Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Tech Review NAS: Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Toshiba Canvio HDTC610XS3B1 1TB USB 3.0/2.0 Portable Hard Drive - Silver ($110)

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  • Sweet little drive
  • $50 per TB
  • USB 3.0






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Thursday, January 12, 2012

Tech Review: Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Army to march with Androids, and other feds could follow


  • security
  • authentication
  • logistics
  • identity verification
  • services (Army) want to reduce cost
    • $1 trillion in potential budget cuts
  • access to unclassified info
  • SPAWAR (?)
  • hardened kernel for Android mobile operating system (sic.)
  • allow soldiers to connect their smart phones to tactical and mission command and control systems
  • secure Android kernel
    • evaluated by NSA
    • issued a Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 140-2 certification
      • Dec. 2011
      • Allows Suite B encryption certification
    • Plan to moved to next level to connect into military networks at the secret level
      • April 2012
"A key driver for project is the need to access information stored within military mission command systems such as the Force XXI Battle Command Brigade and Below (FBCB2) and the Advanced Field Artillery Tactical Data System (AFATDS), he said. FBCB2 is the Army and Marine Corp's mobile command and control system and AFATDS is the DOD's primary tool for battlefield fire support."
  • Motorola's AME 1000 Secure Mobile Telephony Solution 

Air Force wants wearable computers


  • {unless the is combined to some battle armor or exoskeleton, no way it will work.}
  • {Sure give me some money and I will try to develop it too.}
  • {Unless the is some sort of battle armor, i.e. protects the solder or helps the move faster, no way.}
  • list some of the problems the Army had and why they have move to smart phones.

Kinect for Windows, free software kit to drop Feb. 1

  • natural user interfaces sensor
  • 18 million devices sold
  • Xbox 360

Logo openkinect shaded.svg

  • free, open source libraries to enable Kinect to work with Windows, Linux and Mac.
  • nice Ubuntu install instructions
Androids that Support Skype

  • list of phones
  • Android 2.2 and above
    • install
    • "enable video calling"
      • if the phone doesn't have this option
        • doesn't meet requirements to make Skype video calls
  • Skype 2.1

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  • This is what I should have bought for Dolores

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  • a 2TB drive back in the $50 per TB range.  
  • A welcome sight

Linux Kernel 3.2 Officially Lands in Ubuntu 12.04 LTS

  • better support of large files
    • up to 1MB  on EXT 4
  • I/O-less dirty throttling
  • cross memory attach

Motorola: Carriers 'don't want' stock Android phones

  • running stock Android
    • unaltered Android
  • carriers don't want stock phones
  • most changes to stock are requested by carrier
  • different each carrier from the competition
  • Motorola not shipping unlocked bootloaders

Case Logic VHS-101 Portable Hard Drive Case: $8.84


Case Logic VHS-101 Portable Hard Drive Case

  • should fit my new drive

Kinect Sensor with Kinect Adventures (Xbox 360): $119 ($250 for PC)


Kinect Sensor with Kinect Adventures (Xbox 360)
  • what are the implications of this technology?
  • is the camera resolution really good enough to do something with?

How ads undermine Android security


Almost all free aps are major info grabbers.

  • put on system by
    • manufacturer
    • carriers 
  • Adds on app have same permission as app.

Virtualization doesn't fix all of Android's ills



  • Problems virtualization might fix:
    • Android fragmentation
    • update lag
  • Problems it wont fix
    • forward compatibility
      • {not sure why virtualization would not help for this}
    • performance
      • virtualization has a small performance hit
    • OEM branding and crapware
    • Carriers branding and crapware
  • things Google should do
    • virtualization
      • expected in 2012
    • minimum hardware spec
      • I don't really think this is important
      • I have changed my mind, this could really help if you know what hardware meets specs and what doesn't.
    • Get OEMs and carriers out of the picture
    • discourage locking bootloaders 
    • discourage branding and crapware
      • so long to the Amazon Kindle Fire and Barnes and Noble Nook

iPhone cannibalizing Android sales


  • October/November sales of iPones soared from 26% to 43%.
    • that is huge
  • Android dropped from 60% to 47%
    • that is huge also
  • Does Google need to wake up?





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Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Tech Review: Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Western Digital 4TB My Book Studio Edition II - Quadruple Interface (USB 2.0, eSATA & FireWire 400/800) External Hard Drive - WDH2Q40000N

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  • $331
  • Guessing that it has 2 TB drives in it

Western Digital My Passport Essential 500 GB USB 3.0/2.0 Portable External Hard Drive (Midnight Black)


Western Digital My Passport Essential 500 GB USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive


  • bought for $65
  • hope to install linux on it

DISA OKs secure Android mobile system for DOD





ZAGGkeys Flex Bluetooth keyboard for iOS and Android (review)

Image Gallery: ZAGGkeys Flex keyboard

  • $80
  • Nice blue tooth key board for both android and iOS
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  • $15
  • Need the extra space for my Android
  • Looks like the good deals are about $1 per GB


Boss Electric 2802 8" Android Tablet


BOE_2802
  • $110
  • I have been very disappointed with the bargain Androids.  I wonder if it is even worth buying them at all.
  • runs Android 2.2
    • gives access to a large segment of apps
  • 1.1 GHz CPU
    • should run most apps
    • really 
      • 800 mhz CPU
      • 300 mhz DSP
    • this could be a problem
  • Which way is the camera facing?
  • Can it run Skype?
  • Another China Android

Why Ice Cream Sandwich won't be able to save Android tablets

  • kind of a dumb article
  • I didn't know that Android tablets needed saving
  • His complain about interface in comparison to Apple might be correct, but I don't think his conclusions are


Should Amazon, Google & Wikipedia "nuke" the Web to stop SOPA?

Should the Internet powers nuke the Web to stop SOPA?

  • How big of a threat is the SOPA?
    • does it hurt us competing internationally?
    • is there danger of it law being used inappropriately 
      • strong arm for political reasons
      • ?
  • blocking Web sites that share media
    • what are the ramifications?
    • would be use to kill personal use
      • like iPad
  • Article simply says it it bad and everyone hates it without saying why is bad and why everyone hates it

Get a 1.5TB external hard drive for $99.99 shipped

  • I missed the good old days when I could find a 2TB drive for $80.
  • USB2
  • eSATA

Dell Precision M4600 Mobile Workstation


  • $3009
  • Extreme Quad Core 2.70GHz
  • Win7 Pro 64 bit
  • 16 GB memory
    • 32 GB 
      • $5,000 more
      • slower memory
        • DDR3-1333MHz SDRAM
  • AMD FrePro M5950 Pro Graphics
  • 750 GB 7200 rmp Drive
  • Blue tooth
  • Camera/mic
  • Can add Mobile Broadband for $125










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