Art Project, powered by Google

I saw this information from several different sources today and decided to take a quick gander at the Google Art Project site. Currently Google has 17 museums from around the world available to view using the same basic techniques used in Google’s Street View. You can use the controls to walk around the Museum of your choice to give you a feel of how things are laid out, and where the various pieces of art are located in the Museum. You can then look at individual paintings in high resolution and a lot of detailed history about the painting or the artist. You can easily jump from museum to museum easily or from room to room within any one museum. You can even create your own personalized list of pieces that you are interested in.

Here is the Visitor Guide on how to use the site:

Art Project–Visitor Guide

I have had a great deal of fun looking over this site but I am sorry to say that it requires a flash player to work properly and will not work on your IOS devices. Darn Apple! But it works well on my desktop and that is at least something.

Art Project, powered by Google

Lenovo Redefines the IdeaCentre All-In-One PCs

January 4th Lenovo unveiled four new IdeaCentre and Lenovo all-in-one (AIO) desktops at the 2011 CES. We have had a couple of the earlier C200 systems in this month and we are very favorably impressed with the capabilities of the unit for the money.  Priced below $500 you get a futuristically designed system that has all the components that you need in most simple home environments. It all starts with a 18.5 inch screen

KEY SPECIFICATIONS

• Intel® AtomTM D510 Dual Core processor
• Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64 bit
• Large 18.5 inch high-definition 16:9 widescreen display
• Integrated stereo speakers
• Integrated Intel GMA 3150 graphics
• DVD reader/writer
• 6-in-1 card reader and USB2.0 connectors
• Integrated Wi-Fi
• An integrated Lenovo High-Sense Web camera built into the top of the screen provides clearer video chats.

BREAKTHROUGH STYLE

• Space-saving, stylish design fits anywhere in the home
• Easily adjustable stand (-5° to +25° viewing angle)

REST EASY

• Designed as a basic family home computer, with affordability and reliability in mind
• OneKey Rescue System for quick and easy data recovery

I was surprised at its speed for the atom processor and it’s convenient design. If all you need is a simple Internet access machine this might just be the ticket!

FastMac U-Socket now shipping

For those of you that have energy hungry devices that charge using a USB port, here is a great product that might make this more convenient. I saw this initially this summer and have been hardly holding my breath waiting for it to finally come to market. I originally saw this in an engadget post and now engadget is telling us that it has seen emails that the first orders for these wonderful devices are finally shipping.

The U-Socket is a duplex AC receptacle with built-in USB ports that can power any device that is capable of being charged via a 5V power adapter, but without the power adapter! It is compatible with the iPod, iPhone, iPad, Blackberry, Nintendo, PSP, Bluetooth Headsets, Digital Cameras, GPS & more!

When a U-Socket replaces a traditional 3-prong AC wall socket, you can eliminate the clutter of AC Adapters that stick out & take up space in your home or office. Everything stays neat & organized. In addition, U-Socket's energy efficient design only outputs power through the USB port if something is connected to it. This can save you up to $25 per year in reduced energy costs. Good for you, good for the environment and with our great prices, good for your wallet too!

Born in the USA

A quality product made right here in the USA ensures that your U-Socket is constructed with care and precision. Our workers test each and every U-Socket to the highest standards before they are shipped out.

Their site still states that you need to pre-order but says it is shipping in January. I would contact them direct to see if you can place your order now. I don’t have an exact price but the posts I am seeing says that it is under $20.

I never did like AOL!

I was never one for the amount of control that AOL’s interface held you to but I could see the benefit for some people. If you were one of the people that signed up early for AOL and their phone dial up service got used to this type of thing. When broadband became available many of these people kept their accounts with AOL even though the signed on through their new broadband connection. What they didn’t realize was that they didn’t have to keep paying for that AOL account!

Nicolason Carlson from Business Insider found out that the majority of AOL’s business comes from selling the dialup internet access to people who already have internet access:

In his big New Yorker profile on AOL this week, Ken Auletta explained that 80% of the company’s profits STILL come from AOL’s subscription business.

What’s troubling about AOL’s subscription business is who the subscribers are and why they may be sticking around – in Auletta’s words, “older people who have cable or DSL service but don’t realize that they need not pay an additional $25 a month to get online and check their email.”

A former AOL exec explains that this is AOL’s “dirty little secret” – “that 75% of the people who subscribe to AOL’s dial-up service don’t need it.”

This is the sort of practice by companies that just infuriates me. I hate seeing people being taken advantage of just because they haven’t the knowledge to know what they are paying or need to be paying for. So hopefully this article will open your eyes and make you aware that you don’t need to pay for something that you don’t receive any benefit from. I remember how hard it was to cancel my account and over the years how hard it has been for our customers to do so as well. Good luck!

You want more information visit the Audio recording here or download the recording by clicking here, with Ken Auletta and his full article is available in The New Yorker January 24, 2011 edition p. 32.

Intel recalls Sandy Bridge chipsets

Intel Identifies Chipset Design Error, Implementing Solution

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Jan. 31, 2011 - As part of ongoing quality assurance, Intel Corporation has discovered a design issue in a recently released support chip, the Intel® 6 Series, code-named Cougar Point, and has implemented a silicon fix. In some cases, the Serial-ATA (SATA) ports within the chipsets may degrade over time, potentially impacting the performance or functionality of SATA-linked devices such as hard disk drives and DVD-drives. The chipset is utilized in PCs with Intel's latest Second Generation Intel Core processors, code-named Sandy Bridge. Intel has stopped shipment of the affected support chip from its factories. Intel has corrected the design issue, and has begun manufacturing a new version of the support chip which will resolve the issue. The Sandy Bridge microprocessor is unaffected and no other products are affected by this issue.

The company expects to begin delivering the updated version of the chipset to customers in late February and expects full volume recovery in April. Intel stands behind its products and is committed to product quality. For computer makers and other Intel customers that have bought potentially affected chipsets or systems, Intel will work with its OEM partners to accept the return of the affected chipsets, and plans to support modifications or replacements needed on motherboards or systems. The systems with the affected support chips have only been shipping since January 9^th and the company believes that relatively few consumers are impacted by this issue. The only systems sold to an end customer potentially impacted are Second Generation Core i5 and Core i7 quad core based systems. Intel believes that consumers can continue to use their systems with confidence, while working with their computer manufacturer for a permanent solution. For further information consumers should contact Intel at www.intel.com on the support page or contact their OEM manufacturer.

Intel is suggesting that the problem is restricted to a performance issue and cannot cause data loss. If you have either of the P67 or H67 “Cougar Point” chipsets you should contact your computer manufacturer to obtain a fixed system.

The chipsets that are in question are no longer being shipped by Intel and the company has already started manufacturing the updated versions. These should reach customers by the end of February. Intel estimates that this issue will cost them around $700 million where $300 million of that was incurred during the first quarter production interruption.

Goodbye, IPv4 | ZDNet

What a way to start the month!

NetworkWorld reports the last two IPv4 (Internet Protocol version 4) addresses for the Internet have just been assigned, and, in line with predictions, we’ve run out of addresses. All new Internet addresses now employ IPv6 address spacing.

Why do we care? well as we adopt IPv6 addressing some of the older equipment that is in place may not be able to handle the new addressing scheme. Most people won’t notice because both protocols will be running in parallel for awhile but eventually you are going to run into some problems. This issue has been a point of concern since the 1990s and most systems are already designed with this change over in mind. As issues begin to come up you will want to keep in mind that this could be a problem for you.

Vint Cerf on IPv4 depletion: 'Who the hell knew how much address space we needed?'

http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/26/vint-cerf-on-ipv4-depletion-who-the-hell-knew-how-much-address/

Goodbye, IPv4 | ZDNet