COMPUTERS AND NETWORKING
WHAT’S OLD IS NEW AGAIN
Back in the '80s, a local computer shop was raffling off some computer equipment for charity. The joke was
that first prize was a Commodore 64 computer, and
second prize was two Commodores. But despite the
plastic exterior and limited capabilities, it was cheap for
its day ($595, eventually dropping to $199), and
company founder Jack Tramiel says they sold somewhere
between 22 and 30 million of them. (Sounds like
accounting might have been one of the company's
problems.) Well, if you are among the dozen or so
individuals who still cherish the classic, or perhaps
someone who clings desperately to his beloved Amiga,
you might be glad to know that by the time you read this,
the new Commodore Phoenix should be on the market —
unless Barry Altman, founder of the new Commodore
USA, has failed to secure the right to use the
Commodore name, in which case it will probably be
called something else. Or, it might be called the
Commodore 64 again which would be appropriate given
its 64-bit processor. At last report, Barry wasn't sure yet.
Well, don't sweat the details, I always say.
In any event,
the new model
resembles its
namesake in that
you get the
keyboard and CPU
in one unit, but
that's about the
only similarity. The
new one is driven
by an Intel Core2
Duo or Core2
Quad processor,
and includes an
Intel Graphics
Media Accelerator
3100. It supports up to 4 GB of memory and comes with
Gigabit Ethernet, a DVD-RW drive, and a 500 GB hard
drive. No price information was available at press time,
but if you visit www.commodoreusa.net, you can get
more details and even download the 46 page owner's
manual. ▲
■ Commodore 64’s great grandson:
the Phoenix.
NEED SPEECH SOFTWARE?
Those of us who wasted a fair amount of time with IBM's ViaVoice program some years ago tend to be skeptical of transcription software, but Nuance ( www.nuance.com) offers a family of products that claim "up to" 99 percent
accuracy. Of course, I can walk "up to" 99 miles, but don't hold your breath. On the Mac side of things, you have the
$149 MacSpeech Scribe which has just been updated to fix some user-reported issues. The free fix includes the
MacSpeech Scribe Medical and MacSpeech Scribe Legal versions, and users can make the update from directly within
the application. If you have a Power Mac or are running any OS older than Snow Leopard, you're out of luck, however.
On the PC side, you have Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 which runs from $99 for the Standard version, up to $1,199
for the high-end Legal package. The full lineup of products can be viewed at the website. If you live in the UK, use
www.macspeech.co.uk; Canadians can visit www.macspeech.ca; and Aussies are directed to www.macspeech.com.au.
Oh, and if you ever wondered what happened to Omnipage OCR software, that's a Nuance product now, too. ▲
potentially replace it at a tenth of the cost. Other cited possible
applications include navigation where GPS information is too
imprecise, viewing a 3D virtual object on your cell phone simply
by moving it around, and using a pen that can digitally record
everything that's written with it. Don't expect to see these things
on the market soon, though, as a couple problems remain.
First, it takes about 1,000V in the prototype to suspend the
bead which is asking a lot of a hand-held, battery-powered device.
Plus, you need a better way of measuring its oscillation. The
prototype uses a miniature camera, and a more practical kind of
optical sensor — or some other detection method — would have
to be developed for incorporation in the device. But as Analog
Devices Michael Judy noted, "If they can get all six degrees out of
it, it would be huge. That's the holy grail right now in the human
interface to electronics." ▲
MOTION DETECTION SIMPLIFIED
CONTINUED
WEBSITE AIDS IN REPAIRS
If you are in the habit of breaking things and want to fix them yourself, you might want to
check out www.ifixit.com which bills itself as a
"repair manual that you can edit." Even though the
home page features a bicycle job, it appears that
the site is geared mostly to electronics. The Repair
Manuals page includes instructions for Macs,
iPods, and iPhones, as well as for vehicles, game
consoles, cameras, and others. There is also a
troubleshooting section that, as of now, includes
more than 5,000 questions and answers. Plus, it's
a bit of a wiki concept in that you are encouraged
to contribute to the knowledge base. Finally, you
can sign up for a repair newsletter that reportedly
already has 40,000 recipients on the list. Best of
all, it's free. ▲
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