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It is easy to Convert photo with hammacher schlemmer Converter.

shopon — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 15:08:10 +0000

This device quickly and easily converts photographs into digital images, allowing you to confidently preserve your memories for generations to come. Photographs are placed in a tray that slides into the converter, and the touch of a button instantly records the image to your PC via the included USB cable. Faster and easier than a conventional scanner, the converter instantly captures the whole image using a 5MP CMOS sensor, the same found in digital cameras. With up to 1,800 dpi resolution, 10 bits per color channel, and automatic exposure control and color balance, clear, accurate digital images are assured. Requires USB 2.0 and Windows XP/Vista (32-bit). Includes software that allows you to edit, crop, and resize your pictures. Accepts 3 1/2″ x 5″, 4″ x 6″, and 5″ x 7″ photographs. 6 3/4″ H x 10 1/2″ W x 8 3/4″ D. (1 lb.)

Disney Touts a Way to Ditch the DVD

shopon — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 00:00:25 +0000

By ETHAN SMITH

Walt Disney Co. is close to unveiling technology that it says will enable entertainment companies to adapt their business models to a new reality in which consumers increasingly rely on computers and cell phones in place of DVD players and TVs.

The technology, code-named Keychest, could contribute to a shift in what it means for a consumer to own a movie or a TV show, by redefining ownership as access rights, not physical possession.

The technology would allow consumers to pay a single price for permanent access to a movie or TV show across multiple digital platforms and devices—from the Web, to mobile gadgets like iPhones and cable services that allow on-demand viewing. It could also facilitate other services such as online movie subscriptions.

The company has been quietly demonstrating Keychest for other movie studios and technology companies in a bid to get them to sign on. It plans to unveil the technology next month.

Keychest aims to address two of the biggest hurdles blocking widespread consumer adoption of movie downloads: the difficulty of playing a movie back on devices other than a PC or laptop, and limited storage space on those computers’ hard drives.

As such, Keychest could put Disney on a collision course with an initiative, known as the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem, or DECE, that has similar goals.

Keychest uses the same “cloud computing” logic that underlies Web-based applications, such as Google Docs, permitting users to store files and photographs on remote Internet servers and access them from anywhere, rather than keeping them on their own computers.

With Keychest, when a consumer buys a movie from a participating store, his accounts with other participating services—such as a mobile-phone provider or a video-on-demand cable service—would be updated to show the title as available for viewing. The movies wouldn’t be downloaded; rather, they would reside with each particular delivery company, such as the Internet service provider, cable company or phone company.

The rollout of the new technology comes at a critical juncture for the movie industry. DVD sales, once a financial mainstay for Hollywood, have fallen as much as 25% at some studios. Blu-ray discs and digital downloads from sites like Apple Inc.’s iTunes Store, haven’t grown quickly enough to offset the losses. Blu-ray and downloads combined currently make up just 11% of home-video sales, according to industry estimates, with DVDs representing the other 89%. That proportion could grow to 20% next year.

The decline in DVD revenue has undermined the business model Hollywood has relied on for more than a decade. In Disney’s most recent quarterly earnings report, its movie studio recorded an operating loss for the first time since 2005.

Bob Chapek, president of home entertainment at Disney Studios, says the company doesn’t expect Keychest to deliver tangible financial results for five years. But he predicts that in combination with Blu-ray, digital distribution “should bring our category back up to a healthy state where we can expect growth in the future.”

The company declined to name other companies that may have agreed to participate. Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs is Disney’s largest shareholder, and people in the entertainment industry say it would be reasonable to infer that Apple would cooperate with such an initiative.

To be sure, other movie studios may be hesitant to put a competitor in charge of access to their content. And Keychest would allow movie studios to dictate how many devices, connected to which distribution networks, a given title can be played on. That could limit consumer choice and make the system confusing.

The competing DECE effort is being assembled by a consortium headed by Mitch Singer, the chief technology officer of Sony Corp.’s Sony Pictures Entertainment. DECE, announced just over a year ago, includes five major Hollywood studios, plus tech companies like Comcast Corp. and Intel Corp.

Disney and Apple have been notably absent from that group.

Disney executives concede that the Keychest and DECE have similar goals. But they argue their effort represents a more streamlined approach. Instead of designing a new set of standards and formats, as DECE is trying to do, and having participants sign on, Keychest works using a combination of digital file formats that are already common, and recognized by a wide range of existing devices.

Disney executives insist that movie studios, cable companies and Internet service providers who participate in DECE could also use the new Keychest platform. Neither DECE nor Keychest has set a date for when the service would be available.

With Keychest, when a consumer buys a movie from a participating digital-download store, his accounts with other participating services – such as a mobile-phone provider and a video-on-demand cable service—would be instantly updated to show the title as available for viewing.

The Keychest process is enabled by a system that generates a unique “key” when the movie is purchased, then stores that key in a repository. Other distribution services that are Keychest participants automatically query that repository and learn what movies the consumer has paid for.

Movies bought on discs, whether DVD or Blu-ray, could also generate an access key. In the case of a DVD, the user would need to manually type in a code; Blu-ray players are designed to connect to the Internet, and could send codes automatically.

The idea is that if numerous content and hardware companies sign on to Keychest, users could have easy access to a library of movies without toting around discs or data files.

In theory, even if an online entertainment company went out of business, taking down a user’s entire movie library in the process, that user would still have access to the same titles via other services.

“Our vision for the future is that consumers won’t have to think about where they bought [a movie], how they bought it, or when they bought it,” says Mr. Chapek.

Microsoft selling crapware-free PCs in its stores

shopon — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 23:00:45 +0000

The computers at Microsoft Stores don’t have the crapware that Windows PCs typically come with, but they still have an assortment of Microsoft and Adobe software. Most controversially, they include Windows Live Essentials and Microsoft Security Essentials.

By Emil Protalinski | Last updated October 28, 2009 8:15 AM CT


Not only is Microsoft reselling select Windows 7 PCs normally sold by its hardware partners, but the company is making sure they come only with the software it wants. Yes, that means that if you buy a PC from Microsoft, it won't come with the usual "crapware," though it won't be a clean install either. Microsoft is still bundling its own software, including Windows Live Essentials and Microsoft Security Essentials, as well as Adobe software.
Last Thursday when Windows 7 officially arrived, Microsoft opened up its first store in Scottsdale, Arizona (a second store is to follow in Mission Viejo, California). As expected, the store was stocked with Windows 7 PCs from various OEMs, and Microsoft even went the extra mile by selling them at its online store, though only in the US. It didn't become clear until recently, however, that Microsoft was doing more to these PCs than just picking them up and putting them on display.
The new "Microsoft Signature PCs" initiative means the software giant is removing all preinstalled software from the computers it is selling, and loading them instead with full versions of programs of its own choosing. We decided to check for ourselves, and there are indeed Microsoft Signature PCs from every PC maker Microsoft's stores sell: Acer, Asus, Dell, Fujitsu, Gateway, HP, Lenovo, Samsung, Sony, and Toshiba. They're all crapware-free.
For the uninitiated, "crapware" is the term used to describe bundled software, usually trial versions or unwanted programs, which other companies pay computer makers to preinstall on their PCs. This keeps PC prices competitive, but it also clogs up computers with useless… well, crap. A typical PC from an OEM can come with any number of third-party applications, many of which are a pain to remove.
Our favorite way to deal with such software is PC Decrapifier, a freeware program designed to remove or uninstall a specific list of unwanted software in an unattended fashion. It currently can remove a total of 63 applications (though this spans different versions) that it labels as crapware, eight of which are Microsoft's own software (most are Office trials). None of those, however, are being installed on Microsoft Signature PCs.
According to the Microsoft Store, Redmond is bundling the following applications on the PCs it is reselling: Microsoft Security Essentials, Bing 3D Maps, Zune 4.0, Playready PC Runtime (for WMC), Adobe Flash Player for IE, Adobe Acrobat Reader, Windows Live Sync, and Windows Live Essentials (which includes Windows Live versions of Messenger, Mail, Photo Gallery, Movie Maker, Writer, Family Safety, Toolbar, as well as the Office Live Add-In and Silverlight). Of that list, the first and the last are the ones most worth noting.
Microsoft announced in September 2008 that Windows Mail, Photo Gallery, and Movie Maker would be stripped away from Windows 7 and the company would instead be offering Windows Live versions of the products as part of Windows Live Essentials. The company said it would not force (but would encourage) OEMs to include the suite on new PCs, and it would be including links in Windows 7 to download it. Microsoft Security Essentials, on the other hand, does not have its own download link in Windows 7, and the company said the software was being specifically targeted at users who did not already have an antivirus. Microsoft also said it was perfectly happy with consumers choosing other security software, as long as they were protected.
While slightly different decisions were made for the two Essential suites, Microsoft's reasoning for both has been quite clear: no deals regarding bundling in order to avoid antitrust issues at all costs. It looks like Microsoft has found a loophole for its own rule. The company's lawyers have apparently come to the conclusion that Microsoft as a retailer won't have to worry about antitrust issues when including its own software on PCs that it sells.
Most Windows PCs will of course not be purchased from Microsoft stores, so the initiative will only really be successful if users see real value in the software Redmond is preinstalling. We personally prefer the software that is being offered on Microsoft Signature PCs compared to the usual crapware, as there are no trial versions and most of it we install on the Windows PCs we encounter anyway. That said, we would still end up uninstalling some of the applications Microsoft is listing.
In March 2008, Sony decided to offer consumers the opportunity to pay $50 to get a PC without all the useless software installed. The test didn't get very far though; the company killed it after the move raised the question as to whether or not crapware is acceptable at all. Microsoft has been angered by crapware on machines for ages, but it particularly got annoyed in January 2007, at the start of the Vista age.

The company made a lot of changes in the development of Windows 7 and marketing of Windows 7; now it appears the company is trying to change the software that comes with Windows 7. It's a shame that OEMs are unlikely follow suit.

Ballmer Launches ‘Simpler, Faster’ Windows 7

shopon — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 02:17:24 +0000

Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer officially unveiled the company’s new Windows 7 operating system at a Thursday launch event in Manhattan.

“I’m Steve Ballmer and I’m a Windows 7 PC,” he announced.

The idea behind the new OS is to make computing “simpler, faster, more responsive,” he said. That was possible thanks to an “intense collaboration” between Microsoft and its partners – 50,000 software, hardware, and peripheral vendors, as well as 8 million beta testers, he said.

“Windows needs to be an incredible opportunity for innovation, for hardware companies [and] software companies, and it needs to be a place that is simple and easy to use and opens up the world of diverse innovation … in a way that is manageable and consumable by billions of people around the world,” Ballmer said.

Ballmer pointed to three key components of the OS: it works in the way you want it to work, it simplifies, and it enables new technologies.
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Users want their PC to fire up quickly, to be responsive, and have a longer battery life, and “I think we’ve accomplished that” with Windows 7, Ballmer said.

“The things that you do all the time need to be simpler,” Ballmer said. “You want to manage the windows on your desktop [and] make that stuff super, super simple.”

New technologies include the OSes multi-touch computing capabilities, he said.

“Frankly, there’s more you can do with this system,” Ballmer said. “Ninety-five times out of 100, if people have a choice, they choose a PC.”

Microsoft announced that next month, Amazon will launch a beta version of the Kindle Reader for Windows 7, which will allow users to peruse books using multi-touch. Scroll through a book with the touch of a finger, and zoom in or out by pinching the screen.

“From the end-user perspective, you get dozens or hundreds of new features – everybody finds their own unique set of features to fall in love with,” he said.

Ballmer was introduced by Kylie, the precocious five-year-old who is the star of Microsoft’s latest ad campaign. “You were late,” she informed him when Ballmer asked if she had enjoyed their meeting yesterday. He blamed airport delays and then presented her with a pink netbook as a consolation prize.

Is the World Ready for 3D Laptops? Ask Acer

shopon — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 01:17:46 +0000

I’m all for technology advancements–a new OS, a slicker smartphone, Tang, whatever. Now Acer’s making an odd-but-interesting bet with its new Aspire 5738DG laptop: a 3D display. Yep, the future is now–watch out for flying DeLoreans!

Before I crack any more jokes, let me explain what goes into Acer’s 3D technology. Ray Sawall, senior manager of product marketing for Acer America, took a few minutes to break it down for me. Forget fancy proprietary names (TriDef 3D screen!), what’s at work here are polarized plastic shades, a 60-Hz polarized display, and software working in tandem to trick the image into seeming three-dimensional.

With 3D movies (like, say, Monsters vs. Aliens), it works. It also does the best it can to represent 2D images in 3D. I haven’t had a chance to test it just yet, but the spokespeople say I need to check out The Lord of the Rings–and I will soon, since I expect to see a review unit any day now.
3D: Must-Have Tech, or Gimmick?

Obviously, the big deal here is what this could mean to gamers. I should know; I’m a card-carrying member. The video game crowd’s been chasing that 3D dragon for ages, with some of the best results coming from real-time strategy titles like Command & Conquer 3. Most recently, Resident Evil 5 is a great example of what 3D can do to make the action jump off the screen.

Or maybe Excel spreadsheets will come alive as you get lost in cells–exciting, I know.

Is 3D too much of a niche gimmick? I’m inclined to think so. 3D seems to be the new rationale to sell movie theater tickets, special-edition Blu-ray discs, and apparently PC hardware.

Even Acer’s Sawall seems to agree: “My gut is that [touch-screen technology] has more traction than 3D. Honestly, I’m not sure if there’s a home for 3D in mobile.”

Still, Sawall says the Aspire 5738DG’s been better received by retailers than expected.
Decent Specs for a Good Price

The Aspire 5738DG, available later this week with Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit edition, packs decent hardware for the $780 asking price: an Intel Core 2 Duo processor T6600, an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4570 GPU, 4GB of RAM, and a 320GB 5400-rpm hard drive. Stay tuned and I’ll give you the skinny on how well this machine works when I get my hands on it.

What are your thoughts? Substance, style–or something in-between? Hit the Comment box below or send e-mail to PC World with “ATTN: Laptops (3D? I can barely handle two dimensions)” in the subject line.

Need even more nerdity? Follow PC World Senior Writer Darren Gladstone on Twitter (gizmogladstone) for oddball links, 140-character game reviews, and whatever else comes to mind.

IBM and Canonical team up against Windows 7

shopon — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 00:17:09 +0000

IBM and Canonical, the commercial entity behind Ubuntu Linux, on Tuesday are launching a combined cloud and Linux desktop package designed for Netbooks and low-end PCs.

For those of us still waiting for Linux to hit the desktop, this type of packaging may be exactly how the move from Windows starts to pick up steam.

The IBM Client for Smart Work was first launched in South Africa in September and was initially geared toward emerging markets. IBM found that there was strong interest in the U.S. and other markets that had aging PC infrastructure and little desire for continued Windows upgrades.

The U.S. version of the package contains a number of IBM products including word processing and spreadsheets via Lotus Symphony, e-mail via Lotus Notes or LotusLive iNotes, and collaboration tools from LotusLive.com. As with the previously launched initiative, the package runs on Ubuntu Linux.

Bob Sutor, IBM’s vice president of Linux and open source, told me that the target is not a drop-in replacement scenario, but rather something for IT shops that don’t want to be stuck in an endless cycle of upgrading desktop operating systems and applications.

This is an interesting development for multiple reasons:

* IBM and Canonical are teaming up to bring Linux to the desktop, offering what could be considered a next-generation thin-client that relies on cloud services but remains based on an actual operating system rather than just running in a Web browser.
* IBM is targeting Windows installations in the co-opetition model the company excels in–effectively insulating itself regardless of who wins the desktop.
* Canonical is building a channel to deliver solutions rather than depend on individuals and organizations to roll their own.

IBM has been making some interesting moves of late, launching a cloud-based e-mail and collaboration suite to rival Google Apps and now a direct attack on Microsoft’s operating system footprint.

App of the Day Makes It Easier To Find iPhone Apps

shopon — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 09:53:25 +0000

Daniel Brusilovsky

TechCrunch.com
Sunday, October 18, 2009; 6:33 AM

The App Store is crowded with tens of thousands of applications, many which do the exact same thing. Just do a quick search on the App Store for Twitter, and you’ll find over 170 applications related to Twitter. But how do you figure out which Twitter application is best? That’s where App of the Day comes in. App of the Day highlights a different application every day for iPhone or iPod Touch users looking to discover high quality applications in the App Store.

Founded by Jordan Satok, App of the Day features community-nominated applications that get featured on the home page each day. Users are then able to comment on the application, and provide feedback for potential buyers.

You only get one nomination per day, reinforcing the goal of the site to only feature quality applications. Whichever application gets the most nominations, then becomes the App of the Day.

App of the Day also works directly with Gravatar, so users don’t have to upload their own picture ? their avatar is just affiliated with their email address, which they use to sign up with on App of the Day. You can find my user profile here.

The concept is quite simple, and is something the Apple community has been looking for. App of the Day provides quality applications that users want to use. Satok built the site in less then 10 days and it is hosted on the Rackspace Cloud.