Archive for the “News” Category

I recently got a call from a colleague who purchased an Iomega Screenplay HD. This unit is a media player that hooks up to your TV and can play various media file formats. The unit houses a 500 GB hard drive for media storage and playback. My friend was having issues with media file formats and the way in which the Screenplay HD works. So, I spent some time getting acquainted with this unit and tried to work the kinks out.

Initial product impressions

The Screenplay HD is finished in a matte black textured paint (feels like fine sandpaper, although they probably were going for suede). The finish just doesn’t feel right; it doesn’t have the polish of previous Iomega products. From an aesthetic and fit & finish point-of-view, I don’t think this product compares favorably with other consumer electronics products. However, this product functions as advertised. The unit works well as an external USB hard drive and plays back various media including video, digital stills and audio.

The remote control is very slim, about the size of three credit cards and it uses an inconvenient (and more expensive) coin cell battery. The remote control is designed to snap into the base of the Screenplay HD (I suppose for traveling or storage).

Shortcomings of the Screenplay HD

I was surprised to see just how many short comings this product has. Even though this product is made in China, I was expecting that it would be competently designed as many American-designed products are. Read the rest of this entry »

So what do your children do on the computer? I’m sure that many parents would say that their kids play games or surf the Internet. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could positively stimulate their brain while keeping them engaged on the computer? I would recommend getting your child involved with the LOGO programming language. There are free versions available for download on the Internet. I find that this is a good way to teach a child geometry, Cartesian coordinates and some computer programming concepts. Hopefully it gives them a better sense that there is more to a computer than websites and video games.

When I was a wee youngster, I remember one of the first things that I saw that got me interested in programming a computer was a computer language called LOGO. Some people may recognize the most popular feature of LOGO as “turtle graphics”. It was simple enough for me to get started on it right away and was instantly hooked by all the creative possibilities. The basic features of LOGO are easy enough for any parent to navigate through with their child. In addition, you will find many great lesson plans available on the Internet.

Where to get LOGO for your computer

There are quite a few implementations of LOGO out there. For Windows based PC’s a free version of LOGO called MSWLogo is available from Softronix’s website. This implementation is quite good and will even run well on older PC’s. A newer version of the program is available as FMSLogo. If you are using another platform, be sure to check out XLogo, which runs under Sun’s JAVA runtime environment. JAVA.

Read the rest of this entry »

You know, I’ve always dabbled a little in computer art and graphics. I find that computer graphics are an interesting way to play with colors and light. Over the years I’ve used many different types of graphics applications from paint programs to 3D rendering to fractal programs and more. If you have some time on your hands, why not see what you can create.

I’ve recently tried out a program called Chaoscope. It is a “3D Strange Attractors Rendering Software”. It is a freeware software application that runs on the Microsoft Windows™ platform. You can create some interesting images with this program in which you don’t need to understand the underlying math to fully appreciate . I’ve rendered an image using Chasoscope (below). Feel free to click on the image and download the full size version in 1280 x 1024. It is a quick download at 159k — it makes a great wallpaper!

The Chaoscope application is easy to use and the interface is uncluttered. I’m sure you’ll be rendering interesting images in no time.