By CrunchGear, on 2009.12.29, 04:38.06 am
A young man named Jeremy Gillian stole another young man’s XBox 360 in a robbery and then turned it on… with the network and Gamertag intact. The results are as you’d expect: the victim was able to grab the IP, police tracked it to Gillian’s grandmother’s house, and the XBox and a trove of other stolen stuff were discovered.
Now this story comes to us from the NY Post, not one of the most tech savvy newspapers in our fair city. Also the thought that NYC detectives would “work with Microsoft” to track a stolen XBox is a bit hard to accept at face value, but apparently the story happened so kudos to Pelham Detective John Hynes and Microsoft for working together on this. At least a detective had a bit of fun learning about IP scanning.
We should also totes send the detective a new XBox. Anyone live in Pelham, Bronx?
By CrunchGear, on 2009.10.22, 12:00.33 pm
By CrunchGear, on 2009.10.07, 01:00.00 pm
Ah, late October – a time when a young man’s fancy turns to love, the autumn gingerly steps aside to make way for winter, and, this year, the beginning of at least a year’s worth of non-stop free tech support you’ll have to provide to any of your friends and family that decide to buy a new computer with Windows 7 on it.
The biggest question: How do I get all my dumb photos, tax returns, and Miley Cyrus MP3s onto my new computer? Your new answer: Buy this $40 cable and leave me alone.
That’ll hopefully cut down on your charity workload considerably. Apparently the cable was designed to work with the Windows Easy Transfer utility and setup basically consists of connecting each end of it to the old and new computers. It’ll transfer files, user accounts, settings and customizations, e-mails, and contacts and then provide a report about which programs need to be re-installed along with “links to download latest versions of programs.”
So you’ll still get the “Why didn’t any of my programs transfer?” question that inevitably arises after every new computer purchase, at which point you’re free to suggest that your friend or family member write a strongly-worded letter to Microsoft and then hunker down for an entire weekend of trying to find their old Office 97, Print Shop, and AOL discs.
Available October 23rd, same day as one day after Windows 7.
By CrunchGear, on 2009.09.09, 04:48.52 pm
Once upon a time you dressed so fine, went out to the record store, and bought your albums. Those days are no more, although iTunes wants you to think otherwise. That’s why they added a few new features to add a little bit of that old record store attitude to the boring process of downloading tunes. Introducing iTunes 9.0 - it’s bright, it’s shiny, and it’s kind-of-sort-of new.
The first thing you’ll notice about the new iTunes is the clarity of the new user interface. First, everything is white. The backgrounds are bright and clear and the new iTunes Store carries this UI aesthetic into the shopping experience. The icons are cheery and a little more “open” and friendly.
As for functionality, we’re not looking at much. I haven’t found the Facebook integration yet but I did try the new LPs and was impressed. The LP I bought, Highway 61 Revisted by a young man named Robert Dylan (I think he’s opening for MGMT this year) included three videos and a number of alternate takes of the album material. Was it worth $16.99? Sure. You got the liner notes, written by Mr. Dylan, and a sense that you’re buying something more. Does it replace the LP experience? No. It’s a value add and may not be worth it for some.
Home Sharing essentially turns any computer into an Apple TV with full cross-syncing capabilities, a nice way to share your music with other computers.
Otherwise, we’re looking at a facelift and an a bit more media content in albums. It’s free, it’s available now, and it’s just like Snow Leopard: a few pieces of steak but not much sizzle.
By CrunchGear, on 2009.08.23, 09:24.30 am
Could this be the Macbook iPad Touch Tablet Notebook Edition e-Reader? Or could it be the work of a bored young man who should probably be playing WoW instead of trying to spread vile rumors using poorly designed web pages and falsified images? Which is it, Tom? Which is it?
Bonus Fun Quiz: See if you can spot the Photoshop artifacts!
JK, Tom. Thanks for sending this in. It’s always nice to see kids taking an interest in industrial espionage and hoaxing.
By CrunchGear, on 2009.06.22, 02:30.23 pm
An enterprising young man studying abroad in Russia has turned a run-of-the-mill strainer from Ikea into a Wi-Fi super antenna using little more than the aforementioned strainer, a marker, and SKOTCH tape.
How’d he do it? It actually looks ridiculously simple:
Parabolic kitchenware is well known to some as not only kitchenware, but also do-it-yourself directional dish antennae with which you can augment weak signals with the use of a receiver of some sort. Equipped with my new Swedish strainer, I used some scotch tape (all tape here, by the way, is simply referred to as “SKOTCH” in Russian) and one of my Prismacolor markers that I don’t like to mount my USB wifi receiver as close to the apex of the parabola of the metallic mesh as I could possibly eye-ball…
After fiddling around with the positioning of his finished creation, he went from being able to see three Wi-Fi networks to being able to see a whole bunch of them. The only problem now is that he has to hold the dish juuust right in order to keep connected, a problem he says he might attempt to solve by attaching the apparatus to an adjustable lamp arm. Well played.
Of note: I wasn’t able to find the strainer on Ikea’s website, so if you’re thinking of doing this maybe you could pick up a strainer wherever strainers are sold. Like Strainer Hut or Strainers-R-Us. Basically anything in the strainer complex, which is located in the strainer district.
INTERNETS! [Worth Dayley via Ikea Hacker]
By CrunchGear, on 2009.06.15, 07:00.08 pm
If you like to listen to music while you cruise around on your skateboard or bike, your options are limited — both legally and physically. We saw a directional speaker/flashlight/mp3 player last week that looked handy, but if you want to broadcast your music a little more widely, this little wearable speaker might do the trick. It promises “surprising power,” but I’ll reserve judgment until I actually hear it. It’s only one speaker, of course, so you won’t be getting your music in stereo, but all that really matters is hearing the beat over the wind rush or the rattle of your wheels.
 The best part is that they’re super rugged. If you crash a lot, you probably shouldn’t be riding around anyway, but since you aren’t likely to stop because I told you to, young man, you should at least have an uncrushable music device. Of course, that protection doesn’t extend to your mp3 player, so I’d keep that baby in a case or something. The batteries are supposed to last 3-6 hours (depending on volume, I suppose).
They’ll be $60 when they come out, but act now and you can save, save, save! Half off if you pre-order. That’s a pretty good deal if the SkullyBoom does what they say it does.
|
|
