Hewlett Packard put out a press release today and announced they would stop production of WebOS phones and the HP TouchPad.  Wait a minute.. didn’t the TouchPad come out in June?  I feel bad for anybody who bought one on day one:  since release, HP has slashed prices on it and then discontinued it in about a three month time span!  Hope you like the applications you have on your TouchPad, because I don’t think you will be seeing many people rushing out to develop anything soon…

Starting May 22nd, any student who buys a computer with Windows 7 preinstalled worth $699.00 or more can get a FREE 4GB Xbox 360.  Don’t believe me?  Go to the source and read it for yourself.  It’s a limited time offer, of course.  Looks like it might be limited to the United States, too… but the press release mentions that it is coming soon to France and Canada.

To me, this seems like a very sweet offer.  Sure, it’s not the top of the line Xbox.  Sure, you will end up spending more money on games.  But what a great way for Microsoft to enslave thousands of college students and ensure that their grades next semester are the worst ever?  I have said this to friends before– I do not think I could graduate from college if I was attending right now, because the video games and internet would completely destroy my will to study.  I managed to waste enough time with a black and white MacPlus and an Atari 2600… I can’t imagine being back in the dorms with an Xbox.

Anyhoo… spread the news if you know anybody in college or grad school that is thinking about buying a new computer and is not opposed to having Windows 7 on board.

May 19th marks the tenth “birthday” for the Apple Store.  Waaaay back in 2001, Apple opened two retail stores on opposite ends of the United States.  Today, there are over 300 Apple Stores all over the world.

But the big buzz on the internet seems to be about a potential birthday surprise in store for the hordes of Apple devotees.  Rumors are flying fast and furious about late night shifts for workers over the weekend, cancelled days off, huge data downloads labeled “training” and maybe some new hardware already delivered to stores.  What can it be?  What could drive the Apple faithful into such a frenzy?

I’ve read one posting that claims the event will be marked by upgrading the stores to use Near Field Communication (NFC) . Never heard of NFC?  Read about it.   Most bloggers point out that there doesn’t seem to be a major product release due– we just got the iPad 2, the iPhone 5 shouldn’t be ready, and none of the computers are due for upgrades.  Personally, I love the fact that Apple might be simply upgrading its checkout hardware/software/paypoint system and it is creating HUGE buzz for their stores. 

Tell me– what Apple product would you like to see unveiled this weekend to help Apple celebrate 10 years in the retail world?

Why a Xoom and not the new iPad 2? Simple.  I hate Apple.  I have never spent a dime on one of their products.  I realize, of course, that not everyone shares my views on Apple, and if I didn’t have them myself, the $499 iPad 2 would be mighty tempting.  But, I wanted a tablet.  I wanted something that would have a future, and not be outdated in 6 months (please?!), and I wanted an Android.  So here we go…

I’ve been rocking my OG Moto Droid for 15 months.  I love that thing.  I spend every waking hour with it not more than 10 feet away from me.  I know that I will probably shed a tear or two when I finally get around to upgrading to a new phone.  I wanted to love my new tablet as much as that phone.  So what could be better than buying another Motorola product with a spiffy new Honeycomb  Android OS?    It wasn’t easy to find a store that had one in stock (is it that popular, or did they not ship many out?), but I finally found a Best Buy that had a couple under lock & key.  The cashier was jealous.  The manager was jealous.  They didn’t even bust my balls about skipping the Verizon contract (this was before the Wifi version was announced, so yes, I paid the full $799).  I asked the manager why he didn’t just buy an iPad if he wanted a tablet so bad…he scoffed, ‘That’s kid stuff’.  OK, man after my own heart!  I raced home, plugged it in, and took it for a test drive.

The first thing I noticed is how heavy it is.  I have a 3rd Gen Kindle, and that thing is light as a feather.  Of course, I don’t expect the Xoom to be that light weight, but it was not very comfortable to hold up for long periods of time.  Holding it up like my Kindle was not an option.  Now I just lean it against my cat’s back as he’s sitting on my lap and I’m good to go.
Onto the screen:  it’s gorgeous.  Big, bright, thick.  Easy to read, and very smooth under my touch.  I didn’t buy a screen protector for it, because it’s made out of Gorilla Glass, so I don’t think it needs it.  It feels like you could drive over it with your car and it would be OK (note: don’t try this at home).  While surfing the web, I found it very easy to ‘pinch to zoom’ instantly to any size, and the text is bright and clear as day.  My old eyes absolutely love this feature.
One major complaint I’ve read is that there are 6 billion apps for the iPad and only 12 for the Xoom.   While it’s true that there are perhaps 40-50 apps that are ‘Tablet Ready’, I found that all the apps I have on my phone work perfectly fine on the Xoom.  In fact, Google automatically ported over a couple of live wallpapers from my phone and they look great.  The apps that ARE upgraded for Honeycomb are fantastic.  I love the CNN app/widget, which is built for the larger screen.  I also love Weatherbug, Grocery IQ, Google Body and USA Today.  The Google Android Market highlights the Tab-ready apps for each category, although I wish they would have a section for new ones to check each week to make it easier to find them.

I didn’t think I’d need the 32 gigs of space, but after uploading every single song I own onto it, and still having 19 gigs leftover, I’m pretty happy with it.  Since I expect to have this for a (relatively) long time, the extra space will be used with more pictures, videos, music, apps, etc.  I like having MORE space than I need, and when it’s updated to take a 32 gig SD card, I’ll never run out of space for all the things I want to keep on it.  So far, I’ve only taken a few pictures, and one video, of my cat.  The pictures look nice, but it’s much more awkward taking pictures with a big tablet instead of a phone.  The music sounds good, but the speakers are on the back, so if you have it on your lap, it sounds muffled.

A couple more cons: the keyboard isn’t great, and I can’t find a good one in the market.  I have the Shapewriter keyboard on my phone but it’s not longer available in the Market.  Bummer.  Also, the only ‘official’ bag/case for it (made by Motorola) gets two stars on Amazon, and looks like a cheap piece of junk.  Do a search for iPad cases on Amazon, and you find tons of them, in every color and fabric imaginable.  Search for the Xoom and…not so much.  The one I bought had a picture of it holding an OLD Kindle.  So it wasn’t even made for the Xoom (it’s a tad bit too big, but it serves its purpose).

It’s my sincere hope that with the Wifi version coming out at a cheaper price, people who were on the fence will dive in and give it a try.  The Xoom was not something that I NEEDED, but it has already replaced my laptop (I haven’t opened it once since I bought the Xoom), and I’m finding more uses and apps for it every day.  If it’s even half as useful as my phone, it will be well worth it.

If you have never heard of Watson, PC Magazine has a good write-up here about its specs and strategies.  Watson’s ability to win at trivia games is almost frightening.  But what is REALLY frightening is the fact that Watson’s creators continually refer to the computer as “he” or “him.”

Do these men not know about the impending Robopocalypse? 

 Do not name the enemy, my friends.  Do not humanize them.  Oh sure, we joke around with Sci-Bot in the studio… but he has the processing power of a Timex watch.  This thing they call Watson?  One step closer to Skynet.

The US Court of Appeals for the Eight Circuit recently ruled that a cellular phone like the RAZR is a “computer” under the legal definition in the United States Code.  In United States v. Kramer the court was asked to decide if a man convicted of transporting an underage girl across state lines for the purpose of sexual activity should have his sentence enhanced for using a computer to facilitate the crime.  Sounds simple?  Well, Neil Scott Kramer never used a “computer” as we might think of it.  He used his cellular phone.  Relying upon the definition supplied by Congress, and quotes from Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, the Eight Circuit decided that modern cellular phones meet the definition of “computer.”

Since Neil Scott Kramer is a creep, I’m not that concerned that he received an additional 28 months added to his sentence.  But I find it amusing that technology has already outpaced the legal system’s attempts to define it.

hands off Scott – I call dibs.

It’s too bad Jim doesn’t have a PS3, because the brand new Candy Pink Dual Shock controller would go perfect sitting next to his pink Wii-mote. More on the new hardware here.

For $9.99 a month, the service is touted as offering complete seasons of its shows, in HD. Hulu plus is also delivered to the iphone, ipad, and to some TV enabled devices. All nice additions to the existing service.

As mentioned on the last Sci-Guys-Podcast I got an invite to the Hulu Plus beta, and checked it out. I was very excited to finally be able to get Hulu content on apple devices which previously were unable to show this content, due to Hulu.com being flash based.

This is the point where it starts to break down. You see, Hulu Plus, as delivered via their app, includes very little of the content already on the “regular” Hulu.com site. I was looking to get caught up on Fringe. Sorry, no luck. This was rather surprising to me, since “regular” Hulu has the last few episodes of Fringe available. I went looking for a few other shows I want to get caught up on. Still no luck. Here is a list of the series available in Plus, and yes, there is a lot of stuff there. But nowhere near the number of titles available in the “regular” Hulu.

This is the dirty little secret of Hulu Plus. It is deep, but not broad. The series they have on Hulu Plus have every episode, or at least a lot of them, but you are not going to see a lot of the shows you would expect to find. There are tons of shows that are available on Hulu’s “regular” site, but missing from Plus.

Sure they do have some quality shows on there, like Lost, but I was surprised by how few currently running shows are in Hulu Plus. I think that is the deal-breaker, “regular” Hulu works as a poor-mans DVR, allowing you to watch shows you may have missed. Hulu Plus works a poor man’s Netflix, but with similar cost, and way less content – not exactly something I’m looking for.

This lack of current content in Plus might not be a big deal, if you could get the “regular” Hulu content through the app. But no dice. I can’t speak to the PS3 or other TV enabled device’s version of Hulu Plus, but for the Apple Hulu Plus app? None of the “regular” Hulu content is accessible.

To be fair, on the website, you do get all the hulu “regular” and Plus content, and the same goes for the Hulu Desktop application. So if you have a media PC hooked up to your TV, you might be marginally more interested in the service.

As I’ve said before, “regular” Hulu would not be worth paying for as a service, because the reduced quality of the videos, lack of TV enabled device support, and relative scarcity of episodes. Hulu Plus addresses the first two issues, and as such I was more than willing to give it a shot. But the amount of content is Plus is actually less than “regular” Hulu. At least the content I care about. This is still in beta, so things may change, but due to the current division of Regular and Plus in the apps, I simply can’t recommend the service. Especially for $9.99 a month.

With the name Hulu Plus, you would expect to get more, but in reality you get less. This should be called Hulu Minus.