MP3 Players: 10 Years of Digital Music

MPMan F10This month, exactly 10 years ago, the father of all MP3 players, the MPMan F10, was released.

Initially presented at the 1998 CeBIT exposition, the MPMan F10 featured 32 MB of memory, which could stock around eight songs, and a tiny LCD screen. The gadget’s starting price was set at $250, and for an additional $69, you could get your hands on a 64-MB version.

Media players have certainly come a long way since then. Today, the most powerful iPod manufactured by Apple can stock up to 168 GB of music, or about 40,000 songs.

What will the future hold for MP3 players? If in 10 years, the total capacity of the devices increased 4000 times, would the future players be able to hold 672 terabytes of data? And would you be able to fill it?



Wal-Mart Ends Test of Linux in Stores

A few months ago, Wal-Mart started selling $199 Everex “Green PCs” in about 600 of their stores through the U.S. Unfortunately, it seems that the project was a total failure and that the interest of running penguin-powered systems among Wal-Mart customers was just not there.

Computers that run the Linux operating system instead of Microsoft Corp.’s Windows didn’t attract enough attention from Wal-Mart customers, and the chain has stopped selling them in stores, a spokeswoman said Monday.

“This really wasn’t what our customers were looking for,” said Wal-Mart Stores Inc. spokeswoman Melissa O’Brien.

Wal-Mart Ends Test of Linux in Stores



Study shows gamers get a thrill out of dying

By Mark O’Neill

Not being a gamer, I wouldn’t know myself. But according to Wired, a new study just out has shown that gamers get distressed at shooting their opponents dead but they get very happy when they get killed themselves.

According to the piece :

Ravajas (the study author) isn’t entirely sure why gamers feel this way, though he has theories. If we feel distress when we kill an in-game opponent, it may be because it violates our ingrained sense of morality; we know killing is bad, even when it’s virtual.

His much weirder experimental result, though, is our thrill at dying. Ravajas thinks this might occur because getting killed is “transient relief from engagement”: A first-person shooter is so incredibly stressful that we’re happy to get any respite, even if it requires being blown to pieces.

What do you think? When you get blown to pieces in a computer game, are you annoyed as hell or are you completely exhilarated that you’re being hacked to pieces by a two-headed monster with a bad breath problem and a bad attitude?

On the verge of creating synthetic life

“Can we create new life out of our digital universe?” asks Craig Venter. And his answer is, yes, and pretty soon. He walks the TED2008 audience through his latest research into “fourth-generation fuels” — biologically created fuels with CO2 as their feedstock. His talk covers the details of creating brand-new chromosomes using digital technology, the reasons why we would want to do this, and the bioethics of synthetic life.

Want to play God? Hold the Milky Way in the palm of your hand

I don’t usually fall for useless desktop accessories, but when I saw this 3D Living World model of the Milky Way, my brain started trying to convince me that I couldn’t live without one. Each 12 X 12 cm glass cube is created using real space data collected from Japan’s National Astronomical Observatory and holds 80,000 laser etched stars. Unfortunately, the privilege of holding a galaxy in the palm of your hand comes at a very steep price: $770.

[Product Page]

When Dad wants to be your Facebook friend

By Mark O’Neill

It seems that American teenagers these days are terrified of logging onto Facebook and finding one thing.

Nope, it’s not finding out that they’ve been slaughtered by a ten year old at Scrabulous but instead finding out that that Dad has sent them a friend request!  Oh shock!  Horror!   How will you be able to show yourself in polite society ever again?

What about you?  Would you be mortified if your parents tried to befriend you on your favourite social network?   Or would they be going one step too far poking you on Facebook?

Geek Support : Using your Blackberry as a voice dictation machine

By Mark O’Neill

Serge Nicaudie asks :

I have a Blackberry and one thing I would love is the ability to speak into it and it would write an email for me. Like a dictation machine. I also want to use it for quick notes to remind myself about stuff. Can you see if there is a way to do this?

blackberryjott.gifMark replies :

Ah! A question I can answer! It seems that the best option is Jott for Blackberry which allows you to :

reply to emails on your BlackBerry just using your voice – either speaking directly into your BlackBerry, or while wearing a Bluetooth headset.

It’s apparently free for the moment while in beta but will not be free when it comes out of beta. So get it for nothing while you can.

Has anyone tried out Jott? Is it good? Bad? What features do you like or hate about it? Can you suggest any Jott alternatives to Serge?

Do you have any questions for Geek Support?   Send them in!

Submit your questions to Geek Squad management

By Mark O’Neill

geeksquad.gifTomorrow, I will hopefully receive a callback from Geek Squad management in the UK about the possibility of an interview for GAS to address some of the negative comments that my last story received and about some of the negative issues about Geek Squad in general.

Assuming that an interview is granted, is there a question that you would like me to ask Geek Squad on your behalf? If so, please send the question to me by email or IM. Please don’t leave it in the comments here because if Geek Squad is looking at this site, I don’t want to give away any of the questions in advance and give them time to prepare pat answers.

Bear in mind though that we can’t really hold the UK office to account for the actions that their US counterparts may have committed or have been accused of. But any other questions are fair game (“question one : how much do you charge for titty pictures?”).

Just send them all in and I’ll sort through them all.  I am hoping to get an interview for Tuesday or Wednesday so you have a day or two to submit your questions.