Month: August 2006

In a piece carried on an Australian car website, a Pioneer spokesbot let slip that Apple will soon be releasing a Bluetooth adapter for iPods which’ll allow them to wirelessly communicate with Pioneer’s new DEH car stereo head units. The Bluetooth-equipped car system is already capable of talking to Bluetooth mobile phones, allowing you to make and receive calls through the car’s head and speakers. The basic Pioneer DEH model (DEH-P7850BT) will set you back 800 shekels. The more power, color-screened DEH-9850BT costs $1,000.

One would assume that the iPod adapter will also work with other Bluetooth wireless audio devices, such as headphones, speakers, and the like. No word on when the adapter will be released, but when do we ever know about the release of Apple products beforehand?

[Via iLounge]

I guess Logitech figured that, because Nintendo wasn’t going to be using the name Revolution for their game system with the innovative controller, Logitech might as well use it for their “groundbreaking” new controller. Logitech’s idea of a Revolution (MX) is a very swanky looking wireless laser mouse with features they say will make a huge difference in how you use your mouse.

Some of these features include hyper-scrolling (you can free-spin the scroll wheel to blaze through long documents), a detailed navigation mode (which lets you scroll line-by-line through dense documents, spreadsheets, etc), a search button on the mouse (just behind the scroll wheel) which will allow you to initiate a search on a word by clicking the button when the mouse is on that word, a document quick-flip button (the wheel on the side), which lets you flip through open docs/apps, and a couple of other document-handling features. We’re not sure that it’s going to change the world or anything, but it looks like a cool and comfortable mouse with some bells and whistles that might actually be useful. But at US$100, it’s a Revolution that may require financial backing from some shady off-shore sugar daddy.

[Via Ubergizmo]

As I read more about Ubuntu Linux, I’m getting more excited about installing it on our Alienware tower. We posted an item about Lifehacker’s “Top Ten Ubuntu Apps & Tweaks” the other day. Now Linux.com has Ten Tips for New Ubuntu Users. It has useful info, such as what you need to do to install KDE or Xfce desktops on top of Ubuntu, how to get multimedia working (for licensing reasons, it doesn’t support MP3, DVD and other media formats out of the box, but for most hardware, this is easily fixed with some packages), changing defaults to your liking, etc. Definitely worth taking a look at if you’re about to take the Ubuntu plunge.

[Via Lifehacker]

Today’s “Hack Attack” column on Lifehacker is a top ten (eleven, actually) list of awesome apps the author, Adam Pash, is using with his recent install of Ubuntu Linux.

My son just went back to college and said I could commandeer his old Alienware box. I’m thinking about installing Ubuntu on it (as a dual-boot with XP) so I can get more proficient with Linux. I haven’t gotten down and dirty with the Penguin since I worked on my TiVo book.