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Update to Apple's MobileMe iDisk App could signal cloud-based iTunes coming soon

In what would have been an otherwise mundane update, Apple has released its MobileMe iDisk App for iOS 4, including support for iPad. The update may hint at possibilities of a cloud-based iTunes in the works.

In the update notes, Apple lists the ability to "play audio from your iDisk while using another app." This is an interesting feature addition for many reasons, but mostly because it could be the first step to establishing a cloud-based streaming media solution for iPhone and iPad users.

If Apple is using iDisk as a test for future plans to launch an &… Read more

Identifying loss in available hard-drive space

Periodically people may find that their available hard-drive space has significantly diminished. There are a variety of reasons why this can happen, which can be anything from an error in the drive to a user mistake. I knew someone who once inadvertently duplicated her whole (and relatively large) home folder to the root of the drive, and have seen other people do similar things that go unnoticed for a while.… Read more

Apple's MobileMe service improves

Apple has updated its MobileMe Web service with several improvements to the Gallery, iDisk, Sync, and Find My iPhone features. Apple has also released the MobileMe Mail beta program as described in this article earlier this week. These improvements to MobileMe are definitely welcomed as many users would like to see Apple step up their game in the Web services area.… Read more

Synology unveils speedier DS210+ NAS server

Synology, the maker of what are arguably the best NAS servers on the market, announced Monday its new dual-bay NAS server, the DiskStation DS210+. This is the upgrade to the similarly configured DS209+, which won CNET's Editors' Choice award for its excellent performance and vast number of features.

According to Synology, the new DS210+ is designed to offer even faster performance, some 108MBps in reading and 58MBps in writing, and 256-bit AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) hardware encryption. Other than that, running Synology's DiskStation Manager 2.3 firmware, the DS210+ shares a similar set of features as previous models … Read more

SanDisk ships pricey Xbox 360 thumbdrive

Would you pay $34.99 and $69.99 for an 8GB or 16GB USB thumbdrive, respectively? Well, that's the asking price for SanDisk's Xbox 360 USB Flash Drive for gamers to save their games and profiles on-the-go.

These sticks are preconfigured to work out of the box with Microsoft consoles and include a free one-month Xbox Live Gold membership subscription worth $7.99. To give you an idea of how much you're paying SanDisk to format the flash drive on your behalf, its regular Cruzer Micro-series is available on Amazon for $19.29 (8GB) and $32.99 (… Read more

Buzz Out Loud 1214: Floppy disks and boobquakes (podcast)

Natali Del Conte joins us in the studio to discuss really important issues such as boobquake day, cartoons, and violent video games. Oh, come on, we also discuss Google's failed attempts to reinvent the mobile phone sales paradigm, unfounded causal links between violent video games and sociopathic behavior, and the dangers of colonization. Good show, guys.

Subscribe with iTunes (audio) Subscribe with iTunes (video) Subscribe with RSS (audio) Subscribe with RSS (video) EPISODE 1214

Google Nexus One Gone From Verizon Lineup http://jkontherun.com/2010/04/26/no-nexus-one-on-verizo/ http://preview.bloomberg.com/news/2010-04-26/verizon-says-it-has-no-current-plans-to-distribute-google-nexus-one-phone.html http://www.cnet.com/8301-19736_1-20003397-251.html… Read more

The 404 567: Where we get caught playing with our toys (podcast)

Today's episode of The 404 Podcast resurrects our love for action figures and other toys from the late 1980s and early 1990s. Jeff's a little older than Wilson and me, but we can still bond over our mutual love for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action figures and our mutual hatred for picking up all those foam Nerd darts.

There's also a lot to learn about each other based on our toys. For example, Wilson's mom used to yell at him for unscrewing and tinkering with all his figures, which explains why he eventually grew up building his own computers.

Unfortunately, we're too old to play with children's toys now so we've all graduated to big-boy toys, and it's with great sadness that we have to announce the death of the floppy disk. After three decades of production, Sony announced Friday that it would end all floppy-disk sales before the end of March 2011.

Many are unaware that Sony actually pioneered the first 3.5-inch floppy disk in 1981, although the 1.44MB disks were quickly rendered obsolete by other types of removable media like Zip disks, USB flash drives, and of course rewriteable CDs and DVDs. Stay tuned as we deliver a heartfelt "eugoogly" to the floppy disk--a close friend that saved kilobytes of data and served as the basis for way too many nerdy pickup lines.

It's no surprise that Internet privacy is a thing of the past, but a few Blippy users are still finding that out the hard way. If you've never heard of the site before, Blippy is a new company that lets you share your online purchases with everyone on a social network. The service gleans financial data, including what you bought and where you got it, and lets you compare your purchases with others at a granular level, all with the hopes of saving you a few bucks on future purchases.

Unfortunately, five Blippy users found their credit card information published in Google's search engine cache over the weekend. A rep from the company claims that a breach in two banks' security systems caused the problem and they've asked Google to reindex the entire site to fix it, but none of us really understand the appeal of Blippy- feel free to chime in if you're a user and let us know if you've stopped using the service after hearing about this breach in security.

EPISODE 567 Subscribe in iTunes audio | Suscribe to iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

Sony delivers floppy disk's last rites

The days of the 3.5-inch floppy disk are now officially numbered.

Sony, which boasts 70 percent of the anemic market, announced Friday that it would end Japanese sales of the ancient storage medium in March 2011, according to a report in the Mainichi Daily newspaper.

The 3.5-inch floppy was a ubiquitous and necessary component for storing and transferring files between personal computers for nearly three decades. Sony pioneered the 3.5-inch floppy disk in 1981, eventually replacing the 5.25-inch floppy disk that had previously been the popular storage format.

However, as the size of files and programs … Read more

DVD slideshows made easy

DVD PixPlay from Xequte Software combines a DVD burning utility and a slideshow maker in one easy-to-use tool. With it, users can create personalized photo or video slideshows, save them, and burn them on DVD blanks or watch them on a PC or other display. The disks it creates are compatible with nearly every DVD player, so you can send them to family and friends as personal keepsakes. It can also convert your slideshows into Web-compatible videos for uploading on sites like YouTube.

The program's polite Windows-style installer notes that you need some 25 MB of free disk space … Read more