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OCAU News |
Engadget are looking into their crystal ball. So, that happened. Twenty-o-eight was a wild one, full of adventure, heartbreak and technology, and now that we're staring down another year of magical phones and netbooks, rumors and half-truths, it's time for the collective wisdom of Engadgetdamus (you and us) to lay down some predictions for 2009 and down a bit of two-week-old eggnog -- not necessarily in that order.
Meanwhile, Gizmodo are wondering where the hell our extra FTA digital channels are. Yesterday may have been the first day of 2009, but it was also the first day the Australian free-to-air TV networks could legally begin broadcasting a second digital SD channel. But here we are, 1.5 days into the new year, and none of the FTA networks have actually made good on their chance to launch a second channel and according to the Australian, aren't likely to for several more months.
Microsoft's tale of woe continues with IE's market share down 10. Microsoft Corp.'s browser lost 1.6 percentage points of its market share last month, ending December with a 68.2% share, down from November's 69.8%. Since the end of October, IE has lost 3.1 percentage points, nearly half of its total 2008 losses. IE ended the year down 7.9 percentage points, a 10.4% decline in its share since December 2007.
Apple will soon turn 25. On January 24, 1984, the Macintosh came into the world, starting the second major revolution in the personal computer industry. Steve Jobs and team took some lessons from Xerox PARC and created the first user-friendly, mass market computer. By today's standards, it wasn't that user-friendly (some will remember disk-swapping with the original Mac, which had 128KB of RAM and a 400KB 3.5-inch floppy disk drive), but compared with Microsoft's DOS operating system, it was a major technical innovation.
Do you know how to play adult hide-and-seek? Geocaching is "a high-tech treasure hunt for adults" - at least, that is the most succinct explanation enthusiasts can offer. A striking mix of the latest network technologies, unregulated gaming and muddy-boots bushwalking, it's an activity that didn't exist nine years ago. Now there are about 1 million cachers who participate worldwide, an estimated 13,000 of them in Australia. More get hooked all the time.
Here is an interesting speaker mod. There's certainly plenty of reasons not to turn a pair of iPods into some portable speakers -- difficulty, inevitably poor sound quality, pains of regret -- but we're guessing that the sight of the creation above will prompt at least a few folks to start scavenging for parts. Apparently taking some lessons learned from previous Altoids tin speaker mods, Jordan Horwich crafted these for a total cost of $100, which includes the cost of some front and back iPod panels and some rather extravagant shipping rates.
Here's something to make your head hurt other than a hangover. I have played this video again and again, trying to figure out what's going on here. I can't. My brain is fried. Yoshimoto Cube has fried my brain and it's not even 2009 yet. According to the description, the Yoshimoto Cube transforms into two stellated rhombic dodecahedrons. Which is a fancy way to say "the Yoshimoto Cube transforms your brain into pineapple jelly".
Finally, another little brainteaser. Let's say, hypothetically speaking, you met someone who told you they had two children, and one of them is a girl. What are the odds that person has a boy and a girl? Most people answer 50%. Unfortunately, this isn't correct.
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All original content copyright James Rolfe.
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