Gadgets Base

Technology is usually not mentioned in the hot-button issues in US politics.  After foreign policy, the economy and personal jabs, there isn’t much time on camera to talk about what many of us care about most (or at least an awful lot).  So, I dug deep into both candidates issue positions and came up with some info you should know before going to the polls.

I hit the Obama iphone application (hot!) and the McCain website.  Warning: this is not the stuff you should read when you are tired.  Here are some pearls of wisdom these candidates proffer:

Broadband for all?

Both candidates want to bring broadband to all.  While McCain would offer tax credits for private companies to run the lines, Obama looks to evolve the Universal Service Fund (charged with bringing lower cost phone service to customers).

John McCain will establish a “People Connect Program” that rewards companies that offer high-speed Internet access services to low income customers by allowing these companies offset their tax liability for the cost of this service.

As a country, we have ensured that every American has access to telephone service and electricity, regardless of economic status, and Obama will do likewise for broadband Internet access. Obama and Biden believe we can get true broadband to every community in America through a combination of reform of the Universal Service Fund, better use of the nation’s wireless spectrum, promotion of next-generation facilities, technologies and applications, and new tax and loan incentives.

All hail the new CTO?

While McCain would make tech a prerequisite on his administrations resume, Obama would appoint a CTO for the nation.

As President, John McCain will be committed to bringing talented men and women of science into the federal government. He will strive to ensure that Administration appointees across the government have adequate experience and understanding of science, technology and innovation in order to better serve the American people.

Obama will appoint the nation’s first Chief Technology Officer (CTO) to ensure that our government and all its agencies have the right infrastructure, policies and services for the 21st century. The CTO will ensure the safety of our networks and will lead an interagency effort, working with chief technology and chief information officers of each of the federal agencies, to ensure that they use best-in-class technologies and share best practices.

Drop the wrench, here’s a keyboard

Both candidates commit to retraining America’s workforce to be more competitive globally.  And you thought the Indian accents were tough to understand, wait to you get some thick southern drawl.

John McCain will fully fund the America Competes Act to help address these trends in education and training. Our nation’s education system should also help re-train displaced workers.

Obama and Biden will also modernize and expand the existing system of trade adjustment assistance to include workers hurt by changing trade patterns. They will also create flexible education accounts that workers can use to retrain.

30 second freestyle response

Both candidates offered up something unique, at least to me.  Here, rather than compete with one another they offer up some interesting ideas.

To provide an immediate boost to capital expenditures and reward investments in cutting edge technologies, John McCain would allow companies to expense the costs of new equipment or technology in the first year. The additional investment stimulated by such expensing will drive economic growth.

Paraphrased by me (it was rather wordy)

Transparent Government: Obama will integrate citizens into the actual business of government by:
• Making government data available online in accessible formats to allow citizens to make use of that data to comment, derive value, and take action.
• Open up government decision-making and involve the public in the work of agencies.
• Conduct business of Obama’s appointees in the public eye.  Citizens can watch a live feed on the internet while agencies debate and deliberate.
• Bring science based decisions, not ideological predispositions of officials.
• Create website to track grants, contracts, earmarks etc.
• Cabinet officials would be required to hold national online town hall meetings for Q&A.
• Government blogs, wikis and social networking tools for information sharing to improve government decisions.

Learn more: McCain [JohnMcCain.com] Obama [BarackObama.com]

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via D’Vice

It’s no secret that Apple’s are the cool PC to have. But as is usually the case, what follows the coolness factor is a premium to be placed more on joining the club, rather than what the club can do for you. And the How-To Geek has once again proven that with Macs, it’s no different. According to recent testing, the HTG compared a 24” iMac with an identical “Hackintosh,” which consisted of similar parts purchased from the PC side of the isle. The result was a staggering $1100 premium that MAC users play for the privilege if having that glowing white Apple logo on their PC.

Breaking down the parts list, the How-To Geek used an Intel Core Duo E8400 processor, Gigbyte motherboard, Western Digital Caviar 500GB hard drive, an Acer 24” LCD screen, and 4GB of DDR2 Dual Channel RAM. In addition, DVD burner, ergonomic keyboard, mouse, and an Antek black tower. Then, they used an EFIX stick to install a store bought copy of OSX Leopard. The result, the cost was LESS THAN HALF the cost of Cupertino’s stylish iMac.

But is it a fair comparison? The fact is, that the iMac is an all in one unit, whereas the Hackintosh is a traditional computer setup. But that definitely wouldn’t account for another $1100 in costs to build.
But whether it’s fair or not, Apple switchers don’t seem to care. But it doesn’t answer the question as to why “Mac” is always dressed down in their commercials. He can’t afford nicer clothes since all his money is going to pay for Steve’s black mock turtlenecks and Levi’s!

Hat Tip – HowToGeek

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About one year ago, we covered a driveable airplane called the Terrafugia Transition. I believe that back then we said they would be available “sometime before 2012”, however, a source has told me that the company hopes to have them out before the end of 2009.

Just think! One more year until we actually have flying cars! Or at least the closest thing to them. The Terrafugia Transition may not be able to do Vertical Take-off Landings, or hover, but it can take off from a normal airplane runway.

As you can see from the YouTube video that has no sound, the wings just fold up after landing. It reminds me of the car that Matt Tracker used to drive on M.A.S.K., but some of you probably don’t remember that old cartoon.

The Terrafugia is certified by both the FAA as a light airplane, and the NHTSA as street legal. Just to let you know, you will need a light sport license to fly the Transition, but to drive it, it looks like all you’ll need is a regular license. The wings will not open up unless a specific combination is entered to guard against what would be a spectacular climax to a highway high-speed chase.

Well, I could go into a lot about how the Terrafugia is going to change the world as we know it, and who knows, maybe it will. I think I’m going to follow-up on this next year and we’ll see how it’s coming along. I’ve heard that the price will be about $194,000, so hopefully you can get it then.

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If your desktop looks like something out of a Stephen King movie, with cords twisting and writhing all over the desk, USB chargers littering the top like so much strewn garbage, you need this handy 4-Port USB Charger for Mobile Devices from the folks at Kensington.

Small and compact, it charges up to 4 of your mobile devices simultaneously, including iPods, PDAs and more and takes leaves your desk looking neat and organized. $29.99 at Kensington and Amazon.

See? Sometimes there is a happy ending.

Welcome to the Big Brother house! As you can see here, everyone on the outside can see what everyone is doing on the inside.

Yes, it is named after the Big Brother from 1984, not the Big Brother program that helps out so many children. Yet rest assured, your children will be safely watched 24/7 in these telescreen-like boxes, all from the outside courtyard.

I realize that most people have shunned the concept of Orwell’s Big Brother. (Thanks to him a surveillance society gets such bad press!) However, this is the age where security cameras and webcams are available everywhere. If you live in a metropolitan area, you’re watched constantly! And people want to be watched. Why do you think that Reality shows are so popular?

As you can see, the design is simple. Just stack a bunch of giant shoebox dioramas on top of each other, and you’ve got yourself a most unique living space. In fact, it is a very hedonistic way of living. Just imagine sitting in the Big Brother House courtyard in a party. Mix in a little alcohol, and you will see what reality TV doesn’t show.

Well, if nothing else, we could shoot the next season of Big Brother in this place. Fill it up with celebrities, and we can have the newest Surreal Life.

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I suppose many decades ago before the skies were clogged up by pollution, kids and adults alike could wish upon a star each evening, but in modern times, we might actually have to go to the planetarium to do so - or do we? With the Sky Lanterns, you can always use these paper blimps as a replacement. Each Sky Lantern features a wax fuel cell that feeds a flame which in turn helps it rise to the sky. No worries about where the Sky Lantern ends up though, since this is a fully biodegradable lantern that won’t harm the environment once it has outlived its usefulness. Each Sky Lantern can glow for up to 20 minutes and rise up to 1.5km in the sky. IMHO, it is a pity to see £39.95 burn up and fly away though.

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Kingston is a name associated with memory products, and we have news that the company will begin to ship its high capacity 32GB DataTraveler 150 USB Flash drive. Also known as the DT150, this USB flash drive model boasts the largest capacity in Kingston’s entire line of DataTraveler USB drives, which is almost as convenient as toting around a portable hard drive since many large files (and I mean huge - even those bigger than 8GB) won’t exactly spill over 32GB, right? Perfect for folks who want to merge work-related content and personal digital content on the same drive, although it can be quite a pain trying to get all the data inside organized properly. My 4GB USB flash drive is already in a mess with files all over the place sans a proper folder structure.

Don’t worry about which computing platform you’re running on - Kingston’s DataTraveler 150 plays nice with Windows Vista, XP and Windows 2000, Mac OS X 10.3 (and above) and Linux 2.6 (and above). Just like all the other USB flash drives from Kingston, the DT 150 will come with a five-year warranty and round the clock tech support just in case (touch wood) anything goes wrong. Some of the features and specifications of the DT 150 include :-

• Capacity: 32GB
• Dimensions: 3.06″ x 0.9″ x 0.47″ (77.9mm x 22mm x 12.05mm)
• Operating Temperature: 32 degrees F to 140 degrees F (0 degrees C to 60 degrees C)
• Storage Temperature: -4 degrees F to 185 degrees F (-20 degrees C to 85 degrees C)
• USB plug and play

It will retail for $139, which ain’t too shabby. I wonder whether it supports Vista’s ReadyBoost feature or not - surely you have some bragging rights over your mates if that is the case. What is the largest capacity USB flash drive you have at the moment, and do you see the need for something bigger?

Press Release

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Of all the sweet and chic cases available in plenty for your iPhone, why would you want to even glance at this leather iPhone case which, at best, can only be termed an ugly duckling ? Because, forgetting its ungainly looks for a moment, it is a solar powered case which can juice up your iphone perhaps during that unexpected emergency when your phone’s completely dead and an alternate power source is hard to find.

The leather case conceals a rechargeable battery that you can charge either by solar power or via USB. Then transfering the power to your iPhone takes just a few simple steps – just insert the iPhone into the case and you are done. The iPhone fully charges up in less than 3 hours provided the battery within the case has been fully charged. Cons ? The battery itself takes an agonizing 12 hours to charge on solar power, and you will have to part with an unreasonable $48 to bring home this beast.

Via The Red Ferret Journal.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull wasn’t that spectacular although it was by no means a failure when it comes to box office receipts. Here’s a toy to help you relive more tense moments of the movie.

Use the powers of the crystal skull remote to control the fearsome ant. Scurries and moves like a super-sized version of the real thing. Terrorize your family and friends with its scissor-action mandible!

Would be nice if this was accompanied by a crystal skull mask or toy in order to complete the intended effect. You will need to spare plenty of AA batteries to keep the $34.98 Indiana Jones Giant Radio Controlled Ant going.

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Gizmodo reviews the LG Dare and writes, “It’s a bit grainy, but with decent light, it could make some interesting videos at 120 frames per second. The 3.2 megapixel camera is decent, but nothing to write home about…Speaking of camera, the editing feature is not as “full” as we first thought. There’s no red-eye reduction or shadow/highlight or color adjustment. Most of the options are actually novelty, and even for being silly they are not very useable.”

Read more about the LG Dare.