DIGITAL Letdown » Computers

Toast toast IN your computer!

keegan — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 20:54:49 +0000

One of us has to get this (preferably me)!

CrazyPC 5.25 Inch Bay Toaster

It’s a toaster you put in your computer! And…

Comes with Windows software for adjusting heat and time (Mac OS version coming soon!)

So awesome!

But Toyota’s is better…

wisekris — Fri, 02 May 2008 18:11:29 +0000

Mobile podstation

BagOfArms — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 16:17:51 +0000

Keegan has set up his laptop and speaker system on one of our stools so that it can be easily transported from one location to another with ease.

TED- The Inspirational

wisekris — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 21:01:34 +0000

TED- The Funny

wisekris — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 20:57:38 +0000

Zune-undrum!?

wisekris — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 22:38:51 +0000

I’m not a Microsoft Fanboy
I will listen to FM tuner
I will play Podcasts
I want to play Video’s (don’t have many right now)
I would prefer to have a moderately large screen
I want it built to last
I have $75 Amazon Mun-buns

With that out of the way…. what should I get.

[poll=4]

Source: anythingbutipod.com

Zune v1 (30gb) Brown: $175 – $75 = ~$100
Pro

BROWN (this is a big deal to me I LOVE the brown)
30 gb
3.2″ Screen
FM
Video Output

Con

v1 Hardware Controls
v1 style look (meh, its ok but i put it on the con side compared to v2 look)
v1 Thickness (ick)
Hard Drive Thickness
Hard Drive Frailty

Zune v2 (80gb) Black: $275 – $75 = ~$200
Pro

v2 Thickness
v2 Controls (Tactile & Touch! I hear its really good)
80 gb
v2 Style
3.2′ Screen
FM
Premium Headphones
Video Output

Con

$200 – lot of mun buns
Hard Drive Thickness
Hard Drive Frailty – not super worried about this but it is a concern

Zune v2 (8gb) Green or Black: $170 – $75 = ~$95
Pro

v2 Thickness + Flash Memory Thickness = Small and Thin!
Flash Memory Durability
v2 Controls (Tactile & Touch! I hear its really good)
v2 Style
FM

Con

$95 almost same as 30gb old one…
1.5′ screen :( :( – the border on this one makes the screen look small
8 gb
No Video Output

Final Thoughts:

I think the 8gb would be the best to carry around

I think the 80gb is a good long term investment (Video & TV Output, premium Headphones, Capacity)

I think the 30gb I like/want because its brown and everyone hates the brown. (also good in price)

how to (not?) fix an ipod problem

keegan — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 08:35:38 +0000

So I sort of bought Zach’s old 4G 40 gig iPod from him, and as soon as I got it, it started having problems. I think it may have started when I connected it to my firewire port, but not sure. Anyway, the symptoms I was having included: locking up Windows XP, not loading songs in iTunes, not showing up in iTunes, not showing up in Windows, not being recognized as my iPod (just a generic “iPod”) in iTunes, etc… Also I was getting the little folder and exclamation point icon (). After searching for a while about the problem, I came to two conclusions: the hard drive was DEAD or DIEING, or the iPod’s main board had a inherent problem (I was reading that some of the earlier models had the problem where the main board would cut off the power to the hard drive after a short while). I thought it was the main board one because when I listened to the hard drive it would make a whirr-up sound, then turn off, then spin up, then click, etc. BUT THEN I came accross an article were the guy basically had the exact same symptoms I did. The cure seemed a bit extreme: shake the hard drive outside of the iPod, and Many, MANY people replied saying how it miraculously worked for them. Well, I had tried so many resets and restores that I was ready to do anything. I didn’t want to open it up at first, even though I read it didn’t really work unless you removed the hard drive from the device, so I just kind of shook it in my hand a bit, then shook a bit harder. Then kind of lobbed it on the floor. AND IT WORKED! The hard drive was MUCH faster! Everything seemed to be good. I plugged it in and it was able to read the songs and everything. I was really exited! …For like an hour or two. When I got home and plugged it in to my computer, it started having the same old symptoms, plus a new one! I got the the sad iPod icon (). So I knew what I had to do. OPEN UP THE IPOD. Lets watch:

So basically the reason shaking the iPod is what to do is because the head of the hard drive gets stuck and shaking it “unsticks” it. I think my hard drive was just bad because as you can see from the last pic the hard drive’s probably dead…. :(

Yay!

I used something thinner to get in at first, actually…

WOAH!

Compared to a quarter

Compared to a laptop hard drive

Compared to a lot of things

<< Insert shaking here >>

DEAD.

…so we think it’s either the HD or the board. I’m hoping I can get it switched by apple for 60 bucks (that would be sweet).

So advice for readers: shaking your iPod probably works for some, maybe even most, but the hard drive is probably still making it’s way to the grave. I want to mention that a few technicians posted on that thread saying how shaking a hard drive is never a good idea, which is true, but if you are at then end of your ropes, why not give it a shot? Even if it does work, though, some people said they had to every-once-and-a-while hit their iPod or shake it a bit when they started having problems again, so shaking and iPod probably isn’t a smart long-term solution. But like I said before, if you’re at the end of your ropes? Maybe give it a shot? THAT IS MY TWO CENTS ON THAT OKAY

DS Lite: The Thinnest DS yet.

wisekris — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 05:59:20 +0000

…an even better version (non Youtube)

Golf? = Yes!

wisekris — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 06:40:52 +0000

Golf

Bill Gates’ last day…

keegan — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 08:28:07 +0000

Make sure to watch, it’s really funny