i-eclectica.org

Given what M$ has become, it’s rather interesting to watch this ancient Steve Ballmer pitch for Windows 1.0. Apart from how pathetic Ballmer’s hawker performance is, I also wonder how much M$ marketing has changed in essence …

[via Geekend]

FogScreen is the company that changed projection technology forever – no more fixed screens. Instead, the FogScreen™ projection screen, produces a thin curtain of “dry” fog that serves as a translucent or fully opaque projection screen, displaying images that literally float in the air. It’s as simple as it is stunning. Using nothing more than tap water and ultrasonic waves, FogScreen projection screen machines employ a patented technology to create a smooth foggy airflow that captures images just like a screen. You can walk right through a FogScreen projection screen without getting wet. The microscopic fog droplets actually feel dry to the touch, just like air.

The beauty of FogScreen projection screen is that anything you can see on a computer screen can now float in the air. Otherwise it’s like any ordinary projection screen; installation couldn’t be any easier. Just replace your conventional screen with FogScreen projection screen. It works with still pictures, moving images and lasers. With two projectors, different images can be shown on both sides of the screen.

After a week or so of rumors about an exciting new “Google Phone,” the Web software giant confirmed Monday the details about its venture into the mobile platform, i.e. our mobile phone.

Rather than release one model of a phone, Google is teaming with 33 other participants, including carriers T-Mobile and Sprint, in the Open Handset Alliance to create a unified platform, currently named Google Android, for running software applications on mobile devices.

What’s that all mean? The big motivation for Google is that it will likely have its applications such as Gmail and Google Docs & Spreadsheets automatically built into a major share of new cell phones in the burgeoning market.

What’s interesting and exciting is that the platform–likely based on Linux–will be open to all third-party developers. Now, this is very good news! With any luck, that means that consumers will finally be able to choose exactly which software apps they want to use on their mobile phones.

Google CEO Eric Schmidt claims that “as a result of this platform you’ll be able to do amazing things with your mobile devices that you’ve never thought of.” The public will get a first peek at the possibilities for programmers with an early look at a software development kit for Google Android next week.

[via The Daily Download]

[ZDNet Blogs posted this little piece of useful information. It looks like I haven’t been conned so far, but I was always wondering how to tell apart fake from genuine cards - the link below could be quite helpful (although the scammers will have read this info by now as well).]

Posted by Robin Harris @ 6:29 am

If it sounds too good to be true, maybe it is

Counterfeiting is a huge business. Handbags we know about. Car parts, maybe. But flash memory cards? It’s true.

Flash is a brutally competitive business

Real flash cards - Compact Flash (CF), SD and the rest - are a great deal. Flash memory manufacturing plants cost billions and should be run at near full capacity for maximum efficiency. But flash product demand peaks around Christmas - all those cameras, MP3 players and cellphones - meaning a lot of flash product gets shipped at below full cost.

Translation: we get very good deals on real flash memory cards.

Counterfeits don’t give you what you paid for

The cost of the flash chip is about a quarter of the retail price. Packaging, shipping and margin account for the rest. That doesn’t leave counterfeiters much margin to cut costs. So they cut out the flash quantity and/or quality.

Flash chips are programmable devices, so small flash chips can be programmed to report that they are large flash chips. Or slow flash chips substituted for the high-speed chip you thought you were buying.

They also cut corners on printing, plastic molding, packaging and card cases.

Avoid being gypped

Ebay sellers have been a major outlet for counterfeits. An Ebay user has published a guide to the counterfeits to help buyers identify counterfeits - see FAKE SanDisk Ultra Compact Flash Cards Exposed - but scammers don’t like to give refunds.

Your best bet is to avoid counterfeits in the first place.

• Buy from established commercial vendors. Some scammers have had excellent Ebay ratings, because most folks can’t tell a real card from a fake before they rate the seller.
• Check out pricing on sites like DealRam or Google Products (3 star sellers and above only!) to find current prices.
• If a deal sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

The Storage Bits take

The plummeting price of flash make flash a great deal. Avoiding counterfeits make it an even better deal.

The (main) clip below is remarkable in many ways (apart from being long). It shows a person who is facing death in probably a few months time, giving his last university lecture in a in a lively, upbeat, humourous and wise-cracking, while exemplifying a deep sense of humanity, a passion for learning and helping others to learn and looking back at a visionary life whose contributions to entertainment technology will live on as a foundational legacy. This video is a moving and at times very emotional contribution to life - as a fountain of opportunities and a providore for brick walls that often need to and at the same time can be overcome, on the roads to making dreams a reality. Despite the length of the clip and some of the references to American culture, it is more than worth watching it for its passion, wisdom and touching portrayal of a remarkable human being. (The first clip is an appetiser, a brief Wall Street Journal summary of the lecture).

Pausch received his bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Brown University and his Ph.D. in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University. He has been a co-founder of CMU’s Entertainment Technology Center (ETC), a National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator, and a Lilly Foundation Teaching Fellow. He has done sabbaticals at Walt Disney Imagineering and Electronic Arts (EA), and consulted with Google on user interface design. Pausch is the author or co-author of five books and over 70 articles, and the founder of the Alice software project.