Computer and Technology News Blog

Doesn’t sound very business like does it? On the other hand its not exactly designed to be purely for business either. The ‘Play Pad’ will be smaller than Apples Ipad at approx 7 inches square as opposed to 9 inches square. Its also lighter than the Ipad. Rear and front facing cameras…ooo gotta like that, will be neat to be able to video talk to your clients and I hear that there won’t be any separate data plan required, if you have a blackberry you’ll have wireless access via tether on the ‘Play Pad’.  Not sure how correct that is, but if that’s correct its a winner. Power comes in the form of a 1GB of Ram and it looks like it will be able to multi task apps…neat! So I am an Apple I phone user and have never been overly impressed with the reliability of the Iphone and also the speed at which the battery drains. This is the kind of development that could make me reconsider. Not sure what any of this has to do with the Barrie Real Estate market, however, I can tell you that Real Estate is becoming more on more online, viral and at some stage in the near future the MLS system as a stand alone device won’t be the centre of the universe.

I suspect that being able o demonstrate to your client what the inside of a home looks like on spec will become paramount to a standard service. This is the kind of device that would make this a reality and hence in-demand from every serious Realtor out there. I could be wrong but I feel this is going to be a hit!

http://na.blackberry.com/eng/

After finding that there was really no decent guide on how to install Android on an iPod Touch, I decided to write one.

NOTICE: this guide will be updated soon, but it iDroid itself requires more updates.

What you will need:
An iPod Touch 1g running 3.1.2 jailbroken with blackra1n
Vmware Workstation (If you want to install with windows, not sure if Vmware Player works.)
Ubuntu 10.04 Download here
Openiboot Download here
iDroid (Taken down for the moment)
Winscp Download here
iFunboxDownload here
OpenSSH (Installed from Cydia on your iPod touch)
Libreadline, Libusb, and pthread need to be installed on Ubuntu. (All 3 can be downloaded from the package manager.)

Alright, so I start here assuming you have the above. Please note that 3.1.2 iPods jailbroken with redsn0w may or may not work, but I recommend using balckra1n as redsn0w did not work for me.

First we will install OpeniBoot, get it from the link.
First, make a folder in your home directory named openiboot, move the files from the download above into the openiboot folder. Now, open a terminal (under applications, accessories) and type “cd ~/openiboot” without the quotes. Next, type “sudo su” (for the rest of this section, do not type the commands with the quotes around them). Enter your password that you use to sign in to linux (don’t be afraid if you don’t see yourself typing anything, its a security feature). Now then, we get to installing openiboot. Plug your iPod touch in with recovery mode (shows up as connect to itunes on your iPod). In VMware, go to the VM tab, go to removable devices, and look for anything saying apple device or iPod. On that, click “Connect (Disconnect from Host)”. Now, in terminal type “./loadibec openiboot.img3″. You should see openiboot come up on your iPod Touch. On your iPod Touch, click the top left button once, so you highlight Console. Now, click your home button. On linux, in terminal, type “./oibc” quickly after doing that last step. You should see the text on your iPod come up in the linux terminal. When you see “Welcome to OpeniBoot” type “install” into the terminal. You should it start to install, so wait a few minutes until it is completed. Congratulations, you have installed OpeniBoot and finished the first part of the tutorial!

Now then, to get Android installed
Take the 6 files from the zip you downloaded (android.img.gz, cache.img, ramdisk.img, system.img, userdata.img, and zimage) and put them in a place you will remember. Next, open up iFunbox and navigate to root file system/private/ and copy those 6 files into the var folder (root file system/private/var). Make sure that the 6 files are exactly the same size as the files on your computer, as this is an annoying part to screw up on. Now that that is done, open up winscp. But before you can do anything with that, go to your iPod Touch and find your IP address (Press the blue arrow in Wifi Settings). Now, copy the IP address into the winscp “host name” box. Then put the name “root” as username, and the password “alpine” as the password. Now, before connecting, change the file protocol to scp. Then, press login. It should take a moment, then display your iPod Touch directories on the right side of the screen. Navigate to private/var and check that all 6 files are there. Now, right click each file, select properties, and change the permissions to 777 (make sure the first 3 rows of boxes are selected).

Turn your iPod Touch off, and then on, and OpeniBoot should come up. Select Android, and it should boot. After boot, please follow the instructions here.

One thing that’s grown up alongside the iPod is the iPod accessory business, which includes secondary equipment for the MP3 players like iPod covers and docks. Although Apple designs and sells its own accessories at Apple stores around the world, a large number of third-party developers have thrown their ideas into the pot. It’s even possible that accessories have nearly been as successful as the iPod itself. Some value the accessory market at an estimated $1 billion [Source: Business Week].

With such a wide variety of iPod accessories available, there’s bound to be something for everyone. And when we say everyone, we mean everyone — the weird, the quirky and the bizarre. To learn about 10 of the strangest iPod accessories out there, read on.
10: The C.E.O. Billfold Wallet for iPod nano

9: iPod Belts and Boxers

8: iPod Thong

7: iSticky Pad

6: iPod Gloves

5: iPod Shoulder Bag and Boom Box Combinations

4: Pause — the iPod Compatible Bed

3: iPod Phonograph Dock

2: Bulletproof iPod Case

1: The iCarta iPod Toilet Paper Holder

If you’ve shopped for an HDTV, a PlayStation 3, or an HD-DVD or Blu-ray pla­yer, you’ve probably heard about HDMI. It can seem like just one of many connections on televisions or home-theater receivers. But HDMI is more than a port on the back of a TV (and the often expensive cable that fits inside). It’s a set of rules for allowing high-definition electronic devices to communicate. ­­

Before the development of high-definition televisions, most TVs displayed pictures in what is now known as standard definition. The picture was roughly square — its aspect ratio was 4:3. Its resolution, or the number of dots that make up the picture on the screen, was about 704 x 480 pixels. The picture was interlaced — each piece of the moving image was really half a picture, but the pictures changed quickly enough that the human brain didn’t really notice. Finally, older TVs relied on analog signals, which travel as a constantly varying electrical current.

HDTVs, on the other hand, are digital. They use information in the form of ones and zeros. This information travels through cables as distinct electrical pulses. HDTVs have an aspect ratio of 16:9, so the picture is rectangular. They also have a higher resolution — current HDTV standards allow for resolutions of up to 1920 x 1080 pixels. HDTV signals can also be progressive, meaning that the each frame of the moving image is a whole picture rather than half of one.
So, compared to standard TVs, HDTVs have a wider screen, more pixels and a faster refresh rate. Often, HDTVs can display more colors than older sets. This means that HDTVs need more data and need it a lot faster than standard-definition TVs do. If an HDTV can receive this information digitally, it also doesn’t have to spend time or processing power converting the signal from an analog format.

This leads us to HDMI. Created by a group of electronics manufacturers, the HDMI standard is a set of guidelines for creating high-bandwidth connections between digital devices. With the right setup, HDMI can make a significant difference in a home-theater system. The current standard can carry 1080p high-definition signals, and it supports eight channels of uncompressed audio, enough for a 7.1 surround-sound system. HDMI can cut down on the number of cables required to connect components, and it can even reduce the number of remote controls needed to watch a movie.

­But there’s a catch. In order to take advantage of everything HDMI has to offer, all of the components of a home theater have to be compatible with them. Some of the features HDMI touts also don’t yet exist in the consumer marketplace. In addition, there’s a limit to how long an HDMI cable can be, and some users complain that the limit is too short to support convenient setups.