Well let me first say, good decision! Now, I’m not being paid to say this (though I could be… anyone out there from Sony?) but since I bought my PSP I’ve come to believe that this is the closest all-in-one multimedia device out at the moment and it goes far beyond simply serving as a portable gaming console.
In the short time I’ve had my PSP, I’ve already used it to watch movies, store pictures, listen to music, browse the web, and of course play games! The latest firmware version even allows you to run Flash content on the device. It became a valuable travel companion on a recent trip where I was in transit for 30 hours. I also used it to watch documentaries and TV episodes recently whilst I was sick in bed, and it’s become somewhat of an addiction to watch anything on this 4.3 inch crystal-clear widescreen beauty. A balanced video comparison between the PSP and iPod Video can be found here.
I decided to make a list of some of the things I bought for my PSP, and hence recommend to anyone considering purchasing one, which enhance the device and bring out it’s full magic.
Continue reading ‘So You’d Like to Buy a PSP?’
A story that I recently wrote for Hana:
American Democratic Senator John Edwards delivered the keynote at Gnomedex 6.0, an annual conference aimed at bloggers and technologists held in Seattle, USA. The Senator, who was a late edition to the programme, expressed his pleasure at having the opportunity to present to the 300 or so influential tech gurus and asserted that his visit was not politically motivated, “I’m here primarily to learn” he said and “what you are doing [blogging] is enormously important”.
The Edward’s family are well known for their progressive use of new media on their One America Blog which features blog posts, podcasts and innovative mobile services. Sen. Edwards told the audience that he wants to learn how to take better advantage of rich technology, because he believes, “this is the way America is going”.
One of the key issues that Sen. Edwards is currently campaigning for is Net Neutrality, the act of standardizing the way Internet traffic is managed and the prevention of favouritism towards certain clients or content. This topic has been gaining increasing publicity in the United States, especially in the political arena where technology issues have a lot of leverage.
Continue reading ‘Senator John Edwards Appeals to the Tech Community’
Another Story that I wrote for Hana:
Things have progressed since the $100 laptop prototype was first publicly unveiled at a press conference with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and MIT’s Nicholas Negroponte at last year’s second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Tunis, Tunisia.
What was then just a garish brick of green spray-paint with a wind-up power crank and a loosely fastened LCD screen, has undergone a fairy-tale metamorphosis into a beautiful swan or handsome robotic prince if you prefer. More specifically, a wider range of colours are expected which could include yellow, red, orange and blue. The hand-crank has been dropped (opting for a mains/foot-pedal solution instead), and the screen is now 7.5 inches of the latest e-Ink technology from 3M which features low power consumption and a very impressive 1200 x 900 screen resolution in black and white mode and 800 x 600 in colour mode.
Continue reading ‘$100 Laptop Rollout Ever Closer’
Well I’m back in Grahamstown after more than 30 hours of transit and crossing countless different time-zones returning from Seattle via Dubai. A least my voyager miles are looking healthy, even if I’m not!!!
I have a fair amount of catching up to do (like figuring out what the ‘real’ date is) and am busy clearing out my inbox. I hope to post some more pictures and stories that I wrote for the Highway Africa News Agency in the upcoming days. Right now it’s time to find out what’s so special about the Village Green and the National Arts Festival this year. Oh and go France for the Soccer World Cup (that’s not Air France – I still hate you!)
The new media and blogging conference I’m attending in Seattle, Gnomedex, is in full swing and it’s been a real experience. Besides the brilliant, smart, funny people in the room, there’s also been some interesting presentations. The format of this year’s conference is radically different from previous years’, and I like it. Basically a ‘discussion leader’ presents a no-nonsense pitch or initiates a discussion with the rest of the +-350 people in the audience. This usually involves a whole bunch of polarized perspectives being debated, and some yelling when things look like they’re not going your way.
The highlight of the day was the heated debate between Dave Winer and Blake Ross which kinda ended with Dave telling Blake that he wasn’t answering his questions properly and needed to grow a thick skin in order to play in the big league.
There were also some great demonstrations by new start-ups yesterday which included:
Blue Dot – http://bluedot.us/friends/dots
Farecast – http://farecast.com/
Visual search – http://pixsy.com/
Melodeo – http://www.melodeo.com/
People Aggregator – http://peopleaggregator.net
Blubrry – http://blubrry.com/
Senator John Edwards also gave a very polished keynote and answered some pretty hairy questions which were directed at him afterwards. Overall, the point he was trying to make was that he was thoroughly devoted to technology and said that he was here to learn from bloggers and technologists and find out how he can use technology best in order to communicate his political views to his constituency. He’s already one of the most progressive politicians involved. Following in the footsteps of Howard Dean, the Senator runs a blog and weekly podcast on One America for All of Us. His visit to Gnomedex made the front page of The Seattle Post Intelligencer which felt kinda cool to have been there as some have predicted that he will be the next Democratic Presidential candidate for 2008.
Microsoft are sponsoring a huge closing party tonight at the Experience Music Project and the Pacific Science Center. Although I’m sure there’s ulterior motives involved, I don’t care. I’ve been wanting to go to both those places whilst I’m Seattle anyway.
If you would like to see the pictures that some of the participants have taken at the conference, check them out here on Flickr. I especially like this shot of Firefox frontman, Blake Ross
Recent Comments