Show Notes: Episode 165

  • Tools and Toys for Techies
    Akash Sablok
    Technology Journalist

    Brookstone InVoca Voice-Activated Remote Control, $59.95
    www.brookstone.com

    Harman Kardon Go+Play, $349.95
    www.harmankardon.com

    The Tornado USB Connector With PCErase, $59.99
    www.thetornado.com

    Black & Decker VPX903X1 VPX Starter Set with Power Screwdriver, Cut Saw, Flashlight, and VPX Battery with Charger, $99.99
    www.blackanddecker.com

    Stanley IntelliLaser Pro Laser Line Level Stud Finder, $59.99
    www.stanleytools.com

    Stanley MaxLife MiniTripod, $29.99
    www.stanleytools.com

    Medalist Laser Rangefinder with Pinseeker Technology, $349.99
    www.bushnell.com

    Dyson DC16 Limited Edition by Issey Miyake, $179.99
    www.isseymiyake.dyson.com

  • Slimming down Windows for your Asus EEE PC

    Trying to cram a file heavy operating system into a tiny pc like the Asus EEE PC can be a headache, with only 4 gigs of drive space you will be left with only a few megs of free space after install XP and all the patches and service packs.

    nLite – This great free piece of software will allow you to strip out unnecessary stuff out of your windows xp install. Simply copy your XP install disk to your harddrive and run nlite through its paces to remove unnecessary files like keyboard layouts and language files. I could go on for pages with the perfect XP install for the EEE PC, instead you can find my perfect ini setup for nlite and the eee pc here (http://digitalunderground.tv/projects/nlite_eeepc.zip) This should get your xp install down to aboyut 300 megs leaving you will plenty of space on your eee pc.

    Swap File – If you can afford a memory upgrade (the eee pc can support up to 2 gb of memory) then you don’t need one, stripping away the swap file will get you at least another gig free of space.

    Temp folders and My Documents – If you can afford a SDHC card move the temp variables and you’re my Documents folder over to it. Flash memory will die over time with many reads and writes, it’s better to kill an external card which can be easily replaced than kill the internal flash memory of you eee pc which can only be replaced by a professional.

    RELATED WEBSITE LINKS
    nLite - http://www.nliteos.com/

    PRODUCTS SHOWN
    ASUS EEE PC

  • Social = Me First
    Stowe Boyd
    Front Man for the /Messengers

    Social applications are tools that directly or indirectly shape culture, rather than being primarily focused on crunching numbers, or acting as a communications channel. The various kinds of social tools that are revolutionizing the Web today include social media (like blogs), social networks (like Facebook, MySpace, and LinkedIn), and dozen or more other niches where users share information and media, and connect. I work principally as an advisor to companies trying to build successful social applications, so I have focused for a nearly a decade on social tools: what they are, how they are different, and what makes the work. I coined the term ‘social tools’ in 1999, the same year I started blogging. What I have discovered at the core of the social web is surprising at first: a bit counterintuitive. However, if you are building a social application, or are just curious about what is driving the millions of users of social applications, you will find this presentation invaluable.