Hijinks Inc.

Category: Software

  • Axon Haptic Tablet Available for Pre-Order

    For those that are daring enough to jump off the deep end, you can now pre-order the rumored Axon Haptic tablet (not to be confused with Axiotron’s Modbook) for a cool $750 . The capacitive-touch Hackintosh tablet boasts compatibility with Windows 7 as well as all Darwin-based OS platforms, including Mac OS, though on Axon’s website they state that Apple’s EULA specifically prohibits installation on any non-Apple hardware, though that’s certainly not going to stop anyone… after all, they call it a Hackintosh for a reason.

    Some might believe the 1.6Ghz Atom N270 leaves a little to be desired, though it still has fairly decent hardware for a tablet. Specs include a 10.1″ LED backlit screen, 320GB HD, 2GB RAM, a removable battery, 3x USB ports, ethernet, card reader, VGA port, WiFi and for additional $70 you can add a Verizon 3G SIM card, and yet another $70 will get you Bluetooth GPS.

    It’s up in the air at this point how well full-fledged operating systems will behave with the capacitive touchscreen, though I think it’s definitely a step in the right direction to bring more devices to the market as alternatives to the iPad that allow something more than a mobile OS. If nothing else, it might cause Apple to consider the possibility of competing with them, but then again, does anything anyone does really ever affect what Apple does?

    For full tech specs and description, visit Axon Logic’s website, but see if I’m not the only one that’s bothered by the fact that they copied Apple’s top bar right off their website for their own….

  • iTunes album artwork

    iTunes album artwork

    Just a quick post to shed some light on an issue some may be having with their iTunes album artwork.  The last time I moved my entire iTunes library from one computer to another, I noticed some of my artwork didn’t show up.  On doing some research, it seems that ever since iTunes 7, it actually stores the artwork in a separate library file, and doesn’t attach it to the actual music files themselves.  While there are some programs like TuneUp that our very own Dave Sack reviewed that will go through your entire collection and change that, an easy and free way to make sure the artwork is attached to any new song you import or purchase is this:

    1 – Right-click on the track, and click Get Info

    2 – Click on the Art tab on the far right

    3 – Click on the artwork once and Control-C to copy (Command-C on Mac)

    4 – Press Delete, which will erase the artwork you see

    5 – Press Control-V (Command-V) and paste the copied art back in

    6 – Press OK

    This painfully simple process will actually attach the artwork to the file tag so the artwork will now travel with the file where ever it may go.

    Also, if you’d like to embed artwork for an entire album, just select all of the tracks, right-click and go to ‘Get Info’, then paste the artwork into the ‘Artwork’ box… your artwork will be applied to all of the tracks.

  • Nothing to See Here: Starcraft 2 is NOT killing graphics cards.

    Nothing to See Here: Starcraft 2 is NOT killing graphics cards.

    With the launch of Starcraft 2 on July 27th, 2010 people were excited to get their hands on this long awaited game.  Development of the game started in 2003 and had been delayed or postponed several times due to other games Blizzard was producing at the time.

    Since the launch minor issues have been growing, and today Blizzard Confirms an overheating issue. However, this story has been spun by the technology community even to the point where Slashdot picked up on it.  It has been given menacing sounding titles such as “Is Starcraft II bad for your graphics card?” by ZDnet and “Is Starcraft II Killing Graphics Cards” by Slashdot. A much more appropriate title to the actual problem is one given by OverClockersClub “Starcraft 2 causing some GPU’s to Overheat”

    The problem is that during some of the in-between mission screens, cut screens and menu screens are not frame capped like the actual game play is.  This causes the GPU to render these screens as fast as possible.  Since these screens are simple and, for the most part, static, the computer has an easy time and is able to render these very quickly causing the GPU to heat up.  This increased heat and power consumption exposes flaws in Starcraft II players’ computers, causing crashes, reboots, and even some claimed GPU failures. (more…)

  • Tweak Windows 7

    For those of you who used Tweak UI for the earlier version of Windows, here’s an application you’ll love that allows you to tweak most aspects of Windows Vista and 7.  It’s called Ultimate Windows Tweaker, and I found it to be very useful today while setting up a couple of Win 7 machines.

    The 345KB application has a small footprint, and is contained entirely in the executable so no installation is necessary.  It also only displays options that pertain to the OS version your running it on.  Just fire it up, and over 150 customizable aspects of Windows are at your finger tips, no digging through countless steps to access them.

    If you’re like me, and you want Windows to operate exactly as you want, not how Microsoft thinks you want it, you owe it to your self to download a copy and give it a try.

  • Firefox 4 Beta 2 Has Dropped

    Firefox 4 Beta 2 Has Dropped

    The latest beta version of Firefox 4 is now available for public consumption, just in time to break all those add-ons that were just updated for Beta 1, but such is the price you pay for running the latest software.

    Go ahead, live vicariously through beta software. You know you want to.

    You can grab Firefox 4 Beta 2 from this page.