WOOO HOO! The Olympics are finally here, baby!!! Yesterday, we were all treated to, i believe, one of the world’s best openings EVER to the Olympic Games ever seen!(Or, at least, Televised on international TV ) It really was quite spectacular, and amazingly well done. Zhang Yimou, famous filmmaker, really outdid himself in elegantly choreographing(or producing, i should say) the opening ceremony! He turned what was to be a large political statement that asserted and set China’s image in the world, into such an extravagant, rich and quite symbolic visual display, that left the whole world gaping in awe! Basically, IT WAS AMAZING !

  Anyways, the opening ceremony told much of China’s successful history from recorded time to present day. There was an amazing amount of satisfying Chinese symbolism throughout the performance, most of which was thankfully explained by the reporters covering the show.(I’m not chinese, and I watched on NBC ) The whole thing was done on such a large scale, with thousands of people, with exact precision! I especially loved the “Movable Type”, for I could’ve swore that it was computer controlled, but no! There were People under the type, it was simply amazing. The type moved so that it looked like the wind was flowing over it, or like it was flowing water, or that a pebble was dropped in the water, and things along those lines, with everything  so controlled, so natural, so fluid and flawless, that I thought it had to have been computer controlled! IT WASNT! The Tai Chi segment was very nice as well, I loved the way the thousands of people moved in perfect harmony…*sigh* Beautiful! All the dancers, throughout the various acts, also were amazing, running, moving, at exactly the right speed and time. I greatly admire not only the choreographer, but the ones who masterfully carried out  the choreography! The practice it must’ve taken…Man! The fireworks, needless to say, were also simply amazing, with the spectacular, lit-up “birdsnest” in the background!

Fireworks at the Beijing Olympics, 2008.(Sorry, the picture isnt the greatest )

I liked the design of the Birds Nest very much! Very well designed and constructed, modern and contemporary–Love it! I was additionally amazed at the giant LED screen in the floor, as well as the coincided projections around the top of the stadium-Both were really AWEsome!

Bottom Line: Very well done, China- You deserve all the praise, and your spotlight in the world! (Although, they deserve the criticism they’re getting for other actions, but that’s for another post!)

Well done China, that really was a spectacular event!

Let the Games begin!!

Until next time,

-Sk Inventor

Hey Everyone! Back again, with another REALLY useful website! Well, we all know what a time-consuming hassle it is to download those good ol’ youtube videos, for playback on either your ipod, computer, your refrigerator, or other misc. electronic device – You need to actually download the FLV file, through an FLV ripper or third party site, and then after you’ve found a suitable converter, have to tweak the settings right and then wait for it to convert the video, and THEN you’re ready to go.(like 30 min later!) Why can’t you just download the effing video as AVI, MP4, MOV, or something? Rather than go through the download and conversion hassle yourself? Well now you can, thanks to vixy.net !

Vixy.net is an Online Video Conversion Service, and is free, but is still in Beta. I fell in love the first time I saw its Parsed Html page *sniff*. It works just like you would expect it to! You simply paste the Youtube(or an external .flv) URL into the URL text box, select your conversion format(MP4 for iPod/PSP, AVI for Windows, MOV for Mac, 3GP for Mobile, or just MP3, if its a song ), hit the Start Button and BAM-It fetches the youtube video, converts it on its servers, and downloads it to your computer! Thats it! DONE! Ready to be Synced! In my tests the average 3-5 min video took less than 3 min in most cases, so it is quite speedy. This is how youtube video downloading should be- Hit a button and everything is taken care of for you! Ahhhh…Technology! Though,  I should mention that its not completely flawless. A few times when i was using it, It was unable to connect to the server, or the server was too busy. Other times, it just hung! Well, it IS in Beta, so a few occasional 2 second problems aren’t a big deal. Hopefully, as more people use the site and their service expands, more servers should make everything nice and speedy, and flawless!  

So head over to www.vixy.net today, and Give it a try! 

Stay tuned for more highly useful sites, reviews, and tech news!

See ya next week!

-Sk Innovator

       Well its here. The highly anticipated upgrade to the original “god” phone. And like it says above its twice as fast, and cost $199! Among its new hardware features are a 2 megapixel camera, a GPS chip, a new sleeker plastic back, a non-recessed headphone jack, and newer metal keys for the volume slider. Compared to the older iphone, the iphone 3G is a little thicker( at thickest point) most probably because of a newer battery or the 3G chip, but has the same beautiful 3.5 in multitouch screen. 

     Ok cool, so we have this new iPhone, but original Iphone users are definitely going to want to answer one simple question: Should you upgrade? And if you didn’t have one before: Should you buy? Well I’m going to lay it all out for you guys right here so you can make that decision with a little more backing .

Alright, like I said above, these are the key hardware upgrades over the older iphone(we will examine each one after): a 3G chip, GPS chip, Plastic back, non-recessed headphone jack, New 2 MP camera, and nicer metal keys on the sider(for volume, etc). It also comes with the Iphone 2.0 upgrade, but older iphones can upgrade to that too-more on that after hardware– But there is one big catch-you have to pay $35 a month now to ATT in addition to your voice plan, and that makes a big difference in pricing-$15 dollars more than the older iphone plan(if you want txting)-i’ll say it now-over a two year period iphone 3G is MORE expensive than the original- Check out the math below(after the explanations).  

3G Chip

Well this is the primary most lovable feature in the new iPhone. It puts the newer iPhone on the muuucch faster 3G data network. So your browsing speeds increase to somewhere from 700 Kbps to upwards of 1 mbps! Thats more than twice the speed of the old one and is comparable to some wi-fi Speeds. So if a page took 60 seconds to load on edge, it’ll load in less that 30 seconds on 3G! YAY! This is a huge plus, especially for heavy internet/data users. 3G also allows you to talk and surf at the same time! But on the minus side it REALLY DRAINS the battery, and  a lot of users complain about that. You will most likely have to charge it every day without fail. Other than that BIG plus!

GPS Chip 

Yay! GPS! Means faster and more precise positioning in Google Maps, and now in other 3rd party Applications(that come with the new app store in 2.0 upgrade! ) Thats pretty much it…

Plastic back

Nice black curved plastic back, feels nicer in hand, looks nice .

A Non-Recessed Headphone Jack

Yay! Finally! This means you can use ANY standard headphones with your iPhone! WOO HOO! This was really needed!

A Two Megapixel camera

2 megapixel camera-Standard on most new phones. Same as old iPhone, but I heard its a different type…

Nice Metal keys!

Keys feel sturdier and more “pointful” in your hands. Adds to the overall look of the iPhone.

  Well that’s really it on hardware updates-not really too much when you really look at it *shrugs*. The software update REEALLY Makes a difference though, a bit more than the hardware. The older iphones get the upgrade for free. We’ll take a quick look at that after we look at the Math-Pricing

The Math-The whole pricing Issue

Alrighty, like I said before, over a two year period the Iphone 3G is MORE expensive than the older iphone. So, if you haven’t an iphone already, and you think you should get one now cause  its “cheaper”-That is NOT the case! The 199 initial price should not a deciding factor, cause it is the same story as the original iphone-cept more expensive! But is the diffrence between the two worth the extra $$ It is for a lot of people! Its a great phone. but it depends on you- Lets take a look:

Old Iphone (over 2 years):

$399 Initial Price with 2yr contract Voice($39.99) with Iphone plan ($20, comes with texts). So every month you pay 59.99. Over two years(59.99*24) thats $1439.76+399(initial price)= 1838.76 would be your total spent on the iphone Experience over two years.

Total Price Two Years(old Iphone)= $1838.76

New Iphone(over two years)

$199 Initial Price with 2 yr contract voice(39.99) with Iphone plan ($35 with texts). Every month you pay $74.99. Over two years (74.99*24) you pay 1799.76+199(initial price)=1998.76 total spent on the iPhone 3G experience over 2 years.

Total Price Two years(Iphone 3g)= $1998.76

Difference 

The Iphone 3G will cost $160 More(if you want texts) after a two year Period than the original iPhone, sales prices included. Well if you browse a lot then the $160 over two years is DEFINITELY worth the 3G speeds and the rest of the upgrades. If you’re a new iphone user i want to reiterate that the pricing makes no difference its the same as before-figure out if its affordable for you!  But before you make your decision take a look at the Amazing software update(old iphones get for free )

Iphone 2.0 Software Update!

There are actually only a few key part to this upgrade, but one of them makes such a huge difference it should count for 10! The APPLICATION STORE!! Yes you can finally download over 500 3rd party applications to your iPhone!! 125 of which are free applications! Finally, Apple! IT TOOK YOU A WHILE! I’ll mention the other updates quickly-The calculator is revamped-now a Scientific Calculator when turned sideways, and Microsoft Exchange Support!! YAY! Mail and safari are also revamped, with some nice features! (You can now save photos from online or in emails to your photo gallery on your iPhone! )  And support for their new service-Mobileme.

App Store!

Yes, that’s right, you can now INSTALL APPLICATIONS RIGHT TO YOUR PHONE! YAY! None of this “Webapp” BS-Console Apps all the way!! WIth console apps the applications can make use of your iphones movement, multi-touch, vibration, camera, and all other features! Like in Super Monkey ball you tilt your phone to navigate the level with your character-in 3D-YEA There are SOO many awesome apps, paid and free, i intend to do a post on the top 10 apps soon! Stay tuned! This is, i think, by far the best improvement in the iphone 2.0 software update!! Theres not much more to say here-this is just awesome!( Im developing some apps my self) Just head to iTunes and look at the apps your self!

Revamped Calculator 

Lol! Wowz not too big of a deal, but can be useful!

Microsoft Exchange Support!

YAY! Now iPhone is officially a business phone! Corporations love it now finally those push email contacts and calender that is comparable to the Blackberry!  Who knows you might be receiveing an iphone from your corporation soon!

Here’s what Apple says “With support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync, iPhone 3G delivers push email, calendar, and contacts. And it uses enterprise-grade networking with Cisco IPSec VPN and WPA2 Enterprise support. So now the most revolutionary mobile device ever is also the ideal phone for business.” 

So not just a toy anymore!

MobileMe

Apples new .Mac service! $99 for a year… depends who you are. Its pretty much Microsoft Exchange “for the rest of us” Push email contacts and calender. Also comes with 20GB of online web storage, and other features check it out at me.com . Push email calender and contacts mean that all your devices will stay in sync. So Pretty much if you add a contact on your phone, it will automatically push that up to the “cloud” and add that contact on you Mac or PC or other device! Same with email and calender! Any change you make-instantly! It depends who you are for this to be useful…

Other:

Well those are the main updates- the others are more subtle yet useful-More languages, better contacts, able to save images etc.

Closing and Verdict

The Iphone 2.0 is a worthy successor to the iPhone, and the Iphone Software Update 2.0 is definitely a success. Unfortunately if you’re an ipod touch user(like me) you have to pay $9.95 for the update! ARRG APPLE! WHY? But I assure you if you’ll use the features its worth it! Like I said above the iPhone 3G will end up costing you $160 more over 2 years than the original iphone, so take that into account. If you have the money, go for it! Its no doubt an improvement! 3G Speeds are AWESOME! The gps chip and other hardware updates are worth is as well. But the old iphone isnt bad at all and, i think, will still survive for years to come! It really depends who you are, and hopefully with the information I put out above, you’ll be able to decide if its worth it for you!

Please, Stay Tuned! Like I said in my prior post, im posting a new lengthy useful post every week!

Until Next week,

-SkInnovator

Hey Everyone, I’m back! And i;m back to stay! I know i’ve been neglecting this blog for a while , but not anymore! I’m Back to stay! You’ll find a nice length new post here every week! Yay!

Hey Everyone!

Sorry that I haven’t posted here as of late…*sigh* Talk about schoolwork! Well anyways, i’m back here again with yet another extremely useful website! I have actually known about this website for quite sometime now, and I just now thought it might be useful to post it! Its called

Mailinator!

This really is a handy-dandy website. You know how you try to make all those fake accounts for 15 day trials of websites, but get foiled in your quest for an easy solution- because they send you a confirmation email? Well Mailinator is your easy solution! When prompted for your email address, all you do is make up some crazy email address with “@mailinator.com”(Nothing has to be done on mailinator before hand-make it up on the spot) at the end of it. And you put that into the email address field for the website trial you’re signing up for.(Or wherever else you don’t want your real email address to be shown) Simply complete the rest of the form with other fake details. Now when the website tells you to go check your email for a confirmation link-Just go to www.mailinator.com and type in whatever name you made up before (The thing before @mailinator.com) into the box in the left corner and click check inbox–And Viola your confirmation email is there! The best part is that nothing has to be done before hand- you do not need to set up an account with Mailinator or anything!! 

Whenever Mailinator’s servers pick up an email that comes to it it creates and “account” for that email(address)  spontaneously and accommodates it immediately! So you just make it up on the spot and check it later(but anyone can check it-so make it something only you would know )!!

Quite useful, eh?

Well, i’m sure you can think up of quite a few more uses for this!

Well Until next time,

-Sk Inventor

Edit–Hulu is now Completely free and open to the public! No registrations! 

Wow, this is a really amazing website! People are waiting for a good quality, reliable, and easy to use web-TV viewing experience. There are many contenders such as programs like Joost, but nothing beats what you get from Hulu!

 Hulu is a free (currentley in private beta), online service, backed by beefy real TV networks like Fox and NBC, that streams full screen, complete episodes of popular, well known TV Shows. It is completley free, and as a result there are about 4 ten second ads per TV show, which  is a small price to pay for the varietey and ease of use.

    As you see there are many popular TV shows that can be watched, the Office, The Simpsons, Heros, and a whole lot more. They have over 70 titles that you can watch instantly over the net.

The video quality in full screen is accecptabe, not HD, but not grainy either. It plays in a hulu Flash player, and you can’t download videos even through a flv ripper. The hulu flash player supports closed captioning, which is a plus because the need for it always arises in the most unpredictible situations! Another great addtion is the ability to embed the videos! That’s right you heard(read) correctley. Hulu will provide you with code that you can use to embed the full eisode of whatever TV show you are watching at the time, and even gives you the option to show only certain clips of it!

 Hulu is like watching TV, but with a online bonus. You can read and post reviews of entire TV shows or particular episodes, you can read discriptions of the episodes, or just chat with other users who like to watch the same TV shows as you!

Really there isn’t much more i can say about hulu. It just works! It gives you exactly what you expect, if not more! There are really no kinks i see right now, even though it is still in Beta! The videos stream nice and uninterupted with a standad broadband internet connection, and the lates episodes are always there waiting for you to watch! I think this is the frontrunner in providing online TV for free, because it is acctually supported by real TV networks, is in-browser, and has a very easy to use site. This is the only service that might be an actual substitute to watching tv on TV! I strongly reccomend this it really is a good reliable service! A 9/10!

www.Hulu.com   

Gotta run,

See ya next time,

           -Sk inventor

Hey guys,

Here’s ann UPdate:

Just wanted to talk about this really cool program I started! Its called Florida Virtual School (FLVS), and its really cool! It allows you you to take courses online in conjunction with regular school! Its a really fast way to earn full HS credits! You can even take AP classes! check it out.

flvs.net

 -Sk Inventor

Anyone buy a Macbook recently? If you did, then I would return it today, for Steve Jobs announced the newest and latest in Apple technology today, the MacBook Air, the thinest, and sleekest notebook in the world!

As you would probably expect, Steve Jobs introduced this latest forage in Apple Computing in his usual captivating, flashy, and hype-creating style by simply slipping the sleek Macbook out of a yellow envelope, to a flurry of well deserved ooo’s and ahh’s by the audience.

Thinnest Notebook. Ever.

What’s even more amazing about Steve’s new brainchild, is the modest technical specifications that his ultra-thin and attractive notebook tote: Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 4MB on-chip shared L2 cache(1.6 GHz ), 2 GB of 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM onboard, Wireless N (802.11n) compatibility as well as 802.11 a/b/g compatibility, built in Bluetooth, built in iSight camera and other more common features.

What I also like is the fact that Apple is allowing for a optional 64GB SSD drive, and that Apple didn’t forget the small things like Bluetooth, and a built in camera, that really make this a well-rounded notebook. Oh, and did I mention that it weighed only 3 pounds?

Apple has once more stirred the waters of innovation, and i’d like to see what the competition will drum up for this latest “breakthrough” Apple product! Whatever comes, I’d like to see another company match the elegant, simplistic, and trademark style of Apple!

What more can I say? This is another one of Apple’s promising products, and now we just have to see how it plays out!

Well, fine, come on, it is just pretty darn asowme, I mean come on, just look at it! =D

January Apple Iphone/ Ipod Touch Update

Apple released a new firmware update today for the Iphone and Ipod Touch as well today(1.1.3), with some very useful features!

With the new version of Google Maps, you can now triangulate your position pretty accurately where ever you go now, which is a pretty amazing update considering that Apple isn’t charging a “nominal fee” for that, and that it is actually pretty accurate! I also like some of the new functionality in Google Maps because you can add push pins, change to a Hybrid view, and work with a little easier interface.

Next up is the new, much needed, customizable desktop! Yes it’s true, with Apple’s latest update you can rearrange icons on your home screen, and you can even have multiple (up to 9) pages on your home screen. What’s even better is that you can put shortcuts on the Home screen for web pages, or Web Apps! They look like regular icons and automatically launch the Safari Browser and go to the mapped website! Just that easy! YAY!

Oh and there is some word that Apple will be selling applications through iTunes for the iPhone and Ipod Touch, but more on that later!

Those are the main Highlights for the iPhone, but the latest update also adds to the interface and useability here and there.

For the Ipod Touch this latest update is a breakthrough, because you can finally install those once iPhone only Apps on you Ipod Touch Legally! Yes, Google Maps, Mail, Weather, Stocks, and Notes can all be your on your Ipod Touch……. for a nominal fee of $19.99 of course!

Apple is notorious for charing money here and there for little things, and Apple shows its side here again. But depending on who you are, this might actually be a good deal, especially since all new ones come with them for free!

I was waiting for so long for Apple to release those apps for the Ipod Touch, i mean they should’ve included them before, but then the bittersweet news came in and my Ipod touch is still without those apps. ( Donations anyone? )

And yes the Ipod Touch also has the Customizable Home Screen Feature, and overall, especially if you’re an iPhone user, the update was pretty good improvement, with a lot more usability and surprises then you might’ve expected!

Well i was going to talk a little about the CES 2008 today, and go more into detail with the Apple Iphone/Ipod Touch software update, but it’s getting late, so more on that later!

See you next time,

-Sk Inventor

Schoolmates:  Ahh… the study session today worked, at the least and helped many people, if you were one of the 20 people there, thanks for giving it a try, and I hope to see you guys next time!

Everyone Else:  Wow is a understatement for the CES Awards of 2008. They were amazing new shows of technology in various fields, and so far I’ve watched 2 Keynote presentations ( Intel and Microsoft) , and they were simply amazing, sorry for the short quick post, but there’s more coming on this tomorrow!

-Sk Inventor

Hey guys, really quickly, i wanted to let all my school friends know that im hosting a breeze session for preparations for the upcoming finals at: connect.acrobat.com/study4finals ! Hope to See you there!

-Sk-Inventor