacia and Herbert Gronemeyer.

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    Apple
    Apple By Alberto Escarlate

    iTunes unveiled in the UK, Germany and France

    Let the price war continue. Apple iTunes service was just unveiled in an event that took place in London. Apple announced the launch not only in the UK but also in France and Germany. Another surprise is the cost of a song that's 79p, instead of the expected 99p (equivalent of $1.43, which is the cost practiced by Napster UK.) Some users are still upset due to the fact that most independent artists are unavailable at this time. According to the Association of Independent Music (AIM) negotiations with Apple have broken down with 'a number of its members'. As we've been reporting here there's fierce competitiion to get the biggest chunk of the European market — starting from Britain. Yesterday, Napster's British operation announced an exclusive distribution deal with broadband provider NTL. Napster will now be bundled with NTL's Broadband Plus service package beginning in July. Microsoft also announced an expanded alliance with online music provider OD2 to create a sort of music-service jukebox in Europe. Microsoft MSN's SonicSelector jukebox, already powered by OD2's and available in the UK, France and Italy is expanding to include Germany, Belgium and Spain.

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    Mobile
    Mobile By Alberto Escarlate

    How to quit smoking and get addicted to SMS in seven days

    A Spanish doctor created a method to use one addiction to cure the other; a service called SMS 5870. Here's how it works. During seven days every time you crave a cigarette send a blank SMS to 5870. The system will answer with information on the health benefits of not smoking. Assuming that you quit smoking after this period, the service continuously sends advice on how to fight anxiety and the cold-turkey in the morning, after meals and at night. Passed these seven days  the system only sends messages when the person requests. Detail: the service is not free, besides the SMS messages (0.15€ each) the registration costs 90€. [Via Adverblog]

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    Laptops
    Laptops By Alberto Escarlate

    40 companies are test driving the OQO

    OQO has selected a lucky group of 40 major potential corporate customers to test drive the OQO Model 01. They are pretty confident — and we can hardly disagree — that "OQO will sell every unit it can make during the first year or two." The Model 01 — which measures 4.9 inches x 3.4 inches x 0.9 inches — will, supposedly, be available in the fall. It will have a 1GHz CPU, 20GB hard drive, 256MB RAM, Windows XP, 800x480 Wide-VGA 5-inch screen, 802.11b wireless, Bluetooth, FireWire (1394), USB 1.1 and a digital pen.

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    Reviews
    Reviews By Alberto Escarlate

    Dyson DC12: a high-tech vacuum cleaner

    According to the chairman of Dyson Japan, their new product — the Dyson DC12 — "costs about three and a half times as much as an average vacuum cleaner, but that was justified by the technology. " And here at Engadget, we don't need any more justification than that. Although not robotic (you can't get everything you want!), the DC12 costs around $650 and fits inside a cube measuring 8 inches by 10 inches by 12 inches. Its motor is about half the size and weight of conventional motors but with 50% more power.The DC12 will be available in June, but exclusively in Japan.

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    Mobile
    Mobile By Alberto Escarlate

    TDK Free Styla claims to bring P2P to cellphones

    This Bluetooth USB dongle for PCs is exactly the same as the one you might already have but TDK is marketing it with a different spin. They're pitching it as a cheaper way to transfer downloaded pics and ringtones than using airtime to do it and that you can use it in conjunction with Kazaa and other P2P applications to download ringtones and other content for free rather than purchase it the regular way.They're also bundling it with a software application that helps users manage and sync phone contacts, ringtones, and text messages with a PC, and they're marketing it to an audience that has probably never used Bluetooth with their phones and PCs. Costs about 50% more than a regular BT dongle.

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    Cybersecurity
    Cybersecurity By Alberto Escarlate

    Law enforcement hard drive duplicator

    These spy devices are already being used by the police, FBI and auditors to duplicate hard drives in order to collect forensic evidence.  Logicube's new Forensic MD5 is a handheld IDE hard drive data capturing system with data transfers speeds up to 3.3 GB/min. The handheld has built-in USB connectivity and slot access to PCMCIA for laptops. It can also search for hundreds of words while capturing at full speed.

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