Jalblog

Imagine a silent box, passively cooled, powered by a black brick, connected to your TV, with a MPEG-4 tuner card, a huge hard drive, network interface, a remote control, a webcam, and maybe a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse.

What applications would you run on it?

Here's my choice to extend your living room through the network:

• webconferencing / skyping / IM
• share files
• PVR with search and alerts on programs
• media jukebox
• DVD writer
• distributed backup
• Web server: agenda, photo galleries, whatever

Here's another hit at the idea on Tom Coates' Plasticbag: Social Software for Set-Top boxes...

One problem with most DSLRs is the dark viewfinder, and the lack of microprism/split prism when you use manual-focus lenses on them.

Solved by Katz Eye Hi-Lux focussing screens http://www.keoptics.com/

Hmmm... Is that 350D getting closer?

Desktop draft beer appliance, 6 liters per keg, only lacks a computer connection to let you know when to change the keg.

http://www.perfectdraft.com/

If they ever sell Budwar or Pilsner Urquell to go with it, I'll be very, very tempted!

AIM plagues you with popups and ads.  I use it to communicate with, of all things, iChat AV.  I tried iVisit and Triillian, but AIM despite its defects manages to work with Apple users of the other side, so I don't really have any choice, yet.

When AIM starts it fills your desktop with huge annoying windows, even starts noisy clips.  What a pain!

I just found a way to keep it to its main windows and not overflow all over my screen: AIM Ad Hack by Cuban-Aftermath software.  Great!

Anyway: video for Skype, quick!

I've been using it for a while and its adaptative filter is very effective.  It also gets better with time: when you receive spam that wasn't quarantined, you just forward by e-mail it to their system and the filter learns.

How does it work?

• The KasWorks gateways filters incoming e-mail before it reaches your server
• messages classified as spam are quarantined
• you can log in to check quarantined messages and let false positives through, manage your whitelist
• if spam is not caught by the filter, you just forward it to KasWorks to feed the engine :-)

This service is part of Kas-Group's services http://www.kas-group.com/ which includes disposable e-mail addresses, SMTP monitoring and a URL shortener.  Great!

Dans la course entre le matériel de salon et les évolutions des suppports et des formats, certains modèles de lecteurs DVD concurrencent les PCs - qui sont toujours capables de lire les dernières versions des codecs - de manière à diminuer au maximum l'expérience décevante pour l'utilisateur: film illisible.

Pour connaitres les codecs lus par une sélection de lecteurs, le projet DivXTest passe son CD de test et affiche les scores http://www.divxtest.com/article.php3?id_article=12 et http://www.divxtest.com/resultats.php3

Du côté des supports, voir http://www.videohelp.com/dvdplayers.php 

En attendant le Media Center silencieux qui sait tout faire, PVR, Video on Demand, jukebox MP3, partage de fichiers...