• Linda Stone: Is it Time to Retire the Never-Ending List? on HuffingtonPost.com: "What did surgeons, artists, and CEO's have in common? Most of them reported that they managed both their time and their attention. In surgery, in the studio, and in the time carved out to think through strategies and issues, these professionals reported shutting down the devices and endless inputs (email, phone, interruptions), at scheduled times, and claiming those moments to focus. In almost every case, these professionals reported experiencing "flow" (a la Csikszentmihalyi) in their work." [ via 43folders ]

• Apple's MobileMe drops support for IE 6 on 37signals: "So it’s interesting that MobileMe is the first major web application (that I know of, at least) that’s dropped IE 6 support completely. It’s a gutsy move, since Apple’s billing it as a way to access your data from anywhere.

  And I’m hoping it’s the beginning of a trend. IE 6 is definitely the most painful browser for us to support – it’s seven years old and doesn’t even fully support the CSS 1.0 standard created in 1996."

  Let the cheerleading for the abandoment of IE6 begin, and let it continue with me.
• Blender Bottle on CoolTools: "The Blender Bottle is a shaker bottle with a free-floating surgical stainless steel wire ball inside. A total boon for anyone who mixes formulas, shakes, mixes or other powdered drinks... Previously I had normal shaker bottles that always, regardless of how much shaking I did, left clumps of mix, especially at the bottom of the shaker... The whisking ball is really ingenious, but this is also the first bottle I have ever owned that I can shake without holding onto the lid at the same time. The spout is that secure."

• The Tragedy of America's Disappearing Fathers on WSJ.com: "As we celebrate Father's Day tomorrow, we should reflect upon a sad fact: It is now common to meet young people in our big city schools, foster-care homes and juvenile centers who do not know their dads. Most of those children have come face-to-face with their father at some point; but most have little regular contact with the man, or have any faith that he loves or cares about them...

  This represents a dramatic shift in American life. In the early 1960s, only 2.3% of white children and 24% of black children were born to a single mom. Having a dad, in short, is now a privilege, a ticket to middle-class status on par with getting into a good college."

• Remembering Russert: Bills had a special place in journalist's life on NFL.com: "Tim Russert truly loved the Buffalo Bills. Loved them because they were his hometown team. Loved them because they were an integral part of his earliest and fondest childhood memories. Loved them because of the bond they helped create between him and his father, the subject of his bestselling book, Big Russ & Me: Father and Son: Lessons of Life. Loved them because of the direct and unbreakable link between his heart and their fortunes.

  When I heard the shocking news that his heart had suddenly stopped beating on Friday, I, like others who call Buffalo home, immediately thought about the connection between Russert and the Bills."

  What a shame that he died so young and so close to Father's Day.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 12:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I'm planning to launch an audio podcast about ice hockey officiating this September, so I'm looking at hardware and software I'll need to produce a podcast. One thing I want to buy for myself is a compact USB microphone because I'm sure that the built-in microphone on my MacBook Pro will not be adequate.

A couple of weeks ago on MacBreak Weekly Episode 90, Leo Laporte recommended the Blue Microphones Snowflake. This is a compact USB microphone that can sit on a desk or be mounted on the top of the screen of a notebook computer. It's PC and Mac compatible and requires no special USB driver.

MacBreak 118, which was recorded at MacWorld, featured the Snowflake microphone:

The video is a good illustration of several possible configurations.

Getting back to MacBreak Weekly Episode 90, I realized that I was way out of my league in terms of objectively choosing a microphone on my own when Leo Laporte started talking about the "headroom" on the Snowflake versus another more expensive model from Blue called the Snowball. Leo likes the Snowflake because he says it has more headroom and is more likely to perform well if you overdrive it than the Snowball will.

I had to Google around a bit to find an article called Headroom - What is it? Why do you need it?. According to the article:

Headroom is the difference in decibels between the highest level a system can take without distortion, and the highest level the engineer expects to use.

Listening back through the product picks section of MacBreak Weekly Episode 90, I understand what Laporte is saying. He thinks that recordings from the Snowball are more likely to sound clipped if the source (the speaker, a singer, or a musician) is louder than expected when the microphone is first positioned. The Snowflake is better in this respect. That's good to know.

The key thing for me is that I need a small portable microphone that I can use to record my sections of the podcast, that I can use for iChat and Skype sessions, and occasionally use for voiceovers in GarageBand and iMovie '08. Laporte's comments on the Snowflake make me think that this microphone is a good choice because I'll have some margin for error until I become really familiar with how it works.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 10:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

One of the best ways to entertain my son Jimmy over the past week or so has been to put him in the Chariot Cougar 1 Carrier that I use as a bike trailer and tow him around the backroads near our house in Newtown, PA.

Jimmy in the Chariot Cougar 1: We've ridden the backroads around
Newtown together for the past few sunny days, building up our
endurance. [ Photo: Dave Aiello on Flickr ]

Kathleen and I bought the Cougar 1 last year, around the time Jimmy turned one year old. He wasn't really ready to ride in it last summer. I got it out right after Memorial Day and started riding with him for 10 or 15 minutes at a time through the neighborhoods of Newtown Borough. He's really starting to like doing this because he can see people mowing their yards, and walking in the area around the Starbucks on State Street in a way that is different from when we push him in the stroller or pull him in his wagon.

If you are wondering, we bought the Chariot Cougar 1 because we thought after thoroughly researching the different models that this was the best, most protective child carrier we could get for use with our bikes. It's very solidly built and quite obvious to the other vehicles on the road.

Today we went on our longest ride yet, up and down Linton Hill Road through the intersection with Washington's Crossing Road in Newtown Township.

Riding up Linton Hill Rd in Newtown on a mtn bike with Jimmy in a Chariot Cougar 2 1. Felt like Alpe d'Huez, except the tifosi yelled "Daddy!"

If you pull one of these trailers with a two-year-old who weighs about thirty pounds riding in it, a speed bump is going to feel like a Category 4 climb in a bike race. Who needs any other aerobic activity? This is challenging.

I think Lance Armstrong did this with his son Luke in the offseason before he retired. Now I know why.

I hope that Jimmy and I can build up to an hour of riding, so I can take him on some of my training routes. I hope that he finds the scenery interesting enough. In the meantime, it's fun to get out with him, and here him yell and point at the lawn mowers, and the trucks, and the blue cars.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 12:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

Here's a follow up to last week's article about Smart cars on the road in the Philadelphia area. The Boston Globe published an article on Tuesday that indicates that many owners of SUVs and pickup trucks in New England are trying to sell their vehicles because of fuel costs.

Near the end of the article the reporter relates the following information, attributed to Herb Chambers, a prominent auto dealer in that part of the country:

At his Mini dealership, Chambers said people have been turning in Chevrolet Suburbans for the tiny British car in recent weeks. He currently has a one-year waiting list for the coveted Smart Car, an 8-foot-8-inch vehicle that gets more than 40 miles per gallon.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 1:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Yesterday on my way to the Philadelphia Airport to drop off Kathleen, Jimmy, and a couple of other relatives for a weekend trip to Atlanta, I saw two Smart ForTwos on the road in less than an hour.

Smart ForTwos like this one that was seen by
fleur-design in Louisville, KY are
appearing more frequently in the Philadelphia area
too. [ via Flickr ]

I saw one in Newtown coming on to the Newtown Bypass. I saw another headed south on 95 toward Center City before the Franklin Mills Mall area. Neither of these cars were Philly CarShare vehicles.

I'm really surprised at how quickly I'm starting to see these cars popping up around here. We live in a fairly affluent community here in Bucks County, but I don't really consider this area as trend setting as places like Manayunk or Conshohocken, or some other place where more city-oriented people with money live in this area.

I guess the fact that I saw these Smarts is an indication that people with disposable income are reacting to gasoline prices, concluding that the price trend is a long-term phenomenon, and adjusting their capital spending accordingly.

These cars cost as little as $11,600 if you want a completely stripped down model. I would never buy one that's low on features because you don't even get a radio, but you can get something reasonably equipped for under $15,000.

My friend Ramona Morel used to own a Smart. I rode in it in Zürich a few times. I didn't feel unsafe in it on the highway there. I wonder what it would be like to drive one in the USA?

Posted by Dave Aiello at 10:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The BlueLounge SpaceStation is a desk organizer for laptop users that acts as a USB hub for all peripheral devices.

BlueLounge SpaceStation [ Photo courtesy of the manufacturer. ]

The photo I've chosen shows the bottom of the SpaceStation. The rubber feet set the SpaceStation 5mm above the surface of the desk. This allows the USB cables to pass underneath the organizer where they can be coiled and connected to the USB hub.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 1:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

When I bought my MacBook Pro at the end of February, it was one of the first Macs shipped that didn't include the Apple Remote. This meant that I would have to buy one for $30 at the Apple Store or less if I shopped around.

Remote Buddy iPhone Interface: one of the unique features
that sets Remote Buddy apart from other Mac remote
control software.

I decided that I would start using the MacBook Pro and see if I missed the Apple Remote.

Over the past few weeks, I've thought about buying an Apple Remote but not pulled the trigger. I haven't needed to make any Keynote presentations, and I don't use iTunes locally on my Mac enough to make it worthwhile because I use my iPhone so much.

One thing I hadn't counted on was finding a Mac application that made my iPhone into a remote control for my Mac. Remote Buddy provides a framework in which remote control actions for many Mac applications can live. It supports a number of remote control devices including:

• Apple Remote
• iPhone and iPod Touch
• Griffin Airclick
• Nintendo Wii Remote

This makes Remote Buddy quite similar to Salling Clicker, a program that has existed for a long time and has many of the same features.

What makes Remote Buddy different is the mini Ajax-based web application that ships with it. You can install this app on your Mac and use it to present a remote control user interface on a non-jailbroken iPhone. This is a really cool idea if you ask me.

I'm sure that lots of people who use a MacOS X-based computer and an iPhone won't need something like Remote Buddy. However, if you are using your Mac as an automation hub, you may find Remote Buddy very useful.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 9:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

• How to link Twitter to Facebook - A Twitter Tutorial on AJVayerchuck.com: A concise explanation of how to install the Twitter app within Facebook and allow it to update your Facebook status.
• Clutter War II: Attack of the Giant Baby on 43Folders: "...you might be able to guess where my head is right now. Yep. It’s on clutter, and on what I need to do to get my face back into Peter Walsh’s excellent de-cluttering book as a means for regaining domestic sanity and striding toward the possibility of a life without tripping, piling, or losing what’s left of my sleep-deprived mind."
• Hi-Res YouTube Hacks on O'Reilly Digital Media: A great little article that covers why YouTube rocks for casual video sharing and how to force YouTube playback to the highest resolution possible.
• LCD Scrub cleans those stubborn stains from your screen on TUAW: "While LCD screens aren't nearly as likely to run into image persistence issues as older CRTs, they aren't immune to damage, as developer Daniel Sandler... learned to his dismay a year ago. After his flat-panel got munged by green static overnight, he whipped up a pattern-shifting screensaver to repair the burned-in pixels (based on Apple's recommendation of leaving an all-white image over the affected areas). Whaddaya know, it worked.... "
• Mac 101: Zoom and pan images in Quick Look on TUAW: "Is your laptop not among those that can do Multi-touch? Don't feel badly, you can replicate those great features!" I didn't know you could do zooming and panning in Quick Look.
• Media Center: Roll a Mac Mini Media Center with Leopard on Lifehacker: "We've talked about building a Mac mini media center and other ways to pimp your mini in the past, but blogger Jon Hicks revisits the Mac mini media center with a focus on using it with Leopard and EyeTV (a Mac DVR solution). While Apple TV is doing its best to justify a place in your living room, it still doesn't time-shift television, and many Mac enthusiasts still find that the Mac mini still outdoes Apple's latest media center offering."

Posted by Dave Aiello at 12:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

• For the Phinney Family, a Dream and a Challenge on NYTimes.com: This story came out last week, right before Taylor Phinney raced in the Individual Pursuits at the Track Cycling World Championships. Taylor finished eighth. His father, Davis, is a legendary U.S. cycling champ who has struggled with Parkinson's Disease in recent years. This article summarizes their recent struggles and successes.
• ScreenFlow: The Killer Screencasting App on MacTips: "ScreenFlow is the application I've been waiting for on the Mac. I've been using it recently for the MacTips Videos and I love it! It's saves me so much time because I'm able to focus on creating valuable content rather than editing videos."
• Dash’s Car Navigator Gives Smart Directions, if Others Participate, Walt Mossberg on AllThingsD: "As smart as in-car navigation devices are, they could be smarter. They could talk to each other via the Internet and share information on how fast traffic is moving on the roads they have just traveled.... Starting this week, just such a smarter navigation box is hitting the market. Called the Dash Express, this $400 product looks a lot like units from better-known firms... But, unlike any other in-car navigation device I’ve seen, each Dash Express... becomes part of a network, connected to the company via the Internet. "
• Windows XP: Going, going ... gone? on Computerworld: "The approaching death of Windows XP may upset you, but it shouldn't come as a surprise. Microsoft Corp.'s product life-cycle guidelines have foretold the fate of XP since 2001. In fact, Microsoft has been killing off one version of a product as it is replaced with another for years now. But this time around, the approaching demise of XP is getting more attention than, say, the final passing of Windows 2000."
• Coming Soon to a Phone Near You on WSJ.com: This article summarizes forthcoming developments in mobile phone voice control, improved web browsers, enhanced storage, and video sharing. [ Subscription may be required to read this article. ]
• How To Use Nokia’s Sports Tracker as a Photo Tracker on The Gadgets Page: "Ms. Jen was part of Nokia’s Urbanista Diaries Relay, which means they sent her to India to promote the Nokia N82 in all its glory. While on the trip, she realized how well the Sports Tracker (a typically exercise related feature) could be used to track the geo-locations of your photos"
• Note to readers: Today would be my grandfather James M. Lynch, Jr.'s 95th birthday. He died in 1982. He is one of the inspirations for this site, since he bought and tried every important electronic gadget that existed in the 1970s. He owned the first digital watch, desktop calculator, and personal computers I ever saw.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 9:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

• Stuff We Like: The Dave Laptop Stand on Lifehacker: "The Dave (oh Ikea, you and your names!) features adjustable height and angle, and can double as a TV tray or simple end table when you're not computing. If you've been looking for a better way to surf the internet from the comfort of your couch, the $25 Dave might be just the ticket."
• Optimizing File Sharing on Your Home Wi-Fi Network on Web Worker Daily: "A lot of people who have successfully put in a Wi-Fi network neglect to optimize the way files are shared between computers in a home or workgroup. You can choose ways to organize shared files, and ensure that files are shared securely or not visible to other users on your Wi-Fi network very easily...." Good instructions on how to do this whether you have Windows or Macs
• StrechCordz Short Resistance Training Belt on Cool Tools: "The StrechCordz resistance training belt makes expensive, complex, "endless" pools obsolete. At one end of a 4-foot, black rubber tube is a nylon belt with a simple plastic snap-clip that slips around my waist. On the other end is a loop I attach to the deep-end ladder of our modest home pool. That's it... just tether up and start swimming. Swim as hard and fast as you like yet stay in place."
• Cycling Photography Tips: Shooting Head On on Spare Cycles: "Shooting head on is both difficult and easy: difficult in that the rider is moving at you very fast so your margin for error is very little, but easy in that you don't have to move your camera very much at all."
• Easter's early this year. Deal with it. on God Plays Dice: "...the cycle of Easter dates repeat themselves every 5,700,000 years. The cycle of epacts (which encode the date of the full moon) in the Julian calendar repeat every nineteen years. There are two corrections made to the epact, each of which depend only on the century; one repeats (modulo 30, which is what matters) every 120 centuries, the other every 375 centuries, so the air of them repeat every 300,000 years. The days of the week are on a 400-year cycle, which doesn't matter because that's a factor of 300,000. So the Easter cycle has length the least common multiple of 19 and 300,000, which is 5,700,000." [ via Slashdot ]

Posted by Dave Aiello at 8:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

• Holy Saturday on Wikipedia: Lots of names exist for the day before Easter. I had no idea that so much thought had been put into this day over the years. Sorry if you consider this a sacrilege.
• Sk*rt: "Digg for Chicks" on How to Change the World (blog.GuyKawasaki.com): "I love Sk*rt. You can think of it as "Digg for chicks" (in the words of QueenofSpain), and it features the user-selected stories in topic such as Arts & Entertainment, Design & Crafts, Family & Parenting, and Food & Home."
• View higher quality videos on YouTube on MacOSXhints: "Many people are using a trick to view any YouTube video in high-quality -- simply append &fmt=18 to the end of the URL. This is a job for AppleScript! Here are two simple versions; the first, for for OmniWeb... and the second, for Safari...."
• Lemnis Pharox LED Bulb on CoolTools: "I have been dutifully buying the various LED bulbs being marketed as home incandescent replacements for a year or two. Up until now, all have had that weird, blue flickery LED light, and all have been expensive. The Lemnis Pharox is the first one that actually delivers as a home bulb replacement. It sips electricity pulling down a mere 4 watts, will last for 35 years, and replaces the light of a 40 watt incandescent."
• Adventures in Rechargeable Batteries on CodingHorror: "I've been a rechargeable battery user for years. It seems the frugal thing to do in the long run, and it's also healthier for the planet when we aren't discarding mountains of single-use batteries into landfills." Author Jeff Atwood provides a lot of tips on getting the most out of modern rechargeable batteries. [ via LifeHacker ]
• PimpMySafari.com, recommended by Merlin Mann on MacBreak Weekly. This is the reference site for all plugins and bookmarklets for the Safari web browser.
• First Look: Safari 3.1 adds speed and HTML 5 features on Computerworld: "With the 3.1 release, Safari has become the fastest browser you can use. If that isn't enough reason to make a switch, its strong adherence to Web standards and rapid adoption of new technologies might make you think again."

Posted by Dave Aiello at 7:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I made reference to an article called Reliance Digital to Open 60 iStores Across India yesterday in a Gadget Links post. One thing I noticed, but didn't have time to mention was the cost of a MacBook Air in India:

Among the products offered at iStore is MacBook Air, the world's thinnest notebook computer priced at {99,000 Rupees}.

What I normally do when I see a currency that I can't translate to U.S. Dollars off the top of my head is to submit a Google query. So I Googled "99000 rupees in USD", thinking I would get a fairly accurate conversion. I didn't, so I had to visit a foreign exchange trading website for the approximate value in dollars, which was given as $2483.69.

For some reason I also put "99000 rupees" into Google News and by chance got an article reporting that a four-door electric car called the Tara Tiny has just gone on sale in India for the same price. This is pretty amazing. According to the article:

This car was developed by Tara International, some of the features on the car are pretty basic but come on what do you want for the price a Rolls Royce, the Tara Tiny can seat 2 people and can be recharged daily at 220 volts through 15 amp sockets, a 8 hour charge enables the cars to travel 80 - 100 kilo meters. {sic}

The Tara Tiny looks as incredibly cheap as its price to me, from the photos I've seen. However, I think we should judge the car the same way most of us judged the MacBook Air when it first came out: don't criticize it until you see one up close.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 2:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Guy Kawaski, Will Mayall, and the rest of the folks at Nononina have built a new topic-based RSS aggregator called Alltop. There idea is to display the latest five stories from thirty or more blogs in each topic area. You can drill down to the topic areas that you are most interested in by using the appropriate subdomain URL. My favorites are:

• Sports
• Gadgets
• Mac

I'm also pretty interested in the Linux topic. I think there could be a market for a Web Development or PHP topic. There's already a Politics topic that probably would be a quick way to catch up on what's going on in the latest news cycle.

I think Alltop is an excellent idea and could be a mobile competitor to Google Reader if they create an iPhone version.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 10:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

• Topeak Mini 6 on CoolTools: "This incredibly compact, bike-oriented multi-tool has five different sizes of Allen wrench plus a Phillips screwdriver head, all of which folds up into a little pod about the size of a walnut. Sometimes I'll carry it in my pocket or toss it in shoulder bag; mostly I keep it in the under-seat pouch of my bike. It really comes in handy for quick adjustments...."
• Tapping Your TiVo's Hidden Talents on The Mossberg Solution in the WSJ: "... like any old friend -- or spouse -- who has been around for a while, TiVo has a few tricks up its sleeve that might surprise longtime users and new owners alike. This column includes just a handful of those tricks and highlights some features that may make TiVo more useful. These tips are for everyday users, not serious hackers, and many others exist."
• 1Password. It’s All I Need…And This Remote. on Apple Phone Show: "If there is anything I love more than software that works, it’s software that helps me save time and having to type on my iPhone’s keyboard. This is especially significant when having to type my uber-strong passwords into a login password field. I’ve been using 1Password since Macworld, and I really find it helpful...."

• iPhone SDK, Apple's Touch Platform, and The Next Two Decades on 37signals Signal versus Noise: "What we saw today {at the iPhone Software Roadmap Event} was the spark. The explosion will continue for twenty years. We will all feel the warmth."

  "What we saw today was the beginning of two-decades of mobile domination by Apple. What Microsoft and Windows was to the desktop, Apple and Touch will be to mobile...."



• Behind the scenes of the old school HBO intro, a video on YouTube noted on 37signals Signal versus Noise: If you have time to watch any of this 11-minute video produced by HBO about the filming of an introductory film clip that HBO used as a lead in to a feature film presentation, you will be amazed at the amount of time put into building scale models of a city, town, and countryside. Yes this was state-of-the art technology in 1982. But think of how differently it would be done today.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 5:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The first book I bought to try to get new ideas on how I could better leverage my iPhone as a multimedia Swiss Army Knife was iPhone Fully Loaded by Andy Ihnatko. I have been really impressed by this book because it has some really excellent tips and techniques that go beyond many of the ideas I've seen discussed on iPhone-related blogs and websites.

Andy Ihnatko is a freelance journalist who writes a technology column in The Chicago Sun Times and appears regularly on The Early Show on CBS. He hit my radar screen through his regular gigs on The Apple Phone Show and MacBreak Weekly podcasts. Some of the concepts he discussed on those programs, such as using Smart Playlists to fill your iPhone with a constant amount of music that you like but haven't listened to recently (mentioned previously on Operation Gadget), and using Handbrake to convert chapters of DVDs that you own to clips that are playable on your iPhone, are prominently featured in this book. However, there are a lot more ideas that go far deeper into Mac and PC technology to pull together content that you have access to, package it in a form that's storable on your iPhone or iPod touch, and get it transferred on to your device.

There are also ideas that didn't appeal to me personally, but were interesting to read about from a general knowledge perspective. Andy is a big fan of comic books, so he includes an entire chapter on finding comics on the Internet and transmogrifying for your iPhone. He also talks about extensively about electronics and software that can be used to record radio programs for later playback on your iPhone. I used to listen to a great deal of radio myself, so this is interesting to me, but podcasts have largely replaced my radio listening habit since I got my iPhone, and I can barely keep up with the podcasts that I'm subscribed to now.

There are a number of other good iPhone-related books, such as The iPhone Pocket Guide by Chris Breen of MacWorld Magazine, but few are as jam-packed with ideas for filling your iPhone with content as iPhone Fully Loaded. This book always seems to be sitting near my MacBook Pro, and I think it will stay there for some time.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 5:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

• RPI Plays Princeton tonight in the 31st Annual Big Red Freakout. RPI needs the win. In other news, the White beat the Red in the Alumni Game 9-8.
• Kipkay's Video Tips & Tricks on Instructables: "Here are 5 easy and cheap tricks for anyone who uses a camcorder. Total cost for all 5 is under $10!" [ via Lifehacker ]
• New Devices and Applications on the Wi-Fi Front on Web Worker Daily: "While many Mac-based users already have next-generation, draft 802.11n Wi-Fi technology in their homes (because they use Apple’s Airport Extreme routers) lots of other folks still use slower 802.11g Wi-Fi. This year is when official certification of 802.11n Wi-Fi is supposed to arrive, and the month of January brought some product announcements that point to what the widespread arrival of 802.11n technology might mean...."
• Review of the Nike Amp+ iPod Control Watch: "... the Amp+ isn't designed to be an all-around running or fitness watch. It's specifically designed for runners who already have the Nike + iPod kit. Similar to the Timex iControl we recently reviewed, the Nike Amp+ is a remote control for your iPod Nano, however unlike the Timex, the Nike Amp+ uses the existing Nike + iPod gadget that plugs into your iPod, so you're actually adding the iPod remote control to the Nike iPod system." [ via TUAW ]
• Crazy Apple Rumors on Hiatus on TUAW: CrazyAppleRumors.com is a site I just found out about recently. It's articles are what you might read in The Onion if they covered Apple more aggressively. Sorry to see it go dark.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 4:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Earlier this week MacRumors reported that Apple had released the "Pole Position Remix" game for the iPhone. This is a remake of the classic Namco video game Pole Position that I played more than anyone else as a kid.

The last time I talked about Pole Position on Operation Gadget was three years ago when I picked up a copy of an inexpensive TV game called Namco II: Ms. PacMan and 5 TV Games. I loved that game. I hope that Apple releases "Pole Position Remix" for the iPhone after the iPhone Software Development Kit comes out next month.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 10:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

• Gmail IMAP Change in 1.13 - Apple Phone Show on Apple Phone Show Blog: "The 1.13 upgrade to the iPhone automatically changes POP configured Gmail to IMAP...." I saw the change in folder arrangement on my iPhone after I updated the firmware, but I didn't realize the implications of it until I read about the switch to IMAP online.
• The new Favicons: Making Webclip icons for iPhone on SixApart ProNet: The professional developer website for Movable Type and TypePad posted the first explanation of how to make a custom icon for a website that will appear on the home screen of an iPhone or an iPod Touch. I already made a Webclip icon for RinkAtlas, a site whose logo lends itself to doing so.

• Forty years since Masterton's death on the Globe on Hockey Blog: "Masterton, 29 at the time, was checked by Larry Cahan and Ron Harris of the Oakland Seals, and hit his head on the ice after falling backwards. The game took place Jan. 13, 1968, in Bloomington, Minnesota, and Masterton died in hospital two days later due to a brain injury."

  "His death led to the lobbying of more widespread use of helmets, and a mandatory helmet rule was passed in the summer of 1979." Anyone playing ice hockey should pause for a moment and remember Bill Masterton. His unfortunate death began a series of rule changes and other protective measures that have made our sport much safer.



• Mini-Review: Amazon Kindle vs. Sony Reader on 37signals Signal vs Noise: "There are plenty of comprehensive reviews of the Kindle floating around so I don’t think we need another one. Instead, I’ll focus on comparing it with the Sony Reader."

Posted by Dave Aiello at 8:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I expected to be wowed by Steve Jobs' 2008 MacWorld Expo Keynote a lot more than I actually was. However, I was doing other things while the event was going on (real work), and the products that I was most interested in (mainstream Mac laptops) didn't get addressed in this keynote at all.

Bummer for me. I could have bought my MacBook Pro two weeks ago if I had known that the Penryn upgrade wasn't immediately forthcoming.

Here are my comments on the other aspects of the keynote:

• iTunes Movie Rentals / AppleTV Take 2: Clearly the announcement with the most business disruption potential. I agree with one of the commentators on MacBreak Weekly who suggested that Apple is making a play to be the digital media hub in the house, usurping services like Netflix, as well as Television services providers such as Comcast and Verizon FiOS.
• MacBook Air: This is a machine aimed at people who travel a lot or who want a portable machine that is a shadow of their desktop Mac. I could see some very well off Mac users owning the big iMac and a MacBook Air. The MacBook Air is incredibly thin. It's hard to believe a machine with a laptop-like display and keyboard could be any thinner than this and still be usable.

• Time Capsule: This is an interesting extension to the AirPort wireless base station line. Time Capsule is an AirPort Extreme with a 500G or 1T hard disk in it, functioning as Network Attached Storage (NAS).

  My first reaction was, "Bummer. Kathleen just bought me the AirPort Extreme." But then I realized that I would prefer NAS that used RAID 1 or RAID 5 storage anyway. It also costs more than we want to spend on network appliances at this point.



• iPhone 1.1.3 Update: There's some good stuff here. I loaded it on my iPhone already. The cell tower triangulation in the Maps application works pretty well. That feature makes the iPhone version of RinkAtlas viable. Expect an announcement from me on that front soon.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 1:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (1)

The Nike Amp+ Sport Remote Control has finally made it to the market, and iLounge has done a comprehensive review of it. Jeremy Horowitz writes:

It would be an understatement to call Nike’s Amp+ iPod nano Remote ($79) the coolest and most misunderstood iPod accessory introduced in the past year. The bracelet, which is sold in four colors—blue, green with orange, black with red, or black with graphite—is a watch, an iPod remote control, and a fashion statement. Give it a quick glance from a distance and you’d think it’s just an extra-wide Lance Armstrong LiveStrong wristband, but get up close and you begin to realize that Nike has crafted an understated and underpromoted work of design genius....

I think the Amp+ looks incredible. It's the kind of watch that I could see wearing once or twice a week, the same way I tend to wear my Polar S625x to work on days when I'm officiating hockey. I'd like to see the reaction from people in my office when they saw this watch on my wrist.

I wish that Apple and Nike would expand the availability of the Nike+ product stack to iPods other than the nano. How hard could it be to make that happen?

Posted by Dave Aiello at 8:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

An article called What This Gadget Can Do Is Up to You really caught my eye today when it appeared on The New York Times website. This article describes the Neuros OSD Media Center, a sleek looking video recorder that looks like it could have quite a few immediate applications. What makes it most unique is the fact that its software is built on a number Open Source applications and the MPEG4 video standard. The article begins as follows:

“HACKERS, welcome! Here are detailed circuit diagrams of our products — modify them as you wish.”

That’s not an announcement you’ll find on the Web sites of most consumer electronics manufacturers, who tend to keep information on the innards of their machines as private as possible.

The Neuros OSD reminds me in some respects of the Nokia N800 and N810 Internet Tablets. These are all devices built on Open Source foundations that take a defiantly different approach to meeting customer needs in their space.

I've started talking about hacking the N800 here on Operation Gadget, and honestly hacking is the big attraction of these devices. I'd probably prefer Apple devices for day-to-day use, but I'd learn more from owning and trying to use a Nokia Internet Tablet and the Neuros video recorder.

Just like my friend Lionel is considering using a Nokia N800 as an alternative e-book reader to an Amazon Kindle, I think some people will be looking hard at a Neuros OSD Media Center as an alternative to an AppleTV.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 11:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Kathleen gave me an Apple AirPort Extreme Base Station for Christmas. I installed and configured it tonight while we were watching ER on our DVR.

I was impressed with the improvement in the performance of our wireless network that immediately occurred when the AirPort Extreme started working. Configuration of the AirPort Extreme was by far the easiest of any wireless network base station I've ever installed.

I got the impression from articles I read on the Internet that it would be complicated to bridge the FiOS router (an Actiontec MI424WR) with the AirPort Extreme, but it was as simple as:

1. plugging the AirPort Extreme into the FiOS router using a Category 5 cable,
2. letting the FiOS router assign the AirPort Extreme an IP address using DHCP,
3. logging into the FiOS router and shutting off the integrated wireless base station on it.

(Note that I had earlier determined that the Actiontec MI424WR had to stay on the network because it serves as a bridge between coaxial cable and Category 5 cabling in our FiOS installation, and it also acts as a receiver for FiOS TV guide information and FiOS Video On Demand. Therefore, I never attempted to attempt to fully replace the router Verizon gave us, just to beef up the wireless network we're running here in The Home Office.)

I didn't spend much time using Kathleen's MacBook with the new router, but I'm sure they will perform better together than the MacBook did with the wireless network provided by the Actiontec router itself.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 10:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBacks (0)

I got a Nokia N800 through the Nokia Blogger Relations Program several months ago. I found this device quite interesting, but I never had the opportunity to dig into it as deeply as I had wanted to. I started to think about it again about a week ago, when I was thinking about creating a webcam for our Christmas Tree at my house.

I started Googling around, and I found a three-part series of articles on IBM developerWorks that provide a detailed explanation of how to write your own webcam client for the N800.

Part one is called Developing for the N800 and talks about the environment you need to use to develop a maemo package. Maemo is a Linux-based development platform for Internet tablets such as the N770 and the N800. The article talks extensively about Scratchbox, a cross-compilation toolkit that most people use to make maemo package development easier.

Part two of the tutorial is Accessing the Nokia N800 camera which discusses the maemo Camera API and a multimedia application framework called GStreamer.

By the time I finished reading part two of the tutorial, I began to wonder how the editor of this site could consider this project to be "introductory level". If that's the case, then some of the stuff on this site must be ridiculously complex and/or technical in nature.

The third part of the tutorial is Auto-uploading Nokia N800 photos. This explains in detail how to best extend the on board software and services of the N800 with your own code in order to develop an automated uploading tool. When you combine this with previous code to access the camera and convert images that it outputs into an uploadable format, you end up with a webcam client.

I was really impressed with these articles, and I got a much better understanding of the N800's potential by reading it.

The thing that stopped me from building the webcam application according to the instructions is the prerequisites. I didn't have a machine that had enough free space to build up a Linux virtual machine that would be an appropriate build environment for a maemo package. It would have taken me time to free that space. I may end up waiting to do this until I get my MacBook Pro sometime in January.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 11:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Popular Science published an article called What Web Celebs Want where they asked 15 people with popular websites what holiday gift they most wanted this year. They also asked what gift they wanted in the future. Most of the answers regarding future gifts were about products that didn't exist yet.

Here's a summary of the gifts they wanted this year:

• Amazon Kindle: an e-book reader that we've discussed elsewhere on Operation Gadget. This was picked by two of 15 people surveyed.
• Apple iPhone: You mean one of these celebs doesn't already have one?
• Audible.com subscription: Still the best source of downloadable audiobooks.
• Garmin nüvi 350: a cool in-car GPS with a 3.5-inch display. Another person chose a "Top of the line" GPS for use in the car, which is more or less asking for the same thing.
• "High end music server", better than a Squeezebox, but not identified.
• Hypoxico Deluxe Bed Tent: a tent that fits over a bed for physical fitness training or general acclimation to high altitude.
• Lemur Multitouch Control Surface: a flat panel with a GUI to control sequencers, modular synthesizers, virtual instruments, VJ software, 3D animation tools, and light control.
• Marantz PMD-620: a professional handheld recorder for use by reporters and interviewers.
• Mini Cooper Hybrid: A hybrid electric vehicle that's only been built as a proof-of-concept. See the Mini QED article on PMLFlightLink.com.
• Nokia N82, a super Nokia N-series imaging phone that's not available in North America yet.
• Rock Band: a video game similar to Guitar Hero.
• Spectrum Z510: a 3D printer for making models and prototypes of engineered products.
• Tenori-on: a digital musical instrument from Yamaha with a flat-panel display.

The ideas that these celebrities came up with for future holiday gifts are pretty interesting too. I hope to talk about them in the future.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 4:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A couple of friends of mine asked me to what I thought of the Amazon Kindle at lunch before Thanksgiving. I said that I was aware of it, that reviews and comments from blogs that I read had been more negative than positive, but I would keep my eye out for interesting articles and blog postings. Here are a few of the things I've found:

• Kindle can light up your life by Andy Ihnatko in The Chicago Sun Times: Andy points out that the secret sauce of the Kindle is that EVDO access via Sprint is free and the Kindle has a serviceable web browser. As such he thinks it's worth the $400 cost without regard for its usability as an e-book reader.
• Amazon Kindle: the Web makes Amazon go bad crazy by Cory Doctorow on Boing Boing: Cory Doctorow hates Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology. Keep that in mind when you read his comments: "Mark Pilgrim has a great, incisive post about the Amazon Kindle e-reader that sums up almost all of the reasons I won't be buying it -- it spies on you, it has DRM (which means that it has to be designed to prevent you from modding it, lest you mod it to remove the DRM), it prevents you from selling or lending your books, and the terms of service are nearly as abusive as the Amazon Unbox terms (and worse than the thoroughly dumb-ass Amazon MP3 terms)...."

These comments are pretty much polar opposites of each other, with every other review falling somewhere in between.

My friends also suggested that I discuss another e-book reader called the Iliad from iRex Technologies. More on that product later.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 11:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

My wife Kathleen and I got a Jeep Liberty Limited Urban Terrain Stroller at Kathleen's baby shower a few weeks before our son Jimmy was born. Now that Jimmy is over two months old, he can support himself well enough to ride in a stroller built for a large baby or a small child. That's why I assembled the stroller the other night and gave it try on a walk around Newtown.

There are a lot of "nice-to-have" features that some people may feel are overkill, but one the feature I want to call to your attention today is the Music On the Move Parent Tray. This is a set of battery-powered speakers that sits on the frame of the stroller near the handle. It has a headphone connector attached that you can use with your iPod. This is a much better idea for using your iPod while strolling than simply plugging the ear buds into your ears.

Thanks to the Music on the Move System, we're able to listen to music and still hear Jimmy without any difficulty. He likes music, so the speakers are even more handy. Finally, we're more likely to hear vehicles approaching us if we use the Music on the Move System than if we use a set of headphones.

We put the Jeep Liberty Limited Urban Terrain Stroller on our baby registry mainly because it was Jeep branded. Our friends thought this was cute because I drive a Jeep and now Jimmy has a Jeep stroller as well. But the thing that sets this mid-sized stroller apart from its many competitors is the built-in speaker system.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 3:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I've got a five year old Linux server in the basement at the Home Office. It was state-of-the-art before 9/11:

• Built by one of the biggest Linux-hardware companies of the early days: VALinux (now called VA Software).
• Big disk capacity: 72 Gigabytes of SCSI-based hardware RAID. That was great five years ago.
• 2U case

A copy of every disk file that Kathleen, Jimmy, and I can't afford to lose is stored there. This machine is probably way past its MTBF on a number of components, so I need to consider my options and figure out my budget.

The thought occurred to me to rebuild the server to 2006 standards by buying individual components and integrating them on the basement workbench. This would mean I would build another 2U server, probably with SATA RAID this time. That's an option I'm willing to consider for certain applications, but it's probably not a good idea for the file vault.

A better option is a 1-Terabyte Network Attached Storage appliance like the Infrant ReadyNAS RN600-1000. You can have about 630 Gigabytes of RAID 5 storage up and running with one of these servers in practically no time. The price is also reasonable, considering you are getting four 250 GB Seagate SATA drives in a well-designed enclosure with gigabit Ethernet with large data frame support, and some pretty intelligent NAS software.

Some of the comments on the ReadyNAS RN600-1000 at Amazon.com are worth reading also:

• From Philip Greenspun of Philip and Alex's Guide to Web Publishing: "... It took about fifteen minutes to plug in and set up the Infrant. My Windows XP desktop machine automatically recognized the newly available shared folders served by the Infrant. The Infrant is very quiet (Net wisdom is that this is quieter than the competitive Buffalo NAS), producing about 10 percent as much noise as the desktop PC, which was custom-assembled supposedly as a 'silent PC'.

  "I use the Infrant as the core of a whole-house music system. When the Windows machine needs to be rebooted or is suffering a 100 percent CPU load doing photo processing the Sonos music boxes just pull the MP3 files directly from the Infrant...."

• Another person commented: "Unlike a lot of the low-end NAS boxes, this one is designed and supported in the USA and it shows. The designed-in-Asia NAS boxes have much more cryptic interfaces, less elegant firmware, fewer features and marginal documentation."

A 600 GB file vault ought to do fine for our house for at least five more years. I think we could do a lot worse than to buy either the Infrant ReadyNAS RN600-1000 or the Buffalo HD-H1.OTGL/R5 TeraStation. Hopefully I'll find the money to make this purchase in the next month or so.

Technorati Tags: ReadyNAS RN600-1000, Buffalo TeraStation.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 11:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The other day, my brother Scott Aiello tipped me off to a device that can be used as a convenient one-stop place to charge all of your handheld devices. It's called the Personal Electronics Power Station and it's available from several vendors on Amazon.com.

The Personal Electronics Power Station is an outlet strip with a special housing that allows you to clamp your handheld devices to its body using adjustible dividers. The body has an internal space where the plug ends of your handhelds' charging cables go. When not in use, the Personal Electronics Powerstation sits on top of a table or a bookshelf with your charging cables neatly organized.

Some of the comments I've read about this unit say that the internal plugs for the charging cables are two-pronged only and that adapters won't fit inside. That's a fair point, so watch out for that. Another common complaint is that the Personal Electronics Power Station doesn't support USB. How many of your handhelds charge only through USB connections? I can't think of any of my devices that have this problem.

Technorati Tags: Personal Electronics Power Station, electronic gadgets.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 11:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Brad Feld's Treadputer: Venture capitalist
Brad Feld added a 3.2-GHz IBM ThinkCentre
to his Vision Fitness T9450HRT Treadmill.
This lets him get his runs in while he's on
conference calls. [ Photo: Brad Feld ].

Brad Feld is a managing director at Mobius Venture Capital based in Boulder, Colorado. He challenges himself by running marathons, and has set a goal of running a marathon in every state in the nation within the next 10 years.

Around the beginning of the year he and his coworkers built a "treadputer", a fitness club-quality treadmill with a big, fast Windows PC, and three 19-inch LCD displays.

The amazing aspect of Brad's story is that he finds he can use his PC while walking and running on this treadmill. According to the article:

It turns out that the Treadputer is highly functional when I’m running, which enables me to do some of my longer runs during the day while I’m on a call rather than having to get up at 5am to get them in before the day starts....

When we first assembled the Treadputer, {a co-worker} was skeptical that I would be able to read the screen while walking and assumed that reading while running would be impossible. While the three monitor setup helps a lot, it was surprisingly easy to read while walking or running. We’re running all three monitors at their standard 1280x1024 resolution and haven’t juiced up the font sizes.

Brad's article includes more details about his treadputer's configuration, and what he's learned about typing and mouse / trackball use. I found it quite interesting.

At least one other person bent on improving his life has built a treadputer. Walking Guy has begun a blog discussing his experiences building and using his treadputer. He says he began this quest because he needed to take off at least 40 pounds but was stuck in front of a computer 80 to 100 hours a week. He has his treadputer setup and has already gotten himself mentioned in the Lifehacker Coolest Workspace Contest.

I wonder how many more treadputer setups already exist, and how many will be built now that these articles have appeared on the Internet? I'll have to start looking for "bikeputer" articles as well.

Technorati Tags: fitness gadgets, treadputer.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 9:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

My wife Kathleen spent yesterday afternoon at our friend Jen Colangelo's house watching The Chronicles of Narnia on Jen's big, new plasma television. When she got home, Kathleen said the movie (which was played on a progressive-scan DVD player) looked "amazing" compared to movies on our old, analog, 480i TV.

All a progressive-scan DVD player does is transmit images in 480p, the so-called EDTV format, instead of 480i. This is a huge advance in picture quality, which becomes more obvious as the size of the monitor increases. That's why DVDs look so good on HDTV sets.

A new generation of DVD players with higher resolution than 480p is on its way. There are actually two competing standards: HD DVD and Blu-Ray. Both will offer the ability to project images to an HDTV at 720p or 1080i depending on the format that the producers chose for the movie. The questions for many home theater fans is, at what point do I upgrade to a more advanced DVD player, and which format should I choose?

Martin O'Donnell pointed out a syndicated article from The Los Angeles Times by David Colker where he reviewed the first HD DVD players from Toshiba and came away less impressed than he expected. Colker said, "unless you already have a high-definition television at least 40 inches in size, you won't notice much of a difference."

His recommendation to people who have not yet bought the HDTV set of their dreams is to invest the $500 that a first-generation HD DVD unit would cost in a bigger HDTV monitor. "In the time it takes to save up another $500, the price of HD disc players will probably drop and a pending format war may well be decided."

The article includes some surprising revelations:

• HDTV sets without HDMI component interfaces may not be able to display HD DVD movies at anything above 480i resolution.
• Smaller HDTV sets with HDMI don't benefit from HD DVD as much as you'd expect because the difference in resolution is a lot less obvious on small monitors.

The article barely mentions the fact that HD DVD and Blu-Ray movies are virtually impossible to get at the moment. Thankfully, HD DVD and Blu-Ray players are backward-compatible with standard DVDs, so if you did decide to spring for the new technology, you could replace the standard DVD player in the component stack.

Technorati Tags: home theater, HD DVD, Blu-Ray, HDTV, EDTV.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 9:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Ikea Plastis Ice Cube Tray: These rubber
ice cube trays are nearly indestructible.
[ Photo:Dave Aiello ].

I bought some Plastis Ice Cube Trays from Ikea a few months ago to try them as an alternative to Rubbermaid Periwinkle Ice Cube Trays. I have used the Rubbermaid trays for years in the places that my wife and I have lived where the refrigerator didn't have an automatic ice maker.

I want to report that the Ikea ice cube trays are much better than the commodity Rubbermaid product, but it took me a bit of experimentation to realize this.

I decided to try the Ikea ice cube trays because the Rubbermaid trays are made of a harder plastic and are prone to cracking with repeated use. This causes water to leak in between the ice cube forms on each tray. The Ikea Plastis Ice Cube Trays are made of a flexible synthetic rubber that doesn't crack, so I expect to get a lot more freeze cycles out of each one. Both products are dishwasher-safe.

The concern that I had initially with the Ikea Plastis Ice Cube Trays is that I found it difficult and time-consuming to get the ice cubes out of the trays immediately after I removed them from the freezer. The solution to this problem, which is totally undocumented, is to take the Plastis Ice Cube Trays out of the freezer three to five minutes before you try to remove the ice cubes. If you place the trays on the kitchen counter for a few minutes, the ice melts enough to make removal of the cubes really easy.

Plastis Ice Cube Trays are designed to produce a number of unusual ice cube shapes including hearts (shown in the photo), doughnuts, stars, plus signs, arrows, and long bars that look like drink stirrers.

Technorati Tags: Ikea, Plastis, ice cube trays.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 11:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Kevin Ward asked:

Do you have any ideas on listening to the "Radio Tour" Channel, 450.8875 MHz at the Ford Tour de Georgia? I am going to try a NASCAR type scanner from Radio Shack. The scanner I have will also decode the CTCSS quiet code so that I can listen in to the team chat when the peleton gets close. My only concern is that they may {use} digital and not analog.

Race radio is the frequency on which race officials broadcast the current race conditions, including leaders, injuries, accidents, and mechanical problems. The media listens to race radio in cars and at the media center near the finish line of each stage of the race. Web sites where you can read updated race status, such as the VeloNews Tour de Georgia Event Ticker, transcribe information from race radio.

Kevin is correct that the race organizers have chosen 450.8875 MHz for their race announcements.

Kevin, I'm sure you'll be fine with the radio you are using. I've looked into this, and the radios recommended for this type of listening are scanners like the Uniden BC92XLT Bearcat Handheld Scanner. This scanner has 200-channel storage capacity, which would be ideal for NASCAR races where every team uses a different two-way radio channel and the Nextel Cup and Busch Series are racing in the same, confined location.

You will need a lot fewer channels to listen to the Tour de Georgia race radio and the chatter between riders and their team cars. Each team will probably choose a separate frequency for communication, so there will probably be less than 30 channels in use.

A couple of years ago, I mentioned that the U.S. Postal Service Cycling Team (now the Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team) used Alinco DJ-C5T two-way radios at the Tour de France. These are credit-card-sized radios that have transmit and receive capability. You can be sure that the riders are using similar radios to the DJ-C5T in the Tour de Georgia (maybe the DJ-C6E), but they will be tuned to frequencies that are legal for two-way communication in the United States.

Technorati Tags: Tour de Georgia, pro cycling, race radio, NASCAR, Nextel Cup, Busch Series.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 3:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I always had difficulty identifying stars in the night sky when I went star-gazing as a kid, so I was intrigued when I heard about the Celestron SkyScout Personal Planetarium-- a handheld device that lets you identify 6,000 stars, planets, and constellations as they appear overhead. It has the ability to display text and play audio descriptions, including the history, mythology, and other fun facts for the most popular objects in the sky.

The SkyScout works in several different ways:

• Aim it at a celestial body, and the SkyScout will identify it.
• Choose a body by name from the SkyScout's built-in-database, and blinking arrows in the viewfinder will guide you to the location.
• Run the "Tonight's Highlights" program for a customized list of the 20 best objects to view in the sky from your exact location on this time and date.
• Insert an SD card preprogrammed with a tour of the night sky.

Updates to the database can be loaded via USB connection to a computer.

The SkyScout should be available about May 29, 2006, but can be pre-ordered before then from Amazon.com. For more information, check out the manufacturer's website at http://www.celestron.com/skyscout/.

Technorati Tags: SkyScout, gadgets, telescopes, GPS gadgets.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 8:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The ViewSonic VX2025 won a 20-inch Widescreen Monitor Group Test published yesterday at Bit-Tech.net. The VX2025 was judged the best value for the money against the following competitors:

• BenQ FP202W
• NEC MultiSync 20WGX, apparently not available in the U.S. but the closest model is the NEC MultiSync 20WMGX2-BK
• Acer AL2032WA

On performance alone, Wil Harris liked the NEC, but it was 25 percent more expensive than the ViewSonic. Unless you need the highest possible LCD response for gaming, you'll probably find the ViewSonic to be the best buy.

Technorati Tags: ViewSonic VX2025, BenQ FP202W, NEC MultiSync 20WGX, Acer AL2032WA, widescreen LCD monitors

Posted by Dave Aiello at 1:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Thom Hogan wrote a great review of the AF-S Zoom-Nikkor ED 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G IF DX VR. That's a Nikon 18-200mm Superzoom lens to you and me. This is a great review because Hogan goes into great detail about why it's so unusual for a camera manufacturer to ship a great all-purpose lens with a high-end prosumer camera like the Nikon D200. Most people don't buy the D200 with this lens, but it is an option. Hogan writes:

One of the surprises with the D200 announcement was that it could be purchased with a new DX wide angle to telephoto zoom lens. Having a kit lens for {a} consumer camera isn't new for Nikon, but this was a doozy: 18-200mm focal lengths plus vibration reduction and AF-S speed. This looked like the do-all, be-all lens for virtually everything except extreme wide angle, extreme telephoto, extreme macro, and extreme low light. In other words, a lens you would use most of the time....

He goes on to point out that this lens performs as advertised, for the most part. He delves deeply into the technical details, including the significance of the "DX" designation on Nikkor lenses when used with Nikon digital SLRs.

The key take-away for me is that these DX lenses (there are six others) are a lot more compact than previous lenses with similar performance characteristics. However, it's not the ultimate telephoto lens for sports; Hogan says:

What VR (or VR II or even VR III when it appears) won't do {his emphasis} is to allow you to shoot your daughter's night soccer game at 200mm and 1/15. That's a recipe for fuzzy players on sharp grass.

I know we dwell on sports photography sometimes here on Operation Gadget, but I also shoot digital photos in every day situations that are far from the hockey penalty box or the roadside at pro cycling event. This lens is a spectacular choice for everyday photography if you have a Nikon DSLR.

Technorati Tags: Nikon 18-200mm Superzoom, Nikon D200, Nikkor DX lens, Nikon DSLR, digital cameras

Posted by Dave Aiello at 12:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The other day Cool Tools pointed out a product called the PowerSquid Outlet Multiplier and I'm planning to pick one up over the weekend for my server area in my basement. Down there I have a DSL router, a firewall appliance, a WiFi access point, and two VoIP ATAs plugged into a power strip which feeds into an uninterruptible power supply. (See VoIP Service Stayed Up for Three Hours During Power Failure Thanks to a Good UPS if you want more configuration details.) The AC adapters for those five devices are relatively big. They each cover part of the electric outlet next to the one they are plugged into in the power strip.

A device like the PowerSquid would make it possible for me to use all of the outlets that are attached to it. I think the design of the PowerSquid is very simple and logical, and the price seems to be quite reasonable. I could use one of these around my desk in the Home Office and behind the television in the living room as well.

Technorati Tags: PowerSquid, outlet multiplier

Posted by Dave Aiello at 2:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A page one article in today's Wall Street Journal discusses the technological threats that are developing to the television industry's business model. One example given in the article is that Major League Baseball's MLB.tv video streaming service collected $265 million from 1.3 million subscribers last year, but still blocked subscribers from watching coverage of their own local teams over the Internet. The reason they did this is because any decrease in the likely audience for a game broadcast over a local cable or over-the-air channel reduces the amount that these affiliates are willing to pay for transmission rights.

The article goes on to point out that The Slingbox (a device that allows you to stream content from your television to your PC and other devices via the Internet) and the Video iPod are considered important new threats to the television industry's business model because of the ability they give owners to place-shift their viewing. Place-shifting is potentially a bigger threat to the television industry than time-shifting because place-shifting seems to reduce the viewer's reliance on a local television station. So, if you choose to buy episodes of Lost from the iTunes Music Store, the local ABC affiliate in your city would probably say that you've decreased the value of that episode to them and their local advertisers.

A lot of people think of themselves as the broadcaster's customer when they watch a television program, but this isn't the case. Access to viewers is a service that broadcasters deliver to their advertising customers.

A year and a half ago, Operation Gadget reported on the battle between the National Football League and TiVo over TiVo-to-Go. Back then, TiVo-to-Go was considered a potential piracy threat because the service was designed to allow up to 10 "affiliated devices" to receive stored content from the TiVo DVR. The thought was that the affiliated devices might not all be owned by people in the same family.

That debate took place before Apple shipped iPods with the ability to play back good-quality video. Now that the TV industry is sensitized to the notion of place-shifting, the loss of program value to the local affiliate would probably considered a bigger issue. [ Subscription required to read many articles in The Wall Street Journal. ]

Technorati Tags: Slingbox, MLB.tv, Lost, Video iPod, iTunes Music Store, TiVo

Posted by Dave Aiello at 7:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Garmin is about to release the Garmin Forerunner 305, one of it's third-generation GPS-enabled fitness computers. The 305 differs from the Garmin Forerunner 205 in that the 305 includes heart rate monitor functions.

I haven't recommended the Forerunner 300 series in the past because I thought the Forerunner 301 (the predecessor to the 305) was less functional than fitness computers like the Polar S625x which can be used as a running or cycling computer with the proper accessories. The Polar S625x doesn't have GPS capabilities, but it does have a footpod for running speed and distance, and can use speed, cadence, and power sensors attached to a bicycle.

The major new feature of the Forerunner 305 is, in my opinion, the ability to interface with the Garmin GSC 10 wireless cycling speed and cadence sensor. This brings the Forerunner 305 into the same league as many of the Polar S-Series Heart Rate Monitors. Now the Forerunner 305 is a viable alternative to these Polar computers, if you do not already own a heart rate monitor.

Improvements in the 305 in comparison to the Forerunner 301 are the same as those discussed in the Forerunner 205 preview article on Operation Gadget:

• More compact, watch-like design,
• More sensitive GPS receiver,
• USB interface,
• Customizable screens.

The big issue with the 305 in my opinion is the current price. Is it worth a list price of $376 (which is already discounted somewhat by Amazon.com and others)? I can't be sure until I use one. I want to use it the way I use my Polar S625x, and log my workouts into Garmin's Training Center Software. Until I see how it stacks up against my favorite fitness gadget, the jury is still out.

Technorati Tags: Garmin Forerunner 305, Garmin Forerunner 301, Polar S625x, gadgets, fitness gadgets, heart rate monitors, GPS

[ via Machine Culture ]

Posted by Dave Aiello at 2:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Garmin is about to release the Garmin Forerunner 205, part of the third generation of its GPS-enabled fitness computers. I've owned a Garmin Forerunner 201 for a long time and I love it. It's part of my cycling dashboard and I used it to map the course of the 2004 Tour of Hope DC Fundraising Ride, so I'm definitely going to recommend that you check it out.

The key features of the Forerunner 205 that are huge improvements over the 201 are:

• More compact, watch-like design,
• More sensitive GPS receiver,
• USB interface,
• Customizable screens.

I prefer the Forerunner 200-series (GPS-enabled fitness gadgets without heart rate monitor capabilities) because I also swear by my Polar S625x Heart Rate Monitor. As I said in the article Why Training Log Software is One of The Most Important Features of a Fitness Gadget, Polar Precision Performance software is just outstanding. Polar Electro keeps upgrading it and adding features. The Garmin software called Training Center has also improved a lot, but has not yet passed Precision Performance in my opinion. That's why the Polar S625x and the Garmin Forerunner 201 often ride together on my handle bars.

Technorati Tags: Garmin Forerunner 205, Garmin Forerunner 201, Polar S625x, gadgets, fitness gadgets, heart rate monitors, GPS

[ via Machine Culture ]

Posted by Dave Aiello at 1:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (1)

Janus Sandsgaard of Machine Culture pointed out that Adidas and Polar have released another video touting the forthcoming Fusion line of performance apparel and fitness gadgets. They include:

• Adidas adiStar Fusion Apparel which provides built-in fasteners for a Polar WearLink Transmitter.
• Adidas adiStar Fusion Running Shoe which accepts a Polar S3 Stride Sensor into its Torsion Midfoot structure.
• Polar RS800 Running Computer which looks like a hybrid of the Polar S625x and one of their adventure sports models, like the Polar AXN 500. The RS800 looks like the slimmest Polar running computer to date.

These produces have been under development for a long time. Polar and Adidas published press releases introducing the Fusion line in August 2005. I don't know when we will see these products in the USA, but I hope that they will start appearing during the 2006 running season.

Technorati Tags: Project Fusion, Polar, Adidas, gadgets, fitness gadgets, heart rate monitors

Posted by Dave Aiello at 1:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

While researching my article on the White Screen of Death problem my Treo is having, I ran across a recent piece by Stewart Alsop where he asks "Do the vendors choose the color of the death screen intentionally?" He says that the screens of death for his favorite gadgets are:

• Blue for many flavors of Microsoft Windows
• Green for TiVo and DirecTiVo
• White for Treo 650Treo 650 handsets that work on the Cingular, T-Mobile, Sprint, and Verizon mobile networks

Stewart and I both have each of these products. I feel fortunate to be able to say that I've only seen two of the three screens of death that Stewart has seen. (I own two TiVos, but I've never seen the Green Screen of Death.)

I told my friend Chris Nolan about Stewart's story. She laughed out loud when she heard it because she knows Stewart pretty well. Small world. Chris has a TiVo, but hasn't experienced the Green Screen of Death either. She has made other platform choices for her computer and her phone, so those two other colored screens don't apply to her.

Do you know of any screens of death that are notorious because of their telltale color? Let me know by posting a comment and I'll add them to the story.

Technorati Tags: Treo 650, TiVo, DirecTiVo, Microsoft Windows, BSOD, WSOD, GSOD

Posted by Dave Aiello at 6:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Yesterday, Cool Tools highlighted an inexpensive electric power usage meter called Kill-A-Watt. This product, which costs less than $30 at Amazon.com, has the potential to save you hundreds of dollars a year if you identify appliances and other devices with higher than necessary electrical usage, limit their usage, and eventually replace them.

At my house, we have an old Gibson Frost Clear Refrigerator / Freezer. This looks like a potential power hog to me, but who knows? Any appliance that comes from an Energy Star-rated product group, but isn't Energy Star-rated itself is a potential source of significant savings.

We also run a number of computers on a 24/7 basis here at The Home Office. How much are we spending to keep them running annually? I have no idea, but with a Kill-A-Watt power usage meter, I will soon find out.

Technorati Tags: Kill-A-Watt, electricity use

Posted by Dave Aiello at 9:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Last night Kathleen and I were watching something we had saved on our TiVo when I saw an ad for the Strait-Line Laser Level X3. The ad was interesting enough for me to stop fast forwarding and re-watch in real time.

I did some research this morning and I think the Strait-Line X3 gives a home handyman a little more control over the level lines than many other laser levelling tools. The features that stood out for me are:

• three-axis control with bubble vials for one or two-wall leveling
• Micro-Adjust knob to help get the line to the exact height needed
• 3M Command Strips for clean mounting on walls without damage

Compare the Laser Level X3 to similar products like the Black & Decker Bullseye Crosshair Laser Level and I think you'll see the difference in features.

Technorati Tags: Strait-Line Laser Level X3, home handyman tools, Christmas gifts, Hanukkah gifts

Posted by Dave Aiello at 10:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

My wife and I saw the Black & Decker Storm Station advertised on TV last night, and thought it looked like a good thing to have at home in case of an emergency. I did some research on the product and learned it includes:

• a detachable and rechargeable flashlight
• a built-in room light that illuminates the immediate area
• a 25 Watt Power Source to operate low wattage devices
• a multi-band radio that receives AM, FM, TV audio and Weather-Band Radio
• a built-in locator light that automatically turns on when the power goes out

Kathleen and I have two APC uninterruptible power supplies in our house, so we can always shut our computers down and use them to power our mobile phone chargers, telephones, and other electronic devices that we would need in an emergency The Black & Decker Storm Station would be a great thing to buy for the house if you didn't have a UPS. It's a lot cheaper as well, and if you keep its accessories together, it's better organized than our ad hoc solution.

Technorati Tags: Black & Decker, Storm Station, emergency preparedness, disaster preparedness

Posted by Dave Aiello at 7:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Belkin Kickstand Case for 5G iPod is
available in black or white. [ Photo: Belkin
Corporation ]

I just noticed that Belkin has shipped the Kickstand Case for 5G iPod. It's a really innovative design that doubles as a Video iPod case and a stand. You simply flip the upper half of the leather case down and it will prop up the Video iPod so you can have a hands-free viewing experience. Why didn't I think of that?

Belkin makes it in black and white, although it may be tough to get either one before Christmas and Hanukkah. Good luck finding it-- it's not even available at Amazon.com yet.

When I visited the Apple Store in King of Prussia on Sunday I didn't see a case that I would buy for my own new Video iPod. I think the Belkin Kickstand Case is the case I'd buy if I had to buy one today. [ Kudos to PopGadget for scooping the gadget blogosphere again. ]

Technorati Tags: Video iPod, iPod, iPod accessories, Belkin Kickstand Case, Christmas gifts, Hanukkah gifts

Posted by Dave Aiello at 3:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Light Flurries Projector for illuminating
your home is available at Amazon.com.
This is an example of how it might work at
your house. Click here to see a
larger photo.

Kathleen and I moved to a ranch house in Newtown, PA in July. We were in The Home Depot in Fairless Hills the other day looking at outdoor Christmas lights for our house. It occurred to us that we could string lights all the way from one end of our house to the other at the height of the gutters-- something we've never tried before. (We haven't lived in a one-story detached house since we've been married.)

The only problem with this is that the front of the house is about 60 feet long. It will take me a while to put up that many lights. I'm also not sure we can find light strands that will extend all the way across the front of our house from the outdoor electrical sockets without drawing more power than recommended.

I was looking around the Internet for an alternative and found this Light Flurries Projector from Smarthome on sale at Amazon.com. This is a light kit that you place in the yard in front of your house. It contains a spot light and a rotating mirror ball in weather-resistant packaging. The Light Flurries Projector will throw a pattern of light that looks like falling snow on any wall you point it at. The pattern is up to 60 feet high and 40 feet wide, perfect for the front of our house.

The manufacturer says that set-up time is less than 10 minutes. Instructions walk you through the steps to create the pattern and speed of snow fall that you desire. It sounds like a good alternative to stringing lights on a large house, or a nice complement to other Christmas and Hannukah light displays. [ via PopGadget ]

Technorati Tags: holiday lights, Christmas lights, Hanukkah lights, illumination

Posted by Dave Aiello at 11:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

If you are a regular radio listener in major cities in the USA, you've probably heard several ads for TomTom Go portable navigation systems. TomTom has a different strategy in France. They are running a two team road rally called TomTom Raid. The teams were given no food, no money, no credit cards, just a TomTom GO 700 and a Smart car to travel across France. The teams left Paris on Monday and the race will continue until December 8.

You can follow the progress of the race daily at the website TomTomRaid.com. The site is entirely in French, so it may make more sense to our readers in Quebec and people who studied French in school than it does to me.

My father asked me what a TomTom was the other day. For those of you who haven't seen one yet, they are portable navigation systems that can be moved from car to car. They are simple in that you plug them into your car's electrical system, mount them to your car windshield, turn them on, and go. There are two models of the TomTom GO that are being marketed in the United States:

• TomTom GO 300, a turnkey GPS device that gives door-to-door directions between any two addresses in the United States, maps included on a secure digital card. The system includes spoken turn-by-turn guidance.
• TomTom GO 700, including all of the features of the 300 plus faster CPU, more memory, a hard disk for larger map and route storage, and bluetooth for handsfree phone integration.

[ via Operation Gadget reader Alexander Baarde and Alt-Buzz ]

Technorati Tags: Tom Tom, Christmas gifts, Hanukkah gifts

Posted by Dave Aiello at 2:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

On Sunday, Kathleen and I trekked out to the Apple Store at The Plaza at King of Prussia in the western suburbs of Philadelphia. We had some business to do there and were curious to see the Fifth Generation iPods, since neither of us had held one in our hands before.

I was surprised at how different the 30 Gigabyte iPod with Video Playback felt in my hand than previous iPods. Most of my iPod usage experience comes from the 10-Gigabyte iPod that I gave my wife for Christmas two years ago.

The new iPods are almost exactly the same height and width, but they are about half as thick. The 30-Gigabyte model is 0.43 inches deep, while Kathleen's 10-Gigabyte iPod is 0.78 inches. The 60-Gigabyte model is 0.55 inches deep. The Fifth Generation iPods we looked at on Sunday weigh in at 4.8 or 5.5 ounces, compared to 6.5 ounces for my wife's iPod.

I thought the new iPods were wider than the old ones, but that's probably because the screen are 2.5-inch diagonal color screens while the older iPods are 2-inch diagonal in the same space. The resolution of the new screens is roughly twice as good: 320x240 color, while the old ones are 160 x 128 black and white.

We compared the black and white models of the iPod with video playback, to see which one we preferred. Kathleen felt that the black model had better contast when we were watching movie trailers and music videos that had been preloaded on the Apple Store demo units. I wasn't sure. My concern was which one would show more scratches if I bought it. I think this is less of a concern with units shipping today than those shipped immediately after these models were announced,

I want to make a couple of comments about traffic in our local Apple Store. I was surprised at how easy it was for us to spend time playing with the Video iPods. Most people in the store seemed to be engaged in two other tasks:

1. Standing in line to buy iPods as gifts for friends or relatives. Those people were generally on a mission and didn't do any playing with merchandise.
2. Looking for iPod accessories to purchase. The area stocked with iPod cases, aftermarket earphone, and external speakers was quite crowded and people were spending a lot of time there. We got away from that part of the store as fast as we could.

The demographics of the two groups was also quite different. The first group was generally parents, grandparents, and young adults with plenty of disposable income. The second group was considerably younger.

Technorati Tags: Video iPod, iPod, iPod accessories, Christmas gifts, Hanukkah gifts

Posted by Dave Aiello at 12:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (1)

Toy Wishes Magazine has released its ever-popular Hot Dozen Toys for 2005. This list is intended to forecast which toys will be the most popular during the 2005 holidays. We can safely assume that if the magazine is correct, many of them will also become hard to find in stores at some point in the near future.

Dora's Talking Kitchen: One of my
favorites on the Toy Wishes Hot
Dozen Holiday List. Product photos
courtesy of Amazon.com.

The Hot Dozen List includes (in alphabetical order):

• Black Belts Karate Home Studio DVD: an inexpensive active play set with a video component.
• Dora's Talking Kitchen; My wife Kathleen says that the kitchen play set at her pediatrics office is the most popular toy in the waiting room.
• Fly Wheels Assortment; Couldn't figure out which toy this was, so I'm recommending the Fly Wheels Rapid Fire Launcher for the moment.
• Furby: an electronic friend that comes in multiple color combinations.
• iDog: an electronic dog that dances to music that's being played in the room. Accessories are also available.
• iZ: an interesting combination of cartoon character, speaker for music playback, and music mixing tool. You change the beat of the music by twisting iZ's ears and pressing on his belly.
• Leapster L-Max Learning System: portable version of Leapster learning system. Requires new games, available separately. Works in conjunction with TV, if connected.
• The Magnetix MagnaWorld Series: lead by Magnetix MagnaWorld City. MagnaWorld Clock Tower, MagnaWorld Magna Central, Rescue Center, and Airport also available.
• Pixel Chix: including Pixel Chix Cottage House, Beverly Hills House, and Miami Loft. Interesting electronic house simulators. Kids interact with a Pixel Chix Pal, paying attention to the Pal in order to keep advancing in the game; Ignore and Pixel Chix Pal moves out.
• Shell Shocker Radio Controlled Toy: a toy with a "bio-mechanical design" that can shift from a rolling bowling-ball type shape to a reptillian-looking robot and back. Requires a Tyco Pro Flexpak Battery and Charger and a 9-volt battery, which adds to the cost.
• VCam Now: digital camera / video camera designed for kids. Holds 480 pictures or 7 minutes of video.
• V-Smile Pocket: portable version of V Smile-- a 2004 favorite. Uses the same cartridges as the bigger unit, potentially a big savings.

VTech V-Smile Pocket:
Little brother of the V-Smile Learning
System, which was a big hit in 2004.

If the 2004 Hot Dozen list was heavy with electronics, the list is overloaded in 2005. There are only two toys on this list that don't have a big electronic component: Black Belts Karate Home Studio DVD (also available in VHS) and the Magnetics MagnaWorld Series. I bought a set of Magnetix building toys for my nephew, Ben, a year or two ago, and I really wish they had been around when I was a kid, because they're fun to build with.

Last year, Operation Gadget readers bought a lot of VTech V-Smile, a video game-based learning system for preschoolers. In my opinion, this either means that V-Smile Pocket will be a similar hit, or it will be a dud. VTech has a strong lineup of add-on cartridges compatible with both devices based on Winnie the Pooh, Mickey and Friends, and the Little Mermaid. If these cartridges are entertaining as well as educational, I'm sure parents and grandparents will buy them, and many hours of fun will be had by all.

I'm concerned that the mix of electronic and non-electronic products in the Hot Dozen has tilted too far toward the electronics this year. Will there be hits in the non-electronic genre this year, in spite of the lack of attention? What do you think?

Technorati Tags: Hot Dozen, Toy Wishes Magazine, Christmas gifts, Hanukkah gifts

Posted by Dave Aiello at 4:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (2)

One of the recurring problems that Operation Gadget readers have is how to replace their iPod earbud headphones? Although some people never liked the earbuds that came with their iPod and pay big bucks to get better ones, other readers use their iPod earbuds until they fall apart, break, or get lost.

If you want to replace your iPod earbuds with earphones that perform better but are still inexpensively priced, I recommend the KOSS Spark Plug Stereo In Ear Earphones. These earphones are far less expensive than the Apple iPod Remote and Earbuds, which are the closest things Apple offers to replace the originals. The Spark Plugs have received some nice reviews, but are particularly popular with earphone hackers who like to create "Koss Hybrids" by replacing the foam-rubber tips that come with the Spark Plugs with aftermarket alternatives such as the Etymotic ER4 Replacement Eartips.

Another fairly low-cost alternative is the Sony MDR-EX81LP Stereo Earphones. If you can get over the fact that they loop over your ears, these earphones are less expensive than Apple replacements and perform reasonably well.

There's also the Creative Labs EP-630 which seem to be available mainly in Europe. Frank Koehntopp raved about these earphones, saying that they were worth the €30 he paid for them at Amazon.de.

Technorati Tags: Koss Spark Plugs, Koss Hybrids, Sony MDR-EX81LP, Creative Labs EP-630, iPod replacement earphones, iPod

Posted by Dave Aiello at 2:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I started researching sound isolating earphones that are placed in the ear canal because so many of my friends are dissatisfied with the earphones that came with their iPods and wanted to know more about the earphones that are considered better. Through this investigation, I found that aftermarket earphones are available at a wide-variety of prices. There's also some serious disagreement about which models are the best available today.

I want to start out by reporting that CNET awarded the Shure E4c it's Editors' Choice in the category. They said:

The Shure E4c headphones represent an evolutionary advance in Shure's popular in-ear E series. They feature a new Tuned Port Technology, which enhances the tiny earphones' bass response by improving airflow around the driver. The E series' earpluglike designs block background noise so that you can listen at lower volumes in noisy trains, buses, and planes. And unlike noise-canceling headphones, the E4cs don't rely on batteries to power their hushing abilities.

The Tuned Port Technology is why I would pick the Shure E4c Earphones over the Shure E3c Earphones that were recently touted by Russell Beattie. If you read his comments, you'll see he's using them as a concentration aid when he's in the office:

I *am* a professional office worker, and I'll tell you right now, these are *the* headphones to have in that sort of environment where there's any sort of constant noise and interuptions. I pop them in, and bam, I�m in a cone of silence, perfect for concentrating and thinking (which is what knowledge workers are supposed to do, right?).... Three people can literally be having a loud conversation in front of you, and you hear nothing except your Vivaldi played at a comfortable low volume. It's like having a virtual office that you can take with you anywhere: Put the headphones on, and bam, perfect silence and privacy.

These aren't the earphones I'd want for daily use. I use earphones with Kathleen's iPod in a home office environment and I need to hear background noise. The Shure E4c and E3c are definitely not appropriate for outdoor exercise of any kind because of that "cone of silence". Whether these earphones can be safely used when doing yard work or operating walk-behind machinery is your call.

If sound isolating earphones make sense for your uses, you should check out CNET's Shure E4c review and Russell's E3c review to help you decide which sound isolating earphones to purchase. Also note that Shure makes an even more professional version, the Shure E5c.

Technorati Tags: Shure E4c, Shure E3c, Shure E5c, iPod

Posted by Dave Aiello at 12:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Chris Brewer wrote an article on The Paceline about following the Bristol-Myers Squibb Tour of Hope National Team during Day 7 of their ride across the United States. The most interesting part of this article for Operation Gadget readers is Chris' description of the communications technology that Trek Travel has implemented to keep the Tour of Hope in contact with itself and the rest of the world:

It was a unique experience to witness the behind-the-scenes action from the CentCom {Tour of Hope command vehicle} perspective. Trek Travel makes sure that a fresh driver is piloting every vehicle each stage, and then several Trek Travel / Carmichael Training Systems managers take alternate shifts coordinating each stage's transition and execution. For the CentCom staff it's all about communication involving 2 cell phones, 1 satellite phone, 2 close-range radios, a GPS messaging system, and a laptop computer with a GPS mapping system. Add in numerous documents, route guides, maps, etc. and the Centcom staff is in-touch and in constant operational management mode around the clock.

Carmichael Training Systems also deserves a lot of credit for how smoothly the Tour of Hope National Ride has gone so far.

Technorati Tags: Tour of Hope

Posted by Dave Aiello at 7:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Qualcomm has contributed its OmniTRACS fleet location network technology to the 2005 Tour of Hope National Ride. Here's an example of the kind of up-to-date progress map you can get to follow the National Team:

Tour of Hope National Ride Current Location Map: Uses Qualcomm OmniTRACS Fleet Location Network and Google Maps to display the current location of the Tour of Hope National Team. This image is was current on September 30, 2005 in the early afternoon, when the team was southwest of Phoenix, Arizona. [ Image: Tour of Hope ]

That's a really cool use of GPS technology!

If you're interested in keeping an eye on the National Team's progress across the country, visit http://tourofhope.org/ride/2005_national_route/current_location_map.htm.

When you visit that page, use the controls on the map to zoom out at least two or three zoom levels. I did this before I took the screen shot of the map showing Greater Phoenix. I doubt that most people will be able to identify the location of the National Team at the default zoom level.

I was shocked when I saw this map, because it looks so similar to the map I produced of the 50-mile Baltimore-DC Fundraising Ride Course a few weeks ago. I'm glad to see that we're employing state of the art technology.

Technorati Tags: Tour of Hope

Posted by Dave Aiello at 1:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I received my Motorola HS850 Bluetooth Headset from Amazon.com yesterday and I've already used it during a 100-mile roundtrip from Newtown to West Chester, PA for a hockey officiating meeting. The sound quality was good on my end and the people I called thought I sounded good as well. This article focuses more on the process of getting the HS850 working for the first time.

I was glad I read the Motorola Bluetooth Wireless Headset Quick Start Guide. It's an 8-page fan-folded document a little larger than a credit card that told me how to:

1. charge the headset,
2. pair the headset with my phone,
3. turn the headset on or off.

The brief explanation of how to turn on Bluetooth on your mobile phone is Motorola-specific and meant to serve as an example in the event that you have a phone from another manufacturer. I have a Palm Treo 650 and it helped that I regularly use the Bluetooth feature of the Treo to sync it with my Blogging Workstation. I already had Bluetooth turned on and more or less knew how to search for the HS850 from my Treo and pair the two together.

Technorati Tags: Bluetooth, HS850, Treo 650

Continue reading "Getting My Motorola HS850 Bluetooth Headset Working With a Treo 650" »

Posted by Dave Aiello at 7:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Steripen is the only portable
water purifier that uses
ultraviolet light to destroy water-
borne microbes. It's available for
less than $150.00 at Amazon.com.
[ Photo: Steripen.com ]

I got a copy of Forbes FYI the other day. This magazine often talks about really expensive lifestyle products that I can't afford. One thing that stood out for me in the September 2005 issue was the Steripen. This is a $150 gadget that uses UV light to kill things like E. coli, giardia, and cryptosporidium. It operates on four AA batteries and purifies a 32-ounce bottle of water in 90 seconds.

Back in the mid-1990's I traveled to places like Brazil and rural China where the water infrastructure was iffy. A device like the Steripen would have been useful because it would have meant that I could have traveled with an empty Nalgene bottle instead of having to hunt around for places to buy bottled water every day before I left the town I was staying in.

In these exotic countries, there are a few towns that are well known for hosting young European and American tourists who travel with backpacks. These towns will have all the bottled water you could want, in most cases. The issue is what to do when your in a town that won't be the hot town for backpack travelers until next year.

I think this would be a useful item to carry on a camping or backpacking trip in a First World country as well. It's easier to bring a big supply of clean water with you when the trip begins, but you can always run out when you're on the move. I'd pack a Steripen with a fresh set of batteries just in case of emergency.

This is clearly a nice-to-have item in the sense that I'd want to have a good flashlight, Swiss Army knife, and GPS before I invested in a Steripen, but I'd definitely want to have one with me on an outdoor vacation, just in case.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 8:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I've decided to buy a Motorola HS850 Bluetooth Headset for use with my Palm Treo 650 and my PC. I thought about this for a couple of weeks before I made the decision. Much of that delay was the result of a lack of consistency I found in Bluetooth headset reviews on the Internet.

I'd like to review a number of Bluetooth headsets, so I have to start somewhere. On MobileBurn, I read that the HS850 has the same design as the HS810. The improvements from the HS810 are better battery life and Bluetooth 1.2 compatibility. The HS820 is cheaper, but has more problems with wind noise when used outdoors, because it lacks the boom microphone.

I'm planning to use the HS850 to familiarize myself with Bluetooth headsets and as a baseline for future headset reviews.

Regular readers may ask why I didn't buy the Cardo Scala 500, which seems to be a great deal at Amazon.com? I have to admit that I was influenced by the changes that Treonauts made to their review recently. I have never used a Bluetooth headset, so I have to take reviews from major blogs fairly seriously. I think I may come back later, try the Cardo Scala 500, and compare it to the HS850.

Technorati Tags: VoIP, Bluetooth

Posted by Dave Aiello at 11:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I'm looking high and low for credible reviews of Bluetooth headsets to use with my Palm Treo 650. Many of the Treo-related sites have limited Bluetooth headset reviews, despite the fact that many Treo users I know either have purchased or are strongly considering purchase of a Bluetooth headset.

Here are some places where I have found a number of good Bluetooth headset reviews:

• MobileBurn: An excellent mobile phone technology site edited by Michael Oryl. I couldn't find a category where Bluetooth headset reviews were collected, but a MobileBurn site search for "Bluetooth headset" produced lots of useful results.
• Treonauts: In spite of the fact that Treonauts changed its review of the Cardo Scala 500, this site has the best collection of Treo 650-specific Bluetooth headset reviews. Check out the head-to-head comparison of eight Bluetooth headsets. It's not exhaustive because they leave out a couple of the Motorola models, but it's the best one stop comparison I've found so far.

I'll add links to this story for additional sites with Bluetooth headset reviews as I find them.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 9:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

In my search for a Bluetooth headset for my Treo 650 and VoIP use, I revisited a favorable Treonauts review of the Cardo Scala 650 that I pointed out a couple of weeks ago. I was surprised to see the following paragraph had been added to the review:

UPDATE: Following a flurry of comments and emails as well as additional testing on my part, I have very disappointingly found that the Scala 500 suffers from a significantly higher level of 'static' compared with the Palm Treo BT Headset as well as others. There is no doubt that the Scala 500 still offers the best accessory kit but unfortunately with a sub-par call quality I now have to reconsider my earlier rating and lower it to just 6/10. It's a real shame but I hope that Scala will work to improve their offering in the future.

This caused me to look elsewhere for reviews of the Cardo Scala 500. The sense I got from reading dozens of reviews and comments on different websites is that some people had a great experience using the Cardo Scala 500 with the Treo 650 and some people experienced the static problem that's mentioned in the revised Treonauts review.

What's more troubling to me, however, is the idea in several articles that the problem may lie more with Treo 650 Bluetooth performance than with the Scala 500 itself. Some headsets have a harder time maintaining a connection with the Treo 650 than with other phones. Some have intermittent or persistent static issues with the Treo 650 and not with other phones.

I'm surprised that the experience people have with Bluetooth headsets is so configuration-dependent. I'd think that a device that's Bluetooth 1.1 or 1.2 certified would "just work" with another certified device. On the other hand, this is wireless networking, so is it unreasonable to expect some variability.

Your mileage may vary with the Cardo Scala 500 and the Treo 650. I'm not changing my view that this headset is a great value, but I may not buy one myself either.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 9:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I've been talking to Martin O'Donnell and Andy Abramson recently about getting a Bluetooth headset in order to be able to use it with both my Palm Treo 650 and my PC when I'm using Skype and Google Talk.

Many of the Bluetooth headsets that are currently on sale will do double duty in this manner, but some of them are Bluetooth 1.2-compatible while others are only compatible with Bluetooth 1.1. I wasn't sure if it mattered whether I had Bluetooth 1.2 compatiblility, so I had to do some research.

It turns out that the Treo 650 only supports Bluetooth 1.1 anyway and that Palm says it has "no plans to upgrade the Bluetooth technology in the Treo 650 smartphone to version 1.2". In addition, most Bluetooth USB adapters like the Belkin F8T003 that I have installed on my Blogging Workstation are only Bluetooth 1.1 compatible.

If the Treo 650 and my PC had both supported Bluetooth 1.2, I would have excluded Bluetooth 1.1 headsets from my product search. I clearly don't have to restrict myself now.

Technorati Tags: VoIP

Posted by Dave Aiello at 9:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Velo'v Grand Lyon is a bike rental network in Lyon, France. Wired News published a great little article about the system works and how technology is being used to try to ensure that it stays solvent.

To use Velo'v in Lyon, you have to make a €150 deposit via check or credit card. This allows you to go to one of the stations and borrow a bike. If you don't return the bike to a station within 24 hours, the deposit is forfeited. The bikes themselves are loaded with sensors that help make the system as automatic as possible.

The owners of this system are JCDecaux, a French company that is primarily in the advertising business in the USA. They are most prominent in a business they refer to as Street Furniture: everything from signs on city streets displaying information to bus shelters.

I have no illusions of this type of bike rental system working in most cities in the United States, but the design of this system seems unique and is certainly worth reading about. [ via Engadget ]

Posted by Dave Aiello at 9:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Earlier today Engadget pointed out a review of the R-Driver II USB to IDE cable adapter that retails for less than $35. The review they noticed was published on theGadgeteer.com and gives basic information about the product. I did some research on this and other USB 2.0 to IDE solutions and the review I liked best is found on DansData.com.

Quick and dirty tools like this are great if they work and you need a cheap, temporary solution. Other people like Martin O'Donnell swear by little drive enclosures that they buy at places like Fry's Electronics or on EBay. YMMV.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 10:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Amazon.com put many APC products including Genuine APC Replacement Batteries on sale. I discovered that I needed a replacement battery the other day when the power at the Home Office sagged for a moment. All of the computer equipment in the basement including my Linux development server, VoIP Telephone Adapters, DSL modem, firewall, network switch, wireless access point, and phone system spontaneously restarted.

When I saw this I said, "I must need a new battery, but why hasn't the UPS been beeping at me?" I ordered a replacement battery the next day. That night at 1:30am, I woke up because I heard the UPS alarm beeping in the basement.

If you run your home or work phone service using Voice over Internet Protocol, make sure you have a UPS providing power to your DSL modem and VoIP Telephone Adapters. If you already have a UPS, make sure your battery is good.

I like to buy Genuine APC Replacement Batteries for two reasons:

1. Genuine APC Replacement Batteries preserve any applicable warranty coverage.
2. APC sends a shipping label with Genuine APC Replacement Batteries so you can send the spent battery back for proper disposal.

Technorati Tags: VoIP

Posted by Dave Aiello at 5:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (1)

According to SpotStop.com, a site devoted to MSN Direct-based products, Fossil is exiting the Smart Watch market. The article says:

Fossil has made their last MSN Direct watch, at least for the foreseeable future.... {We} hear Fossil is no longer going to make new watches and will re-direct their technology efforts after current inventory is sold through. Microsoft has recently pulled the SPOT initiative back into R&D and appears intent on pushing the technology into other products like the weather clocks and integration with the PC and other Microsoft products.

In December 2004, MSN Direct sent me a Fossil Abacus Wrist Net for review. The watch stopped working within a couple of weeks after I received it. MSN Direct was kind enough to send me a replacement so I could finish my review, but that watch was Dead on Arrival.

I'm disclosing this now because I think MSN Direct-based watches from Fossil are prone to failure. You should be aware of this if you're considering buying one because they're heavily discounted and you just want to try out the technology.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 7:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A Ball Cap Buddy helps your baseball caps maintain
their shape in the dishwasher. Make sure you check
the ingredients of your detergent. [ Photo: Lids.com ]

I often wear baseball caps when I'm working outside my house. In weather like we've had recently (95 degrees Fahrenheit and 90 percent humidity), these baseball caps are often stained with sweat.

A couple of years ago, my wife and I started using a Ball Cap Buddy to wash stained baseball caps in the top rack of our dishwasher. Most of the caps have come out as good as new. However, I've recently had problems with a couple of black hats changing color to a distressed brown after washing.

When the first hat was discolored in this manner, I thought it had something to do with the material that made up the hat. After a second hat was discolored in the same way, I started looking for a difference in the cleaning process we were using.

It turns out that the dishwasher detergent we are currently using, Cascade with ShineShield, contains potassium hydroxide, sodium hydroxide, sodium silicate, and chlorine bleach. This works very well on everyday dishes, but it obviously discolors baseball caps that are colored certain types and colors of dyes.

I like using the Ball Cap Buddy in the top rack of the dishwasher, but I think I'm going to try using it in the clothes washer instead. It's unlikely that laundry detergent would discolor black baseball caps the way that our dishwasher detergent does.

If you decide to use a Ball Cap Buddy on the top rack of a dishwasher, check the ingredients in your dishwasher detergent to ensure that your caps won't get discolored like mine did.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 9:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

CanoScan LiDE 500F Flatbed Scanner:
I got my new, inexpensive CanoScan
scanner on Wednesday. I bought it to
replace my fax machine in the new
VoIP-based Home Office.
[ Photo: Dave Aiello ]

I received my CanoScan LiDE 500F Flatbed Scanner the other day. It's a very inexpensive color scanner that fits on my desk between my flat panel displays and the place where I keep my laptop.

I've opened a new CanoScan LiDE 500F photo album. This currently has a bunch of "box unpacking" photos, but I'm planning to add example scans in the near future. Check them out if you're interested.

At well under $150 this scanner is a great deal. I can use it to scan documents that I will faxed using my eFax Plus account. I can also use it to scan 48-bit color images at 4,800 x 2,400 dots per inch.

I got the idea to buy this from Jeremy Zawodny and I agree with him that the LiDE 500F is:

• small,
• quiet,
• light, and
• pretty fast.

Technorati Tags: VoIP

Posted by Dave Aiello at 1:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Treonauts published a review of the Cardo Scala 500 Bluetooth Headset which is considered a worthy alternative to the Palm Bluetooth Headset for the Treo 650. There are a couple of things that make the Cardo Scala 500 stand out and probably make it a better choice:

• there's a great deal on it at Amazon.com right now,
• it has better battery life than Palm's own model,
• it comes with clips for your glasses, a belt clip holster, and a neckband.

The chief drawback seems to be that the Cardo Scala 500 is not USB-chargeable, but they make up for that with a very compact charger. I charge my Treo by plugging into a power strip anyway, so I'd need a second outlet which I can easily find.

The current price on the Cardo Scala 500 is just about two times the list price of a replacement Treo 650 wired headset from Palm. If you need a new headset now (I know I do), maybe it's time to consider going wireless.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 2:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I IMed with Hubert Nguyen from Ubergizmo.com yesterday who told me about his nice review of the Ftech Solar 7 Bluetooth GPS Receiver. There are a lot of buzzwords in that product name, so let me summarize. This is a solar-powered GPS that can communicate with a Bluetooth-capable handheld or notebook so you can add navigation functions when you need them.

The innovation here is solar power. The tradeoff is the size of the GPS which is larger than many competitive products because it incorporates a solar cell.

The Ftech Solar 7 is about $130 and you still need a piece of navigation software for your handheld or notebook. Having said that, I like the idea of a self-powered GPS for the car, and it would clearly interface well with my Treo 650. I doubt that I'd ever need to charge it as long as I put it on my dashboard whenever I was going to use it.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 2:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

As we progressed through the process of replacing our POTS lines with VoIP for the home office, we ran into a couple of issues that needed to be researched. One important one was the issue of how to send and receive faxes.

Several people who I've talked to about the trade-offs of using a single number for voice and fax versus a dedicated fax number have said that the key issue is that people using a single number are perceived to be hobbyists rather than serious business people. Also some businesses are more fax-centric than others. A good example of this is the medical field.

Kathleen needs to be able to send and receive faxes from insurance providers since most of them establish relationships with doctors on an individual rather than a per-practice basis. The effort she has undertaken to get listed as a health care provider with all of the major medical insurers that serve customers in the Pennsylvania suburbs of Philadelphia has required lots of faxing.

Many VoIP services include some fax capability. Speakeasy VoIP/Home provides the ability to receive faxes as email attachments. However, faxes must be sent to the same number that you use for voice calls, otherwise you have to buy another line at $23.95 per month. This is slightly different from how providers like Vonage handle fax, but the charges and performance of the VoIP service aren't entirely comparable either.

What I chose to do was to get a eFaxPlus account and use that as my fax solution. This gives me a separate, dedicated fax number in my area code for $12.95 per month plus $0.10 per outgoing page and provides many of the same email-integration features I would get from using my Speakeasy VoIP/Home number for both fax and voice. The big difference is that I'm saving $11.00 per month in service fees, which means I'd need to send more than 110 pages of faxes per month in order to lose money on the deal.

Once I made the fax service decision, I focused on the right device to use to scan papers for faxing. I don't want to use my Xerox WorkCentre 385 if it isn't connected to a phone line in the traditional manner. The scanning capability it has isn't very good and it also uses too much power when I use the laser printing engine in it to copy or print documents.

I'd prefer an inexpensive, compact scanner that is portable enough to use with my laptop if necessary. The one I chose is the Canon CanoScan LiDE 500F Color Image Scanner. I got the idea to purchase this from Googling around. Jeremy Zawodny's article I Like My Canon CanoScan LiDE 500F Scanner made a good case for it.

The price is definitely right. I like the fact that it gets its power entirely from the USB 2.0 connector. This means I can hook it up to my Blogging Workstation most of the time. The scanner itself is no bigger than a laptop when laid flat on the desk, so it won't take up as much room as typical flatbed scanners. I can also set it up so it sits on the desk in an upright position [ see photo on that page ], which makes it look like a partially-opened book.

At about $120, purchasing the CanoScan LiDE 500F eats into my expected savings, but I feel that its additional features make the expenditure worth it at this time. I can use it to scan documents for faxing, but it will also come in handy for scanning pages from magazines for digital storage or photos for which I can't find the negative.

Technorati Tags: VoIP

Posted by Dave Aiello at 1:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Jonathan Maus told us that Inveneo has developed a bicycle-powered, Linux-based VoIP phone system for use in developing countries. No kidding.

I found an explanation of a Pedal and Solar Powered PC and Communications System on the Inveneo web site. This article does not discuss the inclusion of the Asterisk open source PBX system, so this may be an elaboration on the design.

This reminds me a bit of the ad for ESPN SportsCenter that starred Lance Armstrong that was aired in 2001 and 2002. I wonder if the folks at Inveneo were in some small way inspired by it? [ via Engadget ]

Technorati Tags: Lance Armstrong

Posted by Dave Aiello at 3:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Japanese Beetle Traps are available
from Amazon.com and its affiliates.
[ Photo: Amazon.com ]

The most unpleasant surprise of relocating to Newtown, PA was finding out that the area of town where we live is infested with Japanese Beetles. According to the Japanese Beetle information from the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, these beetles:

• are not native to the United States,
• were first found in a nursery in southern New Jersey 80 years ago,
• have spread into at least 22 states, and
• are "a serious plant pest and a threat to American agriculture".

The beetles started swarming about 10 days ago. I wanted to buy some Japanese Beetle Traps at one of the local home and garden stores, but most places in our area were sold out by the time I got there.

The design of these traps is ingenious. It uses two different attractants: an artificial floral lure that attracts female beetles and a pheromone lure that attracts males. The males and females fly up to their respective attractants and most are unable to avoid falling into the collection bag. The result is that the beetles are caught and typically die trying to escape.

When I finally got some Japanese Beetle traps and they were amazingly effective. Each trap collected hundreds of male and female beetles and held them in the plastic bag underneath the bait.

The next problem was how to dispose of the dead and dying beetles snared by the trap. The easiest thing to do is to put the collection bag into a larger plastic bag, tie the top of the larger plastic bag, place the larger plastic bag in the garbage can, and replace the collection bag. This is easier said than done if you try to do it during periods of strong sunlight. Japanese Beetles seem to swarm most intensely when it's hot and sunny outside.

So far, we've filled six collection bags with two traps in our backyard. That's a lot of beetles to capture in 10 days. I hope that the number of adult beetles flying around our neighborhood begins to fall as we reach the end of July. June and July are supposedly the peak period for adult Japanese Beetle activity, assuming that weather conditions are favorable.

In any case, the Japanese Beetle traps we are using have limited the amount of damage that is being done to our trees and bushes. The traps work without employing any pesticide. I recommend them highly if you have a Japanese Beetle infestation like we do.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 1:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

When Kathleen and I moved to Newtown, Pennsylvania we got a bonus with our house: a big lawn. The backyard of our house is at least half an acre. I bought a really good lawn mower: the Toro Recycler Personal Pace Electric Start. This is the Consumer Reports Best Buy in the Self-Propelled Lawn Mower category, and considerably cheaper than the Honda HRX-series or the Toro SR4 SuperRecycler mowers that appear to be the premium products in the category.

Kathleen and I started mowing on Sunday afternoon and finished about half of the grass area. We had a few issues to work out, such as how high to set the blades. I finished the job yesterday morning. On my second attempt, I set the blade to the right level to cut high grass without stalling, and figured out how the Personal Pace mechanism works.

Personal Pace is a continuous variable speed mechanism that's controlled by how much force you exert on the handle. The harder you push the handle down toward the deck, the faster the self-propulsion system moves. The mower can move at up to 4.8 miles per hour, which will be very helpful now that we have the lawn in a maintenance mode.

Personal Pace is a pretty intuitive design. The reason I had trouble with it initially is because I was trying to cut tall grass with the blades set too low, so no matter how I used it, the mower would stall.

Now that I've purchased a mower and become familiar with it, I'm turning my attention to string trimmers. Due to the size of our property and the distance from our house to the corners of the property, it's impractical for me to choose a corded trimmer. I'm looking at the gas-powered trimmers and the one I'm probably going to buy is the Troy-Bilt Trimmer Plus TB25CS.

I'm leaning in this direction because it's also the Consumer Reports Best Buy in its category. The Troy-Bilt Trimmer Plus is rated "excellent" or "very good" in all five tests that the publication did on 26 different gas-powered trimmers. I saw this trimmer at Loews and it has a number of accessories that I might want in the future that are available separately, including an edger and a hedge trimmer.

I don't normally talk about lawn and garden gadgets on Operation Gadget, but these products have been a topic of major off-line discussion around here for the past week or two. If you are in the market and have similar needs, maybe you should look into the models we chose.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 5:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Frank Steele emailed me yesterday, pointing out that SIRIUS Satellite Radio will be offering a free daily podcast from the Tour de France. The podcast, "Lance in France: Off the Bike and on the Mic", will be an extension of Lance Armstrong's weekly SIRIUS program Armstrong Radio that's aired Sundays at 9:00pm Eastern Time on FACTION, SIRIUS Channel 28. It will be hosted by Mark Higgins, Lance's co-host on Armstrong Radio. According to TDFblog, "Armstrong himself, who hosts a weekly Sunday night show on the network, will be checking in with Higgins regularly."

The podcasts are free and can be listened to using the new Apple iTunes 4.9 with built-in podcast support. Other podcast clients can also be used to download Lance in France podcasts as well, but iTunes will be among the easiest for people who are unfamiliar with podcasting to work with initially.

If you want to get SIRIUS so you can listen to programs like Armstrong Radio, I recommend the following:

• Audiovox SIR-PNP3 Sirius Satellite Radio Receiver, the third-generation of the Audiovox Shuttle Receiver for SIRIUS,
• Audiovox SIR-CK3 Sirius Satellite Radio Vehicle Kit if you want to listen in the car,
• Audiovox SIR-HK3 Sirius Satellite Radio Home Kit or an Audiovox SIR-BB3 Sirius Satellite Radio Boombox for listening away from your car.

A lot of people also recommend the Terk SIR6 Outdoor Home Antenna, which is a permanent antenna that you can mount on the outside of a building. Apparently, this dramatically boosts the satellite radio signal versus the indoor/outdoor antenna that comes with the Home Kit and the Boombox.

I also want to point out that SIRIUS has signed on as a sponsor of TDFblog.com for the month of July to promote their podcast and Armstrong Radio program on FACTION. This is not only a smart ad buy, but it demonstrates an understanding of the importance of the blogging community to the continued growth of pro cycling's fan base in the United States.

Technorati Tags: Tour de France, Lance Armstrong

Posted by Dave Aiello at 9:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A Better Way to Mow?: The
Ambrogio Professional is a robotic mower
that will keep a half acre of grass neatly
trimmed with no human assistance.
I could use that at my new house.
[ Photo: The Robot Store ]

When Kathleen and I move in two weeks, we will be taking over the maintenance of about a half acre of grass outside of our new house. We have been thinking about the best way to keep the height of the grass at a reasonable level. So far we've considered push and self-propelled walk-behind mowers as well as riding mowers.

One thing we hadn't considered was a mowing robot. Maybe that's partly because I didn't know there was one and it sounds like something that would appear in the pages of Make Magazine under the title Hack Your Roomba.

I was surprised to find an article about the Ambrogio Professional on Cool Tools. For only about $1,500, you can get a robot that will mow your lawn for you on a daily basis. It's an electric, self-recharging, mulching mower that can take care of a lawn that's about 3/4 of an acre in size. The Ambrogio Professional is a product of the Zucchetti Robotic Division, a company based in Italy.

I love the idea because it would save me at least an hour a week during the eight months a year during the growing season in our area. I think it would be really interesting to get one of these, although I don't think I can possibly afford to buy one this year.

If you are interested in more information, the Professional is available at The Robot Store and Robots and Relax. The latter company has posted the manual for the robotic mower on its website.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 12:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

As I mentioned in an earlier article, Sammarye Lewis, co-author of the new book Tour de France for Dummies asked me how to make her H-P iPAQ h6315 work smoothly with a Garmin GPS 10 Deluxe or another handheld GPS, so that she can get directions to places along the Tour de France stage routes.

I did some research on this, and here is a summary of my findings so far. I'm breaking the results down into two categories: what may work and what probably won't work:

• What May Work

  • Garmin GPS 10 Deluxe with Bluetooth and Garmin Que Pocket PC Software: This maybe the easiest solution to get working straight out of the box if it meets your needs. The bundle includes the GPS unit, Que software for Pocket PC, corresponding software for a Windows PC, and a CitySelect North America CD containing map data. The entire package is reviewed in considerable depth on PocketNow.com.

    The concern I have with this solution is that it doesn't provide maps of France out of the box. Maybe there is a bundle available that contains a Europe rather than North America CD?
    

  • CoPilot Live Pocket PC 5 from ALK Technologies: There are three separate North American offerings priced between $299 and $349. I know that there is also a European version with the same options, but the European site directs potential customers to authorized dealers.

    According to ALK's European site, the European map CD is available for £100. I don't know what the price is if you buy it in the USA.

    PocketGPSWorld.co.uk has a great review of CoPilot Live PPC 5 (which is continued in Part 2) that makes it look like a very good candidate for this job.
    

  
  
• What Probably Won't Work
  
  
  
  • Microsoft Pocket Streets 2005 plus a handheld GPS: This looked like a good solution at first, but if you read the feature set carefully, Pocket Streets does not support route planning.
    
  
  

I'm going to add information to this story if I find other solutions or further information about the solutions already mentioned.

If you have any suggestions that I haven't mentioned, feel free to post a comment and I will take a look at it.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 10:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The working environment for credentialed members of the media when I was at the Dodge Tour de Georgia was different every day. We worked in two different offices, a hotel conference room, the theater in the observation tower at Brasstown Bald, and a conference room at women's club, depending on where the stage finished.

The two constants in our work environment were electricity and a WiFi network. Cramped working conditions and long walks with all of our gear just to arrive at some locations meant that having the laptop with the biggest display and desk footprint could be a drawback. Hassle-free wireless network capability was the key.

In a report from Rome called WiFi Working Again for Me, I lamented the fact that my laptop didn't have built-in WiFi. My D-Link DWL-G650 AirPlus XtremeG Wireless Card that had worked well for a year became so flaky that it was effectively unusable. I had to replace it. I replaced it with the same brand and model WiFi card, but that didn't work until I downloaded and installed a new driver off the Internet using a hard Ethernet connection.

It would have been a lot easier to cover the Tour de Georgia with a compact, easy-to-use laptop with built-in WiFi, and the laptop of choice in the media center was an Apple Powerbook.

I would have chosen a 12-inch Apple PowerBook with a 1.5GHz G4 processor, an 80-Gigabyte hard drive, and an 8x-Speed SuperDrive (DVD+RW/CD-RW). The small form factor would have worked well at the top of Brasstown Bald or at the women's club in Dahlonega where we worked in pretty close proximity to each other. The 12-inch display still gives you 1024x768 resolution, which is good for the small size of the notebook itself, and would be good enough for photo selection and editing.

I would have teamed this up with a multi-function USB 2.0 memory card reader to make camera memory card handling painless.

These gadgets would have made me the master of the Tour de Georgia media work room.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 5:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Yesterday Reuters reported that gadget prices fell by 0.8 percent in January compared with retail prices in December 2004. Apparently NPD produces a statistic called NPD Consumer Electronics Price Watch which tracks a market basket of the "27 most popular electronics goods". Reuters apparently considers the NPD Consumer Electronics Price Watch a sort of a gadget price index.

According to the article, desktop computers and hard drive prices fell while DVD players and tape-based digital video camera prices increased.

I'm surprised that there aren't more indexes like this with greater transparency in how they are computed.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 10:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Levi Wallach of Twelve Black Code Monkeys made a good point in a comment he posted to End User Awareness of Bluetooth on the Rise According to Survey. Levi said:

I would have to agree with you. I recently went out with some friends for dinner who are not techie at all and they knew what the bluetooth headset was that I was wearing, although I'm not sure all of them knew the actual term "bluetooth."

Bluetooth headsets like the Motorola HS810 are popping up more and more, and people often ask, "What's that?". After you give the headset's elevator pitch, they often ask, "What's Bluetooth?"

Bluetooth has such an odd name that it's hard for a lot of people to forget once they've heard it. Of course, I talk about Bluetooth so much that I forget that headsets are the things people see early adopters using the most. Of course the headsets are the key drivers of awareness of this technology.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 2:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

BargainPDA reports that Bluetooth awareness is growing among individuals in the United States. This may be due to the fact that many laptops and PDAs sold in the last year come with Bluetooth on board. According to the Bluetooth SIG who sponsored the study, awareness of Bluetooth reached 42 percent in 2004. That's roughly the same percentage of the American population that's aware of WiFi.

The study results are confirmed by a recent article in the Chicago Tribune, After years of promise, Bluetooth hits its stride. The article quotes representatives of Motorola and market research groups like IDC who indicate that awareness is translating into accessory sales, which results in development of additional Bluetooth products.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 10:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Some Operation Gadget readers may remember that I'm currently reviewing the H-P iPAQ H6315 with service from my friends at T-Mobile USA. I was up at Camp Johnsonburg with about 10 members of my wife's family this weekend for a real getaway (peace and quiet, no TV, no driving, and no wired Internet).

You might imagine that I cheated a bit by turning on the GPRS service and checking my email once in a while. (I can see Kathleen rolling her eyes when she reads this.) The iPAQ performed well, and kudos to T-Mobile for having coverage for both voice and data in the hinterlands of New Jersey's Warren County.

Anyway, I was thinking during this time that the snap-on keyboard for the iPAQ H6315 is nice, but a larger keyboard would be nicer for the stuff I was then doing. When I got home, I looked around and found that one of the better choices available for this is the Think Outside Stowaway Bluetooth Keyboard for Pocket PC. Amazon.com has a nice deal on it at the moment, a 39 percent discount bringing the price down to under $100.

I'm pretty sure that I would have been drummed out of B Lodge if I'd whipped a Stowaway Bluetooth Keyboard out for some more aggressive wireless Internet access, but it's nice to know that you can get an accessory like this at a considerable discount from the List Price.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 11:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Geekzone published an interesting review of the Bluetake BT400 G5 Bluetooth Headset. The feature that stood out for me is the BT400 G5's ability to pair with multiple Bluetooth-enabled mobile phones simultaneously. The reviewer was able to successfully answer calls on two phones, rapidly alternating between the two.

Although most of the practical applications for this are likely to be desk-centric (being paired to a PC for VoIP and to a mobile phone simultaneously), I could also see using this when my wife and I are travelling together in the car.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 7:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Douglas Morse of TreoCentral weighed in with his Motorola HS810 Bluetooth Headset review. This review was surprising because of the similarities and dissimilarities between it and other reviews of the HS810 from proven reviewers.

The TreoCentral review agrees with others in the idea that the HS810's fidelity in transmitting bass tones leaves something to be desired. This issue is also specifically mentioned in a MobileBurn review of the HS810 published back in May.

TreoCentral disagrees with most reviews of the HS810 in the "sound quality" department. Their review says:

There are several problems with the sound on the HS 810. The first is that it tends to breakup regularly creating a constant crackle on both ends of the call. On the headset speaker, the tonal qualities are good, but receivers report very heavy bass with little treble response....

The headset, like many I�ve tested has sound issues and is terribly inconsistent in quality of response, even if you�re not moving.... The bottom line is that the Motorola HS 810 headset does not achieve consistent sound quality when used with the Treo.

Compare those comments to what Michael Oryl said about the HS810, "The sound was certainly clear and useable, but seemed a bit thin," or what Mike Wendland said in his review in the Detroit Free Press, "In several tests, both the scala-500 and the Motorola HS810 sounded markedly better to the person on the other end of the conversation."

The biggest issue in the TreoCentral review seems to be the Treo 650, not the Motorola HS810. This is supported by the following quotes:

• TreoCentral: The headset, like many I�ve tested has sound issues and is terribly inconsistent in quality of response, even if you�re not moving. Much of this may be due to the Bluetooth on the Treo, the other person�s cell phone, and innumerable other factors not limited to wireless interference.
• Detroit Free Press: It must be pointed out that the Treo 650 has a well-known problem with audio quality that its PalmOne manufacturer is trying to remedy. For me, the better audio quality provided by the headsets was the key benefit.

I'm concerned that the Bluetooth implementation on the Treo 650 may not be performing as well as palmOne would like. The evidence for this is a bit of a stretch, because it has to do with a data-oriented Bluetooth profile. See Are You Sure That Cingular Really Wants to Deactivate the Treo 650 DUN Profile?

People are still buying Treo 650's at a high rate overall, so either they don't know about the reported sound quality problems or they don't think those issues will affect them. In any case, I'm hoping that palmOne patches the palmOS operating system on the Treo 650 before too long.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 10:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Tom Payne pointed out a list of The Top 100 Gadgets of All Time published by Mobile PC Magazine. The list is published in reverse order, meaning that you start reading at item number 100 and work your way to the top-ranked gadget. Probably a good choice, but unusual compared to recent top gadget lists, like 1Up.com's Essential 50 electronic games.

Also of interest in this list is the way Mobile PC defines "gadget" for the purpose of this list:

• It has to have electronic and/or moving parts of some kind.
• It has to be a self-contained apparatus that can be used on its own, not a subset of another device.
• It has to be smaller than the proverbial bread box.

Most surprising to me is that I've only owned four of the top 20 gadgets on their list. Perhaps this is due to the fact that the list specifies exact models rather than product families.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 5:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Watch Report published a nice review of the Abacus Wrist Net. This is one of Fossil's entries into the MSN Direct-compatible "smart watch" market. MSN Direct also sent me an Abacus Wrist Net back in December, but I have been unable to completely review it because of data reception problems that may have to do with a faulty antenna.

Christian Cantrell talks about the appearance, the 18 different digital watch faces that the Abacus Wrist Net can display, and its cost relative to competing Smart Watch models. When I was using the Abacus Wrist Net, I used the "Glance" mode, which displayed most of the information that it collected from MSN Direct on a rotating basis. I agree with Christian that MSN Direct is useful in this context, and represents a good alternative to subscribing to text message news alerts delivered to your cell phone.

I have to share one comment about the Abacus Wrist Net from my friend Jen Cully. She was over at my house in December to pick up my wife to go on a car trip, I showed her the watch, and she said:

I mean it's cool and everything... but it's a wonkin', non-girly watch.

That says a lot about the Abacus Wrist Net in a very concise way. All of the Smart Watches I've seen are noticeably thicker than nearly every watch I've ever worn. The only exception to this is biking and running computers from Polar Electro, like the Polar S625x. I'm sure some of the thicker Swiss diving watches are of similar size.

Jen is also right in suggesting that these Smart Watches are pretty much a men-only phenomenon. It's hard to believe that we'll see them on the wrists of women anytime soon, unless the form factor is significantly changed.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 12:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Newsweek's international edition reports on the burgeoning little industry importing electronic gadgets from Japan. Companies such as Dynamism.com and Compact-Impact.com in the United States and Skill in the UK have built businesses around unique relationships with Japanese electronics distributors who export ultra-small laptops, USB storage keys, MiniDisc recording devices, portable audio devices, and unique digital cameras. These gadget import companies companies provide a number of services including English language manuals and special warranties for U.S. and European customers.

A couple of weeks ago, my friend Tom McDonnell showed me a tiny Casio digital camera that a friend from Japan had given to him as a gift. I had my Canon PowerShot A95, but for some reason I didn't think to take a picture of it. (If I had, I could have talked more about it on Operation Gadget.)

The point of telling this story is that a company like Dynamism would be one of the few resellers in the United States that might sell a Casio digital camera like this that was produced for the Japanese market.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 1:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Casio Solar Pathfinder: One of
the watches that the Transportation
Safety Administration is looking out for.
[ Photo: Amazon.com ]

In the past few weeks, a number of media outlets have reported on a warning that the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI issued on certain Casio multi-function watches. The Watch Report says that Casio has offered to work with the Transportation Security Administration to help agents identify watches with built-in butane lighters and altimeters, so that airline passengers posessing them can be subjected to further screening.

It's surprising that the DHS and the FBI think that the altimeter on Casio watches could be an effective way to trigger some sort of terror device. The area where the passengers sit is pressurized, so a barometric altimeter probably wouldn't indicate the true altitude.

On the other hand, it's not clear whether the warning is directed to the TSA's screening of checked baggage or of passengers and their personal effects. I'd pay extra attention to these altimeters if they were checked in baggage, but that's the opinion of a non-law-enforcement person.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 11:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

The folks at MSN Direct sent me a Fossil Abacus Wrist Net Smart Watch to play with and talk about. I got it a couple of days ago and I've been wearing it in place of my Tag Heuer 4000 Series Sport Watch, which is one of the memories of my previous life as an IT consultant on Wall Street.

I charged it overnight on Friday, set up my MSN Direct subscription on Saturday afternoon, and started trying to acclimate myself to the experience shortly thereafter.

I'm planning to speak about it in detail after I have the opportunity to put the watch through its paces. I will also publish some photos of the Abacus Wrist Net and its packaging after I receive my new Canon Powershot A 95. I'm supposed to be getting it in the next day or two, so maybe then I'll get started.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 1:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Martin O'Donnell pointed out a Seattle Times article that discusses the performance of Amazon.com's fulfillment centers during the 2004 holiday season. The article also provides some statistics about overall e-commerce sales:

Consumers spent $2.03 billion online during the five days ending Friday {December 17}, a 49 percent jump compared with the same days last year, according to comScore Networks, which tracks consumer buying online. ComScore attributed the increase partly to free shipping and e-mail campaigns to remind customers of deadlines to take advantage of standard shipping rates.

Two billion dollars changing hands on-line over a five day period is an amazing volume of business for consumer-oriented goods.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 12:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

In Amazon.com's monthly newsletter to Amazon Associates (websites that have joined Amazon's e-commerce affiliates program), the company reported:

In a recent survey of 10,180 Consumer Reports readers, Amazon.com received the highest rating for overall electronics buying experience. Those surveyed evaluated 20 retailers and gave Amazon.com top marks for our great prices and product selection. The Amazon.com Electronics Store has become so popular that, for the first time ever, our sales of electronics have surpassed our sales of books.

I assume that the sales figures refer to total value of products sold rather than unit volumes. Either way, that is a tremendous achievement for Amazon.com considering its roots as an on-line bookstore.

I've been buying electronic products from Amazon.com regularly since they began offering them. Their prices are usually quite competitive and they've worked with me whenever I've had a problem with things I've ordered. It seems like a good percentage of the readers of Consumer Reports agree with me.

Full disclosure: Operation Gadget is a member of the Amazon Associates program.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 7:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This has been a great week for attention grabbing headlines in market research reports. The BBC reports that a Toshiba-sponsored study characterized 60 percent of British gadget users as "digitally fat". This means that they carry with them 5 to 10-Gigabytes of digital music files wherever they go. The study further suggests that within the next year many of these same Britons will become "digitally obese" by carrying with them 20-Gigabytes of gadget-stored data.

The study incorporates some of the findings of a study Cal Tech Professor Roy Williams did in the 1990s, associating digital storage with the estimated volume of paper needed to store that same information. How they made the transition between paper storage equivalents and virtual fatness or obesity is not clear in the BBC article.

If I understand the study, every full-sized iPod user in the world is a candidate for digital fatness. Maybe the iPod mini was an attempt by Apple to encourage moderation.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 10:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (1)

Martin O'Donnell pointed out this San Francisco Chronicle article from late last week that says there's a gadget gap between Asia and the United States and if there's any day-to-day change, the gadget gap is widening rather than closing. Of course Jeff Yang (the author of the piece) is right. He points to a number of practical reasons why the gap has developed as well:

• intensity of focus by Japanese manufacturers on the consumer market after years of declining technology purchases by industry,
• lack of space in the homes of many Asians,
• degree of focus by many Asians on acquiring status-oriented products, including luxury goods and technology

... not to mention differences in our retail culture. Do you equate Best Buy and Wal-Mart with the latest and greatest gear or the cheapest and most mass-market of all possible offerings?

These macro trends can also be correlated with use of mobile data services, which were discussed on Operation Gadget earlier today: people who commute via mass transit tend to consume more mobile data services. Japan, Greater Asia, and Europe all have much greater adoption and use rates than the U.S. and Canada.

I consider most of the data reported in this article to be indicative of cultural differences between North America and the rest of the industrialized countries. I am not worried about that there are dark implications for our competitiveness. And if Kathleen (or Doctor Aiello as she's sometimes called) thinks we need a $3,000 Smart Toilet that measures our weight, body fat, blood pressure and urine sugar in the morning, I'm sure we'll be able to find one.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 2:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Textured Steel Trunk: a 30 3/4" x
15 1/2" x 15 3/4" steel footlocker that will
protect electronic gadgets from theft
in a dorm room. [ Photo courtesy of
The Container Store ]

The Palm Springs Desert Sun reported yesterday that college students are stocking up on security devices to avoid losing their electronic gadgets to dorm thieves. The most sought-after products include:

• Nice looking metal footlockers: Footlockers such as a Textured Steel Trunk can be used to hold digital cameras, iPods, and laptops when not in use.
• Digital safes: Some safes with digital combinations are designed to hold laptops, but they are huge and heavy. A good example is the Brink's 5084DB 1.2-Foot Technology Fire Safe that will protect its contents from theft (it weights 140 pounds) and also protect contents from fires burning at 1700 degrees Fahrenheit for one hour.
• Electronic door locks and lockable furniture: These are potentially good ideas, but they depend upon the college or university to make the investment. In all likelyhood, upgrades like this are not going to take place during this school year, if they aren't already underway.

I'm not sure I would have wanted items like these in my dorm room during my college career, but I would have thought again if more than one iPod had disappeared on my floor.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 10:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A Souvenir from New York City
that includes an image of
the World Trade Center Towers

As you know, last week I had dinner with Sascha Bereksasi and Stefan Kulla in New York City. At midnight, they dropped me off at the 33rd Street PATH Station so I could go home, but they were staying out to try to find a place where they could buy small souvenirs for friends back home in Frankfurt.

They told me about the souvenir they were looking for: a crystal engraved with the New York City Skyline. I asked them, "What's so special about that?" They just liked the way they looked and thought they made good gifts. I asked them to send me a photo of one of these crystals when they got home, so I would know what it looked like.

The crystal is engraved with a stylized version of the New York Skyline, pre-9/11. I have to admit that I am somewhat conflicted when I think about the New York Skyline. I am upset by the tendency of movie and television distributors to edit programming to remove the towers of the World Trade Center from the skyline. But, I'm also upset when I see vendors selling souvenirs depicting the skyline with the World Trade Center still in it. Does this attitude make any sense?

When I think about the fact that New York is the one city in the world that is identifiable by its skyline, I think it's good that they haven't changed the design of souvenirs like this. A lot of people want to remember the World Trade Center as it was, at least until The Freedom Tower is completed in 2009. I don't think that The Freedom Tower will "replace" the towers of the World Trade Center, but it will be a striking addition to the New York Skyline in its own right.

I think New York needs a new addition to its skyline. It will be part of the memorial to the 9/11 victims, but I hope that it will symbolize the future of New York City, rather than the past.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 10:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Reuters reports that Amazon.com has begun taking pre-orders for Microsoft Portable Media Center devices including the Creative Labs 20 GB Zen Portable Media Center and the Samsung Yepp YH-999 20 GB Portable Media Center.

Both units will cost about $500 and include 20-Gigabyte internal hard drives, bright color displays between 3.5 and 3.8-inches, rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, and USB 2.0 support. They will store audio and video in MPEG4, MP3, JPEG, and Windows Media formats. The devices also allow you to connect them to a standard TV via a composite video port.

According to Microsoft, which made the announcement in conjunction with Amazon.com and the devices' manufacturers, the Creative Labs Zen is expected to be available in late August, while the Samsung Yepp model will ship in September.

I prefer the outward of the Yepp a bit to that of the Zen. But, I would need to do more research before making a final choice between them.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 2:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

InfoSync World reports that Nokia announced a wireless keyboard for their line of Series 60 mobile phones at press conferences in Helsinki and Singapore earlier today. This keyboard works with Bluetooth personal area networking and makes phones like the Nokia 6600 a much better device for text-intensive applications, such as SSH clients. [ photo courtesy of Nokia ]

Posted by Dave Aiello at 4:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A little while ago, I received an email from Amazon.com that said:

Receive a promotional certificate for $30 off a future Amazon.com purchase when you spend $99 on Norelco products. Offer valid through June 30, 2004.

I've repeatedly pointed out sales on Norelco products since I started Operation Gadget, mainly because I like their shavers. My personal favorite, the 8890XL, is on sale at 42 percent off its list price. This is probably because fewer people buy these razors as Father's Day and graduation gifts than as Christmas or Hanukkah gifts.

But, now is a good time to purchase one of these shavers for yourself or as a gift. If you buy a Norelco product from Amazon.com before June 30, you get this discount plus a $30 gift certificate. That seems like a good deal to me.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 11:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I really appreciated the Bluetooth Headset Roundup that Michael Oryl wrote on MobileBurn. I can use the information here to choose a headset to use with my Nokia 6600.

According to the article:

The players in this review are as follows: Motorola's HS810, Plantronics' M3500, Tekkeon's ezTalker, and Tekram's TM-312.... All four of the headsets featured here get my recommendation.

The comparison includes a chart with objective and subjective information about each headset. This will definitely help you if you are trying to make a purchase decision. [ Photo courtesy of Plantronics ]

Posted by Dave Aiello at 11:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Fazal Majid asked an important question on Saturday in an entry on his weblog entitled Are Americans becoming second-class consumers? He cites several situations where manufacturers shipped products with the same name in two different markets, but the U.S. version had fewer features or lower quality components than the equivalent product destined for other markets. He cites:

• the Sony Clie PEG-TH55 Handheld, which ships without Bluetooth in the U.S. This was discussed on Operation Gadget on March 5.
• The Canon EOS Digital Rebel with 18-55mm Lens, which "has the smooth and fast USM ultrasonic motor in Japan, but uses the inferior AFD micro-motor in the US". That's news to me.
• The Epson Stylus Photo 2200 Inkjet Printer, which "does not include in the US the gray balancer, special software and calibration sheets used to improve the neutrality of black and white prints."

Majid also cites laptops and portable electronics imported by vendors like Dynamism that U.S. subsidiaries of international electronics companies consider poor fits for the largest single electronics market in the world.

These are all good points. But, when we discuss products that make it to the U.S. market late or not at all, how about GSM phones like the Nokia 6600 that's been out in Europe and Asia for months, but has only been made available in the USA by T-Mobile within the last week? This phone is hot and it's hard to understand why Nokia would not want to ship as many of these in this country as it could. I'd think this would be particularly important, considering Nokia's recent problems achieving predicted handset sales volumes.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 1:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Daily Wireless put together an excellent article about RSS use on mobile devices. The article includes a list of RSS aggregators for platforms from the PC and Macintosh all the way down to the iPod. [ via MobileWhack ]

One suggestion that the author, Phillip Torreone, makes is Syndigator, a Perl-based RSS aggregator based on Gtk that he believes is a good choice for Linux users. I have been using Straw since I got Fedora Core 1 running on my laptop. I will have to try Syndigator and see how mature it is relative to Straw.

BTW, Phillip Torreone and I seem to have a lot of interests in common lately. The other day, I noticed his website about exercise technology called /run. Today, I found him writing for Daily Wireless. He's blogging as much as I am, if not more.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 10:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

CNET News.com is reporting that Panasonic announced a 1-Gigabyte Secure Digital memory card at CeBIT in Hannover, Germany on Friday. They report that the card will cost approximately $500 when it ships worldwide in May. I'm sure that the street price of these things will be lower, when they get to stores across the country.

If you need a very high capacity SD card now, SanDisk has a 1-Gigabyte SD card on the market already. It's considerably cheaper than Panasonic's suggested retail price and it's widely available.

Applications for big SD cards include tapeless digital video cameras like the Panasonic SVAV100 D-Snap Camcorder. We discussed this video camera on Operation Gadget back in November.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 12:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Toshiba's Storage Device Division is displaying design concepts for devices that could be built based with its 0.85-inch hard disk drive at CeBIT 2004 in Hannover, Germany. Reportedly, the 0.85-inch drives will have a capacity of 2 to 4 Gigabytes and begin quantity shipment in the third or fourth quarter of 2004.

To put 0.85-inch hard drives in perspective, think about products currently on the market. The Apple iPod mini contains a 1-inch Hitachi 4GB MicroDrive which is embedded in a CompactFlash card. The Toshiba 0.85-inch drive is 15 percent smaller and can be built into commesurately smaller devices, particularly if the drive is not packaged as a CompactFlash card. The specifications indicate that Toshiba is awfully close to the size that they would need to be in order to fit in an SD card.

Toshiba's concepts include a Multimedia Eyeglasses that have an embedded heads-up display, a Wristwatch PDA with a high definition capabilities, a Digital Wallet/Data Key, and an MP3 Headset. [ image courtesy of Toshiba ]

Posted by Dave Aiello at 11:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

BBC News reports that Stuff Magazine has named its Top 10 Gadgets of 2004. The gadgets are:

• Bluetooth Mobile (Nokia 6600)
• MP3 Jukebox (Apple iPod)
• Plasma Screen (Pioneer PDP-434HDE)
• Home Cinema (Pioneer NS-DV990)
• Personal Video Recorder (Sky+ for BSkyB)
• Digital Camera (Pentax Optio S4)
• Games Console (Microsoft Xbox)
• Wi-fi Laptop (Sony Vaio)
• Wireless Network (Netgear)
• Watch (Seiko Arctura Kinetic)

The Beeb says that the total cost of these items in the UK is approximately $15,390.50 (where GBP 1 = $1.82785). That's a big bill. Wonder if it includes VAT?

Stuff Magazine is based in the UK, so some of the specific items on their list are difficult or impossible to purchase in the U.S. Don't be too upset if some of the links provided don't result in an instant purchase opportunity.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 10:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Digital Hubub pointed out that a personal beverage vending machine called Skybox by Maytag will debut on February 1. As Lee Heidel said:

The focal point of any digital-hub home is the game room - or screening room, or boom boom room. It is in this sacred space that all of your hard hub work comes together. You watch archived video from your Mac on a 70" projection screen. You play foosball.... And yes, like every good party room, you have a bar.

But what if you need that extra punch to get you over the edge, moving from border-geek to true, larger-than-life gear-geek?

You get the Maytag SkyBox. It's a personal vending machine designed to hold cans or bottles of your favorite drink....

Just like a public vending machine, it keeps your favorite beverages cold and at the ready. Unlike a public vending machine, it takes no money and it has lockouts for when the kids are using the room on weekday afternoons.

What do you think Operation Gadget readers? Is this a must-have for your home theater? If so, it goes on sale tomorrow. Maybe you can find one at a local store early in the day and have it setup in time for the football game in Houston. [ Thanks to Digital Hubub for blogrolling us. ]

Posted by Dave Aiello at 3:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Infosync World is reporting that Motorola is bringing out a handsfree speakerphone accessory for Bluetooth-enabled phones. According to the article:

The Motorola HF800 Portable Wireless Speaker is a compact accessory that can act as a hands-free speakerphone or wireless headset jack when connected to any compatible Bluetooth enabled device up to a 10-meter range.

This is an interesting gadget idea, and definitely would be useful if you have a Bluetooth-enabled phone and you participate in conference calls a lot. The hard part of buying this type of device is that you'll probably have trouble finding a place to try it before you buy. In my experience, mobile phone stores and other places where you can walk in and buy mobile phones aren't set up to demo accessories. I guess this is the case for Bluetooth headsets as well. But, a speakerphone add-on would be something I would want to use in advance even more than a headset.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 11:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Occasionally I see a kitchen gadget that I think is potentially really useful, but hasn't gotten much attention. The latest gadget of that nature is the Black and Decker Lids Off Jar Opener. This electric jar opener can handle jars up to 4 1/2 inches wide and 8 inches high. It would be great for people with limited hand strength or small hands. I've seen a number of my relatives struggle to open vacuum-sealed jars in the past, and this would definitely help them.

I wish I'd known about it prior to the holidays, because it's the kind of practical household gift that I could get for a relative that would really be handy but wouldn't cost a lot of money. I just saw this for the first time, so I doubt that too many people have them yet.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 2:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I got a "New For You" email from Amazon.com earlier this evening. One of the things it talked about was the Presto Pizzazz Pizza Oven. When I saw a picture of this countertop pizza cooker, I said to my wife, "I have to put this up on Operation Gagdet."

This thing reportedly cooks a pizza by heating about one slice at a time as the pizza rotates through the cooker. It heats from both the top and the bottom, if you wish. I don't know how many times the pizza has to rotate before it is thoroughly cooked, but I'm pretty sure it's more than once. The manufacturer says that the Pizzazz cooks a pizza in about half the time it takes to cook in a conventional over and it needs no pre-heating.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 11:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

In today's edition, The Wall Street Journal talks about the Archos AV320 Video and MP3 Jukebox Recorder, an MP4 video player with music and digital photo support. It says that the AV320 " in effect does to movies what Apple Computer Inc.'s iPod does to music", and states that the Archos has sold over 100,000 units worldwide in the last six months.

Archos actually makes a complete line of these devices, collectively called the AV300 Series. In addition to the AV320 which has a 20 gigabyte hard disk and stores up to 40 hours of near DVD quality video, they also make the AV340 with 40-gigabyte capacity, and the AV380 with 80-gigabyte capacity.

I don't think these devices are iPod-like in terms of their industrial design, but, they make up for that with a fairly unique feature set. Each AV300 device has a 3.8 inch color LCD display. They allow you to download video or audio from your PC or Macintosh via either USB 2.0 or Firewire. They accept a Digital Video Recorder add-on that allows you to record content directly from most televisions. Archos is a French company, so, compatibility with video standards other than NTSC is assured. The AV300s can also be used as an external hard drive or a storage medium for digital camera photos, in the same fashion as the iPod.

The Wall Street Journal's article talks about the fact that the full contents of DVDs can be transfered to AV300-series devices. Presumably this is done using the Digital Video Recorder add-on. Once the DVD content is on an Archos device, the content can be copied off to a PC or Macintosh. The article suggests that this makes these devices a small threat to the entertainment industry because such a procedure circumvents the Digital Rights Management features of commercially-produced DVDs. That's a fair point, although they go on to point out that doing this would be time consuming, and there are more direct methods that someone bent on piracy could use.

The AV300-series has had a small impact on the U.S. market so far. But, with an annual worldwide sales rate of at least 200,000 units, you, Operation Gadget reader, or one of your friends is likely to bring one home soon.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 8:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

The Seattle P-I reports that Microsoft is working on a reference design for portable devices that will allow users to play music and video and display photos. These devices, called Portable Media Centers, will reportedly be manufactured by Samsung, Viewsonic, iRiver, and Creative Technology.

According to the article, this new platform is expected to be announced at this week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. [ via Slashdot ]

Posted by Dave Aiello at 12:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This morning I noticed that one thrifty Operation Gadget reader purchased a Norelco 8890XL Spectra Rechargeable Cord/Cordless Men's Shaving System on New Year's Day. You say, "Why did that person wait until January 1? If they had bought by December 31, they would have gotten a free personal groomer and a $20 credit on future purchases at Amazon." (We told you about that deal back in November.)

Well, Norelco shavers are on sale, and it looks like an after-Christmas-at-the-department-store kind of deal. The current price for the 8890XL, my personal favorite Norelco shaver, is $129.99, a whopping 56 percent discount from MSRP. It's hard to beat that price, even on price comparison sites.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 11:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)