Archive for May, 2010

Apple iPad Reaches 2 Million Sold Mark in 60 Days

May 31st, 2010

The Apple iPad is a clear success. In just 2 months Apple has reported that 2 million iPad’s where sold worldwide! That’s exactly 33,333 per day. No wonder Apple is having a hard time supplying them.

“iPad™ sales have topped two million in less than 60 days since its launch on April 3. Apple began shipping iPad in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the UK this past weekend. iPad will be available in nine more countries in July and additional countries later this year.

While the device is not perfect, it is not going away anytime soon. We can only expect the 2nd generation of this device next year to be even bigger as a lot of people are putting it off at the current time.

Smokescreen A Flash Alternative

May 30th, 2010

Looks like (finally) a flash alternative is here. Its name is smokescreen. It decodes .swf files into javascript. Sure it’s not as fast but it does allow flash content to run on iPhone, and iPad.

Read more at Tech and Cover

Opera Parodys Chromes Speed Test Video

May 28th, 2010

Google did a series of Google chrome speed test videos earlier this month. The goal was to show how fast the browser was. unfortunately the stunts that chrome was compared to didn’t show well.

Opera has now released a video that parodys Google Chrome’s potato speed test.

Watch the parody here:

Watch Google’s version here:

Fix XP Boot (MBR) From Vista Disk

May 27th, 2010

I did a very silly thing this morning. I deleted my Ubuntu, and Vista partitions without fixing XP’s MBR. This basically leaves grub in rescue mode because there is no boot partition. I have the Vista disk but it was unable to fix the MBR or so I thought.

To fix the XP MBR (from a vista downgrade or whatnot) do the following:

  1. Boot from the Vista DVD
  2. Select repair install when the screen shows up after the language settings.
  3. Then open the command prompt aka restore counsel:

 Type the following: X:BootBootsect.exe /NT52 All

Note: X:/ is the drive letter where the Windows Vista media is located (the command prompt will show the letter).

After the computer restarts it should load XP’s MBR again icon smile Fix XP Boot (MBR) From Vista Disk .

If it doesn’t still work or you use Vista and have the Vista dvd then just use the repair startup tool 2-3 times.

Greenpeace Attacks Dell In Protest

May 26th, 2010

Greenpeace earlier today attacked Dell in an enviroment protest. The enviroment protest was Dell not meeting proposed deadlines for toxic product removal. Such as PVC, and other toxins. Dell also has a poor track record when it comes to recycling. Its free for Dell products, but not for any other products.

A banner was put up with the quote “Michael, What The Dell”. It’s quite obvious Greenpeace is not to happy with Dell taking longer then necessary to meet deadlines. Dell says it has deadlines to remove toxins from its products but it could be months to years away.

In the meantime most Apple products are completely toxin free. Apple seems to be the only company that is taking a firm stance in removing all bad chemicals from all its products sooner than later.

You can read more at cnet.

Google Pacman Now A Feature

May 25th, 2010

Google pacman on Google’s homepage was an extreme success. It was on Google’s homepage on May 23-24. Google pacman took weeks to design and costed Google a fortune. Since it was a happy 30th birthday for the game, I’m sure it was worth it.

It was a runaway success for Google. So much so Google’s made it a home. If you visit Google’s Pacman you will see it’s now a Google game. So if you’d ever like to play the old game you always can.

Android 2.2 and Flash 10.1 Slow Down Web Browsing

May 24th, 2010

It came to no surprise to me when Mac rumors reported that Flash 10.1 in Android 10.1 slowed down web browsing significantly.

Tests show that scrolling and browsing is significantly impaired when viewing with flash.

Guess steve jobs was right.

Get a Mac Ads Are Now Why You’ll Love a Mac

May 21st, 2010

Remember the get the mac attack ads? Well remember no more as they are no more.

Apple has cancelled Get a Mac ads for a much more laid back approach.

The new “ads” are “Why You’ll Love a Mac“.

Unknown if mac video advertisements will be back, or just the product based ads.

The new format is better because it doesn’t take any real stabs, it just focus’ on the products.

Google Reveals Google TV

May 20th, 2010

Google TV is no longer a rumor. The long-awaited platform is finally here.

Google TV is like Apple TV, or Tivo. It connects your TV to the internet, allowing to do many more things.

Google TV will support flash, and a full internet experience, so its more than just TV.

See the video for more info:

Google, Opera, Mozilla Introduce a Royalty Free Codec WebM

May 19th, 2010

Well the HTML5 wars maybe over. H.264 is OK, but it has royalty issues. Not WebM. WebM uses VP8 (which Google Acquired), Vorbis Audio, and a special container. This means you can view HTML5 videos with no issue 10 years down the road of who can use it, and if it will cost money.

WebM is a project by over 50 companies. Mozilla, Google, AMD, Nvidia, Skype, ARM, and many others are launching partners. Flash will even support VP8!

Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox 4, and Opera nightly builds support the codec. YouTube will also support WebM. In fact if you use a nightly build brower, and add &webm=1 to the url (you will need to be in the HTML5 beta) you will see YouTube videos in WebM.

Hopefully Microsoft, and Apple are behind this so that it can take off with HTML5.

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