It’s that time again, time to review some of my cherry picked smaller stories of the week for those that might have missed them. This time round we’ve got an Adobe Flash update that doesn’t suck. OK, sucks a little less. Flash 10.1 beta was unleashed to the willing public with GPU video acceleration for certain Nvidia cards on Windows, but perhaps more importantly reduced CPU usage across all platforms. What does this mean? YouTube that doesn’t make your Mac or PC red-line that’s what. A step in the right direction Adobe, maybe Flash isn’t a lost cause after all. I’ve certainly seen some improvements on my netbook and Mac. (more…)

Welcome to Pixelated Geek’s Weekly Tech Wrap-up, a quick and humorous run through of some smaller stories from the world of consumer electronics and technology.

First batter up is the hideous looking OpenOffice Mouse. This beast features a full 18 buttons, 63 programmable profiles and even an analogue joystick! What more could you want from an instant carpel tunnel surgery inducing monstrosity? How about a soon to hit street price of $75 (£45)? Obviously not a fan of the Magic Mouse, a World of Warcraft-loving gamer decided his mouse didn’t have enough buttons and went ahead and set up a company to do it better. WarMouse is aiming this at the OpenOffice, MMO playing crowd and they might go potty over it, but I think I’ll stick to my trusty Logitech thanks. (more…)

More and more, big companies are starting to understand the value in augmented reality.  Making things or people, like Robert Downy Jr., jump out at you from a special printed graphic or icon.  Esquire has upped the bar in this new technology by having 2 different interactions from one printed graphic. Check out the video above to see what I mean. For more augmented reality videos, check out an older post with 5 other ways companies are using it.

As an Android handset owner, I took unnatural joy in the soon-to-be-released turn-by-turn GPS app! The app allows voice commands, fuzzy search (aka you don’t know the exact location, but know details of an event etc…), and all sorts of fun integrations with maps, traffic and street view. Check out the overview video!

What does all this mean to you? I’m not sure, but as for Garmin and TomTom…

[via Engadget and LifeHacker]

Yup. Scary.

Don’t know what Net Neutrality is? Here’s a tl;dr version of it.  Imagine the internet highly regulated to the point where each ISP can control which websites you can go to.  If you wanted to go to different websites that are outside the ISP’s “basic coverage”, then you would have to pay extra.  Just think the United States current health care system applied to our internets.

Yea. Scary and fucked up.

[via Reddit]

An angry picture of me I used for my front page, circa 2003. Yeah, I look like a douche.

In the early days of the 21st Century, after Yahoo! bought out Geocities, I had a great idea (which, given the fact that I was just video game nerd was obviously related to video games). It was my dream to go to E3…somehow. So, I did what any idealistic teenager would do. I would start up my own gaming website and do nothing but talk about nothing but my obsession with video games. One week later, I abandoned the idea. Why? Because I was a teenager. It wouldn’t be until my sophomore year of high school that I made a website. But instead of making my kick ass video game site, I did what any angsty teen would do with their time: attempt to wax philosophical while coming off completely emo with pictures of me in several angry poses..

While I learned the basics of HTML coding and even a bit of Javascript, my website was something I probably could have replicated by signing up for an account on a blog site. Still…my website was mine, completely built from the ground up with HTML code I found on the internet. And even with everything I knew, my site followed a simple standard…black backgrounds with contrasting font that could make your eyes bleed. I was a fan of black (still am, actually), so every design had to be draped in black like it came out from the computer of goth kid with way too much time on his hands. And, if that wasn’t all, I only ever used Copperplate Gothic Bold, with a dash of Comic Sans MS thrown into the mix in an attempt to add a little more personality to the site when I decided to start adding fan pages about the things I liked. After 2005, I gave up on the site, using HTML to edit my myspace page before abandoning that as well. So yeah, I was among the crowd of desperate teens wanting to throw themselves on the internet to feel important. It kinda sucks I gave up on the page, though. After a few years of not updating, I’ve forgotten a good deal of HTML knowledge. Oh well.

RIP Geocities. It was definitely a learning experience.

Today is a sad day for many people in my generation.  Today, Geocities is shutting down and going offline forever. I still remember when I first signed up for the website–erm page.  I knew I wanted to make my own video game webpage. So naturally I reserved my “home” in the Times Square / Arcade neighborhood.

Neighborhood? What?!

Yes, before Geocities was bought out by Yahoo.  Before it was free to have a URL link geocities.com/yourname. Before you had 5 megabytes of space to play with.  You had to find a city and a neighhood.  After you found the right neighborhood, you would need to find a vacant “home.” Each home had a different number, just like real home addresses do now.

I still remember my first URL on the internets. http://www.Geocities.com/TimesSquare/Arcade/7733 . Yup.  It was “TimberWolf’s Website.”  It had to be one of most bad ass websites on the internet at that time. Well, in my mind at least. I mean, come on! It had animated Lemmings, explosions, Link Exchange, TimberWolf Net Mech graphics, and 3D animated text.  What more could you ask for.

It was also noted that you scren had to have a screen res of at least 800×600 and you were using IE or Netscape.

Back when I was in high school, I would anxiously await for that lunch bell to ring.  Once it rang, I’d run to the library to be first on one of the 3 computers that had internet access on it.  For 30 minutes, I would update my website using HTML I had learned (well, copied) from other websites. Once I was done, I’d show it off to my friends.  Of course they weren’t impressed. But I was.

Thank you, Geocities. With your advanced editor, I’ve learned the basics of the internet and HTML coding. I will miss and remember you always. =(

Consumer CE Holiday Spending to Increase; Regen Takes Home Top i-Stage Honors

Phoenix, AZ., October 20, 2009 — The definitive CE holiday sales forecast, the second annual i-Stage competition and a luncheon keynote by Sir Ken Robinson, acclaimed innovator and author, were among the hot happenings on Day One of the 2009 Consumer Electronics Association (CEA)® Industry Forum. Designed to connect, educate and inform consumer technology professionals, CEA’s 2009 Industry Forum runs through Wednesday, October 21 in Phoenix, Arizona.

Shawn DuBravac, CEA’s chief economist and director of research and Steve Koenig, CEA’s director of industry analysis, kicked off the Industry Forum’s programming with the popular Holiday Sales and Forecast presentation. DuBravac began with an economic overview and outlook, noting that despite a difficult year there are signs of optimism for the holidays.

Koenig announced CEA’s research finding that consumers plan to spend more on consumer electronics this holiday season as technology plays a main role in holiday gift budgets. CEA found that consumers plan to spend an average of $222 on CE this holiday, a gain of eight percent over last year. The 16th Annual CE Holiday Purchase Patterns study tracks CE devices consumers intend to give as gifts, as well as those they hope to receive. Consumer electronics comprise four of the top 10 items on adults’ holiday gift wish list, with computers and video games ranking two and three respectively, behind clothing.
(more…)

Today has been a day of surprises for Apple aficionados. We’ve already seen the Magic Mouse (yes I know another awful name), but Apple also unleashed bumps and changes to the iMac, Mac Mini and MacBook lines.

First up we’ve got the white polycarbonate (marketing speak for plain old plastic) MacBook, which has gone all ‘unibody’ on us with an integrated ‘7 hour’ battery, LED backlit screen, a multitouch glass trackpad and DDR3. Nothing to shake a stick at, but nothing revolutionary either. I’m suprised anyone still buys these polycarbs considering the ever so appetising 13″ MacBook Pro isn’t all that much more, still each to their own I guess. Next we now have a Mac Mini server, something people have been using the Mini for ever since it’s release, which loses the optical drive in favour of more HDD space and dons OSX server. Aimed at those who aren’t big enough to need an Xserve but still want the Apple server experience, the Mac Mini server I think could do very well. The Mac Mini itself also got a speed bump and storage upgrades so those using it as a media player/server should be happy.

Last but certainly not least for the major upgrades, Apple’s range of consumer desktops got some love. The iMac now encorporates some much more desirable features including an SD card reader (yes, that’s not a typo) and HD+ displays. Gone are the 20″ and 24″ models and in are the 21.5″ and 27″ iMacs. The line can now be configured with a 3.06Ghz Core2Duo (yawn), a 2.66Ghz Core i5 (quad core) or a Core i7, which is where the real fun will be. Still lacking Blu-Ray, the iMacs now feature an optional HDMI input allowing you to use that HD screen for gaming etc. A nice bump if you were about to buy one, but you’re not really missing something if you’ve just bought one.

In other news, the Apple remote got replaced for an aluminium one, which I’m not sure about but I guess it matches all the aluminium used across the rest of the line. The top of the line MacBook Pro got a price cut with the highest spec machine now $1000 cheaper. The Airport Extreme and Time Capsule got full WiFi N certification with 50% improved signal quality and 25% increased range thanks to a new antenna design. Whether the update to the Time Capsule will stop them dropping dead just after warranty is anyone’s guess and we’ll see in a year I suppose.

So if you’re interested in any of the new kit, head on over to your local Apple Store or if you’re in the UK, you might have to wait till tomorrow.

[Via TUAW]

ReNu Solar Energy System Awarded $40K and 2010 CES Booth; eEDge Media Device Wins Second Place

Phoenix, AZ, October 19, 2009 — The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA)® today announced that Regen, the light-powered personal and home electronics company, took the top prize for its ReNu personal solar power generation and storage system at the second annual i-stage competition, a technology event featuring the most innovative consumer technology products that will soon come to market. Eleven finalists unveiled their products before a live audience today at CEA’s 2009 Industry Forum, in Phoenix, Arizona.

Regen will receive $40,000 dollars, a turn-key exhibit at the 2010 International CES®, the world’s largest consumer technology tradeshow and the option of a booth at CES Unveiled in New York or Las Vegas. Regen was also chosen by the audience as the Fan Favorite and took home an additional $2,500.

Core to the ReNu system is the ReNu panel, a freestanding power module containing solar cells, a rechargeable battery and an intelligent user interface. The panel can be hung or placed in direct light to capture energy. When replenished by sunlight, a user can drop a ReNu panel into one of a series of Regen extensions to utilize the energy they have created. ReNu extensions include a phone charging system, personal audio, and task lighting. The ReNu panel can also charge an iPhone, iPod or USB device directly.

“Innovation helps advance economic growth and companies such as Regen exemplify the cutting edge technologies that will drive the future of our industry,” said Gary Shapiro, president and CEO, CEA. “By empowering consumers with innovative energy solutions, ReNu changes the way that people generate and use power and we are thrilled to showcase their product at the 2010 International CES.”

EnTourage Systems, Inc. placed second in the competition with its eDGe™ product and was awarded $7,500, as well as the option of a booth at CES Unveiled in New York or Las Vegas. The enTourage eDGe is the world’s first dualbook, combining the functions of an e-reader, netbook, notepad, and audio/video recorder and player in one. It’s a comprehensive device that lets you read e-books, surf the Internet, take digital notes, send emails and instant messages, watch movies and listen to music anywhere, at any time.

The 11 i-stage finalists, listed by company and product name, included:

1. Cubicvue LLC, CubicVue 3D Filter
2. EnTourage Systems Inc., The eDGe
3. Immerz Inc., KOR-FX
4. Meld Technology, WholeHomeHD™
5. Regen Inc., ReNu™
6. Tenrehte Technologies, PICOwatt
7. Thinkeco Inc., the modlet
8. Thinkoptics Inc, iWavit™
9. Valencell, Healthset®
10. Zagg Inc., ZAGGbox
11. zero1.tv Gmbh, VooMote

These early-stage products, not yet available in stores, were judged by technology experts including Natali Del Conte of CNET TV and the CBS Early Show; Blake Krikorian, co-founder of Sling Media; Ross Levinsohn, Managing Partner of Fuse Capital and Jeff Pulver, founder of Pulver.com and co-founder of Vonage.

For more information on i-stage, visit i-stage.CE.org. For more information on the 2010 International CES, scheduled January 7-10, 2010, visit www.CESweb.org.

About CEA:
The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) is the preeminent trade association promoting growth in the $172 billion U.S. consumer electronics industry. More than 2,000 companies enjoy the benefits of CEA membership, including legislative advocacy, market research, technical training and education, industry promotion and the fostering of business and strategic relationships. CEA also sponsors and manages the International CES – Where Entertainment, Technology and Business Converge. All profits from CES are reinvested into CEA’s industry services. Find CEA online at www.CE.org.