HSDPA Embedded Wireless Modems

This sounds like a useful concept. Novatel has released two High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) PCI Express mini card modems for laptops which means that notebook manufacturers can offer cellular data options from the factory. Hopefully someone will find a way to either put two mini cards in laptop so we can have both wireless/bluetooth and cellular data connectivity.

Link: http://www.mobilemag.com/content/100/104/C3983/

Popularity: 1% [?]

May 2, 2005 | Filed Under Tech/Gadgets | Comments Off 

Mercedes CLK-DTM Pictures

This is one amazing car. Mercedes built a race version of the CLK-Class car to run in the DTM series. Only 100 units will be manufactured of which only 17 have been built so far. It has a supercharged 5.5 liter V8 under the hood that puts down 582 horsepower. It has a 3.9 second 0-60 time and an electronically governed top speed of 200 miles per hour (it can go faster). I thought I’d post some pictures that someone took. I also tossed a press release at the bottom for more information.


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May 1, 2005 | Filed Under Cars | Comments Off 

DVD Shrink vs. Auto Gordian Knot (AutoGK)

One of the guys back home was struggling today with the usual computer related tasks. He wanted to backup his DVD movies and use some of the songs in a particular movie for something he was working on. If you just plan on backing your DVD movies to a DVD+/-R, then you face a problem: space. DVD+/-R’s these days can only store 4.7 gigs of data while a typical store bought DVD is double the capacity. The solution is to use a program like DVD Shrink. The trick is removing the menus, extra features, extra soundtracks, and commentarys to try to get just the movie itself to fit within half the space. If it still doesn’t fit, the software can “shrink” the movie by removing data. This leads to an inherently less high quality picture, but for most users this is enough.

However, if you travel a lot like me, then you want to have something to do in an airplane that doesn’t involve reading the in-flight complimentary magazine or watching old rehashed movies on low quality screens. I could carry my library of DVD movies with me, but that is just one more item to worry about and possibly lose. So the best solution is to use a program like Auto Gordian Knot (AutoGK) which can take a DVD movie and convert it into a DiVX movie that can be played off my computer’s hard drive. (The added benefit is that a person can use parts of the movie in editing software to make his montage.) Usually, I pop in the movies I want to watch one-by-one a couple days ahead of time and let the computer make those files for me. It’s a fairly computer intensive process so I usually leave my system on at night so it’s done by the morning. The program is much easier than back in the day when us DiVX fans had to use a multitude of individual programs by hand to make these copies for our personal use. Some argue that the old method of making these DiVXs by hand gives much higher quality, but again, it doesn’t matter for most users since it’ll be watched on a little laptop screen. Give it a try with the movies you own (not rent) and make sure you don’t share the movies on the various peer-to-peer networks because that is illegal. LOL!

Popularity: 1% [?]

May 1, 2005 | Filed Under Tech/Gadgets | Comments Off 

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