email me: chris@chris-karath.com
January 2012
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I want to hear your 
Sat 01-28-12 11:22:12 AM #
Mon 01-23-12 12:18:38 PM #
First up, the 
Next up, I got a cool 
Last but not least I got this kitchy 7" tall Fri 01-20-12 08:13:21 PM #
If you read all the stories, I agree this the expression of the young girl at top right.Posterous Post
Sometimes the photos just are too funny with the Zite stories
Tue 01-17-12 06:41:36 PM #
Mon 01-16-12 12:13:13 PM #
Played this game yesterday with Jenn. It's cute, turn based, etc. My userid is the same as my twitter handle if another twitter peep wants to play. Check out this application on the App Store: Robot Entertainment Category: Games Updated: Jan 10, 2012 Posterous Post
Check out Hero Academy
Hero Academy
464 Ratings 
iTunes for Mac and Windows Please note that you have not been added to any email lists.
Copyright 2012 Apple Inc. All rights reserved
Sent from my iPad
Sat 01-14-12 02:43:26 PM #
Sat 01-14-12 12:55:36 PM #
Sat 1/14/12 10:46am #
iPad 3
Every day in the tech news feed there is some speculation story or other about the iPad 3. Lately there have also been stories about the iPad 4.
Beyond the speculation that one is to be released in March and the other is supposedly in October, they are fairly useless speculations unless maybe you are in the market right now for an iPad 2 and are trying to figure out if you should buy now or later. Personally I'd expect anything bought from Apple to potentially be cut down a tier after 6 months and while not obsolete, certainly less shiny within a year. So if when the 3 or when the 4 are coming out mean something to you, you probably might want to reconsider getting on the Apple train anyway. It's a train that don't stop, and if you what to ride, prepare to buy a new ticket once a year.
3D Printing
There is a $1,299 3D printer available now. The Cube No assembly required. Considering that my first laster printer was more expensive than that, it's not too outrageous. I'm not sure my desire to print small widgets in plastic is quite at the $1,299 level though. Hopefully within the year they get the price down to about half that.
CES
I'm not sure I saw anything much out of CES that was that interesting but here are what few thoughts I have.
The Lytro camera was probably the coolest thing I saw mixed in with the CES coverage and that is hardly new.
Cheap 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwhich tablets should be plentiful later this year. At least if you import them, my guess, it'll be well into fall before any mainstream retailers start featuring truely useful cheap devices at a low pricepoint.
Makerbot had a cool thing on display with their Replicator announcement, but jacking up the price to $2K doesn't seem at all likely to broaden the dissemination of 3D printing to the masses at all. They seem to be doubling down on the more intense hobbiest.
Despite even more 3D TV stuff this year, I still have no interest at all in getting or watching one.
I was interested in the Dragon Nuance, and the perpetual Siri rumors that it looks like you will be able to talk to your tv soon. That moreso than 3D will be very useful.
I'm not sure what to make of Microsoft's Kinect for Windows either. Kinect for Xbox is $149, but Kinect for Windows is $249. For that price I don't think they are going to get much mainstream penetration for the device when people are routinely picking up desktops and laptops in the $300 to $500 range. Pity, because Kinect is a pretty neat thing.
All that said, I'm not sure exactly what I would have liked to see...
It would have been cool maybe to see some heads up glasses stuff. (There was some, but nothing that looked at all ready for mainstream.) Perhaps we'll have to wait and see if Apple has any future interest in iGlasses, since I imagine they'll have to likely be closely integrated with a smartphone to be useful.
I would have really like to see someone take a stab at a low cost 3D printer. Perhaps because most of these companies are geared toward solid state electronics, something like 3D printing is just requiring too much mechanical engineering to interest the ususal players and mass roll out of such a device may take longer than it otherwise would if we we're just talking chips and screens.
I'm kindof suprized that noone is really going anywhere with phone connected watches. With the interest in the iPod Nano and otheres, it seems like someone would have stepped up and found a way to roll something out by now, perhaps the miniaturization involved just doesn't let them do it for a price that would work though.
I think also there was only one camera announcement that was using Android. That's sort of suprizing, you would think Point and Shoot Camera makers would be all over integrating that OS, apps, and wifi into their devices.
There were a couple demos of some tabletop large touch monitors, but nothing that looked even remotely close to hitting mainstream, a shame since we are years now away from the first looks at things like Microsoft's surface.
Overall, it looks like we'll just have to wait now to see what Apple announces at their handfull of events this year.
Thu 01-12-12 08:01:56 PM #21
Picture Jenn took. Veggies by her, Brat wrapped in bread by me, inspired by a Meijer video.
Picture Jenn took. Veggies by her, Brat wrapped in bread by me, inspired by a Meijer video.
