The primary way to develop apps for Android is using managed code that runs in the Dalvik virtual machine. Yet, Android also includes a super-modern Browser that includes Gears. It's even possible to build parts of your apps in native code (that is, C.) Choice is good, but it does mean one more decision for the developer to make -- and in this case, a big decision. Should you write your app in managed code, to integrate cleanly and seamlessly with the system? Should you write your app in the Browser as "Ajax plus", so that it can run on multiple phone platforms? Or should you go for raw speed, and write part of it in ARM-processor native code? There's no universal answer to these questions, but in this session Dan Morrill will teach you to pick the technique that works best for your app. In this session, you'll get a demonstration of each technique, and learn how to apply them to your own apps.

Dan Morrill

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Learn practical tips, techniques and tricks for making your Android applications fast and responsive. This session will focus on optimizations recommended by the Android framework team to make the best use of the UI toolkit.

Romain Guy

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In this episode special guest David Helmly shows how to import and edit video captured from the iPhone 3GS.

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In this session we will discuss the specific challenges of using the Maps API to create content targeted at the mobile audience. Topics will include: devices round up, mobile networking primer, strategies to deal with latency, display and user input constrains.

Susannah Raub, Ken Hoetmer

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Ever have one of those days where your application just doesn't run correctly, and you can't figure out why? Well, we've been there, and we're going to show you how to fix it. In this session, Justin Mattson will school you on the advanced usage of Android debugging tools like traceview, the hierarchy viewer, and the instrumentation system. He'll also present several case studies where Google used these tools to solve real world problems, and show you the before-and-after results.

Justin Mattson

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Do vertex arrays keep you up at night? Do you have nightmares involving framerates and event loops? If so, this session might have the cure for your condition. Chris Pruett will discuss the game engine that he developed, using it as a case study to explain the common pitfalls and best practices for building graphics-intensive applications. You'll learn how to properly pipeline game and rendering code, manage drawing surfaces, and incorporate 2D and 3D graphics cleanly.

Chris Pruett

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The three most important considerations for mobile applications are, in order: battery life, battery life, and battery life. After all, if the battery is dead, no one can use your application. In this session, Android engineer Jeffrey Sharkey will reveal the myriad ways -- many unexpected -- that your application can guzzle power and irritate users. You'll learn about how networking affects battery life, the right and wrong ways to use Android-specific features such as wake locks, why you can't assume that it's okay to trade memory for time, and more.

Jeffrey Sharkey

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Some monks might take a vow of silence, but Android certainly hasn't. Attend this session, and help your app find its voice. Android engineer David Sparks will explore the multimedia capabilities of the Android platform, lifting the covers on the infrastructure to show you how it works and the right (and wrong!) ways to use it. You'll learn how things work under the hood, how to dodge the common media-related developer pitfalls, and how to write secure and battery-efficient media code

David Sparks

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Learn about Urbanspoons experience with AdSense for mobile applications.

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Watch interviews from the conference floor at the 2009 Google I/O Developer Sandbox. Developers chat with us on their apps and share technical as well as business insights on challenges and best practices.

Company interviewed: MySpace Mobile

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In this session, we'll show you how OpenSocial's REST and RPC protocols allow access to social data from mobile devices - both as mobile-targeted web applications and as native applications. We'll demonstrate a mobile application and dive into code that uses the OpenSocial Java client library on the Android platform.

For those who are attending Google I/O 2009(http://code.google.com/io/), these video are an opportunity to hear from some of the speakers in advance. The speakers introduce their topic and provide a preview of one or more topics that will be covered in their talks.

Ryan Boyd

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Presentation by Brendan Lim on how to mobilize your rails applications. Created by tkadom

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Summary
In this interview from QCon San Francisco 2008, Joseph Molnar discusses scanR, choosing .Net for scanR, the architecture of scanR, working with mobile carriers, scaling, challenges which were encountered, .Net components and libraries used, major problems encountered and their solutions, managing scanR, and what would be done differently if scanR was rewritten from scratch.

Bio
Joseph Molnar is a Partner Architect in the Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft, and previously was Vice President of Engineering for mobile startup scanR. scanR is a global service which turns physical and digital documents into usable information made accessible wherever and whenever needed. As well as managing scanR's implementation, Mr. Molnar was scanR's chief software architect.

About the conference
QCon is a conference that is organized by the community, for the community.The result is a high quality conference experience where a tremendous amount of attention and investment has gone into having the best content on the most important topics presented by the leaders in our community. QCon is designed with the technical depth and enterprise focus of interest to technical team leads, architects, and project managers.

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Recently, social-networking applications have started to appear on mobile phones. These applications can exploit a phone's positioning capabilities to facilitate interaction between people. From a privacy point of view, this trend is troublesome because it often results in the provider of a social-networking application having real-time access to users' location. In turn, a user's location could reveal information about her activities or interests to the provider. I will outline two solutions that protect a user's location privacy. The first solution allows a user to become aware of a friend who happens to be nearby without the friend and the user being able to track each other continuously and without a centralized party being able to track either of them. The second solution allows a user to access a location-based service (e.g., a service that provides a listing of points of interest close to the user) such that the server cannot distinguish between the user issuing the query and other nearby users. Both of the presented solutions are based on cryptography and have been implemented and evaluated. The prototype implementation of our privacy-protecting application for alerting people of nearby friends is available at http://crysp.uwaterloo.ca/software/nearbyfriend.

Speaker's bio:
Urs Hengartner is an assistant professor in the David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science at the University of Waterloo, Canada. His research interests are in information privacy and in computer and networks security. His current research goals are to increase the security of emerging computing environments, such as pervasive computing, location-based services, and electronic voting, and to design privacy-enhancing technologies for people who want to benefit from these environments. He has a degree in computer science from ETH Zurich and an M.S. and Ph.D. in computer science from Carnegie Mellon.

Presented by Urs Hengartner
Google Tech Talk
April 30, 2009

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A great user experience incorporates three pillars: structure, behavior, and expression. In this preview, Chris Nesladek talks about the wide variety of interaction design patterns built into the Android system framework. He also demos an example of a well-designed Android app that illustrates how these three pillars can be used together.

For those who are attending I/O, we thought it might be useful to hear from some of the speakers in advance. These videos provide a preview of one or more topics that will be covered in their talks.

Chris Nesladek

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In this session PPK will discuss some aspects of mobile browser compatibility as well as W3C Widgets, which promise to be the first open, universal standard for creating small and large applications on mobile phone.

Peter-Paul Koch is a freelance front-end consultant, agent, and trainer in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. He has won international renown with his browser compatibility research, frequently speaks at conferences, has founded Fronteers, the Dutch association of front-end professionals, and advises browser vendors on their implementation of the web standards.

On the Web he is universally known as ppk.

He feels like Caesar when he talks about himself in the third person, but he will not conquer Gaul. More importantly, he will not write his memoirs in Latin.

Presented by Peter-Paul Koch
Google Tech Talk
April 24, 2009

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Learn about the cool new Windows Mobile 6.5 mobile platform! Hear about the new UI, the 6.5 emulator and other SDK tools, and Web enhancements in Internet Explorer Mobile including support for the W3C Mobile Widget Packaging and Configuration standard. Also see a demo of the new Windows Mobile 6.5 User Interface and productivity enhancements.

Loke Uei Tan

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Learn how to make industry leading mobile Web sites using the newly-released open and free device information service from Microsoft. Hear how to better detect the mobile handsets viewing your site and tailor your content to maximize visibility and user experience.

Chris Woods

Chris Woods is a Program Manager on Microsoft’s Mobile Browse Platform team in Dublin, Ireland. Prior to joining Microsoft, Chris worked with leading mobile companies including Symbian, Vodafone, and Nokia.

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Learn the background of Xbox "Lips" and "Fable II" campaigns from brainstorm to delivery. This session highlights interactive video and gaming experiences using Microsoft Silverlight, Microsoft .NET, and Windows Mobile technologies under tight production timelines.

Charles Duncan

Charles Duncan is the Technical Management Director at AKQA. An accomplished interactive technology professional, Charles has  over 10 years experience in technical development management and creative concepting. Charles is focused on technical and creative innovation for brands such as Xbox, Nike, and Gap, earning numerous honors including: Cannes Cyber Lions, Clios, One Show and FlashForward.

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Learn how to build mobile Web sites using the ASP.NET MVC framework. See how to create customized mobile experiences by extending the Views in the MVC framework and using the latest device detection techniques.

Jared Eischen

Jared is a developer with Ascentium, specializing in ASP.NET and Silverlight. His latest work with Microsoft and Crispin stretches across Microsoft.com. He has a large interest in developing strong user experiences through Rich Internet Applications and holds a degree in Business Administration from the University of Washington.

John Stockton

John is currently a RIA Developer at Ascentium where he builds Silverlight applications for major companies such as Microsoft and T-Mobile. His career has included building web applications for Fortune 500 companies such as GE, NEC, National City Bank and Sherwin Williams as well as government agencies like the Ways and Means Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives. John has recently been spreading the virtues of Silverlight by presenting at user groups, code camps and most recently the CodeMash conference. Last fall he also co-authored Silverlight 2 in Action with Chad Campbell.

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Learn how to create compelling and consistent e-commerce experiences. See a demo of an e-commerce experience that leverages a common commerce platform together with rich client application technologies that work on a range of Web and mobile platforms.

Scott Cairney,

Jean-Yves Martineau

Jean-Yves Martineau founded Cactus Commerce in 1995 and has in-depth experience in the areas of business development, technology solutions, business consulting and software product development. He is responsible for the company’s strategic vision as well as the software and solution delivery methodology.

Mr. Martineau has helped develop e-commerce strategies for enterprise customers and partners such as Microsoft, Cable & Wireless America, PwC Consulting, Avanade and Dell Computer Corp. He is a member of Microsoft's e-Business Partner Advisory Council (PAC), Microsoft's RFID PAC and a founding member of the Microsoft Solutions Framework (MSF) PAC. Mr. Martineau has recently joined the EPC Global Software Action Group, which oversees the software applications portion of the emerging RFID market.

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The Rhodes framework is a platform for building locally executing, device-optimized mobile applications for all major smartphone devices. These applications are optimized for interacting with transactional enterprise application backends. It is also designed to work with synced local using the other “RhoSync”. It is initially available for iPhone, Windows Mobile and Research in Motion (Blackberry) smartphones. Support for Android and Symbian is planned. Rhodes takes much of its inspiration from web-oriented MVC style frameworks such as Ruby on Rails. However it has several simplifications and optimizations for the mobile scenario. For more information go to http://www.rhomobile.com/ or go to the Rhomobile Github repository at http://github.com/rhomobile

Adam is a longtime VP of Engineering/CTO of several successful startups. He is now CEO of Rhomobile, which makes open source tools for developing mobile applications. He is also an adjunct professor at Carnegie Mellon University and an adviser to several other software companies.

Author: Adam Blum

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Circle-E, an HVAC services firm, discusses how the Google Search Appliance is helping their field representatives access relevant customer data from their mobile devices, thereby saving time and reducing costs.

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Extend your reach to the next billion potential customers by enabling them to consume your content and services from their mobile devices. We discuss what standards and devices are out there, some of lessons learned about designing for a small screen, and how to get your mobile presence up and running. See how Mobile AJAX works today-and you can tell us how "mobile AJAX" should work tomorrow.

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Dump your cable modem for WiMAX? iSquint, FeedFlix, Windows 7 Beta: better than Vista. HP MediaSmart Server vs. DIY = Windows Home Server Challenge.

Our buddy from Garnett Lee joins us... Veronica's traveling this week!

Garnett's in love with his G1 Android cell phone... and he's totally stoked about Cupcake!

A low power PC to put in a race car, say, for navigation and engine monitoring? Heat is less of an issue than vibration, Rusty, and power consumption on mini-itx/microATX motherboards varies a lot, 'cause they can mount anything from a Via processor to the latest core-2 duos... but it'll still be a lot less than a single 10 inch driving light!

Check out Mini-Box or MP3Car.com for more ideas for Car PCs!

This week's Freebie Download is iSquint, a fast OS X tool that will take almost any video format under the sun and convert into an iPod compatible format.

"Can you do a segment on Windows Home Server showing how it works, building your own or using an HP MediaSmart Server?" Sure, Scott!

Matter of fact, HP challenged us to build up something better from scratch, so welcome to the Windows Home Server Challenge, brought to you by the HP MediaSmart Server, powered by Microsoft Windows Home Server!

This week's "Website We Just Can't Get Enough of!" is FeedFlix, the ultimate accessory for any Netflix account. FeedFlix tracks you stats, will email you if you've kept a movie for too long, will tell you how much you pay per movie (with and without your Instant Watch activity), let you access all your reviews in a single page, and more!

Windows 7 Beta? Patrick and Roger are digging it, even on slower machines! We walk you thru the new toolbar, libraries, the device stage and more on the show!

Garnett gives us the heads up on Windows 7 gaming, too!

Join Veronica, Patrick, Roger and Serafina in our GoToMeeting... just sign up for GoToMeeting using the code Tekzilla, and join us Friday, February 6th at 10AM PST!

Zach wants to ditch his current Internet connection for a wireless connection... should he hold out for WiMAX, or go with EVDO?

"Is there a legal way to play PC games without the CD or DVD in the drive?" Have you thought about an online game service like Steam or Stardock's Impulse? Generally, Eric, there's no legit way to of getting around games that require a CD/DVD in the drive... but it can be done.

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Dan Bornstein gives a quick overview of Dalvik, the virtual machine used by Android. Then, takes questions from the audience.

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Checklist for a new PC. Hard Drive Speed vs. Size, SmallNetBuilder, Roll your own backup, What does Gigahertz mean?

Andrew's looking to soup up the Atom processor in his new Netbook... we'd max out the memory, and update all your drives since you've already deleted the shovelware you don't want.

What exactly -does- Hertz or Gigahertz mean when you're talking about computer chips? Good question, Mark. It's the basic unit of frequency in the International System of Units, and it's the number of Cycles per Second as it applies to your processor's clock rate.

Free Download Pick: Camino, an open source, OS X optimized browser based on Mozilla's Gecko engine. This cousin to Firefox works on both Power-PC and Intel based Macs, and it's use of the Aqua interface helps it fit in seamlessly with your other Mac apps. Veronica's always been a huge supporter of Firefox, but finds Camino runs better on OS X... and Mac lovers will find the keychain access for passwords online, and the integration of enhanced AppleScript support especially useful!

Mark wants "the best external hard drive to get for backing everything on my computer. Software, documents, files, drivers,and OS (XP). Like ghosting my system." Veronica loves Western Digital's My Book, while Patrick usually drops the biggest Seagate drive he can afford in the cheapest external USB case his local computer shop has in stock.

Should Carlos go with a bigger hard drive, or a faster spindle speed? A 7200RPM drive might sound faster than a 5400RPM (it's spinning faster, right?) ... but if the 5400 RPM drive has a much higher areal density, it might move more bits under the head of the drive even tho it spins slower!

Send us a video question! All you need to do is record yourself in front a video camera asking a question no longer than 15 seconds. Then up load them to YouTube, and email us the link with "Video Question" in the subject line. Thanks!

This week's Website We Can't Get Enough Of is Small Net Builder, an absolute treasure trove of networking information, from troubleshooting guides for wireless networking, network security how-to's, news on the latest developments in networking, and, best of all, tons of reviews and benchmarks of the latest networking products! (Check out the performance charts, so so useful when you're shopping!)

HP's TouchSmart PC: You asked, so we've got a demo and review of this all in one PC with the giant touchscreen.

Kevin twittered... "I've been looking for an alternative to CyberLink PowerDVD 8 for Blu-ray playback... you should do a round up on Tekzilla!"

Patrick's left PowerDVD for Arcsoft's TotalMedia Theater, which brings Blu-ray and HD DVD playback to your PC, and, better yet, integrates it into the Windows Media Center!

Jim's looking for a good subwoofer in the $300 - $500 range; he's got Klipsch speakers and was going to buy a Klipsch sub but read some so so reviews for their mid to low end line. Jim also asked about the Hsu Research subwoofers... we'd go with one the Hsu designs in a heartbeat! Amazing sound, excellent build quality, and they're pretty easy on the wallet, too!

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Tools for the iPod DJ, Killing Botnets Over The Network vs. Antispyware, Turn by Turn Nav (and Hulu!) on Smartphones, The Speech Accent Archive, HDTV and GPU Tech to watch for in 2009

And the big question: what's the best resource for comparing wireless networks like ATT, Sprint and Verizon and T-Mobile

Bill from Chicago fired out some great smart phone questions, so we tackle 'em one by one!

This week's Freebie Download Pick is Exact Audio Copy, the most precise CD ripping tool we know of... if you want to get all audiophile about digitizing your favorite tunes, take the time to use EAC! (And if you want the fastest and best results, check out these EAC Tips & Tricks.

Sponsor Deal: Get $10 bucks off an Intel Core i7 processor by using the coupon code TEKZILLA when you shop at MWAVE.com! (Like we say on the show, please support Tekzilla by supporting our sponsors!)

The best deals on HDTVs for every price range? That was so last week! We've got PCMag's Robert Heron back on to talk about the big HD trends to look out for in 2009! (Catch more of Robert every Thursday at Noon Pacific on DL.TV!

botnet problems: can you clean your housemates zombie PC over the network from your Mac? Dave in Boston has an interesting question.

We want to know why he doesn't just sneak in there with a copy of Webroot AntiVirus with AntiSpyware 6.0 or Spyware Doctor with AntiVirus 6 and get medieval on that thing!

Sponsor Message: If you're hankering for some fun on the go... check out the PSP-3000. Sporting an ultra crisp super-wide display this portable 3D entertainment system is now available in The Ratchet and Clank Entertainment Pack! Please... support Tekzilla by supporting our sponsors!

This week's "Website We Just Can't Get Enough" is The Speech Accent Archive, George Mason University's epic library of recordings of English accents submitted from arond the globe. Compare Staten Island to Brisbane, a native speaker in LA to a non-native speaker in China. You'll find endless delight and amusement in the differing speech patterns people use for the exact same words and sentences, and you can even submit your own!

ExtremeTech's Jason Cross has the scoop on what folks should expect to see in the graphics card and processor market next year!

Sponsor Message: The National Campaign Against Drunk Driving wants to remind you that alcohol impaired driving was involved in 32% of all the motor vehicle traffic fatalities in the US on 2006... and it's totally preventable! Don't drink and drive, and please, designate a sober driver before you go out!

Ever since Veronica and Patrick asked you if you wanted to see a DIY Photo Studio, we've been getting requests... so we've built a Macro Studio for this show based on the Strobist's most excellent How To: DIY $10 Macro Photo Studio. What a little tissue paper can do will amaze you!

Patrick totall needs to dump his 125W incandescent lights for a trio of 300W Halogen lights!

George is looking for an iPod mixer so he can do some serious DJing in his dorm... Veronica's favorite is the Numark's iDJ "compact mixing console for Apple iPod... and she's got even more ideas for DJing with the iPod on the show!

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The Xbox 360 game platform was released with a great deal of fanfare surrounding its new product design and user interface. The developers saw the need for a tight brand consistency with print, packaging, and product interface, and chose to commission a new typeface family for use throughout the brand. Steve presents the path to the Xbox 360's new look from the type designer's perspective: the evolution of the product, the design brief, the creative process, and the unique challenges of developing a font for less than optimal screen displays. Steve also discusses the business and technology of fonts, the work for the Android platform and, most importantly, why type matters in an age of multimedia and text messaging.

Speaker: STEVE MATTESON
STEVE MATTESON is the Director of Type Design for Ascender Corporation and has created fonts for use in various screen display environments and print publishing since 1987. A graduate of Rochester Institute of Technology, Steve has an extensive background in typography, design and printing which he has applied to his development of high quality typefaces.

His work can be found in user interface designs (such as Windows Vista, Xbox 360 and Google's Android Platform); in publishing (such as Pescadero Pro, Andy and Endurance Pro); and for corporate branding (such as Symantec, Microsoft and Alcon Labs). He resides in Louisville, CO with his wife, 2 kids and 2 Labrador Retrievers.

A partial showing of Steve' Portfolio can be found here: http://ascendercorp.com/portfolio_commercial.html and here: http://ascendercorp.com/portfolio_custom.html

Google Tech Talks
July, 15 2008

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Apple's iPhone has resulted in significant interest from users and developers alike. Apple's SDK for the iPhone is based on Objective-C as the development language as well as Cocoa for the GUI.

Unfortunately Apple's license agreement for the iPhone SDK prohibits the porting of the Java virtual machine to the iPhone. In this presentation we introduce an Open Source Java-to-Objective-C cross-compiler as well as a Java-based implementation of the Cocoa library. With the help of these tools, iPhone applications can be written in pure Java. Using the Java version of Cocoa, it is possible to run a Java-based iPhone application as a Java desktop/applet application that can be cross-compiled to run natively on the iPhone. The talk will discuss the challenges of the Java-to-Objective-C cross-compiler as well as the Java-based version of Cocoa. Details are available at http://www.xmlvm.org/

Speaker: Arno Puder
Arno Puder is an Associate Professor at the San Francisco State University. Prior to his current position, he worked for AT Labs Research. His interests include middleware, ubiquitous computing, and applications for sensor networks. He is one of the founders of the Open Source CORBA implementation called MICO.

Google Tech Talks
October 14, 2008

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Mobile devices have great potential to increase independence for people with cognitive disabilities. Besides basic communication, which is itself very important, key features include location awareness, which can be used to help with public transportation, and remote management, which allows a caregiver to manage content, such as schedule information, on a user's device. A recent projects course at the University of Colorado developed promising prototypes on the Android platform, and suggested useful platform enhancements, especially relating to speech technology.

Speaker: Clayton Lewis

Google Tech Talks
May, 27 2008

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Tons of products this week: we get hands on with Tmobile G1, the new Macbook and Macbook Pro, Dell's Studio Hybrid. Plus bombproof Mp3 players for work, and SDHC memory!

What's up with Apple hating on Blu-ray? "A bag of hurt?" that's harsh, Steve

T-Mobile's G1? AKA the first phone with Google's Android? We've got a hands on review, thanks to Ryan Block... keep an eye out for the launch of his new site, GDGT.com

New MacBook and MacBook Pro? We've got them in studio, too, thanks to Engadget's fearless leader, Joshua Topolsky!

TV Calibration from BestBuy. We got a lot of letters from Geek Squad employees: the "Elite Service Specialists" do nothing but calibrate TVs, and they're all ISF certified... that's a good combo!

This week's Freebie download pick is for the OS X crowd: Carbon Copy Cloner. This simple OS X app clones, synchronizes or backups your hard drive, and can create a complete bootable backup of your existing hard disk onto another drive be it internal, external or even on a network!

Is the

Dell Studio HybridApple's Mac mini? Good question, Andrew! We show off the Studio Hybrid and go point to point between the two.

Would the Asus Eee Box make a good HTPC? Sure, Sam, if you don't want Blu-ray, or the simplicity of an Apple TV or Windows Media Center Extender.

Jason in Phoenix wants to know if those virtual surround sound bars that sit under your TV are any good... for under $300. Veronica's got the scoop, and a recco: Sony's HT-CT100 got great reviews from Cnet, and can be had for under $300. (You can also check out the Sony Bravia DAV-HDX500 Panasonic SC-PT660

Got a question? You can send it as a video. Just record yourself in front a video camera asking a question no longer than 15 seconds. Upload it to YouTube, then email us the link with "Video Question" in the subject line. No attachments, please!

DeletionPedia.com is this week's "Website We Just Can't Get Enough Of!" It's your one stop shop for all the material that gets taken down for not meeting Wikipedia's standards.

"Nobody seems to have done a recent real-world speed comparison between the different brands SDHC brands..." Nope, Allister, roundups of Secure Digital High Capacity cards are pretty rare, but performance definately varies... sometimes a cheap 'no brand' vendor has cards that run faster than the name brands!

Know where there's a good performance roundup of SDHC cards? Please email the link to tekzilla@revision.com!

Alex want to know of the new iPod nano will hold up in his work environment... we think so! There are some solid non-Apple options, too.

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Picking in-ear headphones, Walmart kills digital music collections, Use Google Earth KML Routes with your GPS, Veronica's Favorite iPhone Apps, DLP Projector Bulb Tips, The Geekiest Bike Around

This week's Freebie download pick is the best Vista tweaking tool evah: WinBubble. (Props to Lawrence Albert for writing this and making it free!) Think of the incredibly fun PowerToys tweaking tools Microsoft released for Windows 98, 2000 and XP... then turn it up a notch. Security tweaks, desktop and icon customization, performance... you can even change the startup screen (or your Windows Experience Index score). If you've got Vista, you'll want this program.

Monty is in hard drive heck... we've got the fix: replace the motherboard (aka CMOS) battery, or, hey, buy that new motherboard and quad core processor. (Which will also require new memory, a new graphics card and an upgraded power supply... and, since you want more than 4 PCI slots, a new case. Ouch!)

DRM Sucks volume 27: Wal*Mart shutting down DRM server, nuking your music collection. Bad Walmart, very bad!

Wonder if Walmart is making room for a new -DRM free- digital music sales program wrapped around Sandisk's slotMusic system.

Sean wants to know how mouse DPI effects gaming... we walk Sean through Dots Per Inch, Counts Per Inch and ... the Polling Rate!

Send us a video qustion! Just record yourself in front a video camera asking a question no longer than 15 seconds. Then up load them to YouTube and email tekzilla@revision3.com a link with "Video Question" in the subject line. (No attachments, please!)

This week's "Website We Just Can't Get Enough Of" is Fantastic Contraption. As geeks, we have a tendency to enjoy building things, and that's why Fantastic Contraption is the greatest time-waster / brain teaser Veronica's found in a long time! (Even tho you have a seemingly simple objective: get the pink ball into the goal, by constructing a vehicle of sorts.)

Tony has a photo editing question... or, more accurately, a problem with a new software package. (100% CPU loading when you try to do anything) We walk him thru some potential fixes, and remind everybody that new applications that have just hit the street can be tough, and chock full o' lots of new and exciting problems. This is a great time to start checking the forums for your product/its users! (BTW, There are some good Lightroom 2 performance tweaks here!)

PS - we love the CPU Performance Charts at Toms Hardware... a great way to figure out how long in the tooth your CPU is getting.

Bicycle GPS? We didn't expect a rash of GPS questions from cyclists after our $200 GPS roundup, but we got one. Short answer, use any GPS device, or if you're looking for something that's more cycling computer than GPS, check out Garmin's Edge series "GPS enabled cycle computers." (Think heart rate and cadence monitors, even support for ANT+ power meters.

Planning your travel routes in Google Earth is fun, but getting .KML, er, Keyhole Markup Language routes into your GPS can be a pain... in fact, transferring any data between GPS devices can be a pain. GPSbabel "converts waypoints, tracks, and routes between popular GPS receivers and mapping programs. It also has powerful manipulation tools for such data," it's free, and runs on just about any OS. Hope that helps ya, Scott!

And if you want to get a serious travel geek on, check out your basic GPS enabled picture taking YBike... it's a hoot.

Our favorite iPhone Apps? OK Chris. Veronica picked Phoneflix, ToDo, Urbanspoon and Wurdle... Patrick is big on Apple's Remote, TideGraph... and can't wait to face off BunsenTech's Dynolicious and InMotions PocketDyno+

As a follow up, Veronica teaches Patrick how to get rid of apps you don't like on the iPhone and iPod touch.

Sukh in NJ has worn out the bulb in his Samsung DLP, we give him info on where to buy that new bulb, why lowering the brightness won't save your bulb (or your LCD/Plasma backlight!), and why he shouldn't turn the machine off when leaving the room (for less than an hour). Props PCMag.com's most excellent HDTV reviewer Robert Heron for helping us out with this one!

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GPS models from TomTom, Garmin and Mio, Veronica's call on Android/T-Mobile's G1, help speeding up BitTorrent. Vista/OS X File sharing help. Our favorite mouse is cheap, too. Three core processor info. Cheap HDMI/HDCP ready video card options.

The first phone featuring Google's Open Source Android OS, T-Mobile's G1 is on the way... Veronica's tre' interested, we'll be getting one in for review. In the mean time, check out Sascha Segan's G1 review over at PCMag.com

Adrian needs a quiet, cheap mouse to keep from waking folks up when he's gaming in the wee hours of the morning... Roger and Patrick are huge fans of Microsoft's basic Intellimouse Optical. It regularly sells for under $20, and as little as $15 on sale.

This week's Freebie Download Pick: 3d Traceroute. Just pop in an URL or IP address and 3d Traceroute will output the packet stats as color 3D graph with adjustable x and y axis for easy viewing... and it's got a ton of other useful network testing tools built in!

BitTorrent is super slow for Shawn... we suspect the major problem is his ISP, then go through our top tips for speeding up BitTorrent!

Think your ISP might be throttling your BitTorrent downloads? Try searching BroadBandReports.com to see if other folks are having similar problems.

David's having problems with OS X Leopard/Vista file sharing...

Want to send us a video question? All you need to do is record yourself in front a video camera asking a question no longer than 15 seconds. Then up load them to YouTube, and email us the link with "Video Question" in the subject line. NOOOO attachments, please!

This week's Website We Just Can't Get Enough Of comes from the Tekzilla forums courtesy of 'Sembazuru,' who recommends FactCheck.org, a truly independent website dedicated to checking the facts behind any political claim... it's great for election season!

GPS Roundup? We've got sub-$200 models on display, including TomTom's ONE 130, Garmin's nuvi 205 , Mio's Moov 200. It's amazing how much GPS you get for around $150!

David's looking to learn more about his 3 core AMD Phenom X3 processor and what it might do well. Think anything that works well with multiple cores... it's one core better than a dual core and one core slower than a quad core... they're essentially AMD quad core processors with one bad core, and they have solid performance... just watch the price, since you can sometimes get a full quad core processor for just a little bit more cash.

Kenny's looking to add a new video card with an HDMI output and HDCP support ot his Dell Inspiron 531s... pretty much any new video card with an HDMI output should do the trick... our main concern is whether or not you'll need a half height card to fit in that slimline case. To keep things on the cheap (since you don't seem to need 3D Gaming oomph) check out Sub-$100 Graphics Cards: Radeon HD 4670 and GeForce 9600 GSO Reviewed over at Extemetech.com.

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Provide tech support for friends and family from miles away! Which is the better smart phone: the iPhone 3G or Nokia's N95? How to catch up with all your RSS feeds on your mobile phone! What the heck is causing your machine to run at 100% all the time? And how does the Bad Ass Gaming PC handle games like BioShock and Crysis?

We got several replies about a question we had in Episode 45 about getting replacement OS install discs for Dell machines stating that Dell does indeed give users replacement discs for their machines. All they need to do is call customer service or submit a support request through the website.

Our freebie download this week is SiSoft Sandra Lite. A great benchmark and diagnostic tool for you Windows XP/Vista machine.

Veronica and Pat share their opinions between the Nokia N95 and Apple's iPhone 3G. It's a battle between 5MP camera phone goodness and a slick touch screen interface.

Want to provide tech support for friends and family without driving out to their house? Then you need remote admin tools. While Windows XP and Vista have these already installed and free to use, Microsoft's particular implementation can be a bit confusing. If you want open-source options check out VNC. Although solutions like RealVNC cost money others like TightVNC are free. If you just want something that even a computer neophyte can use check out GoToMyPC. The downside is that you'll need to fork over $20 a month for a subscription.

Need a way to check out how your website looks in different browsers? Then surf on over to this week's website pick: Browsershots.

Just got that sinking feeling when all your honeymoon pics on your media card bring up an error message on your PC? Well Veronica and Pat cover a couple of options for recovering that info without relying on the supernatural, including VirtualLab Data Recovery.

And if your CPU continually runs at 100% in Windows, the problem may lie with a bug in Windows – surprise, surprise – and the answer may lie in this Microsoft support page.

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Engadget's Ryan Block shows off the $1800 Optimus Maximus. Fix HDTV Overscan. Make Windows Prettier (and more functional) with Object Dock. Subscribe to video RSS feeds without iTunes. Can you cut your phone bill using VoIP over a cellphone?

Check out the Interactive Episode at VideoClix.tv

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Blu-ray and HD DVD for $300. Physists say Cell Phone Ass Cancer (or brain cancer) is unlikely. Help buying a UPS. IrfanView rocks. Apple iPhone upgrade timing is mean.

Apple introduced a new higher capacity iPhone and iPod Touch this week. After MacWorld. What's the deal with that? They wait till after the big press show is over to roll up revised models of their popular cellphone and music player?

According to the Windows Vista Blog, SP1 for Vista is coming in Mid-March. Hopefully the update will assuage many of the concerns leveled against the OS since it's release last year.

Keith wrote in to say that our pronunciation of GOM has been incorrect. The "O is a long o sound. So GOM should be pronounced G-Oh-Mmm. Plus he wanted to add that GOM is Korean for bear, hence the bear paw design on the player.

A couple of other viewers took us and Kevin Rose to task about the cancer causing cellphones debate.

Jim's offered up his opinion with: "... Take it from a Physicist, there is nothing to worry about. The solar constant is about 750W/m2, meaning on a sunny day your scalp is getting about 27 of those watts. At best only 1.5W from your cell antenna is headed in your direction, and that energy is at a much longer wavelength than visible light."

Another Jim weighed on as well providing this helpful advice: "While I have worked with high power transmitters and other RF sources, I didn't know a good answer to the question "Does RF give me cancer/ cause birth defects?" I would recommend you watch Physics for Future Presidents. It's a series of lectures by Professor Richard A. Muller of Berkeley College who covers physics at a level that even I can understand."

Plus we received a stack of emails regarding last weeks stenciling segment.

Stephan share this nifty tip about using GIMP to generate stencils. "... I think the easiest tool to use would be the Colors -> Threshold tool in the gimp. It's also in photoshop and will give you a very customizable way to create a template."

He also clued us in on Inkscape a "... very nice Bitmap Tracing tool..." as another freeware image editing application (although vector based like Illustrator) for generating stencils.

Kristoffer from Norway offered up his work as some examples of custom stencils.

Special thanks to Aundrea and Kevin for providing pics of their respective stenciling efforts.

USB to Serial Adapter: If you're one of the hold outs who still horde their RS-232 port enabled gear then a USB to Serial Adapter is for you. They run about $12 online from computer stores such as NewEgg.com and Buy.com. They're a great way to get your older gadgets working on current systems. Be warned, however, as you might encounter driver issues within Vista or XP that may make the whole exercise moot if support for the device dropped off with the demise of Windows 98.

We received an email question from Ryan. Ryan wanted to know about picking a UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) for enough juice to power his PC, monitors, printers and assorted peripherals on his desktop machine.

For starters all APC UPS support replacement batteries. The key of course is you'll be doing the replacing. You can also buy a generic replacement but write down the info of the current UPS model# and battery first so you'll have something to go on when searching. Batteries can last anywhere from 3-6 years according the APC website but that said if your UPS is seeing a lot of duty because of faulty wiring or electrical storms the number will be closer to 3yr. Our producer, Roger, kept his old 300VA APC UPS for 5 years before the battery died.

If you're looking for a brand spanking new unit and want to save some cash get one without the fancy LCD panel. While those are super handy they do up the price. Also look for one that supports both low voltage and over voltage interruptions. Usually the cheaper ones will only handle one. Plus depending on how much gear you have the amount of power needed will vary. Great place to start is the APC battery selection website. Remember it's always better to err with too much power than too little.

Free download week pick is IrfanView. It's a great PC image viewer that supports pretty much every conceivable image file format under the sun. Pat likes the thumbnail view that lets him peek at the thousand of vacation photos he takes each vacation without a noticeable slow down or lag. Plus if you're web maven IrfanView lets you resize images easily for generating thumbnails.

The Blu-Ray/HD-DVD drive: The LG GGC-H20L is a combo format Blu-Ray/HD-DVD drive for your PC. It lists for $299 online. While the drive does not support burning of either HD disc format it will support the following (taken from the NewEgg website)

LG Black 16X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 4X DVD+R DL 16X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 5X DVD-RAM DVD-ROM: 16X Blu-ray DVD-ROM: 6X HD DVD-ROM: 3X DVD-ROM 40X CD-R 24X CD-RW 4MB Cache SATA Blu-ray/HD DVD-ROM & 16X DVD±R DVD

Basically everything you're standard dual-layer DVD burner will. The primary reason to own one of course the ability to play both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD formats. However, you'll still the software component which in Pat's case was provided by CyberLink. The one that ships with the drive is a limited version so you digital audio output options are a bit sparse. You'll need to be running XP w/ SP2 or Vista installed on a machine with at least a 3.2Ghz Pentium 4 or Athlon 64 X2 3800+ , of course the more the better. Unfortunately there is no OS X Blu-Ray/HD-DVD that we know of. Other issues include HDCP support. You'll need to have a video card that supports HDCP if you're running non analog VGA. Although Pat's 8300 card, non HDCP ready, still managed to play our the video. Finally some movies won't play correctly do to the lack of support for Blu-Ray profile 1.1 support by CyberLink for the playback software. When this is released this problem should be rectified, we hope.

Our next email comes from Jack. He has a Wanadoo live box but it only has 2 ethernet ports. He wants to increase the number of jacks what can he do? Well for those not in the know Wanadoo is a "Integrated broadband modem, wireless base station and domestic VOIP phone hub". To increase the number of Ethernet jacks, Jack will need to pick up a network hub or switch. Now a hub is cheaper and great solution if you just need several more ports. If you're looking beyond that like 8 or more a switch is better as it actively guide packets making network traffic more efficient, assuming that all the ports are used.

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DIY Stencils, Cell Phone Boosters That Work, Pownce on the Desktop, 5 Things That Suck About the iPhone, Oppo's Low Cost HDMI Switch, Kevin Rose cohosts.... and did somebody say "Ass cancer?"

Aaron (and a few other folks) are miffed about us reviewing the DroboShare while DataRobotics was a running Drobo ads in the show.

Have we (or, more specifically, Patrick) no integrity? Trust us, Patrick might read ads in the show, but he'll quit before anybody dictates the content of a product review. You think the Drobo folks appreciated us pointing you towards a less expensive networked RAID device? (Like we said last week, If you don't mind dealing with managing a RAID, you can pick up Buffalo TeraStation Live with 1TB of hard drives onboard for the same price as the Drobo and DroboShare without any hard drives!)

Apple's Time Capsule definitely has potential (we haven't had a chance to review one yet, and we're curious about how well it works with XP and Vista) but, remember, if that single drive inside it goes down, you loose all your data... back it up to an online service or another USB hard drive!

Top Five Things Wrong With The iPhone: No Flash, No Exchange, that stupid headphone jack... Kevin and Patrick rant on a bit on the show.

Yes, Patrick did drill out that narrow iPhone jack with a drill press so he could plug in his beloved headphones without using a stupid iphone adapter. He'd use a Dremel rotary tool next time to make the cuts more manageable... the drill bit dug in pretty deep.

Your HDTV only has one HDMI HDMI input and you want to connect more than one HDMI device? That's the situation Tommy is facing, and he's hardly alone. And, like most of us, Tommy doesn't want to 'break the bank.'

Our fave HDTV reviewer, Robert Heron, is in the 'go to MonoPrice and buy whatever's cheap camp (they're a great source for cheap HDMI cables), but you might want to check out Oppo's new HM-31 3x1 HDMI switch. It's $99, and they've done a great job with their upscaling DVD players... we haven't had a problem with the HM-31 in our testing so far.

Joeseph downloaded the GOM Player, and noticed it's a bit sluggish with high quality Quicktime files... that's cause GOM uses DirectShow to play QT files... but some of the newer QT formats aren't optimized for DirectShow, and that makes for the slide show you're seeing. Best to stick with QT for those files... tho, just for kicks, download a fresh copy and try re-installing QuickTime to see if that fixes the problem.

Free software? Kevin shows off the Pownce Desktop software for his fave way to share files, pics and the news that he's off to lunch.

Daniel's dorm is a black hole where cell phone service dies. Is there a cheap cellular repeater he can pick up? We're not sure if $300 - $500 is cheap, but Wilson Electronics makes some monster 3 Watt amplifiers for cars and home/small office applications. We've used the mobile version to boost our signal from 1 or 2 bars to 4-5 bars. Talk to the folks at Wilson before you buy one; you'll want to make sure you've got the right cell phone frequencies (it's basically Sprint vs. Everybody Else), the best adapters for your phone, and that you can safely mount the antenna somewhere!

Is there a cell phone engineer in the audience? Kevin wants to know if he's like to get the 'ass cancer' if he leaves his cell phone in his back pocket...

While we're talking about protection, you should protect the screen on your new phone, smart phone, iPhone, Zune, media player, well, whatever it is with a shiny scratch free screen. Check out invisibleSHIELD, they've got some pretty good custom fitted covers that are pretty easy to apply and don't feel too bad under your fingers. They do absorb ink, tho!

Stencil's have been showing up on the sidewalks of San Francisco near Digg's offices, and Kevin's been documenting 'em on his Flickr account, so we take a look at how to generate your own stencils on the show. (Tho what Banksy and the folks on Stencil Revolution do with stencils and paint is way beyond us!)

Most of the tutorials on StencilRevolution are down during a redesign, but there's a good tutorial on making a single layer stencil from a color image in the forums there. Instructibles has more some good DIY help for stenciling, too. Search around: there are sources of eps stencil files on line, such as Guerilla Parenting.

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Your picks: DVD Backup Tools. Inkscape: A free Illustrator Alternative. Computer Speakers That Sound Great. A Print Server that Works, Rock Band on the Wii, Ethernet and power-line Interference, CompUSA Stores Are Gone.

Quite a few of you use DVD Decrypter for ripping copy protected VOB files to your drive.

DVD43 a free tool that works much like AnyDVD was big on your list.

A -ton- of you use either DVDFab's free DVDFab HD Decrypter, DVDFab Platinum.

Thanks everybody for writing in! We had a love hate relationship with 'em, but it's a little sad that CompUSA's retail stores are dead. CompUSA.com lives on, tho, the URL is now run by Tiger Direct.

While we're in a deathwatch kind o' mood... Analog Cell Service is dead, too. OK, technically, "cellular telephone companies will not be required to provide analog service" as of February 18, 2008... watch out for your older OnStar or alarm system cell service!

Inkscape: How does this free alternative compare to Adobe Illustrator the industry standard vector graphics editor... and just what the heck are vector and raster graphics? Our very own Pixel Princess, Stephanie Chu, aka Revision3's Interactive Designer, is here to give us the scoop!

AppleTV = 1000 rental titles by March 1st? Not even close, says Macworld's Christopher Breen.

1UP.com's very own Garnett Lee joins us in the cohost slot!

DoD wipe? As of November 2007, the Department of Defense no longer accepts 'successive over-writes' as a means of sanitizing drives... what they will accept to wipe drives makes for an interesting read

Thanks for the heads up, Ed... btw, we agree w/ Ed, who said "I don't think users who wipe their drives clean have anything to worry about unless they think the NSA is after them :-)" Damn skippy!

BJ from Deptford, NJ is looking for a recco on computer speakers for listening to music. If money is no object, you might consider home stereo speakers (shielded, please, if you have a CRT) and a decent reciever... or Garnett's new fave sound source, the $400 Razor Mako 2.1

We found some great options for a little over $100... the Klipsch Promedia 2.1 deliver a ton of quality sound (with a rockin' low end) for as little as $120... if you don't want to deal with wiring a subwoofer (and don't need the big bass that comes with one) Creative's GigaWorks T40 are definately worth a listen.

Scott from Sound Bend, IN can't understand why there are wireless and wired print servers.... and would prefer to buy a print server that works, please. We understand that pain. Most of the networking gear in Patrick's house carries the Linksys brand, but he had a miserable experience with their wireless print servers. (He says don't buy any print server you can't return, and try to find out if the mfg supports your printer!)

Apple's Airport Express does a pretty good job for PCs and macs... and The iFelix unofficial Airport Extreme and Airport Express Printer Compatibility List is a great resource put together by folks that use it as a print server.

Will EA release a version of Rock Band on the Wii? Yes, Benjamin, it's due to hit the shelves later this year... using Wiimotes!

Mike's new Ethernet line dies every time he tries to run it thru the wall... but laying it on across the floor, it works fine. Sounds like he's got a power line running parallel to it in that wall. You need to cross power lines at a 90 degree angle!

No, Greg, converting your 320 Kbps MP3 files to Apple Lossless won't increase the quality, but it'll almost always increase the file size. Try re-encoding those disks directly to your lossless format!

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Jeff Cannata from the Totally Rad Show, HD DVD is dead, $99 cell phone deals, LaserShield Instant Security has potential, free POP access for all your email, a free software for burning disks, network USB gadgets, AppleTV update.

HD DVD is dead... it's safe to go buy a Blu-ray player (or at least a PS3) now.

Wow... $99 unlimited cell phone deals are -everywhere-

Thai's house was broken into, and all his tech toys were stolen? He doesn't have a thousands for a custom alarm installation. We'd take a close look at LaserShield's Instant Security. Easy to install, no wires, and it works... there's just one minor problem. Engadget's Marc Weber Tobias found that it can be bypassed with a little effort. Read his article (and the related interviews) if you're thinking about buying this product: The Lockdown: Lasershield - convenient, cost effective, potentially vulnerable.

The Apple TV update arrived about 2 hours after we recorded last week's show... movie rentals are nice, but the selection is waaay thin, especially on the HD front.

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OtterBox cases don't suck. Easy unlimited online backup: Carbonite. Persepolis. Lighting Help for Holiday Photos. Driftr. Novatel 727 EVDO Modem. iRobot Looj. Zune Correction.

Samsung SSD 64GB 2.5 inch hard drive. Solid state, no rotating media, built of NAND Flash memory, which means you can beat (well... jar, bounce and vibrate) hell out of it and it doesn't skip or crash. The downside is slow write speeds, and a hefty price tag: close to a grand if you're upgrade a notebook with one. Expect SSD prices to drop considerably by this time next year. Looking for some excellent benchmarks on Samsung's SSD? Check out Extremetech's Solid State Drives: Fast, Rugged, and Really Expensive.

There's nothing wrong with the chat built in Gmail, except that most of your friends are on AIM, right? Good news: Google's integrated AIM support into Gmail's chat client!

Despite what we said on air, the new AIM integration is only in the Gmail chat client -not- Google Talk!

Holiday Photo Help: Taking photos in low light can be tough. Neha Tiwari's got some top tips for dealing with indoor lighting, flash and the nefarious shiny lights that turn into streaks on your photos! It's time to stop having muddy, blown out and shaky holiday photos!

iRobot Looj - Jim Louderback tests out iRobot's new gutter cleaning robot... we love the Roomba... will this one hold up as well in real world use?

Producer Pick o' the Week: Heather's excited about Persepolis, the touching tale of a rebellious ten year old Iranian girl growing up during the revolution of 1979.

Thinking about buying a Drobo? Enter in the code TEKZILLA when you check out of the Drobo Store and you'll save $50!

Online backup takes a looong time for the initial upload, but is the easiest way to protect your data from a catastrophic disaster... the kind that takes out your whole house.

Jared, one of your fellow viewers wrote in about Carbonite ... one of the best reviewed services out there: easy to set up, easy to use, and at $50 a year, is reasonably priced, especially since you get -UNLIMITED- backup. Windows only... sorry Mac and Linux users.

Code Red: Jessica picks Driftr, a fab new social networking site for folks that like to travel. You can use it to keep track of the places you've been and share photos, reviews and blog posts... and research the postings of other Driftr's before you travel somewhere. The best part? Looking at the map you've created and seeing all the places you've been.

Driftr is currently in private beta, but the first 20 emails to hello (at) driftr.com with Tekzilla in the subject line will get in!

Novatel's latest USB EVDO (That's Evolution-Data Optimized, Patrick) modem, the Ovation MC727 is available as the Sprint Ovation 727 and Verizon Wireless USB727 Mode... it's the update to the Sprint Ovation U720 Patrick uses. (And pays for out of his own pocket.) The 727 is smaller, packs new GPS functionality, can carry a MicroSD to add thumb drive functionality, and a much better set of accessories... but has about the same performance as the previous model.

Zune and Podcasts: we goofed. You can add any podcast/videocast with an RSS feed into the Zune software. The Zune online help sucks, tho! And since some folks were confused, let's make it super clear: The Zune can play any unprotected MP3 or WMA file. It can only play protected/DRM'd/purchased songs from the Zune Marketplace. (So Plays For Sure doesn't work with the Zune!)

Strange one eyed thing on the wall? Jon, that's an Uglydoll. You can learn more about them at the offical Uglydoll Website.

Juice: Not quite as cross plateform as Thomas suggested... Chris noticed that it doesn't have a Linux version... the Juice folks suggest Podnova and Icepodder. Thanks for the heads up, we'll double check viewer tips before we post 'em.

"Would upscaling a regular DVD be a smarter, more cost effective decisions over taking the HD plunge?" Scott, one of the more, uh, financially well endowed Home Theater buffs we know came to that very same decision after spending over a thousand dollars on HD DVD and Blu-ray players.

Patrick still wants to see the battle scenes from Return of the King in HD on a massive 1080p display, tho! And it's those big screens and 1080 resolutions where you'll notice the downsides of DVD videos the most.

"Will playing video games on a rear-projection television damage it? I want to hook my PlayStation 2 up to my 42" Toshiba." Marc, we think the only way you're going to hurt your rear projection television with a PlayStation 2 is if you throw it at the screen, especially if you have a DLP or LCD projector... they don't burn in.

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This demo starts with a simple MIDP application and adds access to a web service for authorization. Several of the new Visual Mobile Designer features are used while modifying the application.

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$20 Headphones, Body Worlds 2, Jessica Loves TED, Replace your Motherboard Battery, New Cell Phones, Firefox Goes Guerrilla

Alex wants a roundup of of $20 headphones... Patrick says he should check out the offerings on HeadRoom: they have a whole budget selection of headphones under $40. Oh... Adam, if you can scrape up $70, Grado's SR60's sound freekin' amazing. It's his fave low cost headphone.

Thinking about a new cell phone? Jim Louderback has a tour of the latest phones from the show floor of CTIA's (Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association) Wireless IT & Entertainment show.

Does the time reset every time you shut down your computer? Chances are the battery on your motherboard is dead. We walk you thru how to replace the coin style battery found on most mobos. If your battery doesn't look like a coin, or you can't find the battery, period, check out HardwareSecrets most excellent Replacing the Motherboard Battery for more help.

We're not sure how our Producer, Heather, snuck out of the office to hit one of our fave local comic stores, Isotope. We do know that she scored the trade paperback of Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Long Way Home. It's the first five issues of Josh Whedon's Season 8 of the show that ended in 2003.

Body Worlds 2: Get your creepy full life made from real bodies anatomy on! We sent out our own Neha Tiwari to check out the exhibition of 200 human specimens preserved through Plastination at the Tech Museum of Innovation.

Search engine alert: Yet another contender for Google's search crown has emerged. You can check out the beta of Hakia.com and decide whether its implementation of semantic search gives you more relevant results.

CODE RED:

Jessica is in love with TED, the Technology, Enternainment and Design conference. The ideas is to show off "Ideas worth spreading" and at the TED website you can find "talks by the world's greatest thinkers and doers." The trick? The presenters have to give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes, max. TED makes the best presentations available to the public, for free! Jessica's favorites include Jeff Skoll's Making movies that make change, Dan Gilbert's Why are we happy? Why aren't we happy? and 11 year old Sirena Haung's Dazzling set on a violin.

Yeah, we know: the Hello Kitty AK47 is a parody (so is the Care Bear Body Armor) and the USB connector on the Apple Keyboard works just fine on any PC... 'cept Patrick's janked out old notebook.

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New! How to placement-target video, RSS feeds, online games and mobile placements, using AdWords.

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Mike LeBeau of the Google mobile team gives an overview of the new Google Mobile App for iPhone. The App lets you speak your queries without pushing any buttons, and also lets you do local searches without specifying your location.

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Shyam Sheth, Product Manager on the Gmail for mobile team, talks about the new features of Gmail for mobile 2.0 announced today for BlackBerry and Java-supported phones.

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Googlers form Chicago, New York, London, and Mountain View try out the new Google Mobile App for iPhone, now with Voice Search and My Location. Read more on the Google Mobile Blog!

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Hold the world in the palm of your hand. With Google Earth for iPhone and iPod touch, you can fly to far corners of the planet with just the swipe of a finger. Explore the same global satellite and aerial imagery available in the desktop version of Google Earth, including high-resolution imagery for over half of the world's population and a third of the world's land mass.

Free download. Visit the iTunes App Store and search for "Google Earth."

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On Android-powered phones, the browser lets users experience the full web and easily move between browsing and other tasks on their phone.

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An overview of Google products on the world's first Android-powered phone, the T-mobile G1.

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