Technology

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RockMelt: A New Browser? A Planet Vaporizing Death Ray?

[ 3 Comments ]Posted on August 18, 2009 by admin in Technology

Tuesday, August 18th, 2009

I know the answer, but if I told you, I’d have to kill you.

The mysterious new startup RockMelt is creating more of a subdued hum than an actual buzz with their mysterious press leakage. Is it a browser? A social networking tool? A planet-vaporizing death ray? The most informed guess so far is that it’s an all new browser built from the ground up to more effectively take advantage of social networking and the social web. The fact that Marc Andreessen (creator of Netscape Navigator) has invested in the company has fueled speculation that it’s some kind of all-around Firefox/Google Chrome/IE Killer. But why would Andreessen back a new browser, especially in light of remarks like those of Xoogler-turned-venture capitalist Salman Ullah (say that name out loud for a good laugh) in this Esquire piece a while back in which, when told that the next pitch he was going to hear was for a browser, he said “Tell them to go fuck themselves…what value do I get as an end user? Why would I install a new browser?” Well, there’s a lot of quiet speculation that it’s just an irrational expression of Andreessen’s frustration with ultimately losing the Browser Wars to the Evil Forces In Redmond. But if the anger is directed at Microsoft, Google, or Mozilla, why does the RockMelt logo so closely resemble an exploding-Earth version of the .Mac logo? Read the rest of this entry »

iWish iHad a Mac Tablet

[ 4 Comments ]Posted on August 13, 2009 by admin in Technology

Thursday, August 13th, 2009

Almost as much as I wish the tech news industry would stop taunting me with the idea.


This Mac Conversion Goes A Little Overboard

I have no interest in owning an iPhone. I don’t go to meetings every day with trembling hands and utter “My name is Ian, and I’m powerless in the face of Apple“. I refuse to use iTunes, and I hate their business strategy and software. I get mildly annoyed when people tell me how I’ve made so much progress since I started using a MacBook (a machine I love, by the way). In spite of all this, I literally salivate when someone says “Mac Tablet”. I saw an Apple MessagePad back before I even used computers, and was dumbfounded when I finally started using a PC in 1999 to find that the product had been quickly abandoned. So will the world of tech industry and business news PLEASE STOP TORTURING ME? Industry sources have been saying “coming this fall” since around the time of this May 2008 rumor. Yesterday’s rumor is that they just shot an ad for the new Mac Tablet at a diner in Truckee, California. This all hot on the heels of the buzz about some mysterious “veteran analyst” actually handling the thing. To fan the flames of my lustful depravity, Mashable presented this comprehensive roundup of imagined Mac Tablets last week. My pick would have to be Tommaso Gecchelin’s flexible touchscreen notebook (pictured below), which most agree is an exceedingly unlikely Apple design. For now, alas, the only available Mac Tablet is the Axiotron ModBook, which somehow seems like one of those car kits that turns a Volkswagon into a sports car. Maybe I should’ve included the Mac Tablet in my list of Disappointing Technologies… Read the rest of this entry »

Google Voice, iPhones, And SpyPhones

[ Comments Off ]Posted on August 8, 2009 by admin in Technology

Saturday, August 8th, 2009

Google Voice is amazing. And creepy.

I just got an invite to try Google Voice, and after giving it a quick test run, I was left a little uneasy. I’m not really a tin-foil hat type, but I’m often reminded of William Burroughs’ remark that “A paranoid is someone who knows a little of what’s going on”. The uneasiness kicked in as soon as I clicked on the “accept” link, and had to decide whether or not to use one of my existing G-Mail accounts. Should I use my business account? My personal account? I knew that to test the service, I’d be entering both my mobile and land line numbers. Which meant I’d be linking pieces of my Google search history with my e-mail content, two phone numbers, and my name. And storing it all in one place on a Google server. I opted to create a new G-Mail account. In spite of Google Voice’s amazing features, I’m going to have to ponder exactly how to put it to use, because the same things that make it cool make it creepy. You can record calls, transcribe them to text, do conference calls, and even pick up as someone leaves a voice message, just like an answering machine. All in one place. Which is exactly the issue. All in one place. On a Google server. I know we’ll all eventually have shaved heads, a number instead of a name, and be constantly under surveillance like in the George Lucas movie THX 1138. For now though, especially given the random Google privacy blunders that have already occurred, the insidious behavior of AT&T, and the way Google is invading every aspect of our lives, I’ll hang on to the last shreds of my illusions of privacy. Speaking of AT&T and Google: although Google’s already found a workaround to being blocked as an iPhone app, we should be thankful that AT&T and Google are still competitors. Remember. AT&T’s a telephone company. Not a communications company.

How To Be A Robo-Dork

[ Comments Off ]Posted on August 2, 2009 by admin in Technology

Sunday, August 2nd, 2009

It seems the Segway was just a segue into even dorkier means of personal transport


This probably wouldn’t look so
cool if it weren’t shot in Paris
with a Daft Punk soundtrack.

I rely a lot on a rather sophisticated means of bipedal transport. It’s called WALKING. I have some issues with those clunky combustion-engine monstrosities that many of you drive, so I’m always intrigued with unique new methods for personal transport. The Segway – in spite of being an engineering marvel – has always struck me as almost comical. Unfortunately, in my quest for alternative methods of personal transport, comical seems to be a recurring theme. Although the man in this video is flying a fully functional Martin Jet Pack, he looks a bit like a hamster tied to a vacuum cleaner, and this man’s dream of personal rocket-powered flight somehow gives you the feeling it’s a one-way ticket. Speaking of hamsters, how about a high-tech human-powered Habitrail™?  While the monorail racetrack in that link is actually pretty interesting, it adds an extra level of humor by not even taking you anywhere. And while Jean-Yves Blondeau (aka Rollerman) has no problem getting places in his amazing 31-wheel roller suit (see clip featured here), he’ll always look like Robocop when he gets there. On the upside, while people with mobility problems have traditionally had to rely on clunky, strictly utilitarian electric wheelchairs, Toyota is developing the i-Foot, a stylish (if a bit too Anime-influenced) bipedal alternative. Alas, my search continues. Guess I’ll just have to go shoe shopping.

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Is The Internet Becoming A Giant Flesh-Eating Robot?

[ 1 Comment ]Posted on July 26, 2009 by admin in Technology

Sunday, July 26th, 2009

The human race. It’s what’s for dinner.

Great. Not only does the Internet eat all our time, now it’s going to start eating us. We treat the idea of a self-aware Internet as science fiction that only exists in the form of the Terminator franchise’s Skynet or old 70′s movies like Colossus – The Forbin Project. Personally though, I’ve been saying to friends for a while that the Internet already is self-aware. It’s controlling our time and modifying our behaviour slowly and subtly, by forcing us into social networking, mobile devices, and pornography. Sure. Go ahead and convince yourself that it was your personal volition that turned you into an ADD-afflicted, Facebook-obsessed, Tivo-ing, CrackBerry textaholic, but I’m convinced the Internet is slowly training us to communicate in its preferred mode – text and images. And apparently I’m not too crazy for pondering this line of thought. Two respected scientists in this NewScientist article say that a self-aware Internet may already exist, and there was recently a serious scientific summit addressing the concern that machines may soon outsmart man. Combine this with the fact that military researchers are developing corpse-eating robots (which of course the company involved immediately denied, claiming they’re vegetarians) and you have some pretty scary scenarios brewing, even if they seem a little silly at the moment. Read the rest of this entry »

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