Musings » Tech Articles

Telescopic eye implants

cckid — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 18:57:07 +0000

Sounds like major progress is being made in the field of vision repair and restauration. I wonder what kinds of awesome things we’ll have in our lifetimes! Someday, maybe, we’ll be able to see through things…maybe? In any event, this is pretty awesome for folks who know someone with Macular Degeneration.

In the works for well over a year, and approved by the FDA a couple days ago, VisionCare Ophthalmic Technologies’ implantable miniature telescope is intended for patients over 75 years of age who are suffering from end-stage macular degeneration.

http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/08/telescopic-eye-implant-approved-by-the-fda/

TiVo Monthly Service Fee is a Scam?

cckid — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 18:25:13 +0000

I’ll admit it, I went to tivo.com today and looked at their new highly-anticipated device named the “Premiere”. I think the design is beautiful and having seen TiVo’s in the past, I can imagine that the interface and the actual device is going to blow away any DVR currently offered by cable or satellite companies. I know I’m very disappointed with my DVR from DirecTV. It’s sluggish, the search feature is almost laughable, is slow (did I say that already? oops…), the fast forward feature is awkward, I get artifacts in my recordings, and sometimes a whole recording is rendered useless because of some malfunction or another. Most of the time it works ok, but it is not a fun device to operate.

Maybe this post is coming from a little jealousy. If the TiVo worked with DirecTV I would probably want one. But there’s no way that I would ever pay $500 for the device and then pay $399 for their lifetime (of the device!) subscription or opt for the $12.99 monthly fee. That’s basically $900 for something that should “only” cost $500. I mean, the device will do all the work. The most that would have to be provided by TiVo are the TV listings. Like I tweeted today, it’s like me selling you a cake and then charging you for every bite. Maybe more appropriate would be like selling you a car and then charging you every time you got behind the wheel. Doesn’t that sound ludicrous? Why should you have to pay for something you’ve already paid?! It’s not like the cable or satellite companies charge you a use fee on top of the rental fee…right?

I get it, TiVo was an innovation when it first came out in 1999/2000 and now DVR is a necessity in most homes. Still, I think that this double-billing should be examined. If I were a TiVo user, I’d be furious and outraged.

Google doesn’t have to remember your search history

cckid — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 18:45:08 +0000

Let’s face it, you Google. I Google. My wife Googles. My parents Google. Everyone I know Googles. Most people Google a LOT. My wife is a pseudo Google-holic. If you have a Google account (i.e. Gmail, Blogger, Youtube, Picasa, Orkut, IGoogle, Google Anaytics, etc), Google keeps your search history. Everything you search for, including image and video searches is kept.
Click here to see your Google search trends.
From there, you can see your search graph detailing when you search. If you click on the “web” link of the dashboard, you’ll also see WHAT you search for.
I’m not sure what happens to all that information. I’m sure Google bundles it up and keeps some kind of statistic about what people are looking for. Maybe they even use it to help them create their year end Zeitgeist.
Regardless, if you want to keep your Google Footprint (Did I just coin that?) small, I suggest going through your Google Dashboard, removing any services you don’t use anymore, and certainly clearing your search history.
Not only should you clear your history, you should make it so your history is no longer remembered. You can do that by going to your History manager and pausing it. This will keep your history from being collected.
Good luck and let me know what you think of this post by commenting.

Google and Verizon, Together at Last!

cckid — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 16:42:15 +0000

Google and Verizon announced today that they will soon be offering Android powered mobile devices through the mobile giant’s retail stores and online marketplace.

While this news is mildly exciting (Android phones ARE a lot cooler than any in Verizon’s current lineup), it brings with it a lot of speculation regarding the ever-elussive Verizon iPhone deal.

The Android phones are very powerful devices with many of the features adorned by the iPhone like touch screen, its own App store, wi-fi, and many more. Additionally, the Android phones afford the customers with features not available on the iPhone. The fact that it’s an open source platform allows for a lot of freedom in application development and how people actually use these devices.

Verizon is now on the offensive and AT&T is the underdog in the fight. Verizon is still seemlingly after the iPhone, though. It recently took off it’s gloves in an add campaign dubbed “There’s a Map for That” where they claim to offer customers 5x more coverage than AT&T.

Verizon’s deal with Google is a great move forward for the mobile giant. While it puts questions in the minds of those waiting for better to arrive on Verizon, it should be noted that Verizon is a company that stands to benefit a great deal from having the best phones around – something that Android could help them achieve.

Smooth Computer Reformat

cckid — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 17:34:13 +0000

This article is thanks to LifeHacker.
Whenever I reformat a computer, the one thing that I do (but really don’t like) is make sure that I have all of my device drivers backed so that after I reinstall Windows, all I have to do is install the drivers one by one.
With DriverMax, it promises to make this task a lot easier. Just export the drivers, reinstall Windows, and import the drivers to the new system. I hope that this program makes this task smoother. I plan to use it soon so I’ll keep you posted!