Wifi TV Remote

Tvcompass has introduced a Windows CE-based remote for home theater systems. The “SR 1500 Digital Media Remote” (DMR) boasts a color display, wireless networking, and Web browsing capabilities, and can be used to control more than two dozen different devices at once, according to the company.

(Click here for a larger view of the Tvcompass SR 1500)

The SR 1500 DMR is a “white label” design that will not be sold by Tvcompass directly. Instead, the device will be marketed by satellite and cable operators, content distributors, and OEMs, Tvcompass hopes. Previous Tvcompass remote control designs have been marketed by Acoustic Research, Audiovox, and SMK Electronics, the company said.

The SR 1500 is among several DMR designs offered by Tvcompass. All have a “display, keyboard/keypad, and motherboard [that] are completely interchangeable,” according to VP of product strategy Jim Grotelueschen. This will allow vendors to customize the display size, keyboard type, and overall design — from “candybar” to tablet to QWERTY keyboard form-factors — he added.

In the SR 1500 incarnation, the DMR design resembles a cross between a typical smart remote control and a cellphone. Like many cell phones, it has a QVGA (320 x 240) color display, plus 802.11b/g wireless networking. There’s also a Web browser, with optional J2ME and Flash capabilities, and an RSS news feed reader client. Another dedicated client is said to support PayPal micropayment transactions.

Many smart remotes must be connected to a PC to obtain infrared codes associated with new devices. The SR 1500, in contrast, retrieves codes from a branded portal, Tvcompass says. The company also envisions other features, such as:

• WiFi network location
• Creation of personalized TV guides
• Wireless updating of software for set-top boxes (STBs) or other hardware
• Remote backup of user-created device settings
• On-screen display of content related to TV programming

TV Compass did not provide pricing or availability information for the SR 1500.

Wii for Dummies

Everything from how to set up your Wii system to how to use the controllers explained.

Set to retail for an extravagant $21.99 this book teaches you how to utilize the Wii for any situation, whether it be for social situations or one on one play.

Source

Laptop Project is Over

As some people may have heard, I have been trying to restore an old Toshiba Portege 7020 CT laptop to working order. It has 128 MB ram and a Pentium II processor. My grandma scored it off Ebay and used XP on it for a while. Well, it died and we decided to install 98 on it. It worked for a short amount of time, then died again. I have been reinstalling 98 almost constantly for a while. Well, today I got frustrated with Windows, so I started popping in Linux disks. Knoppx was my firt try and it didn’t boot. Then I checked the Knoppix cheat codes and found the “memtest” command. I was curious, so I tried it. It tested about 70% of the test and the laptop had a 0% pass rate and countless errors. So the project is closed. However, If I could find some RAM for it dirt cheap, than I shall continue (and probably succeed). To bad their are no linux distros that require no RAM.

Mac vs. PC review

I read a blog recently here on WordPress and they said a statement that is false.

They Said:
“Plus, Apples computers really aren’t any slower than equal value PC’s at Dell. For the same price, you get equal and in some areas better performance.”

I say, wrong! (See below)

Aluminum iMac
CPU                                           2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
Memory                                     2 GB
Hard drive                                 320GB
Drive                                         8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
Price                                         $1,799

Dell XPS 420 Desktop
CPU:            Intel® Core™ 2 Quad Processor (2 more cores than Mac)
Memory:      3GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM (1 Gig more)
Hard Drive:  320GB Data Security DataSafe™
CD Drive Speed: 16x DVD-ROM Drive + 16x DVD+/-RW (2 drives, 2x as fast apiece)
Price:           $1,519 ($280 cheaper)
Oh, and a 22″ monitor is included

There, in about 5 seconds I found a counterexample to the myth that: “For the same price, you get equal and in some areas better performance [with a Mac than with a PC].”

As Mythbusters would say: “Busted”

July Stats

Here are some stats about this here blog:

• The webpage that refers people here the most is still my old website (Go figure)
• My most viewed blog is my Download Windows 7 blog
• The search engine term that brought the most people to my site is :”windows 7 rapidshare”
• Total views: 1,767
• Busiest day: 54 — Wednesday, August 6, 2008
• Posts: 63
• Comments: 37
• Categories: 31
• Tags: 110
• I have had 148 spam comments
• And we have a Google Pagerank of 3 (in June, we had 0)!

My New WiiWare Games: A Quick Glance

Well, I recently aquired four Wiiware games:

• Lostwinds
• Pirates: The Key of Dreams
• My Pokemon Ranch
• Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King

Here are my quick little tidbits about the games:

• Lostwinds makes me think of a sidescrolling LoZ game.
• Pirates: The Key of Dreams sounds fun, is a little fun, but the level by level method is annoying. I would have preferred a free roam.
• My Pokemon Ranch is pretty useless unless you need a place to store your extra 1000 Pokemon. However, it does give you goals to help you complete your Pokedex.
• And My Life as a King is a very fun game – probably my favorite out of the bunch. Game play is cool but can be tedious at times.
• Lostwinds is okay, but I can’t seem to sit down and just play for a while, like Loz games.

$1000 iPhone App

Developed by a German software develpor, Armin Heinrich, the app actually does a little something and its not exactly worth $1,000. Its actual price is $999.99 (which is the maximum a developer can charge for a single iPhone app) and the little something that the app does is make appear a red icon on the iPhone home screen. That right! It does absolutely nothing except showing that red ruby! The brains these Germans have!

But the really good thing is that 8 people actually bought the app in the first 24 hours of its release! [6 people from USA, 1 from Germany and 1 from France]. Seems like there are people out there who don’t mind spending a thousand dollars just for kicks..

The app has been removed by Apple from the phone’s app store. It looks like someone bought the app accidentally, thinking that it is a joke, and then posted this complaint on the store: “I saw this app with a few friends and we jokingly clicked ‘buy’
thinking it was a joke, to see what would happen. … THIS IS NO JOKE…DO NOT BUY THIS APP AND APPLE PLEASE REMOVE THIS FROM THE APP STORE,”.

Well, tough luck for the guy!

Classic and Gamecube Controllers Getting Banned

Texans are strong, dedicated people. Not for the obvious reasons. Texan based Anascape Ltd. sued Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony back in 2006 quoting an infringed intellectual property that relates to the joystick featured on all three company’s controllers. Microsoft and Sony settled out of court. Nintendo didn’t. The two went toe to toe in the house of justice and Nintendo came out the loser. The judge ruled that the Big N owed $21 million to Anascape Ltd.

Nintendo didn’t pay the fine and stated they would appeal. Today, Anascape Ltd. won again; U.S. District Judge Ron Clark is issuing a ban tomorrow prohibiting Nintendo from selling any GameCube, Classic, or Wavebird Controllers that infringe on the original IP. The ban will be in effect as Nintendo takes the case to Federal Courts and attempts to fight the lawsuit.

Zune Theme

While I was looking for a way to spiff up my friend’s boring old computer, I stumbled upon this piece of software called the zune theme. It is from Microsoft and matches the Zune software. The cool part is, it needs no modding whatsoever!

Here’s a screenshot:

The Zune Theme from Microsoft

It is black, kinda like Vista; but without the lameness…

You can download it here:

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=75078

Or, if you have Firefox 3, type “Zune Theme” in the Address Bar.

August Announcement

I have finally fully returned! Now the blogs shall continue.

Keep comming Back!