The most interesting of the lot are definitely the new iMacs and the multi-touch mouse. The new Quad-Core iMac was heard coming long before, when the first rumors started circulating last month. Now that it is finally here, the differences from the old models are obvious. It has a stunning 27” display, Intel Core i5 (upgradable to Core i7) and has a huge screen space at 2560×1440 pixels.

But the excitement is not restricted to the highest model. The main thing that I would like to bring your attention to is the fact that all models (except the quad core) have Intel Core 2 Duo chips at 3.09GHz and have 4GB memory as standard. Plus, there is the brilliant new wireless Magic Mouse and wireless new keyboard that come standard with every iMac.

The Magic mouse is a brilliant piece of equipment. It has no buttons, is made out of aluminum and is topped off with a capacitive multitouch layer that works just like the MacBook’s glass trackpad. You can touch anywhere and you can scroll the full 360º if the application allows it. The whole surface clicks like the glass trackpad and you can even get it to emulate the two-button mouse. I say this is the best non-gaming mouse till date. Plus the tracking is now optical, so the Magic Mouse can track without a mousepad and on almost all surfaces. Gestures are supported and so is accelerated scrolling. So comparisons to the iPhone’s multitouch features are fully justified.

The MacBook gets a polycarbonate unibody, with the same built-in battery as the MacBook Pro line. So it now has a 7-hour rated battery life. There have been subtle design changes – the most noticeable is the lack of the sharp edge that really bugged people on the previous models. The display is now LED backlit, making the MacBook more eco-friendly and energy efficient.

MacMinis have received speed and storage upgrades but everything else is pretty much the same. There is now a 2.53GHz Core 2 Duo, $999 server edition that packs in two 500GB HDDs, Mac OS X Server Snow Leopard and lacks a DVD burner.

So now that we know what Apple had up their sleeves, it is time to talk about how this will help them in their race against Windows 7 and the slew of new computers that will be released during and soon after the Windows 7 launch.

Apple’s new strategy with iMacs is clearly to give users as much computing power as possible. The new entry point of 3.06 GHz and 4GB RAM is going to be a hit with the crowd because these are above average features at this time. So buying an iMac now would be a great thing because you will not have to upgrade for quite a while.

The new 27” Core ‘5/i7 iMac is clearly an attempt to woo those professionals who want something more affordable than a Mac Pro but something more powerful that the previous generation iMacs. This new iMac is going to be a hit with visual designers and also with musicians. Both have a lot of use for large screen spaces. Designers can do side by side comparisons while musicians can now see more things on screen. I for one would use this with Logic Pro and place the mixer and the arrangement areas side by side during the final mix down.

The two Mac Minis And the MacBook [white] have been through smaller updates. They are not very different spec-wise but the MacBook has changed quite a bit physically. It doesn’t seem like they will make much of an impact on their own but the price cuts are sure to bring in some more sales. To me, it seems like 2010 Q10 will be the bigger quarter for Apple and they will one-up Windows 7 with their tablet device. So this it for now and I don’t think the new Macs and Windows 7 will suffer a lot from each other. That is because the high-end will still go for MacBook Pros and iMacs and the average consumer will be torn between the Mac Mini and myriad Windows 7 systems. However, the MacBook [white] is likely to make it to quite a few stockings this year.

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Scientists at University of California, Berkley have actually accomplished this task. They have successfully attached tiny electrodes and other electronic parts on to living insects. Through these implants, the bug can now be maneuvered through a laptop.

The engineering principle behind is not very difficult to understand. Since we human beings can’t exactly one-up nature on engineering, this is a sort of hack in to the system. It’s like installing a malware that takes control of your computer and then the malware creator manipulates your system through the implant.

The bugs are implanted with the electronic parts at the pupal stage or around the time when they retreat inside the pupa. This way, they actually grow up with parts implanted in them. Then when they are fully grown and take flight, the electrodes transmit electrical pulses in to their nervous system and muscles. So in case the controller wants the bug to veer left during flight, the electrodes charge the left  muscles to make them work harder and the body turns left. Is it is just me or does this sound eerily similar to the way human beings were controlled in The Matrix?

The bug that is being shown off at this point is a Beetle. The developers of the system, Hirotaka Sato and Michel Maharbiz, talked to the Neuroscience Magazine and told them that they had successfully demonstrated remote control in free flight through an implantable radio-equipped neural transmitter.

Attempts to do things similar to this have been going on for several years now and it has already been tried on insects like cockroaches. But this the first time ever that man has been able to extend this kind of control on an insect. This is not necessarily a good thing though. However, as with every scientific achievement, what comes off it will depend on how we use it. And the identity of the people who are funding it already gives us a large enough hint as to what the purpose of this project might be.

The project is being funded by the Pentagon. More precisely, it is being funded by the US Defense Research Project Agency (DARPA) and they themselves have been trying to build a Nano Air Vehicle or NAV.

thankfully this is still in the realm of Sci Fi

These NAVs would be small enough (less that 7.6cm and 10g) to go to places undetected and carry out reconnaissance missions in urban areas mainly. Even though we have advanced enough in the field of nano-technology to make the insect-implants, we are still unable to build something like that completely on our own.

So the military hopes that the beetles would act like micro air vehicles and give them unprecedented advantages during war.

Thankfully, nothing like that is possible immediately because the control  implant is all that the insects can carry during flight. Any more weight and they will not be able to lift it with their wings. So things like a camera and a GPS transmitter are still quite far away from being implanted on to these insects, which would be the only way they could be of any use in war. They can still carry chemical and biological weapons but that would violate existing war laws.

It’s funny that they are expected to abide by the law during a war. The developers are saying that this is only the initial stage and practical cyborg insects are anything between two to 10 years away. [BBC news]

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QR codes can also feature in much less conventional mediums, a few of which I will highlight.

© Nicolas1981, 2009, under a CC-BY-SA 3.0 licence

In Japan, most phones come with integrated QR code readers and, as such, QR codes are slightly more prominent than they are in the EU and US. When you read Wikipedia’s article on QR codes, one of the first things you see is a picture of a billboard that features a QR code. Whilst this is definitely an interesting concept, I don’t know if I’d feel comfortable pointing my phone at random objects in the middle of a large city at night!

Another interesting example is a QR code t-shirt. Dozens of these are available; in fact, there’s an online shop who primarily sell such shirts. My favourite is the shirt to the right, which has a QR code which decodes to ‘Don’t miss me’!

The Pet Shop Boys used QR codes on one of their single’s, Integral artwork. Cooler yet, the song’s video too featured QR codes which could be scanned and led to their website and a campaign against identity cards in Britain.

I’m a big fan of ‘design’ QR too. This is where the barcode is made to appear to contain a picture. For example, the below barcode leads to a page on the BBC’s website:

This QR code leads to a company who specialise in the creation of design QR codes:

That same company worked on these QR code chocolates!

Have you seen any cool applications of QR codes?

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The common trend among these gadgets is they are all new and still in experimental stage. I know it can be tempting to jump in line at your local Best Buy when an iPhone 3GS is released, or refreshing that page every few seconds until you can preorder Windows 7 from Amazon. But there are some risks involved and that is why its not always the safest thing to do to adopt a new technology or device early.

The first problem is price. There is no need to discuss the $500 and $600 premiums people were paying on iPhones when they first came out, only to have their devices outdated a few months later by the 3G. But what was most bitter to the early adopters was the fact that the device went subsidized.

I could also mention SSD which (although a nice technology) has been held back by its exorbitant price. I’m still trying to figure out how a 256GB SSD costs as much as a notebook computer? The protection offered by an SSD is good, I won’t deny that, but still it doesn’t justify the price unless you’re housing the President’s birth certificate.

Even software isn’t immune. I can’t count the amount of people who preordered Windows Vista, and after a week with the software wish they had stuck with XP. Don’t get me wrong, I have never had any problems with Vista but many of the people who upgraded failed to read the system requirements and got pissed when their computers began to crash. Yes we’re hearing a similar tune with Windows 7 and OSX Snow Leopard. So far the former is carrying more of the buzz and everyone is talking about how it fixes all the problems that were found in Vista.

I’m not saying Windows 7 isn’t promising (I am using it to write this post), but Vista has finally stabilized so for those who had serious problems with Vista at first, might want to think twice before taking a chance with Windows 7 on their main system.

Need we talk about the gadgets? I have heard countless stories of peoples iPhone 3GS combusting in their pockets, Palm Pre screens flying off when they open it or their Blackberry Storms “SurePress” screens becoming unsure.

Yes I admit I’m guilty of buying a Pre a week after it was released, but only because I needed it for my job (I write for a Palm Pre blog), and yes I have reserved myself a copy of Windows 7, but only because I have been testing out the beta for the past 4 months now and I have dual boot so I’m safe.

I’m not saying you should never adopt early, but if there is anything that the “ring of death” on the Xbox 360, crappy Wiimotes and not to mention PS3 overheating problems have taught us, you might want to think twice before actually getting inline at your local gadget store.

So as I’ve said before, unless you are prepared for problems, wait a few months, otherwise you might find yourself sitting in the waiting room with a crouch on fire, enough said!

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Think this is weird? Well, these, and other ideas like them are what you can find at greenUPGRADER, a site dedicated to being green. The site focuses on reusing everyday items to cut down on consumption and reduce wastage of natural resources.

greenUPGRADER has a multitude of do-it-yourself projects for visitors, ranging from simple solutions like the examples mentioned above to big things like turning old gutters into a garden. The site also keeps you updated about the latest products made from recycled materials, a must-have resource for those truly into green living. Some of these products are definitely worth a look, like the notebook made from used bike tires.

If you’re into recycling and reusing products, then go ahead and bookmark the site. Even if you’re not really thinking of green living, some of the DIY projects on greenUPGRADER are worth a try on a lazy afternoon when you have nothing better to do.

Do you recycle or reuse things? Is it worth it? What do you think of greenUPGRADER? Let me know in the comments.

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I am currently trying to learn French and German and often find myself using many computer-based resources to ease my learning, some obvious, like dictionaries, and some not-so, like podcasts.

Dictionaries

Different languages generally have different online dictionaries. For German, I often find myself using dict.cc, whilst for French, I use Reverso. The best way to find dictionaries is to Google, but one option to definitely consider is the ever-growing Wiktionary. Effectively every language has a Wiktionary and whilst it can be difficult to navigate, it is quite large and the range of languages makes it amazing.

Verb conjugators

Verbix is another web-based tool. It allows you to conjugate verbs, and even supports irregular ones.

The free web-based tool supports verb conjugation in 97 languages, ranging from Afrikaans, to Milanese, to Old English to Welsh! They offer Windows shareware which supports over 300 languages.

Verbix also offers a tool too which analyses text and guesses its language.

Podcasts

Podcasts are a very useful way to perfect your listening.

It is very useful for me to hear a native German or a Francophone to speak.

Browsing iTunes will obviously bring up many possibilities.

My suggestions? For German, use Slow German. For French, try One thing in a French day. Naturally, I can’t make suggestions for other languages!

Vocabulary trainers

One of the best ways to learn is purely to repeat.

Many vocabulary trainers are available. These allow you to input words, or use preprepared word lists, and then be tested on them. The trainers compile statistics so you can identify weak points etc.

For OS X, try the freeware Vocab. A wide-range of options exist for Windows users; ProvaLingua seems popular. Another option, which also works under Linux, is this program.

Wikipedia

I already mentioned that Wiktionary exists in many languages, but so does Wikipedia.

To improve your knowledge of a foreign language, try reading an article on your native language Wikipedia and then on a foreign one. It won’t be the same word for word, but many ideas will be similar so you should be able to pick out some key words.

Wikipedia is also a good way to find technical vocabulary in a foreign tongue.

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OpenStreetMap is a project to provide maps, like Google Maps does. Unlike sites like Google, though, OpenStreetMap provides its data freely under a Creative Commons licence.

The site relies on its users to utilise their GPS devices to record roads, something that can be done through several pieces of software available for platforms ranging from Linux to PocketPC to iPhones. These pieces of software produce journeys which can be traced around, labelled using software and then uploaded to OSM. As roads change, other users can then edit these pieces of information.

Many websites and appplication, especially those involved in the free software movement, utilise OpenStreetMap’s data.

To contribute to this project, you need a GPS receiver. Then, you need software to log it in the ‘GPX’ format; the project’s wiki lists a number of pieces of software for several platforms which do that. TopoGrafix Personally, I use Track n Trail for iPhone. OSM seem to like GPSBabel for non-mobile operating systems. Maps are then uploaded to OpenStreetMap, where using a Java editor they are edited and published. If this sounds complicated, a clearer how-to guide is available.

To summarise, OpenStreetMap is a wonderful idea. Coverage is patchy outside major cities, although most major roads in most Western countries are marked. There is no harm in contributing, naturally! It gives but more access to free information.

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One way of accessing files is to use an online clipboard like CL1P. This website allows you to put up data using a unique url that you yourself choose. No sign-up or registration required.

Once the CL1P url is ready, you have plenty of options. The first thing you can do is set the clipboard to take plain or rich text formats. Alternatively, you could turn it into a messageboard. After that, you can either type in your data, or upload files and pictures. The maximum upload limit is 30 MB.

Once your clipboard is ready, simply save it. CL1P has the option of password protecting your page, which comes in handy if you want only select people to be able to view your link. CL1P pages stay active only for seven days which is a slight disadvantage if you want to keep your page around longer.

CL1P is fairly versatile. For example, a user can edit his clipboard if he wants to. Another plus point is the ability to print the clipboards. While this may not be helpful if you’ve uploaded something that cannot be printed, it’s worthwhile for text and images.

Are you comfortable with the idea of an internet clipboard? Would you use CL1P? Let me know in the comments.

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Since this is Ghacks, there’s a pretty good chance that your ‘must-have’ is tech-related. If it is, why not share your wish with the rest of us? Maybe you want a new souped-up computer for your gaming needs, or that fancy new mobile phone. How about the latest portable media player?

Another point of interest is whether you envision yourself owning the desired gadget soon. If not, what’s stopping you? Is it the lack of finance, logistical difficulties (like the product not being available where you live) etc. Or is it that you simply can’t justify buying the gadget because you already have a similar one in perfectly good condition.

I’ll start the ball rolling on this one. One thing I really want to have is a good portable media player. I was supposed to get one this Christmas but things haven’t worked out as planned since the person who was bringing it has been unable to do so. Now, I’m starting to have second thoughts.

What about you? What’s on your wishlist for the holidays? Let me know.

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One person who has acted on this subject in the past is Joe Biden. Yes, the same guy who’s now the U.S. Vice President. In fact, he’s been pretty active in trying to defend the rights of media companies. Let’s take a look at his accomplishments.

Joe Biden’s earliest tryst against piracy came in 2002, when he drafted a letter to the Justice Department, urging action against people who ‘intentionally’ allow copying over p2p networks. Then last year, Biden supported an RIAA-led bill to restrict Americans from copying songs from Internet radio services. His efforts got him invited to the MPAA’s party in favor of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act.

In April of this year, Biden tried to get the US government to spend a billion dollars so that authorities could monitor p2p networks for illegal activity. What constitutes illegal activity, I have no idea.

Joe Biden has been pretty vocal about other aspects of the Internet as well, most notably a strong supporter of having Internet filters in place for schools. Another interesting tidbit is that at one time, the man also supported levying an Internet tax on people.

It remains to be seen what Joe Biden will do in his newfound political role as Vice President. However, going by his track record, it’s fair to say he’ll be on the media companies’ side most of the time.

What do you think of Joe Biden’s war against Internet piracy? Do you know of other political figures who have the same ideals? How do you think politics affects Internet legislation? Let me know in the comments.

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Granted, someone will need to die before you can purchase this gift, however if you’re willing to wait than you too could brighten someone’s day with this pencil box full of pencils made out of human carbon. You also get the deceased’s name printed on the side of each pencil as you can see from the screenshot.

This is the brainchild of Nadine Jarvis who likes to create death inspired design work, or ‘work in post mortem’ if you prefer.

That’s not all though, you don’t just use these pencils until their gone, the box is designed so just one pencil can be removed at a time and are sharpened back into the box so it becomes an urn for the remains.

If you would like to be useful even after dying than perhaps this is the way to go.

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I’m Joe Anderson and I maintain another Grand Effect blog, Webby’s World, which has been a partner blog of gHacks for several years. My blog, Webby’s World, has been a member of 9rules, a network of quality blogs, since 2006 and I have been blogging since 2005.

I have some experience of writing on other blogs. In the summer of 2006, I was a guest editor at Lifehacker for a week and I’ve done a couple of posts on Rev2.

My specialty is Web 2.0 and although I am primarily an OS X user, I have over a decade of Windows experience and a couple of years of Ubuntu experience too.

I look forward to writing about websites and software which I find useful, interesting or simply bizarre.

You can follow me on Twitter at twitter.com/computerjoe (you can also follow gHacks too, at twitter.com/ghacks)

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You might think I’m a social junkie, no way. I love social sites, but I actually never use them because I can’t be bothered to update my status all the time, keep track of others and so on. I use the absolute bare minimum, Stumble Upon for my blog and for fun, Digg now and then, Twitter to keep in contact with my readers and others and Youtube for my music and I get at least 20 emails from these services daily. If you are a heavy socializer, I suggest creating a separate inbox for these things.

The best way to do that is creating a forwarder to shoot all these social emails to another inbox, while still being able to provide your regular email address at these sites. Is it really that important to acknowledge a friend request right away or to view that shared video 5 seconds after it’s sent? Just shoot everything off to a separate inbox and spend 20 minutes at the end of the day going through your social mail. This will make your like a lot more productive and you will be interrupted much less. If you are an active social person on the web please let us know how you cope with all the emails, and other “paperwork” this generates, I’m dying to know how others do this.

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Drop.io started off as just another file-hosting site. To stand out from the pack though, the site now allows you to both send and receive faxes. The modus operandi is simple: Upload the file you want to fax to the drop.io service. Files must be in ‘doc’ or ‘pdf’ format, not more than 20 pages long and less in 100 MB in size.

Once your file is uploaded, just click on the ‘Send’ button. You will then be directed to a page with a drop-down menu where you can choose how you want your file to be sent. You can choose between fax, email, and MMS for mobiles. In the case of the fax, enter the fax number and click ‘send’. Your document is faxed to its recipient.

I quite like this service though I doubt I need to use it that often. For one thing, I don’t need to go running around looking for a fax machine. Another perk, it’s free! I’ve sent faxes before and paid for each page, which can work out quite expensive. The major drawback presently is you can only send faxes to US numbers. Still, I’m optimistic that this will change in the future.

What do you think of the drop.io fax service? Would you be willing to use it? What kind of security concerns would you have? Let me know in the comments.

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Uploading files to many sites is a tedious task. You’ll have to visit each site and individually upload your file there. This is a time-consuming and irritating task. It would be so much better for you to upload the file once and watch it show up on multiple sites.

Well, that’s exactly what Uploadjockey does. This site allows you to upload a file once and then they put that file on other hosting sites. Uploadjockey will put your file on Rapidshare, Badongo, Megaupload, Zshare, Sendspace, and Depositfiles.

This is quite a good concept. Many file hosting sites have limitations like waiting time between downloads, slots per country, etc. This way, if you don’t get the file off one site, you can try another one. For the uploader, all you have to do is upload the file once.

The site isn’t perfect. For starters, you have the 100 MB file limit. But I think this has more to do with the fact that the sites it supports have a file size limit. Also, while uploading a file, there is no way to tell how fast you are uploading. A progress bar does appear but there’s no mention of speed or how much of the file has been uploaded so far.

I don’t know why someone would want to host files on Rapidshare, Megaupload, etc. that have so many restrictions. I usually prefer to use MediaFire, which I feel is far better. But who knows, the service may add other sites in future.

What do you think of Uploadjockey? Would you use this service? Have you come across something similar? What’s your favorite file-hosting site? Let me know in the comments.

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Freecycle is the website for the Freecycle Network, which is made up of 4,342 groups with 4,921,000 members across the globe. The purpose of this network is that if you have something to give, there’s someone out there who wants it. The catch is that it has to be given for free.

How do you join? You start by finding a Freecycle group that’s close to your home. Then, you can join and post about whatever it is you want to give away. If you find an item you like and would want, you simply mail the owner and tell him you’re interested. It’s first come first serve so be quick.

So, is Freecycle worth it? I’d say yes. There’s plenty of things to be found in these groups and the idea itself is quite philanthropic. It’s not perfect though. There are no guarantees about the merchandise you get. Plus, you usually have to make your own arrangements to pick up the item.

I’m a member at my local Freecycle group and I’ve scored a good deal or two. In one case, I met up with the owner close to my house to collect my item. Overall, I’d say give this network a try. After all, you never know what you might find.

What is your opinion on Freecycle? Are you a member of this group? Do you think this idea is worth exploring? What other similar sites have you come across? Do let me know.

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You may ask what’s all this got to do with today’s post? Well, I’ve come across a site that’s guaranteed to get you into the spirit of drawing. Lisandro Pena has a site called OnlyPencil, to display artwork. Nothing unique about that except that that Lisandro produces fantastic artwork using only pencils.

All drawings are drawn from photographs. Step into the Gallery and be amazed by just how much versatility there is in pencil artwork. The lines and textures created are breathtaking. Most of the pictures are of animals and each one has practically been brought to life.

In case any of the drawings strike your fancy, you can always purchase it. Prices are quite reasonable. If you’re looking for a portrait of your loved ones, you can actually commission a drawing that’s customized to suit your tastes.

The site can help you improve your drawing skills as well. OnlyPencil has a bunch of tutorials from how to draw a human eye to drawing a realistic-looking dog’s nose. Each tutorial has detailed instructions and plenty of pictures to illustrate each step of the drawing process.

Overall, I found OnlyPencil to be quite a good hobby site. I can spend a fair amount of time practicing various tutorials. Plus, it’s cheap as well. You only need to buy a few pencils to get started. How did you find the site? Do you know of similar sites that you can spend time with and learn something? Let me know in the comments.

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Data that is required is for example the job title, company and industry. This offer is for the print issue of PC Magazine which currently sells for $83.88 at the newsstands if you purchase each issue of the year. Click this link to visit the page that contains all the information that you need. It’s a full featured subscription, not some blatant rip-off and definitely nothing that lures you into buying something else.

You can also take a look at other magazine subscriptions and whitepapers that are available free to professionals by going to the magazine home here at Ghacks.

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This brings me to today’s post. I have a Facebook profile and I barely use it. Initially, I did not quite figure out what I was supposed to do with it. Then, the application overload started. I received my first ‘app’ invitation from something called Superwall. Not knowing any better, I said yes. After that, it’s just been one invitation after another.

Some Facebook apps are okay. For example, I was using Skreemr to add songs to my profile. However, for every decent app available, there have to be at least 10 worthless ones. The first one that hit me was Superpoke, which goes by the description ‘why poke when you can tickle, hug, pinch, or throw sheep’. Throwing sheep! How come I never thought of such a profound action?

Then there’s Zombies, and it’s spinoffs, Vampires and Werewolves. What do these ‘wonderful’ apps do? Why, bite your friends and turn them into monsters too. And if you fancy yourself a monster-killer, there’s Slayer to do the needful. I don’t see the point in these things. They are simply a waste of time.

The bottom line. I’ve stopped accepting requests for applications to be installed. Some people may have all day to play around on Facebook but I’m not one of them. Truth be told, I’m kind of fed up of everything and I virtually never log in to my profile these days.

Do you have a Facebook profile? Which are the most worthless apps you’ve seen on Facebook? What do you think the site should do to stop people getting tons of invitations for these apps?

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Magmypic is sort of a combination of magazinize (is that even a word?) my picture. The site is pretty straightforward. Upload picture = magazine cover. Actually, it’s a bit more than that but it’s still easy to do.

The process begins when you upload a picture, in any of the standard image formats. The next step allows you to select which magazine you want to use. There are magazines like Time, National Geographic, People, Vogue, etc. Once this is done, you can choose the size of your magazine cover.

In the last step, you can download the creation to your computer. In addition, you can also post it on a variety of sites such as Myspace, Facebook, iGoogle, WordPress, etc. To give you an example, here’s a cover I created.

There are a few drawbacks though. For one, the picture you choose for the cover can get resized weirdly. My original picture was of the complete bike, not just the part you see. Secondly, you cannot change any of the text on the cover. Lastly, the cover has a Magmypic watermark on it. However, this is not that big a deal.

I prefer this to U.R.Celeb largely because everything is done via a website so I don’t have to bother about installing anything. What about you? Will you give this website a try? Do you know of any similar websites?

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