This is a tech blog afterall, so let's talk about some cool tech.

Yeah I know, I say this is a tech blog but then ramble on about music and movies. Well, back on topic there's a little tid bit out there you should be aware of. Advances have begun to push greater capacity in flash memory and of course you can never have too much memory. One of the things that has kept the iPod on the top of the device heap is that its hard drive gets bigger and bigger and the case gets smaller and smaller . Memory storage prices have also gotten smaller over the years. A lot of us normally carry a laptop everywhere with us so we can download those tons of photos taken on our digital cameras. That's all changed with the debut of Seagate's 4 and 8-GB CompactFlash Photo Hard Drive.

These drives are lightening fast 3600-RPM with 2-Mbyte cache, will fit Compact Flash and type II media slot cameras (Canon-Nikons) and will set you back $100-$200. If you live out of your camera or find that the 1 GB cards just won't hold enough then this is for you.

Finally, I recorded and posted episode 17 of the Digital Blast podshow!

Only a month overdue (due to life being hectic in general, some malaise on my part and some unexpected trips to the doctor's office, long story) episode 17 of the renowned (and highly informative) Digital Blast podcast has been recorded and posted. Man, two blog posts and a show? You really can do alot hopped up on prescription drugs and Red Bull! So give it a listen (just click on the show/shownotes tab above) and tell me what you think.

Need some fresh sounds to spice up your music collection? Then have I got the woman for you.

I, being the very stingy guy that I am, often scour places for free stuff. Take iTunes for example, yes you can spend a mint in there for content but if you look hard enough there is plenty of great free stuff too. Such a freebie quest led me to stumbling on a free video of T.K. Tunstall's performance of "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" on recent Good Morning America.
I was blown away. Rarely do I feel the need to run right and buy an album but I couldn't get "Eye to the Telescope" fast enough! She weaves technology around her to form a one woman band. A reality that is totally lost on you as son as you start to listen.

Seems Ms. Tunstall is a Scottish-raised singer/songwriter of Chinese ancestry who brings her mixed and colorful background to her music. Think of her as Sarah McLachlan/Sheryl Crow/Dido/Coldplay/Simon & Garfunkel/retro `80s rock meets a power house of a voice. T.K. has the ability to go full on rock but doesn't wail or get too soft with the guitar. From the fun-country-foot-stompin' "Black Horse & the Cherry Tree" (my personal fav) to introspective-lush-mellow "Other Side of the World", this album is great from beginning to end. Considering how much crap music there is out there and you lucky to get 1 or 2 tracks worth anything, that in itself is getting harder and harder to find!

Um.....phonecall for Norah Jones, Sheryl Crow, Michelle Branch, Tift Merritt, Kathleen Edwards and the like.....there is new voice in town, and its really damn good!

Want to listen to a REAL rock/punk goddess?

This is a Modblog post from a few months back. I found a new artist I've fallen in love with (post coming shortly) and it reminded me of Ms. Naked and her album "Superbeatifulmonster". Please read and go check it out. And I'll say it again, if Bif or any of her people run across this please know that I'm a huge fan (call me)!

Now I know this is supposed to be a Tech and Gadget blog and I already talked about this in my podcast (which you can download at DutchDegay.com, noticing the self promotion trend?) but one of my favorite artists just dropped a new album and I think everyone should have it in their music collection. Here is the 5 star review that I wrote for Amazon.com.

"Arguably the most under rated rock female singer of the last 10 years, Bif Naked just dropped what is in my opinion the best album yet. Think that the rock lifestyle slows you down and wears you out? No way, not in Ms. Naked's world. The Canadian-born (yes I said Canadian and thank God too because I bet you thought the only female to come out of Canada was Celine Dion!!) alternative/pop/punk rocker is close to 35 and is still as hot as ever. She is one of the original rock/punk chicks! For those of you that need a point of reference imagine Joan Jett, Gwen Stefani, Pink, Avril Lavigne, Madonna (young Madonna NOT older Madonna), Shirley Manson (lead singer of Garbage) and Betty Paige all rolled into one. Now throw in a ton of gorgeous ink (tattoos for those of you not inked), a toned and taut body (just look at the album cover), incredible intelligence, and a voice that can at one instant cut you like a razor and at another surround you like silk and you start to get a picture of our Ms. Naked.

Superbeautfulmonster is Bif's fourth full album that focuses on heavy, hard-hitting tracks that feature growling vocals and ominous guitars. Tracks like "The World is Over" and "The Questions Song" let's us hear her take on being left out, alone and betrayed. Then she turns into a sex kitten who wants to cut to the chase with the tracks "Yeah, You" and "I want". My favorite? Her gorgeous cover of Metallica's "Nothing Else Matters", her voice and passion seem to be made for that song. In this day and age of buying tracks off the internet or getting them for free, it means even more to actually go to a store and buy a CD and add it to your collection. If you even remotely consider yourself a fan of music, this is a MUST have. "Can you tell I'm a fan? You might also recognize Ms. Naked as the voice of Zoe in the SSX videogame series. Her music has been featured in the SSX games and the TV show "Buffy the Vampire Slayer". She has a pretty good website where you can hear samples of her songs, get tour info, buy items at her store and get on her message board or mailing list. It has all the things you'd expect or want your favorite artist to have at their website. Check her out at "http://dutchdegay.modblog.com/?gourl=http://www.herroyalmajestysrecords.com/bif".Trust me, after you listen to this album you'll go out and buy everything else she's done.Oh and p.s., if anyone checking out this blog knows Ms. Naked please tell her that I'm a huge fan and would love to interview her on my podcast.

Is it a mouse that's also a phone or is it a phone thats also a mouse?

With the popularity of VOIP (voice over internet protocal) the flood of another USB device having a cable you have to manage has become overwhelming. If you're like me, one of biggest problems I have in keepnig my workspace clean is leeping all the cables out of the way (one of the resons why I'm a big fan of IR and Bluetooth connected devices). At least Sony has been working to get two functions out of your mouse with thier new "Mouse Talk".

The Mouse Talk does double duty as a pointing device and a VOIP phone. Plug in the USB 2.0 connector and the optical mouse works just as you'd expect. Flip open the case and you've got a corded flip phone to use with the VOIP service of your choice. Then close it up and keep on pointing and clicking. Now what I'm still trying to find out is wehter or not this can be used with Skype and if we'll see some more stylish design in the future. If yes on both accounts, I'm in. I have to again tip my cap to Sony, they're slowing winning me over.....again.

And you thought robots could only vacuum your house.

Sure robots are becoming not only more and more popular but also affordable. The Roomba by iRobot has taken off and showing srtong slaes. I mean who wouldn't want to pony up a couple of hundred buck to not have to vacuum. But this is a whole other type of robot my friends.

The South Korean government now has a little robot fever and want to create an entire force or robotic system on their public. According to The Korea Times, the country start to rollout police and military robots within the next five years./ Are they serious? Well the $33.9 million recently approved spending appropriation says the are. There will be a number of different bots out there. Patrol bots will guard the streets at night, and could be used to chase criminals. There will also be horse-like combat robots will beef up the military. All of these robots will use Korea's In both cases, the bots will communicate via Korea's huge mobile network.

In order to make this transition easier, Korea will debut a series of household robots for private use later in the year. Korean bots will be relatively cheap, since they use the network to perform much of their computational work instead of internal hardware and software, unlike domestic robots already released in Japan. It seems that Japan, well known for being at the cutting edge of technology (and the home of robots babies, JPOP, and computer run everything) is on the outs.

I'm all for seeing the integration of robots, but seeing them in the police and military applications needing an "open" network for support? That even makes me nervous.

Why are you reading this? You should be at the theater seeing Underworld Evolution!

I'm being totally serious. Rarely would I ever suggest that anyone NOT read my blog but this is one of those rare occasions. I saw Underword Evolution yesterday and it was so good that I almost stayed in my seat to watch the following showing (which considering the situation I'm in with my back, long story, should act as a great testament to the true Sci Fi goodness on the film).
A brief description: Underworld Evolution follows the story between the vampire clan and the werewolf Lycans. The film goes back to the beginnings of the ancient feud between the two tribes as Selene (Kate Beckinsale), the beautiful vampire heroine and leader of the vampire Death Dealers, and Michael (Scott Speedman), the lycan/vampire hybrid, try to unlock the secrets of their bloodlines. Its a story of action, intrigue and forbidden love, which takes them into the battle to end all wars as the immortals must finally face their retribution."

Now, if you didn't see the first Underworld I would suggest renting it to watch before you go in to see Evolution. It isn't necessary, Len Wiseman (the director of the first film and the man who stole Ms. Beckinsale away from the father of her daughter...good job!!) does a great job of getting you caught up from the first film and explains what happened to start all this bad blood (forgive the pun). The movie is dark, gorgeous, sleek, sexy and fast paced and has a GREAT plot. I read an article that after the success of the first film more money was allocated for the film and it really pays off. The first Underworld had a gritty "indie" feel to it but Evolution is plain out blockbuster cinema! You even find out that some "truths" told in the first film were lies and the plot thickens.

There have been so many crappy films in history that have dealt with vampires and werewolves that have just sucked! Not the Underworld franchise. Evolution is the first movie I've seen worth the price of admission in years and I would gladly pay the $9.50 again to watch it in a theater and will own it the MINUTE it hits DVD.

Oh and I also tip my hat to Sony. The website for the movie is pretty darn good and filled with tons of downloadable content for your computer, phone, and......PSP!!!

Damnit G4! Who is your audience afterall?

There are few places we tech heads could go to find interesting TV programming that caters to "our" needs. There used to be TechTV and G4. In my opinion TechTV was the best of all things that had shows about new tech, help/how-to, gadgets, games, events and even tech news. G4 focused mostly on the gamer crowd but sprinkled in some cool stuff too. The show hosted by Tina Wood and Laura Foy and Cinematech were my favs.


Then G4 bought TechTV, became G4TV.com, and we all waited with fingers crossed to see what happened. What happened? G4 got rid of ALMOST ALL the programming we came to know and love and has practically become unwatchable. Those that they didn't get rid of got "reflavored", The Screen Savers becoming the craptastic Attack of the Show (and no it ain't the same show!) is a prime example, to get more mass appeal.

Gone are some great shows like: "Fresh Gear" hosted by Sumis Das (who's gone on to work at MSNBC) , "Call for Help" (which is back but in a crap time slot so no one without a Tivo can see it) , "TechTV News" (their version of CNN) co-hosted by Erica Hill (now a co-host at CNN), and then they went on to cancel G4's tried and true shows like G4tv and Filter. So of course being that it's now a full on network and they care about us tech heads they're going to replace those shows with even better ones...right....right?

WRONG, WRONG, WRONG. We can now look forward to watching: 3 year old reruns of the Man Show (I'm a guy's guy and I found that show offensive), reruns of Fastlane (don't get me wrong, I think the grown up Tiffany Amber Theissen is a HOTTIE but that show don't belong on a tech channel), Street Fury (hosted by some "thug" who spends all his time at car shows talking to half naked women. Again, not a bad idea but not on a tech channel), and wait for it.....wait for it....reruns of Star Trek The Next Generation. All that from a channel that calls itself G4 Videogame TV? Now that's quality tech programming folks!

If it weren't for X-Play, I'd never watch the channel. Thank the heavens for Tivo!!! It kills me that there are comedy, sci fi, speed, golf, women and even a gardening channel that program and stay focused on their demographic and viewers but we techies get the big green weenie!! I would gladly be the first person to throw a match on the G4TV.com studios and end all our pain.

Another cool item from the land of robot babies and JPOP.

The printed word has finally moved into the 22nd Century. Voila!

The Sony Librie is the e-book we've been waiting for. Currently available only in Japan, this little dandy of technology should be over here soon. It uses E-Ink technology, which is so remarkably crisp that most people confuse the display with a pre-printed sticker (you know, those damned annoying things they put on the cell phones in the store to make you "think" your seeing the real display). I've hand my hands on it and its just plain cool. One of the neatest things I found? You can view a displayed page on the Librie from darn near any angle without concern for light. Um hello, just like a real piece of paper. The system runs on a pair of trusty AA's and you can read about 10,000 pages before grabbing new ones (or you could just catch up with the times and buy rechargeable!). The Librie has internal memory in the neighborhood of 10mb and with the addition of a Sony memory stick (I know, I know...proprietary hell) you can boost the size of your library up to 4 GB.

Now if you buy one you have access to over 16,000 titles through the Gutenburg Project or with some software you can find on this thing they call the internet you can convert almost any text document to Sony's format. So now there really is a paper thin digital device that I can put a WHOLE library in? Too cool.

Always wanted your own Hummer or Acura NSX to drive and trick out? Well now you can.

Ah yes, now I get to talk about my newest gadget passion.....XMODS.

Its a line of 1/28 scale remote control cars officially licensed and carried by Radio Shack. You remember Radio Shack, that place where we geek kids went to get toggle switches and "build it yourself kits" that later bombarded us with those "Howie and Terry" commercials. Well its making a comeback with it newest cult status XMODS and Zip Zap remote control cars.

What makes them so cool? First off they're replicas of the full size cars. As of right now there are a total of about 20 choices ranging from your dad's favorite muscle cars (i.e. '65 Mustang, '67 Camaro, 67 Firebird)to the hot import tuners of today (i.e. '05 Lancer Evo, '04 Acura NSX,'04 Nissan Z to the favorite of the Fast and Furious crowd the Nissan Skyline GT-R V Spec) to the two newest entries for us tough guys (i.e. the '05 Ford F150 and my XMOD of choice the Black H2 Hummer).

Secondly, is all the "tuning" you can do. You can raise or lower your "whip", install lights (to include underbody lighting), make the car all wheel drive, install pre-made/painted body mods, upgrade tires/wheels/springs/bearings and even engines! Its great becuase if you're like me you know you'll never get to own one of these cool vehicles much less get to tune one. This lets you do it for a fraction of the price. There are even "car clubs" around the country that you can join and race you car against others and XMODS holds a national race series to give you a chance to win your own Acura NSX!

They even did a great job with the site www.xmodsrc.com. There you can browse through a catalog of all the cars and upgrade parts, play games, and make your own vehicle in real time with their "car builder". Pretty cool for the kids and adults alike.


An updated pic of my "tricked out" truck coming soon. Wanna race?

Happy New year....now we can get to breaking all those resolutions we made!

I hope everybody had a great holiday! Hopefully you were got lots of cool gadgets to help you usher in the year of the Dog. Yes 2006 in the Chinese calendar is the year of the Dog, not very exciting is it? I would've like the year of the Tiger or the Dragon or something, wouldn't that be cool? Now why am I talking about the Chinese calendar? Well, it looks like I'll be traveling to Shanghai (yes Shanghai China, like there a Shanghai some place else. You be surprised at how many people ask me "Shanghai? China? No, Shanghai Oklahoma you boob!) at the end of this month to do some video game stuff. Just goes to show that if you're persistent enough and talk to the right people you never know what might happen. As the wise sage Confucius said "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step".

Christmas for me was good. Since I'm a little obsessive compulsive however, getting into every crack and cranny of my gifts has occupied most of my time. I'll post about them soon. Suffice to say it wasn't like a "Hilton" Christmas (nobody gave each other a Mercedes or anything) but Santa brought some good stuff. I did want to talk about my favorite things....New Year's Resolutions. I have always kind of mocked them in the past but figured since it was a fresh start (because we humans are all about fresh starts) that I would actually make some for a change. I have seen folks say it's cliché to do but there's something about just writing it down hat makes it seem more concrete. So here we go, my resolutions for 2006:

1) Be nicer. I know that sounds silly but have you noticed there aren't many nice people around anymore or that the first thing someone does is snap at you when you ask about something no matter how important or inane? Not me, not anymore.
2) Finish my book. I've been jotting stuff down for the past few years now but have never made a concerted effort to put it all together in a book. I mean how cool would it be to see your book published and on the shelf at Barnes & Noble?
3) Get my Digital Blast Podcast show in the Top 25 at Podcast Alley. I think I have some great content and would like to share it with everybody. Why not at iTunes? Because they're ranking software is crap. Podcast Alley ranks by number of voters for your show and is much more reliable.
4) Read books. I mean real books, I read a tons of magazines and web stuff but I rarely sit down and read a book. I just got finished reading Michael Crichton's "Timeline" and it was AWESOME. I forgot how great it is to sit down and read a book. I need to read the classics again too, they should be more fun now since the first time I had to read them it was as a school assignment.
5) Visit Tokyo.Yes, Tokyo Japan. To me that just seems like the coolest place to visit filled with cool tech, great history and people out walking their robot babies.
6) Get back in the gym. My biggest gripe about spending all this time with tech and with my head stuck in a monitor is that I haven't been in the gym.....in a while. I hate not being in better shape and working out just helps my mindset.

Okay, that's enough for now. Post for my newest passion will be up shortly.