LIVEdigitally

First, thanks to Jeremy for inviting me to join his blog and be one of his “friends” musing on consumer technology. I have started my own blog but we both thought it would be fun to combine a few things. Here is my first post….

Recently at the Barrett-Jackson auto auction in Scottsdale, Arizona I had the chance to test and talk to the folks at Custom Theater Solutions. They are the creators of a new and impressive custom motion seating design. After testing their new setup, all I can say is

Their motion seating puts you into the movie like never before! After sitting in their seats I expected clunky movements, a little vibration and swaying. What I got was full action movements, smooth, fast and completely natural. There are not many things that can impress me this much, to actually make me grin like a child, but this was definitely one of those times. We were watching scenes from Terminator 3. Every movement, vibration, explosion you feel. Camera zooms in, you zoom in, vehicle accelerates and you feel as is you are too. But it’s not just all about the action scenes, you feel it when the camera zooms in, pans, or just sit there quietly during slow scenes.

How do they do it?
They don’t use hydraulics or bulky mechanisms, they use metal actuators. These actuators are fast and strong.
They can give you up to 2Gs of acceleration! They simply hook up the actuators to their seats and using a pivot point they can give you complete pitch, roll and yaw.

How do they tell the actuators what to do?
My first guess was from the audio portion of the movie, boy was I wrong.

The seats, mounted on a platform with all the electronics inside the platform are programmed with something called, ‘motion codes’. “When you need motion codes for the latest DVD, you connect a special set-top box to your internet connection and also to your DVD player. All your motion codes will be downloaded automatically as soon as they come out. Keep in mind that the motion codes aren’t part of the actual DVD, so it doesn’t matter if your movie is rented, store bought or downloaded from the internet. The system will automatically find the specific motion code for that movie and cue it up in real time. There are already over 600-plus movie motion codes available, with more than five new movies coded every week. The CTS system also has an alternate audio feedback mode for video games and TV shows.

They also can hook the actuators to almost any seating setup. Want your whole couch to move, no problem. One, two, three or four theater seats, no problem. This makes the system very versatile.

All in all I give this system a wow factor of 10.
Pros and Cons

Less expensive than other systems on the market. A three seat system is around $17,000.
Very versatile, can be made to fit any home theater environment.
If local they can bring their special built demo trailer directly to your home to test.
Wow your friends factor of 10.

Have to download the motion code before watching latest released movies, or check if availble before you purchase the movie.
It’s almost too much. After watching for awhile, it’s so intense you need a break.
Doesn’t work with regular TV… Yet.

Want a surefire way to make the best headphones on the market even better?  Easy, add a mike.  Confused?  Well, Shure (the makers of my favorite E4c and runner-up E2c headphones) did just that, and believe it or not, it all makes perfect sense.It turns out you can divide people into one of two camps when it comes to headphones: innies and outies.  Innies are the people who enjoy wearing in-ear headphones, the ones that go inside the ‘lobe and pump the sound right into your brain.  Outies prefer on-ear headphones, such as the Bose QuietComforts, which sit on top of your ears.  I’ve tried quite a few of both, in a variety of situations, and am quite certain of the fact that I’m an innie.  I like being able to fall asleep with the buds in my ear, I find the Bose set makes my head get a little, sweaty, and I find they simply can’t block out the sounds of a wailing child three rows behind me.

Until a short time ago, the Shure E4c’s were my favorite headphones.  I’d even tried the E5c’s, and while the sound quality was stunning, they just weren’t comfortable for a 13-hour flight to Hong Kong.  The E4c’s were the king of the innies in my world, with only one major nag: the process of removing/inserting them is unpleasant to repeat on a frequent basis.  Welcome to the Shure E500PTH’s.

Packaging
As with all Shure products, the headphones are nicely packaged inside a small box.  The box has an inner metallic shell with a very nice finish, and inside that shell is a molded foam case to hold all the pieces.  Nice, simple, luxurious, and not overly wasteful.

Contents
When you buy the E500PTH’s you receive:

• The headphones
• The microphone
• A mini-extension cable
• A 1/8″ to 1/4″ adapter
• Oval carrying case
• Lots of extra earbuds

Headphones
I’m going to stay a little light on discussing the headphones themselves this time.  Others like Gary Krakow have already reviewed the overall sound quality of them (here’s Gary’s take on the E4c’s, and he’s about 100x a discerning listener compared to me) and CNet made them an Editor’s Choice.  Suffice it to say - they sound as good, possibly better, than the rest of the Shure lineup.  You’ll have nothing to complain about when it comes to the sound quality, be it at home, on a plane, or anywhere else you are using the E500PTH’s.  They sound great.

Microphone
Now this is where the E500PTH’s get interesting.  Their noise-cancelling capabilities are tremendous, but as I said above, taking out and shoving in little rubber buds in your ear every time the person next to you wants to share some little detail of their life and why they love their home town can get, well, annoying.  And I have a hunch quite a few of Shure’s customers shared that sentiment with the company, since the E500’s specifically address that situation. 

Through some quite clever ingenuity (in my opinion), Shure added a microphone and a little on/off switch to the headphones.  When switched “on” (which does require a single AAA battery), the E500’s effectively mute the incoming audio source, and amplify the microphone.  This translates to: when you turn them on, you can hear the outside world again.  There’s actually a little volume control dial to adjust the level of amplification, and while it took me a little tweaking and a lot of getting used to, I finally got it right.

The next time the flight attendant walked by my seat (my original fiddling with them was on a plane), I was able to order my drink (and, of course, thank her for it), without whispering or screaming at the top of my lungs.  Again - it takes some getting used to, but once you’ve tried it for a few minutes, you’ll find yourself hitting the switch and carrying on a conversation as if you weren’t wearing the headphones at all. Very very impressive!

Overall
I have only a single annoyance with the Shure E500PTH’s, which is the size of the carrying case.  Granted, I was spoiled by the “fits in the palm of my hand” size of the E4c’s, and it’s still nothing compared to the mega-case which carries the Bose QuietComfort 2’s (forget the 3’s, they make ya puke).  So chalk that up as the only negative thing I have to say, otherwise, the E500’s are a winner.  Another nice touch is if the microphone battery dies, the headphones still work (unlike most over-the-ear noise reduction headphones).They are now, in fact, a permanent addition to my laptop case, and should be in yours as well.  However, they do cost over $400 (Amazon link), so if you already have headphones you like, you can opt to purchase the “push-to-hear” component instead (Shure site).

Things like spyware, malware, spam, viruses, and the popularity of Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan (although she was Hot in Mean Girls) all completely baffle me.  I understand that everyone wants to make a buck, but I just don’t get how people can really sleep at night.  Thankfully, for as much energy as the evil people put into developing their tricks, there is a lot of goodwill being done at the same time.  Our old pal Jonas put together a roundup of several free anti-spyware tools, and it’s a good read (unless you are on the Microsoft Defender team, in which case you have some coding to do).

With last week’s launch of IE7 (see the massive coverage here), and the recent improvements to Google Reader, I thought I’d do a little compare and contrast with these tools and Bloglines, my RSS reader of choice.  Now I’m going to preface the whole article by saying I still feel RSS is a very young technology and has a long way to go before getting into the true mainstream population.  In fact, as much as I as a “techie guy” understand how to leverage RSS for both personal and professional use, I still find my email newsletters are an easier way to digest news content.  So disclaimer aside, let’s take a look at the state of these tools today.

Internet Explorer 7
In many ways IE7 is a significant improvement upon IE6, and is really a very usable browser (I’m not getting into a Safari, Opera, Firefox debate - use whatever you like, I picked IE and that’s that).  Microsoft added a “Command Bar” which includes a Feeds option.  Simply enough, when browsing a Web page with any RSS links inside, the Feeds button lights up.  Click it, and you can fairly rapidly add the feed to your favorites feeds.

Clicking on this option brings up a new page, that shows you a preview of what the feed looks like, along with an option to subscribe. Personally, I found this option pretty unnecessary, and could be accomplished much faster with a popup dialog. When you do subscribe, a simple dialog appears to sort which folder you want this new feed added to.  I think this two-step process should definitely be merged into a single interface.

Once added, it appears as one of your favorites, when you choose to view your favorites feeds.  Which you unfortunately have to do manually.  In the favorites feeds view, all you can see is the number of new items and when it was last updated, and the only way to even see this much information is by hovering your mouse over the feed.  The last option with IE7 feed support is a properties dialog:

Microsoft decided to treat Feeds roughly the same as Favorites, which I really dislike.  Ultimately, it’s a sign to me that, for whatever reason, Microsoft either isn’t taking RSS feeds seriously or they just don’t get it.  If I were grading them on it, I’d give them a D-, it’s a totally unacceptable mechanism for dealing with an emerging technology.  I wish I had two more hands so I could give it four thumbs down.

Google Reader
The last time I tried Google Reader it was a pretty poor experience.  Everything was too techie and too clunky, basically it had that “built by engineers for engineers” Google-ish feel to it.  With their most recent upgrades, I found it was a lot friendlier to get started, you are immediately prompted to enter a URL or term and off you go.

Once you’ve added a feed, the reader displays a view of What’s New (which shows you, well, what’s new with the feed(s) you are subscribed to).  I added in a few of my favorites, and had a pretty easy to understand view that showed the feeds together.  Also, on the right side of the screen was a display of the various keyboard shortcuts available while using the reader, which I’ll address in a moment.

Google Reader has a nice variety of viewing and display options, and I was easily able to set the view to default to a list display, in date/time order.  Everything was looking good, so I decided if I wanted to put it really to the test, I’d need to use my whole list of feeds (which at ~40 is already a ridiculous amount of incoming discussions, but that’s another topic).  I exported from Bloglines and imported into Google, a process that took literally under a minute and worked flawlessly. 

The interface (shown above) for configuring a larger number of feeds was fairly unpleasant to use, but thankfully I didn’t really need to do anything else at this point.  Where Google Reader really started to shine for me was several hours after I had imported my blog/RSS list.  At this point, the list view made it very easy to see all the headlines aggregated together chronologically. 

As I mentioned before, Google implemented a ton of keyboard shortcuts for quickly navigating the feed display. For advanced users, this is pretty neat (Robert Scoble loves it), but I still feel their interface is missing the mark on getting average users up and running with RSS.  Google is often praised for their simplicity in interfaces, but frankly I find both Reader and GMail ugly and overly complicated.  There is nothing to usher in a user’s learning process, it’s more like being thrown into the deep end of the pool and then being chided by all the kids who already know how to swim.  Overall, I’m granting Google Reader a solid B (but I feel they already have the features necessary to get up to an A, so it’s up to the UI guys now.  they do have a few, don’t they?).

Bloglines
Bloglines was actually my second attempt to integrate RSS into my world (my first was Attensa 1.0 for Outlook, which I didn’t like at all, although I hear v2 is better).  For a long time it was really Bloglines vs using bookmarks/favorites, and even now I still just run through links about 25% of the time.  The actual clincher that got me to adopt Bloglines was their mobile integration, which gives me access to all my feeds from my PPC6700, which I’ll discuss in a moment.

Adding a feed to Bloglines is pretty easy, and one nice feature is all the options you’d want to have accessible are present as you add the link.  Once added, Bloglines uses a simple framed layout to present your subscriptions on the left side of the screen (complete with icons to represent the pages, using the favicon standard), and the right side is your “reader” window.  Click on a feed, see the results on the right. 

That’s it, couldn’t be simpler.  Also, the company added a piece of technology to integrate Bloglines as an option when adding feeds to IE7 (here’s the link to the plugin):

Only thing is, now that I’ve tried Google Reader, I’m really wanting to see an “Aggregate View” option within Bloglines.  Other than that, I find Bloglines a great option.  It also has a ton of features I’ve never even dabbled with, including integrating to your own blog (I’m trying it now with this post) as well as clipping services.  Overall, it gets a B+ (yes, I prefer it to Google Reader for now).

Mobile Access
Just wanted to touch on getting to mobile subscriptions.  Both Bloglines and Google Reader have integrated mobile access into their readers, and both have similar feature sets.  I found the Bloglines version was much easier to read on my 2.2″ phone screen, but again I think Google’s got a slightly more compelling feature set.  It’s probably a bit of a toss-up as to which one I’d ultimately go with if your priority is mobile (but you can definitely rule out IE7).

Overall Conclusion
Clearly RSS is here to stay, and clearly it’s way too complex to hit the masses yet.  As I’ve said before, technology needs to become invisible to get mass acceptance (in other words, adding and viewing RSS feeds should be as clear and easy to use as bookmarking and viewing Web sites).  For now, I’d have to say Bloglines is my “mass viewer” recommendation, and Google Reader is my “power user” recommendation.  And IE7 needs to get back to work on integrating RSS into the browsing experience.

Due to my job, my blog, and well, me, I have a tendency to play with a lot of different gadgets, especially new cell phones. The term ’smartphone’ gets tossed around a lot, basically covering any phone that does more than just flip open and dial numbers. To me, a smartphone should be a smart phone - it should have enough intelligence to offer me useful services that meet my needs.

Some people want 3D gaming, some people want social networking, me, I want productivity with a little dose of entertainment on the side. I need access to my email, access to browse Web pages, Solitaire, and SlingPlayer Mobile - that’s the cake. Everything after that is, well, icing. After using the HTC MTeoR for a few weeks, I think it’s more like a cookies & cream (with real Oreos) ice cream cake with a layer of mint chocolate chips, covered in hot fudge, and a nice dollop of whipped cream on top. Okay, it’s just a phone, but it’s the best darn smartphone I’ve ever used.

HTC is unquestionably producing the hottest phones on the market today and their roadmap is so far ahead of the curve that it almost seems fictitious, only they keep shipping more and more cool stuff (like the upcoming Excalibur, which, trust me, is going to be huge)! The MTeoR is a phone that recently started shipping, and most importantly for the company, is their first foray with their own brand. In the past, their phones were typically OEMed (resold) by other companies, ranging from Sprint and Verizon to QTek, UTStarcom (the company who bought Audiovox - thanks Mike) and others.

The first thing you notice right away when you pick up the MTeoR is how well weighted it is. Some have called it heavy, but I think it’s exactly right. You’ll also notice the high quality of the materials used. Everything about it feels well-polished and refined - this is not a junky piece of plastic, this is a phone for the professional. The buttons and keypad also feel right, there’s never a question as to whether or not you properly pushed in a button, you can feel everything you do.

Also, the front cursor/joystick is centered well in the phone, so when you hold it in the palm of your hand, you can easily navigate the Windows Mobile (SmartPhone edition) user interface. The only thing I don’t like about the button arrangement on the MTeoR is there is a button for videocalling, a feature I find is a bit of a waste. I’d much rather have an extra button that is user-programmable than the forced-fit setup the device has. Also, instead of a jog-wheel (like a Crackberry) it has a scroller on the left side of the phone, but it really doesn’t feel as satisfying as a wheel does.

The MTeoR is a very well-sized phone. While I like the PPC6700 as a mobile organizer, it’s too big to fit in a pocket and be comfortable. The MTeoR happily coexists with my keys, wallet, etc. In fact, it’s probably only about one-third the mass and footprint of the 6700.

I believe one of the big changes in phones and convergence in the next year is going to focus on the cameras. Until very recently, most cameraphones peaked at about .6MP, which is barely enough to be viewable on a computer screen, let alone printable. The MTeoR actually has two cameras, with the rear one offering 1.3MP pictures. This is key, because once you hit above 1MP, you can actually watch and share the photos in an enjoyable way, and they do more than just photo-caller-ID! The next few pictures were taken with a few different settings. If I have any real complaint, it’s the lack of a flash. As an aside, I also think the camera has too many features, including digital zoom, sepia and B&W modes, and various ISO settings, all of which are pretty much useless at this stage (but will probably be a requirement within two years).

The second camera is located on the front of the unit, and takes sub-0.5MP pictures and is primarily for video-calls. Utterly useless in my book.

For one more demonstration of the camera in action, take a look at the pictures below, one taken with the MTeoR, the others with my friend’s 7MP Panasonic Lumix.

Windows Mobile Smartphone edition is typically the poor, unwanted stepchild of PocketPC, as the lack of touchscreen and quick functionality is typically a big drag (although if you are used to flip phones or BlackBerry’s, it can be a big jump up, depending on your particular needs). The MTeoR features three screens of settings pages for you to configure your mobile settings. While you can customize quite a few options, I found it quite glaring that I couldn’t remap any of the hardware buttons. I’m sure there’s some third-party application I could try out, but I think this should be built-into the phone.

As an organizer, it’s not nearly as slick as the PocketPC phones or even the Motorola Q with its keyboard. That said, I was able to surf through some Web sites, and browse and compose emails as well. Actually, I found the T-9 implementation on the MTeoR was extremely well done, with a perfect integration with the Windows Mobile OS to allow for rapid autocomplete and suggestions. In fact, once you get the hang of quickly swapping between ABC and T-9, and have a good feel for the keypad, you can type pretty fast. After some practice I was SMSing faster than a 12-year-old kid playing Dance Dance Revolution.

Additionally, the MTeoR has built-in UMTS support, which allows for transferring data at close to 2Mbps. This is key as we look to the future of mobile devices, with better Web browsing, real-time data access, and, of couse, entertainment applications.

There are exactly three entertainment applications (not including some simple gaming) I want to have on my mobile phone:

1. Pandora or Rhapsody access - get either my library or my stations, any time. Goodbye iPod.
2. Sonos control - if my mobile was a Sonos remote (and even better: playback zone), I’d be quite near heaven.
3. SlingPlayer Mobile - okay, I’m biased here, but using my mobile to watch my TV when in a taxi or in a long line at a Starbucks is just sweet.

The first two don’t exist in this context yet, but the third does. While I was in Sweden and Hong Kong last month I had the chance to use SlingPlayer Mobile with the UMTS connection, and it was pretty amazing. I was consistently watching (and controlling) my home DVR at or near 30 fps (frames per second), with a great picture. The screen is extremely bright, and sized nicely with 320×240 resolution (when rotated 90 degrees). The performance overall was great, and left me a bit jealous with the connection quality we get here in the US.

I was thoroughly impressed with the HTC MTeoR. In fact, if it were available with CDMA (I’m a Verizon customer), I’d probably adopt it as my primary phone. For anyone interested in a smartphone that easily fits in your pocket, has full access to all email and data services, and looks and feels great, I have to recommend you check it out. It’s absolutely LD Approved!

Some other useful links:

• Bengalboy review of the MTeoR with a bikini-clad model - lots of pictures, mostly PG-13
• Detailed HTC MTeoR specifications
• Two posts (here and here) on HTC’s roadmap

I first heard about Sonos pretty soon after it launched. In fact, I found myself at CES 2005 “face to face” with them over and over again, competing for various new product awards (I think we split evenly, but I’m not positive on that one).  Saw them again at an Engadget meetup, and then sooner or later ended up getting a ZonePlayer 100 Bundle.  I added a ZP80 to the mix when it debuted, and was pretty happy with my home music configuration.

I always had a few little gripes about the Sonos features, and, as one might expect, never hesitated to voice them to the company.  My two biggest ‘wants’?  Alarms and better Rhapsody integration.  Well guess what, looks like I wasn’t the only one with the idea, as the newly launched Sonos 2.0 features now includes both (and more)!

First, my setup.  I have 2 ZP100’s (the original ZonePlayer unit with a built-in amplifier), 1 ZP80 (the newer unit, with no amp), and a controller (the remote control).  One ZP100 is in the back bedroom (I use it to listen to music in my backyard), another in the kitchen, and the ZP80 is in the living room (didn’t need the amp there).  All my music (about 80GB of ripped CDs in WMA format) is stored on a Maxtor 500GB Shared Storage Plus.

For those of you unfamiliar with the Sonos interface, it’s braindead simple to use.  The screen shows a list of options, you have a little wheel (similar to iPod), and a few buttons with fixed and programmable controls give you access to all the features in the system.  Actually, rereading that it still doesn’t sound as simple to use as it really is.  It’s EASY.  When friends come over, I generally hand them the controller and say “play something” - nobody’s gotten in wrong so far!

When I picked up my controller, I was informed there was an update available.  The Sonos system automatically downloads and installs the update on its own, and worked flawlessly for me.  In fact, I didn’t even have to touch my PC to do anything!  Next time I went to the main menu, a “Clock and Alarms” item was listed there.

Setting the clock was simple, and it’s capable of synching with Internet time - again, virtually no technical configuration needed to get this working.  I would like to see the Sonos interface include the clock throughout the graphical user interface (GUI), as its presently only visible when you push a button to show you the clock.  I think they can easily add it to the ’status bar’ at the top of the screen.

Along with the clock comes two other important features.  One is sleep, which lets me have the music automatically shut off after a certain period of time.  This is good, but what meant even more to me was the new alarms feature.

With alarms, I can have music wake me up.  This is nice.  But what is outstanding is the amazing flexibility of the alarms.  I can…

• set multiple alarms, all with completely different parameters
• assign radio stations, chimes, or playlists to each alarm
• set virtually any type of recurrence to an alarm
• have each alarm go off at different volume levels
• link zones (or not) to each alarm

Most importantly, I can snooze.  Because no alarm system is even worth trying if you can’t snooze your way through the first hour of the morning. 

I’d like to make two very minor suggestions in the alarm feature.  First, I think an icon should appear (also in the status area) reflecting that an alarm is set.  Second, as an advanced option, having a fade-in for each alarm would be a lovely touch.  As a troubled sleeper, one thing I’ve learned is the ‘best’ wakeup for people is a slowly brightening room and slow increase in volume of background noise.  It’s supposed to be a bit more therapeutic than a sudden entry of sound.  Which is why, I think, we all need coffee in the mornings.

While Sonos and Rhapsody have always worked together, in the past it was solely through Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) technology, which was a bit of a rudimentary integration.  You were able to access your own Rhapsody music library, but only when your PC was online with the Rhapsody software client running.  Now, Rhapsody can stream direct from the source to your Sonos zones.  I’m a huge Rhapsody fan (although Pandora is definitely a new impressive contender), so this is an extra win in my book.

With Sonos 2.0, I have complete access to all the Rhapsody services and features.  Not only my playlists and music library, but all the ‘live’ aspects too, such as:

• Top Charts (albums, artists, and tracks)
• Genre and Artist samplers and Key Albums
• Staff Picks
• Rhapsody Radio

This is one of those cases where the whole is truly greater than the sum of the parts.  Sonos 2.0 plus Rhapsody is an amazing combination for music lovers.

If you haven’t heard of Sonos before, there are already some great reviews out there, and I agree that it’s about the best system out there for streaming music around the home.  That said, it’s going to set you back at least $1000 to get started ($1200 for the amplified bundle), so this isn’t the solution for the price-sensitive.  If you have the money, there’s nothing out there that’s even close.  And now with version 2.0, the best around just got even more bestest better.

No there isn’t a typo in the headline for my review of the 2GB iRiver Clix, another portable media player trying to take a small bite out of the amazingly large pie that is otherwise known as Apple’s MP3 player market. I must say, whenever I get a new device to try out, I start off with some kind of desperate hope that it will be good enough to at least compete with the juggernaut that is iPod.  For what I’ve seen to date, the Clix is close.

For a quick definition: the iRiver Clix is either a “portable media player” or an MP3 player capable of showing photos and videos (take your pick for which you prefer).  It’s small (fits in the palm of your hand) and has a gorgeous screen. The most novel thing about the Clix is the fact that the screen itself is “clickable” - if you want to navigate up a list of MP3s, you actually click on the upper screen region.  Sean Alexander has a video of using the Clix that really shows off the usage, graphical user interface (GUI), buttons, etc.  One of my favorite ‘little touches’ of the Clix is the ‘hold’ button actually prevents the directional screen from being clickable while locked.  Excellent touch.

Pictured above is the Clix in its standard carrying case, which is small enough to easily fit in any pocket.  I really like the size and feel of the Clix, and also like the weight.  In fact, it has the feel as if they intentionally made the device heavier than is needed, which I think is a good thing.  I find the iPod way too heavy, and the Nano is way too light - the Clix is about the right size and right weight to do the job.

iRiver did take a few packaging cues from Apple.  When you open the main box, every little piece inside comes in its own smaller box.  Then, inside each box is an individually wrapped cable.  While everything is recyclable, I’d really like to see a few companies take an environmentally conscious step ahead of the design curve and have a whole lot less plastic and paper inside.

The Clix did work extremely well “out of the box” and the first time I connected it to my PC, it immediately started charging and Windows recognized it as a “Clix” (even with a cute little icon).  In fact, there wasn’t any plug & pray at all, it really worked exactly as expected.  I had already upgraded to Windows Media Player 11 (now in second beta), so as soon as I selected to synchronize files, WMP appeared, all set to transfer media files.

Moving music and photos onto the Clix was quite easy.  Drag and drop inside Windows Media Player, or for those who don’t feel like installing it (yet), you can also find your Clix as a drive inside My Computer (for the technospeak - it appears as a USB mass storage device). 

When it comes to moving video files, the Clix wasn’t nearly as graceful.  This is actually my biggest disappointment with the device and probably the only thing that prevents it from being a head-on competitor to the iPod.  The device natively supports a few video formats, which didn’t include Windows Media Video, which is a must-have for me (see the specifications for the list of formats it does support).  The company referred me to try a third-party (open source) software called iriverter.  It too, unfortunately, didn’t work.

Once the files were moved over, I have to say using the Clix is a mostly satisfying experience.  The GUI is very easy to use. I’ve tried handing it to multiple people tasking them to “play some music” and everyone figured it out on the first try.  In fact, it’s almost fun to use it, even when you aren’t watching/listening to media.  Without diving into too many details, the Clix media playback features are all the ones you’d want or expect, including queueing, playlists, rating, etc.

During the transfer, Windows Media Player automatically converted my photos into the right size (320×240) and created a folder structure on the Clix based on the photo folder hierarchy on my PC.  So “My Photos > Wedding pix” was perfectly replicated on the Clix.  This has a slight drawback in that it isn’t configurable in any way, so when I dragged in a folder deep into my My Photos directories, the entire hierarchy appeared as well.

In addition to media playback, the Clix also supports text browsing, Flash games (you can browse more to download here), has an alarm clock, FM radio, and a suite of other supplemental features.  While 2GB might only hold a small portion of your media, I must say everything about using the Clix itself once media is tranferred is really a great experience.  The only other drawback I had for the product is somehow the internal database in the unit I was using got corrupted.  I actually had to do a whole ‘reformatting’ of the internal memory before I could use it again.  This was an isolated experience, and easy enough to fix, but might have caused me more pause had I bought/unlocked a lot of music on the device.

For another detailed review, check this at Gearlive, or you can go to Engadget for a series of reviews.  The size is right, the price is right, the product is good, the screen is great.  My only caution is if you really want the product primarily for video playback, you may have to jump through a bunch of hurdles to get your files transferred properly.  If you are looking for a really good iPod nano alternative, and your focus is more music/photos than video, I heartily recommend trying the Clix.  Plus all the cool kids over at MTV are using it.

Let’s just say we didn’t click. It wasn’t meant to be. We waltz to different foxtrots (or maybe that’s the PROBLEM…) Windows Live Writer is SUPPOSED to be this nifty new desktop blogging tool that makes your life easier…or something. I have to admit to being a skeptic from the very beginning (Why do I need this? What void does it fill? Will it really help me out, or just clutter my hard drive even more?), but I decided to give it a fair shot.

First of all, let me tell you that it would be extremely wise to NOT do as I did when installing, and let them give you that toolbar. It may SOUND useful, but only if you are STUPID and use Internet Explorer still. (Who does that? Why give us a toolbar for something that only complete noobs and “people who want viruses” –according to one acquaintance, use? Honestly, I feel sort of sorry for anyone still surfing on that thing, but it’s probably their own fault…) Insults aside, it takes a ridiculously long time to install it and then when it’s done, of course, you’ll find all sorts of little tidbits hanging around that you probably didn’t want, but didn’t think to cancel out and OH MY HELL.

After that unsightly mess, my real odyssey began here. The reader will note that I have limited experience with the fancier word publishing projects and sometimes have to fight even to just get my margins lined up. That said, this thing DOES claim to be WYSIWYG, and I feel like we should be able to expect some things from that, which apparently we can’t, as shown expertly in this sad and mangled post.

So that was about the time I gave up on trying to synch with my actual blog. Incidentally, that also means that this is about the time I gave up on this ever actually being useful for me. I don’t want to have to keep a whole different new blog just to use this thing that seems so eager to be totally pointless! For the purposes of this write-up, however, I went ahead and set myself up a Windows Live Spaces account. Actually…

Subsequent experimentation led to the relief that it will at least publish pictures to Live Spaces. I think maybe there was just something tricky with the Blogger scheme of uploading. So, I suppose if you like your Live Space, then this isn’t such a bad thing. I don’t know anyone with one, and do remember that I had forgotten the existence of my own! Not a great sign.

Penultimate thoughts…

One thing I was sort of happy about, in a way, is that you can edit (”EDIT EDIT EDIT”) old posts directly from the Live Writer set-up. I wasn’t expecting that, since by the end of this I wasn’t expecting much. I guess I meant “happy” more in a “whew, at least it does THAT” way.

The bottom line is that I just can’t find anything that wrong with the blogging interface(s) I already use, certainly nothing that Live Writer fixes. There’s no reason for me to adapt to a new program. For people who care more about formatting, it might have been a decent download, but I’m not sure I would even trust it to handle it if some of my less successful tests prove anything. Anyhow, it’s a mutual break-up. I don’t like Live Writer, and after this review, I can’t blame it for not liking me.

I remember the first time I saw the Bose Acoustimass 2 channel system way back in the early 90s and how impressed I was by it.  Until I listened to it for a long while and decided I didn’t really care for the sound quality.  I’m still impressed by the design and all, but just need more oomph in my living room (otherwise my cantankery upstairs neighbour will have less to complain about).  When I saw the NXT Insignia system, I assumed it too would be sorely lack in sound depth and quality. Even though their SoundVu laptop and Kensington iPod dock were both impressive, I just assumed that the scene in The Return of the King where they light the beacons (you know it totally made the movie) would leave me wanting more.  I was mistaken.

The Insignia line is from Best Buy, and it is a “home theater in a box” (yes, HTIB is acceptable).  This means you buy the box, and get all the pieces you need for a home surround sound experience.  Typically, all the cable either use proprietary connectors or have colored ends, in an attempt to idiot-proof the setup process.  Took me a good 3 minutes to get the whole system in place, plus another minute to hide some of the wires.

I tried the unit with several DVDs and even a few CDs to test the sound quality.  I then did some comparisons with my Definitive tower speakers and Velodyne subwoofer.  While my existing setup ‘won’ the test, it should be mentioned that I could’ve bought THREE Insignia HTIB kits for the price of JUST my subwoofer!  The other key thing to mention is the Insignia kit was by no means a lightweight.  The sound quality was great full of rich, vibrant sound.  Dialogue was clear, and it functioned great for high-action, tense drama, and the music CDs sounded nice as well.

The Insignia system comes with 5 speakers, all about the size of a paperback book.  They can easily be mounted to a wall, and would leave a very aesthetic appearance, especially if paired with a wall-mounted flat-screen TV.  If you don’t want to mount them, they also come with little stands to prop the speakers up.  One minor warning for the extremely clumsy: the speakers can be dented, so try not to drop them on something pointy. 

All-in-all, I was very impressed with the Insignia Home Theater System.  If you have a friend who is still living in a hole with only 2-channel audio (a.k.a. “stereophonic”), this might be the perfect holiday gift.  In fact, if it weren’t for my ridiculous needs to have about 11 things hooked up in my living room, I’d have probably switched to it myself (it would most certainly make the wife a lot happier with the living room setup).

Funny how easy it can be to accidentally create need in our lives.  About a year ago this time I had a simple big-screen TV (used to do the projector thing, but the wife didn’t much care for it), a DVD player, surround sound, and an Xbox.  Then around Thanksgiving I see this great sale on a 32″ LCD set from Syntax Olevia, and I buy one.  A week or so later and I get a Comcast HD DVR, hook it up with component video cables, and am happy in HD-land. 

But then I discover HDMI and learn a few more things about HDTV.  And I get a Moviebeam and a Samsung upconverting DVD player. And everything became a problem, as I literally had to leave HDMI cables dangling behind my mess of a ‘rack’ and picked up a DVI-HDMI adapter from the ‘Shack.  Everything looked good on-screen, but was a major pain to manage.

Until I discovered Gefen.  Gefen sells a variety of products all designed to help clean up the variety of messes caused by, funny enough, upgrading to HDTV.  Simply put, most LCD and plasma displays only have one or two HDMI/DVI inputs.  I have 3 HDMI sources.  Compounding the matter my Syntax has a DVI input.  Boys and girls, we are in luck, because they make a video switch with four (yes 4) HDMI inputs and a DVI output.  They call it, simply enough, their 4×1 HDMI switch.

The unit comes in very simple packaging (somewhat like Sonos - I guess the more expensive the equipment, the less refinement that goes into the box), and includes a few cables which might come in handy depending on your particular configuration.  Also in the packaging is a simple setup/installation guide (plug A into socket A, etc) and a 4-button remote control.

The Gefen 4×1 switch is fairly small, about the size of a tissue box, and is finished in a metallic silver and light blue combination.  I personally think it has a bit of a ‘refined elegance’ to its appearance.  The back of the unit has power and the four HDMI inputs, while the front has a couple of LEDs, the DVI output, and a discrete remote control input.

Hooking up the Gefen was beyond simple, nobody (and I mean nobody) should have any problems with it.  I have a grand total of two complaints about the product, and here’s the first one:  the DVI output is on the front of the unit, which made placing the device a lot more complex than needed.  The problem for me is I need the ability to control the Gefen via infrared (using my handy-dandy Harmony 880 remote), so it needs to be ‘in view’ in my rack of devices (which is really just a shelf, but I can dream).  This creates a very awkward setup where the switch is underneath my LCD, and the DVI cable effectively snakes back around behind it, then up to the LCD.  In the grand scheme of things, its only a nuisance, and the company assures me the next version of the product has all the ports on the back.

The two LEDs on the unit show power (the red light - on or off), and input (the blue light - one through four).  The remote control has 4 buttons, which are labelled one through four, and switch inputs accordingly.  I guess that’s probably pretty obvious, but I like the simplicity so much I wanted to make sure that came through!  Complaint number two is the LEDs - I’d like an option to turn them off, or just lower the brightness significantly.  Definitely being nitpicky, but otherwise this would just be an overly glowing review, and we can’t have that, can we?

On to the technical side for a moment.  The Gefen switch properly passes through an HDCP signal, which is very important for copyrighted content.  Moviebeam, for example, only outputs HD content if it detects an HDCP-enabled output, and my Comcast HD DVR is also aware of HDCP (although I don’t believe it makes a difference at present).  Actually, I’ve discovered (and dutifully reported) a slight flaw with the Moviebeam device as a result of moving to HDMI.  It turns out if the Moviebeam unit is powered up without detecting HDCP it boots into standard-definition mode, and it also turns out the unit reboots itself every now and then with software updates.  What this adds up to is a problem whereby I have to physically remove the power from the back of Moviebeam, and then plug it back in and let it reboot if I want it back into HD mode.  Hopefully the Moviebeam guys will take my suggestion of adding a ‘redetect HD’ option somewhere in the advanced options menus.  Sorry for the long digression, back to Gefen!

Another feature for the technically sophisticated folks is the Gefen switch has an RJ-45 connector to allow for discrete IR control.  If those words don’t mean anything to you, well, you can probably scroll down a little bit.  For consumers who have built a home-control system, you can easily integrate the switch into your setup, and allow other devices and control systems to ‘talk’ to the Gefen unit.  As I stated above, I use a Harmony 880, which does include Gefen products in their amazing database, so didn’t try out this feature of the switch.

In summary, I really like the Gefen 4×1 HDMI switch.  If you have more than one digital HDTV source, you might need a switch.  If you currently use component cables because you don’t have another solution, you might need a switch.  If you have every episode of Hee-Haw on tape, you might be a redneck.

As I said earlier, my needs were multiple HDMI inputs, single DVI output. You may need a different combination for your particular setup, and lucky for you, Gefen offers a few different switches to choose from!  The one I tried here retails for about $300.  Chalk down the next version of the switch (with all inputs/outputs on the back) as “LD Approved” and this one as “really really good, but needs one fix to be perfect”.

Now if only I can clean up my cable mess, I’d be one happy guy!

Today, you can go to almost any store and buy some kind of case, protector, or sleeve for almost any digital device. One such product, the InvisibleSHIELD, takes this to a completely new level. InvisibleSHIELD is a “skin” of sorts that protects your device (in my case, a black iPod Nano) from all sorts of scratches, bumps, and scrapes. It’s made of a sort of clear plastic film, and completely covers your device, protecting it from everyday wear and tear.

Installing the InvisibleSHIELD proved to be quite difficult though…

The problem is that the sticky side of the product is, in fact, incredibly sticky. After first getting it stuck to my finger, then my desk, then my finger again, then to a piece of paper (which, of course, created a mess), I finally got it applied to my iPod, after figuring out that I was able to rinse it all off, and still maintain the integrity of the adhesive (which was amazing).

After the 15 minute installation procedure, I was anxious to see how the product worked, but the instructions said I had to wait a full 24 hours before it was set, so, on to the next day…

I was, to say the least, expecting nothing from this product. How could a thin piece of plastic possibly offer enough protection fir my iPod to survive the worst of the worst: me? I was surprised. Not only did the InvisibleSHIELD protect my iPod from small scratches, it protected them from potentially dangerous ones. Always being one to thoroughly test any product I buy (or in this case, am asked to test), I quickly set about scratching it with my keys. After a few minutes, the primate in me became bored with this, and much to my happiness, my iPod (and the InvisibleSHIELD) appeared unscathed, a true testament to the protective abilities of the InvisibleSHIELD.

Overall, it’s a truly amazing product. Not only did it meet the expectations set forth by the packaging, it exceeded them. I’ve been using it for a little over a week now, and I have to admit, I’m still amazed. Before, I used to be really careful about where I put my iPod. I used to devote a special pocket in my messenger bag for it, but now, I just throw it in with everything else (keys, books, pens, pencils…) and don’t worry about it. I would whole-heartedly recommend this product to anyone looking for superior protection for their digital devices. It’s a small cost to protect a typically expensive type of product, without ruining or hiding the original design of it.

About a week ago I received the newly designed SeV Performance T-Shirt by Scottevest Incorporated. The shirt is part of their “Technology Enabled Clothing (TEC)” line. This t-shirt is for the avid technologist who is constantly on the go.

Fitting into the shirt and installing your portable devices is a bit tricky. Once I put the shirt on, it did not make it clear where exactly the wires and devices fit. It took more than a few minutes to “figure out” how exactly the devices fit.

When I first tried out the shirt, I could tell that it was light weight, but with an iPod and digital camera it made the shirt feel incredibly off-centered. When using the shirt on a hot day, the fabric did not “soak up” the sun; the shirt did not get that hot. After the first use, this shirt is not designed for the average iPodder.

The shirt is designed out of 100% Polyester 3M Quick Dry fabric – the same materials that athletic clothing is made out of. This type of Polyester is designed to repel moisture from your body, which in turn means the shirt dries faster and the user is not left with a “soaked” shirt after a good workout.

The shirt comes equipped with a patented Weight Management System; in essence, the shirt has extra fabric in the shoulders in which it evenly distributes the weight.  

The shirt comes equipped with the patented “Personal Area Network” in which wires are run in the lining of the jacket. All of the pockets have a little hole in the pocket, in which it allows you to connect all of your devices. For example, if you wanted to connect your phone to your Pocket PC you could do this without having any wires showing. The shirt also has a hidden compartment to store a pair of ipod sized earbuds.

After having used the shirt off and on for a little over a week, it has proven to be a great shirt for the outdoor businessman. Having tested the shirt with a Motorola RAZR, Video iPod, and Digital Camera, the shirt held up to all of its claims. The Personal Area Network was very difficult to set up, and was not that much of a help.

Pro’s

• Light weight
• Comfortable fit
• Cost efficient
• Attractive Design

Cons

• Difficult to install devices
• A bit heavy when installing more than an iPod and phone
• Lack of documentation or step by step set up guide.

I would recommend this product to those who are constantly on the go and care about having people see your “cords” or “earbuds.” For $34.99 (Plus Tax and S&H), it is a nice luxury, but certainly not a shirt you could wear everyday.

For more information and to purchase the product directly from the manufacturer, please visit Scottevest Online Store. The shirt comes in sizes Medium thru XX Large and is available in both short or long sleeve designs.

 Courtesy // Scottevest

This is a diagram of the various components of the shirt.

 Courtesy // Scottevest

This is an “inside out” view of the shirt.

Courtesy // Scottevest

This is the shirt as it will first appear once you open the packaging.

For a video demonstration of the Personal Area Network feature see Personal Area Network (PAN)*

… and for the Weight Management System feature see Weight Management System Demo*

* Windows Media Player Required