Ben’s Tech Show

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (35.7MB)

Intro

I want to thank Jack free and his coworkers from Perth Western Australia they are the first members to join the website

News

http://gizmodo.com/5111562/best-buy-offers-4000-employees-buyouts
Best Buy isn’t immune to the economic crisis and had a very rough last quarter. The country’s largest electronic retailer watched same-store sales fall 5.3% over last years and net earnings take a 77% face plant. Best Buy did see a net sales increase but that was due to new store openings. Blue-collar terms? They aren’t doing so well, they’ve offered 4,000 corporate employees a buyout.

The voluntary plan includes 7.5 months of severance pay along with one year of health care, life insurance and outplacement services to those who leave the company now to January 5th. Employees whose age plus years with the company reach 60 will receive 12 months of severance.

Best Buy has not publicly announced their target number of buyouts or other cost cutting measures, but they have alluded to the idea that there is more to come. With Circuit City down, what’s left? Best Buy and Wal-Mart, which means we need to keep a close eye on both to see where we’ll be shopping in the future.

http://www.xbox360fanboy.com/2008/12/15/lawsuit-microsoft-knew-about-360-disc-scratching-issue/
Microsoft knew about xbox problems but did nothing.
The Seattle Tech Report … reports that a motion (PDF link) filed last week in a Seattle, Washington lawsuit claims that Microsoft was aware of the widespread Xbox 360 disc scratching issues — the console will severely scratch discs if tilted or moved during play — before the console was launched in 2005. The motion, which seeks class action status for the lawsuit, cites quotes from a (currently sealed) document in which Microsoft employees claim that they were aware of the problem before the console was launched. The document quotes Microsoft program manager Hiroo Umeno who stated that the problem was discoverd in “September or October” 2005.
Microsoft supposedly considered several solutions to the problem prior to launch and rejected them all. Three solutions were considered, including increasing the disc holder’s magnetic field, slowing disc rotation speed and installing “bumpers.” The first was rejected because it would “interfere” with the disc loading mechanism, the second because it would extend game load times, and the third because it was too expensive (to the tune of $35 to $75 million). The only action taken by Microsoft, apparently, was to add a warning to the Xbox 360 manual. The company later applied a warning label onto the disc drive itself and established a program to replace scratched discs (for a fee).

http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-gadget/apple-unveils-holiday-get-a-mac-ads
Apple unveils holiday get a mac ads and are FUNNY

http://www.crunchgear.com/2008/12/16/confirmed-no-steve-jobs-keynote-at-macworld-san-francisco-09-apples-last-year-at-the-event/
Apple fans are now MAD now that apple is nolonger going to be at macworld expo

http://gizmodo.com/5111951/check-out-a-few-extra-pics-of-lenovos-android-ophone
Check out a few extra pics of Lenovos Android OPhone
this new phone reveals that it has a 5 MP camera, microSD support, English/Chinese virtual keyboard, Bluetooth and video recording capability.

Gadgets

http://www.engadget.com/2008/12/15/lightdrops-umbrella-classes-up-your-act-generates-electricity/
LightDrops is an umbrella that uses the piezoelectric effect of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) to transform falling rain into electricity, which is then used to light LEDs installed on the umbrella’s underside. The heavier the rain falls (and the harder it hits the umbrella), the brighter the light shines. JNow the only thing it needs is a battery to light the umbrella when it stops raining (kinda like a flash light)

http://www.chewingpixels.com/?p=1526
Over at chewingpixels.com they are showing how the evaluation of the video game controller has evolved from the Tandy days to the present wii mote

Socket-deer

Produced by AU

These electrical outlet covers let you put your mobile phone on the wall as it recharges. The antlers for all three types of deer are already the perfect shape to hold things, so we hardly had to modify the forms at all. The tough urethane rubber we used for the cover holds handsets tightly, and also protects the antlers from breakage should you bump into them. Socket-deer can also be used as a cover for light switches, and the antlers make an excellent hook for keys or accessories.

Intel’s Convertible forthcoming Classmate PC
Intel’s Convertible forthcoming Classmate PC features;  1.6 GHz Intel Atom N270 processor, a 60 GB hard drive, Windows XP Home. A fine-tuned accelerometer, 8.9-inch touch LCD, a neat 180 degree swivel LCD, and a Webcam the on down fall says laptopmag.com “Because the Windows XP Home OS is not meant for tablet use, we had to install a few of our own freeware programs to take full advantage of the touchscreen.”  The price of this neet netbook might be around $500-600, knowing intel it might be more

Funny Stuff

http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-gadget/49-microwaves-get-stacked-used-to-play-jingle-bells
49 Microwaves are stacked together and all used to play Jingle bells.

http://www.crunchgear.com/2008/12/17/internal-wal-mart-memo-indicating-price-release-date-its-not-99-folks/
“A Wal-Mart communiqué is showing that the iPhone3G will sell for $197/$297 and not $99 hoped by some despite Amy Poehler’s crack reporting. (video after the break) The 8GB and 16GB versions, with their $2 discount, will go on sale December 28, 2008 at 9:00 a.m. Will there be a line of soccer moms and dead beat dads waiting to get their dirty hands on the Wal-Mart iPhone? If so, we better get some sweet pics.” [Crunchgear.com ]

http://gizmodo.com/5112040/the-mactini-the-inevitable-future-of-apple-in-a-post+netbook-world

Images of the week

Crazy Vietnamese street pole cable desaster

Christmas tree made from 70 hard drives

Movie Geek

X-Men Origins Wolverine Trailer

Software update

Firefox 3.0.5

• Replaced the End-user License Agreement with a new “Know Your Rights” info bar on initial install.
• Fixed several Security issues.
• When installing multiple signed XPIs Simultaneously, previous versions of Firefox would fail.
• Added the ability to send OS-specific system notes in the crash reporter.

Internet Explorer 7

Tech Tips

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2845,2337008,00.asp?kc=ETRSS02129TX1K0000532
Batten down the hatches IE is now Unsafe to use, This tip will show you how to avoid the IE bugs,
OR you can do what microsoft is telling you! Use another browser till IE gets fixed, like mmm Firefox.

Use Firefox as IE

Fin