Adam Jarret

Google Voice Icon by malabooboo

Google Voice is the eighth wonder of the world.

Mac users lucky enough to have secured an invite might consider creating a Fluid site specific browser to carve out some space for Google Voice on the Dock.

An SSB is quite useful in itself, but even more so when a few CSS tweaks are applied.

If you've noticed Safari crashing more often lately on your PowerPC Mac, you're not alone.

At first I blamed the Verizon cell data coverage in Las Vegas for the stuttering video and dropped frames that I noticed when tuning into TWiT Live for their CES Coverage, but when the browser started locking up completely I knew it had to be Flash.

SlingPlayer Mobile App Store Screenshot

After excitedly unwrapping a Slingbox SOLO this holiday season, I decided to have a look at the SlingPlayer Mobile iPhone app. As you might expect, the app lets you watch your SlingBox content on Apple touch devices.

Much has been made of the steep price ($30!) and the fact that AT&T crippled the software by making it WiFi only, but it was the rating for the app on the iTunes Store that caught my eye.

Google

Test 1: 225040 ms for 1000 records
Test 2: 99505 ms for 1000 records
Test 3: 209550 ms for 1000 records

OpenDNS

Test 1: 246687 ms for 1000 records
Test 2: 101039 ms for 1000 records
Test 3: 228571 ms for 1000 records

Comcast

Test 1: 135830 ms for 1000 records
Test 2: 171054 ms for 1000 records
Test 3: 136189 ms for 1000 records

I jumped from OpenDNS to the new Google Public DNS after Gruber did.

The speed difference between the two during real world browsing has been negligible. In fact, a recent BrowserMob article has me reconsidering the plain-old Comcast DNS servers.

Download the Java utility from BrowserMob to run your own speed test.

Usage instructions:

java -jar browsermob-dns-perf.jar

To test your ISP’s DNS as well, add the IP address(s) to the command like so:

java -jar browsermob-dns-perf.jar 123.456.789.012

The Show taskbar notifications setting in Windows 7 Media Center (found under Settings>General>Startup and Window Behavior) toggles the appearance of a little red dot in the taskbar when a program is recording.

It does not refer to hiding the silly balloon notifications that appear even when WMC is running, as I and ths guy mistakenly thought.

The dot is a handy notification when the WMC interface is closed. I'd recommend leaving this setting enabled and also clicking the up arrow next to the task bar, choosing "Customize Taskbar" and selecting "Show icon and notifications" for the Windows Media Center icon so that it is always visible when a show is recording.

Zune HD

The Problem

TV Shows recorded via CableCARD on Windows 7 are saved as copy protected WTV files. These recordings can only be played on the computer that recorded them or on a Windows Media Extender such as an Xbox 360 or a Linksys DMA2100.

Microsoft has announced that some content may be marked "copy freely" by the content provider after a forthcoming firmware update for the ATI TV Wonder Digital Cable Tuner is released. We're still waiting for the update, and there's no way to know how many shows will be free of DRM, but it's a promising trend.

It's easy to immediately start cursing DRM and mocking the futility of it all, but I have a different critique.