Dead Media

Curiously, the apex of lost media is in our own era. The problem cannot get worse than it is. The irony is that this is an era where unprecedented technological revolutions are taking place, and yet we're losing important information. This has to be as tragic as the burning of the Great Library of Alexandria around 47 BC.

Our technology industry comes out with formats faster than anyone can use them. These peripheral formats, with their data, very easily can get lost. Eight tracks, minidiscs, and digital audio tapes come to mind in the music industry. Betamax comes to mind for the video industry. Computer file formats are also at risk. Who has a copy of XyWrite around to open that old word processing file? Not to mention the old 5 1/4" floppy discs, or Jazz discs. So what's the solution? Keep shuffling our data from one disc format to the next, staying one step ahead of what is out of date. Maybe the Egyptians had it right after all. Save it one paper, I doubt we'll be able to read today's discs and cartridges 20 years from now, let alone 2000 years from now.

Nokia Adds WiFi To Phone

Nokia has added Wi-Fi 802.11g support to its 9300 smart phone.

The new device will ship as the 9300i. Like its predecessor, it's a tri-band (900/1800/1900MHz) GSM/GPRS handset with support for EDGE data-transfer acceleration technology. It also sports the 9300's 640 x 200, 65,536-colour display, and incorporates 80MB of RAM, expandable to 2GB using the MMC slot. It runs Nokia's Series 80 UI on top of Symbian 7.0S.

The 9300i has Bluetooth on board, along with infra-red and USB. There's a built-in speakerphone capable of connecting up to five parties simultaneously.

Nokia's 9300i can connect via tri-band GSM/GPRS, Bluetooth, infrared, USB, and now adds WiFi. Now that is one well connected phone!

From The Register.

More DVD Format Wars

For more than a year now, a bitter public relations war has been waged between supporters of Blu-ray and a rival Toshiba-backed technology known as HD DVD. Both are high-capacity discs that will support the distribution of high-definition versions of movies, with much better picture quality than what's possible with today's technology.

Blu-ray appears to have the lead, with most major movie studios saying they'll release films in the format next year. That's led to new concerns about mass production of DVDs in the new format. Since it represents a major break with past DVD and CD techniques, some worry Blu-ray will be expensive to support--at least in the short term--and could jack up prices for consumers.

For the last year, we've heard a lot about Blu-ray vs. HD-DVD. In the end, like so many other things, it may have little to do with the better format, and a lot more to do with the cost. Maybe we should just stick with DVD's for a while.

New Life For Old Games

Miss some of those old games? Nostalgic for some Duke Nukem and lost your disc? Sick of your graphics card not being fast enough even though it's only a few months old?

Well then the DOS Games Archive web site is for you. All the old favorites are here, and ready to be downloaded and played. Happy gaming!

USB Camera

Transcend Information is marketing a USB flash disk drive with an integrated VGA digital still camera (DSC). The JetFlash DSC is designed to enable users to take digital photos without the inconvenience of needing a USB cable or card reader to connect to a PC, according to the company.

Equipped with a 0.25-inch CMOS image sensor, the JetFlash stores pictures in a 640×480 JPG file (VGA), sized at 55KB. Once the pictures are transferred to a PC, the bundled software can be used to edit or enhance the photos.

The USB flash disk drive also includes a built-in rechargeable lithium battery that is recharged via the USB port. The JetFlash is USB 1.1 compliant and does not require any additional drivers for installation (except for Windows 98).

The JetFlash DSC comes in 128MB and 256MB densities, with the 128MB version priced at NT$1,550 (US$46). The products are currently shipping.

We've seen USB peripherals that tried to include every possbile feature: camera, MP3, voice recorder, video, as well as memory. It's nice to see something that includes one other feature, and does it ok. I already carry a USB key, I would welcmoe one with a camera built in. Sure, there are plenty of phones with a camera, but they also have a download fee if I want to do anything with the picture other than look at it on the phone (which is what most users only do).

Treadmill Bicycle

Why not just advise your patients to go for a walk?

From Engadget.com

Microscope Not Included

Yeah, Huihuang’s YO-DK flash-based portable media player totally bites the style of both the iRiver N10 and the MPIO FL300, but at least they added an OLED touchscreen and support for playback of video files, right? Not sure how much video you’d actually want to watch on the YO-DK’s washed out-looking 1.1-inch display or how small your fingers would have to be to accurately press anything, but for the record this thing supports playback of MTV format MPEG4 video files and MP3 and WMA audio files, has an integrated FM tuner, and comes with up to 1GB of storage.

This thing really looks too small to enjoy watching any length of video. Portable is one thing, but this borders on nanotechnology. Just because it can be made that small, doesn't mean it is usable.

Watching TV On Your Notebook

"Multimedia maker Hauppauge releases the new WinTV-HVR900 hybrid TV stick, capable of transmitting either digital or analog TV signal to your PC or laptop.

Simply plug the device to an open USB 2.0 port (draws power as well so no external power source required) to watch, pause, or record TV.

The USB TV stick comes with a portable digital DVB-T antenna to receive digital TV transmissions. This cool device can also allow for you to schedule TV recordings -- TiVO on a laptop!

Currently, the WinTV-HVR900 will only be available in the UK."

Boy, the Brits have all the fun. This is one of many devices that add TV functionality to your computer via USB. This one stands out for the antenna, which should produce a better signal than more compact models. Why pay the premium for a Media Center Notebook when you can add the functionality with this simple device?

Internet Cafe's Closed In Alabama

Anyone that thinks the US has no censorship should read this. How much better that censorship China is this?

The Mobile County Sheriff's Office and the Alabama Attorney general Wednesday shut down two businesses where patrons used computers to participate in Internet sweepstakes, authorities said.

No arrests were made in Wednesday's raids, but at least 60 computers and other items were being catalogued and confiscated from Lisa's Internet Cafe on U.S. 90, just outside Theodore, and Jackie's Internet Cafe on Schillinger Road. Arrests may follow after a lengthy investigation, authorities said.

At the businesses, patrons could buy prepaid Internet cards enabling them to log onto www.hello-money.com to participate in games while their points were tracked on the debit type provided by the cafes, Sheriff Jack Tillman said.

Losing money or not?

Microsoft doesn't exactly lose money. If you add up the parts in the latest gaming platform, the Xbox 360, it doesn't look like this is going to be big money maker.

"While the firm's teardown of the unit gave a peek into the dominance that IBM will have in the next-generation of gaming consoles, it also showed that the bill-of-materials cost for the Xbox 360 Premium reaches $525 USD, 32 percent higher than the $399 USD retail price of the device.

It should be noted that iSuppli's findings do not include the projected cost of manufacturing each unit, so the total cost to Microsoft likely runs even higher.

According to preliminary findings by iSuppli, the custom-built triple-core PowerPC chip from IBM accounts for 20 percent of the materials cost at a price of $106 USD. In fact, the chip and integrated silicon alone account for $340 USD of the total bill-of-materials cost.

However, the most expensive single part in the new Xbox 360 console is the ATI GPU with embedded NEC DRAM, which cost Microsoft an estimated $141 USD."

However, the total picture must be kept in mind. When Gillette sells a razor, they lose money on the handle, and make the profits on the replacement blades. Similarly, Microsoft will make their billions of profits on the games.

Flash a mouse?

One more item to remember to keep up to date. Like we don't have enough to do already. Next thing we know, folks will be modifying the firmwre to improve mousing on glass, or to add an extra feature. This is opening Pandora's box.

WE ARE slowly, but certanly entering a territory of flashing everything that is related to a piece of silicon. After first announcements that console games in near future will require patching (there goes single advantage consoles had over PC's), Logitech decided to do something new - flash a mouse.

From The Inquirer.

iPod Shortage

Like we didn't see this one coming...

Business Week's Peter Burrows is predicting two emerging truth's about the iPod this holiday season. One, "it's going to be a gigantic hit," and two, "there are going to be shortages." In a Nov. 22 analysis, he writes that retailers are getting fewer iPods than they requested, and expect "demand to outstrip supply through the end of the year."

Music Released On USB Stick

The Bare Naked Ladies are releasing their latest music on a USB drive. It can be played on a computer, or the tracks loaded onto an MP3 player. While the $30 price tag is somewhat expensive, given the 128 MB flash drive, there is no DRM. That means you can load the files onto any MP3 player with no restrictions. This may be the wave of the future. Restricted CD's (from SONY) are clearly not.

It’s an industry first … today Barenaked Ladies released their latest album, “Barenaked on a Stick” on a 128MB USB flash drive. The reusable $30 flash drive contains a re-release of the BNL’s Barenaked for the Holidays, as well as a number of live recordings and studio video footage, which are not available in any other format. The drive will work on PCs, Macs, even USB ports embedded in a car stereo, as Alice reported on last month. How can it be so compatible, especially with all the DRM troubles Sony is having with just Windows? Easy: no DRM at all.

I'm thinking true fans will buy this thing just to get the logo branded flash drive. If The Beatles release their collection like this, it will have to be on a hard drive!

From Real Tech News

Geek's Guide To Gift Giving

Electronics is always the best gift (at least it always fits).

It's that time of the year again: that annual, holiday-inspired consumer purchasing frenzy wherein we all go frantically searching for that perfect gift for friends and loved ones. While it can be gratifying to find that perfect something for that perfect someone, it can also be an exercise in frustration, to say the least.

USB Mini Hard Drive

This is a look at the Apricorn Microkey which has 6 GB of storage. In terms of bang for the buck, these are a better deal than the flash drive counterparts.

If you’ve ever wanted to have lots of storage on the go, the Apricorn MicroKey may be just the ticket. At roughly the same cost as a 2GB flash memory key, you get 6GB of rotating storage. Apricorn has built a tiny, 6GB hard drive into a ruggedized, crush-resistant aluminum shell.

The MicroKey ships with Cryptainer encryption software, which makes use of Blowfish 128-bit encryption to keep stored data secure. A version of Second Copy 2000 is also included, to assist in synchronizing data between systems.

In our testing, the MicroKey was able to transfer 350MB of data from a desktop system to the MicroKey over a USB 2.0 port in 2 minutes and 30 seconds, or about 2.3MB per second. Attaching the MicroKey to your system is made easier by the rotating USB connector, which reduces connectivity problems created by the extra bulk.

Note that the $149 price is recently reduced from $199. You can get the unit for the reduced price directly from Apricorn.

Nintendo MP3

Some bored German folks have built an MP3 player, into an old Nintendo controller. Who says recycling is dead?

Beware: The link is in German.

Google Buys Some Serious Hardware

Forget "big brother," it looks like Google is buying the goods to keep tabs on a lot of users.

Play to your strengths. That's the key to success in any industry. This is the week I promised to explain where I think Google is headed, and playing to the company's strengths is key if they are going to do what I think, which is effectively take over the Internet. Oh they won't steal it or strong-arm us. They'll seduce us into giving it to them. And I am not at all sure that's a bad thing.

Google's strengths are searching, development of Open Source Internet services, and running clusters of tens of thousands of servers. Notice on this list there is nothing about operating systems. There are many rumors about Google doing an operating system to compete with Microsoft. I'm not saying they aren't doing that (I simply don't know), but I AM saying it would not be a good idea, because it doesn't play to any of the company's traditional strengths.

The same follows for the rumor that Google, as a dark fiber buyer, will turn itself into some kind of super ISP. Won't happen. And WHY it won't happen is because ISPs are lousy businesses and building one as anything more than an experiment (as they are doing in San Francisco with wireless) would only hurt Google's earnings.

So why buy-up all that fiber, then?

The probable answer lies in one of Google's underground parking garages in Mountain View. There, in a secret area off-limits even to regular GoogleFolk, is a shipping container. But it isn't just any shipping container. This shipping container is a prototype data center. Google hired a pair of very bright industrial designers to figure out how to cram the greatest number of CPUs, the most storage, memory and power support into a 20- or 40-foot box. We're talking about 5000 Opteron processors and 3.5 petabytes of disk storage that can be dropped-off overnight by a tractor-trailer rig. The idea is to plant one of these puppies anywhere Google owns access to fiber, basically turning the entire Internet into a giant processing and storage grid.

While Google could put these containers anywhere, it makes the most sense to place them at Internet peering points, of which there are about 300 worldwide.

Two years ago Google had one data center. Today they are reported to have 64. Two years from now, they will have 300-plus. The advantage to having so many data centers goes beyond simple redundancy and fault tolerance. They get Google closer to users, reducing latency. They offer inter-datacenter communication and load-balancing using that no-longer-dark fiber Google owns. But most especially, they offer super-high bandwidth connections at all peering ISPs at little or no incremental cost to Google.

1st Blu-Ray Movie

CULVER CITY, Calif., Nov. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (SPHE) president Benjamin S. Feingold today announced that authoring has been completed on the first Blu-ray Disc (BD) to contain a full-length, high-definition feature film. Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle was compressed and authored in MPEG 2 full high-definition (1920 x 1080) by Sony Pictures' Digital Authoring Center (DAC) and is now being shipped to BD hardware companies for player testing.

Utilizing Blu-ray's unprecedented storage capacity, the Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle disc features dynamic menus with full resolution graphics and animation, superior audio and unparalleled picture quality. "We are confident this achievement will help everyone understand that Blu-ray is real and poised to enter the marketplace," said Mr. Feingold. "Blu-ray will bring the highest quality HD experience possible to the home."

"We are extremely proud to deliver on the promise of Blu-ray. This is an important step for our industry in order to begin mass production of high-definition movies in the Blu-ray format in the near future," said Don Eklund, Senior Vice President, Advanced Technologies, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

One detail: What are we playing thses discs on?

Largest WiFi Network Planned

When I think of high tech countries, I will admit that Macedonia is definitely not at the top of the list that comes to mind. Yet, with an ambitious plan, and a large scale roll out of wireless technology, this could all change. If this comes to pass, Macedonia will have the largest wireless network anywhere, and would be a blue print for others.

Predrag Cemerikic, CEO of On.Net, said in a statement that "Macedonia is known for its mountainous terrain, deep basins, and large valleys – none of which is conducive to deploying a wireless network. When On.Net was entrusted with building a network that would overcome these challenges, we did our due diligence and tested virtually every wireless mesh networking system on the market." Strix was considered the "the highest performance mesh system and is the easiest to deploy" by the ISP.

Irani says there around 40 municipalities in Macedonia that will have Strix mesh installed, all interconnected by fiber or wireless optics. When it's all done in about ten to twelve months, he says 90% of the residents of the country will be able to go online. While there will be dead spots, he says it's no different than cellular networks where the least densely populated areas have few or no signals. In the dense areas, On.Net may offer customer premises units (CPEs) to business customers who want a more regulated access up-time.

While it's certainly one of the most ambitious, if not the most ambitious, Wi-Fi projects ever -- compare it to Wireless Philadelphia, which will cover only 140 square miles — the question remains of who will use it if only one-fifth of the population has laptops. However, if nothing else, Macedonia education officials said in a BBC report last week that they think the network could help bring together multi-ethnic schools where now, different ethnicities have not only different curriculum's, but even different staff, but all in the same building.

I'll definitely have to bring my laptop on my next trip to Macedonia!

Averatec Notebook Review

CNET took a look at the 3715 from Averatec, makers of "no frills" budget notebooks.

By today's thin-and-light standards, the Averatec 3715's smallish 12.1-inch display, with its low 1,024x768 (XGA) native resolution is unimpressive--more expensive thin-and-lights often have higher-resolution wide-screen displays--yet it's sufficient for doing work on the road. The two speakers, placed underneath the laptop, emit typically mediocre sound.

For a thin-and-light, the Averatec 3715 offers a good selection of ports, jacks, and slots. A four-pin FireWire port, a Type II PC Card slot, a 4-in-1 flash-memory card slot, a 56K modem jack, and an Ethernet jack line the left edge alongside the system's built-in DVD burner. The opposite edge includes a VGA port and three USB 2.0 ports, at least one of which should have been placed on another edge for more flexibility. Finally, headphone and microphone jacks sit on the front edge.

The Averatec 3715 ships with the Windows XP Home operating system, plus a handful of CyberLink multimedia apps for burning and viewing discs. As you'd expect from such an economical system, the Averatec 3715 lacks a productivity suite.

A thousand bucks won't buy a bunch of top-notch laptop components, so it makes sense that the Averatec 3715 carries a low-budget AMD Sempron 3000+ processor, 512MB of slow 333MHz memory, and an integrated VIA S3G chipset that borrows 32MB of main memory to use as VRAM. Even so, Averatec throws in a single-layer DVD burner, 802.11b/g wireless, and a big (albeit slow) 80GB, 4,200rpm hard drive.

From the $950 price tag, it's not really a bad deal if you want something light, and with a bigger hard drive, and DVD writer. It's a much better deal than the $500 notebooks Dell is selling with a 30 GB hard drive, and a read only DVD drive. I think CNET was a little hard on it.

It's Official....

Bloggers are journalists. Where do I pick up my press credentials?

"The Federal Election Commission today issued an advisory opinion that finds the Fired Up network of blogs qualifies for the 'press exemption' to federal campaign finance laws. The press exemption, as defined by Congress, is meant to assure 'the unfettered right of the newspapers, TV networks, and other media to cover and comment on political campaigns.' The full ruling is available at the FEC site. A noteworthy passage: '...an entity otherwise eligible for the press exception would not lose its eligibility merely because of a lack of objectivity...'"

New Creative MP3 Players

It looks like the latest efforts from creative are flash based, and not hard drive based. With more users having more songs, I doubt that flash will provide the capacity needed. Personally, I'm looking for bigger, not smaller!

Creative is pumping out a new line of their Zen Neeon, this time outfitted with lower capacity flash, maybe to compete with the Nano — but since they don’t offer a 4GB option and no color screens are in sight, it looks like they’ll have to wait ‘till next time to play with the big boys. A hard-drive based option is still hanging around, now bumped up to 6GB and offering up 7 selectable backlight colors, but only has a 16 hour battery. The flash players, coming in 512MB, 1GB, and 2GB flavors, feature feature a 2 color OLED display and double your fun with 32 hours of battery. Everybody is bringing FM radio, voice recording, and line-in capabilities to the party, and the prices that range from $122 to $205 for the flash players and $216 for the 6GB HD player. Of course, the real story here is the new decorative skins — nothing like some random Japanese art to keep us coming back, Creative!

Pentop Computer

They spent $100 million developing this device for children. It seems to have a lot of potential applications. For $100, it may sell well this holiday season. I'd like to see a more adult version though.

"There's something a little odd about the term "pentop computer." Terms like laptop, palmtop and desktop tell you where you use the computer - but you don't use the Fly on top of a pen.

Instead, the Fly is a pen - a fat ballpoint pen. (The company says that its focus groups found the term "pentop computer" infinitely sexier than "pen computer." Nobody ever said consumers are logical.)

The Fly is so fat because it contains an AAA battery, a computer chip, a speaker and, mounted half an inch from the ballpoint tip, a tiny camera. For all of its educational, interactive tricks, the Fly pen requires special paper whose surface is imprinted with nearly invisible micro-dots. As you write, the pen always knows where it is on the page, thanks to those dot patterns and the camera that watches them go by.

Logitech and other companies sell exactly the same technology to adults, but it's never caught on. Those pens simply store what you write - not as text, but just as a frozen graphic - and later transfer it to a Windows computer.

But Fly's maker, LeapFrog (maker of LeapPad, the popular interactive book reader), has much greater ambitions. In its incarnation, which is aimed at "tweens" (8 to 14 years old), no PC is required or desired; instead, you get crisp, instantaneous audio feedback from the pen's speaker."

From the NY Times.

Sony & NEC

It looks like optical drive nuptials are happening. Does this make LiteOn, Sony's former drive maker, "the other woman?"

Sony and NEC have concluded a basic agreement to merge their optical-disc drive businesses into a new company, the companies have announced.

The two companies hope to launch the new venture on April 1, 2006, which is the first day of the new financial year in Japan. Sony will hold a 55 percent stake in the as-yet-unnamed company and NEC will hold the remaining 45 percent stake, according to the terms of a memorandum of understanding signed by the companies.

The new joint venture will work on planning, design, manufacturing, and marketing of optical-disc drives for products such as personal computers and DVD players, they said in a statement. In the next-generation optical disc market the company will manufacture drives for both the HD-DVD format, of which NEC is a major backer, and Blu-ray Disc, of which Sony is a leading supporter, both companies said.

Ritek's Latest

Another iPod fighter enters the fray, this one due out at the CES in January.

“The addition of the OLE 8100 MP4 player to our RIDATA family is
further evidence of our commitment to provide our customers with the
latest in portable digital-oriented products,” stated Harvey Liu,
Advanced Media Inc. president. “With audio, video, and photo-viewing
capabilities, it offers users phenomenal flexibility in when and where
they enjoy their media of choice.”

MP4 is the latest compression standard developed by the Moving Picture
Experts Group (MPEG). Formally known as MPEG-4, it was designed to
store and deliver both professional-grade audio and video streams.

The RIDATA OLE 8100 supports the following formats – music: MP3,
WMA, OGG, AC3; video: AVI, MPEG-1,2, and 4, VOB, DAT; and photo: JPG,
YUV (up to 4800 x 3600), support picture preview/slide function. Video
and photos are displayed on an energy-efficient 2″ LTPS LCD panel.

It features five-mode equalization (normal, rock, jazz, classical, and
pop), three playing modes (normal, repeat one, and repeat all), and
both digital voice and line-in recording capability.

With its embedded solid-state NAND flash memory, the OLE 8100 can
perform up to one-million erase/rewrite operations. 1GB and 2GB
capacities are available. The 2GB model provides up to 3.5 hours of
video play time and over 3 hours worth of audio.

The unit supports WIN98SE/ME, WIN2000, and WINXP operating systems.
Video output to NTSC or PAL standards is by the included A/V cable.
Video output ports are RCA and S-tunnel. A/V input/output ports include
MIC in, line-in in, earphone out, and A/V out. A USB 2.0 PC interface
is also included.

The RIDATA OLE 8100 MP4 player is packaged with an earphone, USB cable,
audio output cable,
S-terminal/RCA video cable, installation CD, audio line-in cable, AC/DC
universal charger, and a user’s manual.

The compact, pocket-size unit is 2.6″ x 2.6″ x 0.75″ and weighs less
than 3 ounces. It comes with Advanced Media’s quality promise and
one-year warranty.

It looks intriguing, and I like the idea of both MP3 and WMA, as well as JPEG and MP4 support.

Wireless Speakers Reviewed

This is the 1st review of a product that got a lot of attention a few months ago. With the ability to have rear speakers, with no wires, this speaker set has a really unique feature. Take a look if you've got $500 to spare.

The Z-5450 is a very good speaker system, powerful and capable of being adapted to a multitude of uses. It also scores points by virtue of its system of cordless connection to the rear satellites, which is a very practical feature. However, you have to realize that cutting these two cables comes at a price. This will be the weak point of this system, the balance between its market price and the importance that you give to this distinguishing feature. If cables don't annoy you particularly then be patient; Logitech will be releasing the wired equivalent of the same system a little later; the Z-5400 will have a substantially lower price - $299 instead of $499. Still, for the moment, if quick results are the order of the day, the increased price of the 5450 isn't excessive...

18x DVD+R Planned

I didn't see this one coming...

Optical drive enthusiasts are definitely impatient people. Why else would they constantly remove a perfectly functional piece of computer hardware (namely their optical drive) to swap in one that is just a little faster? First it was CDR speeds, then DVDR speeds, and lately DVDR dual layer speeds. DVDR disc writing speeds maxed out at 16x a year ago. A full DVDR disc could be cooked in 6 minutes, and no one expected any faster as rotational speeds maxed out.

Well, counting on the fact that we always want things one notch faster, Plextor is planning on introducing a DVD writer that can write DVD+R discs at the breakneck speed of 18x! Personally, I think this is very fast, will probably put the hit on write quality, and can’t wait to try it.

On NOT buying an iPod....

The new iPod is an awesome music player, and is selling very well. Apple's player has a color screen, decent battery life, and is flash memory based, avoiding any hard drive issues. For many folks, it's a no brainer of a choice, especially given its great form factor.

So, I went down to my local Best Buy to check out some portable devices with more storage space. After looking at all of the choices, I narrowed it down to the Creative Zen Micro and Apple iPod Nano. Seriously, I had been leaning towards an iPod after talking with Michael and Matt, two Microsoft Media Center employees who own iPods.

The Apple iPod Nano had a color screen and came in 2GB ($199) and 4GB ($249) versions based on flash memory technology. The Nano is super thin and light -- 1.5 ounces at 1.6 x 3.5 x 0.27 inches. I'm used to replacing the AAA batteries in the Muvo, so this feature is actually something to which I've grown accustomed. Based on everything I've read, the battery issues with iPods are a thing of the past, so I'm not concerned there. Anyway, the battery doesn't appear to be end user replaceable in the iPod Nano. The Apple website has gobs of information on how to care for and extend battery life, but apparently if you need to replace the battery you must send it in to be serviced. You can see album art with the Nano, but according to a conversation with my friend Michael I'll need third party tools to take my medium sized collection of already ripped WMA files and convert them to MP3, then get the album art. He tells me iTunes won't fetch album art for any music already in my collection, but does for tracks purchased through the iTunes Music Service. The Nano has lot's of wow factor, and would be an obvious draw for many people.

However, for the author of the piece, he actually bought a Creative product. Interestingly, he needs to blog us to explain his choice over the Apple iPod. In the end, I think he made a good, and informed choice.

Mediocre Travel Router Reviewed

While on the road with your notebook, a travel router is a great idea. When in a less than ultra luxury hotel (aka: budget, ie: Motel 6), it's great to not be tethered to the short cord the motel provides. Enter, the travel router which promises to let you take your notebook to the bed, the patio, and even the bathroom. However, CNET was not in love with the APC model tested.

When you're kicking it in your hotel room after a long day on the road, the last thing you want to do is sit at the room's uncomfortable desk, close to the Ethernet jack, to check your e-mail. APC's 3-in-1 Wireless Mobile Router can transform that jack into a wireless hot spot, letting you lie in bed while working online. Toting this small, light device along on your travels is easy, and its support for WPA, SPI firewall, and VPN capabilities helps your data remain secure. There's just one problem: the 3Com Office Connect Travel Router offers all of this--plus easier setup, better range, and a longer warranty--for the same price

WiFi Detector

I personally like the zyXEL unit as it detects 802.11a signals as well, and it displays all the info about a hotspot on one screen, but this unit is an alternative.

Walking around, it was way more convenient to break out the Digital Hotspotter with the one-button operation and all. No need to stop, open up the PowerBook, and search for a signal. However, I found another nice benefit. Since the Hotspotter tells you the channel of any network you are near, you can use this to your advantage in your home. If you find a neighbor is on channel 1, and another is on channel 3, you know to set yours up near 11 so reduce interference. This is one device we are recommending to anyone that uses Wi-Fi. It’s simple - but it’s that good. You can pick one up for about $50 USD, and the batteries last for about two months

Tiny Memory

These USB flash drives are getting ridiculously small! So teeny, that your data will be too easy to lose. This device is based on the microSD memory standard. it's hard to believe they can pack 2 GB in there!

"The Super Stick weighs only five grams and measures 39x12x2 mm. The size may somehow have its disadvantages, because the Super Stick might get lost very fast in your pockets, or, who knows, in somebody else's pocket.

The tiny gadget is based on the microSD technology, dubbed as the smallest flash memory on the market, close in size to the RSMMC technology. The stick uses USB 2.0 interface and offers really good transfer speeds: 20 MB/s, both writing and reading. The capacities of the Super Stick range from the entry-level 256 MB to the “too big for its size” 2GB."

From Softpedia

And the winner for the best use of aluminum foil is...

Me thinks these folks have a little too much time on their hands....

What do you do when the president of your company says the department that pulls the best prank will win $100 each? Cover an entire office in aluminum foil. That’s right. All the walls, all the furniture, all his office equipment, every paper clip and even the sticky notes on his desk. We aim to never be outdone, and this was no exception.

Needless to say, the won, hands down.

MP3 Knows When Not To Play

Too many gadgets may be the latest problem some of us face. How can you take that phone call while wearing your music player's headphones. Technology to the rescue to help solve the problems it creates. This music player turns off to allow you to take the call with the Bluetooth headephones.

SigmaTel, a developer of mixed-signal multimedia semiconductors, is helping portable music player maker FunTwist to cut clumsy wired headphones. The new FunTwist D-Chord800 digital audio player promises high-quality digital music performance in multiple formats wirelessly via a Bluetooth link that switches to phone mode when it detects an incoming call.

Just one word: AWESOME!

Better Traffic Monitoring

Let's face it: everyone has been stuck in traffic at some point. My favorite is when you're bumper to bumper under a sign the traffic sign that say "normal traffic conditions ahead." While that may be "normal" for 8 am going into Manhattan, that's hardly useful information. there just has to be a better way. the latest idea is that the traffic could be monitored using cell phones.

Several state transportation agencies, including those in Maryland and Virginia, are beginning to test technology that allows them to monitor traffic by tracking cellphone signals and mapping them against road grids. The technology highlights how readily cellphones can become tracking devices for companies or government agencies - a development that troubles privacy advocates.

These new traffic systems can monitor several hundred thousand cellphones at once. The phones need only be turned on, not in use. And sophisticated software now makes it possible to discern whether a signal is coming from, say, a moving car or a pedestrian.

State officials say the systems will monitor large clusters of phones, not individual phones, and the benefits could be substantial. Source: International Herald Tribune

Creating Audio DVD's

Fed up with a CD's paltry storage capacity for your next big jam? Nener want to get up from the sofa to change discs? Then check out this how to guide to fill up a DVD with your favorite tunes.

In our tests, we were able to create Audio DVDs with over 650 songs with each of these two programs. At an average of say, 3.5 minutes per song, that’s over 37 hours of music. If your parties go longer than this, now might be the time to check into rehab. The programs actually state that you can fit over 1000 high quality audio files per DVD, so you might be able to fit your whole music collection on only a few DVDs

Is 10 Megapixels Enough Already?

Do you remember the film advocates a few years ago? We'll buy a digital camera when it has the resolution of film, can use SLR lenses, and is affordably priced. While $1700 may be little too expensive for the weekend shooter, clearly this latest Nikon shows the future of photography. And with over 10 megapixels of resolution, even the naysayers can stop complaining that film is so much better.

At $1,700 for the body only, the 10.2-megapixel D200 is priced between those groups of cameras. And while it is missing some top-end features, it also has some abilities that the deluxe models do not.

The D200's viewfinder has magnification of 0.94 times, the highest ever offered on a Nikon digital S.L.R. This lets you see your intended shot at 94 percent of its normal size, overcoming the effect of peering down a dark tunnel, something particularly pronounced on the cheaper cameras.

Unlike the professional models, but like the low-cost cameras, the D200 has a built-in pop-up flash. Software in the camera and a large display screen allow owners of Nikon accessory flashes to control their functions wirelessly from the camera.

Pocket Wardriving

There was a lot of buzz when this product was 1st announced. I'm pretty sure that this is the first review of this great device.

The ZyXEL AG-225H is a robust multifeatured device. It represents the state of the art in WiFi finders. Also, the ZyXEL has great range as a wireless USB adaptor. It is the most portable wireless access point imaginable. The only downside is the price. The $99 price tag is also the most expensive WiFi detector available. Users on a tight budget, that don’t anticipate using all the features, may find it more economical to purchase dedicated devices for the functionality they need. For the power user that wants it all, pony up and pay the price- you’ll like what the ZyXEL can do. The ZyXEL WiFi Finder is definitely “LD Approved,” and is truly in a class of its own.

Chromed Out Drives

A lot of gadgets start to look alike after a while. Not these chromed out, compact USB hard drives. They have the best use of chrome since a '57 Chevy. Let's just say, I'm salivating.

The palm-sized drives from US Modular, are slim and compact, but large enough to hold all the digital stuff you could ever want, unless you’re a movie producer or attempting to collect the core of all music (you’ll need a terabyte for that much) or … okay, chromium covered Monstor and Dragon Drives stretch upwards to 120 gigabytes. With the onboard USB 2.0 port, file transfers require no external power and it works on both Mac and PC.

LiteOn To Make HP Drives

I read this over on Technudge earlier today. HP has not made their own drives for several years, even though they were one of the pioneers of the original CDR technology. LiteOn is well known for their inexpensive, and sometimes high quality drives. In this highly competitive market segment, it makes a whole lot of sense to have LiteOn making your optical drives.

HP JUST DID SOMETHING interesting, it signed up Lite-On to produce DVD burners with the HP name. The first product, the slides-off-the-tongue HPDVD840i is a LightScribe DVD +/-/RAM based DL drive with all the bells and whistles.
The interesting bit is not the drive itself, but the fact that HP looks to be pawning off their business in this area. What was once a thriving market has now become a commodity, and HP under Hurd is trying to clean up things like that. This may be a very good move for HP, and a very good brand for Lite-On. We don't see a down side here.

HP has made some drives that were simply duds through the years, in my opinion, this should improve things.

The Lost Quiz

There are many devout fans of ABC's popular television show "Lost." Ever wonder which character you are most like? Well, ponder no more. Someone, with entirely too much time on their hands, has come up with a quiz to help you decide which of the characters is most like you.

Sleek!

I definitely have a soft spot for aluminum clad electronics....

Creative is definitely the underdog compared to Apple in the music player market. They must feel like AMD, when the world was abuzz with Pentium chips dominating the marketplace. At any rate, Creative has made some fine players in the past, but this is their latest 20 GB iPod fighter. It has been available globally for a few months, but it is just making its way to the US. While it lacks the flashy video screen, and the support to play video files, it looks like a solid MP3 player for those with a mid size collection of music. Aluminum bodies are always an attention getter, and make “iPod white” look a little drab.

Creative Zen Sleek MP3 player, in durable aluminium and glossy white, is stylish and easy to use. Featuring Creative’s Touch Pad control and large blue backlit display it takes personal entertainment to a new level, fitting comfortably into the hand for fingertip management of all its powerful features. Its 20GB hard disk can store up to 10,000 songs1 in WMA or 5,000 in MP3, with quick and easy downloads from a PC at up to a song per second via USB 2.0. The Zen Sleek offers playtimes up to 18 hours from its rechargeable battery, plus direct recording from the built-in FM radio and microphone.

Used, But Not Forgotten

When you get that hot new iPod Nano, what to do with the older iPod. While some are content to toss it, other enterprising individuals are selling their used iPods. Some are even "sweetening the deal" by including their music on the device (which I think is illeagal). Anyway, this evolving market is keeping older iPods doing their thing, and out of forgotten drawers.

Piper Jaffray analysts say about 30 percent of the iPod purchasers are now repeat buyers who are either replacing an existing, earlier-generation iPod or adding to their range of styles (such as an iPod Shuffle and a video iPod).

If the average lifespan of an iPod is about 1.5 years, what happens to the older models?

Analysts say most users hand down their iPods to friends or family once they purchase a new one. Some simply throw them away.

Increasingly, however, consumers are capitalizing on the growing iPod phenomenon by selling their used iPods for cash or as a trade-in toward a new device.

And it is not just for bargain hunters, either. With the popular iPod Mini being discontinued, many fans have turned to the refurbished market to track down a favorite color in what is becoming a cult-nostalgia item.

McDonald's WiFi For Nintendo

Do you want fries with your WiFi access?

THE NEW YORK TIMES says Nintendo is expected to enable free wi-fi for its DS handheld at McDonald's outlets.
The burger chain already has wi-fi available at 6,000 restaurants but users are required to pay for the service. According to the Times, however, the Nintendo service will be free.

An NPD Group Analyst told the paper it'd be like a "kids' version of Starbucks' wireless hot spots".

Some more info here.

Harmon/Kardon Drive + Play

If you're trying to figure out how to listen to your iPod in the car, this is a new solution.

Despite the flaws in the UI, the Drive + Play is quite a marvelous tool for listening to music in the car and the best way I've found to enjoy my iPod while driving. Breaking the controls away from the screen makes using it while driving very intuitive. The display is big and readable, and the control knob feels quite good in my hand. The sound quality is superb.

Wide Body USB Flash Drive

Just in case your 1 GB USB flash drive was starting to get a little full, an 8 GB model gets released.

The saturation level of USB flash drives on the market surpassed “ludicrous” ten entries ago, and is fast approaching “incredulous” with a charmingly enthusiastic but ultimately pointless tenacity — like a 3-legged dog chasing a carrot on a stick attached to it’s forehead.

BUT, this isn’t “just another” flash drive, as storage media company Transcend have announced their “holy-crap-is-that-8GB?” flash drive as the new top end product in the Jetflash series. The product page gives very little away, but I assume we can expect a size slightly bigger than the 4GB version (88mm x 33mm x 15mm). “How much? How MUCH??”, I hear you cry with mouths afroth from the thought of being able to store a universe of pr0nz in the palm of your hand — well this bad boy has a provisional retail price of 89,800 yen (approx. US$770).

Latest SanDisk Music Player Reviewed

SanDisk, while with considerably less market share than Apple, leads the Windows side of the MP3 player market. With their affordable flash based music players, they have gained some popularity, particularly with users interested in subscription based music services. This is the 1st review I've seen if the latest Sansa m200 series from SanDisk.

SanDisk MP3 players hit the scene in a big way with the 2004 launch of the Digital Audio Player and later the Sansa e100 series. With a motto that could be "Lots of features for less!" the memory giant's flash-based MP3 players appeals to the masses of thrifty consumers looking for deals. Now, the deal gets sweeter with the arrival of the SanDisk Sansa m200 series, which is jam-packed with features such as an FM tuner, WMA subscription compatibility, and up to 4GB of flash-based storage. If you don't mind a budget build, you can't go wrong with the value-rich m200 series. If you want to test out subscription-based music, the m200 is a good budget choice.

Credit Card Size Hard Drive

Now this is giving new meaning to the term portable...

If you've been interested in "portable" harddrives, but been frustrated by their lack of portability - this USB2.0 drive from LaCie may greatly interest you (via OhGizmo!). The drive is about the size of a credit card and only 6mm thick (or thin, more appropriately). The drives will come in 4 and 8GB capacities. The 8GB capacity drive will be $149 and is now available for pre-order from Lacie's Website. The 4GB drive will sell for $99.

There is some more info on the company website here.

Mobile Office

Regular folks have been modding their computers into their cars (or is it modding their cars with computers?) for a while now. Ford is giving new meaning to the term "mobile office" with this dealer accessory. Needless to say, I want one.

"Ford, which introduced its mobile office Tuesday at this week's Specialty Equipment Market Association show in Las Vegas, is targeting general contractors with its latest accessories. The mobile system is designed to let contractors bid on jobs, order parts and materials, and process payments from their trucks.

"F-Series is all about getting the job done, and this new mobile office technology will fit our truck owners' needs to be on the go as their business demands," Marty Collins, Ford general marketing manager, said in a statement.

The mobile office system is expected to become a dealer-installed accessory in 2006.

Ford teamed up with Stargate Mobile, Microsoft and California Custom Sport Trucks to provide the lightweight, touch-screen slate computer, which is mounted on the transmission tunnel inside the truck. The computer rests inside a cradle and is powered by the vehicle's battery. The computer also features a touch-screen that is viewable in bright sunlight and runs on Microsoft's Windows XP Professional.

The office system uses a broadband wireless cellular card to keep the computer online continuously and has the ability to connect with a digital camera to transfer images to customers."

A look at the EZDrive

This is a look at the flash drive with a swivel twist. While the speeds are not blindingly fast, the drive had a solid all around performance.

Ridata’s EZDrive is a sharp looking drive, and I especially liked the innovative swivel cap design. The read and write speeds were not the fastest we’ve ever tested, but were still acceptably fast. The included security software, while basic, was very easy to use, and quite secure. The Ridata EZDrive is an “LD Approved” product.