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Items of Note:
I am aware of the issues some are having with the feed, especially with Doppler. I am working on keeping my feed valid. Thanks to all for your feedback!
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Tech news:
Google rumored to offer free unlimited storage. In Google’s Analyst Day Power Point presentation last week, Google made mention of efforts that have been put towards “infinite storage” in terms of a GDrive. An excerpt from that day states “With infinite storage, we can house all user files, including: emails, web history, pictures, bookmarks, etc and make it accessible from anywhere (any device, any platform, etc). We already have efforts in this direction in terms of GDrive, GDS, Lighthouse, but all of them face bandwidth and storage constraints today.” The GDrive service will provide anyone a universally accessible network share that spans across computers, operating systems and even devices. Users will no longer require third party applications to emulate this behaviour by abusing Gmail storage.
Blackberry settles with NTP. Research In Motion and NTP have agreed to settle the patent dispute over the BlackBerry device for $612.5 million, the companies announced in a press release on Friday. Under the agreement, RIM will receive a license to NTP’s patents going forward, they said. The agreement involves a one-time payment to NTP. Even if the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office eventually overturns NTP’s patents, NTP will not have to repay the $612.5 million.
Video iPod rumor still won’t die. According to Think Secret the hotly rumored video iPod is still in progress and will still be released. Apple’s forthcoming “true” video iPod will feature a 4-inch display with a quarter-inch border, allowing the device to maintain dimensions typical of previous iPods, further sources have confirmed. That initial report pegged the new iPod’s display at 3.5-inches, but reliable sources say that after considering both 3.5-inch and 4-inch prototypes, Apple has settled on the larger iteration for production. The new iPod remains on track for an announcement possibly as soon as late March or early April but sources caution the roll-out could be pushed back pending an agreement with the movie industry on distributing feature-length content. Apple is said to be looking to launch the first movie content for sale on the iTunes Music Store in tandem with the new video iPod, capitalizing on the joint publicity each would garner while offering a clear incentive for early adopters to purchase the new iPod.
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Test a geek: This segment will return on a future episode of The Geekcast
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How To: Save a dying iPod.
With everyone owning an iPod these days, it’s only a matter of time before those tiny hard drives begin to see the end of their days. As time goes on, the wear & tear on the drive takes its toll and eventually dies. You can tell this is coming close if you hear the drive clicking or it doesn’t mount right away. What can you do? Keep on reading.
First, if you’re on a mac you should run Disk Utility (Applications –> Utilities) and verify & repair the disk. If you’re on Windows, you should make sure all your music is in iTunes and then format the drive using the iPod Updater. This program is freely available from Apple’s website. By doing this, you ‘refresh’ your iPod and can get the drive back into a usable form.
If the drive is still giving you problems you should remove it from the computer completely and let it cool down. Heat can cause many issues with drives. By letting the iPod sit for an hour it can cool down and get itself to a point where it’s more cooperative. If you want to speed this up, put it in the refrigerator for a bit. The cold won’t harm the iPod and can actually increase the lifespan of the drive. Be sure nothing will spill on the iPod and to keep it in a dry spot.
While all this is going on, you should begin investigating replacement parts for your iPod. These devices are easier to open than most think. The iPod separates where the metal and plastic meet. By taking your time and being gentile, you can get the case open. Searching around the ‘net will get you to many websites selling replacement drives and even services to replace the drive for you. Prices vary, so shop around.
This is a good time to think about if you want to increase the capacity of the iPod and also if you want to replace the battery. While the case is open, performing these upgrades and save you time and frustration. Most of all, your iPod will be good as new once you’ve made these changes and it’s much cheaper than buying a brand new iPod from Apple.
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Ask A Geek: This segment will return on a future episode of The Geekcast
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Hack: Gain 10-person conference calling in Skype
Big news on the ‘net this past week has been made from a coder named Maxxuss. He has found a work-around for the Skype limitation that allows you to have a 10-person conference call if you’re only using an Intel CPU. His patch allows you to utilize this feature if you’re running an AMD chip or any other processor out there.
Currently, Skype 2.0 offers 10-way conference calls only on Intel’s latest dual-core CPUs, while other chips, including all AMD chips, will only allow for 5-way conference calls. It is argued that only those Intel dual-core CPUs meet the requirements – which would imply that no AMD CPU is fast enough.
The patch is the result of two stages: code analysis and design of the patch. The code analysis, or reverse engineering, reveals the relevant code block, which overrides Skype’s limitation for Intel’s dual-core CPUs. The patch design isolates the minimal set of instructions that need to be modified to cancel this limitation.
You can download the patch for free from http://maxxuss.konglish.org/skype.html
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The geek’s view: This segment will return on a future episode of The Geekcast
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