For the past five years I’ve been using Etymotic ER6i Isolator earphones. I’ve used them with my original 2nd gen iPod, my iPod nano, and now my iPhone 3G. Unlike the standard Apple earbuds, the Etys are in-ear earphones, which means that they also act as earplugs, isolating outside noise (like terrible coffee shop music). In fact, the tighter the outside noise isolation, the better the fidelity and bass response of the Etys. I love these things.
Etymotic has a long history of making high-end earphones as well as superior hearing protection. I bring a pair of Etymotic ER-20 earplugs with me to every concert, and I end up using them about half the time. They do an outstanding job of lowering volumes by about 15db without any of the muffling effect you get from regular foam earplugs. Wearing them is a great way to enjoy a concert and avoid damaging your hearing or aggravating evil tinnitus.
Both the earplugs and ER6i earphones use a triple flanged eartip to isolate noise. However, ear canal shapes vary widely among people, so Etymotic offers several eartip options. In my case, I found that the beige foam eartips did the best job of isolating sound by expanding to the shape of my ear canal. Compared to the flange eartip, I hear much deeper bass with the foam eartips installed.
I hope my Etys last another five years. And if they don’t, I’ll buy another set in an instant.
I’ve always wanted to get a proper SteadyCam or a Manfrotto Fig Rig to help stabilize non-tripod shots with my video camera, but both options can be a bit expensive. While a SteadyCam tries to isolate vibrations from the cameraman through gimbals and counterweights, the Fig Rig uses two-handed leverage to dampen them. It’s simple, effective, and easy to emulate, so I decided to build my own “DIY Camera Stabilizer”.
Before I started, I found a great post on dvxuser.com from someone who made their own stabilizer. His design was so elegant that I decided to try it. He simply used a piece of L-shaped aluminum for a crossbar, and in a brilliant example of genius, used garden hose nozzles for the grips. The genius of the garden hose nozzle is that it includes a rubber grip wrapped around a brass pipe with a threaded end point. There’s no need to fabricate a custom hand grip!
I have a benchtop drill press which made construction simple. I bought two hose nozzles and a length of 1.5 inch x 1.5 inch x 1/8 inch thick L-shaped aluminum bracket at the hardware store. Using a hacksaw, I cut the bracket to 22 inches long, and drilled a hole in the center for a standard 1/4 20 camera mounting bolt. The threaded end on the hose nozzle was a bit more than 5/8 inches wide, so I bought a fat 5/8 inch drill bit, drilled holes 1 inch in from each side for each nozzle, then filed the hole a tad wider until the holder would set in place. I gave it a quick polish and cleaning, and that was that.
The finished product is amazingly effective. Videos are very smooth and steady. You can fake some nice crane shots, and by doing the “groucho walk,” you can get nice dolly-like SteadyCam flying. I’ll post some videos after I practice a little more.
I’m pretty sure I paid less than $15 for all of the parts, not including the fat drill bit (which was also around $15.)
There are a lot of solutions for using an iPod or iPhone in a car, but if you want the ideal combination of safety, good sound quality, and in-car charging, the options narrow quickly. The options narrow even more if you want the final results to look clean and neat.
For my iPhone 3G, I ended up using a mount from ProClip, and an adapter from Kensington.
I initially purchased the Kensington Car Charger Deluxe ![[B0011ULQ1K]](http://www.mikeyp.com/css/external.gif)
, as it looked like a Griffin TuneFlex designed for the iPhone, but discovered that it a) didn’t fit properly in the lighter socket in the Audi, and b) did not support line-out audio. I returned it and purchased another Kensington adapter called the LiquidAUX . The LiquidAUX supports proper line-out audio and doesn’t include the balky mounting bracket. It also includes a totally useless wireless remote control, which I left in the box.
I purchased a dashboard mount from ProClip. The ProClip mounts are actually made in Sweden by a company called Brodit. They’re purchased in two parts. The first is a generic device mount that is specific to a car model. It uses a tool-less installation process that snaps in between the stereo and the dashboard console. The second is a device-specific mount that is screwed directly into the generic mount. The combination is a bit expensive, as I paid $35 for each of the two parts. However, it’s a sturdy, classy combination for a specific device and car model, which in my case is a mount for an iPhone 3G in a 2001 Audi A4.
The combination of the ProClip mount with the Kensington adapter gave me exactly what I wanted: a clean and neat in-car iPhone 3G solution with safe placement, good sound quality, and in-car charging.
One device to rule them all…
The timeline reads from left to right (obviously), and spans about 10-12 years. I couldn’t find my original Palm Pilot Personal. It would have sat to the left of the Visor. I also don’t show any of my original Windows CE devices, like the Philips Velo. And I suppose I should note that I actually have two of several of these gadgets.
I’ve always been interested in connectivity for PDAs. I had the snap-on modem for the Palm Pilot and the OmniSky wireless modem for the Visor. I paired my Zodiac with the Sony phone via Bluetooth and was surfing the net pretty reliably, though slowly, with that setup. I had a WiFi SD card that worked with the Zodiac, and even set up a Bluetooth Access Point in my house.
It’s interesting to see the incremental evolutionary steps between all of these devices. But it’s amazing to comprehend the generation leap the iPhone makes over everything before it.
Now that I have this photo, it’s off to the recycler for most of these things.
I posted an update to the (amazing!) Suck-O-Meter [suckometeriphone, suckometer] app for the iPhone. Just head to http://www.suckometer.com using Safari, or visit Apple’s Web Apps site. It will auto-detect your iPhone or iPod Touch, and you’ll soon have a greater awareness of the number of sucky things around you.
The Suck-O-Meter can now run as a stand-alone app if your iPhone is running OS version 2.1 or later. Just click the “+” button and choose “Add to Home Screen”. This lets the app load a lot faster, and you won’t see any of the usual browser stuff.
I also removed the Amazon.com ad, and replaced it with an ad banner from AdMob. Previously, there was a 1-in-5 chance you would see the Amazon ad after each “Does it SUCK?” test. After six months and tens of thousands of page views, I’ve made a whopping $1.43 in ad revenue. I’m not really trying to make money from this thing, but I do want to know what kind of conversion rates exist for various iPhone ad models. The AdMob banner appears on the bottom of the screen all the time, and at the moment, seems to think that Suck-O-Meter users are highly interested in a vacation. Makes sense to me!
Finally, I moved the hot-spot for the about box from the previously dedicated “About…” link on the bottom. Now you can just click the “Suck-O-Meter” title to see the about box and contact support. You know… if you need support.
As usual, today's MacWorld keynote was scheduled to occur during my morning commute. As a card-carrying geek, I like to follow the keynote live via liveblogs or Twitter. I have a dashboard mount in my car for my iPhone, so I fired up the Twitterfon app and attempted to catch the keynote Twitter updates during my drive. However, after one minute, the iPhone would blank and lock the screen as it usually does, preventing me from seeing Twitterfon updates.
Normally, I use the iPod app on the iPhone to listen to music and podcasts during the drive. When audio is playing on the iPod, the iPhone does not auto-lock. In fact, you can leave the audio running in the background while using other apps. Perfect!
I opened the iPod app, started an album, switched back to Twitterfon, and enjoyed the MacWorld keynote updates throughout my commute. Cool.
Due to overwhelming lack of demand, the Suck-O-Meter is now available for the iPhone! Just head to www.suckometer.com with your iPhone or iPod Touch, and the Suck-O-Meter will launch automatically.
Using a proprietary algorithm that takes advantage of the unique capabilities of the iPhone, the Suck-O-Meter allows you to test whether objects and items "Suck" or "Do Not Suck". Finally, thanks to the Suck-O-Meter, the iPhone is actually useful!
With the Suck-O-Meter, you'll never find yourself wondering if something sucks or not. Now, with the click of a button, you'll always know for sure.
Isn't technology amazing?
Note: Please exercise caution when using the Suck-O-Meter on people.
Migrating from the Treo to the iPhone 3G was a lot easier than I expected. Thanks to the App Store, I was mostly able to find good (and sometimes great) iPhone alternatives to essential PDA apps that I used on the Treo, with a notable exception.
| App Type | Treo | iPhone |
|---|---|---|
| Note-Taking | DayNotez | Evernote |
| List Management | Bonsai | Appigo Todo + Toodledo.com |
| Password Management | SplashID | SplashID |
| MS Excel Editor | Documents-To-Do | Built-in Viewer (no editor yet) |
| MS Word Editor | Documents-To-Do | Built-in Viewer (no editor yet) |
As you can see, it is important to me that there is desktop and offline access to all of my data.
Evernote a terrific app for note-taking, and I love that there are native clients for Mac, Windows, and the iPhone. I also like the web app, which works great on Linux machines. And most of all, I like that all clients automatically stay in sync with each other via Evernote's web service. The iPhone app is a bit basic right now, and needs two key new features: 1) Editing existing notes (coming in next version) UPDATE: Editing now works in the latest version, and 2) Caching notes so they can be read offline.
Bonsai is a tough app to replace, but I'm becoming a big fan of toodledo.com. There are several list management web apps, but I like toodledo.com for two main reasons: 1) It is extremely fast, and always available, and 2) they provide several easy-to-access export formats that allow me to archive my data should anything happen to their service. I happily subscribe to their $14.95 annual service. There are also several(!) to-do list apps available for the iPhone, but the one I like is called Todo from Appigo. Todo is rock solid, unlike many other iPhone apps, and syncs perfectly with toodledo.com. The only thing it needs is the ability to display sub-tasks, which is coming in a future version.
I was happy to see that SplashData provided an iPhone version of SplashID on the App Store's launch day. The iPhone version works fine, but is a bit rough around the edges compared to the clean Treo/Palm app, and the manual data migration process was flat out clumsy. The sync process is interesting in that it syncs without a conduit directly from the iPhone app to the desktop app, but the sync button is inconveniently buried a couple of menus deep. And unlike the Palm version, the iPhone version insists on navigating the password list via categories, whereas I prefer to just see my accounts listed alphabetically. Luckily, SplashData is actively developing and updating SplashID, so I expect it to mature over the next few months.
The lack of a native Excel and Word doc editor is a real pain, and web-based office suites like Google Docs, Zoho, and Editgrid just don't cut it on the iPhone. Besides, I want my data local, not in the "cloud." I wouldn't be surprised if someone ported Gnumeric and AbiWord to the iPhone soon, and if Microsoft was smart, they'd make their own slimmed down office suite. But in the mean time, I'm using a basic FTP client called Caravan to copy Excel and Word files from my PC to the iPhone. Caravan is a nice little $3 app, with a developer who is actively maintaining it. Alas, the iPhone's built-in Word doc viewer inexplicably refuses to display several of my Word documents, no matter how simple they are.
All in all, I was able to move from the Treo to the iPhone easily, and I find it exciting that we're only seeing hint of the flood of new iPhone apps coming online over the next year.
If you use Opera Mini, be sure to update to the latest Opera Mini 4.1. And if you are using it on a Treo [operamini4, operamini41, operaminiusage], make sure you have the latest "silent update", opera-mini-4.1.11355-advanced-int.prc. Also check the IBM Java VM Prefs for optimal Opera performance:
[x] Use Double Buffering
[x] Use high resolution coordinates
Set Memory Maximum: 1Mb
Set Maximum Java Thread Stack Size; 32Kb
And if you aren't using Opera Mini, get it now!
The Opera Mini 4.1 update makes the already fast mobile browser even faster and more responsive. Connections are faster, page rendering is faster, and page scrolling is faster. And as I've found after testing tons of mobile browsers, outside of accurate-enough content, the only thing that really matters on a mobile browser is speed.
For the past three years, I've been using a ThinkPad X40 laptop. My primary computers are desktop machines, so the laptop is used primarily for meetings, communications, office applications, and presentations. For these purposes, the most important features are (in order of importance):
The X40 nails all three of those factors, even today with its "antique" Pentium M processor. So when the MacBook Air was announced this month, I got a kick out of the pundits who decided it was lacking essential features. For comparison, here are some facts about my usage of the X40:
For me, and for 99% of my colleagues with laptops, the MacBook Air is lacking only one thing: a built-in ethernet port. But since I only use ethernet at my office desk, a cheap USB hub with ethernet dongle will work just fine.
The MacBook Air looks perfect.
I've been using Opera Mini 4 on my Treo 650 for the past 3 weeks, and I can only describe the experience as "wow!" It took a day or two to get used to the quirky user interface, but since then I've been completely blown away by the performance of this little web browser.
With the notable exception of Flash-based web sites, I have yet to find a site that Opera Mini can't display. Considering that Opera Mini 4 is a Java app, running on the ancient single-threaded PalmOS platform, over the slow AT&T EDGE data network, the usability of this browser is astounding.
If you haven't tried Opera Mini 4, you haven't experienced the mobile web. Not bad for free software...
With the Xiino [xiinodead, xiino3.4, xiinooffline] web browser offline, I decided to try Opera Mini 4 on my Treo 650. I'm a huge fan of Opera on the desktop, and despite its quirks, Opera Mini is a worthy handheld sibling.
Opera Mini is not a native Palm OS application. To use it, you need to download and install IBM's Java VM. Together, Opera and the JVM take up somewhere under 1.5MB, which is in line with other browsers. This lack of native Palm OS support leads to several issues:
However, if you can get past the Java issues, Opera Mini is a fantastic browser:
Opera Mini also has a bookmark sync'ing feature, which I have not tried.
Other minor issues to consider:
All in all, there is no comparison in the mobile web browser world. Opera Mini is the most impressive mobile browser I've tested yet on Palm OS (compared to Xiino, nWeb [nwebreview, nwebcache, nweb], Blazer, NetFront, WebPro, etc.) It is a shame that Opera is saddled with such a clumsy, non-standard UI and no real Palm OS integration. Opera could be, and should be, the standard browser for the platform.
Did I mention that Opera Mini is free?
Is the Data Server for the Xiino web browser [xiinodead, xiino3.4, xiinooffline] for Palm OS broken? Starting last week or so, any attempt to log in to a web site via Xiino (particularly SSL-based logins) would cause my Treo 650 to hang. I now see that all URLs to Xiino's maker, Mobirus, return 404's, with the exception of the home page, which shows the default Apache installation page.
Xiino is the fastest Palm browser by far, as it uses an excellent custom proxy server run by Mobrius. The Mobirus site hosts this proxy called a "DataServer", which now seems to be partially (or completely) offline. The DataServer is what handles logins, so without it, Xiino cannot log in to any new web site.
Xiino still works without a DataServer, but without personal logins, many sites are useless (like Yahoo).
Anyone still running the ship over there at Mobirus?
UPDATE 11/11: 3 weeks later, and the Xiino Dataserver is still offline. Since Blazer sucks, this means that the Treo as a portable web platform is history. Time to get used to the java-based Opera Mini…
Now that my 2nd gen iPod nano [nano2bass, ipodnanomachrone, nano2greviews, ipodnanoreviews] comes with me just about everywhere, I've decided to remove the OmniFi DMP1 from my car and use the nano instead. I have a line-level audio jack available in the car, but I've had a heckuva time finding a line-out adapter for the nano, let alone an elegant way to store the nano when it is in the car.
Luckily, Griffin released an updated version of their TuneFlex AUX adapter specifically made for the 2nd gen iPod nano. The TuneFlex sits in the car's lighter socket, and has a flexible arm with an iPod dock at the end. There is a line-out jack at the base of the TuneFlex. This thing works perfectly. The flexible arm never moves when the car is in motion, and the sound quality of the line-out jack is much better than using the headphone port for line-out duties.
The new Griffin TuneFlex AUX is highly recommended.
Imagine my surprise when I opened the box for my new Buffalo WiFi bridge and found this:
That's a flat cat5 cable. I wonder if they are trying to coin the term "untwisted pairs"?
Actually, as I look closely and skim my fingers over the cable, I think the pairs are still twisted. But… I think I'll stick with good old round cat5.
iTunes is a fine media player and media manager, though for me, the Windows version feels sluggish and bloated. I wish I didn't have to use it to manage the mp3 collection on my iPod nano [nano2bass, ipodnanomachrone, nano2greviews, ipodnanoreviews]. I've tried XPlay and Anapod Explorer, but found both to be a bit clumsy, and in some cases glitchy. And they both required a full installation on my Windows machine.
Luckily, there is SharePod. SharePod is a tiny and efficient app that handles all of the basic tasks you'd want to handle with your iPod… without needing iTunes.
And best of all, the app is so tiny, you can actually run it from the iPod itself! It's a brilliant solution. You simply enable your iPod for "disk use", which lets Windows see it as a regular portable disk. Then copy the SharePod software to the iPod. From that point on, whenever you plug your iPod in to any computer, you can just open the iPod "disk" and run SharePod.
SharePod is a really elegant solution to media management for iPods. I'll be donating a few bucks to the author so I can get the source code and tweak it a bit. Highly recommended!
On my last two vacations, I've brought along a memory card backup system called Flash-HD to Go from MediaGear. It is basically an external USB hard drive with mem card slots. You pop in a memory card, select it with some buttons on the Flash-HD, and it backs up the whole card to the internal hard drive.
The Flash-HD has worked great for me so far. Each time you back up a mem card, it creates a new directory on the hard drive, even if it is the same mem card you previously backed up. I like that kind of simple redundancy. You can then plug the drive directly in to your PC and copy the files over (if you want).
That said, I would never trust a single backup source. I never deleted any files from my mem cards. Rather, I used the Flash-HD as a pure backup solution in case my camera (with mem card) was lost or stolen. For this purpose, it seems perfect. I just backed up two camera's worth of mem cards every morning before venturing out for the day.
I bought the Flash-HD from Computer Geeks without an internal drive installed. I think I paid about $15 for it, and I used a spare 30GB drive I already owned. It is somewhat bulky, and does not run on battery power, so you need to remember to pack both the drive and the power supply in your suitcase.
I love egrips. When I got my Treo [treoweekone, treoinhawaii, treofirstimpressions, treotoiphone], the first thing I did after applying the excellent Palm-brand screen protector was cover the thing with lots of generic egrips stickers. With the strategically placed non-slip stickers, I never once dropped the Treo. After a few months, some of the egrips wore off, and within days, the Treo up and squirted right out of my hand.
Now I'm using an egrips set specifically designed for the Treo's shape, and again, I haven't dropped it since. I love this stuff!
Today I'm off to find some egrips for my new iPod nano [nano2bass, nano2greviews], as well as my extremely slippery Canon SD700 camera.
I decided to buy an 8GB iPod nano [nano2bass, nano2greviews] to replace my aging (but perfectly scratch-free) 2nd-gen 10GB iPod. The original iPod had pretty good sound quality except with deeper bass, where the frequencies would quickly melt away the deeper the bass went. At least it was much better than the music player in the Treo [treoweekone, treoinhawaii, treofirstimpressions, treotoiphone], which seems to have no bass at all! This is not the case with the nano.
I listened to three songs that have the bass as an essential part of the melody:
Using my best earbuds and headphones, you can't hear the bass lines at all on the Treo. On the original iPod, you need to use the Bass Boost EQ function to hear the lines at a reasonable mix. On the nano, they are crystal clear, and get better with better headphones.
The included earbuds sound slightly dark, and are a tad weak with the bass, but have a more full sound than the buds included with the original iPod. And in my case, they seem to fit my ears better (i.e., they don't fall out). They immediately reveal the better sound on the nano.
Using my Etyomotic ER6i in-ear earphones, the bass in the nano sprung to life, along with more definition in the high end. It is amazing how much better the Etys sound compared to Apple's earbuds. High-end earbuds should be the first thing an iPod owner should buy. The sound quality with the Etymotic / nano combination sounded perfectly balanced, with the bass lines in the three songs carrying the tunes as intended.
But with the Sennheiser PX 100 open-air headphones, the nano simply bursts with bass, almost, but not quite, to the point of overweighting it. The only thing missing with this combo is the chest-thump you get from a proper full-range speaker system. I guess I should test that next!
Overall, the new 8GB iPod nano is superb. The PX 100 headphones will be my speakers for home listening, and the Etys will be used everywhere else. The Apple earbuds will be forgotten in a drawer somewhere.
(sigh...) Yet another new awesome iPod, yet another flurry of "reviews" [ipodnanomachrone, ipodnanoreviews] where not a single reviewer actually measures the audio performance.
This time, Apple has released the second generation of the iPod nano . With an 8GB capacity for the top model, this is nearly a perfect portable audio player, particularly if you care enough about audio quality to use lossless compression. I would assume that the sound quality is good, but Apple has replaced some significant components compared to the previous model.
Alas, I'm stuck with reviews like the one on Ars Technica, where page after page, they take it apart, count and identify the chips, stick it in a bag with nickels and keys to check scratches, drop it on an asphalt street, and even stick it in a washing machine. Great, I plan on doing none of that. Their thoughts on audio quality? "The sound quality seems the same."
Thanks guys.
I brought my Treo [treoweekone, treoinhawaii, treofirstimpressions, treotoiphone] with me to Hawaii last week, as it has been rock solid for me over the past several months. I figured that I might use it like I do normally on a daily basis, taking notes about things, checking the stock market, ignoring emails, etc.
But the trip for the Treo began ominously, when the guy sitting next to me on the plane whipped out his Blackberry and said, "I see you have a Treo. I went through four of those things before I threw the last one in a garbage can and got this thing. Blackberry is awesome." Odd, my Treo seems to work fine.
When I awoke the next day in Hawaii, I tried to check the news on Yahoo. In the Bay Area, web access on the Treo is pretty zippy, but I was bummed to see how slow the wireless network is on the Big Island. Looks like checking the net wasn't going to be as convenient as I hoped.
The next day, I tried checking Yahoo again, and the Treo reset on me. When I tried to launch Xiino [xiinodead, xiino3.4, xiinooffline] after the reset, it "forgot" that it was a registered copy, and refused to load any URLs. Luckily, I keep the registration info in SplashID, so I grabbed the codes, updated Xiino, and tried to access My Yahoo again. I apparently lost the Cookies during the reset/re-reg, and needed to re-login to My Yahoo. But every time I entered my login info and licked "submit", Xiino and the Treo would hang and I would need to do a soft reset. Ah well, I can live without the news while on vacation.
Another morning, a little time to kill, another try with the Treo. After a couple of unsuccessful attempts with the My Yahoo login screen, I reset the Treo again and it started rebooting itself endlessly. Uh oh. I couldn't remember how to do a Warm Reset, so I did a Cold Reset. And there was the warning dialog: Warning! All of your data will be erased!
Shit.
I went ahead and Cold Reset the thing, so at least it would stop resetting itself. At home, this would be a non-issue. I would just hotsync with my PC and bingo, the Treo is back with all of my apps and data intact. But I'm not at home. I'm in Hawaii with a virgin Treo. And I suddenly realized that…
And I need cash.
Shit.
How am I going to get cash without my PIN? I ordered a drink immediately. And in my mind, began to rummage through all of the 4 digit numbers I've used in the past couple of months. I decided that it had to be one of two numbers (I hoped), and went to a local ATM machine. The first number I tried worked! Wow, the human brain is a weird thing when it comes to remembering numbers. Or else it was the Mai Tai. And fortunately, the Treo includes decent email and web apps by default, so I was able to use both for checking email and getting web updates, so I knew I could at least email someone if I needed a phone number.
Whew!
When we finally got back home, we picked up the luggage at the carousel, and headed out to the parking lot. Hmmm, where did we park the car. No prob! I wrote it down in DayNotez, on the Treo.
Shit.
When I got my Treo [treoweekone, treoinhawaii, treofirstimpressions, treotoiphone], I was happy to see that Palm included the ability to sync with Microsoft Outlook. With older Palm devices, I always needed to use IntelliSync or Chapura's PocketMirror. PocketMirror is very reliable, but it always annoyed me the way it handled Outlook security dialogs.
I sync my Treo with 2 different computers, my home and my work. Alas, Palm's Outlook Conduit does a terrible job in this case. Almost every single appointment in the Calendar would get duplicated on each HotSync. And even if I didn't touch an appointment on either computer, I would still get a HotSync warning that the item was modified on one or more computers, and would be duplicated. In addition, I couldn't mark items as private because they would never get HotSync'd. I like to have my personal appointments marked as private so the details will remain hidden on my work calendar. Even worse, some items would randomly not sync at all, for no apparent reason.
Yes, I have the "enable sync on multiple PCs" box checked. Having it unchecked causes HotSync to pop an annoying warning dialog every time I sync.
So I downloaded PocketMirror XT, and after some installation hassles, I'm back in business. PocketMirror is highly configurable, and handles syncing with multiple machines flawlessly. It still hacks away at the Outlook security dialog, but what a relief to not have to deal with sync problems every day.
Note on PocketMirror installation: PM uses the ancient and horrible InstallShield system for installation. On one computer, the app would not install until I deleted all of my temp directories and rebooted the computer. On another computer, PM wouldn't install at all unless I was running in Safe Mode. Ridiculous! How many customers is Chapura losing by using such an awful installer?
After using a Philips Pronto TS-1000 touch-screen remote for about 5 years, I decided to look at upgrading to a more modern universal remote. This time, I decided to look at a remote with mostly hard-buttons instead of a touch-screen, and all roads lead to the Logitech Harmony series.
Although there are several Logitech Harmony models, serious home theater geeks need only look at two models: the 550 (and it's clone, the Harmony for XBOX360), and the 880 . When you look closely, you'll see that both remotes function identically, with these exceptions:
With a sale price and coupon at Best Buy, it was a no-brainer; I bought the 550. Overall, I really like the remote, and I'm glad I bought it. I love that it seems to have a hard-button for just about everything - it feels like the device was custom-made for my equipment. I'm anxious to see how the batteries last. My Pronto would eat 4 batteries every 6-8 weeks.
Some notes:
All minor quibbles for a very nice universal remote.
I programmed my Philips Pronto TS-1000 universal remote to be "activities-based" so that I could have one-touch startups customized for each Home Theater activity, like watching a DVD, listening to a CD, playing video games, etc. I designed the layout so that I could access aspect ratio and lighting controls from each activity. The Pronto programming software is a tad clumsy, but quite powerful.
Here is my Pronto configuration file: mike-1.51.ccf
It works with the following devices:
After a year of using Fonts4OS5 to display custom fonts on my Tapwave Zodiac [zodiacend, zodiacreset], I decided to give it a shot on my Treo 650 [treoweekone, treoinhawaii, treofirstimpressions, treotoiphone]. The default font on the Zod is very nice, so I just used Fonts4OS5 with Xiino [xiinodead, xiino3.4, xiinooffline] to give it more screen real estate. But the default font on the Treo sucks, so a custom font can really do wonders for readability systemwide.
Unfortunately, Fonts4OS5 doesn't seem too stable on the Treo. I was getting resets every 1.5 days or so, all attributed to Fonts4OS5. I've now switched to FontHackV for font management, and haven't had a reset since.
Unlike Fonts4OS5, FontHackV is a hack, so you'll need to install YAHM (which is included). It isn't quite as easy to configure as Fonts4OS5, but it isn't hard either.
With Fonts4OS5, I would notice a slight performance slowdown with general usage (more so on the Zod than the Treo), but I don't notice any performance issues with FontHackV.
The best fonts I've found for the Treo are Sans Serif 22 as default for all apps, and Sans Serif 18 for Xiino. These fonts are included with Fonts4OS5, but FontHackV can convert them if you have them installed.
And I don't know if my eyes are playing tricks on me, but I'd swear the fonts are rendered nicer and cleaner with FontHackV.
Both apps are shareware, with prices around 10 bucks.
After using the Treo [treoweekone, treoinhawaii, treofirstimpressions, treotoiphone] for a week, I can't imagine not having it. I still miss the elegance and big screen of the Zodiac [zodiacend, zodiacreset], as well as the invisible light weight and no-look usability of the Sony T637, but the Treo is (currently) in a class by itself. Here are some notes after a week's worth of usage:
My current hard button mappings:
| Button | Function |
|---|---|
| Phone | Phone |
| Option + Phone | Xiino |
| Calendar | Bonzai |
| Option + Calendar | Calendar |
| Message | DayNotez |
| Option + Message | SnapperMail |
It took a year or two, but I finally joined the league of Treo users yesterday (thanks StickyC!). Overall, I'm thrilled to be able to carry a single Phone+PDA instead of two separate units, even if the two separate units have better capabilities than the Treo.
After several hours of usage, here are some first impressions:
Although retail stores are poor places to evaluate audio systems, I listened to the iPod Hi-Fi at an Apple store the other day. To me, it sounded like a decent pair of bookshelf speakers… …taped together and layed perfectly flat on the bottom of an empty bathtub. Yeah, it probably sounds better in a home bedroom (even audiophile geek Jim Machrone thinks it doesn't sound too bad), so I figured I'd reserve judgement until I read the review in the magazine Sound & Vision.
S&V is the direct descendant of Stereo Review, which objectively reviewed audio equipment with precise scientific measurement, and without all of the foofoo "golden eared" writers you see in other HiFi publications. S&V expanded that tradition to reviews of HDTVs, DVD players, and other consumer electronics. They still have two of the best audio columnists around with David Ranada and Ken Pohlman.
So I was extremely disappointed in their review of the iPod Hi-Fi. Not with their opinion of the unit, but with the review itself. Missing were all of the objective audio measurements I expected from S&V, like frequency response, dynamic range, imaging, THD, etc. Nothing but pure objective opinion like you'd find in lesser publications. How ironic that in the same issue, David Ranada writes a wonderful column explaining that we should not believe the hype of BluRay versus HD-DVD until there are objective, scientifically measured performance tests of identical material on both platforms.
I can't understand why S&V would blow it on a review of such a well-known sound system. I hope this isn't a sign of things to come. But maybe I should give them the benefit of the doubt. In the review, Al Griffin calls the iPod Hi-Fi, "one helluva boombox." That might just say everything I need to know…
As a follow-up to their iPod Volume Limiter patch, Apple has also posted a page on their web site explaining how sound works, and the dangers of loud noises. Pretty basic stuff, but commendable nonetheless.
(Perhaps the company has realized that deaf people don't buy music on iTunes.)
Apple just released an iPod firmware update that allows users to personally set the iPod's maximum volume output. Incredibly, many tech blogs and news sites are actually criticizing Apple for "caving in" to people who are "too dumb to turn it down." Well, have you ever accidentally bumped the volume controls, only to find out after the song starts and you've been blasted three feet into the air? Of course, we all have. At the iPod max volume output of 120db, that accident can cause permanent hearing damage. The new iPod firmware can completely prevent those incidents of irreversible hearing loss.
Oh, and which people are "too dumb to turn it down?" Pretty much everyone under 18 years old. I know I was.
Here are some instructions for checking the signal strength on the Comcast DVR and how to reset it. I can't remember where I found these instructions, so I apologize to the original author. If you know the source (avsforum? HDTV-SFBay-Users?), please let me know and I'll give proper credit.
WARNING: Don't follow these instructions unless you know what you are doing! You might ruin your DVR, which will probably make Comcast very upset! If you botch things up, it ain't my fault. These codes might not even work on your DVR model!!!
Check the SNR on diagnostic screen 4. It should say good or at least fair. If it says fair or poor it may freeze and pixel occasionally. Check this by:
If the SNR is poor you have a weak signal and a tech would need to fix it. If it is fair the signal may be borderline and only freeze occasionally.
WARNING: Doing this will ERASE all programs from your DVR, and cause your DVR to loose all guide information until it's reloaded (24 hours or so) This process basically resets the hard-drive. You have been warned.
Ok with that said turn your TV and DVR on.
Your DVR will now reset and begin to download… If you see the letters 'DL' this means you are in a VOD area and you won't be able to watch tv for about 20-30 Minutes.
I had a Comcast DVR flake out on me (bad hard drive), and tried a reset. It didn't fix the DVR, and actually seemed to confuse it even more. If you are a Comcast customer, and have trouble with your DVR, I highly recommend calling customer service to exchange the unit. The newer models are general more stable and have quieter hard drives.
Many people are opting for a smartphone instead of a PDA these days, but for me, a PDA is still an essential tool. Most smartphones and PDAs handle calendar and contact management, but these devices can be much more useful with additional software. Here is a list of PDA applications that I consider essential on any smartphone or PDA.
The key requirements for a PDA spreadsheet are good Excel formula compatibility and seamless synchronization with Excel files on a host PC. I used TinySheet for years until it became yet another app abandoned by Iambic Software. Now I use Sheet-To-Go version 8 (included in Documents-To-Go 8), which is a huge improvement over the 4.0 version I used years ago.
A full-fledged word processor isn't really needed on a PDA, but the ability to sync, read, and do minor edits to a Word document is essential. WordSmith is my word processor of choice, only because I've been using it for years without any problems. Word-To-Go version 8 is just as good.
A major reason to have a PDA is to replace a pocket pen-and-paper notepad. Generic memo pad software is no match for a good journaling or note-taking app like DayNotez from Natara Software. DayNotez is a fantastic app with easy note categorization and search filtering that finally allowed me to stop carrying a traditional Moleskine notebook everywhere.
Like generic memo pad software, generic To-Do list software is too basic. I use two different list management apps: SplashShopper and Bonsai. SplashShopper is not only the best shopping list app for PalmOS, it also acts as an excellent generic database for cataloging lists of all kinds (wine collection, software, etc.). Bonsai is the ultimate software for task management. It allows you to manage multiple to-do lists, and even acts as a project management and outlining tool. Both SplashShopper and Bonsai have full-fledged companion apps for Windows that sync with the handheld versions.
Since so many web sites and work computers have different password requirements, I have a million passwords to track. I keep them all listed in SplashID, a secure and convenient locker for all of my passwords, as well as frequent flyer numbers and software reg codes. Also includes a companion app for Windows.
An alarm clock with multiple alarm presets, a multiple time zone display, and support for .wav and .mid sound files is extremely handy. Sony used to bundle the excellent and aptly named World Clock with their Clie handhelds. These days, I use ClockDeluxe from Deluxeware.
All of the software I use is made for PalmOS handhelds and synchronizes with Windows XP (Natara just released a Windows Mobile version of DayNotez, SplashID is available for several mobile platforms, and both SplashID and SplashShopper now have Mac OS X companion apps). I'm willing to use other platforms, as long as I can be sure to have all of the essential apps listed above.
The old iOpener [iopenerupdate, iopenerbbs] that we have on the kitchen counter was starting to act really flaky recently. I more or less decided that I was going to trash it in favor of a more modern computer, but I figured I'd see if there was any way I could bring it back to life on the cheap first. Sure enough, I was able to do it.
After I originally hacked the thing back in 2000, I never bothered to keep track of later developments in the iOpener hacker community. It turns out that they made a few great discoveries and optimizations, and thanks to the perseverance of the old I-Appliance BBS, those hacks are still documented.
Here's what I did to bring my iOpener back up to snuff:
Win98 is still an excellent desktop OS for old computers, especially because you can run Internet Explorer in "kiosk mode" by pressing F11. I optimized Win98 by changing the swap file from being "managed by Windows" to being a fixed 2GB.
I bought a 40GB Samsung Spinpoint MP0402H from Newegg for about $60. It is extremely quiet, and is an order of magnitude faster than the old 1GB IBM drive was using before. I used the excellent utility Image for Windows to copy the contents of the old drive to the new one using a USB IDE Cable on my WinXP machine.
The original hacking crew had a tough time finding RAM that would work in the iOpener, so I guess I got lucky. A 128MB PC133 144-Pin Laptop SODIMM (16X64NB133-N) from CompGeeks for $17 works just fine, and much better than the original 32MB.
I updated the BIOS to match the new drive and RAM. In particular, I set the IDE mode to PIO Mode 4, and set the DRAM Timings from SDRAM 10ns to Turbo.
Thanks to posts from Georgie, I increased the hard drive performance by 3X and fixed an extremely nasty USB bug that was crippling my WiFi performance. The details are here and here, but in summary, I downloaded the PCI utility from John Fine's site, stuck it in the PATH, and added these lines to autoexec.bat:
rem fix USB
c:\util\pci r75=a3 r40,7,2=2
rem fix PCI IDE
c:\util\pci r43,7,1=1a r44,7,1=8 r4c,7,1=3f r53,7,1=1 r4b,7,1=10
I update the core chipset drivers to the "Retro" version 4.35 from here. It improved the hard drive performance as well as fixed the LCD backlight when the screen is turned off.
Along with a new cheapo compact keyboard and a trackball mouse, we've got a nicely usable counter-top web terminal again. Uhh, what do we use it for? To look up recipes for cocktails, of course!
Years ago, when the dot-com boom produced the cheap and hackable iOpener web terminal, a large community gathered to share iOpener tips and tricks at the I-Appliance BBS hosted by Linux-Hacker.net.
We still use an iOpener as a counter top web terminal in our kitchen. I decided to replace the ancient hard drive today, but I couldn't remember how to access the BIOS. I did a quick search, and incredibly, the old BBS is still alive! I even found the original thread I used as a hacking reference, including my own circa-Y2K replies. Cool!
It never struck me that I could/should upgrade the firmware in my digital camera. I bought a Canon SD100 right when it first came out, and sure enough, there is a firmware upgrade available on Canon's web site.
I remember having a problem with a Sandisk 512MB SD card and the SD100. If I used the card in both a PC memcard reader and the camera, eventually the camera would think the card was corrupted. Since the camera has its own USB interface, I shrugged off the problem and stopped using the memcard reader. Looks like the new firmware fixes this issue, as well as adds support for 2GB cards and PictBridge .
The update process was painless and straightforward. The new firmware is version 2.0.1.0. My camera's firmware? Version 1.0.0.0. 
Glad to have the upgrade.
To relieve myself of the ambient noise at my work desk, I've started wearing closed-back isolation headphones. Since I need to listen to at least two different audio sources at the same time, a decent desktop audio mixer was in order. The last time I looked at mixers several years ago, there was nothing decent available at a budget price, let alone under $100. Today, there are several choices, and in my opinion, none better than the Behringer UB502 .
The Behringer UB502 is a 5-channel mono or 2-channel stereo mixer with a bidirectional tape loop. It has a powered microphone input, and most importantly for my desktop, separate mix levels for headphones and speakers. The sound quality is pristinely transparent, and the build quality is totally solid. Unbelievably, this mixer is only $35! And if you need more channels, Behringer makes other models with the same high quality.
Correction: There is a single master Mix volume and an additional Headphone volume. If you have the mix output sent to live speakers, the mix volume will go to both the speakers and headphones, but only the headphone volume is adjusted separately. This is a normal mixing board configuration. All this means is that if you are using this with desktop speakers, you'll want to keep the speakers' power on/off button handy when using headphones.
One of my essential PalmOS applications is SplashShopper. More than just the ultimate grocery list manager, it is actually a fast and versatile flat-file database that can manage lists of any kind. I use it to manage databases of wines, cheeses, and even video games. Best of all, the software includes both a PalmOS app and a very nicely-written Windows version for the desktop.
An included HotSync conduit keeps the desktop and Palm applications in sync, but recently, I started to get an error. The HotSync log file listed a SplashShopper error called "(Error compressing file)". I search the FAQ and the support message boards, but couldn't find any mention of this error. Finally, I decided to try fixing it the old school way: trust the synchronization software. I deleted the SplashShopper data files on my desktop (located in C:\Program Files\palmOne\MikeyP\SplashShopper), and re-ran HotSync. Success! Problem gone.
Update: It turned out to be a problem with WordSmith, not SplashShopper. The HotSync log file is not necessarily written in chronological order. I ended up deleting and re-syncing a Word document to fix this problem. Still not sure why the problem temporarily disappeared with the SplashShopper re-sync.
I'm looking forward to getting my hands on a Nokia 770 Web Tablet. This thing looks like it could be the ultimate web appliance, not only for portable applications, but for household uses. Being Linux-based with an active development community makes the possibilities for this device enormous.
We have an old iOpener set up on the kitchen counter, and I can't describe just how useful it is to have easy, semi-instant access to the web. We use it for lots of little things, like checking IMDB during movies, following sports scores, and of course, looking for cocktail recipes. 
The iOpener is getting pretty long in the tooth, however, so the Nokia 770 looks like an excellent and convenient replacement, especially if it retails at around the $350 price point.
On the portable front, I'm not sure if I would actually carry a 770 around with me. However, I can say from my experience with the Tapwave Zodiac that surfing the net with a combination of big-screen portable and a bluetooth cel phone is a very usable experience, much more so than using the crummy WAP browser on the cel phone itself. I love being able to compare in-store prices with amazon.com just by whipping out the Zodiac.
I can't believe Nokia doesn't have an IR emitter on the 770! With the prices of color touch-screen universal remotes like the Philips iPronto and the Home Theater Master MX-3000 being over $1,000, the 770 could have been the de facto high-end programmable universal remote. Maybe the very interesting Philips RC9800i will find success on the coffee table.
The always reliable audiophile Bill Machrone has published audio benchmarks and measurements for the iPod nano on his Serious Personal Audio Site.
The verdict? The sound quality is not quite as good as the iPod shuffle [ipodshufflesound, ipodshufflecar], but is otherwise excellent. Quote: "The nano is a winner, and a more-than-worthy successor to the mini."
Side note: Although I think the black version of the nano looks much cooler than the white one, a few hands-on minutes revealed two key words about the black version: fingerprint magnet
After installing an OmniFi DMP-1 in my Audi A4, I noticed that that it was overdriving the CD changer input, giving me a slightly noisy sound floor and some noticeable overdrive (distortion) on loud audio tracks. I decided to try a couple of line-level audio attenuators to see if they would help.
I initially purchased the Peripheral Attenuator which is intended for use in car stereo installs. It is a single plastic box with RCA input and output leads. The Peripheral doesn't have any rated db reduction. Instead, it simply has two manually adjustable potentiometers (one for each channel). Because there was no reference for the adjustments, I set the pots at 50%. With this setting, it worked as advertised, reducing the output of the OmniFi and eliminating the overdrive. However, it also noticeably affected the sound quality. It seemed to suck the bass right out of the OmniFi, and slightly collapse the stereo separation.
I then ordered a pair of Harrison Lab 6 db Attenuators from Parts Express. What a difference. Rather than being adjustable, the Harrison attenuators are strictly rated at 6 db reduction (they sell other ratings too), and physically separated per channel. Each is a solid metal cylinder with an RCA male output on one end and a female input on the other. Like the Peripheral attenuator, the Harrisons eliminated the overdrive from the OmniFi, but were totally transparent in sound quality. Bass output and stereo separation are excellent.
Interested in finding a review of the audio performance for the new iPod Nano ? Good luck! As with most previous iPod releases, nearly every review for the Nano ignores the sound quality, and instead describes the "cool look", "pretty screen", and gushes about it being "soooo cool!" In the list of reviews tallied by Engadget, only a single reviewer actually measured the audio performance, and as usual, it was the reviewer from PC Magazine.
According to PC Mag, the iPod Nano has solid audio performance, though not quite as solid as the iPod Shuffle [ipodshufflesound, ipodshufflecar], as long as you don't over-boost the EQ. And as expected, the included Apple Earbuds should be replaced immediately with some Etymotics (which I highly recommend).
Even though my ancient 1st generation 10 GB iPod still works fine, I can't help but want to buy a Nano. It's just soooo cool!
For some reason, I want this watch:
I have no real use or need for a watch that runs PalmOS , but I want it anyway. It runs an older version of PalmOS (4.1 instead of 5.2). It has a tiny gray-scale screen. There is no Bluetooth . It needs to be recharged every day. It is pretty darned big and clunky for a watch.
But it's a programmable computer. On a wristband.
I've gotta have it.
There are seemingly millions of cool audio gadgets available now, but it's nearly impossible to find reviews of sound quality that say more than "it sounds real good!" (poor grammar intentional)
Outside of Sound & Vision Magazine columnist Ken Pohlman, the only other mainstream reviewer who does true in-depth reviews of sound quality is PC Magazine columnist Bill Machrone.
Bill just launched a new blog called Serious Personal Audio, where he writes detailed reviews and analysis of digital audio players and headphones. Excellent stuff so far; he even reviewed my favorite headphones and ear buds!
My friend Ronbo alerted me to the demise of Tapwave, makers of the killer Zodiac PalmOS PDA [zodiacend, zodiacreset]. This was not unexpected (see Last Sign of the Zodiac), but is still sad. I wonder what will happen to all of the Zodiac-accelerated apps? Will Novarra still make the nweb [nwebreview, nwebcache, nweb] browser available to current Zodiac owners?
The Zodiac was originally marketed as a game machine, but never had a meaningful game library available. Instead, the combination of PalmOS 5.2 along with gaming features such as the horizontal form factor, the incredible Sony LCD screen, and ATI graphics acceleration turned out to make the Zodiac the best, and most well-rounded multimedia PDA available.
I have yet to buy a Treo because my combination of Zodiac + Cel Phone works so well. With Tapwave out of business, now I just hope my Zodiac doesn't break!
Eerily, just after I heard the news about Tapwave, my Zodiac crashed and did a hard reset. Fortunately, it still works fine.
There is an excellent new input hack for the Zodiac [zodiacend, zodiacreset] (and other full screen PalmOS devices) called Virtual Thumbboard. When you press a configurable trigger button such as the right shoulder button on the Zodiac, a virtual thumb-sized keyboard reminiscent of the Treo 650 keyboard appears on-screen. The keys are remarkably easy to use. Come to think of it, Virtual Thumbboard is the fastest PalmOS input method I've ever used, and I'm pretty skilled at writing in Palm graffiti.
Note that Thumbboard is still in early beta. While it works well with most of my apps, it also crashes SnapperMail and Xiino [xiinodead, xiino3.4, xiinooffline]. The developer is very active and responsive to feedback, however, and I'm sure he'll fix the crashes before the app goes final.
I've been using the Novarra nWeb [nwebreview, nwebcache, nweb] browser on my Zodiac quite a bit lately. It is truly an excellent and stable PalmOS application. Of course, that doesn't prevent me from finding a nitpick or two.
The nWeb browser insists on backing up the web page and image cache during every hot sync. Over USB 1.1 or Bluetooth , this takes nearly 30 seconds for the standard 1 MB cache. 30 seconds during a quick hot sync feels like an eternity - it nearly doubles the time a normal hot sync takes.
Even if I use a file utility like FileZ to turn off the cache backup bit, nWeb forces the bit to be reset after each browser use.
The only way to prevent cache backups is to set the "Clear cache on exit" option in the nWeb preferences menu. While acceptable, this does prevent the cache from preserving it's state between browser sessions.
I tried to leave feedback about this on Novarra's web site, but the web feedback form produced Microsoft ODBC errors when I clicked the submit button. ![:-\](/images/blog_buttons/disappointed.gif ":-\"){kind=small}
All in all, this is a minor nitpick, and I still consider nWeb to be a "best of breed" PalmOS application.
I contacted tech support at iambic Software regarding software lock-ups with Agendus Mail [dumpingagendus, buyingagendusmail] on my Zodiac. They replied within 2 days, offering an apology and assuring me that my issue would be escalated to the engineers. Alas, that was the last I heard from them. Agendus Mail has been a total hassle from the purchase process to the usability. Rather than deal with iambic again, I've decided to ask Handango for a refund. I had a good experience with Handango support in the past, and I'm anxious to see if that continues.
I don't recommend buying Agendus Mail for PalmOS, and I would think hard before ordering software from iambic again. iambic used to sell great software for classic Palm devices, including TinySheet, which I still use to this day. But along with TinySheet, iambic has abandoned or provided terrible support for many apps that I've purchased, including FastWriter, iambic Office, iambic Mail, and now Agendus Mail.
There are many PalmOS e-mail alternatives, including the highly rated SnapperMail software. My demo version of SnapperMail was better than Agendus Mail in every respect, except that it couldn't hot sync with Outlook mail. In exchange for reliable software, I can certainly live without an Outlook sync feature.
I've been using an original Microsoft IntelliMouse ever since it was released. I love the non-mechanical infrared tracking. However, one thing I've always hated with the MS Mouse is the ergonomics. Although the shape of the mouse is comfortable, each button is edged with a sharp plastic seam, which does a wonderful job of shaving your fingerprints.
Microsoft has made plenty of improvements to the IntelliMouse since I bought the original one, but my new mouse is a Logitech Mx500 . This is the most comfortable and ergonomic mouse I've ever used, even compared to the more expensive Logitech "Laser" mice. The shape is perfect for right-handers, and each button has a smooth rounded bevel that allows your hand to glide from click to click. The bonus "cruise" buttons above and below the mouse wheel are intuitive and an excellent alternative to using the mouse wheel for scrolling.
The Logitech Mx500 is also a perfect match with my Saitek Gamer Keyboard. What a combo!
After trying Snappermail and Versamail as email client apps for my Zodiac, I decided to take a look at an email client I already had: iambic Mail. I've been using iambic Mail since I bought a copy of the original iambic Office several years ago for my Sony Clie. I use it to sync my email on my Zodiac with Outlook. I never realized it also had support for IMAP servers, which would allow me to check my email via my Bluetooth Cel Phone connection, just like Snappermail and Versamail. Perfect!
Alas, I've been getting some lockups and hangs with iambic Mail, so I decided to buy the newest version, now branded as Agendus Mail. Here's how the experience went:
Late Sunday Night: Visit http://www.iambic.com, navigate among dozens of Agendus-branded products until I find Agendus Mail for PalmOS. Notice that it includes a copy of Agendus Professional (a calendar viewer app). Add to online cart, fill out purchase info, click "Buy" button, and see an invoice page. I click a button for "printable invoice" and I print it. Text on the invoice page says "Thank You! Please click on link to download Agendus Mail now!" I click the link and get a page that says, "Sorry, that download is not available!" Uh oh. Too late to investigate, will try tomorrow.
Late Monday Night: No emails from iambic (I would have expected a receipt and reg code). I look at the printed invoice, which says Handango, not iambic. Ah, they outsource software fulfillment. No problem, let's visit http://www.handango.com. I click on the "previous orders" link, fill in my email and the invoice number from the printed invoice, and am presented with a download page. The download page attempts to auto-download the file, and Internet Explorer's security decides to block it. I click on the IE security bar, choose "allow download", the page reloads, and tons of garbage data appears on the screen. Oops. I click the reload page button in IE, see the download page, see IE block the download again, click the security bar to allow the download, and see a new web page. It says, "Sorry! Your maximum number of downloads has been exceeded!" Shit. Too late to investigate, will try tomorrow.
Late Tuesday Night: Revisit iambic.com, find customer service page, click the "check order status" button. Am asked to choose to enter my account name and password or email address and invoice number. I choose the latter, click "submit" and wait. And wait. And wait. 5 minutes later, I reload page, try to enter account and password, click "login", and wait… wait… wait. Nothing. Open Outlook, craft a politely terse email to customerservice@iambic.com, include the invoice number from printed receipt (sure am glad I printed it!) and click "send".
Late Wednesday Night: Received two emails from iambic! One has an apology, the other has a download link. The link works, I download and install all software, register the app, get reg code in email, enter code in Agendus Mail on Zodiac, two HotSyncs later, all done. Try a few email syncs with Outlook, works fine. Sync IMAP via my bluetooth Linux connection. Works fine.
Thursday: Try to sync IMAP via my Bluetooth Cel Phone. Agendus Mail locks up and hangs.
The Tapwave Zodiac is the fourth PalmOS device I've owned and used extensively. Without exception, I've found that doing an occasional hard reset on the device helps performance and recovers wasted RAM.
Before you hard reset, make sure you do a complete HotSync and backup, and note any special configuration settings. On the Zodiac, you can do a hard reset by holding down the Power Button and inserting the stylus tip in to the reset pinhole on the back of the device.
A hard reset of my Zodiac last week recovered 1.5MB of RAM, and performance is noticeably snappier.
I did have issues with boot-up crashes after my first HotSync. It turned out to be some bluetooth configuration files. I simply removed them from the local backup directory (usually in a directory like C:\Program Files\palmOne\YourName\Backup), and reset / reSync. Here are the files I had to remove:
06/05/2005 04:35 PM 502 Bluetooth_Device_Cache.PDB
06/05/2005 04:35 PM 260 Bluetooth_Trusted_Devices.PDB
06/05/2005 04:35 PM 239 BtExgLibDB.PDB
06/05/2005 04:36 PM 1,666 ConnectionMgr50DB.PDB
06/05/2005 04:38 PM 3,135 MMExtraISPs.PRC
06/05/2005 04:38 PM 90,772 Net_Library.PRC
06/05/2005 08:42 PM 35,508 Saved_Preferences.PRC
I decided to buy the nWeb Browser for Zodiac [nwebreview, nwebcache, nweb] from the Tapwave site. I also own Xiino [xiinodead, xiino3.4, xiinooffline], so as a follow-up to my earlier Palm Browser overview, I did some usage comparisons between the two.
First, I compared the speed of both browsers by connecting to the internet via a Bluetooth-enabled Linux box, then loading http://www.mikeyp.com. Here are the results in seconds:
| Browser | Application Load | Page Load with No Images | Page Load with "Low Quality" Images | Page Load with "Best Quality" Images |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Xiino | 1 | 5 | 6 | 19 |
| nWeb | 4 | 7 | 14 | 21 |
Xiino is a faster web browser. This is mostly noticeable during the app startup time, where nWeb feels really lethargic. Xiino also bests nWeb when using "low quality" images, but this isn't whole story. Xiino delivers low-res gray scale images in "low quality" mode, whereas nWeb's "low quality" images look almost as nice as Xiino's "best quality". In fact, with the limited image count on mikeyp.com, I couldn't tell the difference between nWeb's "low quality" and nWeb's "best quality".
Second, I compared basic HTML rendering abilities, again with mikeyp.com. Both browsers rendered pages in a very readable form, however, nWeb tends to preserve more of the page's original layout and formatting better than Xiino. Each has a different approach to displaying large tables on the small screen, both of which are usable, but neither is great. Fortunately, they both display small tables with ease.
| Browser | HTML Colors | CSS Colors | HTML Header Font Sizes | Table Formatting | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| nWeb | Yes | Yes | Yes | Allows horizontal scrolling to preserve layout | |
| Xiino | Yes | No | Yes | Preserves layout by wrapping text mid-word where necessary | |
Finally, I compared some subjective daily usage points. In daily usage, both browsers do the job well, with Xiino having the performance advantage, and nWeb having the major advantage of Landscape + Fonts4OS5.
| Browser | Scrolling Speed | Landscape Support | Landscape with Fonts4OS5 | Memory Usage with 1MB Cache | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| nWeb | Slow | Yes | Yes | 3141KB | $34.95 |
| Xiino | Fast | Yes | No | 2441KB | $30.00 |
Conclusion: Based on my limited comparisons, it is hard to choose between the two. Both browsers do a great job of bringing the web to the Zodiac. If it weren't for the problems with Fonts4OS5 (an absolute must-have add-on utility for Palm browsing), I would recommend Xiino. For me, performance beats features every time. That said, I'm very happy with nWeb, and by turning images off, you can get a very practical, and speedy, web browsing experience.
Maybe it's time for me to finally buy a Bluetooth Headset. I've been meaning to install an integrated Bluetooth hands free system in my car, but I never seem to find the time to do it. A Bluetooth Headset would save me from the installation hassle, but would add yet another gadget to my bag o'gadgets, and worse, another power charger that I'd need to plug in somewhere.
The headsets I've been eying are the Motorola HS850 and the Sony Ericsson HBH660 , but I've got more research to do.
I just realized that at this time last year, I had zero Bluetooth-capable devices in my home office. As of now, I have six...
Novarra's nWeb Browser is now available from Tapwave for the Zodiac. It looks to be an updated version of the browser Palm brands as Web Browser Pro 3.0, with additional support for landscape mode (yes!) and the ability to switch between proxied and proxyless browsing, which should allow me to access my corporate email web page.
When I looked at WebPro/nWeb in my palmbrowser writeup, it had occasional hangs that made it very cumbersome to use. Compared to Xiino [xiinodead, xiino3.4, xiinooffline], nWeb also seemed fairly sluggish. I hope nWeb for Zodiac has improvements here, but I'd hate to pay $35 to find out. Hey Tapwave and Novarra, where's the downloadable demo version?
In what shouldn't be a surprise to anyone, Gamasutra is reporting that Tapwave [tapwavegraffiti, tapwavedead] is no longer manufacturing the highly acclaimed Zodiac PDA [zodiacend, zodiacreset]. Instead, they are focusing on developing new hardware to be co-branded with other partners.
While I really like my Zodiac, it is definitely a niche device for hardcore PalmOS fans and especially fans of classic game emulators. Let's hope the next round of PDAs from Tapwave have the same level of capabilities and thoughtful design as the Zodiac.
Update: Much more detailed information can be found at Tapland, including a long statement from Tapwave. Most interesting items of note: The Zodiac is being considered a platform which will have a new API available soon, and an enhanced version of the Novarra nWeb Browser (provider of Palm's WebPro 3.0) is being released for the Zodiac soon.
No sooner did I recommend and upgrade to the latest version of Xiino [xiinodead, xiino3.4, xiinooffline] than the Xiino Dataserver went offline.
What does that mean? To save bandwidth and screen real estate on the Palm, Xiino uses a special proxy server they call a 'Dataserver' to downsample images on-the-fly and correct the corresponding image links in the HTML. It works very well… if the proxy is online. If the proxy is down, you don't get images. Period.
Xiino's dataserver URL is pds.mobirus.com, which was at address 221.186.135.43 yesterday. Go ahead, ping it, if you can.
Hey Mobirus, why don't you let me download the Dataserver so I can run it on my own hardware? Wouldn't that save you bandwidth and server costs? Wouldn't it speed up my browsing if my image requests didn't have to make a round trip to your server in Japan? Wakarimashitaka?
Update: The proxy seems to be back online. Hmmm, Monday afternoon in Tokyo. Think anyone was watching the server over the weekend?
Those courtesy earbuds that Apple included with your iPod are acceptable, but if you want to hear some real bass and a warmer and more accurate high-end, you'll want to step up to a pair of headphones.
I was looking for a solid pair of portable headphones that were priced where I wouldn't cry if I lost them in an airport. I bought the Sennheiser PX100 headphones for about 40 bucks.
The PX100's are an open air design, but still manage to get a powerful bass response and a defined mid-range that is suited nicely for rockin' guitars. They also have a warm and distinct top-end without any piercing or harsh fatigue. These things really come alive at volumes just below the level you'd rationally consider dangerous.
More info about the PX100's and other headphone options can be found on the very informative HeadRoom site.
A new version of the PalmOS web browser Xiino was released last week, and it is a very nice update. Xiino 3.4 improves page rendering by adding support for colored, sized, and emphasized text, as well as including a new 'image preview' option that allows downloads of low-res gray-scale placeholder images. This is a really nice addition to Xiino's already bandwidth-friendly image loading feature set.
Most importantly for Zodiac, Clie UX-50, and Tungsten users, however, is support for landscape mode. Finally!
This update makes Xiino, in my opinion, the best PalmOS browser available.
However, is everything perfect? No. Sadly, landscape mode in Xiino 3.4 does not seem to play well with one of my essential Palm apps, Fonts4OS5. When I use fonts smaller than the default '22 point' Palm font, Xiino's landscape display cuts off lines of text in paragraphs that are longer than 3 or 4 lines. This does not occur in the default display mode, so I can only guess this is a glitch with the new landscape support. This is a very disappointing, but not so much as to prevent me from recommending this otherwise excellent browser.
I bought the SanDisk WiFi SD [idlesandiskwifi, sandiskwifisd] card for my Zodiac, but I've found that I never use it. As a matter of fact, I never even carry the WiFi card with me. Why?
rocks. Even though Bluetooth is slower than WiFi, it works perfectly with my cel phone as well as the Class 1 Bluetooth Access Point I set up on my Linux box. Since I always carry my phone, and I have an unlimited data plan, I have ubiquitous internet access with my Zodiac.About the only time I use the WiFi card is when I sit on the far end of the sofa in my living room, which is just outside the range of my Bluetooth Access Point.
I installed an OmniFi DMP1 in my 2000 Audi A4 this weekend. Well, 'wired up an OmniFi' would be a better way of saying it, as I haven't found an appropriate mounting location for the controller yet.
Interfacing the OmniFi with the Audi stereo is very simple, thanks to an adapter from BlitzSafe and an extremely useful pre-wired DB25 in the Audi trunk. I reused an adapter that I made for my iPod, and added the wiring for the OmniFi. It took me about 30 minutes to wire up. Here are some pictures: http://www.mikeyp.com/a4omnifi/
One of the coolest features of the OmniFi DMP1 is the ability to sync music from your computer via WiFi . Unfortunately, this only works if you are logged in to your computer and running the included SimpleCenter software (which of course, runs only on Windows XP). My garage is also on the fringe of my WiFi network, and I've only had a successful wireless sync once. Luckily, the hard drive in the OmniFi is housed in a removable USB cartridge, which allows you to sync quickly via USB… as long as you don't use the included USB cable.
When the car engine is not running, I can hear a 'hissy' noise floor, but I'm not sure if this is from the OmniFi, the BlitzSafe, the Audi, or my own wiring. Luckily, when driving, the hiss is obscured by wind and road noise. However, I also hear some high-end distortion or overdrive, which again, I'm not sure of the cause. I can hear it during one of the solo guitar breaks in the Joe Satriani song, Up In Flames on the album Is There Love in Space . Not terribly distracting (yet), but I do hear it.
Other than the hiss and the overdrive, the sound quality of the OmniFi is a actually better than my iPod, even with MP3s. This may be due to using the headphone output on the iPod (no line-out was available on my Gen 1 pod), as well as the much-discussed anemic iPod bass response. The OmniFi has deep-sounding bass and a very well-defined mid-range.
As with the OmniFi DMS1 Home Audio Player, I can't seem to get Lossless WMA files to play, which is a shame. Thankfully, 256Kb VBR MP3s still sound far better than FM radio, which is more than acceptable in a moving vehicle.
The OmniFi DMP1 is a nice solution for in-car digital audio, at least until this stuff is built-in to the next generation of cars (hello, Audi!). So far, I'm having fun with this thing.
The always enlightening PC Magazine columnist Bill Machrone has written about the sound quality on the iPod shuffle. As it turns out, the shuffle has not only the best sound quality of any iPod, but the best of any portable audio player he's tested. And this is coming from a techie guy who's also a musician. Neat!
The more I learn [ipodshufflesound, ipodshufflecar] about the iPod shuffle, the more I like it. The only drawback for me is capacity - I sure wish there was a 2+ GB version.
When the iPod shuffle was released this year, lots of people complained about the lack of a display on the unit. The head of Creative even called it technology that is five generations old. But my brother-in-law Robert pointed out something almost genius about the device that I didn't realize: you don't need to look at it to operate it. The controls are so simple that you can run the thing without ever removing it from your pocket.
I think this is a big deal for those of us adding mp3 players to our cars. As someone who's hacked up iPod inputs for my cars, I can tell you that operating a standard iPod in a moving vehicle can be a bit dangerous at times because you must look at the display to use it. The iPod shuffle is a great, safer alternative here.
Of course, I'm still going to install my OmniFi DMP1, but hey, that's a geek tax that I must pay.
It seems so obvious to build with current tech that I absolutely knew somebody would make one. And they did!
Siemens is releasing a real live bluetooth Com Badge that you can clip to your jacket pocket. Yep, voice commands and everything. Sign me up. Now.
This was linked from all over the blogosphere, but I caught it on Gizmodo.
Continued from powermac7500 [powermac7500, powermac7500-2]
This afternoon I went up to the garage and cleaned five years of garage crud off of the PowerMac 7500 [powermac7500, powermac7500-2] that's been sitting up there. Turns out that the big-ass monitor is actually a 21 inch Raster Ops Model 2168, circa 1992. It weighs nearly 70 pounds!
I popped the top on the PowerMac and discovered that it has actually been upgraded once before. There is an Apple 604 150Mhz upgrade card in the CPU slot, and the hard drive is a 1GB Quantum with the Apple logo (as opposed to the original 750MB drive according to the specs at apple-history.com). I didn't remove the drive bay to see how much RAM was in there, so I can only assume it too has been upgraded, maybe in the 32MB range. All three PCI slots are empty.
The Mac actually powers up and displays the 'Happy Mac', but then sits forever until it complains about a missing boot disk. Possibly a dead hard drive. Unless I find another drive at a surplus store or ebay for somewhere close to free, I probably won't spend much more time with this computer.
Funny thing I also noticed today: this company seems to be actually selling upgraded beige PowerMacs. Why on earth would somebody actually buy one?
So I have this PowerMac 7500 sitting in my garage under a giant 20" Radius CRT. I haven't booted it up in at least five years. I was planning to clean it up and sell it on eBay until I realized that they're selling for a whopping $45 - not exactly worth my time. But yesterday I stumbled across something interesting at http://lowendmac.com:
You can run OSX on a 7500.
Not out of the box, it seems, but according to several sources, if you buy a couple of upgrade cards, you can turn a 7500 (and other PCI PowerMacs) in to a G3 or G4 and run OS 9.2 or OSX (even Panther). Here's what it looks like I would need at a minimum to upgrade this thing on a budget:
| Item | Street Price (including eBay) |
|---|---|
| Sonnet Crescendo G3 400-500Mhz | <$100 (G4 cards seem to be >$200 right now) |
| ATI Radeon 7000 PCI | <$45 |
| Firewire or USB 2.0 PCI Card | <$30 (I already have an extra one that might work) |
| Firewire / USB2.0 Drive Enclosure | <$35 (I already have a spare drive) |
| Max Total | ~$210 |
That seems like a good bargain to get an OSX machine up and running. But with Mac mini's now available for about twice the cost of an upgraded 7500, I just can't figure out why I would bother doing the upgrade, other than for pure geekyness.
If you have a PDA that runs PalmOS 5, you probably have a high-res display of 320×320 or better. If so, it is worth your while to download and install Fonts4OS5. Fonts4OS5 lets you substitute the normal system font with any other font you choose to install. But better, you can also specify the font size, and you can do it on an application-by-application basis. For example, web browsing becomes a completely different (and very usable) experience when you use Xiino or WebPro with an 18 point Sans Serif font rather than the default 22 point font. Do you have good eyesight? Check out how much text you can cram on-screen with a 16 point font!
Now I just wish a font anti-aliasing companion app called FontSmoother would work on the Zodiac. Come on guys, what's the hold up!?
I've been using a Sony Ericsson T616 on AT&T Wireless for about 8 months now. The phone is great, as it is very lightweight, small enough to fit in my pocket along side a PDA , and has several features that I use, such as AIM and Yahoo IM, an IMAP email client, a small but usable camera, voice dialing and bluetooth-hosted internet dial-up. Unfortunately, the menus on the phone are tediously slow, and worse, the reception is poor enough to cause frequent dropouts and garbled calls.
Per a recommendation from my friend Jimbo, I upgraded to the newer T637. It has an identical feature set to the T616, but the menus are noticeably snappier, and the reception is excellent. I haven't had a dropped call yet. And as a bonus, it has an easier-to-dial keypad, and it's a hair lighter and a millimeter or two thinner. This is the perfect phone to get me through the year until all of the groovy gadgets being shown at the 3GSM World Congress come out.
There were several articles last week about a reported decrease in PDA shipments, with some articles even mentioning this as the sunset of the PDA .
Jeff over at Writing on Your Palm notes an interesting fact that is missing from the reports: the Treo is not counted in the PDA shipment figures, as it is a 'SmartPhone'. Considering that, he thinks Treo sales more than account for the apparent drop in PDA shipments.
Interesting, no?
Seen the cool Bottle Cap camera tripods over at Semsons?
Jake Ludington posted instructions detailing how simple it is to just make your own.
Quote: Total cost is $3.37, not including the Pepsi.
My SanDisk SD WiFi Card just arrived in the mail today, and hoo-wee is the 'net fast on the Zodiac now.
As a matter of fact, after having my adventures with bluetooth and getting this WiFi card, I simply can't imagine having a non-wireless PDA ever again.
Thanks to the web site: http://www.sacpug.org/ZodiacWiFi.html for helping clarify just which WiFi card to get.
This week I've tried a variety of web browsers for PalmOS . Specifically, I've been looking for a browser that:
(aka JavaScript)Unfortunately, no Palm browser can do all of the above. But some come close enough to be very usable.
I've tried:
PDABuzz has a very good comparison of some other PalmOS browsers, but does not review WebPro 3 or WebViewer.
WebPro 3 by far did the best job of page rendering, especially with the formatting of tables and using stylesheets properly. However, sluggish performance is very noticable while scrolling pages - the browser can 'hang' in many instances. WebPro does not support landscape mode on the Zodiac, though some people are getting landscape functionality by using a hacked version of WebPro with CodeDiver.
Blazer 2.0 is a nice, small, and fast low-frills browser. Sadly, it can't handle JavaScript, and even refuses to load many web pages that are beyond its capability to render. It also has issues with scrolling and the back button, sometimes erasing pages completely. And of course, it has no landscape support.
The Reqwireless WebViewer could count as the smallest of the browsers, weighing less than 100k, but you need the giant WebSphere Java Virtual Machine in order to run the app. WebViewer is very fast, but the UI is extremely primitive, with a minimal amount of customization for options. Again, there is no landscape support, and the demo version has a ridiculous limit of 10 web pages per day.
That leaves Xiino, a slick little browser from Japan that is fast and does a respectible job of page rendering. Table formatting is clumsy but readable, and there is no landscape support. The latest version of Xiino, 3.3E, does not work on the Zodiac. If you launch Xiino twice (say, check a web site, check email, then check another web site), Xiino will cause a Fatal Exception 100% of the time. Luckily, Xiino 3.2E is still available for download, and it runs fine.
For now, Xiino 3.2E is the best PalmOS browser out there, as long as you're willing to compromise.
Update: Xiino 3.4 [xiinodead, xiino3.4, xiinooffline] is now available, and it supports landscape mode
Update 2: Read a comparison of Xiino 3.4 to the new nWeb for Zodiac
Numerous web sites can describe how to connect to the Sony Ericsson T616 via Bluetooth , but many seem to be missing a critical piece of information: the network access number, aka the phone number.
Thanks to Chad at Infoworld, I found the dialup number that works on ATT Wireless (now Cingular) GPRS .
That number is: *99***1#
This morning I SSH'd to my web site on a Tapwave Zodiac via the ether ... 
I wonder how much I'm being billed for this?
The Tapwave Zodiac is a very cool PalmOS handheld, but unfortunately for us old-school Palm users, it comes with the one and two-stroke Graffiti 2 handwriting input system, rather than the original elegant one-stroke Graffiti 1.
Fortunately, it is possible to add Graffiti 1 to the Zodiac. All of the HOWTO's I found on the net were a bit cryptic, so here's how I got it to work for me.
NOTE: I do not warranty this procedure at all. It worked for me, but might not work for you. I am not responsible for any problems or damage this may cause.
graffiti1.zip file from Zan's Stuff (thank you Zan for providing this!)graffiti1.zip file on your desktop. DO NOT FOLLOW ANY OF THE INSTRUCTIONS INCLUDED IN THE graffiti1.zip FILE!!!Graffiti_Library.PRC to Graffiti_Library.mp3 and Graffiti_Library_enUS.PRC to Graffiti_Library_enUS.mp3. DO NOT USE THE FILES THAT END IN .PDB!!! DO NOT INSTALL THE zboxz.prc APP!!!.mp3 files in to the Palm Install Tool (don't double-click them or you might launch a Media Player accidentally).mp3) files from the SD Card to the Internal File System by selecting them and clicking the << or >> button..mp3) files in the tree Internal > AUDIOGraffiti Library and Graffiti Library_enUSGraffiti Library, tap the Details button, and make sure the Type is libr, Creator is grft. Change the Version ID to 525 and tap the Save buttonGraffiti Library_enUS, tap the Details button, and make sure the Type is ovly, Creator is grft, and Version ID is greater than 2 (will likely be 3)If something goes totally haywire, you'll need to do a hard-reset to restore the Zodiac to its original state. To do a hard-reset, hold down the Power Button, press the reset button (the one in the pinhole on the back), wait a second, then release the Power Button. A screen will ask if you want to erase all of your data (or something to that effect). Say yes. Your data should be restored the next time you do a HotSync, provided you did a HotSync before things went awry.
I recommened downloading and installing Graffiti Anywhere. Graffiti Anywhere allows you to use the full screen for Graffiti input, rather than just the abc or 123 input areas, and it works with many (if not most) PalmOS apps. On the Zodiac, this allows you to keep the virtual graffiti area closed, and have apps run in landscape by default.
In my quest to find the ultimate in-car MP3 player, I ended up making adapters for my iPod. I made one for a Honda del Sol, and one for an Audi A4.
The iPod adapter for the del Sol was easy, as the after-market stereo had a line-in. I just made a pretty input jack. Check it out at http://www.mikeyp.com/delsolipod.
The Audi adapter was more challenging, as there was no line-in, nor did I want to string cables through the car's interior. For the line-in, I bought an adapter from http://www.autotoys.com that plugs in to the CD-Changer input. For the cabling, believe it or not, the 2001 A4 has a pre-wired Cat5 cable that runs from the center console to a DB25 the trunk! The result is here: http://www.mikeyp.com/a4ipod.
Ever wonder what I do in my spare time? (What spare time?) A creation of mine, the Suck-O-Meter, has become a popular software necessity for the sophisticated PalmOS user. You can download it at http://www.suckometer.com.
I wrote the Suck-O-Meter a few years ago for the PalmPilot Personal, and it still works on my PalmOS 4.0 Sony Clie. I wrote it in Waba, a slick little JVM that is now open source. Check it out over at http://www.wabasoft.com.
I think it's time for a "Suck-O-Meter 2005", isn't it?
