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Bob Caswell

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Category: Do-It-Yourself Tech

Wii-mote Hacks: New Uses by DJs, Doctors, Musicians, and Engineers

Posted on April 28, 2007August 20, 2008 By Bob Caswell No Comments on Wii-mote Hacks: New Uses by DJs, Doctors, Musicians, and Engineers

Wii2A DJ in the Netherlands uses his Wii-mote (what fans call the Nintendo Wii’s remote control) to mix techno music at dance parties while a medical student in Italy has reconfigured his to analyze results from CT scans. More uses? You bet. A software engineer in Los Angeles controls a Roomba robot vacuum cleaner with his, and a formally trained conductor in Connecticut is showing classical musicians how to conduct a Beethoven symphony. The musicians use Wii-motes to control a digital section of an orchestra.

Read More “Wii-mote Hacks: New Uses by DJs, Doctors, Musicians, and Engineers” »

Do-It-Yourself Tech, Gadgets, Gaming, Just For Fun, Tech News

SwitchPlanet: Mixing Netflix, craigslist, eBay, and Amazon but for Free

Posted on April 24, 2007August 20, 2008 By Bob Caswell 8 Comments on SwitchPlanet: Mixing Netflix, craigslist, eBay, and Amazon but for Free

SwitchPlanet is one of the more compelling online communities I’ve seen in a while. Members can switch movies, CDs, books, and games with each other for free. The system is based on Switchbucs, an internal currency. You list whatever items you have for a Switchbucs price and get credited that amount when you ship an item to someone willing to pay that price using their Switchbucs. No real money ever trades hands, just switching with a third-party broker.

Read More “SwitchPlanet: Mixing Netflix, craigslist, eBay, and Amazon but for Free” »

Do-It-Yourself Tech, Internet, Tech News, Web 2.0

Mozy Makes It Big: Online Backup Deal for All 300,000+ GE Employees

Posted on April 24, 2007August 20, 2008 By Bob Caswell 1 Comment on Mozy Makes It Big: Online Backup Deal for All 300,000+ GE Employees

MozyproTill now, Mozy has been an up and coming backup solution for the home user with its free online backup (up to two gigabytes) or its unlimited online backup for $5 per month. Since its launch in April 2006, over 175,000 customers have signed up. But the big news is that General Electric recently bought MozyPro (the enterprise version of Mozy) for all of its 300,000+ employees. Not a bad way to more than double your customer base. And GE is a company that does its homework on purchases like these, so this is definitely a credibility boost for Mozy as well.

Read More “Mozy Makes It Big: Online Backup Deal for All 300,000+ GE Employees” »

Do-It-Yourself Tech, Internet, Tech News, Web 2.0

How To Recycle Computers, Xboxes, Cellphones: 5 Million Pounds Per Month!

Posted on April 18, 2007August 20, 2008 By Bob Caswell No Comments on How To Recycle Computers, Xboxes, Cellphones: 5 Million Pounds Per Month!

With an estimated 500 million pounds of electronics collecting dust in California’s closets, garages and attics, finding ways to reuse those metals, plastics and chemicals is critical.  That’s where John Shegerian’s company, Electronic Recyclers, comes in.  The Futures Channel takes viewers inside the largest electronic recycling plant in California in its new online micro-documentary, “Recycling Computers.”

Read More “How To Recycle Computers, Xboxes, Cellphones: 5 Million Pounds Per Month!” »

Computers, Do-It-Yourself Tech, Gadgets, Tech News

My Two Months without Internet

Posted on April 6, 2007August 20, 2008 By Bob Caswell 1 Comment on My Two Months without Internet

Internet2The apartment complex I live in forces me to use whatever Internet connection the whole complex is on. Since I moved here last year, it’s been a local provider until that company went bankrupt. Service stopped on January 25. Not to worry, the apartment complex switched to using Verizon DSL. But that service went live on March 22.

I’m back in school getting my MBA while running TechConsumer. Here’s my story of doing both without Internet at home:

Read More “My Two Months without Internet” »

Do-It-Yourself Tech, Just For Fun, Web 2.0

Pet Peeve: Why do companies still send me my password through email?

Posted on March 15, 2007August 20, 2008 By Bob Caswell 12 Comments on Pet Peeve: Why do companies still send me my password through email?

PasswordkeyLet’s face it; we all reuse the same password for login accounts all over the Internet. At best, some of us create a few passwords through which we rotate. So why is it that some companies still insist on sending me my password via email right after I create my online account? The reason I have a password in the first place is so that it doesn’t flow back and forth openly in cyberspace only to reside peacefully on multiple mail servers.

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Do-It-Yourself Tech, Just For Fun, Privacy, Web 2.0

MIT Will Offer ALL Courses Free Online by Year End

Posted on March 12, 2007August 20, 2008 By Bob Caswell 2 Comments on MIT Will Offer ALL Courses Free Online by Year End

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is set to become the first U.S. university to make all of its courses free on the Internet (in this case, around 1,800 courses). The head of online curriculum, Anne Margulies, says the following, “We started this project because MIT believes that one of the best ways to advance education around the world is through the Internet.”

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Do-It-Yourself Tech, Internet, Tech News, Web 2.0

The CompUSA Story: When Not Being Competitive Catches Up to You

Posted on March 8, 2007August 20, 2008 By Bob Caswell 6 Comments on The CompUSA Story: When Not Being Competitive Catches Up to You

CompUSA recently announced that it will be closing more than half of its 225 stores (see the list of closings here). The computer store chain is giving the following reason, “Based on changing conditions in the consumer retail electronics markets, the company identified the need to close and sell stores with low performance or nonstrategic, old store layouts and locations faced with market saturation.”

Translation: CompUSA hasn’t been competitive for some time, and the problem has caught up with the retailer. There are only so many computer beginners willing to pay $20 for a printer cable available for less than half that price at many locations both on and offline.

Read More “The CompUSA Story: When Not Being Competitive Catches Up to You” »

Computers, Do-It-Yourself Tech, Shopping, Tech News

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