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Internet Explorer 6 “Funeral” Today

Jaypee Habaradas — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 19:53:38 +0000

A memorial service will be held later today in Denver, Colorado for Internet Explorer 6 also known as IE6. According to a spokesperson of Aten Design Group, the company sponsoring the event – this mock “funeral” was inspired by Google’s decision to phase out IE6 this month. The unofficial “funeral” of IE6 will feature a coffin holding a “body” with the IE6 logo as its head and about a 100 attendees dressed in black, giving their eulogies.

Here’s the invitation from the IE6 Funeral website:

Internet Explorer Six, resident of the interwebs for over 8 years, died the morning of March 1, 2010 in Mountain View, California, as a result of a workplace injury sustained at the headquarters of Google, Inc. Internet Explorer Six, known to friends and family as “IE6,” is survived by son Internet Explorer Seven, and grand-daughter Internet Explorer Eight.

The organizers were initially expecting about 30 to 50 attendees but had to change venue in order to accommodate more attendees. The “funeral” will be held today – Thursday, March 4, 2010, at 7:00 p.m. at the Forest Room 5, 2532 15th Street, Denver, CO 80211-3902.

Although IE6 is still widely used, it has come under much criticism from web developers and users across the Internet in the past few years. There are several groups and movements on the web that want to “kill” IE6.

Why all the hate on IE6? It doesn’t fully or properly support CSS version 2, so web developers have to create CSS hacks, conditional comments and other forms of browser sniffing just to make their websites work on IE6. Another big issue is IE6’s lack of support for alpha transparency in PNG images, which is a big deal in web design and development. Last but not least is the issue of IE6’s stability. All you need to do to cause IE6 to crash is insert a couple lines of code into a web page and you can be sure that IE6 will crash.

I was reading the eulogies posted on the IE6 Funeral website and I couldn’t help but laugh at them. Most of them are funny and wittingly humorous and then there are some that express pure anger and frustration. Prizes will be awarded for the best IE6 memory & the best dressed! So if you’re in the Denver, Colorado area you might be interested in attending the ceremony. Btw, funeral attire is encouraged.

If you want to find out more about the IE 6 Funeral or want to RSVP or leave a eulogy, check out the IE6 Funeral website.

Anyone here still using IE6? What are your memories of IE6? Anybody planning to attend IE6’s “funeral” later today? If you’ve checked out the site, which is your most favorite eulogy?

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Windows Phone 7 Series

Jaypee Habaradas — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 05:56:17 +0000

Goodbye, Windows Mobile! Hello, Windows Phone 7 Series! Microsoft revealed earlier today their newest mobile operating system – the Windows Phone 7 Series at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. Windows Phone 7 Series is not only a rebranding and a redesign of Windows Mobile but a completely new and fresh mobile operating system. This new mobile operating system looks like it was built from scratch because there are no traces of the old Windows Mobile – everything is brand new.

The biggest change and the most noticeable feature in Windows Phone 7 Series is the user interface. It is totally different and instead of the conventional grid of icons, it features big flat squares that are dubbed “live tiles“. These “live tiles” show different content ranging from frequent contacts to local information, pictures, music and videos, office apps, games and social networks or any custom app that can update automatically with information via the phone or the Internet.

Windows Phone 7 Series will be available late this year across all major wireless carriers in the US – AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Sprint & T-Mobile USA; some big-name wireless carries in Europe – Deutsche Telekom AG, Orange, SFR, Telecom Italia, Telefónica, Telstra & Vodafone; and in devices manufactured by hardware partners like Dell, Garmin-Asus, HTC, HP, LG, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Toshiba and Qualcomm. Initial reviews for the Windows Phone 7 Series are positive and tech blogs or users who’ve had hands-on experience are all excited and raving about it.

Below is a short video featuring the user interface of the Windows Phone 7 Series.

Screenshots:

Windows Phone 7 Series was demonstrated using an unidentified prototype phone/mobile device that looked like a Zune, sparking discussions whether this device is the much awaited Zune Phone. It could be, but some sources are saying that it is not and that the device used at the Mobile World Congress was just Windows Mobile running a Zune client.

Just by seeing the hands-on photos from different blogs and websites and watching the video above, I can say that Windows Phone 7 Series is a cool mobile operating system.

For a more in-depth and hands-on review, check out Gizmodo’s article – Windows Phone 7 Series: Everything Is Different Now

Check out the official Windows Phone 7 Series website.

What do you guys think about Windows Phone 7 Series? Will it be a game changer in the smartphone/mobile world? Will it revolutionize mobile operating systems? Would you get the Windows mobile device with Windows Phone 7 Series when it comes out later this year? Please share your thoughts.

Square Mobile Payment System

Jaypee Habaradas — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 01:52:07 +0000

This week, Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey will be launching his new startup called Square, which is a mobile payment system that allows merchants and individuals to do business or process credit card transactions by using mobile devices to scan credit cards, debit cards or prepaid cards. According to Square’s website, the initial inspiration came from one of its founders Jim McKelvey who had an experience early this year where he wasn’t able to sell a piece of his glass art because he couldn’t accept credit card payments. For now, the Square software only works on the Apple iPhone and the iPod Touch but will eventually be made available to different mobile platforms like Android, Windows Mobile, BlackBerry, etc.

The process is made possible by a small, square (hence the name Square), stamp-sized plastic device that you plug into a mobile phone’s headphone jack. As soon as the unit is plugged on a device, it automatically turns it into a wireless credit card terminal. Users then swipe the card into the “square” and then, the card information is converted into an audio signal which is then processed and encrypted by Square’s software and transmitted for further processing to Square’s servers via WiFi or 3G connection. Users can confirm the card holder identity with photo verification and the user signs the transaction using the mobile device’s touch screen. Paper receipts are eliminated and users can opt for either an email or SMS text that contains a link to the transaction receipt. Another thing to note is that for every transaction you make using Square, they will donate a penny (1 cent) to a charity/cause of your choice.

As of this moment, its still uncertain whether Square will be charging for the plugin device and/or for the account. In his interview on the Los Angeles Times, Dorsey said that the plugin device are so cheap to make that they might consider giving it away for free to Square account users.

Popular tech blogger Om Malik of GigaOm sees Square’s potential to be a disruptive technology* in the POS (Point of Sale) industry and has this to say:

“Verifone makes a $900 wireless credit-card terminal vs. Square, which runs on a $299 iPod touch. I rest my case,”

I see Square as a very useful tool not only for individuals like me but I see that it will be most beneficial for small business owners and street vendors like McKelvey, who can’t accept credit card, debit card and prepaid card payments because they don’t have the necessary hardware. Square looks very promising and can definitely start a new revolution in the micropayment/mobile payment and POS industry like what Om Malik said.

Square is still in beta testing right now but will be made available to the public next year, 2010.

What do you think of the Square mobile payment system? Would you consider it as a disruptive technology? If you had access to it would you use it? Please share your thoughts.

*disruptive technology – innovations that improve a product or service in ways that the market does not expect.

What is Google Chrome OS?

Jaypee Habaradas — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 21:25:57 +0000

I had some people ask me what Google Chrome OS is so I decided to blog about it here and share it with those of you who also don’t know what it is or how it works. Google Chrome OS is an open source operating system based on Linux that was designed by Google to exclusively work with web applications and was officially announced last July. It has a minimalist user interface (UI) that closely resembles the Chrome web browser. Google Chrome OS is targeted for users who spend most of their time or do their work on the Internet and intended for secondary devices like netbooks.

To make it easier for regular users to understand how it works, the folks over at Google in collaboration with Epipheo Studios have produced this simple video that tells how the Chrome OS was created.

Last November 19th, led by Vice President Sundar Pichai and Engineering Director Matthew Papakipos, Google held a press conference in its Mountain View, California headquarters and demonstrated an early version of Google Chrome OS. Below is the video of the demonstration.

So what do you think about Google Chrome OS? IMO, its a great operating system especially for users who are always connected to the Internet and do a lot of cloud computing. Its also an ideal OS for netbooks and other portable devices because the hardware requirements are minimal. I don’t know what Google’s plans are but it would be awesome if they could incorporate a Google Gears-like feature into it so users could also use it offline.

As you’ve seen in the video demos, Google Chrome OS booted up in only 7 seconds! Another cool thing about it is that it consumes 60 times less drive space than Windows 7. Hewlett-Packard, Acer, Adobe, Asus, Lenovo, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, Freescale and Intel are some of the big named companies who are developing hardware/devices for this operating system.

Btw, if you’re a software developer/engineer you can play around with it’s source code which was also released last November 19th with an open source license under the name Chromium OS.

[image source: Wikipedia]

50 Best Inventions of 2009

Jaypee Habaradas — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 00:32:44 +0000

Last year, I blogged about Time Magazine’s 50 Best Inventions of 2008. Because this was an annual thing for Time Magazine, I decided to do it again this year and blog about the 50 Best Inventions of 2009 which Time Magazine recently released a few days ago.

For those who are not familiar with this, Time Magazine annually gathers a list of inventions and innovations around the world and compiles it into a list of the top 50 inventions. Time Magazine then includes it in its Best & Worst lists feature under the Technology category. Below is a video preview of the this year’s best inventions.

Here’s the complete list of the 50 Best Inventions of 2009 in descending order.

50. The World’s Fastest (Steam-Powered) Car
49. The Newest Cloud
48. The 3-D Camera
47. The Fashion Robot
46. The Smart Bullet
45. The Sky King
44. Spiderweb Silk
43. The Eyeborg
42. The Supersuit
41. The High-Speed Helicopter
40. The Edible Race Car
39. The Levitating Mouse
38. The Foldable Speaker
37. Packing, Improved
36. Meat Farms
35. The Handyman’s X-Ray Vision
34. The Human-Powered Vending Machine
33. The No-Punt Offense
32. The School of One
31. The Living Wall
30. Wooden Bones
29. Dandelion Rubber
28. YouTube Funk
27. The Universal Unicycle
26. The Robo-Penguin
25. The Nissan Leaf
24. The Biotech Stradivarius
23. The Cyborg Beetle
22. The Custom Puppy
21. The Bladeless Fan
20. The Electric Microbe
19. A Watchdog for Financial Products
18. The $20 Knee
17. The Planetary Skin
16. Vertical Farming
15. The YikeBike
14. The Handheld Ultrasound
13. The Solar Shingle
12. The Personal Carbon Footprint
11. The Mercury Probe
10. The Electric Eye
9. Tweeting by Thinking
8. The AIDS Vaccine
7. The Telescope for Invisible Stars
6. Teleportation
5. Controller-Free Gaming
4. The Smart Thermostat
3. The $10 Million Lightbulb
2. The Tank-Bred Tuna

And finally, the number one invention of 2009:

1. NASA’s Ares Rockets

My favorite inventions for 2009 would have to be Project Natal (Controller-Free Gaming), the AIDS vaccine, the 3-D Camera and the YikeBike. If you were to choose from this list, which one would be your most favorite invention?

To read the complete story, check out Time Magazine’s 50 Best Inventions of 2009. This article contains photos and more information regarding each invention.

*inventions in the photo are NASA’s Ares Rocket, the Nissan Leaf, the Smart Thermostat, the 3-D Camera and the YikeBike.

Filipino Bloggers Promote Ovi by Nokia

Jaypee Habaradas — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:39:41 +0000

While browsing the web the other day, I came across this cool promo video featuring some Filipino bloggers promoting Ovi, Nokia’s Internet services. For those who are not familiar with what Ovi by Nokia is for or what it is about, here’s a short description I got from Wikipedia:

Ovi by Nokia is the brand for Nokia’s Internet services. The Ovi services can be used from a mobile device, computer (through Nokia Ovi Suite) or via the web (Ovi.com). Nokia focuses on five key services areas: Games, Maps, Media, Messaging and Music. Nokia’s aim with Ovi is to include 3rd parties, such as operators and third-party services like Yahoo’s Flickr photo site. With the announcement of Ovi Maps Player API, Nokia has started to evolve their services into a platform, enabling third-parties to make use of Nokia’s Ovi services.

Now that you have an idea on what Ovi by Nokia is or how it works, here’s the video featuring some of the top local bloggers from the Philippines promoting Ovi by Nokia:

The bloggers featured in this video are: Lori Baltazar (Dessert Comes First – Desserts), Joriben Zaballa (Joriben – Entertainment), Enrico Dee (Byahilo – Travel), Anton Diaz (Our Awesome Planet – Food and restaurants), Jayvee Fernandez (A Bugged Life – Tech) and Bryanboy (Bryanboy – Fashion).

I like the video and I can honestly say that everyone – Nokia, video production team and the bloggers all did a good job in this video. Presentation was good, smooth and pretty convincing. I wonder if Nokia will produce another video and feature a different set of Pinoy bloggers?

What do you think of this Ovi by Nokia promo video? What do you like/dislike about it? If you had the choice, who would you cast and what changes would you make to the video?

Via Mig’s Mobile Network

What is Google Wave?

Jaypee Habaradas — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 18:45:22 +0000

Early this year, the Google I/O Developer Conference was held at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. During day 2 of the event, Google surprised everybody by presenting a new product for real-time communication and collaboration called Google Wave.

What is Google Wave?

Google Wave is an online tool for real-time communication and collaboration. A wave can be both a conversation and a document where people can discuss and work together using richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more.

What is a wave?

A wave is equal parts conversation and document. People can communicate and work together with richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more.

A wave is shared. Any participant can reply anywhere in the message, edit the content and add participants at any point in the process. Then playback lets anyone rewind the wave to see who said what and when.

A wave is live. With live transmission as you type, participants on a wave can have faster conversations, see edits and interact with extensions in real-time.

Here’s the video of the Google Wave Developer Preview demonstration that was presented during the Day 2 Keynote of Google I/O.

Pretty amazing stuff don’t you say? When I first saw this video, I was really amazed and it got me very excited to try it out. I just couldn’t wait until they make Google Wave available to the public. I also can’t wait to see the extensions and applications built by developers that can expand and add to Google Wave’s functionalities and capabilities. If all works well, Google Wave would be available by September of this year.

To know more about it and how it works, check out the official homepage of Google Wave.

Microsoft’s Vision 2019 & Future Vision Montage

Jaypee Habaradas — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 18:22:09 +0000

Microsoft has consistently been one of the top innovators in technology in the past years. To be an innovator, it requires or involves a lot of ideas, concepts and visions and Microsoft Office Labs is where their ideas and visions of the future are created.

Recently at the Wharton Business Technology Conference, Stephen Elop, Microsoft’s Business Division President unveiled the latest production from the Microsoft Office Labs called “Vision 2019“, which stars stock photos of men, women and children playing with the next-generation technology.

Here’s a short intro from the Microsoft Office Labs:

How will emerging technology improve our productivity in the years ahead? What opportunities will arise from evolving trends and global change? Microsoft has collaborated with customers, partners, and thought leaders across multiple disciplines to develop scenarios that explore how long-term trends, customer challenges, and emerging technologies might converge to improve our lives, both at work and home.

Future Vision Montage

Here’s the 5-minute full video version of Vision 2019. Enjoy!

My inner geek was just “drooling” watching these videos. I know some of the technologies featured in it are already available like the touch and multi-touch surface which we’ve seen used by CNN. But I can’t wait for the day when all of these technology would be commonly available to the public. I like the first part where the students were interacting with each other via multi-touch screen featuring real-time language translation, I wish we had that back in the days. I also like the cellphone/mobile device that the Japanese guy used to locate something and talk to the person while their conversation was automatically translated into their native language then later on used it to guide him to the location. Awesome!

How about you guys? What do you think of Microsoft’s vision of the future? Which part of the video or technology did you like the most?

[via Microsoft Office Labs and iStartedSomething]

iPhone 4G Concept

Jaypee Habaradas — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 16:48:14 +0000

Rumors of a next-generation iPhone have been all over the web the past few weeks and started when someone spotted an iPhone firmware referencing a certain “iPhone 2,1″. The original iPhone was referenced as 1,1, the iPhone 3G as 1,2 and if Apple stuck to their naming conventions, this would have to be the next version of the iPhone.

This image of the iPhone 4G concept came out a couple days ago and spread like wild fire. As you can see, this “upcoming” iPhone is sporting a titanium body and Apple’s new unibody Macbook design.

Specs:

Titanium and Glass.
OLED screen
3G
GPS
Front camera for iChat
Removable battery
3.2 Megapixel camera
Video
32 GB

If you ask me, the design looks okay but specifications-wise, I’m not impressed. I know these are only “fantasy” specs because this is just a concept phone, but if Apple wants to come up with a more competent device, they’ll have to provide better specs. A 3.2 megapixel camera? Common! It should be 5 megapixels at least. The only thing I like about it is the OLED screen/display which is better than a LCD display because it doesn’t require a backlight and uses less power. Apple should really come up with something more impressive as the competition is getting tougher.

Are you impressed with the iPhone 4G Concept? Do you like the unibody design or would you prefer a more “rounded” look? What specifications would you want or expect in the next iPhone model?

[via Gizmodo]

ASUS Eee All-in-One Touchscreen PC

Jaypee Habaradas — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 21:39:33 +0000

Asus recently unveiled the Asus Eee All-in-One Touchscreen PC in Taiwan. The 15.6 inch “nettop” computer runs on Windows XP and powered by Intel’s 1.6GHz Atom processor, 1GB of RAM and 160GB 5,400rpm hard-drive. The Asus Eee All-in-One Touchscreen PC also known as the Eee Monitor and Eee Top will be available in two versions, the ET1602 and the ET1603

Specifications*:

LCD: 15.6″ 16:9 Wide Panel
OS: Genuine Windows® XP Home
Touch Screen: Single touch
CPU + Chipset: Intel Atom N270 + 945 GSE
Memory: DDRII 1GB
HDD: 160G SATAII 5400rpm
Graphics: ATI Mobility Radeon HD3450 Discrete Display Card
Build-in Camera: 1.3M pixel Web camera
Mic: Array Mic
LAN: 10/100/1000 Mbps
Wireless: 802.11 n
Audio: 4W Hifi speaker x 2 + SRS Premium Sound System
Side IO port: USB 2.0 x 2, card reader (SD/MMC/Memory Stick)
IO port: 3 audio ports for 5.1channel : a. Microphone port in ß> Center/Bass, b. Line in ß> Sur R/L, c. Line out ß> Front – Gigabit LAN x 1, – USB 2.0 x 4
Power Supply: 19Vdc, 3.42A, 65W power adaptor
Battery: Embedded Battery
Net Weight: 4.4KG

*Specifications for the ET1602 model.

Setting up the Asus Eee Top is easy as ABC. All you need to do is take out of the box and plug it in. One of the cool features of this computer is the Easy Mode which provides easy access to commonly-used programs and applications. The Asus Eee Top’s computing power may not be enough for graphic artists, video editors and gamers but its the perfect system for beginners. If you’re looking for a smaller and cheaper alternative to the Apple iMac or HP Touchsmart PCs, then the Asus Eee Top is the one for you.

Additional Images:

The Asus Eee Top is currently available for retail only in Taiwan and sells for about $565. For those of you in the US, you’ll be happy to know that it would available here for only $450. Do you like the Asus Eee Top, but the screen size is too small for you? Just wait for a few more months because Asus will add larger screen versions (20 and 22 inch) by mid next year.

What do you think of the Asus Eee All-in-One Touchscreen PC? You think it would be popular like the Eee PC or not? For those of you who are shopping for a new computer, would consider buying the Asus Eee Top PC? Or would you settle for a laptop or a cheaper netbook? Please share your thoughts. Thanks for your time and have a great weekend!