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Posts Tagged ‘Media Players’

Happy 26th Birthday, Mac!

Filed under: Odds and ends, Apple History

Despite all odds, the Mac has survived to its 26th birthday.

On January 24th, 1984, Steve Jobs pulled a 128K Mac out of its case in front of a crowd of reporters, turned it on, and let the computer introduce itself to the world. The rest, as they say, is history.

We’ve seen our favorite computer go from an awkward infancy, to almost dying in its teens, and now being a profitable prodigy in adulthood.

It has spawned a popular family of siblings, from the iPod series of media players to the iPhone. Somehow, it’s fitting that we may see the birth of the newest member of the family later this week.

Watching the “Story of Macintosh” video in the past few weeks has introduced the young minds behind the first Mac to most of the current generation. For those of us who are a bit older, the video served as a reminder of the brash individuals who created a computer that still speaks to those who “Think Different.”

Here’s hoping that the Mac and all of its family may live a long and fruitful life.

TUAWHappy 26th Birthday, Mac! originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 24 Jan 2010 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Zune HD Marketplace now loaded with free 3D games

That latest update to the Zune HD’s brainstem has unlocked an extra dimension to the multifunctional device, which can now boast “3D gaming device” among its many accolades. Aside from fixing a significant issue on the music side, the firmware refresh has given the green light for the following games to enter the Marketplace: PGR: Ferrari Edition, Lucky Lane Bowling, Vans Sk8: Pool Service, Piano, Checkers, and Audiosurf: Tilt. Yep, the music-surfing game that seems almost tailor-made for accelerometer-equipped media players is ready for your ownership and enjoyment. The best part? All the titles are free. So what are you waiting for, pilgrims, get downloadin’ and do come back to tell us how well that Tegra chip performs, won’t you? Full PR after the break.

Continue reading Zune HD Marketplace now loaded with free 3D games

Filed under: Gaming, Handhelds

Zune HD Marketplace now loaded with free 3D games originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 Nov 2009 08:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Roundup: EU vs Oracle-Sun deal, Zendesk leaves its staff behind, Diebold abandons voting machine biz

European Union begins antitrust probe of Oracle’s acquisition of Sun — The Wall Street Journal reports that uncertainty over Sun’s future has opened up the server and Java vendor’s customers to examining and buying alternatives from IBM, H-P, Dell and other large, seemingly more stable firms. “This is a golden opportunity that they won’t get back,” Forrester analyst James Staten told the Journal, “and they’re trying to get as many people switched as they can before Oracle closes the deal.”

[Photo: Eric Faller]

Sony Walkmans may not really be outselling Apple media players in Japan — Don’t blindly repeat today’s headlines. Research firm BCN’s comparison of Walkmans to iPods sold in Japan shows the Walkman ahead for the first time in four years. But BCN doesn’t include iPhones in its count. Would that still leave Sony in the lead? I have no idea. Anyone? Gruber?

[Photo: Sony]

Help desk software-as-a-service provider Zendesk to move from Boston to San Francisco, cutting 27 of its 30 employees in the process – Series B investors Benchmark Capital, who’ve lent Zendesk $6 million to take it to the next level, demanded the company reboot itself out here. I’m not sure the idea of cutting nearly the entire staff and rehiring out here is a good one. Transplanted Bostonians like me are so much more grateful for every single sunny San Francisco day. And the foggy ones, too.

Diebold takes up to $55 million in losses as it unloads its totally hated and distrusted voting machine division — Renaming the machines from Diebold to Premier didn’t fool the company’s opponents, who’ve mistrusted Diebold ever since the source code for Diebold’s machines was leaked onto the Internet in 2003, revealing what a report from Johns Hopkins University identified as “unauthorized privilege escalation, incorrect use of cryptography, vulnerabilities to network threats, and poor software development processes.” Also, Diebold is headquartered in Texas — grounds for instant suspicion from Bush-bashing blue-staters. Computerworld has a concise report on Diebold’s deal with more successful election systems maker ES&S in Omaha.

Sometimes, a shining example of what not to do is the best instruction — It can’t be easy working for Nokia, the cellphone supergiant that outsells its next three competitors combined. I mean, where do you go from there? But Singapore-based journo Jeremy Wagstaff couldn’t restrain himself from picking apart a Nokia video that seems like an attempt to embrace viral marketing, but instead demonstrates how out-of-place tech industry marketing jargon is on the cruel, cruel Internet.

Here’s how not to do it: put a guy from the PR department in front of one of the senior folks and let him babble. The result is always awkward half sentences linked rehearsed (and usually quite obviously, and badly) lines from some media training session that ooze jargonish phrases that a real journalist would never let pass.

Things like these (with their translations alongside) from the Nokia Booklet 3G interview with John Hwang, its designer.

“nokia’s all about connecting people” = we make mobile phones

“further strengthening our device portfolio” = we’ve got a lot of different models. You’re confused? Try working here.

Intelligence analysts praise Palantir’s terrorist network finder. Also: In-Q-Tel still has money — The Wall Street Journal just posted a good, longish article on the cliché geeks in beanbag chairs, funded in part by the CIA’s In-Q-Tel venture capital firm, who help the U.S. government “root out terrorist financing networks, reveal new trends in roadside bomb attacks, and uncover details of Syrian suicide bombing networks in Iraq.” Protip from Palantir CEO Alex Karp: When you’re introduced to senior intelligence officials in buildings with armed guards, don’t ask their names.

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Front Row performance on the mini takes a dive with Snow Leopard

Filed under: Bugs/Recalls, Mac mini, Snow Leopard

Here’s an interesting feature of Snow Leopard that you may or may not (probably not) find particularly useful. Apparently after upgrading to 10.6 several users at the Apple Discussion Forums — mostly owners of Mac mini or MacBook models with the GMA950 graphics subsystem — are reporting poor performance with Front Row.

The performance issue seems to effect navigation as well as playback, resulting in jerky video/audio in the menu and when watching a movie. This is also not limited to pesky DiVx files or QuickTime plug-ins either, as some users are reporting seeing the problem with iTunes purchases and others are even running a completely stock installation. Interestingly enough, some of the same users with Front Row issues are not seeing the same problems when playing back with QuickTime X.

In my opinion, this is not much of a surprise following such a major upgrade to many of the OS’s underpinnings — including an overhaul to QuickTime on which Front Row is largely based. This is the reason I did not upgrade the Mac mini in my living room. Aside from being a full-time webserver, I also rely on it for multimedia functionality as well.

Some folks with complaints have found solace in either Plex or Boxee as these fine media players do not rely on QuickTime or iTunes. For most though, a working Front Row would be ideal. Personally, I have not checked for problems with Front Row since my multimedia Mac hasn’t been upgraded. However, I did note some wonkiness on another machine when using QuickLook to playback some video files through Finder. I have a sneaking suspicion there is something going on related to QuickTime X being used by other programs (i.e. FrontRow or QuickLook). What say you dear readers? Is your Front Row experience causing you grief or are you simply smirking because you haven’t received your pre-order upgraded yet?

Thanks to Ivey for sending this in via Twitter.

TUAWFront Row performance on the mini takes a dive with Snow Leopard originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 01 Sep 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video: Samsung’s YP-M1 TouchWiz interface given a sideways glance

With an “NVIDIA chipset” (presumably, Tegra) underpinning the new YP-M1 media player, Samsung’s got plenty of horsepower to drive its customizable TouchWiz UI across that 3.3-inch AMOLED touchscreen sporting 480×272 pixels. It’s not ZuneHD-sexy but it’s not bad. Unfortunately, not bad’s not good enough in a waning market for dedicated media players lacking voice and data radios, WiFi, or a web browser. But if you run, run, as fast you can… after the break you’ll catch the Gingerbread Man.

Continue reading Video: Samsung’s YP-M1 TouchWiz interface given a sideways glance

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

Video: Samsung’s YP-M1 TouchWiz interface given a sideways glance originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 Aug 2009 03:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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