What a bald guy told me about technology!

PayPerPost V4

noreply@blogger.com (SchanzerX) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 19:06:00 +0000

Boiled peanuts were the ceremonious gift

From 56K to DSL - Broadband and internet speed

noreply@blogger.com (SchanzerX) — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 10:08:00 +0000

My first internet connection came with a internal 56K dial-up modem. Back then I didn't use the internet as much as nowadays, because 56K is so slow, I can't hardly believe now, that it took half an hour to download a mp3-song ( I can't hardly believe, that it wasn't illegal to share music over kazaa!). In the 56k-days you didn't look things up just for fun, because you paid for dialing up and every minute was charged. I used the internet just for e-mailing and downloading Amiga-500-roms and I was online just every second day. My first flatrate contract was a bust, because it was a dial-up connection and the company sold too many flatrates, so almost every line was busy everytime and you couldn't hardly connect to web during day time.

My whole internet use changed overnight when my first DSL connection was set and ready. It was a 768k connection - a warp jump compared to the dial-up connection. So I got rid of the dial-up modem and put a network interface card into my computer. My computer was online 24/7 and I downloaded hugh chunks of files. I updated my DSL connection to a 6 MB connection 3 years ago and at first I was happy with the broadband, but Iater I wondered if I really got the full 6MB available. So I used a internet speed test like the one from http://www.broadbandexpert.com.au/. I found out that my provider couldn't provide the full 6MB at my house. So I changed the broadband company and I wish, there were more sites like http://www.broadbandexpert.com.au/ for easy comparison of DSL and Cable connection contracts.

Today it's not only about fast internet connections at home, nowadays you are able to connect to the web everywhere, everytime with almost the same internet speed like at home. For mobile broadband plans you can check http://www.broadbandexpert.com.au/ as well.

So If you are suspicious, that your provider couldn't provide the internet speed you paid for, check out: http://www.broadbandexpert.com.au/broadband/speedtest/

USB Gadget Of The Week: USBCell

noreply@blogger.com (SchanzerX) — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 21:08:00 +0000

What is the Universal Serial Bus all about?
1. connect a device to a computer
2. supply the device with power.

This week's USB gadget benefit from the power supply. The USBCell is a rechargeable battery and it can be recharged with our USB port.
We need batteries for all kinds of devices such as digital cameras or flashlights. If you have some sort of environmental consciousness, you use rechargeable batteries. Common batteries need a charge adaptor to get recharged, but USBCells doesn't. Just pop up the top and plug it in our USB port. It will take about 5 hours to fully charge a USBCell. USBCell.com offers a variety of batteries such as AA, AAA, 9V batteries and even cell phone batteries.

However I wonder: If you plug a USBCell into your computer at work, could you get sacked for stealing electricity?

Kerchoonz - When entertainment meets social networking!

noreply@blogger.com (SchanzerX) — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 12:26:00 +0000

Social networking sites spring up like mushrooms. There are the big ones like MySpace or Facebook and there are a lot of small social networks like Thoughts.com. But how can they all survive? Quite simple - by filling a niche and addressing the right users.-

And that's exactly what Kerchoonz does. It is the new place to be for musicians and music lovers - finally providing everything artists and fans could wish for.
What really makes it stand out in the crowd of networks is the possibility of not only listening to streams, but also downloading the music - legally and for free of course. This doesn't mean that the artists go away empty handed. They do not only get free promotion and an international platform to introduce themselves to new fans, they also get money if their music is downloaded. That's how everybody wins and I think that's just fantastic!
Here's an interview with the developer duo Indiana Gregg and Ian Morrow, and why they think that Kerchooze could solve the problem of music piracy:

For me the fun section is the great part - I got stuck there at my first visit for quite a while. I love those little flash games and Kerchooze offers a good variety of them. My favourite game so far is Cunning Stunt and you better watch out for Sparky - come on, try to beat my score! Of course Kerchoonz offers all the features you would expect from a good social network, too. Mail service, chat, instant messenger, inviting friends and starting polls.

So what are you waiting for? Stop reading and register at Kerchooze for free, broaden your musical horizon and ensure that your favourite artists get paid for their hard work!

And now excuse me please - I have to play another game of Cunning Stunt.

USB Gadget Of The Week: The Human Skull Drive

noreply@blogger.com (SchanzerX) — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 12:49:00 +0000

This is the first edition of 'USB Gadget Of The Week'. Every week I want to introduce a new USB device. The Universal Serial Bus is the source of a lot of useful, funny and wacky inventions and I will show my favorites.

This week's item is the USB Human Skull Drive from USBGeek.com. Halloween is already over, but the skull design is timeless. What's inside the skull? This is an ordinary USB thumb drive with 2GB storage. As a matter of course the USB Human Skull Drive features USB 2.0 and supports Windows Vista, XP, 2000 and Mac OS. And it costs $19.

Why did I choose the USB Human Skull Drive?
I really like the special designed memory sticks. And in this case I favor the little details of the Skull Drive: the detachable jaw, the teeth and the cheek bones. And as I said before, the skull design is timeless and definitively attracts attention. Two thumb drives up!

Neo Shifters - A browser-based MMORPG

noreply@blogger.com (SchanzerX) — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 09:30:00 +0000

Once upon a time there was a little planet. A planet torn apart by an ancient war. The evil Templars and the magnanimous Paladins fought each other to rule this world. And now it's your time to choose a side and enter the battle.

Welcome to NEO Shifters. A nice browser-based MMORPG for the younger ones. You don't have to download any client software; the whole game is played over the internet using only your web browser. Just visit the website and register for a free account and start playing.
The game is set in a Sci-Fi-space-world, so your char is a robot. First of all you customize your character. You pick a certain class such as 'Bomber', 'Warrior', 'Fighter' or 'Sniper', each class has pros and cons. Then you design your appearance by picking a mask (the face) and two colors. Finally you name your robot and get ready to enter the world of Neo Shifters.

Once you've entered the world you can earn experience points and hydrocells through mini-games, which are scattered all over the map. Boost your abilities and buy new weapons, improved armor and useful gadgets. You can also find webcodes to gain greater skills and arming. The game allows you to play in groups or alone and with the in-game-chat you can talk to all the other gamers.

Go ahead! Register now for a free game and try Neo Shifters yourself. Maybe we'll meet inside game, look for for my character: Rexel187!

My latest blog - 'Excuse My German'

noreply@blogger.com (SchanzerX) — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 12:28:00 +0000

I have to advertise my latest blog: 'Excuse My German'. Besides technology and sports, I have another topic to write about: 'everything'. From time to time I feel the need to rant. My friends often suffer from my lengthy monologue, but with the internet I can be ~~boring~~ interesting in a whole new dimension.

I built the template for Excuse My German out of this template. This was the first time I created an own template. Normally I took a default Blogger template and add third column.

I plan to change the logo every two months. I'm going to show you all the best of my good ol' Germany in 200x200 pixels. Check out the latest blog of Bald Guy's universe!

The XML Challenge - IDUG sponsors a big contest

noreply@blogger.com (SchanzerX) — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 20:36:00 +0000

The International DB2 Users Group (IDUG) is sponsoring a big contest - the XML Challenge! The IDUG contest is looking for the XML superstar.

If you're already a master of XML, XQuery or DB2, then this contest will be the perfect platform to present your XML-knowledge to the world. The XML Challenge addresses students and hobbyists as well as professionals. No matter if you have great XML experience or if you are just a novice, you can participate in the contest. The contest offers five different parts of varying difficulty. The 'Video Contest' and the 'Query Contest' is for beginners, because you don't have to be very skilled in XML and developing. 'Gadget Contest', 'Ported App Contest' and 'XML Contest' is for experts in software development. I think the XML Contest is the heart of the XML Challenge, since you have to develop useful, user-friendly XML apps from scratch. You can participate in all five contests and collect participation points. The contestant with the most participation points will be given a special prize and the title 'XML Grand Master'.

Beside the fame you can win a lot of nice prizes like a iPod Nano, a 80GB Zune or a new notebook. Maybe there are some job offers and internship from IBM in it for the contestants. After all this is more than just a contest, this is a chance to achieve popularity among the developers all over the world.

Even Google fails - Lively will be shut down

noreply@blogger.com (SchanzerX) — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 15:00:00 +0000

Two month ago I asked: 'Lively - Google's next coup?'. The answer: NO!

Lively was started about 5 month ago. Google experimented with this 3-D chatroom service, but now decided that Lively is no longer worth the time and money. Google announced that it will focus more on their core business: searching, advertising and creating apps. Read more about the end of Lively in the Official Google Blog.

Google encourages the Lively user to capture their artistically precious rooms by taking videos and screenshots. After December 31st Lively will be wiped out of the internet.

Farewell Lively!

Web Hosting Geeks - Information from geeks for geeks

noreply@blogger.com (SchanzerX) — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 03:03:00 +0000

I just visited Web Hosting Geeks. A nice site with lots of information about web hosting. The guys (or should I say 'geeks') from Web Hosting Geeks gathered a lot of useful information about the certain companies. At a glance you will find information about basic features like space, traffic and price.

Why is Web Hosting Geeks different from other web hosting rating sites?
The answer: the user reviews. I really like the different opinions on the same service. Every customer shares his experience with a certain web hosting company. Some people had problems with the customer support, others disliked down times while a lot of customers had no problems at all. Most web hosting services require 12 or 24 month prepay, so you are better off choosing company based on a lot of informations. Yes, the user reviews are valuable, because customers are honest and incorruptible.
Besides the reviews Web Hosting Geeks also features a nice tutorial section about web hosting in general and about finding the right web hosting service.

The 'geeks' created this web hosting blog for us: the customers. If you are looking for a web host, visit this site and find the web hosting service, that fits your needs.

NanoStation - a credit-card-sized external hard drive

noreply@blogger.com (SchanzerX) — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 00:17:00 +0000

This external drive has the size of a credit card. It is a little bit thicker, but nevertheless this is just amazing. We are talking about 60 gigabytes storage packed into a device smaller than a cell phone. The extricable USB cable is part of the casing. Put this hard drive into the pocket of your tuxedo and people will consider you as a spy like James Bond, because this piece of equipment looks futuristic.

This is Buffalo's NanoStation and it will be available soon.

Gun O' Clock - Shoot your alarm clock legally!

noreply@blogger.com (SchanzerX) — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 11:00:00 +0000

Do you remember the Light gun and 'Duck Hunt' for the Nintendo Entertainment System? Have you ever played Time Crisis with the GunCon?
Before the Wii Remote the infrared zappers were shaped like guns and I loved those plastic pistols. And now Bandai brings back the guns!

Yes, it is a alarm clock with a target and a light gun. When the alarm goes off, you need to hit the target to turn it off. You need to hit the bullseye once if the alarm clock is in the 'normal' mode, but if you turn it to 'hard', you have to shoot the harasser five times. This is the perfect alarm clock, if you are not a morning person! Start the day by shooting something...just wonderful!

C'mon Bandai start selling the Gun O' Clock in Europe!

Picasa - The best way of storing photos on a laptop

noreply@blogger.com (SchanzerX) — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 22:03:00 +0000

A good friend of mine just came back from his trip to Hawai'i. He created a blog and shared his impressions with his envious friends (that includes me, too). That's the good thing about the information age; all you need is laptop and a digital camera and you can share your vacation memories right away.

What else do you need? Picasa!
Google's media management software is the perfect solution for every laptop. It is compatible with most digital cameras and it detects your camera at your USB port. So it's pretty easy to import pictures into albums. Picasa also features some basic editing tools such as picture cropping, red-eye removal and switching from color to black&white. You can create slide shows and collages. With Picasa you can upload your pictures from your laptop to your Picasa Web Albums. Yes, Picasa is the perfect software to store photographs from digital cameras on your laptop.

Picasa is free, but notebooks and digital cameras aren't. So if you are looking for cheap laptops and low priced cameras, check out Savebuckets.co.uk for price comparison.

Interactive Mirror - Narcism in the 21st century

noreply@blogger.com (SchanzerX) — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 15:55:00 +0000

Touch screens or interactive screens are built in everywhere; Mobile devices, notebooks, mp3-player, cameras, even on household article like refrigerators. In the future most appliances will be controlled by touch screens.

But why should we use interactive screens just for technical gadgets? How about interior decoration? I stumbled over this little presentation of the Interactive Mirror and I fell in love instantly. Let me explain why I want the Interactive Mirror. We have some sort of interactive mirror already. It's a big mirror in our hallway, we write messages and memos with board markers on it. That's so 20th century, I want to take a step into the future!

Interactive Mirror from Alpay Kasal on Vimeo

Read the full story

The Truth about the Sega Vision

noreply@blogger.com (SchanzerX) — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 22:40:00 +0000

A lot of people still remember the Sega Game Gear and the Sega Dreamcast. And some weeks ago there was this rumor about a new Sega handheld called "Vision". Maybe you have seen this video on Youtube about the Sega Vision:

I was really excited about a new Sega gaming handheld, but I found out that the whole Vision story is just a hype.

Sega is not developing a new piece of hardware. They are happy to remain a software third party in the videogames industry. So who is developing the Sega Vision?
A Chinese firm created a cheap i-pod-touch-style alternative and bought the rights to name it "Sega" from the Japanese Sega Corporation. And here is another truth about the Vision: it is not a gaming handheld! It's just a mp3 or video player which is able to run Java games (like the games on your cell phone).

I'm disappointed right now, but I think the new Nintendo DSi is for real, so I'm looking forward to this one!

Gadget Advisor - A new site for technology news

noreply@blogger.com (SchanzerX) — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 08:46:00 +0000

We all know those sites full of technology news. I'm talking about tons of headlines and way too much news about computer hardware, gadgets, software to read it all.
That's why I like sites and blogs like Gadget Advisor.

Gadget Advisor offers only selected news and reviews about interesting, new and cool gadgets and software. You won't find lists of headlines with minor news or common press report.
The guys from Gadget Advisor try to cover all aspects of technology news like useful gadgets (i.e. this universal remote control) or multimedia hardware (like this network media player) and even online services (see the review of this online backup services).
Gadget Advisor is new, but I think if the authors can keep on posting good news and quality information, the site will be popular pretty soon. This is just the beginning...

Not dull but super - The Super Kid USB 4-Port Hub

noreply@blogger.com (SchanzerX) — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 12:13:00 +0000

I found a nice gadget on Gadget4all.com: the Super Kid USB 4-Port Hub! We all need USB hubs, but we don't need boring little boxes. And here the Super Kid comes into play.

The arms and legs of the Super Kid are flexible, a big advantage to the normal USB hub boxes. I like those little gadgets that bring life on your desk.
I think I try to get my hands on a Super Kid.

slotMusic - Will the music industry discard the Compact Disk?

noreply@blogger.com (SchanzerX) — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 12:46:00 +0000

In mid-October the music industry will introduce slotMusic.

slotMusic is a new format for music records. Actually slotMusic is just a mircoSD memory card with DRM-free high quality mp3-files. A slotMusic card has about 1 gigabyte of capacity, enough memory space for music, pictures, video, lyrics and much more.
You can insert a slotMusic card in a cell phone or mp3-player with a microSD-card slot and play the music directly from it. slotMusic cards will be delivered with USB microSD-card readers, so you can hear the music on every computer or mac, too.
Universal Music Group, SONY BMG, Warner Music Group, and EMI Music will support slotMusic and 29 records from artists like Rihanna, Usher, Chris Brown and Elvis Presley will be available on launch day. The slotMusic cards are expected to cost about $15.

The music industry fights for their millions and maybe this time we, the customers can profit from it. We will see!

Wordia - Dictionary 2.0

noreply@blogger.com (SchanzerX) — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 20:48:00 +0000

I found Wordia last week while I was searching for Youtube tools and tutorials. I stuck on the page because I liked the idea and I browsed through the different videos.

Wordia is a dictionary. But unlike an ordinary dictionary Wordia presents word definitions through video clips. Every user can upload a video and tell the world what he thinks about a certain word.

But I think Michael Birch and Ed Baker, the founder of Wordia, can tell you more:

There is also an interesting post on TechCrunch about Wordia.
I like Wordia and I bookmarked the site right away. What do you think?

Photosynth - a new way to show your vacation photos

noreply@blogger.com (SchanzerX) — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 14:31:00 +0000

Photosynth from Microsoft Live Labs is a new service to create incredible photo presentations. Photosynth builds a 3-D environment out of flat photos. You can click through that 3-D world like in that old graphic-based videogame called Myst.

Photosynth calculates the 3-D illusions by comparing the similarities in the pictures. And you need tons of pictures to get satisfying results. Some of the "Synths" consist of more the 200 pictures.

The whole service works with a client on your computer and with the servers of the Microsoft Live Labs. That's the main problem about Photosynth even with a fast internet connection it takes a lot of time to create a Synth. I started creating a 70-pictures-Synth and it took about 4h hours to get it done. You can watch my Synth of the football field in Ansbach , Germany here.To view a Synth you need to download the Photosynth plug-in.
The other negative aspect is that all of your created Synths are always available to every visitor of the Photosynth site. There is no option to hide Synth from the public.

Is Photosynth a great, innovative multimedia experience? Or just another desperate try of Mircosoft to fight the Apple and Google competition with buggy software? I can't decide, yet!

Do your FM radio stations broadcast digitally? - HDRadio.com will tell you

noreply@blogger.com (SchanzerX) — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 14:52:00 +0000

In the last couple of years Am and FM radio stations all over the U.S. started to broadcast their program digitally.
But how does it work?
Radio stations send out an analog and a digital signal. The digital signal is compressed and can carry more informations than the normal broadcast. The radio stations can send out song title, traffic and stock informations, too. All you need to receive a digital radio signal is a HD Radio device. First of all you'll need a digital radio station in your town, so check the list of local radio stations to find one near you.

What can you expect from HD Radio?
A whole new radio experience: new songs, new artists, new music, new formats and experimental radio programs. The sound is cristal clear like CD-quality. And there are no audio distortions, no hiss and no static.

What kind of HD Radio device should I buy?
HDRadio.com offers a big buyers guide, so you can find the HD Radio receiver that fits your needs. Take the Polk iSonic ES2. for example. A highly advanced HD Radio with an excellent acoustical system. It features a top-mounted iPod dock and a S-Video and composite video port. You can connect a TV or comupter monitor and watch video files stored on the I-Pod. The Polk iSonic ES2 also features iPod Tagging. If you hear a song you like with your HD Radio receiver, you can hit the "Tag" button and tag the song on your I-Pod. The next time you sync your iPod to the Apple® iTunes Music Store, you can open the "tagged songs" list in your iPod and buy and download the tagged songs directly.

What's the best thing about HD Radio?
It's free! No subscriptions fee or monthly bills! Just buy a HD Radio Receiver and enjoy the new era of radio broadcasts.

Swype - A new era for touch screens starts now!

noreply@blogger.com (SchanzerX) — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 09:35:00 +0000

I just saw the Swype presentation and it blew my mind.

What is Swype?
Swype is a software to input text via an interactive screen or touch screen. It was invented by Cliff Kushler (the creator of the T9 for cell phones) and Randy Marsden.
So how does Swype work?
With Swype you don't type in text. You draw a line from letter to letter and Swype forms the word. With this method you should be able to write 50 words per minute. Swype is similar to ShapeWriter (an Iphone software), but the inventors of Swype claim that their product is faster and their algorithms are superior to the ShapeWriter's programming.

Want to see Swype in action now? Here's a short promo video:

I'm really looking forward to the first cell phone or PDA with Swype. I want to try it myself!

Open Office 3.0 - The complete solution

noreply@blogger.com (SchanzerX) — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 09:15:00 +0000

Open Office 3.0 - the latest version of the open source office solution - will be presented to the public on September 16th.

I'm really looking forward to this day because I'm hugh fan of Open Office. It's the best office solution on the market and it's open source. And Open Office 3.0 runs with MacOS X and Windows Vista.

What are the biggest improvements?
First of all I like the new PDF file import option. You can open a PDF document and edit it. You are now able to open, save and edit MS Office 2007, ODF 1.2 and PDF files. And Writer (the word processing program) can now display several pages parallel while working on the text. Besides Writer, Open Office's spreadsheet program Calc is improved, too,there are more features and more security options. And you can now create bigger spreadsheets with up to 1024 column.

If you don't want to spent too much money on a Microsoft product but you need a complete office solution then you have to download Open Office. If you already using MS Office then you should try it anyway.
Open Office 3.0 is now better than Microsoft Office 2010!

Google Chrome - My two cents

noreply@blogger.com (SchanzerX) — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 09:33:00 +0000

Google Chrome!
That's the headline in every technology blog in the last couple of days! But today I won't write about the browser because I think everyone knows enough about the new kid in town.
But I want to point to one little "feature" of Chrome. When you download Chrome, Google assign a ID number to your browser. Chrome collects informations about your web surfing habits and in combination with the ID number Google gets a nice profile about you.
I don't suffer from paranoia, but I think it would be nicer if Google gives you a choice if you want to get a ID or not.
If you want to erase the ID number, than you should try UnCrome (unfortunately there is only a german version available!).
Anonymize Chrome or not...that's the question!

Lively - Google's next coup?

noreply@blogger.com (SchanzerX) — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 20:35:00 +0000

I rarely visit chatrooms. I don't like to type "lol" "rofl" and "omg" for hours without a real conversation. And I don't like those chatroom textboxes...red letters, blue letters, symbols and stuff - most chatrooms are just ugly.

And now there is Google's 3-D chatroom service called Lively.
Check out Google's promo video on youtube:

The visual appearance reminds me of Second Life mixed with The Sims. I think the virtual world of Lively is much more appealing to the eye than the old textboxes of the ordinary chatrooms.
You can design your avatar and your room and you can add a Lively chatroom to your website.

I don't know if I will use Lively regularly. It's nice and new, but 3-D virtual world or not...after all it's just hours of typing "lol" "rofl" and "omg"!