In case you missed it Xbox unveiled a whole redux to the Xbox 360 GUI they are calling New Xbox Experience. Gone are the blades that take up the whole screen. Now we have screens which are less cluttered, a fresh 3D perspective look, Avatars, a new party system, netflix integration, ability to load games straight to the hard drive and much more.

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Popularity: 27% [?]

Tags: avatars, Gaming, HDD, netflix, NXE, party, xbox, xbox360

During a recent voice recognition hiatus I went in search of alternatives to Dragon Naturally Speaking. The problem was that DNS 10 wasn’t compatible with Vista 64, so knowing that Vista had Speech recognition built in, I decided to give it a try; what could it hurt right?

Setting up the speech recognition in Vista wasn’t hard, but the actual usage was horrible [in comparison to DNS]. You enter the control panel, enable voice recognition and do some simple voice training [5-10 minutes]; something you don’t have to do with DNS 9.

I guess it’s a silly thing, but Nuance has had years to perfect their SR technology and the user interface. I think the simplest way for me to say it is ‘the meat and potatoes’ of getting stuff done. [Read More]

Popularity: 14% [?]

Tags: microsoft, naturallyspeaking, Nuance, speech, Vista, voice recognition, windows

Google is trying to keep people from putting stupid comments on the web.  Earlier this week they started asking math questions if you send an email late at night.  This should help some from sending mind altered emails. Now they are going to read your YouTude comment back to you.  Hopefully this will help keep many of the stupid comments out.

Popularity: 14% [?]

Tags: audio, audio comments, Google, read comments, youtube, youtube audio comment reader, youtube comments

Hey ya’ll,

In the summer time in the central USA [TX] things get a bit hot. In Aug it was 107 degrees during the day time and at night it was 95; this goes on for months at a time. At most people know most heat pump units really stop working efficiently when the temperature gets above 100; I mean really… no one wants to work in the heat [smile].

The interesting thing is that it’s flat here; you can see for 30 miles. So there’s a constant breeze blowing through and we get plenty of sunshine, but what I don’t get [and I am not a super 'go green' person] is that this place gets hot as hell. If there’s any place on the planet to use solar, it’s in the areas that take the most impact.

If solar panels were on the houses, houses would be cooler, electricity bills would be lower and people happier. [Read More]

Popularity: 10% [?]

Tags:

Well ladies and gentlemen, Fios TV is about to make a major leap forward with their update here in North Texas.  The update will include upwards of 200 bug fixes (thank goodness).  My scheduled programs to record are not recording.  I am getting upset.

I will progress.  Here are some of the things that are being added/enhanced:

Widgets:  I am not real big on their widgets.  That is why I have computers.  Although, if you are into fantasy football, they are integrating a widget with ESPN and their service.  I would use this if I was in a league this year.

Games: They are adding games to be played through your tv service.  I am not sure this is a good idea.  More of a marketing ploy.  I tried to play the ones that Tivo had, when I still had my Tivo, and did not like it.  Using your tv remote the experience is not very good.

HD Streaming: In the past you could only stream SD shows that you had recorded on your DVR.  This is a great update in my mind as we record almost only in HD.  Why do you think we bought the big tv.

Content Discovery: Again, this is a feature that Tivo had.  I like this one.  It will discover new shows for you.  You will also be able to see what others and friends are recording.  Kind of like a social network for TV recordings

Web Scheduling: This is my favorite update coming down the pipe.  Unfortunately, only a select few will get this at first, but everyone should have it by end of the year.  This allows you to go online from any computer and see what you have to be recorded.  You will also be able to see how much space you have on your DVR.  And finally you will be able to schedule new shows to be recorded or edit what you have scheduled.

They have other features coming as well, but these where the best ones in my opinion.

Sir Slur

Popularity: 21% [?]

Tags: verizon, verizon fios, verizon fios 1.6, verizon fios 1.6 update, verizon fios tv

I Have been looking at some IPhone applications.  There are quite a few programs for it.  Here is a set of good programs that I would use.

Local city real time traffic reports

“Traffic1.mobi provides real time traffic condition reports to all cities in the United States. Each report includes detailed information about the specific incident, severity, GPS location, map, the direction to the incident, reporting time.” quote from Apple

I would have this in a heartbeat if my commute wasn’t just 5 minutes.  My biggest delay is walking to my truck in the parking lot.  Although I sometimes need a GPS to find my truck.

Airport Flight Delays

“Use your iPhone to see a concise list of any current flight delays across many airports in the United States such as JFK, Atlanta, Newark, Philadelphia and many more. Data provided by flightstats.com and is perfectly formatted for your iPhone screen. Clicking on each entry takes you to the real-time delay information from each airport.”  quote from Apple

This would have served me well when I was constantly traveling for work.  Now I can use it to see which airports my friends are stuck.

WorldWatchr

“Now you can stay in touch with your home, famous places of the world, the current traffic conditions and much more by watching your favorite web cams on your iPhone. This WorldWatchr application makes it easy to monitor web images which are continuously updated (like web camera pictures). It can cycle through all your cameras and updates the images periodically.” quote from WorldWatchr

This is for the most dedicated perv.  You can keep watch on your favorite cam even while getting the groceries.

Attendance Countdown

“An easy to use web app to keep track of your arrival and working time. You set the arrival time by either tapping on the current time or specifying it manually. After that you set the working time for today. Toggle between 12h (a.m./p.m.) and 24h displaying modes by tapping on “Now” or the quitting time. A countdown informs you of the left time you have to stay at work. If you prefer to see the elapsed time since your arrival tap on the left time to switch. All information is stored in cookies on your device so you can close the Safari tab while still preserving your data. You can also easily e-mail the current times to yourself or your boss for accounting, etc. ” quote from Apple

If using this for tracking work time, then you are trying to be a mortar.  We already know who you are.  We do not need you to send us your timesheet everyday.

I hope you enjoy these programs.  They do look like they would serve a good purpose despite my jokes.  They would be very helpful to many a consultant or road warrior.

Till next time,

Sir Slur

Popularity: 19% [?]

Tags: airport, IPhone, Phone, programs, Software, travel

They have the great wall, they just had the olympics in Beijing, and they have the biggest population in the world. Now China has the largest LED Video Display in the world! On top of that the video display is solar-powered and 24,000 square feet! Too cool!

It’s called the GreenPix: Zero Energy Media Wall. Below you will see pictures of the the display itself, as well as a close up of the glass panels containing the photovoltaic cells which power attached LEDs.

Greenpix: Massive Solar LED Display in China

Glass Panels with Photovoltaic cells attached

Below you will see a 5 minute interview with one of the lead architects Simone Giostra

For more images and video check out this link to the greenpix site.

Popularity: 13% [?]

Tags: display, green, LED, technology, Videos