LIVEdigitally

As I wrote about last week, Moviebeam is a consumer electronics device that gives you a whole movie rental store in your living room.  For details on how the system and service work, please take a moment to re-read my original review.  Late last week I received the Moviebeam HD Cable Kit, which has opened up a whole new experience with the product.

One important note: while many of you may use component video cables to connect your DVD player or digital cable/satellite box to your HDTV set, it’s important to know that you are only getting part of the HD picture!  Component video, while better than composite and s-video, is still analog, and does not carry a perfect digital signal all the way to your set.  Furthermore, component video does not include any digital copy protection technologies, so if a manufacturer or content provider wants to offer protected-only content, they must use a secure technology, which IS provided through digital cable connections such as HDMI and DVI.  Most important for you: if you HAVE the option to switch from component to either HDMI or DVI cabling, go to the store and get the right cables immediately!  To quote a true genius, “you ain’t seen nuthin’ yet!”

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I must start by being perfectly honest about something: I don’t understand how the ringtone/wallpaper/theme industry is a multi-billion dollar industry.  I’ve tried out a few ringtones, but I think they are for the most part silly.  I’m one of the fifty million (or so) Sprint Ambassadors who received a free phone to try out, and it’s cool, but if I had to pay for a background image, it would be fedexed out of my possession a few minutes later.  But for some reason I have yet to discover, I really think there is something cool about custom skins for devices.

Maybe it’s because owning a RAZR was cool for about 3 days, and having a black one for about 2 more days than that.  Everything is a commodity today.  So when I found out about skinit, I decided I needed to have a Habs phone.

Getting your device skinned is terrifically easy.  Go to their Web site, select your category of device, then pick the brand and model.  Then pick a skin.  Or start by selecting your skin.  They have TONS of em (art, sports, models, colleges, movies, etc).

Pricing ranges from $14.95 to $29.95.  At face value, this seems a wee bit high to me, but then I gave it some thought - if I personally put value on personalization, this isn’t all that pricey.  Don’t get me wrong, if you are reading this, and your dull grey Compaq laptop is looking suh-weet in your opinion, you are probably shaking your head wondering how I could even possibly consider spending that money.  No worries, my friend, you are under no obligation to purchase, and may safely go on your merrily surfing ways.  But if you want your own Star Wars Vaio, keep reading!

I selected my skin (Montreal Canadiens hockey logo) and my phone (LG VX6100), and today received it.  A little bit of prying and applying, and a few minutes later, the Habsphone was born!

In today’s world of endless Starbucks, Targets, Walmarts, Mickey D’s, Home Depots, and every other chain that is strategically placed 1.7 miles apart, it’s fun to find a little individuality.  Granted, buying a sticker (easily removable, by the way, with no residue left over) isn’t going to solve world hunger, but at least I can make the bet that I’m the only guy in San Francisco with a cell phone that looks like the Montreal Canadiens hockey team logo.  I have to go now, I need to get a new pair of khakis at the Gap.

I rarely like to post ABOUT a post, but Davis (who writes over at www.thomashawk.com) sent me an email about his recent review of Netflix v Blockbuster.  I enjoyed the read, and since it came right on the heels of my Moviebeam rundown, I thought I’d give it a little link.

I received a flurry of emails regarding Moviebeam, and have a few more thoughts on it which I think are relevant to mention in conjunction with Davis’ post.  Many people seem to compare Moviebeam to Netflix as a competitive offering.  I disagree.  Netflix, in my opinion, is great for people who want to individualize their queue, and generally put a lower priority on new releases or the “big” movies (not that they don’t watch them, just that they aren’t ‘must-haves’ on release weekends).  This works out well as Netflix is able to satisfy this kind of a need.  But Moviebeam does not have this capacity (or at least not today).

Moviebeam is, in my opinion, much more of a threat to Blockbuster (or even HBO at the pace they are going).  The box is best suited for delivering one-to-many content, not one-to-one content.  This means it’s great for getting Lady and the Tramp 3: Lady Fights Back to the masses, but not so good at helping my mother find some obscure film from 1983 where Antonio Banderas plays Parking Valet #2.  If I’m getting too highbrow, what I’m saying is the whole concept of the ‘queue’ from Netflix can’t work with a device that is not capable of downloading individualized pieces of content.

Personally, I want a little of both.  I’d like to see Moviebeam introduce some type of individual or group-based queuing features that allow me/us to determine some of next week/month’s movies, while also getting the latest and greatest hits from the big studios.  Hopefully their eventual activation of the unit’s Ethernet port will open up the product to such concepts.

In the meantime, take a look at Davis’ thoughts, then go rent something good (movie selected at pseudo-random out of movies I’ve seen that I think are great and most people I talk to have unfortunately not seen or heard of).

Introduction

Per the company’s description, “Moviebeam is a brilliant new way to rent and watch movies at home. Get movies delivered directly to your TV — no cable, satellite, or computer is required.”  To me, Moviebeam is either the lazy man’s answer to Blockbuster, or, more likely, an early glimpse into the future of our soon-to-arrive “entertainment, anywhere, anytime, on-demand” lifestyle. 

Today, Moviebeam’s offering is, in a nutshell, a $250 $199 set-top box that delivers up to 10 movies per week (it comes with 100 or so available to start!), available in an instantaneous on-demand offering at prices ranging from $1.99 to $3.99 per movie.  All movies are available at either DVD or HDTV quality, and the box does not interfere with any other TV or Internet offerings in your household.

After some hands-on use, I have to say, the product is quite fun to use, and a welcome addition to my home.  Especially if you ask my wife!

This is the first of two separate reviews I plan to do for the Moviebeam product.  This one covers using the device in standard-definition mode only.  The box includes HD movies and features, but I will reserve them for a second review.

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This rather pretty tool can be of use for any modern woman. Its designers have taken into consideration two basic things women usually care about: appearance and health. Of course, not every representative of fair sex does think of these things.
Women usually find time for exterior, but unfortunately they don’t pay much attention to their health. They find a lot of reasons to justify their carelessness: lack of time, tiredness, “I know that everything is all right”, “it’s just temporary light attack of illness”, oblivion, etc.
Actually, the only reason which causes this negligence is our laziness. Frankly speaking, I was wrong when using the word “they”, I’d better say “we”, because I do not differ much from others. The simplest example is when I forget tracking my menstrual cycle. You know, it is our human nature: we can talk a lot, but do nothing. It’s right my case. I know that it is more than important to be aware of processes in my body; nevertheless I change nothing in my life style.

Now I’ll remember about my health care each time when looking in the compact mirror. Thanks to the I-PPO tracking ovulation and menstruation information becomes easier and permanent.Along with giving you full information and storing historical data, it makes forecasts of your cycle for some period of time. Moreover, it has a lot of additional functions to make you addicted to this gadget. There are many additional features it comes with:

• organizer
• static-proof tab
• etc.

As a matter of fact, I think that there was not need in these features anyway the basic idea is rather attractive. It comes in several colors to enjoy: pink, silver, black, blue and ivory.

The Weekly Girl’s Gadget Report is brought to you by http://www.gadget4girls.com/

Okay, I must admit when I first heard about the Docupen, I thought it was a combination scanner/pen, and I couldn’t possibly conceive what I would ever do with it.  But they offered to send me one to try out, so I figured I’d give it a shot.  As a pen, it performed quite poorly (probably since there is no pen involved), but as a scanner, it’s worth a little look.

The device is about 8″ long, and about a 1/2″ thick, comes with a leather (pleather?) carrying case, a USB cable, and software.  It has a built-in lithium-ion battery that nicely charges over USB and according to documentation should last a couple of hundred scans a time, which is more than plenty!  It has a single button which is used for both scanning and synchronizing files with the PC, and is basically designed to let you carry around a black and white scanner in your laptop case with no noticeable weight difference.

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Richard Schneider, from Picture Correct got in touch with me a few days ago, and after some browsing around, I would definitely say if you are in the market for a digital camera, you’d be missing out if you didn’t take some time to ready some of his excellent reviews.  The site mixes in news releases, Richard’s own reviews, and a few links to external sites as well.  I’m also checking out some of his Photoshop tutorials, which I probably really need.

Once you’ve checked that out, I would also take a few minutes to read Thomas Hawk’s suggestions on finding cool Flickr photos.  By the way, if anyone is reading this, runs a WordPress-powered blog and uses Flickr, you should check out the FAlbum plug-in!

While I previously reviewed the Shure E2c’s, I’ve actually been using the E4c’s for the past few months now. Frankly, they are simply my favorite overall headphones on the market. Why? Well, let me tell you!

Reason #1 - Sound Quality
They sound good. Very very good. After a very exhaustive, very thorough comparison with the Bose QuietComfort2’s in both quiet and loud environments, I found they sounded the same, if not better.

Reason #2 - Noise-Cancelling
These things make the world quiet. When I’m sitting on a flight and there’s a baby hollering nearby, I just don’t notice. Well, I do sometimes, but that’s usually when I find vomit in my lap (that’s not my own, of course).

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Introduction

MP3 players are definitely among the hottest products in consumer electronics today. Folks often divide the players up into three categories. The smallest players, having less than 1 GB capacity, and using flash memory (internal or on removable cards), are the most affordable. The largest capacity players have capacities of over 20 GB, and are the most expensive. In the middle, we have these 2 to 10 GB players which account for the middle ground. They blend the mix of enough space for plenty of tracks, with a price tag that won’t prompt a phone call from your credit card company. While this middle portion appears to be squeezed on both sides, it has prospered as most folks only have about 4 GB of tracks on average. Therefore, for the majority, these middle players are “just right.”

Creative has been manufacturing digital music players since the beginning of MP3’s. They have a full MP3 player line including flash players, and larger capacity players. In addition, they make many computer audio products, including sound cards, and speakers. This review will look at the Creative Zen Micro player. Just for the record, this is the first hard drive player we’re evaluating here at Live Digitally. With a 5 GB capacity (4 and 6 GB are also available), this player strives to hit the “sweet spot” of capacity and affordability. Let’s see how close it gets.
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Introduction

I have a confession to make: I don’t like multifunction devices. When shopping, I buy the best of the individual devices. For example, I own a separate printer and scanner, not a multifunction printer/scanner/copier. Therefore, it was with some trepidation that I approached Ritek’s latest creation, known as the QuattroDrive.

With an older television, I am limited in that I have one set of RCA inputs in the rear (those are the round yellow, red, and white connections). I have a stand-alone DVD player hooked up. It works well at playing my CD’s and DVD’s. My old DVD player does not display photos, but with only one set of RCA connections, I didn’t have the room for a dedicated TV flash card viewer. I thought the answer was a new TV, but I’ve been holding off with LCD prices tumbling, and the unknowns of the new HDTV signal.

Then along comes this little box, known as the QuattroDrive. It promises to interface not only with my computer, but also with my television. What can it do? These are the four functions accrdong to the manufacturer:
- flash memory to CD burner
- digital media player
- multicard reader/writer
- external CDR/W writer
I first dismissed this device as only being for professional photographers who needed to back up their memory cards on the road to a more secure optical disc. The more I started looking into this device, the more I realized that it had a lot more to offer for many different users.
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People have multiple computers in their homes these days. In my San Francisco apartment, there are currently 6 computers. I can vouch for three of them, that’s 50% of my home network. A computer, by itself, is merely a computer. Multiple computers in the same establishment can combine forces and create a network, like the lions of Voltron.


Thing is, once you’ve physically connected your network, how do you get the network to net-work? I have always had issues with Windows and the My Network feature. Pure Networks saw this problem, and created a simple solution. Network Magic, the software solution that claims to eliminate the hair pulling step in setting up a small network, has been put to the test by LIVEdigitally.

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Introduction

The USB flash drive is THE drive of choice for users on the move with their small to medium sized files. After all, this is the most convenient way to stick data in your pocket, and floppies are so 90’s. Today, we have the opportunity to test the 1 GB version of the Crucial Gizmo! drive which is available on their website for $85.99. The drive is available in 128 MB, 256 MB, 512 MG, 1 GB, and 2 GB capacities. Crucial is a memory manufacturer which is best known for their RAM, but also has a full flash memory card line up, and assorted other memory related products, as well as videocards. By purchasing directly from the manufacturer, you bypass the middleman, and keep the cost down. Let’s look at how this drive performs. (more…)