The End: Goodbye Beloved Books

With the proliferation of ebooks readers, it seems that regular books are going the way of the dodo. Take for example the Amazon Kindle. Sold for $114 (With special offers and sponsored screensavers) and up, it has taken the business of selling book to a new level. The latest data from Amazon  points to the fact that ebooks are outselling regular books. This is also helped by the fact that with the Kindle app, you can take your book to almost any device. Sony and other companies had made this kind devices for quite some time now, but recently, we have seen mass proliferation and adoption thanks to the fact that competition have made their prices really accessible to "regular" consumers.

I always been a fan of books; of course I love to read, but books as an object are quite appealing to me. Just the fact that so much information can be store in so little space, plus the feeling of a good quality book in the hands are really difficult to beat. Another good thing is the fact that no power is needed to use a book, apart for some light source (big all mighty sun comes to mind) and you have all you need to get the experience that you want.

Our Failing Society

Every intelligent person knows that a good education is one of the pillars of a well developed society. For centuries, the greatest powers of the world had relied on their brightest members to fulfill their plans. With recent example like China and India; and old ones like Mesopotamia, Greece or the Roman Empire, education has been key to the development and subsequent achievement of greatness. Let me explain myself: There is a direct relation between education (higher education) and socio-economical well being; period. What's next, is what's going on with our society right know.

With the economy in the tank, and people going crazy killing each other, figuratively and literally, to secure their income and "well being"; people that still are able to think are scrambling for solutions. Lets not start to talk about the quality of living, but it seems that all the solutions revolve around job creation, more government bailouts (to corporation and to the people), more security (enforcing the rule of law) and more of the peace and love thing. But what about education? Do they forget the kind of power that enlighten minds have?

iPad 2, Today is the day!

Finally, is Here! After a long and anguishing wait...(what?), the iPad 2 is finally here. Version 2.0 of what Apple Inc. calls their magical device, would be on sale today starting at 5 pm at your local Apple reseller of choice and at 1am PST at apple.com. But the question remains, why should I buy the iPad 2? Is it a revolutionary upgrade? Does this means that the iPad that I got for Christmas is already outdated? Well, the simple answer is maybe.

If you care for having the newest gadget or are as fan of Apple products as a Clipper fan, man, you really need an iPad 2. But for the rest of us, here is the important, new stuff:

AI Controlled Workforce

We have been able to buy the AR Drone for some time now, mostly as a toy; but a team of students from the University of Pennsylvania GRASP Lab did something useful and quite interesting with it. With the help of AI, some mods and others tricks, they simulated a swarm of insects building a structure.  Maybe we can say that the "future" is coming, finally. Video after the break.

A Serious Computer for Your Pocket

A couple of weeks ago, at CES, Motorola showed the world their next iteration of the smartphone: Atrix 4G. With its dual-core CPU, capable of running both the phone OS and the individual OS/UIs for different devices (connected via dock), it would be easy to say that the era of the supercomputer in our pockets is approaching fast. Latest promo video after break.

Firesheep, The Dangers of Open Wifi

Firesheep running on MacOS Firefox, capturing Facebook accounts

Extra! Extra!: Open WiFi is not safe, it's open! Free, open wireless networks is something that everybody loves. But like every other "free" thing, it has a catch 22: you will pay with your security, or lack of it. It is old news that unencrypted WiFi is really dangerous. I guess we will have to learn this the hard way as always.

Millions of people rely on open wireless hotspots to get their daily fix of the internet without thinking twice. Since it invention 10 to 13 years ago, WiFi was a treat to security; then, to try to fix this problem, came along the defeated WEP; after that, the recently defeated WPA and a little more recently WPA2 encryption techniques. It is true that WPA2 is the strongest, consumer available, wireless encryption technology, but as it is known, people tend to forget to turn it on when they install their routers. Also, in order to free themselves from a little hassle, most public WiFi hotspot providers don't encrypt their networks at all, like in schools and universities or commercial establishments that serve the public, like restaurants and coffee houses.

My Old/New iPod video 5G

Everybody knows that consumer products are designed to be disposable; and of course, the iPod is almost on the top of that list. With it non-user removal battery design and the rest of their draconian measures of "quality and user-friendliness", when your iPod gets damage; it seems that there is no way to repair it by yourself. That's when the folks at iFixit come into play. This guys, famous for their device tear downs, sell all the necessary parts so you can get your hands dirty and start repairing your stuff as any man (and woman of course) should always be able to. From PCs to video games consoles to toasters and most of the Apple products, this people got it covered with great how-to manuals and good prices to boot. Check out some picks of my old iPod Video 5G getting the iFixit display installation after the break.

The 25 Years of Super Mario Bros.

In celebration of the 25 years with the Super Mario Bothers, Nintendo is releasing limited editions of their current platforms. The Wii and the DSi XL, in honor of  Mario's 25th birthday, will wear the best red color that Nintendo could muster, "Nintendo Red". Also, both consoles will be offered with new bundles.

New is in the MacBook Air!

Yesterday, at the Back to the Mac special event, Apple Inc. announced the state of the Mac platform. Steve Jobs showed the world what he called the next generation of the MacBook Air, Mac OS X Lion and the next version of their iLife software package, iLife '11.
Update: Back to the Mac 2010 keynote videos!

Windows Phone 7 is Officially Here!

Today, Microsoft announced the first crop of Windows Phone 7 (WP7) hardware to the world. Eight months later, after the WP7 OS unveiling at MWC 2010 Barcelona, the handsets are finally ready to ship. Some of them are set to invade Europe and Asia on October 21 and others, the ones we like, are set straight for North America early this November; for a total of 10 devices (one, the HTC 7 Pro for Sprint, will be release in 2011).

Nintendo 3DS Shipping Dates Announced

Breaking news! February 26, 2011 for Japan and some day of March, 2011 for the rest of the mayor markets were the dates given by Nintendo to went you will be able to get the next version of their successful portable hardware, the Nintendo 3DS. The price for the unit will be ¥25,000 or $298 in dollar for the Japanese market. Also; a new limited version Super Mario DSi LL (XL in North America), is going to be launch on October 28th in Japan for ¥18,000. Introduction and software lineup videos after the break.

HP Slate Prototype Unboxed

As most of you know, back in the beginning of 2010, the HP Slate was announce to the world by Microsoft's CEO Steve Ballmer at CES. Back at that time, the device was quite disappointing by the fact that it was perceive as a mere netbook, without the keyboard, running Windows 7. Well, as it always happens with things that are sold as miracles, the HP Slate, was rolled over by the likes of the Apple iPad, a few other lame Android-base efforts and lately, by the Samsung Galaxy Tab. But a few days ago, a video surfaced on YouTube, claiming to be about a prototype version of the almost forgotten tablet. Video after the break.