Sunday, I clicked a link from Twitter friend, Daynah, the PHP Princess . It took me to a Seesmic video posted by Eric Rice. The video is an augmented reality demonstration that gives us a glimpse into the future. Eric also blogged about the potential of augmented reality at ericrice.com/spin.

This kind of stuff is what The Big Trip is all about. I’d travel the world if I could, capturing innovation in HD and sharing what I find. I want to be Indiana Jones in reverse! Buying a bus is a pain in the butt, it turns out. You can track our progress (and lack of it) at BigTrip.TV.

Obscura Digital has also been showing off some beautiful tech. They combined their multi-touch research with a Musion Eyeliner holographic projection system to demonstrate the future of presentations.

It took 40 minutes to update my iPhone with the 2.0.1 update, but so far, it’s been good. The most annoying issue fixed by the update (for me) was how hitting the delete button once would activate delete, delete, delete, delete, etc., until my whole line of text disappeared. iPhone App reviews are at www.iCali.tv.

John Carmack, anything but an Apple fanboi says the iPhone is more powerful than the Nintendo ds and PSP combined.

The Boynq Swing is possibly the greatest design for a USB hub ever conceived.

Planon, the company that brought us the DocuPen scanner (covered on Brief 22), now has a tiny pocketable printer called the PrintStik. It connects to a mobile phone or laptop via bluetooth, and based on one of the promotional photos, it’s apparently ideal for printing in a restroom stall.

Maclife.com has a DIY solution for stoping GSM buzz coming from speakers when a mobile phone is nearby. It involves ferrite beads and electrical tape. The MacLife step-by-steps are here.

We thought we had the fireplace portablity market cornered with our iYule Log, but the Travelmate Portable Fireplace has taken the throne with their fireplace in a briefcase. I’m just not sure how a story about fireplaces starts circulating in August!

NetShare is an iPhone app that allows you to use your iPhone as a modem to connect a laptop to the Internet. It’s been on and off the App Store. Hopefully by the time you see this, it’ll still be available. You can download it here.

Neal, my husband and co-producer, has been asking me to show him how I use gmail filters to keep my inbox organized. I figured, if he doesn’t know how to do it, he’s probably not alone. I posted my tip on iCali.TV.

TechCrunch says Amazon has sold 240,000 Kindles.

John P. Falcone got his hands on the LG BD300, a Blu-ray player that’s definitely on my list when I get ready to buy a Blu-ray player.

The IEEE approved Firewire 3200. That’s awesome, and I can’t wait, but someone needs to do something about the mini DV connector!

Join us every week for our live weekly show called Cali Live. Our schedule for the next few shows is at www.iCali.tv and you can use my Gmail calendar to get updated when I schedule new shows.

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That’s true, but it doesn’t scale. The extra steps to select the text, copy, paste and search multiplied by a thousand times a week or so, is a tremendous time suck. I hate that this is true, but having to select, copy, paste, and search puts me in a skeptical mood. That’s not the mood you want me in when I go to your site.

I’m happy to look at anything people send. It’s my life, and the thing I spend the majority of my time on. I’m making a request to anyone who wants me to look at something…pretty please, with sugar on top, and bacon on the side, throw the link in the email! You will be dramatically improving the quality of my life.

I asked for video of Microsoft’s Sphere at the Research Faculty Summit. Todd Bishop provided it.

Dell’s Studio Hybrid Desktop PCs provide a design alternative to the Mac Mini. You get your choice of 6 color sleeves or a bamboo sleeve.

Brando released the SATA HDD Multimedia Dock, which lets you connect it to a TV. It’s a great price for a media center, even if it is a little unattractive.

Slydial gives you the option of calling someone and going straight to their voicemail so you don’t have to talk to them. People like Louise and Neal are going to love this!

I keep talking about Bacon Tech, and now we have some real bacon tech. The Wake ‘n’ Bake Alarm Clock will actually cook your bacon in the morning and wake you up happy.

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Cali’s Necklace is a NeoCube

One of my friends, Jeff McCord recently wrote a post on his blog about the nastiness of comments on YouTube. I keep hearing the same thing about Digg.com users too. The Web is very much an extension of who we are as people and it’s really sad when we forget that. I think I’m guilty too. The episode where I made fun of Gary Krakow for saying Steve Jobs should “put the BlackBerry on the iPhone” was a perfect example of me not thinking about Krakow as a fellow human being. Even though I thought (and lots of bloggers thought) what Gary said was crazy, my goal is not to be mean to anyone anytime.

Geoff Smith might be well known for his “can’t get them outta my head” jingles, but he’s a brilliant musician who records real music that I love. Jonathan Davis is a student filmmaker who interned for us last Christmas. This Summer, Jonathan is interning for one of the top music video producers in the world. Neal thought it would be cool to introduce Jonathan to Geoff on the off chance that Jonathan could help Geoff do a little music video. Jonathan didn’t just help Geoff do a little music video. Jonathan and Geoff produced an amazing music video based on Geoff’s song Ones and 0s.

Ones and 0s is about how nasty comments on a blog post can really hurt a person. I loved the song from the first time I heard it. I hope you like the song and the premiere of the video. We’re honored that Geoff and Jonathan are letting us release it first. If you have a blog or a Web site and you like the song and the video, please consider embedding it. This version is just the video without me introducing it. I love the idea of confronting mean, inappropriate comments with music.

There’s also an Apple TV optimized version in my Junk Trunk at junktrunk.mevio.com

Geoff and Jonathan will join me live on Ustream.TV Wednesday night at 6 PM PDT. I want to deconstruct the making of the video with them. If you have questions about how the video was made, join us!

It’s been a long drive. I’m going to sleep and I’ll be back with tech news in about 24 hours.

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About 35 people joined us at the Emergency BBQ Meetup at Bluegrass Restaurant in Highland Park, IL. Thanks to Jim Lederer and Dave Teichman for their hospitality. John Pozadzides was also in town for Hosting Con. John Stopped by and let us know Woopra 1.2 RC2 is now available for download. Here are the links:

Windows Version
Mac Version
Linux Version

Google has been the top search engine for years. Some new kids are challenging the search giant. We looked at Viewzi a while back and I still think it’s the most interesting search alternative. Cuil (unfortunately pronounced cool) launched Sunday night. They’re new, so I want to give them a shot, but so far some of the results are a little odd. Rafe Needleman wrote about the Cuil launch on Webware.

d-VISION is an internship program for product development and industrial designers. Flowlight is one of their current projects and it promises the ability to write on the air.

At the meetup, I unboxed, or really I re-unboxed, the Beats by Dr. Dre headphones. I’m impressed and encourage you to try out a pair after they go on display in Apple Stores. I’m impressed, but I’m no audiophile. Here is what 3 reviewers had to say about the Beats:

Charlie White, Dvice
John Biggs, CrunchGear
Josh Quittner, Time.com

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We’re having a Chicago meetup this weekend. Details are at www.Carnivore.tv.

When: Sunday, July 27th
Where: Bluegrass Restaurant: 1636 Old Deerfield Road, Highland Park, Illinois
Phone: 847-831-0595
More Details: www.Carnivore.tv

I’ll be getting Beats Headphones in the mail soon to review. Early reviews look very good!

Ion’s USB VCR allows you to convert your old VHS and prepare the video for watching on portable devices.

If you have a Blackberry and you have playlists in iTunes, you can use the Media Sync application to sync changes to your playlists.

I can’t wait to see Microsoft Research’s Multi-touch Spherical Display. We’re being teased with small tidbits of information, and hope to see more at the Research Summit next week.

The Acrylic Cowboy PC Case lets you mount PC components so you can plug and unplug and test all the components you want.

I can’t write shownotes because it would give away the joke! This episode is Max Murphy’s (from Mac News Weekly) fault.

Our Chicago meetup details are at www.Carnivore.tv

I’m continually impressed with research coming out of Georgia Tech. The latest accomplishment is a project by Dr. Maysam Ghovanloo and his students. It’s called Tongue Drive System and it allows people who have been paralyzed to control their wheelchair or a computer by a magnet on their tongue.

Google Maps released Walking Directions to get you from point A to point B on foot.

Lifehacker pointed me to a great work around for using Google to search all cities in Craigslist. When you’re looking for an item, sometimes it just doesn’t matter where you find it. Take a bus, for example.

Westfalia announced they’ll be making a new VW bus-inspired camper called the Verdier Solar Power.

WordPress for iPhone was released today. It allows you to create, edit and post to a Wordpress blog from an iPhone or iPod Touch.

Mike Arrington has an idea and I like it. He wants the tech community to build an Internet tablet that is inexpensive and that does one thing well…he wants it to browse the Internet. He’s laying out the specs and for the most part, I like his specs.

Mike wants an Internet tablet that isn’t meant to do much beyond browsing the Web. Simplicity should lower the cost. He wants it to be Macbook Air-thin, with a touch screen that runs Firefox and Skype on top of a Linux kernel. He just wants a single button for power, a headphone jack, a built-in camera, low-end speakers, a mic, Wi-Fi, a USB port, a built-in battery, half a gig of ram, and a 4 GB solid state hard drive.

I’m on board in support of the mission. This is actually my dream for Geek Brief … the democratization of product development. I want the tech community to work together to create a piece of kit that we want to own. If you want to jump on board, Mike is arranging the details at, Mr. Cynical’s post here.

Samsung added something new to the digital camera mix. A couple of analog meters show photographers the status of their battery and their smart card and it looks better than anything I’ve ever seen before.

The Periodic Table of Videos is right up my alley. I love when scientists figure out how to present science in a way that makes it fun. With the Periodic Table of Videos you get a standard Periodic Table of Elements where clicking on an element leads to a very fun video demonstrating what that element is all about.

Also The Big Lebowski is 10 years old and available in a commemorative edition that collectors will want.

It’s been a really, really long time since we released a bloopers special. Friends of the Brief (affectionately known as Fothbas or Briefers around our house) ask at meet-ups and in email for a new one. Neal was moving archives from 500 GB My Books to a Drobo this week and he found 5 unreleased blooper reels with about 20 minutes of non-stop giggles. These are the ones that made us laugh the most.

Thursday was a big day for domain name purchases at GoDaddy.com because it was the first time the .me top-level extension was available. People were pinging me on Twitter and calling me on the phone asking which promo code would be best, but then it turned out promo codes weren’t working on some .me purchases. If you’re in the market for a .me or a .com or a dot something else, I apprecieate you trying my promo codes GB1, GB2 or GB3 at check out and I apologize if they aren’t working to give you a discount. I’ve called Mevio to get it figured out. Bob Parsons, the CEO of GoDaddy is a great guy. I don’t think this was intentional. It seems like their system was overwhelmed by all the orders because .me (nothing to do with MobileMe) is such a great extension.

I noticed I was bending to the will of some iPhone critics and restraining myself from talking much about iPhone 3G. Since GeekBrief.TV is primarily about what excites me in the world of technology, I realized why I was so willing to hold back on the show. I’m not exactly excited about the iPhone 3G. I like it. There isn’t really anything I don’t like about it other than it’s tied to AT&T. The thing that excites me most about iPhone is the 2.0 software and the App Store. I’ve been doing mini reviews and tips on my blog at www.iCali.tv all week.

I mentioned the Voodoo Envy a few shows back. LaptopMag.com showed off an awesome feature of the Envy. It’s called IOS, or Instant On Operating System. It’s powered by Splashtop and it gives users instant access to important applications while the full OS boots up in the background.

Code Tech is a WYSIWYG editor browser-based code editor by Zachary Carter that comes in the form of a Firefox plug-in. I’ll definitely be using it.

A couple weeks ago my obsession was camera switching for live streaming video. Mike Versteeg is meeting that need with VidBlaster. Now my obsession is home automation and a number of GBTV viewers pointed me toward Savant Systems. It’s unique in the world of Home automation because it’s built largely on Mac hardware. I’m going to work on getting a Savant guy on Geek Brief Radio to talk about what they’re doing. Alex Lindsay featured the system On MacBreak #158.

TuneUp is an app for Windows iTunes users to keep iTunes clean and organized.

The Hacked OH! *#% Flash Drive make geek 2GB or your data safe in a completely unique way.

The HomeSeer HomeTroller is an energy efficient home automation appliance that can controll your lights, appliance, climate, security, telephones, irrigation, window shades and home entertainment equipment. Thanks to AutomatedHome.co.uk for the heads up!

N-Gage has a FIFA football game that’s free through August, but only in certain European countries.

PS3 pricing will drop to $400 for the 80GB version in September.

Lyndsay Williams from Girton Labs is working a project called SenseSurface. It makes it possible to use physical knobs on a fluid display.

Nintendo announced the Wii MotionPlus. It’s an ad-on to your existing remote that will make it more responsive and more accurate.

xBox 360 will also have some changes to the dashboard. Microsoft announced an exclusive agreement with Netflix to bring 10,000 movies to xBox Live subscribers at no additional cost. Tell me what you think about the changes in the comments below.

Mosquito repellent sounds coming to Korean phones.

There’s a Battlestar Gallactica Toaster at the NBC Store.

We talked about the NeoCube a while ago. We finally got it and haven’t put it down since. I highly recommend it, but since there seems to be one guy selling them, delivery takes for …. ever!

Apple released the iPhone 3G today and it was a rough start.

After watching TWiT Live for several hours yesterday, we didn’t go to bed. We were already planning to line up at the Apple Store in Northpark at 6 AM, so we pulled an all nighter in solidarity with Leo Laporte. When we arrived at Northpark, the line was longer than last year, but it seemed to be a very different crowd. Few of the people waiting were the same early adopters we waited with last year. These were mostly first time iPhone buyers and we had fun talking to them about why they were getting a 3G.

Since our wait was 10 hours last year, the two hours between lining up and the line starting to move zipped by. The most interesting thing about the line is that it grew as long or longer in two hours as it got in all 10 hours last year. The line started to move and nice folks in Apple shirts started telling us what to expect and passing out smart water. With the entrance within view, we started joking about people going in and not coming out. I was #66 in line and at the time I was allowed into the store, only two or three people had exited with iPhones in shiny white bags.

In the store we learned the processing system wasn’t able to handle the demand. The servers were crashing and people were having difficulty being approved by AT&T’s registration process. In the store, it took me an hour to go through a bureaucratic process that seems barely like Apple in any way. Then it was as if Steve Jobs stepped in because all of a sudden, the procedure was abandoned and we were able to buy a phone to activate at home, just like last year.

I plugged a 16GB White iPhone into iTunes and it was working and loaded with apps and songs within about 30 minutes. It was a rough start, but the Apple employees at Northpark were exceptionally graceful and cheerful while the plans were crashing all around them. They turned a complete and total mess into a fun morning and a nice experience. This year didn’t have the magic last year did, but it is still a day I expect to remember fondly for a long, long time.

I woke up this morning to a flurry of activity in the tech world. The iPhone 2.0 software had been unofficially released, and the App Store was in iTunes. I downloaded some apps quickly before heading to the airport to pick up Dave Peterson.

Some of my favorites were PhoneSaber, AIM, Super Monkey Balls and HoldEm.

Seagate released their first 1TB hard drive.

Belkin’s BreakFree incorporates a Magsafe adapter with 1/4″ TRS cables, and the FlyWire streams HD video across the room to your flat screen across the room.

My iPhone line plans are at www.icali.tv.

On Brief #374, I put out a call to action for an affordable live switching application that would work with services like Ustream.tv and Stickam. After that, we began working with Mike Versteeg, the developer of Vidblaster. Vidblaster has actually been around for two years, but in the past couple weeks, Mike has been working hard (and amazingly fast!) at making it accomplish what we were looking for. There’s a growing need in the market for this application, and Mike is now offering it at an affordable price so churches, community groups, schools, and individuals can have access to software that gives us all a live TV studio at our fingertips.

Note: Some of you might notice that the audio is a bit softer in today’s show. We just forgot to Levelate.

Cali’s Tshirt was provided by Allmightys.com.

The Microsoft and Yahoo! saga continues.

Google is launching a new feature to allow you to close sessions left open on other computers so you can make sure no one has access to your account.

Lots of people asked for it, and we finally got it. Drobo released v2 today and this version has two firewire ports.

Pioneer has a prototype 400GB Blu-ray, read only, drive. Massive storage on an optical drive is on its way.

XBMC is changing their name to Plex Squared to avoid assumptions that it’s for the Xbox.

Cali’s Tshirt was provided by Allmightys.com.

The release of the iPhone last year was one of the most fun days of my life. We waited in line for ten hours and bonded with the people waiting with us. We're not expecting the same magic this year, but we still want to make it an unforgettable day.

Friday, July 11, 2008 People are flying and driving in to buy their phones with us at Northpark in Dallas, and then we'll all have lunch at Buca di Beppo (Park Lane).

The music video is from the launch of the iPhone and the song is Hello, Hello by Geoff Smith. You can buy his latest album, Ones and 0's, at RingtoneFeeder.com. You can also follow him on Twitter at Twitter.com/GeoffSmith.

We’re giving up DV tapes in our production flow with the Firestore FS5 release.

Matt, or Multiple Account Twitter Tweeting, is the first service I think I might continue to use to post my tweets to multiple accounts. The only downside that I’ve found is that posting isn’t immediate.

AT&T is working to make purchasing the iPhone 3G seem as complicated and unpleasant as possible.

My t-shirt was provided by Allmightys.com.

You can find the Firestore FS4 on eBay here.

Drobo released an SDK today. Developers can build apps to make Drobo do more after joining the Drobo Developer Community.

Fontstruct is a free, Web-based app for future typography rock stars. I want the creator of the next Helvetica to be a GeekBrief.TV viewer.

GoLive2 is releasing a Wiimote inspired series of controllers for PC gaming and they’re calling them Stix.

Philippe Starck designed a small wind turbine that might generate 20% to 60% of the energy needed to power a home. I skeptical, but definitely interested.

149 Series Mitsubishi HDTVs will include 16-point speaker systems that simulate 5.1 surround sound.

After trying multiple iPhone cases, I finally found one that I’m happy with. It’s called the Naked Case.

The Dock Extender from SendStation is a universal dock extension kit that lets you plug your iPhone in a dock without removing the case.

RuinediPhone.com has a petition to try and get Apple to intervene for Canadians and make Rogers offer a more acceptable rate plan.

The PlantSense GardenGro offers a more high tech approach to growing plants.

Neal is finally starting to use Firefox 3 as his main browser, thanks to extensions like Gspace. Gspace makes it easy to use Gmail for storage. You can download the extension here.

Bill Gates says goodbye.

Rogers Wireless is still crap.

Princeton is making textbooks available on Kindle.

The Monsterpod, apparently, sticks anywhere.

The Super Side Bar is a Liquor faucet.

VidBlaster is working with Ustream. Test tomorrow at 4:00 PM Central time at www.CaliLIVE.tv.

We’re on our way back home from the Bus inspection and this is one last show show in a hotel room.

ICANN will begin allowing vanity domain name extensions next year for a hefty fee.

NeoCubes are now shipping.

Bluraymods.com announced the first region-free Blu-ray DVD player.

HP Labs has a new idea in private Beta. MagCloud is a print-on-demand magazine service that makes it possible for anyone to become a magazine publisher.

Yes! I’ve seen the Terra Wind Amphibious RV! :) Uncrate featured it today.

Today’s Brief comes to you from a hotel room that looks like a grandma’s house.

Tnkgrl solved the problem of why MacBook Air super drives only work with MBAs and she explains how to get one working with any Mac or PC on her blog, tnkgrl.wordpress.com.

SmugMug has a new service for unlimited storage of any type of file. The service is called SmugVault and it’s built on Amazon Web Services. Storage costs pennies per GB.

D-Link dropped an update for their DNS-323 NAS. The update turns it into a PC-free BitTorrent machine. They also released a new router, the DIR-628, that is dual-band. The 2.4GHz channel is for regular network traffic and the 5.4GHz channel is for media distribution.

The Boy Genius Report got a tip that the iPhone will go on sale at 8AM on July 11th.

SlashGear says JVC will release the world’s thinnest 1080p LCD HDTV in July.

Tomorrow we’re having a bus inspected. I’ll be providing updates on Twitter and live video from Qik.

Based on what I’ve seen so far, Spy Pens haven’t surpassed novelty quality. OhGizmo.com pointed us toward a new one called the DVR Pen Recorder that stores up 30 hours of audio and video, but only at a resolution of 352×288.

Sony’s HDR-CX12 Memory Stick Handycam camcorder uses “smile shutter technology” to automatically take photos of people when they smile.

SpotCrime recently got TechCrunched. It’s a google map mashup that gives you a graphical representation of crime activity in a particular area on the map.

Psystar is tempting fate again by selling an OSX rack server.

iRetroPhone is a rotary dial for iPhone.

PortableApps.com is a source for downloading small applications that run from a flash drive, including Firefox 3.

Kaleidescape released two new movie players. The 1080p upscales stand definition DVDs to deliver a viewing experience that rivals Blu-ray. Information about the Kaleidescape court case is here and a review of the player is here.

The Aztech WL850MS HD Media Streamer uses wireless N to stream 1080p video wirelessly over your home network.

The Cuisipro Ice Cream Scoop & Stack produces 3.75 oz., perfectly cylindrical scoops.

Rogers Wireless may match AT&T pricing for the iPhone, including the data plan.

Popgadget has a tip for skipping voice mail greetings when you call mobile phones.

XBMC is a cross-platform media center application that works on OSX, Windows, Linux and Xbox. It’s my favorite application for the Mac that I’ve come across this year. Thanks to everyone who recommended it.