Cheap Tech

Is your browser keeping tabs on you?

If you've updated to the new 3.5 version of Firefox, one of the new features is called "location aware browsing."

This means that your browser can tell Web sites where you are. Of course, the Mozilla community says you have to agree to allow such monitoring.

Here's what Mozilla had to say:

"Now Firefox can tell websites where you’re located so you can find info that’s more relevant and more useful (for example, getting directions or finding restaurants near you). It's all optional - Firefox doesn't share your location without your permission - and is done with the utmost respect for your privacy."

 I gave it shot using Google Maps (click on the small dot under the directional arrows and above the magnifying bar. At home, the browser located me in the Rochester area (a circle about 40 miles in diameter). At work, the closest it could get was a broad view of Minneapolis.

But some are reporting down-to-the-street accuracy.

Check it out yourself.

Google looks to outshine Windows with Chrome OS

If you had to pick one tech company to put a serious challenge to Microsoft's Windows operating system, what company would it be?

Google, of course.

The Mountainview behemoth took aim at Windows on Tuesday, promising an open-source OS to challenge Microsoft and Apple for netbook turf.

Google promises "speed, simplicity and security" with its new OS. Haven't we heard that before?

Is Facebook turning your brain to mush?

A University of Oxford neuroscientist says social networking sites such as Facebook might be altering your brain.

From the Chicago Tribune:

This is your brain.

This is your brain on Facebook.

It's an advertisement you might see someday, if testimony given to the British House of Lords this month is to be believed. In remarks that have stirred up a tempest in the British media and on the Internet, Baroness Susan Greenfield, a neuroscientist at the University of Oxford, warned that the instant feedback and impersonal communication offered by social networking sites could drive human brains and behavior in negative directions.

"As a consequence, the mid-21st Century mind might almost be infantilized, characterized by short attention spans, sensationalism, inability to empathize and a shaky sense of identity," Greenfield said Feb. 12.

So, we might all become blubbering idiots, but at least we'll have friends!

Don't let that old Xbox gather dust!

My wife and I broke down and bought an original Xbox for our two sons several years ago.

The boys were ecstatic when they unwrapped their prize and saw the neon green X that promised worlds of adventure and teenage RSI.

But alas, like all technology, the Xbox was soon usurped. Microsoft molded a new, translucent object of desire, and the black plastic box was shoved into the corner, crowned with a tangle of old-school corded controllers encrusted with dust.

That's when I claimed it, dusted off its crown and once again made it king of our family room.

Using some straightforward soft-mod instructions from the ever-resourceful Gina Trapani at Lifehacker, I transformed the old Xbox into a Linux computer and loaded it with XBMC (Xbox Media Center) software. Instead of Splinter Cell and Halo, I was going to use the Xbox and my Internet connection to get "Family Guy" and "Battlestar Galactica."

While there's no sense recreating Gina's instructions (I'd never do it as well), I did stumble on a few things:

-- Getting the hack through IRC was an incredible hassle. My FTP client (FileZilla) kept getting booted when I navigated to the proper directory for the download. Since the "super-secret" FTP username and password work only once, I couldn't log back in. After hours of frustration, I learned that if I left FileZilla pointed to the proper directory, then asked again via IRC for a password (using the same name), I could start the download without getting kicked off. This took me hours to noodle out.

-- The latest build of the most popular XBMC distro is freely available at T3CH. You want to grab the "bleeding edge" version. (I started with the "stable" version, but soon updated it).

-- The Action Replay software that I received was buggy. The software presents you with three panels, which represent the three locations (memory card, PC and online) available for game saves or exploits. The Lifehacker instructions say to drop the exploit on the PC panel, then drag it to the memory card. I got the exploit into the PC panel by dragging if from my Windows desktop, but the software would not allow me to drag it from one panel to another. After considerable frustration, I simply dragged the exploit from my desktop onto the memory card panel and it worked!

-- The Lifehacker instructions say to "install the softmod" but they don't say where. The Xbox hard drive is partitioned into several drives. I guessed C:/ and it worked.

Once the installation was done, I went in search of scripts and plugins to extend the capabilities of my reborn wonder. I started with a plugin to stream video from the popular Web site Hulu, which hosts thousands of TV shows and movies.

I was disappointed when the plugin didn't work. I could navigate the directories, but the videos wouldn't play. I spent hours online looking for answers (documentation for this stuff is sparse to non-existent). I eventually just updated the XBMC software. Once the new "bleeding edge" software was installed, the Hulu plugin worked like a charm. I spent the next 90 minutes watching "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels."

Spurred on by my success, I downloaded the Navi-X Media Browser, which essentially puts another media player inside XBMC. The Navi-X package includes scripts for dozens of online media sources, including YouTube, Adult Swim, Flickr and others. In my experience, some worked and others didn't, but there are more than enough to keep you busy for weeks.

Next up, I'm going to custom keymap my universal remote (I already have an IR adapter) so that I can shed the old-school controller.

All this for less than $30. W00t!

Google Earth adds ocean discovery

Google Earth, the super-cool way to go where you can't afford, has just released version 5.0, which now allows users to dive beneath the surface of the ocean.

Google teamed with marine experts from National Geographic and the BBC to offer people underwater topography, points of interest and marine biology.

Version 5.0 also includes historical photos and imagery, so you can see how a place looked over time.

It's pretty cool stuff. And best of all, it's free!