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Archive for December, 2005
Skype 2.0 Beta
The Beta of Skype 2.0 is available. I’ve tried it out and played around – audio quality is still excellent and the software is very stable. If you have a webcam and a high-speed connection, you can give the new video chat feature a whirl.
If you have an urge to represent yourself with an avatar, Skype provides custom WeeMees. Strange name and a high price: € 1.50 for a download of a picture. Why not put that “Prt Sc” button on your keyboard to some good use? Or head over to stortroopers for the same concept, but with a Creative Commons license.
New Mixed Tape
Volume 10 of the Mercedes-Benz Mixed Tape is online. Be patient – access to the site can be slow and you’ll need to persevere with the download.
They’ve also started offering podcasts and audio books. Check it out!
+Teamgeist
+Teamgeist: a curious name for an everyday object! It’s the official match ball for the 2006 Soccer World Cup developed by adidas.
Features almost as many innovations as the newest mobile phones:
- a new panel design, reducing the number of panels to only 14
- a new carcass to ensure optimal roundness (handy for a ball!)
- a new technique for gluing and stitching panels to prevent moisture retention
- decals and markings protected by a clear layer
As they say: anything to win!
Wardriving sans Pringles can
If you spend a fair bit of time travelling, or just want to find potential wireless hotspots for E-mail retrieval and other nefarious activities, the thought of starting up a notebook or PDA is generally enough to make you wish you had some other means of determining hotspot signals. Enter the wireless network detector.
The D-Link DWL-30 is such a wireless network detector, capable of distinguishing between true 802.11 networks and similar signals broadcast by microwave ovens, Bluetooth devices and DECT telephone systems. Operation is fairly simple: press the button and watch green lights move up and down. A red light indicates no network. Up to five lights indicate signal strength. The DWL-30 is small and very easy to use. The attached lanyard makes it convenient to carry around. In short, it’s not a hassle to carry wherever one may go.
In my tests, I was able to accurately detect the presence of wireless hotspots. That’s where the convenience ends, though. Since the DWL-30 cannot indicate whether or not the detected hotspot is secured or accessible, one is still constantly having to verify access to the network by starting up a PDA or notebook computer. In this sense, it’s definitely a first generation product. Useful to check the extent of a wireless hotspot, but not much more useful after that. I’d recommend the Canary Wireless Digital Hotspotterinstead, even though the price is almost double. The DWL-30 is useful as a wardriving tool, but not much more. 
PEZ MP3 player
PEZ, the Austrian candy, has been around for ages – since 1927 to be exact. To get jiggy with it, they’ve licensed their brand to Pat Misterovich. He’s created a MP3 player housed in the well-known PEZ dispenser format. Unfortunately available only to residents of Yankeeland, the USD 99 device features 512MB of storage and USB 2 connectivity.
No room for the candy, though…
Equity hiring
6 years ago
by manfred
in Life in South Africa
South Africa is not the only country in which employees are hired based on equity targets. This article from WorldNetDaily indicates that Canada’s Department of Public Works will hire only those people belonging to visible minority groups.
2006 World Cup group draw
The draw for the 2006 World Cup has taken place. Now teams know who they’ll be facing once the tournament kicks off in June 2006. Germany is fortunate, with no big names in their Group A. In fact, the traditional favourites (Italy, France and Brazil) seem to have similarly easy opponents. Even so, there’s a long history of tournaments in which the unknown teams cause upsets early on.
Photon
6 years ago
Nothing to do with Star Trek. Photon is the internal name for the new Windows Mobile operating system currently in development by Microsoft. Not much is known about it at this stage, other than that Smartphones and PocketPC’s will have a common platform.
Given the inability of new devices to be upgraded from one release of the operating system to another, I would suggest creating a slush fund now for a new gadget in about two years time.
iMON VFD installation – take 2
Note to self: in future, check the actual motherboard before making statements that aren’t true! Yes, the EPIA M10000 does have a 20 pin ATX power connector. Yes, the iMON comes with a 24 pin cable. Yes, you can fit the 20 pins on that cable into the motherboard! So: no converter needed!
I’ll put up a more detailed review of the iMON soon. In the meantime, I managed to install the hardware, fire up the software and start watching some episodes of Lost last night. So far, I’m impressed.
iMON VFD installation – take 1
This is the piece of kit that will make my media PC complete! A VFD (Vacuum Fluorescent Display) with integrated volume control and power button, IR remote control and media management software.
First hitch during the hardware installation: my ITX motherboard and power supply connector are standard 20 pin ATX. The iMON VFD uses an enhanced ATX 24 pin connector. So I’ll need to get a converter before trying this out…
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