IBM ViaVoice Simply Dictation

IBM ViaVoice Simply Dictation seems to be a low cost edition of the IBM ViaVoice MacOS X Edition for 60$.

IBM ViaVoice MacOS X Edition still available

There is still a version of IBM ViaVoice MacOS X Edition available from ScanSoft for 125$.

OQO model 01+

OQO finally announced the new model 01+, which includes a 30GB hard drive, 512 MB RAM, USB2 and an internal speaker.

StopDashboard Widget

StopDashboard kills Dashboard, so it doesn´t use any memory or CPU cycles anymore, but whenever you need Dashboard again, you can start it by pressing F12 as normally.

Apple Aperture rocks

Even if Apple´s hardware development is kind of lame since their announcenment to switch from PPC chips to Intel CPUs mid next year, their software development is awesome. Aperture is a great all-in-one post-production tool for photographers for 500$. Take a look at their quick tours and you will be blown away! P.S.: minimum requirement is a 1,2GHz G4 with 1 GB of RAM.

BeoMedia 1 preannounced

Includes PCcard and CompactFlash slots, Ethernet, VGA In and out, ML, Audio, Video, Firewire, PS/2 keyboard/mouse and two USB ports. Nice user interface, but right now only usable for music and pictures, no video playback!

Serene mobile phone from B&O and Samsung announced

Bang and Olufsen announced their new mobile phone developed with Samsung. It is called Serene, and in reality it looks so much better than on pictures and even the usability is great. You really have to try it out yourself. Available before Xmas in B&O stores for roughly 1100 Euros.

Flock Developer Preview is now available

There is an amazing new browser called Flock. The interesting thing is, that it includes direct access to delicio.us bookmarks, Flickr pictures and blogs. Right now it is still a developer preview, but I think, this is the way browsers have to go in the future!

MacWay miniPartner works as USB2 and Firewire hub

Just installed the MacWay miniPartner without a hard drive, as my ordered 500GB drive did not yet arrive, and by reading the supplied manual I found out, that you can use the built in USB2 hub with a different computer, too. So the miniPartner is connected to my Mac mini via Firewire, and via USB2 to my PowerBook. Very convenient, very elegant (less cables and power supplies!) and totally quiet!

Fujitsu ScanSnap Mac works great!

Yesterday I finally installed the driver software for the Fujitsu ScanSnap for Macintosh. familiarized myself with the Acrobat 7 software (how to delete unnecessary pages, crop pages, reorder pages...) and within a few minutes I was scanning away. All in all I scanned more than 350 pages, and as most of them were double sided, more than 700 pages of paper were eliminated. I left all of them as PDFs in a folder on my hard drive and just gave them meaningful names, so I (or at least SpotLight!) can find them again. I also tried the "Recognize Text Using OCR..." function in Acrobat 7 and it easily converted the supplied PDF into a searchable PDF. The only small caveat, I found until now: sometimes when I power the ScanSnap up by opening the silver lid, the driver software does not automatically recognize the scanner and needs a few retries to finally work again, but besides that the SnanSnap for Mac is the best investment for my Mac in the last few years, even surpassing the excellent ElGato EyeTV 200 and 300 TV tuners in usefulness.

my MacWay miniPartner arrived today

Today I finally received my very own MacWay miniPartner, a hard drive enclosure styled like a Mac mini with two additional USB2 and one additional Firewire port. Compared to all the other similarly styled devices (besides the Micronet miniMate, which seems to be identical to the MacWay miniPartner!), this one is made from real aluminium, not plastic and has no noisy fan. Now I just have to buy a 500GB IDE hard drive for my miniPartner and my Mac mini finally has more than half a Terabyte of hard drive space and additional powered ports.

ScanSnap for Macintosh fi-5110EOXM arrived

I finally received my own ScanSnap for Macintosh fi-5110EOXM. I have been waiting for this moment for more than 20 years. Finally an affordable high speed scanner that works on a Mac. And apart from the great technical specs (USB2.0, 15ppm duplex) it is small and beautiful, so it fits perfectly on my desk with the Mac mini and my Aluminium PowerBook 15". BTW: even the power supply is small and white and if you open the silver cover it powers up automatically. Now I just have to install the driver and the supplied Adobe Acrobat and within a very short time I will have no paper lying around anymore.

snort.org founder Martin Rösch at RSA conference in Vienna, Austria

Martin Rösch, founder of snort.org is at the RSA conference in Vienna, Austria, too.

RSA conference 2005 in Vienna, Austria

The European RSA conference 2005 is happening right now in Vienna, Austria from 10/17 to 10/19. On Wednesday there will be a Bruce Schneier speech and book signing.

OmniPage Pro X for Macintosh still running on MacOS X 10.4?

I just received OmniPage Pro X for Macintosh. A ScanSoft knowledge base article from 3/19/2004 talks about using OmniPage with MacOS X 10.2 and 10.3, but doesn´t mention anything about MacOS X 10.4 compatibility. So I will just try it on my 10.4 system and see what happens...

VillageTronic dual head PCcard

The VillageTronic dual head PCcard gives your PowerBook two additional video ports, one DVI and one VGA, so including the built in LCD and the standard monitor port you can have up to 3 external displays on your PowerBook. Available from SewellDirect.com for 250$.

Sony Ericsson P990 preannounced

Sony Ericsson announced, that the P990 will be shipping in Q1/2006. It includes a QVGA LCD, UMTS2100, triband GPRS, WLAN, Bluetooth, FM/RDS radio, 80MB RAM, 2 megapixel camera with autofocus, digital zoom and photo light, a mini keyboard (depending on region sold) and charging via USB. Missing pieces: a real VGA screen, SD slot (only MemoryStick Duo!), GSM850, a 3,5mm audio out and possibly EDGE support. BTW: right now I know of no VoIP clients, that run on Symbian, so no Skype or SIP calls!

Renamer4Mac

Renamer4Mac is a free batch renaming utility for MacOS X.

Nokia mobile phones only support UDP streamed video

Just by accident I heard, that all the Nokia mobile phones with 3GPP video clients can only receive streaming video via UDP. As Apple´s QuickTime Streaming Server uses TCP for client connections, this means you either have to load special viewer software to your mobile phone, or use another video streaming solution. Hopefully Apple´s QuickTime Streaming Server will support UDP connections soon, as it is not feasable to install new client software on millions of already sold devices.

Formule1 hotels have Orange Wifi acess

Formule1 hotels, a low hotel hotel chain, located mostly in France have Orange Wifi acess in most of their facilities. For less than 30 Euros you have a clean and nice room plus wireless internet access.

Griffin iFM radio, remote, and recorder for iPods

The Griffin iFM is a FM radio, a remote control and recorder for iPods for 50$. Now finally shipping!

Griffin iFill software

iFill from Griffin is a new 20$ software for MacOSX to automatically record various internet radio stations simultanously and store them on your iPod.

Griffin EarJams

For 15$ Griffin EarJams convert Apple´s iPod earphones into in-ear earphones. Includes multiple size ear pads and a carrying case.

AXIS 207 network camera

The AXIS 207 is a low cost network camera with MPEG-4 including audio and Motion JPEG capabilities. It even supports Apple´s Bonjour (formerly Rendezvoux) technology.

HP PSC Photosmart 2710 All-in-One

The HP PSC Photosmart 2710 All-in-One includes a QVGA color LCD, Fax, WLAN, FlashCard Reader/Writer plus an USB port that accepts an USB Bluetooth adapter, so you can even print from mobile phones. Scanning speed is surprisingly fast and an optional duplex adapter lets you print on both sides of your paper.

NewerTechnology/OWC miniStack

The NewerTechnology/OWC miniStack is a plastic hard drive enclosure for the Mac mini with fan, that adds two powered USB2 and one powered FireWire port. Available without a hard drive, too.

WiebeTech Maxelerate

The WiebeTech Maxelerate is an aluminium hard drive enclosure for the Mac mini with fan, that adds one powered USB2 and one powered FireWire port. Luckily you can buy it without a hard drive.

The Unofficial LEGO Builder's Guide book from No Starch Press

I just received the newest book from No Starch Press called The Unofficial LEGO Builder's Guide from Allan Bedford for 25$. If you like building with Lego bricks, this is the book for you.

Saynerzeit photography exhibition in Vienna, Austria

Today there is the opening of the Saynerzeit photography exhibition in Vienna, Austria at the gallery artmosphere with photographs from Marianne Fürstin zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn. Runs till 5th of November.

TEAC CR-H255 with USB playback and record

The TEAC CR-H255 DAB/CD receiver is a micro audio component with an USB port for playback and recording of MP3 audio files for less than 300.

another classic car I saw in Paris

most beautiful car I saw in Paris

I was always a fan of these very rare Aston Martin Lagondas. So when I saw this one in pink with this weird license plate in the golden triangle in Paris, I felt like being in an outdoor Museum. Anybody knows where this license plate is from?