Category: Electronics

The war is over! Blu-ray Wins!

I recently wrote an article about the High Definition DVD format war.  Well, the war is over.  Yesterday, Toshiba (the creator of the HD-DVD format) announced it would cease production of HD-DVD technology. So what does this mean for you?  Probably still nothing.  Should you rush out and buy a Blu-ray player?  Nope.  Prices are…
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First few days on a MacBook Pro

Some people say that Apple Macintosh users are elitists. If that’s the case, I just became rather elite.  I’m now typing this on my shiny new MacBook Pro. On Wednesday, I started a new job at the Wasatch Front Regional Multiple Listing Service (WFR).  When I started, they gave me the choice of what kind…
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Next generation laptop batteries

You know the feeling.  You’re right in the middle of something important on your laptop.  You’re in deep concentration and nothing should interrupt you. Then all the sudden… [BEEP].  That dang battery warning. It seems like you just barely charged the thing. Laptop batteries are what make laptops so amazing.  But at the same time,…
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High Definition DVD – is it ready for you?

Perhaps you’ve heard of Blu-ray and HD-DVD. Bly-ray and HD-DVD are competing technologies for the next generation in home video. The video and audio coming from these technologies is incredible. Can you tell the difference… nope. They are pretty much the same. And as home video tech goes, welcome to the latest format war.

Where is the world is Santa?

Ever wanted to know exactly where Santa is on Christmas Eve? Well, usually you would have to wait for the news or something similar. But this year, the traditional Santa trackers (NORAD) and Google have teamed up to give you the best way to track Santa. Santa can now be tracked through Google Earth. If…
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New Google Earth (GoogleSky?)

As you may recall, I wrote about Celestia a while back. Celestia just got some serious competition. The new version of Google Earth, 4.2, will include a feature many have dubbed “Google Sky.” And if you haven’t guessed it from the name, Google Earth can be “turned around” to show you the stars. And it…
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iPhone Review

As I mentioned before, I succumbed to the seduction that is the Apple iPhone. Two coworkers purchased it the day it was released and I promptly began drooling over the device. The beauty of the screen and the ease of the interface lured me to it. I couldn’t help myself and visited the AT&T store…
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Familiarty vs Superiority and cognitive-lockin

A recent study from the Journal of Consumer Research and highlighted by ars technica indicates that most consumers are a little duped when it comes to judging the superiority of consumer products. Too often the average consumer is loyal to a product simply because of familiarity. That’s not all that bad, but they mistake that…
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It’s iPhone Enabled!

RamblingEngineer.com is now iPhone enabled! What does that mean? Well, that means when I visit the site on my new iPhone (yes, I gave in to the Apple seduction), the site appears in a nice iPhone friendly style. No sidebar or bulky navigation. A simple and clean interface. But that doesn’t mean that the rest…
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Computers could end the world

A Quote from Nathanial Borenstein made me laugh: The most likely way for the world to be destroyed, most experts agree, is by accident. That’s where we come in; we’re computer professionals. We cause accidents. So in other words, you need to be nice to us “computer professionals.”