Evsion Lab

For all of you Zune 30 owners who woke up this morning to find your PMP frozen in despair at the thought of spending another year alone, Microsoft has finally acknowledged their boo-boo and explains it thusly: There is a bug in the internal clock driver causing the device to choke on the last day of a leap year. Rest assured, however — although they may not be issuing an update for the device any time soon, the issue should resolve itself whenever January 1, 2009 rolls around. So have a safe and happy New Year, and let’s hope they do something about this by 2012.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

Zune 30GB brickification acknowledged, Microsoft says to wait it out originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 31 Dec 2008 18:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Electric cars and other fuel-efficient vehicles certainly have plenty going for them, but all that reduction in fuel consumption also has the side effect of reducing the money earned from gas taxes, which has prompted folks like Oregon governor Ted Kulongoski to turn to some some alternative solutions to keep those funds rolling in. In the case of Oregon, Governor Kulongoski is proposing a mileage tax that would eventually replace the gas tax altogether, and make use of GPS units to determine just how far each person travels and bill them accordingly (Oregon is proposing a 1.2 cent per mile tax). To assuage privacy concerns, that information would apparently only be collected when the driver fuels up, and actual travel information supposedly wouldn’t be tracked. Obviously, that system would only work if everyone had a GPS, so the governor is proposing an increase in the standard gas tax in the interim, with drivers already equipped with a GPS unit eligible for a refund on the taxes paid. All of this also still has to pass the Oregon legislature to become law, but it certainly wouldn’t be the first time that the state broke with convention.

Filed under: GPS, Transportation

Oregon governor looking at GPS-based mileage tax to fund roads originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 31 Dec 2008 16:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jaybird’s just unleashed their products for 2009, with updates for their athlete-targeted A2DP Bluetooth Stereo Claws. The new ones (which look exactly the same as their previous models) feature apt-X audio compression, giving these puppies a high sound quality “rivaling wired” ones, plus new tips for sound isolation and a modified design to fit a wider range of ears. The company’s also rolling out new metal-cased Tiger Eyes earbuds and over ear Acoustic Dens. We don’t have any word on pricing for this stuff, but we’ll get an up-close gander at them at CES and they should be available in April… when our Go-Go’s-infused work outs should get a little more high def.

Continue reading Jaybird releases 2009 Bluetooth Stereo Claws, earbuds, and more

Filed under: Portable Audio, Wireless

Jaybird releases 2009 Bluetooth Stereo Claws, earbuds, and more originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 31 Dec 2008 14:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Here’s an example of a story coming full circle: Amazon invests in BillMeLater, BillMeLater is added as a payment option on Amazon, eBay buys BillMeLater, and today, Amazon pulls the plug on BillMeLater. The service, which lets shoppers buy stuff online without a credit card, will no longer be offered as a payment option by Amazon in the New Year.

The move, presumably, is both a competitive one and a response to the current financial crisis. While BillMeLater does look at one’s credit history before allowing a purchase to go through, growing concerns that customers ultimately won’t be able to make the payment on their purchases likely gave Amazon enough pause to pull the plug.

Not to mention, it sends a big shot across the bow of eBay, who paid more than $800 million for BillMeLater back in October. According to one estimate, Amazon accounted for 10-15% of BillMeLater’s total transaction volume.

At the time of the acquisition, BillMeLater seemed like a natural fit for eBay’s payment processing business, which includes PayPal. It still probably is, but with credit so hard to come by, you have to wonder if eBay bought it at the worst possible time, for far too much money. In other words, it could be a very long time until they see a positive return on the investment.

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Nintendo has gone to some lengths to keep one step ahead of the modding community, but to little avail. We’ve recently seen a product that enables DVD playback on the Wii, and now we’ve been hepped to FLATMII, a device that plugs into the Wii’s drive ribbon, letting you stream ISO backups of your games (or the Gecko OS, Mplayer, emulators and more) from your Windows XP or Vista PC — which your console now takes for its DVD drive. If you’re the sort of sane and sober Wii owner who figures that it is wise and prudent to backup games that you own legally — the kind who would never ever think of stealing software — hit that read link. And be sure to catch the video after the break.

[Via Max Console]

Continue reading FLATMII streams games to your Wii, via USB

Filed under: Gaming

FLATMII streams games to your Wii, via USB originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 31 Dec 2008 13:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Wiki engines are some of the most versatile platforms for creating websites out there. MediaWiki (the engine that powers Wikipedia) is probably the most widely used, but there are literally hundreds of other wiki engines. We previously covered more than 30 of these apps in our first Wiki Toolbox. Here are more than 100 others to meet your every wiki need.

Let us know what you think of these, and any we may have missed, in the comments.

Hosted

intodit - A free wiki farm that includes a searchable directory of wikis on just about any topic.

ClearWiki - A private wiki geared toward businesses that includes up to ten users and 256Mb of storage in their free plan.

LittleWiki - A site that offers free private and public wiki page hosting.

Deki Express - A wiki capable of application and data mashups.

@Wiki - A free wiki hosting service that allows for both public and private wikis.

WizzardWiki - A JavaScript and HTML wiki with a WYSIWYG editor.

ContainU - A wiki farm with pages dedicated to people, businesses, products, and more.

on-wiki.net - A free wiki host that allows you to limit who can edit your pages.

BrainKeeper - An enterprise wiki software that includes a variety of paid plans starting at only $17/month.

Traduwiki - A wiki farm that has a special focus on translating its pages.

Zulupad - A personal online notebook with the ease of a wiki.

BusinessWiki - A wiki platform for businesses that is built on the MediaWiki platform.

Central Desktop - A wiki-based business and team collaboration tool.

Cospire - A free knowledge management system with wiki and blog functionality.

incentive - A corporate wiki, blogging and RSS platform.

Luminotes - A personal wiki-based notebook with a WYSIWYG editor. A downloadable version is also available

Metadot - A free and very easy to use wiki host.

Nexdo - A wiki for knowledge and project management that includes free and paid versions.

PicoWiki - A wiki specifically for smartphones, PDAs, iPhones and Blackberries.

Swirrl - A wiki-based collaboration tool that lets you store, share and analyze data with your team.

Seed Wiki - An ad-free wiki host that gives you the freedom to change your wiki’s layout and style.

Springnote - A personal online notebook based on a wiki platform.

Wibokr - Free wiki and blog hosting with unlimited space. A downloadable version is also available.

SmartPage - A powerful enterprise wiki and blog site.

SuperWiki - A an ad-free, simple wiki that offers addons for forum, chat, blog and calendar functions and unlimited storage.

BluWiki - A free wiki host with no ads or popups where you can publish anything.

Nuospace - An enterprise wiki with a WYSIWYG editor.

MotherWiki - A wiki farm that is aimed at getting wikis started and then helping them migrate to their own servers or wiki host.

Self-Hosted

Bitweaver - A CMS built around a wiki platform.

bLADE Wiki - A freeware personal wiki for note management.

BoltWire - A small (about 80K) and simple, but powerful, wiki engine.

ButorWiki - An open source Java wiki and CMS.

Canvas ColdFusion Wiki - A ColdFusion wiki built using Model-Glue with a powerful API.

Clearspace - A business collaboration platform that includes wiki functionality.

codeBeamer - A business collaboration suite with an enterprise wiki.

ConnectedText - A free personal wiki for managing your information, notes, and more.

daisy - A content repository and management system with a wiki front-end.

Deki - A downloadable, open source enterprise wiki.

DokuWiki - A standards-compliant wiki specifically for documentation creation.

ErfurtWiki - A PHP-based wiki.

Foswiki - An open-source wiki that supports active and passive macros to enhance usability and functionality.

trac - A wiki-based project management application.

Gazest - A community engine based on a wiki platform.

GeboGebo - A free wiki system that runs on Linux.

GroupsWiki - An open source, rails- and prototype-based WYSIWYG wiki.

Hatta Wiki - A wiki that uses a Mercurial repository to store pages.

IkeWiki - A wiki engine that supports semantic annotation by users.

ikiwiki - A wiki compiler that converts wiki pages into HTML pages.

Instiki - A wiki that supports file uploads, PDF export, RSS feeds and more, making it suitable for use as a CMS.

WikyBlog - A wiki/blog hybrid that was designed for ease of use and speed and uses an AJAX-enhanced interface.

Jacwiki - A php-based 34KB wiki that even includes CAPTCHA.

JAMWiki - A java-based wiki that doesn’t require an external database.

JSPWiki - An extensible wiki engine built around J2EE components.

KeheiWiki - A wiki engine named after a seaside town in Hawaii.

LionWiki - A file-based wiki suitable for small sites or personal journals that is extensible and templatable.

wikidBASE - An app that combines a wiki with the functionalities of a database system.

LunaWiki - A flexible and usable wiki that descended from the QwikiWiki platform.

MicKi - A micro wiki engine with minimal demands on its environment.

miniWiki - A PHP based wiki that’s aimed at single users or small groups with no anonymous editors.

MoinMoinWiki - An extensible wiki engine for collaboration on pages that are easily editable.

Perspective - A free Microsoft .Net wiki popular with big businesses.

PhpWiki - A clone of the original WikiWikiWeb written in PHP.

SmallWiki - A free and open source wiki platform for non-commercial use.

Pimki - An Instiki-based personal information manager.

PmWiki - A customizable wiki engine with hundreds of extensions.

Oddmuse - A wiki engine built in Perl and released under the GNU GPL.

PodWiki - A wiki built using the PerlPod markup.

ProntoWiki - A wiki engine built in ASP .NET with a customizable appearance and layout.

ProWiki - An open source wiki engine originally forked from UseMod.

ScrewTurn Wiki - An ASP .NET wiki engine that installs in minutes and is customizable with plugins and themes available.

Sycamore - An easy to use wiki engine available under the GNU GPL.

telepark.wiki - A business wiki engine you can try for free.

TiddlyWiki - A wiki engine that consists of a single HTML file that can be emailed, put online or even stored on a portable USB drive.

WikiPoint - Adds wiki functionality to SharePoint.

TikiWiki - A CMS that includes a wiki engine.

Traction TeamPage - An enterprise wiki and blog platform.

VQWiki - “Very Quick Wiki” is a wiki server software based on Java.

WackoWiki - A lightweight wiki engine based on WakkaWiki but with additional features.

Wala - A wiki engine designed to be friendlier and less intimidating to casual users and contributors.

WiClear - A wiki engine still in the early stages of its development.

wikepage - A wiki-blog hybrid released under the GNU GPL.

KiWi - A knowledge management wiki that includes Semantic Web elements.

Wiki Asp - A free wiki that’s easy to use.

WikiDoc - A Windows executable wiki that doesn’t require a web server or database installation and runs right from your PC.

WikiNi - A simple and effective wiki engine for internet or intranet sites.

WikiSH - A small, fast, easy wiki that will run on any Unix machine.

WikkaWiki - A standards compliant, lightweight wiki engine forked from WakkaWiki.

Zwiki - A wiki engine for the Zope 2 application platform that also works within Plone sites.

XoWiki - A wiki based on a rich text editor.

Dandelion - An experimental wiki engine that uses a revision control system for storage.

CodexWiki - An Enterprise ColdFusion wiki that uses mediawiki syntax.

reviki wiki - A Java wiki with an SVN backend.

SnipSnap - Free Java weblog and wiki platform.

Svnwiki - A wiki that stores information in a Subversion repository.

CLiki - A wiki written in Common Lisp.

PumaWiki - Simple wiki that saves all of your information in text files instead of a database.

Ogham - A wiki-like CMS that doesn’t use wiki syntax or automatic linking.

Sputnik - An extensible, full-featured wiki that’s easy to install and doesn’t require root access.

pikipiki - A small, Python-based wiki engine.

PikiePikie - A wiki engine that supports easy text input and image uploading.

wikidPad - An open source, wiki-like notebook.

Hiki - A Ruby-based wiki engine.

Swiki Swiki - A wiki engine written in Squeak.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, eyeidea

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That 360 Chatpad hack we saw back in November was certainly an impressive enough proof of concept, but if you want to get a bit more typing done with a bit less cluttter, you’ll no doubt be quite a bit more impressed with this latest mod by the very same Ralf Ackermann. This setup uses a Robotech Bluetooth module that’s placed in a modified battery sleeve and connected to an unlocked iPhone (or iPod Touch) which, in turn, communicates with the keyboard using the Bluetooth SPP profile (a VNC server and a few other tricks also come into the picture). Of course, that’s still a long ways from an officially supported solution, but if you’re looking to give it a go, Ralf is promising to dish out the necessary schematics and source code soon.

Filed under: Peripherals

DIY external iPhone keyboards get a tad more practical originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 31 Dec 2008 11:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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