Posts Tagged ‘Technology’
Firmware, if you have not encountered the term before, generally refers to the programs and files used internally in many devices to control that device’s functions. Think of firmware as something similar to the operating system (such as Microsoft Windows) that a PC uses.
Some devices, such as game consoles, MP3 players and Blu-ray players were designed so that their firmware could be updated in order to resolve hardware issues or use new features added to content after the hardware’s manufacture.
There are a few different ways to update the firmware on most Blu-ray players. One method is to visit the manufacturer’s website for your particular model player and download the updated firmware via a home PC. From there, you will use that PC’s CD or DVD burner to write the firmware to a blank disc. Inserting that disc into the Blu-ray player allows the device to read in the new files and update itself appropriately.
If your Blu-ray player is setup to access the Internet, such as through your home’s wireless network, you can download the firmware update directly using the internal tools in the player’s setup menu. This method is the easier of the two, and in some cases, can be configured to automatically happen when new firmwares are released.
Making sure that your Blu-ray player has the latest firmware prior to Avatar’s release on April 22nd will help avoid any playback problems on the day of release. If you have a Blu-ray player that does not have the capability to connect to the Internet, you can bring the device into your local Best Buy. Geek Squad Agents can get your device up to date and ready to go with our in-store firmware update service.
If you have a network-capable player, but don’t have it hooked up to the Internet, we have on-site networking services to add that device to your existing home network, or setup a new one to allow your Blu-ray player and other devices to share access to all the Internet has to offer.
If you have questions, contact your local Geek Squad for answers.
Anyone who has been in a long-distance relationship before knows how spending special days alone (birthdays, Christmas, etc) can suck.
This is especially true for that day for lovers everywhere- Valentine’s Day.
As a former member of the long-distance club (my wife is from Toronto, I’m from Minneapolis), I can attest to the incredible strain thousands of miles can put on a relationship. You have to work at it really hard, and be really committed to each other, in order to succeed – and sometimes you have to get really creative in your approach to connecting.
For us, we used Skype, an internet video conferencing platform, to stay connected to each other. Every night we’d chat online, “face to face” — something that really helped us cement our bond and keep it strong despite the distance between us.
As a recently married man, I am very happy the long-distance chapter in our lives is over. So when I heard about our Geek Squad Valentine’s Day contest, I wanted to tell you all about it.
This Valentine’s Day, Geek Squad is doing something special for long-distance lovers: arranging a romantic dinner for two — via Skype.
On February 12, we’ll host dinners for six lucky couples at the BLT Steak restaurant in Los Angeles and BLT Steak restaurant in New York. Romance will be in the air as Geek Squad Agents connect each of the couples via Skype at their dinner tables , enabling them to spend a romantic, candlelit dinner together (virtually, at least). And to sweeten the pot, we are throwing in a free netbook worth $350 plus a $150 Geek Squad gift card to help them stay connected past Valentine’s Day.
We’ve partnered with Sheknows.com and ChipChick.com to pick couples who fit the bill. To enter, one of you needs to be in LA, the other in New York City.
Deadline to enter is February 8th, 2010. Do you and your special someone fit the bill? Head to the sites listed below and make your case for why you are deserving of this special treat!
With 2010, we see netbooks take a few different paths toward maintaining their dominance of the portable computing market.
More Portable
Battery life is always a concern for those users that are always on the go, and netbook manufacturers are looking to help out with devices built from the ground up to use as little power as possible and wring out as much as 11 to 14 hours of run time from a single charge. Less time connected to a wall outlet means less time stuck in one place.
The other portability development we’re seeing is even thinner netbooks, designed to be slim enough that keeping one with you at all times becomes a serious possibility.
More Performance
For some netbook users, it’s entirely acceptable to sacrifice some portability and battery life in exchange for more powerful, on-the-go, netbook performance. More powerful processors, with multiple cores, are being combined with improved video cards to make it possible to play hi-definition videos with fewer issues, or even take in some (still light) 3D gaming.
While not every netbook user needs a more powerful netbook, these beefed up devices will help make more processor-orientated tasks, such as quick edits of SD video, something of a possibility for when you absolutely need to get them done on the go.
More Choice
The wealth of different options becoming available will really help the product category become more mature, and help bring about more choices to fit the specific needs that potential buyers need for their highly portable digital life.
The New Year brings with it new things to be excited about, like new friends to meet, new places to visit, new experiences to have, and new goals to reach. For a Geek Squad Agent like me, it also means new technology. And in January, there’s no better place to see that new technology than the International Consumer Electronics Show.
As luck would have it, I’ve been drafted to attend this year’s show. So, as we begin a brand new decade and as I begin packing my bags for Las Vegas, here are some of the technology categories I’m excited about seeing on the conference floor.
eBook Readers
2009 marked the year when eBook readers reached enough critical mass to go mainstream, and this was proven true throughout the holiday season. Barnes and Noble couldn’t ship their new Nook reader quick enough to meet demand, while Amazon reported that eBook sales outpaced printed book sales in December.
However, the race is far from over in 2010, as several companies that announced upcoming entries in this growing eBook market last year are likely to be showing off their new readers at CES. I’m really looking forward to seeing how each of the different brands push the technology in ways to separate themselves from the pack.
As an avid reader, I’m also excited by the possibilities of how eBook readers can impact the current print market, possibly making expensive or hard-to-find books cheap and easily available to everyone. I’m also hopeful that eBooks may be the next evolution of our local newspapers, allowing them to continue without the high cost of ink and paper.
Smartphones
Last year was also the year that smartphones became more than just a convenient way for business people to get their work email. The market practically exploded with new entries and platforms, and it only seems to be accelerating as 2010 begins.
As smartphones become more common for so many different types of users, so too do the apps they run. It’s amazing how often I find myself using my own smartphone as a portable computer, with web browser, high speed Internet, word processor, GPS and gaming software wrapped in a package small enough that I can toss it in my pocket while on the go.
I expect to see not only a large number of upcoming phones at the show, but also a huge growth in the number of accessories that allow you to use those smartphones in new and creative ways: like health sensors to aid in getting the most out of your exercise routine, or car audio interfaces to make use of that built-in wireless Internet connectivity.
3D HDTVs
I have to admit, I’m a little skeptical about this category, if only because it sounds almost too good to be true. 3D television sounds more like a science fiction fantasy along the lines of flying cars and weekend trips to the moon. But while the other two aren’t quite ready yet, we may actually get to see 3D HDTVs in our living rooms in 2010.
I’ve heard some really good reviews from others that have seen examples of the technology, so I’m pretty excited to see how well the current hardware works. It may sound like hyperbole, but 3D could really be as big as the leap from black and white to color TV if it works well.
The Real World of the Living Room
As much as the technology geek inside me can’t wait to see all the amazing engineering on display on the CES show floor, as a Geek Squad Agent who goes into the homes of clients every day to set up the technology they’ve purchased, I’m especially excited about getting a look at products that will actually make it into living rooms this year.
I know that it’s not always the most technologically advanced products that make their way into the homes of consumers, but rather the technology that those consumers connect with in ways that make their lives better. It’s the technology that makes you go “wow” that ends up on your shopping list, and I’m hoping to see what electronics in this year’s show stand out when looking at it through that lens.
I can’t wait to see the future of “wow” at CES 2010.
Another thing to keep in mind when setting up your GPS is to make sure it has a direct signal to a satellite. We recommend setting it up while you’re outside, not while you’re inside (e.g. in your garage).
Language was shortened long ago for ease of Instant Messaging. So when text messaging became popular, people were already armed with ‘c u l8r’, ‘IDK’, and ‘BRT’ (or “see you later”, “I don’t know”, and “be right there” for proponents of the Queen’s English). This computer lingo comes in handy now that social networking sites, like Twitter, are designed for short and succinct updates.
But what if you wanted to Twitter a link to my epic blog about using secure passwords? As you may know, Twitter updates are capped at 140 characters. The full address of my post is:
http://www.geeksquad.com/intelligence/blog/use-halibut-to-protect-your-identity/#more-474.
Not only is that hard to type, but it weighs in at 89 characters. This only leaves you 51 characters for the remainder of your tweet. When it comes to Twitter updates, space is at a premium.
Enter the URL shortening services. After TinyURL.com was launched in 2002, there have been numerous other sites with a similar spin, such as snipurl.com, is.gd, and bit.ly. By using their services, the large unwieldy URL above is rendered as http://tinyurl.com/yjclqts . Much easier on the thumbs, and it gives you more space to write glowing praise about the link in question.
The problem is, as with anything on the Internet, you find people with malicious intent looking to use URL shorteners to their advantage. Firewalls, anti-virus software, anti-spyware software, and phishing scanners are great, but if you click a link that goes directly to a malicious site, often there isn’t anything security software can do about it. You may think you’re following a friend’s link to a story about the release of Windows 7, and end up at a site with adult content or a site with the intent to infect your computer with a virus.
Some of the shortening services have instituted a preview system; for example, if you were to enter http://preview.tinyurl.com/yjclqts, the tinyurl site will tell you what the link points to. But for those sites that don’t have a preview system, or if you don’t want to retype all of them, there are a few ways to make sure you don’t end up someplace you’d rather not be.
There are add-ons, which are programs you can download for Firefox and Internet Explorer, which check the shortening site and report back to you the expanded URL, and then giving you the option of clicking on it or not. Longurl.org is a website that you can go to where you can copy and paste the shortened URL, and it will report back the full link.
So while sometimes your friends may just be trying to hit you with the most viral Internet prank of all time, other times you may find something far worse than Rick Astley on the other end of that link.
If you’re looking for some of these add-ons, go to http://snipurl.com/sikhj for Firefox or http://bit.ly/3RD3sP for Internet Explorer.
In a move to fight software piracy, earlier this week Microsoft blacklisted as many as one million Xbox 360 consoles. Microsoft claims these consoles have been physically modified in order to circumvent built-in Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology. Modified units are commonly referred to as “modded” consoles.
By physically altering the gaming unit’s DRM technology, the user can play illegally pirated copies of popular games that would normally be blocked by the system. The immensely popular game “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2″ launched last week and it’s likely that some Xbox 360 players would be interested in playing a pirated copy on a modded console.
When Microsoft detects a modded console, they have the ability to ban that console from using the Xbox LIVE service due to the unique identification numbers that’s associated with every Xbox 360. While the system can still play games locally, the owner will not be able to sign into their LIVE account, access online content or play in multiplayer games with other Xbox 360 owners.
The bannings will also impact holiday shoppers looking to save money this holiday season by buying used Xbox 360s on eBay, Craigslist or through a local retailer who sells used consoles. Owners of blocked Xbox 360s may be looking to sell their systems without informing potential buyers of the situation.
If you are looking to buy a used Xbox 360, be aware that it may not be immediately obvious that the unit was physically modded. If possible, you’ll want to physically inspect the case to confirm that the seals on the back of the unit are not broken. Also make sure that there are no pry marks on the case that may indicate it has been opened. Another sign of a modded unit is when the A/V plugs aren’t aligned properly through the case holes.
If you have other questions about gaming technology, stop into your local Best Buy and speak with a Geek Squad Agent.
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