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I have been using the Griffin iTrip to listen to my iPod in the car since February. I never did like the fact you had to program the iTrip with the frequency using the iPod interface. On several occasions the iTrip would “forget” what frequency to use and me not liking to keep the frequency programmers on the iPod (more on that later) would be in for a very dull commute. if I did have the iTrip frequency “tunes” (They are actually mp3 files that program the iTrip.) on the iPod they would advertently get played and screw up the iTrip. Which was easy to do if you used the iPod’s shuffle feature. And resetting the iTrip was an ordeal that only following the step by step instructions could fix. In other words, can’t do while driving.

Anyway, on my commute home Friday the iTrip got screwed up for the last time. It was the final straw. I recalled Griffin had announced an iTrip with a built-in tuner. So I went straight away to the Apple store in the Kenwood Towne Centre and purchased one.

The new iTrip allows you to adjust the frequency with the roll of a dial. Oddly though the frequency I actually used in not available in this model. For anyone using 87.9 you will have to find another channel. The iTrip begins on 88.1. I eventually settled on 90.1 90.5, although I will have to see if it works on my 35 mile commute. I swear there is a radio station for just about every .1 of the dial. My logic dictates that there should be a small sprectrum of radio frequency left untouched for portable consumer devices. Say 80.1 - 89.9 or something. I mean if 192.168.1.x can be used for every router why didn’t we think to do this with radio frequencies?

My intial findings are; unless $40 is too steep for you or if 87.9 is the only free frequency in your area, there is no reason not to upgrade. Now it’s time to remove these annoying iTrip MP3 files.

I think Derek and I are in competition on our August spending spree. I have been wanting to buy an SLR camera for quite sometime. So I was pleased when Dell had a sale on the Canon Rebel XT 350D for just $739.

I snapped a few photos (view the original size to get the full effect), which are an amazing 3456 x 2304 resolution. Of course this comes with a price, each photo is 4MB. I think this will do nicely for our trip to CES this year.

Features:

* Fast start-up time–.2 seconds
* Powered by rechargeable Lithium-ion battery (included, with charger)
* 8.0-megapixel CMOS sensor captures enough detail for photo-quality 16 x 22-inch prints
* Includes Canon’s EF-S 18-55mm, f3.5-5.6 zoom lens
* DIGIC II Image Processor provides fast, accurate image processing; captures images at a rate of up to 3 frames per second

EBGames is taking preorders for the Xbox360, in stores only. They have confirmed an November 14th arrival date for the first batch. My local EB had only 7 left for preorder, and it was 5 by the time I left the store. I stopped in to pick up Dungeon Siege 2 and decided to put $50 down on an Xbox360. Which is required for preorder.

You can preorder only the $399 Xbox360, the core system is not available yet. Actually EB now lets you pre-order the core system and the premium system as part of a bundle.

Seems Alienware has systems shipping with the new Nvidia 7800 graphics card.

For mind blowing graphics, you need the fastest frame rates possible and impressive image quality. The new NVIDIA® GeForce™ 7800 GTX, now available on Aurora 7500, and ALX systems, is the graphics card with the power and innovation to deliver the absolute highest levels of performance.
Extreme Graphics Performance for Gamers

With the GeForce 7800 GTX, you can enjoy stunning visual effects at incredible speeds when running the latest graphics-intensive games on Alienware desktops. Featuring the new CineFX™ 4.0 engine, Alienware systems with the 7800 GTX shorten the time required to deliver complex textures and blending quickly. Get ready to experience tremendous graphics performance increases with all the latest games.

Imagine using your iPod and a regular old microphone to record studio-quality audio. Or sitting on a commuter train and playing Othello, Pong, Tetris, or Asteroids. All this and more is possible when you install Linux on your third-generation or earlier iPod. Best of all, one soft reset, and you’re back in Apple’s iPod operating system, listening to your tunes.

This has been around for a while, but this is the best article I have seen on the subject. And honestly, this is just cool.

read more | digg story

The other day I was commenting how Gmail did not have a mobile client. Then after reading through the Gmail hacks article in Make Vol. 1. I noticed there is user created Gmail wap site, not endorsed by Google of course. All you have to do is download Gmail Mobile from sourceforge.net and install it on your web server. One capable of PHP.

Don’t have a web server or you can’t run PHP? Well if you trust giving your password out to someone else you could use GmailWireless.com. Also not endorsed by Google.

I tested this out on my Vizaweb account and Sprint Sanyo 8100 phone. Works like a charm.

Speculations had been bandied about all weekend about Apple’s possible switch to Intel. Now the rumors have been proven true. My colleage seems to think this is a good thing. While I am down on the news.

Now I had been considering buying a Mac. I had even been pestering my sisters to switch to Macs so it would be easier for them to use. And of course, less questions for me. But now I hear the switch to Intel won’t be complete for another 18 months. Who would buy a Mac now? The architecture is different enough that the software running on the Mac today, will not run on future Macs, and vice versa.

I can’t believe anyone would buy another Mac for the next 18 months. I feel this will not bode well for Apple in the long run.

I went out to buy the second volume of Make Magazine today at B&N. After unsuccessfully searching through the electronic magazines, the clerk informed me that Make is a lifestyle magazine. And there it was next to GQ, FHM, and OutTraveler (not that there’s anything wrong with that.) Talk about being miscategorized, who’s going to be searching for Playboy and say, “oh, a do it yourself technology magazine. Just what I was looking for.” Of course this is the same place that puts 2600 under Business. Seems like Make and 2600 should be located on the same shelf.

If you are interested, just get Make from Amazon. Where you can actually order back issues as well as subscribe to the magazine. And with articles like “Build a light-seeking robot from an old mouse” who wouldn’t want this magazine. Each article is accompanied by full color photographs and step by step instructions.

Bored while waiting for your magazine in the mail? Check out the Make Magazine’s blog, del.icio.us links and/or podcast.

The Linksys Wireless-G Broadband router is probably the most ubiquitous router for home users. And for good reason! There are numerous firmwares to hack this device to fit your needs. And even without the rebate is this a good deal. The list of availble firmwares is always growing, from Earthlink’s IPv6 hack to Sveasoft, which adds dozens of features. Read more about the WRT54G at Wikipedia or visit the Linksys Info Forum.

So you bought you a WebRamp 700s? A good choice at less than 30 dollars. It’s value far greater than that, I can assure you. I made a list of steps to follow if you are connecting the WebRamp 700s directly to your Cable or DSL modem.
Note: This assumes you already know how to get to the admin console for your WebRamp 700s. The defaults to which are IP address: 192.168.1.251, login with username ‘admin’ and password ‘password’. You must have a java enabled browser.

1. Choose Advanced from menu bar, Intranet Tab
2. Select Webramp 700s WAN link is connected directly to the Internet router
3. Press Update
4. Select General from menu bar, Network Tab
5. Change Network Addressing Mode to NAT with DHCP
6. Press Update
7. Select DHCP from menu bar, Setup Tab
8. Enable DHCP Server
9. Set Client Default Gateway to 192.168.1.251 (the IP address of the webramp)
10. Press Update
11. Restart router Tools menu - Restart tab - Restart WebRamp 700s button
12. This takes about a minute, when restart is complete - goto DHCP menu - Setup tab and verify DNS is set to “Set DNS servers using Webramp 700s Network settings”
13. Press Update if necessary

Note: Obviously the DSL/Cable modem should connect directly to the WAN port on the back of the WebRamp 700s and the PCs (or hub) connect to the ‘TO COMPUTER’ ports.

This was my initial test of the WebRamp 700s. I have since setup my WebRamp to work with my Linksys WRT54G Wireless Router. The instructions for which are slightly varied, yet no more difficult, and I will post that soon.