The Teen Tech Buzz

1000 Hits!!!!!!!!!

2005-12-26T17:35:00.000-05:00

Actually, its unique vistors. We've now passed 1000 unique visitors to teentechbuzz.blogspot.com! Hooray!!!!

Yet another new blog

2005-12-26T09:14:00.000-05:00

My sister now has her own personlal blog, Life Can be So Cruel (For an 11-year old).

Sister's Podcast

2005-12-24T17:17:00.000-05:00

My sister, Sarah F., has created her own podcast, Sarah's Short Stories in which she reads her own short stories. If you're a fan of young adult fiction, be sure to check it out.

TTB SE #1 - 12/16/05

2005-12-18T20:17:00.000-05:00

Welcome to the holiday buyer's guide edition of our podcast! In this show we review a bunch of different products that would make great presents, and we give some important announcements about the new website.

First AdSense Revenue!!!!

2005-12-17T17:47:00.000-05:00

We have made our first cent on AdSense! Seriously! We have made exactly $00.01 on AdSense! Okay, you get the idea. Also, the next podcast has been succecfully recorded and should by online late Sunday afternoon.

Website Redesign

2005-12-15T17:14:00.000-05:00

Well, last week we got our hosting provider, along with our 10 GBs of webspace. Next week we will begin our redesign of the blog and move it to our hosting provider. If you have any suggestions for how we could redesign the blog, please email us at teentechbuzz@gmail.com.

Podcast Delay

2005-12-09T07:24:00.000-05:00

Unfortunately, Austen lost all of his prepared content for today's show, so we'll have to postpone it. The good news is this will give me time to get a mixer with my Hanukkah money. But boy, when this show goes up, either next week or next weekend, it's going to be a great show with all the new equipment we have. But what's going to be on this terrific show, you say? Well, just don't do all your holiday shopping just yet. Also, an update on hosting, we'll probably get our hosting plan next week and start building a new site soon after.

Hosting

2005-12-05T07:53:00.000-05:00

Austen and I are planning to get sared web hosting space for our podcast. Once our AdSense account gets approved, we will upload this blog via FTP to teentechbuzz.com.

TTB #04

2005-11-27T17:43:00.000-05:00

On our fourth show we have the latest news from Austen, two reviews of PSP products from Aaron, a disscussion on the new Macintels and an interview with Bob Reed who is in charge of online courses at the University of Florida.

New Domain Name!

2005-11-22T07:47:00.000-05:00

We have a domain name! Go to teentechbuzz.com instead of typing our long blogspot URL. The new domain merely forwards you to our existing blog at teentechbuzz.blogspot.com.

TTB #03

2005-11-16T18:39:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the delay, but our third show is now online. We have two mini-reviews, a discussion on the XBox 360 and the Playstation 3, an interview with Sreenath Sreenivasan of Columbia University, and this weel's Site Spotlight.

Podcast not up till next week

2005-11-06T06:44:00.000-05:00

We had some technical didficulties with our podcast on Friday, so TTB #03 won't be up until next week. Sorry for any inconvienience.

TTB #02 AAC

2005-10-26T16:21:00.000-04:00

ENHANCED AAC VERSION. On our second show, we interview Michel Marriott of the New York Times, talk about the new, video-capable iPod, review Google Earth, and do much, much more. Also, if you have any questions or comments, email us at teentechbuzz@gmail.com.

TTB #02

2005-10-25T13:09:00.000-04:00

On our second show, we interview Michel Marriott of the New York Times, talk about the new, video-capable iPod, review Google Earth, and do much, much more. Also, if you have any questions or comments, email us at teentechbuzz@gmail.com

Podcast Alley

2005-10-15T08:59:00.000-04:00

We are now on Podcast Alley! Please go and vote for us here

Podcast 01 Transcript

2005-10-12T16:33:00.000-04:00

This is the Teen Tech Buzz Podcast with Aaron F. and Austen S. Aaron: Hello and welcome to the Teen Tech Buzz Podcast. I'm Aaron Austen: And I'm Austen Aaron: And we're the hosts of the Teen Tech Buzz Podcast. We've got a great lineup for you guys today Austen: We have a review of the iPod Nano, news on the Treo 700w and a discussion about the iTunes ROKR phone, AND a special segment on Microsoft's new operating system... Windows Vista Aaron: And later we also have an interview Cyrus Farivar, assitant editor of Macworld Magazine and host of the Macworld Podcast Austen: But first, here's Aaron with the iPod Nano review. Aaron: About a month ago, Apple held a special conference for reporters at the San Fransisco Monskony Center. This was to discuss several new products the iTunes 5 Music Jukebox software for Windows and Mac, the iTunes ROKR phone, but most importantly, the new iPod product - the iPod Nano. The iPod Nano is now becoming the most popular iPod ever. It's size, weight, and overall coolness has overwhelmed retail stores worldwide. The iPod Nano was successful for many reasons. Apple had to put a lot of faith into replacing the Mini to make the Nano. They had to drop the iPod Mini, which was the most popular iPod in existence. This business endeavour is really risky, but it looks like Apple is going to pull it off based on it's current Nano sells. But enough about what happened before the Nano. Lets talk about the Nano itself. The Nano is very small. It's only 3.5 by 1.6 by 2.7 inches. It ways 1 and a half ounces and it's 62% than it's predecessor, the iPod Mini. It's size an weight is even more convenient than the othe iPods for carrying it around and playing tunes in your pocket. The iPod Nano sports many cool features such as a color screen like it's big brother, the full iPod and flash memory which provides it with fast access to music and photos, small space so the Nano itself can remain in it's tiny size, and can hold a decent amount of storage space, equivalent to that of the 4GB Mini. The Nano also boost a headphone jack on the bottom of it's body opposed to the top. The hold switch remains alone on the top but the dock connector is still on the bottom. The Nano itself does have a few problems. It lacks a remote control jack so popular accessories like Griffin Technologies iTalk will not work with it. The Nano itself does have some screen-scratching problems - all of which can be solved by a case, most of which will be released later this month. The Nano's headphone jack on the bottom, despite being convenient for some situations such as using the new Nano lanyard headphones, can also be annoying if you're trying to put the dock connector and a bulky headphone port into the jack at the same time. The Click Wheel is somewhat sensitive, but very easy to get used to. And the batter life is a little lower than that of the Mini. Though it sports a color screen, it has no video output so the dock connector or through the headphone jack, so you can't play your photos on a television. And you also can't use Apple's camera connector adapter for connecting USB cameras to the iPod Nano. But despite the fact that the Nano lacks some minor features and has a few minor problems, it's still an excellent music device, and probably the best iPod that Apple has ever released. Now here's Austen to talk about the new operating system, Windows Vista. Austen: Thank you Aaron. Microsoft recently announced the beta version of Windows Vista. The beta version is being released IT beta testers. But it hasn't yet come out to the public yet, of course. The Windows Vista seems to be... different from other Windows. On their website, windowsvista.com they describe it as confident, clear, connected. Microsoft seems to be trying to get a lot of people back. The graphics look nice also. It looks easier to search, it has bigger icons, and looks like a very pleasant view to the eye. Windows Vista also seems to copy the OSX dock which has become very popular. They call it the Windows Sidebar and you can control Windows Media Player, check your email, view pictures, check the time, and of course... go to the Recycle Bin. Windows Vista has clear windows on top instead of the old Windows XP blue. The website says that it's meant for easier, seamless intergrating and all sorts of looking better sorts of stuff. But I really don't think it makes much of a difference. Having not tried it for myself, I don't know how good it is compared to Windows XP, but I'd certainly like to try it out. It also seems to have better searching functions, and they say that- (15 second pause) Aaron: Thank you, Austen. While the Nano was probably the biggest gadget event that happened in September, another big event happened later that month, on September 26th. This was that Microsoft, Palm, and Verizon Wireless came together to create a new handheld by Palm called the Treo 700w. Most people know the Treo 600 and 650's powerful, palm-powered smartphones. The 700w is going to be very similar to these except for one major difference... it is going to be powered by the Windows Mobile operating system opposed to Palm's operating system. Microsoft and Palm's partnership in this probably leads to the fact that Microsoft has always liked Palm's products and always wanted to develop on them, and the fact that the Palm operating system isn't as popular as it used to be. Currently, Verizon Wireless is set to be the only provider of this new smartphone, which is set to come out very early next year according to President and CEO of Palm, Ed Colligan. The 700w sports some interesting features. Like the Treo 600 and 650, it has a keyboard, a Nobby antenna, and a touch screen. It also boosts a one-megapixel still and video camera, EV DO high-speed networking capabilities, and bluetooth. Hopefully, early next year we can get a hands-on experience of the Treo-700w for ourselves, but for now we can only imagine how the product will do. Austen: And I just want to say, I've tried the Treo 650 and it seems really nice and I'm really looking forward to this one - the 700. Aaron: Yes Austen, thank you. Aaron: Well now Austen and I are going to talk about the Motorola ROKR iTunes phone, something that Apple enthusiasts have been looking forward to for ages Austen: Well, I think that Steve Jobs introduced it the same time that he introduced the Nano, and I think that the Nano kind of... put in in the shadow, and that the Motorola ROKR - that's AR OH KAY AR - didn't get the attention it should have had. Aaron: Yeah. A lot of people are also disappointed about the ROKR phone. It doesn't have a Click Wheel - a lot of the people wanted the Click Wheel. Austen: And it doesn't very many songs, only a hundred. Aaron: A hundred, yeah. But still, it's a phone that can run all of your iTunes music store stuff, it has the ability to play AAC files; I mean it has a special button just for iTunes. Austen: I know, but it's just you know the way that... I think that Apple didn't really want to copy the iPod because basically it'd be like an iPod with cellphone capabilities. So they tried to keep it down there with only one hundred songs. Aaron: Yeah. It's true... people are talking about an iPhone. Austen: Yeah, that - that'd be cool. But I think that it would be nice if... oh great I lost it.... I had a really good idea... Okay, go on. Aaron: Um, me? Austen: Hm... Aaron: Okay. Austen: (laughs) Aaron: I'm also kind of disappointed in the fact that is only GSM so Verizon users like myself won't be able to experience the phone. Austen: I would really like to have the iTunes phone, even though it doesn't have very many songs. I think the iTunes phone is more for the casual person; not the person who wants 15,000 songs. Aaron: Yeah. That's definitely true. I mean also the iTunes phone has been criticized for being bulky, ugly.... ugly. (laughs) Compared- Austen: And just not really nice. Aaron: Yeah. Especially compared to the Motorola Razor, I mean it's like super-sleek, it's like... Austen: But I think it would have been a nice idea if hadn't made it out as an iPod, but more as a phone, and if they had thinned it down a bit. Aaron: Yeah... Put the phone on Weight Watchers. Austen: (bursts out laughing) Aaron: Yeah. I mean, it is kind of chubby, and it does take Mini-SD cards so unless Apple updates the firmware on Motorola on the device it's not going to be able... even if you have, like, a billion gigabytes theoretically of storage space on the Micro-SD cards you're still only going to have a hundred songs. Austen: I'm sure... I'm sure it's a great phone, but people aren't judging it as a phone; they're judging it as more of an iPod, basically. Aaron: But if - and it's also been ridiculed by consumer reports and a lot of people. Though if I was a Cingular user, I don't know... if there was some like... free way to try it out I'd be interested. But I'm not exactly sure if I want to spend like - what was it? Like 250 or 300 dollars for a 2-year contract? Austen: Yeah, it's pretty expensive. Aaron: Yeah, I mean... Austen: But I think that if I were a Cingular user I would like to have two phones; I would like to have that and have a nice flip phone with videos and all of that stuff. Aaron: Oh well. Austen: But that's like in the far, far future, when I'm like paying for myself. Aaron: Okay, so... Well that's the Motorola ROKR iTunes phone. And now we'll be talking with Cyrus Farivar, assitant editor of MacWorld Magazine and - Austen: Host of the MacWorld Podcast. Aaron: Thank you, Austen... More coming this afternoon!

Big Mystery Announcement!

2005-10-12T13:31:00.000-04:00

Via Engadget.com, the following have been announced at the Big Apple Mystery Announcment:

New iMac: (1) It’s even thinner. The 20-inch is now thinner than the 17 used to be. (2) iSight videocam. The new mac has an iSight built in. The camera has even better specs. Right out of the box videoconferencing without any extra stuff. We wrote a new app called PhotoBooth. [Demo: It has a built in flash - the entire display flashes. There are special effects including “Warhol” and effects that morph your face goofily.] (3) Front Row. It s a new way to experience the media on your computer. It’s an incredible way to enjoy your music, your videos, and your photos … from your sofa. We’ve done a remote control, Apple style. It’s got six buttons. [Demo: He presses remote and a menu for Music / Photo / DVD / Video zooms in. There’s a giant iPod-style interface for music. “I can enjoy my music from across the room and see the artwork.” Photos navigates through everything in iPhoto with slide show effects for albums. “Now, a lot of people watch DVDs in their iMac, and it would be nice to control them from across the room. Now you can.” [Loads DVD of The Incredibles with menu that blurs out the typically unusuable menu on the DVD with an iPod-style menu. Movie posters and trailers in HD format streamed from apple.com] This remote control, I just wanted to point something that to me captures what Apple is all about. [Shot of huge button-congested remotes next to the tiny 6-button Apple remote] Specs: Bluetooth, Superdrive, Mighty Mouse standard. 17-inch $1299. 20-inch $1699. Available today.

VIDEO IPOD!!!!!!! Actually, it's still a music-first ddevice, but it supports video. The device will feature a 2.5-inch display, QVGA resolution (320 x 240), and will MPEG-4 h.264 (natch), and presumably Quicktime. The new iPod will be 30% thinner than the current 20GB iPod, and will feature a 60GB version and editions of both in black. The 20GB should go for $299, and the 60GB for $399. They’ll be shipping next week. An guess what? It's still called the ipod. No ipod video. Just iPod. Also, this 'pod will sport a video out port.

Guess what? After just ONE MONTH of iTunes 5.0, we'll already be getting iTunes 6.0!!!!!!!!!!! Well, that's Apple for you. It has 2,000 music videos for download at $1.99 apiece. PLUS iTunes 6.0 will have TV shows avalible for download at $1.99 apiece. Currently you can only get Desperate Housewives and 4 other other ABC shows. Videos are native QVGA resolution.

And that's all folks! Any more information on this announcment can be found at apple.com or engadget.com

Podcast 02 Hints

2005-10-11T12:42:00.000-04:00

Here are juts a few things that will be in our next podcast:

Review of Google Earth

News on the video-capable iPod, the new iMac, and iTunes 6.0 Check back later to see any more hints into our next episode.

Our First Media Recognition!

2005-10-10T20:16:00.000-04:00

Our first interviewee, Cyrus Farivar, meantioned us in an online article at Macworld, avalible here

Podcast 01 Note

2005-10-10T19:31:00.000-04:00

Thanks to everyone who listened to our first podcast! Though we think that we did a somewhat of an ok job, we will do the following things in the next podcast to help improve on what we've done so far:

Make the podcast avalible in MP3 apposed to AAC
Change the ID3 tag information
Fix Austen's sound by using aheadset mic
Mention our email address (teentechbuzz@gmail.com) and give some hints into what will be on the next podcast
Change show description so link to the episode dosn't appear in iTunes and elsewhere
Possibly add an enhanced AAC version with Chapter Markers and Images for you iTunes users out there

Also, the podcast will now come out every two weeks. If you have any other suggestions, complaints, or comments, leave them here or email us at teentechuzz@gmail.com.

Podcast 01

2005-10-09T12:59:00.000-04:00

Our first full-length podcast featuring an iPod Nano review, Windows Vista, and much, much more! http://homepage.mac.com/thoth92/.Public/Podcast01.m4a

Teaser

2005-09-25T16:44:00.000-04:00

The teaser for the Teen Tech Buzz Podcast. http://homepage.mac.com/thoth92/.Public/Teaser.m4a