General Electric’s ideas for improving the electric grid.

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It looks like the way to go for future phones is with a software-based keyboard. The people at Apple seemed to have gotten it right on the first try.

When Google’s Android mobile platform-based T-Mobile G1 was released, its greatest asset — the physical QWERTY keyboard also wound up being the devices greatest deficit. Engadget reports that Google has already started work on a new branch of Android, codenamed “cupcake,” which will bring, among other improvements, an actual on-screen keyboard to the platform. As you can see from the video below, it looks like developmental G1 units have been able to successfully install some of the new hotness as well.

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Rumors have it that the G2 is to closely follow the G1.

We just got a tip about the next Google Android-powered handset for T-Mobile, yes, the G2. We’re running this as a rumor as it’s definitely not confirmed, but we’d bet on this turning out to be true as opposed to, well, you know… Here’s what our tipster had to say:

* The product specs on the T-Mobile G2 that CellPhoneSignal ran weren’t actually all that far off, just the date was completely wrong.
* The device is a full touch device and there is no physical QWERTY keyboard.
* There is still a trackball at the bottom.
* The launch was delayed from late February to April due to software issues.
* We’ve been informed this device will actually launch on another global carrier besides T-Mobile as well, though they didn’t say who, and they said that the G1, G2, G3, etc., names are trademarks of T-Mobile and the other carrier would have a different product name for the device other than G2.
* There is supposedly (oh, god) a G3 coming not that far after the G2 but our tipster didn’t see the G3.

Ah! Maybe that’s why HTC isn’t bringing a Touch HD to America… Makes sense now doesn’t it? Again, full on rumor status at the moment, but we figured we’d warm your souls with this bit of info on this cold ass night.

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Jaguar has recently been upgraded and has posted a top performance of 1.059 petaflop/s in running the Linpack benchmark application. One petaflop/s represents one quadrillion floating point operations per second.

Inventor Le Trung must really like the book “The Stepford Wives,” because he has built the dream of every lonely man without hope, a robot wife. Le’s wife, Aiko, starts the day by reading him the newspaper headlines and they go for a drives in the countryside. Le says his relationship with Aiko hasn’t strayed into the bedroom, but a few tweaks could turn her into a sexual partner, even redesigning her to have a simulated orgasm. *Shudder*

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On Tuesday, 14 new members joined Google’s Open Handset Alliance, showing their support and furthering the development of the Google Android mobile operating system. Among the fresh additions is Sony Ericsson, and it looks like the company isn’t wasting any time and has hit the ground running.

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This is great idea, unlocking the product before someone else does it for you. This is something that needs to catch on. We’ll see if Apple tries to follow the trend.

In order to properly develop applications for the Apple iPhone, you should probably have an iPhone yourself to test them out. The trouble, of course, is that you need to sign a contract with AT&T or Rogers in order to officially get your hands on one of those handsets. It seems that HTC and Google don’t want to put up the same kinds of barriers for their increasingly popular Android phone.Yes, you can hop on over to T-Mobile and get yourself the T-Mobile G1 at a subsidized price, but what if all you want to do is develop apps for the phone? Well, a special unlocked developer version of the HTC Dream G1 is now available and it really doesn’t cost any more than an out-of-contract phone from T-Mobile directly. The upside is that it comes factory unlocked, so you can use it with whatever GSM provider that you’d like. Yes, that includes us Canucks as well.The developer version of the HTC G1 will retail for $399, but you’ll need to pay the one-time registration fee of $25 to get into the Android Market. If you are, in fact, developing applications for the Android platform, you’ll need to register anyhow. Also, while this “developer’s version” is meant for developers, there’s nothing stopping other enthusiasts from taking this route as well.Remember, this G1 will be 100% SIM and hardware unlocked, so you can flash whatever ROMs you would like. Just bear in mind that you will not be receiving any technical support from HTC or T-Mobile as a result, but that’s a small price to pay for a fully authorized and totally unlocked G1. Shipping within the United States is free, but they’ll send the touchscreen- and QWERTY-equipped handset to 18 different regions around the world.Too bad Fido and Rogers don’t support the same 3G bands as T-Mobile. Otherwise, I’d be very tempted to jump on board with this deal.

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Scrabulous has reappeared on Facebook under the guise of Wordscraper. In order to skirt the pending lawsuit Scrabulous changed their game just enough to be proctected from a copyright infringement lawsuit.

Now, the game has reappeared with the name Wordscraper. The change could help it avoid any brand confusion with Scrabble, a key point in trademark disputes.

The game itself has also changed. Instead of Scrabble-like square tiles, for instance, Wordscraper has circles. The tiles earning double and triple points have been rearranged, and tiles for quadruple points have been added.

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Furthermore, Wordscraper lets users design custom boards, including versions that happen to resemble Scrabble. In such cases, Wordscraper might claim federal protections from liability for their users’ actions.

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Star Trek technology has always intrigued me. Transporters, phasers, and even their tricorders have all made me wonder if I would ever live to see these things come to life. Well, current technology can be the basis for a rudimentary tricorder in the very near future. Enhancements to camera CCDs make it possible to build a pocket-sized microscope.

A tiny microscope that employs the same kind of chip used in digital cameras can produce high-resolution images of cells without the expensive, space-hogging lenses that have been part of microscope design for centuries. Researchers at Caltech, who developed the revolutionary imaging system, say that the devices could be mass-produced at a cost of $10 each and incorporated into large arrays, enabling high-throughput imaging in biology labs. The device could also broaden access to imaging technology: incorporated into PDA-size devices, for example, the microscopes could enable rural doctors to carry sophisticated imaging systems in their pockets.

The Caltech device uses a system of tiny fluid channels called microfluidics to direct cells and even microscopic animals over a light-sensing chip. The chip, an off-the-shelf sensor identical to those found in digital cameras, is covered with a thin layer of metal that blocks out most of the pixels. A few hundred tiny apertures punched in the metal along the fluid channel let light in. As the sample flows through the microscope, each aperture captures an image. One version of the microscope uses gravity to control the flow of the sample across the apertures. Another version, which allows for much better control, uses an electrical potential to drive the flow of cells.

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I can see the tricorder coming within 5 years, I look forward to the phaser next!

Imagine a harddrive that can access it’s data almost instantaneously, has no moving parts and has very low power consumption. Samsung has just introduced such a device to the general public; 32GB of storage, in a 1.8-inch enclosure, with a introductory price tag of $600 USD. The benefits of such a device is that you can extend the battery life of your laptop, much faster data access…it is said that Microsoft Windows Vista Enterprise boots in as little as 35 seconds…You don’t have to worry about damaging and possibly losing the drive/data in the event of your laptop taking a fall.

With no moving parts, it does not need to spin into action or seek files in the way that conventional hard disk drives do.

The new SSD achieves a sustained read rate of 62M bps and a random read rate of 7,000 IOPS (inputs/outputs per second) for a 512-byte transfer—more than 100 times faster than most hard disk drives, the spokesperson said.

Taking advantage of this performance, a laptop PC equipped with SanDisk SSD can boot Microsoft Windows Vista Enterprise in as little as 35 seconds, the spokesperson said. It also can achieve an average file access rate of 0.12 milliseconds, compared with 55 seconds and 19 milliseconds, respectively, for a laptop PC with a hard disk drive, the spokesperson said.

The new SSD features a low power consumption rate compared to the hard disk drive: 0.4 watt during active operation versus 1.0 watt.

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Adobe has released its latest version of Lightroom, Lightroom Beta 4. If you have been using the prior versions and liked them then you should surely like this one. One of the main things to note is “the achievement of full feature parity between the Windows and Mac OS versions of Lightroom”. Everything Lightroom offers on Mac can now be done in Windows. A few other enhancements have been listed below. Hurry up and get your free copy today.

Lightroom Beta 4 also features:
• Groundbreaking changes in the way tone curve adjustments are made and displayed, giving you the highest quality results in an interface that’s easier to use than ever before.
• More streamlined and elegant user interface - We’ve made several changes to the look and feel based on your feedback in the earlier beta releases.
• Customizable interface - You can now display only the controls you want to be visible.
• Precision white balance selection tool
• Facility to easily rename and convert files to DNG after they’ve been imported to the Lightroom library
• Increased interaction between Lightroom library organizational structure and the underlying file system
• Filter and search presets to more quickly find the photographs you want
• Better performance and improved interface for the Web module features
• Develop control improvements based on community feedback, including comments from the Pixmantec user community (welcome!)

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The browser wars are heating up, as the first beta of Firefox 2.0 is due on Tuesday July 11th, and Internet Explorer version 7.0 is now on it’s third beta release.

Firefox fans, and browser junkies have an opportunity to get a jump on Tuesday’s beta, as a public “release candidate” has been posted on the Mozilla FTP site. This nightly build is finally feature complete, although it’s still not completely ready for mass consumption.
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Reports from early testers compliment two of the significant new features: an integrated spell checker, and an anti-phishing tool. The spell-checker promises to make blog and forum postings more lucid. The phishing filter (an integrated component of IE 7.0 as well) works with locally stored lists of bad sites, along with Google’s site listing, and possibly others down the road.

The rest of the interface stays mostly the same, unlike the more radical changes in IE 7.0. Firefox 2.0 does include a horizontal scrolling capability for tabs, and an ability to close a tab directly from within the tab itself. The Options dialog has been reworked to include a horizontal, tabbed based interface, and numerous changes have been made under the hood.

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Some of you may know that I have been spending much of my time doing photography as of late. I am on the Canon bandwagon, I shoot with the Canon 20D. I’ve been using Canon equipment for about six years ago starting with the Canon G1. Each year Canon busts out with new and revolutionary advances in their equipment, this year is no different. I have been waiting for some time to see what the specs for the new DSLR, the 30D, would be. I am pleased to say that they are almost exactly what I was hoping for. Some of the improvements I like are, spot metering, ISO setting can now be viewed in viewfinder and a bigger view screen. (2.5 inches). There are quite a few more and definitely something that will entice you to either buy the model or upgrade from your existing model.

* 8.2 Megapixel APS-C size CMOS sensor
* 5 fps and 30 large JPEG frame burst
* 2.5”, 230K pixel, 170º wide viewing angle LCD screen
* Picture Style image processing parameters
* Spot metering and High Precision 9-point AF system
* DIGIC II image processor with 0.15 sec start-up time
* Digital Photo Professional RAW processing software
* 100,000 cycle shutter durability and rugged magnesium alloy body
* Simultaneous RAW and JPEG recording
* Wide 100-3200 ISO range
* E-TTL II Flash
* PictBridge compatibility
* Complete compatibility with all Canon EF and EF-S lenses and EX-series Speedlites
* USB 2.0 Hi-Speed and Video Out connectivity

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I found a couple of great articles for the recently announced 30D, dpreview and Rob Galbraith Digital Photography Insights. Do check them out for more information about the Canon 30D.

According to the Google Blog, Google has acquired Measure Map, an analytics system for blogs, from Adaptive Path. There is a limited beta test up and running over at the Measure Map Website. Many users have been
using analytics to track stats on their sites - I wonder how this will stack up.

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I don’t know anything about analytics but if it is anything like what I am currently using, Site Meter, then I am sure I will be happy with it. Besides, Google has a knack for making all of their products free. Site Meter is charging me a monthly fee.

Rumor has it that Wyse Technology Inc is going to provide the hardware for Google’s new low-cost PC. The cost of their PC will be a low low price of $200. This is meant to be sold wordwide and if this all goes well then it would be expected that every household would have a PC alongside the TV.

The Internet giant reportedly is in talks with retailer Wal-Mart Inc. to sell the PCs, with the hardware being provided by Wyse and Google bringing in the software.

Wyse President and CEO John Kish mentioned during a presentation at the Red Herring Fall 2005 conference last month that his company was in discussions with Google focusing on a $200 PC that would be targeted at developing markets such as China and India, part of Wyse’s greater push to bring technology to such countries.

Google’s reported negotiations with Wal-Mart suggest a plan to sell such systems not only in emerging markets but also in such countries as the United States.

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Microsoft has created a thumbnailer/viewer for RAW images on your computer. It is a PowerToy application that makes it possible to view, organize, and print your RAW files within Windows XP.

This software offers the following benefits to digital photographers:

• High image quality. This software uses the camera vendors’ own processing libraries to provide the highest possible image fidelity for RAW images.
• Superior color fidelity. Windows Image Color Management (ICM) is used to render images in the correct color space as determined by the photographer when the image was captured.
• Familiar user experience. This software builds on the familiar Windows user experience and requires little or no learning curve.
• Performance tuned for rapid previews. The software uses background processing and other techniques to ensure a good preview experience even for large images.

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Check it out.

It is really unbelieveable that Janet would get caught like this agian, sunbathing nude. I really wonder what is she thinking. Oh well, we might as well enjoy the show!

Apple is stretching their iPod line to as thin as it can go. They have come out with a pencil thin version of the iPod that hold 1000 songs. The new addition to the product line is called iPod Nano and I must say that it will make it even easier to carry your music with you everywhere you go.

Quick stats.

Only .27 inches thin and 1.5 ounces, iPod nano packs a lot into its diminutive design. Up to 14 hours of battery life(1). 2GB or 4GB of storage.(2) A bright color display. The Apple Click Wheel. A Dock connector that fits an entire ecosystem of iPod accessories. With so many features like these, iPod nano can change the way you listen to music — and more. Click on a feature to see it on the iPod nano display, then read about it here

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This is newly posted to the Apple website and orders are being taken so hurry up and get in on it now.

Google enters the IM arena with an application that can make phone calls or IM over the internet. The technology is on par with that provided by Skype and thus Google is now in direct competition with them. The official launch date of the application is today and I am eager to try it out when I get home tonight.

When you go to download Google Talk, this will be what you’ll see:

They say talk is cheap. Google thinks it should be free. Google Talk enables you to call or send instant messages to your friends for free–anytime, anywhere in the world. Google Talk offers you:

* Choice: Get in touch how and when you want to–over email, IM or a call

* Quality: Talk through your computer but hear your friends as if they were in the same room

* Convenience: Your Gmail contacts are pre-loaded into Google Talk so inviting or talking to your friends is just a click away

Google Talk is in beta and requires a Gmail username and password.

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Download it here and if you need a Gmail account send me and email @ Tony-at-tonytalkstech.com and I will do what I can to give you an account. I don’t have many to give out at onetime so you may have to be patient if your requesting an email account.